Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1882-11-07
OUR BALTIMORE LETTER.

car Wide oersus Charles Dickens
cess in Life-7He HieDs of Senator Bay.
ard, Senator Thurman, Req. John RazlS
and Thomas a. Edison r. Zittle's Re
tirenaent
To an outsider it looks as though the Dem.
eorats of West Virginia had forgotten that
they were ever under Republican rule and
that they raled with an iron rod had forgot
ten shat it is only for the past few years that
the best people of the State had a right to
vote; had forgotten that the only right al
lowed Democrats under the Republican rule
was the right to pay taxes They must have
forgotten when they stay away from the polls
and allow such a man as William i. Wilson
to get into Congress only by the skin OF his
teeth. But tho narrow escape will probably
teach them good lesson l am inclined to
think Mr.. Wilson will be lonesome in Con,
gress-as lonesome as an eagle in flock of
vultures-but purity, honesty and brains tell
wherever they arc, and Charlestown's Con-
gresham has all of them.
AS they would send a Republican from the
Wheeling District, am glad they picked out
Gen. Golf, for he is big braiDed man, a good
thinker and an apt and magnetic speaker. [
remember hearing him talk for a day once to
ajury in land case in the United States
Court at Clarksburg, and during tho whole
time that jury was intensely interested, the
interest never tagged until at the close of the
day the wearied speaker took his seat He
is as popular at Clarksburg as Mr.. Wilson is
in Charlestown. With these two in Congress
the claims of West Virginia ought to be we'll
represented, and they will be. '7
From grave to gay, from the more. serious
matters of Congressional honors to the lighter
aud perhaps better matters that pertain to
those who fill our leisure hours is an easy
change, and in these days of persistent tier
viewers j. is not hard to get at the opinions
of prominent people. 7.a' r.
Mrs. Langtry, talking to Oscar Wilde last
Sunday afternoon, after trip up the Hudson,
said:
81 suppose must now see Niagara Falls,
that great American attraction"
"Oh don't go to Niagara Falls" broke in
Oscar Wilde. "They told me that so many
millions of gallons of water tumble over the
that There was bulk there, but no beauty
except the beauty Inherent in bulk itself.
Niagara Falls seemed to me to BIO simply a
vast unnecessary amount of water going the
wrong way and then falling over unnecessary
rocks"
So the Poet of the "Beautirul'' who goes
into rapturous ccstasies over big suufower
can sec no beauty in Niagara. How differently
1t appeared to the heart and mind of Charles
Dickens is witnessed by his impressions as
recorded alter his first visit to Niagara: ~
'When we were seated in the little ferry.
boat he says, 'and were crossing the swol>
len river Immediately before both cataracts,
began to feel what it was; but I was in a
manner stunned, and unable to comprehend
the vnstness OF the scene. It was not until
l came on Table Rock and looked-great
heaveusl on what fall of bright green water
- that 1t came upon mo in its full might and
majesty. Niagara was al once
stamped upon my heart, an image of beauty,
to remain there changeless and indelible until
its pulses cease to beat forever. X *
think in every quiet season now, still do
those waters roll and leap and roll and tumble
all day long; still arc tho rainbows spanning
them hundred feet below still, when the
sun is on them, do they shine and glow like
molten gold; still, when the day is gloomy,
do they fall like snow. or seem to crumble
away like the front of great chalk. cliff, or
roll down the rock like dense white smoke.
But always does the nights stream appear to
die as 1t comes down, and always from the
uniathomable grave arises that tremendous
ghost of spray and mist which is never laid,
which has haunted this place with the same
dread solemnity since darkness broodcd on the
deep, and that first flood before the deluge-
liSht-came rushing on creation at the Word
of God"
In our last letter We touched upon the all
absorbing question OF success in life, quoting
an admirable lotter from the San. Our at
tention is again called to the subject by a
booklet entitled "Put9am's Handy Book
Series of Things Worth Knowing" and We
quote from different sources tue secret of suo-
cess. For success in "Public Life" Senator
Bayard says:
"The discovery of much weakness and un
worth may often pain and disappoint him, and
he may weary of the work and long for rest,
but his hands cau be as clean and his soul as
white at tho end of the journey as when he
set out upon it,
Senator Bayard ought to know, and SO
ought senator Thurman. "Parties and eau.
cuscs are indispensable means for united
effort" ho says, in answer to o question:
'But IN the great number Of tho States and
communities of this country real and perma,
nent success in political Lille does not think,
require or admit either manipulations or bar,
gains"
Both of these gentlemen speak from cx-
perience. MIR Malone, of Virginia, does not
contribute his ideas of how to succeed, his
views would probably differ widely from the
above
Success as Minister" is treated by Rev.
John Hall, D. d of New York one great
secret, he says, is tho minister's power to get
all the work possible cut of the laymon and
women. But he says, and says veil 1.-The
preaching of minister will rarely rise or con-
tinue to be above the level of his own spir>
itual life"
GAS an Inventor" Mr. Thomas A. Edison
says, pithily and pointcdly:
Tho inventor must have good constitu>
ton, for, if no is successful. he will oitan