Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by R.J. Taylor, Jr. Foundation.
About Schley County news. (Ellaville, Ga.) 1889-1939 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1889)
The Cheerful Toiler. The bellows grim, with all his mighty While at the biasing forge he stands The blacksmith blows. His blackened hands With spotless honesty are white. And while his strong arm swings. This cheery song he sings: ' ‘The bellows I blow, for well 1 know The love of friend and neighbor, And many joys known here below Are won by honest labor.” Snow-white with heat he likes to see The iron on the anvil lie, And purpose glistens in his eyes As he the bar beats lustily. And while the anvil rings, This is tbe iong he sings: “The iron I heat, for work is sweet, It is my only treasure; It makes my humble life complete With comfort and with pleasure.” An untired wheel lies on the ground, Placed there by his e'er steady hand, And soon with a strong iron band He binds the wooden circle round. And as his right arm swings, This is the song he sings: “The wheel I bind, and joy I find In this firm iron fetter— The symbol of some great strong mini That makes the world grow better.” He is a plain and hearly man, This worker by the foi-ga and fire, His life has one supreme desire— To do the very best he can. And as his hammer swings, This is the song he sings; “Work on, work on, oh, toiling on Be hopeful and not tearful, And better will your task be done If you but make it cheerful. ” Ah, well for all who toil ’twould be If peace within their hearts would sing, And bid all discontent take wing, And like a bird of passage, flee! Then they to flying time Might sing this simple rhyme: “We toil, we toil, ’mid life’s turmoil, And will not harbor sorrow, For though we may be poor today, We may be rich tomorrow.” * —Caleb Dunn in Saturday Night. AMBUSHED, AN ADVENTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA. I was stopping for a time at Win burg, a small town in the Orange Free State, in November, 1881. I was pass ing my time in a hammock under the trees, smoking, reading, and I must confess, feeling pretty tired of the mo - notony of my existence in South Africa. The Basuto Land Kafirs had some time previously taken it into their heads that, taxes were things that no heathen should be called upon to pay, and con' 3equently they were in rebellion. After Borne small skirmishes had^ taken place between the Cape Colony troops and detachments of the rebels, it soon be came clear that an extensive war was coming. Cape Colony, awakening slowly to tho enormity of the danger threatening her, commenced organizing corps "of colonial volunteers, and it was at this time that I almost determined to offer my services as an old imperial of ficer to the Colonial government. I was lying one morning as usual in my hammock, having just finished the latest Cape Town paper (fourteen days old), half asleep, half awake, when I heard my name shouted from the out side of the inclosure. Glancing up I was delighted to see an old friend, Colonel Griffiths, R. E. C. M. G., as genial, brave and true-hearted an Irish man as Providence has moulded and encased in a uniform. To jump up, to shout to my worthy aboriginal to take the colonel’s horse, was the work of a second, and then, grasping him by the hand, 1 inquired to what stroke of for tune I owed the pleasure of his com pany. i e Well,” arswered the colonel, “the Government wants me to get to Moseru as quickly as possible and take over the command, as that imp of a Larotodi (a powerful Kafir chief) lias been making things hum a bit for the residents and the force of colonial troops stationed there, and I am going to organize two volunteer regimnits, one white and one black, and if you feel inclined to do some more soldiering I can offer you a troop.” My surprise was only exceeded by my joy at this opportunity of relieving the monotony of South Africau life, 1 lost no time in accepting the offer, and during a capital tiffin, I arranged to join the colonel at Moseru in ten days, giving me time to fetch up from Natal the necessary kit of an officer. It was a bright summer morning seven days after my interview with the colonel that, mounted on my old and tried hunter, a valise strapped on the back of my saddle, a pocket full of to bacco, a Martini-Henry express rifle (one of my favorite weapous), my old regi mental swo.d strung to my saddle, I set out to join my colonel and assume com mand of my troop. My destination ■was distant some one hundred and thir ty miles, my road lying over a pretty hilly country, thickly wooded in parts, beautiful in its peaceful calm, broken only by the shrill chirps of th« birds or the trickling of some small stream winding its silvery path through its moss-covered forest banks. Occasionally the cunning face of a mon key might be seen intently watching from behind some trunk or limb of a tree the intruder in its. leafy home. The open landscape, dotted occasionally with some small farm-house nestled in the shadow of a hill, the home of some Dutch farmer, at all times the hospita ble entertainer of the weary traveler. The first and only town I came to was Lady Brand, some three miles from the Basuto Land border, Moseru being one mile the other side. I arrived at Lady Brand just in time for tiffin at the ho tel. My horse and I both being very tired, and feeling that attention to the wants of tho inner man would not be altogether misplaced, I determined to dismount and refresh both man and beast. I rode into the yad of the ho tel, gave my horse to a Kafir, saw him watered and fed, and then went inside. As I came into the bar my attention was attracted by a discussion that was taking place among some Boers, As I spoke their language I soon found out that all night the incessant discharge of artillery had been heard from the fort, and from time to time the rattling dis charge of small arms from the same di rection. The firing had ceased for some little time and the question being dis cussed was whether the Kaffirs had been repulsed or the fort captured. My excitement can be imagined, but as it was now no use hurrying, I let my horse eat hi3 forage and snatched a feed my self, and then with fear that the worst had happened, I remounted and began the last few miles of my journey. On this side of the river Caledon the boun dary separating the free States from Basuto Land is a small hill overlooking the whole of the immediate country, and from which a distant view ot the fort and residency, each of which is situated on small hills some seven hun dred yards apart, the village being be ing between the two, was obtainable. On the first bill were grouped some Boers, from whom I inquired the news. 1 was answered by a surly young Boer that tbe Kafirs bad retired after a des perate attempt to capture the fort. Tiiauking him and experiencing the greatest relief, I leisurely walked my horse down to the river and crossed. I had walked some hundred yards when “ping” came a bullet over my head, followed by another aud another. I looked up at the fort, thinking I was being mistaken in the distance for a Kafir, throuh the stupidity of the raw native levies who, from former experience in the Zulu war, I knew to be only too glal of an excuse for firing off their rifles. The bullets were now coming pretty lively, but as I fortunately had not been bit I detirmined to recross the river. As I turned in my saddle I was thunderstruck, for from under tlie banks of the river curled the little puffs of white smoke denoting so much. They had got between me and the river, and my retreat was cut off. Within thirty yards, crawling on the ground iu amongst the long reeds, was the black carcass of a Basuto warrior. Realizing at once the truth, I drew a revlover, set spurs to my horse, and was just bounding into a gallop, when from out of the ground, as it seemed, in front rose a dozen of the blacc-skinned demons. I was surrounded. I reined up. Retreat was impossible, advance seemed equally so, while to standstill meant certain death, perhaps torture. I had presence of mind to note that none of them carried the deadly assegai, and I breathed freer, as I knew what thundering bad shots they were. That I win properly am bushed was clear, for now on all sides in the swampy reeds appeared the black brutes, uttering their horrible war-cries. My decision was quickly made. My only chance was to break through those in front and gain the fort. I rode straight at what I concluded was the captain of those in front, and he, not noticing my Colt, awaited my charge, edvidently believing me to be unarmed, and as 1 cmne up lie snatched at the bridle of my horse, and as he did so I fired, putting a 44- Colt through my dusky friend, and down dropped No. 1. I quickly emptied the reman ing chain berB, and was past the savages. I was just con- SCHLEY COUNTY gratulating myself on my success on breaking through, when from either side of reeds which skirted the narrow bridie-path over which i was going at full speed, jumped two stalwart sav ages. My pistol was empty, but the sword which had stood me in good stead in many a savage fight was quick ly unsheathed. With a quick pressure of the knee, which ray horse quickly understood, I turned him full upon the left-hand Kafir so suddenly that he dis appeared behind the feet of my horse, and at the same instant gave point to my friend on the right, and I was free to continue my journey unmolested, Ten minutes afterward I was in the fort receiving the congratulations of my brother officers. —Frank Leslie’s. The Only Woman Circuit Preacher. To the Lower Wabash annual Confer ence of United Brethren in Christ, whose thirty-second session closed the other day, belongs the honor of giving to the church its first lady circuit rider in Miss Alva Button of Greenup, Ill. The act authorizing the innovation was passed by the session of the General Conference held last May. Only a few days ago M.ss Ella Mishwanger, a grad vateof the theological seminary, Day ton, Ohio, was ordained as an elder at the session of the central Illinois Con ference, being the first woman ordained. At the same Conference Mrs. Elliot w r as also admitted. Later Mrs. Bell, wife of an itinerant preacher, was admitted to conference. None of these were assigned to fields of labor. Miss Button is a young lady of more than average attainments, common sense, and pluck, and it may be added tl at she possesses beauty, being tall and preposessing in appearance. She is a native of Chicago, She learned to set type in the office of an Illinois news paper when 17 years old and afterward became a successful school teacher. When her call to the ministry came she was a member of the Methodist Episco pal Church, but joined the United Brethren, owing to the similarity of their doctrine and in order to secure admission to conference. “She may do all right,’' said one of the older preachers, “until it comes to immersing some big six-footer in a creek; then she will be left.”— From Washington Star. How Passover Bread is Made. In the preparation of the Jewish Passover bread the kneeding is done in the ordinary way. Pure gunpowder water is the only component added. The time for the dough to be baked is reduced to the minimum. It is broken into flat cakes and then run between rollers into very thin sheets. Over these a workman rolls a prolonged steel to perforate the dough, so that air holes may be seen in baked cakes. A steel hoop cuts the dough into round flat sheets which are then ready for the oven. The baker then stands with a paddle, attached to a very long handle. With the aid of a boy he thrusts the cakes into the brick compartment, and in half a minute pulls them out ready for use. A matzath cake is round, about four feet in diameter, somewhat browned, and having slight air-hole projections on its surface. They have a rather pleasant taste, not unlike that of crackers, and make a good substitute for bread. In some places there is a demand throughout the entire year for the uulcavetic l cakes by dyspeptics. About eight cakes weigh a pound. The cake* are very brittle, and their pieces are ground up into fine meal. This is the substitute for wheat flour in tho household during the Passover. An Expensive Instrument. The bass viol is the most expensive of all musical instruments to its owner Its first cost is not the greatest expense. It is so large and awkward to carry around that it is continually getting in jured by accidents which would not happen to smaller instruments. Some body may kie s a hole in it by dancing against it in a room, or it may bo knocked against something while car rying it around. It is most frequently injured on street cars while the musi cian is carrying it to the place where he has to play. After a man has had an instrument for a long time he comes to look upon it as actually worth all the money that it has cost him, and in this way a bass viol sometimes is valued at $1,000 or so by its owner. A musi cian who sued a railroad company for $5,000 for a viol lost in an accident actually got $3,S00 ( — Chicago llcrald. REARING COLTS. Why California Breed Horses Soon Play Out. A Result of the Forcing Process to Which They are Treated. ‘Why do these California bred h° rses » both trotters and runners, de velo P such tremendous speed at an early a S e > ant d then retire for the rest of their lives?” That is a quest on that has been put to every horseman of note in the coun try, but not one seems able to answer it. A gentleman, a horse fancier, and now and then a buyer at the California sales, being much interested in the phe nomenal trotters that come from that region, went down to Palo Alto to see the famous Stanford breeding farm, Talk about princes and princesses of effete monarchies being reared in velvet and fed from S old spoons; the nearest a PP loach to that in this great republic is this e< l uiae principality at Palo Alto. As 90011 as the babie9 have ^gotten their mothers comes the beginning of their Iife ’ 3 work * The leadin S halter and a soft rubber bit ke P fc m the mouth * or bal ^ aa bour a da ^ 13 the ABC. Then comes the kindergarten track to discover if any of them have a natural gait. Half a dozen are put into the sawdust circle at once. A man stands in the middle with a long whip, which he waves furiously, but no little one is ever permitted to feel its sting. All start around the ring, first in a coltish canter, and theq some little pupil more promising than the others will strike a trot. Soon another will do the same. An apple or a lump of sugar is the re ward of merit. Usually before the class haSgfiuished all of them will be jogging about on a trot. Then a new batch is taken, and in a few weeks forty or fifty fillies and as many colts have gone through the kindergarten course. Meantime every little one of either sex is handled and fondled. The colts and fillies are relentlessly parted at weaning time, and never see each other again except at a distance. Co-education of the sexes is frowned upon at Palo Alto. The little ones are very tame and fol low one abound like a lot of kittens. If you stop in the paddock they instant ly surround you like a lot of school girls, and begin to search your pockets with their velvety noses for a bit of fruit or sugar. Not one is ever scolded or permitted to be frightened in any wa ^> nor 19 the w!li P ever used eXCept as 3 b f d » e of authorit r hen the infant aristocracy is bridle traiaed and ^roughly tractable, say at ni ° e ° r ten month3 and ^om that to a > year old, comes the first introduction to harness. It must be remembered that by this time tllese y° lin g s ters are to the non - critical al ““t full grown llOrs0S ’ Their le s are stron ?< their ° b ° dieS well - fi!led out » their necks plump thdr 0709 bri S ht and intelligent, and tbeir coats sb i ae satin. All this is tbe rcsult of the forcin g process. On the Stanford farm the two-year-old colt * ooks b ke iL® well-matured horse of five in Illinois. At one and one-half years old ! egins their hard work on the track. It is then that the most prom lsln » are selected for a yearling record. A building is set apart for the “kin dergarten,” a great canopy covering a saw-dust ring an eighth of a mile long. 1 his is when the little weanlings, six aud e *S bt months old, are brought to be taught their first The weaning process is quite easy. The youngsters are put on steamed grain food at once. In the morning a quart of steamed barley mixed with bran, in tbe evonin £ two quarts of ground bar ley steamed and moistened with lime water is about their daily diet, That is pretty high food for a weanling. When I was a boy on the old farm in Pennsylvania it was a pretty lucky col t or filly that ever saw anything but hay or grass until it was two years old. But at Palo Alto the babies are stuffed with giain from the start. I was there in ^ U * y ’ and t * lcre was 110 green food to bpeak w *Gi the exception of green corn tops, of which tho little ones had three diets a week. Even then it was chopped in a steam cutter and mixed with bran. — Chicago Herald. Time lor Action. Auntie—Charlie, your father is call ing you. Charlie—Yc3, I hear him. But he is calling “Charlie, 1 don’t have to go till he yells “Cha The IfODility of Russia. Of all European countries Russia i the most prolific in 9 the matter f princes, and of late 0 we have had sever al speciments of her princes and prin. cesses in this country. The *-a! nobil. ity of Russia consists of about a dozen families, all of whom claim descent from the house of Rurick, who occupied the throne about a thounnd years a <rr, The Gortchakoffs, of which family the late diplomat and statesman, p nnce Gortchakoff, was a member, belong to this nobility, So, also, do the Narish kins and the Dolgouroukis, to whom belongs the morganatic wife of the late czar. Besides these there are thousands upon thousands of princes and prl found n . cesses to be in every walk of Russian life who have owed their el eva-, tion to the caprice of some one of R us . s a’s rulers. Toward the close of the last century the custom of bestowing th<? high-sounding title of prince of oa men menial position become ridicu lous, and it is related of the great Prince Souvaroff that on his return from a vic torious campaign he was welcomed by the Emperor’s grand chamberlain, who bore the title of Prince Suboff, but who had been a barber at the beginning of the war. Prince Souvaroff could not conceal his astonishment and disgust. He sent at once for his own barber and said to him: ‘There, Ivan, liow often have I told you to stop drinking? If you would only follow my advice you might become a prince as this man has.”— New York Star. A “Tough” Town. “Speaking of tough towns,” said aa ex-signal service officer recently to a Washington Pitt# man, “reminds me of a visit I paid to Dodge City, Kan., in 1880. I had been ordered there on official business much against my will. I found on arrival that the observer who had telegraphed that he was ill and un fit to perform the duties was as well as the average man, but badly scared by the natives and merely pinino for some, one to share the awful respon sibilities of the office. For a man con nected with the weather bureau didn’t stand well with the community unless he could manufacture the kind of weather the hoodlums wanted. My as ociate told me a squad of cowboys had come up one evening and said they were going to have a riding tournament the next day, and that if lie didn’t give them fair weather they would first rid dle and then burn the observatory. He promised that the weather should be just as they wished it and that he would adjust his instruments accordingly. He immediately put his promise into exection by giving tbe barometer and various other instruments divers twists, which seemed to have a pacific effect on the mob. Upon the departure of his guests he began to pack up to jump the town the next morning iu the event of his prediction falling through. Lucki ly it was verified, and ever after lie was soldid with the cowboys. Bear Hunting in Australia. The Australia kaola, or native bear, has its favorite haunts in the gigantic eucalyptus trees, in which, the color of its fur being so like that of their bark.it is not, when at any great height, eashy distinguishable from it. It lives main ly upon the tender shoots and buds, climbs with great rapidity, and clings 1 to the bark with wonderful tenacity; the females, while climbing, carry their young upon their backs. They are destroyed in great numbers for tbe sake of their hides and the way in which some of the bushmen pursue them, by cutting notches in the bark aud digging their toes therein, in em ulation of the black natives, is not one of the least wonderful ihings in lb® The bear’s cry of distress, when in danger, is curiously like that of a terri fied baby. In size they are small, and resemble tho sloth bear species, so com* mon in the jungles of India. This animal, as well as the kangaroo, opossum, and other qu idrupeds indig enous to Australia, belongs to the mar supial order. Bees in a Cliurch Spire. In New Portland, Me., a swarm of bees, evidently tired of being disturbed and robbed of their honey, have sought refuge in the top of a church spire, the hollow space of which they aro tiding with sweets for their own bonefit. No body can climb the steeple, and conse quently those sagacious bees will n* be
