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About Schley County news. (Ellaville, Ga.) 1889-1939 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1894)
Tlie Silent Biitilo. aimll r tell yqu apout tfto battle. That was foughfln the world today. here thousand* went down like heroes W the pitiless fru\. To death in You may know some oi the wounded And some of the fallen when I tell you tills wondorfui battle Was ‘ fought in the hearts Of men. : Not with the sound of trumpets. * sabers drawn, Nor elashing of But silent ns twilight in autumn \11 day the fight wtnt on. And over against temptation \ mother’s prayers were east . That had come by silent marches From the lullaby land of the And ever the field of battle The force of ambition went, Driving before it. like arrows, The children of sweet content. Ami memories odd and olden Came up through the dust of years, Ami hopes that were glad und golden Were met by a host of fears. And the heart grew worn and weary And said: “Oh. can it be That I am worth the struggles making today for me? ’ You are For the heart itself was the trophy And prise of this wavering fight! 4nd tell me. Oh gentle reader, Who camps on the field tonight? —Buffalo Connm*. al. The Professor’s Romance, One evening not many years ago George Wilson made his way through one of the side streets of New Haven. His full name, as it appeared in the catalogue of the university, was George Ellis Wilson, of Smithville, Pa. He had just eaten supper at the “commons,” and, leaving the other fellows, had hurried down the walk between “the old brick row” and the new dormitories, across the busy street and down this little lane till he came to a dimly lighted, second hand book-store. Here he stopped and looked in the windows. They were filled with old books with sur prisingly lorv prices pinned on them and steel engravings of Washington and Jefferson that doubtless lmd been the pride of some patriotic home, but now looked fly-specked and bedrag gled enough. After imusing at the threshold long enough to shake the snow from his coat he entered. Out from behind the stacks of books that filled the rear of the store Came a little man, with a long beard, round shoul ders and very old and dusty coat that came down below bis knees. “How do, sir? A stormyjevening,” he said to Wilson, as he climbed up on a chair to turn the gas a little higher. “Very” replied Wilson, and with out more ado bagan to examine the books around him. They were stacked up in the greatest confusion. Book cases were full, drawers were full and great piles in the corners reached almost to the ceiling. The air of the room had the rusty odor peculiar to old books, and the little old man who kept the store seemed to have absorbed some of the musty learning of his shop, such a scholarly stoop did he have and so dusty were his clothes, An effort had been made to sort some of the books, and over several shelves was hung the l|ahel‘‘Religious,’’and Apreek and Latin,” while over some in the others ex r weme corner were “Translations.” Wilson eyed these last suspiciously, for he had “boned” bis way through preparatory school, and he had made «P his mind not to “horse” through college. Turning to the Latin books, Je lo(J hed them through till he came to a copy of Horace, somewhat the averse for wear, but serviceable. The -ittle old man meanwhile was trying Jo heap bring of some magazines order out piled of a confused floor. up on the Wilson glanced over the pages of tin, Horace, and, deciding that it would answer his purpose, paid the old man 35 cents, put Hie book in his Pocket and went, out into the street. bacK to his room in “North Mid- 1 le »’ he took off his C oat and threw it on a eban' with Horace still in the pocket. The next morning he got up late, nmd m his hurry to get to break as put on the coat just he had left as night before. At chapel, how ver > during the long prayers, while uc president was imploring “blessings ( ’ r he heathen in all lands,” under hich head Wilson would have jeoght le J*° himself race au(1 'included, looked lie pulled leaf at, the fly -there were two of the initials of the fo rmer owner, W. B., class, ’55. and his The last name had been carefully scratched out. Up in the corner there was a note, evidently written during some recitation 30 vicars before: “Can von tufor, moan hour in trig, tomorrow? By the time that Wilson had observed this much the prayer was ended and the president was walking down the mid dle aisle, while the seniors, in accord ance with a custom handed down from long ago, Wete making prodigious bows as ho passed and falling in un ceremoniously behind him. Pocketing the book Wilson returned" tyj his room, and, after a few prelimi naries, began to get ready to study. He put on bis slippers and study-coat, pulled out a Latin dictionary and opened it, and then went to the chair on which his overcoat lay and got his Horace. Then he put his feet on the table and was ready for work. The lesson assigned was the first two odes. No one can study a book, however, until he has thumbed it over and over and made himself familiar with it. The first thing Wilson did, therefore, was to glance over the pages of his Horace and see what sort of a fellow its former owner was. On the fifth page he saw something that attracted his attention. Written in a man’s hand in rather small characters, as though the writer would not have it too public, and on the inner edge of tlie leaf was the name “Mary.” Smil ing to himself, Wilson turned on. Nothing else noteworthy appeared till he came to what was evidently a very difficult passage on the fifty-first page, for the leaf was badly worn and soiled, and written in the same hand as before were the names “Mollie” and “Mame.” “Getting more familiar, evidently,” soliloquized Wilson as he turned on. He found no more writing, however, except on occasional repetition of these names, and now and then the meaning of a word written between the lines. Wilson turned to the first ode and worked steadily over the dictionary for two hours. Then he kicked his slippers across the room, threw* the study coat on the bed and pulling on on his shoes and coat started for the recitation-room. The professor was William B. Henderson, but the boys always called him Billie behind his back and occasionally made a. slip, and called him Billy to his face. Be was very serious, seldom known to smile, and a regular “grinder.” Stories were abundant about some love affair that lie had had while a student at Yale, and of a girl whom he lmd been engaged to who left him for a wealthier man and a trip to Eu rope. But stories about college pro fessors are common, and no one pays much attention to them. No one sup posed that Billy Henderson could ever have thought much of anything except Latin. The men were seated in the recita tion-room alphabetically, and Wilson had a back seat. More than once he found cause to be thankful that his name began with a letter at the end of the alphabet. Not being called on to recite on this day, he acquitted him self creditably. Every time that Wilson took up his Horace to study his eye caught sight of “Mary” or “Mollie” or “Mame.” “I should like to kinjw avIio this duffer was, and whether he married Mary,” said Wilson one day to John son. his room-mate, Johnson was busy with a pipe and some drawing instruments and a large sheet of paper and did not condescend to ( reply, and Wilson went on with his study. One day, in looking over the notes in the back of tlie book W ilson made a discovery. Down in the corner of a page in the same handwriting was “My Mary.” “Gad!” exclaimed AVilsou, and Johnson turned round to see what was the matter, His questioning look received no reply, and Wilson put on his coat and went out for a walk. “I’d like to know who that fellow ■was and what become of Mary,” thought Wilson. “What-a nice little plot for a true story, I could make out a whole love affair from these names m the book. Let’s see. Some thinglike this. Chapter I. Student comes to New Haven from Western home, is hazed, meets a pretty girl, named Mary something or other; tries to study Horace aud finds himself writing ‘Mary’ in his book. Chapter II. Takes her to Glee Club concert, SuHEY COUNTY borrows money for the ticket sand gets uncomfortably In, debt, bocuiy^s ab* sent miriddd and bejtins to write to>, ‘MoMier and ‘Maim*.’ Chapter III. Scene— A beautiful parlor in one of Now Haven’s best homes; Mary, beautiful and collected, seated on a sofu. Student, with one hand in coat pocket, standing by grate fire, with one elbow on mantel. He complains of his hard luck in Iloraoo ; is sure to flunk on exam. Mary con soles him tenderly. Student goes over to sofa, looks into Mary’s dark eyes, tells her the trouble is that this Hor ace sings of no one but Mary, and that the rest of the fellows and the profes sor don’t translate that way. Mary blushes beautifully. He takes her baud and they are very happy. Chapter IV. The fellow goes to his room and writes ‘My Mary’ in his Horace and flunks on the exam. ” In following out this line of thought Wilson had walked half-way to Lake Whitney. Suddenly another idea, had struck him. He turned around and started for his room. On reaching it he took a triennial catalogue and looked through to see what names in the class of ’55 had the initials W. B. To his perplexity he found several names with these initials. ( 6 Well, if there isn’t Billie Hender son's name! I never thought of it, but I suppose his name is really Wil liam,” said Wilson to himself. “He could never have owned this book, though, for he must have been a regu lar grind. ” The term was drawing to a close when one day Prof. Henderson an nounced to his class that they should bring their own copies of Horace to the class-room on the noK.t day. They would do some reading at sight, he explained, and the class would be al lowed to use what notes were to be found in their books, and the edition furnished by the university for class room work had no notes whatever. The next day, therefore, Wilson took his Horace to class. The passage which was assigned to him was the one which the former owner had found so difficult and had sought relief for his feelings by writing “Mame” and “Mollie” on the margin of the page. Wilson, however, buckled in manfully, and when called on translated with some fluency and sat down. The professor looked over the top of his glasses and said rather sternly; “I do not understand, Mr. Wilson, how you obtain the meanings that you : give to some of the words.” Wilson hesitated a moment and then a happy thought struck him. Somc thing that he had seen in the notes his mind. “I think, Professor,” he said, “that my text must differ from yours.” “Ah!”said the Professor. “Let me see your text.” Wilson w alked up the aisle from the rear of the room and handed his book to the Professor with the assurance that a man has who is sure that he is in the right. The professor took the book and glqnced over the page. His expression changed in a moment. Old memories seemed to come up and he. leaned his head on his hand and looked steadily at the bbok. Finally he raised his eyes, and handing the book to Wilson, said: “You are quite right, Mr. Wil son.” After the recitation was over Pro fessor Henderson called Wilson to his desk. “I should like, Mr. Wilson,” he said, “to obtain that copy of Horace from you when you are through with it, if you have no objections to parting with it. It’s an odd edition, you know,” he added, in explanation, “ nn d I—I should like to have it to conqiare with other texts.” Wilson assured him that he could get along without it, nodded good day to the professor as he went out of the door, and the professor answered soberly in return. “Well, I’ll be blowed!” exclaimed Wilson, as soon as he was well away from the recitation room. “Who would have thought it?” And he but toned up his coat and hurried to his room to tell the story to Johnson.— [Chicago News. True to His Ideals. “You find it impossible to got work, don’t you?” said the sympathetic lady of the house. “I’m not huntin’ fur work, ma’am,” said the man on the back porch stiffly. “I ain’t no common tramp, I’m huntin' fur leisure.” USEFUL FIBERS. ClirioUS Sources From Which Tliey Derived, % Material for Bridges Made Prom a Palm Fiber. Many of the fibers used in various parts of the world are derived from various sources. From the seed-pods of the calotropis gigantea the natives of Java obtain a silky stuff like cot ton, resembling flax and very strong. It is called “kahok.” They prepare it with their hands and feet, and from it manufacture bow-strings and traps for tigers. A good deal of it is exported to Holland for upholstery material. The Mexicans make a species of silk cotton, twisted in soft yarn, into can dle-wicks. This sort of wick leaves no ash, its combustion being perfect. Having no felting property, the fiber cannot be spun. The same people make cordage and cigarette-wrappers out of the inner bark of certain trees. From Algeria comes a “vegetable hair” which looks much like horsehair. It is obtained from the leaves of a palmetto similar to the scrub palmetto which grows wild all over Florida and Georgia. lu those states the produc tion of this kind of fiber may be come an industry some day. It is good for stuffing mattresses and furni ture. Tlie famous esparto grass is de rived from the same part of Africa. It yields a fiber that is most import antly useful for paper-making, though also employed for baskets, hats, mats, ropes and nets. Spanish shepherds weave it so closely that vessels made of it will hold liquids. Probably it would not be practicable to cultivate the es parto grass in this country, because the labor of harvesting it is too great. It grows in tufts and has to be plucked up. Free-born Americans will not bend their backs unless they are hand somely paid for it. Useful fibers obtained from palms are of endless variety. Among them is the well-known “coir,” from which cocoa matting is made. This is taken from the husk of the cocoanut and is shipped to market twisted into long ropes. The industry of preparing it is of great importance in Ceylon. Formerly it was separated by burying the husks for many months in pits, where they were subjected to rotting ^y sea "ater. Many fillers used for brushes come from palms. One kind from Ceylon, is called “kittool. ” It is from the leaves, the fleshy parts of" which are rotted away by the rains, so that the stout fibers forming the leaf skeletons hang down in bunches and are easily cut off. They are utilized to make ropes for tying t'lephants. The same tree produces palm wine, sugar and a kind of sago, from which the natives prepare a dish resembling oatmeal. The brushes of the street-sweeping machines used in London and Paris are made from a palm fiber resembling kittool, only coarser, and obtained in the same way. This species furnishes material for bridges in some parte of South America. An important com mercial fiber from South America is got from the roots ofakind ofgrass. It is largely used for brooms. The Mexi can natives make a superb fiber from the century plant. Being very elastic, it has been recommended for hawsers, which would not be nearly so likely to snap as the ordinary Manilla hemp. The “ixtle”^>r “tampvco” of Mexico is allied to the century plant and af fords a fiber which is imported in con siderable quantities into this country for use instead of bristles for brushes. The finest quality brings $500 a ton. This plant grows wild on arid table lands, where no other living thing can find moisture enough to sustain existence. Manilla hemp is a variety of the banana. Spanish moss, which bangs in festoons from trees in the south, belongs to the same order a.s the pine apple, oddly enough. It is au air plant, but not a parasite, as is com monly supposed. One reason for the misconception in this regard is that it is most luxuriant on dead trees, "be cause its own growth is utilized as a commercial fiber, being treated in masses with chemicals, whch rot off its outer covering, or bark. After being dried it looks like horsehair and is called vegetable hair.—[Washing ton Star. Ilemarkublc Stalactite fates in Utah. Two of the most wonderful stalactite eaves m the World arc located w ithin the Territory of Ulali—one five miles south of Toqucrville and the other twenty-five miles west of St. George. ^ithcr is remarkable on account of size, and to the best of my knowledge the dignifying title of “cavern” has never been bestowed upon either of the two. They simply come within the category of tlie wonderful because of the immense number of stalaeites, of various sizes and colors, which de pend from their roofs. The first, the *one near Toqucrville, is known as “La Virgin,” and the other by the name of the “Black War rior.” The Virgin was discovered a few years ago by the contractor of an irrigating company, who was engaged in driving a tunnel through a moun tain called “La Virgin Bench” for the purpose of tapping the river beyond. When the light was first let into this wonderful undergroiul chamber the ef fect is said to have been startling, tliQ roof and floor glittering with cubes and points of crystal alum and the roof studded with millions of rain colored stalactites. The “Black War rior” cave is a counterpart ot the Vir gin and was discovered by miners at a point where their tunnel was 365 feet beneath the surface.—[St. Louis Re public. Ambergris. Ambergris (gray amber) is “a morbid secretion of the Jiver or intestines of the sperm whale.” When it was first found, centuries ago, it was said to be the solidified foam of the sea, or a fun goid growth of the sea, similar to the fungi which grows on trees on land. It is only within a comparatively short time that its true character was di covered. It is supposed now to be practically a biliary calculus; certain ly every whale in which ambergris has been found lias been sick, and it is'be lieved that the sickness has been due to the presence of the ambergris. When ambergris was first introduced into Europe, it was used in medicines, in flavoring wines and in making per fumes. Now it is used for the last pur pose only, though in the East it is still an article of the pharmacopoeia. Am bergris when first taken from the whale is of a deep gray color, soft to the touch, and of a disagreeable smell. AVhon exposed to the air it hardens, loses color and develops a sweet, earthy smell. It is worth about $60 a pound. The largest' nugget of ambergris was bought during the last century by the Dutch East Ifadia Company from an Indian rajah; it weighed 182 pounds. —[Trenton, (N. J.) American. Tha Diamond is Brittle. The diamond, contrary to the gen eral opinion, is very brittle; many stones of value have been lost on this account in the stamping mills, and many others have been passed over by miners who were ignorant of the true form of the stone in its rough stale and of a proper test to apply. The easiest test is its extreme hardness. When a crystal is found approaching the octahedral or rhombic dodecahe dral form, try to scratch it with corun dum or emery. If it stand this test, then proceed with a true diamond, and if this be unsuccessful, the lucky finder has a gem worth preserving. The use of the hammer is to be depre cated in all cases, and many a gem of value has been lost through the mis belief that brittleness is not asso ciated with hardness.—[New Orleans Picayune. How a Plant Has Traveled. Less than 125 years ago tho little plant known to the botanists as Le pacliy’s Columuaris, was only known to inhabit ft small section of country in the very southern portion of Lo u isiana. Some time later it was re ported as occurring sparingly along the Canadian river, and, later still, on the Arkansas. Since that time it has slowly spread north, west and east, even to the very source of the Missouri, over into the British posse ?s sions, and is now said to be creeping along the Saskatchawan towards Hud son Bay. How a plant which orig inated in a warm climate could accus tom itself to such changes is another of nature’s mysteries. —[St. Louis Republic. There is an unusually large numbt r of editors in jails in Mexico for politi cal offences.
