Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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lewis m. grist, proprietor.! |it Jfamilj) Itespaptr: .for t|t promotion of f{;t political, foetal, ^gricaftural anb Commercial interests of ij?e jsoutji. TERMS?$3.00 A YEAR, IN ADYANCE. VOL. 18. YORKVILLE, S. C., THTJBSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1872. N"0.45. ihe J>t0rn idler. WASHINGTON SUNDAY^ Deacon Flint had decided to move; had decided to commence moving at precisely 5 o'clock, Monday morning, July 18; and so on that identical Monday morning you might, had you been an early riser, have eeen the deacon divested of his coat and his Sunday dignity, shaking the best room carpet in the back yard. There is no need of saying what he did next, or what Mrs. Flint was doing then. They went through the tearing-up process vory much as other people do ; and not being endowed with an over-abundance 01 tnis world's goods, the last load of furniture, consisting of the deacon's wife and baby, and the t best room looking-glass, was on its way to the | depdt at 5 o'clock, p. m. B "Blessed be nothing!" exclaimed the tired w little woman as the deacon helped her out of the wagon. "If we bad been Squire Ransom's ' folks, Samuel, we shouldn't have been more than a quarter through now, would we ? My! how my poor bones would have ached through this time to-morrow night! I'm glnd the Lord knows what's best for me," she added, taking the baby from the deacon and looking around. It was but a few hours' ride to C., aud just in the coolest dusk of the July twilight they walked up the street to their new home, very tired, and thankful they were not Squire Ransom's folks, but just themselves, if they did have to work late that night, putting up the kitchen stove and unpacking dishes and bedding. Tuesday was a day of many troubles. The babies were tired and fretful; day-light revealed a coating of dirt on doors and windows, the depth of which they knew not be'?? - "J ?n?o infcnop Rllt the lure | auu tliO liUCIU new luwiiuvi deacon possessing untiring energy, and his little wire the sunniest of tempers, they succeeded so well that, by Thursday night as he came into the kitchen with an armful of wood, where his wife was washing dishes, she commenced singing: "The deacon thinks his work is almost done, But I feel as if mine had just begun." "Did you hear that, Samuel ?" she said, laughing and turning round to look at him. It was prayer-meeting night, and the deacon went to prayer-meeting for the first time in C., took an active part, and after meeting waited to shake hands with the minister and some of the brethren, answer their inquiries and present his letters. He had the satisfaction of feeling, on his way home, that he had made a good impression ; it pleased him ; it would have pleased us ; and he told his little wife that night, in his grave way, that he "hoped, coming as he did, in the midst of a strange people, there might never be any occasion of remark against him while he remained among them." "I'm sure I hope not, Samuel," she said, looking innocently up in his face, and adding, as she nestled up her little brown head on his shoulder, "I don't feel much alarmed about it." The next day, Friday, the deacon went back to the old home, having some business settlements to make there. "Can't tell exactly when I shall be back; probably not till Monday noon; guess there's enough wood split to last till then. Good-by," he said, and was gone. The wee woman went back singing to her half-washed dinner-dishes, and with one foot on the cradle-rocker, she scoured the knives, while she told the story of "Jack and Jill." When the last kettle was washed, the kitchen stove and table brushed and scoured to the usual shade of black and white, the baby asleep in her nest of a cradle?bless her I?she washed the pretty faces till they blushed like red peppers, and then settled them in their trundle-bed for a nap. Dear little woman ! she did look so tired as she came out from the bed-room, and stopped to brush a fly from under the mosquito-net over the baby; it would have made your back ache to look at her. But the cheery heart in the weary body asserted itself, and she smiled with the thought of all she would do before the deacon came back. "I must slick my hair up a little, so if any one should come I wouldn't spoil the deacon's reputation," she said to herself, going up to a little glass that hung between the kitchen windows. Just then a gem of a sun beam flashed in at the window, and seemed to tangle itself all up in her wavy brown hair.? "Oh, how pretty," she said, with a blush and a laugh like a child's. "Guess if somebody had beeo at home I'd had a kiss, then 1" and .Kah mnrlr 0UO ircw nu ugi irvia* How like magic the white curtains went up and the cob-webs came down; how the best room looking-glass shone after its polishing, and the old daguerreotype of "Samuel in his best days" never shown through so clean a surface as it did that day. So the time flew, bringing the deacon's return nearer. One morning she awakened early, entirely free from the wretched headache she had the day before. "I want it all done; the kitchen cleaned up and my dress changed before Samuel comes at noon." Quietly dressing, so as not to awaken the children, she slipped out into the kitchen, built a fire and commenced operations. How she did work ! Every step told of something done, and at half-past ten, despite all her hindrances from baby, who was cross, she was hanging out the clothes, 60 snowy white they dazzled her eyes as the sun shone on them. One end of the clothes-line ran nearly out to the front fence, through the side-yard, and the nicest whitest clothes were ' ?< *>?? Aftiiwpfl **T-Trvnr monr nor\nln UUlig LLICIC, Ui tuuioc, JIXUU U1UUJ are passing," she thought to herself, "and how they all stare at me; guess it must be the clothes, though, instead of me," and she tenderly pinned the rear of one of the deacon's shirts to ,the line. Hark! was that the front gate? Before she had time to turn around, the deacon's energetic strides had brought him close to her; but what was the matter ? "Martha?Pendleton?Flint!" he exclaimed ; "what in the world are you doing ? Come right straight into the house!" With a look that defies description, the little body straightened itself up as high as it would go, as she said, "Not until you speak to me different from that, Samuel, and tell me why," her lip quivering. "Don't you see the people all going to meeting, and you a hanging out shirts? It's Sunday morning!" Such a laugh as rang out then on the Sunday air, I'm sure the good people neypr heard before. "Oh, Samuel,' she said, holding her sides, "it's so funny! No wonder the people stared at rae and my clothes. Oh, oh, oh!" and she sank down on the grass in a convulsion of laughter. The poor deacon was scandalized. "Martha," he said, in such a sadly anxious tone she only laughed the more, and it was not till she looked up in his face that she realized how he was touched; then she walked up soberly into the house. The door closed behind them. She went up to him with a little caress, and said, "Samuel, kiss and forgive me, and I'll go to work and ravel it out. I truly will and she laughed again with the thought of what she had been guilty of, till the deacon kissed her, and laughed too, in spite of himself. Then he walked to the window and looked out. VYou'are not going to let them clothes hang out there all day, are you, Martha Flint?" "Of course I am ; you don't suppose, now I've got them out, God's going to grudge me his sunshine to dry them with, because it's Sunday, do you ? Why, it would be wicked I to bring them in before snndown. But see j here, Mr. Deacon, it's about time I called you to account, I think. How came you to be traveling to-day ? Guess there's a little Suni day-breaking on both sides, isn't there ?" ! The deacon turned slowly around and sat down. Then perching herself on his knee, she took his honest brown face in her hands and said, "Be a good boy, now, and tell me all the truth; remember George Washington, dear." The deacon smiled, just a trace of trouble in his smile, and taking the hands that held him captive in his own, said, "Well, little woman, I had every thing up last night, ready to start for home on the 5 o'clock train. Somehow, I must have been uncommon tired, or else it was the heat, leastways I dropped asleep in the depot, and missed the T'rl falro Q nVlnrlr I H UllJ. XU5U A ..WWUguy A " train and get home at midnight, so you wouldn't be lonesome Sunday, but we broke down, and just got here half an hour ago. Then to think, after walking through town from the cars, and folks a looking at me on their way to church!" "To think, Samuel," she broke in, "after that dreaful trial, you should walk in at your front gate and find your wife hanging out clothes in your front yard, and you a deacon of good standing in the church! Dear, dear, dear! What do you suppose the Lord will do with me for thinking it was washing-day ? "I don't think," she added, "he'll be very hard with me, because yesterday was my Sunday, though I had such a sick head-ache, it seems I didn't know much about the day. I'll tell you what, Samuel, I'll stay at home with the babies to-night, and you can go to meeting, and then piece out your Sunday tomorrow; won't that do ?" But the deacon couldn't get over it; his heart was heavy; and while his wife was busy i in the kitchen he put on bis hat, and with his hands clasped reverently behind him, (his Sunday way,) slowly and solemnly he walked out to the clothes-lines. Most of the clothes were dry, for the sun wafi very hot, and one by one he dropped the snowy things into the basket, unconsciously humming to himself, "Have pity, Lord! U .Lord, forgive I" Mrs. Flint was washing dishes, and nearly dropped her best glass dish, when the deacon walked in with the clean clothes. "I could not stand it," he said, in explanation. "Guess I must sprinkle and iron them today, Samuel?would you ?" she said archly. The deacon merely ejaculated a disapproving "My dear 1" and went into the other room to read his Sunday newspaper. By-and-by the people began to come from church. What a sudden, surprised interest they seemed to have taken in his household premises; they gazed and stared and looked back, and gazed again, but the deacon was an humble man?it did not flatter him ; he read his paper and sighed, opened his Bible to read aud sighed again, aud then fell to thinking. A little while after two arras stole softly around his neck, and a dear voice said, "Forget all about it, dear, and I'll ?" a knock at the door interrupted, and she went to open it. She had brushed her brown, wavy hair, and dressed in a cool white muslin dress, with far between dottings of pink, and looked not a bit like the guilty little washerwoman she was. She opened the door, and Deacon Frost and Elder Cummins introduced themselves and walked in with, stately bows. Deacon Flint rose from his open Bible, and more introductions followed, whereupon Elder Cummins cleared his throat, and, in a piping voice, said: "You must excuse, Deacon Flint, our com1 ? 1-. .1 L.!.l i J.U-1 ing on sucn a aay, dui we tnougot, n uest uj?i some explanations should be made before our people again gathered for evening service." "Oh ! I know what you mean, I guess, Elder Cummins, you want to know why I kept yesterday for Sunday instead of to-day, don't you ? Well, the fact was, the deacon was away, and I made a miscount of the days somehow, and I was so busy settling, and bo yesterday was my Sunday, though 1 was in bed all day with a sick-headache, and so did 1 not find out my mistake at all. Then wasn't it funny ? I got up at five this morning, and went to washing, thinking it was Monday, and I'd get all through before the deacon came home ; I declare I've laughed so about it that I fairly ache," and the little feminine offender laughed again, and so contagiously that the three laughed with her. "I've been so good, though, elder, the rest of the day, I'm sure the Lord has forgiven me for it," and she smiled so sweetly, they both were completely won. When they arose to go Deacon Frost said to Deacon Flint, "It is our missionary meeting to-night, brother, and a little explanation from yon there will set the matter right, I guess." Up spoke the feminine again, "Oh ! yes, Deacon FroBt, Samuel was intending to explain, to-night. I only wish I could be there, but I can't leave the babies." "If you have no objections, Mrs. Flint," replied the deacon, "my Susie will come and stay with them, and let you go, she would be so delighted." "Oh ! thank you?that would be so nice? you are very kind!" and she bowed them out of the door. "Ain't you glad you married me, Samuel, instead of Abigail Howe?" said the small woman, smiling up to him. JNo matter wnat the deacon said and did. As she was setting the tea-table that night, she broke into another merry laugh. "What's the matter now, dear ?" said the deacon. "0, Samuel, I was thinking how you must have looked, coming up the street with your Sunday walk, your hands clasped solemnly behind you, till you got to the gate and saw me hanging up your shirt in the front yard, then how suddenly you broke into your week day stride. Ha ! ha 1" and they laughed together till the tears came. Supper over, dishes washed, baby asleep, Susie telling stories, the deacon and bis wife started for church. "Don't be too humble, Samuel," she whispered at the door, "work in a little spice if you can, and I'll tread on your corns when it is time to stop." The meeting was opened as usual; then Brother Dean was called upon for a report from India. "A little wiry, black-eyed man rose and said : "Brethern, it's not much use reporting from heathen countries, when right in our midst deacons travel on Sunday, and deacons' wives wash and hang out clothes before our j very eyes as we walk to the house of God 1 I call foran explanation." .ueacon j? lint tneu to rise, out soraeoocly pulled him down, and the next minute the whole congregation was electrified by the sound of a sweet, womanly voice, saying: "Now, 0 Lord, establish thy word unto thy servant, so shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me, for I trust in thy word." Then turning to him, she said : "My brother, you shall have an explanation," and in a simple, almost child-like way, she told the story of her mistake, and the deacon's delay, then added: "My brother, 'judge nothi ing before the time until the Lord come. For we shall stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, and every one shall give an account of himself to God ; let us not, therefore, judge one another any morel' Your sleep, my brother, will be sweet to-night, if your heart is at peace with God, as mine is, for 'I am per* suaded that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'" The next morning Rev. Henry Brown and his wife called very unceremoniously on the new deacon. "We knew it wouldn't be washing-day here," laughed Mrs. Brown, "so we came here early. I could hardly wait to get here to talk over that funny affair. Henry said after you sat down, last night, he felt like inviting you into the pulpit." "Why, bless me 1" said the astonished little body, blushing like a girl, "I felt so ashamed of myself after I got under the deacon's coat! 'Twas the first time I ever spoke in my life." "I hope it won't be the last, Mrs. Flint, if you always speak as much to the purpose as you did, last night!" said the minister, coming forward. "Yes," broke in his wife, "Henry said he'd advocate women's speaking in meeting after this." "It was capital," said Mr. Brown, recross ing the room to where the deacon stood. "That's what Joe Dean has needed for along time, a good reproof, but no one had the courage to give it to him. Your little wife has done just what the whole parish will thank her for." "Everybody I've seen since is just enraptured with you," said his wife to the laughing heroine, who.had been rehearsing all the funny passages to her. "You have made yourself famous; look out for plenty of calls, this week!" "Oh! well," she said, tossing the baby, "the washing is done, and I shall have plenty of time." "Mrs. Brown laughed, and said: "I think I will send you word next Saturday night, and you had better not wash till Monday." "Mrs. Flint," said the minister, "I think you are fully competent to manage your own affairs, without any of my wife's interference, and, so, laughing merrily, they started. "Samuel," said his bonnie wife, as she reached the door, "don't you think I've introduced you pretty well ? Will you ever call me Martha?Pendleton?Flint again when I am hanging up your shirt in the front yard V Somebody was chased out into the kitchen just then, and laughed so loud it wakened the baby. IfJiiSfrltattftfttS fteatfiui}. From the Macon Telegraph. GHOSTS ON THE RAMPAGE IN GEORGIA. On Sunday afternoon, it will be remembered wo nnhlinhod a hrifif naravranh statin? vv"i "" X ? r~o-- i _ <-> that strange and supernatural manifestations had taken place at Surrency, in Appling county, one hundred and twenty-six miles from Macon, and about sixty from Brunswick. Mr. Surrency is a gentleman well-to-do in the world, and is universally regarded as one of the most honorable citizens of the county, and it would seem his house would be the last one j ghosts would select in which to play mischief.} WHAT MR. SURRENCY 8AYB. Soon after daylight Mr. Surrency came into the room and proceeded to tell from the beginning what had taken place up to that time. On Friday evening, a short while before dark, the family were greatly alarmed by sticks of wood flying into the house and falling about the floor, from directions they could tell nothing about, and without any human agency they could see or find out. The wood would fall before being seen, and what made the mystery more mysterious, the room in which the wood was falling had all its doors and windows closed. This was in the front room.' Soon after dark they stopped falling and were succeeded by brickbats, which fell at short intervals throughout the night in every room in the house. Mr. Surrency, his wife, two grown daughters, Mr. Roberts, a clerk, and a Baptist minister by the name yf Blitch, were present, and with the exception of the minister, who got upon his horse and left, they all remained awake the whole night. Notwithstanding the windows and doors were tightly closed, and no opening left in any portion of the house, the brickbats continued to fall; but although Bometimes just missing, not one struck any person. BOTTLE8 AND GLASS TAKE A HAND. Soon after the bricks commenced falling, bottles, vases and glassware generally commenced jumping from their usual places, falling and breaking. Mr. Surrency seeing the destruction going on, directed a negro man to take four bottles, containing kerosine oil, out of the house aud place them in the yard. No sooner had he set tbem down when one flew back, fell in the middle of the room, scattering ?the oil in every direction. The whole family saw this. It seemed to come down from the ceiling overhead, and indeed everything else falling did so perpendicularly?that is to say, came straight down from above. These strange antics continued, with scarcely one minute's interruption, until daylight Saturday morning, when they ceased, leaving the house nearly bankrupt in crockery and glassware, and a large quantity of brickbats and billets of wood around the floor. That afternoon, or on Saturday, 19th, they commenced again pretty much in the same manner, and doing about what had taken place the night previously. The family, which had now been joined by many neighbors, watched every nook and corner of the house to detect, and if possible, to unravel the mystery. But so quick- i ly would pitchers, tumblers, books and other articles iumD from their positions and dash to the floor the eye could not follow, and broken fragments were the first things seen, except in one instance, and that was a pan of water and some books; they were seen to start. CHAIRS, SHOES AND CLOTHING Were tumbling about the house as if the hand of a veritable witch or unseen devil was present. But the greatest mystery and most inexplicable incident of this day was the escape of a lot of ordinary clothes hooks from a locked bureau drawer. They also fell on the floor, the drawer remaining tightly closed as usual. Nothing else of special note occurred to-day. All got quiet at half past eight o'clock Saturday night. THE OPERATIONS OF SUNDAY. As stated above our special reporter arrived before daybreak and heard the story of Mr. Surrency, as above related. So soon as he got through with it he stepped up to the OLD FAMILY CLOCK, And was about relating how rapidly the hands had traveled around the dial when the ghosts were about, on the previous day. All eyes were turned to it, and much to their astonishment the hands commenced running around at the rate of about five hours a minute. It was a thirty hour weight clock, and after seeing it run at this rate for a short while our reporter determined to at least solve this mystery. He stopped the clock, carefully examined the machinery, and found it not only in perfect order, but nothing whatever unusual, ' TT 1J ^ ^2 inside or out. ne couia not, ior tut; nm ur him see the slightest thing wrong about it. THE MAGNET THEORY. It has been suggested that there may be a large magnet about or under the house, but magnets do not attract wooden substances, and, besides, while the clock was running at its rapid rate Mr. L. had his watch in his pocket, which kept on its usual way, and wa^ not in the least affected. He set the clock right, when it continued to keep correct time up to the time he left. A RED-HOT BRICKBAT. Nothing else unusual occurred until seventeen minutes before twelve o'clock, when the performances reopened by a pair of scissors jumping from the table to the floor. At that time Mr. Lindeustruth was sitting in a chair, when, without the slightest premonition, a large brickbat fell with great force right beside him, breaking in two. He immediately picked up a piece of it and handed it to Mason, and both found it hot. Then taking up the other piece he tried two or three times to break it by throwing it on the floor, but failed. He then laid the second half on the sill of the window, in the room, intending to bri ig it home. Resuming his seat near the front stoop, he was again startled by the piece he had placed on the window falling at his feet, and once more breaking into two pieces. He did not pick it up again. At twelve o'clock a smoothing iron jumped from the fire place about six feet into the room. It was replaced and again jumped out. He noticed that the iron was also not; but this may have been heated at the fire. A 8HOWER OF CORN. A x - 1 x il-.*- n.no nnnAim/tO/1 ill aOOUl II11S nine uiuuci viuo auuuuu^^u, when the family and many guests walked out to the table. Soon after being seated an ear of corn, apparently from the ceiling overhead, fell between Mr. James Campbell, of Macon, and Mrs. Surrency; striking the floor with great force it broke in two, scattering the grains all round the room. Later in the day another ear of corn fell in another room, striking neai Mrs. Burns, a northern lady, who, at the time had an infant in her arms. Soon after this, whilst Mr. D. M. McGauley, Allen Walls, Robert R. Prestell, C. C. Eason, John M. Walls, J. W. Roberts and Daniel Carter, of that neighborhood, and Campbell, Lindenstruth and Mason were standing in the front room, a chamber glass was smashed into fifty pieces in the centre of the room. They were at the time intently watching everything visible in the room, but none saw this until after the vessel was broken. THE EXCITEMENT?EXTRA TRAIN. So rapidly had the news spread, and so great was the excitement, the Macon and RrnnoTOirV "Railr-iaH disnatehed an extra train on Sunday. It arrived at Surrency about three o'clock in the afternoon, with seventyfive people on board. But the ghosts, spirits, or whatever else they might be called, did not choose to give them any manifestations, and the train left in about an hour, taking most of them back. A few remained, however, determined to see into the matter. There were at least three or four hundred persons on the ground during Sunday, and up to the time our reporter left fully five hundred had visited the place. OTHER 8IGN8 AND WONDERS. While all these things were going on in the house, the kitchen department was by no means idle. Butcher knives, skillets and crockery ware were falling around loose to the terror and horror of the cook. Another mysterious thing occurred on the first or second day. Little piles of sugar, totally unlike anything of the kind then used by the family, were found upon the floors of the residence. In one of these ? few pins and steel pens were found. There were various other incidents of this totally incomprehensible mystery related to and seen by our reporter, but enough have already been given. rr nAi 10 u i No one who has yet visited the place can give any rational theory as to the agency which produces these strange sights. Mr. Surrency is a plain, old-fashioned Georgia gentleman, and is greatly annoyed and disgusted with the whole proceedings. He peremptorily refused any compensation from any one of the two or three hundred persons who haveeaten at his table. If they are produced by magnets they must be of a different kind from any ever known. We must leave the question to some one else for solution. At the time our Macon party left, people were coming in from all directions, and we presume the excitement continued to-day unabated. The Macon Telegraph contains an account of the mystery, fully corroborating the foregoing, and says that Mr. Surrency, whose house the demons, human or supernatural, have selected for their revelry, is a gentleman of most excellent character in his community. He is one of the leading men in Appling county, a quiet and good citizen, and has represented his county in the General Assembly of the State. He is the owner of one of the finest farms in the county, and is also agent for the Macon and Brunswick road at No. 6. The Macon Enterprise of a later date, says: -n - _ ?j._-t 1 .. J? rom passengers, conuuciors auu um^cio ux the Macon and Brunswick Railroad, who arrived in the city last night, we learn that the house of Mr. Surrency was yesterday the scene of greater, if not more excitement than ever. Curious people were arriving upon every train, each one bent on solving the mystery, and all coming away more mystified than when they went. Mr. A. P. Surrency, the owner of the house, and hk family, are represented to be thoroughly worn out with the strange occurrences and the great crowds flocking to their formerly peaceful home. They know nothing of the incomprehensible mystery, farther than what has already been told?that their household furniture nas been ruined, or is every day being destroyed by an unseen power. Yesterday, whilst six or eight men and women were sitting in the front or parlor room a hog deliberately walked in at the door, and, without showing the slightest signs of trepidation, advanced to the centre of the room. Every one remained motionless?the conversation ceased?all eyes were turned upon the strange visitor. The hog stood for a moment, then made a short circle in the middle of the floor, and after doing so, walked into an adjoining room. Every one followed it. Whilst some were in the room, some in the door, but all intently watching what it would do, it instantly vanished like a vapor or an apparition, leaving its audience stupefied with horror, with no oue able to tell how it escaped. The windows were down, and no means whatever open for escape. Among the numerous visitors yesterday was an old sea captain by the name of Burns, who has been around the world three or four times, and who was determined to unravel the mystery, if possible, or at least some portion of it. Getting into the house, he was told of the smoothing iron tricks, and selecting that as a particular object to watch, he sat down before it He watched the iron for a long time without seeing it move, and getting dry he longed for a bottle of whisky which he knew Mr. Surrency had in an adjoining room ; no sooner had he thought of this than the bottle fell at his side. He picked it up and helped himself, set it down, and continued to eye the iron. It did not move, but the bottle left as mysteriously as it appeared. A Rum One.?The celebrated Sam. Brick, af Augusta, Me., made a speech lately, in the Augusta reform club, which for both pathos and humor is not often excelled. It is necessnrr to nntp flip fant that Mr. Brick lost a Dor -vw ? ; m tioo of his nose some years since by a surgical operation. In concluding his remarks, the speaker said: When I think of what I am and what I might have been, I can well say that rum has done for me. Little good and much evil. It has made me a handsome man ; it has restrained me from extravagant living, costly clothing, valuable jewelry, fast horses, seaside mansions and yachts.- It has prevented me from being called a bloated bond-holder. I may have been called a bloated "bummer," but I am guiltless of bonds or stock. It has saved me from paying exorbitant taxep on real estate, and relieved me of the double expense of putting a cupola on my house under my cupola. It has relieved me of a family and a home. Washing days are unknown to me and my night key awakens no wife and children ; it has prevented me from being swindled and I robbed. Nobody borrows of me under the ' garb of pretended friendship. Nobody at tempts to wrest from me what they know I haven't got?and the only thing I have lost after a series of years, is a few inches of my nose, which I don't miss. Yes, rum has done much for me. ? m From the Atlanta Plnntatlon. NARROW-GAUGE R._ROAD CONVENTION. We are indebted to Col. E. Hulbert for a copy of the proceedings of that Convention of Railroad men, Car and Locomotive Builders, which met in St. Louis, in June last. If the statement made in a letter addressed to the Western Maryland Road by Mr. Stebbens, a New York capitalist be correct, the subject of Narrow-Guage Railroads is one of great importance to the South. This gentleman says : "In my opinion it will be irapossi ble to resist the weight of testimony in favor of these railways over any other gauge, and I certainly agree with you, that the discovery of their efficiency will do more for the South and the South-West than could have been done by any other human means. I regard the successful agitation of the matter at this time as equal to the discovery and introduction of the cotton-gin to the whole southern section of the country." This Convention was composed of officers of forty-six railroads, in different parts of the United States and Canada. These delegates represented both broad and Narrow-Gauge Railroads. The discussions, as reported in a pamphlet of more than ninety pages, were harmonious, and conclusions were reached with entire unanimity. This unanimity of so large a number of railroad experts, from so many different portions of the country, representing both kinds of gauge, is in itself a strong argument in favor of the narrow-gauge. It is worthy of notice that a prominent part in the discussions of the Convention was taken by the delegate from Georgia, Col. E. Hulbert. Frequent inquiries were made of him, as being high authority. The replies given, and the remarks made by this gentleman, were uttered with that clear, incisive good sense which is characteristic of him. The objections to the narrow-gauge were promptly stated, and carefully met, and the advantages were elaborately stated. The principle objections to the NarrowGauge Road were stated to be their inability to do a heavy business in freight and travel, incapacity of fast time, and the cost of transfer of freight from the narrow to existing broad-gauge roads. The first objection was met by Col. Greenwood and others. Col. Greenwood, is the raanager-in-chief of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. This road, when completed, will extend from the Union-Pacific Railroad to the Rio Grande, a distance of more than eight hundred miles. One hundred and seventeen miles are now in operation. Col. Greenwood states the capacity of this road to be quite equal to the broad-gauge. Similar statements on this point were made by the representatives of other Narrow-Gauge Railroads. As to speed, it was stated that twenty-five miles per hour had been made on the NarrowGauge Roads, although the usual rate was fifteen miles the hour, which is quite sufficient for practical purposes. The obiection as to the disadvantage of be ing compelled to break bulk to the broadgauge was met in the following manner, by. Col. Hulbert: The cost of transporting freight at the South on the narrow-gauge was one cent per ton per mile, and on a broad-gauge one and a half cents per ton per mile. On a road 100 miles in leDgth, the cost of freight on the one would be $1.50, and on the other, $1. The cost of transfer where proper facilities exist is five cents per ton. Allowing this cost of transfer, and even making it ten cents 'per ton, the difference in favor of the narrowgauge would still be thirty cents. The advantages of the Narrow-Gauge Road are thus summed up: First, in the large comparative saving in first construction and rightof-way. This saving, in many instances, amounts to less than half the cost of the broadgauge. This saving renders the construction of a Narrow-Gauge Road practicable where, from want of sufficient means, the broad-gauge would be impracticable. Second, in the larger proportion of paying load to non-paying weight of train. The weight of a single broad-gauge box car is 818,-" 500 pounds. T* /eight of a narrow-gauge car is 8,000 pounds. In a train of twenty-five cars, the excess of dead weight of the broad over the narrow-gauge car is 351,500 pounds. The weight of a broad-gauge passenger car is oo n/\n j- . -x* _ i r; nan 00,WU puuuus j ui u uauun-gau^C) iv^vuu pounds; the one carrying fifty-six passengers, the other thirty-six?a difference of but twenty. Third, in the reduction in wear and tear of permanent way by using lighter rolling stock. In a selected train of a given number of cars, the broad-gauge train will have hammered the road by a series of blows amounting in the aggregate to 6,891,740 pounds; while the narrow-gauge train will have expended a force amounting to only 3,248,640 pounds. The difference in wear and tear of a road must be very great. Fourth, in the great saving in the reduced wear and tear of wheels and tires. Fifth, in the large proportionate increased power of locomotives. Sixth, in the proportionate increased velocities gained by the light system. Seventh, in the reduction of freights. Eighth, in the comparative increase in the capacities of traffic. If these advantages be real; if the original cost of these roads is less than one-half that of the ordinary road; and if, by adopting them, the cost of transporting our cotton and other freight can be materially , reduced, their con* struction would certainly be of vaat benefit to the agricultural interest of the South. Strength of Gibraltar.?Until you set foot upon Gibraltar you can *form no idea of its impregnability. Very properly its real strength cannot be seen from a ship in the bay; only when you land do you find that the sea-wall bristles with heavy guns, and groans beneath piles of ball; only as you traverse its flank do you see how formidable the breech-loaders peep from every available chink, aud powerful mortars lurk behind every convenient embankment. And not until you penetrate the body of the rock do you get any just notion of the marvellous piece of military engineering exhibited in its "galleries." These are tunnels excavated from the soldid rock, parallel to its outer side, but some thirty feet therefrom, and large enough to drive a carriage through. They are in two tiers, and comprise a total length of nearly three miles. At every thirty feet or so along them, spacious embrasures are out-hewn, that terminate in commanding portholes, which look to a spectator outside the rock like swallows' nestholes in a Band cliff. These embrasures contain heayy guns always standing ready for action, with powder magazines hard Dy. JF rom me porinuiwj uwuvuui vi the bay and the Spanish country are obtained ; out of these, on the north side, you look down upon a half sandy, half grassy flat, perhaps half a mile long, and as wide or wider, connecting the rocK with the mainland, and separating the bay from the Mediterranean. Two lines of sentry boxes, one at the rock end, the other at the distant end, mark the boundaries of British and Spanish land, and between these lines is the "neutral ground." The guns in the quarried erabrassures, and those hidden cannou that stud the western and southern slopes of the rock, cover the neighboring Spanish land, the whole of the bay and the straits; and the strengthening work is ever going on by the fortification of new points that from time to time appear vulnerable. The eastern side of the rock requires no protection ; it is a forbidding wall, with a great sand slope in one place, but with no foothold of anything more than a few fishermen's huts near the water's edge.?London Telegraph. \ ? ? LETTER FROM R. A. SHOTWELL. The subjoined letter was received by us last Saturday from Mr. Randolph A. Shot well, who is now confined in the Albany penitentiary : Albany Penitentiary,") October 14th, 1872. j To the Editor of the Charlotte Observer: My attention has been called to the following article copied from the New York Herald, an T om infnrmlu) Ko a nnmKop ftf nil ! pers: A KU-KLUX PRISONER WANTS TO STUMP FOR GRANT. "It has transpired that Richard Shotwell, one of the leaders of the ku-klux-klan ic North Carolina, and now confined in the Albany penitentiary, proposed to a prominent member of Congress that if the President would pardon him he would cheerfully take the stump and labor for the success of the Republican candidates, and denounce the ku-klux organization. Finding that he was disposed to plead for pardon, it was proposed to ask if he would give evidence against the principal leaders, such as Ransom, Vance ana Merrimon. This Shotwell declined with a defiant air, and said he would die rather than betray anybody?application for the pardon was therefore refused. When Gerritt Smith visited Shotwell, two months ago, he said he found him defiant and unwilling to accept a pardon on any condition." I presume that I aiu the person alluded to in the above, although the writer, having set out to fabricate a falsehood, has not thought it worth while to give even the name correctly. The entire statement is without foundation. I scorn to refute the imputation of having of fered to barter my principles for a pardon; but for the sake of my friends I will merely say that I have never applied for pardon, nor made any propoeals to a prominent member of Congress, nor to any one else. Having been illegally arrested, falsely accused, unfairly tried, and unjustly sentenced to the full severity of an unconstitutional law, I have long hoped (and shall continue to hope) that future developments and the subsidence of bitter passions would lead to the restoration of my liberty as an act of justice rather than one of executive clemency. The last paragraph of the Heraltfs morceau wrongs me in a two-fold degree by imputing to me a piece of silly and theatrical braggadocio in refusing to accept liberty on any condition, on the one hand; and again affording the President a fair excuse for declining to hear any future application in my behalf Mr. Gerritt Smith appears to be the originator of this calumny. It may not be improper, therefore, to briefly state the facts in the case. Mr. Smith visited the penitentiary on the 8th of July, and let it be known that he came from "high authority." In the in * 1 L J T lerview wnn me, ne was very uuurieuus, puu .l answered all bis inquiries with tourtesy and frankness. After acknowledging that I had been a Grand Chief of the klan, and was well acquainted with its designs, I assured him i that it, and our people generally, had been greatly misrepresented, not only by the radical press and irresponsible correspondents, but also by the circulation of so-called "confessions" and "testimony," invented by perjured vagabonds, or extorted from intimidated witnesses. I emphatically denied that the klan was a conspiracy against the government, or against the negroes, or against any class of people, on account of their political opinions. Kevertiug to the government prosecutions, I called his attention to the fact that there were several gray-haired old men of sixty years and upwards, doomed to years of toil in this penitentiary, over a thousand miles frbm home, for no other offence than having sought to preserve order in their communities, and to shield their wives and daughters from . the brutal passions of white and black desperadoes, etc. Mr. Smith seemed sumrised and shocked at my statements, and strongly expressed his intention to intercede with the President in their behalf. I learn that he fulfilled his promise, and recommended three out of the four whom he saw, as fit subjects for clemency. But he grossly misrepresents me. Nothing was said of pardon during the interview except a volunteer offer on his part to write to a certain I Republican Judge in my favor; for which I thanked him, but thought it hardly worth | while for him to be at that trouble, although I should be glad to have his own personal influence. Great was my astonishment, therefore, to hear of his letter to Grant, and I am forced to conclude that it is a part of a scheme to exclude me from the benefits of amnesty. Hence this statement of facts. Begging the indulgence of the public for so lengthy an intrusion of ray private misfortunes, I am, Mr. Editor, respectfully, Randolph A. Shotwell. tin t tot? vniro utpp ITAAlOli 1 Wl? VT Ai MJ9 Praise your wife, man?do, for pity's sake, give her a little encouragement. You may be assured it won't hurt her. She has made your house comfortable, your hearth bright and shining, your food agreeable; for pity's sake, tell her you thank her, if nothing more. She don't expect it. It will make her eyes open wider than thev have been for this ten years, but it will do her good for all that, and you, too. There are many women to-day thirsting for the word of praise, the language of encouragement. Through summer's heat, through winter's cold, they have drudged uncomplainingly, and so accustomed are their fathers, brothers and husbands become to their monotonous labors, that they look for and upon them as they do the daily rising of the sun and its daily going down. Homely, every-day life may be made beautiful by an appreciation of its very homeliness. You are aware that, if the floor is clean, manual labor has been performed to make it so. You know that, if you can take from your drawer a clean shirt whenever you want it, somebody's Angers have ached in the toil of making it so fresh and agreeable, so smoth and lustrous. Everything that pleases the eye and the sense has been produced by constant work, much thought, great care and untiring efforts, bodily and mentally. It is not that many men do not appreciate these things and feel a glow of gratitude for the numberless attentions bestowed upon them in sickness and in health, but they are so selAsh in that feeling. They don't come out with a hearty "Why, how pleasant you make things look, wife ?" or, 'T am obliged to you for taking so much pains." They thank the tailor, giving them "fitsthey thank the man in a full street car who gives them a seat; 4-LaTTAtmr? lorlvr mliA mAVOQ Q 1nn<T i W1CJ tiiaua l?u%j JUUUg X4*VtJ l?UV mv?vw mwMg | in the concert room; in short, they thank everybody for every thing out of door, because it is the custom, and come home; tip their chairs back and heels Up, pull out the newspaper, grumble if wife asks them to take the baby, scold if the fire has got down, or, if everything is just right, shut their mouths with an air of satisfaction, but never say, "I thank you." I tell you what, men, young and old, if you did but show an ordinary civility toward those common articles of housekeeping, your wives; if you gave them the one hundred and sixtieth part of the compliments you almost choked them with before they were married ; if you I would 8top the badinage about wbo you were going to have when number one is dead (such things wives may laugh at, but they sink deep sometimes;) if you would cease to speak of their faults, however banteringly, before others, fewer women would seek for other sources of happiness than your apparently cold, sosoish affection. Praise you wife, then, for all the good qualities she has, and you may rest assured that her deficiencies are fully counterbalanced by your own.?E. H. Mordan, Jr. ENOCH ARDEN OUT-ARDENED. "An ex-private" in the Toledo Blade, in giving anecdotes in connection with the war, relates an incident of a soldier he calls Jim, that beats Enoch Arden all to pieces. Jim was made a cripple at the battle of Stone River. After the war a comrade met him sitting io front of a provision store in Columbus. He was still a cripple, but his face had the old quietness and content in it. He said: "Yes, I am doing pretty well; not making much, but doingpretty well. Have just been up to see my wife. She married another man you know. No? Didn't you know it? Yes, she married another fellow before I got home. Divorced? No. She just married him and threw me overboard, you know. It made me a little mad, I tell you. But she married a good man, and there's the rub, you see. He's got a farm and a good house, and he took my wife and children right in, sir, and treated 'em like a gentleman. It cut me a little to have the woman throw me off, but I looked at the question from her standpoint, and it's all right. Then I got worked up a little, and thought I had better steal the cnildren from the step father. So I went up to see them again. Would you believe it ? They said they didn't want to live with me, if they had to leave their mother. So I said "all right," and came away again. You see, my girl is smart. She knew that with my lame leg and arm I couldn't support her right, and the little duck told me so, with her arms around my neck. That finished me, you know." "But," said his friend, "the woman is legally your wife." ; "i know it," said Jim, "but u i wmkdo born and claimed her, yon see she would have to take in washing to' support the family. Legality isn't the thins. I can't do anything much, and it wonldnVbe comfortable, you know, to have her working so for m?. - I could not stand that half as I can the way it is now. No, sir, legality doesn't help the matter. 1 will never be comfortable any way, -She'd marry after I was dead, so what's the use of whimpering now f" u -n.v 'I Poor Jim, he was constitutionally cool to the last. He accepted misfortune, defeat, wounds, loss of wife, and all, is? the same spirit with which he went into battle. ! A Doctob who was Equal to a Crisis.? The Duchess of D?one of the most aristocratic ladies of the Faubourg, St. Germain, had got possessed of the idea that she had swallowed a frog. She felt this said frog?she declared she did?and its presence robbed her of peace of mind, sleep, an# even of health. The Parisian physicians had the rudeness to deny the existence of this animal, ignorant, as they, were, that the poor lady suffered martyrdom. A fortunate chance made her acquainted with Dr. Cabarua, and to him she tola her tale of woe. He felt, with a seriousness worthy of Hippocrates himself, the pulse pf the fair patient, inquired after various symptoms, and when the charming aristrtprat. h?H pYhniifltftd all her store of arsru ments to prove her pet delusion, the youthful doctor said, after a well feigned pause:? "Madame, the frog is there, but I win remove it." He then prescribed an innocent emetic, and went to the nearest flowershop, where he bought a small green frog. Armed with this confederate, he presented himself once more before the duchess, and placed & large basin of water in readiness. The emetic began to take effect, the duchess* eyes began to fiu with tears, and our doctor took advantage of the opportunity to slip the green frog'..into 'the basin. On seeing the frog a load waS removed from the duchess heart, and for aninstant all seemed well. The next moment she turned pale, and, as Dr. Cabarus supported her tottering frame, she cried in a despairing tone: "Oh! doctor, I am not yet cured for the frog has left a little one behind." "Stop 1" cried Cabanie, without allowing a traoe of embarrassment to be seen in his manner, "that we shall soon see." He then threw a searching glance upon the frog, which he had by this time taken in bis band, and ottered with a certainty that settled the whole question, these words: "Madame, that is an impossibility, for the frog is a male!" I?T Many years ago Hopkins conceived an idea that the screst way of civilizing the red man would be to bring him under the soothing influences of the divine art Hopkins concluded that this could best be done by teaching each individual Indian to play Upon some instrument So he bought about 1,600 flutes and started off for Arizona. He settled down among the Apaches, who were much pleased with Hopkins' scheme. So Hopkins began to give music lessons, and' in a few weeks he had all those flutes employed, and the silence of the plains was broken by a perfect cyclone of B-flats and G-naturals. And that melodious old am or a nopxins usea 10 rush out his 1,600 braves upon calm summer evenings, and make them roost along on a fence and practice their scales in unison, until the hair of every white man in the neighborhood was screeched up on end. After a while Hopkins educated tnem up to try to play "Auld Lang Syne," and the way these aboriginal performers would slide around among the notes, and tear up and down the bars, and improvise extraordinary and apf ailing variations, would have made even an talian organ grinder commit suicide. But Hopkins said he felt encouraged, and so he marched his orchestra into town one evening for the purpose of serenading the mayor; and when the performers had wrestled with that tune for about a quarter of an hour the citizens formed a vigilance committee and hung Hopkins, while they shot theorchestra all to atoms and made a bonfire of the flutes. Since that time the Apaohes and Arizonians have not been on speaking terms. Help Youbaelf.?Fight your own battles. Hoe your own row. Ask no favors of any one, and you'll succeed five thousand times better than one who is always beseeching some one's influence or patronage. No one will ever help you as you can help yourself, because no one will be so heartily interested in your affairs. The first step will be such a long one, perhaps ; but carving your own way up the mountain, you make each one lead to another, and stand firm while you chop still another out Men who have made fortunes are not those who have had five thousand dollars given them to start with, but boys who have started fair with a well-earned dollar or two. Men who have acquired fame, have never i?iL a :_x T.i *i._ v I j oeeu lurusi iulu pupuiariiy uy puuo ueggeu ui paid for, or given in friendly spirit. They nave outstretched their own hands and touched the public heart. Men who win love do their own wooing) and I never knew a man to fail so signally as one who induced his affectionate grand mother to speak a good word for him. Whether you work for fame, for love, for money, or for anything else, work with | your hands, and heart, ana brain. Say "I j will," and some day you will conquer. Never let any man have it to say, "I have dragged you up." Too many friends sometimes hurt a man more than none at all.?Grace Greenwood.