Newspaper Page Text
8
THE WEEKLY TELEGRAPH: TUESDAY OCTOBER 16-TWELVE PAGES.
BLAINE DEFENDS IT.
Turned Out to Starve by the
Sugar Trust.
’‘LARGELY A PRIVATE AFFAIR."
At the Same Time the Vrleo ot Sugar I»
Pat Up by the King*—Maledictions
Prom the Victim.—Work Keg.
ular Till Trust Formed.
From the New York Herr.III.
Trusts are largely private affairs, with w
neither President Cleveland nor any private
citizen hsa any particular right to Interfere,—
Mr. Blaine’s speech to American workingmen.
Might on the threshold of winter, when
starvation and nakedness stares the idle
man in the face, the great sugar trust has
brown 700 men ont of work in Wiiliams-
nrg by ordering the two refineries of De
Cas.ro & Donner to shut down, so that the
price of sugar may be kept up.
This cruel act, which will darken the
homes of so many honest and faithful
toilers through no fault of their own, was
completed yesterday, and groups of white
faced men, standing ont in the bitter wind
in front of the towering buildings from
which they had been thrust, savagely
cursed the millionaire president who thus
heartlessly put his foot upon their bread
trays.
The news of this merciless lockout will
ring from one end of the country to the
other and stir men’s hearts wherever any
sympathy is left for the helpless working-
map goes without saying. It was the sen-
> sat ion in New York and Brooklyn yester
day.
it is the most dramatic and pathetic
ihing that has occurred since the match
less ieader of the Mepubiican pal ty came
back from his coaching tour through
Scotland to tell the wage workers—the
very men w o stood shivering in front of
the closed refineries yesterday—that trusts
were sacred and must not be interfered
with by congress, that they must be al
lowed to sayjwhen a man may eat and
when iie may not, as well as to say what
he shall pay for what he eats.
A KB GHTFUL PBCSFECT OP MISERY.'
The situation of these discharged men is
C *''table beyond description. They have
n working for about 15 cents an hour
and have been unsible Jo save anything.
Nearly all of them have wives and large
broocs of children. Last winter some of
them were driven to actually beg for food
daring the shut down ordered by the trust.
Their wives had to do the roughest and
most degrading work. Their little daugh
ters swarmed iuto the factories, and some—
Cod help them!—have never come home
again and are wandering among the
brothels of the metropolis. What the
order of President Havemcyer means to
I bn 700 men whom it crushed nose but
the victims themselves can tell.’
If Mr. Blaine could have walked along
Kent avenue yesterday and talked to the
unfortunate men cut adrift in order that
the sugar kings may keep the sugar sup
ply limited they might have recalled the
uumor witli which ho said to the toilers of
America only a few days ago': “We might
safely bury all the President’s predictions
of evils from the trusts in this country.’’
How remorseless is the logic of fate'! It
seems that it were only yesterday that the
great defender of trusts and champion of
tariff stood mocking the earnest and manlv
warnings of President Cleveland in (he
workingmen men of America against the
perils of trusts, and now. with a single
stroke of his pen, the president of the sugar
trust sends 700 men out into the streets to
starve.
THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND BLAINE’S mi-
I.ti-uPitY.
Of course trusts are private affairs. The
700 workingmen bitterly deny it. But
wliat of tliat7 Mr. Blaine and President
Havemeyer know that they are private,
and that no one has any right to interfere
—no, not to save these men from death
even. Mr. Blaine anil President Have
meyer are in jierfect accord, and it is only
the ignorance and perverseness of the 700
that keepi tticm item seeing that Mr.
Blaine’s and Mr. Havemeyeni policy is
calculated to make the horny-handed sons
of the toil happy and prosperous. And
these 7U0 are perverse and ignorant. Thev
will point to tbeir unhappy homes and tell
yon that the laws should be made that
will prevent colossalconspiracicsorganized
to control the price of tne common neces
saries of life, trampling the lives and
horaeB of the poor, throwing men and
women oat of work merely to regulate the
supply and make food dearer. They will
tell yon this and utterly ignore the great
economic truth which Mr. Blaine promul
gated for the party that loves workingmen,
that trusts are private aflairs and must not
he interfered with.
The seven hundred men were not sll dis
charged at once. It has taken several days
to clear tLc two large refineries. The last
men to leave walked out of the gateways
on Kent avenue when the whistle blew last
night. They found sores ot those who
'bad been discharged on Saturday and Sun
day waiting to talk and sympathize with
them.
M> I EMOTION OK THE TRUST.
“May God blast and destroy them 1” said
one old man, as he eat down his cmplv
dinner pail and. wrung hie hands. “I
don’t knew what the little ones will do this
winter, [ dread to go home to-night This
will be a sore time for all of ns.”
The extraordinary thing and the feature
that stamps the whole proceeding as an
outrage deserving the attention of the
wlinlp mnntrv is the f irt that the pries of
sugar has been rising fer some weeks. The
sugar trust has crammed its vast store
houses throughout the country full of su
gar-something like 87,000 tons being
stored—and lias ordered refineries closed in
Boston and Williamsburg simply to keep
the snpplv to small that high prices may
maintained.
No one at either of the factories would
talk to the Herald reporter who called
there yesterday, for all the officials c
out Mr. Blaine’s idea that it is rank
•inpardonable impuuence ft r anyone to be
interfering with or asking questions about
trusts.
The reporter walked across the street
and stood in a group of discharged work*
men.
“1 wish jou would tell the people of
America,” said one mac, “tint the sugar
trust has dosed these tvo factories and
thrown us out of work, wail- it is putting
op the price ot sugar we hive to use in
our homes. We wotk lika dogs in these
refineries, and • all wo get is 15
een's an hour. The foremen get 18
Cfco-i on hour. An ordinary torn can make
JlOawteL. Most ^of us are men will.
Ur, ljf.ilie-. i.ast * 'at. r w tin, „i
Sirrsl. I have seen several of the poor
fellows begging. It would make you cry,
if you have a heart, to know what a black
day this is to us. I have worked in De
Castro & Donner's refinery for eighteen
years, and we always had pretty steady
work all the year around till about four or
five years ago. Then these sugar compa
nies began to work together. They were
not regularly organized and known as a
trus>, but they were doing what the pres
ent trust helps them to do to much better
now. '
AN ENGLISH CRITIC ANSWERED.
Eitmuml Gosse's Estimate ot Sidney Lanier
Neatly Scored.
From the Baltimore Sun.
If we are gratified with Mr. Gosse’spraise
of Poe, what shall we say of his disparage
ment of Lanier? The latter has nothing
to do with the subject of the article Mr.
GoBse is writing. But to make “a point”
in a “smart’’ article, the work of one of the
most modest of men—work that iie re
garded and his more judicious friends re
garded as merely preliminary, and a test
ing of his powers—is despitefully used in
a manner unworthy a scholar and a gen
tleman—a manner which is supposed
among modern critics to have died with
Grub Street, Croker and Maginn. It is a
pity <o resurrect it, and more pity still for
a writer of the standing and general good
taste of Mr. Gosse to use their weapons of
misrepresentation and abuse, and unnec
essarily, for the sake of a few false clever
paragraphs to select a fellow poet—for Mr.
Gosse has written some not unac
ceptable verses—to try his tempt
ing scalpel upon. ft- is a dan
gerous weapon, however, and sometimes
two-edged. Mr. Gosse's reputation as a
critic is as dear to him as Mr. Lanier’s as a
poet of excellent performance and still
better promises is to his friends. We take
two sentences only from Mr. Gosse’s'srticle.
We charge that, as a critic, he has written
untruly and has willfully perverted his
subject, or else he is unworthy, through
mental incapacity, to attempt the role of
critic at all. “Heading Lanier’s poetry
again,” he writes, “with every possible in
clination to be pleased, I find a painful
effort, a strain and rage, the most promi
nent qualities in everything he wrote
Never simple, never easy, never in one
single lyric natural nnd spontaneous for
more than one stanza, always forcing the
note, always concealing his barrenness and
tameness by grotesque violence of image
and preposterous storms of sound, Lanier
appears to me to be as conclusively not a
poet of genins as any ambitious man who
ever lived, labored and failed.”
We say nothing further than this of the
“painful effort, strain and rage” charge—
that it is absurdly exaggerated; nor do we
go over the two pages of adverse criticism
levelled against Lanier. The critic, false
in oDe thing—a thing plain, paten', mani
fest to any child of fifteen—will show his
animus too unequivocally for dispute.
Fortunately this Second of the above sen
tences is capable of clear proof or disproof,
and Mr. Gosse himself has furnished the
testimony of his own injustice in the mat
ter by quoting the lines:
"I h"»r bridal sighs of brown and green
Dj tug to silent hints sn<t kisses keen.
As Isr lights Irlnge into a pleasant sheen,
as a fair specimen of Lanier’s verse, "upon
all occasions from which a fair inference
can be drawn as to the whole that through
out he is "never simple, never easy, never
iu cue single lyric natural auu spontan
eous for more than one stanza.” Did thg
eye of Mr. Goose ratcli the three lines im
mediately preceding his quotation from
“Corn
I pray with mooes, ferns, and flowers shy,
Tbat bide, like gentle nuns from human eye.
To lilt adoring perfumes to the sky,”
O • just above the lines in reference to
‘•Young hickories breathing deep and long
With stress and urgcnce bold of prisoned
spring,
And ecstasy of burgeoning.”
Or these opening stanzas from “The
Marshes of Glynn:’’
“Glooms of the live oaks, beautiful braided and
woven
With Intricate shades ot the vines that myriad
cloven
Clamber tho forks of the multiform houghs—
Kincrald twillehts--
Vlrglnal shy lights,
Wrought ot the leaves to allure to the whisper
of vows,
When lovers pace timidly down through the
green cotonades
Of the dim aweet woods, of the dear dark woods,
Of the heavenly woods aud guides,
That run to the radiant marginal sand-beach
within
The wide sea-marshea of Glynn;—
“Beautiful glooms, soft dusks in the noonday
tire,
Wildwood privacies, closets ot lone desire,
Chamber from chamber parted with wavering
arms ot leaves,—
Cells for the passionate pleasure of prayer to tbc
soul tbat grieves,
Pure with the sense of the passing of saints
through (ho wood.
Cool for the dutiful weighing of ill with good.'
Why did lie not quote these, and more—
even from the same page, and all through
“Corn” others so plain tbat a “wayfaring
manp’whojis not even a critic ofJMr.'Gosse’s
school could understand, as proof that
Lanier was, never simple, never easy, nat
ural, spontaneous, hut always barren, tame,
grotesque and preposterous. “Never i
one lyric natural and spontaneous for more
th»n one stanza.” Here we have some
thing even more definite in the accusa
tion. Did Mr. Goase read “The 8ong of
the Chattahoochee,” “My Springs,” “Tam
pa Robins,” or did he take do trouble to
verify his charge? Is he a shameless
critic, or merely a careless on-? And
which is the worse? Is there very much
difference?
The fact of having been engaged in
some literary controversies wherein his
own reputation was involved should surely
have taught Mr. Go's* to have been more
careful of that of others. As it happeus,
in this case he lias been betrayed by his
nwlloansa of statement into putting his
charge in the above instance into such a
form as really admits of comparison and
refutation. No one of good judgment
wo >ld place Sidney Lanier, with his tin
completed work, among those whom Mr.
Gosse rightly calls great poets—with capi
tals : but as his was the spirit of the true
poet, and that he bad before his death
written verse worthy to live in the most
exclusive anthology, is certainly not to be
disproved by such criticism a* Mr. Gosse
has risked his reputation as a scholar,
critic and brother-man of letters to indulge
in. It is uncalled for by the scope of his
article, and is written with utter disregard
of the simplest element of ciitical justice
and truth.
Our Candidate for President.
He will be nominated by the convention and
wilt be elected bp the people, because he will
come tbc nearest to tilling tlielr Ideal of a Chief
Msgtsira e. Electric Bittern has been given the
highest place beaause no other medicine has so
well fltled the Ideal ot a perfect tonic and alter
native. The people have indorsed Electric Bit
ters and rely upon this great remedr in all
troubles of Liver, Stomach and Kidneys. For
all Malarial Fevers anl diseases canted by Ma
larial Poisons, Electric Bitters cannot be too
highly recommended. Also cures hndsrne and
Constipation. Satisfaction guaranu.-d, or
money refunded. Price Me. an.1 »1 at II. J. La
mar A Don's drag store.
tY ft AT THET BELIEVE.
Lltcrnry Women mio Tlicli Views or Re.
llglon.
From the New York Herald.
At a gathering of a literary kind in >ew
York the conversation fell upon the uub-
ject oi religian, nnd it was remarked that
women were religious as long as they were
domestic, hot that the moment they had a
career outs de of the home they became
agnostics, free Jhinkers or something as
radical, it was the opinion of several of
talkers that women writers were almost
whollv independent of creeds and doc
trines) and few, if any of them, were church
members. “What was once true of the
theatrical profession exclusively is now
true of the literary one,” was asserted by a
noted newspaper editor, and iiis conclusion
was approved by his listerners.
“Then a professional life is a misfortune
rather than a blessing for women, you
think?” queried a doubter.
1 On the contrary, I think it is desirable,
because it freps them from the bigotry and
narrowness of the church and renders
them the delightful companiadj they are,”
was the reply.
But the facts nre that litery women are
almost universally religious, whatever
may be said of professionals in other fields
of work,” urg'd another. This was dis
sented from, and finally there was an ad
mission made that it was difficult to tell
from anybody’s writings what their pri
vate opinions were.
MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE’S BELIEF.
■As a remit of this discussion letters
were sent to several well-known women
requesting from them a statement of their
religious views. Oneof the most interest
ing replies was that of Mrs. Haariet
Btecher Stowe, who said:
“As to ray religious belief it is embodied
in the Apostles’ Creed given in the Episco
pal prayer book. As to the practical use
I make of it I refer you to my writings—
particularly ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin’ and my
religious poems. I have all my life sin
cerely endeavored to mould my life in ac
cordance with these beliefs.”
Nothing so terse aud compact has come
in response to the request made, and the
characteristics of the woman are expressed
in its phrneseology.
STRENGTHENED BY FAITH.
Koso Terry Cooke, the poet and novelist,
says of her religious views: “1 have been
a member of the Congregational church
since 1843 until this last summer. I joined
the Episcopal church becauso my husband
preferred that form of worship. You will
tiud my faitli embodied in the Apostles’
Creed. " I could never have lived through
my trodbled life without that earnest be
lief. I could not look forward to death
under any other prospect with the least
courage. I desire to record here that 1
have found the only peace and help and
strength of my life in the gospel of Christ
and tliak I belieye there is no hope in tliis
world or the next that does not spring
from that gospel."
RELIGION MUCH TO HER.
“Marion Harland,” novelist, wife of the
Rev. E. P. Terhune of Brooklyn, and as
widely known in her church and Sunday
school work as in her social circle, says:
“So far as my religious views go I am a
thorough church woman, a believer in the
Bible ns the word of God, the only sure
rule of faith and practice and guide to
heaven. I recite tne jpostles’ creed sin
cerely and devoutly, eventheelai.se touch
ing the resurrection of that which is sown
a natural body and will be raised a spirit
ual body, bearing the same relation to the
worn-out casket laid away in tho earth
that Easter lilies he:-r to the perished bulb.
I hold this life to be but the vestibule of
the temple in*which we are to work and
joy forever when these few preliminaries
which we know ns mortal toils and trials
are ended. But I believe thatevery talent
and guod we have lu re will have use aud
place iu the fuller life, separated from this
by so thin a veil that it is sometimes given
to us to see the light gleaming through.
For my own hope of admission to the ‘per
fection, which is continuous advance,’ I
trust humbly, gratefully, and utterly in the
Saviour of the world; the Christ who was
tempted likowe are, the God-man who is
able to save unto the uttermost all who put
their trust in him.
"The solemn shadow of hli cross
Is brighter than the iun."
“This faith, transmitted to me by gen
erations of godly ancestors, some of whom
laid down their lives for it, 1 have care
fully and severely tested by all the powers
and lights I could bring. to bear upon it,
aud stand to-day more firmly in it than
ever before. In every event of daily life,
the least even as the greatest, I seek to have
but one rule—that set forth so simply and
beautifully in Longfellow’s dedication
hymn:
“And evermore beside him on the way
Th' unseen Christ shall more.
Tbat he may lean upon bis arm and say,
'Host thou, dear Lord, approve?"
“This is, of course, ten times ns much as
you wanted me to write, but from it you
extract the germ of ‘my creed.’ Religion
is so much to me, I would have it so much
to others that I say too much when 1 trust
myself to speak upon it.”
A BEURVEH IN THE ETERNAL GOODNESS.
Julia C. R. Dorr thus answers the ques
tion : "You set me a right bard task, if
you had naked me my 'religions views’
when I was about eighteen, it would have
been easier to respond, for at that time I
had much more decided ‘views’ on inoBt
subjects than I have now. One grows hum
bler as one grows older, and much less sure
nf things.
“Two strains of blood meet in my spiri
tual as well as my physical nature. French
Catholicism is on one side, New England
Unitarianism ontheother. From the one I
inherit a love of forms and symbols and
stately ceremonials which make one-half of
nre sympathize with and comprehend by
intuition much that the other half
neither believe? in ncr cndcrsUsda.
But I was ‘brought up’ in the
straight school of New England orthodoxy
and belong to the Congregational church,
the wing of it that interprets the old creeds
broadly and is not at all sure that it can
fathom the depth of the divine plans and
mysteries, put, present and to come. But
with all my heart I believe in God, the
Father, our Father, nnd in Christ as the
way, the truth and the life. I rnnnot
solve the problem of human sin and misery,
nor draw thelineof human accountability,
nor explain how it is true that ‘as a man
soweth, so shall he also reap.’ But I do
believe that all that perplexes us will one
day be clear; and meantime I am content
to wait and to trust. In short, I find in
Whittier’s ‘Eternal Goodness’ at once my
creed and my prayer.”
EDNA DEAN I'RuoTOR’h BROAD CREED.
The New England poet, Edna Dean
Proctor, thus describes lierChristian faith:
“No religions creed is possible to me but
a belief in the boundless love of God for
all his creatures, acd in his intent k and
E ower to bring them all ultimately into
armrny with himself, in accordance with
his perpetual invitation, ‘Came unto me,
pain are, in our present state, a vital ne
cessity of spiritual deve’opment, and that
in this or other spheres punishment for
wrong, though u inflexible in its work
ings as the principles of mathematics or
the laws of light and shade, is yet but dis-'
ciplinary aud remedial. Such a view I
brines hope for this life and the life to
come, gives us sympathy with every hu-1
man being, and makes God indeed oor fa- j
ther. More and more as the world be-1
comes enlightened, it tends on this broad,
natural basis to unity of thought and wor
ship.”
HER FAITH LEAPS HER.
Mary S. Holmes, the famous novelist
thus writes:
“If, instead of asking for my religious
views you had asked what L believe, I
think I should at once have commenced
the Apostles’ Creed, which I repeat in
church so often. ‘I believe in God, the
Father Almighty, maker of heaven and
earth, and in Jesus Christ, #iis only son,
our lord.’ Born in New England and
reared by strictly orthodox parents, I was
taught that many things which most young
people like and do were wicked, and
although those rigid ideas have been
softentd down and I am glad for the early
training which lias had a restraining in
fluence on my whole life. I am a com
municant of the Episcopal Church, and
know that a hand is leading me which will
not let me fail if I cling to it with faith as
I am trying to dc.”
Trusting in the gop of love.
Louise Chandler Munlton lets others
speak her words for her. She says:
“I can, perhspr, best answer your ques
tion concerning my religious faith by
three quotations, with which I am in
sympathy. The first is from Tennyson:
“Oh vet we trust that somehow goud
Will he the final goal of 111—
To pangs of nature, sins of will.
Defects of doubt, and mints of blood.
“That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That no ono life shall be destroyed,
Or cast as rqbbish to the void,
When God hath made tho pile complete.
“The second is from Darwin, who was
wont to say: ‘We cannot know the un
known, but we can do our ditty.’
“And the third is from Stevenson, who
TftilffflffiFtMmiDg Jenkin that he used to
say: ‘A man must be either very wise or
very vain to venture to break with any
generally received idea of ethics.’
“These quotations will reveal to you
that I reverence the moral laws founded
•n the teaching and experience of the past;
that I am conscious of my own blindness
as to the meaning and destinjhof life, and
tbat I tru.t only in that God who is love.”
ENGLAND’S PREMIER.
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, am:
I will give yoa rest;’ a belief tfiat grief am
A Charmingly Written Kingropliy of Lord
Rencoustleld (Benjamin Disraeli.)
From the Philadelphia Record.
The J. B. Lippincott Company, Phila
delphia, has begun the publication of the
International Statesmen Series, edited Ivy
Lloyd C. Sanders, the intention of which is
to comprise a collection of brief biographi
cal studies of the great men who have in
fluenced the political history of the world.
The first issueJs the “Life of Lord Bea-
consfieid," by T. B Kebbei, a gentieman
who enjoyed the personal acquaintance
and friendship of the prime miuister, land
who has also a thorough knowledge of the
great events in English history in which
the subject of the biography took such an
important part. If we are to accept Dr.
JcSiuovu’S wCuultiCS Cf i g{g( n * man pa l, AnA
who is versed in political affairs,” then
Disraeli m»y be placed in that category;
but there are many people who consider
statesmanship as something infinitely
higher, who rather look upon him as one
of the greatest party leaders whom the sys
tem of constitutional government has ever
nmHii.ml, ami wlm trgili that, with all his
foresight and capacity, he was too apt to
adjust public questions as to suit the tem
porary exigencies or prejudices of his own
party without looking further ahead. In
one of his early pnblio speeches he said: “1
laugh at the objection against a man that at
a former period of his career he advocated
a [Kvlicy diflerent fromh is present one. All
I seek to ascertain is whether his present
policy be just, necessary and expedient;
whether at the present moment ho is pre
pared to save the country iu voiding toils
present necessities.” To no ono could theso
be made more strictly applicable than to
hi ill-elf, and yet, witli a clian.iirg incon
sistency, this was the characteristic for the
exercise of wh ch ho attacked the opposi
tion with all the polished irony, the scorn
ful satire and sadonic humor which he
could bring to bear upon the question.
Mr. Kebbei, who is a strong admirer of
Disraeli, does not teem to think thnt there
is any necessity for justifying this tergiv
ersation, and occasionally he allows liis
prejudices to colorhis judgment; but, with
all this, he has written a book which
charms by its perspicuous style and artistic
method, which Is generally fair in its esti
mate of public meu, and which gives us a
remarkable portrait of one of the most ro
mantic figures in English history.
STATESMAN AND MAN OF LETTERS.
Disraeli will always be an enigma and a
contradiction. He woa a firm believer in
the feudal system, and would have liked to
restore it: ho considered that the writings
of Bolinglitnke represented the true princi
ples of nionarjiy; lie distrusted the middle
classes; he worshipped a landed aristocra
cy; to him the House of Commons had
usurped tiie better portion of the peroga-
lives of English sovereignly and degraded
the monarch into the position of a Vene
tian Doge. Aud yet lie was constantly de
claring his love for the people— the multi
tude—and bringing in measures for their
benefit. He insisted that they werebetter
clothed, better lodged and belter fed ju6t
before the War of the Iioses than in the
nineteenth ceatury, but in the reforms
»hicii lie proposed they were to have no
voice. To him tho country gentleman rep-
rergnted “.(ksaapnliir political onnfedera-
, v" of tl>e nation;, be admired a “territo
rial constitution” and Ulievcd that the
persons most proper to be entrusted with
the exercise of local -authority and local
administration should he looked for in the
proprietors of the soil, it being enough for
tiie English peasuut it, like his prototype
of four centuries ago, he “a e flesh, e-very
day, never drank water) was well houseit,
and clothed in stout woolpj-.'’ Disraeli
was speculative and yet practical,and con
stantly striving to reconcile hi* theoijes
with the force of circumstances. He could
not con prebend the moral change which
had come over the English people during
half a century of demo, ratio ’ education,
and teied to fit the toryisio of 17.“U to the
eircnmat&noes of 1832. But. as a man of
letters lie will always bo remembered.
While his novels all seem to have been
written to illustrate hi» theories of govern
ment, Iiis plots were ingenious, seme of,
his heroines were exquisite ere :
the political satire of which his w r-l|A 1
were ths vshielp was Iteen and tren nfti, i
und, although often florid ard faniostir,'
there was about many if iiis pass: ■■ boil.- i
descriptive and narrative, a wo. le” of
wirinth, brilliancy and recline--. Aoslu-'
dent of contemporaneous history,cau read
thelife of this great thinker and leader
without being fascinated by his protean
qualities, liis daring political courage, the
strength of liis character and the greatness
of his intellect.
TIIE DESIGNER OF THE MEKKIHAC.
.John L. Porter Now a Common Laborer In
the Norfolk Navy Yard.
From the Baltimore Fan.
John L. Porter, who designed and con-
s’ructed the Merrimac, the first ironclad
ever built, und who thus changed com
pletely the system of naval warfare, is now
wielding a broadaxe in the npvy yard at
Norfolk. He is an old man, almost 80,
but he is compelled to toil Irom early un
til late. His tato has heert a sad contrast
to that of Captain John Ericsson, whocon
structed the .Monitor. Mr. Porter has had
an eventful career, a portion of which he
has passed iu Baltimore. He was been in
the Norfolk navy yard a few days ago by
a Sun representative, to whom lie related
his first conception of the idea of an iron
clad war vessel.
While at work on the iron steamer Alle
ghany, in Pittsburg, in 1844, the thought
presented itself that a vessel could be so
protected by iron plates that the shot and
shells of the enemy’s guns would have no
effect upon her. He constructed n model
embodying this idea, but never attempted
to build the vessel lie had designed. A
year or two later he returned to Norfolk,
leaving his model in PittsbuTg, but bring
ing his drawings with him. When the
late war broke out ho was made the con
structor of the confederate navy, and took
ohsrge of the yard at Norfolk, which Iftid
been abandoned by the United States gov
ernment.
His almost forgotten idea of an tronc’ad
was recal ed, and he made the attempt to
put it into practicable shape. The Uuited
States ship Merrimac, which had been
burned to the water’s edge and then sunk
off the navy yard by the retreating federal
murines, w.i-.jafter imn h ii i Ili.-u I ty, raind,
retimbered, cut down and otherwise re
paired. His proposition to make an iron
vessel thnt would float was hooted at. He
showed his model to Mr. Marshal Parks,
who ii lii.w I'niti.1 Stan-- -u, vising
steamboat inspector, and who at that time
had charge of the navy of North Carolina,
which state had not joined the confederacy.
Heat once, recogniz.d the value of the
model, hastened to Raleigh and had a bill
drafted by himself pus the legislature
providing" for the purcliaso of the pro
posed ironclad. Before he could do any
thing, however the state joined the confed
eracy, nnd, as instructed, he turned over his
models and plans for a navy to the con
federate government. Owing to the lack
of facilities, six months were required to
complete the Merrimac, hut that was a
great day 'id Norfolk when she ‘was
launched. Old tnaHhers and experienced
shipbuilders daring her whole construe
tiou had held stoutly to the opinion that
she was top-heavy aud would sink. Great
was their dismay, and equally' great Was
the rejoicing,qf, the officials <?f the con
federate government who witnessed Jho
launch,,when the smoothly glided into the
Elizabeth river aud gracefully Boated upon
its peaceful bosom. Then was Mr. Porter’s
fame assured and his success certain.
Gloomy forebodings were changed into
hearty congratulations, and lie was the lion
of the hour in the south.
While tho Merrimac was on the ways
she had been inspected by a number of
persons, and.the reports of the destruction
bho would work to shipping reached the
north and caused general consternation.
Capt. John Ericsson’s turreted Monitor
was sent south to meet the Merrimac,
which had in the meantime sunk the
Cumberland, and liad compeled the Con-
greis to pull down her colons. The battle
between the huge monsters took place, as
is well known, on Sunday, March U, 1602.
The Merrimac ran ashore and was helpless.
The Monitor played around her grounded
enemy as she pleased. The iron
clad giant was completely help
less. The Monitor poured shot
into her from a distance of only twenty
feet, but the huge bails struck the greased
and inclined walls oi the Mcrrimao and
glanced off into space. At length one of
tiie Mcrrimac’s guns was disabled nnd an
iron plate was slightly shattered, but oth
erwise slit was uninjured. Had she been
overpowered she cbuld never have been
captured, as the marines would have
scalded the invading sailors as fast as
they stepped upon the narrow deck of tho
big turtle. They could not have climbed
up her iron back, as that was greased.
AMERICA'S GREATEST ARCHITECT.
Sumo Facts About the Life of Ifenry ft.
Rlclmrclaon of itoatcii*
He got into great pecuniarv straits,
oweil Ills Brooklyn landlady for board,
while wearing, as lie said to her in jocose
desperation, “one of Poole’a coats, without
a dollar iu his pocket.” The landlady, be
it to her eternal blessing, was a sympa
thetic woman, and nobly helped him in
these times of supreme struggle, con
fidently giving him his regular morning
cup of black coffee, for which he specially
asked as a stimulant for the day's battle.
His successes changed his mode of life.
He had the generic sonthern nature, lnxn-
rious, lavish, aristocratic, self-centered.
He rightly proclaimed to all seeking Iiis
services a high turifl'of fees, gradually en
larged his office, which was joined with
liis home, till it became a wilderness of
offices, tenanted by a tribe of enthusiastic
draughtsmen for whose instruction his |
splendid library and collections were
brought together, and for whose relaxation '
tennis courts were provided, nnd who,
when they had to work iate, were soothed,
we are told, by champagne suppers. His
studies became veritable art museums, the i
master himself ransacking Europe for pho
tographs for his beloved assistants, who In (
their turn adored him as the Old Guard I
adored the Little Corporal. Clients nnd j
corporations sought him.
Ills time grew to be as precious as rn-1
bits; he became a monarch, dominating
pnptls, clients and the whole order of be
luga and things which pertain to a great
architi ot’s olliee with a magnificent dc pot-
ism, eager and thankful for the homage
loyally paid him, untiring and ambitious
past belief. He made plenty of money and
spent vast sums. Nothing was too expen
sive, Draughtsmen or wine, lie . had to
have the beet. Great physicians pre
scribed for imrrassing ailments which made
li f e an agony for him, bnt in hiaseignorir.l
stylo be kept on working, burning the can
dle at lioth ends.
In his prime Richardson was a man of
domnrandipg stature, line physique and
face, and he carried himself like a king.
In his later years be grew very stout, ah
infirmity which seriously complicated Iiis
other bodily ailments. When lie was in
Germany, some one pointed bitn out to a
German gentleman, who greatly admired
the American architect's prodneti ins. The
foreigner lo. ked in a tcnlzlimcnt at Rich
ardson's huge body and exclaimed; “Mein
‘ iott, he is just like one of his own build
ings 1” As Mr. Kiclisrdson grew vaster in
sixe he became more motiULi. nlal in mau-
JOCKEY M’LAUGHLIN'S TROUBLE-*
A iBIoJe Widow That Has Ca,„ c ,I
Disturbances iu Turf Society
From the Louisville Courier-Journal
New York. Oct. 5.-[Special.l 0 ne of
tiie matrimonial unions to be severed is
that of James McLaughlin and his wife
Tliere are nearly 200 James McLaughlins
in New York city, according to the direc
tory, and doubtless men of that name s!
proportionately numerous throughout the
country; bnt this particular James Me
Laughlifig is tne famous home iorkev'
whose hundred pounds and not much over
did not represent his importance on the
turf. A man who combines lightness „„.i
skill in the saddle is hard to get and f
comes high. McLaughlin's Income has
for a longtime ranged retween $12000 *
vear and $10,000. His salary hu not
lately been less than $10,000, and lie
always 1ms the privilege of riding for
others whenever his regular employer
has no horse in the race. He is a decidedlv
luxurious little man; he indulges ini
valet and many other costly comforts of &
pretentious gentleman. Four years ago he
married a Brooklyn girl of considerable
education and striking prettioess. The
bride was an intimate friend oi Mrs
Michael Dwyer, whose husband is one of
tiie Dwyer brothers who have made a for
tune in breeding and running hones. Mc
Laughlin was then the chief jockey for
tiie Dwyers. Two years ago, at Long
Branch, a much observed devoiee of the
turf was the Widow Busch, so called al
though her widowhood was only such as
the divorce courts create. Her liusbaod
was lost to her by means of a legal separa
tion, but he is alive and well. Mis. Busch
was a blonde by bleachery, and had more
vivacity than beauty, "but she dressed
stylishly and commanded general atten
tion wherever alio went. She seemed to
find a hero in tho successful jockey, and
she made his acquaintance as quickly as
possible. This woman was the cause of a
separation betweeu tho McLaughlins a
year ago last July. Mrs. Dwyer took the
part of the wife very warmly and did not
cease until ‘he past slimmer her efforts to
bring them together again on the basis oi
a renewed loyalty on the part of the hus
band. Another peacemaker in this matter
was Mrs. J&tnca Rowe, wife of August Bel
mont’s horse trainer, but all the efforts at
reconciliation have failed. In August,
McLaughlin resigned from employment by
tiie Dwyers on account of the family dif
ficulty. Mrs. McLaughlin is now be
ginning a suit for divorce. She has
already obtained nu order compelling the
jockey to pay $2,500 for her support
pending the result of the suit. The trial
will be likely lo expose interestingly the
life of a prosperous -horse jockey. Dion
BoucicauD’s last play had u knight of the
racing saddle for a hero, and it failed ut-
torly. Good judges thought the drama waa
strong enough to have succeeded hut for
the tact that tiie audiences would not ac
cept a liorso jockey as a romantic person.
A newer play now on the stage in this city
again undertakes to oxploit a jockey as its
chief personage, and the experiment is
ouce mote futile. It nuu'u seem that m
j the public mind a jockey cannot be any
thing else, and here is McLaughlin figur
ing in a deeply sentimental experience.
Sec card of Dr. J. J. Bubers In his specialties.
Important News to the Telegraph's Readers
Tiie Weekly-TiiLEOHAI'H lias succeeded
in securing for its readers, as a premium,
the best sewing machine manufactured,
and while it is the best, the price is so low
that anyone can now afford this household
necessity. The Telegraph High Arm
Sewing Machine is warranted for five years
is of superior workmanship and Urst-tiaas
iu ■.•very respect.
The parts are made by steel gauge, and
roust come ont perfectly ex .let, and those
having the most wear are made of the fin
est steel and flttedwith the utmost precis
ion.
The materials and metals nsed are of
the finest quality, and selected with great
care.
The loose balance wheel is a very impor
tant improvement, and so constructed that
the bobbins can he wound without run
ning tho machine or removing the work
therefrom.
Another marked improvement is the
self-threading eyelet, check lever and nee
dle clam]).
This high arm machine, has nickel-
plated wheel, ornamented head on iron
stand, drop leaf table of solid walnut, oil
polished Gothic box cover with veneered
panels, case of two drawers at each end of
table, with locks and veneered fronts.
With each machine will be sent, without
extra charge, a beautiful Bet of attach
ments, constating of 1 ruffier, 1 tucker, 1
set of hemmats, and the following equip
ment of tools and accessories: I foot hem-
mor, 1 screwdriver, 1 wrench, 1 oilcan and
oil, 1 gauge, 1 gauge screw, 1 extra check
spring, 1 package needles, C bobbins, and 1
instruction hook, making the machine ful
ly equipped with every article necessuTi
and complete in every respect and ready
for work.
The “Telegraph” Sewing Machine is the
heat machine sold for general family a*-
It is accurately made, nicely fitted, finely
adjusted, and light running. It issiaular
to the Singer Machine, but is improved in
every respect, and is not nn imitation ras-
chine, and by reason of its superiority in
construction and accuracy of adjustment
is the heat.
This machine and tho Weekly Telb-
oitAi'it one whole year may he obtained lor
$22.1X1 cash with each order, exactly oae-
half tho price of the same machine
sold by agents. Those who are now sub*
rentiers to the Weekly Telegraph and
waut the Machine can have their time ex
tended or the paper sent a year to any »d*
dress. .
Every machine is now, and is •“'I’PJjJ
on receipt of orrter, tnereby sa» |U « •"
subscribers tiie additional freight front m**-
tnnt points aud all dtlays m transporta
tion. Twenty-two dollar* pars t or . ln
Telegraph ono year and the High Arm
Machine carefully crated and paUvered to
the railroad company, The f rt ' | x’“ l
points in Georgia, Horida and Alsbam
will be from $11»1« on a machine,payau
by the subscriber on deiiveiy.
We do not pay the freight, but deli
the machine, carefully packed, to the ra *
road company. A machiue (craten)
weighs 100 iMiunds. . , .
Write shipping directions plainly. ,
can send the premium to oue mldross
the paper to anotlier, or, if a snbscri >
have vour own time oxtended. jwmi j
postal oilier, Urait or regisletei. letter
the Tklfgkapii, Macou, tn.
A horo Tliroot or Uougli,
If sufleiv l to progress.hfU'iiresnJttfn Jlron .
atil. throat or lung trsolile. Browns
.'tital troche.“ rre ‘aslant relief.
Advice to Mothers.
(,* cLllten yff SS?
JiimJ, •ofi-u* t&C S'***^" ftJTdiarrJHK*
sriiU co i4 uo hmkjiIjt£0* 5* . w iv