The forest news. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1875-1881, July 24, 1875, Image 1
by THE JACKSON COTJNTY )
PUBLISHING- COMPANY. \
VOLUME I.
§ms l
(t
PUBLISHED EVERY BATUIIDAY,
jjy Ihe ,|ackon County l*ul>liwliing;
t’onipsiny.
JEFFERSON , JACKSON CO ., GA.
OFFICE, N. W. COR. PUBLIC SQUARE, UP-STAIRS.
■ALCO m STAFFORD,
MANAGING AND BUSINESS EDITOR.
TERHIS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One copy 12 months $2.00
“ “ 6 “ .. 1.00
“ “ 3 “ 50
ftarFor every Club of Ten subscribers, an ex
tra copy of the paper will be given.
RATES OF ADVERTISING.
ONE Dollar per square (of ten lines or less)
for the tirst insertion, ami Se#ENTY-FIVE Cents
for each subsequent insertion.
frif All Advertisements sent without specifica
tion of the number of insertions marked thereon,
will be published TILL forbid, and charged
accordingly.
Business or Professional Cards, of six lines
or less, Seven Dollars per annum ; and where
they do not exceed ten lines, Ten Dollars.
Contract Advertising.
The following will be the regular rates for con
tract advertising, and will be strictly adhered to
in all cases :
Squares, iw. lm. :t ■■■. ti m. lgm.
One $1 o<> $2 50 $(! 00 SO 00 sl2 00
Two 2 00 5 50 11 00 17 00 22 00
Three 3 00 (i 75 16 00 21 00 30 00
Four 400 050 IS 75 25 00 30 00
Five 500 10 25 21 50 2!) 00 42 00
Six 0 00 12 <M) 24 25 33 00 48 00
Twelve 11 00 21 75 40 00 55 00 81 00
Eighteen.... 15 00 30 50 54 50 75 50 109 00
Twenty two 17 00 34 00 60 00 00 00 125 00
ftriU.V square is one inch, or about 1(M) words of
the type used in our advertising columns.
Marriage and obituary notices not exceeding ten
lines, will be published free; but for all over ten
lines, regular advertising rates will be charged.
Transient advertisements and announcing can
didates for office will be Cash.
Address all communications for publication and
all letters on business to
MACCOM STAFFORD,
Manayiny ami Business Editor.
"r
County mill (iomu JHiTctory.
JACKSON SUPERIOR COURT .
Hon. CEO. 1). RICE, - Judge.
EMORY SPEER, Esq., - - Sol. Gen'l.
COINTV <)FFIVERS.
M I LEY C. HOWARD, - Ordinary.
THUS. 11. N l BLACK, - - - Clerk S. Court.
JOHN S. HUNTER, ------ Sheriff.
WINN A. WORSHAM, - - - Deputy ••
LEE J. JOHNSON, ----- Treasurer.
JAMES L. WILLIAMSON, - - Tax Collector.
CEO. W. BROWN, ----- ‘* Receiver.
JAMES L. JOHNSON, - - County Surveyor.
WM. \\ ALLACE, - r - - Coroner.
C. J. N. WILSON, County School Commiss’r.
ComMISSI (NEKS (ttoAl >8 AND REVEXUK.)— Will.
Seymour, W. J. llaynie, W. G. Steed. Meet on
the Ist Fridays in August and November. T. 11.
Nib lack, Esq., Clerk.
MAGISTRATES AND BAILIFFS.
Jefferson District, No. 245, N. IT. Pendergrass,
J. P.; H. T. Flee man, J. P. John M. Burns,
Constable.
Clarkesborough District. No. 242, F. M. Holli
d*v, J. p.; M. B. Smith, J. P.
Miller's District, No. 455, 11. F. Kidd. J. P.
Chandler’s District, No. 246, Ezekiel Hewitt.
J. P.; J. G. Burson, J. P.
Randolph's District, No. 248, Pinckney P.
Pirkle, J. I*.; Jas. A. Straynge, J. P.
Cunningham's District, No. 428, -J. A. Brazle
ton, J. P.; T. K. Randolph, J. P.
Newtown District, No. 253, G. W. O’Kelly, J.
P.; T. J. Stapler, Not. Pub. & Ex. Off. J. P.
Minnish's District, No. 255. Z. W. Hood. J. P.
Harrisburg District, No. 257, Wm. M. Morgan,
J. I*.; J. W. Pruitt, J. 1.
House’s District, No. 243, A. A. Hill, J. P.
Santafee District, No. 1042, W. R. Boyd, J. P.
S. G.. Arnold, J. P.
Wilson's District, No. 4G5, W. J. Comer, J. P.
FRA TERN A L DIRECTOR V.
I n 'tv Lodge, Xo. 36, F. A. M., meets Ist Tues
day night in each month. 11. W. Bell, W. M.;
John Simpkins, Sec’y.
Love Lodge. No. 65, T. O. O. F., meets on 2d
and 4th Tuesday nights in each month. J. B. Sil
man. X. G.; G. J. X. Wilson, Sec'y.
Stonewall Lodge. Xo. 214. I. O. G. TANARUS., meets on
Saturday night before 2d and 4th Sundays in each
mouth. J. P. Williamson, Sr., W. C. T • J. B.
Tendergrass, W. R. S.
Jefferson Grange, Xo. 488. P. of 11., meets on
Saturday before 4th Sunday in each month. Jas.
L. Randolph, M.; G. J. X. Wilson, Sec’y.
(colored) Fire Company, Xo. 2, meets on
~ * * nesday night in each month. Henry Long,
“Plain; Ned Burns, Sec’y.
COUNTY CHURCH DIRECTOR V.
METHODIST.
and ■ ow Circuit. —Jefferson, Harmony Grove.
r ! 'l> °“d, Wilson’s, Holly Springs. W. A. Far-
Mulbcrry Circuit. —Ebenezer, Bethlehem, Con
('lry Centre and Pleasant Grove, Lebanon. A. L.
Anderson, P. C.
thapel and Antioch supplied from Watkins-
Vl Ue Circuit.
PRESBYTERIAN.
nvatira. Rev. G. 11. Cartledge. Pastor ; Sandy
feek. Rev. Xeil Smith. Pastor; Pleasant Grove,
( L H. Cartledge, Pastor; Mizpali, Rev. Xeil
knuth. Pastor. ’ 1
n . . BAPTIST.
“bin Creek. W. R. Goss, Pastor; Harmony
W°ij’ " \ J- Hardeman, Pastor; Zion, Rev.
• H. Bridges, Pastor; Bethabra. Rev. J. M.
'H\us. Pastor; Academy, Rev. J. X. Coil. Pastor ;
Halnut Rev. J. M. b av is. Pastor; Crooked
\ , Y-'V Stark - Castor; Oconee Church, Rev.
a i.‘ ,hcy, Pastor; Poplar Springs, Rev. W.
Pastor^’ I>aßtor; handler’s Creek, W. F. Stark,
PROTESTANT METHODIST.
1 Rev. R. S. McGarrity, Pastor.
1> “CHRISTIAN.”
•etliany Church, l)r. F. Jackson, Pastor.
<iim t,an vS?* p r U Elrler VV ‘ T. Lowe, Pastor.
Galdce, Elder P. F. Umar, Pastor.
VNI VERBALIST.
meeting 0 ! ’ Ecv / E ‘ • *^ tr ain. Pastor; Church
Sunday UIV >rcac^un o every third Saturday and
THE FOREST NEWS.
The People tlicir own Rulers; Advancement in Education, Science, Agriculture and Southern Manufactures.
title .poet’s Comet.
WRITTEN FOR THE FOREST NEWS.
Lines to Miss F. D.
O, lov’d one, why not give your love
To one who loves you so
Devotedly and so dearly
And who no others know?
How happy, when around our home
To each our love has given,
Go hand in hand here on this earth
And hand in hand to heaven.
This w'orld holds out but one bright star
For me to strive to gain;
That star your heart—that star your love ;
Forbid that I in vain
Should strive and wish and hope and pray
For what all others pine ;
May heaven smile on me and grant
That you may yet be mine.
Could I but win your heart and love,
My life would be complete ;
The happiness of this earth would flow
In streams so pure and sweet.
And when you, bright angel of my heart,
To me your love has given—
You arc so pure and good, that you
Would fit us both for Heaven.
GEORGIA.
Its General Resources.
To the exclusion of our usual amount of
“miscellaneous matter,” we publish the fol
lowing extracts from “ A Report prepared for
the International Chamber of Commerce and
Mississippi Valley Society of London, Eng
land,” by the Savannah branch of the society.
The entire report being too lengthy for one
issue of our paper, we have endeavored to
“ cull” the most important portions ; howev
er, it is as a whole, a very interesting docu
ment, and we may, possibly, make future ex
tracts from it.
THE STATE OF GEORGIA
Is divided into three great geographical di
visions, called north, middle and lower Geor
gia. It is also divided geologically into the
all lvial, tertiary, cretaceous, siluvian, tucon
ic, metamorphic and plutonic. Is bounded
on the north by N. Carolina and Tennessee,
on the south by Florida, on the east by South
Carolina and the Atlantic ocean, and on the
west by Alabama. We can justly claim for
our state that it is the “Gate State” or Atlan
tic water front for a port ion of the states con
stituting the Mississippi Valley. Our sys
‘emof railroads gives us direct and rapid
communication with the Mississippi river, and
hence with the Mississippi Valley states.
The state has an area of 58,000 square
miles, and with 640 acres to the square mile,
we would have 37,120,000 square acres,
nearly as large as the whole of the New
England states put together, viz : Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Con
necticut and Rhode Island. Making due al-
lowanccs for tlie area covered with towns,
cities, and for swamp lands that are at this
t me considered but of little value, and not
triven in, we have by the comptroller gener
al's report a return of 34,535,639 acres, at an
aggregate value of $98,703,789, not quite an
average of $3 per acre. We have thousands
and thousands of acres that are termed open
or wild lands, and at present used as ranges
for cattle, though comparatively few are
raised when we take into consideration the
advantages and inducements that are offered.
The state is about 300 miles long from
north to south, and 520 miles, as an average
from east to west. It lies in the parallels of
latitude of from near 30£ deg. to 35 deg.
SOU. CLIMATE —PRODUCTIONS.
The state of Georgia has every kind of soil
that can bp desired, and our productions are
as rich and as varied as our soil. Our climate
is one of the most pleasant and delightful of
any of the states—neither too hot or too cold,
but generally of a pleasant temperature the
year round. One can work the full with
out any drawbacks from January to Decem
ber. Vegetation of different kinds are grow
ing and maturing in different portions of the
state at all seasons. There is not a month
in the year but what some garden vegetables
can be had for the table. On the Atlantic
coast and in the more southern counties dffer
ent kinds of vegetables are quite common at
all seasons. There is a difference of nearly
six weeks in the maturing of vegetation be
tween the northern and southern sections of
the state.
FOREST TRF.ES.
We have in our forest nearly all kinds of
trees and woods, and suitable for almost all
kinds of purpose. We have every kind and
variety of oak—no less than t wenty varieties,
differing in grain, leaf, and texture, strength,
durability, wear and life ; a half dozen varie
ties of hickory; then comes the ash, chest
nut, beach, sycamore, dogwood, cottonwood,
elm, poplar, magnolia, bay, maple, persim
mon, cedar, cypress, the black and sweet
gum, sassafras, chinquepin, the white and
black mulberry, haw, walnut, and many other
kinds less general and important, We have
given the most prominent and abundant.
As to our pine, we have the finest in the
world, and it has a general and universal
reputation.
The flora of our state is rich and varied.
Plants and flowers of all descriptions and
kinds, and many witli fine medicinal proper
ties. Our genera is large, and the species
number 2.063.
WATER POWER FACTORIES.
The water power of the state, with fine,
natural falls, well adapted for manufacturing
purposes, cannot be excelled by any state in
the union. There may be some that can
equal us, but certainly none that can present
superior advantages. There are states that
have a great many more manufacturing estab
lishments, from the fact that they live by
manufacturing. They have neither our soil,
climate or productions.
Since the destruction of our negro property,
the late slaveholding states must from ne-
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY, GA., SATURDAY, JULY 24, 1875.
cessity turn their attention to manufacturing,
mining and commerce. We will be driven
as a natural consequence to the manufactur
ing of our own cotton and wool. And as
our iron and copper mines are developed we
will also divert our capital to the erection of
foundries and machine shops of all kinds.
Our surplus earnings can not and will not be
invested in lands and negroes as in former
days. The field is large and inviting, but
unoccupied both from the want of knowledge
and capital.
Northern and middle Georgia could be
made unrivalled for manufacturing purposes.
When we take into consideration such na
tural advantages as are presented, success
and large profits could but attend wise and
skillful efforts. All that is needed is simply
an enlarged expereience in such business.
Sites and water privileges will be given free
of charge to parties who will erect mills and
factories.
The cotton manufacturing establishments
now in operation, especially in Augusta,
Macon, Columbus, Athens and Milledgeville,
and others of less pretentions, are declaring
fair dividends upon the capital invested.
No fine goods are manufactured, but the
heavy cotton and woolen goods turned out
are of superior quality, and find ready sales.
We have no calico establishment, nor any
factory that produces fine woolen goods. A
fine article of Georgia jeans is made in sever
al of the factories, that finds a ready sail.
We now want factories for the manufacture
of calico goods, fine shirting and other fine
white goods, such as will rival any made at
the north.
ADVANTAGES GEORGIA PRESENTS.
Georgia, in her desire to become a man
ufacturing state as well as an agricultural
one, has, by an enactment of law, exempted*
all manufacturing establishments from tax
ation for the term often years from building.
That fact alone is an extraordinary induce
ment to capitalists to invest in the state.
In the manufacture of cotton goods, the raw
material can be brought direct to the factory
without one cent of charges for hauling or
freight; can be brought even from the fields
in the seed. But, as is now generally done,
it is bought from the wagons that bring it
from the farms to the towns for sale. We
have known it bought in the seed, and the
cotton ginned in the factory and turned into
cloth with not one particle of waste. The
seed may be compressed, and the oil used
for many purposes, and the oil cake fed to
cattle, of which they are very fond, as it has
fine fattening properties. Cotton seed oil is
fast becoming an article of commercial impor
tance, and it is now so refined as to be sold
for sweet oil.
In Georgia but little thought is given to
thus utilizing the seed, and the developing of
another source of wealth that is so conve
nient and so easy of manufacture. As it is.
millions of bushels of cotton seed are used
simply as a manure, and found to be a most
excellent one. But in the light of true econ
omy, and the development of an important
manufacturing interest, it is sheer and waste
ful extravagance to simply make manure of
an article so full of oleaginous and nutritive
qualities. We would respectfully invite the
attention of capitalists to the subject, as it is
one deserving of consideration, and an un
questionable source of wealth.
POPULATION OF GEORGIA.
By the census of 1870, we had 1.184.100
inhabitants. The number of whites, 328,926 ;
negroes, formerly slaves, 545,183. With an
area of 58,000 square miles, we would have
upon an average of near 21 inhabitants to the
square mile, when we ought to have, to begin
to develop our resources, from 30 to 100 to
the square mile. England and Wales have 35
to the square miles ; the same in Georgia,
with our area, would give us a population of
20,300,000. The united kingdom of Great
Britain has 225 to the squhre mile, which
would give us 13,050, 000. France has 180 ;
that would give us 10.440,000. Spain has 90 ;
that would give us 5,220,000. Give to Geor
gia 100 to the square mile, and we would then
have a population of 5,800,000; if we had
but 50, then we would number 2,900,000 ; as
it is, we now have in round numbers making
an estimate for an increase in the past five
years about 1,200,000,
We can easily upon our soil, and with our
climate, support 5,000,900 of people with
comfort, making enough to eat and having
plenty to sell besides. It should be borne in
mind that in the greater portion of the state
two crops can be made on the same soil in
the same year, and in vegetables three crops.
As to population we are litterally “in the
woods.”
GEORGIA’S COTTON CROP.
But coming down to actual facts, the state
of Georgia has, within the last ten years,
made on an average about 500,000 bales of
cotton per year, which would give us 5,000,-
000 bales for the past ten years. At an aver
age of SIOO per bale, and which is a fair esti
mate, we have made $500,000,000. To be
within a certain and unquestionable calcula
tion we put down the average at SBO a bale,
and then we have realized the sum of $400,-
000,000 as the cotton crop of the state for the
past ten years. We have made no fancy' fig
ures, nor have your committee indulged in
any imagination on the subject. We state
but actual facts.
It should be borne in mind that no estimate
has been made of the value of the corn,
wheat, rice, sugar and sy'rup that was made,
or the pine lumber that was made, or the
pine lumber that has been shipped, or the
spirits of turpentine, resin, tar, etc., etc., that
has been exported, which would perhaps have
netted about $200,000,000 more. The naval
stores shipped from Savannah, 'from April
Ist, 1874, to April, 1875, were 33,000 barrels
rosin and 7,000 barrels spirits turpentine.
Probable crop this year, 115,000. Simply
our cotton crop has brought in over $400,-
000,000.
We ought to be, as a state, among the
richest people upon the face of the earth,
when we take into consideration our varied
sources of wealth. Unfortunately we have
never studied properly the principles of true
economy'. We have bought what we should
have made, and sold what we should have
manufactured. We have bought corn and
1 meat, horses and mules, and made everything
subservient to the raising of cotton ; and the
result is, we are not as rich to day as we
should be and could have been, if we had
followed a wiser policy. A change of policy
has come over the farming interests of the
state and the south generally, and in the
future a more diversified system of farming
will be followed.
GENERAL REMARKS.
The committee, in closing their report,
would give a few statistical facts, as taken
from the comptroller-general’s report of the
state of Georgia for the year 1874 :
Taxable property for 1874, $273,092,999
an increase of over that of 1866—immediate
ly after the war—of $126,735,870.
Number of railroads in the state, includ
ing main trunks and branches, 35 ; number
of mile*, 2,300.
The state owns property to the amount of
about $6,000,000, and her total public debt
not due, amounts to 8,105,500.
Value of city property, $57,218,248.
Capital invested in cotton and wool facto
ries, $3,692,989.
Capital invested iron foundries, etc.,
$735,580.
Capital invested in mining, $55,342.
Capital invested in shipping and tonage,
$600,000.
As remarked in the first part of this report,
the people of Georgia are agricultural in their
habits and tastes. But since the close of
the war, many are desirous of turning their
attention to other avenues and sources of
wealth, looking at the same time to the de
velopment of our mineral resources, which
are so great and inviting ; but for the want
of capital and proper experience slow pro
gress is being made. We therefore invite in
capital and skilled labor. These are our
greatest wants at present.
General education is receiving attention,
and liberal appropriations are being made by
the state so that every child can be taught.
The amount of the school fund paid out for
1874 amounted to $265,000.
We have churches scattered over the whole
state, and we are comparatively free from
all religious and political “isms” that are
so prevalent in the more northern states.
Moral and religious influences are felt and
recognized in our social and politicul econo
my.
We have some four colleges for boys and
young ladies besides three medical colleges,
one each in Savannah, Augusta and Atlan
ta.
Recuperating as we are from a most dis
astrous and destructive war, we are bending
all our energies to the building up of our
shattered and broken fortunes, and are ready
and willing, yes, anxious, for capital to come
in and help us to develop onr agricultural,
mineral and mining resources, the greater
part of which must lie untouched for want of
such means as to enable us to properly work
them to our advantage.
pp’There is great magnetic power in the
eyes of several of the lower animals. The
lion’s, the tiger's and the serpent’s eyes are
all magnetic. It is well known that the ser
pent will charm birds that are flying above
it, until in great circles they will sweep down
to the destruction which awaits them. A
friend of mine, a doctor, was one day walking
in the field, when he saw an adder lying on a
rock. He drew near to examine it and
presently looked at its eyes. He was attract
ed by their great beauty and involuntarily
stepped forward two or three steps. Beau
tiful light flowed from them and seemed to
bathe the very coils of the serpent. Gradu
ally he drew closer until, just as he was
almost within the reptile’s reach, he fell, feel
ing, as he said afterward, as though he had
been struck by a stone. When he became
conscious his head was in a friend’s lap.
His first words were; “Who struck me?”
“No one struck you, doctor. I saw you
were charmed by the snake and I struck it
with a stone.” He had struck the snake and
the doctor had felt the blow. —Home Journal.
With a white chip bonnet, paper of pins,
and a box of miscellaneous feathers, lace, rib
bons and flowers, any girl of the period, with
a very small stcck of ingenuity, can convey
the impression to the public at large that she
has half a dozen bonnets this season. Avery
fashionable shape is tMt made by sitting
down and stamping on an ordinary frame,
and then putting in some large roses.
Ten Years Ago!
BY HOPE DEV ERE.
Ten years ago ! alas ! alas !
llow rapid is Time’s flight,
Ten years ago ! It brings me back
Ten years ago, to-night.
Ten years ago ! ah ! happy time,
Could you have halted there,
A cloud would not o’ercast me now.
You’ve gone, but where, oh ! where?
The past looms up most brightly,
The future's dark and drear,
One heart, at least, is crush’d with woe,
One soul is bow'd with care.
Ten years ago ! Can I forget
That glorious happy time,
I wandered ’neath the pine-trees shade,
With a fair white hand in mine?
Can I forget those tender eyes,
Of Heaven’s deepest blue?
Can I forget that gentle heart,
Loving, kind and true ?
Can I forget the pleasant walks,
’Xeath our own bright sunny clime ?
Can I forget her gentle words,
Breathed from lips almost divine ?
Can I forget the evening shades,
’Xeath which we pledged our love,
So good and holy, pure and true,
’Twas registered in Heaven above?
Can I forget the hour wc parted,
When f left my darling’s side,
To roam o’er waters wide and deep,
Ere I claimed her for my bride ?
Ten years have gone, ten years have passed,
And brought me nought but woe,
Mv darling's now in Heaven above,
While I linger here below.
Ten years ago ! alas ! alas !
How rapid is Time’s flight,
Ten years ago ! It brings me back,
To tho parting of that night.
Miscellaneous iHedfeg.
AIDEVIL TREE.
A HORRIBLE AUSTRALIAN PLANT THAT EATS
HUMAN BEINGS A FRIGHTFUL SCENE.
If you can imagine, says the South Ameri
can Register, a pine apple, eight feet high,
and thick in proportion, resting upon its base,
and denuded of leaves, you will have a good
idea of the trunk of the tree which, however,
was not the color of a banana, but was a dark,
dingy brown, and apparently as hard as iron.
From the apex of this fusticated cone (at least
two feet in diameter) eight huge leaves sheer
to the ground, like doors swinging back on
their hinges. These leaves, which are joined
at the top of the trees at regular intervals,
were abo it eleven or twelve feet long, and
shaped very much like the leaves of an
American agave or century plant. They are
two feet through at their thickest part and
three feet wide, tapering to a sharp point that
looked very much like a cow's horn, very con
vex on the outer (but not under) surface, and
on the under (not upper) surface slightly con
cave. This concave surface was thickly set
with strong horny hooks like those upon the
head of a teazel. These leaves, hanging thus
limp and lifeless, dead green in color, had in
appearance the massive strength of oak filler.
The apex of the cone was a round concave
figure like a smaller plate set within a larger
one. This was not a flower, but a receptacle,
and there exudes into it a clear, treacly liquid
honey, sweet, and possessed of violent intox
icating soporific properties. From under
neath the rim (so to speak (of the undermost
plate, a series of long, hairy, green tendrils
stretched out in every direction toward the
horizon. These were seven or eight feet long,
and tapered from four inches to half an inch
in diameter, vet, they stretched out stiffly as
iron rods. Above these (from between the
upper and under cups) six white, almost
transparent, palpi reared themselves toward
the sky, twirling and twisting with marvelous
incessant motion, yet constantly reaching up
ward. Thin as reeds and frail as quills, ap
parently, they were yet five or six feet tall,
and were so constantly and vigorously in
motion, with such a subtle, sinuous, silent
throbbing against the air, with their sugges
tions of serpents flayed, yet dancing on their
tails.
My observations on this occasion were
suddenly interrupted by the natives who had
been shrieking around the tree with their
shrill voices, and chanting what Hendrick
told me were propitiatory hymns to the great
tree devil. With still wilder shrieks and
chants they now surrounded one of the wo
men, and urged her with the points of their
javelins, until slowly, and with despairing
face, she climbed up the stalk of the tree, and
stood on the summit of the cone, the palpi
twirlfflg all about her. “Tsik! Tsik?”
(Drink! drink!) cried the men. Stooping,
she drank of the vascid fluid in the cup, and
rising instantly again, with wild frenzy in
her face, and convulsive cords in her limbs.
But she did not jump down, as she seemed
to intend to do. Oh, no ! The atrocious can
nibal tree, that had been so inert and dead,
came to sudden, savage life. The delicate
palpi, with the fury of starv ed serpents, quiv
ered a moment over her head, then, as if in
stinct, with demoniac intelligence, fastened
upon her in sudden coils round and round her
neck and arms, and while her awful screams
and yet more awful laughter rose wildly to be
instantly strangled down again into a gurgl
ing moan, the tendrils, one after another, like
great green serpents, with brutal energy and
infernal rapidity, rose, protracted themselves,
and wrapped her about in fold after fold, ever
tightening with cruel swiftness and savage
tenacity of anacondas fastening upon their
prey.
It was the barbarity of the Laoeoon with
out its beauty—this strange, horrible murder.
And now the great leaves rose slowly and
stiffly, like the arms of a derrick, erected
themselves in the air, approached one anoth
er, and closed about th%dead and hampered
victim with the silent force of a hydraulic press
and the ruthless purpose of a thumb-screw.
A moment more, and while I could see the
basis of these great levers pressing more
tightly toward each other from their inter
stices, there trickled down the stalk of the
tree great streams of viscid lioney-like fluid,
mingled horribly with the blood and oozing
viscera of the victim. At sight of this the
hordes around me, jelling madly, bounded
forward, crowded to the tree, clasped it, and
with cups, leaves, hands, and tongues, each
one obtained enough of the liquid to send him
mad and frantic.
Half a Hog Apiece.
Statistics carefully collected by the De
partment of Agriculture reveal the startling
fact that within the United States at this pre
sent moment there are “on the hoof” no less
than 18.000,000 head of hogs. Exclusive of
aged toothless persons and young infants
and those who abstain from pork as an un
clean thing, there are now living in the United
States just about 36,000,000 human beings.
The altogether appalling deduction from
these facts is only too obvious, the horrible
conviction being forced upon us that within
the next twelve months each individual able
bodied man, woman and child within the
boundaries of this misguided land, where
once was liberty, must eat half a hog or dis
turb the export and import equilibrium of
the world.
UsF'Did it ever occur to any of our readers
that it takes more feed to make a pound of
beef than a pound of butter? A good cow in
milk, well cared for, will make two hundred
pounds of butter in a season, worth from
sixty to seventy dollars 7 but a dry cow, with
the same feed, will not gain anything like
as much weight in the same time, nor will she
be worth as much as butter from the dairy
cow—and the milk is left. An acquaintance
of mine is fattening an ox, and in sixty days
he had fed him 000 pound of meal at a cost
of sls, with only 100 pounds gain in weight.
— Exchange.
The wisest man has a foolish corner in his
brain.
V TERMS, $2.00 PER ANNUM.
) SI.OO FOR SIX MONTHS.
Paying Old Debts Again.
The supreme court of the United States
has recently made a decision which will be
of interest to the people of the south in more
than one way. The case l>efore the court was
from the circuit court of the Eastern district
of Virginia, and its history is about as fid
lows :
On the Bth day of April, 1861, Charles
Stover executed to Fretz and wife a bond
for $2, 366.55. payable on or before the Ist
of March 1863. The bond was made in
Fauquier county, Ya., where Stover lived,
and secured bv a deed of trust npon real
estate in said county. The bond and deed
of trust were delivered to Samuel Chilton,
agent and attorney for Fretz and wife, who
resided in Pennsylvania.
The civil war came on and as a matter of
course communication became unlawful and
impossible l>etween the states wlie ein the
parties lived. Just before the date of its ma
turity, Stover paid the amount named in the
bond to Chilton, in Virginia bank notes and
Confederate scrip, at their face value and
was returned his bond and deed of trust. But
after the war had closed. Fretz and wife,
having been apprised of this trasaction, de
murred in no mistakable terms and filed a bill
in chancery, charging want of authority in
Chilton to receive the money and actual
fraud between him and Stover in the
transaction. Stover answesed, denying the
fraud charged and claiming that the payment
was, in law, a full discharge and satisfaction
of the trust deed. The decision of the court
was that the contract did not comtemplate a
state of war and that the settlements for
Confederate states currency was void and
that the debt could only be discharged by
the payment of the money of the United
States.
This decision promises to give rise to no
little litigation, as it is probable that a great
number of claims were thus discharged dur
ing the war and never afterwards questioned.
Those who thought, at that time, that they
had discovered anew and easy way of pay
ing old debts will doubtless find that their
troubles have grown upon them rather than
been reduced in bulk. Interest will have ad
ded its leaden weight'-to the sum total and
the creditor will have discovered that which
he has long mourned as lost. It docs seem
that the statute of limitations ought to
operate very beneficially along here some
where, and we trust some remedy may be
found for the long train of evils which some
apprehend will flow from the decisions.—
Const.
A Rustic Courtship.
I hitched my chcr close to hern an’ shefc
my eyes an’ sed :
“ Sal, you're the very gal I’ve bin hankerin’
arter fur a long time. I luv you all over,
from the soul of your foot to the bed of your
crown, an’ I don’t keer who knows it; an’
ef you say so, we’ll bejiued in the holy band
of padlock. E pluribus onions, gloria Mon
day morning, sick temper tarantau’a, non
compimmentus, world without end,’ sez I an’
I felt as thou’ I had throwed up like an alliga
tor. I felt so relieved.
With that she fotched a scream, an’ arter
awhile she sed:
“ Peter!”
“ What is it, Sally ?”
“ Yes,” sed she, hiding her face.
You may depend upon it, I felt orful good.
“ Glory ! glory !” sez I, “ I must holler,
Sal, or I'll bust wide open. Hooray ! hooray i
I can jump over a ten-rail fence ; I can do
anything a fellow could or ort to do.”
With this, I sorter sloshed myself
down beside her and clinched -tl e
bargain with a kiss. Talk about your mo
lasses, talk almutyour nite-blooming serious,
they warnt no where; you couldn't have got
me ni’ ’em ; they would have tasted sour ar
ter that.”
“ O broomstraws with lasses on ’em ! Ef
Sal’s daddy hadn’t bawled out. “It’s time
all honest folkes waz in bed,” Ido believe
I’d stayed all nite.”
Washing not Taken In.
A good old minister of one of our New
England Baptist Churches, was agreeably
surprised by the intelligence from one of his
flock, that five individuals had expressed a
a desire on the next Sunday to have the bap
tismal rite performed upon themselves. Af
ter its performance, however, he was some
what chagrined that only one of the five join
ed the society of which he was a pastor.
A few Sundays after, the same worthy
elder waited on him with the intelligence that
ten more desired immersion.
“And how many will join the society ?”
queried the minister.
“Two, I regret to say, are all we can de
pend on,” was the elder's reply.
“ Very well/’ said the good old man, “ you
may as well inform the other eight that this
this church doesn't take in washing.”
Marry her First.
Many years ago, in what is now a flourish
ing city, lived a stalwart blacksmith, fond of
his pipe and his joke. He was also fond of
his blooming daughter, whose many graces
had ensnared the affections of a young prin
ter. The couple, after a season of billing
and cooing, ‘engaged themselves,’ and noth
ing but the consent of the young lady’s pa
rents prevented union. To obtain this an in
terview was arranged, and the typo prepared
a little speech to admonish and convince
the old man, who sat enjoying his pipe in per
fect content.
The typo dilated on the fact of their friend
ship, their mutual attachments, their hopes
for the future, and like topics ; and taking
the daughter by the hand he said : ‘I am
now, sir, to ask your permission to transplant
this lovely flower from its parent bed’—but
his feeling overcame him and he forgot the
remainder of his oratorical flourish, blushed,
stammered, and finally wound up with, ‘from
its parental bed into my own.’
The father keenly relished this discomfit
ure of the suitor, and removing his pipe and
blowing a cloud, replied :
‘Well. young man, I don’t know as I have
any objection, provided you marry the girl
first.’
NUMBER 7.