The Galveston Daily News. (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 52, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 14, 1893 Page: 16 of 16
sixteen pages : ill. ; page 23 x 16 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
12
THE GALVESTON DAILY NEWS. SUNDAY MAY 14. 1893.
THE DEADLY FEUD.
Ingalls Describes the Fight
That Was the
BEGINNING OF SORROW
For Republicans—Words of the Dying Gar-
field: "I Am Sorry for Conkling) I
Will Grant Him Any Favor
HE WILL ASK OR ANY
Appointment He May Desire"—The Great
Men of the Twentieth Century Will Be
the Sons of Farmers and Laborers.
M.
For Tho News—Copyrighted.
HE world has
had few leaders
who were born
in the purple. Its
real kings have
do* been tho sons
of kings. Its Na-
si poleons have not
Sft descended from
.#:w monarchs. The
founders of its
philosophies have
not been the chil-
dren of philoso-
phers, nor its dy-
nasties the heirs of emperors. The framors
of the creeds, the inventors of the faiths and
religions of the race have coma from the
manger, the forge and the carpenter's bench,
and not from the church. The great captains
have not sprung from warriors, and those who
have composed the dramas, written the lyrics
and pronounced tho orations that are immor-
tal, have inherited neither their passion nor
their eloquence. A pedigree may be gratify-
ing to pride, but it is not consoling to ambi-
tion.
Those who greatly succeed are not always
those of whom success could be predicted. It
is sometimes said in explanation of tho ca-
prices of destiny that circumstances mako
heroes and that chance favors the victor. But
the reverse is true. Men mako circumstances.
One seizes the opportunity that is offered to
all. In the domain of law there can be no ac-
cidents. Every man goes to his own place.
Village Hampdens and mute, inglorious .Mil-
tons are myths. There are no great men lying
in ambush or lurking privily.
The epitaph and eulogy abound in lauda-
tion of self-made men. There are no others.
Ail men who are made at all are self-made.
Books and schools cannot mako men. Col-
leges, universities and professors afford men
the opportunity to mako themselves. Learn-
ing can make a pedagogue, knowledge can
make a pedant, but a man makes himself.
No one does the utmost of which he is capa-
ble, except under tho spur and thong of ne-
cessity. Poverty may bo inconvenient and
intolerable, but he who is born poor is fortu-
nate. The leaders of thought, business and
sc-cie y in the coming generation will not bo
the gilded youth of 1893 faring sumptuously
every day. The bankers, railroad presidents,
statesmen and plutocrats of the twentieth
century will be the sons of the farmers and
laborers, who are striving against formidable
obstacles and privations to enter in at tho
Straight gate.
To discriminate among the living would be
ungracious, but if we inquire who among tho
illustrious r-ons of the republic have most in-
effacably stamped their mark upon our insti-
tutions and shaped the destinies of the nation,
the ainwer would include few who were
favored by birth or fortune. Washington
seems like an exception, but his nativity was
humble, his youth was spent in toil and his
great wealth, which made him the richest
man in the country, came largely by inherit-
ance.
Lincoln and Jackson among the presidents,
Clay, Webster and Douglass among the states-
men of our first century, Grant, Greeley,
Wilson, Gov. Morton, Sheriuan, Gov. Andrew,
Lloyd Garrison, Steven* and the men who
directed the energies of the country in that
momentous period from 1860 to 1880, were all
of humble origin, with no heritage but an
honest name. Garfield emerged from an
obscurity as profound and reached an eleva-
tion as lofty, and it is perhaps not too much
to claim that he succeeded less in spite of his
disadvantages than on account of them.
They were the wings wherewith ho soared.
The defects of his early training and scholar-
ship, the laborious and stringent poverty of
his youth, the arduous avocations of his eariy
manhood, the unostentatious simplicity of his
later life, were all favorable to his fortunes.
They kept him on a level with the great
masseB of the people who rule and enabled
him to interpret their purposes with prophetic
accuracy.
Garfield entered the junior class of Will-
iams college September, 1854, at the age of
23. He came with three companions from
Hiram college, Ohio, attracted bv the name
of Mark Hopkins, then at tho serene meridian
of his great powers as a philosophic teacher.
His reverence for the character and genius of
this great and good man was notable, and one
of the first public acts after his inaugura-
tion in the gathering gloom of twilight
on that melancholy March day was to
receive in the east room of the execu-
tive mansion at Washington the venerable ex-
president and a delegation of Williams alum-
ni, to whoso address of congratulation ho
made a feeling response which seemed touched
with prophetic sadness, as if he already per-
ceived the shadow of the rapidly approaching
disaster that was so soon to end his career.
"For a quarter of a century," said he, "Dr.
Hopkins has seemed to me a man apart from
other men, standing on an intellectual and
morai mountain peak, embodying in himself
much of the majesty of earth, and reflectmg
in his noble life something of the sunlight and
glory of heaven!"
In college Gartield immediately took high
rank, though not the highest as a scholar. He
identified himself actively with the religious
forces which were so active at that time in the
history of the college, but there was nothing
of gloomy bigotry or formal ascetitism about
his religion. He never held himself aloof
from the society of intelligent and vivacious
sinners while enjoying the fellowship and com-
munion of the saints. Like most bright
youths he wrote alleged poetry, some of
which was resuscitated during the campaign
of 1880 by injudicious friends or covert foes.
He was one of the editors of tho Williams
Quarterly, and participated in the exer-
cises of the literary society, tho lec-
ture room, the campus and the
chapel with zeal and affability. In debate
and declamation he was particularly active
and gave promise of strong and effective but
not brilliant oratory. He was fervid, imagi-
native,impassionable, sincere, with acute sen-
sibilities and clean impulses, jocular and san-
guine, excessively human, leeking only em-
phasis, tenseness of libre and tho capacity to
eay no. In his youth's bright lexicon this
word was expunged. His receptivity, love of
approbation and desire to please were so ac-
tive that his attitude was habitually affirma-
tive. Forecasting destiny is a favorite recrea-
tion with undergraduatea and the predictions
of his companions assigned Garfield to the
sacred desk or the professor's chair. Thero
was no prophecy of political distinction or
martial renown.
At the close of his junior year, in the sum-
mer of 1855, he delivered an oration on tho
chapel stage before the "Adelphic Union."
By one of those subtle and inexplicablo pro-
cesses of instantaneous brain photography tiiu
film of memory retains a momentary, indel-
libie glimpse of the orator of 24, the broad,
bold frame hardened by toil on tho towpath
and at the carpenter's Ibeneh, the rustic ap-
parel, Sfcion hair and hues, with mirthful
gleam beneath a dome somewhat Snakospoar-
can in its expanse; gestures mechanical, wi li-
on- flexibility, hut suggestive of rudo strength
and power j lower profile sensuous and pro-
trusive whether in speech or repose.
Eighteen years later, after service in fivo
congresses, he had changed almost beyond
recognition: stouter and darKer, with a weary
stoop, as if bent with weight and care. Hut
the old, cordial, effusive minner remained;
a familiar, exuberant freedom, with none of
the elaborate restraint supposed to be insep-
arable from urban life and to characterize
the politician, the courtier and the man of the
world. Indeed, to tho last, it was apparent
that Garfield was country born. In his voice,
his wain, his manners there was an indotlli-
able something that was redolont of woods and
fields rather than salons, diplomacy, htate-
craft and boulevards; a splondid rusticity
which disclosed unmistakably the blood of
the generations of toilers and farmers from
whom he sprung.
lie was too magnanimous for a groat par-
liamentary leader; too genorous and relett-
ing to di.-armed. antagonists. In running de-
bate he was less successful than in the for ual
discussion of great que*tions after deliberate
study and preparation, llero he was not sur-
passed among American orators. His strong,
penetrating voice, pitched in tho mid-
dle key, resonant, nasal andmotalic, attracted
attention and his air of dignifiod sinceri y and
caudor commanded rospect. His early speeches
were llorid, abounding in metaphor and his-
toric and classical allusions, but finding audi-
ences intolerant of this embellishment ho
cultivated a style of unadorned simplicity
and became a master of the art of clear, con-
densed and precise statements of poiuts and
conclusions, lie was not destitute of wit and
humor, but resisted the dangerous temptation
to make audiencos laugh. Nothing is so fatal to
emineuce as the jester's cap and bells. Mun
prefer to be amused and onteriaiued rather
than instructed, and if an orator wears the
motley they become impatient it ho wears
anything else. Samuel S. Cox is an illustra-
tion of the perils and hazards to reputation
that attend badinage, facoiiousness and jue
d'esprit. This eminent man possessed supe-
rior scholarship, industry, application and tho
highest social qualities. Many of his speeches
exhibit extraordinary iearnmgand eloquence.
His public service was long and honorable,
but his really great powers were obscured by
his fame as a wag and pantaloon. Had he
never set the table in a roar he would have oc-
cupied that higher niche which he deserves iu
the estimation of mankind.
Garfieid for many years thought that some
time ho would be president. He was a fatalist
and believed in destiny, but it seems probable
that he did not at first anticipate nor expect
the nomination in 1880 at Chicago. He was a
delegato to the convention pledged to the
fortunes of another candidate. A citizen of
Ohio was then in the presidential chair and
the selection of his successor from the same
state was unlikely. In conversation with two
friends who jocularly tendered him the
standard in May previous he cast tho horo-
scope and said that his accession was possible
thereafter, but not for many years to come.
To those who remember that interview it
seems incredible that within less than eighteen
months he was nominated, elected, inaugur-
ated and Blain! Hi-tory will acquit him of
perfidy and the betrayal of trust, as it has
exonerated John Alden of bad faiih to Miles
Standish, but the complication was unfor-
tunate and cast ominous shadows upon the
campaign that followed.
On his return to Washington a reception
was tendered to him. He stood in-the balcony
of the Kiggs houso beneath the blaze of the
electric li/ht. He seemed to have reached the
apex of human ambition. He was then a
mem be* of the house of representatives,
United States senator-elect from his nativo
state, and the candidate of his party for the
presidency. Such an accumulation of hon-
ors had never before fallen upon an Ame.-icau
citizen. A vast multitude, curious, cold and
a{ athetic, thronged the intersecting streets,
composed of the friends of Blame who were
indifferent and the friends of Grant who were
suilen. They listened in silem e to his brief
response to the address of congratulation. Tho
shadow of the corning eclipse darkened the
sky and chilled the souls of men.
There were giants in those days and for a
time ihey were in doubt whether they would
not leave Gariield to be seethed like a kid in
its mother's milk. He was timid, appre-
hensive and depressed. Negotiations were
opened, conferences held, treaties made by
the high contracting parties, alliances of-
fensive and defensive entered into, by which
after a hostile campaign unusually squalid
and stercoraceous, ho was elected. He owed
much to the efforts of Grant and Conkling,
who were at the head of one of the two great
factions into which the party was then divided,
between which he was compelled to choose,
for their differences were irreconcilable. Iu
making Blaine the chief of his cabinet he
alienated allies to whom he was under equal
if not greater obligations and precipitated a
crisis that a more sagacious politician would
have averted.
The ex raordinary session of the senate
immediately followed his inauguration, with
its "deadlock" over the organization, the Vir-
ginia imbroglio and the stalwart and half-
breed battle between the parti ans of Blaine
and Conkling in New York concerning the
distribution of the patronage in that state. A
committee of seven republican sonators, de-
risively known as "the committee on public
safety" was designed to arrange some basis
of compromise and adjustment between tho
bolligerents, but the estrangement was
chronic and complete. Its secret sessions
were held in the room of the committee on
Indian affairs, where four hours one lovely
soring afternoon Conkling with no other
auditors rehearsed tho history of New York
politics, the terms of the treaty at Mentor and
the intrigues and machinations that followed
the election, in a dramatic soliloquy of absorb-
ing interest and intensity.
As the tragedy deepened Garfield appeared
feverish and irresolute. He seoined not so
much a rock against which the billows vainly
dashed with baffled roar, as a disabled ship
drifting to and fro in the tempestuous tumult
of winds and waters. He felt the strain of the
inconsiderate importunate mob of place-
hunters which ho said surged through his re-
ception room "like the volume of tho Missis-
sippi river." Executive duties wero irksome to
hitn. During his public life he had little to
do with patronage and now he could
attend to little else. His love of jus-
tice compelled him to hear all sides
of every question. His mind was so
receptive that he perceived the force of
arguments from all directions. He hesitated
to decide between selfish contestants and
halted between two opinions till his attitude
resembled vacillation. His nature was
genorous that he instinctively rushed to the
support of the vanquished whether enemy
friend. This trait in his character was strik-
ingly inamiestedflwhile ho lay on his death-
bed at Eiberon after the termination of tho
senatorial struggle at Albany. Ho heard of
the election of Lapham, and though tho chief
victim of that memorable episode he said
with great earnestness, "I am Borry for
Conklmg. I will grant, him any favor he
may ask, or give him any appointment he
may desire!"
For an instant, during the preliminary con-
test, Gartield appeared to triumph. The
senate became restive under tho long delay
and gave indications of revolt against tho tra-
ditional "courtesy" of that body by which the
will of two senators from a state could defeat
a presidential nomination. The impregnable
phalanx of Conklmg was about to break.
Having canvassed the legislature, which was
then in session, and been assured of his re-
turn, he resigned to avoid the ignominy and
humiliation of defeat, with the expectation of
being promptly re-eiected to continue his
warfare on the administration. His ambition
was frustrated, the obnoxious nominations
were confirmed and |Jie senate adjourned.
It is a singular illustration of the influence
which unconsidered tritles so often exert in
the affairs of men that at one time during the
extra session, a compromise between Conkling
and the administration was nearly arranged.
Certain concessions were made by which the
pieces on the board were to bo shuffled
into a new combination. Conkling
said, "he would go into the
cloak room and hold his nose" while the do
tails were being carried out. That evening in
executive session the nomination of a post-
master at Albany, a partisan of Conklmg's,
was called up and affirmed without objection.
When Garfield was informed of this action
, bubpuciiug duplicity and that ho was to be
tricked by tho niocomoal co iflnna ions of
Conklmg's friends leaving tho half-broods un-
acted upon by adjournment, ho withdrew all
except tho obnoxious names and precipitated
tho crisis which culminated in the bullet of
Guitoau.
Tho morning of July 2, 1881, Garfield drovo
from the white houso after breakfast down
Pennsylvania avouue to take the train for
Williainstown, to observe with his classmates
the twenty-fifth anniversary of their gradua-
tion. Blaine accompanied him. No ruler or
subject on earth seemed safer than ho. He
was fortified and entrenched in tho affections
of fifty millions of freemen. Compassing
him round about were the apparoutly impass-
able barriers, tho impregnable bulwarks of a
great nation's solicitude.
Like all men iu whom imagination is pre-
dominant and who have artistic temperament,
Garfield was not a disbelieyor in omens, por-
tents and prodigies. Coincidences moved him
and he had the instinct against Friday, though
inaugurated on that unpropitious day. If com-
ing events ever cast their shadows before, or
premonitions of approaching doom disquiet
the soul, some intimatiou of the tragedy so
long impending should have fallen upon his
sensitive spirit. But no menacing whisper,
no phantom gesture came from the cloudy
abyss. Blaine said that in the twenty years of
their acquaintance ho had not seen tho
presidont exhibit such uncontrolable
exuberance of boyish delight as in that
baleful hour. The storms that |had
lowered above his political horizon had dis-
persed. His enemies weie under his (eot. He
was to visit his alma mater and recall the
splendid associations of youth with his class-
mates and college friends. This was to be
followed by a tour through No* England for
which great preparations had been made.
Then he intended to journey to Ohio and pans
his summer vacation in the country homo for
which he had labored thirty years. His own
health, whioh had been somewhat broken by
the stress and confinement of the previous
month, was fully established. His
mind was filled with great plans
for future work. Ho intended to visit
Yorktown and deliver a historical
speech that should be a fitting commemora-
tion of the centennial of the American revolu-
tion. He expected to meet his army com-
rades at the reunion on tho anniversary of
Chicatnagua. He had been invited to attend
the great cotton exposition at Atlanta where
it was his purpose to make an oration that
would be notable as a disclosure of his inten-
tions and sentiments toward the south. He
spoke of these things to Blaine, dwelt on the
ideas ho intended to advance, and was repeat-
ing some paragraphs which he had already
written for his speech at Atlanta, when tho
carriage stopped at the fatal threshold above
whose portals was inscribed for him the in-
visible legend written over the gates of the
inferno.
Lasciate agni sporanzi voi oh' entrate.
A silver star in the floor of the waiting
room at the station marks tho spot where he
fell. A memorial tablet of marble in tho op-
; >osite wall bears his name in letters of gold,
iere was tho goal to which, through devious
wandering-, his footsteps tended. This was
the inevitable hour.
Amid the hoarse salutations of reverberat-
ing guns and the acclaim of innvmerable
multitudes he turned to kiss his wife and
mother after taking the oath of office upon
the*platform at the eastern entrance of the
capitol. A little moro than six months
later he was borne past the name spot
into the rotunda, followed by Arthur and his
cabinet and the attending committees. The
docs were closed. Martial strains floated
among the marble colonnades and faded in
the autumnal sky. The level rays of tho set-
ting sun streamed through the ruddy haze
along the low horizon above the Virginia hills.
The frescoes and friezes of Brumidi glowed in
the dying radiance while the somber sha ows
of twilight shrouded the silent group bolow.
They intensified the pallor of Blaine, who
stood by the catafalque as if like Mark An-
tony he might havo said:
Bear with me!
My heart is in the coliiu thoro with Cfesar.
And I must pause till it come back to me I
The spectacle at tho final ceremonies was
impressive beyond precedent. For tho first
time in the history of na lonil bereavements
formal solemnities wero celebrated in the
presence of a seated audience in tho vaulted
chamber beneath • he dome of the capitol.
For the moment dissonsions were allayed and
the chiefs of contending factions heid truce in
the presence of his unexampled grief. At the
post of honor sat the new president represent-
ing the complete restoration and supremacy
of that element in his party which &eomed to
havo been hopelessiy defeated by the nomina-
tion of Garfield. Ranged around were the
cabinet ministers their dreams of power and
schemes of future aggrandizemeut about
to be entombed with their murdered
chieftain. Across the space was Grant, his
grun, impassive, resolute face bent forward,
intently pensive, as though inwardly musing
upon the iTrange mutation by which the man
who snatched from his grasp the coveted
prize so nearly won, now lay in cold obstruc-
tion an inhabitant of that dark monarchy
where the strongest has uo dominion and the
weakest needs no defense. By his side was
Hayes, the only ch'ef magistrate the validity
of whose title was established by the decree
of a competent tribunal; Sherman the soldier,
and Sherman the senator, whose candidacy
for the presidency Garfield had been elected
as the delegate to present and support; Sheri-
dan, tho victor of Winchester; Porter, the ad-
miral, and a mighty host of heroes and states-
men such as had seldom before assembled
round the unconscious dust of an American
citizen.
The path of glory led to the grave along
the familiar highway his accustomed steps had
so often trod. The darkness was illuminated
by beacons upon the distant hills, whose glare
disclosed files of reverent mourners kneolmg
with uncovered heads as the train passed by,
and the silence was disturbed by knells and
dirges as his companions in arms stood like
sleepless'sentinels at the outposts of death.
But as if the malevolent fate that had pur-
sued him with such unrelenting cruelty from
the hour of his elevation had not yet exhausted
its fury, so that even at last he was to be
denied the peace which comes to the humblest
and lowliest that die, long before the final
resting-place by the lakeside was reached a
violent tempest burst suddenly from the sky.
before whose rage the procession disposed
and the multitudes vanished. So that the
closing rites were hastily solemnized in the
presence of a few kindred and official wit-
nesses, in darkness, desolation and gloom.
And so closed the drama whose iiual inci-
dents three hundred millions of the human
raco watched with sleepless solicitude; a trag-
edy which taught with unwonted emphasis the
vanity of fame, the emptiness of honor, the
mutability of pride and ambition. "I re-
turned and saw under the sun that the race is
not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,
neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches
to men of understanding, nor yet favor to
men of skill, but time and chance happeneth
to them all."
It is presumptuous to question the decree of
providence, but it is not unlikely that Gar-
field died at a good time for his fame. The
combination of intellectual and administra-
tive power is so rare as to be almost pheno-
menal. There are few instances in modern
or ancient tune of men illustrious in debate,
renowned in oratory and learning who have
been equally distinguished for executive
capacity. Ciesar made speeches, wrote books,
fought battles and run the politics of Rome
with equal success. Napoleon, greater in
some functions, was not so uniformly great
in all, as the Roman emperor. One cause
may be that opportunity for distinction in
both directions is seldom presented, but the
principal reason undoubtedly is that the
habits of mind required for discussion
and study, and for prompt, decisive
action in emergencies on field of bat-
tle or in the cabinet are so essentially
different as to be almost incompatible.
It is as difficult to conceive of Webster's con-
ducting the Vicksburg campaign as of Grant
delivering the argument in the Dartmouth
college case. Addison halted and hesitated so
long over the phraseology of his dispatches
and tho polish and balance of their sentences
that his fame as an essayist is equaled only by
his failure as secretary of state. When Horace
Greely left the province of theoretical for
practical politics ho lost not only his cause,
but his reason and his life. And so it may be
that in abandoning the senate, to which he
had just been elected, Garfield committed in
more senses than one a fatal error. Upon
that congenial field to which he had so long
aspired he would have remained with increas-
ing honor and fame one of the great exponents
of modern political thought the chief chum-
piou of those potential ideas which aro revo-
lutionizing the world.
When Garfield died civil sorvico reform
was born. He was the victim of savage pas-
sions engendered by a pernicious political
system. Guitoau was no more insane than
liavaiilac, tho murderor of Henry IV, or Bel-
lmgham, the assassin of Porcival; and no
moro rational than the rattlesnake or tho
tiger. The beneficiaries of his bullet wero
never suspected of complicity iu his crime,
but such was the inflammation of tho public
mind that had Arthur attempted to exercise
executive functions, as ho was plainly war-
ranted in doing by the constitution, during
the interval of inability while Garfield lay for
woek* unable to sign hi-* name, thero might
have boon a revolution. The count ry owes an
unpaid debt to the incomparable grace, tact
and propriety which allayed the resentments
of a crisis that threatened social order with
vengeance and reprisal. Conscious of
the hostile scrutiny to which he was ex-
posed, Arthur walked with constant
circumspection. Had he been an actor upon
the stage, each step, word and gesture could
not havo been more appropriate. Com-
pelled to choose between loyalty to friend-
ship and fidelity to official trust, having dis-
charged his obligations to one he remained
unflinchly faithful to the other. He disarmed
censure-by the irresistible claim of his de-
meanor and conquerod respect by the exhi-
bition of intellectual powers that were equal
to every exigency. He was fortunate in the
possession of patienco that was imperturbable
and temper that was always severe. There
havo been presidents who granted favors
grudgingly, resented civility as an intrusion,
repelled companionship by formality that
froze the gonial currents of the soul. Arthur
could deny with a smile that soothed the pang
of disappoin raent, and no visitor ever left
him after the most casual interview without
sentiments of cordial admiration and per-
sonal regard. John J. Ingalls.
Mark Twain Asks for Seeds.
Washington Dispatch.
The following letter explains itself:
Editorial Department Century Maoaztne,
Union Square, New York, April 6,1893—To Hon.
J. Sterling Morton: Doar sir—Your petitioner,
Mark Twain, a poor farmer of Connocticut-in-
doed. the poorest ono there in tho opinion of
envy—desires a fow choice breeds of send corn
(maiio), and in return will zealously support tho
administration in all ways honorablo and other-
wise.
To speak by tho card. I want these things to
carry to Italy to an English lady. She is a neigh-
bor of mine outside of Florence and has a groat
garden and thinks she could raibo corn for her
table if sho had the ru'ht ammunition. I myself
feel a warm interest in this enterprise, both on
patriotic grounds and bocauso I have a koy to
that garden, wnich 1 got made from a wax im-
pression. It is not very good soil, still I think
6he can raise enough for one table and I am in a
position to select tho table. If you are willing to
aid and abet a countryman (and Gilder thinks
you are) please find the signaturo and address of
your petitioner bjlow. Respect fully and truly
yours, Make Twain,
67 Fifth avenue, Now York.
P. S.—A handful of choice (southern) water-
raolon seeds would pleasantly add to that lady's
employments and give my table a corresponding
lift.
Secretary Morton will comply with the re-
quest with such largeness that Mr. Clements
will pretty near go broke paying expressago
on the articles across the blue and briny.
Ignorance as a Fad.
London Times.
One curious point about our young people
of the upper circles nowadays is their intense
pride of ignorance. To know anything or to
have read anything is, with thern, to be a fool.
The boys who fail to get into the army are
not laughed at as asses but are condoled with
as victims to a hideous system. The idea of
sitting through a serious play is scouted with
ignominy, and even to know the current news
of the day, to have read Mr. Gladstone's
speech, or to have an opinion on the Uganda
question (Where on earth is "Uganda?"
would be the chorus) is to render yourself
suspect. A wretched youth at a country-house
full of young people incautiously pave an
opinion on bimetallism. Dire was his puuish-
meut. For the rest of his visit he was treated
as one afflicted with leprosy. But, after all,
the affec on of ignorance may cure itself. It
is the general employment of indelicacy and
thecastiug aside of maiden modesty in the
pursuit of youug men which makes oue
almost despair of our girls.
FAITH AND HERESY
Mystery as a Literary Faotor.
Georgo Manville Fenn in North American Review.
Mystery is a strong card in the novelist's
hand. By few has it been played with a skill
like that of Wilkie Collins, who, with little
characterization of sentiment, without creat-
ing individuals of fiotion whom we remember
or whose sayings we quote, could hold the
attention of the novel-reading world with the
"Woman in White" or set them eagerly agog
to find the whereabouts of tho mysterious
diamond taken from its eastern sanctuary.
For ingenuity of construction, blind leads,
bafflings and sustained interest "The Moon-
stone" stands high in the catalogue of tne
mysteries of fiction, and the reader was pene-
trating to a degree who fastened upon Mr.
Godfrey Ablewhite the theft, the point being
most graphically and tragically revealed in
the scene in the E ist End where he lay a
corpse. It is not great, perhaps, this art of
mystery in fiction, partaking as it does of
the nature of a puzzle or conundrum ; still it
is ingenious though stagy, wuh its designing
and fitting, and surely to be commended as
an art worthy of a due meed of praise.
He Didn't Have tho "Big Head."
New York Press.
Master Wallie Eddinger plays the part of a
thoroughly up-to-date young American in
The Girl I Left Behind Me," at the Empire,
with such spirit that his performance fre-
quently gains as much applauso as is given to
the older actors. Yet, it is said, the little fel-
low recently asked Mr. Charles Frohman to
reduce his salary. "Why," gasped the mana-
ger, "what do you mean, my boy?" "Don't
be angry, Mr. Frohman," Wallie continued,
*'I would liko to make it more. But $5 a week
reduction is all I can afford." Mr. Frohman
took the boy to his knee, and remarked kind-
ly, "Wallie. my little man, I havo managed
theaters and actors for some years and never
havo heard a request as Btrango as yours.
Why do you want less salary than I pay you?
Your performance is worth every cent of the
money you get, and I should be much less
astonished if you asked for a raise instead of
a decrease. Now, my boy, toll mo all about
it and we will try and fix things." Wallie
Bobbed for a moment, and finally said, "Well,
Mr. Frohman, they say that the applause I get
is giving me the big head, and I want to prove
that it isn't so."
In General Assembly at W ash-
ington Dr. Briggs and
THE CONFESSION OF FAITH
Will Be Disoussed—Candidates for Moder-
ator—How 600 Commissioners Be-
neath a Historio Roof
WILL SETTLE THE POINTS
Of Doctrine—Twelve Days for Debate.
Presbyterians Will Meet
This Week.
For The Nows—Copyriglitod.
Tho Presbyterian world will not bo alono
in observing the proceedings of "the general
assombly of tho Presbyterian church in tho
United States of America," which convenes
in Washington D. C., on Thursday, May 18.
The GOO delegates, or commissioners, chosen
to represent their respective presbyteries, who
will gather at tho nation's capital in the New
York avenue Presbyterian church, aro to pass
upon the appeal of the famous Briggs case
and to deal with twenty-eight overtures for re-
vision of the confession of faith, besides trans-
acting business connected with foreign mis^
sions and church polity. To say the delegates
rev. a. j. brown, d. d.
are mostly known as "Briggs" or "anti-
Briggs," and that the question of revision is
arousing infinite discussion will sum up the
situation.
That the president of the United States and
his entire cabinet, (with one exception), the
majority of the members of the supreme
court, most of the state governors and a
heavy percentage of congress and the legis-
latures are Presbyterian, would suffice to
make the gathering notable even wero there
no wealthy and intellectually and numer-
ically powerful laity throughout, the country
supporting 200 odd presbyteries with their
arrays of churches, peminanes, pastors and
professors. When to the-o elements of inter-
est the excitement of doctrinaire partisan-
ship is added, the presence and interest of
"outsiders" and reporters in large numbers
will be readily understood.
m
m
rev. geo. l. spining, d. D.
That the assembly will be overwhelmingly
anti-Briggs all concede But whether the
Briggs case will be sent back to the synod or
whether the assembly will itself take it up for
adjudication is left for conjecture. The usual
procedure in appeals, from the presbytery to
synod and from synod to assembly, having
been departed from in this important contro-
versy, the question to bo determined is, "Shall
precedent be returned to?" as one weaiern
delegate puts it.
As far Dr. Briggs himself, while he wiU ap-
pear before the assembly, his authority is nil.
Many who voted for his acquittal repudiate
his theories. As Dr. George L, Spining, pas-
tor of Phillips church ;n New York, said,
"We vote to acquit Prof. Briggs, not because
we consider him ia the right, but to show our
resnect for freedom of opinion."
Dr. Briggs, professor in the Union Theologi-
cal seminary, refused, it will bo remembered,
to admit the divine authenticity of certain
portions of the scriptures. The charges to this
Jefferson's Neat Retort.
Commercial Advertiser.
"Joe" Jefferson, the famous American ac-
tor, was once asked to spend a week with a
Scotch peer. Among the guests was a bril-
liant and haughty lady, who was the daughter
of an earl.
"I suppose," says Mr. Jefferson, "there
must have boon a homespun flavor in my
American manner that amused her, for she
mado a dead set at quizzing me. I did not
detect it at first and answered some of her ab-
surd questions about America quite inno-
cently.
"She kept her face so well that I might
never have discovered this but for the idiotic
grin upon the smooth faco of one of her boy-
ish admirers; and then I feit, for the honor
of my country, that if she ever made another
thrust at me I would parry it if I could. I
had not long to wait, for, emboldened by her
late success, she turned upon me and said:
" 4By-the-bye, have you met the queen
lately?'
" 'No, madam,' I replied, with perfect seri-
ousness; 'I was out when her majesty called
upon me.'
"She colored slightly and then turned away
and never spoke to me again, but I was re-
venged."
One of the paying professions of Paris is
said to be that of a trunk packer, In many
of tho little trunk shopB you can hire a man
who will pack your trunks artistically, folding
expensive gowns and other garments in tissue
paper, and stowing away delicate brio-a-brac
in the safest way.
opening sermon having been preached by Dr.
Young tho question will arise as to his suc-
cessor in the inoderatorship.
Who will bo tho man?
That he shall be anti-Briggs goes without
saying. Rev. Dr. Charlos A. Dickey, until a
week or two since pas'or of the Calvary
church in Philadelphia; R«-v. Dr. George I).
Baker, pastor of the First Presbyterian
church, also in Philadelphia; Hev. William
james chambers, commissioner.
Henry Roberts, D. D., now the assembly's
stated e'erk, as well as professor in Lane
theological seminary, and men of equal emi-
nence have their respective adherents. In
spito of the work accomplished by those who
favor any one of these theologians, the honor
may be conferred upon a polemical "Lochin-
var out of the west."
Revision will take precedence of Briggs in
the assembly's labors as a matter of course.
The overtures have been, as a rule, either
acted on already by the Presbyterians or re-
ferred back by them to the higher body. As
tho colonistic and historical character of the
confession is strictly preserved by the com-
mittee on revision, in accordance with the
instructions given it, this whole subject is
rev. thomas c. hall.
effect were first pressed before the Now York
presbytery. That body'.dismissed them, but
the last general assembly referred the matter
back with instructions to try the case. Dr.
Briggs' acquittal followed. The case had al-
ready beon up twice for discussion before the
superior body. It will come before the
Washington gathering as an appeal from the
prosecuting committee against the action of
the presbytery of New York in acquitting the
professor of theology.
The conspicuous figure at the opening cere-
monies will be the retiring moderator, Rov.
William C. Young, D. D., of Kentucky. As
the president of Centre college at Danville,
Ky., and through his attitude towards the
Briggs alleged heresies and toward the re-
vision, he has attracted much attention* Tho
rev. herrick johnson.
mainly important as a matter of ecclesiastical
doctrine. Those radicals who look to the
Briggs agitation to cover their attempts at
diastic revision will meet a check should Dr.
Willis G. Craig of McCormick theological
seminary at Chicago, or the Philadelphia
presbytery be heeded, aB it appears they
will be.
The delegates, it may be remarked paren-
thetically, are fresh from their constituencies.
More than one-half were chosen on the very
eve of tho assembly's meeting. New York's
presbytery, including some Hixty-five churches,
will be repiesented by seven ministers and
eoven elders. The leader of the free thought
rev. wm. alvin bartlett, d. d.
phalanx. Rev. Geo. L. Spining, is among
them. Philadelphia, powerful as New Y-<rk
and perhaps more so, sends two candidates
for moderator. St. Louis will return Dr. J.
H. Brookes,famed;as an advocate of conserva-
tive revision. Another celebra ed westerner,
Dr. Arthur J. Brown, pastor of the First
Presbyterian church of Portland, Ore., is not
yet 40> and enjoys the dis inction of having
great influence with the assembly, although
not elected to it. He went to the Pacific
slope four years ago from Chicago and his
clerical Jove was imbibed at Lane seminary in
Henry Preseved Smith's day. Dr. Brown is
not an extremist in everything.
Conspicuous among the laydelegates will be
Thomas Kane of Chicago, whose work and
beneficence in Presbyterianism have made
him a national figure. Now past 50, Mr. Kane
bcou tried already. Tho ciergv arc to discuss
doctrine while the lay. dolegates will listen
principally—and vote.
Preparations for the event aro woll under
way. Rev. Dr. William A. Bartlett, pas-or of
the historic New York Avenuo church, is chair-
man of the committee on arrangements, as
well as of tho executive committee. Mr.
John B. Wight and Mr. John W. Thompson
are-ecretary and treasurer, respectively, of
the latter commit ee.
The a-sembly being "open to all God's
children like the light of day," as Dr. Wylie
says, the spectators, if the demand for sittings
be any indication, aro to tax the church's ca-
pacity. President Cleveland is expected.
Vice President Stevenson, a Presbyterian
now, will, it is said, be among tho delegates
as a vi itor, together with United States muta-
tor Calvin S. Brice of Ohio. Four of tho cab*
rev. GEORGE D. BAEER, D. D.
inet have promised to assist. Members of tho
supreme court judiciary, as is woll known,
usually attend, in individual capacity, of
course.
The building in which this body will delib-
erate haa long been of national interest. In
it Lincoln worshiped and Stanton met tho
acting vice president of the United States in
the stormy days of reconstruction. There, too,
the chief justice of the republic's highest court
and his associates catno when Dred Scott's
caso was firing the hearts of slavery haters, to
pray for aid and wisdom. And going back to
when Washington was but the beginning of
a city of magnificent distance, on the siie of
this old church President Jefferson tied ono
jaded horse and bestrode another on his fa-
mous inaugural journey.
REV. W. 0. TOUNG, D. D.
is not so active with his great boat-building
plant as formerly. His gifts to the church
are many, not including tho $10,000 he an-
nually spends in tho publication and distribu-
tion of tracts treating of christian benevo-
lence. As a churchman Mr. Kane is not par-
tisan, and believes in conservatism, free cre-
dence and solidarity.
Dr. Herrick Johnson, who will also repre-
sent'Chicago is likewise non-committal re.
garding Briggs. A professor in McCormick
theological seminary, he has given many
coming churchmen's minds their first bent.
In former yoars when pastor of an Illinois
church, he attracted attention by his sermons
on scriptural prophecy. His studies have
made him an authority on biblical literature.
It is cxpected that twelve days or less will
be the duration of this gathering. Tho out-
come is doubly interesting fro m its utter un-
certainty. But that revision will respect tra-
dition, and that Dr. BriggB and Presbyterian-
ism will part on friendly terms or bo consid-
ered together by the next local synod, seem
reasonably probable outcomes. "Let us not
anticipato the Lord," as one famous moder-
ator said.
The men for the most part will, according
to the conservative custom of the church, have
OUEIOUS CONDENSATIONS.
The first rope was made in 1641.
About 138,000,000 envelopes are used in this
country annually.
Mail car No. 800 on the Erie railroad is re-
garded as unlucky by trainmen.
The Indian corn crop of 1892 was 1,628,464,-
010 bushels; the wheat crop 519,400,000.
In all the wars in which Britain has taken
part she has won 82 per cent of the battles.
A resident of Butler county, Kansas, is said
to have taken the Keeloy euro for the fishing
habit.
A crab when living near the ocean's surface
has well developed eyes; in deeper water oniy
eyestalks are present—no eyes—while in spec-
imens from still deeper waier the eyestalks
have joinod, forming a pointed beak.
Farmers iu Mexico use oxen of one color
in the morning and of another color in the
afternoon. They have no reason for doing so
beyond the fact that their forefathers did it,
and they conclude it must be the right thing
to do.
"The Moral Proverbs of Christine of Pisa,"
one of our earliest primed works, was ren-
dered into English verse by the earl of R vers,
brother-in.law of Edward IV. His poem con-
tains 203 lines, each of which ends with the
letter "e."
Puttenham, in his "Arte of English Poe-
sie," erected two pillars of poetry ia honor of
Queen Elizabeth. Each p.liar consists of a
base of lines in eigh syllables, shafts of four
syllables lines and a crown in the same meter
at the base.
It may not bo generally known that when
the French broko down in 1870, application
was actually made to Spiers and Pond to fed
the troops, in spite of the obvious fact that
such a course would have been a breach oi
neutrality.
An old chair, which was bought on London
bridge in 1672 by n family of Huguenots, > ill
be placed on exhibition a' the world's fair by
Mrs. Reed of Albertsvilie, Wis. The chair
came to Mrs. Reed in the direct lino of de-
scent from the purchaser. ♦
A chicken in the barnyard of John Mang-
ham, at Thomaston, Ga., has but two too on
one foi l. At the knee joint a third toe has
formed which exten is to the ground. The
hen is said to waik about as periectiy as
though its foot was well formed.
In the seventeenth century a pamphlet was
published entitled, "the Spin ual Mustard
Pot, to Make the Soul Sneeze With Devotion:
Salvation's Vantag- Ground, or a Loupiug
Sand tor Heavy Believers." This almost
rivals the Salvation Army tracts.
Asphyxiated people may be saved by sys-
tematic traction of the tongue. The move-
ment does not only consist in raising or low-
ering the tongue with the fingers (covered
with a handkerchief), but in using reiterated,
and to some extent, rhythmic movements.
There has been discovered a German book
printed at Philadelphia and dated 1705,
twenty years after the settlement of Philadel-
phia's suburb of Germantown, and thirty
years earlier than the date hitherto assigned
to the fir«t printing of a German work in
Philadelphia.
Prof. H. A. Newtou of Yale college, by
careful examination of the course of the largo
meteor photographed on the night of Jan. 13
by John E. Lewi3 of Ansonia, as marked by
stars on the photographic plate, fixes the
place some three miles northwest of Dan-
bury, Conn.
A man turned up at the Harlem station, Mt.
Vernon, the other day bearing a Hariem rail-
way ticket dated i860 and entitling him to
ride from One Hundred and Twenth-sixth
street to Fordham. He could have easily sold
it at the station for a good ma ny times its
original cost.
About the year 1768 the beats and calls of
the drum then used in the sorvice wero put
into a permanent shape. The tat-too or beat
of the drum calling soldiers to their quarters
at night was once called "tap-too," from tho
Dutch word sighifying "no more drink to be
tapped or sold."
It will scarcely be believed that wheat is
sold in the United Kingdom undor nearly two
hundred different systems of weight. Thoro is
almost as much diversity in regar i to barlry
and oatB. The result is that quotations from
the various markets create bewilderment and
confusion even in the minds of experts.
The Duponts, of powder-making fame, have
retained to a remarkable degree after many
generations of residence in this country tho
physical characteristics of their French an-
cestors. Several of the family would infal-
libly be taken for native Frenchmen in Paris,
and are singularly foreign looking in this
country.
An old coin has been unearthed at Moore's
Hill, Ind. The find is said to bear on its face
the medallion of two heads encircled by the
words, "William et Maria, Dei Gracia."
Upon the opposite side are the words, "Mag.
Brit, et Hibornia Rex et Reginia, 94." The
piece was coined in 1694 in tho reign of Wil-
liam and Mary.
"Tho Passion of Christ," a book of great
antiquity, is a most wonderful work of art.
Every letter of the text is cut into tho leaf,
and as the alternate leaves are of blue paper,
it is very pleasant to road. Every character
was made by hand with a neatuess and precis-
ion which the most accurate machinory could
hardly havo accomplished.
Takmg a glance at some of tho more im-
portant cites, it is found that New York city
has a population exceeding the total of Mil-
waukee, Wis.; Newark, N. J.; Minneapolis,
Minn.; Jersey City, N. J.; Louisville, Ky.;
Omaha, Neb.; Rochester, N. Y.; St. Paul,
Minn.; KansaB City, Mo.; Providence, R. I. J
Denver, Col.; Beaver Falls, Pa.; Chatta-
nooga, Tenn.; and Hot Springs* Ark.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Galveston Daily News. (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 52, Ed. 1 Sunday, May 14, 1893, newspaper, May 14, 1893; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth467831/m1/16/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Library Consortium.