Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

BT E. B. MUKRA TeJ??hj}^1 Column, J. G. CLINKSCALES, Editor. Prof. W. S. Morrison, who conducted our Institute last year and the year before to the great satisfaction and delight of all concerned, will be with us at Wil liamston, and, though not ono of the in? structors this time, will favor the Insti? tute with two or three of his interesting lectures. Prof. Morrison has very great* ly endeared himself to our teachers, and all will be pleased to meet him again. There were some bad papers presented i to the Examining Board at the last ex? amination. It is passing strange that some persons who spell so poorly and write so badly wonld think of trying to teach school. Having made that asser? tion, it gives us pleasure to say that Prof. Ligon considered Mr. Mitchell's paper the finest ever presented to our Board. Mr. Mitchell is teaching at Shady Grove, and is giving entire satisfaction to trus? tees and patrons. It is worthy of men tion, too, that the next best paper was presented by a young lady who has never been taught ia any other than the public schools of this county. With her own hands that young lady and her mother have supported an invalid father and . seven younger brothers aud sisters. Her education was gotten by snatches! when she could be? spared from the field. We are always ready to lift our hat to .any lady,, but it gives us peculiar pleasure to bare our head iu the presence of a woman "of such sterling worth as this. This young woman; who is as modest as she is intellectual, deserves the success, she has achieved. Children will be safe in her hands. ^_ Mr. J. P. Smith strikes the key note when he says,~^The demand is for better ttchook and better teacher*" Give us bet* tor teachers and we will have better schools. We have pleaded long and patiently for better teachers, better patrons, (more thoughtful, more earnest, more deeply interested patrons), better houses, and better schools. Our friend is right again when he says that public interest in the cause of education is on the up grade. Especially is that the case in the neighborhood of historic old Slab* town. What criticism we had to make of the school-house at that place was prompted by the kindliest of motives, and we are certainly gratified to learn that the good people thereabouts took it in that way. ..Our plain duty is to turn every possible, stone to improve the schools, let the public school system be what it may. If what we said has at all shaken the sleeping energies of the in? telligent citizens of Slabtown and vicinity, we are grateful. And, now, in behalf of "W. P. H.? wethank Mr. Smith for his timely exhortation. A good sermon has been followed by a good exhortation. Let the ball roll i Who next ? Mr, Editor : I think "W. P. H." is correct when he BayB that the interest in schools .is daily increasing; and we should all hai?. the awakening with de* light, and by proper agitation keep the j ball in motion, until a system of schools is developed that will meet the wants of the people. In our section of the county greater interest is being manifested in the cause of education than has been done for some time past. Without en* tering'into any discussson of the defects the free school system, but simply taking it as it is, I think that there is much that can be done to improve onr schools, and ^ elevate our profession. The demand is . for be tier schools and better teachers, and we, wht> expect to meet the requirements of the times, must bestir ourselves. We must lay hold of every advantage offered ns for improvement, or we will be called upon to give place to others better pre* pared to meet the needs of the case. In view of the above facts, I think the out* , look for one profession is brighter than it has ever been before, if we will only "play our part," Thanks to you for your suggestion in regard to our special needs iu the way of a beAter building. Our people are now discussing the matter seriously, and I feel assured that at no distant day, we will enjoy an academy second to none in the county. J. P. S. Section 1012 of the school law says: "T&iei Boards of Trustees shall have authority and it shall be their duty * * * * fo-ftorploy teachers, etc." Trustees have not observed this im* portant matter as they ought to have done. : It has been the custom all over the county to allow the people to select the teacher; and that selection has beeu made generally just about in this way .?? Someaman, or woman concludes to'teach'at a certain place. He goes around among the patronB and gets ss many as possible to promise to send to him. Nine out of ten of the patrons are indifferent as to who teaches, just so some? body keeps the children out of their Way, and", consequently, agree and prom? ise to send to the first man or woman .who asks for patronage. The teacher, having the promise of twenty or thirty pupils, announces that he will open school on a certain day, without once consulting the' trustees about it. Fre? quently a very Inferior teacher gets pos? session of a school in this way. The trustees pay no attention to the matte? un?i'/thei teacher comes op with his papers for approval. All this is wrong, and grew out of the dereliction of trus? tees. No teacher ought to be allowed to teach a day without being able to show a written statement, or contract over the signatures of the board of trustees, and no such contract ought to be signed by the trustees until after the applicant's moral character and past record have undergone a thorough examination. But, you say, the mau has a certificate from the County Board of Examiners. Very good?suppose he has. A man may have a good moral character and pass a satisfactory examination before the Board, and yet be objectionable as a teacher. Bnt, again, we are confronted with the suggestion that trustees get no pay for their work, and that they can not reason? ably be expected to do much of it. The law does not expect, or require, mach Y & CO. work of the trustees, but what it does require ought to be paid for. Still they are not paid, and we must deal with things as we find them. Bather than half do the work required of them, or reduce their actual labor to the minimum, on account of no remuneration, it would be better for the trustees to resign and let some body else try it. Each board of trustees ought to have at least one meet? ing each month during the school session, and one meeting a month before the session begins. At the regular monthly meetings they should require all the teachers in the township to be present, with their reports properly made out, givi Dg special attention to the total en? rollment and the average attendance. When the papers are overhauled in the presence of the teac hers, then they should be approved. Not only this: at these regular meetings, which might be held at some school-house in the township, the whole day should be spent in regular school room work. This plan has been tried in two of the townships and works well. The trustees and teachers get better acquainted with one another, and the fraternal feeling existing among the teachers is deepened and widened. At the meeting held one month, or longer, before the session begins, propositions of applican ts for schools should be consid? ered and contracts drawn. This seems to be asking but little of trustees, and we are sure auch a plan would bring good results. The Williamston trustees, who have had regular monthly meetings, propose to employ their teachers for the next gessioD, and to do it in time to get good ones. Their purpose is to stop the prac? tice of approving the claims of any teacher who happens to suit the whims of a community, however loose his meth? ods (want of method), or however worth? less he may be as a teacher. Not only so; they propose to provide a nice little library of two or three, dozen books for the exclusive use of their teachers, and to take for each one or two papers.: In other words, Lander and Hogg and Rich? ardson are wide awake and are moving op things. Lander is a Professor in the College at Williamston?he gives his attention to this matter freely and cheer? fully ; Hogg and Richardson are two of the best firmers in their district?they give their l;ime cheerfully and are grow? ing in interest. Other trustees in the county are just as able and willing as these. We do hope they will lay some plans and exe? cute them. Mr. Peterkin's Method of Procuring Pare Cotton Seed, I take this method of replying to the numerous letters, asking how to improve and keep cotton seed pure. We must first decide upon the kind of cotton we want. You n.ust have an ob? ject in view. If you want a prolific cot? ton, select from small or dwarfed stalks that are not highly fertilized; but such a selection will not stand a drought when full of fruit. My idea is to have stalk, leaf, limbs and fruit in proportion, and roots will be there to penetrate the earth to feed it with fertilizer and moisture. It is a mistake to select seed from a highly fertilized pet patch. It should be on lands that are not cotton sick. It should be after grain or one or two years rested, and lightly fertilized, then pick or select such stalks as have bolls on every limb and of uniform Bize. If you can get a stalk three feet high and as broad as it is tall, with three bolls to the limb, each boll the same dimensions, you would have a fine selection to start with, but such a stalk is hard to find. Bolls all of one size is one of the prin? cipal points in selecting. Cotton that has been selected for its many bolls are not uniform. The first boll on the limb, we will say, is one and a fourth inches in diameter,, the second is one inch and the third is three-fourths of an inch, and the fourth sheds off. The largest boll makes by far more lint than the second, and we can't measure our crop by the second and. Bay it is an average of the three, any more than we can say three twelve-inch logs will make as much lumber as one thirty-six inches in diameter. When you find a stalk that suits you, drive a stick by it, and plant it by itself the nextyear. One stalk is enough to start with. Be sure not to fertilize your patch too highly. When you get a good cotton let it alone. Don't take every peddlers's seed that comes along. I have no doub t but that every man thinks his seed is the best and is honest in what he says, but some of them are mistaken because they don't know a good cotton from a bad one. Seed are often mixed at the gins, also by fertilizing with seed. I don't gin for my neighbors, and allow but one kind of seed to be planted on the farm. Cotton is not apt to mix or cross from the polin, as the bloom is always up and follows the sun around, and is shortlived. It opens after sunrise and shuts up as the sun goes down never to open again. It is also well coated with honey, which holds the polin in. It is never blown about as corn polin, and is only carried by bees or man. As the bees gather the honey the poliu sticks to their legs. Honey was not made for man alone, but for the purpose of carrying the polin down into the seedmaking depart? ment of the flower. The dew absorbs it, I and it then carries the polin to its needed place.?J. A. PeterHn, in Weekly Nexus and Courier. The Length of Days. At London, England, and Bremen, Prus? sia, the longeut day has sixteen and a half hours. At Stockholm, in Sweden, the longest day has eighteen and a half hours. At Hamburg, in Germany, and Dantzic, in Prussia, the longest day has seventeen hours. At St. Petersburg, Russia, in Tobolsk, in Siberia, the long? est day has nineteen hours, and the short? est five. At Tornea, in Finland, the longest day has twenty-ono hours and a half. At Ward hurs, in Norway, the day lasts from the IJlst of May to the 22ud July without interruption ; and at Spitz? bergen, the longest day is three and a half months. At New York, the longest day, June 10, has fourteen hours and fifty-six minutes; at Montreal, fifteen and a half hours. BILL ARPS LETTER, In Which he Denis In Facts and Figures. It seems very strange that young men who come from good stock and have been brought up with proper ideas of the proprieties of life shoulds eek to fight a duel. I wonder where they get such a foolish idea of honor. It used to pre\ '.!, I know, but we thought that modern civilization had about wiped out that stain?that stigma upon our humanity? that Sancho Panzo seutiment that would fight a windmill because it turned. The question that concerns society is, how do young men acquire such notions? Of course they do not acquire them at home, for I do not suppose there is a respectable parent in the State who would teach his son that it was right under any circumstances to send or accept a challenge. Duelling has had its day and is now under the ban. Ben Hill gave its hideous corpse the last kick in hi3 memorable reply to Alex. Stephens, and he deserved a monument for that if for nothing else. But when college boys run off to fight a duel, it is a damaging reflection on that institution and upon our system of edu? cation. Thore is already a suspicion pervading the public mind, that a college course is a risk, a peril, a hazard and I have heard many a reflective father say: "I am afraid to send my boy to college 1" So many of the graduates return home with bad habits or bad principles or exalted self esteem or a chronic indolence that parents are discouraged and disap? pointed. If the boys come horn* as the family ornaments, they soon become the family expense. Their indolence is established and they are drones in the hive. They read all the modern novels and can talk critically and learnedly, but they are of no account. They are capa? ble but there is nothing for them to do that corresponds with their mental culture and physical reluctance to work. They will not go back to the farm or the workshop and the professions are already overcrowded. Of course there are many bright and honorable exceptions, but our people are taking notice that, as a gener? al rule, the successful men of the day are not college graduates and those ho are the sons of poor parents. A boy who never did any work at home is in a bad fix to go to college. Work is the thing? a habit of work?chop the wood, make the fires, feed the stock, plant the garden and cultivate it; help all around and about the house and black his own shoes;-use the hammer and the saw, mend the broken chairs and bring rvater, do something that will save expense and that will help?help is the word. Every child should be taught to help, that it is a duty to help. When the boy has been raised this way and is ready for college send him for one year, and if he is get? ting too uppity and biggoty then let him stay at home a year and work some more and then send him back again. He can just drop back to the next class and lose nothing. But if you send a boy to col? lege who never worked at home, and let .him stay three or four years, in nine cases out of teu he will be no account. He is a finished gentleman. The perils of education are alarming. I mean education without moral and industrial training. Teachers and pro? fessors have but little to do with this. Their sole business is to (each from the books,. If the pupil stands well in math? ematics, in Greek and Latin and logic and rhetoric and philosophy, he is doing splendid. That is the big thing. In fact, it is everything so far as the teacher is concerned; and almost everything with the parents. The result is that thousands of boys are being educated as experts in indolence, in avoiding work, and in many cases they resort to forgery and embezzlement and obtaining money under false pretences. It is now an open secret at the North that education increases crime, not just a little but immensely. As illiteracy decreases crime increases in a geometrical ratio. They are almost met with the startling question which is the best, comparative ignorance with honesty or high culture i with dishonesty ? Let us look at the figures as furnished by Mr. George R. Stetson, of Boston, a philosopher, a thinker, a patriot. In 1850 there were, in round numbers, one million of people in Massachusetts and 1,236 prisoners?1 prisoner to 804 of the population. As education progressed crime progressed. Education walked and crime ran?until in 1884 there were (65,000) Bixty-nve thousand arrests, or one arrest for every 29 of the population ; and assuming that five persons constitute a family, we have the alarming result of one arrest to every six families in the State. The criminals in the house of correction of Hampden County increased from 363 to 1,131 in les3 than twenty years. The population increased only 100 per cent while crime increased 312. In the last five years it increased 96 per cent., and the sheriff in his report says this condition will proba? bly continue. Continue how long, I wonder. Will it be until, like Sodom and Gomorrah; there be Bot ten righteous men left ? In 1883, there were 1,100 commitments more than 18S2. Mr. Stetson shows that in this rapid increase of crime the native population is just as bad as the foreign. Then, again, look at the divorces?a class of statistics from which the foreign element is eliminated. In 1863 there was but one divorce to 3,134 persons. In 1880 there was one to 1,537. In 1880 there was one to 1,537. In the last ten years divorces have increased more than twice as rapidly as marriages, and more than three times as rapidly as popula? tion. Dr. Dorchester says: "The most liberal view of the question can but awaken concern for the permanence of social order and the stability of public virtue. 'In Massachusetts there was in 1882 one divorce to every thirty-four marria? ges, and the ratio increasing every year. In Rhode Island, one to fourteen and in Connecticut one to eleven. Hut the number of divorces does not represent half the number of unhappy marriages or broken marriage vows, cases that do not get into the courts, and hence it can be safely estimated that no more than eight families in ten have preserved the purity and honor of the ANDERSON, S. C, 1 family relation. Upon the purity depends not only the welfare of society, but the perpetuity of the nation. Mr. Stetson Bays: "Public morals are now so low that vast conspiracies are entered into to defraud whole communi? ties?corporations organized to defraud the innocent and unwary?public office prostituted to personal gain and the cap? ital of banks gambled with by persons high in social position. 'We find the public press pandering to a low vulgar curiosity in disgusting details of crimes against public order and decency, to satisfy a morbid public crav? ing. "We find that the books of the least value have the greatest circulation. 'We find that the largest number of the regular attendants go to church in search of amusement and intellectual gratification, rather than lor worship or instruction." These admissions are alarming to every lover of his country?to every parent who feels parental solicitude for the welfare of his children. We congratulate our people?our peo? ple of Georgia and the South?that we are still far removed from this lamenta? ble condition. Our county of Bartow is an average county, perhaps no better, no worse, than the general population of the South ; and here we have a population of 25,000, two thirds white, and only ninety-eight arrests for crime in the past year. Seventy-two of these were negroes, but we will draw no race dis? tinctions, and it is one in 250, while in Massachusetts it is one in twenty-nine. If we estimate the whites alone it is one in 650. Then compare the divorces. There were only three suits for divorce the last year, that is one divorce to.more than 7,000 people and only three divorces to every 190 marriages. No wonder that Carter Harrison de? clines to run again for mayor of Chicago. He says he needs rest and he fears that if he should again accept the office he would have no rest for be would not dare to leave Chicago for a week for fear of a communist uprising and a river of blood in the streets. There is one other very damaging assertion and it is as true at the South as at the North, and it is this: As high mental culture increases our sensibility and self-esteem it also increases our ability to accumulate wealth by ques? tionable means and to escape the conse? quences of criminal acts. Only a small portion of the iniquity in high places finds punishment. It is mainly the poor and the friendless who fill the prisons. "The conclusion of the matter," says Mr. Stetson, "is that intellectual culture without moral education rather increases the ability to escape the consequences of criminal acte, but does not prevent their commitment. Professor Sewall says 'the effect of increased intelligence without accompanying moral principles is either to invent new forms of vice or to cover up those crimes which the ignorant cannot so cunningly conceal." In all our public schools good morals are to some extent enjoined, but this is voluntary and not required. Obedience to parents is not taught, nor is the observance of the ten commandments. The duties that appertain to citizenship ?honesty in trade, troth, industry, respect for the Sabbath and for the church?are not included in any school curriculum, and yet these things are the very foundation of society and good gov? ernment, and <f far more importance than trigonometry or greek or rhetoric. If the children teere taught all these at home there would be less necessity for teaching them at school, but they are not. How many parents teach them ? The heathen Chinese tenches his chil? dren obedience and hones t dealing, and their laws enforce these virtues rigor? ously ; but ours do not. On the contrary, there are, perhaps, as many parents afraid of their children as children afraid of their parents. How many fathers are there who, instead of teaching their boys honesty and truth, set them an example of overreaching and dissem? bling in trade? Where are the preach? ers who preach these virtues vigorously and systematically? But, even if they did, how many of the children are there to hear? In all the public shools of Germany and Prussia religion and morals stand first in the curriculum, and in the latter country no teacher is qualified until he has been instructed in religion and morals for three years in a seminary established for that purpose. But instruction in good morals and religion is not all. They are required to do work?manual work of some kind. The mind and the body are trained together. In treating of this, Mr. Stetson save that the State commissioners affirm that the great advantage of prison life to youthful convicts is the acquirement of the habit of industrious Iabotr. What a commentary is this upon an educational system that a boy has to be sent to prison to learn a trade. Now I d? not know that our system differs materially from theirs, but let us take warning in time and fortify. Their ratio of illiteracy is 3 to 100, ours is 24 to 100. It was that in 1880. I do not think it is more than 20 now. We wish to lessen it until there is not a rational child in the State over ten years that cannot read. This is our duty, but let us be careful that crime does not increase with culture. It is not now. Colonel Tow? ers, our efficient and well informed com? missioner of prisons, tells me that crime is actually diminishing if the number of convicts now being sent up from our courts signify anything. For the past six months the number of colored con viclB has fallen off very seriously. This is especially gratifying, for it did Beem a few years ago as if the whole race were bound for the chaingang. Our children are exposed to dangerous influences all the time and need all the help they can get. The girls aro absorb? ed with the exactions of fashion and social life and find but little time to devote to duty. The boys are dazzled with glimpses of fortunes made in a day by speculation. A few days ago a young rcian wna tried in Augusta and convicted for selling lottery tickets, and he was HURSDAY MORNII fined and imprisoned. His lawyer made a pathetic appeal for mercy and held up the daily newspaper that had in one col? umn an account of the trial and in the other the displayed advertisement of the Louisiana lottery with two distinguished confederate generals as its godfathers. But enough of this. I have not writ? ten it for invidious comparison, but as food for thought. There are many thinkers in the land both North and South. We are livicg for our children and our children's children, and it becomes us all to guard well the bul? warks of our social system. Bill Arp. Stick to the Farm. Had we the ear of every young farmer in the Southern States, we would say to him, and repeat it over and over again, "Stick to the farm." Ennoble your call? ing. Educate yourself for it, and by judicious experiments, close observations and untiring labor and painstaking, make it the source of mental improvement, pleasure and profit. When we say edu? cate yourself for it, we do not mean edu? cation in the schools and college.--, though we think that in these far more attention should be given to the branches connect? ed with agriculture. We mean that the young farmer should, by a judicious course of reading and thinking in the intervals of labor, acquire the intelligence that is indispensable in bis calling. Let him read attentively short elementary works on geology, chemisrtry and plant physiology. The necessary books can be got for not more than two dollars. Hav? ing laid the foundation in these, let him continue the course through life by sub? scribing for one or two good newspapers. We don't mean agricultural papers which treat of nothing hut the one subject, but good weekly newspapers, from which he can store his mind with information on all topics. Nearly all the leading week? lies have a department devoted to agri? culture, conducted by a competent editor. A society of young farmers in each neighborhood would be a most valuable adjunct. Let him make experiments of his own, cautiously and daily learn something by observation. It is a certain fact that every acre of land, if it has a medium subsoil, and is pretty well drained, can, by careful tillage and judicious.use of home made fertilizers, be made to yield twice the quantity of cotton or corn that it yields with the ordinary tillage. A careful selection of seed alone will always increase the crop, and if persevered in may double the yield and give a perman? ent Variety, valuable not only to the pro ducer, but to his fellow farmer--. Let the young farmer give his atention to these things adding daily to his knowledge, addingyearly to his profit. It is undeniable that agriculture is the civilizer of man? kind and the ultimate source of the wealth of all nations. Let every young farmer, then, be proud of hiB calling, and seek to adorn it. We are aware that a spirit of unrest is abroad among the young farmers of the South. For some years their labors have been hard, and their profits small and slow to accumulate. Many of them fancy that a surer, shorter, less laborious road to competence may be found in the pro? fessions, in trade, or in other kinds of labor. In this they are mistaken. The depression is widespread?wide as the civilized world; it permeates'every avoca? tion, every rank of society. The profes? sions are overcrowded. Here and there is a professional man who acquires com? petence and fame; but for every one of these there are scores who eke out a meager subsistence, very many of them not knowing how they are to pay their board or house rent at the end of the month nor their grocer's and butcher's bills at the end of the week. One reads and hears of the successful ones, but not of the others; just as one reads of the few who draw the big lottery prizes among the news items Of the public prints, but the names of the thousands who draw the blanks?never 1 And in the mercantile business?few young farmers can form a conception of the physical and mental labor the mer? chant and his clerks and other employees must undergo. For the former, days of toil and sleepless nights of anxious thought! For the latter, days of unre? mitting slavish work, uneasy doubts as to what the future, with the vicissitudes of trade, may bring! Homeless and with? out means or employment! Can our young farmer friends fancy the full meaning of these words? And how many merchants succeed in their bus? iness? We have it stated, by good authority, that not more than five out of a hundred retire from business with a competence. The other ninety-five see their capital slowly melt to nothingness, or is swept away at one fell swoop that brings bankruptcy and ruin to the mer? chant and loss of position to his employ? ees. And what of the other forms of labor in which millions are engaged ? What of the great army of wage-workers?is peace, and plenty and contentment found in their ranks ? Is there no unrest there? What of the privation they and their families have endured for years ? And remember that most of them are without homes of their own. What of the exac? tions of which they complain (whether justly or unjustly we shall not stop to inquire). Consider the strikes and lock? outs of the present decade, the thousands who are thrown out of employment, the days, weeks, months and years of enforc? ed idleness. And remember that every Btrike and lockout is a sharp two edged sword that cuta both ways. Employers and employees alike suffer. Let the young farmer compare lots with all these?the professional men, the merchants and their employees, the wageworkers and their employern. His homestead is his own, safe to him and his beyond peradventure. It is his capi? tal, that cannot pass from him by slow degrees, nor lost by one calamitous stroke. For him there are no strikes nor lock outs ; ho may always find employment. Ho has always a roof to shelter him and his, and food and raiment for both. For every farmer can make, with reasonable care and industry, a supply of everything lie and his family need for food, except Bugar and coffee, After home supplies for man and beast, wbich every farmer can and should make, there comes his moDey crop. For the farmer in the South that mon? ey crop is, and for an indefinite time it muBt be, cotton. We, of course, except localities like that contiguous to our "Magic City." We say it is and must be cotton. And spite of all that has been said and written derogatory to our great staple, it if the best and surest money crop in the world. Either in the form in which it comes from the farm or as manufactured goods, we send our cotton to every part of the globe. The demand for it is universal, constant, insatiable. Compare cotton wih the staple money crops of the North. Take wheat, for instance. Two acres of fair average land yield thirty bushels of wheat. Two acres of like land in the South yield one bale of cotton. The cotton weighs 450 pounds, the wheat 1,800 pounds, or four times as much. Still, the cotton will bring con? siderably more at its ultimate destination than the wheat will. Discrimination and competition may modify the economic law, but the law itself is axiomatic. That is the best crop which comprises the greatest value in the least bulk aod weight. Moreover a considerable per cent, of the mineral constituents of the soil is exported in the wheat, and to preserve at average fertility, the farmer must re? place these by the use of bought fertilizers. Cotton exported takes nothing from the soil, and to preserve its average fertility, it is only necessary that the farmer restore to the soil the seed taken from it, either the raw seed or the dropping of animals fed on it. Again, England and the Continent grow wheat, some of the European na? tions raising large quantifies for export. India, Australia and British Columbia have become formidable competitors of our wheat growing regions, and new fields are being opened up every year. Years may come when the flush supply of wheat abroad will reduce the price so low as to stop its exportation from our country. But the exportation of cotton will never be stopped. As a producer of the cotton the world wants, the South has no rival on the globe and never will have. In presenting the merits of our great staple as a money crop, we would not dis? suade Southern farmers in favored local? ities from producing other things instead of cotton for market. Dairying, garden? ing, fruitraising, and the growth and fattening of beeves, sheep and hogs for the butcher, are, in many places, far more profitable than the raising of cotton. But except in such places, cotton is our best money crop, aod for the reasons we have stated, the best money crop in the world.?The Next) South. A Roaring Sea of Flame. Chicago, April 12.?A special from Atchison, Kansas, says: "No less than fifteen persons have been burned to death by prairie fires, which, starting near Nico demus, Graham County, have swept northwest on an air line into Norton County, destroying everything in their path, that in places is from two and a half to seven miles wide. A. great roar? ing sea of flame rolling in sheets under the impetus of a high wind which pre? vailed all day and night Saturday. Starting on the South Fork of Solomon River, in Graham County, the fire swept north to North Fork which it crossed at Edmond, a station on the Central Branch Railroad in Norton County, and at last accounts it was still sweeping towards the northwest diagonally acrow Norton County in the direction of Dccatur, an adjoining county on the west, carrying destruction and death in its path. Thousands of head of stock of all kinds have been burned, and thousands of tons of hay, corn and wheat, and from 100 to 175 houses and barns have buen destroy? ed. People living along the line of the fire have been left homelens and destitute. It is impossible as yet to learn the names of those who perished. Tremen? dous excitement prevails all through the burned district, which extends a distance of over sixty miles in length by two to seven in breadth, with the fire still spread? ing northwest. Sloux Falls, Dacota, April 12.? Reports of the loss of property from prairie fires during the terrible wind storm of Friday and Saturday continue to come in. Eighteen miles west of this city a tremendous fire started and swept the country for miles. Henry Strallen, George Fallor, John Jacobson and P. M. Hall lost their houses and contents, and also their barns, farm machinery, grain and stock. James Hutchinson, C. E. Greenlau. W. S. Brooks, William Igo and Edward Walker lost their barns and contents. Other Iobscb are indefinitely reported. It was the most destructive fire that ever visited thia part of the country, and the total loss wil exceed $100,000. Short Furrows a Waste. Many calculations have been made to prove the waste of time consequent upon short furrows, Under average circum? stances a pair of horses will plow an acre of grass land in a day of nine houre. On turnip land, of the same quality, rather more tbi t an acre will be plowed in a day, and on stubble land one and one quarter acreB. A considerable differ? ence will, of course, be found in the work accomplished by different horses and men, even on the same land. With a furrow nine inches wide, exactly eleven miles are traveled in plowing an acre. A quarter of a day op more ia generally used in turning at the head? land. Time and labor are saved by run? ning the furrows the longest way of the field, as the number of turns is thereby diminished. ? When a man says he thanks the Lord that be hasn't a wife, every woman in the land should respond with a hearty amen. ? A roasted or boiled lemou, filled while hot with sugar, and eaten still hot, just before retiring, will often break up a cold. ? Prosperity is only a blessing when* we truly thank God for it and use it as a furtherance of our eternal happiness. THE VIEWS OF TWO JUDGES. Judge Kershaw and "Judge Lyncli" on Mob Law. From the Aiken Journal and Review. In bis charge to the grand jury of Aiken, on Monday last, Judge Kershaw said: "There has been some comment and considerable feeling in certain quarters concerning a recent case of lynching. In regard to that, there is no question at all that lynch law is an evidence of a low state of- civilization. "No county can claim to be iu a high state of enlightenment and civilization and good order that tolerates a resort to lynch law. The Courts are open for the trial of all offenses. Whenever a case is made out, it ought to go through the regular channel for investigation. If the Judges are faithful, if the juries are faithful, and the witnesses are faithful, there can be no trouble in convicting them. "There has been a time in the history of the State that there was a good cause for complaining of the mode of adminis? tering justice, which prevailed at one time, and it was supposed then, and with a good show of reason, that a resort to lynch law was necessary, but that is past, and the best people have control of all public matters. They control the jury box and the judiciary, they have the right to choose them through their rep? resentative, and there is no reason, no possible excuse, for not being willing to submit every case that occurs to the arbitrament of the judicial tribunal, and j I have always, within the limits of my influence, and according to such ability as I had, endeavored to impress these views upon the people of the State. There was, some years ago, an opportuni? ty offered me when I was quite young in the position I hold now, when my first term of service began as a judicial officer, of presenting to the grand jury in Bichland these views more at large than I have presented tbem to you. An offence had taken place of a special and most criminal character?that concern? ing the purity of woman, so near and dear to the hearts of all. It was argued and insisted upon that in regard to that particular offence, on account of its hei nousnees, that the only proper mode was a resort to summary punishment by the people. Now there is a very strong reason why that particular offence might be made the subject of a resort to sum? mary punishment; there was, at least, an excuse of passion, for the visitation upon the heads of the offenders at that time. I said then what I say now, that there was nothing that should justify a resort to lynch law under a well-ordered and well governed country. I went on to say that there was no tolling where this thing would end, because they were solely irresponsible; they made no inves? tigation of the offence; the very nature of the offence, most horrible as it was, was calculated to blind the judgment of the people. To charge a perso n with bo enormous an offence as that, is sufficient to create in the minds of the people a belief of guilt. They haven't that aober and deliberate control of reason which is necessary to determine whether the case is made out beyond a resonable doubt against the party, so iu this case I said what I am now repeating to you, and I said then, if we condone an offence of that kind iu regard to one class of crime ?that most horrible kind of crime to which I referred?that we had no means of controlling and limiting it to that one offence, but that the tendency of it was to shake the confidence of the people in the ability of the Courts to punish crime, and it would go from one crime to another, and there would be no limit to this kind of so called justice, and such is the case; from being confined to one crime it has now gone to another. "Take that case in Yorkville, to which I allude. There could not have been any reason, upon any kind of proof that would have justified the conviction of the parties with that offence, why the law could not have taken its course. "I see nothing in that case at all to warrant a resort to lynch law. It only shows that the people are a mob when they go to lynch law, and, like a mob resort to the enforcement of law without reflection and reason, and it will go on< until the people stop it by their assertion of the right that sound public sentiment shall prevail. "These thoughts have been suggested by a perusal of the morning paper, in which I saw some comments made by Judge Presaley. "I hope that Aiken County will never be called upon to deal with a case ofthat kind." From a correspondent of the Columbia Register. Fellow-citizens of South Carolina: I understand that you are becoming alarmed at my recent outrages, and that you are fearfully trembling at the thought of what I may do next. I desire to write you a few words of admonition and instruction : I confess that I have recently assumed considerable authority and exercised extreme jurisdiction in several cases. I do not desire to continue in the usurpa? tions of this power which I am wielding, and would gladly return it to the law, but law must first purify itself and give me assurance that she is strong enough to hold it. She is not strong enough now, as has been thoroughly demonstrat? ed in a number of recent cases. She has become so corrupt that respectable citi? zens no longer have any faith in her. The opiniou seems to prevail thiough out the State that the law would have been abundantly able to deal with the case that I recently disposed of. I assure you that it is very doubtful, As to whether the accused were guilty of the crime which they were charged or not, no one doubted for a moment. In fact every one was positive that they were, and all those who were at all familiar with the forms of law were equally certain that under tho rules of evidence they could never be legally convicted. Th6 confession made in the jail by one of the murderers shortly after the commission of the crime has been denied since the return of tho prisoners 1 from Columbia. Whilo in Columbia they employed a lawyer, and I learned that he had two strings to his bow. One VOLUM] was to plead insanity for the negro who confessed, who by tbe way, came back to Yorkville acting bis part admirably Tbe other string was to get a change of venue; and I assure you that if this had succeeded they would have been acquit? ted, for, as I have told you before, there was no proof against the accused but what would have been ruled out under the rules of evidence. Another fact which led me to pursue the course I did was this: The prisoners, if tried together, would have been able to exhaust tbe jury box down to the very dregs, and been able to secure twelve such scoundrels as themselves, who would certainly bring in a verdict of acquittal. Some people ask me why I did not wait until tbe law had taken its course: and then, they say, if it failed to convict, it was time enough for me to act. To this I will say: Simply because I did not wish to "murder" a man whom the law said was innocent. I have no desire for revenge, but I have a love for justice. My labor for the past few years has not been to promote the interest of lawlessness, but to promote tbe interest of law. Id my Court tbe sharped lawyer does not win the case, and it must be arranged so in yours, or I shall continue to preside. In my Courts the accused is not allowed to choose his own jury, manage to prolong tbe trial until nightfall, have the Court adjourned and get his friends to buy auch of the scoundrels as will sell out, and if they can't buy all, at least manage to get a mistrial. I have seen this occur time and again in your Courts, Change it or you cannot compete with me. In my Courts there are no rules of evidence which make it necessary for the witness to see the crime committed and don't allow him to hear or know a fact in any other way but seeing. In my Courts all that the jury need to enable them to bring in a verdict of guilty is to become thoroughly satisfied that the accused is guilty. Many a time have I heard one of your jurymen, after sitting on a case and bringing in a ver? dict of acquittal, say that the accused was as "guilty as could be, but it could not be proved." Then have I been tempted to take the case in hand, but forebore, on account of my respect for the law. Look to this fact or I will. In this same county, in which I have recently been operating, not more than two years ago a man was tried for arson. He was acquitted in the face of (.he most damning proof. He had committed tbe deed for spite, and after his acquittal he boastingly acknowledged it. I was asked why I did not look after this case. I simply replied that it was too late now. The law has now taken its course. Hundreds of cases of a like character may bj cited from all parts of tbe Stale, and still you condemn me. If you don't do something with your jury system, your lawyers and your rules of evidence pretty soon, I shall assume jurisdiction in more cases than those with which I have recently been dealing. Respectfully, Judge Lynch. Yorkville, April 12, 1887. STEALING EXTRAORDINARY. PiTTSBUEG, Pa., April 11.?Tbe most important arrests ever made in this part of the country begun at an early hour this morning. They will not be com? plete before late this evening, and at that time the officers of tbe Pan Handle Railroad will have in custody tbe most daring gang of railroad robbers this country has ever known. How many members belong to it are not known, but they run up into the hundreds. Their stealings extend over a period of two or three years, and the amount stolen reaches nearly half a million dollars. Simultaneous arrests are being made all along the line of tbe Pan Handle Road between here and Columbus. Warrants have been in tbe bands of officers for some time, and tbe persons arrested will comprise nearly all the freight men of the line and include con? ductors, brakemen, engineers and fire? men. The ringleaders of the gang, who are outside the railroad business, are known and some of them are now be? lieved to be under arrest. Tbe first arrests were made about 2 o'clock this morning, the police surprising eighteen men at their boarding houses and taking them at once to jail. Further arrests were made between 2 o'clock and day light, when forty-six men?all railroad employees, conductors, brakemen, fire? men and engineers?were behind the bars. In speaking of the arrests, a prominent officer of the Pan Handle Road said: "For three years .past the Pan Handle Road has been systematically robbed. Cars on sidings and cars in moving trains were broken open and goods stolen, including every description of merchan? dise. It is estimated that at least $200," 000 worth of goods were taken, for which the company had to pay. In August last we got a clue, and the company deter? mined to push it to the end. Detectives were employed, who followed up evory scent, and finally we had information upon which to proceed, when everything was ready. We had decided to make a move all along the line from Columbus to Pittsburg, and 2 o'clock this morning was the hour fixed to strike the blow. About eighty warrants were issued for men in Pittsburg. I cannot tell how many for other places, but at every point along the line it will run up into the hundreds. It is the biggest thing of the kind that ever happened in Pittsburg or in railroad matters in the world, for noth? ing like it has ever happened before. I cannot tell who the men are under arrest or who the ringleaders are. This much 1 will say, however: We suspect out? siders of being implicated in the rob? beries, but know nothing positive." Among the prisoners is a man named Baker, against whom there are thirty eight charges. Early one morning, some months ago, at Sheridan, a station near this city, a train was stopped for wator. An attack was made on the crow, and in the fight tho fireman was shot. He afterwards died from his injuries. At .daybreak it was found that two cars had been broken open and their coutenta stolen. Baker is accused of firing the shot that killed the fireman, and this is E XXII.- -NO. 41. understood to be one of the thirty-eight charges against him. John H. Hampton, attorney for the Pennsylvania Company, was seen this morning in the office of a detective agency, where, sitting amidst a hetero genious collection of plunder, be said: "These robberies have been carried on systematically for several years. The company have long been aware that there was a leakage somewhere, and as early as September, 1886, they quietly commenced investigations. Detectives were placed on trains where goods could be watched and the thieves caught. We had already discovered that the culprits were employees of the company. In September there were eighty crews of freight trains on the Pan Handle Rail? road coming into Pittsburg. Of these not less than seventy-five were found to be crooked. A crew consists of a conductor, flagman and two brakemen. In some cases all the men were involved; in others only a part. The statement that engineers and firemen were mixed up in the robberies is wrong; not a single one is involved. "Goods were stolen in various ways. In many instances seals broken, while in others hatchets were used to cut a hole in the end of tho car through which the men crawled and took what thciy coveted. Thon they reported tho car in bad con? dition, claiming that the hole had been made by accident. The operations were all the result of a combination. Ar? rangements were carefully made, and each rascal was assigned to his particular part of the work in much the same way as a bank robbery is conducted by pro? fessional cracksmen. I do not know that the members of the combination were oath bound, or anything of that kind, but it is certain that a thorough under? standing existed among them and they - acted in concert to cover each other's misdoings. "The thing which alarmed us more than anything else wan that they stole large quantities of whiskey and drank it in their houses. They needed vessels to hold the liquor, so they stole milk cans and kept it in them. Not daring to keep whiskey openly in the cars, they tore up the flooring and bid it underneath. The men were continually reported drunk on duty, and-the probability of disaster was something fearful to contemplate. All kinds of goods were stolen, including sewing machines, guns, revolvers, cut? lery, silverware, cigars, clothing, liquors, groceries, furniture, and in fact every imaginable article that can be carried on a car were quietly removed. Depreda? tions were committed all along the road, and the losers reside et points as far west as Denver. " 'Fences' were established in this city, where the stolen property was taken and then sold, the money being evenly divided among the crews. It is impossi? ble to give the aggregate value of prop? erty stolen, but it will not reach $300,000, as reported." The arrests have created the greatest excitement among the railroad employees of this city. The s:enes about the jail doors this morning, where the relatives of the prisoners had gathered to learn causes of their arrests, were of saddest description. Wives, children, parents, brothers and sisters, with tear stained faces, stood around the entrances to the prison, eager to hear the latest develop? ments and pleading with the officers for admission to the jail to see the prisoners. At 1 o'clock ten more men were cap? tured at the pay car while receiving their wages. This makes a total of 56 now in jail here, and it is supposed that as many more have been apprehended at other points along the line. Consternation prevails among the pro? prietors of the "fences" and dens where the goods were secreted and sold. In one instance the proprietor of a do tori ou8 den was detected in the act of burn? ing stolen property. Nearly 200 warrants are still out, and it is expected that the list of arrests in this city will be swelled to 80 to night. A number of houses in various parts of the city were raided to-day and a large quantity of goods recovered. Every man arrested had stolen goods somewhere. Among the prisoners are several des? perate characters, who were wanted by the police for other offenses. They were all armed, and when not taken by sur? prise resisted arrest. Numbers overpow? ered them, however, and all were safely lodged in jail. The most important arrest made here was brakeman Young. He called at the jail to see one of the prisoners this morn? ing and was immediately locked op. At first he protested that be was innocent, but finally admitted that he had a large lot of property at his house, and told how the goods had come into his posses? sion. This confession, it is said, will convict thirteen crews. Telegrams from Cadi;;, Steubeoville and points west of Columbus report the arrest of a large number of railroad em? ployees implicated in the robberies. A preliminary hearing will be held on April 18th. Specials from Denison, Ohio, report the arrest there of J. R. Duulap, leader of the gang, and James and W. Collis, with several thousands of dollars' worth of velvets and high priced dry goods in their possession. These articles were taken from United States bonded cars en route to Chicago, St. Louis, and other points west. One, Busbie, the worst man in the gang, slipped his handcuffs and recklessly threw himself from the train whilst it was going, and escaped. The Handkerchief Cure. Poet and Editor James E. Randall created a sensation in Augusta the oi.her day. A street-car horse became unruly and a male passenger proposed throwing sand in the animal's eyes. "Oh, nol" said the colonel, "don't do that; it is unnecessary and inhuman. The poor beast only needs to be diverted. Tie a handkerchief around his fore leg and he will start off promptly. The driver agreed to try it, and the horse moved, at once. Then the driver snatched his whip, looked at the colonel and ex? claimed: "If that don't beat the Dutch."?Philadelphia Time?. ?? Use buttermilk for the removal of tan and walnut stains and fr.yckles.