Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, November 13, 1908, Image 1
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l. m. grist s sons. publishers, j % Jamilj geurspaper: .for the promotion of the political, fecial. Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the fJeople. {TB?no^copIVSvJ ieraVANt*
established 1855. YORK V 1 f-T-K, S. C., FfttDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1908. ^TO. 01.
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* "THE HI1
By OPII
(Copyrighted 1896, by Wm. f
By Permission of Lai
- ? ? ?
CHAPTER I.
The neighbors and our family began
to laugh at me about as far back as
I can remember, and I think that the
lirst serious remark my father everad*
dressed to me was, "Bill, you are too
lazy to amount to anything in this life,
so I reckon we'll have to make a school
teacher of you." I don't know why he
should have called me lazy; I suppose
it must have been on account of my
awkwardness. Lazy, why, I could sit
all day and fish in one place and not
^ get a bite, while my more industrious
companions would, out of sheer exhaustion
of patience, be compelled to
move about; and I hold that patience
i>* the very perfection of industry.
In the belief that I could never
amount to anything I gradually approached
my awkward manhood. I
grew fast, and I admit that I was always
tired; and who is more weary
than a sprout of a hoy? My brothers
were active of body and quick of judgment.
and I know that Ed. my oldest
t brother. won the admiration of the
I neighborhood when he swapped horses
with a stranger and cheated him un[
mercifully. How my father did laugh,
1 and mother laughed, too. but she told
Ed that he must never do such a thing
^ again. With what envy did I look upon
this applause. I knew that Ed's
brain was no better than mine: and
as I lay in bed one night I formed a
strong resolve and fondly hugged it
unto myself. I owned a horse, a good
one; and I would swap him off for two
horses?I would cheat some one and
thereby win the respect of my fellows.
My secret was sweet and I said noth*
ing. By good chance a band of gypsies
came our way; I would swindle the
rascals. I went to their camp, leading
my horse, and after much haggling. I
came home with two horses. It was
night when I reached home, and I put
my team into the stable, and barred
up my secret until the sun of a new
day could fall upon it. Well, tiie next
morning one of the horses was dead,
and the other one was so stiff that we
had to shove him out of the stall.
My father snorted, my poor mother
wept, and for nights afterward I slipped
out and slept in the barn, burrowi
ed under the hay that I might not hear
tlu derisive titter of my brother Ed.
i We lived in northern Alabama, in a
I part of the country that boasted of the
refinement and intelligence of its so1
cietv. When I was alone with boys
much younger than myself I could say
smart things, and I had a hope that
when I should go into formal "company"
I would, with one evening's
achievement, place myself high above
the numbskulls who had giggled at
me. The time came. There was to be
a "party" at the house of a neighbor.
^ and I was invited. I had a suit of new
clothes, and after dressing myself with
exceeding care. I set out. strong of
heart, for the field of victory. But I
weakened when I saw the array of
blooded horses hitched without, and
* heard the gay laughter within, a merriment
rippling and merciless: and I
stood on the porch, sick with the sense
niv- awkwardness. I was too big,
;in<l I knew that I was straining my
clothes. Through the window I could
s*e a trim fellow laughing with a girl,
and I said to myself. "If I can catch
you out somewhere I will maul you." I
was not acquainted with him. but I
hated him. for I knew that he was my
enemy. To an overgrown young fellow.
ashamed of his uncouth, steer-like
L strength, all graceful youths are hateful:
and he feels, too. that a handsome
V girl is his foe. for girls with pretty
mouths are nearly always laughing,
and why should they laugh if they are
not laughing at him? Long I stood
there, stretching the seams of my
clothes, angry, wishing that the house
might catch fire. I heard footsteps,
and looking about, recognized a member
of the household, an old and negI*
cted girl. I was not afraid of her,
and I bowed. And I felt a sudden
looseness, a giving away of a part of
my gear. She called me Mr. Hawes,
the very first time that any one had
called me anything but Bill: she opened
the door and bade me go in. I had
k to duck my head as I stepped forward.
and there I was inside the room with
the light pouring over me. I took one
step forward, and stumbled over something.
and then a tittering fool named
Btntley. exclaimed: "Hello, here comes
little Willie." I don't know how I got
out. I heard a roar of laughter. I saw
grinning faces jumbled together, and
then I was outside, standing with my
hot hand resting in the frost on the
top rail of a fence. Some one was urgV
ing me to come back?the neglected
girl?but I stcxHl there silent, with my
hot hand melting the frost. I went
out into the moon-lighted woods, seiz\
?-d a sapling and almost wrenched it
I from the ground. Down the road I
% went toward home, but I turned aside
and sat on a log. I felt a sense of
pain and I opened my hands?I had
been cutting my palms with my nails.
But in this senseless fury 1 bad made
up my mind. 1 would waylay Bentley
and beat him. Hour after hour I sat
there. Horses began to canter by: up
and down the road there was laughter
and merry chatting. The moon was
^ full, and I could plainly see the passers-by.
Suddenly 1 sprang from the
l.?g and seized a bridle rein. A girl
shrieked and a man cut my hand with
a whip, and I jerked the horse to his
? knees. Bentley shouted that he would
kill me if I did not let go. but I heeded
not; I jerked him off his horse, kicked
his pistol across the road, mashed
his mouth, slammed him against the
ground. The shrieking girl cried out
that I was a brute, and I told her that
1 could whip her whole family, a
charming hit of repartee. I thought, but
afterward I remembered that her famf
iIv consisted of herself and an aged
grandmother, and I sent her an abject
apology. Bent ley's horse cantered
away, and I left the fellow lying in the
road, with the girl standing over him.
shrieking for help. It was all done in
a minute, and with jolting tread I
stalked away before any one came tip.
D KiltS*!
I READ.
4. Lee?All Rights Reserved. I
ird &. Lee, Publishers.
Opie Read, the Author.
Of course, there was a great scandal.
My poor mother was grieved and humiliated.
ashamed to meet any of the
neighbors; and my father swore that
instead of becoming a school teacher
I ought to turn out as a highwayman.
My brothers thought to have some fun
with me. but I frightened them with a
roar, and for a time they were afraid to
smile in my presence. I was almost
heartbroken over my disgrace. With
out undue praise I can say that I was
generous and kindhearted: even as a
child I had shown almost a censurable
unselfishness; I had given away my
playthings, and my sensibilities were
so tender that I could not bear the
sight of a suffering animal, and I remember
that an old man laughed at
me because I could not cut the throat
of a sheep when the poor thing had
been hung up by the heels. And now
I was put down as a heartless brute.
Bentley's face constantly haunted me.
I was afraid that he might die, and
once when I heard that he* was not
likely to get well, I was resolved to go
to him. to beg his pardon. Two weeks
had passed: it was night and rain was
touring down, but I cared naught for
the wetting. I found Bentley sitting
up with his face bandaged. His mother
frowned at me when she opened the
door and saw me standing there under
the drip, and it was some time before
she asked me to come in. and I have
thought that she would have driven me
off had not the sight of me, wet and
debased, aroused her pity. Bentley
held oul his hand when I entered the
room, and he said, "I don't blame you,
Bill. It was mean of me. but I wanted
to be smart." I was so full, so choked
with emotion, that it was some time
before I could say a word. But after
a time I spoke of the rain, and told
him that I thought that I had heard a
wildcat as I came along, which was a
lie, for I had heard nothing save the
wind and the rain falling on the dead
leaves. He laughed and said that he
did not suppose that I would have been
very much frightened had the cat
jumped at me. Then I told him that
I was the biggest coward on earth,
and sought to prove it by offering to
let him kick me as long as he might
find it amusing. I told him that everybody
despised me for the way I had
beaten him, everybody, including my
own family, and that I deserved the
censure of all good people. We talked
a long time, and he laughed a great
deal, but when I told him that I was
coming over to work for him three
weeks, his eyes grew brighter with
tears. This filled me up again and I
could oo nothing but blubber. After a
long time I asked him if he would do
ine a favor, and he said that he would.
Then I took out a watch that I had
brought in a buckskin bag. and I said.
i thino- that nmod In hplonertol
my grandfather, and it was given me
by mother when I was ten years old.
It is a fine time-piece and is solid.
Now, I want you to take it as a present
from me. You said you would do
me a favor." Hut he declared that he
could not take it. "Why, I would despise
myself if I did," said he. I told
him that I would despise myself if he
did not. His mother, who had left us
alone, came in. smiling, and said that
I must not think of parting with so
valuable a watch, the mark of my
grandfather's gentility, but I put the
watch on the table and plunged out
into the rain and was gone. Bentley's
mother returned the watch the next
day, and then there went about the
neighborhood a report that I was so
much afraid of Bentley's revenge that
I had tried to buy him off with a
watch. Bentlev had said that I should
not work for him. but when the time
for breaking up the land came. I went
over and began to plow the field. His
mother came out and compelled me to
ciuil, but I went back at night and
plowed while other people slept: and
thus I worked until much of his cornland
was broken up. The neighbors
said that I had gone insane, and a few
days afterward when I met a woman in
the road, she jerked her old mare in
an effort to g?-t away, and piteously
begged me not to hurt her. I made
n?? further attempt to get into "company."
and thus, forced back upon myself,
I began to form the habits of a
student: and to aid me in my determination
to study law, I decided to
tench school. So, when I was almost
grown?or. rather, about twenty-three
years old, for I appeared to keep on
growing?I went over into another
neighborhood and took up a school.
And they called me "Lazy Bill." 1
couldn't understand why. for I am sure
that I attended to my duties, that I
played town ball with the boys, that
I even cut wood all day one Saturday:
[tint confound them, they called me
lazy. I spoke to one of the trustees:
I called his attention to the fact that
I worked hard, and he replied that the
I hardest working man he had ever seen
was a lazy fellow who worked merely
as a "blind." To sleep after the sun
rises is a great crime in the country,
and sometimes I sat up so late with
my books that I had to be called twice
for breakfast. And no amount of work
could have offset this ignominy. I
| taught school during three years, and
found at the end of that time that I '
was no nearer a lawyer's office. Once <
I called on an old judge, the leading I
lawyer in a neighboring village, and I
told him that if he would take me I I
would work for my clothes, and the
humorous old rascal, surveying me, replied:
"I have not contemplated the
starting of a woolen mill. Why don't
you go to work?" he asked. I told
him that I was at work, that I taught 1
school, but that I wanted to be a law- i
ver. He laughed and said that teach- <
ing school was not work?declared it I
to be the refuge of the lazy and the
shiftless. I then ventured to remark
that the south would continue to be 1
backward as long as the educator was 1
put down as n piece of worthless rub- I
hish. I went away, and a few days i
later one of the trustees called on me 1
and said that I had declared their children
to be ignorant rubbish, and that '
therefore they wanted my service no I
longer. I returned home. My brothers
were gone, and my parents were in ]
feeble health. My father died within i
a year, and soon my mother followed I
him Thn farm was nonr and was <
mortgaged, and empty handed I turned
away. I heard that a school teacher
was wanted up in North Carolina. I
near the Tennessee line, and I decided
to apply for the place. I walked to
the railway station, twenty miles dis- I
taut. I have said that I went away ]
empty handed. I did not; I carried a i
trunk, light with clothes and heavy j
with books. I had put my trunk on l
the railway platform and \vas striding 1
up and down when I ~aw two men, 1
well dressed, rich-looking, standing
near. This amounted to nothing, and {
I would not mention it but for the fact
that it was at this moment that I re- t
ceived my first encouragement. One '
of the men, speaking to his companion, i
remarked; "'Devilish fine looking fel- i
low. I'd give a great deal to be in his :
shoes, to have his strength and his l
youth." I turned away, eager to hear i
more, yet afraid lest the other man i
might say something to spoil it all. '
Rut he did not. "Yes," he replied, "but i
he doesn't know how fortunate he is. i
Gad, he looks like an imported bull."
The train came and I was whirred '<
away, over streams, below great hang- 1
ing rocks; but I thought not of the i
grandeur of the rocks nor of the beau- f
tv of the streams, for through my mind <
was running the delicious music of the t
first compliment that had ever been i
naid me. And I realized that I had
outgrown the age of my awkwardness, i
that strength was of itself a grace to i
be admired, that I should feel thankful ?
rather than remember with bitterness i
the days of my humiliation. I observed
a woman looking at me, and there was
interest in her eyes, and I knew that she
did not take kindly to me simply because
she was an old and neglected |
girl, for she was handsome. Beside
her sat a man, and I could see that he
was eager to win her smile. He hated
me. I could that, but he couldn't *
laugh at me. I noticed that my hands '
and feet were not over large, and this
was a sort of surprise, for I recalled
hearing a boy say my foot was the
biggest thing he ever saw without a 1
liver in it. I reached back and wiped
out the past; I looked out at a radiant
cloud hanging low in the west, and
called it the future. Fool? Oh, of f
course. I had been a fool when a boy. *
and was a fool now. but how much
wiser it was to be a happy fool.
1 was to leave the train at Nagle .
station, and then to go some distance .
into the country, which direction I
knew not. I made so bold as to ask
the handsome lady if she knew anything
of the country about Xagle, and
she smiled sweetly, and said that she
did not. that she was a stranger going
south. 1 had surmised as much, and I
spoke to her merely to "see what effect '
it would have on the man who sat beside
her. Was my new-found pride
making me malicious? I thought it
was, and I censured myself. The lady
-'" " "'I ' uicnrksitinn to continue the
talk, but the man drove me into si- j
lence by remarking': "I suppose there
is something novel about one's first
ride on the cars." How I did want to '
reach out and take hold of his ear, but
I thought of Bentley and subsided.
When 1 arose to get off at my station,
I thought that the lady, as I passed
her, made a motion as if she would like
to give me her hand. This might simply
have been the prompting of by long
famished but now over-fed conceit, my '
bloating egotism, but I gave the wo- *
man a grateful thought as I stood on
the platform gazing at the train as it
faded away in the dusk that appeared "
to come down the road to meet it.
I had expected to alight at a town, i
but the station was a lonely place, a
wagon-maker's shop, the company's
building and a few shanties. I asked I
the station master if he knew where 1
the school teacher was wanted, and i
he answered that from the people t
thereabouts one must be needed In ev- i
ery household. 1
"And I should think," 1 replied, giv- f
ing him what I conceived to be a look
of severe rebuke, "that a teacher of t
common decency and politeness is most 1
needed of all." f
"I reckon you are right." he rejoined. 5
"Is he the man you are looking for?" t
"I don't want to get into trouble >
here," said I. "but I insist upon fair 1
treatment and I'm going to have it." I
"All right, sir. Now, what is it you I
want to know?" '
"Why, I was told that there was an <
opening for a school teacher in this i
neighborhood."
"And so there is, but don't you know <
that no neighborhood could bo proud
of such a fact? Therefore, you ought <
to be more careful as to how you make i
your inquiries."
I saw that he wanted to joke with 1
me and I joked with him. And I soon 1
found that this was the right course, '
for he invited me into his office and 1
insisted upon my sharing his luncheon,] t
enld bread and meat and a tin bucket ['
<>f boiling coffee. I soon learned that
he was newly graduated from a school
of telegraphy, and that this was his
first position. He had come from a 1
city and he gave me the impression <
that he was buried alive; he said that '
he had entered an oath in his book that
if some one didn't get off at -his sta- 1
Hon pretty soon he would set the '
whole thing on lire and turn train ruh- '
bcr. Don't you think that would be a <
pretty good idea?" he asked. laughing.
"It would be a pretty dangerous one.
at least." I answered. :
"Yes. but without danger there is (
never any fun. My old man insisted
upon my taking that night school ,
course, and the professor of the insti- ,
nit ion held nut the idea that I could be
i great man within a short time after
graduating; led ine to believe I could
?et charge of a big office in town, but
tiere I am stuck up here in these hills.
No rags about here at all."
"No what?"
"Rags, calico, women?catch on?"
"You mean no society, to speak of."
"That's it. Oh, away off in the country
it's ail right, but I can never go
more than three miles from this misprable
place. You'll have to go about
fifteen miles."
"How do you know?"
"Why, an old fellow from a neighborhood
about that far away came out
here the other day and sent off a dis- ,
patch, telling some man off, I don't remember
where, to send a teacher out
there."
"And one might have come by this
time," I suggested, with a sense of
fear.
"No. you are the only one that has
put in an appearance, and the only one
that is likely to come. I understand
:hat they dyn't treat teachers very well
>ut there."
"How so?"
"The boys have a habit of ducking
:hein in the creek. I hear."
"Oh. is that all? Be fun for me."
"You won't think so after you see
those roosters. Let me see. Take the
Purdy road out there, and go straight
ihead to the east, and when you think
rou have gone about fifteen miles, ask
Tor the house of Lim Jucklin. The
ast teacher, I understand, boarded at
riis house."
"You appear to know a good deal
ibout it."
"Well, the truth of it is, I do, for
the last teacher came and went this
tvay. And he told me like this: 'The
thing opened up all right, plenty of
rags, but that evening some of the
t'oung fellows came to me and said
that unless I brought some sort of
treat the next morning they would put
ne in the creek: said that they hated
to do it. but that time honored customs
must be observed. I didn't bring
in.v treat and I went Into the creek,
rhen I left.' Yes. that's what he said,
ind I concluded that as for me I would
rather be here. It isn't so lively, but
t is a good deal dryer. But you can't
jet there tonight. Better take a shakelown
here with me till morning, and
hen you may catch some farmer gong
that way with a wagon."
I thanked him for this courtesy, and
Tadily accepted it. And the next mornng.
with my trunk on my shoulder, I
*et out upon what I conceived to be
nv career in life.
To be Continued
THE MAN IN THE RAIN.
-lis Manner of Managing Apparel As
Compared With Woman's.
"You wouid think, now, wouldn't
rou," she said, to a New York Sun reporter,
"that lordly man would defy
:he weather and not permit himself to
je disturbed by such a little thing as
ain? But my! I think men are more
particular about their fine clothes than
vomen are.
"Take a man who is out, for instance,
in a light gray suit and let a
ihower come up. Does the man in gray
jo blithely on and let the rain fall upon
* * i r ol**f
11111 IIS 11 win; v ei j iuu^jii nui, on.
3e seeks the nearest shelter and there
le waits for the rain entirely to cease
lefore he ventures on; more careful of
lis raiment, surely, than any woman
vould be of hers.
"But it is what a man does with his
ttraw hat in the rain that interests me
nost. Why, I have seen a man take
iff his straw hat in the shower and car\v
it under his coat, so careful is: he
ibout it, and isn't a man going- along
he street hatless, with his hat clutched
n that way under his coat, a funny
igure? Did you ever see a woman do
hat?
"It's a common thing to see a man
caught in a shower carrying his straw
lat sort of casually down at his t.rm's
ength at his side, as if he was just
sauntering that way, but really to proect
his hat so much as he can. And
lo we not even see men in the rain
inlding newspapers over their hats?
A'ho ever saw a woman do that?
"Women seem somehow to be able to
to through a shower without making
;onspicuous figures of themselves. They
ire always serene, never troubled, and
lomehow they never seem to get as wet
n the rain as men do."
SUCKER SWALLOWED DIAMOND.
\ Somewhat Different Fish Story From
Northern Indiana.
According to the Logansport correspondent
of the Indianapolis News,
Miss Marie A. Gross, daughter of Mr.
ind Mrs. Frank Gross of Spear street,
hat city, a student of the Herron Art
nstitute in Indianapolis, lost a valua)le
diamond ring, and its disappearance
ind return are remarkable.
She was a guest at the Hanly cotage.
at Pottawatomie Point, on the
A'abash river, east of town, and with
some other girls attired in bathing
uiits rowed to the middle of the river
o bathe. A friend suggested that she
remove the diamond ring which she
,vnre, stating that it might slip off in
lie water. She removed the ring, and
laving no other place to put it she
Jed it to a piece of fishline and fastened
the other end to the boat. Then
die jumped into the water. When
hey rowed back to shore, Miss Gross
ould find neither string nor ring.
Yesterday while Frank Hanly was
?ut in the boat he saw a string runilng
through a crack in the rear board
if the craft. He began to draw in the
dring and there was an answering tug.
Fie nulled hard and up out of the wa
:er came a pound and a half sucker.
Hnnly had forgotten about the ring
iixl sought the hook in the sucker's
mouth.
"Swallowed the darned thing!" was
lis disgusted ejaculation.
He cut the line and threw the fish in
the bottom of the boat. Later when
leaning the fish he was surprised to
find the missing ring inside the suck r.
The supposition is that when the
?iils were rocking the boat the string
tnd ring were thrown out. dangling in
the water, and that a sucker spying
the bright object gulped it down.
'< Why is Sunday the strongest day
n the week? Itecnu.se it is the only
me not a week day.
.t What melancholy fact is there
\bout a calendar? There is no time
ivhen its days are not numbered.
SHERIFF JOHN NIGHOLLS.
Nan Who Risked His Life at Call
of Duty.
TENDER AS WOMAN, BRAVE AS LiON.
A Beautiful True Story That Throws
a Flood of Light on the Motives of
J a Heroic Servant of the Law.
fcpurtanburg Herald.
The trouble at Spartanburg', S. C.,
on October 10th, when a howling mob
ittempted to assault the jail and lynch
John Irby, a negro accused of assault
with intent to rape upon the person of
Miss Leila Dempsey, has served to
bring to public notice again the brav
?ry and tenderness or jonn isicnons 01
Spartanburg. Nlcholls is now sheriff
of Spartanburg county.
The negro was arrested by the police
and put in his custody. Miss
Dempsey, a lady bookkeeper at Saxon
mills, was assaulted and brutally treated
as she passed through a clump of
woods on her way home, and left apparently
lifeless and found a short
while later in a deplorable condition.
The news of the assault spread like
wildfire, in a short while a crowd of
several thousand of the mill operatives
gathered and made for the Jail and demanded
the prisoner. Sheriff Nieholls
being advised of the coming of the mob.
locked the doors of the prison and the
wall surrounding it. Wired the governor
for help, armed the most trusted of
his prisoners and his deputies and
awaited the mob. They came, assaulted
the jail, fell back, carrying with
ihem their four wounded, in the nick
of time the militia marched up to awe
the mob and save further bloodshed.
Sheriff Nieholls was condemned by the
mob and its friends, but South Carolina
was saved the disgrace of another
lynching, and the law will be vindicated
when Irby is tried by a jury
at a special term of court that meets
tomorrow.
John Nieholls, the sheriff, was a
Confederate soic'.ier. He enlisted as a
15-year-old boy in company H., First
South Carolina volunteers. Those who
know him attest to the fact that his
army career was one of brave, selfsacrificing
devotion to the Confederate
cause, he hungered with the older ones,
and was always found in the forefront
In time of danger. An incident at
Spottsylvania court house on May
18th, 1864, however, brought him to
the notice of both armies, and doubtless
some northern soldier now living
will recall the present sheriff of Spartanburg
I have the story from a Confederate
soldier now living, who was in the
same rifle pit with Xicholls when it
happened.
"The Federals had charged our position,
and had been driven back with
frightful loss. When morning broke the
field was covered with dead and dying
between our lines and the woods that
flanked the enemies. Xicholls and myself
were in a rifle pit and I took my
hat. put it on a ramrod and stuck it
up above the edge of the pit, it was
pierced by three or four balls. The
groans of the wounded in the field before
us told the story of the unsuccessful
charge of the Yankees. Some forty
or fifty feet in front of us lay a Yankee
officer shot through and through,
and as the morning waned, above the
noise of shot could be heard his prayers
and pleading for "help" and "water."
It grated on my nerves and I saw
tears in the eyes of Xicholls. Between
the shots he would remark on the man's
condition and express the wish that he
could relieve the fellow's distress. And
finally said that he could stand the
cries no longer, but intended to give
the man water at any cost. With his
canteen and ramrod in hand he was
out of the pit in a Jiffy. The dust from
shots flew all about him, as he fell on
ins belly and wormed his way across
the open to the wounded man. He was
a target for an army. He got to the
soldier, or close enojgh to fasten the
"anteen 10 the ramrod and hand it to
him. The man wanted to fasten his
watch to the ramrod, but Xicholls refused,
and wormed his way back to
'he pit and fell over in my arms. Yes,
his clothing was pierced by numerous
shots, but his skin was not broken. I
will always believe that nothing short
/ 1/nnt onrl nrntortpd
'I It'MI hi nmtcia rvv|;v muu
him."
Th#' storv has been well told in verse
hv John Jerome Roonev in Seventh (N.
V.) Regiment Gazette.
John Nicholls of Spartanburg.
You've told your tale how our brave
boys fought
In the days of sixtv-three:
How thev cried "Old Glory" through
field and fiood,
From the mountains to the sea.
And as long as a heart shall beat with
pride
When our country's song is sung.
The deeds of our lads in the bonny
blue
Shall ring from the minstrel's tongue.
Hut I'll tell you a tale that'll make you
think?
As sure as gospel facts?
That the Northland hadn't the only
call
Of clean-white manly acts.
You know how Grant had massed our
men
In the spring of sixty-four,
And how, near Spottsylvania town,
He pushed us to the fore.
We tried that day. in a wild, fierce
charge.
To carry the rebel's works.
Fiut they held their ground with the
stubborn grip
of the death-inviting Turks.
l'he deadly bail came tearing out
Of their forward rifie pits,
And the "Yank" who'd tried to get
fresh air
Would take it in cut-up bits.
Well, I needn't tell you we pumped it
back
In a steady stream of lead;
And woe betide the topmost tip
Of a "Johnny Rebel's" head.
Well, what do you think??no, you'll
never guess
If you guess the whole year thro'
When our muskets were cracking like
kindling wood
And the air was red and blue.
Out of the nearest rifie pit,
Where they lay securely walled,
As sure as you live, before our guns,
A "Johnny Rebel" crawled.
To say we couldn't believe our eyes
Is to draw it not too fine?
Hut sure enough he was creeping along
Straight at our blazing line.
What's that you ask??did we stop to
look?
Well, you should have seen the way
We shot the stream of molten fire
At that mad, dim patch of gray!
Why, you'd thought an ant couldn't live
out there
ihdt enoihinir torrent fell:
? 'If c
And you'd say that a passing butterfly
Would singe in that living hell.
Hut there he was a crawling down
Full length on the crimson grass
The turfs would Jump where our bullets
struck
And the blue smoke rise and pass.
Hut still, with a death-defying luck,
That "Johnny Rebel" came,
With never a halt or turn aside
From that bath of lead and flame.
He had got some fifteen feet away
From the mouth of his rifle pit
(And If ever the law of chance held
good,
He'd never get back to it.)
When he reached a little sumac bush
That grew in the open Held
(It wasn't leafy enough for a screen
Nor thick enough for a shield.)
And he half stretched up and broke a
twig?
(Heigh-ho, how the bullets flew!)
He needn't have snapped it off, we
thought?
Our lead would have cut it in two.
Then he turned a hand to his old canteen
He fixed it fast to the stick,
And forward he leaned on the bloody
grass
With a motion sharp and quick?
When up from the sod a soldier raised?
His last great fight was fought?
And we saw?great God?our captain
quaff
The water the "Johnny" brought!
We saw the light of a mighty Joy
Come over his dying face,
And we thought we saw, thro* the
drifting smoke.
The North and the South embrace.
Jim Brown; who never was known to
melt.
Looked down at his riddled coat,
Then, turning, walked half shamed
away?
For his eyes were all afloat!
Ah, boys, we were weaker than babies
then,
And our thanks rose, deep and slow,
To the mighty one who had turned our
shot
From the breast of our dearest foe!
And many a deed I've seen in war
That the books have spelled out large,
But never a sweeter act I'll see
Till I take my last discharge!
Yes, we asked his name when the fight
was done,
As a miner'd look for gold,
And over the Yankee fires that night
The story was told and told.
We blazed his deed in our inmost
hearts,
And not till their doors are burst
Shall vanish John Nlcholls, of Spar
tanDurg,
Of the South Carolina First!
Private John M. Nlcholls, Company
H., First South Carolina Volunteers,
Spottsylvania court house, May 18th,
1864. An authentic incident.
When the war closed Nicholls came
back home, not yet of age, to a widowed
mother, and devastated farm.
He accepted the verdict of arms and
set to work in the field to redeem his
fortune and to provide for those dependent
upon him. We, of the south,
alone know the horrors of reconstruction.
How South Carolina was redeemed
by the Klu Klux is a story for
South Carolina children. John Nicholls
was a Kiu Klux, and when the
Federal soldiers came in their effort
to hold up the carpetbag government
John Nicholls took to the woods, suffice
it that he went west, and came
back after the storm blew over.
In the eighties he was first electetf
sheriff. The close of his first term
was marked by his holding a mob at
bffy when they attempted to take Geo.
S. Turner, a prisoner, afterward hanged
for murder, from him, but that Is
another story.
FLOODS IN LEASH.
Government Completes Pathfinder Irrigation
System In Nebraska.
After five years of hard labor and
the spending of a mint of money the
stupendous irrigation works which
the government has been establishing
in western Nebraska and Wyoming
have been finished, says the Omaha
correspondent of the New York Tribune,
and the snow water which the hot
August sun is biinging down from the
mountains In torrents is being conserved
in the immense reservoirs Instead
of being allowed to rush down
the Platte river and through the Missouri
on into the lower Mississippi to
inundate that portion of the country at
a tremendous loss to the people. This
is the first practical trial of the gov
4 t tforl/o oriH tho nffi -
eminent unganun nvm.i, .... ....
clals of the reclamation bureau are
watching the result with a great deal
of anxiety, as on that result will hang
the future actions of this branch of
the national government.
The irrigation works on the eastern
slope of the Rocky Mountains are intended
for a twofold purpose. One is
to irrigate a semiarid country; the
other is to so hem up the flood waters
when the summer sun has started the
mountain snow to melting that no
damage will result to the country along
the lower and more level stretches of
the great rivers, the water beipg held
in check when In flood and gradually
released when the land is dry and baked
under the prairie sun and wind.
The work which has just been finished
and the reservoirs which are Just
now filling up with the snow water are
included in the famous Pathfinder system,
the dam being located in a deep
gorge of the Rocky Mountains through
which the North Platte river plunges.
In this gorge a dam costing 11,000,000
was built and the water backs twentyfive
miles through the mountains. The
great reservoir holds 1,000,000 acres feet
of water: that is, enough water to
cover 1,000.000 acres of land one foot
deep.
Contrary to the general idea, the
government is not constructing this
great work, nor any other of the western
irrigation systems, for the free use
of the owners of the lands through
which the canals flow. The reclamation
service is self-supporting, and every
cent spent by the service is repaid
to the government by the owners of
benefited lands. The original appropriation
for the North Platte project?
the project just finished?was from
money received from the sale of pubis..
nnn it will he renaid to the
national treasury by those who enjoy)
the fruits of the irrigation it affords.
Each acre of land under this project,
whether privately owned or homestead,
must pay the government $35 for the
perpetual irrigation right. The $35 is
paid in ten equal installments, without
interest. Thus the government will, in
the course of ten years, recover every
cent it spent on the project. Land
which without irrigation was worth
next to nothing is converted into land
worth from $90 to $100 an acre. The
habitable farm area of the country is
increased by hundreds of thousands of
acres. Everybody wins and nobody
loses.
As fast as the money is paid back
Into the national treasury it is reaporoprlated
for the use of another irrigation
system, and the same fund Is
used over and over again. So the reclamation
service is entirely self-sustaining.
The North Platte valley, which
the Pathfinder dam and reservoir irrigates,
is from five to twenty-five miles
wide, and already water is taken from
the river in sufficient quantities to irrigate
250,000 acres in the valley. But
the government project takes no water
from the river. It utilizes simply the
flood water and does not diminish the
regular flow of the river.
BLONDE AND FEMALE.
Types of Mosquitoes That Pester Soldiers
at Fort Lawton.
The mosquitoes that are making life
so interesting for the soldiers at Fort
Lawton are of a decided blonde complexion
and belong to the female sex,
says a Seattle Times correspondent.
The statement as to their complexly Is
vouched for by dozens of Infantrymen
who have examined their color after
spatting them to death en their cheeks,
and the information regarding their
sex comes from Prof. O. B. Johnson,
former Instructor In biology at the
University of Washington.
The mosquito's mission In life is
still a mystery to the scientific world,
according to Prof. Johnson. While entomologists
can see a reason for the
existence of most insects, the little but
exceedingly busy masqulto still remains
a deep puzzle.
"A mosquito never eats anything
after passing out of the larvae stage,"
explained Prof. Johnson today, "but
from the moment It Is matured the female's
sole ambition In life Is to suck
blood from a mammal. It makes no
difference whether that mammal Is a
hippopotamus In Africa, a lion, a house
cat. a mule or a human being.
"After a mosquito has once filled Itself
with blood, according to tradition,
it proceeds to die, but I do not believe
this has been scientifically demonstrated.
As far as known, it never
makes a second attack on an animal.
The males never bother us at all, but
there seems to be enough females to
go around. It Is peculiar that an Insect
should be placed on this earth with
the sole object of extracting a little
blood from an animal, when It does not
need the blood for food or any other
purpose, so far as known. And then
think of the billions of them that die
without ever seeing a mammal.
"Methods of exterminating mosquitoes
have been reduced to an exact
science by the army surgeons who have
been compelled to make their study an
object of special research, and it is an
easy matter to get rid of them when
the stagnant water where they lay
their eggs can be found. Contrary to
the belief of some people, they do not
require hot weather to live prosperously.
They enjoy life in a snowdrift
and are often found above the
snow line in the mountains."
The Fort Lawton soldiers are still
keeping indoors to avoid the onslaughts
of the salt water mosquitoes that have
Invaded the posts. The hands of the
men who are compelled to work outdoors
during the day are covered with
tiny swellings that show where the
j mosquitoes have been.
J "Grasshoppers are nearly as bad as
Ithe mosquitoes," said one of the sol-1
j diers today. "With the mosquitoes
j swarming: around us from above and
j myriads of grasshoppers hopping on to
3 us from below, army life here is becoming
a nightmare. The mosquitoes
do not devour vegetation, anyhow, but
the grasshoppers are stripping all the
flower beds."
NAVY MARKSMEN SHIP.
Gunners Show Great Advance In Skill
Since War With Spain.
During the year 1896 and part of
1897, says Admiral Evans in Hampton's
Broadway magazine, Rear Admiral
Bunce, then commanding the
IVortn Atlantic squauruu ui mc
lean navy, undertook systematic target
practice for the first time In our
navy with modern high-powered guns
and torpedoes. He was fully aware,
as most of us seagoing officers were,
that our hitting power with guns was
far from satisfactory and the torpedoes
were even worse, and he proceeded
to Improve It as far as he could.
The first practice was held on what
was known as the northern drill
ground off the coast of New Jersey
and was in every way a departure
from the methods previously followed.
A target was moored, ships anchored
to mark the shots, and each
ship in turn ran along the base of the
triangle opposite the target and fired
as rapidly as she could for a period
of about six minutes. I commanded
the Indiana, our first battleship, at
the time, and the fire of her battery
was watched with Intense interest.
Our 13-inch guns were fired, each of
them, once In three minutes and we
occasionally put a shell through the
target. The six-Inch guns fired about
three shots per minute and the slxpounders
six to eight shots. At our
last practice In 1908 the 13-lnch guns
averaged nearly two hits on the target
per minute?no,t, you will observe, two
shots only, but two hits; the six-inch
guns went as high as twelve hits per
minute, though the average Is much
below that. The record for slxpounders
ran up as high as twenty
hits per minute. I state all this to
show how we have advanced in accuracy
and rapidity of fire since Admiral
Bunce started us in the right
direction.
The result of this first practice was
surprising. Some enterprising newspaper
man found out the cost of the
ammunition we hud expended, and
his paper, joined by a number of
others, gave us a fine line of abuse
for wasting the money of the tax-payers
and firing away ammunition we
might some day need. The Spanish
war cathe a few months later and we
were enabled to repay our tax-payers
in a measure for our wasteful practices
of the previous year. The same
newspapers gave us praise for our
good shooting and did not indicate
* fnoll'/o/l hniv fih.
mi any way iiiui mr/ ican^u
surd their conduct had been in the
first case. If Admiral Bunce had not
drilled us as he did I feel sure the
battle of Santiago would not have
have been the clean-cut, businesslike
job it was. One naval officer has had
the. hardihood to state before a committee
of congress that our shooting
at Santiago was disgraceful. If we
can judge by results, this officer was
clearly wrong in the Impression he
tried to convey, in fact, did convey, to
the committee. One thing we may be
sure of, and that is that he will have
a small following among those who
fought in that battle.
^tisrrltanrous grading.
"THE LAW AND THE SOUTH."
Wherf Wtalth and Position Aro. Safeguards
/.gainst Punishment.
The Columbia State.
Within the last few days judgment
has been rendered in three criminal
cases in this country that are of more
than ordinary interest. In New York
Charles W. Morse, bank wrecker, has
been convicted and sentenced to fifteen
years in the penitentiary. In Virginia,
E. W. Overby, bank wrecker,
has been acquitted by a jury of twelve
men. In Georgia, T. W. Alexander,
convicted bank wrecker, has been pardnnpri
hv Hip nrlsnn cnmmlsalnn and
Governor Smith.
The case of Morse the public Is familiar
with, his large career as a
financier, his accumulation of a fortune
of a hundred or two millions, his control
of vast enterprises In New York,
his connection with the Ice pool, his
final collapse, his embezzlement, his
conviction and his recent sentencing to
fifteen years In the penitentiary.
E. W. Overby was formerly cashier
of the bank of Mecklenburg, at Boydton,
Va. He embezzled the funds of
the bank and wrecked the Institution.
His trial has just been concluded. There
was absolutely no dispute as to the
facts; they were undeniable and acknowledged.
Overby In fact pleaded
guilty to the principal charge against
him. But the jury was of "the vicinage,"
as the law hath it, they knew the
accused, knew his family and felt sorry
for him. So in' the face of the facts,
In the face of the law, and against the
rights of society, they brought in a
verdict of not guilty! The indignant
and courageous judge, Judge Barksdale,
publicly reprimanded the Jury
and denominated their action as a
plain and flagrant disregard of the law
and of justice. But Overby was acquitted?and
the prosecution has no
redress.
The public hereabout Is probably
more or less familiar with the case of
T. W. Alexander. He was a prominent
business man In Augusta; he was
equally prominent socially. He became
Involved, embezzled funds from
one of the Augusta banks and wrecked
It Alexander was tried, convicted and
sentenced to six years in the state
penitentiary. Now. after two years of
his service, the prison commission of
Georgia and Governor Smith have pardoned
him. The arguments on which
the pardon was based are of more than
ordinary Interest. In the first place It
was argued that because of certain circumstances
the sentence of Alexander
was longer than It might have been
otherwise. These circumstances were
as follows. We quote from an Atlanta
dispatch to the Augusta Chronicle:
"In the application for pardon, It Is
set forth that Mr. Alexander's term
was much longer than would have been
the case but for an odd circumstance
connected with the laws of the state.
It was first understood that his term
would be no more than two or three
years. Then it was discovered that
such a sentence would place him on a
county road chaingang. Richmond
county was short of its pro rata share
of convicts at that time, and the
| chance was that he would be sent back
to his home to serve the sentence,
where infinite humiliation to himself
would not alone result, but undeserved
pain and embarrassment to his relatives
caused."
It would seem that only short term
convicts may be used on the chaingangs,
and so to avoid the necessity of
putting Mr. Alexander on the chaingang
it was determined instead to give
him the long sentence and send him to
the penitentiary?where after a time
the opportunity of a pardon would be
offered.
Then, too, there was another interesting
and forceful circumstance. We
quote again from the same dispatch
to the Chronicle:
"Beside the circumstance of the sentence,
it was set forth that the punishment
had been adequate as two
years for a man of Mr. Alexander's refinement
amounted to more than 20 for
the ordinary criminal; that his continued
confinement will punish numbers
of innocent and very reputable
relatives more than himself; that he
has been model in his conduct and is
anxious to begin life anew and reclaim
his lost prestige while still on the
bright side of the meridian.
This is interesting and it is new law.
We had always imagined that the law
knew no distinctions, that it prescribed
certain terms for certain offenses and
questions of a gentleman's "refinement,"
not to speak of the feelings of
his relatives and the opportunities of
the gentleman's resuming his business
and regaining his "lost prestige" while
still on "the bright side of the meridian,"
had nothing to do with the expatiation
of a criminal offense. Those
of not so tender hearts and consciences
as the prison commission of Georgia
and Governor Smith will be disposed
to ask the question why Mr. Alexander
did not think of his "refinement" and
of his relatives and of his "bright
meridian" before he embezzled the
funds of the bank.
These three cases carry their own
moral?a moral which we are sad to
| confess is not pleasant to the south.
*? wn Hosximqo wp have not the
I ll iUaj WV WWWWMV .. ?
same respect for the law, It may be
because we all know one another In
the south and respect for the "refinement"
of folk or regard for the feelings
of their "relatives" frustrates the enforcement
of the law, but at any rate
and for whatever cause the unhappy
truth remains that we of the south do
not enforce the law as do the people
of the north. To our shame be it said,
that it is the negro or the moneyless
white of the south that gets Justice.
Persons that can plead their "refinement"
or can plead their "relatives" or
something else equally foreign to the .
administration of equal justice get?
well they got out of jail, or they never
get into jail. %
The south must take account of itself.
We are now so cursed with lawlessness
that honest and decent and
I right-loving citizens must hang their
j heads in shame. We have often, and
earlier, recognized murder as a flno
|art: and if we do not mend we shall
soon give equal recognition to the art
of plain theft. The south must enforce
its laws, it must protect life and
->ronertv. or honest, decent, peaceable
men must leave the south.
"r The rabbit's range of vision takes
in the entire horizon.