Missouri Botanical Garden PETER H. RAVEN LIBRARY Pagination Note: Since many of the items lack a specific page number, the page number dispiayed oniine refers to the sequentiaily created number each item was given upon cataloging the materials. LITERARY The only thing that can pretend to a comparison with these magazines is the newspaper form of litera- ture. But the newspaper in its form is literally ephem- eral. It is incapable of being made into a book, or preserved even from month to month ; and if it could be, who would wish to see it, among the beauties of modern books ? On the contrary. Magazines, when bound at an expense of 75 cents to $1.00 a volume, in the rich, uniform library covers furnished by the publishers, take their places among the gems of the parlor table, yielding entertainment and instruction for every age and taste, for moments, for hours, or for days, at will. Truly, we may ask, what is like unto them? There is, of course, a lower depth of cheapness, and that is the weekly Story Paper. But the tendency of the lowest ephemeral cheap- ness is to run into nastiness ; “ all filth is absolute poison.” As they have the cheapest of paper, print- ing and engraving, so they have the cheapest writing and editing; and, as everybody knows, cheap writ- ing never sells unless it is bad. The ^‘pen-poison” distilled from the brains of vulgar story-writers — known only on the pages of story papers by their slang pseudonyms — is the only salable stuff to be had for its price, and it floods the channels of popular newspaper sales, corrupting the hearts and inflaming the imaginations of youth with moral poison. Let all beware of it, and especially all who are responsible for the moral nurture of children. Scribner and St. Nicholas are cosmopolitan in scope, and in circulation too — teaching the European public the notable facts and scenery of its own times, as well as of ours — they are, above all others, Ameri- can in tone and topics. They have done more, prob- ably, than any other agency in the same period of time, to acquaint the world and America itself, with Ame- rica’s own greatness and beauty. Miss Louisa M. Alcott must have found in St. Nicholas a congenial and advantageous means of reaching the little folk, for though her serial is now completed, it is announced that several short stories from her pen are to appear in that magazine during the coming year. The news will of course cause a flutter of joy among the St. Nicholas readers, and, probably, among her devoted admirers everywhere. “THE CHICAGO INTER-OCEAN” Thus dilates upon ^’•St. Nicholas: ” “.If there is one thing we do envy the youngsters in, it is ‘St. Nicholas;’ in fact we do believe that the grown-up boys are even more interested in this juvenile pictorial wonder than the young ones. Who knows but old Faustus, turn- ing over the leaves and pointing out the beauties to his youngest grandchild, finds in ‘St. Nicholas ’ a spe- cies of harmless Mephistopheles ready to chase the wrinkles from his brow, the shadows from his cheek, the eclipse that dims his eye, the snow that fills his hair ? ‘ St. Nicholas ’ is now an institution of which Young and Old America are as proud as England is of Punch; it has become a perfect triumph in the way of juvenile literature. Between its first and second volumes there is not a hair to choose ; both are in their way unique and perfect. A house without ‘ St. Nicholas ’ does not deserve to own any boys and girls ; no dog should wag its little tail while pressing its nose through the area railings ; emphatically, we would observe that should the sun condescend to shine upon that house his solar majesty would make a big mistake.” NOTES. A QUESTION OF VERACITY. Two versions of Gabriel Conroy’s courtship of the redoubtable Mrs. Markle are given in Scribner for December. One is Bret Harte’s account of the actual occurrence ; the other is Bret Harte’s report of Gabriel Conroy’s account of it. The question immediately arises, which is the true story ? GRANDMA MAKES FURTHER SEARCH. ANOTHER YACHT-RACE. Another yacht-race is announced to take place soon and under rather peculiar conditions. Instead of the yachts racing for a buoy, this is a contest in which the boys will race for a yacht. It seems, in short, that St. Nicholas, always wonderfully clever at anticipating as well as satisfying the youngsters, has now promised, as a prize for the best solution of one of its puzzles, a beautiful, full-rigged, miniature schooner-yacht, four feet long ! This is a race, therefore that will interest not only the boys who live by the sea, but every lad that lives within a mile of a brook or a duck-pond. Nor is this all, for the puzzle itself will include a picture of an- other yacht-race, even more novel still. It is promised for the December number, and the prize will be awarded in time for the opening of navigation in the spring. Now, boys ! Ho, for the races ! A new sensation in the world of children’s literature may soon be expected. St. Nicholas promises rhymes and jingles from a fresh writer, whose songs are to make Young America laugh as it never has laughed before. SCRIBNER AND THE COLLEGES. Did you ever advertise for a boy ? If so, you know how people feel in a besieged city. You come down to your office in the morning, and find the street around your door blocked up with boys, — boys on the steps, boys on the sidewalks, boys on the railings, boys up the trees, boys everywhere. If you get into your door alone, it is a miracle. Half a dozen will probably slip in after you, and if you are not very careful they will leak in and drip down upon you from windows, chimney, and transom. You want one boy, but you have no use for a thousand. Poor bewildered mortal, what are you to do ? You let them in one at a time ; you try to be just; in despair you take one of them, but there is no particular reason why you should take him. The rest know that, and you know they know it. You feel ashamed, and nine hundred and ninety-nine boys feel aggrieved. One boy goes home whistling. Something of this kind recently happened in regard to Scribner’s Monthly. It was not about boys, but OUR DOMESTIC SERVICE. 260 exist. In the ^4 Eastern States we should expect^^Oj^iind communities employing domestic servants" somewhat in proportion to the extent and success of their manufactures and commerce, the presence of a considerable city being almost inevita- bly indicated by an increase in this form of expenditure. The facts revealed by the Census corre- spond in general with great exactness to the reason of the case as we have sought to rep- resent it. Beginning at the extreme East, we have Maine, a State chiefly agricultural, and having no large city to bring up its average, with 11.57 families to one servant. New Hampshire, approaching in its southern parts the industrial conditions of Massachu- setts, has but 9.64. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont have, respectively, 7.61, 7.44, and 7.35. If, however, we exclude New Haven and Providence, Con- necticut goes up to 8.08, and Rhode Island to 9.33. Massachusetts, with a population two-thirds that of the other New England States combined, has one servant to every 6.67 families. If, however, we exclude the cities of Boston and Worcester, we have for the remainder of the State but one to 8.24. Of the States known in the geogi'aphies of our school days as the Middle States, New York has but 5.79 families to one servant; New Jersey, 6.97, and Pennsylvania, 8.01. If we exclude the seven principal cities of New York, the remainder of the State shows 7.31 families to a servant. If we exclude Philadelphia, Allegheny and Pittsburgh, the remainder of Pennsylvania shows 9.86. Proceeding westward to Ohio and Michi- gan, we find, as we should expect, a smaller number of domestic servants in these States, the ratios being but one to 9.73 and to 9.74, respectively, or, if we exclude Cincinnati and Cleveland in Ohio, and Detroit in Michigan, but one to 10.92 and 10.31, re- spectively. Ohio and Michigan are, how- ever, much older States than Illinois, which shows but one to 10.57, or, excluding Chi- cago, but one to 12.72. Indiana, a State of equal age, but of a more exclusively agri- cultural population, shows but one to 14.02 families. This is nearly the ratio of Iowa (one to 14.14). Wisconsin, with larger man- ufacturing interests, has one to 10.46, or, excluding Milwaukee, one to 11.26. The six States remaining may be passed over with brief mention. California, with its great body of “ Chinese cheap labor,” naturally shows a large proportion of do- mestic service, having one servant to 8.37 families, though, if we exclude San Fran- cisco, the remainder of the State has but one to 11.32 families, which is very close to the ratio for Nevada (one to 11.13), where, also, the Chinese element largely enters. Three of the other four States show the condition proper to pioneer communities, where luxu- ries are not expected, and labor is scarce and high. Nebraska has but one servant to 16.92 families; Kansas, one to 16.18; Oregon, one to 22.29. Minnesota, how- ever, forms a distinct exception, and one not easily explained. The ratio of domestic ser- vice here (one to 9.64 families) is precisely that of New Hampshire, and exceeds by a trifle that of Ohio. Unless the cause of this be found in the proportion of Swedes and Norwegians within the State, it must be left to some social investigator on the spot, to account for this indulgence of the far Min- nesotians in the luxury of domestic service so much beyond the customs of their neighbors. Heretofore we have had under consider- ation the domestic servants in the several States, and in certain important cities, in their aggregate number only.* But it may not be without interest to follow this general class into the details of its nationality, and inquire what races and countries contribute, and in what measure severally, to this total of 951,334 persons, big and little, male and female, white, black and yellow, who min- ister in the households of our people. At sight the statements of the Census in this respect appear scarcely credible. Thus, at the outset, we meet the assertion that 704,780 of the 951,334 were born within the United States. To one who has been accustomed to think of pretty much the whole body of domestic servants as of for- eign birth, the first feeling must be that of incredulity. What, can it be true that all the Irish, Germans, Swedes, Canadians and Chi- nese, who make so much of a figure in our daily lives, and in the literature of the time, constitute little more than one-fourth of the entire number of servants ? In the first place, of the persons employed * Another popular delusion, which is exploded by the Census, is that Joseph Smith introduced polyg- amy into his religious system merely as an indirect solution of the problem of domestic service; a shrewd device, at once to keep his handmaidens under discipline, and to defraud them of their right- ful wages. The Census shows that, while Utah has fewer servants to population than the Territories of Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Wyoming, it has more than Colorado, Dakota, Idaho and Montana. 01 23456789 10 Missouri BoTAN ICAL copyright reserved garden cm Missoum BO' ■ • GEORSE Eti'J*--' ■ (0 ^ s 3 -/, ■sl,'i»%..~^^ , nH ^ i-Ttti ^ /(g,l^ 01 23456789 10 Missouri Botanical cm copyright reserved garden HENRY EHRHARBT, Fa4iM40i®sie4£ GmmmmT; No. 30i Soath gUth Street, Cor. iijrrtle, ST. LOUIS. ’^^OTANICAi: GE-RGE Ei^GELMAKI'l PAPERS I t. 0 1 i ) J J ^ ^ 5 6 7 r 8 9 10 Missouri cm copyright reserved garden | Missouri Botanical ^ 7 came, but the result was not encouraging. At Henrico, the attempt to civilize these people had been repaid by a bloody mas- sacre of their benefactors, and now the whole scheme was seen to be illusory. The young Indians entered as stu- dents pined or fell into idle courses. A writer in 1 724 says ; ‘‘ They have for the most part returned to their homes — some with and some without baptism — where they follow their own savage customs and heathenish rites, * * or loiter and idle away their time in laziness and mischief.” The famous Old Chapel” was built in 1732, and became the place of sepulture of some of the most distinguished men of Virginia. It was in refer- ence to the chapel and to old Bruton Church that Bishop Meade wrote: ‘‘Williamsburg was once the miniature copy of the Court of St. James, some- what aping the manners of that iroyal place, while the old church grave-yard and the college chapel were — si licet cum magnis xomponere parva — the Westminster Abbey .and the St. Paul’s of London, where the great ones were interred.” The first person who came to sleep beneath the pavement of this American Westminster Abbey was Sir John Randolph, who had espoused the English side during the Revolution and gone into exile ; and he was followed by his two sons, John Randolph, formerly the King’s Attorney- General, and Peyton Randolph, President of the first Congress, and by Bishop Madison,first Bishop of Virginia; Chancellor Nelson, and it is believed Lord Botetourt, the royal governor, whose statue was in 1797 placed upon the college green. Botetourt had been a warm friend of the Virginians and the Virginia college; and, as he had expressed a desire to be buried in the colony, his friend, the Duke of Beaufort, wrote, after his death, requesting that “the president, etc., of the college will permit me to erect a monument near the place where he was buried.” This phrase is supposed to indi- cate that the old chapel of William and Mary contained the last remains of the most popular and beloved of the royal governors. After long delay, and a successful weather- ing of the chances of time and tide, the col- lege was now, at last, in full operation. It was a “beautiful and commodious” edifice of brick, one hundred and thirty-six feet long, surmounted by a cupola, with its rear wing described as a “ handsome hall its piazza extending along the western front; its apartments for the “ Indian Master” and his scholars ; its park and extensive grounds, containing one hundred and fifty acres ; and here and there on the green rose great live oaks heavy with foliage, beneath which passed to and fro the sixty-five students of the institution. Only here and at Harvard, in the Western World, had the ingrained instincts of the great Anglo-Saxon race begun to fight ignorance and superstition, and train the new generation in polite learn- ing, and “good morals and manners” for the coming years. A recital like that just made, dealing with charters, legislative enactments and dates, is always more or less uninteresting to the general reader, but has the merit at least of conveying information. We come now to a few incidents and details connected with the career of the old college, which will present a somewhat more lively picture of its character and proceedings. The stu- dents, whose average number up to the time of the Revolution was about sixty, seem to have resembled young gentlemen of their class in all ages of the world, and the Fac- ulty were much exercised to control their restless energies, which took the direction of horse-races, cock-fights, and devotion to WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, what the ancient record calls “ ye billiard or other gaming tables.” It was ordered by the authorities in 1752, that no student of any ‘‘age, rank or quality soever” (which strongly suggests the presence of aristocratic distinction) should “ keep any race-horse at ye college, in ye town, or anywhere in ye neighbourhood ;” an offense which had been evidently committed by some of the young “bloods,” as the order proceeds to direct that all such race-horses should be “ imme- diately dispatched and sent off and never again brought back ;” and the students were to be in no manner “ concerned in making races, or in backing or abetting those made by others.” They were also forbidden, on pain of severe animadversions and punish- ments, to “presume to appear playing or betting at ye billiard or other gaming tables,” as noticed above, or to be in “any way concerned in keeping or fighting cocks.” This order was probably a severe blow to the mercurial young Virginians, who had been trained at home to take delight in thoroughbred horses and game-cocks, the passion for which is noticed by the Marquis de Chastellux as late as toward the end of the century, when he made his horseback journey through the Commonwealth. Other rules and regulations for the better ordering of affairs at the college have been preserved in the old records. Tea and wine whey were luxuries which the housekeeper was only to furnish to such students as were sick. Whenever the “young gentlemen” of the college appeared in public they were to wear the “ academical dress.” Mrs. Foster was to be ^Lhe stocking mender in the col- lege,” with a salary of twelve pounds, pro- vided she furnished her own “ lodging, diet, fire, and candles.” On the subject of the consumption of intoxicating liquors within the bounds of the college, the views of the authorities will probably be regarded as somewhat lax, or, at least, as not amounting to prohibition. “ Spirituous liquors were to be used only in that moderation which be- comes the prudent and mdustrious student^ but, for fear that this regulation might be regarded as somewhat vague, the authori- ties proceed to define the species of drinks which the prudent and industrioas student was at liberty to use at his meals. From the list were excluded all liquids whatever,, except “ beer, cider, toddy, and spirits- and- water,” wine appearing to be prohibited in consequence of its dangerous properties. This singular legislation seems to have worked badly, and there was much more tippling at table in the college than ought to have been permitted. In 1798, when the “ Bishop of Virginia was President of the College and had apartments in the build- ings,” the English traveler Weld noticed that half a dozen or more of the students — the eldest about twelve years of age — dined at his table one day when he was there ; “ some were without shoes and stockings, others without coats. During the dinner they constantly rose to help themselves at the sideboard'' — to beer, cider, toddy, or spirits-and-water, it is fairly to be supposed. The writer adds, that the dinner consisted of “ a couple of dishes of salted meat and. some oyster soup,” and mentions, he says, the queer proceeding of the students, as “ it may convey some ^ idea of American col- leges and American dignitaries.” And it is difficult to dissent from his strictures. The habits of the epoch must have been singu- larly lax to permit boys of twelve to sit at. table in their shirt sleeves and bare feet with COMMUNION SERVICE, BRUTON PARISH CHURCH. a bishop present, and rise from their places during the meal to go and help themselves at the sideboard. The ancient records contain minutes of the action of the visitors or governors of the college on another subject also — nothing less than the right of the Reverend Pro- fessors of Divinity and Grammar to take. fSAlM401®SSeAl ©HlMIBf; I Ct A BIRTHDAY. 263 A BIRTHDAY. Now when the landscape lies all hushed and stilly Beneath the cold gray sky and shrouding snow, Dawns the dim birthday, shadowy and chilly, Of my sweet winter-child — my rare white lily, Loved all too well, and lost so long ago. Sometimes I marvel, dazed by doubt and distance, Whether she was a mortal baby fair. Or some more glorified and pure existence I.ent for a little — a divine assistance To help me over uttermost . despair. I bring to other birthdays kiss and token. And loving wishes crowding fond and fast — To this I only bring a woe unspoken. Bitter rebellious tears, a heart half broken. Bruising itself against the cruel past. Year after year I think of her as older. And muse upon her growth, and softly speak : Now without stooping I could clasp and hold her. And now her golden head would reach my shoulder. And now her sweet white brow would touch my cheeks. Would earthly years have had the power to render That holy face less innocent and fair? And those clear eyes, so luminous and tender. Would they have kept undimmed their depths of splendor. Amid these heavy clouds of grief and care? I wonder, when I see my locks grown duller By blighting years, and streaked with silvery strands, If her bright hair has still the sun- warm color It wore when on my breast I used to lull her. Smoothing its shining waves with loving hands. While time has aged and saddened me so greatly, Has she outgrown each changing childish mood? By the still waters does she walk sedately A tall and radiant spirit, fair and stately. In the full prime of perfect angelhood ? In that far dwelling, where I cannot reach her. Has she who was so fragile and so sweet, — An untaught babe, a tender little creature, — Grown wise enough to be my guide and teacher. And will her presence awe me when we meet ? Oh, if her baby face has waxed no older. Or if to angel stature she has grown — Whether as child or woman I behold her. With what wild rapture will these arms enfold her — This longing heart reclaim her for its own ! LITERARY NOTES. 6797 THREE NOTABLE SERIAL STORIES BY AMERI- ^ CAN WRITERS. Three very remarkable serial stories are to appear in Scribner’s Monthly during the present year. The first, “ Gabriel Conroy,” by Bret Harte, has been already begun. Mr. Harte won his early fame as a writer in California, and this story, as might have been expected, is a romance of the Pacific slope. The HaHford Courant says of the story ; “ The study of American progress would be incomplete with- out a knowledge of the life which Mr. Harte writes about. In this way his writings are of importance, and essentially a national treasure. His new story will contain the richest and ripest results of his observa- tion and studies for years past.” The second, “ Philip "Nolan’s Friends,” is by Edward Everett Hale, and will begin in January. This story comes to us from the literary center of New England — if not of the country — New York disputing with it now the wider claim. Mr. Hale is a Unitarian clergyman, but he is better known by his shorter stories, which, of their kind, have never been equaled by any American author. The present work is an historical novel for the Cen- tennial year, and it will be, perhaps, the great romance of the Mississippi Valley. The scene is laid along the banks of the lower Mississippi, at a time when the Louisiana purchase was first Spanish, then French, and then American ; at a time when war was im- minent between this country and Spain to obtain possession of the mouth of the Mississippi. Captain Nolan, from whom the story receives its name, was a native of Frankfort, Kentucky, a well-educated young man, remembered as athletic, energetic, amiable and brave. No period of our history has more dramatic points of interest than that in which he and his friends The third of these serials is “ That Lass o’ Low- rie’s,” by Fanny Hodgson Burnett. At the conclusion of Bret Harte’s story, which it is now understood will be in July, “That Lass o’ Lowrie’s ” will be commenced in the Magazine. Those who have read “ Surly Tim’s Trouble,” “One Day at Arle,” ‘‘The Fire at Grantley Mills,” and others of Mrs. Burnett’s short stories, will not need to be assured that they have a rare treat before them in this her first novel. The scene of the new novel is laid in an Eng- lish mining town ; the characters, it is said, are drawn with marvelous power, and from the first page to the last the interest of the book is unflagging. Mrs. Bur- nett is a young woman who has come to the front with- out the advantages of liberal culture, but by the force of native genius. Her early childhood was spent in Eng- land, but she has lived in Tennessee for many years. BOY LOST! What a thrilling cry is this? How it vibrates along the heart-strings of every parent, and thrills through a whole city! And yet it is of hourly occurrence. A hundred thousand boys in homes of culture and refine- ment are every year lost by reason of the poison of bad books, and bad sensational romances. Almost every week a boy is found at some railway station with a revolver in one pocket and a sensational story paper in the other, having run away from home to lead a life of adventure. Give the boys good, strong, entertaining reading at home. Give them the best of books and the best of the magazines. John G. Whittier, our Quaker poet, writes : “ It is little to say of St. Nicholas that it is the best child’s periodical in the world.” SEEING THE WORLD. A late editorial in a leading daily paper, headed “ Certain Holiday Books,” attributes the mutiny on the school-ship to the inflamed ambition of some of the lads who had been reading the adventures of a certain cheap hero of the Bowery Variety. The same article goes on to show that the modern parent’s guilty neglect, if not positive misdirection of the “ boy’s taste for reading,” is the fruitful cause of the mass of boy crime that of late has startled thinking people into closer observation — and finally it adds these very sug- gestive words : “ The Mayor of Philadelphia, it is said, asserts that he could rid the jails of two-thirds of the juvenile crim- inals in the next year, if he could banish certain plays from the boards of the Variety theaters, and put certain books out of print. We only suggest these facts to mothers and fathers. It is their part to clear the jails in future. No Mayor can help them.” Now, it will not do to take fascinating and bad liter- ature out of these boys’ hands, and give them in its place Mrs. Barbauld and Peter Parley, or worse still, the sentimental dribblings of those writers who think that any “ good-y ’ ’ talk will do for children. We must give them good, strong, interesting reading, with the Wood and sinew of real life in it — heartsome, pleasant reading, that will waken them to a closer observation of the best things about them. The great mental evil of the day is the impression invariaWy given to young minds that seeing the world necessarily means seeing the badness of the world. Once let a boy understand that to see the world in a fair, manly way, one must see also its good side, its nobleness and true progress, and you at once put his soul in the way of a wholesome growth. It is right and natural for a boy to want to see the world. It is right and natural for him to want to read books that, according to his light, show him what the The wrong and the unnaturalness are in the careless way in which parents and guardians ignore this want, or fail to meet it in a proper manner. Vile writers and worse publishers are fattening on this tendency of boys and this carelessness of parents. Good writers and honest publishers are offering the means of remedying the great evil, and are showing the boys of this country how they may see the world and yet remain pure and true. Parents must decide which class of writers and pub- lishers shall win the race. — Sunday School Times. 01 23456789 10 Missouri BOTAN ICAL cm copyright reserved garden ^ ‘ /' /J/-^ c/2_ c, iy^r .^ ^^,v ^ , APOTHECARY, Missouri botanicri. GEORGE ENGEUMANN Gi\Rr)Eif PAPER3