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The Gainesville Ea^le.
I'l BUSH ED EVERT FRIDAY MORNING.
X - B - 1A ID 13 W I IST ID .
Kditur uml Proprietor.
I KKMs : 92 A-Yeur, in Advance.
OFFICE
L’p stain* in Candler Hail building, north-west corner
Public Square.
Agents for The Eagle.
J. M. Rich, lilairsville, Ga.; J. D. Howabl., Hiwaß-
Stte, Ga.; W. M. Sanderson, Uaysville, N. C.; Dr. N.
C, Osborn, Haford, Ga.
ttjr The above named gentlemen are authorized to
make collections, receive and receipt for subscription
to The Eagle oilice.
Ka t oi* Advertising.
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cents for each subsequent insertion.
Marriage notices and obituaries exceeding six lines
will be charged for as advertisements.
Personal or abusive communications will not be
inserted at any price.
Communications of general or local interest, under
a genuine signature respectfully solicited from any
tiourcc.
Kales of Legal Advertising.
Sheriff’s sales for each levy often lines or less $2 50
Each subsequent ten lines or less - - 260
Mortgage sales (Ou days) per square - - 500
Mich subsequent ten lines or less - - 5 00
Adm'r’s, Ex'r’s or Guard’n’s sales, (40 days) pr sq 5 00
Notice to debtors and creditors - - 5 00
(Jitat’s for lat’rs of adm’n or guard'ns’p (4 wks) 400
Leave to sell real estate - - - 5 00
Let’rs of disui’n of adm’n or guard'n (3 mo.) 0 00
Estray notices 3 00
Citations (unrepresentedestates) • 4 00
Hule nisi in divorce cases - - - COO
n& m Fractions of a square (frr inch) are charged in all
cases as full squares or inches.
Notices of Ordinaries calling attention of adminis-
executors and guardians to making th*dr an
nual returns; and of Sheriffs in regard to provisions
M otions 3643, of the Code, published fhee lor the
Sheriffs and Ordinaries who patronize the Eaglf..
Advertisers vvlio desire a specitled space lor 3, 6 or
12 months will receive a liberal deduction from our
regular rates.
411 bills due after first insertion, unless special
contract to the contrary be made.
GENERAL. DIRECTORY.
lion. George D. Kice, Judge 8. C. Western Circuit.
A. L. Mitchel, Solicitor, Athens, Ga.
COUNTY OFFICERS.
J. H. M. Winburn, Ordinary.
John L. Gaines, Sheriff.
J. F. Duckett, Deputy Sheriff.
.J. J. Mayne, Clerk Superior Court.
N. B. Clark, Tax Collector.
J. It. li. Luck, Tax Receiver.
Gideon Harrison, Surveyor.
Edward Lowry, Coroner,
it- C. Young, Treasurer.
CHURCH DIRECTORY.
Presbyterian Church —Rev. T. P. Cleveland, Pas
tor. Preaching every Sabbath—morning ami night,
except the second Sabbath. Su day School at if a. m.
Prayer meeting Wednesday evening at 4 o’clock.
Metuoiukt Church — Rev. D. D. Cox, Pastor.
Preaching every Sunday morning and night. Sunday
School ata. in. Prayer meeting Wednesday night.
Baptist Church Rev. W. C. Wilkes, Pastor.
Preaching Sunday morning. Sunday School at 9 a.
m. Prayer meeting Thursday evening at 4 o’clock. i
YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
A. M. Jackson, President.
It. C. Maddox, Vice President.
W. 13. Clements, Secretary.
Regular services every Sabbath evening at one of
the Churches. Cottage prayer meeting'* every Tues
day night in “Old Town,” and Friday night near the
depot.
FRATERNAL RECORD.
Ali.kumany Royal Arch Chapter meets on the Sec
ond and Fourth Tuesday evenings in each month.
W. M. Puckett, See’y. A. W. Caldwkll, H. P.
Gainesville Lodge, No. 2111, A.-. F.\ M.\, meet?
ou the First and Third Tuesday evening in the month
it. l’ALMoutt, Sec’y. It. E Green, W. M.
A ik-Link Lodge, No. 04, I. O. O. F., meets every
Friday evening.
C. A. Lilly, See. W. H. Harrison, N. G.
Morning Star Lodge, No. 313, I. O. G.T., meets ev
ery Thursday evening.
Claud Estes, W. S. J. P. Caldwell, W. C. T.
/forth-Eastern Star Lodge, No. 385 I. O. G. TANARUS.,
meets every Jt and 3d Saturdav evenings, at Antioch
Church. [V. S. Hudson, W. 0. T.
11. W. Rhodes, Secretary.
GAINESVILLE POST OFFICE.
Owing to roeent change of schedule on the Atlanta
ami Richmond Air Line Railrood, the following will
be the schedule from date:
Mail fro u Atlanta ffastj 5.11 p. m.
Mail for Atlanta llast 1 11.20 a. in.
Office hours: From 7 a. m. to 12 m., and from
1 % p. m. to 7 p. m.
No office hours on Sunday for general delivery
window.
All cross mails leave as heretofore.
mails close:
Dahltfnoga (Stage, Daily) - - 8:30 a.m.
Jefferson, (Stage, Wednesday ami Saturday) 0:00 p. m.
Cleveland, (Stage, Monday and Friday) 8:00 a. in.
Homer, (Horse, Friday) 12:30 p.m.
Wahoo “ “ - - - 5:00 a.m.
Dawsonville, (Horse, Saturday) - 7 30 '*
mails arrive:
Dahloiiega. -* 3:oop.iu.
Jefferson (Wednesday and Sat ‘.relay) 6:00 p. m.
Cleveland, (Monday and Thursday) - 0:00 “
Homer, (Friday) - - 12:00 m.
Wahoo “ 6:00 a. m.
Dawsonville, (Friday) - - 0:00 p.m.
M. It. ARCHER, P.M.
mill Business Cards,
MARLER <V PERRY.
A TTORNEYS AT LAW. GAINESVILLE, GA,
Office in the Court House, one or the other oi’
the firm always present. Will praetico in Hall ami
adjoining counties. auj*2s-ly
A . . I . Mil A If FE H,
rIIYSICIANT
AND
S II It (i EO N ,
Giiiiicsvillci <iii.
Office ami Rooms sit Gaines* Hotel, Gainesville, Ga.
jai2l-ly
I IN FIHMAItY,
FOR THE TREATMENT’ OF DISEASES OF WOMEN,
AND OPERATIVE SURGERY,
At the Gaines’ Hotel, Gainesville, Ga, by
jan2B tf A. J. SHAFFER, M. D.
\ . I). LOCKHART, M. I).,
I’olli illc, (in..
\ITILL FRACTION MEDICINE in all its branches.
▼ ▼ Special attention given to Chronic Diseases of
worneu and children. feblß-Ora
OH. 11. it. Al)\ ik ,
DENTIST,
Gainesville, tin.
.lanll ly
MARSHAL L. SMITH,
VTTORNRY AND COUNSELLOR AT LAW,
Dawsomnlle, Dawson county, Ga.
janl4 ti
JOHN It. ESTES,
VTTOKNKY \T-LA\V, Gainesville, Hail county,
Georgia. ' i
C. J. \\ ELLBOR \ .
\TTOKNKY-AT-L.VW, Blairaville, Union county,
. Georgia.
SAMUEL <’. DUNLAP’,
\TTOUNEY AT L \\V, Gainesville, Oa.
. Oilice in the Candler ImiMing, in tho room
occupied by the Eagle iu 1875. aprStf.
W. K. WILLIAMS,
VTTORSKY AND COUNSELLOR Al' LAW,
Clri'lanil, White Cos., (la., will practice in the
Courts of the Western Circuit, ami give prompt atten
tion to all business entrusted to his care.
June 12,1874-tt
Wl Eli BOYD,
VT I’ORNKY AT LAW, Dahlonega, Ga. I
1 will Practice Li (he counties of Lumpkin, 1
Pawson, tvihner, Fannin, Fnion and Towns comities I
n the Blue Kirige Circuit; and Hall, White and ;
Hahun in the Wcsiern Circuit.
May 1, 1874-tf. !
HEY A. MARTIN,
ATTORNEY AT LAW, Dahkmeqa, Oct.
S. K. CHRISTOPHER,
VTTORNEY AT LAW. Hiwasxee, Ga.
Will execute promptly all business entrusted to
his care. novlGtf
THOMAS F GREEK,
VTTORNEY AT LAW, AND SOLICITOR IN
Equity and Knukrupny, Ellijay, (In. Will prac
tice in ihe Staie Courts, and in the District aud Cir
c nit Courts of the U. S., in Atlanta, Oh.
June JO, ISTJ-tf
ML W. RIDEN,
VTTORNEY AT LAW, Gainesville, Georgia.
.lan. 1, is76ly
JAMES M. TOWERY,
VTTOKNFY AT L AW,
Gainesville, G.
J. .1. TIKMULL,
4 TTOKNEY AT LAW, Homer , Ga. —Will practice
all the counties composing the Western Cir
cuit. Prompt attention given to all claims entrusted
to his care.
dan. 1. 1876-ly.
JAMES A. BUTT,
Attorney at law . land agent, Bia%r,vuu
Ga. Prompt attention given to all business
entrusted t o his care. june 2,1871-tl
The Gainesville Eagle.
Devoted to folitios, JXews of the !>:.>. The Farm Interests, Home Matters, and Choice Miscellany.
VOL. XI,
A FARM KK\S SONG.
We envy not the princely man,
In city or in town,
Who wonders whether pumpkin vines
Run up the hill or down;
We care not for his marble halls,
Nor j et his heaps of gold,
We would not own his sordid heart
For all his wealth thrice told.
We are the favored ones of earth,
We breathe pure air each more,
We sow—we reap the golden grain—
We gather iu the corn;
We toil—we live on what we earn,
And more than this we do
We hear of starving millions round,
And gladly feed them, too.
The lawyer lives ou princely fees,
Yet drags a weary life,
He never knows a peaceful hour
His atmosphere is strife.
The merchant thumbs his yardstick o’er,
Grows ragged at his toil
He’s not the man God meant him for—
Why don’t you till the soil ?
The doctor plods through storm and cold,
Plods at his patient’s will,
When dead and gone he plods again,
To get his lengthy bill.
The printer (bless bis noble soul!)
He grasps the mighty earth,
And stamps it ou our daily sheet,
To cheer the farmer’s hearth.
We sing the honor of the plow,
And honor to the press,
Two noble instruments of toil,
With each a power to bless,
The hone -the nerves of this fast age
True wealth of human kind—
One tills the ever-generous earth,
The other tiDs the mind.
[Phrenological Journal.
Mi:AX I TO.
Why didn’t you do it ?
‘I meant to,’ is the excuse of the
weak, the failing, the lost!
Decision is the first, great, solid,
permanent stone going to constitute
strength of character. Until this is
laid there is nothing substantial for
any superstucture to rest on.
If you meant to do a thing, do it.
Let nothing stand in your way. A re
solute will is like a powerful locomo
tive) hitched to a train of cars. With
out it the train, however long and
however well-filled, might stand still
forever.
I meant to, is a sickly excuse. It
indicates a lack of strenth, of manhood,
of will-power. Do not accustom your
lips to making it. Better always to be
able to say, I meant to, and I did it,
rather than to stop at the dilapidated
half-way house, with simply, I meant
to.
Habit has much to do with decision
of character. Cultivate, sedulously, the
habit of doing what you undertake—
the habit of success. Every feat you
accomplish strengthens you and pre
pares you tor the achievement of more
difficult enterprises. It increases your
self-respect; it wins for you the esteem
of others. Be ashamed, then, ever to
say I meant to but did not, unless the
thing were absolutely impossible.
Count well the cost before you begin;
but, having begun, carry the thing
through, at whatever cost. Remember
that of old it was said to one, ‘Unsta
ble as water, tliou shalt not excel.’
If you would excel, have a stable mind
and cultivate decision of character.
Think for yourself, and think much
more than you talk.
Bo proud of your calling; if a shoe
maker, strive to make a better shoe
than anybody else.
With a clear eye and upright heart
resist every wrong.
‘lf thou hast a truth to utter, speak,
aud leave the rest to God.’
Touch not, taste not, that which will
corrupt.
Go uot to your grave one-third
whisky, one third tobacco, and tbe
other third a composition of corrup
tion.
Be something—be somebody. Set
your mark high in the world aud then
move toward it. Don’t wait for some
body to lift you up to the place you
aspire—lift yourself.
Yiolence ever defeats its own tnds.
When you cannot drive, you can al
ways persuade. Few people will sub
mit to coercion. A geutle word, a kind
look, a good-natured smile can work
wonders and accomplish miracles.—
There is a secret pride in every human
heart that revolts at tyranny. You may
order and drive an individual, but you
cannot make him respect you. In the
domestic circle, especially, kind words
and looks are most essential to connu
bial felicity. Children should never be
spoken harshly to. It does them no
good. If they commit a fault, they
should be corrected for it in a mild
but firm manner, and the impression
it makes upon tuem is sure to prove
s dutary.
Now that Grant has pardoned all
but one of the St. Louis whisky thieves,
the Courier-Journal thinks they ought
to unite in presenting him some suita
ble testimonial of their gratitude.
When he comes to retire to the unsala
ried shades of private life, with no one
to love him, none to caress, he would
find a forty gallon barrel of ten-year
old Bourbon, with an amber bung hole
and silver-plated hoops, a mighty han
dy thing to have about the house. „
GAINESVILLE, GA., FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 16. 1877.
the nominating conventions.
Do They Express tire Will of the People
Are they Fair and Right l
[From the Southern Watchman.]
Perhaps the first concern of men,
who enjoy the blessings of free govern
ment, is that the laws should be enforc
ed with equal hand on all. “The pure
and impartial administration of jus
tice,” said the gifted author of the let
ters of Junius, “is the firmest bond of
people to government. Secondary
only to this is the consciousness iu the
hearts of the people that those who
make their laws, are fairly selected in
accordance with their fundamental
law and the spirit of their institutions.”
The consideration of this, and kindred
questions is important at this time.
It seems that every agency of power,
every pernicious usage, engrafted by
careless or corrupt legislation on the
body of the Constitution, is being ex
erted to change the character of this
government from its original and fund
amental theory of popular election and
the consent of the governed.
The vast patronage of 80,000 office
holders who enjoy places of emolu
ment and dignity under the General
Government are appointed not elected.
A large majority of the servants of the
peoplo in the State are chosen in the
same way. Judges of the Superior
Courts, the Solicitors General, the
County Judges, the Attorney General,
the Notaries Public and Ex-Officio
Justices of the Peace are all the creat
ures of the appointing power. The
Ordinaries, the Justices of the Peace
and the Coroners are the only judicial
officers who are elected by the people.
These illustrations are not strictly rele
vant to the questions I purpose to dis
cuss, but they serve to show that the
people are being deprived, and that
rapidly, of the general elective power,
which was sought to be made their
heritage by those great men who be
queathed this government to human
ity. I purpose to discuss an encroach
ment on the popular rights, the gravest
and in my judgment the most indefen
sible by which the right of electon was
ever attacked—l mean the so-called
Congressional Conventions, as at pres
ent organized. These arc the sole
remnants of a flood ofj Conventions of
every sort and description, which but
a few years since we/e flourishing in
the land, and it is a noteworthy fact,
that in the nineteen counties which
compose the Ninth Congressional Dis
trict, not a single Convention was held
either to nominate candidates for
county officers or candidates for the
General Assembly, at the late election
—significant fact of the small degree
of popularity which these institutions
enjoy. But the Congressional Conven
tions remain, and I propose to demon
strate that they are unjust and unfair;
that tho representation they allow the
people is arbitrary and unreasonable,
and so from their nominee being the
choice of the people, he is the accident
al product of a system which is, from
its very nature, necessarily a fraud on
their rights—which cheats them of
their preference, aud serves, year after
year, to perpotuate tho political power
of the district in the hands of a ring of
politicians, who themselves make and
unmake the Congressmen, without the
remotest reference to what the people
desire. The Convention in question
have this organization: There is a
chairman of the executive committee
for the Ninth District, and there are
chairmen for each county in it. The
election approaching, the district chair
man issues his “call” for a convention.
The county chairman then issues their
calls to the people of each county to
assemble at the court house and elect
delegates to the Congressional Conven
tion. So far the machinery is perfect,
but now the trouble begins. The ‘calls’
of tho county chairmen do not attract
much attention, are rarely generally
published. Asa consequence, very
few people attend the conventions;
they are regarded as unimportant by
the people, who are engaged on their
farms or at their places of business,
and the result is that with rare excep
tions, a few gentlemen who make local
politics a study and practice, assume
entire control of the County Conven
tions. A chairman is called on to pre
side, the object of the meeting is stat
ed by some fluent gentleman, who
takes the floor for that purpose. A
committee is appointed by the chairman
to Suggest the names of delegates to
represent the county in the Cengres
sional Convention. It seems nobody’s
business to object, in fact except in
cases of unusual interest, there is
nobody there to make an objection,
and the delegates who are thus appoint
ed by a committee, proceed to the Con
vention, and when there proceed to
appoint a Congressman; the people,
misled by the apparent fairness of the
Convention’s action, vote for their ap
pointee, without considering whether
or not ho is the choice of the people,
and thus the chairman and the com
mittees elect the Congressman. Now
I do not mean to say that good men
have not been elected by this system,
but this much is true that any system
which puts it in thepporerw r er of a chair
man and committees to select a mem
ber of Congress, is open to the most
manifest abuses. That the system
I have described does this, there can
be no doubt. How easy it is for a
chairman of a county Convention, to
appoint a committee to select delegates
to the Congressional Convention who
would vote all the time directly against
the wishes of the people of his county.
We saw in the first election of Mr.
Hill, this truth exemplified. The del
egates of certain counties in the Gaines
ville Convention for eight days voted
on every ballot against Mr. Hill, aud
yet at the polls those very counties
gavo him overwhelming majorities.
No system is safe, or right or in accor
dance with democratic institutions,
which takes the elective power from
the people and transforms it into an
appointing power in the hands of
chairmen and committees. But this
is not tho most serious objection to
the fairness of our nominating Con
ventions. The popular branch of the
Government is the House of Repre
sentatives. The Representative is
presumed by the Constitution, to be of
the people, to be elected by the peo
ple, they vote directly for him, they do
uot vote directly for any other person
holding office under the General Gov
ernment. Any system then which
interferes with the right of the people
to elect their Representative iu Con
gress, is clearly in contravention of
this theory of the Constitution.
It is susceptible of the clearest dem
onstration, that the Convention sys
tem in question not only does this,
but it places a majority of ten thou
sand democratic voters, completely
under the control of the delegates who
claim to represent a minority of five
thousand. Now to the proof. When
the Convention is assembled, it fixes
its rule of representation. The repre
sentation is by counties and is as fol
lows; those counties which have by
law one member of the Legislature,
are allowed three votes in Convention,
aud those counties having two mem-,
hers of the Legislature are allowed five
votes in Convention. Jackson and
Gwinnett have five votes each, aud the
other counties have
in Convention.
It has puzzled gentlemen who advo
cate this plan to advance an argnnisnir
in its support. To the uninitiated it
would seem that if one member of the
Legislature will entitle his coud’ty to
tnree votes in Convention, two mem
bers would confer six votes. We pre
sume (bat the ttatesmen who advocate!
three and five as the rule, indulge the
popular superstition that there is luck
in odd numbers. But this objection is
trivial, when compared with what fol
lows. This is a Convention of the
people, it is said; through its nomina
tion, the Democratic popular majority
gives expression to its preference far a
particular candidate; and in support
of this proposition, we behold those
counties which cast 10,000 Democratic
votes for Samuel J. Tilden, allowed 28
votes in this so-called Convention, and
we see those counties which cast 5,000
votes for Tilden, casting 33 votes in
Convention. We take the vote cast for
Tilden as a standard, because more in
terest was felt in that than in any other
election in which party lines were dis
tinctly drawn, but any other election
will demonstrate the fact to be true,
that under the unfair, unjust and
wholly arbitrary rule adopted by this
Convention, the delegates of 10,000
Democrats are out-voted by the dele
gates of 5,000 Democrats. Tho men
who control this Convention allow
Fannin county three votes; they allow
Clarke county three votes—yet Fannin
could only poll 286 votes for Tilden,
while Clarke polled 1,792. Fannin aud
Towns together voted 582 votes for
Tilden, and the miserable machinery
of this Convention enables the dele
gates of these 582 Democrats in Fan
nin and Towns to double the vote of
1,792 Democrats of Clarke; so the
counties of Fannin and Towns have,
under this rule, twice as much influ
ence in the selection of a Congressman
as the county of Clarke has, yet Clarke
has more than three times the Demo
cratic strength of both of them put
together; and yet we are told that this
is a Convention of the people. This
reasoning does not apply to the county
of Clarke alone. In order to see how
unfair the rule is, let us contrast the
Democratic vote of some of the coun
ties which suffer under its operations.
Habersham county voted 1,016 votes
for Tildon. It is balanced in Conven
tion by the vote of 286 in Fannin, and
doubled in Convention by the 582 of
Fannin and Towns. For convenience,
I present a table of enough counties
! to show the unfairness of the system:
votes, delegates.
Gwinnett 1,595 5
To.vi.s and Fauniu.. 582 6
Clarke. •••••••••.. 1,792 3
Franklin 882 3
Dickens 303 *~3
Habersham 1,016 3
Dawson 420 . 3
Morgan 920 3 i
The vote of Hall, Madison, Rabun
and Forsyth, are all largely iu excess
- JT
of several* •£_the counties mentioned,
and J e l J are each limited to three
votes in.vjonventiou. From this state
ment of facts and figuies, it is clear
that the nominee of this Convention is
not necessarily the choice of the Demo
cratic party in the District—that he is
selected by a system which cheats the
people of the right to which their ma
jority entitles them. Ido not believe
that the masses of the people of this
District will submit to a system so
grossly unfair as the system now in
use, whenever the facts are laid before
them. It was with a full knowledge of
the facts that the Democracy of Clarke
county, in their last County Conven
tion, adopted resolutions instructing
their delegates to urge upon the
Gainesville Convention, the right of
Clarke county, to a representation in
the Convention, proportioned to the
Democratic vote of the county. The
people of Jackson, if I am not misin-
formed, took up the question and
adopted similar resolutions. Some oi
the leading journals in the District—
and notab.y so the Forest News and
the Southern Watchman—came out in
leading eqitorials, advocating the re
form. It is an argument, which ad
dresses itself, at once, to the sense of
justice of the people. The system
operate ? unjustly on all, and the soon
er it is reformed, the sooner the people
will be restored to the enjoyment of
their constitutional right, to elect their
Represents ive in Congress, without
the intervention of the chairman of a
caucus and the report of a committee.
So potent is the influence accorded
to the voico of a majority of the peo
ple, that it has been eloquently said
that tho voice of the people is the voice
of God—but this inequitable system is
a S a g to the voice of the people—and
it places a majority of ten thousand
Democrats in a political servitude to
the delegates who claim to represent
5,000. What I have written is in
no captious spirit, but is written with
a sincere belief of its truth—is strictly
consistent with the position taken by
the Democracy of the District in the
first election of Mr. Hill, with the reso
lutions of !he Clarke and Jackson
Democracy, their iastJPqjn'.fcsG *y—
if possible, a reform in the organiza
tion in oui District, of this party, to
which is Ctfftiflilted the duty of pre
serving Constitutional Government in
this country.
Your obedient servant,
Emory Speer
We expect wooden buildings to de
cay, aud if they endure for a century
or two they are regarded as venerable
specimens of antiquity. The first
Baptist meeting house in Providence,
R. I, a fine architectural mo le!, is
said to be as sound even to top of its
lofty spire, as when first built, nearly
a century ago. But this is a young in
fant compared with some European
churches. The trusses of the old part
of the roof of Basilican of St. Peter’s
in Romo, were framed in 81G, but when
carefully examined in 1816, were
found to be perfectly sound aud good.
The domes of the church of St. Mark’s
at Venice, were built nearly eight hun
dred and fifty years ago, and the out
side timbers are yet good. Brick and
stone could hardly last better than
such woodwork. Timber cased in
plaster and in iron, however, has de
veloped a verv dangerous kind of dry
rot.
A man who looked like a country
mad was lately walking iu the street
with a packet in his hand, sealed and
addressed, with a memorandum that
it contained a thousand dollars in
bank-notes. As the bearer appeared
to be at loss, he was accosted by a man
who asked him what he was looking
for. The . imple countryman placed
the packet in the inquirer’s hands, aud
requested that he would read the ad
dress, as he-was unable to do so, and
had forgotten it. Tho reply was made,
as with agreeable surprise, “Why, this
letter is for me! I have been expecting
it for a long while.” The messenger
upon this demanded a dollar for the
carriage of the packet, which was
paid, Tiie new possessor of the packet
hastened to an obscure corner to ex
amine his prize; but ou breaking the
seal, he found nothing but a few sheets
of paper, on which was written the* sim
ple word “Done!”
The oyster is a modest animal and
has never made much of a noise in the
world, but it is of some importance af
ter all. The annual produce of oysters
ou the Virginia coast is estimated at
$20,000,000. The state of Virginia
desires to get an income from this bus
iness of SIOO,OOO a year. The oysters
are gathered there in immense quali
ties and shipped to other States,where
they are planted aud grow fat. Over
6,000 vessels are employed iu trans
porting them.
This year the Southern States raised
10,000,000 bushels more corn than in
. 1875. Illinois is the largest corn
grower of the Northern, and Tennes
see the largest of the Southern States.
ANDREW JACKSON’S DUEL.
[Correspondence of the Cincinnati Commercial.]
The duel between Andrew Jackson
and Charles Dickinson was deadly.—
Dickinson had alluded in public to the
well known and recorded fact that one
Robards had obtained a divorce from
his wife on account of her ‘living in
adultery with one Andrew Jackson.’
She had already been made Jackson’s
wife, but the offense was deadly. Jack
son sent the challenge. Dickinson was
the most expert marksman iu Tennes
see, and Jackson resolved to give him
the first fire.
The place appointed for the meeting
was a long day’s ride from Nashville.
Thursday morning, before the dawn of
day, Dickinson stole from the side of
his young and beautiful wife, and be
gan speedily to prepare for the jour
ney. She awoke and asked him why
he was up so early. He replied that
he had business in Kentucky, across
the river, but it would not detain him
long. On parting he kissed her with
peculiar tenderness and said, ‘Good
bye, darling. I shall be sure to be at
home to-morrow night.’
He mounted his horse and repaired
to the rendezvous, where his second
and half a dozen gay blades of Nash
ville were waiting to escort him on his
journey. Away they rode in tho highest
spirits, as though it wore a party of
pleasure. Indeed, they made a party
ol pleasure of it. When they stopped
for rest or refreshment Dickinson is
said to have amused the company by
displaying his wonderful skill with the
pistol. Once at a distance of twenty
four feet he fired four balls, each at the
word of command, into a space that
could be covered by a silver dollar. It
is said that he had laid a wager of five
hundred dollars ihat he could hit his
antagonist within half an inch of a
certain button on his coat.
Both parties, with their respective
cavalcades, reached the vicinity of the
ground appointed for the duel late in
the afternoon. They secured accom
modations at a couple of neighboring
taverns. It is related that Jackson ate
heartily at supper that night, convers
ing in a lively, pleasant manner, and
• spoked his evening pipe as usual. Ho
retired early, and by daylight next
morning the whole party were up and
in the saddle. A gallop of a mile aud(
the fording of a stream, which, owing
to its swollen state, it was found neces
sary to swim, brought them to the
ground. Dickinson and party had al
ready arrived. The business at once
proceeded. Dickinson’s second won
the choice of position and Jackson’s
the office of giving the word. ‘Both
were perfectly collected,’ says Parton.
‘All the politeness of such occasions
was very strictly and elegantly per
formed. Jackson was dressed in a
loose frock coat, buttoned carelessly
over his chest, and concealing in some
degree the extreme slenderness of his
figure. Dickinson was the younger
and handsomer man of tho two, but,
Jackson’s tall, erect figure, and the
still intensity of his demeanor, it is
said, gave him a most superior and
commanding air, as he stood under
the tall ooplars on this bright May
morning silently awaiting the moment
of doom.
‘Are you ready?” said Overton.
‘I am ready,’ replied Dickinson.
‘I am ready,’ said Jackson.
The word was given.
Dickinson raised his pistol quickly
and fired. Overton, who was looking
with anxiety and dread at Jackson,
saw a puff of dust fly from the breast
of his coat, and saw him raise his left
arm and place it tightly across his
breast. He is surely hit, thought Over
ton, and in a bad place, too, but no ;
ho does not fall. Erect and grim as
Fate he stood, his teeth clenched,
raising his pistol. Overton glanced
at Dickinson. Annoyed at tho un
wonted failure of his aim, and appar
ently appalled at the awful figure and
face before him, Dickinson had re
coiled a pace or two.
‘Great God!’ he faltered; ‘have I
missed him ?’
‘Back to the mark, sir!’ shrieked
Overton, with his hand upon his pistol
Dickinson recovered Lis composure,
stepped forward to the peg and stood
with eyes averted from his antagonist.
General Jackson took deliberate aim
and pulled the trigger. The pistol
neither snapped nor went off. He
looked at the trigger and discovered
that it had stopped at half cock. He
drew it back to its place and took aim
a second time. He fired. Dickinson’s
face blanched; he reeled; his friends
pushed toward him, caught him in
their arms, and silently seated him on
the ground, leaning against a bush.
His trousers reddened. They stripped
off his clothes. The blood was gush
ing from his side in torrents. The ball
had passed through the body below
the ribs. Such a wound could not but
be fatal.
Jackson and his friendsimmediately
left the field. It was found upon ex
amination, on leaching the tavern,
that he was wounded. ‘Dickinson’s
aim,’ says Partou, ‘had been perfect.
He had sent the hall precisely where
he supposed Jackson’s heart was beat
ing, but the thinness of his body and
the loosen ess of his coat combining to
deceive him, the ball had only broken
a rib or two and raked the breast-bone.
It was a somewhat painful, bad-look
ing wound, but neither severe nor
dangerous.’
Dickinson died that night.
In this duel it is plain to be seen,
from a careful consideration of the
circumstauces above narrated, though
the truth does not appear to have
reached the apprehension of General
Jackson’s biographer, that Dickinson
was outwitted by his older and more
experienced antagonist. Advantage
was taken of the very fact of his being
a ‘dead shot,’ and of his perfect con
tidence of his skill with the pistol.
His avowed purpose was to shoot
Jackson through the heart, and he
felt absolutely sure of doing this. In
what manner his object was defeated
Mr. Parton unconsciously discloses.—
He aimed ‘precisely‘where he sup
posed Jackson’s heart was beating,
but the thinness of his body and the
looseness of his coat’ combined ‘to
deceive’ him. Admitting the morality
of private combat as of public war,
such a strategy under the circum-
stances cannot be regarded as unjus
tifiable. The late (Jen. Sam Dale, who
was intimate with Jackson, has been
lrequently heard to say that Dickin
son s fatal mistake was in not aiming
at Jackson’s head instead of his heart.
Parton is in error when he states
that Jackson’s wound was ‘neither
severe nor dangerous.’ It coufined
him to his room for several weeks,
and it healed falsely. Twenty years
after it broke out afresh, and troubled
him for the remainder of his life. The
pulmonary affection, which finally car
ried him to his grave, is attributed to
that wound.
Jackson never exhibited the slightest
compunction for the part he took in
this bloody affair. He very rarely al
luded to it, but when ho did it always
was with perfect-complacency. It is
told of him thatgentleman was once
examining N ' y v ijell'"o c-ty-m r r*uiu e
up one ob’W Steftfthe General quietly |
remarked: ‘That is the pistol with
which I killed jMr. Dickinson.’
Doan Stanley of
children at Westminster Abbey, on
Innocents’ Day, December 28t,h: “I
knew once a very famous man, who
lived to be very old—who lived to be
eighty-eight. He was always the de
light of those about him. He always
stood up for what was right. His eye
was like an eagle’s, when it flashed fire
at what was wrong. And how early do
yon think he began to do this? I have
an old book which belonged to him, all
tattered aud torn, which he had when
a little boy at school, and what do you
think I found written, in his own hand,
in the very first page? Why these
words: ‘Still in thy right hand carry
gentle peace to silence vicious tongues;
be just and fear not.’ That was his rule
all through life, and ho was loved and
honored down to the day when he w r as
carried to his grave.”
A good story is told of a well known
Broad street broker, who, on his way
home from the club the other evening,
managed to occupy considerably more
than two-thirds of the Madison avenue
sidewalk. In this predicament he was
met by two seedy individuals, who first
relieved him of his watch, and then
tumbled him over into the snow. As
he lay there shouting for help, two
other individuals came along and in
quired: ‘What’s the matter?’ ‘Why,’
said the broker, ‘here I’ve—hie—been
robbed of my—Lie—watch.’ ‘Didn’t
they take your money ?’ asked the
strangers. ‘Don’t know,’ said the bro
ker, feeling in his breast pocket for bis
wallet. ‘No, here ’t,is—bic—-money’s
all right.’ ‘Well, we’ll take that, then,’
said the strangers, as they seized the
wallet and disappeared around the
first corner.—New York Commercial
Advertiser.
The building of narrow-gauge rail
roads in this country, which began in
1871, when 17‘J miles of road were
built, has increased in five years to
3157 miles now in operation in Amer
ica. The largest amount built in any
one year was 819 miles in 1874, and
during ’7(l, 5G9 miles were put in ope
ration, or more than one-filth of the
total amount of rail way constructed in
the whole country.
The city of Fall Kiver, Mass., the
largest cotton manufacturing centre in
the country, has every one of its mills
running on full time. The aggregate
weekly production is 134,000 pieces of
print cloths and about 12,000 pieces of
wide goods, and the weekly pay exceeds
SIOO,OOO.
The exportation of railroad iron from
England to the United States has dwin
dled to almost nothing. We are told
that during 1870 only 349 tous were
sent to this country. Three years ago
the annual exportation from England
was 177,955 tons to the United States.
feathers.
A Wisconsin couple named Iheir
sixth boy ‘Enough.’
For what purpose was Eve made?
For Adams’ express company.
The weather no sooner begins to suit
people than a chango comes. m
It begins to look like the Supreme
Judges are merely human after all.
Those who come to you to talk about
others are the ones who go to others
to talk about you.
Take thinks as they r are and make
the best of them. That is the only
true and practical philosophy.
I’he trouble is thtot too many men
warm themselves at the stove, and too
few by exercise.
The man who does not hesitate about
going to war has never been bossed
around by a second lieutenant.
To live nobly we must be noble, and
we become noble by resolutely banish
ing every unworthy thought and feel-
NO. 7
ing.
Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ was
the late Mr. Vanderbilt’s lavorite
book, and he often carried it with him
on journeys.
A majority of the New England fac
tories have resumed work, and pros
pects in that section of the Union are
brightening.
The times are so hard that an Irish
man says he has parted with all his
elegant wardrobe except the arm holes
of an old waistcoat.
The Charleston News and Courier
thinks that in a few months South
Carolina will be as good a place to
live in as any State in the Union.
America can now produce more
munitions of war in sixty days than
England can in six months, amt the
Yankee coat-tail flies high.
There is a great temperance revival
at Pittsburg. Over 3,000 topers have
pledged themselves not to drink any
more liquor until the price comes
down.
Everything in the way of the cere
als, textiles, vegetables, grasses and
fruits that are grown in the United
States, can be successfully grown in
Georgia.
One difference between Thomas Jef
ferson and Ulysse3 S. Grant, is that
the former had rather be right than
President, aud the latter had rather
be tight than President.
A sermon in Barbadoes was recently
closed thus: ‘My obstinaceous breden,
I find it no more use to preach to you
dan it is for a grasshopper to wear
knee-breeches.’
nflftEg 1 a distance or
fifty feetyimd escaping* with only a few
scratches, a by stander remarked that
he was ‘too slow to fall fast enough to
hurt himself.’
When Wo take people as they are,
we make them worse; when we treat
them as if they were what they should
be, wo improve them as far as they
can be improved.
‘l’m afraid I am sitting on your cri
noline, ma’am.’ ‘Oh, never mind, sir
—it’s of no consequence; you can’t
hurt it.’ ‘No, ma’am, it’s not that;
but the confounded thing hurts me.’
Alabama is progressive. The lower
house of her Legislature lately appro
priated, in addition to the trust funds,
$150,000 per annum for the public
schools, instead of SIOO,OOO, as last
year.
A man who promised his wife on her
death-bed never to marry again, offers
a reward for someone who will con
vince him that a lie is justifiable, when
it is told to sooth the last moments of
the departing.
A suggestion which is believed to be
neither unconstitutional nor extra
constitutional—That ballots for use iu
the Southern States be hereafter made
of boiler iron, which will stand the
wear and tear of successive recounts.
Turner, United States minster to
Liberia, says that his residence there
has confirmed him in the conviction
that the American negro can live in no
country half so well as iu the United
States.
A little darkey slipped off a steep
roof and exclaimed,‘Good Lord, ketch
me; ketch me, good Lord.’ Just then
his breetches caught on a nail and
held him, and he cried, ‘Nebber
mine, good Lord, a nail done cotch
me.’
Those Englishmen are as thick-head
ed as ever. Hear what the Cornhill
Magazine says: ‘A gentleman, as we
are told in the papers, has recently
been winning popularity in America
because he dressed himself in coarse
clothes and chewed tobacco.’
‘A negro held a cow while a cross
eyed man was to knock her in the
head with an axe. The darkey, ob
serving the mau’s eyes, in some alarm
inquired, ‘You gwiue to hit whar you
look ?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Den,’ said Cuffee,‘ hold
dis cow yourself.’
An inquisitive young man visited
the State prison, and, among other
question asked a girl the cause of her
being in such a place. Her answer
was that she ‘stole a water-mill, and
went back after the stream that turn
ed the mill, and was arrested.’
Adam Forepangh, the great show
man, is in luck. One of his perform
ing elephants iu the winter-quarters at
Germantown, Pennsylvania, gave birth
the other day to a baby elephant,
which Mr. Forepaugh says is the first
that was ever born on American soil.
Mr. Forepaugh values the new arrival
at $20,000.