Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation.
About North Georgia times. (Spring Place, Ga.) 1879-1891 | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1886)
O / i 9 J L 4 5G • V” * r # if- , jyi L i i Wm. 0. MARTIN, Editor. TWO LOOKS AND A HOOT. Showing People the Way in North Carolina. A Simple System, but Trying to Blind People and Mutes. Down in North Carolina, where I live,” said Frank W. Woodard of Southern Pines, to a New York Sun reporter, “the natives have a funny way of giving directions when asked how a person may reach such or such a place, and it is apt to be a little puz¬ zling to the stranger who hears it for the first time. The first day I was ■down in Southern Pines I wanted to find the Post Office. It’s a fine coun¬ try down there, and while the villages are not large they cover a good deal of ground. I had walked around a good deal without seeing anything that looked like a Post Office, and then I stopped a native on the street. it t Where can I find the Post Office?’ I asked. “The native swung his hand in the air, and, indicating the direction, said: “ ‘Two looks yan way, on the left band side.’ “ ‘Thanks,’ said I, a little startled. •Two looks yan way,’ said 1 to myself, gazing in the direction the native had waved me. ‘That’s definite.’ After gazing a while, I noticed that the last thing in the range of my^sion was a bridge. “ ‘Ah!’ says I; ‘that must be one look,” and I started for the bridge. I reached it after a walk of half a mile. Then I gazed ahead again. The boun¬ dary of sight was a building on the left hand side of the road. “ ‘There’s the other look,’ 1 says, and made for the building. Sure enough, it was the Post Office. Then I under¬ stood that a look, in the Southern Pines system of measuring distances, meant as far as an ordinary man could see. I never thought about the possible necessity of a division of the measure¬ ment into shorter distances, but one day I found out that there was. I wanted to go to some parlies who were camping in the woods somewhere in the vicinity, but I didn’t know where they were located. I found a native who did knqw, and asked him how to get there. “ ‘Go three looks straight ahead, over yan, then turn left an’ go two looks an’ a hoot, an’ thar’s the camp.’ ‘Two looks and a hoot.’ That was a stunner. 1 didn't want to show, my ignorance, so I asked for no explana¬ tion. I started for the camp. I got over my three looks over yan and my two to the left. But what was a hoot? If it had been in Pennsylvania I’d have known at once, and would more than likely have had the utensils with me to furnish the hoot without delay, especially if there had been a spring handy. But a hoot in the Pennsylvania sense I felt couldn’t bring that camp before my eyes. Then I considered the subject a while, and finally thought of hoot-owl. “ ‘That’s the caper!’ I exclaimed, and I gave a regular two-lunged South¬ ern hoot. The echo hadn’t died away yet, when back came an answer off in the woods. I went in the direction and found the camp. The North Car¬ olina system of measuring distances is very simple, but rather trying to blind people and mutes. “ ‘I suppose you know that a North¬ ern pig likes Irish potatoes as well as a bear likes honey, and that’s saying a good deal. Put him in a potato field and he’ll revel in bliss. If you want to keep on the right side of the North Carolina pig, however—a pig familiarly known as the razor-back—don’t offer him Irish potatoes. Neither the Peach Blow nor the Early Rose nor any other choice brand of potatoes will tempt him, and he eyes with suspicion any one who sets them before him. But he will eat his way through a field of sweet potatoes, like an auger going through a pine board. But a whole crop of sweet potatoes, transferred from the soil to his stomach, wouldn't put any more flesh on a genuine, na¬ tive, to the manner born North Caro¬ lina razor-back than a bushel of ap¬ ples would on a cider mill.” A section of the Milky Way has been admirably photographed at the Paris Observatory, showing about 5000 stars, ranging from the six* h to the fifteenth magnitude. To similarly 'represent the whole of the Milky Way COM similar sections would be re¬ quired, representing 20,000,000 stars down to the fifteenth magnitude SPRING PLACE. GEORGIA.. THURSDAY MARCH 11, 1886. General Grant as a Cadet. In the North American Ketiew Gen eral J. B. Fry, In an article entitled “An Acquaintance With Grant,” makes the following interesting and picturesque statement One afternoon in June, 1843, while I was at West Point, a candidate for admission to the Military Academy, I wandered into the riding-hail, where the members of the graduating class were going through their final mount¬ ed exercises before Major Richard Del afield, the distinguished engineer, then sup and*a 'eri^temtent, the Academic Board, large assemblage of spectators. When the regular services were com¬ pleted, the class, still mounted, was formed in line through the center of the hall, the riding-master placed the leaping-bar higher than a man’s head, and called out “Cadet Grant]" A clean-faced, slender, blue-eyed young fellow, weighing about 120 pounds, dashed from the ranks on a powerfully built chestnut-sorrel horse, and gallop¬ ed down the opposite side of the hall. As he turned at the farther end and came into the straight stretch across which the bar was placed, the horse increased his pace, and, measuring his strides for the great leap before him, bounded into the air and cleared the bar, carrying his rider as if man and beast had been welded together. The spectators, were breathless I “Very Well done Sir]’’ growled “old Herch berger,” the riding masted, and the class was dismissed and disappeared; but “Cadet Grant” remained a living image in my memory. A few months before graduation, one of Grant’s classmates James A. Hardie, said to his friend and instructor, “Well, sir, if a great emergency arises in this coun¬ try during our lifetime, Sam. Grant will be the m§n to meet it.” If I bad heard Hardie’s prediction I doubt not I should have believed in it, for I thought the young man who could perform the feat of horsemanship I had witnessed, and wore a sword, could do anything. Glass Eyes. “How are artificial eyes made?” the reporter inquired of a local optician. “Th’ey are first blown into the shape of a bottle. They look like a minia¬ ture whiskey flask. Then the opera¬ tive separates the structure, and, after blowing in the centre colors, the veins, and adding the shade to the ball, the edges on the inside are finished off, and the eye, which is nearly always of an original shape, is packed away, perhaps never to be worn. It may lie around in a store for a hundred years before a customer is found whom it will fit or suit in every respect. Very few are made of the same pattern, be¬ cause there is no rule of size, style, color, taste or finish to follow. Most of the eyes are made in Germany and France. The best are made there, but a good eye is now being made in this country.” “How long do they last the wearer ?” “Some people use a dozen, while others make one answer. It depends largely upon the condition of the sock¬ et in which it is worn. The liquid discharged from some men’s is of such a destroying character that it will eat into the glass in a few months, and so completely destroy the smooth surface of tiie bowl as to make the eye un¬ bearable. Some men wear an eye five years, but such instances are rare.— Milwaukee Sentinel. Full Houses at Every Lecture. “Yes, I’m in the lecture business,” said the long-haired passenger, “and I’m making.money, too—big money. I’ve got a scheme, I have, and it works to a charm. Big house, wherever I go.” “A scheme?” “Yes. I always advertise that my lectures are specially for women under thirty years of age, and for men who are out of debt. You just ought to to see the way people come trooping in.” —Chicago Herald. Enterprise. Bragge was boasting of the enter¬ prise and push of the Western people. “Why,” said he, “here’s an instance. A young fellow, a friend of mine, married a girl after only ten minutes’ acquaintance. What do you think of that?” ‘‘Why, I think,” replied Fogg very quietly, “that it was an unnecessarily long courtship. Around here now—” But the Western man did not want to hear what they did “around here." — Boston 'J runsortpt. OUT ON THE PICKET LINE A Soldier’s Incidents of the Civil War. Swimming the Rapidan After Tobacco. The Two Cavalrymen’s Fata Thomas J. Murray, in the Washing¬ ton Republican, gives the following incidents: When our command was in front of Washington, and the vicious system of picket firing had been put an end to, I frequently met on the outpost many of my college mates from Georgetown University who were in the Union ranks. They used to twit me for deserting my “unionism,” for I .used to wear the red, white and blue cockade when at college, but I got even with them one evening when a section of my company gobbled up a whole line of Federal pickets. That was- on the occasion when General McCellan held a grand review of his troops beyond Arlington Heights, and I presume the forward movement we made was intended by General Johns¬ ton to ascertain whether General McCellan was preparing, an immediate onset on our lines. At any rate I can say it now, although it was absolute neglect of duty as sergeant of the guard who had charge of the prison¬ ers the same night, I winked at the escape of my old schoolmates, and per¬ haps some of them now living in the city recollect the matter well. When I had become more seasoned and de sciplined in warfare, they would not have escaped so easily. Then I would have held my own father if he had been opposed to our cause. A funny incident that I recollect— as incident to the topic herein talked of occurred on the Rapidan river in 1863, when the armies of the Potomac and of Northern Virginia were face to face. At that time, having full confi¬ dence in the strategy of General Lee, we believed that we would finally win • the fight. And that was in spite of the fact that rations were getting aw¬ fully low. But the pickets on either side of the river thought there was a dearth on the one side of the tobacco, and on the other side of coffee, and in spite of the official orders they deter¬ mined to exchange commodities. Strict orders had been issued by the Confed¬ erate generals against any intercourse between the opposite armies, and, in a measure, the edict was properly re¬ garded. But it happened tlpit a young fellow belonging to a federal regiment stripped off his clothes and swam across the Rapidan to exchange with the rebels on the next bank. He had nearly got through with his “dicker” when the brigadier-general of the Confederates came along, and the Yank hid behind a clunp of bushes. The general knew his men and their practices, and, forcing his horse be¬ hind the bushes, he discovered the dis¬ comfited federal, The Confederate general agreed to release the illicit trader on the condition that he would "do so no more.” But apart from that there are tragic circumstances brought to my mind. I have seen many episodes in the war between the States, but lhavo never seen one that enlisted my sympathies more than the incident I will attempt herein to de¬ scribe. On a cold day in the latter part of December, 1862, the writer's company was picketing on the bank of the Rap¬ pahannock, immediately at the point where Burnside’s lower pontoon bridge was laid. The river here is two or three hundred yards wide, swift and deep up to the bank. Two Federal cavalrymen came down to the opposite bank and shouted to us that they had lots of coffee and sugar which they wanted to trade for tobac¬ co. They were told to come over as they said they had a boat. They came across, and after the trade was com¬ pleted they started back. Now the men were dressed in their heavy over¬ coats, with capes and high cavalry boots and spurs. The boat was a small plank scow, and we saw when they come over that it was leaking badly. They bailed it out before they started on their return trip. When within 40 yards of the opposite bank, in spite of the frantic efforts of the men to paddle it to shore, it went down under them, and, dragged down by their weight of clothing, they sank like plummets of lead in full view of their comrades, who were unable to render tho slightest assistance, having no other boat. Grant as a Driilmaster. General Grant in the first volume of his “memories,” thus describes one of his early experiences during the civil war in drilling troops: “Up to this time my regiment had not been carried in the school of the soldier beyond the company drill, ex¬ cept that it had received some train iUg on the march from Springfield to the Illinois River. There was now a good opportunity of exercising it in the battalion drill. While I was at West l’oint the tactics used in the army had been Scott’s and the musket *he flint-lock. I had never looked at a copy of tactics from the time of my graduation. My stand ing in that branch of studies had been near the foot of the class. In the Mexican war in the summer of 1846, I had been appointed regimental quar¬ termaster and commissary and had nqt been at a battalion drill since. Tlie arms had been changed since then an|l Hardee’s tactics had been .adopted. I got a copy of tactics and studied one lesson, intending to confine the exer¬ cise of the first day to the commands I !iad thus learned. By pursuing this cotorse from day to day 1 thought I would soon get through the volume. I*We were encamped just outside of town on the common, among scatter¬ ing suburban houses with enclosed gardens, and when I got my regiment in; line and rode to the front I soon saw that if I attempted to follow the lesfeon I had studied 1 would have to clear away some of the houses and gahlen fences to make room. I per¬ ceived at once, however, that Hardee’s tactics—a mere translation from the French with Hardee’s name attached— was nothing more than common sense and the progress of the age applied to Scbtt’s system. The commands were abbreviated and the movement exped¬ ited- Under the old tactics almost every change in tho order of march was preceded by a “halt,” then came tb'.’Change, and then the “forward -march.” With the new tactics all these changes could be made while in motion. I found no trouble in giving commands that would take my regi¬ ment where I wanted it to go and car¬ ry it around all obstacles. I do not believe that officers of the regiment ever discovered that I had never stud¬ ied the tactics that I used. How Herring Are Cured. In Mr. Perley’s Report ol the Fish¬ eries of the Bay of Fundy, the manner of curing herring is thus described: The fish are scaled by being washed in bushel baskets with a square bot¬ tom, open like a coarse seive, the men standing in the water up to their knees. The best fish have very few scales, and only half a bushel of them are taken in the basket at once; they are then salted in large tubs, the salt be¬ ing stirred through them by hand; the quantity used is half a bushel of salt to two and a half barrels of fish, which are a tub full. They lie in salt twenty four hours, and are then washed in fresh water to prevent their becoming “salt burnt,” after which they are strung on rods with their heads all one way, and then hung up in the smoke-house. in Clements the smoke-houses are usually thirty feet square, with four¬ teen-foot posts and a high roof; no fish hang the * fire than seven feet, nearer but the most careful curers do not hang them nearer than eight feet. Rock maple is used in smoking; when it can not be procured ash is used, be¬ ing considered next best. The process of smoking usually occupies eight weeks, and it requires the whole time I of one person to watch the fire and to attend to the smoking, in which much judgment and great care are required. The smoke is usually made up at nightfall, unless the weather is warm and wet, during which time no fires are made. In fine weather the smoke-houses are thrown open during the day to cool, and the greatest care is taken ail the time to keep down heat, and to render the smoke as cool as possible by numerous windows and openings. After being 3moked, the fish are pack¬ ed in boxes, eighteen inches long, ten inches wide and eight inches deep, measured on the inside; and there Should be twenty-four dozen fish in a box of prime herring. If the fish are large and of the best quality, it re¬ quires some pressure to get this num¬ ber into a box. The Digby herring are in some instances cured in pickle, unsmoked and packed in half-barrels, ; —Scientific American, VOL VI. Now Series. No. 5. FOlt THE FARM AND HOME. Winter Cue of Toole. The time of year when most farm implements are used least is also the time when they suffer most deprecia¬ tion. Tney wear more by rust than by use. On the approach of Winter all tools should be got under shelter «“ d their iruQ U lrts oiled or P ainted to P reveIlt ™sting. A little resin, m linseed oil makes » S ood coatlD £ and one that will hold through the season. If the iron has already rusted the rust, ma y lje removed either by kerosene oil ° r by » wash with oil of vitriol quickly followed by one of clear water, and then thoroughly greased. The ! oil of vitriol will make a polished sur faws ve U d uickl v provided none is left - on the iron. But as soon as it has eaten out the rust it will begin on the solid iron aud make a greater abrasion than before unless checked. It is a good plan to paint tho woodwork of all farm implements once a year. After fall work is finished is as good a time to do this as can be desired. lining |Young Fruit Trees. Everywhere one meets with young fruit trees which sadly need judicious pruning. A young tree is made or married in its first three years of growth. If it is not directed aright it grows all awry and gets past the remedy of the ordinary cultivator. It is easy for any person to train a tree in the way in which it should go if he begins in time, but a master hand is needed to bring an ill-trained tree in¬ to good shape without entire heading down anil the consequent loss of three or lour years’ growth. A general rule for the pruning of young trees may be laid down as follows: Leave no more than three or four main limbs, and let these be evenly balanced by cutting away superfluous growth; cut out every brtuieh and twig which grows inward,'leaving, and prevent all cross growth of wood, leaving each main branch with an even and regular set of small branches, which give a hollow, cup-like shape to the tree. This makes a basis for a most conveniently form¬ ed and handsome tree .—New York Times. Polluting the Air. An exchange lias the following par¬ agraph: “A putrid carcass polluting the air of a pasture will spoil not only the milk of cows running there, but also the entire contents of the vat into which the tainted milk is poured at the factory.” Experience demon strates the fact that milk possesses a peculiar strong absorptive power, and all dairymen know the necessity of absolute cleanliness in order to secure excellence in milk or its products. Disregarding any effect upon the milk of cows, no carcass should be allowed to lie exposed above ground, because of the contaminating influence which it exerts upon the atmosphere. Nor is that the only reason; every carcass contains elements of fertility that should not be allowed to go to waste. The system of a farmer of our ac¬ quaintance is well worthy of Imitation. Not a great ways away from his barn a large hole hail been formed by the removal of a large rock, and into this he casts the carcasses of all dead ani¬ mals, such as woodchucks, skunks, or animals destroyed upon the farm, or any domestic animals that might die of disease or be accidently killed, covering them with soil that was kept at hand; here the process of putrefac¬ tion and absorption goes on, and a valuable fertilizer is the result. This is carted off for use and the bones found (if any) in shovelling the mass over are picked out and reduced by boiling in a large kettle with crude potash, which breaks down the bones so that the mass can be pulverized and dried like phosphate and makes a valuable fertilizer. How much better than to let the animals throw out their stench upon the air .—Germantown Telegraph. How to Meniure a Buihtl. There is a good deal of discussion just now about the size and capacity of a bushel. It is a natural conse¬ quence of the great variety of such measures in use among dealers in dif fererft articles of merchandise, and which are variously encumbered by special conditions and customs founded upon some peculiar necessity. Thus a common charcoal bushel in Michigan and New England is 2,750 cubic inches, which is more than a standard heaped bushel, and the al lowanee is made on account of a cer- tain lost in measuring, by the break¬ ing down of the brittle material into dust, and which causes so much loss. A standard U. 8. bushel contains two thousand one hundred and fifty and four-tenths cubic inches, and is a cyl¬ inder eighteen aud a half inches in diameter, and eight inches deep. This is the truck bushel, used for measur¬ ing grain and meal. A heaped bushel is a common bushel heaped up with any loose substance, as potatoes or apples, to a point in the centre. The cone thus formed will have a height equal to half the depth of the measure and its cubical contents, it is very clear, will be equal to one-fourth those of the measure itself. Then two thou¬ sand one hundred and fifty and four tenths inches, plus one-fourth, will be two thousand six hundred aud eighty seven and live-tenths inches, which is the exact contents of a heaped bushel. In use this bushel is called two thou¬ sand six hundred and eighty-eight indies, and is the Pennsylvania coke and charcoal bushel. It would be a great convenience if all farm produce were sold by weight, including eggs, milk, fruits and garden vegetables. It would be exact and fair to seller and purchaser, and would save a good deal of dispute and useless discussion. We have far too many differences in meas¬ ures : there are three tons, one of 2,000 pounds, another of 2,240 pounds, and a third of 2,208 pounds; three gallons, the imperial, the beer gallon, and the U. S. Standard, or Winchester gallon ; two sets of pounds, ounces, etc., and what is very curious, an im¬ perial (English) gallon of water weighs ten pounds avoirdupois, which is equal to 70,000 Troy grains ; while a standard gallon of the United States weighs 58,972 Troy grains, or eight and a half pounds avoirdupois. As both of these measures are confounded in discussions about the weight of a quart of milk, there is a beautiful and lively state of uncertainty about it. Then we have the metric weights and measures, which are used in scientific calculations, and the grams (not grains) and centimetres thus used are bewildering to ordinary readers.— .4 merican A gric ult a list. Household Hints. Boiled starch can be much improved by the addition of a little sperm or a little salt, or both, or a little dissolved gum arabic. To brighten the inside of a coffee or tea pot, till with water, adil a small piece of soap, and let it boil about for¬ ty-five minutes. The juice of half a lemon makes a very pleasant addition to either iced or warm tea. Of course milk should not be used with it. “There is,” says the Scientific American, “a qualitative test for but¬ ter so simple that atiy housewife can put it into successful practice. A clean piece of white paper is smeared with a little of tho suspected butter. The paper is then rolled up and set on fire. If the butter is pure the smell of the burning paper is rather pleas¬ ant; but the odor is distinctly tallowy if the ‘butter’ is made up wholly or in part of animal fats.” Recipes* Pressed Chicken. — Two chickens boiled until the meat leaves the bones easily, then pull to pieces and chop tine, letting the liquor in which they were cooked boil down until only a cupful remains. Add about one-half as much chopped ham as chicken; roll two soda crackers, pour the stock over, seasoning highly. Mix well to¬ gether; put in a deep, long pan, press¬ ing down hard with the hand, Fold a cloth several times, put over the top and put on a weight. It will slice nicely if prepared the day before using. Cheap Soup .—Only practical cooks know how little meat is needed to make good soups. The bones of a turkey from which all the meat has been cut, or the rib bones of mutton from which all the meat ha3 been re¬ moved, make good soup; also the bones from a roast of beef or mutton do as well. It is better to crack the bones aud boil them the day before using the soup, so as to take off every particle of fat, put turnips, carrots, onions, any kind of vegetables you like in fact, and let all boil together three or four hours; when ready for the table, have a slice of bread ready toasted, cut into small, square bits, put into a dish and strain the soup over it through a colander.— Housekeeper.
