The Orangeburg democrat. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1879-1881, February 21, 1879, Image 1
The Oraii
emocrat
A DEMOCRATIC JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF ORANGEBURG COUNTY.
Vol. Ia
O?ANGEBUKG, S. C, F?lDAT, ^EBRUARY 21* 1879. *
2STo. 8.
SHERIDAN & SIMS, Proprietors.
subsouiition.
Ono Year.$1.50
Six Months.1.00
Mlulstersof tho Gospel.1.00
Advehtisemewts.
First Instertton.$1.00
Euch Subsequent Insertion.50
Liberal coutrncts made for 3 mouths
and over.
JOB OFFICE
IB PREPARED TO DO ALL KINDS OP
Job l?2?intiii??
SCHOOL fJlIILDMN,
?o?
VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS
AMD TEACHERS.
It is the time Of the ringing of the
school bells. If they could nil be
heard together, it would be, in its
meaning, the greatest chime of the
age. Thousands and tens of thous
sands of coming citizens are to be
summoned to the public and private
schools, there to be fitted, or unfitted,
for the work of mature life. The
dramatists did not miss it when he
made the first school satchel day one
of the seven events of "the ages."
To all intents, it is a partial .trans
> f-. of the ehild to a new parental
roof. The teacher, to no small de
gree, comes in not only as assistant
to the home, but, for the time being,
as a principal. T
So much of destiny centres around
these school building, that we cannot
too much feel the greatness of the
interests involved. All the more be
cause it is not always very manifest
destiny. ?
Nowadays there are so many sec
tions left out of what is called com
mon school education. Grandfather
worked on the farm when he was a
boy; went to winter school, and to
night school besides; made a good
merchant up to forty ; then a success
. ful farmer; and, though not very
largely booked, was fitted for and filled
his sphere in life. He was fitted to
earn a livelihood by industry, as well
as to parse. We cannot but start
tbe-question whether the education of
the present is well-balanced for the
attainment of this object. Just now
we confine ourselves to the point
whether there is proper care for the
body in education. If the design is
to fit one for life, that moans the
work of life; that means vigor, en
durance, a maintainenance of the
right njustment between a boy's or
girl's physical, intellectual and moral
self. It is the wholeness of the
thing J.hat is sent to school. Unless
this fact is comprehended and attend
i .1 to?not casually, but esseutially?
the e is training for unfitness.
'"'-rest riskB and great exposure to
kue body are involved in seuding a
child to school. It may meau mere
ly such mind work as is too much of
a tax upon the brain and nervous
system. It often means indigestion,
from a hurried lunch at noon or a
fast until 2 o'clock. It often in
volves sitting in constrained positions
too long, too close confinement in ill
ventilated or ill-heated roorr.8, and
other experiences inimical to vigorous
growth. A recent book says the first
right of a child at school is to feel
happy. One element in this ie left
out if the conditions arc not such ns
favor his good health. Indisposition
is a word of double meaning. That
of the mind and temper is affected by
that of the body.
There are most cogent reasons why
children at school should be so pro
vided for as that all their surround
ings tend to a comfortable physical
condition. Simon, speaking of arti
zans, says "that it is their right that
whatever work their employer assem
bles them to do, should, as far is as in
his power,be divested of all unhealthy
circumstances. " It is a poor charity
and a poor economy, too, for the
State to present to all its children a
free school system, if the perils of the
school-room are excessive.
No school should commence with
out a thorough knowledge' on the
part of its trustees as to the adequacy'
of the buildings, its desks, its hcat
f ing and other apparatus, its general
fitness, for the conduct of the work
u purposed to be done on it. We wish
the parents ot the cuilUrqn would
just now form themselves into a com
mittee of the whole, and wait upon
each board and find out just what
they know as to sanitary inspection.
All the' more, because so lately our
.New York boards have certified their
1 competency to superintend all this
matter. We happen to know some
thing about school infections,(school
temperature, school air, and school
' troughs, etc. r,
I " . . ...... 1 ? .! i <d.
Let him find a faucet of water near
a bowl, where ho may rinse his hands
and wipe tbem on a paper towel,
which life will use up himself^ and
'which will cost the trustees about one
dollar a bushel. The room and build
ing must have had excellent janitor
ship, so that it has been well dusted,
cleansed, and aired in the hours of its
emptiness. How imperfect is this
work done in most schools. There
is poor housekeeping, and that always
makes trouble.
Have the boys and girls fitted to
their respective desks ; not only with
a view to convenience, but size. Of
ten the blackboards are so located
that the child must face a glare of
light. Often the desks are so close
to them that they cannot adjust dis
tance or capacity of vision. Virchow,
Lorlng, Agnew, and others have well
pointed out some of these defects.
Laws of posture, both in sitting
and standing, are greatly overlooked
in schools and slight spinal deflec
tions'from the natural line give future
aid to one-sidednc8s. Brown-Sequnrd
has noted and explained how the use
of one sido too much and the other
too little often disturbs bilateral sen
sibility and leads to nervous trouble.
Dr. Scguin read an interesting es
say on "Nervous Diseases as Foster
ed by School Life" before tho Nation
al Medical Association and claims
that physical considerations must en
ter far more largely into our system
of instruction. Anemometers aud
thermometers can now teil "Us much
as to air-currents and the heat and
degree of moisture of the air,^7hile
chemistry has ready aids to Bhow us
whether it is contaminated.. 1**10
faces and puny forms and the tired
look of the homeward-group, some
times; make us stand aghast when
they tell us, "This is education."
Ten minutes is calisthenics in a close
room or an occasional antic of the
gymnast will not recover the unne
cessary wear and tear to which our
children are too often subjected, be
cause of unavoidable conditions in
many of our public and some of our
private schools. We ask all parents,
all school boards, and all teachers to
put ou their thinking-caps at once,
and keep them on all this term, in
the school-health interests of the
boys and girls.?Independent.
"Honest John."
John James Paterson, who repre
sents Pennsylvania from South: Caro
lina, does not stand very high in the
estimation of the St. Louis Republi
can. Speaking of his early retire
ment to the shades of private life,
that paper says of him: "Senator
Patterson, of South Carolina, after a
career which it were better for his
reputation ho liad never entered
upon, is about to retire from public
life. He will not return to nestle in
the bosom of the Palmetto State and
enjoy the sweet welcome of an honor
ed son, but will shoulder his dilapi
dated carnct-bag and betake himself
to bis native Pennsylvania, bluer
than the waters of the blue Juniata,
upon whose shores the errant states
man dawned into being. It is said
that he blames the President for the
disgrace that has overtaken the pecu
liar political sect of which ho is ono
of the worst type as well as one of
the few survivors, and that he will
so denounce him upon the floor of the
Senate. It is Mr. Palters*, m's privi
lege to do so ; it may relieve i is sour
ed distempered stomach- ,i may com
mend h iin to a confidential place in
the Grant movement, which by in
stinct and experience he is so fitted
to adorn." C
A Queer Case.
A queer case is to come up for
trial in New York this week. A Miss
Horn sues a friend of her childbood
days, when both lived in Austria', for
breach of promise. She alleges lliat
while he was in tho old country, lie
wrote promising to marry her if she
would furnish the money for t&e, trip.
She did so. He came, saw, but was
not conquered, and now refuses to
marry. ' His excuso is to/the'Reflect
that, while still in Austria,her father
showed a portrait of a ?eknttfnf'wo
.man which he. said Was bin daughter.
The defendant agreed to marry tho
woman of tho picture, and is will
ing to now. He does ndt And in
Miss Horn, however, any such attrac
tion, and claims to have been de
ceived. Hence his unwillingness and
hence the suit. -
flJiphael Sullivant,? a roan pf ma
tional reputation as the largest culti
yaVor of land ever knpwu, diet);sud
denly Thursday whilo sitting in a
chair in the cabin of the steamer
Guthrie, en route, from Evansville,
Indiana, to Louisville, Ky.- r Atr Qtie
time Mr. Sullivant possessed 80,000
acres of land, m Illinois.' In 1872
he had under cultivation 18,000 acres
of corn, with a proportionate acreage
of oats and hay.
TBUTiMangbr than fiction.
. JI - -WO*-, i
AvNAUUATlVK, -'JTHAT UKA US , 1JKE A
., ' j bpiK xoyjsi,.
That truth is stranger than fiction
is often illustrated in every day life,
and (sometimes the?rcality is mixed
up with a deal of romance. , Aji'm
slance of the strange vicissitudes of
lifei with a touch of the romance, is
brought i to mind by an article in a
Memphis paper lately rcclcvcd.
Homo years ago" when Memphis
was a mere village, an Italian couple
located.there, and conducted a Bmnlt
but lucrative peanut and fruit busi
ness on a street corner, until they ac
cumulated onIHcient capital to open
a little barroom. . Here the maduujc
cbndudted the business- successfully,
made her sample room a favorite re
sort for a good class, of customers,
and, finally, after .accumulating con
siderable property, moved into a
more fashionable quarter of the, city
and opened an elegant establishment,
nijd. VM^dnnio VincentiV' (-became
kilowh far and wide.
Meanwhile a daughter who had
grown up into womanhood, returned
from the boarding school she had
been attending for some years, and
her rare beauty aud accomplishments
rendered her very attractive. Mmc.
Vincent was, notwithstanding her vo-.
cation, much respected, aud her hus
band, Vincent Baccigalup6, jwas not
very long sin.ee prominently mention \
ed in; the Memphis papers'?s a proper
person to fill the office of Chief Mag
istrate of that city. It is not sur
prising then that Miss Bacclgnlupoi
young.' Heb, beautiful and cultured
as she Was, should number in her
train many suitors, Some of them
such as might be accounted,very at
tractive to an ambition^ -match-mak
ing mamma, ' ; ? .. !:,;
But before we proceed further, an
other character in the drama we were
rehearsing, should > be- ? introduced.
Mr. JaSi Brizzolari, a bro,Uier of
Madame Vincent, a young lawyer of
fine talent, was coming into notice.
He had already risen to the dignity
of a place on the Democratic Execu
tive Commiltc, and was believed to
have good prospects for a scat in the
Lower House of the Tennessee Lcgis-r
laturc He was tall, handsomo and
spirited, and carried himself like a
chevalier.
His rapid rise to prominence gave
promise of a brilliant future, when,
in consequence of a newspaper article
Which he ttohstr?ed asYeflectihg on
him, hr challenged'the'author, a fel
low of the legal profession, and a
duel ensued, in which he, Brizzolari,
was wounded. The duel was con
ducted with great'eclat, the combat
ants sailing down the river in sepa
rate crafts, and saluting each other
as they passed, in true chivnlric
style. ; . , ;
While the public mind was still
somewhat- excited over tho "meet
ing," and public curiosity about Briz
zolari giving place to -sympathy 'for
the wounded hero, the announcement
fell upon the public car like a clap of
thunder, from a clear sky that this
brilliant and promising young man
eloped ? with his niece, the beautiful
and accomplished Miss Baccigalupo.
The parents Were deeply mortified
that u daughter and nephew should
have so disgraced their family name,
but time,-which ? heals all. ills, soon
blotted out, this episode from the
memory of the public, if not from tho
minds of those most closely indenti
(ied, and when the- elopement was al
mosc forgotten,. Brizzolari was heard
from, a saloon keener in Fort Smith,
Arkansas, his niece, his wife,no long
er, living alone in Little Rock.
AViothel* actor in the drama, albeit
he might have been introduced sooner
though he figures in these dramatis
personali.in,jthe.last act pf this play, is
Angela Alnrre. Like the hero of the
story, Marro' was a tall', weit-forined,
muscqlar, man, of line physique, and
enjoyed a reputation that hisra8soci
ates considered enviable'. lie owned
a lucnarVb -JraNo^iusTOase, was pop
ular, and enjoyed considerable local
political influence. 'y'A ? ''
was discovered ithati tho o?loc of tho
Memphis .Chief of police, the very
headquarters of the thief catchers,
had iSeetfj burglarjp??ly wppped, the
safe broken open j?u(l robbed, ni|ci
tlio public was surprised to kiloWthat
MArre had been arrested on 'Suspicion
of complicity in tho burglary*.1 Marro
was indicted, tried and convicted,
and sentenced to a long term in the
penitentiary. Alter solving some
three years ho was pardoned by tile
Governor in consideration . of good
conduct, and passing by Ins did home,
he went to Little Rock, where iie met
the late Mrs. Briz'zolari (nee Mjss
Baccigalujio) and rhurried lier. They
lived together until recently, when
the ' fickle'woman le'ft the ex-convict
suddenly and returned to' her flfrst
husband, her uncle Brizzolnri.
' Again we go back to Madame "Vin
cent. Th'a yellow fever epidemic,in
Memphis last summer carried off
Madame Vincent and her husband,
Vincent Buceignlupoj both dyjog'tJud
deuly and intestate, and leaving *an
estate valued at 8200,000^ ''The lat
ter husband of Miss Baccigalup'o,
who had been so long absent frpm
his old home, returned to the Bluff
City 1 and asserting that be hatt'Tq
for tried Iiis Ways since his discharge
from' llie penitentiary, with an' 'earn
est desire to again walk'in the pethr,
of rectitude end become an honest
and respected cjtizen? sent a petition
to the Governor asking to be restored
to citizenship. "" } ( . , ;
I The recomendations were. . 8u.cu
thai the petition was granted,, and
shortly, after the ,GoycrtpDr had ?fpr
wardcd.the papers, a telegram, v;oh
receiVea.in^emphis irons' BrizzoJari
asking that the petition^f Marre,for
restoration to cilizeuslup be wpot
granted until he, Brizzolari, could be
heard from.' But it was too lake.
Then followed ? suit, just now enter
ed, for the possession of the heiress
to the piopcrty left in Memphis, euch
claiming her as his wife.;?VtcksbUrg
Herald.
' -?'? Visit Your Scho?ls.1
, Visiting schools is much neglected
by both oflicers and parents.: r?jU*t
more attentions should be given to
this work few wil) deny.' We'wdujd
insist upon the exercise of this duty
for the,following reasons: '?
1. For the encouragement of pupils.
2. To encourage, restrain and As
sist the'teachers' In their workl" \
3. That they; as patrons, may sec
exactly how .the schools are conduct
ed. ' .../ .
y4.,.That they ma,y learn, how school*
are conducted, with an eye to the im
provement in their administration.
These propositions"ore so self-evi
dent that they need no argument to
sustain them. . ,i ... i
Parents and oflicers cannot expect
to improve their system while they
Vernein in total ignorance of what it
is, or what it should be.
Parents and officers cannot expect
to improve their system while they
remain in total ignorance of what it
is, or what it should bo.
The vote of the people boa much
power in deciding, what laws shall
govern their schools ; .but how igno
rant many of these voters 1
The people should study education
that they may be able to improve the
system and its administration.
Parents, do not complain of the
school until you have visited it fre
quently, i ?'.
Without a Newspaper.
Nothing presents a ;s*uldcr com
mentary upon the present conditibn
of society than the large . number of
families'in the county that subscribo
to ho newspaper at all. Hundreds
are thus growing up ignorant of what
i's transpiring in the world around
them, ignorant of the mighty events
of the day. But who can tell the
vast injury being infliQtcdd on the
risirig' generation', tlioap who are to
take our places in the busy world at
do',d is t a.. l.d?y~gr?wr^ up without
any khowledo of tile present, and
study of the past, this ignorance* too
being imbued into them by the sr,nc
?tforx bf those whi ahoUld! nml^craot
less does, know better, did thoy only
think of tho injurious effects of their
insane course. Let the head of every
family think of tin--, ami pine;; in the
hands of those for whom ho is respon
sible, the means of acquiring some
know ledge of tE(D mo vi ng "panore.ma
in which we act the different parts.
Mr. Nathan Lyons, of St. Paul,
said that M isses Km ma Fabojr and
Mary Hendriks Were too proud to do
tho duties OF farmer's daughters, and
promised them each a fifty dollar silk
dr&Tttf??? ^?Itt^riMKT J?Sl a
cow through the streets of tho Min
nesota metropolis. Accordingly Miss
F.ibcr took the cow in tow, with Miss
Hcntiricks armed with'ft Woomslick,
acting as rearguard, and thus they
escorted the animal down Third street
and earned their silk dresses.
BEECHER ON THUEE THEMES.
?o?
IIKTUKNJN? HOARDS, CHINESE EMIUKA
, TIOS AND MOKMONISM ALL TOUCHED
Ui'ON.
? Mr.: Needier mixed politics with re
ligion in his sermon yesterday, and
several tiincs'his hearers applauded.
There was ho clapping of hands, hut
llio Stamping of feet was so rigorous
that 1t raised the dfust, aud even Mr.
BbeCher himself seemed astonished at
such demonstrations in a church.
One of the occasions of applause was
his reference to the Presidential elec
tion'ol 1876, and the vote in Louisi
ana, South Carolina and Florida,
lie eaid that if Louisiana had been
left to herself she would have given
such a decided majority that no re
turning board could have been in
doubt as to the result, or could possi
sibly have muddled things so as to
raise a doubt. If the State had been
let alone, her people would have voted
so that a returning board that would
have doubted the result would have
been swept into the sea. Mr.
Beech er also' applied the same re
marks in a degree to South Carolina
and ? Florida ; but he neglected to.
dtale whether the very" decided ma
jorities would have ? been in favor of
Tilden or Hayes.
Mr. Beceher made an indirect allu
sion to cipher dispatches when he
said that there was too much corrup
tion in political matters. lie thought
there ought to be more morality in
politics. Christianity should per
vade* the 'legislative halls and the
halls'of jtislidfel ' The Catholic church
had a stronger hold than the Protes
tant church upon the members be
cause she made her morality a cor
porate morality. In other words, she
made herself responsible for the faith
and'practice of her members. She
had ft discipline, and . she formed a
commonwealth spirituality of which
every member was a part. Protes
tantism, on the other hand, while
having more freedom of thought and
action, allowed her members to set
up individual systems of morality, in
Which There was not sufficient Unity
of action.
Mr; Beechef also referred to the
Chinese question, saying: "Our
government professes that it is found
ed Upon the principle that all men are
equal, and yet we have had our at
tention attracted tO a bill excluding
Chinamen from the laud. Tho hand
of an executive officer who would
offer to sign such an outrageous bill
should be struck with, paralysis, so
that the pen would fall out of his
nerveless grasp?" (Applause.)
^The Utah Mormons came for a
share of Mr. Bcecher's attention.
He thought that the government
ought to have! moral firmness onough
to stamp'out the curse of polygamy
forever from the land.
A Celebrated Irish Murder..
Dr. Korwin, the famous Ireland's
Eye murderer, has been released from
Spike Island prison, in .Queensto'wn
harbor, after.twenty-seven years Of
incarceration. Tho murder for which
this man was convicted, in 1851, was
one of the most celebrated criminal
cases IrelaUd has ever known. Dr.
Kerwin was a Wealthy and very dis
tinguished physician in Dublin. Du
ring.the early summer of 1851 ho
visited tho island, In the harbor of
Dublin, known as Ireland's Eye.
Soon after the body of bis wife was
found on the baaoh Of this island.
The* v/om'an had been stabbed to
death with the blade of a sword-cane.
The'Visit of the doctor to the islaud
was readily established, but there was
little or no evidence going to show
thKtf his Wife accompanied him. The
ablest counsel in: Great' Britain de
?'funded'him, but tile jury brought him
in guilty of murder in the first degree,
and he was sentenced to death. The
queen\ however, in consideration of
thuifnct that the evidence against hltn
was circumstantial, commuted his sen
tence- to.imprisonment for life. ?h sd
Foetal Telegraph.
. ., ThO) report ,o f ,?Ue British Postmas
ter General, where, the telegraph is
.par^o/^lip.poslia^ system, gives sever
al examples of errors in jjtelegraros,
;yyh.ic|}; .tysays,. aro, sometimes Uf I e
traced- to .failures of the most trifling
kind..; For instance, a pleusure party
telegraphing to some friends elated
that they had "ai rived alright," but
the' messnge-was rendered "we have
?arrived all tight." In another c: so,
?>poor person desiring to state that
her daughter was ill, wroto on hor
message, ??Mary is bad ;" this was
rendered, "Mary is dead."
A Boy's Throat Cut to Save His Life.
A young Im) named Henry think
er, who resides iu Cincinnati, while
eating hickory nuts swullowed a piece
of one about the sjzc of a dime, which
lodged in his throat, and resisted all
attempts to remove it by coughing
or otherwise. He did not experience
from it, however, and wont to bed.
About three o'clock in the morning
he awoke up choking and deathly
sick, and rapidly became wo:sc, flnal
becoming almost incapable of breath
ing. His step- father, Mr. Schwarte,
accompanied by his brother, started
out in search of a doctor, but though
at that time it was but half-past three
o'clock, it was.nine o'clock before
they could get one , to come to the
bouse. They called on at. least a
doxon physicians, all of whom, on
one pretense or .another, refused to
come to see the boy, though they
! told them be was dying. Finally Dr.
I Davis came, but on seeing the lad,
the parents sayv told them he was too
far gone to do him any good. He
gave them a prescription, however,
for emetic, which he told them to
administer, and* left, promising to re
turn at noon. In the meantime
another messenger who Iptd been dis
patched Tor a physician returned with
Drs. Dnweon and MeMeeban, and
the latter, on seeing the boy's condi
tion, determined to resort to a surgi
cal operation to save his life. With
Dr. McMcechan's assistance, Dr.
I)aw8on made an incision across the
throat, and, and, inserting' a dull
prone, scraped away the tissue uuti 1
he reached that portion of the wind
pipe called the trachea, which he cut
open, tie then inserted a wire, with
which he lelt around for the obstruc
tion. It was found in the larynx,
where it bad lodged, and, being
sharp-edged, had cut the flesh, aud
the blood had got into the bronchial
tubes, filling them and rendering
breathing almost impossible. Aft.-r
< ho -nut-shell had been removed, the
patient coughed up a large quantity
of this blood. The wound having been
scwu up, he breathed quite freely, and
the next night after the-operation
wa s res ling easily.
A Beautiful Story.
Coleridge relates a story to this
cficot: Alexander, during his march
into...Africa, came loa dwelling in
peaceful hau, who knew neither war
nor conquest. Gold being oilercd
him, ho refused it saying that his sole
object was to learn the manners ami
customs of lie inhabitants. "Slay
with us," said the chief, "as long as
it pleascth thee."
During this interview with the
African chief, two of his subjects
brought a case bcfoie him for judg
ment. The dispute was this: The
one had bought a piece of ground,
which, after the purchase, was found
to contain a treasure* for which he
felt himself bound to pay. The oth
er refused to receive anything, sta
ting that he had sold the ground with
what it might bo found to contain,
apparent or concealed.
Said the chief, looking at the one:
11 You have a sou ;" and to the other:
"You have a daughter; let them be
married, and the treasure given them
as a dowry." i
Alexander was astonished.
"And what," said the chief, "would
have been the decision in your coun
try?" . ; .
! "We would have dismissed tho par
lies and seized tho treasure for the
king's use."
"And does tho sun shine in your
County?" said the chief {'".docs the
rain, fall there? Are there any cat
tle there which feud upon herbs aud
green grasa?"i m!
; ''Certainly!1? eaid Alexander.
"A,b," said the chiei, "it is for the
sake of those innocent cattle that the
Great Boing permits the sun to shine,
the rain to fall and the, grass to grow
in your country." , i . . .
After all, there is really bat one
kind of ''Southern outrage" for which
the Radicals have no forgiveness, no
bo ml 6 Of compassion. They care
little for'the \uli\ thleirof nhVelubs,
bllll^6^iAgVt^t^Ml^v? aim? all
that sort of thing." But it makes
their blood boil, and fllla'the air with
blbe 'streaks of- profane objurations,
to realiac the awful truth that thous
ands of their colored fricuds have
voluntarily departed from the fold,
and with deliberate purpose and in
tent, voted the Democratic ticket.
This is the mill-log that breaks tlij
[Radical camel's buck.? Washington
Fast.
THE BLACK DEATH.
THE PLAGUE WHICH HA8 KE-APPEAC*
ED IN HU8SIA.
The black death, whieli has again
appeared in some parts of Russia, hatf
proved very destructive, and caused
the greatest alarm. This Is the same
disease which, in the fourteenth cci -
tury, desolated the globe, and it gets
its name from the black spots, symp
tomatic of a putrid decomposition,
that show themselves at one of Its
stuges on the skin of the sufferer. Jt
is thought to have had its origin id
1338. some fifteen years before Its
outbieak In Europe, and it raged for
twenty-five years, while dioughts, fa
mines, Hoods, earthquakes thai swal
lowed towns and mounlainsf and
swarms of locusts spread devastation
everywhere. During the same period
Europe had as many abnormal condi
tions as the East. The order of na
ture seemed to be reversed. The
seasons were at various times Invert
ted ; thunder storms were frequent in
mid-winter, and volcanoes, long con
sidered extinct, burst forth afresh*
The theory is that the extraordinary
activity of the earth, accompanied by
decomposition of vast organic mass
es?myriads of locusts, brutes ami
bodies of human beings-?produced
.sumo change in the atmosphere inimi
cal, to life. Some writers say that the
impure air was actually visible as it
approached with its burden of death.
The plague owed its extension almost
wholly to infection and contagion*
Three years passed from the date of
its appearance in Constantinople bo
fore it crept by a huge circle to the
Russian territories. Statistics were
not obtainable then, but it is estimat
ed that in China alone 13,000,000
people died, and in the remainder of
the East 24,000,000, while in Europe
25,000,000 persons perished, making
a grand and terrible total of 52,000?
000. Although there is little danger
of the spread of the pest in Western
Europe?for many generations it has
been confined to the East?it is not
strange that the Russians should be
startled by ravages the black deatb
has already made. Persons attacked
by it are said to die like flies, and
superstitious peasantry are so terri
fied by it that many are thought to
iiave perished of pure fright. Fortu
nately, the laws of health and the
peculiarities of disease are much bet
ter understood now than in centuries
gone byT.
According to the Radical press,
the Republican members of the i'ot
ter committee have been earnestly
"trying to get at tho trmh," and the
Democratic members have been ex
erting themselves "to conceal the
truth." When the cipher telegrams
Wt?e landed in Washington, there
was an earnest desire on the part of
Morton, Brady, Burbunk, Bullock
and others to "get at the truth,7* and
as soon as they got at it they stole a
good deal of it and bnmed ranch
more. 1 he boldness of the Radicals
on the Potter committee in overhaul
ing telegrams after Morton & Co. bad
fixed them is equal to the valor of a
militia regiment, at Williatnspott,
that actually charged on a line of
earthworks fifteen days after they bad
been dismantled and abandoned.
?Pos/.
Farm Life.
Ii is a common complaint that the
farm aud farm life are not apprecia
ted by our people. We long for the
more elegant pursuits, or the ways
aud fashions of the town. But tho
.farmer has the most sane and natural
occupation, and ought to find life
sweeter, if less highly seasoned, than
any other. Ho alone, strictly speak
ing, has ft homo. How can a man
tako root and thrive without land?
He writes his history upon bis Held
How many ties, how many sources
he has; bia friendships with bis cat
tie, his team* his dog, bis trees, tho
satisfaction in bis growing crops, in
big improved fields, bis intimacy with
Nature, with bird and beast, and
with tho quickeuing clomental force* ;
bis co-opurations with the clouds, the
sUn, the' seasons, heat, wind, frost.
Nothing will take the various aovisl
diftempera which the city and artifi
cial life breed out of a man like farm
iug, like direct and loving contact,
with the soil. It draws out the. poi
son. It bumbles him, tenches him
patience and reverence, and restores
the proper tone to hssjs cm. Cling
to the farm, make much of it, pub
yourself into it, bestow your heart
and brain upon it. so that u shall
s.ivor of ^ou aud r .?imtj your virtunA.
alter your day's wo k is done!