North Carolina Newspapers

s - - i JUL r VOL IX. THIRD SERIES Salisbury, :ji::s., hay, 9, i878. NO 2 9 - r , - " ' S 4 I n It j si ; fttJtn Ihe to&vidsoft Monthly! SHE GOSPEL PIONEER ; . IK, - WESTEEN NOlil It C5AliOLiNA. BY rBOFESSOU E. F. ROCKWELL. The wise man asks, "What can the man do that conieth after tho King t Even that which hath been already done." The same may be asked in regard to the labors and researches of Doctors William Henry Foote and E. W. Caruthers, in withering and recording facts and tra ditions connected with the early history of NorthX'arolina, and especially that of the Presbvterian Church therein. Bat we think that some other thing of interest canjbe gleaned with regard to one name that filled a prominent place in our Church, a little more than a century aro the name of one who was dilligent aud active, "in labors more abundant," from 1715 to 1753, but who disappeared from public view and sank into the grave, almost unnoticed and unknown in this -lion wilderness : and not a stone tells fciaw - j - where he was buried. - Wfl refer to the first missionary and cospol pioneer )n Western North Caro liua, Rev. John Thompson, who traversed this-region before tho days of McAddeu, M'Whorter, Spencer, Craighead, etc. He was a native of Ireland, and came to New -York, as a licentiate, with a family in 1715. Soon after, he went to Lewes, in Delaware, and was ordained there in 17177 After a few years, for want of support, in 1729 he went to New Castle, in the same State, and remained there only till 1732 when he removed to ChestautLevel. In 173D, being appointed by Donegal Pres bytery to itinerate in the Valley of V lr frinia. he visited that resion. A call for D " his labors was presented to his 'Presby tery, by the congregation of Opequhon ; and ho renuested a dismission from his charge, to remove to Virginia, but his re quest was not granted, nor was lie re leased, till 1744, when he made hishomeJn the valley, beingentrustcd with the charge of missionary operations in Western Yir ginia. In fulfillment of the duties of his office, this sanie year, he for the iirst time visited North Carolina. Th,is must have been after May, of that year : for in the Records of the Svnod of l'hiladelphiawe find that, "A represen tation win many people of North Caro lina, was laid before the Synod, showing their desolate condition, and requesting that Synod would take their estate into consideration ; and .petitioning that wo would appoint one of our number to cor respond with them. Ordered, that Mr. John Thompson correspond with them. Webster's History Presbyterian church page 210. What part of the State this petition came from does not appear in this part of it, the first settlement began between 1740 aud 1750 ; and in Jones' Jhfence, it is said that the first settlers in Meckleuburg came 1750. Mr. Foote says, scattered settlements were mado along "the Catawba, from Reattie's Ford to Ma son's, some time before the country bo cauie the object of emigration to any con siderable extent, probably about the year 1740. "By 1745 the settlements in what is nowr . Mecklenburg aud Cabarrus counties, were numerous; and about 1750, aud on ward for a few years;- the settlements grew dense for a frontier, and w ere unit ing themselves into congregations." It is probable, then, that the Evangelist vis ited, at that time, people who petitioned j in counties farther North and East, which j would naturally be first occupied ; al J though Wayne, Franklin, Caswell, Kock i j "". ingham, etc., according to Dr. Caruthers, i wero not settled till about 1750. j. But he also 6ays that, "from,.-1745 to I 1756 .the two Synods of Philadelphia and j -New York appointed missionaries fre 3 qnently to North Carolina, as well as to tho other provincesof the South?' Mr. Thompson did not probably remain long on that visit. Mr. Foote says that ho was here at the time of his appointment ; and he is recorded absent from the Synod that year. That ho was a prominent member , of the Synod of Philadelphia appears from his being appoiuted on important com mittees to prepare papers, conduct, cor respondence etc, Thus in 1733 ho was on a committee to draft a letter in reply draft instructions for an other -CommUti. t, letter from the Synod in Ireland. At the same session he was on a committee to wait upon the Governor of Virginia, to pro cure the favor and countenance of the Government of that province in behalf of the Presbyterian settlers in the back parts of it. He was ou the commission of Syn od to the time of his death in 1753. He had no important share in the divis ion of 1741 into what was called "the old and "the nm tide." He took an activo and in some respects" says Dr. Hodge, "a very mistaken part in opl position to Mr. Whitfield and Mr. Tennent; yet no one can read his writings without being impressed with re" l-ect for his character aud talents. And it is a gratify iug fact tha Mr. Teuueut himself, after. tho excitement of contro versy had subsided, came to speak of him in terms of affectionate regard. Indeed, were nothing Jcnown of theso men but their controversial writings, the reader would hardly fail to think that, in hu mility, candor and Christi au tfiii!wr Mi. I I IHHlAM 1. greatly superior to his opponent.'. H& published several dis courses, and) in 145, a phamlet on Churttil Government) which was answered by Revi Santuet Blair of New Londonderry) Penn sylvauia. Of this answer, called A otit dicatton ttfthott opposed to Mr. Tliompton, we have a copy. In 1742 he published a Sermon on the nature of Conviction for Sin, and in 1749 An Explication of the Short er Catechism. Of this latter we have often heard in the country above us ; but we have never seen a copy. In Webster's History of the Presbyterian Church, one is Spoken of, in tho hands of Rev. B. M. Smith, D. D., at Union Seminary, Virginia. His descendants in this region have a tradition that he published something for the special benefit of his daughters, of whom he had three, Ids wife having died early. They probably allude to this Cate chism. An old gentleman in this vicinity speaks of it as well known here in early times and in common use. In 1745 he and Messrs. Alison, Steel, Tiriffith and McDowell were appointed on a committee to draw up a plan of Union to be presented to the Presbytery of New York. This was presented and we have it in the records of the Synod of Phila phia, for that year ; but it proved unsat isfactory to the New York brethren, who proposed to erect an independent Synod. The same committee was appointed to draw up an answer to this proposal ; they did so, and made their report which was "approven." At the same meeting he was also appointed on other important committees. Where he was for the next few years does not- appear. At the meeting of Synod 1749, a Thompson was present ; but it was pro bably Samuel ; for in the course of the session, the delegates of the Synod of New York' were present and conferred with them about a plan of Union ; and it was ordered that Mr. Griffith write to Mr. Thompson in Virginia on this head, though his name is not recorded among the ab sentees. He was present in May, 1750, and was appointed on a committee to settle some difficulty at Brown Meeting House, in Va., and also to loos an obligation of marriage, rashly entered into between a young man and woman, the former of whom was, it seems, culpable in the mat ter, and, by the order of Synod, was pub licly admouislied by Mr. Thompson. It appears from tho records of the next year that be did not fulfill his appointment in ; Virginia and was excused. He was ab sent from the tall meeting of that year; but was in attendance, for the last time, ou the twenty-soventhof May, 1752, when his "last year's absence was excused for indisposition." On the twenty-fourth of May, 1753 it was recorded that "the Rev. Messrs. Thompson and Hugh Conn died since our last Synod and no further notice is taken of his death. He is disposed of in Sprague's Annals of the American pulpit in a note of about ten lines in length; It has already been, mentioned that he had three daughters ; one of these was married to a llev. Mr. Zanchey, wha liv ed at Baflalo, Prince Edward, Va., and another to Roger Lawson, who removed from Iredell County, then Rowan, North Carolina to Georgia the ancestor of Roger Lawson Gamble, a man of some prominence in that State, a few years ago; and a connection of Judge Hugh Lawson White of Tennessee. A third one, (but the order of their ages is not known,) by the name of Elizabeth, was married to a Mr. Bakeiyoue of the oldest settlers on Davidsou Creek, in the lower end of Ire dell county, and in what was afterwards called Centre Congregation, near the road from Salisbury to Liucolnton, by Beattie's Ford and about five miles from the latter. Now it appears from the traditions of the country,"that he came out here to the house of his-son-iu-law, iu the summer of 1751, which explains, in part, why he was absent from the fall meeting of Syn od in September of that year. He was the first minister of the gospel, probably, of anj- denomination, who visited this region to preach. It is supposed that he came at the solicitations of Moses Win dow, George Davidson and other settlers on the same creek in the vicinity of his sou-iu-law, who hail known him in Penn sylvania. The latter was living in 1751, near the torn on that creek, on the road by Centre church to Statesville. He seems to have come out here for the purpose of remaining, and hence it is difficult to un derstand a statement in Foote's sketches of North Carolina, where he speaks of "Mr. Patillo and another young man who had engaged to go to Pennsylvania and: com mence their studies, under the care and tuition of Rev. Mr. John Thompson, who was at this time in Carolina, on a mission to tho new settlements. While waiting, in the summer of 1751, for Mr. Thomp son's return from Carolina, the young man who had engaged to go with Mr. Patillo to Pennsylvania, abandoned the design of preparing for the ministry. Like the prophet of old, traveling to the Mount of God, the old man having fought a good fight and contended earn -eastly for the faith in the middle States and Virginia, took his staff and came to lay the foundation where others had not been before him. An apecdote is told of his traveling from Prince.Edward here on foot. At some, house where he lodged, he inquired in the morning how his horse ; jiad fared during the night. Tho lady of the house replied that he had fared very Well, sh knew) for she had fed, him with her own hands He said to her, "do not tell tne a falsehood, my good lady, for that ii all the horse I have," pointing to his staff. While here, he visited the new settlements around, within a radius of twenty miles from home. He had a stand, as it is call ed, for preaching, at William Morrison's, near Concord church on Third Creek, six miles north-west of Statesville; another in the bounds of what is now Fourth Creek church ; another, in Third Creek congregation; another, at Cathey's Meeting house, Thyatira, ten miles from Salisbury; another, where was Osborne's meeting house; another, just below Davidson Col lege, a little to the right of the road, near the lower end of the village as "you go South, where is now standing a large poplar tree, about twenty feet in circum ference a little above the ground, beneath which, according to tradition handed down by old men, they had preaching iu the first settlement of the country, and some commenced burying; their dead there in expectation that a church would be erect ed on the spot. Probably he had another stand further south in the region of Hope well and Sugar .Creek churches. It is said that he went on his circuit on horse-back, prepared to encamp wherever night over look him, hoppling his horse and turning him loose to feed upon the abundant and luxurious pea-vines which continued green nearly all winter. People in these new settlements went gTeat distance to his appionjments ; some times, it is said, he had twenty infants to baptize at one service. He made these circuits, and justly, sources of profit to himself, by looking out and having surveyed for himself tracts of the best land, which he conveyed to his friends for a small consideration, as they i migrated hither. The Deed from him for a tract of six hundred tnd forty acres on Fifth Creek, about five miles east of Statesville, to the father of the Rev. James Hall, D. D., is in our possession, witness ed )y his daughter, Elizabeth Baker, nine pounds, Virginia currency, about thirty dollars, is the consideration mentioned iu this Deed. In it, mention is made of two other tracts surveyed for him, on the same creek. The date is February 1752. The place where Col. Thos. A. Alison now li ves, on Fifth creek, was surreyed for him, 1751. Also where Wm. Swan lives, on Fourth creek. We have already spoken of his making his home with his son-in- : - i r fit i' law, Baker ; but the latter was not a man of such habits as to be always agreeable society to the aged preacher, for we must suppose that he was at least sixty years old by 1753 ; and he had a cabin built but a little distance from the house, iu which he spent most of his time, when at home. Aud, at length, where he studied and prayed, there he died ; and where he gave up the ghost, there, under the floor of his cabin, as in the case the great imposter, Mohammed, "he was piously interred, by the hands of his nearest kinsman, on the same spot on which he expired." And where he was buried there he will be raised at the last ; day but no one knows now the very spot no monument was erected. Ah old lady, Mrs. White, who died a few years ago, couldpoint out the part of the grave yard in which he was laid ; but not the exact spot. This was the beginning of what is known in this day as Bakers' grave-yard, one of the oldest in the region. The matter of building a church near the spot seems never to have becu agitated ; though it is a very uncommon thing for Presby terians to deposit their dead except where there is or is expected to be a church erected; but most of the families in the neighborhood began to bury by the side of the grave of the man of God, aud they have in many cases continu ed to do so until the present day ; though it is not on any public road, aud a stranger might pass along quite near it without knowing the vicinity of the sa cred spot. The names of Brevard, Wins low, Wilson, Courior, McConnel, Givens, Lawson, White, etc., are hero found on the monuments. His daughter, who married a Baker, had a family of five children ; and her husband died soon after her father. One of her sons inherited the farm and occu pied the homestead for a time ; wheu he, with other members of the family, migrat ed to the South-west. At the close of tho late war, some young men who had been in tho army of Virginia, descendants of the family, came through the country to visit the old spot, eunabulagentis, of which nothing now remains but the cellar of the origiual dwelling-place, the house being transferred to the opposite side of the creek. Mrs. Baker can hardly have remained long a widow ; for she married, for her second husband, Charles Harris of Ca barrus county ; and iu addition to her former family, had two sons. The elder of these, Samuel Harris, went to Princeton College and was graduated there in 1767; taugh school for a time afterward, in the Clio Academy, in Iredell county, North Carolina; returned to Princeton, and officia ted as Tutor in the College, w here he died in 1789. The second son, Charles, was born in 1762, and became the late Dr. Chas. Harris, a physician of great repute iu his day the father of the present Chas. j. and Wm. Shakespeare Harris, who are among the most respectable citizens of the county. Mr. Harris died on the fourth of July 1776, and his wife a few weeks afterwards, ' It seems etr&ttgB that a man of so much talent, piety and usefulness ; so prominent in the history of the Presbyterian church in this country, should thus have passed out of view, and the very place of his burial remain so long unknown. Webster's History of the Presbyterian Church quotes Dr. Alexander as saying'He lies in Buf faloe (Virginia) grave-yard without a stone." ..... Mr. Foote, the author of the "sketches of North Carolina," .wheij preparing that volume, seems not to hav known the place, though he must . have often passed along the public road vithin a short dis tance of it a cultivatedeld lies between it and the oadeadngfromalslmiy to Liucolnton. Rev. Messrs. IcMordie and Donaldson Were sent out by the Synod of. Philadel phia, in 1753, with special directions to pay attention to the vacancies in North Carolina, between the Yadkin and Cataw ba rivers. This would exactly, cover the ground occupied by Mr. Thompson. That year, Rev. Hugh McAdden was graduated at Princeton College ; and in 1775, he was licensed aud came through this region of country on a tour he kept a journal of his travels and of the places he visted, a part of which is given iu Foote's sketch es. From this we learn that he passed South, and returned again wit!iu two miles of Mr. Thomsons' grave ; lodged repeatedly in the neighborhood ; and preached at some of the same places as Mr. Thompson, in his circuit, yet makes no allusion to his predecessor who had so recently died. But we presume that most, if not all, the missionaries who came to build on his foundation were men who sympathized in iu opinion with the Acic side; while he was the hated and maligned leader of the Old. The troublesof the Indian and French wars, for a time occupied a good deal of attention : there were no religious news papers; aud few papers of any kind were published in the country. Soon, also, the disturbances aud calamities of the old Revolutionary War came on. Born by the side of the river Foyle in tho North of Irelaud, where he first' op ened his eyes ou the world, he closed them iu the wilderness, on the banks of the Catawba: au ocean rolls between his cra dle and his grave, au emblem of his storm j' life. Irelaud gave him birth ; Iredell county a grave; the heavenly Jerusalem fiual rest. The place of the first grave can only be arrived at be inference. Some very old graves are marked ; as that of Salnuel Wilson, 1778. Some that appear still older, are those of Hugh Lawson, brother of Roger L.,t and of Moses White. One is a little east of the centre, and the other a little west. An old grave between them may be that of the veteran soldier of the Cross, and the pioneer of the Gospel, in Western Carolina. In Sprague's Annuals of the American Pulpit, vol. Ill, page 22 note, he is said to have died at Buffalo, Prince Edward County, Va. "Dr. Alexander said, belies in Buffalo grave-yard without a stone." Webster's History, parre 35G. We have a conveyance written and signed by him self to the father of Dr. James Hall, of a Survey of a tract of land, C40 acres, on Fifth creek in 1751, March, where Mr. Hall, was the living witnessed by Eliza beth Baker. He had 2 or 3 other tracts on the same creek ; one where Mr. Wm. Swan now lives. Iu a letter dated July 22, 1847, Mr. Foote say 8, "I had never heard that the crave of Thompson was on the Catawba river, before your letter informed me of it It contains the ashes of a great and good man his oppossers being judges." We gather the following additional facts from Mr. Foote's sketches of Va., pages, 118, 111). Mr. Thompson visited Va., 1739, spent some time iu the -neighborhood of Staun ton on Rockfish in Nelson on Cubcreek, 111 . JlllUiklV illlU J 11 UUlJluiill vruuvj . "He took un voluntarv collections for - w preaching the Gospel," says the manu script history of Lexington Presbytery. "and in doing justice to his memory, it is proper to observe, that ho was active in promoting tho Presbyterian cause iu Va." He was a man of great vigor, and took an activo part in the affairs of the church. He lived for a 6hort time at Buffalo, to which place Mr. Sankey his son-in-law, removed with his cougrega tiou, and continued their pastor several years. We find in the Minutes of the General Aasemblv. 1789. the name of Richard Sankey, pastor of Buffalo Creek church. Mr. Thompson removed (as above) to N. C. and died in the bounds of centre congregation. Of one of Mr. Thompson's publications, Rev. B. M. Smith, D.D. of Union Semi nary, Va., says the book I have belonged to mv grandfather who was an elder of o the old Cumberland Church, one of the earliest organized in these parts it is a plain but very full explication of the Shorter Catechism, somewhat in the man ner of Fisher and Vincient. He has a long quotation iu his dedication from the prefare of the latter. The explanations are so full as to forbid the idea that he expected them to be committed to mem ory. He gives au appendix containing, 1, the XXXIX Articles re- uncea to tne form of a catechism in order to render them more easy and ready to be committed to memory. 2. "The Assertions of Lambeth," agreed upon by the Arch bishops, Bishops, &c, 1595; of which mere are IX. 3. Articles of the Church of Ireland from XI to XXXVIII inclusive. The title is "An explication of the Shorter Catechism, composed by the Assemblv of Divines, commonly called the Westminis ter Assembly; wherein the several ques tions ana answers of the said Shorter Catechism are resolved and explained, &c, &c By John Thompson. M, A. & V. D. M. in the county of Amelia, Williamsburg. Printed by William Parks, MDCCXLIX. i4y, was not long before he removed to N. C, which must have been in 1750 or SOUTHERN GOLD MINES. Some North Carolina merchants and farmers residing at or near Charlotte, iu that State, have organized a mining-board for the purpose of promoting the mineral interest of the Commonwealth, and col lecting all the information that can be obtained respecting the undeveloped as well as the prospected and worked depos its of ore around them. From the statistics which the new board has already collected, it appears that the gold-producing area of the State is no less than twelve thousand square miles in ex tent, on which about one hundred and forty mines are now in operation, and that the total yield recorded up to June of last year was as much as $10,370,492. In addition to gold, the State is rich in deposits of copper, coal, iron, soap-Btone, manganese, whetstone, and other valuable rocks and minerals, the iron beds espe cially being so pure that in Granville county a hundred pounds of ore taken from a vein of inexhaustible quantity yields eighty pounds of soft, malleable metal. Surely, the day can not be far distant when all these advantages will bo turned to profitable account. That they have not been so already is that the State has neglected itself; that those at whose doors nature has laid her richest stores have overlooked her gifts and have been con tent to plod along in the way of their fa thers, growing cotton and buying the corn and pork their own fields and farms should have supplied. That a rapid change is coming over the spirit of the North Carolinians is manifest from many circumstances, rot the least of which is tho organization of this mining board and the efforts being made to open up the navigation of the Yadkin and the Pee Dee rivers. There is a tendency, however, in these excellent movements, which should be guarded against. This tendency is to appeal to Congress for help, in place of relying mainly on organized and judicious-self effort to achieve the developments and improvements needed. Congress is but a frail reed to trust to in such matters, and its appropriations, when granted, arc too often squandered in mis conducted contracts and expensive engi neering experiments. The Northern aud Eastern public, on the other hand, possess an inexhaustible purse, and, as a rule, every dollar they put out does good work. It is to the latter source our neighbors must apply their chief attention. The bare facts are irood enough to insure a generous recognition if they are persist ently laid before the monied and working Northerners. Carolina is ten fold as rich as the Black Hills, and but a quarter of the distance away, but thousands are thronging to the latter while the former is utterly ignored. The reason is simple enough. The Black Hills are well adver tised by those who settle there, and by those who take the settlers there. The railways vie with the farmer and diggers in extolling the barren riches of their bleak mountains. Let the Carolinas do but half as much for themselves, and they w ill have little need to petition Congress or deplore the blindness of Eastern spec ulators. The South, X.T. Governor Tilden has been interviewed on the Florida Fraud exposure. The Philadelphia Times' special correspondent says that Mr. Tilden in a conversation with a prominent political friend on the recent Florida developments, said that he had no part whatever, directly or iudi- rectly, iu procuring the confession of the Florida ballot thieves. He said that he had neither advised in favor or against the passage of the Electoral Commission act; that he had submitted to it as the law and felt bound to obey the judgment of the lawful tribunal that decided against him, and that he could not disturb the peace of the country by individually, or through others acting under his direction, hrinfr fixnoaures of well-known frauds to the surface. He spoke with great cau tion about what might be his duty in case the frauds should be clearly proven be fore a competent tribunal, and reach to the Presidential title by implicating ita possessor, and avoided any direct expres sion of conviction on the subject. There is no question but that many of Mr. Til den's friends, who have hitherto regarded the Presidential issue as -settled, believe now that Hays will be so implicated in guilty knowledge of the Louisiana and Florida frauds that there will be no party willintr to sustain him in the Presidential chair. The Florida confessions raised the Ques tion squarely, shall the title to the Presi dency be tried t Charles Francis Adams. one of the most prominent of the North ern politicians who have denounced the electoral fraud, is quoted as looking with disfavor on any attempt to Mexicanize our institutions. In SDite of th belief that Mr. Hayes was elected Z fraud and is a failure in office, Mr. Adams thinks it "better to bear the ills we have than fly to others that we know not of." He says: "The establishment of a sound, permanent form of government is a very difficult thing to accomplish, and no mat ter how stable a government might be, the slightest confusion or crash is always sure to cause trouble and upset matters. I r; therefore!; am iri favnr f W .M.viniljj U4 ters to remain in statu quo. I have arriv ed at this couclusion after giving it con siderable thought and study." The Cause of the Hard runes. Colora do papers print a letter from Hon. James Belford on the financial question, which closes: "And now. in conclusion. r. , , x- mit me to say that the disease of this na tion to-day is its vast indebtedness ; its indebtedness growing out of the war, its indebtedness incurred by wild specula tions and unprofitable ventures ; its in debtedness born of the fever of extrava gance for foreign silks, velvets, laces, and gewgaws indebtedness incurred in con structing railroads"managod adversely to the interests of those who paid for the construction ; its indebtedness contracted in erecting gorgeous churches, temples where religion has every grace except the heart. For this disease experience can suggest but one cure industry, economy, and time. This cure disregarded, the fever and delirium will increase until bankruptcy overtakes us all. This cure applied, the recovery, though slow, will be absolutely certain." GRANT ON OUR GENERALS. A correspondent who accompanied Grant on his voyage in the Mediterranean says while on the Vandalia, Grant dis cussed the war aud gave his opinion of his oppoueuts most liberally. He looked upon General Joseph E. Johnston as the ablest on the Southern side. Lee, he says, had a splendid genius aud thorough ly understood the theory of war, but he was not so able in practice. Jackson, he considered the most overrated man of the war. The opinions will, I am sure, be counter to those of the future historians Already Sheibert, of the Royal Prussian Engiueers, has shown what a host "Stone wall" was and how his chieftain felt his loss. Independents. Iudepentdents of what T About election day they are going to be very independent of election. These are some of the "bold men" that the radicals want to break up the democratic organi zation with. They need not be making pro mises about the way iu which they are go ing to serve the people. The people don't want to be served iu that independent way. They want their own servants We don't believe that these independent gentlemen have thought very well over the matter, and we do hope that they will, on their account, not on any other. They are going to be so awfully lonesome when the result of the election comes in. eigh Observer. From 45 to 33 Cents. Lexington Recorder. At the late meeting of the county com. missioners for Davidson county, the county tax Was reduced from 45 to 38 cents on the one hundred dollars worth, making it equal y th the State tax. Both together now make 7G cents in place of 83 as before. Would it not be well for fair-minded men, irrespective of party, who desire honest government aud low-taxes, to contrast this action of a Democratic board with the Radical management a few years back f This is a sample of the reform that Democratic governments are bring ing about all over the country, from Con gress down to the smallest bodies. Sea beau jewelry is becoming popular These beans are found- iu quantities at Key West. They are of a beautiful cherry red color, with a deep blaok dividing line, aud are susceptible of a very high polish. They are no doubt misnamed sea beans, and are probably floated to the gulf shores from more tropieal climes, where they have tloated down stream into the salt water, which hardens them. Jacksonville, Texas, telegram, April 8, to the Galveston News: A hot wind storm prevailed last night, the first that has been known in this portion of the State for years. Persons who were ex posed to it felt as though their heads were on fire or flames were around their heads and hands. Oue, or two persons who were at the railroad depot at the time and ex posed to the wind commenced undressing, thinking their clothing was ou tire. A few days ago in Cherokee county, Iowa, a farmer's horse was shot and killed. The guu-wadding was picked up where tho shooting took place, and consisted of a piece of newspaper which was carefully spread out fiat. Stispiciou rested upon a man who had in his possession a double-bar-relled guu, and he was ariestcd. One barrel of the gun was loaded. The chargo was carefully drawn, the paper waddiug smoothed out, when it was found to match , exactly the wadding found iu tho field where tho horse was shot. i -t Th Church in &o House The Helper, which we heartily tommcad to our families and Sunday-school teachers, " has the following very proper observations on this topic : ' This is an expression used four times by St Paul in sending his Christian salutations to particular saints mentioned in his epis tles. The expression is very striking and significant. It suggests tbere should be a church in every house. jus, ia any houses have everything else iathem except the " church. There is wealth, elegance, refine ment, and all that can gratify and pleass the flesh but no church, no voice of pray er or praise, no instruction in righteousness no observance of Christian ordinances. - To have the church in the house mean. first of all, that the members of that house hold are made members of the church by baptism and confirmation, and that they faithfully attend' the services and ordinan ces of God's house. The church cannot be in every house or family that is not conne teu with the house of God. But after this connection ha3 been estab lished, other features are essential to maintain the church in the house. Instruction in the Word of God and doctrines of Christianity is one of these. This is to be done in tho house by parents whom God has placedin this position and relation that they may teach their children the truth as it is in Jesus. No Sunday-school or other institution for the instruction of the young dare be made a substitute for this. They may be blessed aids and assistants to home Instruction, but must never be the cause for laying such homo instruction aside. Another feature of the church in the house is its religious worship. To have the church in the house, that house must have its clos ets and its altar where prayer is wont to bo made. It must be a house where the spirit of Christ rules and controls the inmates; where righteousness and. love and peace pre vail, and arc manifested in the way its mem bers speak to and treat each other. It must bea house from which every uaholybook and periodical and every unclean portrait or picture is excluded, and across thle thrcsh hold of which the slime of the serpent's trial irnot iound. Such a house is a true home, and the dearest spot on earth to its inmates. Blessed in its purifying influence on all who come under its roof, and thrice blessed in the strong hold it retains on the memories of those who, in the course of life, must go thence into the world. Well may J3t. Paul say "greet" such homes t They are to-be envied far above all gaudy palaces and tur reted castles where every luxury abounds, but where the peace of God is unknown. Where the church is in the house, be it but hut or hovel, there is love and joy aud light even in poverty and suffering, and a typo and earnest of the church in the house not made with hands, eternal in the heav ens. Socialirm in Germany. " The Socialist movement in Germany Is assuming somewhat alarming proportions. In some of the large towns it seems to be ap proaching a crisis. In Berlin Socialist ar tisans are daily declaring their determina tion to leave the churehpand it is thought that still larger numbers would secede were it not for the fine exacted from persons ch claring such an intention. Socialists in Germany are atheists. The movement in its religious aspect is the outcome of the in-, fidelity and formalism that have been for a long time growing within the church. Poli tically, it is only another phase of the French Commune, Its strength and sudden growth may-be judged frouvthe fact that whereas in 1871 the Socialist party could command but 120,000 votes and two members in Par. liament, it registered last year 497,000 votes, nearly one tenth of the whole voting popu-. lation, and returned twelve members to tho National Legislature. Of its recent rapid strides the conservative community seems to have been almost unaware. On a late Sun-, day, however, a demonstration was made at the funeral of one of the Socialist lead-, crs which has done a good deal to arousu sentiment and disclose thegravc dangers that lie hidden beneath the surface. Tho deceased was one August Ileinch, a foreman in a Semi-Socialistic printing-house, and a successful propagator ot Socialistic doctrines, His death was suposed to-be occasion ed by excitement and over-work in this cause. In the funeral procession fully ten thousand jwrsons took part. Every ono wore the red badge of the Commune. As many as a thousand women were among tho number, and even little chrildren, decked with crimson scarfs. Six membcrs-of Par liament, also ornamented with, red headed the line and lent official dignity to the oc-. casion. In all the streets a vast multitude! of astonished spectators was gathered. " At the cemetery belonging to one of the athei istic societies, very concise and informal ceremonies were held, consisting only of re-T" volutionary and eulogistic speechei, and singularly enough, a Lutheran choral, there being as yet no distinctively Socialist hymns or musicV An ill-judged attempt was lately made by some of the clergy to establish a counter-movement by organizing a party of Christian Socialists." As the fundamental doctrine of Socialism is disbelief iu Christi-. anity, and the two are absolutely irrcconci!- able, of course the effort was a failure, and only brought contempt, on its originators, Thoughttul people are awaiting further dc-. velopments of the movement with no littlo concern. Chr. Vnivn..' - t I I f f: 4 v -Ml 9 i i y i. I 4- i 1 I. - i