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VOL, III. MANNING, CLARENDON COUNTY, S. C., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1888. NO, 26 TIMELY TOPICS FOR FARMERS. HOW TO DO PAYING WORK AT THIS SEASON. Suggestions of Interest, from an Authori tative Source. (W. L. Jones in Southern Cultivator) This is the beginning of the busy work of preparing for the next crop, The farm now demands all the eneigies of the farmer who would lay a broad foun dation for a successful year's work. It is impossible to foresee what will be the character of the seasons in the future. We know that it will be either "wet" or "dry," or "seasonable." It is well to provide against either extreme as far as - practicable. Only ordinary skill and judgment on the part of the farmer are required to make a reasonably fair crop in a fairly seasonable year. But it does require a high degree of skill, and a judgmont that is based on experience and study to discount, in advance, the drawbacks and casualties that are possi bilities and probabilities of the future. It is often said that "a crop well planted is half made;" but the land must be properly prepared, securely protected against stock, judiciously fertilized, etc., and the seed properly selected and planted before it may be truly said that the crop has been "well planted." Some have said that a farmer ought to plant .such an area in corn as will yield, under the most adverse circumstances, a sufficiency for home use. This is put ting it rather too strong. Every farmer of a dozen years experience knows that seasons occur when it would have been better to have planted no corn at all; and probably he would not if he could have foreseen the result. The safer rule is to adjust relative areas (in provision crops especially) with reference to expected average seasons, so that an abundance will be produced with such seasons. It is well enough to pre pare the land and space the plants as if expecting a dry good year. Then if good seasons proved nothing will have been lost. and if a drouth occur at the critical period the extra labor of prepa ration and the wide spacing will tell wonderfully in the final result. Let every farmer consider what he wishes or expects to secure by the labors of the year. What are the most pressing and indispensable wants among those that may be on the farm? Obviously, food comes first; clothing next, and so on. The essential business of a farmer is to make a living (meat and bread, lodging and clothing) for himself and lamiiy. In our judgment the man who makes the production of cotton the main object of efort, and who looks upon the grow ing of food crops and other departments of farm industry, as mere incidents or unavoi4able drawbacks, makes a very serious, radical mistake. Such mistakes are frequent, and are frequently if not generally the cause of failure. Such mistakes are the cause of the present de pression in Southern agriculture. We should first produce what we need most-what we must have-what we consume, not what we do not need (or need but little of) and what we cannot consume. The farmer who plans, pitches, prepares, plants and cultivates with direct regard to supplying his fami ly with food in such variety and of such wholesome quality as may only be pro duced under his own eye, will not be likely to suffer for want of any reason able comfort, necessary, or even modest luxury that may be outside the limits of actual home production. .The prudent provision for "plenty of everything" that such a farmer will make will gener ally result in such a surplus of one or more products of his labor as will pro cure such other objects of desire, to say nothing of the returns from the cotton or other so-called "money crop." We claim no originality in the fore going "Thoughts," except possibly in the manner of presenting some of them. In the main they are substantially the "old story." We would that by any means we might impress upon Southern farmers that the essential idea and aim in farming-an object that is attainable in no other pursuit on earth-should be to supply the chief necessaries and many of the luxuries of life directly from the farm. The mechanic, the miner, the mere laborer, the professional man, the follower of every other cra.ft must ex change the products of his labor for money, and with the money purchase in the maket the real objects of desire and necessity. Not so with the true farmer, in such aclimate and with such a teem ing soil as ours. sPEiG OATs. The acreage sown in fall oats is much lessthanusual. The freezing out of a large portion of the crop of 1886 by the hard freezes in January, 1887, haa a most dis couraging effect, which was augmented by the unfavorably dry weather which p revailed in some parts of the country during the sowing season. The oat crop, however, is too valuable and in the long run too reliable to be given up. Spring sowing costs little more than the seed, even if the crop fails from drouth; and a good breadth-eight or ten acres at least to each plow run-should be put in. In our judgment-founded upon experi ence and .observation-oats sown in February are much less liable to injury by freezing than if sown in January. Sowing in the "old twelve days" smacks more of superstition and sentiment than sound reason. Our hardest weather i-s usually from December 25 to February 1, and it isnot often that oats sown in February are killed by freezing. The soil for spring oats, if not already fertile, should be well manured and deeply and closely plowed-the latter to guard against drouth as much as possible. If the land be cross plowed so as to leave. the furrows partly open, the seed may be; sown broadcast and harrowed in with good results. Cotton seed, or the meal alone, or in compost with acid phosphate and potash, makes an excellent fertilizer for oats. The crop requires rather more ammonia and pota]than the percentage usually found in cor arcial ammoniat ed phosphates. Undoubtedly the Burt oat is the safest for spring sowing, as it will mature in 100 to.120 days when sown in February or March, according to latitude. Sow plenty of seed; the later the sowing the ile ahnnl4 he the seeding- Allow for yield of twenty fold is a pretty safe general rule, unless the unexpected yield or capacity of the land is small, in which case the seeding should be somewhat heavier than this rule would indicate, and vice versa. INTENSIvE FARMING. In last month's "Thoughts" we prom ised more on the subject of intensive farming "after awhile." It was then suggested "that as a principle it does not pay the best to manure a few acres very heavily and leave the main expense of the farm with little or no manure." To state the proposition affirmatively we mean to say that as a general practice it pays better to distribute manures some what uniformly and impartially over the entire area to be cultivated than to fer tilize a few acres very highly and the remainder very lightly. A ton of any good fertilizer will yield a better per cent, on the cost if distributed equally over a field of twenty acres than if one half the ton be concentrated on two acres and the remaining half distributed among the remaining eighteen acres. These hints are more particularly appli cable where concentrated fertilizers are used, which cost comparatively little to distribute. Good fertilizers, judiciously applied, should be considered as an investment rather than an expense. An increase of the area in cultivation involves increased expense of labor, supplies, implements, etc., but an increase in the quantity of fertilizers need not involve any material additional expense, and while we have premised that a uniform distribution gives better results on the whole. the correct conclusion is to reduce areas and fertilize both liberally and uniformly the entire crop cultivated. There are thousands, yea hundreds of thousands of acres annually cultivated in the South that do not yield one cent of profit, but on the contrary, entail a positive and real loss. The remedy is either to throw such acres out of culti vation, or cultivate them in a different way. The most available and immediate remedy is to throw such land out of cul tivation and confine our efforts to smaller areas, with less expense of labor, stock, etc., and increase the investment in fertilizers. There are many farms yielding a scanty living for all concerned, where it would-be wise to sell one-half the mules, one-half the plows and other imple ments, one-half the land (or let it rest), aispense with half the labor, and invest the money saved in fertilizers, improved stock and improved implements, and such appliances as may be needed to re duce loss and waste. The farmer who confines his best efforts and skill to a small portion of his farm and still con tinues the whole area in cultivation has practically only reduced area without reducing expenses. STOCE AND GRASS. We have often touched upon the im portance of stock-breeding and fattening and grass culture. Now is the time to sow grass seeds of most kinds, if not sown last fail, or if the fall sowing failed from any cause. It is useless to attempt grass culture on poorly stricken and poorly prepared soils. Bermuda may be excepted in this remark,. as it will grow on almost any soil. March, however, is a better time to set a Bermuda pasture. There is absolutely no reason why Southern farmers-Cotton farmers should not raise all' the horses and mules needed for any and all purposes. We recently attended a colt show in Jefferson county, which demonstrated, if proof were needed, that Georgia can produce not only mules, but horses of the finest type and quality. Sumter and [andolph and other counties in south est Georgia are stirred up on the ques ion of stock-raising. Habit is all that s against us, and habit can be changed and reformed. We ought at least to roduce all our horses and mules, enougl utter to supply every dining table in' he country three times a day, beef and nutton to fully supplement the home nade bacon supply and furnish the markets of all the cities and towns. If he farmers of the South will only sup ply the home demand for all these ani mal products they will have solved the roblem, how to make the farm pay. What a Liberal Education Mleans. E. J. Lowell in the January Atlantic says: A liberal education, which term is ften vaguely used, can be completed at the age of 22 years, and should inolude raining and positive knowledge. The athor says: If either element be neglected in the ndergraduate course it is unlikely that the deficiency will ever be made good. The years immediately following gradu ation are devoted, in the vast majority of instances, to learning a profession or a business, and these interests should be shared with no others except by way of recreation. If, therefore, a young man begins the work of his life while still :eficient in mental training his mind will be trained by that work only in those parts which are actively used in the business or profession which he has taken up. If he begins active life ill provided with positive knowledge of facts he is likely to learn only those facts which are useful in his branch of active life. In this way he becomes one ided and narrow-minded; efficient, per aps, and useful, but not liberally edu ated, and probably less useful and efficient than if he were so. For it is. the province of a liberal education to widen the mind, to make it turn more readily to new subjects of interest, to make it understand the ideas of others. The man who is liberally educated should possess more varied pleasures, a sounder j-dgment, more sympathy with his fel low beings, a higher ideal of life and of its duties, than are held by other men. No education which is simply intellectual can give all these, but a proper intel lctual education may assist a young man in acquiring them. Truly this is an age of progress. Well made pants from all woolen goods for only $3 to your own measure! Scientific blanks, 25 samples of cloth and a liner. tape measure are sent to any address for 6 cents in stamps by the N. Y. Standard Pants Co., of 66 University Place, N. Y. City. Goods sent by mail. This firm is doing an enormous business from Maine to California. You will actually be surprised at the result, if you will writethem. * A dead bat.The mnffled drum's. JACKSON'S DEATH WOUND. How Old Stonewall Met His Death on the Field of Chancellorsville. (By John Esten Cooke.) On fire with his great design, Jackson then rode forward in front of the troops toward Chancellorsville, and here and then the bullet struck him which was to terminate his career. Jackson had ridden forward on the turnpike to reconnoitre and ascertain, if possible, in spite of the darkness of the night, the position of the Federal lines. The moon shone, but it was struggling with a bank of clouds, and afforded but a dim light. From the.gloomy thickets on each side of the turnpike, looking more weird and sombre in the half light, came the melancholy notes of the whip poorwill. 'I think there must have been ten thousand,' said General Stuart after wards. Such was the scene and aid which the events which now are about to be narrated took place. Jackson had advanced with some mem bers of his staff, about a mile from Chancellorsville, and had reached a point nearly opposite an old dismantled house in the woods near the road, when he reined in his horse, and remaining perfectly quiet and motionless, listened intently for any indications of a move ment in the Federal lines. They were scarcely two hundred yards in front of him, and seeing the danger to which he exposed himself one of his staff officers said, 'General, don't you think this is the wrong place for you?' He replied quickly, almost impatiently, 'the danger is all over! the enemy is routed-go back and tell A. P. Hill to press on!' The officer obeyed, but had scarcely disap peared when a sudden volley was fired from the Confederate Infantry in Jack son's rear, and on the right of the road -evidently directed upon him and his escort. The origin of this fire has never been discovered, and after Jackson's death there was little disposition to in vestigate an occurrence which otcasioned bitter distress to all who by any possi bility could have taken part in it. It is probable, however, that some movement of the Federal skirmishers had provoked the fire; if this is an error, the troops fired deliberately upon Jackson and his party, under the impression that they were a body of Federal cavalry recon noitering. Whatever may have been the origin of this volley, it came, and many of the staff and escort were shot, and fell from their horses. Jackson wheeled to the left and galloped into the woods to get out of range of the bullets; but he had not gone twenty steps beyond the edge of the turnpike, in the thicket, when one of brigades drawn up within thirty yards of him fired a volley in their turn, kneel ing on the right knee, as the flash of the guns showed, as though prepared to 'guard against cavalry.' By this fire Jackson was wounded in three places. He received one ball in his left arm, two inches below the shoulder-joint, shatter ing the bone and severing the chief arte ry; a second passed through the same arm between the elbow and the wrist, making its exit through the palm of the hand; and a third ball entered the palm of his right hand, about the middle, and passing through, broke two of the bones. Here, Captain Wilbourn, of his staff, succeeded in catching the reins and checking the animal, who was almost frantic from terror, at the moment when, from loss of blood and exhausion, Jack son was about to fall from the saddle. He was then borne to the field hos- I pital at Wilderness, some five miles dis tant. Here he lay throughout the next day, Sunday, listening to the thunder of the artillery and the long roll of the mus ketry from Chancellorsville, where Stuart, who had succeeded him in com mand, was pressing General Hooker back toward the Rappahannock. His soul must have thrilled at that sound, long so familiar, but he could take no part in the conflict. Lying faint and pale, in a tent in rear of the 'Wilderness' Tavern,' he seemed to be perfectly re signed, and submitted to the painful probing of his wound with soldierly pa tience. It was obviously necessary to amputate the arm, and one of his sur geons asked, 'If we find the amputation necessary, General, shall it be done at once?' to which he replied with alacrity, 'Yes, certainly, Dr. McGuire, do for me whatever you think right.' The arm was then taken off, and he slept soundly after the operation, and on waking, be gan to converse about the battle. It was about this time that we received the fol iowing letter from General Lee: 'I have just received your note informing me that you were wounded. I cannot ex press my regret at the occurrence. Could I have directed events I should have chosen for the good of the country to have been disabled in your stead. I congratulate you upon the victory which is due to your skill and energy.' The remaining details of Jackson's ill ness and death are known. He was re moved to Guiney's Depot, on the RZich mond and Fredericksburg IRailroad, where he gradually sank,, pneumonia having attacked him. When told that his men on Sunday had advanced upon the enemy shouting 'Charge, and re member Jacdson!' lhe exclaimed, 'It was just like them! it was just like them! They are a noble body of men. The men who live through this war,' he added, 'will be proud to say 'I was one of the Stonewall Brigade' to their chil dren.' Looking soon afterwards at the stump of his arm, he said, 'Many people would regard this as a great misfortune. I regard it as one of the great blessings of my life.' He subsequently said, 'I consider these wounds a blessing; they were given me for some good and wise purpose, and I would not part with them if I could.' His wife was now with him, and when she announced to- him weeping, his ap proaching death, he replied with perfect almness, 'Very good; very good; it is all right.' These were nearly his .last words. He soon afterwards became de lirious, and was heard to mutter, 'Order A. P~. Hill to prepare for action I-Pass the infantry !-Tell Major Hawks to send forward provisions for the men!' Then his martial ardor disappeared, a smile diffused itself over his pale features, and he murmured: 'Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees!' It was the river of death he was about to pass over; and soon after utter ing these words he expired. The character and career of the man who thus passed from the arena of his glory, ny tha prnnartyw of history. RAISE TOUR OWN HOGS. Capt. Peterkin Says that the Beet Meat i1 the World is Raised in South CaroUna. (From the News and Courier.) Capt. J. A. Peterkin, the well-knows .planter from Orangeburg county, was ii the city yesterday. He can always sa' something that is interesting and in, structive in regard to agricultural mat ters. In conversation with a representative of the News and Courier yesterday, Capt. Peterkin said that there was nc doubt in his mind that as fine tobacco can be raised in South Carolina as in any other State in the Union. The soil and climate and conditions of temperature are all elements in favor of the crop in this State, when it is cultivated with the care that would ordinarily be bestowel upon other crops. Capt. Peterkin also said that there is only one other place in the world, and that is one of the farming districts of England, where as fine meat can be pro duced as in South Carolina. The hogs that we raise here are slops, are just like slop hogs that are grown anywhere else, and there is no difference in the flavor of the meat of corn-fed hogs in South Carolina and of corn-fed hogs elsewhere. But the ordinary farm-raised meat in this State is superior to anything of the kind produced anywhere else. Our hogs here fatten on crabgrass; +hey are grazers. and the food that they get make their meat very sweet and of a most captivating flavor. Our home raised side meat always has a streak of lean and a streak of fat, while the North western meat is nothing but a mass of fat. The pity of it is that greater attention is not paid to meat raising by the farm ers of this State. In one of h. ecstacies of souse Henry Grady recently exclaim ed: "Why is it we cannot buy now the sweet, old-fashioned country ham? Judge Sambel Lumpkin lately sent to the writer a half dozen from his private smoke-house of the vintage of 1884, that are simply poems in ashes. Any self respecting pig would have died gladly to have been so idealized. In these hams you catch the flavor of the smoke of the half-covered oak chips above which they drifted with the seasons into perfection. 'nd the red gravy, clear, consistent, flavorous; it is the gravy you used to find on your mother's table when you came home from a long day's hunt in the De cember wind. I would rather have a smoke-house with its loamy floor, its darkened rafters, its redpepper pods, its festoons of sausage odorous of sage and a hundred such hams suspended between earth and roof, like small Mahomets, than a cellar of dust-begrimed bottles of Madeira of '23." Capt. Peterkin raises his own meat. He thinks that smoke rather spoils its flavor, and believes in curing it after another fashion, which makes it sweet and tender the whole yearround. What Capt Peterkin succeeds in doing on his model farm in Orangeburg can likewise be done on every other well-conducted farm in this State. When the time comes that every farmer raises his own meat and provisions, then will South Carolina indeed be independent of Western smoke-houses and Chicago stock pens. WAR ON THE TRUSTS. Congre~sman Rayner's Fierce Attack on the Monopolies. (From the Philadelphia Times.) Representative Rayner, of Maryland, in an argument recently before the com mittee on manufactures on his anti-trust monopoly bill, gave a very interesting and incisive presentation of this sys ematic robbery of the people. After howing that the bill is constitutional uder the power to regulate commerce, will von delay," said he, "a report pon this bill one moment longer, in iew of everything that you kntow upon hese infamous combinations to bankrupt rivate enterprise, to depredate upon he business interest and to plunder the eople of this country? There is not a ay that some iniquitous trust of this ort is not springing to existence. What o you want to investigate? You might s well investigate as to whether larceny, r highway robbery, or bribery is a enefit or a detriment to the people. hey have never hesitated to buy Legis atures and courts whenever the occa ion required it and the opportunity resented itself. I point to the history f the Standard Oil Company and all the ther trusts that are now following in its track and emulating its example. he wealth of this monopoly to-day is ne hundred and fifty millions and still growing. The profit last year was twen y-five millions of dollars. It started ith less thsn a million dollars. How id it acquire the one hundred and for y-nine millions? By a system of high ay robbery and crime such as no iviized country ought to tolerate. In ivilual enterprise, honest competition, ransportation lines, refineries and pipe ines were all trampled to death under its merciless march to aggrandizement. "Look at the sugar trust to-day. Do ou want to investigate that? Summon the Havemeyers with their books. Ask hem two questions; first, what was the alue of their plant when they went into the trust; second, what are the profits hey are receiving out of it? Why, the otal plant of all the refineries ofily mounted to sixteen millions. To-day it is sixty millious. And then when you rc done with the Standard Company ma the cotton seed oil trust and the ugar trust, take up the rnbber trust, with a capital of fifty millions of dollars, ad then take up thc lead trust and the inseed oil trust and the 3late trust, the oil cloth, salt, steel and scores of other rsts and combines orgaruzing daily with all the speed they can in order to nticipate any action of Congress in the remises. The country is looking to Con gress for relief. Rlealize the magnitude of the subject and listen to the voice of a uffering people resounding through the omes and business centres of this coun try and through the medium of an en ightened press appealing to their repre entatives to rescue themi from the clutches of the most dangerous monopo ies that have ever raised their forms pon our soil. A majority of both ouses of Congress are favorable to action and are impatient to get the sub ject,- in shape to give it prompt and ffective concurrence." It is s'aidI that v. asps remember their nests ninety-six hours. Witen a boy gets near wasr's nest he is apt to remember it for a onr ,- time thau that. MXR. BLAINE DECLINES. He Does Not Want to be Presiden; but Thinks His Party Will Win. FLORENCE, ITALY, January 25.--7o B. F. Jones, Chairman of the Republican National Committee-Sir: I wish through you to state to the members of the Re publican party that my name will not be presented to the National Convention, called to assemble in Chicago in June next for the nomination of candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. I am constrained to this decision by considerations entirely personal to my self, of which you were advised more than a year ago. But I can't make the announcement without giving expres sion to my deep sense of gratitude to many thousands of my countrymen who have sustained me so long and so cor dially that their feeling has seemed to go beyond ordinary political adherence of fellow partisans, and to partake some what of the nature of personal attach ment. For this most generous loyalty of friendship I can make no adequate re turn, but I shall carry the memory of it while life lasts. Nor can I refrain from congratulating the Republican party upon the cheering prospects which distinguish the opening of the national contest of 1888 as com pared with that of 1884. In 1882 the Republicen party throughout the Union met with disastrous defeat. Ten States that had supported Garfield and Arthur in the election of 1880 were carried by Democrats, either by majorities or plu ralities. The Republican loss in North ern elections, compared with the pre ceding national election, exceeded half a million votes, and the electoral votes of the Union, divided on the basis of the result of 1882, gave to the Democrats over 300 electoral votes out of a total of 401. There was a partial reaction in favor of the Republicans in the elections of 1883, but the Democrats still had pos session of seven Northern States, and on the basis of the year's contest could show more than 100 majority in the electoral colleges of the whole country. But against the discouragement natur ally following the adverse elections of these two years the spirit of the Repub lican party in the national contest of 1884 rose high, and the Republican masses entered into the campaign with such energy that the final result de pended on the vote of a single State, and that State was carried by the Democratic party by a plurality so small that it rep resented less than one-eleventh of one per cent. of the entire vote. The change of a single vote in every two thousand of the total poll would have given the State to the Republicans, though only two years before the Democratic plurality exceeded one hundred and nine-two thousand. The elections of 1886 and 1887 have demonstrated the growing strength in the Republican ranks. Seldom in our political history has a party defea ed in a national election rallied immediately with such vigor as have the Republicans since 1884. No comparison is possible between the spirit of the party in 1882-83 and its spirit in 1886-87. The two periods present simply a contrast-the one of general depression, the other of enthusiastic revival. Should the party gain in the results of 1888 over those of 1886-87 in anything like the proportions of gain of 1884 over 1882-83 it would secure one of the most remarkable victo ries of its entire existence. But victory doesn't depend on so large a ratio of in crease. The party has only to maintain relatively its prestige of 1886 87 to give to its national candidate every Northern State but one, with far better prospects of carrying that one than it has had for the past six years. Another feature of the political situa ion should inspire the Republicans with irresistible strength. The present Na tional Administration was elected with, f not upon, repeated assertions of .its leading supporters in every protection State that no issue on the tariff was in olved. However earnestly the Repub icans urged that question as one of con rolling importance in the campaign, they were met by Democratic leaders and journals with persistent evasion, con > ealment and denial. That resource the President has fortunately removed. The issue which Republicans maintained and Democrats avoided in 1884 has been prominently and specifically brought forward by the Democratic President and cannot be hidden out of sight in 888. The country is now in the enjoy ment of an industrial system which in a uarter of a century has assured a larger ational growth, more rapid accumula ion and broader distribution ef wealth han were ever before known to history. The American people will now be openly and formally asked to decide whether his system shall be recklessly abandon d and anew trial be made made of an ld experiment, which has uniformly led to national embarrassment and wide pread individual distress. On the re ut of such an issue fairly presented to he popular judgment there is no room for doubt. One thing only is necessary o assure success, complete harmony and ordial co-operation on the part of all Republicans; on the part both of those who aspire to lead and of those who are ager to follow. The duty is not one erely of honorable devotion to the arty whose record and whose aims are like great, but it is one demna.aded by he instinct of self-interest, and by the still higher promptings of patriotism. A loser observation of the conditions of ife among older nations gives one a nore intense desire that the American eople shall make no mistake in choosing policy which inspires labor with hope ma crowns it with dignity, which gives afety to capital and protects its increase, which secures political power to every itizen, comfort and culture to every hme. To this end, not less earnestly ad more directly as private citizen than as public candidate, I shall devote my self with the confident belief that the dministration of the Government will be estored to that party which has demon trated the purpose and power to wield t for the unity and honor of the Repub ic and for the prosperity and progress f the people. I am, very sincerely yours, JmErs G. BIA. "Ya'as," said young Mr. Sissy, sucking e head of his cane; "I'm an Angloma iac, but only in a mild form, y' knaw." "Yes," she responded, by way of keeping p the conversation; "sort of an Anglo uatic, as it were." D. TALarGE ON VOTING. He Thinks it Wouldn't. be Much Use for Women to Vote--The Question of Taxtuz a Woman's Property. "I would like to'see all women vote, and watch the result," said the Rev. Dr. Talmage Sunday, in his sixth sermon to the women of America. His subject was t"Wifely Ambition, Good and Bad," and a great crowd of people listened atten tively to the discourse. "I do not know that it would change anything for the better," continued the preacher. '"Most wives and daughters and sisters would vote as their husbands and fathers and brothers voted. Nearly all the families that I know are solidly Republican or Democratic or Prohibi tion. Those families all voting would make more votes but no difference in the result. Besides that, as now at the polls men are bought up by the thousands, women would be bought up by the thou sands. The more voters the more op portunity for corruption. We have several million more voters now than are for the public good. "We are told that female suffrage would correct two evils-the rum busi ness and the insufficiency of woman's wages. About the rum business I have to say that multitudes of women drink, and it is no unusual thing to see them in the restaurants so overpowered with wine and beer that they can hardly sit up, while there are many so-called re spectable restaurants where they can go and take their champagne and hot toddy all alone. Mighty temperance voters those women would make! Besides that, the wives of the rumsellers would have to vote in the interest of their husbands' business, or have a time the inverse of felicitous. Besides that, millions of re spectable and refined women in America would probably not vote at all, because they do not want to go to the polls, and, on the other band, womanly roughs would all go to the polls, and that might make woman's vote on the wrong side. There is not in my mind much prospect of the expulsion of drunkenness by female suffrage. "As to woman's wages to be corrected by woman's vote, I have not much faith in that. Women are harder on women than men are. Masculine employers are mean enough in their treatment of women, but if you want to hear beating down of prices and wages in perfection listen how some women treat washer women, and dressmakers, and female servants. Mrs. Shylock is more merciless than Mr. Shy lock. Women, I fear, will never get righteous wages through woman's vote, and as to unfortunate womanhood, wo men are far more cruel and unforgiving than men are. After a woman has made shipwreck of her character men genera - ly drop her, but women do not so much drop her as hurl her with the force of a catapult clear out, and off, and down, and under. "I cannot see what right you have to make a woman pay taxes on her proper ty to help support city, State and nation al government, and yet deny her the opportunity of helping decide who shall be Mayor, Governor or President. "Is the wife's ambition the political preferment of her husband? Then that will probably direct him. What a God forsaken realm is American politics those best know who have dabbled in them. After they have assessed a man who is a candidate for office which he does not get, or assessed him for some office at tained, and he has been whirled round and round and round and round among the drinking, smoking, swearing crowd who often get control of public aflairs, all that is left of his self-respect or moral stamina would find plenty of room on a geometrical point which is said to have either length, breadth or thickness. Mfany a wife has not been satisfied till er husband went into politics, but would afterward have given all she pos essed to get him out. "Some of us could tell of what influ mee upon us has been a wifely ambition onsecrated to righteousness. As my wife is out of town and will not shake er head because I say it in public, I will state that in my own professional life I have often been called of God, as I hought, to run into the very teeth of ublic opinion, and all outsiders with whom I advised told me I had better ot; it would ruin me and my church, ad at the same time I was receiving ice little letters threatening me with irk and pistol and poison if I persisted n attacking certain evils of the day, util the Commissioner of Police con sidered it his duty to take his place in ur Sabbath services with forty officers scattered through the house for the pre ervation of order. But in my home here has always been one voice to say: Go ahead and diverge not an inch from the straight line. Who cares if only od is on our side?' And though some imes it seemed as if I was going out gainst nine hundred iron chariots, I ent ahead cheered by the domestic oice: 'Up, for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine ands.''" Remarkably Fre~e iromi Crhnei~. The World asserts that "for a great etropolitan city New York is remark ably free from crime. When it is con sidered that this city has a fioating pop lation of fully 250,000 a day, who enter ad leave by the different means of travel, and that many an unknown thief ay slip in and commit robberies and get out, the wonder is how Inspector yrnes keeps the crooked element so well in hand. But thieves will seek the society of crooked people as a rule and thiough his system no new or old thief can move about town twenty-four hours ad fail to be known. If the - thief is a stranger he is brought to some place by fellow-thief, apparently, and he is there looked over and photographed by vest camera, and described by one of the Inspector's keen detectives as 'Tom - y 3Mugs.' The effect of Inspector yrness system is seen and felt, but his ethods are fully known to no one but imself. The unseen hand of the great detective is a strong factor in the life of every thief." A mcetingr of Indiana ltepublican cdi tors at Indlianapolis drew out a large attend nce from all points of the State. General sentiment favored making the campaign in favor of protection, a free ballot and a fair' ount, the latter features being given pro edence. While no otlicial expression was given, it was plain that there was a strong feeling in favor of pushing Ex-Senator Harrison as Indiana's candidate for the residncy. HONOR THE FARMERS. Show Them the Respect They so Right fully Deserve. (George U. Sargent in the Epoch.) It has been said that there is nothing about which the American will not joke, and it may be affirmed with equal truth that there is nothing in life too serious to be ridiculed by the American news paper. So when it is noz the sleepy policeman, or the mother-in-law, or the tipsy husband who comes home late at night, it is the American farmer who is made the butt of ridicule. One can count on the fingers of one's hand those journals which discriminate in their col umns between legitimate humor or wit, and that ill-timed levity which makes "fun" at the expense of higher and bet ter things in our natures. I am glad to see that the Epoch is oneof the carefully edited papers. This subject may seem trivial, but it is more important than appears at first sight. Not that the ridicule of the press - will injure the farmers of the country, but the constant harping upon the mythical ignorance and follies of this class has a tendency to place more rigid barriers between the city and the coun try and create caste. And if anyone considers this result desirable, let him tell us how much caste has helped India in her progress. So long as the country villages and the rural districts furnish the boys to make the merchants and bankers and railroad magnates of the city, every true Ameri can should scorn to speak derisively of our agricultural population. One thing is needed in this country and that is, an increased appreciation of the real value of patient, plodding toil. The average man has somehow formed the idea that there is something. very ludicrous in the efforts of men content with tilling the soil, and working quietly and humbly in the lowly fields of usefui ness. We, as individuals, and as a nation, need a better appreciation of the Ameri can farmer's life and labors. The time was, perhaps, when it was thought. that anyone had brains enough to be a farm er; but that time, in this country at least, is past. Any useful class of citi zens working for the advancement of our national welfare is not a proper sub ject for ridicule; and the low humor which finds for its object our agricultur al laborers is not the best matter with which to expand our literature. It is the duty of the press to do all in its power to elevate and aid the farmers, and to spread right ideas concerning their social and intellectual position, and not to belittle them. There are many who do not care what they write. They aim to construct "readable" articles re gardless of principle. But surely we ought to expect better things of our great metropolitan papers, which, from their circulation of and their occasional recognition of higherthings, are styled "representative American journals." A NOTED BANDIT KILLED Brack Cornett, the Notorious Train Rob ber, Shot Down'by a Deputy Sheriff. ST. Lous, February 14.-Brack Cor nett, better known as Captain Dick, the desperado and leader of the notorious train robbers, was shot and killed yester day afternoon while resisting arrest by Sheriff Allee, of Trio county, Texas, eighteen miles west of Pearsall Station, on the International and Great Northern Railroad. Cornett was a noted outlaw and a year or two ago organized a band of horse thieves or "rustlers," as they are called in the Southwest, for the pur pose of robbing express and mail trains in Texas. Their first exploit occurred on the Southern Pacific-Road at Flatonia, Tex., in the spring of 1887, in which they spared neither express, mail nor passen gers. They realized about $65,00Ma&n' cash and other property, one item being $35,000 worth of diamond jewelry be longing to an Eastern firm. Two weeks later they captured a train at McNeil, on the International and Great Northern Rad, and secured about $18,000 from the express, the mail and the passengers. After this robbery large rewards were offered for the arrest of the gang by Wells, Eargo and the Pacific Express Companies and the Southern Pacific and International and Great Northern Rail road, and also by the State of Texas, and great efforts were made to capture the gang, but without success. Governor Ross, of Texas, took a very active inter est in the matter. The gang next struck a train on the Texas and Pacific, west of Fort Worth, and secured valuable booty from the express car. The desperadoes then split up for a while, but soon after reorganized and commenced operations again under their old leader, Captain Dick, and pounced down on a Southern Paiic train a second time. Since then they have been scudding under bare poles and running from place to place to keep out of the clutches of the officers, who have recently been closingin around them. Cornett had been at Allee's ranch the evening before, had eaten supper there and then disappeared. Next morninghe showed up for breakfast and was given a meal. After eating he took a chair in the yard by a camp-fire. Allee ap proached him and demanded that he throw up his hands. Cornett replied, "The -- you say," and fired at Allee with his left band, the ball passing through Allee's hat. Allee then fired and continued firing for four successive times,ptting three shots into vital parts f Cornett's body. All four shots took ffect. Cornett managed to fire a second shot, but missed his mark. Allee is a Deputy Sheriff of Trio county and has been engaged in several scrimmages of his kind, but he has never before re eceived the plaudits of the people to the extent he is now receiving them. PIANos AMD ORGANW. We are prepared to sell Pianos and rgans of the best make at factory rices for Cash: or easy Instalments. ianos from 3:?10 up; Organs from $24 p. The verdict of the people is that hey can save the freight and twenty-five per cent. by buying of us. Instruments elivered to any depot on fifteen days' trial. We pay freight both ways if not satisfactory. Order and test in your wn homes. Respectfully, N. W. TRUMP, e Columbia, S. C. There is not so much failure to be charged to poonr inr-k" na to had management