Newspaper Page Text
VOL. VI.
THE PRESENT WORLD.
This world’s a pretty good sort of world,
Taking it altogether.
-u Itrspite spite of the grief and sorrow we meet,
of the gloomy weather,
There are friends to love and hopes to cheer
And plenty of compensation
For every ache, for these who make
The best of the situation.
—Josephine Tollard.
^
I A DOCTOR’5 STORY, i •
4 BY B. M. NEILL. t
•
When M. D.was tacked to my name,
I bowed at two shrines, my profession
and—my Angelina. Her name was
not Angelina, but my wife being a
modest little lady, desires she
not be dragged before an inquisitive
public. Let, then, Angelina represent
the real woman.
Of course I had a rival; name,
Bichartl Somers; age, twjnty-six;
general appearance,striking and hand¬
some; character, very bad.
Neither my affection for this gentle¬
man nor his affection for me would
have caused a conflagration on
river of which I know. We disliked
eacdi other heartily from the first.
myself, Being a much handsomer man than
he might have been a
ous rival. However, he saved me all
trouble. He committed a forgery
which was discovered sooner than he
expected. He was arrested for the
offense, tried and convicted. I was
oue of the principal witnesses against
him. When the sentence was passed
upon him, he requested a
conversation with me. I shall never
forget the look of hatred upon his
face as he hissed out:
“You have ruined my love and
life. Bemember that, and fear me!”
I attached but little importance
his threat. I thought it simply the
bluster of a self-defeated and disgraced
rival.
.Shortly after, Angelina and I were
married, and for two years I heal’d
nothing of Somers. His sentence had
been a comparatively light one—a year
aud six months. After his discharge
from prison, however, I neither saw
nor hea: d of him.
For so young a man, I had been
very successful as a physician, prin -
cipallv due to my strict attention to
practice. No matter how late, or dark
mi l stormy, might be the eight, I
promptly attended to all summonses
to ihe bedside of suffering.
One night, a little while before the
hour of retiring, the door-bell rang,
and shortly afterward a man entered
the room where we were sit¬
iug. He was not prepossessing. His
hair was short aud thick, aud the
general cast of his feature* villainous.
Without hesitation, I put on my
coat aud hat and prepared to go with
him.
‘ ‘A gentleman, ”he said, “had broken
his leg. ”
I thought it a pity that, if the gen¬
tleman were anything like his mes
b nger, lie hadn’t broken his neck. I
did not tell my wife where I was
going, for it was a distant part of the
town, and in anything but a respect¬
able neighborhood. I did not wish to
make the little woman nervous.
On our way,the unprepossessing man
w is very uncommunicative. He an
swered my inquiries about the iujnred
gentleman in surly monosyllables. He
was apparently in no haste, for he
walked very slowly—more slowly, I
thought, than was consistent with the
welfare of my patient.
At last we arrived at our destina¬
tion. It was a very dark-looking
house, in a very dark street.
My guide led me up two flights of
very dirty and rickety stairs, that
e caked olqjeffions to our weight upon
-ihe.ii. In the third story, we stopped
before a door, which, to my surprise,
my companion opened with a key
which he took from his pocket. Was
he afraid tint a man with a broken
leg would escape? I was still more
surprised when,on entering the room,
I found it empty!
He motioned me to a chair, and, re
marking he would return soon, left the
room.
For the first time I was somewhat
nervous and suspicious. The empty
room—the last action of my guide—
his carelessness,on our way, as to the
health of the supposed injured man—
the lonely house and neighborhood
all combined to make me suspect foul
play.
1 stepped to the door, only to find
it locked from the outside—to the
window,only to find escape impossible
there. It was many feet from the
ground.
My suspicions were now certainties.
I was trapped. None of my friends,
not even my wife knew where I was.
I might be murdered in this den, and
my death remain a mystery.
I suppose I waited about an hour
before I heard the key turn in the
door. Then, -to my dismay, half
dozen men entered.
When nature made the jail-bird who
had led me into this trap, she did not
break the mould. These men were of
the same pattern. All wore the same
hang-dog, murderous look. One of
them raised the light in the room,
uffiieh had been burning low. With
hardly a glance at me, they took seats
upon the floor, and began to iday
cards.
Soon the door opened, and another
man entered. I hardly had a hope as
I looked at him,for I saw the exulting
face of my enemy—Dick Somers!
At a glance he saw that I recognized
him. With a malicious leer, he
stepped forward,and, quoting his own
words of two years before, said:
“You have ruined my love and my
life. Remember that, and fear me!”
I saw in his face, at once showing
his revenge and desperation, that noth¬
ing could turn him aside from hia pur¬
pose,
\ “Somere,” I said, “I know that you
have trapped me here for the
THE RECORD
revenging yourself upon me, but
sir, that I have friends!
Bemember law and justice!”
“I fear nothing,” he auswered. •I
defy man and God! Revenge on you
is dearer to me than life; and though
for me the bottomless pit were yawn¬
ing, I would have it.”
I saw it was useless to appeal to
him, and I sullenly waited tor what
seemed fate.
At his command the ruffians
searched me. One of them, who ap
penved to bs kind of treasurer for the
gang, secured my watch aud pocket
book. Then they tied me with stout
ropes to a chair.
Somers did not address me again,
but sat upon the .flowt- ancl gambled
with the rest. Presently he rose,and,
saying he would return by daybreak,
left the room. He evidently felt I was
in his power aud seemed iu no hurry
to complete his revenge.
When he had gone the card-playing
was kept up for a couple of hours.
Then the men all stretched themselves
upon the floor and slept. The door
opened inward, and across it was the
burly form of the treasurer. In spite
of the apparent hopelessness of the
trial, I set about devising some plan
of escape.
The first thing to do was to free
myself. I have large wrists and small
hands. In tying me they had not
taken this into consideration. With¬
out much difficulty I liberated my
hands; then, of course, it was the
work of but a few minutes to entirely
free myself from my bonds.
Taking the precaution to place the
ropes in such a position, that, should
the gang waken, I would still appear
to be bound. I thought upon my
chances of escape. They certainly
appeared very few and small. The
fact of the men upon the floor being
asleep, seemed little in my favor. I
could not move the ruffian who was
sleeping at the door without waking
him. Escape by the window was im¬
possible. Every plan that suggested
itself had insurmountable objections
to it. I had almost given up schem¬
ing in despair, and concluded to adopt
some hopelessly desperate measure,
when I thought of the contents of a
bottle I had in my pocket.
Iu searching me, the ruffians had
not disturbed it, thinking it of no im¬
portance. It contained chloroform. I
also had a sponge iu my pocket. In a
moment I resolved what to do. Draw
ing the bottle from my pocket, I
soaked the sponge thoroughly with its
contents.
Slowly, painfully (I could hear my
heart beat), with all the caution that
a man uses when his life may depend
upon the slightest noise, I stepped to
the side of the neat est ruffian.
I placed the saturated sponge to his
nose. I saw him quickly yield to the
influence of the vapor. From man to
man I stepped. One by one they were
made senseless, helpless.
The man at the door was the last. I
drew him away, first securing my
watch and poeketbook. I also found
in his possession a blackjack, which I
took the liberty of appropriating.
Then, opening the door, I stepped out
into the hall.
I still moved cautiously,feeling that
all danger was not past. I thought
there might be a watcher there, but,
to my relief, I saw no one. I de¬
scended the first flight of stairs, and
reached the second story in safety.
I had gone about half way down the
second flight. My heart stood still,
for I heard some oue enter below,
then, in the muttered oath, I recog¬
nized Somers’ voice. I crouched down
upon the stair next the wall, hoping
he might pass me. But, us he came
up, his hand brushed my face.
In a moment he had me by the
throat. I knew him to he by far the
more powerful man, and it was not a
time for scruples. Quickly, it being
so dark he could not see the actio’ll, I
raised the blackjack—I had held it
syice I left the room—and brought it
down heavily upon his skull.
His hand left my throat, and he
rolled down staii s. I found him at
the foot, quite still. I made good my
escape, not stopping to see if I had
killed him. I do not know lo this day
whether he is living or dead. I never
saw nor heard of him again.
When I arrived liome,l found a very
frightened little woman, but T did not
tell her till long afterward the history
of that night. I have never since been
in such a fix, and if discretion and a
reasonable supply of tiin dity tan pre¬
vent it,never will will he in the future.
—Saturday Night.
Martimonial Coincidence.
Mr. S. E. McMillan, who has re¬
cently moved to Charlotte from South
Carolina, gives an interesting accouut
of a matrimonial coincidence that oc¬
curred in his family last year.
About the first of last July Mr. Mc¬
Millan received a letter from his
brother in Lake End, La., saying: “I
will be married on the 8th of thi3
month. Meet ns at Nashville, Tenn.,
and join us for a trip to Colorado
City.” .
At the time he received this letter
Mr. McMillan was making
meuts for his own welding, which
was dated for July 8, aud at this
time he says he was living in the
sand hills of South Carolina, the soil
there having become proverbial for its
poverty.
Ou about the 10th of July he re¬
ceived a letter from another toother,
J. D. McMillan of Cataline Island, off
the west coast of California, saying:
“I was married on the 8th of this
month to Miss .” In contrast
with the sand hills of Soulh Carolina,
Cataline Island is one of the most fer¬
tile districts in the world.
All three brothers married on the
8th of July and it was impossible for
them to have any concerted plans
about the date as they had not heard
from each other inmonths.—Charlotte
(N. C.) Democrat.
DEVOTED TO THE INTEREST OF JOHNSON COUNTY" AND MIDDLE GEORGIA.
WRIGTHSVILLE, GA., TUESDAY, JUNE 21,1898,
THE THUMB TRIGGER.
A New Device Doing: Away With the
Swerving of a Gun.
How to avoid the slight swerving of
a rifle at the moment when the trig¬
ger is pulled has long puzzled the gun
maker aud annoyed the marksman.
An expert gunmaker has invented a
rifle that is intended to'solve the prob¬
lem, and, in the opinion of those who
have tried it, it does so. It is mod¬
eled on a principle entirely new to gun
making, the trigger being worked by
the thumb and placed on top of the
rifle, instead of underneath, where all
triggers have been placed since guns
were first made. A one-armed man
can use this new rifle, the action is so
simple complex aud the mechanism so free
from machinery.
The rifle can be taken apart and put
together in a few seconds, so few are
the parts of which it is constructed.
There are no screws except the one
that joins the stock to the barrel. The
simple remaining mechanism fits to¬
gether without screws. The firing sec¬
tion of the gun consists of only live
parts. The mechanism of the gun is
as follows: When the barnmor is
drawn back to cock the gun the noso
of lever is pressed upward. * This
a
lever presses on a spring formed of a
piece of bent steel, the curved end of
which, when the gun is cocked, rests
agaiust the rim of the cartridge, hold¬
ing it firmly until the gun is fired.
The trigger, which is pressed by the
gun in order to release the hammer,
protrudes from the upper surface of
tlie stock aud is simply a ateel plate,
which, when pressed down, does this:
Into a slot tfiat is depressed, the ac¬
tion releasing the hammer and dis¬
charging the gun. Until the gun is
cocked, this depressed “lug” pre¬
vents the possibility of the guu being
tired.
The shell is extracted automatically
by the drawing back of the breech
block. When the block is drawn hack
the steel spring that plays such an im¬
portant part in the simple mechanism
of the gun is thrown by the drawing
hack of the hammer against the rim of
the cartridge, and when the block is
drawn back the spring cocked, this de¬
pressed “lug” prevents the gun ready
for reloading.
It is impossible for the gun to be
fired while the cartridge is being in¬
serted, for, as explained, the “lug”
must enter the depression before the
hammer can be released by the nose of
the lever,and as this can only be done
by depressing the trigger, which cannot
be depressed when the “lug” is not
over the slot, it will be seen that an ac¬
cident through the premature dis¬
charge of the shell is impossible.
Neither is it possible for an accident
to occur through the breech mechanism
being blown back by the explosion of
the cartridge, for as it enters the slot
through the depression of the trigger
it engages the rear of the slot and is
held firmly until the gun is dis¬
charged.
This is all the mechanism of the
gun. It is so simple that auyone not
accustomed to the handling of firearms
might doubt its deadliness.
Elevating: the Flevator.
“Little boy,” she exclaimed, “you
might to be at school instead of trying
to run an elevator. ”
“I’m not trying to run it,” was the
answer. “I’m running it. And if
you wish to ride I will be happy to
accommodate you. So far as any
obligation to be at school is concerned,
allow me to remind you that this is a
legal holiday, and I am exempt from
attendance at an institution where I
am pleased to say I am at the head of
most of my classes. ”
“Yon have no business trying to
r tin that elevator, anyhow. ”
“You couldn’t very well run it for
yourself, could you?”
“I’d rather try it than depend on
you.”
“For what reason?”
“Because yon are too young to know
anything about it. ”
“Madam, allow me to reassure you.
This elevator is operated by hydraulic
pressure, the principle relied on being
that water exerts pressure in propor¬
tion-to the height of a column rather
than in proportion to the diameter.
In making use of this characteristic,
water is admitted’iuto a cylinder, the
pressure being regulated by the use
of valves, and a stable equilibrium
being made possible by an ingenious
system of counterpoises. I could go
further into the minutiae of this par¬
ticular machine, which,of course, has
its variations from other models,” he
added, as she gasped in astonishment,
“but I donbt if you could follow the
technical terms whose use an accurate
description would necessitate. But I
wish to assure you that if, after what
I have’said, you think you know more
about this elevator than I do, you are
its at perfect liberty to step) in and take
management out of my hands.—
Boston Journal.
A Bag Full of Breath.
The “pmeumatophor,” an Austrian
invention for enabling miners, firemen,
etc., to breathe when surrounded by
after damp, smoke or noxious fumes
of any kind, consists of an air-tight
rubber bag containing a steele bottle
of pure oxygen at a pressure of 100
liters, and a metal protected glass bot¬
tle containing a 25 per per cent so¬
lution of caustic soda. The oxygen
can be admitted by a hand screw into
the bag and drawn into the mouth
through a rubber tube, the nose
being closed by a clip. The turn
of another handscrew breaks the glass
bottle, allowing the caustic soda to
flow out anff be absorbed by a knitted
network in the bag to absorb the car¬
bonic acid exhaled, allowing the oxy¬
gen to be rebreathed, the apparatus
being capable of furnishing oxygen
enough to last from thirty to ninety
minutes, as has been attested by nu¬
merous experiments.
FIRM HATERS OF SPAIN.
FOR FIVE CENTURIES THE PORTU¬
GUESE HAVE LOATHED SPANIARDS.
Public Sentiment In Portugal Consists
Chiefly of ltelestution of Tlieir Next
Poor Neighbors — The Iil-t-'celing Is
Kept Alive Principally by the Women.
“Invas astonuded when I saw- that
bulletin about Portugal hesitating to
turn the Spanish fleet away from the
E’ape Verde Islands,’’ said a cosmo¬
politan looker-on in New York to a
Sun man. “What struck me as so
impossible about it was the hint of an
alliance between Spain anu Portugal.
“Why, I have lived in Portugal and
mixed with the people, and I know
that they could stand almost anything
better than that. Portuguese senti¬
ment—the sentiment of the people at
large, of ‘Antonio e Maria’—consists
chiefly of hatred to the Spaniards.
They may be indifferent about other
matters, or divided in feeling. Some
of them are Mignelistas, or Legiti¬
mists, some are heartily attached to
the actual dynasty;- many in the cities
—most of all in Lisbon —are repnbli
cans, but the one unifying sentiment
of the people is the anti-Spanish sen
timent.
“When you come to consider what
their history lias been I don’t see how
they could have been otherwise. They
have altogether five great national
heroes,-Dorn Enrique, who was pio¬
neer of all European exploration in the
Atlantic; Vasco oa Gama, Dorn Sebas¬
tian, “the Faithful Priuee,” who
the centre of various poetical legends;
Bom Joao, and Gil Eannes Pereira.
It is safe to say that most of the plain
people of the whole country know lit¬
tle or nothing of the first two of these
beyond their names. As for the Faith¬
ful Prince, many of them, probably,
are not quite sure whether he'was a
real historical personage or only
upythical. ?. But the every
Vendor, ’ from Minho to St.
cent, knows Do in Joao, who in
drove the Spaniards all the way
Aljubarrota, in Portugal, to Burgos,
iu the middle of Spain, and Gil Eannes,
who beat them at Valverde in
same year, Those two are the
and the Wallace of tho Portuguese,
but there is this difference
the Scottish aud the Portuguese
worship, that the one is a mere
ter of historical pride, while the
is part of a living, active,
force.
“The fact Js that since she
Brazil and fell safe) a state of
decline the people of Portugal
become intensely retrospective.
nourish their pride on uational
ries, and the fundamental, national
for them is their independence
Spain. They began to be a
when they broke loose from the
dom of Castile and Leou in
eleventh century,and ever since then,
except for a couple of generations
the sixteenth and seventeenth
ies, they have existed as a
under the continual threat of
tion into Spain. The house of
Braganza stands to the Portuguese
people for no good thing but the
volt of 1610, by which their
was redeemed into independence.
the people feel that the price of inde¬
pendence is perpetual hatred of Span¬
iards. We can understand the feeling
only by imagining what it would
been in our country if the original
thirteen states had been collectively
much smaller than Great Britain and
separated geographically from that
country only by a line on the inap.
“Nobody who hits lived iu Portugal
can fail to have noticed the signs
this undying hatred on all hands.
you know, for instance,the true
ing of the saying. ‘A bad Spaniard
makes a good Portuguese?’ Of course,
there is the Spanish interpretation,
which is the obvious one. But
is also the deeper Portuguese inter¬
pretation, and that is, that any bad
friend to Spain is by that’‘Wry fact a
good friend to Portugal.
“You can see evidences of the feel¬
ing, too, in the very language of Por¬
tugal, which its speakers seem to have
purposely developed in such a way as
to make it as unlike Spanish as pos¬
sible. Written, it looks like Spanish,
but spoken it sounds much more
Polish or Czech. It is a curious
that no self-respecting Portuguese
woman wouid be seen wearing a man¬
tilla, for the mantilla is the Spanish
woman’s headgear. Aud during the
last reign it used to be remarked in
Lisbon that only two ladies there ever
smoked, the queen, Maria Pia, mother
of the present king—an Italian—and
the Duchess of Palmella i—this, again?
because the habit of smoking had long
been distinctive of the Spanish among
all other womankind.
“I believe this anti-Spanish feeling
lias been kept alive all these centuries
very largely through the perseverance
of the Portuguese women. Perhaps
they remember that it was a woman
who cast the die for the anti-Spanish
revolt in 1640 by pronouncing tliemem
orable sentence, ‘As for me, 1 would
rather have death as Queen of Por¬
tugal than a long life as Duchess
of Braganza’—although, it is true, that
woman was a Spaniard.
“Once I asked a Portuguese girl if
she really hated all Spaniards. She
said of course she did. I reminded
her that the Christian religion com¬
manded us to love all men. ‘Yes,’
she said, ‘but that was a long time
before there were any Span¬
» »»
MU Gentle Brief.
Ella—I see that Bella got married
I wonder why she had
a quiet wedding.
Stella—It was on account of a receht.
in the family of the man she
married.
Ella—Who died?
Stella—His first wife.—Town Top
ics.
IN DARKEST INDIA
Miss Newcomb Pictures tile Suffering of
the Natives.
The following dreadful picture of
India was given by Miss Helen New¬
comb at the Women’s Baptist Foreigu
Missionary convention in Syracuse the
other day:
When I went through Bombay over
half the population had locked then
doors aud fled,and the desolation alone
of the streets was terrible. The plague
which raged in India is supposed to
be that which attacked the Philistines
of old, and shows many symptoms of
that dread disease. The natives have
a dread of the foreign hospitals, and
believe that they are carried to them
in order that their livers may be ex¬
tracted, to be used in some foreign
medicine.
I was told not h;ng ago by a woman
that she was sure the terrible pictures
which had appeared of the Indian
famine were not true to life. Suffer¬
ing by famine cannot be exaggerated.
The horrible picture of skeletons of
children lying along the roadside, de¬
serted by parents who crawled on per- 1
haps only a few yards before they, too,
were overtaken by death—this even
the camera cannot do justice,
You wonder why India, with its fer*
tile soil and under British rule, should
come to this condition. In the first
place the people work one day and
rest three. They do not. prepare for
the future. Iu the second place, we
must remember that the crops are en¬
tirely dependent upon the rainfall.
Should the rain fall once it places
them in bad condition. Should it fall
a third time famine is inevitable. The
government relief work reaches some*
but. eaunot reach all. The native met- 1
chants, too, are a set of rascals. If
a scarcity of food is hinted at they
go out to the fields and buy at mod¬
erate prices from the unsuspecting
farmers what they later refuse to seli
except for fabulous prices. The mis¬
sionaries themselves often buy what
they can at such, times to sell at low
prices or give away later, ns the cash
may demand.
After six years spent in India, iu
which time I have made a study par¬
ticularly of the women, I eaunot bring
to you the brightness I would desire.
The idol worship and the lmndredif
of dancing girls plunged into degra¬
dation from which there is no escape
form a sorrowful picture, If the
young women of this country are
thankful for nothing else, they may
be thankful that they are born in a
Christian land, where they can enjoy
a happy girlhood. The girls there are
generally married at ten, almost never
later than twelve years of age. One
of the most pitiable sights is the child
widow, who is supposed to have com¬
mitted some great sin in a previous
state of existence, which she must
suffer for hereafter. The more siie
suffers here the less there is to come,
so that the hard labor, insults aud
degradation she endures are almost
unlimited. There is no possible es¬
cape for her to anything happier or
better. The pariahs are another set
of unfortunate women, who label’ from
early morning until late at night to
provide for the family aud buy their
husbands opium.—New York Tribune.
The Wild Cattle of Chnr.ley.
Some account is given in Nature
Notes (English) of this famous herd
of cattle, which belongs to the Earl of
Ferrers. The theory that the breed is
indigenous appears tube supported by
their habits at the present day. When
alarmed they start off at a full gallop
for a short distance, then turn ami
face their foe in a semicircle, with the
bulls in front, the cows behind,, and
the younger animals and calves still
further iu the rear. If further ap¬
proached, these tactics, which are
clearly those of wild animals, are re¬
peated, or the adversary is charged
aud attacked. Again, they conceal
their young in fern or long rushes,
and the cows, when calves are born,
become exceedingly fierce and dan¬
gerous.
The food of the Chartley herd con¬
sists of the very coarsest grasses, and
in winter of the coarsest hay, rushes,
and dried bracken, provided for them
in open sheds, which afford a slight
shelter from the cold winds which
blow across the open park. The home
of these cattle is situated on high
ground which was enclosed about the
year 1200, and forms a portion of
Chartley park, some five miles from
Uttoxeter, the nearest town. The ex¬
tent of this wild tract of tnbie-Iand is
about 1000 acres, covered with coarse
grass, rushes, stunted bilberries, and
heather, and patches of luxuriant
bracken fern, with a few cl urn pis of
old weather-beaten Scotch firs and
birch. Among the other denizens of
this wild primeval tract are herds of
and fallow deer.
Hindoo Pursuit of a Treasure.
The following incident occurred re¬
in ouo of the largest hotels in
Calcutta. It appears that an officer
the Gordon Highlanders arrived
town on his way home. He had a
sum of money with him—about
rupees—and the usual jewelry of
English gentleman. These were
locked in one of his trunks. Re¬
from the dining saloon to his
one evening, he was just iu time
see some suspicious-looking natives
down the corridor. On enter¬
his room he found, on examina¬
that all his trunks had been
open and the contents thrown
but strange to say, not a piece
his money was missing nor any
of jewelry. He believed that the
were Afridis, and the object
their cupidity a copy of the Koran
to the Mad Mullah, which
somehow learned was in his pos¬
The book was rolled up in
old singlet and thus escaped the
who appear to have tracked
officer from the front.’—London
iQKxeie!
2 1 GOOD ROADS NOTES.
i
A Typical Case.
What is to be done under conditions
that obtain in many parts of the coun¬
try? is the question raised by a mem¬
ber of the League of American Wheel¬
men. He says:
“We have iu this toittoship assessed
roughly at $350,000 some sixty miles
of road. We eaunot spend $10,000,
$1000 or even $500 per mile on these
roads. There is not enough money
iu the township, all told, to do it, and
the law limits tho r bonded indebted¬
,
ness. To select a few miles of the
priucipal highway is not just to the
poor fellow who helps pay for it and
must drive five or ten miles to reach it.
“Much better work might be done
than we are doing, but it remains
that many miles must be attended to
with few dollars. What most is need¬
ed is careful consideration of existing
conditions—how best to spend $1200
or $1500 on sixty miles of road, re¬
serving $200 or $300 of that for the
winter’s snows. Teach us serviceable
lessons for communities of this sort,
aud do not expect asphalt, macadam
or steel until the fellows from town
help to build them (and they haven’t
built their own yet).
“No wonder the rustic kicks if the
road is to cost more than the entire
value of all the farms through which
it passes. He appreciates good roads,
but must remember his slim pocket
book. Ho laughs a little, too, at the
big saving heavier loads would make
for him. Nina out of ten of him at
that time of year have little to do for
self or team aud are not crowded with
what they have to market. He would
rather mako two trips than one, as he
and the horses both need the exer¬
cise.”
The tendency in such cases as this
is to underestimate the beneficial ef¬
fects of hard roads and to assume that
they are of value only during the win¬
ter. They are of enormous value then,
and of equally great value in summer
aud the busy seasons, when the possi¬
bility of hauling big loads is money
in the pocket.
Iu the past, the farmer has been left
too much to hi3 own resources in the
care of the highways. Now, however,
State aid is rapidly being acknowledged
as the proper means of promoting the
good work, and the States are slowly
hut surely falling into line in adopting
it. Until it is generally in force, there
may be time for much good work to
be done, and the first steps toward
real improvement can he taken by se¬
curing careful grading, thorough drain¬
age and the adoption of wide tires.
In this connection the experiences
of two southern counties is right to the
point. Iu one, the loads average 2466
pounds and the tax is ten cents a hun¬
dred. In the other the loads are but
800 pounds and tho tax twenty cents
hundred. Improved methods reduced
the road tax one-half, and greatly im¬
proved the roads.
This county owns grader, plows,
carts, implements and six mules, and
a superintendent and five, men are
kept at work on the roads. The work
costs $55.17 a mile and though the
roads are only plain “dirt,” they are
kept iu such good condition that three
times as much can be hauled as on
roads cared for in the old way. Here,
surely, is a cheap and easy way to be¬
gin.—L. A. IV. Bulletin.
Inexpensive linatl Repair.
A correspondent suggests that the
system of continual supervision aud
repair of road-beds used by the rail¬
ways would not be practicable on the
highways, foremen because the railway section
depend for their positions on
the thoroughness of their work, have
only short distances to care for, and
cau mako themselves thoroughly fami¬
liar with them, while highway corn
missioners frequently know and car o
nothing about roads, and have long
stretches with which they have little
time or opportunity to become ac¬
quainted.
As long as present. conditions ob¬
tain, and highway commissioners are
chosen for political reasons, and de¬
vote little time and attention to the
roads, not much in tho way of im¬
provement is to be expected. It is the
system which must be changed, and
it, will be when the people realize the
importance to the community of hav¬
ing hard and smooth roads oil which
to travel. It is not necessary to al¬
ways build expensive roads costing,
perhaps, from one to ten thousand
dollars a mile, but present roads Oft))
be vastly bettered by giving them con¬
stant care, together with proper grad¬
ing and drainage. This work has
been successfully undertaken in some
quarters and good results obtained,
as in the ease referred to last week, in
which the expense was so small that
the road lax had been reduced, while
the roads had been improved.
As long as present methods prevail,
“D” thinks that the farmers, and those
off the main roads should be
interested in some way in looking af¬
| the roads that pass their'own
doors, so that they would remove
stones, fill up holes and see that all
water ran off quickly, and suggested
that they could pay a small part of
their road tax in labor iu this way,
under the control of the road commis¬
sioner. The old plan of “working”
out road taxes has been a complete
failure, hut it does not necessarily fol¬
low that something of this kind would
not work iu some districts, especially
if the people first become in some
measure convinced of the importance
of the step.
A Problem in K<m<l Improvement.
The entrance to the beautiful val¬
ley of the Ramapo is at Suffern, N.
Y. The county iu which tho town
lies lias many natural advantages, but
is unable to obtain benefit from them
because of the roads through which
the people “still flounder in the
NO. 17.
___________
mire.” How easy it would be for
them, and many other counties sift.-;
iliary situated, to improve their high¬
ways is plainly shown by the Suffer,®
Independent.
There are sixty miles of road, aM
an expenditure of $2500 per mile on
them would create an indebtedness
of $150,000. Suppose this amount
was borrowed on bonds payable in
from one to fifteen years at four per
cent. By paying the annual interest
and six per cent, on the principal, the
whole amount could he paid in twelve
years and the roads kept in order,
without a greater annual expenditure
than the $16,000 now required for re¬
pairing worthless roads. The assess¬
ment of the county “is, in roundnum
bers, $20,000,000 of which $150,000 is
three-quarters of one per cent. Now,
taking the average assessment of the
taxpayer to be $1000, his proportion
of the entire debt would be $7.50, and
his assessment for each year for this
purpose would he seventy-five cents."
Figured down this way, there seems
nothing wanting to securing better
highways but the will to make the
start.
Ait Incomplete estimate.
In the following estimate of the
cost of laying stone roads some im¬
portant items have been omitted.
The Indiana Farmer says that “the
cost of broken stone for building
roads is not so great, as many suppose.
It can bo bought at the crushers for
forty cents per solid yard, and the
railroad will freight it forty miles or
less, at about fifty cents per cubic
yard, malting a total of ninety cents;
but suppose we call it $1. Then if the
road-bed is nine feet wide aud the
stone is piled on a foot deep, a cubic
yard will cover three feet linear at a
cost? of $1, making one mile (1760
yards) cost as many dollars. But as
only about nine inches are necessary,
one-fourth of this amount, or $140,
should be deducted, making the ex¬
act amount only $1320, which is cheap
enough for a first-class road, the ma¬
terial for which must be brought forty
miles by rail.”
Substantial roads can be built at a
thickness of nine inches, but the
stone used is by no means the only
item of expense. The labor of hand¬
ling, placing and rolling it must be
considered and, more important still,
careful grading and thorough drain¬
age must be secured. Hard roads can
be built much more cheaply than
formerly, hut a “first-class” one can¬
not y p t be laid at such low figures.
Narrow Versus Witle Wagcffl Tires.
Scientific experiments extending
over two years have been made under
the auspices of the Studebaker Broth¬
ers, the widely-known wagon builders,
to determine the relative qualities of
wide and narrow-wheel tires. The
The results are too extensive to give
in full. Every kind of road was used
to test the question. It was found
that on macadam roads the narrow
tires YE.rpjfar inferior to the wide, and
they required much greater effort to
draw a given load. In a deeply-rutted
clay road, the narrow tires running in
the ruts and the wide tires on top the
narrow tires were far more efficient.
This was also the case with wet mud.
But as soon as the mud began to dry
the wide tires showed a vast superior
ity. In general, the only justification
for narrow tires proved to be thor¬
oughly bad roads.—Youth’s Com¬
panion.
The Crusade Against lints.
Never allow pools of water to stand
on a road. If a road is not properly
drained it cannot long remain good.
It requires longer time and more
power to haul light loads over bad
surfaces than to move twice as much
on good roads.
Anything that facilitates intercourse
between people tends to civilize them.
Nothing helps so much toward this
end as perfect highways.
Two buildings were lately destroyed
by fire in an outlying ward of Cleve¬
land, Ohio, on account of the depth
of the mud, which prevented the en¬
gines from reaching them in time.
Common roads may bo vastly im¬
proved by being properly crowned!
and thoroughly drained, and the work
of making and keeping them good will
be simplified if the traffic on them is
on wide tires.
The Governor of Massachusetts has
recommended a wide-tire law and the
subject is being taken up seriously.
Such a simple and effective means of
improving poor roads and maintaining
good ones ought not to be neglected.
Nature is not a road-builder—she
never prepares artificial means of liv¬
ing;. But she furnishes ample ma¬
terial for every need, and science long
since learned to utilize what she offers
to meet the necessities of our c im¬
plex civilization.
The farmers along a road in Central
New York have donated twelve hu -
dred tons of stone, picked from around
their farms, for road improvement
purposes, and a neighboring stone
crusher has been rented to properly
prepare the material for use.
The ever-increasing tendency lo
concentrate in big cities can be coun¬
teracted by making country life at¬
tractive. But country life cannot be
permanently attractive to city residents
unless good highways afford inter¬
communication and easy transit.
Novel Plea For a Bill.
In the course of a speech in support
of his “foxscalp” bill in the Kent f n/j
Legislature Representative Hat it i
of Pike County, said: “I ask fu
passage of this bill iu the interev a A
religion and morals. If you pa 3 / > i
bounty for fox scalps no one tvil /? H
tho foxes; if no one will kiil l( m
they will kill the chickens, and ir
you have no oliiekens you hs’ no
preachers, and whar you ham no
preachers you have no religion ,i id no
morals.”