The Portland daily press., 1881-02-26
THE PRESS.
Gossip
About Men and Women.

Carlyle once asked an Edinburgh student
who tells the story in the Milwaukee Sentinel
what he was studying for. The youth replied
that he had not quite made up his mind. There
was a sudden lightning flash of the Scotch
mans eye, a sudden pulling down of the shay
gy eyebrows, and the stern face grew Sterner
as he said, 1.-The man without purpose is
like a ship without a rudder; waif, moth
ing, a no man. Have purpose in life, if it is
only to kill and divide and sell oxen well, but
have purpose; and having it, throw such
strength and muscle into your work as God
has given you.
The Boston Commonwealth says that in re-
porting one of Mr.. Choate's political speeches
that DR. Stone, Boston photographer, made
blunder in hearing. that the paper soberly
printed which made the town laugh for weeks
and seriously damaged his photography, as a
sale TRANSCRIPTION for the sound of speakers
voice. Mr. Choate had quoted from Othello:
"But yet the pity of it, Iago! o, Iago, they pity
of it, Iagoi' which the doctor rendered: But
yet the pity of it, 1 argue. o, / argue the pity
of i'll argue"
The following incident occurred in Ply
mouth prayer meeting. An inquisitive out-of-
town visitor who had doubts of the soundness
of Mr.. Beecher's orthodoxy, put an elaborate
conundrum at him for the purpose of testing it
He supposed the case OF mn who lived a
pure and blameless life full of charity and
good will to his fellow men, but who had no
faith in God, and no belief in a future life.
when that man dies" he asked, ''does he go
70 hell, or where does he go?" Without a mo-
ment's hesitation Mr.. Beecher replied HE
would have my best wishes wherever he
went"
The widow of James X. Polk, now more
than eighty years of age, was recently visited
by a correspondent of the Louisville Courier
journal, who thus describes her: II was sur
prised to find in Mrs. Polk lady of active
movement, bright and animated face, clear
and firm voice and quick and responsive men,
DRY. She is of medium height, rather stout,
but not obese; has bright and most pleasing
face, without the lines and burrows usually &C.
companying great age, and her gray or dark
blue eyes are even yet sparkling aud full OF
sweet animation. In her beaming counte-
nance there still remain abundant traces of the
rare and radiant beauty, lit up by earnest vi
vaeity, which made her so attractive and con-
spicuous thirty odd years ago as mistress of the
Presidential mansion, and by courtesy or en-
ogiciO, first lady in the land
Senator David Davis, says correspondent
who has known him for nearly thirty years,
can safely be said to be the most extensive
landowner in central Illinois, and his total
wealth, at a fair estimate, can be placed at 49,
100000. His taxes amount to about $27 200
yearly. When he opened law Office in
Bloomington he possessed only few hundred
dollars Feeling convinced that there was a
great future for the West, he invested all his
money in land, the greater portion of which
he still holds. His residence, which is one OF
the finest in the State, is situated about mile
from the business portion of Bloomington, and
is surrounded by well laid-out grounds, rich
shade trees and tempting drives His sons
house is about half mile distant. When at
home Senator Davis generally manages all his
immense real estate business. He is hard
worker, and no man in the State goes to his
post Of duty at an earlier hour or quits later.
Mr.. Swinburne, though not generally squeam-
ish, in the new number of the Fortnightly Re.
view, describes NJ. lola as the owl-eyed head
of the sect of bestiaists in whose noses stinks
are as sweet odors, and whose ears find har-
mony in echoes too horrible for hell Those
who have witnessed the death scene of the
heroine in the dramatised version of Mana
will not be disposed to quarrel with the vigor
of MIR. Swinburnes invective. 1t is described
by one who witnessed it as CHASTITY and re-
voting exhibition: "Nana comes forth en-
chernise from her bed and reveals the ravages
OF the disease over her face, smirched over
Win pustuieS. f1er ueath agOn1eS were lar
more horrible than those of Mile. Croisette in
the Sphinx or of 'Adrienne Lecouvreur' )"
1t would seem from the reception of M. Zola's
play that he has this time carried realism
too far even for the audience of the Ambigu.
Miss Frances Power Cobbe, in her "Duties
of Women: a Course of Lectures" says: "Of
course no woman can be so dull of observation
as not to know that men are invariably fiat
tered by the abject appeal of woman (especi-
ally if she be young and pretty to save her
from some transient peril-a runaway horse, a
swaying boat, or an irascble bull. Obviously,
it makes the smallest masculine soul swell with
Herculean glory to be clasped around the arms
Tor in extreme cases, the legs), and besought to
exhibit the heroism of his sex. Possibly he
may be shaking in his shoes and the applica-
tion to help anybody but himself may be rath-
er inopportune. especially if the suppliant be
plain or elderly. / once asked dem
tisi whether gentlemen or ladies gave the most
trouble; and he replied, %, gentlemen, be.
yond question. operated upon great many
officers just before they went to the Crimean
war, and / assure you that many of them who
are now at Balaklava and Inkerman heroes
behaved in a very unheroic way indeed in the
chair in which you are sitting. Women scream
little, but are always ready to thank me for
what do for them. Men moan, and groan
and abuse me-