Newspaper Page Text
Xhhlc Ryan.
u p u t just let me stay until morning
ma'am It is cold, dreary and dark along
the road and, indeed I’ve no place to go
but Widdow Yorrow's, and that s miles
ff
a "so’ spoke a sad, worn-looking woman,
standing on the threshold of a well-to-do
farmer’s house, just as the last rays of
light were fading from the evening sky.
'"Xhe person she spoke to, a large woman
in a bright, flowered dress and white apron
the mistress of the house —turned away
to me. and you can go at night, iou don t
suit. 1 never saw such shiftless wavs in
mv life. And Jane Smith is here, and Ive
only one bed for the servant, and I don’t
expect a tidy girl like Jane to sleep with
well with s’trangcrs. 1 ve paid you for
vour three (lavs imui, goodness know s,
you’ve worried me out of my senses since
you’ve been here, and I can’t keep you
another night; and the earlier you go. the
sooner you’ll get there, wherever it is.”
“ Well, that’s true, anyway. Then,
ma.am.” replied the woman, “ and you are
mistress in your own house; but God
knows, it’s not a dog I’d be drivin’ out at
night.” Then she tied her little pittance
in the corner of a pocket-handkerchief and
walked away out of the gate and up the
road, but not looking back once. Her
heart was heavy as lead, and she was angry
at a world that had been a hard one to her.
“Three years since Pat went away.”
she said to herself, “never a word from
him. He’s dead no doubt; and it’s the
last kind word I’ve heard. I wasn’t shift
less and good for nothing to him. ‘ Mag
gie,’he’d often say, ‘l'd change you for
nobody's wife.’ *Och. he was the man;
and as good to me when I was faded and
worn out with the hard livin’ and rarin'
and losin’ the childer, as he was when I
was a purty girl, with cheeks like roses,
and he was a boy courtin' me. Och, Pat,
where did you go at all? You died in a
ditch like a dog, maybe ; for all these hard
hearted gentle-folk care, we all might.”
She turned and shook her fist back at
the house she had just left, only a bit of
the roof visible over the rising ground now.
“ My heart was aching for the childer
and for Pat ” she said; “ but you could
have no patience if a pertatie was burnt, or
a towel not that smooth. You sent me out
with the night falling. Had luck to ye and
all vour like.”
[ Then she plodded on again ; but the wo
man she had left was not so bad as she
had fancied her. In her thrift and tidiness
she could not understand this untidy, care
less being. She knew nothing of the mis
ery at her heart, or the sorrow that made
her forget the pots and pails. She was
actually half afraid of her and wanted to
Set her out of her house. She had felt it a
great mistake to hire a tramp from the road
as it were, and she had paid her and was
conscious of no cruelty.
I The daylight fled apace ; the moon, risen
long ago, became visible—a faint streak of
new moon that set in a little while—only
the stars were left—and Maggie, wandering
lon the road with her bundle under her arm
jj—a little bundle of rags and odds and ends
’tumbled together in an old flannel petticoat
began to loose her knowledge of it.
llere and there she saw lights in a window,
but they were no promise of hospitality to
her. If she could get to the widow Yar
row’s, that personage, who took the labor
ers on board, would let her lodge while she
could pay; but where was the widow’s
cottage —to the right or to the left ? She
could not tell in the darkness whether she
(had taken the proper turning. Hard by
was a rushing sound, as of water. Danger
there, perhaps. The railroad was some
where at hand, and though Maggie felt that
the world was a poor place, she did not
feel ready to meet death yet.
“ I’ll just drop down in the grass somc
■vhere,” said the poor woman. “And
.God between me and harm. If I could
find a bit of hay now, ’twould be a com
fort.”
She stretched forward, peering through
the darkness, and her foot struck some
loose branches that lie upon the ground,
with a crackling sound.
“ What’s that?” said a voice very near
her in a sharp whisper.
“ It’s an imp of a squirrel,” said another
voice. “Go on with your work Jim : the
train will be along in fifteen minutes. Up
with that rail. Hi ! We’ll have them this
time.”
“ Hold your tongue fool,” said the first
voice. “ You’re half drunk. I tell you I
thought it was a step.”
And now Maggie, who had sunk flat
upon the ground, knew all. 'lhose who
whispered near her were train-wreckers.
■•“ I’ll make no noise,” said she, “It’s
none of my business.”
But lying in the grass, the sharp strokes
of steel smote on her ear; she could not
forget them. And suddenly it came upon
her that it was neither more nor less than
murder that she was waiting there to see—
that in lying quiet while it was done she
helped to do it.
“ God forgive me !” said poor Maggie.
“ I'll do it; but what am I to do? llow
will I stop them? It's my own death; I’ll
Bring about nothing else ”
' And just then the sound of a steam whis
tle far away caught the ear. The train
was coming.
“ Ready for them !” said the voice she
had heard before. “ Come into the
Itmshes.”
She heard them tramp away, and arose
to her feet and looked about her. there
was no house in sight and no help near.
Suddenly a thought struck her. She had
matches in her pocket, and her dress was
a thin calico —it would burn like tinder.
Jn a moment more she had torn it off and
had the matches in her hand. As she
struck a light she heard a pistol click.
[ “They see me,” she said, and held the
match against the old calico and as it caught
flourished it over her head. She felt a ball
Whiz by her shoulder, another struck her,
but now the glare was bright, and the train
was close at hand—she rushed towards it
Waving her burning dress. Thank God !
they saw her. The train slackened its
pace—it stopped. Men with lanterns in
their hands sprang from it and hurried to
wards her. And the old dress burnt to
tinder, dropped to the ground, and she sank
beside it, the blood flowing from a wound
in her arm.
They’ve killed me, I belave, she said,
as a man bent over her. “ I can t
VOL. II—NO. 4.
show you the place, but it's—beyond there
—the rails—they’ve ripped them up, the
villains !” Then she fainted.
When she came to herself she was by the
roadside, the lights fell over her. and she
heard people talking of the hairbreadth es
cape they nad had and of her bravery.
“ You risked death to save us.” said one
woman. “You shall be rewarded. My
little children were with me.”
“ And I am going to meet my wife,”
said a gentleman. “She will not let me
forget you if 1 have so ungrateful a heart.
You shall be well cared lor now. and when
you are well you shall not know want.”
“ Indeed, tlien said another voice—one
that sounded familiar to her—“indeed, 1 am
not rich, but I'd have been loath to be kill
ed to-night. I'm just on the road to what
I’ve been seeking two years. 1 found out
yesterday where my missus is, and I'm
goin’ to her—she's breakin' her heart for
me. I haven’t much ; but there's a couple
of pounds if you'll take ’em good woman,
and God’s blessin’, too, for the sake of
Maggie Ryan, that you've saved from being
a widow.”
And a strong hand folded over her weak
one, and would have left money in it, but
she caught it tight.
“It's Pat Ryan!” she cried; “come
back at last. Don't you know Maggie,
Pat?”
And two great arms folded her close ;
and the poor soul who had tramped the
road, desolate and forsaken, an hour before
was happy as angels are in heaven.
It might not be “great good luck” to
you to be a flagman’s wife, and live in a lit
tle cottage on the roadside, but Maggie
thinks so.
“ And oh, Pat!” she often says, “how
little did 1 think when Satan was in my
heart, and 1 was willing to lie still and let
happen what might to the heartless gentle
folk, what I was doing to myself and to
you ; and after all, it’s kind hearts they
had, and gave you the illigant place, and
me the shanty, and the cow, and all.
Good luck to them.”
<.citing Kcutly lor School.
Deli uit Free Frees.
“ The cause of education be hanged !”
he muttered as he sat down on the curb
stone on Shelby street yesterday.
lie was a lad of thirteen. He spit
through his front teeth, and he spit often.
His pants were supported by a piece of
wire clothes line girted around his waist,
his hat was ancient and greasy, and his big
flat feet seemed to be waiting for a thun
der shower to wash them clean.
“ That’s what ails me !” he went on as he
pushed his toes into the wet sand. “ I
don’t believe in a feller diffing in and learn
ing all there is to learn, and not letting
other folks have a chance. There’s lots of
other folks in this world besides me, and I
ain’t going to be a hog and try to learn all
there is to learn.”
After a minute he went on :
“ Don’t I know ’nuff now? Three times
two are six, four times five are twenty,
and four and four are eight. That’s as cor
rect as I could get 'em if I went to school
for a hundred years. And don't I know
howto spell! C-a-t is ‘cat’ the world
over, and I'll bet on it every time. H-e-n
spells ‘hen,’ and I know it as well as if I
weighed a ton.”
He rose up to throw a stone at a dog
across the street, and after resuming his
seat he went on :
“ Jogerfy kinder wrestles me down, but
I don’t go much on jogerfy. W hat do I
care whether an island is entirely surround
ed by water, or whether there ain’t any
water within ten miles of it? S’pose I’m
foing to buy and sell islands for a living?
don’t care which is the highest mountain
or the longest river, do I? I'm going to
keep a feed store, and when I'm rolling
bales o’ hay around will I care about
mountains and rivers ? I’ve heard the boys
go on about exports and imports, and
straits, and seas, and capes, but what’s
them to me ? If a feller wants a bag o’ oats
is he going to wait and ask me when the
Island of Madagascar was discovered ?”
He carefully examined the big toe of his
left foot and the heel of his right foot and
gloomily observed :
“ The old folks are making ready to push
me into school, and I’ve got to make ready
to keep out. I can’t take to school, some
how. I could sit here and study all day,
but the minute I git into a school house
I’m nervous. Something’s going to hap
pen to me this week. I'll be taken home
m a wheel-barrow with a big gash in this
heel or this toe almost cut off. That will
mean four weeks on a crutch, they don't
allow lame boys to go to school and crutch
up and down the aisle. Or, sposin I go
home with palpitation of the heart? The
old lady has had it, and I won’t more than
get into the house before she'll have me
tucked up on the lounge, the camphor bot
tle down, currant jelly and sponge cake in
the distance, and she’ll call out to the old
gent :
“ Father, it’s no use to think of sending
this boy to school. He looks stout and
healthy, but he's a mere shadder. The
close atmosphere of the school-room will
kill him before snow flies.”
The boy rose up. There was a grin all
over his face, and he chuckled :
“ Palpitation is the key note! A sore
toe can be seen—a palpitating heart is hid
den away under hide and fat and ribs.
Now then —oosh —Woosh, u-m-m-m—hold
yer breath, roll yer eyes, kick out yer left
leg and make her bob around like a fly on
a hot stove-cover.”
An officer who commanded artillery du
ring the late war informs us of the follow
ing simple remedy for colic in horses,
which he has tried with perfect success in
hundreds of cases : Rub the horse well be
tween the fore legs and around the girth
with spirits of turpentine. Immediate
rolief follows.
HARTWELL, GA., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER lit, IS7T.
To ICmlmc Wnleria<'lon.
Messrs. Editors: I saw some time
since n series of questions in your paper
concerning raising melons, which 1 will
try to answer. Plant in a sedge field, ten
feet each way. Put a half bushel of stable
manure in each hill. Lay it off each way,
and put the manure in the check, but do
not dig holes. Dig and stir the manure
well with the dirt. The deeper your
ground can be broken the better. From
the 20th of April to the Ist of May is a
good time to plant. Put ten or twelve
seed in a hill. When well up, pull up all
but four. If they seem healthy, in a week
pull up two more ; and just as they begin
to run, pull up one more, leaving but one
in a hill. Scratch about them often with
your fingers, but on no accpunt touch the
vines with a hoe, for they are very tender,
and a bruise will do them vast injury.
Plow them as deeply as you can and keep,
the patch clean of foreign growth. Do not
top the vines. Plant but one sort in your
patch, and be sure to let that sort be the
rattlesnake kind, as that is the best, grow
ing large and Plant
no muskmelons, pumpkins, squashes,
gourds, or anything of the kind within a
hundred yards of the patch, for if you do
they will mix. Ncyer plant two consecu
tive years in the same patch, for if you do
the melons will be small and of inferior
quality. If you doubt this, try it, and you
will find that your experience and my as
sertion will be the same. You ask, “ How
can it be told when melons are ripe with
out cutting or plugging?” Very easily.
Go by sunrise or before, and take hold of
the melon with your hand as though you
were trying to lift it, bear upon it gently,
and if you hear the heart break it is ripe ;
for, unlike mankind, the melon is better
when the heart is broken. The writer has
raised twelve consecutive crops of melons
and has a good patch every year. If you
wish to have the very best melons, pull
them early in the morning, and lay them
in a cool place and let them mellow for a
week. This improves the flavor. To save
seed, cut your melon into thirds, and save
only the seed in the centre, and by all
means dry them in the shack*. When the
melons are as large as walnuts, stick up
stakes around the patch and stretch white
thread all around it, or else the crows may
ruin it. If you wish to keep thieves out,
pierce a hole in the vine two inches from
the root, and put a quantity of rat-poison
in the hole, but look out for yourself. If
the above programme is carried out, rain or
shine, your efforts will be crowned with
success. A Melon Raiser.
Augusta, Ga., Sept. (!, 1877.
Interruptvl Table Talk.
ISurlington Hank-Eye.
The other evening the Rev. Mr. Philac
ter sat down at the tea table with a very
thoughtful air. and attended to the wants
of his brood in a very abstracted manner.
Presently he looked up at his wife and
said :
“The Apostle Paul—”
“Got an awful lump on the head this
afternoon,” broke in the pastor’s eldest
son, “ playing base ball. Bat flew out of
the striker’s hands when I was umpire,
and cracked me right above the ear, and
dropped me. Hurt? Golly !” and the lad
shook his head in dismal but expressive
pantomime as he tenderly rubbed a lump
that looked like a billiard ball with hair on
it. The pastor gravely paused for the in
terruption, and resumed :
“ The Apostle Paul —”
“Saw Mrs. O’Gheminie down at Grcen
baum’s this afternoon,” said his eldest
daughter, addressing her mother. “ She
had on that same old everlasting black
silk, made over with a vest of tilleul green
silk, coat-tail-basque pattern, overskirt
made with diagonal folds in front, edged
with deep fringe; yellow straw hat, with
black velvet facing inside the brim, and
pale blue flowers. She’s going to Chicago.”
The good minister waited patiently, and
then, in tones just a shade louder than be
fore, said :
“ The Apostle Paul—”
“ Went in swimmin last night, with
Harry and Ben, pop. and stepped on a clam
shell.” exclaimed his youngest son ; “ cut
my foot so I can’t wear my shoe; and
please, can’t I stay home to-morrow?”
The pastor informed his son that he
might stay away from the river, and then
resumed his topic. He said :
“ The Apostle Paul says—”
“My teacher is an awful liar,” shouted
the second son ; “ he says the world is as
round as an orange and it turns round all
the time faster than a circus man can ride.
I guess he haint got much sense.”
The mother lifted a warning finger toward
the boy and said—“ sh !” and the father
resumed :
“ The Apostle Paul says—”
“ Don’t bite off twice as much as you
can chew,” broke out the eldest son, re
proving the assault of his little brother on
a piece of cake. The pastor's face showed
just a trifle of annoyance as he said, in
very firm, decided tones :
“ The Apostle Paul says—”
“ There’s a fly in the butter !” shrieked
the youngest hopeful of the family, and a
general laugh followed. When silence was
restored the eldest daughter with an air of
curiosity, said :
“Well, but. pa. I really would like to
know what the Apostle Paul said.”
“ Pass me the mustard,” said the pastor,
absently.
ItnrlliiKUm lln\iU T.j clcmn.
There hasn't really been very much
prophet in the whaling business since
Jonah died.
Another new city has been laid out in
the Rlal'k Hills, and Mr. Sitting Hull says
he will come around in a few weeks and
lay out the citizens.
“ A word with mothers,” says the New
Orleans hudgti. All right ; go ahead.
We’ll ladle out the nice talk to the daugh
ters, while you're nt it.
A man down in Arkansas, while camp
ing out a few weeks ago, was bit by a
skunk, and died in a few days of hydro
phobia. We should think he would have
Seen glad to have died of anything.
A young man who has been finishing
his education in Europe writes homo with
great joy that he will come home in a few
short days, wearing the sheepskin of a
graduate. He will wear it over his bones,
probably.
It is thought that Hrigham Young ought
to have recovered from nis cholera morbus,
but when it came to lighting with twenty
seven women, eacli one with a different
kind of mustard plaster for her dear hus
band. anti anew kind of herb tea, it was
too much for him. Every woman laid her
plaster where there was room, and the
prophet went down to his grave with a
vivid foretaste of the future.
A cautious old man out on North Hill is
very fond of attending all the base-ball
matches. Hut one day a hall from the bat
struck him between the eyes, bent his
spectacles and disarranged iiis ideas, and
knocked him down. Then the catcher ran
up and jumped on him and sprang up to
catch the ball, and when lie came down he
kicked the old gentleman for getting in his
way and making him miss that fly. Now,
when he goes to the games, he wears an
iron pot on his head and carries along a dry
goods box to sit in.
A Hopeful View.
Chronicle if Constitutionalist.
The fresh, clear breezes of September]
bring with them something even better
than cool and pleasant days. On every ]
side there is an indication of a good Fail
trade. Not a trade, indeed, based upon
fictitious values and unsound credit, but a
trade that will be substantial in volume,
and, avoiding the shoals of undue confi
dence, bring us back to the old days of
commercial prosperity. The indications
are that the turning-point has been reached
and that we are now to progress onward to
the goal for which all have so earnestly
longed. One of the hopeful and signifi
cant signs is the enormous shipment of
grain, which has not been paralleled in
many years. So great, indeed, is it that
the Inman, White Star and other lines
; have been compelled to put on extra ships,
while the first named line is pushing for
ward to speedy completion a vessel as
large as the Bothnia. The crop of cereals
is almost unprecedented, and, what is bet
ter, is finding a ready market abroad.
This must, naturally, make a greater in
flux of money to this country and put
trade in general in healthy circulation.
Already the manufacturing towns of New
i England echo to the hum of the looms, and
in every way there is cause for thank ful
j ness for an abundant harvest and a revi
i val of the drooping energies of the com
mercial body.
The lAr.w.utl.
[Essay on the Lizzud, read before the
Ilawkeye Association for the benefit of
cruelty to animals, by a boy of 40.)
The Lizzud is a dry land aligator on a
small skale. He is a male and female. He
has four legs and one tale and two eyes and
can climb a tree. His principal business
is settin on fense rales and ketchin of flize
and skerrin of horses by runnin threw
the leves. Wun skoered my horse yistid
dy. Lizzuds is principally negative ani
mals. They doant go to skule, doant be
long to returning bodes, doant set on lec
toral commishuns ami doant be presidents.
Uv all the beasts that fly in the air,
The horse, the cow, the buzzud,
The duck, the junny bug, the hare,
I’d rather be a Lizzud.
Ilopin these few lines may find you all
enjoyin the same blessin.
A U'cutcrn Woman'* During’.
The San Francisco (L’ai.) lice says : Some
few days ago, as the Freeport ferry, was
taking a load of passengers across the river
and when about half way over, the rope
which is attached to the bank, and by
means of which the boat was towed, broke.
Consternation reigned among the passen
gers. None of the men could swim ; the
boat was drifting down ; there was nothing
on board by which it could be paddled or
its movements directed. For a few sec
onds, silence and inactivity reigned; then
a strong and hcalthy-look ing Canadian wo
man. seeing that the men could do nothing,
proceeded calmly to take off her shoes and
stockings. She caught a rope in her teeth,
plunged into the muddy current, and swum
for shore, while the cheerful faces of the
“ lords of creation ” on the boat were
beaming on her with eyes of admiration. |
She reached the bank, tied the rone to a
strong tree, and the men hauled the boat i
ashore.
■ s
A circuit rider one day rnet a man pray
ing in the road. This exhibition of piety j
was not only gratifying, but aroused cun- ]
osity and begot inquiry. “ What are you J
doing ?” asked the preacher. “ Praying
for my enemy,” said the man. “Praying!
for your enemy !” the astonished divine j
replied ; “ what arc you doing that for ?” |
“ Don’t the Bible say if you pray for your
enemy you can heap coals of fire on his
head ?” “ Yes.” “ Then,” said the man.)
“ I want to burn this d—n rascal up.’’
WHOLE NO. 50.
The new* Constitution is well received
throughout the entire State.
Some Oglethorpe farmers think that not
more than half a cotton crop will be made
there.
When a man is making love to a widow
be always feels as if be bad to begin where
the other fellow left off.
Gold has reached the lowest point since
the war during the pnst week, bringing a
fraction more than three cents premium.
There hasn’t been a saloon in Starkville,
Miss., for the last twenty-five years. Hut
listen—sh-h-h—you can get it at the drug
store.
A colored woman in Milledgeville has
lost both legs, hut nevertheless is the
mother of two healthy children. This is
ahead of Atlanta.
“ You’re a smart fellow,” sneered a law
yer to a witness the other day, in a ltrook
lyn court, “ I’d return the compliment if
I wasn't under oath,” replied the witness.
In a Philadelphia court the other day a
man named Moisten was defended by a
lawyer named Goforth. It is no unusual
thing to see a lawyer and his client Goforth
and Moisten.
The following advertisement recently
appeared in a New Haven journal : “ Any
person having five to fifty toads of manure
to dispose of will please send word or drop
it through the post-office.”
“Can you draw a landscape ?” asked an
enthusiastic tourist of a stranger whom he
mot in the White mountains. “No,” re
plied the other man, who happened to he a
dentist, “ hut 1 can draw a tooth.”
Take awav your Spartan hoy and his
fox. The lad who puts a lighted cigar in
his pocket when he meets his father, anti
tells what the Sunday school teacher said,
while the cigar is burning him, is infinitely
more worthy of admiration.
Bald headed gentleman in the parquet,
to a young lady in the dress circle, during!
affecting passage in play : “ 1 respect your'
emotion, ma'am, luit you arc shedding tears
on mv head.” Lady : “It looked so like
an onion 1 thought I’d salt it.”
A man living near Jefferson had occa
sion the other day to cut down ami split
open a large oak tree, and found embedded
therein a live scorpion. According to his
calculation, hv the grain of the wood, it
had been imprisoned eighteen years.
The editor of the Cartersvilh* Express
saw a note the other day given by a man
in 18G0 for seventy dollars. He lias paid
eighty dollars on it and yet owes sixty dol
lars. It is in a tine stage of preservation,
and the man hopes to have it all paid up
l>y tin' next centennial.
A butcher of some eminence was lately
in company with several ladies at a gamo
of whist, when, having lost two or three
rubbers, one of the ladies, addressing him,
asked ; “ Pray. sir. what arc the stakes
now?” “Madam the host rump I cannot
sell for loss than twenty cents a pound.”
A St. Louis paper tells a story of a dis
consolate widower, who. on seeing the re
mains o( his late wife lowered in the grave,
exclaimed, with tears in his eyes. “ Well,
I’ve lost gloves. I’ve lost umbrellas—yes,
even cows and horses ; but I never—no—
never —had anything to cut me like this.”
A white lady asked Stevens to go to the
store and bring her ten cents’ worth of
snuff. Stevens brought the snuff and pro
posed to take a kiss in payment. The lady
replied, “ Very well, it is for a colored
woman, go round to the house and get your
pay.” Stevens has been sneezing ever
since.
A child charmed by a black snake in
Jefferson county. Term., fed the snake for
over a week. The father discovered the
snake coiled up in the child’s lap and killed
it, whereupon the little one went into
spasms of grief and refused to eat food of
any kind. She cries almost con innally,
except when asleep, and physicians stato
that she will live but a short time.
At a Harrison county, Ky., wedding,
we nre informed, the bride danced several
charming reels within a circle of three feet
in diamater. She changed shoes once on
account of her new ones not sounding right,
against the floor. The prompter gave the
very unique commands during the dance,
“ Rock to the right, rock to the left, grind
coffee, wring the dish rag. rock the cradle,”
Ac. At the wind up of the dance the bride
showed her agility by kicking the groom’s
hat off his head.
Can any one tell why it is that the soul
of a young and pretty woman is more dear
to the average deacon than a squint-eyed
woman with a wart on her nose? When
we have seen a young and pretty woman
go up to the altar, we have noticed half a
dozen deacons knocking their heads to
gether in their eagerness to whisper conso
lation to her bruised sprit. Hut when the
squint-eyed woman knelt down only one
deacon went near her. and he merely
touched her on the shoulder and said:
“ Pray fervently sister, and all will be
well.”
It seems that Bishop Haven, who for
many years has been a sort of raving mono
maniac, has got a surfeit of Africa at last.
While at Liberia recently he caught a ma
larial fever, which he thus describes :
“ An African forest was growing up with
in me, the tops whereof were made visible.
When the scrapings from the roots of the
tougue were placed under a microscrpe,
their roots were in the spleen and liver.
Black specks moving swiftly up and down
these ferns and gross trunks and branches
were probably monkeys leaping from tree
to tree in this inward African forest.”
When I traveled, in 1871, in Palestine an
old servant from the monastery of Ram
leh, about fifty miles west from Jerusalem,
showed me the supposed place where Sam
son killed 1,000 Philistines with the jaw
bone of an ass. When I expressed my
doubts as to the length and strength of a
jawbone, considering the great number of
surrounding enemies, the good man ex
plained the case in the following manner :
“ Well, he took hold of the ass by the tail
and swung the animal against the Philis
tines in such a manner that only his head,
and of this especially the jawbone, struck
the Philistines, keeping off in this way the
surrounding warriors, and giving the ’blow
the necessary force to kill, f affirm that
in this manner Samson could have slain a
million Philistines, provided the tail of the
ass did not break.” —Sacramento Journal.