Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 June 1899 — IN THE PUBLIC EYE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Never since the war has there been so much excitement in Mississippi. “PHvate” John Allen is stumping the State

against Gov. McLaurin for the United States senatorship. In almost every hamlet the men have met in debate, and Allen never misses a chance to poke fun at his antagonist. Allen, • who has been famous for years as the wit of the lower house of Congress, was nicknamed “Private,” because he says he is the only man on record who served in

.'he Confederate army and who has since admitted that he was not a colonel. Once when he met a former Confederate general in joint debate the latter referred to the fact that this was his first visit to the town since the war. “Then,” he said, “at the head of our forces I was able to turn back the Northern marauders who had come to despoil you of your homes and your liberty. When I lay down to sleep in my tent that night, I thanked God I had been able to turn back the horde of assassins from the North.” The great gathering cheered the general to the echo. When Allen replied he paid the greatest to the heroic deeds of the previous speaker. “As that heroic commander,” he said, “kneeled down in his tent to thank God that he had been able to save your homes, he was guarded by a humble private soldier, who had fought during the preceding twenty-four hours. When the last Yankee had fled from the field that private shouldered his musket and with veneration ifi his heart for his heroic commander, guarded his tent for the ensuing twelve hours, while the hero slept. I was that private.” Allen had never been in the town in his life before, either during or since the war, but his retort won him the election. He is giving Gov. McLaurin a hot canvass and consequently the interest in Mississippi is at a whiteheat.

Maj. Marchand, whom Paris has been saluting as a new Napoleon, had a hard time getting into the army at all. He was

the son of a widow, and as such was exempt from military service. But the taste for military life was strong within him, and at the age of 18 he wanted to enlist. His mother refused her consent, however, and instead bound him as a clerk to a lawyer in the little village where the family lived. He

proved a poor student, spending most of his time poring over geography and history. One day he was told to engross a deed. His master, who suspected the boy of idleness, stole into the room an hour later, and found him with a map of China on his desk. He had stuck the map full, of pins with red and black heads to indicate the relative positions of the French and the Black Flags in Tonkin, and was studying the progress of that campaign. The attorney dismissed him in disgrace, and he finally persuaded his mother to let him enlist in the marines.

Rev. Dr. Newton M. Mann, pastor of the Uni.tarian Church of Omaha, declares that he wants his congregation to go to

sleep during church services. “I regard it as a compliment tomy integrity and indisputable evidence of confidence in the soundness of my theological views to have prominent members of my congregation go to sleep in their seats and thus rest during my discourse.” - Last week Sunday hedelivered a sermon

upon the ethics of “Sleeping in Church During the Regular Service,” in which he uttered the above remark. Ever since thetown has talked of little else than the remarkable sermon. Some insist that it wasa fine piece of sarcasm leveled at his critics. Dr. Mann, however, declares that he spoke in entirely good faith. In concluding his startling sermon Dr. Mana asserted that* he wanted all members of his congregation to feel entirely at liberty to sleep whenever they felt like it in his church. He further announced in all seriousness that he accepted this condition as the best evidence that his congregation trusts him and has unlimited faith in thesoundness of his theology.

Lieutenant Commander Hodgson, whois one of the latest officers to become involved in the Schley-Sampson controver-

sy, is a native of Georgia. He graduated at the Naval Academy in 1875, and served for the next two years in the Asiatic squadron. Since graduation he has served four terms x at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. He spent 1888-90 on the Pinta at Sitka,

Alaska. In April, 1898, he was relieved from duty at theNaval Academy to serve on the Brooklyn, Admiral Schley’s flagship. It was while engaged on this service that he had the famous conversation with Admiral Schley, around which the dispute between tie friends of the two commanders centers. Steamer Havana broke the record between Morro Castle and New York. She covered the distance in 2 days and 16:20 hours. Joseph Jordon’s wagon overturned on a steep hill, McFall. Mo. His wife and two children were killed. Two other children were badly injured. Missouri Pacific passenger train left the track near Goffs, Kan. Twenty-three-passengers injured; none seriously. D. M- Sampson, Pineville, Ky., gets a_ Use sentence for killing his wifa.

JOHN ALLEN.

REV.'DR. MANN.

MAJ. MARCHAND.

A. C. HODGSON.