Part 18

John Brown, of Ossawatomie fame, has been glorified in poetry and song. There has been a bewitching charm about his name to a multitude of people, and the events of the past decade have contributed largely to this spell. As we settle back into our normal condition and study the naked facts of his history, we are led to wonder how the man exerted such a tremendous influence over his countrymen. If it be true that Sherman, Doyles and Wilkinson, with others, whom Brown and his men murdered, had entered into a conspiracy to destroy the Browns, this did not justify John Brown and his men for murdering them in cold blood. Not even in warfare would such heartless butchery be defensible. It may yet appear that the endorsement which the American people gave to John Brown, and the glory they have attached to his memory were unworthily bestowed, and that the people were misled. The close study of American history as made between 1858 and 1865 may put a new face on many of our biographical and national stories of men and events.

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John Pender, a member of the English Parliament, compliments the Western Union Telegraph Company, in a speech on the government assuming control of telegraph lines, in these words: “I have thought it desirable to refer to my visit to America, and say something about the Western Union system, because it is a system which is, probably, in its efficiency, only to be compared with our own system in England, which is worked by the Government, with this difference, that being worked as a private enterprise, and being stimulated more or less by competition, I think the Western Union has shown greater results during the last ten years than our system has under government management. I think the science of electricity has received more encouragement and been more developed, and the reduction of rates has, during that time, also been greater in America than in England; and, altogether, I think it would be well if our Government took a leaf out of the book of the Western Union Company.”

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December the sixteenth was John G. Whittier’s birthday. He is now seventy-six years old. In Haverhill, Massachusetts, a thrifty manufacturing town, Mr. Whittier spent his boyhood, in a lonely farm house half hidden by oak woods, with no other house in sight of it. He says, on stormy nights

“We heard the loosened clapboards tost, The board-nails snapping in the frost; And on us, through the unplastered wall, Felt the light-sifted snow-flakes fall.”

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The London (England) _Chronicle_ speaks the following sensible words concerning the new honor conferred on Tennyson: “It will seem very strange for us to have to think of Alfred Tennyson as Lord Tennyson, and he is too aged, and his life-impression too decidedly fixed, for the changed name to get established. Just as we speak of Shakspere, and Wordsworth, and Bulwer Lytton, and Browning, so we shall think and speak of Tennyson. A poet’s proper crown is not a peerage, but a nation’s admiration and love, and the world’s uplifting by his words of trust and hope, his visions of the perfect, the beautiful, and the true, his subtle readings of human hearts and motives. England, and the English speaking races of the world, crowned Tennyson long ago, and the peerage crown seems but a little thing, only needing a passing word.”

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Among the many “happy ideas” hit upon in connection with the C. L. S. C., that of Memorial Days deserves prominent place and mention. Several of these days are named for men whose genius and literary greatness have received the world’s recognition. These days are not memorials to the cold letters that spell the names of Milton, Addison, and Shakspere, but to genius and greatness in literature as represented by them. And the design is not to keep in memory a mere literal sign, a name, but to pay our homage to the literary or other merit with which the name is associated. And this with the ulterior view of kindling aspirations and inspirations in our own minds and hearts.

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Seventy-five million dollars are invested in the rubber business of this country, of which $30,000,000 are in the boot and shoe manufacture. The annual products are $250,000,000, made by 15,000 persons at 120 factories. Thirty thousand tons of raw rubber are used each year. The forests along the equator, which Humboldt declared inexhaustible, are dwindling, and the rapid increase of cost of rubber (from 50 cents to $1.25 per lb. in six years) is leading to search for cheaper substitutes.

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The Rev. Dr. John Hall says: “The churches of New York cost $3,000,000 per year; the amusements $7,000,000; the city government $13,000,000. It is not an extravagant demand that the churches should have more money.”

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Ella A. Giles, in _The Nation_, furnishes a description of a seminary for colored girls in Atlanta, Ga., under the auspices of the Baptist Home Missionary Society. Here is a testimony she jotted down in one of their meetings: “Dis chile didn’t do no teachin’ in vacation,” said a big mulatto woman, with great pomposity. “’Twan’t ’cos she didn’t know ’nuff, ’xactly, nor ’cos there wasn’t heaps dat needed to be teached. On every side ignorant niggers is as thick as flies. But my _preferment_ was doin’ suthin’ else fur my blessed Savior. Needn’t think I didn’t work for Jesus, my young sisters. I tell ye I worked mighty hard! I visited heaps o’ sick niggers, an’ I ’low I wan’t lazy. Don’t win ye no crown jes to go an’ _look_ at sick folks, unless ye _do_ suthin’ fur um. I feel like as if my stomach was light and freed from bile, ’cos I nussed the sick, an’ puttin my shoulder to the wheel, didn’t look back like Lot’s wife and turn unto a pillow of salt, but minded my blessed Lord an’ Savior an’ visited the sick—fur to please Jesus. I likes dis yeah school. Laws! I’s mo’n fifty years ole or thar-’bouts, an’ till I kum yeah I nebber know’d dat workin’ fur Christ meant nussin’ sick folks an’ goin’ to see the widowers an’ childless in affliction, an’ keepin’ unspotted from de world.”

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One cold day in December, from the City Hall steps in New York City, the Rev. Henry Kimball gave away two cheeses, cut in pound chunks, two barrels of crackers, a barrel of turnips, a barrel of hominy done up in brown paper pound packages, and five bags of Indian meal. One hundred and twenty women, seventy little girls, and a colored man came to get their baskets filled. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

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At a meeting of naturalists held recently in New York, Prof. D. Cope, of Philadelphia, alluded to the small provision that is made for original research in this country, and the stress that is on almost all original investigators to throw themselves away as teachers in order to gain a livelihood. It is important that we have original investigation in science, but capitalists must furnish the money to defray the expenses. But because a man or woman turns to teaching rather than investigation, they do not throw themselves away. Teaching is as high and honorable a calling as investigating nature’s laws.

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A new feature lately introduced in the public schools of New Haven is called “newspaper geography.” The pupils are in turn required to find on the map places referred to in the paper.

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The South Carolina Legislature has passed a bill declaring unlawful all contracts for the sale of articles for future delivery. Speculation in cotton never received a harder blow than this. If some of our legislatures in northern states, say New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois, should adopt such a law, and then enforce it, what a torpedo it would be among speculators in oil and grain, and stocks of all kinds.

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One of the students in the University of Berlin, Germany, is 69 years of age. The aged members of the C. L. S. C. find themselves in the fashion. Our motto is a good one: “Never be discouraged,” not even in old age.

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The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union celebrated its tenth anniversary on December 23. We are told that this organization numbers 100,000 members, and that they are scattered all over the land. Here we find the cause of the stir and hubbub in the country on the temperance question. It began in the Ohio crusade, among the women. They used prayer and religious songs and earnest entreaties, flavored with the spirit of Christianity, and they have won; yes, they have won the grandest victory of which mention is made in history for temperance and our unfortunate fellow men. Celebrate the return of the anniversary of the crusade. Do it with songs and shouts of joy, and continue to work till the end.

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We find the following summary of an interview with Whittier in the _Sun_: “Whittier said that Hawthorne, Emerson, Longfellow, and himself had always been friends. There were no jealousies, and each took a pride in the work and successes of the others. They would exchange notes upon their productions, and if one saw a kindly notice of the other it was always cut out and sent to him. Hawthorne was by the others regarded as the greatest master of the English language. Whittier describes himself as unlike any of the rest, for he never had any method. When he felt like it he wrote, and neither had the health nor the patience to revise his work afterward. It usually went as it was originally completed. Emerson wrote with great care, and would not only revise his manuscript carefully, but frequently reword the whole on the proof sheets. Longfellow, too, was a very careful writer. He would lay his work by and then revise it. He would often consult with his friends about his productions before they were given to the world. ‘I was not so fortunate,’ says the Quaker poet. ‘I have lived mostly a secluded life, with little patience to draw upon, and only a few friends for associates. What writing I have done has been for the love of it. I have ever been timid of what I have penned. It is really a marvel to me that I have gathered any literary reputation from my productions.’”

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So large a number of the complete sets of THE CHAUTAUQUAN for 1880-1881 have been received by us that we withdraw the offer made in the January issue of the magazine.

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The prospect is good that we shall have erected at Chautauqua in the spring about six new cottages, to be used by the School of Languages. They will be located on the new land recently purchased by the Association. This will introduce public buildings on that part of the grounds, and make the lots for private cottages more desirable. The outlook on the Lake from this point is one of the finest to be found between Jamestown and Mayville.

C. L. S. C. NOTES ON REQUIRED READINGS FOR FEBRUARY.

PHILOSOPHY OF THE PLAN OF SALVATION.

P. 177.—“Diomedes,” diˈo-meˌdes. A legendary hero of the Trojan war—second in bravery to Achilles. Much space is devoted by Homer in the _Iliad_ to his exploits. He was a favorite of Minerva, and from her received the gift of immortality. In his combats with the Trojans he spared neither gods nor men, if Minerva assisted him. For this reason Minerva speaks to him:

“War boldly with the Trojans, Diomed; For even now I breathe into thy frame,— … Lo! I remove the darkness from thine eyes, That thou mayst well discern the gods from men; And if a god should tempt thee to the fight, Beware to combat with the immortal race.”

P. 179.—“Clemens of Alexandria.” One of the early Christian fathers, who lived at the close of the second and beginning of the third centuries. Educated in the heathen philosophy, he was converted to Christianity, and became a presbyter in the church. Clemens wrote much, using the scientific methods of the philosophers in his exposition of the doctrines of Christianity. His principal themes were exhortations to the heathen to abandon idolatry, and treatises on Christian and Greek literature.

“Minucius Felix,” Marcus. A native of Africa, but he came to Rome, where he successfully practiced law until he was converted. He is said to have been renowned for his eloquence. His most important work for Christianity was _Octavius_, a dialogue between a Christian and a heathen upon the merits of their respective religions.

P. 187.—“Reductio ad absurdum.” Reducing to an absurdity.

P. 189.—“Petrifaction,” pĕtˌri-făcˈtion. Turning into stone of an animal or vegetable substance.

P. 199.—“Zeleucus,” ze-leuˈcus. A law-giver among the Locrians (see Grecian History), who lived about 660 B. C. His laws were eminently severe, but were observed by his people for a long time. Zeleucus is said to have come to his death because a transgressor of one of his own laws. He had decreed that no one should enter the senate house armed, on a penalty of death. In a time of great excitement in war Zeleucus broke the decree. It was remarked to him, and immediately he fell on his sword, in vindication of the law.

P. 222.—“Daguerreotype,” da-gĕrˈo-tīp. So called from Daguerre, the discoverer of this method of taking pictures.

P. 230.—“Permit me to write the ballads of a nation, and I care not who makes her laws.” The idea is said to have originated with Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun, who wrote: “I knew a very wise man that believed that if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who made the laws of a nation.”

P. 241.—“Modus operandi.” Manner of operation.

“Die.” The piece of metal on which is cut a device to impress on coins, medals, etc.

P. 254. “Socinian.” Lælius Socinus was an Italian theologian (1525-1562). His study led him to doubt certain doctrines, among them that of the Trinity. His nephew, Faustus, who by his skeptical spirit had made himself very obnoxious to the church, decided in 1574 to become a religious reformer, and from the manuscripts of his uncle he elaborated what was called the Socinian system. The negations of the system include: The Trinity, the deity of Christ, the personality of the devil, the native and total depravity of man, the atonement and eternal punishment. It affirms that Christ was a divinely appointed man, and that in the imitation of his virtues we find our salvation. The American Cyclopædia says of the former use of this term: “The name Socinian, which is so often given to those who hold Unitarian opinions as a term of reproach, was for a century the honorable designation of a powerful and numerous religious body in Poland, Hungary and Transylvania.… The Racovian catechism, so called from its place of publication (Raków, in Poland), compiled mainly from the writings of Socinus, is still the text-book of faith and worship in many Hungarian and Transylvanian churches.” Unitarianism is now the term applied to the doctrines of Socinianism.

P. 258.—Translation of Latin in foot-note: The constant presence of Christ in the heart brings pleasant communion, gracious consolation, much peace.

P. 260.—“Subjectively.” By “moral light revealed subjectively” is meant the light or truth which is natural, or in the mind of every subject or thinker, and opposed to the light which comes _objectively_, or through an object, as, in this case, the light which comes from the Bible. Subjective and objective are terms of mental philosophy, of common use, and applied generally to certainty or truth. “Objective certainty,” says Watts, “is when the thing is true in itself; subjective when we are certain of the truth of it. The one is in things, the other in our minds.”

P. 266.—“Logos,” loˈgos. The _word_, literally. In ancient thought it had two significations, one philosophical, where it meant the reason, or that principle which regulates the affairs of the world; the other theological, referring, as in the Gospel of St. John, to a distinct person which both creates and redeems; here it is applied to man’s reason.

P. 273.—“Lacon.” The author of Lacon was Caleb Colton, an English writer, born in 1780. He was educated at Cambridge and received a vicarage in 1818, but soon became so dissipated as to utterly ruin his prospects. He was obliged to flee to America on account of debts incurred in gambling, but afterward went to France, where in 1832 he committed suicide. “Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words,” is a collection of maxims, and is best known of his writings.

HOW TO GET STRONG.

P. 19.—“Navvy.” Short for navigator, formerly slang, but now a recognized term applied to those employed in excavating canals, making dykes and like work.

“Longshoremen.” Said to be abbreviated from _along shore men_. “The Slang Dictionary” says that all people who get their livings by the side of the Thames below bridges are called Long Shore folk. The particular class to which Mr. Blaikie refers is that of laborers employed about wharves.

P. 25.—“Tom Brown of Rugby.” The hero of the story, “Tom Brown’s School Days,” by Thomas Hughes.

“Hares and Hounds.” A game sometimes called “paper hunt.” A team of any number of players is formed, from which one is chosen as the hare. To him is given a start of a few minutes called “law.” He starts off with a bag of cut paper called “scent,” which he scatters as he runs. When “law” is up the hounds or remainder of the team start in pursuit, following “scent” as closely as possible. The game continues until the hare is run to the ground or the players baffled.

P. 27.—“Turners.” During the time that Napoleon controlled Prussia Friedrich Jahn, a German patriot, conceived the idea of forming schools in which the young men should be trained in gymnastic exercises and in patriotic sentiments, in order that eventually they might drive the French from the country. These schools were called _Turnvereine_. The first one was established in 1811, and when in 1813 the country was called to arms, the Turners rendered signal service. Though for a time prohibited in Germany, they were afterward reorganized and have been introduced into various countries.

P. 41.—“Tantalus.” A character of Greek mythology, who, having given offense to the gods, was punished in the lower world by confinement in a river where the water always recedes from his lips, and the branches over his head, laden with fruit, withdraw from his hand.

“So bends tormented Tantalus to drink, While from his lips the refluent waters shrink. Again the rising stream his bosom laves, And thirst consumes him ’mid circumfluent waves.”—_Darwin._

P. 50.—“La Ligne.” The line.

“Dumas,” düˌmäˈ. French novelist and dramatist. (1803-1870.)

P. 53.—“Sebastian Fenzi,” se-băsˈtian fentˈse.

P. 62.—“Nathalie,” nâ-ta-lēˈ; “Farini,” fâ-rēˈnē.

P. 81.—“Periauger,” pĕrˈi-auˌger. One of several forms of the word pirogue. A kind of canoe formed out of a tree trunk.

P. 85.—“Choate,” chote. (1799-1859.) Choate was sixty years of age when he died, instead of fifty-five.

P. 86.—“O’Connell.” (1775-1847.) The Irish statesman.

P. 87.—“Brougham.” See THE CHAUTAUQUAN for November.

“Canning.” (1770-1827.) A British statesman.

P. 135.—“Double-first.” In the English universities one who wins the highest honors in both the classics and mathematics is said to win “a double-first.”

P. 136.—“Mazzini,” mät-seeˈnee. (1805-1872.) An Italian patriot and revolutionist. He early devoted himself to bringing about the unity of Italy, then divided and oppressed by Austria. In 1831 he was banished, thereupon he formed a political organization to secure the liberty of Italy and union of the states. In every way he worked to gain his ends. In 1849 he assisted Garibaldi in his struggles for Italy’s freedom, and later directed an insurrection in northern Italy. Mazzini was the author of several works. Carlyle says of him: “I have had the honor to know M. Mazzini for a series of years, and I can, with great freedom, testify to all men that he, if I have ever seen one such, is a man of genius and virtue—a man of sterling veracity, humanity and nobleness of mind.”

P. 147.—“Bowdoin,” boˈdwin.

P. 156.—“Thwart.” A nautical term applied to the bench of a boat, on which the rowers sit.

P. 176.—“Palmerston,” pāmˈer-ston. (1784-1865.) Prime minister of England.

“Thiers,” te-erˈ. (1797-1877.) French statesman and historian.

P. 193.—“Adipose tissue,” adˈi-pōse. The fatty matter distributed through the cellular tissues of the body.

NOTES ON REQUIRED READINGS IN “THE CHAUTAUQUAN.”

GERMAN HISTORY.

P. 251, c. 1.—“Lutzen,” lŭtˈsen. A small town of Prussian Saxony, near Leipsic. The battle between Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein took place November 16, 1632. Napoleon defeated the allied Prussians and Russians here in 1813.

“Treaty of Passau,” pâsˈsow. A town of Bavaria, at the confluence of the Inn and Danube. This treaty was concluded in 1552 between Charles V., of Germany, and Maurice, of Saxony. It guaranteed religious freedom to the German Protestants until a diet should be summoned to arrive at a new settlement. In 1555 this diet was summoned at Augsburg, where peace was made and the princes left free to establish the Lutheran or Catholic faith.

“Pusillanimity,” pū-sil-la-nĭmˈi-ty. Weakness; cowardice.

P. 251, c. 2.—“Brabant,” brâ-bântˈ. One of the ancient divisions of the Netherlands, lying south of Holland.

“Aix-la-Chapelle,” aiks-lă-shă-pel. Called in German, Aachen; situated in Rhenish Prussia. This treaty was made in 1668. Louis gained by the war several strong towns in the Netherlands.

“Stahremberg,” stahˈrem-berg. This was the second invasion of Vienna by the Turks. It occurred in 1683.

“Sobieski,” sō-bi-ĕsˈki. (1629?-1696.) A Pole, educated in Paris. The Cossacks having risen against the Polish government he joined the army and so distinguished himself that he was given the chief command. The Turks invading the country, Sobieski made a record which caused him to be elected king upon the death of the monarch then ruling. His victory at Vienna freed all Europe from the fear of the Turks, and Sobieski was called the savior of christendom. His last years were embittered by civil and domestic troubles.

“Ryswick,” rizeˈwik.

“Spanish Succession.” By the death of Charles II., of Spain, the house then on the throne became extinct. His two brothers in-law, Louis XIV., of France, and Leopold I., of Austria, both claimed the throne for princes of their families. Charles in a second will had appointed Philip, the grandson of Louis XIV., as his successor, but Germany, England and Holland contested the will. The war lasted thirteen years. The allies gained several victories, but Philip secured the throne, although obliged to give up several provinces.

“Blenheim,” blĕnˈheīm. A village of Bavaria on the Danube. This battle took place August 13, 1704.

“Duke of Marlborough.” He commanded the English forces, while Prince Eugene led the Austrians.

“Frederick the Great.” (1712-1786.) During the forty-six years of his reign Frederick waged three important wars—the first and second Silesian wars and the Seven Years’ war. The cause of each was his claim to the province of Silesia. After the close of the third, in 1763, Frederick devoted himself to the restoration and improvement of his country. It is said that at his death he left to his nephew and successor, “a surplus of $50,000,000, an army of 220,000 men, a territory increased by nearly 30,000 square miles, and an industrious, intelligent and happy population of 6,000,000.”

P. 252, c. 1.—“Jena,” jēˈna, or yāˈnä; “Auerstädt,” öuˈer-stät.

“Rhine-Bund.” The confederation of the Rhine.

“Deutscher-Bund.” The German Confederation.