Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1860-09-20
CONTRIBUTORIAL.


-:o:-
Impossible.
A man of the world, q poet no less-George
Coleman-once said,-
"And what's impossible can't be,
Aud never, never comes to pass"
It sounds true enough, but it is not necessarily
true. 1t may be true.
That depends.
When Columbus announced his idea of q west
ern world, or way to India westward, and pro-
posed to prove it, everybody said it was
Impossible.
When Copernicus announced the present the
DRY of the universe-the numerous rotations Of
seemingly stationary bodies-above all the axial
revolution of the earth, the whole earth, una
voce, cried out
Impossible!
When Harvey proposed to the Medical profess
sion and to the scientific world his great idea of
the circulation of the blood, the mass of his own
profession would not hear him, and wigs full of
learning land %conceit) were wagged as pompous
lips emphatically exclaimed
Impossible!
When the western traveller informed the In
dian king that in the westward lands, sometimes
in winter, water actually became hard like glass,
his majesty was indignant at the attempt to i'm.
pose upon his highness so absurd an idea; be-
cause he was an old man and never in all his
life had he seen water get hard, therefore, he
kne,o that it was
Impossible
When DR.. Lardner demonstrated the fact that
the convexity of the earth rendered it impossible
for o vessel to be propelled by steam across so
large q body of water as the Atlantic Ocean
had wrought it out by mathematics-had it down
in black and white,-tout h monde was satisfied,
with him, that to cross the Atlantic in a steam
vessel was
Impossible.
Now, we of the present day are pretty unani-
mously agreed that Columbus, and Copernicus,
and Harvey, and the Western traveller, and he
that proposed to cross the Atlantic by steam,
were all right; and that what they s~everally
proposed was not, or at least is not, absolutely
Impossible.
So, zoe are disposed to inquire at least q mo-
ment before we adopt the opinion of those who
are always ready to hiss into the manly ear OF
energy and progress that pitiable subterfuge of
ignorance and timidity-
Impossible
Can any thing be impossible that does not con-
tradict itself?
Does anything follow?
Different from these impossiblists was good
old Tertullian, whose faith was wont to do no
half. way business. Arguing on some of the
mysteries of the incarnation he says: "CrsdibIe
est quia ineptum est :" and on another and more
vital point he asserts "Certum est quia inpossi-
bile est" it is undoubtable because it is impos,
sible!
Capital, too, was the spirit of the Frenchman's
motto-"L' impos,ibiliN ne me detourne pas"
Books.
Perhaps the most noteworthy novel that has
appeared in some weeks is "The Ebony Idol
1t processes to be by q Lady of New England
It illustrates the emptiness of Yankee philan-
thropy in the cause of emancipation, by taking
among a set of New England village philanthro-
pists a real negro-a fugitive slave-a regular
out out Ebony Hol-an ignorant, coarse,
ugly, buck negro, brutal, thievish, and odorous.
Cuffee is feted like q hero for while, till he sue
cessively disgusts the whole party, preacher and
all, steals things and gets in bad odor generally ;
and finally, when some one tries to marry him
to q young lady among them, he is kicked out
several efigies are burned in the reaction there
upon and Caesar falls from his glory. Humor
is the vein of the book. The surprise of the
matter is that IN abolition region should get
out a book that seems to tell so distinctly against
their visionary philanthropy. 1t strikes US as q
burlesque on Yankee Negro-love-ism.
We see that W. A. Townsend & Co., of New
York have just published SCUBA for Iuvalids,"
by R. W. Gibbes, NJ. D.
Charles Reade's Eighth Commandment' is
not a novel, but is a work upon the Dramatic
Copyright Law.
A miser's Latin.
Perdidi dime.
Personal.
Tom Thumb, the diminutiye, is said to be
about to marry a young lady Of Portland. He
will make o convenient little husband, at any
rate.
Madame LIE Vert is receiving a large share of
attentions at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York.
Lady Franklin is touring in the North.
Kossuth is in Paris.
Miss Bateman, perhaps the first American
tragidisnae, is having quite a success in the
north. west. We consider Miss Bateman as infe.
rior to Charlotte Cushman in vigor and power of
expression and inferior to Julia Dean Hayne in
8 wet womanline.s; but these two are off the
stage, we believe, and after them Miss Bateman