University of South Carolina Libraries
BY E. B. MURRAY & CO. " ANDERSON, S. C, THURSDAY MORNING, APRIL 1, 1886._VOLUME \XI.->0. 38. T?A?H^'?oi/UMN. J. G. CLINKSCALES, Editob. Our readers will, no doubt, expect some account, in this issue, of tbe pro? ceedings of the Teachers' Association on last Saturday. They will please not for? get that the Teachers' Column is printed on Friday of every week. We hope to give full account of proceedings next week. Whatever may be your business, it i3 of the highest importance that you keep a set of neat, legible, comprehensible books. Thousands of men know not how they stand financially because they never take the pains to have a well-kept record of their business transactions. It is said that George Washington, while an humble citizen on bis farm in old Vir? ginia, before he was known as the father of his country, kept a set of neat books and could tell exactly what it cost him to raise every crop. Every field was named and charged with every load of manure and every day's work put upon it, aud in the fall, credited with every bushel of corn or pound of tobacco it yielded. How many farmers in Ander? son County take the trouble or pains to ^ keep such records ? How many can tell, even approximately, what it costs to raise a single crop ? Many have sons well ad? vanced at school: would it not be a good idea to require these boys to keep the books for the farm ? It would certainly be of great advantage to the boy, and might prove interesting and helpful to tbe farmer. It is no more important that a merchant have well-kept books than that the farmer have them; the larger the farm, the more varied and extensive the business, the greater the necessity for such books. The cotton gin, the saw mill, the thresher, the grist mill, the little store, all come in for their share of attention, for their places in the book that sho ws the standing of the proprietor and tbe relation of the different branches of business. A copy of Meservey's Sin? gle Entry Book-Keeping would expedite business on many a farm and greatly facilitate, its management. If the son is not competent or not careful enough to risk with the responsibilities of book? keeper, entrust it to tbe daughter. Girls as a general thing write better, and are neater, than boys. A copy of the book above mentioned might prove a blessing to you: get one and learn its simple and useful lessons. Last week we remarked about the great necessity for better school-houses. Let the subject be kept before the people. Let us reiterate: we must have better houses before we can reasonably expect to have public schools of higher grade. Considering the small amount of money appropriated for the support of the pub? lic schools, and considering the admitted ability of our people to provide better houses with their own hands and means, it is unfair, unreasonable and impolitic to ask the District Trustees to build or repair houses by appropriating the public fund. As has been already suggested, let the good citizens iu every neighbor? hood determine to take steps in this mat? ter as soon as the crops are "-laid by." Saw-mills are not scarce, aud timber is plentiful, at least not so scarce that An? derson County can not afford an abun? dant supply for all the school-houses she needs : then, if you find it inconvenient to contribute of your means, consent and move to give three days' or even a week's work with your own hands to the im? provement of the house your children are to occupy during the cold days of next winter. But again. In towns aud cities, hot suppers and various other en? terprises are frequently resorted to for the purpose of raising mouey to bo ex? pended in the improvement of church buildings. Why may not our f-ier.ds in the country, with enterpr:>i..6- spirit, in a similar way procure funds sufficient to beautify their school-houses and make them comfortable? It can be done. Such an enterprise in the month of July or August would be a pleasant recreation for the many sprightly girls, young ladies and young men all over the County. We are in earnest in this matter. Can not our teachers work up an interest that will lead to something of this kind ? Talk about it. Talk to your neighbors and patrons. In every community, some man can be found whose heart throbs in unison with the teacher's: touch him kindly, politely, but candidly. Don't pnt your finger in your mouth and whine about the dreadful condition of the house and the little progress the_ children have made in consequence thereof, until you have made at least one honest effort to better the condition of affairs. What neighborhood will put the ball in mo? tion? Mb. Editor : Our sebool at Bethany Church, in Martin Township, has been flourishing in spite of the bad weather. We have forty-three pupils enrolled. We did not close January when public money suspended, but fear we will be compelled to close tbe fim of April. We practice Calisthenics, and find it very interesting to the children. Please say what geography you think best for be? ginners. Can't you favor us with a call ? We would be pleased to sec you. I do so much want to do my full duty in the school room. Nettie Hall. prefer Cornell's Geography for be? ginners. After completing the first two steps in Cornell's, take up Maury's Man? ual, or Appleton's Geography; either is good.?Ed.] Mr. Editor : It has been our inten tion for somo time to let you hear from the Mountain Creek School, but felt a little timidity in attempting to do so. We have a full school, and are getting on nicely. We are at present devoting our energies principally to arithmetic. Of course, we find the black board indis? pensable iu this study ; and it is used at every recitation. We also use it in teaching spelling, and find that it fully repays for the time consumed. Our most advanced pupils study Webster's Dictionary, and are required to mark the words. We have also adopted Dr. Lan? der's plan of calling attention to words we have heard mispronounced by writing them on the black-board and having the whole school pronounce them correctly. This has a wonderful tendency to make the pupils careful iu their pronunciation. We have not introduced the pass-book exercise, though only because we have not sufficient room for the class. Some time ago you recommended Reed &Kellogg's ''Graded Lessons in English" for beginners. We are using it, and find it superior to any grammar we have ever tried. The diagrams make it very sim? ple; and the pupils learn to parse with remarkable ease and correctness. We have daily calistheuic exercise, and it is quite an attractive feature of our school. vVhen you are visiting, come to see us. Alice Davis. Mb. Editor : Having beeu a boy, a Btudent, and a teacher, we are provoked to take issue with a writer in the Teach? ers' Column who, in speaking of stimu? lants for students, says, "tho best stimu? lant as yet known for boys uuder sixteen is the teacher's cane." Let us look at this. Corporal punishment in the school? room, as an educator, is brutish because it tries to do by brute force what should be accomplished by a judicious use of the higher powers of our being, namely, the mind aud heart. Do you train a horse by beating him? Nbs it is by kind treatment. A boy is much more than a horse, therefore gain his obedience by love, and if you want work done in the school-room, or desire to teach that boy, it will be easier accomplished. The idea that knowledge is only obtained by coming in contact with the teacher's rod has beeu outlived a half century ago. Corporal punishment is contrary to all principles of human treatment, based upon the will, reason and higher feelings of our nature. Every child, old enough to leave its mother and attend school, has some will, feeling, reason and a sense of honor. Now if these muscular school teachers are lacking in the quality of brains and heart, which would appeal to the honor, sympathy and love of their pupils, they will serve the country better by digging ditches or mauling rails. To prevent an evil is worth ten thous? and remedies after the evil is committed. Corporal punishment, in the main, is a remedy used by the short sighted, lazy teacher. The successful teacher always has tact and forethought to see ahead far enough so as to use preventive measures, thereby saving his pupils and himself from this unpleasant, harmful task of using the cowhide. This cure-all of the uncivilized has been discarded by the greatest educators of the day as a barba? rous practice. The most progressive State in the Uuion, in all that tends to? wards educating the masses, has enacted laws which arc rigidly enforced against this method of punishment. A teacher who can not inspire children by cheerfulness, firmness, earnestness and hard work, studying each pupil's disposition and mental capacity, thereby kuowing just what he needs and when to give it, had better try some other busi? ness. Young man, young woman, if your whole mind, body, soul and spirit are not in this work, leave the field and try something else. True, your pay is a mere pittance, but remember you are dealing with human souls. Your posi? tion is eveu more responsible than that of a parent, because when the bell rings the child's will i3 yours completely. You feed only the miud and heart. Were not tbe houis of play given that you might still belter prosecute your work, mouldiog and shaping the child's future destiny? In tbe home, a large part of the mother's time is spent in providing food aud clothing for the chil? dren, so sho teaches less. There is one sure road to success in a school-room: control yourself, keep every pupil at work, give them so much to do that they have no time for mischief. This can be done only by putting your own brains to work to devise aud hunt up methods that are practical. Other people's methods, unless made your own, will not succeed. A lazy man, or woman, is a curse to civ? ilization. They have no right to wear out their clothes sitting around in a school-room at the country's expense, re? tarding the development of the minds of pupils who are soon to take the respon? sibilities of life as men, women and citi? zens., I give this last a3 a pointer for all school officers. j. R. Newton. About Marrying Late iu Life. A man who marries late in life is in danger of marrying out his generation, and generally contrives to select the per? son least iu sympathy with him or his pursuits?one who cares more for his bank account than for his tastes of feel? ing, who has no association with his youth or heyday, and no reminiscences in common. Somebody, indeed, once remarked to Mr. Edgeworth that "no? body but a fool would venture to make his first speech in parliament or marry after fifty." Both of which things Mr Edgeworth committed, if we mistake not But there seems to be no legitimate rea? son why a mau or womau should not marry after fifty, or why they should seem ridiculous in so doing, other things being equal. Why should not one be as capable of love at fifty as at twenty-five? Has one age a monopoly of love over another? May not one love better at fifty than younger, with a larger nature, enriched by thought and experience, deepened by failure or success? The love of twenty-five may be but a fleeting surface passion beside this other?a mere sham and glamour, subject to change and chance, which the next pair of vel? vet eyes may dispel. Balzac says that men are most dangcrons to women after fifty; that is, their powers have ripenol and mellowed, and they have learned better how to employ them; love is an idea! to them, aud not a pastime; they have discovered what qualities they pre? fer, what of attractions are durable and independent of ago or circumstances.? Harpers* ?asaar. ? It is beautiful to behold the sorrow stricken air of the parent as he "gives tbe bride away," when you know that for the last ten years he has been trying his best to get her off his hands. OUR NEW YORK LETTER, [From our Regular Correspondent.] New York, March 27, 1SSG. "Free gospel services here and no col? lection"?such is the sign that floats in front of the Academy of Music, as an inducement for sinners to enter and par? take of the bread and water of life. Two or three hundred years ago our fathers considered no sacrifice too great for the same privilege, which to-day goes begging and catches only a few worthless sinners at that. They would take the chance of being scalped by an Indian. If they had a meeting-house, it was cold as a city relation's welcome?the seats were as hard as their own doctrines?and the sermons a trial of faith, alougside of which, martyrdom itself was paradise. Yet they could stand a Jong tramp through the mud or snow?a cold meet? ing-house, a long sermon, and a certain collection for the sake of going to church. In the city of Brooklyn, where this gos? pel banner hangs, the crop of sinners is bountiful; they aro but little better, if any, than we are on thisside of the river, and I regret to add that this attractive invitation failed to fill the house. Here indeed is the g03pel without money and without price. The house is comfortable and roomy; the seats are soft aod elegant; the music stirring and harmonious, and the Reverend George F. Pentecost being the minister, we have every reason to suppose that the preaching was average ly good. Yet, sinners come not and the harvest is not great. When the house was at all full it was with saints?not sinners, and I have noticed in several of Mr. Moody's meetings he had to ask the saints to keep moving or take a back scat that sinners might come to the front. Yet, here we have an evangelist, however, who never wants an audience?an humble evaugelist it is true?not heard of as the Moodys, the Sankeys, the Talmages, or the Beechers; but an evangelist whose name will without a doubt be found engraven on one of the brightest pages of the lamb's book of life. Doetor Ken yon has. cast his lot among the flotsam and jetsam of the slums. Twice a week this humble follower of Christ gathers around him his unsavory congregation. They are just such as the Priest and the Levite would pass by. They arc unkempt and ragged, foul and ill-mannered ; just such material however as needs by mortal man. Brother Kenyoa Understands that a hungry sinner is rather poor material to translate into a spotless saint, so he makes an insiduous attack upon Satan by filling the unrepeutant siuner with bread, coffee aod beef, and then when his stomach is comfortably filled, he makes a lively flank movement on the devil and knocks him out.. It is one of the eights of the town to see the good shepherd feeding his flock?he not only supplies their immediate needs with good solid chunks of bread and meat and copious draughts of coffee which is no libel on ^ts name, but ho fills their bas? kets and bags with potatoes, turnips, cabbage, flour, corn meal, oatmeal, sugar, salt and other things which are more potent with his audience than all the sermons that were ever preached or all the hymns that were ever sung. It is no uncommon thing for this evangelist of the streets to give away a barrel of sugar, three or four barrels of flour, a half dozen barrels of potatoes, a box of lea, a sack of coffee, two or three hundred cab? bages and five or six boxes of soap. He impresses on his congregation that "cleanliness is next to godliness," and in order to be cleanly they must use soap. i3 this not the kind of Christianity that made His name immortal, who wandered among the hills aod by the sea of Galilee nearly niueteen hundred years ago? But there be sinners here that no gospel ever reaches, and to whom regeneration seems almost an impossibility ; of this charac? ter is the average New York Aldermen. The great body of them graduate from the slums. The keeper of a whiskey mill is a more potent factor in our poli? tics than the president of a bank or the pastor of a church. The fact of a mau having served a term in the penitentiary seems to be no bar to his political ad? vancement, and therefore New York is not appalled when she discovers that one of her late council was a receiver of stolen goods. Convenient to all of our great thoroug fares, aloug in the side streets, may be seen little shops garnished with the sign "old gold and silver bought and .sold." In a tray or two in the windows are the movements of watches from which the cases have beeu stripped, and all marks by which they could be identified care? fully removed. Here very often may be seen quaint old pieces of silver, but the great body of the swag goes into the crucible as soon as it is received. These are receivers of stolen goods. A Mrs. Williams' house was robbed of a large quantity of valuable plate, aud aided by some smart detectives she traced her property to the .shop of Alderman Jaehne, whose business was buying old gold and silver. The Alderman like Ikey Solo? mons" did not let the grass grow under his feet after the swag came into his possession. What did he do with it? "Vy, I pops it into de crucible, my dea." Spoons, ladles, coffee pots, teapots, try a aud sugar tongs all went into the crucible aud when the detective got there all except some few pieces had disappeared and were melted into good solid bars At first tho Alderman was defiant, then he tried to bribe the officer, and finally as the meshes of the law closed in upon him he compromised with the lady by paying her ? 1,100 the value of her stolen plate, and thus escaped State's prison us a receiver of stolen gooJs. Nice timber this for a city father. Excellent material for a political boss. This worthy was an Alderman when the franchise of the Broadway railroad was before the Com? mon Council. His salary as an Alder? man was $2,000. Yet, living like a fight? ing cock at the rate of $1/5,000 per an? num, by 1: >ok or by crook ho contrived in a couple of years to save nearly 920,000. Till-? might he called political economy with a vrngeancp, Lu; as I said, nobody was surprised. If yt.u look in the L-utter for your rulers you cannot expect thera to be immaculate. The unkempt con? stituents of Jimmy Oliver and Fatty Walsh who hold their nightly orgies at Paradise Park (formerly the Five Points), arc not Civil Service reformers; large numbers of them have done the State service in some of her public institutions. The highest types of humanity in the Ould Sixth Ward are the keepers of the whiskey-mills and the sluggers. In view of the revelations of tbe past few weeks thinking men are seriously asking them? selves, is popular government a failure? One of the most instructive features of the week was the issuance of an extra with a full account of the fight between Jack Dempsey and Le Blanche the Marine. To have gone into any of the public places or hotels for several days before the fight, one would have thought that some great national affair waa pend? ing, which was to decide the fate of an entire people. Sporting men watched and reporters were on the alert. Brokers slipped off of 'change. Bankers got excused by tho finance committee as they had important business. Many mer? chants had sudden calls to the country, and not a few church professors were anxious. The original subscription of $2,200 was made up by thirty gentlemen subscribers. Each paying $75 for tho privilege of seeing the fun. They sat up two nights. They were chased by the officers out of two States, and on the night, of the mill they were out most of the night in a miserable little tug boat on the Sound, and then in the cold grey of a Winter morniug they were landed on a barren island ; and under an old shed they saw the two brutes pound each other out of all human shape for nearly an hour. Glorious amusement! happy country, fortunate people to possess such redoubtable champions! It is no use trying to deny it, Brooklyn, the city of churches felt as proud as a peacock of the performance of her distiuguished son. I have no doubt but if Jack Demp? sey had been put up for an Alderman within twenty-four hours after the fight, he could have been triumphantly elected in one half the w.ards in the city. A pleasant young gentleman is now in the hands of the law, and it promises to be some time before he geU out. He is good looking, only thirty-three years of age, but he rejoices in the possession of no less than four wives, and very differ? ent from most persons placed in a similar position, he does not attempt to deny it, but seems to think that so many con? quests were quite a feather in his cap. His first wife he married ten years ago. Three years of wedded bliss was all he could stand?so one fine day he vanished, taking the best of his wife's clothes, and she never set eyes on him again till she saw him behind the bars last Wednesday morning. For seven years she had been mourning the lost of her sealskin sacque and fine silk dresses, and iu the hour of her desplation she swore that she would pursue the rascal to the end of theearthi and jump off after him till she caught bim. His next venture was with his landlady, to whom he owed a board bill, which he settled with a marriage certifi? cate, and after a honeymoon of three weeks vanished with the lady's fiuger rings and a fine gold watch. A year or two after he met a young dressmaker, who by rigid economy for years had saved the comfortable sum of $750, with which she intended to start business ; she went into partnership with this gay Lo? thario ; he got possession of her fuuds aud she saw him no more. He then found a widow, and tried his delusive arts on her; he forgot the advice of the elder Weiler?"Samuel, bevare ov the widders." This was the ro.-.k on which he split. She had been there before. Her .'orty-two summers had uot been wasted. If she had a house aud lot, and an account at the Savings Bauk, she was eminently qualified to take care of them. Under pretence of buying some furniture, however, he got possession of ?250, and he suddenly disappeared ; but Nemesis was o n his track in the shape of a widow, and she went for him. She hunted up the other three wives?got all the proofs together, and finally landed the gentle? man in limbo on Saturday last. Moral : Don't fool with a widow. Very truly yours, Broadbrim. A New Cereal. A New Jersey farmer can claim the glory of having brought into existence a cereal which may prove of incalculable value to the race. He has succeeded in making a cross between the wheat and rye plants. The propagation organs of the former are so guarded by nature that no other cereal can impregnate it. But this Jcrseyman by removing the male or? gans from the wheat, and exposing the seed has succeeded in fertilizing it from Pollen from the rye plant. These ex? periments have continued for several years, and this spring there will be plant? ed probably a hundred of these hybri? dized seed, which ought to produce over five thousand seed iu the fall. Of course all agriculturists are aw.ire of the im? mense importance of a new cereal that would combine tho qualities of the wheat and rye plants. But it may be necessary to explain to those who are not farmers what some of these are. Rye can grow iu poorer soil, and matures quicker than wheat. Good crops of it are raised on soils which have been impoverished by wheat growing. This is true of three fourths of the arable soil of the United States. This new hybrid, if extensively grown, would give us an immense advan? tage over the rest of the world, for it could be raised almost anywhere in the United States, and so cheaply that we could undersell the world. Of course this is assuming that the seed would make almost as good flour as wheat and that it would be as easy to raise as rye. It is surprising that more attempts have not been made to improve the products of the soil. Is it not possible that more weeds (for wheat and rye were once weeds) could be utilized by the inventions and labors of man? What wonders have been accomplished in the way of the im? provements in fruits! Experiments are now making with Ramie grass which may yet give us a cloth almost a? cheap as cotton, while as durable and beautiful as damask or line velvet.--rDemnrcst'.* Monthly/or March. ? Eighteen thousand homesteads have beeu entered in Florida during the. past year. LIFE IN THE COUNTRY. Rill Arp nml his Children Gardening; Counlry life is getting variegated now. The spring has opened fairly aod every? thing seems to know it. The willows are a palish green, the maples a maroonish red, aud the peach trees are dressing up in all shades of piuk and white. The hens are laying all around, and want everybody to take notice that there is one more egg in the nest. The guineas are cackling and chattering merrily and make as much to do over nothing as a parsel of school girls at recess. The turkey gobblers' wings are scraping the ground, and the gaudy peacock displays bis tail with as much pride as a crazy woman displays her crazy quilt. The Indian summer's sun shines with a soft and subdued radiance, aud tho silver moon reflects the same gentle light by night. It is good time for a man to be at home and enjoy nature and see wife aud children happy at this relief from a long, lingering winter, a hard winter, that brought us trouble and affliction. I am gardening now and have lots of help. The children do all the stooping and planting, while I prepare the ground and Mrs. Arp kindly sets in the piazza and looks on, and that always hopes me up mightly, as Cobe say.s. Just so she is in sight we can all work a heap better, for if we don't she is apt to make a re? mark or two, and if she don't remark at all she looks at us with a peculiar tone of voice that is all the same. It is a fact that I can work a heap better when under the sunshine of her presence. All day I have been stretching the garden line and opening the rows through the mellow land. I want them straight, straight as a bee line, and the borders ? straight and the surface smooth and mellow! Then when the potatoes and onions and the peas and radishes and beets and okra and. early corn come up they look lik? a land carpenter had been about. I like thc3e long beds across a large garden for the plow can be used by a careful hand and save a world of labor. I did not use to mind digging, but now I dodge all work that bends me low and strains my antiquated back. I love the perpendicular attitude the best, and so the children drop the peas and plant the onion sets, and the beets, and the rad? ishes, and soforth, and tie up l?e grape vines, and rako up the scattered leaves, and prune the rose bushes, and laugh, and talk, and make a frolic and keep things lively while the paternal ancestor directs aud walks around and mixes labor with rest and rest with labor in pleasant communiou. Ever and anon the chick? ens slip in at the open gate or fly over the fence and go to scratching, and the children's dog grubs a hole just whore he oughten't and when we run him out he always takes down a fresh covered row with his big feet aud then I have to rake it over again. Last spring the pen fowls eat up the young cabbage plant by plant, and to day they got after the onion sets and lifted them out one by one and laid them down again while we were at din? ner. There is always some trouble about everything and the only remedy is to watch and work and be patient. Eter? nal vigilance is the price of a good gar? den as well as of liberty. I've lost a hand this spring, a good hand, for the well boy with the sick legs can do noth? ing but sit in his chair in the arbor and look on and cheer up Carl and Jessie, and tell them how to do. Sometimes he holds up by the lattice aud says, "look at me," but he can't hold up long, and comes down prematurely with a heavy thump on his chair. Sometimes we prop him up on his crutches with his back against the wall and let him swing his helpless legs for exercise but he gets about pretty well on his all-fours, and says he is just fixed to play bear with the little chaps, and he brags because his legs follow where he moves. His mother and I call him Ralph, but, these chil? dren sometimes call him Mephi and sometimes Boshcth aud Meph and Bosh and Mephibosheth, the son of Saul who wars lame in both of his legs. There is no limit to the rolicking mischief of children. They will "catch on" to all the slang that is agoing. I tried to break mine of saying "chawed" when one of them got "set down on," and so they compromised on "mastication." A stranger called to see me the other day, I heard one of the youngest chaps tell an? other that papa made a mash on him. Well, I reckon they will get over it after awhile. They have to take this disease just like having the measles. One of the girls told Curl that he had a dreadful temper and if he didn't mend it it would bring him into trouble, and the little rascal said : "Well papa says he had a dreadful temper too when he was a boy, but he got over it when he was grown, and I am not grown yet, you see!" He is the milk boy now aud first does rate and we praise him. Praise is a good thing in a family. I like it so well my? self that I dispense a good deal of it to the children when I know they deserve it. Praise for good deeds is worth more than scolding for bad ones. Old parents don't scold as much as young parents but they look sad and show that their feelings are hurt. But still it is all right all around. The first children who come must have rigid management to mould them in the right way and the last will have the influence of their good example and not need much whipping. It is barefoot times now and Carl is happy. He can wade in the branch and Jessie looks on with sorrow for her mother says it is too soon for her and has put her off fir a month. It makes u:e sorrowful, too, fori reckon I will never wade in a branch again. Too late, too late. Time out. Put I don't see why. If Ju,!ge Iilcckley can wade in a branch and give no shock to society or good manners I don't see why 1 shouldn't. Suppose wo ail break loose and wade in the branch ? women and men, old and young, rich and poor. Let Judge Jackson and Joe Brown and old father Norcross and the like throw off the shackles and start out and the rest will follow. I would like lo.se? them and their calves wading. 1 forget myself yesterday and run after a rabbit before I thought about age and infirmity. T wsia in the woods with an ax and two boys and three dogs, and the dng* jumped a rabbit and ho ran right into us, making for a hollow log, and we all went for him and I fell over the log and had hard work to rise again. I sat down and blowed like a porpoise. The same dogs ran a rabbit through the gar? den to-day while we were all at work, and the girls and boys all dropped every? thing and ran and screamed and shouted, but I never moved. The. like of that always uislresses Mrs. Arp, for she don't want anything in the world killed or scared to death or hunted down. Well, I believe she does except some little things like bedbugs, rats and snakes, and she wouldent kill them if they would keep at a respectable distance. But she is right chicken-hearted and loves chick? en like other preachers, though I don't believe she ever would eat one if she had to kiil it herself. She is partial to oysters and says they haveut got life enough to enjoy it, and she thiuk3 that fat hogs were created for sausage meat and spare rib, and haveut got much of a life to lose. While I write these random thoughts there are children and grandchildren all around me, kicking up an unusual rum? pus. The older ones had promised a show to-night, and so the little chaps were put off in the parlor until the show was ready. "The Dutch Doll" was the show, and after they had fixed up Aunt Betty, as they called her, they sent off to the cabin and got the cook woman to come in and hide behind the big doll and play Aunt Betty, and work her arms, and wine her no.?e, and talk for her, and sing for her, and I never did seo a passel of | children so mystified and interested. They looked around the room and saw no one of the family missing. All here, and I still Aunt Betty seemed to have voice and life and action aud no amount of persuaion could induce the little chaps to go near and shake hands. It was a good show and I enjoyed it as much as the children. These household plays and frolics arc a good part of life's pleasure to me yet, aud give assurance that the time has not come when the grasshopper shall be a burden. As loDg as I love to sec others happy I am con? tent to live. Bill Ar.p. Wonders of the Sky. Gen. Johnstone Jones, son of Col. C. Jfir.es, of York County, recently visited the Naval Observatory at Washington, and upon his return borne wrote his father an interesting letter descriptive of what he saw there. We have been per? mitted to make the following extracts from the letter: Remembering your suggestion as to looking at Saturn through the great telescope, I procured a letter of intro? duction to Commodore Belknap from his son in-law Dr. Westray Battle, who re? sides here, and called at the Naval Ob? servatory. The Commodore received me kindly, and invited me to look through the telescope the first fair night. Tho night of February 9th was tolerably fair, and I visited the Observatory, and in company with the Commodore and his wife called upon Professor Hall, who has charge of the great instrument. I saw Saturn, his rings and satellites ; the nebuhe in Orion; Sirius; the Moon; the Pleiades, and the star Aldebaron. Of all these eight Saturn was the grand? est and most beautiful; but the nebuhe in Grion the most sublime and impres? sive. Saturn appeared a perfectly round, smooth ball, with well defined edges, as yellow as gold, and without scintillation. The sphere was encircled by two bright, flat rings of the same color as the planet, separated by a dar!: line, supposed to be empty space between them. All along the interior edge of tho inside ring was a cloudy or vaporous appearance. The rings had clear cut edges and seemed to be solid bodies. In the black space sur? rounding these luniiuous bodies shone the eight satellites?each a brilliant star ?a diamond point of clear, steady, sil? very-white light?at unequal distances from the rings. It appeared to be about the size of the full moon. The wonder of the spcctable is greatly iucreased when jve reflect that it is 790 millions of milts distant from tho earth, or S30 millions from the sun, and that it is more than fifty times as large as the earth. Com? pared to this ringed-wonder of the skies our planet is small, commonplace and insignificant. The Pleiades under the power of the telescope spread out into about thirty beautiful stars. They seemed a handful ! of diamonds strewn on the sky, without order or system. Sirius, the largest of the fixed stars, if not the nearest, was brilliant beyond de? scription. It scintillated violently, flashing out a reddish, yellowish light. The Moon seemed a great snow field, with the crater, the mountains, and the shadows of the mountains all plainly visible. These shadows, made by the distant sun, filled me with a feeling of indescribable awe. I had always thought the moon appeared dark under the tele? scope, but the only dark spots about it are the shadows of the mountains on the plains and valleys. Tho most sublime spectacle is the nebuhe in Orion. It is a faint, whitish cloud, shaped like a ploughshare. In the centre are four brilliant stars?called the Trapezium? flanked by two stars that appear to be in the cloud?veiled, as it were. Whether they are in this nebi. lous matter, or on the other side of it, seen though it as through a veil, is an unsolved and most puzzling question. Off beloK the point, which juts out into I the black, empty sp.ice. appear two beautiful stars, with no nebulous matter around them. This field nf cloud must j be many millions of miles in extent, and the stars each a great sun, the centre of some mighty solar system, perhaps. At this immense distance Saturn would not be seen at all, even with the greatest telescope; our own sun would appear but a small point of light?size of a star as it appears to the naked eye. This nebuhe and the Trapezium cannot bp seen with the naked eye. When I meet you again 1 will lei! yon more of these wonders nf tin' sky. The subject is one all unfamiliar to my vocabulary. ? It is the man who can't raise the wind who does the most blowing. HARD FACTS ABOUT 1TGHTIMJ. General Olllccrs Who get Glory While Privates do llio Work. As wo, year by year, grow away from the war, and the number of men who carried a rifle or swung a sponge staff among the guns grows smaller, the coun? try is flooded with mythical accounts of this or that officer's wonderful di.-play of courage on such and such field*, and the rising generation is called upon to admire the gallautry of the warlike commanders of their ancestors. I protest against the further manufacture of sham military reputation. I know, and all soldiers know, that the greater portion of the stories now current must be false. An officer dies and at once the news? papers and magazines are filled with accounts of his bravery and of the valo? rous deeds he performed, and how he saved the Union on such a battlefield. We are solemnly told thai his presence inspired his troops, just ready to break, or already in flight, and they, nerved by a glance of his blazing eyes, reformed anil rushed madly on the foe and snatch? ed victory from defeat. This is rot, unmitigated rot. The distinguishing characteristics of the American volunteer were his inde? pendence of thought, his want of rever eii2e for those in authority, and his abili? ty to lake care of himself in battle and to correctly judge of its tide. He had no respect for any general whom he did not believe to possess the qualifications essen? tial to a great.commander. Therefore none of our general ->fficcrs inspired him at all. When the volunteer fought on the ollensive he fought well and steadily as long as lie thought there was a pros? pect of success. On the defensive he wnuld fight to the death if he knew that it was essential to the safety of the army to hold the position ho occupied. He would assault earthworks, it mattered not how strong they were, savagely, and carry tliem if it was possible. But, hav? ing once seen the work at closo range, aud having thoroughly felt of its defend er? and realized that the line could not be carried, he would not again make a dc terrain cd assault. In one instance, at Cold Spring Har? bor, in 1SG4, the army of the Potomac openly refused to make a second assault on works they had been up to in the morning. The privates had seen the Confederate works ; their general officers, of whom we hear so much in these days, ha:l not, and the privates considered themselves just as well qualified to judge of their capacity to carry earthworks by asfiault as auy general officer, it mattered not how high his rank, who had not seen the works, and who evinced no burning desire to inspect their strength at close ? range. It is true that the iroops who refused to renew the assault at Cold Harbor cheerfully sprang to the assault at Petersburg a few days later, but they haJ not seen the latter works and they had a sufficieut confidence iu General Grant's ability as a commander to believe thut he would not have ordered an assault unless there had becu some prospect of success?a::d that is where they fooled themselves. None of our generals could have forced their troops to make another determined assault on the Confederate liries at Petersburg. At present we hear of how such and such generals led their men to desperate charges. These heroes arc pictured to til3 youth of our land as going into action on horseback, waving sword in hand, and far in advance of the charg? ing line. I have seen many charges delivered by both Union and Confeder? ate troops. I have seen our men, with blanched faces and set jaws, and their eyes blazing with battle light, stream oast the guns I served on, and run full speed at earthworks, behind which Lee's veter? an infantry lurked, and most always get whipped. Then I have seen the lines in gray charge Uuion earthworks or battle lines, and I have seen them melt away before the heat of our fire; but I never saw the recklessly bravo general officers we hear so much about at present lead any troops into action. I have seen them closely followed by their brigade officers, but I never saw them lead. Iu truth, ? what business would an officer have in front of his men when they were it:, action? Ho would be in the line of their fire, and would surely be-killed. All privates have seen division aud corps and army headquarters, and none oversaw them pitched amoug the troops iu a place of danger. No one ever heard of a general officer being killed in camp. We are told that these gallant men h.ibitually rode the battle line or liue of trenches, aud that they smiled at hum? ming bullets and laughed solid shot and b jrstiog shells to scorn. It is true that brigade commanders were on the battle line. Division commanders were con? spicuous by their absence, and the pres? ence of a division commander among his troops was so unusual that it attracted the attention of the soldiers, and was always remarked upon. What business has an officer commanding from ten to forty thousand men to be in the heat and smoke of a battle? He can not direct the troops if he is on the battle line. He could not see how the fight was going. Brigade Commander?* emild not find him. Ul course, if his troops were charging, or if they were advancing he could be with them. We are told of general officers, griev? ously wounded, waving aside their aids and lightly dismissing their medical attendants, ami saying in effect: "Let the battle proceed. I can not abandon Eiy iroops. Wc must save the Union." Pah ! .Much, they, under the.-c circum? stances, thought of ihe Union or of their Iroops. ''."ne truth is (hat they, one and nil, got themselves lugged off i!:e field as <tjickly its possible, and they were exceedingly glad to got to the rear and into an ambulance and be driven to a place "f rafety and a surgeon. To have a rifl-.' ball weighing a:; ounce driven homo in the groin, or shattered the thigh brine, or mash the knee joint to splinters, or smash the hones of the arm, or to haw a solid shot or a ragged chunk "!* a ??hell lop oil" an arm or a leg, knocks the light out of a man. He wants to go home at once. It was possible for gem r al officers to go home, and they went. At least I never saw. nor did any of my comrades see, general officers swathed in bloody clothes fighting their division or corps. General officers, corps a:;d army com? manders, these are pictured as speaking words of encouragement to their waver? ing troops, which clearly heard above the awful roar of a pitched battle, caused the men to nerve themselves for supreme efforts, and they won the fight. These childish tales are probably a rehash of the mythical military legends of the Napoleonic era. Tho great Corsican statesman and military genius was ever represented as talking to an army of from 30,000 to 300,000 men. Then, too, Wellington is said to have bhitted "Up guards, aud at them" to his troops on the Geld of Waterloo. The noise of battle is terrific, and one human voice could not make itself heard for any great distance. Suppose a battle is in progress. The infantry is firing. The artillery is in action. Solid shot and three inch bolts fly screaming through the air. Shells are busting. The hum of bullets is loud and steady. The men are cheering. The wounded shriek as they fall. The dying groan. Aud we are asked to believe that a general officer spoke to his men in the midst of this deafening uproar, aud inspired them. He could speak, and if his voice did not have this compass of fifty foghorns he might as well whistle in his boot for all the inspiration his troops could draw from him.?Frank Wilkiwn in the New York Sun. When a Dress Catches Fire. Dr. John Marsha, F. R. S., writing from Cannes to the "London Times," gives the following well-considered ad? vice in regard to coping with a not infrequent household accident: A girl or woman who meets with this accident should immediately lie down on the floor, and so any one who goes to her assistance should instantly, if she still be erect, make her ?3 down, or, if needful, throw her down in a horizontal position, and keep her in it. Sparks fly upward und flames ascend. Ignition from below mounts with fearful rapidity ; and, as a result well known to experts, the fatality or disfigurements in these lamentable cases is due to the bums inflicted about the body, neck, face, and not to injuries to the lower limbs. Now, the very mo [ ment that the person .whose clothes are on fire is iu a horizontal position on a flat surface the flames still ascend, but only into the air, a'id not encircling the victim. Time is thus gained lor further action ; and iu such a crisis in a fight against fire a few seconds are priceless. Oucejn the prone position, the person afflicted may crawl to a bell-pull or to a door, so as to clutch at the one or open the other to obtain help. The draught from an open door into the room would serve to blow the flames, if any, away from the body; or, again, still crawling, the sufferer may be able to secure a rug or table-cover, or other article at hand, to smother any remaining flames. I say remaining flames, for as so^n as tiie horizontal posi? tion is assumed they have no longer much to feed upon, and may cither go out, as the phrase is, or may be accidentally or iuteulionally extinguished as the person rolls or moves upon the floor. In any case, not only is time gained, but the injury inflicted is minimized. In the event of the conditions not being those of self help, but of assistance from another, if it be a man who comes to the rescue, having first and instantly thrown the girl or woman down, it is easy to take off bis coat aud so stifle the diminished flames with this or some other suitable covering, the lliimes now playing upward from the lower limbs or lower part of the body of the prostrate fellow creature. If it be a woman who rushes to give aid, this last named condition suggests that the safer mode of rendering it is to approach the sufferer by the head and fling something thence over the lower part of the body, for fear of setting fire to herself. If, in these fearful accidents, the hori? zontal position be assumed or enforced there would be, in short, comparative immunity and limited injury. If not, what must happen'? The fire will mount; the flames (and it is these which do the injury) will envelop the body inside and outside the clothes, and will reach the neck and head, and then, indeed, they may be smothered by a coat or wrapper or rug while the victim is frightfully dis? figured or doomed to perish. For years I have urged these views while lecturing on injuries from burns, and once I had occasion to illustrate them practically, though in a comparatively trivial accident. Some dressings of a very inflammable character caught fire at the bedside of a patient in one of my surgical wards; they were promptly seized by a student, who threw them into the middle of the ward and endeavored to stamp out the flaming material. But this containing paraffine and re.-in adhered to his boots, and his legs were getting uncomfortably hot. To his as? tonishment, and to the undoubted sur? prise of every one in sight, I caught him by the collar of his coat and tripped up his legs. Instantly the flames became harmless, and were extinguished by a nurse throwing a jug of water on them. I have often thought that on the ap? proach of the winter season there should he at every school, whether board, vol? untary, or private, whether for girls or boys, an address, if not an actual demon? stration by means of suitable models, pointing out what should be dene in these special calamities. If two upright models were prepared alike and simul ! tancously s: { on fire, or.c being taken j down after two seconds and one after ; thirty seconds, or at any other two dif ? lerent times, the memories of children would receive a lasting and it might he a I rcrviceable impression. ? When wo stand by the seashore and : watch the huge waves come in, we re? treat, thinking we will be overwhelmed; soon, however, they flow ha; k So with the waves of trouble In ihe world ; they i threaten us, hut :l fir:!: n>i.stanee makes them break at our A et. -- A leading socieJy lady at the Cat skills is the happy pos-srs-or of 177 dif? ferent costumes, 11 trunks, two poodles I and three maids; al-<> n husband. The Final Conflagration. It is a popular belief, more or le.-s prevalent as a literal or free construction is given to the words of Holy Wri?, that the world is one day to be consumed by fire. How this great final conflagration is to come about has puzzh ? the intellect and imagination of many devout people. Will our planet, imperceptibly decreas? ing its orbit with each circling year, finally full into the sun ? Or shall the eartjj.be struck by some wandering comet, or gigantic aerolite, whose impact shall kindle a flams that cannot be quenched? Or shall some hitch in the machinery of the spheres throw the universe into inex? tricable confusion and consume suns, planets, stars and moons in one big blaze ? Such are some of the older theories on the subject. Later theories have invoked chemical agencies. A man is said to have committed suicide in California some years ago because he had discovered an agent that would transform wate r into fire. He had tried it on wells and pends, and so impressed was he with the dread? ful consequences that would ensue if he should be tempted to try iL on the ocean, or to impart the secret to others through whose insanity or carle^sness this d; struc tive ageut might reach the ocean, that he killed himself at once in order that his terrible secret might die with him. All these theories, fortunately, are in? vested with a vague uncertainty, are in? volved in a haze of misty futurity, that are very comforting to trie victims of the terror that accompanies a belief in tho literal burning up of the world. The earth has jogged along for to rnnny thousand years without falling into tl tun or makiug, so far as the wisest tronomers can judge, any approach such a catastrophe, that it seems ve reasonable to suppose that it will cc tinuc to jog along in the same old w at least until its present inhabitants shai have no concern in the question. The same may be' said of the theories of comeiic collision and of a general wreck of the system of the universe. And as to the chemists, we may safely trust that if any of them finds a means of destroy? ing the world it will not bo used. llecent eveuls, however, furnish grounds for a new and very plausible theory in regard to tlx burning of the world, a theory that attributes the con? flagration to well-known natural agencies ?agencies which at present threaten to get beyond human control, a::d by which the world, and possibly the universe, may be destroyed, not only i:i our own lime, but in the course of a few years, or even months. It will be remembered that within the past year what is known a3 "natural gas" ha? come into very general use in parts of Pennsylvania. This gas is obtained by boring thruugh the surface of the earth iuto cavities where the gas hi'S been stored by the processes of nature, and whence it escapes into the upper air as soon as an outlet is offered. The ex-^ istence of these stories of gas in the earth was discovered by accident, and at first the wells were regarded as mere curiosities, the country for miles being illuminated by the flames of the gas that was set on fire at the mouth of each well as soon as discovered. It occurred to some one at length to utilize this g?.s, and means having been devised to regu? late its distribution, the supplying of natural gas become a great busiuess, ex teuding to many cities and towns. Just here the new theory takes hold. The mains get out of order, they leak, the gas escapes iu great quantities, and instead of mingling with the upper air in a condition of innocuous desuetude, H floats about iu clouds ready to be ex? ploded at the first spark and t<> set fire to everything with which it comes in contact. Already we read in dispatches from Murraysville, near Pittsburg, Pa., that "there is no chance- of .-hutting off the gas, as the pipes are burned off close to the ground. One well is on fire, and the flames arc shooting one hundred and fifty feet. If the other wells arc ignited and the fire spreads to the gas which is floating in town, there will be a success? ion of explosions and fires. The people are moving their goods from their houses jn Murraysville and along the line near the leak. Two of the Taylor family who were burned by a gas explosion yesterday arc dead, and three other persons are ex? pected to die." This already, in the very infancy, as it were, of natural gas. Gas wells have been discovered in Ohio, New Mexico and California, and will, doubtless, like oil wells, be discovered in many localities, perhaps in Europe and Asia as well as in this country. When we have a circle of gas wells extending from Pennsylvania through the Ohio Valley to the Missouri Valley, thence to the Pacific, and via Alaska and Behring's Straits to Siberia and on through Russia in Europe to Germany and even Eng? land, who knows what may happen? Even with the few wells now running, what would occur if the fire by some chance should be conveyed to the great gas wells in the bowels of the earth? Might not the sea be dried up and the mountains hurled from their foundations? Indeed, might net the earth be blown to fragments?converted, so to speak, into decisions of incendiary rockets for ex? tending the conflagration to the rest of the universe ! Who knows ??News und Courier. . Don't Do If. Bill Nyc says: "Don't attempt to cheat an editor of a year's subscription to his paper or any oilier sum. Cheat the minister, cheat the doctor, cheat anybody, everybody, but if you have any regard for future consequences don't f>ol with an editor. You will be up for office some time, or want some public favor for yourself or some of y?.ur friends, and when your luck is a thing of beauty and a joy forever the editor will open upon you and knock your air-castle iuto a cocked hat the first fire. He'd subdue you and then you'd cuss yourself for a driveling idiot, go hire some one to knock you down, and then kick you for fall? ing." ? Never judge men by appearances A man may look as bold as a lion and be a major general of militia, and yet make his wife go down stairs first when he im? agines he hears burglars in the house.