The Hartwell sun. (Hartwell, GA.) 1879-current, April 07, 1880, Image 1
Rninefl Glasgow MercM.
BY ,T. A. AN DEMON.
A few years ago 1 had fever when 1
was in Biuyib* Ajyres, South America.
After I was discharged from the infirm
ary, I was very weak, and consequent
ly was unfit to resume my usual occu
pation. Fortunately l had #nved a lit
tle money, and put up in Ui<? C’hevalde
Blanco, a French hotel, well conducted
and cheap. It was a dreary life, how-
ever, being confined to my lied-rooyi,
and when aide to be out I used to go
to the margin of the river Rio t|e la
Plata. and tfere fiijojr the cool and (Je
freshing breezes; which put new life
In me. ,
One Sabbath evening in the mofrtn
of March (the autumn there), I quitted
my hotel for my favorite seat under the
trees of ParadUg which gfew tltf
river. It waw IwWaVi tifnl evening The
sun was about to sink in the deep wa
ters. As I lay and watched it dipping
bit by bit, my fancy conjured up beau
tiful scene-. \ / ¥ (
At last-Jhe
scene was enhanced. The moon was
now far up, and sheriffs pife; figlifc on
the throbbing bosom of the mighty
river. I was -about to riVc—the
air at last was getting to be chilly—
when my attention was arresjed, in
some object crawling to-Where I sht.
“ What could it be I Unfiight. In a
moment I had my revolver out and was
prepared for it. At last it stood ujf
erect. It was a man ! What an oV
ject! Ilis trousers scarcely came ovlr
his knees. His feet were baj'c,-apd I
could see that he had got theffi cut on
the sharp stones—ihey were covered
with blood. Poor fellow, lie was shirt
less ; an alpaca coat was the only cov
ering he had on. His beard was mat
ted and twisted ; his eyas, bloodshot ;
his lips black and parched. His had
was an old felt one, and the rim hung
over his naked neck. Never in ffiy life
had I seen such an object. Slowly he
approached, and when about two yards
from me he said,
“ Do you speak Spanish, senor ?”
“ Mtiy pdco,” I said, “ AY hat do you
want ?”
"I am an Englishman, and have not
a single pesos. For ’ovc of God.
help me!" ' * ' 4 / -
I said to him in English, •* What has
brought you to this pass ? \ou are a
disgrace to youv country. Come tell
honestly, and it I can help you I will
do so.”
“Oh, thanks! I have not tasted
food for two days. Do you see yen
boat on the beach ? It lias been ray
home for the last four months. The
covering of my bed has been the sky,
and my bed itself the rotten planks.
“ Come, tell me what has caused this ;
have you been ill ?”
“ Yes, yes, I have been ill. I have
been mad, and am mad now. A thirst
is choking, and I 11 die unless you help
me. Is there a God? Is there no
hand to help me ? Must I die ? ’
“ AA'hat is wrong with you ? ’
“ I want cana (white rum). My
mouth is dry. I can’t speak. Give me
two pesos (4ct), for the love of Qod.
I was not a total abstainer; indeed,
up to this time I did not look upon
drink as an evil, and seeing the awful
anxiety of the mttn, I gave him two
pesos, when lie started for a cale in the
Paseo de Julio. He was not long ab
sent, for lie soon returned with a bottle
full of cana.
“Will you take a drop?” he said.
I refused, when he applied the bottle to
his parched lips and drank about the
half of it ere he stopped.
“Ah,” he exclaimed, “there’s life in
the bottle. I feel the caua going through
me. Now I can speak. What a love
ly evening! See how the little waves
are tipped with the pale rays of the
moon. One would think they are sil
ver !”
The poor fellow in two minutes was
a changed being. Prom his conversa
tion I could easily see that he had been
a o something,” so I at once determin
ed to find out what lie had been.
“ You are an Englishman, you say ;
are you not a Scotchman ? ’
“When I said I was an Englishman,
J only gave the usual answer to such a
question. lam a Scotchman, and was
born in Glasgow.”
“ Indeed! I know Glasgow well.
Your name ?”
” John R ”
“ I knew a Mr. John K , a man
ufacturer in Glasgow. Did you know
him ?”
“ Where was his place ?”
“ Near the Exchange,”
“ I am he !”
The Hartwell Sun.
■ ~
Bv BEKSoiN & McGILL.
VOL. IY-NO. 32.
“ You r
“ Yes; pray yonr name ?”
I told him, when he at once knew me..
e sat for some £jmc in silence. No
doitbt lie was busy thinking of the-past;
Feast I was. JTha last time that I
saw Mr. R he was standing on the
stops of the Royal Exchange. He was
tnen a smart young man. and consider
ed “cute” by many. He was, how
ever, known as being a " wet” hand,
md too frequently treated buycra Aiul
firirrh with them. • •
When I looked at the miserable,
idiotic person sitting by my side—for
the drink had wonderfully improved his
spirits—l could nob help putting fhe
qqffction to mytself, “ Gun it be realty
he ?" Alas, it was too true ! Once a
merchant, now au outcast; once re
spected, now a beggar ! What a change !
-VFv heart yearned for him ; indeed, as
I thought on the way he was living.
the tears started to ujy eyes* I could
not take him to a hotel; 1 *could not
eveh take him to a cafe ; so I made up
my mind to hear his story, which I now
i/eiyh- in own wkinjl.
■ “|l aifc tart only son ami received , a
fair-education. It was not my mother's
fault if I ,did not get more pf the
school. My father died when I was
only l ten days old. I.fchink no man had
ever such a mother. She Joveif me.
She would have chcerfrflly'dred to have
done me a service. Drunk or sober, I
can see lier; even now I can see her
calm, tnongmful face traced with sor
row ami pain. I had, always lots of
pocket money, which was my ruin.
“It 1s the .old story* I frequented
the theatre, the singing saloons, and
night hotels, before I was out of my
teens. I was considered clever; could
a good song, tell a good story, and,
iii short, was a jolly good fellow. My
conduct was crushing my mother's
I'norfc no heart tr*
Time* passed on. of Louisvills
about 2000 k, and I asked me -•
me to commence business with. I said
it would settle me in life. Poor soul,
she freely gave her all. I commenced
business, and did well for a time, but
my companions led me to contract bad
debts. I sent goods to Bueno3 A.yres,
but I did not get any advance on them.
“My mother died. Y*es, I believe ol
a broken heart. This sobered me for
a time, but only for a time. About a
year after her death I married a lovely
woman. I loved her; God knows I
love her still. Shortly after our mar
riage I had to call -a meeting of mv
creditors. They sent me out to Bue
nos Ayres to look after the consign
ments there. I arrived in Buenos
Ayres, sold the goods, and kept the
proceeds. This i3 all that is left of
me!”
“ AYhat' about your wife ?”
“My wife ! Ol), sir, when you men
tion her it is like pouring boiling lead
on my brain. I cannot think ot her;
it would drive me mad to think about
her. My wife, she is an angel. She
is pure, ay, and beautiful as a summer's
inorn. I hope slio thinks I'm dead.
Why, sir, my brain reels as I think of
the past. I must drink, drink, drink till
I die.”
We 9at together for some time ; and
when 1 left him I gave him twenty pe-.
sos (80c.) I said I would see him the
following evening.
The next day I was walking along
C'alle San Martin, when I saw a crowd
of people. I asked what was wrong.
“ a man has been run over by the car.
and they are taking him to the dead
house.” I followed the crowd, and en
tered the dead-house and viewed the
body. To my horror and grief, it was
the mangled remains of poor John R —.
I never found out properly how he met
his death, but it was a great relief to
my mind when I was told he was sober,
and a greater relief still when fifteen
pesos were taken from his pocket.
How to Deal With Hats.
We clear our premises of these detes
tible vermin, writes a correspondent of
the Scientific American by making
whitewash yellow with copperas and
covering the stones and rafters in the
cellar with it. In every crevice where
a rat may tread we put the crystals of
the copperas, and scatter the same in
the corners of tie floor. The result was
HARTWELL, GA„ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7. 1880.
a perfect stampede of rats and mice.
Since that time not a footfall of either
rats or mice has been heard pbout the
house. Eyerv spring, a coat of yellow
Avails is given the cellar, as a purifier, ns
a. nit exteryninalor; and no typhoid,
dysentery, or fever, attacks the family.
Many persons deliberately attract all
the rats in the neighborhood by leaving
fruits and vegetables uncovered in the
'cellar, and sometimes even the sonp is
ldLojicn for their regiment. Cover up
Everything eatable iu the cellartindpan
trv, nud you will soon tiave them out.
These precautions joined to the service
of a good cat, will prove as good a rat
exterminator cl#mist can provided
Wg never allow rats to hq poisoned in
our dwelling; they are so liable to die
between the walls aud produce much
annoyance.
• zh ■*-*—t—
A STRANGE DREAM STORY.
. Itipi/iyuUn
There is air inexplicable story— which
l believe has never been published—
among the traditions of the fertile bill
country of Western rfmusyßauia, the
most unlikely quarter /n the World to
ierve as fi breeding place of mystery: -It
was settled almost wholly by well-to-do
farmers from the North of Ireland,
economical, hard-working folk—God-
Fenring, too, after the exact nianffeT do-
scribed by John Knox, and having little
piticnce with any other manner. Not
a likely people, assuredly, to give ’cre
dence'to'any fanciful superstitions, and
still less to originate them. This story
indeed has a bold, matter-of-fact char
acter in every detail which quite sets it
apart -from relations of the supernatural.
I have never heard it explained, and it
is the best authenticated mystery in my
knowledge.
Ilel’t it is in brief: Among the Scotch- i
Irish settlers i ■*- ■' **■ *
, ,comfortable farm and house..
. Ky., slam'
ikU cliei, the daughter, was engaged to a
young farmer of the neighborhood. On
a Saturday evening in July, having fin
ished her week’s work, she dressed her
self tidily and started to visit her mar
ried sister, who lived on a farm about
five miles distant, intending to return
Monday morning. She tied up her
Sunday gown and hat in a checkered
handkerchief, and carried her shoes and
stockings in the other hand, meaning to
walk in her bare feet and put them on j
when she came in sight of her destina
tion, after the canny Scotch fashion. '
She left home about seven o’clock in or- ,
der to have the cool evening for her
walk. The road to the farm was lonely
and unfrequented. The girl did not re
turn home on Monday, hut no alarm
was felt, as the family thonght her sister
would probably detain her for a few
days; and it was not until the latter
part of the week that it was found that
she had never been at her sister’s. Ibe
country was scoured, but in vain ; the
alarm spread, and excited a degree of
terror in the peaceable, domestic, com
munity, which would seem inexplicable
to city people, to whom the newspaper
has brought a budget of crime every
morning since their childhood. Tocbil
dren raised in lonely hamlets and
hill farms murder was a far-off, unreal
horror ; usually all they knew of it was
from the doings ot Cain and Jael, set
forth w ith hideous wood cuts in the f'am-
ily Bible.
The girl had left home on Saturday at
7 o’clock. That night long before 10
o’clock, (farmers go to bed with the
chickens), a woman living in Green
county, about forty miles from the Ply"
mire farm, awoke her husband in great
terror, declaring that she had just seen
a murder clone, and went on to des
cribe a place she had never seen before
—a hill country with a wagon road run
ning through it, and a girl witli a bun
dle tied in a checkered handkerchief,
her shoes and white stockings in the
other hand, walking briskly down the
grassy side of the road. She was met
by a young man—the woman judged
from their manner the meeting was by
appointment; they sat down on a log
and talked for some time.
The man at last rose, stepped behind
iier, and drawing out a hatchet struck
her twice on the head. She fell back
ward on the wet, rotten leaves dead.
Present]'’ the man was joined by an-
Demoted to Hart County.
other, also young, who asked : •• Is it
done? He nodded, and together they
lilted the l)o1y and cirrie.f it a Way out
ot her night. Alter a while Utcy cauie
back, found the bum Hoof Sunday
finery ami the Shoes and stockings, all
of which were stained with blood.
Thorerfras a /uined old mill near the
road ; They wont into it, lifted a loose
board In the flooring, put the bundle,
shoes, with the hatchet, under
ueatli. tuid replaced the board. Then
they separated and went through the
woodsju different directions. The far
mer s wife told her dream to her hus
band that night; the next day (Sunday)
going to a little Country chirch she tv
mained during the intermission be
tween the morning and evening ser
vices.! Ihe neighbors who had come
from a circuit of twenty miles to church,
gathered, according to their homely
habit,fn the churchyard to pat their
lunch > and exchange the news. Our
dreamer told her story again and again,
for she was impressed by it as if it had
been reality. After the afternoon ser
vice the congregation separated, going
to their widely scattered homes. There
were thus many witnesses ready to tes
tify to the fact that the woman had told
the dream the morning after the mur
der was committed at u distance of 40
miles..when it was aiisobitPly impossi-
; Die that the news should have reached
her. There were no telegraphs, we
i must remember, and no railways in
'tho3e days, not even mail-carriers in
, those Secluded districts.
When the story of the girl’s disap
pearance was told over the country at
the end of the nest week, the peoplfe
to wlwtn the dream had been repeated
recalled it. Nowadays the matter
would only serve as good material for
tins he a iiint from him? The Kev.
Charles AVheeler, a Baptist clergyman
of Washington, well-known in \\ estern
Pennsylvavia and Virginia a generation
ago, and Ephriam Blaine, Esq., a mag
istrate, father of the present Senator
from Maine, and as popular a man in
his narrower circle, drove over to sec
the woman who had told the dream.
Without stating their purposes, they
took her and her husband, on pretense
of business, to the Plymire farm. It
was the first time in her life that she
had left her own county, and she was
greatly amused and interested. They
drove over the whole of the road down
which Rachel Plymire had gone.
“ Have you ever seen this neighbor
i hood?” one of them asked.
“ Never,” she replied.
That ended the matter, and they
turned back-, taking a little used cross
road to save time. Presently the wo
man started up in great agitation, cry
ing : “ This is the place 1 dreamed of!”
They assured her that Rachel Plymire |
had not been upon that road at all. “I j
! know nothing about her,” she said, !
j “ but the girl I saw in rny dream came
along tiiere ; there is the path through
which the man came, and beyond that
turning you will find the log, and on
the ground the stains of blood. The
woman, walking swiftly, led him to the
old mill and to the board under which
j lay the stained clothes and hatchet.
The girl’s body was found afterward,
buried by a creek near at hand. Ra
chel’s lover had already been arrested
on suspicion. It was hinted that he
had grown tired of the girl, and for
many reasons found her hard to shake
off. The woman recognized him in a
crowd of other men, and startled her
companions still more by pointing out
another young fellow from the West as
his companion in her dream. The
j’oung man was tried in the town of
Washington for murder. The dreamer
was brought into court, an effort was
actually made to put her on the stand,
but even then men could not be hung
on the evidence of a dream. Without.
it there was not proof enough for con
viction, and the jury unwillingly enough
we may be sure, allowed the prisoner to
escape. It was held as positive proof
of .his guilt that he immediately mar
ried the sister of the other accursed
man and removed to Ohio, then the wil
) derness of the West.
Ik sure you right—then go ahead
81.50 Per .Annum
4 Miraculous Cere.
Miss Jennie Smith, of Dayton. Ohio,
told a Methodist congregation in Cinrin
nnti a weeks ago, how she had boon mi
raculously relieved of diseases which
had afflicted her all her life and pre
cluded her walking and using her arms,
except front elbow to fingers. She at
first thought that an unusual exertion
of her own force of will would effect a
cun', and she endeavored to concentrate
her mind in this way, hut the effect
only reduced her strength. Her mind
was. at this time, not clear as to God’s
purpose iu respect to her. She felt of
ten that she was not really submissive
to the divine will, but was too earnest
in her desire to he well. She prayed
earnestly for wisdom and a more humble
spirit, and her petitions were at last
granted. Sho fell that, w bile earnestly
desiring to lie cured, she could submit
cheerlully to whatever Providence might
have in store for her. Finally, one eve
ning in April, she became convinced
that the time had come when she must
either aiisc from her bed, or be reconcil
ed to continue a helpless invalid. This
conviction fu'cms to have been a a defi
nite impression belonging rather to the
feelings than to the reason. She had
been for some time in an eastern city
under the care of the physicians. Her
room was the place of frequent meetings
for prayer and social conversation. On
the evening in question a number of
friends announced that it was their pur
pose to vi.-it her. She asked them if
they were willing to pray and wait with
her until daybreak if need he. Hhe
never, she remarked, understood the
phrase “waiting upon the Lord,” as she
understood it that night. The time was
consumed in earnest prayer, or in the
reading of some fitting quotation from
siwktffifflg Bhe . saw. as a
she, with a mental effort, she could not
explain or even describe, strove to exert
a similar faith. At that instant she felt
anew strength as sudden ns a shock of
electricity, and those about her exclaim
ed at the change in her appearance. She
rose up in her reeling chair w ithout as
sistance, and when her feet were placed
upon the floor found that she could
walk with ease several steps, and was
able to kneel down and rise without as
sistance. From that moment she stead
ily recovered the use of all her senses
that had been impaired.
Qualifications.
An old lady walked into a lawyer’s
office in Detroit lately, when the fol
lowing conversation took place :
Lady—Squire, I called to see if you
would like to take this boy and make
a lawyer of him.
Lawyer—The hoy appears to be
rather young, madam ; how old is he ?
Lady—Seven years, sir.
Lawyer —He is too young, decidedly
too young, have you no older boys ?
Lady—Oh ! yes ; I have several, but
we have concluded to make farmers of
the otliers. I told the old man I thought
this little fellow would make a firstrate
lawyer, sol called to see if you would
take him.
Lawyer—No, madam; he is too
young yet to commence the study of
the profession. But why do you think
this hoy is better calculated for a law
yer than your other sons ?
Lady—Why you see, sir, he is just
seven years old to-day. When he was
only five he’d lie like all nature; when
he got to be six he was saucy and im
pudent as any critter could be, and
now lie’ll steal anything he can lay his
hands on.
A lady residing at Cow Island, in Lou
isiana, and wishing to "set” a lien, went
into the field adjoining her residence,
where some of her chickens had been
“laying,” and procured some seventeen
eggs and placed them under the hen.
When, in the course of “ human events”
the chickens were hatched, 10, and be
hold, there came forth four small sized
alligators. It is supposed alligators
from an adjoining marsh had deposited
their eggs in the field, and she, not know
ing the difference, placed them under
the hen. And, what is more strange,
the young alligators follow the motlur
I hen around the premises, as happy as a
■ Colorado beetle in a potato patch.
WHOLE NO. 188.
• OLD JEN’B FAITH.
Artfoif Ftrr
No matter to you who old Jen was,
fort her than that site was old and poor,
and that the boy sometimes hooted tier
on the streets for s hag, and ppopla
passed her by without a second glance.
If she had lieen a heathen in far otf
Africa every effort would nave been
made to awve her son!, bat ns she was a
washerwoman and beggar at home she
had no soul to save. At least no one
seemed to think so. Wasn't it curious
that never mao or woman had a kindly
word for that lone old woman until an
hourbefbro her death? Think of the
number of churches and clergymen nod
Christian people in Detroit, and then
wonder that no one ever stopp'd this
lonely exile on the street as sbe hob
bled along and took her trembling hand
and said:
“ I‘oor old woman, how fares it with
thee? Have you any sunshine in your
last days, or bus the world giveu you
burdens and shadows and tears and
heartaches ?”
Rut no one ever halted her—tio one
looked into her eyes to rend her sorrows
—no one cared more for her than for
the dogs which trotted past them on the
street. The other day as night was
coming down mere accident brooglK,
strangers into a room so full of dreari
ness and so lonely with shadows ns to
make the heart ache. In Hint, drear
room ohl Jen had been dying by inches
for days, and now death sat beside her
on her wretched bed. It was little that
human effort could do for iter, but when
words of sympathy fell upon her ears
—when she felt the pressure of a hand
and knew that someone pitied her—all
that wild, haggnrd look went out of her
face in a moment, and was replaced by
soft lines and eyes full of tears.
‘‘l—l didn't believe there was any
one in nil this big world who cans! for
me!” she gasped, as her tears came
afresh and she wiped them away to
look in wonder at the sad faces around
tier.
“I know that I am in the shadow of
death,” she said, as the silence grew
long, “ hut I am not afraid. For a
dozen years I have starved and shiver
ed and been an object of scoru and
" poi . w,< fff,^ .HiAfVmft'Afc
Tmi r o,uuoi3
“And shall we Tiring someone to
pray with you?"
“It would be mockery!” she whis
pered. “ Churches have not been for
me. l’rayer-meetings are not for beg
gars. I have cursed the hoys when
they hooted at me. I have hated peo
ple who had more than J had. Lying
here on this old bed, hungry and cold,
I have sometimes doubted that there was
a God ora Heaven. I have been very
wicked, but—but I was old and poor
and weak, and all the world seemed to
hate me!”
Tears came again, and after a while
she said :
“ But there is a God and a heaven.
I have faith in both. Years ago my
first-born was taken from me by death,
lie was lint a child, knowing no sin,
and lie is there among the angels. He
will ask God to forgive me. When I
crossover the dark river he will be first
to meet me on tlie Heaven-lit shore.
Oh ! I know lie will, for I was his mother
and I know that God will forgive me,
for the life He gave me has been drear
with sorrows.”
As tfic minutes ticked away her face
grew white and had a tender, womanly
look. Her eyes no longer had that story
of life’s sorrow in them, but instead was a
gleam of triumph. It was the triumph of
a lone old woman's faith over the contempt
of the world. She seemed to have fallen
asleep, and when the watchers were won
dering if she would awake again on earth,
she suddenly threw up her arms, clasped
her hands, and gasped out:
“My Jamie has pleaded for me, and I
will not he kept out of Heaven ! I have
sinned, but all the world was against me.”
On her face, when she lay dead on her
bed of rags, was such a smile of peace
and joy and contentment as seldom comes
to mortals. Within that poor old body
w as a soul after all, though the world had
denied it, and when it passed through the
valley of the shadow it had not one sin to
answer for.
In the British Museum is an old vol
ume of bound pamphlets presented by
King George 111, in which is the follow
ing passage: “A drunkard is the an
noyance of modesty; the trouble of
civility ; the spoil of wealth ; the dis
traction of reason. lie is the brewer’s
agent; the tavern and ale-house bene
factor ; the beggar’s companion; the
constable's trouble. He is his wile’s
woe ; his children’s sorrow ; his neigh
bor’s scoir; his own shame. In sum
mer he is a tub of swill, a spirit of
sleep, a picture of a beast.”