davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
Complete Marriage.

The following wise words of Theodore
Parker on Complete Marriage" " de-
serve repetition:
"Men and women, and especially
young people, do not know that it
takes years to marry completely two
hearts, even of the most loving and
well-sortedl But nature allows no sud-
den change We slope very gradually
from the cradle to the summit of life.
Marriage is gradual, fraction of MS
at time. A happy wedlock is n long
falling in love. / know young persons
think love only belongs to brown hair
and plump, round crimson cheeks. So
it does for its beginning, just as Mt.
Washington begins ut Boston Bay. But
the golden marriage is n part of love
which the bridal day knows nothing of.
Youth is the tassel and silken flower of
love; age is the full corn, ripe and solid
in the ear. Beautiful is the morning
of love, with its prophetic crimson vio-
let, purple and gold; with its hopes of
days that are to come. Beautiful also
the evening of love, with its glad re-
membranes and its rainbow side turn
ed towards heaven as well as earth.
" Young people marry their opposites
in temper and general character, and
such a marriage is commonly n good
match. They do it instinctively. The
young man does not say, My black eyes
require to be wed with blue, and my
over-vehemence requires to be a little
modified with something of dullness
and reserve When these opposites
come together to be wed they do not
know it, but each thinks the other just
like himself. Old people never marry
their opposites; they marry their SINH
lars, and from calculation. Each OF
these two arrangements are very proper.
On their long journey, these opposites
will fall out very many times, and both
get away from the road they will go by,
and become reconciled. He will be-
come nobler and larger associated with
so much humanity unlike himself, and
she will be a nobler woman for having
manhood beside her that seeks to cor
rect her deficiencies and supply her
with what she lacks, If the diversity be
not too great, and there be real piety
and love in their hearts to begin with.
"The old bridegroom, having much
shorter journey to make, must associate
himself with one like himself. A per-
feet and complete marriage is, perhaps,
as rare as perfect personal beauty.
Men and women are married fractional
ly, now a small fraction, then a large
fraction. Very few are married totally,
and they only, think, after some forty
or fifty years of gradual approach and
experiment. Such a large and sweet
fruit it complete marriage, and it
needs a very long summer to ripen in
and then long winter to mellow and
season in. But real, happy marriage
of love and Judgment, between a noble
man and woman, is one of the things so
very handsome that if the sun were, as
the Greek poets tabled, a god, he might
stop the world in order to feast his eyes
with such spectacle.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
Rears.


The provisions of nature are strange.
Climate forces upon animals different
habits. Towards the end of December
the female white bear places herself in
a position where the snow will drift on
her, and cell is formed for winter
habitation. In this cell the animal re
sides during the period of accouche-
ment. The cubs are produced, and tho
mother remains secluded with them un-
til the month of March. The young are
very small at first, but as they grow the
heat of the bodies melt tho snow and
thus enlarges the cell. The warm
breath ascends upward, and makes ON
aperture for the admission Of pure
air. Before alternating, the bear eats
enormously of nutritious food, and be-
comes very fat, on which fat she exists
during her winter retirement. The pho
nomenon is all the more singular, as tho
female bear is compelled to give sus-
tenance TO her young as well ms to live
herself, and the surplus fat in her own
body is her only store of food. Pertinent
to this, DIR. Wood remarks:
{" 1t is worthy of notice that in tho
bears of the Old as well as the New
World, is found the curious phenome-
non of the 'tappen, n lrard concreted
substance, which plugs up the iptes-
tines and seems to be of service in re
tanning the animal condition. In Scan
dinavia, where the bears of both sexes
retire to winter quarters, and remain in
their hidden recesses for five full
mouths, the tappen is very seldom cast
until the bear leaves her den. In She
rare instances where such an event has
happened, the bear is said 10 have be-
come miserably thin and weak. "
The snow packs closely, and makes
warm bed. The caloric exhaled from
the body is not swept away by the wind,
but is conserved around the animal, and
sensation is preserved.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
Blank Verse.

Is dangerous weapon for any one to
handle who does not know exactly what
he has got to say, and who has not a
self-denying talent for saying nothing
else. In spite of many noble things
said III blank verse outside the drama,
and in spite of a taste which has pre-
vailed in our day to an alarming extent,
we make bold to affirm that blank verse
is suited rather to dramatic composition
than to any other. Mere narrative in
blank verse, unless the theme be very
lofty and permit of sonorous periods, is
poor, bald stuff, as good deal of Mr..
Tennysons "Idyls," Notwithstanding
his laboriousness, his severe critical
faculty, and the excellency of his Eng
lish, amply demonstrates. The real
essence, force and value of blank verse
is that it is declamatory. Hence its ap-
propriateness in the drama, and the an
noyance one feels when Shakespeare
makes his chapters speak in rhyme.
Hence, if poet insists upon writing
blank verse, when he is not writing
drama, he inevitably steers between two
equally fatal rocks. He runs the dan
ger of being turgid or being tame; and
it is hard to say, having before us all
that has been written by Thomson,
Young, Cowper, Wordsworth, and poets
of our own day, upon which rock men
oftener split. Cowper is rather declam-
atory than tame, and the consequence is
that his blank verse is generally won
fully good. Mr.. Tennyson's blank
verse. and indeed that of every living
writer, is very poor stuff, qua blank
verse, compared with Cowper's, though,
of course, Cowper is not to be compared
to Mr.. Tennyson in poetic genius. But
Cowper has the defects of his virtues !;
he writes blank verse so easily and so
well, that he piles on his words without
measure. In the drama, the author
feels that each particular character has
something to say, and he is limited by
that something; but when the author is
himself the speaker he is bound neither
by the necessity of the situation nor by
any inherent difficulty in his meter from
being intolerably garrulous. Hence
most writer's of blank verse are tire
some. and Cowper is ineffably so.
Rhymed heroics would have necessarily
curtailed his lengthy disquisitions, and
he would often have had to compress
into two lines what in "The Task" he
spreads over a dozen. Satire especially
in blank verse lacks point, and satire
without point is nothing. Temple Bar.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
An Important Canal Proienf-

The people of the Southern States.
having now become fully aware of tho
necessity of internal improvements, ARD
moving actively in the matter. A "Con.
vention of the Governors of the South
and Northwest" has been called, 10
meet mt Atlanta on the 10th inst, 10
compare views as TO n projected canal
from st. Louis TO Savannah. II is also
proposed that the convention, after their
adjournment here, shall visit Macon and
Savannah in body, and in person view
the ground, and acquaint themselves
with the temper and opinions Of the peo-
pie of those cities. The project contem-
plates continuous line of water com
munication, natural and artificial, from
st. Louis, in the State of Missouri, 10
Savannah, in the State of Georgia. Tho
Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Tennes-
see 10 Gunter's Landing, including the
canal around Mussel Shoals, now being
constructed, form the upper portion of
the line. The company now organized
in Georgia propose to continue this line
south, first by canal from Gunter's
Landing to the Coosa river At Gadsden,
in the State of Alabama; thence by said
river eighty-seven miles TO Rome;
thence uy the Etowah and Little river
to point near Roswell, in Cobb coun-
ty, where it will cross the Chattahoo-
chez, thence via Atlanta TO one Of the
tributaries of the Ocmulgee, Yellow or
South river. The Ocmulgee and Alta
maha will form the remainder Of the
line until point shall be reached near
est Savannah-say the mouth of the
Oohoopee-from which the canal will
be continued TO that city. The distance
from St. Louis to Savannah by this
route is about 1900
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
The Birth of an Iceberg,

It would be impossible with mere
words alone to convey any adequate
idea of the action of this newborn child
of the Artic forests. Think of a solid
lump of ice, third of mile deep and
more than half mile in lateral dia-
meter, hurled, like a mere toy, away
into the water, and see it rolling to and
fro by the impetus of the act as if it
were a football now down on one side
until the huge bulk was nearly cap
sized then back again then down the
other side once more, with the same un-
resisting force and so on, up and down,
and down and up, smashing to and fro
for hours, before it comes finally to rest
Picture this, and you will have an image
of power not to be seen by the action of
any other force upon the earth. The
disturbance of the water was incon-
ceivably fine. Waves of enormous mag
nitude were rolled up with great vol
lence against the glacier, covering it
with spray; pillows came tearing down
the ford, their progress marked by the
cracking and crumbling ice, which was
everywhere in a state of widest agi-
tation for the space of several miles.
Over the smaller icebergs the water
broke completely as if tempest was
piling up the seas and then heaving
them fercely against the shore. Then
to add still further to the existing COM
motion thus occasioned, the great wal
lowing iceberg, which was the cause of
it all, was dropping fragments from its
sides with each oscillation, the reports
of the rupture reaching the ear above
the general din and clamor. Other
bergs were set in motion by the waves !;
and these also dropped pieces from their
sides and at last, as if it we're the grand
finale of the piece-the clash of SYM
balls, and the big brass drum of natures
grand orchester-a monstrous berg
near the middle of the ford split in
tive and above the sound of breaking
waters and falling ice, this last disrup-
ton filled the air with peal that rang
among the bergs and crags, and echoing
from hill to hill, died away only in the
void beyond the mountain tops while
to the noisy tune, the icebergs of the
ford danced their wild ungainly dance
upon the waters. 1t was many
heurs before this state of wild unrest
was succeeded by the calm which had
preceded the commencement of it, and
when at length the icebergs that had
been born came quietly to rest, and the
other icebergs had ceased their dance
upon the troubled sea, and the waves
had ceased their lashing, it seemed to
me that, in beholding this birth of an
iceberg, had beheld one of the most
sublime exhibitions of the great forces
Nature. 1t was, in truth, CONFUSION.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
Cowper as a Satirist.

Cowper is a great satirist, and might
have been a still greater had his lines
fallen in less pleasant places. It may
seem ungracious and ungrateful to
tax Mrs. Unwin, Lady Austen, and his
gentle friends generally, with defraud-
ing English literature of the full allow
ance of muscular verse from the poet
for whom they did SO much. No doubt
they prompted and assisted him to write
and even found him subjects; and some
may think that, had it not been for their
influence, he would scarcely have written
at all. But we are not of that opinion
True, it was comparatively late in life
that he wrote those works which have
made him infamous; but we find him
not only dabbling in ink, but paying
court to the MUSES. when he was only
just out of his teens, and it is scarcely
conceivable that a person with so rare a
talent for literary composition would,
under any circumstances, have remained
that mythical individual, dumb ge-
MUS. Moreover, his genius had from
the very outset very decided cast, and
cast it maintained to the end, in spite
of the hostile surroundings which tender
female friendship provided for him.
We confess we never think of Cowper
devoting his "gentle hours, as he has
himself described, =
To weaving nets for bird-alluring fruit,
Or twining siken threads round ivory reels,
When they command whom man was born to please
without inwardly wishing that this born
lasher of vices and seourger of mankind
had seen more of the storms and vicissi-
tudes of life, and had looked deeper and
more at first hand at that complex hu-
manity which, and not nature, was the
theme that really attracted him most
and inspired the best and most success
full efforts of his Tyre. He was the
luckiest of poets, so far as his own in
dividual comfort and happiness were
concerned. A Spenser dies for lack
of bread" Chatterton for lack of every
thing; a Collins, of raving madness; a
Marlowe, in a tavern brawl; Jonson,
in poverty, debt and friendlessness;
whilst Cowper, the most helpless of
mortals, never wants for comfort, care,
and other folks consideration. A Shaks-
peare marries and repents; a Milton
has three wives, and is not much better
off for any of them; Byron finds in
his consort the bitterest of his enemies.
Cowper does not marry at all, and is
coddled, coaxed and petted by beyy
of faithful ladies. But could he have
survived the absence of all these pretty
domestic felicities, it would seem GER
tain that no English satirist would have
approached Cowper in the excellence of
his work
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
Personal Antipathies.

There is one blameless person whom
I cannot love and have no excuse fol
hating. 1t is the innocent fellow-crea-
ture, otherwise inoffensive to me, whom
I find I have involuntary joined on turn
| ing a corner. suppose the Mississippi,
which was flowing quietly along, mind
ing its own business, hates the Missouri
for coming into it all at once with its
muddy stream. I suppose the Missouri
in like manner hates the Mississippi fol
diluting with it's impid, but insipid cur
rent the rich "reminiscences of the varied
soils through which its own stream has
wandered. I will not compare myself
to the clear or the turbid current, but
/ will own that my heart sinks when /
| find all of a sudden I am in for a corner
conf dence, and cease loving my neigh
Dor as myself until I can get away from
him. These antipathies are at least
weaknesses; they may be sins in the
eye of the Recording angel. / often
reproach myself with my wrong-doings
should like sometimes to thank Hea-
ven for saving me from some kind of
transgression, and even for granting me
some qualities that if dared / should
be disposed to call virtues. 1 should
| do SO, 1 suppose, if did not remember
the story of the Pharisee. That ought
not to hinder me- The parable was
told to illustrate single virtue, hum
ility, and the most unwarranted infer
ences have been drawn from it as to the
whole character of the two parties. 1t
seems not at all unlikely, but rather
probable, that the Pharisee was fairer
dealer, better husband, and a more
oh FOL 10 fhn D711o
whose name has come down to us 'Tlink-
ed with one virtue" but who may have
been guilty, for aught that appears to
the contrary, of ga thousand crimes. !"
Remember how we limit the application
of other parallels The lord, it will be
recollected, commended the unjust
steward because he had done wisely.
His shrewdnesss was held up as an ex-
ample, but after all he was a miserable
swindler, and deserved the state prison
as much as many of our financial oper-
ators. The parable of the Pharisee and
Publican is perpetual warming against
spiritual pride. But it must not fright
en- any of us out of being thankful that
he is not, like this or that neighbor,
under bondage to strong drink or OPT
um, that he is not an Erie railroad man
ager, and that his head rests in virtuo1ls
calm on his own pillow. If he prays in
the morning to be kept out of tempta-
ton as well as for his daily bread, shall
he not return thanks at night that he
has not fallen into sin as well as that
his stomach has been filed? I do not
think the poor Pharisee has ever had
fair play, and I am afraid good many
people sin with the comforting, half
latent intention of shifting their breasts
afterward and repeating the prayer of
the Publican. Holmes.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
The Red Sea.

A writer in the London Ne1Os remarks
that the Red Sea is rather noted for
being hot, but the greatest heat is said
to be in August and the early days of
September. There are burning deserts
on each side of the sea, and the hot air
from them is most intense in this month,
and must come by whatever wind may
chance to blow.
Sleeping on deck becomes the fashion,
and every night increases the number OF
what seems corpses laid out IN rows.
At last, as we get in the middle of the
cabins below, and they have their beds
brought on deck. Wiping the perspira-
ton from the face and neck is the only
possible occupation. If you try to
write, great drops gather and come
down with a splash on the paper as if
from a thunder cloud. Men with bald
heads seem always to have crop OF
pearls coming up through the skin. All
the pores of the body seem like perpetual
fountains of water. The sight on the
forecastle is very striking Mt night.
There are the crew of Lascars, and the
seedy Wallahs, or negroes, who do the
stoking-poor fellows, they come up
from their fiery Gehenna gasping, at
times fa1ntlng IN TINS climate. 1ne
stewards also take refuge on the fore
castles, and it is the only place for the
second-class passengers, and among them
are two Chinese women, a Malay woman,
and a group of Ayahs from Ceylon,
Madras and Calcutta. There are two
Jews from Singapore, an English groom
in charge of horse, and few others, a
different class, who cannot afford the
pay frst-class fare; All come, on to
forecastle, except lady or two, who do
not like the thick crowding of the
sleepers, for the whole place is a mass
of human beings. The heat is far too
great for fun, singing, or even converse
ton. Everyone lays himself down to
rest, and remains there absorbed with
his own sensations, till sleep gives him
complete repose. Wherever there IS
spot where a man can put his body the
place is soon filed.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
A SEA SONG.

Come, make for me little song
Twas so spirit said to me
And make it just four verses long,
And make it sweet as sweet can be,
And make 1t all about the sea.
Sing me about the wild waste shore,
Where, long and long ago, with me
You watched the silver calls that bore
The great, strong ships across the sea-
The blue, the bright, the boundless sea.
Sing me about the plans we planned;
How one of those good ships should be
My way to find some howery land
Away beyond the misty sea,
Where, always, you should live with ms.
Sing, lastly, how our hearts were caught
Up into heaven, because that we
Knew not the fiowery land we sought
Lay all beyond that other sea
That soundless, sailless, solemn sea.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
Conner Mining.

The Mining gazette publishes some
interesting statistics as 70 the copper
production of Lake Superior region
during the year just closing, compared
with the yield of 1871. The total
amount mined this year was Is, ia tons
and 213 pounds, as against 6,076 tons
and 743 pounds in 1S6l-showing a
falling off in 1872 of 902 tons and $50
pounds. While the tables show n de-
crease in the products of the mines, as
to quantity, the profits arising from the
mining operations have been greater
than during the previous year. The
latter circumstance is due 10 the great
demand for copper which has prevailed
throughout the season, and TO the fact
that but n moderate amount could be
obtained from all sources. The shght
decrease in quantity was caused by the
strike last spring among the miner !.
and some circumstances e0f less conse-
quence which diminishedtthe prodnction'
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
MY QUEEN.
BY JOHN G. SAKE,

call her "Queen the lady of my love
Since, that in all one sceptreless may claim
OF true nobility to suit the name,
She is right royal, and 30 approve
My loving homage All that painters art
And poets fantasy delight to find
In queenliness is hers: the noble mind,
The stately bearing, and the gracious heart;
The voice most musical the brow serene,
And beaming benediction-like a queen;
And oh such peerless beauty, that 1 swear
[Recalling each fair face that loud Renown
Hath found or feigned beneath a jeweled crown
/ fatter queens to call her "queenly fair ~
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07
Henry Ward Beecher's School Days
From his Lecture on Education


When I was eight or nine years old
(this is strictly confdentiaD laughter,
I was sent to school-an old, old paint
ed village school house, that l can smell
yet. Laughter.
We had benches made of slabs of logs
put in each end, and we brought the
softness to them. Laughter There
we sat. cannot remember that l ever
learned anything at the common school
in my day. It was always a mystery to
me how I learned to read. I never re-
member any process how I got the al
phabet. I thought I dreamed it out
somehow. My business used to be di-
vided between two things-being whip
ped for roguery, and sitting on the
bench wishing it was time for recess.
Laughter.
One comfort 1 enjoyed in looking out
of the window, seeing the country
round, and hearing the murmuring of
the birds. The autumn came that year,
and the vacation was over. Then mother
said, {" "Henry, next week the school be-
gins" Eyes, ma, but don't want to
go?" "Why not do you want to grow
up Ounce ?' eyes, ma" Then she
says, "Don't you know if you do you
will have to be a servant all your life ?''
Yes, ma" "You would like to be a
servant. your whole life ?'' "Yes, ma. "
Would you like to stay at home and
work as servant ?" eyes, ma"
was>kept at home that winter, and
had to do the work of a servant, clean
up the house, set the table, and all these
things 1 followed out faithfully, and in
the winter 1 chopped the wood and
brought it in, and it was no small mat
ter to bring in wood for one of these
old Litchfeld houses. Laughter.
/ enjoyed myself very much, but |
did not know that was educating my
self. My experience taught me to rely
upon myself, and 1 was never placed in
any situation where could not do the
thing that was necessary. could shoe
horse, mend a harness, fix a broken
wagon. or cut off mans leg, believe,
if necessary. Laughter.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07

"A young lady at a recent fashion
able church wedding in New York seat
ed herself on the back of pew for bet
ter observation, but seriously interrupt
ed the ceremony by an involuntary SOM
ersault and attempt to stand on her
head in the pew Just behind.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07

1t is asserted that an ice house in
Lyons Falls, N. Y, has not been empty
for 20 years, nor has pound OF ice
ever been put into it. The building is
constructed after the ordinary method,
and when it is designed to fill it, rose
let is placed upon the water pipe, and
as the water comes through it is chilled
aud drops into the house, where 1t
forms solid mass.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07

Texas contains now 40 agricultural
societies, nearly all of which were or
ganized during the last two years.
The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-02-07

Chinese smugglers buy pretty
Corean girls for measure OF millet
each.