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THE SUNNY SOUTH
JOBS H. SEAM, Editor A Proprietor,
Wm. B. SEAM, Prop’rood Cor. Editor.
■ART E. BETAS, (*) Associate Editor
CLUB KATES.
The regular subscription price of this paper is 12 50
a year, but we offer the following liberal terms:
To three or more subscribers all sending in at the
same time the paper will be furnished one year
for $2 00
Any one sending a club of five at $2 50 each, or a chib
of eight at S2 each, will receive an extra copy tree for
one year.
The Sunny South and Boys and Girls of the South
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may be added at the same rale.
ATLANTA. GA., SEPTEMBER 3, 1881.
Return of ye Editor.
Col. Seals dropped into the sanctum the
other day, looking natural as life and a good
deal larger, six weeks recreation in the brae
ing airs of the Northwest having added to his
avoirdupois. So soon as he is rested, he pro
poses to give to the readers of the “Scotty'
some glimpses of the region through which
he has been traveling—the land of lake and
prairie, home of the bearded wheat, where it
spreads itself in broad, thousand-acre
sheets of level gold, which CoL Seals saw
being swept by the glittering scythes of the
mowing machines that cut gather and bind as
they pass like a cyclone over the sea of wav
ing grain. Little they care for rain in that
region—It is a paradise—in summer. But
think of snow twenty feet deep and a ther
mometer forty degrees below freezing point!
That consideration makes us content with
the red hills of old Georgia. But the game,
the fish, the pellucid lakes; the energy and
vivid life of the people. Well the Colonel
will tell you all about it. Othello-like, he will
“move you to wonder” by the story of his
“Moving accidents by flood and field,
Tell of the antres vast and deserts idle
Kough quarries, hi I Is whose beads touch heaven
For ourself,we desire to say good bye fora
season. We have nearly forfeited the con
tract for a story by indulging in this too fas
cinating work of editing—so dearly loved
that it lures from more lucrative business.
So goodbye dear readers, “Householders,”
Correspondents—all with whom we have
held kindly intercourse through the magic
of printers ink. Perhaps we may send a sou
venir from the rocks and foam of Tallalulah,
whither we go to forget awhile that brick
and mortar, and engine smoke and screech
exist on this sublunary sphere. Auf Wiede
schen.
Fences and Franchise.
The peculiar beauty of what is termed
manhood suffrage is strikingly exemplified in
the struggle for a stock law in Georgia. The
necessity for such a law can be called in
question by no one whose interest does not
blind him to the public good. With rare ex
ceptions, landholders are in favor of its err-
actment But when put to the test of
popular vote, it has been defeated and will
continue to be, as long as it is left to be
determined by the majority of men counted
by the head. It is one of those questions
precisely which disingenuous degiagogues can
represent as an effort on the part of the rich
to oppress the poor, and as these latter will
always be in the numerical ascendency, they
can have it their own way. Such a presen
tation of the issue is most uncandid- While
it is a matter in which the land-owner is most
concerned, and one, therefore, in which his
preferences should prevail, it is also one in
which the well being of every poor man who
hopes to better his condition is largely in
volved. It is just as needful that the poor
man who rents a few acres should have his
crop protected from the incursion of his
neighbors’ hogs and cows as if he 'were the
proprietor of a lordly domain. It is just as
important that he should have pastures for
his one cow and his half-dozen swine as if he
were the possessor of vast herds, But cir
cumstanced as we are, it involves labor be
yond his ability to inclose with such fences
as the law requires the fertile acres inter
spersed amid sterile wastes upon which he
must depend for his crops. It would be far
easier to enclose his stock. As the matter
now stands, most farmers are compelled to
attempt both. There are few commons upon
which cattle can feed; one must fence in a
pasture or turn his poor cows out into the
lanes. Hunger impels them to break over the
poor fences, and perhaps unpleasant feelings
arise between the owners of the crop and cat
tle. From all these evils there is no hope of
relief so long as every body is allowed to vote
on the question. The negro votes “for fence”
every time, though he will not build one.
Put him on a place as a tenant, and he will
not only fail to replace the rails that rot, but
he will make haste to burn all that are near
his house, He refuses to fence even his own
crop and then votes against having that crop
protected by law. This he does in most in
stances solely because he finds that many
white people want a stock law, and he thinks
if it be good for the white man it must be
bad for him. Are not such people worthy of
the ballot? * *
The President’s Doctor’s Bill.
Some two week ago, it was announced by
the New York Graphic, that the President’s
doctor’s bill had then mounted up to $70,800
—that the four physicians in attendance each
charged a hundred dollars per day, Dr.
Agnew a thousand for each visit and five
thousand each for the two operations he had
performed, with extra fees for consulting.
Dr. Hamilton also charges a thousand dollars
for each visit. This is outside the hundred
dollars per day of the four constantly attend
ing doctors—Bliss, Barnes, Woodward and
Reyburn. This “little bill” will be paid from
the public (that is the people’s) purse. When
a man is in a hurry to have a thing completed,
he usually hires it done by the job not by the
day. If Congress had come that dodge over
the doctors at the out-set might not we have
had the good President on his feet before
this?
A Chicago dealer estimates that each of the
50,000,000 people of the United States discards
an average of five pounds of clothing yearly,
making 350,000,000 pounds for the whole.
THE AZTEC FOLK.
A Tramp Tfcronjjli New Mex
ico-Old Aztec Mines and
other Ruins—The Pue
blo Indians Etc.
Potters Magazine for September has a long
illustrated sketch of a trip across the grassy
plains of Colorado to romantic New Mexico
—region new to our civilization, and but
lately pierced by the iron wedge of progress,
yet full of vestiges of an antique, unknown
people—a race who were no mean workmen
and who were acquainted with many of the
arts on which we pride ourselves.
It took all the power of the iron giant—
Uncle Dick—the sixty five tc n engine (heaviest
in America) to pull the train up the steep
graded height of Raton Pass. But once be
yond the pass, and wild sweet views burst
upon the pleased vision. Scattered among
the rocks and woods were the mul-built,
mud-roofed houses of the Mexicans, and
about them were the black haired swarthy
people themselves. Cattle, sheep and horses
in plenty, but little sign of any cultivation
of the land.
In the half venerable, half new and flour
ishing town of Las Vegas, the houses in “old
town” are bnilt in the ancient Spanish style,
a court in the centre surrounded on all sides
by rooms built of adobe with tiny, broad-
silled windows. In Lis Vegas our traveler
found plenty of beggar; with the authodox
staff, bag and dirt; but the city authorities
allowed them to beg only on Saturdays—an
idea that might well be carried out else
where-extended to meet the case of thechro-
mo agent and lightning rod man.
Very seldom were the native Indians (Pue
blo and Navajo tribes) found among the beg
gars. These Indians are superior in thrift to
the Mexicans. They make blankets that
have a wide reputation for beauty and ser
vice, and they engage industriously in farm
ing, supplied bv the United States with im
plements for that purpose. Unlike most
other savage tribes, they do not impose all
the work on the females, and they pay more
respect to women, even admitting them some
times to share in their conncUs. These as
semblies are held in their council halls which
are circular-shaped buildings made of adobe
and without windows.
On its way to the ancient city of Santa Fe,
the train passes ‘ Starvation Peak,” a moun
tain which takes its name from a tradition
that, upon the barren plateau on its top, a
body of Indians perished of slow starvation,
having been driven there in the days of tribe-
exterminating war by their savage enemies,
who surrounded the base of the mountain.
On an elevation overlooking the beautiful
Pecos valley and river are the ruins of the
antique Aztec town and church of old Pecos.
Around the walls of the old church may be
picked up pieces of pottery, doubtless frag
ments of vessels used in worship. Iu the
valley lies the new town of Pecos, irrigated
by the lovely Pecos river. All these fertile
lands are watered by irrigation, and many
of the acequias are extremely picturesque,
being raised on piles or carried around
masses of rocks in aqueducts. The rise is
often dammed to give the proper fall.
At Pecos, our traveler picked up two com
rades, a Frenchman with a romantic history,
and a burro, or donkey, so low that to get off
him one had only to stand 1 traight on his
feet and let the little beast walk from under
him. Packing all the provisions and other
impedimenta upon the patient but lazy burro,
our tramps started up the crystal Pecos,
through a valley of rich wild growth, inter
spersed with widely scattered patches of
corn, wheat, beans and tobacco. They
ascended a mountain for the purpose of ex
ploring an old Aztec mine which bad re
cently been discovered by a huge rain storm
dislodging the large triangular stone which
covered its month. Lighting torches of pitch
pine, they penetrated the gloomy labyrinth,
and found it black and dreary with crumb
ling rook*-on each side. 4l-t TBppoced tint
the mine still contains valuable metaL
Onr tramps and their donkey next visited
the town of El Matcho and attended a c
rious church consecration and afterwards
ball, where the dancing was vigorous and
1 graceful. And whenever there was a lull in
t, the men congregated at one end of the
hall and smoked while the women sat on
benches around the wall at the other end of
the room, Conversation between the sexes
seems contrary to etiquette and flirtation is
only carried on by a sly whisper in the ear
and squeeze of the hand. The people are very
ignorant, few being able to read or write.
Four miles from Matcho is the cave of E!
E-peritu Santo or Holy Ghost This cave,
which few have explored because of its nar
row entrance passage, was formerly used a
? Iace of public assemblage by the Aztecs,
'he walls were full of Indian hieroglyphs,and
lottery and tom-toms (native drums) have
ieen found in some of its many chambers and
winding passages.
El Espiritu Creek is described as very
beautiful—a crystal stream flashing with
foam and spray over its rocky bed. with a
mass of gorgeous vegetation on either side—
moss, ferns, wild hops, clematis, scarlet-
fruited wild cherries, and balsamic cedar
and spruce.
Our travellers visited a'miea mine And sever
al gold and silver mines, run by water pow
er, also the several factories at Las Vegas
where native workmen make the far-famed
gold filagree work. Silver City—the centre
of the grand mining section—they found to
be a thriving town of twenty-five hundred
inhabitants, busy, bustling and with plenty
of tempting silver bricks, gold dust and oop-
per pigs scattered around.
Near here are the old Santa Rito copper
mines over which hangs a shadow of shame
and sadness; for centuries ago these mi ;es
were worked by enslaved Indians in the in
terests of the Spanish crown. Tbey were
victims of horrible cruelty, and were forced
by their terrible sufferings to rebel and in
flict punishment upon Heir subjugators.
They were again conquered, but Dot before
they made as a condition to their submission
that they should never labor in these mines
again. The mines have never since been
worked.
Literary Aspirants*
Some Practical Hints to Toug
Writers.
The conditions of literary effort are in
these days very different from what they
formerly were. Within the present centsoy,
journalism has risen from something like a
pastime into the dignity of a profession. It
has developed into a highly organized exist
ence. From an incongruous horde of literary
nomads, whose movemements tended no
where and everywhere, it has been concen
trated into the drilled and disciplined order
of an army, with companies and regiments
each under its own particular weapons. And
the individual has changed with the organ-
zation. Every man does not now set up for
a captain, though any private with the
necessary ability may hope to be one. As
was said of the proverbial French soldier, so
may every private in the regiments of liter
ature carry a marshal’s baton in his knap
sack. Literary labor is now more than evei
in the position of earning its money’s worth;
and _ although the reward may not be pro
portioned to the effort, that is a contingency
which is not incidental to this department of
labor only, but holds equally of all branches
of human industry and application.
To one, therefore, who possesses any fair
Women as Physicians.
The Queen’s Disapproval of Fe
male R. D’s—Women Doc
tors in old Days.
We have never felt any extraordinary lik
ing for England’s Queen—never felt like ech
oing the claptrap about her noble womanli
ness, wisdom etc. The wisdom shown in
her reign is due to her excellent ministers
and other advisers; her womanliness is of a
very narrow order and much hedged in by
egotism, vanity and a contracted idea of the
importance olf forms and conventions. For
instance she has been the cause of the ill
health,if not the death,of several of her frag
ile and weak chested ladies of the Court be
cause she would not allow them to appear at
her receptions etc., in other than the low-
necked short sleeved regulation court dress.
It is notorious that she made a jealous and
exacting wife to the best of husbands, and
that she is miserly and close fitted to a dis
gusting extent. With a private fortune of
many millions to say nothing of the immense
income accrueing to her by virtue of her office
as sovereign, she yet ref uses to “set up" any
of her numerous off spring wh9n they marry,
and calls upon the people (through Parlia
ment) to endow the lot of royal beggars,
while her coffers groan with hoarded mil-
BILLARP
Joaquin Biller, the Indian's
Champion.
Joaquin Miller is the latest champion of
the xed man. All his latest works, “Ploughed
Under,” “A Century of Disgrace,” “Shad
ows of Shasta,” protest eloquently, almost
fiercely, against the injustice which has been
done to the Indians. In his last book, “Shad
ows of Shasta,” he is very earnest. It is
called a “whirlwind of indignation and
scorn” against the American government and
the American people, for their treatment of
the tribes on the Pacific slope. He says in
the preface to his wild, pathetic, dramatic
romance, “I was impelled to write this book
because last year, in the heart of the Sierras,
saw women and children chained together
and marched down from their cool, healthy
homee to degradation and death on the Reser
vation. At the side of this long chained line,
urged on and kept in line by bayonets, rode
Young officer splendid in gold and brass,
and newly burnished from that now famous
charity school on the Hudson. These women
and children were guilty of no crime; they
were not even accused of wrong * * * but
like Israel of old were being led into captiv
ity—but, unlike the chosen children, never to
return to the beloved heart of their moun
tains.”
In the midst of the national misfortune of
a bad crop year and a disabled President, a
cheering gleam comes from Washington—
the assurance that the public debt was re
duced $10,000,000 during July, the first
month of the current fiscal year. During
the twelve montns ending June, the reduc
tion on the debt was $101,573,483.
degree of literary skill, there are in our dnjd ^lions. Parliament must also refer the Prince’s
many avenues open, if not to distinction an<BT debts to the people for payment,
affluence, at least to a respectable eompe 1 ” - • - - - ~
tency. But, like all other attainments,it can
only be acquired by bard work and persistent
effort. To the young literary aspirant,there
fore we woud say: Write carefully, and at
leisure; do not fall into the stupid conceit of
“dashing things off;” have no aversion to
your faults being pointed out, but beware,on
the other hand, of the exuberant praise be
stowed upon your manuscript by interested
relatives; and once your work is honestly
done, and neatly written out, do your bit
to find a likely channel of publication for it.
If not at first successful, you may be in the
long run; and if not with the first piece, lay
it aside and try another.
An editor is frequently blamed if he does
not immediately return an unavailable paper
and is regarded as unkind or even harsh if be
fails to point out the faults of the unfortun
ate manuscript; but a little reflection will
show bow unreasonable it is to expect that
that hard-worked personage can have time
to criticise, for the benefit of any tyro who
may ask, the imperfections of that tyro’s
work. Nor can an editor possibly peruse and
judge of the merits or otherwise of a multi-
plicityfof manuscripts immediately upon their
reception. Diys, even a week or two, may
elapse before he can give them the necessary
attention.
Contributors would be more patient regard
ing their papers,if they only knew how earn
estly a conscientious editor labors to throw
into shape an imperfectly written article or
tale; nor would they wonder at their offer
ings being so frequently abridged, if they
knew how many papers were constantly
struggling for a place. “Deal small and
serve all,” is one of the editor’s necessary
maxims,
His duty is to cater for a public who must
be satisfied that what is periodically offered
to it suits its taste. Nor can the editor who
would hold together his clientele of readers
admit the offerings of even the widow or the
orphan, unless they pass the tribunal of hi*
judgment—a cruel duty, doubtless, but one
which the stern exigencies of his position ne
cessitates.
One notable source of failure to the literary
aspirant is his inability or unwillingness to
accommodate the style of his contribution to
that of the magazine or journal he proposes
to send it. It is clear that when an editor
opens a manuscript and finds that the head
ing of it indicates a subject obviously inap
propriate for his purposes he will go no fur
ther into it. On the other hand, if the sub
ject be such as comes within the scope 1
srgh ciutv prauiCatlOTlV VOS' ydungn»YiS_
at least made one step in his progress good,
for his paper, unless the editor has previous
ly accepted a similar article from another
hand, will then be considered on its merits.
Of course, when a writer has been sufficient
ly tested and approved, and has reached the
honor of a place on the staff of contributors
which most magazines in course of time gath
er round them, this difficulty is less felt, as
then he has his work frequently allocated to
him by the editor, subject and all But
young writers cannot get into this position in
a day, or a year, if ever; and meantime,
therefore, they must set down this question
of fitness as among the considerations that
are necessary on their part if they would hope
to appear in print in the quarter toward
which their ambition points.—Potters.
Fault Finding; Preachers.
The office of the fault finder is not a diffi
cult one. The follies and errors of our fel
low men can always be readily discerned,
and it is no evidence of superior discernment
when one finds much to condemn: yet is his
not a gracious or benificent calling. One
who assumes to pass strictures upon the con
duct of those about him will not be very pop
ular or do much good. The erring will more
surely be won to a better mode of life by
presenting before them the beauties of virtue
than by biting sarcasms abeut their short
comings. There however are moral teach
ers who seem to think otherwise. We have
beard preachers who seemed to think it the
main purpose of their sermon to set in array
the short comings of their congregations.
Furious condemnation was pronounced upon
every lapse from this standard of right. The
direst thraatnings wee utt* red against this
evil practices. Now while we admit that the
terrors of the Divine Law should not be
withheld by him who serves as God’s herald,
we think a milder style of preaching would
br more likely to win men to goodness. Sat
ire rarely pays. Spectators enjoy it, vic
tims wither under it, but it does not promote
the love and practice of virtue, you may
more certainly win by enticing words than
yon can drive by the keenest strokes of the
lash. * *
Dinner in London.
Americans rebel against the leisurely Lon
don hotel dinner. It consumes too 3 much
time, and the mischief of it is there is very
little else it does consume. A Yankee de
scribes it tersely: “There is a mouthful to
eat, then a square acre of silence.” When the
waiter, with necktie and shirt-front of im
maculate whiteness, brings yon a small bit of
bread and a dish of slightly-colored water
called soap, you proceed with quiet resigna
tion, in the belief that you will have dinner
presently. Your curiosity is only the more
aroused when the plates are changed; and
after a long, dreary waiting you receive a
very small bit of fish. Then the table is
cleared again, and yon are served with a bit
of chicken. Like a true American you have
dispatched your bread long enough since,
and you take chicken and “play it alone,-”
but you conclude It is passing strange when
you learn that buttered chestnuts and noth
ing else, or a bit of cheese alone, will be
served for a course. And so you continue for
an hour or two—in patient expectation of
the meal that never comes. Be sure, how
ever, the bill is long enough. A Mississippian
not long since, when he had borne patiently
until the meal was half over, thundered out
to the waiter: “Good gracious! Life is too
short to be wasted in this manner, sir! For
heaven’s sake, bring me something to eat!”
Nobody can deny that the Queen has what is
called “good common sense”—that is, she is
prudent and shrewd in the conduct of her
pergonal affairs, and has wisdom enough to
leave public matters to her statesmen, but
she can hardly be prevailed upon to do char
itable deeds enough to save her credit and
she has no large idea of Christian charity for
her sex. At a late reception she publicly
turned her broad back upon Lady Burdette
Coutts, her faithful,long time friend. Decause
the good and generous Baroness had in her
opinion overstepped the boundary of propri
ety by marrying a man younger than her
self. Prince Albert was a warm patron of
art and science, and a friend to social and
intellectual progress so far as he dared to be,
bnt bis august relict puts her foot down up
on all progressive movements which do not
cut and trim themselves to suit her ideas of
propriety. As a recent illustration we have
her command that women physicians shall
be excluded from the great International As
semblage of physicians in London. The royal
intermeddler with progress thus involves a
profession, which has shown itself so liberal
in its views, in a movement that may well be
construed as “narrow and cliqueish.” The
The American commenting on this exclusion
of women from the Medical Congress savs:
Of course, the blame of this proceeding
does not rest with the association at large.
As in all such meetings, the local representa
tives outnumber all the rest. There must be
three London doctors in attendance for one
from abread. And in all circles of London
society there is a deference to royal sugges
tions which we in America are apt to find
ridiculous. The medical profession of Amer
ica shows no such jealousy of doctors of the
gentler sex. Their college in this city has
ample recognition as a regular medical
school, and, while the arrangements as to
hospital clinics have not been always harmo
nious, we never heard of a tegular physician
refusing t<f consult with a woman who held
its diploma. On the contrary, we have wit
nessed instances of the most ample courtesy
in recognition of their standing as physicians.
We have seen them called in at the sugges
tion of some of the best physicians of this
city. While still in the chrysalis stage, the
American “med” is apt to look down on wo
men doctors; but, when he emerges into the
more genial atmosphere of his profession, he
parts with his contempt for them.”
Without believing in the claims put for
ward as to woman’s political rights, we be
lieve in womas’s right to do anything she is
fit for, and to earn her Jiving at any employ
ment for wETcff She has the capacity. As to
woman’s capacity for the medical profession,
there is no room for a difference of opinion.
We shall not claim for her the right to the
highest walks in medical science. She may
not keep even step with Simpson and Cullen
But neither do the rank and file of the pro
fession. The sex may give the world names
as great as these; it is not necessary to pre
diet their advent. The average woman is
good material for an average doctor; and
average doctors are what most of us have to
depend on when we are out of health.
Iu some respects, women have the advan
tage of men. They have an instinctive per
sonal interest in human beings. They are
accustomed to take care of people. They
have an inexhaustible fund of compassion for
suffering. That they are the best of nurses,
every one knows. It is only of late years
that their capacities in this direction have
been developed by scientific training. Fifty
years ago, Mrs. Sairey Gamp held the place
now occupied hy Florence Nightingale and
Dora Lonsdale. And from these to such doc
tors as Ann Preston is no great transition.
You cannot make first-class nurses without
teaching them medicine. Miss Lonsdale
found it necessary to study anatomy and
practice surgery in the management of her
hospital. And when a woman comes to
know as much of such matters as a man, she
can take the man’s responsibility without
danger either to her patient or to the mod
esty of her sex.
Five hundred years ago, the women of
Europe had in their hands nearly all the
genuine medical and surgical practice. The
ladies of the medieval castle and of the later
country-houses had a traditional skill in
“simples” and in surgical practice. The
regular doctors of those times were generally
quacks, whose recipe-books still record their
shameless guessing and their profound ignor
ance. Medicine passed from the women to
the men, chiefly through the advance made
by great chemists of the rougher sex. It will
never return to women to the extant they
once had it in their hands. But their long
and unreasonable exclusion from its practice
is ceasing. Tocy are, for the future, to hold
an honorable and recognized place by the side
of men.
The failure as practising physicians is fore
told because their own sex will not employ
them. It is said, “Women do not stand br
each other. See how the Queen acted in this
instance. Who ever knew a woman to trust
a woman in such matters. Tbey will call in
men when they are ill.” But this is a hasty
view of the case. Women do trust women in
such matters. To say nothing of midwifery,
they have a habit of getting medical recipes
from one another, and trying them on their
children. Every grandmother expects to be
consulted on the treatment of her grandchil
dren in measles, whooping-cough, and cold.
It is not that the new doctors are of their
own sex, that is in the way of their employ
ment. It is that they are a novelty, not yet
recognized socially as “proper,” and there
fore objectionable to the conservative sex.
When tbe novelty wears off, and the house
mother has become accustomed to the gentle
voice and womanly ways of an Ann Preston
in her nursery, she will forget all about her
objections,—will forget even to wonder at
her entertaining them
Sunlight and Shadows”-By
John B. Gough.
We have just finished glancing through
this fascinating work of the great Temper
ance advocate. It is not a collection of his
lectures, though it contains the cream of
these—the illustrative anecdotes and inci
dents. “Sunlight and Shadow” crystalizes
the rich experiences of the extensive traveler
and keenly observant student of humanity.
These reminiscences are very varied in char
acter—at once entertaining and instructive,
now light and laughable, now shadowed with
pathos and fraught with a deeper moral It
is a book that will prove a true friend in any
family—a treasury of smiles and tears to
open on autumn and winter evenings and
read aloud to the household Its handsome
exterior is worthy of the excellent contents.
In another issue we may give some extracts
that will illustrate its character.
Tbe trap Collapse-Big Roney
in Futures—A Devastated
Belon-patch—A Plan to
Give ’Em a Scare—It
Succeeds, but Wil
liam Sailers.
A ten weeks drouth is not calculated to
produce much hilarity in a farmer’s family,
nevertheless we haven’t put on mourning at
my house. The bottom corn is pretty good.
The barn is lull of hay that was cut and
cured in the early summer. About ten
thousand bundles of fodder will soon be
added to the stock of long forage. There is
a good lot of oats in the sheaf, and wheat
straw in the rack, and so I reckon we will
pull through all right. We never planted
any cotton, and are that much better off
than our nabors. Tbey talked about making
a half crop a few weeks ago, but now they
have got down to a quarter, and their up
land corn is burnt up. Already there are
lets of second class mules and horses seeking
purchasers, for the farmers can’t winter ’em,
and nobody wants to buy, and tbey will go
for a song. I tell you it’s a regular collapse,
and people bad better begin to set their
houses in order for hard times. From Rich
mond to San Antonio, from the Onio river to
the gulf it’s generally bad—a failure of crops
with few exceptions. If I was a speculator
and could find a partner who would furnish
the money and take all the risk, I would buy
cotton futures right now, and give him half
the profits, for the crop won’t reach five mil
lion bales this year certain. Com will be
$1.50 a bushel before January. Every far
mer ought to sow some rye or barley rigbt
away, an acre or two or a half acre anyhow
for early spring forage. Sow plenty of oats
for a later supply. Plow deep, manure
richly and use the harrow. Sow some grass
or clover seed with the oats. Let the far
mers in upper Georgia compost all their cot
ton seed so they wont have any to plant, and
maybe in two years we will gain all that we
have lose by the drouth.
When I feel blue at home 1 hunt up the
children and go frolicking with ’em. There
are children and grandchildren all mixed up
together, and you can hardly tell tother from
which,'and they are up to all sorts of sport
and mischief, and keep Mrs. Arp in a state
of maternal anxiety, but they love us and
we love them. Tbey keep us amused and
perplexed, for we wonder what they will do
next for devilment. Three of ’em were
riding the old mare without a bridle and sud
denly she took a notion to walk into the
stable and then into her stall. The top of
the door just raked ’em all off in a pile, and
from their screams I was shore they were
killed bnt the fertile soil they fell on was soft
and no bones were broken. They caught the
Tom cat and one of ’em took him by the fore
legs and another by the hind-legs, and was
trying to pull him in two, and such a squalling
I never heard when suddenly the hand holt
give way and old Tom took his revenge by
scratching the other boy into a squall of a
different kind. I made ’em a little dam
across the branch under the willows for em
to bathe in and they wanted to stay in all
day, but Mrs. Arp cut down their time to
half an hour in the shank of the evening.
The other morning I missed em, and so in pe
rusing around X heard em at the bathing hole
and saw their clothes a little way off on the
grass. 1 managed to slip up and steal em,
carried em to Mrs. Arp with as much solemni
ty as Joseph’s bretheren carried his blood v
coat to their father. ‘ ‘Mercy on me, what shall
> do with those children,” she exclaimed,
“They will catch their death in that branch.
William you must get me three switches and
then go out and call them. I will not stand
it,” So I got half a dozen sizable ones from
a peach tree and brought em to her, when she
gave me one of her curious looks and remark
ed: “Did you expect me to brat the poor
- llotie uiiiigd bo dsitfrt I dident want but
one,” and she broke off about a foot and a
half of the little end and throwed the others
away. I called em awhile and it was pitiful
to see the the little chaps hunting around for
their clothes and finally coming like a funeral
procession to tbe house. They hid behind
the cabin and were taking on a powerful
when Mrs. A. met ’em with their clothes in
one hand and the switch in the other. They
begged and promised and cried. Nary lick
was struck that I heard of and in ten minutes
they all had biscuit and syrup on the door
step and peace and harmony prevailed.
What is home without a mother.
The other morning my big boy went down
to get some water melons and the water
melons were gone. Just over in the corn
field close by was the sign of where the ev
erlasting rascals had cut open and gutted
about a dozen of the finest ones in the patch.
It’s a sorter of a sickly feeling that comes
over a man when he goes out to look at his
melons and the melons are not there. If the
rascals take one and leave two it’* not so bad,
but when they take all the best ones and cut
’em up and waste more than they eat the ag
gravation is of a very lively character. There
is no religion that I know of that will enable
a man under such circumstances to go back
home with a smile on his face. Shot guns
come into hiB mind in spite of all he can do.
Says I to my hoy, “Them are nigger tracks
and they will come again.” So that night
we agreed to kill a nigger whether he come
or not. There were two darkies on the place
and we loaded the guns and tied up the dog
and my boy told the darkies he wanted’em
to still hunt with him and lie in the corner of
the fence and watch. I fixed up a bottle of
Spanish brown and just before night slipped
down in the field and sprinkled it along for
a hundred yards to the creek bank and knock
ed down a few corn stalks and come back. I
was to get over the fence into the melon
patch that night and the darkies was to see
me and give the alarm, and my boys was to
shoot over me and I was to run around the
fence to the house and my boy and the dar
kies was to run after me to the creek and
next morning they was to find tbe blood and
it was to be norated that we had killed a nig
ger and he was drowned in the creek be
sides. Well it all worked very nice. The
darkiei saw me and thought I was a shore
enough thief and my boy shot at me and I
hollered “O Lordy” and fell over the fence
and run and here they all come a tearin’.
My boy led the race towards the creek but
one of the darkies saw me a slipping along
another way and about that time the dog got
loose and here he come a barkin and a yelpin
and got on my track and the darkey followed
him and I shook the lead out of my heels and
split for home. I haven’t had such a run in
thirty years. I beat the darkey badly, but
the dog caught me by the breeches leg as I
fell on the steps, and come mighty near get
ting some blood that wasn’t made of Spanish
brown. Mrs. Arp and the children heard the
fuss and such a sereamin and hollerin, all
mixed up with the fool dog a barkin, was
never heard before at my house. It took
several minutes to quiet the family and ex
plain, but as good luck would have it the
darkey turned back to the creek, for my boy
kept a callin of him, and before they got
home again the excitement was all over and
the darkies had a big time tellin us how they
run one nigger into the creek and another to
parts unknown. Next dav the blood was.
tracked, and ever since its lieen all that we
can do to keep the coroner from coming out
and dragging the creek for a dead nigger.
No more melons have been stolen since, but
the next time we try that remedy I think I
will do the shooting and let somebody else
do the running, for I haven’t got over it yet,
SPECIAL MENTION.
PENCIL AND SCISSORS.
Chicago has fixed a day in 1882 when all
telegraph wires must go underground.
The United States has nearly fifty per cent,
more paper mills than any other country in
the world, and it consumes about as much
paper as the mills manufacture.
One of the chief hindrances to telegraphing
in Japan is the grounding of the current by
spider-lines. Insignificant as tbis may seem,
it has always proved a serious obstacle.
A man in Sonora County, California, has
sold over $700 worth of carp this year from a
pynd covering less than an acre of ground
and has 20,000 fish of various sizes remaining!
An Arkansas journal says that they have
in that State a spring so powerfully impreg
nated with iron that the farmers’ horses
which drink at it never have to be shod, the
shoes grow on their feet naturally.
The senate of Georgia has passed an anti-
Mormon bill. It makes it a felony, punish
able by imprisonment at hard labor in the
penitentiary, for any person to attempt to
mislead or influence any one to commit the
crime of polygamy.
A Philadelphia scientist recently made, in
the Christian Register, an honest, but, if we
mistake not, reluctant confession: “Our
science of Nature, like our science of man, is
a patchwork of half-stated, half-worked-ou^
sums on a slate; and we are kept as busy with
the sponge as with the pencil.”
A fragment of a prehistoric garment with
a piece of wood attached, has been found in a
deposit of salt in Nevada. It appears to
have been knit by hand from the inner fibre
of a tree, A similar fragment was once
found in Louisiana among the bones of the
mastodon, which proved its great antiquity.
The Malley boys, of New Haven, who are
now in so mnch trouble concerning the death
of Jennie Cramer, are described as young
men who have always had plenty of spending
money, who cat a swell in the matter of dress,
and led fast lives. Plenty of money, fine
clothes, and nothing to do, is an admirable
receipt for the ruin of any young man,
whether he lives in New Haven or not.
Tbe cultivation of cotton is increasing in
Virginia, and it is now grown in nearly every
southern county of the State. A few years
ago the crop was merely nominal, while last
season the yield aggregated several thousand
bales. Planters are becoming dissatisfied
with tobacco growing, which they say im
poverishes the land, and the raising of cotton
is likely to takes its place.
Cotton-seed oil is used in Memphis, Tenn.
in the making of biscuits and crusts with
great success. For frying, making pastry
and cooking generally, and for eating wish
salads and cooked vegetables, it is said to be
altogether superior. The Italians import
large quantities of this oil, and mix it with
products of the olive, and sell us the mixture
at high prices. It is alleged that the resem
blance is so great that an expert cannot tell
the difference.
and the catch in my back is more than my
rheumatism. When Mrs. Arp sees me a limp
ing around she says: “William, I’m afraid
you are losing your senses. Will you never
realize that yon are growing old and can’t do
like you used to when you were young?”
Then I hum that sweet and plaintive song,
“When you and I were yonng, Maggie,” and
smooth her raven hair with a rough but lov
ing hand.
A temperance petition six hundred feet
long and containing thirty-two thousand sig
natures was presented to the Georgia Legis
lature the other day.
The associated railways of Virginia and
the Carolines comprise the Richmond &
Danville R. R. and auxiliary connections
1549 miles; the Atlantic Coast Line 6o5 miles
and the Seaboard Air Line 374 miles—a to
tal of 2425 miles. The Piedmont Air Line,
running from here to Richmond, is one of
our main arteries of trayel. The vim and
push of its management are settling up the un
occupied lands along its line and increasing
business to a large degree. No line is more
prosperous, a fact which demontrates the
enterprise and sagacity of its management.
Last summer Mr. H. F. Osborne bought a
pair of prairie-dogs in Colorado, and took
them to his home in Newark, N. J. In De
cember be decided to give them their custom
ary winter sleep under the ground. He had
a deep hole excavated in his garden, and
placing the dogs therein in a box, with a
piece of carpet for bedding, he shoveled in
the earth until the box was buried several
feet. In April the box was dug up, and the
dogs were found close together in a sound
sleep. They were taken into the house, and
quickly regained consciousness. They play
ed together, and seemed to be well and
strong.
Wilkes Booth, Guiteau, Hartmann and the
dynamite fiends generally have put some
rather vigorous suggestions into Brother
Jonathan’s head on the subject of political
assassinations. One of these suggestions was
embodied in a resolution offered by Mr. David
Dudley Field, as American delegate in the in
ternational law conference at Cologne the
other day, in favor of an extradition treaty
providing that neither assassinationn or at
tempted assassination,as a means of redressing
grievances, should be deemed a mere politi
cal offense within the meaning of the treaty,
and that the privilege of asylum should be de
nied the perpetrators of such a crime.
Last week we published an interesting pa
per concerning French home life, in which
there was allusion to the beautiful affection
with which French children regard their pa
rents. A correspondent furnishes this recent
illustration of filial affection among a people
who are characterized as “light and shallow
natired.” Injone o* the poeier par(s of Paris
in a neat little lodging, there lived a good old
woman and her only son, a comely, active
young workman, “Ma-mere” is a word hon
ored and petted in every true French breast;
but this son » as more than usually attached
to his mother; her happiness appeared to be
his sole aim in life; he could not bear the idea
of marrying or leaving her in any way, ex
cept for his daily work. List Saturday
night, having received his wages, he wa3
gaily returning to his bright little home, a
new, snowy cap for his old darling delicately
carried in his brawny hand; but instead of
the dear familiar face, he was met at the
door by a crowd of neighbors, who informed
him his mother was gone—forever. Htr
Maker had suddenly called her away. Over-’
whelmed with grief, the young man sank
down in a fit; it proved mortal, and mother
and son were buried—as they had lived—to
gether.