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About Schley County news. (Ellaville, Ga.) 1889-1939 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1893)
A DIAMOND EXHIBIT. A South African Industry Shown at the Fair. A Practical Illustration of Min ing by Zulus. The exhibit of the diamond indus try of Cajie Colony is the attraction that draws more 6iglit-secrs than auy other in the Mines Building. The exhibit is one of groat interest, in that the entire process of getting diamonds is shown. First, thore is shown pictures of the mines and the methods of getting out the “blue earth” or the diamondiferous soil. Then begins the practical part of the show. The machines for disintegrat ing the rock and dirt, wasiiing it and getting tho dirt away from the stones is shown, and the big machines are ruu by Zulus. These savages are dressed in short trousers only. They refuse to wear anything else, and un der these they have their native trou sers, if such they can be called. The method of cleaving the dia monds to prepare them for entting is shown by skilled workmen, and then tho diamonds are polished after being cut. All tho proceseos are carried on iu full view of the audience. Big Jim is tho chief Zulu gard. He is a petty chieftain, and wits in the late Zulu war, and has many a man to his credit on the death roll, He stands at the main gate armed with a war club with a big ivory head ou it, and, it is said, would not hesitate to brain a man caught entering the place at night. Jim weighs 230 pounds, and is ovor six foet tall. Yesterday there were nearly two dozen diamonds found in the dirt that was worked. Most of them were about one carat in weight, but one weighed four carats arjd was pure white. It is worth in tho rough abou c $200. The exhibitors have 1300 bags of dirt here to handle. The capacity of the machines on exhibition is about ten bags a day. In the front part of the show there are rough diamonds shown to tlio value of $750,000. They are under a Btrong guard. Tho Tiffany dirnond cutters are at work. In this country the workmen do even better work than is done in Amsterdam. They cut for brilliancy, aud iu the old country they cut to save weight. Sometimes Ameri can diamond cutters recut Amsterdam stones, aud the result is almost always a gain iu value of the stone. The Kimberly and DeBoers mines are the principal ones in Cape Colony and the output of diamonds is limited by the companies to prevent failing in value. The output from Cape Colony in 1881 was £4,174,202. The output for 1891 was about the same. The Datives do most of the work, about teu of them being employed to one white man. They have to be watched and guarded like convicts, for they will steal like kleptomaniacs. They will swallow them, and do tricks that, wtxul astonish a magician. They get good pay, however, hut are watched svery miuuie. Should one be found trying to steal into forbidden ground to would be shot instantly. Tire mines are guarded all the time. — fChi Iater-Oce an. Death from Fright. - have interested myself somewhat * a ooking np unusual of causes d' ath,’ said l>r. Eider, “ami have met •evtial well-authenticated instances s fright was the cause. The su Surgeon-General Francis tells a drummer in 1_„ India across whose ^S 3 a harmless lizard crawled while be |was harf asleep. He that was sure ' 11 1 * mtl bitten him, and it was too Much for hi « nerves and lie died. >' uievick 1, of Prussia was killed by fear. dis wife was insane, and 0aQ (lil Y *b« escaped from her keeper and, , labUHug her clothes in blood, rushed "pon her husband while lie was 110,51 ng in i,i s chair. King Frederick “■agined her to be the white lady Whoso ghost Was believed to invariably appear whenever the death of a «■< mnor of iho royal family was to ’ ’ u "' 10 was thrown into fever *»* (lloil a i„ ,| S wook( ,_ lll ° " ro " 1 "> m " , ' k “ |,|! > Kintar. ^ an, *-<*—•.»** who lived in the ^vontoenth century. (•hie day he ■Weut hit ° 1 l0 °ui full of anatomical •nbjeets to (ketch ( 01(10 death heads aud skeletons for a picture ho intended to paint. Tlio weather wan very sultry, and wl.ll. .k.lcUIng, In fall asleep. Ho was aroused by boues dancing around him, and the skolctons suspended from the ceiling clashed together. “In a lit of horror lie threw himself out of the window, and, though ho sustained no soriou* injury and was informed that a slight earthquake had caused the commotion among his ghostly surroundings, liediod In n fow days in nervous tremor. I could cite many other cases whore tho shock to the nervous system, which wo know as fright, lias produced death. [Wash ton Post. A Flower Carnival at Santa Barbara. Tiie “Battle of Flowers" took place on Wednesday, and with the morning sun the whole city was alivo. Hun dreds of flags roso gayly iu tho air, and all the simps along tho principal street and the course of tlio procession were ablaze witii hunting. Flowers every where were displayed with lavish hand, on store fronts, in windows, from balconies, until the merry street was fairly a titting course for the goddess Flora and tier exquisite re tinue. At half after one in the afternoon the procession formed itself at the lower end of State street, and the flower-burdened floats, carts, car riages, phaetons, horses, bicycles, of every sort and description, were met by the grand marshal and his aids, as sorted properly and classified. Every body felt' transported to some un known wonderland by the fairy cre ations that passed and repassed be fore bitn. It might have been a mid summer night’s dream or a scone from the Arabian Nights and both paradors and on-iookers were delightfully mys tified. Great floral shells, floral baskets, Roman chariots, Malay boats, hay carts from the plains of Arcady, and a hundred other exquisite fantasies followed in Flora's train. Great taste was displayed everywhere in the adornment of the different equipages, any of winch would have been worth a small fortune in the East at the same time of year. At the head of the great pageant rode the goddess Flora and her attending nymphs. Good taste was also shown by the committee iu choosing a sweet little girl, only three years 0 d, to do tho honors of the Goddess of Flowers. She was accompanied by six little maids, ali about of an ago, who, wreathed in flowers and robed appro priately, sat in great high-backed sheila surrounding the goddess.— [Harper's Bazar. General Meade's Family Discipline. “General Meade was above all things a disciplinarian,” said an ex colonel of volunteers at the Ebbitt House. “On one occasion a nephew of his was appointed on his staff Only a day or two afterward it happened that Meade was passing by the tent occupied by the young man. The ;atter standing at the entrance, saluted and said politely: “ ‘How d’ye do, Uncle George?’ The latter turned sharply on his heel and replied: “ ‘Sir, I’d have you to know I’m not Uncle George. I am General George G. Meade, commanding tho Army of the Potomac, sir!’ “When Meade was at West Point some of his fellow cadets it -ed to joke him about the 9ize of his nose, wl| was large. He took it all very j humoredly, replying as he touch organ ou one side: “ -Big nose, great soldier’!” Take Care of Your Byes.! The way people abuse their I amazing. They try them, strain and overtax them iu ail maui ways. And when their eyes be weaken with ill-usage aud agi ■are too proud to givo them the glasses which they crave. Fur cheeks, sallow complexions rndl hair can bo hidden under ouinnl rouge and dyes; but there is ncl iouable nostrum that Spectacles! can covj weakness of eye?, claim the defect which they mill and are looked upon by those J minds are as weak as their oyol badge of infirmity; and soouel saddle their noses with them, saddle their lives with semi-blim SCHLEY COUNTY NEWS. SHEARING BEES. Annua] Clipping of the Wool on Big Sheep Ranches. Days Spent In Hard Work and Nights In Jollification. Tho great event of (lie year on the ,| IOop IIUIC | 10 * of ,| 1( . , imi| .| os „| 10tu .. time, writes an Abilene (Kan.) correspondent. By tho thousand the fleeces have boon robbed from the of tho bloating flacks, and after a liU | 0 K „ of (hn fl„n y tK , (Mlly t j )Ilt mu ,|,, tho g rou (, jj ,oks so attractive will he gone, and the animals in their angular shaven condition will look like very ghosts themselves. Simple, In a way, as tho operation is, It is very well worth seeing when sheep are handled, not as in the East in “bunches” of f>0 or 60, but in tho great mosses that turn many square rods of prairie into a wooly sea. There are regular hands who move from ranch to ranch, camping at each during tho season, from April 1 to Juno 1. While in camp the workmen improve ovory minute, for the job is “by the head.” Six cents to ten cents, according to the fineness of the wool. Where an expert shearer can clip sixty to 0,10 In,mired Mexic. „l,«p, rm, „ing Ills .!>.». through their Io„*, ll<jht wool .ml I,..log do work o„ logs or belly, .the merino and Cots wo hi present an entirely different problem ' The wrinkles that lap over one another from nose to tail and the greasy wool that grows thickly down to the very hoofs make fifteen to twenty-five a big day’s work. With the shearers ranged along a . bench reaclung the .h«l, with aero,. the bleating animals undergoing the, to them, severe operation and the anxious ones outside awaiting their turn, the scene is a lively J one. When a sheep is sheared a of “Tar I” brings the tar boy, and a daub of black U put hastily on each spot where the careless shears have snipped out a piece of thef tender skin. Then the ear marks are looked over to be sure thore is a means of identification, and gometimes a brand is put on in paint on (he hip—usually the owner's ini tials or a monogram. If the flock is troubled with “scab,” a disease re sembling eczema, each animal is ‘dipped.” A tub of strong solution of tobacco and water or some similar material is provided and the sheep goes under, head and all, killing any insects that may infest il and curing for the time tiie sores made by the scab on the scab’s flesh. The fleeces are tied up in cubes a foot in each dimension—the white clean side from next tlio sheep on the outside, the soiled portions folded carefully within. A huge sack, seven feet long and three in diameter, is hung up between four poles and tho wool thrown in, a small boy being put in also to tramp down the accumulate ing fleeces. When full the sack weighs from 180 to 300 pounds, de pending on the quality of tlio wool, When one hundred such bales are sent out from a single ranch it means a considerable income, wool bringing on the plains from fifteen cents to twenty cents a pound. But the work of the “shearing boos,” as these spring festivals are sometimes called, is as nothing com pared to the pleasures that surround them for the men engaged. Wlmt a arti raising is to a Now Englander, harvest is among the Cats hearing season on tlio it is that what dreary Bund. [•ing ley ird is trouser* iu boots, wide collared shirts, bells and spur* of the cavalier*. There i* no thought of dre**, *o It comport* With the occasion. The musician* occupy boxes on the shearers’ bench and saw restlessly at their grimy violins. The dance Is ready. There Is much picturesque* ness in the scene, for It nil is cliarnc teiisiic <>t the new N\ est—the only frontier that now exists. I he night wears away rapidly, and the lunch that l* served Is eagerly disposed of. There are no iees or fancy cakes; in deed, a very ordinary sponge cake Is apt to he the greatest delicacy on the taldo, or on the benches, for there the supper is served. However, to tlmse who have seen only stale bread and corned beef for ten months it seems like tho daintiest of angels' food. A (Jneer Bird. A friend hailing from Nanlial dis trict in Kunugtung states that an tin common looking bird wns captured there in the country last winter. Tho bird stands throe foot high from tlio ground, and has tlio head of a human being, while its body is covered with hair several inches in length. On its appearance (lie country people wore much alarmed and a large crowd set out to exterminate the uncommon uni mat, for fear it should be a dangerous customer to harbor. T| ,„ wh „ „„ „ fro „, mol) ml[I hsd „ gowl ,, r „ e oat of if. He lias been exhibiting the rare fowl and lias made “piles of money” by it. fn addition to its strange ap pearance the bird is said to tie “a most modest creature,” avoiding the gaze of cur ions people as if it were too bashful to let people see it, and it is only at the command of it* master that „ , ho# . C M*. Ho raid. Life History of Ferns. At the garden* of the Royal British ***** Sociery Profossor Groves re *» interesting lecture °" growth of ferns. Tracing the formation of fern spores from the first slight swell ng upon the under side of the mature frond to the pro duction of the perfect sori, or case, with its countless dust-like spores, the lecturer briefly sketched their fur Iher development; first, as sniaii green leaf-like bodies, lying flat up on tho soil, through the subsequent formation and fertilization of other spores arising from them to the second and final birth of the infant fern. Tho “alteration” of “generation,” as it is called, is that which divides ferns from flowering plants; for, while true seeds, when planted, grow at once in to the likeness of their parents, fern spores have to pass an intermediate existence before they reach the same stage. — [New York Advertiser. He, Saw Washington. Christian Con rod, of Delaware County, who is 113 years of age, re members having seen Washing on. “It was ill Philadelphia,” lie says, “at, tho c ] 0 so of his lust term as President, They hail a great crowd, and tho road was filled with people for eleven miles. General Washington appeared at the head of the procession, and was ac companies! by thirty-two of his old war officers and generate, and all on Horseback. Ho rode a dapple-array lie appeared to be a tall man, smooth face, large nose, and such a man as Would be noticed in a crowd. Gen oral Washington made a speech that day, aud I heard hiin. I remember that he praised his generals and told the people to lie loyal and rue to the Government. Ho told them if they would always listen to what General Jackson snid tliev would never go astray.”—[New York Tribune. Pa and Mil’s Word. “Did you ever notice,” said Hicks, “how men and Women get hold of some single word which they' use on every possible occasion?” “l don’t know that I've noticed if,” Parker. “I have,’’ put in little Johnny Hicks. and ma have one they’re using uil ' long.” |What word is that?” asked Parker, a smile. on’t,” said Johnny.-—[Harper’s abers ol the English Life Guards ■be tried by court-martial unless ■nbers of it belong either to j Kb or one of the other House cuts. SLifeNTIFtC Ml IMP*. There Is n« electrical rocking chair Nixty per cent, of the earthquakes occur during the winter months. The average strength of a horse is seven and a Inlf titne* greater than that of a mail. There is at! nveinge of 1 :tt suicide* a year among evei v hundred thousand men In the Austrian army, The number of rods in the retina, supposed to lie Hip ultimate of lig lit. is ps tlmated at 80,000,000. In the hitman body there is snid fo be more than 2,000,000 perspiration 8 Im "'K communicating with tho sur face by duets, having a total length of some ten miles. E eefrieity operates all the usual nuvshiuerjr on the farm of a Scotch lady In Wlgtonshire, and lights the house as well. The current is gener ated hv wafer power. The new central station for electric lighting will Ire opened in Japan this summer. The power in each cusp will he furnished by I’elfon water wheels. All the equipment will be constructed in Japan. The first aluminum seagoing vessel is under construction in ' the dock yards of the Loire, France, ft. is a cutter and its total weight D250D tons. If constructed of the ordinary ftisteri .1, il wnlrf weigh 15(10 to,,., Tho boundary line between habit and monomania is rather shadowy and vague. Doctor Johnson had an irre sistible impulse to touch every po«t he passed. Sometimes he would force himself to go by one, only to return aqd gratify his strange Wish. a pound of rice contains 86.09 per of „„tritir. matter. 82.. 64 percent, for wheat, 82. 79 per cent, for rye, 74.02 per cent, for oafs, cent, 82 ' 37 for P flr potatoes, ™ nK 40.03 per cent, ^ for fat beef and 28.per cent for lean beef. At a recent meeting of the British Royal Society one of ihe members ex hibited some curious photographs pro (breed by placing coins or medals np on a sensitized plate. An electrical current was turned through the object and a developer applied to the film, when perfect images of tiro object? were obtained. An Eieplianfs Good Sense. r« India domesticated elephants are usually given drink from large wooden troughs filled with well-water by means of a pnmp, and it is commonly an elephant that fi Is Phis trough. Every morning he goes regularly to his task. White visiting a friend at his fine residence 4» India a corrcs* pendent of a paper saw a large ele phant engaged in pumping such a trough full of water. He continues : In passing I noticed that One of the two tree-trunks which supported the trough at either end had rolled from its place, so that the trough, still ele vated at one extremity, would begin to empty it-’olf as soon as the water reached the level of the top at the other end, which Jay on the ground. 1 stopped to see if the elephant would discover anything wrong. S>ou the water began to run off at the end which had lost its support. The aid mn ] 8 howed signs of perplexity when lie saw this, but as the end nearest bitn lacked much of being hill, lie continued to pump. Finally, seeing that the Water continued to pass <di, he left the pnmp handle and began to consider the phenomenon. He seemed to find it difficult, to explain. Three times lie returned to his pumping, aud throe limes lie examined the trough. 1 was an absorbed looker-on, im patient to see what would be done. Soon a lively flapping of the ears indi cated tho dawning of light. He went and smelled of the tree-trunk, which had rolled from under (he trough. I thought for a moment that ■> 1"’ ’ " > ‘ I - !•••' mind, but the en< which impossible ho ihon^B to tiU| instant on on^H rolled away will) his trtu^Hj down, so lU on the groj the pnmp [Mancheste
