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NORTH GEORGIA TIMES
C. N. KING. I Proprietor
S. B. OAKTKR, i
A SAILOR’S WORK.
The Daily Routine During a
Merchantman’s Voyage.
Jack Tar Must Be Up Early and
Ready for Anything.
The mate of a square-rigged mer¬
chantman thus descri bed the life of an
able-bodied seaman on a loug voyage:
A sailor may be said to begiu his day's
work with tho “morning watch” at 4
o’clock, when he must turn out of his
narrow bunk in the “fo’castle" and
tumble up on deck prepared to scrub
and wash down decks, which arc al
ways more or less badly stained with
salt water and iron rust. Plenty of
water for cleaning purposes is always
near at hand, and with the aid of buck¬
ets and ordinary brooms, brushes, or
“squegees" Jack usually succeeds in
making thiugs tolerably clean.
But if tho ship is coming into port
and this Captain wishes tho decks to
look particularly white, Jack must go
down on his hands and knees and scour
the decks with all the vigor of a char¬
woman with certain articles called
“holystones." Now, holystones are
not treasured fragments of some classi¬
cal shrine, but common-looking pieces
of sandstone about tho sizo of a brick,
and it is not too much to say that poe
try abandons tho nautical mind when
the holystoning process becomes neces¬
sary. The operation is always long and
laborious, and tho only respite Jack has
from this odious task i3 in polishing
tarnished brass-work or being ordered
aloft to attend to some troublesomo sail
or bit of running gear. Consequently,
by 8 o’clock, when he is relieved by
tho “focenoon watch” he has had suffi¬
cient exercise to get up an appetite for
breakfast sueh as is rarely equalled or
surpassed by anything human.
This meal, year in and out, consists
of a liberal supply of a hot black
beverage called coffee, which is stewed
to distraction, and sweetened, if at all,
with molasses. Then there is ship’s
bread, porridge, or “burgoo," and a
species of hash called “lobscouse, ”
which nobody but a hungry sailor was
ever known to successfully digest.
Jack then fills his pipe, spins yarns, or
returns to his uuambrosial bunk for a
nap, while his shipmates, the “fore¬
noon watch,” are busy making things
snug on deck and aloft. Indeed, it
would bo difficult to say what the
‘•forenoon watch’’ will not find' to do,
for much depends upon the state of the
weather.
But yards must be constantly
trimmed, according to the direction of
tho wind, saih furled, and running
gear looked after, and in addition to a
seaman’s regular duties of setting and
shortening sail, thero is always plenty
of sail-mending, rope-splicing, spar¬
scraping, oiling, varnishing and paint¬
ing to do, to say nothing of tho dirty
work of tarring the standing rigging
and ropes occasionally. Then every
man must take his turn or “trick’’ at
the wheel, which is always a mono¬
tonous and extremely dangerous duty
in bad weather.
At 11.30 the men who composed the
“morning watch’’ are called to a dinner
of hot pea soup, boiled pork and a
baneful pioce of meat that no argument
xyill ever convince Jack i3 anything but
army mule or horso which lias died a
natural death. “Salt horse” is thorc
fore, the name bestowed by him on this
tough-pickled substance, and ho thinks
himself lucky when it is followed by
plumduff or “stickjaw pudding.” This
sumptuous repast is then washed down
With copious draughts of coffee, and
after filling and smoking the inevitable
pipe once more Jack feels invigorated
and happy, and goes on deck as ono of
the “afternoon watch,” which relieves
the “forenoon watch” at 12 o’clock.
The “afternoon watch,” wo will sup¬
pose, for brevity’s sake, is employed on
deck with duties of tho same nature as
• engaged in tho “forenoon watch,” and
at 4 o’clock this watch is again
changed. So you see that, generally
speaking, the men have four hours on
dpty and four hours off. But if this
took place with undeviating regularif
it is evident that one set of men would
always bo on duty during the best part
■of tho night—an arrangement that
■would be manifestly unfair. In order,
■therefore, that one watch should not
■have the long night’s duty thero are
fwlint we sailors call tho “dogwatches.”
i These watches are the hours between 4
SPRING PLACE. GA.. THURSDAY. MAY •>•.>, 1S!)0.
o’clock in the afternoon and 8 o'clock
in the evening. The “afternoon
watch" accordingly go below at 4
o’clock and come on deck at G, when
they have two hours’ dog watch. At 8
they go below again, and thus by
means of these dog watches the crew
of a ship get alternate nights of duty
on deck.
Jack livos on a floating house of busi¬
ness, which is continually carrying him
into unexpected labors. However, in
moderate weather, everything is usually
made snug aloft between (land 8o’clock
in the evening, when Jack’s work is
finished for the day. IIo may then
smoko his pipe, and sing his favorite
song or “shanty” to his heart’s content.
But if during tho next few hours, or in
the course of the night, tho barometer
goes down and the weather looks omin¬
ous of a gale to windward, ho has to
turn out of his snug corner in tho fore¬
castle nt a moment’s notice, when lie
hears the boatswain shout: “All hands
shorten saitl” Now, this is one of tho
worst features of Jack's life, for nine
chances out of ten it is blowing grent
guns when he gropes his way up on
deck and crawls up the shrouls, and
you can form no idea of the perilous
npomentum of a vessel’s pitch until you
have been on her upper yards or jib
boom trying to reef or furl sails in a
heavy sea.
That accidents are not more frequent
is probably owing to a sailor’s blind
luck or the efforts of tlio good little
cherub that is perched up aloft. . When
a sailor has performed his task aloft on
a “dirly night,’’ the first thing he
thinks of is ardent spirits, and the
crew then sing tho whiskey “shanty."
One man usually starts the song ns they
come down the shrouds, and tlio rest
smack their lips by way of a hint to the
Captain, and the line “I Drink Whisky
When I Can" is sure to be given with
such an emphasis os to soften the heart
cf the gruffest old sea captain. —New
York Times.
Famous Amazons of Dahomey.
The Republic of France Is at
witli the King of Dahomey, and a
French newspaper published the infor¬
mation that a battle had been fought,in
which eight combatants were killed and
many wounded. Tho interesting fact in
the dispatch lay in tho last lines:
“Among the dead were found some of
the female warriors of the Kiug of Da¬
homey.” IVho are theso Amazons?
About one-fourth of tlio feraalos are
said to be married to the fetish, many
even before their birth, and the re¬
mainder arc entirely at the disposal of
the King. The most favored aro select¬
ed as his own wives, or enlisted
into [the regiments of Amazons, and
then the chief men arc liberally sup¬
plied.
The Amazons form the fbwer of the
army. The/ are marshaled into regi¬
ments, each with its distinctive uniform
and badges, and they take the post of
honor on the flanks of tho battle line.
Their number has been variously esti¬
mated at from ono to six thousand.
Their weapons are blunderbusses, flat
muskets and bows and arrows. They
are in part recruited in a remarkable
manner. If a wJman in Dahomey has
an acrid temper, or if her husbaad
wants to got rid of her, he honors him¬
self by presenting her to the King, who,
if she has the requisite physical qualifi¬
cations, turns lier over to his army offi¬
cers to be drilled as an Amazon.
It is said that at the death of tb
King a horrid scene ensues. The wives,
after the most extravagant demonstra¬
tions of grief, attack and murder each
other, aud remain in an uproar until
order is restored by the new sovereign.
—Philadelphia Press.
She Sweetly Requested.
There were seven men standing on
tho rear platform of a Gratiot avenue
car, and every one of them was smok¬
ing, when a woman signalled the con¬
ductor to stop, He held the door
open, but she stood and surveyed tho
crowd for a moment, and as no one
moved she Rwcotly requested:
“Conductor, won’t you please knock
out ono side of the car, so that I can
get out without disturbing those gen
*’• non ?”—Detroit Free Press.
Quite Tasteful.
“O Sophyl I hear you kissed Mr.
Rondo, tho poet, in tho conservator
last night.”
“Um-m-ml”
“Tell me. What was it like!’’
“Well, ho has a very pronounced
literary taste."— Pud.
STUDENT DUELS
A Pecular Feature of Leading
German Universities.
“Friendly” Contests Which OF
ten Result in Bloodshed.
The duels I have just witnessed, says
a Berlin letter to the Hartford (Conu.)
Courcmt, were student affairs and char¬
acterized by the features common, to
suchscenes. I went as the guest of a
German whose department at tho uui
versity was theology; this shows that
no thought of the mensur (duel) being
objectionable enters tho most orthodox
mind. At an early hour of the morn¬
ing we went to a distant part of the
city, to a building which stood in the
rear of a yard, the front of which was
occupied by a beer saloon. Tho room
was low-studded, dirty and bare of fur¬
niture, as well as insufficiently heated
by a stove; long boxes containing the
dueling outfits stood along the walls,
and on the window seats were spread
tho operating tools of tho sur¬
geons; a passage led into a back
room fitted up with tables as a
drinking place, and a waiter constantly
circulated between the two in order to
fill the orders for beer and cognac. The
forty or fifty ben present were nearly
all smoking and the air was opaque and
malodorus with the weed. On my ar¬
rival my German friend introduced me
to tho “second" of his club, who bade
me welcome, and then paid no more at¬
tention to my presence. I should men¬
tion that this was not a corps duel, but
a so-called Bursehcnschaft contest. The
corps is the swellcst club or association
in student life, aad as its members wear
distinctive colors the duels between the
corps aro more picturesque; but in all
other respects the contosts of the other
organizations do not differ. The
sight of the blood, stained breast
protectors thrown in the middle
of the , floor between
chalk lines’and the Tiospital-liko smell
that pervaded the place, did not add
particularly to the festivity of the hour.
Soon came the arraying of the contest¬
ants, a long, tedious procos; after each
principal had stripped bare to the
waist and donned a linen dueling shirt,
no end of bandages wero wound about
his neck and arm, the breastplate, not
uuliko those worn by our base ball
catchers, was adjusted, iron goggles
were put over the eyes, aad a great box
ing-glove on the right hand, so that it
was a wonder how the sword hilt could
be grasped at all. When the right arm
is thus prepared it is so helpless that it
has to be put in position high above the
bend by a man who stands be3ido tho
duelist for that purpose, and when¬
ever “halt” is called by the seconds,
the arm is caught and held ’ .by
these same men, the duelist himself be¬
ing as powerless as a mediteval knight
in armor when off his horso. Tho ap¬
pearance of tho contestants when fully
equipped is grotesqus and clumsy. The
seconds area prominent and picturesque
feature; thoy stand diagonally to tho
duelists, padded also about neck and
body, though to a less degree, wearing
caps like those of American jockeys and
with swords which they cross on high
between the principals and remove when
they give the order to fight. Still an¬
other man, the time-keeper and ref¬
eree, stands hard by with pencil,
note book aad watch in readiness,
so that in all there is a little group
of seven men in the middle of tho
room, the number being swelled inter
mittingly to eight, when the duel is
advanced, by tho doctor who coolly ex¬
amines the wounds of the fighters to
see that none are serious enough for a
cessation of hostilities. Ono hundred
and twenty quarter-minute rounds are
fought, which gives half an hour of
actual fighting, though sometimes this
is shortened to fifteen minutes. Of tho
three contests I witnessed, tho first voas
entirely bloodless, one of the schlagers
(duelists) alone receiving a tiny eciatch
on the cheek, which injury was received
with groans of derision or disgust from
the onlookers; they evidently thirsted
for gore. When number one was over,
my theological friend, apparently
feeling that an apology was in order for
the lack of excitement, assured me
that the next would be more beautiful
(schoner) and that I would “see blood.’’
Thus cheered I waited expectantly.
The promise was fulfilled. Before
number two was half fought both
principals were a sickening sight, and
blood was pretty much all over the
place. If the mother of either of
these young men had been present
she would have been extremely uncom¬
fortable. As each round was called
they stood up doggedly and cut away
with their keen rapiers long after
one would have thought the weakness
from loss of blood would have
made continuation impossible. It was
an exhibition of bull-dog courage that
had its heroic side. Before the time
was up the surgeon put a stop to the
fight, deciding that the worst punished
of the two had had enough. Then en¬
sued the dressing of the wounds, one
of the most interesting features of the
dap. The wounded called for cigar¬
ettes or cigars, and calmly smoked
while the needle and knife did their
work and the scissors made bare patches
in the hair of their heads. Mean while
another couple wero called auf dcr
Mensur (to the combat, literally,
to the line), This third
bout was fought to the finish,
but was no whit behind the other in the
amount of blood spilt and hair cut oil;
a kck of the latter fluttered through
the air and was picked up by the doc¬
tor and put oil his operating table with
the r< mark that he would give it to the
young man’s sweetheart, which, by the
way, is customary. At the end of each
duel, when the goggles were pulled off,
the fighters shook hands and grinned at
each other in the most friendly fashion;
the groggy nature of the smile may be
imagined, but it was pleasant to sec as
a sign that no bad blood remained,—
and much less good blood, as well.
Time to Interfere.
Sam Bolus was a great, hulking six
footer. He had threatened Dick Hy
ans, who was half his size, so often
iliat ho felt tho time had come to sub¬
stitute acts instead of words, Dick
would persist in walking across Sam’s
meadow iastcad of keeping to the
king’s highway.
Ono day Sam’s palienco gavo out,
and seoing a couple of his neighbors
watclktng him, he chased Hick down
the road until he caught him.
Then the trouble, bagau. Dick was
cornered and had but ono thing to do,
and he did that so effectually that in a
twinkling lie had big Sam on his back,
while ho sat astrido on his chest and
used nature’s weapons with might and
main.
Sam wriggled and twisted, but found
he couldn’t help liimslf, while tho
laughter of tho bystanders did not add
to his comfort by any means. Finally
lie roared in desperation:
“AVlry don’t you part us? Don’t
you seo we’re killing each ot.Jjpr. ?”
Wonderful Hydraulic Machinery.
What is thought to bo one of the
mo9t interesting as well as marvellous
constructions yet devised in the way of
hydraulic machinery, has been for a
while past in operation in the rolling
mill at Wheatland, Penn. Its purpose
is the rolling of pipe iron, and this it
accomplishes in a mantJbr and with a
degree of success hitherto unattained.
In practice, huge slabs of iron, weigh¬
ing hundreds of pounds, are pulled
from the furnace, glowing at white
heat, and placed on a long iron bed,
which moves forward, upward, down^
ward and sidewise, the mass being
pushed through rolls, back again, and
stopping only when it has become re¬
duced to the proper size in the shape of
pipe iron. The whole operation re¬
quires tho atteution of but one or two
employees, who control the machinery
by a few simple levers, tho saving of
labor being thus very great.
A Reptilian Fighter.
Tho gigantic Ccratopsidoe, whost
skulls Prof. O. C. Marsh has been ex¬
amining, appear to have been not the
least important of the creatures that
lived in North America before the
bison. Remains of the90 reptiles have
been found over a distance of nearly
800 miles in the upper Cretaceous de¬
posits along tho eastern flank of the
Rocky Mountains. In the best known
genus of tho family, the skuli, exceed¬
ing in size that of every
land animal hitherto known, must
have reached a length of more than
eight feet. It was wedge-shaped, and
had a remarkable and most formidable
armature, including a sharp-cutting
beak in front, a strong horn on tho
nose, a pair of immense pointed horns
on top of tho head and a row of sharp
projections around the back of th®
head. All wero protected by a horny
covering of great strength.
Vol. X. New Series. NO. lti.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS. I
Two French dentists extract teeth
without paiti by spraying the external
ear with ether.
An instrument lias been inveute 1 in
Prussia by means of which an exact dif¬
ferential diagnosis of diseases of the
lungt will bo possible. The inventor is
Dr. Janiczewski. *'
v *i
An electric vegetable is said to have
been discovered in India, which has the
power of affecting the magnetic needle
at a distance of twenty feet when the
weather is clear and dry.
With the view of testing the rapidity
of electric welding, twenty pieces of
one-inch common round iron bars with
rough ends were lcccutly welded to¬
gether by two men in thirteen minutes.
It is claimed that wall papor can bo
made in such a way that the passage of
low-tensions electric currents will heat
it moderately warm to the toucli and
diffuse throughout the room an agreea¬
ble temperature.
A further step toward the artificial
production of the diamond has been
made by passing an electric current
through carbon electrodes in u cell con¬
taining fine white saud and electrodes,
the whoio being under considerable)
pressure.
The application of hydraulic power
to tho manufacture of steel seamless
boats is one of the latest things in Esg
land. These boats are thought to be in
every particular superior to those made
of wood, and can bo made at about tho
same cost.
It is now proposed that London shall
dig the deepest hole. Thu pit would
have nn elevator and be lighted by
electricity, and in each stratum would
he excavated a museum for exhibiting
specimens of tho minerals, fossils, etc.,
afforded by it.
The conclusions reached by modern
meteorologists aro that Cyclopes of
great intensity aro ascending spiral
whirls of wind having a rotary motion
in a direction in the Northern hemi¬
sphere opposite to the movement of the
hands of a watch.
The yield of the trout spawn in tho
fish-breeding establishments nt Orval,
Belgium, is stated to linvo been ex¬
ceedingly good this year. Of tho yield
25,000 eggs wero sent to this country
in exchange for a like number of Cali -
fornia trout eggs.
Inquiry made in France in ordor to
carry out tho new law giving certain
advantages to fathers of more than
seven children has elicited, among
other things, the fact that there aro
2,000,000 households in which there
has been no child.
Experiments recently made in Franca
with a view to discovering the vitality
of trichine show that even when ex¬
posed to a temperature of 20 degrees to
25 degrees below zero for about two
hours the little animals become as lively
as ever on a return to normal tempera¬
ture.
Professor Poo of Bridgeport, Conn.,
has drowned and res imitated a pet rab¬
bit eleven times, and suffocated it also
with tho fumes of burning charcoal and
restored it to life. Tho professor uses
a pair of artificial lungs, Artificial
respirations produce muscular contrac¬
tion and expansion, forcing oxygen
into Uho lungs and drawing out the
deadly? gases,
Modern chemistry shows that the
medical lore of the ancient herbalists
had a much sounder basis than had
been imagined. In 1597 water cresses
were recommenced for the euro of
scurvy and scrofula, Chemists now
say that tho cress contains sulphur,
phosphorus, iodine and iron — sub¬
stances that are known to be actual
antidotes to scrofula.
The World’s Sheep and Wool.
It is roughly estimated that the world
contains at least half a billion sheep—
possibly over 600,0o0,000—producing
about two billion pounds of wool.
Tho world’s crop of wool can only be
guessed, but it is certain that the hum¬
ble sheep contributes at least |3J0,000
000 annually, in wool, to tho wealth of
mankind. Our own wool crop, great¬
est in 1884, when it was estimated at
808,000,000 pounds, was jn 1888 2G5,
000,000 pounds. Nearly half tho wool
wa wear is of foreign growth, the
figures of 1887 being a crop of 269,
000,000 pounds, an import^ of 114,000,
000 pounds, and a content) of 133,000,
000 pounds wool in imported goods.—
'4 Monthly.
The Strength of the Hills is His.
The Strength of the Hills, inexorable potves!
What might more stern than their granite
breasts ?
Sky-ward in their pride the mountains
tower,
Tossing pine-plumes on their stately crests
Gray r.lifTs gleam out from the chusn-.s
where
Sudden the hill-tops were wrenched apart,
Leaving the rock in its sternness bare,
Strong and silent, the mountain's heart,
Above their purple grandeur, lie
Whose strength is theirs, unbounded free,
Sits in resistless majesty.
Dear heart! Thy grief Jehovah wills,
His is the awful strength of hills.
The Strength of the Ilills, beneficent power!
Cradling the light on their tender breasts,
Gently as mother-germs cradle the tlower,
Soft ly as dew on the violet rests.
Hose-lights transfigure the mountains where
Noiseless the cloud-drifts above them part,
Haining the sun on their foreheads bare,
Light and love to the mountain’s heart!
Throughout their blossomed beauty, Ho
Whose strength is theirs, protecting, free,
Whispers his boundless sympathy.—
O Friend, a Father reigns above,
l'he strength of the hills is rest, is love.
—Jessie 1\ O'Domicil, in Housewife.
HUMOROUS.
Railroad corporations aro reticent—
they keep their own counsel.
Teacher—Which teeth doo .nan get
last? Johnny Knowitall—Tho false
one3, of course.
“You make mo tired," said the wheel
to the wheelwright, as he uafliuchingly
hammered away.
A tableware trust is to bo formed.
Trust tlio servant girl to break it—the
tableware, we mean.
Sometimes the office seeks the min,
but generally the man knows when the
office is on his track.
Do not regard with suspicion tho
man who adopts an alias. It is a proper
ambition in any oho to dc3iro to make
a name for himself.
Sumway (with newspaper in his
hand)—Here are some paragraphs head¬
ed “Polico Intelligence.” Gazzam—I
didn’t know the/ had any.
Minister (to convict)—My good min.
I’m very sorry to find you hero in
prison. Convict 1111—Yes, sir; but
you ain’t half so sorry a3 I am.
I’m sure there’s little I would give for
The man who from his cares would fly.
For
When you have nothing left to live for,
You still have something less to die for.
Mamma to Maud—Your tastes are
really becoming quite too expensive, my
child. Remember that fine feathers do
not always mako fine birds. Maud— No,j
mamma; but you’ll admit they make
fine bonnets.
“No use," said an impecunious debt¬
or to an importunate creditor, “you
can’t get blood out of a turnip.” “I
know that," responded the creditor,]
“but unless I get this money, I’ll
have gore from a beat.’’ ■M
Michigan produces a larger number
of shingle) than any other stato in the
Union. In spite of this fact it is very
doubtful if tho small boy of Michigan
is any more obedient than tho small
boy in any other state.
Tho intelligence of animals became
one of the subjects of discussion at a
little dinner party. An enthusiastia
advocate of the dog was asked: “Do
you mean to tell us that thero are some
dogs with more sense than their masters
can boast of?” “Certainly; I have
one.”
A Folicemnti’s Life.
There is an opinion very commonly
held that the members of the police
force have, as the saying is, a “regular
picnic.” To my mind nothing could
be further from the truth. To those
who are thoroughly acquainted with
the duties and tho lifo of a policeman
it is perfectly plain that those public
servants earn every dollar they receive
from tho city treasury. I was riding
on a Third avenue “dummy” train tho
other day, when I saw one member o»
the force whose lot, at least, was not
enviable. He looked like a new re.
cruit, too, but he boro himself like a
hero. IIs certainly possessed some
of tho spirit which enabled tho esn
martyrs to»faco the rack and the wild
boasts of the Colosseum with a smile.'
It was, if I remember rightly, at Fiftj*
idxth street or thereabouts. Tho officer
was with one arm supporting and load-i
ing an intoxicated woman, while on-the
other arm ho carried an
tlio baby was crying and a Jgowd of ur¬
chins at tho officer’s heels V *
aud laughing. Ifelt sorry
fd’ow .—Brooklyn Gilt
>•
