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About North Georgia times. (Spring Place, Ga.) 1879-1891 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1888)
NORTH GEORGIA 1 TIMES. Vol. VIII. New Series. The Early Reaped. Flowers reaped early, while the dew Is on them, day being new, $Cnow neither du ,t nor stain, ‘'* ‘' l * Or woe’s refrain, y Or < thirst: Light kisses them the first, v And they are fair Because union eh fed by earth’s stain anywhere. Live* resped while life is new are pure, Unsullied, height, mature In fairness, and replete In all that makes remembrance sweet; Redeemed Before sin’s sear its wny hath seamed, Or anguish scored its deep-drawn mark Or dealt its thrust amidst the dark, * > And they are fair Bccauseuntouched by earth’s stain anywhere. —[George Kliugle. A FEARFUL SIEGE, ' The "Capital of Michigan hud scarcely been changed /rom Detroit to Linsiug befbte my father got the fever to go ’West. Wa were then living in New York State, and doing fairly well on a farm, but the talk ab;ut Michigan up set my a man who was then well enough off. I was 14 years old the day we Udt for the We-t—father, mother, four children, and a hired man. All of us, clear down to tho baby, wero en¬ thusiastic and full of hope, and father was just the sort of man tho Detroit land sharks wore looking for. They sold him a swamp farm in Shiawassee County, and in one way and another, cheated and defrauded him, until we reachod our destination with hardly a dollar to begin on. A span of horses and a cow constituted our live stock, and when fathor found how he had been duped, he lost heart entirely. The swindlers guaranteed forty acres of clearing and a good log house. Tho clearing was c a lake, and the log house was n .wretched affair, about sixteen feefeitfusiro, which had boon put up for somo surveyors. It is not, however, of our family troubles lam going to talk. Michigan was a great game country at that date, and we soon discovered that wo had lo¬ cated pretty near headquarters. Insido cf three days wo had seen a panther, threo wolves, a bear, a lynx, and *n In¬ dian devib Our nearest neighbor was ten or twelve miles away, and tho near ost village about twenty. We were dead stark alone iu tho midst of a great . wilderness, and, aside from all other perils, the Indians, who were generally - .supposed to bo peaceable, looked upon all pioneers with jealous eyes, and mado £heir stay uapleasant in many ways. On the second day of our stay they stolo cur cow and ran her off into Ingham county, where wo accidentally found her two years later; and insido of a week they made several attempts to get the horses. It was not until fired upon that they left U3 iu peace, and then the wild beasts and reptiles took hold. Our hut stood within 200 feet of tha edge of a great swamp, and tho swamp ■ was headquarters for rattlesnakes, bluo racers, black snakes, bears, panthers, •wolves and every other creature belong¬ ing to tho country. During the first week of cur stay wo killed upward of a hundred snakes, most of them rattlers; and Gordon, tho hired man, who was a good shot, kitiei a bear and threo wolves. Our adventures with jtho panthers were many and perilous, as the beasts seemed "determined not to leave the lo¬ cality. The first time I saw one my life wh 3 preserved in a most .wonderful manner. Wo had baen located about 10 days, and wero clearing up a pioce of land about a quarter of a milo from the house. Father was sick in the house, Gordon wa3 off aftor a doer for meat, pad .,!was,iu the clearing alone, hasfinjt‘a'light axe and cutting away at tho small troos. Tho only thing I feared Was-the- soakiri, having been assured mat fib' fflrbeasts would attack me by daylight. In putting down a young beech tree .it doll upon an iron wood in a way to break it off about 10 feet from the grouud and leave tho trunk badly splintered. This splintered trunk stood about 14 feet from a very largo beech. I had noticed it only in a general way, as I had set myself a -stint to do, and was working with much enthusiasm. It was about 4 o'clock in tho after¬ noon and I was bending over to exam¬ ine a curious bug which was crawling at my feet, when a scream filled the woods, something hit and knocked me flat on my face, and next instant a wonderful situation was devel¬ oped. A panther had sprung upon me from the large beech tree. The coward had no doubt been watching me for along time and had waito ! for me to get my back to him. He meant to cloar the splintered iron wood in his spring, but ho did not quite succeed. He had struck mo with his paw rolling mo over but not hurting me to speak of, and as SPRING PLACE). GEORGIA, THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 13, 1888. he came down his right hind foot caught between two great splinters and held him fast. Then I was treated to a circus. I was too scared to move and stood not more than ten foot away and witnessed what nobody ever saw be¬ fore. The beast hung head downward in the air, clawing and spitting and yelling, and tho harder ho struggled tho more securely was his foot imprisoned. Such screams and yells I Father and mother came running at once, su; posing I was attacked, and an Indian who was liunt ing a mile or more distant was guided to the spot by tho racket. Tho sharp claws sent splinters of wood flying all about and tho lithe body bent and twisted like a snake. We had no pun, and Tather was too weak to venture to u e ihe axe. We were, therefore, stand¬ ing open-mouthed when the Indian came up and shot the panther through the head. He could not get the carcass until wo had chopped tho stub down and split it open with wedges. A couple of weeks later a hunter came along who ndvi<ed father to give up clearing for a yoar or two and trap and hunt. All sorts of furs had a fair cash value, and the stato was paying a bounty on tho scalps of wolves, bears and panthers. Tho Indian, who had taken the body of tho panther off with him, had mado $15 oa its sca'p The hunter told us how to make rude traps and deadfalls, and tho three of us wero soon bu-y with tho game around us. One day I found a path leading arou- d tho edge of the swamp, and tho boil boro unmistakable proofs that wild beasts passed that way. We had heard the scream of panthers nightly, hut I supposed the beasts which used this path were wolves. I had mado a stout rope of hickory peelings, and at a favor¬ able point on the path I bent over a strut sapling, attached my rope, and then noosed it and carried tho trigger to a bmh. What I wanted now was tho bait, and Gordon furnished that in the shape of the fore- quai ter of a deer ho had killed that morning. When tkp trap was ready no animal could get at the bait without putting its head in the noose. I went to sleep that night counting on the scalp of a wolf, and next morning I was off as soon, as I could see my way through tho forest. It was well that I was not ten minutes earlier. I was within ten rods of the trap when I was stopped dead still by tho screams of a panther. I knew the boast as soon as ho yelled, and it was easy to concludo that ho was iu trouble. I crept forward very care¬ fully, hearing a great thrashing about with the yells, and when I reachod a point where I cou'd seo the path I saw that a big panther had noosed himself. The noose had caught him about tho loins, so far back that ho could not get at tho rope to bito it, and tho spring of the tree barely permitted him to touch the earth with his paws now and then. If tho other boast, trapped through his own caralessaoss. was mad, this fel¬ low, who had become tho victim of a put-up job, was furious. AU tho rage in his nature Lubblcd up ns he dangled thero and felt that his end was near. Ho was at a great disadvantage, of course, hut his struggles wero so vio¬ lent that I becamu alarmed aad ran awny, knowing that if ho got looso ho wou d tear me to piecos. Ho was still fast when I returned with Gordon, and a fcul et quickly put an oud to his ca¬ reer. IIo was an old and a dangerous boast. Whon we came to skin him wc found tho point of a knife iu his shoul¬ der, and ho had several scars made by the weapons of tho Indians. We did not catch sight of a panther for several weeks after -this adventure, although never "a night passed that we did not hear their screams. Tho weather had now com’o on warm, and we could do no more at trapping. Father fell very sick, and ono day about the middle ol Jar.A it beckrite plain that ho must havo medical assistance at once. Gordon mounted ono of tho horses for a ride to the doctor’s,a distance of twelve miles, and when night came ho had not returned. It had scarcely grown dark when the wild beasts around us began to howl and roar and skulk about tho house, nnd.after catching sight of sev¬ eral wolves I went in and barred tho door. There was only one oponing for a window, and ovor thU was nailed a blanket. It was high up from tho ground, and only about two feet square. . The horse was in a stout pen, and thero was no fear that ho could be got at. Whdfi night had fully settled down wo were in a stato of siege. Wolves to the number of forty or fifty surrounded the house, and growing bolder as timo passed nnd their number increased, they mado furious and repeated efforts to force an entrance. Gordon had taken t,ho gun with him, but we had two axes in the house. Mother stood at til* door with ono and I defended (he window with * tho other. The wolves gnawed a hole in tho doer, through which one could have passed but for her presence and tho shaip odged weapon she wielde I. Every head stuck into the opening received a blow, and tho baffled animals fiaany ceassd their efforts at that point, although mother dared not lenva the spot. Ai cr wolves had worried u3for an hour, without, however, living mado mich of nu effort to get iu by way of the wn dow, it being too high for them, they lelt us all of n sudden. I then dragged a chest across, ihe floor to stop the hole j in tho door, and mother discovered that j father was dead. Tho poor man, weak j as ho was, had not been able to enduro j tho fright of the attack. We did not | have many minutes for lamentation, j Tho wolves had given place to a more dangerous enemy. Thero was a sud den pounea on the roof over our heads, accompanied by a snarl, anil we know ! that n panther was at hand. It was a j lucky thing for in that the builders oi the hut wero either lazy or in a hur¬ ry, and had built only a small fireplace and "a small chimney. There was no fire on tho hearth and had tho chimney been the ordinary mammoth affair of the backwoods wo should have had a panther on the floor in no time. The first was soon joined by a second and third, and then two or throe others wero heard oa tho ground. They may have scented the dead or they may have known nothing of our great calamity, That they were determined to get in we wero soon led to understand. I made a smudge on tliu hearth to keep them from trying the chimney,and then mother took ono side cf tho window and I tho othor. We iustinctively felt that it was the point of danger now that tho chest protected tho door. Wo wero hardly at our posts wlieu a panther sprang up and tore tho blaqkct down. Our light consisted of a piece of cotton lying in a dish of coon’s Iqt, and at times tho flame was almo t otlt, A couple of minutes after the blanket was torn away n panther sprang iuto tho opening. Had ho been loft undisturbed he could have squoess d through, but the instant his head appeared wo both struck at him. liis right fore paw hung over the ed ;e of tho opening, and my blow cut it clean off and dropped it on the floor. That settled one of tho visitors, although tho row he mode over the loss of his paw aim wt unnerved us. At that moment there seemed to be fivo or six of tho beasts about, and it was only a short time before another sprang into tho opening. Mother struck him square iu the face, and fivo minuto3 later I severely wounded a third. That seemed to dampen the ardor of all, for they soon with t,row » nnd tli0 wolves returned. It must have been that theso creatures scented tho dead. It was the first timo they had appeared in such numbers nnd so boldly, and hunger could not have been the cause of it. They mado littlo or no effort to get at the horso, but for an hour after their return they mndo desperate aud determined efforts to break their way into tho cabin. They c .mo against tho door, six or eight of them at once—with such force as to shako tho house, and had not tho lower log been sunk in clay ground they would havo dug their way under. It was midnight before wo had a let¬ up, nnd tho last wolf did not leavo be¬ fore 2 o’clock. Up to this timo mother had not given way to her grief. When danger passed away sho broke down, and from then to daylight I sat alone by the door with ax in hand. I looked for Gordon at an early hour, but he did not appear. About 10 o’clock tho horso came home, bitten in a terriblo manner, and so serious were his injuriei that he died beforo ni jht. We knew from the wounds ii fiictod on tho horso that ho had been pursued by wolves, and there was littlo doubt about the fate of his rider. We dared not start out in search of help, as wo knew not which way to go, and wc dared not leavo tho body of tho dea 1 in tha home another night for foar of the wolves. Wo waitod until 3 o’clock, nnd then, hoaring nothing from Gtrdon, we dug a grave, wrapped poor lather’s remains ia a sheet, ami buried them as best wo coul l. Next day some hunters called, and they went fo look for Gordon. He had been to the doctor’s, to find him too sick to come, Oa tho way back ho had beon chasod by a drove of wolves, and, while tho horse had escaped, nothing but a few bones could be/ouni of the man.— “Mother is always tolling me not to bolt my food,” said a small hoy, “and now sho has gono and bolted up the cupboard that has got all the victuals.” A HORSE HOSPITAL Scenes Attending an Equine Surgical Operation. In the Clinic Room of a Chicago Veterinary College. Thero is a very closo analogy between man and horse r.nd the 75 students at the Chicago Veterinary college see this demonstrated every day. One of the patients now in tho hospital is a sorrt 1 still ion which carno thero a few weeks riucj with a broken shoulder blade. A piece of bono was taken out through au incifion made by Dr. With* ers and the horse will soon bo as good as now. Another has had two teeth chiseled apart from his j iw bono and eats lift oats quito contentedly them. Anoth-r had oao of the quar t.rs of a foot tiuoa off, necessitated by a quittor, original! rg from an corn, There ate as many difforont ailments represented as at hospitals for our own race. Perhaps tin most common of horso troubles are bono spavins, and tho most frequent operation at tho vet¬ erinary college is that of firing a horse. This is the first precaution taken beforo tho operation. The rope is drawn from tho fettered hind foot to a point on tho breast between tho fore legs, where it passes through a ring fastened on a collar around tho horse's neck. This forms a pulley, and a slight pull leaves tho patiout but throo logs to stand on, soon convincing him that kicking is out of the question. The next step is to blindfo d tho horso, then his spavined leg is crippled; after that—tho firing. A horse's sufferings Will about equal n man’s under the samo conditions, and just as a high-strung, nervous, sensi live man wifi feol more pain than ho of a dull, stupid, phlegmatic nature, so with tho horse—tho thoroughbred, with dilated nostrils and quivering ^norves, suffers an intensity of torture quite impossible to the scrub. The analogy continues when tha high-bred man, with tho high-bred horso, suffors tho greater agony, marked only by deep groans, white he from tho common herd suffers loss, raises an outcry and com¬ motion indicating nothing less than murder. Blood will tell This bay horse was of tho scrub class, and had the students aud helpers liad^ thoir way, would havo been thrown, but Dr Hughes said: “No; to flro spavin properly tho tondons and hido must be at a tension, nnd not limp as whon tho patient is prostrate," so the bay, with his noso held tight in tho clutch of a twist, nnd ono leg constantly jerked from under him, twistod himself into all sorts of positions during tho whole hour of tho operation. He was followed by a high-lifod sorrol, which, although ugly and hnrd to manage before a road wagon, went through tho samo ordeal of fire with an obstinate determination that seemed to say: “Kill me if you will; I will die unconqu.;rod.” The red hot “lining iron” first burns a vortical stripo over tho hock, in all about a foot in length; thon from this stripe on cither sido is burnt out ton or a dozen strips of hido, other irons at white heat fetched as those used grow cold; one sido of tho leg thus striped, tho other side is fired in liko manner, and thon the more cruel “puncturing iron’ is put to tho torture. Its point is forced to burn its wny to tho very centre of tho knee bone, not one, but 29, perforations being made. All through th.ii orfioal tho gallant sor rell has stood with legs braced and with scarce a tremor or a groan. Ho is now allowed what rest his burnt log will permit him for several hours, and then begins the worst of his troubles. A powder mado piincipally of Spanish flies is rubbed into the sores made by tho firing, and lor three days the horso, supported by three legs, swings the maimed fourth, which all about tho hock is a mass of blisters. This blistering is washod off alter.three days and lard applied every day for four weeks. Ho can’t bo al lowed to lie down or to reach this log for two or threo weeks aad his bead is tied so high that to lie down is impos j gib’e. It wifi b3 a month before ho : loav.s the hospital and two months be fore ho can be driven, but he is then sound and his lameness has disappeared, The cost is $10 for the operation and $1.50 forev ry day’s keep and attend auce—say $50 in alL A horse can sleep while standing much easier than a man can. He looks toward a fixed point to steady himself, then braces his logs in such manner that tho joints are locked, nnd thus his entiro weight is thrown on tho fibrous tissue and taken from his mus- e'.es, giWng bis entire muscular system the noeded rest. Strolling through the various city barns the sauuterer notices that perhaps two cut of ov ry fifty horses never Lie down at all.—[Chicago Herald. Tho Wily Mormon Prophet. Brigham Young, tho famous lender and prophet of tho Mormons, often had to exert tho whole of his wondcrlully quick wit in order to preserve the faith that his followers had in him, but he was generally equal to the occasion. A certain elder, while chopping wood, had cut his leg so badly that it had to bo amputated. As soon ns he was able he came to Young and stated his case to him somewhat as follows: “I have al¬ ways been a good Mormon; 1 hive sev¬ eral wives and a good many children, and in my. present maimed condition I do not know how I am to provide for thorn. I believe tiuiy that you aro Christ’s representative on earth, and that have all the that lie had. Il you like, you can work rnira clos; if you like, you can give me a now leg, and now 1 ask you to do it.” Young assented to all tho flattering propositions as they were laid down, and when the elder had finished speak¬ ing ho said: “I can give you a new log, and I will, but I want you to think about it a little at first. When the day of judgment comes, wherever you are buried, your old leg will find you out and join itself to you, but if I give you n new one, that will riso with you, too, and tho question is whether you would rather suffer tho incouvcnionco of get¬ ting along With one for a few years hero or go through all eternity wi‘h three legs.” Tho choice was quickly made, and Brigham Young’s reputation as a miracle-worker was saved.—[Argonaut. Tho Lake of tho Dismal Swamp. Ponder on this marvellous fact, says a correspondent: Tho Like of the Dismal Swamp, in Virginia, throo miles by two and a half in extent, ami from seven to fifteen foot in depth, is situated on the sldo, and almost ou the top of a hill, and yet It crentoi by overflow all around it for about 1000 square miles, ono of tho densest ani darkest morasses on the surface of tho earth. In 1763 George Washington surveyed the Dismal Swamp, and discovered (hat tho western side was much higher than tho eastern, and that rivers ran out of tho swamp, and not into if. Ho then wrote that tho swamp was “neither a plnin nor a hollow, but a hillsido.” A member of the National Geological Survey recently entered the Dismal Sivamp, proceeding westward from tho Dismal Swamp canal toward tho lake, and found that the riso of the land was five and a half feet in seven miles. Wo met this gentleman, Mr. Atkinson, within tho bounds of tho swamp, and on hoaring his statement naked him: “Could tho lake bo lowered and tho swamp drained with such an incline?” “Certainly,” ho said. ‘‘It is a very deoided water shod. An opening from tho lake to tho tido, on tho Eizsbeth river on one sido, aud tho Pasquotank on tho other, would havo a fall of 22 6-10 feet in a distance of less than fi.teen miles." The Phonozenograph. The Due de Feltre has designed an instrument, which ho calls a phonoze¬ nograph, intended to indicate the di¬ rection of any distant sound. A micro phonic plate of peculiar construction is fixed in a vertica^plane, and is in cir¬ cuit with a battery and a telephone re¬ ceiver, or a D,'prez-D’Arsonva-galva nometor and a Wheatstoao bridge. The microphone is more or less affected by a distant sound, according to tho anglo that it makes with the source. By moving tho plate about until tho maxi¬ mum effect is obtained tho observer is enabled to exactly locate tho direction of the sound. Tho indications of the telephone receiver are absolutely accu¬ rate, but thoso afforded by the galva¬ nometer are less so, and this latter ar¬ rangement will require great modifica¬ tion oi tho microphonic plats before it can be said to bo of a practical nature. This instrument may possibly prove of uso at sea in preventing collisions in foggy weather.—[Electrician. Antique Egyptian Incubators. One ©t tho oldest industries in Egypt is artificial egg hatching, principally engaged in by Copts. There aro said to le 700 establishments of this nature in the country, and the production of chickens from the ovens is estimated at from 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 annu¬ ally. Tho season for incubating lasts through three months of the early sum¬ mer. The country people bring eggs to the proprietors of the “farroogs,” and give two good eggs for every newly hatched chick. NO. 32. Rest Cometh After All. Beyond the toil, the burdea* of the day, Beyond the tempest* and the storms of life» Ear from the tumult of the weary way. Beyond the longing and the ceaseless strife; Out of the darkness and the gloom of night, Beyond the hills where shadows never fall, And far beyond the range of mortal sight, Rest comcth after all. After the fever and the restless pain, > After the waiting end the weary ye an, ! After the conflict and the loss and gain, Alter the sorrow and the n o ess terra; Far, far beyond the lofty heights of Fame: Beyond the hills who: o shadows never fall. Beyond the fear of censure and of blame, Rest comelh after all. —[William G. Park in Boston Transcript HUMOROUS. How to cut a person—Look daggers at him. Bad nominations are liko tho itch— They sot a good many people to scratch iug. When the girl baby appears in a household there is generally a family cry-sis. Speech is silvern, silonce is golden, giggling is brazen, and lnughtor is often ironical. Tho man who patronizes the photog¬ rapher or tho barber generally wants his own mug. Willie, when asking for another plate of dessert, remarkod that “it would just fill the Bill.” The man with the first baby is all nnilos—Smiles for himself and his frionds, too. Daughter—Mamnn, what is a man-of war? Mamma—It’s a naval officer, of course, you silly child. It seems as if the oread and pastry cook might not inappropriately be termod a dough-mestic. “Hew much to peep through your toloscope?” “Ten coats.” “There’s five. I’ve only ouo eye.” When n cat gives an entertainment from tho top of tho wall it isn’t the cat we object to, it’s tho waul ’ “Where ere you going, my pretty maid!*! ! “Tm goinga-yachtlng, sir,” sho said. “May I go with you, my pretty maid?” “Yes, sireo, It you’re not afraid. ” Tho Chinese ought to bo very good billiard player:, lor they tiro accus¬ tomed to hand.ing tha cue from their earliost years. Chicken salad neversets well on some people. Perhaps it is made of the wrong kind of chicken. For instance, roostors aro uovor good setters. A New York literary man composes a good many of his poems while riding about the city. He is a hack writer with a vcngoance. “You may bring mo,” said tho Bos¬ ton girl, “a small portion of Celtic dis¬ turbance.” “Ilnouw?’said tho waiter. “Irish stew, you stupid,’’ answered she. A boy may groan, and from sickness moan, from tiio church or the school to stay; but there’s no pain so deep him from circus can keep, because he ain’t built that way. Dingley—Oh, I’m just liko I used to be. By tho way, Peckham, how’s your wile? You used to eay you had tha bos3 girl whon you wore single. Peck ham (sadly)—She's still boss. Ethel: Mamma, I am writing to Nellie Lee; shall I say anything lor you? Mamma: Writing to that contemptible person again? Yes, give her my lovo. How I detest * u i* "ijtwft* -1 *” Fure - A pretty good toast. — “May you bo hung, drawn and quartered I Hung high abovo tho reach of adversity; drawn in a carriage Of your own and quartered in tho arms of those you love.” “Women cannot bo satirical,” say3 a writer, "any more than they can bo humorous.” Bo? How is it when a man, alter courting a girl for seven years, proposes, she says, “Oh I George, this is suddon 1” Physician (to living skeleton in a Now York museum): You seem to bo threatened with a fatty degeneration of tho heart. Skeleton: I pre umo so, as I am engaged to tho fat woman over thero who weighs 614 pounds. “What trials you mud have,” said the lady, contemplating a famished tramp devouring the generous repast she had placod before him. "Yes’m, and the wustofit is I alius get convicted,” answered the tramp between bites. A German General, on inspecting his troops at tho closo of the war, addressed themthui: “Now, my children, wa can once more get seriously to work. Tho pastime of war is at an end, and drill must go on regularly as hereto¬ fore.”
