Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VOL. III. MANNING. C LARENDON COUNTY, S. C., WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 1887. NO. 23, SOME DARK TEACINUS. ~LATATION NMI1T SCHOOL FOl NEGROES BEFORE THE WAlR. Some Entertaining Recollections of th Times Before the Civil War. (From New York Commercial .dveriscr. Asiswellknown, it was held to b against good policy in the South, in th old days, that the slaves should be taugb to read. To teach them was, in fact prohibited by law in most of the States It would be an error to suppose, how ever, that none of them were so taught For the master of the plantation was, h many ways, an absolute monarch-vcr; farm a sort of kingdom-and thesi potentates chose to judge for themselve how strict should be their obedience t( general laws, how far they would allov themselves to be controlled by the Legis lature in the internal economy of thei little principalities. Southern planters were in the harbit o having such of their slaves taught t< read as they chose-law or no law. I myself, at the age of twelve, was princi pal of a school consisting of half a doze of mine and others' slaves; and some ac count of my methods may interest th< teachers, professors and other literati o: our day. The object of the school was the high est possible. Indeed, it was not i school, nor even a college; it was a theo logical seminary. All my pupils wer< preparmg for the ministry. To this day I remember vith prid< how thoroughly unsectarian was my in struction. I made no effort to bull thos slaves into accepting my dogmas, a proof of which I offer the fact thai whereas I was then, as now, a sturdi upholder of Episcopalianism, every on( of my graduates turned Baptist. I held my school in the kitchen aftei supper. My pupils sat in a row on z bench, one of tueir number holing aloft a spluttering torch of fat pine. 11 gave a strong if unsteady light; but wa subject to this drawback: Being held near the head of whosoever happened tc be reading, it is more than probable thal by overheating one lobe of the brain the symmetrical development of that orgar was marred. That, however, did not much di'turl us, seeing that neith- r they nor I werE awrre that we carried lobes of any kind concealed about our persons. From time to time, too, as the torcl was passed up and down the line, drops oJ burning tar fell upon the hands, armt and necks of my students, tuverting their attention, nay, causing thenm az times to dance up and down the iloor. Even so, a philosopher looking on might have dimly perceived how fairly geod and il are distributed, on the whole, im this best of all possible worlds, for the cook and her scullion, seeing thest young theologians capering and sucking the pitch from their rugged fists, gave forth peal after peal of free and joi on laughter, so that things averaged ui pretty well, after all. This was not a free seminary-fai from it. My patrons were drawn iron among the most substantial citizens oi the plantation. They were able to pa3 and I made them pay. No student o: divinity could keep a seat on that bencl without bringing me at the close of cadl month a dozen new laid eggs, worth, a1 that time, 12k cents; so that eighi months' tuition cost exactly $1. Prepay ing was not insisted on. Yet I canno1 recall that on this account I was ever the loser by even an egg. As I .mysel: raised chickens, I was very glad, too, when hens were dilatory in their laying to let an account run over and receive ai the close of two months a young pullet My wages were sweet-laugh not y< professors pufled up with fat salaries, y' school principals rolling in luxury! My discipline was that of those be: nighted days. The rod then prevailec throughout the length and breadth o: the land, nor do I believe my clas would have valued my instruction at ai egg shell, even had I abolished it. Bu such a thought could not have occurrei to a lad who had not thought it strang< when his own teacher, having asked hin if he was ready with his Virgil, and h< replied, "not yet," had received thre< floggings. The first for not knowing th< Virgil, the two following (with interval: of rest for the teacher) for not crying So they stumbled along through thei: tasks, Ikept up the circulation in thei backs and shoulders. Neither they no: I would have heard without astonish ment that there was any other way o stimulating diligence or quickening thi brain. I suppose, however, that m: .thrahings could not have been ver; severe, for I remember that they wer' the occasion of great hilarity. This wa especially the case when it came to th turn of Joe Nelson to recite. ,Joe was: famous stutterer. He was my youngest pupil, a broad shouldered carpenter, 2 years of age. He was exceeding~ly con ceited and not a little vain-conceited to his intellectual gifts and vain of hi fascinations with the plantation damasels These qualities, however, did not pre vent him from being a thoroughly gooc fellow, and he and I were devoted friends as long as he lived. But m; affection for him did not save his bacj from one single stroke of the peach tre shoot upon which I tightened my gras: as soon as he opened tire. My way wa not to wait till the close of a session an< then mete out the sum total of merite< castigation. In my seminary justice dii not limp. At every trip there came rap. Punishment trod upon the heele of error. What made it specially hard on po'. Joe was that I could not see my wayt allowing him to stutter through a reas Ithought it my duty to encourag him to discard this habit. I am afniid erred, but I meant well; at any rate livelier theological school never adorne the earth. A number of my students becan ministers in good standing. Some< their views on mere morals, it is trui were at variance 4with those common] professed by us of the Caucaian rae< butlItrust this will not be laid at m1 door. For neither Xenophon nor Plai would ever allow the sins of Alcibiad< t, he +raced tn the tachings of Socrate Then, too, ii must be remembered to m; credit that they were ever found wit, their faces set as liint when there wa question as to the funcnamental tenets C the theology of their day. No one sha] ever sa. that Gilbert ranked dancin other than as an unpardonable sin, o that Isaac ever held out hope of etern wealth to the abandoned wretch whi found comfort in whistling a jig or pat a ting Juba. that rhythmic memory 0 a Africa's sunny strand. t Poor Joe never cntered the ministry He built houses instead. My father se him frce before the war. At the clos< of that struggle he was not long in feel ing that his genius did not find suflicien scope in fitting joists and nailing oi shingles. He became a candidate fo: the Legislature, but before he coul know the joys of victory or the pangs o defeat he died. I h id nUt seen him fo years, but I feel that the world is no 5 quite so bright for me as it would b > were this old friend of my youth stil among men. To the last, even after ] was a man, he said that in his opiniot he was my equal in natural capacity, ani I am the last man in the world to dis pute the proposition or to bear him f grudge for maintaining it. That he was not lacking in the instinct of historica criticism the following story will show One day, years after he had been my pupil, as I sat reading in our library, Joe entered and asked me to lend him z book. "What kind of a book do you want, Joe?"' "Well, M-m-m-marse Jack, I've beer a thinkin' I should 1-1-like to read a his tory book." "All right!" and I began running my eyes along the shelves. Hume's, Ma caulay's Gibbon's, Rollin's, would they suit Joe? Just then my eyes fell upor a large illustrated edition of "Robinsor Crusoe." I handed it to him with a steady hand and unblushing countenance. He took 1t with many thanks and de parted. A month or so afterward he dropped in again. "Marse J-J-Jack, ain't histories a kind of book what tells the truth." I could not help smiling at the sim plicity of the question. I then explained to him, as l'st I could, that historic, were often full of untruths touching things which had happened, while fiction was often cqually full of truths as to events that had never occurred. Robin son Crusoe, I explained, was fiction, but a man so situated would have worn goat skin trousers, talked to his parrot, or shot any cannibals that might have en deavored to roast and devour him. As I went on explaining a brighter and brighter light came into honest Joe', eves, and at last he exclaimed: "Well, I kep' readin' and readin' and studvin'an( studyin', and at last I began to sort o mistrust that some o' them things warn't true." EARTUOUAKES ARE COMMON. We Have Always Had Them and May Ex pect Many More. From the New York Tribune.) An educator who has given muc study to earthquakes and volcanoes i Professor John K. Rees, of Columbia college. He is a stoutly built man o. perhaps thirty-five, with a round and chubby face, a black mustache and more the air of a business man than a student. Talking with me in the Lincoln National Bank the other day, he remarked that ir a long series of years each section of the country was visited by about the same average number of earthquake shocks. "The reason any new shock appears phenomenal is because the people forget the former ones," said the professor. "We have kept records of shocks in New England and the Middle States, and find that they come year in and year oui with about the same regularity. The shock that are being reported from the west appear phenomenal to the peopli out there because they have no records back of a period of forty or fifty years, and within that period have forgotter occurrences of the same kind or hav< failed to record them. If some old mine: is alive whose memory runs back of fit' years he can tell them. As to the vol canic phenomenon in Arizona I have n< knowledge except from the newspapers. The evidences of old volcanic eruptions exist all along the mountain ranges ir Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevads up to Oregon. I believe they are mnos1 numerous in Nevada." When asked what the relative effec1 would be on New-York city of a shoc] like that experiencel by Charleston Professor Rlees replied in substance: "Ii loss of life and property I should say the disaster would be a hundred foli greater. There is so much more prop erty and so many more people in a smnal compass in this eity that the results would be greater in proportion. Build ings 12 this city are run u oeomu heights, vwith great sheet iron facings The streets, especially in the lower par of the city, during the day time, are Scrowded with people, and the falling o: S these decorative parts of structure: would be exceedingly disastrous to lif Sand iimb. The fact that New Torl tbuilding is mostly done on rock founda z ion andl that nearly all the great strue ~tures are put together with Portlani s cement instead of mortar might save the s destruction of much valuable property but all the cheaply built structures woul< sufder Teuidnse of Portland cement ha madlye buildng so solid that they ca. onlybe orndown by the use of explo Ssives. Even in such structures an earth quake like that at Charleston woul< Sbreak the window caps and lintels, an< Pprove very destructive." Resources of Rtusia. 3. The understanding of people in gener a al is that Rlussia, head over heels i . debt, finds it diflicult to raise money ta keep the wheels of government moving r The histor.y of the most recent attemp 0 at St. Petersburg to raise money die 1 proves this and indicates quite a difle: ent state of facts. It was at first prc 'e posed that the new popular loan shoul :)be about $30,000,000. Subscription a w'.ere call for, and con the 12th ult. it wa d ainnouueed that ten times the sum rI muired had been otrered. Three day e !ater dispatches from St. Petersbur > stated that the enormous sum of $1,200, 3, 00,000( had been offered, and that th yv government would take only 860,000, mi0. It is worthy of being noted the y simultaneously with this loan rumorsc ;owarlike nature are heard and that as -ar feeling not previously existing: FA1 M TOPICS FOR THE MONTH. suggestions to I'armiers who Wish to Make Faring Prolitable. .1 A distinguished poet has made a cer g tain young lady quite famous by having r her on a particular occasion to sing: .J "If you're waking, call me early, call me > early, mother dear; - For I'm to be Queen o' May, mother, f I'm to be Queen o' tle May." There is not much poetry, and even less romance, about it; but all the same t the farmer has to be called early and to stay late at his farm work for the next - three months if he has any hope or ex t pectation of succeeding at his calling. We know of no task-master more exact r in- and uncomproiajsing than the aver age cotton and coru crop. Worked prop erlv and the husbandman will reap his rinard Just as long as the rainbow hangs in the heavens or the promise of seed time and harvest remain; mismanaged and poorly executed work, and disap pointment and failure are sure to follow. Early and properly executed work on the crop, to many people, seems, as far as all outward appearances go, as being quite simple and easy, and they put this down as one of things about farm life that they are very familiar with, and that they thoroughly understand. When to strike, how to strike, and where to strike is the veni, vidi, vici of the farmer, and in our judgment it is the keystone to success or of failure; it is th; dividing- line between the clodhopper and the intelligent farmer. You may well call this month the middle station in the year's work. The crops are all planted and cultivation is about to begin if the preparation and planting has been thoroughly done; then the most trouble some half of making a crop is over with. The army is in the field; the ammuni nition is all distributed; the guns are unlimbered, and if the General handles the troops advantageously victory is as sured; if he does not, General Green will possess the land; he will come, he will see, and he will conquer. Suppose you were to see a so-called planter giving one of his tenants a pack age of calomel, opium, quinine and a lancet-the Lcur great agents in physic telling him at the same time to go down and see what he could do for a sick neighbor; if the sick man died, would you say the medicine failed? We see, year by year, owners of the soil giving men they call tenants land, mules, ploughs, guano, tools and seeds, and saying go down into my farm or plantation, and when I come again have my rent ready. When vou consider this matter in all seriousness and candor, are you sur prised that the patient-the land-is killed, and this false tenantry system has ruined thousands and thousands of acres of Southern land? Anan who proposed to go to a dis tant State to oversee went to Mr. Dick son and a.sked for a receipt to farm. He replied: "It is hard to transfer knowl edge, and much harder to transfer art and judgment; my plan is to follow the laws th-t govern the universe. Plants ad animals, when assisted with art and I judgment, never will fail. This is the science of agriculture. Study bad prac tice as well as good, and learn of the latter the errors, that you iaay avoid them. Read books until you become so perfect in theory and in the use of tools and manure that you will have confidence and the nerve to act and act at once-not lose time running about to your neighbors to see when to do a thing and how to do it. Do not allow frost or wet or dry weather to cause you to doubt or dally. Fortify yourself with books before you begin; such books as will teach you everything necessary to your success, and do not forget that you can learn something from almost every profession. Book farming means for the farmer just what book learning does for the lawyer, merchant or physician. You must read and study, not onliy agri cultural books, but all books that will apply in any way to that profession. You~'need the knowledge of a general to enable you to discipline your laborers to come to time, to move all at once, to know when to charge and when to re treat. You need the knowledge of a banker, when your money is made to know how to invest it. You want the knowledge of a bookkeeper, that you may keep your accounts correctly. In this many farmers fail; they fool them selves, not knowing how to keep debtor and creditor accounts, get in debt and become bankrupts before they are aware of it. You must have some knowledge of mechanics and machinery in order to use them. If the farmer is ignorant, how can he instruct the laborer? You should have even a sunficient knowledge of law to know how to keep out of the courts. You should have som'e knowl edge of commerce and trade, for you have to buy and sell. -"How is all this to be acquired? By treading and hard study, and making an application of the knowledge acquired. -Knowledge is power in agriculture as Swell as other things. And how are you to get knowledge? Only by reading, study and application. With knowledge von can use the hand as well as the tongue more ef'ectively. "The three great essentials are: First. The theory ttrue plan) of farming. Second. The art of controling labor and executing all work to the best advantage swith least labor. Third. Last and best, success depends on a quick perception, -wise judgment that seldom or never errs. How is this to be acquired, except by use of books in conjunction with prac "In conclusion, to succed you not only must be superior to your lborers, but you must be so far ahead of them .that they shall know that your plans are a wise, easy to put in practice and certain of success. TIhen they will follow you .in a charge, as good sokhiers will the best ~of General. Tfhe laborer must have con . ndence in the man who directs. How are all these qualilieations secured? .Through books, hard study, observation a and practice." D. P. D~uxc.. Vitalit' of Great Menu Is not always innate or born with s them, but many instances are known gwhere it has been acquired by the per sistent and judicious usc of Dr. Harter's e iron Tonic. t if a razor, after exposure to the cold, be placed under a magnifying glass, the edge a sem like a saw. Dipping it in hot water t throws the litle particles back into place, SWUIRN To LAY A 110ST. THE LOVE LANE SPOOK AGAIN MAKES ITS APPEARANCE. The Uncanny labituae of a Cemetery Who Once Made an: ged Darkey Fiddle for a )evil's )ance Comes Forth and Scares Folks. (Fromn the New York star.) Once again spooks have made their debut in Love Lane, and the supersti tious citizens, particularly those of the colorado maduro brand, who reside within the bailiwicks of New Utrecht and West Flatbush, L. I., near the southwestcrn border of Greenwood Cemetery. and who aru compeiled to pass that marble city after dark, never consider themselves in full dress unless they have a pocketful of brick or wear carbines with dlues like water mains. If the neighboring darkeys are to be believed, the spook can only be seen at midnight. At a recent meeting of the New Utretch Watermelon Coterie, Pan try and Vestry, held near Farmer Ber ry's chicken preserve, eight of the mem bers testified that they had timed the spectre by their watches. One of the secretaries, who is assistant organist and plays the chimes in the local colored church, and whose word is fully as good as his bond, said that he was the only man in the club whose watch was fit for anything but a tobacco box, as it was the only one that contained any intestines, but that the others had the time of the appearance of the spook down fine. He was with the others when they saw the spirit, and they all got so frightened that his watch stopped. He said that he was the first man home that night, as the others forgot where they lived. It is a difficult task to make the aver age colored citizen of the King's county towns believe that the present spook is not the same that is said to have appear ed to the oldest of them in their younger days. Love Lane, which borders the Greenwood fence, has a legend to this effect: Long, long ago an aged darkey, who had been performing as an execu tive orchestra at a husking bee in Gowa nus, was returning home during the dis mal hours of the morning. He had nearly reached the old toll gate, when Satan climbed over the fence or through it, and compelled the aged fiddler to play for him. The orchestra turned pale inch by inch, and his hair visibly unkinked, until his hat looked as if it were built on stilts, but still he was com pelled to scrape away for dear life. When his Satanic majesty had his savage breast sufficiently soothed he wound up the matinee by dancing a breakdown, and, dashing his hoof against a near by bowider, disappeared in a spiral cloud of sulphurous smoke. The stone is there yet, and the hoof print is still an awe-inspiring sight to the children and many of the older peo ple of the towns. The weird and hair erecting stone is shunned after dark, and there are many who will tell you that his Majesty holds picnics there at about this season every year. He never ap pears in winter or suniaer, probably because of his aversion to extreme cold or diluted heat. It is a shuddery spot, to say the least. Wthin the past few weeks the spook has reappeared on the scene of its old time orgies, and has been seen by several citizens whose words can be relied upon, although they take no stock in the super natural. A well known resident of the Eighth ward, whose place of business is near the Fifth avenue entrance to Greenwood, saw the vision one night1 last week. He was driving past the Fort Hamilton avenue entrance to the cemetery when the spectre showed up, causing his horse to shy. The spook appeared to come directly through the fence, in which there was no opening. It passed immediately in front of the~ horse, which suddenly stopped and re fused to budge. The gentleman risked a shot at it. The discharge was greeted with a hollow, chuckling laugh, and the gentleman started his horse on a dead run toward home. He says that the figure or whatever it might have been had a dark cloak on and wore horna. William Pye, who was formerly a stockholder under the old fashioned track sheds in the gin and tansy days of the turf, but who is now a junk numais matist through the country towns, is emphatic in his assertion that he has seen the spook on several occasions. He remembers the old legend of Love Lane, and says he can bring scores of citizens who have since indulged in involuntary introductions to his spookship. Numer ous other residents of the neighborhood are willing to itestify to a like encounter. A resident of Windsor terrace in West Flatbush also saw the "thing," and says that it was garbed in black, wore horns and had hoofs. He says that he was re turning home the other night and when near the "DLevil's Stone' the vision ap peared1 to rise up out of the ground im mediately in front of him. "I was almost scared to death," he said, "but plucking up courage I threw a stone at it. The stone went clear through it and I could see the hole it made." This last assertion may be something of an exaggeration due to fright as the gentleman admits he was so scared that he lost his hat and was in such a hurry that he didn't stop to pick it up. A South Brooklyn florist whose busi ness interests in tIhe cemetery will not permit of his name being used said: "There's something strange on the other end of the cemetery, but I can't explain it. I've seen it myself, and so have a numb~er of my friends. I think possibly it is somebody who is endeavor ng to play a prank on the weak-minded. A party of us are going to solve the mat ter some night this week, and we expect ,ome fun. lI it is a spirit it will stand ao chance with us as we are used to -irits. Yes, I have heard of the Devil's .tode and the legion connected with it. Who hasn't? We always let the stone have the road all to ~itself after dark when I was a boy." Lively times are ahead for the spook when the party, which will be composed Af a number of Eighth ward politicians and business men, make the proposed raid some night this week. Many of the dressy new hats and bon nets ae trimmed entirely with ribbon. BILL ARP' TALKS. Ills Views on Slavery--Judge Hiran Warner. (From the New York Tribune.) A quaint and pleasant talker of the ol school is Major Smith-"Bill Arp"-oj Atlanta, Ga., who was here the othei day to deliver a lecture. The Major wa. a slaveholder in his younger days, hav ing received three families of negroes, some twelve persons in all, as the wed ding portion of his wife. In talkine about the slave question. he said: "Thi talk that the South lost $100,U0O,000 by the emancipation proclamation is a.1 nonsense. I am prepared to show that the South did not lose a dollar. In all my experience as a slave-owner, if I ever made a dollar by their labor I dc not know it. We got their labor in ex change for their food and their clothing, the rearing of the young and caring foi the old. We get their labor for the same price now without having the burden of responsibility for the young and the aged and the sick. We used to pay their doctors' bills; now they pay their own. The difference is already seen from the fact that many men are accumulating wealth through the employment of ne groes who never got ahead a dollar in the slave days, although they were own ers of many slaves." In chatting about Northern men Major Smith remarked that many North ern men had gone into the South to make their homes there during the slavery period who attained distinction. Among others he cited Judge Hiram Warner, a native of Vermont, who oc eupied the highest judicial position in the State of Georgia on the bench of the Supreme Court for thirty-seven years. "It is a curious phase of human nature," said Major Smith, "that as old age comes creeping on the incidents and scenes of boyhood come impressively to the mind. It was so with Judge War ner. I remember talking with him in his old days, when he told me he was going to Vermont to see again the green hills and the wooded slopes and the trout streams and the trees under which he basked in his boyhood days. He be came a part of the South, but he had not forgotten his old home in the North." Chat With the Ladies. Pompadour silks are recommended for dress frocks for young girls. The safest colors for cheap portieres are olive-green and brick red. Wide Directoire revers appear on many f the imported French frocks. Apple green and chestnut bronze is a olor combination favored in Paris. Short backs and long front tabs are the distinguishing marks of new wraps. Long flots of ribbon give decorative effect to black and colored lace over dresses. India silks and foulards will be the rivals of China silks and pongees this season. We have taken note of some children's :oilets which struck us as particularly tasteful. Combination costumes are not so much worn as usual. Silk is made up by itself and woolens also. Thin silks mixed with tulle and lisle or evening wear are very popular addi ions to a summer wardrobe. The favorite color for graduation owns are rose, blue, Nile green, and, of ourse, heliotrope. Indoors little girls wear frocks in the hape of a pelisse, loose and straight in ront. and completed at the back by a lait in the skirt let in between -two sams. A silk cord or ribbon sash goes ound the waist. Fine woolen tissues are streaked with ilk or a lighter shade, forming stripes r squares, and a small pattern of silk lots, clover leaves, or small flowerets of ilk, imitating embroidery relief, is scat tred all over upon~ the dark ground. Extremely pretty capotes for the pring are composed of birds' wings. Sometimes the wings are dyed of all olors; sometimes they are left of their wn natural tint; they cover the capote lmost entirely, with the exception of a small puffing of silk or crape at the ack. Some of the new wool novelties have woolen grounds in light or dark shades f pure colors, on which in high relief re lines of plush and frise flower de signs in natural colors and realistic to a egree in treatment. These goods are igh priced, and intended only for parts f plain wool costumes. While combinations of plain and fancy fgured goods, often in strongly con rasted colors, remain extremely poput ar, many handsome dresses are made ofi he same color throughout, but of two fabrics, and for these refined toilets ext uisitely fine cashmere and moire are specially favored. In the new fancy woolen materials in troduced for the spring and summer season we remark that small white pat terns very frequently occur. In some fabrics irregular white stripes term a sort check pattern, in others large white dots are scattered over plain or striped colored grounds. Costumes of imperial serge, camel's hair, vigogne, tricot cloth and of fine anvas patterned fabrics, without limit, will be in great demand, made up in ombination with velvet-striped fabrics of every description, or with skirt and bodice trimmings of fancy colored satin surah, figured with quaint geometric and In the Sandown mantles of cloth a corbeille check in tones of fieldmouse has its cape sleeves defined by a braid about .tive inches in width in a dark~ shade of brown. This bordering band is drawn over the shoulder in folds, sug estive of braces, then carried in 11atness ver the back to terminate on the skirt with a cluster of rich and massive posse. menterie balls. The novelties in lace fichus might be tersely described as an ingenious manip ulation of squares. Each one is due to a small handkerchief of that form, either in cream or eru, the surface of which is almost covered by open work em broidery or lace. These hn!:Ckerchiefs are folded so as to give a different shape and appearance to each corner, and this, with the assistance of ribbon, is achieved so effectively that the four corners often appar completely disconeted THIm INTEI-STATE COMMISSION. k An Imaport.int Letter Defining the Power of the Comini-ioi as to Certain Cases. The Inter-State Commission has madi i public an important letter addressed t< the Minnesota & Northwestern Railroat Company, defining the poweis of thi commission as to certain cases and ex plaining why it is found impossible t< accede at once to the urgent appeal o the road for relief from the long ani short haul clause of the law. The lette r, written by Cha'rmat Cooley, says it is generally accepted tha the fourth section was designed to cs tablish the general law that more mus not be charged for a shorter than for longer haul and to permit exception in special and peculiar c.:ses only. Befor the passage of the law railroads were th< sole judges as to what circumstances o conditions justified such practice an the law evidently meant to take this dis cretionary power out of the hands of th< railroads and was passed in the belie: that incidental injuries resulting fron its enforcement would be more that offset by advantages in the interest o: the public good. The commission is a: much bound by the law as are the car riers, and has power of discriminatioi only so far as it is its duty to do. Tht law contemplates that there may b< some special cases in which general goo requires suspension. But such cases an obviously exceptional ones. Special an( peculiar circumstances and where onl3 general causes operate the general lam shall be left to its general course, how ever serious may be the consequence t< particular roads. The law makesit clea; that any suspension granted must bt after an investigation, satisfying th commission of the peculiar and excep tioral circumstances rendering it neces sary. The jurisdction of the commis sion was meant to be closely restrictet and it can grant no suspension simpl3 on the apprehension that enforcemen1 would prove harmful or upon the un established assertion that it has done so. Congress must necessarily have realizei that some disturbances and injury would be caused by the law and Congress alone can be looked to for the remedy o1 modiflcations. The claim that the com mission has power to suspend the ,claust which were evil consequences are found gives the commission general dispensinf power inconsistent with sound principle. of government and of which Congres gave no hint. If the clause in its gener al operation proved generally and equal ly mischieveous on all directions, tht commission, instead of having greatel power to suspend, would be deprived ol power for the rea:son that there woul lbe no exceptional eases fOr it to act upor and therefore lone coming within it. discretionary authority. But there ar of couhe excueial cas s and it is made the duty of the commission to determin what these are. hisnest be done by tie investigutio' upon whichr the com mission has entered Where an applica tion for temporary suspuension is based or such general principles that many other. would have to follow, the commisbion ha, bLst reasons for declining to grant it. The letter is not designed to give any intimation as to the permanent course o: the commission, as no policy has beer determined upon. The commission de clares its regret that any injury is in licted by the law and promises to give such complaints proper consideration. TIMOTH(Y .ND CLOVEL ouestions Ah.tit Them Aiwered by an) Experienced Uiitr RroonvinLz, COLLETON Co., S. C., April 25, 1887. HoN. A. P. BrTLM:, Commissioner Wilyou kindly answer the following: 1s.Cntimothy adred clover, such as is'grown further North, be successful ly grown here? 2d. Should they be planted in Fall on Spring? 3d. What manures would you recom mend for them? 4th. Should they be grown together or separately to secure best resuits for hay? If they can be grown, I wish to expe riment fually, and if results arc satisfac. tory, plant them extensively for hay. I am not well enough acquainted with this section to know, but from what I can see, it appears that these grasses should be cultivated here, and thereby save the freights on hay from d1istant points. If you will kindly give me all necessa ry information on the subject, you will greatly oblige, yours truly, C. H. Momrisr. Questions like the above very fre -uently come up for decision. In local ies where the timothy and red clover grow successfully, they are of such greal value to the farming interests that only repeated failures can deter those who have known them elsewhere. Our cuntrv comp~ies a .ast extent through mauy ciegrees of lautadc and great i verity of soil and clihnate. It cannot be. reasounably expected that throughout the s-e varvirng condit ions any particulai agricultural product eou be saecessfally cultivated. The grasses aLnd clover (whati are generally known as the agricultural gras;KcannUot beC proa bly grown it the lower portions of our Stat. They have often been tried, and in gardier spot. and other favored lo ces may succeed tolerably well, but they car never be used for field cultureC or fot large areas. Nture is very bountiful, and leave: no region uncared for :nd without its equivalents. Along the sndy belt o: low country of this State, of GTeorgia and Florida, the grasses and clovers o: more Northern latitudes cannot be sue cessfully cultivated, but we have excel lent substitutes in thle cow yea and veteL for ha:y or for soiling, also the millet: and sorghums for the same purpose 01 for the silo, Bermuda grass and Meanm grass for permanent p)asturage and fo: hay, and the annual erab grass and crow foot, both of which make the very bes of hay. Thes- are some of our substitutes. Each and every region is blessed by bountiful Providence, and it is the part of wisdom to make use of those: product. which aLre best adapted to each regior rather than to struggle against unnatura conditions. H. WV. RavENEL. Young and n i e aged men sulterin from nervous debility,p-iature old age loss oif memzory and kina. i symp~tone should send 10) cents in stamg or larg illustrated treatise suggesting sure gensI 0l cure. World's Dispensary Medical A.sso ciain Bufo, N. Y. KELLY ON THE SOUTHL HE RECORDS HIS OBSERVATINS OF PROGRESS IN THIS SECTION. The Pennsylvania Congressman Predlcts:a Great Future for Us--He Calls it a "New South." Congressman Kelly, of Pennsylvania, who has just returned to Washington from an cxtended tour through some of the Southern States, begun last March, in an interv~w with a Star reporter, records his observations of progress iD that section of the country and predicts a great future for the New South. Mr. Kelly said: "In 1873, when I visited Florida, the people there seemed to be - without hope or aspiration, but for the last six or seven years the State has taken a position in the first ranks of the New South. The people are energetic and confident of the future. From Kes seminie City and Rock Ledge, I visited farms on the lands reclaimed by the Drainage Company on native alluvial fields and after a carelul spec'tion, I am prepaied to say that Florida is destined to a higher rank among the agricultural States of the Union. The rich s'.il is being intelligently cultivated with great profit. Nvhen I left Florida it was for a seas,.n of rest at Anniston, Ala., one of the new cities that has grown up in the mineral regions. From Anniston I made excursions to other towns in Alabama and in Georgia. After a month's stay at Anniston, I turned my steps toward Tennessee, passed ten days most pleasantly at South Pittsburg, which as Anniston has just done, will soon surprise the country by establish ing itself as an industrial centre of large proportions and great activity. Every where throughout the mineral regions of the South enterprise and prosperity are moving hand in hand, nor is this pros perity of the New South confined to its mineral regions, though the povertyand listless which characterized the poor people of the old South, still prevail to a considerable extent. In her cotton fields there is a large boom of enterprise and imdrovement which is rapidly cur ing that. Those which have caught the spirit of progress do not longer plow their fields with single mule liows. They have learned the value of deep plowing and of following the chill plow by a heavy subsoil plow. They continue to grow some cotton, but not open the surface of exhausted fields, and they diversify their crops. I am speaking now of the progressive agriculturists the representatives of the New South. Instead of one crop of cotton they have fields of wheat, rye, clover and other crops. And to save their old time "guano" bills, as they call bills for man ufactured fertilizers, they turn under grain crops and aid that with manure from stock and well fed herds of cattle. "The great boom of the South is near at hand, and it will not be confined to the mineral regions of that richest sec tion of the country, but it will include the agricultural regions as well." In response to questions Judge Kelly -aid that the evidences of progressive farming were not confined to any State or county, but were v.ible in places all over the State. In the vicinity of the rapidly developing mineral regions, he says, the farms are models of good man agement and thrift. Within four miles of Anniston, Ala., he saw some of the finest herds of Jersey cattle and one of the largest and cleanest dairies he had ever inspected. It was built up and owned by a native of Alabama. Near Rome, Ga., he saw herds of cattle and dairies that would do credit to Pennsyl vania or New York. Justice Woods' Successor. In connection with the probable choice of a successor to the late Justice Woods, og the Uniteal States Supreme Court, it is remarked that some of the candidates already named will probably be handi capped by the fact that they are from States which now have one or more rep resentatives on the supreme bench, and a candidate from a State having no such representative will most likely be pre f erred. While Justice Woods lived Ohio had three of her sons in the Su preme Court-the Chief Justice and Justices Matthews and Woods, though the latter nominally was appointed from the South, where he had lived but a brief time before his elevation to the highest of our judicial tribunals. So Ohio is not likely to be favored again, which will count Judge Hoadly out. O the other associate lustices the senior, Judge Miller, is from Iowu; the next, Justice Field, from California; Justice Biradley, from New Jersey, Justice Har lan, from Kentucky, Justice Gray, from Massachusetts and Justice Blatchford from New York. The South alone of all sections of our country being entirely unrepresented, many think a candidate from any part of the South, Kentucky ex-epted-because that State already has a representative on the Supreme Court bench in Judge Harlan-is most likely to be the successful one. Four of the present judges-the Chief Justice, Justices Miller, Field and Bradley-are now old enough to be eligible for retirement whenever they feel disposed to profit by the law per mnitting them to retire on full salary. Except the four named and Justice Harlaa, who is now but M .years of age, none of the present justice' have served as long as ten years. Chief Justice Waite and Justices Miller and Field are each 31 years old, and Justice Bradley is 74. TeThe Southern Presb~yterians. ern Presbyterian Church met at the Grand Avenue Church in St. Louis on Thursday. D~r. Bryson, of Huntsville, Ala., the retiring Moderator, opened the session by a sermon. At the close of these exercises officers were elected for the ensuing year. Dr. Strickler, of Atlanta, was elected Moderator. The session then adjourned to give the Moderator time to make up his commit tees. This session will endeav.,r to unite the assemblies of the North and South. "She is not of my set," said the old hen, as she chased a strange chicken out of the