The North Georgian. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1877-18??, February 05, 1880, Image 1

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Greofgiai], PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BMLLTON. GA. by JOHN BL ATS. TBsms —si.(X) per annum ; cO cent* for six “onths; 25 cents for three months. ♦ " ar j 6B a "»y from Beliton are requested to send their names, with such amounts of ■oney as they can spare, from 2cc. to sl. M. Bebtillon, the French savant, says that the number of suicides in France is at the rate of 628 per 1,000,000 for widowers, 273 for bachelors and 240 for married men. It will be noted from these figures that less married men com mit suicide than either bachelors or wid owers. » • The efforts of Dom Pedro to increase the imperial revenues haye been met by resistance iu Rio, the people Objecting to a head taj on street-cat passengers. Resides constructing a new system of internal taxation. tl>e Brazilian Finance Minister has recently produced a new tariff which is prohibitory to a great extent, and will bear heavily on foreign commerce, especially articles from the United States. The widow of ex-President Tyler has asked Congress for a pension, on the grounds of the immense depression in the value of her real estate, the mortgage on her northern property having been foreclosed, and. those on her southern property constantly troubling her.* She says: “ I find I have scarcely anything whatever left to live upon. The Duke of Argyll, who made a brief visit to this country last summer, thinks the extravagance of our rich peo ple exceeds anything known to the na bobs of the old world. Would the duke know why ? Weil, the most of our rich people are not used to being rich. Af ter all, the extravagance of the rich is not to be deplored. It is the extrava gance of the poor people that breeds mis- - ■ - SOUTHERN NEWS. 'lliereare 2.000 Indians living in Mis sissippi. Corn is worth three and four cents per pound at Clarendon, Texas. On Friday 176 vessels were harbored in Pensacola bar. Tho State of Texas in future will in no case pay any witness fee*. A boy iu Chester county, 8. C’., has caught 200 opossums this ifeason. There arc SAO vacant hoths-s in Mem phis, the result of the late epidemic. Americus, Ga., is organizing a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. Two of the moonshiners on trial at Knoxville, Tenn., last week were women. Charlotte, N. C., has twenty-two licensed bar rooms and twelve churches. The coal fields of Alabama are estimat ed to contain 52,000,000,000 bushels of coal. The venerable oaks in the court house yard at Americus, Ga., are tilled with mistletoe. “At one fell swoop” twenty-five appli cants have been admitted to the South Carolina bar. During the last three months over 1,000 negroes have left the depot at West Point, Mississippi. Over 500 mules arrived in Atlanta • Monday night, and all of them were sold next day. Os the 134 members of the two houses of the Louisiana Legislature, only thir teen are Republicans. The Fisn Commissioner of Georgia is distributing a large shipment of carp in the streams of that State. A great many cattle are dying in ('herokee county, Texas. Their death is supposed to be caused by eating acorns. The South Carolina Board of Agricul ture has permanently employed a chem st thatti uniform analysisof commercial fertilizers may be obtained. Toe annual report of the Mayor of Shreveport, La., shows that during the pastyear the revenue of the city exceed ed its expenditures $189.56. North Carolina has six newspapers edited by negroes, Louisiana three, Ten nessee and Texas two each,and Virginia, Alabama and Mississippi one eaeh. Henry S. Noble, of New Jersey, has }>urchased 2,100 acres of Lick Mountain and in Virginia, with a view of devel oping its great coal and iron deposits. One thousand tons of granite has re cently been sent from quarries near Col umbia, 8. C., to Washington City, to be used in some of the p tblic buildings. The Emmet Benevolent A‘sociation of Galveston, Texas, has appropriated SIOO to be sent to the Irish Land League in Ireland, for distribution among the poor in that country. Terrell county, Ga., is out of debt and has $2,000 in tt-e treasury besides. As a result, the price of real estate has ad vanced nearly fity per cent in the last year. Baylor Thornton, a subordinate officer in the Virginia House of Delegates, is under arrest for abducting and commit ting an outrage upon a young ladv of Richmond. The Waring plan of sewerage has been unanimously adopted bv the Legislative Council of Memphis. Whether the pipes shall be iron, brick or vitrified is yet to be determined. The Savinnali and Charleston Rail road is to be sold on the first Monday in June next by a decree of Judge Aldrich, of the Court of Comnum Pleas, of Charleston county, 8. C. Memphis Avalanche OH the rotting Xickolson davement the streets are pra<: The North Georgian. VOL. Hl. —; tically impassable for vehicles, unless empty, and even then there is no cer tainty of pulling through without an ae cident. The rapidity with which the now sew ers of Memphis will be constructed will depend on the promptness of the tax payer*. The first installment of the special tax for this purpose will be due February 1. New Orleans Times: Most of the far mers of Lincoln parish now raise all their own meat. Unfortunately, all who had killed their cattle in the earlier part of the winter have had the meat spoil on their hands. Pulaski (Tenn.) Citizen: The unpre cedented warm weather and the late rains are having the effect to injure seri ously the growing wheat. Its effects are apt to tell in the yield, however fortu nate the changes that may come. At Huntsville, Texas, J. J. Elkins, ex Sheriff of Walker county, Texas, was shot and killed by Peter Greer, a farmer. The shooting was the result of a per sonal difference which has long existed between the parties. Selma Times': Doctor J. H. Henry is preparing an elaborate and exhaustive pamphlet on the gold fields of Alabama. He says he has the data to clearly estab lish that there is more gold in ALbama than there is in California. Drew has left Savannah, Ga., after, gaining nearly 2,500 signers so his tern perance pledge. Alexander Jenkins and Ed. Jenkins, on examining trial at Bastrop, Texas, for the shooting of the McDonald brothers, were released on a bond of $2,000 each. Some of the best citizens of the county volunteered to go on their bonds. The ice factory in New Orleans has introduced a new way of shipping fish, particularly red - snappers. They are frozen in cakes of ice, or rather cakes of ice are frozen around the fish, and in this condition they are forwarded to ail sections of the country. Wilmington (N. C.) Star: Sheriff Manning iransferred the ten dollars al lowed him by law for the hanging of Allen Mathis to Rev. J. W. Fry, of St. Stephen’s A. M. E. church, one of the spiritual advisers of the doomed man, for the benefit of his church. AtSan Diego, Tex., a party of masked men took possession of the eountyjail and jailer and released five prisoners. Two prisoners were left in jail—one a woman charged with perjury and ope a lunatic committed for murder, 'lite whole affair is enveloped in a great deal, of mystery. The New Orleans Times estimates that at least two-thirds of the available lands of Louisiana are lying idle, or rather, have never been brought into cultiva tion. The legislature now in session will be strongly urged to adopt some lib eral provision for the encouragement of immigration. Judge G. T. Harris, of Georgetown, Texas, while returning home on horse back from a neighboring town, was stopped after nightfall by three men and robbed of $2,400. The robbers were well armed, and are supposed to be the men who have recently committed several outrages in Bosque county. Memphis Appeal: The work of sew erage will be commenced within a week. Hundreds of poor people will secure la bor thereby. Ten thousand dollars scat tered among the laboring people is of more financial value to our city than could possibly be derived from $1,000,- 000 locked up in our banks. In Dallas, Texas, a merchant abused a little boy named Etheridge for walking on stilts in front of his st re, claiming to be annoyed thereby. Mrs. Etheridge came to the rescue, and received several blows from a stick in the hands of the merchant, when she drew a pistol and wounded him in the forehead. It lias been estimated by reports re ceived at the Agricultural Department of Georgia that eighty per cent, of the farmers who raise their own supplies make money by fanning. Seventy-five per cent, of those who give liens and mortages and pay high rates of interest on supplies fail to make expenses. Last week thirty-two families of col ored exodusters to Kansas, who had gone from the fouthem counties of Texas, passed through Dallas returning home. Their home passage was paid by the farmers in the counties, in which they had left, on the condition that they would work for them at specified rates Savannah News : A new way of avoid ing the duty of serving the country as a juror nowis to establish a branch house m some other city, and when summoned, take an affidavit that you are not a citi zen of the county. A dealer who has been doing business in Savannah for about twelve years adopted this plan. New Orleans Times : As regularly as the sun shines, every year the colored la borers in Terrebonne parish break up and move from one plantation to another ; in fact, there is a general changing of hands. There is apparently no reasonable cause for this periodical moving, and the col ored people themselves give no explana tion of their conduct. Charlotte (N. C.) Observer: Recent ly a large number of negroes, probably 200, have passed through Charlotte en route to the tupentine fields of Georgia, which are now being extensively devel oped, They come from the piny woods regions of North Carolina, and are gen erally an able-bodied set. The last party, composed of about 120, passed down the roa<lday before yesterday. It is stated that quite a number left the State for the same destination last year. They are prefered to the Georgia laborers on account of theirexperienceand knowledge of the turpentine business. BELLTON. BANKS COUNTY, GA., FEBRUARY 5. 1880. WHY SEEK THK NORTH POLK. BY LYDIA A. RICHARDS. The pole! What seek they at the pole? What prize for such as reach that goal? Is ivory massed on polar seas, Or ailken seal in “ open seas?” Is empire sought, or pleasure, gold, Or paths for trade, with gains untold? Not these are sought through arctic main; There’s good, unknown to vulgar gain, And Truth, as truth, has champions brave As any Mars or Mammon gave. The search of truth, and truth alone, Has charms, to sordid minds unknown. To add one drop to human loro, CV> prove one truth unknown before, This, this is life—ambition, meet, A tonce lor failure, sneers, defeat. An “ open sea.” they long have said, Bas North Pole centering in its bed; And, more, when ships far northward go, They pass the drift and iceberg floe, And reach a calm and open sea, From formations ever free. Yet none have passed this brumal line, • Which* ‘open seas” begird, confine Is this illusion, false, untrue? Must we reject the olden view? Shall youthful idols, one by one, Still fall, till age, alas, has none? A myth, that “open polar sea?” A myth ? Then prove it so to be. If not, then snows perpetual fall, As stone on stone build up the wall, Till oceans, seas, as vapor rise, And northward drift-to polar skies; There sink assnow, to rise no more, Till earth itself is toppled o’er. When north pole bows to kiss the sun, An era's passed, a cycle's run. “ What seek they at the pole? What’s there. Save cold, starvation, death, despair?” “ What seeks he there, heroic man?” He seeks the key to nature’s plan 1 —lnter' Ocean. ZEPH PARKER'S STRATAGEM. “ Sleepy, baby-faced set o’ people! Air they 1 Baby-faced enough, you bet; but I tell you, sirree, that 1 Relieve they’re 'beout born with all their eye teeth cut in theie celestial jaws; and yew’ve got to get up airly, sir, if you want to take in a Ohinee 1” The speaker was a hard-faced, hollow, jawed gentleman, in a glossy black suit, which fitted him very badly, and the remark was made in the smoking-room of the “ Continental.” There he was to be seen daily, and he was supposed to have “ given the speckylaters fits in ile;” in other words, he was believed to have made a fortune in petroleum,. At all events, he had plenty of money, and was very generous in the spending of it. The conversation had turned bn the vexed Chinese question, and he struck into the discussion. “I reck’lect,” he said, “there was’ Zeph Parker. He was ’long o’ me and a few more up to Nevada, jus’ ’beout the time of the silver craze. The boys had been washing for gold; honest-like, neow gittin’ it out o’ pockets, neow outer the stream; and when done they’d with a bit o’ wash out, and gone off to another claim, Mister Washee Washee Chinee would come and go over the dirt after them and be satisfied with what he got. Then comes the silver craze. All o’ us goes off and loses all we’d made In gold, gits no silver, and comes back disappointed to try after the gold again. “ Guess we might try and try again, but no gold could we get; and all ’beout ns was them smooth-faced, pig-tailed Chinamen, gettin’ on prosperous and contended. “‘ I tell yew,’ said Zeph, ‘ I shall go and murder one o’ them smilin’ teapots, I can’t stand it much longer!’ “ This here was in our bit of a tent, when we was trying to make ourselves happy, playin’ poker on credit and keepin’ no account. “ ‘ What for?’ I sez. “‘What for?’ cries Zeph. ‘Dew yew think that I, an enlightened sitter zen of a free country am gwine to set down and be robbed o’ my mess o’ golden pottage by a pack o’ smilin’, washer women-faced, opium-smokin’ celestial Jacobs? No, sirree, this dog’s gwine to bite!’ “ ‘ But I don’t kinder see what this dog’s gwine to bite fur,’ I sez. . * Teapot ain’t done nuthin’ to you.’ “ ‘ Mateys,’ sez Zeph,’ gettin’ on the barrel as had been his seat, ‘ things has come to a purty pass with us, haven’t they ?’ “ ‘ Right, old hoss. sez some one. hammerin’ the chest lid as had been our table. “‘ Haz any man here got any to bacco?’ sez Zeph. “‘No!’ “ ‘ Haz any man here got any old bourbon whisky?’ “ ‘ No!’ “ ‘ Haz any man got any dust?’ “ * No!’ “ ‘ Any flour, or pork, or boots, oi new blankets?’ “‘No, no, no, ne! J “ ‘ Then them Chinese haz,’ continued Zeph; ‘ and what I sez is this—as it is a sin and a shame to let a pack of heath enish curses like them teapots, as never goes to churches nor listens to par sons ’ “‘ I say, Zeph/ sez some one, ‘ when did you go to meetin’ last?* “ ‘ Never you mind,’ sez Zeph, ‘ and don’t you interrupt a man as wants to give you suthin’ to eat. A set of cusses, I sez, as never goes to meetin’, and b’lieves in nothin’ but joss-houses. I say, it’s a sin to let ’em be gittin’ fat on our land, wmie we're as tmn and starved lookin’ as—as —as ’ “‘As ole Zeph Parker himself,’sea Tom Paggins. “ ‘ Well, ez thin ez I am, if you like,' sez Zeph. “ ‘ This is all very purty,’ I sez, ‘ but we can’t go and take a claim from the teapots, Zeph; nor we can’t rush ’em and annex the dust and nuggets they’ve washed out.’ “‘No,’ said Zeph, ‘ winkin’ one eye. ‘but we kin strategies ’em.’ “ ‘ How?’ I sez. ‘ Don’t kinder see it 1 They’re too deep to be done.’ TRUTH, JUSTICE, LIBERT }' “‘Yah!’ sez Zeph, 1 they’re’bout ez deep ez a two-cent plate. Give me the means and I’ll sell the lot and put a good pocxettui o' dollars or dust in every man’s pocket—six o’ us!’ 1 “ ‘ But what means d’yer want ?’ I sez. “ ‘ One handful o’ dust,’ sez Zeph. “‘And where are we to get it?’ sez Tom Paggins. “‘This how/ sez Zeph. “’Morrow mornin’ every man hyars to go round the camp and cadge. Tell the boys we’re hard up, but we got a good thing on. They’ll subscribe a little all reouid. Yew see if they don’t.’ “‘Well, we’ll try/ sez we; and we went to sleep hungry and got up rav enous. “ There was nothin' for it but to go to wort, and off we went, gittin’ back to cur tent about eleven o’clock, when five cut of the six had got a little good dust. I was the unlucky one, bein’ a bad beg gar, and had got none. “‘Now, then!’ sez Tom Paggins, as soon as the dust was all put together— about a big spoonful of all glitterin’ stuff; ‘ let’s go up to the store and get a drink.” " ‘ That yew jes’ won’t,’ sez Zeph, grinnin’. ‘ I’m kinder gwine to throw all this here dust away—l’m gwine to sow it, boys, for a crop to come up.’ “We all grumbled, for we were almighty hungry; but we all had a kind of trust in Zeph, and gave way. “ ‘ Lookiee hear, lads/ he sez, ‘ it’ jest twelve o’clock now, so let’s go round and git a mouthful where we can.' “ Let’s go up to Billy Bolly’s store and ask him to give us a square meal, and stick it up,’ I sez, ‘ he’ll trust us.’ “Think he would?” sez Zeph. “‘Sartin/ I ssz, ‘if you show him that gold, and tell him there’s somethin’ good on.’ “And so it was; Bill, on seeing that gold, and hearing as we’d had some thing good on, gave us a right square meal, and taste round of Bourbon, endin’ with the cheerful remark; ’I shall take it out o’some o’you if this here ain’t squared up.’ “That didn’t make a nice dessert, for Bill was a wonderful clever fellow, and would think nuthin’ o’ pluggin’ a man; so we kinder sneeked outer that store, feelin’ uncomfortable. “‘lt’s all right/ sez Zeph, laughing. ‘ Come on boys and get yewr tools.’ “ We took our tools then and went off up the gulch to where a strong party of Chinese was at work, and they watched us curiously as we began prospectin’ ; about, washin’ a bit o’ dirt here and a bit there, and always goin’ oft discon tented and sour-like, till we came to one place close up to the rocks, where it ran sheer up 400 or 500 sees, and, after working with our picks a bit, we began to wash the soil in a pan, gatherin, round it afterward, and knowin’ all the ' time that one or the other of the teapots had an eye on us. “Then washed a bit more earth— gravely, quartzy stuff it was—and col lected again, and then we grew excited and began to dig faster, and to wash more and to examine what wo had done each time after pickin’ over the pan. throwin’ out the lubbish; and when this fell yew could see a few specks o’ gold dust in the sun. while what we got went into a leather bag what Tom I’ag gins held. “ ‘ We marks out this claim as our’nl’ sezZeph out loud; and takin’a shovel he chops out a bit of rough trench, just to show tbe extent we meant to hev; ar.d, as he did so, first one pigtail and then another comes up to watch us, and I saw them to look at the specks o’ gold in among the refuses we had thrown over the side beyond our claim. “ ‘Nogoodee, washee washee, Melican manV sez one round-faced smilin’cuss. ‘ No golee, no golee!’ “‘Oh, no; noneat all, Mr. Teapot/ sez Zeph. ‘ Just yew keep a bit f°rther off, or ’ “ He touched his six-shooter, and the Chinaman scurried back a little ways, while one of us fetched some water, and we began to wash another shovelful of earth. “‘ It pans out fine!’ sez Tom Bag gins out loud, as we all gathered round once more, and the top refuse, with | specks o’ gold in, was thrown away I again. “ We kept on at that for two hours, and with Zeph to manage, we washed out that little lot o’ gold we had bor rowed about four times; but it was a good deal less at the last than when we started, for some on it was sprinkled in each o’ the holes we made, and half a teaspoonful o’ dust was lyin to waste in the refuse. “All this time the Chinese were corn in’ up from their bit of a camp, about » hundred yards away. Zeph was awfully jealous, an’ kep' drivin’ ’em away—not as we were steered of ’em, for they’re a quiet, sheepish lot, but to keep up the play. “ Then half on us went down below and got our tents and odds and ends, and set ’em up as we meant to stay, while the others went on washin’ and pickin’ steadily, getting four Chinese to fetch water and do a few rough jobs in movin’ quartz blocks outer the way. “ Somehow or other there were a few specks o’ gold under each o’ these blocks that the Chinese carried off; and when that was done Zeph gave the smilin’ chaps a bit each, and sent one of ’em with some dust to buy tobacco. “ ‘ It’s a workin’,’ sez Zeph to me. “ ‘ Think so?* I sez. “‘Wait a bit, old hoss, and you’ll see.’ “ That night, after we’d been a bit nasty and threat’nin’ to the teapots, who kep’ leavin’ their work, we could hear a good deal o’ chatterin’ goin’ on, 1 and bime-bya kinder deppytation o’ six l of ’em comes up. beaded by a smilin’ NO. 5. cuss wno looked like a big, fat boy. “ Now, then,’ sez Zeph, ‘ tell you what, es yew don’t make yerselves scarce ther’ll be holes threw some on yew!’ “‘Poor Chinaman!’ sez the big, fat fellow, and he puts his head on one side and smiles his head half off. Then the other five sez. in a sort o’ whinin’ sing song chorus,‘Poor Chinaman I’ and all half smiled their heads off. “ ‘ Don’t want any to-day/ sez Zeph. ‘Hook itl’ “ We all aat smokin’ and lookin’ on and every man with his hand on re volver and bowie, as es we was supic, ious. “ ‘ Poor Chinaman!’ whines the big ’un again. ‘“Don’t want any, I tell you again!’ roars Zeph, savagely, and the deppv tation rnly holds their head on one side and smiles. “ ‘ Are you gwine to cut?’ sez Zeph, seizic' number one by the tail, when he goes down on his knees, and the others the same, rubbin’ their chests and wag glin’ their heads from side to side. “‘Why don’t you speak out?” ses Zeph. “‘Mellicanman let poor Chinaman washee, washee?’ says the fat fellow, p'intin’ to the heap o’ rubbish. “ ‘ You want to wash that dirt over again?* sez Zeph. “ The whole party began to nod their heads fast. “ ‘ Oh, no I’ sez Zeph; ‘we don’t want you here—eh, ladsT " ‘ No, no!’ we all growled. “ ‘ Send ’em off I’ sez Tom Paggins. “ But they wouldn’t go, only smiled, tnd at last Zeph seemed to be struck with a notion; and the long and short of It was that, if we’d allow’em to wash »ur refuse over agen, the Chinese’d make a bit of a stream to lead water up to our claim. “ ‘ Well, that’s no good, Zeph/ I sez, as soon as they were gone. “ ‘ Wait a bit, lad and yew’ll see,’ sez Zeph, with a wink; and we sat there, in the pleasant evening, smoking, while there was evidently a mighty commo tion in the Chinese camp, and before long the deppytation came back. “ ‘ Toor Chinaman.!* sez the fat chap again. “ ‘Oh, ves; we know all 'beoutthat!’ Bez Zeph, ‘Now, what is itP “ ‘Mellcaiiinan sellee claim two hun der dollars?’ says the fat-headed chap, and all the others nodded their heads. “ ‘Will we sell you this claim for two hundred dollars?’ says Zeph., ' “ They all nodded till you'd ha' thought their heads’d come - off. “ ‘ Cut!’ sez Zeph, catching hold of fat ’un by his tail and kickin’ him. “ Yew mayn’t believe gents, but them same chaps came back twice be fore it was dark and made fresh offers, advancin’ a hundred dollars each time and we swore at’em and said we would not sell, and if they warn’t up to time in the mornin’ to see about the water, they shouldn’t be allowed to wash the dirt. “ Fust thing next mornin’ them six fellers were up again, just as we had got a good panful o’ stuff in course o’ workin’, and I saw their eyes twinkle as they caught sight of tbe gold. “ Then they offered S4OO, and we said we’d shoot’em if they’d come agen; but come they did, and offered S4OO, and as the mornin’ went on, seven, eight, nine —slooo. “ ‘Take it’, we said, as they came this last time. “ ‘ They’ll give $2,000, 1 tell yew. I’m sure they will/ says Zeph. “ ‘ But SI,OOO is enough to chisel the beggars out of/ sez I. “ ‘ Yes,’ sez Tom Paggins; ‘ and it’ll take this time to-morrow sure to tret up to the $2,000. “ ‘ If I warn’t so ’tarnal hungry, I’d hold out,’ sez Zeph, hesitatin’; and then turnin’ to the six Chinese as waitin’ fur our answer: ‘ Ixiok hyar, you cheatin’ cusses/ he sez, ‘takin’ up a ehovelful of earth, in which the dust were a-sparklin’ in the sun, ‘ this claim’s worth $20,0001” “‘No; only worth SI,OOO/ said fatty shakin’ his head. “ ‘ Shall we let ’em have it, boys?’ sez Zeph, turnin’ to us. “ ‘ Yes, let ’em have it,’ I sez; ‘we can find plenty more.’ “ * Come on, then,’ sez Zeph; and he and two more went back with the dep pytation to the tent of their head man, and a thousand dollars worth o’ dust and 3ets was weighed out into a bag; put his mark to a kind of docky ment in Chinese, and half an’ hour afterward we went back to camp, leavin’ the smilin’Chinamen to their purchase. “ ‘ It’s a darned shame to cheat the poor, innercent babies like that,’ I sez. ‘“Not itl’ sez Zeph; ‘it’s only like playin’ poker with ’em and winnin’. Let’s go and liquor.’ “We didn’t expeck any row, for them Chinesese had to keep very quiet i for fear o’ bein’ sent off; and Zeph sed they’d put up with their loss, clear out ! and go to some other gulch. “ But they didn’t; for the next day Tom, who went up to see what they was a’doin’, said they moved their camp up round the bole, and were workin’ away like a swarm o’ bees. “ That night, as we were sittin’ smok in’ at Bill’s store, some chaps strolls in, and one of ’em says, in a bit of a temper: “ ‘Call this here a free country T “ ‘ Yes, stranger, I dew/ sez Zeph, rattlin’ some nuggets in his pocket; ‘who sez it ain’t?” “‘ I dew/ sez the new comer. ‘ Here are we workin’ like slaves for a few dol lars’ worth o’ dust, and a pack o’ heathen cusses comes and settles aown and grabs i all the best on it.’ “ ‘ Dew they?’ sez Zeph, winkin’ at us. “‘Yes, he sez, ‘they dew. There’s 1 that pack of Chinese moved up higher Published Eyeby Thursday at BELLTON, GrEORGIA RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION. One year (R 2 numbers), $1.00; six months (26 numbers), 50 cents; three months (23 numbers), 25 cents. Office tn the Smith building, east of the depot. in the gulch, and they’ve hit on a big pocket. They got a two-pound nugget out on it this very afternoon.* “ ‘Whatl’ roared Zeph, with his eyes ttarin’ out of his head I'ke a lobster’s. “ ‘A two-pound nugget, and the stuff’s panning out awful. I say it’s a shame and the government ought to stop it.’ “ ‘ Sola!’ groaned Zeph. “Next day it was the talk o’ the place. The Chinese were pannin’ out gold at a tremendous rate from the claim, and some were for driving the heathens away, but the party of order was too strong, and they rnow’d that if the rowdies was to get the upper hand here, they’d be just as likely to seize anybody else’s claim; so it was decided to temporize with the heathen and try to buy the claim. “ They were two hundred strong up there; and when we went up to see the place—which we did in a kind o’ des perate feeling—the fat chap smiled and clapped his hands and gave Zeph a little round nugget as big as a pea. •'A meetin’ was Held and we con cluded to make a company and buy the claim. Twenty thousand was the most as was to be offered. “‘Twenty thousand dollars!’ groaned Zeph. ‘ Oh, boys, what fools we was! But I did not want to hold out for $2,000.’ “ ‘ It’s no use to growl," sez Tom. How much ha’ we got now?’ “ ‘ Bout S9OO, I guess,’ sez Zeph. “ ‘ Wai, then/ sez Tom, ‘let’s go in for shares as far as our money goes.’ “ ‘ The money was nearly all sub scribed; but we got on for SBOO, and could ha’ sold our shares the next hour for SI,OOO. “ Next mornin’ the party settled to do the business, went up to the Chinese camp, but they wouldn’t take the money. They said they ! d begun work, and meant to have the proceeds of the day; but the boys looked dangerous, so tbe heathens finally said they’d settle up that night, take the money, and give possession. “This made the gulch worse than ever, and shares changed hands at a fine rate, meu sellin’ theirs and then gettin’ so excited that they bought back again. “ ‘ I shall never forgive myself, boys," sez Zeph, the next mornin/ aa we sat over some fried bacon and biscuit. ‘ I throwed away n fortune 1’ “Hallo! What’s the row?” sez I, jumping up. “ There waa suthin’ afloat outside, for there was a heap of excitement, but no one kinder seemed to know what it was. “Arter a while we got to know that there wasn’t a single Chinee in the gulch; they’d gone off, no one knowed where, in the night. “ ‘ They’re darned artful/ sez Zeph; and he was right, for we soon knowd just what had happened. “We six had cheated the Chinese by retail; they’d cheated us by wholesale, for there wasn’t, and never nad been, a grain o’ gold in that claim that wasn’t put there first. It was only a small show that we had made; but the heathens had clubbed together their dust and nuggets to make a big show. That day they had packed it all up agen, and when they’d got the $20,000 they sneaked out from the camp. I guess the gulch would ha’ massacred them; but the heathen hadn’t left behind even so much as a trail. “Yes, gents, yew’ve got to get up airly to take in a Chinee. Waiter! whisky and seltzer —and ice.” A Monkey Story. Rather a good monkey story for little folks this: There lives in the South of France a man of wealth whose chateau or country place of residence has around it very tall trees. The cook of the cha teau has a monkey—a pert fellow, who knows ever so many tricks. The mon key often helps the cook to pluck the feathers from fowls. On the day that interests us the cook gave the monkey two partridges to pluck, and the mon key, seating himself in an open window went to work. He had picked the feathers from one of the partridges and placed it on the outer ledge of the window with a satisfied grunt, whea, lo! all at once a hawk flew down from one of the tall trees near by and bore off the plucked bird. Master Monkey was very angry. He shook his fist at the hawk, which took a seat on one of the limbs not far off and began to eat the partridge with great relish. The owner of the chateau saw the sport, for he was sitting in a grape arbor, and crept up to watch tbe end of it. The monkey picked the other partridge, laid it on tne ledge in th«; eame place, and hid behind the window screen on the inside. The hawk was caught in this trap, for when it flew down after the ’partridge, out reached the monkey and caught the thief. In a a moment the hawk's neck was wrung, and the monkey soon had the hawk plucked. Taking the two birds to the cook, the monkey handed them to him as if to say, “ Here are your two partridges, master.” The cook thought that one of the birds looked queer, but he served them on the table. The owner of the house shook his head when he saw the dish, and telling the cook of the trick, laughed heartily. Just as everybody was settling down to enjoy themselve»at a party the other evening, Master Jimmie appeared in the room with, “Ain’t you folks hungry? Guess you haven’t been saving up vour appetites for two days as I and moth—” The broad and generous hand of his mother suddenly stopped his conversa tion trap, and he had to save his aPt*«* tite until morning, when it was satisfied with broken bite of jelly cate leftover.