"44 3 tiNi'!l'll!ll:ltli'ill'!!i; ( r VOL. Xlll. BLOOMFDSLD, lJiS.M TUESDAY, MAY 27, 1879. NO. 22. III J La I 1 I f I f II I II 1 I III I I I llf J I i I I THE TIMES. in Independent Family Newspaper, IB PCM.1SHBD BVBKT TUBBDAT BT F. MORTIMER & CO. suBscnirTioN vn ive. (WITHIW TUB COUNTT.) One Year 11 25 Six Month!) 78 (out or tna county.) One Year, (Pontile Included) II Ml Six Months, (Postage Included) 85 Invariably In Advance I Advertising rates furnished upon appli cation. tPunusiiRU nr keijuest. MY FRIEND. The following touching poem was written In the prison dead-house at Camp Chase by Ceil. W. H. H. A fellow prisoner whs engaged to a beautiful lady j she proved faithless, mid her letter oame, "breaking the truth, soon after lie died, and this was Col. H's reply i Your letter came, lint came too late, For Heaven had claimed Its own; Ah. sudden channel from prison bars Unto the Great White Throne I And yet I think lie would have stayed For one more day of pain. Could he have read those tardy words, Which 70U have sent in vahu Why did you wait, fair ladv, Through so many a weaiy hour? Had you other lovers with you In that silken, dainty bower? Did others bow before your charms. And twine bright garlands there? And yet I ween in all that throng Hit spirit had no peer. I wish that you were by me now, As I draw the sheet aside, To see how pure the hxrk he wore A while before be died. Vet the sorrow Hint you gave him BUM had left Its weary trace. And a meek and saintly sadness Dwells upon his pallid face. "Her love," he said, "could change for ine The winter's cold to spring," Ah, trust of thoughtless maiden's love, Thou art a little thing 1 For when these valleys fair In May, Unce more with bloom shall wave, The Northern violets shall blow Above his humble grave. Your dole of scanty words had been But one more pang to bear : Though, to the last, Tie kissed with love This tress of your solt hair, f did not put it where he mid, For, when the angels come, I would not have them find the sign Of falsehood In the tomb. I have read the letter, ladv, and I know The wiles that you have wrought To win that noble heart of his. And gained It; fearful though What lavish wealth men sometimes give For a trifle light and small I What manly forms are often held In folly's (limey thrall I You shall not pity him, for now He's past your hope and fear; Although I wish that you could stand With me beside his bier. Still, 1 forgive you; heaven knows For mercy you'll have need, Since God his awful Judgment sends On each unworthy deed. To-night the cold winds whistle by, As I my vigils keep Within the prison dead-house, where Few mourners come to weep. A rude plank coffin holds him now, Yet death give always grace; And I would rather see In in thus Than clasped lu your embrace. To night, yonr rooms are very gay. With wit, and wine and song; And you are smiling, just as If You never did a wrong. Your hand so fair, that none would think . It penned those words of pain; Your skin, so white would Uod, your soul Were halt so free of stain I I'd rather, be this dear, dear friend, Thau you In all your glee; For you are held in grievous bonds, While he's forever free. Whom serve we In this life, we serve, In that which Is to come; He chose his way ; you, your's ; let God Pronounce the lilting doom. ARE ANIMALS IMMORTAL? A BROOKLYN gentleman writing to a New York paper suggests some very curious and Interestlug thoughts concerning the possible future of ani mals. When we come to think of it a state of existence In which there is no animal life save man would be a marked contrast to earthly existence. To im agine Heaven without the sweet songs of birds, the busy hum of the bee and the myriad of sweet sounds that fall so soothingly upon the ear in the hush of a summer eve, Is to imagine a state of ex istence of which much of the pos sible pleasure would be left out. Are there no trees in Heaven ? Is the murmuring brook and the gentle plash of fountains silent? Is there nothing but man and God in Heaven I The untutored Indian reasons different ly. To him the land of the Great Spirit teems with myriads of animal life. To him Heaven is a " happy hunting ground." May not the Indian notion be right after all, and Heaven be a place filled with all sorts of animal life which are pleasant and agreeable to man ? Of course, these aro hard questions to an swer satisfactorily, but hear what the writer has to Bay : ' Why should we be called upon to be lieve in the annihilation of the brute creation at death)1 Is not the idea a relic of an unworthy aud now fast van ing conception of the future state of mankind ? It Is difficult to formulate a distinct belief upon the subject : and al though I cnnnot yet say that my mind is distinctly and definitely made up about It, I have, in the course of my re flection, been led to entertain a hope so strong that it closely borders upon the certainty of belief that there is a future state for the brute creation as well as for mankind, and that the orthodox belief Is erroneous. , " Heterodox as this opinion may be deepei reflection only serves to convince me that is true, and leads me to desire that mere light should be thrown upon the subject. Ever since my childhood, when I can remember feeling a deep sense of the injustice which the popular idea did to my conception of the Creator, down to the present time, have I sought for some reason upon which I could en tirely accept the orthodox view,and have found none. As far as I can find, the Scriptures afford no basis for It; philoso phy disowns it, and science consigns both man and beast to one fate. So far, indeed, from confirming the Idea of total annihilation I have found much to strengthen the opposite side of the ques tioned any belief at which I may have already arrived has been in a great meas ure deduced from a consideration of some of the passages which I quote, and oth ers of similar import : " Most of the ar guments of philosophy in favor of the Immortality of man apply equally to the peruiancy of the immaterial principle in other living beings," says Agasslz. Culver is said to have expressed a slra liar opinion. In the memoirs of Charles Klngsley, himself no mean student of the natural world, we read " that his love of animals was strengthened by his belief in their future state a belief which he held in common with John Wesley and many other distinguished men.". The following words which George McDonald put into the mouth of one of bis characters, taken In connec tion' with many similar passages scat tered throughout his books, show how far he has accepted this idea of the im mortality of animal life. "My uncle had, by no positive instruction, but by occasional observation, not one of which I can recall, generated in a strong hope that the life of the lower animals was terminated at their death no more than our own. The man who believes that thought Is the result of the brain, and not the growth of au unknown seed whose soil is the brain, may well sneer at this, for he is himself but a speck of dust that has to be eaten by the devour ing jaws of time; but I cannot see how the man who believes in soul at all can say that the spirit of man lives and the spirit of his horse dies. I do not profess to believe anything of certain sure my self, but I do think that he who, if from mere philosophical considerations, be lieve the one ought to believe the other as well. Much more must the theoso phlst believes it." If we recall the char acter of Wilfrid Cumbermede we can at once see how strong a declaration the foregoing passage is on the part of the author. I will not fill more space with further quotations all tending to show the same point. I cannot help but feel that the savage of whom the poet sang: " To be content's bis natural desire f He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire i But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, His faithful dog shall bear him company," has an idea of heaven far nobler than that held by many civilized Christians. Our Fishing Spreo. WHILE stopping in Indiana, I form ed one of a company that went to the falls of White River, near the village of Newberry, for the purpose of having a regular set, two or three days' fishing spree, as the Hoosiers call it. The first day of our excursion turned out to be windy, and we had no luck ; the next day we caught only one small bass, a little snapping turtle, a few frogs just for the fun of it and a bad cold. On the third day the tables turned, and for tune smiled on us propitiously ; for we all caught fresh colds, Jake Collins fell overboard and we caught Aim, Bill Mar ling caught the ague, and Tom Burbon caught a catfish that weighed some seventy pounds. Our " spree" was now at an end, and we found it a matter of little difficulty to take home with us all that we caught, except the big tlsh. It was too large to carry, aud too small to Justify the hire of a special conveyance, so we were sore ly puzzed as to what disposition we should make of It. At last a happy thought come to our relief. Joe, the auctloneer,.formed one of our company, and so we resolved to go up to Newberry and sell the monster at auction. It was just about the II rut of the fishing season, and so we expected to realize a hand some profit, by way of fun, at least. When we arrived at the village, we found about thirty persons assembled around a little grocery. Chuckling over such a streak of good luck, Joe shoulder ed the fish, mounted upon the head of a molasses hogshead, and proceeded to business. "Now, gentlemen," snld he, "how much do you suy to start hltu? Do I hear fifty cents I F-l f-t-y c-e-n-t-s! do I hear fifty cents? But they did not say, and poor Joe cried aud went on at an awful rate with out the least prospect of n bid. Seeing that our chance of n speculation was but slim, we concluded to amuse our selves by bidding for fun. " Five dollars to start him," said I. "Five dollars five five, and agoing ns cheap ai dirt; who says more?" " Ten," says another of our company. " Fifteen!" And so the bids ran on till they reach ed thirty dollars all sham, of course. Just at that moment a tall, gawky looklng Hoosler was seen making rapid strides towards the scene of action. Having arrived and looked at the fish on all sides, and listened to " thirty, and going," he bawled out : "I say, stranger you on that 'ar barrel I kin do better than ' that my self. Jest hold on a minute, and let me hev a nuther squint at 'im. By golly I jest say fifty, and risk it !" "Fifty! fifty!" cried the auctioneer, astonished at the bid ; " fifty ! going going gone at fifty." The fish was handed over to the Hoosler, who, after looking at old Joe a moment, and smelling to see that his prize was not spoiled, began to walk off with it. "Stop, old fellow! you have not paid for it !" cried several. "Paid, daruatlon !" replied the green one, coming to a halt. "Warn't the fish gin to me? Didn't I hear you all a guessin' thirty ? and didn't I guess fifty ? and I'll bet a coon-skln he don't weigh enny more ; and didn't that old puss-bellied feller up thar give it to me?" " No, no!" exclaimed old Joe, while we were all holding our sides, "you bid fifty dollars for that fish, and you've got It to pay." After a sour look, and a frown that was intended to tell how indignant he felt, the Hoosler replied : " If ycr Ingln enough to take a thing back arter glvln' It to a feller, take it;" and suiting the action to the word, he threw it at the auctioneer with all bis strength. Our corpulent friend having no desire to come in contact with a Jliftng fish, leaped ns high as he could, and when he came down, the hogshead top gave way beneath his weight, and in the next Instant, he was floundering about up to his chin in molasses. 44 Te, he, he !" roared the Hoosler, as he made tracks oft in the way he had come. ." Te he, he ! now your in sweet pickle!" And so he was. With much difficul ty we succeeded lu extricating him, after which we paid the damage, and started in search of water, resolving never again, under any circumstances, to set up a fishing-market in Newberry, or go on a fishing spree. A School Anecdote. AMONG the scholars when Lamb and Coleridge attended school, was a poor clergyman's son, of the name of Simon Jennings. On account of his dismal gloomy nature, his playmates had nick-named him "Pontius Pilate." One morning he went up to the master, Doctor Bozer, and said in his usual whimpering manner : "Please, Doctor, the boys call me 'Pontius Pilate."' If there was one thing which Doctor Bozer hated more thau a false quantity of Greek and Latin, it was the practice of nick-naming. ' Rushing down among the scholars from his pedestal of state, with cane in baud, he cried with his usual voice of thunder : "Listen, boy9; the next time I hear you say 'Pontius Pilate,' I'll -cane you as long as this cane will last ! You are to say, 'Simon Jennings,' and not 'Pon tlus Pilate.' Remember that If you valueyour hides ! " Next day, when the same class was jccltlng the catechism, a boy of remark ably dull and literal turn of mind had to repeat the Creed. He had got as far as "sufTered under," and was about popping out the next words when the doctor's prohibition unluckily flashed upon his mind. After a moment's hesi tation, he blurted out : "SufTered under 'Simon Jennings,' was " The rest of the sentence was never uttered.for Dr. Bozer had already sprang like a tiger upon him, and the cane was descending upon his unfortunate shoul ders. When the Irate doctor had dis charged his cane-storm upon him, he said : "What do you mean, you booby, by such blasphemy ?" "I only did as you told me," replied the simple minded youth. "Did as I told you ! " roared the doc tor, now wound up to something above the boiling point; "what do you mean ?" As he said this, he grasped his cane more furiously. "Yes, doctor, you said we were always to call 'Pontius Pilate' 'Simon Jen nings.' Didn't he, Sam?" appealed the unfortunate culprit to Coleridge, who was next to him. Sain said naught ; but the doctor, who saw what a dunce he had to deal with, cried : "Boy, you are a fool ! Where are your brains?" Poor Doctor Bozer for a second time was "floored," for the scholar said, with an earnestness which proved its truth, but to the intense horror of the learned potentate: "In my stomach, sir I " The doctor always respected that boy's stupidity ever after, as though half afraid that a stray blow might be un pleasant. Professor Knapp's Terrible Prediction. ASTRONOMERS are looking forward to the coming year with consider able perplexity, believing that the year 1880 will bring with It the most wide spread and dreadful calamities that have been known for over two thousand years. To explain : The sun Is the centre of our solar system; around the sun re volve a number of planets, and among them is the earth. The are certain pe riods when these planets approach nearest the sun. These periods are noted for general calamities, for the pe culiar relation the planets sustain to each other produces serious disturbances in the atmosphere, thus causing terrible rains, or prolonged drouths, famines, diseases and pestilence generally. Soon after 1880, four of the larger planets will be at their nearest approach to the sun, something that has not hap pened for two thousand years. We are rapidly approaching that period, and al ready the distant rumblings would seem to indicate that the storm is approach ing. One of our exchanges says: " The fact that so many fish are dying off the coast of Florida calls to mind the awful prediction of Professor Knapp. From the juxtaposition of certain planet? to our earth, he predicts that one half of the population of the world, including man and animals and even vegetable life, will perish before 1880. In a lec ture delivered several years ago he said that this desolation would commence by the fish of the sea dying, and pestilence and famine occurring in more southern latitude." The famines In China and Brazil, the scourge in South America, the black and fatal plague that is almost depopulating certain parts of Asia, as well as the pes tilence among the fish in the Southern waters look like so many steps In the fulfillment of the dreadful prophecy. It looks much like the fulfilling of the prophecy uttered by the Savior, and re corded in Luke 21 : 25, 26 : " And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexi ty; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts fulling them for fear, and for looking after these thiugs which are coming on the earth ; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." The prophecies are fast fulfilling; the ' times of the Gentiles" is about ful filled, men's hearts are failing them, the gospel has been known in nearly part of the earth, and already the civ ilized world is looking with mingled feelings of awe and anxiety to the great future. We are living in a fearful age. May God help us to confide In him. A Romance. WHO says that the days of romance are ended, needs to read the strange history of a Scottish ploughman who has returned to his native heath after a long exile. Twenty years ago a farmer In Orkney hired a young mau to do farm work. The ploughman touched the fancy of his master's daughter, and the result was that in a runaway fashion, and in opposition to the will of the patriarchal farmer, the two became man and wife. The old gentleman was "furious, and turned his back decidedly upon his son-in-law. The young ploughman kissed his wife, left her father's farm.ind sailed to Australia, whence he soon ceased to write. His .wife became a mother, and remained in a state of such wretched suspense that her father began to repent of the treatment to which be had sub jected her husband. Efforts were then made to trace the whereabouts of the latter by means of advertising in Colo nial papers and otherwise, but all to no purpose. He had gone to America. Years passed. The grandson grew up to manhood, and not liking farm-work, he bade adieu to Orkney, took ship last year Jo the United States, and, after some knocking about, found employment In a mercantile house in Illinois. In the course of business he discovered that the gentleman at the head of the firm, was a native of Scotland, hailing, Indeed, from the same district as himself. Oc casional meetings led to more minute in- . quiries as to dates, names of places, per sons and the like in the old country ,and after being six months In the establish ment, the youth found however won derful it may appear that he was actu ally serving as a clerk with no other than his own father. The effect of this discovery on both may be left to the im ination of the reader. Father and son are now both in Scotland. The man who went away a penniless ploughboy but returns rich has been welcomed with much emotion by his venerable father-in-law, who is still hale and hardy, as well as by the wife whom he left many years ago in her youth and beauty, but is now a middle-aged matron. Womanly Modesty. Man loves the mysterious. A cloud less sky and the full blown rose leave him unmoved; but the violet which hides its blushing beauties behind the bush, and the moon when emerging from behind a cloud, are to him sources of inspiration and of pleasure. Modesty Is to merit what shade is to a figure in painting it gives boldness and prom inence. Nothing adds more to female beauty than modesty. It sheds around the countenance a halo of light which is borrowed from virtue. Botanists have given the rosy hue which tinges the cup of the white roses the name of "maiden blush." This pure and delicate hue is the only paint Chris tain virgins 'should use ; it is the richest ornament. A wo man without modesty is like a faded flower diffusing an unwholesome odor, which the prudent gardener will throw from him. Her destiny is melancholy, for it terminates in shame and repent ance. Beauty passes like the flowers of the albe, which bloom and die in a few hours ; but modesty gives the female charms, which supply the place of the transitory freshness of youth. The Beauty of Neatness. A woman may be handsome, or re markably active in various ways ; but if she is not personally neat, she cannot hope to win admiration. Fine clothe Will not conceal the slattern. A young woman with her hair always in disor der, and her clothes banging about her as if suspended from u prop, is always repulsive. Slattern is written upon her person from the crown of her bead to the soles of her feet, and if she wins a husband he turns out, in all probability, either to be an idle fool or a drunken ruffian. The bringing up of daughters to be able to work, talk, and act like honest, sensible young women, is the special task of all mothers, and in the industrial ranks there is imposed also the prime obligations of learning to re spect household work for its own sake, and the comfort and happiness It will bring in the future. Housework is drudg ery ; but it must be done by somebody, and had better be well thau ill done.
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