The Fairfield news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1881-1900, September 08, 1883, Image 1

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1 M f i | j. _ ' k lufalii. TRI-WEEKLY EDITION. WINNSBORO. S. 0.. SEPTEMBER 8. 1883. ESTABLISHED 1848 SO HE DATS. Borne days there are when life and love Seem best of gifts from heaven above; Some days when sky and cloud and sea Bring sweetest thoughts of life to me; Some days heartaches but triHeA seem, And haunting care an idle dream; Some days. But clouds may cover the bluest sky, And tears ’ueath the Hottest lashes lie, Rough winds may ruiMe the smoothest sea; Forever hid is life’s mystery; Though lightly to us life’s burdens fall, The sorrow o£ others must sadden all— / Some days. Why should grass be green and skies be blue * When life is dreary and love untrue? Why do sunsets fade and nights grow cold? Why do friends prove false and hearts grow old? Oh! life seems cruel and God but a dream And death far sweeter than .ife, I deem— Some days. Forever I follow a vision falf, But never shall mine be its presence rare; For fate is mocking, and hope is vain; And my heart cries out in desolate pain, “Has God no thought for the pain below?” O heart sore tried, shall we not know Some days? THE MYSTERIOUS I.EGACY. My grandfather was a aea captain— not a mere claimant of ttie title, like the watermen of the lakes and coast skippers wno never get out of sight of land, and who, if they got there, could never get back—but a genuine “old salt,” trained from boyhood under a tarpaulin hat, and as familiar with the “paths of the sea,” as a shepherd is with those of the sheepwalk. Spending his life on extensive voyages, he was seldom at home long enough at a time for the salt spray to dry on his weather beaten cheeks-, and there was hardly a i>ort on the habitable globe in which he could not shake hands with an old ac quaintance, civilized or savage, Of course his history was crowded with curious incidents. Most of these, at which my childish ears tingled and my eyes dilated, have become so faded in memory as to be incapable of a toler able narration. The tollowing, how ever, made a more lasting impression: During the calm between the Old French war and the American revolu tion, a large ship was lying at a wharf in the town of New York, loaded with a valuable cargo and ready to sail for Liverpool, and thence to whatever part of the globe the chances of commerce might dictate. This was my grandfather’s ship, only waiting for her papers and a fair wind. The papers were soon ready, and short ly after them came a breeze. Presently everything on board was in active pre paration—the casting off and coiling of ropes, the unfurling of canvas, and the running up of sailor lioys among the ratlines like spiders on their webs; while the sharp, imperative orders of the mate, and Uie hearty “ye-hoy-yei 1 ” of the cheerful crew echoed over the rippling waters, which looked in the rays of the setting sun as if it was cov- ered with a cream of liquid gold. Just before the last plank was hauled in, a stranger stepped hurriedly on board and inquired for the captain’s state-room. Being conducted hither, lie entered, and with a slight bow, ac costed the captain, who sat writing at his desk: “You are for Liverpool, I believe, sir?” “Yes, sir.” “I am in poor health, and, intending to spend the winter in Italy, wish to get passage in the iirst ship that sails for Europe. Will you take a passen ger?” “Yes, sir, if my accommodations will suit you.” “Nlo matter about accommodations, captain. I am an old sailor, and know how to accommodate myself. Besides, the trim of your ship suits my eye.” The allusion to his ill health attract ed my grandfather’s scrutiny, and the introduction of himself as an old sailor touched his heart. On noticing him more particularly, he was struck with an undetinable feeling of curiosity and sympathy at his appearance. Tall, straight and rather slender, he was dressed in fine black broadcloth, with a sort of Spanish cloak of the same color and quality. A two-edged sword, com mon on shipboard at that time, and improperly called a cutlass, was partly covered by his cloak and hung by his side without a sheath. His hair was quite gmy, and his manly features would have been handsome had they not been so emaciated as to give un pleasant prominence to half a dozen deep scars on his face. His eyes were blue and full of expression, but restless at times, showing a sudden abstraction. The looseness of one of his black gloves gave evidence that he had lost a huger or two from his left hand. These ob servations were made by the captain while the stranger was looking at a beautiful sextant on the table, Turn ing, as if startled at his forgetfulness, he resumed: “Name the price, captain, and I will pay it now.” My grandfather had already tixed the price in his mind, and replied: “You are a sailor, sir, and sick. The accommodations of my ship, as wed as my services, are at your free com mand.” The language of a sailor's heart can not be misunderstood, and knows no interpreter; and the stranger knew that remonstrance would be ungenerous on his part. He made-no reply, Gut eager ly extended his hand, and my grand lather, as he shook it, thought he saw a tear in the stranger’s eye. But noble hearts ai-e impatient of exhibitions of gratitude,and he quickly added: “1 am ready to sail, air. is your baggage on board?” “Thu: is all my baggage, sir,” ho re plied, showing him a small black satcnel under his cloak. Leading him to a state room the cap tain left him and went on deck, and found the ship already under way, the sails tilled with a stiff breeze, and wharves, warehouses and spectators fast growing smalt in the distance. At length, as darkness shut in the view, the wind, increased to a gale, and from a gale to a tempest; and for ten days and nights the noble ship which had ploughed the seas of every latitude, from Spitzenbergen to New Zealand, underwent such a conflict with the ele ments as she had never before encoun tered. During all this time, the stran ger had been confined below with an apparently rapid consumption, which rough weather had swiftly matured. During the storm the duties of the captain were so urgent that he could only make snatched and hasty visits to the sick man; and although they could have been spared from their quarters, he could have hoped for little aid or sympathy from any of the crew, who, with the easy tendency to the supersti tious peculiar to their class, had asso ciated his presence with the perils of the ship. It would have required but slight en couragement from their officers to in duce them to pay him the same com pliment that the sailors of Joppa paid to Jonah, on a similar occasion, when “The sea wrought and was tempestu ous.” But on the tenth night, just as the captain was ready to answer a sum mons to visit the sick man’s berth, the storm ceased with a suddenness that was startling; the wind was entirely lulled; and.no evidence of its fury re mained except the long swelling billows of the sea—the deep after-sighs of its mighty passion. The sudden stilling, of the tempest, and the mournful creaking of the spars, now audible for the first time for many days, forced a shade of melancholy over my grandfather’s spirits, as he hast ened down the gangway at the call of the stranger. As he seated himself beside the berth, the sick man fixed his brilliant eye upon him and said calmly: “Captain, I am dying!” “I hope not, my dear sir; this dread ful gale has weakened you. It is over now, and you will soon be better.” “No, captain,” he repeated. “I am dying! Tne tempest, I know, is over; so is that other tempest in my breast! The ship has long been tossed and bea ten about by the fury of the waves, but it has been sunshine and calm com pared with that tempest, captain! But it is all over, now—for I have forgiven him—he has long been in the grave— out I have forgiven him!” My grandfather thought he was de- lirous; but a second look at the deep intelligence of his eye, and the smiling calmness of his features, forbade the conclusion. He gazed at him a moment with mingled compassion and curiosity, anxious to learn something of a history, the closing scene of which was so dark and mysterious, but was unwilling to ask it. His look was interpreted, and the stranger continued: “I told you I wasa sailor. Of thirty- five years 1 have not spent one on land. But this was not my choice. Like a ship, captain, my supports were knocked from under me, and I was launched upon the ocean. My father was an English merchant in Cadiz, extensively engaged in navigation. He lavishly provided for my education. Having iraversed .he halls of science, I left Ox ford and returned to Spain at the age of twenty. The first year of my free dom from school I spent in rambling over the mountains of that enchanting country, in a deep inland dell, shut out from the world, where the earth was always green and the sky always blue, I met, one day, a beautiful young shepherdess—and loved her. “I will not describe her charms, cap tain, for you have been young, and a heart that has loved needs not to be told that to the eye of true affection its object has no defects. “My father learned my secret—but I knew it not. I had a life-long secret afterwards which he never learned! He came to me one morning, smiled, and said: “ ‘My son, do you want to go to Cuba?’ “I eagerly answered in the affirma tive; for it had been a cherished but hitherto forbidden passion with me to travel. “One of my vessels sails to-morrow,” he said, “and you may go.” “This short interval allowed me no time to bid farewell to my shepherdess, who was fifty miles distant, nor even to inform her of my departure; but I said aloud; ‘I’ll soon be back,’ and many other consolations.) I whispered to my heart the next day while boundingover the Atlantic.” “The ship arrived in good time at Havana, discharged her cargo, reload ed and sailed for—Calcutta! 1 was a prisoner on my father’s ship, and for five long years I was kept from home— as if all the water of the ocean could wash out my love!” “I escaped at length from the prison ship, while lying at Kio, and took pas sage in a French bark for the Guadal- quiver. No circumnavigation of the f lobe was ever so long as that voyage. strained my eyes every day watching for Gibraltar, which I knew was thous ands of miles off; and every night I dreamed of mountain rivulets, snowy Hocks, and Ina.” “Arriving at last at Seville, I hast ened over the Nevada, and sought the sunny dell where my affections had so long nestled, and there found that the idol of my heart was the wife of an Andalusian shepherd! She had been told that I had deserted her, and after wards that I was dead. I did not weep, for my heart was turned to stone, ‘My father, said I, ‘shall never know of his victory!’ I did not go to see him; it was wicked, I know, but, burning with the spirit of revenge, I turned again to the sea, and never saw him more 1 am faint, captain, and cannot prolong my tale. In six months I was master of a large sailing vessel—you have seen that vessel, captain, but never in port, aqd I have often seen you, and knew your name twenty years ago. But no matter about that. My father contin ued to freight his ships and send them to different parts of the world—but he never knew that I superintended a large part of his business, and that many of his cargoes found a sale in ports to which tuey had never been consigned. His agents sometimes failed to report. •“I have said enough, captain; before tomorrow’s sun sets, I shall be in the caverns of the deep. But I have for given him and do not complain. I have a fortune in the bank of England, but with it is deposited a will, and the or phan son of Ina is my heir, “You have been kind to me, captain, and in token of gratitude I beg you to accept my watch and cutlass, and this paper, which you will carefully pre serve.” So saying, he held out a folded scrap of paper, which my gfandtather put into his pocket Morning diawned—but the stranger’s eyes did not open upon it—they were closed forever. In the afternoon the “burial service at sea,” that most solemn of sea scenes, was performed— and the shrouded body of the pirate, with a gentle plunge, broke the glassy surface of the ocean, and sank swiftly into its mysterious depths. It was many hours afterwards that my grandfather bethought himself of the paper in his pocket. He opened it and read as follows: “Captain Lane: On th««aoteui point of Nantucket, at high-water mark, is a tall, sharp cliff. A quarter league due west from that cliff is a large, round stone, and near the stone a thorubush. That bush grows ina very rich soil.” _,The duties of his station kept my grandfather a long time abroad, and when he was in Boston about two years afterwards, and having a few days of leisure, he was thinking about acting upon the hint of the enigmatical paper, when his eye happened to fall on the following paragraph in the old Bos ton Messenger: “Wonderful Discover y.—As Mr. John Rogers was breaking a piece of pasture ground on the coast of Nan tucket, about a month ago, his plough share turned up a stout thorubush, sticking to the roots of which Mr. Rog ers spied several Spanish dollars. Upon this he went to digging lustily, and did not give up till he iiad hauled out coins, chiefly Spanish doubloons, of more than $23,000 value. No doubt it was buried by Captain Kidd or some of his piratic kin.” “No dyubt,” thought my grand father, as he put down the paper with a slight nervousness. In a week he was again facing the storms of the ocean, enriching his employers by his skill and toil, till infirmities finally drove him higu and dry on shore. There, in due time, he died of old age, leaving little to his family, except ihe pirate’s cut lass which three generations of boys have used in their iuveuile “training,” and which, rusted and blunted, may now be seen in the office of his great- grandson, a lawyer of New Y'ork. He Couldn't H ip It. What Paralysis is. Two flashily dieted young men with enormous diamond pins on their expan sive shirt-fronts and seal-rings on their little fingers large enough for paper weights, sauntered into a confectionery the other day, and leaned against the counter to wait until the numerous other customers had been disposed of. A young fellow who had just been in dulging in a dish of ice-cream in the parlor at the rear of the store, came out to the counter, fumbled in his pocket a minute or two and finally said, “Guess I must have left my purse at home this time.” “Here, none of that,” said the pro prietor, stepping out from behind the counter, “you’ll have to pay the cash, and you’d better do it right away and save trouble.” “I’ll drop in to-morrow and see about it,” said the impecunious devourer of ice-cream, who hadn't supposed that the proprietor would make a fuss when his store was full of people. “No you don’t,” said the proprietor, grabbing him across the counter, “we don’t trust, and if you don’t shell out the cash right on the spot, I’ll— He was suddenly interrupted by the queer proceedings of one of the two young men, who pc’led out an elegant gold watch held it up to his ear to see if it was going, and then dropped it de liberately on the floor. Everybody in the store clustered about him as he picked the watch up and opened it to show that it had stopped running. “Sam,” said he, turning to his com panion with a horrible grin on his coun tenance and his lower lip curled out like a drooping cabbage leaf, “Sam, why is dis here watch jes like de store we’s in now?” “Why isdat watch jes like de store we’s in now? Well i don’t know. Why is dat ar, watch like de store we’s in now?” “Case dere ain’t no tick here,” and the bejeweled young men grinned until their mouths looked like two Russian- leather liiled satchels, and rolled their eyes until they presented the appear ance of rubber balls bobbing around in a barrel of mortar. Suddenly the two young men looked at each ether, started as though they had just waked up from some horrible dream, and hen walked out in step. “There’s a hundred and fifty dollars’ worth of watch gone to thuuder,” said one end-man to the other, as they reach ed the sidewalk, “but I couldn’t help it, it came on me all at once, like the nightmare.” The prdprietor is still waiting for the impecunious young man to come back and pay for his ice-cream. Th« Old—t 5»mk NotM. The oldest bank notes are the “flying money,” or “convenient money,” first issued in China. 2d97 B. C. Originally these notes were issued by the Treasu ry, but experience dictated a change to the system of banks under Government inspection and control. A writer in a provincial paper savs that the early Chinete “greenbacks” were in all es sentials similar to the modem bank notes, bearing the name of the bank, the date of issue, the number of the note, the signature of the official issuing it, indications of its value in figures, in words, and in the pictorial representa tion of coins or heaps of coins equal in amount to its face value, and a no tice of the pains eau penalties of conn terfeitiug. Over and above all was a laconic exhortation to sndustry and thrift—“Produce aii you can; spend with economy. ” The notes were printed in blue ink on paper made from the fibre of the mulberry tree. One issued in 1399 B. C. is preserved in the Asiatic Museum at St. Fetersburg. So common has become the occur rence of paralysis in recent years that many use the word for a slang expres sion; but for all that it is probable that a vast majority of the people who think at all of paralysis reckon that it is a disease of itself. That some medical men so regard this condition is plain from the fact that deaths are frequently certified to have been caused by it. The incorrectness of this notion will, however, be plain when the conditions which give rise to paralysis are clearly set forth, and this we how propose. A carpenter, blacksmith or some mechanic, whose business requires him to wield a hammer, finds some morn ing that he is unable tp. raise his ham mer arm, or perhaps wMile at work, the man suddenly feels h«s arm become numb and wwak, it falls to his side and ne 4s no longer able to work. The doctor to whom the man applies says a “brachial monoplegia from muscle tire,” which means simply that the man has overwrought his hammer arm and it needs rest. To these cases the very appropriatej name of “artisans’ palsy” is given. Again, a poor-blooded, nervously-constructed person, most likely a woman, meets with a great shock or lias to endure an unusual and prolonged mental or physical effort. Soon, and perhaps without warning, the individual loses the use of some part of the body, often of the vocal apparatus, and the patient is unable to speak above a whisper. The doctor says “hysterical paralysis” or “hysteri cal aphonia,” loss of voice. Upw just how this comes about we fancy it would puzzle the most learned doctor to say. Concerning this condition, however, as well as the one before mentioned, this much is known, viz,: that by appropri ate treatment they recover perfectly and promptly, very good evidence that no part of the nervous apparatus is broken. The faith cures mentioned from time to time are probably cases of the kind last mentioned. It sometimes happens that an intox icated person will fall asleep with the head resting upon'the arm or with the arm hanging over a chair back. When the person wakens the Ann is numb; it tingles and is paralyzed—another “brachial monoplegia,"but really pres sure upon the trunk? * of the nerves which supply the disabled member has affected those nerves so that they are unable to perform their usual duty. The nerves which go out from the brain and spinal cord to the extremities are quite comparable to the wires which are stretched from place tp olaee for electric communication, and pressure upon or section of those nerves produces results very Bke those which follow an interference with the wire. The case just given <fe»ostrates very well a large number of cases—of palsy from pressure, for pressure upon the brain or spinal chord or the nerves which have their exit therefrom will produce a palsy whose extent will de pend upon the extent of the pressure and whose curability will depend upon the chances for removing the pressure. Pressure upon the^nerves which supply one side of the face produces a very characteristic paralysis and one that causes many laughable mistakes on the part of tyros and non-professional peo ple by their attempts to detect the af fected side. Pressure upon the brain or spinal chord is mostly due to the presence of tumors, to fiaotures of the skull or bones of which the backbone is formed and to blood clots within the skull or spinal canal. Patients who recover from diptheria, scarlet fever and some other acuts sicknesses are frequently paralyzed in some part. These cases generally recover by ap propriate treatment, and it is quite probable that many cases would re cover spontaneously. The remarks before made concerning certain cases which recover wqll applies equally to the cases just mentioned. People who work in lead are liable to a peculiar form of paralysis, which is first seen, as a rule, in the muscles of the forearm, on account of which the patient is unable to extend the hand upon the arm. At times the whole muscular system is involved. Change of occupation and the use of remedies which will assist the elimina tion of the mineral from the system is the proper course for such patients. Analagousforms of paralysis are caused by arsenic ard mercury, probably by their action upon the nerve structure of the spinal cord. Woorara, the In dian arrow poison, will also produce paralysis if introduced into the system in sufficient quantities. The paralysing effect of large doses of alcohol are well known. Certain conditions of the cir culatory apparatus predispose to exten sive and often incurable panlysis. The arteries are lastic tubes. 3y age, hard work, care, and the prolonged use of alcoholic drinks, these tubes lose tneir elasticity and become brittle. By some event which determines an unusual quantity of blood to the brain one of these now inelastic tubes is broken, the poured-out blood clots, as before mentioned, and a paralysis im mediately follows. Owing to certain systematic condi tions fibrin, a substance normally sus pended in the blood, lodges upon the flood-gates — valves — of the heart. Presently a part of this matter is dis lodged and washed rway into the blood; perchance it reaches an artery in the brain which ./111 not permit it to pass. This at once cuts off the blood supply from a part of the brain. These pa ralyses are usually extensive and are not readily distiuguLshed from those just mentioned. The pr'oence of worms in the bowels of children is believed to produce pa ralysis in some cases. .Such cases being due to a known removable cause are described as reflex paralyses. These are not seen alone in cliildren, but in adults as well. Finally, change in the structure of the brain or spinal cord produce paralysis, varying in extent with the extent of nerve structure in volved. Such paralyses are especially obstinate in those of advanced years. Change of structure in the spinal cord usually produces disability in the legs. Now, these are the most common causes of paralysis and, from what lias been said, it will be observed that pa ralysis is not a disease of itself. Neither is it always incurable. MidulKht Saunara In Norway. Wayfarers on the coast of Norway are classed as ‘rivers,’ ‘rods,’ ‘tourists’ and ‘midnight sunners.’ The first class comprises the renters of salmon streams, the second the occasional visi- tors of the first, the third are those who now and then leave the steamer and l»euetrate into the interior, and the last consists of those who go direct to the North Cape by the excellent steamers starting from Molde or Throndhjem, and having for their professed main objects the sight of the midnight sun and the satisfaction of standing on the most northern point of Europe. The sequence in which these classes are enumerated indicates their relative so cial importance and the degree of res- pect they receive in the tourist world. Notwithstanding that the midnight sunner is lowest on the scale, his lot is one by no means to be despised, and there is good reason for believing that when this eminently comfortable, inter esting and economical route becomes better known in Great Britain the ig norance which Is there so pretty gener ally diffused regarding the part of Nor way within the arctic circle will be come dissipated by the tourists who will seek those regions in as great flocks as those who now seek the Highlands, and Islands cf Scotland. From the 20th of June to the 18th of July the Berganke and Nordenfjeldike Steam ship Company starts a boat from Molde every Wednesday, and from Throndh jem every Thursday. These ports can be reached direct either from Hull, or Newcastle or Leith’ steamers being changed at Bergen and Christiansand. The boats are In every respect comfort able and even luxurious. A good table is kept and the comfort of passengers is in every way considered. Leaving Throndhjem in the evening, the steamer coasts in sight of the magnificent mountain ranges of the mainland till the Island of Torghatten is reached, where the tourist is landed, and has ample time to visit the caverns or tun nel which perforates the rock. Wind ing in and out among numberless moun tainous islands, occasionally creeping through sounds little broader than twice the breadth of the ship, and skirting ‘The Seven oisters of Alstenoe’ and Hestmandoe, the boat arrives at the ‘Glacier Svartisen,’ where again a land ing is effected, and this immense ioe river can be easily visited. Bodo is generally reached on Saturday morning, whence the course is laid over the West- fjord, and in about four hours the tour ist finds himseli among the wonderful scenery of the Lofoten islands. The visit to this grand region is by no means a perfunctory one, for the steamer threads its way through narrow chan nels to the west coast, and after skirt ing its great mountain ranges it again reaches the east coast by the wondrous “Rafte Sound.” On Sunday the pleas ant town of Trotnsoe is reached, whore a party of Lapps, with their reindeer, are brought down from the mountains for the inspection of the tourists. On the following day the ship anchors at Haminerfest for a couple of hours, and then sails for the North Cape. Here the passengers can ascend the cape, after which the return journey is begun, and the boat by constant steaming, with a short detour into the Lynjen Fjord, arrives at Molde on the following Sun day. The sun never sinks below the horizon for many nights during the most northern part of the trip, and it is needless to say that the effects pro duced are most picturesque and extra ordinary. The rate of passage from Throndhiem to the North Cape and back, provisions included, is £12. This for ten days of a most pleasant and no vel experience. The whole trip from England and back need not exceed £30.” Family Expense*. After religion and politics there is nothing about which intelligent people differ so radically as what they call the cost of living. A skilled man in some department of business will earn sever al thousand dollars a year, spend noth ing on wine, women or horses, yet always be in debt. Some acquaintance of his, with similar salary and a large family, lives comfortably, sends his boys to col lege, drives a good horse and has a snug little bank account. There are mechan ics earning two dollars a day who com- fortly feed and clothe a family of half a dozen people, while some of their fel low workmen, married, but without children, live meanly, \ ear shabby clothes on Sundays and are occasionally ejected from their homes for non-pay ment of rent. The principal cause of the difference may almost always be found iu the family larder, and the fam ily wardrobe. Americans whether rich or poor, know but little more about economy in food than an equal number of savages. Some families must break fast either on beef-steak or mutton- chops; others will serve just as much meat and make it just as palatable at a quarter of the expense of choice cuts because well cooked. Temperament has much influence on the larder. Excita ble people will eat twice as much with out satisfying their hunger, as those of better physical balance, yet they will not do more work. Some wives will save the price of a ton of coal by renew ing for one of the children an old dress or suit of clothes; some others, seeming to be destitute either of tact, skill or inclination, must buy everything new or go without. Economy is a science which quite a numherof men and wom en have mustered by close observation and diligent practice; others do not seem to know of its exintence. A few days ago a couple of ladies who had been re fitting their parlors compared notes. One had spent just $150 and the other nearly $1,500 and the cheaper parlor was the prettier. I’, takes longer to learn economy than to learn a trade, but when learned it is the most consol ing science in existence, no matter how much or bow little money its devotee may have. Rower of Water Stevenson, the great engineer, con ducted on the West Coast of Scotland a series of experiments to ascertain the force exerted by waves, and he found the average force for the five summer months to be 611 pounds per square foot, and for the six winter months 2,- 086 pounds. He mentions that the Bell Rock Lighthouse, 112 feet high, is sometimes in spray from ground-swells when no wind is blowing, and that on November 20, 1827, the spray was thrown to a height of 117 feet—equiva lent to a wave pressure of nearly three tons per square foot; while during a gale in March, 1845, his dynamometer registered a pressure of 6,083 pounds per square foot. He has also recorded that a rock of forty-two tons on one of the Hebrides was gradually moved 5 feet m a storm. Hagan has reported the moving by waves of a block of con crete weighing probably 125 tons. Experts swimmers say that the rea son a man cannot long survive in a choppy or lumpy sea is that the contin ual pounding of the waves against his body uses him up and knocks his wind out, just as blows from a boxer’s fist do. The waves move almost as solid bodies, and a comparatively small one weighs a great many pounds, so that in buffeting with a choppy sea a swim mer receives the impact of successive blows heavy enough to quickly exhaust him, aud actually pound his life out in a short time. Anybody who has been kuooked over by a breaker on the beach can form some idea of the weight and force of water in motion. The power of water under pressure is more familiar to most persons, as illus trations are continually to be seen at tires in the effects of hose streams di rected against walls and windows. But to fully appreciate this, one needs to witness the operation of hydraulic min ing in the West. The steam from a monitor nozzle will tear a hill all to pieces at a marvellous rate and wash away bowlders like chips. Across the Washoe Valley in Nevada are laid pipes to convey water from Marlette Lake to Virginia City, the depression in the line being 1,720 feet, which gives a pressure on the pipes of 800 pounds to the square inch. A stream of water coming through a break in the joint no larger than a knitting needle bores through rock like a sandblast. The flying water is as hard asi ron, aud feels rough like a file to the touch. It is impossible to turn it with the hand, as it tears the flesh from the bones, aud if the fingers are stuck into the stream with the points up the nails are instant ly turned back, aud sometimes torn loose from the flesh. The tremendous power of water has not been utilized to any great extent in doing the work Wf the world, the tur bine wheel, the cotton press and the hydraulic nozzle being the principal ap pliances to which it has been adapted, but no doubt human ingenuity will one day devise a harness for the ocean and compel the billow’s, that now tear down, to aid in building up. Man has not learned to use half the forces of nature that are at his hand, clamoring for work to do, aud of all these unemployed powers the wave is the most tangible and dircat in action. EDIiiok. Fishing was a far earlier mode of supporting human life than agriculture. However far back in the stream of ter restrial events we may suppose it allow able to carry the date of appearance on the scene, still he must have been pre ceded by fish. The rivers, lakes, aud seas, when he first looked upon them, must have been peopled very much as they are at this day. There was as great a variety of species, and probably much the same infinitude of individuals in some of those species. And as a savage population must be always sparse, and in any locality few in number, their supply of food from this source could only have been limited by their inability to capture it. What the wild game of the forest and of the open plains were to the inland hunting tribes, the fish of the fresh and of the salt wa ter were to the riverine and the mari time tribes. Between these early days and the first beginning of agriculture vast periods of time must have elapsed. First, because in these, and more or less in all latitudes, nature offered to man no plant that in its unimproved state was worth cultivating. The suitable form had to be evolved or created by long processes of observation and selec tion. This is why we know nothing of the parentage of wheat, barley, oats, rye, beans, or maize, and why the trop ical bread-fruit, plantabi, banana, and sugar-cane have lost the power of pro ducing seed, and so of reproducing themselves; this must have been a re sult of long ages of human selection. Nothing of the kind had to be dons for fish, There it was as fit for human food on the first day that man stood on the river bank of the sea-shore as it is at this day. Agriculture also required implements to clear and stir the ground and to gather in the crops with, and these implements we know were the re sult of a long series of discoveries, im provements, and advances. Primeval man, therefore, as we now read his his tory, could not have lived by, or known anything of agriculture. Nor could he have lived by wild fruits, for they are not continuous throughout the year. They have their season, and that a brief one. He muct then have lived by hunt- log and fishing; and of the two fishing would be the most continuous and un failing throughout.tbe changing seasons, the most valuable of all qualities for those ill-supplied times. It would not be more difficult to book, and spear, and net, and trap fish, aud to gather mollusks from the rooks and sand-banks than to trap or pierce with arrows wild game. Our immediate comparison, however, Is with agriculture; and we may be sure that not in it were the . jundations of society laid, but in hunt ing and fishing, and that of these two, as the great carnivora at first had pos session of the forest and the plain against intruding man, fishing waa the main primeval occupation ana means of subsistence, THE VERDICT -or— THE PEOPLE BUY THE BEST! Mr. J. O. Boxu—Dear Sir: I bought the ilrat Darla Machine eold by you over five year* ago for my wife, who hat given It a long and fair trial. I am well pleased with It. It never gives any rouble, and la aa good at when flrat bought. J. W. UOLICE. Wtnnxboro, S. C., April 1883. Mr. Boas: Tou wish to mow what I have to say in regard to the Davis Machine bought of you three years ago. I feel 1 can’t aay too much in its favor. I made about S80,no within five months, at times running it so fast that the needle would get per fectly hot from friction. I feel conddenl I could not have done the same work with as much ease and so well with any other machine. No time lost In adjusting attachments.. The lightest rnnniag machine I have ever treadled. Brother James and VV imams’ families are as much pleased with their Davis Machines bought of you. I wsut no better machine. As I said before, I don’t think too much can be said for the Davis Machine. Respectfully, Ellen stevenson, Fairfield County, April, 1888. Mk. bo*o: My machine gives me perfect sails' 1 faction. I find no fault with it. The attachments a’ * so simple, i wish for no better than the Davis Vertical Feed. Respectfully. „ . % Mas. R. Millino. Fairfield county, April, 1883. Mr. Boao: i bought a navis Vertical Feed ewing Mtchlne from you four years ago. 1 am ellghted with it. U never has given me any rouble, and has never been the least out of order. It Ip as good as when I first bought it. I can cheerfully recommend U. Respectfully, Mas, M. J. Kireland. Montlcello, April SO, 1883. This Is to certify that I have been using a Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Machine for over tw jyears, purchased of Mr. J. O. Boag. I haven’t found 11 possessed of any fault—all the attachments are so simple. It never refuses to work, and is eercsluly ths lightest running In tbt market. I consider It a first class machine. Very respectfully, Minnie M. Willinobam. Oakland, Fairfield county, 8. C. Mr Boao : t am wen pleased m every particui with the Davit Machine nought of you. I think a first-class machine In every respect. Yon knew you sold seversl machines of the same aiake to different members of our families, all of whom, as far as I know, are well pleased with them. Respectfully, Mrs. M. H. Most.by. Fairfield county, April, 1883. Thu Is to certify we nave nad in oonsunt use the Davis Machine bought of you about three years ago. As we take In work, and have made the price of It several times over, we don’t want suy better machine. It Is always ready to do any kind of work we nave to do. No puckering or skipping stitches. We can only say we are well pleased ana wish no better machine, Catherine Wylie and Sieteb. April 35,1888, I have no fault to And with my machine, and don’t want any better. I have mile the price of It severs times by taking in sewing. It Is al ways ready to do its work. Ittnatt It a first-class ma chine. I feel I can t say too much for the Davis Vertical Feed Machine. Mas, Thomas Smith. J-’alrfield county, April, 1883. Mr. J. O. Boas—Dear Sir: It givee me much pleasure to testify to tne merlti of the Davis Ver tical Feed Sewing Machine. The machine I got of you about five years ago. baa beau almoat In con- siant uae ever since that lime. I cannot see that it is worn any, and has not cost me one cent for repairs since we have had it. Am well pleased and don’t wish for any better. Yours tru'y, Kobt. Crawford, Granite Qi arry, near Wlnnaboro S. C. We have used the Davu Vertical Feel Sewing Machine for the last live yeara We would not have any other make at any price. The machine has given us unbounded satisfaction. Very respectfully, Mas. W. K. Turner and DauohtersI Fairfield county, S. C„ Jan. Si, 1883. Having bought a Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Machine from Mr. J. O. Boag some three rears ago, and It having given me perfect satisfaction In every respect as a family machine both for heavy and light sewing, and never needed the least re pair lu any way, 1 can cheerfully recommend It to aay one as a first-class machine In every particu lar, and think It second to none. It la one ot the simplest machines made; my children use It with all ease. The attachments are more easily ad justed and It doe* a greater range of work by means of its Vertical Feed than any other ma chine I have ever seen or used. Mas. Thomas owinqa Wlnnsboro, Fairfield county, S. C. We have had one of the Davis Machines about four years and hava always round It ready to do all kinds of work we nave had occasion to da Can’t see tbst the machine la worn any, and works as well as wSen new. Mas. W. J. Crawford, .Jackson’s Creek, Fairfield county, 8. C. My wife is highly pleased with the Davis Ma chine bought of you. She would not take double wnai she gave for It. The maculae bee out been out of order since she had It, and she can do any kind of work on U. Very Respectfully, Jas. F. Fi'be. Montlcello. Fairfield county, 8. C. The Davis Sewing Machine Is slmpiv a treas ure Mas. J. A. UOODWTN. Ridgeway, N. C., Jan. 10, 1883. •f.o Bo ao, Esq., Agent—Dear sir: My wtfr has ueen using a Davis Sewing Machine constant ly for the past four years, ana it has never needed any repairs an i works Just as well as when first bought. She says It will do a greater range ot practical work »nd do it easier and better than any machine she oas ever used. We cheerfully recommend It as a No. 1 family machine, Your ttuj, Jas. q. Davis. Wlnnsboro, 8. C., Jas. 3,1883. Ma. Boaq : I nave always found my Darts Ma chine ready do alt kinds of to work I have had oc casion todo. I cannot see that the machine Is worn i particle and it works as wed as when new. Respectfully, Maa R. c. goodino. Wlnnsboro, S. C., April, 1883, bought of you about five years Mr. Boas : My wife has been constantly using the Davis Machine T a zo. I have never -‘ways or have never regretted baying It, as a is .-eedy for any kind of fam fly sewing, either heavy or light. It is never out of fix or needing i Spain. Very respectfuffy A. W. Lads. Fair-eld, a C., March, IMfi, J gsa