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BY JAS. P. HARRISON & CO* A Y AMIABLE ART. The art of manufacturing sunshine, for the benefit of those whose minds have been oppressed with' gloom by re* it erated disappointments In' life, by af fliction, by the pains, penalties and pri vations of poverty, etc., is certainly such an art. The people of Quitman, in thecotrh* ty of Brooks, are experts in the exercise of this art. On a recent occasion they diffused lots of sunshine through the domicil of our beloved pastor, by a sur prise party, of which a report was made through our columns. On Christmas Eve, (December 24th), they caused rays of sunshine to radiate from a huge Christmas tree, which they planted in our Courthouse, by means of which the countenances of many of our juveniles, anxious housewives, disconsolate maid ens and their elder brothers, were ren dered luminous with joyful anticipa tions of better times to come. On the 28th of December an enter tainment was given, consisting of tab leaux, charades, music, etc., under the auspices of some of the angelic sisters of the Methodist church, for pmrposes purely benevolent, which evinced that neither charity, nor the sunshine she sheds around her, are confined within the pales of any ecclesiastical sect. Another entertainment of a similar character, attesting the same fact, and further illustrating it, was given on the evening of the 31st December, for the benefit of an old, infirm preacher and his affiicted companion, which shed such a bright light around them that the parties principally benefited there, by saw, or fancied they saw, the hand of a merciful God manipulating the heartstrings of the practitioners of the happy art of which we are speaking. May our readers, old and young, ac quire a knowledge of this happy art, and daily exercise themselves in the practice of it. To the Churches Connetted with the Georgia Baptist State Convention. Dear Brethren —The report of the Sabbath-school Superintendent and Evangelist, is here before you; it speaks for itself. It is a witness to your fidel ity, to the Sabbath-school cause, and an evidence of your noble co-operation with our worthy laborer. Stringent as is the financial conditiou of the State, the pecuniary necessities of the com mittee have not been forgotten, and the receipts have been almost equal to the expenditures. Your continued help is earnestly solicited. Respectfully yonrs, A. T. Spalding, Chairman of Committee. January 10th, 1876. REPORT OP REV. T. C. BOYKIN. Rev. A. T. Spalding, Chairman, and Others, Members of the Sabbath-School Committee : Dear Brethren. —As you know, more than a month was spent around the bedside of my dear daughter dur ing the summer. Since that time I have been away from my family almost un interruptedly, till the Christmas holi days. During September and October my time was occupied in attending As sociational meetings, almost entirely. I am glad to report that nearly all are now working in harmony with us, and most of them are well organized. In November and December I was engag ed in holding a number of mass-meet ings and institutes, and have made only two extended tours during these months. The following is a summary of work performed for four months : Associa tions visited, 15 ; churches visited, 41; letters written, 348; miles traveled, 2,- 679 ; schools organized, 6; sermons de livered, 42; addresses delivered, 122. I am happy to be able to say that the contributions are nearly eqi al to expen ses. Several Associations sent up fuuds for our work. The outlook is very en couraging. Respectfully submitted, T. C. Boykin, 8. 8. Superintendent and Evangelist. —• ■ For the Index and Baptist.J AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT. Received, through J. P. Harrison & Cos., the sum of $lO, from a sympa thizing brother, whose name I am not authorized to report, but it is well known to our Heavenly Father, who has graciously promised to reward lib erally those who bestow gifts on a dis ciple in the name of a disciple, and I have ever found Him, during the more than half a century I have been en gaged in His service, a faithful and covenant-keeping God. Jos. S. Baker. —A Baptist church was constituted Sunday before last in Emanuel county, near Pendleton creek, with sixteen members. The name is “ Hopeful.” The Christian Index. INDEX AND BAPTIST. Publication Rooms—27 and 29 So’uth-Broad Street JSECULAR JIDITORIALS. THE GOVERNOR’S MESSAGE. Governor Smith’s message to the Legislature of this State, at the open ing of the present session, is a lengthy document, worthy the perusal of every citizeit. The major ; ortion of the message is devoted to an exposition of the present status of the State Treas ury, and a survey of our finances dur ing the present administration of the State. The whole matter is an intri cate one, that will require the utmost skill and the calmest consideration, on the part of our Legislature, to unravel and adjust satisfactorily to all con cerned, and to compass, parattiountly, the safety of the public credit, and the common weal. The message states that ex-Treasurer Jo.’.es is liable, on all accounts, in the sum of $291,969.95. The Governor renews his recom mendation of last year, to prevent in jury to the public interest by any un authorized negotiation of State secu rities, suggesting that all the bonds re cognized as legal and binding on the State, issued during the late adminis tration, be withdrawn from circulation, and that other bonds, of similar amount and of proper tenor and effect, be issued in lieu thereof. The income of the University of Georgia, during the collegiate year, amounted to $38,858.70 —the expend itures to $38,150.35. The Governor is satisfied that the State Agricultural College is well managed, and recommends additional appropriations. The growing efficiency of the Public Schools is enlarged upon. The views of the Commissioner are concurred in relative to the propriety of establish ing Normal Schools. He recommends an appropriation of a portion of the School Fund for the establishment of at least four schools in the State for the education of teachers. The public benevolent institutions of the State are alluded to as prosper ous, and their administration economi cal during the past year. 391 convicts were received into the penitentiary ; the number in the same December 31st, lilt., was 926. Par doned, 16 ; deaths, 49 ; escaped, 53. The message recommends a complete reorganization of the penitentiary; a reform should be made at once. In regard to the Macon and Bruns wick railroad, now the property of the State, the Governor says that the Com monwealth has been already reimburs ed for the cost of construction, that it is a valuable road, and that if pur chased or leased from the State, it should never be allowed to loose its present character as an independent route. The Department of Agriculture and Geological Survey, is complimented for its efficiency and usefulness, and additional appropriations are asked for. The State Board of Health, whose first annual report is submitted, is characterized as highly important to the general welfare, and the passage of a law is recommended which shall secure the desired statistical informa tion for health reports. A measure is also recommended, directing the manner in which all amendments to the Constitution shall be submitted to a vote of the'people The message states that the public, credit has steadily improved; the public debt is smaller and will be fur ther reduced; that the State tax is small, compared with that of other States; sixty per cent, of the taxes are levied by the counties for local purposes, taxes induced by the ravages caused by the late war, and the in crease of crime and litigation, resul ing from the emancipation of the col ored race, which has added largely to the expense attending the administra tion of justice. Though the past season has been unpropitious to the farmer, planter and merchant, and all classes have suffered from depression in business, the outlook is, nevertheless, cheering, Literature Secular Editorials Current Notes and News. ATLANTA, GA., THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1876. with the State government in the hands of our own people, and in creased appliances and means for the promotion of the common interests and the general good; in view of these fact the message concludes : With all these, and the countless other helps and advantages we possess, it V .‘ll be our own fault ifwe dotlot, at an early day, relieve ourselves of the heavy burdens under which we now labor. These burdens were placed upon our should Of S, for the most part, by unfriendly hands. The duty of the hour is to remove them, and not to re pine over the past. Our public debt is small, compared to ouf vast re sources. 1 hen, calling to our aid, courage, patience and self-denial, let us labor earnestly to advance the interest of the Commonwealth, confident, in the meanwhile, that a just and merci ful Providence will eventually right the wrong and reward the right.” LITERARY GOSSIP. Among some books lately sold in London, is a rolled manuscript o£ the Hebrew Pentateuch, acquired a few years ago in a synagogue in Palestine. It was written in the twelfth century, on sixty skins of leather, and measures one hundred and twenty feet in length by two feet two inches in breadth. The Hon. Robert H. Pruvn, of Albauy, owns a copy of the Book of Psalms, piinted at Mayence, in Ger many, in 1478, by Petrus Schaeffer, the son-in-law and apprentice of Faust, and another volume printed at Venice, in 1476. Both books are well bound, and compare favorably with the typog raphy of the present day. —A. S. Abel & Cos., proprietors of the Baltimore Weekly Sun, offersl,2oo in prizes, to the authors of the six best stories furnished for publication to that paper, by March Ist next. The best story will receive a prize of SSOO. The stories are to be American, and contain no allusion to the late war. —Mrs. M. J. Preston’s last volume of poems, “ Cartoons,” has met with eminent success in the literay circles of the North. Longfellow, Whittier, and other standard poets, have written to her expressing their congratulations at her “ perfect success.” Several first class Boston literary journals devoted an entire column to a review of the volume. The first edition was sold in three weeks. Airs. Preston ranks first among the female poets of the South. We are proud of her, and of the splen did manner in which she is illustrating the literature of our section. —Miss Braddon, the noted English novelist, is residing in elegant style in an Elizabethan villa near Richmond. She is unpretentious and practical, and devotes her time to her household du ties and her writing desk. She has coined a fortune out of her brain, and is now enjoying the fine results of her labors with the pen. Music.—The College of Music which has been recently established in New York city, with an endowment of $11,000,000, five mil liams of which wtre subscribed by Mr. Daniel Hopkins, is another example of the vastness, the magnificence, which eminently ciiaracterize the public undertakings of Americans. It seems that the material grandeur of our country, its vast prairies, its cloud-capped mountain chains, its unrivaled lakes, its majestic rivers, conspires to invest the active brains ofour peo ple with the elements of greatness, arid imbne its inventions and inceptions with the pur ple of royal supremacy. Jt is scarcely to be conceived what theprop | er administration of such an imperial endow ! uient will achieve in the interest of thisclassic art, or the power such an institution will exert in advancing and fostering its principles, and in maintaining its professors and votaries. As a monument of wise application of wealth to wards the promotion of the beautiful,perse, this College of Music will stand for ages to come in unique splendor. But we look upon its wide influence upon the popular taste for the art, its dissemination of principles, its ability to raise and fix a higher standard than has heretofore obtained, as its prime claim to the regard and unqualified endorsement ,of intelligent men and women. There is no nobler art than mu sic, when considered as a refining, elevating, passion-dispelling power, or one to which the heart of the masses inclines more readily for solace and recreation ; hei.ee, this effort to es tablish its manifestations on the grandest possi ble scale deserves our respect and admiration. The hone that sets an edge on the husband man s scythe helps him to mow the grass. NEW BOOKS. Abbott’s Commentary on the New Tes tament.—From Mr. R. L. De Lea, Agent for A. S. Barnes & Cos., Publishers, New York, and whose headquarters are with Messrs. Burke & Cos., No, 20 Alabama street, we have received a copy of this beautiful and valuable work. The notes and comments embrace the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. The book is appropri ately and elegafitly illustrated with Bible scenes and objects' of interest, elucidating the habits, customs and domestic life 01 the people, and lias accurate maps of lands and cities. Kev. L ymaii Abbott, the author, is thor oughly competent to perform, satisfactorily, the profound critical labor to which he has devoted his pen in this work. It is a scholarly, exegetical review of the inspired text, drawing critical sustenance from every possible source, ancient or modern, and embodying, in brief, all that the researches of Biblical scholars and antiquarians have been able to acquire, relative to the subjects which are, and should be, of unspeakable importance to the heart and the mind of every Christian. The order maintained in the work is admira ble, and the aid it will afford to every consci entious student can only be appreciated by those who carefully peruse these pages, and di gest their wisdom and erudition. The author truly says: “No work is more delightful than that which throws ns into fellowship with .great minds; of all works, the most deliijfcijil is that which brings us into association vK/m the mind of God, This is the fellowship to which the student of the Bible aspires. I can have for those who use this book no higher hope than that they may find in its employment some of the happiness which I found in its preparation, and that it may serve them as it has served me, as a guide to the Word of God, and, through that Word, to a better acquaint ance with God himself.” And this, by a prayerful and studious consid eration of its rich and varied matter, the work will assuredly do. Explanatory—“ Leah Mordecai.” The Index wishes to withdraw the un due prominence given the above work in last issue. While we would not de tract from the merits of the work, whatever they be, the inappropriate nees of the review, to the reading columns of The Index, renders this apology to our readers necessary. Our work is not to commend novel r fiction reading, and the article in question ought not to have had edi torial prominence, hut should have ap peared, ;f at all, in the business col umns of the paper. Personal.—We were gratified dur ing the week by a call from our much esteemed friend and brother, Rev. G. A. Nunnally. He is in the enjoyment of good health. Brother Nunnally is one of our most devoted, zealous and successful pastors and preachers, and we are always sincerely glad to grasp him by the hand. Rev. J. S. Jordan has resigned the pastorate of the Sixth Baptist church in this city. -——-——- . THE FA RMER'S SON. A farmer and his little child Walked out one summer morn, Through meadow-land and forest-land, And fields of golden corn. “ Seo, child,” the sturdy farmer said, “ How fair the growing grain ! Twill mako tliy father rich and free When winter comes again.” Then plucked he at the golden corn. The little, gentle lad, And kissed it: “Bless the corn,” he said, “ That makes my father glad.” “ Nav, child he smiled upon his boy ; “ The fair grain does its best; Yet as it grows and ripens here, Obeys but God’s behest.” Then raised the lad his little hand, And bared his curly head ; “ Bless God, he loves my father dear, 80 loves us all,” he said. The sturdy farmer's eyes were wet, “ Amen !” then whispered he, “ ’Tie rare I pray, but bless the Lord, Who gave my son to me,” GEORGIA YEWS. Rev. Theodore Koberle, formerly of Atlanta, is the now pastor of the Ger man Lutheran church, in Augusta. —A greater amount of land has been sown in wheat than ever before, and the wheat prospect is excellent. —The Newnan Weekly Blade is a handsome paper, and evidently handled by energetic men. The first number appeared January 15th. —Long Cane claims to be the ban ! ner district of Troup county, because, up to a few weeks ago, not a white man 'd taken the homestead, and now, only one has taken it. —A Male High School is to be es tablished in Newnan. —Suit has been commenced by the Governor against ex-Treasurer Jones, for the recovery of the alleged de ficiency in the latter’s accounts with the State. —The feeling to call a convention for the revision of the Constitution is growing throughout the State. —Mr. Henry Temple has been elected Mayor of Milledgeville. —Corn sold at 55 cents per pushel at Lincolnton a few days ago, at publiQ outcry. —The Lumpkin county gold mines are prosperous. —Tunis G. Campbell, the noted ne gro whose case before the State and Federal Courts has excited some at tention, lias finally been sent to the penitentiary. —Violets and hyacinths are in full bloom in Athens. —The Gainesville Eagle says, the Legislature ought to pass a law taxing every pistol in the State $5. This would bring more revenue in than the tax on dogs, and would help to clear out one of the greatest nuisances that ever cursed any country. —The following are the officers of the Hall c runty Agricultural Society for the current year: John Dorsey, President; W. R. Bolding, Vice Pres ident ; G. G. Thompson, Treasurer; A. M. Cochran, Secretary. O. B. Thomp son, J. E. Redwinc, and W. R. Bold ing, were elected delegates to the State Agricultural Society for the present year. —Rev. James D. Anthony has asso ciated himself with Mr. Medlock, in the publication of the Sandersville Georgian. —The next session of the Georgia Teachers’ Association will be held in Savannah, May 2d, 3d aud 4th. —The Greensboro Herald says farm ers generally have supplied themselves with labor for the year, and are paying wages to a large extent. We are glad this change has been made, and hope it will eventually be the rule. —The Ellijay Courier of January 12th, says: We hear there is now green com knee high on Flattop Mountain, some twelve miles from Ellijay. —Capt. T. M. Jones has been elected Mayor of Dawson. —Rev. Mr. Lockwood, formerly of Hawkinsville, will have charge of the Methodist church in Bainbridge the present year. —A very interesting meeting of the Western Georgia Co-operative Grange, was held at Long Cane, on the sth in stant. The meeting of the delegates was he Id in the Baptist church. The meeting lasted several days, and many useful addresses were made on subjects of vital interest to Georgia agricul tuie. —The LaGrange Reporter has the following venerable paragraph: Mrs. Margaret Johnson, who lives with her son, in Heard county, near the line of Troup, was the first white woman that ever lived in Troup county. Her deceased hus band, Mr. Nicholas Johnson, was the first clerk of the Inferior Court of this county. She is 81 years old, and is the youngest of seven children, and she has a gourd which her mother prepared and used in her early womanhood. This would make it consider ably more than a hundred years old. It is polished very highly and shines like mahog any. —The Sandersville Herald says : The leading Granges of this section are taking steps to form a “ Co-operative Asso ciation.” Application will be made to the State Legislature at an early day, to have it incorporated under the name of the “Mid dle Georgia Association of Patrons of Hus bandry.” From the Irwaiton Southerner we clip the following : On Tuesday night, the 28th of December, a party of disguised negro kuklux, went to the house of Jake Coney, a peaceable, law abiding, well-to-do negro farmer of Laurens county (respected by the whites for his hon esty, and his efforts to control the evil pas siousol his colored friends) and shot a valu ab 0 horse belonging to him, and fired seve ral volleys through the window where Jake was, with the intention of killing him, but which fortunately failed. They then fled. Suspected parties were arrested, hut not be ing identified, were released. ~ . —A dastardly outrage is reported bv t,he Hawkinsville Dispatch. It says. A negro woman living near Cochran, standing in the door of her own cabin, was brutally murdered by unknown parties. Tw> men, on horseback, rode near the door ana called for the woman’s husband. She re plied that he was sick. The men then be gan firing, and as the woman ran to the. door to take her child away, a pistol ball struck her in the stomach and produced death. An inquest was held by Coroner Aaron Dixon, upon the body of the unfor tunate woman, but no evidence could bo ob tained as to who committed the deed. Every exertion is being made to discover the vil lainous murderers. S3 A YEAR IN ADVANCE. GEORGIA FARM NOTES. A “ Georgia farmer” givc-s in the following as his experience in making bacon : Early in the season I planted an acre of good productive land in speckled peas. These I cultivated well; as soon as the peas began to harden I turned my hogs upon them for an hour or so every morning. T never saw hog# improve so fast in all my life. This pea patch, together with the pasture, after my oat crop had been ha?rested, lasted until I could open a, field where the corn liad been gathers#* After pastures, peas, potatoes, &c., had been eaten out, I put my fattening hogs upon corn for a short time The result was, that instead of being, as feared in the first part of the spring, short <jf meat, I made art abundance of excel lent bacon sufficient for three years; better meat I nevei raised in my life. —The next semi-annual meeting of the State Agricultural Society will be held at Brunswick, on the Bth day of February next, and will remain in session three days. Dr. Pendleton says that his report upon the opera tions of the experimental farm will be the most interesting one he has yet made. It will be a detail of the experiments ot the past year to ascertain the cost of production of cotton and the cereals, considered with respect to the three elements which enter most prominently into their production, viz: food, labor and fertili zers. —At a recent mass meeting of the planters of Burke county, it was resolved that of the three classes of labor, the wages system was the best; that the share system should be aban doned. They also resolved that farm labor in a cotton country is necessarily of twelve month’s service, and should be so engaged. The giving of Saturday as a rest day was pronounced mis chievous and demoralizing, and so was the practice of certain merchants in purchasing seed cotton. They then pledged themselves not to plant over fifteen acres of cotton to the plow, or pay more than sixty dollars a year to a field hand. Grapes. To the Editors of The Gkoboia Gbanoe : In your issue of the 18 ult., in 'your brief reply to questions relative to the above fruit, you have expressed felici tously a peculiarity of it, in your state ment as follows: “The same grape will vary considerably on different premises in the same neighborhood.” Allow me to add something I have learned in regird to this. Redding, in his book on wines and wine-making in Europe, has desscribed the wide*dif ference in the value of wines made of grapes of the same kind, and the vines propagated the same way, in the came neighborhood. On this account, some vineyards are worth several times as much as others near them. All at tempts by special culture, to force the inferior up to equality have failed. There is a striking instance of this in the old and flourishing Dutch- English settlement, back of Cape Town. The wine of the Constantia vineyard there has lohg ranked among the very finest European, commanding enormous prices in the market. This stimulated the people to set out many vineyards, so that a considerable quan tity of wine is made for exportation ; but none approaches the Constantia in quality. An interesting account of this is given in Murray’s Encyclopedia of Geography, which may be found in the Young Men’s Library, of Atlanta. Grapes that are not excellent for wine, may yet do fairly for the table ; for which latter purpose it is richly worth cultivating them; indeed, the training of vines for the two purposes is widely different in some localities. Mr. Redding writes that the finest champagnes are made of grapes small and shrivelled, that look worthless for eating; the vines are topped so low that the branches grow within a foot or so of the ground—the object, I sup pose, is to have the fruit ripened partly by the warmth of the soil, as well as by the direct rays of the sun. The vines which produce the generous Port wine are, also, low and scrubby; are described as looking like gooseberry bushes. In the numerous and extensive vine yards of Cincinnati, when wine was first made in large quantities in the United States, the vines are allowed to grow about five feet high, and are set about six feet apart. Writers on the subject recommend eastern, southeastern and southern de clivities as being much the best for vineyards, and they cannot be too steep. Indeed, an economical feature of grape culture is that they may be grown to perfection on land entirely too steep and stony for the plow and sickle. Thus in Portugal, the grape district is so mountainous and rugged that it was difficult to construct roads through it. The Cincinnati vineyards are very steep. It behooves those who drink wine in our country, to promote the making of it by our own peopie, if they would avoid that which is filthy ; for if trav 'ers are to be believed, the bruising of v 1 grapes, for making even some of the most noted wines— Burgundy and Por*, for example— -is lothesome in the evtren : gangs of laborers tramp the fruit with their hare feet. borne of the best European vineyards are worth several thousand dollars per acre. Q. C. Player. Decatur, Ga.