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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Sept. 3, 1859: Page 12

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Literature.

into an amount of expenditure which is not the least surprising part of the 'institution . ' The men—or 'boys , ' as they arc more commonly called—not only buy their own costume and accoutrements , and spend large sums in the ornamentation of their favourite engines , or hydrants , as already mentioned , but in the furnishing of their bunk rooms anel parlours at thc fire stations . Thc bunk or sleeping rooms , in which thc unmarried , and sometimes thc married , members pass the night , to bo ready for duton the first alarm for fireare lainland comfortabl

y , p y y furnished ; but the parlours are fitted up with a degree of luxury equal to that of the public rooms of the most celebrated hotels . At one of the central stations , ivhich I visited in company with an editor o £ a New York journal , thc Avails wore hung with portraits of AVashington , Franklin , Jefferson , Mason , and other founders of tho Republic ; the floor was covered with velvet pile carpeting , a noble chandelier hung from the centrethe crimson curtains were rich and heavywhile the

, , sideboard was spread AA'ith silver claret-jugs and pieces of plate presented by citizens whose houses and property had been preserved from five by tho exertions of the brigade , or by the fire companies of other cities , in testimony of their admiration for some particular act of gallantly or heroism ivhich the newspapers had recorded . "

Dr . Mackay also devotes a chapter to Americanisms , which throw some curious li ghts on the mutation of language . It must not be forgotten that the Puritan element had great and unbounded influence in thc early days of American colonization , and we accordingly find such words as " platform" and " exercised" in common use , as , for example , "Mr . was much exercised by an attack on him in a newspaper . " Some words in

use amongst us have had a characteristic impression made on them which alters the signification , such as " clever , " which is intended to mean amiable , and " amiable" to mean stupid ; but why "thin-skinned" means stingy , we are at a loss to account . There is a vigorous puritanical twang with " whole souled , " such as w-e occasionally meet ivith in the writings of tlie elder Puritans , Thomas Becon , and others . They have also a wordy

coinage of their own ivhich , if not alivay elegant , is often expressive—thus to "make a splurge "— "to honey-fugle "— "to lobby "—the "real grit "—to "foot a bill "—are ' phrases which almost explain themselves , while " go-a-headitive" and "declension "—a declension to a ball—arc nothing but clumsy solecisms . Although everyone who has read the Knickerbocker Alagazine must know the history of " Bunkum , '" yet wc hope it maybe new to others , as well as that of the term " Bogus , " Dr . Mackay gives the following derivations : —

' ¦ Buncombe , or Bunkum . —A diffuse and angry orator having made a somewhat irrational and very unnecessary speech in thc House of Representatives at AVashington , where nobody thought it worth while to contradict him , was afterwards asked by a friend who met him in Pennsylvania Avenue why he had made such a display . ' I was not speaking to tho house , ' he replied ; ' I was speaking to Buncombe '—a county or district by the majority of whose votes he had been elected . Hence Buncombeor Bunkumhas become a phrase in America—and to

, , some extent ill England also—to express that extra parliamentary oratory ivhieh appeals to the passions or prejudices of the outside people , or sections of the people , and not to the reason and sound sense of a deliberative assembly . Bogus , false , or sham ; said to bo derived from the name of a man notorious for issuing counterfeit notes . Hence ' bogus' news , a ' bogus ' meeting , a ' bogus' baby , a ' bogus' senator , a 'bogus' convention . "

A " dough-face" is a man of no opinion , but who can be readil y kneaded into any that is found desirable . "To be under thc weather , " is a very expressive phrase . But the great puzzle , of whicli the Americans are wonderfully proud , is , " a bunch of sprouts , " and as Dr . Mackay tells his story well , wc cannot do better than let him enli ghten us in his own words : — " An Englishman who had steamed down tho Mississippi ivith a

captain who was not' clover' in thc American sense of the word , seeing on his arrival at New Orleans , a great assembly of people at the leveic , aud hearing a great disturbance , asked the captain what was the matter . " ' Oh , nothing particular , ' said tho captain . ' It's only Jones , an editor , who has quarrelled Avith Smith , another editor , aud given him a whole bunch of sprouts . ' " 'A bunch of sprouts ? ' inquired the Englishman . ' ' Yes , a bunch of sprouts , ' said the captain .

" ' Aucl what is a buuch of sprouts ? ' incruired John Bill ! , bewildered . " ' Don't you know' ! ' rejoined the captain . " ' I don't , ' said John Bull . " ' Then more fool you , ' was the reply , on giviug which the captain turned upon his heel , and walked away . " The Englishman , nofc altogether discouraged , applied to the clerk for information . Oh , editors are always quarrelling here / he replied , ' It is but one editor who has given another a bunch of sprouts . " " ' But what in a bunch of sprouts V " ' Don't you know V « ' Not 1 " . '

" ' AVhy , what a fool you must , be . " The story is that the Englishman asks the same question since thafc clay , no ono knows IIOAV many years ago , of thousands of people , but never obtains an answer , - that tho idea has taken entire possession of his mind , aud that he is wandering over the United States asking every one lie meets , ' AA hat is a bunch of sprouts V Receiving no satisfactory reply , he hurries on from place to place , and from person to person , worn to a skeletonthe mere shadow of a man—a kind of Flying Dutchman—a

, spectral presence—a Avandering Jew—asking the old , eternal question , never to be answered on this side the grave , ' AVhat is a " bunch of sprouts f' Should this unhappy citizen of our fortunate isles over read these pages , the spell that is upon him will he broken , and be will learn that a ' bunch of sprouts' is a slang expression for the whole discharge of a revolver , barrel after barrel . "

Dr . Mackay has dealt largely with the AA estern and Southern States , and familiar as we all are ivith the great system of river navigation in them—knowing , as Ave do , that there are great cities daily growing up on the confines of unexplored and primeval forests , and the slavery , the swamps , and the unhealthy luxuriance of those parts—he has yet contrived to render them a study of interest to us . Cincinnati has been long known to Englishmen

by name , and a name which AVC have all felt very much puzzled to account for , but after the clear description our author has given us we shall not so easily forget it , as a vast manufacturing city covered with a black mantle of coal smoke , like Leeds or Manchester , but not like them , producing cotton or woollen goods , but Catawba champagne and pickled pork . 'The champagne is made from the produce of a Mr . Longworthy's vineyards , which UOAV ,

after years of exertion , rival many ofthe vine grounds of Europe . The pork is turned out by machinery , properly slaughtered and salted ; and " so plentiful are swine in Ohio , so much more plentiful and cheaper than coal , that ere noiv pork has been burned instead of fuel , to keep up the fires of the steamboats on thc Ohio . " AA e are not about to folloAv Dr . Mackay down the Mississippi ,

cither in prose or verse—for the doctor writes it both ways—as wc wish our readers to consult the book for themselves , but AVC feel so strongly interested with his pictures of Neiv Orleans , that we cannot resist the temptation of an extract : — "The most prominent public building in New Orleans is the St . Charles Hotel , au edifice somewhat iu the stylo and . ippearancc of the palace of the King of the Belgians , at Brussels . During thc twelve days

that our party remained under its hospitable roof it contained from seven hundred to seven hundred and fifty guests ; and its grand entrance hall , where the gentlemen congregate from nine in the morning till eleven or twelve at night , to read the ncAVspapers , to smoke , to chow , anel , let mo add , to spit , presented a scene of bustle and animation which can he compared to nothing lint thc Bourse at Paris during the full tide of business , ivheir the agio ) cars and the agens de change roar , and scream ,. and gesticulate like maniacs . The southern planters , and their wives

aud daughters , escaping from thc monotony ol their cotton and sugar plantations , come clown to Neiv Orleans in the early spring , and , as private lodgings are not to bo had , they throng to tho St . Louis and the St . Charles hotels , but principally to the St . Charles , where they lead a life of constant publicity anel gaiety , and endeavour to make themselves amends for the seclusion and weariness of ivinter . As many as a hundred ladies ( to say nothing of the gentlemen ) sit clown together at breakfast —the majority of them in full dress as for an evening party , anel arrayed

in the full splendour- both of their charms and of their jewellery . Dinner is but a repetition ofthe same brilliancy , only that the ladies arc still more gorgeously and elaborately dressed , and mako a still greater display of pearls and diamonds . After dinner the drawing rooms oiler a scene to ivhich no city in the . world affords a parallel . _ It is the very court of Queen Mab . whose courtiers arc some of the fairest , Healthiest , and most beautiful of thc daughters of the south , mingling in true Republican equalitivith the chance farersgentle or

simpleivclly way , , dr-essccl or ill-dressed , clean or dirty , who can pay for a nightly lodging or a clay ' s board at this mighty caravanserai . "So much for the indoor lifts of New Orleans . Its outdoor life is seen to the greatest advantage on the levee , where steamboats unloading their rich freights of cotton , sugar , and molasses from Mississippi , Arkansas , aucl Tennessee , and of pork , Hour , corn , and whisky , from thc upper aucl inland regions of Missouri , Illinois , Ohio , and Kentucky ,

present a panorama that may be excelled in Europe for bustle and life , but nofc for picturcsqucness . The river can scarcely be seen for thc crowd of steamboats and of shipping that stretch along the leve ' e for miles ; and the levee itself is covered Avith bales of cotton , aucl other produce , whicli hundreds of negroes , singing at their ivork , Avith here aud there an Irishman among them , are busily engaged in rolling from the steamers and depositing in the phces set apart for each consignee .

These places are distinguished one from the other by the little flags stuck upon them—flags of all colours and mixtures of colours and patterns ; and here the goods remain in the open air , unprotected , until it pleases the consignees to remove them . NOAV Orleans would seem , at first glance , to overflow ivith wealth to such an extent as to have no room for storage . The street pavements actually do service for ware-

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1859-09-03, Page 12” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 10 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_03091859/page/12/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
RANDOM THOUGHTS—II. Article 1
MASONRY AND ITS MISSION. Article 2
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. Article 6
ARCHÆCLOGY . Article 7
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 8
THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND THE CRAFT. Article 10
Literature. Article 10
Poetry. Article 14
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 15
THE MARK MASTER'S JEWEL. Article 15
APPOINTMENT OF GRAND OFFICERS. Article 16
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 16
MARK MASONRY. Article 17
COLONIAL. Article 17
AMERICA. Article 18
THE WEEK. Article 19
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 20
Obituary. Article 20
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Literature.

into an amount of expenditure which is not the least surprising part of the 'institution . ' The men—or 'boys , ' as they arc more commonly called—not only buy their own costume and accoutrements , and spend large sums in the ornamentation of their favourite engines , or hydrants , as already mentioned , but in the furnishing of their bunk rooms anel parlours at thc fire stations . Thc bunk or sleeping rooms , in which thc unmarried , and sometimes thc married , members pass the night , to bo ready for duton the first alarm for fireare lainland comfortabl

y , p y y furnished ; but the parlours are fitted up with a degree of luxury equal to that of the public rooms of the most celebrated hotels . At one of the central stations , ivhich I visited in company with an editor o £ a New York journal , thc Avails wore hung with portraits of AVashington , Franklin , Jefferson , Mason , and other founders of tho Republic ; the floor was covered with velvet pile carpeting , a noble chandelier hung from the centrethe crimson curtains were rich and heavywhile the

, , sideboard was spread AA'ith silver claret-jugs and pieces of plate presented by citizens whose houses and property had been preserved from five by tho exertions of the brigade , or by the fire companies of other cities , in testimony of their admiration for some particular act of gallantly or heroism ivhich the newspapers had recorded . "

Dr . Mackay also devotes a chapter to Americanisms , which throw some curious li ghts on the mutation of language . It must not be forgotten that the Puritan element had great and unbounded influence in thc early days of American colonization , and we accordingly find such words as " platform" and " exercised" in common use , as , for example , "Mr . was much exercised by an attack on him in a newspaper . " Some words in

use amongst us have had a characteristic impression made on them which alters the signification , such as " clever , " which is intended to mean amiable , and " amiable" to mean stupid ; but why "thin-skinned" means stingy , we are at a loss to account . There is a vigorous puritanical twang with " whole souled , " such as w-e occasionally meet ivith in the writings of tlie elder Puritans , Thomas Becon , and others . They have also a wordy

coinage of their own ivhich , if not alivay elegant , is often expressive—thus to "make a splurge "— "to honey-fugle "— "to lobby "—the "real grit "—to "foot a bill "—are ' phrases which almost explain themselves , while " go-a-headitive" and "declension "—a declension to a ball—arc nothing but clumsy solecisms . Although everyone who has read the Knickerbocker Alagazine must know the history of " Bunkum , '" yet wc hope it maybe new to others , as well as that of the term " Bogus , " Dr . Mackay gives the following derivations : —

' ¦ Buncombe , or Bunkum . —A diffuse and angry orator having made a somewhat irrational and very unnecessary speech in thc House of Representatives at AVashington , where nobody thought it worth while to contradict him , was afterwards asked by a friend who met him in Pennsylvania Avenue why he had made such a display . ' I was not speaking to tho house , ' he replied ; ' I was speaking to Buncombe '—a county or district by the majority of whose votes he had been elected . Hence Buncombeor Bunkumhas become a phrase in America—and to

, , some extent ill England also—to express that extra parliamentary oratory ivhieh appeals to the passions or prejudices of the outside people , or sections of the people , and not to the reason and sound sense of a deliberative assembly . Bogus , false , or sham ; said to bo derived from the name of a man notorious for issuing counterfeit notes . Hence ' bogus' news , a ' bogus ' meeting , a ' bogus' baby , a ' bogus' senator , a 'bogus' convention . "

A " dough-face" is a man of no opinion , but who can be readil y kneaded into any that is found desirable . "To be under thc weather , " is a very expressive phrase . But the great puzzle , of whicli the Americans are wonderfully proud , is , " a bunch of sprouts , " and as Dr . Mackay tells his story well , wc cannot do better than let him enli ghten us in his own words : — " An Englishman who had steamed down tho Mississippi ivith a

captain who was not' clover' in thc American sense of the word , seeing on his arrival at New Orleans , a great assembly of people at the leveic , aud hearing a great disturbance , asked the captain what was the matter . " ' Oh , nothing particular , ' said tho captain . ' It's only Jones , an editor , who has quarrelled Avith Smith , another editor , aud given him a whole bunch of sprouts . ' " 'A bunch of sprouts ? ' inquired the Englishman . ' ' Yes , a bunch of sprouts , ' said the captain .

" ' Aucl what is a buuch of sprouts ? ' incruired John Bill ! , bewildered . " ' Don't you know' ! ' rejoined the captain . " ' I don't , ' said John Bull . " ' Then more fool you , ' was the reply , on giviug which the captain turned upon his heel , and walked away . " The Englishman , nofc altogether discouraged , applied to the clerk for information . Oh , editors are always quarrelling here / he replied , ' It is but one editor who has given another a bunch of sprouts . " " ' But what in a bunch of sprouts V " ' Don't you know V « ' Not 1 " . '

" ' AVhy , what a fool you must , be . " The story is that the Englishman asks the same question since thafc clay , no ono knows IIOAV many years ago , of thousands of people , but never obtains an answer , - that tho idea has taken entire possession of his mind , aud that he is wandering over the United States asking every one lie meets , ' AA hat is a bunch of sprouts V Receiving no satisfactory reply , he hurries on from place to place , and from person to person , worn to a skeletonthe mere shadow of a man—a kind of Flying Dutchman—a

, spectral presence—a Avandering Jew—asking the old , eternal question , never to be answered on this side the grave , ' AVhat is a " bunch of sprouts f' Should this unhappy citizen of our fortunate isles over read these pages , the spell that is upon him will he broken , and be will learn that a ' bunch of sprouts' is a slang expression for the whole discharge of a revolver , barrel after barrel . "

Dr . Mackay has dealt largely with the AA estern and Southern States , and familiar as we all are ivith the great system of river navigation in them—knowing , as Ave do , that there are great cities daily growing up on the confines of unexplored and primeval forests , and the slavery , the swamps , and the unhealthy luxuriance of those parts—he has yet contrived to render them a study of interest to us . Cincinnati has been long known to Englishmen

by name , and a name which AVC have all felt very much puzzled to account for , but after the clear description our author has given us we shall not so easily forget it , as a vast manufacturing city covered with a black mantle of coal smoke , like Leeds or Manchester , but not like them , producing cotton or woollen goods , but Catawba champagne and pickled pork . 'The champagne is made from the produce of a Mr . Longworthy's vineyards , which UOAV ,

after years of exertion , rival many ofthe vine grounds of Europe . The pork is turned out by machinery , properly slaughtered and salted ; and " so plentiful are swine in Ohio , so much more plentiful and cheaper than coal , that ere noiv pork has been burned instead of fuel , to keep up the fires of the steamboats on thc Ohio . " AA e are not about to folloAv Dr . Mackay down the Mississippi ,

cither in prose or verse—for the doctor writes it both ways—as wc wish our readers to consult the book for themselves , but AVC feel so strongly interested with his pictures of Neiv Orleans , that we cannot resist the temptation of an extract : — "The most prominent public building in New Orleans is the St . Charles Hotel , au edifice somewhat iu the stylo and . ippearancc of the palace of the King of the Belgians , at Brussels . During thc twelve days

that our party remained under its hospitable roof it contained from seven hundred to seven hundred and fifty guests ; and its grand entrance hall , where the gentlemen congregate from nine in the morning till eleven or twelve at night , to read the ncAVspapers , to smoke , to chow , anel , let mo add , to spit , presented a scene of bustle and animation which can he compared to nothing lint thc Bourse at Paris during the full tide of business , ivheir the agio ) cars and the agens de change roar , and scream ,. and gesticulate like maniacs . The southern planters , and their wives

aud daughters , escaping from thc monotony ol their cotton and sugar plantations , come clown to Neiv Orleans in the early spring , and , as private lodgings are not to bo had , they throng to tho St . Louis and the St . Charles hotels , but principally to the St . Charles , where they lead a life of constant publicity anel gaiety , and endeavour to make themselves amends for the seclusion and weariness of ivinter . As many as a hundred ladies ( to say nothing of the gentlemen ) sit clown together at breakfast —the majority of them in full dress as for an evening party , anel arrayed

in the full splendour- both of their charms and of their jewellery . Dinner is but a repetition ofthe same brilliancy , only that the ladies arc still more gorgeously and elaborately dressed , and mako a still greater display of pearls and diamonds . After dinner the drawing rooms oiler a scene to ivhich no city in the . world affords a parallel . _ It is the very court of Queen Mab . whose courtiers arc some of the fairest , Healthiest , and most beautiful of thc daughters of the south , mingling in true Republican equalitivith the chance farersgentle or

simpleivclly way , , dr-essccl or ill-dressed , clean or dirty , who can pay for a nightly lodging or a clay ' s board at this mighty caravanserai . "So much for the indoor lifts of New Orleans . Its outdoor life is seen to the greatest advantage on the levee , where steamboats unloading their rich freights of cotton , sugar , and molasses from Mississippi , Arkansas , aucl Tennessee , and of pork , Hour , corn , and whisky , from thc upper aucl inland regions of Missouri , Illinois , Ohio , and Kentucky ,

present a panorama that may be excelled in Europe for bustle and life , but nofc for picturcsqucness . The river can scarcely be seen for thc crowd of steamboats and of shipping that stretch along the leve ' e for miles ; and the levee itself is covered Avith bales of cotton , aucl other produce , whicli hundreds of negroes , singing at their ivork , Avith here aud there an Irishman among them , are busily engaged in rolling from the steamers and depositing in the phces set apart for each consignee .

These places are distinguished one from the other by the little flags stuck upon them—flags of all colours and mixtures of colours and patterns ; and here the goods remain in the open air , unprotected , until it pleases the consignees to remove them . NOAV Orleans would seem , at first glance , to overflow ivith wealth to such an extent as to have no room for storage . The street pavements actually do service for ware-

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