b
THE SONNY SOUTH, ATLANTA, GA„ SATURDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 15, 1887.
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The First Sermon in New England.
The first sermon ever delivered in New Eng
land by a regularly ordained minister, was
preached by Rev. Robert Cushman at Ply
mouth, on November ft, 1621..
Iniquitous Discrimination.
Grain is now being carried from Chicago to
Liverpool for 6c. per 100 pounds less than
from Chicago to New Tark. Here is a fine
opening for the Interstate Railroad Commis
sion to get in a little work, if the law authori
zes it. ^
A Naval Reserve.
11 is proposed to establish in this country a
naval reserve, consisting of officers and mem
bers of the merchant marine, yachtsmen and
watermen generally, and of vessels to be built
with reference to their use in time of war as
auxiliary to the regular navy.
The only Golden Trout.
Golden trout are found in but one place in
the world—that is in the brooks of Mount
Whitney, up near the banks of everlasting
snow. They have a golden stripe down each
side, and are the most beautiful fish; that
swims.
American Legion of Honor.
At the recent meeting of the Supreme Conn
ell of the American Legion of Honor, consist
ing of forty-six delegates, representing 62,000
members, it was reported that the order was
carrying a benefit insurance at $18,000,000,
and during the last two years has paid out
$4,000,000.
A Political Pointer.
Governor Bodwell of Maine told a New York
correspondent that Hon. James G. Blaine
would accept the nomination for the presiden
cy. Mr. Bodwell said he would go farther and
state that Mr. Blaine is confident of a practical
ly nnanimons nomination and expects to be
elected.
A Huge and Costly Vessel.
The new English vessel, the Trafalgar, cost
four aDd a half millions, and is 345 feet long
and 73 feet wide. We haven’t got any vessels
to hurt, but Zalinski’s dynamite cannon'could
Hinder that huge structure into a very large
quantity of very small particles in ths ten
thousandth part of a very short while.
An Old British Deserter Pardoned.
Seventy-two years ago Robert Tirrell, of
Rhode Island, then a soldier in the British
army, deserted and came to America. The
old m<>3, who is ninety-three years old, has
just received a pardon from the grand-dangbter
of the king he deserted, and is going back to
the old country to die among his kinsfolk.
A Work to be Proud of.
One of the most successful temperance work
ers beyond the Mississippi is Miss Lanra
Winkler, of low a. She was born blind, but
her earnest real is not impaired to any serious
extent by her affliction. Miss Winkler’s fa
vorite ftald is the workshop. She visits facto
ries during the noon hour and makes personal
appeal to the workmen to shun King Alcohol.
Another Grand Distribution on Jan.
1st or 15th, 1888.
The last drawing was so satisfactory to every
one, and ao many people were absent from
home who desired a chance, and money was
so scarce in some sections up to October the
1st, that we have yielded to a general wish for
another showing and will have one more draw
ing on the 1st or 15lh of January next. Have
not decided upon the date yet.
It will be upon a much larger and more com
prehensive plan than the other and will em
brace some 2,000 presents in all. Full particu
lars will be given very soon.
Every subscription, whether new or for re
newal which has come in since the last distri
bution on the 1st Lost,, has been carefully en
tered in snch a way as to have a ticket placed
in the box for each in case we decided to have
another drawing. Let them come along there
fore without delay. Each and every one shall
have a showing. As we cannot and could not
have a preference in the matter we take great
pains to see that all have a fair and equal
chance.
Let all the fi iends of the paper go to work
for"it at once and secure good clubs.
For the Piedmont Exposition.
Mrs. John SharoD, an old lady who has
passed her three score years, Bainbridge, Ga.,
has just finished a knitted quilt and pillow
shams for the Piedmont Exposition, and will
place on exhibition. It is reported to ns as
being an exquisite piece of wotkmanship, any
way—and considering the age of the lady, re
markably fine.
A Distinguished Compliment-
Mrs. Mollie McGee Saell thus praises the
press of Mississippi, for its decided stand for
the right: “We are getting prouder and
prouder of the press of Mississippi. So unani
mous has it become for right, that the few
straggling exceptions are scarcely to be noted
at all. This State has a great future before
her, which is indicated from the spirit of the
press. As long as these noble editors stand
by the “ship,’’ she need not fear to breast the
sea, for ‘the breath of God is in her sails, the
rudder in His hands’."
Thanks.
In addition to those already received, we
acknowledge, with thanks, copies of “The
Hunters of Kentucky,” from Col. John W,
Hays, Oxford, N. C., and Mrs. H. A. Law-
rance, Waldo, Fla., and from the last named,
a piece in this number—“Brooklyn Heights.
1812.”
We are under special obligations also, to
Mrs. M. C. Blain, Brunswick; L. D. P.
Gainesville, and G. H. Brackett, Augusta, Ga
to Mrs. Mattie Gilmore, Florence, Ala.; Mrs.
Lucy Webster, Dandridge, and Mrs. Ella L.
McLeskey, Brownsville,' Tenn., for copies of
“Tenting on the Old Camp Ground."
Since writing the above we have received
copies of the "Hunters’ of Kentucky,” from
Joseph Jackson, Jonesboro, Ark., and W. J.
Finlay, Ohio, who will accept thanks.
The Largest Organ.
It is claimed that Chicago’s new Auditorium
building will contain the largest organ in
America. The plan submitted specifies one
hundred speaking and forty mechanical stops,
six thousand pipes and four manuals. The
instrument will consist of six distinct organs,
will have ail modern appliances, including elec
tric action, will take from eighteen months to
two years to build, and will cost about $30,000.
City,
National Exposition—Kansas
Missouri.
The Editor of the Sukwy South returns
thanks for an invitation from the management
of the above-named exposition. It would af
ford him very much pleasure to attend, and
if he can possibly arrange his business so as
to do so he will. Kansas is a growing State,
the acquaintance of whose progressive people
he would be particularly glad to cultivate—as
the Susur South is rapidly winning its way to
their good will.
An American Soientist in China.
The Department of State has been informed
that Professor Church, of Columbia College,
New York, a distinguished mining expert, re
cently arrived at Tientsin, China, and entered
the service of the Viceroy, Li Hung Chang,
lie has made a personal examination of and
full report upon the iiterior Chinese copper
and silver mines, in which he deprecates the
continuance of the old system of handling la
bor in mines, and recommends the adoption of
machinery.
Florida Defended.
The worst oranges consumed in America
come from Italy, hut, in spite of the inferiority
< f the Italian fruit, the officials of that country
appear to take much interest in the trade in
mis product, though they betray a great deal
of ignorance on the subject. In a recent re-
p jrt made by the Italian ministry of commerce
it was stated that California could supply the
A ruerican market throughout the year, and
that in Florida the plantations were not situa
ted on land suitable for the growth of oran
ges. The authors of this report ought to visit
a Florida orange plantation next winter. Not
only would they have the opportunity while
there of eating the fittest oranges in the world,
but, says the Philadelphia Record, they would
enjoy a climate that Is destined to attract
grea rr crowds of health-seekers than the fa
mous Riviera itself.
The Championship and the Cap.
The championship, to he decided next year,
is as good as challenged already.
A Mr. Sweet, a Scotchman hailing from the
town of Ayr, in the land of Burns, who, though
a member (until since the race) of the New
York Yacht Club, and holding large American
interests, has never been naturalized, and who
is on the roster of the Royal Thames, Royal
Northern and Royal Clyde Yacht Clubs, has
about decided to build a boat that shall win the
cap. He was so sure the Thistle would win
the late race that he told his friends in the
New York Yacht Club that they would “have
the pleasure of seeing her stern every time she
raced,” and the measure of bis disappointment
can therefore he guaged by the measure of his
former fervor.
A member of the New York Yacht Club re
marked that “Mr. Sweet is Scotch enongb, and
therefore shrewd enough, to see where his
best opportunity for victory lies. He knows
that oar second-class sloops are not all that
they ought to be.”
[It is well to remark that the term second-
class here used does not refer to quality, bnt
to tonnage—first-class being a craft of say one
hundred tons; second-class fifty or less tons.]
A Mr. Fyfe, whose birth-place is near Ayr,
Scotland, designed a second class sloop—the
Clara—which is one of, if not the fastest boat
of her class. To this designer it is understood
Mr Sweet will confide the construction of his
yacht, which will he built of steel.
So there is work and excitement ahead for
another year. The pleasant and peaceful con
tests but demonstrate oar superiority in naval
architecture and construction, and what may be
expected of ns should dire necessity compel us
to contest for supremacy on the ocean either
with a peaceful commercial marine or naval
armament.
Carrying Things too Far.
The fears of the brave and follies of the wise
have long been held as legitimate subjects of
satire. The intemperance of the temperate is
not so much a matter for ridicule as for grief.
When a man who is known tosympathize with
bad people, and who is believed to he govern
ed by wrong motives, gives expression to ill-
considered words, it excites little surprise, and
not much regret. It is cot apprehended that
his words will have much weight or that be
will do a great deal of harm. But when a man
who is known to wish well to his country and
to his race, and whose benevolence is known
to be such that he would cheerfully make large
sacrifices for the public weal, is betrayed by
the warmth of his feelings into making re
marks too sweeping to be wholly true, the
damage to the cause that he advocates cannot
fail to be great. Men endowed with zeal in
large measure, yet lacking in discretion, are
not kept from the position of leadership easily.
But to accord them this rank is apt to bring
the cause to disgrace and ruin. The eloquence
and personal magnetism with which they may
be endowed will only make them the more
dangerons if cot conjoined with a common
sense which will tell how far to advance and
when to stand still. Almost every scheme for
human advancement has had some such un
wisely zealous champions as we have describ
ed, and the sober, patient friends of these
plans have generally found them as much re
tarded by the too great haste of these rash ad
vocates as by the efforts of opponents. En
thusiasm is assuredly a desirable thing, bnt
the enthusiast needs the check rein of pru
dence all the time to restrain from positions
which oannot he maintained. In moral ques
tions certainly—it may be in all others—going
too far iB as bad as not going far enough.
Some of the most unlovely vices which men
exhibit are bnt virtues carried to excess. The
miser but carries the maxims of thrift to the
last extreme; tyranny is too often the outcome
of an earnest desire for every one to do his
dnty, and too much of what is called the mis
sionary spirit has made men of tender con
sciences haid-hearted persecutors. He is wise
who knows where to stop. • •
Stick to Tour Own Language.
An old devotee of science once said to a
young friend of his: “If you want to talk
heavy science, say 'protoxide of hydrogen’ in
stead of ice. It sounds huger, and not om-
man in a thousand will know what yon mean.”
It is fair to assume that it is upon this principle
that so many persons interlard their writings
and speeches with foreign words and phrases,
which perhaps not one person in a thousand
thus addressed will understand. To a select
few the use of foreign words by a writer or
speaker may convey a more delicate shade of
meaning than the borrower could give in plain
English, but to the vast mijority of readers and
listeners it is an effoit as utterly thrown away
as would be the employment of a number of
hieroglyphics from an Egyptian monument.
Those who indulge in this sort of thing artf
rarely conversant with the languages they so
often mutilate. “Like savages who have man
aged to pick up a few articles of foreign
fin«ry,” says the London Saturday Review,
“they are merely anxious to make a very harm
less display and to dazzle the eyes of their less
fortunate countrymen.’’ Not so Mr. James
Rnssell Lowell—for he is a scholar—whose ad
dress at the celebration of the two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Harvard
College, is spoken of by the New York Inde
pendent as follows:
“Our readers will admire James Russell
Lowell’s address at Harvard; but not half of
them will be able to translate the Latin lines
with which he adorns his theme. This raises
the qnestion ‘What is the use of sprinkling in
all this Latin?’ As Parson Wilbur, Mr. Low
ell could very properly do it, for that was
travesty on the pedantry of a past generation.
But it might be Parson Wilbur himself who in
terlards the Latin in Lowell’s address. We
suppose it is done out of flattery to the audi
ence. They like to have it supposed that they
understand it; that they are scholars unlike
the common herd. We venture to say that
not half of Lowell’s own audience, nor a quar
ter, could follow the Latin, except when it
came to a stock quotation like that about the
man who was ‘teuacem propositi.’ We humbly
think that, however fine and grand it may he
to stick in a Latin quotation here and there, it
is nothing else, after all, than an affectation,
and is out of the way of downright and direct
literary effect.”
Some one has said that “if a man can
not express his thoughts without hacking to
pieces half a dozen languages, he has mistaken
his calling, and should go to chopping cord
wood." Pretty rough but to the point. It is
a very cheap sort of literary snobbery, of
which men who can express themselves in the
mother tongue ought not to he guilty. The
use of foreign words seems to imply one of two
things: that the writer or speaker wishes to
display his knowledge of the language from
which he borrows, or that he is ignorant of the
corresponding words in the English language
in the former case it is pedantry, while in the
latter it is ignorance, and in both cases it is
departure from true simplicity and elegance
A few examples gathered a few years ago by
periodical devoted to educational interests,
will illustrate our meaning as well as show the
folly of the practice: *
“An excellent periodical, in a critical notice
of Whittier’s Poems, says, ‘The Physique of
the book is charming.’ To the mere American
this conveys the idea, that as a medicine the
book is agreeable. The reviewer probably
means that the mechanical execution of the hook
is charming, but it may be doubted whether
this is a correct use of the French word.
_ “Examples of this useless intrusion of for
eign words abound most in novels, and the
light literature of the day. A novel before ns
has such expressions as these:—‘They have
just escaped from Paris, where they had been
for some years among the detenus,’ (detained.,
“If it is religion that does all that for her, it
is a religion of which I can form no idea; ce-
lannepaste." Here the French is a mere par
aphrase of the English words that- are itali
cised, and how will the foreign wordB help the
reader to anything new—but the vanity of the
writer?
“She had surrounded herself with vases of
flowers, to give her apartment un air de fete,
(a festive appearance.)
“In such books, a medleu or mixture is a
melange—a fray is nothing short of a melee,
and the select are not the chosen hat the elite.
Disputants do not differ entirely, but toto ccelo,
and they do not begin again but de novo, or as
some goslings prefer to say, ob ovo.
“But our newspapers have caught the dis
ease, and some editors who know too little of
English and nothing of any other language, al
low themselves to use foreign expressions and
oftentimes commit egregrious blunders without
the salutary plan of knowing it. Perhaps no
foreign word is so frequently spelled wrong as
as naivete, a word of three syllables, meaning
artless ness, ingenuousness. The common error
is to spell it naivette. Then the pretty word
posy has been snperseded almost entirely by
the French word bouquet, or as nine-tenths of
our editors spell it boquet.
“The most common items of news are inter
larded with such barbarisms. Thus the Presi
dent is never going to Washington, but he is
en route for that city. No remark can he made
by the way, or in passing, but it must be en
passant. A rising of the people is no longer a
mob or a rebellion, but an emuete. Onr ances
tors did without ennui for many centnriea, but
their sons pretend that no English word ex
presses the full idea, and even Worcester has
been compelled to give the word a place in his
»reat dictionary. The difficulty of pronounc
mg the word more than balances any shade of
meaning that it possesses over listlessness, te
diousness, irksomeness, etc , which the best dic
tionaries have always given as completely
synonomous with eunue.”
The Charge of Plagiarism.
It is sometimes said that plagiarism is the
worst form of theft; that the man who will de
liberately appropriate the results of another’s
brain work and claim merit- for it as his own
is as vile as the highwayman or the pirate.
Snch assertions have been written, doubtlessly,
by authors while smarting under the wrong of
having some favorite thought or expression
stolen. They are perhaps too strong. Beyond
question, a man of conscientions honesty will
not steal the product of another’s intellectual
labor. He certainly deserves to be branded as
a wrong-doer who will speak, as his own
thoughts, that he has not coined from his own
brain, or who seeks pay and praise for a book
which he has not composed. Wrong as it is to
do these, however, men and women do them
who are not, at the time of perpetration, con
scious of doing some one an in j ary, and have
not that sense of vileness which one mast ex
perience when robbing a drawer or invading
an enclosure. Writers and speakers do show
off themselves in borrowed plnmes who are not
mean in other things, and who are not humili
ated by a consciousness of doing a meanness
even in this. In fact a very large portion of
the literary theft that is done is done uncon
sciously. One stores his mind with ideas and
expressions as he reads, and when he speaks
or writes he uses them without being aware
that they are not his own. Many gain the rep
utation of being profound and Independent
thinkers simply by having pursued a train of
reading out of the ordinary line. A little re
markable is it that this charge of having stolen
the brain work of others should now be brought
against some who have been rated as having
wrought most largely and successfully in the
realms of thought. A few years ago it was as
serted, with an air of gravity, that Lord Bacon
was the author of Shakspeare’s plays. Now
some is seeking a little notoriety by attempting
to prove that Dr. Watts, the matchless hym-
nist, wrote “Roderick Random” and “Pere
grine Pickle.” At different times the effort
has been made to affix the crime of literary
theft upon Macaulay, Longfellow, Poe, Byron
and others who have been famed for their abil
ity to put good thoughts into good language.
If snch authors as these escape not this accu
sation, it is no matter for wonder that it should
be brought against smaller men. ’Tie a cheap
way of bringing one’s self into notice to prefer
a preposterous charge of plagiarism against
some literary celebrity. m ,
The Great Question.
Ex-President Davis’ Strong
Letter.
J. Wofford Tucker’s Response—Tke
Letter of Mrs. Mollie Mc
Gee Snell.
As considerable interest has been manifest
ed in regard to the letter written by ex-Presi
dent Davis during the Texas campaign, and
the influence that letter was supposed to have
had on the result of the election in that State,
we present it below, together with the letters
of Judge J. Wofford Tucker, of Florida, and
Mrs. Mollie McGee Snell, of Mississippi, in
reply. We invite attention to them not only
on account of the interest which clusters
arouud them now, but of their value in future
contests.
Mr. Davis’ Letter.
Beactoir, Miss., July 20, 1887.
Colonel F. II. Lubbock:
Mv Dear Friend—Yours of the 12.b inst
with its enclosures, has been received.
I have heretofore declined to answer any of
the many inquiries made for my opinion on
the constitutional amendment, now pending in
Texas. My reason for Dot replying was ah
unwillingness to eDter into a controversy in
which my friends in Texas stood arrayed
against each otber-
In departing from the rule heretofore ob
served, I trust that it will not be an unwar
rantable intrusion.
Reared in the creed of Democracy, my faith
in its tenets has grown with its growth, aDd I
adhere to the maxim that “the world is gov
erned too much.”
When our fathers achieved their independ
ecce, the corner-stone of the governments
they constructed was individual liberty, and
the S' cial organizations they established were
not for the surrender, but for the protection of
natural rights. For this governments were es
tabiished, deriving their just powers from the
consent'of the governed. This was not to
subject themselves to the will of the majority,
as appears from the fist that each community
inserted in its fundamental law, a bill of rights
to guard the inalienabie privileges of the indi
vidual.
There was then, a two-fold purpose in gov
ernment, protection and prevention against
trespass by the strong upon the weak, the
many on the few.
The world had long suffered from the op
pressions of government under the pretext of
ruling by divine right, and excusing the inva
sion into private and domestic affairs on the
plea of paternal care for the morals and good
order of the people.
Our sires rejtcted all such pretentions, their
system being: Government by the people, for
the people, and resting on the basis of these
general propositions 1 will briefly answer the
inquiry in regard to the prohibition amend
ment at issue:
“Be ye temperate in all things,” was a wise
injunction, and would apply to intoU ranee as
well as to drunkenness. That the intemper
ate use of intoxicating liquors is an evil, few,
if any, would deny.
That it is the root of many social disorders
is conceded, but then the questien arises, what
is the appropriate remedy, and what the pres
ent necessity? To destroy individual liberty
and moral responsibility, would be to eradicate
one evil by the substitution of another, which
it is submitted would be more fatal than that
for which it was offered as a remedy. The
abuse and not the use of stimulants, it must
be confessed, is the evil to be remedied. Then
it clearly follows that action should certainly b.
directed against the abuse rather than the use,
If arunkenness be the cause of disorder and
crime, why not pronounce drunkenness itself
to be a crime and attach to it proper and ade
quate penalties. If it be objected that the
penalties conld not he enforced, that is an ad
mission that popular opinion would be opposed
to the law; but if it be true that juries could
not he empaneled who would convict ao de
graded a criminal as a drunkard, it necessarily
follows that a statutory prohibition against the
sate and use of intoxicants, would be a dead
letter.
The next branch of inquiry is as to the pres
ent necessity.
I might appeal to men not as old as tuyself
to sustain the assertion that the convivial use
of intoxicants and the occurrence of drunken
ness had become less frequent within the last
twenty years than it was before. The refining
influences of edneation and Christianity may
be credited with This result Why not allow
these blessed handmaidens of virtue and mor
ality to continne, unembarrassed, in the civil
izing work? The parties to this discussion in
your State have no doubt brought forward the
statistical facts in regard to the effect produced
in other States by this effort to control morals
by legislation, and I will not encumber this let
ter by any reference to those facts.
You have already provision for local prohi
bition. If it has proven the wooden horse in
which a disguised enemy to State sovereignty
as the guardian of individual liberty was intro
duced, then iet it be a warning that the pro
gressive march wonld probably be from village
to State and from State to United States.
A governmental supervision and paternity,
instead of the liberty the heroes of 1776 left
as a legacy to their posterity. Impelled by the
affection and gratitude I feel for the people of
Texas, and the belief that a great question of
American policy is involved in the issue you
have before you, the silence I had hoped to ob
serve has been broken. If the utterance shall
avail anything for good it will compensate me
for the objurgations with which I shall doubt
less be pursued by the followers of popnlarism
of the day.
I hope the many who have addressed me let-
ters of inquiry on the same subject will accept
this as an answer, though somewhat long de
layed. Faithfully yours,
Jefferson Davis.
I certify that the joregoing is a true copy of
the original received by me and now in my
possession. F. R. Lubbock.
July 23, 1887.
Judge Tucker’s Letter.
Sanford, Fla., Aug. 20, 1887.
To the Editor of the Times-Union:
Many thousands of good men and good wo
men, who had heretofore entertained senti
ments of respect for Mr. Davis, were surprised
and pained by the appearance of his letter de
fending the liquor trade. On the eve of an
election in a great Stats to ascertain the will of
an enlightened people and the policy, or impol
icy, of a legalized whiskey traffic, this letter
was written and then held in secret till just in
time to reach the white voters through the
newspapers, but not in time to reach the negro
voters, who wonld probably vote against the
advice of Jeff Davis on any subject.
The occasion, the object and the substance
matter of the letter were alike humiliating.
The letter does not contain one new sugges
tion. The substantive points made in opposi
tion to the prohibitory amendment are of the
woof and texture of the vulgar declamation of
the saloon. Prefacing his points with some
platitudes on the nature and design of liberal
government. Mr. Davis insists:
1. That the State has no constitutional au
thority to suppress the trade in liquor.
Now the question of the right of States, con
sistently with the fundamental law, to regulate
or control or abolish this traffic, has been judi
cially declared by the very highest tribunals.
That is not an open question.
U it were assumed that the State can not
limit or restrict or abolish such a trade be
cause it interferes with individual discretion
and business and profits, why, then, the estab
lishment of a quarantine to shut off an infec
tions disease from the public would be a fla
grant violation of individual right, since it sus
pends trade and travel and the commerce of
ife, affecting communities and States. Then,
too, all the restraints of law against gambling
and scandalous violations of the sanctity of the
Sabbath, and kindred regulations for the pro
tection of society and in the interest of public
mor&lity, are unconstitutional.
Mr. Davis insists:
2. That snch prohibitory laws “destroy in
dividual liberty and moral responsibilities,”
“which wonld he more fatal than that for
which it was off red as a remedy.”
We can scarcely conceive a proposition ex
pressed in English words more monstrous
than the above!
We have laws against seduction, and against
the ruin of girls under the age of consent.
Now, such laws invade “the individnal liberty
and moral responsibility” of those who seek to
commit these crimes against morality. Let ns
repeal snch laws. Let the criminal be de
terred and reformed by “the twin hand maid
ens of edneation and relieion,” according to
the suggestion of Mr. Davis.
Why, yes, so let the burglar and robber be
reformed by these blessed hand-maiden? I
Meanwhile, let them rob and murder, it will
all come right in the endl
Take another illustration.
in many large cities there is carried on a
regular trade in gills of tender sge. They are
employed in some capacity, and then, by ar
rangement, decoyed by depraved men, who
pay largely for this facility, for purposes of
lust. The loathsome and horrible depravity
tends to sins humanity down into the depths
of moral putrefaction. It challenges the ven
geance of a just God ! It is punishable by law.
Now, on Mr. Davis’ theory, why interfere
with “the liberty and moral responsibility" of
these traders in young girls?
Why not let “the twin hand maidens of ed
ucation and religion” work out a reform?
Why not license and legalize this trade? Why
not take the large revenue that could be de
rived from this Heaven-insulting work? In
short, why not repeal the laws against seduc
tion and bigamy and all forms of immorality
and vice, and let “the twin hand-maidens of
religion and education” restrain the depraved
and the cruel?
One sickens at this miserable sophistry
which can only insult the understanding of the
intelligent and offend the moral sense of the
virtnons.
Finally, Mr. Davis insists that such prohibi
tory laws can not he enforced.
Now, actual experiment here at our doors,
just across the State line, demonstrate the
falseness of this thread-bare commonplace.
Was this the best the Texas whisky men conld
bring out? Would snch flimsy, out-worn, in
sipid taik satisfy the native Texas white man
to take a posi Jon with ignorant negroes and
Mexican greasers and stupid foreigners who
think liberty means license, and Texas Mor
mons, who are a stench in the nostrils of Chris
tian civilization?
These classes constitute the majority against
prohibition, as ably shown by the New York
Evening Post. The personal friends of Mr.
Davis can only reflect with shame upon the at
titude in which he has placed himself.
J. Wofford Tucker.
Miss Mollie McCee Snell’s Reply to Mr.
Davis.
Not only in Texas has your letter met the
loud hurrahs of the liquor traffic’s advocates,
but in Mississippi every anti-Prohibitionist,
saloon keeper and saloon polilicion believes
that you have furnished the “trump card”
which will perpetuate the terrible traffic in
our State. In the name of the Woman’s
Christian Temperance Union of Mississippi,
I address you this letter in a spirit more of
grieved surprise than angry resentment. The
women of Mississippi have always felt for you
a peculiar devotion, that brooked no harsh
criticisms from the Northern press or vindict
ive foe. We of the Southern W. C. T. U. of
Mississippi especially have said to the North
ern W. C. T. U.: -‘Here are our hearts, our
hands; we will unite with you in fighting for
our homes. We desire to be one iu purpose
with you, bnt understand, we come with no
apology for the past. Where Mexico waters
flow, in a’sacred home called Beauvoir, we
have a chieftain who has been made deathless
by defeat. Your dear women of the North
mu3t honor our coming by allowing us to ever
cherish our Mr. Davis and never, by word or
deed wound us by harsh reference to him or the
cause he led.” This has been granted us by
the Northern W. C. T. U., and you have been
reverently guarded in our national W. C. T. U.
But Mr Davis, what shall we say now, when
it can be truly said to us, “Your Mr. Davis
has joined the forces that work against the
women of the South. He has thrown his in
fluence with the saloon regardless of the ef
forts of your children, wives and mothers
clone the saloons."
When i he saloon keepers, the saloon politi
cians, and anti-Prohihitionists show us your
beloved face as the face of their patron saint,
dear Mr. Davis, what must we women say ?
When the Southern army marched away
into the raining storm of shot and shell the
breaking of the slave bondage began. Every
unshackled negro cost the South the blood of
her noblest and best. There is another war
upon us; this time our noblest and best are
the chains. The weapons in this war are
be “spiritual not carnal.” The war is for the
redemption of the home and the home trea
sures from the ever increasing reach of the
liquor traffi 3. The home and its inmates, Mr.
Davis, we women think, are more important
than holding negro slaves, and he who joins ix
the fight for these is indeed the Christian sol
dier and patriot. The advocates of the liquor
traffic insist that this “peaceful war” inter
feres with personal liberty, but the women an
swer this by pointing to the thousands of
mothers, wives, sisters and daughters who
bear to-day the agony of living sorrows caus
ed by theliquor traffic, and say, “What
about the rights of these suffering mortals? 1
Then, too, we point to the thousands of little
children old in grief because of, fathers, and,
we ask, “What of these little ones? Have
they no rights?"
You say you believe drunkards should be
punished as criminals. If you regard the slow,
insidious growth of the alcoholic appetite, and
the deception it practices upon its victims,
you probably would agree with the W. C. T.
U. in her profound sympathy for the drunk
ard. Bat, Mr. Davis, even if it would be best
to strictly punish drunkenness with the ex
treme penalty of the law, will the women who
are the true sufferers, be relieved from any of
the woe, poverty and disgrace brought about
by the drunkard? The argument that the
punishment of drunkards would prevent
drunkenness is lost in the fact that the min
who slips down the steep slopes of alcoholic
disease weald, when lashed by his furious
thirst, sell his very soul for drink. The drinker
becomes oblivious to the law in proportion to
his iacrease of appetite.
Yon say that the world is too much gov
erned. In this you ignore the statistics of offi
cial records which show that the liquor traffic
is the groat feeder c f the courts and the pro
lific cause of the needed police force of the
country. More law making is needed to re
strict, punish and otherwise legislate upon the
traffic and its attendant results than the com
bined questions of government before the peo
pie require at the hands of political thinkers
and lawmakers But why argue the question
with you, Mr. Davis? The very need of meet
ing an opinion of yours with dissent is sad
enough, and doubly sad when this dissent is
provoked by the question of the home versus
the liquor traffic. We profoundly deplore the
fact that you have given your influence to the
defenders of the traffic. We have regarded
you as the embodiment not only of Southern
patriotism but of Southern chivalry. We have
never doubted that you would answer the plea
of the saloon keeper by stepping between him
and the women whcFbear the “consequences’'
of his business. In other words we have al
ways thought that you would ever he found
in the front ranks of the army which under
the banner of right marches against the traffic
for the sake of “God and home and native
IaDd."
When I read your letter to Governor Lub
bock a profound feeling of regret possessed me
that our “Dear lady of the Confederacy” and
our beloved “Daughter of the Confederacy,”
did not with a woman’s intuitive sense of
what is best, ende ivor to persuade you not to
write the words which have so rapidly become
therousing battle song of the liquor traffic’s
soldiers, who, revived and encouraged by your
influence, come with renewed power against
the cause for which so many burdened souls
pray to day. With great respect I am yours,
for the homes of the South.
Mollie McGee Snell
Hoi to Become a Writer.
Some Practical and Plainly Put
Advice by Judge A.
W. Tourgee.
Qualifications Necessary for a Suc
cessful Writer—The Author of
•‘The Fool’s Errand” Advises
Literary Aspirants to Stop
Aspiring and Go
to Work.
Massachusetts was the only State which de
cently bore the expenses of its militia at Phil
adelphia. It cost $4,000 to fit up for the First
Regiment and the Cadets the rink which they
occupied.
A new opera house in Pittsburg has an inno
vation in the shape of a pair of opera g! asses
fastened with a gilt chain to every parquet
chair.
When a man gets mad with a newspaper he
quits subscribing for it and borrows the paper
afterwards from some fellow that isn’t mad.
The N. O. States define the new Sonth as
-‘a small square of ground in Atlanta on which
Mr. Henryfltady publishes the Constitution."
Washington is the best shaded city in the
world. At present there are 63.000 shade
trees in its streets.
A United States recruiting office was estab
lished at Portland the 1st of August, which
was the first of the kind east of Boston since
the war. Abont fifty men have offered them
selves, and eleven have been accepted and for
warded to New York.
The States of Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Tennes
see employ women as librarians.
[Copyrighted, 1887.]
[Special Correspondence of Sunnt South.]
Mayvillk, N. Y., Oct.—I have frequently
been asked to give some practical advice to
literary aspirants.
Before any “literary aspirant” can be well
advised one must know a good deal about him.
To what does he aspire? What preparation
has he for literary work? What are his mental
and moral attributes? What is his temper? Is
his digestion good? Has he a sturdy constitu
tion? Can he endure disappointment? Can he
outwork and outwait more competitors than he
will find in any other calling on pursuit? Does
he base his expectations on geniue, chance or
pluck? All these and a hundred other ques
tions must be answered before any one can give
a “literary aspirant" advice that will be of real
value. Without such knowledge one might as
well ask a business man how to make money.
The answer would probably be, “Go and make
it.” In literature it is somewhat different
Niee out of every ten aspirants must fail be
cause of obstacles that cannot be overcome;
nine tenths of the remaining tenth fail b cause
they have not the nerve to overcome the ob
stacles they might. To all these the best advice
that can be given is, "Don’t aspire!”
Ix tne young writer will not accept this as
final we must ask; To what does he aspire—
success or excellence? The two are by no
means synonymous, though success must no
doubt imply a certain degree of excellence, and
excellence will unquestionably insure a certain
amount of success; so that there must be some
common quality, some general ground which is
essential both to success and excellence. This
common ground is no doubt that of abstract
literary merit, and literary merit will be found,
when carefully analyzed, to consist of honest
thought, honestly and vividly expressed. By
honest thought, of course, I mean the aspirant’s
own thought and by honestly expressed I mean
expressed in his own way, as he thinks it and
as he feels it. He must learn t iat original t/
consists, not in mere form of express.on, hut
in a certain individuality of thought itself. One
man’s words will never exactly express another
man’s ideas. He should study the best authors,
therefore, not to find a model orbirrow a style,
but to note the sources of the strength of each
and find what he may safely adopt as harmo
nious with his own and what re j ect as inconsis
tent with his temper and method.
In doing this he must keep in miDd the condi
tions under which the author whom he studies
wrote. Not because the standards of excel
lence change from age to age, as is often said.
This may be true, but it is only half the truth.
He must remember that the writer, whether
he wills it or not, is the product of his age,
stamped with its characteristics and possessed
with its ideals. We often hear it said that if
Homer or Milton should write to-day bis works
would be unread, that Scott’s novels would on
ly provoke yawns] that Byron’s poetry would
be received with jeers, that Patrick Henry’s
impassioned eloquence wonld be greeted with
laughter and that Webster would speak to
empty benches in the Senate. Do not give
heed to such foolish and pernicious theories,
if these men were living to-day they would be
awake to the intellectual conditions of the pre
sent, and the divine fire would show them the
way to men’s hearts as easily now as when they
sang “the songs of immortality.”
A Flooded Literary Market.
One who has been inside the literary mill can
hardly realize how mnch literary “aspiration,”
of one sort or another, there is in these days.
Men, women and children take to printers ink
as naturally, if not as successfully as ducks to
water. I have no doubt that ths manuscript,
proof, &c., which are carried by the mails of the
United States average a ton a day, and I am
well assured that the postage which American
writers pay on what they call poetry amounts
every year to more than the poets of the
United States receive annually for their work.
Yet there is a good chance for men or women'
of fair ability to earn a competence and win
tolerable success in literature if they will be
honest with themselves and honest with their
readers, writing their own thoughts—that is,
in the best style they can attain.
But this means work, preparation, care. The
trouble with most “aspirants" is that they do
nothing but aspire. They have a vagne wish
to acquire money or get fame. They have an
indefinite longing to be known as authors.
They would aspire to be artists in the same
sort of way, but they know that people will not
look at the daubs of the unskilled hand and
untrained eye. They cannot take the trouble
to become skilled artists—to learn to use pencil
and brush. Perhaps they know it would be
vain to attempt to do so; bnt they can write,
and they thiDk that little more is necessary
to enable them to become poets and novelists.
They call over for their encouragement the roll
of those who have become famous in the liter
ary world at a stroke and without preparation
as they think. I do not believe in any of these
things. No man ever paints a successful pen-
picture without as careful preparation as it
would require to put the same on canvas. The
literary “aspirant” must do something more
than aspire—he must work.
A Common Example.
A young man thrilled by the recent perusal
of some powerfully written book, perhaps, is
suddenly seized with literary aspirations and
sits down to write. He thinks once writing
enough. Indeed, be feels that he has done the
world qttite a favor in doing even that. He
sends his manuscript post-haste to the literary
periodical. It is declined “with thanks.” He
s, of course, aggrieved, and at once writes his
name at the head of the first page in his own
private “book of martyrs.” He raves of in-
; ustice, envy, favoritism and all that sort of
twaddle, which has become the stock in trade
of the literary grumbler. What is the matter?
Forty-nine times out of fifty a trained eye,,
anxiously seeking for something new and
worthy, has glanced over the “aspirant’s” pro
duction and regretfully perceivedj that it has
no merit—it is not honeBt thought nor honest
self-expression. It is merely a collection of
spasmodic attempts to do something fine or
witty, with perhaps here and there a bit of
native humor or ill-digested observation. In
half the other cases it is no better than what is
on hand, or, if better, comes too late—after the
other has been purchased. The publisher,
whatever his character, wants always the best
—that which will sell. He employs trained in
tellects to sift this oat of the mass of manuscript
that comes to his hand. No amount of puffing
can make a literary success and no amount of
adverse criticsm can mar a deserved triumph.
My advice to the “literary aspirant,” there-
fore, is to stop aspiriDg and go to work, know
what he writes about and write about what he
knows. Study nature’s moods and tenses as
those in the grammar. Never let anything go
out of your bands until yon have done it as
well as you can. Always work in a room with
an open fire—not for the sake of the fire, but
in order that you may barn five sheets for every
one you send to the printer. Learn of the
proof-reader. He may not always ba right, hut
he iB very likely to show you how to get right.
Bless the critic. He may condemn you uDjust-
ly, hut he is more likely to praise you unde
servedly. Praise liaR its uses and scourging is
always profitable. When you describe a bird,
tree or a flower be sure you know what you
are describing; when you paint a man, study
him so that others will know his lineaments.
If you are writing for a periodical, write what
the editor wants; it you are writing a book, try
and write what the public wants.
Common-sense the Standard.
In marketing your wares use common-sense.
A rule that would be of advantage to one would
be an injury to another. An unknown author
may win popularity and appreciation by much
work at low rates. One who is well known
may depreciate his value by doing too much at
any price. Every writer must consider his
own capacity, know his own limitations, study
his own firid, judge his own work, make bis
own market, tight his own battles and take the
fortune that comes to him without whining.
The world does not care a fig how hard you
work or how deserving you may be. It is no
more renaiu that yon will succeed in literature
than that you wonld be a shining light in the
pulpit or an invincible* bull” upon “the street”
Do not expect help from other authors. It i i
like a soldier asking his comrade to carry his
knapsack. Each has his own burden.
If people will not buy your books do not
scold the people. They have the right to take
their choice, and are quite as apt to be correot
in their opinion as you. Finally, if youcanrot
succeed in literature, try something else. That
is what people do when they miss success in
otherlines. Everybody may be mistaken about
your merits hut yourself, though they are not
likely to be. In a financial point of view it is
well to remember that “literature is a good
staff, but a poor crutch.” Most men have
found it so. We hear a good deal in these days
about literature as a profession. It may be a
good one, bat you had batter have another to
fall hack upon. By all means learn to use a
typewriter and send yonr copy as “clean” as
yon can make it. Put it on small pages of good
paper. Learn to paragraph; learn to punctuate
—not out of books, but by studying expression
and its relation to recognized symbols. Read
your proof-sheets aloud to yourself, not to
others. Keep your temper, preserve your
digestion, and do not expect success without
deserving it. If you win, be grateful that you
still live; if you fail,|thank God that you are not
as dead as the hopeyou fondly—perhaps fool
ishly—cherished. A. W. TouKasfil
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