An Independent Family Newspaper: For tlio Promotionof the Political, Social, Agricnitujtfnl and Commcroial Interests of tlio Sou tit.
VOL. 6.
LINCOLNTON, ft C, SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1879.
301
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gclcctcd
THE FALL OF MAN.
When the sqnirrel's foot and the oak leaf
In measure just agree,
.'Tis time to plant our corn, sir,
".So come to the field with me." ,
The old man's form was faulty,
And his feet were hard to see ;
Ho we put him in the cart, sir,
And drove along with glee.
We braced him up as best we could,
And left him there to see,
"While we planted all the corn, sir,
On the north side of the tree.
We turned him round at noon time ;
Without a murmur he,
While we planted all the corn, sir,
On the south side of the tree.
At the close of the. day we left him, :
That poor old man, you see,
To watch the planted corn, sir,
On both sides of the'tree.
A week of April passed, sir, -
A busy week to me, .
And azain I saw the watcher,
The old watcher by the tree.
His hat was on the ground, sir,
His trowsers out at knee ;
l!ut his little arms were plainly
Outstretched to welcome me.
The next morn there came a shower,
A shower lanre and free.
To wet the lirtle plants, sir,
Just pushing up to see.
Lut the lightning struck theHvatcher,
It did not touch the tree ;
And the old man fell to the ground, sir,
A shattered wreck was he.
A hundred crows had watched him,.
From a distant dead oak tree,
..o 1... 1
iitvi tr lie 1CM liiCTjr icil) oil j
All fell to work with glee.
They had kept a week in Lent, sir,
A happy week to me,
lint their fast had made them crazy
For the corn beneath the tree.
There wns a rise in corn, sir,
A rise that few shall see,
A comer on my corn, sir,
That surely cornered me.
The crows had won the battle ;
That corn was high to see,
But the fall ofat old man, sir,
Was the fall that ruined me.
. A Mystery.
Two darkies had bought a piece of
pork, and Sam, having no place to put
his in, trusted the whole to Julius'
keeping, Next morning they met,
when Julius said :
. "A most strange thing happened at
my house last night, Sam. All mys
tery to me
"Ah, Julius, what was dat?"
"Well, Sam, this morniu' I went
down into the cellar to get a piece of
pork for breakfast, and I put my hand
down, into the brine.and foltall around
put no pork dere all gone couldn't
tell what be went with it ; so I turned
up do barrel, and, Sam, as sure as
preacbin', de rats eat a hole clear fru
de bottom ob de barrel,, and dragged
de pork all out.
"Why didn't the brine run out ob
de hole ?'
"Ah, Sam, dat is de mystery.
Sometimes- children see . things
which even their parents fail to reeog
mzc. When a little girl got into a fit
of passion the-mother told fier to go at
once to her room and ask God to- for
give her. 1 She went with hesitating
step, and her mother followed "trev to
see that she did , as she was told.
Kneeling down bv her erib tears in
her eyes, but pretty nearly as cross
as ever, she said, "Lord, give roe a
good temper," and then added in very
decided tones, -"and -kord, while you
are about ity you may as well tnvo ma
some too." -
BONNY KATE.
It was to me Kate Ray first came,
to whisper in my ear the fact of her
engagement to Neil Rivers. Her lips
were yet warm with bis kis, her
cheek flushed with the crimson its
pressure had brought there. Her lit
tle hand trembled in my own; but
she bid the tell-tale face within my
lap, as she half-sobbed out the .story
of her happiness.
To no one would I so soon have
given my darling my bonny Kate
and well I knew my brother (Kate's
father) would sanction and confirm
his suit.
Like a troubled dream, the broken
sentences falling from the girl's lips
wafted me back many years to just
such a time in my own fife an hour
destined to ruin and shipwreck and
.memories long forgotten stirred to
life, refusing to lie quiet longer in
their graves, until tears, one by one
fell on the golden, bowed head my
hand so lovingly pressed, and I could
but pray the meant no such present
ment of evil for this young life.
It was as I expected my brother
gave .willing consent to the suit, only
insisting that a year should elapse be
fore its consummation.
It was at this time we received an
addition to our familj. In Edith
Ilowland's glorious beauty, Kate's
oveliness almost paled. She burst in
upon us, one evening, like some bril-
iant constellation, absolutely flashing
ight and color a constellation we
had been somewhat prepared for,' -in?
.as much as a letter had preceded ri
announcing her coming.
She was a distant relative, on Kate's
mother's side, with some irpanish
blood in her veins, to which her dark
eyes and rich coloring attested.
Not since her childhood had she
heretofore honored Danton Hall with
her presence, and I wondered what
frea k b ro u g h t h er now; but, though
her host may have ""shared my won
derment, his hospitality was too fur-
ned to jnvc it outward evidence.
and, had she been a daughter of the
muso, she could have received no
r t 1
warmer welcome, ludeeu, she won
Kate's heart at once.
'Is she not lovely, auntie ?" she ex
claimed, when she came as., usual to
bid me good-night, in my own room.
' I am so sorry Neil was not here to
night to see her," she added, in her
unconscious unselfishness.
It was, indeed, an unusual thing for
Neil to be absent, and early next
morning he rode over to make amends.
I was present when Kate present
ed him to her cousin. In that mo
ment I fathomed the reason for her
- I . . t la a
cominjr: in mat moment too distrust
which had smouldered since first I
had looked upon her blazed upward.
They two had met before. In her
eyes, as they rested on his face, flash
ed a glance of triumph ; while his
cheek grew pate, and in the formal
bow with wThicb he acknowledged the
introduction there was none of the
easy cordiality which characterized
him.
I knew he had come over for the
day ; but in about an hour an hour
of constraint and inward chafing on
his part, of continued and brilliant
conversation on hers he ordered his
horse, and soon rode out of sight,
' "You did not tell roe that my new
cousin was to prove so handsome,
Kate" Edith said, from where she
languidly reclined upon a sofa. "I
have rarely seen a handsomer man,"
- Kate's cheek flushed with the
praise, and -1 saw the words had
woven another link in the chain
whice bound her to the speaker.
A few days after, I was entering
the library one afternoon, when I
caught the sound of Kate's name, in
Edith's voice. Unconsciously, it ar
rested my steps.
"Have you, then, so forgotten the
past that you have given this pale
faced girl my place in yoir heart?
Think how I must Lavo changed, to
stand here and plead with you thus
plead for my oven I What else, think
you, brought me here, but the hope
of seeing you face to face
, uHush, Edith hush !" broke in
Neil's voice, while ray very heart
stood still, as I saw before roe my
darling Kate's happiness trembling in
the balance, and I listened eagerly
(forgetting the words were not intend
ed for inv ear") for what next should
follow. "Do not say more which will
cause you only after-regret. Do yon
forget it was 3-our own hand which
overthrew the temple my boyish
faith had builded ? I was but a col
lege lad, and well you knew your
beauty blinded, dazzlechrne so blind
ed me that the day your letter came,
stating you bad thrown me over, I
fancied my belief in woman forever
shattered. Thank God! it was not
so. Thank God ! it was but a boy's
love I gave 3-on, which, rightly fos
tered, mighthave developed into the
stronger affections of the man the
affections which now have centred,
with all the intensity of which they
are capable, upon the gentle girl you
call cousin."
I breathed freer. At least Neil was
not unworthy. What now need I
fear?
"And you dare say this to me?"
questioned his listener. "You dare
boast of your love for another ? Take
care take care ! You may go too
far! Neil, Neil !" her voice breaking
and growing tender and soft, "you do
not mean it you do but try me, as I
tried you in that far-off time! I have
never, loved any man but you ! What
does Kate know of love its power
its depth, its intensity? Nothing!
But I am starving at your very feet,
and you deny me even a morsel !"
"Edith, forget what you have said,
as I forget it. What would Kate
think if she could hear you ? I have
told her nothing of that time except
its bare facts withholding, of course,
your name. She does not even know
that we have met before. When I
Sst saw you, I divined it was your
wish, and obeyed it. Will you not
forget the past, as I have dene, and
let us be friends ?"
'Friends" she fairly hissed the
word "friends! When 1 have done
to you even as you have done to me,
and more, then L may accept vour.
magnanimous oner.
sir . .. .1a. t
I was so stunned by what I had
heard that I had barely time to make
rny escape ero she swept, from the
room.
Dear little Kate! I watched her
with new tenderness on that evening,
V 1 1 . 1 1
as 1 -watcuea witn new zeaiousness
the dark, evil eves which, from be
neath their long lashes, peered vc.nge-
fully forth.
Was it that I felt the magnetic,
evil power lurking in their depths to
work ill to my darling? Every day
the intimacy grew between the girls.
One evening, Kate came to my room
a magnificent opal flashing on her
finger.
"Is is not exquisite ?" she said, hold
ing it up to tho i light. "It is a gift
from Edith. You cannot think hov.'
higly I prize it. She asked me if I
was not afraid to w-ear it so many
people are snpertitious about opals
but I told her, as her gift, I could af
ford to disregard such folly."
It is very beautiful," 1 answered.
"Let me sec it," attempting to draw7
it from i . ..."'.-
. - v " '. ' i "' - ' " 7 V '- -ise
-.- - v i'-. .. .. -
um - :
a . - - . r ;
of a'v 1
strengv , ; '".
ized Kate, 4
inexplicable way to u,.
Each week she grew weaker and
weaker. At first we scarcely noticed
it, though it sounded oddly, indeed, to
hear her, who had alwayrs been the
one to return nnfagged from any ex
cursion, howrever long or tiresome, to
be the first to propose return.
At last we insisted upon summon
ing the physician. He came, but
shook his head, i There seemed to be
no disease that he could fathom a
few weeks, the cooler weather, would
bring her all right again ; but the feyv
weeks passed, the cooler weather carhe
and my darling's cheek grew paler
The ring was now much too large for
the little finger it once so closely
girdled. Regarding it sadly, one day
she said:
"I believe the opal's evil influence
is at work, after all, Edith. Look, is
it not paler? I think I havo never
been quite well since I have worn it."
Was it altogether ray fancy that,
looking hastily up, I saw a flash of
triumph in the dark eyes bent upon
her as the color surged upward in
Edith's check ? ' Was there ground
for my wild suspicion that my child's
idle words might uot bo without foun
dation ?
"If you think so, Kate, lake wit off,
dear," I interposed.
"Ob no!" she cxclaimeilj laughing
ly. "Edith and I have made a com
pact. I always keep my word."
"You surely arc not superstitious,
Miss Ray," said Edith.
But I answered nothing, only when
an hour later, I saw Neil Rivers
wending his way across the lawn, a
sudden resolve flashed into m3' rcind,
jvhich I determined should sbe put
into speedy execution.
The ring was to be replaced only
by her wedding ring. Then the wed
ding should take place at once
months earlier than we had anticipa
ted, and Neil should take his bride to
other scenes, where she might recover
health and strength. I made bim my
ally, still not even to him trusting my
dark suspicions of the opal, and found
him eager and anxious to enter into
all or any of my plans.
With my brother (Kate's father), I
had a more difficult task. To have
bis child leave him for a stranger,
when she was ill and suffering," it
seemed hard indeed ; but! told him I
thought he might trust her to her
husband, and when the doctor strength
ened mo, saying it was long what he
had wished to propose, her father
gave reluctant consent.
I arranged then for Edith's absence
for a few days, and as she found the
old hall dull, and thought her plans
successfully working, she was glad to
go. Then we unfolded our scheme to
Kate, as though it had been decided
on the moment.
: "At least, send for Edith," she
pleaded. "She will think it so strange."
I shook my head.
"There must bo no excitement,
darling. Neil is going away on busi
ness" this was a pretext "and he
will not go without you.1'
I left him to. finish my arguments,
and wheif Tl-eturned knew he had
been successful.
The next day, my bonny Kate was
married. In my hand she placed the
opal.
"Edith bade me promise," said she,
"1 should give it to no one but her;
but you will sec she gets it, auntie,
will you not ? It must be nonsense,
but I fancy 1 feel better alread3T. See
how strangely nry finger looks where
it has been."
I said nothing, but that day placed
the ring in the doctor's hands saying
only it had a curious history attached
to it, and was supposed to be per
meated by some subtle poison.
"I' would advise you, Miss Ray, to
destroy it," he said on his return. "It
conceals a deadly poison, and is so
arranged as to occasionally impercep
tibly prick the finger and let a drop
mingle with the blood, producing not
death, but weakness and disease.
Who could havo invented - so barbar
ous an instrument, and how did it
come into your possession ?'
I did not answer his question ; ho
! answered mine that was suf
H.VI awaited quietly Edith How-"rt-
ft.jny brother to deal
alter pouring forth
, ige of her treachery.
..o onlv smiled, as she answer-
"in five minutes, Mi?s Ray, I will
be ready to receive him ; but believe
this I never intended to kill her;
only to show NeD how poor, and
weak, and fragile,, was the girl he had
preferred to rr j. I thought thus he
would return to bis allegiance. It I
bad failed in this, 1 would still have
spared her life."
- White and breathless with indig
nant horror, I led Kate's father to
the library- door, leaving him to meet
alone one who had threatened such
misery to his home ; but ray name, in
startled accents," recalled me.
In five minutes, she had said, she
would be ready. She spoke truth ;
for she had gone for judgment before
another and a higher tribunal a
Judge whose mercy equals His justice.
In all her radiant beauty, she lay,
cold, and lifeless, and dead, one slen
der hand grasping the , empty vial,
whose contents bad so swiftly and so
surely done their' appointed work a
fitting termination to such a life.
The men who always say a kind
word for their neighbors and turn a
deaf car to scandal are not only very
blessed, but also very scarce;
About Eels.
Eels are they kin to snakes? We
shall leave that question to Darwin
and Huxley. You know thej arc the
leaders of modern thought ; and it
takes a thought-leader to find out a
thing of that kind. They say eels are
a connecting link between the bat-
rachians and the true fishes, and,stand
i that position, they are no kin, or, if
any, very little to snakes; though
they may be consin-german to a sala
mander or mud puppy. But there i9
another question : How did tho eels
get into this position of middle-man ?
Did he evolute, so to speak from his
cousin catfish ? or did he involute from
his cousin mud-puppy? or did he pro
ceed from that great practical evolu
tionist, his uncle bull-frog, who used
himselfUo be a tadpole? These arc
momentous questions, but the writer
hereof isXuot a modern thought-lead-cr;
henc he does not undertake to
settle them. A smart fellow how
ever, is this eel slippery, you know.
He knows-that the position of middle
man, if not altogether one of honor, is
certainly one of profit and emolument;
hence, having attained to that posi
tion, be refuses to "offshoot" any more;
he will no moreeither evolute or in
volute ; be is amiddle-man forever
first, last,and all the time. There
was another question mocTi argued:
Does the eel lay eggs or does she pro
duce her young alive ? It is now set
tled that she lays eggs; but where
does she lay. them ? When, where,
and how do they hatch ? These
questions remain to be answered.
Any one may find out such things as
these. It does not require a modern
thought-leader nor an intellectual
giant to solve them ; but any ordinary
man who happens to discover them in
the act can tell where they laj- and
hatch. Eels ascend fresh water
streams in tho spring, and descend to j
brackish water in -the -fall. . This,
however, seems to bo a vcrv limited
movement, when compared with the
enormous numbers of them found hy
bernating in the mud-flats of tide water
We are convinced that there are mil
lions of these eels which are hatched,
and Which spend their entire lives in
and about those mud flats, and we are
further convinced that there are col
onies of families of them localized in
the meadows and marshes about the
springs of inland sections, in which
localities we have often seen them dug
i 0
out of the mud by ditches, both in au
tumn, after they had left the 'neigh
boring streams, and in spring, before
they began to ascend them. These
may have been stragglers who had de
termined to desert the main body and
ttf intn wintrxr onnrtftrs in that, mud
rather than take the trouble to swin
several hundred miles down stream to
the mud-flats of tide-water for that
purpose ; or they may have belonged
to a family born and bread in that
place, and never having experienced
the wish tcj roam. Eels are very
widely distributed over the world, and
we doubt whether they are to be
classed "as strictly migratory in their
habits. They rather, perhaps, stay
longest where they fare best. Where
soever mud is, there eels are at home.
When the weather is cold, they bury
themselves ai the end of a sort of bur
row in the mud, keeping the hole open.
Last winter,' along the shores of the
Chesapeake, they were destroyed by
thousands, when the tide having been
driven out before the furious north
west wrnd, miles of the fiats were left
bare and exposed to a temperature
below zero, j The unhappy eels all
froze to death ; nor did they thaw out
and come to life again when the water
floated in. j Freezing seems to kill
them more effectually than cooking.for
when cooking done and brown and set
aside, they will presently become raw
again ; whereas, judging from the odor,
those that are frozen make no effort
to come to life again, but
quietly remain dead. One other point
in the natural history of eels which is
not generally known perhaps, is the
readiness with which they make
somewhat extensive passages over dry
land in orderjto get around obstruc
tions to the ascent of streams, or to
pass from one stream or body of water
to another. ;Wo once encountered a
large-sized eel late one warm, sunny
afternoon in September, making his
way very qHj and deliberately
through some short gras3 towards a
small stream at the far eide of k mead
ow some three, hundred yards away,
and coming from the direction of a
spring under some trees the nearest
water in the direction from which ho
came some two hundred and fifty
yards distant. This eel evidently
knew what he was about, and was
guided on hid way either by instinct
or experience.
A gentleman in. Fairfax county in
forms us that he saw an eel one after
noon come out of an alder swamp
from among some bull rushes, where
tho mud was nearly dry, and pas9
over a railroad .track and move off
across a dry sod toward a smalUtream
some distance off. Being decidedly
nocturnal in their habits, it is likely
thatsuch overland trips areundertaken
more frequently at night than in the
day time. As food rish, eels tako a
very high rank. Their flesh is by.
many considered a great delicacy, and
at particular seasons vast numbeis aro
sold in city markets at profitable
prices. They are enormously prolific,
and may be readily'cullivatcd ponds of
in proper construction ; but they aro
voracious destroyers of the spawn of
all sorts of fish, often proceeding to
the extremity of attacking the gravid
female for the purpose of securing tho
coveted spawn. Eels are the just
abomination of anglers and gilbnoltcrs
Some persons will not eat them be
cause the' look too much like snakes;
others decline them becauso.aftcr bcitu'
cooked and set aside, they get raw
again ; and we once heard an ancient
colored lady say she was afraid to cat
them for fear they might "como
alive agin" in her stomach. It is not
to be doubted that eels arc, on tho
whole, savory and wholesomo food.
The Dutch cook them with onions in
a peculiar sort of salmagrundi scram
ble, tho smell whereof is extraordi
ary. 'Virginia Farmer and Planter.
Rules for Homo Education.
1. From your children's earliest in
fancy, inculcate the necessity of in
stant obedience.
2. Unite firmness with gentleness.
Let your children always understand
that you mean w&at 3 011 say.
3. Never promise them anything
unless you are quite sure you can give
them what yon promise.
4. If you tell a little child to do
something, show him how to do it,
and see that it is done.
5. Alwas punish your children for
wilful!jr disobeying you, but never
punish them in anger.
G. Never let, them perceive that
they vex you, or make you lose , r
self-command.
7. If they give way to petulance or
ill temper, wait till they are calm and
then gentlv reason with them on the
impropriety of their conduct.
8. Remember that a little present
punishment when the occasion arises
is much more effectual than tho
threatening of greater punishment
should the fault be renewed.
0. Never give your children any
thing because they cry for it.
10. On no account allow them to
do at one time what vou have forbid
den under the same circumstances, at
another.
11. Teach them that tho only suro
and easy way to appear good, is to bo
good, .
12. Accustom tlicm to make their
little recitals with perfect truth.
13. Never allow of tale-bearing.
14. Teach them self denial, not self
indulgence of an angry and resentful
spirit.
"Sambo, whar you get dat watch
you wear to meetin' last Sunday?"
"How do '0U know I hab a
watch?"
"Kase I seed the chain bang out ob
your pocket in the front."
"Go 'way, nigger s'po-e you sec a
halter round my neck, you think dar
is a hoss inside ob mo ?" )
It is not wliat you have in your
chest, but what you have in your
heart, that makes you rich.
The best khid of revenge is that
which is taken by bim who is so gci-
erous that boTefuses to lake any re
venge at all.
. There is nothing lower than hy
pocris'. To profess friendship and act
enmity h a sure proof of total depravity.
I