Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-11-12
THAT DAN BURY ALMN &C.
Why the lNews'' MAN Publishes HIS
PrOCnOssIcaIOr.

Why the ssNevvs'' am Publishes HIS
PrognosticaIor.
No one who remembers the past sum-
mer can fail to understand why [
have got out an almanac, At the elev-
enth hour have stepped between man
and tne elements, and said: F'Don't !"
Whether my actions will be sustained.
my honesty recognized, my sacrifice
appreciated, and my publishers re-
munerated, it is for the people to say
1t was necessary that some one should
take hold of the matter. [ have done 50.
And so I have got out an almanac of
my own. It is my first almanac, but
you would hardly think it. When I
look over the work myself, and see
how complete it is in every department,
and realize how easy 1t has been, 1t
seems as if I never did do anything
else but make weather and fool with
astronomy.
I don't think the arrangement of the
work can be improved. [ have got in
all the planets up to going to press,
with full and pleasing assortment OF
signs of the zodiac. [ might have got
other signs cheaper, but ] prefer zodi-
acs. There is a tone and finish to
them, which places them above their
fellows.
The reader will recognize many fa-
n,iliar characters in looking over cur
calendar, but he will experience much
suffering and sorrow and disappoint-
ment in searching for moons equal in
any respect to those our artist furnishes
in this little work.
They were engraved from sketches
taken on the spot, and can be relied on
in any climate. It is not my purpose,
of course, to elaborate the work in this
note of explanation, but I think may
be pardoned in calling the attention of
the student of human nature to the
expression of the eyes in our moons.
There is life there. They are not store
moons.
By special request, omit, on the
second page, the portrait of the man
who has no coat to his back, nor any
to his stomach, apparently. should
have omitted it, anyway. ] have al
ways believed there was something re-
pulsive in this exposure and cutting
him open to excite sympathy, with a
view to mitigating disgust, has always
appeared to me to be.a coarse and dis
graceful artlfce. And just think for
one moment, of the awful absurdity of
the idea. Here is a perfectly maize
man, with a skylight ia his stomach,
and surrounded by things no one can
pronounce the names of, standing with
his legs apart, and staring at the hori-
zon with as much intensity as if he had
made it himself, and had come around
to view it from new point
We have got new man to take his
place, man who has been brought up
to respect society,-a man whom it is a
genuine pleasure to look at and to think
of in twilight.
He stands up there and illustrates
the seasons for his clothes, and looks
after things generally ; and as long as
there is an eye to offend, or cheek to
blush, we shall strictly observe our
part of the contract.
1 hope you will take this little beck
home to your family, and hang it up
by string and when you are writing
to your wife's mother, urging her to
come on and stay all winter you will
find in this work many valuable sugges-
tions in regard to the date line. Yours,
truly, J. M. BALLET.
Danbury, Conn, Sept. ], 1873.