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THE LINCOLNTON NEWS.
J. D. COLLEY & CO.,
YOL. I.
MACHINERY DEPOT.
W. J. POLLARD,
MANUFACTURER and MANUFACTURERS’ AGENT.
MANUFACTURER of
W. J. Pollard’s Champion Cotton Gin
Feeders & Condensers,*^ Smith’s Hand Power Cotton &!Hay Press.
General agent for Grain Threshers and Separators and Agricultural Imple¬
ments, Fairbanks & Co.’s Standard Scales, etc. Talbot <fc Sons’ Agricultural,
Portable and Stationary and Steam Engines and Boilers, Saw Mills, Grist
Mills, etc. C. & G. Cooper & Co.’s Traction Engines, Portable and Agricul¬
tural Engines, Watertown Agricultural, & Waters’ Portable Wood Working aud Stationary Steam En¬
gines, Saw Mills, etc. GoodaU Machinery. W. L.
Bradley's Standard Fertilizers. The Dean Steam Pump. Kreible’s Vibrating
Cylinder Steam Engines. Otto’s Silent Gas Engines. Acme Pulverizing Har¬
row, Clod Crusher and Leveler.
MACHINERY OF ALL KINDS.
Belting, Packing, Brass Fittings, Iron Fittings, Iron Pipe, Rubber Hose and
everything that can be used on or about machinery. Cotton Mill Supplies a
specialty. Tools of all kinds, Hancock Inspirators, etc. Fina'ly, I desire to
make the machine business a complete sucoess, and will guarantee to furnish
everything wanted in that line on as reasonable terms and at as short notice
as any house in (he country. My stock is the largest and most varied of any
house South. My connection superior with advantages some of the largest manufactories in the
United States gives me for furnishing the best and most
reliable work found anywhere. Be certain to call on
W. J\ POLLARD,
731, 734 & 736 Reynolds Street,
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA.
IN
FURNITURE.
It we don’t Bent New York Prices we will
Give You a NICE SET.
The Largest and Finest Stock ever offered
in Angnsta. Five carloads just received.
Ad the Latest Styles and Prices Cheaper
than Ever. WE DEFY COMPETITION
Onr New Catalogue will be Ready in Ton
Days. Write for one.
J. L. BOWLES & CO.,
717 ARC 839 BROAD STREET,
AUGUSTA, CA.
JAMES HINES 3
SUCCESSOR TO
P. H. NOROTN,
"Washington - - Ga •1
—DEALSC IN—
Groceries* and Plai'tatm Supplies.
Bagging and Ties, Meat and
Lard, Flour of the Best Grade,
ron, Plows, &c., Salt, Leather,
&c., Provisions of all Sorts.
The Reputation of the House shall be
Maintained. “ The Best Goods at the Lowest
Living Rates.”
At Mrs. N.Bruffl Clark’s
Ladies will find New and Stylish Neck
weab. Look at the Febne Laces. They
must be seen to be appreciated.
The Latest Styles in Hais and Bonnets re¬
ceived weekly during the season.
Our Mourning Bonnets and Crepe Veils
are keep unsurpassed best iu quality and price. We
New Ribbons—oiery English Crepes, new Lisse Kuching,
ity. width, color and qual
Black Silk Gloves, Mourning wear; Chil¬
dren’s Hosiery in excellent quality—some
Now Styles; Corsets, Hoop Skirts, 1’our
mureB, Bridal Veiling and Gloves; all kinds
of Veiling, Brussel's Nets; Nets of all
kinds.
Great variety of Laces— Black, White and
Cream. Embroidery Silk, best Knitting
Silk, New Jewelry, Sewing Silk, Buttons in latest styles,
Lusterless Jet Bracelets, Ear¬
rings, Pins, &c., Coin Silver Jewelry and
other styles entirely new; Material for Fancy
Work, New Hair Laee Goods—pretty Pillow Shams, Splashers, <ic.
and becoming
styles. Caps.
“ Polo” “ Fez” Caps, “ Tam O’Shan
ter” Caps—in the new colors for Children.
Hand-Knitted Goods for Infants, Infants’
Caps in Lace, Velvet and Satin. Onr Slock
- ef Fan ay Goods is too varied to itemize.
We ure prepared to furnish anything in
the MrimrNEBY Line, and to fill orders
promptly. tended Orders from the country at¬
to as soon as received. We never
Disappoint. Our friends in ndjacent coun¬
ties will find it to their interest to send to us.
We will make any purchases for them in the
city free of commission.
We guarantee Prices and Quality.
819 Bboad Stbeev is the place to obtain
Stylish Give Artioles oall. for a Lady’s Toilet.
us a
THE AUGUSTA, ELBERTON AXD CHICAGO RAILROAD.
SAMUEL H. MYERS.
SUCCESSOR T
MYERS & MARCUS,
838 & 840 Broad Street,
AUGUSTA, GA.
WHOLESALE JOBBER OF DRY GOODS, NO.
TiONS, SHOES, HATS AND CLOTHING.
J. M. ANDERSON,
COTTON FACTOR
—AND—
Commission Merchant,
—AT THE—
O -d Stand of R. A. Fleming,
903 Reynolds Street, Angnsta, Ga‘
Personal attention given to all business
T. Love Fuller, so well known in Lincoln’
and who for many years has been with
Young & Hack, is in charge, and will be glad
lo see his many friends. .._
_.
Murphey, Harmon & Co.,
NCOLNTON, GA.,
TOMBSTONES, MONUMENTS
PUT UP TO LAST.
Work Guaranteed,
Refer to their work throughout Lincoln
county.
Prices Very Low
P. HANSBERGER,
—MANUFACTURER OF—
CIGARS,
—AND DEALER IN—
Tobacco, Pipes and
Smokers’
Cigarettes to the trade a specialty.
factory on Ellis street. Fireworks by
sale.
70(1 Broad stroet, AUGUSTA,
W. N. MERCIER,
COTTOX FACTOR AND
General Common
No. 3 Warren Block,
Augusta, Ga.
Will give personal and undivided atten
lion to the Weighing and Selling of Cotton
Liberal Cash Advances made on Consign
meats.
LINCOLNTON, GA., FKIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1883.
FMeti.
All flower* are sweet; but those my heart doth
’ore
The best
Bloom where the eyes are closed and hand*
are crossed
At rest. T
All flowers are sweet; but these lair blossom*
spread
With dew
Call back the mother eyes, so sad, so sweet,
So bine!
To-day I feel a breath, the curtains swm
Apart,
And memories, like silver mist, float ’round
My heart,
I hear the echo of a song, sung long
Ago,
As mid the nestling leaves it wanders to
And fro;
The while the perfumed dew falls on my heart
Like rain,
And scent of violets—she loved them so.
Gives pain.
—Clarence T. Urmy.
WON AT LAST.
Barbara Stuart, teacher in the little
red school-house at Gold Dust Corner,
had dismissed the two score of child¬
ren who made up her charge, and was
resting her head upon one slender
palm rather wearily, as she lingered in
the lonely school-room, and thought
longingly of familiar spots in her far
away New England home.
She was pretty and lady-like, with
silken, nut-brown hair, wide, cool
brown eyes, a fair skin with a dainty
flush in either cheek, and white, slen¬
der hands. Her dress of plain black
cashmere fitted her graceful figure ex¬
quisitely, and the linen collar and cuffs
at throat and wrist were spotless.
A beat of hasty hoofs came down
the yellow road. They ceased at the
door; and presently there strode into
the school-room a tall, dashing-looking
man who was known in the vicinity
as “Colonel Joe.” A broad-rimmed
slouched hat of white felt was worn
rather carelessly on the back of his
handsome head, about which the black
hair was closely trimmed.
Two deep-set hazel eyes looked bold¬
ly at the world in general; and a fine
Roman nose stood guard over a pair of
very fierce brown mustaches, which
were nearly long enough to tie under
the square chin cleft so deeply in the
centre. A red shirt and a pair of
black pantaloons tucked into high cav¬
alry boots, and a belt containing a
brace of handsomely mounted revol¬
vers, completed his outfit.
Colonel Joe was called a hard char¬
acter even in that rough mining settle¬
ment; and the young school-teacher
arose from her chair.in some trepida¬
tion as he made his abrupt entrance,
noticing as she did so that he carried
in his arms a peculiar-looking bundle.
He saw her alarm, and paused mid¬
way of the door and desk, a winning
smile lighting up his dark face as he
said in singularly musical tone:—
“Don’t you go to bein’ afraid of me,
little woman. I wouldn’t harm you
for love or money. I’ve come to you
because I’m in a fix that nobody but a
woman can help me out of. Jest you
look here.”
He took another stride or two for¬
ward, and half-kneeling before her, un¬
rolled a coarse blanket from the bun¬
dle in his arms.
Barbara gave a little cry, for there
lay a t'ny three-months-old baby-girl
contentedly sucking its thumb, whose
round dark eyes smiled up at her.
“Oh, the darling baby!” she said,
reaching out her arms with the natu¬
ral mother-instinct that is in every
true woman’s heart
And the little one kicked vigorously
at her wrappings, and reached her fat
hands up to Barbara with a cooing
laugh, and Colonel Joe gave her into
the teacher’s hold with a curious, half¬
shameful, half-delighted expression on
his countenance.
“Now, Miss Stuart,” he said, stand¬
ing upright once more; “that baby’s
father was my partner and chum.
He died just two days before the little
’un was born. I’ve sorter looked after
the mother, and now she’s dead—died
this mornin’. She was always weakly.
There isn’t a woman left in our camp.
I’ve tried to feed the little thing to-day,
but had to throw up my hand at last.
Then I thought over all the women
down here in the settlement, and
couldn’t seem to fix on any one that
I’d like to leave the little critter with
until Sammy Dent said; ‘There’s the
little school-ma’am.’ So I started
right away; was going to your board¬
ing-place, hut saw your door, here,
wide open, and knew you hadn’t gone.
Now what I want to say is this;
Won’t you take the baby and give up
the school? I’ll pay you well—I’ve
got plenty of money. See, Miss Stuart
—the poor little thing! how she takes
to you.”
For the baby was smiling and cooing
contentedly in Barbara’s arms, while
Barbara was turning this new project
over in her mind.
Colonel Joe waited in silence for a
moment, looking at the fair little
school-ma’am cradling the baby on her
breast A flush crept up his bronzed
cheeks, and a new light carne into his
eyes as he spoke again, a little huskily;
“I vow, little woman, I wish you
would take me with the baby, and
bring us both up together." Then as
Barbara shrunk back with a hasty
gesture of dissent, the colonel sighed
softly and added: “No—no! Of
course you wouldn’t I only wished it,
you know. I know I’m a rough
ticket, but Lord o’ love! if I had a
darlin’ little wife to train me there’s
no knowin’ what I might be! But
you’ll take the baby?”
She must have time to consider.
She would take it for the present, and
leave it with Mrs. Bragg, her landlady,
during school hours; and at the close
of the term she would let him know
what her decision was.
So the little school-ma’am walked
home that night, with Colonel Joe
riding at her side on his big black
horse, bearing the baby on one arm.
As a natural consequence after that
Barbara saw more of this man who
was known as such a desperate char¬
acter. He called to inquire for the
child, and to keep her supplied with
necessary funds; and it was at once a
funny and pathetic sight to see the tall,
powerful, hard-looking man, a terror to
most people in the vicinity, kneeling
beside the wee baby girl and lifting
the satiny bits of hands reverently in
his brawny palm.
Barbara marveled at his gentleness.
An oath never passed his lips in her
presence, and he had apparently for¬
gotten his queer proposal in the school¬
room.
Just before the close of the term,
Barbara received bad news from home.
The little farm in Massachusetts,
where lived her aged father and
mother, was to be sold at auction on
account of their failures to pay up the
mortgage. Her mother was sick, and
they were very poor. What little she
could save, Barbara had sent home to
them, but that was not much.
When Colonel Joe came that evening
to see the baby, his keen eyes read the
trouble in Barbara’s face.
“What’s the matter, little woman?’’
he queried, gently, as he gave the baby
the tip of his little finger to suck.
Barbara, with a sudden passionate
longing for sympathy, told him of her
parents and the loss of the old home;
and at the end, unable to control her¬
self longer, burst into tears.
This startled the bold colonel. A
woman’s tears lie knew nothing about.
Hardly realizing the significance of
the action, he caught her slender figure
close to his breast, and pulling out a
clean cambric hankerchief, which was
one of his luxuries, he wiped the tears
from her cheeks, soothing her as he
might have soothed a child.
“Don’t you now! I can’t bear to
see you—makes me want to shoot my.
self! Why, little darlin’ girl, the old
place shan’t go—at least I’ll buy it my¬
self, and the old folks shall stay right
there! Don’t you fret now! I know a
chap in Worcester county, and I’ll
send him a telegram to-morrer, to at¬
tend that auction and buy the place!”
Barbara was regaining her self con¬
trol now, and made a movement to
free herself; but he held her—not
rudely, but gently and prayerfully, his
dark eyes wistful through the sudden
mist which had gathered in them.
“Don’t leave me,” he begged; “I’ve
been tryin’ mighty hard to be a
straight man, for a whole month; be¬
cause I thought the time would come,
when I might stand my chance with
other men of winnin’ you. I didn't
mean to speak now, and I don’t mean
to be rude, but I tell you, little woman,
my heart aches with love for you, and
its’ heaven for me to hold this darlin*
little face so close to me.”
With which rather paradoxical state¬
ment he bent his handsome head a
little closer, a faint smile creeping
over his face.
A sudden conviction swept the last
lingering doubt from Barbara’s heart
You may think her foolish and weak,
perhaps. Be that as it may, she made
no further effort to free herself from
the man’s embrace, and the big brown
mustache settled upon her lips.
And so it happened that Colonel Joe
and the little school-ma’am, now Mrs.
Joseph Parker, went to Massachusetts
a short time after, taking with them
the baby of Joe’s dead partner.
The colonel is a steady man now;
owns a large farm in Massachusetts;
is the proud father of two handsome
boys, and a kind and loyal husband to
the little ex-school-ma’am .—Annabel
Dwight.
In the affairs of life activity is to be
preferred to dignity, and practical en¬
ergy and despatch to premeditated
composure and reserve.
To have respect for ourselves guides
our morals, and to have a deference for
others governs our manners.
ARE MEX GROWING OLDERf
Interesting Fact * Brought Out by a
Recent life Table.
From a life table that has just ap¬
peared In England, it seems that since
1872 the longevity of the English peo¬
ple has sensibly increased. Whether
from the operation of the public health
act, or from the general attention to
health which produced the act, or
from an unobserved change in the
ways of the peopleakin to the develop¬
ment of temperance now going on, or
from one of those alterations in the
virulence of disease which have repeat¬
edly occurred in history, the mortality
from epidemic diseases suddenly
declined, till the mean mortality in
England, which between 1838-54 had
been 22.5 per thousand, dropped in
1876-80 to 20.8, and is dropping still,
the mean death rate of 1881-82 being
only 19.3, a total improvement of very
nearly one-seventh. This increased
longevity is not, it is true, quite equal
ly divided between the sexes. Owing
to causes which are still only partiallv
ascertained, but which probably have
some relation to the extra liability of
women during the child-bearing period
of life, females benefit most by im¬
proved sanitary conditions, and the
total progress effected may be broadly
stated thus; Men live two years longer
than they did thirty years ago, and
women three years and four months
longer, a difference, we need not say,
quite large enough to be perceptible in
human life. The very old live longer
—that is, of course, they are stronger,
less liable to that senile feebleness and
degeneracy which struck our ancestors
as their natural condition. They de
cay, of course, and lose powers of all
kinds, but they no longer sink into a
second childhood; but, except when
overworked, die, so to speak, standing, se^
as only heroes used to do. We
men and women nowadays over eighty
with all their faculties intact, able to
converse, to eat well, and to walk, and
with a decided and admitted influence
on the affairs amidst which they live.
This is the more striking, because the
increased longevity of the very aged is
not shared by the old. Both in men
and women, the chance of survival
between forty-five and seventy has not
increased, but has rather, if anything,
declined. People of that age do not
benefit so much by the reduced power
of epidemics; they feel, unless excep¬
tionally strong, the influences, such as
sudden falls of temperature, over
which science has little power, and they
decidedly suffer from the increase of
worry and anxiety which, among men
and women with grown families, so
markedly characterizes modem life
It is, however, in youth and early ma¬
turity that the improvement is most
marked. The man’s chance of life is
increased most decidedly between five
and thirty-five, and the woman’s
between five and fifty-five.
Mounting a Camel.
Mounting a camel is not difficult,
but it has some sweet surprises for the
novice. The camel lies upon the
ground with all his legs shut up under
him like a jack-knife. You seat your¬
self in the broad saddle, .and cross your
legs in front of the pommel. Before
you are ready something like a private
earthquake starts under you. The
camel raises his hind quarters sudden¬
ly, and throtvs you upon his neck, and
before you recover from that he
straightens up his knees and gives
you a jerk over his tail; and while you
are not at all certain what has happen¬
ed, he begins to move off with that
dislocated walk which sets you into a
see-saw motion, weaving backwards
and forwards in the capacious saddle.
Not having a hinged back fit for this
movement you lash the beast with
your koorbash to make him change his
gait He is not loath to do it, and at
once starts into a lively trot, which
sends you up a foot into the air at
every step, bolts you from side to side,
drives your backbone into your brain,
and makes castanets of your teeth
Capital exercise! When you have
enough of it you pull up and humbly
inquire what is the heathen method of
riding a dromedary.
A Sufficient Ground for Complaint.
“We can’t stand this sort of meat
»
sir,” said the spokesman of a delega¬
tion of the crew of the steamship
Louisiana to Captain Gager on a re¬
cent trip.
“"What’s the matter with the meat?”
inquired the captain of the steward.
“Nothing at all, sir. It’s a piece of
the cabin roast that I was obliged to
send down because the stock of meat
for the crew ran short It is fresh,
tender meat Taste it yourself.” Cap¬
tain Gager tasted it and said to the
spokesman of the delegation:
“I can see nothing the matter with
that meat It is as good as I get, and
is very tender.
“Well, sir,” said the spokesman, “we
don’t like it There’s no chaw in it 1
—New York Herald.
CHILD RES'S COLUMN
Hindoo Children’* JDolis.
Once a year, just before the Dasse
rah festival, the little Hindoo girls
destroy their dolls. The girls dress
themselves in the brightest colors, and
march through the busy bazars of the
city, and along roads shaded by over
hanging mango or sissoo trees,till they
come to water—probably a tank built
by some pious Hindoo. A crowd of
men and women follow them. Round
the tank are feathery bamboos, plan¬
tains with their broad hanging leaves,
and mango trees, and on every side are
flights of steps leading down to the
water. No Hindoo girl has such a
family of dolls as many of our readers
have in this country. But her dolls
cost very little, and so the last one is
easily replaced. They are made of
rags, or more generally of mud or
clay, dried in the sun or baked in an
oven ’ ^ widely daubed with paint,
^ En S Ush doU is a marvel to a Hin ‘
do ° & lL The fair ’ blue eyes, pretty
face ’ and the clothes that C0Iue off
and °“*“ her with wonder ' In some
of the misslon schools the scholars get
presents at Christmas, and the
dcdls ’ to l ^ eir £ Tea ’' delight.
I -
A Field Xatarallit.
! Forty years ago, or more, a small,
brightly spotted turtle was described
as living near Philadelphia, and two
miserable specimens were sent to
Professor Agassiz. It was called
! Muhlenberg’s turtle, and since then
i not one has been seen until last
summer. My friend was always on
j the lookout, never failing to pick up or
turn over every small turtle he met
| on the meadows or along the creeks,
and examine whether the marks on its
under shell were those of the lost
‘species. Finally, one of the ditches in
the meadows was drained off to be re
paired, and there, within a short dis
; tance, were picked up six Muhlenberg
turtles! If you go to Cambridge,
Mass., you can see four of them alive
and healthy to-day. They could easily
have gone out of that ditch into other
ditches, and so into the creek; but, if
they ever did, they have succeeded for
twenty years in escaping some pretty
sharp eyes.
This little incident has a moral for
the 'appaLr rarity^ ^ 0 “
j comes from the fact that we don't
' know where to look for it; and the
; other, that it takes a prac.iced eye to
know it when you have found it, and
to take care that it does not get lost
sight of again. Practice your methods
of observation, then, without ceasing,
You cannot make discoveries in any
other way. And the cultivation of
the habit M ill be of inestimable advan¬
tage to you.
.This is the merest hint of how,
without going away from home, by
always keeping his eyes open, a man.
or a boy or a girl can study, to the
great advantage and enjoyment of
himself, or herself, but to the help of
all the rest of us. I should like to tell
°'l , °'I, .... ...
' ^ a len ' 113 natllralist '
va . es e Mays .. f t , birds
c 0 e wary
and srnaU game he loves; how those
sun s an s y ar ers orget that he
is looking quietly down through the
still water, and go on witli their daily
life as he wants to witness it; how he
drifts silently at midnight, hid in his
boat, close to the timid heron, and
sees him strike at his prey; or how,
concealed in the topmost branches of
a lofty tree, he overlooks the water
birds drilling their little ones, and
smiles at the play of a pair of rare
otters, whose noses would not be in
sight an inst ant did they suppose any
one was looking at them. But I can¬
not recount all his vigils and ingenious
experiments, or the entertaining facts
they bring to our knowledge, since
my object now is simply to give you'a
suggestion of how much one man may
do and learn on a single farm in the
most thickly settled part of the United
States.— St. Nicholas.
Curious Indian Retie/’.
The Sanpoel tribe number about 400
Indians and they all belong to a sect
knoM-n as the dreamers. They are
looking for another flood, which they
expect soon to come upon the earth.
In order to be prepared they have se¬
cured all the necessary material for the
building of an ark, in which to sail off,
as Noah did, when the flood comes.
Among the material is 50,000 feet of
lumber. The ark is to be fifty feet
long and about fifty or sixty feet wide.
The dreamers have a small following
among the Indians of the Palouse,
Snake River, Warm Springs, Umatil
las and other tribes. They believe that
the whites will all be drowned when
the flood comes, and that they only
will be saved, and will be enabled to
live off the fat of the land without
having to work at all .—Seattle ( W.
T.) Post.
PUBLISHERS.
NO. 42.
Hi.no ROCS.
The poorest of all relations — Tell
mg a good story badly.
A true aunt does not like her favor¬
ite nephew to be a truant.
A woman is never content to say,
* He pulled my hair.” She particular¬
izes thus: “ He pulled me by the hair
of my head.” This Is necessary in
order to distinguish between the hair
of her head and the head of hair which
she purchased at the store.
A little boy astonished his compan¬
ions the other day by telling them that
he had “ a spanking team at his house.”
An excited crowd of boys had walked
nearly borne with him when one of
them asked, “What d’ye call em?”
“-P a an ^ ma, ’ was the reply---------
^ “ Good morning, Mr. Bank. Pa told
me to bring back your snow-shovel,
which he borrowed last fall, and says
he will be very much obliged if you
wU1 lend him y° ur s P ade rake ^
wheelbarrow. He says he will send
i the spade back in time to borrow your
: lawn mower '”
| it is stated, an exchange says, that
Hon. David Davis has offered to bet
j Wm. M. Evarts that he can beat him
in a foot race. It seems important
! that Mr. Evarts should take the bet
up immediately. The longer a man is
married the greater his inclination to
run becomes,
“My dear,” said Mr. Jones to his
wife, “you are mighty free to call
everybody a fool. Can you tell me
what a fool is like ? ” “ Yes I can, but I
won’t,” she replied angrily, “ Why
not love ? ” “ Because you can look
in the glass and see for yourself.
That’s the way I found out.”
^ irishman stopped at a hotel
where pretty high bills were charged,
i n the morning the landlord made out
the amount of damages and presented
it t0 p at After he had glanced it
over> the latter looked the landlord in
i the face and exclaimed, “ You put me
in mind of a snipe.” “ Why? ” asked
the landlord. “Because ye’re pretty
nigh all bill.”
Some Pet Superstitious.
“I think there are more idle, silly
superstitions in the popular mind on
| the subject of physiology than any sub-
1 ka0W of ” Said “ lo¬
gician.
“Why do you say that? Tell about
some of them.”
; “Take the popular notion in regard
? to hydrophobia. If a healthy dog bite
a child and years afterward go mad,
1 the child will mad, too. You’ll find
go
that sentiment almost ineradicable,
j j Credit to the nineteenth century, isn’t
it? So is the corollary from the prop¬
osition, that when a child is bitten by
a dog the beast must be killed to keep
I the child from going mad. Then
there is that time-worn but ever new
scare that cats suck babies’ breaths.
What a cat would do with a baby’s
breath is a deep and unfathomable
mystery to me. I suppose they get
into cradles where there are children
because of the warmth, and supersti.
; t j ous p e0 pi e are no t | a i 0 ve with cats,
and especiaIly black ones . They twist
i the vampire story around till they get
‘
: j the breath-sucking story.
“Another mediaeval .anatomical ro
i ! mance is tiiat a man has twelve ribs
! and the woman thirteen, because God
took a rib from man and made woman
from it. You will langh at the idea,
but I have heard men vehemently de¬
clare that it was true, and were per¬
fectly astounded M’hen they found out
they M ere mistaken.
-The most common superstition is
the charming away of warts* Sensi¬
ble people M-ill do all sorts of little sil¬
ly hoo-doo tricks to get rid of warts.
They will try to get people to buy
them from them; they will cut as
many notches on a stick as they have
M arts and hide the stick, in the hope
that somebody M-ill find it M ho M-ill
get the M arts M-hieh have been charm¬
ed off. The notion that if a toad
touches a person n-arts Mill come at
the place of contact, is so strong that I
venture to say that there is not one in
tn-enty but is as afraid of touching a
toad as a rattlesnake. Millions of
toads are killed annually on this ac¬
count, when they are really the farmers’
and gardeners’ best friend, as they feed
upon the bugs and worms that destroy
their plants.
“The most of these superstitions are
harmless; but one of these M art myths
is probably the most dangerous super¬
stition extant. They say that if a
horse-hair (it must be a black one) be
tied tightly about a wart it will dis
nppear. It will, usually. Also, usual¬
ly it is replaced by a cancer, whiclr is
hardly a desirable exchange. More
cancerous growths are caused by this
crazy idea than come from any other
cause. I could go on for hours at a
time on these medical superstitions, if
I had time to relate them or you had to
listen to me.”