St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-08
ODDS AND ENDS.

Left the muses. haunt ID D
To turn the crank of an opinion mili.i
Some intrusive fancy diverted my
attention from the pages and sent my
Thought off on an unrelated course,
! leaving the muscular system alone 81 o.
. jeet 10 The purpose from which my mind
had freed itself, and when PURPOSE
again secured control l found that |
had tufned to one of those pages On
which were displayed the mutifaribus
little wants of the community in Wliieh
the paper was printed. These Item
possess more interest to the cohtl iilig
! room than to the floors up underline
! roof, where the interest 'in)Ithem
is limited TO the eXtenh ito
which they contribute to make
pleasant and satisfactory the Weekly
descent 10 the business Office to receive
the little communication from the cash
! ier.> don't knowwhy paused at all
TO look over this page instead of throw
ing the, paper aside and passing on to
fresh pastures, but l did, and my eye
was caught by the following ADVERTISE
men under the caption of Personal"
"Adoption-New- born boy; dark, hand
some: also several other charming
babies of excellent parentage. Apply,
etc." What suggestive advertisement!
What flash-light it throws on the
Seamy 81 e of society! What stories of
love, unbridled passion, shame and
ruined lives spring from it! What
pathos is there in picture of thoSein-
nocent lives, abandoned at their start to
the charities of the world. where strug-
giles for livelihood leave scant time for
the cultivation of charity? Whatever
their lives may be, whatever
OF good fortune may come to
them in spite of the handicap with
which they start, their lives will not be
strengthened by background of an
cestry; no memories of parents, or
grandparents, or uncles, or aunts, will
cheer them, and all back of their start
ing point will be lost in obscurity. And
what satire there is in the assurance
that these babies are of excellent
parentage." What conception is there
of excellence that warrants its applica-
ton to the father or the mother who
thus abandons the product of their
illicit love? What of excellence is there
i'll mother that thus repudiates the
maternal instinct? Ii, as l suspect. the
term is used to imply That these charm
ing babies are the children of men and
women who move in what are called the
upper circles Of society. 1t but illus
trateS that culture and wealth do not
wholly exempt people from the oper a.
tion of that relentless purpose of nature
which is. ever insistent upon the pres
ervation and perpetuation of the species.
Boston's claim to being the literary
center OF the nation rests on -pre-empt-
i've rights, Men and women who writg>
prose or poetry for other menisand
women are the subsequent PURCHASER
of lands redeemed from forest; sahd
made capable of cultivation by IL the
original pre-emptors, who are those
who. have. written those things which
are addressed to the opening intefli-
gences OF children, and have helptd To
bend their twigs of taste in the drrec..
ton of literature. Among these Shlti-
vators of the primal fields Mother
Goose stands pre-eminent. and, the
child is unfortunate indeed whose i'm
agination has not beer tickled into,
activity by. the iiingles she created Tor
cellated, and Mother Goose. lived and !.
wrote and worked in Boston, and her.
bones repo5e in the old Granary grave,
yard. with the Franklin monument
looking down upon them, and with the
tomb of John Hancock and number OF
10 nj ioI Ly3 i.Ntr Nor
modest grave company. Ann Goose,
whose simple tombstone gives only the
date of, her birth and death. was the
Mother Goose whose melodies have
been and are yet the first lessons in
rhyme of generations of American chill
dreu. In the possession of her work
and her tomb the title of Boston rests
secure from q uestiOn.
Some one passed under my study
window the other night whistling ..The
Girl Left Behind Me-" In flash the
printed page Of the book | was reading, ]
became arblank. and my mind was busy
with the scene the familiar tune brought
up from memory's recesses of village
street looking out on Lake Michigan
from its eastern way, OH whose waters
a bright April mornings sun was glist.
euing. Sumter had been fired Oh, and
the Massachusetts troops han been
assaulted by Baltlmore's mob, and the,
irrepressible conflict was coming to a
head. In the street is company of
young volunteers clad III the motley
garb of the farm. the shop, the store
and the school room. carrying the heavy
obsolete Austrian musketS and
wearing the pipe-clayed belts of
defunct militia company, disbanded
by Tile alarums of actual war. The
volunteers are marching by platoon,
front with springing step to the drill
ground, where their elected CAPTAIN
puts them through the lessons in Kardee
which he had spent good part of the
previous night in studying. while at
their head is old Sheriff, veteran fifer
of the Mexican war, vigorously p!ayin
on his fife 1.-The Girl l Left Behind Me-"
to the accompaniment of a snare drum
sometimes in and oftener out of time
The old fifer may have known other
tunes, and have played them for us, but
this was hisfayorite. and he played it so