Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-13
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BookLoper.

| BY the BookLoper.
In October of 1875 John Wesley,
founder Of Methodism. sailed from
GraVesend. England, for Georgia, for
| the purpose of taking charge of a
mission in the Oglethorpe colony.
Secondarily. he hoped to convert the
Indians OF all that territory. His
| work in Georgia was not very sue
| cessful. and lasted only a year. for he
| became involved in legal proceedings
| on account of having excluded one
or his congregation from the COM
( munion. and found 1t best to return
TO England. The record Of his short
stay In Georgia forms one of the
| most interesting chapters Of his Jour
nal. sincere piece Of autobiography
| which deserves more readers. 1t is
| record Of life of extreme self.
denial and Jealous piety; of personal
tasting and prayer and continual pub.
| Tic services and ministrations. Be-
| fore leaving Georgia, John Wesley
! found time to write a description of
| the colony and its settlement. His
| observations included the climate, the
soil, the vegetation, both wild and
cultivated: the animal life. the In
! dams and the settlers.
He says: Thunder and lightning
| are expected almost every day In
| May. June, July and August. They
are very terrible. especially to a
| stranger. During those months, from
ten In the morning to four in the after
| noon, the sun Is extremely scorching:
| but the sea breeze generally blows
| from ten till three or four The
| land is OF four sorts. pine barren. oak
| land, swamp and marsh. The pine
| land is OF far the greatest extent,
! especially near the seacoasts. .
| But here and there is a little of a
better kind, especially in the savan-
| nahs. A laborious man may in
one year clear and plant four or five
| acres OF this land. lit Will produce,
I the first year, from two to four bush.
! els OF Indian corn and from four to
eight Of Indian pease per acre. The
| second year it usually bears half as
| much: the third. less the fourth.
| nothing" Things would have been
different II the Georgia colony had
had modern fertilizers and a Depart
ment OF Agriculture. Wesley con.
| tinues: Vines, mulberries and peach.
trees. 1t bears well. Oakland
| commonly lies in narrow stresks be-
tween pine-land and some swamp.
creek or river. In the mOiSteSt
part of this land some porsimmon-
trees grow. (Which bear a sort Of
yellow. clear. luscious plumb) and a
few mulberry and cherry-trees. . :.
| A swamp is any low. watery place,
which is covered with trees or canes.
They are here Of three sorts, cypress,
river. and cane swamps. The
marshes are of two sorts: soft marsh,
which is all quagmire, and absolutely
good for nothing: and hard marsh,
| which is a Arm, but barren sand, bear
ing only sower rushes."
X II X K
John Wesley's opinion of the
Georgian Indians was not very IA
| vorable, though he confesses in the
Journal that he had little personal
contact with them and gained his
Information chiefly from traders. He
says: They have no religion, no
laws, no civil government. . g.
they are likewise all, except per
haps) the Choctaws. gluttons. drunk
ards. thieves. dissemblers, liars. They
are implacable, unmerciful; murderers
| of fathers. murderers of mothers,
murderers of their own children, 1t
| being common thing for a son to
shoot his father or mother. because
| they are old and past labour." The
Creeks are a shade worse than the
Choctaws, Chicasaws, Cherikees and
Uchees. Yet neither age, wisdom
nor reputation can restrain him tthe
Creek) from drunkenness. Indeed, all
the Creeks, having been most con-
versant with white men. are most
infected with Unsuitable love of drink,
as we'll as other European vices. They
are more exquisite dlSSemblerS than
the rest of their countrymen; that
know not what friendship or graf
tude means: they show no inclination
10 learn anything, but least of all
Christianity: being full as opiniated
of their own parts and wisdom as
either modern Chinese or ancient
Romans"
x X *
Kutzburg, one of Helen r. Martins
PENNSYLVANIA Dutch towns, is the
scene of another of the satiric COM
edies of the thrifty. petty. narrowly
pious and self righteous people whom
she loves to portray. "Ye That Judge
is the fairly applicable title. Bishop
zimmerman has married an attractive
widow, with whom he is so much IN
love that he Is jealous of her dead
husband and dislikes little 4-year-old
Penelope Lee because she is the
daughter of that dead husband.
Penelope grows up in due course of
time, as does the bishops orphan
nephew, Peter zimmerman. Peter and
Penny have, through a series of acct
tents we'll planned by the author, not
,een each other since childhood, but
Peter has formed a very unfavorab BILE
opinion of Penny through his uncle's
prejudjced letters. SO. when the
bishop dies and Peter IS elected to
f1ll the episcopal vacancy. he comes
%,I, vry{S he 6ofa 1iy,a inT
to get rid of the objectionable Penny
Immediately. OF course, he does no
such thing. but instead proves that
a theoretical dislike Is a very good
pre- condition for love. Penny has
our sympathy, for all the signs ind
cate that Peter will be as odious as
most Of Mrs. Martins Pennsylvania
Dutch husbands are.
X X
An interesting contribution to the
literature of evolution is the recent
book Animals Looking Into the Flu
ture." by William A. Kempner, pro-
lessor of biology in the University
of Virginia. The book gives examples
of the prescience not only of the So
called higher animals, but also and
especially of lower forms of animal
life, Of insects. of plants and even of
amoebae and bacteria. The author re-
counts one case where the preScience
# solitary insects has large results
for man. Darwin was able to make
conspicuous use of this fact when "he
pointed out that England is indebted
to her spinsters for her soldier boys.
At first one Is led to infer from this
that England's army lieutenants were
| made through lads entering the army
after being Tilted by the fair maidens,
| who remain spinsters. But this is not
what Darwin had in mind He in