The ledger. [volume] (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1896-1907, June 18, 1896, Image 3
THE LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. C., JUNE 18, 1896.
SQUIRE RUFUS SANDERS.
Ono Man from Cyclone Streak That
“Holt a Winnin Hand."
Then I throwed off nni cnllod for three WORK IN THE GARDEN.
curds, ood blamed if I dldn t pull the |
Fonr Ace* In n Clam* of Poker, with
FIuhIioh Jturrrd—A ••Seandlous Had
Fls^ht' , —Grans Orowln at th«
Kates of 10 to 1.
'■A?'
“Tima lias l>ccn and I hove seen the
day when any man that beat me hand 1 in
of the documents
had to stay out
tolerable late and
, _ . git up Iremen-
^dius soon,” said
old man Lon
Hunter, of C y-
clone Streah, to
n ganff of us boys
over at the Cross
Roads one Satur-
rm;-: day evenin’. “As
v the gome now
' stands, I don't
make out like Lon Hunter knows any
thing for certain outside of mules ar.d
piggers and corn and cotton," the old
man went on presently, "but I’ll be eter
nally gormed up if I haven’t seen the
day when 1 could tell ns well as any liv
in’ man when Jack pots got ripe enough
to pull.”
OuHoplnK with the Gang.
"Hit was way hack there late in the
sixties when I let a crowd of them town
fellers learn me how to play cards, and
heuccforwards after that 1 never could
work myself into the game any to sj>cak
of without movin way off somewhere*
amongst rank strangers,’’ says old man
Lon, as he went down after his tobacco
and put a fresh bundle in the rack.
"In them days it would pay to rnlse
cotton, and along in the fall of the year
1 put eleven bags on the wagons one day
ntul went up to the city. I w'as then
farmin on the Murder creek plantation,
which you understand, boys, the lands
down there use to jest naturally turn to
cotUtu onct a year. The war was then
over and the niggers was free, but ns
yet they hadn't forgot how to work,and,
dadburn cm, 1 hadn’t forgot how to ride
n good horse and tote n rawhide and do
some farmin in my saddle.
“At any rates, I had made a stnvin fine
crop that year ond come out ahead of
tha hounds with no fences to climb.
>Vhon I driv into town that (toy with
eleven bags on three wagons and a nig
ger with every team 1 felt like the
pountry nought maybe still be safe,
and wlien 1 sold out and felt some-
Vhere in the neighborhood of a thou
sand dollars in gold rattle down into
piy (kinks it didn’t make a cpntinential
pit of di(Tercnee to me if tncat was
four hits a pound and all the creeks
runnin up stream, In the main time
Jt ht'd leaked out amongst the hoys
that Lou Hunter was in town and
plum lousy with money, and along in
the shank of the evonln 1 struck up
with Judgo Tomlinson, fiqulre Tom
Brandon and Led Ben Wallace-—nil high
fliers and dead games at that. By this
tune I had sent the wagons on home,
and nothin would do the judge and
Tom ar.d lied lien but that 1 ihust let
the cheek rein down and unbuckle the
flank girth ai d remain over and go
the gaits with cm for one night any
how.
“Naturally of course it wouldn’t he
right for me to say I didn't have more
than a pnrsin acquaintance with the
gang 1 had now put out to gallop with.
And they knowed me to pome extent—
as the all-ovt rest best farmer in the
country. Hut that was all. Bo con
sequentially when they lining it up
that they had fixed It. up to have a pleas
ant time with the documents that
night, end wanted me to fill out the
game, 1 was nothin but plain Lcn
Jluntcr from Cyclone Rtrcnk, and ns
awkward as a blind dog In a meat
house with regards to the ways of this
wicked world. But nothin else would
^)o, so after pullin on the hits eonslder-
ttble fi nally at last I told cm I would go
in prorldin they would horn me how
play. 1
IIu Soon CnuKlit the I.lnks.
“Well, they hruiig forth the docu
ments und by and by they learnt me
now tq play"- and old man Lon had
to stop uml laugh at his own thoughts—-
“hut so far as 1 know they never have
flpened another card school and went
put Jookin for scholars.
'’And me and the judge nm] Topi
(tpd Red Hen, wo played poker that
night, we did. I hod started in to play
green, you understand, and l had to let
them fix the rules and regulations to
suit th el roe Ives. They made It n four
hit limit, with flushes barred, to start
with and run it along at tlinf. Hek for
three or four rounds in ordennent to
learn me all the links and kinks of the
game. They all ployed a menstrous
rocky game at first, and two or three
times they jest naturally throwed their
curds away and made me win the jtot.
“In the run of two hours hud cut
some six or seven j>ots. Roitctlines I
win ond sometimes I lose. Cy»nnd by
the judge lowed we would liter raise
the limit to five dollars, wit wo dollar
ante, so as to keep the gang (tom gain
to sleep, and the raise was innle. Then
\ the game briefed up eonsidtluble all
' along the line, but we run it tl o hours
longer before anybody got hiirftosjienk
of. In one round we piled p J the pot
to $300, when judge and Bin ire Tom
got nerriouH and dropped tfit, lenvln
me and Red Ben to fight on tothe finish.
We bnilt the pile up dost to $000 and
Red Ben raked it In with three Jocks
find a pair of queens, which I had been
bcttln ilk* a fool on two pair, kings up.
”At that pint the other members of
the gang lowed maybe they had learnt
me enough, nud Red Hen wni more than
* wllllu to take out and quit.
"Hut ! told cm I would try cm one
molt; round und take one mote lesson
in the gn at art of handling Um Uocu-
mcntM if it sent me to the posrhousc
and lining on another war. Of course
they stayed with me, and on the third
deal after that 1 caught a couple of ocev.
other pair of aces. By thunder, think
of that, boys! The plain old farmer
from Cyclone Streak belt four aces in a
game of poker, with flushes barred. It
took my level blumdcst to do it, but I
j belt myself down cool and steady and
I went at cm slow and indifferent ns 1
! oould. After the seeont round Squiro
] Tom and Red Ben dropped out and me
| ind the judge we went at it. There
' was over $100 in the pot and the judge
! wanted to bust the limit. I w as plum
willin, and wo then lit in and run it at
i $jO-clip till there was dost up to $900
in the pot. As to me I was ready to
stake my whole entire pile on the hand
I belt, end I knowed blamed well if the
judge run me to the wall I could raise
the necessary funds to carry on the
fight. Mac Stevenson was runnin of a
bank in town at that. time. Now Mac
was another one of them natural-born
durn fools from Cyclone Streak, and 1
knowed tremendius well that in a game
of poker, with flushes barred, four aces
was good for every blamed thing in the
bank.
But I told ’em I would try ’em one
down three tens and a pair of queens,
which, cf course, the rokins of the pot
I then went down into the pockets of my
! old jeans breeches. By this time I had
j learnt enough for one night and I told
! the boys it maybe n:ought be best for
! them to turn out school. So they turned
! rut and quit, and if they have ever
opened school any more they didn’t
come over into Cyclone Streak looking
for fresh scholars."
Bill Arp Reoommonds It as a Rem
edy for Indigestion.
The Value of a Good Garden to tho Fam
ily-Makes Kxcellcnt Dinners for
Little Money—A Saving In
Doctor's Hills.
The Most ••Freshest” News.
The very latest and most freshest
news that we have heard from that
wild and stormy strip of country which
we call Cyclone Streak, was in regards
to a seandlous had fight which come to
pass between La/. Green and old man
Bunk Weatherford.
Now ns to T.az Green, he Is laid up
for general repairs and the doctors
think he will recover. But old man
Hunk rid by one day last week with his
left arm in a eling and his face lookin
like a fresh map of the United States,
rind t,ivc me the mainest facts in the
caoe from his side of the fence.
*Ti’ my good old Cbrist’an father—
which as you remqpnber, Rufe, he was
a jiower and a pillar in the church—
if he was to rise from the dead and do
pie ua much dirt in one day ns Laz
precii done, I reckon I would have to
p hip him. I don’t see how I could keep
from it, Rufe, enpse at my best I ar.^
pothin but plain American hupiap
flesh, blood ar.d hones.
* ! The weather had been rninin In jicr-
feet sluices for mo. j than a week. In
the main time the grass was growin,
cotton was bloomln and the corn was
pllklli and tnsselin and carryin on pow
erful. and 1 was blame nigh crazy to
•tlr up some fresh dirt. The weather
hit was clear that inornin and I had
took my plow and went down to my
ten •acre new ground to lay by tho
most loveliest field 'f corn anywheres
nrouud in Cyclone Streak.
"I may be a fool to some extent every
day In the year, Rufe, but, ns you knew.
If there is anything in this world that
will make me all sorts of it fool at onest, i ' ias R rov> 11 v igorously
“Fate cannot harm mc--I have dined
•o-day.” That is the way we feel just
after a good dinner, especially L wo
have earned it—worked for it bodily
rind wanted it. But 1 have heard folks
say they were never hungry and not
even the odor of cucumbers and onions
in the dining-room would excite their
appetite. I have heard others say that
they had the appetite, but were afraid
vo indulge it because of indigestion.
Such folks are to be pitied. They have
my sympathy. But I sincerely believe
Hint work or physical exercise is a rem
edy for both. I suppose that Shakes
peare suffered in this way, for he says:
“Now let digestion wait on appetite,
and health on both.’’ Certain it is his
death was sudden and premature, for
he lived only 50 years. Milton under
stood this trouble, too, for he says that
“Adam’s sleep was sweet, being bred
from pure digestion." That’s the secret
—working in the garden—I inherited
that trait from the old man—Adam, I
mean—and I sleep sweetly, too, after I
have worked in my garden. There is
no insomnia about me, but Mrs. Arp
suffers from it sometimes when I nm
snoring like a hippopotamus.
I was ruminating about the value of
a good garden to the family—we had
an excellent dinner to-day, and I count
ed up the cost. We have five in the
■family, and the dinner cost us only five
cents apiece, and there was enough left
for two or three more. We had a small
piece of middling meat, about half a
pound, that was boiled with the beans,
and there were seven different kinds of
vegetables from my garden. The but
ter and buttermilk were home-made.
The rice and corunmal and huckleber
ries cost n little—not much. Every
thing v, as well-eookeii, and all that was
wanted was an appetite ami gooddigesr
tion.
J am reasonably proud of my garden,
for it is all my pwn work. 1 prepared
the ground and dressed it and opened
j.he furrows and planted the seed and
cultivated the plants and killed the
Weeds, and it is my especial pleasure to
watch everything r.s it grows, and
gather the vegetables end wash them at
the back door ami call the good wife
and children out to e. e them and listen
to their compliments. We have had a
long drought, but 1 had fortified
against it. Every hi” ns first spaded
out n foot deep and tilled with water,
and after it had soaked into tho ground
I filled up the hole with n mixture of
top soil and bflrnyard scrapings and
sifted ashes and put on some more wa
ter. Every furrow I opened for beans
and pens and beets 1 let water run into
it, and then put the fertilizer in and
planted the seed. 1 had 80 holes to dig
for tomatoes and 40 for squashes, and as
many more for encumbers, and, not
withstanding the drought, everything
It Is hard work
garden will help to make it attractive;
and my wife wants all the old-fashioned
| herbs, like sago and mint and balm
ind thyme and calamus and camomile.
She has horse radish enough for a hotel.
Gardening is the first work of which
we have any history, and it is the most
j pleasant and healthy of all occupa
tions. If a man is a good gardener he
vill be a good farmer. As you travel
averland through the country yon can
tell a good farmer by looking at his
garden, just as you can tell a good
wife and daughter by looking at the
| flowers and vines in the front yard.
They are a sign of good taste and re
finement and good housekeeping and
contentment. 'They save doctor bills,for
half the diseases come from diseased
minds — mental misery — borrowing
trouble and nursing it. The cultivation
of flowers is a good tonic for indiges
tion. I have noticed that the people
who are most diligent in such occupa
tions are the least concerned about
politics and silver and gold and the
next presidential election. The farm
and the home absorb them, and arc ..
bigger thing than the spoils of office.
The average politician wants eome-
thing for nothing. AsCobescys: “He
is just sidewiping around hunting the
arthography of an office,’’ and when he
gets it the first lesson he’learns is how
to log-roll. He will vote for anybody’s
bill if they will vote for his. You
tickle me and I will tickle you, is the
motto, and they call it a compromise
of conflicting interests. Congress has
nt last voted every member a private
secretary with a $1,200 salary. Merciful
heavens! When will this thing stop?
Now let them apply for a receiver and
sell out the concern.
But 1 am off the subject, and will get
in a bad frame of mind and have a fit
of indigestion; and so I will quit and
go to my garden, where 1 am always
-’aim and Ecrcne.—Bill Arp, in Atlanta
Constitution.
THE QANG.
Sam Jonos Defines It and Gives
Eoms Illustrations.
lie Says the Reign of Right Is ForeTer,
Hut the Reign of the Gang
Is for Only a Short
Time.
QUEER COINCIDENCES.
Striking Occurrences, Many of Which
Have Ilecotne Historic.
The late well-known archaeologist,
Albert Way, crossing Pall-Mall, can
noned against an old gentleman, After
mutual apologies cards were exchanged.
On each card was printed "Mr. Albert
Way,” The older gentleman, dying,
left his fortune to the other Albert
Way,
The plnnl-u -Nciume, which had for
countless ngoiv
rthe cravens
it Is a pack of dogs in a wildcat race.
Ro far ns I know it has been six months
since anybody jumped n eat in Cyclone
Streak, but I hadn’t been in the row
ground ton minutes before my dogs
struck a trail and went off over the hill
In full cry. They made n half-mile
circle, swung back to the swamp and
went down the creek mukin more music
than a thousand ovenin bells. Well, I
Jest naturally couldn't stand it no long
er. I (browed off the gear, went back
bj' tlie house, filing a saddle on my horse
and put out after the dogs. We run
that cot all day—up and down the
creeks and over the hills and l>ack and
forrnrds aerpst Caney Branch a hun
dred times if onest. Finally at last we
run it out to the big road nt Murder
creek bridge- ten miles from home
|| it wereu foot. And then what do you
reckon vve found? By galling we found
Buz Green sett'n there straddle of a
mustang horse, with a plow line in one
hand and a eat skintied to the other
end of it, laughing like lie had saw
ftomothing rale funny.
“The whole thing was then ns clear n*
Jaylight to me. Laz Green, dadburn
him, is wo infernal trill in, und hna
wasted soseandolousmuch precious time
pillugin around the settlement preach iff
free silver at sixteen to one, till he had
tp turp his crop loose and let it go to
grass. So indurin the over night, for
BUfo pizen cussedness and the want of
somethin else to do, lie had come over
Into the Btrealc unbekuownnee to mo
draggiu that blame eat skin—which
Handy Stribblin hud shot and kiit the
cat—and put into the race nt first day
break. He‘took about five miles the
etart of me and my dogs so as to'keep us
in the race all day.
“And you must remember, Rufe, in
tho main time the grass was a growin
and the cotton bloomln end the corn
was silkin und tassel in and carryin on
powerful, whilst my plow wunstundin
still in the field, and me ridin my
horse and .followin the dogs after a
dead cat skin like a fool fightin fire oil
day long. To be certainly, of course,
me and Lnz Green had a fight, and soon
us he gits up and out onest more he
ought to hold a private prayer meetin
and thunk the Lord that w« didn't have
a second-clnss funeral in (’yeloneStreak
with a man by the name of Green ridin
on his back at the head of the procea-
slon.”
From what the doetois say I reckon
that Laz Green will come around on hiif
feet time enough to vote for free aiW
ver at sixteen to one in the next gen
eral election. The sympathy of the
whole entire settlerrent goes out to old
man lluok Weatherford In tho day of
his great grief and fie-t. But in the
main time the grass is growin at tho
rate of about sixteen to one, whilst the
cotton is bloomin and tho erfrn.silkin
and tnsselin and enrryin on powerful.
Bo fcuch for Cyclone Streak.
Rufus banders.
&
and takes patience to lay the foundation
: in this way, but it pays. My squash
! vines cover a space of four fort square
| to each hill, and my tomato plants are
five feet high and full of lunlihy fruit.
Well, now, to tell the whole truth, I have
a hydrant in the center of the garden
and when the dry, hot weather was at
its worst 1 opened small trenches close
by tiic roots of the plants and turned
the water on and let it run slowly and
soak in und afterwards covered the
trenches with dry dirt. This, too, is
trouble, but it paid well. Rome folks
sprinkle, but that does harm and no
good. It bakes the surface and never
readies the roots—sprinkle nothing but
grass. Where water is plenty and con
venient there is no excuse for a poor
garden. It is better t<5 dig deep and
fertilize and cultivate a square rod well
than to skim over half an acre “nigger
fashion,’’and see it all dry up when the
dry drought, us Cube calls it, comes.
The intensive system is the best for
gardens, I know from long experience.
It made me sad to see (he crops pn the.
railroad between Marietta and Atlnntq
the other day. Acres and acres of corq
not six inches high ar.d cotton almost
invisible. It did look like perishing to
death in the name of tho Lord, It is a
poor country, l know, but they could
sow It down In pens and gradually im
prove it so that a Georgian wouldn’t be
ashamed for travelers to look out of the
ear windows ns they ride through it.
It is astonishing how much influence
one good farmer lias over the neigh
borhood In which he lives. They are
very envious of each other and will try
to keep up with the best. 1 hear some
say that their oats crop is u total fail
ure, and will not be fit to cut. I see
a few acres of oats in a field not far
from me that will make n good crop.
Of course there is something in the
land, but there is more in the farming.
Deep plowing to begin with is absolute
ly necessary in fanning. I don’t menu
deep turning, hutdeep plowing. 1 know
a farmer who always followu the turn
plow with a bull-tongue in the same
furrow, and he makes good Crops
whether it rains or not. My good neigh
bor, Widow Fields, has no hydrant in
her garden, but she always has the
finest garden !n the town, and the secret
is deep plowing and fertilizing. I can
overlook her work from my window,
and it excites me to keep in hailing dis
tance. She has an acre in the highest
state of cultivation, and will make more
on it than will he made on 50 acres of
that land below Marietta. Work on
the gardens must not stop. Keep plant
ing successive crops every ten days or
two weeks, and have a fresh sit niffy
A good, large family can live well on an
acre for five months in tiieyenr. Rnis^
your own strawberries and raspberries
and buy wild berries enough for jam
and jelly. Then, if you have grapes
and peaches around, you can live like a
prince nud always have something nice
for company. A few flowers in the
unseen by anyone tfiic&PHi, was d:scov^~
ered simultaneously and independently
in 1810 by Hrofs. Adams and M. Lcver-
rier, the two most brilliant astronomers
of the day.
Some few years ago a shepherd boy
placed a sleeper on the railway line be
tween Brighton and FaJmer, with the
result that a train was thrown off the
rails. One year later to a day—almost
to a minute—that same youth was
struck by lightning and instantane
ously killed within a couple of miles of
the spot at which the accident occurred.
Rir Walter Besant tells of the follow
ing curious coincidence which hap
pened to himself. “I was consulting,"he
says, “an artist with regard to the face
md features of a character which he was
illustrating for me and 1 briefly de
scribed to him the kind of face I had in
mind. lie was meanwhile rapidly
sketching a face on a piece of paper he
had before him. ‘Will that do?’ he
asked, showing me the exact portrait
of the man I had been thinking of.’
The four King Georges of England all
died on the same day of the week.
A lady lost a ring on “the Under
ground." She returned and Reported
her loss. At that moment a train
entered tho station, when her ping wo*
found on the step of her carriage, hav
ing completed the circle in that posi
tion.
At a place of worship In Rotherhithe,
some little time ago, the minister was
telling how Wellington said at a crisis
of one of his great battles: “If dark
ness would only come it would save
him ” Hardly had he uttered these
words when the gas went out in the
chapel.
In 1890,a few weeks before the cenauf-
tal er began his enumeration of the pev.v
pie of Elm Grove, Ya„ the town au
thorities counted their own population,
preparatory to filing articles of incor-
jioration. The following was the re
markable result: Number of males
over 21 years of age, 148; number of
males under 21 years of age, 148; num
ber of females over 10 years of age, 148;
number of females under 1G years of
age, 148.
Romo Zulus were on exhibition in
Aberdeen and a gentleman who had
been in South Africa himself went and
began to talk with the men in their own
language. One of the natives was ex
ceptionally shy, which rather attracted
the gentleman’s attention. He looked
at him more closely and recognized him
ns a man who had worked for him In
Natal and had run away with a pair of
trousers which did not belong to him.
—N. Y. Mail and Express.
Tlie KherlfT Famed Ills Fee.
Years ago the courts of western New
York found it a matter of great diffi
culty to collect juries for the trial of
rases. One ease was adjourned from
day to day, on account of the mysterious
disappearance every morning of some
of the 12 men who had been drawn and
sworn on the jury; there were never
more than eight of these unwilling vic
tims to lie found at one and the samo
time. One morning, however, when the
judge’s patience had entirely departed,
the sheriff enino bursting into the court
room, his face (lushed with the excite
ment of (ictory. "IUh all right now,
your holier!" he cried, joyfully; “ you
ran try the ease to-day, for we’ll have
the jury by 12 o'clock, sure. It ain't but
ten o’clock now, and I've got 11 of’em
locked up In my burn, mid we’re nmniiig
the 12th man with dogs, your honor! 1 *—
Ban Francisco Argonaut.
• * Modern Low.
He—When did you love me most?
8he—The day you bad your p«y
raised.—Town Topics.
“We have downed the gang,” or “We i
are going to down the gang." We fre- ;
quently hear such expressions. I sup
pose it is true that we have national
gangs, society gangs, municipal-gangs
and neck-of-the-woods gangs; political
gangs, social gangs and, religious
gangs. The common acceptation of the
t( rm gang means u crowd who are or
have been running the shebang. In so
ciety they are called “top of the pot;”
m the political world they arc known
as the “ins;" in the church world they
are known as those having authority
and exercising it without the fear of
God before their eyes. In most of our
towns and cities we have the gangs.
Some of them have been In for years
and have grown rich, either by bribery
on the one hand or having the “pull" on
the other. The gangs in every phase of
life havemuebbrainsand very little con
science. Every shebang, like every set
•ff track hands along the railroad, has
its boss or sachem. Tammany hall is
the best organized gang, perhaps, in
(he United States. They were once in
position to dictate who wc should have
for president and who should be gov
ernor of New York, but Dr. 1’arkhuist
and the Lexow committee have para
lyzed that gang in New York to where
ihey can hardly dictate who shall be
bailiff.
I have been in some towns and cities
lately where “the gang” has been over
thrown. I believe it has been demon
strated in most places that whenever
and wherever the good people of the
town try to down the gang they will
succeed. Right must have n champion.
1 hen it has a victory. The good ele
ment in a community is generally tim
id, but when aroused is ns courageous
as a lion. The bad element in n city
consider themselves brave, hut when
they see that the good people arc thor
oughly aroused they are ns cowardly ns
a mob of 10,000'men after one poor little
helpless prisoner.
The “gangs - ’ In every department of
life have two objects in view. Tlie first
is personal gain, and tlie second is to
tr.ke care of Their friends and punish
their enemies. When we come into tlie
VT.ttK of the church we can see as
plainly tbefFSnk-ii^ywk e ^ <hnt the
j gang runs the machinery. U !R true
in one church as another. jC"lk'>£I!£
from the general conference of tire M.
E. church down to a little cross-roads
convention of a little Baptist church
in the country. As the darky says,
e\ery church has its most lead!nest
members as well ns its bench members.
I suppose' there nevn was a gang
who didn’t start in at tlie beginning to
reform things and run them right- But
they soon find out that it pays better
to run things wrong. In other words,
that, honest money is not so easily made
as dishonest money. Wealth Is not ac
cumulated rapidly by legitimate means
and honest methods; and when oppor
tunities fo make money rapidly pre
sent thenkelves the average white man
is where some negroes find themselves
when standing In mother p an's hejn
house after dark. They find llieinaelvea
tempted above that which they are able
to bear, and there seems no way pro
vided for their escape.
As st rtile tlie gangs in polities are in
thorough accord and sympathy with
the saloon element. Whisky seems to
pickle tlie gang and preserve them in
good shape. With whisky all in a fel
low and all around him he feels liken
snake put up in alcohol—that all the in-
(luenees that could harm him are shut
out effectually. Of course, the gang In
tiie political world is tho most corrupt
and infernal of nil the gangs. In the
church world, hypocrisy, cant and false
pretensions are the predominant qual
ifications. In the social world the
gangs have for their leading character
istics good clothes and fine entertain
ments. with their dry goods and gro
cery merchants left in ,a hole. They
run a good deal on occultism, theosophy
and tiie like fads—for fads they are. It
is getting now where it is fashionable
to be a fool, and fools head the proces
sion on most lines. I saw where some
jackass said the other day In a few
years churches would lie things of the
past, and so on. The Christian world is
building about ten churches a day the
year round. I nm one of those who are
silly enough to believe that the church
of Christ lias no intention of going out
of business in the next 10,000 years.
Really, if you look at the latter-day
church edifices going up in the cities it
does seem like the church has come to
stay; and tiie church will live on,
broadening in its in (I cnees and elevat
ing by its power the human race long
after the fool^nnd fads have perished
from the earth. While the church may
develop its clicks and rings, yet the
rank and file of tlie church of Jesus
Christ is as pure and good to-day as ever
in its history, and is marching on tothe
conquest of tlie world, retarded fre
quently and only by the “gangs.”
lu the social world every community
lias its leaders, which are called the
“gang.” They have very little respect
for one onotber. and they have forfeited
largely the res[>ect of nil who do not
move within their circle. Decollette
dresses for tiie women and high collars
for the men. 1 have often thought
that both men and women ouglit to pla
card themselves “Host No Bills’’ where
the collar ouglit tc he on tlie women,
und where it is on the men. I have
no resjs'ct for the woman who but
tons the collar of her dress around her
waist.
It is a good thing that men differ,
ami I thnnU God sometimes for the dif
ference. 1 would hate for all men to
be like some men. The world would be
wrecked in a year if all women were
like some women. The g nga them-
-elves are in a liopel minority in
very department of life; aud but for
manipulation, close organization, tire
less work and unscrupulous methods!
the political gangs would be buried out;
of sight on every election. But for thej
gewgaw and finery and false preten
sions of the gang in societj’ they would
soon be relegated to the rear. But for
the authority of place or displace in the
church world and a few fawning syco
phants, the gang in the church would
amount to nothing.
Independence is the most priceless
boon given by Heaven to man. It is the
greatest legacy that ever befell a hu
man being. A man who is not forced
by circumstances and surroundings to
do anything that is not right is the man
who can be most trusted, for not only
has he got the God-endowed sense of
right and wrong, but he sGtnds above
environments, unpurchnsablc and
unscareable. Conscious indepen- 1
dence and conscious rectitude mako
a man invincible, no matter in
what circles of life he is seen or in
what departments of life he speaks or
acts; he is a man, he stands for some
thing, he is an expression of something.
Like John the Baptist crying out in tho
wilderness, he has a voice und a con
science—a voice that will be heard and
a conscience like the north star guid
ing him unerringly.
Tlie reign of right is forever. The
reign of the gang is for only ti short
while. All Irom Boss Tweed down to a
little displaced bailiff in a country dis
trict are illustrations of the fact that
the best thing a man Qan do is to do
right and the worst possible thing he
can do is to do wrong. Tho incorr
ruptible men in the political world like
George Washington, old Hickory Jack-
son and Abraham Lincoln will stand
forever as monuments of the immortal
ity of principle. So on the other hand
in the realm of trickery and rascality
and false pretensions the shores of
that river are lined from source to
mouth with wrecks and wretches. At
the feast of Belshazzar the handwrit
ing on the wall was but the prophecy of
his speedy downfall. The hand that
wrote on the walls of Belshazzar’s pal
ace is writing to-day upon the walls in
every phase of life either: “Well done,
thou good and faithful servant!” or
“Mene, mene, tekel, upharzin!”
Sam P. Jones.
GERMAN “COURTS OF HONOR.*
A Specimen of tho SrnruUtloas Dodi
They Often Render
The nnedifying part played In
Kotze scandal by the courts cf ho
has furnished sufficient proof of the f»
that these institutions rather provoke
than restrain dueling; but it will per
haps not be out of place to draw atten-
jjpn to a peculiarly gross instance of
the?r , Tnt?Ui a £®.
Before TVest0< * rn,ar y thpeo
persons had ireenTfT^t2 an8W> ‘ r ^ c>r *
cowardly attack which made
upon a fourth person. The as
who heard the case expressed the opin
ion that the conduct of the accused wo**
“not gentlemanlike,” but, unluckily for
him, one of the accused was an officer
of the reserve, who promptly chal
lenged him. The assessor, who was also
nn officer of the reserve, refused to fight
on the ground that he had uttered tho
words In the performance of h : s judicial
duties. The court of borer of the offi
cers’ corps to which the assessor he-,
longed Insisted that he should accept
tho challenge. lie, however, remained
true to his principles and his name was
removed from the list, because, ns wax
stated in tlie verdict, “he did not follow
the instructions of the court of honor.”
This verdict was indorsed by the au
thorities.
This incident, which is the r/oject of
many comments, shows only too clearly
once again that the root of th^
evil lies in the officers’ccrp:;j*nj
resolutions and motions i f (lie
diet will be worth nothing so Ion
ax is not applied here by the one]
capable of wielding it. No m
structive example could he givej
complete blindness of these
any considerations but those
that peculiar and exclusive
of aristocratic and inilitai 4
"honor.”
Of what description, one mt
was the honor of that officer of 1
serve who had banded himself v.*T
two others accused to make a brut
attack upon a single person? Andy
this was the man whose challenge
assessor was required to accept
he had with perfect justice
his action. The assessor lias H
dearly for defending the indr]
of his profession, and, us the Yl
Zeitung says: “What is to be
of it nil, considering that frietioi
ever arise in court if a judge v.
scientiously discharges his dubW
expect to be challenged to a duel]
pistols?”
There is another conxidqj
Is perhaps worth noticinj
circles which have the
honor hrGermany, and for 1
take their chief delight
them, tlie assessor has n
character, and it is scnrei
pected that his future earn
profession should not suffei
—London Times,
What tho Spleen Really f
Tlie physiologists of old wer
ested in and puzzled by tj
did not make a siyrctio
moval of the organ did ij
ate much disturbance o
tions. Modern physiol
tlie spleen is undoubted!
Prof. Schafer and Mr.
noted English scientists
that the spleen acts as a k
valve to tlie blood circi
spleen responds ntonee
in the blood pressur
variations are from
the lungs. It is a
and seems to l>e a
ernor,” much
mechanism of
engine.
/
pffi
O m
Is that opr ^
too big for
the pros|>e|
Steele.