A HUGE FOOLING.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1169, 25 July 1884, Page 3

A HUGE FOOLING.

In tho New York Tribune of the 6th of Api ll appeared vvli.it pu parted t-. bo tho tii at of a suries of papers by Mr Matth nv Arnold, embodying some of Ilia impressions of American life. Tt was professedly o .piod from the Pall Mall Journal of the diy pre vious—to have hia le ic'iho tirat of April might have aroused suspicion—and it apEeaied to have been telegraphed from london. I*- was a reasonably fair imitation of the essayist’s literary stylo and reflected, in no very complimentary terms, upon tho people of Oh'cage. For, while crediting them with a certain assumption of culture, teat culture was declare I to be the mere superficial varnisn of a solid basis of Philistinism. The ole gy were represented as dispensing from their pulpits “ a weekly modicum of diluted moralities,” and the laity as ponding on tho subject of pork and grain during ch dr hours of devotion Chicago society was described as being largely composed of' mere irs, ironmongers, an I packers of the products of hog i. People knew nothing of Mr Herbert Spencer, and bad not read “Obermam.” They were destitute of sweetu-as and light, and were living so much in the flesh that it would be a long time before they came to life in the spiri . Th-ir attitune towards culture was one of patronage, and all they co sidered n edful to be dime in that respect was to build costly chapels, to purchase expensive pictures, and to make the concert and opera places a fashionable resort. H If a bombshell had fallen in the midst of Chicago it could not have occasioned greater commotion than was excited by the appearance of this bogus article. The papers opened fire on its putative author without a moment's reflection. The local Tribune assailed Mr Mathew Arnold as “a very mean man,” destitute of both sweetness and light, malicious, vindictive, greedy after money, a Philistine among Philistines, and a professional failure. _ The Inter Ocean asserted that “no British hog ever showed the bristles next his natural skin more emphatically than that gawk and literary dude, Mathew Arnold.” He had been the dullest and dreariest of lecturers, and not having earned so much money as he expected was “ disgruntle i,” aud had proceeded to “ rub his sores in public ” As to the Jou i nal, it took Mr Arnold to task for his disgusting self conceit and egotism,” and asserted that he is destitute of the first and best elements of genuine culture. -The Chicago Times admitted that their visitor had been unjust to the intelligent portion of society, but was rather disposed to make merrv over the chargin of “a few toadies who obtruded themselves upon him as representatives of the city’s best culture.” Then tiie interviewers were set at’work, and General M’Glaig, at whose house Mr Arnold was a guest for ten days, was waited upon, and unbosomed himself. ffia office, he said, had been thronged all day by people who condemned the article as utterly unpardonable, and written in the worst possible caste. He could scarcely believe that his guest would have so insulted a whole city, ra ire especial y as he had deprecated anything of -he kind very strongly at the general’s own table. Then the correspondents began to give vent to their outraged fel lings as private citizens, and one of (hem, I glowing with nnligiia. ion, asked the men of ! Chicago, in resent.ul accents, “Have we nourished a viper? .Evidently the little , appreciation felt in this country for Mr Arnold as a 1- cturer.and the criticism which our Press has passed upon him, has cm bittered that sweet soul and tarnished that lustrous eye.” Other papers in Illinois and in the neigh- ! boring States took up the parable, aud the Syracuse . Standard suggested that Mr ■ nioi.i was a snob or a cad; wnile the Buffalo Express recommended him to visit Ost.kosh (the American Gotham) before proceeding to sit on the country iu any wholesale way. And then tho awful suspicion dawned on the minds of some of the irate editois that they had been imposed upon. The Utica Herald recalled to their ; recollection how a j mad wag, about ten 1 years previously, had invented the story of the “ Brazilian Diamond Wedding,” how it had travelled through the Union ; as a record of actual facts, and how tho | mythical owner of boundless wealth had caused myriads of begg’og letters to be sent through the post beseeching him to scatter on the writers soma of r.h ■ superflux of his enormous treasure. 1c was also lemembered that an ex-journalist of Chicago had once written and published ,a letter, to which he had attached the name of Thomas Carlyle, declining the offer of an honorary degree from Harvard College, in such excellent Carlyleae that everybody was taken in by it. And thereupon tho victims of the Mathew Arnold hoax began to tear their hair and indulge iu strong language, “swearing at large” with an emphasis that must have shocked more deco ous people, and protesting with much angry vehemence that “a more impudent, unskilful, and feeble literary fraud was never perpetrated.” Peeble it may have been, but it so, there must have been a good deal of intellectual feebleness upon the part of theM tc ho- were deceived by it. The bait was sufficiently transparent to enable a kceen pair of eyes to see the hook inside it; but in was nevertheless swallowed without even a preliminary nibble ; and the gohemouches made very wry faces when they were caught and landed. “Gan it be that it was ail a hoax ? ” asks the Buffalo Express, hefo e Mr Arnold had been ielegraphod to, and had replied disclaiming all knowledge of the article. “For, if so, Chicago has wasted a lot of Billingsgate that might have better served a better ooca seen.” Indeed, those who have been assailing the apostle of sweetness and light with rhetoricle missiles that were both heavy and unsavory, must now feel that it was a thousand pities to dissipate so much serviceable ammunition on the eve of a Presidential campaign. They will require all the vitune rative epithets they can lay their hands on to hurl at thejcandirlate they oppose ; and they must also he conscious that they have made themselves the laughing-stocks of their fellow citizens in all partt of the Union. This is the most irritating part of the whole husshv ss, and we shi uhl think it will suggest considerable circumspection for the time to come in dealing with articles purporting to h->ve appeared in the Pall Mall Journal so shortly after April Fool’s Day. The moral of this diverting story has been summed up with humorous conciseness by the • Milwaukee S utinel, in the following words : “The things Mathew Arnold was charged with saying about Ohica.o people he never said ; hut the Chicago people did say the things they are charged with saying about Mathew Arnold. Mathew mav forgive them, but they will never get done kicking themselves.”—Argm.

Don't Die in- the House.— “ Rough on Rats” clears out ra's, mic •.beetles, roaches beddings, flies, ants, ins'ets, moles, jack rabbits, gophers Moses Moss k Co. Sydney, Genera Agents. Mr Justice Chitty has decided that a wife who has quarrelled with her husband has a legal right to turn him out of doors, if the house in which they live happens to belong to her. In this respect a wife has the advantage of the husband, for no man has a right to turn his wife out of doors simply on account of a quarrel.

PAWNING A PA llt OP TauUSd US FOB MB 1)101 «E.

J.IMES Frvncis lUmalaj Jims ill p.muicuv. ni, uunr Fimiyp ml, ..mnm ti.u-diiiv. Ho is now twenty-three ye irs of ago, iivi ,g with his motiier, a widow. Soma eleven years ago, than a more boy, he wont to work in the coal pit as a minor, in up ler to assist his in other in rearing ner fami y of litt'e children. Soon, however, tliu uttlo fellow broke down iu healtli ; Out the neces aities of die family seemed to require it, and he continued to ton iu the mines, suff.ringall the time from the effects of image.don, an agonising symptom being asthma, iu such a troublesome form that the boy was unable to lie in bed. Working thio i a the day, and resting a» nest he could .n 7 a arm-chair during the night, naturally uu er mined his con.tutiuii. Year by year ms health grew wmse and worse, until at last rheumatism came with ali its dreadful agony. One joint after another oi-came swollen and inflamed, so that he was Oblige ,tost ip work. Iu this sad plight the now young man was confined to the house for two umg years, suffering a 1 that n.oit.l could endure One payaieian after another was called upon to treat his complaint, but with no delictic for the poor fellow continued to grow worse and worse. Hoping to find some means of relief, a consi'ltadon of doctors was held, when it was de cidel that an organic disease of cue heart existed in an incurable form, and that medicat aid could not afford relief. He was .given up, to die. These years of expensive me tical treatment had exhausted the little sayings, of -the mo.her, and they had no money to buy eve., tuc necessaries of life. But a fond mother never gives up in despair. There was on spak of hope left. Someone had told her of a remedy that cured so many oases—even when as hopeless as this one seemed to be and the mother’s love wt-n out for her dear boy. But how to get tne medicine was the question. Their money was entirely gone the boy had a new puof trousers t >at he had been to ill to w* a-, and the mother reasoned within herself, “if the boy is to die he will not need them, so I may as well pledge them tor medicine with an effort to save nis life.” Strange as it may appear, the bottles of medicine procured at the chemist’s shop in Pontyiionl with the money obtained from the pawn broker i ffecte 1 a cure in this hopeless ease, which had been pronounced as incurable. But it is only just to say that if the chemist had known of the wants of the family the medicine could have been obtained without a visit to the pawnbroker. It is now nearly two years Since this took place, and young James Francis Thomas has been working in the coal-pit underground ever since, earning extra pay for over-work, which he ins' able to perform. Of course, he never had organic disea-e of the heart, as was supposed. Tae palpitadon, rheumatism, and asthma were symp oms of the real disease, which was dyspepsia, or indigestion, for which >he feme .y was specially adapted. Those who wish to communicate with this you .g man can write to him at the above address, and he will vouch for the curative properties of Seigel’s Syrup, the a tide that effected this almost miraculous cure. The following lettai is from a chemist, who thought ne following fact should he made known: “■Tames Francis Thomas, of Fontnewynydd. near Pontypool, age nudity-three, collier, MM3 ill for nine years, n able to do any work for three years, never lay down m bed for nine years, had t > sleep in a stooping posture, was treated by nearly all the- doctors for miles arum I wiio genera ly state i his complaint to he rheumatism ami heartdisease of a chronic na urc, and beyond all power to cure. When hope had nearly died 1 out, be was persuaded to try .Seigel’s Syrup ; | and, to the delight of his relatives and astoii- ! ishraent of his neighbouis after taking half ' a bottle lie could lie down in bed. After j taking one bottle he wont to wo k. Has now I taken two bottles, and on with the third, | and is now quite well and strong. His j mother is in raptures, and can talk of noth- I ingolse but this marvelous cure, and wishes ' me to make it known.” j

15th August, 18S3, Deir Sir, —I writ" to tell you that Mr Henry 11 ill i or, of Yateslmry. Wilts, informs me that he suffered from a seve e form of indigestion for upwards of four years, and took no end of doctors medicine without | the slightest benefit, and declares Mother Seifel’a Syrup which he got from me has saved his life. Yours truly, (signed) N. Webb Mr White. Chemist, Caine Seigel’s Operating Pills are the best family physic that has ever been discovered. They cleanse the bowels from all irritating substances, and leave them in a hea thy condition. They cure costiveness.