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Franklin Repository: September 01, 1869 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Decency in Female Dress
(Column 07)

Summary: The paper reprints an essay on "respectable" women's attire. The author criticizes men who encourage "respectable dress" in their wives, daughters, and sisters, but all too frequently applaud the opposite in their acquaintances.

Full Text of Article:

Young girls and riper matrons need not go about robed like religious fanatics; but let those to whom a high-necked and long-sleeved party dress would be a grievous affliction content themselves with showing a modest rim of shoulder above their bodices. And let them not forget that well turned white arms can be seen and appreciated without the necessity of being exposed clear up to the arm pits. No fair young girl ever lost anything in the admiration of men, whose opinion is worth having, by appearing with neck, shoulders and arms chastely veiled in delicate lace or muslin, instead of exposing them to the promiscuous gaze of a public assembly.

We hoard away the jewel that we prize the most; we draw a curtain before the picture that we dote upon; we hide our most sacred feelings in our hearts; we veil the shrine of the temple; we hedge the lily about lest its whiteness should be soiled; we want to cover up from other eyes the things that are fairest, the dearest, and the most sacred to us.

Oh, woman! the most sacred thing, the fairest and dearest that man has in this world, is yourself. And I hold that man's instinctive protest is the best guide in this matter.

And the feeling of the father, the brother, the lover and the husband, when his nature is unperverted, is that the arms that caress and enfold him, the bosom, which is the dearest home his head can have on earth, should be as sacred as was the holy of holies in the days of old Jewish rites.

A woman's body is the temple of her soul, and her soul's outward symbol. What we want to keep pure, holy and undefiled, we do not expose to be a common bait for all the eyes of all the world, pure and impure, to gloat upon.

The way in which men, as a body, act and express themselves, when brought face to face with this dress reform question, is inconsistent, unjust, and ungenerous to woman, and unworthy of themselves as gentlemen; they think because a woman is not their sister, or wife, or sweetheart, that it is no concern of theirs how she demeans herself in this matter of dress. On the contrary they seem eager to help push her into a false position by hypocritical compliments, and phrases of hollow admiration, which are as false and bitter as Dead Sea fruit, if she will but stop to analyze the feelings from which they spring, the motives which prompt them. Too much familiarity breeds contempt. No one knows this better than the man who watches over the dress and deportment of his wife or sister with the stern jealousy of an Oriental, while at the same time he blandly encourages the wives, and daughters, and sisters of other men in every species of license.

Women do not always know--the very young ones especially--that a certain dash and freedom in the style of dress encourages familiarity in the manners of men towards them. They too often follow blindly after the reigning mode, without questioning its meaning, or the effect it will have upon men's opinion of them. They feel strong because they go in droves, and in droves they dare to indulge in a style of dress for which any one woman would be ignominiously hooted out of society, if she dared to appear in it alone, and upon any occassion for which it is not sanctioned by fashion.

If men would but give up their abominable two-sided policy on this question, and act towards every reputable woman, whom they find masquerading in disreputable attire, just as they would under like circumstances to their own wives, daughters or sisters, as far as is consistent with surroundings and circumstances, this mode of dress would soon be driven to its rightful home--the haunts of the profligate and the lost woman.

For my own dear countrywomen I have one wish, which has moved me to speak as I have spoken. Plain words and hard words to say, but words which must be spoken, nevertheless, and which are better spoken sooner or later. It is that they should be known all over the world as the most modest of women in dress and deportment, even as they are now distinguished for wit, elegance, patriotism and innate purity of character. Let the women of other countries belie themselves if they will, by a mode of attire which is in direct opposition to the dictates of their natural modesty, but let ours set a bright example in this respect to the world, and then, indeed, the nations shall rise up and proclaim the American women blessed!--HOWARD GLYDON, in Packard's Monthly for September.

Massachusetts and Pennsylvania
(Column 01)

Summary: The editors assert that all political questions surrounding the 14th and 15th amendments are settled and Democrats will no longer be able to appeal to racism in attempts to secure election.

Full Text of Article:

The negro still lives, but the "nigger," if not totally defunct, is in the very last stage of dissolution. The progress of the disease, which years ago claimed this extraordinary creation of the Democratic party for its own, was sometimes rapid, and its victim experienced keen and intense suffering. Indeed seldom was its journey to the grave so calm and placid as to be typified by the poet's beautifully expressed idea of a peaceful death: "So sinks the weary day to rest."

But it is not the history of its lingering disease, nor the cruel treatment it suffered at the hands of its unnatural parents, that we wish to trace, though we feel the fascinating influence of the subject. We desire to note the twofold fact that the severest tortures inflicted upon it by its parents no longer produce any sign of animation, and that even they are reluctantly beginning to realize that life is extinct. The fact of its death, as was natural, was first discovered by those who most desired to lengthen its days. The Democracy of the South were the first to realize and appreciate it. After repeated and expensive efforts to vitalize the dead corpse, all of which were fruitless, they abandoned it and announced to their friends in the North that though the negro flourished and grew like a green bay tree, the nigger was as dead as a door nail, or a coffin nail, if one nail can be deader than another. Proverbially slow to believe anything but falsehood, the Democracy of the North gathered the loathsome carcass in their arms, declared that it still breathed, though all others knew that it only stank, and made the memorable Presidential campaign of 1868. The over whelming defeat which followed led the most intelligent to doubt the dogma of their party, that the "nigger" can never die, and convinced them of the necessity of making a new departure in politics. It is perhaps needless to remark that these were not of the Pennsylvania Democracy, for though a whole year has elapsed they still cling to the polluting carcass, and asseverate louder than ever that it is in full life and vigor.

The Democracy of Massachusetts are first of that "slow to learn" party in the North who fully realize the total deadness of the nigger, and move forward to a platform which fully recognizes the existence of the negro in politics. More shrewd than their brethren of Pennsylvania, they see that the term "all men" is not limited in its meaning by the accident of a white cuticle, and that Equality of Rights does not end where a black skin begins; and they see it because the progress of events points to it, and not because of the inherent truth of the proposition.

At their State Convention on the 24th day of August, they nominated John Quincy Adams as their candidate for Governor, as they had done several times before, and resolved the following resolution:

"We deem it a political duty to acquiesce in settled results and postpone fruitless opposition to the accomplished facts of yesterday, in order to secure effective action upon the pressing problems of to day."

In response to his nomination, and in the spirit of the resolution above, he thus cut the cords which bound his party to the dead nigger:

"In my judgment our defeat in the last election substantially settled the reconstruction and negro suffrage controversy. Much as we may dislike the decision, there is no way short of revolution by which it can be reversed, certainly for four, and considering the complexion of the Senate of the United States, now the affective government of the country, probably not for ten years at least. This insures, at any rate, a fair trial of universal unqualified suffrage at the South, and even when its failure is ascertained, it is probable that all moderate men will agree that no sweeping measure of disfranchisement would be expedient. The barbarian ballot, then, should be regarded by a wise party as no longer a legitimate subject of discussion. It has passed from the realm of debatable questions and should now be classed in the category of facts. Arguments for and against its adoption were admissable last autumn, but now they are out of place; we cannot abrogate or abolish it: we must accept it as one of the elements in the problem offered for our solution, and address ourselves to that as affected by this inseparable modification."

Here, then, for Massachusetts at least, the era of the nigger ends and that of the negro begins. John Quincy Adams, by virute of his place on the Democratic ticket, and the authority of the State Convention, pronounced in its resolution, politely touches his aristocratic hat to "our colored fellow-citizens," and kicks the dead nigger out of politics.

The New York World in plain language advises the Democracy of that State to fall in and muster under the same banner. It says:

"Just in proportion as Democrats adopt his advice, will Republicans be persuaded by his arguments. The Democrats of Massachsetts have adopted this advice by their unanimity in his nomination; for the opinions expressed in his speech were well known to be his before the delegates to the convention were chosen. It may indeed be said, and said with truth, that the whole Democratic party in other States does not yet accept all the positions of Mr. Adams respecting obsolete questions; but it is equally true they are fast coming to his conclusions. It is not to be expected that old Democrats in other State, whose antecedents differ from those of Mr. Adams, will be very forward to proclaim that certain questions are finally decided; but it will be seen more and more, those questions are carefully let alone, and that the whole stress and emphasis of Democratic controversy is given to financial and other living issues."

All this seems very plain, and excellent advice, but there is hardness of head peculiar to the Democracy of Pennsylvania, which renders them impervious to any progressive idea. To them the nigger is still living and active. In their late Convention they fully declared this belief in the follwoing resolution.

"That the Democratic party of Pennsylvania is opposed to conferring upon the negro the right to vote, and we do emphatically deny that there is any right or power in Congress or elsewhere to impose negro suffrage upon the people of this State in opposition to their will."

From this position the Democracy of this State cannot be driven, until some day they will open their eyes and discover that even here the negroes have ballots in their hands and are using them. Then a change will come over the spirit of their dream, the burden of the nigger will drop from their shoulders, the hatred of the negro race will be banished from their hearts, the odious and insolent terms which they have applied to the despised race, which had given its origin in the monkey and chimpanzee, will give place to the smooth, and gentle, and suppliant phrases of the beggar of votes. Ballots, whether white or black, are the emblems of power, and before a black ballot Democratic office seekers will "crook the pregnant hinges of the knee" with as much ease and facility as if the holder thereof had through all the ages been a "man and brother." We would not be astonished if, then, they clearly and conclusively proved that the original Democrat had been a full blooded negro, and that all Democrats since, had been more or less negroes.

The Gettysburg Reunion
(Column 02)

Summary: The paper is disgusted with the commercialism that surrounded the recent reunion at Gettysburg, especially the blatant efforts to promote the Katalasyne Springs. The editors criticize a dance ball that was held at the battlefield, and denounce the deterioration of efforts to preserve the battlefield into crass money-making ventures.

Full Text of Article:

The re-union of officers who participated in the battle of Gettysburg, was by no means a success. When it was first spoken of we thought the object was good, and that it should be encouraged. Further developments indicated that the real intention was not so much to mark the different points of interest on that battle field, where fell so many of America's bravest and noblest sons, as to advertise the wonderful Katalysine Springs, and make them a profitable speculation. Last week's REPOSITORY referred to this matter, and the reports of what has really occurred have more than justified its position. There was not a despatch sent in relation to the proceedings of this re-union, in which the hotel or springs were not brought before the notice of the public. But few, very few, of the distinguished Generals who won for themselves honor, and for their country victory, in July, 1863, were present. They all hold in sacred memory the courage and patriotism of the brave soldiers and officers who nobly laid down their lives in their efforts to hurl the army of treason Southward, and therefore do not desire to countenance this effort to coin money off the resting places of their dead comrades.

The Compiler says the "'promised' reception was a failure," and the Star and Sentinel remarks that "the efforts to secure the attendance of prominent rebel officers proved a miserable failure." There were but two rebel officers present, and worse than that, Gen. Lee and others in replying to the letters of invitation which had been sent them "snubbed" the Memorial Association. The next time the virtues of the water that remained hidden until recently, are to be announced, let them not be mentioned in connection with the graves of the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac. Let the managers of this association take warning from this lesson. Cemeteries and grave yards are not the places for carousing, dancing and mirth. They are solemn cities of the dead, where repose the remains of many a fond husband, or affectionate son or darling brother, and outside of the stockholders of the Katalysine Springs Company, there is no man who is not indignant at the course pursued by those who were so forgetful of that which respect for the feelings of others demands. Gettysburg Battlefield belongs to no association, to no particular men, but it is the property of the whole American people, and they will not suffer searchers after temporary notoriety, or those whose sole ambition is accumulation of money, regardless of the means by which they attain it, to rob them of what is theirs.

The REPOSITORY does not stand alone in condemning this movement. All the best papers of the country, regardless of party, have denounced it.

The Tribune says:

It may not be inappropriate just here to recall the fact that the movement now making to preserve the battle field is most anomalous. Possibly some, to whom the war was too short for the illustration of genius, desire to correct history and send their names down to posterity coupled with great deeds of valor that might have been performed. But whatever the motive, it is certain that there is being erected on this great field, not such a memorial as those who wish prosperity and peace to their country would desire. The most interested in the affair are gentlemen identified with certain money making projects in this vicinity whose investments require more than ordinary watering to insure profitable returns. This may not be considered a very flattering commentary upon American patriotism, but it is nevertheless true, and the record of the fact is but due as an indication that the race is not wholly given to sordid impulses.

And thus the absence of such men as here become famous by their deeds of heroism in the civil war, now happily ended, becomes more noticeable.

The New York Sun remarks:

A great deal is saying in the newspapers and elsewhere about the survey now going on of the Gettysburg battlefield. Some denounce the work as an attempt to perpetuate the memories which had better be allowed to die out, while others commend it as noble and patriotic. The fact is that those who have got up the enterprise have no other motive at heart than the good of the hotels of Gettysburg. It is a watering place advertising expedient, and the more it is talked about, either favorably or unfavorably, the better it will succeed, and the better it will be for the landlords' pockets. The real heroes of the battle on both sides have no interest in it; historically it is of no value; and when it has served its temporary purpose, we presume it will never be again heard of.

And as if fully determined to try to the greatest extent the feelings of those whose friends lie buried in those grounds, this Memorial Association must needs have a dance on this occasion. We will not mention the names of the officers who were prominent movers in this festival, for reflection will satisfy them that they committed a great mistake, when they appeared on the floor of a ball room at such a time.

The Philadelphia Bulletin calls it the "Grave Yard Dance," and observes:

"Union loss, killed, 2,834, wounded, 13,733; missing 6,643. Rebel loss, killed and wounded, 16,379." So ran the news from Gettysburg, when the terrible Three Days of July came to be summed up. "The ball opened at 9:30.

"The ladies are handsomely, though by no means extravagantly, dressed. All of the most distinguished here are present. None of the generals are in uniform. The candles occasionally drop, to the ruin of silk and broad-cloth, and the ball may be called a success from the mere novelty of all its belongings."

So runs the news from Gettysburg to-day. What a delightful place for a dance! We trust that it is not as dry as the neighborhood of the Gettysburg Springs Hotel as it is in Philadelphia, for it would not have been pleasant to have the dust of that field blowing in at the open windows of the ball-room. The nimble feet of the dancers were probably too light to wake any of the out door sleepers for whom "there was no place at the inn." This Terpsichorean re-dedication of the National Grave Yard only disturbs the living. The dead sleep well. They laid down six years ago, in terrible earnest, and their rest is long and sweet. They cannot distinguish between the graceful galop of last night, and the wild gallop of the light artillery; the airy evolutions of "Les Lanciers" and the fierce sweep of the Sixth Cavalry are both one to those quiet men. Thank God! the Grave Yard Dance does not shake their uncoffined beds.

Brave Reynolds and his comrades were not at the Gettysburg hop, last night. The hour did not suit them. They take their exercise and celebrate their Gettysburg festivities somewhat later than 9:30.

There is something in the idea of a dance on the field of Gettysburg, which will not effect all people precisely alike. Pennsylvania could scarcely send her four thousand soldiers' orphans, to enjoy a pic-nic, on that ground; and in the invitations to the hop would not have been welcome messages at the thousands of firesides forever vacated and desolate since those bloody Three Days mad Gettysburg famous. Gettysburg belongs rather to the dead than to the living, and "it is for us, the living, to be dedicated to the work that they so nobly carried on."

We honor the living soldiers of Gettysburg, but God forbid that we should ever forget the dead ones! We esteem very highly many of the brave men who are now assembled on that bloody battle field. We are glad that their company is unmixed with the rebels and traitors who were so mistakenly bidden to this gathering; but we do not like dancing so near the graves of Gettysburg.

We hope this will be the last time that Pennsylvania will be humbled by the avariciousness of the friends and managers of one of the greatest humbugs of this century, the Katalasyne Springs.

Republican Economy
(Column 03)

Summary: The paper celebrates the news that Gov. Geary's administration is meeting state debts faster than they mature. The editors asserts that taxpayers will heed these facts more closely than they will listen to the alarmism of Democrats. The paper argues that such good news hurts Democratic chances since voters will not want a return to ruinous financial policies.

Who Pays the Piper
(Column 03)

Summary: The paper challenges Democratic claims that Asa Packer's wealth demonstrates his shrewdness with money and makes him a good candidate for office. The editors charge that Packer raised rates on coal tonnage on the Lehigh Valley Railroad in order to fund a $100,000 donation to the Democratic State Committee. "The additional tonnage, which must be paid by the consumers, who are chiefly poor and laboring men, will make up that $100,000 and Packer will have the credit of furnishing it. It is not surprising that the man who can manage to make the consumers of coal pay the expenses of electing him Governor should have accumulated a fortune."

[No Title]
(Column 03)

Summary: The paper attempts to alert Republicans to the importance of the coming election by warning of the diasters that would attend Democratic rule. They charge that Democrats value the good of the party over the good of the country and point to disloyalty during the war as proof.

Full Text of Article:

We would like to see our friends more alive to the issues of the present canvass. Its importance cannot well be overestimated. The result would be a sad one for our State, should its management pass into the hands of a party, all of whose purposes are simply the promotion of the interests of party. Our opponents see nothing beyond their party. The public welfare is a secondary consideration, if a consideration at all. Throughout the war, they watched its varying fortunes with an anxiety only for their organization. Having inaugurated the rebellion, having constituted the armies of the rebellion, having sympathized openly with its cause, they knew its overthrow would be the death knell of their political hopes. And so they kept up their organization against the active prosecution of the war, discredited the men and measures employed in its conduct, and longed for its dishonorable termination. No sooner had their pet confederacy fallen, than they addressed themselves to preventing the restoration of peace and concord. They persuaded the subdued rebels to resist the attempts at peaceful reconstruction. They led a seduced and wicked Executive into measures as dangerous to the welfare of the nation as open warfare. They would have invited a war of races which, they were always predicting, would have rendered our currency utterly worthless, and now would repudiate our debt, all for party ascendency. According to their conceptions government is a machinery for the support of what they call the Democratic party, and should it pass into their hands for this miserable end only would they administer it. Progress would be arrested, reforms retarded, humanity disregarded, the palmy days of the republic as they see them in the fatal years of Buchanan's rule, would be their polar star, and the sunlight of the republic would go back more than ten degress in the dial of civilization. For this end they select most willing instruments. Such candidates as Seymour, Vallandigham, Pendleton, Sharswood, Thompson they select for their purposes. In their pending canvass they present a millionaire whose fitness for the nomination is his supposed ability to buy his way to power, and such a man as Pershing, who has no fitness of any kind but a willingness to give a majority vote to the party decisions of unscrupulous judges whose law is the will of a party. The Commonwealth would become a pasture field for the battening of Democratic politicians.

The loss of Pennsylvania would not affect her own interests merely. It would be felt balefully over the whole country. It would assist in putting the control of the country in the hands of the men who sought to destroy it. They would become our masters. The living patriots who saved the nation and republican forms of government would be disgraced, and the memories of the dead who gave their precious lives in her defence would be dishonored. Let not our apathy assist their depravity.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: Theodore M'Gowan announces that the Union Republican County Committee will meet at the office of the chairman on September 4th.
(Names in announcement: Theodore M'Gowan, John Carl, J. S. Eby, William Murray, Charles Weitzell, W. A. Mackey, John C. Brown, J. A. Miller, Andrew Statler, J. D. Walck, J. R. Weidner, Daniel Detrich, Samuel Taylor, George A. Miller, J. L. Ritchie, Daniel Keefer, George W. Smith, J. B. Cook, T. E. Fuller, E. M. McVitty, William T. Graham, E. W. Washabaugh, S. M. Bowles)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: Jacob Hollinger's steam flour mill in Mercersburg was destroyed in a fire on August 25th. Hollinger sustained an estimated $12,000-$15,000 loss. He holds a $6,000 policy with the Franklin County Mutual Insurance Company to help cover the loss.
(Names in announcement: Jacob Hollinger)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The first annual reunion of the 77th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers will be held in Pittsburgh. Col. Fred Pyfer will lead the musical portion of the entertainments. "We hope the next re-union of these gallant men will take place in Chambersburg. This regiment was organized here and some of its best officers and men were from Franklin county. We feel confident that our citizens will take pleasure in extending the hospitalities of the town to the surviving soldiers of one of the bravest Pennsylvania regiments."

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper reports that a man who lives on Douglas Row returned home in a state of intoxication, aroused the whole neighborhood, and abused his "industrious" wife who defended herself with a broomstick. He was not arrested because an existing law makes the procedure very difficult. A justice would have to take him to his office, then go for a constable, and finally procure a "respectable citizen" to serve as a witness before arresting the culprit. The paper denounces the complicated procedure.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The third week of court terminated on Friday with a decision in the case of Bitner vs. Bitner. The court decided against the contested will and in favor of the defendents who were trying to break it. A motion was made for a new trial.

Farm Sold
(Column 01)

Summary: J. W. Deal sold his farm to Frederick Byers for $10,500.
(Names in announcement: J. W. Deal, Frederick Byers)

The Approaching Fair
(Column 02)

Summary: The Franklin County Agricultural Fair will be held in Chambersburg October 5th-8th. The paper urges enthusiastic preparation.

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: The Democratic County Convention met at the Court House yesterday. Col. James B. Orr of Orrstown was elected president; Lee Sanders of Washington and Jacob Elliott of Welsh Run, vice presidents; and O. C. Bowers of St. Thomas and John D. DeGolly of Greencastle, secretaries. The paper reports that the proceedings "were by no means harmonious."
(Names in announcement: Col. James B. Orr, Lee Sanders, Jacob Elliott, O. C. Bowers, John D. DeGolly)

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: John A. McGinley, who has been teaching for the past year at the Chambersburg Academy, sailed for Europe on August 28th.
(Names in announcement: John A. McGinley)

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: A. K. Oswald of Mechanicsburg has been elected by the directors of the Chambersburg National Bank to replace Charles H. Taylor as teller of that institution.
(Names in announcement: A. K. Oswald, Charles H. Taylor)

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: The members of the new Lodge of Free Masons in Greencastle recently elected officers.
(Names in announcement: William Adams, A. F. Schafhirt, B. F. Winger, Joseph A. Davison, J. R. Smith)

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: Officer Houser arrested Nancy Adams for beating, biting, and threatening to kill Amanda Tucker. Both are inhabitants of Wolfstown.
(Names in announcement: Officer Houser, Nancy Adams, Amanda Tucker)

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: The Rev. W. G. Hawkins will open the Chambersburg Female Seminary on September 8th on the lower floor of the Episcopal Parsonage.
(Names in announcement: Rev. W. G. Hawkins)

[No Title]
(Column 02)

Summary: Gilbert and Co. are manufacturing cider mills and grain drills at their foundry and machine shop in Chambersburg.
(Names in announcement: Gilbert)

Died
(Column 03)

Summary: Charley Smith Dickey, son of Seth Dickey, died near Mercersburg on August 22nd. He was 1 year old.
(Names in announcement: Charley Smith Dickey, Seth Dickey)

Died
(Column 03)

Summary: John Sites died in Antrim on August 25th. He was 81 years old.
(Names in announcement: John Sites)