Newspaper Page Text
CASED WITH A HYENA.
Ac w York Mercury,
There was great excitement in Clink
erville. For the first time in the his
tory of that somnolent village, it was
to be visited by a show. Not a peep
show, nor a sleight-of-hand performance,
nor a concert, but a “ big show
Circus and Menagerie combined. The
agent of the establishment, had arrived
in a singular looking vehicle, drawn bv
four splendid cream-colored horses, witli
white manes and tails, and was busily
engaged making his arrangements for
providing for the wants of his company.
Major Whabble, the landlord of the
Clinkerville Hotel, was in a high state
of excitement, running round among
his neighbors to engage stabling and
beds for the troupe, which was alto
gether too large to be put away within
the limited precincts of his establish
ment. Colonel Blackfish, the Chairman
of the Board of Selectmen, had been
applied for a license ; and after naming
one hundred dollars as the sum which
he thought would be about right for the
document, by the persuasive eloquence
of the oily tongued agent had been in
duced to issue it for one dollar and a
half, with tickets for the board. The
bill-stickers accompanying the agent
had manufactured a huge boiler of paste,
and were decorating all the barns and
fences in the vicinity with mammoth
illuminated posters, on which were de
lineated riders of the male persuasion,
with no clothes on to speak of, and
riders of the female persuasion not
much better provided for, in all sorts of
possible and impossible positions, with
beasts of the field and birds of the air
grouped in the most astonishing and
most unheard-of manner. The entire
juvenile population of the place follow
ed close at the bill-stickers’ heels, rais
ing a shrill hurrah as each new triumph
of the printer's and engraver’s art was
unfolded to their view. Taken alto
gether, nothing had occurred to startle j
the village from its usual staid proprie
ty to an equal degree since the great |
log-cabin demonstration at the time of
the Harrison Presidential campaign.
Among those who manifested a
special interest in the coming event was j
Seth Delano, a farmer's son, residing !
at the outskirts of the village, but who
passed the greater portion of his time
in Skinner’s grocer} 7 . Seth was a fair
type of the Down-east village lounger; j
tall, gawky, powerful as an ox, but lazy,
conceited, ignorant, and self-confident.
Ilis voice was always the loudest in the
discussions continually occurring at the
grocery, the place where the Clinker
villians most did congregate, and on all
public occasions it was not for want of
effort on his part if he did not occupy
the most conspicuous position in the
eyes of spectators at large. Moreover,
Seth was ungainly as he was presump
tuous, considered himself an excessive
ly fascinating individual, and it was
particularly with an aim to the admira
tion of the fair sex that he thrust him
self forward prominently at every gath
ering of his neighbors.
Two weeks passed away—it seemed
an age to the youngsters of Clinkerville
—and the Circus arrived. First, early
in the morning, a train of baggage
wagons came rattling into town, and,
driving into Squire Perkins’ meadow,
the men were soon engaged in erecting
the tent. Seth Delano, who, like John
Gilpin’s spouse, with a bent for pleas
ure combined a frugal mind, had de
termined to make the occasion one of
pecuniary profit to himself; and as soon
as the entrance-way was fixed upon,
went to work to build a rough stand
outside the lot, whereon he spread an
ample store of gingerbread, pies, and
root beer, from the sale of which he an
ticipated a liberal flow of currency. In
the meantime the people had com
menced to flock in from the surround
ing country in vehicles of every imagi
nable description, and the usually quiet
streets of Clinkerville were alive with
rural pleasure-seekers.
Then came the news that the Circus
was just at the end of the village, pre
paring for its triumphal entry into the
place. At this, Seth could control his
impatience no longer. So, leaving his
temporary victualing establishment to
the care of an assistant, whom he had
employed for the day, he hastened to
meet the procession, accompanied by
his dog Sculp, an ill-favored brute, uni
versally detested by the farmers in the
vicinity, from the fact that he was
strongly suspected of occasional illegal
indulgence in mutton on the hoof.
Now, Sculp was one of those disagree
able curs, so common in the rural dis
tricts, that make it a point to bark at
every traveler that passes, while they
will run like a quarter-horse n< any sign
VOL. II—NO. 4*2.
of danger; and no sooner did he catch
sight of the elephant, than, with a great
show of bravado, he commenced bark
ing and dashing toward the creature,
taking good care, however, to keep out
of the animal’s reach. The sagacious
and dignified monster apparently took
no notice of the insulting little quad
ruped, but the significant rolling of his
intelligent eye would have informed
any one acquainted with the character
istics of the species that the indignity
was not overlooked.
Having satisfied his curiosity for the
time with a view of the elephant, the
band-chariot, and the menagerie cages.
Seth returned to his ginger-bread stand
and awaited the arrival of the show.
At last it came, the band playing a
lively air, and the elephant marching
majestically along immediately after
the band-chariot. Seth sat with pro
truding eyes behind his rough counter,
while Sculp lay at his feet. The chari
ot turned on to the lot—ihe elephant
followed. At this moment the saga
cious animal espied the pitiful cur
which had so grossly insulted him half
an hour before, and with his ponderous
trunk he struck a blow, which, if it had
taken effect upon the dog, would have
put a quietus upon that disagreeable
brute forever. But Sculp was wary,
and dodged, and the upward sweep of
the elephant's trunk catching Seth's
counter in its course, sent his entire
grocery, ginger-bread, root-beer bottles,
tumblers, and all, flying thirty feet in
the air, leaving the unfortunate ‘busted’
ginger-bread merchant sitting with a
blank expression of astonishment and
despair upon his face, as dazed as if he
had been struck by lightning. His
stock in trade was irretrievably ruined,
and liis speculation brought to a disas
trous end; so with dejected mien, lie
betook himself to Skinner's where,
amidst a throng of bibulous associates,
' he managed to forget tils ullgtiied nopes
and pass away the time until the open
ing of the exhibition.
In due time the Circus tent was
opened, and the peribrmancefominenc
ed. Upon a top seat perched Seth, in
an ccstacyof delight at everything that
was done. The clown set him nearly
wild. At every joke or antic of that
grotesquely attired and painted individ
ual, Seth rocked himself backward and
forward in convulsions of boisterous
laughter, until at last an unusually
funny movement of Mr. Merryman
; caused him to lose his balance. For an
instant he grasped the edge of the
plank scat with his hands, and his face
could be seen wearing a look of inde
scribable fright from between the soles
of a pair of number fourteen cowhide
boots, as he hung all doubled up, the
remainder of his body out of sight,
and then, his hands and heels slipping,
with a horrible groan he dropped be
hind the seats. Picking himself up,
sorely bruised, he was pounced upon by
one of the tent men, who, from the po
sition in which he found him, supposed
lie was trying to steal in without pay
ing, and who, without ceremony, hus
tled him outside of the tent in the most
ignominious manner, to the intense de
light of a host of ragged, impecunious
youngsters who witnessed his undigni
fied exit. With tears in his eyes, Seth
protested his innocence of any intent
to defraud the managers of the show,
and succeeding in convincing the burly
fellow who had ejected him, as to the
facts of the case, was ultimately taken
around to the door and re-admitted.
As Seth re-entered the tent, he ob
served quite a commotion among the
spectators. A drunken fellow, in tat
tered clothes, with a dilapidated um
brella under his arm and a shocking
bad hat upon his head, had forced his
way into the ring, and was insisting
upon being permitted to ride a horse |
which had just been led in. The ring
master was trying to persuade him to
leave, and the clown was turning the
incident to the best advantage by play
ing tricks upon the interloper, to the
unbounded mirth of the audience.
Now, nine-tenths of those present were
fully aware that the pretended drunken
man was one of the performers, and
that, after being allowed to mount the
horse, he would presently shed his rags,
and appear in all the splendor of flesh
colorcd tights and glittering spangles.
But this was Seth’s first visit to a Cir
cus ; and taking the thing all in earn
est, he thought he saw a good chance to
distinguish himself. So, rushing upon
the shabby stranger, he undertook to
eject him from the ring, but to his great
surprise, found himself finally pitched
out of the circle in a very vigorous
manner. Before he had fairly recover
ed his senses, the performance had so
far advanced that he was enabled to
see how completely he had been sold ;
amid the jeers and laughter of the spec
tators, he beat a hasty retreat in dis
gust, and, proceeding to Skinner's gro
cery, endeavored to drown his mortifi
cation in liberal libations of the purest
Melford rum, which was the staple bev
erage in Clinkerville.
Evening came, and found Seth drunk
and quarrelsome, awaiting the opening
of the doors to the night's performance,
with a long bill in his hand setting
forth the damages his business had re
ceived through the action of the ele
phant in the morning, and a firm deter
mination in his mind to make the man
agers of the Show recompense him for
his losses. Finding, however, that his
claim was treated with contempt, he
gave vent to his feelings in a torrent of
abuse, and wound up with a threat to
have the tent torn down “in less than
two minutes.” Meeting with some of
his companions, who had also liberally
patronized Skinner's institution during
the afternoon, it was determined toi
carry out the threat, and the party com-!
menced cutting the guv-ropes, w’hen a |
sudden rush of showmen interrupted ;
their amusement, and Seth, after being j
knocked heels over head, found himself
stretched on his back with a pair of
black eyes, a bloody nose, and two of
his front teeth sticking in a most disa
greeable manner in his gullet. Ilia
first move after coming to himself was
to pay a visit to Skinner’s liquid conso
lation ; his next to Squire Perkins for
a warrant for assault and battery against
the showmen. But, as it was impossi
ble for him to identify the parties who
had so roughly handled him, and as,
moreover, according to his own story,
he had richly deserved the pummcling
he had received, the Squire would not
grant the warrant, and Seth was thrown
back on his own resources for satisfac
tion. Without any definite plan of
procedure in his mind, he made his way
back to the tent, and after wandering
about for awhile, sat down with his
back against a wagon, wheel, and drop
ped asleep.
It was nearly midnight, and Seth still
slept. The tent had been taken down,
and with all its appurtenances had been
packed away in the baggage-wagons.
The cages of animals formed a line of
dark objects on the lot. The last light
had been extinguished in the village,
and not a sound could be heard except,
occasionally, a suppressed growl from
some of the animals, which probably
were troubled with unpleasant dreams.
At this time, a couple of showmen, who
had remained upon the lot to watch the
property, stumbled across the sleeping
form of our hero, and at once recogni
zing him as the individual who had
made so much trouble during the day,
determined to give him a lesson. Be
fore he was fairly awake, they had
taken him up, pitched him head fore
most into one of the animal cages, and
fastened the door upon him.
As Seth raised himself to a sitting
position, something shining like two
coals of fire at the further end of the
cage attracted his attention, and the
next instant a threatening growl caused
him to realize the horrible truth that he
was shut up with some wild beast. The
cold perspiration oozed from ever}'
pore ; he gasped wildly for a few sec
onds, and then, in a tone of wild de
spair, he shrieked for help. At this,
the animal, whose quarters he had so
strangely invaded, raised a terrific howl j
| —so shrill, prolonged, and unearthly,
! that it chilled poor Seth to the marrow,
while from the long line of cages is
-1 sued answering roars and howls, from
; the deep bass of the lions to the shrill
yelp of the jackal, forming a concert
terrible enough to appall a man of
much stronger nerves than our unwill
: ing listener. In vain he shouted,
prayed, and implored—no one answer
ed him, and still this infernal chorus
HARTWELL, GA., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1878.
continued.
Seth had somewhere road that no ani
mal would ever attack a man who
looked it unflinchingly in the eye, and
believing that his only chance fbr life
lay in such a procedure, he cautiously
drew himself back to the corner of the
cage, never withdrawing his gaze for a
second from the brilliant orbs which
were flashing at him. In this position,
in a state of most abject terror, hours,
which seemed to him like months, pass
ed away ; the animal, whatever it was,
returning his gaze with equal intensity.
At last the showmen came with their
horses and prepared to leave. Seth
could plainly hear them, and shouted in
the most imploring terms to bo released
from his fearful imprisonment, but
made no one listen to him. The horses
were put to the wagons, and the cara
van started on its journey to the next
town. For twenty miles, over a rough
road, the unfortunate prisoner was jolt
ed about, until he was bruised from
head to foot, and during all this time
he never dared for an instant to divert
his eyes from the two shining spots
which glowed at him through the ob
scurity. Hoarse, faint, and discour
aged, he gave up all hopes of present
release, and made up his mind patient
ly to await the progress of events.
Arrived at their destination, the
showmen, after parading the town,
drove into the tent, and the keepers
proceeded to open the cages, among the
rest the one in which Seth was confined.
The surprise affected by the sliowmen
in finding so strange an animal in their
collection did not deceive our hero, who
had too much confidence in the strength
of his lungs to believe that his cries
had been unheard. But when the light
was let into the den he made one dis
covery which fully accounted for his
safety ; the cage was divided into two
OowmnHmontti Vy no iron <rr<it.snr niTj.
ning through the middle, and the ani
mal which had so terrified him, a huge
spotted hyena, being separated from
him by this barrier, was of course un
able to harm him. So, that, with the
exception of the fright, which might
have killed him, he had been in no real
danger after all. After a good deal of
chaffing from the showmen, Seth was
liberated from his unpleasant quarters,
and without giving or asking any ex
planation in regard to the manner in
which he became caged, he made his
way home by the first conveyance of
fered, thoroughly satisfied with his zoo
logical experience.
Seth never told the story of his trav
els with the show, but by some means
or other it leaked out, to his great dis
comfiture. And to this day if, as some
times happens, he becomes dogmatical
and overbearing in the debates, which
are still continued at Skinner’s grooery,
it is only necessary for someone to ask
when another menagerie is coming, to
transform him immediately to the mild
est and meekest of mankind.
Giggling Girls.
A little while since we attended eve
ning services in a church not a thou
sand miles from Abbeville and were
actually shocked at the very unbecom
ing deportment of three or four young
ladies who sat not many seats distant
from us. We only make mention of
this matter to teacli a lesson winch
many more young women in all parts
of this country should treasure in their
hearts and practice in their lives. The
particular girls to whom we now refer
sat in a pew to themselves and through
out the entire services were laughing
and staring about all oeer the church
in a most empty and irreverent way.
They would twist and giggle, giggle and
twist and look at each other and laugh
and then throw up their fans to their
faces and almost die away with the fun.
Then they’d look solemn a minute and
in a little while repeat the entire per
formance as above detailed. A window
blind would blow against the sill and
then they’d laugh; a whippoorwill’s
song w'ould come into the church
through the dark night air and they’d
laugh harder still, but when a poor sick
baby fretted and cried and the good
patient mother had to lose the best
part of the sermon by going out with
her child the crowd just completely
broke down and shook the scat with
their convulsions. It was really a re
lief when the benediction was pro
nounced and the congregation dismiss
ed. It is bad enough for a man to be
have badly in church but it is infinitely
worse for a woman. Girls just begin
ning to wear long dresses and do their
hair up with “ switches ” are too smart
anyhow—"too big for their breeches."
A woman who treats sacred things with
unconcern and absolute disrespect can
be depended upon in nothing. A pious
religious Christian woman is the great
est jewel God ever gave to nmn, but a
big-mouthed, giggling girl who "makes
a mock of sin ” is about the most re
pulsive thing In all the world.
The above is from the Medium, pub
lished at the county site of the refined
and aristocratic county of Abbeville,
S. C., where they have a female col
lege at every cross road.
Facts About Man.
Hull's Journal of Health.
If a well-made man be extended on
the ground, his arms at right angles with
the body, a circle, making the navel its
center, will just take in the head, the
finger ends, and feet.
The distance from top to toe is pre
cisely the same as that between the tijw
of the fingers when the arms are extend
ed.
The length of the body is just six
time that of the foot; while the distance
from the edge of the hair cm the fore
head to the end of the chin is one-tenth
the length of the whole stature.
Of the sixty-two primary elements
known in Nature, only eighteen are
found in the human body, and of these,
seven are metallic. Iron is found in
the blood, phosphorus in the brain, lime
stone in the hilo, lime in the bones, dust
and ashes in all! Not only these
eighteen human dements, but the whole
sixty-two, of which the universe is made,
nave uieir essemnu oasis m me rtFiu sub
stances, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and
carbon, representing the more familiar
names of fire, water, saltpetre and char
coal ; and such is man, the lord of earth ;
a spark of fire, a drop of water, a grain
of powder an atom of charcoal!
A Horse’s Intelligence.
Avery charming illustration of an
animal’s intelligence is afforded in the
performance of “Nettie,” a beautiful
trick-mare, that was recently exhibited
at the aquarium in New-York city. A (
six-barred gate —no toy gate —but as
high as a man's head, is placed in the
ring. A horse comes running out and
places himself alongside and parallel to
the gate. At the word Nettie goes
around the arena at a terrible pace, and
takes both gate and horse in her won
derful stride. Another horse comes out
and takes his place by the side of the
number one. Nettie goes about the
track once and clears the gate and both
horses with a flying lean. Then a third
horse comes out and takes liis place by
the other two. Nettie first walks up to
thegate and looks over it. It is really
higher than her head, as she naturally
holds it. What is she looking at? She
is counting the horses! Fact. Once
Nettie tried to jump over six horses,
failed and hurt herself. After that she
never could he persuaded to jump if
there were more than four, and no art
can make her try. She always satisfies
herself as to the number before she leaps.
Marrying for Money.
A late author very truthfully says:
“Gold cannot buy happiness, and the
parents who compel their daughters to
marry for station or money commit a
grievous sin against humanity and God.
And a woman who marries a churl for
his wealth will find that she has made a
terrible bargain—that all the glitterings
of a heartless grandeur are phosphores
cent glitterings of heart-wretched ness;
that her life will bo one gilded misery,
and her old age will be like a crag on
the bleak side of a desert mountain,
where cold moonbeams sometimes glitter,
hut no birds sing, hut wild storms howl
and hoarse thunders roar, and through
the sweeping storms shall be heard the
stern voice of the great God, saying:
“ Your riches are corrupted, your gar
ments are moth-eaten, your gold and
silver are cankered, and the rust of them
shall be a witness against you, and eat
your flesh as if it were fire.”
WHOLE NO. 94.
MIN( ELLANFOIN I‘AKAGKAPHB.
A New York lady gives sf>o to a fund
for the benefit of Mrs. Kate Sothem.
Oglethorpe Echo: A negro woman in
this county gave birth to two children,
ono coal black and the other a light
mulatto.
Jefferson Davis has recovered, in the
Court of Appeals of Mississippi, the
titles and ownership of his fine landed
estate Bricrsfleld, Warren county.
Miss.
The heaviest snorer we have heard
of is the man up town, whose wife
woke him up during the tempest say*
ing, she did wish he would stop snoring
for she wanted to hear the thunder.
The Augusta Chronicle is unadvised
as to what Mr. Stephens means when
ho says he will “ stand ’’ for Congress.
Well it is an obscure term and out of
use wo think, except by stockbreeders.
Old Capital.
A meddlesome old woman was sneer*
ing nt a young mother’s awkwardness
with her infant, and said : “ I declare,
a woman never ought to have a baby
unless she knows how to hold it.”
"Nor a tongue, either,” quietly re
sponded the young mother.
The Kalamazoo Gazette a strong
Democratic paper in Michigan, thus
notices our Georgia statesman: Old
Alexander 11. Stephens would do much
bettor down in Georgia, telling grand
father yarns to the Southern “ picka
ninnies,” than trying to play statesman
at Washington.
A negro magician in Alabama re
cently gained great glory for himself
by announcing that he wus impervious
to bullets. Nobody questioned the as
sertion for some time, but at last arose a
a notable colored skeptic, who lay in
wait one night for the wizard and shot
at him. The result was most satisfac
tory, tor the enchanter fell dead at the
first shot.
A man more than half-seas-over was
observed one day supporting the para
pet of the North Bridge, Edinburg,
shaking his head and repeating sadly,
“It must be done, it must be done."
and an old lady passing by, thinking
he contemplated suicide, said to him :
"What must be done, my man?" “I
must go home and face my wife,” was
•
A Cobb county school-teacher says
he never felt unequal to any demand in
the line of his profession, excepting on
one occasion, when a farmer brought
his bouncing fifteen-year-old daughter
to the school, and walking up to the
master's desk, said: “ That’s my
youngest gnl, and if ever you ketch her
a-sliding down hill with the boys, I
just want you to trounce her.”
Washington Gazette : The oldest court
records in this county arc of a term
held in April, 1787, Henry Osborne,
judge. The Superior Court was organ
izen in 1700, with tho same judge pre
siding. The judge and attorneys all
wore black gowns while in court. The
record of the grand jury presentments
in one place reads, “we present the
following persons for profane swearing,”
after which follows twenty names, two
of which are designated as attorneys.
Money in these records is in the de
nomination of pounds, shillings and
pence. Juries were drawn at one term
to serve at the next.
The Forest News (Jackson County,)
says : “ From our esteemed correspond
ent, and from other sources, we learn
that the people of Banks county are
agitating seriously the question of con
solidating that county with Jackson,
and having the county site of the new
county at Harmony Grove. While we
have no personal objections to the citi
zens of Banks, and would not object
if every one of them should move into
Jackson, still wc are opposed to the en
largement of our county. We are very
well pleased with its present limits,
which w'e think arc amply sufficient for
every purpose.”
A duel with bowie knives, reported
from Campbell county, Va., appears to
have been sanguinary enough to satisfy
the most uncompromising devotee of
the so-called code of honor. Two
brothers-in-law, described as prominent
citizens, got into a dispute on the in
significant question as to whose corn
had grown the tallest, the lie was pas
sed, and a proposition to settle the af
fair with weapons followed. They met
in the woods, an old negro being the
only witness. Both showed desperate
ferocity, and kept up the fight even af
ter one had received a ghastly wound.
The old negro separated them, but not
soon enough to prevent a fatal result.
The survivor is a fugitive. The tele
graph does not tell us which had the
I tallest corn.