University of South Carolina Libraries
_ THE COUNTY RECORD j i? KLNGSTREE, S. C LOUIS J. BRISTOW, Ed. & Prop'r. It says much for the recuperative powers of St. Louis, Mo., when the fact is realized that already 8000 of the buildings blown down or damaged j by the great tornado have already been ither re-erected or repaired. Massachusetts has established eighty-five free libraries since the publio library commission was appointed in 1890; Connecticut forty since 1891, New Hampshire 130 since the same year, and Vermont fifty-nine since 1894. Says the Baltimore American: To the honor of ei-Librarian Spofford be it said that he was the father of the plan to build the new Congressional Library, at Washington, which is pronounced by competent judges to be the finest structure of its kind in the whole world Another idiotic exhibition of shooting backward with a rifle at a woman, the aim taken from a lookingglass, * has proved fatal, this time at Berlin. An expert named Kruger, after shooting various objects from the hands and shoulders of his sister, put a bullet through her he-id in the presence of 4000 persons. = tAn attempt is being made to galvanize into new life the mediaeval city of Bruges, Belgium, and to shake off the rust and dust of its long ages of qniet by converting it into a seaport. A great canal is now being cut from the seashore at Ostend to Bruges, a distance of twenty miles. Electrio poorer is being extensively utilize^ iand this is the first application on a grand scale of this agency in Belgium. tNot only are the huge 250-ton 1 cranes operated by electricity, but electrio power is being applied to the bariek^naking machinery, and during ihe present year will turn out about 18,000,000 bricks for the sluice works and docks. The widening market for fruit and the action of the railroad companies in giving the growers facilities for reaching the market in the great centres of populations have led to more serious attention being given to horticulture in many parts of the country, some of which are more or less remote irum the large cities, notes the New York ^ San. The oonditions in the central Wast, the Southwest, and on the Pacific Slope have been reflected from U;: time to time in these paragraphs. Just sow grape-growing, which for k some time has lagged in Florida, has as reached so prosperous an activity about Orlando that grapes are being shipped from the Niagara vineyards at the rate of a oarload a day. ,-f In exploiting its resources Kansas is now directing attention to its mineral deposits and their possibilities. It produces ooal, building stone, zinc, salt, gypsnm, oil, gas, cement, minf era2 water and day, the output of all these in 1895 being worth about $5,g , 000,000. This was triple the output ei 1885. and is rewarded as Dromia ' ing much for the future. The State standi first in the production of gypsum, its output being more than doable the eombined product of all the other States, Michigan excepted. It ; is eleventh among the coal producing States, eighth in oil production, and fifth in gas, having an oil and gas J-area ? 9000 square miles. Nearly a million and a half barrels of salt are marieted-'annually, and about 21,000 toaarm^zinc. The'zinc-bearing ore is very rich, the yield being 66 J per oent. The system of vertical handwriting v*. adopted by the school boards of many of the larger cities is held to have scored a triumph in Boston already in turning out pupils who write rapidly and legibly, the two prime qualifications in chirography. The paramount virtue in handwriting is legibility. No matter how pretty and artistic handwriting may be, if it cannot be read fV easily it falls short of its purpose. This is secured in a conspicuous deIgree in the vertical system, -while a majority of pupils add to it both sym' metry and grace. With such results K it will not be necessary for graduates V "- of the public schools to take a course in penmanship after they have entered a store or office, as they have frequently been required to do in cities that boast the thoroughness and efficiency of their public school methods. r A member of the Arkansas Legislature was tiued $100 and sentenced to one minute in jail the other day foi j "shooting at and missing an editor." It Is a serious offense In that State to i miss ;acb an opportunity. fe mpi ^ . ' > J WORK OF AMERICA'S HEN I HER VALUE IS NOT LESS THAN $290,000,000 A YEAR. Worth More Than the Entire Wheat Crop of the Conntry?Not So Far Behind the Earnings of the Kiiliroatia? touiu Easily Buy Several States of the Union. H. W. Collingwood, of the Rural New Yorker, save in the New York World: Mrs. American Business Hen is one of our most useful citizens. She is a shrinking, unassuming creature, too modest at times even to cackle over the birth of her own egg, leaving that celebration to her husband; and yet Mrs. American Hen has been quietly paying off mortgages, driving wolves from the door and hatching out nest eggs for thousands of featherless bipeds. In 1890 there were in this country SUPREMACY C'F THE ASIERI 258,871,125 chickens and 26,738,312 other fowls. In that year the American hens laid 9,836,674,992 eggs, There are now 350,000,000 chickens, which will lay this year 13,750,000, 000 eggs. These eg^s are wortb $165,000,000, and the poultry meat sole during the year will bring Sl'25,000,000, "which gives $290,000,000 as a very low estimate of the earnings of Mrs. American Hen for one year of the great depression. The 350,000,000 hens are wort! $105,000,000 of any maYs money, bul we will not oonsider that, but take simply the earnings of the hen. The average length of an egg is two anc one-half inches. The 13,750,000,00( eggs will, therefore, make a chain 542,218 miles long, while the total weight of this production of hen fruil is at least 853,125 tons. Does any reader of the World realize what this immense production ol eggs and meat means to the country? Here are a lew figures for comparison: Value of silver production $72,510,00C Value of wool clip 3S.146.451 ValnA nf nil olippn fiX 1 f?7 725 Value of all swine 186,589,74! Value of mules 103,204,451 Value of horses 500,140,18( Value of petroleum products... 62,383.403 Value of potato crop 78,984,901 Value of tobacco crop 35,574,220 Value of cotton crop 259,164,640 Value of oal crop 163.655,06? Value of wheat crop 237,938,99? Imports of coffee one year 84,793,121 Imports of tea one year 12,704,440 Total of pensions 139,280,07? Total of school expendituies?178,215,550 Total interest on mortgages 76,728,071 Cost of Postoffice Department... 90,626.290 Net earnings of railroads 323,196,454 Dividends or. rallro?*. stocks 81,375,774 The value of all gold produced in American mines in 1895 was $46,610,000, and all silver $72,051,000. The value of all minerals, including iron, gold and silver, taken out of American mines in 1894 was $208,163,768. Americans are given to bragging about our immense mineral resources, and yet you will notice that the hens paid for it all one year and had enough left to just about pay the interest on all mortgages! Mrs. Hen will earn enough this year to pay the entire State and county tax (which in 1890 was $143,186,007), and have enough left for every cent of pensions that are paid to old t'oldiers. mi_ _ 1 4AA I* x ne average cow weigns 13U times as much as the average hen, and yet all the milch cows in the country have a total value of but $263,955,545. Mrs. Hen in one year will earn enough to buy every cow, and put the entire tobacco crop in her pc?cket as well. She could pay out of her year's earnings for all the tea and coffee imported in one year and all the petroleum products, and have enough left to buy all the tobacco grown in 1896. # The total assessed valuation of the following States fall below the hen's yearly earnings: I New Hampshire, Nebraska, Vermont, Alabama, ! Delaware, Mississippi, j Arizona, Idaho, West Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Arkansas, South Carolina, Montana, Utah, Oregon, Florida. Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado, South Dakota, . New Mexico. Nevada, In other words, Mrs. American Hen could buy any of thes>3 States from one year's egg and chicken money. She could buy in this way New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, North Dakota, Idaho and Montana all put together. The toi:al cost of conducting the Postoffice Department last yea:: was MS aad 890,626,296.84. We can pick out 50,000,000 of our best hens that will cover every dollar of this outlay in one year. The net earnings of the railroads in 1895 were $323,196,454. The railroad dividends paid amounted to $81,375,774. The American Hen paid nearly twice the profits earned by American railroads. The total earnings from passenger traffic amounted to $261,640,598, or less than that of the hens. It cost in 1895 slightly over two cents to carry one passenger one mile, .0184 of a cent a_ a r> m 1.a *1 . mj carry one ion 01 ireigui one mue, and ninety-one cents to run the average train one mile. One single hen, laying 150 eggs per year, could have 215 days of vacation, and would still be able to pay for carrying one passenger 100 miles, or for hauling ten tons of freight 10,000 miles, or for running an ordinary train two miles. One hundred and forty such hens would pay Jjp^, CAN HEN OVER COMXEBGE AND AGRICl ? the salary of the average teacher employed in the public schools, while seventy-five hens would pay the average pension to old soldiers. t OMAHA'S IMMENSE UMBRELLA. I When Raised It Will Be 230 Feet Above i - the Earth. The last Paris exposition had its Eif' fel tower, Chicago had its Ferris wheel, ! Nashville has its giant see-saw. The department of concessions of the Oma1 ?ri.n..,?;nnAf mao ua u auo ui AUVU has also received an application for 5 space for the erection of a novel me-, i chauical device. It resembles the framework of a gigantic umbrella more than anything else which might be J mentioned. The part corresponding to the stick of the umbrella is an imc mense cylinder, thirty feet in diameter, constructed of steel plates firmly . riveted, making a standpipe which [ rears its head 250 feet above the level of the ground. At the extreme top of this cylinder are fastened twelve long 1 arms, resembling the ribs of an um! brella. These are steel trusses, reach; ing almost to the ground. At the lower f end of each of these ribs is suspended | a car for carrying passengers, each car having a capacity for twenty persons, i These monster ribs are raised by hy draulic power, acting by means of steel I LI. ? xi ii,. I cuuies uperauug tuiuu^u tuc ujiiuuci't i aided by a mechanism greatly resemi bling that portion of an umbrella which \ comes into action when the umbrella ! is opened. By means of this mechan; ism the gigantic arms are raised until i they are horizontal, the cars in the 1 meantime being carried outward and i upward until they reach a point 250 GIGANTIC UMBRELLA FOR feet above the ground, the diameter of the huge circle formed by the suspended cars being also 250 feet. When the highest point has been reached another mechanism comes into play and the suspended cars are gwung slowly around in a circle, after which they are lowered to the ground. The sides 1 of the cars are of glass, so that the | passengers may secure an extensive | view of the surrounding country. An octogenarian vagrant was lodged at a St. Joseph (Mo.) police etation one night* ] '' ' J REMARKABLE PEAR TREE. Trained tc> Grow at the Side of a Home In a Wonderful Way. One of the most remarkable of old trained pear trees that we are acquainted with is the splendid specimen of Uvedale's St. Germain at Weston House, Shipston-on-Stour, the residence of the Countess of Camperdown. The accompanying illustration is published in the Gardener's Magazine. Mr. Masterson, the gardener at Weston House, writes that "the tree is admired at all times of the year, but more especially when covered with large handsome clusters of dowers. In autumn, when laden with quantities of bi 5 fruits, it also presents an attractive appearance, and there are many who also admire the tree when the stems are bare, and certainly at this season it is interesting, as the training is very remarkable. The tree seldom fails to ripen a heavy crop of fruits, cropping right down to the JLTURE HCTOBIALLY SHOWN. __I ground. It has never been fed or root pruned, a^d its roots are in the bed of the carriage drive, gravel also encircling the stem at the base, where it measures six feet in circumference. It is, however, very probable that the roots have penetrated a considerable distance and come into contact with the stable drains, thus deriving the nourishment required by so large a tree. The fruits are seldom thinned, WIJTCEB VIEW OF THE PEAB TBEE. as the tree is so vigorous as to be capable of carrying very large crops, and yet the fruits weigh from 'half a pound to one and a half pounds each. The +/% a 1 nT^irrVti svf a I aaf rflor u'oa w/uai nciguv vi ?uo no* j n?o two hundredweight. Many first prizes have been won from this tree, including firsts at the Crystal Palace in 1894 and 1895." " ???????????? > The Flint Prepaid Poat. According to M. Piron the idea of a postpaid envelope originated early in ! THE OMAHA EXPOSITION. j the reign of Louis XIV. M. De Velayer in 1663 established a private post, placing boxes at the corners of ' the streets for the reception of letters wrapped in envelopes, which were to be bought at offices established for the purpose. And it is said that a Swedish artillery ofioer, in 1823, petitioned the Chamber of Nobles to propose to the Government to issue stamped envelopes for prepaid letters. In most - 'arts of Asia where coffee i3 used, the younds" are drunk with the i'tf usion. WAIST TOE EARLY FALL. A NEW AND ATTRACTIVE DESIGN FOR HOME WEAR. The Material la of Fonlard Silk, Showing Leaf Pattern, and the Decorations Are of Lace and Narrow Passementerie ?A Waist In French Bine Tafleta. With the established popularity of the stylish little Etons, blazers and top coats, writes May Manton, there is a constant demand for new designs WAIST OF FRENCH-BUTE TAFFETA. in separate waists that can be made of silk or wash fabrics. A stylish example is here given, developed in French blue taffeta. It is made over a g e-fit - ATTRACTIVE WAIST FOR' ting lining that is trimly adjusted to the figure by means of the usual seams and darts, and closes as does the waist, invisibly at the centre-front. The full fronts have clusters of tucks that are laid at yoke depth, separated by bands of insertion that have mitred points. The back fits smoothly across the shoulders with a slight fulness at the waist line. The two-seamed sleeves fit comfortably close with a fulness at the top, caught through the centre by bands of insertion that can be omitted in favor of a small puff, as shown in back view of engraving. The neck band is concealed by a stock of satin relieved by the inevitable touch of white lace or chiffon above. The belt that encircles the waist is of silk with handsome metal buckle. Light inexpensive silks can be purstViaaad at n triflincr cost, so that everv woman can number among Tier outfit several dainty waists. The readymade garments are invariably highpriced, but with these reliable patterns, a few yards of material and a little ingenuity, satisfactory results may be obtained. To make this waist for a lady in the medium size will require five yards of twenty-two-inch material. A Waist for Early Autumn Wear. The attractive model shown in the large illustration is well adapted, according to May Manton, for early autumn wear. As illustrated, the material is of foulard silk, showing a leaf pattern.^The decorations consist of lace and narrow passementerie that defines the edges of the rever and the wrists of the sleeves. The waist is supported by a glovefitted lining having the customary seams, double bust-darts and smooth under-nrm gores, and closing invisibly at the centre-front. The back is wide and seamless, fitting smoothly across the shoulders, with a slight fulness at the waist line. The right-front shows fulness at the shoulder edge, with for- < ward-turning pleats at the neck edge, i while at the waist line the material is drawn well to the centre-front by over- ; lapping pleats. The left-front lies ; smoothly at the shoulder and neck, 1 with the additional material at the 1 waist laid iu forward-turning pleats. [< On the edge of the left-front is a fall 9 rever that falls in jabot effect from the shoulders to the waist. The neck is completed by a smooth band over 3 which is a stock of ribbon. A soft - M frill of lace rises above the collar, af- ^jj fording a stylish finish. The sleeves are mousqnetaire, following the arm closely from the wrist ' ' 'M to well above the elbow, where they J3 are finished by a puff of moderate di- " ^ mensions. The waist is encircled by N. a wide ribbon girdle that finishes with a bow and ends. All varieties of silk, ' ; S including taffeta, foulard, India, etc., are adapted to the style, while soft. wool textures, or silk and wool, will develop equally well, lace, ribbon, passementerie or insertion forming suitable decoration. To make this waist for a woman ot mArdinm si7A tuill rannira tn-n and ?. J quarter yards of 44-inch material. M S& * Jannty Suit For a Little Boy. . j The jaunty suit here represented is made of dark blue serge, with a wide If&fM sailor collar of white. It is neatly fin* fSfl ished with machine stitching and decorated with narrow braid. The coat, of .5 becoming length, is simply shaped by '>Jj shoulder and under-arm seams; the ^"8 back is wide and seamless, and has a slight fulness at the waist. The cldaing is effected in the centre-front, with *3 button and buttonholes. Above the ^ closing the fronts open upon a shieldshaped portion, the neck finishing *JB with a narrow braid. On the left front : a useful pocket is inserted. An attractive feature is the wide sailor col lar, falling deeply across the back and VwM shoulders. The sleeves are provided with inside seams only, and are arranged at the wrists in small box- .'..-a pleats stitched to position, while the .. 'M fulness at the top is collected in '-M gathers. The short trousers, extend- ?-'*m i EARLY MORNING WEAR. ' ^ * ing to the knee, have inside and oat- "a side leg seams, and close at the side, J, where pockets are inserted in the oat- ^ side seam. Inside bands are provid* . ed at the top, having buttonholes to hsfl attach to buttons on the shirt waist. f The trousers display a fulness ft the ; knee in knickerbiocker style, which is regulated by an elastic run throagh ; ?JI casing. Useful and becoming suits for small boys can be fashioned in this style in . ^ tweed, cheviot, serge or light-weigh} BOY S RUSSIAN SUIT. cloth in shades of blue, tan, gray or cardinal. To make this suit for a boy of four ^ years will require one and five-eighths yards of lifty-four-inch nfaterial or "Vffl three yards of twenty-seven-inch ma- , ^ terial, with five-eighths of a yard of iji contracting material tor coiigfc J3| .1 A ; ..J." la . a