Newspaper Page Text
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' Writhe ftt tl.o Sun4ij- ItlOcm««.
THE THOUGHT EXCHANGE.
SECOND PAPES.
“To-morrow” oeme, and passed
quietly in the home of my adop
tion ; every breath of the fresh ex
ternal and lorfog internal atmos
phere bringing health and vigor to
my debilitated mind and body. Asstx
ofoiock drew near, we saw several
carriages, and ladies on foot, pese-
iagoa the road tp Col. Blslr’», SDd
aeon we Joined them At that large,
elegant and “ante-belinm” looking
There we found as-
> about twenty-dve ladies j
g, middle aged, and a few past
the prime of life. Exactly at the
hear appointed, (tyr, fortunately,
punctuality was one of their strict
est rules, most rigidly enforced)
Mrs. Dr. Warner, the president,
oslled the meeting to order, and
f^e secretary, Clara Grey, called
the roll and read the minutes of
last week; after which the presi
dent announced tbo topic of the
dky—but here let me digress a mo
nant, and portray, if I can, the
,asit remains indelibly lm.
1 upon my memory, and the
impressions it gave me.
The wide lawn sloped southerly
toward the enclosure, a low thick
hedge of arbor vitae; the path,
wide at the gate, divided and pass
ed on either side of a vlae-oovered
aommer house, midway from the
gate to the house, and joined again
as it rose to the wlda steps which
lsd upward to the columned veran
da, itself covered with ivy, jasmine
and honeysookle, in full bloom and
firagranoe, and large enough to bold
many a city house, yard and all;
within thla sheltered, yet cool re
treat, the ladles sat, mostly olad in
white, some with fanoy work or
. knitting in their bands, all with
earnest faces and easy manners, en
grossed in their subject. Aeons
Cooed, ae I wae, to the hurry, bus
tle, formality and reserve of a olty,
the change to their genial social
code, and unstudied manners, was
as refreshing to my mental, at their
country air was to my physical na
ture; I found also that they ware
as cultured and reflned, as well-in
formed on the nows of the day, in
the old world as well as this, as tho
boss city society; indeed, most of
these farmer's wives were gradu
ates, end their sona and daughters
ware, or expected to bo, college fin-
{shed. An avenno of water oake
guarded the outside of the path*,
evergreens, shrubs end flowering
foliage grew in dumps interspersed
with hedsftf gorgeous tinted flow
ers over the large yard, while lar
dbwn to tho west, in a little grove
■orroonding a spring, were a clus
ter of hammocks, swings and rus
tle seats, where the children of the
'bone, with one or two others who
had come with their mammas,
were, with their colored nurses,
huWng high but quiet carnival.
Pardon If I use that word “quiet”
■any times in my homely narra
tive, for it was an elsment which
■ost impressed me ae belonging ex-
dosively to them. Suoh waa the
picture I gazed upon and drank in
to my memory aa 1 reclined in an
eooy chair a little oulaide the circle
of ladlea, so calm and quiet—peace-
fol, pastoral, per/ew.
Mrs. Warner arose, saying, “La
dies, the topio for this evening,
The 8ine of Omission,’ was chosen
as the opposite of our last, ‘The
Bins of Commission,—tho subjects
to be contrasted. Mrs. Grey, 1
think, is to open the discussion.”
Mrs. Grey paused a moment, her
sweet serious face foil of tender
gravity, then looking around tho
waiting group she began: “I have
tbonght deeply upon this matter
during the past week, and And It
at much greater significance than
appears on the tnrfeoe; indeed, its
scope is almost boundless, reaching
back as for as the first record of
the human family,and forward Into
eternity! We ere ept to look up.
oaefas as active, not paasire; as
committed, not allowed; while the
fact is, tbo proportion ol wrong in
tended* to that net prevented, is as
startled me, but is it not true?
This negligence is nearly alway
from thoughtlessness. 'I didn 1
think'—how large a cloak it le, dad
bow many sins it ooveire I And so
often it irtbs kindest, most loved
and loving, the dearett band which
give* the deepest hurt”
“Do yon mean that forgetfulness
should be regarded aa a sin ?” ask
ed Mamie Bonner. “If so, surely
there is ao one without sin among
“Indeed It may be regarded as a
sin,” replied Mrs. Gray, “since
many, I might aay most, of the
direet misfortunes, terrible aocl
dents, and disasters and saddest
sorrows can be traced beck to it
for a first cause. Among its off.
spring si* anger, strife, murders,
theft, and calamities too numerous
to mention.”
“How Mthfol!” exclaimed lit-
tie Mrs. Dallas, a sprightly, gay
young brunette, wboee lovely liq.
ntd eyes were raised with deep
concern In their depths— “and
what hsavy responsibilities your
words lay upon na or, rather, open
onr eyes to behold—and yet we
cannot deny them nor refast to ac
cept them. Perhaps not one efne
are free from the burden of some
wrong we might havo righted, and
no doubt each can recall instantly
some calamity directly caused by
thoughtlessness. I beard of one
to-day. One of the mill bands on
the lower river had a very sick
child. A physician was in attend
ance, and left yesterday, saying he
bad not with him ono remedy that
he needed for the child, but would
leave a prescription with the drug
gist, where the father might call
and get It. The man called, but
the Doctor, had 'forgottun' to leave
it, it was eomo distance to the phy
sician's house, the man waa tired
and 'didn't think' that, the medi-
oine was important that night, so
concluded to wait 'till morning,
in tho morning the child was dead I
No one wants to say that those two
‘didn't Ihinl-t,' killed the child, or
even that the medioine would have
cured; but thero will bo in tho pa
rents’ minds, always, an anguished
doubt, and a feeling a* if the child
might have lived.”
“Ah, Mrs. Dallas, that is too ter
rible an illustration, who would es
cape violating evory code of every
law, moral and divine, if tried by
•o severe a tribunal as your words
•uggestfsaid a lady in deep mourn
ing, whoso thin, white hair and
•tdddened eyes tohl that sorrow
more than years had aged her, and
whose private history made the
present topio most painful. “All
accidents might como under the
catalogue of things that could be
avoided, or could betracod to some
want of thought, some carelessness
or forgetfulness. I know— you all
know I havo reason—that most of
tho troubio in tbo world might be
avoided, if only aft people were
thoughtful from principle, and con
scientiously Mid unto others as
they would be done by;’ but, until
the world lives nearer the Golden
llulc and. its Author, we dare not
hold each other responsible for
evils we might have helped.”
“You havo named the remedy
for this evil, as well aa Us preven
tion, dear Mrs. Gray,” said Mrs.
Blair, “when you name the Golden
Rule.”
“1 don't believe anything of the
kind," severely exclaimed a thin,
angular looking lady, who ap
peared a* if the milk of human
kindness had dried up in her na
ture. “I don’t think we are respon
sible for anything unless we posi
tively intend doing it. I do not
intend to push any one down as I
go along the road; neither do I in
tend to go out of my way to pick
any one up, or prevent their fall
ing. Just to go straight along,
taming neither right nor left,mind
ing my own business, and letting
other people's alone, has seemed to
me tho only way of getting a*ong
without a constant mix up in oth-
er’s affairs, for which I have no ap
titude. One does well, in my opin
ion, if be doe* not commit error,
Page; “jet It seems to me yonr
straight oonno along tbe'path of
life, even If avoiding to pash your
fellow travellers, woald teem like
the ‘passing by on tho'other aide
of the way,' of which the PrMbt and
Levite.were accused, to those you
did not pause to help. It teems to
mens jf deer Mrs. May’s allusion
to tiie Golden Bole is all we need
to make ns feel that it to aa much
a doty to think as to act, and also
aa Mrs. Gray says, it is the dearest
hand that burte tbo deepest,because
any negligence from those we love
harts ns worse then sn intentional
•light from a stranger* I had a
dear friend, who married very
young, ebe was of a very sensitive,
timid nature, end worshiped almost
to idolatry her gay young husband,
whoee sanguine, sunny, positive
nature was snob a contrast to here.
And be loved her most devotedly
—no young couple ever were bap
pier than they for msny month*.
At last there came a change—he
loved her no leu, bnt u he became
accustomed to the foot that the
dainty girl be had won woe bis,
‘to have end to bold,’ be gradually
ceased some little attentious be
bad been so eager to give her.
Their cosy,even elegantly, furnish
ed rooms bid been at first too at
tractive with her bright presence,
qnaint ways, and dainty work ta
ble—bis comfortable dressing gown
and slippers, bit, easy chair, with
with papers and cigars ready plac
ed when he came home, for bis
dearest friends or deepest schemes
to bo able to entlee him away from
them; but after awhile be found he
must go out just a little while, and
then he forgot to return, 'till at
teat night after night she waited
alone for him, in the same dear
room that bad lost its charms to
both. He never thought that his
neglect hurt her; be would not hurt
her for the world, and she would
not tell him—she only wept in se-
oret and faded away. She lost
health and vivacity, and so lost
power to eharm and retain him.
He forgot to take her a little ride
once in awhile; forgot to bring her
a sprig of heliotrope or a buncii of
pansies as he passed the green
house; forgot to bring a new book
or magazine and cut the leaves
while she sat on the arm of his
chair, with her arm around his neck
and her breath against his cheek,
and then read aloud to her while
•ho triflod with some fancy work
opposite, where he could watch her
fairy fingers and the changing ex
pression on her happy face; he for
got be bad taken her from a circle
of loving sister* end proud broth
ers who had petted her all her life,
not only because she was so deli
cate, but also tor her own winning
ways, and brought her for away to
e oity boarding-house, where were
no congenial ^acquaintances, and
where day and evening she sat
alone. He wondered why she grew
so pele and sad si last. Because
she never complained, lie never
dreamed she was ill, and so it came
all in ono awful shock to the really
loving, kind hearted, but selfish,
thoughtless, boyish man, when
one morning she vainly tried to
rise from bed, and then rapidly
fading after once giving up,on com
log home one evening they allowed
him only a cold, white robed form
with some violets in the fragile
folded fingers, in the place of his
bonny wife, of only a year ngo."
There was silence for some time,
when Kmma ceased speaking, and
many eyes were filled with tosrs,
for they knew, those sympathetic
hearts,that it was of her own young
est petted sister she bad told, and
what a darkuess herearly death had
thrown over her home and friends.
“Emma says truly,” at test re
marked Mrs. Grey,“though fcw are
to exquisitely sensitive ss his
young sister wss; few would silent
ly, uncomplainingly die under
neglect; more would be exacting
end fault-finding, and their hus
bands would grow enrolls in pro
portion. And,to reverse the picture,
tbero are many men driven from
home (or rather honse) because
tbeir wives do not think it neces
sary to drees np for John, to tidy
the room, to see that there is a well
ninety-nine to one. and when anv ***" 11 he omlu do,n * rt * ht <
of ns would shrink with horrorfrom !* '* ‘ slra 1 inl 1 n * «>*
doing anything -e knew to bo tin-! ‘ , U “ to , 0,nU 10 * ***, “.
Ini, any or each of us foil dally in * 10 co ® m,t wr0D K» • nd i cooked meal, daintily served, a wait-
MvenUnw some evil wrans or hurt 1 J ‘ ort# ® raked back and forth a ! ing him, when be returns tired and
5-152 h.-. j™. ”«**•£».
mi. u . I , ™» Imile* have not said quite she goes so for as not to be at
thought of It. No doubt thli is a that,Mrs.Norton,"eald a youngish, home when he relume. She doesn’t
startling '‘proposition; I confess it | girl, whom I heard called Emma think be will miss her; she forgets
all
to bring bis gown, slippers and
pallets when she is at home, and
that the should entertain him, en
quire and feel interested abont bis
business, and enter into his plans
and pursuits; and so after a while
her omissions and forgetfulness
drive him to the club in tbe city,
and the tavern or grocery in tbe
country, if they are near enough—
in any pteoe, from home. Ladies,
1 feel earnestly that this subject is
momentous; that forgetfulnet
which is generally tbe came of sins
of omission—la the root of nearly
•II domestic ills. Husband and wife
forget their dotiee to each other;
brothers omit toward their sisters
the courtesies they pa?every young
lady; sisters don’t think to assist
or please or praise their brothers;
parents are less liable to forget
duties to their children than any
other class or duty, but even they
do often omit tbe things they might
btve done to cheer, to comfort, to
guide, govern, direct, and lead so
surely and kindly in the right way
that tbe dear feet of their children,
which they have Held and kissed
and prayedoverinfheirpink,help
less infancy, cannot go wrong, nor
falter snd fall when temptation
comes; and children—oh, how apt
they are to forget how many bur
dens they might lift from the
shoulders grown bent maybe in care
for them, and the duties they owe
to those who so carefully snd often
painfully roared them—they dance
along the flowery path from which
they ‘never think’whose tired hands
removed tbe thorns^md most often,
jnst os they could be companions
and comfort, just as they might
return a tithe of the love and care
which has been expended on them,
lightly, thoughtlessly, almost with
out a regret, go out from the faiMi-'
ful, arms which have sheltered
them so long, into new love and
untried arms, and the old pareots,
stifling tbeir own heartache, know
ing that it is the way of nature,
and young birds will leave their
parent nest for one of their own,
turn back into the silent rooms
from which the sunshine lias de
parted snd wonder wlist has chang
ed them so much sinee they first
came there. Adam and Eve ‘for
got’ the penalty of eating fobidden
fruit; Cain didn’t think bis brother’s
blood could cry out against him;
David ‘omitted’ to keep the law
he expounded to others; the dis
ciples grow sleepy and ‘forgot’ to
keep guard over their Master in the
gar-leu, and so ou, reverberating
down along the centuries ’till the
present time, our cars catch con
tinually tbo refrain, *1 forgot —
‘I didn’t think’—‘1 didn’t think’
—‘I just forgot.’ How oftcu the
Scriptures repeat, ‘They—the peo
ple—forgot God.’ The most ter
rible threat of the I’ropbet Isaiah
to the Jews, was that the Lord
would ‘forget them,’ when they
had so long forgotten Him, and
the sweetest promise in Isaiah’s
sweetest song is -Can a mother
forget her sucking child ? Yes she
mag forget, yet will not the Lord
torget llis people.’ In summing
up, for your decision, I will say
that in my judgment, few sins
would be committed if there were
no duties omitted.”
“I think wo nearly all agree'to
four nronnsitinn?'’ ft.iiri tlin Pi*«i.
your proposition;” said the ''Presi
dent, us ono by one tbe ladies
gave a low but hearty assent to
Mrs. Grey’s closing words, and
agree also that this subject is loo
deep and far-reaching for onr littlo
circle to touch only as ‘afar ofT
and diuily; but it has opened our
eyes to many duties we did not sec,
and I think helped each one to
look clearer and deeper into life’s
purposes. If there is no special
topio of currcntnews, we will select
our subject for our next meeting
and close.”
Thereupon the members proceed
ed to attend to a few matters of
buslucss, announced their aubject
and place of next meeting and ad
journed.
With kindly interest each one
approached, and was introduced to
me, expressing pleasure that I was
to make my home with them. All
promised to visit end become better
known to me, end with sincere
meaning in their word* bade me
welcome.
Tbe new moon shed a soil rsdi-
s nee over tbe landscape as we drove
slowly homeward; the frogs sin'-
ing in the river marsh—the oc
casional, distant lowing of cattle,
were all that broke the stillness
that brooded over the early night—
and subdued by that silence into
sympathy and communion with it
and our own hearts, we found no
need of speech to communicate tbe
‘ncarnese” we felt toward each,
othar, and “through nature to
nature's God.” Remembering also
the earnest words to which we had
so lately listened, it seemed as if
this tender baptism of moonlight
and silenoe, consecrated onr lives
to a better, living knowledge and
practice of the Golden ltnlc. 1
OSCAR WILOE ON AMERICA.
A Vaw Exwuu Vrom the tMlnv
Hi Is Deliveries ts His Country-
“*“■ [Dublin frith Times]
Oscar Wilde, in the course of a lect
ure delivered test night in the Gaiety
theatre, said that if he was asked what
most struck him on first tending he
would eay it was this, that if the Amer
icans were not the most well-dressed
people in the world—and he was afraid
they were not—still they ware the most
comfortably dressed. There were
no rag* to lie seen anywhere.
No American ever saunters or strolls,
or even waljus-t-wslking was one of the
fine arts unknown in America. They
•re always rushing in a hurry to estou
trains, snd the fact of their always be
ing in a hurry would make people here
think thgy were not a romantic race.
Really romantic people were never in
time for anything, and did not care
whetbor they caught tbeir trains or not
(Hear, hear.) Bnt in America catob-
ing trains was a national amsaoment
Their romance was different from oqn.
It was not the romance of Hhakspeare
—it was tbe romance of commerce.
Of eonrse, when one went to America
be was bronglit to see Niagara. Every
young American when married wont
snd spent part of his hoheyznoou at
Niagara;' and he thought tho great
waterfall must prove the first disap
pointment in American married life.
[Leughter.l Niagara was disappointing,
whetbor it was that the surroundings
were so abominably vulgar, got up like
• tea garden, filled with melancholy
tourists, oil frying to get up that feeling
of enthusiasm which the guide books
assured them they might have without
any extra charge—j laughterJ—he did
not know. In order tostuudunderneath
the waterfall to provont one’s getting
drenched ho had to wear a suit of yellow
oilskins of the most unbecoming texture,
almost ss bod os that terrible mackin
tosh, which he hoped none of his audi
ence ever thought of wearing. | Laugh
ter.] One of the most charming women
of modern times, Mine. Bernhardt, Imd,
however, got photographed in it—with
Niagara os a sort of unpretentious back
ground.
American children seemed to lio pala
and precocious, and that might be
owing to tho fact that the only national
game of America was tho game of
euchre, which could hanlly, if industri
ously practiced, tend to create gnd de
velop a fine or manly physique. These
children, however, grew up into very
charming people, the American girl
being ono of the most charming despots
that it wonid be tbonght possible to find
living in a country with free republican
institutions. She was often a most de
lightful oasis of unreasonableness in
the desert of common sense. Tim only
well-dressed men in America wore the
minors. The men in America liud very
little childhood; they loft school at 14,
had two or threo successful bankrupt
cies by tlm timo they were 20, and ut 21
wore millionaires.
WE ABE BEAOY
Flail and Waiter Campaign
i88a
W»MsrareaU with BEVkWHD Solonslm
tioatoplwue ike nUie lm every famed. -
OarmSswanfeasktia p iwefaSo Kortk-
•mo^IootareMkota.stpricoilow isqp t»
SPECIAL INDUCEMENTS
\ >
Thousands of Dollars
•it willed ri try jur br injudkiwu Indus. Im
h«it owlr to nop and itlak ao* yow will new-
her raaaj lu.Lncco how and when m could
haradon* bettor In your i-arduuro, uanyww
o(l*l Hoalrtod Hut at Dm cud of tbo joor tbo
BALANCE IS OH THE WBONtf SIDE!
Thlo to not flnisf*. for It Is tho Itttti -too. ranch
paid for thlo Ihiss or Uut thins that wum It, so
tbo olltbtMi donation will prod sc* an nscxpoelod
OVM BAfaAHOH sal wSoe mi tbo wroos
Ado U at war* t* bo repotted. Thor# Is M
BMd orinio If yon will Irsdo wills so.
Wo baro tho lurnol of orerjr csMoacr Is salad,
and hoy so that w. on Mil yon ihc
Wall (Street Not Frolicsome.
(New York Cor. Inter Ocean. |
The day before Christmas lias for
many yours lmen devoted to froliu in
the stock exchange. Members who did
not wish to relax their dignity stayed
away, aud the rest displaced tho or
dinary business by proceedings of thu
friskiest sort. The gallery was ou
Monday filled to crowding by specta
tors.
“There’ll bo tho biggest cirrus that
ever you saw,” said u friend; “don’t fail
to como, and bring tho ladies."
If I ha>l paid any admission fco I
should havo felt like demanding my
money back. The show waa a fraud.
After we hail waited an hour several
young memliere entered with whito halt-
on their heads. We thought that thu
floor would instantly bo strewn with
struggling roysterers, in a ferociously
gleeful tight over the unseasonable
hats. Nothing of the kind happened.
There was a mild, inanimate senile,
ending tamely in the destruction of the
emblems of disorder. The scrimmage,
snub us it was, lasted fitfully a fow min
utes. It Imd nu viiu or fun. It was
like play in a graveyard at twilight.
Afterward a man came in wearing a
liuou duster, which was quickly torn
off. That was all. Wo went away feel
ing os swindled ns though we hail lost
$1,000 apiece by a deceptive corner.
No; there isn't a frolicsome condition
of things in Wall street.
An 014 Htnry.
I Hen: IVrlry Poorv.]
Tom Corwin ami Tom Ewing,- lasing
on a political tour through the state,
stopped at the house of a prominent
politician over night. A young niece
presided nt the supfasr table. She had
never accn great men, aud supposed
thev were elephantine altogether, and
nil talked in great languages.
“Mr. Kwiug will you take condiments
in rour tea, sir?” inquired the youug
lady.
“lies, iui«s, if you pleaso," replied
the quondam salt boiler.
Corwin's eyes twinkled. Hera was
fan for hint. Gratified at tho apparent
success of her first trial at talking to
big men, the youug lady addressed Mr.
Corwin in tho same manner:
“Will yon take condiments in yonr
tea, sir?"
“Pepper and salt, bnt no mustard,”
was the prompt reply of tbe facetious
Tom.
Of coarse nature must oat, and
Ewing and tbe entertainer laughed in
spite of themselves. Corwin essayed to
mend tlm matter, and was voluble in
writ and eomplimeut. Tbe lady, to Ibis
day, declares that Corwin wru a ooarse,
vulgar, disagreeable man.
Knw ranee te RIM.
| Exchange-1
At first blush, it would hardly seem
possible that a dry season in Month
America should ru'u a lumlier dealer
iu Boston. But tins dealer in mahog
any aud other hard-woods. who had
Iwnght s great number of logs in Mouth
America waited a long time in vain for
a wet spell to Host them ont, and
finally wa» obliged to make an assign
ment for tho benefit of creditor*. Not
many wonid stop to think, when seeing
a handsome niece of furniture, that its
lieonty could hare come to ns only bv
the aid of rain-drops foiling in Hon
duras.
AT THE-
Lowest Prices.
bat we carry a STOCK, of
every thine t* riaiulnjr tn our l>u«iue»*. 2f«t a
•mill quantity of a law lra<iinjr line* and rimpUa
spread out over our ahelvca to mike a show, but a
large, frneriMu amortmant or ovary jrrada of food*
from ibe coaraeal tn tha floret, and enouthcfoarli
tonpplyiko wantaof till* whole community In
tbit direction. Our t'iek le too »arled tM 01*cm
too limited to attempt to name artlctee nr pHere.
You are mrnertly Invited tn call and M ern bow It to
JOHN R. SHAW, i
FORSYTH STREET, AHERICUS, 61.
DEALER IN
FANCY AND STAPLE
DRY GOODS!
- ' NOTIONS!
FAKO'Sr aOODS
LADIES' HATS.
LADIES’ CLOAKS.
HOLL PLATE JEWELRY.
PERFUMER*
TOILET SOAPS,
CLOTHING!
GENTS' FURNISHING GOODS,
MCtTTM AND SHOES.
RUBBER OVER SHOES,
HATS AND CAPS.
UMBRELLAS.
“WHITE" SEWING MACHINE
MACHINE NEEDLES.
And W. t\ N/e'e Celebrated Sewing Ms-
chins Oil.
See "Wire Sign, Forsyth Street,
a
orjtlOf
AMEBICUS, GA.
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