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PUBLISHED EVERY THURBDA
BKLLTOX, G-A.
by JOHN BLATS.
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SOUTHERN NEWS.
The paid capital of Charlotte, N. C.,
banks is $825,000.
The contract for building jetties at
Fernandina, Fla., has l>een reawarded.
In Mooresville, N. C., out of 710 cases
of measles, there has been one death.
An attempt is to be made in North
Carolina to create the office of Railroad
Commissioners.
Eight thousand logs broke loose in the
Lower Pearl river and floated out into
the Gulf of Mexico.
Subscriptions to start a glass factory
at Moss Point, on the Mississippi coast,
amount to $13,500.
One thousand immigrants are expected
to arrive shortly in Southeast Missouri
and North Arkansas.
Four large rattlesnakes, killed recently
in Greenne' county, Ala., had fifteen,
foifrteen, twelve and ten rattles.
Last year was the most bountiful
known in Texas since the war. The cot
ton alone amounted to 1,200,000 bales.
A person writing toa Mississippi paper
thinks that cotton seed is better for fer
tilizing purposes than cotton seed meal.
A company is to be chartered to devel
op the granite quarries near Petersburg,
Va
An alleged petrified baby, said to have
been unearthed near Eureka Springs, has
been sold at Russellville, Ark., for
$4,600.
It is suggested in West Virginia that
the State shall appropriate SIO,OOO to
send an agent to the North of Europe to
induce th? immigration of families of
Swedes and Danes.
The estimates of the expense’of the
State government of Texas for the year
ending February 28, 1882, aggregate
$1,357,913.
St. Stephen’s, in Savannah, is the only
colored Episcopal church in Georgia-
The twenty-fifth anniversary has recent
ly been celebrated.
The loss to the Louisiana sugar inter
ests by the cold and wet weather is now
carefully estimated at 25,000 hogsheads,
or about ten per cent, of the expected
crop.
The Swiss colony in North Carolina is
said to have discovered that the mulber
ry tree grows with as much luxuriance as
the cherry, and that the soil and climate
favor the production of silk.
The capacity of the Charlotte, N. C.,
cotton mills is five bales of cotton per
day, there being 3,800 spindles. The
machinery is all on one floor. The walls
are very thick and the floor is triple,
thus neutralizing the effects of the jar
ring of the heavy machinery.
The Birmingham Iron Age reports a
contract with parties from Chicago for
15,000 tons of coal to be delivered on the
line of the New Orleans and Jackson
road.
New Orleans States: Mr. Duncan F.
Kenner is the first planter to take the
wise precaution to lay tramways from
his cane-fields to his sugar-house. His
example should be followed.
The soil and climate of South Florida
are said to be very favorable to the cul
tivation of sugar cane. The yield is
sometimes as much as 4,000 pounds to
the acre.
Mr. Cage told the Sugar-planters’ As
sociation at New Orleans that in his
opinion nothing could equal a negro as a
laborer on a sugar plantation when he is
properly paid and handled.
Over 300 pupils are now in attendance
at the Agricultural and Mechanical Col
lege of Mississippi. This is the limit of
its capacity at present, and Gen. Lee
has accordingly announced that no more
pupils will be received.
Wages for good field hands in Abbe-,
ville, 8. C., range from SSO to $76, some
few receiving as much as SIOO. But f w
contracts have been made, a majority
prefering interest in the crop or rental.
The Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser re
ports the departure of a considerable
number of carpenters for Pensacola, Fla.,
where they expect to find work in the re
building of the burnt district.
The failure of Welsh & Bacon, at Al
bany, Ga., is said to be perhaps the larg
est single failure that section has ever
known. The gross amount of assets is
reported by Col. Nelson Tift, the as
signee, to be $498,254.17 and the liabili
ties $476,269.79.
It is said that what is called the Pied s
mont region of Virginia, the eastern
slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, pro
ducing the finest Southdown sheep in
the United States, and that the South-
The North Georgian.
VOL. IV.
down sheep gives the fattest and best
flavored mutton. It is also said that all
Virginia, except the alluvial region, is
pre-eminently a sheep-raising country.
The oldest living student of the Uni
versity of North Carolina is the Hon.
Mark Alexander, of Mecklenburg
county, Va., who matriculated in 1808,
and Is now in his eighty-ninth year of
life. He is the only survivor, except
one, of the Congress of 1819, and the
only survivor but one of the celebrated
Virginia convention of 1829-30, of which
President Madison, President Monroe and
Chief Justice Marshal were members.
The colporter of the Maury county,
Tenn., Bible Society distributed to fam.
ilies in that county destitute of the
Word of God six hundred Bibles grid
Testaments (during the past year, is
probably the time). The Maury county
Bible Society is the oldest in the State,
having been organized in 1818.
The second annual report of the At
lanta Board of Health states that the
total number of deaths was 679, an an
nual death rate of seventeen and eight
tenths for each thousand inhabitants. Os
the whole number, 288 were white and
391 colored. The death rate for the
whites is thirteen to each thousand, and
for the colored people twenty-three and
eight-tenths.
The following excellent suggestion is
made of Gov. Jarvis, of North Carolina,
“No court requiringa jury or witnesses l
either civil, criminal, inferior or sup rior,
should be held in the month of June.
Our people are eminently an agricultural
people, and to take a targe number of
laborers out of the fields for a week, as
is now done in many of the counties in
the busy month of June, is a serious in
jury to the farmers of that county.”
Rev. J. 11. Campbell, of Columbus
Ga., one of the most active philanthrop
ists in the State, writes to the Columbus
Times that in all his fifty years’ expe
rience among the poor, he never 1 as had
an application for charity from an Is
raelite. They sometimes give him money
for the poor, but never ask charity for
themselves. During the recent cold
term, when white and colored people of
all denominations were cilamoring for
wood, lie specially notes the standing of
the Jews, to whom he says the facts arc
highly creditable.
The New Orleans Picayune reprints
the following advertisements from the
Louisiana Gazette, printed in New Or
leans, and dated February 17, 1823 ;
“Passengers for Madisonville—An cle
gant sleigh and four will leave Basin
Carondelet this day at 3 o’clock for
Madisonville, byway of the Canal and
Lake Pontchartrain. It will be provided
with buffalo robes and other accommoda.
tions for eight passengers. Apply to the
driver, on board, or at Libriskin’s stable.
Passage five d011ar5.”.... “Skates—A few
pairs of Holland-made skates for sale
at 111 Custom house street, ready
strapped.”
Picture Frames.
Very serviceable and pretty picture
frames can be marks out of pasteboard.
For cabinet photographs, cut four strips,
two six inches and two eight inches
long. Lap them across the corners, in
the same way as the rustic frames are
joined, and punch a hole through the
two pieces so that you can fasten them
with a button. You can find four of a
kind handsome enough in the button
box on the shelf. Cut steel are the best,
but any kind -will do. Strips of paper
on the back will hold the picture in its
place.
These frames are pretty, made of
black card-board or covered with black
silk. Little gilt stars, or strips of gilt
paper down the center, have a pleasant
effect on the black. You can cut little
pieces of paper to represent gilt buttons
if yon do not happen to have any in the
house. If you can, embroider a narrow
vine on strips, with a cluster of leaves or
flowers at the corners. Almost any com
bination of materials and styles is effect
ive for these frames, and they are an
agree able change from the perforated
card so long used. Glove and handker
chief boxes, and, in fact, boxes of any
kind, all lie in this line of manufacture.
What a Coroner’s Jury Is Composed of.
Confederate Burker arose to a ques
tion of privilege in the club. He was
working in the eastern part of the city
with a man who was fatally injured. He
saw the whole transaction and knew all
i the particulars, and yet when the Ooro
' ner’s jury was made up he was- ignored
! because of his color. He felt slighted
j and indignant, and he hoped the club
would not overlook the insult.
“Brudder Burker, you didn’t lose
I nothin',” replied the President. “It
| was a compliment to yer intelligence to
i ignore you. De average Coroner’s jury
am composed of two loafers, three old
I bums and a fule, and dey would have
insisted dat yon war de fule. You
haven’t got any case, sab, an’ de meet
in’ will now be declared split up.”— New
i York Mercury.
BELLTON, BANKS COUNTY, GA., JANUARY 27, 1881.
THEN AND WOW.
BT OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
Dear ancient school bova! Nature taught to them
The simple lessons of the star and flower,
Showed them strange sights; how on a single stem—
Admire the marvels m Creative Power!—
Twin apples grew, one sweet, the other sour.
How from the hill-top where oar eyes behold
In even ranks the plumed and bannered iuaiae
Range its long columns, in the days of old
The live volcano shot Its angry blase,—
Dead since the shadows of Noah’s watery days.
How, when tho lightning split the mighty rock,
The spreading fury of the shaft was spent;
How the young jcion joined the alien stock,
And when and where the homeless sparrows went
To pass the winter of their discontent.
Scant were the glenmings in those years of dearth;
No Cuvier yet had clothed the fossil bones
That slumbered, waiting for their second birth;
No Lyell read the legend of the stones;
Science still pointed to her empty thrones.
Dreaming of orbs to eyes of earth unknown,
Herschel looktd heavenward in the starlight pale;
Lost in those awful depths he trod alone.
Laplace stood mute before the lifted veil;
While home-bred Humbolt trimmed his toy-ship’s
sail.
No mortal feet those loftier heightshad gained
Whence the wide realms of nature we descry;
In vain their eyes our longing fathers strained
To scan with’ wonderlug gaze the summits high
That far beneath their children’s footsteps lie.
Smile at their fint small ventures as we may,
The school-boy’s copy shapes the scholar’s hand,
Their grateful memory fills our hearts to-day;
Brave, hopeful, wise, this bower of peace they
planned,
While war’s dread plowshare scarred the suffering
land.
Child of our children’s children yet unborn.
When on this yellow page you turn your eyes,
Where the brief record ol this May-day morn
In phase antique and faded letters lies,
How vague, how pale our fitting ghosts will rise!
Yet in our veins the blood ran warm and red,
For us the fields were green, the skies were blue.
Though from our dust the spirit long has fled,
We lived, we loved, we tolled, we dreamed like
you,
Smiled at our sires and thought how much we
knew.
Oh might our spirits for one hour return,
When the next century rounds its hundreth ring,
All the strange secrets it shall teach to learn,
To hear the large truths its years shall bring.
Its wiser sages talk, its sweeter minstrels sing!
Dr. Jex’s Predicament.
It was tho funniest thing that I ever
saw in my life. Cruikshank would have
gloried in it. I wish I hod him here to
illustrate that scene with the spirited
vigor that only his dancing pencil gives.
It was in Kentucky that it happened—
that pleasant land of blue-grass, and to
bacco, and fine stock, with white-teethed
girls. Mabel, my • sister, had married
Dick Hucklestone, end they had begun
life in great contentment and a liltle
three-roomed house scarcely big enough
to hold the bridal presente. But they
were happy, hearty, healthy. They had
two cows, ice-cream every day, a charm
ing baby, and Uncle Brimmer. Who
shall say that their cup was not full? In
deed, they thought it full before Uncle
Brimmer added; himself thereto—a very
pondrous rose leaf. He was one of our
old family servants, who fondly believed
that Miss Mabel and her young husband
would never be able to get on without
liini. He walked all the way from Mis
sissippi to Kentucky, with his things
tied up in a meal sack, and presented,
himself before Mabel, announcing affably
that he had come to “stay on.”
“But I haven't, any place for you,
Uncle Brimmer,” said Mabel, divided
between hospitality and embarrassment.
“Lor’ honey, you kin jes' tuck me
arouu’ anywhar. I don’t take up no
room.”
Mabel looked thoughtfully upon tlip
big brown gray-whiskered old negro,
whose proportions were those of a Hercu
les, and shook herihead. “You are not a
Tom Thumb, Uncle Brimmer.”
“No, ma’am,” said he, submissively,
“but I’ve got his spirit. Couldn’t I
sleep in de kitchen, honey?” he went on,
with insinuating sweetness.
“No, indeed,” cried our young house
keeper; “I put my foot down on any
body sleeping in the kitchen.”
Aunt Patsey, the cook, stood by, bal
ancing a pan of flour on her head, one
fat hand on her hip. I suspected her of
a personal interest in the matter, and in
deed she afterward acknowledged that
she thought Uucle Brimmer’s coming
would prove a “blessin’ to her feet.”
Those feet of hers had been saved many
steps through tho service of her ten-year
old daughter Nancy Palmira Kate—
called Nanky Pal, for short. But of late
Nanky’s services had been called into
requisition as a nurse, and Aunt Pateey,
who was fat and scant o’ breath, thought
she had too much to do; and so she
viewed with evident delight the stalwart
proportions of our good-natured giant
from the south.
“Dar’sdelof, Miss Mabel,” she sug
gested.
“It is too small, and is cluttered up
with things already. ”
“Oh, sho, chile, dar ain’t nothin’ in
dat lof’ ’cep’ de ’tatters, an’ de peppers,
an’ do dried apples, an’ some strings o’
terbacker, an’ de broken plow, an ’
some odds an’ ends o’ de chillen’s, an’
Lucy Crittenden’s pups. Lor’, dar ain’t
nothin’ ter speak of in de lof.”
“He can't get in at the window,” said
Mabel, shifting her ground.
“Lemma try,” said Uncle Brimmer.
The kitchen was a small log-cabin
some distance from the house—“in good
hollerin’ reach,” to quote Aunt Pateey.
Above it was a low room, or loft,
crowded with the miscellaneous articles
enumerated. The only way of getting
into it was from the outside. A ladder
against the side of the cabin admitted
i one, through a little window, no longer,
I I am sure, than that of a railway coach,
into this storehouse of treasures. Nanky
Pal, who was as slim as a snake, was
, usually selected to fetch and carry
: through the small aperture. But Uncle
I Brimmer!
“I’m pretty sho I kin do it,” he said,
. squinting up one eye, as he took off his
coat and prepared to try.
We stood in the doorway os he cau
tiously went up the ladder; and after an
exciting moment he pushed himself
through the window, and turning, smiled
triumphantly.
This settled the matter. A cot bed
was procured for Uncle Brimmer, and
he soon became tho mainstay of the
family. Cheerfully avoiding all the
work possible; indifferently as an ostrich
eating all he could find in cupboards or
highways; grimly playing hobgoblin for
baby; gayly twanging his banjo on
moonlight nights—memory recalls the 3
with a smile, Uncle Brimmer! I can
clo>c my eyes now and recall him, big;,
sh.Lploss, indistinct in the semi-darkness,
as he sat -under the mulberry-tree, sing
sing,
•• Wlnh I war In TennoMM,
A-settln’ in my cheer,
Jug o’wnfaky by my aide,
An’ annv aroun’ my dear!”
This was his favorite. Who shall
doubt that it expressed to him all the
poetry, romance, passion, of life?
After a time Uncle Brimmer fell ill,
and we sent for a doctor.
Dr. Trattles Jex was the medical man
of our county. Hel ived in Middleburn,
seven miles away, and he camo trotting
over on a great bay horse, with a pair of
saddle-bags hanging like Gilpin’s bot
tle’s, one on either side. He looked as
diminutive as a monkey perched on the
tall horse’s back, and indeed he was “a
wee bit pawky body,” as was said of
Tommy Moore. But, bless me! he was
as pompous and self-important as though
he had found the place to stand on, and
could move tho world with his little
lever. A red handkerchief carefully
pinned across his chest showed that he
had lungs and a mother. His boots
were polished to the last degree. His
pink and beardless face betrayed his
youth; and his voice—ah! his voice!
What a treasure it would have been
could he have let it out to masqueraders!
Whether it was just changing from that
of youth to that of man, or whether, like
rending and writing, it “came by na
ture,” I can't tell. One instant it was
deep and boss, the next, squeakins and
soprano. No even tenor about that
voice!
He held out his hand, with, “Good
morning, Mrs. Hucklestone. I hope the
baby has not hod an attack?”
I popped into the dining-room to gig
gle, but little well-bred Mabie did not
even smile.
“Oh no,” she cried; “it is Uncle Brim
mer.”
The doctor offered to see him at once.
Mabel got up to lead the wav. Un to
this moment I warrant it had not struck
her as anything out of the way that she
must invite Dr. Jex to climb a ladder
and crawl through a window to get at
his patient. But as she looked at him,
speckless, spotless, gloved, scented,
curled, then at the ladder leaning against
the wall in a disreputable, rickety sort
of way, a scene of incongruity seemed
borne in on her soul. To add to her
distress and my hilarity, we saw that
Uncle Brimmer had hung out of the
window some mysterious under-rigging
that he wore. Long, red, and ragged,
it “flaunted in the breeze” as pictur
sequely as the American flag on a Fourth
of July.
“I am afraid, doctor, it will be a little
awkward,” faltered Mabel; “Unclaßrim
mer is up there;” and she waved her lily
hand.
“An’vou’ll have-to clime de ladder,”
put in Nanky Pal, with a disrespectful
chuckle.
I thought the little doctor gasped; but
he recovered himself gallantly, and
said:
“As a boy I have climbed trees, and
think I can ascend n ladder as a man;”
and he smiled heroically.
We watched him. He was encum
bered by the saddle-bags, but he man
aged very well, and had nearly reached
the top, when suddenly Uncle Brim
mer’s head and shoulders protruded,
giving him the look of a snail half out
of its shell.
“Here’s my pulse, doctor,” he cried,
blandly, extending his bared arm.
“’Tain’t no place for you up here. ’An
here’s my tongue. ” Then out went his
tongue for Dr. Jex’s inspection.
The doctor settled himself on a rung of
the ladder, quite willing to be met half
way. Professional inquiries began,
when
“A deep eound etrnck like a rising knell.”
“Good gracious!” exclaimed Mabel;
“what is that?”
Nanky Pal sprang up, with distended
eyes, almost letting the baby fall.
Again,
“Nearer, clearer, deadlier than before."
“Sakes alive! Miss Mabel,” cried
Nanky, “ole Mr. Simmon’s bull’s done
broke loose!”
She was right. A moment more, and
in rushed the splendid angry beast, bel
lowing, pawing the ground, shaking his
evil lowered head as if the devil were
contradicting him.
Dr. Jex turned a sacred face. My
lord Bull caught sight of the fluttering
red rags, and charged the aide of the
house. And I give you my word, the
next instant the ladder was knocked
from under the doctor’s feet, and he was
clinging frantically round the neck of
Uncle Brimmer.
Fearful moment.
“Pull him in, Uncle Brimmer—pull
him in,” shrieked Mabel, dancing about.
“I can’t, honey—l can’t,” gasped the
choking giant; “I’m stuck.”
“Hold me up,” cried the doctor.
“Send for help.”
Uncle Brimmer seized him by the arm
pits. The saddle-bags went clattering
down, and about the head of Master
Bull a cloud of quinine, calomel, Dover’s
and <livers other powdersand pills, broke
in blinding confusion.
“Aunt Pateey, go for Mr. Hucklestone
at once,” called Mabel.
1 Aunt Pateey looked cautiously out
from tho kitchen door. “Yer don’t ketch
me in de yard wid. ole Simmons’ bnl!"
she said with charming independence.
“Then I shall send Nanky Pal.”
“If Nanky Pal goes outen dat house
I’ll break every bone in her body.”
Then Mabel began to beg: “Aunt Pat
sey, let her go, please. I’ll give you a
whole bagful of quilt pieces, and my
ruby rep polonaise that you begged me
for yesterday.”
Aunt Patsey’s head came out a little
further. “An’ what else?”
“And a ruffled pillow-sham,” said Ma
bel, almost in tears, ‘ ‘and some' white
sugar, and 11l make you a hri— and
that’s all. Now.'"
“I reckon dat’s about as much as the
chile is wuth,” said the ’ philosophic
mother. ‘ ‘Let her go. ”
“Fly! fly!" cried Mabel.
“I ain’t skeered,” said Nanky. “I
ain’t dat sort Mammy ain’t' nuther.
She was jes’ waitin’ ter see how much
you’d give."
Nanky’s bare legs scudded quickly
across the yard. The bull took no notice
of her. He was still stamping and bellow
ing under that window. Uncle Brimmer
and the doctor clung together, and only
a kick now and then testified to the little
man’s agony.
“Suppose Uncle Brimmer should lei
go ?” I suggested in a hollow whisper.
“Oh, hush,” cried Mabel. “The doc
tor’s blood would be on our heads.”
“Or the bull’s horns.”
It was not far to the tobacco field, and
in an incredibly short time brother John
came riding in followed by half a dozen
stout negroes. With some delightful
play that gave one quite an idea of a
Spanish bull fight, his lordship was cap
tured, and our little doctor was assisted
to the house. •
Gone was the glory of Dr. Trattlea
Jex. His coat was torn, his knees grimy,
his hands scratched, and he looked—yes
—as if he had been crying.
“Can you ever forgive us?" said Mabel,
piteously. She hovered about him like a
little mother. She made him drink two
glasses of wine; she mended his coat; she
asked him if he would not like to kiss the
baby. And finally a wan smile shone in
the countenance of Dr. Jex. Forme. I
felt my face purpling, and leaving him
to Mallei, I fled with brother John to the
smoke-house, where we—roared.
Uncle Brimmer got well and went in
to see the doctor. He returned with a
new cravat, a cane, and several smart ar
ticles of attire, from which we inferred’
that in those trying moments when he
supported the suspended doctor, that lit
tle gentleman had offered many induce
ments for him to hold fast. When ques
tioned ho responded chiefly with a cav
ernous and mysterious smile, only say
ing:
“Master Dr. Jex is a gentleman;
starch-in or starch out, he’s de-gentle
man straight.”
And brother John, who is somewhat
acquainted with slang, said, with a great
laugh, “Well, old man, you had a bully
chance to judge, so you must be right.”
—Harper's Weekly.
Paper Boxes Substituted for Tin.
A few years ago a process of paper-box
manufacturing was invented, which has
since placed paper, the rival of so many
materials, in tho position of a strong
rival of tin in packages for certain arti
cles of commerce. Previous to this' in
vention the great objection to using
round paper boxes for small packages,
when tin was commonly used, was that
the covers, being in two pieces (a disk
and a rim), were not durable or safe
enough to fill the requirements of fre
quent handling. Under the new process
the heads or covers of the box are
“ drawn ” from a single piece of straw
board, so that not only is there no sepa
rating of a disk from the rim by use, but
there is no scam through which the con
tents of the box can find its way. The
body of the box is out from paper tubes,
made of several thicknesses of a light
weight of straw board or heavy straw
{wiper. Almost any desired diameter or
ength of Ixjx can be made. The heads
are made of heavy straw board, from
what is known as No. 90 to No. 50, or
heavier if desired, and are “drawn”
under a peculiar process, with great
rapidity. One of these heads is fastened
to the bottom of the box, another of the
same kind is adjusted to the top, not
fastened, and the box is complete. For
these a straw board lined with fancy
colored paper can be used; oftentimes a
tin-foil paper is selected, in which case,
with the body of the box covered by a
label, the package resembles a hand
some, solid tin box. Tho boxes have
l>een introduced into a great variety of
uses, where, on account of cheapness,
they have already superseded tin.
Large quantities are used with and
without water, air and grease-proof
preparations, in packing such articles as
chloride of lime, paris green, putty, ter,
seeds, etc. The same principle is ap
plied to the manufacture of small pill
boxes and toy paper-cap boxes, the lat
ter being known now by “ Young Ameri
ca,” almost to an entirety, as his chief
Fourth of July delight. This class of
boxes is made with astonishing rapidity,
as can be imagined from the fact that
they are sold, by the thousand gross, as
low as 7 and 8 cents a ktohb. _
Many of the Hindoos still think that
the leader of the Sepoy rebellion, Nana
Sahib, is yet living, and that he is in
America, a region as vague to them as
the dominions of Prester John were to
the meduevaliste. Although his death
was announced twenty years ago, the
truth or falsity of it was not then, nor
has it since been, ascertained. He
might be alive, so far as his age goes
for he would not now be more than 60
years old.
Xofth
PUBLISHED EvkßY ThVBBDAY AT
BELLTQN, GKEORG-IA;
RATES or SUBSCRIPTION.
One year (62 numberi), $1.00; six month*
\"6 numbers) 50 sente; three month* (It
numbers), 25 cents.
Off ce in the Smith bnildinf, east of the
drpot.
NO. 4.
BITS OF INFORMATION.
The fiddle is spoken of as early as
1200 A. D., in the legendary life of St
Christopher.
Chamois skins are not derived from
the chamois, as many people suppose,
but are the flesh side of sheepskins.
The skins are soaked in Jime-water, and
in a solution of sulphuric acid; fish oil
is poured over them, and they are care
fully washed in a solution of potash.
In 1789, when the Federal Govern
ment was organized,-Reads of depart
ments received $3,500 per annum salary.
The principal Secretaries who formed
Washington’s first Cabinet were : Os
State, Thomas Jefferson ; of the Treas
ury, Alexander Hamilton ; of War, Gen.
Knox ; Attorney General, Edmond Ran
dolph.
The heaviest loss inflicted upon the
American arms in any battle of the Rev
olutionary war was at the battle of
Long Island—2,ooo in killed, wounded
and prisoners. But Americans
were engaged, and the loss was only 20
per cent. At the Battle pf Hubbardton,
Vt, 700 patriots engaged 1,200 British
troops, and 324 were killed or wounded
—nearly 50 per cent. At Guilford Court
House, Gen. Greene lost 1,200 out of
4,400 —a loss of 30 per cent.
Yellow bananas come from Jamaica
and Aspinwall, and the red bananas from
Cuba. The yellow bananas sell the best
because they grow more to the bunch.
A bunch of yellow bananas averages
about ten dozen, and sometimes they
average as high as twelve dozen, while
the red bananas seldom* run over five
dozen. The bunches are sold at about
the same price, so the retailers can afford
to sell the yellow ones for less and still
make a better profit than they can on
the red ones. The flavor of the banana
depends greatly on the soil in which it
is raised.
The English guinea was so called be
cause the gold of which it was first made
was brought from Guinea by an African
trading company. Originally it was in
tended that the guinea should be worth
20 shillings, but, owing to a number of
errors in calculating the proportion of
the value of gold and silver, it never
circulated at that value. Sir Isaac New
ton fixed the true value of the guinea,
in relation to silver, at 20 shillings 8
pence, and, by his advice, the crown
proclaimed that in future it should bo
current at 21 shillings.
The hanging gardens of Babylon con
sisted of an artificial mountain 400 feet
on each side, rising by successive ter
races to a height which overtopped the
walls of the city. The terraces them
selves were formed of a succession of
piers, the tops of which were covered by
flat stones sixteen feet long and four
feet wide. Upon these were spread
beds of matting, then a thick layer of
bitumen covered with thick sheets of
lead. Upon this solid pavement earth
was heaped, some of the piers being hol
low, so as to afford depth for the roots
of the tallest trees. Water was drawn
from the river to irrigate those gardens,
which thus presented to the eye the ap
pearance of a mountain covered in verd
ure.
The day upon which any historical
event referring to the Christian era hap
pened may be determined by the follow
ing rule : *l. Subtract 1 from the date
and divide the remainder by 400. 2.
Point off the centuries from the result
ing remainder and divide the odd years
by 4. 3. Multiply the resulting quo-
tient by 5 and to the product add the re
mainder. 4. From the sum subtract twice
the number of centuries pointed off and
divide the remainder by 7. 5. Add tho
resulting remainder to the day of the
year upon which the event happened
and divide the sum by 7. 6. To the last
resulting remainder add 1. Then will
the sum be the number of the day of the
week required. When the first quotient
is zero, or when it is 1 and the centuries
pointed off 3, unless there be a remain
der, to avoid negative results, add 27 to
the date instead of subtracting 1 from it.
Cleanliness anti‘Health.
The alarming spread of diphtheria
and kindred diseases is a warning to the
people of the United States, of which
they cannot long neglect to take heed.
In many cities and towns diphtheria
now exists almost to the extent of be
coming epidemic, while there are few
sections of the country entirely exempt
from its ravages.
It is believed that the first cause of
the disease is the preparation of the sys
tem by the presence of impure air for
the germs of tho disease to take effect,
while these germs are believed to be
multiplied by this impure air. The
best houses of the cities, where there is
a tide flow, are liable to the disease, be
cause the sewer connections are in the
house, and cannot easily be so secure
but that the gas is forced by the bellows
of the tide back into them. This is also
the case with dwellings in cities where
high water fills the sewers, or into
which from other causes the sewer gas
escapes.
Upon the farm and in villages the dis
ease is propagated by the impure air
from cesspools and other sources. The
germs of the disease are not destroyed
by the frost as with those of yellow
fever, and the only safety is in a com
plete removal of all impurities from the
vicinity of the dwellings, and not only
this but the filth must be entirely de
odorized and rendered innocuous.
In the cities the sewer may be made a
complete carriage way to a place of safe
ty. In the villages and upon the farm
the remedy can be made the means of
adding largely to the fertilizing element
of the country as well as securing health.
The farmer and the village improve
ment societies should take this work in
> their especial charge.