A GULLED ENGLISHMAN.
Capron, Ill.
In reply to the inquiry of one of your correspondents, referred to me, as to whether there is “any truth in the statement made in a book published by some returned English tourists, to the effect that an itinerant lecturer advertised to give an entertainment at Capron, Ill., and at the close of the lecture shoot himself dead; that the home was crowded at $1 a head; and that, true to the programme, at the conclusion of his speech, this peripatetic orator actually committed suicide,” I would say that there was such a story written by a barber here, which was published in the county paper. It was false. The lecture never was given; at least the funeral never came off.
Alexander Vance, P. M.
SAINT SIMON, THE SOCIALIST.
Danville, Ill.
Who was Saint Simon, and what were his principles?
John Short.
Answer.—Claude Henri, Saint Simon, was a French nobleman, who was noted as a social philosopher and the founder of the sect named for him Saint Simonians. He entered the American army in 1778, at 18 years of age, and served therein with distinction and honor. While returning to his native land he was captured by British seamen and carried to Jamaica, where he remained until 1783. When at length he reached France he won many disciples to his socialistic views, and before his death, in 1823, he wrote several works upon philosophy and social reform. His greatest work was the ‘Nouveau Christianisme’ (New Christianity), in which he embodies his final and complete design for the amelioration of the poor and the preservation of society. He advocates a social hierarchy, controlling and regulating the choice of vocations, the fixing of salaries, the division of heritages, whose chief aim it shall be “to make the labors of each conduce to the good of all;” and to aid his projects he advised the union of France and England.