THE- PITTSBTXRQ-' DISPATCH1 -SUNDAY. . JAOTTARY 27, . 1885.
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CURA BELLE'S CHAT.
Pen Picture of Sallie Hargous, Goth
am's Proud Queen of Beauty.
THE FOUR HUNDRED'S NEW CAPER.
A Kew Dish That Tickles the Palate of
Society at Midnight.
PEETTI BABIES FOUND IN WASHINGTON
rCORRESrOKDENXE or Till DISPATCH.!
EW YORK, January
26. You are bound to
read a great deal about
Sallie Hargous in the
next year or two, and it
is therefore just as well
that you should know,
right now, what she is.
There is a competition
every winter In this city among the girl re
cruits of "our best society" as to which
shall be crowned queen of beauty. The
rivalry usually lasts until the middle of
January as it has in the present instance.
by which time a decision is reached as to
which'of the debutantes is loveliest to view.
Her mental qualities have nothing to do
with it, but chance must have placed her
within the limits of this particular pre
tentious circle, and for the rest she depends
for success entirely upon personal beauty.
Even influential promotion by an Astor or
Vanderlilt matron has no great effect
Some of the queens of beauty in past years
have beeu comparatively poor girls, and
quite unknown iu Kew York prior to their
competitive advent Such was the case
with Lillie Price, who married a million in
becoming Mrs. Hammersley, and now
is so famously a duchess through
wedlock with the Duke of Marlborough,
liillie was brought to Hew York from Troy
by Mrs. Burden, who had resided in that
city, and who counted correctly upon the
fair Trojan makinga success in the metropo
lis. Early this winter the rumor went
around that candidates for the throne were
to be brought from Baltimore and Hartford,
and the human exhibits Irom those cities
were brought to the first Delmonico ball
after the holidays. MUs Frick was Balti
more's production, and she was put forward
by Mrs. Edward Cooper, while Hartford's
representative was Miss Beach, chaperoned
bvMrs. Cornelius Vanderhilt. Both were
beautiful indeed. Miss FncK had bright
brown hair and still more brilliant brown
etes, and her regular features were midway
between brunette and blonde, while a tall,
elegant figure gave distinctionto her pres
ence. Miss Beach was a decided blonde,
rather too small of stature for queeniiuess,
but very shapely, and an exponent of polite
American vivacity.
The contest was about even bet ween Balti
more and Hartiord, but it turned out that
there was r.o necessity of deciding the ques
tion of supremacy between them, for a Is ew
York girl beats them both, and we are rather
proud of it here, because it was getting to
be thought that we had to import our super
lative beauties lrom smaller cities. To
Sallie Hargous was bv common consent
awarded the crown. "When the matter was
definitely settled her brother gave an
elaborate ball in honor of her victory and
it was as big and fine as any of the "society"
assemblages at Delmonico's, costing no end
of dollars, but effectively emphasing ijiss
Hargous' enthronement So much admira
tion and enthusiasm as she has provoked
might easily turn the head of any girl, but
as yet she manages to be unaffected and
simple in manner. She is an American of
Ireuch extraction, ana possesses that pecu
liar chic that foreign blood sometimes im
parts to our New Yorkers. She has a dis
tinct personality, notwithstanding that she
is small in physique, and in her mannerisms
.and speech she is just odd enough to be
piquant while stopping safely short of ec
centricity. She is a brunette, with plenty
of almost black hair, which she wears often
est in a Spanish style, while mauve,, gold,
white and silver are chief components in
her toilets. Isow you know enough about
Sallie Hargous to feel tolerably well ac
quainted with her when you see her name
Irom time to time in print
It would be a mistake to derive from that
account of Miss Hargous and other debu
tantes the Idea that the older belles, mar
ried and single, btep aside to make way for
new beauty. A number of the young wives
are really at the Iront, by a combiiled reason
of good looks, experience and asscred posi
tion. Just now these ladies are venturing,
safely enough and yet remarkably, into
places quite lorbidden to their unmarried
sisters. For instance, on Lexington avenue
there is a quiet looking restaurant Well,
in Hew York there are a good many quiet
looking restaurants, but this one is peculiar.
On several different occasions I observed
this place to be a favorite resort of a very
fashionable appearing people. Elegant
carriages were wont to drive up to the door,
and irom them invariably alighted a man
and woman. The woman was in every in
stance closely veiled. After seeing about
four different couples arrive at the restaur
rant in this style, I made up my mind that
the cuisine must be of an exceptionally fine
degree of excellence, and it might be a good
idea to drop in there some day to dine. I
went there with a friend n few days later.
We sat at the window where we could look
out at the arrivals. Though several men
and women came while we were there, I
noticed that none of them entered the large
dining room where we sat There was
something mysterious about this place, cer
tainly. After dinner 1 met an acquaint
ance coming up the sidewalk, and stopped
him. I inquired about the queer little
restaurant.
"Why that place," he said, with some
show of contempt for my ignorance, "is
patronized by the Four Hundred. It is
quiet; that's enough."
The next day I spoke of the place to one
of those block fellow? that look to well in at
Delmonico's, and seem to know so very
much about everything interesting. He
laughed, in his Uredwav, and assured me
that his set couldn't get along without that
charming retreat
Perhaps it is not amiss to hint somewhat
delicately about this Lexington avenue
restaurant. There are innocent people who
like to avoid anything indefinite. It can
he easily seen that this is indefinite. But
to make the truthlul point at which I have
bceiianimiug, I must add that the premises
described haye lor years been quietly
notorious, il such a contradictory phrase
may be permitted, xnat is to say, it was a
place into which no selt-respectiug woman,
knowing its character, would think of
venturing. "But the desire of our married
hellcs for piquancy in life has led them to
go there lor the sake of novelty. They are
invariably accompanied by their husbands,
however, and their intention is no more
wicked' than to eat a good and exquisite
French supper, drink some wine and inno
cently go through with the form of an
escapade. The amusement is new and
harmless.
There is a new dish at our most fashiona
ble restaurant and all the girls are in
raptures over it With a sip of wine
nothing approaches it for a midnight
morsel, and it is rapidly superceding the
attractions of the deviled crab and the
Welch rarebit It is really a mixture of
both, awl its name is "Canape Lorenzo." A
perfect blending of deviled crab meat and
cheese is fairly msed upon a delicate bitof
fried bread. This is evidently put in an
oven and baked to a rich condition of
hrowntiess, and when it comes forth there is
an actually musical tone to the arrange
ment It looks like a poem and tastes
somewhat similar to the odor of crushed
roseleaves. There is a great run on the
dish Ju now, and it is to be copyrighted,
so I am informed, at the earliest opportu
nity. Canape Lorenzo, remember. A bite,
a sip, and the air is full of 'rainbows and
the song of birds.
I spent part of the week in Washington,
and there raw some babies worth mention
ing on account of their mammas. The
youngest baby of society is a wee bit of a
boy, who opened his big black eyes on this
mundane sphere of ours just three weeks
ago. He is the fifth child and second son
ot General Greely, and has come with new
ideas and advanced opinions to help his
father adjust the weather. As yet he is
nameless, but General Greely strongly
favors the name of Henry, which is the mas
culine of Mr. Greelv's name. The senior
by a few weeks of baby Greely is the first
born of Senor and Senorita Pcdrosa, of the
Spanish legation. Madame Pedrosa was
Miss Camille Bergmanns, only daughter of
Mrs. Lawton, whose reign in Washington
has been a long and brilljant one. Miss
Bergmanns made her debut during the Ar
thur administration, a pretty, graceful girl,
petite like her mother, vith cultivated and
winning manners that made everybody love
her and loyal Americans a little jealous
when her union to the handsome foreigner
was announced, but now that the little
stranger who has come to bless their home
has been born on American soil, it will go
to cement the Iriendship that everyone has
for the Spanish Secretary. The little Ped
rosa has dark eyes, like his father, and a
pudgy nose which will in time assume aris
tocratic lines, for both father and mother
have good regular featnres.
Vinnie Beam Hoxie, who was such a con
spicuous figure in Washington at one time,
and whose work remains an everlasting
monument to her talent, industry and pa
tience, has been visiting the capital on her
way to her husband's station, and has had
with her the little Hoxie who was the hero
ot many newspaper paragraphs at his birth.
The little man looks no more like his soldier
papa than his artist mamma, who kneels
down and worships him with the same fer
vor with which she used to worship the
goddess of art The four little Sheridans,
still under the gloom of their father's death,
are pathrtic little objects and people speak
of and to them with moistened eyes. There
are no prettier little people in Washington
than the children of the great general, and
they all possess the soft grace and sweetness
of their mother, except perhaps Master Phil,
the voungest and tne only boy, who is as
sturdy and determined as ever was his illus
trious father, and hardly appreciates the
terrible loss he has sustained. A neighbor
of the little Sheridans is Lidie Bak, the 7-year-old
granddaughter of Mrs. H. M.
Hutchinson, a grave little lady with big
blue eyes, which look as if they possessed
knowledge of all things. She, too, is rich
in coil babies, black and white, and a sepa
rate room in her grandmother's big house is
put apart for their dollships' use. Her
chief delight is a big, black rag baby,
"Dinah," who hails Irom South Carolina.
On bright, sunny days, especially in
early spring, the parks are filled with the
blight laces of children, in gay wrappings,
attended by dusky nursery maids, in the
regulation white cap and long apron, which
is the uniform adopted here, Ihough an oc
casional French bonne wears the tiny mus
lin cap with long streamers of wide "ribbon,
which is so familiar to thofe who know the
Champs Elysee. Paris is the paradise of
children as well as Americans, with its
lovely parks and many breathing spaces,
and Washington should be, lor there is no
city in the world where there are so many
lovely parks, so many playgrounds and
breathing spaces for the little ones.
In naval circles is the 4-months-old son of
Lieutenant Beamy who, during his father's
detail at the Samoan Islands, is his mother's
orily defender and protector. He is a
round-faced, round-eyed little man, and
looks out on this great world he has come to
with an astonished gaze. The onlv other
official baby just at present is Miss Frances
Folsom Lament, which poor little maiden
has become acquainted with the ills of life
all too soon, as she is just convalescing
from a severe attack of congestion of the
lungs, which has kept her mother a prison
er, much to the regret of society, where the
wife of the President's Private Secretary
has a warm place. Little Frances is a very
pretty baby, and all those who have been
fortunate to have held the little toddlekios
in their arms are regretting the sorry intro
duction she has had to life, and hope her
convalescence will bring sunnier times.
Little Dorothy Whitney, with face as white
as milk, cheeks like roses, and mouth such
a dear little red, curved thing and big
wondering eyes, looking out from a furry
hood, make's a picturesque little figure
trudging along by her tidy nurse when the
days are 'warm and sunny. There is no
daintier little scrap of humanity in exist
ence than the youngest daughter of the Sec
retary ot the Navy, in the exquisite little
gowns appropriate to her quaint name. Her
nurserv is like fairyland, with its soft lace
and ribbons, and its inhabitants dolls of
every age, invention and description, from
babies in long clothes to chattering misses
furred and hooded lor the street
A nursery which rivals that of wee Doro
thy is little Martha Cameron's, with its
lovely crib, its pretty pictures, stacks ol
books which contain wonderlul stories, and
an army of dolls, supplied by mamma's
kindness and admiring friends. The Cam
erons live in the old Dyle Taylor mansion,
opposite Lafayette square, and here little
Martha finds a lovely playground, where
she spends all the fine mornings, with a del
egation of dolls for company, which she
guards as jealously as she is guarded by the
trim maid. There is a French gonvernante
in the Cameron household, so that little
Martha will learn both languages at the
same time, and gain an accent which never
comes in after years, no matter how hard one
may study. There is a striking resemblance
between the baby Cameron and her beauti
ful mother, an expression about the eyes and
mouth which fixes at once the relationship.
Most Washington mammas prefer English
modes, with the quaint long coats and big
picturesque hats, to the more ordinary styles
of the Paris modiste, and both little Martha
Cameron and Dorothy Whitney are dressed
this way, looking as if they had just stepped
forth from one of Kate Greenaway's pages.
Clara Belle.
Beautiful Encrnvlng Free.
"Will They Consent?" is a magnifi
cent engraving, 19x21 inches. It is an
exact copy of an or ginal painting by Kwall,
which was sold fa 55,000.
This elegant engraving represents a young
lady standing in a beautilul room, sur
rounded by all that is luxurious, near a
half-open door, while the young man, her
lover, is seen in an adjoining room asking
the consent of her parents for their daughter
in marriage. It must be seen to be appre
ciated. This costly engraving will be given away
tree, to every person purchasing a small
box of Wax Starch.
This starch is something entirelyWew.and
is without a doubt the greatest "starch in
vention of the nineteenth century fat least
everybody says so that has uj.ed it). It
supersedes everything heretofore used or
known to science in the laundry art Un
like any other starch, as it is made with
pure white wax. It is the first and only
starch in the world that makes ironing
easy and restores old summer dresses and
skirts to their natural whiteness, and im
parts to linen a beautiful and lasting finish
as when new.
Try it and be convinced of the whole
truth.
Ask for Wax Starch and obtain this
engraving free.
The Wax Starch Co.,
Keokuk, Iowa.
Persons intending to,et portraits will
make no mistake in leaving their orders
with B. L. H. Dabbs. He has had great
experience and his judgment'anrl good taste
are of great value in'portraiture.
Milk BrcndXendn.
Marvin's milk bread is as near perfection
as can be attained. Try it and be con
vinced. Blood diseases cured free of charge at
1102 Carson street, Southside
Go to Hauch's for diamonds; lowest prices.
295 Fifth aye. wrsu
HOW TO GET ALONG.
Speculative Methods of the Rich and
the Poor Nowadays. ,
BUILDING ASSOCIATIONS IMPROVED
Prepaid Policies Drawing Dividends the
Same as Bank Certificates.
WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH OUR SUBPLUS
rWEITTIS FOB THE DISPATCn.l
ttttlNG the last
Presidental cam
paign the question
which conironted
both parties and
which was fairly met
by neither was
"What shall we do
with a constantly
growing surplus?''
The same question in
various forms con.
fronts daily and
weekly alike the div
idend drawer, the
coupon clipper and the vast army of bread
winners who constitute the bulk -of the
membership in our building associations
and depositors in our banks. The pressing
question for each accumulator is what to do
with the accumulations.- "Savings" banks
which do not "save" seem to have lost
their charms for the middle classes,
and with their experience 'with the Penn
Bank, the Nation Trust Company, and now
the Southside Savings Bank, it is no wonder
they have come to be considered as "traps
for the unwary." On the other hand Build
ing and Loan Associations seem to have
largely taken the place formerly occupied
by these banks, and combining rafety and
economical management, seem to offer the
best mode of investment for people in mod
erate circumstances, with regular earnings.
Against building associations I have not a
word to say, except to better their condition.
I recognize that but for these associations
thousands of worthy citizens who now own
their homes would still be rent-payers.
While they have been thus beneficial in the
past they are not beyond improvement, and
in this respect Pittsburg is hardly keeping
pace with its sister cities East and West
The capitalist ordinarily needs no advice as
to what to do with his "surplus." They are
usually wide awake to all the later and im
proved methods 'of dollar culture. But to
the "home getters" and nickel savers of the
future, I have a few suggestions to make
in unembellished English, which may be
found worthy o candid consideration.
THE GREAT ECONOMIC PROBLEM.
In a certain sense whether it be the Lib
erty street merchant buying coffee for a rise,
the stock speculator who buys "lutures,"
the SI 50 a day laborer who buys a 500 lot
in the suburb', or the average toiler who in
vests in a building association they are all
speculators, playing their cards in a more or
less safe and intelligent fashion for an en
hancement of values and a rising market
The great economic problem, therefore, is
how to "catch on."
The non-borrower in a building associ-i-tiou
has a comparatively nice thing. He
could not get over 4 per cent in a sayings
bank, where the savings aud .principal
might be nil, while in the building associa
tion he gets say 10 per cent on an average.
On the other hand, the borrower is not so
happy. The "wisdom of the ages" tells I
t,e l,of !, 4t,.f habii n Kavmh.! .. i
goes a sorrowing." When the building
association borrower first gets his loan
and is snugly installed in his new home
purchased by bis loan, he is content to pay
interest, premiums, etc., without a thought,
but as the years roll by, and he finds that he
has been paying the principal back for 7 or
8 years, and finds the interest cancer still
eating on the original amount, most of it
long since paid, he begins to think that
while he has done well he might have done
better, and, that after all, there may be a
tyrannical Shylock somewhere in this "mn
tual benefit" wood pile. He argues to
himself: "This looks like giving something
for nothing paying interestlora principal I
haye long since returned." It is true he
gets a final dividend from these extra pay
ment's, but the paying of interest on a prin
cipal that he has long since parted with
strikes him as an anomoly that should not
exist; that he is paying too high for his
whistle and hence the suggestion: "Can he
do better?" Without accepting the bor
rower's plan at par, I shall try to answer his
inquiry by showing how the wage workers
are meeting this issue elsewhere.
THE PREPAID STOCK FEATURE.
In the East and West small investors are
learning to do things differently from our
Pittsburg method. The "wild and wooly"
West is supposed to be peopled mainly with
"greenhorns," but they have improvements
out there in building associations as well as
iu mowers and reapers. What is known as
prepaid stock is a feature in many of these
Western building associations. This stock
is divided into two classes.
In one $50 cash in advance is accepted in
lieu of ali installments and a certificate of
prepaid stock is issned good for $100 at
maturity. These shares mature when the
550 paid in and the pro rata share of profits
were equal lo flOO.
In the other class $65 in cash is paid in
advance, and it is accepted in lieu of all in
stallments, and a prepaid stock certificate is
issued, attached to which are "partial divi
dend coupons" equal to interest on the
cost at 6 per cent per annum payable semi
annually. These certificates a't maturity
are cashed at $100, and tbey mature when
the S65 paid in and the pro rata of profit
above the 6 per cent coupons equals 5100.
As at present conducted this stock matures
in seven and a halt years. Taking this as
the time when the shares mature the profit
to the investor who owns say ten shares will
be:
Matured value SL000
Total installments paid 585
Profit in 7 years 5 415
This apparently gives 415 as the earn
ings of $585 lor a period of 74 years, but
since the $585 has been paid in installments
the average sum which has been earning
pronts ior ine,wnoje time is one-halt ot J585,
or 293 50, which is really the amount that
has earned 415 in 1" years, or at the rate
of over 17 per cent per annum simple in
terest .The ordinary savings bank in Pittsburg,
except where the private fortune of the
owners is a guarantee, has ceased to be safe.
The best of these banks will not pay 5 per
cent interest, while building associations on
this plan, while perfectly safe, yield a com
parative profit thus:
10 shares weekly payments $1 50,' 10
years' pront $415 00
Same payments at 6 per cent compounded
in savings bank 121 86
. Net gain of B. A plan over 5 p. cbank
interest $293 15
These figures do not lie and tell their own
story.
This kind of investment is attractive to
the moderate capitalist and $0 trustees, as
well as the wage earners, as the prepaid
stock yields a semi-annual income and gives
besides a share in the profits in excess of 6
per cent on the cost It is thus safer than
tank stock, and pays better dividends.
Then the flexibility of this sort of stock and
the ease with which it can be turned into
prompt cash through the association itselr,
without hunting up a buyer, makes it spe
cially desirable. The stock loans in Pitts
burg building associations are based on this
principle.
INSTALLMENT MORTGAGES.
On the other hand, tne plan which is find
ing most favor in the East, and in many
places supplanting building associations, is
what is known as the "installment mort
gage plan" by trust companies. Its, ad
vantages over the building and loan asso
ciations are briefly stated thus:
First Each Installment reduces the debt
Second Interest is paid only on amount due,
and is reduced as the principal Is paid off.
Tnlrd No premiums are paid ou the loan.
Fourth Tbere are no fines or penalties.
Fifth The borrower pays no part of the ex
penses of the company.
Sixth The borrower loses nothing by any
loss,defalcation or failure of the company or its
officers.
Seventh Sums as small as $5 per month can
be made to produce 0 per cent interest, the
company becoming virtually a savings bank,
allowing Interest without possibility of failure
affecting the borrowers, and with the amount
or deposit only limited by the amount ot loan.
Eigbtli If sayings accumulate more quickly
than expected, the company will receive more
than the stipulated amount, thus enabling the
mortgage to be paid off without waiting for it
to become doe.
Ninth The borrower's money paid to the
company can never be lost; the deutls reduced
by every dollar paid. He enters into no joint
stock speculation, and whether the company
makes or loses is a matter of indifference to
him.
The saving of interest on this plan may
be formulated thus:
On a $1,200 mortgage at 5 per cent Interest
the Interest iu ten years amounts to $600
AncTthe whole mortgage is still due.
On a mortgago of $1,200 where an install
ment of 310 per mouth is paid with 6 per
cent interest the interest paid is $363
Showing a saving of 1237
And the mortgage has been paid in full.
ANOTHER VIEW OF IT.
Or taking another view of it Let $10 be
deposited each mouth in a saving fund at
3 per cent interest, compounded .annually,
the interest in ten years amounts to $197 97.
Deduct this from $600, the interest in the
same time paid on a mortgage at 5 per
cent, leaves $402 03, or?39 03 more than is
paid on an installment mortgage.
On this plan money is loaned on a 70 per
cent valuation, payable in 120 equal
monthly installments,' aud any installment
can be paid in advance and the interest re
duced accordingly.
That such a plan has advantages over or
dinary banks or loan institutions must be
apparent to the dullest observer.
A working man vlio earns $1 50 a day
hardly ever gets rich, but if by saving and
management, which means often more than
saving, he accumulates capital which earns
another $1 50 a day, he has doubled his
wages. He has the income of two working
men. He has a "silent partner,'' who can
not ekip off to Canada and smile at extradi
tion laws, as the festive and fugitive savings
bank cashier at present, not unfrequently
does.
As stated in my inaugural these remarks
are intended for common "linsey woolsey"
people. The man with a "bar!" can ordin
arily do better than the present building
associations can do for him. How much
better they can do may be illustrated by re
cent very pertinent citation. In the note
book of a Fourth avenue broker his name
might be Long or Short for that matter
may be found an entry of less than six
months since of "Citizens' Traction 12." I
happen to knowa party who purchased 1,000
shares at that time, and he did it in this
wise. He did not have 42,000. but he had
10,000, and he put that up 10 per share
for the 1,000 shares.
Time wore on. Likewise Traction stock,
and lo ! it went a few weeks ago up to 85,
and the account stood on settlement thus:
LOOO shares Citizens Traction, $10 per
share, at 42 510,000
6 per cent interest on $32,000, balance for
six months 960
1,000 shares Citizens' Traction at 85.,
Less cost
..SS5.000
.. 10.960
Net gain S74,(H0
No wonder that all the city brokers are
loaded with orders to buy "Citizens' Trac
tion" at 75. But everybody cannot have
even 10,000 at call, and most of us are like
Nicholas Longworth,tW Cincinnati million
aire, who tells of the time when he was
offered the site of the present city ot Cin
cinnati for a fiddle, but he didn't have the
fiddle. James W. Bbeen.
Boss Township, January 26.
SOUTHERN INDDSrEIES
Increasing and Will Soon Competo With
Northern illnnufnctures.
correspondence op the dispatch.
Aiken, S. C, January 25. South Car
olina is waking up in the matter of manu
factures, and for that matter the whole
South is doing likewise, as would appear.
In Chester plow stocks are being manulact
ured at the rate of 600 or 800 a week. All
of these used to come from the North. Fer
tilizing distributors and machines for
planting cotton are also being manufact
ured on a large scale. Washboards made
of sweet gum wood are being made with al
most incredible rapidity. Labor here is
cheaper than in the North; it therefore
does not require much of a prophet to show
that many of the manufacturers ot the" North
will have some very extensive competition
after a while, beside losing their Southern
market for such commodities.
But with all this growing activity there is
no talk of adopting the principles of protec
tion. The people here are too firmly rooted
and grounded in the belief that the tariff is
a tax which benefits the few at the expense
of the many. Free trade is taught in even
the college at Berea, which was established
by an Abolitionist for he benefit of the col
ored people especially, and which admits
both blacks and whites with the idea of
solving the race problem by educating the
youth of both races together. This experi
ment, by the way, has been pronounced a
failure, since only ten whites are in the col
lege of 200 students, and these keep so re
ligiously by themselves in every way that
much trouble has been caused. The faculty
as might be supposed, sided with the blacks,
which decision, it is thought, will result in'
not a single white pupil remaining beyond
the term. These matters of opinion and
prejudice cannot be rooted up by force.
Persecution only serves to build the bar
riers higher. What the South needs is time
and education. 8
.That large effort is being made as to th?
latter is shown by the greatly increased
grants of money from the State Legislatures
lor lree schools. That these, in result, will
advance the material interests of the South
in many ways can hardly be doubted. They
will also go, largely to an elucidation of the
vexing Southern problems. But even as to
the schools already established some of the
colored ltlks have serious objections. They
have high notions as to what is proper and
desirable tor their children in the line of
education. We were told by the colored
laundress the other day that she did not
permit her bright little girl to go to "them
commin,schools where chillun learned more
bad nor good," but she had her instructed
at home by "a private pusson."
Bessie Bramble.
s .
Look nt This.
We will offer for to-morrow only from 8
A. M. until 6 P. M., 460 English melton
men's overcoats, in three shades, medium
weights, suitable for this season of the year,
for the,paltrysum of $0. 3, 3, 3. This
coat is worth from 12 to 15 of any man's
money. The reason we do this iswe can't
stand dull times, and to make things lively
for to-morrow we make this grand offer.
Bemember this offer only holds good until
to-morrow eve. P. C. C. C
Cot Grant and Diamond sts., opp. the'
new uourt uonse.
Sample Free.
Ask your grocer for Electric Paste .Stove
Polish. No dust or dirt when using. Try it.
Free! Free! Free!
If you are sick, do not despair. Call and
be cured, free of charge, at No. 1102 Carson
street, Southside.
Cash paid for old gold and silver at
Hauch's, No. 295 Fifth ave yFSu
The photographs made by Dabbs show a
refinement and strength of likeness that
others do not have.
Pure nnd Wholesome.
Marvin's Orange Blossom soda crackers
are unsurpassed. Your grocer keeps them.
SUICIDE IN ERANCE.
A French Physician Gives Some In
teresting Facts and Figures on
THE CRIME OF SELF-DESTRUCTION.
Some Trivial Seasons for Seeking the
Calm Oblivion of Death.
MANY E0ADS LEADING TO THE GEATE
CORRESPONDENCE OP THE DISPATCH. 1
AKIS, January 14, 1889.
Paris, although the
gayest, is also the sad
dest of cities. Statistics
show that the ratio of
suicides for every mill
ion of inhabitants aver
ages yearly 402, while
in London it is only 87,
aud in Naples 34.
A very common mis
take is to suppose that the largest number
of suicides occur in winter time, when the
weather is most inclement, and misery rife
among the poorer classes. The returns for
France indicate that summer is the great
suicidal period, and winter the most inno
cent season of the year. Felo de se is high
est in June and July, and lowest in No
vember and December. The average rises,
almost regularly, from January to July,
and goes down again, in equivalent degrees,
from August to December.
Climate has notmuch to do with the matter,
in spite of what Montesquieu says about the
English, who, he avers, kill themselves on
account of the fog cloud which hangs night
and day over their little island. The Es
quimaux do not kill themselves at all, nei
ther do the Falkland Islanders. Yet are
their climates both murky and fuliginous.
There are, in fact, fewer suicides in London
than in Paris every year. Then, again, peo
ple who put an end to their lives preler to
do so by daylight. Suicides by night are
relatively rare. The long days of summer
afford the most temptation lor them. Nei
ther darkness nor rain conduce to self
destruction. Its best friends and stimula
tors are sunlight and warmth.
FELO-DE-'SE FIGURES.
French men are now killing themselves,
between 9 and 90, in a constantly increas
ing progression. The figures are immensely
higher, as a rule, in the north than in the
south, and in towns than in the country.
The returns published by the Minister of
Justice show that since 1827, inclusive, the
yearly average of suicides throughout
France has risen from five to ten for every
100,000 inhabitants. The figures have
therefore doubled in 30 years. In 1876
there were 5,804 cases of self-murder; iu
1880 we find 6,638, and in 1886 no fewer
than 7,187. The total number during 1887,
the Iast-renorded year, was 7,572, of which
2,168 are attributed to mental afflictions of
different kinds, 1,228 to physical suffering,
975 to domestic, troubles, 800 to drunken
ness, 483 to poverty, 305 to pecuniary diffi
culties, 202 to the desire to avoid imprison
ment, 100 to the loss of employment, 89 to
the fear of exposure, 56 to the "Joss of rela
tives, and 25 to the dread of military ser
vice. Among the other cases specified in
the returns, 227 suicides are put down to
jealousy and crossing in love.
Suicide is not always a sign of mental
alienation. Oftentimes, of course, it is; but
it is not always and necessarily so. Self
murder, like every human fact, obeys fixed
laws as exactly as the course of the planets
or the crystallization of salts; and year by
year it can be confidently predicted how
many out of a certain population will com
mit suicide. Still, one-fourth of them, in
round numbers, are attributable to madness.
I remember one very peculiar case of sui
cide, which I attended some time ago, and
which presents a novel phase of insanity of
the highest interest to alienists. It was that
of Baron Kobert du Creuzy, a man of 60,
who for ten years had lived at No. 77 Rue
Monge, without family, his only com
panion in the house being an old servant.
Once rich, he had lost the greater part
of his fortune, and mourned bitterly the
loss of his youth, which would have per
mitted him" to accumulate another. He
often remarked to his acquaintances that
Dr. Faust was very fortunate in being able
to regain his youth at the price of his soul,
and that he would willingly consent to a
similar bargain if the devil was still in the
business. M. de Creuzy was the possessor
of a very curious library, containing many
old cabalistic books of sorcery.
A PECULIAR POTION.
Constant reading of these demonological
works resulted in upsetting the poor man's
brain to such an extent that he finally put
implicit taitn m tne potency ot an incanta
tion recommended by the "Red Dragon."
Henceforth he purchased all sorts ot queer
things for ingredients in the composition of
a potion, which I lound alter his death. It
was as lollows: A black hen (which was to
be strangled at midnight, as the clock
struck 12, beneath the rays of a new moon);
quantities of the herb Vervain, coffin nails,
and a wolfs tooth, the latter of which he
procured in a menagerie. One fine night I
was called in just after he had swallowed a
drug which he had mixed himself, contain
ing a frightlul dose of alcohol. Under its
influence he fell into a drunken sleep, and
awoke a lunatic. He fancied himself re
juvenated, and, stranger still, that he felt
within himself a double, personality. He
explained in all seriousness to me that he
saw this Wofold existence.
"The potion was not strong enough," he
said. "I am really youngagain, but some
thing of my old self remains something
that seems to ne my latner. x nave Decome
my own son; thereby I am obsessed, and
suffer terribly."
I laughed at him, as did his friends. A
week later I learned that the Baron, having
fully decided that he was a young man,bad
thrown out of the window the little money
which he still had, saying that youth should
be prodigal. But he often repeated that he
felt within him his father reprimandidg him
for his conduct, and that no good would
come ot it. One morning, soon yafter this,
lond words were heard'in hisroom. He
was hurling angry insults at his father,"
whom he charged with a desire to steal his
money. The last words which reached the
ears or his servant were these:
"Your curse? What is your curse to me?
You are in me in spite of me. Be silent!"
All was still for a few seconds, and then
he resumed, in a voice of thunder:
"Wretched old man, never more shall you
reproach me for dishonoring my race! Take
that and die!"
The servant, hearing a body fall, hurried
into the room. The Baron de Creuzy layon
the floor in a sea of blood. He had plunged
a knife into his own heart,
A FALLACIOUS THEOET.
The popular theory that we hold more
and more to life as we grow older is a mistake.
White hair brings with it, on the contrary,
a disgust of existence. Quite recently a
miserly old fellow, who lived in a shabby
garret at the top of a tenement house, com
mitted suicide by hanging himself from the
ralters of his abode, but previously made a
will disposing of his fortune. When the
house porter learnt that the old miser had
made away with himself, he could not re
frain from uttering an exclamation of satis
faction; but he soon began to profess great
compassion for his old lodger when he heard
that he had left him a legacy. He declared
with tears in his eyes that he was a worthy
person a:ter all; and then, with eager curi
osity, asked the amount of the property, be
queathed to him in so unexpected a fashion.
The following missive was placed in his
hands: "I am disgusted with Jjfe, so I am
quitting it. I leave to the porter of my
lodging house my portrait and the rope
with which I have hanged myself." Tne
joy of the porter can be imagined.
There has been recently a noticeable in
crease of suicides by children. Thus far
tbey do not seem to begin much before the
age of 9; that is the moment, apparently,
JriRnicliSr
at which the pains of life become unbear
able to them. One hundred and ninety
eight boys and 40 girls under the age of 15
destroyed themselves in four years; and of
these 200 were over 12 years of age, 21 be
tween 12 and 10, 4 over 10 years, 6 below 9,
and 1 was only 7. A boy named Caillaud,
10 years or age, living at Bourganeuf
(Crense),comniitted suicide in September of
last year, uy swallowing a blisterwnicn nau
been placed on his back; he died in terrible
agony. -i
The motives usually given for such waste
of life are nearly all as trivial. A little boy
drowned himself for grief at the loss of his
canary. Another youth leaves a writing be
fore killing himself, in which he bitterly
blames his parents for the education they
have given him; still another blasphemes
God and society; a third kills himself "be
cause he has not enough air to breathe with
ease." From 13, however, motives grow to
be more stupendous, as was shown in the
case of the youth who hanged himself at
that age, after making a will in which he
declared that he "bequeathed his soul to
Bousscau and his body to the earth." One
young girl of 16, who recently suffocated
herself with the :umes of charcoal at her pa
rents' residence in the Bne de Turbigo,
Paris, gave no reason whatever for her des
perate deed. Her'father left her in the
morning after breakfast as gay as usual;
when he came home from his daily occupa
tion at dinner time be found his daughter
stark dead on her bed. On the mantelshelf
was found her pocket book, whereon she had
written these pathetic lines:
TRIVIAL MOTIVES.
"My own dear, darling father, forgive
me, do forgive me; and I beg of you, take
great care of my little brother."
Some people hnrve been known to seek a
pecuniary advantage in self-destruction.
The following adveitisement appeared in
the columns of Le Petit Parisien not long
ago:
"Suicidal. A young man to whom life
is a bnrden, has resolved to put an end to
himself, but wishes to profit by his death
in the most advantageous manner possible.
He places, therefore, the sacrifice ot his life
at the disposal of any person who, for a
suitable sum, would wish to entrust him
with an enterprise the issue of which would
be necessarily fatal. This offer is quite
serious Write to the initials K. B. V., 48,
Poste Bestante, at Antwerp."
There is no punishment in the French
code for attempt at suicide, so that an
nouncements of the foregoing description
may be made with impunity.
An advertisement even more explicit ap
peared in the Eappel two months ago. It
reads as follows: "The father of a family,
aged 22, having got through his studies,and
losing his fortune in a disastrous affair, not
being able to find employment and prefer
ring anything rather than see those who are
near and dear to him reduced to beggary.
seeks to sell himself and become the tool
(lame damnee) of anyone, for any purpose
whatever, anywhere, as he is ready to do
any deed for "a suitable sum. provided the
gendarmerie has not to interfere." That
saving clause at the end is, of course, in
tended as a sop for Cerberus.
HEREDITARY INFLUENCES.
Suicide is fatally hereditary. Gall, the
phrenologist, knew a family o"f which the
grandmother, sister and mother all killed
themselves; and the son and daughter of
the last all followed in the same terrible
track. Another family of seven brothers, all
well off and in good positions, committed
suicide one after another in the space of
40 years. Whole families have died out
that way. The examples of repeated sui
cides among relations are frequent in France.
But what is called hereditary tendency is
aften a mere matter of imitation. Snicides,
in fact, appear to belong to the class of epi
demic diseases. It is enough for a single
soldier to put an end to himself in barracks,
either by firearms, the bayonet, the sword,
or hanging, and immediately the tragedy
is repeated by one or another, until
the regiment is ordered off o
new quarters, and the minds of the men are
thus amused by fresh ideas, leading to a
forgetfulness of the past. If a man jumps
off the Triumphal Arch at the top of the
Champs-Elysees, in the city, somebody else
is almost sure to do tHis like a few days
afterward from the column on the Place de
la Bastille or the towers of Notre-Dame.
Travel appears to be one of the most effect
ual cures tor this species of monomania. A
surgeon mentioned to his barber one day a
case of attempted suicide by cutting the
throat, and remarked that the right part of
the throat had not been chosen for the cut.
The barber asked what the right spot was,
watched the surgeon narrowly point it out,
and shortly afterward went into a side room
and with much skill drew the razor across
the fatal spot.
SUICIDE AND EDUCATION.
Where three men kill themselves in
towns and tour men in the country, only
one woman follows their example. The
most fatal times of life to the gentle sex are
irom 14 to 20, and irom 40 to 50.
On the whole, sad as it is to confess, and
anomalous as it seems at first sight,
suicide increases with education and civili
zation. The fewest suicides occur in Spain
and Eussia, and it will hardly be argued
that this results from the superior enlight
enment of the people in those countries.
The inhabitants of those departments in
France in which everyone can read are pre
cisely those who kill themselves the most.
The spread of the alphabet is coincident
with that of self-murder. The savage
rarely, if ever, takes his own life; the sensi
tive, highly organized and highly educated
man of literature, art and science, ends his,
days by the pistol or the cord. One of the
most melancholy suicides of modern times
was that of the gifted Prevost-Paradol.who,
alter stultifying his most brilliant writings
by accepting a post under the Second
Empire that of Minister at Washington
could not apparently reconcile his own
political apostacy to bis conscience, and died
by his own hand on the 19th of July, 1870.
He died just as the Liberal cause, with
which his name had always been associated,
was on the point of triumphing.
METHODS OF SUICIDE.
Fewerdeaths by drowning occur in win
ter than in summer. Hanging and drown
ing account, by themselves alone, lor nearly
70 per cent ot the cases; 15 belong to shoot
ing; while the remainder are composed of a
mixture of cutting, stabbing, poisoning,
springing from heights, and various un
specified killings. Lawyers prefer firearms
as a-means, physicians choose poison gener
ally. Sell-destruction by cutting the throat,
though rare in France comparatively, is
more common than stabbing; opening the
veins is less common-than either. But it i3
strange to read the statistical tables, and to
see how every year the same proportion is
maintained between the methods how
many, out of a given number, are sure to
use hanging, how many drowning, how
many poison, firearms, and so on all calcu
lated with as much'certainty as the height
of the tides or algebraic quantities.
The exact frame of mind in which a man
was when committing suicide can be read
ily discovered by the features of the corpse.
If the teeth are"firmly set, the eyes slightly
open and looking upward, a fit of violent
passion prompted the act; if the eyes are
cloied, but not tightly, the mouth slightly
open, and the teeth not shnt, then it was due
to an excess of pent-up rage; if fear of pun
ishment has driven him to it, his eyes and
mouth will be placidly closed. The hands
also furnish a test when there is a doubt
whether the case of a man whose throat has
been cut be one of murder or suicide. The
hand with which a1 suicide commits the deed
will remain soft tor a time, and will curl up
a day or two after death, while a man who
has been mnrdered dies with his eyes and
mouth open and his hands clenched.
In August last a cabman, 23 years of age,
committed suicide in a fit of disgust at
things in general. In bis pocket he left one
of the most singular wills that I ever re
member to have heard of. It related that
in the left pocket of his trousers would be
found a 10-lranc piece, whieh was to be
given to the doctor who signed the cer
tificate of bis death. His body was to be
carried to the Jardin des Plantes and dis
sected. The flesh was to be cut up into
slices, and divided among the lions, tigers
and beats. The testator added: "I intend
that these animals shall regale themselves
uooa my flesh." Db. Delarue,
Of the Parts Faculty of .Medicine, Vice
President ot the Association of Doctors.
SUNDAY THOUGHTS
ON
piijiL? 0 m
BY A CLERGYMAN.
rWBITTIK I0B TOT DISPATCH.!
HE pew question is
once more receiving
wide attention. The
debate is continental.
A chnrch is a spiritual
organization, with a
necessary business
side. For it costs
money to keep it open
and at work. The
minister must be paid; the sexton's salary
must be raised; the gas bill, the coal bill,
the bill for repairs, require attention; the
choir refuses to sing notes 'musical without
notes bankable; and, in the majority of
cases, the interest on the church debt (a
mortgage which the devil holds on the
the Lord's property), must be met. Hence,
it is apparent that the question of income
is vital.
Now, pew renting is the accustomed
.method ot securing this income. It enables
the treasurer to tell at a glance just how
matters stand: Our expenses amount to this
sum; our receipts amount to that sum; and
the difference between the two is the de
ficiency or the surplus, as the case may be
usually the deficiency.
For the difficulty with the rental system
is that it does not secure the income needed,
save in exceptional instances. There is a
deficit which is the chronic despair of pas
tors and treasurers. And this deficit is the
open door through which everything that
is qnestionable and objectionable in church
conuuet comes in.
Now, since the rental system does not ac
complish the object, wby not discard it, and
experiment a little?. The average church could
hardly be worse off. Class churches, club
churches, private property churches are ta
booed by the (practically) excluded multitude.
They are an offense to heaven. They are spir
itually as well as financially unprosperous.
Reverse this. Invite the people, and make
the church comfortable for them. Train them
to understand that true worship includes giv
ing out as well as taking in. Let it be known
that the .whole household of raith 13 to meet
the expense of spiritual housekeeping each
according to his means. Assign the sittingi in
the order of application. Keep the spirit nf
caste off the floor of God's bouse. In time and
with patience the people will be educated to
appreciate ana care for their ecclesiastical
temporalities.
But it is with systems as with constitutions
the best are not made: they grow. You can't
extemporize an ideal method. The rental sys
tem itself is an inheritance. Its successor must
be the issue of pains and patience.
Anyhow, a method that makes an auctioneer
of the pastor, and keeps him posturing under
the red flag as a knocker-down nf pews to the
highest bidder is a scandal. Over the whole
system a shadowy hand is busily writing the
inscription which frightened Balshazzar. and
which Daniel interpreted: Mene, Mene, Tekcl,
Upharsin.
What, then, shall the minister starve?
Not under a right system. But that is what
they are doing now. The average minis
terial salary is lower than the average wage
of the skilled mechanic. And the pittance
which is paid is raised and made over grudg
inglyis tainted with worldly notions. Spur
geon tells of an English pastor whose salary
was always in arrears, and who was consequent
ly obliged to spend most of his time (when not
(lodging hii creditors) in waiting upon the
Treasurer. "It seems to me, parson," said that
functionary on one occasion, "you are alius
arter money. I thought you preached to save
souls." "Well." was the retort, "so 1 do. But
I can't live on souls. And If I could it would
take a dozen such as yours to make one decent
breakfasil"
Let the pay of the minister come out of the
hearts of the people, with no suspicion of com
mercial dicker and greed, and it would come
more promptly and more liberally.
The International Sunday-school lessons
for the last quarter traversed: the section of
Jewish history which concerns the conquests
of Canaan, At a review a few Sundays ago, a
little gill was aSked: "What did ihe Israelites
do wbun they came to the river Jordan?" And
she replied: "Tbey walked right In."
A good answer, and a brave example. No
matter what Jordan may roll between us and
the promised land, let us walk right in. - It is
our pare iu start, xi is uous part to get us
through.
Here is a cluster of beautiful utterances
gathered from far and near. "Beadmark,
learn and inwardly digest."
Religion is the living out the truth there is in
us. Gordon,
No excuse will stand in the day of judgment.
Luther. m
The humblest disciple has his Gethsemanes,
and should meet them unflinchingly. Speare.
Four things came not back the spoken
wuru, lue upeu arrow, ine past me, ine ni
T
lectcd opportunity. Hazlitt.
Small service is true service while it lasts.
Tne daisy, by the shadow that it cast".
Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.
Wadsworth.
"Every man shall bear his own burden" this
Is the new law of necessity. "Bear yo one an
other's burdens" this is the law of Christ.
Let a man lighten his own load by sharing his
neighbor's. J. T. Lunch.
God lends not but gives to the end.
As he loves to the end. If it seem
That he draws back a gift, comprehend
'Tis to add to it rather, amend
And finish it up to your dream.
Mrs. Urowning.
If you want to have a stalwart Christian
character, plant it right out qj doors in the
great field of Christian usefulness. Talmage.
When God intends tb fill a soul, He first
makes it empty; when he intends to enrich a
soul. He first makes it poor; when He intends
to exalt a soul, He first makes it humble: when
He intends to save a son!. He first makes it
sensible of its own miseries, wants, and noth
ingness. Flavel.
As a rule, the press is the friend and ally
of the pulpit. True.-they are not engaged
in precisely the same work. Their lines di
verge. The function of the one is secular;
that of the other is spiritual. The press
is the agent of civilization, while the pulpit
is the servitor of Christianity. The first aims
at the mind; the second seeks the soul. But
they have much In common. They often inter
sphere. Both minister to humanity. When tne
clergyman is forming, the editor is informing
public And tbey are alike concerned for good
government, common honesty, peace, pros
perity aud all good words and works. To change
the poet a little:
"These are two mentors, one born so, the other
bred,
This by the heart, the other by the head."
Tbe pulpit is not as ready to Tecognize this
alliance as it ought to be. It is often jealous
of the press, cams at it, easily indulges in dis
praise and blame. A great mistake! Let tbe
church welcome this ally. Every minister
should make himself an active supporter of
the best newspipers should recommend them
should seek to draw them into friendliest co
operation with his generous aims for the public
welfare. The pulpit ougat to say to the press
as Jehu, who had been engaged in making an
exterminating assault upon the wickedness of
his day, said to Jehonadab, who came out to
congratulate him: "Give me thine hand."
Speaking of the press, reminds one of the
value of printer's ink. What is thought
without publication? It is like some peo
ple's good intentions unexercised. A fish
out of water is uneasy for a moment and then
easy forever. An eagle walking and without
wings is an absurd spectacle. A man deprived
of air casps and die". How, what water is to a
fish, what wings are to an eagle, what air is tr
the lungs, .that publicity is to thought the
vital element.
By a judicious use of printer's ink a clergy
man may multiply himself many times over
like Argu, have 100 eyes, only two of which
shall sleep at once: like Briareus, have 50 heads
and 100 bands, to terrify iniquity. Use plenty
of printer's ink. Why shoufd a minister make
a bulletin board of himself when be might
print his parish notices and so reach even the
stay-at-homes? The pastor who knows how to
use a font of printing types may preach all the
time and address everybody. Don't try to sail
the gospel "Great Eastern" in a millpond.
Subjoined is a statement concerning the.
development ot religion throughout Christ
endom boiled down from the most trust
worthy sources. Christ left as the direct re
sult of His personal ministry, less than a
thousand believers. By the year 1000 of
our era (when the figures first began to be
tabulated), this handful had multiplied them
selves into 50,000,000 of Christians. In 1700,
there were 155.000,000. Jn 18W. there were 200,
000,000. In 18o0, there ware 41,5,000,000. Thus
within the last 80 years (aided by the press, the
telegraph, steam, commerce, and the regularly
organized pronacanda of evangelization, all
born or developed within this .century), the
number of Christians hat more than doubled!
According to Behm and Wagner, the pooulv
tion of the world in 1S80 was UJ3,(M,100. If
the proportionate incteasa which marked the
last 80 years is maintained through tbe next SO
(and it ought to be Increased with increased
facilities and consecration), the dawn of tbe
year 11X30 will show 830,000,000 of Christians,
$&mllk4xa.
And at the close of the twentieth century, too
boundaries of Christendom will be cotermin
ous with the whole earth!
Within the limits of Christendom we are
all born into nominal Christianity. From
that day, more than 1,800 years ago, whea"
the disciples of Christ began to be called
Christians in the Greek citv nf Antlocb. up to
this current year of grace 1889. they fn Europe
and we in America have been named with the
name which is above every name. Yet as
many who are bom within the boundaries of
civilization are uncivilized, so multitudes wear
the Christian nauie by the accident of birth,
who are in fact unchristian. Tbe immediate
and pi essingdnty of Christians is to convert
these Christian heathen. Our churches every
where should pray for this as though they
could do nothing; should work tor It as though
they could do everything.
Listen to tbe touching story that comes
from away down East: A poor Irish woman
went to a venerable priest in Boston (it was
during the famine in Ireland, a few years
ago), and asked him t forward to the 'ould
sod ber contribution toward tbe relief of the
sufferers. "How much can you sparer asked
the priest. "I have SKO saved up," replied she,
and I can spare that." The priest reasoned with
her, saying that her proposed girt was too great
lor her means. She was firm in ber purpose.
"It will do me good," said she. "to know that I
helped all I cou'd. and 1 shall enjoy my own
meals the more knowing I have put something
on empty plates over the sea." The priest took
tbe mnney with moistened eyes, as tbe good
soul counted it out. "Now, what is your name?"
be asked, "ilyname?" she answered; """don't
mind that, your reverence. Just send the
neip, ana uoa wiu know my name."
The question of marriage and divorce is
just now stirring profound feeling. Wo
abridge and give below some points from a
recent paper by Prof. Herrick Johnson on
this absorbing theme:
Divorce 13 more of a symptom, than it is
the disease itself. It betrays the evil. It
does not account for it. Why do men and
women grow restive under the restraints of the
marriage vow? Loose divorce laws undoubtedly
have tbeir influence. Tbey Invite a short cut
to freedom from infelicities and incompati
bilities that would be borne and conquered, if
there were not set before the married this
open door.
Intemperance is a fruitful source of this
evil. It changes habitations of love and joy
into those of hate and woe. The unbalanced
pressure of individualism is another source of
trouble in social life, loosening the ties of home
and weakening the family principle. All the
currents of our political and religious life bavs
set to independency. Personal liberty has tre
mendous emphasis. It cannot be too strongly
held, but it may be held too exclusively. This
modern tendency, which Herbert Spe.icer
calls "a tendency to Invidnate" must be bal
anced b the unity and purity of tbe house
hold. Better let an ill-begotten marriage stand,
when once consummated, than expose all wed
lock to tbe wolfish jaws of modern divorce.
Another influence threatening family dis
integration is mercantilism tbe engrossing, in
vading, assaulting spirit of traffic. What helps
homes ? Tbe development of high ideals. The
daily association and commingling of tbe house
hold. Attention to the finer and unexpressed
needs of wife and children. Have these been
given ? Alas, the drive and worry, the rush
and roar, the press and stress, tbe absolute
tyranny of the mercantile SDirit in all our cities
is proverbial. And the cities hold tbo key to
the social situation. What is the result?
Palatial hotels, unrivalled railroad', unlimited
extension of telegraphs, monster corporations,
mammoth monopolies rather than high ideals;
an increasing tendency to a social usage separ
ating the sexes, sending tbe men to their clubs
and the women to their receptions; and parents
Tarming out their children to nurses, half justi
fying' tbe stinging taunt that "'the animals
know how to take care of their young better
than we do."
Another prolific source of divorce is a per
nicious literature. Vile books abound and
multiply as the frogs of Egvpt. They are sold
at every newsstand; books th3ttrifle with mari
tal vows, tbat make a mock of its nig"i solemni
ties, that play fast and loose with that holy
thing we call virtue.
What can be done? Much every way. Let us
consecrate ourselves anew to tbe active de
fense of the family against all snbtle agencies
tbat wonld tear its dear shields away. Let
us brand with hot indignation the attempt to
thrust into the atmosphere of borne the poison
of libertinism. If Prof. Phelps is right, tbat
"a nation of Mormons is impossible, but a na
tion of libertines Is not," let ns see to it that
this insidious social menace at nur very thresh
olds gets at least as scorching thunderbolts as
distant Utah !
We are ruthlessly breaking God's seal that
He has solemnly used for wedlock, and sub-
stituting a seal of our own, stamped with tbe
national device. Our divorce laws are in direct
and flagrant contravention of the divine law.
There is but one conclusion: We must change
those laws, or God will curse our blessings.
SOME QDEEK ADVERTISEMENTS.
An Inquisitive Reporter Discovers a Loa
don Paper's Funny Column.
There is a good deal of interesting read
ing matter in the advertisements contained
in any daily paper. For novel and in
geniously worded advertising announce
ments the American papera donbtless lead
the world. But our merchants, shrewd as
they are, have not yet attempted, at least
on a very extensive scale, to gain patronage
by announcing the names of their patrons,
however well known the latter may be. We
have not. for example, any officially ap
pointed purveyor of hams to the President,
wine merchant to tbe Secretary of State, or
pillmaker to the Executive household,
though there are doubtless enterprising
dealers who would be glad to accept either
of these responsible positions.
In England, things are differently man
aged. Not finding anything particularly
interesting or amusing in the news columns
of a London exchange regularly received at
The Dispatch office, the writer began
glancing over the advertisements in the
British daily, and at once found matter of
the most entertainingcharacter. There was
a square devoted to extolling the virtues of
a certain brand of hams and bacon "patron
ized by H. B. H. the Prince of Wales,"
which ot course at once settled any doubt
the reader might have had regarding the
excellence of the goods. This was
followed bv the cards of the "coach builder
to the royal family;" "coal merchants to the
Queen and Prince of Wales;" "carpet man
uiacturers, cabinet-makers, upholstereriand
decorators to the royal family;" "watch and
clock maker to the Queen," and other re
nowned and much-to-be-envied tradesmen.
A hotel advertisement states that the hos
telry has been patronized by the late Em
peror and Empress of Germany, and a
dealer in "wine bins and cellar requisites"
does business on the strength of an "ap
pointment to II. M. the Queen and H. B.
H. the Prince of Wales," which announce
ment somehow gives one the impression
that Her Majesty is not a Prohibitionist.
Next comes a tea company which has "the
honor of supplying all the tea used in the
members' refreshment room of the House of.
Commons," and so states under the head
line "Grasp This Startling Fact." (Query:
Why doesn't the keeper of the Senate restau
rant advertise his celebrated "cold tea"
after this style?)
There's a good deal more of the same sort
of stuff, but these will do Tor samples. It's
English, you know, and the regular thing
in all the big London papers.
i,oocr
U? REWARD
to any one wao win eontndid
by proof onr ciaia that
Acme Blacking -
WILL HOT
INJURE LEATHER.
VtOLZT Z EASDOLra.
To make an Intelligent test of this, try the follow
ins method : Hans a strip of leather in a bottle of
Acme Blackine. and loara it tbera for a day or
month. Take it ont and hang it op to dty and ex
amine its condition carefully. We recommend ladies
to make a suni.ar teat with French Dressmr. and
Entlcmen wrtn any liquid volution of Paste Black
l, or with liquid blacking that comes in atone jugs.
OlEBIacking
' " l
I I I TiM. 1 It
I UM&K
I 1 iXk V jKj. L jC La
WolffsS
Makes any kind of leather
WATERPROOF, SOFT,
AND DURABLE.
Its beaatifnl. rich, GLOSS V TOUSH tacs
equaled. Savet labor and anneyanc.
A Polish Lasts a month for Women, and
A WeekforMen.andonHaniega Leather
even Four Months without renovating.
WOLFF & RANDOLPH. Philadelphia.
Bold by Shoo Stores. Grocers, and dealers rnrnttr.
Mwraa
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