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EDITOR'S DEPART MENT.
ATHENS, SATURDAY, NO'V’R. 4, 1848.
The Editor of the Southern Litetaty Gazette, be
ing desirous of developing and eneoutaging Literary
Talent in the South, has resolved to offer the sum of
One Hundred Dollars, in prizes, as exhibited in
the annexed schedule:
TIIE FIRST PRIZE
For the best Tale of the South, . . Fifty Dollars.
THE SECOND PRIZE
For'the second best Tale, . - Twenty Dollars.
THE FIRST PRIZE
For the best Poem, Twenty Dollars,
OR A COPY OF HARPER’S SPLENDID PICTORIAL BIBLE.
THE SECOND PRIZE
For the second best Poem, Ten Dollars,
All competitors must send in their MSS. before
the 15th day of December ensuing, and they must
come, if by post, pre-paid. They should be legibly
written on one side of a sheet only. The authors’
names must be sent in separate sealed envelopes,
which will not be opened until the prizes have been
selected —when the successful competitors will be an
nounced. The articles will be submitted to the ex
amination ad decision of a Committee, composed of
several gentlemen of distinguished character, whose
names will be announced in due time. The award
of prizes may be expected to be made known in the
last number for the present year, and the publication
of the First Prize Tale will be commenced with the
New Year.
The articles offered in competition will become
the property of the Editor, and those which are
deemed worthy will appear in the Gazette.
All communicatious relating to theprizes must be
addressed, post-paid, to the Editor.
COMMITTEE OF AWARD.
The following gentlemen have kindly consented
to act as Judges upon the articles offered in compe
tition for the above prizes:
Professor JAMES P. WADDELL,
Dr HENRY HULL,
JAMES W, HARRIS, Esq.
A Way-Mark.
Every period of time, every history of individuals,
every enterprize, be it or humble, has its
epochs, its marked events properly signalized over
others—serving as way-marks upon which to look
back in the future, or from which to commence with
renewed zeal the onward career. Such an epoch,
dear readers, has now occurred in the history of our
Journal. Six months have this day elapsed since it
first visited your homes. Already has it given you
good promise of ‘faithful continuance.’ We are
well aware that there were not a few who generous
ly predicted the failure of our enterprize! Kind
and liberal well wishers (!) to the cause of Southern
betters did not fail to admonish us of the peril of our
undertaking, which, they averred, was so imminent
that they could not think of embarking —what do
you suppose, reader 1 their fortunes I their annual
incomes ! their spare hundreds I—nay,l—nay, but simply
twd Dollars in the fated experiment! Generous,
hut prudent men ! They are not responsible for the
failure of earnest efforts to redeem the South from
her intellectual thraldom —not they; for they would
have nothing whatever to do with them, satisfied
that they must fail! Well, dear reader, we have
not failed yet, though these same generous well
wishers make no question that we shall before anoth
er six months expires. We have outlived their pro
motions, and also those of petty spite and jealousy—
hseliugs we gladly believe to have been cherished by
ver y, very few ; and why there are any to cherish
them, Heaven knows—we do not.
“Half of our heavy task is done.”
Half of the contract we made with you when we
’ ommenced is performed, and we rejoice at having
cached the first distinguishable way-mark in our
With renewed zeal, with increasing confi
with a firmer purpose, we shall advance upon
*®ur way.
before our next number is issued, millions of free
,tKn have cast their votes for a chief officer of
this mighty confederacy, and the strife of the elec
tion will be over. The political hurricane which I
§© IS *ff m{glß El ft, HIT Ba A & ©A g BIT IT B ♦
now sweeps over the land will be hushed into a ca’m ;
the fever which rages in the body politic will be
subdued. Men will once more think soberly—talk
rationally—live fraternally. To us, therefore, the
new era is one of hope. We have been overshadow
ed by the political clouds that have overhung the
nation. In one week, the elective franchise will
have conveyed their lightnings harmlessly to the
earth, and the thunders of contention will cease. In
the after-calm we shall doubtless secure the atten
tion of hundreds, whose eyes have hitherto been
filled only with the portents of the political heavens.
We argue thus, because the political campaign has
been most frequently made the plea for delaying to
contribute to the support of our Journal. ‘We have
no time to devote to Literature, now,’ said the
statesman, the lawyer, the physician, the planter,
the merchant, the teacher, ‘ we devote all our spare
moments to politics.’ We will not ask them if their
spare time is the only sacrifice they have made at
the political shrine; but, now that a week must, de
facto, determine the result, and there will be no
longer food for protracted excitement, we beg, se
riously, to lay the claims of Literature and the Arts
before the people of the South.
In all the Territory South of the Potomac, there
are three—perhaps four—Literary Periodicals; a
Quarterly in South Carolina—a Monthly in Virgin
ia—a Weekly in Georgia ! Now let us glance, for
a moment, at the Territory North of the Potomac.
There are half a dozen able Reviews—at least a
score and a half of Monthly Magazines—and we do
not hesitate to say, a hundred Weekly and Bi
monthly Journals—devoted exclusively to Litera
ture and the Arts! How striking and how humilia
ting the contrast! And can it be that Southerners
will suffer this state of things to continue 1 We
cannot suppose it —we will not believe it. When,
if ever, the painful conviction does reach our mind,
we will stop our press, and lay aside our pen in sor
row and in shame! But, till then we will ‘hope
on’ and toil on, undismayed by difficulties, uncheck
ed by obstacles, uncomplaining of ill-rewarded labor,
unmindful of the croakings, alike of timid friends and
sneering foes, unsatisfied until we have thrown the
very last grain of our influence and ability into the
scale of intellectual regeneration for the South.
The Schoolfellow.
Our readers will find, in the present number, a
Prospectus of a Magazine for Boys and Girls; and,
as this is the very first enterprize of its kind in this
region, we trust it will awaken considerable interest
and secure a very large patronage. We do not
think it necessary to say much concerning it at pre
sent, but we shall be pardoned, doubtless, for calling
attention to the plan, and soliciting for its further
ance the earnest cooperation of parents and teachers
in the South.
The impressibility of the youthful mind is so uni
versally acknowledged, and the importance of giv
ing it right impressions so much insisted on, that it
cannot be a matter of small moment to establish a
Magazine, whose exclusive aim is to supply instruc
tion and amusement for the young. The absence
of those tastes for Literature and the fine Arts,
which is so often deplored by our writers and our
orators, will continue to be felt until a generation
of educated youth comes upon the stage of society :
and to educate the young, in the true sense of the
term, their tastes, their minds and their hearts,
must all undergo careful culture.
As books are one of the great means by which
Taste is developed, and the mind well informed, it
is no small undertaking to provide a Monthly Maga
zine, especially adapted to the juvenile capacity—a
work which shall at once inform and delight the
mind, develop and mould the taste, and become a
companion and friend to the young. Such we pro
pose to make ‘ The Schoolfellow.’ The work will he
edited, printed and illustrated, with as much care
and skill as if it were designed for men and women
of acknowledged taste. For, so long as books for
the young are made up of silly stories and wretched
pictures, so long will they injure and degrade rather
than benefit their readers.
We shall make ‘ The Schoolfellow ’ in every re
spect beautiful; and we mean all that we say, when
we assert that no American Juvenile publication in
our wide country shall be either handsomer or chea
per than that which we now offer to the boys and
girls of the South.
We hope that our friends, and especially teachers,
will proceed immediately to form clubs in their
Schools, and send on the lists to us before the holi
days commence.
We offer the work to our young people on no con
tingency except some Providential one. Our life
and health being spared, we will publish * The
Schoolfellow’ for one year at least. If it is sustain
ed as it should be, we will publish it for many years.
Bear in mind, that we offer four hundred pages of
choice reading, and one hundred beautiful engra
vings, for ONE DOLLAR, and to Clubs in Schools
for SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS a copy! We hope
to obtain a thousand names before the first of De
cember ; for, what boy or girl in the South will not
desire it !
3T&e UCtcrari? ffJHorllr.
Announcements. —The illustrated edition of the
Sketch Book has just been issued by Geo. I*. Put
nam. The illustrations are from the pencil of Dar
ley, and by the best Engravers. We are impatient
to see a copy.
The Poems of Mias Anne C. Lynch will shortly
appear, in a volume uniform with the splendid illus
trated editions of Bryant, Longfellow and Willis.—
It is announced by Mr. Putnam, the issues of whoso
press are always attractive and recherche. He is
also preparing a volume of Poems by J. Bayard
Taylor, the pedestrian traveller.
The Appletons have issued elegant cabinet edi
tions of Gil Bias and Don Quixotte, with numerous
fine steel plates, at a very low price—a truly accept
able service to the reading public.
Mr. Cooper’s “Oak Openings” has already reach
ed a third edition.
General Gleanings. —The Literary World has
the following items of foreign literary news :
Lyell, the English Geologist, has been knighted
by the Queen,
Lord Brougham is about to publish a letter to
Lord Lansdowne, on French affairs.
Art Items.— Goupil, Vibert& Cos., of New York,
will publish next month the splendid print from
Mount’s beautiful picture of “ The Power of Mu
sic.” It will be a gem of Art worth possessing.—
They also announce a series of Views of the most in
teresting objects and scenery of the United States of
America, engraved in Paris, in magnificent style,
from drawings by Kbllner. For each number of six
plates, the price will be only Two Dollars.
A Gift for the Queen. —We learn that a copy
of the Springfield Unabridged Edition of Webster’s
Dictionary has been bound by J. B. Lippincott &
Cos., of Philadelphia, in a style worthy of the object
for which the volume is designed—presentation to
Queen Victoria. It is surely something for our coun
try, that it can afford England’s Queen so magnifi
cent a lexicon of her own language!
<Dur ffifosstp Column.
The ladies are down upon our luckless correspon
dent, Peter Schlemil, Jr., to use a common simile,
“ like a thousand of brick.” We have heard some
of them avow that “ they will now wear the ‘jack
et’ more than ever —just to let Peter Schlemil know
that they are not to be frightened by a man whose
father lost his shadow, and who, of course, must be
destitute of one himself!” We admire the spirit of
our fair friends, and cannot refuse to publish the
note of our correspondent, Jerusha, although she
says harder things of Peter than we think are me
rited :
At Home, Oct. 28th.
Mr. Editor: I have just read in your paper of to
day, the ill-natured letter of your good-for-nothing
correspondent, Peter Schlemil, Jr., and I feel com
pelled to reply to his ridiculous insinuations and
pointless satire. In the first place, Sir, I beg to ask
what Mr. Schlemil, or Mr. Any-body-else, has to
do with the toilet of the ladies. Things have come
to a pretty pass, indeed, if we are not to adopt any
style of dress we please, without consulting the so
called “ lords of creation.” Lords of creation—in
deed ! Why now, Sir, I put it to your candor, as a
married man, if this is not an idle, empty, and pre
posterous assumption. The ladies are the true sove
reigns ; and we know it well enough. But let that
pass; and I ask again, what have the men to do
with our modes of dress I Are we to consult them
as to how many flounces we shall wear on our frocks
—or how many skirts we shall wear under them 1
The idea is infinitely amusing. And pray, Sir, why
then are we assailed for wearing a very pretty, ap
propriate and fashionable article, variously known
as a Josey, a Jump, or a Jacket! Let me tell Peter
Schlemil that we do not intend to intimate thereby
a predilection for the vulgar nether garments whose
name I blush to write even. But one thing 1 will
say, and that is this: if ever Mr. Schlemil should
have the presumption to pay his addresses to me, I
think I would accept them, just to have an opportu
nity of proving to him that there are ladies who have
a better right to wear the unutterables than he. As
to his threat of retaliation upon us by assuming a
part of our legitimate costume, I can only say —Let
him, if he dares. I, for one, should be delighted to
see the show, and should doubtless be forcibly re
minded of the fable of the Jackdaw in the plumes of
the Peacock. In behalf of my sex, I am, Sir,
Very respectfully, yours,
JERUSHA JUMP.
We hope our friend “Bayard” and our
classical readers, will not judge our Latinity by the
phrase in the Letter on Homeopathy, in No. 25,
where it is printed—“ Similia similibus eurrenter .”
Os course it should have been curantur —and the
only apology we have to offer for the mistake is, that
we did not observe it until the paper was off the
press A much esteemed friend, connected
with one of our Universities, says in a recent letter:
“ Much as your Journal has been praised every
where, I do not know that you will think it a com
pliment when 1 tell you that my little daughter, not
yet seven years old, meets me every Tuesday on my
return from the Post Office, with the question, ‘ la
the Gazette come, Papal’” * * * We do regard
it as a compliment, and especially are we pleased to
have this testimony to the fitness of our Journal for
the young, from so excellent and judicious a parent
as our correspondent The last phase of
Flunkeiana, as exhibited by Punch, has this elo
quent text:
Enter Thomas, who gives teaming.
Gent. “Oh, certainly ! you can go, of course;
but as you have been with me for nine years, I should
like to know the reason.”
Thomas. “ Why, sir, it’s my feelins. Y'ou used
always to read prayers, sir, yourself, and since Miss
V ilkins has bin here, she bin a reading of ’em.—
Now 1 can t bemean myself by sayin’ ‘ Amen’ to a
Guv’ness!”
Punch gives us a fine page-illustration of “ John
Bull strangled by £. s. d.” It is a picture after the
lamous Laocoon, in wnich the foregoing magic ini
tials are ingeniously woven into the semblance of a
huge snake around the athletic form of John Bull.
The sentence of death has been pronounced
against Smith O’Brien, found guilty of treason;
and we fear that he has, ere this, paid the dread
penalty of his patriotic efforts to benefit his unhappiy
country!
Ouc Uoofc ©ntiic.
Chbistian Songs — By the Rev. James Gilborne
Lyons, LL. D. Fourth edition. Philadelphia:
Geo. S. Appleton.
A book of original poetry does not often reach the
fourth edition unless it possesses real merit; and this
handsome volume affords, we think, no exception to
the rule. Dr. Lyons exhibits the true poetic spirit,
an appreciation of the beautiful, and a graceful fa
cility of utterance in verse. These “ Christian
Songs” commend themselves to the “pure in heart,”
not only by the fervor of their tone, but by the ele
gance and sweetness of their diction. It is customa
ry, we know, with critics of a certain class, to depre
ciate religious verse, and to regard the alliance of
Piety and Poetry as ungenial. Never wero critics
moro in the wrong, and never did they assume a po
sition more utterly at variance with example. To
say nothing of the Poetry of the Bible—lnspiration
speaking in the sublirnest language!—how fertile in
illustrations of the beauty, fervor and power of Reli
gious Poetry is the present age. Where is there
more delicacy of fancy, more fitness of imagery,
more grace of style, more pathos of sentiment, more
power of thought, than in the poetry of Cowper,
James Montgomery, Milman, Heber, and a host of
others ! But let us ask a gain—ln what themes have
poets not professedly Christian, been more eminent
ly successful than in those of a religious nature !
Where are there more exquisite poems than the He
brew Melodies of Byron—the Sacred Melodies of
Moore ! What other of Burns’ Poems equals, in all
the elements of true poetry, the Cotter’s Saturday
Night! Where is Wordsworth more truly poetical
than in his sacred themes ! Among our own Amer
ican authors, instances in point are not wanting.—
The sacred poems of N. P. Willis are by far the no
blest productions of his genius. The poems of Bry
ant, Dana, Pierpont, and others, will afford still fur
ther illustration of our view.
We claim, then, that R eligious Poetry is the very
highest manifestation of the “ Ars Divina.” To be
a true and successful writer of Christian song, is to
wield an influence and acquire a reputation world
wide and enduring. The tones that ring out from
the harp of the sacred lyrist thrill the mighty heart
of Christendom, and reverberate to the remotest
shores upon which the Cross of Christ has been
planted High and enviable, indeed, is the reputa
tion of the Christian Poet! We must not extend
these incidental remarks, but turn again to the vol
ume before us.
Some of these “Songs” are familiar to the public,
as they have been copied into the newspapers from
Maine to Louisiana—and are well-deserving of their
popularity. “The Magnetic Telegraph”and “The
River Saco” are of this number. Among the most
beautiful in the volume, we should mention “ The
Flowers of God,’* “ Images of God,” and “A Rosy
Child went forth to play.” The author’s versifica
tion is very melodious, and there is no studied
quaintness, no affectation, no obscurity in the style.
We shall afford our readers occasional specimens of
these “Christian Songs”; and we cordially con
gratulate the author on his success.
The Childrens’ Year. By Mart Howitt. Il
lustrated with four Plates. Philadelphia: Lea&
Blanchard.
Thanks, say we, in behalf of the dear children —
thanks to Mary Howitt for writing this charming
little book—and to the American Publishers for re
producing it in its present beautiful form. It is a
record, in the most simple and attractive style, of
“ the voluntary occupations and pleasures, and of
the sentiments and feelings” of the two youngest
children of the author for a whole year. If any lit
tle reader —and we would almost venture to leave
out the word little , and say, if any reader of this
pretty volume is not charmed with Herbert and
Meggy, we do not envy his taste.
207