Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1882 — Cnristmas Under the Confederacy. [ARTICLE]

Cnristmas Under the Confederacy.

New XorX World. vJF Mr. James D. McCabe has recorded some interesting experiences' of CHristmas under the 'rtie'Minner of 1861, he says, did not dttnmaterlally frofn its predecessors the “piping times of peace >» though, in 1862, the feast was home mare. was enjoyable. Turkeys wtreoSiysll a piece, and salt had fallen to 38 cento a pound. The yule log was obtainable at sl6 a cord; wines were to bahad r by the very rich, and sorghuto ruHu or apple, peach or blackberry brandy cost S3O a gallon, A few toys ware left in the stores in the cities, and Are wickers, essential to the Southern festival, were $5 a pack. By 1863 thje closest search of Banta Claus revdaW no playthings, and fire-crackers indicated great wealth or reckless extravagance. The few turkeys in the market were S4O and SSO apiece, whisky or sorghum rum for egg-nog cost $75 or SBO a gallon; sugar was $5 and $lO a pouudiand flour $125 a barrel. With gold at 2800, a plain Christmas dinner for a large family cost S2OO or S3OO. In 1884, when Christmas fell on Sunday, gold wad at 6000. Flour was S6OO a barrel ;■ sugar, $2 an ounce; salt, $1 a pound: butter, S4O; beef, $35 to S4O. Wood was SIOO a cord. Mr. McCabe describes a Christmas dinner at a country Richmond. The four gentlemeta were in uniform, tbe three ladles, were in homespun. They had /or dinner a S3OO ham, and the last turkey on'the plantation, valued at $175; with SIOO worth of cabbage, potatoes and;hominy. Corn bread was served made of meal at SBO a bushel and salt at $1 a pound. The dessert Was black molasses at S6O a gallon: and, aftW'vme cup of tea—real tea. worth $lO6 a pound, treasured for the occasion gs a surprise, and ,not sassafras —there was coffee at discretion, made frond sweet potatoes cut into little squared. fitmited and ground down— > ‘,fih <

A Curious Thing in Hats. Manufacturers of hats for the market are findiitg, to their Burprise,that within a generation the standard sine? iuive decreased, so much so that large sused hats are not made to keep in stodt; as formerly, and are now only madb to order. Twenty years ago the popular sizes were hats with a circumference of 21J to 23} Inches—that is from 6 6-16 to 74; but now the popular sized are 21 to 22J inches or 6| to 7J. There is no agreement between manufacturers aa to the cause for decline. Some say.that the close cropping ot hair HOW fashionable, is a proper explanation; htft it is stated on the other hand, that* no head of hair would make this /difference. Others say that the different style of wearing the hat, whfoh fcrmerly wks to push it well down bn the back of account? far *the change. American dealers Mt/ ihaL, whorew the soft hat MWd <6rn by clerks and other salaried men, and stovepipes by ministers anpf*ljwyfers, the reverie is How fact/ ’ Ae hatdoctors disagree. It is generally»topposed that the quality of the bratafpot the size of the envelope, is the, seal mark of talent and Intelligence. The hatter, however, seems trr hold to a different theory; In a list of'lllustrious names [presented in this eoufiection, 10l In the matfor of head circumference little Samuel’s leads all the rest, as witness: Governor B.'J. Tilden, 8 1-16; General Ghtvt, 7}; Roscoe Conkling, 7};’ General Garfllld, 74; John Sherman, 7k: Benjamin Ji. Bristow, 74; EVarts, 6j; L. M. Barlow, 7j: ex- Lieut? GdVerhof rtorsheimer, 7f; Prince of Wales; 7; Beaconsfield, ,71 Gladstone,?}; John Bright, 11 : Lord Chelmsford, 74; Dickens, 71; Thackery, 7J, Earl Russell, 7}; Macau/ey, Louis 7}; Archbishop York, & >li«w Rem ark able Libel, Suit in One Hugh S. People?, of .brought a curious litoj suit against the Evening News of that, pity. ( The pircumstances are as follows: ago Peoples had a gh9- named Martha Whitla in his family aan servant* and it was also reported that she was, his mistress. When she left, Peoples gave her a note for s4«o.' 'rhe girt lived a little out of the city and often visited it. One day in January, 1879, she .disappeared, and not the slightest tragaof her could be found. It was discovered afterward that she was H'dfribly murdered by being tied, gagged’, nbt Into a sack andj thrown into the rives alive. was found the next Spring, but uot until nearly two yeanf laker was it from thO'clothibg. Then strange stories got into Circulation, and the News published an article substantially charging Peoples with the murder. The Post and Tribune and the Abend Zeitung afterward published simlar articles, and againsfridl’of them Peoples brought libel- sufteui In this trial it devolves upon the News Jo substantiate its Charges, and the jiyy has to determine whether a party to a Civil suit Is a murderer or noi, and this not by the rule of evidence in criminal cases, where the guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable dpubWbut tfie, bilanoe of probabilities. People* will light in the suit as 4f his life were At stake. / • .■>■■■ *ci r~r 4 , b Four studenta aV. stole a farmer’s gate. TLe ecl lege faculty condemned them to exbatti6n, or the alternative of Whatever banishment the farmer foight infitot.. He sentenced them to chop four< his wood and deliver 11 to a poor widow. They did it to the mu?ic of a band and the plaudits Of k croWd -fMlh watched the operation. ; <J« were carSiy reaj&i the island of Ham os, and sold affeiicC high prices that Vate says tWy yearly £2,000.

In ihn Febnary nxmber of the North American Review, Prof. Geo. P. Fisher, of the Yale Divinity School, whose writings on the supernatural origin of Christianity and on ecclesiastical history, are well known, comes to the defence or the Chnrstian Religion against the attacte of modern doubt and infidelity. No abler or more eminent advocate for orthodox faith conld bo summoned into the cotroversy that has lately been waged on this high* theme, and it is not too much to say that Prof. Fisher justifies every expectation by the vigor and clearness with which he handles the subject. He disclaims, however, the position of a debater, and makes no direct reference to Col. Ingersoll’s assaults, although he necessarily deals with the objection so brilliantly and audaciously presented by that doughty combatant. He proceeds in a very orderly manner to maintain a series of positions in regard to the origin, essential character and beneficent effects of the Christian faith, which are intended in themselves to furnish the answer to all objections and cavils. In the first place he takes advantage of the position that Christianity is no new thing whose present existence calls for justifiication or apology. It is inwrought with the very fibre and substance of the best part of modern institution, and civilization, and has contributed more than any other force to make them what they are. We are impressively invited to imagine what they would have been without its agency. The difficulties which it piesente, some of them of a very perplexing character, are frankly acknowledged, and difference of interpretation and understandings are alluded to as something inseparable from the action of the human mind in dealing with any system, complex in its details and bearings, however simple in its character and purpose The idea that Christianity has been a bane to mankind is very effectually disposed of by an appeal to history and the experience of the race. In tracing the development of Divine Revelation and the gradual establishment of the religion of which Christianity is the consummation, Prof. Fisher gives a broad interpretation to the idea of inspiration in the writings which contain its record and its precepts. Thereby he is enabled to meet with skill and effect some of the most telling arguments of the skeptic and the infidel. He claims, for instance, that the Divine method was to select a chosen people and lead thorn gradually up to the plane upon which the fullness of truth could .be revealed to them with a posibiliy of being received and propagated. There was no sudden transformation of human nature, no violent sweeping away

of old inßtitutions and miraculous introduction: of a new system, to which there must be a sudden and complete adaptation of mankind, equivalent almost to a new creation of the race; but instead of that the chosen people were deal with as men of tneir own era, and those that surrounded or came in contact with them were similarly treated according to the requirement of the stage of progress reached from time to time Hence the evils abuses characteristic of ancient days were not suddenly rooted ont, but were restrained and mitigated, while the farces were set at work whieh were to effect their final annihilation. This idea of gradualness of revelation and the modified character of Stion avoids a vast array of ties, but at the same time* it approximate the process of religious development to that of political and social development and the growth of civilization generally. To many minds it will seem no small measure to abolish the distinction between religious revelation and the general supervision of human affairs which all devout minds attribute to the Deity. In dealing with the facts and doctrines pf Christianity, Pr6f. Fisher displays much of the same breadth of method. While he resolutely mantains the genuineness and credibiliy at the miracles of the Saviour and the Divine Character! of the Gospel record, his argument* regarding tjie authenticity , I substantial harmony, and essential I truth as to facts of the New Testameat scriptures, are such as would. be sfpliea to any other controvert

ted writings. Considered in that light they are well-nigh eonslusive, but they are in some respects, quite different from what we have been accustomed to in religious controversy. The testimony of the disciples is tested as human testimony, and the records treated as subjects to the ordinary accidents and incidents of literature. All this, of course, does not effect the essential character of Christian revelation or the religious belief and practice that is founded upon it. In dealing with these, tho learned writer has a strong ease, and presents it with much vigor and force. His contribution of the controversy will be regarded with great interest, as furnished the latest statement of orthodox views in what may be regarded as an authoritative form. Taking it as such, not tho least part ’of its value will bo found in tna evidence it affords of the progressive character of the most strictly orthodox thought of the day. Other articles in the February number of the Review are: “Do the Spoils Belong to the Victor?” by President Andrew D. White; “A Remedy for Railway Abuses”, V Isaac L. Rice; “Repudiation in Virginia”, by Senator Johnson; and “The Lancet and the Law”, by Henry Bergh,

Valparaiso Vidette : “After one year’s waiting in the jail for trial Taft, the man who killed John Dutten, is convicted of ths crime and sent to labor and confinement in the northern prison 4 years and a half. The jury were a night and 2 days in a disagreement, and the irospects were that he would have o undergo another; trial that would ikely cost the public at the least another SI,OOO, but judge Merrifield, we understand, gave no encouragement for a dismissal of the , ury till they made a verdict, and hey finally arrived at the agreement stated. They were brought ;o such agreement by constraint of aw more rigorous than ought ia reason to be used to govern rational decisions, and a vote of the ma- , ority would have been just as good a settlement and would have been an honest verdict of free-minded mbp, whereas the verdict now can hardly be considered any free expression of each juror’s mind. In view of the defects of law the case has doubtless been well managed by the lawyers, court and jury, and resulted much as should have been expected."

Charles W. Clifton, is soliciting life insurance for the Aetna Company. He has been in the employ of the company fifteen months, and has written over one hundred and ninety thousand dollars. He is employed by the Peoria Agency and was the most successful the first year of any beginner in the employ of that agency, writing $120,000. Mr. Horace Sevvill, of Altoona, Pa., says: “My wife and I are upwards of seventy years of age. Of late we both have begun to feel the infirmities of old age. Nothing seems to revive, exhilarate and strengthen us as does Brown’s Iron Bitters. We would not do without it for ten times its cost. H. W. Wood, has erected a wind pump on his, farm with a new house and barn. It looks as if he was quite comfortably settled. Campbell <fc Far den, by courtesy and fair dealing, are establishing a large circle of customers, which only true merit deserves.