Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, November 15, 1866, Image 1
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VOLUME XII. YORKVILLE, SOUTH "CAROLINA, THURSDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 15, 1866. NUMBER 3ft
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1
AUTUMN.
Tlie fields are white in the calm moonlight,
Where the glittering hoar-frost shining,
Gleams clear and pale as a bridal veil
Of pearls 'mid emeralds twining.
The leaves droop low with a crimson glow,
Like hectic beauty shading
With bright deceit the faces sweet
Of human flowers when fading 1
The wind sweeps down from the far hill's crown,
But it bears no note of gladness;
A solemn spell in its moaning swell
Seems waking the heart to sadness.
The present drear as the autumn sere,
We turn with a lonely yearning
To the sunny ways of our early days,
And the summer lights there burning.
We wander again o'er the past's dim plain,
Lone, wrecked and broken-hearted,
To hind in sheaves the withered leaves
Of happiness departed!
We step in tears o'er the mounds of years
'Mid fanes and idols shattered,
And brush the rus. of lime's thick dust
From jewels lost?there scattered!
Oh, never more shall that fresh, fair yore
Return, save by memory's river;
O'er the golden sands of those dream-lands
Rolls a darkened tide forever!
And like a wail of the autumn gale
The spirit its vigils keeping.
Sighs o'er the tomb of life's first bloom
And the hope and trust there sleeping.
political.
LETTER OF HON. B. F. PERRTL
One by one the leading men of the South
are taking position squarely and publicly,
against the constitutional amendment. It
gives us pleasure to lay before our readers
i.w? rv.11nir\rr msnlv lnftor frnm Hon. Ben
It lie lunun lug ujuu.j ?
jamin F. Perry :
Greenville, S C , Oct 26, 1866.
Chas. W. Woodward, Esq., Philadelphia:
My Dear Sir :?I bad tbe pleasure of
receiving your letter a few days since, expressing
a kind interest in tbe condition of
the Southern States, and urging that South
Carolina should adopt the constitutional amendment
proposed by Congress. You also
expressed a wish to know my views in reference
to this all absorbing political question.
It has been said that a man never can be
dishonored except by himself. Others may
injure him and oppress him; they mayslan
der him and destroy him, but tbey can co
-more dishonor him and render him infamous
than they can defame virtue, truth and
honor. The same may be said of a people
or a nation Whilst they pursue an honorable
and patriotio course they cannot be
disgraced by the insults, wrongs and oppressions
of a stronger power, however tyrannical
and exacting that power may be.
The Southern people may be deprived of
all political power in the Union, their prop
erty may be confiscated, and their most distinguished
and virtuous citizens gibbeted on
the gallows, but they cannot be rendered
infamous in history by any such barbarous
and inhuman conduct. Such a course will
only dishonor and render infamons their oppressors.
1 do not concur with you in supposing
that the constitutional amendment will be
adopted by three-fourths of the States. I
- * mi
am sure this will not oe tne case, mere
are thirty-six States in the Federal Union,
and this will require the adoption of the amendment
by twenty-seven. The rejection
of the amendment by ten States will defeat
it. It is morally certain?ascertain aa any
future event can be, depending on human
action?that South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia,
North Carolina, Alabama Florida,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and
Kentucky?eleven States?will not dishonor
themselves by adopting the proposed constitutional
amendment. There are not,
therefore, as you say, "Northern States
enough to make the requisite number to adopt
the amendment." If adopted, it must
be by the aid of two recreant States of the
South besides Tennessee. This cannot occur.
You state that you greatly fear worse
terms will be imposed on the South, if the
amendment be not adopted. What security
has the South that worse terms may not
be imposed, if the amendment is adopted ?
We have no guarantee whatever that the
Southern members will be admitted to their
seats in Congress, after the amendment is
adopted. Nothing of the kind is intimated;
and, whilst the test oath is exacted, it would
be impossible for the Southern States to be
represented in Congress, except by those
who would dishonor and disgrace them.?
We have no guarantee that Congress may
not still hold the Southern States as conquered
provinces, and appoint Provisional
Governors over tbem. with instructions to
convene "loyal" conventions, elected by
universal negro suffrage, and have formed
State Constitutions, by which all shall be
entitled to vote and hold office, without regard
to caste or color, to the exclusion of
every one who has aided or countenanced
the "rebellion."
The first section of the constitutional amendment
proposes to make citizens of all
the negroes in the Southern States, without
regard to moral character or attachment to
Republican principles, which are required
of all foreigners who become citizens, after
a residence of five years in the United States.
No matter bow infamous may bo the character
of a negro, as a liar, a rogue and a
murderer, he becomes an American citizen
by this amendment, and entitled to all the
rights and privileges of citizenship. But
the Irishman, German and Englishman,
must first satisfy the court that he is a man
of good moral character, and well attached
to the principles of our Government, before
he can be invested with such rights and
privileges. Why this preference should be
given to the black man, in bis ignorance
and vice, over the virtuous and intelligent
white man, who comes here from a foreign
land, is hard to conceive.
Already South Carolina has declared, by
_ L _ I I
legislative enactment, that negroes snau
have all the rights and privileges of white
men in person and property. They may
sue and be sued, purchase and dispose of
property, inherit and be tried, as white men
are. They are subject to no greater penal-1
ties or punishment for crime than white men I
In all of the Southern States the same en-!
actment has been or will be made. It would J
seem that this ought to satisfy the Northern
people of our purpose to protect the negro
and do ample justice to him in all his rights
of person and property.
The right to hold offioe and vote is a political
right, which belongs exclusively to
every community, and to be regulated as to
them shall seem proper, without interference,
in any way, by any other power.?
There is not a civilized community in the
wnrld whprp rpstrifitinns have not been im
posed od tho right of holdiDg office, voting
and oxercisiDg political power. The Northern
States have done so from their earliest
history up to the present day. To deprive
the Southern States of the same right, would
be the grossest injustice and tyranny. And
to consent to it, on their part, voluntary,
would be self-degradation and infamy.
The second section of the proposed constitutional
amendment deolares that representation
shall be in proportion to the num
ber of voters in each State, and that if any
male inhabitants over the age of twenty-one
are excluded from voting for any cause
whatever, they shall not be enumerated in
the basis of representation. This makes it
imperative on the Soathern States to give
up their representation for a large portion
of their population, or permit the negroes
to vote. The injustice of this constitutional
provision to the Southern States must be
manifest to every unprejudiced mind.
In all the Southern States a large propor
tion of their population consists of negroes,
who are utterly incapable of holding office,
voting or exercising any political rights.?
At the same time they exclude, by their labor,
white persons, who would otherwise
take their places, occupy the oountry and
cultivate its lands. In the Northern States
they have very few negroes, and their exclusion
from voting would not seriously affect
their representation in Congress. The
oonsequence would be that one section of the
American Union, with great wealth and a
large population, would have a most inadequate
influence in national legislation
The proposed amendment of the Federal
Constitution forces the Southern States to
choose betweeo giving up their equal representation
in Congress, or permitting their
negroes to vote. Between these alternatives,
o Southern State could hesitate for a moment
to choose when the issue is forced on
them. Equal representation in the national
councils must be given up. You very
properly say, that already the Southern
States are in a minority in both houses of
Congress, and a full representation for their
negroes would not give them a majority of
the House of Representatives.
In South Carolina we have largely over a
hundred thousand more negroes than white
persous. If universal suffrage prevailed,
the entire political power of the State would
be in the hands of the negroes. They
oould elect to every office in the State one
-r . 1?: __J J Q 4 J
Ul luuil uwu uaait;, auu ncuu ucuaiuio auu
Representatives to Congress. The same
state of affairs, deplorable as it would be,
must likewise take place in Mississippi.??
And in all the Southern States there would
be many counties in a similar condition?
negroes elected to the Legislature and filling
all county offices.
To suppose that any Southern State would
voluntarily adopt such a provision in the
National Constitution, is to presume that
she is insensible to her own honor, and
reckless to her own safety. It may be said
that Tennessee has already done so. Never
was there a greater mistake. If the constitutional
amendment had been submitted
to the people of Tennessee, it would have
been rejected by nine tenths of them. It
was adopted only by a minority of her Legislature,
unfairly and corruptly elected, and
thoroughly debased and degraded by Nor
them influence. In all communities there
are unprincipled and infamous men, who
seek power and notoriety by sacrificing honor
and the interests of their country. Unfortunately
for Tennessee the scum and dregs
of society have been thrown up by the horrible
civil war through which she has passed.
Men have got into power in that State, accidentally
and fraudulently, who are a disgrace
to human nature, and who will ever
remain infamous in history The same
thing cannot again occur in any other Southern
State.
The third section of the proposed con
stitutional amendment is more revolting to
an honorable mind than either of the others.
It is, in the true sense of the word, a Bill
of attainder and ex post facto law, so repugnant
to the sentiments and feelings of
the framers of the Federal Constitution,
that they declared no such law should ever
be passed. It punishes for past offences,
by one fell 6woop, tens of thousands of
honorable men. The conception of suoh a
Bill was never before, probably, thought of
by an Englishman, or the descendant of an
Englishman. It certainly was not attempt?i
L._ .l _ i:~u u..i: A~mU
eu uy me x^l^hsu x auiauicut iu tuu uaia* i
est and bloodiest days of English tyranny, j
The only incident in history analagous to j
it, is the wish of Nero, that all men had j
but one neck so that he could cut them off,
at one blow. It proposes to ostracise and
disgrace forever, not only all the leading j
men of the South, but all, however humble |
they may be, who have ever filled any civil j
office in any of the Southern States. This
section declares that no one who has taken
an oath to support the Constitution of the j
United States and was afterwards aiding:
and abetting in the war, shall hereafter
hold any office under the State or United
States.
The Governors of the States, the Judges,
members of the Legislature, magistrates, !
constables, State and District officers, are
all, forever excluded by this provision. To
suppose that any Southern man would voluntarily
adopt such a provision is indeed
placing a very low estimate on Southern j
character. The soldier who gallantly fought
under the lead of his Genera!, and who
would have sacrificed his own life, at auy
time, for the protection of his oommandcr,
is required to dishonor and disgrace him in
peace. The son is required to vote the infamy
of his father. The people are asked
to repudiate aod disgrace those whom they
have, through life, honored aod glorified in
honoring. Every Southern State is required
to expel from her oouncils, her
Legislature, and from all publio offices, her
wisest, best and moat experienced publio
servants Was ever such a proposition before
submitted to an intelligent, virtuous
and Christian people ? How any honorable
roan, who reflects on this section of the
proposed amendment, and sees its bearing
and consequeoces, can expect or counsel its
adoption is, to my mind, incomprehensible.
That any Southern man should vote for it
or favor its adoption is a confession of his
own dishonor and infamy. Such a man
would willingly betray his country, his own
household and his God.
If the Southern States were so lost to all
shame as to adopt this section, it is possible
that young men might be found to fill all
the State offioes; but they oould not represent
their State in Congress or hold any
office under the United States, on account
of their having aided and abetted in the
war. The States would still be unrepresented
in Congress as long as the test oath
is continued.
The Constitution of the United States
provides that amendments may be proposed
by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses of
Congress, and when adopted by threetourths
of the State Legislatures, shall become
a part of the Federal Constitution.
This clause of the Constitution evidently
contemplated a full Congress when such
amendments should be proposed. It was
supposed that all of the states wouia Drepresented
in Congress. This was the security
against injudicious amendments.
But the proposed amendment was adopted
whilst ten States were excluded from all
representation in Congress. It never could
have been proposed to the State Legislatures
by a full Congress, and consequently should
not now be regarded by them as constitutionally
submitted to the Legislatures for adoption.
It should be, and will be, rejected
unanimously by ten or eleven of the South
ern States, and never can become a part of
the Federal Constitution
What will be the consequence of this rejection,
is wholly immaterial to the Southern
States. You say that worse terms will
be enforced on us. This may be so; but
we shall have the consolation of knowing
that we did not voluntarily adopt them, and
that amidst all the tyranny and oppression
which may be heaped on us, we have maintained
our honor unsullied, and never can
lose our self-respect.
The Southern States may be kept out of
Congress. Who cares for that ? We have
been out for the last twelve months, and
during all that time have been improving
our condition, and rapidly restoring the
prosperity of our country. The Northern
people are nearly equally divided. Onehalf
of them are our friends, who deeply
sympathize with us in our misfortunes.
With this half, we constitute a large majority
of the people of the United States
It will bo passing strange, indeed, if onethird
of the people of this Republic should
continue to rule, with a rod of iron, the
other two-thirds, for any length of time.
That this tyranny and usurped power should
continue always, isimpossible. It mustand
will, have its end. The masses of the
American people are honest and virtuous,
however corrupt and malignant their leaders
may be. The Executive Department of
the National Government is with the Constitution
and the equal rights of every sec?
-C .L. TT_:? rri :
iiuu ui iue uuiuu. jLiieic is cvcijr icaouu
to believe, too, that the Judiciary Department
of the Government will oppoBO its
silent and peaceful power to the tyranny of
Congress; and we should not despair.
The fourth section of the proposed
amendment to the Constitution, which
guarantees the Federal debt and repudiates
the Confederate debt, is as unnecessary as
it is futile. No Southern State wishes to
repudiate the one or assume the other. If,
at any future time, a majority of Congress
should be disposed to dishonor the nation
by repudiation, this section, as a part of
the Constitution would not stay their action.
They could refuse, or neglcot to levy taxes
or make appropriations to meet the debt as
it becomes due, without violating the Constitution.
And even if it did violate the
Constitution, that would he no barrier to a
corrupt Congress in carrying out their purpose,
as we know, by the sad experience of
the present Congress in disregarding and
trampling on the Federal Constitution.
The fifth section of the proposed amendment
deolares that "Congress shall have
power to enforce, by appropriate legislation,
the provisions of this article." Here we
have a power given Congress to destroy all
the rights of the States, and centralize all
power in the National Government. Under
the pretext that some one has been deprived
by State Courts of his liberty or property,
they may give the United States Courts entire
jurisdiction af all litigation in the
State. The legislative, executive and ju
diciary departments ot tnc state governments
may, under this section, be entirely
swallowed up by Congress, and the Ameri
can Union made one grand consolidated
empire.
The proposed amendment was not submitted
to the President for his approval, as
required by the Constitution, before being
submitted to the State Legislatures, and
they should not, therefore, consider or regard
it at all as a proposed constitutional
amendment for their adoption. Eleven
States were excluded from Congress when
it passed, and the President never sanctioned
it.
But I feel well assured that Congress did
not expect or wish the ratification of this
amendment by the States. The people
were to be made to believe that Congress j
intended to reconstruct the Union. This
was "a tub thrown out to the whale" to
amuse them till the fall eleotiona were over.
Congress does not intend to have the States
reconstructed till after the Presidential j
election in 1868. The Southern States j
are to be kept out of' the Union till after j
that period, in order to insure the radical i
triumph.
The objeot of the Radical leaders is to I
nreoetoate the power of their party. This j
t r
they think they can do by negro suffrage, j
and by that alone. Bat they were afraid to j
put that plank in their platform at present. I
It will be inserted two years hence. When
Stewart proposed universal suffrage and
universal amnesty," tbe leaders of the Radical
party expressed their willingness to
adopt it. They were willing to forego the
pleasure of banging rebels and excluding
Southern members, if this could be accomplished.
I have thns, my dear sir, given you my
viewB in reference to the constitutional
amendment. Lot me conolude by assuring
you that as feeble as South Carolina may
be, and as "powerless" as you say she is
"to protect herself," she is, nevertheless,
! able to maintain, amidst all her oppressions,
her honor unsullied, and will never, voluntarily,
accept her own degradation.
I am, with great respect, yours, &c.,
B. F. PERRY.
IPkHIams.
Sardines?How Caught and Prepared.
A correspondent of the London Times,
in an article on the French fisheries, has
the following:
The great French sardine fishery is conduoted
in a way that is quite remarkable
for the extravagance it involves. The sprat
fisheries on the British coast?indeed, all
the net fisheries of our coasts?are carried
on in the most primitive way, and with
very great success. The French sardine
fishery is conducted in a way altogether different
from ours; it presents this anomaly
?namely, that the French made it a bait
fioKnrn roniiiptnff tho nnnnnl PTnnnrlihiPfl
ujug lJ) > WV|uii lug huuuwi vu|/uuviiiiui v
of an enormous sum of money for a substance
with which to eDtice the fish ; this substance
being tho roe of the cod?a figurative whale
to catoh a sprat. On the shores of the
North Sea fisheries have been established
solely for the purpose of providing the eggs
of the codfish as bait for the sardine oatchers
of Concarneau.
This roe, which is prepared, costs 50
franos per barrel; each boat employed in
the sadine fishery will use about 15 barrels
every season, and, as there are about three
thousand sardine boats on the Coast of Brittany,
the money paid for bait cannot be
muoh under ?100,000 per annum. The
number of codfish which must be killed, or
at least are killed, for tho purpose of obtaining
this ground bait is therefore enormous,
and if the fishery exhibitions now
open in France achieve nothing more than
the teaching of the men of Concarneau to
catch their sardines as the British firshermen
catoh their sprats,' they will indeed bo
a great success.
The capture and cure of the sardine is a
great business in France, and especially at
Conoarneau, where as many as thirteen
thousand men aid in the fishery. It is not
easy to obtain accurate statistics of the business
done in sardines. In the first place,
there is a large quantity sold fresh?that is,
packed in dry salt in little baskets made of
rushes, and sent wherever there is a mode
of outlet. Then there is an enormous quantity
sold in those familiar tins It is said
that beside the quantity exported, which is
largo, they are as many as 4,000,000 boxes
cured in oil and prepared for the home market;
then, besides these, a large number
are sold loose in barrels and also pressed in
barrels.
T1 ?n ininannilMM Oiswltt fPlfnnQQ f V? /"*
ill 13 tftlj iUlCICSLHJ^ OlgUb bV ntbUbOO bug
arrival of the boats, and to seo the rush to
the curiog establishments, of the men, women
and children interested in the sales.?
How their sabots do clatter as they prance
over the stones ! The curcrs just buy from
day to day what sardines they require, and
no more; generally speaking, they do not,
as in the Sootish herring fishery, make contracts
with boats, and only one or two firms
have boats of their own. When the curers
are in want of a supply of fish they put up
a flag at their curing establishment, and the
fishermen hurry to supply them, the price
varying from day to day according as the
fishery has been abundant or the reverse.
As soon as the boats arrive the fish are put
in train for the cure by being gutted, beheaded,
sorted into sizes, and washed in sea
water, chiefly by women, who can earn from
12f. to 20f. a week at these curingestablishmonts.
The cure is begun by drying the fish on
nets or willows, generally in the open air,
but sometimes from streSs of weather it
must be done under cover. After being
dried they are ready for the process of the
pan, which is kept over a furnace, and is
filled with boiling oil. Into the cauldron
the fish are plunged, two rows deep, arranged
on wire gratings. In this pan of oil, (the
very finest olive oil,) they remain for a
a brief period, till, in the judgment of the
cook, they are done sufficiently. Then they
are placed to drip, the drippings of oil being
of course carefully collected; after
which they are packed by women and girls
into the nioe little clean boxes in whioh
they are sold. Again they arc allowed to
drip by the boxes being sloped; then each j
box, by means of a tap, is filled carefully!
up to its lid with pure olive oil, when it is I
ready for the uext process which is the sol- j
dering of the lids, or, as it may be called, ]
the hermetioal sealing up of the box, a most j
particular part of the process, at which the
men can earn very largo wages, with this |
drawback, that they have to buy all the fish ;
that are spoiled.
After the soldering has been accomplished,
the boxes have to be boiled in a steamcheat.
Those that do not bulge out after
the boiling are condemned as "dead;" for
when the process is thoroughly gone through
the perfection of the cure is known by the
bulging out of the boxes, which are of various
sizes, according to the purpose for
which they are designed. There are boxes
ofsix nounds weight and two pounds weight,
as also half aDd quarter boxes, with from
about twenty-four to twelve fish in them,
according to size. Little kegs are also filled
with sardines cured as anchovies. The
finishing process of the sardine cure is to
stamp the boxes and affix the brass labels
which are always found upon them. There
are little incidental industries connected
with the cure which may be noticed. The
debris is sold for agricultural purposes, as
is at home here, where the curers get a
few pounds annually for their offal; then a
large quantity of oil is exuded from the
sprat during the process of the cure, and on
the total fishery this oil is of considerable
value.
The "dead" fish, as we have said, are
sold to the men, but the success of the cure
is usually so great that the "dead" form
but a very small per centage of the total
number of boxes submitted to the test.
Pleasing Incident.
We extract the following from the New
York Watchman, and take pleasure io saying
that we know Captain Pitzer well; that
he is still living at or near his old home in
Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia, and that
the incident related is an appropriate illustration,
not only of bis own ezoellent character
as a Christian, bat of a very large
olass among the officers and soldiers of our
noble army daring the war: In a book
entitled "Oar Boys," by A. F. Hill, of the
Eighth Pennsylvania Reserves, we find this
pleasing incident.
In ono of those conversations that the
soldiers of both armies so frequently took,
with the Potomao rolling between tbem, the
following occurred.
'May we ask/ inquired the Federal soldier,
'to what regiment you belong V
'Thirteenth Virginia Cavalry.'
'You are one of its officers ?'
'Yes; I am Captain of Co. C , my name
is Andrew L. Pitzer.'
To repeat all the conversation that followed
would be a task indeed. The war
was talked of?the soldier's life was discussed.
Jokes were perpetrated freely; bat
one little circumstance occurred during the
conversation which made an impression on
my mind that time can never efface. It
was as follows
Ooe of our boys held up a pack of cards,
and called out:
'Do you know what this is ?'
Several other rebels had by this time
joined the officer, who acted as spokesman,
and continued to carry on the conversation.
<1 cannot see what it is at this distance/
he replied.
'I'll tell you ?' said the owner.
What?'
'The history of the Four Kings/ was the
significant reply.
'On ! ves?that's?ves?I understand
~ ? ------ ^ ?
now. Cards, I believe/
'Yes'
'May I show you the history I read ?'
asked the rebel.
'Yes, sir, if yon please/
Placing his band to his breast, the rebel
officer drew fr to a side-pocket the most
blessed of all books, a small Bible. Ah!
what a reproach. Not that it was meant
as a reproach, for it was the innocence and
simplicity of a child; but to witness such
an exhibition of superior morals in one upon
whom we looked as being a rebel?an
insurgent?was truly abasing. How J! would
like to know whether he is yet living. Many,
on our side, who came to the rooky brink
and conversed with bim on that day of armistice
have passed away forever.
I do not remember who the soldier was
that exhibited the paok of cards to the rebel
officer; bat there is one thing I do remember,
and that is, that he felt the reproof so i
sensibly that, after standing for a moment
gazing vacantly upon the cards as he held
them in his bands, and listlessly twisting
the corners be threw them over the brink,
and away they went sailing and fluttering
as they slowly descended to the green wa
ters many a fathom below.?Lynchburg
News.
The Free Labor System in Northern
Virginia.?A recent Washington letter
to the Herald says :
Residents of the adjoining counties in
Virginia?Loadoun and Fairfax?make
very favorable reports ot the free labor sysfom
in unonfl tbnrp /inrino thn laah cpnr
k>"" " *?b? ~ b J
Id Fairfax county particularly, a gre&t many
small plots of land have been taken up by
white men from the North and freedmeo,
who have been very successful the present
year in raising crops, for which a ready
market has beeD found in Washington,
Georgetown and Alexandria While not
many acres have been cultivated as before
the war, still the aggregate yield has been
greater, for the small plots in the hands of
practical farmers have been more thoroughly
cultivated. The immediate effects of
the new labor system has been to increase
the value of lands. Indeed to suob an extent
is this the case that some of the old
planters say they are amply rewarded for
the loss of their slaves. One large owDer
of unimproved lands, who held his land
before the war at the nominal value of from
$2 50 to 85 an acre, has been selling the
same land since the war at from 818 to 840
per acre. He oonaidera himaelf doubly
compensated for his loss of property in
slavea. Another large land holder aet a
lot of negroea to work clearing a tract of
one thonaand or more acres, and sent between
60 and 70 corda of wood per day
into Washington during last winter and
spring, netting some 36 per cord, which ia
clear gain, the land being worth more with
out than with the wood upon it. By
another year it is believed that nearly all of
Fairfax and Londoun counties will be in
possession of small farmers, who will cultivate
tbe soil to its utmost capacity. The
same state of faots holds true io regard to
Montgomery and some other counties in
Maryland, where the demand for real estate
in small quantities has oaused a greater rise
I in value than was ever dreamed possible
: before.
The Manufacture of Pens.
Pens, in the present stage of manofao- 1
tnring art, requires a greater share of handlabor
than pins. At Mr. Gillott's Birmingham
(England) establishment, known as <
; the "Victoria Workn," 120,000,000 pons
are made each year by maohinery, guided
by 400 women and 100 men. "Thesteel,"
says Mr. Measom, is "procured from Shef- i
held It is first out up into narrow strips, i
and is carefully pickled by immersion in
dilluted sulphuric acid and then reduced to
I the proper thickness by being pressed
| through metal rolls. In this condition it is
j fit to be made into pens, and for this pur|
pose it is passed into the hands of a girl
i who, with a punch fitted into the screw of i
> a handpress, and a corresponding bed,
speedily cuts out the blank. The next
process, namely, that of perforating the
small hole whioh terminates the slit, and
removing any superfluous steal likely to interfere
with the elasticity of the pen, is also
done by a woman. The incipient pens are
now in a condition to have the maker's
name and any ornamental device stamped
upon them. For this purpose they are annealed
in large quantities in a muffle, and
after being cooled, they are placed under a
large stamp, in which is held the device to
be impressed, cut in steel; the hammer of
the stamp falls, and the marking and orna
mentation are complete. Up to this stage
the future pen is a fiat pieoe of steel. It is
then transferred to another woman who, by
means of a press and dye, makes it concave
if it is to be a nib, and forms the tube if it
is to be a barrel pen. Hardening folIntro
Rr *Vi?a r?rnr?oau n niimhor of nPflQ
are put into an iron box, which is placed in
a "muffle j" when the whole is of a uniform
red heat, they are plunged into oil, and
the superfluous oil is removed by agitation
in a revolving cylinder. At this stage the
pen is as brittle as glass, but the temper
ing which follows imparts elasticity. After
that the pens are again placed in a revolving
cylinder, with pounded crucible sand,
or some other outtiog substance, the abrasion
of which the revolving cylinder, speedily
discloses the natural color of the steel.
Next follows the grinding of the nib, by
submitting it to the emery wheel. The peo
is then in a condition to be slit, the slitting
being the most particular of the many processes
of steel pen making. A chisel or
wedge with a flat side is fixed to the bed
of a press, and the descending screw has a
corresponding chisel or cutter attaobed to it,
which passes down and is most accurately 1
fitted. The pen is laid on the lower chisel, i
the screw is made and the pen completed.
The last stage is the coloring, brown or
blue. This is,done by placing the bright
steel pens in a revolving cylinder, under
which is a charcoal stove, until the desired >
color is arrived at. The final brilliancy is
imparted by immersing them in gum lac
dissolved io naphtha.
Why Masons Celebrate St. John's Day. i
We find in an exchange the following 1
explanation of the reason why Masons celebrate
St John's day, 24th of June, and
publish it for the benefit of the uninitia- 1
ted, having heard the question frequently I
asked:
Masonic lodges in ancient times, were <
dedicated to King Solomon. Tradition in- <
forms us that they were thus dedicated '
from the building of the first temple of ?
Jerusalem, to the Babylonish captivity. ]
??*ma ? /-?? thn Moo
jpiULLi mat umu iu iuc vuiuiug ui vug i-itosiah.
they were dedicated to Zerabbabel ,
the builder of the second temple; and from
that to the final destruction of the temple
by Titos in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian,
they were dedicated to St. John the j
Baptist.
Owing to the many massacres and disor- j
ders which attended that memorable event, t
Freemasonry fell very muoh into decay c
Many of the lodges were broken up, and
but few could meet with sufficient members j
to constitute their legality. Under these E
circumstances a general meeting of the
craft was held in the city of Benjamin, t
when it was observed that the principal g
reason for the decline of Masonry was the
want of a Grand Master to direct its affairs. B
They therefore deputed seven of their most Q
eminent members to wait upon St. John,
the Evangelist, who was at that time Bish- t,
op of Ephesus, to request him to take the c
office of Grand Master. He returned for
answer that, though well stricken in years
(being upwards of ninety,) yet having been h
in the early part of his life initiated into o
Masonry, be would take upon himself that i(
office. He did so, and completed by his t<
learning what St. John the Baptist had ao- tl
complished by his zeal. After his decease, p
the Christian Lodges were dedicated to him w
- -i o. t_i? u_.u -f .1
aua Oh. uuuu luu jjapiiEH, uuiu ui LUCUJ y
beiog regarded as eminent Christian patrons h
of Masonry. Since then Masons have ever h
celebrated the 24th of June in commemo- aj
ration of St. John the Baptist, and the 27th h
of December in commemoration of St. John jc
the Evangelist. b
***** a
Horrible.?The French Academy of
Medicine at Paris has lately brought to light a]
a horrible state of affairs in regard to the a,
habit of sending children to the country to rj
be nursed and brought up. Every year
twenty thousand babies are sent out of
Paris under the care of these peasant nurses,
and of that number only five thousand, is
on an average, are returned to their moth- fii
ers, the other fifteen thousand having died fr
of cold, starvation and bad treatment. It tt
is calculated that three hundred thousand el
of the nurslings have perished in this way
daring the last twenty years. These country
women make no sornple of exchanging
the babies entrusted to them, and undertake
to nurse several at a time. They-write
letters to the children's parents describing
in patbetio language the rosy cheeks and in- ?
creasing obarms of their infants, dead weeks
before the epistles were indited, and receive
clothing and money for the little ones
for months after they have been in i;heir
graves.
The Payment of the Confederate Debt.
The New York Tribune daily tells its
readers that if the radicals are beaten in the
ooming eleotion, and the President's party
prevail, "the rebel debt will be deolared
valid, and the tax payers will have to pay
it." Its Washington correspondent is instructed
to shape bis "news" so as to bolster
up this theory. Accordingly the oreatnre
writes on Sunday last:
Very many letters are received at; the
United States treasary from oitizenB ia the
South enolosing Confederate money and
asking if it oan be reedeemed. The basis
of their impudence is their olaim that the
surrender of Lee and Johnson was a treaty
with the Confederacy, and that two years
after the 21st of April, 1865, the date of
the Appomattox surrender, these notes and
bonds, issued for the support of treason, are
virtually marketable, as they read, "This
note is redeemable two years?and some
six months?after the ratification of a treaty
of peace between the Confederate States
and the United States." The latest application
of this kind is as follows : - , . :t
Greensboro. Ga., Oct 22,1866. .
Hon. F. E. Spinner, United State?
Treasurer :
Dear Sir: Enclosed please find one 8500
note, which is payable two years after the
ratification of peace between the Confederate
States and the United States. I wish yon
to remit me 8500 in greenbacks and take
the Confederate 8500 note, as it has been
rendered useless in this country by the action
of the present United States Government
; and as this comes under the olanse
of the Constitution, which says no private
property shall be taken without just compensation,
I wish you to take the bill afore
said and remit me 9500 in greenbacks, jast
compensation as aforesaid. Tbe United
States interferred and broke up tbe existence
of this fiscal institution, and required all
its checks to be banded in, and in conformity
to that understanding I have remitted
you the 8500 note, believing ?that voa, as
agent of the United States Government,
will award tbe jast compensation by return
mail. I might expect it in specie. If so
reclaimed, please forward by express
Barney Demmison, Jr.
The Two Voices.?When Guttonburg
the first printer, was working in his cell in
the monastery of St. Aborsgot, he tells us
that be heard two voices address him. Tbe
one bade him desist; told him the power his
invention would put in the hands of bad
men to propagate their wickedness; told him
how men would profane the art he had created,
and how posterity would have cause to
curse the man who gave it to the world.
So impressed was Guttenburg with what he
heard, that he took a hammer, and broke to
pieces the types be bad so laboriously put
together. His work of destruction was only
stayed by another voice, sweet and musical,
that fell on his ear, telling him to go
cm, and to rejoice in bis work; that all good
might be made the oause of evil, but that
God would bless tbe right in the end. So
to all of us still come those voices that oame
/-I .. t A*-. US t_
CO ljrUU6DDUrg; idc ouc cauiug ua iu wuris,
while it is called to day?to try to leave
ibis world better than we foand it; and the
other tempting as to give over and take oar
:aee?to leave the plough in mid-farrow,
ind to rest on oar oars when we should be
pulling against tbe stream.
Anecdote of Admiral Farragut.?
fVhen Admiral Farragot was ten years of
ige, his father, then an offioer of rank in
be United States navy, and high in the
istimation of the Government, said in hie
leariog that when he (the boy) was old
mough to make a oompaot and keep it, he
lad a bargain to offer him. The son rose
ip and asked his father to state the terms
if tbe contract.
The Admiral said : 'The proposal that
! intend to make is : If you will not smoke
lor chew tobacco, nor drink intoxicating
Irinks, nor strong wines, till you are tweny-one
years of age, 1 will then give yoa
1,000.'
<1 am old enough to make that bargain
ow,' said the young Farragut, 'I will acept
the offer,'
The bargain was closed. And on tbe ataintment
of young Farragut's majority the
ash was handed over.
The Circos.?Dan Castello's Big Show
as come and gone, carrying with it more
f our loose cbaDge than we could oonvenintly
spare. Truth and justice require us
) state that it was a great humbug, and
jat the procession and huge variegated
osters comprised pretty much all that was
orth seeing. We were there of oourse,
nder the delusion that the last six years
ad developed some novelties among the
erocs of the saw-dust ring. We were disppointed.
We saw the same old feats of
orsemanship, and listened to the same stale
ikes, familiar to our eyes and ears when a
oy. The presence of soldiers, armed with
mskets and bayonets, was offensive and toilly
unnecessary. We are not barbarians,
nd tbe presence of the numerous ladies in
htendnnna was sufficient to repress any
iotous tendency in a Southern audience.
Cheater Standard.
Artemns Ward boasts that his family
i descended from the Puritins, who nobly
ed from a land of dispitism to a land of
eedim, where they could not only enjoy
teir own religion, but prevent everybody
:se from enjoyin' his.
>4