Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-10-05
THE ADy0CRNNENr 0UESrs0N.
nc h sim Opca-Talk 81 q Ceagrcs-
stonal Recess On she 15sh lnssaDes


The question OF adjournment n stin OPEN Hes
not M Breckinridse interfered yesterday an ad-
Journment resolution for The 10Th would douot,ess
have passed the House There ID talk nov OF ~
cess on the 18th No oae Knows just what VII De
the outcome t II Understood that MT Carlisle
stfil hopes for an adjournment not later than IN
middle OF the month.
All the most active campaigners are nov IN the
neld. OF course. For those who are near &C hand
the Capitol Is sort Of base OF supplies. Members
OF the WAYS and means committee come In hot
from toe neld- are here tor day, and then are
away again for the thick of the ight Those who
leagues VINO ar eager Tor sS the news nj. @ r
breckinridge and Mr.. springer brought IN good
rsporss Of the canvass on the demecralic s,ae ID
Ter who has been making stump speeches In NeW
YORK and New Jersey. appeared IN the House 70
aas and mAde similar encouraging report>
what is the s.Weirdr',
Prom the London News
"weird- Is word very much In fashion. MT.
Oliver Wendell Holmes In a recent novel remarks
that the word "welrd- occurs only twice IN q
young lady's letter which he quotes: and ADS
that this Is reasonable allowance. 81
some writers "weird" Is used almost As
sse I ,Sas moi ., nios and as frequently
hears OF "a weird entertainment" where .'weird'
means "tedious;" OF q "weird~ bonnet where
weird" means unbecoming; and ~ FORTH Philo-
logsts may SO 80 far 10 deny weird" II an
adjective at all; they may say that u IA really A
noun equivalent 60 sfate- thus n Is not unususi
10 SPEAK OF .,dreelns our weird WHICH an e,s
CANT language, n much the same a. humping a."
In the vulgar tongue But the more correct use Of
.weind' as an adjective doubtless implies more
than shade OF the terrible, the gruesone, the
''eery."
give the prise-the cake the cofiin, OF Whatever &c
may be-to the inventions OF Edgar Poe Has any
one read The passage IN the Murders In the Hue
Morgue. where the turf OF HAIR not human IA
| found In the strangled womans hand. without A
] shudderf That n really weird. ana 40 II the en-
Fall et the House OF Usher" '.Tbe BLACK Cat also
has its good points That Is a weird touch, TOO,
IN Madame dAulnoys yellow Dwarf when the
princess, after her adventure and plighteu troth
with the miscreant, wakens, thinks she has only
dreamed dream, and then finds round her fourth
nnger ring OF a single rid hair Next To Poe or
equal with Poe. among meu with weird ideas ami
skilled In presenting them, was probably the late
MI. sheridan le faDu. The central situation. the
murder scene In his "Cncle Sias.r n too horrible
| rather Than too weird That quality shines
IN the conclusion OF his story OF sGreen
| Tea where the man Is haunted by a spec
| tral black ape The beast Is assumed 10 La
| subjective" an illusion; but when the victim
aies slight depression on a pillow by his side
| shows where the animal had sQuatted As told
| by Mr.. lie Fanu, this produces an even eerier ef-
| tect than that Of has awful vampire, CarmillA 10
| nnd any merit, even that OF wierdness, 10 a con-
temporary writer Is alleged 10 be a SIN; but no
Scotch reader, perhaps eau peruse Mr.. stevenson =
nThrawn Janet. without an uncomlort able chill
~ u the art OF the narrator alone his reproJ nc
| ton OF the atmosphere and OF the sentiment that
revives perfectly extinct horror OF superstition
| the belief IA the Black Man, the satan of popular
| Calneronian faith. The mere idea seems laugh
| able. even 10 Children snd even men may shudder
at the picture OF that lonely manse by the burn IN
! the sultty, unnatural midnight, where the dead
| witch dies her second death Hunters after the
sin OF plagiarism are probably acquainted with
book which Is proix, and often lnartistic but
| which has passages OF almost unsurpassed lmagi-
native terror, Ihe Confession OF ned nner
| This extraordinary volume Is usually attributed
| 10 the Ettrick shepherd. but many ~ It's touches,
and much OF the style and humor far more
| closely resemble the work OF Lockhart. The death
| OF the hero or victim, hung by hay rope, by his
! own act, or by that OF his ms steT1Ous and
dreaded familiar. somewhat closely resembles the
! death OF Thrawn Janet. But snong Literary
sketches OF the enemy OF mankind. the familiar OF
| the Justined sinner Is 20 Scotch literature what
Mephistopheles Is TO that OF Germany. The whole
mixture OF wickedness madness. superstition,
aud religion makes the second part OF COMES
sions OF JUSTIFIED sinner" perhaps the most sus-
| tained piece OF ''welrdness" IN the language But
the nrst part Is too long. too clumsy, and TOO
much In The uniRspired manner OF Hogs prose.
The book, which Is now more than sixty years
| old, seems never to have been popular and per-
haps IL never could be appreciated south ol the
| Tweed