Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, June 24, 1899, Image 1
l. m. grist & sons, publishers. } % |[amitg Newspaper: <$or the promotion of thq {political, JSociat, Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the {People. J tkr,s^oi2e copy,Efiyecent*''08'
established 1855. " YORKVILLE, S. C., SATURDAY, JUaSTE 24, 1899. IN"TIMBER 50.
THE GRAYER SECRET.
Rosy Ann moved her little rccber
closer to Aunt Docia's and took her
? knitting. The two were alone in the
room. They eat at the left hand of the
fireplace, opposite the windows, near a
three legged stand containing a basketful
of bright colored pieces. The sputter
of the fire on the broad, deep hearth,
the pur of the cat, the clicking of the
needles, the loud ticking of the clock in
the north bedroom, wero the only sounds.
"What are you going to piece now,
Aunt Docia?"
"A cover for a bolder."
"For Libby?in the kitchen?"
"No, for this room. I always smudge
my fingers when I poke the fire."
"I wouldn't poke it, then, and if you
smudge your fingers wash them off."
"Water always makes me cough. "
"Talking makes you cough too.
Don't talk."
"Everything makes?me?cough. Oh,
dear, I have conghed all my life. I am
worn out coughing."
Any one looking at the emaciated old
lady would have said that she told the
truth. Life to her for the past 20 years
had been burdened by a cough. It was
said to be the "old fashioned kind," a
kind which in these latter days, when
people make haste to die, as they make
haste to do everything else, has become
extinct. The clock in the neat room
struck 2.
"Time for grandfather to waken, and
I am through with my stint for today.
Now I will get your wild turnip."
Boxy Ann folded her knitting and
brought a piece of wild turnip with a
little bottle and a knife to the old lady
and stood by while she 6craped and
mixed it.
"Briudle has been trimming his
whiskers. That meaus that we are going
to have company to tea, and here
comes grandfather."
Aunt Docia, feeling the soothing influence
of the morphine and wild turnip,
took her basket and went off to the
south bedroom. The little girl gave a
* bop, skip and jump toward a venerable
looking man, who came out from the
north bedroom, his head turned slightly
to one side, as is common to the aged
trhon i-lieip "hearine is not what it used
to be." and when "tbey that look out
at the windows are darkened." "Grandfather,
I'll have your flip ready in no
time."
"That is right. 'Give me my flip.
Has Lebbeus come?"
"No, grandfather. Mother went with
father. They won't be home till night.''
"Where are the boys?"
"Boiling sap under th^bfll. I wanted
to go with them, but they said it was
too sposhy for me. The Alderman boyB
are with them."
"I am glad you did not go; better
stay at home."
"I would huve gone, though, if I had
cared about it. They are going to bring
it up and sugar off in the kitchen."
Meantime she had wheeled her grandfather's
chair before the fire and the
stand, on which had been deposited a
quart bowl and a very large silver spoon.
She filled a tin basin with cider and
poured into it a cup of molasses. Then
she took a large iron and thrust it into
the burning coals. While the iron was
heating she toasted a slice of bread,
turning it carefully when it was
browned on both sides. She broke it
into the bowl; then taking the redhot
iron from the coals she held it in the
cider, sputtering, hissing and smoking,
till the cider was hot, when she poured
it: rirpr the toasted bread and with a
"Now, grandfather, your flip is ready,"
seated herself in a satisfied manner at
his feet. The old gentleman took his flip
with great gusto. When he had swallowed
the last mouthfui, he said:
"It is such a fine afternoon you may
get my hat and stick. I will go down
the hill and have a talk with Deacon
Ford. He is a masterly hand at Scripture.
No newfangled foolery about
him. He believes 'as the tree falleth so
it shall lie.' " It might have been the
flip or the inspiration derived from the
immutability of the eternal purpose
which gave unusnal elasticity to the old
gentleman's step as he paced back and
forth across the long room, repeating,
"Chained to the throne the volume
lies." Presently he burst into a strain
familiar to octogenarians 50 years ago,
marking the time with his hand:
"On cherubim and seraphim
Full royally lie rode,
And on the wings of mighty winds
* Came flying all abroad!"
By this time he had evidently forgotten
all about his projected visit to Deaoon
Ford and was ready to embark on a
longer voyage. Adapting his step to a
martial beat, he burst out:
"We're marching, marching to Quebec,
And the drums are loudly beating!"
Rosy Ann knew all that, word for
word. She laid aside the stick and joined
her grandfather in his triumphant
march. Finally he sat down and began
a more plaintive air, bending his body in
regular rhythm to the musio:
"When Wolfe's breast first felt the ball.
Be said, 'I'm sure that I must fall.'
He spoke to his men, both one and all.
Saying, "The cause is right.'
And while his reason did remain,
And blood ran gushing from each vein,
His tongue rolled forth the lofty strain,
The 'Lord the battle decide.' "
"Grandfather, where was Wolfe when
his 'breast first felt the ball?' "
"On the beightB of Abraham, my
daughter. Victory perched upon our
banner, the French were routed, and
Canada was won for us. 'Now God be
praised; I shall die in peace,' said
Wolfe."
Roxy Ann was silent. She had learned
that Abraham's bosom was a haven
whither poor people were tending, if
furnished with proper credentials, but
that there were auy "heights of .Abraham"
where wounded heroes could
pour out their hearts' best blood with
honor was beyond her philosophy. She
had a lumber room in her brain, to
which she consigned odds and ends of
information or observation, to be illuminated
and classified in future. Many
decades after her venerable grandfather
had slept with his kindred aid it occur
to her that be was born during those
wonderful years of the last century,
when two continents were ringing with
the news of Wolfe's great victory. It
was not alone for England and for the
honor of that statesman whose superior
the world has never seen that that battle
was won. We marched in the procession.
The "great empire on the frozen
shore of Ontario" was wrested from
a foreign foe for us. It was our grand
fathers aud their mates who with tin
horns and rags as pennants dying played
"Marching to Quebec," and at night
they were lulled to sleep by songs of
Wolfe aud his most enviable death.
"The boys with the sirop have come,"
said Rosy Ann, "and the Aldermans are
with them."
"I hope they bavo brought home a
good complement."
In bis extreme age the old gentleman's
taste craved sweets. West India
molasses might do to sweeten cider, but
maple wax, ah!
"You may be sure they've looked out
for themselves, grandfather." Roxy
Ann had had a supreme faith in her
brothers until their visit to Springfield
together to see the caravan. But that,
of course, is another story.
The little clearing in the spring by
the maple trees was not always devoted
solely to the boiling of sap. A kettle is
bung on two poles; a high board screen
keeps the wind from the fire. The boys
conclude that boiling sap will boil eggs.
A dozen or two are collected; a loaf of
bread, pepper and salt, a mince pie or
two, doughnuts and cheese add variety
to the feast. The Aldermans and Fords
are often in evidence. When the sap is
reduced to sirup, the remains are often
brought to the kitchen to be finished off.
On this afternoon, having put the
sirup over the fire, the boys, re-enforced
by two Aldermans, sat down by the
kitchen stove to conclude a game of
I?-VU CM..J II q c'rnn
VJIU OlfU^O auu iu natv/u vuy oi?
lest it should boil over.
Rosy Anii, leaning over her brother's
shonlder to watch the game, spied a tall
gentleman in a long frock coat, silk bat
and carrying a walking stick, making
bis way to the back door. "That is our
company," she thought, "but what is
he coming in through the wood shed
for?" Hearing the back door open, she
cried to her brothers, "The minister is
coming through the wood shed."
With one fell stroke the cards were
dashed under the table, and the boys
shot through tho outside door.
"What ails those boys? Libby, if you
will open the door for the minister, I
will pick up these cards."
Suiting the action to the word, she
disappeared under the table, but in rising
she gave ber head a terrible bump.
At. the same time the sirup boiled over,
and the reverend gentleman was greeted
with the aroma of burned sugar and a
black smoke that, like Egyptian darkness,
"could bo felt."
"I hope I'm not intruding," said he,
with u broad smile.
"No, sir; not in the least," replied
Roxy Auu, dropping a courtesy. "Father
and mother are not at home, but grandfather
is, and we are very glad to see
you, sir. Grandfather, this is Rev. Hiram
Bingham."
Grandfather was in a grandiloquent
mood, and he rose to the occasion majestically.
"Darkness covered the earth and
gross darkness tho people, but the Lord
said, Let there be light, and there was
light.' Sir," he exclaimed, waving his
hand majestically, "we are indeed very
glad to Bee you!"
Glad? What was a Scripture conference
with an everyday old friend compared
to this? The Sandwich Islands,
the whole of Polynesia, the American
board of commissioners for foreign missions,
all in one! "Sit down, sir; sit
down. Lebbeus and his wife will soon
return."
To tell the truth, the old gentleman
secretly hoped that they would not too
soon return, for he felt that on certain
theological points involving the assembly's
Shorter Catechism his son's sentiments
were anything but "sound."
"Your son's name, sir," said Mr.
Bingham, bowing courteously, "rominds
me of the brig which, under
Providence, conveyed our missionary
party to the Sandwich Islands in 1819.
It was the Lebbeus, Captain Blancbards,
as you may have noticed if you have
taken the trouble to look over my 'History
of the Sandwich Islands,'which
tho doctor did me the honor to add to
his library. It is a name of repute in
apostolic times. Providence has removed
from my side the companion of my
youth, but had it been otherwise, sir,
and had heaven seen fit to vouchsafe me
another son 1 think I should have called
him Lebbeus."
"You would have conferred honor
upon the name, 6ir. It is, as you say,
an apostolio name, but it grieves me to
confess that, while my son is not wanting
in gifts, they are not strictly of an
apostolio order."
Mr. Bingham bowed. "The Scriptures
speak of a diversity of gifts, sir.
Ah, my sons, what have we here?"
A hasty conference had been held in
the kitchen over the remains of the
sirup, when it was decided that as Mr.
Bingham surprised it in the act of boiling
over hospitality demanded that he
be invited to partake. Enter, therefore,
the boys as almoners of the feast, bearing
respectively a six quart pan of
snow, a 6alver with well tilled saucers,
spoons, forks and pickles. These were
placed on the table, which was drawn
up before the fire.
"We shall be happy if you will try
some of our sirup on snow, sir."
"You are giving rue a most agreeable
and unexpected treat," said Mr. Bingham,
as he lifted from the snow a ball
of the yellow ware, poised on the end of
his fork. "Such a sight it was never
our privilege to see at the islands. My
daughters entertained the erroneous idea
that snow was red."
The boys shortly beat a retreat to the
kitchen. "Libby, how is that sugar
holding out?"
"Two-thirds of it boiled over?and j
the rest is almost gone."
"Tbey eat like cannibals. There won't
be enough left to sweeten a cup of tea." ]
The doctor sat at the head of bis table
that night with a thankful heart. ,
He was never so bappy as when be
could entertain there a guest. [ use the
word "entertain" intelligently. Among j
the tributes to bis memory 50 years after
was this: "A more racy and entertaining
talker in bis best days it would
be bard to find. His fund of anecdotes
was unlimited, and a book of bis stories
would be as rich reading as ever bis
story telling profession produced."
When he was in the mood for it, no
one tbat I ever met could provoke so
much laughter. "Doctor," gasped a
woman at bis table, between her spasms
of laughter, "please stop. If yon do not
let me rest long enough to get my
breath, I shall cboke to death."
Opposite the doctor sat bis wife, at
bis right Mr. Bingbam, at the end of
the board the venerable father. Large
candles in shining brass sticks illumined
the scene. The doctor looked upon
bis three children to command quiet.
"Will you ask a blessing, sir?"
The doctor never talked while be
oarved. He was an expert carver, and
the well filled plates went round with
dispatch.
"I hope Miss Lucy's preserves are
keeping well through the winter," said
Mrs. Mollie, with a smiling face, as she
handed her guest a sauce plate of yellow
quince.
"For our preserves, madam, we are
indebted to our parishioners, notably to
vour erenerous remembrance after we
bad the pleasure of sitting at your table
last Thanksgiving day, and tbey have?
in fact, we appreciated them to such an
extent that nothing now remains."
The doctor burst into a hearty laugh.
"Good for you I My Mollie'6 crocks are
full and she will see to it that you are
supplied."
Forty years after it was also said of
this lady by one who knew her intimately:
"She was always beautiful,
but never more gracious than at the
bead of her own table. There I like best
to remember her." Amid all the sor-i
row that came to that home in after j
years?sorrow from brooding shadow j
or death and deeper sorrow from the j
shadow of life?bers is the one form |
that shines out like a star, grand in tho I
love that "endured all things, hoped all j
things, overcame all things," strong in |
a faith and patience that were sublime.
"I shall enter into no controversy
with you, sir, upon tho subject of foreign
missions," said the doctor when
the conversation drifted, as was natural,
into that channel, "hut"?and a humorous
twiukle came into his eye?"I
told my friend Tinker when he returned
that a hundred or a thousand of those
souls boiled down and simmered together
would not equal the soul of one
man like him."
"Lebheus." said his father, rapping
on the table with the handle of his
knife, as was his wont when excited,
"you are wise above what is written.
You are irreverent."
For a moment there was silence, then
tho doctor, pushing back bis chair, said,
with a laugh, "No irreverence about
it.i"
No one ever accused the doctor t'
filial disrespect. There is an old letter,
carefully preserved, written by this half
blind old father, addressed to his sou,
as follows: "Dear and well beloved and
well worthy son."
After 6upper the doctor and his guest
spoke of the first minister of the church.
"This house was his home, sir, built
for him about 1769. Here his children
were born. This was his first and only
pastorate. From here he was buried."
"He chose the site of this house most
wisely. It is beautiful for situation
truly."
"I have every reason to suppose he
planted the elm trees. He passed away
before my time, sir, but I believe him
to have been a strong man, of dignified I
presence. His children and grandchildren
have taken high rank in the professions?such
I bclievo his descendants
will continno to do. There was unfortunately
one exception."
The doctor nodded toward the south
bedroom.
"You have then his daughter under
your roof?"
"Under the roof built for her father, i
sir; his youngest daughter. She was
handsome, silly and unfortunate. Her
husband was, I think, the first regularly
settled physician in the township."
"She married, then?"
"The doctor married her, sir. What
else could he do?" The doctor blew his
nose vigorously and poked the fire. "He
married her and killed himself." i
"Dreadful 1 Was it a pistol?"
"^o, laudanum."
In those faraway primitive times suicides
in our country were happily rare.
We had not attained to the degree of
refinement which fills every daily paper
with shocking recitals of self murder.
And when a poor unfortunate did
put an end to his life it was supposed, ;
as a matter of course, that if he had a
wife she "was at the bottom of it"?
only a repetition of the same old wail,
"The woman whom thou gavest me."
And so it had happened in the irony
of fate that this unfortunate lady had
spent the remainder of her days in the
shadow of a deep disgrace and bearing
the burden of a heavy sorrow.
As the days of the new year began to
lengthen in the revolving circle Aunt
Docia did not come out of the sonth
bedroom as frequently to look over her
patchwork by the tire. One afternoon,
when her trembling fingers had vainly
tried to "over and over" a 6eam, she
carried away the basket, and the three
legged stool in the corner knew it no
more.
Mrs. Grant tells us that the great
general would turn his face to a blank
wail of his room and look at it lor
hours. Possibly he saw again the "battle
above the clouds" when the fight
was on at Mission Pidge. Perhaps his
ear heard once more the awful roar at
Cold Harbor, or he may have gazed far
away to catch the coming of Buell at
Shilob. Peace has her victories and piotures
as.well as war.
During those days Aunt Docia lay
with her face to the wall and Baid
nothing, but the south bedroom may
have stretched far away to a green hilltop
in the days when youth and parental
care made life a happy holiday,
where the birds sang first in the moraine
and the sun shone through peaceful
afternoons, and the crickets and the
twinkling 6tars came out together to
make the long twilights glorioua Possibly
she watched for the going out of
her revered father as he led the congregation
to the old meeting house on Sunday,
and her ear may have heard again
the sound of his voice from the high pulpit
in prayer and benediction. All this
before the shadow came into her life.
And one night in midwinter the wind
swept over that old hilltop and dashed
against the trees that the old minister
hud planted as if it would uproot them,
and their boughs bent and shrieked in
their resistance, but they did not break
?only stretched their arms more protectively
over the old house, and in the
morning the youngest of his daughters
lay dead under its roof?the same roof
that sheltered her in the boar of her
birth.
The burial plot of the minister's family
was full almost to crowding, but
room must be made for one more, and
the doctor went with his men to see
that everything was done "decently and
in order."
As shovelful after shovelful of earth
was thrown up something large and
round rolled into the open space from
the adjacent grave. The doctor was on
the alert. The arm that guided the
shovel was seized as in a vise.
"Mike!" The doctor's voice trembled
as did his strong hand that staid Mike's
arm.
Mike looked up bewildered, but the
doctor was already in the open grave
beside him. Stooping he picked up something,
sprang quickly up and took off
his hat,'for this that he held in his
hand he knew to be the skull of his remote
predecessor, the first physician o!
the township. Half an hour after he
stood in Rev. Mr. Bingham's presence.
"Talk of suicide, sir! The basest libel
ever fabricated ! Look here, sir! A comminuted
fracture! God Almighty took
this man's life, sir! He took morphine,
laudanum, as he needed, to allay pain.
This vile aspersion upon the character of
this dead man, sir, my professional
brother, must be removed over the coffin
of his wife."
The Rev. Mr. Bingham preached such
a iuuerai sermon iu iuui uiwuug uuum
the following Sunday aa was never
preached before and never will be again
on earth. He held up the skull in the
pulpit and showed to his people the
comminuted fracture, indicating it with
his finger.
The older ones remembered having
heard that the doctor had fallen from
his horse, and that he suffered from
great pain in his head.
And so it came to pass that the grave
gavo up its secret, that the true history
of this man's death was read, and the
shadow which had rested so heavily
over his name and house was lifted?
"after many days."?Sarah de Wolf
Garuwell in Springfield Republican.
Burns and the Smugglers.
Bums' sterling kindliness of heart
was shown in his manner of discharging
the not always kindly duties of exciseman.
One clear moonlight morning he
was awakened by the clang of horses at
a gallop. He started up, looked out at
the window aud to his wife, who asked
eagerly what it was, he whispered,
"It's the iioi.se of smugglers, Jean."
"Then, Rob,. I fear ye maun follow
thpm, " she said. "And so I would," he
answered, "so I would readily were it
Will Gunnion or Edpar Wright, but it's
puir Brandyburn, who has a wife and
three weans and is no doiu ower weel in
his farm. What can I do?" His wife
drew him away from the window. It is
Baid that many such stories could be
told. For all that, Burns was an active
and honest public servant.
Lovely Woman In a Bank.
"If ic were not for the women who
have bank accounts," said a paying
teller last week, "the routine of banking
business would be deadly dull. Several
days ago a woman went into the
office of the Hamilton Trust company
in Brooklyn and asked:
" 'Is Mr. Hamilton here?'
"'No, madam,' said the clerk, who
remembered her as a woman who had
started an account the week previous.
" 'Where is he?' asked the woman.
" 'I don't know, madam. Mr. Alexander
Hamilton is dead, you know.'
" 'I didn't know it,' said the woman.
'Oh, dear, I'm so sorry. Now, how on
earth am I to get my money?' and before
the clerk could explain she rushed
out."?New York Sun.
PfettUancouis grading. J
$50,000,000 FOK CORNSTALKS. f
Astonishing Figures of the Commercial (
Possibilities of What Han Hitherto Been (
Considered Wante Material. (
New York Commercial, i
Sleps are beiDg taken to form a corn- i
stalk combine, with a capital of $50,- 1
000,000. Its promoters say that if r
they are successful in carrying out (
their ideas, 250,000,000 tons of corn- *
stalks that are burned or left to rot by t
the farmers of the United States will i
nrnve to be as valuable as coal, or ?
ubout $6 per ton. t
W. R. Tate, representing a syndicate t
of St. Louis, Chicago and Cleveland i
capitalists, is now in the city, prepar- s
ing the way for a meeting of the promoters
of the combine, which is to be
held at the Waldorf-Astoria on August
15, when the scheme of financing and s
the details of organization will be perfected.
While he was reticent when i
seen yesterday, he intimated that the
combine would not have for its object t
the stifling of competition, but simply i
the development of the cornstalk as a
commercial commodity and the crea- ]
tion of markets for its several pro- t
ducts. t
Mr. Tale has been in communication g
in the last few days with several well- t
kuown promoters of this city, and j
from one of these the purposes of the i
new trust, along with some interesting [
figures, were secured.
Over 250,000 tons of cornstalks are g
grown in the United States every t
year, the acreage averaging 80,000,- ]
000 and the yield about three Cons to
to the acre. Of this immense amouut, (
two-thirds, or about 160,000,000 tons, j
has heretofore been regarded as sheer t
waste and litter, less than one-third of
the total weight of the stalks beiog
serviceable as fodder for eattle. This
waste matter has beeD a serious trouble
to farmers for a long time, not because
of an understood loss of revenue
by it, but simply because of the necessity
of getting rid of it, by burning or
otherwise, in order to free the soil of
au encumbrance.
Science has demonstrated now that
this so-called waste has value all its
own, and reckoned at its present market
price it is not known that the
farmers of the country have been
throwing away or burning up and
otherwise destroying $900,000,000 a
year for two decades at least, or $18,000,000,000.
It is a safe estimate that
twice that enormous sum has been
allowed to go to waste in cornstalks in
this country alone in the present century.
A company organized a few years
ago by Mark VV. Marsden, of Philadelphia,
which has two factories, one in
Rockford, 111, and another in Owensboro
Ky., ha6 been successfully manufacturing
six different products from
cornstalks. There are cellulose, which
is used for lining battle ships, serving g
as an automatic ieaa stoper, me vaiuc [
of which is well known ; a first-class t
cardboard, a splendid paper, an un- e
equalled foundation for dynamite, a \
patent cattle food pnd a glue. j
It is these products and others that the t
cornstalk may in the future be capable |
of yielding that the proposed combine j
intends to handle. Whether or not the c
Marsden company will enter the coin- t
bine is not kuown, but according to "]
Mr. Tate the success of the scheme e
does not depend upon the securing of <.
the Marsden patents, he intimating j
that the promoters of the trust con- s
trol their own process. c
Mr. Marsdeu has a contract with t
the government for cellulose at $400
per ton, and it is figured that he can c
manufacture one ton of cellulose from i
15 tons of stalks, or $400, worth of 1
cellulose from $90 worth of stalks, not a
counting his by-products. Ground p
corustalks, cooked and sweetened with c
molasses and pressed into bricks, is
regarded as one of the most nutritive t
cattle foods yet placed ou the market, s
The paper and cardboard manufactur- v
ed from cornstalks are already recog- c
nized as exceptionally superior arti- f
cles. t
It is the dust of cellulose that is
used for making powder and dyna- c
? e -f ..L
mite. by reason or us powers 01 uu- r
sorption and retention of nitro-glycer- ii
ine, it is declared to be immensely c
superior to sea island cotton, which y
heretofore has been the chief base for c
high explosives. The glue manufac- c
Hired from cornstalks finds a ready t
market with jewellers and artists. 1
Mr. Tate will leave for Washington
in a few days to look after several d
patents for which he is negotiating, v
As far as could be learned, the trust I
will erect five factories in the north- s
west and southern corn belts, and im- "
mediately upon organization will begin v
operation. a
I
Malleable Glass. ? Among the n
many new inventions is one of more
than ordinary interest, and for which, ^
it is said, that before long an applica- P
tion will be filed at the United States v
patent office for a patent. It is the
discovery of a process for obtaining
malleable glass. In ancient times glass I
was, by some process, made malleable, a
but it has long since been numbered n
along with the hardening of copper, a
and other processes of the ancients, I
with the lost arts. The inventor or h
rlisenverer of the art of making glass c
malleable says that it is very simple, o
and is accomplished by mixing some ti
sort of a chemical, or chemicals, with s
the glass. As the process could readi- ti
ly be discovered by any chemist by t
analyzing it, he will protect his inter- ii
;st9 at. the proper time by obtaining
patents from the United States patent
jffice, and has already, it is understood,
taken steps in that direction,
rbe inventor, who has been experinenting
a long time, has a goblet made
)f the malleable gluss, which be can
Irop on any hard floor without breakng.
If it becomes flattened, he can
eadily restore it to its proper shape
>y pressing it back with his hands,
rhe material is said to be harder than
jrdinary glass, and to possess a ten;ive
power greater than iron. The inventor
believes that the discovery of
nalleable glass will be one of the
greatest inventions of this century,
ind, among other things, will revolu?m?
on Kio nrnnflCQ
JUlii<?iC DLJIJJL/UIIUIU^^ UO i/j uio |/i wvwo
vessels can be constructed of glass instead
of iron.
THE BOERS.
lomethlng About the People Who Are Holdlog
Out Against England.
Atlanta Journal.
The civilized world is watching the
;ourse of events in the Transvaal with
ntense and increasing interest.
The probability of war between
England and the Boer republic seems
0 grow stronger. The animosity beween
the two governments grows
teadily, and there is no indication
bat either will yield except to force.
1 resort to force will of course result
n defeat and disaster to the Boers,
irave as they are admitted to be.
Ever siuce they went to Africa and
iet up a government for themselves
he Boers have dreaded annexation to *
England.
In 1835 they removed from Cape
Colony to Natal. England a few years
ater absorbed that country and then
he Boers moved again, this time going
o the Transvaal, and in 1852 they se:ured
the recognition of their present
epublic.
In 1877 the region including the
3oer republic was annexed by Great
Sritian ; but in 1880 the Boers instead
>f moving again revolted against the
mthority which had been imposed
>ver them.
They fought with courage and skill
md had decidedly the better of the
var. A treaty was ratified in 1881
vhich gave the Boers control of local
iffairs, but conceded to England conrol
of the foreign relations of the re
>ublic.
Io 1884 upon the instance of the
Boers a supplementary treaty was
rained and ratified by which it was
:xpressly stipulated that British authorty
over the republic should be reitricted
to its foreign affairs.
The Boers have shrewdly managed
,o keep the control of their home govsrnment
io their own hands despite
he fact that for years past they have
>een in a minority in the Transvaal.
Their constitution gives to the first
:hamber of their parliament the power
,o veto any measure passed by the
lecond chamber. The members of the
irst chamber can only be elected by
he burghers of "the first class," who
ire whites, who lived in the republic
)efore May, 1876, or who were active
n the war for independence of 1881,
ind in other wars in behalf of the relublic,
or who are the children of such jersons.
Naturalized burghers by spesial
resolution may become first class
>urghers 12 years after naturalization.
The president and commandant general
are elected only by these "first
:lass" burghers. The naturalized alien
>opulation form the burghers of the
iecond class, and burghers of the sec>nd
class and of the first class together
:lect the members of the second class.
By the veto given the first chamber,
:omposed wholly of Boers, no measire
enlarging the rights of" the Outauders,
or foreigners, can be passed,
iud under the present constitution no
terson not a Boer is likely ever to beome
president.
The constitutional provisions make
he recent offer of so-called concesions
to the Outlanders practically of
10 value. The proposed conditions up>n
which the Outlunders may obtain
ull citizenship are palpably such as
hey could not comply with.
The Outlanders compose a large
oajority of the white population aud
Ost of them are British. Besides beDg
in the majority they pay four-fifths
?f the taxes of the government and
et have no voice in it. The restlessless
of the ostracised Britishers inreases
every day. It is evident that
bings cannot go on as they are in the
Transvaal much longer.
All prospect of a settlement of the
ifficulty by arbitration seems to have
anisbed. It was announced in the
British parliament last week by the
ecretary of state for the colonies that
a new situation" existed in the Transaal
and this has been very generally
ccepted as a declaration that Great
iritian has determined to force her deaands
upon the Boers.
Diplomacy, it appears, has been exausted,
and unless one or the other
arty shall give in soon there will be
I'ar.
Examination Foe Census Clerks.
)irector of the Census Merriam has
rranged for examinations for appointlents
to the census bureau to be held
t Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Paul, St.
-ouis, Omaha, New Orleans and Atinta
in September. The majority of
lerks will not be appointed until July
f next year. Governor Merriam esimated
that the coming census will
how a population of about 72,500,000,
aking into account, among other
bings, the falling off of immigration
i recent years.