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Improvement of Time. For The Sun. We see and heur much said about im proving lands, improving seeds, improv ing agricultural implements; but we see but few articles on the improvement of time. We can do much in a very short time, if we put our energies to the task of using our time aright. The time that many youngsters s|H'nd in idleness, foolishness, or sinfulness, if spent well, would give them a tolerable acquaintance with the most useful and commonplace things. Instead of thus spending their time, they pass it off as it’ they had thousands of years at their dis nosal—idly, foolishly, carelessly, lazily. Were a little boy or girl of moderately bright parts to commeuee a course of practical study, and use a certain por tion of each day, how much superior to the common class of people in knowl edge would they be in a few years! In stead of improving their minds, and their time in the spring and summer months, the little hoys as soon as they are able to travel, go with larger and worse boys to some mili-|>ond to spend their Saturday evening holiday. There they play, wrestle, quarrel, curse and fight; and finally wind up bv running into some quiet farmer’s orchard or melon patch. On Sunday, it is repeat ed ; but the crowd is enlarged and the mischief is much greater. Friends,can such a course be productive of good? If it can, we are so entirely blind, and have always been so, that we are un able to see it. In the fall and winter months, those same little boys as soon as they think an opossum can gallop arc out with torches, like Gideon’s lamps, and with horns they blow till they would make one think that Joshua’s priests were trying to blow down the walls of another Jericho. Hunting, however, is not so bad; but what do they hunt ? Their parents think opossums; but oth ers know that they build up fires, com mit depredations on their neighbor’s po tato patches, talk and sing obscenely, learn to gamble, swear, and steal. Is this improving time ? Friends and ac quaintances, look at this full in the face, andjudge for yourselves. Why do boys so much love to go out of nights, instead of staying at home in quietude and peace? One reason is, that they have no amusements to entertain them at home. All heads of families ought to take one or more newspapers for their children to read. A nice newspaper or two would improve their minds and keep them out of had company, and perhaps prevent them from being imprisoned, disgraced or hung. Take the Hartwell Him for your children if you do not now take it. It is a paper of good moral tone. There is nothing in it hut what is good, instructive, or innocently amusing. You who take it, please read this article to those who do not take it, and urge it on them to make their little hoys and girls reading people. By so doing, our country will he filled with better, steadier, wiser people ; and our jails ami penitentiaries, and poorhouscs will he left tenantless. How much bet ter such a state of affairs would be than for the criminal docket to be continu ally crowded. Good citizens, think of these things. Jo. Only ill Fun. liochexter Chrvnicle. • Look out!' exclaimed the young man, scarcely aide to control iiis laugh ter. • Lin going to shoot!' He pulled the trigger and the harm less pistol went off. The girl fell, and there was a good deal of blood in her vicinity. He rushed to her side, his eyes wild with apprehension. * I didn't mean to !’ he sa id apologetically. 4 Upon my soul, 1 didn't know it was loaded!’ 4 1—I cannot believe it!’ he said with earnestness. • I cannot help it!' she said feebly; adding with unmistakable truth, ‘ No matter. 1 shall die just the same. The jury in the case was one of the stupid ones known all over our beloved country. The pistol was a harmless one. It could not possibly have loaded itself. The young man said he didn't load it. Nobody could tell who loaded it. It was only known that several persons had killed their alleged sweet hearts under precisely the same cir cumstances, with the important excep tion that the loading of the weapon and all the attending circumstances were known to the jury. It was shown l*cyond question, however, that the pis tol had been loaded and that the face tious young man had fired it off. previ ously expressing a determination to do so. It was enough for the stupid jury, and likewise for the judge. The latter, indeed, seemed to enjoy the proceed ings. •We shall inflict on you a slight pleasantry',' he said, with a broad grin. 4 The sentence of the court is that you be hanged by the neck until you are dead. But don't be alarmed. It is only a joke.’ The sheriff was equally happy. He read the necessary documents to the youth, as the latter stood with his neck decorated iu the usual fashion, pausing to laugh, and at times nearly splitting his sides with suppressed mirth. 4 We shall do you up in prime order,' he said pleasantly. ‘We shall give yort some thing to enjoy to your dying day. There are breakages to this.' and he shook the rope merrily. 4 There are no way stations on t'ds mate, my son. You will go througnV.ike gtcased light ning, not even pausing for refresh ments. You will, perhaf*? soe some of yotti friends or your a * cal I’lease sAv a good word for me/ will you? I ell thefit. if they have anything in my line VOL II—NO. 12. that needs transacting, that I’m the man for them. Let me adjust the con veyance.’ llis hands shook so with laughter that he could hardly fix the rope prop erly ; but finally the left ear of the amusing person was properly adorned. ‘ See here!’ whispered the doomed youth. ‘You act as if you were in earnest. You wouldn’t kill an innocent man, would you? I—l think this is carrying the joke too far.’ • By no means,’ said the happy sheriff, winking with irresistible humor. ‘ Not for anything in this world, my son. ('an you not place confidence in me? This is a joke. Are you afraid of this scaffold and that little cord? Foolish Ihiv ! they are perfectly harmless.’ He winked at a person in the back ground who was chuckling silently to himself, his face wreathed with smiles. The latter responded in a lively' man ner, ‘ Up she goes !’ and the practical joker shot in the air like a rocket and came down like a stick. • Beautiful, beautiful,’ exclaimed the sheriff and the bystanders, and a great roar of laughter followed, even the at j tending clergyman putting his head under his arm, in evident fear that oth i erwise he would laugh himself to death. The body was taken down after a while and a physician, after a slight j examination, pronounced the young man dead—his neck had been broken. • What!’ said the sheriff with a start. • Dead?’ lie examined the rope atten tively. and quickly added, with a look of profound astonishment, ‘ I see how ;it is. Alas ! it must have been loaded.’ A ltoy’s Composition on Itabies. Troy Jtudyett. There are four different kinds of ba ‘ hies. There is a big baby, the little j baby, the white baby, and the poodle • log. and there is a baby elephant. Most of these babies are born in a 1 boarding house, ’cept the baby elephant I think he was Itoru on a railroad, ’cause lie allurs carries his .trank with him. j A white baby is pootier nor a ele phant baby, but he can’t eat so much hay. All the babies what I have ever seen were bom very young, ’specially the gal babies, and they can't none of them talk the United States language. My father had—l mean my mother had a baby once. It was not an ele phant baby ; it was a little white baby ; 1 it coined one day when their was no body home ; it was a funny looking fel low, just like a lobster. I asked my father was it a boy or a ! girl, and he say he don’t know whether he was a father or a mother. 'l'he little boy has got two legs, just l like a monkey. llis name is Mariah. He don't like my father nor my mother, but he looks just like my Uncle Tom, ’cause the little baby ain't got no hair on his head. One day I asked my Uncle Tom what was the reason he ain’t got no hair. He says he don’t know, 'cept that the little baby was bora so, and he is a mar ried man. ()ne day I pulled a feather out of the I old rooster’s tail and stuck it up the | babies nose and it tickled him so he al most died. It was only a bit of a ! feather, and I didn’t see what he wanted to make such a fuss about it for. My mother said I ought’er be ashamed of myself, and I didn't get no bread on iny butter for more’n a week, One day the sheriff come into the house for to collect a bill of $9 for crockery. My father says he can't pay the bill, and the sheriff he say, ‘then I take something,’ and he took a look around the room an’ he see'd the littie baby, and he say, ‘Ah, ha! I take this,’ and lie picked up the little baby and lie wrap him up in a newspaper and take i him away to the station-house. Then my mother she commenced to cry, and my father say, 4 Hush, Mary Ann, that was all right. Don't you see 1 how we fooled that fellow? Don't you see the bill for crockery was for $9, and the little baby was only worth two and a half.’ I think I’d rather be a girl nor a boy 'cause when a girl gets a whipping she gets it on her fingers, but when a loy gets a licking he gets it all over. I don't like babies very much any how. ’cause they make so much noise. I never knew but one quiet baby, and he died. Quite a feature of these times was seen at Cole’s circus, in Danville, Va. A large crowd had gathered and were quietly awaiting its performance to be gin, when a squad of Danville young men to 44 kill time,” struck up one of Moody’s songs. They sang well, and sitting just iu front of the long row s of negroes, the darkies all joined in the chorus, and the circus tent for a while sounded like a campmeeting. They sang hymn after hymn, and the audi ence sat charmed. Boon the baud struck up and the horses entered. Opposition to party selection all over the State is dying out before the full, fair and free system of primary elec tions. HARTWELL, (JA., WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 11, 1877. Hampton. UY REV. HEX JOHNSON, OF S. C. What means this civic pomp? this length ening train. From mountains to the sea? Kacli bosom heaving with one high resolve. This army ! who are they? Unnrnied ! save with their cause of right eousness. Their purpose—spear and shield ! Truth’s sword, that Hashes forth resistless light ! The only blade they wield. Grand are the people ! rising in their might! And moral majesty; The People ! smiting wrong, with banded claim To be both pure and free ! And who this Knight? for Knightly is bis mien, A true born Cavalier! A Bayard, stainless! aye, without re proach, And, well-known, without fear. Borne in the Chariot of a people’s love ! Hiding on prosperously; Quickening to Honor's life a fallen State ! This Hero, who is he? Bravest among the Brave, w hen men were tried. And good as lie was brave; A stricken mother calls her noblest son Her ancient name to save. That eye w here erst the battle-lightnings played Beams now with gentleness ; Who smote war's changing ranks, strikes now For honesty and peace. Fame has no added honor lie may wear But this —redeem the State! Win this last crown and History shall write Our noble Hampton—Great. Written on the eve of Hampton's elec tion. The State lias been redeemed. This poem should be preserved as a memorial of that great struggle and glorious victory. Miss Totten’s Snake. JS 'nr York Time*. One August afternoon, when the sun was about to take off his golden gar ments and strew them along the wes tern horizon, preparatory to diving into the Pacific—in short, just before sunset —Miss Totten and Mr. Snow, a theolo gical stud, nt whom she had promised to marry, were walking sweetly through a new-mown meadow, exchanging vows of affection and discussing the compar ative merits of different patterns of cook-stoves. All at once Miss Totten shrieked loudly and began to dance in a way that filled Mr. Snow’s mind with the conviction that she had suddenly gone mad end with regret that he had not a tract in his pocket on the sin of (lancing, Her conduct was, however, soon explained by her frenzied shriek. ‘There's a snake! <)! Take it off! Take it off!’ an entreaty which instant ly brought a cold perspiration out upon the expansive brow of her theological lover. Mr. Snow was well aware that the neighborhood was not entirely free from rattlesnakes, and he had often heard i that in the construction of feminine garments nature has placed opport uni ties within the reach of lurking serpents, of which rattlesnakes may occasionally be bold enough to avail themselves. While he would, in a good cause, have fearlessly faced the deadliest snake in existence, the peculiar circumstances of the case filled him with horror. Either he must leave the object of his affec tions in the folds of a rattlesnake while he ran to summon female aid, or he must endeavor to capture the snake and drag it from its hiding-place. Ap palling as the alternative necessarily was to a conscientious theological stu dent, he nerved himself to beg Miss Totten to pause in her wild dance and permit him to help her. But to all his offers of assistance she cried, 4 (Jo away,’ and in the same breath added, without the slightest apparent percep tion of her inconsistency, 4 Don't stand there grinning, but do help me.’ It need hardly be said that nothing was further from Mr. Snow's thoughts than 4 grin ning ;’ but he could not see his way clear to help Miss Totten and at the same time go away. From this pain ful state of mind he was finally relieved by the ingenuity of the young lady her self, who implored him to get a club and strike the invisible snake, no mat ter how heavily the blow might fall upon her. The only available substitute for a club was a fence rail which lay near at hand. This Mr. Snow instantly siezed and poised with both hands, while he awaited further instructions 4 Aim here,’ cried the suffering but cool-headed trirl, pointing to the region of the pocket, and Mr. Snow, with a strength born of his great excitement, swung the fence- 1 rail and hit the snake with the accuracy and efficiency of an accomplished army nv’\ i'he effect of the blow was startling Miss Totten was whirled before it, and. landed in a confused lump at some distance from the striker. For a mo ment he fancied that it was a boa-con strictor ornamented with transverse red •V i white stripeA, but flic sight of a dead snake of the agile though harm less species known as the black racer convinced him of his error. Mr. Snow’s attention was speedily drawn from the snake by n feeble announcement on the part of Miss Totten that he had killed her. This was an exaggeration, llis mighty blow had broken her leg and otherwise impaired her efficiency ; but l she was still alive, and is to appear nt an early day in court to accuse Mr. Snow of assault and battery, and to ex act from him such damages as an intel ligent jury may assess. While the practice of knocking down young ladies with fence rails cannot be indiscriminately advocated, it must be conceded that Mr. Snow is entitled to sympathy, llis situation was one of exceptionable difficulty, and before the jurymen decide to give a verdict against him, they should ask themselves wheth er, had they been in his place, they would have acquitted themselves with as much delicacy and consideration for Miss Totten's feelings as Mr. Snow dis i played. Augusta Knoxville anil Greenwood. Chronicle and Conititutionalint. The committees engaged in soliciting subscriptions to the capital stock of the railroad which is to connect Augusta, Knoxville and Greenwood, have been greatly encouraged. It is proposed to inaugurate the work as soon as $40,000 shall have been subscribed. The com mitteees meet in the parlor of ttit; Com mercial Bank this afternoon at four o’clock for the purpose of consolidating the amounts secured and making a for mal report. We arc confident that a sum of money in excess of the amount mentioned in the foregoing will be re ported as subscribed, so that we may ro j gard this important work as actually hogun. The committees will continue the canvass to-day. Let every merchant, every mechanic, every capitalist, every toiler (and who among us is not a toil er?), in a word, every man who feels an interest in the welfare of Augusta, which is really his own welfare, sub scribe to the extent of his ability. To construct the proposed trunk line and its branch is to guarantee to our city the return of a trade she once cunt rolled to the perfect satisfaction of buyer and seller. To construct the road will be to strengthen every line of business pur sued by our people, to refuse to build the road will be to further cripple our ener gies by contracting our business. There is a fear that money invested in anew railroad is money thrown away. ■We do not believe that will be so in this ease. Every business man will receive in return lor the amount invested in the proposed road a largely increased and profitable trade. More than that, we believe that the road will, if economi cally managed, prove to be a paying in stitution in one year after its completion. Its construction will not only increase our trade, but add to our population and enhance our property. Medical Advice. Detroit Free Prc*B. j A night or two since a citizen of j Charlotte avenue, who has a woodpile in the alley concluded to sit up for a few hours and see, if lie could detect the person or persons who had stolen a dozen sticks the night previous. About eleven o'clock a bow-backed colored man came up the alley, looked around in a cautious way, and then took a stick of wood on each shoulder and started off. 4 I’ve got you, you thief!’ cried the citizen, as he dashed out. 4 So you hez—so you hez,’ replied the man, as he let the sticks drop, 4 but jes3 wait a leetle afore you fires off any pistols. Does you know what I was gwine ter do wid dis wood?’ * Yes, Ido ! You were stealing it?’ ‘Jusslikc 1 fought you'd say, sah, hut dar’s whar’ ye hurts iny feelins. 1 was talkin' to dedoctaw’bout dis bend in’ ober in my back, an’ he tole me to walk up an’ down de alley wid a load on boaf shoulders. I was borrowin' dis wood to carry out dat medical advice, sah, an’ if you charges anyfing I kin pay de cash right down.’ The citizen said he thought he could cure the 4 bending over,’ hut he can't he positive whether he made any im provement or not, as the man broke away after the fourth kick and galloped down the alley like a barrel of sand rolling down hill. Ex-Governor Claiborne F. Jackson, of Missouri, married five sisters, and it is reported that when lie asked for the lust one his father-in-law replied ; “ Yes Calib, you can have her. You have got them all, but for goodness sakes don’t ask me for the old woman.” 44 What,” asked a youth timidly of ‘ ■in eminent philologist, “ what, sir, is the recalling of this phrase: ‘ Modus ope rand!?” ’ and the great linguist, whose ripnd was saturated with literature of ujieient Greece find Rome, replied : “It iii Latin for ‘ how the old thing works.” ’ A Catch in the Art of Ventriloquism which Led to (Jiiccr Results. Mr. Fetor Lamb has l>een learning ventriloquism, and he has succeeded very well in throwing Ills voice about so that it will appear to come from any other place than his own throat. One night last week there was a little party over at Judge Pitman's, and during the evening Mr. Lamb said lie would like to give the company an exhibition of his powers. After throwing his voice into the cellar, the closet, the piano and the chimney, lie got Mrs. Pitman to let him have a huge Saratoga trunk. Placing this; on the floor at one end of the par lor. lie began to hold a conversation with an imaginary person concealed in the trunk ; and he would open and close the lid. letting his voice die away in a wonderful manner ns the lid went down. After a while, however, while he was conversing with the suppositious being in the trunk, he happened to put his face close to the aperture, and just then the lid slipped ami shut upon his nose with some degree of violence. As there was a spring lock upon the trunk, Mr. Lamb's nose was held in a particularly close manner. It was a very awkward predicament, ami the trunk hurt his nose, lie remarked to the by-standers : ‘ ’Phis is painful; very, very painful, indeed !’and then Mr. Waterman sug gested that he should wrench himself loose, he was heard to say that in that event he should probably he compelled to leave his nose in the possession of Judge Pitman's family. Then Mrs. Pit man flew up stairs and tried to find the j key. and while she was gone old Mrs. Blakeley, who is a little deaf, and who didn’t seem to understand the situation exactly, asked out loud why Mr. Lamb persisted in smelling the trunk so long. When Mrs. Pitman came down she announced that she couldn't find the key anywhere, and then all the keys in the pockets of the company were tried, but with no avail. The Judge then said he was willing to split up the trunk with the ax if that would do any good, but Mr. Lamb said that the shock would kill hint outright. Then young l’otts asked him why he didn't sneeze and blow himself loose in that manner, and Mr. Lamb resolved that he would punish such untimely levity on the morrow by punching Mr. l’ott’s head. So at last Peter said that as his posi tion was very embarrassing he wished they would help him around home and then send a locksmith to his hon.se. And two of his friends lifted the trunk very tenderly indeed, while Peter at the same time rose softly from his knees and they all went through the door, trunk foremost, Mr. Lamb following closely and groaning at every step. The procession attracted a great deal of attention as it went through I he streets, and by the time it reached Mr. Lamb's house there were about two hundred boys present, making disagreeable re marks about the melancholy condition of things. They then got a locksmith, and after about an hour’s hard work, during which the nose of the ventrilo quist was awfully wrenched, they got the trunk open. Then they bandaged his nose and put arnica on it. and that night Mr. Lamb retired permanently from business as a professor of the art of throwing his voice into Saratoga trunks. He thinks that if he has any forte us a magician it must lie in the direction of mesmerism. Important Is-gal Decision. The Supreme Court of the (nited States recently rendered a decision in the ease of ,J. K. Place & Cos., of New York, which will prevent dishonest business men from filing voluntary petitions in bankrupt ey. Place had taken money from bis business; invested it in real estate, erected a princely house on Fifth Avenue, furnish ed it in fine style, settled the same to his wife, and then went into bankruptcy. Ilis creditors questioned the right of Place thus to use their money for his own per sonal purposes, and insisted that the prop erty should bo sold and the proceeds reck oned with the other assets. Mrs. Place through her attorneys objected, and the case was carried through the local Court, the Circuit Court, and up to the I nited States Supreme Court, where it was finally decided. That Court holding, that inas much as the property was purchased with money taken from the business, it right fully belongs to the creditors : its transfer ence to the wife notwithstanding. The decision by the highest tribunal in the land is very important to the wives of all business men, who may fancy that property thus secured to them by their husbands is safe from all legal process. It is also im portant to business men themselves, show ing them that such schemes to defraud their lawful creditors will not hold good in law. Winter is approaching, the year is nearing its close. The Lord lias been mindful of his people. 11c lias sent sunshine and rain, and bountiful crops, giving life, heatlh and strength to most of us. What have we done for Him? How many of us have refused or failed to give Him one cent in return? lie will hold all such to fearful account. — Zealous Christian. WHOLE NO. (U. Horrors of Slilpka Valley. War lies made the once beautiful Vale of Hoses, ami neighboring valleys south of the Hhipka Pass, a desert tilled with horrors. A corrosjsmdeijt of the Lon don Times writes: “the way’ from Shipka to Yeni-Haghrn, nt which place we took the rail, the air is polluted with the remains of the killed. The bodies of men, women nnd children nre -to be met with in all stages of decomposition at the roadsides, iu the cornfields and gardens, on the hanks of streams and in the beds of rivulets. Home hundreds were choking the shallow river within a quarter of a mile from where we camp ed ut Yeni-Snghra. Desolation and min appeared along the whole way. The remains of formerly prosperous vil lages, which it wns impossible to pitch tent even near, rippling mountain streams in which our horses refusid to driuk, the howling of wolves around us at night, brought down from the moun tains curlier than usual by the horrid feast? prepared tor them not far from Yciii-Snglira, and, worse, the shrieks of human beings, followed by solitary rifle reports which made one shudder more than the damp night air—form a great horrible phantasmagoria, which none of us are likely to live long enough to re member without pain.” A Lone Candlnatc. Detroit Free PrtM. Yesterday forenoon while a rather solemn-looking citizen was at the ferry dock on business lie noticed that three or four men watched him attentively and followed him wherever he went. They looked exceedingly thirsty, and hy-and-by one of them spoke up and asked: • Say, pard. can our votes do you any good?’ ‘ I fear not,’ was the reply, • llain’t you a candidate for any thing?’ 1 I'm n candidate for Heaven—noth ing more,’ he solemnly answered. The man's chin fell about six inches, and he turned away and said : ‘Come on, boys—lie'll want us to wait and git our drinks up there !’ A Severe Rebuke. Oglethorpe Echo. During the progress of Col. Mathews’ argument in the Kberluirt ease, lust week, the speaker was frequently inter rupted hy Gen. Toombs, the opposing ! counsel, upon what appeared to the spectators as most unusual and frivo lous charges. The speaker bore it for some lime with commendable forbear ance, until at lust, upon Gen. Toombs i adding the insult of a hiss to his other ! annoyance, when forbearance censed to he a virtue, and turning upon his op poser with a look full of scorn and in dignati a), the speaker said: “I mind not sir the hissing of a vile serpent!” Wo Can If We Will. Men say they can not afford hooks, and sometimes do not even pay for a newspaper. In that case it does them little good, they feel so mean whileread ing them But men can a fiord what they really choose. If all the money spent ill self-indulgence, in hurtful in dulgence, was spent in books or papers for self-improvement, we should see a change. Men would grow handsome, and women too. The soul would shine out through the eyes. We were not meant to he mere animals. Li tus have hooks and read them, and sermons and heed them. The Keokuk Constitution says: “I p at West Point the other day the boys who were attending the fair put up a job on a j Birmingham folio w. They were all stop ping lit Jack Peter's hotel, and the boys who were rooming with the man of Bir mingham managed to secure a big bull frog one night and also managed it that ho went to hod first, while they stood round waiting for the lightning to strike. It was a chilly night and the Hirminghamer spoon- I ed it at first, and lay with his knees up under his chin; finally lie warmed up and by degrees stretched out, his legs until one foot came in contact with the frog, and then a chill commenced at the foot, run ning up through the legs, shot through that man and climbed all over his spine and made him think of how he used to feel when he was a hoy, and was compell ed to pass a graveyard at a late hour of the night, hut he didn’t squeal, lie wasn't ! sure of his ground, so he cautiously put his other foot down. It touched the frog, which gave a hop and landed on the fleshy j part of the leg of the man in bed, and in two seconds and a half the covers of that bed were kicked seven ways for Sunday, and the boys caught sight of a whito streak which shot out of the door. This and an unearthly shriek is all they heard or saw, but Jake Peters says he saw more as tho man tumbled down stairs iu his only gar ment—a night shirt—declaring he was snake bit, and calling for whiskey and a doctor. Fifteen States have yet to hold elec tions this fall. Louisiana, Massachu setts, Minnesota, Mississippi Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New^Yprk,Penn sylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin vote on the sixth of November and Georgia on the fifth of December* In addition Il linois elects county officers on Novem ber 0. The man who wraps himself around yhe cotton gin and expects to get the pest of the embrace, ain’t the reformer that the age demands. Georgia has 26,199 more women *' 1 men; South Carolina 35,8‘2d nm>