Newspaper Page Text
The Christian Index.
BY .JAS. P. HARRISON & CO.
INDEX AND BAPTIST.
Publication Rooms—27 and 29 South-Broad Street
. Editorials.
Psrsonal. —We had the pleasure of
il call from Gen. A. R. Lawton, of Sa
vannah. A genial, accomplished and
patr-otkTcitizen, a veteran statesman,
whojn Georgia delights to honor; he is
to private and public
His many friends infhis city,
jtr- always glad to greet him.
I‘aet & Reynolds. —We take pleas
ure in commending to the perusal of our
readers, the advertisement of Messrs.
Dart A Reynolds, the well-known car
riage manufacturers at New Haven,
Connecticut. They manufacture ex
pressly for the Southern market, and
their work is of approved character.
♦ —
Dr. Thos. S. Powell.-— This dis
tinguished physician has been serious
ly ill for some days past, but we are
glad to say that he is now convales
cent. His hold upon the esteem and
affection of the community has been
strikingly manifested by the attentions
received during his illness. Almost
every minute of the day has witnessed
the call and kind inquiry of some of
his many friends. We trust that in a
few days he will be up, and able to re
sume his extensive practice
The English Mission. The
Mission to England, the most im
portant of the embassadorial ap
pointments within the gift of our gov
ernment, has been tendered to Mr.
John Welch, of Philadelphia, who has
accepted. Mr. Welch has achieved very
little political prominence. He is a
wealthy merchant, and is in his sev
enty-fifth year. The appointment of
a man comparatively obscure in public
affairs as Embassador to the British
has caused considerable com
ment. His confirmation by thPUmted
States Senate is considered doubtful.
A Happy Occasion.— Our pretty
suburb, West End, was enlivened on
Tuesday night, 30th ult., at the resi
dence of Col. A. B. Matthews, by the
marriage of Mr. Samuel D. Cherry to
Miss Minnie H. Johnson. The service
was performed by Rev. A. T. Spald
ing, D.D., of the Second Baptist church.
Mr. Cherry has long been in the em
ploy of that staunch firm, Messrs. M.
C. AJ. F. Kiser. Miss Minnie is
famed as one of Atlanta's best and
fairest young ladies. Many handsome
presents were received by the bride;
but the one best calculated to awaken
the deepest pleasure was the rich token
of high regard for her husband, from
the firm in whose service he has won a
golden name.
Temperance Convention. —The
Womans’ National Christian Temper
ance Union held a very interesting
session, a few days ago, at Chicago.
The organ of the Convention “Our
Union” was stated to be doing good
work in the cause of Temperance, and
liberal aid was voted for its support.
There is a “Literary Committee”
whose object is to scatter books, tracts,
and papers on temperance over the
country. It reported effective work
during the past year. The following
officers were elected for the ensuing
year:
President, Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer,
of Philadelphia. Corresponding Sec
retary, Mrs. Mary F. Burt, New York.
Assistant Corresponding Secretary,
Mrs. Louise S. Rounds, Chicago.
Recording Secretary, Mrs. Mary C.
Johnson, New York. Assistant Record
ing Secretary, Mrs. Mary A. Wood
bridge, Ohio.
We hope to, * the strength and in
fluence of this- Excellent Union aug
mented rapidly, from year to year.
The effect of womans’ combined ef
forts in behalf of Temperance cannot
be estimated in all its scope. She
holds a mighty power for good in her
heart and hand, and no class is as
deeply interested in promoting tem
perance, and suppressing the vice of
drunkenness in this country, than its
daughters, sisters, wives and mothers.
SATANIC STAGE-SHOWS.
Is there no law, save that of public opinion,
to suppi jss indecent stage exhibitions ? As
long as they are tolerated, so long, thanks to
the n tural depravity of fallen man, we
blush to say they will be patronized. Thus
the purity of our youth is imperilled, their
moral sense corrupted, and the amount of
mischief done almost incalculable. Will not
a wiser legislation lay the axe to the root of
such libidinous performances? —Macon Tel
egraph and Messenger.
Our cotemporary’s paragraph was
called forth, doubtless, by the fact that
a troupe of depraved and shameless
females, hailing from New York City,
have visited Georgia, for the purpose
of exhibiting in public halls features
of the revolting foulness and degrada
tion common to the slum-theatres of
the Metropolis.
The sense of decency is shocked, at
every street corner and public place,
by pictorial representations of these
degraded creatures, and by flaming
posters, describing the details of the
saturnalias to be held each night.
The Press assists in spreading the
contaminating information, by allow
ing the business agents of these out
casts full advertising privilegesin their
columns; and the editorial notices, by
their gingerly and non-coramital style,
tend rather to heighten the curiosity
of the vulgar, and to sharpen the
grovelling appetite of the sensual,
than to excoriate and suppress them.
Every poster is a beacon-light to
groups of staring boys, luring them
to take the first fatal step on the high
road to Hell; every sugar-coated par
agraph concerning the filthy thing, in
the daily papers, makes the swallowing
of the deadly poison of immorality an
easier task.
It is not necessary to dwell upon
this subject at great length; its tre
mendous bearing upon some of the
dearest interests of heart and soul,
and upon the moral health of society
in general, is patent to every right
thinking man and woman. Neverthe
less, with all these facts before the
public .eye—with. fixed
in every intelligent mind, that a single
exhibition of this sort does more direct
and indirect injury to public morality
and individual virtue than a hundred
of the best sermons preached from
the pulpit can be expected to repair,
we are told there is no law for the
prevention or punishment of insults in
flicted upon public decency and the
religious sense of a community, save
“public opinion.” Has “public opin
ion” punished the strolling vagabonds
of whom we are writing ? Did not the
punishment (?) in this city, for in
stance, consist in giving them hun
dreds upon hundreds of dollars, and
an enthusiastic audience of a thousand
men ?
Public opinion—what is it worth
when the Press becomes a mercenary
abettor of lewdness, or a luke-warm,
ro'lk-and-water champion of chastity ?
Is “public opinion” to be trusted, when
one of its main elements —the men of
a community —openly patronize these
orgies of the stage ? Grey-headed
fathers, half-grown boys; legislator
and law-breaker; dapper dandy and
ragged rowdy; the riff raff of back
alleys and the denizens of Upper
Tendom, all mixed in an indistin
guishable mass of depraved and lech
erous humanity. How can the vital
forces of society be preserved with
this poison in its life-blood? How
can we expect to have, and to enforce,
law and good order, when so much of
the manhood of the age is rotting at
the core? Reform should begin at
home. We must practice what we
preach, and preach what we practice.
We, too, ask: “Will not a wiser
legislation lay the axe to the root of
such libidinous exhibitions ?” Will
they be permitted in Georgia next
year, as they have been this year, and
in former years ?
Will the Law’s dignity be main
tained ? If there is no law severe and
decisive enough to meet these cases,
will those intrusted with the law
making power by communities and
the State, see to it that an appropriate
law be made and enforced f We have
numerous laws for the protection of
the treasury, and the public credit of
the Commonwealth, for the conserva
tion of trade, agricultural and com-
Literature —Secular Edltorials Curr e n t Notes and News.
ATLANTA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1577 :
mercial interests —even the fowls of
the air and the beasts of the field are
effectually protected by law against
wanton injury—why not protect pub
lic morality against the wanton and far
more ruinous injury inflicted by strol.
ling show's from the purlieus of
modern Sodoms ? Why not care for
the souls and bodies of our youth,
that they fall not into the snares of
Satan, and become the prey of these
biped beasts of the Stage ?
CHEEK FOR GIRLS.
“The woman question,” says an ex
change, “promises to be entirely over
hauled in Boston, over the question of
teaching Greek at the girl’s high
school, and admitting girls to the Latin
school. The girl’s high school is al
ready teaching Latin to two hundred
and fifty girls, and only needs Greek to
be able to fit girls for Boston Uuiver
sity, the only collegiate institution in
the vicinity which admits girls. The
Latin school fits boys for Harvard, but
lacks several English branches neces
sary to fit them for Boston University-
The rivalries of old and young Uni
versities, apparently, enter into the
affair. Nevertheless, the last Harvard
examinations for women are deemed to
hare been very successful, and to have
had results no different than if the ex
aminees had bee* boys.”
Boston is certainly the chief place in
America where all the “isms,’ innova
tions, and experiments of the age are
investigated and tried. It will do no
harm to have the “woman question”
again systematically overhauled—the
i .orehght we can get upon important
educational subjects, the bettor it will
be for progress and civilization. Wo
are glad the girls are so strongly prov -
ing themselves to be the intellectual
peers of the boys. Every such do
monstratation helps to remove the thick
crust of prejudice which accumulated
during perjods less enlightened than
tbtj presenfL .
But wF are to' tST
overloading of the public or common
school system by the introduction of
Greek, Lat’n, or other studies appro
priate to College and University curri
culums. The system of common schools
is, and should be, adapted to the ed
ucational wants peculiar to the masses.
To give the children of the great mass
of our people a good, common English
education will tax the resources of the
system, as, well as the pockets of tax
payers, sufficiently, without cramming
it with matter unreachable by nine,
tenths of tho pupils, and unprofitable
to them, even if reached, in tho sphere
of life to which the force of circum
stances will confine them.
Let tho practical bo secured in our
common school system—the ornament
al may shift for itself.
The Twenty-Second District. A
sp'-cial telegram from Forsyth brings the in
telligence that the Senatorial Convention of
the Twenty-Second District which assembled
in that place recently, nominated Hon.
Titos. B. Cabaniss by acclamation. It h not
stated whether or not there was an opposing
candidate, but had there been ever so many,
we are quite sure the choice of the Conven
tion couhj.not have fallen upon a worthier
gentleman. Captain Cabaniss is a thorough
ly representative man. Of conspicuous
ability, great energy and industry, and large
popularity, he will rank as one of the fore
most and most influential of Georgia’s Sen
ators. — Exchange.
We heartily endorse the above. We
are sincerely glad at the good fortune
of our esteemed and excellent friend,
and all who know him will admit, that
the people of the Twenty-Second Dis
trict are equally fortunate in their
choice. No abler, more conscientious,
or nobler gentleman than Mr. Cab
aniss can be found in the State. He
will reflect honor upon himself, his
constituency and the State, in its
Senate. It is of such men that our
Commonwealth can be truly proud,
and in whose hands the dignity of
law, and the fair fame of Georgia, are
safe.
The New College at Gainesville.
—Rev. Wm. C. Wilkes has so far se
cured in good subscriptions a little
over $6,000. The school is endorsed
by the Chattahoochee, New Union and
Tug&lo Associations.
AT? VBit All. VAR K.
“It in dark," said baby Nell,
“The Him lias gone away /’
“Rut God will send the stars to us/ *
Dfaid little sister May.
“Ho never lets it bo all dark,
’Copt for a little while ;
And then I guoe i Ho hides His face,
So we can’t see Him smile !”
IJear child, what comfort comes to mo,
Tinough these few simplo words ;
Siveoto • they are than melodv
rOf oarly singing birds.
“Novor a’l dark/’ I softly say,
“But for a little while,'
s.nd then, somoivhero behind tho cloud,
Thoro gleams a hidden smile.”
A DROP OF WATER.
“ Alas ! ” reflectively exclaimed a
drop of water, as it fell out of a
cloud into the sea, “ what an insigs
niSeant creature I am in this vast
waste of waters; my existence is
of no concern to the universe; I am
almost nothing; I am the least of the
God!”
But it happened that an oyster, that
the neighborhood of this drop,
chanced to gape and swallow it in the
midst of its humble soliloquy. The
drop lay a long time in the shell, grow
ing hard, until, by degrees, it ripened
intq a pearl, which, falling into the
hands of a diver, after many adven
tures, is now the most precious gem in
the crown of the Persian monarch.
W3ew beautifully this tender Persiau
fable illustrates the power often hidden
in “little things!” It teaches us to
look with loving regard upon what may
seem to be, in our opinion, the merest
trifle of God’s universe. We know not
the mighty force, the glorious beauty,
an atom may contain. In the material
vmld nothing is iusiguificant. A par
ticle of matter may not have appreciable
value in its tangible form, but it may
become the generator of a living thought
that shall ascend the majestic diapson
of nature, till its full close be found in
the Eternal Mind. The ultimate power
of a rain-drop, even, is beyond the
scope of our appraisement, and in its
tiny round holds mysteries not less
finderful than the resplendent spheres
the hejavens : a ,
“tforevor nTffi?VTlTiii£, t
The hand that made us is divine.”
Cannot de Done.— The Chinese
government has officially taken posses
sion of the railroad between Shanghai
and Woosing, and ordered the suspen
sion of all traffic thereon. The road
was completed only a short time ago,
and, we believe, is the only one in that
vast empire. We do not know the
teason for this singular action of the
Chinese government, but if it was done
to prevent tho modern spirit of pro
gress from fastening another permanent
link to the chain that is gradually
drawing all nations into closer relation
ship, the shaven-headed philosophers
and mandarins of Pekin, are mistaken,
In the footsteps of the devoted mis
sionary, soon or late, follow those grand
’and invincible auxiliaries of civiliza
tion—Steam and Electricity. From
Bible-enlighteue l intelligence flow all
the chief and predominating elements,
physical and moral, that give tone and
substance to the life of the modern
world. Even the hitherto invulnerable
apathy and selfishness embraced in the
‘‘Flowery Kingdom,” cannot withstand
the attributes of these forces. They
must give way to Light and Progress.
The sequestrated railroad will be
again given to its legitimate work, and
_will become the progenitor of a hundred
others. Steam vs. Electricity—who
cannot foresee the result of the contest ?
A Remarkable Man. —Rev. Morris
Henderson, the pastor of the Beale
street Memphis Colored Baptist ehureli,
died a few day s ago, after a long illness,
aged 74 years. He was a remarkable
man, and, by his efforts alone, had
raised and expended upon bis church
since 1864, the sum of $45,000, and
but for the failure of the Freedmen’s
Bank, would have completed it. His
church books showed a membership of
2,500, and he was idolized by his mem
bers, and beloved and respected by all
who knew him. The funeral services
Vere conducted by the Rev. Dr. Lan
drum, of Central Baptist church. Five
thousand colored people were in at
tendance.
—The gold mines around Dahlonega
continue to increase in the yield of the
precious metal.
GEORGIA MEATS.
—The new Methodist house of wor
ship in Barnett, will bo dedicated on the
fourth Sabbath in this month.
—Grain ,is being sown earlier than
usual.
•—The Methodists propose to estab
lish a denominational High School in
Cartersville.
■ —The colored people’s academy
building in LaGrange, is making good
progress. They have subscribed over
$1,200 —about half in labor and the
remainder in money. The building
when completed, will have capacity for
275 pupils. The white people of Las
Grange have manifested a generous
sympathy for the enterprise by their
contributions to it.
—A new Catholic church has been
dedicated at Sharon.
—M. M. Barron, late of the Newnan
Blade, wil shortly start a paper in Fairs
burn, to be called the Fairburn Star.
—A venerable church building, Mid
way church, in Liberty county, is to be
sold, the proceeds to be invested as a
permanent fund, the interest of which
is to be appropriated annually to keep
ing the cemetery in order. The build
ing was erected in 1792.
—The Augusta canal enlargement has
been finished at last. It was com
menced in 1874, and the last work was
the completion of the lock across the
Savannah river.
—Augusta has four large and pros
perous factories.
—The great folly which is still con
trolling the agriculturists of Georgia
in neglecting to grow full supplies of
provision crops is strikingly illustrated
by the statistics of provision supplies
brought from the West over the State
road, for the months of July, Augus
and September:
Of bacon and lard that road transported in
the three months above named, 19,977,139 lbs,
against 16,018,462 during the same three
months of 1876; of flour, 111,213 brls, against
100,534 same months in 1876 ; of corn, 753,
058 bushels, against 646,914 same months in
1876 ; of wheat, 366,095 bushels, against 278,-
OUW.me uxinUis iu 1876; of hay, 6.892 hales,
against 4,533 same months in 1876; and of
oat*, 102,406 bushels, against 64,299 in same
months in 1876.
•—The Thomasville Fair was one of
the finest and largest ever held in this
State.
—The banana is being successfully
cultivated in Emanuel county.
—The Richmond county Council of
Grangers will give a County Fair at
Rosney Chapel, on the 7th of Novem
ber.
—The pupils of the Academy of the
Blind in Macon, will visit Savannah
some time next month and give an en
tertainment.
—A convention of about forty dele
gates, representing the colored men of
Georgia, assembled recently at H*wk
insville, to discuss the educational ins
terests of the colored race. The sess
sion lasted three days. Very good
original essays were read touching that
subject. Resolutions were adopted for
the early establishment of a higher
normal school for the colored people of
Georgia, and delegates were appointed
to meet the North Georgia Conference
at Eatonton, December sth, to ask that
Conference to so dispose of its school
arrangements as to cosoperate with the
South Georgia people in providing one
ample institution for the State.
—Marietta has organized a fire com
pany.
—The State Deaf and Dumb Asylum
has sixty-two pupils.
—The farmers in North Georgia will
plant a large acreage in wheat.
—The Y. M. C. A. of D mglasville,
numbers twenty-five members, repre
senting the different denominations in
the town.
—The crops throughout Henry county
are pretty fair, and the farmers are in
good condition financially.
—The farmers of Chattahoochee
county intend to sow small grain crops
extensively this fall.
—There is not a drop of spirituous
liquor sold in Cusseta, and but one
retail liquor shop in the county.
—The agricultural prospects in Tals
hot are very encouraging.
—Barnesville is the ino3t busy little
city in Georgia.
—A wool factory is to be erected in
Penfield.
S3 A YEAR m ADVANCE.
NEATS OF THE ATEEK.
DOMESTIC.
1 he trouble between our Govern
ment and Mexico, in regard to depre
dations and outrages committed by
Mexicans on*the Rio Grande, is in
creasing. Sterner measures will soon
be necessary to suppress the eYil.
Sir Edward Thornton returns to
Washington as the British Minister.
—A disease very fatal to horses and
mules is prevailing in New Jersy.
I he last of the gang of Texas out
laws which took refuge in Alabama,
was arrested ty the sheriff of Escam
bia county, Florida.
—The new party, the National Lib
eral League, has been organized at
Rochester, New York, by the election
of F. E. Abbott, of Boston, as Presi
dent, and forty Vice-Presidents, in
cluding R. G. Ingersoll, G. W. Julian,
O. B. Frothingham, Edgar Wright and
Robert Colyer.
—The estimate for the expense of
the Post-office Department for the com
ing fiscal year is $36,427,771, of which
$29,034,098 28 will be supplied by the
revenues of the department, leaving a
deficiency of $7,293,672 72
—General N. B. Forrest, died at
Memphis, after a lingering illness.
A large number of incendiary
fires have recently occured in Pitts
burgh.
—The Mayor of Fernandina tele
graphs that he needs $7,000 to keep
the well from starving, and supply the
sick with necessities.
—A true bill was found against
Robert Smalls, colored Congressman
from the Fifth District of South Caro
lina, for accepting a bribe of $5,000 to
vote as Sta’e Senator for the passage
of a fraudulent printing appropriation.
The case is so clear that he has not
appeared at the present session of Con
gress.
—The Universalists held a large
Convention at Chicago.
Senator Morton, of Indiana, is
dead. '
—The President and his party, in.
eluding Senator Morgan, of Alabama,
received an enthusiastic welcome at
Richmond.
—The fourth annual session of the
Protestant Episcopal Congress is in
session at New York.
—The funeral of General Forrest,
at Memphis, was very imposing.
Among the pall-bearers was ex-Presi
dent Jefferson Davis. In the proces
sion were ex-Confederate and ex-
Union soldiers.
—Seventeen Bishops participated in
the consecration in Grace church,
New York, of Rev. S. I. J. Scherech
awsky, D.D., who has been appointed
by the Protestant Episcopal Congress,
Missionary of the P. E. church of
Shanghai, with jurisdiction over the
entire Chinese empire.—
The yellow fever is still fatal in
Fernandina.
—General LeDuc has be confirmed
as Commissioner of Agriculture.
The Alabama State Grange Fair
was a grand success in its agricultural
and mechanical departments.
FOREIGN".
Plevna is now completely inve*-
ted by the Russians. The besieged
cannot stand a long siege.
—Erzoroum is preparing for an
extended investment by the victorious
Russians.
—The Turks are pushing reinforce
ments toward Erzoroum and Kars.
—The State ot Sonora has seceded
from the Mexican Republic.
—lt has been definitely ascertained
that two hundred and fifty person*
perished in the mine explosion near
Glasgow, Scotland.
—The Russians are heavily besieg
ing the fortress of Silistria, on the
Danube.
—A great battle is imminent at
Koprokoi. Its result will decide the
fate of Armenia.
—The hurricane which recently
swept over the Island of Curaco caus
ed a loss of properity estimated at
$2,000,000. Loss of life was large.
—Another bloody riot between
Catholic and Protestant Irishmen is
impending at Montreal.