Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, November 24, 1872, Page 6

v THE CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER =24, 1872. w PN T A e TERMS OF THE TRIBUNE. TZRME OF SUBSCRIPTION (P4 3 ui by (PAYABLE IN ADVANCE) Fri-Weel To prevent delay and mistakes, be sure and give Post Office address in full, including State nd County. Remittances msy b meds either by draft, express, Post Office oxder, or in rogistered lotters, at our risk, TERMS TO CITY SUDECRIDEES. Daily, delivered, Bunday cxcepted, 25 cents per week. D‘ » delivered, Sunday included, 3) cents per ;cpx. ddress THE TRIBUNE COMPAN Sorace Matacn s Dravbori ste. Chicesd, Tl TRIUXE Branch Office, No. 409 Wabash-av., In the Bookstors of Mesers. Cobb, Androws & Co., whero advertisements and sabscriptions will be received, aud will have the ssmo attention as if left at the Mala Office. The Whicage Cribuse, Sundsy Morning, November 24, 1872 The Board of County Commissioners have failed to pass anorder to purchase the abstract books, The scheme to pay 750,000, the price asked, was abandoned, and, though the friends ©of the purchese-at-any-price declared that 8500, 000 would not be accepted, the Commissioners refused even t0 vote a smaller sum. Thepropo- sition now goes over to the new Board, which meetsin the first week in December, When the matter will berenewed. In the meantime, the financial inebility of the county to purchase ab 21l remaine unchanged. Itisuseless to talk of spending half a million of dollars when the county cannot raise it by texation, and cennob even raise enough to pay the interest on that much sdditionsl debt. x| GAS AND GAS COMPANIES. The Common Council has been sgitated dur- ing the last two weeks upon the subject of gss Bnd gas companics. There bave been organ- ized in this city a number of companies thaf profess a willingness and strong desire to serve the people with ges. To do this, they need and demand the privilege of laying pipes in the streets, alleys, and avenues of thecity. To lsy Zhese pipes necessitates the tearingup of the street pavements and sidewalks, not only for ithe laying of tho mains, bat for the introduction 1of new service-pipes into the buildings. The public at large kave but one interest in the gas ibusiness. They want good gas in plentiful sup- ply, and at chesp rates. It is entirely immate- «risl whether this gss is furnished by an old or & new company, or by Smith, Jones, or Robinson. Experience has shown, howaver. that the manu- facture of gas and its service areexpensive. The cost of laying pipes and establishing gas worksis @u expenditure that must precede the manu- Zactnre and service of gss. A company that bss its pipes slresdy laid, and hss its works established and in full operation, manufactures and delivers gas up to an amount fo defray the «cost of meking and interest on the money in- vested in laid pipes and works, has a clear profit of allit receives for gas beyond that amount. 1f two companies occupy the same ares, each baving its full amount of gervice pipe, each its mannfaciory of gas, each its compliment * of employes, then the cost of producing the gas and delivering it in thatarea is doubled. If the ser- wice in a given ares be one million of feet per month, and the receipts from balf that amount ill defray all the cost of making and delivering ‘the whole, the company has a clear -profit of 100 per cent on- its business; if that same amount ‘of gas is fornished by two compaxies, and tho cost of production to each is equal to the sum received by each company, then what would have . been profit is espended. The public does mot receive any bepefit, and the price of gas remains of necessity the game. We believe that in every case where pew gas companies have been formed .the anticipated reduction resulting from compe- tition has failed; the new company has either Dought out the old, or has sold out to it, or has purchased a division of ferritory; in no case, ‘however, has there been any relief to the public, iither in the quantity, quality, or price of the @ss, The man or company who is willing to #arnish ges to the people atless than cost, or swho has failed to collect from its customers all lts ontlay, with liberal profit, bas not yet turned “up, and probably never will. ‘We have two gas companies in this ¢ity, who wfurnish esch & separate ares. The prices they demand for gasis considered, and probsbly is, exarbitant, They are understood to be rich -eorporations, If they would furnish gas at a less price, the demand for additional ges companies ~would probably cease. If anew gas company can undertake and lay down its pipes through the city, erect and maintain gas works, axd after expending this immense amonnt of money far- mish gas at 80,40, or 50 per cent chesper than it is now delivered for by exieting compa~ nies, then the old companies, who have already ‘been reimbursed for all their past expenditures, can certainly sell it at even less money. Last spring, the Common Council undertook 20 Jegislate upon this subject, and, after months of Iabor, finally agreed upon an ordinance grant- 4ng permission to new companies, upon certain zestrictions, conditions, and penalties, for the protection of the public. That ordinance was ansatisfactory to the spplicarts, and the matter dropped. The Council, on Friday Isst, as a re- #gult of their deliberations, revived this matured ordinence, and ordered it to an engrossment. However satisfactory this ordinance may be, it does not present s full solation of the whole dif- ficulty. One great want st present is any powerin the Common Councilto supervise, investigate, and control the existing gas com- panies. Had the Common Council the reserved power of supervision and a control over the re- ceipts and expenditures of these companies; ‘with authority to take the franchises they pos- 8ess, and to leage the same, or to place the sup- ply of gaslike water under the control snd di- rection of the Board of Public Works, or other municipal suthority, then gas could be far- nished to the public & & fair price. Our present gs8 companics have refused to discloss to tho publio their affairs; they constantly assert that they do not make any money. Itisa pity fo compel them to carry on business at aloss. Tiet them furnish a statement of the sctusl cost of their property; let them offer to manufacture and deliver gas at a fair profit on the capitsl thus invested; and agree that the price of gas shall ‘be regulated by the Common Council from time o time, upon & foll and open exhibit of receipts and expenditures, and then there would beno controversy upon the .subject of the price of gas. The Common Council has no power over the present companies to compel such a pro- ceeding, and, warned by this great deficiency, it shonld vote away no sdditional franchises without reserving this power, and the power even to toke possession of the ges establish- ment and business at & price and in & manner specified in thelaw. At all events, the Common Council, which hes been pottering over the sub- Joct for several years, oughy noty in the dying hoars of an old Council, bind and mortgage the city by any hasty or reckless proceeding. This maiter is too full of consequences, present and remote, to be acted npon without careful consid eration, not oply of immediate wants, but the wants of the city, which has only attained a par- tial growth. — LANDLORDS' SQUEEZES. Tn the present lax administration of justice hereabouts, it is cheering to know that there is & place in the world where culprits are liable to ‘be punished, and a magisirate who is never mis- led by mistaken ideas of clemency. It is probably the last place in the world where any one would expect to find justice administered in duo proportion, and equity and senso so closely intorwoven with Isw &8 to secure prompt snd just punishment. The name of the magistrate is Yen, and he is the Prefect of Hang- Yang, in the |Province of Hupeh, Chins. This worthy man and righteous magis- trate has just issued a proclamation, which ghows not only that Celestial landlords have “vways that are dark” like other landlords, but also that Yen knows how to deal with them. ‘We like the manner in which he commences his proclamation: “Yen, Prefect of Hang-Yang, in the Province of Hupeh, issues a rigorously-pro- hibitory proclamation,” There is no nonsense in tnnt, and he indicates the class which isto be rigorously prohibited, by heading his proclama- tion « Landlords' Squeezes.” The felicitous lan- guageof Yen will be readily appreciated here, whera the squeezing by landlords is both fre- quent and affectionate. Having established the fact that his proclamation is a rigorously-prohib~ itive one, Yen enunciates two other important facts: first, that the principle of landlord and tenant exists in all dwelling-places, and, second, that the birth of children is common smong men. Thus far. the parsllel between China and Chicago is complete. We have landlords and fenants; births of children are common here, likewise landlord’s squeezes. The connection between & landlords’ squeeze and the birth of & child is next elucidated by Yen. He says that it is re- ported in his Prefecture that the female tenants very often give birth to children, whereupon the Iandlords extort money for such child that is borp, and will not desiat from their demands. As he reflects npon this fact, Yen grows indignant. He proclaims boldly that this abominable custom of squeszing tenauts, when their families increase, must be crushed out, and he warns them thus: “ Wherefore, all ye ovners of rooms or housesin this district are expected to know that when you have rented a house to any one, and bave been paid, you ought not to demand any additional gift, in case of a child being born, as now people in great ex- tremities can often find nowhere to live,” There s & slight difference right hers between the practices of the landlords of Hang-Yang and those of Chicsgo. The lstter make no additional charges of rent for increases of population in their houses, A man, for instance, may rent s house, being childless st the time, and the maximum number of thir- teen children may be born to him, without af- fecting his rent ; but how would it be for s man with thirteen children to present himself befora & landlord end make spplicstion for a honse? How many men hsve the counr- sge to do it? The unfortunate victim may be a model family man. He may be proud of his extensive progeny. He may even labor undertheides that somany and sach thrifty olive- ‘branches sre a credit to him,and would make the landlord’s house rather attractive than other- wise. Ho may indalge in the fancy that the Iandlord may jump at such a chance aa this, ar- guing that a man with thirteen children, whao are thirteen anchors holding the temant ‘to his home, must of neceesity ‘be an industrions, peacoful man, and more likely to pay his rent than the man without children, who is only tied to his home by his meals and lodging. Unfortunately, how- ever, the landlord never argues that way. He sees only destruction and devastation in the thirteen children. In his mind's eyeheconjures up faucets that won's run, white walls covered with litfle finger-prints, locks withont keys, broken window-panes, doors withont knobs, remarkable lead pencil drawings on white psint, an attio transformed into @ hospital for broken dolls and sick Littens, a back yard which combines all the propertice of & juvenile managerie, circus, snd musenm, and a front yard and steps mainly devoted 28 a bskery and repository of mud pies, and other forms of earthy pastry in which children de- Light., Al these possibilities float be- fore the eyes of the landlord, and, it the men with thirteen children gets the house, he pays & rent which is fived not only upon the basis of taxes, water rents, assess- ments, and interest, but also upon the basis of thirteen children, and what thirteen children can do in one year, where they have & fair show at & house, and free access to the modern improvements. The rule is, however, that the man with thirteen children doeso’ got the honse—thst is, the chances are thirteen to one that he will not get it, the fortunate ten- ant being the man with one, or the man with none. But this is not the only squeezing that the man with thirteen children gets. As it is impossible that & man can acquire thirteen chil- dren and wealth at the same time, it is necessary that he shall b either a boarder or atenant. Un- gble to rent, he pearches for & boarding-house. The first question alwsys is, *‘How many children ?" In despair he turns to the advertise~ ments in the daily papers, There are plenty of boarding-houses, but in each instance sppears the cabalistic announcement, *Family without encumbrances preferred.” Ashuman nature is constitnted, however, somo people must have children. Some people must have thirteen children, and however forturate or nnfortunsto the latter may be, they must have an abiding-place. The necessity, in fact, is thir- teen times greater than in the cage of a family with but one chicken, and that a pindling one. The family of fifteen gots & house somewhere, after a long season of peripatetic discomfort and copstant perplexities. Naturally, a woman who has thirteen children to look after canmot have much time to at- tend to homschold mstters. A servant must bohad. The servant girl of the period has a horror of one child, and, when she findsthat there ere thirteen, she stays not upon the order of her going, but goes at once. Aud this is the wususl programme of afflictions which waits upon the man with thirteen children. The only dif- ference between the Chinese and the Chicago landlord is thst the former 8queezes the tenant at stated periods during his lease, while tho latter squeezes him all at once. The Chinese landlord increnses his rent as each new tensnt appears. The Chicsgo landlord taxes them in & lump, &nd, if the family gives signs of being an unusually prolific one, gives notice to quit at the expiration of the lease. The differ- ence between the Chinese and the Chi- cogo temant, however, i8 a wide one. The Orientsl, with his thirteen, has & remedy; the Occidentsl, with his thirteen, hag none. Listen to the worthy Magistrate of Hang- Yang, in the Provincs of Hupeh: Aoy, then, after the issning of this proclamation, who take sadvantage of the above circumstances to extort smoney, may bo sued by their victim, if he will pre- sent himself at this prefecture, in company with tha Jocal Constable, when the culprits, on proofs ‘béing given, will be arrested and punished. Let #ll iremblingly conform. Do nob disobay.” Thig lets the Celestial tensnt out, and free to go on populating the earth to his heart's desire. There is no mistaking the closing warnings of this proclamation. They hava a ring and enap to them which forebodes something worse than the bamboo bastinado to the wretch who daresto tax the forthcoming little pigtails. But what remedy has the Chicago tenant with thirteen children? He may kill off a fewto accom- modate the landlord or the servant girl, but guch & destruction of worldly accumulations does not compensate for the benefits he receives, nordoes it act 8 an estoppal on the future. On the other hend, the pros- pects are that, as grass only shoots up ranker the next sesson after it has been burnt off, 8o his crop will only increase all the fester, and shortly supply the deficiency, lesving him again in the same plight 58 before. We see no relief except in emigration to Hang-Yaug, in the province of Hupeh,where dwells Yen, the upright Judge, and where the man with thirteen or thirty-three children can find solace for his tronbles, and go on, to the end of the chapter, multiplying his {felicities without prejudice to his rent. —— THY LATEST GERMAN PHILOSOPIIY. Germany has still a new philosopher—a new sage intent on wresting from the physical and spiritusl worlds the secret of their beingi A new theory of the Infinite is accepted asthe prevailing mode with 28 much pride in its nov- elty a5 Paris feels in adopting the lsst devicé of the modistes. The “ Philosopby of the Un- conscious ” is the new thing in specu- Istion. The work of Edward Von Hartmann, undor that title, published in 1868, the Tesult of four yearsof labor, is the gospel of the new philosophy. Von Hartmann is now but 80 years of age, and his philosophic tastes ‘have developed in spite of an education designed to to be practical, scientific, and mathematic, and to fithim specially for & military csreer. His theory seems to be that all physica or nature and thought or mind, owe their origin to an inexorable will or power which ip itaelf nnconscious and heartless; that exis- tence, or the partial eparation of the sensitive creature from its serehely indifferent and bliss- ol creator, is a misfortune ; that life is s deep- ening disappointment, and that personsl sal- vatiop or exemption from the ills of life is to be found only in the extinction of personal consciousness, snd the retumn of the soul to its meremely unconscions creative force. It is essentially the importation of the Buddhist speculative philosophy into Germany, and may be sot down 23 one of the products of the larger diftusion of late, amosg Earopean scholars, of the idess of the Hindoos, through the Isbors of Max Muller and other comparative philologists. It followsclose in the wake of Schopenhauer,who asserts that all affec- tion s folly, all joy is & delusion, and even a pairof lovers is a saddening sight, 28 theyare perpetuating the course of existence under & delasion. We know of no American philosopher who ever rose to so startling a conception as this, with the gingle exception of Artemas Ward, who defined love s8 the hallacination which in- duces & young man to feel an insane de- gire to psy some young woman's board. ‘Whether Schopenhauer borrowed this brilliang thought from Artemss Ward, or Ward from Schopenhaner, we do not inslst. But when Ward uses the eame nonsensical notion to provoke & smile which Philosophers Schopenhauer and Hartmann use to promoto cyniciem, we admire the humorist more than the philosopher. Hartmann further recommends that we rise above the misery of life by bocom- ing ®o deeply pepetrsted by his philosophy of the misery and folly of existence that we shall no longer have any desire to live. Hb calls upon the civilized world to bring sbont the scientific and philosophical millennium, by & grand concert of self-renuzciation, to be beld, by the aid of the telograph throughont the whole world at once, wherein mankind shall triomph over the evils of existence, by spontaneously rnd universally willing not to will any more, and g0 bring all conscious per- sonallife toan end by abgorption into the Al- mighty and Unsconscious Spirif. 1t is stated as the essence of his system that < the more sensitive, thoughtful and assuming & man becomes, the more bhe discerns the heartlessness of the Almighty Ruler, the ulti- mate nothingness of all high endeavor, and craves the dreamless sleep that cesses to mock exalted ideals with constant dissppointment.” After the grest number of philosophers and their disciplesin England and Americs ‘whose reasoning has ended in optimism, it is refreshing to find, springing up in Germany, 80 rank & form of pessimism, and so vigorous an sssertion that everything is going a8 Mantilini would eay, *to the demnitionbow-wows.” Each may act as antidote to the other. The Rev. Samuel Osgood, in discussing the new German philosophy from the Christian standpoint, saya: I onr view, the poor miner who sings his bymns $o cheer his labor down under the earth, | snd feels the, comfort of tho Divine Spirit, ac- cepta the trath of the philosophy of the Uncon- seious and spplies its power more wisely than the burly cynio Schopenhsuer, who is the head of the pessimist school, or the more humane and comprehensive Hartmann, his chief disci- ple, who, from his bed of suffering, is trying to comfort his suffering race by calling them to ex- tinction on the wheel of Buddhs, and notto ‘heavenly life by tho cross of Christ.” Possibly the time may come when some of the harsher and more absurd conclusions of both philosophical and religious thinkers msy be avoided by recognizing the fact that tho true wisdom lies in the medinm between the w0, in tempering each by the other. Or, if the conflict between Religion and Speculative Reason i8 in- herent and perpetual, let that fact at Teast be recognized a8 a foundation for & religious phi- losophy that shall at least acknowledge the atil~ ity and value of both worshipand resson. Dr. 0Osgood, in referring to the pending struggle be- tween the forces of Rationaliam and Revelation, says: In the old time, when Chistianity overcame the world, the measure of its power was the stréngth of 1ts enemies, for thess enemies were to be won over by its might, ond to bomado to sesve its kingdom. The w0 terzible powers that were joining to Grush Wags Xind, the pantheism of tho Exst, that lost personal life inthe Eternal All, and the imperialism of tho West that tried to tread down men snd nations under tho heel of Cesar and his leglons—theso two powers were subdued by the might of the Cross, and a now order of oclety was inang- urated with the reconcilistion of time snd eternity, human freedom eud Divine order. Itmay bo thats struggle very much like that is st hand, and that all true souls are called to take part inthoconflict, There is something in ecienca that 8 Tepaating tho old Orlen- tal mysticlam, robbing nature of meaning and taking from faith its god, and making intelligence s burden, thought an infliction, and life a misfortune; thero is something, too, in our new materialism, with its copi- tal and pride, thot i3 raising up & Rew Eome in placeaf the old empire; making of money the Cresarthat tram- ples down the noblest humanity and chills the best enthusinsm, And yet there are in ecience, materialism and money forces which powerfully, -though indi- rectly, minister to the purification, and, thereby, the preservation, of faith. The highest view of progress- is only attained when if is recognized, not as the result of & single force, whatever that may be, but of the conflict between that and its opposing 1 ANEW PBASE OF DARWINISM. Mr. Darwin comes up smiling. Al he orfho- dox denuncistion ; all the scientific distrust ; all the individual distaste that have been expressod inregardto his doctrine tracing the origin of man back to that of themonkey, only scem to have rendered his good-nature imperturbable. If his views be atill theoretical, he shows a fertility of resource, and s verisimilitude to demonstration, that is highly entertaining, if not yet absolutely useful. The latest phase of evo- lution comes in the form of & book which Mr. Darwin has published on ‘' The Ex- pression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,” but briet glimpses of which have as_yet been given throngh the press. All those whoare, familiar with Mr, Darwin's faculty of specisl- izing from his grand generalization, and the ex- tonsive resources of his readingand observation, will canceive that it has been possible for him to discover and explain many interesting curi- osities. » Mr. Darwin starts ont with recalling the fact that it hss been customary to regard the whole eubject ©of expression a&s imex- plicable. He holds that this has been the case simply because of the practica of regarding men and animals as independent cres- tions, and that his theory of & common origin of | species elncidstes what has heretofore beens | ‘meas of apparent contradictions, and an arbitra- ryjumble. At the same time, by an ingenious process of compensation, the similarity of ex- pressions that is trsced between men and animals is made to contribute to the establish- ‘ment of the doctrine of evolution. This is some- thing akin to what logicisns call arguing ina circle; but excellent resulis have been attained by a gimilar process in astronomy, snd whatis tolerable in exact scionce may certainly be ad- mitted in metaphysics. A fow of Mr. Darwin's illustrations may be briefly recited to make his new spplication plain. The ,bristling of tho hair under the influence of estreme terror ca | only be explained, ssys Mr. Darwin, in the belief that man once existed inalower and animal- like condition, whero this expression is common. | The sameis true, he holds, of a similar move- ment of the facial muscles in the laughter of | men and monkeys. The common gesture of children in jorking swsy one shoulder, when in & pettish mood, finds & counterpart in the action of certsin animals. Weeping is fraced by Mr. Darwin to the usnal outory of children and animals when hungry,—s prolonged screaming, filling the blood-vessels of tho eye, contracting the muscles, and effecting theInchry- mal glands. Tears, which are thus traced to a ‘natural source, eventually become babitual and imitative, which accounts for the common ex- Ppression of pain or. grief in Weeping. Pouting is one of the most curious illustrations which Mr. Darwin brings to his theory. The protrusion of the lower lip is the common mode of exprass- ing anger or discontent among the young orangs and chimpanzees. Among civilized people, this expression is still common with the children, and. Mr. Darwin has collected evidences that it isuni- versal among the Chinese, Abyssinians, Malays, Kafirs, Fingoes, Hottentots, Indians, and a host of other barbarons and semi-barbarous peoples, even when they become adults. One charm of Mr. Darwin'sapplicationsis that they are susceptible of amplification according to individual experience. Homight find in this & ‘practical confirmation of his doctrine. One instanco of expression that woud naturally occur o everybody would bo the commonly- quoted similarity between the cackling of a hen with one chicken and the peiting tones of » mother with one child. There wonld bo a mutual verification of the cases in which man's hair bad turned white in one night with great grief, 'and the black crow that turned white in the sama length of time at tho fright of & shot which didn't hit him. This would be mainly convincing to the men who £sw the crow tum white, The low, grumbling tones of the uni- formly selfish man compared to the grunts of the swine; the msllow voice of a sweet and amiable woman and the notes of the froe and happy birds; the nestling propensities that sre to be found in the young offspring ofmen and animals; those and many other variations will be suggested by the resemblan- ces that Mr. Darwin has found, though the lat-, ter has entered into the detail of expression- with wonderful industry of research. Whether | or not any individaal reader msy find in theso similarities any further proof of a comraon origin of races, all will experience a pleasure in following his curious identity of expression, which, at lesst, has amore plavsible explana- tion in the doctrine of evolution than it has ever befora received. * - COOKING AS AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. The London Salurdey Review tovives Cob- pett'a reflections on the choice of a. wife, con- tained in his ¢ Advice to Young Men,” but makes po particular effort to adapt his instructions to thepresent dsy. Humsn nsture being pretty much the same in all ages, a portion of Mr. Cob- bett's advice can be adopted to. good advantage for'presentuse, Mr. Cobbett wes, himgelf, an excellent example of the solid comfort which fol- lows discretion in the choice of & partner for life. He was a fierce old fellow, at first & fierce Whig and then s fierce Tory; he was in jail & couple ‘of years for the exercige of ‘freedom of discussion, and had to leave his country once to avoid gettinginto jail again; his life was fall of political strife and turmoil. Yet, toward its close, he'conld quietly sit down and write: “Ihsve tried all the numerous and indescribable delights of home and children, and at the same time all the bachelor's freedom from domestic cares.” All'this was owing to the possession of s well- chosen wife. e M. Cobbett wrote mainly for the benefit of thé middle classes, and at & time when the exer- cise of judgment before marriage was easier on account of the more intimate relations betwéen young men &5d WomER Who contempplated mate rimony. Butin cages whare fashionable moth- ers do the courting on the part of the daugh- ters, with the benefit of their own experience in the past, it requires & large degree of discern- ‘ment, and & greater extent of enterprise on the part of the ambitious young man, to sstisfy himself beforehand that he is securing & wife who will-forever keep him out of the divorce conrts. Mr. Cobbett advises that young men should look at their sweethearts’ shogs, with & deliciotis mnconsciousness that this would also involve looking st the feet; and when he tella s that » good wey to judge of cleanliness is # from the state of the covering of the ankles,” it becornes. apparent how difficult it wonld be to apply Lds tests, or ayail ourself of his practical sdvico, in these days of social prejudices. There is one poinf, however, on which Mr. Cobbett insists, which is even more desirable nowadsys than it was in his time. “Eating and drinking,” he says in another of his ‘books, “come thres times & day.” This practical fact of life should be remembered above all otbers in taking one's matrimonial departure, If Cobbett, with all the, trials in his career, could comfort himself with the reflection that he had enjoyed a bachelor’s freedom from domestic cares, along with the pleasures of mar- his wit's was a good cook. A “good cook” is a term which should include a knowledge of all details. of the cuisine, from the buying of mate- rials to. the serving of them on the table. It means economy, versatility, invention, taste, in- dustry, cleanlinoss, amisbility,~in fact, all the domestic virtues combined. Cobbett spoke of a girl who had been brought up *“to play music, to what is called draw and to sing,” a8 an “unfortunste young creature,” and advised every young man tobewsre of her. Whatwould ‘he have s2id of. the predominance of these “un- { fortunate young creatures” in our day, in | whom the accomplishments o describes bave ,! boon made to preclude the possibility of that ] summum bonum of domestio bliss, a thorongh Imowledge of the cuisine? In America, of all countries, and in the present ago, of all times, the abgence of this kmowledge is the bane of married life. The poor people fare badly when it would not cost them sny more to live well. The rich people squander money for cheep imita~ tions of thatwholesale melange of the restaurant. ! The 1:ecoptions which are given ab immense cost are brilliant and successtul in everything except the table. How many ladies know how to give & good: dinner, thongh thereisno way in which ehe could entertain her friends so satisfactory’ toherselt and to them? Itdoes motseem im- possible that a young Jady sbould have ordinary accor aplishments and yet know something about cooking. Dumas was one of the greatestliterary werkers in the world, and’ Rossini one of the greatiest composers; yeb both - were good cooks. { Itis perversion of common sense, that cooking hes come to be regarded in socieby as some- thing degrading, when it is one of the sublimest a8 wrell as the most useful of all arts. 7 O all of Cobbeti's hints to young men in the choosing of a wife, there is none of so much ! servico in modern times as that which recom- monds to satisfy themselves that the young ladies of their choice know something of the | Kitchen, Itispossiblothatyoungmenwhodonot want to degenerate into the solitary dinnera and nice suppers of their bachelor days, and so make th.eir own lives, as well as their wives, inexpres- #ibly wretched, might instituto s new rale for courtship. Instead of asking a young lady to ! play and sing for them, they might invite them- | sclves to s dinner of ber cooking. his is not ‘more impudent than the other. Both are means of enjoyment exscted from tho young woman, and a good dinner is infinitely preferable to & Poorsong. A Paris correspondent tells how Louis Blanc was saved from the fate of a wretched versifier to become a vigorous and influentizl writer of prose. Inhis early dagys, Beranger's attention was attracted to some articles which Blanc had written for n newspaper called Ze Bon Sens, and he expressed o wish to eee the writer. When T.ouis Blanc became acquainted with Beranger, ‘o naturally spoke to him of some little poems ~which bad recived recognition at the Arrss Acad- .emy. Berangerpromised toread ther on the con~ .dition that Blanc would promise himnot to write -any more verses if he should find them without merit. Blanc gave the required promise, and, +the next time he came to see Beranger, the lat- ter greeted him with the words: My young ~friend, it is not & promise I require of you, but an oath!” Of course, Louis Blanc was mortifled and shocked at the time, but “ne has kept his word, and has never had any reason to regreb it. A Beranger, it he'would writo his verses in English, would be a blessing to this country and generation on many accounts; but thers is no sphore of usefulness to which he conld apply himself with such good results as by the dif- fosion of his advice, particulerly smong ihe vessifiers. - S — The alarming prevalence of the habib = carry- ing desdly weapons is well illustrated by an in- cident which occurred in Lowell, Mass., re- cently. For some time there has existod ill- foeling between: the scholars of two schools in the city, and on one day last weok the rival clans mef in’ an open field and a fight com- ‘menced, which had progressed but & ehort time, when a little fellow, 14 yearsof age, drew & pistol and Qischarged it, severely Wounding another boy. The police intorfered and finally quelled the affray, and on searchipg other boys soveral pistols were found among them. The statute-books in almost every Btate prescribe penalties for tho carrying of Weapons, and yet the laws arenot enforced. Tho enforcement wonld prevent many trigedies, and ma- terially help to stsy the present flood of crime, . The report ‘abont Rochefort’s appearance and marrisge st Versailles turns out to be true. The woman he married wss formerly his housekeep- |- er, and is spoken of g8 *the mother of one of his daughters,” and the reason, Rochefort mar- riod her was, as he said, ‘‘thst the daughter might not ba condemned all her Jife to an irreg- ular position.” Rochefort would ‘probably not “have been prompted to this act of justice if the ‘poor yoman had nob begn st the point of doath, for he has deughtera by other mothers. He may - gucceed in legitimatizing all of these children by ‘marrying their mothers on their death-beds ; but he-wonldbe s frightfully dissppointed and dis- consolate man if any one of them shonld happen to Tecover. —_—— However disposed mzny people mey be to question ‘whether thers was any’ elodtion this £all- or- not, there is 1o -donbt.op that point in Arkansas, Alsbams, and Lonigisna. In Arkaneas, they have elected bwo Governors, or at least ‘both' candidates cldim to'be elected, and both intend to act -as Governor. ' In Alabema, there are two bodies in session; each claiming to be the Iawfally-elected Legielature. In Louisians,. there are two Boards of Oanvassers in seesion, each intending. to declare different persons to have been elected Governor, State officers, and Legislature. Whether the prac:ice of dual gov- groments in those, States i8 to be an iniprove- ‘ment upon the old carpet bag system is yet to be seen. i ried 1ife, it must hsve been principally bocsuse ] THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND THE CLASSICS. BY PROF. WILLIAM MATHEWS; OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: Among the arguments -urged in behalf of the [ study of Greek and Xatin in our colleges; one of the coramonest is the supposedsbsolute necessity of a Inowledge of those tongues to ome who would speak and write his own langusge effect- ively. Tho English Inaguzgo, we sre told, is o composite one, of whose words thirty per cent are of Roman origin, and nearly five per cent of Greek; and is it not an immensoe help, wo are asked, to s full and accurate hnowledge of the meanings of the words we use, to know their en- tire history, including their origin? Is not the many-sided .Goethe an suthority on this subject worthy of respect, and does he not tell us that * He who is scquainted with 1o foreign tongue Jmows nothing of his own™? In anawering these questions in the negtive, wo do not mean to question the value ar pro- found interest of philosophical studies, or to express any opinion concerning their utility as . means of mental discipline. The value of such studies to s teacher or scholar is one thing; their value to & writer or a public speaker is enother. As a means of encyclopzdic culture of-that thorough intellectual equipment, which i8 80 imperiously demanded in our day, a Jmowl- edge of foreign, and especially classical, litera- ture is indispensable; for, as another has gaid, the records of knowledge and thought are many-tongued, ond those records are swe to be more or less falsi- fied by even the bhappiest translations. The fascination, the witchery of etymological studies, wo do not mean to dispute. Richter has finely said that every language is s dictionaryof faded metaphors; and the moment in life when one first discovers that words are living not dead things—that, as Emerson says, ““the deadest word was once a brilliant picture "—that lon- guage is not only fossil poetry but fossil ethics and fossil history—~marks an epoch like the dropping of scales from one's eyes, like the ac- quisition of & sixth sense, or the infroduction jnto snewworld. The guestion isnot about the general educational value of classical studies, but whether they are indispensable to him who would write or speak English with force, ‘elogance, and sccuracy. We think they ar not. In the first place, we deny that & kmowedge of - the etymologies of words,—of their mesningd a hundred or five hundred years ago,—is essential to their proper use now. How am I aided in the use of the word “villain™ by knowing that it once meant peasant,—in the use of # knave ” by knowing thatit meantboy,—in the use of “ brat,” #beldam,” and “pedsnt,” by knowing that thoy ‘meant, respectively, child, finelady, and tator,— in the nse of ‘“dunce” by knowing that it was originally the name of one of the keenest and most subtle-witted of the Schoolmen? Am I thore orJess likelytouse “ringleader” correctly to-day, from learning that Chwist is correctly spoken of by an old divine as “the ringleader of our galvation ?” Facts like these are of deep interest to all, and of high value to the scholar; ‘but how is the knowledgeof them necessary that one may speak or write wellp The histories of words may throw light npon national manners and habits of thought; the Ianguage of a peo- plo may serve a8 & moral barometer, to mark by its changes the rise and fall of its life; snd the use of even & single word may afford us a deeper insight into its real condition, its inmost char- scter, than volumes written expressly to impart that insight. But what Eas al thisinformation, prescnt significations of. words ? The question with the man who addresges his fellow-man by topgue’or pen to-dsy, is not what ought to be, or formerly Was, the meaning of a,word, but, What is it now? Indeed, it may be doubted whether a reference to the old, obso- lete meanings,—the roots end derivations,—of | words, does mot, as Archbishop Whately con- tends, tend to confusion, and prove rather & hindrance than a help to the correct use of our tongue: Words not ouly, for the most part, ride very slackly at anchor on their etymologies, borne, as they are, hither and thither by the often break away from their moorings alto- gether. The kmowledge of & man's anteccdents may help us ometimes to_estimate his pres- ent self; but the Imowledge of what & word mesnt three or twenty centuries sgo may only misléad us as to its meaning now, Hypostasis,” “substance,” and ‘ynderstanding ” are words that etymologically have precisely thy same signifidation ; yet have they, 88 they are now used, the least similarity of mesning ? * Will it be said that words become ‘more vinid 2nd picturesque—that we get 5 firm- ‘er and more vigorous grasp of their meaning— when, as_Coleridge advises, We present to our minds the visual images that form their primary mesningzs? The reply is, that long use deadens us to the susceptibility of such images, and in notone case in s thousand probably are they . noticed. How many college graduates think of & miser a8 being etymologically a * miserable ™ man, of & sycophant aa s “ fig-blabber,” or of & desultory mun as one who leaps from. one’ estudy to another,as a circusrider leaps from horse | tohorse? A distinguished poet once confessed that the Latin zmago first suggested itself to- Dim a8 the root of the English word *imagina- tion” when, after having been ten years a ~versifler, ho was asked by & friend to define this ‘most important term in the critical vocabulary of his art, If a knowledge of Greek and Latin aro neces- sary to him who would command all the re- sources of our tongue, how'comes it that the most consummate mastery of the English lan- gasgo is oxhibited by Shakipears? Will it bo.| gaid that his writings prove him to have been n classical scholar; that they abound in facts and allusions which imply an intimate acquaint- ance with the masterpieces of Greek and Ro- man htersture? We answer that this is o palp- able begging of the guestion. By the same reasoning we can prove that scores of English authors, who, we know positively, neverread o pogeof Latin or Groek, were, nevertheless, Classical scholars. By similar logic we can prove that Shakspeare followed every calling in life. Lawyers vouch for his scquaintance with law; Physicians for his skill in medicine; mad-doctors for his knowledge of the phenomens of mental Qigeaso; naturalists assert positively, from tho intornal evidence of his works, that he wes & ‘botenist and an entomologist; Bishops that he +was & theologian; and claims have been put forth for his dexterity in caiting up sheep and bullocks. Ben Jonson tells ua that he had «gmall Latin and . less Greek;": another contemporary that -he had. “little Latin and no Greek”, “Small Lakin," indaeed, it must have. been, which- & youth could have acqaired in his position, who married and entered upon ‘the duties of active life st 18, The fack “that tranalations were abundant in thé- poet's time, and that all the literature of that timo'| was steeped in_classicism, will fully account for Shakspeare’s knowledge of Greek and Roman bistory, ag well as for the classical turns of ex- . pression which e find in his plays. . But it may be said that Shakspears, tho - gceanic, the many-souled, was . phenomenal, and thatno Tule can be besed on the miracles of o cometary genius who hashadno peerin the ages. What shall we ssy, " them, to Izaak Walton? Can purer, more idiomatic, or more attractive English be found within the covers of any book -than that of ¢The Com- pleto Angler ?” Among all the controversialists of England, is thére one whose words hit harder, | —are more like cannon balls,~than thoss of Cobbett? By nniversal concession ho was mas- ter of the whole vobabulary of - invective, and in narration his pen is pregnant with the freshness of green flelds and Wooda ; yet neither he mor “honest Izask ™ ever dug up a Greek root, or unearthed a Latin derivation. Again, whatshall wesay of Keats, who conld not reada linecl Greek, yot who was the most thoroughly classical of all English anthors,—whose sonl was 80 £3tu- rated with tho Greek spirit, tha Byron ssid *BO was s Greek himsolf.” Or whist will the classicists do with Lord Erckine, confessedly tho greatest bowever curious ar instructive, to do with the : 3 { Syhich he knew nothing,~but the product of hisll shifting tides and curreuts of ussge, but they | forensio orztor sinco Demosthenes? 'Ho lesrned but the elements of Latin) snd in Greek went ecarcely beyond the alphabet; but he devoted ‘himself in youth with intense ardor to thestudy of Milton and Shakspeare, committing whole Ppages of the former to memory; and go famil- iarizing himself with the latter that he could al- 1most, like Porson, have held conversstions on all subjects for days together in the phrases of the great English drsmatist. It was here that he ncquired that fine choice of words, that rich- ness of thonght and-gorgeousness of expression, that beautiful rhythmus of his sentences, which charmed all who heard him. If one must learn English through the Greek end Letin, how shall we account, for the admi- rable—we had ‘almost eaid, inimitable— stsle of Franklin? Defore he know anything of foreign Ianguiges he had formed his style, snd gained a wide commend of words by the study of the best English models. Is our countryman, Fdwin P. Whipple, & master of the English Janguege? It would be hard to name an ‘American author who bas s greater command of gll the resources of expression. His style varies in excellence,—is sometimes faulty; bat, ss & rule, it is_singularly nervous, brisk, and bril- liant, and is clear a5 a pebbled rill. To all these examples wa may add one, if possible, still more convincing, that of the late Hugh Miller, who, 8s Professor Marsh justly remarks, bad few contemporaneous superiors 38 & clear, forcible, accurate, and elaguent writer, and who uses the most cumbrous Greek compounds® as freely as monosyllaMs English particles. Hiastyle is literally 3% despair of all otlier English scientific writhity yeb it is positively cortain that he wes wholly ignorant of ell langunges but that in which he wrote, andits Northern provincial dialects. Asto the oft-quoted saying of Goethe, to which the objector is so fond of referring, wo mey say with Professor MMarsh, that, “if by knowledge of a language is mesnt the power of expressing or conceiving the lawa of & language in formal rules, the opinion may be well-found~ ed; but, if it refers to the capecity of under- standing, 2nd skill' in properly using our I own toogue, all observation shows ¥ to {bo vey wide of the truth.” Gosthe | himself, the same authority declares, was an in- | ifferent lingnist; he apparently knew little of i the remoter - etymological sources of his own | tongue, or the special philologies of the cognato { laugusges;' and it is dificult to trace sny of | the excellencies of his marvellously felicitous i stylc to the direct imitation, or even the uncon- i scious influence, of foreign models.” Bat he | was o profound student of the great German | writers of the sixteenth century; and hence his I works are & test example in refatation of the ! theory that ascribea 80 exaggerated = value to - i classical studies. |. It is'a remarkable fact, which throws » flood [*of light upon thia subject, that the greatest. i masters of style in all the ages were the Greeks, { who yet kmeiv no word of any langnage but their j ovn. i+ Inthe most flourishing period of their litara~ | ture, they had no. grammatical system, nor did | they ever make any but the most trivial re- ! searcheg in etymology. Demosthenes, the great- | cst master of the Greok language, and ome of i the mightiest masters of expression the world i has seen, knewno other tongue than his own. | He modelled his style after that of Thucydides; whose wonderfnl compaciness, terseness, snd strength of diction were derived from no study i of old Pelasgic, Pheenician, Persian, or other primitive etymologies of the Attic speech,—of i own marvellous genins wrezling itself upon ex- { pression. i It bas been observed by sn scute Oxford ! professor, that the Romans, in exact propor- tion to their study of Greek, paralyzed some of the finest powers of their own lan- {gusge. Behiller tells us that he was in the. habit of reading as little as possible in foreign | ngnages, becatse it was his business to vrite: | German, and ho thonght that, by reading other langusges, he should lose his nicer perceptions of what belonged tohis own. Thomas Moore, whowass fine classical scholar, tellsus that the perfect purity with which the Greeks wrota their own language, was justly attributed.-to their entire abstinence from every other. Itis 1 saying as old as Cicero, that women, being ac- ! customed solely to theirnative tongue, usually . speak and write it with & grace and purity sar- | passing thoso of men. “Aman who thinks tha Inowledge of Latin essential to the purity of i English diction,” esys Macaulay, © either has i mever conversed with - an - sccomplished woman, or does’ not deserve to have con- versed with her. Weare sure that all persons who are in the habit of hearing publio spesking musthave observed, that the orators who aro fondest of quoting Latin are byno means the most scrupulous sbout marring their native tongue, We conld mention several members of Parliament, who .never fail to usher in their scraps‘of Horace and Juvenal with half a dozen. “fn1se concords.” To the same effect is the decla- ration of that most acate judge of styls, Thomas De Quincy, who says that, to find the purest, mostidiomstio English, you must break open the mail-begs, and read the women's ltters. On the other hand, who has ‘forgotten what bavoc Bentley made, when ho lsid his classio band on Paradise Lost? What prose style, al- ways excepting thatof the Areopagitica, is worss for imitation than that of Milton, with its long, involved, half-thythmical periods, “dragging,” like 5. wonnded enake, their slow length along® Yot Béntley and Milton, whose minds were im- bued, saturated With Greek literature through classical scholara that England can boast. ————— The Wilson Sewing-NMachine. Amost usefal article in every household is sswing- machine, The Wilton Underfeed Sewing-Machina combines, ia every degree, one of the most perfec machines yet invented. It IS elegant in finish, aimpls i learn, runs smoothly and quietly, and, what s mors. Smportant, is thecheapest, The Wilson Machine hes ecerved the bighest praisc from all who have used if. Salesroom 8:378 West, Mudison street, Ciricago, and.in 2l other citics in the United Statea. The Compeny “ant 2gents In country towns. —_——————— Drew’s Business Colleze, Tocated ‘2t Nos. 278 and 280 West Madison strest, promiscs to be one of the most successful and useful institutions of the city. The proprietor has devoted ffteen years to cammarcial teaching, and, having had ¢ both experience in business and instxncting, is yre- puredto 4t young snd miadle-aged mea for 8 prac- L ueiness life. State and County Taxes for 1871. “The last chance to get the benefit of tho reduction- made by the County Cormissioners will be this week, —postiively the-last, Pay at No. 133 North Clark street, for the North Side, City Hall for South Side, snd corner of Bandolph snd'Halsted streets for the West Side. 3 Great Reduction. Towenty-five pleces extrs heasy gros-grin sk (Guinet), at $1.85; regular pricé, $250. Ona hundred pleces puye mohair black alpaca, at 45 cents, worth 75 Zents, ut Schlesingers & Mayer, No, 136 Wesi Madison street. ¢ £ PSR R Thanksgiving. Al know what an annogance poor carvers are, Wa sdvise all, who want » pleassnt Thanksgiving, tobuy 8 pair of carversat the Pheenfs Cutlery House, No+ 213 West Madison strest, Largest variety ivary and plate ed knives, etc., in tho city. e Burnett’s Flavoring Extracts, for culinury use, are tho best, Cod Liver Oil. Hazard & Caswell's Cod Liver Oil is the best, —_————— Death of Noted Eorses. New Yozg, Nov. 22.—The celebrated stallion Socrates, owned by Mr. Ralphs, of Philadzlphia, aud valned a6 $40,000, and the noted trotter Camors, owned by Lon Morris, of Boston, and yalued st $20,000, died to-day of dropsy. —1TLis comes of sleeping with ‘s pistol tndey one's pillow. An Ohio mav, the other night, ischerged a revolver while in his sleep, the entering the right thigh and passing diagonally . through the thigh, 1odging near the knee. When o awoke ho was liting up in bed, with the rer - lv;;wxmhmla!k hand and the ballin his righ} - & and through, wers probably the profoundest - -