Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1894-02-28
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The handle was of wood and about g
feet long. After the execution of Brown
these pixies fell into the hands of truck
farmers, who used them to prize out
their garlic in the gardens about Har
per's Ferry. This was the Scripture al
most literally fulfilled, for they turned
their swords into plowshares and their
spears into pruning hooks.
In this collection, too, is the Siamese
twin hickory two trees united at a
height of IA feet by common branch 10
feet long. 1t is Il mystery to the scien-
fist, as the two trees are of different
species, and men have come many hun
dreds of miles to see the curious thing.
A citizen told Inc that sit WAS once the
owners intention to denote it to the
Smithsonian institution, but he given it
up"
Donate was the word, presume, he
was after. l soon found that this man
was more of Il curiosity than anything
in the collection. The way he abused
and i'll treated the English language
while l was there was a shame. He
showed me an old pair of dueling pistols,
which he said were the first genuine con-
cussion cap pistols ever made. He called
a corncrib Il miffin house and spoke of
the horses around there dying off with a
disease that seemed to be academic
among them.
Yesterday in the midst of y large mail
received the following letter. l print
it only as sample of scores like it re-
ceived every week and to show what
dangerous thing it is to be we'll in
formed man:
DEAR SIR-As | know you to be man well
posted in matters in the literary line, take
this liberty to write you, asking you to kindly
offer me few pointers to be used in the discus
sion of paper before our county association.
The paper is written upon Hamlet" and fol-
lows this line:
The writer treats of it first in connection
sith THE Prilogy'' of Euripides, Dantes ''Di-
vine Comedy" and Goethe's Faust" Next
will be noted the three forces that underlie the
poem-viz, individual, epoch and race. He will
also endeavor to prove that Hamlet's death
was the result of fate and oversensitiveness;
Ophelia's the result of blind fate; the Queens,
of weakness; the Kings, of guilt.
Any suggestions whatever that you may be
kind enough to offer will be very gratefully
received.
Hoping that 1 have not asked too much OF
your valuable time. l am yours very respect.
fully, HIRAM GURLEY.
III dISWeT W bHlS LuSO Say tudt l
have at home a huge library of costly
books-historica books, reference books,
spelling books, bankbooks, etc.-but ]
do not travel with them. Had dream
ed that such lei FER would be received
en- route, / would most assuredly have
brought the library with me, but here I
am, able to remember only vaguely how
Euripides expressed himself, and the
hard times have driven out of my head
the exact wording of Dante. Sometimes
am tempted to exclaim: $50 away with
your questions to busy man. Get outp'
But my better nature asserts itself
again, and l bear with this as a good
man should.
Yes, Hiram, you are right in your es-
innate of the three forces underlying the
poem-viz, individual, epoch and race.
Still, some parts of Hamlet are epoch
Ter than others. Do you not think so,
Hiram? l have always thought that
Hamlet's death was due to injuries re-
ceived during the last act of the play and
Ophelia's to the fact that she went out OF
nights in a cheesecloth dress and fooled
around the river too much when there
was good deal of malaria going on in
the neighborhood.
Still, blind fate may have had some
thing to do with it. You must remem-
Der, Hiram. that I'm giving ali thosS
opinions without my library.
have always differe from Mr, James