Newspaper Page Text
J. W. ANDERSON, Editor and Proprietor
THE FAMINE.
along the meadow-land
bo rain beat and beat,
d up aloft, the orchard croft,
tnd In among the wheat;
d where the com was standing green,
tnd where the oats were white,
y after day, day after day,
,nd through the dreary night,
p driving flood came down and down,
jntil in sore despair
s people cried, “God stay the tide,
tnd let His winds blow fair.”
r blight was gathering on the whoa*
tnd mildew on the corn,
k oats hung down in rotting brown,
The rye-fields bent forlorn.
K day by day the lowering cloud*
Poured forth their floods, until
L evil spell of hunger fell,
Rud famine had its wilL
Mil rose a cry that went to heaven
ind opened all its doors,
id hurrying forth from South, from North,
tnd up from distant shores,
L agents of the Lord came swift
[Tii succor and to save—
nth corn and wheat, thx ships sailed fleet
(Across the ocean wava
len ceased the wailing cry of woe,
the dread note of despair,
hd hand clasped hand from strand to strand,
jAnd curses changed to prayer.
len knit tho tie of brotherhood.
knd love sprang into birth,
here scorn and sploen had come between
these nations of the earth.
—Nora Perry, in Youth's Companion.
THE LOUIS D’OEi.
When Lucien de Hem had seen his
st banknote raked in by the croupier
id risen from thc roulette table where
, J,,,. « .he „*** r.toin,
|s fortune, collected for this last effort
i retrieve his previous losses ’ he felt a
range dizziness r ■ stealing , r ! over , him • and ,
ought if i he was going • to * fall. n Master- nr f
g „ i himself, limself however, however he he somrht sought with with
isteadv step and dazed brain, one of
. he leather , benches of the gambling , hall ,,
[, pd threw himself upon it. For ° a few ,
[oments he stared blankly J about this
. landestine gambling , house, which
xn
!e had "' a6ted yCarS °. f h ! 8
outh. , He realized . that he was ruined, 1
ist. t, R occurred J to . .- him that ,, . , he . had , at
l ome, in • one of , the drawers of his bureau, .
he i ordnance i pistols -x i which . . , «. his father, . ,.
general Hem, then si mplo 1 i captain, ,■ had , -
o distinguished himself in the attack
Ipon Xaatcha; then, overcome with fa
igue, he fell into a deep sleep.
AVhen he awoke his mouth was drv
bid rarched. He glanced at the clock.
file hands marked on the dial a quarter
|o twelve. He was seized with an irre
istible desire to breathe the night air.
jtising, he stretched himself and looked
[ut into the darkness. The snow crys
b!s sparkled like diamonds when the
[ght fell upon them. A muffled figure
[assed the with a quick step and disappeared
p shadows. An ironic play of his
heinorv brought before him the picture
if his early life. He saw himself, quite
I little child, stealing down to hang his
locking in the chimney corner.
: At that moment old Drovski, the clas
ical Pole, one of the fixtures of thc
(1 ce, clad in a threadbare cloak orna
pented with braid and wreaths of olive,
Ipproached Lucien and mumbled through
lis stained, gray beard: “Please lend me
1 live-franc piece, sir. For two days I
t have not budged from the cercle, and
[or two days the seventeen has not come
ia t. Laugh at me if you will, but I will
lat my head if, on the stroke of mid
pipht, that number docs not appear.”
Lucien de Hem shrugged his shoul
lers. lle had -not even enough in his
pocket to satisfy this trifling demand,
hat the habitues of the place called the
“Pole's dollar. He passed out into
he vestibule, put on his hat and pelisse,
ind descended the stairs with feverish
haste. During the four hours that Lu
[eieu had been in the gambling hall the
snow had fallen abundantly and thc
[street was white.
The ruined player shivered under his
furs, and quickened his pace, but before
he had proceeded many steps he stopped
suddenly »• a piteous sight. On a
rude bench, placed, as was formerly the
custom, near the monumental doorway
of a mansion, a little girl of six or seven,
scantily clad in a tattered black dress,
was seated in the snow. She had fallen
asleep ' there in spite ^ of the cruel cold, ’
and j all unconscious of the falling flakes
that were softly kissing her white lips
and closed eyes, weaving with a magic
hand a pure white robe around her little
form. Her attitude betrayed fatigue
> nd grief, and the poor little head and
delicate shoulder were pressed into an
angle of the wall against the cold stones,
One of her wooden shoes had fallen from
her hangmg foot, and was lying ruefully
before her a'D-"
AVith !...uical gesture Lucien’a
hand Boug‘..i to pocket, but he remeia
tonUtooTr'" forgottlnTornenwith 1
in some which to
tip the attendant at the gaming house,
Moved, however bv an instinctive sense
of pity be approached the little girl
with the purpose of rarrvin" her to some
Place of
the f- lip S l ° C Iirieinedover 1 ° .
thing bright. ^“ablpereon-: It
lo .....-J’or.
-oman.no doubt-in passing had seen
the shoe lyipg before the sleeping child,
®hc Cotunaton Btax
and had put there, with a discreet hand,
a royal alms, that the poor littlo aban¬
doned one might still preserve, in spite
of her misfortune, some confidence and
hope in the bounty of Providence.
A louis! It represented several days
of rest and wealth for tho beggar girl,
and Lucien was on the point of reusing
her to tell her this, when he heard near
his ear, like an hallucination—the voice
of the ^plc—murmuring again the words:
i‘For two days I have not budged
from the cercle, and for two days the
seventeen lias not come out. I will eat
my head, if, on the stroke of midnight
that number does not appear.”
Then this young man of twenty-three
who had never before failed in point of
honor, conceived a frightful thought.
Glancing around he made sure that he
was quite alone in the deserted street
and, stooping, with trembling hand, he
stole the louis d’or from the fallen shoe.
Then running swiftly, he returned to the
gambling house; he reached the top of
the stairs in four bounds, with a blow of
his fist he opened the cushioned door of
the cursed hall and entered at the pre¬
cise moment when the clock sounded the
first stroke of midnight, threw the stolen
louis on the green cloth, and exclaimed:
Full on the 17!”
The 17 won. AVith a turn of his hand
Lucien pushed thirty-six louis on the
red. The red won. He let the seventy.
two louis remain on the same color. Th c
red appeared again
lie still continued to double the stakes,
twice, thrice—always with the same
good luck. He had regained, in a few
turns of fortune’s wheel, the few misera
hie 1,000-franc notes, his last resource,
h. had 1... th. beninniog
seeing. Now > P^g «P 200 or 300
louis at a time, and relying on his fantas
tic llc run run OI of luck iuck, ne he was was m in a a iair fair wav wav to to
regain regam the t,ie fortune loriunc that mav in in such suen a^ew a.ew
y ears he had squandered. He still
P la yeu. H nc e still sum won won. The me blood moou boils nous
in ln his veins- veins, be ne becomes oecomes intoxicated intoxicatea
—ith wlth ff irnod ooa tortune, fortune - be he thrmvs throws, bsn/nrd hapzard
whole handfuls of golden louis upon the
tohlp-with tabto with ft a gesture o-putnrp nf of pprtnintv certainty nnti and dis
gut i5ut in suite s P ll e of of tho tho wild wild feverish levensh ex ex
ritement citemcnt oi of nlnv play, a a red red hot not iron iron w* was
niereincr piercing his his heart heart, He lie emibl could not not divert divert
his his tbnno-htn thoughts from tiom the the little little heo-onr i>c„ ar girl nirl
D
asleeu asieep under unutr the tne snow—the snow tnc child cuuu whom wnom
>.p nenaa > m ,i ,-ohhed oppea.
4 4 She must be in the same place! Cer
tainlv she must be there! In a moment;
y es i when the clock strikes one;
I swear it. I will leave this place.
I will carry her to my own house; I will
her bring up, give her a dowry, loveher
as my own daughter, cherish her always >
always!”
But’ thc clock struck one—tbe quar
ter—the half—three-quarter. Lucien
was still seated at the cursed table. At
last one minute before two, the dealer
rose quickly and announced in a loud
voice: “The bank is broken, gentle
men; enough for to night.”
With a bound Lucien was on his feet.
Thrusting rudely aside the players who
gathered about him, and who were re¬
garding him with a look of envious ad¬
miration, he went out quickly, rushed
down the stair and ran to the stone
bench. At a distance, by the light of
the gas, he perceived thc little girl.
t 4 God be praised,” he cried, “she is
still there!”
lie approached and seized her hand.
Oh, how cold it was 1 Poor child 1
He took her in his arms to bear her
away, The child’s head fell back, but
she did not waken.
How one does sleep at this age 1
He pressed her to his heart to bring
back the warmth to her little body, but
filled with a strange uneasiness, he was
on the point of kissing her eyes in order
to draw her from that heavy slumber,
when he perceived with horror that her
eyelids were half open, exposing the
dimmed and fixed . g,a3sy
e y cballs - ln a
stare. A teirible suspicion as ie
through his mind, he put is mout
c f° se to tbe ^ outb ° 1 c ® 1 ’ n °,, a
^
ie83 c W0D a S[nall for .
tune t0 death . The
’ b
“’f ‘^“^effort . ^ cboked ; s ut
‘ e a " , hemade to
’ the
« r > ° ' )kc {rQm }us drPam on
ieaiue (>f {hc ccrc]e where he
wt ^ fallen lL asleeo , Lvant, a little .. , before , - midnight A
w the being the last to
g °’ the mornin g. ha d. out
<> f Kina “ e of heart fpr the ruincd
spencttnrin, d him t0 rest un .
aisturum. -
. , .
had whitene , t e win ow panes, anc
*ng
a fairy hand ha trace many ac a u
d’Eepagne to cram e "> c rlS ‘ ag
8un Lucien went out an pa ^“ e 13
-
watch, took a bat u 'rea a. ,
to «1»
engagement aa a >o unte^ .
«• •
He has oniy his soidier’a pay buthe gete
along, being regular m his ^btts and
never touching a card. It would seem
too, as if he found some means of
economizing; for the other day, at Algier.
one of his comrades who happened to be
steps behind him in one of the
some alms
8t eep a^ittle streets of Kosba saw him give
to ^ S^ish ctold ^ under^a
i amine hi. gift. He was astoniRiea
COVINGTON, GEORGIA, JUNE 24. 1885.
the generosity, for the poor Lieutenant
I.ucien do Ilem liad put a louis d or in
the hand of the little girl. From the
French of Francois Copper.
A Useful “Prayer-Wiieel.”
The most extraordinary method of
making religion easy to the devotee is
the use of prayer-wheels, which the
1 undit utilized in an ingenious manner
on his survey. Colonel Montgomerie
thus describes the wheel and the way it
was used in the casein question: “It
was necessary, he writes, “that the
Pundit should be able to take liis com
pass bearings unobserved, and also that,
when counting his paces, he should not
be interrupted by having to answer ques
tions. The Pundit found tho best way
of effecting these objects was to march
separately, with his servant either behind
or * n ^ ront °I *-he rcs I °f the camp. It
was ’ course, not always possible to
effect this, nor could strangers be alto
gether avoided. A\ henever people did
come to the Pundit, tho sight of his
prayer-wheel was generally sufficient to
prevent them addressing him. When he
saw j any one approaching, he at once
began to whirl his prayer-wheel round,
and as ad good Buddhists while doing
| that are supposed to be absorbed in re
b gious contemplation, he was very sel
dom lnterru P ted - ' J he prayer w heel
C0nsists . of hollow, cylindrical
a
C0 PP er ba S> whlcil revolves round a
spindle, one end of which forms the
handle ’ Tbe CJlinder is turned b v m " ans
-
of a P lece of C0 PP er attached to a string,
A * llg ; ht tW1Sb ° f the hand make3 th °
Cyllndcr revolve, and , each revolution
u ’P ieSLnts ou ® repetition of tie prayer,
I
the cylinder, (lhe prayer is sometimes
engraved on the exterior of the wheel.)
The prayer-wheels 1 are of all sizes, from
that of lar barrel . , downward; - , but T
a £ e i
those carried • j in • the hand ^ are generally
four or six in height by about
three inches . , in . diameter, ,. . with ... a , handle ,,
projecting . . about four inches . below the
1
hottom of the cj under The ore „ced used
; by ^ the Pundit was an ordinary 3 hand one, -
^ & ^
with the usual Buddhist prayer, 1 ‘Om
mam padme houn,’ the cylinder , had
J J in
side it . long fe slips of paper, 1 1 ! for , the pur- 1
of recording ; the bearings and
pose 1 ® ° num
her of pages. 11 The top of the cylinder
was made large enough , . to allow „ the ,
paper t0 be tak en out when required.
The rosary, which ought to have 108
beads, was made of 100 beads, every
h bead being much larger than , the ..
te f
! otl ; e,s ' The sraa11 bcads wcre ” ladc of
red compositionito mutate . coral the arge
one3 of the dark corrugated seeds of tho
ndras. — The carried . . . the .,
rosary was in
, left , sleeve. , At everv hundreth pace a
'
bead , dropped, , , and , each . , large , bead ,
was
dropped consequently represented 1,000
paces. With his paper-wheel and rosary
the Pundit always manages, one way or
another, to take his bearings and to
count his paces .”— People oj th e World,
The Picket's Instructions.
In thc early part of the war I was on
picket * . , . duty , . on thc Maryland , r , , side of tbe
'
Potomac, the , bridge , .. at Harpers ..
near
Ferry, At that time a kind i -'i of r an armis
ticc existed. The trains on the Balti¬
more and Ohio were allowed to pass,
provided they halted at the bridge and
allowed a guard to go through them.
: My instructions were, when the train
j rounded the curve, to wave my gun three
j times at the engineer, and if he did not
slacken speed to shoot at him and throw
an obstacle across the track. Thc orders
struck me as being so absurd that once
upon being relieved by a raw youth, I
explained to him that he was to wave
his gun three times at the engineer, and,
if the train did not slow up, he was to
shoot the engineer and throw himself
across the track. He replied with em
phasis that he would do no “such thing.”
Upon being repremanded bv the corporal
the proper instructions were g.ven.
About the third day after the assign
ment 0 f tliis duty, Stonewall arrived and
took command of the troops at Harper’s
Ferry. At midnight, while pn post,
some men 0n horseback frora ,he Vir ‘
ginia side appeared, who proved to be
Jackson and some members of his staff,
g oin g th e grand rounds. The general
halted i nd asked me a great man v ^
-
tion8 ' Aftcr inquiring tow I would
challenge cavalry, going.into the mtnu
test particulars, 1 9 he asked what my in
structions . U pon being told ,, to ,
were.
m v sur ‘ inse - bc dld not laa gh ; but
-
asked me, m the gravest way, .f I had
settled upon the obstruction to be thrown
across the track. Thinking he was still
joking, I replied that it was my mten
tian ^ g |j ng upon j t a railroad bar, lying
near ^ took four men to carry).
He asked me then on which side of the
track it would be my aim to throw the
train. As the mountain was on one side
,h. canal ..d ri.ar «. ,h. ..to, !
, lulck|jr ra ,„red: “Into the river, ol
^ ^ ^ ^ commander wa8 .
crank ._^ u , Ae ,, ( Bnouac ,
----
The first daily newspaper was edited
b y a woman, Elizabeth Mallet, m Lon
don, March, 1702 It was called the
Daily Courant. Id her salutatory Mrs.
Mallet declared she had established her
0rdiBa ‘ y ^
contax
A FORGER’S HEAVY HAUL.
Verging: lnurlrrMlf. Xanift for *75,0011
—An Old Crime Ret ailed.
Stored up in the yellow and time-worn
xrchives of the criminal courts of rceerd
i of this city is the material for many a
tomantic or thrilling story. A case may
: b e briefly told involving the names of
j j three prominent New Yorkers, all of
whom are now dead,
In tho summer of 1867 Commodore
j Vanderbilt, although able to count his
w ealth by millions and the real owner of
the New York Central railroad, was af
(icially known in connection with it only
ns a member of its board of directors,
Henry Keep was at that time president
of the road, and the general offices were
situated at Albany, At the same time
Moses Taylor was president of the Nu
Lonal City Rank of-New York, which
was one of the well-known repositories
of the “Old Commodore's” ready cash,
The express business of the Central rail
j road was done by the American Express
company', and it was the custom of the
railroad company to turn over to the
express company for collection all large
checks on banks in this city.
It was quite in the regular course of
business, therefore, that a man dressed
in the uniform of the express company,
and with a large tin box such as col
lectors were in the habit of carrying in
those days under his arm, entered the
City Bank one morning early in July of
that year, walked briskly to the paying- j
teller’s window, and presented a check
ftr th0 railroad company. With all the
composure and apparent haste of a legiti
mate messenger he designated the num
fives » ° to hundreds f .«* desired, and that
having other collections to make in thc
neighborhood f he would go elsewhere
and return in a short time for the , money, /
^ Then , he walkedo.it tt , as , briskly he
as
had entered. The check was as fol
. lows
„ New „ York, 6 July, 1807.
National Citv Bank of New York pay to
the onler of Henry Keep President New
iork Central K. K., seventy-hve thousand :
dollars . C. VANDERBILT. ;
The paying-teller was a young man
named \\ orth, who afterward became a . i
_ well-known „ . caricature . . artist. He turned . -
the the nbeek Chech over over »nd and read lead the the fniiowintr lollowing
indorsement indorsement on on the the hark back. •
Albany. . July T , 8,1867. „
American Express will deliver and collect
HEN&Y KEEP, PresidentN. Y. R. R.
Nothing r about the check justified J the
slightest suspicion of its genuineness
and tbe PW ^ler promptly counted
out the money and arranged it in piles
according to the bills of different de
nominations. ... 1 . resentlv , the messenger
: returned, , opened . , his . box, and holding
. it under , the , window . , asked Paying Teller
Worth to throw the money into it. This
having been done he shut up his box
and hurried out. A few days inter the
ban k officers were astounded to learn
j that the check was a clever forgery.
1 be casc was P laced in th e hands of
two f^tives of thc central office one
of whom was William George Elder.
They began ^ , by seeking • ° a description of
the , pretended , , messenger from , Paving
1 ^ *
Teller Worth. Worth, it appeared, had
noted thc man carefully, and as he even
then enjoyed the reputation of being
j clever with his pencil the detectives
asked him if he could draw a sketch of
tbe man. lie answered without hesita
tion that he could, and at once made a
pencil and-ink portrait in which the
detectives instantly recognized the fea
tures of a well known confidence man
and forger named John Henry Livingston;
also known under the aliases of Lewis,
Matthews and Pe Peyster. Livingston’s
usual haunts were searched, but he could
not be found, and for a time the detec
tiveg wereunable t0 di9CO ver any traced
him M lcr]f , th ^ howevcrj some 0 f his
”
| associa(eSi w] id he had acted
fairly by thcm inasm uch as while they
^ ^ - n th(j prcparations for
trating the crjmc he had run ofT
with thc entire proceeds as soon as he
had secured them, told the detectives he
, tecti^s , . rhioaoo but’ Thither the de
followed, they searched that
d for m d , vith out finding him,
or even any evidences 0 f his having been
therp 'looked
It as if they would have to
'
abanJon the a 9 hopeless, when
^ Qf tW |ucky accidents , vhich
change the destinies of not nations ; rtnc 00 as well u . 0 n aa as
of in( i ividuals served them a happy turn.
For the want o£ 90me thi ng better to do
thcy wcrc driving out OQe afternoon on
tbe outskirts of the city , when they met
, fil)ed
"* ’ lant new . ,, „ nd
11 cn 1 8 1 " To the or
e '
'"'I' 'J'*' r '\ j d not bave been
°." , ° , f be wav visible in
the d e tec tives’ eve
’
. , . ^“hongh. j„ n | v
fteir J u|e to „ c ,r„i n .bo
J >»* bat *’ b a ^ ‘™ lr ■» 'rr “^dr
t P -
torse s Bead ana far
mer. He drew up
house about ten .
U> unload
tectixes . e y '’
,
rrtw" 1 ^^inquire
Se “Z who the
told that no
^ knew. The man was a stranger t.j
- - -
the neighborhood, he had recently !
bought the place, and, with his young
wife, had just come to live upon it. They
remamed in the neighborhood ever
night, and soon satisfied themselves that
lie prospective farmer was no other than
the fugitive forger Livingston. They are
rested him at once and recovered *00,000
of the stolen money, which they found
secreted between mattresses snd in other
places , about , the , , house. 1 lie ,
' remaining
$lo . 000 „„„ had , , , been spent chiefly , . , macquxr- . .
m c property.
Livingston ^ brought back to New
was
lorkand , arraigned . n indictment ...
on an
for forgery in the third degreo before
Recorder * Hackett, in the court of
general sessions, on September 19, 1809.
When placed at the bar he said, “I am
guilty. I want to save every day I
can.” He was sentenced to ten years in
the State prison. He served out his
term and immediately dropped out of
sight after his discharge. Recently an
old man has been engaged in swindling
operations in the West, and it is thought
by the police that it is possible he is Liv
ingston .—New York Times.
A Mud City.
The name of this notable place is not
euphonious, but it is in the heart of Af¬
rica, and in that far-off region Abeaku
tah may have a softness of tone not rec¬
ognizable by us. Round about this dis¬
tant city is a picturesque fringing of
minor settlements, the population of the
city proper and its suburbs coming up
to two hundred thousand souls.
Abeakutah “stands on a granite foun¬
dation nearly six hundred feet above
* a mud ^‘£5^ wall six hundred feet in
P11 “ Th/ iTJntv
I tty a PP earance The twenty miles
-
ciroumferenro circumierenee of oi this tins wall wan incloses mcioses much muen
farming “ ” g land ‘ The interior " ° arrangements °
0 Mud City are said to be more repul- ,
give than otherwise The streets are
narrow and far from clean and , great
iB1 1Ium . b c
irregularity ; prevails. P The homes of the
* 1 f drf d mud 99 and i lke
the wall, they are thatched; ten or even
sometimes twenty rooms are devoted to
family J comfort; Thesesurroundan inner
court where sheen " and ^ goats are kept. /
But they are a busy people 1 in Mud City.
“Trades - earned . , \ primitive ... fash
are on in
ion, ’ and there are‘unions’of smiths carpen
•
ters, dyers , and , potters; over
weavers,
lh ® last two on ,ne women
ru ‘®'- . e ^ y ^ ar e 3 held
and active traffic is . carried on,
^ Bartcr -
women g ]n
fQod J ^ and uncooked , in vegc .
tabl s and in oilg| in shea or tree . butter ,
cotton and , and .
raw grass, many very
creditable ... ,, manufactures , are successfully , „
kept , U P among them—cutlery ,, and , cx
cc!)ent ; eathcr Cowry sbc u s j s t h e ac
ce ted curreney though there may be
cllan , rc . s as it i3 recorded that in 1867
co _ per e oins were U n der consideration,
^'„ reat dea j 0 f bus j ness mus t center i in
Mud City, for caravans go from thence
Jn differcnt directions many hundreds of
mile9 .
'lhe government is simple. “There is
a king, and his functions are entirely ,
elective. A general has charge ol an
army, and there is a sort of legisl ature,
admitting representation from outside
towns, Mud City ran also speak loftily
in the matter of general intelligence,
since they can boast of a newspaper
within their limits, and three religious
societies arc free to enjoy themselves
unmolested, One church steeple is al¬
luded to as having a bell and a mud
steeple, Slavery has been abolished
among them, and commerce with Eng
land established, and everything points
to prosperous conditions.— Bazar.
The Paradise of Skaters.
Holland is the paradise of skaters, its
highways being canals that are covered
with ice nearly half thc year. The ladies
there go shopping on skates, boys skate
to and from school, older members of
the family go to church on skates; the
postman del.vcrs his letters and the doc
tor visits hi> P atk ' nt8 on them - and cveu
the solemn pastor moves on skates when he
visits his parishioners. Dairymaids skate
to town with full pails of which not a
drop is spilled, and farmers’ daughters
s kate to villages with a full basket of
egS* in each hand. During the Spanish
invasion several victories were won bv
the native soldiers, who, on skates, suffi
denly moved on the forces of Alva, ana
a * quietly ret.red to their own camp,
For a period of more than 400 years the
soldiers have been trained to perform ev
elutions on skates.
- »■ -
Antiquity of Arizona.
Many regard the Southwest as a new
country and they look for new things
when visiting the far southwestern land.
But in reality the territory teemed with
an active population, versed in sciences,
in th, ... at go.cc.n,^ In th.
edge of maaulactimag, oaotunaa berore
indeed, and quite probable, .hat Arizona
was a progressive and populous reg,on
when Noah built the ark, when the
Thermopolyae was f 0U ght
when Homer wrote his epics. In fact, it
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ tbat
mav never be known, sacked and pil
laged, neglected and forgotten during
theyeais in whichthe Eaat grew up. _
Tr^ecnpt.
VOL. XI, NO, 32.
LINCOLN’S ASSASSINATION.
""
, pho Washi ton Critic Bay9; Mr . j.
H Pord whoig mana2ing the opera
houge iB tw , cit i3 a b rothor of Mr.
John T Pon , n ho owaod the o!d Tenth
street thcatr( , Mr . JohB T . Ford, on
^ uj ht of lhe llsga9sinfl tion, was in
Richmond, visiting some friends, , . , Mr.
„ Ilarrv Ford ,, , . the ,, . box office. ... A\ ith
was in
h5m wer(j , g Se£sford) who is alsocon -
nectcd with the present Fords, and the
husband . , . of , Laura , Keene,
Miss Keene was then playing an en¬
gagement on Tenth street, the piece for
that night being “Our American Cous
in. Mr. Ford had invited the Presi¬
dent and General Grant to attend tho
performance. The National theatre bail
also extended to them a similar invita¬
tion. Mr. Lincoln accepted Mr. Ford’s
invitation. General Grant could not do
so, because be had left, that day to visit
his mother who was living in New Jer¬
sey.
To a Critic reporter to-day Mr. Ford
said: “Booth, you see, as an actor and
friend of the house, had the full run of
the place. Re could go anywhere he
wanted to. It was the easiest thing in
the world for him to find his way with¬
out hindrance and without difficulty to
the President’s box. He came in once
during the day. 1 told him that we ex¬
pected President Lincoln and General
Grant at the play that night. I al3a
told him that we were going to have
those two distinguished men on one
side and General Lee on the other.
Booth broke into a denunciation of Lee
for having given tip the sword of Vir¬
ginia, which he had promised never to
surrender. He, however, showed no un¬
usual excitement.”
t t Did you see him when he came to
the theatre in the evening?”
“Yes; became in about 8 o’clock. He
stopped at the box office and chatted a
few minutes. He laid a cigar stump on
the ledge in front of him, saying with a
laugh as he did so: ‘He who would this
stump displace, must meet J. Booth face
to face.’”
a When did you next see him?”
*. After the shooting. We heard tho
shot in the box office, but paid no atten¬
tion to it at first. If you recollect there
is a scene in ‘Our American Cousin,’ in
which Sir Edward Trenchard puts a pis.
tol to his head with suicidal intent. The
pistol is snatched from his hand, We,
in the box office, thought that the pistol
had gone off accidentally. But the noise
and confusion which followed, and the
remembrance that the attempted suicide
did not take place until thc third act, 1
made us change our minds, I threw
open the wicket looking from thc box
office upon the stage, Booth was
crouched upon the stage, with a knife in
his hand. He was crouched upon his
side. I saw him get up and run across
the stage, from the rear of which ho
made his escape. I did not hear tho
words ‘sic retnper tyrannis/ They
were used by Boo h in the box. 1 (lo
not think that there is any doubt that
Booth injured himself when he jumped
from thc box. I had, in the absence of
the man who usually attended to such
matters, arranged the box during the
day. I had procured thc loan of flags
from the treasury department and had
hung in front oi the box a picture of
Washington. Booth’s spur caught in
that picture. It was ripped down sev¬
eral inches.”
4 4 When you saw Booth crouched on
the stage did you suspect wliat bad oc¬
curred?”
“No; we thought that there had been
a fight and that Booth was in it. AVe
thought that some one had shot at him
and that he had drawn his knife in self
defence. As soon as we learned the
facts—and we were but a short time
doing so—I came to the conclusion that
I have ever since held, that Booth in¬
tended the knife for General Grant.”
“In rushing from the buildi a O’ did
not Booth injure some one else?”
“Yes, he struck at Withers, the leader
of the orchestra, who had gone under
the stageat ,he close of the act. and who
encountered Booth. The latter had the
knifc h) hig hand wben be 9 truck AVith
er3 , but hc did not intend to stab him,
j He held the Wade of the knife laterally;
nnt perpendicularly. Wither’s clothe.
were cut through, * and an incision wn#
also made ,n the , skm. .
<4 When Booth got to his horse he with
the butt end of hts pistol knocked th.
man down wno had held the annual.
The man who brought the horse to ths
appointed place was >pang!er, our stage
carpenter Spangler was a great ad,
m irer of Booth and would do anything
f orb i m . That he knew nothing o»
Booth’s intention was evident from the
f ac t that he gave the horse to anotheii
Spangler, Iowa, ar.toi t„ apa.^
throe sean in thc »rj Tortogea”
....
A gentle con, nbutor sends a bouncin,
poem, commencing Do you rememba
when last we met?” Oh, Angelina
Angelina, how can you so cruelly unvei
the memories of that sad, sad time)
Yes, ah, yes
AVe remember, dear Angie, when Jast w»
AndThe bulldog that froUicked there;
1
FUN.
“Adam" is the name oP '^cw€ailr
paper issued at Memphis. It is issued
just before Eve .—Oil City Blizzard.
A recent effusion is called “A Poet on
an Editor.” It’s wrong, all wrong; the
editor is always on top .—Binghamton
Republican.
i. The way to sleep is to think of noth¬
ing.” says a scientist. All an editor has
to do is to ruminate over his Igink ac¬
count.— Biftings.
Tennyson says: “Men are God’s trees. J*
Rome, however, that call at newspaper
•dices are not. They never leave.—
San Francisco Examiner.
A New York editor complains that
‘‘the silver dollar is too big and the gold
dollar is too little.” Our objection to
ooth is that they are too slippery.— Call.
“What, is education?” asked a writer.
Well, it is something a college graduate
thinks he has until"he becomes a news
caper man. Then he has to begin all
ever again .—New York Journal.
t’rabb Robinson says that Goethe
never had an affliction which ho did not
<urn into a poem. Some writers never
cave a poem which they do not turn
into an affliction .—Philadelphia Call.
“Going down stairs should always be
Cone very deliberately,” advises a physi¬
cian. In order to do this we would
luggest that poets take the precaution to
» nd Iheir verses by mail.— Puck.
Av'hen earth from winter’s icy grasp escapes,
And gease their flight to northern regions
wing,
|Tis then the editorial basket gapes
To catch the poet’s “Ode to gentle spring.”
—Boston Courier.
4 4 Noticed anything fresh today?’
>ked the dude as he strolled into the
editorial room. 4 4 Nothing until you
dropped in replied the editor, careless
•y, and there was no more said .—Boston
•Courier.
“Oh, why should the spirit of mortal
be proud?” There is no definite reason
i;i thc world for it unless it be that he
eas humbugged his wife into thinking
there isn’t another man in the world like
turn .—Pittsburg Telegraph.
A man reads a book for entertainment
end instruction. A woman skips all the
nuggets of wisdom and skims impatient¬
ly through the volume to find out
whether the dark skinned misanthrope
married the blue-eyed consumptive.—
^Chicago Ledger.
Ouida says that the love of a girl
should not be begged, but conquered.
That’s the way they do it in Africa. Tho
swain gets behind a tree, and when his
best girl comes along he clubs her and
carries her home on his shoulders.— De¬
troit Free Press.
“Try to avoid debating with people,”
says Mr. Spurgeon. The reverend is
correct. Nothing in this irritating old
xvorld will make the old man lo3e his
head so completely and get him so howl¬
ing mad as for you to keep perfectly
quiet just when you know he is getting
the better of you, and look at him with
an exasperating smile of conscious su¬
periority and pity. But you must look
out that he doesn’t brain you with a
table leg. — Burdette.
Soldiers' Pay in China.
The economical habits of tbe heathen
Chinee are notorious, and they are well
illustrated by a correspondent, who,
writing from Tien tsin, says: Tbe Chi
nesc infantry soldier is paid once a month,
when he receives three and one half taels
of silver. This sum, which is equal to
about nineteen shillings of English
mcney, is given to him in scrap bullion;
and during the night preceding each pay
day the pay masters are busily engaged
in weighing out silver and making it up
into neat little packages for distribution.
As soon as he has obtained his share the
soldier takes it to the nearest shopkeeper
or money-changer, who, in return lor it,
hands him 3,500 copper cash, the aggre¬
gate weight of which is quite as much as
he can conveniently carry, Out of this
thc soldier has to keep himself in food
and clothing; and the pay cannot, there
fore, be called excessive. A Chinaman,
however, lives almost exclusively upon
rice, a month's supply of which costs a
good deal less than 1,000 cash, and many
a private not only supports a family upon
the balance of his earnings, but puts by
a few hundred cash every month. One
fellow here is said to wear several thou¬
sand cash strung on silk and concealed
beneath his uniform; and I am told that
he has a wife and three children who
never want, Seeing that the small
change for a tael weighs about five
pounds, I feel sorry for this model pater¬
familias.
Hash! Hash! Delectable Hash!
Of which that made of cold corn beef
isdelectablest.
Of taters boi'ed and meat a share,
23^8?^
JS8«'jri«u!Sk.
oVSme tojtl,- fenc. in7Cl
eggs
0 r you needn't have either bread or
r ve met plain, ungarnished
American hash, that, moved thereto by
deeply felt recognition of its sterling
qualities, ^ I’ve offered my plate to at least
^ duiug oce
*■***<■*•