The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, March 02, 1886, Image 1
' ' * .: ' . ' .
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<Tlw ssfiiger,
VOL. 2. ABBEVILLE, S. C., TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 1886. NO. 26.
The Women's Convention. t
1
Washington, Feb. 2fi?[Staff Corres- t
pondcnce.]?t went to the woman' t
Rights Convention on Thursday night >
and had much entertainment. The <
ladies in the audience boisterously ?
enjoyed the wholesale denunciation of c
the monster man, while the inen vig- 1
orously and chivalrously applauded c
the many hard hits at their sex. Miss
SuBau B. Anthony, a small, grim, en- t
ergetic old maid, presided, and dearly f
relished the multiform compliments \
v paid her by her vociferous sisterhoDd. ^
Miss Anthony is sometimes called
''Colonel Susan,'' hut this is the desig- i
nation of some masculine wretch. In v
the audience, Frederick Douglas stood
up, like a great bronze giant. with a j
forest of coarse gray hair. In old days, p
Douglass used to preside at these meet- n
ings, bnt seems to have fallen into dis- s
repute since he turned his back on the j,
the uegro and married a white woman, y
All of the speakers were quite old or f,
mature, except the lust, a German- j,
American lady, who had a comely facr>, s
a splendid voice and the true lire of elo- t
qnence. 0
Miss Anthony, in a priui, starch j
way. like a veteran campaigner, told
her oft-repeated story of the wrongs of ^
persons who happened to be born of ^
the female gender. The old lady
punched and cuffed her misguided
brethren and warned them that her
spirit would haunt them until justice t
** was done. b
A buxom Boston lady, rising 50 years, c
sententiously pursued the same theme, ^
and severely rated statesmen who tried n
to make woman a nonentity. She Said: c
""When Sara Bernhardt cume to this r
country, people were curious to see her. d
She was exceedingly thin and was A
joked about her attenuation. One da>, a t<
man was told to look in a carriage p
window if he desired to behold the fa- II
inous actress. lie did so.-but declared ti
that he saw nothing. 'Then you saw tl
~ Bernhardt.' was the instant reply." *
The Boston lady proclaimed that denial p
of suffrage made women nothing. It
The fun commenced in earnest when a
Mrs. Meriwether, who announced her- <1
self as a Southern woman from the a
crown of her head to the tips ?>f her v
toes, took the stand. She was consid- c
erably advanced in middle age. but full IJ
of fight. She went from Memphis to u
S? Louis. A novel of hers, "The Mas- s
tor of lioseleaf," was a lurid attack upon
the Yankees and their reconstruction of I
the South, but the last chapter was so d
horrible and revolting that it sunk the o
book out of sight, I understand. As a
Mrs. Meriwether expressed sorrow that v
.her husband was a Democrat, I presume h
jshe has modified her opinions, but she v
.and her son created something of a dis- o
turbance by calling forth and prodding s
out the traditional ''negro in the wood tl
pile." The idi'a of a black brute hav- o
ing the franchise to the exclusion of the A
most exalted white woman roused the t]
indignation and wrath of Mrs. Meri- fi
?uA?Ki>M nitil 1* ar ki\ir a AKinnnt* n
vrvjvtuji auu UVJ VMIJ/J/WI \m
und cheeky lad of 19 or ISO years of age. t?
This lady made a rattling harangue, full n
of wit, sarcasm and bitterness. Argu- tl
ment was lacking somewhat, but illus- v
tration abounded. S'ie road a letter n
from Senator Vest, who uncompromis- ii
ingly opposes the woman movement, s
and then, bit by bit, and line by line, v
held hint up to ridicule as no uinn has n
ever yet dared to do. She had not read a
the ininorit}' report of the Senate Com- b
uiiltee on Woman Suffrage, signed by *
Senators Iirown and Cock re 11, but heard li
about it; and yet she assailed it all the t
?am?, with a little gpice of blasphemy,; 41
in the beginning, and a concluding offer 8
to teach a better IJible doctrine to the *
two Senators, whom she invited to go c
to Sunday Kchool. She discuased the a
Utah bills of Senator Edmunds and I
gave a patent recipe for exterminating *
polygamy, which is worth attention. ?
"I would," she exclaimed, " allow the *
Mormon women to keep their suffrage {
and disfranchise the men. Then I I
mamI.1 aton /I A/1 Am liAOtl AC 1
wuuia nvriiu niivng-iuiMuvu iwviuucin vi
our association out there as missionaries
to teach Utah sisters to he strong-minded,
too. Then & Mormon man would
not want more than one wife, as one
strong-minded woman would he all he
could endure!" I am quite prepared to
credit this assertion and to go beyond it.
Indeed, an irreverent scamp say*, instead
of one such woman, he prefers
twelve wives of the other kind. Mrs.
Meriwether claimed Sam Jones an a
Tennesseean, and quoted him to show
he superiority of woman. IIo ha
leard a lady make a prayer so fervor
hat she seemed to bring heaven dow
o earth. "Now," ejaculated Mrs. Mcri
vether, "I never know any man, preach
>r or otherwise, who over brought hoav
sn and earth within 10,(XX) miles of one'
rther." And yet there are some saint
y men in this world, and the Redeeme
>f it was not a woman.
"Colonel" Susan relunctantl}T calle
imo upon this fiery Southhead the sign
iieantly, jerked out: "1 told you ther
vould be extra snap in this mov^men
vhen Southern women joined it."
Then, after a mild protest from Mis
Inthony, the son of Mrs. Meriwethei
ras introduced by his fond parent. II
tad just come from Europe, and, afte
innrlstnmplv enmnlim^ntincr lit.n tnitfliAi
troceeded to make mouths at the wo
aen of Spain and Italy, who, not bein;
trong-minded, have caused, in his opin
an, the decay of those nations. Am
et Spain and Italy compare rathe
avorably with Missouri and Tennessee
n the qaulity of men and women, t
ay nothing of art and science. Thei
he young hopeful got in his dynaurit
n the "nigger/' The explosion cann
iter on. Col. Susan cut him dowi
rhen he began to quote Tacitus, am
irought forward Mrs. Clara Neyman, o
few York, the German lady tnentionei
n the beginning ??( this article.
Her address was so noble, so grand
o pure, so full of thought and spirit
hat it dwarfed the flippant, boisteroui
icings around her, and lifted the whop
onvention inio dignity and sublimity
ihe compared the American and Gor
lan governments as well as the Aiueri
an and German women, pointing ou
killfully their respective virtues ant
efects. She anathematized the ricl
Lnierican women who shirk from ma
jrnity and cared for nothing but dis
lay. The picture she drew of an idea
Republic, refined by women in all par
cuiars,.was ?<> beautiful and exaltei
n*t the uieu present more than th<
omen paid her the homage of mn of*
lause that was sincere, although reasoi
e wailed that such an Arcadia did no
nd could not exist this side of Para
ls<?. I declare, under the inspiratioi
nd magnetism of this gifted and de
oted woman, my senses were takei
aptive for the moment, and even Susai
I Atithong and her sardonic sisterhoot
lclted into something lovely an<
erene.
Hut there was a rude awakening
nstead of dismissing the audience un
er such a powerful and pleasing spell
Id SuKan had to lug out a tall, vener
hie, while haired and bearded man
, ho \ras said to he colored, but coul<
ardly be so discovered. This inai
ras presented "as the noblest womai
f them all," and some of the audience
eemed to hail him as much by clappinj
fieir hands. In a deep, solomn, sonor
us voice he proceeded to rebuke 3'ounj
leriwether for baiting the "negro ii
no wooa-piie," ana, in a ton ot resent
u 1 thunder, shouted : "Southern peo
le can nev?r find eternity long cnougl
3 uiuk? atonement for wrongs done thi
egro !" The audience, in part, ochoe<
bat sentiment, and the colored orato
.as about to amplify his wrathful indig
ation when Colonel Susan nipped hin
i the bud. The "noblest Roman1
uc< u nbcd to the resolute little whit
roinan. and retired with dramatic resig
ation. As she strode back, like Fores
s Spartacus, Mrs. Merriwether he
angs all awry and her frame heaving
rith excitement, rushed to the foot
ights, and, in defiaQce of Miss. An
iivrijv a <|uiua i ciuvimil ttllCC, NUUlllUl
Ladies aad gentlemen, what that bo;
aid was from his head not his heari
t was inadvertent. He was brough
ip to believe in freedom, for the felacl
.? well as the white man.'' The "nobl
toman" bowed his head in proud propi
ation. Mi?s Anthony shook her cork
icre*v curls benignantly, and the strong
ninded wore uproarious. Hut the el
eefc of Mrs. Neyman's radiant prost
ieom was dissipated in a smell of sul
?hur and the purgatory of discondar
Jauior.
Representative Perry loft the ha
with me and we walked together to
word the hotel. '-What did you thin
?f that convention," I asked. "It was,
said Terry. Mtho moat remarkable aud i
some reapocts, most amusing an
inelanchony exhiSition I ever witnesse*
If all women wore like Madame Nej
man they might vote for what I cared
but the Lord deliver mq Xrorn some <
the others.
While these strident woro?n, rich \
'A% ' ' Y'- **''*f > ' '*v
I
d comfortable, are making fierce demand
it for suffrage, hundreds of their siste11
hood ask only for honorable employi
! mcnt and the right to earn an humble
i- living. Possibly they would be more
- fortunate if the ballot were given them,
h j but probably not. I am for giving these
sisters of ours the mo it enlarged opporr
tunities of making their way in the
world, but the suffrage may not be best
d for them, and I am inclined to think
- that the vast majority do not desire it,
e especially at the South, where the evil,
it because of a peculiar race environment,
would be something infernal and intol
s erable. J. R. it.
0 Tlie Agricultural Moses.
To the Editor of the jYe tee and
Courier :
j I am a farmer but am decidedly op.
posed to Mr. Tillman's movement toil
wards organizing farmers, as a class, to
r carry any public measure, and I know
> that so far as my section of South Carot>
Una is concerned it is not looking for
11 an agricultural Moses to lead us into
b the Promise Land. We know very well
13 that the State is eminently an agricul1
tural community, and we know equally
1 well that the Legislature of the
f State is composed very largely of farm1
ers. and we are not aware that wo have
an)-just reason to complain either of the
, laws or their administration.
,, There is some difference of opinion
a on the question of free tuition in the
J University, but I know of no one who
" sympathizes with the condemnation of
- the whole concern. The institution is
- popular with us and lias just about as
t much agaiculture attached to it as we
1 think is necessary for a college class to
i tuke in. We want our sous educated in
- all that goes to enlarge and strengthen
- the mind without any regard to what
1 special business they arc to follow. I
- have asked several intelligent farmers if
1 thev want to send their sons to an agri5
cultural college, and they all say : "Xo;
- we think if you will educate a boy as it
i is generally done in the schools and colt
leges that we can very easily teach him
- the business of growing crops if he is
i disposed to learn."
The fact that a majority of the edu)
cated young men Incline to other proi
Cessions than agriculture, we think, is
1 due to the fact tnat they suppose fame
1 is more easily attained in other professions
and not to the fact that they lack
. capacity for agricultural pursuits. We
- know* fnr?nnru n-lin hnvn liunn
, educated in the different colleges of the
- State, and thoy like their business.
, What farmers want most is more generl
al information such as men acquire by
i reading and study. If an agricultural
i collegc would inspire us to read and
e think more it would certainl}r be a good
y thing but we fail to see how it would do
. so any more than a general education in
? all the sciences.
n What we want in my country is an
- agricultural experiment station where
- important problems shall bo solved for
r\ the imformation of the whole commute
nity. We want all the money raised by
3 the pivilege tax on guano for the supr
port of the agricultural burouu to be ex
pended by the bureau in conduoting
n such experiments as cannot be safely
" engagea in oy iarmers inemseives. i1 or
d instance, if the State had an experiment
al farm, the question of tobacco growing
t could be settled once for all. and save
r perhaps large lost* to fanners who are
g tempted to try the experiment for them
selves. T regard with more interest the
. reports of agricultural experiments than
: all other agricultural writings combined,
y and I regard reports of agricultural ext.
perimant stations, such as Ohio and
t New York have, as more important than
k reports of private experiments, because
e individual exDcriraunts are more liable
i- to jump at conclusions.
> If the State will pay the expense of
collecting the phospha'e royalty cut of
F- the royalty itself, and allow the agri>
cultural bureau to spend all the special
I- fund raised by the privilege tax on gua>t
no entirely in the interest of the class
which pays the tax, we can have
11 one of tho it no at and most useful experimont
stations in the United States.
K Wo will be satisfied when this ar1
rangement is made. We think it can be
n made though our representative* already
^ in the Legislature without any organi*a^
tion on our part and withoat & general
remodeling of the whole governmental
' j. machinery. J. W. Bkaslky.
Lydia, Darlington County, 8. C., Feb'
>r ruary 16.
The Southern Methodist Senate.
The General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South. meets
quadrennially, and, according to the
Book of Discipline of that Church, "in
the "month of April or May." It meets
this year, and at Richmond, Virginia,
The one hundredth anniversary of the
Methodist Episcopal Church's formal
organtzation was celebrated in December,
1881, at the city of Baltimore,
where the Church was organized at the
?... J
^uifuiiiifu iirisinius uonu'rencci" 01
1784.
The original Methodist Episcopal
Church was separated into two distincl
branches, of co-ordinate authority and
jurisdiction, by the action of the General
Conference which met in New York
city in May, 1884. This was practically
the division of the Church into a Northern
and Southern Church. The occasion
of the division was the agitation of the
slavery question. The Northern Church
kopt the old name, and is still called
the Methodic Episcopal Church. The
Southern Church took the name of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and
was formally organized into a seperatc
body in 1845, at Louisville, Kentucky,
Its fi>st General Conference was held at
Petersburg. Virginia, in 1846.
The General Conference has inet regularly
every four years since, except at
the appointed time in 1802, when the
civil war interferred. The session this
year will be the tenth. It will be composed
of nearly 275 members?one-hall
of whom will bo laymen. The delegates
are elected by the annual Conferences,
each Conference being entitled to one
clorical delegate to every thirty-six
members, and to an equal number ol
lay delegates. The South Carolina Conference
at its recent session in Columbia
elected tho following delegates:
Clerical.?W. W. Duncan, S. B.
Jones, S. A. Weber, A. M. Chreitzberg,
W. D. Kirkland and A. M. Shipp. Alternates?J.
M. Boyd and A. Coke
'Httlth.
Lay.?James H. Carlisle, J. Fuller
Lyon, \V. T. L). Cousai, H, Baer, R. H.
Lennings and J. G. Clinkscales. Alternates?G.
K. Prince and W. L. Gray.
The Bishops preside at tho sessions of
the General Conference, and in case no
Bishop is present tho Conference
chooses a president pro tetn. The business
of the General, Conference is to
make rules and regulations for the
Church, under wise constitutional limitations,
and to provide by necessary legislation
for running the machinery of
this existensive and aggressive Church.
It will legislate for about one million
members, who are organized into forty
(timfprAtirofl A a
UlOiltUU WO 14 UlUil^, V1IU IIIUntie
and Gulf coasts, from Maryland
to Mexico. There are threo Conferences
on the Pacific coast, several in the
fur iVest, one in the Indian Territory
and one in Illinois; besides the orignal
territory, in the Southern States, tc
which the Church was at first confined.
Besides its mission work in this country
among the Mexicans, Indians, Germans
and in the Territories and on tht
Pacific coast, the Church has missions ir
China and Brazil. All these will engagt
the attention of the General Conference
Several additional Bishops will bt
elected. ?
American English.
A very erroneous impression gener
ally exists in this country .is to th<
manner in which the English languag<
is spoken in the United States. This hat
arisen in some degree from the circum
stance that travellers have dwelt upor
and exaggerated snch peculiarities of lan
guage as have come under their obser
ration in various parts of the Union; bu
also in greater measure from the fac
, that in English novels and dramas ir
, which an American figures?no mattei
whether the character depicted be rep
resented as a man of good social positior
and, presumably, fair education, or not?
ho is made to express himself in a dia
let happily combining the pecutiaritiei
of speech of every section of the country
from Maino to Texas. With the oxcod
tion of the late Mr. Anthony Trollope'i
"American Senator," I cannot recall t<
' mind a single work of Action in whici
this is not the case. Take, for instance
' those portions of '*Martin Chuzzlewit,'
the scenes of which are laid in th>
United States; Richard Fairfield in Bui
wer's 'M J Nortfl;" the Colonel ii
-J Lover's "One of Them;" FullaloYc, ii
| Charles Itaade's uVery Hard Cash;" th
wmmmmaammmamammmmKummmmmmaBmmmmmmttmMMammmm
younger Fen ton in Yates's "Black ''c
Sheep;" or the American traveller in Cl1
, '"Mugby Junction"?in each and every ^
instance the result is to convey a most ^ 1
erroneous idea as to the manner in which w
, our common tongue is ordinarily spoken
in the United States.
It is the same on the stnge. The dialect
on which Americans are usually made
to express themselves in English dramas
is lis inrnrrnot Jintl til>cnrfi no ?'na Itin
, "" " # QP
language put into the mouths of their
- Irish characters by the playwright of ^
the early part of the eighteenth cen- ^
tury.
k CD
As a matter of fact, the speech of edu- ^
i cated Americans differs but little from
I W]
that of the same class in Great Britian; ^
while, as regards the great bulk of the
. people of the United States, there can be ^
no question but that they speak purer
i and more idiomatic English than do the ^
, masses here. In every State of the
' ? US
[ Union the language of the inhabitants
^ can be understood without the slightest ^
, dificulty. This is more than can be
, said of the dialects of the peasantry in
^ various parts of England, these being SP
, in many instances perfectly unintelli- .
gible to a stranger. Again, the fluency
. of expression and command of language ^
posessed by Americans even in the
humbler ranks of life forms a marked
er
. contrast to the poverty of speech of the j.
, same class in this country, where, as an
, eminent philolgist has declared, a very
considerable proportion of the agricul
tural population habitually mako use
. of vocabulary not exceeding 300
w o rds.?C'h n m ber's Journ a i.
i wi
Politics of the War. Pr
Washington, February 21.?The rediscussion
of the politicel features of the ViJ
terms first offered to Gen Johnston's
army and overruled at Washington is m
likely to lean to the development of some ^
facts which are new. An ex -officer of in
the volunteer forces, who was at Raleigh W
with Gen. Sherman's army, tells an 50
interesting story of some private discubsions
among prominent officera,
which were mainly confined to those" u*
who commanded armies or corps. He
says that when the troops of Gen. Sher" ^
, formed a junction with Gun .Sehofield's
army Goldsboro', a plan for a
National Catservtivo party, which was
said to have originated in Wsahington,
was laid before most of the leading ol!icers.
Montgomery Blair was repre- an
tri
sen ted as the leading spirit at the National
Capital.
According to the views which were
presented for him through his brother, tu
Gen. Frank Blair, and other, there was a
very general dissatisfaction at t ic North
with the radical views held by Secretary
Stanton. Secretary Chase Ben Wade ar
1 Zachsriah Chandler, Charles Sumner
and others. As to Mr. Lincoln, it Pn
: was still a question whether he would co
finally side with the Radicals or favor a
' conservative reconstruction. It was v*
> e 1 * ?"
uiviviviv fjiupuisuu umi uie prominent
officers of the army should unite in an
effort to influence the soldiers to favor, ar
so soon as the war ended and the question
of reconstroction came up, the or- t0
ganization of a National Conservative w
party which should ignore all the Rad- es
ical leaders named and others of their
class: which should also exclude the
Northern Copperheads as a necessary
condition to soldiers' support; which ot
should be made up of war Democrats ta
and Southern politicians and officers.
and provide prominent places for all
Northern officers who would join the Pc
movement. The proposition was receiving
much attention at the various ?I
headquarters about Goldsboro' when the ?F
news came of the surrender of Lee. A
number of leading officers favored it, ar
and several were found, upon sounding m
t them, to be much opposed. It is be- ?*
t lievcd to have prompted the liberal spirit
with whijh Gen. Sherman acted when Rt
making his terms with Gen. Johnston. 0J
The excitement at the North attending
the assassination of President Lincoln, n
and the interpretation put upon the ^
Sherman terms by Secretary Stanton ,n
made it impossible to pursue the plan 1,1
r further at that time. # P1
According to the same authority, later i_
s in the same year Montgomery Blair jtnd "fr
> those working with him in tho matter w
1 revived his scheme, and agents wero 01
, dispatched to various military head- ^
' headquarter to unfold it. The break of p,
0 Prosident Jonnson with his party was
- the result, and at the Arm-in-Arm Con- ^
n vention in Philadelphia in August, 1866,
1 the new party was organised upon the ^
e. identical propositions originally sent n
nvn to North Carolina for army di
isHion. It will bo remembered that
at Convention Fernando Wood at
lillandigham were both compelled
ithdraw.
About Dancing:.
| McCormick Advance.]
Mr. Editor: I think Rev. J. A. Bell's
mmunication in last week's issue (to
tablish a reading room in McCormick)
good one, but his allusion to the
mcing element of the town (or, as he
rms it, "agility of the heels") rather
ittincr. Now. Mr
u , ..... ijuiwi, (.licit; uru u
t of us who claim there is nothing
rong in the dunce. I believe it to be
tneficial, when properly indulged in
id also that the benefits are not conled
to the "heels" only. Locke says
he effects of dancing are not confined
the body. It give chiltirens, as well
grown people, not a mere outward
acefulness of motion, but manly
oughts and a becoming confidence."
Experience has taught us that for a
aceful and easy carriage dancing is
icessary and imperative, and although
times past it was decried, it has
ain grown into popular favor, and
>asts now of a greater number of deuces
than any other recreation. Ety
person who can weild a pen has
It the subject to be one of grave im rtance
The dance, like religion, is
e natural offspring of the heart. It
a spontaneous action of the body,
ider strong mental or moral pressure, ,
id as a man's heart wafts upward toards
the sky iis sweet incense of
aver when over whelmed by some
eut good or sorrow, so the body gives
nt to its joj' or grief in the poetry of
e dance. In the Scriptures we find
any passages which speak of dancing,
iriam, a*, the spectacle of the Egypt
ns struggling and buffeting with the
aves of the Dead Son, burst forth into
ng nnd danco at the destruction of
:r enemies. David, the gentle shep>rd
lad, - danced on the hill round"
>out Jerusalem to the sound of his
istic pipe, and subsequently, when
ing of iho Israelites, at the recovery
the golden ark, performed a dance.,
ifore it in his triumph over the recession
of the holy treasure.
Solomon, the wise law-giver of the
(ws, to whom came people of intellect
d genius from all surrounding counies
to worship at the shrine of hi?
isdom, has told us ''there is a time
r all things; a time to weep and a
lie to laugh, a time to mourn and a
no to dance!" Some of the fathers
the church picture the angels with
irps of gold, singing and dancing
ound the throne of the Lamb.
To the dancers the sculptors and
iinters of old were wont to have reurse,
as studies of those passions and
ntiments which sway mankind, so
vidly did their motions strike the
ind. Many people to-day regard
incing as immoral in its tendencies,
id the relation of dancing to chrisinity
and morality lias been ugitated
a greater extent than the political
elfare of nutions. Poets, statesmen,
sayists and novelists have wielded
eir pons for its support or condemna>n.
Preachers have hurled the bombicll
of the gospel against it. while
hers have upheld it with Scriptural
xt. Byron, the English bard of bards,
ts not felt the subject too insigficant
r his eagle quill, and has given us the
>em, "The Waltz."
It has its partisans and likewise tut
iponents. Physicians havo given their
unions that it is the most healthful
' all exercises, oxhilirating the mind
id brain by the cheerful, inspiring
usic, and agreoable accompaniment
' on (/els, beauty and flowera.
It is not my purpose to answer or
. * * __. -v ?
miLpi iu sl'i nngm tneso conflicting
cpressions. In my opinion all dancing
not compatible with tirtne and putv;
like all pleasures it is abased
ut enjoyed in moderation and accord-*
g to tne nictates and rulos of ?och1
sto, it is a" pleasant and boncfioial
is time. There are some dance*
hich are immodest and injurious |o?
idulge in. just as there are acme hooka
tut should not be read, pictures that
ere better not seeu, and seuga which
fend the ear; but for throe objection*
lould we condemn literature, art and
lusic? To tho pure aU things are
ore. V&Jj
I hope the time is not far distant when
H) dance, hallowed a? it it by antiquity
nd poetry, will not be deemed a "re*o? .>
ition of the h?l," but ? scnuible pu- \
?it? beneflcUl alike to the body and M
?tad. crxoTia. \M