Newspaper Page Text
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JOHN H. SEALS, - Kd 1 tor and Proprietor.
W. B. SEALS, - - Bntiness Manager.
MRS. MAR V E. BRYA.Y (*, Associate Editor.
A. L. HAMILTON, D. D., - Associate Editor
And Manajn: of Agencies.
ATLANTA. GA.. SATUR^Y, JULY 14. 1877.
Every subscriber’s paper is dis
continued at the expiration of the
time paid for.
Agents.—We are receiving a great many appli- j
cations for agencies from different parts of the
country. Scarcely a mail but brings one or
more letters upon this subject. Now, we appre
ciate these expressions of kindly interest, and
the desire manifested by our friends to aid us
in extending the circulation of our paper; and i
yet, for prudential reasons, we are making no
such appointments. We trust however, that ■
some good party in every community, who has j
the confidence of the people will take it upon j
himself or herself,to get us subscribers, and for- j
ward them promptly, to this office. For such I
service, we allow a commission of twenty-five |
per cent for full subscriptions, and ten per cent, j
on club rates.
In this connection, we make an especial ap- j
peal to Post Masters, every one of whom we j
consider an Agent.
The money must accompany each name in j
order to receive attention.
The Boys and Girls for June.
We regretted to find on our return
from a short leave of absence that the
boys’ and girls’ paper had not been is
sued, as we had left most of the matter
in type and the engravings selected. We
fear our young friends are growing very
impatient, but we beg them to be quiet.
The paper will be issued regularly after
awhile. The first of October it will be
issued every two weeks, and on the first
of January it will be enlarged and issued
weekly.
No Culture for the Masses. — “An attempt
to educate the masses here will result in injury
to all.” So our contributor, “L. L. Y.,” closes
in last paper his discussion as to whether cul-
.Jjire is a bane or a blessing. The conclusion is
v nworthy his usual shrewd penetration, unwor
thy his Christian character. Education a bane !
the people to be left in ignorance, lest they be
spoiled for the necessary work of the world !
Not so; let culture open to the working man
doors of compensation for toil ; let it give him
food fc^'hought when he follows his plow; a re-
freshii'iose^nng of beauty as he pauses one mo
ment in Ih j shade of a tree and sees the multitu
dinous leaves thrill as the winds ripple through
them ; let it give him something to talk about
to his wife or sister in the restful twilight mo
ments when they sit in the cool cottage porch ;
let it give him enjoyment for his newspaper or
his book on Sundays or leisure hours; let it aid
him in combining and turning to account the
facte of his own experience and the observation
of others; let it furnish him with topics of cheer
ful talk with his neighbors; let it curb his in
stincts, raise his ambition and his self-respect;
keep him from the village grog shop, from cruel
or idle sports and brutal vice, and let it trans-
f mit its good influences into the soul and body
of his offspring by that inexorable law of heredity
whose full meaning we are just beginning to
understand.
To working women is education even more a
consoler, a compensator, a sweetener of toil, i
Much of woman’s work is solitary; and without j
mental resources, this would seem miserable I
drudgery indeed. While the hands move in
swift, mechanical performance of daily tasks, |
the thoughts are busy in a nobler way, and the
human being developesin spite of the bonds of
toil. Then, in odd leisure moments how de- I
lightful to snatch a suggestive image, a pure j
sentiment or a nobler aspiration from some one !
of the many good books or periodicals of the
day, and carry it along with you into your work;
as one traveling along a dusty highway, snatches
a blossomed spray from the roadside hedge and i
takes it with him to perfume his steps. Your
uncultured woman would fill her leisure with j
sleep, or gossip, or dull, gaping idleness. Her j
home would be lacking in the subtle charm of
cultured thought and sentiment; her children :
as they grew up would feel the want, even if
they did not understand what was lacking.— 1
would feel that home was “tiresome,” and long I
for and seek more attractive spots.
L. L. V. holds that education makesworking
people discontented and disgusted with their
lot. They may be “ resigned but never happy.” ;
Well, but we count such philosophical resig.
nation, a better, larger feeling than the vacant
content of ignorance—a feeling more worthy a
being endowed with a soul as well as a body.
As for the discontent, it is a noble discontent
usually. It spurs the man to renewed exertion.
It makes him improve upon his work, study to
excel—to exhibit a skill that shall command bet
ter prices. If he is a farmer, it will set him to
improving his land and beautifying his home. >
Because a working-man does not express the
serene happinss of a cherub, it is no sign that
the education he may have received is a bad
thing for him.
Let L. L. V. remember that discontent is j
a necessary element of the present transi- !
. ticn period—a product of the confusion result- j
YT ant on the breaking up of old habits of living
and working and the effort to fall into new
onqs.
Restlessness, discontent, are necessarily rife,
and will be until the turbid elements of change
I have fully settled—until we have learned to
adapt ourselves completely to a new order of
things—a new manner of living and of making
a livelihood. Meantime, this discontent is
serving a purpose. It is helping some to find
out what they are fit for ; it is assisting others
to reach a higher excellence in the industry they
have chosen. Education grafts the shoot of as-
! piration upon this discontent, and then directs
and unfolds the impulse into higher achieve
ment—better work. It is this higher excellence
in every department of industry that we espe- j
[ eially need. We have plenty of crude working j
material. What we lack is superior skill and
the cultured intelligence that will not fear to try
new tests, and that is not satisfied merely to
“ get on some way,” as is the case with most ig
norant people of the laboring class. This am
bition (born of culture) to do a thing as well as
it can be done, may enter into and improve
every work, down to the very humblest. Al- >
ready agriculture in this country shows the
effect of education. Our farmers are beginning
to read, and think, and plan, and the result is
increasing plenty and comfort in their homes.
No education for the masses ! Ah ! L. L. V.,
it cannot be prevented. Education will be theirs. ;
The electric, quickening influence is abroad in
the very air. Its infection spreads every where,— i
to the farthest backwoods, where the winds of j
chance may carry the fragments of a newspaper,
or a man or woman may come with the light of ■
intelligence in their eyes and the music of cul
ture in their tones. The thirst for knowledge
will come, and it will find ways to be gratified.
The workingman will learn to read, to think, to
be VlissatiiB:ed, perhaps, and to aspire. He will
learn liowTo labor, to rest, to eat—to better ad
vantage. He will refine in his diet, his person,
his manners, his feelings—and his religion. He
will leave off wife-beating as a diversion, and |
cease to regard whisky and tobacco as the chief
luxuries. Meantime, he will work none the j
less. Education will resign him to this, by show
ing that work is a necessity of our healthy moral I
and physical being; it will console him for toil
by its sweet compensations, and if it sharpens j
his sense of pain, will bestow a keener subtler |
sense of pleasure. *
Two subscriptions for n The Sunny
South ” one year for §5.
Recreations—Atlanta on the Fourth.—Recre
ation—rational recreation—is a religious duty !
necessary for the right development of our be
ing; but can it be called recreation for one to i
pack oneself in a crowded car—wedge oneself \
in a mass of seething humanity on a July
day, steam away amid dust and heat, be landed !
in a hot, dusty, crowded city, rush and push
about the Streets aimlessly, devour ice-cream in
the presence of miscellaneous lookers-on, and
in the still blazing, enervating afternoon, to be
again sandwiched in the mass of sweltering hu
manity in the cars and whirled away in the heat,
dust and confusion?
Such recreation five thousand stranger excur
sionists took in Atlanta upon the glorious
Fourth. Such excursion trains ! It was a pie- '
ture not to be forgotten, to see from the height j
of a directly overlooking window those trains ;
come in—the engine with its heralding bell '
dragging the enormous line of cars, each densely |
packed as a match box, and overflowing in a
bunch of heads out of every window, a crowded
group on every platform, step, or coupling bar.
But the greatest show was the train of negro I
excursionists on the West Point road. Conceives I
train, first of common cars, then of stifling freight
boxes, of cattle pens, and, last, of open flats, all
filled, pressed down and running over with a |
mass of men, women, children and babies, of
every color, from deepest jet to palest pumpkin.
Bees in an over-full hive consulting for a swarm, ,
grasshoppers huddled by a gale, fiddlers on the
sea shore when the tide is just out, may give
some idea of the swarming life, but no concep
tion of the delighted abandon that made this j
motley mass one broad grin, one wave of many
shaped hats and gorgeous handkerchiefs, one
shine of broad faces and broad eyes, as they
came slowly steaming into town.
Ten minutes later, the great train had dis
gorged its thousands, and they had fallen furi
ously upon adjacent watermelon staAds, till,
looking out, one saw everywhere ebony faces
buried in big half-moons of ruby watermelon.
How they entered into the pleasure of the hour! i
Americans, it is said, do not know how to enjoy
their recreations. They never fully throw off
the yoke of care. The African race they have
in their midst can give thenr,a lesson in this
respect. They truly obey 07ie Bible edict. “No'
thought for to-morrow ” was written in every face
that surged by us. No meal in the barrel at
home, and plenty of hungry little mouths; but i
no matter, there goes the last nickle for a cake
of pea-nut candy.
Their dresses, too ! Many of the women wore
second-hand finery, doubtless given in ex
change for laundry or cooking services by the
managing daughters and wives of the aristoc
racy. Around these garments of tarnished splen
dor hung many a tale for the idle fancy. That
handsome but faded pea-green silk, robing a
a dusky damsel who is in danger of getting a
crooked neck from her constant back glances at
its train—what fair form of a Montgomery belle
wore it first under the gaslight with the acces
sories of lace and diamonds? And that hat of
pink silk, with its limp flowers and dirty plume
overtopping the broad, yellow face of a fat
mulattress, how the bit of faded splendor must
mourn its fallen estate, remembering the rich,
waved locks on which it once rested—the piq
uant, brunette face whose brilliancy it once en
hanced.
The funny incidents of the day must have
been numerous. Doubtless our local reporter,
who dives everywhere and stands heat like a
salamander, has picked up a budget full; we, in
our den, armed with a palm-leaf fan and a gob
let of crushed ice, could only take window ob
servations; but the bridgs gave us many a comic
glimpse in the changing panorama that swept
over it—a rustic swain feeding his sweetheart on
watermelon and ginger-snaps; a ragged city
gamin hoaxing a round-eyed country boy with
tales of wonder; a fat old lad}-, who had come
as chaperone for nine young misses, gathering
her flock together like a clucking, motherly hen,
counting them over, dismayed on finding a
couple is missing; a tall blonde and her mous
tached beau hanging ove* - the bridge railing talk
ing sentiment and eating fried chicken from the
lunch basket.
City merchants reaped rich profits. Not in vain,
in the early morning, spider-like, had they spread
out their webs and tried on their most drawing
smiles. Incense of silver and nickle was poured
steadily on the marble shrines of soda founts
and ice-cream tab : es. Photographers came in
for a share of the tfa.Ment patronage. One
scene in the gallery of the artist Scarratt was
highly comical. A burly individual had come
in to get himself photographed in a- “romantic
attitude,” doubtless for the lady at whose shrine
he worshipped. But he had been worshipping
more devoutly at tb<" shrine of Bacchus that
day, and, after the artist had disposed him in
the romantic attitude, had adjusted the focus,
and was about removing the cap, he discovered
that his subject was fast asleep—head dropped to
one side, mouth wide open, and emitting a
mild, pig-like snore. Mr. Scarratt approached
him, took out the bottle he saw protruding from
his coat pocket, and putting it in his lap so that
his arms embraced it, proceeded to take the
burly young man’s photograph in this most un
romantic attitude.
But, really, there was verj little intoxication.
Notwithstanding the decline of interest in
temperance societies, the world is growing better
as regards drunkenness, and will still improve
as men grow to understand themselves physio
logically—to learn by proper food, recreation,
regular habits, bathing, attention to mental
equilibrium, etc.—to forestall and prevent the
morbid craving for stimulants. The coming
temperance society will take this broad view of
its purpose—will combat inherited predilection
by hygiene, and thus strike the root of the evil,
instead of its top.
Meantime, such recreations as these great,
crowded excursions have a tendency to nourish
the evil of intemperance. The nervous excite
ment they engender: the thirst, heat, confusion,
miscellaneous associations are all demoralizing.
Carefully managed they, no doubt, are, and useful
in bringing trade to the city, but not the less
are they a poor species of recreation—thorough
ly American in their feverish hurry, push, dem
ocratic free-and-easyism. and determination to
crowd the most enjoyment—to see, eat, t' Jk niyj
walk the most—in the shortest time, yet, ]ike_
our watering plf «a life, public entertainments*
and other ways of-fusing darselves, "they are a
wide remove from wise recreation. *
Two subscriptions for “ The Sunny
South ” one year for $5.
A Laurel Party.—A somewhat unique ei' ur-
sion party left Louisville lately, in quest of the
beautiful pink blooms of the mountain laurel
growing on the Knobs, eighteen miles away
from the city. They stowed themselves in wag
onettes and carryalls—a decidedly democratic
party—having among them “cooks, foundry-
men, artists, botanists, druggists, machinists,
punsters and teamsters—an erratic jumble of
people who had never met before, gathered by
an indefatigable and kindly young Englishman,
in man’s fashion, without consulting the propri
eties or social etiquette that a woman would be
sure to ponder over, even in a picnic party. ”
But it proved a delightful informal gathering;
everybody became acquainted; friendships were
formed and congenialities discovered “that
would never have been known in an etiquetical
hot-house, presided over by female precision.”
Various adventures gave spice to their gyp-
seying. A water-spout burst upon them on the
mountain; dry gullies became foaming torrents.
They were forced to plunge through, but they
clung to their laurel, and brought back the
plentiful blooms in triumph—the flower-painter
to draw and color the beautiful cups, the de-
sigher to make them serve as a model for a
drinking-cup, and the others to drink in their
perfect loveliness as a soul-freshener. The
flowers served other and less selfish uses. The
lady chronicler of tfie laurel excursion closes
her long letter by saying :
As a botanical excursion it was not a great
success, but we started out to have an uncom
mon time, and we had it. We went for laurel
and we got it. Its beauty drips in sea-shell tints
over the sides of my flower vases, and lends
its wild-wood beauty to my room, while the day’s
adventures, startlingly unique, are recalled by
every shimmer of its dark-green leaves. One
woman, who bends over her needle all day, and
whom I even heard say she had not seen a flower
growing this year, I sent a bunch of the mountain
laurel. A feeble old man—an Easterner—at our
hospital says the flowers brought back his boy
hood strolls over the mountains of his New Eng
land home, and told him besides that in this
strange oity he. w^s not all alone; some one re
membered him. A young girl, an invalid, sent
thanks for the waxen blossoms, the most beauti
ful flowers she had ever seen. So our laurel
party was not a failure.
If those mountain flowers helped one tired
working woman, on brightened for a moment
the closing hours of a poor old man, or sent the
pure thoughts to the heart of an afflicted girl,
their beautiful mission was God-like, and the
laurel gatherers are content.
We learn that Col. B. W. Frobel, of this city,
has been appointed by the United States Gov
ernment a civil engineer on the river improve
ments in this State. There is no appointment
that will give more satisfaction to our people.
Col. Frobel has long been identified with the
internal improvement interests of the State, and
we may say of the South. He is a thorough
master of his profession, and in everyway qual
ified for the position he holds.
We would call the special attention of all our
readers to the advertisement in this issue,
headed “ Piano playing learned in a day.”
Mother and Author.—Don Piatt’s paper, so
given to saying little bitter things about writing
women, gives this picture of a bus bleu, as good
natured as it is just: “We are delighted to find
the distinguished Mrs. Esther Harding one of
the passengers of our steamer, and like ourselves
bound for Piney Point. She was out prospect
ing for a summer's camp where seven beautitul
children could find fresh air, safe play-grounds
and healthy food. The wonder about this lady
is that with such a family to care for—and she
! does care for them—she finds time for study, and
j for the many exquisite essays with which the
I reading worid is so familiar. The reading world
knows that her literary productions are charm
ing. but so quiet and and unobtrusive is she
that only a circle of devoted friends know that
she is eminently handsome, with full, matronly,
graceful figure, with a face in which it is difficult
to tell whether its charm comes from its beauty
of feature or expression. Few live posess-
ed of her clear, cultivated intellect, and no
one is her rival in a sincere, kind, magnetic
disposition. What, however, is more charming,
because so rare in woman, is a genuine sense of
humor, that originated way back among her
ancestors of that people possessed of wit as a
national trait.
There is one little drawback to the entire sense
of enjoymeut such a companion of travel can
give, and that is a lurking suspicion of delicate
sarcasm, or rather irony, one has at intervals.
A brainy woman is auch a cool observer, with
such unhappy advantages of situation for obser
vation. It is a wonder to us that any woman
consents to remain second fiddle in the orchestra
of life when she has all the time rear view of
some very awkward fiddling, and is in continual
hearing of bad music. The most dangerous of
this sort are the sincere, sympathetic creatures
who draw unsuspecting mortals out, and then
suddenly pierce the unprotected creature with
a flash of irony.”
EDITORIAL MENTION.
Mercer University-—The commencement ex
ercises of this old and honored institution have
just passed with great eclat, and we are really
gratified at our own unanticipated good fortune
in having been present. Its board seems not to
have made any very extensive public announce
ments of the occasion, and the result was a
small attendance of visiting friends. Since the
removal of the University from its original loca
tion to Macon, Ga., it seems to have lost to some
extent the sympathy of many of its former adhe
rents and earlier graduates. We noted with pain
ful solicitude the absence of the old familiar
faces which always gathered in great throngs in
Mercer’s old halls on her carnival days. Her
sons, whom she has so carefully and tenderly
nurtured in other days, seem disposed to forget
and leave her in the hands of strangers, but it
must not be so. We plead much personal guilt
on this point ourself, but the recent exercises
brought back so vividly the halcyonii dies of our
former connection with the institution that our
love and veneration were stimulated into active
life. On the rostrum we noted three central ,
•,’qures which carried us forcibly back to the I
goci old days and awoke a flood of memories— I
Sh^Ron P Sanford, T os 'fc. Willet and David E.
Butler. The two former then held the same
positions as professors which they now hold,
and were then, as now, loved and honored by
everybody. “Old Shelt” and “Old Joe” were
always favorites with the boys, and the term old
was used more as an expression of esteem than
of age. The lines of their faces are now a little
deeper and the hair more frosty, but with these
exceptions they are the same earnest, devoted
and beloved teachers they were then. The other
figure, Col. D. E. Butler, so well and so favor
ably known everywhere, was the only represen
tative present of that grand old body of Romans
who watched so long and so faithfully over the
interests of the institution. Most of them have
been gathered to their fathers, but Col. Butler,
who is now the faithful and honored President
of the Board of Trustees, still remains, and we
trust may yet be spared for many years. He is
only now in the prime of life, and though bur
dened with other honors his familiar and pleas
ant face should never be absent from a com
mencement occasion of old Mercer.
We were also impressed with another pleasing
feature, not before noted, that the present Board
of Trustees is largely composed of graduates of
the University. We noticed on this occasion
the Rev. James G. Ryals, Hon. Jno. T. Clarke,
Rev. A. T. Spalding, Hon. T. G. Lawson, Rev.
A. B. Campbell, Prof. Richard Asbury and Rev.
Andrew J. Beck. These are all noble and dis
tinguished sons of the institution, and it is
gratifying to see the mantles of the fathers fall
ing upon such shoulders. One of her graduates, !
also, the Rev. E. A. Steed, is filling with unsur
passed Ability the professorship of languages.
All the graduates of the University must be j
gathered there next year and have,a grand re
union. Let the faculty and trustees begin right
away the digestion of a plan for getting them
together. It can be done, and would be a grand
day in the history of the institution. But some
better arrangement than they now have for a
hall should be made without delay. Ralston
Hall, in which they now hold their exercises,
will not do. It is unsuited in every particular.
A bush arbor or wooden shelter would be infi
nitely preferable. An immense crowd can be
gathered next year if the proper steps are taken,
and since one of hex most distinguished sons,
Gov. R. B. Hubbard, of Texas, has been selected
as the alumni orator, let all the graduates, with
their friends, turn out to meet him.
We are proud to know that the institution is
still in such efficient hands throughout. The
entire faculty are able, earnest, faithful; and
their distinguished president, Dr. Battle, won
golden opinions from every one on this recent
occasion. His genial nature, dignified bearing,
and graceful manners elicited general admira
tion.
It affords us special pleasure to bear testimo
ny to the success of Prof. W. G. Wood fin in
training the Sophomore speakers for this occa
sion. This department has been placed in his
hands by special resolution of the trustees, and
faithfully has he discharged the burden. Much
of the material from which he had to manufac
ture orators, was crude and forbidding, but his
efficient hands worked wonders and made it all
passable. He is a cultured and finished gentle- j
man, and we are proud to chronicle his success.
The exercises of the various classes were good.
All the voung men did themselves and their
teachers much honor; and the baccalaureate ad
dress of the president to the twenty-eight grad
uates was appropriate and impressive. His spe
cial and honorable mention of one of the class
for moral deportment should have a happy and
stimulating effect upon all the others in and out
of college.
A special feature of this occasion was a brass
band composed of young men of the institution,
and their proficiency was really remarkable.
The address of Prof. Jno. C. Rutherford, of
Macon, to the Sophomore declaimers was most
unique, original and entertaining. We have
never heard it surpassed by anything in that
line, and every one was delighted.
The address by the Hon. Jno. T. Clarke before
the Alumni, and the literary address before the
societies, by Mr. E. W. Eutler, of Madison, Ga.,
we failed to hear, much to our regret. But
many encomiums were passed upon both efforts
by those more fortunate. The commencement
sermon, by our Dr. Gwinn, was said to have
been most brilliant and happy.
The Brown House, at Macon, Ga.—Who has
ever passed through the beautiful city of Macon,
during the last twenty or thirty years, without
seeing the chubby form and pleasant face of that
hospitable old caterer, Col. E. E. Brown, of the
Brown House. For twenty odd years he has
been receiving and entertaining the traveling
public at the same stand; and his genial pres
ence has become so familiar that it would be a
real disappointment not to see him at his accus
tomed place. Large hearted and accommoda
ting, he has made thousands upon thousands of
friends, and though now beyond three scores of
years, his memory is still bright and distinct.
He remembers the first man whose name was
entered upon his hotel registers, and thousands
of things which have well nigh passed from the
recollection of men, he recalls with vivid dis
tinctness.
By well ordered additions to his original
building, he has now one of the most happily
arranged and pleasant hotels in all the South.
Everything about it displays mature taste and a
special regard for the comfort and convenience
of his guests. His large dining room is cool
and pleasant, his bills of fare always excellent,
and everything about it has an air of home-like
comfort.
For many years the house has been mainly
managed by his efficient and most worthy son,
Capt. William Brown, whose pleasant face is
now becoming as familiar to the traveling pub
lic as that of the father. Always at his post, "
genial in temperament, and ready at all times to
accommodate his guests, he makes one feel easy
and at home. He is a cultivated gentleman, and
his fine manners make it always pleasant to stop
at his house. He is now assisted by his very
efficient brother-in-law, Mr. Lane. Dumpy lit
tle Fillmore Brown, fat as a Mobile oyster, broad
as he is tall, and solemn as a Roman sentinel,
runs the cigar and news-stands.
We d > not see how the traveling public could
get along without the Brown House. Its conve
nient location and excellent accommodatons,
cheap fare and spleitdid management make it a
public blessing.
Americus, Ga.—A recent visit to this hand
some little city satisfied us of its right and title
to the reputation of being the most important
place in Southwest Georgia. In population,
wealth, commercial standing, educational advan
tages and the culture of its people, it is sur
passed by only a few towns in the South, and we
feel really proud of it as a Georgia town. Though
prevented by ill health, excessive hot weather
and a short stay, from mingling much with its
good people, we were readily convinced of its
superior advantages and multiplied attractions.
The commencement exercises of Furlow Ma
sonic Female College, which is justly the pride
of this people, gave universal satisfaction to the
public, and reflected great credit upon the in-
strutors. The graduating class was a large one,
and was composed of sweet and intelligent young
ladies, some of whom were too young, however,
to graduate, and should not yet lay aside their
books.
Prof. A. H. Flewellen, the worthy president
of this institution, has the entire confidence
and esteem of that community, and will com
mand a very large patronage. The field is
broad, and the pupils plentiful.
The concert of Prof. Schneider, the efficient
musical instructor of the College, was a rich
treat, and gave generaj satisfaction.
The people of this portion of Georgia are alive
to the importance of mental culture as well as
material progress, and we only wish all our peo
ple were as much so. Our schools and colleges
everywhere must be liberally sustained.
W A L T E It SCOTT.
WAS HE A GENTLEMAN.
BY X. O. K.
In a recent number of the Stout South, L.
L. V. says that in a letter of the published cor
respondence of the late Judge Stephens, he ex
presses the opinion that Walter Scott was not a
gentleman. L. L. V. does not agree with Judge
Stephens in this, but he will perhaps be sur
prised to learn that the same opinion was enter
tained by no less a personage than Lord Macau
lay. In the recently published “Life and Let
ters” of that eminent writer and historian, he
says, in a private letter to the editor of the Edin
burgh Review about Sir Walter Scott :
“I have not, from the little that I do know of
him, formed so high an opinion of his character
as most people seem to entertain, and as it
would be expedient for the Edinburgh Review
to express. * * * * * In politics, a bitter
and unscrupulous partisan; profuse and osten
tatious in expense; agitated by the hopes and
fears of a gambler; perpetually sacrificing the
perfection of his compositions”, and the dura
bility of his fame, to his eagerness for money:
writing with the slovenly haste of Dryden, in
order to satisfy wants which were not like those
of Dryden, caused by circumstances beyond his
control, but which were produced by his ex
travagant waste or rapacious speculation; this
is the way in which he appears to me. * * »
I cannot think him a high-minded man, or a
man of very strict principle.”
While Macaulay gives a reason or reasons for
his opinion different from the reason upon
which L. L. V. says Judge Stephens bases his
opinion, yet may it not be that neither of them
is very far wrong in the conclusion arrived at ?
Macaulay expresses his sorrow at being con
strained to entertain such an estimate of Scott,
for he “ sincerely admired the greater part of
his works.”
I may add that few had a keener appreciation
of the power and beauties of Scott as a writer
than Judge Stephens.
BETINCT PRINT