Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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LEWIS >1. GRIST, Proprietor, j ^lt Jltbcjpkllf Jamil} ftcfoS)!! tjier: Jor % |)roinolicii of % political, Social, ?,gricn!lnral anil Commercial Interests of tlje ^ontjj. ]terms--$2.50 a year, in advance. _VOL. 32. YORKYILLE, S C. THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1886. HO. 2Q. Elected fffltttg. SOMEBODY'S MOTHER. The woman was old, and ragged and gray. And bent with the chill of a winter's day*; The streets were white with a recent snow, And the woman's feet with age were slow. At the crowded crossing she waited long, Jostled aside by the careless throng Of human beings who passed her by, Unheedingthe glance of her anxious eye. Down the street with laughter and shout Glad in the freedom of "school let out," Come happy boys like a flock of sheep, Hailing the snow piled white and deep ; Past the woman so old and gray, Hastened the children on their way. None offered a helping hand to her, So weak and timia, afraid to stir, Lest the carriage wheels or the horse's feet Should trample her down in the slippery street. Atdast came out of the merry troop The gayest boy of all the group ; He paused beside her, and whispered low, "I'll help you across, if you wish to go." Her aged hand on his strong young arm She placed, and so without hurt or harm, He guided the trembling feet along, Proud that his own were young and strong. Then back again to his friends he went, His young heart happy and well content. "She's somebody's mother, boys, you know, For all she's aged, and poor and low ; And some one, some time, may lend a hand To help my mother?you understand ?? If ever she's poor and old and gray, And her own dear boy so far away." "Somebody's mother" bowed low her head, In her home that night, and the prayer she said Was: "God be kind to that noble boy, Who is somebody's son and pride and joy." Faint was the voice, and worn and weak, But Heaven lists when its chosen speak ; Angels caught the faltering word, . And "Somebody's Mother's" prayer was heard. ?Macmillan. Ibc Jdotn Ccllet. BANISHED. More than two thousand miles away to the west, or rather southwest, of San Francisco, almost as far indeed as London is from Boston, lies the strangest, the most perfectly beautiful, yet saddest little kingdom in all the circuit of the earth. Almost in the centre of the boundless Balboa Seas, eight little islands start up suddenly out of the vast world of waters, and reach in sonte cases above the clouds. ' The mountains are covered in everlasting "mu Tho vaIIavs nrf? a naradise of flow ers, of fruits, of beautiful birds, cool, sweet waters, and tall refreshing palms. You can stand in the snow on the summit of Mauna Loa and see the bread-fruit grow far below, yet almost at your feet. As your ship glides over the peaceful waters far away at sea, you can sometimes read by the midnight fire of a great volcano. What a world of waters! How faraway from all trouble and tumult of the busy world lies this little kingdom of less than one hundred thousand souls! It is more than two thousand miles to the nearest neighbor. Yet at one time more than three hundred whalers touched here every year. Mission^ aries came from distant nations, and the islands were populous and full of promise. Now thfc whale-ships come no more. Steamers touch here monthly on their way further around the globe, and the islands have become Christianized and cultivated. These islands, called the Sandwich Isl- J ands, or more properly, the Hawaiian Islands, are to-day in some respects in advance of other civilized countries, and I wish to emphasize the fact. I assert that there is hardly among the natives, a man, woman or child, of sufficient age, in all these islands that cannot read and write, at least in the native tongue. In no other part of this globe can you find a people who are so universally educated. And yet this little kingdom in the sea, with all its beauty, its seeming prosperity, its peace, and the gentleness of its patient people, is slowly, but certainly, passing away. The natives are very cleanly, and not at ? 11 .U/sm aam?,AHA/1 rt noturnc? aF <111 ntUUJUIll W1ICI1 (JUIIIJUllcn iu i < CI 11 r V o \j i their latitude in other lands. They are not a poor people by any means. This little government of less than one hundred thousand people, pays its king almost as much money as we pay our president. Indeed, with the revenues from the royal lands, he ^ receives almost twice as much. And now I come to speak of the awful blight that hovers, shadow-like, over this mildly beautiful little world in the sea. This is the leprosy, or as they call it in their native tongue, MtCi Pake?literally translated?"the Chinese sickness." About the year 18GS leprosy began to be so prevalent that the authorities of Honolulu became alarmed, and steps were taken to prevent, if possible, the spread of the loathsome disease. The west portion of the Island of Molokia was set apart for lepers, and all who had the disease were ordered to surrender themf selves to the authorities, that they might be taken to this district, there to pass-the remainder of their lives. This portion of the island is cut oil' from the other portion by impassable mountains, and as it can only be reached by the sea, it is impossible for any one to ever reach them or escape from them, except by vessel. The government ship touches there three times every week, anti brings rations of beef, etc., for the dwellers there. There are now about two thousand of these hopeless and heart broken people there, wating slow but certain death. Some of them are mere babies taken from their mothers' arms; and some are newly married brides: some are brave and cultivated i! men, only last year full of heart and of hope. The first governor of the leper settlement, Mr. William Ragsdale, was at one time reckoned the most brilliant young man in all these islands. lie was a most accomplished scholar, a good lawyer and an eloquent debater. He stood very near the head of the Government and was universally respected. One day he found a linger had grown numb. Then another linger lost its sense "? of feeling, and the awful truth burst upon him that he was a leper. His lingers began to decay. He wore gloves for a time and tried to conceal the hideous truth. But at last heart-broken and hopeless, he went to the authorities and confessed himself a leper. He was appointed Governor of the unhappy settlement, and sent forever from the scene of his achievements to die. He was of English descent and was loved and looked up to in his melancholy little kingdom of exiles, as much as he was at home. Two more names I will mention before proceeding with my story. The first is that of a Catholic Priest, Father Damiens. This good man seeing there was no priest or spiritual adviser of any kind among the two thousand lepers, voluntarily chose to go there and live and die with the poor, unfortunate outcasts. ' I Pie was in good health cultured and loved by those who knew him. But he saw a duty before hira. He set his face for it, knowing that if his feet once touched this spot, there was no turning back for him any more this side of a leper's grave. Yet he calmly, bravely, went to work. Oh, there are true and good men who can give themi selves for others in this world! The third and last man I shall mention I before going on with my narrative, is Dr. Emerson. Pie is a man of great culture and capacity, and a graduate of one of our first medical institutions. This brave man is giving up his life to an undertaking that seems impossible of achievement. His mighty task is no less than an attempt to entirely cure leprosy. When we consider that leprosy has been considered incurable in all the ages past, we may conceive something of the utterly forlorn hope that must I I'nnrv nAiymonir U'lfh fVllC hraVP ^uuicuuiro I\uu|F wiii|/(inj u ivn vi>?>/ v man. The separation of families here is sometimes heartrending indeed. The islanders are an affectionate people ; and it is more than ordinarily hard for them to give up those they love. Mothers try to conceal their little ones, who are diseased, in their homes, up in the rocks, or out in the cattle fields by the cool running water. But, sooner or later they must give them up and see them sail away forever to the dreaded island. There is no possibility of escaping detection sooner or later. A little way back from the sea above Honolulu, lived two families in one house. They had a little banana plantation not far away, kept some cows and pigs, and were apparently the happiest people in the world. There were six children, four girls and two boys. The two youngest were cousins, though the whole half-do/en were like brothers and sisters. They were fond of dancing and often gave little parties in their little thatched house under the trees, by the dusty roadside. It was at one of these parties that I first came to know the beautiful little girl, the pet of the house. Not knowing how, or rather not caring to learn to dance their monotonous yet graceful evolutions, I sat back against the wall and looked on. By-and-by this girl came with her brother, a few years older than herself, and stood near where I sat looking at the dancers. I soon had them both between my knees. She was quiet and said but little; now and then stealing a glance at me from out her great lustrous eyes. She had one of her hands in a sling, and the boy proceeded to tell me that she had fallen from a horse and broken her wrist. The girl said nothing, but only lifted her sad eyes to mine and smiled and stole away. I asked the brother if he and his sister were fond of horses. He answered that they were very fond of riding, and that they had several ponies, besides two wonderful big black dogs that were very fond of the water. The boy soon disappeared also, and I saw neither of them for some months. They had left the neighborhood ol Honolulu, and were living in seclusion with their father, who seemed to be a man of some means, in a remote part of the island, when I by accident ran across him. He came to our camp where I was stopping with some American friends. But he seemed to have forgotten his former hospitality, and did not invite me to visit him. One day I met my two little friends riding down on the beach in the shadow of a steep mountain. How beautiful the little girl was now! I was certain I had never seen anything so lovely before, and threw out my hands to her with delight. The same sweet, sad smile, the sigh, and the far-away look. She slowly lifted her hand that was half-hidden in the thick mane of the pony, and I saw that it was bandaged; and I knew my little friend was doomed. Her father and brother were hiding away with her here, hoping to keep her a little while yet to themselves, even at the risk of their own lives. It had been whispered at Honolulu that this child was a leper, and the authorities were soon made aware of the fact. A leper connot long remain concealed. The child's banishment was only a question of time, and her heart-broken father comprehended this very well. After a time, some fishermen putting in at this remote part of the island saw the fugitives, and on returning home told where the missing party could be found. It is complimentary to these honest people, and to human nature, too, to chronicle the fact that the health officers merely dropped the father a note, and that he, sadly though promply, obeyed it, as if it had been a summons from the king, and j returned to town with his fated and beautiI ful children. I next saw her at church. The little girl I was pale and thin, but, I think, if possible, | more beautiful than ever. Her father and brother were still with her. They sat close on either side of her. Her hands were in her lap underneath her apron. lam sure the (Jovernment officers seemed loth to take this child. She was so resigned, so pitiful, so strangely beautiful. It was, perhaps, a month after they returned to Honolulu, before they finally came to take her away from all she loved on earth forever. I had come to love her so and pity her so, that I often went up to the house from town to talk with her through the picket fence that ran along the dusty road, under the trees before the door. She had never gone to church after her return but this oncer And now she did not go out of the door-yard. No friends visited the family now. And, in fact, I hardly saw any of the family any more, except the father and brother. They, particularly the brother, were with her all the time. They seemed to take no interest in anything or any oue but her. The father seemed utterly unconscious that he had any other child than this one little girl. She was cheerful enough always when I went up there. But over all hung the dark shadow of something so much more /Iroadfiil than rlpath that lancrna<rp stands appalled in any attempt to picture it. She told me she did not suffer any acute I pain, only numbness and dullness?death j in life. It is something to know that the senses also seem to grow dulled and henumbed as the body becomes more and more diseased. At last the time came for i her to be taken away. Her father and ! heart-broken brother could hold her back I { from that dreadful place no longer. Who would be there to receive her? What ghostly pa-ans would be lifted up as she landed at the dreaded place, to see what new victim had been sent to the shores of the dead from the shores of the living? What would they say to his darling to comfort her? What could they do to console the poor, tendeVly-loved little girl, going out alone to the colony of lepers? 1 The father carried her in his arms on the ship and sat her down in the chair which the little brother carried on his shoulder, as he ran along at her side. The officers gently tried to take her away from him. He would not part with her for one moment till the plank was being drawn up from the shore. She said goodbye mechanically. She seemed not to quite feel or to wholly understand how dreadful it was. She sat gazing out at sea as her father and brother said farewell and tore themselves away. Her eyes were quite dry. Let us hope for her heart's sake that the good God had made it numb and incapable of feeling all that her father and brother A T L a/1 a Ui\ 1 f / ?!nn o cj clin ltJU. miu jci x iiiiu n naii ouoijiv.iuii, ?j o>><^ held her face still and steadily to the sea, that she was only assuming not to feel, in order that they might not suffer so much. The ship turned around as it swung out to sea, and she was hidden from view for a while as she sat in her little chair on deck. Then we saw her once more, and for the last time. Her little muffled hand came up, and she turned her face down and in against the back of the chair, and did not move any more. "Oh, if I could only have buried her in the ground! Oh, if I could only have kept her here till I died! I will not, I cannot stay here, I will go and die with my little girl," murmured the poor man, as he at last left the wharf and wandered on up towards his home. The little brother still clutched his coat and ran alongside of his father sobbing at every step. Soon after this the father, in the hope of finding some relief, took service under the Government, and went off on a mission somewhere, and I saw him no more for years. But in a few days after the ship sailed away for the leper colony, I went up to see the boy. What was my horror to find that he, too, had a hand bandaged ! He seemed disinclined to talk, and I went away, leaving him trying to amuse himself with the two big black dogs in the back-yard by a pond of water. I saw him, I think, only twice after that. The first time very soon, but he seemed to be nursing a grief too great for words, and I did not venture to talk to him about his sister. Jt is said that he reported himself to the Government as a leper, and by some means he was enabled to leave on the same ship on which his sister had gone. You can well imagine the meeting of brother and sister in that strange place. These gentle islanders are great letter-writers, and you may be sure she knew of his coming. I was up at the house the clay before he was to sail for the colony. I had never seen him looking so well. He was in better spirits than he had been since his sister had been taken from him, and for the first time he talked to me freely. He was going to take the two big dogs with him. This he told me with infinite glee, and brought in the dogs from the back yard and showed me how he would couple them together so that they would not leap from theship and swim back to shore. And I admit that I almost cried with delight with him thinking how happy she would be to see the great strong, panting, red-mouthed dogs once more, and ride on their backs with her brother. I did not see him sail away. The departure of his little sister had been quite enough for me. And then I never absolutely loved him as I loved her. After about five years of wandering through the world, I met the father of these children in San Francisco, whither he had now been sent in the service of his (iovernment, and I eagerly asked about his children in the leper colony. "Dead!" I "Yes." "They were drowned. You see he was I all right,?but" "What! He all right? He not a leper?" "No, my friend. Xo more a leper than you or I. I did not know what he was doing, for I wasn't there. But I know now. It is supposed that he was trying to steal his sister away by some floating contrivance he had made, and both were drowned, and their faithful dogs with them. Ah ! but they were good children, and may the ! Lord keep them, where disease can never I onmn u?Jth l-Tini Pnroont* D ???M For Married Women.?Always re-' member that you are married to a man and not a god; be prepared for imperfec1 tions. Once in a while let your husband have | the last word ; it will gratify him and be j ! no particular loss to you. Anticipate the discovery by your hus-! ! band that you are "only a womanif you ! were not he would not care about you. Remember that servants are made of the same materials as you are; a little coarser ! grained, perhaps, but the same in essenj tials. Read something in the papers besides I fashion notes and society columns; have ! some knowledge of what is going on in for! eign countries. Re a companion to your husband if be is | a wise man; and if be is not, try and make him become your companion, liaise his | standard ; do not let him lower yours. Let your husband know more than you do once in a while; it keeps up his selfj respect and you will be none the worse for j admitting that you are not actually infallij ble. Respect your husband's prejudices, reI spect his relations, especially his mother? she is none the less his mother because she i is your mother-in-law ; she loved him before you did. In the Twinkmxi; ok an Eye.?The photograph is now as nearly "instataneous" ! as possible. When everything is ready, ^ "Click!"and the artificial eyelid has opened and shut. What has it seen in that little instant of time? If anything is in motion, it has been perceived in that fragment of a I second as if motionless. Men walking along ! the street are pictured with uplifted feet, i A trotting horse may be caught with all of its four legs in the air, viewed just at the very moment when he was clear of the ground. A man leaping with a high pole may be pictured in mid-air, precisely in the position in which he appears at the highest altitude. Motion seems rest. Rut this is not the most wonderful of its powers. Far beyond the keenness of human vision is its range of sight. If the light is good, this sensitive plate of glass will have re- j corded and discerned a thousand uplifted J faces as perfectly as the human eye perceives the features of a single countenance. Kvery expression of joy of sorrow, every peculiarity of dress or attitude, the leaves of a forest or the grass by the wayside, will have been seen and delineated and retained perfectly in far less than the briefest possible twinkling of a human eye.?Chambers* Journal. jrtliscfUaneous fStcadittij. For the Yorkville Enquirer. PLUGS, OTHERWISE "OLD RIPS." This name as applied in common parlance j throughout this State, and most frequently i heard on county sales-day, has not yet been \ defined by either Worcester or Webster. 1 The species of animal it is intended to des- j ignate is of modern development; but it is i increasing in numbers so rapidly, in this i and other Southern States, that we feel! sure the lexicographers will be forced to i 11 _ ? ^..4. | give me name ;i pmuem men iieAieuniuue. ; The species exists in two divisions or ; families, readily distinguishable from each | other by length of ears, when these appendages have been left unmodified, or by the peculiar shape, carriage and dressing of the ! tail. In the hom- division the tail is al- j most invariably left with all the hairs that, nature can give it; in the mule division, the hairs are removed with scrupulous care to within a half inch of the caudal extremity, where a dozen or so strands are allowed to grow just one inch and a half in length. The horse-plug is a flag-waving animalhe j waves his tail from side to side to show i his feeling in fly-time, and up and down to catch and manage the driving reins. The j mule-plug never raises his tail except when he is engaged in singing. It is said that j in his youthful days he would beat with his | tail a tattoo on his thighs to strengthen his ! resolution for a kick ; but he has out-grown this useless habit?he has learned by long j continued practice to kick without resolve.} Although many new features of form, j habit and moral character have been de- j veloped in him, the hcrse-plug of to-day is | nevertheless a lineal descendant of Maj. Billy Button's celebrated horse "Blossom," ! so spiritedly sketched by Judge Longstreet! in his "Georgia Scenes." The origin of the mule-plug is untraceable,?he transmits | nothing to posterity,?he is individually evolved. Such being the case it is not sur- j prising that he manifests himself in speci-1 mens of infinite variety. We have iri mind j an individual of this class who seems to he 1 in a very advanced stage of development,? j in fact he has almost become a double indi- j vidua!. His hind-parts and fore-parts are evidently governed by independent wills, while the neck and head serve as a kind of arbitrator between them. His mode of pro- ] gression is peculiar. On starting in a given direction, say due north, the hind legs J promptly start off toward the nnrtn-west, j while the fore legs more leisurely set out | towards the north-east. In consequence of this lack of coordination a half dozen steps ! usually bring the body due east and west, j The head then calls a halt, calmly surveys ] the situation, rectifies the allignment and i orders a new start. This process repeats j itself with the regularity of a pendulum, and doubtless, has many valuable adapta-! tions to the complex features of farm econo-1 my, for the ownership of the animal is sel- | dom changed. The period in which these j highly developed animals made their ap- j pearance in the State is involved in dark- I ness. The discovery of faint resemblances j to the letters IT. S. on a few specimens, j gives a hint of Sherman's "march to the sea;" but the existence of the great mass of these animals runs back to a period "whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary," as Mr. Rlackstone very happily expresses it. It has been thought by some that the recognized antiquity of these animals has given rise to the alternative name, "OldHips" by which they are sometimes called, by way of allusion to one Rip Van Winkle of New York, but this is clearly wrong. Mr. Winkle reappears upon the scene of his early manhood after an absence of twenty years; whereas these animals have never been absent within the memory of man. The occult process of evolution is changing every one of them year by year; but identity is never lost. Others, basing their opinion upon the increasing acuteness and prominence given by the process, to shoulder points, withers and hips, assert that the name is descriptive of the effects produced on the earth when the animal falls. This explanation is certainly very plausible, for the animals are very much given to falling. How the more common name "Plug" came into vogue is yet inexplicable. A plug is understood to be a piece of wood or other substance with which a hole is tilled or stopped but no living animal can be used to till a hole, and these animals : ver die. The word is used sometimes by votaries of the prize-riug as a verb in such expressions as "Plug him between the eyes," "Plughim back of the ear"?"in the bread basket," Ac. Put the Plug, mule or horse, has ceased to be a plugger in this sense, lie has been developed to the point at which he can only go through the motions; he can't spare a foot long enough from the ground. We must do without an explanation of this word until future generations shall discover the true one. The important question remains unanswered; how can we account for him? Only by some one of the recognized laws of evolution. These laws briefly stated are : 1st. Natural selection and heredity. 2nd. Climatic influences. 3rd. Food. The effect of the first law is to develop a type, with well marked, uniform characteristics as to form, color, size, etc. But there is no uniformity in these respects among the plugs; each individual is au i f/encri* and unique. Beside this, heredity is a solicism so far as the mule-plug is concerned. The second law has been equally inoperative, since carefully compiled meteorological observations of a century or so, fail to establish any climatic changes in our latitude sufficiently great to produce striking physiological effects. We are thus reduced to the third law to account for their existence. After much observation and careful study we have arrived at the solemn conviction that the Plug of both kinds is without doubt the product of "bought corn" and Western hay. Investicatok. roNCKRNINfl PENSIONS. An Kxaminer of Pensions gives the following hints concerning applications for pensions that may be of use to old soldiers: Now in obtaining pensions all the Government wants are the facts, simple plain facts, and then there is no trouble. If a j man can prove that he is suffering from a I disability contracted in the army, and while i on duty, he will get a pension without any j trouble. He may have proof, say of two persons, one perhaps in California, another may be in Maine. No matter where they are we go and see theiri and get their statements. The government gives a man all the opportunity in the world to establish the fact that he is entitled to a pension. The claimant is not required to go to any expense whatever, but the government stands it all. All that is necessary is simply to prove that it is deserving of a pension. Sometimes a man applies for a pension, but that does not give any proof other than his own assertion. Now we may believe every word he says, but cannot grant his claim, simply because there is no legal proof. Perhaps the persons whom he knew he could prove it by are dead or nobody knows where, consequently his claim is rejected. But this does not necessarily end the matter, as the claimant may accidentally stumble on some proof that he knew nothing about, and send to Washington and revive his claim. On the other hand, a man may assert that he contracted rheumatism on the 13th day of December, 18G3. We will go to him and take his full statement, and then ask, "Can you prove this?" "Oh, yes," he will answer, and then we will ask him for the names of his witnesses. I le will probably give me two, for instance, living in dif leront parts ot tne country. 1 win go to one and ask him if he knows that Mr. Smith contracted rheumatism on such a day. lie may say: "Well, I remember that Mr. Smith complained of itching pain in his leg that morning. He had been on picket duty the night before and that morning borrowed a bottle of liniment from one of the boys and rubbed his leg for some time." I'll go to the other witness and he will say, "Yes, I remember Smith was complaining that day. I told him that we were going to have serious trouble and that he had better drop back and go into the hospital, but he said, 4I came here to fight, not to go to the hospital." Well, he will suffer from rheumatism after that and know that he contracted it that night while on picket duty, and has two witnesses to prove it, so he gets a pension. If a man is entitled to a pension and can prove it by competent \Citnesses he has no trouble in securing it. 11 Kit 11 JOHN MOST. I Terr John Most, the Anarchist, under indictment in New York for uttering inflammatory speeches in that city, was arrested on this charge and committed to the Toombs Prison on Tuesday of last week. Most made his debut as an Anarchist about twenty years ago, when he became a disciple of the German agitator Lasalle. Most was too radical in his views to long follow the moderate teaching of his tutor, and started out on his own hook. He traveled much in Saxony, addressing laboring people in the manufacturing districts, and as Marc Anthony incited the Roman populace to riot, so Herr Most set on his dupes. But his career as a blood and thunder orator was brief, for the authorities seized him and sent him to jail?a place by the way, where Most has spent many years. After the attempts made upon the life ol the Emperor by Hoedel and Xoebling, he considered it prudent tostart in quest of a more hospitable refuge. But the authoritites in Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and France made haste to inform him that the agita-" tors of his stamp would do wise in getting across the border?the quicker the better. Most concluded to give England the benefit of his presence. His first act was the foundation of a revolutionary sheet intended for circulation on the Continent, its mission being especially to undermine the Herman Empire. The publication, which he dubbed Frei/ieil, has since achieved an international reputation as a revolutionary organ parexcellance. The English publicdid not take kindly to his teachings and felt quite relieved when Mr. Poland, as Crown Prosecutor, secured his conviction on a charge of inciting to the murder of all royal personages. The print was confiscated and the whole organization received a pretty severe blow, from which it never rallied until Most had served his time in Millford prison. Most finally escaped to America and for several years past has been publishing a revolutionary paper called Frei/ieif in New York, issuing communistic literature, and doing his best to bring about Anarchy. The particular language uttered by Most for which he was indicted, was at the meeting fn (Jermania Hall, New York, when he advised his hearers to buy rifles and use them on the police or anybody else. Of his demeanor in prison, and the proceedings immediately subsequent to his arrest a New York letter of the 1.1th instant says : "Herr Most spent part of last night in a cell at police headquarters, bitterly denouncing the police for his arrest. lie called for brandy repeatedly, but it was not given him. This morning he stormed because he had to wipe his face, after washing on a common towel and cat prisoner's fare. 3lost was taken to to the photograph gallery and pictured, Copies of his photograph will be sent to the police of all large cities, as is done with bad criminals. Later Most was taken to Court and arraigned to plead to the indictment found against him by the grand jury. When questioned he said his name was John Most. When asked whether he was guilty or not of the charge in the indictment, his lawyer requested him to examine the indictment. He said he would, however, plead not guilty with the right to withdraw the nlea at a future dav and demur to the indictment and interpose a special pica." Low 1'ostaoi-: ox Mkuchaxmsk.?The agitation on the subject of low postage on merchandise was begun by Clare Bartlett, a citizen of Oregon, Mo., who claims the credit of having pushed the matter from the day when he conceived the possibility of such a system until it became a law. The gentleman has been visiting friends in the city for several days, and it was from Mr. Bartlett's lips that a reporter heard the story. "Some years ago," said Mr. Bartlett, "I was greatly annoyed by the extortions of certain express companies, which, under license, robbed me frequently. One day I sent to Ohio for a ham. When it arrived at my house in Missouri the express charges on it were $2.?0. I refused to receive the ham, and protested that there was some mistake in the charge, whereupon the local agent referred me to the superintendent of the company, to whom I at once wrote a polite letter, insisting that there must be an | error in the charge. I received an impu- i dent reply, saying, among other things, that the company's rates were fixed without consulting me or other residents of rural districts. I wrote to the superintendent that I intended to make that ham the dearest package his company had ever expressed. I began the agitation of cheap postage on merchandise. I was running a weekly paper, and I filled its columns with editorials on the advantages of low rates of postage. I enlisted Congressman Parker and others on my side of the question. It was not long until the hill was rushed through, | greatly to the alarm of express companies j all over the country. I got an early copy of the hill and sent it to the superintendent, who had 'fixed his rates without consulting I me,'and to him I then expressed my afi fectionate regards."? Chicago Tribune. A PECI"IjIAITJTDUMENT. There is a story related of a judgment given by Pedro the Cruel of Spain imbued with very much the same spirit as the one ; delivered in the court at Venice. A slater j was engaged in repairing the roof of a \house, and while so engaged through some false step or some other accident lost his balance and rolled down the slanting sides of the roof and fell over the edge into the street below. Just at this moment?un! fortunate for himself, though fortunate for ! the slater?a man was passing along the I street just in front of the house whose roof | was being repaired. Cpon him the slater j fell, knocking him to the ground with such force that he eventually died of the injuries ! he received; while the slater does not seem to have been much the worse for his fall, being saved from any violent concussion with the hard pavement by the imposition nf the hndv of the unfortunate wavfarer. The dead man's son brought an action against the slater, asking that he might receive punishment for killing his father, and be made to pay to him, the son, damages to compensate him for his loss. The king, before whom the matter was laid, inquired into it, and satisfied himself that the slater was in no way to be blamed, his fall and its consequences being purely accidental. In delivering his judgment he said that it was natural that the son should desire some satisfaction for the death of his father at the hands of the man who had killed him, and that this he was ready to order him. The slater must go and stand exactly in the position where the deceased man stood at the time of the accident; and the son might mount to the roof of the house and throw himself thence on the slater, and so mete out to him the same treatment as had been meted out to the plaintiff's father.. The son, however, like Shylock, declined to run the risks incidental to carrying out the judgment. STEALING HINTSMAN'S INVENTION. A little more than 100 years ago the manufacture of steel may be said to have had a beginning in England. About that time there was living in Sheffield, England, a man by the name of Huntsman. He was a watch and clock maker and he had so much trouble in getting steel that would answer for springs he determined to make I steel himself. He experimented for a long time in secret and after many failures he hit upon a process that produced a superior quality of steel. The best steel to be obtained at that time was made by the Hihdoos, and it cost in England about ?50,000 a ton; but Huntsman's steel could be had i for ?500 a ton. As he found a ready marI ket for all the steel he could make, he determined to keep his invention secret, and j no one was allowed to enter his works exI cept his workmen, and they were sworn to j secrecy. But other iron and steel-makers I were determined to find out how he proi duced the quality of steel he made, and this is how they accomplished it at last: One dark and bitter cold wintry night a wretched-looking beggar knocked at the door of Huntsman's works and asked shelter from the storm that was raging without, j The workmen pitying the supposed beggar, \ gave him permission to come in and find ! | warmth aud shelter near one of the furj naces. In a little while the drowsy beggar fell asleep, or at least seemed to do so, but I beneath his torn and shabby hat, his halfshut eyes watched with eager intent every ! movement made by the men about the fur- j naces, and as the changing of the melting- j pots, heating the furnaces, and at last pour- j ing the steel into ingots which took several j hours to accomplish, it is hardly necessary to add that the forgotten beggar slept long and as it seemed, soundly, in the corner where he lay. It turned out afterward that ; the apparently sleeping beggar was a welll to-do iron-maker living near by, and the I fact that he soon began the erection of large j steel works similar to Huntsman's was good ! | evidence that he was a poor sleeper but a i ! good watcher. ? 4 > (jI.vckkink.?The consumpton of glycerI ine for medicinal purposes, arts and man-1 ! l.no f 11? tnni.Arton/1 f lin fnu? uuiLiui LT5 uua ^hjuuj iuv,i uaocu uiu juici ivu years. It is the by-product of the manufacture of candles. Tallow or other animal or vegetable fats are saponified, with the addition of water, under heat and high steam pressure, in closed tanks. The neuJ tral fats separate into fatty acids and glycerine, which latter remains dissolved in the water. The solution of glycerine thus formed is concentrated and sold to refiners. Some of the latter, in order to cheapen the process of refining, bleach their half refined : product by means of vegetable or animal charcoal. This absorbs the color and also some of the acids still in the glycerine, rendering it for a short time inodorous and almost colorless; but the seeds of decomposition are not removed, and in time the acids still contained in the glycerine oxv| dize and the glycerine becomes "off-color." It should properly be distilled until the last i trace of impurities is removed, when the j glycerine becomes chemically pure, in odor-: ous and colorless. !: When the concentrated glycerine is ap-1 plied undiluted to a chapped or ulcerated surface it produces a burning sensation,: which to some people is unbearable. The j reason is glycerine has a strong affinity for moisture; it takes it from the skin, and,; thus gives rise to the burning sensation, j If a small quantity of water is added to the ! glycerine before it is applied this unpleas- i! ant effect will be observed but little, if at!1 all.? Toledo Jilade. i BSr The cold will brace your limbs and i brain to genius, and make you foremost men 1 oftiine. Cold and sea will trainan imperial j 1 Saxon race, which nature cannot bear to: < lose, and after cooping it up for a thousand ! i years in yonder Phi gland, gives a hundred J < Knglands.? Emerson. ' < i SENSATIONS OF HANUINU. Theodore Baker, a New Mexico man who was recently hanged by a mob, but was rescued and cut down before life was extinct, gives this account of his experience to a newspaper correspondent: "A little further on we came to a telegraph pole. From the crossbar swung a new rope. ()n one end was a big slip noose. They led me under the rope. J tried to stoop down and pull my boots off, as I had promised my folks I would not die with my boots on, but before I could do it the noose was thrown over my head and I was jerked off my feet. My senses left me a moment, and then I waked up in what seemed to be another world. As I recollect now, the sensation was that everything about me had multiplied a great many times. It seemed that my five executioners had grown in number until there were thousands of them. I saw what seemed to be a multitude of animals of all shapes and sizes. Then things changed and I was in great pain. I became conscious that I was hanging by the neck, and that the knot of the rope had slipped around under my chin. My hands were loosely tied, and I jerked them loose and tried to catch the rope above me. Somebody caught me by the feet just then and gave me a jerk. It seemed like a bright flash of lightning passed in front of my eyes. It was followed by terrible pain up and down and across my hack, and then I could feel my legs jerk and draw up. Then there was a blank, and I knew nothing more until 11 o'clock next day. "My first recollection was being in the court room, and saying: 4Who cut me down?' There was a terrible ringing in my ears, like the beating of gongs. I recognized no one. The pain in my back continued. Moments of unconsciousness followed during several days, and I have very little recollection of the journey here. Even after I had been locked up in this prison for safe keeping for a long time I saw double. Dr. Symington, the prison physician, looked like two persons. I was still troubled with spells of total forget fulness, ftnmptimps if- sppmpd T didn't kllOW who I was." ?? - - * ? A Histokica l Incident.?The memorial ceremonies at Montgomery, Ala., and the allusions made by Gen. John B. Gordon in his oration there to the imprisonment of Mr. Davis at Fortress Monroe in I860, revive some incidents rarely now mentioned, . but nevertheless, of rare historical interest, and belonging to both the period and the subject, they may now be truthfully related. An eye-witoss, engaged there in the ordnance department at the fortress, now resident and attached to the police departmen of Baltimore, says that when Mr. Davis landed from the gunboat on the Government wharf the guard that received him, kept back the lookers on to a considerable distance while they conducted the prisoner to the interior of the fortification and to the casemate assigned for his incarceration. Soon after he was lodged there the officer of the flay called and advised him that orders had heen received from Washington to place him in irons, and asked- him to submit by lying prostrate on the cot then within tiie casemate. Mr. Davis, with some vehemence objected, and asked that the order should be read to him. This was done, and he still refused, and declared that the manacles could only be placed on him by force. The blacksmith was then present with the leg-irons and a soldier, being so ordered, placed his musket across the breast of the prisoner, pressed him to and then down on the cot. While held in that position the smith rivited the irons on the ankles, and tne prisoner, mus secured, was locked in the casement. A day or so lollowing orders came from Washington to remove the manacles, and soon afterwards to open the door, and finally to allow Mr. Davis to exercise himself by limited walks within the grounds. The order to iron was issued, it was said, by Secretary Stanton, and the preparations to do so were all made prior to the arrival of the gunboat. President Johnson issued the amelioratingborders that followed. Mexico's Season for Cutting Mahogany.?In Mexico the season for cutting mahogany usually commences about August. Gangs of Indian borers are employed, consisting of two to fifty each, under the direction of a captain. Each gang has also a cazador, or "huntsman," whose duty it is to search the trackless forest for suitable trees to be felled, and to guide the wood cutters to the places. The felled trees of a single season are scattered over so wide a space that miles of roadway have to be made to reach them, and numerous rude bridges constructed over the rivers that lie in the way. All the larger logs have to be "squared" before they are brought away on rude wheeled trucks along these forest roads. Each truck requires seven pairs of oxen, and the work could be much more expeditiously done by our portable railways and plantation engines. The implements used by the Mexicans in tiiis trade are rude and insufficient, large quantities of timber being often spoiled by their insufficiency combined with the ignorance of the workmen employed.?Jioxto)i liudget. Does a Preacher Earn His Salary? A merchant once asked Dr. Lindsay Al J it. ^ i /vf L i d onntiu I cot ? e.xauuer nit? amuuui wi mo uutiuu* ury. Ilis question was answered. Then he said: "Is that all you get? And what do you do for that?" "In the first place," said I)r. Alexander, "I compose and write what would be two pretty thick octavo volumes?about as much as any literary man, bending over his pen thinks of doing, and more than some do, in a year. In the next place I have to do as much speaking every week as a lawyer at the bar in good practice. Then, in the third place, to do as much visiting as a surgeon in average practice would do." The layman then said: "Well, they may say as much as they please about ministers getting too much for their work, but none of us would do halfyour work for four times your pay." If ministers cannot be granted adequate i salaries, let them at least receive the credit due them for self-denial and for successful financiering.?JiaUimore Observer. 1 4. ? ? . I flSaT The ancients used to indulge in practical jokes to a considerable extent; for instance, the Thracians at their drinking par- # ties, sometimes played a game of hanging. They fixed a noose to the bough of a tree and placed underneath it a stone of such shape that it would easily turn round when any one stood on it. Then they drew lots, and he who drew the lot took a sickle in his hand, stood on a stone and put k.a fj.r. l-iolfar rPho ?tfinP WAS mo iiuliv uiiu nit; iuiiivi x4iv ...w kicked away and if he could cut himself iown with the sickle, well and good, but if he was not quick enough, he was hanged jutright and the rest laughed, thinking it *ood snort.