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Officers Augusta IV. T. A Society.
Dr. DANIEL HOOK, President.
Rev. VV.M. J. HARD, J
“ C. S. DOD. v Vice Presidents
HAWKINS HUFF, Esq. )
WM. HAINES, Jr. Secretary.
L. D. LALLERSTEDT, Treasurer.
T WETfARMEPI',
Good Butter.
The great point in making good but- ;
ter, and that which will keep, is the free
ing it from all buttermilk ; and if every
thing else is well done, if this point is
overlooked, good butter is impossible for
any length of time. The mixture of
milk in any degree with the butter is sure
to produce frowsiness or an unpleasant i
taste to the butter: and the entire free
dom from this constitutes the grand se
cret of making good butter. There are
many who think washing butter with wa
ter incompatible with retaining the rich
flavor, hut if the water is cold and pure
it is scarcely possible anything should he
washed away, the buttermilk which de
stroys the flavor of all butter excepted.
Besides, the best butter in the world, and
that which in all markets commands the
best price, viz., Dutch butter, is inva
riably made in this way; and where the
example has been followed by others, it
has rarely failed of success. If any,
however, doubt the propriety of washing
hnttor, they may use any method they
choose, provided the milk is separated
perfectly. Perfectly free from the sub
stance that causes it to assume the putrid
frowsy taste of had butter, it may be
kept with almost as much ease as tallow;
solidity in packing, clean, sweet vessels,
and a low temperature, will insure its
keeping for any reasonable length of
time. . Let no one expect good butter,
however, so long as coarse impure salt is
used; ora particle of the butter milk is
allowed to remain in it .—Selected.
Salt vs. Warms. —A friend who raises
many vegetables for this market tells us
he. always straws salt over his grounds to
destroy the worms. Cabbages are al
ways liable to be destroyed by them, and
if half a spoonful of cheap salt should 4>c
placed near each cabbage plant, it would
prove a terror to these evil doers.—Bos
ton Cultivator.
The Murder of Frank Combs.
A TOUCHING NARRATIVE.
Gen. Leslie Combs has written a letter
in relation to the death of his son, which
we find published in a labc number of
the Louisville Journal. The General
states that about two years since, he pur
chased a place for bis son, just below the
mouth of Red River, to which young
Combs removed and commenced work.
A few months after, a near neighbor di
ed, and a man named O’Blennis, pur
chased the place of the deceased, and
put some hands on it, but not his family.
jThe day before young Combs visited
Kentucky in Jply last, he bought a
small strip of lahd, lying between him
and O’Blemmis, at public sale. O’Blen
nis desired this land, and each had en
deavored to buy it from the claimant,
who refused to sell it to O’Blennis, be
cause he had first promised it to young
Combs.
Gen. Combs continues:
After my son started back last No
vember, I received a letter from bis agent
Dr. Jacks, addressed to him, advising
him of the bad conduct of O’Blennis du
ring his absence, in destroying bis stock,
and especially of his cruelty towards his ,
riding horse, in forcing him, with the aid
of one of his negroes, over the river
bank backwards into a bog, from which
he could not extricate himself, and when j
found and prised out he died. Shocked
ns I was by such inhumanity to a dumb
brute, I became seriously alarmed for the i
safety of my son, and wrote to him to
be on his guard—to have nothing, per
sonally, to do with O'Blennis, but to seek
a legal redress for any injuries he had
sustained, if, on consultation with his
friends, it was deemed advisable. This
course he adopted, although soon after
his return to his place, he was informed,
by a man in the employ of O’Blennis,
that the latter individual had-offered to
pay him if he would kill my son, and
thlt O’Blennis himself was repeatedly
absent till a late hour in the night with a
double barrel gun, loaded with buckshot.
My son apprised me of these alarming
circumstances, and that some of his
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A WEEKLY PAPER: DEVOTED TO TEMPERANCE, AGRICULTURE, & MISCELLANEOUS READINGS.
Vol. III.]
neighbors advised him to leave his place,
but said that be “ had rather die than he
thus driven off';” in the meantime, how
ever, he was preparing, under my in
structions, to wind up his business as
soon as possible and come off, temporari- :
Iv at any rate, until somethin;: could be
done to render his residence safe, and
but for his murder he would have left
early in January.
Things remained in this situation until
the 30th of December, my son never;
having met O’Blennis but once, on which
occasion he told him of his intention to
seek legal redress for the injuries he had
done him, and expressly disclaimed ali
intention of any personal injury to him.
From this circumstance, and that two
months had nearly elapsed since his re
turn and O’Blennis had not executed his
threats, my son began to think he was
merely boasting, and at any rate, that he
would not venture to attempt any open j
act of violence upon him. On that day 1
my son was visiting a friend in the neigh
borhood, when O Biennis rode up to the I
i front fence, a few steps from the house,
and seeing my son in the portico, dis- j
mounted and came in without being in
vited to do so by the proprietor. Soon
afterwards dinner was announced, and j
my son seeing that O'Blennis had seat- j
ed himself at the table, declined eating;
a brief altercation ensued, when the host j
interfered arid ordered or desired O’Blcn
nis to leave bis house, telling him he
would not allow him thus to insult his
guest. Mv son remained all night and
until one or two o’clock the next day.—
in the mean lime, O’Blennis had sent
one of his slaves late at night to a neigh
boring grocery for a gallon of whiskey,
| with a written order very strangely word*
led, showing that he had some desperate
I deed in contemplation. The next morn
ing, and during the forenoon, O’Blennis
was seen by several persons walking in
the public road, or sitling on a log by its
side, armed with a double barreled gun.
Along this road my son would he compell
ed to travel in returning home. Although
j aware ofthe difficulty between them, they
| did not suppose he was contemplating an
j attack, and, therefore, did not take the
trouble to notify my son of his danger,
so that, about 1 or 2 o’clock, when he
started home, accompanied by a young
gentleman, named Johnson, so far from
intending or expecting an attack he put
his pistol (a small six barrel revolver) in
his saddle-bags, unloaded, and took nei
their powder nor ball with him.
When they arrived at O’Blennis’ plan
tation, they saw him in the field near the
road, and by the time they had come op
posite the house, he was in the yard.—
Without speaking to him, or hearing him
i if he spoke to them, they passed on at a
! slow pace. When they had gone a few
hundred yards, and were in sight of
; Frank Combs’ house, they heard a horse
i approaching them in the rear at a rapid
gait, and looking hack saw O’Blennis
! with a double barrel gun on his shoulder,
riding at full speed. Johnson immedi
ately said to my son :—“ O’Blennis is
coming after you, to shoot you,” and he
I replied: “I expect he is.” O’Blennis
! rode past as fast as he could, but said
j nothing, and when he had got some
twenty or thirty yards, jumped from his
| horse and attempted to hitch him to the
! fence, but failed, and immediately level
j led his gun at my son and approached
| iiim ; lie and Johnson both jumped to
| the ground, and Johnson said : “ Mr. O’-
Blennis don’t shoot him.” My son ex
claimed, raising his right hand, without
attempting to draw any weapon : “ Stop,
O’Blennis, stop !” O’Blennis made no
reply, but still approached, till within a
few paces, my son looking him right in
the face, and wholly unprotected ; both :
barrels were then discharged, so nearly
at tha same time that Johnson thought
but one was fired, although several per
sons at my son’s house distinctly heard j
two reports. The parties were so close I
together that the whole load (the first
one in my opinion) entered his forehead,
without touching his hat, in a circle not
exceeding two inches in diameter, crush
ing the skull and lodging in the brain.—
The second load must have passed over
his head as he tell, as there are marks on
the fence where several shot struck it, j
just behind where he stood.
Johnson, filled with horror at the scene,
mounted his horse and started to look for
help t just as he did so, he heard O’Blen
nis call him, and looking back saw him
standing near or over the body of my
son, and heard them say something about
his being armed. It was more than an
AUGUSTA, GA. APRIL 5, 1545.
hour before Judge Black and Mr. Hop
j kins reached the place, accompanied by
Mr. Johnson. In the meantime a neigh
bor was accidently passing and saw a
man lying on his face by the road si ’e
with his horse grazing near him. lie
supposes it must have been ten or fifteen
; minutes after the deed was done. He
immediately dismounted and ascertain
ing that it was mv son, turned him on
his back; his pulse was still beating, he
i groaned several times and died. Wheth
er he was rendered insensible at the mo
! meat he was shot, or was suffering the j
agonies of death all this time, God
knows.”
O’Blennis was subsequently arrested,
and Gen. Combs concludes his touching
account with this language?
“ My son’s body is deposited tempora
rily in a neighbor’s grave-yard. I shall
bring it home with me and bury him by
the side of bis mother. The. sod on
which his head lav when he died is still
1 saturated and red with his blood. I shall
; dig it up and place it at (he head of his
grare in Kentucky. If he had been a
■ boisterous, forward boy, 1 do not think
my heart would not have been so sorely
' bruised, but bo was as mild and retiring
... V 1
: in bis manners as lie was grave and high
j toned in his feelings and principles.”
The following notice of a talc in Gra
ham's Magazine for April, is so good that
’ we will gratify our readers by its publi-
I cation. We hope the very worthy peo
- pie for whom some remarks were intend
t ed may receive benefit from them.
“ The Masquerade,” a story of Charles
’ (on, by William Landor. is indifferent
enough at the best; but rendered ridicu
lous by the use of language belonging to
• quite another state cf society than any
' in this country. Such expressions as
I i “ high birth,” “ lofty descent,” “ ancienl
• I line,” “high family,” and the like, used
■ , in ail American domestic tale, are enough
■j to move the risible faculties of the gra-
I I vest reader. Yet, incredible as it may
I seem, there are worthy, though somewhat
1 ignorant persons in the land, and particu
larly in Charleston, win are pleased
•; to divert themselves (and others) by talk
ing in this strain, as if it were a possible
5; thing, that such distinctions ever could
1 exist under a Government constituted
1 like our own. It is not sufficient to point
1 out the shallowness and sheer absurdity
■ of such pretensions, once and again, be
cause the pride of human nature will
• prey even upon reason to feed itself.—
; We, on our part, as true republicans,
• are proud of the fact that no aristocrat
■ ic distinctions in society in these United
i Stales; that no “long line” of Euro
i pean descent can entitle an American
’ citizen to claim social stperiority, any
I more than a Chinese lady who should
) emigrate to this continent could lay claim
I to bcllcship on account of her pinched
s 1 foot. The assumption of any such tiling
,! is not only directly hostile to our insti
■ j tutions, but an outrage on common sense,
s (and a gross insult to our fellow-citizens.
■ | Its being sometimes permitted by courte
s | sy, takes not away from its silliness.—
I I The planter may brag of his “old fami
: | ly,” if he chooses, or the pretty lady may
i. hold her head a few inches higher, bc
i:cause her grandfather lived in the same
■ Isubstancial brick house she at present
occupies; and their hearers may civilly
i abstain from laughing in their faces, but
they may be assured their pretensions
aVe not a whit the less profoundly and
supremely ridiculous.
Some distinctions must unquestiona
-1 j lily, and most properly, exist in society.
Intellectual gifts, education, tastes, make
men to differ one from another. Wealth
j will always cause a difference: for
| wealth is power ; and we know not if it
| is even desirable that it should be other*
; wise. But the iron distinctions of rank,
jsuch as subsists in the old world, can
; never be introduced among us. We
;spurn at them. There is no feeling in
the breast of an American stronger than
this stern repulsion of any idea of invin
cible superiority. Is respect ever with
held from the statesman in social life,
because he was once a day-laborer 1 Is
the “birth” of the candidate for the
I Presidency ever enquired into? No;
our sturdy republicans may be dazzled
by wealth ; may be made to do homage,
■ to genius; but tell him of aristocracy
and rank; tell him of something above
him, to which, or above which, he can
not hope to rise—and the quick response
. of indignation and scorn will be (be
tesult. He
“Would shake hands with a King upon his
throne,
And think it kindness to Ilis Majesty.”
And so he should think and feel; and
it is unworthy of any writer to pander to
a mean and false pride; it is treason
against the majesty of a republic—trea
son to the noble spirit of American in
stitutions—treason to the groat princi
ples for which our forefathers shed their j
blood.
It is a pity we cannot carry out these i
principles into practical life more thor- j
oughly; since, by forgetting them, we |
expose ourselves to the ridicule of all in
dividuals possessing a share of common
sense. We are, however, making pro
gress. And the reason why a few seclu
ded residents of the South should still be
disposed to cultivate exotics that cannot
flourish on this soil, may be found in the
very fact of their seclusion. They are
unwilling io admit the utter worthless
ness of a coin which passes for pure gold
in other countries. Let them only make
essay of it to be convinced.— Southern
Chronicle.
From the Presbyterian of the West.
The Heroism of Vice.
A SCENE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
Short extract from a Journal.
Jan., 1845.—T0-night is extremely
dark. It is now midnight: no moon, no
stars, no sky is mirrored back to-night
from the broad iosom of this great “fath
er of rivers.” The F. is a noble
boat—a good specimen of those gallant
steamers whose deep cehoings never die
upon the shores of this majestic stream.
Only a few years ago, and the light, elfin
like stroke ofthe Indian’s oar, the scream
of the panther, or the cry of some night
bird, was all that stirred the stillness that
for ages slept on the shores ofthe Missis
sippi. Here we go. The huge engine,
as if instinct with the genius of a Watt,
or a Fulton, those tutelar deities of all
steamboats, still labors on. The dash of
the water-wheels—the coarse breathings
of the.steamer—the occasional cry ofthe
gray Eagle, the Gull, or the Crain, are
now the only music for the long nights
of the passenger who won’t go to bed,
“lest the boat sink.” One dim light ol
a chandelier still glares filially upon the
“ Amusement ” of a group of gamesters.
O that fearful vice of those great tho
rough-fares of the national travel. The
salutary restraints of our various State
enactments, don’t “run” in the channel
ofthe Mississippi. There sit the profii-
I gate victims of this vice, in extreme ex
citement; they have laid off their coats
—are. notwithstanding, in a perspiration.
One is overcome, and calls for drink
often; bets recklessly; his companions
seem ea"er to hold him to the “amuse
o
Iment,” at which he has already lost all
he lias, except an elegant watch, which
they want. One is evidently an accom
piished black-leg. His face never be
trays the “hand he holds.” His mus
cles are totally imperturble. He is win
ning. These fellows talk much of their
bravery, fearlessness of death—always
ready to fight and die, rather than in any
small matter compromit their unsullied
honor in the game. Their mouths are
full of cursing and blasphemies of the
most dreadful kind.
Nothing is more common than their
expressions of disregard for death, or
Heaven, or the Devil. There they sit.
It is now one o’clock A. M., and they
arc there still cursing God, and becoming
more an more absorbed in their demon
like orgies. I retired to my state-room
at one o’clock, thinking of the game
sters their heroism, and occasionally of
snagged steamboats, I confess. Half
past one—a crash ! then a cry —a scream
“ the boat's sinking /” O! what a
scream was that! The doleful blast ot
the last trumpet could not have been more
terrific. “ The loads sinking /” —in the
Mississippi—the water from thirty to
fifty feet deep—so cold as to preclude the
idea of escape by su-imming. The boat
must go under. I went into the saloon.
May Heaven in mercy grant that I never
see that sight again. One hundred peo
ple are passing through tlmlong saloon,
in all the frantic confusion of a despair
broken suddenly upon them. The pitiful
cry, the doleful scream, the anxious in
terrogatory, the dreadful swoon—one
more moment, and wc must all be strug
gling in the cold death-chil!—one wild
glance at some dear present friend —one
shriek for help—one dreadful thought of
a far-off home—then the struggle, the
strangling in the billow—the going down
—the ■ ■
waßhixgtontan
TOTAL ABSTINENCE
j
We, whose names are hereunto an
nexed, desirous of forming a Society for
; our mutual benefit, and to guard against
1 a pernicious practice, which is injurious
to our health, standing and families, d(»
pledge ourselves as Gentlemen, not to
j drink any Spirituous or Malt Liquors,
j Wine or Cider.
[Xo. 38-
Such were the reminiscences, the as
sociations, the visions of that dreadful
moment.
Then I looked for the gamesters.—
Were tliey still at their amusement, fear
less of death, God, and eternity ? Those
men, who, a moment before, were so
brave, so blaspheming, so stout in their
defiance of are they?
Frantic with despair. One screams for
help—runs to and fro like a mad man—
attempts to break into the ladies cabin for
succor. These men are now more des
perate than even the girls of the cabin:
more silly with alarm than any of our
women. Verily, these duelists aro
"brave" and “ honorable•" men !
Something new in the way of Courtship.
Mr. Editor: —Not long since in cast
ing my eyes over the columns of a fa
vorite print, I came across a thing that
struck my mind with considerable force
as being a good suggestion to us old bach
elors, as you arc aware that one of the
prime causes of our remaining wifeless
is the great difficulty we labor under in
bringing our ideas to a focus suitable for
expression, as well as that peculiar kind
ot impediment of speech, or choking we
often experience, in attempting to give
utterance to our feelings towards those
we so much adore, or in other words, to
“ pop the question.”
The thing to which I allude is as fol
lows : A gentleman sitting in Church, in
an attempt to scrach his head, either ac
cidently or on purpose, inadvertantly or
w ith malace aforethought, reached over
and scratched the head of an old maid
sitting in the pew just in front of him,
and she being rather quick of percep
tion construed the affair into an over
ture for marriage. The gentleman,
however, not having intended it as such
(if indeed he intended it at all) did not
press the suit any further. But the old
maid not to be knocked down with a
hint and not feel its force, became im
patient of her supposed lover’s delay
and instituted against him, not a little
to his surprise, a suit for breach of pro
mise, which, however, was not sustained.
Now, sir, you have the idea in full and
if you don’t improve by it, I will. But
as you are “some punkins” amongst the
girls, if we might call squashes punkins,
and by the way are something of an
older man than myself, I have a proposi
tion to make, being confident of your
abilities to “do the tiling up brown,” be
sides you are known to be a standing
candidate, which better qualifies you for
j the experiment than any thing else.
The proposition is simply this: The
next time wc go to church we will take
seats together, as near the ladies as we
can get without exciting suspicion, and
while nobody is thinking about courting
but you and I, you can just reach your
hand over and give some of their heads a
little bind of a scratch, and say nothing
about it for a few days, and if she sues
you for a breach of promise, just all
you’ll have to do will be to acknowledge
service and confess judgment in terms of
the law —in other words, just “meet her
on the square,” and then you’ll have a
wife of your own, eh?
Now you must lie low and keep dark
about the matter, and if you succeed, I’ll
give some of their heads a little shunk of
a raking myself; and if the experiment
fails no one will be any the wiser, for
your having been virtually kicked. And
as for my part, I’ll renig.
But never think about a failure—l
have not the slightest doubt but that the
experiment will take, for it cant be de
nied (although it will not do to say so)
that a good many of our girls about those
diggins are rapidly tending old-maid
wards. I therefore hope you will sum
mon up fortitude enough to aid the bene
fit of old bachelors.
Yours very respectfully,
Old Diogenes.
Danger in Newly Painted Houses. —•
Dr. P. D. Badger, of Peterborough, N.
H., has published some statements of
facts, which, in his judgment, go to show
that to lodge in a newly painted house is
hazardous to life. He mentions the
death of his wife and the certainly ap
proaching death of his child; also, the
the death of one of his children, two
years old ; and also several other cases
of death—which he says might be great
ly multiplied—all occurring apparently,
in houses immediately after being paint
ed. The disease engendered was upon
the lungs.
M if