The Galveston Daily News. (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 278, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 26, 1893 Page: 6 of 8
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6
RILEY'S NEW TACK.
The
Poet Has Turned Over a New
Leaf and Started Life
All Afresh.
v
K
Now Full of Earnest Ambition—News About
the Hoosier Which His Friends Will
Rejoice to Hear,
New York World.
James Whltcomb Klley'e father is dead.
The newspapers have told that. But before
he died he saw his son the most beloved
man In the state whose son he was. James
Whltcomb put himself in shape. Then he
restored the old homestead and reinstalled
his parents in it, hoping that there in com-
fort they might drift on to life's close.
It was small use, the time of the old
father's sojourn there was so short Now
he has seen the old gentleman buried and
the little town of Greenileld wearing mourn-
ing for him.
There's a new Jim Riley, poet; a James
Whltcomb Riley who has risen—a sort of
hoosier phoenix—from the ashes of the old.
If you ask almost any Indlanian who's
the most popular fellow in the state he'll
think for a minute or less, rubbing his chin
the while, and then he'll grin and say: "I
guesa Jim Riley."
It's true. The poet is paramount in the
affections of people who. live or ten yours
ago, would have told you that Walter Q.
Gresham or Dan Voorhees was good enough
for them.
Riley, new or old, is the quaint, refined
echo of Indiana life as the people know It.
"Camps and' co'urts," which most of In-
diana's so-called big men dote on, have
mighty little to do with Jim, and he cares
mighty little for them. He never could be
a Van Alen, even if he had the money-no
more than a Van Alen could Ue a Klley.
But there isn't a potentate or a foreign
minister oH'an ex-presldent of them all
who wouldn't gladly change places with Jim
Riley in the esteem—the pure, unbiased
esteem—of Indiana folks, common or un-
common. , ..
Riley's picture Is In the windows of the
stores all along the streets. There are big
signs—very big—in front of the book shops,
telling that
•'Riley's
got
book
out."
All the booksellers took a cue from Ri-
ley's poem of "Little Orphant Annie s
Come to Our House to Stay," and now
they letter all their signs announcing the
sale of his new verses, after what ex-
Vice Consul "Rome" Johnson, one of Ri-
ley's best friends, has called the "down
atalrs method," thus:
"Poems
RILEY'S NEW BOOK.
Here
At
Home."
Riley, you see, began writing as the
Indi&na people talked, and now, just as
sure as there s a democrat in the state,
Indiana people are beginning to try to talk
as Jim Riley thought.A man in the union
depot, with whom I spoke concerning Ri-
lev, said: "Wall, I guess Jim's th' on y
man in Indiana that never wanted an office
from neither party at all."
Now, to repeat, and the Indiana people
talk of it with pride and rejoicing, there's
a new and a greater Riley, a Riley, of
course, who couldn't tlnd Ills way, un-
assisted and alone, for two blocks up or
down a straight street in his own town; a
Riley who, when the sun shines hot in sum-
mer, carries a big umbrella lined with
green and wears maple leaves in his hat,
iuet as the old Riley used to do, but a
Riley whose self-elected function hence-
forth is to learn and to grow and be bet-
ter. , •
The new Riley has forsaken the genial
but unlucrative companionship of poller,
and, as his glad friends put it. "quit the
booze and got It beat and took a new
start." . . 4
In all his verse hitherto he has just
Jingled away as the fancy seized him;
lias relived and pictured and chronicled
Ills old life knocking about Indiana.
His poems, most of them, have been
full of apple or .hards and "cricks that
babbled by," and goats and cows and
"punkins."
And it was pretty hard to know
■whether Riley was going to keep even his
promises for these or not. He was lazy,
with a royal and truly poetic laziness.
In response to an editor's offer he wrote,
in his own lazy way:
"I'd like to engage to write such a poem
as you outline could I see a clear way to
Tts conception. Like engagemnetfS, 'old,
centuries old/ are slowly making me hon-
est enough with latter patrons to tell
them that my soundest promises won't
hold 'shucks/
"I mean well, but seem hopelessly per-
verse In the fulfillment of all orders. By
this you are most justly to infer that my
poetry, however poor, is better than my
word.
"Thje verse must go, therefore, as I
turn it loose, first come, first served, with
great liberal land scapes of allowance."
Besides being careless, Riley drank, and
Riley knew it. He drank as nervous, deli-
cate, impressionable natures will, under
ctorm and stress. He drank sometimes
to a limit that was awful. And when he
tried to stop the struggle was a battle
royal, and he used to say sometimes, as
©ther "good drinkers" do, that he'd kill
himself, so great was his depression. He
drank, as he worked, only by fits and
Dtartfi, but when he started, either at work
or at the bottle, he did the job up brown.
Riley has made up his mind that he's
^vorth being somebody—and he's being it;
that It Is time to quit his tom-foolery,
*nd he's staying quit of it at the rate of
about $16,000 a year. The object Riley has
in view now lsl4to be a poet along classic
lines, to let go^just a little, the distinc-
tive, exclusive and altogether well-earned
title of the Hoosier poet, and fit himself to
fee a world's poet. He's getting a trifle
tired of having the reputation of "being
a great poet for dialect only." He's tired
of having his friends forever "dinging" at
film to behave himself and write some
newspaper verses.
What Riley wrote of himself was true.
He made verses just as the humor seized
ftilm. During the campaign of 1888 the
-waiter walked into the new Dennison
hotel in Indianapolis with the current copy
of a magazine containing Riley,s now
familiar poem, "Mongst the Hills o* Som-
erset." ,, ,
George Warshon, a well known newspa-
per man from Pittsburg, now in Washing-
ton. was there. He borrowed the maga-
alne and attacked its uncut pages.
"\iU?ll, I declare," he said, "if that man
Riley wasn't as good as his word!"
"Hew is that?"
"Why, we were playing poker one night
In Pittsburg, and I'd just got back from
•em* newspaper work in Somerset county.
Between hands I started to tell some of
my experiences there, and said, 'When I
was up 'mongat the hills of Somerset'—the
jrtngle of the phrase caught Riley's ear. He
aaid: *H'm! That's a good line. I'll write
a poem on that, I guess, and turn a few
4ouars on It."
And there was the poem. In the light
mi this knowledge of its origin, It shows as
aethlng else, perhaps, could do, the rich-
ness oi Riley's imagination and the depth
of his feeling, for the poem had no origin
oave that chance expression over a poker
table. Only the alchemy of Riley's genius
and hie memories of hopes, long deferred
made it over into this:
'MONGST THE HILLS O* SOMERSET.
'Mongst the hills o' Somerset
Wlsht I was a-roamin' yet!
My feet won't get usen to
These low lands I'm trompln' through.
Wieht I could go back there, and
Stroke the long grass with my hand,
Like my school boy sweetheart's hair
Smoothed out underneath it there!
Wieht I could set eyes once more
i)p our shudders, on before,
CUmbin' ki the airly dawn,
Up the qlopes 'at love growed on
Nateheri as the violet
'Mongst the hills o' Somerset!
How 't 'u'4 rest a man like mo
jes fer 'but an hour to be
tJp there where the mountain' air
Could reach out an' catch me there-
Snatch my breath away, and then
Rense and give it back again
Fresh as dew, and smelliii of
The old pinks I use to love,
anfl a-Javor'n' ever1 breeze
With nrtxt hint* o' mulberries
from the thick
Bottom lands* along the crick
Where the fish bit, dry er wet
'Mongst the hills o' Somerset!
Like a livln' pietur* things
All comes hack; the bluebird swing*
In the maple, tongue and bill
Thrlllin' glory lit to kill!
In the orchard, Jay and bee
Ripens the first pears for me,
And the "Prince's Harvest," they
Tumble to me where I lay
In the clover, provin' still
"A hoy's will Is the wind's will/'
Clean forgot Is time, and care,
And thick hearln', and gray hail'-*
Rut there's nothin' 1 ferget
'Mongst the hills o' Somerset!
Midde aged—to be edzact,
Very middle aged, in fact-
Yet a'thinkin' back to them,
I'm the same wild boy again!
There's the dear old home once more.
And there's mother at the door-
Dead, i know, fer thirty year,
Yet she's singin', and i hear.
And there's Jo, and Mary Jane,
And Pap, comin' up the lane!
Dusk's a fallin', and the dew,
'Pears like It's a-fallin', too ~
Dreamln' we're all ilvin' yet
'Mongst the hills o' Somerset!
This is the story of Riley: It is all redo-
lent of Riley's misspent life and Riley's
regrets. But It is more specific than gen-
eral. All through the years when Riley
couldn't say a good word for himself—or
at least wouldn't—he was thinking on the
Sroblem of his life, and cherishing one
esire. That, as you'll find by and by,
is voiced In "Mongst the Hills o' Somer-
set."
Walking past a store window in Indian-
apolis the other day, a window where
Riley's new book was "featured," a man
sa id:
"Do you know there's the biggest change
in Jim Riley. He's on a now tack, and has
got a new Idea in his head. He's concluded
that, now that he's well fixed financially—
which he Is—he'll begin to soar.
Riley, you know, is uneducated, as the
world generally views education. He knows
it, and feels It, and when he came to
the conclusion some time ago, that he had
come out victor in his fuss with drink
and foolishness, he set about studying.
He says now what a first-class fool he was
not to study when he was young and had a
free field for It, when he ran away from
his father's law office, and Kent and Muck-
stone, and all that, to become a wandering
sign painter.
Probably, though, if lie'd stuck to Kent
and Blackstone he'd never have become
a poet, and God knows he never would
have become a lawyer. He suld once: "I
don't, know the least thing about grammar
I can't tell whether a sentence is right
or wrong. The only way I can judge is
whether it seems right or not."
The episode which marked the end of his
union with Bill Nye marked, too, the end
of Riley's misbehavior. He has forsworn
it, sure. He is under the management now
of his brother-in-law and is making nearly
or quite $150 every night he gives a per-
formance. Beside that he has the revenue
from his books, which grows every day.
And he shuns the bowl—turns down his
glass at dinners, and is studious and a
book man. Here's another strange thing.
Riley had a talent for drawing—always had
it. and his sign painting days, when he was
"trompin' through," as he declares in
"'Mongst the Hills o' Somerset," the "low
lands" of Indiana, gave him a strong lift.
He had practice then. Now* he is making
the best of it, studying drawing as hard as
his conditions will let him.
Just what his design is no one knows.
Riley won't tell. Maybe it's to employ his
sketches as an aid to his lectures, or, by
and by, to Illustrate a book. At any rate,
he has already drawn illustrations for his
poem "When the Frost Is on the pumukin
and the Fodder's in the Shock." And they
are far from bad, too.
And the truth about what he is, men say,
hammered Itself in upon him more than
ever when he received some amiable verses
from Rudyard Kipling—verses never before
published.
Here is the copy of the greeting, a copy
written off by Riley himself, In that queer
hand which he says is another result of
early sign painting:
TO J. W. R.
Your trail runs to the westward,
And mine to my own place;
There is water between our lodge®,
And I have not seen your face.
But since I have read your verses
'Tis easy to gue«s the rest,
Because in the hearts of the children
There is neither east nor west.
Born to a thousand fortunes
Of good or evl! hap.
Once they were kings together^
Throned in a mother's lap.
Surely they know tha-, secret,
Yellow and black and white,
When they meet as kings together
In innocent dreams at night.
With a moon they all can play with,
Grubby and grimed and unshod.
Very happy together,
And very near to God.
And in 1890 the old determination work-
ing in him, he said at a reception tendered
him by the Indianapolis literary club, that
he meant to deserve their respect here-
after.
He in working his way into the realm of
lofty poesy. He has tried to get up into
the Tennysonian atmosphere as an im-
promptu eulogist. When the laureate died
Riley wrote, off-hand, these lines:
We of the New World clasp hands with
the Old,
In newer fervor and with firmer hold,
And nobler fellowship.
O! Master Singer, with the finger tip
Of Death laid thus on thy melodious lip,
All ages hast thou honored with thine art;
And, ages yet unborn, thou wilt be part
Of all songs pure and true.
Thine, now, the universal homage due
From old and new world—aye, and
Still the New.
But with all his studying and all the tall,
large-sized aspirations which have got into
Riley since he took his final determination
to be, right along, all the time, as big a
man as nature meant he should be, he has
gained a clear notion, which he never had
before, of how to use money. That is large-
ly creditable to his brother-in-law.
And here comes in again that strange
thread of hope ad intent which was first
made manifest in "Monst the Hills of Som-
erset." Every sentence almost tells its story :
My feet won't get usen to
These low lands I'm trompin' through.
It was self-reprehension and here it is
again:
"How 't 'u'd rest a man like me
Jes' fer 'bout an hour to be
Up there where the mornin' air
Could reach out an' ketch me—there!
Greenfield, where Riley first came to light,
where he learned so much about apple blos-
soms and running brooks, is just a little
ragged Indiana town—no, a village. And
one of the mo3t "prominent citizens" in it
was Jim Riley's father—the old lawyer, a
queer old lawyer, who long years ago tried
to make Jim, who was bright enough, but
dreadfully lazy for anything but devilment
study law. And he's dead now. And while
the reckless boy has been out in the big
world taking hand to mouth chances and
making a fool of himself, but always drift-
ing slowly back to what with the gilding of
his imagination had become the "Hiils of
Somerset," the old folks and the old home
were going the way of all the earth.
Riley pere was known in Tndlanapolis
even as an eccentric old gentleman, upon
whom in later years the fullness of financial
ill fortune had fallen. It was hard luck
sure enough, which had prompted him to
mortgage the homestead where the poetic
genius of James Whltcomb was born and
nurtured.
But the mortgage was given, and yet an-
other, as they tell the story thereabouts
and the old lawyer stroked his mustache
and thought it was pretty hard lines. And
other possessions that he had, they went by
the board, too.
But Jim Whltcomb got his eyes open just
in the nick of time and he saw where both
he and the old folks were at. He discov-
ered that their gray hairs were going down
to the grave in sorrow, and he was
ashamed of it. So he made up his mind it
was time for him to quit "the low lands he'd
been trompin' through." He did quit.
He pulled himself together and wrote
wrote like an inspired man, day and night'
and studied and lectured, and being rid of
his old management, which he always felt
hadn't been the best investment in the world
for him, he made money hand over fist. By
and by people who had known Jim Riley of
old, who had "sipoed sups and craved
crumbs" with him began to remark that
Riley went to dinners now and turned his
wineglass down.
But Riley let them talk, and every little
while
"Riley
had
a
new
book
out."
And from tine books Riley reaped ben-
efits. And thse benefits he added to the
fiuit* of his hard work on the stage, and
"here la«t summer." «j thex say in In-
diana, he eat down and read over a notice
of his life which he had written a long
time ago for a newspaper reporter.
And it aaid: "The father of young Riley
was a lawyer of large practice who used,
In moment* of deep thought, to regard this
boy hh the worst case he ever had."
And then Poet Riley made up his mind to
play another trick on the old gentleman.
He showed good green money and Induced
his father and mother to tako a large pack-
age of it and start for California on a sum-
mer excursion. Then Riley, as soon as his
progenitor was safely and surely trundled
out of the union depot, went and got his
sisters, one of whom Is Mrs. Henry Eltel,
of Indianapolis, and they went, and with
James Whitcomb's still large and lusty
bank roll, lifted the mortgages off the old
homestead In Greenfield, and then they
propped up all the fences and remodled
the corn cribs and the barn, and gathered
up bits of old furniture which had strayed
and put things back In the old shape—the
shape that they were in when Jim placed
his poetic tendency under his arm and ran
out and took to the sun-burning occupation
of a sign painter.
And when it was all over and the furnish-
ers and burnishers had done their tasks,
then the old folks came back from Cali-
fornia, but when "pap, cotnin' up the
lane," looked at the old place, he thought
he wasn't home yet. Then he looked again
and then he walked into th§ house, and he
rerfiarked to a smooth-faced and scanty-
haired and great genius there, in the old
Quaker fashion: "Thee always was a most
peculiar son, James."
The last time he was at home—and he
generally lives with his sister when he is
in Indianapolis—Riley said:
"I believe I'll write a play, an Indiana
play, Just so that folks who don't read my
poems can know that the dialect of the peo-
ple of this state Isn't as black or outlandish
as it is painted, it makes me tired to see
and hear the stuff that Is paraded as the
dialect of this state. And I'm going to cor-
rect It."
Then Riley sat and thought for a long
time, puffing at his cigar. At last he broke
out again, in a vexed tone: "Hm! ilang
it, the troubling with writing a play is that
after you've got it all written you've got
to have actors. An' you'd have to have an
all-Hoosler aggregation to play a dialect
piece that I'd write."
All the same, those closest to Riley's con-
fidence say that he has the plot and charac-
ters for his play all mapped out.
WAYNE MACVEAGH.
The Embassador to Italy An Ardent Sup-
porter of Cleveland Since 1884.
Chicago Herald.
Mr. MacVeagh Is unmistakably a man of
brains and culture. His reputation is un-
blemished and his private income is ample
to enable him to discharge the social ob-
ligations of the embassy in a manner to
reflect credit on his country. Nor is there
any reason for the adverse democratic
criticism, for no one who has read the
speeches delivered by Mr. MacVeagh in
behalf of Mr. Cleveland In the last nation-
al campaign can, if he possesses good
judgment, deny that they did not have a
powerful influence for the democratic
ticket. By competent critics these speeches
huve been declared to have been the ablest
delivered in the campaign. They were the
thoughts of a scholar, a. man of princi-
ple, and would, It' compiled, make text-
books for every young man who desires to
ally himself with the cause of principle
and honest government Instead of party.
Mr. MacVeagh, who is a brother of
Franklin MacVeagh of Chicago, is one of
the most distinguished mugwumps of the
nation. He is a Pennsylvanlan by birth
and still lives In his native state. He was
born in Phoenixville, Chester county, April
19, 1833. He graduated frotrt Yale at the
age of 20, studied law, was admitted to the
bar in 1856 and served as district attorney
for his native county from 1859 to .18(14. In
18G2 he was captain of cavalry when the In-
vasion of Pennsylvania was threatened,
and in 1863 was chairman of the republican
central committee.
In 1870-71 he was United States minister
to Turkey, and in 1872-73 was a member of
the Pennsylvania constitutional convention.
He was the chief member of the "Mac-
Veagh commission" that was sent to Louis-
iana in 1877 by President Hayes to repre-
sent him unofficially and endeavor to bring
the conflicting parties in the state to an
understanding.
Mr. MacVeagh was appointed United
States attorney general In the cabinet of
President Garfield In 1881, but resigned with
other members on the acoession of Presi-
dent Arthur and resumed his law practice
in Philadelphia.
When Mr. Cleveland was nominated the
first time Mr. MacVeagh was one of the
contingent of prominent republicans who
went out of the party because of their op-
position to Mr. Blaine. Mr. MacVeagh has
ever since been one of Mr. Cleveland's
strongest supporters and an ardent advo-
cate of civil service reform.
Wool is America's seventh largest agri-
cultural industry.
IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.
Cornhill Magazine.
In the tropical countries, where the strug-
gle for life seems to rage even fiercer than
in the temperate regions, a vast number
of animals have been driven by want to
seek their livelihood in the dark, through
stress of competition. There are the how-
ler monkeys, for example, who make night
hideous in large tracts of South American
forest beginning their dismal music as
soon as evening sets In, and only retiring
for day as the dawn purples the horizon.
There are the lemurs of Madagascar, so
called because, like ghosts, they walk by
night and withdraw at cockcrow—strange,
stealthy, noiseless creatures, with great
wistful, poetical eyes and enlarged pupils;
monkeys that prey on birds and insects in
the gloomy depths of their native forests.
There is the slender loris, a graceful and
beautiful beast, with eyes like a gazelle's,
but treacherous manners, who pounces upon
birds as they sleep in their little nests,
creeping silently upon them from behind
like an Indian upon the warpath, and af-
fording no Indication of his hateful pres-
ence till he is within arm's reach or his
slumbering victim.
There is that curious little nondescript an-
imal, the aye-aye, who attracted so much
attention a few years ago at the Zoo—a
Sua in t, small beast, half monkey, half ro-
ent, who comes forth by night In search
of fruits or insects, and crawls through the
woods with cat-like pace upon butterfly
or caterpillar. And there Is that other odd
connecting link, the galeonithecus, or "fly-
ing monkey"—a lemur well on his way to
develop Into a bat, ape-like in form, but
with a membrane stretched loose between
his arms and legs after the rudimentary
fashion of the flying squirrel, by means of
which he glides from tree to tree with a
sort of half jump, half flight, very curious
to witness.
These are but few of the nocturnal mam-
mals of the monkey and lemur type, an-
cient ancestors of our own, gone wrong
through keeping such very late hours and
now stranded for the most part in islands
or peninsulas of extreme antiquity.
SHOOTING A BURGLAR.
Saturday Review.
The story told of a great man and very
learned judge is related by an ear witness
to the following effect. Mr. Justiee Wllles
was asked: "If I look Into my drawing-
room and see a burglar packing up the
clock, and he o&nnot see me, what ought I
to do?"
He replied ad nearly as may be: "My ad-
vice to you, which I give as a man, a.s a
lawyer and as an English judge, is as fol-
lows: 'In the supposed circumstances this
is what you have a right to do, and I am
by no means sure that It Is not your duty
to do It. Take a double-barreled gun, care-
fully load both barrels and then, without
attracting the burglar's attention, aim
■teadil* at his heart and shoot l£m dwad.'-0
THE PIONEER PERIOD.
Recollections of "Uncle George" Big-
gerstaffin Old Fannin County
in the Fifties,
How to Head Off Hard Times—Fashion and
the Present Generation—Cotton in
the 50's and 90's.
Bonham, Fannin Co., Tex., Dec. 22.—G.
W. BIggerstaff, one of Fannin county's
most prosperous farmers, and a plon^
of Texas, was In the city yesterday and
spent several hours with The News cor-
respondent. "Uncle George," as he Is fa-
miliarly called, is probably the best known
man in Fannin county. He has a numer-
ous progeny in this county, in various parts
of this tate, also in Missouri and Kentucky.
In answer to questions Uncle George said:
"My name Is George Washington Bigger-
staff. I was born in Monroe county, Ken-
tucky. I was 70 years old last June. I
came to Texas in 1852 and settled on Pott
creek, one of the tributaries of North
Sulphur, fifteen miles southeast of this
city. I bought 320 acres from a settler,
paying at the rate of $2 per acre. I did not
pay cash for the land, but gave my notes
for the amount of purchase money, paya-
ble in one and two years, which notes I
promptly paid as they fell due. The coun-
try at that time was sparsely settled. Bon-
ham then consisted of only two stores and
a few log huts. In those days Bonham had
no hotels and when we farmers came to
town we would take our meals at a cake
and beer shop, kept by old Tom Allen.
"It is wonderful to contemplate what
changes have taken place since 1862. Now
Bonham has splendid hotels and her square
Is one solid block of business houses, be-
sides many other streets leading in various
directions. In 1852 there was but one lone-
ly little cabin between my house and Bon-
ham. Now every foot of land is under
fence and splendid farms can be seen on
every hand, and to reach Bonham I have
to travel through one continuous lane. At
the time 1 settled on Pott creek we were
not troubled by Indians, but they were
depredating In Cooke county and would
raid down as far as where the city of Sher-
man now stands, creating considerable un-
easiness at times among the settlers. When
I moved on to my land 1 took my ax, went
into the forest, felled some logs and erec-
ted a cabin, covering it with boards, which
I split from a tree.
"1 am going to give you full detail," said
Uncle George, "just to show to the present
generation what a man and woman can do
if they will but put their shoulders to the
wheel and pull together, for I married Di-
dana Jackson in the state of Missouri in
the year 1852 and we moved to the state of
Texas. My wife ad I had no furniture to
furnish our cabin when completed, but this
did not bother us, for I went into the
woods, cut down some poles, carried them
to the cabin, trimmed the poles nicely,
bored holes in the logs in one corner of the
cabin, hewed out a bed post, fastened the
poles into it and then I had my bed frame.
We liajd no rope to make a bed cord, but
this did not bother us. I spilt boards out
of a large tree, shaved them nicely with
my drawing knife, placing one end between
the crack in the wall and the other in the
railing and our bed was completed. Then
by the same process I made a dining table,
and having a pine box, which we brought
from Missouri, I fasteed thnis to the wall
of the cabin, put In shelves and my wife
had a neat cupboard. Now, we were set
up for housekeeping, had all we wanted
and every comfort we desired. How dif-
ferent is it to-day. When a young couple
marries it takes from $200 to $300 to furnish
them in the fashion of the present day.
While the furnishing of my house only cost
me one day's labor. Well, we were happy
and contented.
"Game abounded. I have frequently
walked out In my yard of a morning and
seen as high as twenty or thirty deer feed-
ing in a small glade near my house within
easy gun shot; and I have killed many a
deer in that glade standing in my yard.
Wild turkey abounded and it was no trou-
ble to secure one when I wished it. There
were a great many bears ranging through
the woods at that time, but I never cared
to hunt them.
"We have raised thirteen children, nine
boys and four girls. The oldest Is now 41
years of age and the youngest 18 years
old. My wife is 59 years of age, alive and
healthy.
"During those early days everybody was
honest. When I had any money I would
place It in a little table drawer which
sat in the room. We never thought of lock-
ing the house, nor of robbers which seem
so prevalent to-day. We would borrow
money from each other, and such a thing
as a note with security was never dreamed
of. AH that was expected was the re-
turn of the money without any interest.
"I never, during my whole life, bought
a pountj ,of bacon or lard nor even a pound
of flour, except when the grasshoppers de-
stroyed my wheat. I hear a great deal of
grumbling about hard limes. Now this is
all bosh. The times are not hard unless
a man makes it so. If a farmet goes in
debt, keeps his smoke-house and his grain-
ery in Kansas City, Chicago, or soma other
northern city, and buys his bacon, lard
and flour on a credit, of course he will see
hard times. 1 makv it a point never to
go in debt unless I have the means to pay
the same promptly when it is due. I paid
my taxe$ to-day and do not owe a single
cent to any man and I have a few dollars
left and own 640 acres of land, a lot of
mules, horses, hogs and cattle. And how
did I accumulate this, do you ask? Well to
illustrate.
"We had four girls. Frequently they
would come to me and want me to buy a
gold ring, earrings or jewelry or some
kind of a new dress. I would tell them
to wait until papa got some money and he
would buy what they wished. But they
would reply, Wny, papa, look at neighbor
So and So's girls. Annie has a bran new
dress. Alice a new hat and Mary a pair of
gold earrings and a gold ring. I would
reply: Neighbor So and So had bought
everything the girls were wearing on
credit and that he never would or could
pay for the articles his girls were wear-
ing. But, said my girls, neighbor So and
So is not in half as good circumstances
as you. 1 would point to their clothes
and show them that they wore as good
clothes as any other girl's In the neighbor-
hood. and although they might not be up
with ihe latest fashions, they were com-
fortably and decently dressed, and what
was more, everything was paid for and
they were not wearing borrowed plumage.
This reminds me of an old song I used to
hear in my boyhood days:
" 'To do as the folks and fashions do,
We're bound to put on airs;
No use talkln', no use talkin',
For it is so everywheres.'
"Now this is the greatest trouble with
the present generation. There Is 'no use
talkin'. no use talkin', we're bound to do
as the folks and fashions do and put on
airs. '
"I also her a great deal of grumbling
about 5-cent and 6-cent cotton. Well,now,
let me say to you, I have hauled cotton to
Jefferson and- got 25 cents a pound. But
when 1 went to buy my sugar it cost me
25 cents per pound and so did everything
else in proportion. Now how is it to-day?
With your 6-cent and 7-eent cotton you
can buy your sugar at 5 cents per pound,
and so on. You can buy everything else
in proportion. Now pray tell me what is
the difference? I brought my cotton here
sold it and got the money, paid off what
little current debts I owed and had some-
thing left, while my neighbor, who raised
as much or more cotton than I did, got
the same price, and yet after paying it all
out on his debts he is still behind. Search
for the cause of all this and you will find
nine times out of ten the answer is given
in the old song I quoted above.
"When l was a young man I served as
pilot on the Mississippi river from Burks-
vtlle, Ky., to New Orleans. I piloted
steamboats and large flatboats loaded with
corn, wheat, flour, hay, meat and other
produce. These flatboats, after being
loaded, were supplied with oars, rowed out
into the middle of the river and we floated
down the river with the current. When
night overtook us we would row in to the
bank and tie up for the night."
"What about your politics, Uncle
George?" was asked.
"Well, the first vote I ever oast was for
James K. Polk for president. My father
was a whig, and he voted for Henry Clay.
Ever since that time I have voted for the
democratic president except the last elec-
tion. I did not like Cleveland and did not
vote for htm. Have always voted the dem-
ocratic ticket except on one occasion. I
voted for Bob Taylor for the legislature
against Murray, the democratic nominee.
I also voted for Col. H. W. Lyday when he
ran as an Independent democrat. In the
last state election I did not vote at all,
hut if I had voted I would have voted fer
Clark. I could not vote for Hogg, for I
believe him to be a demagogue."
"Were you in the war?"
"I volunteered to go to the Mexican war,
but after the company was organized peace
was declared between Mexico and the
United States. 1 served two years In the
late war under Gen. Maxey in Burnett's
batalllon of infantry. Bridge was my cap-
tain. I war* opposed to secession, but T
was conscripted, joined the army. Was
never in a fight. Our company was held
as a reserve guard. The nearest we come
tn being in a fight was just across the
river from Texarkana In Arkansas. Our
company was in camp, when we suddenly
heard firing to the front. Our officers hur-
riedly threw us into line of battle. The
boys were all speculating as to whether we
were going to nave a fight. I was looking
around over the field and I gave it as my
opinion that there would be no battle, r
called the boys' attention to the fact that
old Gen. Cooper was clearing away all ob-
structions in our rear, and gave it as my
opinion that we would soon be ordered to
retreat, and I told the boys that If such
was the case I would be the first to reach
the timber. Sure enough late in the even-
ing there came orders for us to double-
quick retreat. Goodness, how quickly the
boys obeyed that order. I thought 1 was
a fast runner, but several beat me to the
timber.
"In the early days we had but few offi-
cers to do our public work and they were
only paid underrate fees, but the number
of officers have increased to an abnormal
extent and their fees and salaries are also
increased. We have a road superintendent
and a school superintendent, all of which
is unnecessary and a useless expense. We
need a reform in curtailing the number of
officers and cutting down fees.
"During my whole life I never paid out
as much as $25 doctor bill. The reason of
this we always had several old ladles who
acted as midwives and who performed their
duties as well as the most skilled physi-
cian, and who. when a child got sick,
treated them with simple remedies very
successfully, but those old ladies' avoca-
tions are gone. It Is out of 'fashion' and
now when my children':; children get sick
or any other ailment occurs in the family
they rush to Bonham, sixteen miles away,
after a physician whose bill in the end
runs up to an enormous price. But they
'must do as folks and fashions do' they
are bound to put on airs.'
And Tncle George handed The News re-
porter one year's subscription to The News
as he said "good-bye."
LIVE STOCK MOTES,
NOTES FROM THE RANGE.
Fort Worth. Tex., Dec. 23.—C. M. Lacy
of Waggoner, I. T., came in last night
from a trip to the Pecos country. He says
cattle out there are fat and doing fine. He
doesn't understand Just how they get so fat.
Mr. Lacy went to the territory last night.
J. C. Jenkins, one of Uncle Sam's quar-
antine inspectors, of late located in Arkan-
sas, is here. He will be in Texas for
awhile.
W. H. Smiley of Quanah, who ranches in
Greer county, was here this morning re-
turning from a trip through Brown, San
Saba and other counties. His Greer county
cattle are in fine shape.
H. G. Williams of Austin, who has cattle
In the territory, was here to-day. He says
the cattle in the territory are doing well,
though of course they hive to be fed or
roughed through the cold weather. He
thinks the shortage in the cattle supply
will be great, and If as large as he an-
ticipates, the markets will be very notice-
ably affected. If money gets easier, he
thinks that Texas cattle will be sold to
northwestern and Indian territory buyers
in large numbers. Mr. Williams has a
number of cattle In Llano county and says
that he is fortunate in having plenty of
range for them.
William T. Way came in yesterday from
a trip through eastern Texas, where the
best feeding cattle in the state are to be
found, and says there are lots of meal-fed
cattle that must go to market in a few
days, but are being held as long as possi-
ble for the market to improve.
Several Wyoming, Montana, Dakota and
other northwestern buyers are in Texas
looking for bargains in young steers with
which to stock up their ranges, but no
contracts have as yet been made. The
Indian territory men are also here and
are doing some trading, but "mum's the
word" with them, and no particulars of
sales can be obtained.
A Knickerbocker correspondent of a San
Angelo paper says; Stock of all kinds look-
ing very well considering the drouth. A
great many stockmen are moving their
stock further west, where the grass Is good,
and many are passing through here from
eastern Texas, as grass is worse there than
here. We have had no rain yet, and there
are no indications of any. Though a rain
would not do the grass any good, it would
put water out in the water holes on the
divides and stock would have a better
chance to get through the winter than
they will otherwise.
The packers are complaining, says the
Kansas City Telegram, and not without
cause, that many cattle that they buy are
badly bruised. As all bruised meat is un-
salable, a steer with torn flesh has to be
bought at a concession. Frequently sev-
eral animals in a single car are so badly
damaged that the price received is much
lower than if they were sound. These
bruises can nearly always be traced to
the prodpole, and as poles are not allowed
by the yard company in unloading, the
damage is done in loading or In transit.
Shippers should see to it that more care
is exercised in loading and that "downers"
In a car do not have the choicest parts
of the flesh tattered and punched full of
holes by the destructive prod pole.
In his annual report the governor of
Arizona has the following to say of the
cattle industry of that territory:
The cattle Industry must always remain
one of the great industries of the territory;
those engaged In it are among the most
intelligent and deserving citizens we have,
and I would recommend the enactment
of such laws by congress as will secure
to all stockmen oh the public domain
legal tenure of the lands they use, at the
same time guarding against any monopoly.
A large portion of the territory consists
of dry mesas, which have been used as
stock ranges from the first settlement of
the country and must be used for years
to come. At very small expense the land
department of the government could seg-
regate these lands, suitable only for pas-
ture, from the valleys and fertile mesas,
after which being done they could be
leased to the stockmen, who, consulting
their own interests, would never overstock
them.
GOODNIGHT'S PARK.
Stock Journal.
Col. Charles Goodnight was in the city
recently and entertained a number of
friends and others who gathered around
the stove In the hotel office, for a long
time with stories when the Indians were
here, when the fastest means of transpor-
tation was by schooner a la Llano Esta-
cado. After talking until he grew almost
weary the colonel stopped to get his breath
and Uncle Bill Hittson asked if he still
had his buffalo up there.
"Of course I have," he said, "I have
twenty-four head of buffalo and they are
increasing slowly. Also have seventeen elk
and 1 don't know just how many deer,
antelope and such. The park comprises
about 640 acres and has a wire fence of
about fifteen wires and ten feet high around
It. It's almost worth a stranger's life to
go Inside, but the buffalo and elk know
who belong there and who don't and only
make war on strangers and dogs. The
railroad is near by and a tramp decided
one day to call on me, and being rather
averse to going around, climbed the fence
and came across the park, or rather partly.
But an old buffalo bull helped him get
out, and didn't do It very gently, either.
Another time a wagonload of people, most-
ly women, were driving through. A dog
was following along behind; the buffalo
thought his dogshlp was a wolf and wanted
to kill him. They surrounded the wagon
and stopped the procession. When the men
from the ranch got out to them the buffalo
were about to tear the wagon to pieces
In trying to get at the dog, which had
taken refuge beneath it. I've had some of
these animals fifteen years and would not
sell them at all. Buffalo Bill would have
Slven me $1000 each for the buffalo, but I
Idn't sell them and won't."
"How many cattle have you now,
colonel?"
"I have no cattle at all, except possibly
about 3000 thoroughbreds. I started a thor-
oughbred herd fifteen years ago and have
Imported from the old country nearly sev-
enty bulls that are as fine as can be found
anywhere. My cattle are all good ones
and are doing well."
The Goodnight park is free to the public
and the genial colonel is always glad to
show visitors what he has. Any one trav-
eling over the Denver road will be well re-
paid in stopping to see it.
POSSESSION AND SALE.
Drovers' Journal, Dec. 19.
Cattle running upon their accustomed
range are held to be in the possession of
the owner, says the supreme court of Tex-
as in the case of the Firct national bank
of Colorado vb. Brown, and such possession
Is regarded as sufficient to hold a wrong-
doer off trespasser liable who invade# it
The fact that a sale of cattle Is accom-
panied with an uetual delivery takes it
out of the provision of the Texas statute,
which requires that for the purchaser to
acquire title to stock ajilmals running on
the range a bill of sale, describing them
in certain marks and brands, must be given
and recorded. And in case of actual de-
livery, which the status provides shall
be accompanied by a written transfer, the
oourt says the penalty for not taking 3urh
written instruments—bills of sale—upon re-
ceiving possession of cattle Is that the pos^
pesslon shall be deemed prtma facie illegal.
It Is not made conclusively unlawful, but
it is open to explanation, and nothing pre-
vents a title to such property passing with-
out a bill of sale if it can be proved that
it was in good faith, made upon sufficient
consideration, and that no evasion of the
law was Intended.
FENCING OFF STOCK WATER.
Drovers' Journal, Dec. 19.
Three men, owners of stock, agreed with
a fourth to erect a windmill and pump at
a well on land owned by the latter, for
which each was to have the use of the
machinerv and water for three years for
his cattle and horses. After one year one
of the three persons first referred to fenced
in the well In a time of drouth so that the
two who joined with him In paying for
the mill and pump could not use the well,
although there was enough water for them
all. One of the parties thus cut off from
the well had to hire a man for forty-five
days at $2 per day to drive his cattle and
horses twelve miles to water. The court
of civil appeals of Texas allows him (case
of Westfall vs. Perry) to recover actual
damages therefor of SI per head deteriora-
tion in Ihe value of 100 head of cattle, ana
the amount he had to pay for the extra
man, and suggests that the allegations of
exemplary damages are likewise sufficient
to admit proof. But it holds that he can-
not recover the value of ten horses that
killed themselves seeking for water, their
death not being the direct and proximate
result of the act of fencing in the well.
license tax on sheep.
Drovers' Journal, Dec. 19.
An ordinance duly passed by the super-
visors of a county requiring that "every
person engaged in the business of raising,
grazing, herding or pasturing sheep and
aoats or sheep or goats" In that county to
procure a license therefor, the supreme
court of California pronounces constitu-
tional in the case of'El Dorado county vs.
Meiss recently decided. Discrimination In
such' 'a ease, it is held, could not lawfully
be made between the citizens of that coun-
ty and those of other counties engaged in
that countv in the business of raising,
herding or'pasturing sheep. The appoint-
ment of a license tax collector to collect
such tax was declared unauthorized, but
so long as the ordinance provided In that
countv should have the right to sue and
recover In case of non-payment, the ordi-
nance Imposing the tax was not thereby
lnvalidated. The license imposed being $5
for each hundred head of sheep, a person
would not have to pay for any fractional
part of that number of sheep. Finally,
and what is of more general Importance,
it was decided that a resident of a county
who had a large band of sheep which lie
neither raised, herded nor pastured In that
county, but who only took and kept them
there temporarily on Ills farm for the pur-
pose of shearing them, was not liable to
pay any license therefor under such ordi-
nance.
THE PICKENS ROMANCE.
Dallas, Dec. 23.—(To The News.)—Peri-
odically since the civil war some one lias
reproduced a canard first published in a
New York paper during the bombard-
ment of Charleston, to the effect that
while standing at the marriage altar a
cannon ball from the federal fleet en-
tered the building and killed Jennie, the
daughter of Gov. Pickens.
This statement lias been repeatedly
pronounced without a shadow of founda-
tion by the family. The Pickens family
was not in Charleston at the time. Gov.
Picltens by his first marriage had three
daughters and one son, the latter dying
in boyhood. One of the daughters is the
wife ol' Senator M. C. Butler, another of
John E. Baker. Jennie, the third daugh-
ter, some years after the war married,
and within a year was thrown from a
carriage and killed, instead of being
killed by a federal cannon at the marital
altar.
Gov. Pickens, on the eve of sailing as
minister to Russia in the spring or early
summer of 1857, at her father's home in
Marshall, Tex., married Miss Lucy Hol-
comb, a lady esteemed in all that goes
to make up an admirable character.
Some time in 1858 their only child was
born in Russia and received the pet
Russian name of Dourschka, and was
petted as a baby at the Russian court.
When about 2 years old her parents re-
turned home in 1860. At the close of that
year. Mr. Pickens, coincident with seces-
sion, became governor of South Caro-
lina.
It is now stated by the same spirit
of imagination that on the 12th of April,
1861, when the confederate bombardment
opened on Fort Sumter, this baby, held
in the arms of Gen. Beauregard, fired
the first cannon, a striking- incident if
true. But it is not true; first, because
the baby was In Columbia and not in
Charleston at the time; second, be-
cause the first cannon was fired
by a venerable old Virginian, known
throughout the south and union as a
learned planter and one of the ablest ag-
ricultural writers of the union, to-
wit, Edwin Ruffin. The fact was
officially announced and proclaimed
by the press and its correspond-
ents and never contradicted till
this baby fiction recently appeared on
her recent death as Mrs. Dugas of Au-
gusta. Ga., leaving three little children.
Gov. Pickens died, not during but a
few years after the war, and after his
slaves were scattered elsewhere, except-
ing his old coachman. Harper, who re-
mained steadfast to the governor and
Mrs. Pickens until his own death.
These are the facts as attested by sev-
eral relatives and several old neighbors
and close friends of Gov. Pickens, his
widow and children, now well known
citizens of Dallas. Gov. Pickens was es-
teemed as a patriotic man, his wife as a
lovely and accomplished woman, as she
is still, and his daughters as worthy of
such parentage; and they repel these
fictions simply because they are fictions.
a confederate soldier.
GOOD ADVICE ABOUT DOGS.
Our Dumb Animals.
A good many people are bitten by dogs
when very few need be. In the first place,
people should not meddle with dogs who do
not know them. Every now and then a
person startles a dog by laying a strange
hand upon him, pokes him with a stick,
or pushes with a foot, and Is "bitten by a
vicious dog." Why not let the dog alone?
There are people with the bad habit of
meddling with what does not concern them,
and there are children who have been
taught no better than to touch, if they can,
whatever takes their fancy. These are the
people bitten by dogs. Not once in ten
thousand times does a dog molest a person
who minds ids own business, no matter how
crabbed the dog may be.
If, however, you are bound to approach
and touch a dog, do it properly. There
is only one way. It Is this; Put out your
hand easily and confidently to the dog, so
that he may smell it. Put it to ills nose.
If he sniffs at and wags his tall, or other-
wise shows friendliness, then you may speak
to him and pat iilm on the head If you like,
and perhaps use other familiarities. But,
if, when you offer your hand, the dog re-
mains sullen and passive, the sooiler you
take your hand away the better. Never
approach a strange dog with either timidity
or menace. But, as we have said, the best
way Is to leave all strange dogs alone, and
get any desired Information about them
from those who have the honor of their
personal friendship.
RED BACILLUS BREEDING BREAD.
London Globe.
"Breeding bread" is the name given to
certain red stains, like blotches of blood,
which appear on beef, and on bread,
boiled potatoes and other farinaceous
substances. In old times it was regarded
as a miracle or omen, but in 1819 it was
found by Dr. Settea of Venice to be
really a microscopic plant. Other natur-
alists have since studied it, and during
the past summer it has mtde its appear-
ance on cooked potatoes in England. It
Js variously identified as the "bacillus
prodigosius" and the "mlcrococus pro-
cllgioijun," and Is of a brilliant oamla*.
PROGRAMME OUTLINE
Suggestion to County Institutes by
the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction.
To Secure the Best Results Programmes
for Institutes Should Be Made
Out In Advance,
Austin, Tex., Dec. 23.—The state superln*
tendent has sent out the following notice?.
Department of Education, Austin, Tex.,
Dec. 23.—To county superintendents: In
compliance with numerous requests I sub-
mit for your consideration the following
suggestive programme for one county In-
stitute for two days:
Second grade section, Friday—1. Subject
for first hour, methods in geography, lo-
cal geography, primary geographical con-
cepts, the earth as a whole— form, size,
motions, etc. 2. Subject for second hour,
a study in psychology, the perceptive fac-
ultlsultles and perception. 3. Subject for
third hour, methods in arithmetic, funda-
mental operations to pupils with lirst text-
book in their hands. 4. Subject for fourth
hour, school management, the teacher's au-
thority, the authority of trustees, organi-
zation of the school. 5. Subject for night
meeting for both sections, the public in-
vited, public schools and popular suffrage,
powers and duties of trustees, local school
taxes, parental co-operation.
Saturday—1. Subject for lirst hour, meth-
ods in geography, North America In gen-
eral, the United States In general, the
southern states, Texas In detail. J. Sub-
ject for second hour, a study In methodolo-
gy, principles derived from study of per-
ceptive faculties and preception. 3. Subject
for third hour, methods In physiology, In
general, in teaching the skeleton and the
bones. 4. Subject for fourth hour, methods
in reading, for beginners, preceding use <>f
text-book, first-reader pupils. 5. subject for
fifth hour, school management, opening
daily sessions*, recesses, closing daily ses-
sions, directing movements of puuils, se-
curing regular and punctual attendance.
First grade section, Friday—^ Subject for
lirst hour, methods In physiology, in gen-
eral, in teaching the effects of alcohol and
narcotics. 2. Subject for second hour, psy-
chology, memory. 3. Subject for third
hour, methods in reading, third-reader pu-
pils. 4. Subject for fourth hour, school
management. recitation. rsigni
meeting (see night meeting of second grade
SfSaturday—1. Subject for first hour, his-
tory of education, In oriental countries, In
ancient classical countries; 2. Subject for
second hour, methods In arithmetic, ad
vanced class in fractions. •'• Bubject for
third hour, psychology, attention. 4. Sub*
ject for fourth hour, methods In geography
advanced class studying New England
states. 5. Subject for fifth hour, school
management, school government.
The above is only an outline of subjects
The county superintendent should appoint
in advance two instructors for each sub-
^ it is not expected that this programme
should be strictly followed by any lustl-
tute. It is only intended fo indicate in this
wav the amount and character of woik
that an institute should do. The time of
the institutes should not be con3umedln
reading papers und making speeches. The
institute Instructors should instruct the
teachers in the subjects set down In the
programme just as teachers in a.normal
school would instruct their classes in the
SfThe programme should be placed in th»
hands of the teachers some weeks or
months, if possible, before the meeting of
the Institute. They should be expected to
studv the subjects assigned. They should
be i;iven the names of standard books that
treat these subjects. When the institute
meets they should be called upon to form
classes and recite upon the sub^.ec'?
signed. If the institute is large it should
be divided into sections so that the nstruc-
tlon may be thoroughly Individualized.
The above programme is arranged for two
sections, one composed of teachers holding
certificates of second grade and the other
composed of teachers holdiiig flist giade
CeTeachers holding third grade certificates
should be included '"the second grade
section, it Is not meant to insist thaith s
should be the basis of classification. It s
onlv suggested for consideration. It is
insisted, however, that unless the institute
is small, it should be divided into classes
or sections, so that every teacher may be
called upon in each exercise and thus be
made an active participant in the work.
The old type of programme for meet-
ings of teachers' associations in which the
objects were chiefly social intercourse and
mutual entertainment, Is not adapted to
institute work. If the insttitute work is
to succeed the talking and speech-making
by a few teachers must give way to work,
work that Involves active participation on
the part of every teae'.ier. The institute
instuctors should prepare themselves, not
to talk and lecture, but to instruct classes
in such manner as to induce all the teach-
ers to think and work. . , .
The hours are numbered 1, 2, 8, 4, 5, for
eacli day for the reason that the time of
opening varies in different counties. In
using this programme the county superin-
tendent should use the hours of the day to
Indicate the beginning of each period of
work, and the work Should begin at tha
time fixed in the programme.
The meeting on Friday night should be
used to arouse public Interest in school
work. No effort should be spared to make
the exercises for this meeting entertaining
and instructive to the people. To this end
the exercises may be interspersed with
music, recitations, callsthenic drills, etc.
The topics for discussion should be sub-
jects of general interest relating to schools.
Those mentioned in the programme, It is
hoped, will suggest many others. The dis-
cussion should be in the form of addresses
by speakers able to entertain a miscellan-
eous audience.
To secure the best results the programmes
for all the institutes should be made out,
in advance and should be so arranged as
to constitute a consecutive course of study
for each section If managed in this way
the countv Institutes will prove a great
power for good. In many counties the
teachers are taking hold of the insti-
tute work in a manner that is highly grat-
ifying. Most respectfully,
j. m. cablisle,
State superintendent public Instruction.
HONORS TO MAUPASSANT.
London Telegraph.
The memory of Guy de Maupassant was
honored in a special manner at the annual
meelng of the French academy. The
author of "Boule de Suif," "Bel Ami,"
works of fiction was not an academician,
but the Immortals heid him In esteem,
not only because he could tell his stories
well, but also by reason of the fact that
he told them in that faultless French which
he hud studied under the literary tutelage
of Gustave Flaubert.
Accordingly he had been awarded only
a short period before his death the vltet
prize or 0S(K) francs for his services to let-
ters Guy de Maupassant thus obtained tha
highest gift at the disposal of the acad-
emy. The novelist had always been re-
spectful toward the Immortals, but his
spirit of independence would not permit
him to offer himself as a candidate for a
chair under the cupola of the Palais Ma-
zarin, despite the pressing solicitations of
his friends and the advice of Alexandre
Dumas, Ills, who assured him that he would
be elected at Ihe first ballot.
To M. Camille Doucet, perpetual secre-
tary of the institute, was allotted the pleas-
ing duty of further marking t,he academical
"Imprimatur" on the literary labor of the
departed novelist. In his annual report on
the competition for the prlx de vertu, M.
Doucet, alter having commented on the
cruel termination of the life of Guy de Mau-
passant. who was "the ornament and th«*»
pride of French literature," said that the
novelist had once expressed the hope of en-
tering the academy. He expectad to do so,
however, late in life, and after he had fin-
ished what he called the few "bon mauvais
livres" that he had in his head. The
academy would condemn mo to virtue,
were his words. "But there is plenty of
time for that," he added, laiishlng. He
had not time to wait," continued M. Doucet,
"Never has death been so unjust as when
it struck this bold Gaul and good French-
man, whose talent we all admired, ajid
whoee daring we can not forget.'
MfWiiohuBettrhas more incorporated cities
of more than 10.UK) inhabitants fifcai feaf
other state in Iks uaioa.
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The Galveston Daily News. (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 278, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December 26, 1893, newspaper, December 26, 1893; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth467509/m1/6/?rotate=90: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.