Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-02-16
Bob IBgersOll's No Hereafter,
But Enough Of the Present.
Poverty and Anxiety in the Shadow
Of Extravaganza and SplendOr.
Politics, Agriculture, Science, Art,
Personals, Etc.
Correspondence of the LEDGER

WASHINGTON, February Is. 1878.
We have He'll here now-Bob Inger-
soils hell; also bis lecture on Tom
Paine. Pain following hell seems a nat
ural sort Of category or classification; it
does, TO some people in Washington, ex.
tending even to many Of these signing
ex.members NJ. G. who still haunt the
Capitol, whose lights are fed and gar
lands dead" etc but ever and anon sp
psaring like ghosts of a faded grandeur
that will not down." They are still
fighting it out on the silver line in the
senate. Blaine has spoken again, and
. on this question, about which you Of
coarse read, but you could not amuSedly
note the crowds that assembled to hear
him, who, when it was discovered he was
not butchering anybody nor taking any
Southern scslps, fled meekly away out
Of sight by companies Of 6fties, Ebere
there vera loayes aud fishes Of another
sort.
wish | was a tract man" and had
time to write a lovely little paper on
1.-THE Useless Inaiction Of Pain" /
would reach some people through such
efectual distribution Of these, aud do so
much for the amelioration of human be-.
ings, that not even congressman could
dare poison the air Of the house with
their fumes Of tobacco, that rises to the
galleries 10 the faces and lungs Of deli.
cate women, and the refined oltactiories
Of some refined men who somehow man.
age to live without tobacco. The air OF
the capitol is positively intolerable, ADD
there is an appearance Of neglect, and
u~nclesnly aspect that is disgusting. Then
if you could step into the psrlors and see
the pale anxious faces Of women 10 the
thick Of adver9ity and stress Of dire cir
c~umstances, waiting the clemency OF
some one Of the solous in power, you
would cOmmiserate both specimens OF
humanity, aRd send a voice through the
country begging that no lady who cap
earn q shilling a day otherShere ever be
tempted here by a promise OF prosperity
II is very fashionable to abuse some.
body, and you may fail Of being reckon
ed q good critic unless you regularly
abuse congress-, and illuminate about
Webster, Clay, Calhoun, ct al, as though
God long since exhausted his material
for sending us fine souls. / hold, while
we have q sort Of chaos, with a strong
result slipped 10 somewhere occasional
ly, we have not entirely reached the day
OF small things" as such men as Thur
mau, Bayard, Garland, Voorhees,, Cor
don, Hill. Lamar and a few others will
successfully prove. 1t is easier to teal
to pieces than to construct, and this SAINT
spirit in America in the past now comes
sp with the proof that to " SOW to corrup
ton is to reap corruption"
Those Of our people who are mainly
devoted to agriculture should be thor
oughly informed that they can gain
much practical aid and infor nation here
of the agricultural department. By 9
little Of such knowledge as may be had
for the asking or seeking, farmers may
save themselves much loss of time and
treasure in utiliz' ng such information
to-wit: the branch Of entomology, IS
here one might say, illustrated, would
convert many now ignorant, to ~avenging
angels Of destruction to the cotton worm
and destroying insects that blight entire
crops. By tbe'way, ! must mention the
trap-door.spider we saw lately in our
visit to the aboye-named department.
There are only two specimens, and they
are from very warn climates. This in.
genious builder, and geomstrician, builds
his quaint circular habitat in a piece Of
soft brown decayed wood. The cell is
about two inches or more, and the little
round. fat. velvety door be closes after
him on entering, is attached to soft,
delicalely.eOntriysd hinge. Altogether