Newspaper Page Text
JOHN H. SRALS, - Editor and Proprietor.
W. B. SEALS. - Proprietor and Cor. Editor.
9018. MARY E. BRYAN (•) Associate Editor.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, JUNE 8, 1878.
iHissliapcu Girls.—A Connoisseur
Takes Nolo ofTliein.—In last week’s pa
per we commented at some length upon the fact
—■plain to any close observer—that fine shapes
nre rare among our girls; and that a growing
laik of harmony of proportions and pliancy of
movement strikes the eye of the lover of beauty
most discordantly. Hardly was the article in
print, when a communication came to us from a
gentleman of the finest artistic tastes—a well-
known citizen of this place in ante helium times,
though for years since a resident of New York.
He is among us again, and his eye has lost none
of the keen sensitiveness to beauty, which made
Slim a dilettante poet and art-critic in the old
'days. He looks out upon our city promenades
and is struck by the same predominance of un-
£taoefal shapes, which we observe from our
sanctum window, and not having seen our edi
torial comment, he writes to ask the wherefore
of the phenomenon. He says:
Dbab Mbs. Bbyan:—I am sure the excellent
Scnnv South is the ready and powerful advooate
of all that is noble and good in woman whether
morally, mentally or physically, and where
there is so much that is lovely and admirable in
.the 1 fair daughters of the South, it is ungracious
to even hint a criticism. But (may I whisper
it in your ear) I declare it does seem to me
that our girls are getting round shouldered !
There, it is out, and I ask you to take a walk
some pleasant day on Whitehall or Peaohtree
streets, and see for yourself. Unless these old
«yes deceive me, we are in danger of physical
degeneracy in the South. And these charming
girls are to be the mothers of our future men.
The blame, if the faults exists, rests with the
present mothers, who, perhaps in the multi
plicity of cares since "the surrender” have fail
ed to give sufficient thought to the physical cul-
.ftnseof their children. Do pray let us not raise
■Tin among us a lot of narrow chested, delicate
-women, a la Boston. I have scrimmaged around
but fail to find the sensible advice of Aaron
Burr to his noble daughter, Theodora, on this
subject. You can say what is necessary as well
as be did. Won’t you do so ? We don’t want
braces— 1 unless the girls are already diseased—
which God forbid; but we do want a resolute
will to hold the head erect, to throw the shoul
der’s back, and to march through life like a
Zenobia.
With much diffidence, yours,
S. R.
We had suggested “corsets” as the secret of
the misshapen, half-developed figures of too
many of our Southern town and city girls, and
wo honestly believe it is the chief one, but an
other influencing cause is no doubt the lack of
such exercise as promotes free development
of limbs and organs. Our boys have their Turn
Verein clubs, and other gymnastic exercises,
their baseballs and billiards, and cricket match-
os, and at school they have a host of athletic
plays and games that do duty as chest-expand
ers and promoters of free, limb-motion, and
healthy action of the blood and of the digestive
organs. What exercise of this kind do our girls
have? Even croquet is out of fashion, walking
is unaristocratic when an apology for a turn
out can be afforded, and it is also a rather weari
some business to saunter along dusty or muddy
si dewalks, with one fist full of grabbed-up train
and the other holding up the inevitable and
abominable parasol.
Our town girls do not ride horseback, romping
g ames are voted vulgar, billiards are fast, there
ere no ladies’ gymnastic clubs, and by way of
exercise, our budding womanhood, has only a
little spiritless gliding through figures, which
i s called dancing, or a little unwholesome and
brain-addling whirling, termed waltzing. Even
on these, the clergy are sitting down with all
fc he energy they should—but don’t—use in en
forcing the decalogue. How then are our girls
to develop the free, fine Bhapes we love to look
upon, when they are boarded up in steel and
whalebone by the time they can toddle, and
when the most exhilerating recreation allowed
the grown up ones, is a weakly dose of dime
dab music and recitations (a cup that may
cheer, but don’t inebriate!) a little dancing, a
little mild flirtation over liquescent ice oream
in a saloon redolent of dust and flies, and a lit
tle dreary shopping and promenading with the
encumbering train, parasol and tie-back effec
tually preventing any free play of limbs. Mean
time, their young sisters are being “little la-
dice” in the schools, scorning to spoil their
clothes by romping, and gathering into groups
at recess to talk over the fashions and discuss
amateur theatricals and society gossip, when
they ought to be playing that splendid old game
of Grace Sticks, worth all parlor callisthenics—
or engaging in “hop-scot,” “chase the fox,” or
some other exercise that is not mechanical and
drill-like, and that calls for open air, laughter,
and freedom.
May we hope, some day,this side of the mille-
sium—to have free schools of physical training
for our girls, with ample grounds and all need
ful appurtenances, as they had in the days of
the Grecian Republic? The laws of Lvcurgus
then made the physical education of females
compulsory, and parents were warned against
permitting their daughters to marry until they
hnA reached the prescribed profioiency in cer
tain exercises calculated to develop the fullest
Bodily vigor and grace. Think of our Govern
ment condescending to such details! Think of
this glorious administration, which is strong
upon back pay and franking privileges, whioh
employs its gigantic energies in alternately con
necting and exposing its own rings and return
ing boards, think of it taking cognizance of the
physical training of its females! And yet, if it
Should do so, there might be national results;
for women are the mothers of men, and sound
minds,and sound morals are the usual concomit
ants of sound, well-developed bodies. Ergo,
better physical training of the women, might
us men in the administration of public af-
“ Alee, Fresh Lard ’'—Fruits and
Vegetables VS. Meats—There has been a
recent effort to procure national legislation in
the matter of transportation of cattle, and an
extensive inquiry has been instituted into the
treatment of cattle upon rail-cars and steam
boats, and the condition of the animals when
they arrive at the cities, where they are to be
sold as food for the million. The investigation
has brought to light some rather startling facts
concerning the disposition made of the thou
sands of smothered, famished, bruised, crip
ple animals that are taken out of the crowded
cattle cars on reaching their destination. It
seems that the maimed and freshly dead ones
are immediately converted into pork or bacon,
while those that have been dead for a longer
time are sent to the lard factories, where they
are tumbled, without any previous cleaning,
into vast kettles, and the flesh, bones, hair, etc.,
soon reduced to a mass that is sold to the fer
tilizing manufactories, while the grease that
rises to the top is carefully skimmed off, the
putrid, offensive smell deodorized by means of
chemical treatment, the discoloration removed
by similar means, and the grease product of a
half decayed animal is ready for the market as
“nice, fresh lard.”
No chemical process can remove the delete
rious quality of such a product, and the lard
that goes into our biscuit, and fries our spring
chicken, as well as much of the breakfast ba
con and sugar-cured hams that we eat so enjoy-
ingly are really as slowly and insidiously
poisonous as those little “ soothing draughts ”
that parson Yosburgh was in the habit of ad
ministering to his trusting wife.
The moral of this is that we must raise our
own meat and make our own lard. Meat and
grease are sufficiently provocative of disease in
this warm climate, even when proper precau
tions are used in keeping the cattle healthy and
preserving meat and lard in the cleanliest and
most wholesome manner ; but when we come to
buying and eating the flesh and grease of pu
trid animals, it is no wonder that our systems
are soon filled with the germs of disease.
We have repeatedly urged upon our people
to eat less meat and grease, and depend more
for food upon the nutritious grains, and the
great variety of fruits and vegetables that our
Boil furnishes in such abundance. These vege
tables and fruits, either fresh, dried, preserved
or canned, are always available, and are far
more nutritious and healthy than meat and
grease, *
SlliifT Dipping;.—It is not general&y
known to what an extent this practice of dipping
snuff is carried in some sections of our fair
South, nor how many matrons and young girls
of intelligence, and high social standing are
slaves to a habit that gradually undermines
their health, shatters their nerves and too often
insidiously opens the door to the terrible opium
habit.
Snuff dipping is demoralizing in the first in
stance, because in most cases it fosters conceal
ment and deceit. The habit is kept secret from
parents and friends.
We know daughters, whose snuff bottles are
concealed in their rooms, where they use the
contents constantly, without the knowledge of
their parents. We have seen, at boarding schools
girls go into hysterics When deprived for'i day
or two of their snuff, and borrow tobacco from
the servants, as a substitute, until they could ob
tain their usual stimulant of Sootch or Maccaboy;
and we are well acquainted with three sisters—
beautiful young girls, were it not for the sallow
hue tarnishing their complexions—who are at
present under medical treatment for derange
ment of the nervous system and digestive organs
arising from their constant use of snuff. Their
physician has assured them that this was the
cause of the disease, thus blighting their young
lives, and that medicine must be in vain as
long as the practioe was continued, and still,
they cling to their snuff bottles as persistently
as the toper to his demijohn. And this when
they know that this vile poison nourishes the
worm of disease at the root of life, silently,
slowly, but surely destroying it ere its prime;
for aside from the filthiness of this habit, the
constant drain of the salivary glands, produced
by frequent spitting and the narcotic poison of
the weed itself, throw the delicately balanced
system out of order, and bring a train of diseases
to render life insupportably burdensome.
When will it Be ?—We regard all specula
tions and prophecies about the time when the
world will come to an end as very profitless
and foolish. Those seers who have puzzled and
even addled their brains in efforts to make out
the mysterious numbers of Daniel and the Apo
calypse, know no more of the matter than the
most unlearned, and succeed only in making
themselves ridiculous. But without endeavor
ing to make out the meaning of these wonderful
books, we think we can see reasons for thinking
that the reign of man upon earth will not be as
long as any of those vast geologioal periods
which have preceded him. In the first plaoe,
should mankind continue to multiply at its
present ratio, in a few thousand—perhaps in a
few hundred years, the population of the world
would be greater that it could sustain. The el
ements essential to the support of human life
are now consumed at a more rapid rate than ev
er before. From all that we now know the time
is not far ahead when fuel will be exceedingly
scarce. As country after country is denuded
of its forests, the momentous fact will soon be
gin to stare ub in the face that the vegetation on
the earth is insufficient to keep up the due pro
portion of oxygen in the atmosphere. Neither
matter, nor the force which according to the
philosophy of later days it represents can be
utterly destroyed; but its form may be changed,
and all man’s skill may not avail to bring it
back again to a form that shall subserve his ne
cessities. Man is in fact the great disturber of
nature’s equilibrium and is doing all that he
can with brain and hand to shorten the period
of his supremacy on earth. Without him all
lower animals would soon Ml into a just bal
ance, while the rain and wind, the swelling
stream and the heaving ocean would carry on
their work through vast cycles ere it could be
said that the earth had put on a new face. But
when he comes on the scene with spade and
axe, battery and crucible, rifle and torpedo,
changes must occur at a rapidly accelerated rate
and the length of the geological period be in
finitely shortened.
The Women’s Hotel—Mrs. Fleteh-
er's Opinion About it.—Matilda Fletcher
who, on stopping at the Stewart Women's Hotel,
was refused admittance because she had neg
lected to provide herself with a letter of accept
ance, at first spoke her mind freely, and de
nounced the institution as a humbug in this
poetical impromptu, scribbled indignantly
while she waited neglected in the reception
room:
Oh vaunted charity, that scans
With cold distrusting look
The face of woman, to detect
If in its open book
Be blotted words or shadowed lines;
Refusing yet to lend
E'en common courtesy and trust,
Unless some man commend
With gracious words of character
‘ ‘And his benign esteem !”
Thus ends in bigotry and cant
Stewart’s divinest dream.
Afterwards, she saw reason to reverse her
judgment which she frankly did, declaring: “I
must say that in truth were I in charge of the
departed Stewart’s noble institution, I should
scrupulously guard its honor and be totally
averse to accepting any and every woman who
might take a notion to wander into the hotel
out of the slums of the great, wicked city.
Very few women, who value their reputations,
would be willing to make a home here if the
manager were /reckless or indifferent to the
character of its inmates.”
Mrs. Fletcher describes the hotel as a para
dise of comfort and elegance, inferior to none
of the mammoth hotels of America in appoint
ments and attendance while this has the added
glory of a spacious library containing thou
sands of standard works of history, biography,
poetry, fiction, science, and philosophy, to
gether with many valuable books of reference,
such as Appleton's and Chambers' cyclopaedias
dictionaries, gazetteers, etc., in abundance.
She says “if the literary women of New York
realized what this library is, and how much
time they could save by making their home
here, I presume they would crowd into it so
rapidly that we should soon see a lamentable
restriction posted, “No women from other
States admitted;” and then what would become
of me when I fisit the great city, in which I
feel lost even with the present privileges? The
inside rooms are really the pleasantest, because
they are so quiet and overlook the court, which
is a delightful little park, full of beautiful
flowers and plants, with a fountain in the cen
tre. There are seven reception-rooms, besides
the immense parlor. The existence of these,
refutes sufficiently the published rumor that
ladies are not permitted to receive their friends. ”
Governor Colquitt’s Talk to tlic
Savannah Colored Sunday School.—
Every Georgian should be proud of our true
hearted and pious Governor. Not only does he
preside with dignity over the grandest religious
gatherings, like the late anniversary of the Na
tional Sunday School Union, which embraced
some of the ^reiCest and most learned of the
American d^rgy ulfcd laity, but condescends to
preach to anl^ teac*l th<i benighted freedmen of
the country, and break unto them the bread of
life.
And now we hear of him in our chief seaport
talking to and exhorting an African Sunday
school with a fervor and effect whioh complete
ly won the hearts of his simple hearers. We
confess to the belief that never in his whole
previous history did our worthy chief magistrate
appear to greater advantage. No, not even when
returning from the pursuit of the Yankee after
the glorious victory of Olustee. The Morning
News thus characterizes the effort:
Governor Colquitt made one of the finest ad
dresses it has ever been our fortune to hear. He
has made such a talk as must result in great
good. It was a plain, frank discussion of the
two races. It was fully an hour and a half long,
but held the immense throng with a growing
interest. We wish the colored people of the
whole State could have heard this simple, earn
est, powerful ard eloquent address. It was
couched in language that all could understand.
It dealt with the vital truths of Christianity in
their practical application to the colored peo
ple. He brought his ideas down to the com
prehension of his hearers. His reference to the
past in connection with the blacks, giving the
reason of his interest in the colored people, the
associations of his childhood and the tender
memories blended with them, were peculiarly
touching, A fervent ‘Amen,’ deep, spontane
ous and thrilling, came every moment or so
from the venerable dusky faces that drank in
the words and power of the speaker.
Certainly, could some of the Radical bloody-
shirt fellows have witnessed this scene, the
Democratic Executive of Georgia standing in this
vast throng of colored people, talking to them
of the religion of Christ, and then receiving
their rude but sincere congratulations, they
would think that there was small basis for their
bloody-shirt balderdash.
One decrepid old Mauma tottered up to the
carriage as the Governor was about to ride off,
with tears streaming down her cheek, and
blessed the Governor with a fervid pathos.
As the concourse dispersed, it seemed as if
the city for blocks was covered with the smil
ing, happy, well-dressed groups of colored chil
dren.
“34 Y’ears.”—We'do hope our Southern
people are extending to this excellent book the
patronage it so richly deserves. The style is
easy, forcible and exceedingly graceful, and
having for its foundation actual facts and real
personages there is a realistic beauty and
freshness about it which few books of romance
possess. The Nashville “American” says of it:
The ingenuity and force with whioh this
story is written must attraot a large cirole of
readers and make the reputation of the author.
Likethehistoric novels of Sir Walter Soott, it has
for its basis, actual events and real persons.
The plot is ingenious, the management of de
tails skillful, and the interest awakened at the
beginning of the story is made by the admirable
disposition of its several parts to grow in inten
sity to the dose. Important lessons, moral,
social and political, are inculcated in charac
teristic and well sustained dialogue, and wheth
er or not the conclusions of the author in every
instance be accepted, the sprightliness and taot
with which they are presented mast challenge
at least the admiration of all.
Brass Buttons.—Herbert Spencer tells
ns that wars and all necessity for martial prep
aration and parade will eventually pass out of
our civilization. Not sorry are we to believe
it, nor to hail the day
‘When the drnm shall throb no longer
And the battle flag be furled.’
But then, the world will lose that entrancing
spectacle—man arrayed as a military biped—
a bird in the fine feathers of gold lace and brass
buttons and cock's plumes, with
‘The gun upon his shoulder
And the sabre at his side-’
What a blank will be left when Mr. Spen
cer’s civilization eclipses that gorgeous vision
—the awe of small boys, the pride of staid cit
izens, the hero of the maiden’s dreams! The
coming women will miss the keenest of femi
nine joys if she is never to whirl in the Strauss
with a manly form in gold striped pantaloons; if
she is never to feast her eyes on the brilliant evo
lutions of a crack militia company on drill and
stepping like Evangeline’s heifer ‘as if consci
ous of human admiration,’ Every parade day
is a feast of eye and mind. Heads are thrust
out of windows, balconies are crowded; a per
fect Fourth-of-July ferver is stirred in each
bosom, as looking down the ranks of cock’s
plumes and gold striped pants, one feels the
real glory and strength of his country.
It is interesting, too, to note the variety of
limb and height in one of these companies. No
monotony there; such as reigned in old Nicho
las or Frederic le (hand's level lines of six-foot
grenadiers, each chosen for his inches and
his breadth of shoulders.
What would we do for craok companies if
the test applied to applicants were any thine
like those of old Roman days ? Then, as we
read, even tall and well-shaped men of the
soundest constitution could not pass the pre
liminary examination for admission into a
military corps, unless they were able to jump
their own height vertically, and thrice their
own length horizontally, pitch a weight equal
to one-third of their own a distance of twenty
yards, throw a javelin so as to hit a mark at
fifty yards, and pass numerous other tests of
strength and activity, and of expertness with
the bow and the broad sword.
Those old pagans were awfully particular,
but we can crow over them in the matter of
uniforms. What was their clumsy, rusty armor
beside the brilliant colors, and gorgeous get-up
of our military heroes ? *
Fools Are They-Or Only So for
tile Money ?—It pays to be a fool sometimes,
outside the case of the oircus clown and the co
median. Everybody has heard of a noted in
stance in the persons of “Count” Johannes and
his papil, Miss Avonia Fairbanks. These two
individuals continue to give “mental banquets”
as they announce their performances of scenes
from Shakspeares Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and
Juliet, etc. Their manner of acting is so in
tensely and unconsciously ridiculous, that the
performance draws crowds, who howl, hiss
hoot, fling vegetables and cabbage heads, and
interrupt the play continuously. This conduct
seems to wound the “count” and the fair Avon
ia. They retort indignantly and the fun grows
more uproarious. At Jersey City recently they
treated a large audience to a mental banquet of
Othello and Hamlet, which was broken into by
a tumult of oat calls, a blowing of fog horns,
and an incessant shower of beans upon the
heads of the performers, cansing the Count to
close his entertainment at nine o’clock. He
stigmatized his hearers as towards and donkeys,
and Miss Fairbanks on being struck in the back
with a large beet, threatened to horsewhip the
person who threw it. One of the audience in
sulted the Count by inquiring “is it alive ?” as
he appeared on the stage, and the Count an
swered him, “Yes, you jackass, and if you’ll
send me your name, you’ll ,discover to-morrow
that I am alive !”
Notwithstanding these insults and interrup
tions, they continue to give performances and
are apparently irrepressible. And they make a
good thing of it pecuniarily. Their Bottom
like unconsciousness of their own idiocy is the
charm. It is like the Pyramus and Thisbe per
formance in “Midsummer’s Dream.” If it tran
spires that they are only playing the fool, they
will fail to draw. Don Piatt suggested such a
doubt, and the houses were rather slim in Wash
ington in consequence. *
Tlie Queerest of American Char
acters, Train.—George Francis -still lives,
though he has not succeeded in getting -himself
into conspicuous scrapes lately. But his com
plexion is as fresh, his locks as ambrosial, his
nature as bouyant as ever. He has eaten no
meat for years and lives on fruits, vegetables
and Turkish baths. A correspondent of the
Springfield Republican, writing from New York,
says “I have seen Train lately. He is still full
of splendid conceits and crotchets,his talk a con
tinued flow of brilliant, startling, shocking,
absurd, revolutionary, quaint, reverent sayings.
He seems to be a human locomotive without
brake or stop-cock. He watched the sparrows
on the green and the pigeons that circled over
the park; he followed the children with his
eager eyes and seemed to pine after them, him
self a big, overgrown boy. An inexpressible
sadness came into his face sometimes, and then
it was tender and sweet as a woman’s. One can
not help feeling a deep sympathy for the man,
who with more poise and steadiness of nature,
with a mental equilibrium with which he has
either lost or been denied, perhaps with better
regulated nerve gauges, might be one of the
most brilliant men of the age. It is a terrible
reflection on our medical science that it has
found no way of restoring such a man to the
world and to himself. *
We agree with the Belmont, Missouri,
readers about that picture of Clara Morris. It
was simply an outrage, and the engraver should
have been hung on the spot. We did not dis
cover the defects till too late. We hope Miss
Morris did not see it; if so, we tremble.
Canada fears a Feninan raid, and is running
her troops to her borders as a preventive.
College Announcements.
Wabd’s Seminary—The thirteenth commence
ment of W. E. Ward’s popular seminary, at
Nashville, Tenn., takes place on the 3d, 4th and
5th. Forty-five essays will be read by the young
ladies.
LaGrange Female College.—The commence
ment day of the LaGrange Female College will
be on the 12th of June. Bishop Pierce will de
liver the address. A grand excursion party
will attend from this city, leaving at 6:30 i*i the
morning and return at 6 in the afternoon. The
fare will be only $1.50.
Franklin Female College.—The closing ex
ercises of the Franklin Female College of Ken
tucky, begin on the 9th of June, with a sermon
by Rev. T. G. Jones, D.D., of Nashville, Tenn.
The address before the Philomathean Literary
Society will be delivered by Prof. G. S. Joynes,
L. L.D., of Vanderbilt University. Commence
ment exercises on Thursday, the 13th.
Synodical Female College.—The 24th An
nual commencement of the Synodical Female
College at Florence, Ala., will take place on the
9th of June, and conclude on the 12tli. Miss
Maggie Anderson, of South Carolina, is Valedic
torian, and Miss Jennie Dade, of Arkansas, is
Salutatorian. Our thanks are due to Miss
Florence Prescott, of Tennessee, for an invita
tion to be present. She is one of the committee
of invitation.
Mary Sharp College.—We return thanks to
Miss Lula Bowen, of Georgia, for an invitation
to attend a reception to be given by Mrs. E.
Walmsley to the graduating class of Mary Sharp
College, at “College Home,” on the 20th of
June. The class consists of 21 pretty and ac
complished young ladies.
Mebceb University.—The anniversary cele
bration of the two literary societies of Mereer
University, took place on Friday evening, the
31st nit. Mr. Hugh M. Willet, of Macon, was
the orator of the Phi Delta Society, and Henry
M. Holtzclaw, of Perry, Ga., of the Ciceronian.
Roanoke College—The twenty-fifth annual
commencement of Roanoke College, at Salem,
Va., will begin on the 9th of June. Thebacca-
leaurate sermon will be delivered by Rev. G.
W. Blagden, D. D., of Boston ; the address be
fore the Y. M. C. Association by Rev. J. I. Mil
ler, of Staunton, Ya.; the address before the
Alumni Association by Rev. A, T. Graybill, of
Matamoras, Mexico ; and the oration before the
literary societies by Hon. Clarkson N. Potter,
LL. D., of New York city, Addresses are also
expected from Governor Holliday, and Hon.
Wm. H. Ruffner, State Superintendent of Pub
lic Instruction in Virginia. The music will be
furnished by the United States Marine Band
from Washington city, by permission of Presi
dent Hayes.
Dhaf and Dumb School.—On Wednesday,
the 26th June, the Deaf and Dumb School at
Cave SpriDg, will close for the term, with ex
amination exercises. On that day a marriage
will be celebrated between one of the officers of
the Institution and one of the young lady grad
uates. Both of whom are deaf and dumb.
At the request of the Board of Trustees, and
of the Principal of the Institution, an opportu
nity will be offered to the public of enjoying a
trip to Cave Spring on that oky. In addition
to the exercises at the Deaf and Dumb Institu
tion, a visit to the great Cave and Springs from
which the town gets its name, will lend at
tractions to the trip. The party will be carried
through without change of cars, and the ride is
through a section unsurpassed for variety,
romance and beauty of scenery. The route is
via Kingston and Rome.
Governor Colquitt, Mayor Angier, and other
prominent citizens will be of the party. Fare
for the round trip, $2.50. For further informa
tion address at Atlanta, S. A Echols, or J. S.
Stewart, Trustees Deaf and Dumb Institution,
or B. W. Wuenn,
Gen’l Passenger Agent W. & A. R. R.
Prof. Henry ami the Smithsoni
an.—This Institution grew out of the munifi
cent bequest to the United States by the Eng
lish scientist, James Smithson, who died at Ge
noa, in June 1829, leaving the bulk of his for
tune for the purpose, which aggregated In all
the sum of $541,379. This great trust Professor
Henry was called by the government to admin
ister in 1846. Its legislative power is in the
hands of a Board of Regents, but he has been
the executive head. They directed the con
struction of the beautiful pile of buildings in
Washington. That was different from his idea.
The bequest was leftfor the “increase” of knowl
edge and for the “diffusion” of knowledge; and
this he held could have been done in plain
buildings as well as in a palace. But splendid
housing is deemed to be orthodox for such in
stitutions, Professor Henry would have expen
ded more of the money in the employment of
talented men in fields of original research for
the “increase” of knowledge and by broadcast
publication for its “diffusion” among men.
This he has done to the best of his ability, not
withstanding the quarter of a million of dollars
and more spent upon the magnificent buildings
and surrounding park, and it is an eloquent
monument to his memory in these days to say
that after all that expenditure, the $541,000 that
came to the Institution have increased under
his administration to more than $700,000.
Seventy-five Cents for the Chi
nese.—Sometime since a letter from China was
sent to the Sunny Souih giving a harrowing ac
count of the famine then raging there and calling
for help. In response to this, three little girls,
Octavia and Jennie Dozier and Annie E. Walk
er, all of Walker’s Station, sent us a quarter eacl
to be forwarded to the sufferers. While th<
Rev. Young J. Allen missionary to China was
in this city recently, we handed the money t<
him, and it will doubtless reaoh those starving
people, and like the widow’s mite be attended
with the blessings of the Father.
Edison, the Phonograph Inyentor.
Mr. Edison is as bashful as a school-girl (of the
last century). He has much less than his pro
portion of the brass of the period, and to this
in part I refer his disinclination to be ‘reoeived. 1
Besides this, he probably considers that sort of
thing more or less flummery and humbug as
others do who have seen a good deal of it.
. 11 is not true that bo is slovenly and uncouth
m appearance. He had on a new silk hat yester
day that was not stared out of countenance by
anything on Broadway. It is a fact, however,
that he is not particularly careful in dress, and
frequently goes unshaven for a good many days
m succession, but this is becauie he is In m-
K"® 1 * b ™y man ' You may perhaps have notic
ed that no man who shaved and changed his
shirt every morning ever invented a phonograph
and took out 162 inventions before he was thirty-
one years old. Edison is far above all a" *
tions, either in diet or dress, and is simple-
eel as a child.