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HAMILTON, GEORGIA.
GOING TO WAR IN STYLE.
A MARKED CONTRAST TO FORMER
OCCASIONS.
A JLilttle Story of Goinsr to the Battle Field
Year* A*o.
[From the Milwaukee Sun.]
“Recruits for the Canadiau war in the
Northwest are being sent to the front in
Fnllman cars,” says a dispatch in one of
the papers. Soldiers in Pall man cars !
Truly, war is robbed of much of its glory
when soldiers start for the seat of war in
sneh luxury. It must be an interesting
sight to see a carload of soldiers disrobe
for the night in a Pullman car. and roll
into the clean sheets of the berths and
sleep all night, have their boots blacked
by the porter, get up in the morning
and wash in a toilet room and go to a
dining-car for their breakfast. A soldier
would be spoiled for active service whe
started out that way. It was different
during our war. Is thero any gentle
man within the sound of our voice who
was ever on a train with a load of re
emits ou the way to the front, any time
after 18G2 ? If so he remembei 8 that
the boys did not retire on downy beds the
night he traveled with them. Gracious,
but don’t we remember the train-load of
recruits that left Madison in the spring
of 1863. The first soldier that got in
the car kicked two windows out, stuck
his head out the hole and called the cap¬
tain of his company a bald-headed old
guthoogen. The captain sent the second
lieutenant in the car to snatch the
recruit bald-headed, and the officer was
seized by the back of the neck and the
pants and shoved through the window
onto the depot platform so quick he
didn’t know what bis salary was, and
the broken glass tore his now coat off.
The car was loaded, and so were the sol¬
diers. They ripped up seats, kicked
over the stove and pulled the and bell-rope scared
after the train got started,
the conductor so he had fits, by firing
revolvers with blank cartridges at the
roof of the car. Oh, it was a pionic !
No discipline, no nothing. The boys
would sing and dance, and if an officer
showed up someone would hit him on
the neck with a haversaok full of hard
taok, and if he got mad they would lay
him down in the aisle and set on him.
No officer would come in a car with the
boys unless he could do as they did, and
howl. Going through Chicago it took
four guards to watch each soldier, to
keep him from straying away and taking
in the town, and getting left. After
leaving Chicago anybody who tried to
camp down in a seat and sleep was
court-martialed and shot in the neck
with the oork from a bottle. It was
wild. Three days later those boys that
were so kitteny went into a fight, and
how they did fight 1 There was disci¬
pline enough then. Tho officers that
had been treated so disrespectfully on
starting from home were looked up to as
though they were emperors, every order
was obeyed, and there hour. was no more
monkey work from that The fel¬
low who kicked out the car window led
a charge on a breastwork, and brained
with his musket a man who was going
to shoot the captain he had called a
bald-headed guthoogen four days before.
The fellows who left Wisconsin so full
of fun, had got over having fun, and
were taking in the full reality. They
did not go to the front iu a Pullman car,
but many of them came back in Pull¬
mans, as officers of high rank, years
later; some came back by express, in
boxes, and some of them never came
back at all, but are lying in rows a little
distance from Chattanooga, in the Na¬
tional Cemetery, with little head-stones
above them, some marked with their
names, others marked “unknown,” but
all waitiug for Gabriel to play the
1 4 Assembly” on his bugle at the last
great day.
HAUNTED BY AN UNPAID DEBT.
“You ought to have your baby bap¬
tized, ’Rastus,” said a member of the
church to a colored father.
“Yes, sah, but I can’t afford de cost.”
“It doesn’t doesn’t cost anything.”
“I know it cost nuthin’ fo’ de
mere act of baptism, sah, but yo’ see I
owe de minister $2 fo’ perio’ming de
weddiu’ cer’mony a yeah ago, an’ he
mought object, sah, to baptizin’ a baby
dat hadn’t never been paid fo ’.”—New
York Times*
—
BUIOROUS SKETCHES,
'1 lie freason Why.
night Flipkins came down to the club last
with a great problem weighing on
If I should stand on my head, said
lie, coming up to the boys with the air
of a man who has got a poser-“if I
stand on my head the blood all rushes
into my head don't it!”
.No one ventured to contradict him
“Now,” continued he, triumphantly,
‘•when I stand on my feet, why don’t
the blood all rush into my feet?”
t l Because replied Miss Coshann.gan s
brother, “because, Flipkins, your feet
^h» said he couldn’t f laughed, see any but joke.-iy/m Flipkins
nwn ‘
Tlie Bet Was Off.
A few days ago, after a couple of es¬
teemed citizens, who are close neighbors,
had arranged to pass a few days with
their families at a lake in Oakland
county, one of them offered to wager a
box of cigars that he would catch the
largest fish. The wager was promptly
taken, and next day one of the gentle¬
men put in an appearance at a fish stand
on the market and said to the dealer:
“Have you got a fresh pickerel weigh¬
ing about fifteen pounds?”
“I have, sir.”
and “Well, I want you to put him on ice
ship him to me at lake. I pro
pose to catch him on a hook out there.”
“Very well, sir. I think I’ll ship the
two “The together.”
two?”
“Yes, sir. Mr. mentioning the
other esteemed citizen) was here an hour :
ago, and bought one weighing twenty
pounds. It will take less ice to pack the
two in the same box!”
The fish was paid for, but the bet was
declared off .—Detroit Free Press.
A Bog; Story.
Four newly arrived guests were sit¬
ting around the stove in a Texas coun¬
try hotel. The landlord entered and
noticed that there was a large dog un
der the stove. Turning to one of the
guests with an obsequious bow, the
landlord said:
“That’s a magnificent . dog you have
got there. Fine breed. I can tell that
by the looks of him. I am a sort of a
crank about fino dogs.”
r l he traveler said that the dog did not
belong to him.
“No,” said the landlord, ‘then I sup
pose the noble animal belongs to you,
sir. San Bernard, is he not ?”
“How should I know? The pup don’t
belong to me,” remarked the second
traveler.
The landlord looked at the third
guest, and remarked:
“That dog must have cost you a pile
of money. Those kind of dogs are
scarce in these parts.” shook his head and
The third guest
gaid the dog was none of his.
“By Jove, it’s a pleasure to look at a
dog like that. He is a beauty. I sup
pose he is a great pet. How old is he?”
4 4 Blamed if I know; I never saw him
before,” replied the fourth guest.
“Get out of here, you mongrel cur,”
exclained the exasperated landlord,
kicking in three of the dog’s ribs, and
lifting him into the adjoining tried county
with his boot, as the dog Siftings. to get
out through the door.— Texas
Couldn't Eat Corn Front the Co'j. ,
There was a little dinner party the
other night, and the fresh cobs of
smiling corn were very tempting. They
were handed round. One young gentle¬ the
man started vigorously to eat from
cob. There was a kind of a lull all
around the table. There was a little
hesitancy about touching that corn.
The young gentleman kept on enjoying
it immensely. This went on for a long
time, and finally one lady took a cob and
began cutting it off.
' 4 4 I like to cut it off first with a knife,”
she said.
4 4 So do I,” sain nearly everybody
else, and good humor immediately
reigned. think tastes much better,”
4 4 I corn
said a man on one side of the table,
“when you cut it. I never could eat
corn from the cob.”
“Nor I,” was a little chorus.
“Beside, it does not look nice.*
“No.”
The young gentlemen who had been
eating it straight grew uneasy. But a
quiet fellow who was away at the other
end said in a kind of diving bell voice:
“I can’t eat corn from the cob either,
because I’ve got two false teeth, and
can't never tell the corn from the
teeth.”
And everybody got red in the face
and laughed “Ha, ha .”—Hotel Reporter
A Dessertation on “Lye.”
^ little knot of choice spirits ^ were as
semb|ed jn tl]e back Darl r of the Ba!
oflj ; li9tOTing to a narrative of wild
° adve from
aQ(J hrilli „ estem nture
lho Ups > of Mr. Currv Combs, the viva
ciou3 aod truthful collector of the com
it was ju9t j was telli
you,” ’ continued Currv, - ’ “I was driving
tWS-horse from Uvingaton e to Miles City in
a buggv ro&A and was having an
{ y i «f ’“ST*
hird a , out j us tatdusk I noticed a
little marshy spot ahead, but thought
nothing of it. Pretty soon I heard the
splashing of the horses feet in water, but
it didn’t seem to be deep and I kept on.
Then it seemed to me that the horses
weren’t as tall as they had been and I
wondered if they were sinking, but no,
their motion was free and unim¬
peded and the water wasn’t over
three inches deep. Then I noticed
that the buggy was getting pretty close
to the ground. All of a sudden it oc¬
curred to me what had happened. I had
driven into an alkali overflow and the
lye was so strong that it had eaten off
about two feet of the horses legs and
eaten the tires and felloes from the buggy
wheels, and they were running on the
end of the spokes. In a minute more
we struck a deep place. The horses
went in up to their necks and the buggy
was afloat. In another second the horses
and buggy were disintegrated and
mingled with the alkali water and I was
left swimming alone. commenced drop
Then my clothes to
off, and when I reached the shore I
hadn’t a rag left on me.”
“Why didn’t the lye eat you, too?”
asked an interested listener.
“Oh. I’m proof against lye in any
form,” replied the veracious Mr. Combs.
— St. Paul Herald.
African Sign Language.
The ] an guage of signs employed in
trade in Arabia and Eastern Africa ap
pears to have been invented to enable
sellers and Infers to arrange their busi
negg un disturbed by the hosts of loafers
w k 0 interfere in transactions carried on
[ n C p en markets in eastern towns, and it
eil ables people to conclude their business
without the bystanders knowing especially the
p r j ceg wanted or offered. It is
i n use in the Red Sea, audits characteris
tic j g tfi a t beneath a cloth, or more gen
era u y par t of the unfolded turban, the
bands of the parties meet, and by an ar
rangement of the fingers the outstretched price is un
fi er gtood. If one seizes the
forefinger of the other it means 1, 10,
or i00;the two first fingers together
mean 3> 20, or 200; the three first, 3, 30,
or 30 o; the four, 4,40, or 400; the
wtl ole hand 5, 50, or 500; the little fin*
g er a [ ont 6, 60, or 600; the third finger
alone ^ 7 70 , 700; the middle finger
a i one> g, 80, 800; the first finger alone
and k ent 9> 99> 9 qq . w hile the thumb
s }g f n ig e9 1,000. If the forefinger
0 one of the parties be touched
ia the middle joint with J1 ‘
thumb of the other it signifies one-half,
and ^ the same finger is rubbed with the
thumb from the joint to the knuckle it
ig one _q Uar ter more, but if the movement
the thumb be upward to the top in
stead of downward to the knuckle it
means one-quarter less. An eighth more
is marked by catching the -whole nail of
the forefinger with the thumb and finger,
while the symbol for an eighth less is
catching the flesh above the nail—i. e.,
the extreme tip of the finger—in the
same way. It will thus he seen that, by
combinations of the fingers of tho seller
ana buyer, a large range of figures under- can
be represented. It is, of course,
stood that the average market value of
the article is roughly known and that
there can be no confusion between, for
example, 1, 10, 100, and 1,000. This
language of symbols is in universal use
among European, Indian, Arab and Per
sian traders on the Red sea coasts, as
well as among tribes coming from the
interior, such as Abyssinians, Ga’las,
Somalis, Bedouins, etc. It is acquired
very rapidly, and is more speedy advan¬ than
verbal bargaining; but its main
tages are secrecy and that it protects the
parties from the interruption of meddle
some bystanders, who in the East are rd
ways ready to give their advice.—
Globus.
Wheat is cheaper now than it has
been for nearly 100 years.
WORDS OF WISDOM.
Weary not in well-doing,
Do right and fear no one.
Always be faithful to duty.
Be patient under difficulties.
Be a friend to the friendless.
One hand cannot expiate the wrong of
the other.
Harmony is the keynote of all house
hold comforts.
Fortune gives too much to many, but
to none enough.
An open mind, an open hand, and an
open heart will find everywhere an open
door.
A deal of what passes for the milk of
human kindness would not bear skim
ming. of wisdom to be miserable
It is no part fear be to¬
to-day because we we may
morrow.
Great minds lower, instead of elevat¬
ing, those who do not know how to
support them.
Opportunities to do good are never so
scarce that any one need do that for the
doing of which an excuse must be offered.
It is with narrow souled people as with
narrow necked bottles; the less they have
in them, the more noise they make pour¬
ing it out. _
The Dead Sea.
The Dead sea is an old and decrepit of
salt lake in a very advanced stage
evaporation. It lies several feet below
the level of the Mediterranean, just as
the Caspian lies several feet below the
level of the Black sea; and as in both
cases the surface must once have been
continuous, it is clear that the water of
either sheet must have dried up to a very
considerable extent. But while the
Caspian has shrunk only to eighty-five Dead
feet below the Black sea the sea
has shrunk to the enormous depth of
1,292 feet below the Mediterranean.
Every now and then some enterprising
De Lesseps or other proposes to dig a
canal from the Mediterranean to the
Dead sea, and so re-establish the old
high level. The effect of this very rev¬
olutionary proceeding would be to flood
the entire Jordan valley, connect the sea
of Galilee with the Dead sea, and play
the dickens generally with Scripture
geography to the infinite delight of Dead Sun¬
day-school classes. Now, when the
sea first began its independent career as a
separate sheet of water on its own account
it no doubt occupied the whole bed of
this imaginary engineer’s lake—spread¬
ing, if not from Dan to Beersheba, at
any rate from Dan to Edom, or, in other
words, along the whole Jordan valley,
from the sea of Galilee and even the
waters of Merom to the southern desert.
The modern Dpad sea is the last shrunken
relic of such a considerable ancient lake.
Its waters are now so very concentrated
and so very nasty that no fish or other
self-respecting animal can consent to live
in them, and so buoyant that a man can’t
drown himself, even if he tries, because
the sea is saturated with salts of various
sorts till it has become a kind of soup or
porridge, in which a swimmer floats,
will he, nill he. Persons in suicide the neigh¬
borhood who wish to commit are
therefore obliged to go elsewffiere; much
as in Tasmania, the healthiest climate in
the world, people who want to die are
obliged to run across for a week to Syd¬
ney or Melbourne. — Cornhill.
Turns Night into Day.
Turkish ingenuity has circumvented
t he terrible month Ramadan, the Mo
hammedan fast. For thirty nogood' days, be
tween sunrise and sunset, Mus
su i man allows a mouthful of food or
drink to pass his lips. But, then, says a
Constantinople letter, it does not dis
commo d e the Turk at all, lor during
t hat time he is asleep. He simply re
verses the order of things, and sleeps
daytimes instead of nights. There is no
j aw a g a j ns t his eating at night. He
rigeg from hi s couch at sunset and takes
hi s breakfast before going to the mosque
to p ray At midnight he has dinner,
and p ar t a Ves of supper just before sun
rise iu t h e morning,'when jght he being again good re
t j reg to t> ed The n not
for wor j- he gives his waking hours to
t fronT
p] easuTe an d the month, sunrise to
6Unret> becomes a vast carnival in all
couatr i es un der Mohammedan rule,
An American who saw a cockfight
y[ ex j c0 -writes: 4 4 The bird that had
| '
swo one d was bathed with cold water,
1 its t h r0 at moistened by a wet feather, a
j c i 0 th held over it to keep off the sun
and pieces of smoking wood put undei
j its stimulated nostrils it and resumed over the its fight.” comb. Thui
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