Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, August, 1880

In Short

This August 1880 issue of Lippincott’s Magazine gathers a rich assortment of fiction, essays, poetry, and memoirs. Its contents span from the perilous heights of early ballooning and wilderness canoe expeditions in Minnesota to serialized romantic melodramas and reflections on national music. Readers encounter historical sketches of early Mormonism, personal reminiscences of Edgar Allan Poe, and descriptions of Roman catacombs. Preserved as an artifact of American literary history, this volume captures the eclectic, inquisitive spirit of a late-nineteenth-century culture balancing rapid industrial progress with a lingering romantic thirst for adventure.

The Story

Rather than following a single continuous plot, the volume progresses through a curated landscape of narrative and thematic strands, opening with an homage to human daring. It begins by examining the dangerous, exalted world of "American Aeronauts," celebrating journalists and daredevils who ascend miles into the atmosphere in gas balloons, risking violent landings and treacherous weather purely for the wonder of a high-altitude view.

From the sky, the issue turns to emotional human drama in serialized fiction. In the continuation of Adam and Eve, a tense narrative unfolds along the English coast. Eve, locked in an agonizing parting with her beloved Adam, must choose between her quiet former admirer, Reuben May, and the dangerous, outlaw life of a Cornish smuggler's wife. Defiant against society's judgment, she proudly embraces her partner's risky livelihood. In another fictional sketch, Mallston’s Youngest, a small railroad village is thrown into chaotic terror when a toddler strays onto the tracks in the path of a speeding express train; a frantic rescue by the child's father averts tragedy and reveals deep-seated community bonds.

Interspersed among these stories are vivid travelogues and historical investigations. A canoe party navigates the dense, insect-ridden wilderness of northern Minnesota to map Elk Lake and the source of the Mississippi River, enduring lost equipment, ruined photographic plates, and swamps to establish geographic truth. Further south, an exploration of Cumberland Island off the Georgia coast uncovers the moss-draped ruins of Dungeness, recounting how its live-oak trees provided the indestructible timbers for the famed frigate Constitution.

The issue then turns toward cultural critique and historical memory. An essay on national music argues that folk melodies mirror the internal moral character of a people rather than their physical landscape, citing how "Yankee Doodle" served as a vital emotional anchor during the Civil War. In a historical piece, eyewitnesses from Palmyra, New York, recall the late 1820s when Joseph Smith's associates brought unpunctuated manuscript sheets to a local print shop to produce the first edition of the Book of Mormon. Finally, the collection concludes with personal literary memoirs—including a defense of Edgar Allan Poe by his former housemate William J. Gowans—and a dramatic account by a former Italian custodian who navigated the hazardous, crumbling stone passages of the Roman Catacombs.

How It Unfolds

Ascending the clouds The issue opens with a celebration of modern adventurers, focusing on aeronauts who risk their lives in balloon baskets to capture the silent, breathtaking expanse of the upper atmosphere.

Parting at the hedge In serialized fiction, Eve faces a painful farewell with Adam as he prepares to embark on a smuggling run, while she fiercely rejects her former suitor Reuben May's taunts and warnings.

Tragedy narrowly averted A locomotive thunders through a rural railroad town, forcing a desperate father to leap in front of the engine to throw his young child to safety.

Mapping the headwaters A team of canoeists pushes through dense thickets, bogs, and log blockades in northern Minnesota, enduring lost instruments and spoiled photographic plates to explore the uttermost sources of Lake Itasca.

Echoes of history A journey to Cumberland Island reveals the historical ruins of Dungeness, reflecting on old British land grants, regional orange groves, and the ancient live-oaks harvested for American warships.

Voices from the print shop Nineteenth-century printers and compositors look back on the winter of 1829, recalling how they edited, punctuated, and hand-bound the very first copies of the Book of Mormon in Palmyra.

Reminiscences and dark corridors The volume draws to a close with warm personal recollections of Edgar Allan Poe’s gentle domestic life, alongside a chilling first-hand description of crawling through narrow, subterranean shafts into the Roman Catacombs.

The People

• The Aeronauts: Daring journalists and explorers like Frank H. Taylor and Gaston Tissandier who seek novel sensations in the upper atmosphere, indifferent to practical engineering but desperate to experience the grandeur of the sky.
• Eve: A stubborn, passionate young woman in Adam and Eve who chooses loyalty to her smuggler lover Adam over a safe, conventional life, defiantly standing up to those who pity or mock her choices.
• Reuben May: Eve’s former suitor, driven by jealousy and a lingering sense of duty; his attempts to warn Eve only alienate her further, leaving him bitter and empty-handed.
• Mallston: An awkward, unassuming small-town father who shows sudden, reckless bravery by throwing himself before a speeding locomotive to save his young child from the tracks.
• Miss Custer: A languid, wealthy, and manipulative boarder who uses her subtle charms and mild ill health to command attention from the men around her while observing provincial life with detached amusement.
• William J. Gowans: An old New York book dealer who offers an affectionate, eyewitness defense of Edgar Allan Poe, describing him as a courteous companion devoted to his beautiful wife, Virginia.

In Its Own Voice

"He is an explorer of unknown regions, a beauty-worshipper at a shrine whose pearly, sun-kissed portals open to him alone."

A journalist describes the romantic motivation driving balloonists into the atmosphere.

"Say to them that you sought me out to cast taunts at me, but it was of no use, for what you thought I should be ashamed of I gloried in, and could look you and all the world in the face... and say I felt proud to be a smuggler's wife."

Eve fiercely asserts her independence and devotion to Adam despite societal disapproval.

"We are deciphering what is written within us, not transcribing anything from without."

An essayist reflects on how national music originates from human emotion rather than external scenery.

What It's Really About

Beneath its varied formats, the collection explores the tension between an increasingly industrial, utility-driven society and the persistent human craving for wonder, romance, and spiritual meaning. Whether through physical danger—like aeronautics, fox hunting, and wilderness surveying—or through spiritual and artistic movements like early Mormonism, national music, and literature, the writers repeatedly highlight individuals who reject mundane commercial existence. The volume argues that human nature cannot be satisfied by commerce alone; it constantly seeks expression in heroic exertion, creative art, and passionate conviction.

Why Read It Today

This volume offers an engaging time capsule for readers fascinated by nineteenth-century American culture, literature, and popular science. Reading it feels like flipping through a pristine window into the past, where serious scientific inquiries into lightning protection sit comfortably alongside romantic coastal melodramatic serials, wilderness travelogues, and literary gossip.

The collection avoids feeling overly dense or academic, maintaining a conversational, warm tone throughout. However, modern readers should be prepared for period-specific prose styles, including lengthy, descriptive sentences, Victorian sentimentality, and dialect in fictional dialogue. The historical sketches—particularly the eye-witness accounts of early Mormon printing and personal memories of Edgar Allan Poe—provide sharp, authentic historical textures that remain memorable long after finishing the volume.

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