THE CHAUTAUQUAN has steadily grown in favor with the public from the
time it was first issued. Our old subscribers continue with us, and new
ones are being added to the list daily. We are now printing thirty-five
thousand copies every month. This circulation is evidence in itself
of the rapid growth of the C. L. S. C., and of an increasing demand
among reading people for substantial literature. The future of THE
CHAUTAUQUAN and the whole Chautauqua movement has never been so full of
promise to those who are directing the work as it now is, as we enter
the year 1884.
* * * * *
Sojourner Truth is dead. For more than half a century she has been a
conspicuous figure, a negro woman, firmly advocating abolition and
woman suffrage. Her musical bass voice was often used with tremendous
effect in assemblies where she spoke for her favorite cause. Redeemed
from slavery herself, she saw her children sold into bondage, but she
lived to speak on the same platform with Garrison and Wendell Phillips
for her cause, and at last to see her race enjoying freedom.
* * * * *
Two great religious celebrations marked the month of November. The
anniversary of Martin Luther was observed by church people in all
parts of the land, sermons and lectures made the air vocal with the
praises of Luther and his deeds in behalf of spiritual Christianity.
Our national Thanksgiving day was generally kept by a suspension of
business, the holding of religious services, family gatherings and
feasting. The observance of these two days indicates how strong a hold
Christianity has upon the American people. Though God is not recognized
in the Constitution of the United States, he is honored in a more
practical way by being worshiped at the altars of his church, and in
the hearts of his people.
* * * * *
Miss Frances E. Willard shows a degree of enterprise unequaled, in the
naming of objects, when in her article elsewhere in this number she
proposes to change the name of the world. She pays a fine compliment to
the Pacific coast as a land of many charms, not the least of which are
its elegant homes.
* * * * *
Lewis Miller, Esq., president of the Chautauqua Assembly and the C. L.
S. C., has rendered an invaluable service to the Assembly by his wise
counsel and unceasing labors ever since the death of Mr. A. K. Warren,
last summer. It is expected that the trustees will elect a secretary to
succeed Mr. Warren at their meeting in January.
* * * * *
In the fall elections the Republicans defeated General Butler in
Massachusetts, retrieved themselves in Pennsylvania, and elected part
of their ticket in New York State, in the face of nearly 200,000
majority against them one year ago, but in Ohio they lost the control
of the State government, and in Virginia the Mahone party received a
terrible reverse. The immediate effect of these changes is, new hope
springs up in the hearts of the Republican leaders that they shall be
able to elect the next President.
* * * * *
The contest for the election of Speaker of the House of Representatives
presented this new phase of politics in the Democratic party: There was
a Northern faction which supported Mr. Randall, of Pennsylvania, and
a Southern faction, which proved to be the stronger of the two, which
elected Mr. Carlisle, of Kentucky. In the history of this nation a
great party has been hopelessly divided by a cause of less import than
is seen in this contest for the Speakership.
* * * * *
The tariff may come into prominence as a great political issue in the
Presidential contest of 1884, and it may be kept out of the battle
entirely. The Democratic party has the power to choose the battle
ground, and to say over what issue the voters shall wage the war.
* * * * *
The divorce laws of the states are so diversified and are working so
much mischief to the family and society, that it would be a safe and
easy way out of our troubles if our National Congress would give us a
wholesome law on divorce. Eminent lawyers say “there is no principle
in the Constitution to prevent it.” It would be in the interest of the
whole people—and guard the family, which is the very foundation of
national life. A copyright law or a bankrupt law are no more national
than a divorce law would be.
* * * * *
The lace industry is a most valuable business in France. We know little
about it, only as the article is used for decorating the persons and
homes of the American people. To Culbert, the protectionist, the rise
and growth of this business may be traced. Two hundred and fifty
thousand people in France are engaged in its manufacture, and its
products are valued at about $20,000,000 annually. Here is an opening
for enterprising American capitalists who are seeking places to invest
their money, and as a branch of manufacturing in this country, it would
be an opportunity for thousands of needy women to find remunerative and
agreeable employment.
* * * * *
It is reported in literary circles that “Anthony Trollope was excluded
from _Good Words_ (a London religious magazine) because he introduced
a dance into a story.” If this be true, it shows the sentiment of
religious society in England on the dance; to say the least, it is
strong evidence that the editor of _Good Words_ knows what would offend
the taste of his readers, and has the courage to exclude it from his
columns.
* * * * *
“The Boston School Committee has tried the experiment of industrial
training for about two years on a small scale among the boys in the
Dwight school building. About five hours per week have been devoted to
mechanical work. The boys have been taught the proper use of tools, and
many of the lads have shown such proficiency and have made such rapid
progress in this new branch of education that it has been decided to
make it a permanent feature of the Boston schools for boys. The subject
was brought up in November at a meeting of the School Board, and was
favorably considered. The Superintendent of Schools, Professor Seaver,
said the objection had been raised that too much time might be taken
from other studies. His belief was that, if necessary, it would be
better to abandon some other studies and give more time to one that was
calculated to give the boys some information of practical value—one
that would enable them to become useful members of society early in
life, rather than ornamental boys. It was finally voted to request the
City Council to appropriate $2,500 for the equipment and maintenance of
a manual training school in the basement of the Latin school building.
It is the intention to devote ten hours per week to the new system.”
* * * * *
The average daily movement of the wind on the top of Mount Washington
in October last was 619 miles; highest temperature 54° 5′; lowest, 6°.
The highest velocity of the wind was 94 miles an hour, from the west.
There were three inches of snow on the summit at the close of October.
* * * * *
With the introduction of the electric light into the streets of our
towns and cities, we meet a new danger from broken wires, charged with
electricity, hanging in the air. In New York City, last month, an
electric light pole was broken and the wires fell to the ground, when
a runaway horse had a strange experience. An officer at Mr. Bergh’s
office said: “We had no occasion to use the ambulance. The horse
seemed to have become entangled in the wires after falling and to have
become so charged with electricity that it was unable to get up. The
driver received a shock from the horse’s body in attempting to lift
it, and was thrown violently to the ground. I understood that several
others who attempted to help the horse had the same experience. Word
was finally sent to the Brush supply office in Twenty-fifth street,
and I understood the electricity was cut off from the circuit while
the horse was released. The animal was able to walk, and was taken
to the stables. I am told that even the harness was so charged with
electricity that it was dangerous to touch it.” The people must be
educated to keep hands off these wires, or what would be a better plan,
all companies should be obliged to lay their wires underground.
* * * * *
A Law and Order League has been organized in St. Louis for the purpose
of securing to the city an honest local government.
* * * * *
“The traveler along the highway a mile or so above the village of North
Haverhill, N. H., finds,” says _The Boston Journal_, “a small graveyard
which contains the remains of brave McIntosh, the leader of the Boston
Tea Party. For seventy years spring flowers have blossomed and winter
winds have blown over a grave unmarked by stone and known to but a few
aged people now living who remember his burial. He fills a pauper’s
grave, having died in the vicinity of 1810 or 1811, at the house of a
Mr. Hurlburt, who resided at what is now known as the Poor Farm, and
to whose care he had been bid off as a public pauper by public auction
as the lowest bidder, according to ye ancient custom, and as recorded
upon the town records. That he was the leader without a doubt there is
abundant proof, and that to his memory should be erected a suitable
monument commemorative of the man and deed would be simple justice.”
* * * * *
The unusual fact is reported that in Chicago the wife of the bookkeeper
in a National Bank, on discovering recently that her husband was
dishonest, went to the president and told him of the fact. In noticing
this remarkable circumstance the _Inter-Ocean_ says: “Although hundreds
of women hold positions of financial trust in Chicago and elsewhere
in the country, we have yet to hear of one of them being guilty of
embezzlement or defalcation.” The same is true, almost or quite
without exception, of the female employes of the government, and their
superior skill in counting and handling money has been attested by
General Spinner. They are not only more expert in this, but they are
sharper eyed than the men. A counterfeit can seldom pass their scrutiny
undetected. Indeed, they seem to have a sort of clairvoyance for fraud.
Yet some Congressmen, who are chiefly anxious to wield patronage
to reward their constituents, favor the exclusion of women from
clerkships. They are not merely ungallant, but opposed to faithfulness
and economy in the public service.
* * * * *
The great cantilever bridge just completed over Niagara River has been
constructed for a double railroad track. It is about three hundred
feet above the old railroad suspension bridge, spanning a chasm eight
hundred and seventy feet wide between the bluffs, and over two hundred
feet deep.
* * * * *
In the Chautauqua School of Theology the reports from departments show
a large increase of students for the past month. The total number now
enrolled is as follows: Hebrew, 38; Greek, 132; Doctrinal Theology, 85;
Practical Theology, 116; Historical Theology, 25.
* * * * *
The Hon. James G. Blaine excited considerable discussion in the
political world during the past month by a letter he published in the
Philadelphia _Press_. He objects to distributing the surplus revenue
collected by the government among the States, but believes that the
income from the tax on distilled spirits might be so divided. This
places both Mr. Blaine and the government in an unenviable position.
It is blood-money—yes—blood-money. Like the money Judas received for
betraying Jesus Christ into the hands of his enemies, so the tax on rum
is the price the government has received for betraying innocent wives
and children and weak men into the hands of their enemies. Mr. Blaine
is a pronounced prohibitionist, and as such he would do well to have
as little as possible to do with the tax on rum. It is a dangerous
question to handle, in any but one way, and that is for the government
to abolish this particular tax by prohibiting the traffic in spirituous
liquors.
* * * * *
Any one west of the Mississippi desiring a class badge of ’85 can
procure it of the Secretary, Mamie M. Schenck, Osage City, Kansas, by
sending the sum of ten (10) cents.
* * * * *
Every one in the northeastern States remembers the brilliant sunsets
that occurred in the latter part of November. The persistent, intense,
red light that streamed up the sky almost to the zenith, was so unusual
a phenomenon that many theories have been given in explanation. Of
course the first was that of unusual refraction produced by differences
of density in the atmosphere; but as the light was observed so far, so
long, and before sunrise as well as after sunset, another explanation
seems necessary. Prof. Brooks, of western New York, has advanced
a reasonable explanation in the suggestion that it was caused by
reflection from clouds of meteoric dust in the upper portion of the
atmosphere. In confirmation of this, Prof. Brooks claims to have
discovered, on the night of November 28, a shower of telescopic meteors
near the place in the sky where the sun had set.
* * * * *
The annual report from the United States Mint shows that the total
amount of gold and silver received and worked during the year was
$87,758,154, of which $49,145,559 was gold and $38,612,595 was silver.
The coinage consisted of 98,666,624 pieces, worth $66,200,705. Of this
amount $28,111,119 was in standard silver dollars. The total amount of
fractional silver in the country is $235,000,000. The earnings of the
mints during the year were $5,215,509, and the expenses $1,726,285. The
total value of the gold and silver wasted at the four coining mints
was $30,084, while there was a gain from surplus bullion recovered
amounting to $62,658. The director estimates the total coin circulation
of the United States, on July 1, 1883, at $765,000,000, of which
$537,000,000 was gold and $228,000,000 silver. The estimate on October
1, 1883, was $544,512,699 of gold, and $235,291,623 of silver.
* * * * *
The “Children’s Aid Society” of New York City held its annual meeting
in the American Exchange Bank, in December. It could appropriately be
called a society for “diminishing crime and vice,” because that is
just what the Society is doing among neglected and wicked children.
The secretary said: “There were during the past year, in our six
lodging houses, 13,717 different boys and girls; 297,399 meals and
231,245 lodgings were supplied. In the twenty-one day and fourteen
evening schools were 14,132 children, who were taught, and partly fed
and clothed; 3,449 were sent to homes, mainly in the West; 1,599 were
aided with food, medicine, etc., through the ‘Sick Children’s Mission;’
4,140 children enjoyed the benefits of the ‘Summer Home’ at Bath, L.
I. (averaging about 300 per week); 489 girls have been instructed in
the use of the sewing machine in the Girls’ Lodging House and in the
industrial schools; $10,136.12 has been deposited in the Penny Savings
Banks. Total number under charge of the Society during the year,
37,037. The treasurer, George S. Coe, reports that $251,713.94 was
received and $255,865 paid out.”
* * * * *
Any person owning a complete set of THE CHAUTAUQUAN for 1880-1881, with
which they are willing to part, may dispose of the same at our office.
We will send for the first volume of THE CHAUTAUQUAN the fourth volume,
or will pay the original price, $1.50.
* * * * *
The holiday season will bring a brief respite from study, to members of
the C. L. S. C. as it does to students in colleges and universities,
and indeed we may say, as it does to business and professional men, and
everybody. It is a time of good cheer, of merry-making and rejoicing,
for Christmas-tide is the most joyful of all our holiday seasons in
the suggestions of the day itself, and in the freedom and intensity of
feeling with which it is observed. It marks the end of the old year
with an exclamation point, and we bow it out with a shout of joy. As
the year 1884 comes in, to our scores of thousands of readers we say,
_A Happy New Year to you all_.