Conyers weekly. (Conyers, GA.) 1895-1901, October 05, 1895, Image 6

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DIAMOND DIGGING. South African Mines Worked by Native Laborers. Guarding Against the Theft of Precious Stones. “The South African diamond mines are worked almost entirely by native laborers—the Kaffirs, Zulus, and Hot¬ tentots and the rest, said a diamond merchant These receive good wages; about $125 per month, and are hired for a term of three months. During this period they are confined in com¬ pounds located on the edge of the mines. The compounds consist of rows of buildings of corrugated iron, forming a hollow square, surrounded by a big board fence and covering sev¬ eral acres of ground; Within this corral are stores, a hospital, boarding houses and other conveniences. Wood and water are furnished free, but no alcoholic liquors arc allowed. During their term of service the natives are not allowed to have any communica¬ tion with the outside world, and are under a system of close personal sur¬ veillance in order to prevent the theft of diamonds. When they come up from the mine shaft they aro careful¬ ly searched, and many ingenious methods aro adopted to reduce the loss from this source to a minimum. “Notwithstanding all that is done, however, the theft (jf diamonds still continues. It is estimated that from 10 to 20 per cent of the diamonds found are stolen every year. In or¬ der to prevent this a very stringent law was passed providing that all rough diamonds should be registered with the detective bureau of the Government as soon as they were found, aud that every man who sold a diamond must give with it a certifi¬ cate of registry. The penalty for having au unregis¬ tered rough diamond is seven years on tho Capo Town breukwater, and the mere fact of possession is prima facie evidouco that will securo convic¬ tion. So it happens that if one labor¬ er wants to do up another ho manages to slip a rough diamond into the other laborer’s coat, or into lii.^ room, and then toll tho police to keep a sharp lookout. Of course tho police make a search, tho coutrabrand stone is found, and the man is in for a term of seven years. A groat many unjust sentences have unquestionably been secured in this way, but despite the opposition to tho law, tho company is powerful enough to keep it in force. “There nro other diamond fields outside of tho Kimberley district,but they aro difficult workiug and are mainly exploited by diggers working on their own account, The totul product is not large aud tho work is very arduous, the diggers being most¬ ly men who have been thrown out of work by the consolidation of the Kim¬ berley mines into one vast corporation and the subsequent restriction of pro¬ duction. This latter, by the way, has had a curious effect upon the town of Kimberley itsolf. As late as four years ago Kimberley had a population. 25, ODD or 30,000 people. It was laid out for a great city aud enjoyed for a time a big boom. “Fine brick blocks aud residences wero built, hotels and theatres and water works and everything pertain iug to a modern city. Now a good third of these places are empty and Kimberly is as dead ns a New England town that is dependent upon a single mill. All the supplies and machinery for the mines are now bought, of course, by a single company, so that more than two-thirds of the business of the town is gone. There is noth¬ ing there to sustain a town except the mine, and with the opening up of the gold fields much of the population moved on north to Johannesburg.” An Old Boy’s Costly Fun. Alagistrate Harrison is laughing heartily over a case that was adjusted before him the other day. A wagon loaded with mineral water jugs backed up to the curbstone in front of a bot¬ tling establishment last week, and the driver proceeded to unload his wagon by tossing the jugs one at a time to a colored youth who stood on the op¬ posite side of the curbstone, ready to catch all that came his way. When things w ere moving nicely,n •Id man who occupies a house nex door stepped out of his own door, threw a brick as straight as a bullet and broke one of the jugs while it was in transit from the driver to the colored boy. He darted back into his own domicile before tlxe driver could recover himself enough to make a protest. A tew minutes later an¬ other jug was smashed, and again the old man disappeared with a merry laugh. This was kept up until about a dozen jugs had been smashed, when the angry proprietor stopped the fun by causing the old fellow’s arrest on the charge of malicious mischief. When Judge Harrison read the charge to him the old man laughed until the tears rolled down his cheeks, and then admitted his guilt. In mak¬ ing an explanation he told the aston¬ ished magistrate that he was able and willing to pa}- for the damage he had done, and said: “I saw those jugs Hy¬ ing, and I knew in my own heart that I would have thrown bricks at them when I was a boy sixty years ago. I just wanted to see how it would feel again, and I couldn’t help myself.” The explanation was satisfactory, and after settling the old fellow went away still laughing heartily.—Phila¬ delphia Record. A New Opening for the Blind. As Japan comes more closely in touch with the rest of the world many of its customs are being adopted. In Japan the art of massage is widely practiced, and almost exclusively by the blind. It is a very lucrative pro¬ fession, aud the most skilful operators gain large sums every year, The reason for its being-a profession par¬ ticularly adapted to the blind is read¬ ily understandable. Every one knows that when one sense fails its absence is supplemented by the increase acute¬ ness of others. So with people de¬ prived of sight the sense of touch be¬ comes highly cultivated. The blind man and women.of St. Petersburg and other Continental cities have not been slow to grasp this idea, and tho number of them who are masseurs inconstantly increasing. The head of that protession in the Rus¬ sian capital is totally blind, and ho has a large class of pupils, whom lio instructs daily in the mysteries of massage, who are likewise deprived of sight. Chinese Artificial Digestion. l)r. Fades, an American physician who spent somo time in China, found that the Chinese had a wide kuowl edge of what we call artificial diges¬ tion. “Whenever,” he says, “meats of the indigestible class aro to be used as food, the cook increases their as¬ similative character by tho use of peptoniferous tripe and vinegar. I have often out of curiosity examined the numerous dishes of the Momgo liau cuisine with a view to ascertain¬ ing their constitution. AVhether it was soups or stews, ragouts or fricas¬ sees, pot-roasts or boiled, I have found tripe finely shredded or thinly sliced in three dishes out of every five. The ratio was largest in house holds of wealth, where well paid cooks were the rule. As they discovered the peptic virtue of tripe iu all animal foods, they likewise found the same quality in the gizzard of the bird kingdom.”—New York Post. Invaded by Bats. A queor invasion of a house by bats is reported at Deering by the Lewis tou (Me) Evening Journal. The family of ex-Mayor Sawyer had heard queer noises in the walls, and occasionally received an unexpected visit from a bat who entered through a ventilator, and the other day they decided on an investigation. A hole found under the eaves was stopped up, and at once the bats began to appear. Through the ventilators into the bathroom and into the cellar they swarmed, sixty five being killed in one night. About 200 have been killed, a half-dozen being found drowned in a basin of water. A Death Custom in Jamaica. In Jamaica, when death occurs in a house all the water in the house is immediately thrown out as poisonous and dangerous to use. The people say that when death has completed his job, he proceeds to cool his “sting ” by dipping it into the first water he finds. As death is invisible it is held safest to throw out all the water in the house. DENTAL MARVELS. No One Need Longer Dread Artifi¬ cial Teeth. If You Have the Money the Den¬ tist Does the Rest. Within the past fifteen or twenty years dentistry in all its branches, but particularly as regards artificial teeth, lias made rapid professional progress. Today my lady may part with all her grinders, if she so wills, yet the specialist in artificial ones will re¬ place in porcelain the two sets intact, with such perfection that her dearest foe cannot detect the change. The fashioning of false teeth has been reduced to a science; their maker is become an artist. He nses his head as well as his hands, When his charming feminine patient comes to him with tears in her eyes and in her hand her front tooth carefully wrapped in tissue paper, he assures her, and with truth, that he will make her a duplicate that will deceive her¬ self. This alleviates the mental stress of the sufferer, whose grief could not have been more intense short of the loss of a dear friend or relative. When in the course of time, it be¬ comes a case of an entire set, the sjiecialist makes a close study of the fair patient’s teeth nature origiually gave her, and works accordingly. If they have been straight and white, ho snakes the new ones so. If, depart¬ ing from their original plan, they have changed color or been filled, the alteration is copied. If they chanced to be irregular or imperfect, the im¬ perfection is produced to the letter. The plate no longer fills the mouth to overflowing and crowds out tho lips. All is compact and tight fitting. But in case the cheeks or lips need hold¬ ing out, the artificial gums are more 6r less enlarged, so that the prover¬ bial plumpers could not do better. This continuous gum plate, as it is called, is a marvel of art and work¬ manship with its half circle of ivory colored tines. It takes its moulder a full week of hard work as he presses and carves the pliable material and slowly brings it to perfect on. Aud how relieved is his anxious patieut when she tries it in and finds the gum tinted to perfection, the teeth shaded to match her departed ones, and even her pet filling in view. She smiles with contentment aud she finds that she is prettier than she ever dared hope to be again, and can smile as broadly as she pleases, there being no dividing line between her gums and teeth, but just a fine, wholesome inte¬ rior is inviting inspection. A first-class specialist asks from $100 to $250 for a single upper or lower set, as the material used is expensive, his time is money, and he must use his brains and ingenuity to perfect his work. The teeth must appear to spring from the gum, he must do his best to duplicate nature, while he aims at a restoration of the form aud expression of the face. And each new subject re¬ quires new treatment; what looks well in one mouth would spoil another. Platinum is the metal used for the plates uow-a-days. It comes from Russia, and is taken from tho Ural mountains. It is as expensive as gold aud more easily manipulated. The gums and teeth are made from pow dered feldspar, rock or porcelain, and baked two or three times while under going the process of transformation into a row of pearly teeth. Of course, if the dainty sufferer has not $250 at hand, she can be supplied at cheaper dental rooms with anything to suit, down to the “full set” as ad vertised “to fit you while you wait” Dut art and science will be left out of the question.—Detroit Free Press Wooden Yarns. Wooden yarns were unknown up to a few months ago. Now they are being utilized in several classes of goods. .They are not entirely com¬ posed of wood, about half their com position being wool, Wood pulp, glue, borax, litharge, tallow and one or other ingrediento are well agitated and dissolved, the mixture being then run through holes and drawn into strands, which are rolled, dried and polished. They may then De interwined with wool yarns or bronzed and given a metallic nature, and can be knitted or woven into goods which have the appearanco of fabrics made from the usual fibres. Some of the wooden threads have been bronzed and worked into fancy patterns with good results. Tannic acid is largely used in bronzing, also a solution of permanganate of potash, A bath of cachou is employed m the finishing. The bronzed pulp yarns are glossy and attractive. They look well in designs. So cleverelv are the wood-pulp , made . and . well yarns so are they introduced into the goods that it is not easy to detect them. They are flexible, like wool, smooth, uni form, elastic and otherwise much like ci fibre yarns. But „ , they ,, have t no felting 1 . • power. They can be pulled apart abruptly. If the presence of the yarns is sus¬ pected a thread should be removed and an attempt made to pull it apart. That is, try to break it, pulling grad ually and with sufficient force to sepa rate it. If wooden, the ends will break off short; if wool or other fibre the ends will separate irregularly. — American Cultivator. How He Lost an Arm. The death of Be.ja.oia Ke.ce Che ney, at his home near Boston, recalls the accident that deprived him of his arm when only a young man. The Rev. Dr. Elon Foster of Brooklyn, then a theological student at Concord, AT. H., was returning from hiss um mer vacation, and was on the same ■ train. The train had passed White , T River Junction, Yt.,and was approach ing Lebanon, N. H., when suddenly the cars bounded like a ball over the ties, but did not upset. Mr. Foster started for the door. Looking through the window into the baggage car, which was next in front, he saw that everything was being ground up. Air. Cheney was in that car and was thrown outamoug the fragments of the wreck. His arm was'cut off near the shoulder, only holding by a piece of flesh. With it all he did not lose consciousness, though the wonder was that he was not killed outright. The wounded man was carried to the nearest house on the only thing he had, a buffalo robe. A train was dispatched to Han¬ over, N. II., for Dr. Thayer. Mr. Foster remained with Air. Cheney un til the doctor arrived, and did what he could for his comfort. Air.Cheney did not realize that his arm was cut off, aud asked Air. Foster to take the glove from the hand of the severed arm, adding, “the glove pinches me.” This must have occurred in the year 1854 or 1855. It was after that time that Air. Cheney achieved such suc¬ cess in business and acquired his great wealth.—Now York Tribune. An Indian Bow with a History. Dr. J. R. Cardwell has turned ovei to Air. H. N, Barnhart an Indian bow and arrow, which has long been in his cabinet of curiosities. The relic is highly prized by Air. Barnhart, as the bow was taken from a Rogue River Indian who was in the act of shooting his grandfather, the Rev. Hamilton Campbell, with it when killed; Air. Campbell was one of the earliest mis¬ sionaries to this state, and at the time of the “accident” was on guard in the camp of the party he was traveling with. He saw the Indian stealthily approach the camp, and, having espied the sentinel, drew his bow to shoot him, when Air. Campbell, who was something of a shooter himself, dis discharged his rifle nnd brought the Indian down. This was some fifty years ago, and the bow, which is of yew, has so relaxed with old age that it has bent the wrong way, the inside now being the outside. It is still hard and strong, but the wood has lost its elasticity and would probably break if bent much.—Portland Oregonian. The Authorities. “And so you love this young girl,” said the fin de siecle mother. “Yes,” replied her son. “You know how beautiful and good she is.” “Of course. But her family. Have you consulted the books about them ? ” “What books ? ” “Why, Bradstreet’s and the blue book.” Suburban doctors in New York and other cities are using the bicycle in preference to the horse and carriage in visiting patients that are approach¬ able by good roads. Reform in Beds ami Bt-a< --~~ ** n “' TV. i • r'hillhj We s ball"be ° U “ llt Dotlo V gle it is iron banished brass forever Th^ 6 T *'hfa> sin. that or bedstead 3 cun be kept easily v.;, 1311 *' -, ° 1 ^ ought bed, for to it be belongs banished withV°^ T"„ U fMlei ° u ^® to the ,'^5 an dthe backwoods. The prop. be frequently * s a lightweight blanket thai* JT ' washed and h Q i Csa and 1 Pt8of wbltR _ Tuckjrjr/ th e 1 i ‘ tightly is another custom by dwellers in artic wilds. The 0,11 tice of making up a bed and makih plats • sturd.l’ airt *°kt obtains ai^ stupid peojale and is as nnheakliV® it ja unclean.— Philadelphia Ti M 1Illei j _ _ All Broke at Once. “So you took your family t 0 ft shore?” said the facetio us 5% i “I did,” the fcian. * “Where was melanehoi y reply there is such grandeur i, the breaking of the waves—” “Yes.” “And the breaking of th 3 eiipg,, ments—” "Wes, and of the $20 bill ’ ”__k- , ington Star. Nearly as Bad. ^ “Brother Wilgus,” said the deaeoJ Caps five years ago.” * 1 “It was not quite that had” ( | the minister, with a slight smile; “jl wa ® onl y a threatened donation partv.’l -^ana pohs Journal, ‘ Keep T«nr Weather Eye flj„» I spurious imitations a sLimng mark. Occasional HostettsrJ spring up of Stomach Bitters, the great American Ju^atiom f^Sn^ro^uaUy ofhigh wines. Lr ok out 1 ^^ for the fJcaf b'iitjS firnnigimtaj and the Dragon. -1 flienJS VlSit US hl pi ' 0S!,erit 5' 0 'k'vtiei iuvited When Nature Needs assistance it may be best to renter i promptly, but one should remembertcuseeveJ the most perfect remedies only when need The best and most simple and gentle remedii the Syrup of Figs manufactured by the CaH fornia Fig Syrup Co. A fool who has a flash of wit creates astt ishment and scandal. Dr. Ki’mer’s S w a M p - R o o t enre* ali Kidney and Bladder troubles. Pamphlet and Binghamton,N. Consultation fr -e. Laboratory Y. Reason cannot show itself thingsunreasonallj more reasonattii than to cease reasoningon Pain is Not Conducive of Pleasure. —--— ...... : ----- It Will Pay To make some provision for your physics health at this season, because a cold « cough, an attack of pneumonia or typhoid fever now may make you an invalid all win ter. First of all be sure that yonr blood i| pure, for health depends upon pure blool A few bottles of Hood’s Sarsaparilla will yoj tj a paying investment now. It will give ture, rich blood and invigorate your sysU-a 3 Sarsaparill Is the One True Blood Purifbr. Hood’s Piiis STlfeSt l The Greatest Hedical Discover?! of the Age. KENNEDY’S Medical Discovers DONALD KENNEDY, OF ROXBURY, «ASS.,j Has discovered In one of our coma®* pasture weeds a remedy that, wes kind of Humor, from down to a common pimple. . He has tried it In over eleven cases, and never failed except in W J (both thunder humor). He has bo his possession over two hundred cates of Its value, all within twenty of Boston. Send postal card for Dow A benefit is always experienced fro J first bottle, and a perfect cure is wa when the right quantity is taken. d When the lungs are affected it ™T| shooting pains, like needles J- jj* through them; the same wit Bowels. This is caused by «e or di«PP»^ being stopped, and always week after taking it. Bead the If the stomach Is foul or bilious squeamish feelings at ” rs cause nee****, j No change of diet ever the best yon can get, and e » ^ Dose, one tablespoonful in wa SmA Sold by all Druggists. ____ Clecvie, «. 101 -store gw*h Promote, B a ft* Eeat B £3Sr w dnsffla^n •K i