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Iw- r7 ".jr a -- A ... . V XS SOME DARK TEAClIINGS, A PLANTATION NIGT SCHOOL FOR NEGROES BEFORtE TUE IVAR. Some Entertining Itucollections of the Tim,es Before the Civil Var. (From Now York Commorolal Advertiser.) Ap is well known, it was held to be against good policy in the South, in the old days, that the slaves should be taught to read. To teach them was, in fact, prohibited by law in most of the States. It would bo an error to suppose, how ever, that none of thorn were so taught. For the master of the plantation was, in many ways, an absolute monarch-every farm a sort of kingdom-and these potentates chose to judge for themselves how strict should be their obedience to general laws, how far they would allow 0 themselves to be controlled by the Legis lature in the internal economy of their little principalities. Southern planters were in the habit of having such of their slaves taught to road as they chose-law or no law. I, myself, at the age of twelve, was princi pal of a school consisting of half a dozen of mine and others' slaves; and some ac count of my methods may interest the teachers, professors and other literati of our day. The object of the school was the high est possible. Indeed, it was not a school, nor even a college; it was a theo logical seminary. All my pupils were preparing for the ministry. To this day I remember with pride how thoroughly unsectarian was my in struction. I made no eflort to bull those slaves into accepting my dogmas, as proof of which I offer the fact that - whereas I was then, as now, a sturdy upholder f Episcopalianism, every one of my graduates turned Baptist. I held my school in the kitchen after supper. My pupils sat in a row on a bench, one of thteir number holding aloft a spluttering torch of fat pine. -It gave a strong if unsteady light; but was subject to this drawback: Being held near the head of whosoever happened t be reading, it is more than probable that by overheating one lobe of the brain the symmetrical development of that organ was marred. That, however, did not much disturb us, seeing that neithi r they nor I were aware that we carried lob. of any kind concealed about our persons. 4rom time to time, too, as the torch was passed up and down the line, drops of burning tar fell upon the hands, arms and necks of my students, diverting their attention, nay, causing them at times to dance up and down the hoer. Even so, a philosopher looking on might have dimly perceived how fairly good and ill are distributed, on the whole, in this best of all possible worlds, for the cook and her scullion, seeing these young theologians capering and suching the pitch from their rugged fists, gave forth peal after peal of free and jo ous laughter, so that things averaged up: pretty well, after all. This was not a free seminary--far from it. My patrons were drawn from among the most substantial citizens on the plantation. They were able to pay and I made them pay. No student of divinity could keep a seat on that bench without bringing me at the close of aach month a dozen new laid eggs, worth, at that time, 123 cents; so that eight months' tuition cost exactly $1. Prel-ay ing was not insisted on. Yet I cannot call th lt on this account 1 was ever the loser by even an egg. As I myself raised chickens, I was very glad, too, when hens were dilatory in their lay ing, to lot an account run over and rceive at the close of two months a young i ' ilet. My wages were sweet-laugh n a ye professors pulfled up with fat salaries, ye school principals rolling in luxury ! My discipline was that of those be nighted days. The rod then prevailed th roughout the length and breadth of the lanid, nor do I believe my class would have valued my instruction at an egg shell, even had 1 abolished it. But such a thought could not have occurred to a lad who had not thought it strange wllen his own teacher, havmng asked him if he was ready with his Virgil, and lie replied, "not yet," had received three floggings. The first for not knowing the Virgil, the two following (with intervals of rest for tho teachor) for not crying. So they stumbled along through their tasks, I kept up the circulation in their backs and shoulders. Neither they nor I would have heard without astonish mont that there was any other way of stimulating diligence or quickening" the brain. I suppose, however, that my thrashings could not have beeni very severe, for I rememnber that they were the occasion of greit hilarity. This was especially the case when it camne to thme. turn of Joe Nelson to recite. Joe was a famous stutterer, lie wias my youngest pupil, a broad shouldered carpenter, 20) years of age. Hie was exceedingly con ccited and not a little vain-conceited as to his intellectual gifts and vain of his fascinations with the plantation damsels. These qualities, howvevr, did not preC vent him from being a thoroughly good fellow, and lie and Ii were devoted friends as long as he lived. But my affection for him did not save his hack from one single stroke of the peach tree shoot upon which I tightened my grasp as soon as he opened firo. My a a not to wait till the lel of a wayio as then mete out the su tota ofiieic castigation. In my seminary justice did not linm.. At every trip there came a rap. Iumishmnent trod upon the hoech of error. What made it specially hardon)01 Joe was that I could not soe m' way o allowing him to sttertrug8 wa I tough tmydt to encourage him to discard this habit.'- I am afrmid 1 erred, but I moant well; at any rate a livelier theological school never adorned the earth. .A. number of my students became .ministers in good standling. Soma of their views on mere morals, it is true, were at variance with those commonly professed by us of the Caucasian race, but I trust this will iiot be laid at my door. For neither Xenophon nor Plato would ever allow the sins of Alcibiades tbe tracnd to the tacngsm of$o.a Then, too, it must be remembered to my credit that they were ever found with their faces set as flint when there was question as to the fundamental tenets of the theology of their day. No one shall ever say that Gilbert ranked dancing other than as an unpardonable sin, or that Isaao ever held out hope of eternal wealth to the abandoned wretch who found comfort in whistling a jig or pat ting Juba, that rhythmic memory of Africa's sunny strand. Poor Joe never entered the ministry. He built houses instead. My father set him free before the war. At the close of that struggle he was not long in feel ing that hi9 genius did not find suilicient scope in fitting joists and nailing on shingles, lie became a candidate for the Legislature, but before ho could know the joys of victory or the pangs of defeat he died. I hid not soon him for years, but I feel that the world is not quito so bright for me as it would be were this old friend of my youth still among men. To the last, even after I was a man, he said that in his opinion he was my equal in natural capacity, and I am the last man in the world to dis pute the proposition or to bear him a grudge for maintaining it. That he was not lacking in the instinct of historical criticim the following story will show: One day, years after he had been my pupil, as I sat reading in our library, Joe entered and asked me to lend him a book. "What kind of a book do you want, Joe?" "W'ell, M-m-m-marse Jack, I've been a thinkin' I should 1-1-like to read a his tory book." "All right!" and I began running m eyes along the shelves. Hume's, Ma caulay's Gibbon's, ltollin's, would they suit Joe? Just then my eyes fell upon a large illustrated edition of "Robinson Crusoe." I handed it to him with a steady hand and unblushing countenance. He took it with many thanks and do parted. A month or so afterward he dropped in again. "Marso J-J-Jack, ain't histories a kind of book what tells the truth." I could not help smiling at the sim plicity of the question. I then explained to him, as best I could, that histories wore often full of untruths touching things which had happened, while fiction was often equally full of truths as to events that had never occurred. Robin son Crusoe, I explaned, was fiction, but a man so situated would have worn goat skin trousers, talked to his parrot, or shot any cannibals that might have en deavored to roast and devour him. As I went on explaining a brighter and brighter light came into honest Joe's eyes, and at last he exclaimed: "Well, I kep' readin' and readin' and studyin' and studyin', and at last I began to sort o' mistrust that some o' them things warn't true." E.1LTII4 (UAKES At COMMON. WVo Iave Always hnd Them and May E"x l),ect Many Mlore. (Froni the New York Tribune.) An educator who has given much dudy to earthquakes and volcanoes is Professor John K. 1 ces, of Columbia ollego. IIe is a stoutly built man of perhaps thirty-live, with a round and 3hubby face, a black mustache and more the air of a busine;.s man than a student. .'alking with me in the Lincoln National 13ank the other day, he remarked that in i long series of years each section of the country was visited by about the same average number of earthquake shocks. "The reason any now shock appears phenomenal is because the people forget the former ones," said the professor. "We have kept records of shocks in New England and the Middle States, and lind that they come year in and year out with about the same regularity. The shock that are b)einig rep)orted from the wvest appear p)henomenial to the p)eople out there because they have no records back of a period of forty or fifty years, and within that period have forgotten occurrences of the same kind or have failed to record them. If some old miner is alive whose memory runs back of fifty years he can tell them. As to the vol canie p)honomenoni in Arizona I have no knowledge except from the newspapers. The evidences of old volcanic eruptions exist all along the mountaiin ranges in Arizoiia, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada up to Oregon. I believe they are most numerous in Ncyadro." When asked what the relative effect would be on New York city of a shock like that experienced by Charleston, Professor Rees rep)lied in substance: ".In loss of life and property I shiouhld ay the disaster would( be a hundred fold greater. There is so much more p)rop erty andl so many more people in a small comp)ass mn this city that the results would be greater in p)roportion. Build ings in this city are run up to enormous heights, with great sheet iron facings. Th'le streets, especially in the lower pa~rt of the city, dulrin g the day time, are crowded with people, and the falling of these decorative p)arts of structures would be exceedingly disastrous to life and limb. The fact that New York bumildinig is mostly done on rock [ounda tion aind that nearl y all the great struc tures are put together withi Portland ement instead of mortar might save the dlestructionl of mucmh valuable property, but all thme cheaply builtstructures would( suffer. Th use of P ortlnd cement has madlo b)uildings so solid that they can only be torn (down b)y thme use of eixplo sives. Even in such structures an earth quiake like that at Charleston would break the window caps and lintels, and prove very destructive." The Iunderstaindinmg of people in gener al is that Rumssia, heaid over heels in dlebt, hinds it dlilleilt to raise money to keep the wheels of governmient moving. "'lo history of the mocst recent attemp~t at St. Fotersur~g to raise money dis proves this and indicates quito a diller ent state of facts, It was ht first pro posed that the new populam loani should b)e about t$30,00,000I. Subscri >tions were call for, and on the 12th uit. it was announced that temn times the sum re quired had been oil'ered. 'Thmreo days later (dispatches from St. Petersburg stated that tihe enormous sum of $1,200), 0,00 had been offered1, and that the g ornment would take only $60,000, 0im0u ItI oth of being noted that a warlike nature are hiarr1 and that aso warifeeling ntn1 Provouael, existing is FARM TOPICS FOR TINE MONTH. SuggestIons to Farmors who Wish to Make Farming P'rotltable. A distinguished poet has made a cer tain young lady quito famous by having her on a particular occasion to sing: "If you're waking, call mo early, call me early, mother dear; For I'm to be Queen o' May, mother, I'm to be Queen o' the May." There is not much poetry, and even loss romance, about it; but all the same the farmer has to be called early and to stay lato at his farm work for the next three months if he has any hope or ex pectation of succeeding at his calling. .We know of no task-master more exact ing and uncompromising than the aver age cotton and corn crop. Worked prop erly and tho husbaudman will reap his reward just as long as the rainbow bangs in the heavens or the promiso of seed time and harvest remain; mismanaggd and poorly executed work, and disap pointment and failure are suro to follow. Early and properly executed work on the crop, to many people, seems, as far as all outward appearances go, as being quite simple and easy, and they put this down as one of things about farm life that they are very familiar with, and that they thoroughly understand. When to strike, how to strike, and where to strike is the veni, vidi, vici of the farmer, and in our judgment it is the keystone to success or of failure; it is the dividing line between the clodhopper and the intelligent farmer. You may well call this month the middle station in the year's work. The crops are all planted and cultivation is about to begin if the preparation and planting has been thoroughly done; then the most trouble some half of making a crop is over with. The army is in the field; the ammuni nition is all distributed; the guns are unlimbered, and if the General handles the troops advantageously victory is as sured; if he does not, General Green will possess the land; ho will come, he will see, and he will conquer. Suppose you were to see a so-called planter giving one of his tenants a pack age of calomel, opium, quinine and a lancet-the four great agents in physic telling him at the same time to go down and see what he could do for a sick neighbor; if the sick man died, would you say the medicine failed? We see, year by year, owners of the soil giving men they call tenants land, mules, ploughs, guano, tools and seeds, and saying go down into my farm or plantltion, and when I come again have my rent ready. When you consider this matter in all seriousness and candor, are you sur prisecd that the patient-the land-is killed, and this false tenantry system has ruined thousands and thousands of acres of Southern land? A man who proposed to go to a dis tant State to oversee v ent to Mr. Dick son and asked for a receipt to farm, He replied: "It is hard to transfer kniowl edge, and much harder to transfer art and judgment; my plan is to follow the laws thut govern the universe. Plants a d animals, when assisted with art and judgment. never will fail. This is the science of agriculture. Study bad prac tice as well as good, and learn of the latter the errors, that you may avoid them. liead hooks until you become so perfect in theory and in the use of tools and manure that you will have confidnceo and the nerve to act and act at once-not lose time running about to your neighbors to see when to do a thing and how to do it. )o not allow frost or wet or dry weather to cause you to doubt or dally. Fortify yourself with books before you begin; such books as will teach you everything necessary to your success, and do not forget that you can learn something from almost every profession. Book farming means for the farmer just what book learning does for the lawyer, merchant or physician. You must readl and study, not only agri cultural books, but all books that will apply in any way to that p)rofession. You need the knowledge of a general to enable you to discipline your laborers to conmo to time, to move all at once, to know when to charge and when to re treat. You need the knowledge of a banker, when your money is made to know how to invest it. You want the knowledge of a bookkeeper, that you may keep your accounts correctly. In this many farmers fail; they fool them selves, not knowing how to keep debtor and creditor accounts, get in debt and become bankrupts before they are aware of it. You must have sonmc knowledge of mechanics and nmachinery in order to use them. If the farmer is ignorant, how can lie instruct the laborer? You shoul have even a sullicient knowledge of law to know how to keep out of the courts. You should have some knowl edge of commere and trade, for you have to buy and sell, "'How is all this to be acquired? H3y reading and hard study, and1 making an application of the knowledge acqluired. Knowledge is power in agriculture as well as other things. And how are you to get knowledge? Only by reading, study and ap)plicationi. WVith knowledge you can use the hand es well as the tongue mocre eUfectively. '"'The three great essentials are: First. The theory (true plan) of farming. Second. The~ am t of controling labor and executing all work to the best advantage with least labor. Thirdl. Last and best, success dIepend(s on a quick percepition, wise juidgmont that seldom or never errs. Ilow is th is to be acquired, exceplt by use of books in conjunction with prac tice? "Ini conclusion, to suceed1 you not only must he sup)erior to your lborers, butt you must he so far ah eaid of them that they shall know that your plants are wise, easy to mut int practice and certain of success. '1lhen they will follow yout in a charge, ais good soldiers will the 1best of (Generad. The laborer must have coni fidence in thte man who( direts. Ilow are all these quiali fications secured? '2Trough books, hard s tutdy, ob)ser, ation and practice." I). I. !)excAs. Is not always inuiate or horn with thtem, but many instances are knownm where it has been acquired by the per sistentt and judicious use of D)r. llarter's troun Tonic. If a ra or', after ex posure to the (co1d, he)( placedt und zer a mnagnifyinug glass, the edge seetms like a saw. D)ippintg it In hot wateri Sthrows the tctile particles back into place, anid makes the edge smnootht SWORN TO LAY A GIOST. TIE LOVE LANE SPOOK AGAIN MAKES ITS A1'I'EAltANCE. Tho Uncanny liabitue of a Cemetery Who Once Macdo an Aged i arkey Fidullo for a Devil's Dance Comcs Forth and Scares folkM. (Frotm the Now York Star.) Once again spooks have made their debut in Lovo Lane, and the suporsti tious citizens, particuhrly thoso of the colorado maduro brand, who reside within the bailiwicks of Now Utrecht and West Flatbush, L. I., near the southwestern border of Greenwood Cemetery, and who are compelled to pass that marble city after dark, never consider themselves in full dress unless they have a pocketful of brick or wear carbines with flues lilo water mains. If thg neighboring darkeys are to be believed, the spook can only be seen at midnight. At a recent meeting of the New Utretch Watermelon Coterie, Pan try and Vestry, held near Farmer Ber ry's chicken preserve, eight of the mem bers testified that they had timed the spectre by their watches. One of the secretaries, who is assistant organist and plays the chimes in the local colored church, and whose word is fully as good as his bpnd, said that he was the only man in the club whose watch was fit for anything but a tobacco box, as it was the only one that contained any intestines, but that the others had the time of the appearance of the spook down fine, le was with the others when they saw the spirit, and they all got so frightened that his watch stopped. lie said that he was the first man home that night, as the others forgot where they lived. It is a diflicult task to mako the aver age colored citizen of the King's county towns believe that the present spook is not the same that is said to have appear ed to the oldest of them in their younger days. Love Lane, which borders the Greeinwoq feuce, has a legend to this effect: Long, long ago an aged darkey, who had been performing as an execu tive orchestra at a husking bee in Gowa nus, was returning home during the dis mal hours of the morning. ie had nearly reached the old toll gate, when Satan climbed over the fence or through it, and compelled the aged fiddler to play for him. The orchestra turned pale inch by inch, and his hair visibly unkinked, until his hat looked as if it were built on stilts, but still he was com pelled to scrape away for dear life. When his Satanic majesty had his savago breast sufficiently soothed he wound up the matinee by dancing a breakdown, and, dashing his hoof against a near by bowlder, disappeared in a spiral cloud of sulphurous smoke. The stone is there yet, and the hoof print is still an awe-inspiring sight to the children and many of the older peo plc of the towns. The weird and hair erecting stone is shunned after dark, and there are many who will tell you that his Majesty holds picnics there at about this season every year. lie never ap pears in winter or summer, probably because of his aversion to extreme cold or diluted heat. It is a shuddery spot, to say the least. Within the i,ast few weeks the spook has reappeared on the scene of its old time orgies, and has been seen by several citizens whose words can be relied ; pon, although they take no stock in the super natural. A well known res..tont of the Eighth ward, whose place of business is near the Fifth aveni' a entrance to Greenwood, saw the rision one night last week, lie was driving p)ast the Fort l[amilton avenue eoutrance to the cemetery when the spetre showed up, causing is horse to shy. The spook appeared to come directly through the fence, in which there was no opening. It passed~ immediately in front of the horse, which suddenly stop)ped and re fused to budge. Th le gentleman risked a shot at it. Thev discharge was greeted with a hollow, chuckling laugh, and the gentleman started his horse on a dead run toward home, lie says that the figure or whatever it might have been had a dark cloak on and wore horns. William Pye, who was formerly a sW:huider uinder the old fashioned track sheds in the gin and tansy days of the turf, but who is now a junk niumis matist through the country towns, is emp)hatic in his assertion that lhe has seen the spook on several occasions. lie remiembers the old legend of Love Lane, and says lie can birinig scores of citizenis wvho have since indulged in involuntary atroductionas to his slpooksmhip. Numor ous other residents of the neighborhood are willing to testify to a like encounter, A resident of Windsor terrace in West Flatbush also saw the "thing," and says that it was garbed in black, wore horns and had hoofs, lie says that he was re turning home the other nighi, anad wheni near the "Doevil's Stone'' the vision apI peared to rise up out of the groundl im mnediately in front of him, "'1 was almost reared to dleathi," lie satid, 'buit lutcking til courage I threw a stone at it. TIhe stonio went clear through it and I could see the hole it made." Tis~ last assertion may be bomething of an exaggerationi due1 to frighit as the genitlemani admits he was sr scared that ijo lost lhis hat and was in iuch a hurry that lie didii't stop to piek it up., A South Birooky ni flori,'t whose busi ness itnterests in the0 cemetery will not p)ermnit of his name being tisedu said: "'There's something strange on the other cnd of the cemetery, butt I can't exp)lami it. ['ve seeni it myself, andl so have a number of my friends, I think l)Ossilly it 1s somebChOdy who is endeavor ing to Play a prank on the weaLk-mninded. A pat ty of ius are goinig to solve the mat ter some night this week, and we expect somet funz. If it is a spirit it will standi( no chance with us as we are used to1 sp)irfis. Yes, 1Inhave heard of the D)evil's Stode anid thme legion connected with it. Who hasn't? We always let the stonme have the road all to itself after (lark when I was a boy." Lively times are ahead for the spook wheni the party, which will 1)e composed of a number of Eighth ward politicians andu busimess men,. make the proposed raid somce night this week. Many of the dressy ew hats and bon nets are trimmed entirely with ribbon, BILL ARP TALKS. IIIs Views on Slavery--Judge Iliran Warner. (From the Now York Tribune.) A quaint and pleasant talker of the old school in Major Smith-"BiU Arp"-of Atlanta, Ga., who was hero the other day to deliver a lecture. The Major was a slavoholder in his youngor days, hav ing received three families of negroes, some twelve persons in all, as the wed ding portion of his wife. In talking about the slave question, ho said: "This talk that the South lobt $400,000,000 b the emancipation proclamation is all nonsense. I am prepared to show that the South did not lose a dollar. In all my oxperience as a slave-owner, if I ever made a dollar by their labor I do not know it.. Wo got their labor in cx chango for their food and their clothing, the rearing of the young and caring for the old. We got their labor for the same price now without having the burden of responsibil'ty for the young and the aged.id the sick. We used to pay their doctors' bills; now they pay their own. The difference is already seen from the fact that many men are accumulating wealth through the employment of ne groes who never got ahead a dollar in the slave days, although they wore own ers of many slaves." In chatting about Northern men Major Smith remarked that many North ern men had gone into the South to make their homes there during the slavery period who attained distinction. Among others ho cited Judge Hliram Warner, a native of Vermont, who oc cupied the highest judicial position in the State of Georgia on the bench of the Supreme Court for thirty-seven years. "It is a curious phase of human nature," said Major Smith, "that as old age comes creeping on the incidents and scenes of boyhood come impressively to the mind. It was so with Judge War nor. I remember talking with him in his old days, when ho told me he was going to Vermont to see again the green hills and the wooded slopes and the trout streams and the trees under which he basked in his boyhood days. 1le be came a part of the South, but he had not forgotten his old home in the North." Cliat With the Lalieh. Pompadour silks are recommended for dress frocks for young girls. The safest colors for cheap portieres are olive-green and brick red. Wide Directoire revers appear on many of the imported French frocks. Apple green and chestnut bronze is a color combination favored in Paris. Short backs and long front tabs are the distinguishing marks of new wraps. Long flotc of ribbon give decorative effect to black and colored lace over drosses. India silks and foulards will be thi rivals of China silks and pongecs this season. We have taken note of some children's toilots which struck us as particularly tasteful. Combination costumes a_e not so much worn as usual. Silk is made up by itself and woolens also. Thin silks mixed with tulle and lisle for evening wear are very po)ilar addi tions to a summer wardrobe. The favorite color for graduation gowns are rose, blue, Nile green, and, of ourse, heliotrope. Indoors little girls wear frocks in the ;hape of a pelisse, loose and straight in front. and completed at the back by a plait in the skirt let in between two ieams. A silk cord or ribbon sash goes round the waist. .Fine woolen tissues are streaked with dlk or a lighter shade, forming stripes r squares, and a small pattern of silk l.ots,.clover leaves, or small flowerets of ailk, imitating embroidery relief, is scat ered all over upon the (dark groumd(. Extremely pretty capotes for the iprmng are composed of birds' wings. Sometimes the wings arc dyed oIf all solors; sometimes they are left of their >wn natural tint; they cover the capo(te ijmost entirely, with the exccptionl of a small pufling of silk or crapo at the bacek. Some of the new wool novelties ha~ve woolen grounds in light or (lark shades f pure colors, on which in high relief ire lines (of p)lush and frise flower de iigns in natural colors and realistic to a logroo in treatment. These goods arc high p)ricd, and intended only for pairt; f plain wool costrunes. While combinations of plain and fancy ligured goods, often in strongly con brasted colors, remaiu extremely popu..1 lar, many handsome dresses are made of the same color throughout, but of two fabrics, and for these reflinedl toilets ex :iuisitely fine cashmere andl moire are especially favored. In the nuew fancy woolen materials in - troduced for the spring and sununer season we remark that small white halt terns very frequently occur. Jn se fabrics irregular white stripes lorm a sort check pattern, ini others largo white dots are scatteredl over~ plain or strkilped colored groundls. Costumes of impuerial serge, camuel's hair, vigogue, tricot cloth and of fine canvas patterned fabrics, without limiit, will lbe in great diemnand, mmodo up in combination with velvet-striped fabrics of every description, or with skirt and bodice trimmings of fancy colored satin surah, figured with quaint geometric and In thme Sandown mantles of cloth n corbeille cheek in tones of fieldmouse lan its cape sleeves defined b)y aL brand ab)out five inches in widlth in a darkil shade of brown. This borderinig band1( is drawnx over the shoulder in folds, suug ges3tive of braces, then carriedl in flatness over the back to terminate on the skirt with a cluster of rich and massive pese nmenterie balls. 'fTh novelties in lauce fichus might be tersely dlescribedl as an ingenious mianip ulation of sq uares. Each one is due to a small handkerchief of that form, either in cream or eru, the surface of wvhich is almost covered b)y open work em broidery or lace. These handkerclhielfs are folded so as to give a different shape and appearance to each corner, and this, with the assistance of ribbon, is achieved so effectively that the four corners often apear completely disconnecteA, Ti lL I NTl1t-STATFE COMMISSION. An IIiIortau)t Lttrr Iollning tuto Poweri of tho CoIuinaIsIonH IA to Cortiln Cautes. The Inter-Stato Commission has made public an important letter addressed tc the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroa<d Company, defining the powe1s of the commission as to certain cases and ex plainiug why it is found impossible to accede at onco to the urgent appeal of the road for relief from the long and short haul clause of the law. The lettt r, written by Chairman Cooley, says it is generally accepted that the fourth section was designed to es tablish the general law that more must not be charged for a shorter than for a longer haul and to permit exceptions in special and peculiar catses only. Before the passago of the law railroads were the solo judges as to what circumstances or conditions justified t?oh practice and the law evidently mer.nt to take this dis cretionary power out of the hands of the railroads and was paesed in the belief that incidental injuries resulting from its enforcement would be more than offset by advantages in the interest of the )ul)lie good. The commission is as much bound by the law as arc the car riers, and lits power of discrimination only so far as it is its duty to do. The law contemplates that there may be some special cases in which general good reluires suspension. But such cases are obviously exceptional ones. Special and peculiar circumstances and where only general causes operate the general law shall be left to its general course, how.. ever serious may be the consequence to particular roahi. The law makes it clear that any suspension granted must be after an investigation, satisfying the commission of the peculiar and excep tiotal circulmstance:i rendering it neces sary. The jurisdiction of the commis sion was meant to be closely restricted and it can grant no suspension simply on the apprehension that enforcement would prove harmful or upon the utn established assertion that it has done so. Congress must necessarily have realized tlmt som1e disturbances and injury would be caused by the huw and Congress alone can ibe looked to for the rledy ur nodilleations. The claim that the com Iiiission has power to suspend the ,clause which wvere evil conse<plences ire foutnd gives the coluhissionl general dispensing power inconsistent with sound principles of government and of which Congress gave no llhint. 1 t the clanu-c in its genter Itl operationl proved generally and equal ly mischievcous n1 aili directions, the comuissioni, instead of hatving greatei powcer to suspn Id, would be deprived ol power for the reason that there wouhl be no exceptionall ctses for it to act upo1 and therefore none comilg within iti discretionary authority. lit there art of couro:e cxceptiotal esue. aid it i; maitd the duty of the o)mtris:i:ont to dI umin< what these are. Tis must he dune b\ the iii vestigatton uon', \1 iciI the C01n iission1 lis entiie i. \\ l e ' i :tli.ca tion for temporary su spensioin is based o; such geneiu ral principlts i 't numety other would have to follow, I he colllissiol li best reasons for declining to grant it The letter is not tlesigued to give an3 in ti miation as to the perillmuuot coulrse ol the commtl,isSiol, as 15) policy has beecc: detemnlinld upon. 'lie cornllisioln tie. "l:res it"i rt,rt th;at lly iinju ry iI; in Ilicted by the L*ov atl proli,es to give such Coip,laints )11 pr conisideration. lu " u siwei.n c r 'Ihgn .l t i r., t iiis;i:i.1' I::, Co ut.I:I.s Co., S. C., A. pril 2;, 18S7. lN. A. P...11i r,:, onanissi oIer Vill you kinidly ansvir the following: lst. Can timthdIy and ied clover, such as is gr.own furt her North, het successfuil ly grown hiere? 2d. Should they be pllanted inl Fll Ior Spring? ;ld. WVhat immlures would you recomn miend for them? Ith. Should they Ie grown together or seplarately to secuire best results for .1i the can bOlle irown. 1. wish Ito cxpel riinenit fullI y, a111l if resulIts are satisfac tory, plant therin extenisively for hmy. I aim iiot well enough acqijm nted with this sectiori to kntow, huit frorn what I. catli see, it tiplp~eatrs thait thlese grasses should be cultivated heire, and thereby save the freights on hay from d1istaiit ploinIts. If you will kindly give meC all niecesau ry' informalitioni on the subject, you will greatly ol igte, yours trulty, C. II. Motm:rr. Quest itons likea the abov e very frc <ilwnity c onie uip for decisioun, hn local ies whe ire th e Iitimoithy iandI red clover grow suiccessfuilly, they 1ar (If such great vaue to thei farin g intere.sts that only rep)eatedl failures caln detier those who have known theom elsewhere. Ouri coutr y comises10 ai vast exten t t hrouigh man I y deg rees of litititde anid great di i ver n-ilyof sitlirandie CIlloit S I iceunot bel the vary eiziots pionst any pieiiio tgil and priitloduc tr b e. Theesaly tivated. oTie fagra e hoed cliver (what ar1(egen eralynw aslhb thhegrcultra neve be lt used for ficld culture or for Natuiro is very bounltifutl, andi leaves noi rei4ion unear<d u forf and without its elti ivalenits. Alonitg theii sandy belt of 10~ wI ioutry of tIso State, tof Gleorgili and Floridai, the grasses and cloVors of more1 N orthiern latitudes cannot be suc eessfulhly cultivated, but we have excel lent suibstitutes; ini the cow ptea and votch for lily or for soihiig, also the mnillets anid sorglaunis for. the samte pulrpose or1 for the silo, I ermudaht griass and Moalii gras for lierinniont paIsturage anid fol 15my, and the anniuad crab1 grass and crow foot, both of which make the very best of hoay. These are some of our substitutes. Each and every region is blessed by3 i b,ounitifuil P'rovidence, and it is the p)art of wisdom to make use of those products which are best adaplted to each region rather .than to struggle, against un11natural Yotung andl iddllle agedl lil-i suifferingj from nerOvouis dei lily, pIremahture old age, loss of mnemlory iand kindtredh symiplins shiotuhl send11 101 (cnts in stmps for btige hIllust ra edl treaitise siggest ig su1re mteans of (cure. 'V orld's D)ispenusary Mir'cal Asso. I latIon, hBuffalo. N. Y. KELLY ON T'E OUTl. . J ,. ; ,.. ~.. lIIE RECORDS HIS OB811tPA' PYOtRESs IN TH 8Wd' O1 I* The Pennsylva nla Congressman Predi Great Futuro for Us--He Calls It $ South.'' Congressman Kelly, of Pennslvanis" who has just returned to Washn ,"=;et Y from an extended tour through sof-' the Southern States, begun last M ohjI in an interview with aNJt d records his observations of progre. that section of the country air a great future for the Nevi ~ftW 3Ni Kelly said: "In 1878, wIifn I vidit *g ' Florida, the peoplo there seemed to be without hope or aspiration, but fr bM last six or seven years the Sta$o. l { taken a position in the first ranks of the New South. The people are energetlo and confident of the future. From Kes scminie City and Rock Ledge, I visited farms on the lands reclaimed by the )rainago Company on native aluvial fields and after a carolul inspection, I ' am prepared to say that Florida is destined to a higher rank among the agricultural States of the Union. The rich s .il is being intelligently cultivated. with great profit. \'hen I left Florida j it was for a seas en of rest at Anniston, Ala.,, one of the now cities that has grown up in the mineral regions. From r Anniston I made excursions to other towns in Alabama and in Georgia. After a month's sta?' at Anniston, I turned my stops toward 'ennesseo, passed ten days most pleasantly at South Pittsburg, which as Anniston has just done, will soon surprise the country by establish ing itself as an industrial centre of large proportions and great activity. Every where throughout the mineral regions of the South enterprise and prosperity are moving hand in hand, nor is this pros perity of the New South confined to its mineral regions, though the poverty and listles, which characterize the poor people of the old South, still prevail to a considerable extent. In her cotton flilds there is a large boom of enterprise. and imdrovoment which is rapidly cur ing that. Those which have caught the spirit of progress do not longer plow : their fields with single mule plows. They have learned the value of deep plowing and of following the chill plow by a heavy subsoil plow. They continue to grow some cotton, but not open the: surface of exhausted fields, and they diversify their crops. I am speaking now of the progressive agriculturists the representatives of the New South. Instead of one crop of cotton they have filds of wheat, rye, clover and other croos. And to save their old time "Guano" bills, as they call bills for man ulfoturod fertilizers, they turn under grain crops and aid that with manure from stock and well fed herds of cattle. "The great boom of the South is near at hand, and it will not be confined to the mineral regions of that richest sec tion of the country, but it will include the agricultural regions as well." In response to questions Judge Kelly r aid that the evi(lences of progressive farming were not confined to any State or county, but were visible in places all over the State. In the vicinity of the rapidly developing mineral regions, he says, the farms are models of good man agomlent and thrift. Within four miles of Anniston, Ala., ho saw some of the finuest herds of Jersey cattle and one of the largest and cleanest dairies he had ever inspected. It was built up and owvned by a native of Alabama. Near Rlome, (Ga., he saw herds of cattle and dauries that wouldl do credit to Ponnsyl,~ vania or New Yoik. .J utico WVoods' Successor. In connection with the probable choice of a sucess5or to the late .Justice Woods, oJ the United States Supreme Court, it is remarked that some of the candidates already named will probably be handi cap)ped b)y the fact that they are from States which now have one or more rep- , renitativos on the supreme bench, and a candidate from a State having no such representative will most likely be pre ferred. While Justice Woods lived Ohio had threo of her sons in the Su prome Court-the Chief Justice and J1ustices Matthews and Woods, though the latter nominally was a ppointed from the South, where he had lived but a brief time before his elevation to the highest of our judicial tribunals. So Ohio its not likely to be favored again, which will count Judge Hoad'y out. Of the other associate justicos the senior, 'Judge Miller, is from Iowu;-the next~ .Justice Field, from California; Justice lUraloy, from New Jersey, Justice Har lan, from Kentucky, Justice Gray, from Massachusetts and .Justico Bllatchford from New York. The South alone of all sections of our country being entirely unrepresented, many think a candidate trom any part of thu South, Kentucky excepted-because that State already has a representative on the Supreme Cocurt bouch in 'Judge Harlan-is most likely to be the successful one. Four of the present judges--the Chief 'Justice, Justices Miller, Field and I radlley-are now old enough to be eligible for retirement whenever they feel disposed to profit by the law per mnitting them to retire on full salary. Except the four named and Justice Harlan, who is now but 541 years of age, none of the present justice have served s long as ten years. Chief Justice Waite and Justices Miller and Field are each d 1 years old, and Justico JDradley is 74. 'The soujtIwrn~ t'resbytori,ans. T[ho General Assembly of the South ern P'resbytorian Church met at the Grand Avenue Church in St. Louis on Thursday. Dr. Biryson, of Hluntsville, A ha,, the retiring Moderator, opened the session by a sermon. At the close of* these exercises ollicers were elected for the ensuing year. Dr. Strickler, of Atlanta, was elected Moderator. The session then adjourned to give the Moderator time to make up his commit tees. This session will endeav3r to unite the assemblies of the North and South. "Slbc is not of my set," said the old heud,' as she chased a strange chicken out of the yard.