Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-02-22

readers in the Government pFintin
Office inadvertently improve il i
, the mere mechanical operation {
! correcting the proof. Who dares t
dispute the assertion Of the Inter
Ocean that john is a studious states
man. What ether statesman. eve
studied finance in the Origina
Greek Go to
The Period.
JOS b. West, d. d., in Christian Advocat
lNasaville.)
| The period is a punctuation point
1t indicates full pause The peri
cd is a little dot like a fiy-speck. /
is the same as TO say, here the mat
ter ends. / have thought, in hear
ing men talk, and in reading theii
communications, that speakers anC
| writers did not understand this fact
The period is as applicable to a piece
as to a sentence, and should always
be duly regarded. A piece thai
never ends, or talk that finds nc
conclusion, is rs faulty as a sentence
that never terminates. The COM
pIeteness and finish of both require
a period and If it We're placeds some
times where the senic0l0n is. il
would add to the beauty of Il para
! graph. This fact isstrictly observed
by the best writers and speakers.
/ am satisfied that the period is
not well understood. Ask an old
woman the way to the house of a
friend, SalIie Shocks. "Why, yes,
/ knowed her well-her father lived
down in the Old North State-he
had a brother lived up In Lickskil-
let, or h-ein-SliIy-sakes alive !!
| have forgotten which-but how
sOmever they all moved to this
country soon after the Revolution
ary war, when the Indians were
thick as blackberries Il dare ssgy
you have heard"-but the good
woman has forgotten her period,
and you move ON without the in
formation you sought.
You ask an old Professor a simple
question, in his line of life, and off
he goes. You have tapped an mex
haustable fountain, and had as we'll
nrePare at once for the deluge. Be
ginning at theflood, he comes sweep
ing down the ages, diverging here
and there, and pausing now and
then ON his pompous march. He
will take you by the Pyramids, up
the Nile, down the Tigris, and
across the continents. The mum
mics will slowly rise, the old Faith
ers will stand up on their unequal
legs, and the fossils of dead genera
tions will start into life before you.
l tell you, the Professor, when he
gets properly under way, will raise
a dust as he hustles about amongst
these ancient remains. But he has
lost sight of the period, and you
have forgotten the question you
asked.
You ask a writer for cOmmuni-
cation to your paper, and he is at
your service. He feels called upon
for an exhaustive article, and he
writes, and writes, and writes. He
gives you every thought, direct and
collateral, in this age or any other,
on the subject in hand. He goes for
every idea remotely connected with
it, that appears in the horizon of
He turns up every
branch of inquiry emptying into the
main channel, and ascends it to the
fountain; and then drops slowly
down to the old current, and pro-
eeeds leisurely on his way, as if we
were blessed with the longevity of
the antediluvians. Expletives,
pareutheses, are all in
and deliberately remarked
upon. And after having finished
the piece, he remembers something
he might have said, and he inter
lines that. In his marriage notices,
he saws, "The rites were sOlemnized
at the brides father's,'' as if girl,
having Il father, should be married
else. In his obituaries,
ms, cad of saying he died, he says,
1.-THE raven wing of death cameand
against the bed-pOsts." The |
one is plain language, and means
but the other is pure |
poetry. / say this for fear you |
might not know it. But / rather 4
like such a fancy sketch. 1t takes 1
away the majesty of darkness, and 1
the mind of all gloom. I |
never could feel sorry in reading |
such poetic thought. 1t is equal /
to a bandana for tears. But / like /
all this writing business. There is |
more than one person bored by it. |
The editor is first, and then his nu-
Inerous subscribers catch it. He is I
bound to read-I am glad of that
but the others can waive the gentle 1
obligation. The editor, poor fellow! |
like to sit by and see him squirm |
under it. 1t Is just delightful it is |
equal to a first-class show.
An illustration, and then a period. |
Many years ago l lived in a little |
Southern town. The preaching was
scarce, but a good old brother min
istered to MS once month. His
prayers We're rather long. / have /
known him to commence praying |
when it was clear, and for a storm
to arise, spend its fury, add pass
lwav. before he closed. Through it /
all, wind, and rain, and thunder,
a change of voice, he /
wrestled on in prayer. When he /
was not entirely at himself, he gem /
orally got through in half hour; |
but when fully strong, he put in
about double that time. | fell into /
the vicious habit of absenting my /
self from prayers. / usually lit a |
4 cigar about the time he began to 1
pray, and took a stroll around town,
both to punctuate them
selves about the same time. On
One occasion, as l was nearing the I
saw a brother come |
rushing out, giving his hat grand |.
flourish. l said to him, with mock |
gravity, Brother, it is no use in /
BUR trying to do anything i'm this
Here you are, an old man,
4 member of the Church, with chill
iren grown, and right in the time /
Of prayer you rush out Ofthe house." /
''Well, SIR" said he, with great
81 could stand it no
onger."
s.How long has he been praying,
10 you think ?'
81 do not know, sir; but, TO the
best of my recollection, he COIN
menced about six weeks ago"
The poor old man had lost sight
Of the period in his prayer.
Great is the period. ! have won
lered that the ancients did not erect |.
an altar to it. Let us do so now. /
should like to know how much ed |
tors would contribute to the enter
prise.
CADIz Democrat of the Sth inst. I