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NORTH GEORGIA TIMES.
5&Sum&i
COWBOYS WITH A LASSO.
Thair Wonderful Skill in
, Handling the Lariat.
Throwing the Hope With Marvellous Pre¬
cision-Catching a Bull by the Hotns.
Ih a letter describing life among the
^cowboys, a Montana letter to the
Cleveland Leader says; I noticed a
variety of lariats with a round-up
party, nearly all of which were made
-of the very best quality of hemp,
twisted so extremely tight that it was
almost impossible to untwist the
'strands. Others were made of sinew
cords, and were braided very neatly,
the ends or lassoing parts being grfeaSed
ao as to slip easily. These lassoes
were about sixty or seventy-five feet
long, one-third of which forms the
■aoose, and when swinging it is grasped
a little above the loop, so as to prevent
‘the same from slipping untjl launched
through the air. The lasso is swung
over tL- v ead and left shoulder and
back over the right shoulder, a pe¬
culiar turn of the wrist a& it begins
to return, keeping the loop wide open
When flying through the air the noose
takes a slightly oval form, but remains
open and settles quietly around the
object aimed at. McGaigan exhibited
to me the modus operandi of handling
the rope, and some of his feats per¬
formed in my presence were not only
executed with marvellous precision,
but were also beautiful to look at.
This model cowboy is certainly an ex
pert in his profession, perhaps the best
rider and lassoist in the whole North¬
west. What Slosson is to billiards,
McGaigan is to his profession.
One afternoon, while loafing around
the camp fire on the Musselshell, Mc¬
Gaigan and I got talking about the
skill be had acquired in throwing cat¬
tle and I had little difficulty in per¬
suading him to let me into the secrets
of his wonderful dexterity and actu¬
ally showing me some of the finer
points of the business. Mounting our
bronchos we rode off through the sage
brush and out on the open prairie,
Where numberless cattle were peace¬
fully munching the luxuriant buffalo
grass. My friend had His best lariat
fastened to the pommel of the saddle,
and first showed me many fancy shots,
throwing the lasso from or to any
point, over either Shoulder, behind or
in front. He caught a tremendous
bull by the horns, who looked up in
surprise and started off like a steam
engine, but the pony bestrode by the
cow-boy planted his forefeet firmly in
the ground and checked Mr. Bull in
his mad career before the latter got
well started. The enraged steer went
round and round in a circle at a 2.40
gait, the pony acting as a perfect pivot
and turning slowly around with him,
but it was no use ; the bull was a pris¬
oner and would have remained so had
not McGaigan taken pity on him, and
passed the wonderful ring down the
Hne, upon which the rope leaped from
around the horns and fell to the
ground.
McGaigan remarked that it was no
credit to catch a bull by the horns, for
he cannot be thrown by them, and is
simply held as a prisoner, but the
skill in throwing a lasso is to pitch the
noose just in front of the animal when
he is going at full gallop, so that at
the next step he treads into it. He
tried it on another bull while both of
our ponies were jumping along on a
dead run. The old fellow was going
about as fast as we were, but the fa¬
tal loop shot through the air at a tan¬
gent and fell, wide open, just in front
of him on the ground. The left fore¬
foot plunged square into the circle,
the rope was tightened with a sudden
jerk and the steer rolled over in the
dust, as cleverly caught as anything l
ever saw. The broncho, too, under¬
stood his part of the business thor¬
oughly, for he bore at the right mo¬
ment in the opposite direction, else he
might have been thrown instead of
the bull, to which he was much infe¬
rior in weight. McGaigan also caught
great big steers galloping past at an
angle by any leg I named. Not once
was his judgment at fault The noose
whizzing through the air in every di¬
rection went as true to the mark as a
bullet shot from a rifle.
I was much taken with the free and
easy sort of life experienced by this
round-up party and enjoyed the trip
and camping out experience so hugely
that 1 was almost tempted to give Up
.profession of a scribe and become a
cow-boy myself, and, but although I thought better
,efkit next day DhadHots
SPRING PLACE, GEORGIA. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. 1885.
of fun and enjoyment, I concluded that
cow-boy life must have its dark as
well as its bright, sunny side;
Tricking the Condors.
Ned Conroy, of Clyde, N. Y., has
recently come home from Chili, South
America, where he made considerable
money shooting condors. To a re¬
porter Conroy said:
‘ The Chili Government pays $5 for
every condor’s head brought in, but
most of the hunters soon get sick of
the business. The condors are thicker
than buzzards, but they can see a rifle
further than a man can see a horse,
and they catch on to all sorts of am¬
bushes in the neighborhood of a dead
carcass almost before they are made.
The nests are 12,000 feet above the
level of the sea, sq it’s little use to
hunt them in the mountains. They
are trapped occasionally, and some are
poisoned, but as a rule the business
doesn’t pay, and the condors increase
in number.”
“How did you manage it ?’’ he was
asked.
“By playing off sick. Along the
coast there are great stretches of sand,
without vegetation, which are peril¬
ous to cross at all times, because of
the heat and the liability of getting
lost. It was my plan to start out at
night, well provided with water, and
seek a place under a big rock where I
could find shelter and to which I could
return by landmark. At midday I
would start out in the broiling sun,
walking briskly and describing a large
circle. It was very easy to stagger
after a while and fall, and then get up
and stagger on again, keeping a good
lookout for the birds all the time, lest
one suddenly drop on me from behind.
It. would take a very short time to
bring them swooping around, waiting
for the death of what they supposed
was a worn-out traveller. Many a
poor fellow has fallen down there on
those sands and been torn to pieces
before he was dead
“When 1 found them getting thick
I’d back up against the rock and throw
stones at them and shout asdf I was
wild with fear, and the great vultures
would gather around just out of range
of the stones, which I didn’t throw
very hard, and sit on the sand and
look at me sideways. Then was my
opportunity. Pulling two navy re¬
volvers from under my coat, I’d let
drive at them. They are wonderful in
the air, but to get aloft they must-first
run along the sand with wings spread
for a couple of rods. It wasiaicold day
when I didn’t get at least 'three, and
one day I captured seven. That was
a trick which the condors-didnft learn
easily."
The Extent of Human Travel.
The movement of persons has un
dergone quite as important a growth
as that of goods. In the “Review ot
the World’s Economy,” the number of
passengers carried by all the. railroads
in all parts of the world, in 1882, is
estimated at 2,400,000,000, or an aver¬
age of six aDd a half million, a day.
The absolute number of passengers
carried on steamers is smaller; but
here, as was also the case with goods,
they are carried longer distances, and
more days’ journeys, than in railrpads;
so that, estimated by the mile or the
day, the amount both of freight and
passenger work the steamers do will
appear to much better adva outage.
The significance of the facilitation
of passenger transportation is derived
principally from its effects;, on social
conditions, civilization, and customs.
One of the most important of these
effects is illustrated in emigration,
which has assumed grand; dimensions
under the operation of the new
methods of communication. Of the
twelve and a half million emigrants
who went to the United States be¬
tween the recognition of “their inde¬
pendence and 1883, not more than a
million belong to the timeiprevious to
the establishment of regular passen¬
ger communication by steamer with
Europe, about 1844. As a result of
the establishment of this method of
communication, and of the building
of the railroads that opened the Miss¬
issippi Valley and the western part
of the continent, emigration assumed
colossal proportions. Besides; the ame¬
lioration of the voyage, which has be¬
come an affair of not moreithan ten or
twelve days for emigrant-vessels, the
improved fare, the cheaper rate of pas¬
sage, and the punctuality and in¬
creased safety of the transit, may be
marked as circumstances and,contrib¬
uting to this result.— Popular > Science
Monthly ;
PEARLS OP THOUGHT.
The mind grows narrow in propor
tlon as the soul grows corrupt
Flattery is a species of false coin
which only our vanity enables to pass
current.
He that calls a man ungrateful,
suras up ail the evil a man can be
guilty of.
We In vain summon the mind to in¬
tense application when the body ia in
a languid state.
If you are determined to live and
die a slave to custom see that it is at
least a good one.
One of the greatest blessings you
can enjoy is a tender, honest, enlight¬
ened conscience.
Venture not to the utmost bounds
of even lawful pleasure; the limits of
good and evil join.
There is almost no man but sees
clearer and sharper the vices in a
speaker than the virtues.
To avenge one’s self is to confess
that one has been wounded, but it is
not the part of a noble mind to be
wounded by an injury; a great mind,
and one which is conscious of its own
worth, does not avenge an injury, be¬
cause it does not feel it.
A Sharp-Sighted Engineer.
“Keep a sharp lookout while on the
run ?” echoed an engineer. “Should
say we did. The man that tries to
run an engine without keeping his
eyes peeled gets left sooner or later.
I’ve heard about fellows out West that
would start out on a run with a board
reaching across from the driver’s seat
to the fireman’s, and a deck of cards,
but I never tried that. J ust to show
you how necessary it is for a man to
keep his eye on the rails ahead of him
let me tell you a little story.
“I was running along one night in
Ohio some years ago. It was a blowy,
rainy, nasty night, and in times like
that a man is doubtly watchiul. For
hours I never took my eyes from the
wet, glistening rails ahead of me, ex¬
cept, of course, when we stopped at
stations. All at once I saw in front
of me—how far. ahead I couldn't tell
—a glimmer of light. Ilf was just a
spark. I barely saw it, before it dis¬
appeared. Was it a lightning bug?
I hadn’t seen any that night. What
was it? That I couldn’t answer. But
my instinct told me to stop the train,
and stop I did. It was mighty lucky
I looked at it that way, for that glim¬
mer of light commenced in the oddest
way. You couldn’t guess it in a week
“A farmer was walking along the
track when he discovered a short
bridge so badly washed out by the
freshet that to run upon it with a
train meant a wreck. He tried to
start a fire with paper and his clothing
but couldn’t do it. He had one match
left He kept that till I got close to
him, his plan being to strike that
match, hold it in his hat, and wave it
across the track as he had seen the
brakeman do when they wanted to
signal stop. It was his hope that 1
would see the blaze before it was
blown out.
“He no sooner struck the match
than out went the blaze. It was
merely a flash, but I saw it, and the
farmer had saved the train. What if
I hadn’t made it a rule to keep my
eyes peeled along the rails every min¬
ute while running ?”—Chicago Herald
A Disastrous Practical Joke.
A practical joke played upon a Cro¬
atian peasant has nearly oaused the
destruction of the chemical laboratory
of the University of Agram. The
peasant, who was coming with hie
wife into Agram, separated from her,
agreeing to meet her a few hours later
at a certain place. As she delayed her
return, he expressed his anxiety to a
bystander, who told him in jest, that
his wife had probably been kidnapped
by the university vivisectors, who
made it their business to cut up wo¬
men and children. The wife came up
soon afterward and went home with
her husband ; but the latter repeated
what he had heard, and the resalts
have been most serious. On Whit
Sunday an infuriated mob of peasants
attacked the laboratory, crying,
“Down with the hell kitchen!" and
had to he beaten off by soldiers. The
university has since been watched
every day by evil-disposed crowds and
there was another attack the succeed¬
ing Sunday. All the servants of the
university have left their situations,
and the professors have had to ask for
police protection, being in terror for
their lives.
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.
How Lincoln Might Have
Escaped Assassination.
_
Postponing an Engagement that Ha Had
Made for the Fatal Friday.
A Long Branch letter to the Phila
delphia 1 imett says :
•Had President Lincoln kept an en
gageinent lie made with me he might
perhaps be living still,” said Mr. Ran¬
dall, of New York, formerly of St.
Louis, the other evening. Mr. Ran¬
dall is the father of Mrs. Garrison and
t|ie piazza conversation of her residence took place here. on When the
urged to tell the story of how this
could be, he mentioned that during
the latter part of the winter of 1865
he, knowing the state of affairs in the
p|rt of Missouri within the confeder
lines and in the adjacent States,
where Kirby Smith, with 20,000 men,
was only held in check and kept from
making raids by 60,000 men of the
lAiion army, and, being aware that
Kirby Smith and his men, having had
no pay or clothing issued to them for
six months, were greatly dissatisfied,
and were maddened by the knowledge
of’ the necessities of their wives,
children, mothers and sisters, who
were actually bare footed as well as
otherwise scantily clothed, thought
that he would try by peaceable means
to rid that part of the country of
Smith and his men and prevent their
making any more riids. This he
sought to do by getting permission
for Union men to buy their cotton,
which he knew was packed ready for
sale, and permitting the destitute
Southerners to buy the necessities of
life in return.
He opened negotiations with Presi¬
dent “DJfck Lincoln at Washington through
Yates, who at one time was
Governor of Illinois, and represented
to him the wise policy of adopting the
plgn^ie proposed, for he said there
were no other Confederates in arms in
that part of the country, and he felt
convinced the plan he urged would ef
fectjmfiy mei&ind that dispose of Smith and his
menejoto buy the nec¬
essaries of life procured by the sale of
cotton and the opportunity given to
purchase such supplies would, he
thought, convert some of them into
good union men, whilb it would in¬
duce all to cease raiding. “And if you
do not buy their cotton,” Mr. Randall
plead, “they will burn it as soon as
they see Federal troops approaching
to seize it It is ready alike for sale or
for the torch.” He wenc to see Presi¬
dent Lincoln finally himself, and suc¬
ceeded in convincing him of the wis¬
dom of the proposed plan and secured
the necessary permit to stock a boat
with supplies and to send it and pur¬
chasers of cotton to proper points
on the Mississippi, whence negotia¬
tions might be opened for the pur¬
chase of the cotton so much needed in
Northern factories and for the sale of
food and clothing to the starving, rag¬
ged Confederates.
All seemed likely to go well, the
boat was duly fitted up and stocked at
great expense and started on her trip,
but unfortunately delays were made
by the naval officers commanding our
squadron on the Mississippi and by
army officers guarding posts on land,
and the vessel was not allowed to pro¬
ceed. Finally, after many attempts
to set matters right, Mr. Randall de¬
termined to go to Washington again,
see Mr. Lincoln, Stanton and Welles
and send the boat which had already
cost a large sum to its destination
President Lincoln first rrfade an ap¬
pointment to see Mr. Randall at the
White House on F riday evening, April
14,1865, and the latter was about to
take a train from New York, whither
he had gone, to Washington to keep
the engagement when he received a
telegram saying that the President
preferred to postpone the conversation
until Saturday evening, because he
wished to have time, when it took
place, to talk at length with Mr. Ran¬
dall and on Friday he wished to go
see Laura Keene in “Our American
Cousin.”
So Mr. Randall started from New
York Friday night to keep the en¬
gagement for Saturday evening, and
on reaching Baltimore next morning
was amazed to find his train under
arrest, the order having been issued
to allow no trains to leave that city
in any direction, and was appalled to
learn that the cause of this was the
assassination of President Lincoln in
Washington the previous night.
VOL. V. New Series. No. 33.
What Causes Thunder J
A Rock Hill (Md.) correspondent !
of the Country Gentleman answers
this question as follows: I have often ' [
... . „
P
chlorophyl (the green coloring of
leaves) after a thunderstorm, and as
bite peculiar blue principle is a nitro
genized compound, which, mingling
with the yellow, gives the rich green
to the foliage, the question may be
asked whether an extra supply of
ammonia did not enrich the rain after
the thunderstorm. To enter more
fully into the subject, the inquiry
might be further asked, what caused
the thunder, and its solution may ex
pi a j n the supply of ammonia or nitric
^cid found in the rain after a storm,
As is well known, the air is a mixture
of 78 parts nitrogen and 22 oxygen.
If by any electrical action these two
gases are induced to combine together
three compounds may appear; first,
nitrous acid, 14 parts nitrogen and 24
parts oxygen; second, hypernitrous
acid, 14 parts nitrogen and 32 oxygen,
and thirdly, nitric acid, 14 parts nitro¬
gen and 40 parts oxygen. The sudden
formation of either of these acids in
the atmosphere will explain the theo¬
ry of thunder. Again, if by electrical
action the suspended water in the air
were decomposed, i. e., hydrogen and
oxygen separated into a gaseous or
normal state, and three parts of hydro¬
gen should suddenly unite with 14
parts of nitrogen, ammonia would
suddenly come into full view, followed
by a clap of thunder, and the falling
rain would quickly carry this ammo¬
nia to the hungry grass or grain. Any
one who is familiar with the violent
report following the sudden combina¬
tion of the gases in a soap bubble, will
fully appreciate what a violent report
would follow from the combination of
a few pounds of hydrogen and nitro¬
gen, or oxygen and nitrogen. As both
of these compounds of nitrate of am¬
monia (nitric acid and ammonia) 1 are
found in rain water, the most concen¬
trated form of nitrogen is presented to
the plant, without the roundabout
way of getting it through old leather,
or old hair and wooL
• Photograph tho Baby.
Apart from the obvious sentimental
reason why parents cannot afford to
let the days and months slip by with¬
out having their little one photo¬
graphed, there is a more occult and
scientific value in a pictured record
of progressive child life. The sun is
an unflattering reporter. The advance
in intelligence and in the healthful
development which is beauty of the
best kind to the eye of science, or the
gradual retrogression in either or both,
may escape the eye of persons who are
in constant association with the sub¬
ject of the subtle change. Comparison
of the sun-portrait of to-day with one
taken a year or eighteen months ago
will reveal the change to the intelli¬
gent observer. In some instances the
stealthy advance of disease has been
announced to those most interested in
the victim’s welfare by the shock of
discerning a new expression in the
eye; in noting the altered contour of
the face and lines of pain or langour
which have been transferred to the
sensitive plate. As faithfully it be¬
trays the slight obliquity of vision,
the habitual scowl, the truth that one
shoulder is higher that the other, or
that an inclination to stoop is narrow¬
ing the chest.— Babyhood.
Tea-Loving InseWs.
Every animal and plant has its para¬
site, and from this general law, it
seems, the tea-plant is not exempt.
Two insects are described by Science
as spending their lives in tea-drinking.
They are the plague and pest of the
Assam tea gardens, and are known as
the “tea-bug” and “tea-mite ”
The mites spend their entire lives
on the tea plant, and are never known
to attack any other leaf. |They live in
families and societies on the upper side
of the full grown leaf, and spin a del
cate web for shelter, They then punc¬
ture the leaves and pump out the
liquid in the plant veins. They seem
to become very dainty in their tastes,
for a sprinkling of muddy water . over
their floor and teatable is the only
remedy known to check their ravages.
Even this is not always effectual.
The tea-bug is still more destructive
and is evidently possessed of an appre¬
ciation of the best kinds of tea, since
it always attacks those of a mild and
delicate flavor. Such as afford harsh
and rasping liquors are almost entire
| ]y free from ita attacks.
Chair and Grain.
“Each story oi a soul is great; but who
shtt11 writ6 {t > for who know » what make* the
s r *® tn «“ ?
Or, who oan sift it and bring out the grain,
"'"Taffr ''”' 1 clea " lrom tha 0W ‘°“ Un #
who can the dross dissever from the gold r
who estimate the little or the great
Even in oue human word T Or who shake oat
The tolded feelings of a human heart ?
Or who unwind tho ono hour’s ravelled
thoughts
Of one poor mind even in its idlest day ?"
‘•The balances of man are all untrue;
His weights and eyes deceitful. Ho may
write
The story of a pebble or a rock,
The annals ot a bottle or a worm;
But the great story of his own vast being,
The hills and valleys ot liis life, he cannot;
A life made up of but a few short years,
And yet containing in its troubled ronnd
Tempests and tides and changes, failures, con¬
quests
In daily flux and reflux without ond.
— Horatim Bonar.
HUMOROUS.
A caucus—a crow.
A commentator—the ordinary
boiled one.
“You rascal!” “Why do you call
me a rascal? i didn’t call you a
pumpkin-head.”
Slippers are now manufactured en¬
tirely of paper, but the small boy must
not prematurely rejoice thereat.
The bang is said to be coming in
fashion again. On doors closed by
servant girls it is worn very loud.
“No, sir,” lie said to the captain,
“I’m not seasick, but I am deucedly
disgusted with the motion of the
vessel.”
“What is an epistle ?” asked a Sun¬
day-school teacher of her class. "The
wife of an apostle,” replied the young
hopeful.
That ladies easily learn to play the
violin is not surprising when their
experience in handling beaux is taken
into consideration.
’Tis sweat to court
Wheu there’re only two.
But uphill work
If there’re more of you.
It is said that .lean Ingelow never
gets tired of writing poetry. No, of
course not. That’s a way poets have.
It’s the ones who read the poems, who
get tired.
A distinguished physician says pi¬
ano playing will quiet a raving maniac.
We may remark that the same is true
of hitting a maniac over the head with
a base-ball bat.
Ross Browne, the traveler, in de¬
scribing Smyrna, remarks that he saw
but one person there who seemed to
be doing anything, and he was falling
from the top of a house.
A wise exchange says “only one
woman in a thousand can whistle.”
This probably results from the fact
that so long as a woman can talk she
doesn’t care to whistle.
Miss Amanda has just had a quiet
tete-at-tete with Lieutenant Eligible,
and was asked by her guardian how
she liked his conversation. “Oh, im¬
mensely. There’s a ring in his voice.”
“Johnny, what were you saying to
that dog?” asked a mother of her
little son. “I was just talking to
him. I told him, ‘You have a good
time of it. You don’t have to wash
your face or comb your hair, and you
don’t even have to go to school.’ ”
“My son,’ said a fond father to his
little son, whom he had been punish¬
ing by the use of the rod for the first
time: “my son, I hope this has taught
you a lesson.” “Yes, pa,” the little
fellow sobingly replied: “it’s taught
me that it is better to give than to re¬
ceive."
Conjurer (pointing to a large cabi¬
net)—Now, ladies and gentlemen, al¬
low me to exhibit my concluding trick.
I would ask any lady in the company
to step on the stage and stand in this
cupboard. 1 will then close the door.
When I open it again the lady will
have vanished without leaving a trace
behind. Gentlemen (in the front seat
aside to his wife)—“I say, old woman,
do me a favor and step up!”
Cruel Man.
“Who made this cake?” asked
Dobbs of his young wife as he chewed
on a piece.
“I did, my dear,” she answered with
pride.
“Um—urn,” he continued testily,
“what kind is it?”
“Angel cake, darling.”
“Um—um—good name for it—man
will be pretty sure to go there if he
eats very much of it."—Merchant
Traveler .
