Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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lewis m. grist, proprietor. J Jjitbtpcnkni ^amilg ffttospptr: Jor % Iromofion of fjjt $oItfitaI, Social, Igricolfnral suit Commercial Interests of i'jit ?>ont|. |terM8--$2.50 A year, IN advance. "VOL. 26. YORKVILLE, S. C? THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 188Q. NO. 47. ihe ^toru idler. ? t THE QUILTING PARTY? ? > ? A Down East Story of Seventy Years Ago. ^ I A few days after grandmother told me the story of the junket at Squire Doolittle's I said to her, coaxingly, "Please tell me about an old fashioned quilting. I have looked at this quilt so much siuce I have been sick tfcat I have become very much interested in its welfare, past, present, and to come, as they say. "Did you have it before you were married, grandma ?" "Yes, dear, it was a part of my 'setting out,' and for that reason and because at that very quilting?but no matter! When I get thrnnah mv stnrv vou will see why I have ' J J J always kept that quilt on the 'spare bed,' to save it. Girls used to have stacks of quilts and blankets, with live geese feather beds instead of mattresses. My father was 'wellto-do,' and I had a good setting out as any girl need to have." "But the quilting. I am anxious to know why you have kept this quilt so nicely." "Yes, child. Let me see. That was quilted about three weeks before Thanksgiving, seventy years ago. I remember it well, because that very Thanksgiving following, I was married; though, at that time, I had no more idea of it than you have of marrying that young man who comes to see you so often from Portland. What's his name ?" said she, teazingly. "I declare, grandma, how you do ramble. It takes you as long to get at your subject as it does a popular lecturer." She finished binding off the heel to her stocking, then got up and put it away, and seating herself, collected her thoughts, smoothing the folds of her black silk apron, and adjusting her cap and spectacles, meanwhile. I ( watched her and woudered to myself that any one could say that old age was not beautiful. To me there is something sweetly, solemnly , sacred about it. It has seen so many changes, , lived through so many years and is so soon to solve the Great Mystery. To me grandmother was lovely ; her hair was so silvery white, j her face was so sweetly placid, that her smile | was like a benediction, while the bright yet peaceful glance of her eye seemed to warm you with its loving radiauce. I Unconsciously, while telliug her old time stories, she sometimes discarded her usual cor ( 1 L 4- *"' ? nnaint ntlPDCOQ finfl rect speecu, iu uatve up mo p??iv. I words of the time of which she was speaking. She began at last, looking straight before her j as if the port lay within her range of vision, j "It was three weeks before Thanksgiving, ( as I told you before, and the first cold snap we } had had. In the morning when father came e in from milking, I heard him tell Abel that ( after this the cows must be tied up in the sta bleof nights, it was getting too cold to leave them in the yard. He was just asking where 'Rastus was, wheu he came down stairs a ( grumbling and went and stood with his back to the fire place, where there was a rousing fire. On the crane hung the potato kettle, , and before the blaze the biscuit were baking | in the tin baker. " 'What's the matter, sonny ?" said mother, j as she bustled about. { " 'Matter enough ! said 'Rastus, iu a fault- | finding tone. 'I'm a'most froze?it's colder'n { . a barn up in the Loug Chamber, and there ain't half clothes enough on the bed.' " 'I was warm enough,' said Abel. I "'Yes,' snapped 'Rastus, 'you just wrapped the quilts around you and kept turning 'em i right oflf'n me. I got up and put father's old overcoat over me, but it slid onto the floor,' and 'Rastus looked discontentedly at the cat that rubbed against his leg, coaxing to be taken up. "'Rastus was the youngest, and mother's i baby, she called him, and we thought she : petted him too much now, he was so old; he must have been fourteen then, for he was three years younger than 1. He was full of fun, generally, and a good boy, but he had a vein of faultfinding in his disposition that gave him the airs of a martyr, sometimes." "Why, you don't think, do you ?" said I innocently, "that martyrs ever put on airs. I always thought, though, they must have been uncomfortable people to live with." She shook her head reprovingly. "'Kastus kept up his grumbling till mother said? "I'll see that you don't sleep cold to night. Thankful and Keturah's getting married has made me short out for bedding, and Jerusha and I have to work so hard now they 1 are gone, we don't have no time for quilting ourselves. I don't see any other way but we shall have to have a quilting. I don't know as we can get ready, though. I wish I'd a thought of it yesterday, it needs such a deal of getting ready." "How my heart beat at that! I was ouly seventeen and didn't mind work if I could I ouly have a good time, and quiltings were j considered the very best of good times. But i I didn't dare to seem eager, for fear mother i wouldn't decide to have it; it took opposition for that. She wasn't obstinate, only she al- j ways saw more clearly the arguments on the I opposite side. I have often thought that j reformers have the same characteristics, j Mother was a whig and a strong one ; she nev- ! er believed in Might being Right; and any ! poor outcast was sure of an advocate in moth-1 er. Reraeuibeing this I said : " 'But, mother, how can we? There's that i yarn to double and twist.' " 'A day or two won't make no great dif-; ference about that,' said she. ! " 'But it is so cold, and the men folks need their double mittens, now,' said I?'and j Thanksgiving is coming right on.' " I don't see what Thanksgiving has got to do with it,' said she, sharply ; but she looked ! kind a minute after as she said, 'I know, Jerusha, it is hard for you siuca your sisters got married. I've thought of hiring Betty Stone to help through the Winter.' " 'It's no harder for me than you, mother,' | I said. My heart misgave me, you see, for my deceit. 'I guess we can get along with the quilting well enough.' ~ "So then we talked it over who to invite. Mother thought it best to begin at Captain Wilson's and ask as far as Squire Doolit tie's?Abel was paying attention to the Squire's niece, and it would include Thankful. Keturah lived in Jefferson. But I said to mother: "'You spo'ke of quilting it herringbone, and if you do, we shall need Almira Bean to do the left-handed work.' "Sure enough," says mother, I am glad you spoke of it, Jerusha; but if we do, there's the schoolmaster boarding at their house; we shall have to ask him to come in the evening with the rest. It won't do to slight him, though I didn't calculate on inviting him, j he's so spriggish.' " 'Rastus was bothering the cat, but he looked up dreadful sharp, *0 ho!' says he, 'Jerusha's a master hand to plan, mother; she'll look out for the schoolmaster, Jerusha will.' "'You look out for the pumpkin, 'Rastus,' says I; 'it's high time it was ou to stew.' "'Yes, sonuy,' 3aid mother, 'fetch one right in, the'e's a good boy, and mind you pick out a good one, sound and ripe.' "She never said a word about 'Rastus' nonsense; I was afraid she would, she looked at me so sharp. We bustled around, cooking, boiling, and stewing; and everything come out 'done to a turn,' though mother said it was a wonder with so many 'irons in the fire.' "We baked .0 the brick oven and filled it full. First we put in a chicken pie and the brown bread, because it took them longer to bake. We had riz bread on hand. Mother calculated there was enough without baking auy more, so we put in the pies, apple, mince and pumpkin, (though come to think, we couldn't have got the pumpkin stewed in time to bake ;hem with the rest.) But we baked gingerbread, sweet cake, and pudding. I fried the doughnuts in the lard kettle, hung ou the crane. Of course we calculated on having cheese and pickles and apple sauce and pumpkin sauce. Dried beef and cold sliced meat anc! tongue we always kept in the house, but we baked beans for the Squire, and had pickled tripe and onions for Becky Snow, the seamstress. In the evening for a treat, we had apples, cider, nuts, and popped corn. Laugh, if you want to, dear, but evsrybody had just so much, and of course we had to foller the fashion. Mother wouldn't be behind when father was such a good provider. "We made up a fire in the keeping room, but laid the quilt in the long kitchen. Ellen Doolittle came just in time to help get it ) . She come with Abel, who had been off x> invite the folks. She was a nice, pious ;irl, aud we were glad to have Abel wait on ler for he was a little wild, and we thought ler influence would be good. You ought .0 have heard her exhort in meeting! She was a bashful, quiet girl, but at those times she seemed to forget all about herself, her ;yes would grow 'misty, her voice would iound so solemn and impressive, it would ifl'ct me almost to tears, which was a good leal, for I was a wild, harum scaruiu girl in those days ; not that I wasn't womanly, I lon't mean. "After we got the quilt on, I slipped up stairs to change my dress and put on a ribbon. 0, me ! how many years ago it is, and yet how short a time it seems since I saw that young face in the glass. I wasn't anything like so handsome us Keturah, nor so beautiful as Thankful, but for all that it was a pretty face, rather. You see, dear, it is so many years ago, I can speak of it as I would any other. I had*a smooth, oval face, with black eyes, which every one said was strange, for my compl^ion was so very white. My hair was a light brown, and curly, and my form was small and slender. I didn't look so healthy aud tough as most of the girls, but I was. I was hardly ever sick ; perhaps that accounted for cay wild spirits. As I tied back ray hair with a blue ribbon, and smoothed my linsey woolsy gown, I wondered if the school-master would come that night, and if he would be as attentive as he was before that hateful time at Kuth Potter's party at A * ' 1 ? TT _ 1 3 _ >j. 1.^ her lather's "tavern stanu. ne nuuu i epwae to rae since. "He was a nephew of old Judge Hewes. The Judge and lather came from Connecticut together when the country was new. Being his nephew, the Judge hired him to teach our school when he ivas committee the winter before. I wasn't too old to go to school then, and I went. I always got my lessous some how, but for all that I was the most troublesome scholar he had. He used to keep me after school to talk with me about it, and once he ferruled me?pretty hard, too. I bore the smart on my hand for a week, but never let any one know it. He found out, though, how he hurt me and felt so budly I believe he kissed me. I know he did. I suppose it sounds silly to you. After that he was gentler and helped me to be good instead of makiug me be good, and he succeeded a good deal better. At. the spelling schools he somehow always gave me the words I could spell, though they wasn't the easiest, and it almost always happened that I spelled, them all down. The school-house wasn't a great ways from our house, and sometimes he went home with rae from singing schools and apple-parinP9. The last time, when school was done 0- , and he was going back to college, (he was a student in Dartmouth), he kissed me and held my hand. The moon shone right out from behind the maple trees and looked so kind with her great, round face, that I didn't feel ashamed much, but I did when mother came to the door and said, " 'Ain't you coming in, Jerusha?' so I said good bye, and went in. No one knew bow badly I felt when he went away, nor how pleased I was when he came back the next winter to teach. I didn't go to school, and so had only seen him at parties and such like, but he didn't seem to have forgotten me at all, but often looked at me the same as when he kissed me goad bye, with the giod-uatured moon a looking on. "Then it must happen that Ruth should, have a party, and it must happen that in try* iug to set other people by the ears, I should get hurt the worst myself. I remember that I looked better that night than usual. I wore my white linen gown, with pretty dimity ruffles in the neck and sleeves, and mother's silver comb in my hair, the same that ThankI ful wore at the junket at the Squire's. Alex J whispered to me that my eyes looked like | stars, and I thought it was a real pretty idea. "We danced and played 'plays,' and when : Alex was judged to kiss any of the girls, he j jlist touched them lightly on the cheek, but me he kissed on my lips. I felt as though j something-was going to happeu, when he ask ed me to come back to the keeping-room ! while the rest were eating in the kitchen. It j was just as we were going out. I said to him, I " 'But suppose I want my supper, too.' " 'O, but I mean,' said he, 'after they begin j to name apple seeds, and to bustle about. I will slip into this room, and then you will j come, won't you, Rue? I want to tell you something." "'Rue' sounded so pretty as he spoke it. I said, 'Perhaps I will.' "When I got in where the rest were, all at once I grew bashful. Every one seemed to be lookiug at me, though of course they wasn't. I couldn't go into the keeping-room where Alex went and looked at me to come, not that any one would have noticed anything strange, for they were all laughing at Sara Bowles. Sam had thrown his apple paring over his shoulder, and it made an S on the floor. He was sparking Amandy Smith, aud they told him it stood for Smith, but Maudy giggled and said it ought to have been A if it meant her. "Well, I might have gone, but I was afraid, and then a funny idea came into my head, so I said to Adaliue Smith, she sot by the side of rae and saw Alex when he went out, 'Somebody want's to see somebody. I saw him beckon this way.' "'You don't suppose he wants me?' said she, all in a flutter. " 'Who should he want if not you ?' I said. I knew he had paid her some attention, and she was vain enough to think he liked her. I thought I would pay them both off together. "She got up aud went into the keeping room. I heard something, or pretended I did. What's that?' said I, and we all rushed into the room. "There was no light in the room, but I carried one in. Alex had his arm around her waist. Dear me! how he jumped when he j saw us. I suppose he really thought it was me; we were just of a size. Adaline didn't seem to care. I looked as iunocent as I could, but Alex wa3 mad. His face was so white, and his eyes shone so it almost frightened me and from that time he never spoke to me ; so you can see why I wondered and cared so much about his coming to our quilting. "It has taken me a good while to tell about Alex; longer, a good deal, than it did to make my toilet, as you say now. Just as I was going down, I heard old Mrs. Smith's voice in the yard. I looked out of the window and laughed till I cried, almost, to see them, she and Mandy. They were on horseback, but Maudy got off "first?she rode behind?and then the horse started. They hollered 'Whoa!' and he stopped, but as soon as Mrs. Smith tried to get off he started again. 'Whoa!' said Mandy, 'Whoa!' said Mrs. Smith. He stopped and started again, almost throwing Mrs. Smith down. "Just then I saw 'Rastus round the corner of the shed, with some, oats in a box that he kept shaking to the old horse. I went down stairs, but 'Kastus was out of the way before I got there, and Mandy and Mrs. Smith came in telling how skittish their horse was getting. Yes, my dear, every one rode on horseback then. I've heard mother say the first time she went to Connecticut, she and father, after they were married, they went on horseback, and rode^eventy-five miles a day. The next time she carried three children, and rode in a sort of wagon, without any springs. That was hard, she said. We hardly ever saw a wagon in those days. A top buggy, like that you ride out in with that young man from Portland, would havo made as much sport then, as a young man with his girl mounted up behind him would now. "It was barely one o'clock when we got to quilting. There was sixteen quilters, four to a side, and mother and the Squire's wife to do the marking. Mother took a string and a piece of chalk, and rubbed the string across it, she laid it caite corner with the square, and Mrs. Doolittle took hold of it with her thumb and finger and snapped it. That made a straight mark to go by. "After we begun to roll the sides, we took turns a quilting, and at five o'clock exactly the quilt was done. "Did tee talk about our neighbors t Of course we did. Human nature was the same then at a quilting that it is at a sewing circle now. I have always noticed that a woman with a needle in her hand is sharper and more apt to point out her neighbors' failings than at any other time. I am sure I don't know why. Silas Dean's wife, she that was Sally Wilkins, told all about her husband's uncle's haunted house, how the doors wouldn't stay shut, but flew open right in the dead of night, and how it was said it was his first wife's ghost, for she had been heard to say, many a time, that ifEph married again she'd haunt him. Sally said she was an awful scold when she was alive. Then Alrairy Bean said that Miss Peabody had got a new silk gown, that would fairly stand alone it was so rich, and Mandy Smith said it would take mor'n one silk gown to make a beauty of her, with her turned up nose and red hair. Then the girls joked each other about their sparks, and some one asked where Adaline was. Mandy looked at her mother, and I thought by what was said, she was coming in the evening with the school master. "Well, the quilt was just out of the frames when the men came. There were only a few old men besides the Squire, most of them were young. Adaline came.with Sam Bowles, Mandy's beau, and Alex rode the judge's horse and came alone. I curtseyed when he came in, as I did to the others, but didn!t dare to look at him. "They shook the quilt, that very same quilt that's over you now, and it's seventy years ago since then. Alex had hold of one corner, and he said it was real pretty. He was always polite ; being so well educated he appeared better, of course, than the other young men." "How did they use to dress ?" I asked. "They didn't all dress alike, no raore'n they do now, though people seem to think so. I There was some fashions that went the rounds ; one was to carry a silk handkerchief in the i tail pocket, and let it hang out a quarter of a yard. Alex carried a white one, but most of them were red or yellow. They wore homespun, mostly. Perhaps I had better tell you how Sam Bowles was dressed, for he had on a bran new suit that night. His coat was of blue homespun, fulled and dressed, made with a large collar that Hood high in the neck, and small sleeves that pinched at the elbows; a yellow waistcoat, rather long you would think it now, and well open at the breast, to show his ruffled shirt, of home-made Jinen. The pnllnr to it. was so vefv stiff and fashionable that it reached to his ears, and made it difficult to turn his head without drawing it down a little. Tied around it, with long ends, was a red silk handkerchief, and another one hung from the pocket of his swallow-tailed coat. We all thought he looked nice, and Mandy Smith was real proud of him. But some way, Alex- better, though his clothes were not new; but they had a different set and he looked easier in them, and they were of finer make and material, while his ruffles were edged with real thread lace. "The table was laid in the long kitcheu, and they all sat down but Ellen Doolittleand me, and wc waited on the table. When I passed the tea to AJex and asked him if he took cream and sugar,, he said gently, 'Yes, Rue,' and I felt happier than I had for a long time. "Mother made lots of excuses, and they all told how good everything tasted, but then, says they, 'Miss Amey always does beat anything in cookin'/ and mother said she was always a poor cook and grew poorer instead of better. She didn't mean to tell a falsehood; she only wanted to be polite, and that was the way then. Father told his bear story, and the Judge his wild-cat story, and the Squire about his courtship. His wife, I remember, kept saying, 'There, there, Father, that will do.' She was a nice old lady, but I always liked the Squire best. "After supper the old folks went into the keeping room and we girls cleared away and washed the dishes, and then we played games in the kitchen. 'Blind man's Buff,' 'Hunt the Slipper,' and, by and by, 'Button.' "Alex went around with it and when he came to me and said, 'Hold fast all I give you,' he slipped a little note into my hand. I held it fast you may be sure. Adaline Smith got the button; that was considered a compliment and she was real pleased, but I didn't care. My letter was worth more than a button. "I slipped away, after a while, into mother's bed-room to read it. Dear me, my child, I can't think of it now, after all these years, without that glow at my heart. It was manly and tender and loving, and it was my first love letter. He asked- me to marry him at Thanksgiving time, foj then he was going home and he wanted to show his wife to his father and mother. His wife! how sweet that sounded ! It was real love, Alex and I had for each other. "I cried softly to myself, when I read it, for joy and wonder, and I thought to myself I would never grieve or fret him again. Just then Thankful came in to lay down her baby, and when she saw that I had been cryiog,she came and put her arm around me and said, 'What is it ? Tell Thankful.' So I told her, and she seemed pleased. I knew if Thankful was pleased then Alex was worthy. "She talked to me and said I must be womanly and leave off my childish freaks; and then when Alex met us at the door she put my hand in his. She didn't dare to trust me, and perhaps it is well she didn't. " 'Is it mine ?" he asked. "'Ask Jerusha,' said she, and then went out and shut .the door, leaving Alex and me in the little entry. He held my hand and somehow I wasn't afraid when he told me how well he loved me, and wanted me to be his wife. No matter about the rest. I can't seem to remember. I was too happy. But I know I promised to marry him Thanksgiving day, just seventy years ago."?Portland Transcript. ??im Garments of Glass.?When Sarah Bernhardt made up her mind to visit this country, she determined to wear on the stage some novelty that no other woman had ever worn. The genius of Worth was unequal to the demands of the artiste, and she was about to give the idea up in despair. At last one of her friends suggested a raiment that was novel, beautiful, original and practically possible. His idea was to array the divine Sarah in garments of spun glass, -glorious in all the colors of the rainbow, not transparent, but as flexible as the softest silk. The world laughed, and looked upon his idea as an avertising scheme. But Sarah encouraged him, and at last it was announced that he had accomplished what the world deemed impossible. Messrs. Atterburry & Co., of this city, says the Pittsburg Telegraph, one of our prominent glass-firms, are actually engaged in the manufacture of articles of dress from a material that is composed of a combination of glass and silk. Experiments have been carrid on for the past few months in a secret manner, and the firm has given the impression that they ar$ now engaged in making some part of Bernhardt's wardrobe. The firm obtained the secret of the process of manufacture from the original discoverer of the great secret. The articles are as flexible as cotton or silk, and can be washed and tied in knots. The material is not fragile and is inflammable. The exact mode of manufacture will be kept a secret for some time yet. Good Advice.?It is geuerally thought that there is nothing easier than to give good advice. It is so abundant and so cheap, it is said, because it costs nothing. Now this may be applicable to much of the trite counsel and most of the well worn maxims that live upon the lips, but do not come from the heart; it may be true concerning such exhortations as we huve been in the habit of hearing from one generation and passiug on to the next, without much reference to their applicability ; but it is not true of anything which honestly bears the name of good advice. That is not plentiful or easy to give. UtisccUrtiieflUS fUading. "A SAMPLE SOUTHERN STATE." THE MORAL OF THE FIGURES OF THE CENSUS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. "Census Bulletin," No. 8, gives complete returns of population for the State of South Carolina, the first Southern State from which , we have had any figures indicative of the j course, of population in that section. The i following figures show the population, white, colored and total, in that State in 1880, to j which we have added the corresponding data for 1870, 1860 and 1850: Total 1880. 1870. 1800. 1850. Population,...095,300 705,000 703,708 008,507 i White, 391,071 289,007 291,300 274,503 Colored, 004,235 415,814 412,320 393,944 This comparison reveals some very striking facts, which will be best illustrated by the following per centagcs, showing the ratio of increase in each class of population, and in the total population in 1880, 1870 and 1860, as compared with the respective previous censuses : 1880. 1870. 1800. Inc. over Inc. over Inc. over 1870. 1800. 1850. Total pop, .41.05 per ct. 27 per ct. 5.25 per ct. White pop.55.00 per ct. j 0.0*5 per ct. Col'd pop. .45.31 per ct. .85 per ct. 4.00 per ct. South Carolina ha9 long been a relatively decadent State. During the ten years ending with 1860, the increase in its population was only 5.25 per cent., while the gain for the whole United States was 351 per cent. During the decade endiug with 1870, the increase was strictly nominal, being only about 1 of 1 per cent., while the increase for the Union was 22.63 per cent.; the rate of progress having been seriously interfered with by the war. Within the last ten years, however, population within this State has taken a bound that will generally be regarded as surprising. From a total of 705,606 in 1870, the number has risen to 995,306 in 1880?an increase at the rate of 41.05 per cent, or considerably larger than the average rate for the whole country is likely to prove. Of this increase, 101,404 has arisen in the white population, and 187,421 in the colored; or, to state facts in per ventages, the increase in the white has been 35 per cent, and in the colored 45.31 per cent. These figures are the more remarkable because South Carolina, during much the better half of the last decade, has been represented as in an intensely suffering condition, its land and property owners half bankrupted by excessive taxation, and its colored population driven to other States to save themselves from starvation. # It has also been freely represented that the negroes were subject to a political oppression which had driven large numbers to seek refuge outside the borders of the State. The fact, however, appears to be that, during this period, the class that might be expected to suffer most severely from these influences, has increased its numbers by nearly one half. During the decade ending with 1860, the white race in that State was increasing more rapidly than the colored, the gain in the former being 6.06 per cent, and in the latter 4.66 per cent.; whereas, during the last ten years the comparison is reversed, the colored having gained very considerably upon the white. "It is impossible to evade the conclusion to be drawn from these facts as to the effects of the abrogation of slavery. Instead of the colored race proving to be unable to take care of themselves and decaying in the absence of the supervision of white ownership, their emancipatian has been followed by an amazing development of fecundity and growth, suggestive of new reflections as to the possible destiny and importance of the negro race ou this continent. This, at least, is the moral of the figures for this one State; and we know of no special reason for reerardiner South Carolina as ex a a ceptional to the States at large ; on the contrary, complaints of the sufferings of the negro ha$e been more general from this State than any other. There is no possibility of accounting for this progress from any local causes, such as a development of trade at the commercial cities, for the following comparison of population at the cities in 1880 and 1870, will show that the progress in those localities has not equalled the ratio for the State at large: 1880. 1870. Beaufort, 7,505 7, '250 Charleston City, 49,099 48,950 Charleston County, 102,805 88,803 Georgetown, 0,800 5,000 Columbia City, 10,040 9,298 The gain has occurred, for the main part, in the agriculture of the State, which is almost entirely dependent on the colored population ; and this fact shows how little faith is to be put in the stories of white repression in South Ofcrolina, how well able the negro is to hold his own against white competition, and how little he needs the solicitude that is laviqj^ed upon him in other sections. The suggestive figures above given afford reason enough why the like statistics for other States should be looked for with great interest; for if South Carolina proves to fairly represent the South at large, that section is by no means suffering the relative decadence that public opinion has imputed to it, and the negro is bound to become a more important factor in our civilization at large, and in that of the South especially, than has generally been anticipated.?N. Y. Bulletin. A Horrifying Situation.?A German butcher named Hans Wigner, becoming fa cot dnmn liv tVio rnarlairlo near ITarri son, Ark., and fell asleep. He was suddenly aroused by a clutching of his legs. Looking down, such a sight met his eyes as would have made his' heart bound with agitation. Clasping both legs were two rattlesnakes of the diamond species, coiled and looking him greedily in the face from both sides. It was a moment to try the nerves of the bravest hero known to history, and Mr. Wigner trembled from head to foot, but knowing that his salvation was inaction rather than action, he dropped back and lay as one dead. How long he remained in this predicament is hard to tell, but some time after dark both snakes slowly uncoiled themselves, and after crawling under his neck and round his head several times, moved quietly away. Wig ner made tracks for the oeareet house and fell fainting. After some little trouble lie was revived, but it was found that durin'g his lying still blood had oozed from his eyes and month, and his hair, which he said before, was raven black, had almost an iron gray cast. GARFIELD AND THE SOUTH. A Washington correspondent of the New York Herald, said to be well informed, writes about a question that is agitating many minds at present. He says: The possible relations of the South to the new administration are discussed with great interest. Southern men of great prominence who came here during the canvass, did not hesitate to declare that if the Democrats were beaten this time "the South" would no longer remain Democratic. General Garfield's personal relations with many iiiflnpnt.ifll Southern men have lone been the most friendly and intimate ; and it is thought that while he may not choose to call into his cabinet any man from a section of the country which did not give an electoral vote to the party, he may, with the advice of Mr. Conkling and other leading supporters, undertake to put the federal service in the Southern States on an entirely new footing, selecting prominent and influential Southern men for the most important federal offices, with a view to drawing into the Republican ranks such men, on their guarantee that they and their friends will reorganize the party and make it a fair representation of a part of the property aud intelligence of their States. This plan is thought by General Garfield's friends to be very near his heart, belief being, they say, that, while the country desires for the present no important changes in.general legislation, he can make his administration useful to the country and famous in history, by doing what Mr. Hayes so completely fail- ( ed to do?bringing about a natural condition of politics in the South. "Garfield will feel that he is elected," they say; "Hayes was the constant prey of terrors about the security of his seat. He became from the first, for this reason, the creature of the vile men in Louisiana, and other Southern States, to whose frauds he owed his place. When they threatened ugly revelations, Hayes and Evarts always succumbed, and other members of the administration chose to make no resistance. Hayes, therefore, kept in the most important Southern offices men hated and despised everywhere ; and thus, by reason of his fears for himself, repelled a)l honorable Southern alliances. Garfield will have the courage which comes from knowing that he is fairly elected, and he will go into the White House knowing that the sensible men of the South are heartily disgusted with the Democratic party. Moreover, Garfield has been long here in public life and knows the Southern men, their tempers, influence and antecedents, about all which important details Hayes was ignorant as a child of ten years." Those who thus pretend to foreshadow General Garfield's general policy, go a step further. They say that it is likely to have the support of Senator Conkling and of his wing of the party; that the New York Senator sees that the party can now hope for a proper and large influence in the South, and that he will not hesitate to join Garfield in holding out the olive branch in the most effective way. SOUTHERN QUE8TION PLAYED OUT. There is a growing impression among Republicans who have visited their homes during the canvass, that the Southern question is, as one of them remarked, "played out," and that the party will do wisely to prepare for the next canvass by an effort to divide the South, and get a part of its influential men to head a new Southern Republi can party. The South, they say, is beginning to manufacture, and in many parts of it the people will be strongly protectionist; in other parts they want internal improvements. They will come naturally to the Republican side on these questions if the door is fairly opened for them, and the party will need all the Southern votes it can get by and by. It is thought that General Garfield's frequent liberal utterances on the Southern question and his thorough acquaintance with Southern men, will be a valuable help to a sound reorganization of the party in the Southern States, and that the leaders of the party in the North?those, at least, who will have most influence with him?will support him in this matter. OUR STOCKINGS. Few of the ancients had any clothing for the lower part of the body, and most have had extreme difficulty in sheltering themselves from the severity of the seasons. The northern nations first had a hose or trousers; their stockings were made of pieces of cloth sewed together. We cannot say with certainty in what country the art of knitting originated. France, England, Spain and Scotland respectively claim the useful discovery. Some believe it originated in Scotland in the sixteenth century, because when the French stocking knitters' guild made choice o? a patron saint, they selected St. Fiacre, a native of Scotland. On the other hand, the invention is attributed to a Spaniard, on the strength of Mezerai, who asserts that silk stockings were worn by Henry II. of France at the marriage of his sister in 1559; but before Edward VI. had graciously accepted a pair from the merchant prince, Sir Thomas Gresham, who im ported them from Spain, the land where they were first manufactured. The story goes that a royal grandee, the happy possessor of one of the first pairs made in Spain, thought he could not do better than present the novelties to his queen, and to that end placed them in the hands of the first minister of the crown, greatly to the discomposure of that modest man, who astonished the innocent meaning noble by returning him his stockings, and bidding him remember that "the Queen of Spain had no legs." Queen Elizabeth, of England, not ashamed to own that she had legs, received a similar gift in a very different manner. In the third year of her reign (1561) her silk woman, Miss Montague, tendered her as a New Tear's gift a pair of black silk stookings?the first of the kind made in England. Elizabeth lost no time in putting the gift on her "limbs," and was so pleased with the result that she sent for Miss Montague, and inquired wh^re she procured such comfortable foot-gear, and if she could ! get any more of thera. "I made them very carefully of purpose only for your Majesty," replied the silk woman; "and seeing these please you so well, 1 will presently set more in the hank?' "Do so," said the Queen ; "for, indeed, I like silk stockings so well, because they are pleasant, flue and so delicate, that henceforth I will wear no more cloth stockings." It is not improbable that she displayed her silk-stockinged legs to the best advantage during her flirtations with Sir Walter Raleigh.? Troy Timet. WASHINGTON'S LAST ILLNESS. The following account of General Washington's illness and death, concerning the ttiUt.tli an munti ViOO Koon TflPATlfl V UiaiiliCl Ui UI1IWU gv UiUVU UW WVWU vwv??.j said and written, possesses a peculiar value. It is taken from an old book, "Ewell's Medical Companion," published in 1807, and dedicated by the author,-"James Ewell," to "Mr. Jeiferson On the afternoon of the 13th of December, 1799, he was caught in a driving rain, which, soon turning into a snow-storm, deposited a considerable quantity of snow betwixt his cravat and neck. Long accustomed to brave the inclemencies of the weather, he paid no regard to this circumstance; but having brushed off the snow on his return, he supped and went to bed as usual. Some time before day he was awakened 'with the sore throat and difficult breathing which constitute quinsy. A faithful domestic, who always carried a lancet, was called up, and bled him, but without affording any relief. About daybreak, ray near relative and honored preceptor, Dr. James Craik, of Alexandria, the inseparable friend and physician 6f Washington, was sent for, who reached Mount Vernon about ten o'clock. Alarmed at the General's symptoms, he communicated hia feare to Mrs. Washington, who immediately dispatched servants for Doctors Dick and Brown. Nothing was omitted that human ingenuity and ski'l could do for a life so dear, but all in vain. It appeared in the result, as the illuMrious sufferer previously declared, that his hour had corn s. To oblige Mrs. Washington, he continued to take medicines offered him, till inflammation and swelling obstructed the power of swallowing ; when he undressed himself and went to bed, as he said, "to die." About half an hour before he died, he desired his friends to leave him that he might spend bis last moments with Qod. Thus, after filling up life with glorious toils, he went to rest, "in a good old age, laden zd with riches and honor." What He Has Noticed.?Mr Factandfanoy has noticed?That the boy who is the most afraid of the girls is the first to be coralled into matrimony. That the little boys prefer boys to girls. That they soon change, never to go back to their early love. That the little girls love the girls best. That they don't get over the preference so soon as the boys do ; some of them never. That women love the men because they love everything they have to take care of. That men love women because they can't help it. That the wife loves her husband so well that she has no thoughts for other men. That the husband so loves his wife that he loves all women for her sake. That girls who have given over all hopes of matrimony, or who never had any, love to flirt with married men. That the married man i i apt to think himself all- . killing among the fair sex, simply because he has found one woman fool enough to marry him. That homely husbands are the best; they never forget the compliment paid them their wives in accepting them. That homely wives are the truest; they know how to make the most of what they have. Lightning seldom strikes in the same place, and a homely woman feels that a similar law governs question popping. That the woman who marries does well. That the woman who dees not marry does better nine times out of ten. That the fellow who makes the most conquests has the least time to brag. That the man who thinks the girls are all in love with him is happy after his way. That the man who loves all the girls is happy after the true way. That the least he says about his love for other women, the smoother will be his matrimonial career. That it is time to stop, for fear our readers might become lovesick.?Boston Transcript. ^ The Trundle Bed.?The balmiest sleep we ever experienced was when we were nestled in the old trundle bed, with a curly headed brother just turned out of the parent nest, to make room for a new customer. But trundle bed dreams were soon at an end, for when the next customer came we were crowded out to make room for him, and so they kept alternating for years, until we were turned out into the wide world. Oh! where now are the little heads that we have kissed a thousand times o'er, as they nestled in the old trundle bed ? Some of them have grown old and gray, and others are nestling upon their everlasting pillows in widely separated lands. We are always sad when we think of the old trundle bed. IS?* The Rev. George Newbold ran a bakery while pastor of the Methodist church at Bar tonville, Canada, and further diversified his pursuits by forging checks. While serving a term of imprisonment for his crimes, at Belleville, he made love to the warden's wife, and on his release, eloped with her. On his wedding tour he visited Mansfield, Ohio, and accidentally meeting tho Rev. Mr. Gilroy, who had once denounced bim, gave that gentleman a sound whipping. He is now to be prosecuted for bigamy, because He has three wives. I?" Courtesy is due to others. It is helpful to others. Treat oven a base man with respect, and he will Eiake at least one desperate effort to be respectable. Courtesy is an appeal to the nobler and better nature of others to which that nature responds. It is due to ourselves. It is the crowning grace of culture, the stamp of perfection upon the character, the badge of the perfect gentleman, the fragrance of the flower of womanhood when fall blown. Indolence grows on us with sufferance. It begins by tying us with silken threads, and ends by fettering us with cart ropes.