The Anderson intelligencer. (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, May 06, 1886, Image 1
BY E. B. MURRAY & CO.
ANDERSON, S. C, THURSDAY MORNING, MAY 6, 1886.
VOLUME XXI.?NO. 43
l^A?HlftS'?OLUMN,
J. G. CLINKSCALES, Editor.
The Teachers' Institute for Abbeville
County will be held at Due West some?
time in July.
Messrs. Fant & Son still have on hand
a number of copies of Geo. C. Hodges'
Book of Quotations. Get one?it will
pay you.
Miss Hunter Hyde has done good work
at the Mt. Tabor School. Her patrons
are well pleased and desire her to con?
tinue teaching.
Mr. D. H. Russell was elected by the
Hope well farmers to represent them in
the Farmers' Convention in Columbia.
Mr. Russell is a good teacher and a prac?
tical farmer.
Geo. E. Prince, Esq., will deliver an
address at the entertainment given by
- the New Hope School, the 6th in3t. Mr.
Prince was several years a successful
teacher, and can appreciate merit in that
line wherever found.
Miss Mamie Wickliffe, one of the
popular teachers in the Hartwell School,
will attend our Teachers' Institute.
Sooth Carolina, Anderson County espe?
cially, would be glad to have Miss Wick?
liffe at head of her school.
The Honea Path Plaindealer says:
Miss Nettie Miller, who has been teach?
ing at Barker's Creek, will close her
school this week and return to her home
in Anderson.- Though her stay in this
section has been short, she has made
many friends who will regret her depart?
ure.
Two of Anderson's sons, Messrs. Ralph
Brown and Paul Gadsden, will go off to
College next fall?Mr. Brown to the
University of Virginia and Mr. Gadsden
to the South Western University, Tenn.
They are well prepared and will reflect
credit upon the school in which they
were prepared, and maintain the reputa?
tion of their native city for sending out
model young men.
We regret to announce that Miss Fan?
nie McCants,- on account of the condi?
tion of her health, can not meet our
teachers this summer, as she has fully
desired and expected to do. We are now
corresponding with Miss Bonham, who is
said to be the finest teacher in Columbia.
We still hope to hold the Institute about
the last of Jane, beginning the 25th,
perhaps a week earlier.
Miss Maggie llauldin wishes to know
what arithmetic is best for beginners.
With proper use of blackboard and slate,
the teacher need not require the child to
get any arithmetic until he has thorough?
ly learned the first four rules of arithme?
tic, provided he can manage to supply
them with the multiplication table. We
have known children to be disgusted
with arithmetic by having a book put
into their hands before they could read
well enough to comprehend the questions.
Nearly all the public schools in the
County have closed. We are glad to
know that quite a number are still run?
ning as subscription schools. This is
right, and we conld wish that there were
others. The public fund was never in?
tended to relieve the parent of the re?
sponsibility of educating his child if it
lies at all within the range of his abili?
ties. If the public schools are a curse it
is because our people do not properly use
them. A three-month's school may do a
vast amount of good if properly man?
aged. What we want most of all i?
better teachers.
THE NEWSPAPER.
Of all the things that we possess;
Of all the things that cur"?) or Liess;
There's nothing that we all. "eed more
Than each day's "news" left at our door.
The fathers read it all with care;
The boys read some, but 0,1 fear
'T is only of the crimes they read,
Which least of all they really need.
The girls, they aU should read it more ;
How few of them keep such a store
Of past events, that they could tell
When Greece or Rome or Poland fell ?
Tes; which of them could even say
The year and month and very day
On which Napoleon was assailed?
And where, and how, and why he failed ?
Perhaps the one most prized in town,
I do not run the others down,
Is called the "Leaflet, Seminary," ?
Among the best it is the very.
The Journal each and all should take,
The Intilliqenckb don't forsake,
We need them both, all through the week,
And through their columns all should
The merchants, there should advertise;
Philosophers should there surmise;
The lawyers, there should tell their worth,
And farmers, there should talk of dearth.
Each and every man in town,
Be he Smith or be he Brown,
Should subscribe without delay.
Rest assured that it will "pay."
P. T. G.
CHRISTIAN TEACHERS.
Please pardon me, Mr. Editor, for tres?
passing on your most valuable space. I
am simply an ex-school boy. My few
remarks in this short paragraph are di?
rected to teachers only, whose daily occu?
pation is to shape the minds and mould
the character of the young?a very ardu?
ous and responsible duty. How beauti?
ful when they not only teach them for
the responsible positions of State, which
they must sooner or later All, but also
teach them to be children of the King of
Kings. Cold morality enlightens, but it
does not make men conscientious. How
important then that teachers should
labor that the prejudices of children
and of youth should be in favor of what
is true, beautiful and good. Neglect of
faithfulness in this matter may be fol?
lowed sometimes by most disastrous
results, affecting the weal or woe of na?
tions for generations to come. When
teachers' hearts are in the work it is an
easy matter to find opportunities in tho"!
routine of intellectual trainiug to im-1
press upon the minds of their Bl^denta
that every act containing a moral quality
has by the unalterable law of God the
germ of its own reward. Therefore, bow
highly important it is that theyBhould
not only be taught intellectually, but
should be taught spiritually.
The mind is the gift of our Maker,
and it is the most sacred thing mat has
been entrusted to the care of teachers,
and those who fail to cultivate those
minds but poorly fulfill their mission as
educators. This life is but a dot on the
great line of time. Hence the necessity
of preparing the soul for eternity. When
God has put a stain on all human glory,
when knowledge shall have vanished
away, when matter shall again dissolve
to assume new forms of imperishable
beauty, your work will still remain and
be for you an everlasting joy. Teach
for God and Heaven.
E. P. Bruce.
Townville, S. C.
THE NEGRO AND THE HOG.
Tho Hod. D. Wyatt Aiken Hits the Kail
Squarely on the Head.
Cokesbury, S. C, April 26,1886.
Editor Press and Banner :
The following extract speaks for itself:
Willis Price, colored, of Lebanon, aged
19 years, died last Sunday, after ten months
of sicknesss. He was afflicted in a peculiar
way. He had a sore on the instep of his
foot about ten months ago. The sore was
poulticed. The outer skm peeled off, and
it is alleged that an innumerable numb r
of worms shot their heads out at the sur?
face. Abrasions of the skin were after?
wards made in other places when the
worms appeared as before. His flesh
seemed to be full of vary small worms. As
far ?we are informed, he made no effort to
get medical aid until the day before he
died. A physician was to go to see him on
the day of his death. It is reported that
the disease was the parasite which is im?
parted to the human system by eating
diseased raw bacon, but the doctors do not
believe" this, though they did not see the
patient.?Abbeville Press and Banner.
I wish to say a few words upon this sub?
ject which possibly may be a profitable
lesson to your readers, and our people
generally.
Five years ago a few French and Ger?
man laborers lost their lives by eating
diseased meat. At once an investigation
was ordered which resulted in a report,
that this meat was imported from Amer?
ica, that it was infected with trichinae,
and that it was fatal to the consumer
whether man or beast; and therefore a
prohibitory tariff was immediately lev?
ied by the French and German govern?
ments upon all salt meats imported from
America.
This branch of our commerce amounts
to no little proportion of our entire ex?
portation^ for we ship annually millions
of dollars worth of bacon and hams to the
large cities of Europe. '. ?
I have known of orders coming from
European bouses to shippers in this coun?
try at one time for a^million pounds of
bams, and a million pounds of D. C. R.
S. sides. So you can well understand
that this French and German embargo
excited the "powers that be" in this
country.
Mr. Arthur through his Secretary of
State ordered an investigation of this
matter through our Foreign Consuls, but
I never saw a reported result of the in?
vestigation. Subsequently the Treasury
Department ordered our custom officers
ta examine all the meats that were ship?
ped abroad, and report whether or not
any of it was infected. This also proved
to be futile because impracticable. Again
the Secretary of the Treasury ordered an
investigation through his statistical bu?
reau, which resulted merely in the publi?
cation of a report previously issued by
the agricultural department. That de?
partment had appointed a committee of
experts to look into this matter and re?
port upon it.
Vigilant as Americans usually are this
committee determined to see whether or
not these German laborers, who lost their
lives from eating diseased meat, bad eat?
en American or German meat. Their
report showed that by analysis trichinae
were found in German and French bacon
as well as iu American meats. The
report put a sort of quietus upon tho sub?
ject of shipping American meats to Eu?
ropean ports. It proved nevertheless
that occasional shipments of American
meats were discovered badly infected
with trichinae.
Now the question arises, what is, or
what are trichinae ? To state it plainly,
they are small animalcules invisible to
the naked eye, and frequently found by
the myriads in the flesh of hogs. They
are indestructible by cold or salt, but
will be destroyed by heat brought to the
boiling point of water. If consumed by
man in a piece of meat, which has not
been heated sufficiently to destroy them,
they perforate the consumer's stomach,
infuse themselves into his flesh, place
him beyond tho control of medicine, and
very certainly destroy his life.
Now it is very easy to imagine the
negro, or almost any laboring man, in his
careless method of preparing his food,
frying or even boiling a piece of this in?
fected meat and eating it before the cen?
tre of the meat had been subjected to boil?
ing heat, and therefore becoming a victim
of this terrible death. I dare say, that
uiue-lenths of your readers will before
Saturday night breakfast or dine on
north-western bacon or hams. Are they
sure that there are no trichiuao in any of
this meal ? Let them beware, for there
is scarcely a week that the papers do not
announce the death of one or more mem?
bers of a family in our north-western
States from eating this infected meat.
Tho moral I would draw from this
would be that our people should grow
their own hog meat, for beyond a doubt
this infected meat showed itself in a dis?
eased live hog. A three months old
esscx pig can be grown with less labor,
care and expouse than a brood of chick?
ens, and contains twice the amount of
wholesome, delicious food.
Very respectfully,
D. Wyatt Aiken.
? People who cry out against duelling
because of the fatality attending that
genial pnstimo will bs encouraged to learn
that only nine principals have been
killed or "badly injured iu France since
1870, aithough S17 duels have been
fought.
? Fad Douglass advises the colored
people t-'? scatter themselves all over the
country. He is convinced that so long
as they /emain masked in the Smith they
can not accomplish much.
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FLA.
Its Population, Towns, Advantages, Soil,
Lake City, April 27, 1886.
Mr. Editor: You have doubtless seen
and heard much about Florida, but being
from Anderson County myself, I will
send you a few facts, and hope to find
space in your valuable paper for them.
Columbia County is partly washed on
the west by the Seewannee River, and on
tue south by the Sauta Fe River. It has
an area of 860 square mileB?551,400
acres, and a population of ten to twelve
thousand, with about 2,500 voters. It is
traversed by numerous streams, while
beautiful lakes dot its surface and abound
with the finest of fish. The Ct inty is
sufficiently undulating to admit of suc?
cessful agricultural, vegetable and fruit
products. Its land consist of poor "high
pine" land and hammock and "flat
woods." The latter is lower and less un?
dulating than tho "high pine" land.
There is a diversity of soil, which is un?
derlaid in some localties with clay, others
with a soft sand stone, and others with a
subsoil of a yellow cast. There are also
deposits in different places, which it is
thought contain important fertilizing
properties. Until within the past few
years but little attention has been paid
to the production of fruits, vegetables,
&c.,' sea island cotton being the money
crop. Year after year grain, grass, veg?
etables and fruits are receiving more
attention, and success in other produc?
tions than cotton has brought about a
diversity of farming and fruit growing,
and has brought into existence orange
groves, peach and pear orchards, nurse?
ries, &c.
The peach does well and is extensively
raised. The LeConte pear bears in a
few years excellent fruit, and is very
prolific. I think that it will become the
leading fruit, and in some cases take the
place of the now killed orange trees.
Nearly all of the sour orange trees
will live and produce again, but no crop
is expected in this country from them
this year. However, there are a few
scattering trees that will bear a few
oranges, if they do not all fall off before
maturing. The sweet orange trees are
certainly killed, and only a few, where
they were best protected, have survived
the freeze. Looking from the hotel win?
dow, I can break the limbs of sweet
orange trees twenty years old and thirty
feet high that will have to be cut off
within a foot of the -ground. Small
quantities of oranges still come in from
the country. I noticed a load selling
from a country farm wagon to-day to a
fruit store proprietor at one cent each.
They were sound, and had their full
weight. I filled my pockets and ate of
them. They were juicy and sweet.
The streets of Lake City are shaded by
oak and China trees. The store and
dwelling houses are mostly built of wood
and are uninsured, insurance having
been refused on account of their wooden
structure. Lake City is tho County seat,
and is situated fifty-nine miles west of
Jacksonville, with five fresh water lakes
in its midst, and surrounded by many
more, which are fed by springs of water.
These lakes afford the finest of fish, and
'are splendid fishing grounds for the
angler. There are no vegetable deposits
exposed about these lakes ait any season
of tho year, but they are free from all
noxious effiuria. The water surface be?
ing so great, the health of the place is
remarkably good during the dryest or
hottest weather.
Lake City dates from 1820, when it
was settled by Georgians, and was named
Alligator, in honor of an Indian Chief.
In 1837 there was a military post located
here. In 1859 its name was changed to
Lake City. It is the commercial centre
for the sea island cotton, and is supplied
from a large territory. In it is situated
the large sea island cotton ginning, stor?
age and shipping house of J. & P. Coats,
who are represented by agents. They
buy cotton in the seed and prepare it for
the thread manufacture.
The State Agricultural College ia
located here, and studeuts receive every
attention that can De given to facilitate
their studies. All students from a dis?
tance live in the College building, about
100 yards from the College, under the
immediate eye of tho President and
Professors. The students are required to
be at their quarters at dark. The Col?
lege is presided over by President A. Q.
Holliday. The College receives into the
preparatory department any student who
can read and write. The science of ag?
riculture, horticulture and kindred sub?
jects are taught and reduced to practice.
Agricultural chemistry is an important
feature of this College.
The Peabody School i3 oue of the best
conducted schools in the State, as a com?
mon and preparatory school, and is an
important adjunct here to the State Ag?
ricultural College. Its pupils from the
County pay no tuition, while those from
beyond pay a nominal tuition fee. There
are in addition private schools, both
white and colored.
There are six churches here?Baptist,
Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal,
Catholic and Christiau. Also the col?
ored Baptist and Methodist churches.
Corn, rice, oats, peas, Irish and sweet
potatoes and pindar crops are raised. The
pindar crop h a valuable one, and makes
abundantly with little outlay for labor.
It is a great meat producing crop, and
upon them hogscau be raised very cheap?
ly. The Johnson and Guinea grasses,
Lucerne and Mexican clover, Pearl aud
German millet are successfully grown as
forage crops. The Bermuda grass is
planted for grazing. Horses, cows, hogs
and poultry can live on it with but little
other, food. Its growth is increasing.
At the State Fair in 1877 Columbia
County received the premium upon its
oranges, and in 1884 it received the pre?
mium of $100 for the best field crops.
The "beggar weed" is a fine forage crop.
It comes on nfter the corn crop is gather
id, and is a good fertilizer, as it improves
tin: soil every year where it grows.
There are sixty-four public schools in
the County this year, twenty of which
ate colored. The State and Couuty tax
is 14 mills, and is thus levied : State tax.
mills; County tax, I mills; County
school tax, 4 mills; general school tax,
1 mill; County road tax, 2 mills.
I have been to the Clerk's office to as?
certain the number of crop mortgages
given by farmers for supplies, but the
Clerk was absent. Only two merchants
in this place sell supplies on time. The
largest supply merchant informs me that
the number of mortgages for supplies
this year will not exceed five hundred,
and that between thirty and forty of
them are ou parties iu an adjoining
County. Most of the farmers, by the
help of their vegetable crops, have cash
enough to make their general crop with?
out buying on a credit. Lands are cheap
here, and can be bought for six, eight
and ten dollars per acre where there are
but little improvements. The houses of
the settlers are rather poor, and hundreds
of the farmers are too lazy and careless
to build good houses. In fact, if the
people here would use the energy and
work like the farmers of Anderson Coun?
ty, they would all soon get rich.
The homestead law here gives to a
freeholder 160 acres of land without ref?
erence to its value, and one .thousand
dollars personalty, except where the
property is mortgaged. All chattel
mortgages for less than $100 can bo fore?
closed by a Trial Justice, when tho
maker goes before an officer and probates
ihr nortgage by an acknowledgment of
the contents-' There is no chance to lit?
igate the mortgage, but must bring suit
and obtain a judgment on the note at
tilted to tho mortgage. It requires
thirty days to bring the property to sale.
LaBt winter was an uncommonly cold
one, and a great many of the cattle
starved to death, while the many hun?
dreds that are yet in this section of
count - are very poor and weak. They
are ul it for market, and the raisers are
slow of money.
Thi6 County has some very thrifty col?
ored people. Many of them have settled
on their own lands, and farm strictly on
the cash system. I notico wheu they
have uot the mouoy to buy with they get
a job of work and obtain cash or supplies.
On the other hand I often find the real
negro, worthless and loafing around. I
find loafers among both white and black
people. Much of their time is taken i p
in hunting'and fishing. The Winchester
repeating rifle is extensively used by the
sportsmen, especially iu shooting trout
and alligators. I have been induced to
try the business. I have purchased a
horse and a Winchester rifle, and all that
I need now is a dog.
I have been out of my bed from the
measles only a few days. They are the
rage here now, and are quickly followed
by roseola and pneumonia, both in Flor?
ida and Georgia. I had bad measles
fifteen years ago while in Anderson
County.
J. Matt. Cooley.
An Ovation to Mr, Davis.
Montgomery, Ala., April 27.?Jef
J ferson Davis left hi3 home at Beauvoir,
Miss., at 11 o'clock this morning accom?
panied by-bis youngest daughter. They
were in a special car in charge of a com?
mittee of citizens of Montgomery, head?
ed by Mayor Reese, who went to escort
them. The arrival at every station was
a signal for a demonstration of the peo?
ple. At the stopping places between
this city and Mobile great crowds gath?
ered, local military companies fired
salutes, children waved handkerchiefs
and shouted, and all pressed to the car
to shake the hand of the man who led
the cause of tho South during the war
times. Many one-legged and one-armed
Boldiers were waiting to seo him, and all
bad shouts of welcome. Mr. Davis stood
or sat at the rear of the car. He was too
feeble to speak, but gavo a hearty hand?
shake to all.
The train reached here at 8 o'clock to?
night. The scene has never been
equalled since the inaugural reception in
1861. Houses were illuminated, fire?
works brightened the heavens, artillery
boomed and a dozen bands played, while
the shouts of thousands mingled with
the roar and added to its welcome. The
local military companies and Goveruor
O'Neill and staff woro at the depot to re?
ceive Mr. Davis. It was difficult for the
carriage in which he sat, which was
drawn by four white horses, to make its
way through the surging mass of human?
ity that blocked the streets. All this
despite rain from above and tho mud
beneath.
Arrived at the Exchange Hotel, shout
after shout greoted his entrance. The
ovation was the grandest of his life. The
decorations on the houses are elaborate,
and the United States flag floats from
every window. Mr. Davis'a special car
was handsomely decked, and national
ensigns were conspicuous.
Gen. J. B. Gordon, from Atlanta, ar?
rived shortly before Mr. Davis, and was
received at the depot by the military.
An escort of tho survivors of his old
Sixth Alabama Regiment met him a few
miles from the city. Ho was welcomed
on his arrival in a speech by Alderman
Watts, acting mayor, Mayor Reese being
on the committee that was escorting Mr.
Davis.
Gen. Gordon replied in a speech, brief,
but poiuted and eloqueut. The demon?
stration in his honor was hearty and
heartfelt, as ho commanded many Ala?
bama soldiers.
Mr. Davis retired at an early hour.
His health is good but he is not strong.
The feeling shown for him to day great?
ly touched him, as it is the first express?
ion of any consequence since the close
of the war. His speech to morrow will
be short. Tho city is full of strangers
and thousands will arrive during the
uight and early in the morning. The
occasion iu a lecture by Mr. Davis aud
an address by Gen. Gordon in aid of the
monument to be erected there to the
soldiers of Alabama who fell in the war
between tho Slates.
? Small Brother?"Where did you
get that cake, Annie?" Small Sister?
"Mother gavo it to me." Small Brother
?"Ah ! she always gives you more than
me." Small Sister?"Never mind ; she's
going to put mustard plasters on us when
wc go to bed tonight, and I'll ask her
to let you have tho biggest."
? The Enterprise, a colored newspaper
i f New York, is urging colored men to
go South, "organize for mutual protec?
tion, cultivate farma and "get rich."
MILL AUF.
Tho Weekly Clint of tho Cherokee Phi?
losopher.
Atlanta Constitution,
We have got ao at my house that we
cau tell a book agent or a new patent
man a quarter of a mile off. My wife
sits by the window where she can 3ee
down to tho branch that crosses the big
road, and ever and a now I hear her say
"yonder comes another one. I wonder
what he has got." All in one week we
had a book man who came in with a big
pictorial educator and said his lesson by
heart as he turned over the leaves, and a
churn man and a nursery man and a
coffee roasting man and a cotton planter
man and a man with a machine to find
the level of terraces and ditches and a
man with a quilting contraption. Well,
we liked them all for they were nice
talking gentlemen and pretty good look?
ing, but it takes a power of valuable
time at this season of the year. Some?
times I am away over in tho field at
work, or making out like I am, and the
horn blows for me to come to the house
and I look up and see a buggy at the
gate, and so I come toiling up the hill,
and when I get there find one of these
gentlemen waiting to sell me something
I don't wan! or if I did I haven't the
money to pay for, and so I sit down and
patiently listen to his little speech and
feel so sorry that I have to decline his
favors and cut off his good intentions.
That book man seemed really concerned
for mj childreu, and wanted to sell rao a
book that would educate the whole fami?
ly and save schooling, but my experience
is that children had rather go to school
than to be educated at home. My wife
and I have tried it. We have set their
Btudy hours aud givon them their lessons,
but it is an uphill business, for there are
I no other children to stimulate them.
When they go to school aud have to stand
up in a class of eight or ten and recite
their lessons, their ambition is excited,
and they try to keep head, or as far from
foot as possible. Aud then they have
such a good time frolicking at recess and
at noon and on the way going and com?
ing.
Well, we used to roast coffee?that is,
we parched it in a skillet, and it was
pretty warm work, and my wife broke an
egg in it and stirred it all up, and we had
better coffee than we do now, but we have
got used to buying it in the stores, and so
the coffee man had to go. He said be
hardly ever sold one within five miles of
a town. Well, we didn't want any quilt?
ing done. We have quit that long ago.
We either buy the quilts or send fhe
calico and the cotton to some poor wonm
and let her do it. This present genera?
tion won't quilt as their mothers did. It
is too slow aud tedious, and can't be done
on the sewing machine, and they are so
cheap in the stores that it looks like a
waste of time. My mother used to have
quilting frolics, and it was a big time and
a big thing to have a dozen of the female
nabors all sitting around tho frames
stitching aud talking and telling the uews.
It was the best time in the world to fiud
out who was going to get married or get
religion or increase the family or who
could sew well and who couldn't, and
when the quilt was done aud on the bed
my mother could tell who quilted every
shell by looking at it. I made a set of
quilting frames-for my wife soou after we
were married, and I bored fifty holes in
each frame and rounded the edges and
sand-papcred them all as smooth as glass,
and I put up four pullies in the ceiling
overhead, bo that the quilt could be pulled
up out of the way and be let down agaiu
at pleasure. Those pullies are in the old
house now. I used to do lots of those
little things for her when we first married,
and I dideut wait to be asked, either.
Well, I do them now, too, but instead of
volunteering with a gush, I have to be
sorter conscripted and theu get a substi?
tute if I cau. I don't anticipate like I
used to, but wait for hints or orders.
She says it i3 because she is getting old,
but she is mistaken?it is because I am
getting old and hate to be bothered.
Philosophers say that the longer a rock
stays in its bed the harder it is to move
out?and they call this inertia?and they
say if you once get a rock to rolling it is
inclined to keep on rolling, aud this is
inertia, too. And just so now with me?
when I am down I don't want to get up,
and when I am up I wouldeut sit dowii
if gravity dident make me. My inertia
grows on me all the time?nevertheless I
hold up my corner pretty well. I put in
two window glass to day and hung a
picture and sawed an iuch off of her
rocking chair legs and put tho rockers ou
again, aud to-night I heard the children
say their spelling aud their geography,
and every morniug I go with them as far
as the creek on their way to school and
help to carry their books aud their din?
ner.
Cut we don't quilt now, for the old
folks'eyes are dim and the young folks
wont do it any more than free niggers
will make shuck collars and baskets.
Well, there was a patent portable fence
man came along not long ago, just after
the freshet had carried my portable feucos
all away, and I told him I wanted a fence
that was strickly non-portable, and so ho
continued his journey. But they were all
good contrivances and save labor, and I
hope they will find some farmers better
able than I am to invest. A nursery man
came here one day last year and showed
my wife some pictures and some straw?
berries in a bottle, and they looked so
fine aud pretty she ordered some plants,
and when they came they were all dried
up and I told her she had lost her money,
but she paid no attention to me and went
out with Carl and dug up the ground
aud had him haul some chip manure and
when they were all planted she came
back and went to sewing again, just as
though I wasn't about. There are only
four plants living now, and slu scratches
around them occasionally like there
were no more in the world. These nur?
sery men are in an attractive business,
and if I had my life to live over again I
thiuk I sh?uld turn ray attention to hor?
ticulture and grow fruits and flowers. I
want to buy something from every one
who comes, and would if I were able.
The country !ooi;s mighty pretty now.
Wc take :i walk sometimes, and wander
among tho flowers and get sweet shrub*
and honoysuckles and crab applo bios
soms and all sorts of wild flowers and
make bouquets and fill the vases until
the house is perfumed with odors Bweeter
than Lubin's costly extracts. I beard
the first whipporwill of the season last
night. His plaintive, monotonous notes
are always welcome and makes me feel
that a friend has come back from sDrae
j whero, I don't know where. The rr.ock
ing birds are building in the orchard
again and awake us with their sweet
songs every morning. The little brown
wrens are chirping and bobbing around,
and old Bets walked up trom the me.sdow
this morning with an infant colt by her
side. Everything is lovely except some
things that are not. I had a bo:: of
tomato plants in the garden and on3 of
our dogs thought it a good place to bury
a bone and be grabbled the dirt all to
pieces and didn't leave a single plant. I
had just planted a long row of late peas
and two old hens with chickens got in
there and scratched them all up. -But
the like of that is nothing considering
that Tom Moore has lost his mule, his
only mule, and cannot buy another. Tom
is as poor as ho is clever, and I don't see
why the scouudrel didn't steal one of my
horses are nabor Freeman's mules and
let Tom's alone. She is a little brown
female mule and if any of your readers
come across such an one under suspicious
circumstauces just write to Tom or to :tne.
I do verily believe that a man who would
steal Tom Moore's mule at this time of
tho year ought to be hung by tho feet
until ho had time to reflect on his rascal?
ity. I could see him whipped with a
bamboo briar, more or less, until it
thundered. There is nabor Mumford
who has twelve mules aud nabor Free?
man has eight, and all tho nabors are
well off in stock, but the pascal thought
Tom Moore was too poor to follow him
and advertise and so Tom had to be the
victim. Verily from him that hath not,
shall bo takeu even that which he hath.
My Florida boy with tho sick legs cau't
walk yet, but he can ride, and so he
surprised me this morning by coming to
the field with a bucket of corn and he rode
along the rows and dropped tho corn as
good as anybody could do it afoot. He
is very proud that he can help me, and
it saved me many a weary step for Carl is
at school and I miss him sadly. But. I
wonder what people thought when they
saw a boy on horseback dropping corn.
I had a good sensible letter the other d iy
from a poor invalid hoy at Fairbutn.
His name is Henry West, aud he has
been in bed for three years with white
swelling, and tho bones have come out of
his legs by piecemeal, aud yet he is
cheerful and wants noihiugbuta roller
chair so that he can sit up and move
about. Ho prints visiting and business
cards ou a little haud press and- wants
somebody to buy them. He sent me
some, and they are vory nice, and I sent
him a dollar to start the chair business,
aud I wish somebody else who has a
dollar to spare would send it to him.
My boy says that Henry West is so much
worse ofi' than he is that he feels asham?
ed of himself and will never complaiin
any more. Tbero is a heap of trouble
among the poor that we never hear of,
and their only chance is to suffer and be
strong. Bill Akp.
FREAKS OF THE TORNADO.
The Work of the Great .Mlnnesotu Whirl?
wind.
Sauk Rapids, Mixn\, April 22.?Tbe
overpoweriug sense of desolatiou aud
despair which pervaded this town and
St. Cloud immediately after the late tor?
nado has now given place to a more
hopeful feeling, aud timo has boen had
to study curiously some of the freate of
the storm which killed more than seventy
people outright and wounded about two
hundred others. Tho disposition of tbj
dead was almost as difficult a task as tbj
care of the wounded. Almost every
body was shockingly mutilated, antl
speedy interment was necessary. Groat
rows of graves were dug, and the bodies,
some in coffius aud others in rude boxes,
wero borne to the cemetery iu rough
wagons and committed to earth without
individual coremouies. Almost every
family had suffered the loss of one or
more members, and aome household-i
were all either killed or injured. Every
one of tho dead and mauy of the woun?
ded who were exposed to the full fury o::'
the storm looked like colored people,
their skin being peppered full of sane,
and dirt iu many cases so as to bafilo
removal. The dead were principally
injured about the head, while the wound?
ed, including little children, women, and
men, almost invariably had their faces
frightly disfigured and received painful
injuries about the legu. In the hospitals
that have been improvised the moat
touching scenes arc witnessed about the
couches of the children, many of whom,
hardly more than babies, are bruised
about the head and shoulders as if they
had been pounded by human fists. Old
soldiers declare that tho scenes witnessed
here now aud during the past week,
involving so much su fie ring on tbe part
of infancy and womanhood, are more
terrible than anything seen by them on
the field of battle.
At tho burial of the ten victims of the
wedding party at Rice's Station only
eight members of the five large families
who were present were able to attend,
aud most of them had bandages on their
heads. When the tornado struck the
house in which the ceremony had just
occurred tho assembled guests were
kneeling in prayer. Five seconds later
the mother, brother and husband of the
bride wore dead, and seven other rela?
tives/ including two or three children,
were dying. The houso was swept away,
and scarcely a vestige of it remains.
In this city when the tornado arrived
Mrs. Samuel Fletcher, a beautiful young
lady, was in the upper story of her house
attending to some domestic duties. Tho
roof disappeared in an instant, and a
moment later she was lilted bodily high
in the air through the opening, and then
dashed in a mangled heap several hun?
dred yards away.
Tho roof of Star.ton'a grist mill has
been found iu the town of Buckman,
thirty miles from here. A littlo further
ort* in the same Iowa a printer's caso, a
pa-L age of d" o'ls and mortgages, and
several pond^ro!!* law books were picked
up. In Braincrd the people have been
finding account books, pillows, mat
treses, household goods, tinware and
packages of groceries in all parts of the
township. The tin roof of the bank was
blown clear to Rich Prarie, twenty miles
away, and several box cares standing on
the railroad tracks wore twisted from
their trucks and sent whirling through
the air for half a mile or more.
Little Louisa Carpenter, of the town,
waa playing in her yard with her baby
sister when she saw the death dealing
cloud approaching. Seizing tho little
one she ran for the bouse, but just as she
entered the door, where she was met by
her mother, a splinter, flying straight as
an arrow, pierced her through and through'
The mother carried|both children to the
cellar, and, stooping over little Louisa,
was just in time to hear the brave child
whisper: "Pm dying, mamma, but I
saved the baby." She lived but a few
minutes.
Thomas Van Etten, of this town, was
going home when the storm broke. He
tried in vain to cling to the earth, was
picked up, whirled round and round, and
finally, after having gone whizzing
through the air for six hundred yards,
was landed in his own dooryard, sadly
disfigured but not dangerously hurt. He
said it seemed to be raining crockery,
furniture and lumber.
Clarenco Carr was putting his horses
in the stable, and had noticed nothing
peculiar about the weather. He remem?
bers a tremendous crash, and then lost
consciousness. When he came to his
senses he was haugiug across & barb,, wire
fence a mile away from home.
Prof. Keiser, of the St. Cloud high
school, was hanging on to a tree when he
saw a child coming toward him in the air*
At the risk of his own life he let go of
his anchorage, and caught the little one
on the fly. She proved to be Mary Mil?
ler.
The iron bridge at this point, which
woighed hundreds of tons, was carried
clear over the town, and dropped iu the
couutry some distanco on tho other side.
Dispatches from Brainerd, sixty miles
away, state that dead chickens to the
number of a dozen or more fell in the
streets of that city soon after the bursting
of the storm here.
Twenty-two miles Northeast of St.
Cloud, at Little Falls, a child's dress
covered with blood fluttered down into
ouc of the principal businesx streets
several hours before the people knew
that a tornado had been raging here.
Harry Gilbert, a travelling salesman,
had his sample trunk open in a St. Cloud
store. The rear of the building caved in
and he grabbed the safe. When the
excitement subsided he found himself
uninjured, but his trunk had disappeared
through the front, as had nearly all o^
the merchant's stock of goods.
Dozens of the wounded have both legs
and both arm3 broken, while their skin
is blown full of sand. It is tho opinion
of the surgeons that 75 per cent, of the
injured will die.
All who were out of tho track of the
storm, and who had an opportunity to
witness it, declaro that the funnel
moved very slowly, sometimes appearing
almost to stop, and then resuming its
career, with a rotary motion. When it
struck a building it was raised high.
Tho depot sign, "Sauk Rapids," was
carried thirteen miles away, in the di?
rection of Rice's.
Erasmus Cross, of this city, had sever?
al carloads of hams at the depot ready to
ship up the road. The tornado destroyed
the cars aud scooped up the hams as it
would so many chips, and that is the
last he has seen of them. Information
from points twenty, thirty and forty miles
North and East of bore is to the effect
that it rained hams in that region for an
hour after tho storm had spent its force.
One man, a farmer named Judson, who
was driving home six miles the other
side of Rice's, was hit on the back with a
ham and kuocked breathless. When be
came to himself he found the meat in his
wagon-box, and took it home.
The telegraph lines and poles were
prostrated for milcp. Some of the poles
were cut off so clean that they look as if
they had been sawed. Othors were
ground to apliuters, and the few that
lemaiu standing fairly bristle with slivers
about the size of toothpicks that were
driyen into them. Some of the poles
have been driven into the grouud in
places remote from their original location,
and others were blowu clear through
barns and hay-stacks.
Lieut. Governor Gilman's house was of
heavy hewn timber, built especially
to withstand toruadoos, and it passed
through tho ordeal bravely, suffering
nothing more serious than a few broken
windows. His yard, however, was liter?
ally covered with lumber of every descrip?
tion, and ho will have kindling wood
enough to last him a year.
Three or four men who were following
the track of the storm yesterday noticed
what appeared to be a bundle of clothing
in a patch of woods about a mile and a
half from hero. Tho object was partly
concealed by the undergrowth, but a
more careful inspection disclosed the
presence of a little girl who had been
shockingly maimed and bruised. They
brought her to Sauk Rapids, where she
was identified as Annie Zens, a child
whoso parents had both been killed.
She has not regained consciousness, aud
it is hardly possible for her to recover.
She miiat have been carried the entire
distauce by the wind.
Baldas, a taylor, had hanging in his
shop a new suit of clothes that he had
finished for a customer who was expected
to call for them the evening of the storm.
The garments have been found ten miles
this side of Brainerd. fifty miles from
here, and will be sent back.
Thousands of people visit the track of
tho tornado daily, and mauy very curious
mementoes have been found aud carried
I away.
? The levee near Helena, Ark., has
broken on the Kansas side, and thousands
of acres arc overflowed, and it is estimat?
ed that a million acres will be submerged.
The inhabitants had expected the calam?
ity for some lime and had made prepara?
tion accordingly.
-The national debt of the United
States amounts :.-? ?'.)?) for each inhabi?
tant.
Death and the Weaver.
In olden times there lived a weaver,
who had six children, and wa9 very poor.
But his wife bore still another child, and
he wondered whom he should ask to he
godfather to the hoy. "You must get a
rich man," said his wife, "who ean help
the poor little thing, for the dear son
comes in our house sooner than any
bread."
"Yes," said her husband, "but rich
men have hard hearts." However, he
went to a wealthy farmer and made
known his request. Tho latter treated
him roughly and said he had enough
godchildren, and did not want this cbild ;
?"he should go to his equals," and so
pushed him away. Then the weaver
went to a poor man. But ho said that
he could not find bread and clothes for
his own family, much less a christening
present for another man's child; "he
must go to rich people;" and he also
pushed him off.
Then the weaver was very sorrowful,
and complained against God and man.
In passing through a forest on his home?
ward way, he tore his hair iu grief and
cried out that he did not wish to live
longer in such a hard world ; would that
Death might come and tak? him away!
as he said this a man came up to him,
wrapped in a long black mantle, and
wherever he trod, the grass and flowers
turned yellow and the leaves became
withered and fell from the trees to the
ground. This was Death. He placed
himself before the weaver, saying, "You
have called me. What is your wish ?"
The affrighted weaver pulled off his hat,
bowed low and answered, "Yesterday my
wife bore me a son and no one will be his
godfather, neither rich nor poor; so I
called upon you as tho poor man's friend
to stand godfather to my child." "Oh, I
am willing," said Death; "to-morrow,
after the evening bells, bring the boy to
the church, and I will be there to stand
sponsor."
The weaver did as he was bidden, and,
as they stood around tbe font, Death ap?
peared, held the child during the bap?
tism and gave him tho name of Anas
tatius. He told tho pastor that he was
a travelling doctor, and had done this
from special friendship to the poor man.
After coming from the church to the
weaver's house, Death took the latter
aside and said, "My good fellow, you are
doubtless expecting a christening present
but I have neither gold nor silver, be?
cause men come to me, leaving everything
behind, as poor and naked as they are
born; however, I will teach you some?
thing of great value, by which you can
make much money. The pastor thinks
that I am a doctor; now you must tell
everyone that I have instructed you in
that art and given you a medicine of
.great power. Whenever you visit a
patient, open your eyes and you will al?
ways seo me sitting by the sick man,
either at tbe head or foot of tho bed. If
I am sitting at his head, you are to say
that all skill is iu vain, his illness is
mortal, and then go your way, for he will
most surely die. But if I am sitting at
his feet, then tell the patient you can cer?
tainly cure him, however dangerous bis
sickness may be. Give him anything
you wish and your fame will be great, as
he will live." With these words Death
went his way.
The weaver was very well pleased and
the next day he proclaimed himself a
doctor; but the people only laughed and
would not believe him.
Now it happened that the mayor of the
village fell from a high tree and was
brought home dangerously wounded. He
suffered intensely, and, after a few days
the doctor declared the end to have
come; he must die; and throughout the
home there was great lamentation and
weeping. The weaver, too, came into the
house, and seeing his godfather sitting at
the foot of the bed, cried out, "Why these
doctors are fools; they do uot know my
remedy, and they are letting the man die
miserably. What will you give me if I
cure him ?"
The mayor's wife promised him a great
reward. Whereupon the weaver gave
the sick man a little water to drink, in
which he had squeezed some hurtle-ber?
ries ; aud the latter was cured beyond all
expectation, and the weaver received his
money. Tbe same thing happened with
other sick people, who recovered.
Now the rich farmer who had refused,
to become the child's godfather was also
indisposed ; but because ho did not think
himself very ill and was also a miser, he
would not have any doctor summoned,
but sent after the weaver. When he ap?
peared the farmer said to him, "You can
easily make a masterstroke here, for there
is nothing much the matter. We have
been butchering and* I have overeaten ;
but you might give me your little drink,
if it is of no good, at least it will do no
harm." But the weaver saw Death sit?
ting at the head and answered, "My
friend, no drink in the world cau help
you, or auy remedy of mine; no herb
grows to oppose Death. Put your house
in order for you must die." The farmer
laughed at this, sent for the doctors, who
toid him to be of good courage, in three
days he would be like a fish iu water.
But on the third day he was buried.
Then the weaver's fame as a miraculous
doctor resounded throughout the whole
country and in good time he was a rich
man, built a new house and said to his
wife, "Dear Elsie, I must become as
wealthy as a count."
And now ho was sent for by a rich lord
who had a mangnificent castle, beautiful
fields and acres and many servants; but
was nigh to death. The weaver came to
him and immediately saw Death sitting
at his head. "My noble lord," he said,
"I cannot help you. You will have to
go." Then the nobleman nodded to his
treasurer, who brought in a whole bag
full of gold and silver, and the lord said,
"My dear friend, all this shall be yours if
you do but help me." The weaver re?
plied, "I cannot;" but as he gazed at tho
vast amount of gold and silver and re?
flected on the wealthy and happy life it
would bring him, he thought, "why does
the godfather want this rich man just
now. Rich and poor arealike to Death.
Truly he may get twenty peasants in?
stead of my patient. Tf I should play
Death a trick it would not hurt him, and
f would be as rich as a count and Anas
(atins, his godchild, would be a count's
child. I know what I will do." So he
laid his plan and weut ont of ihe room.
In the courtyard ho call?! four stout .
fellows to him and said, "Come up with
me to your master's room and stand two
at tho head and two at tlx- foot of tho
bed. When I cry 'up,' then quickly seizo
the bed, raise it up and around, so that
my lord's feet may lie in the place of his
head." They did .so, and in a trice the
godfather sat at the sick man's feet. His
face grew furious as he noticed the trick,
and, shaking his fist at the weaver, disap?
peared. The nobleman recovered, how?
ever, that very hour, and was quite merry
over the remedy. The weaver received
the money and ate and drank and carous?
ed with the lord until evening.
But as he came to the wood, on his
homeward way, the air seemed changed
to heavy mist. He became terrified and
fearful, and all at onco the godfather
stood in his path. The weaver greeted
him and tried to push on, but the latter
stepped forward, seized the horse's bridle
and breathed upon him heavily, saying:
"You false fellow, you have meddled
with dangerous matter to d.'.y, and now
I will break your neck."
"Ah, dear godfather." said the weaver,
"I beg for mercy. Once counts for noth?
ing; it shall never happen again. lam
deadly frightened and will fall from my
horse. How much better for you to take
mo to your house and give me some re?
storative."
"Well, I am willing," snorted out
Death; "fasten your horee and come on."
Death led the way through the forest, the
weaver followed him, and at last they
reached a black door over which hung a
shield upon which was painted an hour?
glass, and underneath the words, "Ah, the
End." This was the home of Death.
They entered the vestibule, in which
hung a scythe, aud then came into a very
long hall in which many thousand can?
dles were burning near each other and
over each other. Some of these were
quite long, others had half burned down,
and there were some that were but little
stumps and their light flickered up and
down and nearly went out.
The weaver was very much astonished
and said, "I always fancied that it would
bo very dark in your house. What do
all these candles mean, and why are some
long and others short?"
Death answered, "A candle is placed
here for every man at bis birth, and each
of these lights denotes a human lifo.
One is slowly consumed, another rapidly,
and when the candle goes out the man's
life is at an end, Those whose candles
are still long have still many days before
them, but those whose candles are burn?
ed down are about to die and would be
wise to make themselves ready, for I
rau3t go to sit at their head."
The weaver was still more astonished
and after awhile he said, "Godfather, I
would like very much to know how much
longer I have to live? Can you not
show me my candle, so that I can learn
by it?" Death led the way, passed
through the rows of candles and at last
stood still, saying, "This is your candle,
this belongs to your wife, this to Anasta
tius, and these to your other children."
The weaver grew pale; the other can?
dles were burning away merrily and were
all long?Anastitius had the longest of ?
all?but his own candle was burned down
to a tiny stump and the flame wavered
here and there, as if under a strong wind
and about to go out every moment.
Then the weaver raised his hands to
Death and said, "Ah, dear godfather, I
am become a rich and happy man
through your goodness. Now when I
know better than others what it is to live
now must I go away; leaving everything
behind! Think of my wife aud children,
what will become of a weak woman and
poor little orphans, Anastatius among
them, when their head and supporter is
gone? I beseech you to have mercy!"
Tears nearly overflowed the eyes of kind
Death at this speech, but he replied, "I
cannot, for I am but the servant of one
mightier than I and must do my duty."
"Most certainly," begged the weaver,
"but you need only put a fresh candle in
the place of the little stump. Ob, dear
godfather, pray, pray shew me this favor,
but quickly, before it is too late."
"Well, I am willing," said Death.. "I
will do it for my godchild's sake;" and
he took up a fresh candle to light it.
But his hand proved too large aud clum?
sy to remove the little stump, and in
raising it he crushed it between his fin?
gers. The tiny flame was extinguished
and in the same instant the weaver sigh?
ed and fell lifeless to the ground.
* *****
And so men say, "No contract cau be
made with Death," and, "One must die,
though Death stand godfather." There?
fore it is wise not to place one's whole
heart upon life, but so to act that one
need neither fear Death nor be ashamed
longer to live.?Translated from German
Folk-Lore Tales by S. B. Duryce.
Fiendish Revenge.
A special from Benton, Mo., to th"e""f>Oii*
Dispatch states that Rev. Benjamin
Dec-ring, of St. Louis, had been for some
days past holding a series of temperance
revival meetings. Monday night some
one, as yet unknown, placed in a pitcher
of water which a revivalist had placed
upon the desk of the speaker, a large
quantity of croton oil. Several persons
drank of the water before service began
and became deathly sick, but not know?
ing the cause of their sickness, they failed
to warn Deering not to drink from the
pitcher. Later, during his discourse, he
drank a glass of the water and wa3 im?
mediately taken sick. All who tasted
the water are in a precarious condition.
Two saloon keepers have been arrested
on suspicion, and it is thought that they
poisoned the water in order to end the
jS^rvices, which were having such a de?
pressing ellec* upon their business.
? "Why does marriage make men
thoughtful?" asked a young lady of an
old bachelor. "Well, I suppose it is be?
cause they are continually wondering
what's going to happen next."
? In the present style of shirt collar,
a young man of fashion may be safely
trusted in the gilded halls of pleasure.
An entire corps do ballet could not turn
his head.