Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1874-06-12
VOL. LXXV.

DAYS and SATURDAYS, at FIVE DOLLARS
PER ASNUM, payable in advance.
SUpERsTITIoNS PAST AND PRESENT. The
recent burning alive of a man and woman ac-
cused of witchcraft 10 village OF Mexico, has
led to Il good deal Of holy otjurgalon from the
American press as to the prevalent supersuuon
aud barbarism of that unhappy country. There
is no doubt that Mexico is behind the age in
railroads, general intelligence, and the other
various appliances of civilization, but 1t Is we'll
TO remember that there are thousands of per-
SOUS in our own country who repose implicit
belief in the professors Of demonology and mag
ic, aud hundreds of farmers who still locate
their wells by the use Of the hazel branch as a
Givining rod. or who cure their cattle OF real or
imaginary sickness by practicing spells upon
them. In Louisiana, and, il we mistake not
other parts Of the country, Voodouism retains
considerable hold upon the devotion OF the ne
groes, and iu several Of our large cities there
are scores Of persons who make their llvlngs by
fortune telling, providing amulcts to ward OFT
disease and danger, aud in furnishing love phil
ters to aid foolish swans and damseis In sccur-
ing the object of their affections.
Considering the prevalence of the belief in
witchcraft at one time 10 Europe, and even in
our own country, it is matter of cougratuatlon
that SO few vestiges of the Wtchcraft deluslon
still remain Iu the reign OF Francis l., kiug
OF France, but little more than three centuries
ago, more than one hundred Thousand witches
are said to have been put to death. The first
settlers in America brought with them the de
mopaca traditions Of Europe, and fearful judi
cial condeunatons of witchcratt began IN Salem,
Massachusetts,, in 1892 The mania, first de-
tectcd in the strange caprices Of a little girl,
spread through the community, and the Purl-
tan saint, Cotton Mather, regarded ''the assault
of the evil angels upon the country as particu-
lar defiance unto himself" After hanging an
old Irish woman and imprisouing an ludian
womau on the charge of witchcratt, the divines
and learned men of New England encouraged
arrests, aud proclaimed that the devil was max
ing an effort to gain the victory over the saints.
The result was that in one year twenty of the
suall population had been executed, among
them a clergyman AID several of the most re-
spectacle citizens of Massachusetts, Eight were
condemned, one hundred and fifty in prison
awaiting trial. and two hundred more accused,
while considerable number of the suspected
had fed the country, whe0 a reaction took
place, which, 10 connection with King Will
am's veto of the wtchcrait act, put an end to
the prosecutions. As not two centuries have
passed since the clergy the college presidents,
and judiciary Of New England hung aud press.
cd to death alleged possessors OF supernatural
power, it might be as we'll to view the rare oc-
currenccs of'this kind in Mexico, where the
scope of Intelligence is low, and the area of
scientific investigation has not been enlarged,
with charitable eyes-BdH Sun.
WIVES WHO HENPEcK.-An ill-kept and
disordeiy home must inevitably breed discon-
tent AID bad feeling in any household: but
that is 90 reason why cleanliness should be
valued more than happiness. There are class
of women, excellent in their way, who make
life burdensome to all around them by their
excessive neatuess and order. "We know q
poor farmer who hardly dares enter his own
kitchen, lest some undiscovered spot of mud
on his boots should soil his wiie's immaculate
floor; and if such an unfortunate event ever
happens he is made to feel the Nervousness of
his crime for Que day at least. If he should
chance to retort that the spot of mud was
hardly worth the fuss made over it, immedi-
aely his wife becomes more irate than ever,
and by her uDendlng naggng actually drives
him from the house to the society of his COWS
and horses, who at least possess the negative
virtue of being dumb All, madam, better let
your kitchen be dirty from morning till night
than lose the love of kind husband. These
wives who henpeck are unendurable no love
or tenderness can subdue their chickering's. If
cuse their husbands of not caring for them,
and either vent their dissatisfaction in angry
words, or relapse into sulky silence. Can you
wonder that the husbands of such women seek
refuge in the ale house or billiard hall? We
close this protest with an auecdote which has
grizzly ludicrous moral, since it illustrates the
moral value Of henpccking in one instance at
least: a man living in Canada recently con-
tessed that six years ago he killed a man 10
Wisconsin. As a reason, for this confession
he stated that whenever there was an unpleas-
autness between himself aud his wife she
would always aggravate him by bringing up the
stant "Dagging," he determined to seek the
tender merces Of the law, and a refuge from
domestic unhappiness 10 prison.
ANCIENT WAR CLAIMS The Senate com
mittee on revolutionary claims has agreed to
repor, bill giving to Samuel s. Gouverncur,
the grandson and administrator Of the late Pres
ideut Monroe the half pay due Mr.. Monroe
as lieutenant colonel OF the Virginia Line
during the revolutionary war ln May, l779,
the Virginia Legislature passed an act giving
half pay duriug life to all officers commanding
troops ior the defense Of the Commonwealth,
or of the Uuited States. Mr.. Monroe, COM
mandcd regiment. He never received any
l8HS iiOuI lHc otdtC, du'A euC SouuilttCC VII
sdcrug that Congress by the act Of August 5,
1890, assumed all the liabilities of the States
in this respect, now recommend the passage Of
bill paying to his grandson the amout to
which MIR. Monroe would have been entitled.
The same committee has also agreed to re-
port bill instructing the commissioner of pen
Slous to take evidence to ascertain the amount
due to the heirs of General Rochefermais, and
to pay to them the sum so found due. General
Rochefermais was young Freedman Of for.
tune, who accompanied Lafayette to this
country aud entered the continental service at
the some time. He was commissioned by Juo
Hancock brieadier general in the American
army, serving uut the end of the revolution,
when be was honorably discharged. He never
received anything from the United States, and
his heirs are now impoverished. Lafayette, Oh
tha