THE STANDARD
UNTIL
JANUARY i, 1889,
75 OIEZTSTTS.
r
IT
1
-UNTIL
JANUARY 1, 1889,
75 CZEDSTTS-
VOLUME 1.
CONCORD, N. C, APRIL 20, 1888.
NUMBER 15.
Urn a-IVTink a' ttiit, IHIS MAnVAaV
lOl-iViNJU'iVltJJ.-
MOTHER (iltOUIXii OLl.
Mothers hair is turningwhite ;
More she feels the cold,
her step is not so light
Mother's growing old.
Growing old! each silvered hair.
That we've helped to make
Tells of self-denials rare
For her children's sake.
Mother tires quicker now ; ; ,
Less her dear hands hold ;
Lines are deepening on her brow
Mother's growing old.
(J rowing old! Those lines of care,
That, alas, we've laid,
Tells her heart aches and many a
pray'r,
For her deal ones made.
Mother reads her Bible through
Glasses riaimed with gold;
Ah. 'tis plain and sad to view
Mother's growing old.
Growing old that she might give
Us a mother's love ;
Helping us so we may live
"With her when above. ,
Mother's form is spare and bent,
Illness we behold ;
For us life and strength are spent
Making her growing old.
Growing old 'lest we astray
In wayward path might roam ;
Growing old to give each day
Us a home, sweet home !
m
11F.SET BY lU ltfil.ARS.
In the
fall of ISM I was cm-
plou-d a;
a clerk in a general store
at a cross roads in Southern Indiana.
The store, a church, and a black
Miiith shop, with two residences,
made up the buildings, and the fam
ilies of the merchant and the blacks-nut
h were the only residents. The
country about was thickly settled up,
however, and trade was ahvavs good.
liefore the merchant engaged me he
hmv,.1 mo sWcrnn .-i rovolvor
....v-v. .....
- - o " ,,
and a spring gun, which were used,
or on hand'to be used, to defend the
' l
"the"! - 'y Pft not only Uie matter with a Star reporter. "A
1 h uf pluck enou-ii to defend the down on mv hands and knees, and as j vwl the store, and probably my life, j pavty cf us," he said, "took a saning
place against the marauders he did 1 reached thy opening I settled down j hut wped out a very desperate gang. veS8el at. Baltimore in March, and
Lr m t u,,v r5r.n itil on mv stomach. LNcul oik Mm. . we were seven months and foui teen
lil 1 T 111 i 1 rvl.-Ai ii'Aii lil mif h O t A i I -1 1U 1 1 1 tllHV
........1 I.!;,,.!......! fho.VuL.f ih.L ,, ,,rf:,; s,n.l whh-h i
bv double locks. i
The highways were full of tramps, !
and there wer hundreds of men who 1
nau ueieiiiuuju to niahc a imng oy
i i .1 i : i ... .1. . i:. i. i
uiie other means than labor. Sev
eral attempts had been made to rob
the store, and it had come to pass ;
that no clerk wanted to sleep there I
alone. !
The merchant seemed satisfied
.til r
w an the answer l gave him, ana on nau so many arucies nanging up
a certain Monday morning I went to that no bullet had a chance of reach
work. That same night a store about j ing the safe. I was wondering what
four miles away was broken fntoand to do w hen I heard one of the men
robbed and the clerk seriously hurt, i whisper:
Two nights later three horses were j "It's all nonsense. We might
stolen in our neighborhood. At the work here a whole week and not hit
end of a week a farmer who was on ; it."
his wav home from our
;tore w as
robbed on the highway. If I had and you wouldn't," protested an
not been a light sleeper from habit, ' other.
these occurrences would have tended "O, dry up !" put in a third voice,
to prevent too lengthy dreams as I j " What we want to do is to go up
lay iu my little bedroom at the front and bring that counter-hopper down
of the second story. The revolver j and make him open the box."
wa always placed under mv pillow ! "I'll give the cussed thing a few
and the shotgun stood within reach
The spring gun was set about mid
way of the lower floor. It was a
double-barreled shotgun, each barrel
containing a big charge of buckshot,
and the man who kicked the string
and discharged the weapon would
never know w hat hurt him.
It did not seem possible that any
o:i could break into the store with
out arousing me. There was no door
to my room, and after the people in
my neighborhood had gone to bed I
('Mild hear the slightest noise in the
store. I had looked the place over
for a weak spot, and had failed to
find it, but my own confidence came
r.ar proving my destruction.
I should have told you, in describ
ing the store, that just over the spot
where we set the spring run was an
opening through which we hoisted
isnu lowered such goods as were
tored for a time on the second floor.
When not in use this opening was
covered by a trap door.
Toward evening, on the tenth day
of my clerkship, I hoisted up a lot
of pails and tulxs, and had just fin
ished when trade became so brisk
that I was called to wait upon cus
tomers. Later on I saw that I had
left the trap door open, and I said to
mvself that I would let it go until I
went to bed.
The store had the only burglar
proof safe for miles around, and it
w:is customary for the farmer who
had a hundred dollars or so to leave
it. with us. He received an envelope
in which to enclose it, and he could
take out and put in as he liked. On
this evening four or five farmers
cniue in to deposit, and, as I after
ward figured up, we had about $1,500
iu the safe.
There were two strange faces in
the crowd that evening. One be
longed to a roughly-dressed, evil-eyed
nuin, who announced himself as a
drover, and the other as a profes
sional tramp. I gave the latter a
p'eee of tobacco and some crackers
aud cheese and lie soon went away,
and we were also so busy up to nine
o'clock that I did not give the drover
much attention. When we came to
shut up the store lie had gone from
mv mind altogether. We counted
up the cash, made some charges in
the day book, and it was about ten
o'clock when the merchant left.
1 was tired out, and I took a can
dle and made the circuit of the store,
set the spring gun, and went to bed.
I had to pass within six feet of the:
trap door as 1 went to my room, but
I did not see it It was rather a
'chilly night iu October, and we had
no fires yet, and as I got under the
blankets the warmth was so grateful
that I soon fell asleep. It was the
lirst night I had gone to bed without
thinking of robbers and wondering
how I should act in case they came
in.
I did not know when I fell asleep.
Suddenly I found myself half up
right in bed, and there was an echo
in the store as if the fall of some
thing had aroused me. It was one
o'clock, and I had been asleep almost
three h uirs. Leaning on my elbow,
I strained mv ears to catch the
slightest sound, and after a minute I
heard a movement down stairs.
While I could not exactly say w hat
it was. a sort of instinct told me
! that it was made bv some human
i
! hi-mov
Everything on the street was as
silent as the grave. Mv window cur-
j tain was up, and I could see that the
sky had thickened up and was very
I black. 1 did not wait for the noise
to be repeated. 1 was just as sure
that some one was in the store as if
I had already seen him, and I crept
softlv out of bed, drew on my trou-
sers, and moved out into the big could be put on trim, ana ne men ; goJ prio. lo this discovery In
room, having the revolver in my got four years in prison. ! dians and a few missionary priests
hand. There was no door at the!. 1Ther1wl,ole, thlI, was il l"10 1 had been collecting some gold in
'head of the stairs. 1 intended to go
there and listen down the stairway. rg mr cauea "ciaw imiiinier im , ;
As I was moving across the room, and he had hidden himself in the j
which was then prettv clear of store that night .and then let his pals
goods, I suddenly recollected this in 1Y the back door They had a I
opening and changed mv course tohr and wagon in the rear of the j
reach it. It was terribly dark in the building, and the plan was to rob the j
room,
and one unfamiliar with the i
.
Thorn was ji dim li.rht down shnrs.
. -
That settled the fact that some one
was in the store. After a minute 1 1
T
located the intruders to a foot. They
were at the safe in the front of the j
store. I drew mvself forward and
i . i. i .i j.i i
looked down the opening. 1 could
see a lighted candle and two or three
dark figures at the safe, and could
hear the combination being worked,
My first thought was to drop my
hand down and open fire in their
direction, but I remembered that we
IT j l .. 1. " i
" Hut I told von to bring the tools
more trials," said the first man, and
I heard him working awav again at
the safe.
My eyes could not have told me
the number of robbers, but my ears
had. There were three of them,
and they were no doubt desperate
and determined men. They spoke
of bringing me down to open the
safe as if no resistance was antici
pated or taken into account. Indeed,
they might well reason that they
had meat their mercy.
The rain was now falling, the
night was very dark, and a pistol
shot iu the store could not have been
heard in either of the dwellings. If
they had reflected that I might be
armed they would have offset it with
the fact that I was a boy of eighteen
with a girl s face and probably a
girl's nerve. I don't deny that I was
a bit rattled, and that my lip would
i. i i r a
quiver in spite ot me, out i was at
the same time fully determined to
protect the store if it cost me my
life. How to get at the tellOws was
what bothered nie, but that trouble
was soon solved.
"There," whispered the man at
the combination as he let go of it,
" I won't fool here another minute.
That kid knows the combination,
and we can make him work it Corr.e
on.
They are coining up stairs. The
best place for me would be at the
head of the stairway. The stairs
had a half turn in them, and I could
fire upon the first man who came
within range. I heard the men com
ing back to the stairway, and un
nerve gave way. It wasn't from any
cowardice, but the knowledge that I
was to kill a human being upset me.
I decided to retreat to my room, and,
if they persisted in coming that far,
I would shoot. The trio had rub
bers on their feet, but they came up
stairs without trying very hard to
prevent making a noise. The one
who came first had the candle, and,
as he got to the head of the stairs 1
saw a knife in his other hand. They
made no delay in approaching my
room, and, with a great effort, 1
braced mvself for what I saw must
happen. They could not see me
until within three or four feet of the
door, and their first intimation that
I was out of bed was when they
heard me call out:
" Stop, or I'll shoot !''
I had them covered with the wea
pon, and for fifteen seconds there
was dead silence-
J heu they got a
plan, iao man with the candle
dashed it on the floor, and I suppose
they meant to rush in on me in the
dark, but I checkmated it by opening
fire. They then either meant to re
treat downstairs or toward the rear
of the floor, for I saw the three to
gether moving off, and I fired at
their dim figures. . Three seconds
later there was a great shout of hor
ror, followed by the tremendous re
port of the double-barreled spring
gun, and then there was absolute
silence. I think I stood in the door,
shaking like a leaf, for fully three
minutes before the silence was brdken
by a groan. Then it came to me
that the robbers had fallen through
the open door upon the cord leading
to the gun. 1 struck a match, lighted
my own candle, and, going to the
opening, saw three bodies lying be
low. Running back to the bedroom
to re-charge my revolver, I then
went down stairs to investigate. It
was as I suspected. The three had
pitched down together. The top of
one's head had been blown off by the
shot, a second had a hole in his
breast as big as your list, while the
third, who was responsible for the
groans, .was severely wounded in his t
Ig3. " was three months oetore he ;
jou. , i no "in out wa, a v. imago ,
store ot goou, as wen as to gei ai
the money m the sate. A hit ot
. .
i ne hook akciii m riuiiipu.
.
, Me W53 very pretty woman, ana
ieut!auc uu:,tl4 'iuiwm.....s.,
.n l -w It.Mi'.uf Itlit I uiU' 1 Ti 111 11 ir r ! J k'lUi
"e helield up one
adSaid impetuoush :
ow sir, i want ou to
vor anting and look at my
new
i
".'ui
Then she blushed charmingly, as
if embarrassed at my look of amaze-
meat. 1 said :
"Mv dear madam, I am very busy
todavand I beg that vou'll excuse
me." "
She sat down beside me and made
herself comfortable at once.
" Now, don't let me hear another
word about that; you are going to
buv a book of course."
" Isut, my dear
She took my
hand quietly but
hnnly in hers.
" I know you are busy man vou
write all day and are too tired to
read you hardly find time to look at
the paper ; you "
" Yes, madam ; that's precisely the
case."
She chucked me deliberately under
the chin.
" Do you mean to say that you
are going to refuse me a miserable
little one dollar for this beautiful
book y
I gasped feebly and glanced at my
office boy. He was evidently inter
ested. I said:
" You must be a successful book
ajrent : vou have the most fetching
qualities I have ever seen."
liash words'.
She rose at once, and sitting down
upon the arm of my chair she threw
one arm around my neck, and bend
ing down looked tenderly into my
eyes.
" Now, you know, darling, you're
going to do just what I say ; you are
going to buy
I distinctly heard my office boy
chuckle to himself. I protested. I
said :
" My dear madam, this is really
embarrassing do you know I am a
married man that 1 "
She replied :
I have nothing to do with that;
I am here for business."
I replied :
" That statement is unnecessary j
the fact is quite apparent. But Ini
really fond of my wife. You have
evidently got hold of the wrong
man."
She seemed a trifle hurt at this,
but she did not take her arm from
around my neck. She remained in
this compromising attitude appar
ently lost in thought. I broke into
a cold sweat.
" I tell you what I'll do," she said,
suddenly, bringing her face danger
ously near my own, " if yuo'll take
a copy of that book I'll promise not
to kiss vou before I leave your
office !"
I bought the book. Town Topics.
The rcoster would be a much more
popular bird if he could only be in
duced to feel that there is no real,
vital necessity for his reporting his
whereabouts b.tween midnight and
3 a. m. We know that Le is at home,
in the bosom of his family. So are
we, but we don't get up in the night
! to brag about it. Burdette.
THE ROOT OF AL.I. EVIL.
f
A Little Hit or Yellow Metal That
Started the California Void Fever.
The oiigiual causeof. the great
California gold fever the first fever
germ is at the National museum,
at "Washington. It & securely seal
ed in"a little glass bottle, and there
is no longer any danger of conta-
gion. it is a nuie pit ceoi natteuena
gold !bout the size of a gold dollar.
It is the piece found by Marshall
while digging a mill-race the year
before the lever set in.; It was sent
direct to the Smithsonian in August,
1848. The following is k copy of the
letter that accompanied i it :
San Francisco, August 23, 1818.
This paper contains the first piece
of gold ever discovered in Upper
Cilifornia. It was fouodin Febru
ary, 1848, by James W. Marshall, in
th race of Capt. JoLn A. Sutter's
saw-mill, about foity-five miles from
Sutter's Fork, on the south branch
of the American Fork. It was btat
en out with a hammer by Mr. Mar
shall to test its maTeabiiity. It is
presented to the National institute,
Washington, D. C. J. L. Folsjm.
J. L. Folsrm was a captain in the
United States service. There are
many pieces of gold in California
claimed to be the first found, but
none of them have the facts in favor
of their claim. The discovery of
this piece of gold by Marshall led to
the search for more, and it was
f i It was the seed that up to
lg80 had roaUced $1, 200,000, 000 in
of the bufc tbis
first ,ce founJ iu Vie
. h t
to ( jifornia in
rush toCa lilm nuui 1)
Dr. It. M Dawes, the dentist of
West W a.vhmgton, was one of
torty-mncrs who buuu-
; AYashineton. lie was taiKiug oei
days making the trip to nan xmii
. . . .. . j 11 -rn
. - . ,i
; Cisco. There weie my brother and
; ex Seimtor Sargent, then a local re-
; tel. iu Washiugton, one oi two
- ... i
other Washington boys, and myself,
! tlmvo woe mit'n nmnbpr of I
l& L 1 1 1 UII1U " ' ' I "
otlurs fvom Baltimore to uike up ihe
party. Tl at was the way Sargent first
i we"1 we niaieueaue. --i -"
i sent?d in the Senate. We had a
i Ptty hard voyage. The captaiu of
j the vessel treated us so badly that
i when we got to Rio de Janeiro we
i complained to the consul and he
j had him reiaoved. Thii caused a
j delay of fourteen days. Then at
I Valparaiso wo had to unload a steam
i engine and other cargo, which caus-
el dplav of twenty days more. It
was a very weary voyage ue oie w e
got to San Francisco. Sargent did
not go aU the way with us. He got
off at Valparaiso, and from there
sailed to San Francisco in another
vessel. I remember that he studied
Spanish all the way from Baltimore
to Rio de Janeiro.
"When w,e arrived at San 1 rnncis
co several of our party who were
carpenters slopned there. Tr ey got
! 26 a day for working at their ti ade
there, and thought it better than
taking their chances in the mines.
There were six m my party who
went into prospecting. Everything
was fever and excitement there then.
All torts of sensational reports of
big finds were circulated, but there
was not as much outlawry as many
i
people suppose. In San Francis o
there was considerable gambling.
It was not much of a city then. All
the buildings were frame, and the
gambling-houses were like the bar
racks they put up for soldiers. The
gaming-rooms were in the front and
the bar in the rear. Gamblers would
pay $50 a night for each table. They
never counted the money but just
stacked it up on the table, and
measured it in that way. The gam
biers were the only men who woie
white shirts.
"There were no courts. If a man
committed an offense in the dig
gings he was tried by twelve men
selected for the occasion, and their
decisions were prompt and just. For
that reason there were few crimes
committed. Our gold was left in
the camp without any one to guard
iL, and it was never stolen. I would
sometimes leave a day's diggings in a
pan out in the suu to dry. No one
ever disturbed it. For serious
crimes the jury of twelve would
hang a man ; for petty larceny they
would horsewhip him and give him
twenty-four hours tj leave camp. If
a man sunk a pit and threw a pick
or shovel iu it, he could go on
prospecting, and if he returned any
time within ten days he would find
his claim to the diggings respected
"When our party landed," he con
tinued, "we went to Sacramento,
where we got three jToke of oxen and
a wagon that come overland, and
started for the diggings, wed stock
ed with provisions. We went first
to South fork, then to North fork,
or Feather river. There was s.
much mud that we had to abandon
our cattle an .1 wagon and carry our
p'acks on our backs. We did pretty
well, but I was sick and had to give
up mining for awhile. When we
dissolved partnership at North fork
a sack of flour fell to my share and I
sold it for $200. I then bought a
boat and gun and shot quail and jack'
rabbits and sold them in San Fran-
cisco. Qaail brought $7 and $8 per
dozen dead and $12, alive, and jack
rabbits $7 and 8 each! The second
time I went back to San Francisco
the cholera was raging there. Men
were dropping dead Jike sheep.
"I went to the diggings again, and
we came across a big high rock near
Middle Fork standing high out of
the water,. which whirled in a swift
eddy around it. We knew if there
was any gold in that locality it would
be right in this eddy. So we filled
bags with sand, made a dam to turn
the water aside so that we could get
at it. The very first dip of my
pan brought up $218 worth of gold.
After working there a week we di
vided up. and each got $900 as his
share. There were six of us.
"After we got that hole worked
out we began on the high banks and
ii paid well, but the work was too
dangerous. There were large loose
rocks overhead, and one day I just
saved myself by swinging to a ledge
in time to let one pass under me as
it robed down the bank. After that
we stopped work there. The next
rich place we struck was Onion val
ley. When we got there it was so cold
that we could work enly two hours
a day, but each of us made from $30
to S10 a day. The srold was in
arge nuggets. Some were found
worth $30 to $50. It was very late
when we struck there, and we con Id
not stay long on account of the cold.
We left a party there and my broth-
er told me that they had been snow-
ed in without fuel, and most of them
were severely frost-bitten, and died
from exposure.
"None of us got rich," Dr.Daw;es
contiuued. "The trouble with all
the miners was that they aid not
stay iu one place long enough to
make it pay. If tLey had been con
tent to stay where they were making
10 to $20 a day they might have
done well. But there were always
false reports of immense finds some-
where else, and they would pull up
stakes and move on, only to find
that they had been fooled. No mat-
ter how well they were doing a re-
port of something better carried
them off. In this way they spent as
much in prospecting as they made
in digging. Some of them got terribly
demoralized. I have seen strong
men crying because they couM not
get home to the east. Their folks
could not send them money to bring
them back, and they could not earn
enough.
With all our good luck 1 guess
the most money I hd at auy one
time was about 1,500. Each wreek
the members of the company had a
wav of cnPKsiii!? at. the amount cf .
, V , . 4a,
gold they nau accumulate J,nue man
who came farthest from the mark to
pay for a bottle of whiskey. None
of my company could make out how-
it was that I never' had to pay for
the whiskey. I always gnessedlast,
and put the figures between the tw o
extremes, so that there was always
some one farther from the mark
than I.
it was rouffhiuf? it with a ven
geai.ee out there. I have slept out
in the winter rams without a tent, an enemy to tne one ne is ueraming,
with merely something over my neither condemn your neighbor uu
head to keep the rain from battering beard' for there are al wa-vs two S1les
and little trenches dug
around my body to carry the water
Startling Figures. What start-
ling results one finds iu our railroad
statistics! W e have 340,000 miles of
track enough to girdle", the earth a
dozen times, with several thousand
miles left for side-tracks. More than
half these lines were laid down at a
cost of $6,000,000,000 enough to pay
the public debt four times over
There are 50,000 engines, 50,000 pas
senger coaches, and a million freight
cars, and over 4000 patents have
been taken out lor inventions in
railway machinery and appliance?!
Every year 300,000,000 tons of freight
are carried. For removing this
freight the companies receive an av
erage of 129 cents per ton per mile,
and for each passenger carried they
get 2.51 cents per mne. it requires
a half-million employes to run all
these roads. Aud yet it was only
fifty-six years ago that Peter Cooper
ran the first steam car from Balti-
more to Ellicott's mills at the un
paralleled spt-ed of a mile in every
four and a third minutes.
iustmtented a nutmeg grater whicn
my friends all &ay will bring to mc
not alone fame but an mimei e foi -
tune. Mr. Sampson, began the
frill shylv.
while J coaf s thut 1
n r. rw ,irVi-illxr iTirli'fYVirtm i f ri vim T
Laf i,ar lim tiiinUt m'fr
t i,0,i..Mw,f
vn-.ma- heart's lirst. affection." "How
r rj.V-vrM.0k1 -li,.-
til w fi,.l out how .Le uutiuec era-
I ter goes.''
lr.i-i. "Pt-.t-t-.tt r-v i vn TUr PpADflOi T
. ., , , j Stir around ana get me a cup oi uoi j ,i ot- . a .a 0i
"As.dp from mvnassionate devotion. .. . .? .. , I thau wueu we had Inn
darling," he said tremulously, my ee 1 . j provide for. This tuoug
; o KncU.lec much for a fellow. 1 d just like to , like to emphasize. -
,L;. ,. Tif.r. t ,, know what you women think you're And further, about or
.'II b Urtll Cl 111 lur; cliriur. JL uttil
slander.
There is nothing which wings its
flight so swiftly as calumny; nothing i
which is uttered with more ease; no-
thing which is listened to with more
readiness, or dispersed so widely,
The tongue of slander is never
tired ; in one form or another it
manages to keep itself in constant
employment. Sometimes it drips
honey, and sometimes gall. It is
bitter now, and theu sweet. It in-
'sinuates or assails directly, accord
ing to circumstances. It will hide a
curse under a smooth word, and ad-
minister poison in the phases of love.
Like death, it "loves a shining
mark," and is never so avai'ab'e and
eloquent as when it can blight the
hopes of the noble-minded and soil
the reputation of the pure.
No soul of high estate can take de
light in slander. It proves that some
where in the soul there is a weak
ness a waste, evil nature. Educa
tion and refinement are not proof
against it. They often serve only to
polish the slanderous tongue, iu-
crtase its tact, and give it suppleness i
and strategy.
He that shoots at the stars may
hurt himself, bat not endanger them.
When any man speaks ill of us we
are to make use ot it as a caution,
without troubling ourselves at the
calumny. He is in a wretched case
that values himself upon th opin
ions of others, and depends upon
their judgment for the peace of his
life. The contemit of injurious
words stiflas them, but resentment
rpvi. flipm. TTo tlmK vnlnps him.
self upon conscience, not opinions.
never heeds reproaches, When ill-
spoken of, take it thus : If you have
uot deserved it you are none the
worse : if you have, then mind. Flee
home to your own conscience, and
examine your own heart. If you are
guilty it is a just correction : if not
iruiltv. it is a fair instruction : make
use of both. So shall you distill
honey out of gall, and out of an open !
enemy create a secret friend.
He who indulges in slander is like
one who throws ashes to the wind
ward, which coaae back to the same
place and cover him all over. Dirt
on the character, if unjustly thrown,
line dirt on the clothes, should be
let aloue awhile unti it dripg and
lhen it will ru5 off easily enough,
shindar. lil other no sons, when
administered in very heavy doses, is
nft n thrown off hj the intended
victiin and thus relieves when it was
meant tD kill Dirt sometimes acts
likft f.niWo efn th dpfilins? for the
moment, but purifying in the end.
Never does a man portray his own I Peace and the County Commission -character
more vividly than in hu j ers select three men to act as a Board
manner of portraying another's. of Education. The duties of tho
There; is something unsound about j Board of Superintendents was al
the man who is ever ready to speak j hiost exactly what are now the du-
evil of nearly all he is acquainted
with.
Never speak evil of another, even
with a cause. Remember, we all
have
our faults, and if we expect
charity from the world we must be
charitable ourselves. Most rersons
have faults, and most are sometimes
inconsistent : upon these faults and
mistakes petty tcaudal delights to
feast. A word once spoken can never
be recalled ; therefore think twice
before you speak, especially when ill
is the burden of our talk.
Give no heed to an infamous story
nanueu you uy n 1Wibuu kuuwu iu ue
It t T 1 1 Jl
a scory. near DO 111 OI a inerKl'
nor sPeaK au OI an enemy. Geneve
not all you hear, nor report all you
believe. Be cautious m believing ill
0f others, and more cautious in re-
porting it.
What a blessed inspiration led to
the w iting of these lines:
"Trust, no4 to each accusing tongue.
As most wetk persons do ;
But still believe that story false
Which ought not to be true."
One of the Husbands. "Oh, wo
man, woman !" shrieked an oratcr in
a speech the other night, " thou art
the light, the life, the salvation of
the world! I shudder to think of
what the world would be without thy
gentle, refining, ennobling influence.
I bow at thy shrine, acknowledging
thy purity and truth. There is no
thing, no nothing, so beautiful, so
true go pelfect as a woman. I rev
erel ce and bow down before them."
And ,rheu he uent home he said to
tho wonilin w10 was so unfortunate
t htt vis .ife What did vou let
the fire get so low for ? You krew
I'd come home frozen. Ycu're just
like the rest of the women you
haven't a thought beyond jour nose.
good for anyhow ?" Tid-Bits.
mt am
Kerosene lamps turned down so
as to ourn low soon poison me a:r
of a room. This practice should
.-1 .
npver be allowed in a house, and
i.-. i.. i ,
, -ru r vt.u ti
WUB,ui
of Health gives special warning
! aga:ust the practice.
THE rmLic SCHOOLS.
School Matter Eeforc tbe War aod
Sow. -,
No. 5.
In 18C0 the public schools showed1
their highest .development befom
the war. According to Superinter. -dent
Wiley's report, during that,
year the disbursement were $2?f,
000, and the whole number of chil
dren bet ween 6 and 2l 3 ears ttf ai,'
was 221,450. The per capita expei
diture wa?, therefore. $1.25 on. tiur
number of white children.
This money was in part furnished,
from the interest on the permanent
fund of about $2,000,000, and in pari
by county taxation, the counties be
ing required to tax themselves"- Thhi
requirement was perhaps the strong
est factor in the establishment and
improvement of the public schools
before the war. In fact the wis
founders of our public bchoola in
1810 started with this requirement
and did not allow any apportionment
from the State fund to counties that
did not vote in favor of and levy a
tax to supplement it
This principle of helping these
who heli themselves has had wide
application in the establishment and
development of school systems iu
other States and countries.
It w ill be seen that while last yecr
we spent S053.037.33 on a scnool
census of 586,270, the average icr
capita expenditure was only $1.1G
less than in 1860 by 9 cents on each,
child of school age.
Besides having less money now
for each child thin was applied iu
1860, we labor under the additional
disadvantage of having two races l
instruct in separate schools. TL
separation of the races is a neces
sity, but it is somewhat more ex
pensive to educate two races in thin,
way than it would be to educate out
race having the same number of
children.
Having this race disadvantage and
ess money per capita, our school
terms will of course be somewhat
shorter thau were the terms in 1860.
Then the salaries of teachers aver
aged about the same as we now pay
our teachers, perhaps a little more.
The machinery bf our system is
very much the same now as it was
before the war. It recognizes local
management, and the necessity of
making Boards of Education, Coun
ty Superintendents and committee
specially responsible for such man
agement. Then the County Court selected
five men to act as a Board of Super
intendents ; now the Justices of tho
, ties of the Board of Education, viz.
the general management o: school
matters for the county fixing
boundaries of districts, appointing
school committees on petition, ap
poi tioning the money in such way
as to equalize school facilities as far
as practicable, &c.
The average cost of the Board of
Education now is just about one per
cent, of the funds one dollar out of
one hundrtd dollars. Under the old
system the chairman was county
superintendent, gave bond nd
handled all the money, and was paid
21 per cent, of the fund?, and if ho
visited the schools the board pail
I him extra ; now we have a county
superintendent who examines teach
j ers, is secretary of the board, visita
the schools, gives the board such in
formation as they must have to en
able them to perform their duties
intelligent!', has a general over
sight of the school matters of his
county, and makes leports of tin
State superintendent. He is paid
by the day for the vork done, from
$2 to S3 as the board may determine.
The aver ge cost of the superinten
dents last 3'ear was only about 3 per
cent, of the funds. Total cost of
boards and superintendents about-1
per cent, of thefunds.
The system before the war had to
bear the expense of an examining
committee and of a secretary. Both
these duties are now performed by
the county superintendent.
The cost of the school management
is about the same per cent- now sis
before the war. The system then
did, however, save the trcasurern
commissions which we now pay, be
cause it did make the county sup
erintendent treasurer,and thsse com
missions went far toward paying the
cost of superintendence.
It may be well to call attention to
the fact that good county boards an. I
efficient and active superintendent!
arep?rhaps mo.-e of necessities now
one race to
ht I would
le third of all
the money raised in the State bv tax
ation for all purposes goes into tho
schools. Some local authorities
1 imif lio no 1.1 f r m o i era if o n 1 i a
; IJJU.1V 'V J'W'U VW 'Wi, '.v l, UI.WI JU Id
foiiy uot pHy enough to nav it f!U
1 cieutly managed.' Wtiat, we pay now
i to the boards of education and tfcft
! superintendents would leurftaenr
" average school terms only about
two days per annum.
. M. Finukb,
Sunt .Pabiic.XustxucU?i