Newspaper Page Text
•TWO. H. SEALS, - Editor anil Proprietor#
W\ B SEALS, - Proprietor and Cor. Editor
MRS. MARY E. BRYAN, (*) Associate Editor.
The Boys aud Girls of the South.
This beautiful and popular little paper
will be issued the first week in January,
and regularly from that time. Let all
the boys and girls begin to get their
clubs ready to send in.
A Princess Writes a Kook about
America-a Fanny Experience.—An
other foreigner has shown np onr unhappy coun
try. Princess Souvanoff, after a short sojourn
in New York City, has gone back to Paris in dis
gust and suffered her friends to persuade her
into ‘embalming her impressions of American
society.’ As though forty days' stay in a New
York hotel conld enable her to take in the spir
it and tendency of a great and diversified na
tion. Yet, she analyses her little cupful of ob
servation, dipped from the broad sea of New
W«.;ld life, in a clever and shrewd and mainly
teciiful way. She found New York society cold
ESJ indifferent, with little cordial intercourse
esr^mpathy existing among the people that
<Jd?9‘)08e it. The rich were ‘stuck up;’ the poor
ew*' ;us aDd uncheerful; and all seemed posses-
ed with a fever of work and hurry. This, she
says, seems to be their ideal of life. ‘Set business
going, keep it up, get rich or be ruined in a
moment, transform art into puffery, and above
all things be and be seen to be forever busy—so
busy that in eatiDg without relaxation,snd drink
ing enormously, the American, who suppresses
so many other things in order to achieve rapid
success, suppresses digestion also.’
As for American aristocracy, she thinks the
purely American phrase, ‘stuck up,‘ describes
it better than any she can find in the lexicon.
Pride and arogance and ostentation are th9 three
distinguishing features of the ‘upper ten* in
this country, where no nobility exists, where
everybody works, ‘and yet, ‘ says the Princess,
‘where the social lines are strongly drawn ;where
the whole-sale merchant will not receive the
retail merchant, the physician disdains the
dentist, the chemist despises the apothecary
and .he engineer looks down on the mechanici
an. The enriched millionaire sets no bounds
to his stiff and ridiculous vanity, and it is real
ly necessary that the observations of a civilized
European, even in such a book of travels as this,
should remind these original pioneers, these
banana merchants of the American wharves,
^1386 miserable porters of the cities of the New
^7«r3d, suddenly lifted out of their ruts by luck
and speculation (I will notask whether by hon-
<V3t Ot dishonest, by Christian or Jewish specu-
laiisn') that in the old traditional civilization of
eWorld they are only a hasty and casual and
.„..iicss outgrowth, and not the predestined be
neficent instruments of progress. I am told
there is a true aristocracy in Southern America
and also in some cities in the United Stabs,
such as Boston, Philadelphia and St. Louis,
New York, on the contiary, as a city of yester
day, ought to ba purely commercial and dom.>
cratic. bnt it is not. ‘
Xhe Princess, though she is the wife of one
of the highest nobles of Russian and the daugh
ter of another, whose enormous wealth makes
him additionally conspicuous, is not haughty
and scornful; she shows a human interest in the
people about her; is polite to the servants; chats
in her pleasant, graceful foreign fashion with
folks whose dress is not a monument of costly
expenditure, and so she dots not please the
aristocratic society she meets in Gotham; they
vote her 'queer,* affect to believe she is nc prin
cess, and turn the cold shoulder to her in a way
that seems to have had its effect upon the Rus
sian Consul, who is reported te have uttered a
disagreeable remark about her. We all remem
ber the talk there was made in the papers about
that remark—a malicious, or, as some say, an
absent-minded expression derogatory of the
high position held by the Souvancflf family. It
cost the Consul his place afterwards, for, hear
ing of it, the Russian government quietly re
moved Mr. Bodisco and sent us another minis
ter in his place. But the remark and the sus
picion of the aristocratic ladies, who thought a
real princess ought to be more ‘stuck up,’ had
put an idea into the restless, ingenious brain of
acme Yankee ‘wind-raiser’ and the Princess,
qnvatly pursuing her studies of American char
acteristics at Windsor hotel, was suddenly star
tled by the development of a feature of New
life that she had not calculated upon. She
10 e the victim of an anonymous black-mail
er. She received a letter asking for twenty-five
dollars, intimating that if it was not sent atonee
to the address named, the most disgraceful
things would be published about her. The Prin
cess, amazed and indignant, showed the letter
to her friends who strengthened her in her de
termination not to notice the threat. In a few
days, however, a scandalous communication
found its way into the ‘Society Column’ of a
certain New York paper, and was spread abroad
by the industrious foragers for gossip. Her
friends rallied around the Princess, the respect
able press denounced the scandal, the reporters
made themselves very bupy in trying to do away
with it (too busy the princess says) and the po
lice were very active in tracking out the perpe
trator of the scandalous paragraph. If he was
ever unearthed, he was never punished, and the
Princess suffered so much from the cruel attack
that it affected her health and she left the Unit,
ed States without having traveled through it
as she had planned to do. She had come to its
shores with glorious ideas of the warm-hearted
and noble people of the great, free Republic of
the West. It was hard for her to be disillusion
ed. The vulgar curiosity, the want of sympathy,
the stiffness and suspicion, the worry and to-
,-2;ism, she met with, did not fully do away with
Icy jomantio ideas concerning the nobility and
oaWjlry of the American people. She confesses‘I
3-y)4 to myself the hour of sentiment will strike
on in Amerio&n history. Noble impulses
high thoughts are not dead in the American
soul/
From this it may be seen that the Russian
princess is romantic, that her sentiment-lov
ing natnre cried ont against the commonplace
she found in this land of repnted originality
and unconventional freedom. She had been on
the lookont, even from the window of her New
York hotel, for the new, refreshing types of char
acter she had fancied the Western land was f ull
of. Once she thought she had found a speci
men of this original order; and thereby hangs a
tale so funny we are tempted to outline it en pas
sant. One day, the Princess was on her way
from her room to her private parlor where a vis
itor was awaiting her—a visitor who was whil
ing away the timeby playing and singing some
delicious bit from an opera, etc. The Princess
approached the closed door, what was her sur
prise to see down on his knees beside it, with
his ear to the key hole, a tall, long-haired and
singular looking man, who seemed to be listen
ing transported to the music within. Hearing
the rustle of the Princess’ robes, he rose and
addressed her familiarly. Then seeing her look
of haughty amazement, he made an explanation
which at once captivated the royal student of
American character.
•Parden me, Madame,’ he said, ‘if I have had
the andacity to speak to you. But your air is
so affable, your countenance so gentle, that they
inspired me with courage. I hove just arrived
from the wildest mountains of Texas. This is
the first time I have ever been in a great city,
the first time I have ever set my foot upon such
a soft carpet or seated myself in such elegant
chairs. These saloons, this luxury, which I
have never seen before even in my dreams;these
beautiful and spacions rooms, the like of which
I have never seen before; these lcvely and nobly
dressed women; this delicious music, which
you assure me is but the sound of a human
voice—all these things fascinate and astound me
and make mo ask myself whether it is all an il
lusion or a reality. I was born in the moun
tains,in a land wild and savage but full of wealth.
My father was an American and my mother a
Russian. All my relativ< s are dead, and, left
an orphan at an early age, I resolved to acquire
a position and a fortune. I forgot even the de
lights of my youth in my stern purpose to con-
quor prosperity, with the strength aDd the in
The Little Mother.
A Railroad Incident*
‘Just from Black Jack county Texas;’ the
tall, black bearded man explained to the stranger
seated in front of him on the cars—a pert-
lookiDg, ficey individual, who had scraped
acquaintance, borrowed a chew of tobacco, aDd
now struck the entering wedge of a confab
by the query ‘Where are you from ?’ The Texan
sat, half lounging in western fashion, with his
arm across tho back of the seat, embracing the
plump shoulders of an aubnrn-haired young
woman with a self-satisfied, lazy, prettyish face,
a good deal more youthful looking than his own
weather-beaten visage. Behind them, occupy
ing two seats, were five children—all boys but
one, the eldest, a siim little girl not more than
twelve, with a palmetto hat tied nnder her chin,
aDd big, bine-gray eyes in a face that wore, as did
the others, the sallow hue that tells of the malaria
of the Texas swamp and prairie. Not a pretty face,
but one that irresistibly attracted you by its
pathetic womanliness, its thoughtful, care-
touched lines—the motherly solicitude that sat
so quaintly on the childish face. Her light-
brown hair was tightly plaited and tied by a bit
of ribbon; she carried a black calico bag out of
which she took a cake and gave it to the baby—
a little meager-faced eager-eyed creature that
sat next her, and nestled his flaxen head against
her.
They were the children of the Texan—as he
presently told his ficey interlocutor—by his first
wife, all born in Texas, where he had moved
scon after his marriage.
I looked with fresh interest at the group of
children on the back seats; particularly at the
little girl. It was easy to see how matters stood.
It was easy to understand that she—and not the
auburn-haired female —was the mother of these
little creatures. Madam sat complacently eat
ing lemon drops, circled by the arm of her
brawny husband and now and then joining in
the conversation that was going on concerning
Texas between him and his tobacco-borrowing
acquaintance, while my little maid with the
plaits and big, wistful eyes watooed over her
charge as a grandmama might: got out her
pewter cup and brought water to one, smoothed
the hair and straightened the shirt collar of an
other, settled a restless three year old in his
seat and reproved him for leaning out of the
car window. Every few minutes, her eye went
over the four with a] glance of solicitude to see
if they were behaving well, while her whispered
efforts
Ulysses Grant as Prospective King of
Bulgaria.
j - ... - . . , admonitions to the baby aDd her efforts to
tiuenee it bungs with it in the society of man- k the restlegs little fel f ow amu8ed ftnd quiet
kind. And now, Madame, I am a rich man! I - QO . _ OD onA lnvin „ aa tVl * „ f
possess vast areas of land in Texas. I own 50-
000 cattle, which give me a revenue of a million
a year. Down to this time, I have lived only
lor labor. Now I have ditermined to see and
share the life of civilization, and I have come
to New York, where money can be spent as well
as earned. I wish to transform myself from a
squatter into a gentleman!’
This amazing speech transformed the aston
ishment of the Princess into delight. Here
then was the unspoiled representative of the
New World, ‘the type of those men’ she says,
enthusiastically, ‘who were yesterday woodmen
and tomorrow senators of the greatest republic
in the world.’
The Princess took him under her wing at
once; she set herself to analyzing his character,
to converting him back to her own religion,
which he told her his Russian mother had taught
him in early life only to have it crushed out by
the cold, hard tread of after years. Oh! the de
lightfully improbable stories which that child
of Nature and Texas told to the admiring
and believing princess. He had lived among
the mountains, solitary and communing only
with Nature, drank only milk from his many
thousand herds of cattle. He told her, too, nn
der the pledge of secrecy, straDge things to
which she listened with absorbing interest, for,
were they not state secrets, and such are dear to
the Russian ear and possess a wonderful fas
cination for the female mind. He told her that
the President had sent for him to lake command
of five thousand men, for the conquest of Sono
ra. The child of Nature was filled with ambi
tion and patriotism. ‘I wish to become a gene
ral,’ he confessed to his noble patron, ‘so that
history may one day record my name as that of
one who has shed glory upon his nation.’ The
Princess was consoled for having landed on
these uncongenial shores; she had found a mis
sion; she would civilize this fine-looking savage
from the Lone Star wilds, who slept (as he said)
with a revolver always in his right hand and
who founded his hopes for the fnture on the be
lief that ‘Central Texas was too far from heaven
for God to see him.’
She was congratulating herself upon the prog
ress she was making, when her pupil came to
her with the announcement that he had receiv
ed a telegram from Washington; ‘he must go
and take a prominent part in a war against Mex
ico.’ He went away, and the next thing the
Princess heard of her milk-drinking Western
hero, was that he was no Texian, and no child
of Nature, but a Chicago lawyer, who had been
brought up on something altogether stronger
than milk and had never owned a steer or shot
a revolver. It was a severe shock. If he had
proved an out-and-out adventurer, it would not
have hurt 30 cruelly, but a commonplace, petti
fogging Chicago lawyer, who had played upon
her romantic credulity for a ‘joke,’ perhaps to
win a bet! No wonder the Princess returned to
Europe and ‘embalmed’ some very unflattering
impressions of America. *
Aiil for Working Women.—Miss Jen
nie Collins’ Society ‘Aid for Working Women>
is little known in the South, though it has been
in operation for eight years. The annual report
for this year gives 1.334 names of women and
girls desiring work from May 30, 1877, to May
30, 1878. In the same period of time 1,047 ap
plicants for the services of women made known
their wants; and, as many of them were by let
ter, they were very unsatisfactory. The great,
est advantage is derived from the free use of the
newspapers supplied to the reading-room by
the daily press. The girls turn directly to the
‘ Wants;’ and it is surprising how soon they are
absorbed into the commnnity by the advertise
ments.
To help those put on short pay, or who are
out of work, a fair was organized, which enabled
Miss CoIUds to give free dinners during the sev
ere months of the last winter. This is how the
dinners were managed:
•‘At twelve o’clock the tables were set for fif
ty persons; the carving is already done, and
p!at»s arranged for that number. The girls have
been collecting all the forenoon, until the read
ing-room looks like an audienoe-ball; strangers
and others make up the gathering. Each one is
given a check; and, if an improper person is
fonnd, she is admitted that time, and told not
to come agvin • This does not often occur. When
the first set are through, one or two volunteer to
prepare the table for the next set, until the last
is served; then the checks are counted, and en
tered on a book, but no names are taken. Last
winter many worked on short time and at a re
duction in prioeB.
in his seat were as grave and loving as those of
any mater-familias of thirty.
Poor ‘little mother!’ I read her story in her face
aud in her ways. As I looked at her, I seemed
to see tl at Texss home—a log cottage on the
prairie or under tile pecan trees—the mother,
who has borne so patiently the hardships aud
toil of a backwoods farmer s wife, dyiDg now on
the low pine bedstead, leaving her new-born
infant to the care of the slim little girl who
stands by the bed, stifling her sobs as she holds
up the last year’s baby that his mother may kiss
him for the last time; poor, bewildered lit tie
fellow, crying because of the distress he sees in
his sister’s and father’s faces, and feeling vaguely
that something dreadful is happening. I see
the grave made ‘under the trees of Texas,’ the
children, their father and a few rough looking
but kind-hiarted neighbors following the plain
coffin to its last resting place.
I see the child putting away her tears, taking
on her slender shoulders the chief burden of
the household work and the care of her young
brothers. I see her sitting on the doorstep with
tho baby in her arms, singing to him the old
songs taught her by her mother who brought
them with her from her girlhood’s home in
Georgia, while she searches the little one’s blue
eyes for that look—so well remembered—that
is ‘just like mover’s.’ I see her when the new
wife is presently Drought to the cottage home,
and is given mother’s place at table, mother's
rocking chair and work box. She is young and
taken np with herself and husband; there is no
motherly sympathy in the plump, full moon,
common place face. The ‘little mother’ has grown
thin £s a church mouse with work, and anxiety,
and nursing of her fourfold charge through the
chronic miseries of ‘ager’n fever,’ but she is glad
in her hfart that the new wife shows no desire
to take the children off her hands, especially
the baby who still sleeps with her in her little
bed, with his hand in her bosom and his curly
head against her shoulder. She gets np with
him when be is feverish, and alternately scolds
and pets him when he is cross, after the fashion
of mothers. Then comes the departure from the
western home, the good bye to mother’s grove
where she has gone 6very Sunday evening with
the children, and then I see my little mother and
her charge InmberiDg in an ox wagon to the rail
way town, opening their eyes in wonder at the
sigtht of the rushing train, and requiring some
soothing and reassuring from the little mother
before they take their seats in this wonderful
monster, and half scared, bnt wholly delighted,
rush away over hill and prairie and across
murky bayous and wide rivers on their way
back to old Georgia, whose red hills have mag
nets in them that draw hearts back from the
richer lands to which gain or adventure has
called them.
‘Going to see grandma first.’ the little girl in
forms me, when, yeilding to my longing to
talk to her, I go across to where she sits under
pretext of giving a red apple to the baby. It
lifts its shy, eyes to mine, and I stroke its flaxen
curls and kiss its forehead—and atonee win the
heart of the little mother, who goes on to tell
me that she and the children are to stay at
grandma’s while pa and ma go to look at a place
where they expect to live.
‘And you must let grandma look after the
boys a little while you play dolls and games
with neighbor girls, and have a good time; and
at Christmas, hang np a big stocking and play
blind man’s buff,’ I say, thinking that the little
thiD, face needs some of the unchild-like care
and seriousness taken ont of it. ‘Grandma will
see to the baby.’
She drew him closer to her.
‘He wouldn’t be satisfied,’ she said. ‘He
would fret for me. I’ve always had the care
of him. He's a right good boy. Ain’t you
Franky—He is named Francis ma’am, after
mother.’
‘I know he’s a good boy and he has a good lit
tle mother,’ I say. ‘Good bye my dear, and God
bless yon,’ for the whistle shrieks at this mo
ment, and glancing out of the window I
see my own sturdy, little four-year old man
waiting for me, seated in his goat wagon which
he drives down to the train and gravely loads
with my bandies, his shaggy steed, (Buffalo
Bill he calls him.) making the half mile in
quick time. *
Governor Colquitt.—That the Committee
appointed to investigate Governor Colquitt's ac
tion of endorsing the bonds of the Northeastern
Railroad, have exhonerated him from all blame
is only a result that the people were assured of
before hand. Governor Colquitt’s proved integ
rity conld not admit of a suspicion in the minds
of those who knew him. Still, it is well that the
inquiry has been made and that theverdiot is so
clear and unanimous. Senator Hill, by whom
the charge was bronght forward, admits himself
to have been misled. .
The New York_<8im, in order to get at the true
inwardness of the story that Gen, Grant wis
about to be offered the throne of Bulgaria, sent a
reporter to Mr. Childs, the Philadelphia Ledger
man. That rosy and good-natured editor, who
low appears in the new role of king-maker,
smiled broadly, and then assuming a grave face,
said:
■Perhaps I ought not to let it out, but the fact
is, this idea of establishing General Grant on
the Bulgarian throne originated with a few of
his intimate friends in this country and Europe,
among whom I may mention myself, Colonel
Forney, General Badeau, Mr. Mackay, the Ne
vada millionaire, and Dr. Evans of Paris. The
immense popularity of General Grant with all
classes, in all par's of Europe, from the titled
nobility down to th9 peasantry, as attested by
the enthusiastic welcome given him wherever he
went, and by the beautiful and expensive pres
ents, which are now entrusted to my keeping,
indicated to us the reception which such a pro
posal would be sure to meet. You see the idea
has taken like wild fire, both here and abroad,
Dr. Evans predicted that it would, months ago.’
‘But has General Grant known of this plan ?
How does he like it ?’
‘ile has known of it only in a general way,
through Badeau. I think he likes it. I think
he has always been relnctant to come back to
America to settle down in the capacity of a pri
vate citizen. He is naturally ambitious. He
wants to be doing something all the time, His
energy and genius would find a splendid em
ployment in building up the new kingdom and
making the Bulgarian kingdom respected the
world over.’
•May I ask how it all has been bronght about ?
Who first proposed Grant’s name ? Who worked
up public opinion in Bulgaria in favor of his
candidacy ?
Mr. Childs hesitated, ‘I don’t think it judi
cious,’ said he, ‘to give the secret history of the
campaign just at present. I will tell you, how
ever, what you probably know already, that this
matter of a Bulgarian king will be settled, not
in Bulgaria, but at the great capitols of Europe
—at Paris, London, Berlin and St. Petersburg.
Badeau has made influential acquaintances in
England, and Dr. Evans, as you are aware, is a
power at Paris. Mackay is immensely rich,
and willing to spend almost any sum for legiti
mate expenses, and at Berlin there is Rev. Dr.
Thompson, formerly of your city. Perhaps I
may add that I myself have been able to do some
thing toward forwarding General Grant's inter
ests.’
•You think General Grant would make a good
king, Mr. Childs ?
‘I am sure of it, sir,’ answered he. ‘General
G' ant is the most remarkable man of the century.
He would make an admirable king.’
In the meantime, the public more than sus
pect that all this talk through the papers about
Grant and the Bulgarian throne is merely
an electioneering dodge—a kind of inclined
plane down which to slide Ulysses upon us as
our next ruler for an indefinite term of years,
call him king or president as you please. Hav
ing now hobnobbed with princes, his followers
trust it will be taken for granted that he has ab
sorbed a portion of the divine right of royalty—
enough at any rate to entitle him to rule over a
nation of ‘republican nobodies.’ „
Skilful Operations by a Woman —
A woman physician in New York (Dr. Ryder),
recently performed two rather remarkabl# oper
ations. The first was the cutting out of a cancer
from the breast of a woman, whioh had pene
trated to the pleura, whioh was done without
surgical assistance, and with the utmost neatness
and dispatch, the patient falling asleep after,
wards, and being now recovered, and to all ap
pearances, well.
Tne second case was that of a gentleman, who
suddenly lost his heaing from a mysteriouscaase,
and was assured by his family physician .that he
conld never recover it again. Dr. Ryder made
a thorough examination of the ear, and ibmm
that a large insect had crawled into it, and be
come entangled in the wax, thus sealing the ap-
perture. She extracted the impediment, and
the patient, to his great joy, found himself able
to hear as well as ever.
i Lotta.—Don't forget that Lotta—the inimit
able-will delight us on Monday aud Tuesday
evenings next.
A large nnmber of new, short stories, serials,
papers ou popular subjects, spicy correspond
ence and criticisms have lately been received
and will be published very shortly.
The Georgia Eegislatnre.—‘Thoughts
suggested by a visit to it during its closing ses
sion’ was received too late for publication this
week will appear in next issue.
The Southern Financial Situation- —
Iu this issue we publish a very excellent review
of the Southern situation from tho pen of Mr.
Jo Bean, of Augusta, Ga., a rising young banker
of that city. He exhibits a very thorough knowl
edge of the subject and expresses himself with
great vigor and tersen> ss of thought and is rap
idly building for himself an enviable reputation
as a writer. We shall soon begin the publica
tion of a beautiful story from his versatile pen.
ifliss Gouise W. King.—The announce
ment of the death of Miss Louise W. King,
daughter ot Judge John P. King, "and so well
known throughout the state for her exertions
in behalf of humanity and charity, sent a pang
of sorrow to the hearts of the many who knew and
loved her. She die ! of pneumonia on the seventh
inst. at her beautiful home near Augusta, which
city mourns, in her death, the loss of one of
the noblest and purest spirits that ever devoted
its young energies to ameliorating the condition
of the less fortunate. Born to wealth and high
station, she did not rest in self-indulgence
among life’s lilies and roses. Gifted, cultured
by study, extensive travel and association with
the polished intellictsof the day, she yet found
her highest happiness in acls of private and
public benevolence. While at home, she was the
devoted daughter and sister, her sympathies
went out farther—went out yearningly to the
distressed and oppressed, whether of her own
kind or of a lower order of God’s creatures. It
was through her untiring efforts that the Widows
Home was established in Augusta, and the Geor
gia Society for Preventing Cruelty to Auimals
owes its inauguration and vital stimulus to her.
Well may it be said of such a woman, ‘that her
death is a public calamity,’ deplored by all who
love superior moral excellence, and ah ! how
deeply mourned by the aged and honored
parents, who, as they sit in th9ir lovely but
lonely home to-day, are remembered by thou
sands with feelings of profoundest sympathy
and commiseration. *
BABBS2TT.-Oa the
20 th and 21st this famous artist is to appear iu
Atlanta in his two best roles that of Hamlet and
King Lear. Barrett has a national reputation,
and it is useless to speak of his carefully shaded
and finished delineation of character. A well-
selected company supports him, and Shaks-
peare’s two grandest plays, which never grow
old or stale, will have worthy interpretation. *
Col. Bonner ami His Fads.-We have
often spoken.in these columns,ot the wonderful
success of thcs9 health-giving pads and the
great demand for them by the afflicted, and iu
this issue Col. Bonner comes out with a column
filled with the most indubitable evidence from
many of the best people in the land, testifying
from personal experience to the great benefits
to be derived from them. He exhibited to us
an order for $50 worth of them from one party
and has sold thousands of dollars worth during
this year. See his column on the 8th page and
doubt no more.
Sundown.—We trust onr friends are all
reading this fine Story. A notice calling atten
tion to it was inadvertently omitted at its first
appearance. It is written by Mr. Shaler G.
Hillyer, of Cuthbert, Ga., whose serial, ‘The
Marable Family,’ won the two hundred dollar
prize offered by the Savannah Xeics, for whioh
there were so many contestants. Mr. Hillyer
shows his good sense and his original turn of
mind by taking the characteis and scenes of his
Story from the people and places immediately
around him. The Story is Southern through
out and aside from its interesting plot and situ
ations, conveys suggestions to Southern agri
culturists of an eminently practical and impor
tant character.
—Japanese cloth figures, mounted on paper
fer application to sofa oushionB, come in all
kinds of novel designs. A scarlet devil dancing
is the oddest.
Flipper as an Author.—‘The Colored
Cadet at West Point’ is the title of a book an
nounced as in press for early publication from
the house of Lee & Co. It purports to be writ
ten by Flipper, the mulatto boy who went from
Atlanta to be a cadet at thi West Point Military
Academy, where he graduated last year, passing
through the ordeal of prejudice at the hands of
his aristocratic fellow students with a pluck
and patience that entitle him to credit. His
book is an autobiographical exposition of the
trials, experiences and incidents of his West
Point career. It will have a fine sale no doubt.
Flipper,—or the enterprising literary hack who
writes for him—has a fresh field, and may count
on the curiosity of the public to know some
thing of a negro’s feelings and convictions under
such circumstances. Then too, every negro in
the country, whether he can read or not, will
be apt, if he is able, to buy the book written by
Flipper—the young lieutenant who has earned
his brass buttons, and in whose success they
take a personal pride. One can imagine how
prond his parents will be of that book. In
his cadet days, Flipper wrote to them regularly,
cheerful, affectionate lettera, which his mother,
a fat, pleasant looking mulatto, would begjto hear
read aloud to her when she brought our clothes
home from the wash. ‘He is the best boy iu the
world,’ she would say, the tears standing in her
eyes. ‘He never complains and always cheers
me up.’
She was an honest, indnstrious creature, and
by no means wanting in intelligence and glimps
es of taste, as her pretty flower yard testified.
The day she received her boy’s photograph,
taken in his cadet uniform, she expressed her
self ‘too prond to step.’ This picture, steel en
graved, is now to be contained in Henry Flip
per’s book. | *
Governor Wade Hampton,—of South Carolina,
had his fractured leg amputated below the knee
Tnesday last, and was elected to the United
States Senate on the same day, by both
Houses.
Where Parents Get Their Money Back.
I know a lovely girl who embroiders her
dresses most exquisitely, so that they look like
imported garments. She works in crewels, and
many is the unique article she embellishes in
this direction. She paints on china, she reads,
she sings, and yet finds time to perform her
social duties. She is always cheerful, because she
hasn’t leisure to think of gloomy things or nurse
her imaginary wrongs. Another young lady,
an only daughter, has just moved into her
father’s beautiful new house. ‘You may have
for your room,’said the doting father, ‘every
thing you can convert into use, through tne
cunning of your own hand.’ The room is a
beautiful bower. The bed-curtains and lambre
quins are of the daintiest pink stuff, soft and
rich; the little clover-leafed table is covered with
the same lovely material, the dressing-table is
lit for an artist’s limning, the easy chairs and
ottomans are cleverly upholstered, and every
thing in the room the work of thiB petted
daughter’s fingers. 'Father said I couldn’t
make a dress for myself to save my life,’ she
said, ‘but I told him to see if I couldn’t, and
just studied up the science of dressmaking a
little bit and went to work. As a result, look at
this dress; don’t you think it fits nicely and
looks pretty stylish for a first attempt ? And
look at the way I have finished the seams.
Mamma says Mme. Soule couldn’t have done
them more neatly.’ The dress was a warm-
brown camel’s-hair, piped with jacqueminot
satin and trimmed with bows of the combined
colors in satin, very stylish and a nice fit.
TIlC Benner Bale.—Says the Memphis
Appeal: Five hundred and fifty-five dollars was
realized on the ‘Benner Bale’ sold by the cotton
exchange. All praise to Miss Clara Conway and
Major G. V. Rambaut, who have taken such a
deep interest in this matter. The bale was do
nated by four noble men of Friar’s Point, Mis
sissippi—Joseph Carson, W. H. Stovall, James
P. Morton and James Carson—all of whom de
serve, and will receive, the thanks of the south
ern people, whose hearts throb with a loving
gratitude which time can never obliterate.
Let the ‘Benner Bale’ be kept moving. It should
be made to realize ten thousand dollars. It should
be sold in every city, town and village in the
sonth. It should follow in the wake of Lieuten
ant Benner’s prond vessel which plowed the
Mississippi river when the dark shadow of death
hung upon its banks.
George Boniface in Soldier’s Trust Friday
evening surprised even his most ardent ad
mirers by his strikingly imaginative conception
and careful rendition of the character of Corporal
Antoine. In its close study of natnre, its fine
shading, its pathetic transitions from one emo
tion to another it nearly approaches Rip Van
Winkle in the hands of Joe Jefferson. Young
Bonifaoe who played the part of Lncien Las in
him the promise of a fine actor. He is so young
that voioe and aotion are crude, bnt one per-
oieves strong evidence of talent of no inferior
order. *
See Editorial Book Notices on fifth page.