CONCERNING SKUNKS.
There are moro good things to cat in
heaven and earth than are dreamed of in
our household philosophy. There is a
pretty little black and white animal ,
which children on farms are early taught
to avoid , because he is not a kitten , and
does not like to play with little girls and
boys. Ho is quite common in all parts
of America : there is au amiable young
dog not a very largo dog who lives
near the Junction across the river , and
likes to meet trains and have fun with
waiting passengers who has a mortuary
record among the neighboring skunks
almost equal to that of Saul and David
of old among the Philistines : though it
docs not appear by his countenance.
This little animal is a Simon-pure
American , according to his specific title ,
for when ho is called by his right name
he is Mephitis Americauus. There is no
doubt a reason for this , but it is hidden
deep in the plan of things : one does
not see why all the nations of the earth
should not bo equally blest in him ,
though it is perhaps no more than jiist
that the seed of Abraham should bo ex
empt.
Now it seems that the Westerners of
the early day ate skunks , and not as a
matter of necessity , but as a privilege
and from choice. It is well known that
meat was meat to the mountaineer when
times wore hard ; some of the expedients
for the maintenance of life that are told
of by the fathers , and others that are
hinted at , are too horrible to think of ;
but when they could get skunk they
were glad , and forsook even the savory
buffalo. A generation that can never
by any possibility learn the flavor of
hump and marrow-bones by experience ,
listens with respect to the hymn in
praise of buffalo-meat chanted by the
full congregation of its predecessors ,
and is willing to believe that no finer
food was over placed in the hands of his
children by a benevolent creator. But
from those of the pioneers who go
further into particulars we learn that
there were heights of plains gastronomy
far above buffalo. Not cannibalism , no ;
man-meat , we are told , was tough and
rather flavorless : but both the dog and
the skunk were placed well beyond
buffalo , while the pinnacle of all eating
was the flesh of the panther or moun
tain-lion.
To adhere to our text , wo may quote the
verdict of two scientists : Dr. Edwin
James , going out with Major Long in
1820 , says :
"Tho flesh of the skunk we had some
times dressed for dinner , and found it a
remarkably rioh and delicate food. "
And Say , the zoologist , in coming
down the Arkansas with Captain Bell
that same year , tells in one place how
their hunter "to our great satisfaction
returned with a skunk , that he had for
tunately killed. This we determined to
preserve fora feast tomorrow. "
The distinguished "Washington Irving
ventured upon the Kansas prairies in
1882 , when ho was 49 years of ago and
perhaps past the learning of now tricks ;
or ho may have been of the race of
ihoso who will not eat rabbit because it
reminds them of cat. Two hunters of
the expedition of which "Washington
was not iu command one day captured
a skunk ; which "mortified" the great
author very much. "I insisted upon
their abandoning their prize and re
suming their march. One complied , with
a discontented air ; the other consoled
himself by vociferous eulogies on the
richness and delicacy of a roasted polecat -
cat , which ho swore was considered the
daintiest of dishes by all experienced
Indian gourmands. It was with
difficulty I could silence his loquacity
by repeated and peremptory commands. "
The discontented one , who said nothing ,
acted the moro : presently "I had the
vexation to see the carcass of his prize ,
stripped of its skin and looking like a
fat sucking-pig , dangling behind his
saddle. I made a solemn vow , however ,
in secret , that our fire should not be
disgraced by the cooking of that pole
cat. " In camp , therefore , he pried
about until he found it , when he says :
"I could not resist the temptation to
plump it into the river , where it sank to
the bottom like a lump of lead : and thus
our lodge was relieved from the bad
odour which this savory viand had
threatened to bring upon it. "
For this Mr. Irving was derided by
Dan Josiah Gregg , the author of "Com
merce of the Prairies , " who says the
flesh of the animal in question is fine
and of exquisite relish.
A moro recent writer , of the age of
canned corned-beef , overpasses this side
of the skunk question , but says they are
nice little beasts , incapable of giving
offense to the most fastidious , save in
moments of agitation : and that by proper
early education , mostly of a surgical
nature , the last possible objection to
them can bo removed. The skunk may ,
therefore , have a future before it ,
capable of making us forgot all that lies
behind. A. T. R.
THE HONOR OF THE NATION.
Whether or not the ultimatum of
congress to Cuba can be reconciled witl
the famous Teller resolution , by whicl
the United States declared its intentions
to the world on the outbreak of the wai
with Spain , is not the question that just
now we propose to discuss ; but wo wisl :
to call attention to the morality of the
position taken by those who , after ad
mitting that reconciliation between the
pledge and a proposed policy is difficult
maintain that wo are justified iu break
ing that pledge. We could fill many
columns with the declarations of lead
ing men and journals to the effect thai
since it turns out that , in their opinion
that pledge is disadvantageous to the
country , we are justified in disregard
ing it.
No Christian man ought to hesitate
'or a moment in his emphatic denunoia-
; ion of this doctrine. It is about as
demoralizing as any that could bo con
ceived. The word of an individual or
of a nation should bo the most sacred
thing on earth to it. The honest man is
described in the Scriptures as "he that
sweareth to his own hurt and changeth
not. " And the more the keeping of his
pledge is hurtful to him , the more punc
tiliously ho keeps it. Ho stands by his
promise ; ho simply keeps it without
whining ; ho does as he said he would do.
And the moral law for a nation is not
different than for an individual. The
man who breaks his word is disgraced ,
and the nation that is false to its pledges
is disgraced.
Granted that this Cuban pledge was
uuwiso ; that it is disadvantageous ; that
it was made in a moment of generous
impulse from which wo have receded.
It was made. There it is in black and
white. Let us keep it in a sense that
needs no explanation. Let us keep it in
a sense that the average man , unskilled
in technical subterfuges , may say of it :
"We did exactly what wo said we would"
do. Wo saw that it was unwise , but we
had passed our word , and wo did exact
ly what wo said wo would do. "
Action like that on the part of the
United States States would bo the most
direct contribution we can think of that
the American people could make to the
cause of national and international
morality. The adoption of such a course
would bo tonic to the personal life of
every citizen , and it would reflect a
lustre on the American name that would
make any victory in arms look mean and
cheap in comparison with it. Boston
Watchman ( Baptist ) .
If an act of the American congress
means anything , and the English
language conveys ideas , the war against
Spain was waged on the ground that
Cuba ought to bo free and independent ,
and that her independence was the end
and purpose of the war. Our beuevo-
leuco in thus tailing up arms for an op
pressed little people was so unusual that
it awakened doubt iu the Old World.
There were many sneers and many
prophecies of developments later on
which would reveal a hypocritical pre
tence. But wo went forward with con
siderable confidence in our good inten
tions. Wo felt something almost like
pity for an Old World which was so
steeped in selfishness that it coiild not
understand how mco and philanthropic
a people wo were.
That the present situation is causing
deep concern in the minds of many good
people for the honor of their coimtry
need hardly bo said. Three years ago
we said that Cuba ought to be free and
independent , now wo establish a suzer
ainty over it. To argue that the Cubans
are not fit to govern themselves will not
do , because we made their fitness for in
dependence our justification for the
war against Spain ; and our govern
ment proclaimed its recognition of this
fitness when it called the constitutional
convention. Wo have really closed the
case against ourselves. If the Cubans
refuse to submit to this protectorate , and
we make war upon them to compel sub
mission , will wo not be doing just what
Spain was doing , that is , killing Cubans
because they want to bo independent ?
It is a crisis which involves the honor
of the nation , a question of repudiating
our profession and promises , or making
them good. Did the Old World under
stand us three years ago hotter than we
understood ourselves ? We are not
willing as yet to concede it. Chicago
Advance ( Gongregatioualist ) .
