Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 8, Number 45, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 4 May 1878 — Page 1

Vol. 8.—No. 4c

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THE MAIL

A PAPER FOR THE PEOPLE.

SECOND EDITION

Town-Talk.

EDUCATIONAL NON8E2JSB.

If T. T. could have bis way he would put about three-fourths of the parents, and some school teachers, at school under a pugilist, or crack oarsman. He would not have tbem trained to box or to row, but he would have them taught a few simple principles which they are always forgetting, or never learned. The fact is that these boys and girls, by and by, must become pugilists and rowers, that is, they must "fight their way" through life, and "paddle their own canoe," and they will have enough other boxers and rowers to contend with to call out all the skill and strength which they possess or can acquire. The difficulty often is that, in training children and young people, there is not half the 89nse shown as in training for the ring or race. People are always asking "WHAT'S TDK USE? they are never going to use it." T. T. was waiting at the livery stable for his horse, aud a man was saying, "I'm going to take my boy out of suhool and put him to business. He is almost fifteen and has gone through arithmetic. He wants to study algebra and geometry, and the Lord knows what but what's the nso He'll nover use them." The other day T. T. hoard a mother saying, "I'm going to takp my children out of the school and send them to They don't get along fast enough. Instead of reading and spelling and other useful studies, they aro kept a good deal of the ttmo In learning about stones and flowers and suoh like, and hunting over the books at home to learn about somebody or something that I never beard of. For my part I want my children to learn what is useful, get along fast In their books and when tbey come home I want them to study their school books instead of rummaging all the books in tho house and everlastingly bothering me with questions. What's the Hse of that kind of study T. T. wants to say to that man—and to hundreds just like him—and to that woman who is just like hundreds of other mothers, you do not understand the very first principles of education. Qo and ask the pugilist and tho boys lu training for a boat race, why they ruu so many miles each day? why they tiro tbomselves out with dumb-bells? Why tbey waste time and strength with the pulleys. They never will use these things. People do not box or row with dumb-bell?, nor run after their opponents, nor, In boxlug, pull them up or dowu. What is the use for these fellows who are training for different things, going through the same exercises. I/ft the boxer learn to box and the rower to row. Teach them something useful, something practical.

My friend"—sporting men are blunt people—"you are a fool!" And T. T. says, amen. A fellow needs some other thingv just as much as skill at boxing or rowing. He must have wind, endurance, and whatever will increase these is useful, and other things will give this better than Uiecontiuual practioeof boxing or rowing.

Now here is the principle to govern in education. It is not simply what the boy or girl will use, but that which makes them strong mentally. Now it is true that algebra and geometry are practically useful.to only a few people, but the boy ot girl who has muttered or mistreated those bis thereby gained mental strength which will be of the greatest scrvice lu whatever pursuit they spend life. Those boys and girls who are taught to notice and learn about the flowers and the stones, and to rumage books for information, are taught habits of observation and are learning how to use the powers which they possess, and that is education. What practical use is it to a bey to be able to say

Kamtachatka is a peninsula east of Asia?" None at all. But if he has learned how to find Ksmtachatka, and can remember when it is, aad bow it is pronouueed, and, better yet, lias been made curious to know about It, and othe* places, be has been educated. Kamtschatka Is the dumb-bells with which he has practiced. Reading is not simply pronouncing the wonts. This is

Important. But these boys and girls need to be trained to use their reading, to make it a means for securing information and to be able to get thst information for themselves. This is education. School is to strengthen the mental powers and assist in, forming habits of observation and research in a word, to increase mental strength. And it does not make so much difference what is studied as how it is studied. Not one college student in ten, who graduated ten years ago, could pass an examination lor entering college to-day, and much less pass an examination in any branch pursued there. But the four years of regular studious habits, and the ability acquired to master difficult branches, are worth to him a thousand times more than any facts learned. The business man, the lawyer, the physician* the minister, the editor, all went over the same studies, and none of them make any praotical use of one branch in ten of the studies pursued there, and yet each one is better fitted for the duties of his department by means of that training. "What is the use of this study or that in school?" It is the same for the mind as running, and lifting, aud pulling, for the pugilist and oarsman. Away with this bosh about what ^"practical," and about "going faster," and have sense enough to Inquire whether powers and habits of study and observation are increased. Take a prise fighter, or a boatman, for a schoolmaster, and send the parents and some of the school teachers to school to him for a while, 3-

Topics of the Times.

THE COMING GAME,

There is a great deal of sense in Maurice Thompson's suggestion that arohery—that is, shooting with a bow and arrows—is far superior, as a game, to croquet, lawn-tennis and other like games. This is true because it requires no stooping, which compresses the vital organs together, interfering with digestion and respiration, and is especially injurious to ladies. The erect position occupied in shooting and the expansion of the chsst by the effort required to bend tho bow, are very favorable to deep respiration and the free circulation of the blood. Another advantage possessed by archery is that it develops muscular Jiower. Mr. Thompson says that "even a very weak bow will, if used constantly, soon double a lady's strength of arm and cbest, thus adding symmetry and grace to her figure, reducing tendency to corpulence and rounding out attenuated muscles." To these benefits must be added the splendid exhtliratlon of shooting with the bow. Mr. Thompson is evidently an enthusiast on the subject of archery but this is the fault of the game and not of him. The fact is it would make enthusiasts of all who cultivated it. We are satisfied that nothing could be better for the recreation of modern men and women than the revival of this ancient and honorable art, and we trust it will prove to be the coming game that shall supplant croquet and all similar characterless sportB. »-.., ,vi-

A GOOD POINT.

An old and experienced business man, speaking of the recent fiood of failures, gives it as his opinion that one of the chief causes of the trouble has been that men were trying to do business without knowing how. He declared that out of all the merchants he had known not more than one in twenty was thoroughly conversant with the details of his business. And it must be admitted that there is no small force in this statement. Men rush ir to business for themselves before they are qualified and change from one calling to auother as if no special skill or training were required for ahything. Indeed every man fancies he is a universal genius and equally capable of Celling groceries, dispensing medicines to the sick, conducting lawsuits, and carrying on a first class newspaper and all without any other experience than that which he can pick up as ho goes along. Men get tired of one thing, Imagine tbey have mistaken their calling, try something else and fail and keep on failing until hope aud courage are lost and they become unfit for anything. We will get over this foolishness by and bye and learn that thoroughness pays well for all the time required to attain it.

YE OLDEN TIME."

From tie pages of an old Tolume of law reports (Pennsylvania, about 1SOO,) we obtain a glimpse of our present system of government as it looked to certain editors of that day. One Dennis, the publisher of "The Portfolio," wus indicted for libel against the United States goverpment, the language com* plained of ranning in the foliowinf vigorous strain: "A democracy is scarcely tolerable at any period of national history. Its omens are always sinister and its powers unpreplttous. With all tho lights of experience before oar eyes, it is impossible not to discover the futility of this form of government. It was weak and wicked at Athens, it was bod in Sparta and worse in Rome. It has been tried in France aad terminated In

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despotism. It was tried in England, and rejected with the utmost loathing and abhorrence. It is on trial here, and its issues will be civil war, desolation and anarchy. No wise man bnt discerns its imperfections no good man but shudders at its miseries no honest man but proclaims its fraud and no brave man but draws bis sword against its force. The institution of a scheme of polity so radically contemptible and vicious is a memorable example of what the villainy of some men can devise, the folly of others receive, and both establish, in despite of reason, reflection and sensation."

When we remember tbat the above was published three quarters of a century ago, it is a source of considerable satisfaction to know tbat Mr. Dennie was not convicted.

SAD PICTURES.

Perhaps the saddest festure of the defalcations and embezzlements we have heard so much about of late, is the overwhelming distress brough upon the familiea of the guilty men. A touching picture of this wss given recently by a reporter. The poor wife, upon hearing the terrible news, was utterly proBtrate and hung between life and death, with grave doubts whether she would recover from the blow. The grown-up danghter a bright and hopeful girl, could npt hear the subject referred to without weeping. Sho had always had implicit confidence in her father's integrity and honor and even then it was impossible for her to realize that he had committed such a crime. "He will explain it—Ob, he will explain it all," she kept insisting, unable to believe her father had

COS^L USER A LS.

At a meeting of the Presbyterian Ministerial Asssociaticn at Pittsburg last week, a committee to whom the subject had been referred, brought in an interesting report on tho subject of extravagant funerals. It declares that the cost of funerals as ordinarily conducted has become an oppressive burden, especially to families in moderate circumstances—that the costly burial casket, the long aray of carriages, the full suits of mourning, etc., which fashion requires, form an aggregate of expense which many reluctantly submit to rather than approve. As« means of correcting the evil it recommends that the coffin or casket be not of the most oostly sort, and be conspicuous for the' absence of gaudy deooration that the funeral be private, carriages being provided for the family and near relatives only if others choose to join the procession, let it be in carriages of their own providing—and let this become the fashion through the example of those who are able to set the fashion. Let It be given out also tbat costly floral decorations are not expected. It recommends that in mourning "the unnecessary and unseemly black be discarded, especially by ladies as a summer garb, and if any badges must be worn, let tbem be simple and be soon laid aside." Funeral sermons are discouraged they should not be preached except on extraordinary occasions a brief address ought to suffice, and tbat should not be habitually laudatory, lest eulogy should come to be always expected.

These recommendations are certainly discreet aud sensible. It might bo wished that they could be adopted as the rule of funeral ceremonies, which are so often made occasions for absurd and extravagant display beyond the means of the family on whom the expense falls. There are funerals constantly to be seen in large cities which, with the attendant expenses, cost a fourth of the bereaved family's annual income, and, where the subject of the funeral is the husband and father, the expense falls severely upon the widow and children. And yet it is no easy thing to cure the evil. Fashion is not more inexorable about anything else than funerals. Indeed, the fashion of funerals, with the flowers, the casket, the carriages, the ceremonies at church, the procession to the cemetery, and the sepulture, is popular custom. Something might be done to modify it, but it is doubtful if any amount of ministerial counsel and advftb can avail to bring it within the limits proposed by tho Pittsburg Presbyterians.-

GBOBOK W. KBAKH, the father of Mrs. E, L. Norcroos, and for fifteen years a resident of this city, died at his residene«v corner of Sixth and Cherry streets,Thursdaymonfing,after along and painful illness. Quiet and unassuming in his disposition be wss respected by all who formed his acquaintance, and In his family relations was all that a busbaad aad father should bo.

TERRE HAUTE, IND., SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 4,1878.

Btolen

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sands of dollars and fled. Picture the thickness of tho gloom tbat must hang over the household of such a man when the truth first bursts upon tbem that the head of the family has suddenly become a criminal and is fleeing frosa justice with the hounds of the law hard upon bis track! And yet men do these things for their families' sake! Well it is if the extravagance of wife and daughters has not caused the pressure which led to the first false step,

A GEM.

The brightest gem in woman's crown—what Is it? The richest dowry and her sweetest charm The loadstone Ineslstlble which draws All hearts, free willing captives after her? The enchanter's wand, that spell binds to her feet, Softened to lamb the fiercest lion souls It is not youth—the fickle butterfly. It is hot beauty—the ephemeral flower, It is not wit—too oft a poUoned dart, It A3 UUb W WW vivn

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It is not riches—what are they to love? It is not power, ory, noble birth, Nor anything the world can give or take,

What is it then

I know It well, but it is,hard to say. It Is the childlike singleness of heart, The angelic purity of a virgin soul, The quwtnllke majesty of womanhood The trinity of virgin, child and matron, It is a heart where Joys of heaven dwell, With truest sympathy for all earth's woes A soul, itself as pure from sinful stain. As full of pity for her sister's failingsyV grace as modest as the violet, Yet, like the violet, shedding sweet perfume A mind alike to every lot resigned-

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These, and withal, a something undefined, And undfcflnable in mortal speech, A nameless grace that hovers round her being And veils ner as the halo does the. moon— A gem the brightest In a woman's crown

F. A. Von Moschziskeb, M. D.

People and Things.

"Yon give me such a breeze I'm taking cold," is the latest. A "rum un" says he goes for temperance—in a "measure."

There are, it is said, 40,000 Knights of -nor in this country. A colored troupe playing in Detroit calls itself the "Colored Volka.",

It is getting dangerous now for a man to express his opinion upon his daughter's love affairs.

Bob Ingersoll is a rhetorical sky rocket and his flights are as wild as tbey are bright and noisy.—Boston Herald.

An eastern clothier cordially invites people from the country to visit the Moody aud Sankey revival and his Btore. V1

A fashionable ohurch congregation In Bryan, Ohio, was sued by a sinner for influencing his wife to desert her home. He claimed $2,500 as damages, and got it.

The hotel waiters at Saratoga have struck against the reduction from $25 to $20 a month. They say tbat.the cuBtom of "greasing" has become a thing of the past aBd tbey want full pay. "Drop a postal card," a Philadelphia firm advertises, "and we will send a salesman or saleswomsn to your residence with a fine lot of shoes as samples, who will take your measure If desired."

Commodore Vanderbilt once visited a spiritual medium, who commenced business by saying: "Your first wife wishes to communicate with you." "Perhaps so," said the commodore, "but that is not what I came here, lor. She can wait." J!

The phonograph may bottle up the voice and pass it down to future ages, but the smile that twists up the face of a man as he seeks solitude and gazes upon his name in print for the first time will always have to be guessed at.—Cincinnati Breakfast Table. ',

A lawyer in a Keokuk court room disagreed with his colleagues as to the management of a case. He stood up, had an officer bring him a glass of water and then, with much dignity, washed his hands, saying, "Your Honor will please bear witness tbat I wash my bands of this affair."

The president of the American Philological society wants one of my improved phonographs to preserve the accents of the Onondagas and Tuscaroras, who are dying out. One old man speaks the language fluently and oorrectly, and he is afraid he will die. The phonograph will preserve the exact pronunciation.— Edison.

Says a German paper: In Frankfort, Wiesbaden, Bingen, and Dillenburg, societies have been formed for abolishing the prevailing custom of removing the hst as a sign of greeting. Such a Bowing Society was organized the previous year in Frankfort, in the hall of the Erlanger Hof. It consists of five superior officers, whose terms of office last but a quarter of a year, and has already many members. The Reform meets with general favor. The fashion of not merely lifting, but removing the bat entirely from the head when meeting an acquaintance on the street, whether gentleman or lady, and without regard to season or weather, is considered not only absurd bat burdensome and unhealthy.

A writer signing "Married and Done For' in the London Field, writes apropos of comments in tbat paper on the costliness of social life In the present day: "In tbe district in which I reside, what are called Cinderella parties wow started last winter and area great sueoeos. They are called Cinderella parties because they break up at midnight, bnt this is not their only merit* A nnmber of heads of families sgroe to have a party in tarn at their own houses, and all ^rho belong to the association are invited, with tbeir SOBS and daughters, tbe hostess inviting aa many outsiders aa she plnssns It is a rate tbat tbe

party should begin at 6 and end at 12. Another rale is that dress be simple and there be no elaborate set down supper."

A young woman got on a railroad train at Morrison« His., st midnight. It was observed that while most of the other passengers were sleeping soundly, she sat upright and open eyed. At De Kalb, the Rev. G. W. Carr, a Methodist minister, entered the same car, greeted the young woman cordially, and took a seat by her side. The conductor says they conversed awhile vivaciously, tbat they soon crowded closer together than the width of the aeat necessitated, that she rested her head on his shouler, tbat his arm encircled her, and that be kissed her eleven times before the train arrived in Chicago. The first two kisses were on her forehead, the third and fourth on the cheeks, and the rest on the lips. An account of this ride reached the Rev. Carr's congregation, and caused a great deai of comment bnt it seems that on tbat occasion bo popped the matrimonial question, and tbat tbe kissing only followed tbe young woman's "Yes." So there was nothing wicked in bis conduct, although the time and place were not well chosen. vi

Feminitems.

Noah Webster defines a bonnet as "a covering for tbe head of a female.'* Oh, Noah!

You can tell by the way a woman brushes off her husband's coat collar whether she loves him or not.

Mrs. Tilton sent the first copy of her confession to her daughter in Germany. Nice missive for the young girl.

A marked feature about new bonnets is tbe absence of all hanging draperies they are made to look as compact as

The New Orleans Picayune insinuates that Lot's wife looked bsck because there was a woman behind her with anew bonnet on.

A female physician and clairvoyant in New York advertises to "mend ladies' hearts after they have undergone a severe affliction."

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A woman in New York was fined $10 by a justice, for being drunk, and she threw a pound of coffee at his head. He added six months to the sentence.

At 20 a woman searches for tbe trailing arbutus. At 25 she is after horseradish. At 30 she digs roots for the blood. Suqh is gentle spring in the various stages of the feminine life. "Don't you think," said a husband, in A mild form of rebuke, to his wife, "that women are possessed by tbe devil "Yes," wss the answer, "as soon as they are married."

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Jennie June says a fashionable bonnet can be had for a dollar and a half. And so it can. It is the from six to twenty dollars' worth of trimming tbat strikes tbe pocket book in a sore spot.

Tbe Rev. Mrs. Van Cott wants somebody to "stand on the battlements of hell snd shake her glorified white robes at old Satan." Wbyh you dear old girl, Satan isn't afraid of an empty nightgown.

It is really the fact that jaunty English girls are now raising the bat by way of acknowledging a bow, tbe aame as the gentlemen do. The hat need is the little round felt Oxford, which looks well on top of a pretty young face.

When horrid men lecture, they rarely allude to women except in the moat graceful and agreeable terms. "When women take the platform,'! says the Dayton Joarnal, "they almost universally scold men." What's tbe reason

Mrs. Congressman Blackburn has tbe smallest and prettiest feet in Washington for her size. Mme. Catacazy and Mrs. Belknsp were famous for the possession of pretty feet, bat Mrs. Blackburn, a larger woman than either, wears number one shoes.

The Cincinnati Commercial speaks spprovingly of a young lady in that city who calmly looked over the bill of fare and then, ignoring all creams, custards, meat pies and mixed messes, quietly ordered—brown bread and batter and onions. Sbe is from Ohio.

A Savannah, Georgia, man pursued his eloping danghter, and found her in a hotel with her new husband. She was of sge, and therefore bo could not force her to return borne bnt bo waa the lawful owner of her clothing, and be compelled her to go to his room and take off every shred of it. Then bo went back to Savannah with a large bundle trader his srm, and the women in tbe bote! contributed something for the bride to wear.

THE ANNUAL FOOT-BAGB. Bnrlington Hawkey*. The United States army is going info training for tbe regular annual foot race with tbe Indiana. The pools are selling about three to one in faror of the Indians.

A TIMFUUNCI meeting—« grand rally—-will be held at Dowling Hall tonight, with good made and interesting speakers.

Price Five Cents

Home and Society5

SUGGESTIONS ABOUT SPRING SEWING

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF OLD GAR-r

MXNTB.

With the spring cleaning, and scarcely less to' be dreaded, comes the spring sewing with its twisting and turning of' old garments. "If one only had money to go and buy new," sighs the careful mother as she takes out one article after another from the cbest where they have been laid away, and puzzles her brain as to the best disposition of each remembering tbat "a penny saved is a penny gained."

Thanks to the present fashion of suits, it is rarely the case that last year's dresses may not be made available for this, by remodeling and adding new material. Ifnothing else ean be done with it, the whole drees may be turned illto the skirt, and pleatings and puffings do not show pieclngs! The oldest black silk, sponged and darned, may serve as a foundation for the new grenadine which is to be tbe church and street suit for the season papa's light overooat, too short for the fashion, sent to the dyer's can be remade into an overooat for Jamie, and thus the prudent mother makes every edge cut, and saves her husband's pocket these hard times. ,71^.

Pure woolen goods can be washed as easily as cotton, and if treated after the manner of flannels—washed in lukewarm water and ironed while damp, will be no worse for the cleaning. Black goods—alpacas, cashmeres, or merinosshould be rinsed, after washing, in indigo water, "deeply, darkly, desperately blue," in order to give the blue blaok tinge so desirable and counteract the brownish or reddish blue which comes to blaok from wearing. Spirits of ammonia will always restore oolor taken out by an acid. Diluted with water—a cupful of water to a teaspoonful of am* monia—it will be found excellent for sponging blaek cloth of any kind. The glutinous preparation made by boiling an old black kid glove in a pint of water, until the water is reduced one-half, will restore to old blaok silks the body" they have lost,, without rendering the fabric stiff. Potato water, i. e., the water in which Irish potatoes bave been boiled after peeling, is also useful in renovating blaok silks and cashmeres.

For black laces, borax water is used to redeem tbem from the limpness which long wear produces, and the indigo water, already described, to restore tbeir color. Borax water, or else a weak solution of sugar ot lead, serves to set the oolor of blue, or anything else wbioh is apt to fade. The scourers and dyers, nowadays, do their work so beautifully that if the material be really good it pays to have it cleaned or dyed and in view of this it is economy to bay a good article at first. Pure wool, forinstanoe, may be cleaned and dyed again and again, and will look well to the last while the cheaper cotton mixture, its freshness once departed, is a hopeless oase.^^^'-^.--

It Is an excellent plan to keep a bandbox in which to throw all scraps of ribbon, laces, feathers, flowers, and velvets. Ribbons (all silk) dye well ostrich feathers can be recurled and look good as new and velvet can be steamed to restore its besuty. Mixed goods never dye Well, and no dyer will warrant them. Even Irish poplin rarely passes unscathed through the vat—It is apt to streak, and it always shrinks. Stripes and plaids also dye unevenly and show their originsl figures through (heir new color. Still they may be made of use as foundations for new dresses.

In making calicoes, remember the wasbtub, and don't overtrim tbem. Flat trimmings, bands, pipings, borders and sosnt gathered flounces sre their legitimate trimmings. Tbe ribbons and fringes and many pleatings seen on ginghams and percales may be pret#y, but are wholly out of place.

Children grow dlscoursgingly fast, and in the present cut of their garments it is difficult to allow for letting down and out. It will be found a good plan to make girls' dresses very long wtisted—with deep hems sad floanees set up on the dress this will permit lengthening.

Boys' troaseis can be made longer fejr yokes set on at top. In patching knees, rip the sesms of tbe leg and pnt apiece impressing the seam across it will show less than a regular patch. So, also, with the seats ripping snd pleeing is uore satisfactory tban mending in any other way. Apropos of boys' psnts, we called on a clever friend of oars Cbe other day, and she had her boy's knees done up in protectors like those weaa by carpet men in putting down earpets, She had taken stout pieces or cloth, stitched them together, and sewed on strings of skirt braid. These sbe bad tied on the youngster. "Now," sbe said, "yon see be can erawl on his knees as mach as be likes and not rub out either bis stockings or treason, and I won't bare holes to mend!"

btudtfob an artist. Jfew Orleans limes. If yon want tosse a rare combination of grace, ease andmaieety, watch tbe laskleai corporation laborer I 1 gutter, 1