The herald., 1896-10-11
THE PITIFUL PLIGHT OF OSCAR
WILDE
(From the Bookman.)

THE PITIFUL PLIGHT OF OSCAR
WILDE
(From the Bookman.)
So many conflicting accounts Of the
prison life Of Oscar Wilde and of his
condition have been published, that we
feel bound to set forth a statement Of
the actual facts, our informant being an
English official whose position has made
him personally cognizant of them.
From this source we learn that Mr..
Wilde's physical state is very distress
ing. He is unable to assimilate food;
and an enteric disorder which has be-
come chronic has reduced him to con-
dition Of great weakness. He is gov
erned by the silent system, and this is
rigidly enforced so much SO that he has
several times been punished for half in
voluntarily turning his head in chapel
to get a glimpse of the person seated
beside him. We were inquisitive enough
to ask the nature of his punishment on
these occasions, and were told that it
consisted in having his rug" taken
from him. The rug in question is a
strip Of rag carpet which serves as
substitute for a mattress, being spread
upon the surface of deal door which
is his only bed; so that. when under
punishment, he sleeps upon the bare
planks. The gentleman who made
these statements Is persuaded that
Wilde will lose either his life or his
reason as the result of his imprisonment;
but he probably undertakes the extent
of human endurance. The sentence,
under the English system of commuta-
ton, has only six months more to run,
and It Is generally understood that at
its expiration Mrs. Wilde will rejoin her
husband. AS she has in her own right
a settled income of 800 pounds year,
they will probably make their fixture
home in some obscure continental town.
ADJUSTMENTS OF THE PURITANS
In his review of the new book on the
Puritan In England and New England,
M. w. H. Of the New York Sun thus
writes of the amusements of two CEN
turtles ago:
'"The amusements of q plain people
dwelling in the wilderness would nat
urally be few and simple. Yet the Pur-
itans seem to have had more recreation
than some writer's would lead us to sup
pose. 1t is true that games of chance
were prohibited by law, and so was
dancing. There Is. nevertheless, abund-
ant evidence that there was a hearty
and not ungenial life among the first
settlers Of the New England colonies.
Travellers of that period who visited
New England do not speak of the life
tQoy IOuHQ LIeTe DIS d SiOOIIty ollc' L ic
people had their own simple rustic
amusements, such as those to which
they had been accustomed in the moth
er country. One of the examples given
is the first harvest festival of Plymouth,
when a whole week seems to have been
given up to sports and succession OF
merrymakipgs, as well as to the enter
tainment of the Indians. The COM
mencement week at Harvard college
was always interesting. We read Of a
great training on the Boston common,
which brought together the people from
the various settlements. Many gentle
men and gentlewomen dined in tents on
the common, Judge Sewell in his diary
(made, of course, at considerably
later epoch), refers very often to the
dinner parties which he attended, and
tells us something of the bill of fare
On the whole, Nathaniel Hawthorne
was right in saying that the generation
which followed the early emigrants, the
generation which had never mingled in
the sports Of old England, wore the
darkest shade Of Puritanism.
We can estimate the social and fami-
ly life of the Puritans from its results
in the types Of character which we find
among people of the eighth generation
from the founders of New England
That is long period through which to
transmit distinctive traits. Neverthe-
less, the New England type of mind, af-
ter 270 years, Is still almost as distinct
in the great stream of American life as
is the gulf stream in the Atlantic. The
Puritan type is very persistent. The
men and women Of Puritan blood
wherever we find them, are apt to be
people Of vigorous intellect. thrifty
habits, inventive genius and strong
moral character They stand for liberty
in the church and in state. The leaders
Of liberal thought and also a large pro-
portion of the conservative leaders
have been descendants of the Puritans
No other section of the Anglo Saxon
race has eXcelled the Puritans in the
number of great men, and of good men
scholars and statesmen, and soldiers
that it has produced.
AIR CASTLE DON, or From Dream.
land to Hard Pan, by B. Freeman
Ashley; Laird & Lee, Chicago.
This story is a worthy companion OF
those two gems of Juvenile literature
by the same author, Tan Pile Jim and
Dick and Jacks Adventures. There is
nothing in it of the lood-curdling, wild
Indian kind Of sensationalism. Its plot
as we'll as it's style, is healthy reading
throughout. 1t lacks neither humor or
sentiment and its originality appeals to
the grown-up people as well as to the
young ones. 1t is long time since so
desirable book has been within reach
Of the Christmas tree The binding is
exquisite. Holliston linen, gilt top. 81
each. It forms the fourth volume OF the
dainty Young America series.
Strange to say, this is not a story about
u far away land nor is 1t even about
Col1utrv life hI,t n citv hOy's own hook .