Newspaper Page Text
7*
NORTH GEORGIA TIMES. a
*
U.'itA&nM'.l JfeHtors and Proprietors.
Soar af the Sooth Wind.
JJwoogh fngnr.% pines I sweep along,
And chant fi»r the m a ighty song,
Grand and. triumphant, sweet and strong,
like orphan notes heard faraway,
in wrj?,ie cathedral old and gray,
Wfran vespora tells the close of day.
I stir the ripples on the lake:
The dancing wavelets softly break
Against the oool white sand, and make
A broken melody that seems
Tike birdlinjrs. chirping in their dreams,
Tire lights the east with dawn’s faint gleams.
I bring the rain clouds from the sea—
The shadows fall on lake and lea;
The thirsty plants nod thanks to me,
■And yield roc treasures of perlume,
The 9weet mementos of their bloom,
To bear away to climes of gloom,
'To tell the Northland’s prisoned flowers—
Biding the slow, dark winter hours.
While chill and gray thq-Outl sky lowers*
“bong though youp time of wniling bo,
Ami firm the cb-Uins that fetter ye,
J.03C not voqr hope—ye shall be freo V*
—JluyusUi V. Dunn.
A TIGHT SQUEEZE.
BY AN KX-OOXKEDERATK.
When General Meade fell back from
Aline Run. in the fall of 1863, he went
Sato winter quarters between the ltap
TRan and the Rappahannock, on his old
grounds. This was about December 1.
On the 15th of the month I received
orders to cross tho river, penetrate his
camp and pick up all possible infor¬
mation.
It waa understood that ho was send¬
ing tr jops off west, and I was particu¬
larly charged to discover it there was
anjf .emulation in the report.
i left the rebel cavalry outpost at
10 o’clock one night, being on foot
and wearing a blue uniform through¬
out. There was Bbout a mile of neu¬
tral ground between outposts, and
when I had crept down the highway
almost to the Union videttes I took
to the fields and flanked ’em. I knew*
every Tod of that, country, and passing
th(j vidette was a matter of no trouble.
It was when l reached the first
line of sentinels that I had to go keer
ful. It was now midnight, and win¬
ter had set in. There was no snow,
but the wind was coid and the ground
frozen. It so happened that I struck
a part of French’s corps. Knowing
that Lee was going into winter quar¬
ters, and knowing that a strong picket
was out, the sentinels were not over
watchful. I crept up until I located
two, and both were muffled up against
the cold iind thinking more of keeping
warn* than of looking for spies. While
1 was waiting for a chance to skulk
in, the two c..me together and stood
talking, and this gin me the show I
wanted. I riz up from the cold ground,
bore off a little to the right, and en¬
tered thq gap without being seen. In
ten nunutes more I was among the
tenfc and shanties.
I must find a place to pass the night.
It was too cold to go prowling’round,
saying nothing of the danger to be in¬
curred. 1 walked up one street and
down another, looking for a place to
stow myself away; and by and by I
saw a soldier come out of a tent and go
off. I reasoned that he was on guard,
and had come to his tent on some er¬
rand, and I was probably right.
It was half-tent, half-shanty, with a
fire place in it I crept in at the door
and found afire going, and there three
men asleep under the blanket There
was a heap of wood at hand, and the
best I could do was to stir up the fire
and hover over it I didn’t mean to
fall asleep; that is I was bound and de¬
termined to keep awake, but I had no
sooner got fairly warmed through
than I went off to the land o’ Nod,
and the next thing I knew it was day¬
light
None o’ the chaps under the blank¬
ets were awake, and 1 slipped out
without disturbing ’em. Everything
would have been all right ’cept for a
man in a tent across the street. He
had come out after wood, and was
standing there as 1 appeared. As both
tents belonged to same company, and
as all the men in each company knew
each other, it was only natural that I,
a perfect stranger, should attract bis
attention. Further it was jest as nat¬
ural that he should suspect me of be¬
ing a thief. He was a sour-faced,
beetle-browed chap, and the minit I
looked into his eyes I knew we should
have a row.
“Ah ! I caught you i" he growled as
I faced him.”
“At what ?” I coolly
SPRING PLACE. GEORGIA, THURSDAY JANUARY 7, 188(5.
“Stealing, of course!” \
“You are wrong. I went In there
to get warm."
“Whobe you?”
“George Smith.*’
“What regiment?”
“Sixth Maine.”
I wasn't answering • at random. I
knew that the Sixth Maine was in tho
fight at Rappahannock Station, about
a month before, because I had talked
with some prisoners.
“Wher’ayour regiment?” he asked.
“That’s what I’m looking for,’’ I re¬
plied. “I was took by the rebs fifteen
days ago, and have just escaped and
come in.”
I answered him so promptly, and
told such a straight story, that he
could have no suspicions, and I might
have got away but for an accident,
He had brought out his coffee-pot, and
in moving away l fell over it. He
was aching for a fuss with somebody,
and that was a good excuse. lie
jumped for me without a word. I
returned the blow, and then we
clinched and fought up and down the
street.
1 was getting the best of him, when
we fell upon and wrecked a tent and
began to draw a crowd. In five min¬
utes there were fifty men around us,
and pretty soon an officer comes up,
and separates us and asks:
“What is this row about?”
“I caught that chap stealing,” sings
out my opponent.
"He lies !”
“Who are you V” asks the officer.
•'Private George Smith, of the Sixth
Maine.”
“Where’s your regiment?”
"Don’t know, sir. I was captured
by the rebs,’ got away and aui looking
for my regiment.”
“When did you come in?”
"Last night.”
“How did you pass all the outposts
and sentinels ?”
He had me there. I had as good as
betrayed myself by that one answer.
“I’ll see to your case !” he growled,
and he called the guard and had me
marched off. The guard-house was a
log stable, and as soon as he reached
it I was stripped and searched. The
next move was to hunt up the Sixth
Maine and discover thafc I did not be¬
long to that regiment. 1 was then
taken to corps headquarters and ques¬
tioned.
I changed my line of defense, claim¬
ing to be a deserter from the One
Hundred and Twenty-fourth Mew
York, who was voluntarily coming back
to his regiment, but the next day the
Colonel of that regiment came to look
at me, and pronounced me a liar and
an impostor.
Next day, when a court martial
was convened, I had no defense to
offer. They tried me as a spy, and
while nothing could be proved, 1 was
comdemned and sentenced to be shot.
1 was given to understand that, but 1
reckoned that some of the officers
were not quite satisfied. Instead of
carrying out the sentence right away,
the findings were sent to a higher
court for approval.
What I am telling you in a minute
consumed about two weeks. 1 was
pretty comfortably fixed in the barn,
but so zealously guarded that there was
no possible show for escape. The pa¬
pers had been sent off, and I was daily
expecting to hear their approval,
when, one night just before dusk, the
chaplain of a Pennsylvania regiment
came in to console me. He was about
my size and age with the same colored
hair, and the minit I saw him I grasped
at a plan. When we had talked a little
I asked him:
“How did you get in?”
"Why, I showed my pass to the
guard,” he answered
That was all I desired to know. He
talked for about an hour, and I made
him promise to come and see me the
next evening at the same hour. He ad¬
vised me to give up all hope and make
my peace with God, and I gave him to
understand that I might be more con¬
trite on his next visit.
I tell you, tiiat next day
week long. I had a plan, and it prom¬
ised success. When the day did begin
to fade away I was so nervous and ex¬
cited that I could not keep still. The
chaplain came in just at dark, and, as
he grasped my hand, he said:
“Tiie papers hav8 come back, and
you must prepare to die 1”
"Pray for me 1” says I.
He knelt right down, and he had
skeercelv uttered a word when 1 had
him by the throat. It was so sudden,
and I had sich a grip on him, that he
skeercely kicked. I didn't want to
kill him, but 1 choked him until ha
Was like a rag. Then I off with his
coat, vest and pahts, and was into ’em
before he showed signs of coming to.
It was too soon to go out, and I choked
him some more.
Poor man 1 I felt sorry to do him
sich injury, but my life was at stake.
In about twenty minutes I felt it was
safe to go out 1 dragged him into a
corner, sat him up on end, and then
knocked oh the door. It was opened
at once, and as I squeezed out the
guard shut it without even glancing
in.
“How is he, chaplain ?” asks the
guard as he locks the door.
“Resigned, poor man,” I answers,
and oft 1 goes.
As I afterwards learned, 1 had a
good hour’s start. I didn’t head for
the river, as might be expected, but
for the north, and it was over a month
before I saw Lee’s lines again. A
Washington paper had a long story
about my escape, and it said I would
have bin shot next day, and that the
chaplain would belaid up for a month.
—Detroit Free Press.
A New Narcotic.
Something worse than opium or
chloral is reported to the New York
Medical Society. Several city practi¬
tioners found out that a few persons
were using hyoseine to produce a sort
of intoxication that resulted in pro¬
found slumber. The drug is a hydro
bromate, and has to a limited extent
been used in medicine in lieu of atro
phine for relief in epilepsy and other
diseases of the nerves. It is obtained
from a German plant, and is usually
on sale by German apothecaries in this
city. The supply has been small, and
the price about seventy-live cents a
grain; but a suddenly increased de¬
mand nearly exhausted tiie stocks
and sent the price to a dollar. The
doses must be infinitesimal in order
not to be dangerous, and the peril oi
self-dosing lies in the liability to kill
by carelessly swallowing or hypoder¬
mically injecting too much. The ex¬
perimenters with it proved chiefly
to be medical students, drug clerks
and others acquainted with its sopori¬
fic qualities. IIarddrinker3 employed
it to force sleep, and very nervous per¬
sons drove off insomnia with it. In
order to test its effects, it has been
systematically administered to thirty
six insane patients in the State Hos¬
pital for the Insane, by Drs. Langdou
and Peterson, who say that the effects
prove the very great danger of hyos
cine eating. They found that it would
indeed compel sleep in most cases, but
that its habitual use would surely
bring muscular paralysis and delirium
of a particularly violent sort. The
society will a*k the Legislature to for¬
bid the sale except on prescription.—
Cincinnati Enquirer.
Bathing in India.
The gospel of cleanliness is not fjc
India. Do I begin to argue? I am
told that “a virtue of Gautama Buddha
was his dirty face!” Ami yet a bath
is a Hindoo’s frequent practice. But
the use of mustard oil overbalances ail
ablutions. A native always polishes
bis skin with mustard oil before bath¬
ing. “It prevents the water from en¬
tering the blood through the skin,”
Gauga tells me. It makes the pres¬
ence of a native anything but agreea¬
ble, for the anointing having greatly
diminished the power of the water,
the sun’s action upon the cutaneous
surface is such that the smell has act¬
ually the effect of ruining the health
of Europeans who have to inhale it for
many hours daily in the katcherries
and courts of law.
If you say to one of these objection¬
able smelling parties: “You would do
well to take a bath!” he will answer,
spitefully: “I am a Hindoo!” This,
being interpreted, means that the man
scrupulously observes the many- wash¬
ings that the law enjoins. But those
wasbiugs are something like the
mumbling of a formal .prayer. Indeed,
g fftt &ig^»-casfce Hindoo may not, like
Pharisee of old, eat except he wash.
Something Hot for a Cold.
patient—“You should
take somrtSdng hot for your cold.’,
Indolent patient—“Well, in whti
form shall I take it, doctor?"
Doctor—"Considering you have so
little exercise, I should say you would
derive the most good from it if you
took it in the shape of a ttatiron.
Boston Budget.
GIANTS OF THE FOREST.
Something About the Califor¬
nia Redwood Tree.
!Fwenty-Five Thousand Feet of Lumber
from a Single Specimen.
The Redwood of California is the
second largest and the third loftiest
tree of the known world. It reaches
Its greatest perfection upon the sea¬
ward slopes and along tho • transverse
ravines of the Coast Mountains of the
northem and central parts of the
State, j It is occasionally found scat¬
tered or clumped among other growths,
but is generally massed in dense for¬
ests. It grows so high, branches so
thickly and stands so close as to dark
en even noonday brightness into shad¬
owy evening twilights among the huge,
monumental trunks below.
Fog seems its favorite food, The
lofty, thick and spreading tops form
vast and swift condensers of the heavy
fogs which descend in local daily rains,
forming pools which often remain till
high noon even in hottest days of the
dryest season. Where the trees have
been cut away, with no provision for
regrowth, have springs have dried up and
streams failed.
The name is one of those simple,
obvious, Saxon christenings which
every spectator understands the mo¬
ment lie sees the color of the wood.
Its hues show ail varieties of red,
from the most delicate pink of the
finest cedar to the deepest and dark¬
est shades of the richest mahogany.
In 3ome cases its reddish-browns rival
those of black walnut, while under
long exposure to the weather it takes
on black ness equal to that of ebony.
In texture and appearance the wood
is occasionally waved,, curled, flecked,
veined, mottled, twisted and inter¬
woven in the most varied, intricate
and beautiful manner. Indeed, some
specimens show all these varieties of
formation combined. Its knots, roots
and ^'rl,* frtf nlsh veneers as exquisite¬
ly beautiful as those of the most
costly imported woods. If they came
from some distant foreign land, fairly
staggering under some polysyllabic,
unpronounceable name, our cabinet¬
makers, artists in carving, and their
wealthy patrons would esteem them
almost priceless. Its grain and densi¬
ty vary from those of the softest pine
to those of the densest beech. When
wet or unseasoned the wood is often
enormously heavy. Specimens have
been known to sink instantly. The
thickness of the bark varies from four
to twelve inches. Its texture resem¬
bles that of the famous Sequoias, or
big trees, which are but a gigantic
Bpecies of the Redwood.
in height the California Redwood
allows but two other vegetable
growths to look down upon it. Those
are its lofty relative above alluded to
and the Australian Eucalyptus. It
has been known to reach 320 feet;
quite often 250; very commonly 200 to
225. In diameter specimens reaching
twenty feet have been authentically
measured. Thousands of trees now
standing in the newly opened Loma
Prieta and others districts girt from
thirty to forty feet. The logs from these
trees are often so large that they have to
be blasted into halves and even quarters
before the wood-teams and sawmills
can handle them. One tree yielded
seventeen logs each twelve feet long,
and the upper one six feet through at
the smaller end. It is true that these
stories may seem incredibly "big” to
the Eastern render, but the trees them¬
selves are very much bigger, as the in¬
credulous may easily satisfy them¬
selves by visiting the localities already
named.
Twenty-five thousand feet of lum¬
ber from a single tree is very common.
In the foggier and moister northern
counties the average from each tree is
fully one half greater.
For posts, sills, ties, flumes, aque¬
ducts and sewers the wood is the best
>known. It is also admirably adapted
to the inside finish of halls, dining¬
rooms, billiard-rooms, music-rooms,
libraries, churches, cars and steam¬
ships, as well as for many forms of
cabinet-making.
When exposed to the weather with¬
out paint or oil, it turns nearly black.
It lias also the remarkable quality of
•brtsfe&ff easwise, and. what is still
more remarkable in the same log dif¬
ferent year’s growths sometimes
shrink nn-equally. Sparks and cin¬
ders of burning redwood, falling upon
Hat oi sloping surfaces, even shingle
VOL. V. New Series. No. 48.
°f 3 > go out at once. Shingles of it
With great difficulty from sparks
other wood. It seems to be natural
fireproof in the midst of exposure i
would quickly kindle other
The beautiful redwood is already an
supplying a constantly increas¬
ing demand in our Eastern cities,
while a new and wealthy syndicate is
To her millions of feet to from Europe. the {
already vast income
great staples, wheat, wine and wool,
the Golden State now adds a new
source of wealth in the regular and in
.
creasing export Of the valuable and
beautiful timber and lumber of this
queen of the vegetable kingdom, the
California Redwood.— San Francisco i
Call.
Eggs in Ireland.
Seeing that some three-fourths of
the whole population of Ireland are
more or less connected with or engag¬
ed in agricultural pursuits, there is
probably no question more often asked
daily by at least 1,000,000 of the popu¬
lation of Ireland than, “What is the
price of eggs?” From the moment
the well-known “Cluck, cluck,” is
heard from the hen announcing the
production of an egg there is a rush
made for it, which never ceases until
the empty shell is thrown into the ash
bin. That egg is bartered and rebar¬
tered, sold and sold again, many times
before it is introduced to the break
fast-table. Many lies are told about
its age, some about its size, many more
about its price. Eggs are bought by
the dozen and by the hundred of six
score. In some parts of Ireland,
notably in Dublin market, the hundred
counts one hundred and twenty-four,
The trade is divided mainly into two
classes—buyers and shippers or ex¬
porters. The former are again sub¬
divided into two other classes—dealers
and shopkeepers. Buyers sell direct
to the shippers; shippers export direct
either to customers in Scotland, Eng¬
land, or Wales, or to an agent or brok¬
er there, who sells for him on commis¬
sion. "The buyer fs a mah or woman
owning, or in many cases hiring, a
donkey, mule, or horse, and going from
one farmer’s house to another buying
their eggs for money; or, in many
cases, giving goods, such as groceries,
needles, thread, and other like useful
articles, in barter for eggs. Dealers
are a smaller class of buyers. They are
mostly old women who have what is
called a “dealing,” that is, a small shop,
which from ten to thirty shillings
would stock, their husbands or chil¬
dren being of the laboring class. These
poor dealers buy up from 300 to 400
eggs weekly, mostly obtaining the
same by barter. These they usu¬
ally send in by a donkey cart in a
basket resembling a fish-woman’s
creel, once a week, to the town where
the nearest shipper resides; cr some¬
times, if needy, will sell for a less
price than would be had from the
shipper to a well-to-do buyer. Even
in tlie humblest walks of life there is
pride, and the poorest dealers will not
sell to any one but a shipper, unless
they are very badly off for ready moo
ey.— Chambers’ Journal.
The Vitality of Seeds.
The seeds of the willow will not ger¬
minate after having been once dry.
The seeds of coffee and various other
plants do not germinate after having
been kept for any considerable time.
Wheat over two centuries old has
been found quite fit for food, but the
grains usually lose their power of
growth after a lapse of seven years,
Specirnena of rye and wheat known to
be 185 years old could not be induced
to germinate. “The stories of ‘mum
my wheat’sprouting after having lain
dormant in Egyptian tombs for thou
sands of years are, to say the least of
them, very dubious,” declares Dr.
Robert Brown, F. L. S. “No well
authenticated instances of such finds
are extant, while among other articles
sold by the Arabs to credulous travel
ers, as coming out of the same tomb
as the ancient wheat, have been dahlia
bulbs and maize, the deposition of
which in the receptacle from which
they were said to be extracted necessi¬
tates the belief that 3000 years ago the
subjects of the Pharaohs were engag¬
ed in commerce with America.” When
kept dry and protected from light and
air, however, seeds have been known
to retain their vitality for some length¬
ened periods. Seeds of the bean and
pea order have sprouted after 100 years
storage in an herbarium, and many
similar instances —most of them some¬
what doubtful— have been recorded.
Good Night.
Good night? I have to say good nightl
t o sucl> * host ° f peerless things!
Good night unto that fragile hand
All queenly with ita weight of ring®.
Good night to food uplifted eyes,
Gopd night to chestnut braids of hair,
Good night unto the peifcct mouth
And all the sweetness nestled there?
The snowy hand detains me—then
I’ll have to say good night again.
Hut there will oomo a time, my love!
When, if I Road our stars aright,
1 shall not lingor by this porch
With my a Jie.». -Till then, good night!
Von wish tho time* were now? And I,
You do not blush to wish it so?
would have blushotl yourself to death
To own so much a year ago.
What! both theso snowy bands? Ah! then
I’ll have to say good night again.
— Thomas Suiley Aldrich.
HUMOROUS.
Waiter—“Will you have some salt
with your eggs?” Guest—No, thanks;
they ain’t at all fresh.”
German photographers are now
making photographs of lightning.
They are said to be striking likenesses.
A Western poet, it is said, thinks
more of his wife than he does of his
poems. So does every one that ever
read h!s poems.
A philosopher who had married an
ignorant girl used to call her “brown
sugar,” because, he said, she was
sweet and unreliued.
Girls in search of material for crazy
quilts should apply to the railroad com¬
panies They throw away thousands
of old ties every year.
A subscriber asks: “When is the
best tilne to marry Mr. Enpeque
says the best time for such a ceremony
i 8 the 31st of February,
It’s many years ago since the poet
wrote that “beauty draws us with a
single hair.” It generally takes a for
ty-flve-dollar switch to do it now.
Why the engagement was broken:
“And dearest Augustus, when we are
married you will give me all the pin
money 1 want,.....won’t you. darling?”
“Yes, duckie, you shall buy all the
pins you can use." “Oh, deary, that’s
so nice of you. There’s a beautiful
diamond pin down at the jeweller’s
that I’ve wanted for ever so long.”
1IKK CRUEL PA.
“I’ve bouught n bonnet, papa, dear,
My beau declares ’tis trimmod with skill;
1 have no funds, and I've come hero
To seo if you will foot the bill.”
“Your bean! and what may lie his name?”
Tlie lather roughly questioned her;
She hung her head, with cheeks Htiurae,
She softly answered, “William, sir.”
His eyes shone with a dangerous light—
“Hum! So he says 'tis trimmed with skill T
Well, bring him to the house to-night,
And I will gladly foot your Bill.’’
Eclipses of the Son.
The eclipses of the sun, says the
Chicago Inter-Ocean , are caused by
the moon’s passing between the earth
and the sun. If the two bodies fol¬
lowed the same track in the heavens
there would be an eclipse every new
moon, but as the orbits are inclined,
the moon generally passes above or
below the sun, and there is no eclipse.
Occasionally the sun is near one of the
moon’s nodes—the points where the
planes of the orbits intersect—when it
passes, and then an eclipse occurs. If
the sun and the moon were always at
the same position witli regard to the
earth, and always the same distance
from it, the eclipses would always be
of the same size. But as these condi
tinns vary, so do the appearances of
the eclipse. For instance, let us sup
pose that at the time of an eclipse the
center of the moon happens to pass di
rect over the center of the sun. If the
moon is near tho point in the orbit
which is at the least distance from the
earth her apparent diameter'will ex¬
ceed that of thf^sun, and the latter will
be quite hidden from view, and we
have what is known as a total eclipse,
Of course, even in this case, the eclipse
will only appear total to the observers
near the line joining the centers of the
sun and moon. If, however, the three
bodies occupy similar positions, but
the distance between the earth and
moon is greater, the whole of the sun
is not covered by the moon, and the
eclipse is annular. If the moon, how¬
ever, does not pass centrally over the
sun, it can only hide a part of the lat¬
ter on one side or the other, and the
eclipse is said to be partial. As the
moon’s orbit is quite elliptical, the dis¬
tance of that body from the earth
varies greatly. Its least .distance is
221,000 miles, its greatest 259,606
miles.
’ ♦
W:
