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* M 1 , ^ , 1, lewis m. grist, proprietor. J Jnbepenlicnt Jfamilp ftefospper: Jbr fjjt ^rffiituttou of t|t |)oltftcaI, J&ocinl, Agricultural aitb Caotmerrial Interests of t|e jjoofj;. TERMS--$2.50 A TEAR, IN ADTUtCE. VOL. 35. YORKVTLLE, S. C? THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 35, 1879. NO. 39. * I Sfitlertcdl fuetrg. ! DON'T STAY LATE TO-NIGHT. Tbe hearth of home is beaming With rays of rosy light, And lovely eyes are gleaming, As fall the shades of night. And while thy Rteps are leaving The circle pure ancy>right, A tender voice half-grieving Says, "Don't stay late to-night." The world in which thon movest . Is busy, brave and wide, The world of her thou lovest Is at tbe ingleside; a She waits for the warm greeting; f11'** ici rlalirrV?f x ny amuo jo uvi uv?4&.>? y Her gentle voice entreating, Says, "Don't stay Jate to-night." The world, so cold, inhuman,. Will spurn thee if thou fall; The love of one poor woman Outlasts and shames them all. Thy children will cling around thee Let fate be dark or bnght; At home no shaft will wound thee? Then, "Don't stay late to-night." MENEFEE, THE FIGHTING DOCTOR. a The hero of the following sketch was a native of Kentucky. His father was a farmer in moderate circumstances, living a few miles from Louisville, who managed, by great labor and scrupulous economy, to give his favorite and first-born son an excellent education, embracing the degree of doctor of medicine. Young Menefee had a young and beautiful sister, who was betrayed by a fashionable villain of Louisville, one James Murray, a lawyer, and universally regarded as the most desperately brave duellist that Kentucky, the 1 ?J ? ?1 nf dii/iVi homos pupr nrn JttUU OU piUUIgoi ut ouv.. , J duced. While the father and mother of the ruined girl were weeping tears of despair, John then aged twenty years, armed himself and proceeded in search of his enemy. He found hit* in the court-house, immediately after an adjournment, and, without uttering a single word, attacked and belabored him dreadfully with a cowhide. Murray, on^his part, fought like a fiend, but in vain, for the fiery desperation of fierce and concentrated wrath appeared to have given young Menefee the strength of a dozen men. He blinded his antagonist with quick and countless blows, dashed from his band every pistol the other succeded in drawing from his pocket, and flagellated him till he was literally covered with blood. A challenge was the consequence. Menefee accepted on these condition : That the meeting should take place at a certain spot the ensuing morning, directly after sunrise. Three pistols were to be loaded; each was to take cme and fire by turns at a mark ten paces distant Whoever hit nearest the centre should then have the remaining pistol, and shoot at his adversary's head, .if he missed, the other should be entitled to a shot, and so on by alternation till one of them should fall dead! These ferocious terms were mutually settled, and the principals and . their seconds met accordingly on the hanks of the Ohio River, six miles below the falls. * * J The seconds measured on ten paces, auu then made a black spot with moistened gunpowder, about as high as a man's heart, on a slender oak tree. They then loaded the three pistols, landed one to each principal, and retained the third to be given to the successful marksman. The antagonists then cut a pack of cards for the first shot. Murray drew the queen of diamonds, Menefee the ace of spades, and so won the first fire. He immediately took his stand, turned his right side to the tree, let the hand which grasped the weapon, now at full cock, fall until the muzzle reached below his knee, fixed his flashing blue eye steadily, a moment, on the mark, and then, swift as a thought, raised and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, the pistol "hung fire," as it is called in the backwoods?that is, the flash in the pan was seen first, and then the explosion of the load in the barrel, sounding long, like a double report. Under such circumstances most persons would have missed the tree; but as it was, Menefee's bullet barely cut the upper edge of the mark. An excellent shot! Murray now took his position. He was a famous "level shooter," having previously slain three men in as many duels, seuding his ball directly through their brains. He raised slowly, poised a deliberate aim, stood several seconds motionless as the tree at which the muzzle of bis pistol was pointed, aud fired. The crack was short and sharp as the peal of a bell, and when the blue wreaths of curling smoke were cleared away, the black spot on the oak was not to be seen?the white bullethole, bored into the splintered wood, occupied its place. The seconds then gave Murray the third pistol, and he stationed himself ten steps from his unarmed adversary, who in the meanwhile seemed calm and fearless, as if an unconcerned spectator, without the slightest symptoms of either alarm or surprise. According to the terms stipulated, Murray might choose his own time, after the elevation of his weapon, to fire ; and the thought appeared to cross his mind to torture his antagonist by a cruel and unnecessary delay. He raised his right hand gradually, and fixed a mortal aim at Menefee's head, in which posture he continued for more than two minutes, 3ut Menefee still betrayed no emotion. Not a nerve shook?his face paled not a shade. A bitter smile of scorn writhed his purple lip, and his gleaming blue eye, gazing fiercely into that of hia deadly foe, seemed to the wondering seconds like a ball of fire, so intense and vengeful was its glare. At length he called out in a voice, piercing and shrill as the shriek of a trumpet: "Murray, you d?d coward, why don't you shoot ? Are you afraid to shoot ?" And whether it was that the position of Murray's arm, so long extended, affected the nerves, or that he became excited by the mocking taunt, or was surprised at the terrible tones of his enemy's voice, or quailed with ' ? 1 ? / . x! . .PL!. preternatural areaa oeiore tne ngniumg 01 ?ib burning blue eye, it is impossible to say ; but at least, whatever might be the cause, a remarkable change passed over his features. His cheek grew pal. id?his pale lip quivered?his hand shook. He fired. The ball merely grazed Menefee's left temple without injury. Then the seconds reloaded the pistol and placed it in the hands of Menefee, and the parties again assumed their proper stations. The youthful avenger of a sister's shame waited not an instant. He was in too great a hurry to finish his work, for suspense. Quick as the flash of a sunbeam, he .elevated his weapon and fired. With the roar of the explosion, without a sigh or groan, Murray dropped dead in his tracks, tlis right eye had been shot out! Menef'ee fled the country, and settled in Conway county, Arkansas. Thenceforth the whole current of his thoughts and passions appeared to be changed. The earthquake of mortal wrath, which had burst up from the profound abysses of his soul, had ploughed i out a new passage for the march of ambition, a passage stained with ineffaceable blood ! Before, bis heart had burned with unquenchable enthusiasm to excel in knowledge, in variety, depth, and extent of attainments ; but now he coveted superiority only in desperate - deeds?bloody achievements of brute bravery. Riots, affrays, and deadly rencounters by chance medley, were weekly, and sometimes daily, occurrences. Dr. Menefee took a hand in all, and yet escaped from each with w ? out a scar, till his very name grew to be a thing of terror, at the sound of which even brave men trembled. And thus he had reached the summit of his fatal ambitiou. As a "famous fighter," he was universally acknowledged to be without an equal and without a second, and that, too, in a country abounding with bold spirits from every quarter of the Union. The Rectors, the Deshas, Wilson, Conway?the most redoubtable hei i i i _ xr_i_?j u: ?ir roes areaaea mm. rem numiiu imuotn feared the glare of his ferocious blue eye. He devised extraordinary methods of displaying his courage and contempt of death. He was known, on several occasions, without uttering a word, to approach and spit in the faces of notorious bullies with whom he had no cause of quarrel, and for the sole end of provoking a fight. One personal advantage, however, resulted from this excessive desperation. No other physician could be found hardy enough to settle in Conway, where such a foe reigned, and, as a matter of course, Menefee got all the practice. He even attended on his ewn wounded?would cut a man open with his bowie knife in the morning, and, if called on, sew him up with his needle in the evening. He realized a handsome fortune by his professional exertions, and deservedly, too, for he was a skilful doctor. In perilous cases he was sublime, for his bravery urged him always to take the responsibility of a lofty daring in the promptitude and power of his remedies. "The Fighting Doctor," as he was chris tened in blood throughout Arkansas, had a neighbor named Phillips, a peaceful, inoffensive man, who had never previously been engaged in a difficulty with any human being, and hence in that region was generally deemed a coward. From some cause which never publicly transpired, feelings of hostility arose between the two, and Menefee sought an early opportunity to cowhide the other in the streets of Lewisburg. Phillips bore his chastisement without so* much as an effort at resistance. Indeed, at the moment he had no other alternative, for he was altogether unarmed, while his enemy held a Deringer cocked at his breast. Immediately afterwards, however, Phillips literally loaded himself with murderous weapons, and returned to face his foe on more equal terms. They encountered on the public square while court was in session, and never did the sun of heaven shine on a more obstinate combat. They first of all fired two rounds with pistols, and in the second round Phillips was wounded in the loins. But this, instead of checking his furious ardor, only tended to inflame and madden him the more. He unsheathed his knife and bounded on his enemy, who received his thrusts with a like deadly blade. With clinched teeth and foam on their livid lips, panting chests, and blazing eyes, they fought like maniacs, till both were bathed in sweat and blood. At length Phillips ventured on a desperate manoeuvre. He dropped his own knife, and seizing the naked blade of his antagonist, snapped it in two by main strength, cutting at the same time his own fingers to the bone! He then drew from beneath his vest another knife, and made a fierce plunge at Menefee's heart; but Menefee, in bis turn, caught the sharp blade in his hands and broke off the point?when lo! Phillips produced a third bowie-knife, much larger than the others, and plunged it up to the hilt in his enemy's side, who fell to rise no more. Menefee, as he lay on the gory ground, looked up in the victor's face with a smile, and gasped in a d\ing voice, "Phillips, you C -" lionii Irillorl are ivni{j ui v^un>vixy iiuw, iui jvju ua> mh&u 'The Fighting Doctor !' " ?????* Lawyers Puzzled.?Judge Thomson and the lawyers of Newberry met recently and had a consultation as to when court should be held for that county. The Act is so worded that they did not know whether it should be held the first Monday in September, or the first Monday in November. The Judge decided in favor of November, and no court will be held till then. So much for ambiguous legislation. And this leads us to remark, incidentally, that the people make a great mistake, frequently, in the selection of men for legislative halls. They take up a good man, and simply because he is a good man, they nominate and elect him to the Legislature, having no regard whatever to his fitness for the business which will be entrusted to him. We would like to see an improvement in this respect. If the people could come to the capital and see how they are represented by some of the men sent here for that purpose, we think they would learn a lesson that would do them good. A man who cannot talk, who has not a knowledge of parliamentary rules and tactics, and who cannot tell wheth er a bill is framed properly or not, is not fit for a seat in the Legislature. Two or three shrewd lawyers and tacticians in the Legislature can and do, as a rule, do all the legislating, simply because the majority know little or nothing about how it ought to be done. Wake up, yeomen, to your interest.?Palmetto Yeoman. George W. Williams.?One of the editors of the Abbeville Medium writes to his paper from Charleston about the affairs of George W. Willliams, as follows: "Chamberlain has been employed by George W. Williams to conduct his defence in the cases against him for his New York cotton speculations. His friends say that when the whole business comes out, Mr. Williams will appear in a much more favorable light. Whatever the result of the suits, the creditors will not be able to realize anything on his property, which has all been fixed on other parties. I have heard that Bishop Wightman holds a mortgage on his splendid residence, that a widow lady has a secured claim against the furniture for fifty thousand dollars, and that everything else of value is safe from the grasping demands of the cotton gamblers. Mr. Williams lost about a million by the operations of his wicked partner, and let out some $700,000 in cash before stopping payment. He is very much broken down by his reverses and has retired from all active business. The big sign at his Broad street bank has been taken down, and his name, which used to stand out from so many houses in the city, has been painted out, and so fortunes come and go. 86T The Boston Globe says: "The wonder is not that there has been so much disturbance in the South ; so much bull-dozing, if you please, but that there has been so little. The patience and long suffering of that people have been simply amazing, and it is only to be accounted for on the ground that the war left them with neither men, money, nor heart to fight. The grand mistake of the Republican party?and its leaders now admit it almost universally?was in putting the ballot into the hands of the negroes before they were able to govern themselves. In doing that, the Republican party did violence to one of the fundamental principles of popular government, aud made certain and inevitable the violation of other fundamental principles which has followed. A people not able to govern themselves, were suddenly endowed with the prerogatives of self-government. They were made the majority of the people of great States, and the minority were not willing to be governed by them. It is hard to imagine how such a blunder could have been committed. To the South it was the most direful legacy of the w*y, and a punishment vastly more cruel than the wholesale banishment and slaughter commonly inflicted upon conquered rebels." IgtollaMflttS Heading.! GETTING MONEY BACK. | Whenever anybody mutilates a national i bank or legal tender note, whenever anybody i comes into possession of a worn cut note, or I whenever by accident, or his dog or calf,, anybody's money of this character becomes so far destroyed that it will not pass, he sends it to the treasurer of the United States. The mutilated currency goes to the redemption division of the treasurer's office and there judgment is made on it. This division is in charge of Mr. C. H. Davidge. If the note is a legal tender and the numbers and denomination of it are still distinguishable, and satisfactory evidence is furnished that the other portions of it will never be presented for redemption, a new note is issued to the owner of the fragments. If a national bank note, the name of the bank must still cling to all that is left of the once crisp and new piece of paper, and the same evidence be furnished that no other fragments of it will be sent in before a new one is issued. Evidence that is considered satisfactory in these cases, consists of affidavits prop' ... 1 * 1 At eriy attested as to now tne iuuuuy uamuc ou dilapidated, and indorsement# by responsible persons as to the good character and honest intents of the person asking reimbursements at Uncle Sam's hands. Of course every precaution is had against fraud. Quite often a woe begone piece of a note will be sent in, and after the crucial test, will turn out to be the relic of a counterfeit bill. Sometimes the affidavits accompanying a fragment of what was once a greenback, are "manufactured." In such cases the replies that the sender gets to his request for redemption are more pointed than polite. Very often the simplicity of the affidavit and the accompanying statement of the facts, would be alone sufficient to convince any one of their genuineness without the additional safeguard of a "character" from some responsible citizen. The pieces of notes that pass muster .are put into a machine for the purpose and ground to a pulp, chemicals being used in the process. When taken out, the pulp is of the consistency of mortar. It is sold, when dried, to paper-makers. The redemption of mutilated notes amounts to about a million and a half a month. Naturally, there are some rather curious cases found in this million and a half. Playful dogs, hungry cows, mischievous children, fire, water, rats, mice, pigs, horses, lunatics, pure accidents, and all, play their parts in providing work fur the some fifty men and women in Mr. Davidge's division. ( Among the curious cases was that of a poor old woman in Philadelphia. She was saving up money in order to accumulate enough money to secure her admission to some charitable institution. She had raked to- i gether $65. Distrustful of savings banks, she put her money on a shelf, well concealed. It soon disappeared. She was certain that it had been stolen. Some of her neighbors persuaded her to tear up the floor. She did so, and, after a close search, the fragments of her $65 were found in a rat's nest, the proprietors of which had been exercising their nibbling propensities on the money. She gathered up the fragments and sent them to the treasury. Most of the money was in national bank notes, which were mutilated beyond the possibility of recognition. For them she could j regain nothing. Of the legal-tender notes but $8 could be redeemed, so the old lady lost $f 7 by rats. Another case in which there was a distrust of banks, was that of a farmer in Illinois. He always kept his money in the house or about his person. A $hort time ago he had $11,000 in his coat pocket. He went to bed, leaving his coat on a chair. His wife complained of the coldness of the room, and he got up to stir up the fire. He had been back in bed but a short time, when the room was filled with smoke and the well-kn<5wn odor of "something burning." He jumped up to find his coat pocket burnt out, and his $11,000 a charred mass. Fortunately, there was enough distinguishable about the notes to secure him, upon sworn and attested affidavits of the facts, a new set complete. He may patronize the banks hereafter. There is a Georgia lawyer of the old mossback school, who is not yet satisfied with the action of the treasury toward one of his clients. The client had $265 burnt up, and re liable witnesses to prove its total destruction. He wrote to the department about it, but was informed that nothing could be redeemed in nothing only, despite the acknowledged fact that there had once been something out of which the question grew. The lawyer was then applied to, and for the past four months has been trying to convince the treasurer and Mr. Davidge that the government is the unlawful gainer by the destruction of the money, and that not to replace it is the most barefaced of swindles. He quotes law, both statutory and moral, and spins out his arguments at length. He has not made any perceptible headway in behalf of his client. Another Georgia man, though neither his affidavit or statement state so directly, had evidently been out with the boys the night before,and fourteen one dollar notes of his caught fire. He had been down town, he asserts, and came home sleepy. He laid down before the parlor fire?'tis there he gives himself away? and went to sleep. He doesn't know how long he slept, but when he awoke his pocketbook was on the hearth nearly destroyed. He doesn't know how it came there. Seizing it as quick as possible, he put out the flame, and sends on what is left of his money to see what can be made out of it. All fourteen of the bills were redeemed. Perhaps one of the most remarkable cases that has ever come before the redemption di| vision was the one, last week. It was a Ne braska backwoodsman, a camp fire and $100.1 The backwoodsman dropped the pocket-book containing the $100 in the camp fire. Before he could get it out, the heat so acted upon it that the book shriveled up into a hard burnt ball. The ball was cracked just as a hickory nut would be, in order to get at its contents. Inside was found, perfectly intact and undamaged, the ten and twenty-dollar bills that went to make up the backwoodsman's one hundred. It was rather curious also about the money presented by the banks of Chicago for redemption after the great fire. Banks keep their money in packages unfolded. The banks which were burnt out in that fire, lost most of the notes they had on hand. In some instances, however, their replacing was possible. Sometimes the notes in the vaults had not been wholly destroyed, the metalic substances which enter into their composition being left. These were found in block form as the notes had been packaged. They were forwarded to the redemption division. The thin layers of notes, the division between which was almost imperceptible, were separated. It was neat work. Then the denominations and the numbers, though with much difficulty, were picked out in the almost airy and black framework of what was once a note. One hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars, in this way, came from the Chicago fire. Of this amount $126,000 was identified and new notes issued therefor. ' An Ohio farmer lost $160 while plowing his field a year ago. This year, in plowing the same field, he turned up the pocket-book containing that $160. Though it was almost decomposed beyond recognition, it was, upon application and presentation, found redeemable. Cases like this are very frequent. Also instances where dogs, horses, cows, and other animals have decimated, and partly and some times wholly Bwallowed Uncle Sam's promises to pay. One man, in a dog case, states that he forwards portions of a ten dollar note ; that he has watched the dog vigilantly for the remainder of it, but his watch has not been rewarded with success. He got a new note. The old boot figures quite frequently. A Tennessee man put 8135 in an old boot and secreted the boot in his smoke-house. When he went back for it he lost his bearings and could not find it. Six months afterwards he stumbled across the old boot exactly where he had left it. The money inside had furnished nourishment for cockroaches and wood-lice. A handful of small pieces was all that was left to tell the tale. Sending them on to the treasury, they were examined, fixed together, and enough rescued to give the man, who hid his money in a boot, fifty dollars. Another Tenuesseean put $105 in an outhouse and lost the place. It staid there six years. Last week the decomposed notes ar* j _a a! _ a? ? ?- ? ffl tfifa rivea ai uiq treaaurjr unu piuyti auiua>iu. They were redeemed in full. Lost or mutilated coins are never redeemed. This is not generally understood, and it frequently occurs that solid sticks of gold or silver will be sent in. The coin had been put in piles, and by the action of fire melted together. These chunks are always returned. All the owners can do is to sell their gold or silver as so much bullion.? Washington Star. THE MORMONS. A gentleman who has just returned to Washington from Salt Lake City, who has business relations which take him there every, year, states the present feeling between the Mormons and Gentiles is not fully understood in the East. The suit against the executors of Brigham Young, one of whom was the Mormon apostle and delegate in Congress, Cannon, was not instigated by any of the Gentiles, but by the heirs of Brigham Young themselves. The original mover in the suit was one of the daughters of Brigham YouDg, a not altogether reputable person. The suit has thus far been successful, and the court has appointed a receiver. The prospects are that the heirs will recover a large amount of improved real estate which yields a large revenue. The proceedings in the court and out of it show that Brigham Young .woo oitlior irorv naroloQQ in fliA mAnapement T? HO V/1IUWI TV* J VW1VIUUU ?M VMV ? .. ?p of the estate that he held in trust for the church, or intentionally mingled the funds of the church with his own private estate. Equitably considered, Elder Cannon, Apostle Taylor and their associate executors, attempted to divide the estate as it should be, separating Brighara Young's private property from that which, it is well known by the executors themselves and by the public generally, belonged to the church. It was easy for the executors in many intances to make such distribution, but the law does recognize any such assumption of authority as the executors exercised. Bringbarn Young's estate stands plainly in the name of Brighara Young, without any mention of any trust, and no trusts can be implied. The heirs of Brigham Young?as varied in character as they are in numbers?will be benefitted by this carelessness or crime on the part of their polygamous sire. "But who," I asked, "is going to tell who Brigham Young's heirs are ? They are reputed to be as numerous as the sands of the sea. Certainly, the law does not recognize the fruits of polygamous marriage." "Of course not. The children born in polygamous marriage are certainly, under the law, illegitimate. Those only can inherit who were born of the first, or lawfully wedded wife. There are a number of these?certainly three sons and some daughters. The original wife herself is still living, and would, of course, under the legal distribution of the estate, be entitled to her homestead and dower share. She has suffered much and is still controlled by the marvelous fanaticism which cover all her troubles beneath the veil of her libidinous faith. . "The end of the litigation about the great estate is not yet. Their heirs will not abandon the contest. They will not be troubled by any scruples about the dignity of the Church. The moment the pocket of a Mormon is touched, he is as keen in self-interest as other mortal men. Indeed, the bonds of Mormonism sit very lightly upon some of the richest men who nominally adhere to that faith. It is worthy of notice, perhaps, that some of the richest Mormons are not polygamists. William Hooper, for instance, the Delegate in Congress who preceded Cannon, and now a wealthy banker and railroad man, never had but one wife. Nearly all the Welsh Mormons, of whom there are a considerable number, never had but one wife. The Welsh women are notorious in their opposition to polygamous marriage, although they adhere to the faith in other respects." "Do the Mormons interest themselves in mining ?" "Scarcely any. They devote themselves principally to agriculture. There can be little farming done in Utah, except by the Mormons. Nothing can be raised there except by irrigation, and irrigation is dependant upon the mountain streams. Wherever a stream cumes uuwu 111 tu cue vtuiejr uuiu tuc ujuuutains; there the Mormons have a farm. They control the mouths of nearly all these streams, but the mining business is almost entirely carried on by Gentiles." "What is to be the outcome of this anomalous condition in our political system ?" "There is certainly more excitement in Utah than there has been for many years. The end of it will ultimately be that polygamy must go. .Then Mormonism can remain, with its follies and fanaticism, until the people abandon it or it dies of its own weakness. There will be more attempts at legislation this winter, of course. The only effectual way of crushing polygamy is to so amend the jury law as to enable the United States marshals to draw all the jury. Under existing law, they can only draw half of it, and the remaining half is filled by the Mormons. This, in criminal cases, would nearly always secure a hung jury." An Elopement Frustrated.?An English girl, near Manchester, tied a string to her toe and let it?the 6tring, not the l;oe?hang out of the window for a gentleman friend to pull in order that she might not miss her music lesson. The rector of the church, it is further orronrrnrnmif rnfnonrl the couple the sacrament. And this reminds us of a little story. Once upon a time, a young lady who desired to go on an eloping tour, adopted the English girl's plan, and the lover was to be on hand at daybreak to give the signal. The string used for the pedal was a strong cord, and one end was dropped out of the third story window into the back yard, and the other end attached to the damsel's great toe. And the legend runs that a healthy goat, of the William persuasion, arose early the next morning to look for the early worm, as it were, and wandered iuto the yard ; after eating up all the tomato cans, barrel staves and broken crockery ware, he found the string and took that in as dessert. As soon as the string was drawn taut,the goat stood upon his hind legs, and gave the string an impulsive jerk. The girl awoke. The goat gave another sudden pull, and the maiden jumped out of bed with a smothered cry of pain. Then she stooped down to detach the cord just as the ridiculous beast gave another violent jerk, and she lost her equilibrium?and her toe, too, almost?the cord cutting into the tender flesh. She sprang to the window, and called in a hoarse whisper, "Stop pulling, Charles, I'll be down in a minute." Then she made another effort to untie the cord, but that diabolical goat gave his head several angry bobs and each time the girl gave a cry of pain. | Again she softly called out in the darkness : "Charlie, if you don't stop jerking that way, I'll not come down at all." She was answered by another savage pull, and the cry of anguish that escaped from her lips brought her mother in with a look of affright and a lighted lamp. The young lady fainted, the elopement was nipped in the bud, and the disappointed maiden's big toe was sore for two weeks. The goat escaped. HATING GRANDFATHERS. .To pride one's self on the age of one's family is irrational enough anywhere, but to feel, and particularly to express such in a democracy like ours, is a palpable absurdity. In the Old World, where artificial distinctions are made in society, where titles are inherited and rank is carefully perpetuated, antiquity A ? i i -i t.__ t_i j i. ?:i.. oi ramuy, DacKea oy oioou, huibi utxesoumy be conceded, however unreasonably, as a claim to distinction. But where rank is disallowed, as in this Republic where blood is regarded merely as the crimson stream which wears and sustain the common humanity, as better or worse only as it stirs men and women to kindly thoughts, to noble aims, to generous acts, all talk of old family, all assumption of its superiority, simply because it is old, is folly and impertinence. If the Americans, who plume themselves on the age of their families and give themselves consequence on this account, had any clear idea how ridiculous they appear, they would be modest and reticent on a point which furnishes an exhaustless topic for satire, an everpresent opportunity to expose their silly weakness. Many persons here, noticeably in big cities, hold themselves eminent, not becaose they or their progenitors have said or done or been anything remarkable, but because they can tell who their grandfathers, perhaps their great-grandfathers, were. Their grandfathers may have been ignorant, vulgar, sordid, despicable ; but the fact that they were grandfathers, and that they accumulated property, even though by discreditable means, justifies them, as they think, in cherishing a miserable vanity to which they apply the name of pride. They seem to labor under the delusion that people who have never tajcen any pains to inquire about their grandfathers, or who have not cared to remember them, have been denied those venerable worthies; that Nature has made an exception to the law by producing them spontaneously. They say, with a certain contempt of a man who is likely to be far worthier than they, "He is ? A-ii - i - L; nobody. lie cannot ten wuu ma grumuauicr was." He certainly could if he had practiced?if he had only exercised his memory, aidedly his imagination, half so much as they have done. Grandfathers are not in themselves objectionable; they may be desirable if thay were meritorious, and if they impart any virtues to their posterity; but if they' simply serve as pegs for their grandchildren to hang garlands of self-glorification on, it were better not to disturb them in their graveyard sleep. A grandfather who was inferior to his descendants, should not be mentioned out of delicacy and charity to his memory; a grandfather who was superior to them should be undisturbed, out of delicay and charity to themselves. Persons who make family pretensions are wont to believe that the occupations of their ancestors, although absolutely identical with those of their contemporaries, are, really, very different. Their grandfathers may have laid the basis of his fortune by retailing rum, by peddling tinware, or by buying rags; but if their neighbor should have begun in the same way, they would not be able to receive him socially under any circumstances. To have been a petty trader seventy years since is, in their judgment, quite another thing from being a petty trader only twenty years ago. The shadow of time deepens and alters as time lengthens. It so combines with the light of fancy as to render, at a remote period, a mean and prosaic object or pursuit honorable and attractive, which, near at hand, would show but its naked self. They who have had grandfathers are apt to idealize" them; in truth, they can do with them pretty much as they please, because nobody, save themselves, has any special acquaintance with them, and their acquaintance is naturally so limited that they are tempted?aud they generally yield to temptation?to suppiy any aeiecis 01 intelligence with the suggestions of thepc wishes. They are resolved to render-their grandfathers respectable from considerations of gratitude, if from 110 other, because they conceive that they have already rendered them respectable; possession of a grandfather being, to their partial mind, a cognovit of respectability. If their cherished grandfather were a wretched usurer on a small scale, they would he likely to speak of him as a banker of prominence and high repute. If he kept a low groggery, he would be transfigured into a wine merchant and importer. If he drove a cart oi?carried a hod, he would, in all probability, shine in their conversation as a large contractor. As a rule, people who have ancestors they have reason to be proud of, and who themselves possess qualities of a deserving kind, are free from the vanity of dwelling on their lineage. They are content to be what they are and what their progenitors have made them, without reference to the past It is the people who amount to nothing, who must be secretly conscious of their own deficiencies, that are continually playing the part of boastful resurrectionists. Judging by their iterations, they have sensibly deteriorated ; their grandfathers were far in advance of them; they are literally in the direct line of descent. One might think that they would be ashamed to advertise their declension as they do, for they seem to be merely the shade that renders striking the grana-paternal light. But they must vaunt of something. Having a barren subject within, they are obliged to go outside, and they naturally take refuge in a cemetery, causing their acquaintances to believe that all that was good of them has long been buried. Persons rarely brag on their grandfathers, unless they feel that very little can be said in favor of their grandchildren. Learn a Trade.?I never look at my old steel composing rule that I do not bless rayself that while ray strength lasts, I am not at the mercy of the world. If my pen is not wanted, I am going back to my type-case and be sure to find work, for I learned the printer's trade thoroughly?newspaper work, job work, book work and press work. I am glad I have a trade. It is a rock upon which the possessor can stand firmly. There is health and vigor for both mind and body in an honest trade. It is the strongest and surest part of a self-made man. Go from the academy to the printing office, or to the farm?for, to be sure, farming is a trade, and a grand one at that. Lay thus a sure foundation, and after that branch off into whatever profession you please. You have heard, perhaps, of the clerk who had faithfully served Stephen Girard from boyhood to manhood. On the twenty-first anniversary of his birth-day, he went to his master and told him his time was up, and he certainly expected important promotion in the merchant's service. But Stephen Girard said to him: "Very well. Now go and learn a trade." "What trade, sir?" "Good barrels and butts must be in demand while you live. Go and learn the cooper's trade, and when you have made a perfect barrel, bring it to me." The young man went away, and . in time brought Ais old master a splendid barrel of his own. make. "Now, sir, I want you in my counting room, but henceforth you will not be dependent upon the whims of Stephen Girard. Let what will come, you have a good trade always in reserve." The young man saw the wisdom and understood. Years ago, when the middle-aged men of to-day were boys, Horace Greeley wrote: "It is a great source of consolation to us, when the public shall be tired of us as an editor, we can make a satisfactory livelihood at setting type or farming, so that while our strength lasts, 10,000 blockheads, taking offence at some article they do not understand, could not drive us to the poor house." THE TW(M)RPHAIiS. A AiiAti fllowon vno ra nl/1 wllfVOO XI UUJ 1JUI V?OI VIWTVU JVM?H V1M| TfMVWW pinched face betrayed hunger, and whose clothing could hardly be called by the name, dropped into a carpenter shop on Grand River avenue the other day, and after much hesitation explained to the foreman: ' "We want to get a graveboard for ma. She died last winter,- and the graves are so thick that we can hardly find hers no more. We went up last Sunday and came awful near not finding it. We thought we'd get a graveboard, so we wouldn't lose the grave. When we thought we'd lost it, Jack he cried, and Bud he cried, and my chin trembled so I could hardly talk." ' Where is your father?" asked the carpenter. "Oh, he's home, but he never goes up there with us, and we shan't tell him about the board. I guess he hated ma, for he wasn't home when she died, and he wouldn't buy no coffin nor nothin'. Sometimes when we are sittiif on the doorsteps talking about her, and Jack and Bud are cryin', and I am rememberin' how she kissed us all afore she died, he says we'd better quit that or we'll get what's bad for us. But we sleep up stairs, and we talk and .cry in the dark all we want to. How much will the board be?" The carpenter selected something fit for the purpose and asked: "Who will put it up at the grave?" "We'll take it upon our cart," replied the boy, "and I guess the graveyard man will help us to put it up." "You want the name painted, don't you ?" "Yes, sir; we want the board white, and then we want you to paint on it that she was our ma, and that she was forty-one years old, and that she died on the second of November, and that she's gone to heaven, and that she was one of the best mothers ever was, and that we are going to be good all our lives and go up where she is when we die. U a it? mnnk mill if riAof oiii9" JL1V TT 1UUVII n HI IV W9Vj OU I "How much have you got?". "Well," said the boy, as he brought out a little calico bag, and emptied its contents on the bench, "Bud drawed the baby for the Woman next door and earned twenty cents; Jack he weeded in the garden and earned forty cents, and he found five more in the road ; I run on errands and make kites and fixed a boy's cart and helped carry some apples into a store, and I earned sixty-five cents. All that makes a hundred and thirty cents, sir, and pa don't know we've got it, 'cause we kept it hid in the ground under a stone." The carpenter meant to be liberal, but he said? "A graveboard will cost at least three dollars." The lad looked up from his little store of metals to the carpenter apd back, realized how many weary weeks had passed since the first penny was earned and saved, and suddenly wailed out? "Then we can't never, never buy one, and mother's grave will get lost." But he left the shop with tears of gladness in his eyes, and when he returned tke next day, little Bud and Jack were with him, and they had a cart There was not only a headboard, but one for the foot of the grave as well; and the carpenter and painter had done their work with full hearts, and done it well. "Ain't it awful nice ??nicer than . rich folks have," whispered the children, as the boards were being placed on the cart; won't the grave look nice, though, and won't ma be awful .glad?" Ere this the mother's grave, has bean mark ed, and when night comes, the three motherless ones will cuddle close together and whisper their gratitude that cannot be lost to them even in the storms and drifts of winter.?De< troit Free Preet. THE BBYCE MURDER IN OCONEE. The following is the testimony of Jesse F. Cox, given before the coroner's jury in Oconee county, which was impannelea to ascertain the facts in connection with the murder of Alexander Bryce, jr., in Oconee county, on the night of the 25th of August, last. Cox was in the company of Bryce at the time of the killing: "That on last night (the 25th of August, 1879,) deceased was at my house. I live about 6fty yards from deceased. About one hour in the night he started back home. I came to the door with him, when I saw some person in the road out toward the creek. Could not tell whether there was one or two or more. I called his attention to it. He said we would step down that way and see who it was. As we started he said he thought that it was his mule that had gotten loose. We then started together in that direction to see if it was the mule. The object passed out of our sight behind the hill toward the creek. I got ahead of him about fiftsen or ^twenty steps. Deceased was still coming on. As I advanced nearer the creek, I saw two men standing in the cotton. I went toward them to see who it was. Deceased was still coming on behind me. I advanced to within ten steps of them and asked who they were. They made no reply at that time; they both presented their guns. I asked them what tbey meant. Asked them the second time. They asked me who I was. I told them who I was. The larger one of the two wanted to know who that other man was, and pointed in the direction of the deceased. Told him it was Alexander Bryce. He then stepped to the other one and handed him a pistol. Seemed to be a navy size; then returned to his former position. I then asked them what was the matter that they would not talk. Just as 1 asked them that, Alexander Bryce started toward the house in a run, when the taller one fired his gun at the deceased, as I took it. The other one then says I will speak and speak now, at the same time he fired on deceased and started in pursuit of him. He had to make a circle to get round me and ran up near to deceased, I think, within six or seven steps, and fired a second time. Think he was using a double-barrel shot gun. When he had fired the last time, deceased called to me and says, "Come here, Jesse!" At that time he fell on his face and died right away. Both of the men then turned and ran off out of sight. I saw no more of them. I don't know that I know who they were. They were dressed in dark clothing, with their coats buttoned. up to the chin. Had on*dark hats. They had on, as I think, frock coats, and one of them was a rather tall man. The" other was a low, heavy set man. Saw their tracks. Measured the tracks. Think I would know the same tracks again if I.were to see them. The tracks came from the direction of Messiah Cobb's, and went back the same way. Deceased never spoke to either of the parties." " THE SPEED OF A LOCOMQTIYE. "How fast do you think we are traveling ?" Charley Fraser, one of the oldest engineers of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railway, asked a Sun reporter as they were standing together on the foot-board of locomotive No. 309, rushing over the meadows toward Rutherford Park. "I should think we were going nearly a mile$p minute. "A mile a minute!" said Frazer. "I doubt if you ever rode a mile a minute. Few locomotives have driving wheels over five feet, and I have my doubts if a five-foot wheeler can be pushed a mile a minute. People nave a very erroneous* idea of the speed of railroad trains. We are not going more than thirtyfive miles an hour, and this is very fast Few trains make this speed. The passengers in the cars would thinx we were going a mile a minute sure, if I was to pull out the throttle so as to send her forty miles an hoar. The express trains make no such time as the local trains. Where we lose is with so many stops. No man could stand on a platform car and face the wind going a mile a minute and live. The breath would actually be blown out of his body. You couldn't count the telegraph poles going a mile a minute. Talk to an old engineer of that rate being made by a passenger train, and he would laugh. I made a mile a minute once, however. It was when I was but 18 years of age. I was an engineer then, in charge of a fine six-foot wheel locomotive. There were a lot of railroad moguls on board, and the object was to make the best time we could. They were to ring the gong when the speed was a mile a minute. I thought we were making it for some time before the bell rang. At length, on a down grade, with a full head' of steam, when we were spinning along as if we were all going to destruction, and the motion of the piston going over the centre could no longer be distinguished, the bell rang. We had reached the rate of a mile a minute. It was the fastest I ever rode before or since. I tried hard to make a mile a minute on subsequent miles, but lacked it three or four seconds every time. I couldn't squeeze another mile inside of the sixty seconds. When you hear a man telling about riding in a passenger train that ran a mile a minute, don't say anything, but mentally scratch off a good allowance.?New York Sun. Causes op Sudden Death.?Very few of the sudden deaths which are said to arise from diseases of the heart, really arise from that cause. To ascertain the real origin of the sudden deaths, an experiment was tried and reported to a scientific congress at Strausburg. Sixty cases of sodden death were made the subject of a thorough post-mortem examination ; in these cases only two were found who died from disease of the heart Nine out 01 sixty-six bad died from apoplexy, while there were forty-six cases of congestion of the lungs; that is, the lungs were so full of blood that they could not work,, not being room enough for a sufficient amount of air to sup port life. The causes that produce conges* tion of the lungs are: Cold feet, tight clothing, costive bowels, sitting still until chilled after being warmed with labor or a rapid walk, going too suddenly from a closed room into the air, especially after speaking; too hasty walking or running to catch a train, etc. These causes of sudden death being known, an avoidance of them may serve to lengthen many valuable lives which would otherwise be lost under the verdict of the heart complaint. That disease is supposed to be inevitable and incurable; hence many may not take the pains they would to avoid sudden death, if they know it lay in their power. Turkish Trade in Circassian Girls.? A Constantinople letter in the Paris Tempt gives some interesting details of the slave trade in Turkey. The hundreds of girls who form part of the harem, are, he avers, mostly Circassian slaves. The household of every Turk who is at all well off, be he a pasha, a bey or a plain effendi, is stocked with a certain number of these slaves. They are generally supplied by Circassian families settled in the Empire. The parents, when they have daugbt ers at all well favored, bring them up carefully with a view to their being sold. Touts go about the provinces every year, iust as horse-dealers travel in the horse-breeaing regions of England, France and Hungary, and uy the girls from their parents. They are hrnuffht to ConstantinoDle. and there quarter ed until finally disppsed of in houses which are well known to all old residents ill the Turkish capital. Some of these houses are in Tophaneh, on the Bosphorus, and in the quarters of tlie Sultan Mehemet and the Avret bazaar. Though they are not sold quite publicly, there is no concealment about the transaction. The terms of the sale are set down in a contract registered by the chief courts, which contract provides for the rights of- the buyer in the event of bis purchase not being equal to the warranty, or of the slave making her escape. The contract authorizes the purchaser, when tired of his bargain, to sell both the mother and her chUd, ana it appears that this occurs daily. A Stable op Costly Horses.?Rarus, , the fastest trotter which Bonner has lately added to his stables at a cost of over $36,000, has a record of 2.13}. He has trotted also in 2.13}, and his record is the best in the world, excepting that of Edwin Forrest, who is also owned by Bonner, and who has a record of 2.11}. Barus made the fast quarter of the fastest mile at the rate 01 'Z.LLt, ana it is believed that he will yet b^at Forrest's time. There is only one horse in Mr. Bonner's stud that cost him more than Barns, and that is Pocahontas, which 8immons sold to Mr. Bonner for $45,000, eight-tenths of which was in actual money, and the remainder in trade. Startle cost him $20,000, Dexter $38,000 and Grafton $15,000. Goldsmith Maid and Jay Gould represented $35,000 each, Lady Thorn $30,000, Socrates $26,000, Lucy $25,000, Tattler $17,000, Rosalind $13,000, and General Knox $10,000. A Curious Habit.?It is a curious habit of human nature to look at a man through the transparent medium of a dollar bill. If a rich man is rude, it is regarded as a quaint and laughable eccentricity; but if a poor man does or says the same thing, he is poor, and we are disgusted beyond measure. We are ready to find any excuse for an act that has money behind it, and equally ready to find fault with any act that is backed by poverty. This gold-colored pigment which envious eyes secrete, is not the peculiarity of a class, but the characteristics of all. From the sexton who shoves a bundle of human rags into a back pew, and shows silk and velvet. tn the hpflt neat, to the clersvman who smooths the rough edges of life for wealth, all men doff their hats to a pocket-book. This is a pleasant reflection for the few, but to the rest it comes a little hard. The Next Census.?Census day will be June 1st, 1880. On that date about twenty thousand enumerators will commence their . labors?those in the cities being required to complete their work in two weeks, while the others will be allowed the whole month of June. Persons alive on the lst.day of June, but dying before the enumerator reaches them, will be counted in the census; births subse- . quent to the first of June will not be counted. Special agents will be employed to collect statistics relating to education, tnining, manufacturing, agriculture, and various other departments of trade and industry.