About The sunny South. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1875-1907 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1887)
T THE BUNNY SOUTH, ATLANTA, GA.. SATURDAY MORNING, APRIL 16, 1887. EVERY SATURDAY. BUSINESS OFFICE 21 MARIETTA ST N- • EDITOR^ J.N.IULI, - - Terms: per Annum. On* dollar for Six Month*. Advertising: I par Lina. Heront)-h re cent* per Inch. |g^Sa been here should always ipre the name of StymtuffifO to which their papers are sent. Senous Sdavaond inoouracies are apt to follows disregard of this rule. Among thousands of subscribers it is SSmlt to find a particular name without a certain knowledge of the iwstoffice address - If you wish your paper discontinued or changed. •Oik«Macard to this office and not to traveling ipsth and name both offices. TO COWTBIBUTOBS. jptite as plainly as possible on one suit of the and use pa, «r rtf medium weight. Do not ruUyourMSS. fold t. *m flatly; a rolled i<ageis Sruublsooms both to reader atsd l ' inter, better sise psgm *s most preferred. It Is well to write the name M Utg MSS. at the top of each page; the pages I be eartfutly numbered according to their jr ssguence. The writer’s real name and res- i should be written on the MSS., as letters are , misplaced. 0 a nom de plume a used, U should be written directly under the title. It must be distinctly stated whether pay « expected for MSS. tent in. We cannot return MSS., nor be responsible for them, when sent in voluntarily, unless specially re guested to do so and in such cases stamps must be inclosed. The writer shoidd always keep a copy. A lidroce .LI letter, concerning tho taper and make all bills payable to W J. H. SEALS & CO., Atlanta. Oa It is claimed that “the highest compliment yet paid Mrs. Cleveland is the assertion that she docs not gossip.” The person who does not gossip cannot be too highly compliment ed. The Turkish authorities regard the hymn “Hold the Fort” as a military lyric, and will not allow its use iu the work of the American missionaries in America. They seem to fear that the Americans might be sung into rebell ing. A New York letter writer for a Nashville paper, speaking of the Weathershy sisters, says one of them “had a wonderously beauti ful face and a sweet, charming demeanor that was very charming.” That fellow was un doubtedly charmed. at a distance, the driver has called out in the rudest way: ‘Come, hurry up 1 Can’t wait all day for you!’ I never realized haw dread ful it was until I came South. Here, if 1 don’t know the street 1 ought to get out at, I just throw myself upon the mercy of the other paa- sengeis aud take no thought for the morrow. 1’in never allowed to put my fare iu the box!” The writer pithily asks: “To lend a help ing hand to strangers, to assist the weak, to be always courteous—ran the highest civiliza tion produce a finer flower than this?” The beefsteak test is a new one. A Phila delphia editor declares that “is is ten to one that a girl who can probably broil a beefsteak •r make a good loaf of bread can do anything else within the rango of her opportunities.” Stick a pin there, girls. It is stated that Senor Carulia, a Spanish scholar, who has been for many j ears at work on a rhymed version of the Bible has recently completed his task, and that his book will con tain two hundred and sixty thousand verses. Nothing is said as to the quality of the verges. There has been a great increase in the num ber of “evangelists” of late years, and an ex change accounts for it on the ground that it pays—pays much better than an ordinary pas torate. This is putting the case rather blunt ly, but there is probably more truth than poet ry in it _ The Legislature of Maine has abolished hanging and substituted imprisonment for life in all cases of murder in the first degree, and such convicts are to be kept in solitary confinement. It is a good feature of tho law mat it deprives the Governor of pardoning power in such cases. It is believed in Europe that the forest should be from twenty-five to thirty-five per cent of the county in order to promise com fort and health. It is stated that the forest land of the United Slates in 1870 was hut little over sixteen per cent. It mubt he considera bly less now. It is wonderful what patience some men dis play in works of no practical utility. It is claimed that the most cuiious book in the world is one that is neither written nor print ed. Every letter of the text is cut into the leaf, and, as the alternate leaves are of blue paper, it is as easi y read as the best print. The labor required and the patience necessary to cut each letter may be imagined. The work is so perfect that it seems as though done by machinery, but every character was made by hand. The hook is entitled “The Passion of Christ,” and is now in a museum iu France. Making Haste to get Bich. It is not a crime to be rich, nor a sin to wish to be so. Bat it must be confessed that the greed for wealth induces some to pursue ways so crooked and mean, it is hard to believe the desire itself innocent. The craving to get rich in a short time and with small effort is almost sure to lead one into some wrong do ing. For wealth as the result of legitimate effort comes not easily nor rapidly. There must be long continued toil; years of patient exertion and carefol saving in order to accu mulate a fortune righteously. This is a truth that should be impressed upon the minds of the young. It cannot be too often told them that steady industry and prudent economy are qualities promising a larger measure of suc cess than the shrewdness that can accomplish bold feats in speculation. There is a strong current of sentiment setting against this old- time notion. The idea largely obtains that bold, dashing exploits of financiering are quite the thing—that to create a boom by which a score of men may burst out in sudden wealth while a thousand are ruined, is a brilliant dis play of genius. It needs to be told again and again by the sensible aud the good that such financiering is not admirable. We do not in deed expect that all can retain their faith in the tiine-honored axioms about the accumula tion of wealth when they see one and another and another realizing fortunes out of bubbles which they cunningly allow to burst in the bauds of others. Not many young men while putting money into their pockets will be ar rested by the caution that they are doing bo in defiance of all the principles of political econ omy. But men of sound discretion, whether young or old, ought to be impressed by the impossibility of rendering that real which is wholly fictitious. One should, in all reason, anticipate that a fortune which has arisen like an exhalation from the ocean, should as sud denly disappear. But above all, moral teach ers ought to insist upon it by reiterated asser tions that the mere heaping up of wealth for ones personal enjoyment is an unworthy ob ject of ambition. There should be a looking beyond the individual gain to the benefit of the community or the country. An enter prise which has in it nothing more than the enriching of one man'or one family is hardly worthy of commendation. ’Twere absurd to expect men to lose sight of self, but it should all the time be preached to them not to lose sight of others. * • Earthquake Theories. l’rof. McGee, of the Geological Survey, at Washington, who personally investigated the earthquake at Charleston, is quoted as saying that the area of the Charleston earthquake extended from Canada to Cuba, aud from the Mississippi to the Bermudas, or about a mil lion and a quarter square miles. He added: “If, as seems evident, displacement and earth quakes go together, then the eastern! United States are in danger, for displacement is now in progress at a rate so astonishingly rapid as to occasion surprise that earthquakes are not more frequent. ■ The cities of I’ittsburg, Kick moud, Fredericksburg, Washington, Balti more, Port Deposit, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton, and New York have been located on the very line of displacement.” A Purpose in Life. The great majority of mankind have no other end in view than simply to live. A great many are forbidden, by their environ ments, from entertaining any hope of living in greater ease or comfort. With a great ma jority of those who may hope, there is no higher aspiration than a desire for a condition in which more luxuries are attainable or less physical exertion will be required. These go on, year after year, struggling to rise to some coveted point at which they propose to begin enjoyment, which point seems to be ever re ceding. A few mark out in early life a defi nite aim, which they keep all the time dis tinctly in view; but only a few of this few ever make this proposed plan an accomplished fact. One thing after another diverts the individual from the course marked out, aud in the end he finds, on a retrospect, that he has accomplished very little of his plannings. One, whoi^g bov- ish aay/Sreama were of quiet enjoyment in a peaceful home, spends his days in the anxious and harrassing struggle for place and power. Another, who proposed the attainment of ele vated rank and lofty position, dies in the very depths of obscurity. It were amiss to say that the purposes have no control over the career. Yet it is most true that the barks in which the greater number sail are drifted by unexpected currents rather thau steered by far-directing wills. But while the details of a life may be affects ed by circumstances which no human foresight can discern, its general outlines should be con trolled by certain fixed principles. This is a question which the individual must determine, aud in which he is not likely to be disappoint ed. He can and must decide whether or not honor, honesty and truth shall control his con duct or whether he shall be the creature of capricious impulse. Having resolved to be true, his life will hardly be a failure if he have the bravery to maintain that resolution. The wrecks that are thickly strewn all along the tide-way of human history have been caused by a failure to obey the pointings of the com pass of truth. Whenever there is a turning from this to watch the uncertain vane of expe diency, a dashing away upon breakers may be anticipated. If one’s purpose in life is the at- tainment of a higher plane of moral excel lence, he must in every instance subordinate the question of policy to the question of prin ciple. * * Politeness North and South. Dogberry declares that “comparisons are odorous,” but it is a pastime for which many people have a liking. Somebody in the Cos mopolitan has been instituting a comparison of the politeness which characterizes the peo ple of the Northern and Southern sections of this country, and oir people do not suffer by th e comparison. He says .' “It must be admitted by all just people that the average of politenesss in every-day contact is lower in the North than in the South. In a Southern city, if you ask a passer-by to direct yjutoa certain street he will go out of his way to guide you. Saleswomen will treat you with an admirable patience and good nature. Ill the North, in stores of the better class, em ployers exaet that their employes shall he civil to customers. But go into the side streets, to ilie smaller shops, and with what insolence and inattention the would-be purchaser is treated! The librarian of a free library will often act as though you were doing him a per sonal injury if you ask him to take down a book. Hotel clerks will insult you. Fost- ofiiee officers will snub you or glare speech lessly at you if you venture upon a timid ques tion.” As if to “clinch” the matter, the writer re lates this incident: “A Northern woman was visiting New Or leans for the first time. She came from the laud where politeness has its market value, like everything else; and this lavish courtesy, given without money and without price, seemed to bewilder her. “Well,” she said after ponderirg these things, “the city is not the cleanest in the world, and the streets are not well paved or drained, but the people are simply lovely. Why, if you ask the driver of one of your little bob-tailed cars a question he will answer you as politely as possible. At Does Age Harden? Mr. Rider Haggard, in his striking and original story of adventure, “She," represents a woman who had prolonged her life for more than twenty centuries, without auy decay of beauty, and without any effect of age save hardening of her sensibilities, and an increas ing disposition to disregard any claim of mercy when it conflicts with her pride or am bition. Such.he claims would be tha effect upon the character were such a prolongation of life possible. In this, we think he is at fault. As a rule people do not grow more unfeeling as they grow older. Of course in real life many other influences operate to mold the character besides the mere flight of time, and some of them much more powerfully. Per sons sometimes become more distrustful and more unforgiving as they grow older, because of what they have suffered from the faDeness of their fellow-men. As a rule however men and women become less exacting, more in clined to liberal and charitable views as they advance in age. In many instances those who in early or middle life are stern, arbitrary and even cruel, become indulgent and merciful late in life. Parents who are rigid with their first children almost invariably relax their discipline with the younger. That much of this is due to a weakening of the will power by physical infirmity must be admitted, and under the conditions that Mr. Haggard has supposed, this physical infirmity would not ensue. On the other hand, it may be claimed that in those cases where an amiable youth is followed by an unlovely and unloveable old age, the change has been brought about by bodily suffering. This presentation of a wo man upon whom has been conferred the gift of perpetual youth, who endowed with such capacity for governing that she holds despotic sway over a fierce and barbarious people— who can blast by a look and heal by a touch, is so entirely a creation of fancy that it may not be judged of by the principles that con trol human actions. Powerfully as the stoiy may take hold of the imagination there enters into the fascinating interest with which we contemplate the pen-picturings little of the sympathy with which we regard the feelings and actions of a fellow mortal. The world in Money in Elections. It has been an open secret for many years that money is a potent factor in carrying elec tions in all our large cities and that it is a growing evil, but it is fair to assume that comparalively*few have realized that it has attained the appalling dimensions which a rt- oent exposure by a gentleman of New York leaves no ground to doubt. Mr. William M. Ivins, city chamberlain of New York, states in two recent addresses that the use of money in elections in that city baa increased to such an extent within the last ten years that it has become an evil of portentions magnitude. “Important offices of honor, trust and profit,” said Mr. Ivins, “are either put up at auction or raffled away. From 1876 to 1881 the assess ments of candidates and ths raising of large election funds were increased year by year until they grew into enormons dimensions.” Mr. Ivins asserts that in every election be tween 1880 and 1880 from $100,000 to $250,000 was raised by each of the two factions (Tam many Hall and the County Democracy) of the Democratic party in New York city,thus inject ing into every contest from $200,000 to $500,000 by the Democrats alone, without taking into the account the amount the Republicans expended in the same manner. “As far back as 1876," Mr. Ivins goes on to say, “Tammany Hall raised $165,000 for the campaign. In 1883, John Reilly was assessed $50,000 for the nom ination for register. Judicial nominations were bought for as high as $30,000. The nom ination for district attorney commanded from $10,000 to $15,000. The mayoralty assess ment has been as high as $25,000. No man,” continues Mr. Ivins, “even if he were as great as Ciesar or Napoleon, or as good as St. Paul, can, under the present management of politics in New York, be nominated for mayor unless he has $15,000 or $20,000 to put up for the expenses of his election. Mayor Hewitt’s nomination was unsought, yet the committees that teudered him the honor extended their right hand, while the lett was stretched out behind. He had to bear his assessment, although he accepted the nomi nation as a patriotic citizen in a good cause.” Mr. Ivins states that candidates for the State Senate in the districts embraced in New York City sometimes had to expend as much as $50,000 to be elected; and that the cost of one senatorial contest to one winner in 1885, was, as he happened to know, $39,000. He knew of one Republican who had spent $5,000 to get elected to the lower house of the Legislature; and a Democrat who had been elected to the Senate twice told him that it cost $8,000 the first time and $12,000 the second. And yet these positions pay but a few hundred dollars in emoluments, while the honor they confer is hardly worth the struggle to secure an election even were no outlay of money in volved. There must be large perquisites where members vote for bills to promote pri vate interests. Of course these enormous expenditures of money for election purposes mean corruption, and that of the worst character. This exten sive use of money means the buying of the votes of the worst elements in that great city. It is true, it is not openly done, but then it is done, and done by all parties. Mr. Ivins, be ing a Democrat, is simply telling the secrets of his own party. Some one as thoroughly acquainted with the inside history of the lie- publican party, could a tale unfold that would match Mr. Ivins’ revelations. It is clear that money-kings rule the great cities, and all his tory tells us too plainly what that means. It means corruption of the worst possible char acter. It means that when the wicked rule the people suffer. It is not the victims alone of this shameless method that s»ffer in pock et, if not in character, as the defeated candi dates do, but the citizens who own property are bled profusely in the matter of taxes. Every yes* -dda to tiu.tr Lurdeus; - Turea are enoimously high, while the public debt of the city has grown to such proportions as to ap pal even to the most sanguine as to the future of the city. This system of assessments upon candidates for cilice had its origin in the reign of Boss Tweed in New York, when corruption was car ried to an extent never before heard of in this country. But the exposure of Tweed’s methods and the punishment of himself and some of his gang seem to have exerted but little influence in behalf of reform and honest methods in elec tions in New York. The evil he inaugurated has grown into alarming proportions, and is reaching out for victims in county and State as well as municipal elections. Even a national election is not exempt from the contaminat ing influence of the Tweed method. The ex posure by Mr. Ivins ought to arouse he nest men to combine and put down this iniquitous method of carrying elections, which may be practiced to a much greater extent in New York than other large cities. Under this system the offices resumed to be within the gift of the people, have become merchantable quantities as truly as any commodity produced in the couutry, and the man with no scruples of conscience but having a big pile of money is the successful purchaser. The talk of free dom of elections in such cases is the veriest bosh. Such elections are the worst travesty on freedom of choice that could well be im agined. MUSINGS0FMY EVENTIDE. Mias Flisck’s new Essay in the Car- rent, Chicago, February 1887. BY REV. A. A. LIPSCOMB, D. D. TWBNTT-S1XTH TS.TSB. Harper’s Magazine for April. This number contains the first installments of two series of papers which are likely to be of very great interest—one, notes on Mexico— our next neighbor of whom we know so little, by Charles Dudley Warner, and the other, “Through the Cancasus”—the faraway prov ince of the Russian Empire. The scenery around Chattanooga is described by the pen of Edmund Kirh and finely illustrated by the pencils of Harry Fenn and Howard Pyle. Under the title of "The Stubblefield Contin gents,” we find one of Col. R. M. Johnston’s humorous stories. There are also the con cluding chapters of “Springhaven,” and con tinuations of “Narka,” and “April Hopes.” Besides these, there is an illustrated paper on the French Comic Stage, an interesting ex tract from Lee Merriwether’s “Tramp Trip," and a number of short poems and essays by the several editors. It is an excellent num ber- j • • Astronomers predict the appearance of the Star of Bethiehem” again 'his year for the sixth time since the birth of Christ. This star is said to appear directly north of the north star, and to be visible, in its dazzling light at noonday. It is a solar orb, many times the magnitude of the sun, whose orbit is yet on- calculated by any astronomer, and is the most marvelous of the celestial phenomena. I. Among the younger class of oar female writers in the South, I know of no one more promising than Miss Julia A. Filsch, of Au gusta, Ga. She is a graduate of the Lacy Cobb Institute of Athens, and those who knew her as a school-girl recall the intellect- ' nal physiognomy, the staid manner, and uni form fidelity of the student in every duty as signed to her. Though not of a gay and lively temperament, she was quite marked by that tranquility of emotion, which always distin guishes minds capable of close and continuous attention to topics enlisting their interest. Such minds have the infallible rudiments of . comprehensiveness and efficiency; and when ever circumstances afford any degree of en couragement, are sure Xo make good use of their faculties. They belong to the plodding class. But the movement is ever forward; no strength is wasted on side-issues; and, on reaching their goal, they are in full possession of their powers, not a particle of innate and acquired vigor lost in the useless expenditure of force. On the days when compositions were read to the school, every pupil was eager to hear Miss Julia’s essaj. She was graduated in 1877, aud, not long after, became known as a writerforuewspapersaud magazines. Gradual ly she rose to a position that attracted attention, atd on her appearance as the author of the volume entitled “The Ashes of Hope,” she was promptly recognized as one who had gen uine talents for library work. The distinc tive feature of the book was clearness and ac curacy of iusight iu the anatomy of character, and not a few critical readers were reminded of Miss Burney and George Eliot. Augusta has proved a genial climate for her taste and talents. She has continued her culture as sup plementary to a solid education, and in the fellowship of literary people, she has found helpful strength and sympathy. I consider “The Ashes o! Hope” as a very clever book, uuusually so for a first venture into a crowd ed field of aspirants for fame in novel-writii g, ami quite noticeable for its knowledge of the world and its keen eye for the picturesque in society. But I was not prepared to expect an essay from her pen in the Chicago “Current,” on “Ifow many Generations to make a Ge nius?” II. The choice of such a topic as the Heredity of Genius interested me no little, while I mast confess to some pleasant surprise. I was grat ified to find an educated and earnest young lady turning her attention to abstract and abstruse subjects. On reading her pa per in the magazine, I found that sbe| had given time and thought to the study of the question; and while from her age I could hardly look for more than a tentative effort, I was quite astonished to find that she had wrought her materials into so plausible an hypothesis as to the transmission of genius. She admits at the outset that ge nius is a vague term according to common ap prehension; but she soon urges that Nature has htr laws here as elsewhere, and holds her steady course and acta in what appears to be the most erratic fashion, just conforming to our theories sufficiently to show that we have touched the outer circle of truth with our groping fingers, then darting off in some un expected quarter leaving us perplexed and dis mayed.” Here is a boy, she argues, edu cated, polished, talented perhaps, but not a genius. “Something ia lacking in that one bit of flame which makes all the difference be tween the dainty ware on the rich man’s table and the common clay.” Proceeding on this line, she asks if the gift of genius is sporadic, fitful, uncertain, or is it governed by fixed laws? Mufh that appears erratic aud unac countable auay be referred to laws as inviola ble as the/laws of gravitation. I think that the term ’inviolable” is too strong here, but I have iifrioubt as to the tendency of the transmit by means of physiological laws. Admittinglthat a law of heredity does exist, ye!, neyerdmleagrm. law o/ Dersonality, with its self-d.' n-iwer of liberty, aisu its own way in the forma ion of the individual man. And Leacs this capacity for personal direction, this indivi lualizing power inherent in Moral Agency, s< intense in us all, is a resisting and antagonistic force to what might otherwise be Fatalism iit Heredity. Miss Flisch has evi dently studied Gacton in his celebrated work on “Herediiary Genius,” in which, Gacton ar gues, that “vast intellectual ability, eagerness to work, and power of working are requisite to a man of genius.” But she says: “we find but rarely that the parent is reproduced in the child, even in the most ignorant, and yet more seldom in : he case of rare intellect, where a certain amount of individuality is necessary to the very existence of genius.” Alluding to the every day expressions: “A chip of the old block;” “Lie’s got his father’s temper’’ “She came by this trait or habit lawfully, her moth er had it before her,” she very properly says, that such crude obeservations made by even ignorant people show that some apprehension of the trull has impressed itself upon them. And she aptly remarks; “common opinion, however, usually strikes hut one angle of the truth, and that not always a right angle.” Nor is she lets philosophical when saying: “To reproduce a given character, one must re produce the environments which have a nec essary and an assured influence on that char acter.” Yes, indeed, you must take both soil and climate, longitude and latitude, into ac count, as affecting the laws of growth. And then, the word “character” may mislead. Character and intellect do not follow the same laws; nor can I doubt, that we find the lower features of character much oftener perpetua ted than the higher. It seems to be certain that physical law in resemblances to our pa rents has ar, earlier and more vigorous show ing than our intellectual peculiarities. I have often been struck with the manifestation of the law of Periodicity, a feature of lleredity- in young children. HI. LETTERS^jg^ FWfcepEQPLE THE SHAKERS. Their Habits, Dress, and Religious Exercises. nr HARRIET S. CHESSr. Edito-B Sunny South: A society or settle ment of Shakers consists of a number of fami lies, some of their houses having the capacity to accommodate fifty persons or more, and each house contains a family. As it is a part of their creed to live in single blessedness, a married couple may join them only with the understanding that they must live apart from each other, and in different families; thereafter addressing each other as brother and sister, as no other relation is acknowledged between any of them. Their dwelling houses are built plainly, and with their painted, carpetltss floors, are al ways the perfection of neatness. They manu facture brooms quite extensively, both for their own use and to sell, as well as straight backed, old fashioned chairs. They also make fancy baskets, fans, cushions and other arti cles which sell readily to strangers who, out of curiosity visit them. Their manner of dress is uniform and pecu liar. The brethren wear broad brimmed hats, large baggy pints, long frock coats, with vests 'that reach below the hips. Their hair is also worn long enough to cover the neck. The sisters wear white muslin caps, plain, short waist gowns; the skirts pleated on, and hanging straight. Their bonnets are made of straw and reach far over the face, with no or nament hut a pleated cape to shield the back of the neck. A three cornered handkerchief is also worn over the shoulders, aud crossed in front. Their meeting houses are as plain as their dwellings, with rows of long benches, on which after entering for their Sunday morning ser vice, the sisters and brethren sit in silence a few moments, at least. Then the sisters, who sit on the opposite side of the room from the brethren, they also having entered separ ate doors, arise, the brethren likewise, and, placing the benches nearer the wall, com mence their religious exercises. The first consists in marching around the room, keep ing step to a kind of chant the words of which are ba r d for a novice to understand. After this is through, the benches are replaced and all are again seated, except one or two of the leading ones who make short speeches, often to the edification of the spectators, or “world’s people,” as outsiders are called by them. The Shakers are believers in Modern Spir itualism, even to materialization. At least profess to be. In summer they often hold services in the open air, even going to the woods; and at one of their meetings a few years since, held by one of the prominent societies, they went through the ceremony of chasing, capturing and burying the devil. Whether he has ever appeared to the.;! since is best known to them selves. As spectators are admitted to their meet ings there are generally more or less present, and quite often the index finger of an eagle- eyed sister is pointed in the direction of some offending giggler quite to his discomfort. TRAVELS IN COLORADO The Garden of the Gods. Colorado Springs in the Shadows of Pike’s Peak—The Home of Helen Hunt Jackson—Gorgeous Scenery, Etc. Tli® Khakern are people, Cu, ing much in agriculture, lna/iufactures, etc., but their numbers are decreasing, and no doubt a hundred years hence their societies will he among those that will not exist. TOM PAINE. Fifteen year old O’Brien Atkinson, son of Col. John Atkinson, of Detroit, has just com pleted a horseback ride of 1,324 miles. On Nov., 4th he started alone from his home to ;o to St. Augustine, Fla., for his health, and le reached there March 1. He never traveled on Sunday, and always attended church when he could. home I have often been insulted for refusing to take in change silver pieces worn as thin as which “She” reigned was not exactly our paper. And often, when I have hailed a car world, * * There has been quite a revival among the convicts at the camps of the Atlanta and Haw- kinsville railroad. Several have professed conversion, and on Sunday they will be bap tized by Rev. Frank Joseph, assisted by Rev. J. C. Murray. Principal Keeper Towers has given his consent and has issued passes to the two preachers. Commissioner Ogden, of the Consolidated Fool and Railway Association, has been to At lanta arranging for the removal of the h ead quarters of the association from Louisville to Atlanta. The change will be made next week. Reserving for my next paper the further consideration of Miss Flisch’s thoughtful and suggestive essay iu the “Current,” I have now only space to say that she is careful to dwell on the idea of separa; ing the present from the past, in conformity with the stress laid on environments. Solidarity, slielarzues, is the condition not alone of the individual, but also of the century. “It is no new asser tion, this,” continued she, “that we are the result of our inherited virtues and sins, plus our circuirstances. We cannot stand alone; we cannot affect to ignore tb ,e from whom we have derived our origin, s.nce they have placed upon our brow the ineffaceable seal of their own characters. Take the new-born babe, lying so helpless, apparently so uncon scious, in its mother’s arms. Surely its mind is blank aud unstained; surely upon it, its parents may write whatever they will. How mistaken the supposition!” * * » Then follows a striking piece of writing in the spirit of our artist making a sketch for illustration; but I must lei the reader imagine it until the next number of the Sunnt South. Together. With your wild sweet strains. Burst your melody forth. O'er the hills, and plains. Like the dashing of streams, In the cold white moon beams. A wild,» weird bat a sweet refrain. Sound thy Harp of the South, Like a witches spell. As the notes from toe month Of thy song-birds tell, Such a song of delights, As thy perfnmsd nig-ts Would raise In aboewn, free from pains. Then sound them together. And I have my theme. And I know not whether, ’T'.s s poets dream, Yet I like the sound. As the wild notes bound. From Northern cliff to the Southern plains. Br Dab Johnston, Springfield, Mo. The Methodists of Maoon, Ga., are prepar ing to erect a handsome church building on the corner of Washington avenue, opposite Wesleyan College and the old Washington residence. Surrounded by oak trees, with the grove below beautified, the church will have a fine location. Leyden university in Holland, ia the richest in the world. Its real estate alone ia said to be worth $4,000,000. j Did He Write the Declaration of In dependence. Editor Sunny South:—I have noticed in your paper two references to the question of Tom l’aine’s authorship of the Declaration of American Independence. In answer to the query of a curious subscriber you pronounced such an idea “ridiculous” etc., for which hasty conclusion in the last issue of the Sunny South, some other correspondent takes you to task. The fact of it is, the prejudiced moiety of American citizens will not relish the discovery of Mr. Paine’s authorship of that worshipped document, and then, too, the tradition of its being the masterpiece of the masterly Jeffer son is so pleasantly rounded off and filled out by ingenius historians, tale-writers and re>- mancists, as to deserve some serious consider ation before suffering everlasting eclipse. The story is familiar to every school boy of how the slat' men and patriots of colonial fame assembled to discuss the vita! question then paramount; of how they dispersed to their several closets to ‘ try their hands” at evolving the precious repository of a new na tion’s thoughts and intentions, upon that, its dawning day of freedom; of how Thomas Jef ferson's production was first read, aud of how his ambitious competitors, with one acclaim, pronounced it imcomparable and refused per emptorily to submit their rival effusions. Of course there has much of the mythical and and dramatical slipped into the original, but the story, with all its embel shments, is dear to the American heart, and has done as much as all else in Thomas Jefferson’s history to en dear and immortalize him. On the other hand, the position which Tom Paine occupies iu American history, is enig matical, to say the most of it. Brainy, all con fess—even the preachers deny it not. Bold; in that characteristic probably several strides ahead of the innovative day in which he lived. His ideas of freedom were more sweeping than most men’s. Freedom of speech—free dom of religious opinion, were as dear to him as to Thomas Jefferson or George Washing ton. The world, in fact, and the revolution ists of America, were hardly prepared for the advanced views of Mr. Paine in these things. His caustic and virulent assaults upon priests and preachers, forms, doctrines, the Trinity, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascen sion, the garden of Eden, the Bible, Moses aud the prophets, made in times, and amid surroundings that would have cautioned a more timid advocate to curb his utterances, if not control his thoughts, have brought upon Tom Paine’s devoted head the anathemas and m-ledictions of the church and churchmen of nine decades and more, and children have been taught from earliest hours of discretion to look upon Tom Paine as the Devil’s most able and potent phototype. Honest though he may have been, and right though eternity may prove him, he occupies the unenviable place of the scoffer, and is ac credited to be the chief proselyte of his Sa tanic majesty, and his praise is seldom sung by his bravest adherent. These things being true, to have him ele- vited to the niche in the temple of fame long accorded by an admiring posterity to the chief expounder of Democratic principles, ia asking much of a hero-worshipping people. That Tom Paine should have written the Declaration of Independence is not necessa rily a fabulous idea. He was brilliant, versa tile, scholarly, patriotic, and had a boundless conception of freedom and independence. He was a conspicuous actor iu those trying scenes, and was esteemed according to his deserts by the giants who took part with him in the historic drama of Liberty. I have a copy of Tom Paine’s “Age of Reason,” and his publisher certainly claims for him the proud distinction of-having writ ten the Declaration of Independence. Shall we depose Thomas Jefferson and set up Thomas Paine, or shall tradition maintain her supremacy ? Democritus. Gainesville, Tex. Dear Sunny South:—To-day I have left the busy thriving city of Denver behind, and bade adien to my new-made friends. Af ter a pleasant journey of an hour on the Den ver and Rio Grande, the pretty little village of Palmer Lake is reached. The Divide is al ways pointed out to travelers and tourists as a place of particular interest, a peculiarity not found elsewhere perhaps in America. Leaving Denver, there is a gradual rise until yon come to Palmer Lake, which is on the top of a mountain of considerable elevation. Here the lake makes a complete divide; the streams which rise on the northern Blope find their way downward to the river Platte, while those in the Southern declivity flow into the wa ters of the Arkansas. The beautiful scenery extends far out on the plains, and is as novel as it is interesting. Colorado Springs coming next, is so full of interest that I beg to linger a short while upon the interesting incidents in and around it. Resting so quietly in the shadow of Pike's Peak, there is a charm that fascinates you. This ci y was first organized on the colony plan in 1871 by far-seeing men. There is an insertion in every deed of transfer of property, a clause prohibiting upon forfeiture, the man ufacturing or sale of alcoholic liquors. This clause was introduced by Gen. \V. J. Palmer, the president of the colony. The results have proven that it was not only seritimen , I but a business precaution. It has been many times contested, but each time legally sustained, and to-day Colorado Springs is the most moral city in all Colorado. The city is settled largely with English peo- jile, who have sought this beautiful place for health and pleasure. In the hot summer days the sun drops out of sight behind the mountains at four o’clock, with startling suddenness. Then conies the cool shadows and the grand sunsets which I cannot begin to describe. The average tem perature is sixty degrees, and I was told by an enthusiastic lover of his home, that there are three hundred and fifty sunshiny days in the year. Mrs. Hayes, the charming daughter of our ex President, Jefferson Davis, has a lovely home here. Facing the Cheyenne mountains is the old home of Helen Hunt Jackson. It was here she wro;e, “Bits of Travel at Home,” and “Hetty’s Strange Story.” Certainly one need not lack for inspiration with such surround ings. The grandeur of the mountains was her daily pleasure, and it is no wonder that her heart should turn again to such an enchant ing spot as she lay upon her bed of suffering. By her request she was brought back for burial. The beautiful description of her lovely grove on Cheyenne mountain, is given by Mary Simmons Crawford. “Down the slope and through the pines come the last slanting rays of the western sun aud lingering longest upon the resting place of this gifted child of nature. The ground is covered with a soft carpet of pine needles and trailing kinnikinuick. One might almost im agine the wild flowers she loved so well in life, crowding closer to her grave, and by their bright procession giving expression to the im mortality of a beautiful life.” “And has she not high honor, The hillside for her pall. To Ue in etate, with stars for tapers tall! And tbs dark rock pines like tossing plumes, Over her grave to wavs?” The following are her own beautiful lines, written while on her bed of pain. ‘Do not adorn with costly shrub or tree, Or flower, the little grave that shelters me. Let the wild wind sown seeds grow up unharmed: And back and lortb all summer, uualarmed. Let the sweet grass. Its last year’s tangle keep; And when remembering me, you come some day And Hand there, epeak no praise, but only sas ■ How slie loved us.” The phrase “it is generally supposed” is re sponsible for most of the rot and rubbish that is published in newspapers. Robert Ingersoll declares he will deliver no more lectures against religion. Is it possible that Bob is weakening in bis old age? A New York merchant has given $1,000 to wards the Beecher monument. He wants a shaft as high as the Banker Hill monument erected. A special from Kansas City, Mo., states that reports have been received from various points in Kansas of a snow storm, which will greatly benefit wheat. It ia said that if the Goddess of Liberty could talk iu proportion to the size of her mouth, the English language would only last her a week. The Savannah Hews says the most lonesome looking thing in the world is the spring bon net in the show window while wintry winds are blowing and the rain is threatening to turn into sleet. On a t ombstone of a little negro girl who is buried near Wetumpka, is the following: “Henri Ritti Demi Ritter Emmi Ritter Sweet Potato Cream Tarta Caroline Bostwick, infant daughter of Bob andSukoy Catlin.” It is not strange that the girl died young. Mrs. Alice Stewart Hill, an miniate friend of Helen Hunt’s, and an artist of wonderful merit, is illustrating her “Bits of Travel.” ilnr pictures ofthe wild flower® ®r o u !. r „i„ are pinned IrPna nature, and are very beau tiful. I found Mrs. Hill a charming woman, whose fame as an ar tist is already wide spread! Within a radius of ten miles around Colo rado Springs are found varied interesting and famous scenery. Five miles only is Manitou, the favorite watering place of Colorado. The village itself occupies a glen at the very foot of Pike's Peak, where effervescent springs of soda and iron bubble up in great abundance. There are endless canons here to explore, peaks to climb and parks and caves to visit! Mushroom park is about an acre of queer stems, all mushroom shape. The far-famed “Garden of the Gods” is close by, hidden be hind those garnished walls of rc-d and yellow sandstone so stiff and stark and out of place in the soberly toned landscape. The whole p.cture seems converted into a theatrical scene, and highly spectacular at that. 1 was prepared to draw upon my imag ination to see the forms upon the stone, but such was not the case. The solid rocks seemed to have gone masquerading in every sort of costume and character. The colors, too. were various—from black to drab and white to startliug red; the flowers weird and grotesque, but at the same time awful. Words are worse than useless. Iu the first stupor of astonishment at such a picture I could only hold my breath, fearing to speak lest it would break the charm and \auisb, like Macbeth’s ghost, “into thin air.” The Cave of the Winds is another interest ing and picturesque place to visit. This cave is not remarkable for large stalac tites or stalagmites, but excels in its profusion of small ornaments. These are of every imag inable form. From many of the ledges half" rows of smalt stalactites, like icicles from win try eaves. In some parts of the cave these are soldered together into a ribbed mass like a cascade falling over ledges. Elsewhere ihe drapery form of the stalac tites recall to you the Luray caves. I feci to-day most unfortunate—with the soul of an artist, without the power to wield the brush. What sunsets I What glorious skies ! And such boldness of form and inten sity of coloring! Those who had never seen them would scarcely give credit even to the painter’s brush. Marie Wright. A Kershaw fgrmer says that he does not in tend to plant any crop on the low lands until he first sees where the wasps are building their nests. He says that if the wasp builds bis nest low on the ground there will be no freshets this year; if he builds it high up we are sure to have high water. When visiting a printing office, keep these rults in view; Enter softly; shut the door; sit down quietly; subscribe for the paper, and pay in advance; keep six feet away from the devil; d-o-n-’-t whistle; hands off the manuscript; don’t talk to the compositors; don’t read the type on the galleys; and above all things don't ask “what’s the news.” A bright little boy, thirteen years old, in Philadelphia, recently hung himself. His mother said he had no had habits and even avoided other boys’ company, and his home was pleasant to him, hut he had a mania for reading the reports of murders, suicides and other like crimes appearing in the daily press, to which she credited bis sad and untimely death. Parents cannot be too careful as to what their children should read. Literary women sometimes matte the very best wives and mothers. It is said that Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett is the queen of one of the happiest homes in Washington. When she married Dr. Burnett he was a bright young Tennessean, who was thought to have a great future. She was an unknown, pen niless English girl. The union has been re markably happy. They have been blessed with five beautiful children, the eldest of whom is bite oi fgmal Of Isord i'outitrOJ.’* It is said that drummers for commercial uouse® will not have to pay tax in North Car olina in future. A. E. Foster, who repre sented a Chicago manufacturing firm, was ar rested at Wi mington a few days ago for not paying the tax which has heretofore been ex acted of drummers. His case was brought be fore Judge Meares on a writ of habeas cor pus, and the Judge discharged him without a day. Judge Meares was governed by the de cision of the United States Supreme Court in a similar case from Tennessee. It i3 not probable that any State will again attempt to collect what is known as the drummers’ “li cense tax.” Letter from Early Grove, Marshall County, Miss. Editor Sunny South: Spring-time is now beautifying our lovely forests which have so long been slumbering in the “lap of winter” and the atmosphere is redolent with the breath of fragrant flowers wafted by gentle zephyrs from the large floral gardens attached to the beautiful residences along our thorough fares. The twittering swallow made its ap pearance here this evening which is consider ed the harbinger of warmer weather. The boom spoken of in the columns of the Sunny South not long since is still progress ing, and ill a short time capitalists are expect ed, aud will be invited here for the purpose of making an examination of the rich iron and manganese mines discovered in this vicinity and which no doubt will prove a rich l’actolus for wealth to their owners. The neigbbprhood has the advantage of a large and flourishing school here, conducted by a Southern lady of marked ability, from Oxford, Miss., whose success as a teacher is well known throughout the state. We have two spacious brick churches, Meth odist and Episcopal, and Sunday schools well attended, aud a Ladies Christian Aid Society which is doing good work in behalf of religion. In society circles the leading topic is a fash ionable wedding to take place here on the evening of the 19th inst., the lady being a fair flower from the “rose-bud garden of girls” of Early Grove, and the fortunate young gentle man a resident of the Lone Star State. A charming lady suggests the name of “Bachelor’s Grove” for Early Grove, and ex presses tenderest sympathy for the poor fel lows who are working in "single harness ” and several bachelors are wondering why one on the khady slope of thirty winters does not need some sympathy from them. Early Grove, Miss., April 6th 188L BENIA " A half century ago in Turkey it was consid ered a shame for a woman to read. To-day two schools in Constantinople have been estab lished by the Sultan hi.nr.tf The Boston Herald says: “The latest wrin- ahout the Inter-State Commerce law is that it is to protect the colored men of the South who ride on railroads. One section of it enacts that it shall be unlawful “to subject any par ticular person, company, firm, corporation or locality,or any particular description of traffic, to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever.” This would seem to be fully broad enough to cover the case of the negro. It really looks as if Mr. Beck and other Southern Senators wao labored so earnestly for this bi 1 hai un wittingly succeeded in achieving what Charles Sumner, striving more directly to that end, failed in twenty years earlier.” The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle tells this inte resting story in an article on the Suwauee river: This dark river has its romance as being the place which gave rise to a melody which—like “Home, Sweet Home”—the affection of the heart will never let go. For it was here that a French family, in the time of Louis XIV., came over and settled on the Suwanee and mads a plantation. After a while the father and mother and all died, save one daughter, who, disheartened and desolate, returned to France and there wrote—adopting in part that negro dialect which she had been familiar with on the plantation in her girlhood—a feeling tribute to “the old folks at home” iu their graves in the far-off country. The Boston Transcript adds: And so is de stroyed the popular faith in the late Stephen C. Foster as the anthor of “The Old Folks at Home. ’ ’ Thus one by one are our idols thro wa down and chattered. Of all the wonderful things that have come out of Georgia, this dis covery is the most wonderful. Still more won derful, however, is it that the story has been copied into several periodicals that devote es pecial attention to musical matters, without note of its errors. TO W. H. N. Perhaps if I had known thee, I could weave a mystic swell. That would the happy moments bring, O, ‘who but fate can tell, Perhape If I had loved thee Through all those changing years There had not boon sack bitterness, Such weak and blinding tearsl And when tho ochoeo change from rates By honoot Bourbon tension— I hope dear Will, to moot yon at The railroad prose convention.’ Kalamazoo, Mich. Modxsta Kozak r. The Church Extension Board of the M. E. Church, South, is in session in Montgomery, Ala., Bishop McTyeire, of Nashville, presid ing. _ A number of distinguished Methodist ministers from different Southern States are present. PresidentGrevy, of Franoe, aseveryone knows, ia very simple in his habits. He is now nearly eighty years of age, and is grow ing feeble. He was re-elected President be cause be was known to be an honest and a safe man.
