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DUBLIN, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1879.
ffi&VVEXI'fcG YEAR.
urs, the year is dead,
Cririie arid sigh, come arid weep,
Merry hours sipile instead,
For the yenT is’but asleep ;
See,? it smiles os it is sleeping,
Mocking your untimely Weeping.
As <)n earthquake rooks a corpse
And its coffin ir the day,*
So white winter, that rough nurse,
Rocks the dead-cold year to-day;
Solerim hours! wail nloud
For your motUer.in, her shroud.
As the w s ld air stirs and sways
The trec-awung cradle of a child,
So the breath of these rude days
Rocks the year; he calm and mild
Trembling hoiirs; she will arise
With new love withip her eyes.
January gray is here
Like a sexton by her grave;
February bears the bier;
TVtrirch, with gHef, doth howl and rave
And April ^eeps—but oh, ye hours;
Foilpw with Mar ’s fairest flowers,
CHRISTMAS AT MUD FEAT.
She bad been; in camp four days.
Where she carno from, why site came.
But she wits in camp, and had
come to stay, there was no doubt.
SluTwtfs 1 quiet, modest, and simply
clad^i^qMaiiti^ commeri-
ded her to the residents of Mud Flat
as a change from the ordinary run of
feiftjifcri? who from time to time in
vaded the prcciucts of that classic
8Ottlcm0bt.
Nor were these the only points
which had been noted by the boys;
As, Andy McCorkle had gallantly
handed her from the lower step of
his hind-bespattered coach to the
portico of the hotel, everybody saw
that she clung almost convulsively to
the little child whose arms were twin
ed" about. her neck. They observed
also that her feat.ures„wcre pale and
bloodlbss to an extent that was almost
pitiful. By that 'delicate intuition
which sometimes exists under the
roughest exteriors, the sturdy miners
of Mud Flat understood that the
strange lady, was suffering from men
tal as well as physical nimwe. Their
sympathy was aroused in her behalf
from that instant, and every man in
the place immediately constituted
himself her champion and friend.
Aiduy later, whon she had rented
a cabin .near the outskirts of the
town, without disposing to m onc
her intentions for the future or her
story of, tl»C past., tgar interest wa*
increased, and they began to show
their frierid’ehipiJU whstaiitial wAys,
A great, heap of fire-wood was myste
riously aefosftetl* Witf/fti A&jr'reach
the first night. Bags of flour,' quan
tities of coffee and sugar, a whole
ham, and a quarter of fresh venison
likewise made their 1 appeuranbe from
somp . unexplained source the third
morning.
Little \v*as seeii of the recipient of
these treasures* Jiowever. She had
only been ori the streets once, and
tljen only ^f^hVC^ase a few necessary
articles. Upon that occasion she
met; the reverential gaze of a score of
lonrigers^. and tprnpd W hbad aiyay,
pretending not to sec, when the jovi-
ulBillU^tcV smhggled a'tinge pack-
ie child’s capacious,
age of candy into the child’s capacious
pocket; But s aside from that she
had remained Itidden from view, and
the.miners knew as little about her
otftlie fourth day as they had bn the
The 23d of December was unusu-
a^y t ^ld„oyeh for that locality. As
the frozen moon came up over a dis
tant cibg, cutting wi|h chilly hands
the dusky gloom, one plight have
fancied that he had suddenly been
transplanted into,the Arctic regions.
The ground was covered with a th ; n
layer oi suow, which ’glistened like
burnished silver in the pale light.
Here and there along the sides of the
gulch, giant pines, standing like
ghostly sentinels, threw spectral
shadows across the white expanse.
The roar of Potato Creek, wrapped
in the icy arms of winter, was snb-
dued. to a tiny muffled trickling.
And the wind, gently sighing through
the pusses, played uEolian melodies
among the needles of pine and tassels
of hemlock.
In the main apartment of the
agnblia saloon, a party of boys
were sitting around a table upon
which steamed a large bowl, emit
ting a fragrant and aromatic odor.
Whoever slio monglit be,”observ
ed a tall and rather angular person
age, known to his companions as
Long Tom Rollins—“whoever she
monglit be, she’s alone, barrin’ tliet
kid, and unportected besides. She
is sickly, too, and ortcr have a doc
tor. This ain’t no sort of a place
for a—a—iuvorlid,” lie concluded,
hesitatingly, removing his heavy hoot
from the table, and helping himself
to a liberal allowance of the punch.
Then, after a pause, he continued,
“I wonder what ails the krittor, any
how?”
A man's at the bottom of it,
gontlemon, you hear me,” observed
Judge Gash wilder, from the other
side of the fable, nodding conviction
at oacli of hip, .hearers in turn. “Tako
my word, for it, there’s a man. in it,
as there all ere is in any deviltry as
robs some poor woman's check of its
bloom, and her eye of its light.”
The Judge was eloquent at all
times. But when his round pate
glistened from r the effects of good
punch, and his theme was woman,
he was thought by the men of Mud
Flat to have few equals. Therefore
the little party seated around the
table were considerably startled when
just .as,, their favorite orator had
thrus^ his riglit hand into his breast
as a preparatory gesture leading to a
more extended .tribute to the sex,
Long Tom Rollins leaned forward
and exclaimed:
“See hero, old man. IIow do you
know all this?”
For a moment everybody was
aghast. Whether they were aston
ished at the suddenness of the inter
ruption or the half-savage tone of
the speaker, or whether it occurred
to them that the Judge might, possi
bly have so far over-stepped the
bounds of prudence as to have at-
t'ffftfptetl “pttmpiugl’.tUe interesting
stranger, may never be known. But
it is certain that they were astounded
iu to si lenee. Even Judge Gash wilder
was observed to lose his usual pres
ence of mind. For au instant his
naturasly serene countenance wore
au expression which in another would
have been mistaken for guilt. If the
confidence which the others had al
ways placed iu him was a tritie sliaken
at that instant; it was quickly resior
ed when, after a moment’s hesitation,
the old gentleman explained his pe
culiar position.
“You see, gentlemen,” he said,
gradually resuming the uttitiide from
which lie laid been surprised by the
abrupt speech above quoted, “1 was
prowlin' round her cubing lust night,
when all of a sudding I hcerd voices
inside. Tlio door was open a lectio
hit, and by standin’ where I was
couldn’t miss a syllcrbul. I will
here explain,” ho continued, thrust-
iug his red bandaunu handkerchief
into his breast, as was liis wont when
speaking publicly, “that I was there
for the purpose of tindiu’ oiu, if pos
sihle, whether the gal was m need of
anything that I could help her to.”
“Which accounts,” observed
bystander, “for that chicking which
was hung up alongside the door when
1 came by this momin.”
“I heard her talkin’ with the kid,”
continued Judge Gashwilder, not
noticing the interruption, “and
couldn't help lisscimen. As near as
I could make ont, the talk was like
this:
“When shall we see papa?”
“Heaven knows, my baby. We
have sought Him long, and when
Gpd is ready He will restore him to
us.”
“Is Clirismas cornin’ soon, mam
ma?”
“Yes, baby, darling. But there
won’t be no presents for my little one
this time. We are away from home,
and i>oor. But when we find papa
we will go where there are lots of
pretty things, and then baby shall
have plenty.”
Here the Judge loaned forward
and whispered in a mystonous voico,
telling his companions that lie had
heard the mother repeat to tlio child
the sad story of how her father had
gone West four years ago to seek his
fortune; how for two years his letters
containing money for her support,
had como like rays of sunshine
through the clouds; how they had
suddenly stopped, and no answers
were received to her agonized appeals;
how for two more years she had sup
posed him dead; how, ut last, the
postmaster in the little village where
she lived had, upon liis dying bed,
confessed to having stolon the letters
from her husband so as to got the
money they contained, and suppress
ed her missive to him for fear of
discovery; and hoiv she had started
out with her little one to find the
lost husband, who had been last
heard from in Mud Flat.
All this tlio Judge told to tlio few
friends lie could trust, speaking in a
whisper,, lest, the precious secret
should ho pussed to others iu the
the room,
‘And now,” lie ucl^ed? resuming
his rhetorical attitude and voice, “I
Axes you, {is gentlemen and repre
sentatives of Mud Flat Chivalry,
shall this gal and her kid, being too
poor to have a Christmas of their
own—shall thoy go without it, or
riot? Remember, gentlemen, that
kid is the fust one as over cumc into
this place, and p’raps she’s our luck.
Let us nurtur her, my friends, let us
show her mother that, we ain’t so
lost to virtoo an’ principle as not to
appreciate Jt when wo hev a good
woman and a innocent kid amongst
us. Let us give ’em a Christmas.
I will now percocd to houd the sub
scription.”
So saying, the gallant old man
moved the punch-bowl to one side,
and emptied the contents of his
breeches pocket upon the table.
Others followed suit, and whon the
last man had placed liis contribution
there the pile contained a
sum. "
“Now, gentlemen, some one of us
lias got to tako that money, ride to
Denver, and spend it for ’em. Who
shall it be?”
“Le: me he vour agent,” respond
ed a deep bass voice.
Turning, they saw a tall stranger
standing near by, who lmd just en
tered in time to hear the Judge’s
call for contributions. Onc or two
in the rriom recognized him as a mi
nor who had come in from the dig
gings that afternoon, having found
it too cold to work longer in the
mountains.
They were inclined to resent the
interference of an outs’der, and prob
ably would not have heeded his
request had he not spoken a second
time. Drawing near the table he
said:
“Gentlemen, I was once a married
man myself, but my wife, God bless
her, is dead.. For the love I hear
her memory, for tlio affection I have
toward the remembrance of my little
ono buried with her, I ask yoh to let
me aid in this matter.”
The sadness in his .voice and face
was so sincere, and the utility of
sending a irian who had “been, tliar,
and ktiowed what wimmen folks
would like,” presented itself so fa
vorably to the miners, that with but'
little hesitation they allowed him to
do os he had wished.
In an hour lie was gone, and the
settlement was lost in speculation as
to what he would bring hack for the
strange lady aud her child.
The morning of Lee. 25th dawned
crisp and cold. The fresh, hiding
air of the mountains raced among
the trees right merrily, whisking the
snow into little wreaths, and frolic-
ing among the branches with real
holiday gayety. It was nearly noon
when the stranger rode into camp
loaded with bundles. At the Mag
nolia he met an eager crowd of mi
ners, who, headed by Judge Gush-
wildor, were soon on the road to the
stmngo ludy’s house. Arrived there,
they felt a sudden hesitation about
entering. It was like intruding upon
some sacred ground, and they wore
almost tempted to dopositjbhoir bun
dles upon the threshold and fly.
You take the stuff,” said tlio
Judge to the stranger, “and go in
fust. You’vo bin familiar with wim-
miu, and Iviiow how to handle ’em.
We’ll watt outside.”
But the stranger felt the same
hesi tation. Perhaps liis long absence
from feminine society made him
bashful. Perhaps a thought of tlio
memory he revered caused him to
hold hack.
Filially tlio Judge consented to
take tlio lead, and doffing his hat,
knocked softly. The door was open
ed by the child, who hade tliom ou
ter. Beside the fire sat tho mother,
who rose to meet them. AU passed
in hut the stranger, who styod out
side.
‘Mann,” said the Judge, who
somehow had lost his usual ease of
speech and gesture, “we—that is, (
the citizens of Mud Flat, has come
to wish you a merry Christinas, rind
to offer you these few tokens 1 of our
respok and esteem.”
Having thus delivered hipiSplf,
theold gentleman deposited the bun
dle on the table, and stood beaming
serenely on all liis companions. The
strange lady, completely overcome
by this unexpected kindness, could
nor. find words to reply for a. mo
ment. Then, in a broken voice, she
said:
“This is a glad moment of my
sorrowful life. You are good, kind
men, and I know God will' repay
your generosity to tlio widow and
the fatherless. 1 ”
She stopped suddenly, and stood
with blanched cheeks and distended
eyes, staring toward tho door. Tlio
niitiera tui’ned and beheld the stran
ger, who, with a great stride forward
and a cry expressing tho wildest joy,
caught the woman in his arms.
Thoy stood thus, heart pressed to
heart, and lips to lips, for an instant.
Then tho stranger turned liis eyes
devoutly toward tho ceiling.
“Thank God,” he murmured gen
tly. ‘*yhc wifo I had supposed dead
is restored to mo.”
The miners stole softly away and
left the stranger standing thus, with
his arms tenderly twined about the
womun of his love; and tho little
child clinging fondly to liis knees.
The air was balmv outside; the
sun shone with ineffable sweetness
upon the scene ; a hluojay screamer
liis delight from a neighboring tree;
and the wind played a joyful tune
among the rocks.
Christmas had come to Mud Flat,
Augusta Evening News: “Ben Hill
may ho a great, lawyer, but no man
who loses $190,000 on li.is plantations
in three years, can he regarded as a
successful planter.”
The colored people of Georgia pay
taxes on $5,000,000. Of course they
have made all this since the war,
which is more than the sumo number
of The poorer class of white people
have done.
If women are really angels, why
don’t they fly over the fence instead
of making such a fearful awkward job
of climbing?
If every man is tho architect of
his own fortune, the most of them
had better abandon architecture and
go to mauling rails.
An old lady being asked to sub
scribe to a newspaper, declined on
the ground, that when she wanted
u.e.ws she manufactured it herself.
Women have a great respect for
old age. Watch a young lady seated
in a street car between a young gen
tleman and an elderly one, and see
how determined she is not to incom
mode the luttor by crowding against
him. . • . £$i.-v
l Man with a Wife and Six Chil
dren, who Never Saw one of
Them.
you
NO 31
Can a Man Marry Himself?
A genuine Yankee in San Fran
cisco, having bored a new comor with
ovory Conceivable question relative to
his object in visiting tlio gold coun
try, his hopes, his means and his
prospects, at length asked'him if lie
lmd a family.
“Yes, sir; I have a wifo and six
children, and never saw one. of
them.” V '/? : ! ; >i‘v
After this reply tho couple sat a
few minutes iu silonce, when tho
ntorrogator commenced:
“Were you evor blind, sir P”
“No, sir.”
“Did you triarry a widow, sir ?”
“No, sir.”
Another interval of silence.
“Do I understand you to say, sir,
that yon hod a wife and and nix ohjl
dren living in Now York, and had
never soon one of them?”
“Yes, sir; so 1 stated it.”
Another and a longer pause. Then
the interrogator .again iiujnired,:
“How ciin it ho, sir, Unity
never saw ono of thorn ?”
Why,” woh the response, “ope
of thorn was horn after I loft.”
Gen, B. F. Butler has wriTten a
letter to a gentlemen in Indianapolis
iu which he says: “In the Democra
tic convention ut Charleston, 8. G.,
in the year 1800, I voted fifty-seven
times, as I remember it, for Joffor-
son Davis, of Mississippi, afterward
President of tlio Confederate States,
as u candidate for tlio Democratic
party for President. He was not be
fore the convention us acnmlidute, for
my voto and that of ono of my col-
lougnos/vero the only ones lie had. 1
believed, him to he a representative
man of the South, and subsequent cl
ients have shown I was right. And I
believed then, and I boliovo now,
that if he could have been nominated
for President and. elected, the war
would have been saved and tlio at
tempted disunion prevented; for he
would have o boson to bo Prosidont
over thirty-two states rather than fif
teen; and my experience Ims been
that tho North always got more con
sideration on questions of human lib
erty from a Southern statesman as
President, before the war than it did
from a Northern dough face,and that
remains truo down to tho present
time.”
Gov. Hampton, having • recovered
•sufficiently to travel, will in a few
days make an oxcurslrtii to Florida.
The trip will ho made in an easy and
ologautcar, which will ho fitted up
Specially for his comfort by Col. J.
13. Palmer, of Columbia. Ono section
will be furnished as a bedroom, an
other as a rocojition and sitting room
and no change will bo necessary*to
be made between Columbia and Jack
sonviile. At this poitit the car will
be loft to await his further move
ments, and tho Governor, Col. Pal
rner and party will take passago on a
steamer up the St. John’s to Indian
river, where it is proposed to spend
a few days fishing and shooting in
tho happy hunting grounds of the
departed Seminoles. Returning to
Jacksonville the Governor will resume
possession of tho ear, and return in
it to Columbia by way of Charleston.
The Georgia Press Association
meets in Oartcrsville tho first woek
in May.
Tho following order was recently
left on tlje slato of a New Hampshire
doctor: “Doe, cum up to fchor house;
the old man has got snuix in his
butos agin, an’ raisin kain.”
On the 29th of November, 1831;
the Rov: Samuel Beamish; of Cork;
boing then in holy orders, went to
the house of a niilliner riiimcd Ann
Lyons, in the city of Cork, arid there,
in a place where lie believed there
was no witness, performed a ceremo
ny of marriage between himself and
a young woman named Isabella Fra
zer. Tho ceremony was that pro
scribed in tho hook of Common Pray
er, tho Rev. Mr. Beamish officiating
for himself. No clergyman was pre
sent at tlio performriricc of the cere
mony oxcopt tho Rev. Mr. Beamish
himself, nor was there, in fact, aiiy
ono presont as a formal witness : but
the performance of tlio ceremony was
witnessed by a female tiarned Catha
rine Coffco, who, without tho kiiowl-
edgo of tho contracting parties, and
sololyfrom curiosity, saw it going on
through a window from an adjoining
brick-yard, though she did not hear
what was said by either party. Isa
bella Frazor gavo birth to a soli in
1841, and tn 1844 Rov. S. Beamish
died iritestate. It was then conton 1 -
dod by a brother of the reverend
gentleman that thO fnarriage wirs
invalid, and that the hoy was Mu*ro-
forri illbgitiihatri, arid could not sriev
ecod to liis fatlioFs property. Tlio
quostion occupied tliC attention of
the I Halt law conks for two years,
hut it was at length’finally decided
that the marriage was valid' in Ire
land.—/&. ’ : ‘ j '
A corrcsiamt of the Barnesville
Gazette says that Mr. C. II. Willson,
of West Pike, made last year, with
nine hands and five mules, 72 bales
of cotton, each weighing 500 pounds,
1,100 bushels of com, 500 bushels of
wheat, 8,000 bushels of oats, 500 bu
shels of potatoes, and peas enough to
muke 5,000 |>ounds of pork.
Lion hunts are not 1 very common
oh Ibis continent now-u-days, but '
one is just reported from Rag Ganyoh,
Califciilnin; A furm-owner there had
been missing goats for quite a time,
and a young man named Henry Sam
uels started out with his rifle and
dogs to solve the mystery. He soon
ran across' a largo California lion of !
tho male sox, and at once oponed the
attack with his rifio, wdnnding the
animal, and then the dogs and lion
had a tussle. The canines wore'boon
vanquished, howovor, und then tho
angry boast inado for the him tor,
who stood his ground and lodged
another hullot iii tlio lion’s body.
At this fire the boast sprung into a tree
and Samuels put five more, bullets
into liirit before he died. The lion was **■
of a yollowish-dark color, measured
Bix foot eight inches from tip of tail
to the nose arid ! Otohd j two fcotj toir
InOhoOhigh.
! I was once walking a short difc-
tanco behind a handsomely dressed?
young lady, and thinking, as I look
ed at her beautiful clothes, “I won
der if she takes us muoh. pains with
lior heart as she does with her body?”
A poot man wiw coming up the walk;
With a louded wheelbarrow, aud juBt
before the reached us he made two at
tempts to go into the yuid of a small
house, hut the gate was heavy, and
would swing hack before he could
get'through. “Wait” said the yhiirig
girl, springing forward, “I’ll hold
the gate open.” And she held tlio
gate open till ho passed in, and re
ceived' liin thunks with a pleasant
smile as she passed on. Slio deserves
good clothes I thought, “for a beau
tiful spirit dwells in lior breast.”
Augusta wants the Slate Fair held
there this year.. Wo don’t object.
; ■ i. Tjd-.;! 1 n ui
Whenever yn cum akrost a man
who distrusts overyboddy, yu have
found one whom it is safe for everjr-
boddy to distrust*—Josh Riljinga.
The Echo says that several, negroes
m Oirlothorpo county have bought,
and paid for valuable farms since«
the war, und have money out at in-
torest. t ...
Ire hope that keeps us up, .'.
It’s hope that keeps our memories green.
It’s hope that iimkvn our liven Huliliinc,
It’s soap that keeps us clean.
The man’s an Ignoramus,
Or, lower yet, a scamp,
Who writes for information.
And sends no pontage-stamp. f
—Courier Journal.