Newspaper Page Text
The Crawford County Herald.
KNOXVILLE, GEORGIA.
W. J. McAFEE, Editor and Proprietor.
SUBSCRIPTION. *1.00 PER YEAR
Three is some complaint among the
farmers of tlio Ilessian fly in the oat
crop. We heard a gentleman remark a
few days ago that he feared serious loss
to a promising out crop of a hundred
acres from this cause.
Tint II krai. i> will have no more to say
about “Spring time.” We did siy a
word or two last week on that subject,
but have since been devoting a good por-
.lion of our time to building fires and do¬
ing what we could to keep the tempera¬
ture above the freezing point.
We refer our readers to the card of
I>r. W. F. Blasingame in this issue of
the IlEgALi*. We were in error last
week in stating that he had to abandon
bis studies ou account of sickness. He
was sick, as stated, but completed his
‘ course, which secured his diplo-
*na, before leaving the college. He ten-
tiers his professional services to the pub-
ffo. and we wish him abundan t success.
An English resident of Balasore, India
says that half 1 he people iu the district
now use opium. The opium license if
) given to the man who will pledge to sell
the largest amount. What he cannot
sell he gives away to children, thus cre¬
ating in them the horrible appetite that
quickly makes them profitable customers.
The keeper of the opium den near the
missionary preaching has fingers rotting
with leprosy with which he deals out tin
germs of two torturing and incurable
maladies.
The Farmers’ Alliance of Georgia de¬
mands a revision of the course of study
in the public schools. They hold that
the present course in schools everywhere
is to fit m<jn for literary pursuits and un¬
fits them-for the farm. The reform do
manded is that chemistry, botany anc
kindred subjects take the place of liter
ary studies and that farms be attached ti
all schools so that practical instruction!
iu treating the soil can bo given. It
this way they would grow up to be gooc
farmers and save the country from its
present flood of poor doctors and lawyers.
A scientific institution in New York
has offered a prize of $200 for the be*
plan of breeding insects which will prej
upon aqd destroy mosquitoes. It means
well, says the Chicago Herald , but it is
feared that its humane effort to rid us o!
the mosquito pest will not meet with en
tire success. It seems to be a law of na
turc that there shall be just about si
many mosquitoes in spite of their natura
enemies. It pleases he/ iu the work o!
perpetuating the insect varieties to pro¬
duce mosquitoes aud the insects hostilt
to that species in a ratio that lias no per
ceptible effect on the number of the for
mer. Probably no artificial means cat
change this regulation, and the mosquito
is here to stay with undiminished activ¬
ity aud bloodthirstiness.
The New Haven Register appears to
believe that “the practical difficulty ol
putting a stop to the African slave trade
is the reluctance of the powers, which
have interests,there, to make concessions
in the interest of blocking this trade,
which interfere with their privileges.
The powers are in favor of checking slav-
cry on general principles, but when it
comes to the adoption of a definite form
of agreement there is trouble. Thus
France refuses to grant the right to have
her vessels searched for slaves because it
has a tradition that such a thing would
be derogatory to her national honor. Cer¬
tainly no object now agitatiqg the people
of the world is more worthy of mutual
concessions and merited effort than this.’
What the Washington Star terms a
half serious, half amusing story comes
from China. The Empress mother and
the young Emperor quarrel perpetually,
the dowager being the abler of the two
and usually carrying her plans. She
married off the youthful “Son of Heaven"
.
, against his will, and now he takes celes-
tial vengeance on his spouse, w ho can’t
help herself. The Temple of Heaven
does nojt seem to be a place of harmony,
according to our terrestrial ideas, and the
G old Empress says that the big fire in it
tome time since was a punishment for her
,.| son's impiety.. 3Ieantime the more su¬
perstitions among the people think that
all these things portend the overthrow of
the Tartar dynasty. It is certain that a
ferment is going on even in the slow-
coins' fiowerr kingdom
Snow Flakes.
Where do they go,
The melting flakes of the bright, white
snow?
They goto nourish the April showers;
They go to foster the May-time flowers:
Where the roots of the hidden grasses grow »
There do they go.
How do ,‘hey go’
Drop after drop, in a silent flow.
\\ hen the warm rain falls, and the "bids
are loud.
And the swallow sing in the rifts of the
cloud.
Through the frozen veins of the earth be¬
low
They softly go.
Why do they go?
Because Dame Nature will have it so?
More than this, truly, I cannot tell;
1 am neither a seer n<fr an oracle!
Alien all is answered, I only know,
That they come and go!
— Kah' Putnam Otgood, in Wide Awake.
THANKFUL'S TBIALS.
“I'm sure,” murmured Thankful
Pennvpucker, “Idon’t know what to
*
do. ”
Thankful Pennypacker had come to
the far West on what the facetious in¬
habitants of Blue Gulch would have
called “a wild-goose chase.”
She was one of the great majority of
unemployed women in the State of
Vermont, and her cousin, Squire Todd,
had heard from his nephew’s wife, who
liail a sister at Blue Gulch, that there
was a district school-teacher wauled
there.
“Chance for you, eh, Thankful?”
said Mrs. Todd. “Better get off as
fast as ever you can, or it’ll be snapped
up. Such positions don’t go a-begging
long.”
Thankful looked up with big,wistful
eyes.
“It’s awful cold weather to go
West, isn’t it?” said she, a little tim¬
idly.
“Oh, if you’re afraid of a little cold
wind and a snow flurry or two!” sai l
Mrs. Todd, elevating her nose.
And Thankful packed her trunk at
once, and departed.
« « Ain’t it rather barbarous, mother,”
said the squire, “to send the poor gal
way off West in such a blizzard as this
’ere?”
“Well, Joshua,” said his helpmeet,
“she’s been here two good months now,
and we want her room for your Aunt
Eliza, that’s got money to leave some
day; and. besides, Dr. Lotliair's a-com¬
ing pretty soon to visit old Doctor Jen¬
ningses’ folks next door, audit’s jest as
well to have Thankful Pennypacker out
of the way.”
Squire Todd's lower jaw dropped.
“Why?” said he, in amazement.
i t Why?” mimicked his wife. “Well,
give me a man for solid thick-headed-
ness! Hain’t you got a darter of your
own, and ain’t Thankful Pennypacker
a pretty gal, if sho is past five-and-
twenty year?”
“(Vi,” said the squ’re. * ‘M itch mak-
in’, ch?”
“Well, call it what you please,” said
Mrs. Todd. “Anyhow, it’s time Electra
was settled in life, and it’s jist as well
to have Thankful Pennypacker off some-
where else ”
But when the Vermont girl reached
Blue Gulch, old Mr. Wet dell, the chair-
man of the board of trustees, professed
himself exceedingly sorry, but the po-
sition had just been filled by a half sis-
ter of his own.
< i We always give Western girls
the preference,” said he.
So poor Tuankful went back to
“Squire Todd’s nephew’s wife’s sister,’’
in a frame of mind widely different
from her came, and uttered the piteous
sentence that heads our story.
The nephew’s wife’s sister was called
3IcCray—a stout, cheerful body, with
bright blue eyes and a double chin.
“I declare to goodness, 3Iiss Penny-
packer,” said she. “I feel sorry for
you, but I hain’t a minute’s time to
spare a-listenin’ to what 3Iiles Wen-
deli said just now. Two o' the China-
men have gone, and Bridget won t stir
in to the din in'-room as loug as Wong
Sjc is there. It’s strange how she and
the Chinese hate each other. And tho
train is due in forty minutes, aud
eighteen mealers have telegraphed
ahead.”
‘ Can't I help you?” said Thank-
ful.
“You? Why, you’re a:i educated
lady, said Mrs. McCray.
“That's no rcas >n I can’t cook a
fricasse, or bake a pumpkin-pie, said
Thankful, smiting in spite of her
trouble?. “And I have no especial
prejudice against Wong S c; so I’d as
•ooa go into foe dining-room and gee
to the tables as not."
“Well, I’d be mortal obliged to you
if you would,” said Mrs. McCray,
with a great sigh of relief. '“Here's
one o’ my big white kitchen aprons to j
tie over your black serge dre^s, so it*)
won’t be sp’dcd; and you’ll find Wong j
See very teachable and docile.”
So that Miss Penn ypacker was flying
around presently in the neat, cool
rooms of the railway restaurant, where
long tables, draped whith white, were
decorated with evergreen and holly-
berries, and the glass and crockery,
albeit of the courses 1 , was sparkling
and clean.
The Bus Gulch meal station, as Mrs.
M< Cray told Thankful, was celebrated
all along the line for its pigeon-pies,
its toothsome waffles, and its dainty
bits of home-made cookery.
“And now you’re here to sort o’ keep
Wong See straightened up,"said she; “I
can give my whole mind to the waffles.”
A keen wind howling down the rail¬
way cut; a cloud of drifting snow,
sharper than needles and pins; and
then the shriek of the train. Wong
See aljusted his clean white tunic and
rubbed his hauls.
“Supper allee readee,” said he.
“MisseeCray she got waffle all cookee.”
“Och, the hay then Chinee!” said
Bridget, in her dim behind the tea and
coffee holder, as she scowled unut¬
terable things at the smiling Celestial.
The passengers rushed with one ac¬
cord for the warm, cozy, savory-smell¬
ing dining-ro on, for the fame of tin*
Blue Gulch waffles had penetrated far
and wide—when all of a su lden there
was an exclamation, a pause, a confu¬
sion.
“What is it?” said Thankful, who,
with swift hands, was carrying tea aud
coffee this way and that.
“A gentleman has slipped on the icy
ca- step,” said Mrs. M Cray, “I
reckon likely he's broke his leg or arm
or something. Here, Miss Pennypacker;
you c nne to the watflj-irons. I’ll just
stop and sec what the trouble is. Mc¬
Cray ain't never on hand at an emer¬
gency.”
When the train had gone, the hurt
passenger lay iu a little white-curtained
room up stairs.
Doctor Felton had set his broken
arm a id bandaged liis sprained ankle.
“If you have moderately good luck, ’
said he, “you need not be detained
more than two or three weeks. And
the people here arc very kindly and re¬
spectable. They’ll make you fairly
comfortable, you’ll find.”
Tue wayfarer uttered a groan, but
there was no appeal. On all the earth
there is no autocrat like a country doc¬
tor.
Mrs. McCray was kind and motherly.
Wong See, with his little almond-
shaped eyes and perpetual smile, proved
to be a capital nurse; and after a little
tho patient got u ed to his captivity.
“Who is that I hear singing clown
stairs at times? ’ he asked, one day.
“Well,” said Mrs. McCray, “it’s our
Bridget. Does she disturb you? She
will keep singing ‘Nora, My Nora,’ say
what you will, and—”
“No, it isn’t that howl,” said the
sick man, with a shu kler. “It’s some
one singing bits out of the ‘Trovatore’
—little sweet trills and runs like a
nightingale.”
“Oil!” said Mrs. McCray. “Ireckon
that’s Thankful.”
“Aud who is Thankful?"
“31 ss Pennypacker. My sister’s
husband’s uncle’s cousin, that came all
the way from the State o’ Vermont to
teach decstrick school, and when she
got here another woman gobb ed it up
—the sitooation, I mean.”
“Oh!” sad the invalid. “Yes,
thank you, 3Irs. McCray! Ifjou'ii put
the lemonade piicher on the table, I
can reach it myself.”
—-.
The big 3I;chigan rose on the porch
of the Todd farmhouse was all in blos-
soni when Doctor Lothuir came at last
to make the long promised visit to his
I friend, Doctor Jennings,
“But it ain’t no use!” sighed 3Irs.
Todd to Eleci-ra, her daughter, “He’s
brung a wife with him, I’m told—a
bride all the way from Dakota Turri-
tory.”
‘•Humph!” said disappointed Elec-
tra. “A regu ar wild Indian, I guess.
But, for all that, I’m sort o’ curious to
see her. Let's go in to night, mother,
when they’re through tea.’-’
So Mrs. Todd and the squire donned
.
their best clothes, and E ectta put on
b cr newest set of fi'-h-scale jewelry,
and they all trudged over to “Jen-
ningees’ hcuse, ” when the sitn had set
and the whip-poor-wills began to sing.
“Whv, ma, look there!’’ said EL 8 -
tra. ‘ It’s cousin Thankful, sure a
you’re born, seatin' ou the piazzy,
and—’
“No, it ain’t !' 1 said Mrs. Todd.
“Yes, it is! Why, how on a rta come
she here?’
Thankful came running down tlio
steps.
“Well, I declare!” sai l Mrs. Todi,
secretly planning within herself how
to avoid inviting Thankful to the
house. “The fur West seems toiler
agreed with you. Mercy, how red
your cheeks be! S’pose you took ad-
vantage of the chance to conic back
East with Doctor Lothair an l the bride,
Where is she?”
The bride?” Thankful’s checks
were redder than ever. “Oh, didn’t
you know? I am the bride!’’
“You?” echoed Mrs. Todd.
“Yes. Come in and I'll introduce
ycu to my husband.”
P 10 S 7 old Doctor Jennings treated
the visitors to a long account of the
whole thing—from Doctor Lot hair ’3
accident at Blue Gulch to the wedding,
where Wong See waited, and Mrs.
McCray cooked the game and entrees.
It was quite a romance, he declared.
And Squire Todd stopped on the
way home to indulge in a hearty laugh.
“To think,” sa d he, ‘‘what a mortal
hurry you was in to get Thankful out
of the w r ay of this very man, so’t
Electra could liev a clear chance.”
‘Judge Told,” snapped his wife,
‘ ‘you should n't laugh out so low. 1 aud
coarse! It’s dreadful vulgar' '— Satur¬
day Night.
Functions of the Cocoanut.
In the arts and economics of South
Sea Island life, the first place is taken
by the feathered cocoanut which lines
the white sand of the beach or nestles
in the gorges of the precipitous moun¬
tain sides. Polynesia knows no want,
can almost conceive of no luxury, with¬
out the province of the cocoanut to be¬
stow. At once food and dr.nk, it builds
the islander his house and canoe; for
one it aids the lliitch and for the oth¬
er the sail and rigging; it clothes him
and provid s him baskets in which to
carry his food; it makes him an armor
that will turn the sharpest arrow and
the keenest spear; cradled in the leath¬
ery leaves as a babe, fed and homed
and clothed and equipped for war from
it as a man, at death he returns again to
his cradle of infancy and is buried in a
leaf. It is the characteristic feature of
every view, the centre of all histories
and the ornament of every tale. Bath¬
ing its roots in the salt soa, it lines
every beach with tapering trunks that
never grow straight skyward, as if they
had been designed by their leaning and
step-like leaf scars to make it all the
easier for the indolent islander to climb
for his natural food. Securely wrapped
in its fibroin husk it floats unharm d
through kasues of stor ey seas and grows
on any sandy islet where the rain never
falls to be in time the support of whole
communities who know not the taste of
fresh water. About the feathery plumes
of this tree of great resource group all
the essentials of an island ’life.— N. Y.
Ueralil.
A Split Golil Coin.
“Two tens for a twenty, please,”
said a gentleman to the cashier in the
county treasurer’s office.
The cashier took the “twenty” and
rang it on the counter. It had that pe-
culiar dull ring that characterizes coun¬
terfeit coins. He rung it a second
time, and then inspected it critically.
*q 3 jt bogus?" asked the owner of
the coin.
‘Oh, no.” answered the cashier;
“it’s good as wheat, but split.”
Continuing, he said: “Tuat is the
first split $20 I ever ran across. The
stamping machine at the mint some-
times come 3 down too hard on the
coins and splits them; hut it is seldom
the larger coins split. It’s mostly
•fives' that suffer. But they are very
careful at the mint, and stop every split
coin they detect. Now, in the thou-
sands of dollars handled here every
year, I rarely find a split coin. I don t
think I've found more than four or Sv«
in a year, and, as I say, the coins were
mosdy $r> pieces.”
The spid $20 looked perfect, and, so
ft r a 3 the eye could detect, bore no
fltw of any kind. The only fault with
it was In the “ring, ’ and the split
made it sound “dead" when thrown CQ
the counter
All They Know.
Where lies the land to which the ship won
go?
far ahead, is all her seamen know;
And where the land she travels Irons
A way,
Far, far behind, is all that they can sav.
On sunny noons upon the deck’s smootH
face.
Linked arm i 1 arm. how pleasant here tJ
pace; I
Or o’er the stern reclining, watch below |
The foaming wake far widening as we go.
On stormy nights, when wild northwester
rave, aJ
How proud a thing to light with wind
wave!
The dripping sailor on the reeling mast
Exults to bear, and scorns to wish it past. I
Where lies the land to which the shil
would go?
Far, far ahead, is all her earned know
And where the land she travels froij
Away,
Far, far behind is all that they can say.
-—Arthur Hugh Clough. I
HUMOROUS.
A weather report—-thunder.
A “boi. 9 9 ou the stove is worth tv
*n the neck.
The tailor trade is a fitting occupy
tion for anybody.
Patti's lowest notes reach as high 4
$4000 every night.
There is a good deal of hommin
done by seamstresses and hawing 1 I
teamsters.
Almost every man takes his day ol I
but wc never heard of him bringing ;
back again.
Since young Jinks began visiting Mid
Brown, the parlor lamp in the Brow-
domicile is the latest thing out.
A good many people speak as thej
pass by who had better keep still unles
they can say more pleasant things.
Quill pen — Hello, Scribbler! Ao
you still living on that first story! /
Scr.bbler— No, I’m up in the attiq
now.
First Small Boy-—We had a fire al
our house last night. Second Sinalj
Boy—That so? F. S. B. —Yes.
fired sister’s beau.
Woman is running man a pretty close
race in the arts and sciences, but she’l
never get the knack of sharpening ^
lead pencil down fine.
Doctor—Ah, yes; I sec you havclun
trouble. Patient (hopeless consumptive
—Excuse me, doctor, but it strikes me
that it’s no lung trouble. ,
He—What did your father say whe!
you told him that we were engaged!
She—Oh, Augustus, you must not asjj
me to repeat such language!
An exchange says that *SauerkrnW
never ranks among groceries.” All thi
same, it is strong enough to rank al
most anywhere it may be placed.
Clerk—I want an increase of salary
Employer (wearily)—All right. Am
thing else? Clerk—And I want to gel
off an hour earlier every day, so 1 can
spend it.
Fame may be ornamental, Inf it isn’t
much use to the man who has to hustiil
seventeen hours out of the twenty-fouil neveil
for his daily bread, with the pic
any nearer than the horizon.
Benefactor—If ycu are a good m:v
chinist, why do you not w-ork at your
trials? Tramp—I can’t bear the annoy¬
ance of being waked up by a factory I
whistle at 5 o'clock every morning.
Tailor—You promised me
yesterday morning that you would
in and settle for that suit last night,
it rained pitchforks. Customer—\ r
I know; but it didn’t rain pitchforks.
Lawyer—Your uncle mikes you
sole heir; lut the will stipulates thatK
the sum of one thousand dollars
be buried with him. Ilcir—(feelingly) I
~ Tllc oId man was eccentric; but his I
wishes must be respected, of course. I
111 write a check for that amount. I
Anxious Wife—Doctor, how is my
husband? Doctor—He will come
around all right. What he needs now
quiet. 1 have here a couple of opi-
ates. “When shall I give them t®
him?” “Give them to him? They are
for you, madam. Your husband uecd^
rest.”
Both Worked Hard. "
Brown—You wouldn’t be so extrava¬
gant if you knew how hard I have to
work for my money.
Sirs. Brown—And if you only stopped
to think, you woulda’t say such a thing,
Just see how hard I had to work to get
the bonnet you complain about. Why,
I had to visit about a hundred stores
before I eou’d find one to suit me. -\
Epoch. x