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T'HE) stj wv SO^TTH
IT'BLInHED BY
The Sunny South Pub. Co
HENRY CLAY FAIRMAN, Editor.
BUSINESS OFFICE :
Rooms II and 12 Constitution Building.
TERM:
One Year.
Sis Months.
$2.00
1.00
known, mills crowded with work &nd
all business stimulated by high hopes,
the year 1S93 has proved, in sudden
shrinkage of trade, in commercial dis
asters and depression of industries,
the worst for fifty years. Whether the
final results of the panic of 1837 were
relatively more severe the scanty re-
- I cords of that time do not clearly show.
! The year closes with prices of many
products the lowest ever known, with
millions of workers seeking in vain
for work, and with charity laboring to
j keep back suffering and starvation in
all our cities. All hope the Xew Year
may bring brighter days, but the dying
year leaves only a dismal record. The
review of different departments of
tr-ide given to-day exhibits a collapse
of industry and business which is al
most without precedent.
Address all letters and make all bills
pavable to THE SIAM SOL TH.
Atlanta. Ga.
A WITCH OF TO-DAY.
Mrs. Bryan's new story which began
in Christmas number is entitled to at
tract new readers not only because of
its general literary merits, but because
Lef S not besinTl^ Xew Year in de- « is d "°ted in lar » e measure to the
It is the fashion to talk hope- unmasking of many of the adroit
EICHTEEN NINETY-FOUR.
things frauds which have been
Northern cities under
committed in
the mask of
ceit.
fully and promise many good
for the future at this season, and in
ordinary times this is probably the spiritualism
best policy. But when rockribbed old
conservative papers like the Xew York
Tribune and Harper's T! eekly admit that
in Northern cities there are hundreds
of thousands of good people in an un-
manageable and appalling state of mysteries for the iove of filthy lucre.
Fully conceding the possibility, if
not probability, of the dual existence
and soul-projection, our authoress
lashes with unsparing hand the moun
tebanks who have trifled with sacred
distress for want of employment—
and when the record of evictions of
penniless tenants in Xew York city
eclipses that of ‘-poor, distressful Ire
land" in her palmiest days of destitu
tion, it is time to admit that things
are no longer right in this country,
and content ourselves if possible with
advising everybody to prepare for
privation and sacrifice, and gird
themselves for a fight with hard times
yet to be endured according to all the
signs. Many people seem to think
that the Lord loves a liar, but we could
never believe it. We have faith that
it is for truthtellers the fiat ‘‘well done
good and faithful servant’" is reserved
by the great and final Judge. For
many years past reformers have
preached the dangers of monopoly,
currency contraction and other public
frauds, and have been denounced as
“calamity howlers.” As usual, the
people have stoned their true prophets performed
and rewarded the time-servers. We
are tired of those leaders who cry “all
is well” while the storm is gathering,
aud then lead in the wailing over real
ized desolation. That millions should
be reduced to want in this proud and
God-bles«ed republic is enough to make
the angels weep. But it is a fact and
it is wicked to deny it.
The highest duty of statesmanship
is to so conduct public affairs that
wide-spread physical suffering shall
not visit the weak and incompetent.
The rich and the shrewd and the
strong are the natural guardians of the
women and children and hard-workers
of all lands, and if God, indeed, be in
human affairs the day will come when
an account must be rendered of the
way in which the trust has been
kept.
Let Americans face the fact that the
republic so hopefully founded by the
fathers has fallen far short of their
ideals. Let their leaders, if not en
tirely given over to Mammon, turn
themselves to the grand task of put
ting the government back into the
paths which lead to a realization of the
principle “o/ the people, by the people,
for the people.”
And let the people, while fully real
izing the perils that surround their
interests and happiness, also realize
while it is yet time that lawlessness is
one of the roads to anarchy and
destruction. Let them guard and cul
tivate the ballot-box more jealously
than ever before, and with set teeth
and prayerful hearts resolve to do all
things by lawful methods and await
the results with patience. Teach every
boy that every dishonorable or unlaw
ful act which he commits is a blow at
the foundations of the house which
shelters him.
The farmers, whatever their burdens
aud troubles may be, are secure of a
simple living, and the fact that mil
lions in the cities are worse off should
teach them to value the advantage of
their position.
In conclusion we clip the following
from R. G. Dun & Co :
Starting with the' largest trade ever
“A Witch of To-day” is believed by
some competent judges who have read
it to be Mrs. Bryan’s most fascinating
work.
THE HOWARD CASE.
The case of “Rev.” Doctor Howard
still drags its slow length along in the
Federal court at Jackson, Tenn., and
has cost the government up to this
time about forty thousand dollars. It
is probable that most of our readers
j know from the newspapers that How
ard is under indictment for using the
mails for fradulent purposes. The
charge, in general terms, is that under
a number of aliases, operating some
times from Tennessee, sometimes from
Xew York city, and sometimes from
London, England, he represented him-
; self to be an attorney and claim agent,
and induced many Americans to pay
him fees in advance for work to be
in prosecuting claims
against mythical estates in the “old
country.”
The trial is one of the most sensa
tional that has ever occurred in the
South. It has drawn witnesses from
London, Washington and Xew York,
among them men of world-wide dis
tinction, and marshaled an imposing
array of able and eloquent advocates.
A scholar, a lawyer and a man of
brilliant intellect, the character of
Howard reminds one of the career of
Eugene Aram. But worst of all (if he
is guilty, which we do not assert in
advance of a verdict,) he is a minister
of the gospel, and another striking
example of that class of men who
“steal the livery of the court of
heaven ” for the advancement of ambi
tions or avaricious, personal ends. We
have always believed that only atheists
have the courage to trifle thus with
holy things. For it is impossible to
conceive that a believer in God and his
ultimate justice could face the awful
perils that frown upon such a life.
The Atlanta Journal has sent out
one of the loveliest carrier’s addresses
that has come to our notice. It is a
reproduction of Spenser’s poem, “The
Months,” finely illustrated and bound
tastefully in pale pink, paper covers.
Among the ornamentations of the
front cover is a miniature copy of the
Journal printed on glazed book paper,
with type so small that it can only be
read with a magnifier.
The Journal ranks with the foremost
evening papers of the country. Its
business manager, Mr. H. H. Cabaniss,
is sagacious, wide awake and success
ful, and its editorial staff, composed of
such men as Richardson, Williams and
others too numerous to be named, is
among the ablest in the South.
The significance of money seems pos
itively awful when the want of it is given
as a reason for self-destruction. What
is the matter with the great firm en
gaged in the Human Life business? Is
it not a shaky concern which permits
one of its stockholders to become so
placed that he must choose between
money or death?
TWIN STAR TWINKLINGS.
Many of the best thoughts of the
best thinkers can reach the multi
tudes only through the medium of
interpreters. Too often these last act
as do glasses which refract rays of
light from their course and give them
another coloring. The philosopher
who has announced from his study
some grand truth, scarcely recognizes
it in the form which it has been made
to assume before reaching the masses.
Not a few of the expressions with
which the demagogue inflames the
passions of his followers are really
garbled and distorted utterances of
profound wisdom. There are those
who take pleasure in rendering harm
ful those results of genius which were
evolved only for the sake of benefit-
ting mankind, and convert into poison
that which was designed to nourish
and strengthen.
* * *
By far the larger portion of human
happiness arises from cherishing the
finer sentiments, such as love, grati
tude, smypathy, veneration. On the
the contrary, envy, jealousy, malice
and distrust cause much the greater
part of the miseries of life. As happi
ness is the boon which all profess to
crave, practical, common sense would
seem to dictate the cultivation of the
virtues rather than the vice-. It is,
however, a melancholy fact that a
very great number of people take a
pride and almost a pleasure in those
very emotions and sentiments which
dwarf and distort the soul, and pro
duce nothing 'but wretchedness. It
sounds like a paradox when we say
that selfishness dictates the cultiva
tion of unselfishness. But it seems
strange only because few ever appre
hend the end to which a rightly un
derstood self-inierest would lead them.
* * *
Edith Dombey is not commonly
classed as one of Dickens’ more lovely
creations. Though gifted with rare
beauty of person and high intellectual
culture, her cold, haughty, scornful
pride forbids an unqualified, and even
a very ample admiration.* We suspect,
however, that no character which he
ever drew cost him more careful study
in its elaboration. It was no easy
thing, without an utter disregard for
naturalness, to depict one as supremely
proud, yet willing, for the sake of
humbling the contemptible pride of
another, to expose herself to disgrace
and shame. Lady Dombey abandons
her insolent, overbearing husband, not
under the influence of any love for the
man with whom she flies, but from a
mad, overmastering desire to degrade
and humiliate the man whom she had
learned to despise. It is not such a
course as would be expected of ordi
nary women. But grant all the ante
cedent elements of her character, there
is nothing at all out of the range of
possibility in her subsequent career.
Withal, her friendliness for the or
phaned Florence vindicates her
womanhood and commends her to a
large share of our admiration.
* * *
It seems to be an idea in the minds
of many men who boast of their prac
tical common sense that the recipro
cities of kindness and friendship are
not only quite apart from, but rather
antagonistic to business. These hold
it as amiss to take into consideration
the excellencies or the defects, the
weakness or the strength, of those
with whom they deal, asserting it as a
sound maxim of business that all
should be brought to a common level.
They perhaps recommend and practice
that charity which consists in giving
but forbids that kindly consideration
which might render charity unneces
sary. Those who accept and obey
this stern ruling may prove successful
in their financial operations. One
may be a better business man when he
ignores all claims of friendship in his
money transactions. But such an one
certainly dwarfs his soul while he is
building up his fortunes.
sad fact that very much of the drilling
in the intricacies of the Latin and
Greek f ongue to which boys and girls
are subjected seems to be thrown
away unless the person who has been
so drilled adopts the profession of
teaching. Those who go from school
to the farm, to the counting desk, or to
other manifold businesses in which
trained young men seek employment,
soon allow all their knowledge of
Latin supines and Greek participles to
slip away from them. Before they
have attained middle life it is quite
difficult for one to believe that these
ever read with relish the Odes of
Horace, and studied with keen interest
the combats of the rival warriors
under the walls of Troy.
* *
The Laws of Trade do not rank
the laws of the Bible, but they cannot
be set aside nor greatly modified by
any legislative enactment. When it
is expected that the decree of a king
or the ordinance of a senate will raise
the price of what is to be sold or lower
the price of what is to be bought, the
expectation will assuredly be disap
pointed. Attempts on the part of a
civil government to effect these things
is sure to result in mischief. This has
b°en exemplified hundreds of times in
the world’s history; yet there are
those now, and we suppose will be to
the end of time, who look to legisla
tion for assistance when the course of
trade brings them personal disasters.
There are truths which history seems
powerless to " impress with unmis*
takeable certainty on the minds of
men.
* * *
That is a pleasant picture to contem
plate, of the young farmer and his sweet,
affectionate wife starting out upon their
few well-tilled acres, with a horse, cow,
pig and such supplies in barn, store
room and larder as to render want a
stranger for months ahead. It is a scene
of as assured happiness as our world can
know. But there could be no accumu
lation of great fortune, no building up
of great cities. These things result from
an ambition to be rich, successful on the
part of a few, unsuccessful on the part
of many. The former will be much mis
represented, much maligned, and the ob
ject of much injustice. But they can
have the satisfaction of knowing that
they are the world’s best benefactors.
Those who aim only at contentment in
a small way do little good to or for
themselves.
THE KEELY MOTOR.
A recent meeting of the Keeh- m
tor Company, ir, Philadelphia ^
agam raised expectation in some’ “
ter® that the hitherto unknown m„tiv
power, which is to take the place
steam, electricity and other force
on the point of materializing
Minneapolis Tribune 0011111101118'!'
lows:
is
The
as foi.
^e*t nave married, reared famiiL
and become grandfathers since kv'f
first began promising to astonish
world with his motor Babe,
long since Mr. Keely first'beAn S"
talked about have grown to nmnh,.,
and cast their first and several smme'?
ingsotes. His hydro-pneumatic nul
sating vacuo machine was talked about
guessed about and laughed about !
long ago as Grant’s first term i r Jt*
worked over into a campaign £
when Horace Greeley ran for Z
presidency. It antedates the \
than murder and the disappearance
of Charley Ross and all the time \2
Hi?!?.! if ^ a - S dark a mystery
His 124 different engines with a press
ure of oOO pounds to the square inch
on their piston heads have been an.
nounced one by one for more than a
quarter of a century. Two World’s
Fairs in this count-y and several i n
Europe have heralded the mechanical
progress of the people of the plane
since the motor was first exploited
but Keely has not been an exhibitor at
one of them. Nevertheless, his theory
of the~evolution of the ether into a
working energy—his liberation of pri
mary atomic motion—has found be
lievers who are willing to back their
faith with coin and have done s ()i
Twenty-one years ago the first Keely
Motor Company was formed and funds
amounting to $n0f>,000 were placed at
Mr. Keely’s disposal. It is said that
he has produced some wonderful dem
onstrations, but there is a mystery
about his methods and an indefiiteness
in the reports of his achievements that
cast the shadow of a great big doubt
over the whole business.
We acknowledge receipt of Funk A
Wagnalls’ Standard Dictionary of the
English language, a massive and com
plete work which will have fuller notice
in our columns. But in passing, we will
remark here that this great book is es
pecially adapted to the use of the gene
ral public because of this new feature.
It gives the common, every-day meaning
to words first, and then proceeds to deal
with roots and derivations.
We read in the long ago of a man who
went forth in a search for the vilest of
God’s creatures, to whom he had vowed
a gift as a thank-offering for a great
blessing which he had received. The
search proved long and wearisome, but
he eventually found him in the person
of a magistrate who used his office for
personal profit rather than for the good
of the people. In this, our day, he
could be found much sooner, and would
be recognized as a seeker for office who
employs the lowest wits of the dema
gogue in order to excite the worst pas
sions of the rabble. Such persons are,
perhaps, inevitable concomitants of free
governments. Wherever all men’ are
armed with ballots there will be those
ready to seek their votes by appeals to
the vilest motives.
Commander L. T. Dickinson, of X. B.
Forrest Camp, U. C. Y., Chattanooga, is
an accomplished artist, as testified fre
quently by his drawings for the Confede
rate Veteran and other petiodicals. He
has our thanks for beautiful Xew Year
cards.
For the Sunny South.]
New Year Thoughts.
“I can do that,” naively replied Tom
Tulliver, with liis plain, prosaic sense,
when his tutor told him of how Eug-
lish gentlemen generally forgot what
ever knowledge of the classics they
had obtained at School. This readi
ness at forgetting is a gift in which
Tom is not at all peculiar. It is a
The word talents is almost invariably
employed to indicate one’s intellectual
abilities, but this is not the sense in
which it is used in the famous parable
of the Savior. In this we are told that
the talents were distributed according
to ability. It must then be understood
to mean the surroundings and opportu
nities. The teaching is that each man
is held responsible, not so much for his
powers of mind and body, as for the use
he makes of his time and situation. It
is not easy, however, to leave out the
consideration of natural capacity in
summing up the amount of accounta
bility. Nothing is more common than
to see men differ vastly in what they ac
complish when there is little apparent
difference in their environments. It is
next to impossible to name all the influ
ences which conspire to make one man
rich, powerful and illustrious which an
other born on the same day and under
the same sky remains poor, weak and
° bsCUre * L. L. Y.
chimne 7swere introduced
into Rome from Padua in 1368.
One more year has closed its record.
Every page complete and whole:
What is written there remaineth
Till the books of God unroll.
Not one entry can we alter.
Not one wished-for hour recall;
Death-deep silence, fearful sameness,
Broods and settles over all.
Like the slain of some great battle.
In one heap together lie
Joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure.
Tear and laughter, smile and sigh.
As from out the dry seed springeth
Form of beauty, strength ana life,
From the vanished year ariseth
Lessons with true "wisdom rife.
Many griefs and cares it brought us.
Many trials hard and sore;
But its daily, heaven-sent mercies.
And its comforts numbered more.
So. with spirits wiser, stronger.
For the dead and buried year
Wecan patient wait the Coming
Without shrinking, without fear:
Knowing that though it may bring us
Sometimes shadows, sometimes light,
While the God of years o'er ruleth
All is wisdom, all is right.
—Miss F. H. Mark.
How to Be an Author.
“Advise me as to preparation for lite
rary work.” Well, if you must have it
in brief, get the best education you can,
and keep on getting it. Study the best
writers, with constant reference to their
matter and their manner. Go into so
ciety, observe men and women, fill up
your mind with facts, and exercise it by
reflection on many topics, big and little.
Write, for practice merely, say for fi ve
years: and then for another flve be con
tent to see your efforts go into the fire
or the country paper. After this period
of probation you will perhaps find out
whether you have any gift for writing
or not; not everybody has. The inclina
tion does not necessarily imply a corres
ponding talent. And of those who make
a business of writing, forty-nine out ot
fifty would do as well or better at some
thing else, and literature would not suf
fer by their loss.—''Talks u'ith the Trade,
in January Lippe >eutl'f.