The ledger. [volume] (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1896-1907, July 16, 1896, Image 3
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THE LEDGER: GAFFNEY, r S. C., JULY 16, 1890.
3
THE ‘’ORPHAN! COLT"
Bow Little Jimmy Soruggino
Whipped His Fight.
The Way to Take • Itoy »nd Mak«>
Man of Qlin—Give Him «n Open
Field and a Fair
Fight.
Jilt was Intr nloDg info the fall of fhe
year. Tho fields was brown ard with
ered. The trees
was changin
colors and the
woods was full
of grapes and
nnisoodincs and
chinltypins and
chestnuts and
the like of that,
when little Jim
mie Seruggins
made his first
appearment in
the Rocky Creek settlement.
op, and I give him a right smart|
rope so he could work a little and piny!
a heap and have his way and take his
iwn gait like itsultcdhim. Rut he didn’t;
need any pot tin, and he wouldn’t be
,piled in tho raisin. It never was too
late or too soon, or too hot or too eold
for little Jimmy to be up and about;
lendin to the variou; and sundry odds
and ends and jobs and turns that was
laid out for him around the place. He
was always ready rind always wilUn/
and when you say that about a yearlin
boy you have remarked a w hole passle.
IN HIS OLD AGE.
Bill Arp Tolls What an Old Man
of Seventy Can Do.
Old Aga Hit, ltd Rewards •• Wall
Its lallrinltle*—What the Poeta
Have Said—Arp and 111*
Grandchild.
Tralntng Up a Farmer.
The second year after little Jimmy
come to live with us I put him in train-
in for a farmer. I .give him n cotton
patch for his ownest own. you under
stand, and told him he could work it at
odd times and between drinks, as it
were, when mother didn’t have him
humped and hustlin around the house.
In the meantime I let the hands plow
right on through his patch like it was
mine, and lie didn’t have nothin to do
but to hoe and pick it out.
That fall when the crops were nil
out of the fields and the cash was in
the old sock me and Jimmy had to settle
up, and after considerable figuration it
Tho First Family Talk.
I remember ihe same ns if it was yes
terday how little Jimmy looked the firvt
mom In he showed up at our house look- | seems like he was ahead of the music
in for “somethin to do and summers to | to the extent of seven dollars and six
stay," ns ho was wont to tell it. lie was ' bits. So w e then had a settlement on
about the sorriest and moat seediest i the spot and I paid him every eent in
lookln customor that was over turned full thnt was oomln to him. And if he
out in these parts. He wosso seandlous
pale and slim and puny and. sickly ap-
pearin till it made mo feel role sorry
about somethin to look at him.
“Hello Ruster!” says I. “Did astray
wind blow you up, or did you Jest draw
down? How far have you come since
you psiKs<>il the Inst mile post this side
of home?”
“If you please, mister," says he, “I
ain’t got ro home, and I am lookin for
somethin to do and .summers to stay.’*
“You don't look big and strong
enough to make a reglar field hard,” I
went on to say as I sized the youngster
up. “I am sheered you mought maybe
dry up on the stem, or blow away or
turn to somethin good to eat. Maybe
your ma don’t put rtiough salt in your
dirt."
“1 ain’t got no mn,” says ho, and
the next niinnit there was teoor3
hacked up in his eyes, and from where
T was blamed if they didn’t look most
as big as glass marbles to me. I'lien I
got sorry right away for what I had
spoke and the way in which I spoke II,
'cause if there is anything in this vain
and wicked w orld which I do love next
to little girls it is little boys, floln out
to the gate I took him by the hand,
and then presently we was restln on
the front door steps hnvln a private
family talk amongst ourselves.
I dassent ask him about bis jm for
fears it mought break him up again
and start him off into another cryin
spell, lint tarcctly he tip and told me,
free gratis, for nothin, as It were, th^t
he never did have no pa so fur as he
knows of. The first thing he knowed
he was iivln in town with his mn. but
seein how the country was the be«t
place for poor folks, they moved put
to the old Grimes farm, w here they lived
and got along right tolerable well till
his ma took sick with a fever or sompr
thin and died. And so it had now conic
to pass that he didn’t have no ma, nor pn,
nor nothin.
*• Mother, She Wa* Willis'."
*T am nine years old and gwtne on
ten.” says little Jimmy as lie mopped
the tears outen his eye* with the
knuckles of o«e hand. “I nlnt very big
to my size, but I’ll grow fast from now
on. I am a w hole pastde stronger than I
look and I can do a heap of things. I can
tote wood, and fetch water, and drive
up the rows, ami feed the horses, and
sweep and hoc, and churn, and pick-
cotton, and I will l»e big enough to plow-
in two or three years. Whilst I’m little
and weosly like I am I dou’t want not hin
but somtliJn *o do and summers to stay,
and I nm willin to work for that.’’
Alsmt that time mother she come out
♦o where wo was and wanted to know
where in the round created world did
the child come ^om. I told her Ik* was
what you mought call an orphan! colt,
without lied or feed or jsister and I was
thinkiii right serious about tumln him
in my lot for the winter anyhow. Then
I put In and give her little Jimmy’s
story exactly like he had told It to me.
She was a right smart moved towards
the b jy when she heard he didn't have
no mn, though she w;us powerful had
w orried to think that lie never did have
no ]>a. Rut still at the same time site
was w illin to leave it with mo, ns I w as
the general boss. Anything I said went
w ith her, and she was always moix* than
willin to do her part by the friendless
and 'iie homeless and the helpless.
“Life in this valley of dry ismes is full
of U|)s and downs, and most in generally
downs, Rufus/’ snj's she, “and nolssly
knows what we may come to some of
these days.”
So I told little Jimmy that lie mought
come In and live with us, and call onr
home 1)1* home till he could do IsMter.
lives a hundred years lie never will be
as rich as he w as that day. He was as
proud ns a young rooster with his first
tail feathers. I have knowed folks that
would give their boys patches to work
ami eall their own, and then along In
the fall the money would get mixed up
with the general family funs and never
reach the boys’ jxtekets. Rut that aint
right. The way to make somethin out
of a hoy and make him b'cl like he Is
somebody from somewheres is to give
him a boy’s chances and tote fair with
him. If you don’t want to raise a
sneak yon must treat the boy like the
world is coimtin on him for the roakia
of a man some of t hese days.
Little Jimmy took his money and
put it away where he could look at it
onest in awhile, and kept it two or
tiiree weeks before he said anything
about spendin of it. When we settled
up I told him the money was his—he
had w orked for it amlyearnt it with his
own hands, and he could git the good
of it any way he w anted to. He could
save it for luck, or he could spend it for
Christmas, and it was nolnxly’s busi
ness but hie. Rutone mornwi he showed
up all of a suddont like and wanted to
know what I would take for that little
heifer calf, which our old dun cow had
died and left the summer before. Now,
thnt calf was about three parts Jersey
and come from a frudly of tine milkers
and 1 lowed she wi:.< worth ten dollars
of any man’s money. Rut. he in as it was
Jimmy Mid 1 eeuid s : /e ins pile 1 told
him he could take her for seven dollars
If the liggers suited 1dm. Right there
we closed tho trade and Jimmy didn’t
have but only t.lx bits left. Rut ho
lowed that was nough to buy him a
new knife and some little extrics for
Christmas. The next day we went out
and put. the yeariin in Jimmy's mark—
a crop in t!;<* h it • ar and a underbit
in the tight mil she was ills hencc-
forwards and forever r fler thnt.
Too Boy to the Front.
When little Jimmy was lit past, 14
next grass bo eommeneed itoidin the
plow bandit s ttilepihle regular. He had
to jump at d wlggie powerful at first,
like one of thos old Jaoksnnppers with
a strlne tied to id: h g. Rut it want
so very long before lx* worked ids hand
In and got tin
hong of it, and then it
ailfn.
pliant l*oy could
was smooth and cm .
At 14 that stray t
plow n straight furrow and put ns much
fresli dirt behind h'i In a day as any
ruin, white orbl.e-!;, the settlement.
We would give him n little sehoolin
in tho winter od then turn him loose
on the fatm. Tilings nicked along
about so till little Jimmy was IS years
old, and a right smart chunk of n boy.
Ho was now runnin up and fiU'.noutnnd
tnkin on tV m neral shape of a man.
About that time I made another trade
with h'tn t > run th • farm three years,
and when tile tit. • run out the Ikiv had
about $300 put :.we\ in one of his Inst
rear's socks. He likewise also had
eight cows, with four calves and four
yearlins, mr.'.in 1:> lx -.1 of cattle—ail
grade Jmx'vs. Ph> in Ids own pri
vate mark, the whole entire herd bavin
come flom the |iit!<: orphan! enlf.w’hieh
the same he hud bought of mo for seven
dollars.
Wiilopcil flip FI i.t Hand* Down.
hi
1 umni
[>!> d
The Boy Wu* » Caat’oo.
N j doubts you have seen boys in your
cloy and time that had n reglar ga! look.
Well, it was the name way with little
Jimmie. Seems to me like about all
that kept him from bcin a girl was a
wool hat gone to seed, and red jeans
breeches, and a set of homemade gal
luses, instld of a blue checkered «lrc«s
and a pink sunbonnet. He was so pale
and tallow-faceted till bless gracious I
could see the blue veins under Ids skin.
hU hands so little and white and thin
till I could mighty nigh sec through
them, and ills arms ami legs was
swelled tip so till they looked like pipe
fitems. Rut Jimmy maintained from
the start that he was a thoroughbred
American boy, and able and willin to
do a boy’* jxirt till he growrd some
more and could call himself a man.
And. by gntlins, he stood his ground
and fought it out on them lines. When
it come to light work he was a plum
caution to be certainly. I wanted to
be gentlo and easy with him to
make up for hurtlo his feelins
that mornin when he first turned
• he whipped his
It hands down.
iic*; <!•)•.' a tlu* road you
p: iti.e -! fai m in all t lw*e
J he house set* back in
c;:k trees. Itis painted
Well, littl
fight, and v
About three )
will pass by tlu
regions rout •!.
n big patch ol
white with green trliun.insand a light-
nin rod on it. On the left hand side of
the roml us y u go *. on v. ill notice a big
posit r. w ith a • pring branch runnin
through It and a In.e herd of cattle grnz-
in around or :> tin 'hndcr the shade of
the trees. J’.v -ry cow- and ealf and year
lin in tliat. pa ti r is market] with a crop
in 11)" left ear and a underbitin the
v h
right. '1
the mime of
Seruggins. or I
to 1m*. WhcTi !e
l give him 1 h -.
must now wl;'
has kept up a 11
t’. tgood davit
Aft. i
cage h<
ng t«i a young man by
eruggins- deems Sanders
lb tie Jimmy, as he use
lie v free, white and 21
rein: and told him be
!e for himself, and he
i .endoiis w igglln from
t his I dosed hour.
Ini' in tho land and huildiu his
caught a bird to mate wit h him.
"How many miles to Milybright?
Three score and ten.” Now, since 1 have
just passed iny 70th year on this mun
dane sphere, I can’t keep thnt old re
frain out of my mind. Three score and
ten! It follows me about, and seems to
say; "Your time is out, old gentleman.
Every day you live now is dci gratia—
u favor—an extra allowance that was
not promised and is not deserved. So,
old os gracefully and give ns much
pleasure to those around us.
Rut some folks arc born to trouble
as the sparks fly upward, and I nm one
of them about these times. The old
cow wanted grass, and this has nil dried
up, ami so she broke into my potato
patch and eat oil all the vines; and the
I Colorado beetles got into another
patch and just cleaned up nil the leaves'
before I found It out; and the dog
scratched a bed between the nmdeira
vines and the wall of the veranda, and
some of them are dying, ami it hasn’t
rained enough In nine weeks to run in
the road, and my garden has dried up,
and the city fathers won’t let me In-U
gate any more because water is getting
scarce. The penalty is $50 fine, but the
mayor told me confidentially thnt I
might irrigate on the sly, but I mustn’t
be caught at it. Like the negro prench-
THE BURDENS WE BEAR.
be thankful and prudent, and dou’t
drink too much ice water this hot j cr told his congregation thnt they !
weather’ A young man's majority is must never be cotchcd stealing chick
Ami if you notice right dost you will be
more than probnbb* to see Mines Scrog
gins htirrin around 11m house ns you
Jimmy has whipped
p;w‘(l jt hands down,
■k niul dig and sweat
lit and work and dig
inch rf the ground,
bl PI H BANHCRS.
ii* greatest practieal
dbcovred the Jaws
nud determined the orbitk of most of
the planet:.. Callilco wfii the leader
In modern astronomical aeicocc.
21, an old man’s 70. Twice he crosses
the Rubicon, if he lives that long, and
then comes another river—a darker one
—and like Caesar he may say: ‘Jacta
est alea’—the die is cast.”
1 was ruminating about this 70 years
—this magical sacred number that is
man's allotcd age. Seventy learned m< n
trsnslatcd the Old Testament 300 years
before Christ, and 70 disciples were sent
out by Him an missionaries to preach
the Cospel and establish His church.
It was Moses who wrote that the days of
our ye&rs shall be lime score and ten,
and yet he lived to be 120 years—nearly
twice the allotted age, and half of which
whs labor niul sorrow—w orking with a
vexatious and ungrateful people. It is
curious how gradually the age of man
kind dropped down from 900 to 130 in
ten generations that succeeded Noah;
then It dropped to 70 in the next ton,
and there it stands. There has been no
change for 4,000 years. The long suf
fering to the Creator seems to have
been appeased.
Well, of course these 70 years arc* not
the fixed limit for man or woman, but
they are certainly the allotment of
human longevity. Rut few go beyond
it. The wagon breaks down all over.
It can’t be patched up any more. For
several years it lias been sent to the shop
occasionally for repairs, and been doing
light work, but the time will surely
come when wheels and axles ned hounds
must all collapse. This is no misfortune
nor fault nor penalty, but, ns Judge
Hammond used to say: "It is the law
of this case,” and there is nothing so !
very sad or horrible about it. It is just |
such a change us ail nature is going J
through, and if a man lives right, he has 1
no reason to lament its coming. Every ,
seed of tree or flower is a symliol of our i
own resurrection.
Old age has its rewards ns well as its i
infirmities. Moses said that the young
men shall stand up and honor the
fores of the old men, and many ef the
promises are a good old age—a full
age—a ripe old ngc, ns n shock of corn
In its season. Hdw considerate are the
children to their aged parents, and how-
loving are their grandchildren. They
run our errands and comb my back-
hair and blaek my shoes and go to the
SLAUGHTER OF THE GALILEANS.
Fontlns Pilate Armed III* Soldier* with
Cinb* of Borl.ilon.
It was Pilate’s custom to come to his
oilicial residence—a kind of pnince for
public businem—during all feasts, and
lie was tlu*re that day; but he was in a
very ugly frame of mind. Such men os
Reu Nassur, aided by zealots from other
places, were arousing tlu*ir follower*
more and more from hour to hour, until
at lust an angry multitude, swarmed
around the gates of Pilate’s house, curs
ing him in the name of the law, ami of
the temple. They clamored for the res
titution of the treasures taken from th*
priests; the cessation of the aqueduct
work, which the fall of the tower so
plainly declared to be wicked; and they
furiously demanded the removal of the
Temple guards.
The Roman governor had not the least
him of granting any of these demands,
{mil he. determined to teach the angry
Galileans a lesson. He sent to his cani|>s
for a large number of soldiers. They
were not to coma in armor, but in ordii
r.ury clothing, and were to be armed
only with clubs. Strong men can do
n gretit deni of damage with heavy cud
gels. but Pilate's Idea was to express in
this way his Holdicsrly contempt for a
post office. The years from 70 to *0 Jewish mob. His men were ordered R>
are not always years of labor and sor
row—sometime* they are the best of
— J.ej iir
astronomer. 11<
oil. Sydney Smith said: 'T am 74years
old, am at case in my circumstances,
in tolerable health, a mild whig, n tob
rrating churchman, much given to
talking, laughing and noise. I am.
ujion the whole, a happy man—luivo
found the world entertaining, and am
thankful to Providence for the part al
lotted me. In it.”
Much depends on a man’s surround
ings, but more depends on his philoso
phy. On6 poet says:
” The world t* very lovely. Oh, my God,
I thunk Thee that I live."
Another says:
*• I would not live alway, I ask not to stay
Where storm after storm grows dark
o’er the way.”
Bryant writes beautifully about life
and death and lying down to pleasant
dreams. Dr. Holmes poke* his irresist
ible humor at old age:
“ But now his nose Is thin
And rests upon his chin
Like a stag.
And a crook Is In his back
And a melancholy crack
In his laugh;
Put I know It Is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here.”
And it was. He should have risen up
according to Scripture and tipped his
hat to the poor old man. Rut the
l>earn are extinct in that region, ami the
doctor knew It.
Mr. Shakespeare is somewhat sarcas
tic himself, for he makes Prince Hal
any to FnistafT:
"Are you not written down with nil
the characters of old age? Have you
not a moist eye, a dry hand, a yellow
cheek, a white heard, a decreasing leg,
an liierensing eor|>oro.s4ty? Is not
your voice broken, your wind short,
your chin double, your wit single, and
every part about you blasted with an
tiquity?”
Thnt Is a vile slander upon the three
rcore and ten of this generation. Look
at the stalwart forms of many of At
lanta’s notable men who have long
since passed the Rubicon, such ns Dr.
Alexander, George Adair, Chess How
ard, Redwine and I/uvshe and big Jim
Dunlap. “Big Jim” says he is just the
age of Rismarck and Gladstone, the
Hire** greatest living octogenarians—
and there is no xnelaeholy ernck in his
laugh. George Adair is still a Scotch
Irishman from away back, and if he
hadn’t have fallen downstairs at the
"Old Village School” show, would be
taken for about three score and five,
•ml no more. And Dr. Alexander is not
even a 05-yenr suspect. In fact, old age
carries Itself better now than it used to.
People take more pride in their person
al appearance, especially the women.
1 was just thinking about a neighbor
whose visits arc always welcome--who
comes with n smile and never says a
bitter or a foolish thing. She is said
to be old, but she still is beautiful, and
sit* in her chair witli tin* graceful case
of a young matron of the olden time,
fibe has had trouble, but hidea it in
her heart, and is always calm and se
rene. Would that we all could {prow
Bam Joaos Writes of Wayward
Sons and Daughter*
Re Say* That In Wlna Fa*** Out *f
They Are the Can** af the
Car«* and Durden*
of Life.
Tea
ens. So, now when I st**al water I
do it darkly, at dead of night, with one
eye on the hose and the other on Sandy
IVikle, the waterman.
But my comfort, now is in nursing
and amusing our little grandchild. Her
mother has gone off on a fishing excur
sion for a few* days to recuperate her
health, and she gave me the child, I
say gave her to me, because she loves
me better than anybody, and that
makes her grandma Jealous and flatters
my vanity, and satisfies me thnt I *im
neither old nor ugly, nor Is my vole#
broken nor a melancholy crack in mr
laugh. In fact. I can still sing "Hush,
My Dear" and "Julianna Johnson" w ith
Mifllcicnt melody to put the littl'* dar
ling to sleep. I can answer thnt old
song “What Can an Old Man Do Put
Die,” by saying that he can take ear*
of the grandchildren while the mother '
has gone n-fishing.—Rill Arp. in At
lanta Constitution.
surround It and to wait for such com
mands as he might give them.
Cyril’s fear of the rabbis nud priests
grew- stronger as he drew near the tem
ple. There wos no othe.r |>lace on earth,
he believed, where n sacrifice to God
could be offered n« solemnly as upon the
brazen gold-ornamented altar of burnt
offering, w hich he and his father were
«oon to see.
I/ouder and louder grew the sounds
of the tumult in the open spare before
the governor’s pnlnec, but Cyril and his
father could no longer hear It, for they
wore now in the outer court of the tem
ple. They advanced toward the step*
leading up to the gorgeously gilded
portals of the inner court. Here they
were met by a Invite to whom Ezra at
once handed the fleecy offering w hich
he had brought and liad so far carried
in his arms. During never a 1 minutes,
however, there had been strange sounds
bej’ond the gate of the outer court, and
they* were font growing louder. Ezra
and his son would have paused to listen,
but the Ijevite led the way into the in
ner court and they followed. In a
moment more Cyril could sec* the smok
ing ultar, the splendidly arrayed
priests, the chanting Levites, the swing
ing censers, and all the grant! appli
ances of the temple worship. Every
thing was splendid beyond his imagin
ings; but he could not look at it for
more than a moment. Cehind him,
surging through the gate into the outer
court, filling that space, and then pour
ing on into the inner court, came a
shouting, shrieking, maddened multi
tude.
Pilate’s club men had been doing
their brutal work only too well. and. if
his soldiers carried clubs aniy. other
enemies of the Galileans (and they were
many) had seized this opportunitj*. for
steel blades were flashing among the
pursuers. An angry mob were now
pitilessly smiting down the Jews who
had protested so zealously for the tem
ple and the law*.
Thej- did not pause nt the gate of the
Inner court, hut, in a moment more,
there were slain Galileans tying among
the bodies of the animals prepared for
sacrifice, nod the revenge of Pilate upon
those who had upbraided him was bo*
coming terrible. The priests and other
temple officers were fleeing.—IV. O.
Stoddard, in St, Nicholas.
(low m Woman Was Robbsd.
Mrs. C. Riddle, who gave her resi
dence ns Delaware, O., told the police of
Columbus a queer story the other day.
She says that while on the train the
other day a well-dressed stranger
handed around » jar of clarified honey.
She smelled of it, fell asleep and w hen
she awoke her pocketbook with all her
money was gone. She says that, the
honey had been doctored.
Men Ars So Dl.Terent
The Lover—I love you! I love you!
I can’t live without you.
The Widow—That’s queer. My hu»-
Land used to tell tno that he could not
live with uoc.—Town Topics.
The Patriarch Job said: "Mon is as
born unto troublo as the sparks to fly
upward." A man perfectly free from
■ II cures and burdens would be the
world’s greatest curiosity.
Innocence docs not exempt us and
piety affords no protection “for many of
the afflictions of the righteous," and the
Ixml must deliver him out of them all.
The mistakes of our live* have been
many, ami they often burden ns with
regrets. If not remorse. He who is free
from the mistakes of life Is not human,
and were the mistakes of our past
brought and placed before us we would
he astonished nt their number and mag
nitude, and however honest and unsel
fish we might have !>ern. human life is
full of mistakes and they often burden
our lives with period* of long regrets.
The flagrant sins of our lives add
tlioiiKnnds of pangs and pains to the con
science. tho memory of which we have
no room to contain and no outlet for
their retread. God Himself cannot help
us out. for He is powerless to make
what ought not to have been so it ougat
taj>ave been. f
The burden of debt havi driven many
to despair. Debt has wrecked the lives
sad driven to suicide thousands of men.
There are millions to-day who are
groping and groaning under the burden
of the debts they can never pay, and
tbeir lives have shriveled ami their hope
has welt-nigh died out. Debtor and
creditor are ns uncongenial as cat and
•log. D«*btor unable *o pay. creditor un
willing to compromise, but I reckon
when we get free silver with free schools
and freebooksand free hoarding-houKos,
with free clothing stores thrown ini
we will then lie able to pay some debt*.
I have seen men chafing under the bur
dens which their mistakes brought to
them. 1 have seen men groaning under
the burden of debt, but the most insuf
ferable burden that human hearts eorry
to-day is carried by gray-headed fa
thers and mothers on account of ’ho
lives of their wayward. Godless chil
dren. If all the trials and heartaches
w hich nre brought to human lives to
day. us the result of ruthless, wayward
ehiidren trampling upon the hearts of
their parents, could W congregated and
aggregated, the horrors of the damned
would scarcely equal them in their in
sufferable ravages uj)on humaif sensi
bilities.
I talked some weeks ago with a grand,
grave old general of our !ast rivll war,
and as the tears trickled down his
checks, lie said: “1 nm so unhappy and
miserable myself. “Why." said I. "gen
eral. what is the matter?” "Oh.” he
said, “the saloons have got my boy.
Perchance." he said. "I might bear the
tortures, but it is killing my poor wife.
I'nless that boy holds up I cannot hope
thnt she will endure it six months
longer."
The moFt inhuman wretch who lives
out of perdition to-day is the cruel boy
or debauched husband who goes trooj>-
Ing it downward with every step of
his cruel foot put down upon the ten
der heart of his good mother or noble
wife. There Is no more cruel foot than
the one going down on the bleeding
hearts ax the wayward wretch makes
his way to hell.
Our greatest joys In this life come to
us as we look upon the children of our
home growing up to manhood without
reckless habits or ruinous tendencies.
Whether we be prince or peasant,
rich or poor, happy are we if we have
our reward in noble, true, honest. In
dustrious hoys and girls.' Too mnnv
boys are Idle. Too many girls ambi
tious simply to be pretty little things.
Idleness is a habit that reaches out and
affords the tendencies thnt ruin a boy
and w recks the happiness of the home.
The saloon and poolroom, the gambling
hell and shameless houses lie nil along
the pathway of an idle young man.
The ballroom and theater and german
dance and buggy ride and champagne
supper all lie along the pathway of tho
giddy girl who flits through life with
the gaudy beauty of a butterfly with-
j out leaving a pleasant memory in n day
of her life upon which father and moth
er may look with fondness and grati*
Hide.
When we sum up the cares and bur
dens of life of this country we will
find in nine eases out of ten that a
wayward boy or a fast girl is the cauan
of it all. Insubordination to rule and
right cast the angels out of Heaven
and gave the devil a mortgage on this
world, and it Is a fight now to keep the
devil from foreclosing the mortgage
on the whole business. No woman can
be happy with a wrecked husband; no
persons could be happy with a wrecked
member of their family, alive, kicking
and Godless, staring them in the face.
It is not the skeleton in the closet:
it is the living devil going around, em
bodied in a wayward son or wayward
daughter. I am sorry that I have ever
run up against so many bleeding hearts
and ruined homes. Let the young man
whose eyes run over this article stop
and ask himself the question: “Is my
foot on mothcr’a heart?" Let every
wrecked husband whose eye falls on
this article pause long enough to sec
thst the most Inhuman phase of his
life is the cares and burdens with which
he loads the heart of the one whom he
promised to love and cherish and keep
so long as both of them should live. If
we turn the picture for n moment and
let the wayward children and mined
husbands “right about" and give joy
where they have given grief, hnppl-
nesa instead of misery, blessings In
stead of curses, honor instead of dis
honor, how we would soon reverse the
order of things and make the world
happy and bright. I thank God for
every true, noble young man whom I
meet, and they art many. X thank God
for every true, pure-spirited girl who
blesses her home. I thank God for every
sober, honest, upright husband who is
nn honor to his wife. I nm «ure thatwe,
have no other than the devil to thank
for nil others not included in the nlKwe.'
To see a tear of grief and shame)
trickle down the face of father and!
mother for the child with ruined life
in their home—this is enough to put
the angels In sympathy with them. To
see the happy, joyous parents talk of
their noble boy, of their pure daugh
ter, and watch their ryes sparkle with
delight and their faces l)eam with joy—•
it seems that all the joys of Heaven are
banked in their faces.
SAM P. JONES.
- INDIAN LEGENDS.
H*w Superstition Led a Tribe to Give Up,
Polysrmmy.
At the time snd for centuries after
the advent of the Pima Indians into this
country they practiced polygamy, and
this will show how a little superstitious
belief will change a custom of centuries.
As the story goes, a short time after the
restoration of the Snhunro (Ilaas-cn).
the whole tribe woa stricken with »
strange riisea.se. It was malignant in
form and many deaths resulted. The
great medicine men and magicians from
nil parts of the country were called to
gether for counsel to see by what means
they oould propitiate Mo-kik-a-num,
the death god. The magicians labored
long and earnestly, but still the death
god refused to stay his hand.
It seems that fasting has had much
to do in the ritual of the aboriginal.
I have always noted thnt when com
municating their superstitious beliefs
when they wanted to solicitor petition
one of their gods they always eonsid-
crcd it necessary to fast for a given ]>e-
riod. When they found they could not
subdue the evil death god by magic
the magicians hastened loan open plain
and there fasted for three days. They
were, however, privileged to eat roots
snd drink water carried from the river
in the tanned stomach of nn antelope,
and nil the time singing their songs to
th«* sun god (Tas-o-Tham).
Finally, on the afternoon of the third
dur nn immense herd of nnteJope np-
penred on a low hill not far distant.
On their appearance the chief magician
arose and said to the others: “What
ever these animals do our people must
do likewise; they nre spiritual and have
boon sent by the great sun god.” While
the medicine men were looking the an
telopes paired off and passed on. As
the last pair disappeared the chief ma
gician again spoke.
He said: “Return to your homes
snd then let each man consult with his
neighbor and Ik? content with one wom
an (ova) for wife. That will appease
and gratify our sun god. Continue to
prohibit plural wives, and the death
spirit will abide with us no longer.”
The people were very reluctant to break
up their polygatnlsh homes, but. being
driven by fear of death, they consented.
It is a known fact that, the Indinns
gave up polygamy long laffore tho
Jesuits arrived In this country. Rut
the nlsdltion of the practice has wrong
fully been attributed to the influence of
the Jesuit fathers.
Strange ns it may appear, witchcraft
wnsneitherknown nor practiced among
the Indians prior to the advent df the
Jesuit fathers. The first martyr to
witchcraft was an old Indian woman
who lived alone with ft blind daughter
about ten miles from San Xavier. She
was put to death for stopping the water
running down the Santa Cruz. A short
distance from this woman’s house the
water sank. Where the water disaji-
|H*nred some of the Indinns saw the
old woman digging holes in the sand
with her hands. That was sufficient ev
idence of witchcraft against her. She
was arraigned, condemned and burned
at the stake. Finally Jhe medicine men
got too assiduous in the hunt after
witches. There were too many human
bonfires l>clng made, so the people
changed the proceedings and burned,
several medicine men. From that time
to the present day, instead of accusing
human beings of witchcraft, the pres
ent generation of Indians accuse and
find witches In nnimnis—dogs, cow* and
horses—and in many cases they find
witches in inanimate things, such ns
stones, rags and sticks.—Tucson Citi
zen.
Cream of the Crop.
Mr. Phineus Rent was well known In
the small village where he lived ns a
man ever ready to stand up for what he
considered his “rights.” He owned a
large, barren field on the outskirts of
the town. The grass, like the soil, was
thin and scanty, while the stones were
large and superabundant. One year,
when the season for road repairs came
round, the workmen gathered several
barrowfuls of stones from this field,
and used them to fill In a bad gully In
the road. “I reckon Mr. Rent will bo
willing to pay us a little something for
picking them up,” suggested one of the
men. Rut, much to their surprise, ho
considered that his rights had been in
fringed upon. “The town will have to
jwiy for those stones,” he announced.'
“They haven’t any more right to go into
my field and pick up stones than they
have to go in there and pick up po
tatoes.’’ The morning after be dis
covered his loss he was seen at an early
hour sitting beside the road near tho
field. lie was munching a good-sized
doughnut, and explained fo a jMutser-by
that he didn't have time to finish his
breakfast. “I believe in looking after
property when you hnp|>en to have ■by,”
he explained; “and the way thing* hro
now, folk* will take the cream of the
■rop off a field without saying a word
about it”—Youth’s Companion.
TIi* Kegro Death Rata.
At a recent conference held at At
lanta university there was a discussion
in regard to the alarming increase in
the death rate of negroes in cities and
large towns from such diseases ns con
sumption and pneumonia, and it was
decided to collect data on the subject,
with a view to finding a remedy.
Little Queen Wilhelmina of Holland;
la learning to ride • bicycle.