Evening Star Newspaper, March 28, 1896, Page 16

10 THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, MAROH 28, 1896--TWENTY-FOUR PAGES. ee RULED BY THE MAHDI ae The Region Which Promises to Be a Theater of War. POLICY PORSUED BY WAR-LIKE CHIEF European Politics and the Future of the Sudan. SLICES OF THE PIE es F THE MADHI, who was by all ac- counts a merciful if misguided man, were living today,he would perhaps repent in bit- terness that he had ever preached throughout the Sudan the Jehad, or holv war, ra ng those marvelous hosts of fanatic “Fuzzy Wuzzies” which shriveled the puny wherewith the government of Egypt lelstered up its power along the upper Nile; which fell upon Hicks Pacha’s 10,14) men and blotted them out in a day, and which swept away within a single year all the traces of that civilization which had lhegun to do so much for equatorial Africa. More than fifteen years haye passed sirice the dominion of the mahdi in the Sudan began, and at this late date it is for the first time rumored, with something like a skew of authority, that Egypt, the puppet behind which England palls the strings, is seriously to advance for the purpose of re- conquering the lost provinces. This re- conquest sooner or later is inevitable, the sooner the better for civilization and the future of Africa; but whether the power to rry recenquest to a successful issue rests with Egypt, is a question of the larger politic: ropes and is of European be intelligently ‘ence to these. which is played in vishes rule in the Reart of Africa, a terri tory stretched along a portion of the Lower Nile and along both branches of the Upp: ile, a thousand miles fr ts # thousand miles from north to d by millions of peopl rritory fifteen years have seen gr ges, whose precise nature no man ation exactly knows. Whole tribes have been wiped out by war, famine and pestilence, and other tribes have changed | through migrations inspired by ous tecling the habitations which had known forefathers for centurie arly opposite the site of Khartoum has § up with a rapidity surpassing the th of the boom towns of the w E the dervishes, it is probaile that desertions would be numerous and that whole tribes of harried desert dwellers would go over in Masses to the Egyptians. Had the Mahdi lived, it is probable that the power of the Dervishes might now be more strongly intrenched, for to consider- able ability the Mahdi added a reasonable degree of human kindness. For his suc- cessor, the Khalifa, no word of excuse can be uttered; his character, as it has been painted by Slatin Pacha, Father Don Jo- seph Ohrwalde and one or two other European prisoners who have escaped to Cairo, and as it has been revealed by his, wholesale murders, his shameless private life and his lack of ordinary intelligence, is utterly an@ irredeemabiy bad. In order to remove the least excuse which devout . Slatin Pacha. = Mohammedans migft seize upon to leave the country, the Khalifa has decreed that it is no longer the duty of the faithful to make pilgrimages to Mecca, bu® to the tomb of the Muhdi, a small hexagonal streeture, crowned with a dome, which stand: the heart of Omdurman itself. Abou: untry nearly as large as the United States cast of the Mississippi river the Dervishes have drawn a cordon within which no European traveler can safely en- ter, and out of which not even news can pas * The Political Situation. So much for the situation in the Sudan itself. It may be assumed that its re-con- t would be almost as easy now as its ssttl defense fifteen years ago would have been difficult. The only obstacles to the return of the Sudanese to decent gov- ernment and the enjoyment of at least semi-civilization are political, and they | arise not in Egypt itself, but in far away | Europe. The whole situation in the Sudan prob- lem was changed, and it was a hopeful change, when the Italian ministry fell on account cf the Abyssinian victory at Adua. If the Rudini cabinet is wise and patriotic it may, after a show of hostilities until the war fever is stilled in Italy itself, make peace on easy terms with King Menelek, and with him attack the Mahdists from the pital of the mahdi and of | east. Menelek would be very willing to do where | this; his people have been Christians longer but a huddle | than aay Eurepean nation save the Italians, a ferry from | and they cherish undying hatred toward > bark of the Nile to the low | the Mohammedans, who for a thousand nd bar at the foot of Khartoum. has | years entirely surrounded their country, rung up a town me th ee or fou res j isolating it frem the rest of Christendom. ing in » glittering art of the the domes of mosques » clear Sudanese sun with i sorations of palaces. own is the new shrin ammedism, ¢ tmahdi was in ted from. xiven by mn of the ma! ne very few upon him. r Was or ¢ jammodan owing to fori owed with Portrait of the Mahdi Is depi ho is himself still sometimes mis- enly called the mahdi, but wh le is muntazer el mahdi, or suc the mahdi. Rule of Iron. The khalifa was one of the four generals of the late mahdi, and was by the latter pro- claimed before his death as his successor. He disposed of all his rivals and of the rela- | tives of the late mahdi by the usual oriental method of slaughter or imprisonment. His favorite command, when any of the tribes of dervishes or hillmen were suspected of ch under his authority, has been to send them orders to come into Omdurman, and the orders have seldom been disobeyed. ‘the resuit has been that the mahdist capi- tal has become thronged with men who were once raising dates and millet in the oases of the far desert, with the natural result that feod in the Sudan has fluctuated in prices sreatiy during the last few years. At times they have risen to literal famine rates, and then the bodies of peaple who have died of starvation were as common in Omdurman fiself, not to speak of the deserted villages of the interior, as ever they were in the most disastrous pestilences of the middle one knows what the por ior. of the vy be, but it is not doubted sed 50, GY, possibiy even vo deeades; but tho: is far more cone per cent, within t less ir absolute si trated, so that command great ar. mud to him net less by inte igions fervor, for while he h: orciless- ly chastized every clan that he has even spected cf meditating revolt, he has loaced with rewards the strong military ttibes upon whose devotion his empire Xr And about his low-watled palace, in the heart of Omdurmaun, he tas drawn as a safeguard against attack or assassination, many thousands of desert warriors. ‘Thus the khalifa is strong, but his ftrength is of the sort that would yield readily to a determined attack. The fanati- cism of the followers of the mabdi bimself, when, fifteen years ago, they hurled their naked bodies against the lines of well-drill- soldicry, has declined with the discovery that the promised victory over all the world has not come to pass. There is dis- content, too, among the tribesmen whom the khalifa has turned from theig noines: among the river boatmen whose dahabeias he has confiscated under the name of taxa- tion; among the merchants of the Arab race whose former business along the great caravan lines leading from Khartoum to Assouan, Kassala, lower Egypt, and the Red sea, he has almost entirely destroyed. Disaffectign reaches its height in the dis- tant armies which, from Dongoid, the northern province ‘of the dervishes, con- front the Egyptian advance at Wady Halfa. A Feeling of Revolt. These tribes are charged quite as much with the duty of allowing no one to kkave as of allowing no one to enter the Sudan, because such has been the misrule of the khalifa, and the sufferirg it has caused, that a large proportion of his sub- jects would, if permitted, gladly leave the country. For this reason a resolute ad- vace made by the armies of Egypt might encounter sharp fighting for a time. but if they were successful in capturing Don- gola, the birthplace of the mahdi himself, and now the northernmost possession of ‘Their resentment has more recent causes. rT was at its height —it has declined materially in the last ten in a fair way to ad- vance rapidly in civilization and prosperity; but upon the King John of that day, pre- decessor of the King John who died in the Mahdists fel! with crushing force, defeating his armies and slaying the king himself, although the fight was so hotly ested that since that time the Der- Abyssinians alone. King Menelek has more than one hundred thousand men under arms in the field and in garrisons, he has arsenals and artificers, whereas the Kha- lifa has neither, at least of any degree of efficiency, and his tribes must now be at least no better armed than they were fif- teen years ago, perhaps not so well. There have been queer stories afloat in Europe of Russian assistance, both of money and of arms, extended to King Menelek. They have been exaggerated. The money Mene- lek could undoubtedly use, and the arms, but he has both in reasonable plenty. Yet the recent decoration of Menelek by the ezar is significant. The Abyssinians present a strange com- Vination of civilization and savagery, of Paris gowns and tables without forks or napery; but they can fight, as the Italians are abundantly able to testify. If, on the ground of common belief in Christianity, the Italian cabinet could reconcile to the public of Italy an alliance with their so recent foes, both interest and inclination might prompt a descent upon the Dervishes from the east, and the subsequent parti- tion of a portion of the territory between | the victors. ‘The armies of the Congo Free State have heen for some time surrepti- tiously active the western borders of the Mahdist's domain, although the fact long escaped the attention of Europe in the diversion of public interest to the other end of the dark continent by Jameson's raid. c Factors in the Problem. An Italian arrangement with Menelek may not yet be possible, but there is very little doubt that the movement in the Con- go Free State is undertaken in concert with Egypt, nor is there any doubt that these two allies could, without the Itallans and the Abyssinians, make conquest of the Sudanese, if Europe would but hold its hand and let the game be played out. If there were no peace between Italy and Abyssinia the former would at least be as- sisted. to hold Kassala against the Mah- dists by a diversion of taeir forces to meet attacks from other directions. The only difficulty in the way is that Egypt, though nominally an independent power, is practically the ward of Great Britain, which is committed to a tempo- Tary occupation of the country for the khe- dive’s good, and is striving, as usual, to find excuses for making that occupation permanent. France, which by withdraw- ing from the joint military occupation of Egypt foolishly left Great Britain in com- mand, has never reconciled herself to the ical consequences of her own act, and is accustomed to look with suspicion upon any plan with respect to Egypt which in- volves the extension of her power and pos- sessions. > But the friendship of Russia for the Abyssinians might, in the event of an at- tack upon the Sudanese, reconcile France to Anglo-Egyptian advance from the north, if Salisbury can suggest any other corre- sponding advantage for France. Perhaps he has alhheady suggested such compensa- tion in Siam. Far more likely, he has sug- gested it in Africa itself. When the Mah- dist pie is cut there may be a slice to add to the great Niger possessions of the Gal- lic republic. There can be no doubt, political consig- erations aside, that the interests of the Sudanese and of Egypt itself are closely bound up with the reoccupation of the equatorial territory by the Christian pow- ers. Up to date the question has been one of religion and of government. It will be- come a question of livelihood itself. The Nile has been called the father of Egypt, but its waters aro limited in quantity. Away in Central Africa, about the head waters of the Nile and along the upper branches and tributaries of that river, the Italian colonies from the east and French colonies from the west may one day seek to divert the upper waters of the river from Egyptian use to such an extent as to cause im the Nile valley such disputes over the ownership of the water necessary to re- deem the desert as have occurred on a “small scale in some of our own western states. Even if the two, three or four parties which are contemplating the conquest of the Sudan succeeded in winning that coun- try and dividing it between them, thus re- storing to Egypt its lost provinces, and even if the jealousy of France is placated for the time, there may still be plenty of occasion for fighting over the disposition of the waters of the Nile basin. , AN EX-CAIRENB. No Time for Emancipation. From Puck. Mr. Newera—“I thought your wife was a New Woman.’ Mr. Muchblest—“Well,- she was. But she has sort of given it up. ea Mr, Newera—“What made her give it up? Mr. Muchblest—“The new baby.” vishes have usuadly been willing to let the; METHODIST WOMEN Shall They Be Admitted to Seats in General Conference? CONTEST 70 BE RENEWED AGAIN IN MAY What is Looked Upon as an Im- pending Church Crisis. VOTE AS WELL AS WORK Three women have been elected lay dele- gates to the general conference or quad- rennial international council of the Meth- od:st Episcopal Church, whigh will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, in May. A determined effcrt will be made to have them recog- nized and seated, and an equally deter- mined effort will be made to prevent such action. This will precipitate a conflict that may result in a split in the church similar to the one occasioned by the controversy over the negro in 1544, resulting in the forma- ticn of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, ‘The question is: “Shall the women of the Methodist Episcopal Church be allowed a voice and vote in making the laws of the church?” The general conference is the only daw- making body of the church. It is cem- posed of over 500 ministerial und lay dele- gates elected by the various annual con- ferences or state meetings in all par:s of the world. The preachers elect the minis- terial delegates, and the laymen the lay delegates. A lay conference is held in con- nection with the annual conference for the latter purpos? every four years. ‘The lay electoral conference is composed of delegates elected by the various local churches. It has been the custom in many places to elect women to the Iay electoral conferences, together with men, and thus give them a voice in choosing lay repre- sentatives to the general conference. Hight years ago five women were elected as general lay conference delegates. They were Amanda G. Ripley of Kansas, Mary G. Nind of Minnesota, Angie I. Newman of Nebraska, Lizzie D. Van Kirk of Pennsyl- vania and Frances E. Willard of Illinois. ‘The bishops were without precedents to guide them, and in the absence of a law | governing the making up of the roll of members instructed the secretary to record and read the names of the women separ- ately until a conference of unquestionably constituted delegates could decide upon the eligibility cf women. The question was re- ferred to a special committee, and after a lengthy discussion this committee reported “that under the constitution and laws of the church as they now read women are not eligible as lay delegates in the general were made. It was the most since the famous debate over slavery. Constraing the Law. Between 1888 ard 1892 a proposition to amend the second restrictive rule by spec- impor' ifying distinctly that lay delegates may be men or women was submitted to the an- nual conferences, but was defeated by 2,000 votes. The preachers mostly voted against the change and the laity for it. At fhe conference of 1892, held in Omaha, no women delegates were presented for admission, although the sentiment was strong in favor cf women. ‘The matter was brought up by the intro- duction of a resojution requiring the ju- diciary committee of the conference te in- quire whether the terms y delegates, lgymen and members of th reh in full connection, a3 used in pa hs 55 to 6 inclusive of the disc! , express or imply distinctions of sex.” This «ommittee- was composed of H. R. Brill, chairman; C. W_ Smith, secretary; J. M. Buckley, J. E. Bliss, D. Moore, J. P. D. John, F. M. Bristol. . Maxfield, J. C. Hartzell, C. H. Aff ach, J. D. Ham- mond, John Miley, W. P. Dillingham, 8. 8. Henkle and T. B. Sweet, all of them rep- resentative men of the ‘denomination. The committee spent considerable time in dis- cussing the meaning of the terms indicated. Its report was that the words as used in the paragraphs given did not appiy to both sexes, but included men only. ‘The reasons ssigned were the evident intent of the lawmakers and precedents. At this juncture a measure known among Methodists as the Hamilton amendment was presented by Dr. J. W. Hamilton. He proposed that the church and annual con- ferences vote on en amendment providing that lay delegates “‘must be male mem- bers,” with the proviso that in case of | failure to pass the words “lay delegates” | should be construed to mean cither men or wemen. Provisions were made whereby every member over twenty-one years of age, men and women, was given the opportunity to vote for or against this amendment. What Recent Voting Indicates. Many of the German and foreign confer- ences refused to vote altogether, and in English conferences all over the United States a large proportion of the preachers refused to vote. ‘This action sprang from a feeling that the proposition was not straightforward, and that it would tend to destroy confidence in the action of the gen- eral conference. As a result of the revulsion occasioned py the Hamilton amendment, the Colorado conference took up the old amendment, which proposed that “lay delegates may be men or women,” and cailed upon the other conferences to vote thereon. The confer- ences of the church in all parts of the world have been voting upon the Colorado amendment. Thus far a stroug majority is reported in favor of the admission of women. During the menth of April the last fifteen conferences all in the United States, will vote, and of course definite re- sults cannot be announced until all re- turns have been received, which will not be possible until the Iaiter part of April. In view of the sentiment in favor of ad- mitting women as lay delegates, three women have been elected and will present themselves for admission. The women thus honored are Miss Lydia A. ‘Trimble, Mrs. Jane Bashford and Mrs. 5. W. Parker. Miss Trimble is a teacher in the women’s school at Hok-Chaing, China. She is at her home in Essex, Ontario, Canada, on a furlough. Miss Trimble went to Foo Chow {n 1889 as a missionary from the women's branch of the Foreign Missionary Society. * Mrs. Bashford ts the’ wife of Rev. J. W. Eashford, president of Ohio Wesleyan University. A curious circumstance is that Mr. Bashford 1s a delegate from the Cin- cinnati conference, while Mrs. Bashford was elected by the Ohio conference. Her home is at Delaware, Ohio. as a “home-maker” rather than as a leader in public affairs. Mrs. Parker was elected by the North India conference. Her husband is also a ministerial delegate. In case it is found that the Coloradg amendment has carried it will yet be nece essary for the general conference to finally decide the matter, becauSe the action of the general conferences is not conclusive until confirmed by the general conference. It is therefore quite likely that the women named will have their nates. placed in a eeparate list until the conference 1s organ- ed. Position of Prominent Methodists. If the conference confirms the vote to admit women, then the objection will be raised that the three women cannot be seated because the constitution was not changed until several months after their election, thus making it necessary to wait four years before women could be legally elected. There is then a probability that the ex- treme advocates of woman suffrage in the general conference will attempt to secure the recognition of the three already elected by_a direct vote. ‘This ts where the vital contest is likfly to occur. Members of the church of national celebrity are arrayed on each side of this question. Among the bishops who favor the admission of women by regular process are Bishops Fitzgerald, Mallalieu, Hurst and Newman. 5 Mr. Daniel H. Moore, editor of the West- ern Christian Advocate, at Cincinnati, is regarded as the leader of the movement to. admit women. He is seconded by Dr. J. W. Hamilton, corresponding secretary of the Freedman’s Aid Society of the church, author of the Hamilton amendment; Dr. A. J. Kynett of the board of church exten- + Dr. J. H. Potts, editor of the Michi- gan Christian Advocate, Detreit; Dr. She is known) Arthur Edwards, editor of the Northwest- ern Christian Advocate, Chicago, and Dr. Jesse Bowman Young of the Central Chris- tian Advocate, St. Louis. The editors of the church papers generally favor the ad- mission of women. Bishops heent and Merrill are opposed to women delegates. The hardest fighter on this sige jp-Dr. J. M. Buckley, editor of the Christian Advocate, New York, the leading paper of the church. Dr. F. M. Bristol of Evanston, Ill, is also opposed. The ar ent of the opposition is that it is unscripfural, unconstitutional and inex- pedient to admit women to the law-making council of the church. The question is af- fecting all branches of the church. The colored Methodists ‘formerly opposed the admission lof’ women, but have since gen- erally manifested favor. The strongest op- position is from the German Methodists of the United States, a very important ele- ment of the church. A committee of the German Methodist preachers of Cincin- nati prepared a remonstrance to the preach- ers and members of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, which was adopted and sent out a short time ago. The committee con- sisted of G. E. Hiller, C. Golder, F. L. Na- gler, A. J. Nast and H. Grentzenberg. mone) other things, they say in thts ap- peal: “The mission of woman in the church and in societv is indeed great. We fully appreciate the grandeur of her calling, and would in no wise obstruct, but rather do all in our power to promote her real ad- vancement. But we contend that God has given her a sphere and manner of influence peculiarly her own, and that it is only as she abides in this, her God-given realm, that she wields her highest power and re- tains the essential elements of true wo- manhood.” Status of Women in the Church. In view of the present agitation and the fact that a large proportion of church workers are women it will not be amiss to describe a woman’s exact official standing in this church. By a decision. of the gen- eral conference of 1880 the pronouns he, his and him when used in the discipline with reference to stewards, class leaders and Sunday school superintendents were construed so as to not exclude women from such offices. The steward’s work is especially important because it consists principally of raising money for the sup- port of the preacher. Class leaders are ap- pointed by the preacher, stewards nom- inated by the preacher and elected by the quarterly conference, and Sunday school superintendents elected by the Sunday school board and confirmed by the quar- terly conference. They all have a vote in the quarterly conference, which is the governing body of the local church. The line is drawn at granting license to preach. Women evangelists are frequently em- ployed in the Methodist Church, and they generally do good work, but the church will not grant them license. In short, they can do the work, “but have no voice in aking the laws. This is the leading qu. .on in this church at the present moment. How to settle it with- cut causing a split 1s the question that will confront the general conference next May. The gravity of the situation is fully un- derstood only by those familiar with the question. There is great Ganger of a split. Twice since the organization of the M. E. Church there has been a_ secession of enough to form separate denominations— the M. E. Church South, as a result of the slavery controversy, and the Methodist Protestant Church, growing out of the. ¢f- forts of laymen to secure a voice in mak- ing the laws of the church. Laymen were admitted to the gene conference in 1872. Now the women want to get in, and a large number of the men are willing to kelp them, Admission of women -yill lead eventually to license to preach and cligi- bility to the various high offices. A woman in the bishop's chair is the log- ical sequence, and this seems to be too much for some of the male law-makers to stand. The decision of this question will have ‘an important bearing on the question of woman suffrage in civil gov- ernment because political reforms always have their origin in the church. The woman question in the M. E. Church is the most important ecclesiastical con- troversy of the time, and the action of the general conference will be watched with keen interest by millions ALBERT SIDNEY GREGG. SS LOST HIS CORNED BEEF. One of the Incidents of War Times in Richmond. Rickmond Corras. Phila. ‘Times. In Richmond during the last year of the late war, for months, there had been very little fresh meat In the market, and what little there was brought enormously high prices. Provisions of all kinds were bought up by the confederate government to feed the prisoners in Libby prison, of which so much has been written. Several weeks be- fore this incident occurred—which seems a very amusing one, now that it is all over— my grandfather and a friend bought of a farmer from up in the country a consider- able distarce from Richmond a beef. It was left where it was for sevena! weeks to fatten. The young people of the south, who have‘heard all their lives of the struggle people in the country, as well as in the city, had to get food for themselves, much iess their cattle, know what it meant to get that beef fattened. But in due time it was considered fat enough, so in the middie of one night, dur- ing ‘de dark ob de noon,” I reckon, a wag- on might have been seen hastily moving up from one of the depots with its precious burden, half of which was deposited very stealthily at my grandfather's, door. Early in the morning my grandmother set two negro men to work to cut it up for corning. First, however, she made them cut off a tremendous roast and had it put right in the oven, which, fortunately, was a very large one and held a big piece of beef. The rest of the beef was kept in the area on an impromptu bench, which was set up under the back porch, the intention being to pre- serve the best part of it in brine. I can im- agine the delight with which my uncles and aunts wandered from the kitchen to the yard and back again to the kitchen, where the preparations for such a good dinner were being made; for, remember, this fam- ily, as well as many others, had not tasted fresh meat for many weeks. Suddenly the door bell rang, and what was the consternation of my grandfather when it was announced that old Capt. War- rer wanted to see him. As this old gentle- man was the commissary of Libby prison and Gid not visit the hovse, they very read- ily guessed his errand. However, my grand- father shut all of the doors between the house and the kitchen and back porch, tell- ing the cook at the same time not to open the kitchen or the oven door under any cir- cumstances until he returned. He then went in to see Capt. Warner. The captain was a gruff, good-hearted man, and after chatting. pleasantly for a few minutes he got up to go. When he stepped into the hall and took his hat the spirits of the fam- fly rose—only to have a tremendous fall. Noticing the back hall door, between which and the visitor my grandfather stood, he remarked: “Mr. —, you have a back building out there, I suppose?” «No, said the other; porch.’ Before he cpuld say anything further the captain had passed him, opened the door ‘and stepped on to the porch, where, by looking over the railing, he saw the doomed beef, now entirely cut up, and the two men rubbing salt Into it as fast as they could. “Mr. ——, Lseize this beef in the name of the confederate government. This is what I came for, I have the papérs authorizing me to do it in my pecket. The government will pay you anything you choose to ask for it. I have had men shadowing it ever sinc3 It arrived in the-city.” Naturally my grandfather was furious. “You cannot take it,” he said. “It has been next to impossible to get it. I paid an exorbitant price for it, and my family are suffering for beef.” am very sorry, sir; but my orders are to seize every piece of fresh meat found in the city. The prisoners are dying for lack of it.” I am afraid at that time my grandfather did not care whether they were dying or not; in fact, he said words to that effect, but of course, under the circumstances, there was nothing to do but let him teke it away, which he did without more delay. The savory smell of the roast in the oven by some good fortune escaped the notice, of the captain. I have often heard my mother tell of how much they all enjoyed that lucky roast for dinner that day and of how furl- ous they were over the loss of the rest of it. This is how my grandfather lost his marketing. 7 “only a back +o+_____ € A Complete Defense. From Puck. : His Hofor—“Prigoner, you are with sending threatening letters the mail.” Counsel—‘‘Your honor, we admit the let- ters, ‘but the intent must govern. I shall prove that my client is a professionel pu- eilist.” z m charged through EDITOR AND ORATOR Henry Watterson and His Unigue Position in Kentucky. HIS SUCCESS AS A JOURNALIST His Boyhood and Early Newspaper Work in This City. STUDIES OF LINCOLN There is, and there ought to be, something unusually: interesting to the people of Washington in the announcement that Mr. Henry Watterson will lecture at the La- fayette Square Opera House tomorrow evening on the “Life, Career and Death of Abraham Lincoln.” The subject is one of the most important and inspiring in the whole range of American history, and it is to be treated by one of the most brilliant men connected with the American press. The combination, therefore, of subject and speaker is felicitous in the highest degree, and insures intellectual enjoyment of a very rare order. Mr. Watterson is something of a citizen of this town. He was born here, he began his professional career here—and, The Star is happy to say, as a contributor to its columns—he has always been a frequent visitor here since taking up his permanent heme elsewhere, and his one term in office Was spent_as a member of the national House of Representatives, and in circum- stances that made him a conspicuous figure at a critical era in the country’s affairs. Why, with all this to his credit, should not he be welcome in Washington? The age of a man like Mr. Watterson is really not to any point. He has always had a long head, and he will always keep a young heart, and that settles everything. But to be accurate and conventional, it may be stated that he Is fifty-five. He was born in the little house No. Pennsyl- vania avenue, between 2d and 3d streets northwest, a cut of which accompanies this story, in the spring of 1841. His father, the late Harvey M. Watterson, was at that time a member of the national House from Tennessee, and Washington was but little advanced beyond the conditions of a strag- gling village. The social life of the little town was in the quarter where the Watter- sons were sojourning, and there the family remained for several years. ‘The return home of the elder Watterson severed the coming youngster’s connection with the capital for a season, but the year 1860, when he was only nineteen, found Henry Watterson back in Washington, evger for life's race, admirably equipped for it both in temperament and alertness, and with his choice of work already made. He had resolved to ease the scriptural sen- terce as it applied to himself as much as possible, and to earn his bread in the sweat of hig lead pencil. His first offering was to The Star. A little boy had been drowned in the Potomac, and young Watterson wrote the account of it. The article show- ed both accuracy and the power of sympa- thetic expression, and it served to open the columns of the paper to him for other per- formances. He worked hard and he pros- pered. He soon established correspondence with out-of-town newspapers, and was an aspiring youngster, with some reputation, when Mr. -Lincoln came on to be inaugu- rated. The young man met the President- elect, stood ‘near at hand on the platform the day of the inauguration, and wrote the story for the next morning’s papers. Journalism During the War. g Then came the war, when young Wat- terson abar-doned his flattering professional prospects and went south to cast his lot with the confederacy. He was assigned to staff duty, and saw some service in the field. His telents as a writer, however, were dcmanded in newspaper work, and he became editor of the Rebel, a journal, as its name would indicate, devoted to the cause of the ccnfederacy. He made that hum. But double leads proved to be as powerless as bullets to stay the force of the Union arms, and the Rebel and its slashing young editor were among the as- sets turned over by the confederacy to U1 cle Sam at the close of hostilities. After the war young Watterson settled in Nashville as a writer for the press, and then moved to Cincinnati, where he had relatives, and where he wrote dramatic ard nvusica! criticisms for the local news- Papers. In 1867 he went to Louisville as managing editor of the Journal, George D. Prentice’s old organ, then in decay, and the next year witnessed the consolidation of the Journal with the Courier, the oppo- sition paper, and the establishment, with Mr. Watterson as editor-in-chief, of what afterward became, and still remains, the most famous cf southern newspapers. Since that time the Courier-Journal has been Henry Watterson, and Henry Watter- son has been the Ccurler-Journal. They have been twin visitors in thousands of sevthern households, and have played a notable part in the molding of southern sentiment. Often in advance of local opin- icns and those who held them, and called upon to fight hard for supremacy, the re- scurceful and courageous man with his popular newspaper never quitted any field worth the winning until4t was won, and bis own standards of democracy had been accepted as the faith of the party. The Man for the Time. Although it is by no means his only claim to distinction, Mr. Watterson is best known, and will longest be remembered,as an editor. He was born to the journalistic purple, and he has worn it exceedingly well. The Kentucky field afforded him the full- est opportunity. Everything was in the transition stage. In business, in politics, in journalism, the old was giving place to the new. The war had left everything de- pressed, the older men all discouraged. The call, the occasion, was for the young men, and, as they always do, they came forward. Mr. Watterson, although but just arrived in the state, led the procession in his line. The old Louisville Journal, for long so great a power, was now almost moribund. Mr. Prentice had lost his favor- ite son in battle, his wife was dead, his means were low, and he himself was a sadly broken old man. A younger hand was necessary to guide the paper and re- new its strength, and Mr. Watterson was chosen. He came, and soon gave the town such a taste of his quality that attention was attracted to him. Walter N. Halde- man was the editor of the opposition paper, and, being a shrewd man of business, saw that a new move on his part would be necessary. This move took the form of ne- gotiations for consolidation of the two en- terprises, and thus the Courier-Journal— the most euphonious name of all the hy- phenated ventures—was agreed upon as the name for the new paper. Mr. Watterson’s task was difficult even for him. He had not only to make a name for himself, but in the very shadow of Mr. Prentice’s name. But he did it. Their gifts, however, were not alike. Mr. Pren- tice was the father, and remained the mas- ter, of the paragraph. He was capable of sustained effort, but he was not at his best in that style of deliverance. Mr. Watter- son, on the other hand, cultivated the leader, and made it racy with the collo- quialisms of the soil. He studied his con- stituency, and finding how best to appeal to it, did so with conquering effect. As the turfmen say, he soon “struck his gait,” and he has been keeping it, and with it keeping the lead at home ever since. His Influence in Politics. The new paper dealt very largely with national politics, and Mr. Watterson, while a sturdy democrat, took 4 broad and pro- gressive view of matters, and did not hest- tate to put the complete reunion of the sections above every other consideration. He advocated fair treatment of the new citizen, the black man, both in the courts and in politics. He swung the paper to the support of Horace Greeley in 1872, and brought the democracy of the state, as of the greater part of the soyth, to his side. | He was one of the men who helped make Samuel J. Tilden the democratic nominee for the presidency in 1876, and in every na- tional campaign since then he has borne an equally conspicuous part. His pen and voice have both been at his party’s service, and both have been recognized as among its most potent influences. It is difficult to convey to those not familiar with Kentucky life and the Ken- tucky people just the power Mr. Watterson exerts at home, and how he does it. It is not the power simply of a writer, although he is a charming writer. It is not the power simply of a man who controls the news- paper with a wide news service placed first in the hands of the people in the morning. It is a- combination power, of brilliant writer, of controlling editor, of genial and companionable man, of alert political ob- server, all rolled into one. He is an auto- crat, indeed, with a writing pad placed under his fist. His people believe in him, follow him, look out for him, want to hear from him. William Dean Hewells, in some delightful recollections of early Ohio journalism, has treated of Horace Greeley’s wide influence at that time; how people, even at that distance, were impatient to hear what “Horace” thought about things, and devoured the Tribune upon fts arrival. This picture fits Mr. Watterson and the Courier-Journal in Kentucky. The people in all the little towns—in the small stores, at the cross-roads, in the country court houses—all want to hear from “‘Watterson,” and hail his double-leads as charts for guid- ance. And far beyond the borders of Ken- tucky—as far down as the gulf states—his name carries a very great weight. His Home His Work. And for this work, which he has been do- ing so long, and still does so well, Mr. Wat- terson has drawn inspiration from a happy fireside, and a devoted wife and children. He lives modestly, but with every comfort, on 4th avenue, in Louisville, and does the greater part of his writing at home. Morn- ing is his time for work, and he yields to working spells. When the spell comes on he almost monopolizes his editorial page, and when it passes he quits and gives the “boys” a chance. He keeps up his “lick” with surprising freshness and effect. He has been in the every day harness now for almost thirty years without a break, and yet leaders, magazine articles, lectures and speeches show that his resources are still unexhausted. It is not unlikely, inde-d, that thirty-five or forty years from now, when it will not be dangerous to refer to him as an old man, it may still be truth- fully said that ge cannot wither him, nor custom stale his infinite variety.” Mr. Watterson, at the very outset of his career, renounced the thought of office for himself. He resolved to keep himself clear of all such entanglements, and to hold to the true independence of a writer for the daily press. He has, in the largest meas- ure, kept his faith. But once has he ever turned out of it, and on that occasion he yielded to a pressure which was simply irresitible. He has, of course, always participated in political conventions of his party, state and national. He could not avoid that ser- vice, for it grew out of his leadership in the discussion of political qyestions. He presided over the national convention which nominated Mr. Tilden, and he was chairman of the committee on resolutions in the convention of 1888 which renominated Mr. Cleveland. At Chicago, in 1892, he led in the debate in the convention which re- sulted in the rejection of the compromise tariff plank reported by the platform com- mittee and the adoption of the free trade deliverance on which the party went to the country. In this way, and in many other ways, Mr. Watterson has long been prom- inently identified with the making of cur- rent political history. reed Into Congress. He was drafted for his one term in office, and in circumstances testifying to the very strong hold he had, and has, on the admira- tion and affections of his neighbors. It was in 1876. The member of the House from the Louisville district had died, and the vacancy was to be filled. A great contest over the result of the presidential election was coming or in Congress, and the demo- crats, it was seen, wovld stand in need of all the clear heads and stout hearts they could’command. Mr. Tilden, to whom Mr. Watterson had already rendered great serv- ice, and who trusted him implicitly, wanted him elected to the House, and so did the Louisville democracy, to a man. The ten- der of the place was made in this tone of vemi-command, and Mr. Watterson yielded, and, of course, was easily elected. At that famous session of Congress, when the electoral commission was ordered, Mr. Watterson was much in useful evidence. He championed Mr. Tilden’s cause with great earnestness, insisted that he had been elected, and that he should be seated. He exerted himself to the utmost to bring about Mr. Tilden’s inauguration. But when the decree went against him, ke accepted the situation without further protest, and gave his influence toward the peaceable carrying out of the commission's decision, Where Henry Watterson Was Born. (Present appearance of the house.) The peace of the country, he held, was to be put above all partisan disappointment. Nothing else engaged his attention while in oftice. So indifferent was he, indeed, to minor matters connected with his place that one of the most amusing experiences grew out of it. He got a letter one day from an old lady living in Tennessee, who kad known him when he was a lad, asking him to send her some garden seeds. The letter was a puzzle to Mr. Watterson, and he handed it to Gen. Garfield, who was a rear neighbor in the House, for an expla- ration. “Why, certainly,” said Gen. Garfield. “You've got garden seeds to your credit at the Agricultural Department. Send a note cver there and they'll attend to it.” So Mr. Watterson wrote a note, directing that his quota of garden seeds be sent to the old lady in Tennessee, whose name and ad- dress he inclosed, and it was done. Presently other requests of a like nature began pouring in on him from his own constituents, and these he referred also to Gen. Garfield. “Do as in that other case,” explained the general, 3 "He Learned When Too Late. “But I ordered my share sent to that old lady.” “Not all of your share,” replied General Garfield. “Why, how much am I entitled to?” In- quired Mr. Watterson, in a surprised tone. General Garfield threw back his head and laughed long and loud. “Why, man, that old lady has got seeds enough to plant a county! If she were eligible, she could come to Congress on the strength alone of your benefaction!” In a few days Mr. Watterson got another letter from the old lady thanking him for the remembrance, and telling him that he had been so bountiful she had been able to divide with a large number of people in the county. But that didn’t help fill the yawn- ing gulf in the Louisville district, and Mr. Watterson was forced to hustle around and borrow from his colleagues to save himself at home. An event of much happiness to the Wat- terson household occu! at this time. Mrs. ‘Watterson had accompanied her husband to the capital and, in the spring of 1877, while here, presented him with a son. Mr. THE NERVE- SPECIFIC, Dr. Charoot's Kola Nervine Tablets and Their Uses, This Great Remedy Has an Unparalleled Record of Cures--It Will Cure You. ‘The Kola nut has been used for centuries by Afticans as a retewer of the tissues and a pre- verter of fatigue. Dr. Charcot, the eminent authority on mervous diseases, prepared a prescription from Kola which he vouched for as a true specifig in all nervous dis- eases and a sure tpvigorator for the blood. Dr. Charcot’s Kola Nervine Tablets are prepared upon the above mentioned prescription from the fresh ruts especially imported from Western Afctea, * Kola is not a cure-all. It is a food for nerves, brain and muscles and a tonic for the blood. Kola Nervine Tablets are absolutely certain and Speedy in their effects. They chre all nervous dis-, exses, prevent fatigue, renew falling vigor, give tone to the whole system. Kola Nervine Tablets cure sleeplessness and the Hervous troubles from which sleeplessness comes. ‘They ere specific in cases of nervous dyspepsia. The druggists say the demand for the Tablet is astonishing. Kola is what the debilitated want. Thousands of packages have been sold. Good ef- fects were felt at once. Hundreds of letters say: “One package of the ‘Tublets, costing $1.00, has done for me what phy- sicians, who cost me $100, failed to do.” We absolutely guarantee that no harmful or se°- ordary effects are felt from the use of the Tablets. Can you, in justice to yourself, refuse to pay 8 cents a day for eure relief from neuralgia, bloot- Jeseeness, brain fatigue, sleeplessness, nervous dys- pepsia, loss of vigor, melancholia and all the evils resulting from a nervous condition? Ask yourself the question with all seriousness. Dr. A. C. Sherwin, Hotel Pelham, Boston, Mass, indorsed the remedy in September last, He writes more strongly as he learns its great merit: “Hotel Pelham, Boston, Dec. 6, 1895.—Gent men: Iam prescribing Dr. Charcot's Ki ‘Tablets for Nervousness, Insomul: Neuralgia, with excellent results. tation in stating that they are infallible fn al! forms of nervous diseases. Their invigorating pro erties are wonderful. Yours truly, “A. C. SHERWIN, M.D.” Fifty cents and $1.00 per box (one month's trea'- ment). See Dr. Charcot's name on box. Kola book- let free. All druggists or sent direct. Eureka Chemical and Mfg. Co., La Crosse, Wis., and Bos- ton, Mass. Watterson himself having been born Washington while his father was servine in Congress, the advent of the young man ot the third generation in similar circun stances was a coincidence fraught w much joy to all the family. This son, w was named for his father, is now a proms ing young man of nineteen, and will be o: of the party to accompany Mr. Wa’ to Europe, and under his father's e: a first view of the sights of the old world. His Study of Mr. Linco! It was characteristic of Mr. Watterson upcn deciding to enter the lecture field to rrepere himself thoroughly as a platform ker. His natural gifts encouraged this His presence, his voice, his energy of de- livery, all assured him success as a spea er. And he has achieved it. Indeed, he is now reckoned as belonging in the very frcnt rank of platform orators. son which he will close here a series of ovations. Hx where with has exte one end of the country to the other. The character of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Wat- 9 terson confesses, has always filled him with a profovnd veneration. He has stud- ied it in all of its aspects, and in the light of all obtainable authoritative history a incident. He regards Mr. Lincoln as ing one of the great men of all history, and as certain to stand among heroes for ail time, and it is with this that he approaches and han¢ The lecture is pronounced by critics reputation a_briliiant and altogether syim- pathetic performance. Nor is Mr. Watterson to halt merely at a lectur>. He has prepared himself to treat the subject at length in a book, and is go- ing to Eurepe to write it. He sails next Wednesday from New York with that ject in view, and will be absent until t very, eve of the presidential election. [is wife and three youngest children accom- pany him. He has not cided as a stopping place, but it will p: scme little town in Switzerland connection by rail with Paris. He Wise while abroad contribute a ¥ ter to his rewspaper, and thus k constituents advised of his wi and the range of his chservatior The Star wishes M itterson bon voy- @ge, and confesses to an impatience to read the interesting volume, the manuscript of which he will bring with him upon his re- turn, ready for the publisher. “nt THE BARREL HEAD THEORY. A Tennessec Preacher His Bellef in the Eart From the Knoxville Sentinel. . A. Ramage, a district preacher of Se- vier courfty, Tenn., is now engaged in in- teresting the upper portion of that county in the mysteries of a new theory as to the end of the world. The theory is that the world is flat, like a barrel head. The theorist claims that this is original with him and the Bible, but history says it was the starting point of our present orange-shaped world. He says the plate of earth revolves as it pleases, and is governed solely and completely by its own sweet will, going thither and com- ing. hither, also vice versa, without regard for the burdensome laws of gravity or spect fer the claims of the solars and ot objectionable heavenly bodies. Then the theorist goes into details which will be valuable to the scientific world. He represents the world as being set, flat as it is, upon four props, one at each corr and the most interesting phase of the feature is that they are made of loc wood! And the theory still further continues with the startling statement that these lo- cust props will some time rot and decay, and when they do so the world will fall to some kind of space, str ng with a d sickening thud, and burst into fragm and molecules, atoms and such indivis objects of physical matter. The Sevierville divine is actually pre ing his astounding doctrine, and the corne: of Sevier county is delving deep in the mysteries of the new theory. Pe S a A Rival Attractio From Truth. Friend—“Did your farce comedy succeed on the road? Manager. e except in Wash- ington. When we played there the Senate was in session. ————— The March of Science. From Punch. <=. Se = pling a Za catien Interesting result attained, with aid of, Roentgen rays, by a first-floor lodger when photographing his sitting-room door. 1a