Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1896 — Page 6

HIS IS A SOFT SNAP.

THE AVERAGE MEMBER OF i CONGRESS KILLS'TIME. k Pea Picture of His DaHy Life Jn ' Washington—Tells Btorics t apd ls an : All-Around "Good Fellow” - Mia Secretary Work*. . '■ 1 The Daily Grind. * ‘ {Washington correspondence:

t I VIE work of the a.v----t erage member 3T Congress is very light this session. _Only the leaders 4 have the slightest Ik prospect of hard work before them. jSk Most of t.he committecs will have nothIng to do. The Com mittee on Ways an-1 FyrSjjjfl Means, which is.usually hard worked, ha” finished its la- - bora, as far as any HRf’fl one can see, and can || II l"look complacently U ’ upon the future. The

Commit tees op elections have a great deal to do,• but the work is divided up. arid it Is expected that all will be soon over with. The Appropriations—Committee has its ksual work, and those other committees (taring appropriation bills canriot enjoy Immunity fromu labor, but beyond that, there is hardly any work in sight that the emnmittoewiH ha veto tto.unihw.toget campaign material, they take up investigations. Bills are numerous eipHtgh, but Very few of them demand atterition, or are likely to receive any. V pouf two or three members on the Democrati/side and half a dozen or so on the Republican side will fail the labor of looking out for party politics. - The average member of the House has ample time to think over his own affairs, •r to study and prepare himself for a career, or to devote to thca'ter going and pleasure. He does hot have to get to the Capitol much before 12 o'clock, unless he happens to have been assigned to one of the few working committees, and Ire does ■ot always have to go to the Capitol at - ail. The average man breakfasts about P o'clock. Half an hour before this his morning's mail is brought around. It twill consist of maybe half a dozen newspapers, a lot of pamphlets, tracts and advertise'ments, and from ten to twenty-five letters. AH the newspapers except the local paper of his own home goes into the, waste basket promptly. These are followed by the pamphlets and advertisements, and finally by some of the letters. (Most of the latter have to be answered. Rome of them require something to be looked up at the departments or elseiwhere. and involve work before they can be answered. Generally the reply can be made at once in a line and all'-of the writing is done by the Congressman’s stenographer, provided at Government expense, 'After the letters are seen to, the member reads his home paper and looks over the principal features of one of the Washington papers, and then aets out for the day. If he has a committee meeting at the Capitol, all this morning, work will be Shortened and much of it postponed until later in the day. If there is iio meeting •f this sort demanding his attention, the hour of .his arrival at the Capitol is regutated largely -by hiFTondness for being Been in his seat, or for mingling in the gossip autersession assemblage. At the Capitol. ! Whatever time he has to spare between bis arrival and the hour of prayer is devoted to gossip with his colleagues. Near the elevator, by the basement entrance principally used, is the House posjotiiee. Here the member stops on his way to'the hall of the House and gets bis second morning mail-. He may get from two to half a dozen letters. These he usually reads during the session of the House. If he did not have a clerk, he would have to answer? them as he read them, but, as it pow is. a note on the back will remind him of their contents, and he puts them away until he eau get hold of his stenographer. If the member has any bills he ■ has been asked to introduce, or which he has had his stenographer prepare for him, he hands them to one of the clerks at the desk or puts them in the receptacle designated for bills at Some time during the fay. If he has a bill or resolution he Wants unanimous consent to have consid-

KILLING TIME IN THE CORRIDOR.

•red daring the morning hour, he endeaEors to see the speaker before the . House leets, to arrange for recognition, and if he does not succeed in this he takes his place in the Semi-circular space in front o's the speaker's desk immediately after prayer, and, with bill held in the air. ■ waits the speaker’s recognition, ,meanprhiie making frantic efforts to catch that •vssive orb. the speaker’* eye. When the peeoguition has been arranged beforehand, be has but to stand in his place on the •oor and address the speaker. During the •essron, after the morning hour, the member seldom pays any attention to the reg ■lar proceedings Unless they personally ftaterest h»m. time is then demanded between [ reading letters or the newspapers, lookerit the Congressional Record, dis leussing some' question of exchanging Wossip and stories with some of bis colleagues, at his seat, in the cloak room or tthe speaker’s lobby; receiving visitors the lobbies, going to lunch and making am occasional visit to the other wing of fto Capitol to see hia Senator. If he is JmaUy entertained, and not given to talkjhg. he may lean back in his chair most •f the day, with his bands folded, and listen in an abstracted, inattentive sort of jray to what is going on about him, with.-

out participating in it or‘fully realizing what It Ik ’ S&tftHlmea,” seized with a At of industry or with the view of having his evening free, he may retire te the speaker's lobby qj to a committee room, with his clerk, 'and finlshoff his correspondence. An occasional trip 1 to the restaurant may relieve the monotony, or he may saunter throifgfiThe corridors, seeing the crowd and being seen, or he maysit for awhile with a visitor in one of the galleries. Usually as much time is occupied in going to the corridors in response to cards as in any other way. It is seldom that he pays any attention to tha business of the House, except on some special occasion, or when die has a direct •Interest—tn what-is up. After adjournment he either gets another mail_at tha postoflice or it is delivered at his lodgings, and this again demands his attention. All told, he may have a dozen Tetters during the day, or he may have fifty. The lighter mail of the afternoon he may dispose pf before dinner or he may let it ga th er until morning; After dinner it is a call, the theater, visitors, at? evening in the parlor with the ladies, a loaf in the hotel corridors, or a hunt through volumes in preparation of a speech held in contemplation, to be delivered at some time, according to sentiment and circumstances. The theaters and the hotel lobbies are the

GETTINO THE MAIL.

most common places of resort in the even iug.

THE G. A. R. CITY.

Veterans of the War Founding a Town In Southern Georgia. .Many veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic are again "marching through Georgia,” says an Atlanta correspondent. This time they are coming on & peaceful mission, and are coming to stay. They have started in to build a city in the southern part of the State. Thirty-five thousand acres of fine rolling land have been purchased and options have been secured on (»s»,< M_M > more. The co-opera-tive colony, for such it will be, is located in Irwin County, on the ground made historic by the capture of Jefferson Davis after the fall of Richmond. The. colony now has a population of 3,000 which it is believed will increase to 25,000 before the close of die year. A town site has Fern laid off covering 1,000 acres. The streets are being graded, sewers put in, and a water supply ia being provided by a system of artesian wells, it was not intended for the settlers to go in until after the first of tha year r»r along toward spring, but the "aooners" could not be held back. However, upon tlieir arrival they were corrailed in one corner of the reservation and given permission to put upnny temporary buildings they pleased. Hundreds of shacks made of rough pine boards have been nailed together, and the immigrants are roughing it. But they are nil contented and believe thoroughly in the-fu-ture of their experiment. The idea of a Grand Army colony was started l)y Philip Fitzgerald, a pension attorney and capitalist of Indianapolis. ’He says that he found the old soldiers complaining of the cold in winter. The exposure of their campaigns is telling on them in their old age and they cannot stand what they once could in the way of snow and ice. There was a very prevalent wish among jjie veterans for a home amid congenial neighbors in a mildjMk mate. So a co-operative colony jeeted. Thus far the members of the colony repg resent a population of 54,000, the most of which is expected to migrate southward and settle at and around Fitzgerald. It is a thoroughly organized movement, and has a great deal of Significance not onjy for the South, but also for the West. Many mechanics from Pullman, 111., have joined the movement. They come for work and a home which they can get for very little money. The land costs only $3.50 an acre, and it is good land, too, covered with the long-leaf pine and the best fruit soil in the South.

Sparks from The Wires.

A. 11. Brownley, of London,- Canada, was held up on the beach at Santa Monica, Cal., and at the point of a pistol forded to sign ten American Express Company’s cheeks for SSO each. At Chicago executions aggregating $27,041 in favor of S. D. Kimbark, the Iroquois Company and J. J. ParkHurst, were levied on the property of the Chicago Skein and Axle Company. In the Church of Our Lady, Brooklyn, there has been enthroned a sacred relic of St. Stephen, who was stoned to death on the day following the crucifixion. Assistant Attorney General Newell of Illinois, in reply to the query, “Can a young man 20 years of age or under be examined for and appointed a mine manager?” holds that he cannot. AU such candidates must be legal citizens. There was a largely attended meeting of Irish Nationalists at Wexford. John Redmond addressed the meeting. Reference,> which he made to the British invasion of the Transvaal brought forth loud and continued cheers for the Boers. James Newman and wife, aged between <»0 and 70 years, were found in their homes near St. Paul, asphyxiated from coal gas. Both wereUead. They-had no children, but a brother of Mr. Newman is said to live in N*ew York City and is yvealtbyl; / ; An important order for the expedition of the mails across the Mexican border has been issued by Assistant Postmaster General Neilson, providing for the first exchange of the mails of railway post* offices of the United States and This does away with the stopping of the mails at the postoffice of both countries glong the line and effectsa saving of twen-ty-four hours and more in some instances., Ths mail allowed to pass without interference is restricted to unregistered letters, postal cards and periodical publications. r -

LONDON’S WAR SCARE

SERMANY AND ENGLAND MAY FIGHT. 3 rest Britain Attire in Military Preparations— Feeling Against Germany Gains Intensity—Emperor Declines to Recognize English Suzerainty. Crisis in African Affaire. London is for war. Jingoism,’hysterical n its fierce intensity, has taken possession >f the populace, and nothing will satisfy them but the imfhediate shedding of Gernan blood. At least thia is the tenor of late London cablegrams and newspaper »di to rials. The same rash cries that and thrilled the exCitgd Parisians 1870 are awaVemng't'lie‘ech<ffis of the murly and fog-enshrouded metropolis. The hoarse shoutj are but a paraphrase if the impetuous yells, “®n to Berlin.” Tory newspapers of the ultra-con-lervative stripe are to blame for this menacing tumult For days they have been

THE VENEZUELAN BOUNDARY COMMISSIONERS.

fulsomely extolling the buccaneeringjexplolts of Jameson against the Boers. The Times has fatuously stated in a doubleleaded leading article that the “march will remain a glorious tradition for the Anglo-Saxon race,” while the St. James’ Gazette says it relieves to a certain extent the dark odium attaching to Majuba Hill. But the principal cause of, the excitement is a dispatch from Berlin that the

EMPEROR WILLIAM.

emperor has declared, in no ambiguous phrases, that he will no longer recognize the treaty of 1884, thus expressing an intent to dash aside the British rlaim of suzerainty over the South African republic. Hardly had this news been published when the Globe issued an extra edition announcing under “scare headlines” that urgent and extreme activity prevailed in the war office and in the naval dockyards, and adding the following startling tidings: “A dispatch received from the military camp at Aidershot says that, the general belief, almost backed by proof, prevails there that-t he authorities are considering the mobilizing of the army reserves and part of the militia. The men employed in the ordnance stores are all very busy.” This announcement simply intensified

BURGHER SOLDIERS OF TRANSVAAL.

the inflated condition of the popular mind; and John Bull, as represented by the average po.t-valiant Londoner, shouted in raucous tones his utter detestation and defiance of the German ruler and his army. The activity in diplomatic circle* has seldom been equaled, a correspondent says. It Is feared If the dispatchessgnnouncing the bellicose intention of Em-

peror true that Europe will be in a blase in But there mutt be no doubt touching the attitude of the Salisbury governn/int. It will most assuredly fight for the maintenance of the treaty, and to diploma tieargument will be potent enough. to swerve it from that stern determination. Already Sir Frank Lascelles, the British ambassador, has been instructed to demand of the imperial German minister of state, Von Bieber st ein, an explanation touching these astounding reports affecting the attitude Of the kaiser. This demand is expected to counteract in a measure the querulous note of the Berlin government in regard to the bushwhacking operations of Cecil Rhodes and his ministers in South Africa. Emperor William’s Defiance, Emperor William’s declaration to Dr. W. J. Leyds, Secretary of State for the Transvaal, that he would not recognize any claim of suzerainty over the Boer republic, coming as it does so soon after the note to President Krueger congratulating hijn on the defeat of the English invaders under the lead of Dr. Jamfeson, is particularly to British pride. Great Britain boldly annexed the Tranavaal to Cape Colony in 1877, at a tlm'e

when the republic was in difficulty with' the native Africans. Although the an. nexation was said to be in response to a request from residents in the Transvaal, the Boers- soon rebelled against British rtye. By the treaty o£ 1884 the independence of the South African -republic was recognized in all matters relating to internal affairs. But Great Britain retained a suzerainty over the country, and it was through her ministers that all foreign negotiations of the republic were to be conducted. In the eyes of the British, therefore, Emperor William is overstepping the bounds of courtesy in presuming to communicate with the Government of the Transvaal at all, except through the ministers of her majesty’s government. Williams declaration that he will recognize no suzerainty over the Transvaal, which the British Claim by virtue of treaty, is an added insult that cannot be passed over without a serious humiliation to the pride of Great Britain. The situation Is complicated, top, by th* unsettled condition of affairs in South Africa, from whence trustworthy information is exceedingly meager. Cecil Rhodes has resigned the premiership of Cape Colony, but the reason for the action is not yet apparent. Once before, when there was an intimation of interference from the home government with the action bf the chartered company in conducting a war of aggression against the Matabeles, Rhodes, in threat, suggested the possibilityof a British South African republic independent of Great Britain. Tt is highly improbable that Jameson’s raid into tha Xransvaal was made without the knowledge and connivance of Rhodes. Possibly that uncrowned king of South Africa hopes for an early realization of hia dreams of federation, and has resigned in order that he may not be hampered by official responsibilities.

Of course, we want to fight with the rest of the boys, but we shall not be measured for a brass-mounted suit before spring. Uncle Sam will net permit bull fights in this country, but he isn’t averse to taking a hand, if necessary, in a John Bull fight elsewhere. The London Globe thinks “the Monroe doctrine is dead.” Well, we’re keeping

it yet, and no one will be permitted tr jump on the corpse. After all, do we really need a war? Isn't our supply of Colonels large enough! The last revelation in Colombia is said to h av ® cost the citizens of that country $4 apiece. Dirt cheap! Why, an ordinary Fourth of July celebration in this country costs a fellow more than that.

CRISP FORMS OF THOUGHT.

SOLOMON AND TUPPER TWISTED TO SUIT A MODERN fRADE. The Wisdom of the Sages and the Wit of the Maeses! Even the Work of the Missionaries, Are Gt-ist in the Mill— Thby Are Poached Upon by Authors and Advertisers, WhetherlSblomon invented all his proverbs or gathered them from many sources with a nicer sense of permanent worth than Mr. Tupper exercised in his later compendium is and ever will be an open question. Solomon’s copyright ran out long before Tupper’s time, and both are now poached upon with impunity by all classes, from authors to advertisers. But, taken by themselves, proverbs well repay careful study. Students of ethnology find in the proverbs of the different races the clearest proofs of their real characteristics, for they are the shrewdest and yet most Intimate expressions bf their daily life. Judged by the comparison of these homely sayings it will be found that all nations are of one kindred, possessing common needs,- common aspirations, and seeking similar reliefs from toil and labor. On the dustiest shelves of. our libraries may be found collections of all the proverbs of the different nations, quite a large proportion of the work having resulted from the interest which missionaries have taken in. their earnest studies of the uncivilized peoples whom they seek to instruct. That the shrewd sayings of the Scotch or the bright hits of the Irish should be carefully collected gites little cause for Surprise; but a collection of Abyssinian proverbs, of those of the Tamil language, of Icelandic lore, of the Sanscrit, South Sea Island, Chinese, and Hottentot Solomons does excite curiosity. The missionaries have found it a pleasant as well aS a profitable task. It delves deep into the idioms of the language, tells with unerring accuracy the mental tendency of the people, and by introducing the foreigner into the inner thought of both home and trade shows him the real life of those who adopt them as everyday expressions. It is impossible to read the well-collated proverbs of the Chinese without, realizing that a home life exists in that flowery kingdom which rivals that of many more civilized countries. No Solomon, no descendant of Abraham,, could eclipse the trade proverbs of the Chinese. They touch on trade with a keenness and thoroughness which proves-them to be masters in that school. The baser life of the Hottentot, the loose morals of the fellah, the indepcrftleht spirit ‘ofrfEF"Bnfoh,"“a"fe“ all crystallized in their national proverbs. In England and many other countries it was formerly very usual for a tradesman to select some proverb as his motto, and thus post his principles plainly over his shop door. It remained, nowever, for an American house to appropriate the proverbs of the world cn masse, and use them for their own advancement. New Yorkers who ride on elevated roads, or people who in less favored localities still jog along in the slow street cars, are familiar with the blue and white proverbs which proclaim the merits of Sapolio to the world. Every omnibus in London and almost every “tram car” in England is similarly adorned. They made their first appearance on the Broadway omnibuses, were gathered outof over 4,000 pages of the world’s collections, and twisted to suit the case. Many of them are beyond easy recognition in their new dress, many are entirely orig-‘ inal, but these are also printed between inverted commas, which lends a glamour of antiquity to them. To-day we are tpld that over 20,000 of these blue cards are displayed in public conveyances carrying over 0,000,000 passengers daily. Condensed thought generally requires padding to make it intelligible to the masses, just as the stomach of the horse must be distended with hay to make the oats digest readily; but With proverbs it is- quite otherwise. Their popularity is only reached because they have passed muster as being clear to every mind. They tell their story with a directness and brevity which pleases the public,, as the dictionary did the old Scotch woman—- “ They air braw stories,” she said, ‘“but unco’ short.” Turned to tell the practical story of Sapolio, they often acquire new Interest. Who reads the advice, “Be patient And you will have patient children,” without an innate respect for the advice which follows, not to fret over house cleaning, but do it easily with Sapolio? And who can repress a smile when the Sapolionic artist pictures the patient father and the impatient twins defying the proverb? But the mother will be back

sooner if she follow the advice. Our familiar '“The pot calls the kettle black” takes a new interest in its Italian form. The pot says to the pan, “Keep off or you’ll smutch me." The universal toil of the world finds expression in the Catalan phrase, “Where wilt thou go, Ox, that thou wilt not plough?” Almost all nations possess a .proverb which declares that “if yon forbid a fool a thing, that he will do,” and with confidence in the good will of the public the advertiser of Sapolio puts it in this form: “Forbid a fool a thing and that he will do.” So we say for variety; “Don’t use Sapolio—but then you’re not a fool.” “A touch of nature which makes al! the world akin” springs out of the quaint thought that “A needle, though naked itself, clothes others.” Who can hear it once and ever see a needle without recalling it? Who fails to recognize the picture it suggests of the aid given to the poor by the poor, and of the help which is everywhere gained from the humblest of assistants? Slang never can be confounded with proverbial phrases. It seems universal, but it is merely a local form used to express a transient but popular idea. Years ago, when ft general rush at hotel keeping resulted in many failures, the slang ran: “He’s a very good man, but he can’t keep a hotel.” All such phrases are local and temporary. They do not survive—indeed, rarely possess merit enough to reach a second year without evident decline in popularity. We have noticed that none of the advertisements of Sapolio make gse of slang, and probably for this reason. Naturally many of the best proverbs

kola cleanliness, and all the original One*,, are framed to that end. “Dirt in the house builds the highway tq beggary, deserves recognition, Respite its origifi. Household sayings, in the sense of fourwalled buildings, full bf furniture, are quite lacking in many Eastern tongues. We believe that no reference to clean housekeeping can be found in the Koran in the Bible, except that of ths woman- who swept the house to find, her lost coin. Shakspeare rather slights the subject, but whether because it was not deemed important in that intellectual but dirty age or because he soyed to-grander things, we will not discuss, but the England of to-day well says of home, “The cleaner ’tisThe cosier ’tis,” and our Ameri-

can. advertiser imptoves tfie opportunity to add that humble homes made brightwith Sapolio are better than tawdry palaces. Alas, for. the thoughtlessness of the man who forgot to ask whether his bride used Sapolio. The Scotch proverb records his case: “Ye hae tied a knot wi* your tongue ye winno loose wi’ your teeth.”

Coyotes and Cattle.

A novel scheme for saving his cattle from the dr gyns of coyotes that infest the region has been hit upon by a rancher of Glen Rock, Wash. He has placed bells on the necks of a great number of cattle in his herds, and the result has been to scare the' coyotes away. In the two months since he belled his herds he Has not lost n single animal, while previously his lots averaged at least one steer a day. Coyotes are becoming more of a pest every season in many parts of Washington and Oregon, despite all the efforts of the cattlemen and fanners to exterminate them. Thousands of dollars are spent every year i.i waglug war on the beasts, but witlt little result. Poison availed for a time, but now the coyotes refuse to touch the poisoned carcasses of steers strewn about for their consumption. The pnly way of killing them is by shooting them, and this is a feeble and wholly inadequate means.* Occasionally tha residents of a district combine and have a grand round-up hunt, driving the coyotes toward the center of a circle and slaughtering them there, and thia is the only means of appreciably thinning them out occasionally. In some regions the packs of gray wolves are as numerous and troublesome as the coyotes. The coyotes are particularly adept-chicken thieves, and, indeed, are a general pest around the farm yards.

A Great Financier.

An old negro down in Georgia was lately telling something of his condition as a property holder, and seemed Quite pleased that be was so well off. He said: “Ise bought sum ole marster 50 acres er groun’, en Ise got all dat onder cultivation ’cep’ ’bout 40 acres, en I bought de grown’ for $75. Dat’s all paid off, ’cep’ ’bout SOS. Den I bought me er mule fur SSO, en I gin mah qotes fur dat. But X swapped de mule off fer a steer, en de ole fool steer he goes an’ gets stuck in er bog an fo’ I fines ’lm dat steer he je’s up en died dah, sah. Still en all, Ise got de notes on de mule er ruiyiln’ yet, en dey’s mos’ly paid up ’cep’ ’bout $45, en am gittin’ ’long monst’ous well, I thinks, fur dese yar hard times. Ole marse, he say, es I keep on lak dis I gwan to be er rich man fo’ de m’llenimum come—whatsmever dat Is, sah—en he say, furder, he did, dat am sieh er monst'ous good fiamseer dat I oter be sawtah mix up, some way, wld de nashinuldebt. But den Ise got ernuff to ten ter dout foolin’ ’long wld other folkses depts.” • 7

Thought.

Thought of any kind, to be valuable, must be is, it must hold with a firm grasp all the truth that the past,has handed down. It must accept humbly and reverently that which the wisdom of thj ages has stored up, and so thoroughly incorporate it, that it may form its very bona and muscle. Only thus can it acquire stability'or permanence. At the same time it must be expansive, it must have the power of growth, it must be bospltable to new truths and fresh thoughts, willing to pursue Inquiries, to attack difficulties, to solve knotty problems. Thus only can it hand down to posterity something worthy of its acceptance, and pay to the future the debt it owes to the past

His Memory’s Use.

The Philadelphia Times tcUs a pathetic story of poor, pati*ut little Ned,-, who bad been kept after school again and again to learn a simple stanza which all the rest of the class had mastered. At last he broke down and sobbed, “I can’t do it, Miss Gray; I just can’t do it. Father saya it’s because I have such a poor ”, • “A poor what, Ned?” “You know what it is,” a glimmer of , light flickering in bls face; “the thing you forget with.” • . No Doubt About Her Meaning. “Cheer up, old man. A woman’s ‘No* often means ‘Yes,’ you know.'* “But she didn’t say ‘No.* When I asked her if she would marry me eha said, T will, I don’t think.’ I didn’t even get treated with respect”— lb* dlanapolls Journal.