Harper’s Weekly – January 16, 1858

Harper's Weekly archives ^ | 1/16/1858

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1855-1860: Seminar and Discussion Forum
Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, Lincoln-Douglas, Harper’s Ferry, the election of 1860, secession – all the events leading up to the Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: Sometime in the future.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed. To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.

Link to previous thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

A Morning at a Fashionable Church – 1-3
Publishers’ Card – 2
Our Means and Our Liabilities – 3
Governor King on Banking – 3
The End of Walker – 3-4
A Lost Fragment of a Gubernatorial Message – 4
The New U.S. District-Attorney – 4
Bribery of the Press – 4
Prospects of the Trade in Breadstuffs – 4
The Lounger – 4-6
Bohemian Walks and Talks – 6
Dogographs – 7-8
Travel Notes in Bible Lands – 9-11
Miscellany – 12-13

[Larry Lucido]

I saw “General Walker” and “arrest” so I looked up “Arrest of General Walker.” I got “General Edwin Walker” as the first result, who I just now learned was “the target of an assassination attempt in his home on April 10, 1963” by none other than Lee Harvey Oswald. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Walker

I believe the General Walker in the above article is this one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Walker_(filibuster)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

That link doesn't work for me. You are correct. William Walker has been reported in Harper's Magazine current events for quite a while. Maybe the link will work better with html formatting.

William Walker Wikipedia page

[Larry Lucido]

Thanks. I must have missed some characters in the cut-and-paste.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Same thing happened to me when I tried to just cut and paste the url address without html.

[Tax-chick]

The “Fashionable Church” column was very amusing. I was puzzled, though, by the point of the cartoon on page 15, the woman and her servant “James.”

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I’m afraid they lost me on that one, also.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

[Continued from January 11 (reply #6). ]

January 18. William Aspinwall’s alleged Murillo is at Williams & Stevens’. I doubt its authenticity, and can’t detect its $12,000 worth of merit. What do they mean by calling it an “Immaculate Conception,” and are there any paintings so styled? I suppose it to be an Assumption, and am confirmed therein by Kosciusko Armstrong, who ought to know.

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

Bartolome Esteban Murillo painted several versions of the Immaculate Conception, but I happen to know that the one below is the one that William Henry Aspinwall has in his collection (a recreation of it will appear in the Harper’s Weekly of January 30). I understand Mr. Strong’s skepticism about the name of the painting. I would have called it an Assumption myself if I saw it without the explanation.

[Tax-chick]

I’ve always disliked those obese baby “angels.” There is nothing in the Bible that remotely suggests such an appearance for angels.

Maybe it’s a psychological reaction to the high infant mortality rate.

[Jim W N]

Assumption

The "assumption" assumes A LOT...

[Homer_J_Simpson]

The "assumption" assumes A LOT...

Which we celebrate in August when the Feast of the Assumption comes around.

[Jim W N]

Not really Biblical, but a good excuse for a party I suppose.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

[Continued from January 18 (reply #9).]

January 22, FRIDAY. Heard The Barber of Seville refreshingly sung Tuesday night; Formes* superb as Don Basilio. Visit with Jones Rogers at his mamma’s in Fifth Avenue to inspect that lady’s aquaria, the finest in stock and condition that I’ve seen; especially strong in Actiniae.

* Karl Johannes Formes (1816-1889), German singer.

The Diary of George Templeton Strong, Edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas

[iowamark]

What do you think of Mr. Strong? He seems like a very well intentioned gentlemen. At times, he also seems like an arrogant jerk. I suppose that he was writing this diary for his own recollection, not for publication, so that determines the tone.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I believe (as do the editors) that his intended audience for the diary was not yet born in his time. As the editors say in the preface, the "diary contained much that would have forbidden its uncensored publication in 1875, the year of his death."

After following his writing for two years, now, I can say I frankly admire George Strong. He was a great family man. He obviously believed he had a duty to serve his fellow New Yorkers and Americans. That I base on his generous service to Trinity Church, Columbia College, and later, to the sanitation service during the Civil War. He had an energetic curiosity about the world around him and tried to keep abreast of developments in science, technology and the arts. He had a keen sense of humor, which was generally self-deprecating when he included himself in his jests. Yes, he was predisposed against many minority groups (the editors list them: "Yankees, Negroes, Southern rebels, Britons, Irishmen, Frenchmen" also, on occasion, "conservative Columbia trustees, Roman Catholics, Low-Church Episcopalians, Jews Unitarians, Presbyterians, and other sects")

Well, nobody's perfect. Taking it all together I would have been happy to count him as a friend had I lived in his time.

[colorado tanker]

I am also an admirer of Mr. Strong. We should not fall into the error of which I often accuse my liberal friends, of historical anachronism. It seems to me he reflects the attitudes and biases of his class in that day. That said, I agree with Homer that he was very civic minded and family oriented. He was clearly in love with his wife and great friends with his in-laws.