The sunny South. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1875-1907, December 18, 1875, Image 5

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[For The Sunny South.] “HAS SHE AXY MONEY!” BY J. P. LUNSFORD. [At & hotel in Monroe, Louisiana, in June, 1873, the au thor heard the above question asked by a participant in the conversation alluded to below.] Her beauty aud her rare accomplishments Were spoken of in proper terms by some Who had been favored with an interview. But there was one whose thoughts about the maid Assumed a different shape; for, not content To know her physical and mental charms, He wished to learn how well her purse was filled. He asked the question, but did scarcely wait To hear the answer ere he spoke again; And this time used the language, “ If she has, I will look after her;” he might have said, - ** I will look after if,” —that's what he meant. Perhaps he had but little of his own. And that was why he wish’d so much for hers. Who was the man that thus would lie in wait To pounce upon a fortune—do you ask? His name and calling were alike unknown. He may have been some "stripling of the law,” Whose fees were insufficient for his needs; Or was it some half-famished young M.D., Whose name had Dr. often at the right ? Or was the handle to bis name A.B.? Or more pretending still, A.M.—the art, And all the art, that he was master of To spend the money that another made ? Some "gentleman of leisure,” who had lived Upon his father's means until that source, Or the paternal patience had run dry? He wanted money,— that was all I knew. Or may I claim to kuow still more than this? Would he not sacrifice a lady’s heart, And every sense of honor he possessed, To satisfy his artificial wants ? Besides privation, what could lead one on To such perversion of the heart aud mind? Cairo, Georgia, October, 1875. [For The Sunny South.] READINGJIISTORY. BY J. NOBCBOSS. j Having read not long ago in The Sunny South an excellent article on “ Writing History,” and Lord Macaulay as a writer, I propose to say a few words on reading history, and Mr. Ban croft as a writer. That the Americans in general, or, in common parlance, Young America, are ceasing to be readers of history, and thereby becoming igno ramuses as to the history of their own country, ' it is presumed no one will deny. In truth, this negligence and ignorance is becoming to be quite a serious and dangerous matter with even our otherwise well-educated people. I say seri ous and dangerous matter to our free and fun damental institutions. History is said to teach philosophy by example, and it is questionable if we could have any such a character as a true moral, political or religious philosopher, without a thorough knowledge of history. And who does not know, or may not know, that wily politicians and sectaries can so dis tort true history as to make isolated facts tell lies to the great injury of society, and that ' each constant and candid historical reader, i although he may be otherwise unlearned, is ; a most useful and conservative member of : society ? It is true we lind a great many i historical facts scattered here and there through our popular and every-day litera ture; and we have a smattering of it in our | primary school-books, but all this by no j means supersedes the necessity and impor- : tance of regular historical reading, and a [For The Sonny South.] SLANG. BOOKS AND PERIODICALS. PERSONALS. Pub- Wonld it not, Mr. Editor, give a little zest to The Sunny South, were a corner in it reserved for some friendly critic, whose role it should be to scrutinize and comment upon its merits — touching, now and then, with amiable caustic, Isfelice: A Novel. By Augusta Evans Wilson. lished by Carleton & Co., New York. Price, $2. This book has been anxiously looked for by the readers of fiction. It has been for some time “upon the easel.” It was understood that the author was elaborating it more carefully than she had done any of her previous works. It was hinted that its stvle and conduct would anything that its columns mat' present not con- show a departure from her former models, i f i The book has appeared, in Carleton's eleg sonant with its just claims to be the exponent of Southern literary culture? All men are mortal. Ay ! and women, too—angels upon earth, doubt less, are many of the latter. The very wings which adorn them do occasionally carry them appeared, in (Jarleton s elegant imprint aud binding, and its contents verify the anticipation of greater care and skill. The style is pruned of much of its redundance, and there is less pedantic display of knowledge. " •: - . i&M: -, ^ . .v' . V thorough knowledge of the standard works OUH PORTRAIT 0ALL upon history. And now, to show how de- I generate we are in this branch of knowl- _ „ _ _ /vnTATTAT/i ! el lge, l®t me cite a case or two: ROBERT BROWNING. Not long ago, a lady of some refinement TT . , , , | and culture, in our community, expressed lla\ ing billed, as elsewhere stated, to have our a ,, reat deal of surprise when told that Gen- portrait of Vice-President Wilson ready in time erttl Jacksou ( .. 0 ld Hickory”) was dead. A for this issue oi the paper, we present in its stead ; gentleman of some note, in his neighbor- the striking face of England s great poet, Robert hoo d, G11 beillg ( , ue8t i 0 ned, could not tell Browning, whose pure, classical genius is the whether General Washington was dead or pride not of Britain alone, but ot the wide em- tt ]i ve or whether he was a Frenchman or p.re of letters -of all who can appreciate exalted an America n. Another, on hearing the bat- sentiment, grand morality and high, sustained tie of Yorktown discussed, innocently asked imagination. Ills poem “The King and the , .. what couutrv Yorktown was in.” And al- Book has been criticised for its mystical, intro- : thou h x tell lt with some mort ifi C ation, a verted style; but this peculiarity is more than gentleman not long since wanted to pur- compensated for by the noble thought, the subtle - cbase a hist of tbe Unite d States in this fancy and the elevated morale of the work. His | cit anU the olliy one he cou ]d find, in all latest production, “Aristophanes Apology, is our bookstores, was Mrs. Willard’s school his-I knows no geographical boundaries. But this I considered his masterpiece. It is deeply stamped j tor , fj j n one volume, and second-handed, at that, j may be permitted to say, that to “the women with the individuality of his genius. _ j And t jiere is any standard history of America I of the South ” there are distinctive features of Kobert Browning, like Longfellow, has given fiingular proof of the brain at work in all its vigor under the gray hairs of age. The poet is now sixty-three years old, having been born in 1812 in Camberwell, a suburb of London. He was educated at the London University. At the age of twenty, he went to Italy, where he lived for many years. The effect of his Italian life is distinctly revealed in his poetry, in his choice of subjects and in his treatment of them. In 1840, he married the celebrated poetess, Eliza beth Barrett, authoress of “Aurora Leigh,” “The Drama of Exile,” and a number of exquisite minor poems. After her death. Browning re turned to England, where with his son, his only child, he leads a retired student’s life in or near London. * [For The Sunny South.] L2TTER FROM NEW ORLEANS. into regions whither to follow them our grosser But there is no real departure from former mod- nature vainly struggles. Far be it from one of els, only a marked improvement in their form, their most ardent admirers to impute to the “fe- The characters are still rather ideal creatures male writers of the South ” any tendency to vio- than copies of real flesh-and-blood beings. Why late the laws of correctness and good taste in ; should this be esteemed a fault? Tt is not so literary composition. Social and aesthetic culture i regarded in artists and sculptors, whose most admired works are purely ideal. Even por trait painters are praised rather than blamed when the charm of feature or expression in their subjects is heightened—spiritualized by some delicate touch of the brush inspired by the imagination. The most narrow of realists must concede that the shadows of beauty and of moral excellence that some times visit our imaginations transcend the reality. Our novel-writers are becoming too realistic and prosaic, and one who lifts us occasionally into a rarer atmosphere “on the heights,” will not be blamed if her characters show a little strangely through the golden mist of imagination, or if they pose like statues or trained models for art ists, rather than like ordinary mortals. In “Infelice,” Mrs. Wilson secures a more absorbing plot, and works it out with more skill than is seen in any of her preceding works. The characters of mother and daugh ter present fine contrasts throughout the book, and are clearly conceived and con sistently operated. Minnie Merle is espe cially marked. The antagonism between her natural, tender, womanly impulses and the spirit of revenge that circumstances has implanted, is well shown in the fierce struggles that take place within her. It was a stroke of nature to show how this en grafted revengeful principle crops out even in minor actions and betrays its hold upon the actress, as for instance in that scene in the park at Paris, where she throws into the middle of the basin the stick of the little hoy she has found tormenting Maude. The book abounds in dramatic scenes, situa tions and speeches, and we should not be sur- in the Young Men’s Library of this city, I have I devotion to purity and truth which history, that [ prised to hear that it has been dramatized and not been able to find it. These facts are enough j never lies, has engraved in imperishable charac- j put upon the stage. * to show that the reading of history, at least in this our part of the world, has become almost as obsolete as the trial of civil eases by Wager of Battle. But the main point of this article is to speak of “Bancroft’s History of the United States,” which is, and should be, far more to the Ameri can public than “Macaulay's History” to the British public; and in doing this, of course, I am not puffing a new work, as part of it has been j before the public forty years, though not yet ! completed. More than forty years of study and J labor, and the best opportunities for the exarn- | ination of records, both in America and Europe, that any man has ever enjoyed, has given this work the most reliable and authentic stamp as to its truthfulness, of any that has ever been un dertaken. It is, in a word, a complete history of Amerioa and of the United States, in partic ular down to the close of the lievolutionary War; and for this reason alone, should be read by every one who can read a newspaper. It is true Bancroft is not as polished and ar tistic a writer as Macaulay or Prescott; but his style is as robust and commanding as that of j the germ of moral and intellectual decadence Gibbon or Hume, and his work is far more val- j finds in the perversion and contamination of ters. Having thus, I trust, fortified my position against any charge of being a vile caluminator of feminine literary effort, let me return to my text. With a free press and a cheap literature, it is no matter of surprise that we are flooded with publications in which the pure in thought and i language is outraged with impunity. The slang of the street-corners has become j the most efficient instrument for pointing “ the I moral” and adorning “the tale.” As we learn j to talk, so we are tempted to write, and under the law of action and reaction, ruling here as everywhere, we are drawn imperceptibly into a vicious contempt for that purity of style which a cultured people should, as the very apple of the eye, religiously preserve. It has been re marked by that eminent philologist, Archbishop French, that a people’s morals may be estimated by that people’s proverbs, and if poor readers know anything about the proverbs of Italy and Spain, the truth of this proposition will not be questioned. It is assuredly not less a fact that uable than all to the American reader. His facts are well substantiated and all that can be de sired, and given with equally as much clearness and force as either of the others. He does not paint characters like Macaulay or Walter Scott, but he detects causes, or the origin of great events with equally as much skill, and philoso phizes on principles and the springs of action among men with equal soundness; and it is un questionably as valuable a piece of history as ever was written. Nor has any true narrative more of the romantic and dramatic, both in its matter and its composition. It now extends to the tenth volume, and it is to be hoped that the author will continue it to the present time. If these remarks shall awaken a desire in any one for old-fashioned historical reading, the trouble of writing them will be more than re paid. For in my humble opinion, this world contains no more happy and contended being than a habitual historical reader; it consoles us for the past and reconciles us to the future, if it does nothing more. Corn Without Rain.—A Benton county (Miss.) correspondent of the Farmer's Vindicator says he last year raised eighty bushels of corn to the acre with but one rain, which fell on June 15. Read his explanation: “I laid my rows three and a half feet apart, threw out with a turning-plow, ran a deep fur- language a soil peculiarly adapted to its gross and noxious nature. Writers, masculine and feminine alike, are daily tempted to feed upon those husks of slang and idiomatic phraseology which their break fast-table newspaper provides for them. Is there no danger of this rank food becoming assimi lated ? It is only a suggestion that is here offered, and it will be time enough to enlarge upon the vital importance of this matter of pure language and composition when the present offering has ap peared in the “comer” asked for it by ourself. Nolnhlo Weil«llng»— Elegant Dresses — Tha Hig llonsni.il—Barrel, the Lsily-Klller— j 1'rejmriLt ions for (ho Holidays—Aew Books. The matrimonial epidemic, which laughs at hard times, prevails to a certain extent in the Crescent Gity. Among the weddings on dit, two are specially noteworthy—one, for the recherche preparations that are made for its celebration, and the other, because of the age and eccen- are well KUDstantiacea ana^ an mar can De ue- j tricity of the contracting parties. The first takes 1 A * " place among our new aristocracy, who have risen to the surface since the war on a foundation of oil. It is to take place with all the eclat that money can bestow. I have been favored with a description of the bridal dress—a white gros-grain silk covered with flounces of point applique lace, one flounce alone costing five hundred dollars. A sister of the bride was married some time since in a dress ordered from Paris, and costing there fifteen hundred dollars. Some excitement is produced among the cir cles of the Creole elite by the approaching mar riage of an elderly but stylish widow, with four grown daw/hters, all over twenty and unmarried. Isn’t it odd to see the mama step off first ? How ever, she has done her best to merit their good wishes by having had her lawyer draw up settle ments for each of her daughters, so that their new papa (who is a wealthy old bachelor) cannot play tyrant over them when the honeymoon is over, no matter if they should prove a little un ruly. Of course, you have read accounts of the recent wedding in colored high-life—the blooming widow of our late Lieutenant-Governor Dunn being united to a gay Senator from Baton Rouge. It was a dark affair; yet, as the papers chroni cled, swallow-tails and pin-backs shone on that festive occasion in their latest glory. The “Big Bonanza” came out Monday night i row -with a bull-tongue plow in the water furrow, j season has been ninety-five cents, at the Varieties. The play is a success in every | put sixty bushels of cotton seed in the bull- j Sheriff Conneb and Warden Dunham, of New sense of the word keeping the audience in a tongue furrows, threw four furrows with the ; Yorki are liftble to a fine of SLOOO and one - s hearty laugh from the beginning to its end Ihe turn-plow, reversing the bed, planted my corn impris0 nment for letting Tweed escape. And story goes around town that among the troupe | very shallow on the top of the ridge, and cnlti- | t * it is probab i e that even at that rate it paid GENERAL NEWS. ; them handsomely to let him go. there is a young lady (Miss Jewett, a principal j rated shallow with short cotton shovel the first star, too), whose father is a wealthy New York • two plowings. Laid by with a turning plow, | _ T ... , „ , ,, banker. She became stage-struck about two ; running shallow nearest the corn, deeper in the j k e l 1 ®' v ® s ’that Tweed escaped. Not al. years ago, secured an engagement and is now middle of the rows. I then took a long bull- tlle oaths which Shenfl Conner and all his dep- * - - • " “ - - ...... - 1 uties could swear in a twelve-month would induce tongue plow and subsoiled by running two fur rows in the middle of the rows leaving a small ! anybody to believe that Tweed escaped from loose bed eight or ten inches deep. I tried sub- those vigilant Tammany officials. The story of soiling on different pieces of land, both in corn ; Tweed 8 e8ca P e 18 altogether too amusing, and cotton, and I found in gathering a differ- j The Methodist Episcopal Conference now in ence of four hundred pounds of cotton per acre ] session at Charlotte, N. C., have resolved to raise in favor of the acre subsoiled. These experi- I S60.000 to liquidate the debts of the three colleges ments were made last year; all done on a small | of the Conference. The same amount is to be scale, as everything else is done in Mississippi, 1 raised for the support of superanuated ministers. starring it here. Her mother accompanies her to every place. Barret is still a great sensation here. All the young ladies and two-thirds of the married ones are in love with him. One stricken girl wrote to him telling him of her love, signing it with her name in full. He promptly handed the missive to her father, ad vising him to look after his daughter. The season for soirees and social reunions has not vet fairly opened. Grunewalde, the piano j except levying taxes.” king', has just returned from Europe, bringing , * new music and bis pretty daughter. His hand- | The Hair.—The hair is again worn—we are some residence was thrown open to a crowd of informed by a leading modiste—in finger puffs, friends on the occasion of her return. ' and crimped or frizzed about the brow with a There is to be a grand graduation exhibition i cable braid running around the crown, back of at Grunewald Hall on the 23d of this month, j which are more puffs, and then a braid or a coil, One of our most popular private schools, “The ; as taste may dictate. And one or two, and some- Peabody High School,” sends out over two dozen j times three long curls fall down on the neck at ■young girls into the big world. They have al- j the side or back of the coil. We noticed quite ready learned something practical, though, for i recently theseTong graceful curls again rippling some of them wanted to graduate in their calico j over the shoulders of our most fashionable belles dresses, for “they would stand a much better on the promenades or shopping every sunny af- chance of getting husbands than if decked in ternoon, and we are heartily glad to see these silks and tarlatans.” - pretty and becoming styles again in vogue, for Grand preparations are being made for the ' the plain and severe style of drawing the hair holidays. The shops are brilliant with beautiful i smoothly back from the brow, and winding it in things, and the clubs are preparing for splendid a simple coil at the back of the neck, is very try- festivities. One of them, it is said, has sent ing to most faces, and becoming to none but thirty thousand dollars to Paris to purchase ma- [ very fresh and beautiful ones. terials for the coming carnival. _ j Mardisras also promises to be a most magnifi- Four Vice Presidents have died in office. - , , _ - - - „ cent occasion, and really the city needs some- These were George Clinton, who died in 1812; i ^ ora ’ at tae rate two P ar .^ or first hve thine of the kind to waken it up and make it Elbridge Gerry, who died in 1814; William R. i years, increasing^ for each additional five years, forget political annoyances. King, who died in 1853, and Henry Wilson, that^the ?I an _-T 1 I\ The book-shelves are full of new books. Mrs. ( Daniel D. Tompkins, whose term as Vice Presi- The Miller of Silcott Mills: A Novel. By Mrs. Dar- rington Deslonde, of New Orleans. Carleton & Co., Publishers, New York. Price, $1.50. A story which opens unpretendingly, with characters in the middle and lower ranks of life, and gradually leads us into the midst of an in tricate plot in which the interests of several neighboring families are involved, and whose dark shades of treachery, domestic misery, mur der and remorse are admirably brightened by gleams of comic sunshine. Indeed, the comedy in the book is the most enjoyable part of it, and in next week’s paper we will extract the chapter that introduces Andy Jane—Sarah Hope’s hired girl—whose “ cuteness ” discovered the clue to some of the mysteries that crop up in the clos ing chapters of the volume. The characters in “ The Miller of Silcott Mills” are cleverly outlined, but they lack complete ness, and the parts they play are inconsequen tial compared with the promise suggested at their introduction. The character of Mrs. Druffle, for instance, leads us to believe she will afford some startling surprises during the course of the story, but the part she does play is rather tame and insignificant. The hook, however, is rich in promise. There is vigor in the style and in the narrative itself, and we look forward eagerly to the new novel which the author has now in press. * The Anglo-Saxon: Historical Drama for Young La dies. By Mrs. Clifford C. Niles. This little pamphlet has been lying on our table for some weeks, with its accompanying card inviting us to witness the performance of the drama by the young ladies of Griffin Female College—an invitation that we regret having been unable to accept. We have read the drama, however, with pleasure, and find it ingeniously managed and containing many poetic concep tions, several fine dramatic situations and effec tive tableaux. Mrs. Niles is an accomplished writer and an admirable critic. We look forward with interest to her promised work, “Text-Book of American Literature. ” * Johnny Beb, the Confederate: A Lecture. By J. E. Farror. After over two hundred repetitions of these lectures, they are now brought out in pamphlet form. They are intended to unfold the phases of army life and war times that are too frequently overlooked by the chroniclers of what is digni fied as “history.” The success of the lectures in delivery may be deemed a guarantee of their readability. Richmond: W. A. R. Nye, Pub lisher. "West India Pickles.”—This is a spicy “ Log” of a yacht-cruise through the West Indies, by W. P. Talboys, published by G. W. Carleton, N. Y. One reads it with such hearty enjoyment as in boyhood days was afforded by the Rolla books. Talboys cruised with his eyes open— not for the public, hut one eye for himself and the other for—well, he says, “a mite whose un surpassable little feet have trampled on my heart these years past.” The book is all the bet ter that it does not read like a book, and never was written for a book—all the better that it was not meant for the dear public, but for “my friend and me,” and not to read, but to talk about. Its descriptions are the dashing strokes of one who has an eye for the grand and the gro tesque; not graphic, but suggestive, and made as if the author meant to finish them in the days of dolce far niente, when those “ unsurpassable rp, f , , - , . ,, I feet’’shall descend from his long-trampled heart Ihe action ot the body was harmonious in the . , . ?, n . , J to nestle near his own upon the hearthstone. ex re ’ . j There is the touch of the true artist in many of The Metropolitan Hotel at Jacksonville is these quasi charcoal sketches, and the reader is crowded to overflowing. The St. James has j able to see with the author’s eyes, and in general double the number that it had at this time last j to appropriate the author’s sense perceptions, year. Many of the smaller boarding houses are j a fine vein of humor running through the already filled. All signs point to a very busy j book entitles it to the relishing name, “Pickles.” and prosperous season. The Grand National is One hardly has the heart to offer an adverse crit- rapidly filling up. , i c ism upon a dish so delectable, but one who de- The uncounted millions of the late W. B. Astor , tests garlic will spit and sputter if his caterer are to be distributed among his immediate fam- ' insists upon seasoning his food with it. Now, ily, excepting bequests giving S200.000 to the i it necessarily happens that the dramatis persona; Astor Library, $20,000 among certain charitable ! of “West India Pickles” are of the race that corporations, $10,000 to the American Bible j composed the “ people ” of the Southern plant- Geobgia Railroad stock has advanced to $81.25 per share. The General Assembly of Georgia convenes the second Wednesday in January. India has seven hundred and fifty thousand acres devoted to the cultivation of opium. The Mobile Register says the present State debt of Alabama is not less than thirty-four million dollars. It is’ estimated that the cotton crop of South Carolina this year will be about 325,000 bales, against 400,000 last year. The grain crop of Texas this year amounts to about 8,000,000 bushels. The average price of wheat at Dallas since the opening of the grain Society, $10,000 among four faithful employees, on condition that they were in his service at the time of his demise. The Commissioners appointed to liquidate the debt of the State of Alabama, have submitted to the creditors of the State a proposition to issue thirty years currency bonds payable in New Darrington Deslonde, one of our society belles, j dent expired in 1825, died the same year. has just published a novel, “The Miller of Sil- j — cott Mills,” which is favorably commented upon, j Victor Hugo casually mentions that his enemies Napier Bartlett, whom Atlantians will remember have accused him of being a spendthrift and a as* a former citizen and an associate editor of the , drunkard, but that he is no such man. Southern Confederacy, has a new book, “Military , *** , . , . , Records of Louisiana,” which is highly spoken i Halliwell thinks that to work up his materials its exact statistical information and con- : for the illustration of the “Life of Shakspeare ” y l e _ Leena. j will take ten years. Well, we can't wait State obligations now in circulation is $100,000. The recent detection of gigantic frauds in the Pension Bureau, at Washington, reveals a well- devised plan of swindling that is unprecedented in the history of rascality. It is thought that seven out of the thirty millions appropriated for pensions are paid on fraudulent claims, or to attorneys. It is hoped that some means will be applied that will effectually stop these leaks, and bring these parties to justice. ers under the old regime. Now, we call them black folks, colored folks, negroes, and rarely, when we are splenetic, we follow the bad exam ple of Mr. Talboys and call them “niggers.” “ The Walk and Other Poems," by J. A. Mer- I cator, has been doomed with a score or more of I companion books to await the leisure that never comes, or receive “mere mention.” A hasty | turning of the leaves this morning has determined i us to read it. The modest preface speaks of the production as “ recreation ” to the author, and we think it will afford recreation to the reader. Among i “Other Poems” “ Ida in Bohemia” is charmingly : conceived. Newberry, S. C.: John A. Chapman; i Charleston: Walker, Evans & Cogswell. The Apostolic Times, a weekly of the “ Christ- : ian” denomination, under the editorial charge of R. Graham and J. W. McGarvy, is an able advo- : .... of the tenets of its order. G. L. Fox, the celebrated Humpty Dumpty actor, has become insane. Theodore Tilton seems to have captivated the Blue-Grass people of Kentucky. Ex-Governor Walker, of Virginia, attracts at tention as the handsomest man in Congress. Eva, adopted daughter of Henry Wilson, aged ten years, is in school at Clarendon Hills, Mass. Miss Sickles, the eldest daughter of General Sickles, is about to marry a Spanish nobleman. J. W. Robinson, to whom Santa Anna surren dered, is a member of the Texas State Conven tion. Josh Billings, the Telegraph says, will lecture in Macon sometime in January. This will be | his first visit South. Colonel John D. Stuart has been elected Mayor of Griffin, Ga., and Colonel J. S. Pinckard, Mayor of Forsyth, Ga. i Hon. George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, accom panied by his wife and two daughters, spent a ' few days in Atlanta last week. | Charles D. Jacobs has been re-elected Mayor of Louisville by 835 majority, after the bitterest contest ever known in that city. Rev. A. G. Haygood has been elected to the Presidency of Emory College, and has entered upon the discharge of his duties. The appointment of J. W. Renfroe to the po sition of State Treasurer for Georgia seems to give general satisfaction. He is a worthy gentle man. Professor Greene, of Rhode Island, will read a sketch of his grandfather, General Nathaniel Greene, in connection with the Centennial next summer. Mrs. Deslonde, the new Southern novelist, is the daughter of the late Colonel Darrington, of Clarke county, Ala., and a sister-in-law of Gen. Beauregard. Edgar Allan Poe, the poet, was the grandson of Benedict Arnold. His mother, Elizabeth Ar nold, an English actress, was the natural daugh ter of the traitor. Mr. O. V. Shearer, late of the Vicksburg Her ald, annouces himself as a candidate before the Legislature for the position of State Librarian. Mr. Shearer would make an excellent Librarian. Dr. W. J. Fogle, of Columbus, Ga., had pre sented to him the two false teeth which were found after the cremation of Parkham by Dr. Webster, in Boston, Mass., many years since. Many remember the great excitement which that most extraordinary murder created. Professor Marengo, of Baltimore, Md., who two years ago offered this valuable prize to the best artistic dentist in the United States, with the Board of Advisers, awarded the same to Dr. W. jJ. Fogle by a unanimous vote. Movements in Southern Society. Masqueeade Pabty. — A grand masquerade party will be given under the auspices of the Putnam Rifles at the residence of Mr. Prank Leverett, in Eatonton, Georgia, on Tuesday night, December the 28th. On thanksgiving day, November 25, 1875, in Scott county, the blue-grass region of Kentucky, at the residence of Dr. Church Blackburn, uncle of the brides’, there was gathered a select and elegant company, relatives and friends of the bridal parties, to witness the marriages of Frank Chinn, of Frankfort, Kentucky, to Miss Lizzie Hunt, of Greenville, Mississippi; and Russel Rodman, of Frankfort, to Miss Prue Hunt, of Greenville. The ceremonies were performed in a beautiful and impressive manner by the dis tinguished Rev. H. A. M. Henderson. The first mentioned being married first, congratulations were suspended until after the marriage of the second party. They came in immediately after the solemn benediction upon the first bridal, and the gifted clergyman, though he had pre pared only for a single wedding, was equal to the moment, and his impromptu ceremony was unexceptional in beauty. Now the happy, hand some pairs were warmly congratulated by all, and after the blessings of friends a delightful breakfast at 12 o’clock concluded the auspicious event. At half-past 2 o’clock the bridal parties left the festive scene to take the train at Frank fort; Mr. and Mrs. Frank Chinn for Greenville, Mr. and Mrs. Russel Rodman for St. Louis. The bridal presents, nearly all of silver, were numerous and elegant. BECENT SOUTHEBN MAEBIAGES. Mr. Frank M. Hudson, the youngest and most popular engineer on the A. & R. A. L. R. R., to Miss Stella Cheshire, one of the belles of Gaines ville. Rev. O. P. Fitzsimons, pastor of the Eatonton Presbyterian church, and Miss Emma Jordan, of Monticello. Mr. Ed Wynn and Miss Fannie Terrell, both of Putnam county. R. H. Mathews to Miss Lucy Griffin, of Bain- bridge, Georgia. Mr. Ben. F. Parke and Miss Eugenie C. Gor don, of Meridian, Miss. Mr. Clarence E. Leigh, of New Providence, and Miss Emma Long, of Montgomery county, Tennessee. Mr. George M. Fizer and Miss Minnie Hughes, both of Robertson county, Tennessee. Mr. J. B. Jackson, of Montgomery county, Tennessee, and Miss M. E. Harris, of Todd county, Kentucky. Mr. Henry H. Mockbee and Miss Martha Woodward, of Clarksville, Tennessee. Mr. Jackson Trout and Mrs. F. E. Gray, of Cedartown, Georgia. Mr. John W. Gillespee to Miss Laura Fowler, of Talapoosa county, Ala. Mr. John J. Cotney to Miss Emily E. Stanfield, of the same county. Mr. Wm. T. Henderson to Miss J. L. Hender son, of the same county. Mr. Joseph T. Harris to Miss C. Henderson, of the same county. Mr. L. F. Johnson to Miss A. E. Turner, of the same county. Mr. John T. Moxley to Miss L. Williamson, of the same county. Mr. James K. Watkins to Miss Nancy Herren, of the same county. Mourning. And why is it. that Americans, who possess as much common sense as any nation on the face of the globe, seem to have so little in regard to this cruel and absurd custom of mourning ? Why is it that our social laws prescribe a degree of woe and weariness to the mourner unknown to any other people ? What necessary connection is there between a breaking heart and much bom bazine, a pair of tear-blinded eyes and a blind ing crape veil? Will the common sense of American women never come to the rescue? Who will be the first to head the revolt against this tyrant custom, and to declare that those un happy beings who have just lost beloved relatives should be entitled to dress just as they please, to do what they please, and to alleviate their sorrow by any rational methods they may choose ? Who? Wise women of America, we pause for a reply. Ihe Staunton Spectator raises its head and says behold the best family newspaper in this best vallev in the world, i. e., (of course) Virginia, the delight of the F. F. Y’s., and every one else. Who doubts it? Not we of the S. S., and then it is only $2 a year. The Spectator, Staunton, \ a. (