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ATHENS, GEORGIA, on a dark night, and they took hold of it with a vim and now it haa spread over Georgia and into Alabu|^^|A|^j»^e are hap- j&xr- ., gfgE&i Siphons is VOLUME IV—NUMBER 20. - ¥ PRIOE 60 CENTS A YEAS Rip Van Winkle And The Athens Dispensary The Story of Rip of the Catskill and the Rip of the Religio-Politico Hell-Hole. Proud of Him. The Courier is not given to u due praise of any man or set men, but when we see unexoelli grit and undaunted zeal, takii nothing and building an immens? enterprise, we cannot refrain BY THE EDITOR. Did you ever hear of Rip Van Winkle, or see the great Joe Jof ferson impersonate him? Most of you have, but those of our read era who have not, we will Bay that Rip was a very unique character. He was one of those fellows who enjoyed drink to such an extent that he did nothing but hunt, while his wife had to take caro of the household. This reminds us of some people we know of who are a little different from Rip— he went hunting, but those we know of are too infernally lazy to go hunting,' but while their chil dren are slaving their young lives away in some factory they wearing out the already bare seats of their on the banks of the ing blue steel, and dig authenticity of as to try to I mostavailabl for early morning sunshine bathing them in its glory. We do not know what he thought, but we do know that there are numbers of good women in this our day who think that it would be c God send to them if their hubbies would kindly imitate Rip and take a farewell look at their wrecked hopes, and there wouldn’t be “anything doing around their hearts,” eithor. Well, Rip after looking back turned on his heel and went whist ling up tho mountain side, with his dog. As he went up growth grew Courier : I note that •lton had a well-timed sensible , article in the the 24th met., in re our city nuisance, that detestable rock quarry, from according that praise which | whlh should never have been al lowed where it is. I am glad the Major haa stirred up the matter and hope h^will not let up until true merit deserves. Such a man is Mr. John A. Darwin. Coming to Athens a few yearg our oitfjs ^id of this abomina- ago, he engaged in the fire insure -tioa. Now there are some other ance business, but while foiling that his master mind was’ not in active and ho brought to light the Mutual Life of Georgia. For quite awhile it was a slow go. The people did not seem to take hold of it, but undauntedly he pushed on, overcoming obstacles, and a little later on the true mqtten which aro suggested by this artiole and which should re- oeive the attention of our people. Rd/erence is made to the paving rber street and that the the rock crusher is med for that purpose, irvant and inquiring peo- pl Would like to know why this beik’ty of the undertaking burst street,\used only for resident and nnn!i f.Vio nannln lilro n mofanr ..11 1J t,„ street railway, should now be paved to the neglect of Lumpkin it, one of £ke most important used streets in our Brand New Phase Of Our Waterworks System As Told by a Subscriber of This Paper. That the water meter in Athens has been a failure the Courier has convinced every one in Athens ex. cept a few of the powers that be and if we Bbould call for a yea and nay vote we are euro a ma jority of them are our way. We unhesitatingly say that there should be a change in this respect. The splendid system of water works which we have should not be a drain upon the city treasury any longer, and should not only be self sustaining, but really a money-maker for the city. Why not? The deficiency must be met by the tax-payers, then why not the city own the meters and let the people who do not use water, Vho would if they could get |ont paying for the meters, '' 'create a revenue suffi ce expenses. If we thly expenses file the in- and aside and both use water. Oue of them uses 45,000 gallons and pays 10c per thousand, and the other uses 48,000 gallons and pays 15 cents per thousand. In other words the man that uses 48,000 pays $0.45, while the man who 45,000 pays $4.60, or tl>e ODe who uses the largest amount pays $1.95 less than the other. I cannot tee where the justice comes in here. If a man were to read hit meter (that is if he was allowed to touch it), and it was. to show a con sumption of 48,000 gallons 4e could save $1.05 to open up his faucet and let a couple of thou sand gallons run into the branch. Victim. That’s the way of the world my friend, somebody must always get hurt, and it is usually the small fellow, or the poor man, who is like the Chinamen, who most pertinently said: “No mat ter who wins in this great contest between China and Japan, China catche hello in de necke alle mee. More anon. Which Costs The Most, Good Food or Poor Food? FLOUR IS THE CHEAPEST COHHODITY ON THE MARKET. GOLD LEAF 15 THE BEST. Therefore-it is the cheapest in the long run. It costs you less than a hall cent n day to have the best on your table. GOLD LEAF makes tho whitest tread you ever saw. It is the sweetest and tlakiest. It always rises. It will.show more proteids, the strength giving p -rt ion of the wheat, than any high grade llour manufactured. Abso lutely the whitest—made only from absolutely pure choice selected Miss uri Soft Winter Wheat —at all times the best-. Every sack has a Gold Loaf on it—Copyrighted. Mauvtactvrcd Only By Cape Covnty Milling Co. . JacKson, Missouri. the difference in Kip' he was a rollicing kind of o' low and wo arc constrained to . liev# that when he went home drnnk he never kicked up a row and keep tho children in the gar ret, or under the house—like a few of the aforesaid., but was al ways singing and dancing. It may not be that that was bis nat ural disposition, and only learned tho lesson after having picked himself up from tho door a half dozon times only to borccoivod between the eyes with a rolling pin in the hands of Mrs. Rip. If this is the truth of it wo say in the language of tho weather prophet, “O. formoroMrs. Ripsl Rip had a dog, a lank, cadaver ous kind of a creature, and be loved Rip—possibly for the feed ho got from tho gaino. A man never gets so low in the scale of human degradation, but there is some one that will love him. Wo have known men who lmd seomed to become so utterly abhorrent as that no ono could tolerato thorn, yet some one woman would cling to them like the ivy to tho oak. But Mrs. Rip wasn’t built of that kind of stuff, and so one day, the jolly drunkard was drivon away from home, and he is pictured with his dog and gun as he wends his way toward tho Catskills mountains. Ho is seen with his hand over his eyes, as ho reached tho foot of tho mountain, and lookod towards the dilapidated house which contained nil on earth that was dear to him. He may have had a pang at his heart and he may not as his eyes rest ed upon the forms of his wife and children in tho yard, with the then was to sTi? o’er their decay. Being assurei that it was a slightly better grade Rip gulped it down, like the old soak that he was, and fell into a sleep that lasted twenty yours. If it lmd been the aforesaid blue steel ho would hnve been asleep till now. But ns time rolls on the twenty years soon passed and ono tine morning Kip stretched bis limbs mid pulled himself to gether and raised'up. lie had long white beard, he whistled for his dog, but all he could see was a few bones which lmd been bleaching in the sun for twenty years; the stock of his gun had crumbled to dust and the barrel was eaten with rust. He arose, though and went down tho moun tain side into tho village. The old bouse lmd fallen down, the wife and children were dead, and nobody knew him. He found some of his grandchildren about ns no nccount ns he was. The tale is told ns near as we can ro- member it, and wo publish it in our own way for a purpose. There is a Catskill mountain in this town known bettor as the Athens dispensary. It is full of crags and crevices and echoes. Many a young nmu 1ms attempt ed to climb to its summit in search of something, possibly the enjoyments he thought wore there, before ho entered ho looked bnck and through tho eyes of his heart he Baw his wife and littlo children in thoir cozy little home, or his old mother reclining in a rocker. He little dreams that this is tho leach ing, UnUHHMmiCeting, Hosi ery, Notions, all kinds smallware, Shoes, Mens’ Kits and ail odds and ends very. Useful, at the for mer GLOfiE RACKET STORE Bankrupt Sale, Broad street. step to n long sleep but he goes on mid like Kip he eits down to rest, and a peculiar crowd sur rounds him. Fust, there stands preachers, all around him, each has a congregation ill dress par ade before him, butare holding on lo a jug behind labeled “Athens Dispensary.” And then there are deacons and stowards, and judges aud juries, and fathers und mothers in that peculiar crowd intended to indeed be a “peculiarpeople zealous of good works,” but who have indeed fal len short since the compromise with tho devil. But they give it to him and he enters upon nis long sleep while this peculiar crowd keeps pouring it down. He does not see it, but those around do— tile wife’s checks have grown pale aud wnu; the children are ragged and shoeless, notwithstanding they were givon some of the old cnst-otY clothes at the poor folks' Christmas tree; the house is rot ting down; tho old mother's grey hairs have gone down in sorrow to the grave, and he sleeps on iu his drunken stupor. Will he over, oven after twenty years, like Rip, awaken from his sleep? AH is stillness, and from ayrny down tho mountain comes rever berating back tho echo “w-i-1-1 h-el” Bnt wlmt caro we so the tax is roduded. dem The think, and al to this condition of affairs iP our city government, and if we mis- <|ke not the signs oTtUa.tifiH'S, are determined upon a change Ycu, Mr. Editor, and others who lmvo tho temerity to oppose the bosses, und criticise the official acts of our public servants, are styled kickers aud croakers. Would to God that every right- thinking tax-payer in Athens would go to kicking and croaking. In this alone is the needed reform, and our city.’a future safety. Mr. Editor, you seem to be the only outspoken sentinel upon the watchtower of our city’s best in terest, and with your permission, some of us will help you to keep these matters of gravest import ance before the public. “Lay on, Mr. Gardner, and craven bo he who first cries hold,enough.” One of the Croakers. Parchment butter paper tho best quality at M. M. Arnold’s. 4t Death of a Boy. James Harvey Short, tho little son of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Short, aged four and a half years, died Sunday afternoon at 2 o’clock. The funeral was preached at their home on South Elberton street- by Rev. M. H. Eakes. The parents have tho sympathy of all, especi ally those who have gone through the tame trying ordeal. re your acks on eva der an injustice, rally the long fight you ave made against the meters, but there is one other thing con nected with the water works sys tem, which you seemed to have not touched upon. Two men conclude to take wa ter; both pay for tapping the main, both pay for the meters. _i***.iJnsA nt boom. Tif genuine fra- rought the order ntTy before the people ntly, and the coDsequenc- is it applications for membership are pouring in. After two weeks the fee will be increased to twelve dollars. We are glad to know of the snccess of this splendid iu- Jstitution. It seems to have grown | like magic under the gniding band of Mr. W. T. Dean, the Sa- 'chem. We wish it continued suc- :cess. ! Brown leghorn eggs, 15 for 50 ; cents, at M. M. Arnold's. There were several articles of interest which were crowded out this week for want of space.