Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-01-02
|COMMUN ICATED.

|
delis, being staunch observer of old customs
generally, respectfully suggests to his learned
opponent that, in this part of the world, unless
the subject is personal newspaper writers al
wavs use mons de plumr he and another gen
tlelnan being the only exceptions IN this con-
munity. Besides. being but an humble lay
man, it might be deemed preSulhptu0uS III
Fidelis to cOutrorcrt, over his own signature
the dicta of doctor Of divinity, whose probes
sion should have led him to the examination OF
authorities on the point IN question ne can
not see what influence his nanc could nave
with impartial Judges whether his arguments
have been sound or unsouud, and he, therefore, |
declines giving IT,
If the doctor did not attempt TO prove a
negative. what did he attempt? lie positively
denied, and continues to deny. that Christ was
born on Christmas day; tida'ls, on the con
trarv. having neither the time requisite Tor the
proper rescurcl. nor suitable library at his
command. has never asserted that lie was but
has confined himself to contandlng that 1t was
highly probable, as nc thinks he has shown II
TO be.
IT is useless to repeat the arguments which
haze been used. On the one side: we have Gil
matte difficulties existing now, and presumed 10
have existed nineteen centuries ago; on The
other. the testimony Of St. Chrysostone and St.
Augustine, two Of ,hc earliest ana brightest IL
minarics Of the Christian Church, that Tie cc!-
cbratien was ancient il their day: the eNanl-
nation of public documents by .carEed men,
differing in opinion on the subject: iicd less
than four centuries after the event. and result
inc in the conversion OF one party to the o?Ih'
ions Of the other; and the unanimous conScn;
of all Chrstcndom. (which must DC rrcsuucN
to have included same comE}on sense !or t~e'Ve
centuries afterwards Which Is the more coz
elusive argument?
, That the doctor should have given such 4
reason as his third, is a source Of unjeiGn1t as
constituent to E'delis. Few of tho people OF
Palestine. in the days OF King Ilcr0d. knew
that Christ was born ut all, or ut least, they
did not know who He was. nor did they ascGr-
5 tain for more than thirty years; and Herod
object was. not to find out His birthday, but to
make sure of His death What this can have
to do with the preservation OF the knowledge
of His birthday by His friends, or with the
, tables Of the ccnsors at Rome, which merely
showed the time at which the enumeration was
made at Bethlehem by Cyrnus, it is difficult to
imagine
: In conclusion, Filclis has go difficulty in
agreeing with NEARLY all the Protestant com
t mentators and many Of the learned Faith
| ers," that the keeping of the festival upon the
' y,
\ also happy in being able to concur with the
s doctor in the opinion that getting drunk is one
of the very worst, and giving aims, one OF the
D very best ways Of honoring it. His only pur-
pose in writing on the subject has been to re-
mind the gentleman whom he answered:
: that no writer, whether he uses a nom
: de plume or his own signature, has ght
4 either to assert or deny thing unless he
has evidence to sustain his assertion or de-
NAL. Had the doctor merely said that he
i did not believe that Christ was born on
y Christmas day, or that he did not think 1t could
;, be proved, Fidclis would not have had WORD
= to say. As it is, he is perfectly willing to let
! the subject rest, feeling that he has accomplish
y ed all he proposed and fully sensible that both
. the editor and his indul gent readers have
been bored by the controversy. FIDELls.
f [CoMMUNICATED
+ T,Ir M.-- rt.u question Or
narrow guage railroads is making substantial
', progress in many parts Of the world Several
u guages have been tested; first, the ! foot, then
Il the it. y ill.,; the Fl. in.; it. in: final
ly the coal interests adopted the t #. 81 inches
d which is now, almost, the universal guagc. The
, great mistake in building railroads heretofore,
D has been two much breadth of guage, and it is
now well demonstrated fact that even the /
+ #. 5! in. is two wide for profit. The guage
which is now proposed to introduce, and which
will be the narrow guage Of our future roads,
: is three feet or Whereabouts. The advantage
gained is the adoption Of lighter rolling stock
This will be clearly seen when it is remember
Ell that u ton OF materials upon a narrow gllage
IS stronger, aS regards It's carrying power. than
the same weight when spread over larger base.
' On the 4 tt. S! IN. guage The proportion Of
non-poytng to pnWHy weights in freight Is
about I tons to ton, which gives just I tons of
rolling weight employed TO carry ton Of luy-
ing freight. Reduce tho deal weight and as
sulnc 1t to be Only t TONS to |, even then it
takes 10 tons, the weight Of the locomotive ard
cars, to Garry the paying load Of IL Of goods.
, Let us suppose the ". 4 y. T. r. had Il
l it, guagc the dead weight would be reduced
wo-thr(lS, therefore oae third Of Il ton would
pay as much as full ton on the prcscn; h:ayy
freight cars. There is another important item
OF economy: \ forty ID Per yard rail will last
longer on . ; It. guagc than seventy five H.
, rail on / It. s. II. Gu"Sc The light rail will
fairly wear out Instead OF being crushed and
ground out by the present heavy rolling stock
Thus 1t will be seen III important saving would
DC the result Of narrow guage, and that say
ing divided between the public and the stock
holders would largely reduce the tariffs to the
, one while II would Is largely increase the div
ldrnds to the other. An eminent writer oE
railroad improvements, very orcihly remarks
We have some very startling results but they
are as absolute as they are startling, ana they
commend themselves to the consideration Of
those who have the carrying OUT Of our future
railroads. +
ASTONISHING MESMERIC PoWER.-A GU
rious case of mtsmerj-n is recorded BY the civil
t surgeon OF HoshungAb;,tl 4 young woman
named Nunnec. aged twcilty -four, WAS t!;.rriel
some twelve years ago; she, however, did not
go to her husbands house for two year: after
ward. After staying with him Tor cis|; days
she suddenly became inScnsiblc, and remained
, so for two o: three days. Sio WAS taken back
to her mother, und soon got well. Then follows
4 very remarkable history. During the next
four or i've years she never entered her hus-
band house without falling inscnsbe and re-