The Mercury - March 1900 ; Gettysburg College Mercury; College Mercury; Mercury
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MARCH, J900 Qettysbur Mercury CONTENTS. The Power of Ignorance, 1 Remembrance, 8 The Death of King Solomon 8 The Uses of Dreams,. 13 Editor's Desk, 17 A Word Deserved, 18 Meeting of The Pennsylvania College Alumni Association of Harrisburg, 19 The Veil of Separation 20 The Dead on Expansion, 21 The Old Chief and The Black-smith, 22 Why We Broke Camp, 27 At The Breakfast Table 30 GETTYSBURG COLLEGE LIBRARY .GETTYSBU^!§bRG C DUPLiCfA'. i FAVOR THOSE WHO FAVOR US. For Fine. Printing go to CARLISLE ST. GETTYSBURG, PA. C. B. Kitzmiller Dealer in Hats, Caps, Boots and . Douglas Shoes GETTYSBURG, PA. Have you an assured -&&& R. I. ELLIOTT Dealer in Hats, Caps, Shoes and. Gents' Furnishing Goods Corner Center Square and Carlisle Street GETTYSBURG, PA. EDGAR S. MARTIN, F^CIGARS AND SMOKERS' ARTICLES. %/& tgr? Mr* Chambersburg St., Gettysburg. Would you try for a government posi-tion, if you knew just how to am" and the kinds __ positions from which you can choose, and what to do to insure your getting on the list after you have applied 1 The Government of the United States is the best of employers. Fair compen-sation, regularity of payment, reason-ably sure tenure, tasks not too difficult, i ana hours not too long, offer strong at-tractions to young personsof both sexes whohavenosettledincome. Manyenter Government employ, spend their spare i hours in studying law or medicine, or finance, and save enough from their salaries to start In a professional or business career. We have just published a book from whlchemy candidate may learn just what is necessary and wliat tinnecessary in | brushing up his studies for an examina-tion: and what his chancesare, all things considered, for making his way into the I Civil Service, and staying there. The title of this book is "How to Prepare i'or a Civil Service Examination ; U Hh Recent Questions and An- , swers." It contains all Information which any candidate would require to firepare for any competitive office under he Government, and includes a "Ten weeks1 Course of Study,"ln the form of questions actually asked at recent ex-aminations, with the correct answers to , them. Besides the technical require- ' menta. It also covers all the elementary branches, like arithmetic, spelling, pen- | manship, geography, letter writing, civil government, etc., etc., so that one who masters this course of study would not only pass well an examination for o, yov- , ernment position, but would be cure of I preferment over other applicants for a clerkship in a business house. CLOTH—$2.00 Postpaid—560 PAGES Another booJciree(Quick atFigures)if you mention this paper when ordering. mros & NOBLE, Publishers ' 4-6-13-14 Cooper Institute, N. Y. City SchoolbooTcs ofall publishersat one store .THE. GETTYSBURG MERCURY. VOL. IX. GETTYSBURG, PA., MARCH, 1900. No. 1 THE POWER OP IGINORAINCE. [ABSTRACT OF A LECTURE BEFORE THE TEACHERS' INSTITUTE, JANUARY 27TH, BY PROF. O. G. KLINGER.] I AM here to engage your attention for a little while in a sub-ject which is too seldom considered, but rich in educational value. It is the " Power of Ignorance." We often hear of the power of knowledge—it has been the pet theme of platform speakers for many generations ; but who has stopped to consider the power of the unformed intellect, or of the intellect developed but dominated by some blinding prejudice, or pride of opinion ? And yet Ignorance has played as mighty a part in the world's drama as Knowledge. All the domain which Knowledge calls her own has been wrested from Ignorance. Ignorance, dark, gloomy, superstitious, destructive, first; knowledge second—at the beginning a glimmer, a mere insight, a guess, and then a growing light—at the present a great luminary, an hour above the horizon. All that makes our nineteenth century habitable for men and women, such as you, is the product of advancing science. No other age has been so great as our age, because Knowledge has stricken off the shackles of superstition, shaken the obstinacy of bigotry, deepened the sympathies, augmented the value of human life, converted the forces of nature into servants, established the dignity of self-hood, brought freedom to light, conquered the ocean and annihilated space. Her advance has been in the face of Ignorance, which at each moment has con-tested with pen and fire and sword her progress. My object this evening will be to set forth as clearly as I may be able the power of this antagonist of knowledge, that in the light of it you may see more clearly the sanctity of freedom of research, freedom of thought, and freedom of speech. QETTYSBU*G COLLEGE LIBRARY GETTYSBURG, PA^ THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. Remember, that knowledge is power only when it informs some human will, and directs some human choice. Knowledge concealed within the lids of books is not power—it is so much waste paper so far as the world's progress is concerned. It must possess the mind, illumine the intellect, impel the will in its choices, and become a human force. And by ignorance I mean the mind that is not informed, a will that makes its choices in the dark ; a htiman force without direction. But this is not the only kind of ignorance. It has happened in the world's history that men and nations of large culture have been so dominated by pre-judice, by pride of opinion, by love of party, by bigotry, as to avert from themselves the best blessings which the merciful Father had designed for them. There are wise fools in the world as well as dullones, and bigotry, which is but a form of ignorance, has been a great obstacle in the path of progress. Our thought must search for its illustrations in the cabinet of History, and they will not be difficult to find. Every page is re-plete with them. We take those that strike the eye first, because of their magnitude—conspicuous examples of the blighting effects of gross ignorance, and the more refined but less hopeful bigotry. I refer to the Barbarian invasion of Rome, the fall of Alexandria, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and England's loss of her American Colonies. The tidal wave of ancient civilization, which took its rise in Egypt and the Mesopotamia, never flowed farther north than the Black Sea, the Carpathian mountains, and the Rhine river. Be-yond these boundaries lay in dark obscurity the terra incognita. Of this whole, vast, indefinite stretch the ancients had only the most meagre information, and they peopled it with the most hor-rible, most fantastic creatures of the imagination, as children fill the dark with hobgoblins and spooks. And as though their fears had been prophetic, out of this very region were to come the forces which would overturn their government, raze their cities, crush their pride, and extinguish their culture. The old civilization reached its maximum development in Greece and Rome—the former leading and the latter following in the sequence of history. In Greece it was expressed in a litera-ture and art the most perfect the world has ever enjoyed ; in Rome it took the form of an architecture, " full of expression of gigantic power and strength of will." The former gave to the THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. world the Parthenon ; the latter the Coliseum. The former fur-nished ideals of the beautiful; the latter ideals of social order. Greece has since been the teacher of all that pertains to the aesthetic nature ; Rome of all that pertains to government and jurisprudence. ?j£ ?|s *f% yf* 5|* 'J^ *f* *"p While Greece was achieving her greatest triumph—while adorning her cities with the most exquisite art, perfecting her language, and evolving her beautiful philosophy ; while Rome was rearing triumphal arches, sending nation after nation under the yoke, and welding together the whole civilized world into one massive empire—up in this region of the north there was a strange restlessness, of which the southern nations never dreamed, but which forbode for them the most direful consequences. A dreary stretch of forest, reaching from the Rhine to the North Sea, unbroken save here and there by patches of cultivated land—a wilderness of mighty trees, which bowed their heads be-fore the Blusterer of the north, or sank beneath the weight of years, but at whose root the woodman's axe was seldom laid— whose deep recesses furnished safe retreats for bear and the wild-boar— such was Europe in the third century Anno Domini when the Goths first emerged from its retreats and stood upon the banks of the Danube. Great people they were, tall and massive of shoulder, with great swelling muscles—a giant each one, whose tawny hair, reaching to the shoulder, was his especial pride. From under shaggy eye-brows gleamed eyes which seemed cut out of blue Arctic ice, reflecting every flash of passion, and terrible when lit up with the rage of battle. Great animals, with the germ in them of great souls, true to their word, loathing nothing so much as shame and cowardice, with heart attuned to carnage, afraid to die elsewhere than on the battlefield—whose Heaven even was a Val-halla of eternal conflict—such were the Goths. Beyond them towards the east dwelt the Huns, a Tartar tribe. Let Gibbon describe them : '' These savages of Scythia were com-pared to the animals which walk very awkwardly on two legs. They were distinguished from the rest of the human species by their broad shoulders, flat noses, and small black eyes, deeply buried in the head ; and as they were almost destitute of beards, THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. they never enjoyed either the manly grace of youth or the vener-able aspect of age." To render them more hideous still, while they were yet of tender age their parents gashed their cheeks with knives that their faces might look more ferocious with the ugly scars. They were so constantly on horseback that their legs received the curve of the horse's body. Their hideous appear-ance was a true index of their character—ruthless, lustful; they struck terror into the hearts of their enemies on the field of battle. Beyond them dwelt another tribe of people, of whose origin we know nothing, and of whose character we know little. The Sienpi were the natural enemies of the Huns, into whose terri-tory they made frequent incursions. Brave and savage, skilled in the use of such weapons as they had, they were able to chill with terror even the hearts of such creatures as the Huns. It is probable that under the pressure of these implacable foes the Huns migrated from their ancient seats, near the Chinese Empire, towards the west. Their coming in countless hordes was an astonishment to the valiant Goths, who trembled before their uncouth enemies and retreated before their onslaught. Thus it happened that in the fourth century of our era, the Goths suddenly appeared upon the banks of the Danube and besought a refuge within the bounds of the Roman Empire. Their petition was at length granted, and the fate of the South was sealed. At once, on the death of the great Theodosius, occurred the revolt of the Gothic tribes. Under the leadership of Alaric, after various vicissitudes, they traversed the country from the Danube southward and sought a rich harvest of fame and treasure in the fair land of Greece. Passing, without opposition, through the pass of Thermopylae, they ravaged the whole country to the plains of Sparta. *A* *A* *1* *±* *1^ *Jf* ^^ *^ *f* ^ *j* *r» *T* *T* *r* 'T* You have read of, even if you have never seen, the devas-tating power of the cyclone. The sun rises upon a stretch of prairie, beautiful with swaying grain, and dotted with towns and villages. The sky overhead is flecked with shredded clouds, which reflect and refract the sun's rays—distant prisms of hazy texture. Suddenly from out the sky, with scarcely a moment's warning, comes a mighty shadow. Your ear is startled by the deep bellowing of winds as they struggle in the upper air. Dower THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. and lower they force each other in their whirling conflict. The one from the west hurls back the one from the east, and, with in-conceivable rapidity, the storm-cloud, lightning-riven, skims the earth. You know the rest. The sun sets at evening upon a blighted land, filled with ruin and death. \1A *JJ «X* *.IA »L* *±? ^f *!_.* if* if* *f* ^f* *J* ^T* *J* 'I* The passing of Alaric and his Goths left Greece stripped of her beauty ; her temples lying in ruins; her sculpture broken and stripped of its golden plates ; her towns and villages a mass of burning embers. '' The whole territory of Attica, from the prom-ontory of Sunium to the town of Megara was blasted by his baleful presence ; and, if we may use the comparison of a contem-porary philosopher, Athens itself resembled the bleeding and empty skin of a slaughtered victim." The cyclone of ignorance has passed, and what the centuries had achieved of all that ap-peals to the aesthetic nature was in a day destroyed by the barba-rians, whose natures were insensible to the allurements of beauty, except as it was expressed in the grace and symmetry of the female form. Alexandria, founded at the mouth of the Nile by Alexander the Great, and coming under the sovereignty of Ptolemy Soter, and afterwards of his son, Philadelphus, became under their fostering care, and by reason of its location, the foremost city of its day, and the real center of the Hellenistic world. It was from her that the Romans received the Greek civilization, which wrought such a miracle among them ; from her that the literary and artistic in-fluences went forth to mold the taste of Europe ; it was in her that poets and critics wrote and labored in the Hellenistic period. For the Ptolemies were patrons of art and literature, and invited to their court the learned from all parts of the world. To facili-tate research, a great museum, similar in character to our modern university, and a great library were established. Here were gath-ered the manuscripts of all the Hellenic writers, great and small. These the scholars of Alexandria, from the third century B.C. downward, sifted, preserving what was of value and destroying what was worthless. The works of the great thinkers, from Homer to Demosthenes, were edited, and their scholia form the foundations of all modern critical study. This happy state of things continued until the time of Bishop THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. Theophilus, " the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue ; a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold and blood." This narrow-minded bigot, caring only for power, knowing little of the glory of Greek literature, and caring less, pillaged the library, destroyed the compositions of ancient genius, and forever impoverished the world of scholarship. " Nearly twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves ex-cited the regret and indignation of every spectator whose mind was not totally darkened by religious prejudice." Nor did the exquisite art which adorned the streets, as well as temples and private homes, suffer a less bitter fate. Images of gold and silver were melted, and those of inferior material were broken to bits and cast into the streets. Thus could religious fanaticism, inflaming the heart of an unscrupulous, ecclesiastical politician, and blinding his eyes to the enormity of his crime, subvert and destroy in a few hours what scholarship had accumu-lated during six centuries of labor. *J* 5JC ftfi *jC *fs 3j£ ?JC 5JC The darkest page in the history of France is that which re-cords the power and influence of the Guises. Hand in hand with the Queen-mother, Catherine de Medici, they labored for the ex-termination of the Huguenots. To trace here the intricate schemes, the diabolical plottings, the attempts at assassination, the submission of truth and honor to accomplish their design, would require too great a space. After unwearying effort, con-tinued through several years, they at length succeeded in winning the King's reluctant consent to the massacre of St. Bartholomew. At a given signal, in the early morning, the work of destruction began with the murder of Coligni, and when it ceased three days later, fully thirty thousand Huguenots had miserably perished at the hands of the Catholics. The persecution of the Protestants of France continued with varying degrees of savage intensity until the time of Louis XIV. This monarch, when old, was tormented by the memory of his many evil deeds, and sought some way in which he might atone for them before Almighty God. That way was suggested by his Queen, Madame de Maintenon. In pursuance of her awful plan, L,ouis revoked the Edict of Nantes, and outlawed every Huguenot who refused to embrace the Catholic faith. By this act of religious bigotry '' fully three hundred thousand of the most THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. skillful and industrious of the subjects of Louis were driven out of the kingdom. Several of the most important and flourishing of the French industries were ruined, while the manufacturing interests of other countries were correspondingly benefited by the energy, skill and capital which the exiles carried with them." Many of them found their way to America, and their descendants have been among our most distinguished citizens. It is hardly too much to say that France has never recovered fully from the disastrous effects of Iyouis' infamous policy. *(£ 5jC 5|C ^|C 5J» *j£ *(> *1^ In the history of the world it has never been the privilege of any other nation to have such colonial possessions as had England in the New World. Her government of the colonies was one colossal blunder from the beginning, but it remained for the ob-stinacy of George the Third to alienate them wholly and convert them into "a government of the people, by the people and for the people." " He had," says Green, " a smaller mind than any English king before him, save James the Second. He was wretchedly educated, and his natural powers were of the meanest sort.'' He had but one idea—to embody in himself all the powers of the government. " Be a king, George," had been the contin-ually repeated exhortation of his mother from his early youth, and to be a king George thought he must be a tyrant. The story of his tyrannical acts which before twenty years had passed by had driven the American colonies into revolution and independence, and brought England to the verge of ruin, is known to every schoolboy, and would be a twice-told tale if repeated before this audience. L,et it suffice that we in America owe the government, of which we are so proud, to the conceit of one who was the most conspicuous failure that ever disgraced the English throne—to him we owe all, but for it all owe him no thanks. *«i* xL* *1* ^U -J-* *£* •& ^S ^^ *X* *T* *T* *T* *T* I am done. My effort has been to suggest to you the de-structive and pernicious power of ignorance in some of its most common forms. In spite of advancing science, superstition and bigotry and fanaticism still persist, though happily their power is limited in our day to the pen. Our eye is set on that day, no longer far removed, when freedom of thought and speech shall no longer be challenged; when the minds of scholars shall be free from prejudice; when the common man of our land, as in ancient 8 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. Greece, shall be able to appreciate arid to enjoy the finest art and literature; when in the workshop and on the farm, at the anvil and before the mast, we shall have men who think. The dawn has already broken; the full day will come in its own good time. REMEMBRANCE, If, perchance, in days to come, A truant thought strays back to me, Pray, believe the kindest ones In turn, are entertained of thee. As the sands along- the shore, To-day are thrown upon the beach, And to-morrow waves return To hurl them far beyond our reach; So the friends of yesterday, The ones we always held so dear, Quietly vanish from our sight, And leave us waiting, lonely here. —B. THE DEATH OF KING SOLOMON. THE king paused in his walk and, leaning against one of the tall pillars of the porch of the palace, gazed long at the flashing glory of the temple which rested like a diadem upon the brow of Mount Moriah. The sun had set ablaze the towering pinnacles of the building, and the burnished gold burned and flashed in the red rays of the setting sun. Already the purple shadows were creeping between the columns, and as the king gazed his face was exceeding sad and the shadows on his brow were deep as those between the columns. His waving hair was whitened by the frosts of three score winters. His eyes had not lost their piercing gaze, but his forehead was furrowed by care and his face had much of the sadness which too much self-indul-gence and the too familiar knowledge of the heartless world en-gender. His cheekbones were high and his chin rather promi-nent. The very spirit of majestic command seemed expressed in all his features. Yet withal, there could be traced about the mouth and eyes those delicate markings which are the imprint of a kindly, generous nature, and which contradicted the cynical THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. expression which sometimes swept like the hand of a demon across his features. In his eyes and towering forehead there was a suggestion of that gigantic intellect which had grappled with all the problems of the universe. Kindly, just and God-fearing, yet self-indulgent, and led astray in his quest of happiness, the sadness which burdened his great soul was mirrored in his coun-tenance. Solomon, the mighty ruler, the matchless judge, the wisest scholar, the profouudcst philosopher and the learned psy-chologist— this Solomon, was old, and weary, and brokenhearted, troubled by the disasters to his great empire, which he foresaw, sad at the thought of many wasted years. As the sun sank below the horizon, he turned away from the temple and cast a momentary glance at the magnificence about him ; then with a gesture of contempt, he walked slowly into the cool, shadowy gardens of his palace. Long but slowly he paced among the shadowy paths, engaged in profound thought. It seemed as if his God, with whom he had once walked very inti-mately, granted him a knowledge of the close approach of death ; for suddenly he straightened his stooping shoulders and lifting his hand beneath a light where the gesture might be seen, he summoned the ever alert attendants. It was the king's will that the court be summoned. Swift runners sped from palace to palace in luxurious Jerusalem. Lords and courtiers rose from banqueting tables and hastened, wonder-ing, toward the palace. For had they not been summoned by the royal word ? And who in all the land might delay when King Solomon called? Surely, none. The great hall of justice was ablaze with light. Throngs of whispering nobles were the evidence of surprise at this night summons. Suddenly all were hushed. The heavy curtains at the royal entrance had been held aside and now the solitary figure of the king moved past the kneeling nobles to the great throne of ivory and gold. The king took his seat between the huge, crouching, golden lions and looked awhile in silence from one face to another. Some were old and tried friends and counsellors who had been with him when as a young man he had received the sceptre from the hand of Israel's God and his father, the royal David. Others were younger, and as his eye glanced from one to another, he thought of their fathers, some of whom were mighty warriors, others wise counsellors. IO THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. At length bespoke: "Oh Nobles, I have summoned you hither this night, at this unaccustomed hour, to bid you farewell. This evening, for the last time, I saw the red light of the depart-ing sun kiss the house of our God, resting upon it like a beuison from the Most High. "I go unto my fathers. To-night, ere the first rays of the morning sun laugh on the waters of Jordan and wake our queenly city from her slumbers, I go on the last, long journey. I am old and very weary of life, and I go to the grave, whither ye all are hastening. '' Oh Nobles—Counsellors and Warriors—ye whose heads are hoar, and who follow me soon, long have we labored together for beloved Israel. Some, perchance, even knew my father, David. Oh, grey-heads ! your king loves you. " And ye, whose raven locks the frosts of many winters may yet whiten, sons of mighty men, my young men, your king loves you not less. Be ye faithful as your fathers to the God of Israel and your king. " Ye have seen my race, which now is nearly run. To the dominions of my father I have added, and have made Israel ex-ceeding strong and mighty. Ye, too, saw me turn aside from following after Jehovah. Ye know the punishment—how I must have this fair kingdom rent and torn from me. But know that the God of Israel, in his measureless kindness and mercy, which are even as the fathomless space of the whirling orbs, has par-doned my transgression and forgiven my sin. " Now the hour is come and your king goes to the court of the Ruler of the universe. My nobles—counsellors, warriors and statesmen—remember your love for Solomon and stand faithful. Turn ye not aside after riches and honor. 'A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all. A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.' " 'Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.' " But the night flees and my strength fails. This night, ere the rosy morning descends from the hills and touches the purple vineyards, I will to be borne to my palace which is beyond Giloh. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. II For, oh Nobles, know that a weary old man wishes, in his weak-ness, to look once more upon his pleasant palace which gleams in its whiteness, amid the green gardens, and from there be gathered unto his fathers. ' Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.' " And now, fare ye well, my Lords ; may the mighty God of Israel be with you. Oh my children, a long farewell." The king stood for a moment with hands outstretched in bless-ing over the silent, awe-struck nobles, then moved with calm and composed step down from the throne at whose base the world had bowed. He gazed a moment longer at the assemblage of grey-headed men, who were separate ; then with a last majestic wave of the hand he passed from the judgment hall and the sight of his nobles forever. He hastened to his waiting chariot and was borne slowly along the road which leads to Hebron. His palace and gardens, with their pools which lay like three turquoise amid a sea of emerald, were his destination. Only once did the king rouse himself from the reverie into which he had fallen. As the white splendor of Jerusalem, bathed in the tropic full-moon, was disappearing behind him, he stood up in the rocking chariot, and with a gesture of matchless dignity, bade a last adieu to his queenly capital. Then he lapsed again into reverie. And of what did he dream? Who can say? Perchance it was of the future, per-chance of the past. Of that past when he ruled at Jerusalem, while the wealth of the world was poured in front of the lions of his ivory throne. The memories of a sacred and glorious past must have thronged upon him. Along this very road the mighty David passed and repassed. Here he had kept his father's flocks as a youth. Back and forth in this vicinity the jealous Saul had hunted him. Yonder, in the velvetry blackness, sleeps Rachel, the beloved of Jacob. There, alone, through the centuries, her ashes rest. A little farther on, at Giloh, the house of Ahithophel, the faithful counsellor of David, suggests its train of memories ; or perhaps some glorious vision of this plain, as it was destined tq appear, bathed in glittering light and echoing to the " Glory, in the Highest" of the angels, may have been vouchsafed to this son of David. And now, beyond Giloh, the chariot approaches the palace, 12 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. in the midst of its gardens. The weary old monarch steps from his chariot as he has done so often before at this spot. Hither, in the past, he has come in the dewey morning to find rest and quiet. And now, in the evening of his life, the king comes to his beautiful gardens to die. How the heart of that mighty ruler must have grieved as he looked back over the desolate years of which he had exclaimed "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" Slowly the king passes between the sculptured columns of his marble palace which rise, slender and graceful, to the distant roof swimming in dusky shadow; on between the two statuesque guards in their golden armor ; on, into the palace with its purple velvets and its tapestries. Fountains murmur and tinkle about him ; rare birds, strange beasts, gathered from the four corners of the world for the pleasure of this mighty potentate, are all around him. The mingled odors of many flowers float to his nostrils. But they are all unnoticed. In sad and solemn quiet the king paces slowly to his chamber. It has been whispered that the king wishes quiet and to be left alone, and the palace which in the years of the past has been filled with music and oftentimes with the sounds of revelry, seems to be without human inhabitant, and as silent as some great, white mausoleum. Only once, at the break of day, the attendants steal to the chamber of the king, and behold his form outstretched upon the couch, then as if terrified by the sight of the angel of death hovering over the king, they disappear. So, not surrounded by the nobles of the land or by sorrowing dear ones, but alone, the spirit of King Solomon stands on the •brink of the dark waters of the river of death and awaits the sum-mons of the most high God. Thus, while in communion with Jehovah, his spirit unterrified by the approach of death, is con-ducted into the council-chamber of the universe. And Israel's greatest king is dead. For "God's finger touched him," and even as the stars began to fade the mighty spirit of King Solomon had winged its flight into the unknown. Once more the lord of day ascends the dark mountains of Moab, and gleams upon the white palace which rests on the crest of a hill amid its green gardens like the white foam upon the crest of some dark-green wave of the ocean. In this palace, designed only for pleasure and joy, there is sadness and gloom. But the features of the king are tranquil and placid in death. Fven as at THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 13 evening the setting sun may break through the clouds and shine over the gray ocean, soothing the tired waters to rest, so now the morning sun lights up the countenance of the king and shows the perfect peace which has taken the place of the sadness and trouble. Amid the grief of a nation the king has gone to his last, long rest. —Max. THE USES OF DREAMS. C. L. '01. IT may be of interest to note at the outset some of the physical and the psychological phenomena of dreams. " A dream is a train of thought, images or phantasies, that passes through the mind in sleep.'' In dreams we lose all voluntary control over our thoughts, and our minds are, as it were, freed from all re-straints, turned out of the boundaries set by will, and left to roam at pleasure through almost infinite areas of thought and imagina-tion. Some claim that the activity of the soul does not cease for a single moment, and that dreams are one of the results of this constant activity. Others affirm, with equal certainty, that the soul has periods of inactivity and rest, when our sleep is entirely devoid of dreams. But does it not seem more reasonable that we forget our dreams, or rather fail to recollect them ? It is true, of course, that the action of the soul during the hours of slumber is much more feeble than during waking hours, but even this statement cannot be made without exception. Un-doubtedly the imagination is, at times, more lively in sleep than at any other time. A person, whose imagination is notably dull and lifeless, can, oftentimes, especially when just lapsing into un-consciousness, picture before his mind the most lovely, Edenic bowers, fairy landscapes, and scenic views that divest even Alpine glories of their rapturous charms. Occasionally the mind is very active also during periods of somnolence. This is proved by the fact that mathematicians, after having worked for days and weeks, perhaps, on a difficult problem, have finally solved it while wrapped in sleep. Again many persons of small originality and creative genius have composed poems of a merit that would have justly surprised them when awake, and have preached sermons and delivered lectures to enraptured audiences. Some persons of little or no musical ability have in their dreams outrivaled Mozart 14 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. and Beethooven in their musical productions, and their render-ing of them, and surpassed Jenny Lind and Patti in their vocal successes. The idea that the ancients had of dreams was vastly different from that which prevails at present. When superstition and witchcraft were fastened to everybody's creed, when ghosts stalked to and fro in every graveyard and haunted the scene of every murder, when enchanting sprites, bewitching elves, and diabolical imps jostled each other in the minds of nobleman and peasant, a dream was thought to be something of great import-ance and of good or evil omen. As each succeeding age has broken one or more of the super-stitious fetters with which it was bound and has approached nature and nature's God, and looked at nature not as a blind in-congruous force, but as an orderly and harmonious creation, evil has been traced to its source and found to consist not in the un-accountable and uncontrollable flights of a fanciful imagination, but in natural laws that have been violated or broken. This contrast may be explained by the difference between ancient and modern philosophy in accounting for the origin of evil. In Homer the thought is often emphasized that " Dreams come from Zeus," and a dream often meant as much as the flight of birds or the con-dition of the inspected vitals. The undertaking of an important expedition or of a desperate conflict often turned upon a dream of an officer during the preceding night, and many an unsuc-cessful exploit or disastrous defeat was traced to an ill-omened dream. Just after the expedition of " The Ten Thousand Im-mortals " had started on its perilous journey toward the capital of " The Great King," Xenophon, the leader of the expedition, had a dream in which, in the midst of a terrific thunder storm, he saw a ball of lightning fall upon his father's house, enveloping it in flames. The report following the bolt waked him. He considered the dream favorable because it seemed to be a token sent from Zeus, the author of dreams. On the other hand it seemed like an evil omen in that it might be interpreted that the " Immortals " were to be surrounded by the barbarian hordes as the house had been by the flames. No doubt the wretched failure of the expedition was largely accounted for by the commander's dream. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 15 Possibly no other book is so replete with stories of dreams as the Bible. It is reasonable to suppose that before the dawning of the " New Dispensation " divine communications were often sent to mortals through the media of dreams. Joseph's dreams seemed to his jealous brothers, and also to his devoted father, to be a mere idle, if not presumptuous, fancy of superiority over them. His brothers hated him because of their own interpreta-tion of his dreams. They were unable to free their minds of the unpleasant prophesies which they thought the dreams contained, so they cast him in a pit at Dothan, and then, as if to make more sure against the dreams' fulfillment they bartered him off to an Egypt-bound caravan of Ishmaelites. This " Dreamer " in-terpreted his own dream, and his brorhers were, afterwards, only too glad to make obeisance to his fruitful sheaf. Passing by many significant dreams, let us notice the dream which came to Joseph, husband of Man', the mother of Jesus. He was warned in a dream not to remain in Judea, but "to take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt." Upon the prompt obedience to this dream depended the life of the infant Jesus. Had Pilate heeded the warning of his wife's dream, he would not have delivered up Jesus to be crucified. In these in-stances dreams seemed to be angelic messengers from God with important dispatches. We recall the dream of the late, venerable Dr. A. J. Gordon, pastor of the Clarendon Street Baptist Church, Boston, which in-spired him to write that popular book, "How Christ Came to Church." In his preface the author states that he is not so sup-erstitious as to believe that every dream has a good or a bad meaning, but he believes, as in his own dream, we may learn val-uable lessons and receive wonderful inspiration even from dreams. Indeed, there are many cases on record where a dream has in-spired the mind to accomplish a skillful and even a masterful fete. Coleridge's " Kubla Khan" was suggested to him by a dream while he sat napping in his chair. Upon awaking, he seized his pen and wrote from memory that composition. The great musician, Tartani, composed his famous "Devil's Sonata" under the influence of a dream, in which his Satanic Majesty en-chanted Tartani by his wonderful exhibition of skill upon the violin, and challenged the dreamer to a match. As soon as Tar- i6 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. tani awoke he took up his violin and composed, in answer to the challenge, the above named composition. In the time of Shakespeare dreams were often misunderstood, and one of the most unpleasant aspects of death was the frightful dreams which were thought to accompany it. In Hamlet's So-liloquy on Death, when contemplating suicide, the " dread of something after death"—harrowing dreams, prevents him from becoming his own murderer. "To die,—to sleep ; To sleep ! perchance to dream /—ay, there's the rub ; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause." It is the thought of these fearful dreams that makes him decide to bear " Those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of." We owe a debt of gratitude to those promoters of civilization which have unveiled to us those harmless forces which were for centuries enshrouded in an awful mysticism. We recognize that dreams are simply the production of an unbridled fancy, of an imagination uncurbed by will, the "reflections of our waking thoughts." We no longer believe that to dream of gold is good luck, and to dream of silver, bad luck. We reply to such a thought the words of the proverb, " It is as idle as a dream.'' We sometimes gain some inspiration and profit from dreams, but we do not invest them with power to bring us either ill or harm. We see in them a proof of our immortality, and often associate them with our condition after death, but in no terrifying way, and as far as disturbing dreams are concerned, we may meet our death " Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." .THE. GETTYSBURG MERCURY. Entered at the Postojice at Gettysburg as second-class matter. Voi,. IX. GETTYSBURG, PA., MARCH, 1900. No. 1 Editor-in- Chief, . A. VAN ORMER, '01. Assistant Editors, W. H. HETRICK, W. A. KOHLER. Business Manager, H. C. HOFFMAN. Alumni Editor, REV. F. D. GARLAND. Assistant Business Manager, WILLIAM C. NEY. Advisory Board, PROF. J. A. HIMES, LIT. D. PROF. G. D. STAHLEY, M.D. PROF. J. W. RICHARD, D. D. Published monthly by the students of Pennsylvania (Gettysburg-) College. Subscription price, One Dollar a year in advance; single copies Ten Cents. Notice to discontinue sending the MERCURY to any address" must be accompanied by all arrearages. Students, Professors, and Alumni are cordially invited to contribute. All subscriptions and business matter should be addressed to the Business Manager. Articles for publication should be addressed to the Editor. Address THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY, GETTYSBURG, PA. EDITORS DESK. WITH this issue the ninth volume of THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY begins. The retiring staff, continuing the work of their predecessors, have delivered into our hands a journal that occupies a high place among college publi-cations of the state. Their encouraging words and helpful sug-gestion, together with the kindly expressions of THE GETTYS-BURGIAN, and. the readiness with which contributors have re-sponded to our call for material, give us encouragement. We now fully realize the burden of work that it is ours to bear; neither are we insensible of the responsibilities that rest upon us; hence we solicit a continuation of the same co-opera-tion thus far extended to us, that we may present to the students, alumni, and friends of the institution a literary journal worthy of Pennsylvania College. i8 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. The recurrence of the twenty-second of February naturally causes one to look back through the not yet dim vists of Ameri-can history to the days of the Great Commander, whose life is a panorama of noble, self-sacrificing, patriotic deeds. We read with admiration of his boyhood and youth ; we see his growing worth as he delivers Gov. Dinwiddie's message to the French officer ; we gaze upon him with }oy as he tells the British general how to fight the Indians ; we laud his bravery as we see him in the front of many battles, and as he crosses the raging Delaware on that fateful Christmas night; we raise our hats in reverence while he fervently implores the interposition of the God of Bat-tles in behalf of the Continental armies ; but to know his true worth we must follow him further—we must see him cast aside the proffered crown and become a private citizen; we must note his magnanimous spirit at Yorktown, read the record of his suc-cessful administrations, stud}' his farewell to the American people and follow him once more into private life ere we can fully ap-preciate him whom '' Providence left childless that he might be called the Father of his Country." A WORD DESERVED. THE business manager and the assistant business manager of the late MERCURY staff have done so much for the journal that they should receive special mention in its columns. The chief difficulty in the way of the monthly nearly always has been lack of money. Occasionally, but not often, a manager has been found who, at the expiration of his term, could give a respectable report to the literary societies. Two years ago, on account of financial embarrassment, the monthly was changed from a news and literary journal to a journal entirely literary, and its name was changed to "THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY." In the first year, during which at least one issue was not published for want of money, THE MERCURY ran in debt, and serious thought was at times entertained by the staff of giving up the paper altogether. Such was the pecuniary condition of THE MERCURY when it fell into the hands of Mr. Hamacher and Mr. Moore. As regards what was done, it is sufficient to say that at present the paper is THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 19 on the best financial basis she .ever has known, and considering the chaotic state in which the late staff received it, we may say-without exaggeration that Mr. Hamacher has proved himself an exemplary business manager. —H., '00. MEETING OP THE PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OP HARRISBURG. THE annual business meeting and banquet of the Pennsyl-vania College Alumni Association of Harrisburg and vi-cinity was held at the "Harrisburg Club" on the evening of February 27th. At the business meeting the Committee on Or-ganization and By-laws submitted a Constitution which, with several minor alterations, was duly adopted. An election was }hen held for the selection of officers for the current year, the following being elected : President, M. H. Buehler, Harrisburg ; Vice-Presidents, Capt. F. M. Ott, Harrisburg; Rev. D. H. Gilbert, Harrisburg; Rev. F. D. Weigel, Mechanicsburg; Secretary and Treasurer, Chas. Hollinger, Harrisburg. At the termination of the business meeting the members ad-journed to the banquet hall of the Club, the walls of which were gracefully draped with flags and college colors, while numerous palms and other tropical plants were tastily scattered about the hall. In an alcove to one side was seated a full orchestra and mandolin club which rendered classical selections during the pro-gress of the banquet. Covers were laid for forty-two and an ex-tensive menu, served in the highest style of the culinary art, was thoroughly enjoyed. The Association had the honor of entertaining as its guests prominent Alumni of the various educational institutions; Yale being represented by Hon. Lyman Gilbert, Harrisburg; Prince-ton by Charles A. Bergner, Harrisburg; Dickinson by its Pres-ident, Dr. George E. Reed ; Irving by President Campbell; Penn-sylvania College by President H. W. McKnight, Prof. O. F. Klinger and Prof. Chas. Huber ; other guests being Mr. Charles A. Kunkel, Harrisburg, and Dr. Leslie Kauffman, of Kauffman, Pa. The office of Toastmaster was ably filled by Capt. F. M. Ott, '70, and toasts were responded to as follows : "Pennsylvania Col- 20 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. - lege," Prof. 0. F. Klinger; "Yale," Hon. Eyman D. Gilbert; "Colleges for Our Sisters," Dr. E. E- Campbell; "Princeton," Charles H. Bergner, Esq.; "Our Rival," Dr. George E. Reed; "Our Alumni," M. W. Jacobs, Esq. Addresses were also made by President McKnightand Rev. Dr. D. M. Gilbert. This initial banquet of the Association proved to be an unqualified success and was one of the most successful and complete functions of the kind ever held in Harrisburg. The members of the association present were : Rev. T. B. Birch, Prof. C. F. Kloss, Prof J. F. Kempfer, Rev. E. D. Weigel, all of Mechanicsburg; Rev. M. P. Hocker, Steelton ; Rev. Benj. R. Lantz, Millersburg ; Rev. G. M. K. Diffenderfer, Newport; Dr. J. F. Staley, Mr. F. W. Staley, Middletown; J. S. Alleman, Esq., Arthur D. Bacon, M. H. Buehler, Jno. F. Dapp, Meade D. Detweiler, Esq., Rev. Luther DeYoe, Dr. C. B. Fager, Dr. V. H. Fager, Prof. L,. O. Foose, Rev. D. M. Gilbert, Jno. W. Hay, M. D., C. H. Hollinger, John Hoffer, Jr., M. W. Jacobs, Esq., Croll Keller, Dr. Geo. B. Kunkel, Rev. Marion J. Kline, Dr. J. B. Mc- Alister, Capt. F. M. Ott, Dr. C. A. Rahter, Rev. M. H. Stine, Dr. H. B. Walter, E. H. Wert, Esq., H. M. Witman, all of Har-risburg, and Rev. J. Edw. Byers, Penbrook. ^ THE VEIL OE SEPARATION. " Ah sir, there are times in the history of men and nations when they stand so near the veil that separates mortals from im-mortals, time from eternity, and men from their God, that they can almost hear the breathings and feel the pulsations of the heart of the Infinite. Through such a time has this Nation gone, and when two hundred and fifty thousand brave spirits passed from the field of honor through that thin veil to the presence of God, and when at last its parting folds admitted the martyred President to the dead heroes of the Republic, the Nation stood so near the veil that the whispers of God were heard by the children of men." —JAMBS A. GARFIBW. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 21 E THE DEAD ON EXPANSION. XPANSION is in future the policy of our country, and only cowards fear and oppose it."—Buchanan. " It is of very dangerous tendency and doubtful con-sequences to enlarge the boundaries of this country. There must be some limit to the extent of our territory, if we would make our institutions permanent. I have always wished that the country should exhibit to the nations of the earth this example of a great, rich, powerful republic which is not possessed of the spirit of aggrandizement. It is an example, I think, due from us to the world in favor of the character of republican government." —Webster. " We are not seeking annexation of territory, certainly we do not desire it unless it should come by the volition of a people who might ask the priceless boon of a place under the flag of the Union. I feel sure that for a long time to come the people of the United States will be wisely content with our present area, and not launch upon any scheme of annexation."—Blaine. The editor of the School Gazette, after quoting the above, ex-plains that the utterances of Buchanan and Webster were made when the South sought to increase the territory of the Union, and that Blaine's statement is only ten years old. Her Dewey lips Hobsoned his, while like a Shaft'er glance, Schley-ly thrown with a Sampson's strength, pierced through his heart, Weyl'er true love was Miles away, suffering Cervera heart-pangs than this false woman could believe. "O'tis beyond me," said he," why I should Merritt this ?'.'—From the Lesbion Herald. " When you see a stately temple, Fair and beautiful and bright, With its lofty towers and turrets Glistening- in the sun's clear light, Think how soon the noble structure Would to shapeless ruin fall, Were it not for sure foundations Firmly laid beneath it all." —DR. C. H. PAYNB. II 22 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. THE OLD CHIEF AND THE BLACKSMITH. THE final day had come and the east was already bright with day. In golden splendor the pure sun mounted the hori-zon of a calm, cloudless sky. Its yellow rays lit up the green patches of corn and pasture in the most delicate colors and tiuted the distant mountains, stretched in majestic line far into the north, in soft purple. All was calm and peaceful. Silence seemed to rule the universe, as if it had hushed it for a great oc-casion. What an occasion it was ! Among those mountains the poor Indian was busy long before sunrise preparing with sorrow-ful mood a journey of the deepest woe and gloom. Yes, this was the day. The red man must change his home. Those hills so rich in fruit and grain were not his. The barren mountains had no place for him. He lived on the white man's ground. He hunted the white man's game. One last, lingering look on a happy home, the abode of his ancestors, his rightful inheritance, where once he enjoyed his wild day unmolested and drove his game over unclaimed land. He must go and the white man gives no farewell, no sign of sorrow, no clasp of the hand, save one, a hard laborer, an honest blacksmith. The early morning found his roughly-made work-shop at the foot of the mountains in full operation. Now the noisy anvil broke the deep silence and now the groaning bellows breathed loud and heavily, sending the black smoke far into the clear sky. Within and without in scattered heaps lay almost everything that a smith could make use of, and much more that he couldn't use at all. The workman stood by the side of the forge, his one hand bounding up and down with the handle of the bellows, the other poking at intervals the roaring flame with an iron rod. He was a large, broad-shouldered man, with slightly bended back, a re-sult of his much stooping. A thick gray beard swept his broad breast, which was partly exposed by an open shirt. His face was large and stout, of hard masculine expression, full of force and intelligence. A well proportioned head, broad, high forehead and prominent chin, showed a man of no low, trivial thought, but one of judgment and decision ; a man, who, if he would have a chance to develope his powers, might have been a genius, but by force of circumstances remained uneducated, possessing, however, THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 23 a great amount of good common sense, which he made use of when the occasion demanded it. As he stood by his work his brow was tightly contracted and his eyes firmly fixed on the flame. He was thinking. What were his thoughts ? Let us believe that he was thinking of the Indian. He ofteu thought of him. He pitied him. He believed that the Indian deserved a home and that he could love a home with as much tenderness and fidelity as any one else ; that he had feelings and that he had a soul as immortal as his own. Such were the thoughts of this poor workman as he stood in his shop on the last day for the Indian in his Eastern home. Suddenly a man appeared before the door. The smith, somewhat taken by surprise in the midst of his thought, quickly turned and beheld before him a neighbor; a farmer who was generally known in the community as being of a sour, selfish disposition ; a man with whom the smith could never become wholly reconciled. He was one of those many persons whose only care and thought is to en-large his borders, heap up his wealth, drive his wife and children at the first peep of day from their warm beds into the fields, and at evening reckon a profit of five cents a good day's work. He had no thought for the Indian. He hated him and could scarcely wait until he would leave the country forever. The reason for this was a selfish one. He found out that the Indians had dis-covered a silver mine iu the mountains and were working it with immense success. "They couldn't take this along," he argued, ' 'so the first man to find it would be its owner.'' He knew that the blacksmith was in close friendship with the redskins, and more than likely would know more about its locality and value than any other person in the neighborhood. He therefore came at an early hour to the shop. The smith began the conversation. " Good morning, Henry. A beautiful day?" "Splendid," replied the farmer. "They can't complain of bad weather.'' " No, they can't," answered the smith, " and I don't believe the weather bothers them much. They have other things to com-plain about; a lost home, for instance." "And lost produce and grain," quickly returned Henry. " I'll warrant they will have to raise their own now." " Henry," answered the smith with earnest expression, look-ing his visitor fair in the face, " I don't believe they ever stole a 24 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. cent's worth from you. You have not treated the Indian right and he knows it, and before he would steal your crops in revenge behind your back, he would meet you face to face like a man." " Well, what I see with my own eyes I guess I can believe," replied the farmer in great haste. " But whether they stole it or not, how about the mine? They can't take it along." " No, they surely can't," said the smith, sorrowfully, " but I would to God they could. Some of our greedy neighbors, ex-cuse the word, Henry, you know it's the truth, some of our greedy neighbors can hardly wait until the Indian leaves to lay hold on that mine, the only means the poor creatures have of making a livelihood. They are friendless, homeless, without pity or sympathy, and worse than all, an unknown west before them. It's shameful. But, Henry, one thing I wish with all my heart, and that is that these mountains might bury the treasure deep in their bosoms before the merciless white man pollutes it with his unworthy hand." "Come, come, come," began the other. "You're on your old subject again. That isn't the point. Some one will get it and so why not try for a share ?" No sooner had the last word slipped from the lips of the farmer than both were startled by the clatter of hoofs over the little road-bridge by the side of the shop. Henry walked briskly to the door, saw the Indian, immediately returned, somewhat paler, however, and whispered to the smith, " It's the chief." The Indian entered, dressed in all the gaudy decorations of his rank. His black silk hair fell gracefully about his muscular shoulders. His face was broad and brown, painted in circular stripes of various colors. A pair of black eyes, tightly pinched, glanced sharply over his high, prominent cheek-bones. Although old, as the wrinkles in his forehead would indicate, he seemed as agile and quick of motion as a young warrior on his first hunt. Bending himself slightly forward he made a becoming salute with his right arm, and, with eyes tenderly fixed on the old smith, ad-dressed him. '' What I have to say will not be long. You know all. The red man must leave his native hills for the barren west. The day has come when he must bid adieu to his mountain home. He comes to give good-bye to a friend. The Indian leaves many enemies, but he comes to give the blacksmith a kind farewell. He envies not his little home, his small fields, his blacksmith THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 25 shop. May he live in peace. May prosperity gladden his ad-vancing years. Ah, no more shall he bend his back beneath the horse. No more shall he swing the sledge. The red man's friend shall be rich in fields, proud in wealth, honored among men. The treasures of mines shall make happy his children's homes. His grand-children shall live well, they shall be truly fortunate. The Indian's silver shall be theirs and it shall prosper in their hands." " Come," continued the chief, drawing a silken scarf from his waist, " come, friend, let me bind your eyes and I will lead you to a treasure such as man never beheld before. Come, it is yours." The old smith was astonished at the chief's offer. He stood mute and silent. Recovering himself he approached nearer to the Indian and with broken speech humbly addressed him. "I thank you heartily, chief, for your ofier, but I cannot accept it. I live happy. I work hard all day long and am satis-fied with my little home and family. What do I want with all that wealth ? Why do I deserve it ? I could not rest night or day by living off of the Indian's silver. No, chief, I refuse it. I thank you for the offer, but give or sell the mine to one who could work it with untroubled conscience." The chief was greatly troubled by the smith's refusal and was on the point of pressing his offer further, when Henry broke in, his face beaming from ear to ear as though he was sure it was his already. " I'll let you bind my eyes, venerable chief. I'll take it." The Indian, with angry countenance, drew back in amaze-ment and with scorn answered him. "Youtakeit! Ah, no, no, no, white man ! Rather let it rot with the ages than have it en-rich the hand of an enemy." Approaching the smith again he kindly entreated him to accept. "It's yours, take it. Come, let me Show you your wealth ?" " No, I can't accept it," inter-rupted the smith humbly. " It would bring worriment upon my gray hairs and strife among my children. No, I can't manage so large a treasure." The chief, now aware that it would be useless to urge him further, quickly stepped forward and said : " Then, if you will not take my silver, take my hand. The mine will remain where it is. Man cannot find it. It is the Indian's treasure and ever shall be." Then bowing low before the old man he withdrew to his horse, mounted and departed for the mountains. The farmer, j| 26 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. not feeling very well, quietly walked to the door and was gone without a word. It was some time before the blacksmith returned to his work and resumed his place at the forge. He thought the matter over and over and finally concluded that he had done the right thing. He worked hard that whole day till evening, when he locked the shop, walked silently home and told his wife and children the whole story. They all in the old quaint way agreed that father had done the best and so went to bed and slept. The next morning the smith arose bright and early, as usual, greatly refreshed from the anxiety of the previous day. After breakfast he started for his shop, which was not far distant, thinking not so much of the fortune which he had refused as Of the wandering Indians, who must have been by that time far on their journey. Arriving at the shop he unlocked the shabby door, entered it and taking a small iron shovel from the wall stepped to the forge and began to clear away the ashes to start a fire. After thrusting his shovel several times into the heap, he became greatly astonished at the smallness of the hole. It seemed to have grown much smaller during the night. Bending over the forge he began to scrape away the ashes with his rough hand. To his surprise he found that at the bottom of the open-ing stood a bright, round kettle filled with silver blocks about an inch square. With trembling hands he lifted the treasure from its hiding place and stood it on the anvil, noticing at the same time a small piece of paper sticking out over the rim of the vessel. Drawing this gently from the blocks he unfolded it and saw drawn in rough outline the figure of an Indian, under which was written the words, " To the Indian's friend." —W. H. H., '01. " "When you see a mig-hty forest, With its tall and stately trees, Lifting' up their giant branches; Wrestling with the wintry breeze; Do not fail to learn the lesson Which the moaning winds resound, Every oak was once an acorn, All unnoticed on the ground." —DR. C. H. PAYNE. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 27 WHY WE BROKE CAMP. TEIYL you a story? Well, if you have patience enough I'll tell you of an experience I had last summer vacation, while on a camping trip. You see, every summer vacation when I come home I spring it on the " old gent," that, after having worked so hard for nine months, my poor brain needs rest. Well, he takes it all in, and gives me a vacation of several weeks. Then the old gang gets together, and we go on a few weeks' loaf. Fun ? Well, I should say so. I^ast Summer, following our usual custom, we visited "Straw-berry Island," a beautiful little Island in the middle of the broad Susquehanna. Here there is but one small village of a few hun-dred population. The rest of the square mile of the island is heavily wooded, and affords an excellent place for campers. Usually there are anywhere from three to six parties camping on the island. But at the time we were there none of the others had yet arrived. Soon we were settled down, and were enjoying ourselves very much in hunting and fishing. One evening after we had been there about a week, I went to the village for our mail. When I got back, and distributed the letters to their respective owners, I took my own letters and drew apart a little to read them. The first one I opened was from my father. (You know my father is postmaster in the town in which I live, and, as it is a pretty large town, usually has large quantities of stamps, besides a good deal of money, on hand.) Well, to continue where I left off, the first letter was from my father, and the very first line conveyed to me the startling news that the post-office had been robbed the previous week of a considerable sum of money and about $400 worth of stamps. There was no clue to the robbers, and at present the officers were at a stand-still in their investigations. It is needless to tell you that I was surprised at the news. My first thought was to leave for home next day, but further in the letter father said I needn't let this spoil my fun, and that I should stay as long as I wished. So I decided to stay. The next afternoon I was appointed to run over the island in search of some stray chickens for our evening meal. I started about four o'clock, and leisurely made my way across the island. About a quarter-mile beyond the village I came upon a thick 28 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. clump of trees and undergrowth, situated about three hundred yards from a farmhouse. Thinking this would be a good place for the chickens, I cautiously made my way into the thickest part of the copse. Suddenly I was startled by hearing a gruff voice directly in front of me. I stopped at once, and soon heard another voice, raised in an altercation with the first speaker. He was cursing him roundly for a cheat and a rascal, saying that after having done the dirty work (I couldn't quite catch what), he wasn't going to take a cent less than half of the haul. I be-came interested in what was going on, and crept closer to the speakers, and saw two as villainous and rough looking toughs as ever I beheld. Between them they had a large bag of money, and beside the larger of them lay a peculiar oblong tin box, which somehow or other seemed very familiar to me. All at once it struck me that that was the stamp box which I had seen so often in my father's safe at home. Then it flashed upon me that these were the robbers who had so neatly eluded the officers of the law. My first impulse was to get back to camp at once, tell the other fellows about the robbery and my discovery, and then come and capture these fellows. But, on second thought, I saw it would be wiser to watch them, and find out where they took the booty. Soon the rascals came to an agreement, and decided that they would hide the " swag " until a convenient time should offer for them to dispose of it. They then picked up the bag and stamp box and made their way toward the other side of the island. It was now nearly dark, and I thought I could safely follow them. So I waited till they had gone, and then cautiously picked my way after them. After a half-hour's walk they came to a small tent pitched in a wooded hollow near the shore. They entered here, and I crept up close to catch every word concerning the disposal of the money and stamps. After a good deal of discussion they decided to bury it in the ground under the tent, and in order to do this I knew they would have to move the tent; so I quietly slipped away and hurried off as quickly as possible to our camp, and told the boys about the whole matter. They were eager to go at once, and even more so when I told them that the postoffice authorities had offered a re-ward of $500 for the capture of the robbers. Now, this meant $100 apiece for us, and we could do a good many things on $100. So we decided to go that very night. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 29 We had with us several revolvers and hunting-guns. Each fellow armed himself with one of these, and was soon ready to set out. We started about eleven o'clock, and reached the village a half-hour later. Here I stepped into a store, telephoned to the police at home that I had caught the thieves, and then proceeded. About twelve o'clock we were nearly at the robbers' camp, and I told my chums to take it easy so that we might take the men by surprise. Every fellow cocked his revolver and made ready for business. We crept silently up to the tent, and, peering in, saw two dark forms lying within, sound asleep. Then we entered, and order-ing two of the boys to cover each man, I proceeded to awake the larger and tougher of them. I succeeded pretty quickly, and soon had him securely bound, and then proceeded to do the same for his partner. We found all the booty buried in the earth under the tent, and then loosening our prisoners' legs, ordered them to march on ahead. We soon reached our camp, and binding the men again so that they could not get away, we took turns at guarding them during the night. We held them till the next evening, when my father came with two officers. We all set out for home, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing the malefactors in prison. In due time we received the reward. I saved mine, and father added a substan-tial sum to it. That's the reason I am flush this term. Come up town and have some oysters on me, the whole gang. — " APFI,EBEB." '■ Oh, wad some power the g-iftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us ! It wad frae monil a blunder free us And foolish notion, What airs in dress and g'ait wad lea' us And e'en devotion." -BURNS. i\ 30 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE. GRACE had been said. The preacher of the village, whose gray hairs had never been endangered by conjugal wrath, in short, who was a bachelor, had performed that solemn office, as was his wont, at the Lyn boarding-house. Around the table sat six. The preacher, by right of his sober mien and broadcloth, of course, occupied the first place of honor, that is, he sat at the end of the table next the door leading into the pantry, from which issued the appetizing sound of the sizzling, sputtering and splashing of the cooking, or the rattle and clatter of pots and pans, and occasionally, to vary the program, the bang of falling dishes invariably followed by a lecture on culinary economy and general management by the matron of the establish-ment, who at divers times and in divers manners, delivered these emphatic and lengthy dissertations to the cook, a buxom, grin-ning lass of perhaps sixteen summers, who bore several red marks on her face, testifying to the violence of gesture with which the lecturer was accustomed to drive home her rather striking argu-ments. Next to the preacher sat Mr. Eyn, who boasted the empty title of " Eord of the House "—a little, pinched, henpecked piece of crusty mortality, who spoke with a very emphatic "I intend" or " I will," but, as I observed, only when his wife was in the pan-try and the door closed. In her presence, or within range of her eye through the open pantry door, he seemed to sink about six inches in stature, and peep slyly out of the corners of his e3'es, like a cat expecting a sudden and unannounced visitation of boot-jacks and stove-pokers. Beside the hard-fated Mr. Lyn was situated, geographically speaking, a volcano of sentimental effusion, or, perhaps better, sat the village poet. He looked like a poet, at least to a stranger, having all the visible qualifications—long hair, a sentimental air, a canary-like whimper that sometimes sounded like the sigh of a zephyr, and a box of dyspepsia tablets sticking out of his vest pocket, which would most strongly confirm the theory suggested by the unbarbered hair. At the end of the table, opposite the snowy-templed " shep-herd in Israel," sat the school-mistress, another very important functionary in the village, enthroned in dignity and starch. She THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 31 always dressed in a rusty shade of brown satin, evidently to match her complexion, and had it so thoroughly starched that she could sit down only in one way, there being only one hinge in the dress. She was always " precise" and plain, never bedecked herself with flowers, perhaps because she couldn't starch them. Slight in figure, in her rusty armor she looked not altogether unlike a mud-wasp— a dignified mud-wasp. Her features denoted character, but as Pat said, who sat around the corner from her, they looked a little smoke-dried. Pat was a red-nosed Irishman, with a broad, open, jolly Irish face, always lit up with an expression of bantering humor, and partly covered with a thin, scattered crop of stubble. He was the man of all work about the establishment, and bossed about by the lady of the house, curtly snapped at by the next highest power, Mr. Lyn, divinely stared at by the volcano, furiously glared at by the mud-wasp, and reproached every now and then by the preacher for profanity, he bad a very wretched time of it, and often gave that as a reason for the redness of his nose. "Be-jabbers," he would say, " Oi must droon moi troubles;" but how he drowned his troubles by reddening his nose I never could imagine. Grace had been said, as I stated before, and Jane began to serve roast chicken, starting with the preacher. " Thank you, my girl," said his reverence in his blandest tone as she turned from him to the poet, who took a wing with a smile—a very poetic smile—and, holding it up on a fork that all could see it, in his softest canary notes began : " Oh for the wings of an angel, To fly to that heavenly shore, I would leave this land of sorrow, There in joy to dwell evermore." " Oh, how delectable !" exclaimed the ecstatic teacher. "What spontaneity and brilliancy of genius ! Surely, Mr. Bilious, you have been endowed with those peculiar qualities of intellect which combine with a deep and susceptible emotional nature to consti-tute those favored and favorite mortals, whose function in life and society is to add to the general happiness of humanity ; one of those who drink of Olympian fountains and feast on the ambrosial —the ambrosial—feast on the ambrosial—in short, Mr. Bilious, you are a poet." She always rattled out her comments in a man- 32 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. \ ner something like a hysterical alarm-clock, and stopped for the same reason, too—because she was run down. The flattered rhymer, in his confusion and gratitude, blushed a sort of 3^ellow green, and fumbled about in his inspired cranium for a suitable answer, when Pat relieved him. " Ay, Midam, a pooet's boorn a pooet; ye can't make 'im." Though "Madam" rarely condescended to notice any of Pat's remarks, she replied: "Mr. O'Brien, I fully appreciate the force and significance of that sententious and universal truth to which you have just given utterance. I find it true, in my ramblings through the variegated fields of imaginative literature, that a skill-ful master of the poetic art must—must possess certain natural endowments of mind and feeling. He may avail himselfof the most efficient intellectual discipline in the most advanced institutions of learning, established in either hemisphere, the Eastern or the Western, fortne impartation of knowledge and mental develop-ment, and yet, sir, may never gain admission into the temple of the Muses." " Yis, a pooit's loike an iditor. Ye moight fade a goat tin years on newspaipers, but shtill ye couldn't make an iditor av 'im." Very much to Pat's annoyance—for he felt unusually honored in being patronized by such an able representative of scholarship and high English—the poet, who felt that they were both allud-ing to him, chimed in : " If Nature on you doth bestow it, To reveal her charms, to be a poet, In school or out you're bound to show it, And all the world will some time know it." "Och, bedad," supplemented Pat, with a dubious smile of malicious humor, intending to punish Mr. Bilious for this obtru-sive sally, "Ye remoindmeso much of Samson in the Scriptures." The poet shook out his tresses of black, hanging in Miltonic waves over his shoulder, proud to have them compared to Sam-son's immortal looks of strength, but Pat. continued : " Ye both use th' same wippin, only ye make pooetry with it and he slew the inimies of Israel." Of course, we laughed; the preacher till he was as red as Pat's nose, I till my sides ached, and even the school-mistress smiled as loud as the constitutional gravity of her deportment would permit, the poet, all the while, turning alter- THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 33 nately red, white and blue, and looking as though he had swal-lowed a smoothing-iron. Mr. Lyn alone did not smile—the pan-try door was open. The cook was seized with a fit of tittering that went nigh end-ing with her dropping the coffeepot, with which she had now reached the school-mistress, filling the cups as she went round the table. " O Miss Jane, do exercise more vigilant care lest you occa-sion some disastrous calamity. Just cogitate how seriously I might have been scalded by that liquid, in that state of violent ebullition, as you undoubtedly apprehend. Such inexcusable carelessness cannot, must not be tolerated, young lady." Jane, somewhat abashed, colored and would have attempted an apology, but the preacher, ever ready to rescue one in embar-rassment, interposed : " Nothing hurt, Jane; accidents will hap-pen everybody. I don't wish them to you," he added, with an air of cheerful gallantry, " but I like to see you blush up ; your cheeks look like peaches." " Yis, yer Riverence," added Pat, "and Oi am so fand of paiches," looking at the preacher and then at the cook. The teacher had, by far, too positive notions of propriety not to rebuke the facetious Patrick. " Undoubtedly, Mr. O'Brien, you have not had the advantages which the cultured usually de-nominate the ' privileges of high society,' those elements of good-breeding enjoyed in homes of education and refinement, or un-doubtedly you would not be guilty of the audacity, so boldly and improperly to allude to the female employee of the establishment in which you occupy the humble position of a menial. Mr. O'Brien, I certainly am surprised." Pat looked at me and winked, evidently not much discon-certed by the bombardment. •'You exhibit," she continued, angry because Pat did not wilt, " directly under and within the range of my ocular vision, such indecency towards me, one so manifestly your superior"— another wink. "Well, did I ever!" she ejaculated, closing her mouth with a snap like a pocketbook, looking daggers all the while at the unabashed Mr. O'Brien. "Did ye iver," rejoined the impregnable Patrick. "It's moire than Oi can till ye what ye iver did; yer auld enough to 34 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. have done imiything, judgin', as the poet says, 'by the silver min-gled mang th' gauld.' " '' Sir,'' sharply retorted the now thoroughly enraged pre-ceptress, "I do not propose—" " Nay, Midim," interrupted Pat., " Oi didn't ask ye to pro-pose, and there's no danger of innybody havin' ye innyhow, un-less p'rhaps yed propose in the dairk av th' moon." During this passage between the scholarly tongue of the out-raged pedagogue and the native wit of the mischievous Irishman none of us dared to laugh out, though we suffered severely with suppressed mirth, which, in my case, played a little game of earth-quake in my abdominal regions, made me drink two glasses of water in quick succession and spill half a cup of coffee over the table. Determined to beat a retreat with at least the honors of war, she turned from the Irishman, as if perfectly disgusted with his conduct, and addressed Jane, who was about to give her a^second cup of coffee. " No, thank you. If I should indulge in the sec-ond cup of this beverage, although I consider it exquisitely pal-atable and invigorating, when administered, or rather taken, in moderate quantities, my digestive organ would be greatly exag-gerated— I mean aggravated, and probably develop in the course of time sub-acute gastritis or some other modification of irritant poisoning. Indeed, I have entertained the greatest apprehension of"—just then the door bell rang, and I was called out. —A. N. ONYMOUS. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. C. H. SOLT MERCHANT TAILOR Masonic Bldg., GETTYSBURG Our collection of Woolens for the coming Fall and Winter season cannot be surpassed for variety, attractive designs and general completeness. The latest styles of fashionable novelties in the most approved shades. Staples of exceptional merit, value and wearing durability. Also altering, repairing, dyeing and scouring at moderate prices. .FOR UP-TO-DATE. Clothing, Hats, Shoes, And Men's Furnishing' Goods, go to. I. HALLEM'S MAMMOTH CLOTHING HOUSE, Chambersburg St., GETTYSBURG, PA. ESTABLISHED 1867 BY ALLEN WALTON. ALLEN K. WALTON, President and Treasurer. ROBT. J. WALTON, Superintendent. flammelstomn Broom Stone Gompany Quarrymen and Manufacturers of Building Stone, Sawed Flagging and Tile Waltonville, Dauphin Co., Pa. Contractors for all kinds of Cut Stone Work. Parties visiting the Quarries will leave cars at Brownstone Station on the P Telegraph and Express Address. BROWNSTONE, PA. : R. R. R. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. The Century ^^.0 Double-Feed Fountain Pen. ^^Poiated- GEO. EVELER, Agent for Gettysburg College PRICE LIST. .$2 SO . 2 50 No. 3. Chased 3 00 Hexag-on, Black or Mottled No. 3. Gold Mounted 4 00 Pearl Holder, Gold Mounted . 2 50 . S 00 THE CENTURY PEN CO. Askyour Stationer or our Agent to shozv them toyou WHITEWATER, WIS A good local agent-wanted in every school. ^mmwmmrmwmmwmwmwm^ Printing and Binding "We Print This Book THE MT. HOLLY STATIONERY AND PRINTING CO. does all classes of Printing' and Binding, and can furnish you any Book, Bill Head, Letter Head, Envelope, Card, Blank, or anything pertain-ing- to their business in just as good style and at less cost than you can obtain same elsewhere. They are located among the mountains but their work is metropolitan. You can be convinced of this if you give them the opportunity. Mt. Holly Stationery and Printing Co. K SPRINGS, PA. VL H. S. BENNER, .DEALER IN. Groceries, Notions, Queensware, Glassware, Etc., Tobacco and Cigars. Yl CHAMBERSBURG ST. WE RECOMMEND THESE BUSINESS MEN. Pitzer House, (Temperance) JNO. E. PITZER, Prop. Rates $1.00 to $1.25 per day. Battlefield a specialty. Dinner and ride to all points of interest,including the th ree days" fiffht, $1.25. No. 127 Main Street. MUMPER & BENDER Furniture Cabinet Making, Picture Frames Beds, Springs, Mattresses, Etc. Baltimore St., GETTYSBURG, PA. You will find a full line of Pure Drugs and Fine Sta- People's Drug Store Prescriptions a Specialty. .GO TO. fjotel (Gettysburg Barber Sfyop. Centre Square. B. M. SEFTON J. A. TAWNEY o. Is ready to furnish Clubs and Bread, Rolls, Etc. At short notice and reasonable rates. Washington & Midde Sts., Gettysburg. XWTT. TrJ. //dfe//>/l/d. C/)/Cd50. Sd/iftvnasco. London. PdnsJerf//?. Co/03ne. CALL ON F. Mark Bream, The Carlisle Street Grocer Who always has on hand a full line of Fine Groceries. .Photographer. No. 3 Main St., GETTYSBURG, PENNA. Our new effects in Portraiture are equal to photos made anywhere, and at any price PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. ^entpol Jfotel, ELIAS FISSEL, Prop. (Formerly of Globe Hotel) Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, Pa. Two doors from Court House. MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. Steam Heat, Electric Light and Call Bells all through the House. Closets and Bath Rooms on Every Floor. Sefton & Flem-ming's Livery is connected with this Hotel. Good Teams and Competent Guides for the Battlefield. Charges Moderate, Satisfaction Guaranteed. Rales $1.50 Per Day. R. A. WONDERS, Corner Cigar Parlors. A full line of Cigars, Tobacco, Pipes, Etc. Scott's Corner, Opp. Eagle Hotel. GETTYSBURG, PA. L Try My Choice Line of .' £ High-Grade Chocolates 3 L, at 40c per lb. Always fresh at ,\ C CHAS. H. McCLEARY "j C Carlisle St., Opposite W. M. R. R. ^ Also Foreign and Domestic Fruits '(' Always on Hand. JOHN M. MINNIQH, Confectionery, lee, -andIee Creams. Oysters Stewed and Fried. No. 17 BALTIMORE ST. BARBER SHOP®® CHARLES C. SEFTON, Proprietor. .Baltimore Street. The place for Students to go. Only First-class Tonsorial Work. LIVERY ATTACHED. ESTABLISHED 1876 PENROSE MYERS, Watchmaker and Jeweler Gettysburg Souvenir Spoons, Col-lege Souvenir Spoons. NO. 10 BALTIMOE ST., GETTYSBURG, PENNA. HARRY B.AR010R, Chambersburg: Street, Gettysburg:, Pa. Electrical .and Bicycle Supplies Repair Work of Every Description.