The Fairfield news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1881-1900, June 08, 1887, Image 1
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VOL. XLIII, WINNSBORO, S. C., WEDNESDAY., JUNE 8, 1887. . NO, 45.
?pgaaeg?it iit n'tiy-ma1..-'r: maaag a " MT.ivuiL*
TIMELY TOPICS FOR FARMERS. j
i
HOW TO DO PAYING "WOKK AT THIS J
SEASON.
I
SnjTSjestioas of Interest, from an Author!-'
tatlve Source.
(W. L.Jones In Southern Cultivator)
Having finished planting the main
crops and got them well under way, tire
^ work of continued cultivation will ab9
sorb most of the time and attention of
the farmer. If the seasons during May,.
in any given scction, have been propitious,
the main object in view in cultivating
the crop will be to keep the surface
soil in light, friable condition. The unloVk/VMV**
"fVlfJ.f, rflicf
l'JL?JUJLDtXU? wmvv* f VM
end of plowing and hoeing is to prevent
the weeds from choking the crop. To
such a man (perhaps there are many
such) the grass and weeds are a blessing
in disguise?compelling him to give the
cultivation which would be needed, even
in the absence of such a blessing. Deep j
plov.ing of growing crops is not now in j
order, excepting, of course, late-planted I
fields not before well plowed. We want:
to induce a moderately rapid and health- j
Jm ful growth of the stalks of corn and cot- j
j|| ton. Therefore the roots of the plants ;
HH should not be torn anJ broken more :
K than is absolutely necessary. The upper I
^^Ajach or two of the soil should be kept <
W o^M^nd loose. The crust which forms i
Drevents the easy access of j
the aiclStove?laden with plant food in I
the form of carbonic acid and nitrogen? i
and should be broken as often as may
be found expedient, not less than once !
in every ten days or two weeks. The !
layer of soft mellow soil that is left--be-;
hind the cultivating implement acts very i
decidly as a mulching to the layer below |
. in which the roots are penetrating in j
every direction. Such a layer of loose j
soil is a poor conductor of heat and;
therefore protects the roots of the crop j
from the too fervid and scorching rays j
of the sun; and the interstices are not;
fine and close enough to act as capillaries j
in bringing up the moisture from the!
soil about the roots to be evaporated and !
lost, as would be the ease if the crust
to remain undisturbed. |
It should be the aim, therefore, to go |
over a crop as rapidly as possible after a ;
good season of rain and to keep the sur- j
face as constantly as possible in this
loose, open condition. How often a j
crop should be plowed over is, as already j
hinted, a question of expediency. While I
it is true that a crop growing on poor j
land but lightly fertilized will receive a j
greater ratio oi benefit from frequent j
and thorough cultivation than a crop;
growing on rich or well-fertilized soil, ]
yet it pays best to give the naturally rich :
or the highly fertilised land the prefer- j
ence?the best and most frequent cuiti- j
vation. We doubt not there are many j
fields already planted that woidd give;
better returns (less loss) if they should j
receive no culrivation at alL
sapid cultivation.
The implements used in the South in j
cultivating the crops are generally de-'
f active in the respect that they are too !
small?they do not get over the crop fast j
enough. A light-running 12 to IS "inch j
sweep does not fully tax the capacity oi
a stout mule to say nothing of the smaller j
shovel and scooter, still so much used, j
The Southern farmer does not fully ap-!
preci2te the advantages of wide spread- j
ing cultivators and harrows. Among the j
number of expanding, adjustable cultivators,
on wheels or otherwise, that are
so generally used in the Xorth and West,
we ought to be able to find one that will
answer our purpose better than the!
sweep and heel-scrape. A cotton middle j
should be cleaned out and stirred from j
row to row at one through trip?a com ;
row at not more than two. There is cer- j
plainly an unnecessary consumption of |
~^time ana travei wnen irom seven to nine i
furrows are given to each three-foot cot- j
ton row, in the course of the season, as j
is usually done, employing the time of j
an able-bodied hand and mule.
Several years ago, while watching the t
plowing of a field of cotton with 24-inch I
sweeps?two furrows to the middle?we j
were struck with the fact that, in making 1
the return, or second furrow, the big!
' ,^sveep was doing substantially little more |
| Pidginal work than might have been done j
I by a three-inch garden hoe. The greater j
part of the cutting edge of the sweep was ;
lapping over and passing along the furrow
run just a few moments before. To
remedy this on the spot we directed the
plowman to side "by the row," and skip
every other row?i. e. side both sides of
every other row. The result was a gain
of just one-half the time, and doing the
work?so far as merely stirring the soil
was concerned?almost as perfectly as if
two furrows had been run in each middle.
This saving of time made it possible
to stir the soil?practicably the entire j
surface?twice as oiten as before with ;
precisely the same labor. Of course at j
the next plowing the rows not sidtd be-:
fore received the special attention, the j
others being lefr. We were so pleated j
with the plan that it was adopted as a i
permanent resort, especially -when it was
desirabie^to go over the crop very rapidly,
as immediately after a heavy rain.
The principle involved is more or less
applicable to the cultivation of wider
rows, and the plan may be modified or
suspended according to circumstances.
It is equally applicable to any of the
cultivators which do not straddle the
row so as to plow both sides of it. An
implement designed to run astride the
rows and side both sides perfectly is a
desideratum in the earlier stages of the
crop. But in the absence of such a cultivator
the plan above detailed will often
be found very expedient. The timehonored
rule of plowing over the crop
every three weeks has but little to recommend
it except its observance will
prevent the absolute loss of the crop. If
^ "^HcTut three plo wings are to be given to the
f corn crop it is better to somewnat aeiay |
Wfe first and hasten the second and third,
so as to make the intervals between
plowicgs less.
SMALL GRAIN.
Of conrse the small grain crop mnst
receive attention as it ripens for the harvest,
and no reminder will be needed
I other than the rapid fading 01 the green
into the golden yellow. Bemembei that
oats intended for feeding in the sheaf
should be cut when th) tops of the heads
have turned yellow ana while the straw
is stall green. Uut ratiitr ingn ana care i
well before housing, as they are very
troublesome to manage if put into stack
or barn undercured. "Wheat intended
for market or milling should also be cut
(before fully ripe, but nearer full ripeness
than oats. The husk or bran -will then
be thinner and the yield of flour will be
better than if the grain be permitted to
fully harden. But all grain intended
for seed should be fully ripe, especially
oats. It is an excellent plan to go over
the fields and select the choicest heads
(in advance of the harvesting), stripping
by hand and keeping the grain separate.
r In this way the quality of the seed in
^ny desired respect may be kept up to
; the original standard of excellence, and
even much improved. It is probable
that the popular rust proof o:.ts and
other varieties o: grain were discovered
and perpetuated in this way.
SWEET POTATOES.
This is the favored time for enlarging
the area in sweet pototoes. The vines
planted now will do as well, if not better,
than the slips from the old bed.
But whether cut vines or slips be used, j
plantings in June or July -will make
cheaper and better keeping tubers than
plantings made during the months of j
April and May, because they grow of! at j
once and require much less cultivation.
We used to take a pride in setting the
earliest slips and the largest area early
in the season, until we discovered that
some of our neighbors who were not so
smart made more and better potatoes by
planting later.
We consider the sweet potato crop as
possessing great undeveloped possibilities.
It is about the cheapest hog food
that can be produced fn our climate and
certainly one of the most healthful as
well as convenient. An important secret
in sweet potato planting is to have the
ground well prepared beforehand and
freshly plowed just before setting out
the slips or vines. If not convenient to
reverse the beds after a rain and just before
planting, the patch should be
plowed, or at least hoed, just as soon as
practicable. Plants set in a sodden,
compact soil do not flourish and grow
off as well as if set in a mellow, freshlyplowed
soil.
In planting vines we have found it to
pay to prepare the cuttings with some
degree of care, dividing them into pieces
containing from three to five leaves (according
to distance between leaves) and
inserting two to three joints only in the
ground. There will be fewer potatoes
in a hill, but they will be larger and
smoother than when much more of the
vine is inserted in the ground.
FIELD PEAS.
This is the best time for planting field
peas, whether for seed or improving the
land. No corn field should be without
a row of peas between the rows of com,
or broadcasted over the field. The crop
costs little more than the seed and
is probably the best paying crop planted
in the South in proportion to the investment
in seed and labor If some
bunch variety is already growing in rows
it is not a bad idea to sow again just
ahead of the last plowing. For this purpose
the Conch pt a, or some other running
kind, is best. It is often recommended
to sow peas after wheat and
oats. It is good farming to do so when
practicable. But it so often occurs that
the ground is too dry and hard to permit
of plowing and getting the peas up
that the plan cannot be relied on as a
part of a regular system. Sometimes it
can be done, often it cannot. If the
ground can be plowed the best way we
have found to do it is to list two furrows
together lapping the slices turned and
leaving a narrow ridge to be opened out
with a shovel, followed by a pea-dropper,
and the peas covered. Three furrows,
after the r>eas are well ut>. will usuallv
suffice for the cultivation.
FOEAGE CHOPS.
Forage crops, like cat-tail millet, miilo
maize, kuffir com and sorghum, may
still be planted, but the land should be
proportionately better as the planting is
later. We have had no personal experience
with millo maize, but doubt if it is
any better for green-soiling than the old
stand-by cat-tail millet. For curing into
hay for use by and by, the German millet
and common corn answer better,
albeit the latter is very difficult to cure
perfectly.
The German millet should be sown
broadcast in well-broken land, and at the
rate of one-half to one bushel of seed
per acre and harrowed in. Sow the com
in drills three to four feet apart at the
rate of three bushels of seed per acre.
The ordinary pop-corn is said to be excellent
for this purpose.
TCSNIP5.
Land intended to be sown in turnips,
especially if rutabagas are to be grown,
should receive attention by repeated
deep plowings until the time for seeding
arrives. We are not strong in our advocacy
of turnips as a stock crop in the
cotton belt. Our fall climate is geneially
too dry for turnips, and unless every
other condition of success is faithfully
complied with, the failures will be oftener
than the hits; yet this vegetable is so
desirable for the table, as well as for
stock, that a moderate area should be
sown. If they fail, it is easy to devote
the land to some fall crop, as rye, barley
or wheat.
HOGS.
We nave long believed that the predisposing
causes of hog cholera are insufficient
or unnatural food and want of
plenty of pure -water. The disease is
well known to be infectious, but it is
known that even infectious diseases
more readily attack where there are predisposing
causes. The hog, in a state
of nature, herbivorous, subsisting on
roots, grass and nuts, and ranging the
woods and swainps unrestrained. The
nearer we can keep to nature in the
management of stock, supplementing
natural supplies by the arts vi culture,
and protecting against undue exposure
to inclement weather, the more healthy
and vigorous the animals will be. Every
farmer should provide an abundance of
green and succulent food throughout the
spring and summer, to be followed in
the fall and winter bv nuts, tubers, grain
and oil-cake. Green roasting ears, stalk
and all, sorghum, collards, clover, fallen
frnit and many of the natural grasses of
the field afford a succession, and variety
that leave little to be desired during the
grcwing months; and sweet potatoes,
chufas, peanuts, field-peas, artichokes,
etc., answer the demands of the season
further on, and prepare the porkers for
the smoke-house. Whafca fist of food
resources for man and beast we have in
the South! We ought not to import a
pound of bacon or lard, beef or butter,
if failure or famine occurs in one coun;
ty the adjoining or not distant county
should be our Egypt, instead of the fardistant
West. If failure occurs this year,
trv ftfrftin. Xot many aive un cotton
O v i
planting because of even :epeated sucI
cessive failures. The writer spent sevenj
teen of the best years of his life on liis
farm, and during that time, in the agI
gregate, his sales of surplus pork and
j bacon were greater than the amounts
i bought. The South raised her bacon
i av ring the war, and she can and ought
to do it uo\s\ Not every farmer, perhaps,
is favorably situated for raising
hoys; but there are others whose surplus
should supply such as fail. This is
fully as good a section for hog-raising as
for corn-growing. If we persist in tne
one, why not in the other? Y7e can
largely substitute oats and other grain;
we accept no substitute for bacon and
lard?the greater reason why we should
produce our own bacon which has been
done very successfully by many progressive
Southern farmers.
i-Tgi.? CI
Young or middle-aged men, suffering
from nervous debility or kindred affections,
should address witli 10 cents in stamps for
iarge treatise, "World's Dispensary Association,
Buffalo, N. Y.
-1
OX THE WAY IIOX .
A Soliloquy by Farmer Stackpole.
Go long, old mare. Let's see: I've
got the molasses, an' the thread, an' the
plow-pint, an' Sal's shue that was mended,
-iii' the paper. So Cleveland is really
in the White House an' at work. The
paper sajs he's puttin' in the Bourbons
at a great rate. Somehow I don't like
that paper as I used to. It don't seem
to tell the whole truth an' nothin' but
the truth, as I used to suppose it did. I
was in at neighbor Straight's an' picked
up a paper called the Voice that had a
heap of news in it that I never found in
my Republican papers. I intend to hear
both sides of these things after this.
Well, I voted for Blaine, after all my
* * T-* i_ i, _ ?
leanm's to St. .Jonn. i1 act, iucy sor* ui
bull-dozed me wqen I got to the polls,
j There was Elder Grand met me cn. the
street. "I do hope," says he, "that you
won' cast half a vote for such a moral
leper as Cleveland. The great issue in
this campaign is moral purity, and every
Christian man should vote for Blaine."
An' then come the Squire. "I tell you,"
said he, "Cleveland is a man of no
capacity whatever, no experience in pubhe
affairs. He'll Cust be the tool of the
worst elements of his party. Have you
seen what the ministers of Chicago say
about?" An' then he took the tobacco
out of his mouth an' read somethin' like
tins: "Resolved, That for the sake of
the South, for the sake of this country,
for the sake of temperance and Prohibition,
for the sake of the family and the
reform against polygamy, the election of
Jas. G. Blaine is the necessity of the
hour." "Excuse me a rninit," says he,
and he started off to catch a saloonkeeper
who was coming along. He
talked with him for about five minits an'
then handed him something in the Tribune
to read, and then come back to me.
"Here's another," says he, "of these
opinions of the clergy that every Christian
man ought to read before votin' for
such a d d fraud as St. John. Excuse
me, deacon, I don't often swear,
but the hypocracy of these fellers what
is disgracin' the" cause of temperance
makes me mad." So he pulled out a
paper an' read a string of resolutions by
the clergy of New York. One of 'em
was, "not to cast a half-vote for the
Democratic party with the semi-sanction
of impurity and dissipation, nor a whole
vote for a man whose name is now the
conspicuous synonym of incapacity and
incontinency." Then he began readin'
Burchard's speech, but just as he got to
the last end of it the saloon-keeper come
over where we was standin' and says,
'That is very satisfactory, and he took a
Iiepublican ticket an' went on to the
polls. As soon as he was out of hearing
the Squire went on with Burchard's
speech, an' he put a good emphasis on
the "Rum, Komanism and Rebellion."
These things, had sort of staggered me
when good old General Easy come along.
Bless his gray beard! "We all know he
was a true man in Congress, and he
seems like every man's friend. "Deacon,"
says he, "I'm very anxious about
this election. There's the brass factory
over at the river shut down, not to resume
unless Blaine is elected. And here
is the hunker Democracy .-just reachin'
after the spoils. If they get in where
-err? 11 TM lie.? What TC-ill htWITYlA nf fHvil
Service lieform? And I tell you if the..
Democrats get in I should not be surprised
if they repealed all the laws
against polygamy, and just let Utah into
the Union, Mormons and all." There
was no doubt the good old man believed
what he was gayin' "And as for temperance,"
he went on, "you know I am
a true temperance man. St. John
couldn't help the cause if he was elected,
and he can't possibly be elected, for the
majority of true temperance men are
against him. After election I will go
over this county myself an' speak on
temperance, and we will put up a firstrate
candidate for the State Legislature."
Steady, old mare, over this new road.
Well, sir, my resolution just oozed out
with all this talk. 1 forgot everything
but the incapacity and wickedness of
Cleveland and the Democrats, and the
anxiety of good men for Elaine's election,
and I brushed past young Straight
who had the Prohibition tickets, though
I couldn't help admiring his grit, and
grace, too, for I knew he was doing his
T Knnf?V?A/1 rvocf Vnm orirl
V/JLLX JLZJtlilil U.U.CJ -L kJX i i i i i i wu
putin my ballot for Elaine.
I'm afraid that ballot was tlirowed
away. Cleveland's incapacity ain't as
conspicuous as I expected it would be.
The brass works aesumed about a week
after election?there's the smoke of 'em
now. And as for the Mormons and the
fellers what was crowdin' out the Indians,
they seem to be skipping and
clearing out more than ever before. I'm
afraid those good men what I followed
was party-blind themselves. Not that I
believe in the Democrats as a party.
Why, Neighbor Crook, who's been a
Democrat always, has come out since
election, and says he can't stand his
party any longer, now he sees a better
"? ' A 1 xl.- T>
piacc 10 go xo, sua jineu uie noiuuitionists.
The Democrats is bad, "but not
so bad as whiskey- The Republicans
may better, but they are not good
enough to suit me. If they had done
their duty this temperance question
would not"be so big as it is to-day.
"Well, when I got home wife says,
"Hurrah for St. John," an' I was kinder
shamed to tell her who I voted for, so I
edged around and told her what the men
on the street told me. My stars! didn't
her eyes begin to snap! bhe just fired
up and swept away their arguments like
so many cobwebs. "Who are the hopocrites,""says
she, "the honest men who
vote for what they believe to be right,
or politician.?, like the Squire, who say
one fhing to the saloonists, and another
to the temperance men, and get 'em both
to vote the same ticket?"
"Whoa! I say. Jim! Jim! Come and
put out the mare.?The Voice.
Baltimore Friend's Defalcation.
A dispatch from Baltimore says: For
the first time probably in the history of
the Society of Friends in this country
the treasurer of a Quaker meeting has
turned defaulter. Edwin Blackburn, the
treasurer of the Friends' Lombard Street
Meeting in this city for many years, has
been deposed from his responsible position,
a deficit of about ?6,000 having
I been discovered in his accounts. Mr.
Blackburn was recognized as one of the
! most trustworthy men in the city. He
was a leader in the Lombard Street
fleeting and particularly interested in
the Friends' mission work among the
Indians. He is over GO years of age and
has a wife and two daughters. Tiie discovery
was made recently when he was
called upon for church funds and could
not deliver. He then confessed that he
had used the money with the intention,
of course, of making good the deficiency.
A Husband's Greatest Blessing
Is a strong, healthy, vigorous wife,
with a clear, handsome complezion.
These can all be acquired by using Dr.
Harter's Iron Tonic. *
/
A young woman who had lost her speech
by a severe cold, had twenty offers of mar,
riage in one week.
THE OLD SOUTH.
A BEAUTIFUL TRIBUTE TO HEK
LITERATURE.
Half-Forgotten Writers Who Were Giants
in Their Day?Five Boys of the Old Sontli
in College Where Two Go No;v?Too
Much of the Dollar-Making Element on
Top Now.
(From the Louisville Courier-Journal.)
"Within the past few years it has become
the fashion among literary critics
to depreciate the literature produced in
the South before the war, and to point
to ante-bellum days as a period almost
barren of literary achievement. Indeed,
it has been with this fashion as with all
fashions?it has been exaggerated Mid
overdone. In our zeal to place the
laurel on the brow of the hero of to-day,
we have forgotten his predecessors., and
wc have whispered into his ear, "Thou
art the first of thy race."
Now far be it from my intention i;o say
aught against the fair name of the new
generation of writers that has sprung up
in the South since the war. No Southerner
anywhere is prouder than I am
of such names as Thompson and
Craddock and Harris. But now, ii with
the ancient Cleitus I dare say to the
hero, "Thy father, Philip, of Maccdon,
was also a great man," I hope I may not
meet the fate of that faithful, bui; too
bold, censor.
In offering a criticism of anyihing
written in.the South before the war , one
is confronted with an amount of prejudice
which is indeed remarkable. The
average Southerner has formed his
opinion of ante-bellum literature not
from actual study of the literature i ;self,
but rather from the biased criticisns of
Northern writers. He reads Gricvold,
and is told that Simms was avolumiaous
writer, but entirely without nterary
merit, and that Poe was a drunken and
conceited fooL From Stedman he learns
that Walt Whitman is the ne plus viltra
of American joets, and that there wr^no
intellectual achievement' in the South
before the war, for "human slavery was
the basis of its physical life."
Examine the library of the tolerably
well read Southerner, and what will you
find? There will be Bryant and Longfellow,
and Emerson and Hawthorne,
and all the rest of the Northern writers.
But I would be surprised if you fcund
anything bj Poe, and I am sure you
would find nothing by Washing ;ton
Allston or E. C. Pinkney, or Henry
Timrod or Albert Pike. The thousand
and one volumes of Cooper's novels
would be conspicuous, but you would
look in vain for "Swallow Barn" and
"Horse Shoe Kobinson," and "Martin
Faber" and "Castle Dismal."
Now, surely such indifference is not
justified by a lack of intrinsic merit in
our literature, and the Southern people
are doing themselves an injustice when
they allow themselves to be persuaded
fhaf. pto ?? pnvfhinr*- in their liteiarv i
history to be ashamed ot.
In 1S60 that scholarly and accomplished
-writer, John K. Thompson?for
a long time editor of the Southsrn
Literary Messenger?entered into an
agreement with John Esten Cook to
publish an edition of the "Poets imd
Poetry of the South." But the war, that
blighter of hopes, came on.
"A wind came out of the clouds by night,
Chilling and killing?"
and so the leaves, scarcely begun to be
gathered, were scattered again. But they
were the fresh leaves of a noble and impassioned
people's spring time, and let
us for a moment enjoy their fragrance.
Did you ever read Washington All
ston's "Sylphs of the Seasons" and
"The Paint King?" They are wild and
beautiful. You would divine they were
written by an artist, even if you did not
know that Allston was one of the greatest
of American painters. He is to us
what Dante Gabriel Bossetti is to England?he
is the painter-poet. Inde<;d,
the soil of Carolina grew many sweet
and fragrant leaves. There were the
lyrics of the two Timrods, the bookbinder
and his son. When Washington
Irving read William Timrod's ode "To
Time," he exclaimed. "Tom Moore las
written no finer lyric." ' 'Autumnal D ay
in Carolina" and "Sons of the Unior ,"
written during the nullification conta oversy,
and Henry Timrod's "Vision of
Poesy" and "Bhapsody of a Southern
Winter Night" and "Summer Bower" nil
have about them the scent of the foliage
<-> ^/\roc4. TT/vn-rrr- Timrn^ io
much admired in the North, and Wh.ttier
and Stoddard have gone so far as to
say that he is the greatest poet the Sou
has yet produced.
.But the only true portraits of Southern
life before the war are to be found
in the novels of Kennedy and Simms.
They delineate with the accuracy of t.n
actual observer the character and customs
of a period that has been the sour.je
of much controversy. I think if the
revilers of the ante-bellum South wou:d
read honest old Kennedy's "Swallow
Barn," they would desist from their
senseless.vituperations. Said the North
American Review: "The story of Abe
and the negro mother, for pathos ard
power, is not surpassed by anything tb.it
iias vet aooeared in the literature of our
country."
But 1 have time only to mention some
of our other writers. There was Ricliaid
Henry Wilde, whose researches on
Torquato Tasso produced such a sensation
in Europe; and then the brothers
Cooke; and John James Audubon, tie
traveler and naturalist; and Charles
Gayarri, the historian; and Judge Lont;street,
whose "Georgia Scenes" was the
pioneer in this dialect literature which :s
so much "the stylo just now, you know."
And now comes Poe, the greatest cf
them all. But the critics have tried to
steal him away from us and give him to
the North. Even Maurice Thompsoi
hints that Poe was only half a Southerner.
Cable and Craddock have "ider.- ,
tilled themselves with the North," but
who would call them Northern writers?
Yes, Poe was a Southerner, and a Southerner
to the core. His father was a
Southerner, he was born in the South,
ho was raised in a typical Southern famly,
and his sentiments and temperament
weie JXitcii&cij' uuuiuuu.
Bat Mr. Thompson says that "not one
oi i'oe's poems was distinctly Southern
in its conception and coloring." Now
Mr. Thompson is a great authority, but
I beg leave to differ with him. I would
ask if a Northern writer has ever produced
anything "grotesque and arabesque?"
That awful and powerful
wierdness of Poe's writings was the es;
ponent of the misfortune and misery of
an intensely passionate Southern nature,
j "The Raven" is a nightmare of a hot
summer's night. Have not all Southern
and oriental writers this characteristic
gorgeousness? Is not Dante's "Inferno''
characterized by this same horrible
grandeur? Indeed your Puritan poets,
while they could point the world to it
fable, and prattle of slaveiy, were utterly
incapable of moving the human soul to j
its very depths and riveting 5tin intent
emotion, as Poe was wont to do. Even
Stedman says that Hawlhorne was no
better romancer than Poe. "The Fall
of the House of Usher" is a grand masterpiece,
and will go to posterity on
equal footing with "The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow" and "The Great Stone
Face."
As a poet Poe is unsurpassed by any
of his countrymen. "Annabel Lee" is
one of the purest gems of the English
lnrnnona W-ifV> flio "F.-irrmoan? OTirl
j TI1WU i~Mv%
especially "with the French, "The
Raven." is the best known of American
poems. And "Ulalume," and "The
Haunted Palace" and "Israfel"?who has
written anything finer than these? They
are not only poetry, 'but they are fine
paintings and grand music.
"It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir?
It wa&down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the goulhaunted woodland of Weir"
What imagery! What music to the
ear! Poe's feet were winged;, and they
could wander in that "land east of the
sun and west of the moon," in that
border land of all the arts. It is true he
did not write as much as Longfellow.
He did not have time. Longfellow died
at seventy-five. Poe at thirty-nine. The
lark had just begun his morning flight
when the hunter brought him down.
But the clear, passionate notes of this
songster will float down many ages to
come.
But why go farther? Did not the old
South have a literature? Did not her
generous soil grow literary genius as
well as every other kind of genius? For
ten years the critics?Northern, and I
blush to say Southern, too?have racked
their brains in the endeavor to formulate
an hypothesis to explain what they are
pleased to call the "dearth of Southern
literature before the war." In their
efforts to find a cause for a result which
does not exist except in their own minds
they have vilified our fathers and proclaimed
them an uncultured and unlet
tered people. But I deny the charge in
toto. Could a man be idle who directed
the management of the broad thousands
of acres of a Southern plantation?
Could a man be idle and govern, protect
and provide for five hundred or a thousand
slaves? Could a man without industry
and executive ability bring agriculture
to such a state of perfection and
make mother earth yield so bountifully
as before the war? I know the Southern
planter did not do manual labor. No
wealthy man does that to-day.
And was the ante-bellum Southerner
uncultured? I declare that the culture
and refinement in the South before the
war were such as the world has seldom
seen. They were a noble, a chivalric,
a patriotic people. They were not only
gentle in manners, but they were gentle
at heart.
And was the old South uncultured?
Where five boys went to college before
the war, only two go now. Her educational
institutions were the finest in the
land. There were the universities of
Virginia, Mississippi and North Carolina.
"William M. Evarts sent his son to
the university of Virginia, "because,"
said he, "it is the best in the land." But
'ii^crirics say the Southern boy did not "
study. Perhaps not, but the Northern
boy at Harvard squeezed through at
"fifty," while the Southern boy had to
toe the mark at "seventy-five" at the
University of Virginia. And, I dare say,
there was less dissipation at then Uiversity
of Virginia before the war than there
is at Harvard to-day.
Yes, I am proud of the old South. I
am proud of her.^eople: I am proud of
her deeds; I am proua of her blood.
But I am glad the war turned out as it
did; I am glad that Democracy triumphed,
and that all men are now equal
before the law; and I rejoice heartily at
the material progress the South is now
making. But listen to my prophecy:
The condition of things in the South
to-day does not sit well on the Southern
temperament. There is too much of the
dollar-making. The Sbutherner is conservative.
But he is proud and strong,
and things must yield to his will. The
fabric of ante-bellum society is the one
that suits him the best, and it is the one
which he -will weave for himself again.
Within the nest nest score of years the
broken threads will be taken up again
and woven into a fabric whose testure
will be finer and stronger than ever before.
It will be a free, a democratic
aristocracy. And then?the South will
be the grandest land on God's earth.
John Humphreys Waters.
Yanderbilt University.
A Dwarf People in Europe.
Professor Marapta has made a remarkable
anthropological discovery in the
valley of Eibas, in the Eastern Pyrenees.
*r? iL.i T j ?
in h.ihl (.1 latirmti ue xuuxxu uuuiciuua
groups of persons who are named by the
other inhabitants "Nanos" (the dwarfs),
and who never attained to a greater tallness
than four feet. They are well built
in body, have exceedingly small hands
and feet, and are broad in the hips and
shoulders. All have red hair. " Their
cheek-bones are prominent; their chins
are square and large. The eyes have
the slant tendency of the Chinese. The
men are beardless, or they have at the
most only a few soft hairs on the chin.
The face is full, and skin pale and loose.
It looks as if it had no muscles beneath
it. The men and women are so like
each other that their dress betrays their
sex. Many of them have swollen necks,
goitre-like, but this is possibly to be
attributed to the water. The Nanos are
constantly objects of the taunt and ridicule
of the other inhabitants of the valley.
They live as a separate people,
marrying only amongst themselves, so
that the race is preserved unique. Their
intelligence is very low. They have no
schooling, no means of bettering their
existence, no one cumbers himself about
them, and they lead a miserable exist
ence. "Many of those whom I questioned,"
says'Professor Marapta, "could
not even tell me where they lived. They
had no conception of arithmetic. They
were amiable in. their manners, and
seemed quite willing to learn something."
Railroading in Mexico.
"But the railroads in Mexico are remarkable.
I like the way Mexicans take
life. I don't believe we" know how to
live here or in Europe. We go so fast
and we work all the time. Now it took
me a whole day to go about fifty miles."
z>j rauroaaingr"
"Yes, by railroads. We went very
slow and took it easy, bnt we might have
arrived at our destination a little earlier
if the conductor hadn't had a lot of
gamecocks along and an engagement for
a cock-fight at every station. Itt was interesting,
don't you know, but I don't
i think I'll go to Mexico again for some
time."
At the recent examination in Newberry,
a small boy was asked what countries are
on the Western continent. He answared
promptly, "Newberry and South Carolina."
That boy will make a man yet.
Sin has many tools, but a he is the handle
which fits them all.
THE mUi-A-MINUTE MYTH.
Fast Time by Railway Trains in
America and England.
(New York Mail and Express.)
"It is intei sting to study railroad
statistics," said a railroad director to a
Mail and Express reporter. He continued
in tlie same strain, "There are
290,000 miles of railroad in the United
States. In 1855 tho railways of the
United States carried 312,786,641 passengers
and 400,453,-139 tons of freight.
Each person was transported an average
distance of 23 miles; lience the entire
movement on all the roads was equal to
carrying 8,541,309,674 persons one mile.
T T X_1_ _ XT- - 1-^3
Atassacnusects tates ixit: ienu. ah passenger
tran-portion, -with 53,800,887; Pennsylvania
next, then New York, Illinois,
New Jersey and Ohio. In freight tonnage
Pennsylvania takes the lead with
105,507,916 tons, and New York second.
There are about 25 miles ox double track,
sidings, etc., 19 locomotives, 621 freight
cars, 5 baggage and mail and 13 passenger
cars for every 100,000 miles of railroad
in the United States.
- ."Speed is hard to average. The 60
and 75 miles an hour train is generally a
myth. An average of 48 3-10 miles per
hour is the fastest time in the United
States. This is made on tie Pennsylvania
'limited' in its run from Jersey
City to Philadelphia, 90 miles, in less
than two hours. The 'Flying Dutchman'
train is supposed to make the
fastest time in the world, between London
and Bristol, 118^ miles, in less than
two hours. The average, though, even
of this fast train is only 59* miles per
hour. There are several other trains
noted for remarkably fast time on short
distances. Sometimes a straight and
even grade for a distance of 20 miles will
permit a train to run at the rate of more
than a mile a minute. One train on the
Canadian Pacific road, from Cotaneau to
Ottawa, averages 50 miles an hour for a
distance of 78 miles. On the Central
road the late Mr. Yanderbilt traveled at
the rate of 90 miles an hour. An aveiage
of 36? miles an hour is considered
fast traveling. Many c,f the limited,
lightning expresses do not go at a faster
rate. The value of railroads in the
United States exceeds eight billion? of
dollars."
The Churches in the- United States.
It is sometimes asserted that Christianity
is losing its hold upon the masses
in the United States. Statistics show
that this is quite a mistake. Indeed, the
opposite of the assertion is amply shown
by the figures. The religious division
of the census of 1880 has not yet been
published, so that the public is deprived
of the figures made up from authoritative
statements of representatives of the
different branches of the Christian
Church. But enough data are obtainable
from other trustworthy sources to
enable us to make a fair estimate. The
result of such estimate is to show that
the increase in churches, ministers and
communicants more than keeps pace
with the increase in population.
A computation of the statistics of the
churches of the United Spates made four
years ago shows that at that time there
were 115,610 churches, 81,717 ministers
and 17,267,178 communicants, including
6,S32,9oA Roman Catholics. These figures
did rot include luoxmons or Jews.
The year books of 1886 show that the
same religious bodies now number 132,435
churches, 91,911 ministers and 19,018,977
communicants, allowing the
Catholic population to number 7,000,000,
which would be a gain of but 167,000
in four years. The net gain of four
years is thus shown to bo 15,235 churches,
AKof /vf "JOJ. rnai* {]n.xr 1 fi~!& 7QQ
Ui "" iv: ?J J ->?
communicants, or at the rate of 1,117
every day, and 10,191 ministers, or more
than 2,500 a year. Unless these figures
can be shown to be untrustworthy, the
claim that the masses are falling*away
from the churches is contradicted.
It is interesting to note the relative
strength of the various religious bodies
which figure in these statistics. The
Koman Catholics stand first, with a
membership of 7,000,000. The fourteen
different Methodist organizations come
next, with a total membership of 1,532,658;
the Baptists third, with 3,727,020;
Presbyterians fourth, with 1,082,136;
Lutherans fifth, with 930,836; Congregationalists
sixth, with. 136,379, and
Episcopalians seventh, with 130,531.
The entire Protestant Church membership
is placed at 12,018,977. Of the
gains of the last four years the Method
ists are to be credited with more than
one-half the ministers and with one-third
of the churches and membership. The
growth of this body is enormous, it
having arisen within one hundred years
i'rom a membership of 13,000 to 4,532,65S
at the close of last year.
The churches of the United States, if
classified according to form of church
government, would naturally fall under
three heads, Episcopal, Congregational
and Presbyterian. In the first, which is
the largest class, should be placed Catholics.
Episcopalians, ILthodists and Moravians.
their combined memberships
aggregating 11,787,770. Tlic Congregational
polity includes Baptists, Congregationalists,
Advents, Friends and some
miner division's of the Methodists, v;ith
an aggregate membership of 1, 520,112.
Under the Presbyterian lonn come the
various Prcsb;- n bodies, as well as
the Lutheran^ raa Mennonites, with a
membership of 2,710,632.
There is even* reason to expect that
the growth in church membership will
increase rather than diminish. Tlxe
different church bodies are improving
their methods both in extent and in
effectiveness. Sunday-schools have of
late years become more numerous, and
have become, too, better means of pro rvs
t"? rr -fru* re rr\ ttrf1 ? A"f "fcliA
UJav v TT I/** v* W**v V ? %">?
Nearly one thousand preachers of Christianity
are at work, and of late years the
standards of fitness for the ministry have
been very much raised. The Church,
clergy as well as laity, is better educated,
and for that reason is all the better fitted
to teach that morality without which
Christianity cannot expect to cope with
its enemies or to place i4.s followers in
such light before the world as that they
may by their lives teach its all-important
lessons.
The Reporter* Demand liedresa.
A number of newspaper reporters accompanied
31 r. O'Brien to Canada to report
his meetings throughout the dominion.
They now complain that they have
it Ivifllv ttwifr-fl O'T^rifin Vrmc/iT
That they have been stoned, assaulted with
clubs and their persons roughly used. To
make the ollense more characteristic they
urge that they are townsmen of the President,
that they live in Buffnio, and that
in thus insulting them the Canadians have
indircctly insulted the President of the
United States. They demand redress and
satisfaction, and deem ihe cause of suiiicient
importance to make to make it a national
affair and have the stain washed out
in blood. As yet the President has not
been heard from on the subject.
The tent meetings that began at Newberry
with the Holiness Association the 17th of
May closed on Suuday night. The meetings
for the week were conducted chiefly
by Mr. Thomas Leitch and Ilev. R. C.
Oliver. Fifty-one persons joined the church
I during the meetings. The tent has been
i and stored, awaiting transportation to some
I other point
KICH RELATIONS.
Poor friends are a calamity, perhaps,
but a calamity not "without its atoning
side. Their dependence gives one a
sense not altogether unpleasant as being
of importance in the worid; of a position
on a pinnacle, whence one looks
rtovra, all insensibly, but positively upon
inferior cre-tares below. Now, with
rich relations the positions are reversed,
and then?ah, one finds it not only
more blessed, but far more agreeable to
give than to receive. There is?Heaven's
blessing be upon them!?many a gracious
Lady Bountiful and generous Sir
Galahad in this world of ours. But it
is no easy thing to bestow a gift with so
line an air that the giver may seem the
favored one, or the act of kindness so
slight as not to merit recognition. And
few, indeed, there are who do it
To most rich and generous folk the
outcome of their giving seems a j;ense
that they buy, body and soul, the
friend their bounty benefis, and then
they look for gratitude forsooth! As
a. oAi^oiua?u ouuum iv
say "thank you kindly/' when one lays
down largess in exchange for goods.
They give, yes, abundantly, as it has
been given them. But, when they expect
in return devotion, absolute and
entire; willing service, thoughtful care,
they should not ask, too, for thanks.
They give of their own; the recipients of
theirs, and neither side may justly think
of gratitude.
Another most unpleasant phase in the
relations of rich to poor, is that they too
often bestow without thought or care as
to whether the gift be appropriate or
no. Sometimes a wealthy couple will
choose one to be their favorite, out of a
largo and impecunious family; not to
take her absolutely to themselves, but
ir> turn her head with luxurious living
odd inappropriate dress, and, after long
visits which unfit her for the simple
home life, send her back to an essen tially
false position. She has a vague feeling
of shame when she walks in the elegance
unfitting her age beside her
plainly dressed sisters, and feels a hot
iiush mount to her cheeks as she sees
curious eyes note the difference in their
attire. It is a help to the parents, perhaps,
the gifts which, therefore, she
may not refuee, but I wonder Joes such
a girl feel lady-like in them?
And perhaps it would be as well if
rich relations gave poorer kinsmen
credit for their own delicacy of taste
and feeliffg. There are women who
pack regularly great boxes of half-worn
clothing for some country cousin, laying,
in the act, with a complacent smile
of self-approval:
"This lilac silk will make Mary Jane
a handsome Sunday dress, and Ethel's
old pink satin can be made over charmingly
for little Sally."
But suppose Mary Jane is an overworked
housekeeper, with heart and
lianas more than lull, and purse proportionately
empty? If this were not
so, would she need help? If this is the
case does she need that sort of help?
Why should not the rich, idle women
make all needed alterations in the garments,
saving the poor busy one a
dressmaker's bill, or many over-hoars of
work? And when the dresses are ready
for wearing, there are ten chances to
one that Mary Jane is sallow and worn,
where her cousin is all pink and pearl,
and the lilac silk is an eyesore to her
and hers, the time it lasts; while Sally
goes among her plainly-clad playmates,
looking to her mother (and perhaps to
herself, for children sometimes have a
little sense), like an absurd jackdaw in
her borrowed plumes.
Withal, the re-made garments are not
new ones for sight or wearing. It is a
cheap philanthrophy, this "old cio's"
giving, as to the beggar at the door, and
entails new dresses to the bestowers, in
the stead of those which have outlived
1'cnfnlniicc Tiftr /\t* nroforori r*o Knf ie
UVUWlJj Vi. vlv^ V/MiVv j UUI. AO
it true benevolence?
Rich relations are far from being an
unmixed blessing. I remember now,
with some amusement, a conversation
between two women thus encumbered.
"My brother," said the first, "lives
on forty thousand dollars a year, and
because he has helped my husband to
establish himself in business, thinks he
must direct all our affairs henceforth;
and thinks, too, that we, with twice his
family, live recklessly, because we spent
between two and three thousand dollars
this last year."
"I know what that is," said the
second, "and how having rich relations
in the same town with you keeps you
always in a state of pinpricks. Everything
you have looks mean and shabby,
in comparison with their establishment.
Your children tease for toys and trinkets
like their cousins1, and even your husband
wonders sometimes why you cannot
dress to look like your sister?she
in a French costume, and you in one
tUnf TT/M1 V? n r-rt fVia WrtA cmc '
luUU J \J U. Li?V/ ?f W OUJV*
hours to make; just as your friends
wonder why the difference is so wide
between the two families."
"And," added the first, "the rich relations
imagine their patronage to be
kindness, and that they are showing a
becoming interest, when they are simply
intrusive and impertinent. O, the air
with which their costly robes trail
across your ingrain carpet, aud the lofty
manner in which they touch your handicraft
and say: 'I don't see why you
should waste time and eyesight over
this work. You can buy the very
thing at Lord & Taylor's for twenty dollars.'
"
"Or," chimed in the second, "41
don't want to find fault with you,
Louisa, but 1 must say you seem extravagant.
Those shoes I gave Mary
were for best and here she is wearing
them to school. Do you know what
they cost?' You feel insulted, and you
want to say so, but she is your sister,
and?yes! and her husband is your
husband's wealthy friend; what can vou
do?"
"That has often been my cry," said
the other. "You feel, sometimes, that
you had rather beg bread from door to
door than receive such favors. But, if
you are independent you are ungrate
lui, ixiiu?Yvuiit uau juu uu; x
the rich relations could have heard
them.?Ruth Sail, in Good Housekeeping.
Judicious Little Willie.
Little Willie, who lives in a suburban
district bordered by a region where
very many poor people live, was silting
at the side door of his father's house
one day, eating a big sugared piece of
bread and butter which his* mother had
given him. when a poor and very hungry-looking
boy passed along outside
the fence and -ooked wistfully at
Willie's bread and butter.
"Don't you think, Willie, that it
j would be nice to give that poor boy
half your piece of bread and butter?"
! "Half of it, mamma?"
! "Yes, my boy; he looks very huni
&7"
"I'd like to give him some, but don't
you think?he's so poor, you know?
that if I gave him as much as half of it
it'd make him kind of greedy?"?The
Boston Record.
KENTUCKY PIONEER LIFE.
INCIDENTS OF EARLY DAYS IN THE
"DARK AND BLOODY GROUND."
Some Acco'.mt of the Exciting Experiences
of Daniel Boone and His Followers.
(From Harper's Magazine for June.)
Tlie dangers which Boone and his
companions enconnteied in the fields
came to the very doors of their cabins,
and constantly menaced their families.
Indians lurked singly or in parties to
seize a prisoner or take a scalp whenever
an ineantions white should crive the otv
portunity. Frequent combats (and each
combat ended, as a rule, in the death of
one or both of these engaged) had
habituated the men to danger. It was
later that they felt the danger of their
wives and children.
Late on a Sunday afternoon in July,
1776, three yotmg girls ventured from
the enclosure of Boonesborouge to amuse
themselves with a canoe upon the river
that flowed by the fort Insensibly they
drifted -with the lazy current, and before
they were aware of their danger were
seized by five warriors. Their resistance
was useless, though they wielded
the paddles with desperation. Their
canoe was drawn ashore, and they were
hurried off in rapid retreat toward the
Shawnee town in Ohio. Their screams
were heard at the fort, and the cause
well guessed. Tw;v of the girls were
Betsey and Frances, daughters of CoL
Bichard Callaway, the other was Jemima,
daughter ci rsoone. me iatners were
absent, but scon returned to bear the
evil news and arrange the pursuit. Callaway
assembled a mounted party, and
was away through the woods to head off
the Indians, if possible, before they
might reach and cross the Ohio, or before
the fatigue of their rapid march
should so overcome the poor girJs as to
cause their captors to tomahawk them,
and so disencumber their flight
Boone started directly on the trial
through the thickets and canebrakes.
His rule was never to ride if he could
possibly walk. All his journeys and
hunts, escapes and pursuits, were on
foot. His little party ntimbered eight,
and the anxiety of a father's heart quickened
its leader, and found a ready response
in the breasts of three young men,
the lovers of the girls.
Betsey Callaway, the oldest of the
girls, marked the trail, as the, Indians
hurried them along, by breaking twigs
and bending bushes, and when threaded
with the tomahawk if she persisted,
tore small bits from her dress and
dropped them to guide the pursuers.
Where the ground was soft enough to
receive an impression, they would impress
a footprint The flight was in the
best Indian method; the Indiars marched
some yards apart through the bushes
and cane, compelling their captives to
do the same. When a creek was crossed
they waded in its water to a distant
point, where the march would be resnm<v?
"Rv all thft fianticm and skill of
obscure the trail and perplex the pursuers.
The nightfall of the first day stopped
the pursuit of Boone before he had gone
far; but he had fixed the direction the
Indians were taking, and at early dawn
^as following them. The chase was
continued with all the speed that could
be made for thirty miles. Again darkness
compelled a halt, and 2gain at crack
of day on Tuesday the pursuit was renewed.
It was not long before a light
of smoke that rose in the distaace
showed where the Indians were cooking
a breaskfast of buffalo meat The pursuers
cautiously approached, fearing lest
the Indians might slay their captives and
escape. Col. John Floyd, who was one
of the party (himself afterward killed by
Indians), thus described the attack ana
the rescue in a letter written the next
Sunday to the lieutenant of Fincastle,
CoL William Preston:
"Our study had been how to get the
prisoners without giving the Indians
time to murder them after they discov
ered us. Four of us fired, and all of us
rushed on them; by which they were
prevented from carrying anything away
except one shot gun without ammunition.
Colonel Boone and myself had
each a pretty fair shot and they began to
move oil, 1 am well convinced I shot
one through the body. The one he shot
dropped his gun; mine had none. The
place was covered with thick cane, and
being so much elated on recovering the
three poor little heart-broken girls, we
were prevented from making any further
search. We sent the Indians off almost
naked, some without their moccasins,
and none of them with so much as
a knife or tomahawk. After the girls
came to themselves to speak, they told - r
us there were five Indians, four Shawanese
and one Cherokee; they could
speak good English, and said they should
<rn to the Shawanese towns. The war
club we got was like those I have seen
6f that nation, anu several words of their
languages, which the girls retained, were
known to be Shawanese."
The return of the rescued girls was
the occasion for great rejoicing. To
crown their satisfaction, the young lovers
had proved their prowess, and under the
eye of the greatest of all woodsmen had
shown their skill and courage. They
had fairly won the girls they loved. Two
weeks later a general summons went
throughout the little settlements to attend
the first wedding, ever solemnized
on Kentucky soil. Samuel Henderson
and Betsy Callaway were married in the
presence of an approved company that
celebrated the event with dancing and
feasting. The foiuiiil license from the
county court was not waited for, as the
court house of Fincastle, of which county
Kentucky was part, was distant more
than six hundred miles. The ceremony
consisted of the contract with witnesses,
and religious vows administered by
Boone's brother, who was an occasional
preachcr of thp persuasion popularly
Known as Hardshell Baptists. Frances
Callaway became within a year the wife
of the gallant John Holder, _ afterward
greatly distinguished in the pioneer annals,
and Boone's daughter married the
son of his friend Callaway.
Jane Weather.
Prof. -J. C. Baker has made the following
schedule for the weather during the month
of June. This applies to the Southern
States, and those interested in good or bad
weather will do well to paste it in their hat;
1st and 2nd, fair and cool; 3rd, light fog;
4th, mild, partly cloudy; oth and 6th, fair
and mild; 7th, fair and warm; Sth, warm
with light rain; Oth and 10th, fair, mild;
11th, partly cloudy, mild; I2th and 13th,
mflrl onri 1 <inr^
llOi; J. V/iW V4A.J . O.VUtX) ?AUVfc
lGtii. fair, warm; 17th, IStii, fair, "warm,
and dry; 19th, rain, thunder, wind and hail;
20th, cloudy, foggy, then clear; 21st, cloudy
.-ir.cl windy: 22nd partly cloudy, windy;
23rd, rain; 24th, partly cloudy; foggy, 25th
local rains and thunder; 26th, light rain,
thunder; 27th, nearly fair, warm; 28th,
bartly cloudy, coolei; 20th, foggy aad
cloudy; 30th good rair.