The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1881-06-16
LOOKING FOR THE END.

LOOKING FOR THE END5
This hot weather is calculated to
arouse belief, somewhat, that there
may be something in Mother Ship
toms prophecy. II IS hot, hotter,
hottest, and when tae superlative
degree of natural heat is reached
and the thermometer goes thump-
ing up against the top of the tube,
and we reflect that the Bible re-
visers have perpetuated that region
which has always had a remarkable
effect Oh the flesh of this world, it
may be, as all these rumors of
grand catastrophe in 1881 in
dictate, that we are really get
ting closer and closer to that
fiery realm which even a Daniel
would dare not enter. With this
heated term there is increased anx-
iety as to the calamities that have
been predicted for the year, and a
great many nervous people are look
ing out for the end to turn up at any
moment. Professor Proctor and
other scientists are constantly being
appealed to to make .prognostica-
tions as to the end, and when science
leads them to hoot at the idea of
any catastrophe, now or in the
hereafter, they are denounced
as beng agents of the
devil, and the believers are
more convinced than ever that the
end approacheth. Planetary infiu-
ences,. it is said, go to show that these
prophesies have endorsement, for it
is known, that, beginning with this
year and ending three years hence,
there are some of the most remarka-
BILE planetary disturbances set down
in the calendars. 1t is known that
Jupiter and Saturn and Uranus and
Neptune pass their peribelia in this
period. They thus all together ap-
proach the sun, and it is said this
fiery orbit, which may itself be the
burning lake of fire and birthstone
in which degenerate souls are bath
ed and then cooled off with molten
lead, is restless beyond measure,
occasionally discharging liquid
streams of fire millions of miles
through space and heating up
the spheres until they are on
the point of an explosion.
Not only are the great planets
setting the sun in violent motion, in
which at times ne appears almost to
lose his center, but these restless
sublunary spheres are constantly
conjoining witt each other. and
everything tends towards throwing
orbits out of pOise and into the
same chaotic condition that pre-
vailed when the Great One made
order, and set the sun and the moon
and the stars to moving with pre-
cision. Disturbances are increasing
in intensity, and if the collapse
should not come this year or next,
it is said that in 1884 the grand
climax will certainly be reached,
and then Mother Shipton will have
been accurate enough to salts
fy all who cling to the marvel
GUS. That the world believes more
largely that the end cometh is eyi-
denced in more things and more
ways than one. People are largely
affected by these probabilities OF
the great collapse. In Europe we
see redoubled efforts to revolu'
tionize society and put it in a condi-
ton to make the great leveling pro-
cess the work of destruction-les;
a respecter of persons than when
emperors and slaves would fall to.
gether. In many portions OF Amer
| lea it is conducive of vast speculation
in every conceivable thing present
ing itself. Gould wants the wind
up 10 find him controlling more
corporate wealth than any other
man in the world, and Garfield and
Conkling are vieing with each other
in an effort to see who can
lend most aid in the destruction OF
the rottenest political organization
known to history. The capitalists
of the North are becoming philan-
thropists, and strive against each
other in spending money among
poor Southernersjust to make them
feel little happy in the end. Texas
as state takes things according to
the period, and the Alcalde is trying
to pile, bigger cash balance to wind
up on than anybody, while his
| crowning ambition would be to win,
with the last period of recorded
time, the prize of which he
was cheated in 1866. The people.
of Austin appear more in the light
of philosophers than any. They see
no reason III an expense of energy
that must reap alone the reward of
demolition, and hence they recline
under their own vines and fig trees,
courting q listlessness that may
hardly awake to realization OF
transition.
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