... the majority of colored men do not yet think it worth while that women aspire to higher education.... The three R's, a little ...music and a good deal of dancing, a first rate dress-maker and a bottle of magnolia balm, are quite enough generally to render charming any woman possessed of tact and the capacity for worshipping masculinity.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
He told of the Magnolia, spread High as a cloud, high over head!... The Cypress and her spire; MOf flowers that with one scarlet gleam Cover a hundred leagues, and seem To set the hills on fire.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The trenchant editorials plus the keen rivalry natural to extremely partisan papers made it necessary for the editors to be expert... pugilists and duelists as well as journalists. An editor made no assertion that he could not defend with fists or firearms.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
In 1862 the congregation of the church forwarded the church bell to General Beauregard to be melted into cannon, "hoping that its ...gentle tones, that have so often called us to the House of God, may be transmuted into war's resounding rhyme to repel the ruthless invader from the beautiful land God, in his goodness, has given us."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
From a bed in this hotel Seargent S. Prentiss arose in the middle of the night and made a speech in defense of a bedbug that had b...itten him. It was heard by a mock jury and judge, and the bedbug was formally acquitted.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If we should swap a good library for a second-rate stump speech and not ask for boot, it would be thoroughly in tune with our hear...ts. For deep within each of us lies politics. It is our football, baseball, and tennis rolled into one. We enjoy it; we will hitch up and drive for miles in order to hear and applaud the vitriolic phrases of a candidate we have already reckoned we'll vote against.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
They had their fortunes to make, everything to gain and nothing to lose. They were schooled in and anxious for debates; forcible i...n argument; reckless and brilliant. For them it was but a short and natural step from swaying juries in courtroom battles over the ownership of land to swaying constituents in contests for office. For the lawyer, oratory was the escalator that could lift a political candidate to higher ground.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The candidate tells us we are the "backbone of the State," and we know that it is true, not because we are possessed of certain en...dowed virtues, but because we are a majority and have the vote.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A candidate once called his opponent "a willful, obstinate, unsavory, obnoxious, pusillanimous, pestilential, pernicious, and perv...ersable liar" without pausing for breath, and even his enemies removed their hats.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »