Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 7, Number 31, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 27 January 1877 — Page 1

Vol. 7.—No. 31

THE MAIL

A PAPER FOR TIIK PKOI^/E.

FIRST EDITION-

lihCO NCI LI A'JIOX.

GEORGK HOUGHTON. Ask me not to speak, Worils are but a musk Only read my ey« »,

Thatlsixlllu.sk.

]'t us not look "back, Lr-t us not exp a ill The past Is still the past,

All regict is valu. Wo arc sorry both Lot-us bury all. And upon the ruin

Build nst-ronger wall.

Town-Talk.

Three months a^o, in this bewildered little city of Terra Haute, fire daily newspapers were in full bias, the Express, Gazette, Journal, Banner and Mail. Five able bodied editors-in-chief, fully prepared to unflinchingly discuss tlio profoundest questions that can agitate the human mind, &at, with flashing scissors and corrugated brows, among their political exchanges, hurling defiance, derision and dirt at their enemies and each olher, and laughing their scornful Ha, ha! as with eagle eye they surveyed the devastation and ruin wrough by their lightest articles. live solemn and mysterious telegraph editors patiently untangled the diurnal batch of Associated Press dispatches and dreamed of the time when they should bo told to come up higher and get nine dollars a week. Five fleet-footed city editoru and as many argus nosed reporters went their daily and nightly rounds in pnrsv.it of the untamed and evanescent "local" or tho flittering though flatulent "personal." Five depressed and desperate proof readers maintained their daily struggle against approaching insanity by a moro and moro frequent indulgence in copious profanity. Five rapacious business managers successfully cut each others throats 0:1 "rates," while failing miserably in trying to induce tho editors to cut down on reading matter. Five hungry solicitors of advertisements made life a burden to business mon, and live brass jawed collectors made them wish they could dio before tho first of the month. To these add abi ut fifty printers, pressmen «ud other employees and you have about the daily newspaper force a it existed threo months ago.

There has beoti a change. The overflow has subsided. The newspaper bnsiuoss has found its level, and instead of live dailies, as (ormorly, there aro now two—all the town has any use for or c.m support. Providentially, one is a morning paper and the other ftu evening paper. If 0110 can stand their political idiosyncrasies, they are very g-nd papers, both of them, and will doubtless bo better now that some of tho pressure in tho way of a badly divided-up ad-' vertishig patronage is removed. It is within their power to fix living rates for advert islngspace and to maintain thom. So man with a grain of business sense can complain of them for doing it. If thoy don't do it thov will fail in a point where they aro expected to show Bound judgment.

Speaking of advertising, tho demise of tho Journal has brought out ono very curious fact, which will doubtless surprise advertisers. Its circulation was generally believed by business men to bo something ner.r thai of the other dailies. If there was any difference it was supposed to be slight and might as easily bo ono way as tho other. The matter was not.considered of importance aud it was tho habit of advertisers to expect just as low a rate from an}* of the other papers as ihey could obtain of The Journal. For all T. T. knows, tbo publisher of Tho Mail may have beon asked to take advertisements at Journal prices lor circulation apparently cut# a very small figure with sonio people. However, when Tbo Journal suspended publication, Tho Gazette, as the sue •essor of the Democratic drgan, with character!* tic enterprise, Immediately employed all the Journal carries, and prepared to furnish TheC.aeotte to all tho old subscribers of Tho Journal, anticipating quit© a largo addition to thoir city circulation. Imagine the chagrin of The Gazette proprietors at findlug tho whole number, dead-heads and all, foot tip in round numbers only two hundred and ninety Now just think for a moment of a daily newspaper with a city circulation of two hundred aud nluety, and no outside circulation at all, employing two editors a business manager, a solicitor, bookkeeper, mailing clerk, proof reader, foreman, engineer, pressman, half a dor.en composftors and the Lord knows who else taking tbo Associated Press dispatches at an expenso ol seventy-five or a hundred dollars a month occupying a three story bulldingon Main street skirmishing around day and night ail over everywhere for news, and getting out an elf ht column paper every morning—all far two hundred and ninety

subscribers! Could anything moro absurd be imagined Anything more perfectly ridiculous?

And yet this is the way The Journal had been running for mouths and months—nobody knows bow long. It isn't likely that it lost any of its circulation under Mr. Terry administration, for he is an able newspaper man and would have built it up if such a thing had been within human power. It may have been that It never had any circulation since Mr. Edmunds left it. lie and Mr. Jordan did well with the papermade monoy—but thoy were prudent^ careful men in business matters ana made an interesting paper besides. If any xian in this city could make a third daily paper pay now, Edmunds is probably the person.

Which brings to mind the fact that such a project is talked about. There may be nothing in it, but a rumor is current that Mr. Edmunds will not be a candidate for Mayor at the coming city election, on account of newspaper designs of the chan«ter mentioned. It is even hinted that there vill be a law suit to recover the Journal property—especial! the share of stock in the Associated Press dispatches, and on that foundation a new Democratic morning paper started. Tbe grounds for a law suit, as stated, are that the sale was illegal so far as any more than a one half interest in the property is concerned that tbe other half still belongs to a party who has not been consulted with reference to the sale, and that this half ia unincumbered by judgment or debt of any kind, except a mortgage for borrowed money which will not be due for two years. But it is T. T'a opinion that Terre Haute has newspapers enough.

Speaking of the old management of the Journal recalls a picture of the sarcastic Wut really kind-hearted Edmunds standing at a case, hat and overcoat on and puffing at the strongest cigar that could be purchased with money, animatedly explaining the complicated situation of national politics to a group of excited though admiring bystanders and discussing crops and neighborhood news with every fresh entry of a subscriber from the rural regions, and all the while, with undisturbed tranquility and calm indifference, setting up from his head, without copy, the stick-full alter stick-full of pungent paragraphs which made the paper famous and a terror to its enemies. Of course the printers growled about the loss of "fat" resulting to t!em by the editor's setting his •own locals and persoo^g^twj^fcfi^j^ they do about it? They couldn't set them from Edmund's head themselves, aud ho wouldn't write them.

Husks and Nubbins.

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KKSTUS.

Tired of tho unonding drivel about tho piesidential question, tho columns on column 4 of explanation and comment concerning the "plan for counting the vote," and the maze of contradictory reports from tho#"East3rn conference," which have filled the daily jaumals f»r some time past to the entire exclusion of all christian reading, I concluded it was a favorable opportunity to examine a book I havo long wanted to look into. The book is called "Fcstus A Poem," by Philip James Bailey, Barrister at Law. Doubtless many of The Mail's readers are familiar with it at least if ihey are not, they are familiar with many beautiful lines from it which have become households words.

It is a singular poem and has rather a remarkable history. It was written whilo the author was between 10 an:! 23 years of ago and, as I10 himself says: "Life is at blood-heat every page doth provo." The book was first published nearly forty years ago and attracted a good deal of attention in England (the home of tho author) while in thiseountry it was received with a perfect tornado of applause. The author was immediately placed by some fervent r.dmirers in the rank of Shakspeare, Milton and Got tbe. Since then tho public has formed a juster opinion of tho work and it has even been the fashion with certain critics to speak of it in contemptuous terms. Fetttus Joes not merit this treatment any more than it did tho too extravagant praise at first heaped upon it. It is a crude work but it is a work of geuius never!heless. There are heavy, lumbering passages, full of nothing but stilted pomp, but there are also scattered through tho book passages of the finest poetry, embodied in werds as chaste and beautiful as ever mortil penned. The poem contains, too, thoughts that could only emanate from a great mind and which deserve to live forever. It is my purpose to stt out a few of theso gems which were culled during a hasty reading. Here is a jMussage as familiar as it is beautiful:

Night brings out stars as sorrow Uiows us tiuths: Though many, yet they hflp not fright, they light not. They are too late to serve us: and sad things Arc aye too true., Wencvcrsw the stars Till we can see naught but them. ,80 with truth."

On© would havo to go a long way before finding a more exquisite picture than this: a

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^'"Mr"-'*''

TERRE HAUTE, IND., SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 2T,

What hnppv tilings are j*oatii and love and sun-lilne! How sweet to feci the sun upon the heart To know it is lighting up the ros blood. And with alljo.vous lei-lings, prism hu. d. Making the dark breast shine like a spar grot. Wo walk among tho sunbeams as with angels."

Here is a line suggestive of tho subtle delicacy ofShelley: I cannot but think that some senseless things

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Are happy." ,k*~, VisfJ There is real philosophy in this: Who never doubted never half believed. Where doubt there truth is—'tis lier shadow."

Many have learned the following lines bj heart' without knowing whose they were or where to find them: 7

We live in deeds, not years in thoughts not breaths In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We.should count time by heartthrobs. He most lives Who thinks most—feels the noblest—acts the best."

It would be hard to frame a brie!er and truer descriptian of our country than the following:

America! half-brother cf the world With something good and bad 01 e%ery land."

Speaking' of great poets he breaks forth in the following really sublime passage:

Men whose great thoughts possess us like a passion 'i hrough every liinb and the whole heart whose words au ut us as eagles haunt the mountain air Thoughts which command all coming times and minds, As from a Lower a warden,—fix themselves Deep in the heart as meteor stones in earth, Dropped from some higher sphere."

Ilera are others selected at random "There is a lire-fly in the southern clime, Which shine' only when upon the wing So it is with the mind when once at rest, Wo darken." "We make our compliments to wretchednes Andghope tlie poor want nothing and are well."

For our horizon alters as we age." Grief hallows hearts even while it ages heads." What is life worth without a heart to feel The great and lovely, and the poetry Andfcacreduessof things?"

The above are only a few of the many beautiful passages which are to bo found on almost every page of the book. They are numerous enough to show that the author of Feshts is a poet of no mean or-der-and that the work will well repay a perusal. But what of the poet? What became of the genius of the man who could think apd write thus at twenty? Certainly the reader will wonder that he has heard so little of hi tn. Did he die young, like the mellifluous Keats or the sublime Shelley, or did he fling away his heaven-tuned lyre and smother his imagination beneath a pile of dusty law tomes? It seems that neither of theso misfortunes happened him. He ill: living. Neither did he "forsake poet*?.? And here j's one of tho remarkable things: his riper years never produced a work equal to that first venture. In 1850 he published the Angel World and subsequently The Mystic and The Age, a^satire but his fame still rests, as it ever will, on Festus. His later poems are less crude, loss outrageously bald and more highly finished, but they lack the imagination, the poetic glow and fire of that first wild, free flight towards the sun. And thus it has happened that they who «lo the most splgndid things in tho first flush of youth do nothing but commonplace things through all the rest of their lives.

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HAMMOND COMING. v.

Tbe people of Terro Haute are promised a first class sensation. E. P. Hammond, the famous revivalist, is to be here the latter part of this- week and is expected to remain a month in tho pursuit of his peculiar line of business and mark it, there'll bo lively timos. In the matter of turning a town completely upside d«wn with emotional excitement, Hammond can easily beat Moody and Sankcy both and give them four in the game. Ho is as sweet a singer as ever trod a stage, as well as an actor and an orator of extraordinary ability. He can so get hold of an audience, in just three minutes, that there won't a soul of them know whether they're standing on their heads or their hands, and we defy the most obdurate old sinner in Vigo county to sit for that length ot time under tbe sound of his clear sympathetic voice and in sight of his graceful and cnergetic movements, without experiencing an insupportable desire to hug somebody. What building the religious people here will bo able to get.tbat will hold the audiences that Hammond will draw, is a question that puzzles us. The Opera House isn't half big enough. For the next four weeks shows may as wed give Terre Haute the go-by. Hammond will be the drawing card.

OBITUARY.

Mrs. Eliza A. Kittle, wife of A. M. Kittle, who died in this city, of dropsy and general debility, on Sunday, the l*ith inst., was born in the State of New York, December 1st, 1811. She came with her parents to Vigo county ia 1816, where she contiuued to reside ti the time of her death. During her last illness she bore her sufferings with the most admirable patience and christian fortitude and passed away with every manifestation of willingness to die and be at rest,

People and Things.^

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The band organ man has only ono way to turn for a living. ,,4. .. Dr. J. C. Ayer, the pill ft'&n, had printed 8,600,0C0 almanacs for this year, in six languages.

There are twenty-two murderers in the United States under sentence to bo hanged before spring. *.*' b'

Gough is much better, and able once more to agitate his coat tails with tempestuous anecdotes.

In Goshen, Conn., "experience meetings" are held, in which visitors to the Centennial Exhibition tell what they saw.

This is the season of the year that buckwheat begins to make itself manifest, and there is no such thing as scratching it out.

It would be interesting to know just what thoughts rush through the mind of a man who sits down on a coil of hot steam pipes to rest.

Talmage's Tabernacle has twenty-five aisles, twenty-two doors and eight stairways. Talmage doesn't proprose to let his congregation be burn up in this world.

A Chicago artist has painted a picture of hell representing sinners in a lake of burning brimstone. He desires to sell it to some evangelist t3 be displayed in revival meetings.

Mr. Sankey, the evangelist, has a son Henry, who, though only about. 12 years old, is engaged in evangelical work iu Chicago, among boys—work said to be "very successful."

The Vineland Daily Journal is of opinion that if "anything can make a man homesick it is to return home after a weekortwo ofabsenc9 and find the folks away for the day or evening, and the doors and windows securely fastened.

A witty gentleman sent a "hickory" shirt to a friend as a present at his wooden wedding, but as no one saw the point of the joke, he was obliged to explain that the technical name of tbe garment was a "hickory shirt," and that hickory was a kind of wood.

You can always tell whether a buzz saw is going on or not by simply feeling of it, but it generally takes about as long to find the end of your finger as it would to have gone and asked the foreman of the shop if the thing was in mo-tion.—-[Fulton Times. -Kolfi^pina wm ijot "usecl England till 1801, and flat irons were not in vogue till 1810, and tho question bow a woman expostulated with her husband before that time has tecome a matter of great speculation and historical research.—[Norwich Bulletin.

Commodore Vanderbilt spoech-inaker. When his health was proposed at a banquet in London, he said "Gentleman, 1 have never made a fool of myself in my life, and I am not going to begin now. Here is a friend of mino (his lawyer:) he can talk all dey.'*

was no

The editor of the Kinderhook Rough Notes, remarks that "it is a pleasing sight to look out of the editorial windows and see the protty girls ot Kinderhook ride by with their 'young man,' while the sleigh bells jingle and the lovers hug—'the delusive phantom of hope.'"

One result of the hard times which five years ago any true American would have lAughed at as impossible, had it been suggested, is an emigration movement from this country. A line of omigrant ships from New York to Australia has been established and the first vessel leaves next month -with 200 passengers.

The little darkies in the South have imbibed by contact tho ideas of the white men of that section, that the chief joy of this life is to obtain a fat place. A visiting clergyman asked a tiny darkey in one of tho.

Southern schools what

bis object in acquiring an education was, and tho little fellow replied without a moment's hesitation "To git cllls."

The opera of "Esther" was announced one evening last week in a Connecticut town, and the audience assembled promptly. Before long, however, it became evident that there was trouble behind tha scenes, and the manager appeared and .announced that, "owing to the sudden indisposition," etc., the performance would be postponed. It subsequently leaked out that the gentlemen who was cast fer the role of Hagai had found his name printed Hog-ai" on the play bills and indignantly refused to appear.

The last newspaper that Commodore Vanderbilt read contained a report of tho Bonnet-May fracas, which h9 perused with great interest and he remarked upon the«(ssault, "What a pity it was a joung man should place himself in such a position." He added that when he was young and living over in Staten Island, there was constant fighting going on among tbe fellows about him, but ho made a covenant with himself never to provoke a quarrel or enter on one unless be was struck, and then he wonld defend himself.

IS1V

Feminitems.

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"Pull down the blinds" is 'verypopular, but a young lady up town, with an eye to economy, prefers that other ballad, "Turn down the lamp."

A^roman dressed herself as a boy in Richmond, V., for tho pnrpose of begging without being rccognized, and she made "such a pretty fellow that her pecuniary success with women was astonishing.

The Syracuse Sunday News thinks thero is no prescribed rule for slipping down on the sidewalk. The position to assume after you are dbwn depends in a great measure on the color of your stockings.

Many women scold at a mark, and so accurate is their *iim that they will knock all the good resolutions out of a man in three minutes, and leave him doubled up over the aching void where his manhood ought to be, like a small boy who has become tho sepulchre of a .gre^n apple.

A Brooklyn lady who had just return ed from along visit to Europe, confessed that in spite of the attractions and novelties of the Old World, there was one thing she greatly missed. On being urged to be more explicit, she at length acknowledged that she missed holding up her skirts to avoid the tobacco juk'e-

A woman has made a heroine (ft herself in Marion, Ills." She is the wife of a bank cashier, and one night robbers entered her residence, tied her to her bed, and threatened to kill her if she did not tell them where the keys of the bank were kept. She screamed boldly, and the robbers fled, after cruelly beating her to make her keep silent.

In the cou' se of his speech in the case of Mr. See, Dr. Craven said: If I believed that a decision in my favor would drive two-thirds of the women out of the Presbyterian church, I would still have done as I have done." We would have no objections to tho result so far as the women would be concerned, but what would become cf us old Adams? Tbink of that? Eve was driven out of Eden, but did she not raise Cain? and did not Adam follow her into the howling wilderness? And then our social prayer meetings—two or three old Adams to twenty or thirty meek-eyed Eves—what would become of them?—[Chicago Interior.

..iQonyiets&f.

in Fredericksburg, Mo. The woman who was matrimonially engaged to him went to St. Louis, believing that she could there do something to effect his liberation but her hope seems to have bad no sound foundation. She stayed at a hotel until all her money was gone. Then she pawned clothing until she had not enough left to keep her warm. Still refusing to leave the citv, and nearly crazed by her failure to help her lover, she crept into a lumber yard one cold night to sleep. In the morning her feet were so badly frozen that she could not walk, and she remained in the yard two days without food. A policenjan found her at last, but she will not probably recover.^. i-

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s-i,m **-f 1 ,t«

A party of converts stood at the chancel rail in a Sandusky church ready to be made members. One was a girl who had been regarded a& tho belie of the place. She interrupted the ceremony by saying that she desired to make a confession. She knew she had been looked on as a good girl, but she wasn't. She was guilty of a dreadful sin, of which she had not been even suspected. This little speech excited the curiosity of the congregation to a high degree. She then said that she had been married a year that. tho ceremony had been regularly nut privately performed and that she bad kept the fact a secret because she was not ready to forego tbe fun of going into society as an artless, unfettered maiden. The husband stepped forward and corroborated his wife's story. Thoy went to housekeeping on the following day. jr

A lady in attendance upon the trial of Itev. Mr. See for allowing a lady to talk lemperaGcefrom his pulpit was beard to say: "Oh, these doctors of divinity! these doctors of divinity! they are killing the church of Christ with their firstly and secondly and thirdly. If I was to go to ono of these doctors of divinity herein Newark and say I wanted his church to use for the glory of God and tbe conversion of souls, he would not let me havo it but if I asked forit to lecture in on Africa or the sources of the Nile, or for some theatric performance atfla ticket, he would let roe have it, if I would divide the receipts. Woman may talk of anything but tbe glory of Christ. Here Is Newark full of tbe devil and bis works, in the chnrcbes as well as without them, and. I feel like raising my voice against bim. I am not allowed to do it. Now, men are not fools if they are not professors of religion. What does tho outside world think of such things? What does tbe secular press say of such things? But it all of no use the negroes are free, and the women are going to have th& liberty."

Price Five Cents'

rr FASHIONNOTES.

L.-:

Link sleave buttons are revived.1 -^-.'« Very long polonaises grow in favor. Gauersand leggins are much worn. Enameled jewelry is very fashionable. Hair oil and pomades are out of fashion.

Street suits cling moro closely than ever. Fur-lined cleaksare worn only in carriages.

Blondes continue to frizz their light tresses. No bustles are worn in the street at this moment.

French heels are not worn in the street this winter. Turquoise jewelry still continue to be much in demand.

Brunettes wear their hair plain or in larger smooth waves. The most fashionable evening toilets are worn without bustles.

Fur trimmings aro very fashionable for the midwinter months. Narrow gold bracelets are more in favor than the heavy broad ones.

Crape is the fashionable transparent stuff for ball dressds in Paris. Bronze green is the fashionable dark color for street suit in Paris.

Dark blue waterproof skating suits are worn over cardinal red petticoats. Outer garments of all kinis for children are cut very long and with 110 full- 4 ness.

It is the fashion this winter to wear warm aud oouifortable shoes and stock-' ings.

Myrtle green, seal brown, and ink blue are still tue favorite colors for dross fabrics.

Coral and gold necklaces, of fine and delicate workmanship are the styles for ladies.

Sea brown stockings, cloaked in ribs and checks, with red or blue silk, are sougtit for.

Full dress coiffures require a great deal of false hair, curls, puffs, frizettes, and false braids.

A cynical old bachelor says that the mother who puts jewelry on her baby has begun its education for a life of folly and vice.

Woolen stockings come in tho long English shapes, iu drab colors, and are far handsomer in finish this winter than ever before. kS'/

Some of the new robes de cbambre are made of cardinal red opera flannel, trim-

med with insertion, cascades, and ruches of white Smyrnat lace. Turkish drawers of scarlet or blue flannel aro worn by ladies who suffer with the cold. They are trimmed with white embroidered or Smyrna lace ruffles.

The newest sealskin wraps reach below the knees. They are trimmed with broad bands of silver lynx, or with ailver tipped black beaver, or plain black marten.

FAJR 2f0TES.

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wiping iS^ts^if pebbl^goat^with soles ft half an inch thick and low heels, are worn by tbe most fashionable women this winter. i?T -.

Side cut kid gloves are the latest novelties. The slit is left in the outside seam in a manner tkat throws the buttons on the outside of the wrist, and ob-' viates the slit in the palm.

THE SAD ENDING OF A LIFE. [Bloomfield (Ind.) Democrat.) Charles D. Cavins, son of Colonel Aden G. Cavins one of the oldest and most respectable families of Greene county, committed suicide by banging himself in the barn on his father's farm, near Bloomfield, 011 last Sunday evening. He attempted self-destruction two weeks ago, and it was thought the mania had passed away. He graduated six yearsago at Asbury university with high honors was appointed by congressman Voorhees to West Point, where ho pass-' ed the examination, but was rejected on account of a defective eyo. Much dejected by this, ho taught school in Iowa for a while, and then studied law in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was admitted t» the bar as a member of an established firth. He applied himself with diligonce and to the entire satisfaction of his associates in business but not to himself. He seemed unsatisfied with every effort qf life, claiming, in his conversations with bis father, a few days before his death, that he lacked that "ready power in the court room so essential to success. And his sensitive? naturo yielding to melancholy, he abandoned tho practice and came home with^i broken spirit. This was intensified by "ad health, having suffered lately with dyspepsia. Ho was exemplary in his habits, a student by nature, comprehensive in mind, be was said to have been tho finest mathematician that ever graduated from Asbury.

•At their meeting Saturday the I)irec-. tors ol the Vigo Agricultural Society determined to hold the next fair the first week in September. On motion the salaries of offlcers*for the year was fixed as follows: Superintendent, $100: Secretary, $100 Treasurer, ?50.

The following officers were elected: President, H. C.Robinson Vice President, I. C. Myers Secretary, Jos. Gilbert Treasurer, P. N'ewhart.

General Superintendent, l\ R. Jeffers. Fair Ground Committee, Jeffers, Purdue, Dickout.

ASSISTANT St PKRIXT KN DKN18. Horses and Exhibition Rings—L. F„ Purdue.

Miscellaneous Hall—V. G. Dickhout. Mechanical Department—I. C. Myers. Fru.tand Flowers—IS. Heinl. Farm Products—G. W. Kruzan. Cattle, Sheep and Hogs—II. C. Robinson.

Poultry—E. Littleton. Gates and Stands—A. B. Pegg. Committee to revise premium list— Gilbert, Perdue,Scott, Dickhout, Myera.1 Heinl. .i

THE Commissioners expect within ai very short time to have Vigo county completely out of debt.