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VOL. XXIII. NO. 5.
The Cartersville Express,
ENfetblislicd Twenty Years
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Advertisements will be inserted at the rates
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A ddress, S. A. CUNNINGHAM.
A Fohletl Leaf.
A folded page, old, stained and blurred,
I found within your book last night,
I did not read the dim dark word
I saw in the slow-waning light;
So put it hack, and left it there,
As if, in truth, I did not care.
Ah ! we have all a folded leaf
That in Time’s book of long ago
We leave; a half-relief
Falls on us when we hide it so,
We fold it down, then turn away,
And who may read that page to-day ?
Not you, my child ; nor you, my wife,
Who sit beside my study-chair ;
For all have something in their life
That they, and they alone, may bear—
A trifling lie, a deadly sin,
A something bought they did not win.
My folded leaf! how blue eyes gleam,
And blot the dark-brown eye I see ;
And Golden curls at evening beam
Above the black locks at my knee.
Ah me ! that leaf is folded down,
And aye for me the locks are brown,
And yet I love them who sit by,
By best and dearest—dearest now.
They may not know for what I sigh,
What brings the shadow on my brow.
Ghosts are the best ; so let them he,
Nor come between my life and me!
They only rise at twilight hour;
So light the lamp and close the blind.
Small perfume lingers in the flower
That sleeps that folded page behind.
So let it ever folded lie;
Twill be unfolded when I die !
BILL ARP SERENE.
Brother William Has Done “ All These
Things,” So He Knows Farming
Is the Best.
( From the Dixie Farmer. )
I RECKON it’s all well enough for mv
friend, Mr. P., to show up the ugly side of
a farmer’s lire, for I don’t want to mislead
anybody, and have them blaming me here
after for enticing them into trouble. So 1
think it’s about fair for them to split the
difference between him and me. But I have
an idea that Mr. P. never did anything else
but farm, and so he magnifles all of its little
troubles and looks on the bright side of
every other kind of business. It is very
natural to do that. An old Roman by the
name of Horace wrote something about it
two thousand years ago —for he said, “ I
wonder what makes a man always discon
tented with his own trade, and thinks he
could do something else a great deal better.’
Now, I know from the way Mr. P. writes
he is a smart man and a philosopher, and
just as amiable and sentimental as I am ;
but then, you see, I have tried so many
things, and seen the good side and the had
side, that I am, I reckon, in a better frame
of mind to appreciate the comfort and in
dependence (and will say the morality) of
farming than he is. When I was a car
penter, I worked for a dollar and a half a
day, and my employer begrudged the time
I lost in whetting my plane-bit and sharpen
ing ray saw ; and I cut my leg with a foot
adze, and fell down a two-story ladder, and
had a fight with another workman because
I told him not to spit tobacco on the new
floors. Then I tried selling goods for a few
years, and learned a heap about the bad
side of human nature, and if I didn’t learn
how to lie right straight out, I found a good
many ways of suppressing the truth. I
bought my goods on six months’ time and
sold ’em on twelve, and I made a good
many bad debts, and my books had a heap
of entries of “G. T. TANARUS.,” which stood for
“Gone to Texas.” Somehow, I couldn’t
refuse a friendly man credit, and would
dodge around and get out of it. I remem
ber, one day, old John Midlin came in and
wanted a pair of shoe-pinchers. He was a
shoe-maker, and never paid a debt in his
life ; but then he was always so humble and
friendly, that I told lmn we didn’t have
any shoe-pinchers. The old rip looked dis
appointed, and, as he meandered round the
store-room, he saw ’em upon ihe shelf, one
pair on the outside of the paper as a sampled
Why, William,” said he, “ there are some
pinchers.”
But I rallied in time, for I was a-wetch
ing him; and says I, “Well, John, you
don’t want them ; they are solid steel, and
will cost you two dollars and a half.” Then
he wanted to see ’em, and I reckon he saw
that the price on the paper was cents;
but he just remarked, quietly : “I’ve al
ways warted a steel pair, and I’ll just take
these along.” I never charged ’em at all,
for I couldn’t afford to lose two dollars and
a half on the books by such a man as old
Midlin ; but I always thought they were
mighty well sold, if I never did get the
money.
After while, I got tired of the ups and
downs of the business, and competition was
cutting down profits, and so I quit and
wound up, and found that I was about even
and had a whole lot of bad debts, besides,
that needed a lawyer. So I concluded I
Would study a little passel of law myself
and attend to my own business, even if I
had a fool for a client. So I perused Mr.
Blackstone and two or three other books for
two months, and then me and another fel
low. who was rich and wanted the name of
ala wyer as an ornament, were examined
together. I did know a little something,
hut he didn’t know anything; and when
Howel Cobb wrote out the reports of the
committee, the Judge read one of ’em, and
said to the clerk, “Swear him in—swear
him in,” and I heard him whisper to Cobh,
“ if anybody is fool enough to employ him,
let ’em do it.” When the clerk called up
the other fellow, I was greatly relieved, for
it turned out that my report was quite satis
factory, considering. So I stuck out my
shingle, and cavorted around the Justices’
courts considerably. I got along very well
for a while, and if I had stayed there I ex
pect I would have been a lawyer yet, hut I
moved over into anew circuit and found a
new set, and before long I found out that
most of them could out-trick me, and out
lie me, and out-slander me, and so I turned
my attention to politics, and got to be an
Alderman and a Mayor, and went to the
Legislature, and in that way caught up
with my professional brethren. When the
war came on, I jined the army ; and after
the war wa3 over, I tried to merchandise
again on a capital of twenty-one dollars,
and made some money ; hut I invested it in
an orchard and a vineyard on top of a
mountain, and soon lost all I had made.
Next I run a little newspaper awhile, and
liked it pretty well; but the Printers’
Union came a ong, and my printers wanted
to dictate their terms to me and run the
machine, and so I got demoralized and quit.
Well, I am farming now, and am com
paratively happy. I say comparatively, for,
you see, I compare it with everything else
I have tried to do, and it is the best—a
good deal the best. The fact is, I have lost
so much time and money, and had so much
trouble with other things, that I don’t mind
these little crosses my friend P. tells about.
Nothing less than a house-burning or being
ground up in a gin will set me back very
much. Too much good luck makes a sort
of a fool of me, anyhow, and I ain’t right
happy unlese I have a little trouble to settle
me down like ballast settles a ship. Such
little episodes as a mule with the cholic or
the team running off the bridge just keep
up a pleasant sensation ; but I don’t want
any Jersey bulls about my premises, nor
impudent darkeys, and I won’t have ’em.
I gave the mule several different kinds of
medicines and rubbed him with a rail, and
he got well; and I patched up the runaway
wagon. But when a mad bull bores a hole
in a man, there’s no remedy for it in these
parts. I don’t fancy these Jerseys much,
nohow. I woulbn’t give my old-fashioned
red cow for any of ’em. I reckon every
farmer ought to haye one Jersey cow to pet
and make yellow butter; but for plenty of
milk and good beef, the other sort is the
best, to my opinion.
So I am calm and serene, and Mrs. Arp
keeps amiable, and the children reasonably
hilarious, it don’t matter much what hap
pens. I am not going to hunt round for
trouble, and if it comes, Pm not going to
commit suicide; and if I am found sud
denly dead anywhere with a bullet-hole in
me, I want my friends to call the track
dogs, and go for the fellow that done it,
without stopping to st if I didn’t do it
myself. Yours, Bill Arp.
Cartersville, Ga., Jan. 29,1880.
Select Your Breeding Stock.
Clark Talley, in Poultry Journal.
Every careful breeder of fancy fowls
will, during this month, make his selections
and mate his birds for the breeding season
of 1880. It is well understood that our
best breeders, who have given years of care
ful thought and study to this subject, know
how important it is that fowls be properly
mated during the first or second month in
the year. They want what might be called
a good “send off.” New beginners may not
understand that their success as breeders
depends almost entirely upon this very
point. To those who have lately become
fanciers we will give a few hints. What
ever your success may have been the last
season, you should abate no effort to biing
your feathered pets to a higher degree of
perfection. This you can do by selecting
from your flock only such birds as carry in
marked degree the points of excellence for
which you have been aiming. Remember
that any defect or imperfection in your
breeding fowls will be shown more or less in
their progeny.
The law of hereditary transmission holds
good in breeding poultry as well as in the
higher order ol animals, and you may set
it down that if you want good chicks next
fall, you must secure good breeding stock
this winter. And the sooner after Christ
mas you mate your fowls, the better pre
pared you are for next season’s breeding.
We are all aware that one chick hatched in
March or April and raised, is worth three
hatched and raised in June or July, or
nearly so. We would advise all young fan
ciers to get their stock together early, and
see to them well during the bitter cold
weather. Feed regularly with scalded meal,
middlings, etc., say once each
hot with red pepper, or oftener. A little
precaution just at this season will give sat
isfaction hereafter.
PpoWING should be done only when the
soil will crumble loosely; when the plow
smears the upturned surface, the soil will
be injured. Yet to “ make haste with cau
tion ” is advisable.
A FARMER should think in advance of
his work. The whole plan must be laid
out in the head, before the hands are put to
GARTERSYILLE, GA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1880.
Poultry and Egg Product Profitable in
the South.
Poultry Journal.
It is not a little singular that in all that
has been said in favor of a diversification
of crops for the cotton States, and for
all that has been recommended, so little
emphasis has been put upon the breeding,
raising, and feeding of poultry, and egg
production. This is, perhaps, partly be
cause it has been regarded as small busi
ness, and partly because of the weakness of
the negro for the white man’s chickens
and the chickens of his more forehanded
brethren.
To the first objection, it may be said that
all, or nearly all, great things, and especially
great agricultural industries, begin small,
as witness the condition of the dairy in
terest forty years ago, or even twenty —and
the cotton interest, even, before the inven
tion of the power gin ; and to the second,
if care is not taken to house nightly and
securely fasten up from marauders their
contents, there can be no such thing as profit
in the poultry business in any country. We
do not fear that the negro will commit “flat
burglary ” to gratify his weakness for his
neighbors’ chickens; and if, in the cotton
States, breeders will take as much pains in
looking after their fowls as those of the
North, they will suffer quite as little from
thievery.
South of thirty-eight degrees, and clear
dowu to the Gulf of Mexico, lies a soil and
climate admirably fitted for poultry produc
tion, and whenever the fact is well under
stood and acted upon, this portion of the
country will have as near a monopoly of
the poultry business as the corn and cattle
States have of beef and pork productions.
Just now, in the chief commercial centers
hereabouts, like Louisville, Cincinnati or
Chicago, eggs are quoted at from 18c to 25c
a dozen, and will so continue to be all win
ter long.
This winter demand for eggs, the South,
by soil and climate, should be abundantly
able to supply ; and when her farmers shall
have so added to these great delicacies in
quantities sufficient to meet the Northern
and European demand, they will have no
reason for dismissing the subject of chicken
breeding as a small and unprofitable busi
ness.
Turkey Raising.
For some years I have followed the time
honored practice of putting the first lot of
turkey eggs under common hens to hatch
and raise, each successive year bringing its
share of death, disease, and consequent dis
appointment in the size of the flock in the
fall, regulated by the season as it was favor
able, or the reverse. My’coops were built
large and roomy, and kept clean as possi
ble, but every rainy time was death to more
or less of the little “moslems” in spite of
all precautions.
Last spring we had about two hundred
and fifty with hens when the rainy spell
came on. After suffering the usual experi
ence, a council of deliberation was held,
when the conclusion was arrived at that
there was nothing to be lost, and perhaps
something to be gained, by letting the tur
keys raise their own young. Accordingly,
after that, as each one hatched, she was
placed in a pasture lot with plenty of shade
and range —bidden God-speed and good
luck. Wet mornings they were fed early,
and rainy days often, to keep them from
wandering. After the insect season was
fully inaugurated, no feed was given. The
result was highly satisfactory, as the size of
the young flock testified. Some of the old
ones raised every one they left the nest
with. Henceforth my plan will be to set a
hen at the same time as the turkey, giving
both clutches at hatching-time to the tur
key, and discard all coops. My experience
last season has shown me that I can raise a
much larger percentage of young at much
less cost of money and trouble than by the
old plan. In short, turkeys are like In
dians in one respect —to be contented and
thrifty, they must be allowed to follow
their natural propensity of roaming—al
ways being within reasonable bounds. — Ex.
Not less than six millions of eggs are
annually consumed in the glove leather
manufactories of France and England.
The usual method of making this descrip
tion of leather, known also as alum or
white leather, is to immerse the prepared
skin in a solution of alum and salt in equal
proportions; but where elasticity and soft
ness are required, as for kid gloves, very
much care and attention are necessary.
The skin having been first softened ir. lime
water, has to be many times washed, and
worked in pure water, and afterward in
fermented bran liquor. Yolks of eggs,
flour, alum, and salt are the materials
with which the skin is made into soft
leather, and it is then dried, worked over a
round, blunt knife, and after a second wash
ing and softening with yolks of eggs, it is
ready to receive from the dyer the beauti
ful colors so well-known to the public in
the manufactured article of gloves. It is a
fact not generally known that the most per
fect manufactures of this kind in the world
are carried on at Annonav, a town about
fifty miles from Lyons, France.
A Cheap Green-House.
The cheapest plan of erecting a green
house, says the Germantown Telegraph , is to
dig out a pit in a side hill where the upper
end will be just above ground, and the
lower end two or three feet below the
ground, where the door must be, with two
or three steps down for an entrance. Wall
up, roof the wall, and cover the whole with
sash, as in hot-beds, the sash having more
sail, say three feet in a width of ten, the
house being fifteen by ten. Erect in this
the stand of shelves, and when it is time to
take up the summer plants, bulbs, etc.,
store them here. The glass should be cov
ered with thick straw mats, which can be
removed, even when the weather is coldest,
in clear weather, for an hour or two at mid
day, to get the warmth and influence of the
sun. At such times, ventilation also should
be attended to by slightly opening a sash or
or two. No fire is needed. Nearly all
readily flowering plants will bloom, and
there will scarcely be a week during the
winter that a bouquet may not be gathered,
if the hou§e is properly managed. The
summer is the time to make it, and have it
ready for the fall.
Legends of the Rose.
In the neighborhood of Jerusalem is a
pleasant valley, which still bears the name
of Solomon’s Rose Garden, and where, ac
cording to a Mohammedan myth, a compact
was made between the Wise Man and the
genii of the Morning Land, which was
writ, not in blood, like the bonds between
Faust and Mephistopheles, nor in gall like
our modern treaties, but with saffron and
rose water upon the petals of white roses.
In Paris, in the sixteenth century, an edict
was issued requiring all Jews to wear a
rose on their breast as a distinguishing
mark. In the Catholic Tyrol, in the pres
ent day, betrothed swains are expected to
carry a rose during the period of their be
trothal as a warning to young maidens of
their engaged state. Roses have played,
and still play, an important part in popular
usages in many other parts of the world.
In Germany young girls deck their hair
with white roses for their confirmation, the
entrance into the world, and when, at the
end of life’s career, the aged grandmother
departs to her eternal rest, a last gift in the
shape of a rose garland is laid upon her
bier. Julius Caesar, it is recorded, was fain
to hide his baldness at the age of thirty
with the produce of the Roman rose gar
dens, as Anacreon hid the snows of eighty
under a wreath of roses. At mid-Lent the
Pope sends a golden rose to particular
churches or crowned heads whom he de
signs especially to honor. Martin Luther
wore a rose in his girdle. In these in
stances the rose serves as a symbol of eccle
siastical wisdom. A rose was figured on
the headman’s axe of the Voelimgericht.
Many orders, fraternities, and societies
have taken the rose as their badge. The
“ Rosicrucians ” may be instanced. The
“Society of the Rose,” of Hamburg, an as
sociation of learned iadies of the seven
teenth century, is a less known example.
It was divided into four sections, the Roses,
the Lilies, the Violets, and the Pinks. The
holy Medardus instituted in France the
custom of “La Rosiere,” by which, in cer
tain localities, a money-gift and a crown of
roses are bestowed on the devoutest and
most industrious maiden in the Commune.
The infamous Duke de Chartres established
an “ Order of the Rose,” with a diametri
cally opposite intention. At Trieviso a
curious rose feast is, or was, held annually.
A castle was erected with tapestry and
silken hangings, and defended by the best
born maidens in the city against the attacks
of young bachelors; almonds, nutmegs,
roses, and squirts filled with rose water, be
ing the ammunition freely used on both
B " les ' ... .
Glazed Pots for Plants.
Glazed pots are condemned by most
writers. The majority of these writers are
green-house men, or those with but little
experience with growing plants in the dry
air of our parlors and living-rooms; and
in watering, those in glazed pets would
naturally receive the same supply as those
in common porous pots alongside. The
evaporation from the porous pots would
take place much more rapidly than from
the glazed, and the one would be comprra
tively dry while the other would be still
wet. The next watering repeats this pro
cess, and the result is quickiy seen. The
plant in the glazed pot perishes at once, or
drags out a sickly, miserable existence.
Glazed pots can be used with good results
in the parlor or living-room. If the drain
age is good, so that the suplus water can
pass off, there are many plants that will
grow well in them. To this it may be
added that many people are very irregular
in watering house plants. They forget to
attend to it until the dry and parched ap
pearance of the earth admonishes them of
their neglect. Of course, the plant in the
unglazed pot suffers worst under this treat
ment, for the earth gets dry from top to
bottom, while, in the glazed pot, the great
bulk of the earth, being protected from
rapid evaporation, may remain tompara
tively moist, though the top is dry.—Jour
nal oj Chemistry..
A GREAT need in the South is grass for
early grazing and hay. Some of the native
grasses that have been fought and struggled
with for years as weeds are now found to be
of great value. By smoothing ofl’ a piece
of grassy land, and using some fertilizer
and encouraging the growth, a home sup
ply of hay may be secured. It is often the
case that a treasure may lie neglected under
onr feel, and some of the Southern grasses,
long neglected, can be turned to profitable
use.
—Corn burnt on the cob, and the refuse
—which consists almost entirely of the
grains reduced to charcoal and still retain
ing their perfect shape—placed before
fowls, is greedily eaten by them, with a
marked improvement in their health, as is
Bhown by the brighter color of their combs,
and their sooner producing a greater aver
age of eggs to the flock than before.
Household Recipes.
CELERy Sauce. —Cut a head of celery
very fine, boil in a very little water until
perfectly tender, then add a teacup of milk,
piece of butter as large as a hen’s eggs,
flour to make it the consistency of cream,
salt. This is very nice for fowl.
Salab Dressing. —Yolk of one egg, two
tablespoons milk, three of vinegar, one of
butter ; stir over the fire till scalded, pour
over raw cabbage or lettuce.
Jelly. —Plum, Siberiau-crab, peach and
apple, are made as follows : Bruise, cover
with water and boil; to each pint of juice
half pound sugar; boil, skim, try a little
in a saucer; if it jellies, put into your
glasses, let cool, cover with sugar and paste
white paper on top.
Strawberry and Blackberry Jelly.
—Crush the fruit and warm, but not boil
it, strain over night through a cloth —one
pint juice, half pound sugar—boil twenty
minutes.
Currant Jelly.— The currants should
be picked first week of ripening ; crush,
heat gently half an hour, strain, boil and
skim the juice; then measure. To one
pint juice add one pound, or, three-fourths
pound of sugar, heat together for ten min
utes, try in a saucer; if not done, boil a
little more; pour into the glasses while
hot.
Raspberry and Strawberry Jam.—
Wash the fruit, mash, to one pound berries
one pound sugar, boil a half hour, stirring
constantly ; when of good thickness put in
glass jars. Strawberries need only three
quarters pound sugar to one of juice.
Pineapple Marmalade.— Pare and
grate; take equal parts sugar and fruit,
cook slowly until clear.
Boiled Onions.— Peel either out of
doors or near the stove, or hold under
water, cut half way through the stem end,
parboil, then boil in milk and water ; when
very soft, drain, add a little cream, butter,
and salt.
Y egetap.le Oysters. —Scrape, slice thin
and boil tender in about half as much
milk, let it boil up, season with butter and
and salt and serve with crackers.
Winter Squash. —Cut in quarters, re
move the seeds, bake, then remove the
crust and scrape out the pulp, put into a
kettle with a little cream, a good piece of
butter, salt and mash.
Summer Squash. —Cut in thin slices,
steam, strain the water out through a cloth,
put into a small pan with a piece of butter
and a little salt mash and serve.
Green Corn Fritters. —Grate fresh,
soft, sweet corn; to every pint add one cup
milk, two eggs beaten, a little salt, flour
enough to make a batter ; drop on a griddl e
and bake thoroughly. They must be quite
flat to cook through.
Asparagus. —Cut the tender portion of
asparagus into inch pieces, boil in as little
water as possible, add a little cream, butter,
and salt; a beaten egg may be stirred in if
desired.
A Bale of Cotton to the Acre
That nothing else will ever supplant cot
ton as the great commercial staple of the
South, is now an established fact. The
means of making it lucrative is the grand
one of the hour; we have got to double
and triple its yield by fertilization, labor
saving machines and more rigid economy.
We are now cultivating twelve millions of
acres to get five millions of bales; two-fifths
of this quantity of land ought to turn out
as many bags ; with deep preparation, ma
nure and supefior culture, we should make
a bale to every acre —thus saving the ex
pense of cultivating seven millions of acres.
These we can partly sow down in grain and
grass, and let the balance rest and recuper
ate, The cost of raising the five millions
of bales would be less than one-half of
what we now pay out; and ten cents a
pound will give us a handsome net income,
much greater than we now realize; and in
return we should have fine horses, mules,
cattle, hogs, sheep and goats reveling on
our green pastures, and swelling our profits.
Colton, naturally, ha3 a tap-root that seeks
its food deep down in the soil, and hence
subsoiling is necessary in preparing the
ground ; the ordinary shallow culture forces
a different habit, the product is necessarily
reduced. Never, until we approximate to
wards the maximum production by raising
a bale to every acre planted, will we find
time and opportunity for laying the founda
tion for increasing profits in the future.
When we arrive at this consummation, pro
ducing meanwhile all the eatables for man
and beast, we can gradually improve our
buildings, fences, tools and farm imple
ments.
Atlanta Always Happy.
Bill Arp, in the Constitution.
I’ve been ruminating on your railroad
boom, and I hope you will excuse me, but
I can’t help being amused at your people.
It don’t matter what happens, an Atlanta
man is ready to swear it’s all right, and is
bound to help build up Atlanta. Well, it
does look so, for somehow or other she
keeps a building-up. I admire that sort of
faith and complacency. It makes your Dec
pie lively and amiable. It don’t matter
who builds railroads,or buys them, or leases
them, or whe.ethey run to, Atlanta is the
objective point and is bound to get the juice
of it. I thought, from all the talk and
fuss, that Atlanta was the place all these
railroad kings and magnates were aiming
for, and they didn’t know there was any
other place at this end of the country, but
it looks now like they were going through
S. A. CUNNINGHAM.
without stopping. Thirty-six hours from
St. Louis to Savannah ! Maybe they will
stay long enough in your town to take sup
per, that is unless the schedule fits Big
Shanty better. But Atlanta is all right,
and is bound to magnify, though the people
who live outside have discovered several
other towns between the Atlantic ocean and
the Mississippi river. King Cole and Gov.
Brown seem to think that Savannah has got
a bigger harbor and can accomodate more
vessels than Atlanta or most any other in
land town. I know it’s a big thing to call
a town a railroad centre, but it is a bigger
thing still for it to be the end—the jumping
off place—that is, a jump from the land to
the sea.
LIFE.
Whence came it? and what is its
design ? Did it come at the call or
beckon of man, far away back in
olden time? Or was it brought
about by the science of man ? or
the scientist of the age ? Here it is,
in more forms than you can think
of, or mention. Raise your eyes
and behold that sun as it rides
through the heavens, on the power
of God’s -word, whose brilliance is
beyond the capacity of your eyes to
endure to stare it in the face for any
length of time, yet it is busy diffus
ing life, light, and health to almost
all things on earth. There, too,
floats the murky clouds, from 'which
often leaps the glaring lightning,
accompanied by the loud pealing
thunder, by which the sturdy old
tree which, perhaps, has stood the
storm for hundreds of years, is sud
denly shattered to splinters, yet the
refreshing rain descends from this
gloomy mass and satiates the burn
ing thirst ©f the fevered earth.
Look out and see that tiny blade
of grass, which has just sprung up,
warmed by the sun and nourished
by the rain, it points its slender leaf
upward, as if in praise cf a higher
power that gives it these blessings
in bringing it into life, but they
only assisted in bursting the seed
pod, and letting its contents escape
j into life. That stately old oak, that
has been so long coming to its mag
j nificent stature, had in like manner
its life let loose from the acorn, that
I held it enclosed within the shell,
! but that acorn had hid the life, as
commanded, and carried it over
from the parent tree, which now has
gone back to mother earth. Behold
| yonder orchard with its delicious
fruit hanging from every branch ;
every tree but a few short months
ago, when winter held its sway,
looked forsaken, barren, and dead,
but when spring came, the bright
rays of the sun, together with con
; genial showers of rain, revived the
i apperantly dead tree to action and
! to life, and the branches were cov
ered with beautiful flowers, from
which this luscious fruit came.
The fish of the waters, the fowls
of the air, and the beasts of the
held, together with every living
thing, all have life and action, and
how or when did it come? Was
man or anything else consulted be
fore it was bestowed upon them ?
Then life is here, we have it, and so
the best possible use should be made
of it while we can control it, for if
we do not control it well, we may
suffer severe loss in the consequence.
The sun has never been known to
darken any place on earth or else
where, but is ever shedding a bright
light upon all things within its
sight, so this life should never cause
trouble to any while we control it.
There is plenty of work to do in
trying to brighten our own and the
paths of others, and make them as
pleasant as possible, as well as
praiseworthy and profitable to all
around. As sweet music never
sends rough or unpleasant sounds,
so it should be the study; never to
send out unpleastant ways or words
or even unpleasant looks. While
this harmony is conducive to health
and long life, it swells chords of
love, peace, and joy, which ascend
and give praises to the author of
life, for his every good and perfect
work. And while this great Crea
tor has given everything, save man,
to be under the control of man, he
certainly should be at work to do
his part as well as the maker, and
have everything done decently and
in order, and nothing done in a
rough or bungling manner. So life
cannot be thrown to the winds or
lost, so that man is not accountable
for the manner he uses it. All
| should go to work to make it a suc
| cess in as good a manner as the sun,
! by diffusing light and help all
around. There is a sublimity in
human life, beyond the power of
words to describe. The invisible
connections that are so interwoven
with it cannot be explained by r the
philosopher or sage. The main
thing, however, is to learn to con
trol and use it in such a manner as
will be useful to the holder, and
honorable to the giver. Life pro
duces action, from which springs
works, and works show wbat the
producer is, and where he stands,
telling his character and disposition
more plainly than anything else
can. Lord, help us to live aright.
Jasper.
_____ ——
There is no conquest without a
combat,