The poem by Charlotte E. Leavitt on the “Comet” in The Chautauquan for March, reads “The first faint flashes of the coming morn.” It should read “flushes.”
“The circle has been a factor in making ‘two hearts beat as one.’” The above message is frequently received at the office of The Chautauquan; this time, the address of Miss Maggie Barclay became Mrs. Fred. S. White, Minneapolis. Her name was changed, while her husband his name retained, February 20. “What don’t the C. L. S. C. help people to do?”
While eminent men in political life are occasionally seen going to ruin, through their own weakness, or by the treachery of their former associates, it brightens the picture to see a man like ex-Governor Edwin D. Morgan, of New York, finish his course and come to his death like a Christian, patriot, and philanthropist. He called the Chicago convention together that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency; as the war Governor of New York he sent 273,000 of her sons as soldiers into the Union army, and twice did he refuse to become Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. He left an estate estimated to be worth $6,000,000, of which he gave $795,000 to various benevolent objects.
The interest taken in the “Wiggins storm” was about as phenomenal as the storm itself. Less than a year ago Barnum, an American, awakened and excited the people of two great nations over Jumbo. This time it was an Englishman who prophesied, ostensibly basing his predictions on scientific calculations, that a tremendous storm would sweep over certain portions of the earth on the 10th and 11th of March. A storm came, but it was the old kind of a March storm. The people of Kansas, Dakota, and other portions of the West see greater storms once a month. We are a foolish people—ready to believe many foolish things, if they come in the name of science. The correct philosophy of storms has not been formulated. Scientists are unable to tell us much about their origin or end; herein they are in accord with the greatest of teachers—who has said, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth.”
Congress has adjourned. In the Senate, Senator Davis resigned his presidency in season for the Republicans to elect Senator Edmunds to his place, thus preparing against an emergency. In the case of President Arthur’s death Mr. Edmunds would succeed to the Presidency of the United States. The tariff absorbed the most attention and consumed the most time of both houses near the close of the session. On this question the great political parties are choosing their ground preparatory to the next presidential campaign.