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ON A BIG 'POSSUM FAIUI.
THROCKMORTON HAS EIGHT HUN
DRED OF THE FUNNY THINGS.
His Farm Near Grtfhn, Giu, Presents a Most
Singular Sight—An Immense Orchard of
P«nlmuimi Trees—The Way the 'Possums
Fight When Feeding Time Comes.
A few miles west of Griffin is the home
of Mr. William Throckmorton. Mr.
Throckmorton is the proprietor of the
most unique and remunerative farm in
Georgia. It is the "Lime Creek Toeeuiu
farm."
On the very crest of a well wooded hill
is a comfortable cottage surrounded by
beautiful shade trees. At the foot of the
lull is a pretty branch, running through
the very center of a ten acre j>ersiiumon
grove inclosed within a higli board fence.
The persimmon trees are interspersed
with a quantity of old hollow trees and
hollow logs planted in the ground.
WHAT AN KXPKltT SAW.
It was in the early afternoon when we
arrived, and to the uninitiated the farm
appeared to be an immense fruit orchard
bearing an oblong whitish sort of fruit
hanging from the dead limbs of the trees
by a long, black stem, But appearances
were deceptive. It was not fruit, but
between seven and eight hundred ’pos
sums taking their afternoon siesta. Our
party were somewhat unacquainted with
the habits of the Georgia ’possum, and
consequently plied question after ques
tion to our highly amused hosts. I now
consider myself an expert on the’possum,
and here is what 1 learned and saw:
The ’possum, when desiring to take a
nap, simply climbs the most convenient
■tree, walks out on a limb, wraps his tail
one and a half times around and swings
his body out into space. Ilis legs and
feet are drawn close into his body and
his head drawn up between his shoulders
until it forms an almost perfect ball and
appears to be a great pear covered with
white fur.
The huh was slowly setting below the
distant pine mountains and we were still
gazing at the queer objects in amused
wonder when a half dozen little 'possums
emerged from thepocketof their mother,
ran up her tail ;uul commenced playing
on the limb above. In a few minutes
this marsupial stretched her head and
then her fore feet out. She swung her
self once or twice, grablved her tail with
her fore paws and climbed up it to the
limb, which she caught with her claws,
untwisted her tail and pulled it up.
Hardly had she balanced herself when
the half dozen young ones climbed into
her pocket and were hid from view. She
then climbed down the tree.
While this was going on more than
seven hundred others had awakened and
were coming down from the trees. Reach
ing the ground each one made for the
creek, drank, and then ran up the hill to
a pen in which they were to be fed.
BAKED ’POSSUM AND ’TATEKS.
They were of all sizes. Some would
barely weigh a half pound, while others
would tip the scales at thirty. The pos
sum. when hungry, utters a sound which
is a cross between a mew and a moan.
Over seven hundred ’possums were to
gether so thick that the ground could
not be seen between them, and the small
ones had been forced upon the backs of
the larger. All were uttering this pe
ctiiiar sound, reminding one of an urmv
of soldiers moaning over tho death of
their general, when through a gate a
negro pushed a wheelbarrow, heaping
full of all kinds of'trash and slops—con
sisting of fruit pealings, vegetables,
meats, bones and bread. As he hove in
sight the scene among the ’possums re
minded one of feeding time in a inenag
orie. The little ugly ai.*:nals screamed
and scratched and hit at one another
until the negro had scattered the con
tents of the wheelbarrow over the
ground. Then, although it was well
scattered, all wanted to eat in one place
just like hogs, and there was considera
bie more scratching and biting. But
this did not last long, for the rations
were soon consumed by the great drove
Of ’possums, and they commenced to dis
perse, seemingly contented, ami this
finie climbed the persimmon tn>es.
During the persimmon season the 'jhvs
puma are not fed at all, for it is on this
fruit they become rolling fat and ready
for market.
Mr. Throckmorton ships five hundred
fo eastern points and the cities through
out Georgia. They average him $1 each,
and lie makes quite a go<xl tiling out of
it, as they are practically no expense to
him. In shipping to Atlanta and Geor
gia points they are generally dressed,
hut tba majority go to Washington and
ore shipped there alive. The large sliije
uients to Washington are perhaps due to
the average southern congressman's fond
ness for “baked’jiossuni and’taters.’’—
Griffin (Ga.) Cor. Atlanta Constitution.
Dra\vtii|- tn SrhiiolH,
There lias been considerable discus
sion as to the benefits to be derived
from drawing us taught in the .pplthc
Schools. Free hand drawing as wj<ll
as mechanical, where instruments uro
used, is unquestionably advantageous,
lor while the practictrl man may find
but little use for that brunch of draw
iim in active pursuits vet tint hand
iile maid and tiie transition iron, free
limnl nmdeSd'nmch to nieclmnicaJ iSTierof drawim* Soinplish is thus
ment. Practice makes perfect, and I
consider tluu the cout,nuance of free
moo. -61 J/)Uta Globe-Democrat.
CORSETS ARE CURSES.
SOMETHING CONCERNING HOW AND
WHEN THEY ORIGINATED.
Ovid Puta Then, at the Head ef Remedies
Against . , lev*—Oil* .... au« . .. I nruenU . In . Da
. „
r
tew Points Also About Foot Gear.
The small accessories of toilets, wheth
er they be necessities or only pretty ad
juncts, have made industries which have
employed many people in their manu
facture, and have added largely to the
growth of that passion for dress which
has, in different centuries, broken out in
both man and woman. Adoration for
the human form 1ms covered the feet,
bedecked the hands with jeweled trifles,
and incased the body feminine in stiff
whalebones until it has become of differ
ent shape than nature intended. No art
icle of apparel is so much discussed at
this time as the corset; in truth, there it
an absolute war over it.
TO MARK THEM GRACEFUL.
Still, this same corset has held sway
Fong and firmly. Even in thedayswhen
the Greek sculptors builded their ideal of
iieauty on tho Venus do Milo writers in
veighed against largo waists, Ovid put
ting them at tho head of remedies against
love. They were an undoubted out
growth from the bandages worn by the
Greeks to restrain a tendency to corpu
lency, and were as much used by rpen as
by women, if we are to believe Aristo
phanes. History also relates that Marc
Antony had need to resort to such means
“to compress his swelling figure." The
bands were three in number—the stro
phiuni, a bandage wound round the bust;
a zona, or the waist belt, and the tenta,
wound round and round below the waist
Nor were tiie bandages worn alone for
compressing undue rotundity of form.
They were made wider and longer and
wrapped in large folds about slight fig
ures to give them tho grace of un
duiutinglines. From the latter use, more
than the or.uer has descended the repre
hensible habit of lacing, the cause of the
outcry against the stiff, whaleboned cor
set of today.
ln the ancient days a very tliin. slender
figure attained to a much admired posi
tion by being enfolded in a large and
voluminous strophium and tenta, and
using only one thickness of bandage as
the zona, producing the first effect of an
unnaturally small waist. When this did
not prove effectual in disguising the lack
of cushioning to their lHines they resorted
to oils uud unguents for bathing the
body; goose fat mixed with warm milk
and the egg of a partridge, the conglom
eration being highly scented, was deemed
the most productive of the desired em
bonpoint. But great care was taken that
not a drop should fall on the lnniy near
the waist: in fact, while going through
tiie fattening process the zona was worn
day and night.
Since the days of incense burning In the
tuples, a record of which is found in
the books of Moses, have perfumes been
used, and from the Egyptians, through
the Jewish people, has passed the art of
making them, of burning aromatics and
of carrying about richly wrought flacons
of ' vh «ch have sometimes been
Uuuit * •" ,l!! ‘ foru “>r smelling bottles and
a £ ;lin Perfume sprinklers. The fash
enable woman of today wears her an
Hque silver vinaigrette suspended from
ber chatelaine or carries her scent about
*“ >l coatly tlacou, rich with chasings or
carvings, filigree work or enamel of
fragile Venetian glass, or of metal thick
^ studded with jewels, and none of a
F |- eater size than can be readily carried
*“ tbe band, which fashion Queen Eliza
‘’eth instituted in carrying about her
pomander. By the way, it was in her
reign that perl umes and scents began to
be manufactured generally by Euro
peatM. although as early as the Four
h'entli century the \ enetiaus eomjieted
with the dwellers in the tar east in the
manufacture of sweet odors,
Ingenuity today is not taxed to furnish
designs lor scent bottles, as the
8°'fi Sl,, d silversmiths have only to copy
ll ‘ L ‘ ri ' llcs uf «»her days preserved in
families and museums, the demand be
* n K on 'y antiques, and tiie supply is
largely of imitations. Some beautiful
patterns are devised in tin* form of tho
most grotesque of goblins and dragons,
wrought out in gold and precious stones,
Others are chased with scrolls and sur
mounted with coronets and coats of
„„ arms, suggesting German ., workmanship; , , .
others are curved of wood or some one of
the semi-precious stones, as the onyx,
the bloodstone, the carneiian and the
like. These usually have a base or cup
of gold or silver filigree work, and are
usually of trench manufacture, although
the carvings may be brought from India,
Switzerland and Italy; yet another is of
silver inlaid with arabesques of gold, and
is evidently Moorish.
Who would suppose that the common
use of shoes and all kinds of foot cover
lugs was of a much later date than the
carrying of scent bottles? No one. I am
sure; ami yet the people of certain Eu
pean countries, long after they had
lea rue 1 to clothe their bodies in an elab
•»«“.» ra-hion. -v.ro u, U..
habit oi “going barefooted. This was
the custom even so late as the Sixteenth
flapped m full armor rode about with
out M.uv'tho any covering kniH^ on either foot or legs
This would seem still
more strange than it docs did one »"’t
recollect that even in this enlightened
sr
nudonpl dress, svdiioh loaves knee, wholly
SCHLEY COUNTY NEWS.
uncovered, despite the cold climate. The
earliest record* hear witness, however,
that Moaes and Aaron were commanded
to take the shoes from off their feet be
fore entering tl* temple, and in Egypt
at tluit time the rich and great wore san
dals incrusted with precious stones, of
whicL th « 9 ° ,e9 wer ® miwle of 8 old ' °"
the bottom was engraved ? the names of
auch m , people had . , 1mm conquered , , by
as
the owners, if they happened to be of
the conquering eex. Sandals with points
elongated and turned up were the ex
clusive property of royalty.—Chicago
Herald.
TWO KINDS OF BOYS.
On* Who la Always Up to Mlsehlaf, and
Another Who “Didn’t Think."
We have all met the malicious bov
who is a nuisance to everybody with
whom he cornea in contact. He is the
boy who ties kettles or firecrackers to
slings the dogs’ tails; breaks windows with
and air guns; rings door bells,
and in a hundred other ways commits
mischief of the kind that shows plenty
of malice and very little invention.
Nobody his likes the malicious boy; not
even comrades, who are in contin
ual fear lest they be the next victimA
Almost as great a nuisance is tho
boy who “didn't think.” He throws
a scends stone into over a neighbor's dwelling house; yard, it de
a and
strikes a child. There is a great up
roar, and the boy excuses himself by
saving The that he “didn’t think."
shoots next day he explodes a torpedo
or off a lire cracker in the
animal street near a high spirited demolishes horse. The
runs away, the ve
hicle, and perhaps the occupants. But
tho boy assures everybody ue was not
to blame—he simply “didn't think.”
It never is possible to punish this
boy for Ills misdeeds, because he never
means to do mischief. Ilis parents
and his comrades will tell you that he
is such a good natured lad and so kind
that he would not harm a tty; yet he
is continually harming somebody be
cause he “didn’t think."
As th j bov crows older he prows
moreRnd .nore of a nuisance. If be
inU) a 8t ore ag a pieman, he of
fends the best customers because he
"didn’t think” they would mind; if
ho j s a c ] cr k, he is sure to do some
thing which he “didn’t think" the firm
would mind, and which the firms
minds very much,
So he goes through life, never stay
ing in one place very long, making
many friends, and losing them all,
clined never getting imagine rich, and somewhat in
to that the world is
“down on him." He cannot under
stand why his services are less in de
mand every year, when he is sure
that lie never meant to do harm to
an llo one.
costly blunders, S'S. an 5
injuring thinks it is innocent sufficient people, and he he
excuse to say
“didn’t think.”
that Boys, is os why well they as men, given must think;
There are brains.
is not a single action in life that
will not bear thinking about before
the performance. Careless actions and
careless words are alike reprehensible
and bring their punishment in time,
The boy who “thinks" is the boy who
succeeds in life.—Golden Days.
Th® Mil irk.
The essential nature of every shirk,
masculine, feminine, domestic, social
or civil is selfish. The shirk thinks
only of himself, his own ease, his own
comfort, bis own indulgence, and this
regard of self so fills his whole hori*
zon that be cannot perceive anyone
in the world who should be consulted,
unsclf. io tear tins veil of selfish-
1 S s fr Tm th 1. e V eS 1 10 S llrk *? a
task . *
soi difficult that i it is often r easier
t<> do bis work for bun than to make
him do it for himself.
But the willing worker should not
be willing. imposed on simply because lie is
If any man will not work,
neither shall li-* eat. is a precept of di
pled, vtno tbe authority. helpless The sick, the crip
should be cared for
but those who deliberately shirk the
work they are well able to perform
will be benefited bv being compelled
to do it, or suffer from its being left
| 0
.... n
*
rin 11 0 motlicr who . permits .. , her (laugh- , .
U i-s toai ray themseh es in line clothes
and sit tn the purloFat fancy work,
while she drudges in the kitchen, docs
them no less than herself an irrepir
able injury, ami the daughters who
permit themselves such indulgences
are | incapable of making good wives
aI1( mothers
Lite is full of burdens , ... to bo borne,
of drudgery to be done, of laborious
tasks to be accomplished, and the
earlier m life one begins to apnly
sc or horse,f to the tasks to bo done,
lie sooner does life become easy, does
toil become p ensure, does achieve
rjll^-TrjLV^ 1 * OXCOCdlng
-
Ti»« Devil Cast Out by Keirnre.
Conscientious men still linger on
who find comfort in holding fast
to some shred of the old belief in
diabolical possession. Tho sturdy do
duration in the bust century bv 3ohn
« W«U«y. that the Bible, U L . witchcmft
feebly giving up Ls echoed
Hi tho latter half of this ccn
mi 'l llM 4,c ® ,a, T* lll » 1
o . possession by devils . to charge
ts
apostle will, imjmtura,"
' ‘ l s N ‘ ,* i ow *testimony of
snitds" , r s'aTllm , no^^rand^
who J
this'consriontbu^ n a n
But, d V spite
CLAUDE DIXON EUGENE DIXOX
DIXON £H0S.
GeneraL IIYEex'cli.aia.'tS.
AND
WE KEEP EVERY THING USUALLY FOUND IN A COUNTRY STOKE, AND SEI.T
AS LOW AS THE LOWEST. HIGHEST CASH PRICES ALLOWED FOR COUNTRY
PRODUCE. WE SOLICIT YOUR PATRONAGE
MURRAY $
—:Dealers in:—
General Merchandise.
PfTWEKEEP ON HAND ALMOST EVERY THING TO SUIT THE TRADE. RESIDES \
FULL LINK OF GROCERIES. WILL RE FOUND, HATS, SHOES, CLOTHING, COFFINS, CAS.
KETS, FURNITURE. ETC., AND WILL SELL GOODS AS CHEAP AS ANY MERCHANT IN
SOUTH A VEST GEORGIA. SOLICITING TRADE, IT IS OUR OBJECT TO PLEASE ALL, AND
GIVE VALUE RECEIVED FOR YOUR MONEY.
MURRAY – WILLIAMS,
Ellaville, Ga.
DR. C. H. SMITH,
ELLAVILLE, GA.
Dealer in
; ;
Paints, Oil – Varnishes
FANCY GOODS, NOTIONS, ETC.
IW Also, Perfumery, Toilet Articles, School Books, and Stationery.
opposition, days science has in these iatler
with steadily Christian wrought charity in hand this in field, hand
evolve to
a better future for humanity.
The thoughtful physician and the de
voted clergyman are now constantly
seen much working together; and it is not
too to expect that Satan, having
been cast out of tho insane asylums,
will ere long disappear from monas
teries and camp meeting, even in the
most endom.—Dr. unenlightened region of Christ
Andrew D. White in
Popular Science Monthly.
BOB YOUNGER’S PARDON.
HIs Missouri Friend* Hard at Work.
■Sympathy fur Him Fxtentilns.
dclegation, , f T ‘ A* AT fj ’ composed *^ u ^- v of B. C. Missouri Rogers
ftIul W - C - Bronangh, who are interested
in *« cunn K a pardon for Bob Younger,
s pcnd Monday in the city, and in tho
ev?umg went to meet an appointment at
^ d ‘ They ./°' will agniu return to
111 a v dav s ;
.
Missouri petition by the present in
dorsements and letters secured from
oomity, many prominent pe< g >le of Faribault
and other parts of the state,
whom they have visited for the pur
pose, So far
as the number and prominence
of the the people whose influence has
thus been secured here are concerned,
documents are of an exceedingly
formidable character. In a casual oon
Y««*tion Col Rogers said that at one
t“V el,0 -.‘n common !t’ had with many other
f ^ P v° P t no but v' ho °,° has n ‘
' nger ?’
been convinced • nw*, that they have , been ae
cused of crimes of which they wero
whoU y innocent, and with which they
had not even remote connection,
i
Bean Hr.nm.ll
»£rS uL e ™::r thelteau ionc f
me„t, and was to send
to Eton and Oxford. Of course the
on, y profession he could enter was
that mau millinery iiid ulFair the Tenth
Hussars. So little lie know of the
business of an officer that on parade
he never could find his troop. For
had tunately, there was a soldier in it who
a great blue nose, which served as
hi., beacon and his guide. One day
the soldier was absent, ami Brummeli;
'at© as usual, was loolri’ig out for him.
the old colonel tbundert'd:
’' V "-'’t. ^ 81 ^;’ A/ 9aid 01 ? ,lnd tlie y° ‘tn|>oi-turbable ur troop?”
R * rtirnmeiI. q am looking for
no ?°; my
Al . ,ast . ho
ff av « U P tho nnny. The
regiment was ordered to Manchester,
: >■“** >" <■«" tho lino at
loughL 01,0 occasion Brummeli
or pretended to think, him
Stor one’s ' nirift ff*a V<Hl^n^I,“ lxlgmgthat n , he derata, was in } J
S ll . ItW * ;,* ,, f ‘ 1 ac0 toWl -‘: '' who as
j t u ._ 1 “ilanohes* ’
for stopping one nigh, in/’
-stits Geiufoman’s *iuguzimx
CURES FOR INSOMNIA
A I July T.ll» Hun She Helped Her Him
bund to Hreok the Awful Spell.
I was much interested in the notes
from Dr. Ford's lecture in the Herald of
Health, and wish that every woman as
well as every nurse in the land could
read them. Those of us who are at the
heads of households may some time need
all the knowledge we can get upon the
subject of insomnia. The trouble grows
more common every year, especially in
America, where we are apt to live upon
“nerve" in all times of trial or excite
ment
There is no doubt that personal mag
netism is one of the best medicines for
insomnia, the will of the nurse suhju
gating and calming that of the patient.
Two very unhappy cases have come un
der my own personal supervision. One
was my husband, who liecame so wretch
ed that lie would sleep about two hours
and then get up to walk all over the
place, and often for miles into the coun
try. One night l began talking to him
when he awakened, and finding that my
voice quieted him, kept on, repeating
poetry, and finally mixing my sentences
up in a dreadful way, I was so sleepy
myself. But he went to sleep, too, and
did not awaken until near morning It
was remarkable, for he had not slept 80
much at night for two years. That day
I learned to repeat Paris Bonn, knowing
that my husband was very fond of it.
So when he got wakeful the next night
I had something to say over to him, and
to my delight, he fell asleep before I was
half through the poem. And so we kept
up our midnight conversations for three
months, I telling all the fairy stories,the
gossipy incidents, and repeating all the
***""* \ k T eW ’ An ? little l >y t::. little 5 80
-
'‘ v “ uU1 lumll >' u “' ak ™
W 7 “°™ I 1 ° t,Kr B nt cast ' W!lH of 1 a l »dy h, with
**‘ “ - VWir ' ‘ r f°
f try the Dalsarte movements of the body
-'‘inhering lierself, and swinging about
unl " riie l>cgan to feel drowsy. When
B '“‘ wou ' d Krnw restless in the night,
B ' u * would arise and trv tbe same exer
ci *‘- finally cured her. after a year
of faithful practice. Her trouble was
more physical, while my husband’s was
mental, lie grew to depend upon ni«
like a child, and if I happened to i#
away from tho house, he could not sleep
So soon as a person so atHicted logins to
sleep well, the general health improves
and sleep is more easily induced As
Dr. Ford savs. there is a'knack of' put
ting one to .»,*£ sleep and "-p..-i,dly each Sta.™U» dauehter <>f
famllj
secret, if possible for so much of the
comfort and well brine of hunnmitv de
Ogilvie in Herald of He-ultlg
The luminous power of the electric
lights on top of the Eiffel to war is
equal intensity to lO.fXX) carcels, and the total
of thuir luminous ruys8,(M) f -
000 core el*.