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GLANCE AT NEW BOOKS.
Debry s Guide to Georgia J. T. Derry, au-
thor, J. B. Lippincott, publishers. Prof.
Derry has supplied a long felt want by the
publication of this compact and comprehen
sive little volume which contains in its two
hundred neatly-bound pages a concise out
line of Georgia history from its first existence
as a State to the present year; an account of
its climate, soil, resources, productions, in
dustries, etc.; a sketch of its principal cities
with engravings of their public buildings and
largest residences and business houses; a map
of the State, showing also the geological out
lines, and an appended table giving the pop
ulation, county site and railroads of each
county. Some beautiful views of noted scenes
and points of interest are among the illustra
tions. »
Home Reminiscences of John Randolph of Ro
anoke ry Powhatan Bouldin Editor cf the
Danville (Va.) Times.
Notwithstanding all that has been written
about Randolph the curiosity of the public con
cerning the great Virginia orator and statesman
is still unsatiated, and these reminiscences com
plied by a discriminating handand interspersed
with comments and inferences and supple
mented by an analysis ot the genius of Randolph
and the secret of his success, will be found of
much interest to the thoughtful as well as to the
more superficial reader.
Randolph’s eccentricities furnish a supply of
fresh anecdotes some of them lively and spicy:
while the book contains curious papers, conver
sations, extracts from Randolph's best speeches,
numerous notes and recollections of the great
Virginian taken down from the lips of old
friends and acquaintances, many of them, per
sons of distinction. A fine steel portrait af Ran
dolph constitutes the frontispiece. Price of
volumes 2,10. *
Peace on Earth, by James P. Simmons, Au
thor of Origin of Man, War on Earth, etc.
Williams & Co , Boston, Publishers.
Peace on Earth is the sequel of the author’s
previous work- War in Heaven, and its conclu
sions are all predicated upon the peculiar views
set forth by that book—namely that the souls of
men were in existence before the creation of the
world—were, in fact, identical with the fallen
angels, and that this woild is a stage on which
these fallen spirits, incarnated in flesh, shall
serve out their probation before a final pardon.
The author claims that only by accepting his
belief can religionists meet the objections of
modern science to their systems of faith. The
purpose of the book is held to be the insisting
that all Christians should fraternize and unite
in order to make common cause against the bold
advances of atheism. *
'A Cluster of Poems, by Dr. Alexander Means
Hale and Son Publishers.
This dainty little volume of blue and gold, with
its excellent frontispiece portrait of the calm
faced poet and philosopher, ought to have a
place of honor in every Southern home, for
Dr. Means has so identified Limself with the
growth and culture of this country that a
memorial of him deserves to be cherished as a
transmitted possession in every household.
And no more fitting souvenier could there
be than his collected poems, for although they
only represent one phase —and that, it is con
ceded, not the most commanding—of the in
tellect of this variously gifted man, whose
long life has been filled with busy labors
in the various fields of medicine, science, lit
erature, education and divinity, yet the po
ems speak to us more closely of the man him
self than do the results of his more profound
researches. The poems reveal his tender
heart, his pure imagination, his reverent and
childlike spirit. It is these qualities that
have linked love with pride in our estimate of
this grand, old man, and it is these that make
fragrant this cluster of poems ‘for the home
and heart,’ in which as Dr. Haygood says,
‘there is not one poisonous flower, no line that
will bring a shadow to any home, a blush to
any cheek, a snare to any heart’ The poems,
perfect in metrical construction, mostly,
breathe the spirit of tenderness, charity, and
sympathy, but there are not wanting more im
aginative strains and greater force of express
ion. For instance, in this description of a
Southern chief tan
He moved to the field with a grandeur of soul
That startled the coward and cheered on the
brave,
Xo bribe in liis palm and no wine in his bowl,
His shield was his conscience; his guerdona grave
The throb of his heart was the pulse of his men:
The flash of his eye was their beacon in fight.
Or this in his description of Stone Mountain.
A foundling flungwitliout a name
Mid wind and skies to stand alone,
Wliat paps have nursed thy Titan frame,
What gorgon glance transformed to stone?
Here is a bit of forcible word painting, dis-
criptive of modern modes of warfare, in this
ironclad age when
The mountains are tunneled with powder and
pick
For subterrene armies and thundering trains,
And herald dispatches fly vivid and thick
Out sweeping the winds when the hurricane
reigns,
While outon the deep a whole argosy rides
Of huge ‘pachydemala,’ scaly with steel.
Spurning bullets and bombs from their war-beaten
sides
As the charger the gad-fly that lights on his heel
Far down in the flood where the sea monsters play
A sulphurous earthquake in embryo lies
Till transport or monitor steers in its way
And a submarine shock turns its keel to the
skies.
It would be difficult to find words better
chosen or expression more compact and forcible
than in these lines.
The verses in the poem that embody simpler
themes are as unpretentious as they are pure
and sincere. They tell of love to friends and
family, they utter sym pathy and suggest ad
monition, or they are simple ont-gushings of
admiration for lovely scenes, faces or minds.
Their tone well bears out the author s decla
ration that he has ‘earnestly sought to throw a
sanctity and loveliness around the oharacter-
of woman, to spring within, her aspirations
for a still nobler position in sooiety on earth
and to charm her with the claims and awards
of heaven.’
God bless the noble old poet, teacher and
philosopher, the grand old optimist, and lover
of his kind, trying always to elevate them by
exalting their ideals of life and faith. When he
goes from ns, he will leave few resembling
him, nene to fill his place. *
RESPECT FOR HISTORY.
‘Sir,’ said Dr. Johnson, ‘let ns reverence the
past, or we shall neither respect the present or
deserve the future’—a profound truth senten-
tionsly expressed, bat alas, too generally ignored
in the South. The word ‘generally’ is used as
expressing the fact that the great mass of onr
people are profoundly indifferent to the history
of the land in which they live.
Th » particulars of the landing of the Pilgrims,
the Indian wars of Massachusetts, the Dutch
settlement of New Amsterdam, the early strug
gle for domination in Canada, and indeed, the
history of Greece, Rome and England are pret
ty familiar even to onr school children, but who
among ns can tell the particulars of the settle
ment of Georgia, or the death and burial place
of its great founder; who can mention the name
even of the first governor of the State? What is
generally known of the settlement of South Car
olina, or Alabama, or Tennessee ? What partic
ulars are remembered of the early and heroic
struggles with the Spaniards?
In Savannah a most excellent Historical Socie
ty is liberally maintained by a few large-hearted
Georgians —rescuing from imminent oblivion
many previous facts of national and local im
portance—the ‘flotsam and jetsam’ of history,
but its treasures are accessible to but few, and
its publications are not generally read.
The ‘Sunny South’ deserves much credit for
its excellent contributions to recent and revo
lutionary history, some very valuable mono
graphs have been printed for private circulation
by Hon. C. C. Jones, of Augusta, many frag
mentary articles appear from time to time in
the newspapers of the day, but meanwhile the
great public is densely ignorant of the stirring
deeds that have been done on the very soil up
on which they tread, and is quietly apathetic
about the courage, fortitude and patriotism of
our ancestors, the high character of whose lives
is interwoven with all that should stimulate a
noble ambition, or make a country illustrious.
The reas ns for this deplorable state of things
are not difficult to find; as a rule our literature,
our school books, and our histories come to us
from people—all honor to them—who do rever
ence the past and respect the present. No doubt
these tbinke s and writers strive to be candid
and impartial, but from the nature of things
they cannot—in a broad sense—know our histo
ry, or sympathise with our associations. Nat
urally the events within the immediate scope of
their visions are more distinct and prominent
than those at a distance, and so it is that we
know more of their country and history than our
own. Perhaps time will cure all this: good be
ginnings have already been made by Stephens,
Jones, Randolph, Sims and others. It is clear
that we in Georgia need a new and comprehen
sive history of the State, something like those
which have recently besn published in many
northern and western states. Such a work would
be almost invaluable—placed in each public li
brary and public school, and finally circulated
among our citizens. Among the many distin
guished citizens of Georgia, competent to un
dertake such a work,the one whose patience in
research, diligence in gathering material, schol
arly culture and enthusiasm in historical and
scientific labor will at once be suggested.
Another and potent reason for our irreverent
neglect of the heroic past, is our want of respect
fer the great men of the present, especially for
chosen rulers of the people. However pure the
and patriotic his character, no sooner does a cit
izen accept high public place than he becomes
the conspicuous objeot of UDjust suspicion,
harsh criticism and probable slander—all the
more ungenerous as the proprieties of his po
sition debar him from Belf-protection.
It requires a steady nerve to stand in
•That fierce light which blazes on a throne.’
subject always to the keen scrutiny of a curious
and often critical and exacting public. Few,
indeed, know the many cares which follow great
responsibilities, therefore, so loDg as our rulers
discharge their functions with ability and fidel
ity, they challenge our sympathy, our support
and our high respect.
No duties are more strongly enjoined by that
ultimate authority—the Bible, than those of
honor of and obedience to rulers. The exam
ples and teachings of David, Elijah, Paul, and
of Christ himself will be at once remembered.
If then we desire the hi;. h ist good of our be
loved country, let ns cherish a just pride in the
great men of our day—especially ot those in au
thority, and a sacred reverence for the memo
ries of onr illustrious dead. S. Eoo’»'.
FINDING OUT GOD.
Mr. Beecher Thinks We are on the Eve of
Great Disclosures.
‘I think,’ said Mr. Beecher yesterday, ‘that in
the present state of knowledge it is impossible
to prove the existence of a God by any scientific
test, and it is the testimony of the most export
scientists. They admit that there may be, but
whether or not there is not demonstrable by
proof. They do not take the right means to dis
cover God. Suppose I were to go off the coast
of Maine, where the water is swarming with fish,
and putting a potato on my hook throw it out.
I get no bite, and day by day I throw it out and
get no bite, and I say ‘There’s no fish there.’
Men stand throwing their lines info the vast ex
panse of knowledge; they bait their hook to catch
a deity, and fish for years and catch nothing,
but ‘blessed are the pure in heart for they shail
see God,’ they bait their hooks with sensibili
ties.
There are some who fashion to themselves a
conception of God that has some relation to re
wards and punishments, and out of that they
get a God of fear, but a man who has risen only
as that has risen only a few steps; he is a slave,
driven afield by the whip, not loving virtue but
afraid to do evil. One step higher comes the
God of conscience; vastly higher comes the God
of eternal right and wrong, whose conscience is
the law of the universe, and this is about as
high as multitudes of men ever get. They are
simply religious people; they are not Christians
This, although a step in advance, is not the har
vest home. God then comes to many persons
as a God of taste, of beauty, grace and joy, and
they add this to the conception of the God of
fear and conscience. Then at last comes the
highest development that has yet been made,
and it is realized by those whose natures are
sufficiently high to reach the grandest concep
tion—of a God of perfect and universal love. I
believe we standing on the eve of great disclos
ures, and I rejoice at the spirit of inquiry that
is abroad, which will probably result in a
higher conception of God than the world has
yet known.’
Caleb Cashing has retired to the shades of
private life; promises never again to become an
aspirant for office, beoause, he says, he is too
old. This is certainly a cariosity in politics.
Generally when a man tastes the sweets of power,
or plays a part upon the political arena, office
becomes a mania with him.
Talk abont a joke which requires explanation
—how is this for explaining things ? A Vermont
1< gislator said in a speooh: 'My wife who is a
married woman I ’
A Noble Life—A Noble Death.
“Oh life, without the checkered scene
Of right and wrong, of weal and woe,
Success and failure, could a ground
For magnanimity be found?”
Few things there be, amidst the hurry and the
bustle, the turmoil and the toil of men’s busy
lives, which will cause them to turn aside for a
moment, attention arrested, to gaze on some
thing totally unconnected with the headlong
race for gain. But that most of ns Jo tnrn aside
to look upon the glorious deeds of self-forgetful
ness, self-sacrifice, upon the part of a brother
man, and that we are lifted up out of the com
mon place, out of ourselves, by the story of the
noble work of another, speaks well for the hu
manity that is in us, and marks the spark of di
vinity hidden away somewhere in our Dature3.
When Antigone, threatened with cruel death
because of her devotion to her brother exclaim
ed:
‘To me no sufferings have that hideous form
Which can affright me from a glorious death.”
The world, with a tear for the fate of the brave
girl, listened, and found itself bettered for lis
tening.
When Mary Lovell Pickard,unaided and alone,
nursed the fever-cursed people of Osmotherly,
in England, scattering hope and life wherever
she went, men enrolled her work high up on the
list of Golden Deeds, and embalmed her name
id soDg and story.
When the poor, American soldier, wounded
almost to death, lying in a comfortable bed on
board the hospital ship, saw a comrade in even
worse plight brought in and about to be raised
to a bed higher up than his own, said to his
nurses: ‘Put me up there, I reckon I’ll bear
hoisting better than he will,’ the story of the no
ble sacrifice was wafted to almost every corner
of the world, and forced its place among the
most honored of Golden Deeds.
And recently, when our beautiful South was
so terribly scourged by the fatal fever, wbat
heart was not moved to reverential admiration
for the noble men and women who sacrificed
their lives that others might not die ? Where,
on all the page of Golden Deeds, can be found
such as these ? Who has not been softened, who
his not hid his faith in the beauty and goodness
of humanity restored, deepened ? Who has not
been led to thank God for the bountiful evidence
of the tenderness of men’s hearts ?
Of one of those lives, sacrificed tor the good of
others during the fever epidemic in Memphis,
it becomes my mournful duty to write. To place
before the world, with all the faithfuhl6ss of
which I am capable, the grace, the beauty, the
sweetness of the life, and the calm, heroic peace
fulness of the death of my friend, that others
may be profited by the story, is the task upon
which, with many misgivings, I enter.
Thomas Wood Bond, the oldest child of W.
P. Bond, a distinguished lawyer and preacher,
and of Jane Wood, his wife, was born in Hay
wood ccnnty, Tenn., 231 of September, 1853.and
died, at the pest of duty, on the lGth of Sep
tember, 1878, in Memphis, Tenn., whither he
had gone, from Brownsville, his home , to ten
der his professional services as physician to the
Howard Association. He was educated at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and also at
Bethel College, Russellville, Ky. He graduaded
in medicine at the University of Kentucky,
Louisville, and commenced to practice in
Brownsville, Tenn., in August, 1875. He was
very successful, exhibiting a remarkable apti
tude for the work of his profession, and was
gradually and surely rsiDg to the front rank
among his brethren. He made a profession of
religion in 1872, and was baptized on a beauti
ful Sabbath afternoon by his father, then pastor
of the Baptist church in Brownsville, ia the
Hatchie riyer—the writer well remembers the
occasion—and united with his father’s church.
When Memphis called for help in her struggle
with the epidemic, he determined to respond.
His parents and friendseodeavored to dissuade
him from his purpose; evury appeal every argu
ment was addressed to him that love or reason
could suggest, but he said that he felt it was his
duty to go, and that he must obey the heavenly
impulse. He was untiring by day and by night
in his labors among the fever stricken; he had
no fear, and spared not himself. He sympa
thized with the suffering, and tnrned no deaf
ear to any. He was a Christian, had faith in
God, and in his grace as bestowed on men by
our Lord Jesus Chris’, He did not doubt that
he would succeed and triumph, bat said if he
fell, he was resigned to God’s will. He did fall,
and then went out one of earth’s brightest lights.
I first met Thomas Bond in 18G3, and from
that time until death closed it, the strongest
friendship existed between us. I knew him in
timately as boy and as man. In early youth he
shadowed forth those principles of right action,
honesty of purpose, and kindness of soul which
so distinguished him ia his maturer years. His
devotion to duty was something uncommon.
His friendship was strong, and without a single
petty jealousy. I never knew him to attempt to
blacken any man’s reputation, and never even
beard him repeat the common gossip and slander
of society. He was generous to an extreme.
Warmhearted, unobtrusive, gentle, tender, sin
cere, without guile or malice, he was the idol of
his family and of his friends. In college he was
deservedly popnlar among both teachers and
students. Always faithful in his work, kind
and gentle to those about him, he was a univer
sal favorite. In disposition he was as amiable
us a woman, full of fun and good spirits, but
never enjoying a laugh at the expense of
another's feelings. He was a favorite among
ladies, because they well knew his regard for
good women and his tender care for their names
and reputations. It was a good thing to know
him, because his influence was always elevating.
He was forgiving in disposition, and could not
harbor ill-feeling towards his fellow 0 . Like the
gifted Landrum, of Memphis, who was our asso
ciate in college, the very tones of his voice con
vinced one of the truth, grace, gentleness, and
strength of his character. His life from prattling
infancj t) tl e day of nis death, from the cn»dle
to the grave, was a beautiful picture without
a single blemish. He had no enemies—his
nature was womanlike—his heart too soft, pure,
and good to merit the ill-will of any. He had
courage—not mere bravery, but that quiet, silent
courage which some men possess, and he proved
it in his death.
‘O brave fidelity in death! O strength of loving
will! ’
Fidelity to the vows of his profession, fidelity to
his own high nature, fidelity to plague-stricken,
suffering humanity, fidelity to God ! Strength
of loving will shown in the tenderness with
which he cared for the sick and the dying, in
the courage with which he met death face to face !
His soul was too large, too grand for feeble body
of human-kind; so God took it to Himself. His
was the ‘pity even to a stranger, which will dare
all things, risk all things, endure all things,
meet death in one moment, or wear life away in
slow persevering tenderness and suffering!
Let the remembrance of his life and death be
cherished by his brothers in Alpha Taw Omega,
by his professional brethren, by his friends, by
all who read this sketch. He died at his post,
a sacrifice to duty, engaged in a work absolutely
divine in its origin—ministering to the suffering
poor. He fell a sacrifice on the altar of common
humanity, bat with his face to the light! The
recollection of his pare and beautifnl life, and
glorious death, shall linger with ns who knew
him as a memory sweet and savory; until we too
shall be called by the Almighty Arbiter from
earthly scenes.
Ivebson Branham.
Eatonton, Ga.
The Sonthern Financial Situ
ation.
OLD AND NEW SYSTEMS.
BY JOSEPH S, BEAN JR.
The oontinned cry of ‘hard times’ sounding in
Southern cities, leads us to investigate causes of
depression and learn the outlet to renewed pros
perity.
The recent stoppage of large and hitherto
flourishing commission houses, points out one
fact, that the South is undergoing radical
changes in its system of business, being, as it
were, completely shaken up, and until it settles
down to the altered situation and understands
its hearings, inactivity must be expeeted.
Before the war the Southern planter’s raised
his supplies on a system of partnership with the
factor. He was generally thrifty and industri
ous, bnt reckless as to his expenditures, and
careless as to how high the debtor side of the
ledger ranged against him, as long as he was for
tified behind a growing crop and a fall ‘squar
ing np.’ He simpiy ordered what he wanted,
his correspondence with his factor was a commu
nication of demand on his part and supply on
the other. He never examined his account till
settlement day arrived, and then he generally
accepted and settled on faith. An instance of
this carelessness was shown in one of the large
houses where, at the close of a day’s business,
a clerk reported to nis employer that a saddle
had been disposed of without being charged,
nor could the purchaser be identified. The pro
prietor instructed his clerk to charge the saddle
against every customer of that day, who obvi
ously would have purchased such an article,
and so when settlement day came, the party who
had obtained it would pay, while the others
would reject this item. The saddle was accord
ingly charged against eleven customers, and
when settlement time arrived, without a dissent
ing voice or even a question asked, the eleven
men came np and paid for the saddle.
At the close of his season, if the planter hap
pened to fall behind, he could easily recuperate
by the sale of a slave or some surplus land; but
even if he utterly failed, his lands would pass
into other hands, who would continue to utilize
them, and so the pro rata of production in com
munities would continue uniform and steady.
The factor who acted as the planter’s merchant,
banker, friend and trustee, who met him with
such open arms and welcome, met him also with
compound interest and charges. If he bound
on the good naturefi producer burdens grievous
to be borne, he did it in an affable, business
manner, and with the belief that his indolent
country cousin had nothing to do but bask in
sunshine amid seed time and harvest; while the
crop sprang up and brought forth.
After the factor had sliced off his charges for
advancing, interest, storage and commission,
he delivered King Citton to the sailer, who
again, after deducting commissions, deliv red
it to the bnyer, who, after his commissions,
either consigned it to some exporter or else
shipped it himself; but meanwhile it had been
further clipped by samplers, draymen, shippers
and transporters, each and every one taking his
bite from the rustic’s apple, and illustrating
Solomon’s proverb that the king himself is
served by the field.
This is a faithful picture of the old ante hel
ium system, those e<-.sy days of jogging country
wagons and once-a-year settlements. A system
so slipshod that it shuffled in easy routines
without even the knowledge of running down
or cut-throat competition. This former system
of harmonious fleecing perished in its unidst
under the iron chariot of war, and since the re
vival of peace this star of Southern prosperity
has waned and faded away in the glaring sun
light of direct and international transportation.
This old-time class were sacceedea’by asenes
of intermediate factors who sprang up, and who
iike their predecessors, advanced heavily for
high inteiest and large commissions. They
credited np handsome fictitious profits until the
day of reckoning came, and then formed a long
procession to the court of bankruptcy.
Meahwhile the planter who had received his
supplies honorably and with good intentions,
found himself amid dissolving prospects. A de
ranged labor system and false ideas of retaining
former proportions, showed him beginning his
planting campaign with large ideas and forces
scattered over a large area, and ending with
scarcely any ideas at all; some straggling and
uncertain freedmen, and portions of his under
taken crop deserted and blistering amid weeds
and sunshine.
Now corsider the present status of cotton fac
tors, the Southern Antonios, since the spirit of
innovation and competition has arisen. Com
missions were cut down a quarter, a half, then
nominally. Foreign importers ceased to em
ploy and utilize intermediate agencies and sell
ers, and retained special buyers, thus excluding
members of the old regime from farther benefit
and revenue.
And now even special local buyers are largely
discarded,importing houses sending their agents
directly, who proceed not to the central market,
where one cr more commissions have already
been sliced, but to the village or even the field
of the producer, and there paying his stipend,
thus excluding the extra intermediate forces we
have described, and yet not benefiting the
grower as the buyer has figured his quotations
down to the lowest fraction. And even when
the intermediate forces still exist, competition
has shorn their business of all its former dimen
sions of profit, the strain extending down to the
very draymen whose earnings are reduced two-
thirds, and the salaried skilled forces who were
gradually undermined by th9 wedging in of lazy
adventurous experamentists. When we find in
production and the labor system so complete a
revolution, need we account farther for stagna
tion in the fields from overreaching or depres
sion in the cities, from the large number of idlers
seeking employment from a branch of business
which is suspended if not dead, and a hitherto
prominent class of commercial men who com
plain of their province being swept away by the
surging waves of time just as their names would
be effaced from sands within reach of the tide.
This is the Southern disease, this radical dis
organization of the labor system; and how is
this fiery, impetuous section to adapt itself to
the altered situation ?
First of all, the Sonthern planter will have to
restrict his ideas, and instead of scattering broad
cast over extensive areas, he must settle down in
earnest to maintain himself upon farms com
mensurate with his management. The old lux
ury of spending half his seasons in the oity must
be abandoned and social attractions be found
nearer home. Small adjacent farms will effect
this reformation, for the establishment of com
munities will afford the planter a rustic yet
wholesome enj oyment and available companion
ship. Granges also have this influence, for the
recreation afforded by their entertainments de
velops interest in the products of earth, which
is stimulated by active competition and exhibit.
Tne Southerners have thus far exceeded all peo
ple as rolling stones, and so, aggregately speak
ing, they have gathered no moss. The hot
Sonthern blood oiroulated at the fever tempera
ture of its climate, and so horse-racing and fox
hunting, Christmas festivals and negro barbe
cues daring winter, and then the stifling sum
mer seemed a pent np prison and the Southern
lord repaired to Northern resorts, or opened his
mountain villa, or let the ocean waves sigh to
his nightly vigils, while his yacht glided and
danoed by day amid the fronded islands of the
coast. This we know is changed. The gliding
yacht has declined to the dragging smack, the
fiery raoer has been tamed to the plodding team,
and the Sonthern planter who, spy glass in hand
surveyed from his balconyjthe distant field of
operations, and signalled his wishes through
driving overseers, mnst decend to foreman of
the farrow, who shall regulate the task he exacts
from his laborers by the vigor he imparts in his
leading row.
The.instability of these stranded factors and in
termediate forces has proved that the South is
peculiarly an agricultural country, and that its
fields and natural resources are extensive enough
to utilize all surplus labor of the cities, and that
when production ceases, all the wheels of pro-
ress and prosperity come to a halt.
It is a sadly known fact that at the ciose of the
war every maD that could ‘pick up his feet,’
stacked hoe and shovel and beat a dead march
to commercial centres. Not only was it disheart
ening to re-establish blighted hearths and dev
astated fields, but it was unnatural for men hab
ituated to four years of sluggish repose and who
had only roused to action when forced by com
mand or stimulated by excitement, to suddenly
be rallied no more, but nerve themselves to the
hardest of manual labor by the sweat of their
brow.
Moreover, the South had hoarded beoause
there was nothing to expend upon. The accu
mulation of cotton ponred forth and its inflated
proceeds flowed baek in all the attractive forms
of novelty and luxury to a people long deprived.
It is said that if a citizen of this globe were re
moved to a smaller sphere he could, unclogged
by gravitation, leap sixty feet in air, and so the
Southerners of that period, who stood on the
basis of paper currency, could leap strangely
high in prices and proceeds, and thus at this
strained, excessive standard they plunged into
commercial unnatnralness. It had its natural
effects. The surplus cotton whirled into North
ern factories, Northern products whirled back;
great prospects seemed dawning. Men bought
largely, credited largely, and advanced to vision
ary, careless adventurers who speculated in the
products of the soil.
We have traced its course and termination.
The surplus cotton becomes exhausted, the
empty Southern counters have been replenished,
then overstocked; the children in the wilder
ness having consumed the manna which their
Moses and Aa oi factors doled out to them, cried
for more, and when it was denied them, some
literally went in search of quail while others re
turned to the supposed flesh-pots of the cities.
But the system of small farms, already recog
nized and being adopted, will regenerate the
Southern States. It is well enough for cities to
cry aloud and rear up manufactories, but as
long as millions of acres and lucrative fields
lie uncultivated, building factories to employ
surplus labor is like generating gas to breatho
artificial air.
Georgia is leading ia the direction of improve
ment, having established agricultural oolleges
and an agricultural department at its capitol;
for improvement must come by educating the
higher classes in science and skilled labor, which
studies were neglected during the slave period
for the more abstract problems of politics and
human relations. But when the master spirits
of the South rally to the original and grandest
calling of earth the crowd will quickly fall in
line, for the law of assimilation is strong, rating
even the habits and thoughts of the masees, and
when this army invades the agricultural field
the contest over nature is easy and sure.
Old landmarks are being removed, old charac
teristics are being effaced, and while these obser
vations are drawn from a local standpoint, we
consider them of general application for ‘ah uno
disce omnes.’
Nor do we darken counsel without knowledge,
for intelligent observers affirm that where a
planter is disaovered sitting in the shade and
directing his operations, the inference is clear
that this man is being supported by one of the
rimaining factors. His buildings are decaying,
his fences falling down, and it is only, a ques
tion of time as to this man holding a reception
in the bankrupt court, where he will servo his
creditors on the homestead and exemption.
Bnt where a farmer appears in the furrow,
followed by his children, where the home patch
is absorbing and expanding into fields beneath
the firm and steady advance of this worthy pi
oneer, the wilderness and solitary place shall be
glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom
like the rose.
Stage Dots.
A three-act farce, by Mr. H. J. Byron, entitled
‘Uncle,’ has been produced successfully at the
Gaiety Theatre, Dublin.
Miss Sarah Jewett, who is at present a great
favorite with the Theatre-going public, is to play
the leading role in Howard's new play, ‘The
Banker’s daughter.’
The ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ company is now giv
ing performances in Berlin. It must be highly
entertaining to a German audience.
Mme. Jennie Van Zaxdt is to take the part
of Adriano ia the forthcoming representation,
in London, of ‘Rienza,’ by the Carl Rosa com
pany. It will be the first performance in En
glish of this opera.
Booth as an Actor.—‘We have frequently
given frank and candid expression to oar opin
ion of Mr. Booth's Hamlet,’ and on Monday
night he demonstrated, with his usual force and
emphasis, his utterly puerile, conventional and
eminently commonplace theory of the charac
ter. Iu other words he represented with tedious
skill a psalm-singing, theological student, over
weighted by the profoundest metaphysical spec
ulations ever forced npon his irresponsive in
tellect. He stalked about the stage like a dys
peptic phantom as usual. As usual, also, he
rolled his large and melancholy orbs hither and
thither every possible oppor unity. His read
ing was as dismally corvine as ever, and he
evolved the longer philosophic speeches of the
part with all the solemnity that he substitutes
for passion and comprehension.—Dramatic
News.
Hermann Linde, the German actor who is to
begin an engagement at Booth’s Theatre on the
7th prex. under the management of Max Stra-
kosch, is a graduate of the University of Heidel
berg. He is thirty-five years old and is regarded
in Germany ns the accepted exponent of Shake
spearian characters. He will appear as Hamlet,
Othello, Shylock and Goriolanus, and will be sup-
dorted by a specially selected company, spe
cially organized for the occasion.
A concert, the proceeds of which are to be ap
plied to the enlargement of the ‘Home for Work
ing Women,’ which was opened last spring
New York by, Miss Sarah H. Leggett,
takes place at Stein way Hall on Thursday eve
ning, the 12 th inst. An exceedingly attractive
programme, in the interpretation of which M.
Remenvi, Mme. Rive-King, Signor Campobello,
Miss Helen Ames and other distinguished ar
tists are to be concerned, has been arranged.
Plutarch was a disciple of Pythagoras in re
gard to food. He says: ‘Yon asked me for what
reason Pythagoras abstained from eating the
flesh of brutes; for my part, I am astonished to
think what appetite first induoed man to taste of
a dead carcass, or what motive could suggest the
notion of nourishing himself with the loathsome
flesh of dead animals.’
Distinguished divine (to recent convert—)
•We propose to baptize yon by the Turkish bath
method. It is really the only means to scrub
your yean of sin out of you! ’