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VOLUME I.
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The Grange at Talbotton is flourishing finely.
There are nearly five .hundred local
Granges in Mississippi.
- Col. A. B. Smedley has been elected Master
of the lowa State Grange.
Wisconsin State Grange meets at Fon du
Lac, January 20th, 1874.
The National Grange meets at St. Louis on
the first Wednesday in February next.
The lowa State Grange protests against the
restoration of the duty on tea and coffee.
The Macon Telegraph and Me-wnger says the
best Patrons of Husbandry are the women.
Gen. A. J. Vaughan, of Marshall county,
is Master of the Mississippi State Grange.
Berrien county reports a crop of 1,335
bales of cotton and 09,030 bushels of corn this
year.
Tennessee has two hundred and fifteen
subordinate Grauges, and the Order is increas
ing rapidly.
The highest point in Georgia is Blood’s
Mountain, in Union county, 4,500 feet above
the level of the sea.
The anniversary of the establishment of the
Order of Patrons of Husbandry was generally
celebrated throughout the country.
By invitation of Cartersville Grange, Dr.
Feltin delivered a public address in the Cit v
Hall at Cartersville on Saturday, 27th inst.
The total number of subordinate Granges in
the United States up to December was 8,835,
and the membership of the Order 652,025.
A Concert was given at Pleasant Hill,
Ala., the proceeds of which were devoted to
the fitting up of the Pleasant Hill Grange of
Patrons.
T. L. Allis was elected Master of the re
cently organized Massachusetts State Grange.
There are twenty subordinate Granges in
Massachusetts.
An election for officers of Forsyth (Georgia)
Grange was held on the 25th inst. The coun
cil of Granges of that county organized on the
same day.
J. N. Sewell, of Coweta county, with one
mule, and twenty days labor of another, pro
duced, this year, ten kiles of cotton, weighing
5,123 pounds, 450 bushels of corn, a tine crop
of potatoes, etc.
The practical and able letter of one el our
correspondenfs, Bro. J. S. Lavender, entitled
“Raise Supplies,” published in The Georgia
Grange some time ago, has been reproduced
by a number of our State exchanges.
The Board of Trade of Albany, Georgia
has ordered one hundred pairs of English
sparrows, to be used as an ex|>eriiuent to de
termine has far these birds may be relied upon
as exterminators of the cotton caterpillar.
The Granges of Alabama art' unanimous in
their determination to raise, hereafter, an am
ple supply of provisions for home consumption,
embraced in the resolution " That as early as
practicable we change our system so that the
grains, grasses and live stock—that is, ‘some
thing to eat,’— be our first thought, and cotton
a secondary consideration.”
Order of Patrons of Industry is the name
of a new organization whose objects are similar
to those of the Pations of Huslumlry. J. 11.
Brown, of New York, is Secretary of the
Lodge. October Sikh, two hundred Lodges
had been already organized. The Ny/Ae, of
New York city, has been appointed the official
organ of the order. This order ditl'ers from
the lYtnms of Husbandry in this, that it pro
poses to undertake political action in order to
get rid of the special and class legislation inju
rious to the producing classes of the country.
A correspondent of the Macon Telegraph,
writing from Blakely, says: Our farmers are
still on the lookout for hands for anoth
er year, and everybody is bidding against
everybody, and offering all sorts of induce
ments to Mr. Nig., but he can’t say now “I’ll
work with you,” but “wait ’till arter Christ
mas.” Nig. knows the scarcity of labor, and
hence is pretty independent, and shows it.
A movement is on foot among certain
money-lenders and bankers that “no one con
nected with a Grange shall have credit extend
ed to him in the future.” We hope this thing
will take some definite shape ; a better meas
ure than this to strengthen our organization
and make the farmer independent could not
be imagined.
“The Grange Convention, recently held in
Griffin, resolved to call a public mass meeting
of Patrons of Husbandry in Griffin for Febru
ary 19, ’74. The Co»vention also resolved the
organization of a General Co-operation Grange
of Middle Georgia. The Convention will
meet again on the 2d Wednesday in January.
The meeting was largely attended, very har
monious and full of the true spirit of progress.
Si’Eaking of Col. W. H. Chambers, the
newly elected Master of the State Grange, the
Troy Messenger (Major Sidney Herbert) says :
“He is an experienced and successful planter,
as well as a most courteous gentleman. He is
at present Judge of the Russell county crimi
nal court, and was formerly an honored mem
ber of the editorial corps. In addition to his
extensive planting operation on the Chatta
hoochee river, Col. Chambers is a member of
the firm of Redd, Chambers & Banks, of the
Lowell Warehouse, Columbus.”
The Spirituality of Women.
Lord Byron felt or affected the greatest honor
of women with a good appetite. The Arcadian,
although an aesthetic journal, indulges in these
remarks:
“If anybody wants to believe in the spirit
uality of womanhood let him not visit, between
12 and 2, noon, any of the down-town restaur
ants. His belief will be sadly shaken. AVomen
have a right to eat, no doubt. Nature has given
them stomachs and digestive organs whose de
mands are just as clamorous as the same appa
atus in man. We think none the less of wo
man for going to the table with a good appetite.
We have no admiration for the Blanche
Ainorys, who would have us believe that they
subsist on air, but who take private lunches on
the sly, and trifle in public with a plate of soup
or a bit of pastry, conscious that the demands of
nature were more than satisfied only a couple
of hours ago. Only, there is a point beyond
which a good appetite ceases tube a virtue, and
this point is daily passed by the women who
frequent public resta irants. You will ask us
why we do not attack the men. Bless you ! the
men are not worth attacking. We gave them
up, so far as eating and drinking are concerned,
long ago. For their gormandism we exjiect no
cun' —until the women shall have set them a
better example. We defy Tennyson and Long
fellow to take a lunch at Currier’s, for instance,
and then write an ode in praise of womankind,
deduct their inspiration from the scene from
whence they have just come. The thing can
not be done. It is impossible to adore the wo
man who smacks her lips over a juey chop and
orders a fresh relay of steak after she has had
quite sufficient. Observe the happv medium,
ladies —as Charles 11. Foster would say were
he writing the present article. Don’t eat too
much. Use* your digestive organs as you ought
to use your tongue, anil find out when to stop.
A woman never looks beautiful to anybody
but a restaurant keeper when her face is flushed
with a bottle of Scotch ale and roast beef ad
libitum. Recollect what Cornaro, that model
of temperance, said three hundred years ago,
and keep in mind, especially when you swallow
a repast before a room-full of male observes,
that what we leave after having eaten heartily
does us more good than what we have eaten.
So shall your days be long in the land, and
more pin money be accruing to you.
Surely one of the L>est rules iu conversa
tion, is never to say a thing which any of the
cunpanycan reasonably wish we had rather
kft unsaid.
FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1874.
The National Grange Headquarters,
Washington, D. C.
From a long and interesting description of
the headquarters of the National Grange, at
Washington, written for the Scythe, by its spe
cial correspondent, we compile the following
particulars which will be interesting to the
readers of The Georgia Grange.
the office:
The office of the National Grange of the Pa
trons of Husbandry, in the United States of
America, is at No. 612 Louisiana avenue,
Washington, D. C.
The house is a plain, three story brick build
ing, and the entire locale is humble and unpre
tentious, remarkably so when we consider that
this is the headquarters of one of the most pow
erful, influential, and extensive organizations
ever formed, numbering already a membership
of one million persons, and increasing rapidly.
ITS LOCATION.
The location of the office is eligible being in
proximity with the Postoffice, Capitol, Patent
office, and other governmental departments.
The Secretary’s room is furnished plainly and
practically; pamphlets of the Order, shelves and
mantles burdened with booksand works of ref
erence, and huge piles of newspapers from all
parts of the Union and Canada, meet the eye
everywhere.
MR. 0. 11. KELLEY,
a genial, hardworking man, is the Secretary.
He is earnest and practical a man who seems
to be the embodiment of the spirit of the Order,
economy, enterprise, rectitude. The National
Grat ge Headquarters are visited by thousands,
by curious idlers, and Patrons seeking informa
tion, advice or assistance. Grangers meet with
warm hospitality, and their personal interests at
the Capital are guarded and directed by Secre
tary Kelley and his obliging assistants.
One portion of the room is occupied by a
half-dozen ladies, who are employed to answer
letters, copy, fill out blanks, charters, dispensa
tions, etc. Parties similarly engaged also oc
cupy the third floor.
the basement.
The roomy basement of the building is the
receptacle for all sorts of printed matter. It is
closely packed with boxes and barrels ready
for shipment. Vast quantities of tracts, rules
and by-laws, dispensations, charters, blanks,
etc., are stored around the walls, and men and
women are kept busy assorting and packing
the orders received from hundreds of Granges.
thr regalia rooms.
On the second floor are a number of persons
—mostly ladies, to the number of about twenty
—employed in making the regalias of the Or
der. The cloth used is the pure yellow nan
keen, representing almost exactly the baek
woods-cured buckskin. This is manufactured
into aprons and sashes. The former are stamped
with the impress of a plow and harrow. The
sashes are plain, but trimmed in colors suitable
to the rank. The emblems (in silver and gold
plate,) are made on the next floor. A perfect
description of these would be almost impossi
ble.
The plain, practical, old-fashioned farming
implements, are represented for the several de
grees, the plow, scythe, harrow, rake, spade,
axe, and other tools being the emblems, a rail
fence invariably surrounding all. All of these
are made up in the most simple and severe
style, and are most perfectly illustrative of the
work. Each Grange, of course, has its seal and
press, to attach to checks and documents ; these
seals are also made in the building, and are
frequently very beautiful.
The whole establishment looks like a huge
bee-hive, and its inmates, like the busy bev,
"improve each shining hour.”
IMMENSE AMOUNT OF WORK.
Os course an immense amount of work is
transacted. Only a perfect system could con
trol, harmoniously, the labor of expressing tons
ot printed matter, thousands of emblems and
other paraphanalia, and replying to the hun
dreds of letters received daily from all parts of
the country, and foreign places.
UORRESPONDENCE.
This is the most important of all the depart
ments, and is a severe strain upon the patience,
skill, and fine business capacities of Secretary
Kelley. All sorts of questions are asked by all
ports of people. Y\ heat and chat! pours in
upon the Secretary, who is supposed to know
everything w ithin the range of human knowl-
edge, from the next solar eclipse down to the
mending of a harness strap. Yet all must be
attended to. Wherever and whenever the good
of the Order can be served, it is done. Every
letter comes under the eyes of the Secretary.
The hundreds of letters relating to the business
of thq Order are generally answered on a print
ed blank form, which greatly facilitaees and
economizes the time and labor. Hundreds of
letters come from State and subordinate Granges
on official business, and are, of course, the first
and easiest disposed of. Others are inquiries
for information in aid of organizing subordi
nate liranches, and in all cases are sent to the
mail clerks in the basement, who immediately
post a bundle of selected documents to the
“anxious inquirer,’*
The heaps of newspapers are next scanned,
and intelligence of popular opinions, move
ments, etc., concerning the Order, from all
points are noted.
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
The purchasing interests of a million of
Grangers must be guarded, and require a great
deal of attention. The Executive Committee,
which consists of D, AV. Aiken, of Cokesburg,
South Carolina; E. R. Shankland, of Dubuque,
Iowa: and William Saunders, of.Washington,
im., are performing their onerous duties with
zeal and diligence. Os course a great deal of
the detaails and necessary correspondence of
this department devolves upon Secretary Kel
ley.
Through the exertions of this department,
important reductions in freight rates have been
conceded to members of the Order, and several
transportation companies arc making arrange
ments for permanent reductions in freight
tariffs.
Another important feature of Grange work
is the
PURCHASING SYSTEM,
whereby the extortionate profits of agents and
middlemen are saved to the purchaser- This
one consideration is of immense weight to even
the smallest purchaser, the saving on one pur
chase alone may amount to tenfold the entire
cost of membership for years. A price list is
published, containing the description and value
of the article, whatever it may lie, a sewing
machine, a mower, a reaper, a patent washer or
wringer, any kind of patented tools or machin
ery, pianos, melodeons, organs, books, carpets,
clothes and clothing for either sex, indeed al
most anything that is desirable and neceesary
in every day life. The regular agents price is
given ; also the deduction which —as the case
may be—is from ten to forty per cent, made to
Grangers through the Master of each Grange.
None but superior articles are mentioned, and
the actual worth is always carefully ascertained
before placing it on the list.
There is a carefully devised and strictly en
forced system in these purchasing transactions,
viz: a member of a Grange wishing to buy an
article selects what is desired from the price
list, writes an order on the Master of his local
Grange for the same, and presents it with the
money or a check duly certified. The Master
endorses the order, stamps it with the seal of
the Grange, and sends it to the dealer named
on the list, who promptly packs and ships the
goods as directed. The price list is a secret
document, and the Grangers are obligated not to
disclose any part of its contents. The benefits
ol these transactions are manifold. The pur
chaser is protected against all fraud in the
quality of the goods, is saved a large j>ereentage
of what the purchase would have cost him out
side of the Grange system, and the dealer has
the benefit of a cash transaction, with the cer
tainty of a rapid increase of the same business
with other Granges. These benefits are avail
able to all members of the Order, to whom in
many c.t<es the exorbitant prices extorted by
agents would deprive of many comforts and
advantages in life. All purchases are made 1
through the agency of local Granges.
A FEW MORE FACTS.
From the preceding description it will be I
seen that the complicate! machinery always to
be found at the headquarters of a vast organiza
tion, is run in a most practical, economical and
successful manner at the headquarters of the
National Grange of America, with its ramifi
cations through thousands of sub-ordinate
Granges, and its membership of a million, in
creasing. as shown by the applications, at the
average rate of fifty subordinate Granges per
day. It is also made apparent that in its incep
tion and practical operation the Order posseses
the most natural and logical basis that has ever
been introduced or devised for kindred pur
poses. The ceremonials are simple, expressive,
and in the best sense practically adapted to the
fraternization of multitudes of toilers in the in
dustrial occujiations of the nation and world.
It claims to instruct, protect and enlighten its
members, and the most gratifying success has
thus far accompanied its rapid progress. The
happiness of the individual depends upon gen
eral prosperity, and the prosperity of the na
tion depends upon its productions. Agricul
culture is the greatest ai>d most invaluable
source of all that we live on and live for.
Linked next to it are manufactures and com
merce. The three working in harmony and
proper proportion cannot but accomplish the
best results for mankind. Under the system
inaugurated by the Patrons of Husbandry, a
bond of union is established that must’ grow
greater, better and more profitable as time and
its influences add to its age. Already the grand
promises of the years to come are clearly visi
ble.
Madame Ida .Pfeiffer.
Mme. Ida Pfeiffer, as standing at th? head o
all females travelers, must close this short sur
vey. Brought up at Vianna as the playfellow
of her rough brothers, she soon equalled them
in their bold independence, and always wore
their dress. At the age of fourteen, to her
great grief, her parents put her into a suitable
costume, and intrusted the care of her educa
tion to a young professor, from whom she re
ceived four years solid instruction, and from a
turbulent child was changed into a modest
young lady. Her gratitude was boundless
and when a Greek asked her hand in marriage,
at the age of seventeen, she discovered that she
could love none but her tutor, who was equally
pleased with her. His want of fortune made
her parents refuse their consent; three long
years passed without their meeting, but their
feelings were unchanged. Chance brought
them together for a few moments, and Ida’s
emotion was so great that a fever came on, and
she was not expected to recover ; but a strong
constitution overcame all.
Determined not to stay with her parents, she
declared her intention of accepting the first
offer she received. An estimable man, thirty
years older than herself, came forward ; and in
spite of her romantic disposition, she made ex
cellent mother and housekeeper. Her sons
grew up; and when her duties were ended, at
the age of fifty, she determined to indulge in
her ardent love for traveling. Her debut was
made in Palestine ; and from thence she passed
from one adventure to another, enduring the
most rigorous cold and overpowering heat;
went among the savages of South America;
braved the te npests of Cape Horn ; sat beside
Queen Poinare at a banquet in the South Sea
Islands; hunted tigers, pistol in hand, in the
India jungles; descended into the diamond
mines: ot Borneo; was taken prisoner in Mad
agascar, and explored the country ol those ter
rible cannibals, the Dyaks, who only spared
1 er life in consideration of her age.
Worn down by a terrible fever in Madagas
car, she embarked in an almost dying state for
Mauritus; the desire of once more reaching
Europe sustained her; and she arrived at
Vienna in 1858, only to pass a few painful
mouths with failing strength until death re
leased her. It is difficult to pass a judgment
on such a singular life; those who think that
women are most to be admired when they dis
play their weakness will consider such bold
adventures in the world as a proof cf madness;
while others, believing that women are endow
ed for every vocation and aspiration, and can
feel the noble enthusiam of great men, will not
hesitate to consider Mme. Ida Pfeiffer :s a
wonderful example of courage and self-depend
ence. — Chamber’s Journal.
How I wan Saved.
To every wife whose husband is the slave to
liquor, I say Hope and pray ! Do not give up
to despair, and if your hu-band has any sense
of religion or affection for you, he will, by the .
grace of God reform.
For ten years alcohol was my master, and
for seven years I battled fiercely to overcome
him. Sometimes I would abstain for several
months—once for six, then, trusting in my own
strength would fall.
My angel wife bore her troubles without a
murmur.and though delicate and nervous, never
gave way to despair; was always most kind
and affectionate, and clinging to my neck,would
say, “Poor dear John, how I pity you, but let
us hope and pray, and you will yet conquer.”
We did hope and pray, and God in his mercy
answered our prayers, and a happier home on
earth than ours cannot be found.
We are now old and gray and are looking
forward to that happy home above. No mem
ory of the past is ever allowed to mar our per
fect peace, for we known that the blood of the
Lamb cleanseth from all sin. My wife says,
“I love you all the more, John, for I know
how you struggled, and I feel proud that I was
the instrument in God’s hands of saving you.
I never, even in the darkest moments, regiet
ted marrying you, for I thought if I had not
you would have been lost.”
Oh ! if all wives were like mine, how many
more might be saved, if they would adopt her
course instead of a harsh one.— Montreal W
ness.
“ The Question of a Safe and Profitable
Insurance Company, Ac.”
The question as to the amount which a Life In
surance Company should hold in readiness to pay
its losses is all important. Safety. beyond ques
tion is what eoery policyholder desires. America’s
great Actuary, EUzur Wright, as also most of the
leading insurance editors are urging all com
panies to place themselves on a four per cent,
actuary’s basis, because it is beyond question,
safe.
It may be well enough to explain that the sou
per cent, reserve is an amount of money which,
when compounded at that rate of interest will
certainly yield a sufficient sum, with the reserve
itself, to pay the average losses. Os course more
money has to be reserved than would be called
for on a higher rate of interest. While it will
with equal certainty, in time, yield a larger sur
plus. When this fund is loaned at 10 per cent.,
then 6 per cent, is left to be divided among policy
holders, while at 7 per cent, on a 41 per cent,
reserve only 21 per cent, would be left. As near
as we can fix it, this would be, as compared with
the standard required in New York, as sll or sl2
is to $lO. At a glance it will be seen that this
makes a big difference in reserve of millions
about SIOO,OOO in every million on a like amount
of risk.
Insurance of late has been given unfavorable
prominence by the mismanagement and want of
success of several companies, wliile nobody lost
their insurance, as these companies were obliged
by Insurance Commissioners, etc., in the several
States, to re-insure their risks.
Yet in one way parties who insured in compa
nies of this class have lost: Their premiums
continued unifoimly the same when paid in cash
and when notes were given for a part of them
they grew larger because of the accumulated in
tarest and want of dividends to meet it.
All the surplus which would have accrued to
policies in old, well established, purely mutual
companies was used up to keep them going.
The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Com
pany placed itself, in 1870, on this 4 per cent,
reserve by adding hundreds of thousands of its
large surplus to its reserve fund ; and since, has
taken that ratio from all premiums paid to it.
This fact, together with its money being invested
at 10 per centum on real estate, which has, and
is rapidly increasing in value, and its returning
all its surplus to its policy holders—instead of a
portion to stock holders for the use of money
which gives no strength to one’s policy, in a
great measure, accounts for its rema:kab‘e
grow.h and good stan ling. The sink, actuaries
tell us, goes in as part of the reserve fund, and
is not added to it. Is there any reason for sub
mitting to this continued leech, when one can
ecu e f r the same rates and share all the
profits? Sock holders, in m xed as well as stick
companies, invested th sir money to mal'e it
profitable. Why should not tLe policy-holders
have that profit ? Economy in management is
another important matter to be looked to in
selecting a company. On examination of the
Insurance Index for last year, we find that the
working expenses of this same company (the
Northwestern) was unusually low; and that it)
interest receipts were about $2(X),000 more than
its losses for the year. Indeed, we find it lias
paid in the last fourteen years $2,800,000 to
widows and orphans, and that, too, mostly from
its interest receipts. Its present ass.ts are
$14,000,000.
Di speaking of surplus—we find also that its
surplus last year was upwards of $1,501,030.
Now if it had been m uie up on the New York
standard it would have leen alxtnt $2,50 ),o<o
- difference of about one millim ii the
additional security given by a 4 per cent,
reserve over that of 4* per cent., and it grad
ually increases as the company grows. Life
insurance is certainly a good thing; we urge
it on principle, but it should be carefully
studied and entered upon understandingly. Go
into a good company, a safe company, and the
uvestmsni is a good one. ♦
NUMBER 10
