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Entered according to Act of Congress, in J une, 1868, by J. W. Burkk & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia. VOL. 11. Written for Burke’s Weekly. A CONVENTION. 0 you know what a Convention is? Look in the dictionary, Ca and you will find that it is “an assembly of delegates or represen tatives to accomplish some specific ob ject, civil, political, or ecclesiastical.” Conventions are assembled for various purposes. There are Sunday School conventions, church conventions, tem perance conventions, and railroad con ventions. Some time ago there was an assemblage of newspaper editors at Au gusta, in our own State, and this was called a Press Convention. But the convention which has attracted most at tention throughout the United States recently, was the National Democratic Convention. You will discover from the name that it was not only a Demo cratic Convention, but a National Dem ocratic Convention. This means that it was made up of delegates from every part of the nation —from the North and the South, the East and West. These delegates numbered several hundred, and many thousands of people were at tracted to the great city of New York to witness their deliberations. Now, my dear children, I don’t want any of you to turn politicians too soon , nor do I intend to preach politics in the Weekly, but it is well enough that you should know something about the two great political parties of the country. The two parties in this country now are the Democrats and the Republicans, or as we call them, the Radicals. The Radicals, who are so strong in Congress that they control that body, insist upon forcing upon the white people of the South a government which they do not like. They claim the right to say who shall and who shall not vote in the dif ferent States of the South, although they know very well that this whole matter ought to be left for the people of the States themselves to determine. But, worse than this, they force us to submit to laws which they will not themselves be governed by. llow would you like it if someone, stronger than you are, MACON, GEORGIA, JULY 25, 1868 v . - rS'Z- should force you to admit to a seat at your table a person whom he would not allow at. his own table? And yet the Radicals are doing this very thing. They tell us at the South you shall allow the ignorant and foolish negroes, who have no education or information, to vote, but we will not allow them to vote at the North. Is this right? Os course it is not. Well, this Radical party have nomi nated General Grant for the Presidency, and say if they can elect him they will keep the South - under this unjust and tyrannical rule. The Democrats, who recently met at New York, have nomi- nated the Hon. Mr. Seymour, of that State. Mr. Seymour and the Demo crats insist that the people of the States themselves, and not Congress, should be left to decide who shall vote and make laws for them, and of course all good people in the South are in favor of Mr. Seymour and his party. These political conventions, as I have said, are made up of delegates from all parts of the country. The delegates are elected or appointed generally by State conventions, and are authorized to cast the vote of the State in the National Convention. But there are always thou sands of people present at these large assemblages who are not delegates, and very often these outsiders, orlobby-mem bers, as they are called, have a very great influence on what is being done in the convention. In the picture you see some of these outside members, discussing with one another the chances of the different can didates, or fixing up plans for the fu ture. The old man with check pants sitting on the bench, is a country dele gate, and the other is a lobby-member, trying to influence his vote. \\ hen the boys who read this are old er, they will understand all about these different moves on the political chess board. In the United States, where all are voters, every man should be thor oughly posted in the polities of the country. It is, therefore, well enough for the boys who read the Weekly to know something now of the two great controlling parties of the country. Uncle Ollapod. From the German for Burke’s Weekly. THE BEAUTIFUL MAKUSCHKA. A SLAVONIAN FAIRY TALE. ® the south of the £/>') Carpathian moun tains dwell theSla -4 A vonians, a rough, but lively people. And as they are fl imaginative, their language abounds in fairy tales and prov erbs. One of the oldest and most popular fairy tales is that of the beautiful Maruschka. We translate it, but in so doing we fear we are stripping the enameled colors from the butterfly’s wings. Once«upon a time, there lived on the edge of a forest a woman with her two daughters. Helena was her own child, and Maruschka her step-daughter. It is true that Maruschka was the most ami able and beautiful maiden in the world, but at that time, (when all step-mothers were cruel, and all younger sons op pressed,) this woman naturally loved her own daughter and hated the other. Maruschka had no idea that she was NO. 4.