The North Georgian. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1877-18??, August 26, 1880, Image 1

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K >ftl| PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDA bellton, g-a. BY JOHN BLATS. Terms— 4i.ou per anaum 50 cents for six months; 25 cents forthree months. Parties away from Bellton aie requested to send their names with such amounts of money a> they can pare, 'rom 2cc. 'o JI .1 LONG SAP. *>«<e Godsey' t Sleep of More Than Twenty 1 ears. For more than twenty years the ex traordinary ease of Susan S. Godsey, better known as the “Sleeping Beauty,” has puzzled the most eminent physi cians of this country and Europe. She was born in Obion county, Tenn., about six miles from Hickman, Ky. Her par eats were extremely poor, and lived in a small log house containing only one room. Until 8 years of age the girl was strong and Wealthy, and seemed in no wise remarkable. At that age, how ever, she was stricken with fever, but was attended by an experienced physi cian, who soon cheeked the disease. The girl sank into a slumber which last ed an unusually long time, and finally awoke weak, but well. To the surprise of the family and physicians, she re mained awake but a few minutes, when she again went to sleep. From that time forward, a period of more than twenty one years, she has never been awake more tnan three minutes at a time. The lethargic state invariably lasts a certain number of hours. She awakes at 6 o’clock in the morning and at 3 o’clock and 8 o’clock each night, never varying one-half minute from the regular' time. She takes but very little nourishment, and that only twice in twenty-four hours. During the time in which she sleeps she does not appear to breathe, and a mirror held against her nostrils remained untarnished. Her breathing, if, indeed, she breathes at all, is not suf ficient to stir the lightest down sus pended against her nostrils by a silken thread. When her remarkable condi tion became known, physicians flocked from all parts of the country to see her. None were able satisfactorily to account for the phenomenon, although many theories were advanced. The true cause has never to this day been determined, although the woman may still be alter nately sleeping and waking with the regularity of clockwork. One physi cian, who visited her continually for six teen years, frankly confessed that he could form no opinion regarding the case. She is described as rather under me dium size, and, with the exception that she is sometimes troubled while awake with neuralgic pains in her head and neck, and that one arm is slightly par alyzed, enjoys, as far as she can enjoy anything, good health. One remarkable feature of the case is that, while her hair has grown to a great length, her finger-nails have not grown any since she was first stricken. Far from any thing repugnant in her appearance, even while animation is suspended, she would be considered a very pretty lady by those unacquainted with her condition. She retains what knowledge she pos sessed at 8 years of age, but has not been awake enough since then to learn anything more. She knows her rela tives and friends, and converses with them in her conscious moments. Before falling asleep, a slight hiccough or chok ing sound proceeds apparently from her throat. She then so quickly becomes insensible that she is sometimes unable to finish a sentence or even a word while talking. Some time since a committee of five physicians were appointed to watch the subject, and found the case just as it had been represented to be. > OATMEAL. Give the children oatmeal at least once a day. It is genuine bone and muscle food, and they must thrive. Could our gills make the morning and night meals on real nourishment—not pastry—take more to nourish the brain and nerves, we should have less of the neuralgia among our women. Indeed, this oat meal mush would afford ample food for the last meal, which should ordinarily by the lightest, simple, and easy of di gestion, securing good sleep, while it may well form a part of the morning meal. Its extensive use would do much to promote health among us. He stood with his back against the front door of the street-car. Every one else had seats, and he anxiously watched each face for symptoms of getting out for over three miles. It grew weari some, and he finally shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and ex claimed : “ For the love of the Lord, have none o’ yez ony homes to go to ?” Then they all smiled, and the conductor tendered him the ridge-pole of the rear platform. It is well known to persons who have visited the dirty cities of hot climates that when a soaking shower is followed by a bright sun while no wind is stirring great numbers of people suddenly fall sick, and physicians are utterly unable to respond to all calls. The North Georgian. A OL. 111. TITO GIANTS AND A DWARF. Three of the most remarkable men of the century are now on exhibition in London at the Royal Aquarium—the giant Chang, a tea merchant of Pekin Brustad, a tall Norwegian, and Che-mah, described as “the Chinese dwarf, the smallest man in the world.” Chang is the largest giant in existence, stands eight feet two inches, and is highly edu cated, speaking five different languages, including English, which he speaks very well; but with the well-known sing-song of the Chinaman. He is eight feet high without his boots ; ha measures sixty inches round the chest, weighs twenty six stone, has a span of eight feet with his outstretched arms, and signs his name without an effort upon a sign-post ten feet six inches high. Chang is 33 year's of age, and it is about fifteen years since he was in England. After five years’ residence in the Celestial empire he returned to Europe for the Paris Ex hibition, and has since visited Vienna, (where the Emperor gave him a ring he proudly exhibits, marked with the im perial eagles and the initials of Francis Joseph), Berlin, and Hamburg. Since his last residence in this country Chan has grown six inches. He has a benevo lent Mongolian face, a courtly manner, and wears a richly-embroidered dress worked for him by his sister, who is, like the rest of his family, of only ordinary stature. Next to Chang, and next at no long interval, stands Brustad, about seven feet nine inches high, very muscular, very broad backed, having as great a girth of chest as Chang, and a wider span in proportion to his height. He has a low forehead, but speaks English fairly well. Brustad has also a ring which he greatly delights in exhibiting. He presented it to himself out of the profits, it is sup posed, gained by being shown. It is four and one-half ounces in weight, and a penny goes easily through it To grasp his mighty hand in greeting is iike shaking hands with an oak tree. His weight is twenty-eight stone,, greater than Chang’s, for his bones are more massive. His age is 35. Che-mah, the dwarf, gives his age as 42, sings a Chinese elegy, describes liimself with much fluency and variety, and, as his height is only twenty-five inches, appears to be what he is de scribed, the smallest man in the world. It is common for exhibited dwarfs to be over three feet high. Sir Geoffrey Hud son, the dwarf whom readers of Sir Wal ter Scott will best remember, measured three feet three inches when he had at tained liis full stature.— London Times ——.—• EDUCATION. No right-thinking person can under value education, or deny his children the benefits derived from it; but some men lyyve perverted ideas on the subject. They seem to think that because they have prospered in life without an educa tion, or at best a limited one, their chil dren do not deserve any more con sideration or any better education than they received, and hence are indifferent about the education of their children, not caring whether they are kept in school or not. They forget that their children are living in a much better educated world than they lived in when they were children. They forget that brains command a higher price upon the stage of human action than muscle, and that he who can command a reason able amount of both stands the best chance to make life a success. We have one of the finest school systems in the world, and children should profit by it, and attend school regularly. But if they are to be educated successfully, really educated, the physical must re ceive due attention, the amount of at least three hours each day of gentle ex ercise, walking being favorable. Hard students cannot sleep too much, while the brain needs special nourishment, as certainly as the blacksmith needs nour ishment for the muscles and bones. Even the student’s food should be adapted to mental labors. Fish con tains the largest amount of brain food, while eggs and the grains, including peas, beans and the like, are favorable. Fruits, as a part of the meals, are also favorable, not on account of their brain food, but as an aid to digestion. While attending school, young people, should not be taxed too heavily with home duties. Governor to smc'l b oy—“ Benny, I shall keep you in if you don’t learn your lessons better to-morrow ; I’m go ing to turn over a new leaf with you.” Small boy—“ You can’t turn over a new leaf; it’s teared out” If anger arise in thy breast, instantly seal up thy lips, and let it not forth, for, like fire, when it wants vent it will sup press itself. BELLTON. BANKS COUNTY, GA. AUGUST 26, 1880. A MATTER OF HABIT. A Chapter on the •< fteyular Man." We can see him now—with our mind’s eye—the person of “regular habits.” He commonly lives in the country. He rises at 4 o’clock in the summer and 6 o’clock in the winter, rain or shine, busy or idle ; he invariably puts on his right stocking and boot first, starts the kitch en fire—if he he a real Christian and not a mere ‘ ‘ believer ” —calls 1 ‘ mammy” or the girl, does the “chores,” eats the regulation breakfast at the precise hour he ordered it fifty years before, and then proceeds to walk through the rest of the hours of the day like a piece of machine ry, until the old clock strikes 9, when he puts aside his pipe and paper and goes to bed like a chicken—that is, a venerable rooster’—at sundown. So he jogs through life—tick-tack, tick-tack, round and round, in the same old track —until he dies, at a ripe old age, and has the distinction of a mention in the obituary notices of his local paper as a “gentleman noted for his regular hab its.” Well, such a life has its advantages and compensation, and if the highest aim of our life on earth were to see how long we can stay on the top of it the success might make the mode more uni versal. But one may pay too much even for long life, and regular habits that shut a man out from that large liberty of choice and action necessary to self development and great achievements are an expensive necessity. We hear a great deal about costly luxuries, arid there are some so-called necessities that are vastly more extravagant, if life be considered as doing no less than being. When one is robbed or hampered harmfully by self-imposed conditions of living, it is well to consider whether the life is no more than meat, and the spirit superior to red-tape fetters. A good share of the failures in life come from the attempt to feed without changing the post or length ening the tethers. Men«walk mechan ically. in a circle when they should mount with wings like eagles. They Realize the low aspiration of Dr. Holmes’ convict, and have “ a tread-mill of their own.” For certain physical functions and habits of life, regularity is of prime im portance ; but the conditions of society and affairs are such that there must be considerable pliancy and adaptability in many of our modes and customs. Few busy fives, closely connected with others, can be so well ordered as to take so many and such-and-such meals each day—so many miles’ walk or ride—and just so much sleep, in a set portion of the twenty-four hours. The turtle doesn’t bent the hare in the race, except in fables. There are spurts in all swift pro gression. Even nature is regular only in a large way. She will do more tow ard her “ grand spring opening” in the second week of May than for the three weeks previous to that time. Within the week when the opening bud becomes a leaf, new sun and wind and rain, and the silent, unseen earth-forces combine to “push tilings ! ” Nature rests. She is the pattern saint in patience. She gets ready, and then moves—slows up, and comes down the home stretch like a thoroughbred. 'Die sun has not yet been brought to shine by rule, even by the weather bureau. The rain does not come every day like a street-sprinkler. The wind continues to blow where it listeth, though observation ami the telegraph wire enable us to know its course. The regular man inapt to be too method ical. It never occurs to him that there are days when he may get up early, and others when he should lie late—times when he needs three hearty • meals, and others when he should eat scantily, or fast—occasions when he must work like a steam-engine, and times when he should cultivate and encourage a genius for repose. A fellow in Chico, Cal, went up in to the Record office to clean out the es lablishment. About three minutes af terward a man was seen in the street with a couple of black eyes, a bloody •>ose, and a completely demoralized ap pearance. A passer-by, attracted by his •ondition, asked him what was the mat ter. “ I went up to see if the editor who wrote that piece about me was up there. ” “Well,” said the other, “did you see ’am?” “Yes,” said the injured man, “he was in.” m m To gratify his wife’s persistent de mand for a summer in the country, Smith hired a suburban villa, of which, however, the garden was so small that one could scarcely turn in it. “But how do you get the air in such a tiny garden ?” one of her friends asked of Mrs. Smith. ‘ * Oh, it is easy enough, ” answered that lady. “We have only to open the dining-room window. ” .4 BOUT DRESS. Bless the dear souls who write such long articles against extravagance in dress 1 They must expect their advice to be heeded, or they would not make such an effort; but, in reality, how much of a reformation has resulted from all this ? How many in the surging crowd of fashion stop to listen to the voice of warning, and, seeing their folly, struggle free from the enthrallments that urge them on? It is as useless to attempt a radical change for the better by advising economy as to stand on the sea beach during a storm and command the waves to cease lashing the shore. 11 you could ever hope to quell the storm, you must first find the causes of the commotion and then exorcise them. What, then, causes this mania for dross? “Female vanity” is your first thought. No, I cannot agree to that, though vanity is purely a female at tribute. Who ever saw a man with any such rubbish in. his nature? There is an incentive to “dress well’’which does more toward extravagance than mere vanity. Did you ever notice the dis tinction paid to a “ stylish ” lady ? Have yon ever seen one more plainly dressed, though perhaps her superior in good breeding and refinement, sit in the shade while homage is being paid to dress ? The question is not asked, “How did she get her outfit? Is her father or husband a secret forger ? Is he standing on a false basis which is ready to crash at any time and carry many creditors down to ruin with him, or is she doing what so many think a harmless thing, monopolizing resources which should bo expended for the com fort of her family ?” Oh, no I that is not “the way of the world.” Even those who deprecate the sway of this evil the most bow to it as low as any. Policy has her eye in another direc tion. It is something to be on equal footing with a leader of society, and in order to do so hundreds of dazzled mothers fluttering around the brilliant light spend their all in a delusion, and fall, ruined specks of humanity. Be muse cur millionaires’ wives and daugh ters have the choicest fabrics brought f rom all parts of the globe for their adornment, the second and third classes will wear nothing but imported goods as near a match in richness as they possi bly can procure, and the fourth grade, with truly American ambition, think if they can’t always have the real they will manage to have as good an imitation as they can, and many a little sum finds its way out of the savings bank to buy a trifle of lace or jewelry. The humbler classes bring up the rear in this train, and their plaint accords with the Irish man’s, “ The money goes faster nor it comes.” Listen to the beautiful sentiment over the girl who goes to a ball in simple white muslin and natural flowers ; but the same young gentleman who would grow ecstatic over “ beauty unadorned” pays homage to the most stylish young lady of his set, brilliant in satin and lace beaded with seed pearls. Words and actions are fittest when they go to gether, and, if husbands and lovers are sincere in their desire to uproot this evil, let them arise in a solid phalanx against it. They are the ones who en courage it by their homage, and they are the ones who must expect to furnish the wherewithal by which women are clothed. Now, gentlemen, there is something beside complaining to do, so go manfully to work. A SWARM OF BEEB CAPTURE A CAR. Sunday afternoon, when the Chicago, Book Island and Pacific arrived, it came in under a cloud. A large swarm of bees, being attracted by the cool loca tion on the top of the car while near Beaverly, in Missouri, took deck pass age for sunny Kansas, and the fears of the conductor and other men on the train of a stinging rebuke prevented any attempt to put the deadheads off. ■When the car arrived here Police Officer McOart was apprised of the fact that he could take in a number of prisoners if he would visit the car. He went to investigate, and, finding the bees snug ly ensconsed on their novel abiding place, proceeded to effect their capture by coaxing them into an empty keg. He succeeded, after receiving numerous stings, in capturing the entire swsrm, taking more prisoners than he will have at one time while he is on the force. He says the family is getting along well at his home in the north part of the city. —Leavenworth Timet. —♦ ♦ • A facetious old lady, describing tbe •ambling sermons of her minister, said - ■ If the text had been smallqiox, bis termon would never catch it.” NO. 34. COWPER’S INSANITY. Three years after his father’s death Cowper removed from the Middle to the Inner Temple, where he spent his time, not in the grave study of law, but in “ a constant circle of diversions.” They were chiefly of a literary character. He w rote essays for a weekly review called the Connoisseur, and he “ produced several half-penny ballads, two or three of which hail the honor to become popular.” He also translated some books of Voltaire’s “Henriade.” This kind of occupation is, as a rule, more pleasant than profitable, and Cowper was just beginning to feel the want of money when he was offered a lucrative appointment to a clerkship in the House of Lords. The offer, for the moment, filled him with joy. But he soon be came morbidly nervous at having to ap pear at the bar of the House of Lords to prove his qualifications for the post. He tried to escape, by suicide, the dread trial, but he happily failed in the at tempt to destroy himself. His madness now took a morbid, religious form, and his friends, judging that there was no other resource left to them, placed him n a lunatic asylum. Here he slowly recovered from his malady, and in June, 1765, he removed to a quiet lodging at Huntingdon, in order to be near his brother, a fellow of Corpus Christi Col lege, Cambridge. Cowper was again assailed by his old malady in January, 1773. He was, as he wrote afterward, “ suddenly reduced from his wonted state of understanding to an almost childish imbecility.” A melancholy of the darkest dye over shadowed him. He again attempted to commit suicide. He believed that his food was poisoned, that everybody hated him, and especially Mrs. Unwin, though he would allow no one else to wait on him. The return of the malady once again prevented a soul most capacious and tender from enjoying the full bless ing of earthly love. The intimate friendship between him and Mrs. Unwin had ended in a marriage engagement,, but Cowper’s condition from this time forward prevented their hopes from be ing ever realized. Cruel disease pre vented the poet from making her his wife, but their life was a Union of hearts without a flaw between. —Temple Bar. SALT. Nothing that we eat is more valuable than salt, nor could anything except bread be more missed. Animals, in fact, will travel distances and brave great dangers to obtain it. On the coast of Sierra Leone brothers will sell their sis ters, husbands their wives, and parents their children, for salt. In the district of Accra, on the Gold coast of Africa, a handful of salt is the most valuable thing upon earth after gold, and will purchase a slave or two. Salt with the Bambaras is such a luxury that to say of a man, “He flavors his food with salt,’ is tn imply that he is rich. No stronger mark of affection can be shown in Mus covy than the sending of salt from the tables of the rich to their poorer friends. Spilling salt was held to be an unlucky omen by the Romans, and the supersti tion has descended to ourselves. Leon ardo di Vinci availed himself of this tradition in his famous picture of the “Lord’s Supper,” to indicate Judas Iscariot by the salt-cellar knocked over accidentally by his arm. When we say of a shiftless fellow that “he does not earn his salt,” we unconsciously allude to an ancient custom among the Ro mans. Among them a man was said to be in possession of a “ salary ’ who had his “salarium,” his allowance of salt money, or of salt, wherewith to savor the food by which he lived. Thul salary comes from salt—and in this vies of the word how many there are who do not “earn their salt.” —. ♦ . WILL-POWER. Illness is sometimes brought on by imagination and weakness. Courage is a wonderful agent in throwing off dis ease. A walk of five miles would cure many an occupant of the lounge. Will power will surpass pill-power in nine cases out of ten, if not in every one. To hold a bottle of smelling salts in the hand on account of a headache may be just the thing, at times, but to fling a pound of fruit cake out into the alley, and then walk a furlong as a reward for i not eating the compound, is nearly always a much better thing. The new census of Oswego, N. Y., shows 20,622 population, aguinst 20,910 in 1870 and 20,428 in 1875. Oswego people are surprised, but citizens of Binghamton, N. Y., are fn agony be cause the census enumerators counted. 16,000 noses in that city when they ex ! peoted some 20,000. Published Eveby Thursday at BELLTON. G-EORGFIA RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION. Oa« year (52 number*), $1.00; six montbs numbers) 50 cents; three months (13 numbers). 25 cents. Office in the Smith building, eaat of the depot. KILLED BY HIS MOTHER, Some fifteen years ago a young Aus trian left home to seek his fortune in America. He left a large family of younger brothers and sieters to be reared by his mother, an energetic woman, who kept a small country hotel. The young man arrived in America almost penni less. He went West, and, after fifteen years’ work in the mines, was worth SBO,OOO. As he did not know how to read and write, he did not correspond with bis family, and the latter believed him dead. In the spring of 1880 he de termined to return to his country, and share his wealth with' his family. He converted his gold into drafts upon the chief banking houses of Vienna, and sailed from New York, enjoying, in an ticipation, the surprise his arrival would cause his folks at home. He reached Vienna without accident, had his drafts cashed, and left at once for his native village. As was natural after an absence of fifteen years, which he had spent in the mines of California, no one recog nized him. He finally made himself known, and spread before his two broth ers the handsome roll of bills of which he was the owner, and which he an nounced he would share with them and their mother. The latter had now re moved to a village about a hundred miles away, where she kept an inn. After a couple of days of revel with his brothers, the traveler resolved to visit his mother, incognito. It was arranged that he should not reveal his identity until his brothers should join him. The Austro-American made his ap pearance at his mother’s "hotel. When he saw the old woman he could scarcely forbear discovering himself to her. But he managed to conceal his relationship, of which, of course, the woman was in total ignorance. The pair had various long talks during the day. When night came, before retiring, he called her to the room that had been assigned to him, stating that he had an important secret to communicate to her. Then he told her that he had in his possession a large sum of money, and begged her to take charge of it, as he deemed it imprudent to keep it in his room, particularly as the latter could not be locked. The woman hesitated a moment, saying that she hail no place in the house where the money would be perfectly safe ; but she finally consented to receive it. When the stranger counted over 300,000 florins in bank notes, a sum such as she had never dreamed of, she again declined to assume the responsibility. But, as he insisted, she at last took the money and disappeared. What passed within the brain of that wretched woman during that night is more readily imagined than described. Upon reach ing her bedroom she hid the treasure under the mattress. But the temptation to look at the enormous roll of bills was too strong for her, and she spread the bills out on a table. The sight of money so excited her that she became mad, and, jumping from her seat, she took a razor from her bureau drawer, and, stealing up to the room where her son was fast asleep, cut his throat from ear to ear, killing him almost instantly. She then put the razor in Ijer son’s hand, so as to make it look as though he had commit ted suicide. Next morning her sons ar rived and inquired for the stranger. She sent them up to his room, saying he had not yet come to breakfast. They found him dead, and yells of despair filled the house. The mother, like all the other persons in the house, went up stairs, feigning to be utterly ignorant of the cause of the disturbance. She then learned that the murdered man was her son. The effect that startling intelligence had upon her mind need not be told. “My son?” she exclaimed. “Kill me, my children, kill me ! It is I who murdered him I” The woman became a raving maniac, and was sent to a lunatic asylum. A STRANGE PLANT. A curious plant has been discovered in Wisconsin which produces a kind of cotton and flax from the same stalk. It has already been woven into fabrics, and, as any article that will make as good cloth as can be made from this plant will make good paper, it has been called the paper plant. It can be planted in the spring, and cut in the fall and winter. It bleaches itself white as it stands, and it will yield three or four tons to the acre. From a single root that was transplanted last spring grew twenty large stalks, with 365 pods con taining the cotton, at least sixty seeds in each. From this root were obtained seven ounces of pure cotton and over a pound of flax. It is a very heavy plant, and grows from six to seven feet high.