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OCILLA DISPATCH. cr OCILLA, GEORGIA. HENDERSON & HANLON, Publishers. -. a » If tlie fa<l among American girls for marrying foreign priuees keeps up the sultan Of Snln will bo sending over presently for quotations on half-dozen lots. Another suggestion is to change the name of “automobile” to “auto- kineton,” because the latter word is pure Greek. It would doubtless re¬ main so to the average American. The French-American Historical society has just been formed in Bos¬ ton, whose object is declared to be to promote the careful and systematic study of the bistory of the t’nited States, and especially to bring forth in its true light the part which belongs to the French race in the evolution and formation of the American people. The charter members number about 50 persons of French origin from many parts of ibis country. The old-fashioned toy house that told us it was going to be fair because the woman came out of the house, and that it was going to be stormy because the man stood to the front, gave us the natural idea of the wife’s and the husband’s place. In matters fair and gentle and domestic the wife is properly the head; in stormy, stern, and especially in out-of-doors affairs, the husband is the best head of the house, or his wife is unfortunate. Although a very large proportion of the 8450,000,000 worth of goods which Africa imported in 1898 came through the British colonies, the United States sold the dark continent goods amounting to $18,000,000 and purchased in return African products valued at $10,000,000. The imports of the Transvaal in 1898 amounted to $104,000,000, while its exports were valued at $54,000, 000, the latter con¬ sisting chiefly of gold aud other minerals. Our bill for ammunition during the Spanish war was not one-fifth as great as the amount expended annually by the British navy in practice. Forty-five thousand dollars’ worth of ammunition was fired at Montojo’s fleet in Manila Bay and $100,000 was expended in following up aud destroy¬ ing Cervera’s fleet. Each round fired by Dewey cost about $9.50 and the average price of the rounds fired by Sampson was $14.25. These prices indicate the preponderance in the fights of small calibre guns. Geoige Dewey may have begun to be a hero late in life, as he says, but he is a real hero, because he is so human, observes the New York Sun. We know from his manner of speech, his sympathies, his toleration, his brave natural carriage aud the bold but gentle light of his eyes that he must have been the same Dewey all his life that he is today. The man was always ready f<;r the opportunity to be great,but it did uot come to him until the first of May, 1898. It has probably puzzled him to find that he has grown so famous, and that in the estimation of the world he is to take his place among its great men for all time—puzzled him because he is so modest and so incapable of being anything but the plain, unaffected character whose worth his friends, and whose great qualities his brother officers, have known all along. There is always something interest¬ ing in the discovery, or even the sup¬ posed discovery, of a new malady. The race rejoices in nothing so much as in talking about its physical disa¬ bilities. We have a loug succession of troubles in connection with the bicycle. It is only natural that the new rival of the wheel should keep in the swim aud produce its own peculiar troubles. A piece of dialogue iu the Automobile Magazine shows that tli9 expected has happened. A young woman is the subject of the conversation “ ‘Puts on a good many airs,’ said one neighbor to another, a3 they walked home after the rapidly disappearing automobile. ‘You’d think that she invented the horseless carriage aud owned the only one iu use, instead of taking a few rides by special invitation. Aud did you notice that she’s getting the automo¬ bile face?’ ‘I noticed she looked kind of queer.’ ‘Yes proud and puffed up, as if she were somebody better’ll any other woman. That’s the way they all look.’ ” OUR ADVERTISING RATES ARB EXTREMELY LOW, AND ARE A ORE AT INDUCEMENT FOR BUSI¬ NESS MEN TO PATRONIZE OUR COL¬ UMNS. TRY US. ■ fit- '•‘4. <6.5 i£< "■"'i r ^-r- W& 5 &SG&m -- ; e!? - \ fcZ : zzt. ~ V/ OAT ^ j ; l! I •iHsl ssl^ //**] sse Jmam I @a§i i / s 7* ip §m VP. .1 « i A ( Woful Thanksgiving. By Harioq Harlaqd: HE fact was we had never spent “a Thanksgiv¬ ing” in the country. And in town the Pil¬ \V. 4 grims’ holy day has de¬ generated into an ’Arry and ’Arriet “blowout.” It was decided in family council to hie us in a body to a country box among the hills, where we had enjoyed four idyllic summers, aud there keep the hoary old festa as Yankee pre-Raphaelite observed. aquarelles tell us it should be Bnow fell two days before the im¬ portant Thursday. All the better! It would bave been all the best had the storm held off until we were actually housed and could read “Snow-Bound” over blazing logs answering roar for roar, the “grand old harper” smiting and twanging the oaks anu hickories of the grove. We took the 9 o’clock train from the city. It was crowded, mainly with one sort and condition of men. Each of them was presumably going to the old homestead—gray, yellow or white, backed by the invariable red barn— “for Thanksgiving.” Some chewed orange peel to tone down their breaths to the decorous prejudices of the old folks at home, others inhaled bad cigars in the “smoker,” and brought the evil incense into our car. At least two-thirds munched peanuts and strewed the floor with the shells. One and all talked loudly and laughed boisterously. A red-hot stove at each end of the car brewed the reek of whisky, tobacco, orange peel and roasted peanuts into a nuisance. It was an accommodation train, halt¬ ing at every “turn-out” to set down trippers moved by filial piety or farm¬ house romance and poetry to maintain the traditions of the day. At the end of the fifteenth mile we came to a dead standstill, A coal train had been wrecked aud must be cleared away be¬ fore we could go on. We were stranded in the exact centre of an uncomely sodden ex¬ panse of fields covered with snow aud criss-crossed by blackish stone fences. Now a farmstead was visible for over a mile on all sides of us; half a dozen mean huts knotted into a sort of settlement about some railway coaling sheds, and twenty dis¬ reputable loafers lounged from them to inspect the wreck and our train. The one sort and condition of men af¬ filiated right speedily with these, and whereas paterfamilias made divers abortive excursions in various direc¬ tions in quest of a draught of milk and slices of bread for his hungry chil¬ dren andareasonably clean spot where materfannlias might retire for awhile from the growing strife of tongues dashing against the becalmed train, it was but too evident that mountain dewand Jersey lightning were to be bad for good fellowship and for money. All babbled, more or less tipsily, of the day we were celebrating, drinking to it with every imaginable form of expletive, and some that, until that unhappy hour were quite unimagin¬ able by materfamilias and her terrified younglings. The average American’s one idea of a holiday is license, and the one idea- increased and prevailed as the hours dragged by. We were halted at 10.30. At 3 the rails were free and the celebrants of the honorable anniversary tumbled tumultously into their seats, the one idea uppermost. All over the broad and teeming laud turkeys had offered their brown breasts, reeking with richness, to the carver’s blade; cranberries bad bled by the million; pumpkin pies and plum puddings had :ur eited the tens of thousands of sensible people who had stayed at home and feasted conventionally. Since our early break¬ fast we had eaten just one water cracker apiece; we were lame with long sit¬ ting, sickened in body by foul air and in soul by foul language. What was left of spirit and hope re¬ vived with each mile left behind us. Materfamilias told stories to the con¬ fiding innocents of the sleigh drive they would have from the station, the dinner and fire and fun awaiting 113 at home. We had managed to get off a telegram to our caretaking gardener at 11 o’clock, ordering him to send to every train until we came and to keep the dinner hot. At 4.30 we alighted at the shabby little station nearest our idyllic cot- tage. No sleigh was in waiting; not a living creature was in sight, and the station was locked. A bitter wind moaned up and down the valley, and the unsympathetic sun was hardly a yard above the hills. Paterfamilias shouldered the two-year-old baby and led the forlorn procession “across lots” of unbroken and stiffening snow. By the airjino we projected for our¬ selves the walk was a mile long. We were wet up to the knees with snow water and exhausted to faintness when we reached the gardener’s lodge at the entrance to our grounds. It was shut fast; no answer was vouchsafed to our knocking; no faint bine reek arose from chimney. The children had behaved heroically up to this instant. When their father an¬ nounced darkly that the villains had never got his dispatch and had taken * A ^{rfrW f k ft k( A\\ m lr 'M ’/Wf Atzm ' A * . \ m r i N < “WE WERE WET UP TO THE KNEES WITH SNOW WATER AND EXHAUSTED TO FAINTNESS WHEN WE REACHED THE GARDENER’S LODGE.” themselves! off upon a Thanksgiving spree of their own baby began to sob, and silent tears glazed the purpled cheeks of the eldest girls. “This is the tassel upon the cap of the climax!” said their mother in deadly calmness. “We will go to the house and break our way in. Since starve we must, we will starve in our beds, under plenty of blankets.” She took a child by each hand, paterfamilias reshouldered the weep¬ ing baby, and we pulled our feet out of the congealing snow. A plantation of evergreens hid the turn in the path at which we had our first glimpse of the cottage. A weak cry from the children, an astonished snort from paterfamilias, a devout ejaculation from the mother, broke into the gusty air. For royal banners of smoke, tinted by the glowing west, streamed from every chimney, each window was stained by scarlet fire-gleams from within; Frank, our faithful watchdog, bounded from the poreh with a bay of welcome, and at the joyous yelp the front door was flung wide. Our telegram had arrived in good season; the sleigh had gone to meet us by the road, and, being a little behind time, had missed us, who came across lots. While our trusty retainers made breathless explanations the odor of roast turkey was borne to us upon the flood of warm air pouring through hall and doorway. Dinner would be on table by the time we could get our¬ selves into dry clothes. Never did another dinner taste so good; never was wood fire more jolly than that in which the children roasted chestnuts, and beside which pater¬ familias smoked the cigar of content, aud materfamilias dreamed aud moral¬ ized. To the home nook, “curtained and closed and warm,” came the shout of the wind-god, a very pagean of re¬ joicing for mishaps overpast and for tho abundant compensations that crowned the outgoing of our one eventful Thanksgiving Day.—New York World. Jacksonville, Fla,, has a successful ! ostrich farm, the only one in the j United States outside of California. Whence Came Turkey. Despite the query, “What’s in a name?” more than one conjecture will rise at the festive board, How did Air. Turkey get his name? The turkey, it must be confessed, is rather unfor¬ tunate in the matter of names. It was introduced into England about the year 1541, and, not knowing whore it originally came from, the folks there thought from its manners and appearances that it must be a Turk, and so called it a turkey bird. But not only was the poor bird de¬ prived of its birthright as a native American in its English name, but so ignorant were the so-called men of science, supposing a turkey was some sort of guinea fowl, they called it meleagris—so it happens an American bird is a Turk, and a turkey is, in name, a guinea fowl. The turkey be¬ longs to the family of scratehers. All of you have seen turkeys, so a de¬ scription of the bird is superfluous. You remember the livid blue head, red legs and the copper bronze color of the plumage, each feather with a velvet black margin, and the long tuft of bristles on the neck. The tame turkey is sometimes white or parti¬ colored, and varies in color, The wild turkeys are all the same color. Some animals and beasts improve and become larger and finer-looking animals when brought under the dominion of mankind, This is not the case with the tnrkey, which has deteriorated, having lost weight and beauty by being domesticated. A Novel Idea. The hostess of a last-year’s Thanks¬ giving dinner secured enough yellow gourds to put one at each of the dozen covers in simulation of the Thanks¬ giving pumpkin. Each of these gourds held a tiny, growing fern in its little clay pot, the color effect around the table being extremely gcod. THE TURKEY'S LAMENT. I’m a melancholy turkey—sad ami. For a reiiru of awful terror draweth nigh. How I dread the smelt of pie, And the cakes and tarts piled high, For I know that I must die Thanksgiving Day. What avail my sparkling eyes, just like jet, Or my slim and stately neck, proudly set? Though my glossy feathers shiue, On my flesh will people dine, And pronounce me luscious—fine, Thanksgiving Day. iffig? K'.v; K m How I wish I had been batched some ocher bird, dove’d Chicken, goose, duck or be pre¬ ferred— Any fowl but what I am, In this land of “Uncle Sam,” For I'm slaughtered like a lurnb Thanksgiving Day. How I sympathize with Marie Antoinette! How that dark and bloody axe haunts me yet! neck Soon on my ’twill descend, Make of me a sudden end, Was a sadder verso e’er penned? Thanksgiving Day. —fcjusun Hubbard Martin, BREAKIN G THE W ISHBONE. When to Lose the Wish ami When to Win It. DESIEE to warn you that a oka ing young widow who wants to vi break a wish¬ bone with you is one of whom yon should beware. She is very tantalizing, ohio, clever, and, oh, so awfully sorry you didn't got your wish! The V, I young widow is a mind reader and knows just what your thoughts are while you are holding the bone aud looking down into her eyes. If you have to look up into a widow’s eyes, there may be some hope for you, but when she looks up and you look down she can read every one of your thoughts. By the way, there is oniy one, only has been one, only can be one, thought passing through a man’s mind when he is breaking a Jk S- * tp-- ~ «F" ‘i AM SO SOBBY YOU LOST.” wishbone with a charming young widow—possession! She knows it as plainly as though written indelibly upon your forehead. That is her particular forte. And when you break tbc bone and.find yourself possessed of the short end she will look up into your eyes with a look that will cause yonr poor back hair to crimp and say, with that pitying tone of voice never so well modulated as by a widow: “I am so sorry you lost!” No matter what the after result of a good dinner may bring forth, you can¬ not help but hie yourself away to some quiet resort obscure from pry¬ ing and meddling eyes aud bury your disappointment in books or blues. But when you break a wishbone with a sweet young girl it is a very different thing. Sweet younggirl’s hearts v/ere made to be broken like the wishbone. You secure a deal of paradise while breaking bones with a sweet young girl, whereas you get generally worm¬ wood and gall when you break bones with a fair widow. You throw all your art into the. act of breaking a bone with a young girl, but wheu you break a bone with a fair widow you throw your heart in against her art, and she bents you nine times out of ten. The best place to break a bone with a fair widow is in the corner of a snug sitting room, with the lights turned low. A man’s heart fire glows more vividly upon his cheeks then; also it is more fun for the widow. She quite prefers earnestness of purpose and is ever ready for a tilt of hearts against arts. You might win a prize in the lottery of life if you would break a bone with a fair young girl with your heart, as fixed upon the one purpose— possession—»s it was with the widow. Did you ever break a bone with a staid old aunt whose fortune you hoped to poss.ess? If you lose your wish, your fortune is made, for she’ll put you down as a real nice nephew with¬ out sordid fancies , but if you win she’ll pierce you with a look and say: “I expected you wanted me to hur¬ ry up aud die.” Always make it a point to lose your wish when breaking a bone with an expectant aunt who has a fortune. A New Plum Pudding Ilecipe. A Thanksgiving plum pudding rec- ommeuded by Mrs. Lincoln, as rich enough, but not too rich to disturb the digestion of the children, is made with crackers. Six butter crackers are rolled fine and soaked in three pints of milk. A quarter of a cup of butter is creamed with one cup cf sqgar, a half-teaspoonful of salt, and one teaspoonful of mixed spice, to¬ gether with six well-beaten eggs. This is all stirred into the milk audapouud of the best stoned raisins added. It is put iu a deep pudding-dish, well greased with cold butter and baked for three hours in a moderate oven. It should be stirred several times dur¬ ing the first hour to keep the raisins from settling. The seorot of the bak¬ ing is that it should be slow. The pud¬ ding is served with the usual lemon sauce. . Funny Stories o t Early Thanksgivings. Many funny stories are told of tho early Thanksgiving days, such as the town of Colchester calmly ignoring the Governor’s appointed day aud observ¬ ing its own festival a week later, in order to allow time for the arrival, by sloop from Now York, of a hogshead of molasses for pies. Another is re¬ counted of a farmer losing his cask of Thanksgiving molasses out of his cart as*ke reached the top of a steep hill and of its rolling swiftly down till split in twain by its fall. His helpless dis¬ comfiture and his wife’s acidity of tem¬ per and diet are comically told. Decorations For the Feast. The deoorations of the Thanksgiving dinner-table should be seasonable. The fruits and flowers that belong to the late autumn are the ones that should grace the November board. Chrysanthemums are particularly ap- proprial 1 and their decorative effect is excellent. BOERS IB FORCE OVERRUN NATAL British Claim Great Vic¬ tory In Belmont Battle. THE LOSSES WERE HEAVY Advancing Britons Find Boers In Wait¬ ing On All Sides—fleal Situation Still Obscure. Advices from London under date of November 24, are as follows: Before anxiety as to the situation in Natal has been relieved, there comes news of a great battle at Belmont. This happened sooner than was expected. Only the official account is yet to hand, but so far as can be gathered, the fighting appears to have been almost a repition of tho battle of Elangs- laagte. A dispatch of the previous day estimated that the Boers in that vicinity numbered 2,000 and that they had five guns, and judging from the absence of any statement to the con¬ trary in the official report, it is be¬ lieved that the British were slightly superior in numbers to tho enemy. The Boers had chosen a position with their customary skill ’and were strongly entrenched. The British had to carry three ridges in succession, apparently the guards bore the brunt in carrying the last ridge by a bayo¬ net charge, after its defenders had been shaken with shrapnel. Nothing is said as to whether tire positions so gained were held. Complete British Victory; The secretary of war has received the following dispatch through Gen¬ eral Forrester-Walker from General Methuen, dated Belmont, November 23d: Attacked the enemy at daybreak this morning. He was in a strong po¬ sition. Three ridges were carried iu succession, the last attack being pre¬ pared by shrapnel. Infantry behaved splendidly and recived support from the naval brigade and artillery. “The enemy fought with courage and skill. Had I attacked later I should have bad far heavier losses. Our vic¬ tory was complete. Have taken forty prisoners. Am burying a good num¬ ber of the Boers, but the greater part of the enemy’s killed and wounded were removed by their comrades. Have captured a large number of borses and cows and destroyed a large quantity of amunition.” The report concludes with a long list of casualties. Situation Still Obscure. The situation iu Natal remains ob¬ scure. Fighting is reported at both Estcourt and Ladysmith. It was at first reported that heavy firing had been beard in the direction of Willow Grange, leading to a belief that Gen¬ eral Hildyard had made a sortie. Later dispatches announce that Gen¬ eral White sortied from Ladysmith and inflicted a demoralizing defeat upon the Boers. It would be premature to give full credence to either report, What is quite certain is that Ladysmith, Est- conrt and Mool River station are all isolated, and the Boers seem able, after detaching enough troops to hold three British forces, aggregating 17,- 000 men, to push on toward Pieter- maritzburg with some 7,000 men. A disquieting feature of the whole campaign is the fact that all the ad¬ vancing generals report meeting the Boers in force. In review of the bril¬ liant success of General Joubert in partially paralyzing the relieving col¬ umns, the question is being asked, what would have happened had he sit¬ at. the outset of the war, instead of ting down before Ladysmith, pushed to Pietermaritzburg? General Galacre’s report that the Dutch are rising increases public anx¬ iety, as ittends tocoufirm rumors that have long been current. A special dis¬ patch from Durban announces that more big naval guns were lauded AVednesday and hurried to the front. Prince Christian Victor left Mooi River camp before it was invested, bearing dispatches to Pietermaritz¬ burg. HORRIBLE CRIME REVEALED. Murderer Dissects His Victim---Sus- pect is Arrested. A dispatch from Newport News, Va , says: The discovery of the mutilated .body of a woman in Phoebus Thurs¬ day morning was followed by the ar¬ rest of Louis August, an artilleryman at Fort Monroe, who is charged with the murder. r The victim, Annie Benedict, a mulatto woman, was found by a soldier from the home lying nude on her bed. Tim bedding and floor were spattered with blood. The woman’s body had been cut open and the entrails re¬ moved and placed in a bucket by the bedside. nOTHER AND CHILDREN SLAIN. Were Clubbed To Death and Bodies Were Fearfully Mutilated. Thursday evening the horribly mu¬ tilated bodies of a woman and her three children were found at, their home on a small farm about a rnilo from the town of Montgomery, Pn. The coroner left at onee for the scene of the tragedy. Details are meager. The bodies were horribly mutilated, the murderer ovideutlv having used a club iu committing the crime.