Miss Isabel Stone.
Miss Stone who has long lived and moved in our society, has written, beside the poem already given, many bright papers and stories for children which have been published in various magazines and journals, among them The Observer; Life; Little Ones in the Nursery, edited by Oliver Optic; The Press, of Philadelphia; The Troy Press and The Christian Weekly. These stories and other writings were published under an assumed name.
In 1885, she published a very clever booklet entitled Who Was Old Mother Hubbard? A Modern Sermon from the Portsmouth (Eng.) Monitor and a Refutation by an M. M. C., New York; G. P. Putnam Sons.
This booklet had a very large sale and went through several editions. The story of this publication is interesting. "The Modern Sermon" appeared anonymously, first in one of our prominent magazines. It was written in England and traced to its origin. This was read at a meeting of the Mediæval Club, (a literary club of some celebrity in Morristown), at the house of Mr. John Wood, one of its members. Miss Stone was at once inspired to write the "Refutation"; which was read at her own house by Mr. John Wood, arrayed in characteristic costume for the occasion. (For the benefit of those who may not know him, we may add that Mr. John Wood is one of Morristown's best readers and amateur actors.)
We give the "Refutation" which is a clever dissection of the subject. As "A Modern Sermon illustrates the method upon which some Parsons Construct their Discourses", so "A Refutation" appears "in the Combative, Lucid and Argumentative Style of Some Others".
REFUTATION.
MY DEAR HEARERS: It is my purpose this evening to give to you the result of many hours of thought and consultation of various authors regarding the subject to which our attention has been lately called.
While I hesitate to engage in the controversial spirit of the day, I feel it my duty to expound to you the truth and to unmask any heresy that may be gaining ground.
The discourse to which I allude was upon the text,—
"Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard,
To get her poor dog a bone;
But when she got there the cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog got none."
I propose to prove to you this evening that all its arguments were founded on false premises; that the whole picture drawn of the subject of our text—viz., old Mother Hubbard—was diametrically the reverse of the reality; in short, to give a complete refutation of the text to all those who listened to those first erroneous statements.
Firstly, Old Mother Hubbard was not a widow.
I am at a loss to understand why our learned brother should so have drawn upon his imagination as to represent her as such, when, as I shall endeavor to set before you conclusively this evening, it is distinctly stated in the text that she was the wife of an ogre!
My friends, in those days men and husbands were designated by the term "poor dog;" and, indeed, the lightest scholar knows that the term has descended to the present day and is often appropriated by a man himself under certain existing circumstances.
Now, that this "poor dog" of a husband was an ogre is abundantly proved by the fact that Mother Hubbard provided for him bones.
Yes! bones! my friends; but—they—were—human—bones!
Deep research has convinced me of this fact. I find that in those days ogres did not catch and kill their own meat, as is commonly supposed. They were but human, my friends, and, like the rest of humanity, preferred rather to purchase labor than perform it. They, therefore, employed their own individual butchers; but, with rare wisdom, they chose some carnivorous animal to supply their table.
In proof of this, we come, Secondly, to the word cupboard, as mentioned in the text,—
"Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard,
To get her poor dog a bone."
This word cupboard is in our present version misspelt, owing to some fault in copying from the original, and thus is rendered c-u-p-b-o-a-r-d; but the word properly should be spelt c-u-b-b-e-d. This is a compound word, derived from cub—a young bear—and bed, or deposit, as we speak of the bed of a river.
This was a bone deposit—a place where the ogre's food was deposited by the cub.
A young cub was a less expensive butcher than a bear, as nowadays labor is cheaper from the young aspirant than from the assured professional. Therefore they were the usual employees.
But this ogre, though evidently in the habit of employing a cub in this department, had now become dissatisfied and procured the more satisfactory service of an old bear; for, if you will carefully examine the text, you will see that the meaning is obvious, for, as though to insure all its readers from misunderstanding, you will see that it is distinctly stated that—
"The cub-bed was bear."
Now we come Thirdly to the word "none."
"And so the poor dog got none."
This word in the original stands for two things—first, n-o-n-e, meaning nothing, which was the heretical sense deducted by my opponent, and the other and correct sense being n-u-n—a woman with black veil, generally of tender years; and Mother Hubbard, who intended to supply her lord's table with one small bone, found that instead the bear had secured the bones of a whole nun!
Fourthly and lastly, it is clear from the words "poor dog," that the ogre was poor, but not Mother Hubbard.
No, my hearers, evidently she was rich, evidently she held the purse-strings, and the ogre had stealthily supplied his table with a luxury, and his house with a steward, for which he individually was incapable of providing the means.
This is clearly the fact from the words of the text, for you will notice that it was when she got there—not before, but when she got there, that she found the change that had been made in the household arrangements.
And then, doubtless, ensued a scene such as some "poor dogs" nowadays understand only too well!
And now, my friends, we come to the moral. It is not to beware of widows as my opponent tried to prove, but for you, my hearers, on one hand, to beware of marrying a poor but extravagant dog, and you, on the other, to beware of marrying a rich but penurious wife.
Augustus Wood.
Charles P. Sherman.
Miss Helen M. Graham.
It is scarcely necessary to state the fact that Mr. Augustus Wood is a native of Morristown, belonging as he does to a very old and well-known family, or that he is the author of a little volume entitled "Cupid on Crutches". This is a summer story of life at Narragansett Pier and makes one of a group of light novels which we will give in succession.
"A BACHELOR'S WEDDING TRIP."
BY "HIMSELF."
"Himself" we recognize as Mr. Charles Sherman, then a bachelor, who cleverly dedicates the book in these words: "To the Unmarried: as Instance of the Bliss which may be Theirs, and to the Married, as Reminiscent of The trip, These Threaded Sketches are Fraternally Dedicated by the Author".
The third of the group is
GUY HERNDON OR "A TALE OF GETTYSBURG."
BY "ELAYNE."
Elayne, we know, is Miss Helen M. Graham, one of Morristown's Society girls who spends much of her time in New York.
This "Tale of Gettysburg" is the first venture of Miss Graham into the field of literature. Her choice of subject indicates that she is in touch with the growing realization among our novelists of how wide and fruitful a field is presented to them in the events of our civil war. The few graphic pictures already given by them of the social and other conditions of those stirring times, will be more and more valued by the present generation, and by those to come, as the years go on.