Newspaper Page Text
PROFESSIONAL, CARDS.
R. 11. JONES,
ATTORNEY AT RAW,
ELBERT9N, GA*
Special attention to the collection of claims, [ly
SHANNON & WORLEY,
ATTORNEYS AT RAW,
ELBERTON, GA.
WILL PRACTICE IN THE COURTS OF
the Northern Circuit and Franklin county
fi@”Special attention given to collections.
J. S. BARNETT,
attorne y at raw,
ELBERTON, GA.
” JOHN T. OSBORN,
ATTORNEY AND COUNSELOR AT LAW,
elbekton, ga.
"\T7 ILL PRACTICE IN SUPERIOR COURTS
V V and Supreme Court. Prompt attention
to the collection of claims. nevl7 ’ Iy
A. E* HUNTER,*M. H.
PRACTICING PHYSICIAN
Office over the Drug Store,
ELBERTON, GEORGIA.
WILL ATTEND PROMPTLY' TO ALL
cases. j>ng22,6m
EIAkIrTON BUSINESS G’ARDS^
J. F. AULI)
ANUFACT’R
ELBERTON, GEORGIA.
WITH GOOD WORKMEN!
LOWEST PRICES!
CLOSE PERSONAL ATTENTION TO
BUSINESS, and an EXPERIENCE
OF 27 YEARS,
He hopes by honest and fair dealing to compete
any other manufactory.
Good Buggies, warranted, - $125 to $l6O
REPAIRING ANDBLACKSMITHING.
Work done in this line in t very best style.
The Best Harness
TERMS CASH.
\ v22-l v
THE REAR RIVE
Fashionable Tailor,
Up-Stairs, over Swift & Arnold’s Store,
ELDER TON, GEORGIA.
8©”Call and See Him.
T. M. SWIFT. J. K. SWIFT.
THOS. M. SWIFT & CO.,
Dealers in
GENERAL lEICIA ME
At the old stand of Swift & Arnold,
ELBERTON, GA.
EESPECTFTLLY SOLICIT A CONTlNU
ance of the patronage hitherto awarded
he lions , piomising every effort on their part
to merit the same. jan.s
THE ERBERTON
DRUG STORE
fl. 0. EDMUNDS, Proprietor.
Has always on hand a full line of
Pure Drugs and Patent Medicines
Makes a specialty of
STATIONERY
PERFUMERY
Anew assortment of
WRITING PAPER & ENVELOPES
Plain and fancy- just received, including a sup
ply ot LEGAL CAP.
CIGARS AND TOBACCO
of all varieties, constantly on hand.
NEW STORE! NEW GOODS!
I. Gr. SWIFT,
Will keep on hand
FLOUR, MEAT, LARD, SUGAR, COF
FEE, HAMS, CHEESE, CAN
NED GOODS, &c.&c.
And other articles usually kept in a first-class
Provision Store, which will be sold
Cheap for CASH and Cash Only.
F. W. JACOBS,
HOUSE & SIGH PAINTER
Glazier and Grainer,
ELBERTON, GA.
Orders Sclicited. Satisfaction Guaranteed.
CENTRAL HOTEL
MRS. W. M THOMAS,
PROPRIEIRESS,
AUGUSTA GA
SEND 25c. to O.P. ROWELL & CO., New York
for Pamphlet of 100 pages, containing lists
of 3,000 newspapers and estimates showing
cost of advertising. ly
THE GAZETTE.
New Series.
IN EARLY AUTUMN.
It was a fair day in August, and at a charming
villa by the seaside upon the coast of Normandy,
that two really excellent people were doing their
little utmost to make themselves wretched for
the rest of their lives. The one was a General
Morrison, a gallant soldier who had won credit
and renown in the wars of India ; the other was
Mrs. Oldfield, his first love, a proud-faced hand*
some lady, in all the latest ripeness and splendor
of mature beauty. The gentleman was some
what the elder of the two, but he was also the
lightest-hearted, and there was even a sort of
reckless flippancy in his manner which by no
means sat well upon him. The expression of his
features, like that of most men habituated to
command, was perhaps usually a little over-stern
and haughty when in repose; but to-day he
seemed restless, flighty, and even trivial in hie
behavior. The lady looked sorrowful and de
jected, with an undercurrent of pique, mingled
with resentment, flowing through her feelings
and troubling them.
Around them was everything which could
make one of the pleasant holidays of existence
delightful. The air was pure and soft, the
scenery enchanting; they were in the midst of
garders, and flowers, and tall trees, with the sea
glittering like molten silver full in view of them.
At the gates of the villa, on the old Norman
road which led to Caen, were a pair of saddle
horses, in charge of an English groom dressed
within an inch of his life. One of the stately
creatures was a spendid Arab from the stud of
Notireldin Meerza, of Bagdad, which the general
hud brought home with him from India ; the
other a tboroughbied from one of the best sta
bles in Newmarket—not fast enough for the
turf, but a marvel of strength and symmetry.
The groom sat stiff and upright in his saddle, a
verymodel of patience, butthe Arab horse pawed
the ground and stamped with all the wayward
ness and capricious irritation of a spoiled child
at being kept so long waiting. Now he tossed
his mane over his eyes, as though making ready
for a wild romp j now he lifted his arched neck
upwards and snorted fractiously; then he
stretched himself downwards, whinnied, and
beat his two forefeet over each other as playfully
as a young grayhound, while his coat of golden
bay, trimmed with black points, shone in the
the sun like satin.
‘‘You will have a sad old age,” said Mrs. Old
field to General Morrison, as he tried for the
third time to take letve of her, because, it the
truth must be told, he had lately been fancying
himself ia love with Lady Strange, a decided
widow of a military turn of mind and a fortune
quite vexations from its overgrown bulk and
awkwardness. Itwas rumored that Lady Strange
had tin-mines among other unintelligible pos
sessions. Poor woman !* sfie was really only a
fit wife for a house-and-land agent, but the cav
alry officer was in full ch se of her. Poor man!
“Why so? Why shall I ever be a dreary old
fellow ?” asked the general in a combative mood,
though he knew well enough what she meant.
“Because,” answered the lady, slowly, as she
buttoned her left-hand glove with nervous,
twitching fingers, “because you change old
friends for new—acquaintances. This is a bad
bargain,” she added; and there was anger in
her eyes rather than in her voice, which had a
bantering tone with subacid flavors.
The general tapped his spurs pensively with
the point of his riding-whip, and then-involun
tarily cast a glance in the mirror opposite.
It was an excellent glass, for the villa belong
ed to Mrs Oldfield, and she had it fitted up by
Duval under her own diiection,and for the pro
motion of her own happiness. The glass, there
fore, into which General Morrison looked was
the best which good taste could select or money
could buy. It was artistically hung, too, taking
its lights through a rose-colored curtain, and it
told truths as gracefully as the most accom
plished courtier.
The general saw his own figure and that of j
Mrs. Oldfield reflected in it with extreme satis
faction. He felt like a man who had awaited
good news, but who had received even better
tidings than he expected. The glass told him
boldly that he was tall and still straight as a
poplar-tree, and there was a certain cavalier
grace about him that was very martial and win
ning. His companion, too, was a miracle of
loveliness seen through that glass, though her
woman’s pride was sorely humbled, for she had
been cruelly affronted.
The fact is, these two had been quarreling for
at least a week past, and had regularly teased
each other every day m the way that people will
do when they are secretly dissatisfied with them
selves. After all, Lady Strange and her tin
mines only vexed one side ot the question.
There was a German poet, who appeared made
up of all hair and eyes ; he was bothering on
the other side, and the general had seen him at
it. Indeed, for the matter of that, he might
have seen the German poet iu full employment
then, had be looked towards the seashore, for
there stood that queerly-dressed individual on
the lookout for what Providence might send him.
Presently Providence sent him Lady Strange,
with her chaperon, Miss Fawkes, mounted on
donkeys and attended by their courier. The
poet joined them. Mrs. Oldfield noted down
ibis treasonable behavior inwardly, in her wo
man’s way. She was not jealous. No, she did
not love the German; possibly Lady Strange
did or would. They were both of the same age,
and Germans have a weakness for English wo
men of property. What did it matter lo her?
Nothing ? No—nothing !
David Morrison had loved Clara Beaton for
thirty j-ears or thereabouts. He had loved her
ever since they had both been children, gather
ing blue-flowers amidst the heather, and maybe,
amusing the unconscious grouse, till her father,
a cantankerous nobleman with an eye-glass,
who lived beyond his imans, came down ts blow
the birds’ heads off, beyond the reach of his
creditors, as soon as Parliament was up and he
had no more votes 10 sell that year. They had
loved each other all through their school-days,
playing at blind-man’s-buft' together every Eas
ter, and wondering at magic lanterns in company
on Twelfth Nights. Miss had often made young
David an apple-pie bed when they had both
passed their holidays with Mrs !Morrison,an aged
and hospitable kinswoman, who saved parents
trouble and charmed tier own solitude in a
Partashiro glen by the whims and prattle of
pretty urchins. One glorious Summer they had
played at story-bcoks.agame of theirown joyous
invention in an inspired moment; he had called
her “i.illy,” while sne nicknamed him “Orson,”
| for she was a young lady of disposition rather
domineering than complimentary. Then came
a heavy Whitsuntide, which left its shadow on
many weary years of their after-lives. Clara
j had been at first mighty prim and grand, as
! though she had grown out of sight and ken of
S David. Then all at once she had become very
, soft and tearful, so that she had cried a whole
evening on his shoulder, beneath anew moon,
while the lilac-3 and violets only pitied them.
Nobody ever knew what had passed between the
young things, as their young hearts were torn
ESTABLISHED 1859.
ELBGRTON, ft A., WOV’K 15,1876.
assunder; but Clara got a fearful scolding trom
Mrs. Morrison, and three weeks afterwards she
drifted clean away from David to marry Mr. Old
field, an elderly roan who took snuff and kept
money He had not a large fortune, but it was
something well worth having, as Lord Beaton
remarked when he gave his daughter away with
his blessing, after having negotiated, ot course,
for the usual pecuniary assistance which was
the price of his lordship’s good-will in every
transaction of life It is only justice to the frec
harded noble to add that he very handsomely
offered his bond to Mr. Oldfield for the money
he borrowed; but “What, is the use of that, my
lord ?” answered the latter gentleman, who had
been a solicitor and knew the value of a peel’s
sign.raanual by hear3ey or by experience.
Mr. Oldfield had died, a ter an extremely mod
erate enjoyment of matrimony, possibly from a
generous consideration of his wile’s prospects,
possibly because he could not help dying. Cer
tain it is that he really had been so good as to
obligingly depart from a scene where he was not
wanted, so that his wife and her former sweet
heart had been judiciously-enabled to meet ag-vin
with the perfect approbatian ot good society.
Some flirtation had thereupon most promptly
ensued between them, and that was followed by
events which had greatly annoyed the German
poet. Nvertbeless, on mature reflection, Gen •
eral Morrison had deluded himself into a bad
belief that he could take his well-advertised
uame and the remainder of his attractions to a
better market than the seaside villa, which Mrs.
Oldfield had bought out of her dower on the
coast of Normandy, when she r asonably elected
to settle in France after her husband’s demise.
In pursuit of his object to dispose of himself on
the most advantageous terms, the general had
cast his eyes on this Lady Stiange, the young
widow of a highly respected permanent person
who bad amassed a stupendous fortune on a
small salary in Downing Street.
General Morrison smiled as he looked compla
cently on his stalwart figure and well-formed
features in the locking-glass ; but presently Mrs.
Oldfield, who seemed to have divined his
thought, drew the window-curtain suddenly
aside, and the pitless cross-light of an Augest
afternoon pouring into the apartment showed at
o glance that the general’s hair was not only
becoming thin and contrary, but that there were
some abominable crow’s-feet round the coiners
of his eyes. David Morrison had a coneientious
vaht, but these truths were plain in spite ot
Atkinson, Truffit, and Poole, who had done their
best for him and more.
“Age,” then observed the lady, with much
blandness, as she plucked a flower from her fresh
est nosegay, which overhung a toy-fountain of
perfumes in the centre of her boudoir table,
“never becomes ridiculous till we forget it. I
shall take to caps soon.”
“I protest against your theory,” answered
General Morrison, turning his eyes away from
the dazzling cross-light, while much of that
conquering hero aspect he had hitherto worn
passed away from his deportment. “I like rath
er to fancy it is a duty we owe to society to con
ceal the impertinences ot time, and to remain
young as long as possible. Old age is as unat
tractive as youth is captivating.”
“Youth, yes. Not the mimicry of youth. Age
should not need to charm by false pretenses, but
should have won love enough already to make
friends pardon his deformities. Still, as you say,
‘fancy’ is a gayer guide than truth ; and women
should never moralize.”
“I do not see why age should be ugly,” re
marked the soldier, uneasily shifting his posi
tion, and speaking as though he had swallowed
an almond with the shell on it.
“Nor why middle-age should be sometime ab
surd,” replied the lady. “Perhaps not; but the
world is very unkind to wrinkles, and the fewer
conquests we try to make when the heyday of
youth is past the better it wi'l be for us.”
“I remember my father telling me that Tom
Greenville was the only man who dresseil for
dinner at his country house alter a hard election
day; and that a lady wanted to marry him when
he was oldyis ”
“General Morrison ?” interrupted the lady,
laughing.
“Ob, dear, no ; much older tli .n I am,” pur
sued that officer growing warm, for he neither
liked nor understood a joke.
“Y'es; my mother knew Mr. Thomas Green
ville when she was quite a girl,” again inter
rupted the lady more soothingly. “The art of
self perservation, which I understand he carried
into great perfection, consisted, Ibelii ve, in this
—that he always dressed in sober colors, beyond
his age rather then below it. He especially
avoided all artifices of custume, and it was
therefore said that he taught every one how to
grow old. He did not try to make age young
again. Heigho !it is getting very la 1 e Don’t
you think so?”
“Good looks in men or women are always
good looks,” remarked the general, struggling
against defeat as sturdily as lie could, and tak
ing no notice of Mrs. Oldfield’s implied dismissal.
“\Ve are the age we f-eem, the age we feel, the
age we look.”
He pointed his left mustache as he finished
speaking, and tapped with the handle of his
whip upon his front teeth, which were strong and
white.
The lady sighed, and picked the flower sh
had culled slowly to pieces, till all its leaves
had fallen to the ground. Then she looked
wistfully at the bare stalk.
‘ Do you think,” she said, “that any device
could reproduce this rose?”
“Perhaps,” he said, growing weakerand weak
er in his defense ; “I have seen an artificial
flower quite as pretty as a real one."
“Without the grace or the.perfume of ill Prob
able. The only difference between the real flow
er and the other being that the one was lovely
and the other was not.”
“Tush, tush, my dear Lilly!—l mean Mrs.
Oldfield ; upon my word I beg your pardon,”
said the general, with affected bluff'ness and red
denuing as he spoke. When our own youth is
gone, we can rejoice and iclresh ourselves in the
youth of others. It makes us young to live
with the young.”
“I think,” answered the lady, as she still
looked, and now with a half-smile, on the fallen
rose, “that there is a time in life when we are
only happy in the past, in recalling our own
youth rather in trying to share the youth of
others. There is a period when we have better
cheer with memory than with hope.”
The old soldier sat down again. He glanced
remorsefully at the lady as she turned away
from him and gazed upon the common wonders
of her garden, and with such thoughts as women
think when they wander sorrowfully among the
ruins of their existence, and ask themselves
what might have been but for the earthquake or
the thunderstorm which overthrew the temple
Nature had built them tor a sanctuary.
So the twilight slowly deepened into night.
“Farewell,” said the general at length; and
his voice was very grave.
“Good-bye,” replied his old love from the gar
den; and her words came clear and cold at the
spray from that toy fountain beneath the nose
gay-
Then she heard the quick patter of the Arab
horse's feet as he pawed ihe ground faster and
faster, till he went capering away down the road.
Afterwards all was still, and the deserted woman
sobbed as though her very lunirt would break,
murmuring:
“Gone, gone 1 Oh, my love ! Oh, my life ! Oh,
my life's one love 1 Goue! gone 1”
Her proud head was bowed to the dust, as she
moaned with that exceeding bitter cry.
“Lilly !” presently said a shy and penitent
voice which sounded close beside her. And she
started to see that David Morrison had returned
with the old loyal worship of her filling his
soul.
“Orson,” she answered, laughing through her
tears. And their eyes met at last in love and
trust again.
Before General Morrison bad left the villa that
night, their wedding was a settled thing. And
this writer thinks it would have happened in any
case, for Lady Strange ran away the nest morn
ing with a French cornet of dragoons, aged
twenty-one, with whom she had danced the
nightbefore at Trouville; and besides the weath
er is very fine this year on the French coast, so
that il.-assorted marriages are not in fashion.
BOTTLED BUMBLE BEES.
No man can tell when a boy of nine
or ten years is going to break out in a
new spot. A Cass farm lad, who has
been noted for his quiet demeanor and
steady ways, all at once took a notion to
hunt bumble bees. He armed himself
with a wide mouth bottle and tramped
over lots and fields and entrapped many
a luckless stinger. After securing them
he had no further pleasure except to see
them crawl up and down the sides of the
bottle and whack their stringers into
each other. He was out early one morn
ing, gathering in the bees while they
were benumbed, and when he entered
the house for breakfast he had about
thirty great overgrown, wicked looking
bumble bees. They were pabked into
the bottle, heads and tails and other
ways, and the father, catching sight of
them, spoke up:
“See here, boy, I don't want any
more of this fooling around after bees.
After breakfast you heave that bottle
out doors, and don’t bring another bee
around this house.’'
The boy placed the bottle behind the
dining-room stove. There was a gentle
fire, and the bottle had no cork The
family had got through with the first
cup of coffee, when they heard something
going—
“Jing—ring—ding—ong—long—rong
gg-g"
The fire warmed the bees up, and
they leff the bottle to warm the family
up. It was a business affair, and the
bees, went iu to do their best. The boy
slid out at the first alarm, but the old
folks flourished their napkias until slid
ingout would have done no good. The
old gent got a sting on his ear and an
other on his head at the same second
wliiro the old lady was punctured in the
shoulder and yelled “Murder!” with all
her might.
“Maul—maul ’em !” shouted the old
gent, waving the butter dish around and
getting another needle in his neck.
“Police ! Police!” squealed the old la
dy, diving under the table as a big bee
settled on the lobe of Her ear.
It was a very even fight for a while,
but then the man got down cellar and
the woman flew for a bedroom, the ones
deep bass voice shouting, “Gimme the
camphor, BetsyJ” and the other squeak
out, “If y r ou love me go for a doctor!”
No one knows what became of the boy.
He is reported as missing. Seated un
der the swaying head of some stunted
thorn tree on the commons, he looks
longingly toward home, but he realizes
that his reception will be red-hot.
Detroit Free Press.
ENTERTAINING A TRAMP.
Elias Schweitzer, a farmer living near
Beartown, Pa., agreed to entertain a
gentlemanly looking tramp who pro
i’essed willingness to pay for his lodg
ing. After having partaken of supper
the tramp took a cigar and handed one
to his host. They smoked and talked
on different topics until ten o’clock,
when Mrs Schweitzer told the two boys
to go to bed. At this point the strang
er said he would amuse the boys before
they retired. He performed several
tricks which very much amused all. He
said he could take a ball, which he held
in his hand, and place it in the barn
without leaving the room. This aston
isbed them all. He said that if the fam
ily would permit him he would go into
a room up stairs to arrange the bail,
which would not require more than
twenty minutes, and when he stamped
on the floor they were [to go into the
barn, where they would find the ball be
hind a horse, where they kept a curry
comb, wrapped in a piece of silk. The
family being anxious to see the perform
ance, showed the stranger into the best
room and then waited for the signal to
go out. In about twenty minutes the
stamping was heard and the party left
for the [barn and examined the curry
comb box and on the ground, but could
not find the ball, and iu about ten min
utes returned, when Mr. Schweitzer
went up to the room and found it empty
and S7B taken from a drawer.
THE KEYNOTE OP MARRIED LIFE.
Forbearance is the keynote of mar
ried life. There can be no' great dis
cord, there can be no large divergences
from tunefulness, so long as the husband
forbears and the wife forbeai’3. Now
this cannot be attained without some
labor . Results are approached gradu
ally in character, as they are in making
a sand hill. It is grain upon grain,
shovelful upon shovelful, and load upon
load that makes the mound to rise. So
results of character come gradually. An
act at this time, a deed yesterday, a
word this morning, a word to morrow
morning, a cross answer to day, repeated
a month hence, and so on, till at last you
find there is a ridke between you and
your wife’s or husband’s affection.
Vol. Y.-No. 29.
For The Gazette ]
i ORGAN GRINDING XN CHURCff,
Mr. Editor : I noticed some time since
a communication in your excellent paper
on organ grinding in church by “Stinch
comland what seemed to be a reply
fiom “Thinker.” By close examination
any one can, by comparison, see very
plainly that these articles were from the
same pen—that is,“Thinker” and “Stinch
comb ’ were one and the same person.
Now, the Scriptures say, “He that is
first in his own cause seemeth just, but
his neighbor cometh a.:d searcheth him >”
and, “Let another man praise thee and
not thine own mouth ; a stranger and
not thine own lips.”—(Prov.)
It seems to me that someone else
should reply to “Stinchcomb,” and not
himself.
As for the organ in church, I am sure
that “Stinchcomb’’ was as well pleased
as any one, for while Mr. Vickery taught
that school at Stinchcomb that so much
has been said and read about, “Stinch
comb” himself was teaching a day school
in two miles of the church, and “Stinch
comb” left his school to attend Mr. Y.’s
organ school, and was as much delighted
with the music as you ever saw any one
in your life. I can’t tell how much he
did enjoy it; I never saw anything so
completely take a fellow away as did
that music. Had it been the spelling
book or growing gourds I would have
understood it very well, for these are his
favorite occupations. I have seen a young
Caesar or Sambo with his banjo sing and
pick himself away, or his soul seemed to
go out or up with his music ; but it did
“Stinchcomb” more good than that, for
he says it does affect him “powerfully!”
and “religiously,” too, for, he remarks, if
he was going to fight a deadly combat
with an enemy and was to hear a good
tune played on the organ, he would
shake hands and say he had enough ; and
to give an idea how it affects one, he re
lates that he traveled in the mountains
once, and that a big meeting was going
on near the place where he stayed. He
saw a woman who had been to the meet
ing sitting in the chimney corner at
home, barefooted, with her elbows on her
knees and chin on her hands, patting
her foot and singing—
“ Fire in the mountains, run, boys, run 1
Oh, glory hallelujah 1”
He said the ashes would fly up between
her toes nicely as she kept time with her
foot in the ashes.
So you see how earnestly Mr. S. or T.
is in favor of organ music in church, and
you may look for him to be around soon
with a subscription list to buy an organ
for the new church he speaks of build
ing. Critic.
WHY HIS LIFE WAS A BURDEN.
Some time ago Cooley caught a young
man who was about to jump into the
river. As he seized him, he saw it was
Jim Kelly, and he said:
“Why, Jim, what are you trying to
do?”
“I reckon it’s for the best”’ said Jim.
“Perhaps, I’d better not do it, after all.
Why, I was about to commit suicide!”
“Why, what on earth’s the matter with
you ? Are you crazy, or drunk ?”
“No”
“In love may be, and disappointed?”
“No.”
“Well, what’s troubling you?”
“I’ll tell you. It don't seem so much
now; but it bothered me awful awhile
ago. Why, you see I was sitting in my
room and I got to thinking. I thought
if I was to fall in love some time with a
red haired girl, and was to marry her,
and she should give birth to twins with
the same kind of hair. And s’pose those
twins should grow up one named Jacob
and the other Isaac, and s’pose Jacob
should want to go to sea, and we let him
go, and he should get wrecked cn the Can
nibal Islands, and the Cannibals should
take a liking to him, and adopt him as
an idol.
“And s'pose after a while lie should
become a cannibal himself. And s’pose
Isaac he should marry and raise a family
of children, and one of his boys should
go to sea and should be cast ashore on
the Island where his Uncle Jacob was
acting as an idol, and those Cannibals
should kill him, and cook him, and offer
some of him to Jacob, and Jacob should
eat him and want more. And then
s’pose the government should rout out
those savages, and send Jacob home,
and he should have have acquired sucb
a taste for Isaac’s children that he
should get to nibbling the rest of them,
and then start out to clean up the rest
of the family.
“It was so awful that I couldn’t bear
to think of it, and so I thought I would
just block that heathen's game by drown
ing myself before the thing went any
further.”
“But why didn’t you resolve to marry
another woman,”
“That’s so,” replied he.
But he seemed bent on courting an
awful doom, and proposed to Butter
wick’s eldest daughter, who has red hair.
She refused him. And he told Cooley
the next day that lie was cleared up on
the Isaac and Jacob calamity.
[Max Adeler.
GIVE AS A LITTLE OHILD-A POOR
WIDOW’S CONTRIBUTION.
Not long since, a poor widow came
into my study. She is over sixty years
of age. Her home is one little room,
about ten feet by twelve ; she supports
herself by her needle, which in these
days of sewing machines, means the
most miserable support. Imagine my
surprise when she put into my Lauds
three dollars, and said:
“There is my contribution to the
church fund.”
“But you are not able to give so
much 1”
“0, yes!” she exclaimed. “I have
learned how to give now.”
“How is that ?” I asked.
“Do you remember,” she answered*
“that sermon of yours three months
ago, when you told us that you did fiof,
believe one of your people was so poor,
that if he loved Christ, he could not
find some way of showing that love by
gifts?”
“I do.”
“Well I went home find cried all
night over that sermon. I said to my
self, ‘My minister don’t know how
poor I am, or he wottld never have said
that.’ But from crying I got to pray
ing ; and when I told Jesus all about it,
I seemed to get an answer in my heart
that dried up my tears.”
“What was the answer?” I asked*
deeply moved by her recital.
“Only this : ‘lf you cannot give as
other people do, give like a little child.’
And I have been doing it ever since.
When I have a penny change over from
my sugar, or loaf of bread, I lay it aside
for Jesus, and so I have gathered this
money all in pennies.”
“But has it not embarrassed you to
lay aside so much ?”
“O, no !” she responded eagerly, with
beaming face. “Since I began to give
to the Lord I have always had money in
the house for myself; and it is wonder
ful how the work comes pouring in. So
many are coming to see me that I never
knew before.”
“But didn’t you always have money in
the house?”
“O, r.o! Often when my rent came
due, I had to go and borrow it, not
knowing how I should find means to re
pay it. But I don’t have to do it any
more, the dear Lord is so kind.”
Of course, I could not refuse such
money.
Three months later she came with
threo dollars and eighty five cents saved
in the same way. Then came tho effort
of our church in connection with the
memorial fund ; and in some five months
she brought fifteen dollars, all saved in
the little mite box I had given her. —
This makes a total of twenty-one dollars
and eighty-five cents from a poor widow
in a single twelve months. I need hard
ly add, that she apparently grew more
in Christian character in that one year
than in all tlie previous yeais of her
connection with the church. Who can
doubt that if, iu giving, as we’l as other
graces, we could thus become as little
children, there would result such an in
crease in our gifts that thero would not
be room to contain them.—Presbyterian.
AN INDIAN ROMANCE.
In tbe early days of Pike county, Mis
souri, when the cat like panther roamed
the hills and the fleet footed deer bound
ed through tho forests, there lived near
Bowling Green a man named Noah Ad
kins. Realizing the truth of the adage
that “it is not good for man to be alone,”
he took unto himself a wife. This lady
was named Allison, who had a son Wil
liam by a former husband. This son
William was a fine physical man, and not
inferior in intellect. In 1846 he joined
Colonel Ralls’ regiment, in Sterling
Price’s brigade, and marched to the
wars in California, where he took part
in the conflict at Santa Cruz and other
battles. After his return he got into a
quarrel with his stepfather. They ad
journed to Crane's tanyard to fight it
out, and by singular* fatality each shot
the other’s arm off. This affair brought
on a separation between Noah and his
wife, and the latter went with her son
William and her son-in-law, James Rob
bins (dnee a candidate for sheriff of
Pike county), to Independence, Mo.—
Some time previous to this a son John
had been born to Mrs. Adkins, and he
concluded to follow the fortunes or mis
fortunes of his mother. After living in
Independence some time William Alli
son got the contract for carrying the
mails between Independence and old
Santa Fe. While acting in this capaci
ty he was killed by the Indians. The
boy (John) wandered away, and was
captured by the Sioux Indians. It is
rarely that ever a prisoner escapes tor
ture and death at the hands of the sav
ages, but Adkins seemed reserved by
some unaccountable stroke of fate for
another destiny. He became acquainted
with the ways of tho red skins, settled
down to live among them, and finally
became one of their chiefs, and was in
command of one of the detachments at
the Little Big Horn massacre, where
the gallant Custer and his heroic little
army rode into tho jaws of death.—
These facts were related by an old scout
named Cook, who told them in Bowling
Green.
<•
DULL BOYS.
Don’t be discouraged. Slow growth
is often sure growth. Some minds are
like Norwegian pines. They are slow in
growth, but they are striking the roots
deep. Some of the greatest men have
been dull boys. Dryden and Swift were
dull as boys. So was Goldsmith. So
was Gibbon. So was Sir Walter Scott.
Napoleon at school had so much difficulty
in learning his Latin that the master
said it would need a gimlet to get a
word into his head. Douglas Jerrold
was so backward in bis boyhood that at
nine ho was scarcely able to read.
Isaac Barrow, one of the greatest
divines the Church has ever produced,
was so impenetrably stupid in his early
years that his father more than once
said that if God took away any of his
children, he hoped it would be Isaac, as he
feared be would never be fit for anything
in the world. Yet that boy,‘,was the genius
of the family.
If you owe for your paper this is a
seasonable time to pay for it, as we stand
seriously in need of pecuniary assist
ance.