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THE FLOWERS CO? LECTluN
VOLUME XLII—NUMBER TWENTY-EIGHT.
Atlanta, Ga., Week Ending September JO, J904.
nssanaREBQHas *
50c PER YEAR—SINGLE COPY 5c.
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• ... 9—m—9^9—9—9^9-'9—9--9^9—9-^9
i All Sons of AnaK,
I THis Remarkable West Virginia Family
• ••9-»-9--9‘-9-»9‘»-9'»9;-9-»-9;-9-&
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I Planters and Uncle Sam Checked i
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I By Louisiana and Florida Hyacinths \
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Steamer on Bayou Teche, Near Franklin, Making Its Way Through Weter Hyacinths. The Water Cannot Be Seen
For the Growth.
By APOLLINE LEACOCK.
Written for Z57re Sunny South
OUISIANA claims to have
more waterways than any
Photograph of Benjamin F. Hamrick and Nine Tall Sons, Each Measuring Over Six Feet in Height.
By OSCAR LONG.
Written for Tohe Sunny South
r-rn HIS is a picture of Benjamin F.
I Hamrick and his nine tail eons,
* of Webster Springs, W. Va. They
arc possibly the largest family of tall
sons ever reared to manhood. Each
one is a physical giant. Mr. Hamrick
is also the father of five daughters,
each one grown to womanhood.
The father is 6 feet 514 inches in
height. The nine sons in succession
are Arnold, who is 6 feet IU inches m
height; Isaac. 6 feet 5-li inches; Adam,
6 feet 3 inches; William. 6 feet I inch;
Plli, 6 feet 3 inches; Simpson, 6 feet
I Vi - inches; Felix, 6 feet 2 inches; El
lis, 6 feet 5 inches, and George, 6 feet
3 in ch es
The aggregate height of the father and
nine sons is 62 feet 6% Inches; the com
bined weight of the father and boys is
1.744 pounds.
The a.ge<i father is very active for one
of his advanced years. His family of
boys are among the best citzens of Web
ster Springs, and the five married
daughtes arc the living testimonials of a
devoted mother.
It Is doubtful if this family record can
be surpassed. It is rare that three sons
cf the same parents will attain unusual
height, but nothing less than phenom
enal when nine sons, all above the nor
mal, survive to reach manhood. The
daughters, too, make this family the
more notable. Large families are not
specially infrequent in this section of
the country, but the tribe of Hamrick
easily takes precedence over any other
entries in the lieighth class. It is us
ual, too, to find some trace of physi
cal weakness in collective instances of
this nature, but the Hamrif-k family is
an entire exception to this rule. It
would he difficult to find a more robust
set of men than these nine brethren.
They are all genial of temperament,
sanguine and industrious. Their phy
sical endurance is remarkable and they
perform tasks which would stagger the
man of average height.
Hamrick, pere. is of simple, whole
some unostentatious nature. lie at
tributes the fine growth of his children
and the excellent health of himself and
wife at their advanced age to plain liv
ing Much of his life has been spent
in the open, in the pursuit of healthful,
invigorating work. He believes in the
cardinal doctrine of a plentiful, but sim
ple. diet, lots of hard work and an
abundance of sleep. It is his opinion
that if more of the denizens of cities
observed these elemental rules, the aver
age of longevity would be greatly ex
tended. the doctors made to hustle for
their livings, and the old age special
ists sent pell-mell into other occupa
tions.
He says, too, that the work of the
yoriii would be much more cheerfully
and thoroughly done, since no man who
is constantly fretting concerning his
health and his expectation of life can
accomplish much in either mental or
physical lines. The wisdom of many
years of experience in his memory—he
is a < lean-lived, sagacious, plain-natured
old philosopher whose maxims, if they
could be treasured by some competent
biographer, would constitute a valuable
addition to the strenuous life of the
present age, wherein every man, woman
arid child attempts to press into one min
ute the work of two, and whose chief
ambition is to cheat nature by giving to
aspiration and pleasure the hours which
were intended for recuperation and
sleep.
rq
H * other state in the union.
' Ti vrefore, thd wi her bye
cinth problem, which has
already assumed serious
proportions within her bor
ders. has an additional
weight. The picture here
with presented shows a
steamer making its way
through a bed of these
plants near the town of
Franklin, on Bayou Teche.
This stream is the most beautiful in
the state, and boa.sts along its borders
many fine rice and sugar plantations, be
sides lumber plants. So impeded has
navigation become by these lovely mem
bers of the aquatic family of plants that
it lias become necessary to petition the
aid of congress in their destruction.
The water hyacinth is said to be a na
tive of Guiana. It has beautiful glossy
leaves that float upon the surface of the
water and dangling feat' °ry roots, that
reach down through the suallow water to
the lied of the stream. The flower stalks
show delicate lilac blooms, the terminal
blossom having in its center a touch of
yellow. The prorogating stems of the
plant spread out in every direction and
multiplying at an extravagant rate form
a solid mass, which so entangles the
wheels of steamers that often they are
unable to make their way through them.
Not alone commercially speaking is the
water hyacinth problem serious in our
southern waters. From a sanitary point
of view It hits also to be reckoned
with. The plants that are washed upon
the shores by winds and waves, rot, and
result'antly exhale unhealthful odors.
Drainage, too. is oft-n impeded by the
Unpenetrable mass tii it they firm.
Tlx botanical name of the water hya
cinth is eichhomia pontederia crassipes
major. As to the introduction of the
plant into Bayou Teche. a story goes that
a young woman was sent a hunch of the
flowers from New Orleans, and that
while out boating one day cast the with,
ered remains of one into the stream—
hence the ancestry of the water hyacinth
problem on the beautiful bayou. Some of
the smaller bayous in Louisiana show
solid masses of green hyacinth plants
from shore to shoi'e.
The government has encountered the
same problem on one or two of the
streams in Florida. The assumption is
safe that thousands of dollars have been
spent in an effort to eradicate the enor
mous!^- fecund plant, to very little avail.
Chemical poisons were tried, but while
the hyacinths were temporarily routed,
the fish in the streams were destroyed,
vnd miwt important of all, cattle which
came to the brink to Slake their thirst.
Imbibed the poison and were annihilated
by the herd. The mechanical system was
attempted, but It amounted to little per
manent good.
For a time the ravages of the creeper
were stayed, but almost inside of two
months, or as soon as the backs of the
fighters were turned, the plant again ger
minated from roots and sprigs remaining
RELIGIOUS TOWNS,
(From a Letter to The Truth Seeker.)
The southwest corner of "Vermont was
settled on the principle that men of like
religious belief mostly keep together. The
Congregationalists went to Bennington,
the Episcopalions went to Arlington, the
Baptists to Shaftesbury, and those who
professed no particular religion (with an
adequate share of Baptists) to Pownal.
The stamp then given has never been
lost. From the first settlements to this
day the three towns first named have
l$ven almost unique among country towns
of that size for the strength of the
churches of the given denomination, and
these denominations have almost mo
nopolized the^e towns. These three towns
have also been In good l'epute for pro
gressive civilization.
As for Pownal. no church has ever
been able to thrive there, nor has civili
zation thrived; though it is the town next
adjoining Williams collegicg and two
presidents of the United States have
taught school in the same school house
in Pownal, intelligence and progress have
not developed much among the Pownal-
ese. This spring Pownal has been in the
papers as the scene of two whitecap af
fairs within a month or so.
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Dan McCarthy, Captain of Police
By J. Lincoln Steffens
Fourth in the Political Series
•• •......• I
O one on or off the police
force was ever long in
doubt as to who was boss
of Captain Dan McCar
thy's precinct. He used to
say:
"Me precinct is mine. I
made it. And if you don't
like it. get out or I'll put
you out. - ’
Tiin Delaney knew all
about it. When he was
the collector for the Ten
derloin he used to admire
the great, the small, the only Dan Mc
Carthy.' Tim was more genial and gen
erous than Dan, but he was inclined him
self to rule with an iron hand, and his
captain, old man Sparks,’’ having grown
nch and drunken in the fatness of his
bailiwick, turned everything over to his
favorite wardman, Tim, who iodked, lived
and gave commands like a captain of po
lice. But now that Delaney had set out
to be a captain by title os well as by
income and control, and in the brief
period of his sergcancy was placed under
McCarthy, (he stout little czar of the
Fifteenth did not seem so amusing.
"You come down here from Sparks to
tell me, Daniel McCarthy, about police
business? I know how to run the Ten
derloin. Yon dldn t make ten thousand a
month out of it, and It’s worth twenty.
That's what it is. Why Sparks let you
go on I don’t see, 'cept that he's a
loafer and a bum himself. If I'd known
I'd never a let you come here, not even
as a sergeant, and you’d been pounding
the sidewalk today if you'd a started
with me.”
Delaney recovered for a moment his
old, amusing view of McCarthy, "the
greatest man in the business.” But the
captain diverted him again.
"And one thing more, Mr. Sergeant De
laney. There’s prisoners been kicking
they didn’t get their dough back in the
morning. Drunks? I know it.”
"Well,” said Delaney; "do you want
that too?”
“I want it all turned in, see, every red
cent.”
McCarthy waited long enough for his
will to carry home. Then he went into
his room and slammed the door, hard.
Delaney’s face set. His eyes fixed on
that closed door while the heat and the
cold raced up and down through his body.
When the 6 o'clock roll was called that
evening and Sergeant Simpson took the
desk, Delaney did not go home. He
waited about the room while Simpson re
ceived the reports of the men returning
from their posts. Then a prisoner was
brought in, and several citizens called to
make inquiries and complaints. It was
nearly an hour before all was quiet again
and Simpson, having bis books in siiapo,
slammed the last one shut and looked up
at Delaney, who was hanging over the
railing in his favorite attitude of rest.
Simpson was a blue-eyed, gray-haired
man of 50, spare, reserved, but always
cheerful, and a good officer. He smiled
when be turned to the* younger man.
"Simpson,” said Delaney, seriously, "is
a sergeant dirt?’
“Well,” said Simpson, "you were a hig
her man when you were with Sparks, De
laney, than you are as sergeant of police
here—or in any other precinct.”
i 9 •••*•• 9
i
“And you yourself, Mr. Simpson?”
"I? Oh, I’m dirt. Tim, me boy; I’m dii't
like all the rest down here.”
Delaney stepped around behind the
desk, took the chair beside Simpson, and
whispered in his ear a long time.
“Will you?” he said at last. "Wifi
you stand by me?”
Simpson had been nodding and smiling
while he listened. Now his face sobered.
He looked Delaney straight in the eye,
and said with fine decision:
“No, Tim. I won’t. The old man is
too much for you, too much for the whole
four sergeants together. He’d know in a
day what we were doing.”
Delaney got up. kicked his trousers
down, and strode off toward the door.
“And, Tim,” Simpson called, “he knows
now what you are trying to do."
Delaney walked lightly to hear this,
but he did not stop. He went out and
home.
The moment he was gone the captain
came out of his room.
Sergeant Simpson was following with
his eyes—and with his thoughts—this
rampant brute of a man, when the sta
tion house door opened. The captain
stopped in his tracks under the chande
lier, the sergeant sat up straight; it was
an unpropitious moment for a citizen to
call on the police. And it was a citizen,
a little, weazened old man, in part of a
Grand Army uniform. He, too, stopped
short. He looked at the captain and
shrank, then at the sergeant, whose face
invited him to speak.
‘I s —' s Captain Delaney in?” the old
soldier asked, addressing the sergeant.
“Captain, who” McCarthy asked the
question.
“Oap-
Al-
“Captain Delaney, sir,’’ he ?
tain Delaney. Is he here, sir?”
“Captain Delaney? Captain, eh?
ready, is he”
McCarthy lifted his outspread hands
above his head, looked up, and laughed.
His hands gripped convulsively, then he
was suddenly silent, and his eyes and
arms fell, his fists balled up. He ad
vanced slowly, and thrusting his jaws
and fists in his victim’s terrified face, he
bawled:
“There is no Captain Delaney here.
There is no Captain Delaney at all, at all.
There never will be a Captain Delaney.
Get out of here.”
“Why. I—you see. I meant Tim Dela
ney. He was my captain in the war I’m
a Grand Army man. Captain Delaney
commanded my company in the—”
"There is no Captain Delaney here.
There is only one captain here—and that
is Captain Dan’l McCarthy. Me. Get
out.”
"But "
"Get out.”
The veteran was pulling at the knob,
but he trembled so he could hardly open
the door. When it gave way. he nearly
fell, but the captain lilt him. straighten
ing him up, then kicked him down the
steps and the old man ran for his fife
up the street.
Simpson saw him disappearing around
a corner. The sergeant had jumped down
from his desk to the door, and now when
he turned back at the captain, McCarthy
was reefing into his room. His arms
waved and his body doubled with laugh
ter. ’Captain!” lie yelled, "Captain De
laney!” Then the laughter. The door
slammed and Sergeant Simpson returned
to his chair, but for- half an hour he
heard at intervals the shout, "Captain,”
followed by laughter.
At midnight that night Simpson called
the three other sergeants about him and
told them what had happened. Ginn fid
geted and the fourth sergeant, Vogel, a
German, was stolid. But all were ’ery
at tentive.
“Poor old fellow,” said Delaney. "Poor
old Billy."
That was all. But when Simpson put
out his hand to him and said, "I’m with
yoi^. Tim.’’ Delaney grasped the hand
with both his.
"Thanks, Simpson. I’ll set the pace
fast enough.”
Then he and Simpson looked to the oth
ers.
"I stand by you,” Vogel said, giving
his hand. And Ginn gave his. But the
manner of Ginn's compact made Simpson
smile.
"Never mind.” said Delaney, as he saw
Simpson out of the door. "I’ll take care
of Ginn. He isn't only afraid of the cap
tain; he's afraid of everybody.”
Delaney returned to Ginn, who was on
the desk again, and sitting beside him
he talked to him, nay, he wrestled with
him. Ginn beseeched, prayed, refused,
became dumb and sullen, but Delaney
talked, explained, showed him the rules
and regulations, and by l o'clock? when
the city outside was purring in sleep, and
the station house was dead, Delaney
stepped down to the railing, satisfied that
he had won. Ginn tried to work at his
books, but he could not. He was nerv
ous. He started at the slightest creak
in the building, ahd his eyes watched the
captain’s door. The old man was in his
room, he might have gone to bed. How
Ginn hoped he had!
But he hadn't. Soon after half-past I
they heard him kick a chair or some
thing, and the next minute he appeared
in the old pea jacket he wore when not
in uniform.
■Delaney looked up at Ginn. The ser
geant’s great, round face was as pale
as the clock. He was in agony, but he
felt Delaney’s eye and he swallowed and
spoke.
"Captain,” he said, “where you—won t
you —”
Tile captain halted, stared astonish
ment, his mouth open.
"What?” he asked.
“You’ve got—you must—don't you want
to—”
"What is it?” he asked again.
“Of course—it ain't my—I don't care,
but the lules, you know, the rules,
they—”
Now McCarthy broke loose. He was
climbing the railing and he cursed. Ginn
faded white again.
‘>Out with it. Out with it now.” Mc
Carthy cried, "or I’ll come over there
anil trample you to death. Speak, you
slobbering idiot; speak. I say.”
"Enter yourself in the blotter.”
The order came like a pistol shot.
Ginn collapsed when he had fired it, his
face was bathed in sweat, and he moved
his tongue around in his mouth to moist
en it. The captain could not move, lie
knew the rule, dead long ago In his pre
cinct, but he did not know the sensa
tion of discipline. That, t^o, had died
in him long ago. But it was a crisis
in his affairs. He turned on Delaney..
CONTINUED ON LAST PAGE.
and in a short time the evil was as pro
nounced as ever. As matters stand now,
the government would probably pay a-
handsome reward to the genius who dis
covered some moderate-priced, effective
way of doing away with this handicap to
commerce find r ->t*. lion. Tlx rivers
thems-elves present beautiful spectacles,
from the floral standpoint, but so weary
have the planters become from the mo
notonous, futile struggle against the
twining monster, that they are in no
frame of mind to see the esthetic side
of the matter.