The weekly ledger. (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1894-1896, November 26, 1896, Image 3
THE LEDGER: GAFFNEF, S. C., NOVEMBER 26, 1896.
3
FRESH AND QUAINT. :
prio:> from Everyday Llfo Down
on Rocky Croek.
Andy I.ti-m and IHov Scrogrrlnn Vlayed a
Yallcr-Oog Tri<-:i «;n I'nrlo Miko
VVillimns — Elder Newberry
mu! Ills Ooctrlue.
-lf|L
"One tiling 1 brings up another," ns old
Aunt Liza Jlaiboru said oncst uj)on a
time when she
give me a tre-
mendius b i g
dost of ipecac.
\nd so when I
saw old in n n
Mike Williams,
ns he rid by our
house one frosty
m o r n i n hist
week, I couldn’t
help from think-
in h few stanzas
f-.
L’b;
»
■ C> I
• ^ 'Vt/
'• T v V/ '- -1^
1%
In regards to the dim and dusty past.
I thought about the time when me
and Hlrv Snv: gins and Andy Luens lift
up his \oico in the dead hours of night,
any say everything in the United
States language exceptin his Sunday
(school lesson.
Along In ttic Christina*.
It was a vale mean, yaller dog trick,
and if wo had to make the same trip
over, as for me, I would a whole lot ruth-
er turn round mnl come back before we
charted.
Mind you, now, that was In the'dead
of winter—way along in the Christmas
—and cue freezin cold night us boys
rid three abreast along the old stage
road on our return back from town.
Naturally, of course, owln to the fu
rious bad weather, we had changed our
breath right frequent that day, and
consequentially by this time two or
three of us was feelin our keepin pow
erful. In my day and generation I
have traveled that same road a thou-
rand thins in oom]iany with the same
two fellow citizens. Hut I never saw
BW and Andy ride out of town on a
eoid winter night, tanked up on “white
ink" and “sperits-of-ents-a-fightln’’ to
the extent of about six bits in the dol
lar, hut what t hey got into some sort of
devilment Ixdore they rounded up at
home.
That night nothin had come to pas's
out of (he common run when we got
to the Williams place, ridin three
abreast in a swingin gallop; but right
along there Iilev and Andy pulled in
their horses and come to a dead halt
all of a suddent. In the maintime you
must keeper, remembrance of the fact
that the weather was cold enough to
freeze the tail off a brass monkey,
whilst the frost was on the bosom of
the earth like snow on a trash pile.
A Vlaln Case of Pnsbcncy.
So then and there, right out in the
middle of the big road, in front of the
Williams place, Blev and Andy they
halted and hailed and called forold man
Mike. They wanted to see him, and
they had 1o roc him right away imme
diately, if not sooner. They whooped
and they hollered and went on at such
a seandlous high rate till I reckoned
old man Mil e lowed somebody must be
killed or crippled unto death.
The truth is they kicked up such a
tremendius big excitement out there
In the road t ill Ihe old man didn't take
time to make his appearment in full
dress. lie jumped out of his nice, warm
gooRehair bed, sorter Hung his clothes
at himself, and come bustinout to the
road in his sock feet, with only two
or three garments on his hod} - . He
wanted to know, in a loud voice, what
In the round created world was the mat
ter, and who was hurt. 111 ov and
Andy they fumbled and fooled around
for a long time tryln to make the oli^
man think that somethin awful had
come to pass.
In the maintlmo, you understand,
old man Mike he was standin out there
in the cold draft, shiverin and shakin
like a leaf in a storm, whilst the win-
ten- wind blowed through his whiskers,
fore and aft, at the rates of 00 miles a
minute. Finally at last Andy he went
down into his saddlebags, came forth
with his bottle of “white ink,” and went
on to say:
“We wouldn't do this only in a plain
ease of pu -honey. But the weather is
most hellatious cold to-night. Uncle
Mike, and wo ’lowed it may lx- mought
he b>-s! for your general health to git
up and come out and take a little thin
one with us. and then go to bed right."
Well, man sir. unto This blessed day
every time 1 think about the trials of
that winter night I give thanks that
old man Mike didn’t have ids shotgun
handy when he found out what was
what ami who w as who. Of all the drag-
gin and eu sin and vlllifyin you ever
heard toll of, we took it then and there.
And as we rid olT three abreast in a
gallop up the road it did seem to me
like the midnight winter air was blue
and hot for miles and miles around.
The great wonderment to me is that
old man Mi).<• didn’t pick his time after
that and name his man to ride feet fore
most and head ;. funeral procession in
the sett! ment. But he never did.
I.vt tin- Other I’t'Jlow fret.
That has always been the mnincst
doctrine pn achcd forth on the earth
i.nd union/ t men by Klder Newberry:
“Let the otlu r fellow do the frettin.”
"Life is too mortal long and time is
too ih-etin. Itufe, for a man to wear
himself out worrvln and frettin,” the
elder has bci n wont totellme. “Let the
other fellow do the frettin. No mat
ter how much money you owe—
whether the price of cotton goes up or
down no difference who is elected—
take my d n-trlnc and let the other fel
low do the frettin.’’
Well, ia la t Monday inornin tho
ohh r w u;i nd out by time. The
i ! intm v . a! out to fail down which
of com I !i<} w ill need the tlreplncc
in durin of tin- w inter and he had took
the jolt and lit in to fix it. With his
n ubbin hue In one linnd and a spade in
the othi r ho went under the house to
dig around the basement of the chim
ney so as t« make it settle down and
stand up straight.
In the maintime Mises Newberry
she bad went out lookin around toseo
what the elder was up to and how it
was com in on. By some hook or mrr-
crook she dropped her fly bonnet out
there in the yard and left it w hen she
went on out into the garden.
The elder he went on diggin and
spadin and teurin np the bowels of the
earth till presently lie got the chimney
clean out of whack and the blame thing
let- loose and went down ia one fell clat
ter. The fall was so great and suddent
like till it rattled the elder for the pres
ent, but be soon recovered and come
forth to take a look at the ruins.
Mises Newberry was out In the gar
den by this time, and she viewed the
general ruination from afar. But for
years and years she had heard the elder
preach forth his doctrine: “Let the
other fellow do the frettin”—nnd so she
thought It mought lx* a good time to
practice what he preached.
The elder went on fumblin around
and talkin low to himself a few minnits,
when all of a suddent he discovered the
strings of his wife’s fly bonnet, under
the wreck ami ruins of the chimney
which had fell, and for a little more he
would have fainted and fell over in it.
Then he put intoea?lin"Winnie—which
that, is his wife’smaidenname. Hecalled
her loud nnd frequent, but his “Winnie”
was not there, hut in the garden inugh-
In all over and savin to herself: “Let
the other fellow do the frettin.”
In that awful and solemneholy mo
ment tho elder took up a notion that,
his good wife—on-c that had been his
side partner through good and bad re
ports—was somewheres down under
the ruins mashed to death. You
couldn’t fool him in regards to them
bonnet, strings, which he had bought
the check homespun with his first cot
ton money. He fell <6 his knees, he
did, and prayed n short, fervent prayer,
and then he put. out over to the Pick
ens place to spread the awful news
amongst the neighbors.
For the first time in 40 years the
cider untied his legs in a. foot race, and
naturally burnt the wind and startled
the native air as he. went- In little or
no itime he was back there with a.
crowd of the neighbors, weepin and
wnilin and enrryin on seandlous around
the ruins of the chimney which had
fell. They hud all about give it up
that. Mines Neulierry was dead, and
the next, question was in regards to
how they would remove the ruins and
rdoever t he remains, when, by gracious,
the old lady—which by this time she
had picked a good mess of turn ip greens
for dinner—come pacin out of the gar
den, hiimnrin some familious old tune
to herself and looking ns pleasant as
a basket of chips.
And if she had riz from the grave
nnd come forth oncst. more in the flcoh
it wouldn’t of been more suddent and
surprisin and joyful like to the elder
nnd the neighbors.
“Why in all the round discovered,
world didn't you toll me where you was
at, Winnie?” says the elder. “I lowed
it was a good time of year to practice
what you, preach,” says she, “and so
I let tlie other fellow do the frettin.”
SIN AND RELIGION.
Arp Mixes OIrcusos and
Proachors In Hia Essay.
tho
lloth Hero to Stay Awlillo—|tohln»on’s
HpanRlos mnl l)r. Wilsoii-* ttcriuomi
Arc Old I-’rlondn of nartow’n
I'liltosoplicr.
The Election In Itocky (‘reck.
It is ruther late to he givin out news
of the general election, but from letters
and things which have been sent to me
it would seem like everybody wants to
know for certain how the eld cat
jumped in Hooky Creek. And who is
there to tell the news—who but me?
Well, ouest upon a time William Au
gustus (this) Crittenden was rfmnin
a race for the state senate. From nil
the general appear men ts I am satis
fied that Gus raley did want to win
the race. He wanted that job, Gus did,
and he wanted it so monstrous bad till
I reckon he could taste it.
Anyhow, when Gus come down into
our settlement to make a speech he
found the people powerful bad stirred
upon the whisky question. Some w ant
ed the whisky laws spiled out, anil
some didn't, hut to save his life Gus
ouhln’t tell which side belt the strong
est hand. So, consequentially, in dur
in of Ids speech, when old man Jerry
llutheirford riz up and wanted to know
how he stood on the whisky question,
Gus coughed and spit and cleared his
throat .and lifted up his voice and re
sponded hack:
“When it comes to that pint, fellow
citizens, I must he plain-spoken and
honest, and E pledge you my word that
1 am perfectly all right on the whisky
question.”
So, in regards to the last general
election, I must tell you the naked,
unwashed truth. The election went
right in the Itocky Creek settlement,
RUFU8 SANDERS.
Tho Dlvlsiutis of flcr Tlmo.
Young Klinger—Can I see your sister,
Rodney?
Little Rodney—I guess so, hut I don’t
s’pose you’ll enjoy it very much. She’s
meditatin’ now.
“What do you mean?”
“IN by, oince she’s got engaged to Mr.
Huggins her time is divided into three
parts—one for prinking, one for spoon
ing and one for maidenly meditation.
NYhen she’s having the first spasm she’s
too savage to talk to, during the second
she’s too silly and during the last she’s
too darned stupid.”—N. Y.-World.
Roots, I.cnvm and Molftturo.
Roots draw enormous quantities of
moisture, from the soil, nnd by thi*
means it is discharged through thcleavea
into the atmosphere. For example, the
common sunflower has been proven to
exhale an ounce of water each hour,
and a large oak tree, estimated to have
700,000 leaves, exhales 700 tons of water
during the seven months it carries its
foliage.
Most Valuable Fur.
The most valuable of fur is that of
the sea otter. Uye thousand dollars
lias been paid for a single skin of thia
animal not more than two yards long
by three-quarters of u yard wide.—Cm-
ciuaati Kn(purer.
I didn't go to tho circus, but. 1 took
some of the. grandchildren nnd turned
them over to a friend. They had never
seen one and were happy. Now they
have something to talk about for u
month. NVhat a revelatioo it is to the
youthful mind. I remember it well.
My father took me. to one. when I
was seven years old, and it still seems
like Hint was the liest one. Away back
in those days menageries and circuses
were not combined. They did not
travel together nor come at the same
time.
When old John Robinson first started
out he didn’t have any animals. The
menagerie was orthodox; the circus
was heterodox. Christians could go to
the one and sinners to the other. But
by and by the circus was attached to
the menagerie and together they
caught all kinds and colors. It is like a
Sunday excursion train to a tabernacle
meeting. The devil knows how to mix
up frolic nnd fun with prayers and ser
mons.
Yesterday I traveled with a score or
two of preachers and ciders who were
going to Alliens to attend the synod.
They were bright, and genial and hud
on their best clothes. They are good
eoni)Kiny. They wear a subdued
Christian hilarity nnd have ft fund of
orthodox anecdotes to tell each other
on the way. About four times a year
the preachers go somewhere to a re
ligious convention, and each one is ex
pected to bring with him a fresh sup
ply of wit and incident—some pepper
and salt fo add zest to the religious
feast. In the old solemn times of
Dr. Wilson nnd Dr. Patterson and fa
ther, say, wit and humor were under
the ban. If they wore not. sin thoy
were on the verge of it. Sidney Smith
was considered almost a heretic nnd bis
clerical wit as un-Calvinistie, if not.
something worse. I grew up under the
solemnities of old school Presbyterians
nnd had a good time on Sundays, listen
ing and nodding assent to Dr. Wilson's
sermons on predestination nnd original
sin. If the good old doctor was living
now he would attack Dr. Robins and
his book with all the accumulated
weapons of a century of study and then
seek to knock him down with Calvin's
institutes.
But our modern clergy are more like
human beings; more like human na
ture; more like ourselves. They are
not so austere, and solemn. They are
social and some of the younger ones
will go n-fishing or play ball and the
older ones tell anecdotes and smile
quite audibly. We were talking about
the circus yesterday and one of them
told how ho attended a synod once at
Thomasvillc, nnd It was circus day
and there was a grand street pageant
with music and banners, and all the
animals were on dress parade. Tho
synod was in session, and as the in
spiring strains of the martial music fell
upon the synod’s ears a lay brother
couldn't subdue In's feelings. He rose
forward timidly and said:
“Mr. Moderator, it will be impossible
for us to transnet-ony business until
that music passes by, for we can’t hear
anything t hat is read or spoken. I move
you, sir, that wc take a recess for ten
minutes.”
Whereupon an old Calvlnistic preach
er bounced him and squelched him
with indignant sarcasm:
“Recess, indeed! Recess for a circus
to pass by; recess because the. devil
with his satellites is in sinfi 1 proces
sion at onr doors. No, sir. We will
talk louder nnd draw nearer, but no re
cess.”
Nearer and nearer came the band,
and when the lion gave no unearthly
Iwwl preachers and laymen began to
tiptoe out until there was nobody left
save the moderator and the old man.
T n due time, the music died away in the
distance and the delegatee tiptoed
Lack to their places.
A layman whom everybody loved
then told how one of these old-time,
solemn preachers squelched all the
hilarity out of him. Said he:
“I was born with u lively sense of the
ridiculous, and sometimes have hard
work to restrain my rifciblos. One day
our good old preacher asked me to ride
out with him to see a. man who was
partially paralyzed and was likely to
die impenitent unless it was the Lord’s
will that he should bo saved. So we
visited him and after the usual prelimi
naries the old preacher said:
“ ‘My friend, would it please you for
me to read a chapter from the Holy
Scriptures and have a prayer in your
behalf?’
“ ‘Well, I don’t mind. I m willin’ to
oblige you if it will do you any good,’
said he.
“The manner and tone in which ho
said it excited me, but I bit my lip
and suppressed any unseemly emotions.
So the chapter was read, and the
old preacher said, in solemn ac
cent: ‘My impenitent friend, did you
ever hear that chapter read before?’
‘Not exactly,’ said he, ‘but it appears to
me that Tor» Garner writ something
sorter like it in a letter from Texas
once.’ That nearly upset me, and the
old preacher noticed it. After the prayer
we said good-by and got into the
Buggy. For half a mile the old man
never said a word; neither did I. Sud
denly he gave a side look toward me
and slowly said: ‘Brother Williamson,
are you right sure that you have in your
heart the evidences of being a Chris
tian?’ I replied with great humility
that sometimes I did, and sometimes I
had my doubts, and I tried to quiet
his alarm about me. ‘Brother William
son,’ he continued, ‘your conduct to
day was unseemly nnd unchristian, and
the other day, as I passed you on the
oidewalk and you were talking to some
hilarious friends, I heard you use some
very unscriptural language..’
“This surprised and perplexed me.
and 1 asked him what it was that I
raid. 'You said “Confound it!"* he re
plied. 'Hereaftsr you should not call
dow n a curse ora malediction upon any
thing, hut lot your communication be
yea yea and nay nay.* "
Some of the preachers then dirctissed
the doubtful propriety of such words
and the use of slang, when I was re
minded of the way in which Boh Taylor
reproved a man, and so I told thejn
how a rough countryman was intro
duced to Tnylor, and after looking him
over nnd up and down he said: “Well, -
Bob. it seems to me I have seen you
Rome where l>efore, but I don't know
where in the hell It was." "What part
of hell do you live in?" asked Tnylor,
without a smile or u change of coun
tenance.
“How is politics with you?" inquired
a Roman friend. “All calm nnd serene,”
said I. “A is- we going to have liettcr
times?’’ said he. “Yre, of course." said
I. "We always do after a presidential
eieetion, but how long It will last re
mains to he seen. NYe will now have a
fair test for several years of a gold
standard and a high protective tariff,
and all’s well that ends well.”
“The day before election,’’ said he,
“one of the most vahied members of my
church said to me that tlie nation was
in great peril—greater peril than it
had been since the war; that he trem
bled to think of tlie momentous re
sults that might ensue in ease Bryan
was elected. Repudiation, anarchy and
ruin would follo.w in its wake. I lis
tened to him with profound attention,
for he earnestly believed what he said.
A few minutes afterward I met another
valued member of my church, nnd lie
soid: ’I toll yon, my friend nnd brother,
we are going to whip this fight. Provi
dence is on onr side, and will not let
Bryan he defeated. I sincerely believe
that he lias l>ecn raised up to save the
country, and If he Is not elected there
will he a revolution. Tlie downtrodden
people will not stand the oppressions of
the plutocracy any longer.’ I told a
friend of these alarming and diverging
views of two good men. and lie said it
reminded him of the old negro preach
er who said: ‘Ah. my bred’rin', dar am
but two roads to trubel—one am de
broad rood dat lends to destruction,
nnd de odor am de nnrrer road dnt loads
to do debil; now what you gwine to
do—which road yon take?’ An old
darky exclaimed: *P>le.sR de Lawd, I
takes to de woods!’ ’’
Well. I was sorry to port eompany
wlth the preachers, for they are always
to Ixi enjoyed. They are in good health
nnd good humor, and are clean in Ixxly
and in. mind. They arc the best class
of people, and their example and moral
ity and Christian faith is the host safe
guard of our government. They have
gone to Athens, and Ixith the synod and
the circus open there to-day. The
grand procession will pass their church,
and I reckon they will take a recess
—I reckon they will, for it is no sin-
to look at tlie animals in the street, is
it?—Bill Arp, in Atlanta Constitution.
ROPES GROW IN THE OCEAN.
ELECTION LAWS.
Sam Jonoa Spoaka for a Froo Bal
lot and a Fa r c ou;it.
A Curious Morlno riant w!th a Stem
Three Hundred Feet Eon*.
The largest marine plant .ir.d proba
bly one of the highest plants known on
this globe, is a gigantic seaweed, the
norcoeystis, the stem of which has been
found to grow as much ns .100 feet long.
It was first discovered not far from the
Alaskan coast, hut has since been found
floating in various parts of the Pacific
ocean, along the American and Asiatic
shores. This seaweed grows in a very
curious manner. Large quantities of it
are found at a little distance from
shore, and nt depths not exceeding 100
feet. On loamy bottom large thickets
of this plant take root, and a stem of
the. thickness of ordinary cord grows
upward. At its top there is a pear-
shaped balloon, which grows with the
stem, and when it reaches the surface
of the water it often measures six feet
and more in length, with a diameter of
four feet six inches. This Iwlloon has,
of course, an upward tendency, and
keeps the stems growing until it floats
on the surface of the water. From the
top of this balloon nlnrgc tuftof strong,
thick, spade-like leaves grow out, which
ordinarily are not more than two feet
long, and which grow nnd split until
from the balloon a rose-like growth of
from 50 to 05 feet In diameter covers the
water. This gigantic weed grows in
such quantities that near the shore
large meadow-like islands are formed,
which impede navigation. The natives
of the Aleutian islands make manifold
usage of this plant. From their strong
dried stems they make ropes 250 fret
and more long, while balloons of this
weed furnish them with large vessels
after thy,- are dried, the smaller ones
being used in their boats to hail out
water. The long leaves, after being
dried, are cut into narrow strips and
used for wickerwork, the making of
baskets nnd similar furniture. — St.
Louis Republic.
Ilrariarlica from An Eye.
Dr. R. NYeir Mitchell attributes many
headaches to disorders in the refractive
and accommodative apparatus of the
eye. It is becoming the custom to go
to the oculist when a stubborn head
ache asserts itself. In some, instances
the brain symptom is often the most
prominent, and sometimes the only
prominent, indication In the eye. There
may be no pain or fatigue in the organ
itself, and the strain in it may only
show itself by ache in the brow or back
of the head. Long-continued trouble
in the eye may be the unsuspected cause
of insomnia, vertigo, nausea and gen
eral ill-health. In many eases the
trouble in the eye becomes suddenly
mischievous, owing to some sudden
failure of the health, or to increased
sensitiveness of tlie brain from moral
or mental causes.
('urioit* liiilian Itultrrfiies.
In India there is a species of butterfly
in which the male hn.s tlie left wing
yellow nnd the right one red. The
colors of the female are vice versa.
Th« Elections and the I’rtMlurta—DUfran-
i-hlnlng tlia Ignorant Voter — Dlf-
frrenca Hetween a I'ollllelan
and a Htateninan.
For months this great country, both
national and state, has been in tho
agony of political excitement, and r.ow
the election is over and soon the legis
latures of the various states not already
in session will convene. The candi
dates begged end implored and con
jured tho people for the'.r votes. Now-
in return what will the officials do for
tin? people? Every official owes a debt
to his constituency that he can only
pay by the most faithful service, by
unswerving loyalty t«» right and princi
ple, by the championship of all wise
and good measures, and by u vigilant,
watchful cure lest some hill or meas
ure which is not to the liest interest
of tlio nwrals, peace and good order
of his eooiiminity lx* not detected and
defeated. 1 cannot be charged with the
work of spite or opposition now to any
candidate. Offices have been meted out
from Mr. McKinley down to the little
constables. I shall not discuss men but
measures.
livery legislature in every state in
this union ought to settle first and fore
most the question of a decent, right
eous election law. The frauds of the
past ought never to be repeated in the
future. Unless by wise leg.station nnd
faithful enforcement of law those
, frauds nnd rascalities at. the polls and
with the ballot boxes shall be stopped
j there will be riots and bloodshed, nnd
j a thousand people will he killed around
the polling precincts. A bad thing con
go just so far and no farther. 1 take the
jxisition as an humble, private citizen
! of this country that any man in the
! legislature or out of the legislature is
in favor of a free l>allot. and a fair
count, and nobody but n dishonest, dir
ty scoundrel would countenance fraud
in polities or anywhere else, and he
who fights in the legislatures of this
country the adopt ion nnd passage of the
best possible election laws for his state
either got into the legislative halls by
fiaud and rascality, or else he is nfraid
he can’t get back again without the use
of Ixith at the polls. The Australian
ballot ought to he adopted by every
state in this union. There are less
chances for fraud when the Australian
ballot is used than any other method
with which I am acquainted. 1 know
that some men calling themselves legis
lators w ill say that it works hardships
iqion the illiterate; that it is not right
to disfranchise a man because he in
ignorant.
There are many things which don’t
seem right to us, but they are wise and
good. It does not look like it is a hard
ship for a railroad to discharge an en
gineer who has faithfully served the
company 20 or .10 years, :uid yet he can
not read nnd write. But that is done,
nevertheless, for the protection of the
traveling public and for the safest and
most efficient movement of trains. It
looks hard to discharge a locomotive
engineer or conductor because they arc
color blind, but nevertheless it is done
in the interest of the traveling public
and of the road which discharges them.
It looks a little hard to some women
that they cannot vote when they know
they have more Renso, more morals and
more education than half the gang wlw
run to the polls with their Imllots.
The greatest good to the greatest
number is a safe rule. I sympathize with
the unfortunate, but I love tlie honor of
my state and the perpetuity of its noble
institutions more than I sympathize
with the fellow who hn.s grown up In
a country where books were ten cents
apiece and kerosene oil ten cents a gal
lon as ignorant as a mule. To corrupt
the ballot is to undermine the very
mud sills of our institutions. To stuff
a ballot or perpetrate eieetion frauds is
the greatest crime a man can commit
against this country. It ought to be
made treason to buy or sell a vote, to
tamper with the ballot box or be guilty
of election frauds. It looks like politi
cians themselves would grow sick ami
tired of the methods so frequently used
all over this country. I know there are
extremes to which we can go. I read
the. deliverances of a man n few days
ago who said that in the south we were
constantly menaced with the color
vote. He said the Anglo-Saxon race
must stay on top. and there were three,
ways in w hich to deal with the negro in
polities. One was to move him out of
this country, another to disfranchise
him, and the other to kill him. I am
sure we w ill never move the brother in
black from the south. NYe had as well
talk about moving the fertile plains of
the west and rehabilitating the red
hills and gully-washed fields of South
Carolina and Georgia with them. We
cannot disfranchise him by any rule
which does not apply to the white man.
Nobody but a murderer wants to kill
him. The Australian ballot is the best
and the easiest solution of the trouble.
With the Australian ballot we can have
honest elections—maybe notnltogether
honest, any more than we have full pro
tection to life by the laws against mur
der and homicide; but we eliminate
from politics largely the ignorant that
don’t, know and the rascals that can be
bought and sold like steers or mules in
the market. Lot nil the legislatures
pass the Australian ballot law. Lot
them make buying or selling a vote a
felony punishable not only by impris
onment in the penitentiary of the state,
but with it the everlasting disfran
chisement of the guilty party.
Virtue and intelligence must domin-
ite over vice nnd ignorance if this gov
ernment is to he perpetuated asagovern
ment by the people mid for the people.
An ignorant man is almost ^ivnrinbly
a man of dei-p-seafod prejudices; and
prejudice and vice may not be far apart.
Here is one citizen who Ls in favor of
virtue and intelligence ruling thiscoun-
try whether it disfranchises him or not.
If they could have better officials nnd
purer elect if ns by diafrauehlalng me,
I hen I soy patriotism would make me
submit, in the mad riiR.h of polities, In
the proi-d for office nnd power, many
have lost sight of purity of honor and
manhood. I hnjro no respect for any
man who would go Into office w lien he
knew fraud got him in there. He is a.->
mean ns the corrupt gang who put him
in, ns a rule. Most men have a moral
conscience, but few men have a political
conscience. “Anything to beat Grant”
has been translated to read “anything
lo beat my opponent and get the office
for myself.” It is a notorious saying
now that good men do not seek for office,
eo much; that they are not willing to
,-nter into the dirty scramble for it. It
is a sad day when virtue mid manhood
Jure not enter a race because the un
scrupulous rascal can pull his wire*and
work his heelers and defeat an oppon
ent who Is his superiorin every sense.
I know we have goed men in every
legislature in this union. I know if they
will fight for the right with the tire
less energy nnd indefatigable effort
with which the evil men in the legisla
tores engineer their rchrmrs nnd push
their ballots they will conquer; fo r
r : ghf is might. Right has never loch fl
battle where It had a champion equal
to the emergency. And at last this
differentiates a statesman from a
politician. Clay was a statesman. He
could rise to an emergency for the
right. Abraham Lincoln was a states
man. lie met every emergency when
right met wrong in his career. To be
a law-maker and a law-breaker both at
the same time is the acme of meanness
and the last retreat of a rascal. There
are not enough of the ex-members of the
legislatures of this country in the peni
tentiary. I dare believe. NYhen I look
over the pages of history and see how
men who champion the right loved
their country more than they loved
their own official positions I see what a
Ix-ncd otion they wore to their day and
generation, and I feel their influence for
o-ood though they may have been dead
a thousand years. Their lives were a
blessing and their death a public
calamity. And then when I look over the
same pages of history and see how lit
tleness nnd meanness has had its re
ward in perfidy here and in damnation
hereafter, I say it pays to do right Ik-
cause it is right. It is bankruptcy for
l>oth worlds to do wrong. Congress
Bself needs more moral character nnd
more moral backbone, livery legisla
ture in the United States needs more
moral backbone and less jaek-nssieal
jaw-bone. NYhen men go into office
through fraud nnd rascality and then
while the legislature is in session the
liquor dealers of the oapitol city keep
their rooms at tho hotel or hoarding-
houses supplied with a variety of wines
and whisky and cigars, that sort of a
little inscnl is rcadv for anv dirtv work
•V * *
man or devil wants done; and I don’t
see what the devil himself could do with
such fellows unless perchance he has a
r.oap factory in hell; and then I don't
see what he could have to deodorize
their carcasses with.
All hail to every pure, upright man in
congress or in the legislntim of any
state! If there lx* any other sort in the
legislatures or congress the devil will get
them, but thank God he won’t get
much. BAM P. JONES.
BUILT HIS OWN CHURCH.
"MS
A Clergyman Wlio Developed Into a Car-
^ pen* or.
On the slant of the unfinirhed roof,
with his toes on one beam, his knoes on
another, a hammer in his hand and a
fix-penny nail in his mouth, is an odd
situation in which to find a clergyman.
Yet that Is how I found Rev. Henry
Victor Morgan, pastor of the First
Christian church of Alameda,
He w as wearing a carpenter's apron
with the iwlmts full of nails; Ins shirt
sleeves were rolled up and his coat
was cnirfuJly folded across a saw-
buck under a tree.
The roof he was clinging to is the
roof of a church at the corner of San
Joee and Park avenues, Alameda. It
is a church to house his flock, and lie is
spending his vacation building it.
An uncommon way of spending vaca
tion—hut it is the way of an uncom
mon men.
“NYe had to have a church,” ho ex
plained, with deprecating modesty, ae
he backed down the ladder to have a
chat with me, “and ns I am pretty
handy with tools and fond of manual
labor 1 t hought it would do me just aa
much good to put in my vacation build
ing a church as it would togo mountain
climbing or something of that sort.
NYhen money is os scarce as it now it
is easier to lalx>r than it is to raise the
funds to pay the laborers. The mem
bers of the congregation are taking a
lively interest in the building, and here
are some of them working with me,”
and he [jointed out Klder Bovyer in a
pair of overalls and a populist straw hat (
hoisting boards to the ridge of the roof,
nnd Brothers Brown nnd Thompson
sawing and hammering away eagerly;
as boys with a brand new chest of tools.
"\Ve expect to have it ready to hold
services in early this fall. When tho
building is finished there will be no
debt hanging over it. Everything is
paid for as we go along. To be sure wc
had to raise the money to buy buikling
materials ns we needed Diem, but wo
have not bought a foot of lumber un
less the money was in sight to pay for
it. The building”—it is a large, airy
redw ood structure over 50 feet long and
30 wide—“will servo as a church until
we can put up a better one, then it will
be moved to the back of the lot and
used as a Sunday-school room.”—San
Francisco Enquirer.
Origin*! Constituent* of tho Globe.
M. Moissan states in the Annalcs do
Clinic et de Physique that most of tho
stable compounds known to science dis
appear in the electric furnace. Tho
only exceptions are the perfectly crys
tallized borides, silicides, and carbides
discovered by him. These, ho, thinks
probable, are the original constituent*
of the globe, and must still exist in some
of the stars.
'13
M
j »