Life — November 25, 1886 — page 2: what you’re looking at

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sf “While there's Life there's Hope.” VOL. VIII. NOVEMBER 25, 1886. No. 204. 1155 BroaDWAy, New York. Published every Thursday, $5 a year in advance, postage free. Single copies, 10 cents. Back numbers can be had by applying to this office. Vol. I., $1.50 per number ; Vol. II., 25 cents per number ; Vol. III., IV., V., VI. and VII. at regular rates. Rejected contributions will be destroyed unless accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. N the death of Chester A. Arthur this country mourns not one of its greatest statesmen, but one who in the hour of trial, showed himself worthy of the confidence of his fellow-men; one who was brought into a position of responsi- bility by circumstances of a most painful nature, and who in an incredibly short space of time developed a strength of character that disappointed his enemies and delighted his friends. * * * HEN the infidels had a convention in this town aweek or two ago, with help of that rotund sceptic, Col- onel Ingersoll, they formulated a list of “demands” for the reform of American society in certain particulars. Among other things that irked them was the Thanksgiving proclama- tions of the President and the various governors. They de- manded that the official recognition of divine omnipotence should cease, and that Thanksgiving shall be abolished. LiFE is glad that the agnostics cannot have their way. Thanks- giving is not much of a day to go to church on, but it has good points, of which the discontinuance of labor, the con- sumption of victuals and drink, and the foot-ball match be- tween Yale and Princeton are the most conspicuous. * * * HERE is a good deal to be thankful forthis year. Our Mayor-elect is a good man; the Bartholdi statue is up; Lonsdale has gone home, and business has revived. Considering how full the world is of sin and sorrow and suf- fering, the outlook is pretty cheerful, and the assimilation of turkey and cranberries ought to be a good deal more exten- sive than it was last year. One or two circumstances there are, to be sure, which can- not but cast a perceptible shadow over the satisfaction of the Christian world. We are not all upon perfectly good terms with each other. Mr. Lowell and Mr. Hawthorne do not speak when they meet ; neither do Dr. McCosh and Harvard University. Over this latter disagreement the Christian world is nota little torn up. It isa painful falling out. If L1FE were asked what opinion it had come to after examining all the available documents, and reading all the evidence that the newspapers have printed, we should have to admit that the Scotch doctor from New Jersey seems to us to have gone off half-cocked. Next to Dr. McCosh, LIFE respects Jonathan Edwards, and next to Edwards it venerates the amiable and lamented Cal- vin. If Dr. Holmes had made poetry that was derogatory to either of these worthy gentlemen, we should have resented it. But he didn’t. The worst that he said was that Calvin's creed was dry. It is dry. Calvin made it so on purpose. Buteven this passage, which touches on the aridity of Calvanism, is denied at Andover, not Princeton. Why Harvard did not scatter some doctorates among the Princeton sages is harder to explain. But such neglect is by no means an insult, and was far from giving Princeton’s representative adequate grounds for going without his dinner. * * * UR esteemed morning contemporary, the Star, some- times allows its business enterprise to run away with its manners. The interview with Hawthorne, which it pub- lished, was unworthy of a paper of the character which the Star is ambitious to bear. * * * W HAT a very smart man is the gentleman who goes by the name of Mark Twain? He has been making a new book, and the other day he contrived to have all the metropolitan journals give him gratuitous notices of great length and of the most advantageous character. Mr. Clemens is accredit to his sex and to his profession. They say it takes a gold mine to make a silver mine pay. Mr. Clemens has demonstrated how a thousand dollars worth of humor manipulated with a thousand dollars worth of business ability, may increase so that it will take six figures to represent its value. * * * HERE is a rumor that Editor Watterson, of Ken- tucky, is considering the advisability of transferring his energies and talents to the service of the New York Herald, LiF¥ fears there is nothing in the report. It would be impossible for Watterson to write down to the level of the Herald's editorial page, and impossible, too, we fear, to raise the page up to an intellectual level where he would feel at home. * * * THE little daughter of Senator and Mrs. Van Wyck, now three or four years old, has anodd name, Happy New Year Van Wyck. She was born on the first day of the year, and the Senator wished to commemorate the occasion by giving her a name suggestive of it. — Scranton (Penn.) Truth. This is great sport for the Senator, but very poor fun for the child. When a man indulges in practical jokes of this description he should take some one of his own size. comicbooks.com