University of South Carolina Libraries
BY E. B. MUERA T^??H^'?OWMN, ; J. G. CLINKSCALES, Editob. ?- '; - On acconnt of the fearful inroads of the" measles and other disease*, very few schools in the county will be able to run to the end of the spring session with a fulUist of pupils in regular attendance. . Not withstanding all the difficulties, however, the teachers have fonght va? liantly, and we are confident much good - has been accomplished. vT'W? are sorry we, can not give the read? ers of the Teachers' Column an account of the meeting of the Association at Belton. This writing is done May 5, two 'days ahead of the meeting. Next week we hope to publish a full acconnt of the. proceedings and hope all those who fail to attend the meeting will read carefully. The indications now are that the meeting will be largely attended and that much good will be accomplished. KS j. Closing exhibitions may be made of very great value to children and con? ducive to the promotion of the cause of education, but great tact and no little ?forethought on the part of the teacher are necessary. In the first place, one serious mistake, which very seldom fails ~ to be, made, is allowing the pupils to, re dtelextracta of too great' length. It .is yforVa school boy to speak longer than one minute and a half, or two minutes at the outside. It is not necessary for ?-girl to read an essay six k or eight pages in length when two will W furnish abundant evidence of her ability, or lack oTl^^^as af^tor'ahd un? questionably sufficiently tax the patience of her hearers. The blue ribbon run through the paper will go for a, great deal if it binds together two. sheets that are covered with good thoughts; but will haw vary little. attraction for' the tired listener, if it holds eight or ten ? ahe^taN&at are burdened with 'an endless ? tri&n or nonscrisical adjectives." In the next place, don't forget that there will be another day left for school exhibitions and try to crowd every thing .into one day's exercise. Have a variety, of course, but be considerate and .thoughtful enough to stop before the patience of the audience is exhausted. SCHOLARSHIP. A dictionary is made, or supsosed to . be made, for the purpose of defining words; .yet sometimes, it cannot help us. Borne ideas are too simple to be simpli? fied-; some are too complex: Sometimes i; we cannot understand the name beenuBe '7" we have no acquaintance,with the thing ' represented. The last mentioned condi? tion is most often the cause of the mis? conception of the word scholar. To the entirely, ignorant it means a man that can read and write; to the somewhat ? better informed, it means the teacher i who has charge of the village school; to most persons,'it means a man who, by some accident or misnomer, has been /dubbed profes^^wiiJfr-40, those privi? leged persona, who^tiave been brought . into contact with a really great scholar, this name is; indicative of greatness of aim^ loftiness of soul and a martyr-like devotion" to theTruth.' The scholar is a peculiar species of the genus homo, which : is eapeojgUj to be met with in Europe? : seemajto^ourish with most abundance in Germany, but%rhich is rarely found in 'America. The conditions of our life are not : favorable to the development of. the true ^?stholar. There is but little premium I put on truly scholarly work. A great pressure is brought to bear on the pro* lessors, oven in our best institutions, to drive them to that which is popular. AH the intellectual pabulum calle&for is : ia the shape of highly seasoned articles % *' that tickle rather titan* nourish.; ? To' attain high educational culture by near cuts, Americans have spent an amount of ingenuity altogether sufficient to have ' reached the desired goal by the one slow and proper method. Constantly new methods of study are developed and in? corporated in some book. "German Tjpjght by LeWer. Perfectly," "French Mastered in Ten Lessons,'' "Six Weeks Preparation for Caesar," are some of our. " iuteliactaal nostrums. Normal colleges and Summer schools are also both capa? ble of injuring the cause of true educa ' tion beyond measure. The normal idea is a good one. - Pedagogics should be represented in .every university, and , every teacher ought to know something . of the history and science Of teaching; . but whenever this comes to be the pre? dominant feature, whenever method is substituted for knowledge, most terrible damage is wrought. Give me the man first of &\\ who knows what he professes to teach, and a method will certainly be found?* Pent up waters, if they are liv? ing,, will surely find some outlet. Sum? mer schools may be the occasion of much good., To see the laity in great numbers spending their, vacation at some quiet mountain or lakeside retreat, where the mind may reap pleasure and profit as well as the body, is a gladdening sight, and indicates a growing, wholesome, in? tellectual appetite; but when we must look to the Summer schools to furnish teachers of even rudimentary instruction in *te ordinary branches, it is a sad com* mentary on our scholarship. How crim natty deficient are our schools and teach? ers;! But we are wandering; to return to our mutton. '? A great scholar may be known by two teats : First, he is a man of thorough information. He knows his own depart? ment well* its history and its present status, the lines along which develop? ment has proceeded and the work still to be accomplished. The acquisition of actual knowledge 1b by many given a place altogether too subordinate. We often excuse the paucity of facts in our heads by the multitude of books on our shelves. To the teacher, however, the mastery of the subject he teaches is of prime importance. Instruction must be given, not from text books, but from the heart and mind of the instructor. Truth must be ever dispensed not from sprint? ed page held in the hand, but from a burning soul, as part and parcel of its own being. In the second place,'a great scholar is an investigiUor. He um his Y & CO. knowledge of facts to get at more facts. To be successful as au investigator is the highest test of scholarship and demands usually most favorable conditions. No man is prepared to investigate any sub? ject until he has mastered all that has been wril;ten about that subject. Conse? quently, all great investigations are done under the shadow of great libraries. In most of our American colleges the help thus offered is so meagre that any line of research soon comes to an end through lack of the needed books. At the Uni? versity of Berlin, the students and pro? fessors have access to two libraries, ag? gregating 2,200,000 volumes, and the daily loan of books is probably 1,000. But, in spite of small opportunities for such wo rk, this is the goal at which every scholar "must aim. The true scholar i:i ever wedded to the truth, and [ his one nil consuming aim is to add to the sum of human knowledge. To dis? pel darkness with light is bis hope, his inspiration, his very life. To substitute complete for partial knowledge is his one endeavor, seeing face to face for gazing in a glass darkly. ? He whose soul is not actually aflame with this zeal lacks the first requisites of a scholar.?J. H. K.,in Southern Christian Advocate. His Darlings Found. j Rochester, N. Y., April 17.?A sen? sational story was made public in this city to-day of the strange history of one I of ihe girls for the last eight years an in? mate of the Western House of Befuge. I In 1875 Henry Willis was a merchant, living in the Island of St. Thomas, one I of the West Indies. He bad a wife and I two small children ?Alice, aged Biz years, and Mabel, aged four years. He" was called to Panama by business, and while I there was stricken by yellow fever. The I plague left him in a condition of mental I imbecility, and fcr the greater part of a I year be remained on the isthmus among {strangers, hearing nothing from bis j family and the place of his sojourn being Iunknown to them. Iii time be recovered his reason and returned to St. Thomas, j but only to find that his wife had died I and that his yovg, beautiful children I had been kidnapped and taken from the I island, t j For, years the father sought his two, [little girls, traveling in many lands in the quest. He became an .actor in the United States. At length, in locking over a trade journal, he came across a news item that led him to believe his j little girls had'been stolen by a variety actress, going under the name of Mile I Lola. He found this actress in San Francisco last February, and accused her of the abduction, which she admitted, and consented to tell him where the I children were. She had taken them from the island of St. Thomas on the ship her company bad traveled in. The vessel was wrecked, but the passengers I were picked up by a United States man of-war and brought in'safety to New York. During the succeeding four years the girls were traveling with Mile Lola ap? pearing in various childish roles.. Sight f years ago the younger, Mabel, became [ very lame, so "much so that She was obliged to leave the stage. Mile. Lola's parents' reside in Rochester, and the young girl was sent to" them. -They I finally decided to place her in the House of Refuge, where she remained until I found by her father. The older girl-has traveled throughout the country, acting under the name of "The Little Pearl." About three years ago she deserted Mille. Lola and married an actor, with whom she is at present living happily near San Francisco. Thither the happy father and his recov? ered daughter started to join ber on an early morning train. A Specimen Southern Gentle-woman. Washington special to Baltimore Amer? ican b&jb: The recent recovery, in this city, from a severe illness of the widow of the late Gen. George Pickett, recalls one of the most interesting stories that comes back to us from the war. Its chief interest is her unflagging devotion to her husband in all hours of his hardship and danger. Privation, sickness or suffering of any kind only served'to bring out more beautifully her heroic and womanly nature. During the closing year of the'war she followed him on the battle fields, lived under canvass and went through camp life like a soldier, being repeatedly uuder fire and making narrow escapes, yet still remaining faith? fully by bis side. When she married him she was but fifteen years of age, beautiful in face and form, gifted in in? tellect, and gentle in her nature. She was, too, a perfect and fearless rider. When the war was over an effort was made to take from Gen. Pickett the privi? leges given him by the Grant-Lee cartel and they went to Canada. There they had no friends, no money, and no pros? pect of either, with a young child to care for. But her brave nature never faltered. With that indomitable courage which never deserted her, and aided by her superior education, she obtained a pro? fessorship in belles lettres, and toot care of the family until General Grant insist? ed that the cartel should be kept, and they once more returned to their home. Gen. Grant then tendered Gen. Pickett the position of marshal of Virginia, but he accepted a position in an insurance company, with a handsome salary attach? ed. Though all, then, seemed bright the wc/at sorrow was yet to come. In a few years General Pickett died, and she was left to her own resources. It was then that ber helpless condition aroused the sympathy of the South, and a sub? scription was started for her, headed with $8,000 by one State. Sbe firmly declined to receive this, upon hearing of it, and shortly afterwards secured a small govern? ment position, fifficient to support her? self and familj. Among her friends and visitors here ate some of the leading Bociety and official people, whom she occasionally entertains in a modest but dignified way. ? A girl, masquerading in boy's cloth? ing, slipped and fell. Sbe said "Ouch !" and this gave her away. A man would have been just as much hurt, but he would have made a different remark. Against Prohibition. Mb. Editor : As an introduction to a few thoughts and reflections I would like to send out (o the public, I would ask sufficient apace in your paper, provi? ded it meets your pleasure. In the first place, I claim to be as strong an advo? cate for temperance as any man in Anderson County, both in precept and in practice, and have always carried out the same. But a great many people differ with me in reference to temperance or prohibition. But my views and my opinions are my own. If I am wrong it is an error of the head, and not of the heart. I sent a few thoughts to the pub? lic in your paper of May the 7th, 1885, in which I may have said some things that were wrong. But I think I said some things that were true, whether it was right in me to say so or not. I also said I was opposed to bar rooms or retail shops at Anderson or. anywhere else, as they were managed at that day. My views have not changed on that point. I further said I was an advocate for spirits to be retailed in the community by somebody under regulations and rules by law, bo that those who need it would be able to get it. Well, I believe prohibition does not pretend that spirits shall be put out of the reach of any that need it. But I confess there is something about the programme of prohibition I do not understand. But as I do not want to take up so much of your paper as would crowd out other matters of more importance to the public, and as there are a good many that are pretty hard down on me for my position, saying or inferring that I am doing the cause of temperance .a ^reat^injury.. because I am in favor of the Use of spirits, I say I am only in f^vbr of the use of spirits when necessary. Some people will tell me that spirits are not needed at any time or under any circumstances. I would not pretend* to say che world could not do without spirits, tut I will iiay that I believe good, purty ^spirits, 'lasecl'asthey should be used, would be good in/many''cases^aud under "many cir? cumstances in life. It is about the last thing that doctors give to a dying man. I will ask a few questions to any or all that may differ with me on this great question, and when I speak of spirits I mean any thing that will intoxicate. I hold that wine will intoxicate anybody I just the same as any other spirit, if he drinks, enough of it. The sin against God oT getting drunk on wine would be I just the same as to get drunk on anything else, and no more. The first question, is spirits a creature of God? The Boot says, "overy creature of God is good, and nothing to be re* fused, if it be received with thanksgiving and prayer." 2nd. Is it the will of God that spirits shall be in our world for the use and benefit of his creature man ? 3rd.. Amidst all the plans, measures, and schemes that has been adopted or resorted to, has the abuse of spirits been reduced or made less ? If not, why ? 4th. What is the true definition of the term temperance ? 5th. Is there any law, civil or moral, against temperance? For an answer to this question, if yon will just turn to the 5th chapter of Gallatians, 22, 23 verses, you will find a" full answer,"" 6th. Does the'Bible holdout any en? couragement'' or right for intoxicating drink? 7th: How-long has the . world; b$en drinking to intoxication ? 8th. How long will this habit continue ? 9th. What does the word prohibition " - ?3 /?< ? ? i f4 i -4 *v t\ c mean? f?tilljii i *kil A few thoughts more and I am done. Prohibition is a term that carries with it the power: of. force or compulsion to make men do as'you want them* to do, whether they will or not, at least in an indirect way. Now, I hold that man is a free agent, has the"right to eat and to drink, to wear and manage his ow_ pri? vate affairs as he chooses. The Apostle Paul said to the Collossians: "Let no man judge you in meat or drink or of a holy day, &c." Some people say to me, you say there is no harm or evil in the temperate use of spirits or wine. I admit that. Those that accuse me thus, to carry out their point, say to me you admit the use of spirits temperately. And some other man uses spirits because I use them, and, by the way, gets drnnk, and that I am to a greater or less extent influencing or encouraging that man to drunkenness, and that I will be held to account in a moral sense for the injury to that man, or the evil that may grow out of his in? toxication. I don't believe there is one word of sound logic in any such philos? ophy. And a man might just as well "sing Psalms to a dead horse" as to talk to me in that way. Again, the great hue and cry of the evil of the present day is whiskey. Who denies the great evil growing it of what, not the whiskey, but the abuse of whiskey or any other intoxicating drink? I do not believe spirits or the abuse of spirits is the great? est evil in our land at this dr, and time? What is said about the love of money ? What is said about covetousuess, extor? tion, oppression and grinding the poor ? And how many other crimes and vices are indulged in and practiced by our people, or by many of them, that is as sinful and wicked, in the sight of God, as intemperance, and worse ? I know that the result of intemperance costs our county and State a great deal of money, but the injury and evil of intemperance generally falls on individuals and indi? vidual families. When covetousness, extortion and oppression is forcing the very life blood, so to speak, out of the hearts of the great majority of our peo pie, and any man that has made it a point to. pay any attention to passing events, will say the rich are getting richer every day, and the poor are get? ting poorer. One more point and I will stop. I am no prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I have not been mistaken in my judgment and opinion in reference to some things that have taken place. I was as fully persuaded in my mind years be? fore, it took place, that the day would come when the negroes would be a free people as I am to-day. Again, the very first hint that I had that our State, to? gether with others, was going to secede, or withdraw from the Union., I believed ANDERSON, S. C, 1 we were a ruined people. I said so. I was opposed to the movement. A man that is now cold in the grave said to me I bad better mind how I talked or I might go up. That matter resulted juot as I expected, and I believe to-day there is another great revolution to take place in our land some of these days before this great whiskey, or prohibition matt?r, is ended. It is said a house divided agpinst itself can not stand. The Ban e will apply to Churches, families, States or nations. Our people are badly divi? ded at this time on this great question. I am fully persuaded that nothing out? side of a persuasive, moral influence will ever make our people a sober, temperate people. I have no intention of getting into a public dispute or discussion about any? thing I have said, bat if any .person is inclined and disposed to make an attack on me they are at.liberty to'do so by meeting me at my own houBe. I want to know nothing but the truth, I am willing to bear the truth and believe the truth, and I think no reasonable man would deny me tbe right of my opinions, being honest in them. Jas. McLees. A Boj's Influence. Some time ago I attended a religious meeting, and at the close of tbe exercises the audience was invited to participate in testimonies. A middled aged man arose and said in substance: "I've been saved from intemperance by ray little boy," pointing to a bright lad io the audience. "I owe my conversion under God to my own little son. Religion has made me a Bober man and helps me to live an hon? est, industrious life. It was not always so. On one occasion I was absent three or four days from my home, and my poor wife and boy were nearly broken-hearted. On the fourth day my dear child asked his teacher to let him go home at recess, as he was not feeling well. The boy was sick at heart on my account; when he reached borne he burst into tears, and said to his mother, 'I can't study in school, I can't sleep at night, my head aches and my lips are parched praying to God to Bend home father. Mother, does God hear?' His mother strove to comfort him, but her faith was beginning to waver, for through her married life her unceasing prayer had been for my reclamation. After wandering from one saloon to another, at tbe end of the fourth day I returned home intoxicated. Did my boy turn from his drunken father ? No, he ran to me, clasped his arms about my neck and wept tears of joy. After bis emotion his first words were 'Father, I almost feel I can never pray again, for God has let you come home drunk.'. The worda struck meto tbe heart, and I said, 'Don't lose your faith in God and your poor, miserable father will never get drunk again.' God heard that promise and has enabled me to keep it." This man ia among tbe most earnest workers in the temperance cause to-day. He had lost all self-respect and had sunk very low, but could not bear to see his child lose confidence in God; therefore, the boy became the means of the father's reformation. The exertions put forth on behalf of children in temperance instruction will not be lost in the home, but will produce lasting fruitage. Deprived Her Husband of an Eye. Boulder Valley, M. T., May 3.? The death by suicide of Cornelius Gi is wold, a wealthy rancher in this region, recalls a curious story concerning the manner in which he came to have a glass eye. He leaves a widow, but he had another wife who died a few years ago. Sbe is said to have been an excitable woman, and something of a terror to her huaband. Falling sick aod knowing that death was near, she secured a small hatchet and concealed it in her bed. Then, when she thought she had but a little while to live, sbe called her husband to her side and made him swear that he would never marry again. He took ;he oath and was about to step back from ?be bed when the dying woman raised hen elf . up, and seizing the hatchet dealt him a blow on the temple which produced a painful wound, and eventually deprived tbe victim of one eye. Gr is wold was cared for and recovered in due time, but the wife died the next morning in a very peaceful frame of mind, assuring an at? tendant that she had "fixed" the old man so that he would be so homely that no one would want bim. She also declared, bo tbe story runs, that she had no inten? tion of killing him. She simply wanted tc disfigure his face in a way that would be lasting and effectual. When the old man recovered and got a glass eve, be made up hi? mind that under tbe circumstances he could not be held to this oatb, and he accordingly married the first woman who would have him. It is understood that he lived happily with her, and no one knows why ba killed himself. He was worth $30, 000. Texas Crops Dying for Want or Rain. A Galveston dispatch says: The drought'of last year and that of the pres? ent season are unparalleled. In the ex? treme northwest and extreme southwest there have been rains of late that will prove of great benefit to the cattle dis? tricts, but tbe agricultural districts, ex? cept, perhaps, in a limited area iu north? ern Texas, are suffering seriously from want of rain. In all that belt of country between San Antonio and Houston, be? tween San Antonio and Austin, from Austin to Waco, from Waco toBremond, and down tbe Central railroad to Hous? ton, and within tbe area thus bounded, tbe country is badly in need of moisture. Oats and small grain are almost a total failure, while corn, that should be well advanced, is wilted and in bad condition at the roots. This is the worst feature of the agricul? tural situation in central, middle and southern Texas. There is still time ahead to make a cotton crop, although at best the cotton crop is now bound to be late. Unless tains come within six or eight days, the corn crop of Texas will be very much of a failure. So serious j"b the outlook that wholesale houses are withdrawing their men from the road. :hursday m0rni1 INTER-STATE FARMERS. Encampment at Spartanbnrg In August. Spartanburg, S. C, May 2.?The first annual meeting of the Inter State Farmers' Summer Encampment will assemble at the encampment grounds, at Spartanburg, S. C, at 8 o'clock a. m., Tuesday, August 2d, 1887, and continue until Saturday, August 6th. This Inter* State Farmers' Encampment is the re? sult of the combined efforts of the friends of agriculture, in all its departments, to fill a long felt want by those most heartily interested in the material progress of onr Southern State?. It is under the aus? pices of Patrons of Husbandry of Ala* bama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Cam* Una and South Carolina. The prime object of this Exhibition is, that the producing classes all over the country may meet annually in friendly rivalry and competition, for the purpose of displaying what each has wrought during the year. Such gatherings are highly beneficial, not only because they afford to all an opportunity of beholding what has been done, but rather because it is amid such surroundings that the flagging energies and drooping aspirations of the multitudes are quickened into ac? tivity, and they return to the quiet of farm and shop determined to equal, and, if possible, surpass tho triumphs they have witnessed. Several of these Inter* State encampments are, and have been for years, in the most successful operation in other parts of the United States, at which there attend annually hundreds of thousands of visitors from all the various occupations of life. They go away ben? efited, and for this purpose mainly was this encampment inaugurated. The location of the Encampment is central ana" easily accessible from every county in the States above mentioned. It is directly on the line of the Atlanta and Charlotte Division of the Richmond and Danville Railroad, with direct con* nectiona at Spartanburg (one mile from grounds) with Charleston on the sea coast, Augusta and the South, Atlanta and the Southwest and West, Asbeville and the Northwest and West, and Char? lotte and all points beyond to the East, North and Northeast. It lies at the foot of and in view of the Blue Ridge Moun? tains. The city of Spartanburg, S. C, was chosen by the committee charged with the selection of a location on account of the many advantages and facilities afforded to such a grand enterprise. 1st. The railroad facilities of the loca? tion at Spartanbnrg are unsurpassed for every part of the whole country. 2nd. The city is the first and only one of any importance directly in the Pied* mont region and having direct and short .railroad line across the Blue Ridge Mountains into East Tennessee, Western North Carolina and beyond to the great West. 3d. It is in the direct line of all sum? mer travel from the low counties of South Carolina and Georgia, and from Florida, to the mountain resorts of Western North Carolina. 4th. The health of the City and Coun? ty of Spartanburg is unsurpassed by any locality in the whole Southern States. 5th. It is also easily accessible to the celebrated health resort of Glenn Springs; besides many resorts of minor importance within easy reach. 6th. The whole city and county is alive to any and every enterprise that looks to the upbuilding of the South and the bettering of the condition of the ag? ricultural and producing classes. The groundn are thirty acres in extent, facing the railroad, where there will be double side tracks with handsome and convenient depots. Water will be abun? dantly supplied from wells and from the city water works. Streets and avenues surround and intersect the grounds at convenient distances. Members of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, of agricultural societies, of farmers' clubs, with their famfdies and friends, are earnestly solicited to be pres? ent, and to take early and determined steps to display the products of their farms, their dairies, their pastures, their poultry yards, their cattle pens, etc., etc, and to assist in every way possible to ad? vance the interests of agriculture, and to give tc the "Order of Farmers" a proud prominence in the display at this exhibition. In order to do this, work must be entered upon without delay. It is specially desired, that localities in every portion of the South which have mineral deposits, such as coal, iron, gold, silver, micfi, soapstone, limestone, man ganeze, etc., etc., etc., send large and varied specimens to this exhibition. Let there be geological surveys made of such localities, and maps showing details of deposits, outcroppings, etc. Remember, it is expected that capitalists from the money centres of the country will be present for the purpose of making in? vestments in these industries. There will be State and national ex* hibits of the processes of fish culture, by means of the incubators. Also, sorghum mills and evaporators will show the ad? vantages of these crops to our Southern farmers. Besides, many other practical tests and displays of a similar character will be given. It is suggested that this Inter State Farmers' Summer Encampment is a great field for the successful operations of emigration agencies, land improvement companies, canal and water power com? panies, railroad lines, mining and manu? facturing schemes, to advertise their various advantages. In view of all the above facts, and to the end ihat our glorious South-land may make still greater advance towards the head of the column of progress and development, now so phenomenal to the whole civilized world, we call upon every State, Territory, railroad, steamship, land improvement, mining, manufactur? ing company, agricultural societies, granges, cities, towns and communities, families and individuals, to send to the Inter-State Farmers' Summer Encamp? ment, at Spartanburg, S. C, a line of agricultural, horticultural, manufacturing and mineral samples and displays, and with such exhibit send a live man who can give the people all desired informa? tion. Every person reading this prospectus will please give the subject matter hie tfG, MAY 12., 1887 early attention; or, if not sufficiently in? terested, please pass it over to the proper person. Let all exhibits be forwarded and ar I ranged by Monday noon, August 1st, so that everything will be in order by open? ing hour of the 2d of Amgust. For further information, address, Charles H. Carusle, Sec, Spartanburg, S. C. HIS LAST WORDS. The following article, from the pen of the late Henry Ward Beecher, was writ? ten by him only a fortnight previous to his death. He had promised that he would contribute an article to the last number of tbe Brooklyn Magazine under its old name, and, true to his word, the paper given below was written in tbe last days of his life. The paper will be printed in the April number of the mag? azine : "Old age has the foundation of its joy or its sorrow laid in youth. Every stone laid in the foundation takes hold of every stone in the wall up to the very eaves of the building, and every deed, right or wrong, that transpires in youth, reaches toward, and has a relation to, all the after part of man's life. A man's life is not like the contiguous cells in a bee's honeycomb; it is more like tbe Beparate parts of a plant which unfolds out of itself, every part bearing relation ' to all that antecede. That which one does in youth is tho root, and all the afterparts, middle age and old age, are tbe branches and the fruit, whose char? acter the root will determine. "Every man belongs to an economy in which he has a right to calculate, or bis friends for him, on eighty years as a fair term of life. His body is placed in a world adapted to nourish and protect it, Nature is congenial. Tb ere are elemen t s of mischief in it if a man pleases to find them out. A man can wear bis body out aa quickly as he pleases, destroy it if he will; but, after all, the great laws of na? ture are nourishing laws, and, compre prehensively regarded, nature is the uni? versal nurse, the universal physician of our race guarding us against evil*, warn? ing us of it by incipient pains, setting up signals of danger?not outwardly, but inwardly?and cautioning us by sorrows and by pains for our benefit. immoderate passions. Every immoderate draft which is made by tbe appetites and passions is bo much sent forward to be cashed in old age. We may sin at one end, but God takes it off at the other. Every man has stored up for him some eighty years, if he knows how to keep them, and those eighty years, like a bank of deposit, are full of treasures; but youth, through ignorance i or through immoderate passions, is wont continually to draw checks on old age. Men do not suppose that they are doing it, although told that the wicked shall not live out half.their days. Men are accustomed to look upon the excesses of youth as something that belongs to that time. They say that of course tbe young, like colts unbridled, will disport themselves. There ia no barm in colts disporting themselves, but a colt never gets drunk. I do not object to any amount of gayety or vivacity that lies within tbe bounds of reason or of health; but I reject and abhor, as worthy to be stigmatized as dishonorable and unmanly, every such course in youth as takes away strength, vigor, and purity from old age. Every man that trans? cends nature's laws in youth is taking beforehand those treasures that are stored up for his old age; he is taking the food that should have been his suste? nance in old age, and exhausting it in riotous living in his youth. Mere gayety and exhilaration are wholesome; tbey violate no law, moral oir physical. excess in youth. I do not object to miirth or gayety, but I do object to any man's making an ani? mal of himself by living for tbe gratifica? tion of his own animal passions. People frequently think that to require in the conduct of youth that which we expect in later life has something of puritanism in it. Men have an impression that youth is very much like wine, crude and insipid until it has fermented; but when it has fermented, and thrown down tho lees, and the scum has been drawn off, the great body between is sound and wholesome and beautiful. I am not one that thinks so. I think that youth is tbe beginning of tho plant life, and that every wart or excresence in so much enfeeblement of its fruit-bearing power. I do not believe that any man is the better for having learned the whole career of drunkenness and lust, or the dallyingti or indulgences that belong to a morbid, life. A young man that has gone through these things may be saved at last, but. in after life he has not the sensibility, nor tbe purity, nor the moral stamina that be ought to .have. He has gone through an experi? ence but for which his manhood would have been both stronger and nobler. Excess in youth, in regard to animal indulgence, ia bankruptcy in old age. For this reason I deprecate late hours, irregular hours or irregular sleep. Peo? ple ask me frequently, "Do you think that there is any harm in dancing?" No, I do not. There is much good in it. Do you, then, object to dancing parties ? No., in themselves I do not. But where unknit youth, unripe muscles, unsettled and unbardened nerves are put through an excess of excitement, treated with stimulants, fed irregularly and with unwholesome food, surrounded with gayety which is excessive and which 1b protracted through hours when they should be asleep, I do object. no harm in dancing. The barm is not in tbe dancing itself; for if they danced as do the peasants, in the open air, upon the grass under the trees and in the day, it might be com? mended, not as virtuous, but as still belonging to those negative things that may be beautiful. But the wassill in the night, the wastefulness--,! will not say of precious hours, for hours are not half so precious as nerves are? .he dissipation, continued night after night and week after week through tbe whole season, it is this I deprecate aa eating out tbe very life. I am not superstitious of observan? ces, but I am always thankful that there are forty days cf Lent in the year when folks can rest from their debauches and dissipations, when no round of excessive excitement in the pursuit of pleasure is permitted to come in and ruin the health and cripple the natural powers of the young. The appetites of youth, which either in social or in solitary life drain down the vitality and impair the constitution, are so many insiduous assaults on old age. I would that the young knew how clearly these things are written. God's hand writing is very plain and very legi ble to those who have eyes to see. There is not an intelligent physician that does not read as he walks through the street, the secret history of the lives of those whom he meets, and that, too, without following them in their midnight career. I care not to have men come to me and state their secret courses,. I can read it in the skin and in the eye. the language of the pa8si0n. There is not one single appetite or passion that has not its uatural language, and every undue indulgence of that appetite or passion leaves that natural language more or less stamped upon the skin, upon the features, upon the expres? sion of the face or the carriage of the body. There is always some token that tells what men are doing, if they are doing to excess. Pride has its natural language; mirth fulness has, goodness has. Nobody doubts this. So have the passions their natural lan? guage. Men think that if they commit their wickedness in secret places or in the night is not known. It is ever known, although no man may ever say to them: "Thou art guilty." The use of stimulants in youth is another detraction from happiness in old age. Men usually take what they least need. In other words, we follow our strongest faculties and not our weak? er ones, and therefore if men are excess* ively nervous they almost invariably Beek to make themselves more so. I rejoice to say that I was brought up from my youth to abstain from tobacco. In rare cases, where there is already some unhealthy or morbid tendency in the sys? tem, it is impossible that it may he used with some benefit, but ordinarily it is unhealthy. I believe that the day will come when a young man will be proud of not being addicted to the use of 6timulants of any kind. I believe that the day will come when not to drink, whon not to use tobacco, not to waste one's strength in the secret indulgence of passion, but to be true to one's natnre, true to God's law, to be sound, robust, cheerful and to bo con? scious that these elements of health and strength and derived from the reverent obedience of the commandment of God, will be a matter of ambition and en? deavor among men." "Henky Wabd Beechek." The Truth. The boy who sees his father adulterate bis goods, and arrange bis best fruit upon the top of the box, is taught object les? sons he doesn't forget. The following incidents were recently told : "Come," said a certain mother to her little hoy, "take this ; take this; it is something good." The child was evidently suspicious; but after many earnest assurances on the part of his mother, be took the medicine. It was extremely bitter; and, rejecting it at once, he raised his young voice in angry reproaches against bis mother for telling him such a lie. . "No, my dear," said she; "I bare told you no lie. The medicine is good; it is good to cure you. That is what I meant." "Good to cure me I" cried be, with a look of perfect contempt. "You cheated me. You know you-did." Yea, he was right; and by that act she lost the confidence of her little boy. A little girl, hearing her mother say to the clerk, after she had taken samples (for her crazy quilt) from several pieces of goods, that she would call in the after? noon and make some purchases, said: "Mama, you said that at all the other stores." Actual lessons like these do far more to fix moral character than all the per? functory preaching and advising possible from September to July. A child can? not be more certainly corrupted than by hearing good advice and seeing a bad ex? emplification of it. Preaching is easy ; it's the practicing that tells. A War Story. General Lilley, who fought under Gen. Jubal Early ou the Confederate side, was the hero of a singular adventure at the time of a battle. He lost and arm at the battle of Carter's Farm in 1862. He says that when be was struck by the bullet he fell among some rocks. While lying on his back in a perfectly helpless and weak condition, a huge rattle snake crawled on his breast, and when half way across stopped. Then his snakeship stretched his head on a flat stone and curied his rattles on the other side of the General. Several wounded men on their way to the rear came along, and he didn't know what to do to attract their atten? tion. If he shouted it would arouse the reptile to pernicious activity. There be was, wounded by a Northern bullet and held prisoner by a snake. He finally mustered sufficient strength to raise bis unwounded arm, and one of the soldiers saw the signal. He approached, and on getting near the prostrate officer, saw the horrible situation at a glance. He walked a short distance, picked up a sword from the side of a dead Licuten tenant, crept up slowly behind, and cut the snake in two. "I suppose," said General Lilley, "the snake was across my breast for fully half an hour. I was too weak from the loss of blood to move a limb, and what breath was left in me ' was kept at a low ebb, so as not to dis? turb the reptile." ? When men are together they listen to one another, but women and girls look at one another. ? The three things most difficult are i to keep a secret, to forgot an injury, and to make good use of leisure. VOLUM] BILL ASP'S LETTER. The Old Homestead Visited by a Cyclone and Nearly Destroyed. Misery loves company and there are so many miserable people that I reckon I had better give them some comfort by telling of my own misfortunes. We are still in the land of the living aud are reasonably thankful, but last Friday night a storm came over tbese parts, and the thunder rolled and tbe lightning flashed, and just such a display of elec? tricity I do not remember ever to have seen. I love to look at tbese grand and awful exhibitions of nature's wondrous power, and so I sometimes sit out in tbe piazza and gather tbe children around me just to show them that I can be calm and serene under such manifestations. Well, there is a huge old time-honored Spanish oak just at the front corner of the bouse. Its limbs reach out far and wide, for it has been topped long years ago, and tbe children's swing was there, and its abundant shade gave ample shelter from tbe evening sun. Two long limbs stretched out over the roof of our humble cottage jnd almost touched the chimney top, and two more embowered the long piazza. I have been studying that tree for years, for it was very near the bouse, but its roots were in the banks of one of the terraces and I did not see how it could bring danger. But man proposes and God disposes. Tbe storm that soon followed this electric display struck our premises down at tbe meadow and the majestic oaks surrendered and fell headlong?torn up by the roots?all falling towards the house, and the grand old oak surrendered too, and fell with a tremendous crash upon tbe house, tear? ing holes in tbe roof and dislodging tbe long veranda from its fastening and sweeping away the wooden blinds. In tbe same breath it took tbe roof from the smokehouse in the back yard and carried it away, and turned tbe buggy house over and flattened it out, and laid v ?ste the orchard, and tore up the grove of ancient trees in the spring lot, and played havoc in its course all around our devot? ed premises. Imagine the feelings of a family of helpless women and children under such perils. Imagine tbe shrieks of alarm, and despair when these giant oaks came crashing down upon the roof above you, and piercing holes in the shingles and sheeting, and the pitiless storm comes driving in. Imagine tbe children clinging to their parents and the parents clinging to the children and hov? ering them and breathing prayers t.i heaven for mercy and protection. Well, it would bave been just such a scene in our country home if we bad been there, but you see we moved to town just two months ago and escaped the wreck. There was no living thing in or about that house but two poor deserted brindle cats, aud they are there yet. We are all grateful now and reconciled to our change of base. I don't know bow long we will be reconciled, for it is tbe cyclone season and one may come along here through Cartersville and play havoc. The bad is mixed up with the good everywhere, and we have to live in faith and hope wherever we may be. We go out home now like pilgrims go to Mecca. We spend tbe day and peruse the fields aud the meadows and the springs and branches and the creek and the orchard and tbe fish pond, and make huge boquets of honeysuckle and crab apple blossoms aud wild lillies and sweet shrubs and sweetwilliams and devils' shoestring. The good old home looks pretty now, and our younger children love it as they will never love a home again. Ten years of their brightest, ear? liest life were spent there, and they were happier than they will ever be again, for they knew no care and bad latitute aud longitude and frolicked with with nature, and to them the morning sun "Never rose a wink too soon, Nor brought too long a day." The children raised in the country do bave the best time, there is no doubt about it, and tbe attachments they form to the scenes and sports of their early youth last longer and become dearer with age. In a town ar city tbe great concern is about the next show that is to come along or tbe next party or some more new clothes or another sensation novel like "He" or "She" or "It." I worked I half tbe day yesterday making a cross? bow for Carl, for he says be can't shoot a gun in town, bnt there is no town law against a crossbow. He and Jessie want to go barefooted and tbe family are hold? ing a convention upon tbe subject now. I think that Carl will pull through all right, but Jessie's feet are doomed. What a glorious picture Mr. Lamar gave us of the old Southern planters' home. "Tbe sweet and noble associa? tions ; tbe pure refining and* elevating atmosphere; tbe abode of domestic joys and duties; the hospitality heartfelt, simple and generous." I wonder if he was not hinting at Professor Tillett's article in tbe Century when he said: "The Southern planter was far from being the self indulgent, indolen? over? bearing person that he has sometimes been pictured. He wan in general, care? ful, patient, provident, industrious, for? bearing, and yet firm and determined. These were tbe qualities that enabled bim to take a race of savages and make them tbe finest body of agricultural and domestic laborers the world has ever seen, and to elevate them in tbe scale of national existence. In bis daily and yearly provision for these dependents for whom he felt responsible and about whom his anxieties were ever alive he was himself educated in those fac? ulties which enabled him to emerge from bis solitude and preside in bis County court or become a member of tbe Legislature or take bis place in the national councils, hence it was that tbe Southern planter was so well fitted to discharge tbe duties of local magistracy, to guide Legislatures and command ar? mies." Then Mr. Lamar in confirmation of his utterances cites many of the noblest Americans who were reared upon the plantations. Wo of the old South arc comforted at this great speech made at the unveiling of Mr. Calhoun's monument. It comes as authority. It comes from the cabinet, aud ex cathcdru, aud is like a lecisicn of the supreme court, it settles tho question. 5 XXII.?NO. 44 Kill? Ihatf hi J I hope now that these juveniles who knew nothing of the old patriarchal sys? tem will hold their peace. Why, that article io the Century gives the new South the credit of getting fine stock In the country, when the truth is Kentucky had more fine stock before the war than any Northern State, and as for hogs we never beard of a train load of bacon com? ing to Georgia from the "west. There were more fine, fat bogs raised in Walker County than in any twenty counties now, and I can prove that by Joe Wardiaw. ?We didn't raise as much cotton because there was not so many laborers, but we did raise as much to the acre , and as much to the mule and we raised more of everything else. There is no more advance in material :i and industrial progress except in tl general progression which new machii ery, new arts and new inventions ha* brought everywhere. When Mr. Lamar spoke of the South? ern planters penetrating the dense for? ests of the West, the tangled brake and gloomy wilderness and subduing them, I was reminded of a journey I nude. through Mississippi just forty yean ago. I rode forty miles one day and passed but a single farm. That night I crossed the Cbicaaahay river and stayed with a Mr. Calhoun, a cousin of the great states? man. He had over a hundred slaves and they had cleared the rich river bottoms and the cribs were full of corn and fat hogs were grunting arouud and cows and hones and mules abound- % ed, and the negroes were slick and greasy and we eat supper by the light of a thousand dollar candlestick, for it was a good looking darky holding a torch.. This was the life of a pioneer, one of the men that Mr. Lamar tells about, and who never would have left the more pleasant abodes of civilization except for the care and responsibility that his dependent slaves imposed apon him. He wanted more land and better land. The world heeded the cotton and it was manifest destiny that they should raise it. And we raised hog and hominy too, but we don't now, we buy it. Now, that is all I have to say about the old South. Mr. Lamar has settled it ' exactly to my mind, and so let it go' down to history?and if any more wit- \ nesaes are needed Joe' Wardiaw will take - the stand. He knows. He loves to talk about the old times when he drove bogs.: by the hundreds. Yes, the five hundred from Walker County down to Columbus, and how just before they got to town \ some of the drovers would drive through a big mud puddle and let the hogs wal? low and get full of mnd, and then sell them by gross weight on foot, and %how they used to weigh with great big steel? yards a hog at a time, and there is a ws.y to make the yark kick the beam a few i pounds light or heavy according as you > are buying or selling, and somoof the droven knew the tricks and all of them. praticed them but Joe. Yes, he loves to talk about those good old honest times. Joe does. Bill Abp. She Held n Gun at his Ucad? _ Chattanooga, Tenn., May 1?Miss Childen of Trenton is very pre tty and bright and quite a belle. A young man from a neighboring village made desper? ate efforts to win her favor, but she would have none of him, and a few days ago he began to circulate damaging reports about the young woman. The stories finally came to her ears. She borrowed a shotgun, mounted a bone and went in quest of her traducer, whom she found in his store surrounded by a large number of his friends, Cock- ' ing both barrels of her gun, which was . loaded with buckshot, she pointed at his head and said: ' "You villain 1 Acknowledge before these gentlemen that you have lied about me, and that there is no truth in any? thing you have said, or I will blow out"" your brains." The young man, amid the mockery of - his companions, promptly acknowledged all that was demanded of him, admitting that he had slandered her. She imme? diately left, escorted by an admiring crowd. Bo Kind to the Old, Ba kind to those who are in the autumn of life, for thou knoweet not whali suffer-' ing they may have endured, or bow much may still be their portion. Are they querulous and unreasonable ? Allow not thine anger to kindle against them; re? buke them not, for doubtless many have * been the crosses and trials of earlier yean, and perhaps their dispositions, while in the spring time of lifo, were more flexible than thine own. Do they require aid of thee ? Then render it cheerfully, and forget not that the time may come when thou mayest deiiire the same assistance from othen that thou renderest unto them. Do all that is needed for the old, and do it with alacrity, and think it not bard if much is required at tby hands, lest when age h-^-set its seal upon thy brow, and enfeebled thy limbs with trembling, othen may wait upon thee unwillingly, and feel relieved when the coffin-lid has covered tby face forever. The ftaked Truth Revealed. The New York World, in speaking of the benefits to be derived from advertis? ing in a home paper, says: "Many a dealer who places a $100 ad? vertisement in his village paper be? grudges his investment, when it is worth to him double what he pays for it. Ad-, vcrtising rates of the city newspaper would astonish such business men. One column in the Chicago Tribune costs the advertiser $26,000 per annum. The New York Herald receives for its lowest price $36,563, and for its highest price $62,980. The New York Tribune for its lowest $20,954, and for the highest $84,648, and these papers, it is stated, never lack for advertisements to fill their columns, and still there are lots of people who wonder why a country newspaper cannot be fur* nished to subscribers as low as the groat dailies are sold for." ? ? ? The great blessings of mankind are within us and within onr reach; but we shut our eyes, and, like the people in the dark, we fall upon the very thing we bearch for without finding it.