Newspaper Page Text
N iftli Qeofgikq,
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDA’
BELLTON, GA.
BY JOHN BLA.TS.
Terms— sl.Ou per annum 60 cent* for six
moau.*; 26 eente forlhree months.
Fartt*i ewajr from Belllou aie rrqueated
toMi.l their mines wiih such amounts of
monej a. loay can pare, ’om Xio. ‘o *1
SUNSET.
BY HALLIE C. YOUNG.
In the far west, as the day growl old,
I watch a city of dazzling gold ;
From the minarets that pierce the sky
I listen to bear the muezzin’b cry;
Altars are many—and all aglow—
Their incense smoke is white as anew;
Banners of crimson are floating out
From arches of opal scattered about;
Steeples and spires in splendor vis,
And temples of jasper touch the sky.
Hast thou, O! city above the trees,
An Abelard and Heloise?
My fancy is busy in peopling thee,
Bo high above our earth and sea;
Thy glory illumines the bending RkJea,
And I dream thee a glimpse of paradise,
And wonder, and worship from afar,
>, As angels swing the gates ajar.
The golden age.
Story of the Discovery of Gold in
California.
it was in the month of January, 1848,
in a small shanty in the rather squalid
little hamlet of Yerba Buena, on the Bay
of San Francisco, that two young men
from the States, having just printed on
a hand-press the 150 copies of their
weekly paper, sat down upon stools,
weary, faint and discouraged, to talk
over the prospects of the country and be
moan the fate that had cast them where
society and money were so scarce. They
were Americans, but the land of their
birth was as remote to them then as St.
Petersburg to a peasant of the Amoor
valley. They longed to return, but
never expected to be rich enough. The
Mexican war was just erftled a few
months before. The treaty of Guada
hipe Hidalgo gave California to the
United States. The California so ceded
included the present State of that name,
Nevada, and most of Utah. It was an
empire larger than France and England.
Divided by a range of mountains almost
ns lofty as the Alps and longer than the
Carpathians, running from north to
south, the eastern half was a terra incog
nita of barren desert buttes and mount
ain spurs, containing throughout its
whole extent but one feeble settlement
of whites, known ns Mormons, Un
known savages of the lowest aboriginal
type dominated all the rest. The west
ern half, as it then appeared, was one
great valley covered with bright flowers,
rank verdure, clumps of majestic oaks,
wtxxled hills, sloping from the coast
range on the west and the Sierras on the
east, hills, plains and valleys alive with
herds of deer, elk, antelope and cattle
and horses as Wlla as the game"; tne
charming panorama enlivened and per
fected by sparkling rivers, whose waters
were as clear as the cloudless sky above
them, their banks flanked with a dense
growth of ash, maple, alder, willow,
hazel, cottonwood, sycamore, wild grape
vines, and, toward their confluence with
the bays, waving tule of the darkest
green, resembling at first sight the great
cornfields on the lowlands of the Ohio.
In all this vast valley region there was
but one white settlement. It was known
as Sutter’s Fort.
It was located near the confluence of
the Rio de los Americanos with the Sac
ramento. To the far south, beyond the
sources of the San Joaquin river, not
far from the Pacific ocean, stood the
“Ciudad de los Angeles,” Mexican in
its construction and population. A
Catholic mission at Santa Barbara and
another at San Luis Obispo (Saint Louis,
the Bishop) ; another at Monterey on
the bay of that name ; another at Santa
Clara in the lovelv valley of that name ;
another called Mission de San Jose not
far from the latter, and another at the
6 village of Yerba Buena, which has since
grown into the city of San Francisco.
It was then a collection of adobes, built
around the public square w r e now call
“the Plaza.” The waters of the bay
extended as far as Montgomery street,
where the Bank Exchange now stands,
and a few whalers and small coasting
schooners lay at anchor 300 yards from
shore, about where the postofflee now
stands on Battery street. There were
also American settlements at Sonoma
and Napa, composed of fanners who
emigrated from the Western States a
few years before, and here and there
arose along the Itorders of the tule the
smoke from the hut of the lonely trap
per of beaver. These, with the ranches
of the old Dons, their corrals and the
inevitable adolie dwellings, surrounded
by innumerable cattle and horses, made
up the sum of what there was of civilized
and semi-civilized life in California at
the time the two young printers of Yerba
Buena were discussing their situation.
Now and then a vessel put into the bay
of Monterey, or San Francisco, or San
Diego, to load with hides, or a winder
for repairs, dropping a few Mexican
dollars or doubloons, which were the
currency of the country. It was, to an
active or ambitious mind, a dull and
listless life ; but to the majority, who
loved ease, a healthy climate and beauti
fully-diversified scenery.
A pJeaaing land of drowsy head it <«*,
Os dreams that flit liefore the half-«hut eye,
And of gay cat-ties in the clouds that pa*B,
Forever flashing through a
About the same hour that the two
Yerba Buena printers were deploring
their fate of isolation from the busy
world, a scene was enacting that was to
a. have a greater effect upon the material
interests of modern kociety than any
event since the discovery of America.
It was on the 19th day of January, 1848,
on the south fork of the American river,
fifty-four miles east of Sutter’s Fort.
Early in the morning of that day, James
W. Marshal], who was building a mill
for himself and Sutter, from which they
expected to supply the ranches and set
tlements with pine lumber, picked up
from the bedrocks of the race of the mill
a «rnall piece of yellow metal. It weighed
The North Georgian.
vol. in.
about seventeen grains. It was malle
able, heavier than silver, and in all re
spects resembled gold. About 4 o’clock
in the evening Marshall exhibited his
find to the circle composing the mill
company laborers. Their names were
James W. Marshall, P. L. Wimmer, Mrs.
Wimmer, James Barger, Ira Willis, Syd
ney Willis, Alexander Stephens, James
Brown, Ezkiali Persons, Henry Bigler,
Israel Smith, William Johnson, George
Evans, Charles Bennett and William
Scott. The conference resulted in the
rejection of the idea that it was gold.
Mrs. Wimmer tested it by boiling it in
strong lye. Marshall afterward tested
it with nitric acid. It was gold, sure
enough, and the discoverer found its
like in all the surrounding gulches
wherever he dug for it. The secret could
not be long kept. It was known at
Yerba Buena three months after the dis
covery, and the two printers above men
tioned put this slight notice of it in their
weekly paper, The Californian, on the
19th of April:
New Gold Mine.—lt is stated that a ne«
gold mine has been discovered on the American
Fork of the Sacramento, supposed to be (it was
not) on the land of William A. Leidesdorff,
Esq., ot this place. A specimen of the gold
has lieen exhibited, and is represented to be
very pure.
May opened with accounts of new dis
coveries. The Californian of May 3
said: “Seven men, with picks and
spades, gathered $1,600 worth in fifteen
days.” That was a little more than sls
per day per man. On the 17th of May
the same paper said: “Many persons
have already left the coast for the dig
gings. Considerable excitement exists
here. Merchants and mechanics are
closing doors. Lawyers and alcaldes
are leaving their desks, farmers are
neglecting their crops and whole families
are forsaking their homes ” for the dig
gings. By May 24 gold dust had be
come an article of merchandise, the
price being from sl4 to sl6 per ounce.
The Californian of that date had these
advertisements:
GOLD ! GOLD ! 001 J> !
Cash will be paid for California gold by
11. 11. Buckalew,
Watchmaker and Jeweler. San Francisco.
GOLD ! GOLD '. GOLD I
Messrs. Dickson A Hay are purchasers of
Sacramento gold. A liberal price given.
Bee Hive.
On the 29th of May the Californian
issued a slip stating that its further pub
lication, for the present, would cease,
because nearly all its patrons had gone
to the mines. A month later there
were but five persons—women and chil
di-S. left in Yerba Buena. The first
rush was for Sutter’s Mill, since chris
tened Coloma, or Culhima, after a tribe
of Indians who lived in that region.
From there they scattered in all direc
tions. A large stream of them went
over to Weber creek, which empties intc
the American some ten or twelve miles
Inflow Coloma. Others went up or
down the river. Some, more adventur
ous, crossed the ridge over to the north
and middle forks of the American. By
the close of Juno the discoveries had
extended to all the forks of the Ameri
can, Weber creek, Hangtown creek, the
Cosumnes (known then as the Mako
sume), the Mokelumna, Tuolumne, the
Yuba (from uvas, or yuvas—grape),
called in 1848 the “Yuba,” or “Ajuba,”
and Feather river. On July 15 the edi
tor of the Californian returned and is
sued the first number of his paper after
its suspension. It contained a descrip
tion of the mines from personal observa
tion. He said :
“ The country from the Ajuba (Yuba)
to the San Joaquin, a distance of about
120 miles, and from the base toward the
summit of the mountains, as far as Snow
hill (meaning Nevada), about seventy,
miles, has been explored and gold found
on every part. There are now probably
3,000 people, including Indians, engaged
in collecting gold. The amount collect
ed by each man ranges from $lO to $350
per day. The publisher of this paper
collected with the aid of a shovel, pick and
a tin pan, from $44 to $l2B per day—aver
aging SIOO. The gross amount collected
may exceed $600,000, of which amount
our merchants have received $250,000, all
for goods, and in eight weeks. The larg
est piece known to be found weighs
eight pounds.”
On the 14th of August the number of
white miners was estimated at 4,000.
Many of them were of Stephenson’s regi
ment and the disbanded Mormon battal
ion. The Californian remarked on that
day that “ when a man with his pan or
basket does not average S3O to S4O per
day, he moves to another place.” Four
thousand ounces a day was the estimated
production of the mines five months
after the secret leaked out. In April the
price of flour here was $4 per hundred ;
in August it had risen to sl6. All other
subsistence supplies rose in the same
proportion. Here is part of a letter from
Sonoma, to the Californiaa, Aug. 14 :
" 1 have heard from one of our citizens
who has been at the placers only a few
weeks and collected $1,500, still averag
ing SIOO a day. Another, who shut up
his hotel here some five or six weeks
since, has returned with $2,200, collected
with a spade, pick and Indian basket. A
man and his wife and boy collected SSOO
in one day.”
Sam Brannan laid exclusive claim to
Mormon island, in the American, about
twenty-eight miles above its mouth, and
levied a royalty of 30 per cent, on
all the gold taken there by the Mor
mons, who paid it for a while but re
fused after they came to a better under
standing of the rules of the mines. By
September the new’s had spread to Ore
gon and the southern coast, and on the
2d of that month the Californian notes
I that 125 persons had arrived in town “by
i ship” since Aug. 26. In the “Dry Dig
' gings”—near Auburn —during the month
I of August, one man got $16,000 out of
j five cartloads of dirt, In the same dig-
BELLTON, BANKS COUNTY, GA.. NOVEMBER 11. 1880.
gings a good many were collecting from
SBOO to $1,500 a day. In the fall of
1848, John Murphy, now of San Jose,
discovered Murphy’s Camp Diggings, in
Calaveras, and some soldiers of Ste
phenson's regiment discovered Rich
gulch, at Mokelumne hill. That winter
one miner at Murphy’s realized SBO,OOO.
It was common report that John Mur
phy, who mined a number of Indians on
wages, had collected over $1,500,000 in
gold-dust before the close of the wet
season of 1848. A Frenchman fishing
in a prospect hole for frogs for his break
fast, at Mokelumne hill, in November,
1848, discovered a speck of gold on the
side of the excavation, which he dug out
with his pocket-knife and sold for $2,150.
Three sailors who had deserted took out
SIO,OOO in five days on Weber creek.
Such strokes of good fortune turned all
classes into miners, including the law
yers, doctors and preachers. The ex
ports of gold dust in exchange for pro
duce and merchandise amounted to
$500,000 by the 25th of September. The
ruling price of gold dust was sls per
ounce, though its intrinsic value was
from sl9 to S2O. A meeting of citizens,
presided over by T. M. Leavenworth,
and addressed by Samuel Brannan,
passed resolutions in September not to
patronize merchants who refused to take
gold dust at sl6 per ounce. A memori
al was also sent from San Francisco to
Congress in that month for a branch
mint here. It stated, among other
things, the opinion that by July 1, 1849,
$5,500,000 worth of dust, at sl6 per
ounce, would be takert out of the mines.
The figures were millions too low. Real
estate in San Francisco took a sudden
rise. A lot on Montgomery street, near
Washington, sold in July’ for SIO,OOO,
and it was resold in November with a
shanty on it for $27,000. Lots in Sac
ramento, or New Helvetia, also came up
to fabulous prices that winter. By the
month of October the rush from Oregon
caused the Oregon papers to stop publi
cation. In December the Kanakas and
Sonorians came in swarms. A Honolulu
letter, Nov. 11, said:
“Such another excitement as the
news from California created here the
world never saw. I think not less than
500 persons will leave before Jan. 1, and
if the news continues good the whole
foreign population, except missionaries,
will go. ”
The news did continue good, and they
came, some missionaries included. Soon
there came up from the mines com
plaints of outrage and lawlessness, most
ly against Kanakas and other foreigners.
How well they were founded, to what
they led, and how they were suddenly
ami summarily silenced, is a story that
covers a very interesting part of the
history of California, and the progress of
civilization in America.
Samuel Sea hough.
Use of Flowers.
It’s a trite and homely saying, “You
can’t eat your cake and keep it too,” and
we are obliged to square our actions with
it pretty closely; but there is one pecu
liar satisfaction in the cultivation of flow
ers, for, in a certain sense, they are an
exception to the practical operations of
the rules of addition and subtraction, os
embodied in the expression of them in
the old and popular axiom above quoted.
During the growing and blooming sea
sons of many of the best bedding plants
and annuals the flowers can be cut freely
and used and the oftener they are re
moved the greater the amount of bloom.
When plants are allowed to perfect seeds,
they soon cease to produce more flowers,
as the whole strength of the plant is
necessary to mature the seeds. There
fore, if you want flowers, cut them and
use them ; place them on your tables,
give them to your friends, and remember
those that are sick, and perhaps, too. you
may use them to help some one who is
disheartened, or even to lift up a de
graded one who needs, above all else,
your sympathy. It would be sad, in
deed, if objects so beautiful os flowers
should be the occasion of growing sel
fishness. Give them with a liberal hand
and he who sends the sunshine and the
rain will bless you with increasing blos
soms. A gift of flowers can seldom be
inappropriate, either to young or old,
and purity and goodness are painted on
every petal. With the gift
“ Our heart# are lighter lor it# rake,
Our fancy’# age renew# it# youth,
And dim-remembered fictions take
The guise of nresent truth.”
A Fellow-Feeling.
The manager of a dramatic combina
tion playing an engagement in Detroit
was approached on the last day by a
stranger, who asked for a pass for that
evening:
“Why should I give you a pass? was
the blunt demand.
“On account of the fellow-feeling,”
was the serene reply.
“Sir, I do not know you.”
“ Neither do I know you, but that isn’t
the fellow-feeling I had reference to.”
“ Do you belong to the profession?”
“ No.”
“ Then I fail to see how there is any
thing in common.”
“You struck this town last Monday,
didn’t you ?” asked the stranger.
“Yes.”
“So did I, and I’m going out of it to
night dead broke, same as you. That’s
my point, may it please the court.”
The “court” whistled a melancholy
tune, figured up the cash receipts once
more, and then wrote the pass without
further argument.
In the Austrian army the “caution
money,” as the sum is called which the
candidate for matrimony is obliged to de
posit with the authorities, has heretofore
been set at 12,000 florins, but a rumor
prevails that the amount is to be doubled.
Marriages have been so numerous in the
■ service that the politicians think it ad
visable to check them.
When the Fee Comes In.
A newly elected Justice of the Peace
who had been used to drawing deeds and
wills, and little else, was called upon as
his first official act to marry a couple
who came into his office very hurriedly
and told him their purpose. 'He lost no
time in removing his hat, and remarked,
“ Hats off in the presence of the Court.”
All being uncovered, he said; “HBld up
your right hands. You, John Marvin,
do solemnly swear that to the best of
your know ledge an’ belief you take this
yer woman ter have an’ ter hold for yer
self, yer h< irs, exekyerters, administra
tors and assigns, for yer an’ their use an’
behoof forever?”
“I do,” rpswered the groom.
“You, Alice Ewer, take this yer man
for yer husband, ter have an’ tor hold
for ever; and you do further swear that
you are lawfuly seized in fee simple, are
free from all incumbrance, and hev good
right to sell, bargain and convey to
the said grantee yerself, yer heirs, ad
ministrators and assigns ?”
“I do,” said the bride, rather doubt
fully.
“Well, John, that’ll be about a dollar
’u’ fifty cents. ”
“Are wo married ?” asked the bride.
“Yes, when the fee comes in.”
After some fumbling it was produced
and handed to the “Court,” who pock
eted it and continued: “Know all men
by these presents, that I, being in good
health and of sound and disposin’ mind,
in consideration of a dollar ’n’ fifty cents
to me in hand paid, the receipt whereof
is hereby acknowledged, do and by these
presents J-avo declared you man and
wife during good behavior and until oth
erwise ordered by the Court.”
Not Up on Moats.
The goat is an every-day sight, and
the mon who does not study him and
learn his ways and habits has only him
self to blame Saturday forenoon a
“William’’was quietly feeding on Co
lumbia street when a load of household
goods went past. The owner kept pace
with the wagon, carrying under his arm
a fine mirror about five feet long. As
he came opposite the goat he met a
friend, and of course he had to stop and
tell why he was changing locations and
how mucli lie expected to be benefited.
The glass was heavy, and he naturally
dropped one end to the walk to rest his
arm.
Had this man been a close observer he
would have seen the goat and wished he
had a brickbat. Had he made goat na
ture a study he would have known (let
ter than to lower the glass. But he was
a man who despised the trifles of life, and
he was telling how many tons of coal
the new house would save him this win
ter, when the goat, who had been getting
mad for two long minutes at sight of a
rival in the mirror, went through the
glass like a thunderlxflt, and jumped
into the street with the frame clinging
to his shaggy sides. All that ripping,
and raving, and cussing—all the open
ing of front doors—all the inquiries by
an excited crowd, could have been saved
had the citizen but beckoned to the small
est boy on the steeot and asked him tc
give away a few pointe on goats.—Ex
change.
Wearing a Mask.
What a good thing it would bo if women
woiild only speak their minds. There is
nothing that honest men desire more than
to understand that mysterious race that
is so like them, and yet so unlike, who
share their homes but not their thoughts,
who are so shrewd, so practical and so
irrational. The poor men yearn the
break down the invisible barrier and see
into the real life of those they love so
well; but the loved ones smile and chat
ter and say pretty things, and ingenious
things and things they have borrowed
from men and improved in the borrowing,
but never one word of the real thoughts
that are working in their busy brains.
So the men flatter and lie because they
think the women like it, and the women
accept it all because they think it is man’s
nature; and the men think women
empty-headed angels, and the women
think men are fine intelligent brutes; and
the two classes go on loving and despis
ing one another accordingly, and all for
the want of a little truthfulness in con
versation.
An Editor’s Trials.
No words can tell how much Thack
eray’s generous soul suffered in his edi
torial capacity. There is a class of peo
ple who look upon an editor's office as a
bureau of general relief : young widows
with numerous children send in manu
scripts with a frank avowal that they are
conscious of possessing no literary ability
whatever, but that they feel sure this or
that one will be accepted, as otherwise
they and their little ones must starve ;
there are farniqr boys, who write diagon
ally across brown wrapping paper, and
beg for favor as a means of acquiring an
education; there are thousands who
have failed at everything else, but are
sure they can write ; some are preten
tious and impudent, others modest and
appealing, and-With the latter it is par
ticularly hard to deal. A great many are
vituperative, and look upon the editor as
a deposit installed to crush all rising
genius. More than once, when Thack
eray paid out of his own purse for articles
1 which he could not use, the writers re
proached him for suppressing matter
which surpassed his own. The work be
came unendurable to him, and he gave it
n P-
A cat saw some sparrows in a certain
garden and went for a game supper. She
crawled with extreme caution to within
a few feet of them and made a spring,
but instead of catching a bird she struck
her nose violently against ths fence.—
Rochester Union.
]NO. 45
THE MOUTH TO THE XOKTH.
M fraternal salutation inspired by the yelloxo-fevsr
visitotion.]
I.
’Twas after a gloriou# battle
in the swamps of the Uapldan,
1 lay on my back at midnight,
A wounded and helple## man;
But I could well bear my torture,
Gaping gashes and broken bones,
I heard #uch delightful music
From Yank# with their moan# and groans.
I hetwi the Yonks like ** cold pison,”
They shot my father and s'm;
So always I aimed for killing,
And carried a loaded gun.
The firing and crashing of battle.
The hot charge and the warrior's cry.
Loft, high-heaped, drenched earth with victims,
, And the wouudod who begged to die.
Far off we could hear the roaring
Tell of tho raging of murderons men;
We ootild only have fearing or hoping
That our side might tho victory win.
W’o had marched to the fight in the morning;
I fought until forced to stop;
Now, I was hungry and thirsty,
With barer a bite or a drop.
I thought of the old-time dinners,
With many a Christmas feast;
Now, of tho wasted fragments
I’d hare snatched for the very leaeA
I thought of tho sprayful fountain
That played by my father’s door;
I thought of the wild-rice bayou
That oft my canoe glided o’er;
I thought of toe mighty river,
Tho plantations flowing through;
I thought of toe distant heaven
That seudeth the rain and dew—
But these wore all empty fancies,
WTiich even inoroaaed my thirst,
Until In powerless longing
I was like Tantalus oursod.
IL
Suddenly, in the thick darkness,
A weak voice made mo of angels think;
It said, •• Halloo I here, Johnny,
Would ye be either takin’ a dlirlnk T”
I was almost a-dylng,
And could not even raise toe tin eup,
So the friendly hand of the stranger
To my lipa then raised it up.
Sweet, sweet was that drink of water;
I never drank sweeter draught.
For life was gained from that bounty
I gaspingly, deeply quaffed.
Then I whispered, “ Give mo your hand, my dare
Our hands met in a tight, tight clasp.
Suddenly, in my living fingers
Limp, nerveless grew his fainting olaap.
I spoke and intently Batoned,
But never a word be said,
And sadly I knew another
Spirit from that red field had fled.
Tho surgeons and helpers were busy;
I lay until morning-light,
And then to my tear-dlnimed vision
Was slowly revealed thia sight:
A soldier had found a canteen,
Dropped there in the thick of the fight,
And he, with two balls through his body,
Dragged himself to me tn the night.
And there on hia can gleamed the letters
“U. 5.," on the blood-stained gold band,
And I saw that ho was a brother
Against whom I had raised my red band.
Ha was Uniou and Irish—
Lightly o’er him rest the sod I
Tho bine that ba loved above him,
ilia spirit gone home to God.
Oh I men may fight like devils,
As 11 hell on earth doth reign;
But deep in each human bosom
Some chords sympathize with pain.
Thank God for the noble pity,
Darting like eieutoto thrill,
Inspiring a kinship-emotion,
Bidding evil passions bo still.
in.
Oh! comrades, ye know our distresses
Wherever the fever breathed;
Boon over toe death-marked threshold
The funeral flag was wreathed.
Tongue never can speak the horror
Growing blacker day by day;
Pen never can write onr anguish,
Nor time’s waves wash tho record away.
Oh ! comrades, ye know our distresses
Made all humanity sad;
And, hurried down from toe Northland,
Rich bounty we freely had.
The North gave us money, with nurse#
And doctors noble and true;
Drugs, provision#, and clotliuig
'The North did a 1 she could do I
Ali honor to sincerest virtue.
The spirit of Bayard the Good;
To the ohivalrlc North all honor.
Who showed to us truest knighthood t
The Gaine of Boston.
The game at cards called “Boston,”
says a late writer in the New York Times,
after the capital of Massachusetts, and
much played by our forefathers, has
lately been revived, it is said, in New
England and in Now York, especially
here, and is greatly enjoyed on account
of the skill required for proficiency.
Boston is played by four persons with
two packs of cards, which are never
shuffled. One of the packs is dealt and
the other cut alternately, to determine
the trump, the trump governing the
game. The dealer deals five cards to
each player twice, and deals six cards
the last time around. If the first player
can make, or thinks he can make five
tricks from his hand, he says: “Igo
Boston,” and his fellow-players may over
bid him with the words: “I go 6,7, 8,
9, 10, 11, 12 or 13,” as the hand of each
may justify. Should any one fail to
make the number of tricks he bids for,
ho must pay to each competitor a forfeit,
regulated by a scale of prices agreed
upon beforehand. Tho agreement is
imperative; without it tlie game is impos
sible. It is accounted the most complex
and difficult of all games at cards, and
is therefore a favorite with professional
fambiers. Boston has been played in
'rance and England, where it is often
spoken of os the American game. Ben
jamin Franklin has tho reputation of
introducing it in Faris. Ho gave it tho
name of his native city, and is said to
have been a very clever player. Tho
philosophers of the eighteenth century,
who were his companions in France,
were very fond of the game and delighted
in its novelty. Baron d’Holbach is re
ported to have said that only a man of
genius could excel at Boston. The game
Las always been played more or less in
the Southwest, where much money if
still lost and won by it.
Clear Grit.
A plucky Kentucky school ma'am is
Miss Hillbreth, of Hopkins County. She
attempted to punish a boy named Merrill
for some misdeamor, when the youth
drew his knife. Miss Hillbreth unarmed
him, and be brought a club to his assist
ance, but she finally whipped him. That
night the boy’s father went to Miss Hill
breth’s boarding-house and cursed her
shamefully. The next day he went to
the school-house to continue his abuse,
but the lady bad armed herself with a
pistol and dared Merrill to enter the door.
Merrill ran home, and was returning with
a shot-gun, when he was arrested by an
officer, but soon escaped, and is now at
large.
Xofth
Published Every Thursday at
BELLTON, GEORGIA,
RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION.
One year (52 number#), $1.00; six month*
\ 6 ntunbera) 50 cents; three months (i>
number#). 35 ueat#.
O:See in the Smith building, east of the
d’pet. .
ALL SORTS.
A Chinaman has entered the Harvard
Freshmen class.
George Bancroft says Washington
was six feet two inches high.
Offenbach made much money from
his operas, but died poor.
Mrs. Florence’s costumes in tho
“ Mighty Dollar” are insured for $25,-
000.
A Paris shop had 67,000 customers
one day this fall, and sold $280,000 worth
of goods.
Vermont has four venerable ex-Gov
ernors living, each of whom is more than
80 years old. , .
What is the difference between a fixed
star and a meteor ? One is a sun, the
other a darter.
The woman who has the best time at
a party is the woman who has the great
est show of real lace.
The Rochester Herald savs that ths
man who has a corner in pork should be
made to squeal.
A Nevada ball report says : “ Miss
Honora X. was full of eclat—in fact, the
eclatist lady present.”
The honey crop is a pronounced fail
ure by one-half. So that we have not a
sweet thing in bees this year.
No less than 5,000 Chinamen are now
building railroads in Oregon, Washing
ton, and British Columbia.
Atlanta has a new enterprise, a watch
manufactory. It begins with facilities
for turning out six watches per day.
W. W. Corcoran, of Washington, has
given away $3,000,000 in public benefac
tions and $1,000,000 in private charities.
Henry Wallace and Jane Wallace,
his wife, have entered college at Wes
leyan University, Ct., as “Freshmen.”
Spain, with only 17,000,000 of inhab
itants, turns out yearly twice as much
wheat as does Italy, with 28,000,000 of
inhabitants.
On the occasion of the celebration of
the tenth anniversary of the capture of
Rome, all political offenders were par
doned by the King of Italy.
The postal savings banks in Italy take
in twice as much money as they pay
out, the institution being considered
safe and convenient by the people.
A bill collector returned to Memphis
on horseback with a bag full of gold and
silver coin. The horse ran away, the
bag burst, and a great crowd followed
for a mile, picking up the money.
An effort is on foot at Washington to
procure the assembling there of a world’s
convention to promote international ar
bitration, Sept. 3, 1883, the centennial
of the acknowledgment of American in
dependence.
“Everybody is looking at Rhode Isl
and,” remarks the editor of the Provi
dence Dispatch in the course of an edit
orial on “The Duty of the Hour.” This
explains the recent advance in the price
of microscopes.
Profanity has increased to such an
extent in New York since the telephone
was introduced that the company has
been forced to put up a sign : “ Please
don’t swear through the telephone,"over
each instrument.
Is swinging healthy ? ” asks a young
lady. It is, under some circumstances.
But if the hinge breaks, tho pastime is
not only unhealthy, but dangerous.
We are always glad to extend to the
young and inexperienced the knowledge
attained by years of experience.
Keeping poultry of some kind or other
is almost universal in China. The poor
est household has, wherever practicable,
its pert cock and three or four lean hens,
which stalk hungrily in and out of tho
mud shanty in search of anything eata
ble that no one else of the family may
happen to able to digest.
According to a Viennese statistical
journal, Austria is better provided with
public libraries than any other country
in Europe.
It has been estimated that of the
horses in the world Austria has 1,367,000;
Hungary, 2,179,000; France, about 8,-
000,000; Russia, 21,470,000; Germany,
3,352,000; Great Britain and Ireland,
2,255,000; Turkey, about 1,000,000; the
United States, 9,504,000; the Argentine
Republic, 4,000,000; Canada, 2,624,000;
Uruguay, 1,600,000.
The Number of Rich People in Paris.
M. Paul Leroy Beaulieu attempts to
calculate approximately the number of
rich persons actually living in Paris. He
takes as his principal basis of calculation
the value of the houses in the French
capital; and upon these figures builds up
his theory, on the assumption that the
less wealthy inhabitants spend about one
sixth of their income in house rent,
while the richer house-holders spend on
an average from one-eighth to one-tenth.
It will be easy for those who agree with
him to follow out the theory when they
have the following list of rente, as ex
tracted from an official source: It ap
pears that there are 10,000 private houses
or apartments, the rente of which range
from £l6O to £320 a year, 3,000 between
£320 and £540, and 1 400 between the
latter sum and £I,OBO. Finally, there
are 421 houses, or rather palaces, the
rent of which exceeds £I,OBO. It is not
necessary to follow out the sums by which
the incomes of these various classes of
rich men is traced out, but it may suffice
to say that M. Beaulieu reckons that
there are about 8 000 persons in Paris
who spend incomes of £2 000 and up
ward; and this will be seen by the aid of
the figures already given to be fully borne
out by the facte. The conclusion is also
supported by the returns of horses and
carriages kept in the capital, which show
that there are from 7,500 to 8,000 per
sons who keep private horses, — Econo
mist Francais.