Newspaper Page Text
• V -
She MantaorntTi) Monitor*
D C SUTTON, Editor and Prop’r.
“Written In Water.”
•In niemoi.v of a noted journalist who said,
e< iktming her life-work: • Written in wa
ter.”
A tortuous river through a weary space
Han troubled deep and wide with earthy
tinges.
The dismal eatafa’que of venturous fringes,
Diffusing miasm iu the sun's red face.
Advanced one fair and stiong, who on that
strand
A litt . while stqed wistfully exploring
For human wt al's great sake. An eagle
soannir
Dropt one white plume within her ready
hand.
Then on tin; liquid page, like dimpling rain.
Inspired she wrote, above the waters stoop
ing;
But each bright line, e’en with the final
looping.
Resolved itst If to nothing back again.
Vet. lo! the turbid scream transparent flowed.
And through that land redeemed ull living
creatures
Had happier life. Lo! too, her mirrored
features.
Who this had wrought, in those fair waves
abode.
Writing iu water for the truth, the right.
The bt iiettce of cleansed and healing wa
ters
Transferred 1 to earth and to earth s sons and
daughters.
Shall be her guerdon fixed in peace and
might.
Lavinia F. Goodwin, in the Current.
\VOOI» ENGHAVING & WOOD
CAKVIXG.
The rage for newspaper illustrations
which has sprung up in a night like
Jonah's gourd (Go slow here; was it
Jonah or some other fishermen who
raised that prize gourd?)—threatens to
undermine the foundations of journal
ism ami relegate the press back to the
fourth estate, the position it occupied
in lien Franklin’s time, and the Sun
feels justified in speaking out in clar
ionette, viva voce tones against the
evil before it is everlastingly too late.
As long as illustrations were confined
to books, magazines, Bibles, and a few
special weeklies, we were a happy and
contented nation; there was a place for
cuts, and cuts were in their place; but
now, the little blaze which some one
kindled has become a raging contla
grUtion, marring the fair pages of a
great proportion of the newspapers in
the land. (If you like “wet goods”
better than the fire simile, start it off
as a little rivulet, increasing until it
becomes a roaring torrent. They are
both the same price.)
There are several reasons why this
wood-cut craze is bad. First, a largo
per cent, of the cuts are execrable m
an artistic point of view, especially the
60-called portraits. Occasionally there
are some that are natural and life-like,
but the larger part no more resemble
the individual they are said to portray
thafl chalk is like cheese.
Again, newspapers that are in the
habit of beating their readers out of
large quantities of good reading matter
to which they arc justly entitled by the
payment of “two dollars a year in ad
vance,” (or less, as the caso may be)
by filling space with these alleged por
traits are liable to file the cuts away for
future reference, on window ledges, in
the “bank,” and various other handy
places, and spring them again on a
suffering public later. Thus, a cut
purporting to bo Henry Ward Beecher
this season will perhaps appear next
year as Gladstone or Henry Irving;
Lieutenant Grecly will be shown some
time ifi the hence as Prince Albert’s
son, and so on.
Another evil growing out of this syn
dicate cut business is the cheap notori
ety furnished to Thomas, Richard and
Henry. Let a man or woman once get
his or her name in the daily papers,
from whatever cause—be it running for
governor, running away with another
man's wife (or woman’s husband) rob
bing a bank, or inventing a self-acting
wheelbarrow —and forthwith their os
tensible lineaments are gouged out on
boxwood or maple, stereotypes or elec
trotypes are made, and appear by the
hundreds in papers which are in the
“pool” for weeks thereafter. Some
papers squeeze two-column cuts into
one-column width, necessitating slicing
the party’s shoulders oft', and giving
him a sort of pinched up appearance.
This is bad.
Many papers make it a point to pub
lish portraits of local celebrities, the
hero of the sketch “standing in" with
the publishers on the cost of he en
graving. “An old resident” listens to
the seductive tongue of the interviewer
and is lost. Adivorcesuit is instituted,
the details are “racy,” and the unhap
py pair are presented to the public,
either separate and apart or linked to
gether in a wreath like a Blaine and
Logan cut. A new pastor is “called”
from somewhere, at a raise over his
previous salary of §67.50 and his stu
dious countenance, "furrowed o'er
with the sickly cast of thought,”
is printed on seven-cent “print" paper,
with ten-cent news ink, the inevitable
sketch accompanying it, with appro
priate head lines, and the dominie is
disheartened and disappointed. It looks
more like a disciple of Jack Shepard
than a disseminator of the gospel.
And so it goes. Papers in Arizona
and Wyoming, which ought to devote
only a modicum (out with your pencils
and jot this word down—it is of a
choice variety) of their space to politic
al and general affairs, are enabled by
the duplicate process to fill several
hundred square inches with cuts of par
ties that their readers don’t care a con
tinental for, to the exclusion of imjmr
tant happenings in Poker Flat, Shirt
tail Gulch, Red-Dog Valiev, Dead-Shot
Bar and various other localities.
Nor is the injury confined alone to
the reading public. There being an
apparent demand for illustrations,
there must be a supply; and hence
manv misguided youths and men in the
back" counties who are handy at tinker-
iug around home witn ,
and know all about the internal econo
my of sewing machines and clocks get
the idea that they are natural horn en
gravers, and proceed at once to sharp
en up suudry brad-awls, broken tiles, a
small chisel or two, and their jack
knives, and announce themselves as
“designers and engravers.” The local
paper, not to be outdone by the metro
politan daily, prints the abnormal pro
ductions of these wood-butchers, and
refers to them as the work of "our
special artist,” Mr. Soandso, and he
has the big head worse than ever.
Many boys are thus ruined for life.
While they would have succeeded well
with a scroll saw and simple carving
tools, and produced many handsome
brackets, paper-racks, whatnots, etc.,
which would have sold readily and real
ly been a credit to them, they have lost
valuable time spoiling box-wood and
maple and produced nothing but a lot
of unearthly-looking pictures, every
one of which requires a key to be un
derstood.
No, boys and gentleman, the art of
engraving is not at the finger-ends of
every ordinary whittler and ingenious
"Jack-of-all-trades;” it requires months
of patient toil to even master the rudi
ments necessary to become a lit l-ciass
artist, and years of practice under com
petent masters to rank with them.
These remarks are called out gener
ally by the specimens of poor engrav
ings so prevalent in the daily and
weekly papers, and especially by some
samples sent from lowa for our inspec
tion. As they are about the worst lot
ever printed since Columbus landed in
this country, a brief description may i e
in order, but words—mere words will
absolutely fail to do them justice.
They should be framed and sent to the
New Orleans Exposition.
First a local “cartoon” entitled “An
other Mulligan Letter." It consists of
two animals of heroic size, (double col
umn) which may he meant for lions,
buffaloes or Holstein cuttle, witn an at
tempted likeness to human features.
That they are Holstein cattle is proba
ble, as they are covered with large
black spots on which are branded var
ious words like “cheek,” “baby act,”
etc. They seem to stand on posts s*t
into a foundation of fine scroll saws,
edge upwards. One animal is step
ping squarely on the word “Lucky,”
which means probably that it was lucky
that it was not resting on the saws.
Next are three specimens of civil en
gineering relating to a certain bridge
across a certain river. The most prom
inent features about these are tin threo
little islands built up in the raging
stream to accommodate the name of
Hie artist, “Hawkcye, sc.” The river
in ea< one seems to be running down
hill a an angle of about 45 degrees,
and a man and horse are represented
as fording the dangerous stream, tho
alleged water only reaching to the sup
posed horse’s knees.
Then we have a realistic picture en
titled “Duck Hunting.” The same
river, made by gouging straight lines
across the wood from right to left, tho
banks marie by gouging lines at an an
gle, a something intended to represent
a log, anotiier something purporting to
be a man, half submerged in the rush
ing flood, and grasping the log and his
gun, and a black spot supposed to he
duck close by.
These are the leading features. The
artist, for some reason, omitted the
island with his name on, and simply
put his initial in a circle Heating away
down stream.
But it is in portraits our lowa artist
excels. He has one entitled “The Dude
and What He Nose.” The dude is
smoking a cigar which looks like a
railroad spike driven into his face. Lit
tle pigs’ tails, or maybe they are pretz
els, are suspended above the end of the
cigar, to represent smoke, probably.
The eye (it is a side or profile view) is
set back midway between the top of
the nose and the ear, and looks like an
italic burnt hole in a blanket. The
hair stands seven ways for Sunday, in
stead of being “sleek,” as the hair of a
dude should be represented, and the
shading is put on the face hit-and-miss,
being mainly on the nose and cheek,
und resembling pieces of mosquito-bar
stuck on. It is too “utterly utter.”
There are other sketches, but we for
bear. Each one is worse than the rest.
And yet the paper in which they ap
peared says: “By combined efforts of
the pen and the artist’s skill, the ——-
will flourish, and don’t you forget it.”
In various other places “our artists” is
referred to with pride, and now lie is
unhappy because he cannot get a posi
tion as engraver on Harper's Weekly,
or some other illustrated paper.
This is an extreme case, of course.
He had the disease bad, and was total
ly unfitted for an engraver, while, very
likely, he could have done well carving
bric-a-brac and tobacco signs some
thing that does not require line lines
and is not printed from.
There are plenty of printers who can
do a little coarse-hand engraving occa
sionally, to burlesque a subject, and do
it well; but they do not overdo the
thing by building little islands to carve
their imprint on, and never flatter
themselves that they are engravers.
There is a vast difference between put
ting an outlandish engraving iu a pa
per occasionally, as a burlesque to il
lustrate afimny occurrence,and publish
ing them in every issue, believing them
to Le genuine anti valuable for their art
istic merit. Therefore, young fellow,
don’t fool in an amateur way with
jack-knives and maple; but if you real
ly desire to be an engraver, go to some
city and learn the art in the regular
way.— Peek's Sun.
In years they have reigned Queen
Victoria stands ninth among the sov
ereigns of the world-
MT VERNON. MONTGOMERY, CO., 0 A., TIIIUISDAY, OCTOBER 14 1886,
The AnthropopliaKi.
William Churchill, in an interesting
lecture on his personal experiences
among the Cannibals of Southern Po
lynesia, reported by the San Francisco
Chronicle, said:
As regards color, the inhabitants of
the Fiji Islands are copper-colored; the
women are tall, willowy, amt well
formed. The son of one of the kings
of those regions w r as six feet two inches
tall and weighed 240 pounds, and was
the finest specimen of physical man
hood the speaker ever saw. Farther
north the color of the natives was black,
and in New Guinea a charcoal mark
was lighter than the tint of the native
skin. There are no cannibals iu the
Fiji group, as is commonly supposed,
no man having been eaten there for six
years. South of the Fiji, toward Aus
tralia, is a group of 180 islands known
as tho Solomon group. Iu these is
lands cannibalism is daily practiced.
The speaker related an incident that
happened to him on the island of Mal
licollo.
Having landed from his schooner ho
approached the town, which is always
built a few rods from the shore, and
found a number of women sealed iu
the largest house. He addressed them
in their dialect, but they would not
speak, though it is as hard fora woman
to keep silence in those regions as it is
in a more civilized community. The
women left the house, and he followed
them to the shore, where a native had
just landed from his canoe. This man
was followed by about two hundred
others in their canoes, who carried
among them a dead native. This man
they had killed in a war on a neighbor
ing tribe. The man was tied with
grass ropes and' carried to a public
square by the women, all taking care
not to touch the body. Three men then
extracted the entrails from the body,
while others dug a large hole in tho
earth. The cavities of tho body were
filled with heated stones; then the body
was placed in the hole, and heated
stones heaped on it. After a two-hours’
dance and incantation the body was
thought to be done to a turn, and was
taken from its roasting-place and car
ried around on sticks and introduced to
each warrior. It was then placed iu a
sitting position and was approached by
the ciiief, who inquired if it had been
satisfactorily treated, and as ti c laxly
did not avail itself of the opportunity
of expressing its gratification the priest
of the town answered for it. After this
ceremony the body was eul with knives
of stone used only for sacrificial pur
poses.
The choicest morsels of the roasted
flesh, according to the native taste,
were the upper arms and the thighs,
and these human delicacies were re
served to tickle the palate of the chief.
The rest of the body was divided among
tins warriors, with the exception of the
head, which was given to the priest,
and tile hands und feet, which were
contemptuously handed to the women.
The pieces of human llesh were all
placed on banana leaves and each man
waited until all had been allotted their
share. Then the toasted portions were
poised simultaneously on wooden forks
and deposited down the cavernous
throats of the assembled cannibals, ex
ceeding relish being shown in the feast
of human flesh, though the next day
most of them had the colic. The great
est care was taken not to touch the
flesh with the lingers. The leaves of
banana were thrown in a large fire, the
wooden forks were p aced in a running
stream and were allowed to remain
there for three days. The only men
who touched the body were those who
prepared it for cooking, and these were
driven into tho woods witli stones,
where they were compelled to stay for
three days without eating. After this
probationary period they were allowed
to return, having Ween thought to liavo
expiated the fault of touching the hu
man remains.
Celebrated Women.
Sarah Althea Hill, of the famous law
suit against Senator Sharon, is of me
dium height, well developed, with a
lithe, trim figure. She gives at first
sight the impression of a woman who
is abundantly able to take care of her
self, and yet the expression of her face
and her attitudes are very womanly, as
though she lacked confidence and were
appealing for support. Her features
are regular, her face oval. She is
neither blonde or brunette, with dark
brown hair, which is allowed to fall in
graceful waves over her full, round
forehead. Her most attractive feature
are her full, brown eyes. Her nose is
clear cut, and her mouth is resolute iu
the habitual compression of her lips:
but this is somewhat belied by a slight
droop at the corners, as though an ori
ginally fine will had beeu overlaid by a
strain of voluptuousness which weaken
ed and coarsened it. Her whole man
ner shows nervousness and vitality.
Lucy Stone congratulates her sex on
the past year's gains for their cause.
Full suffrage for women has been estab
lished In Washington territory, and
municipal suffrage has been granted to
unmarried women and widows of
Ontario and Nova Scotia. Municipal
suffrage has worked so well in England
that the British parliament has extend
ed it to Scotland.
a liverv staoie Keeper in Raltlmors
has a strange animal, which is said to
have been caught by the Indians in Da
kota three or four years ago. The head,
body and hair are like a cow’s, the legs
and tail like a horse’s. It eats like a
cow and chews the cud. Its hair, which
is dark brown, like a buffalo’s, is closely
matted and about five inches long. It
has been brokeu to harness aud drive*
well.
“SUB DEO FACIO FORTITER."
Durability <>t" Leather.
A correspondent to The Uritish Jour
nal oj Photography speaks of leather
from a photographic stamlpoiutof view
in tho following manner:
Generally speaking, leather is a per
ishable substance, especially when it is
a question of preservation for thousands
of years. Supposing it to bo carefully
kept iu a normal atmosphere, it may
be expected to last a little over 700 or
800 years. Leather is injured by damp,
by excessive dryness, by sulphurous va
pors from burning coal gas and by
salts sometimes present iu tho soil.
Peat sometimes preserves and .some
times destroys animal remains, accor
ding to tho salts it holds in suspension.
Leather sandals have sometimes been
preserved for ages deep in peat bogs.
The grave-digger iu “Hamlet" states
that corpses will lie eight or nine years
in the grave before they rot, and that
of a tanner lasts nine years, because his
hide is so tanned with his trade.
Perhaps the oldest specimens of leath
er in tho world have been found in
Egypt ill tombs or mummy cases, in
which they were inclosed once for all,
beyond tho roach of disturbance. The
oldest piece of Egyptian leather in tho
British museum is the Bremner (Rhoitl)
scroll containing a portion of the ritual
of the dead. Its date is about 1800 B.
C., and the scroll is now perfectly pre
served in a tin case; the leather is so
powdery that its custodians are almost
afraid to touch it; the color is about
that of bright and light new oak sole
leather, and perfectly clean. There
are many leather sandals in ilm noise
um dating about 1,.'100 B. generally
rotten, torn and distorted--Homo of
them are pretty tough, however. Ihe
leather roll of Cheops, regarding tho
dedication of the temple, may lie of the
date of about 2,00011. and is per
haps the oldest piece of leather in tho
world. The British museum possesses
au elaborate Egyptian leather sword
belt of about 500 or 600 B. C. ; it is
green and discolored; a casual observer
might take it for bronze.
Such durability as leather possesses
is unlikely to lie found in the majority
of gelatine films, which may be a little
hardened during tlm iiianipulations.
but not much, except when treated
with alum.
In no case is it likely that a gelatine
film is properly tanned in the ordinary
manipulations, notwithstanding the use
of alum. To avoid the tedious process
of ordinary tanning, skins have been
sometimes treated with alum and salt,
more especially in Hungary, but an in
ferior leather was tho result. AH at
tempts ■ » shorten tlm pmcciu i>i tun
ning have failed; the slow molecular
changes must be allowed to go on for
mouths, or an inferior leather is the re
sult. The quality of the leather is in
fluenced by the vegetable astringents
used in the process; some give soft and
spongy, others hard and heavy leather;
•slow tanning with oak bark gives
about the best result.
HiNinarck in Ciiglaiut.
It is very seldom that the chancellor
has a good word to say about the Eng
lish. When he has, it is to point out
some Teutonic virtue which they pos
sess to a less degree than tho Ger
mans. In drawing tho hackneyed con
trast containing less than half the
truth between the superficial polite
ness of the French and the genuine po
liteness of heart which he claims for
his own people, he finds occasion to
throw in a little, diluted commendation
of the English character. Perhaps Ids
experience on landing one Sunday at
Hull gave him a twist the wrong way.
“The keeping of the Sunday,” said the
prince, who is himself, for a German, a
strict observer of the day, to his com
pany “what a horrible tyrrany! 1
remember the first time that I came to
England, landing at Hull, and whist
ling on the street. An Englishman,
whose acquaintance I had made on
board, said to me: ‘l’ray, sir, don’t
whistle.’ ‘Why not?’ said I; ‘is it
against the laws?’ ‘No, sir,’ said he,
‘but it is the Sabbath.’ This vexed mo
so that I went at once and took a ticket
for another steamer which was going
to Edinburgh, as it did not suit me to
be hindered from whistling when I
pleased. But before this happened we
iiad been iu an inn. and there I got
hold for the first time of something
good toasted cheese Welsh rabbit.'
— J/Ouiseille Courier■ Journal.
Show the liifldreii K<>,|eot.
It will surpri-e many parent - to have
it suggested that they -In, old treat their
children court.am -1 va ni respectfully.
Yet it is the lx- t cdiic Son that can be
Imparted to them. Parents are apt to
think that children should he subject
to authority and are not to be consulted.
But why not? It teaches them to ex
ercise judgment and imparls self-re
spect. The imitative quality in chil
dren leads them to reproduce what is
most .Diking in their parents, unless
they have a sufficiently positive indi
viduality to map out characters for
them-elves. Thus, many children re
produce the leading characteristics of
the parent who commands most their
regard. So, to treat them harshly, or
even imperatively, is to create an auto
cratic disposition in them. It is not a
love trait. Self-respect and equipoise
of character are very different from a
domineering propensity, which arro
gates authority everywhere.
A California farmer has a hog which
is the companion of a flock of geese.
When the gee.se go into water his hog
ship plunges in after and endeavors to
disport himself as gracefully as his
white-feathered leaders.
Klii|w of flic Pant.
In these days of largo ships nnd still
larger steamers, it is refreshing to an
old sailor, or still older shipowner, to
recall tlm grand old ships of thirty-livo
and even fifty years ago. Compare the
sailing ships of to-day with those of
years ago, aud what do wo find? Largo
and moderately sharp hulls, with square
yards and short niasis, wire standing
riggings, patent anchors, windlass
pumps, steering gear, iron water-tank,
steam engine, and many other conven
ient arrangements. Doubtless tho
march of improvement and the grow
ing necessities of commerce have grad
ually led up to the present style of ves
sel. But are they an improvement up
on the old? Ido not find that tho av
erage time of passage from and to tho
East Indies, or round the Horn ports, is
lessoned. Occasionully there is noticed
some rapid passage, but reference to
old shipping papers will show the rec
ords of passages to or from the identi
cal ports equally quick, such passages
having been made by vessels that in
these times would bo as much a curi
osity as tho Chinese junks were when I
was a hoy.
How regularly these old vessels made
their voyages, delivering their cargoes
iu line order, after which they wore
ready to load for the return voyage at
once. No long and expensive jobs at
tho end of every passage, iu order to
jmt the ship in a seaworthy condition.
The good old ship, with her round and
easy model, carried a cargo with ease
nml comfort. No thrashing aud strain
ing in a gale of wind or heavy sea; easy
to her rigging, she came out of a galo
fresh as a daisy, and without a particle
of damage lo herself or cargo. What
does the sailor of to-day know of tho
beauteous ship of old? The snug little
ship of four hundred tons or there
abouts, with a white band picked
out with ports, or the bright waist,
Hush deck fore and aft, broken only by
tho caboose, long boat, and companion
way; the old-fashioned windlass, with
working-room on each side of it
good hempen standing rigging, well
taken care of; the old-fashioned wheel
aud tiller, Mm big, lower studding
sail, with the swinging boom; the com
fortable and serviceable topmast stud
ding sails, and the less useful, but yet
graceful and airy, topgallant and royal
studding sails, not forgetting tho snowy
white main skysail, tho apex of tho
whole beautiful creation.
Whole topsails had not then given
place to double. Close reeling off
either of the caps meant warm work
for the crew; but tho men knew their
duties, were sailors, and could tie up
tho muslin and l o nappy. Dear old
vessels! i know the ending of many of
you, and as from time to time I have
read of the final end of some of your
number, I have felt as though some
old friend had gone before me. Your
memories are pleasant to dwell upou,
and the remembrance of the glorious
men that trod your decks as masters,
mates, and sailors recall also the pleas
ant days that I have passed on hoard
some of you during voyages to India
and <lhina.
At some time in the future I may re
call my experiences of certain voyages
iu years long gone. In those days the
telegraph was unknown. Old Barker,
upon the observatory on < 'cntral wharf,
had a telegraphic code of signals for
vessels; but Morse had not electrified
the world. (Sixty days was the aver
age time of the so-called India mail,
so that a voyage to India meant from
four to four and a half months’ passage
out, and an additional two months for
the news of your arrival to reach home.
Now the ,Suez canal and the electric
wire have changed everything. But,
us the world must progress, I must
accept all the terrible changes, and
comfort myself talking with some old
fogy, like myself, of the "good old
days.” Huston Budget.
No Questions Asked.
As a means of suicide the hii'all ven
omous serpents of oriental countries
have always been in vogue tho asp of
((ieopatra recurring to every oue’s mem
ory as a prominent example. In cer
tain parts of Bengal there is said to bo
,i race of gypsies, one of whom fora fee
will furnish a small cobra to any appli
cant, "and no questions asked." A
man who desires to commit murder pro
cures one of these reptiles and places it
within a bamboo just long enough to
let the head protrude a trifle at tho
end, and the tail at tho other. Armed
with this deadly weapon the murderer
creeps softly to his, enemy’s tent at
dead of night, cuts a hole in the wall,
and introduces the bamboo. 'The tor
tured reptile careless upon whom it
wreaks Us animosity, strikes its fangs
into the sleeper, then is withlrawn
and the assassin steals silently away.—
.Je idle man's Magazine.
A Child That Was Like a Bird In a
A little Newport child of rich parent
age,carefully nursed and rieldy clothed
und guarded tenderly by its elders, was
driving by the orphans’ home the other
day, when il caught the sound of tho
many ehildi.h voices in the yard where
the children were at play. It eagerly
asked: “Oh, mamma, what is that?”
“'They are poor little orphans, without
any parents,” impressively answer tho
mother, hugging her darling closer.
•■Oh, mamma,” exclaimed the child,
crossing his little hands over his velvet
gown and drawing a deep sigh, “how I
wish I was a poor little orphan!” 'lho
mother appreciated the situation, and
has since given her child companion
ship of its own stature aud a little more
freedom from fine clothes and constant
nursing.— Poston Transcript. „
V OL; 1 NO. 32-
Tlic II 81 a lady.
All Lough a very largo majority of
he subjects of her most gracious na
osty do say 'otol, aud most of them,
jvol a much smaller number, do say
toyster, to assume that all of them do
o would be nil warranted and injurious,
hose who say hotel are, it is true,
lot many, nor easily found; but those
• ho say hoyster, although very numer
iis, a vast multitude, forming, indeed,
e bulk of the people of England, are
inch fewer than those who, on the
oint in question, violate, iu degrees
arious but less atrocious, the now
coopted standard of speech in that
ountrv. These two words, thus pro
•lounecd. represent the two extremes of
in IL Malady. An Eton and Oxford
rod peer may (I do not sav always
oes; far from it) say ’otol; but hoyster
mil the like are hoard only from those
vlioso associations in their early years
were with people in tho lowest condi
tion of life.
For it is always to he borne in mind
hat 11 in England is a shibboleth dis
tinctive of birth and breeding. Not
only men of wealth,but highly educated
men, scholars and men of scientific ac
luirenients, who write capital letters
fter their names, “drop their h’s” in
England; just as in Amerii'ti' men of
ike position have a nasal twang, and
say "Mii’ica” for America and the like.
Not long ago I heard the president of
one of our colleges say "fambly" for
family and “chiinbly" for chimney,half
a dozen times in half an hour. Habits
oi j> ch a quired in youth are almost,
ii not quite, ineradicable. They are
• ure • ) after twenty years of age.
Ti in nh II malady seems, however,
to » the most irremediable of all tlm
ills of speech. I have had opportunities
of observing that it cannot he removed
oy long residence in this country, even
und r coiiMitions the most favorable for
tho acquirement, through contact and
example, of a correct enunciation in
tnis respect if not in any other. One
ma» whom 1 have known well for
many years, and whom 1 supposed, or.
ny making his acquaintance, to lie
American born and bred, startled mo
:i tho lirst live minutes of our con*
■orsation, by saying, “Ho caiue into my
.Ifice.”
I saw at once my mistake; and I dis
covered afterwards that he was born in
>i remote rural county iu England, that
»o had never beeu in London, and had
not left his native place until lie set out
for Liverpool, to emigrate with his
f-.iuily to this country. He was then
only four or live years old;lmt although
•lc was educated here, and his assoeia
*/*»>« we*i*i* it livsyu with intelligent and
dtieated Americans, he hail not at
hilly-eight years of ago acquired tho
ability to say “ho,” or to utter tho
„ pirate before any accented vowel.
Another man, of equal intelligence and
much greater acquirements for he was
a m minor of one of the learned profes
•'ous - surprised me by revealing his
birth as suddenly and in the same man
ner. He was an elderly man: and I
earned from him that lie had been in
New York no toss than fifty years! But
fie speech of his native country and of
.■is infancy clung to him through tho
attrition of half a century. Richard
Uranl While, in Atlantic.
Actors Not Pariahs. V
When a youth, well brought up, takes
to the stage, he should not be immedi
ately treated as a pariah. On the con
trary, if ever there be a time in a young
man’s career when, more than ever,
lie stands in need of good home tradi
tions, the companionship of his equals,
and the encouragement of his superi
ors, it is when he has honestly chosen,
as a means of earning Ids living, the
stage as a profession. That, for evi
dent rca-ons, it has been usually select
ed by the dissolute, the idle, and those
to whom any restraint is distasteful,
accounts to a great extent for the dis
repute in which the stage has been
held. Os course the statute book anil
the I'uritanisin of the seventeenth cen
tury have much to answer for in the
popular estimate of the players. There
is a strong leaven of Puritanism among
us, and, in some respects, so much the
better; but also among very excellent
people of various religions opinions
there has been, and it exists now, a
sort of vague idea that the stajrc lias
always been under the positive ban of
the church. In the temporary laws
and regulations of different countries,
enforced by narrow-minded men, civil
or ecclesiastical, may be found tho or
igin of this mistaken notion. The
church has never pronounced on tho
stage the anathema. On the contrary,
she has patronized tho stage, and tho
first mimes who entered I ranee from
Italy rather resembled members of a
religious order in their pious fervor
than actors of a later date in their lax
ity. If players were refused Christian
burial, it was when they had neither
lived nor died as even nominal Christ
ians, and in such cases even "maimed
rites” would savor of hypocrisy. In
France the actors themselves were un
der this hallucination. M. Regnier
tells us how in 1818 a deputation of
comedians went to Mgr. Att'ro to ask
him to gel the sentence of excommuni
cation removed from the theatrical pro
fession. In the time of Louis XIII. tho
actors were excellent churchgoers, had
their children baptized, frequented tho
sacraments, and were on the best terms
with the cures of Paris; and it will be a
consolation to those actors among us
who, like the doll in Hie song, “pine
for higher society,” to be reminded
that the grand monarch himself did
not disdain to stand godfather to the
lirst born of Moliure, and to do the
like office to the third child 61 Domen
ico Biancolelli, the ltaliau harlequin.—
Burnand, in the Fortnightly Review, t