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1 n id Subscription $1.50 per year. WE MUST WORK FOR THE PEOPLE'S WELFARE. W, II. Kitchisi, Owner VOL. 1. SCOTLAND NECK, N. C, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1885. NO. 41. r I y A y a a m GRANT. His Career as a General. "While we are not ignorant of the ancient saying, "that every man is the architect of his own fortune," vet wehuve serious doubts as to its jiroral truth. If ever a man had good fortune thrown around him in superabundance, and the fates of the gods of war turned to his ad vantage more conspicuously and pointedly than to any other since the days of miracles, that man was lliram Ulysses Grant. Ushered in to a war such as no living man had ever witnessed, with five millions and a half of white people on one slue, and twenty-one millions on the other side, with nothing but an imaginary line across a continent to sepaiate the two giand contending iat iions, it so happened that his destiny was cast on the side of the hugev faccioj. with the whole civil ized and uncivilized world from which to draw supplies, material aud men. While the smaller faction was so hedged and hemmed in that it was nest to impossible for even an in dividual to escape without being eapinved. And it further so hap pened that he was one of the wards of the nation with a military edu- catioa, and succeeded to a command of a division, then a department, then the entire army of the larger faction, because of the scarcity of good material out of which to mrke commanders. With ?J1 the powers of the Federal Government ar his back, and all the outside world besides, he succeeded in wearing out by attrition and some friction occasionally, an infani" peo ple so to speak. Gravity and ji-otion alone did the work. That K power and force did the conquer ing, aud would have done it with any other agency to put the forces nn motion without even an intelli gent divecior. Alexander was call ed great, bat themasseiof mantind, and all the fates, and tne world were against him. yet he subdued t'tem all- and made them subject to his will. Hannibal, Caesar and .Napoleon were all called great war rioxS; but they all had obstacles to overcome, seas to cross, mountains to climb, rivers to ford, nations to conquer, combined foreign armies to light and whip aud the rjrejudi ces aod passions of the world to meet ajid subdae. They all won their laarels, and more their1 crowns, by tiie ruvctice of a higher order of Indira ty genius, by strategy, by sub bing superior forces with inferior lisi c?s. Our own Washington, from i; .population less than three millions hcav :fd over thiiieen Amer can ia es; established American Inde pendence in defiance of England. Jiledid it by neither whipping the enoiny, nor allowing the enemy to w.iip J-Im: by so doing he exercised the hinest order of military ge n, h and skill, and shed less blood vlmo any oJier commander, J" cou fci'i'ira ,ion of the results obi- ed. if w hich hivoiy g'res an accorat. Xowwhocan tiu ojnlly "y taat (Irani: did not, slaughter more men i'r a le puce ruan any other com mander for the last three hundred yea i.3. Bui he received Lee's sur render, the grand miHtary chief- tisii ot the lost cause, ana was crowned victor. Let him wear it Leo no man dim his lustre; for it w as glorv enough for one man, and to last a lifetime, to receive the sur render of that gi eat man and his iiaudi'ul of Spartans who stood ?oand hiin like a wall of iron, ready to perish, to die, at the command of tueir chief. Sow, just here, our people seem to so into spasms about his great ness and goodness. What did he Oo "When and where did he make tkese qualities so conspicuous? They ay that he allowed the officers to Jetaia their side arms, and the men to retain their horses. ..What less ought he to have done, as the com mander of the victorious army of a civilized and christian people, o have done less would have been fr'Oie like a fie nd out of sheol, a:i a civilized man. lie did noth- lug on this occasion that Napoleon, 01" even Ceasar would not have tlone. He di(1 nothing but a plain simple duty. The side arms and the. horses were private property, belonging to the officers and men, and to have taken them would have been nothing more nor less than robbing the soldiers of their private propert y. If ow, if a com mander deserves to be eulogized above other men because he dis- discharged his duty, then heap up your encomiums mountain high upon Grant for not putting each and every soldier to tne sworn on rue dav of Lee's Surrender. This is fvi-tinfiioiisi mill orwMiiiPSfi ftniiiilwr 8,v.v..v. e one."' Xow, here is greatness and goodness "number two." They say he told Mr. Stanton that Lee was his prisoner, and that if he arrested him he would resign, or he would do it a t his (Stanton's) peril. The truih disrobed of its varnish and gloss is simply this, Grant did nothing at the surrender, nor up to his election as President of the Uaiied States, but what any other of the hundred generals in the TJxiioa army would have done under the same circumstances, and he had nothing to do with Lee or Davis be ing indicted or not indicted for treason against the Federal Gov ernment. Neither of these great men, nor any other who bore arms against the Federal Union was gn.ilty of treason, any more than ivir. ia rant or Mr. .Lincoln, ana no two men upon the face of this earth knew this better than these two last named individuals. If Mr. Davis and Mr. Lee had been guilty of treason they would have been tried and convicted, and Mr. Grant world not and could not have prevented it. For an individual to have levied wa against the Uni ted States would have been treason, but for a State or a number of States to have levied war, after they had severed their connection ji-om the Federal Union by the same power they had united with it, woald not have been treason. The The Republican party, the North, the civi'Ized world knew the South was not guilty of treason. Mr. Da is begged to be tried for treason, the government declined to try, be cause it could not convict, ?nd be cause a trial would have made it manifest to the world that the South had not violated the Constitution in leaving the Union. And the Fed era! Government admitted our Con stitutional right to withdraw from the Union by reconstructing the Southern States and readmitting them back into the Union. So we conclude that Grant had nothing to do with the mercy these "gushers" say Avas extended to the South. Magistrate The policeman caught you coming out of the house with three over coats on your arm. Prisoner Ise de victim of sah cumstancesy yo Honah. Magistrate The victim of cir cumstances? Prisoner Yes, yo' Honah. Ise a kleptermaniac. Magistrate Do you call it klep tomania to enter a strange house and steal overcoats? Prisoner What's de penalty fo' kleptermania? Magistrate About fifteen years for the kind you are troubled with. Prisoner Den I wif draws dat statement, yo' Honah, and pleads guilty ter insanity in de fo'th de gree, and frows mysef on de mercy ob de Court. Insanity runs in my family, sah. My poo' wife has been in de county house mo'n er yeah. New York World. "You haven't paid the last pre mium on jour wife's life insurance, Uncle Eastus," said the agent. "I knows I hasn't. I got dat ole 'oman's life 'sured foah yeahs ago, sah, an' she hain't been sick er day sence. Dis niawnin' she kicked me out ob de bed wif wun fut. She weighs sixty pounds mo'n she ebber did. 'Bout er hour ago she eat a forty cent watermillion and drunk er quart ob cider, an' she am now sleepin' off de effec's wif de presp' ration rollin' down her face dat am de perfec' pictur' ob health. Wot's de use 'suring an ole'oman like dat? She hain't nebber goin' ter die, 'deed she ain't. Don't yo' go fo' no mo' premyums." New Tor A; Sun. j Ell Perklna at Saratoga. Saratoga politeness can be best illustrated by an incident which oc curred down at Moon's the other night. A party 'of twelve were tak ing a late supper there. For des sert they had oranges and there were just thirteen for twelve persons. The dish was passed around and each party took an orange, leaving one on the plate. When the plate was passed everybody lookd at it covetously but simply said : 'No, I thank you." A sudden gust of wind blew out the lamp, and in the darkness six rrn tlamnn on1 - oiv Inlfna oVtswLr hands right on that coveted orange. Another case of politeness occur red at the States to day. A beauti ful and polite young man from Chi cago sat in the parlor. He looked very solemn and was talking to him self as if in great mental suffering : "Yes," he said, "I must apologize to Miss Astor, I owe it to her. Oh, I must!" And then he wrung his hands in deep grief. "What you want to apologize to her for ?" I asked. "Why I have disappointed her." "How disappointed her?" "Why, I sent the bell boy up to her room four times, to tell her that a gentleman was in the parlor to see her, and, when she finally came down and saw me with a big boquet in my hand, she exclaimed : v . " 'Why, if s only you I I thought it was somebody I' and then she scowled, and turned disdainfnllj on her heel and rushed back into the el vator." "And now you want to apologize to her?" "Yes, I want to see her and apolo ogize to her for disappointing her." Deacon Knapp has been, the main pillar of the Saratoga Methodist Church for over forty years. Every Sunday morning has found him in the centre pew of the old church. One month ago the good old deacon died. A few weeks after the pastor called on the deacon's son. Ben had not 'experienced the wrath to come,' like his father and had left the old pew vacant. "Now Ben," said the pastor, "for over forty years your father has oc cupied that same old pew in the cen tre of the chnrch. He had enjoyed my sermons all these years, and I hope to see you in the same old pew." "But father and I are different," said Ben. "It would be harder for me to sit there than father." "Why harder for you, Ben," said the clergyman. "Because," said Ben, "father you know was deaf." An eye-glass Englishman here was boasting to the biggest Yankee liar outside of Texas. "Why," said he, "I've seen it rain in England so fast that the rain could not run through the ledges. ' We had to bail it out." "O that ain't nothing," retorted one of our horse liars from the race track. -I seen it vain so hard down a Kentucky chimney that the rain couldn't run out the front door.'' It actually 'bust' the house." "Young man," said Thomas Ochil tree, growing red in the face, "ain't you ashamed to talk so when I am here on the ground." lJEYOD THE STARS. Beyond the Stars there breaks a morn That never wears to ere forlorn, That never sees its happy fire ' In darkness' chilling gloom expire, Nor hears the night wind's mocking scorn. ' Ne'er droops the lily there, once born, Nor roses, nor tasseled corn, Nor is there any funeral pyre, Beyond the stars. What though our feet be bruised and torn By jagged stone and rending thorn. W e shall not flag, we shall not tire, But cherished store the fond desire To hide at last when faint and worn, Beyond the stars. Ex. ONE OF THE MYSTERIES . Canyon City Mercury How strange it seems that when a man goea fishing the trout that gets away from him was fully this long : While the one he brings home is never longer than this : jfi The fall is coming. Advertise in the Democrat. Agents wanted in every Neighborhood . For any. club of ten we will send a copy of the Democrat. Now is the time to Subscribe. OFFENSIVE PARTISANS. W. II. Barnnm Visits Washing ton to See About Appointments. At the request of a certain mem ber of Congress from one of the New England States. Mr. Wm. H. Barnum consented to make with him a call-upon the First Assistant Post -master-General, Mr. Hay. The ob ject of the visit was to secure the appointment of several long-trained Democrats as Postmasters in a num ber of the Post Offices in the State of the Congressman. Mr. Hay received the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and the member of Congress with the same courtesy and consideration that he was accustomed to bestow upon even the most humble citizen. The following conversation took place : "Mr. ,who represents the district in Congress," said Mr. B.t num, "has called with me in refer ence to certain appointments that come within your office. The dis trict is a close one. Mr. is per sonally acquainted with many of the best men in it, and you probably would be glad to hear his recommen dations, as you must be entirely ig norant of the people there." "No Postmaster will be removed except for offenseive partisanship," said Mr. Hay. "What, may I ask, constitutes of fensive partisanship?'' inquired the Congressman. "You should know what an offen sive partizan is." Mr. Hay replied. "Attending caucuses, conventions serving as chairman of important committees would be so regarded?" sujgcsted the Congressman, "Undoubtedly." "But the Postmaster at A. has done none of these things.'' "Is he a Republican?" . "Yes," "Is he unfaithful in his duties?" "No." "Is he a bad man?" "No, he's a mighty good fellow ; but he's a Republican, and he ex pects to go." "If you will make a written state ment that he is unfaithful, incompe tent, or has been an offensive parti san I will remove him." "I'll be hanged if will. He's a Republican ; that's enough, isn't it?" "No ; it is not enough." "Does not the fact that a man is a Republican constitute an offensive partisan." asked Mr. Barnum ; "must we make it a personal matter, and accuse a man of criminality?" "I will not make any change without charges." Here Mr. Barnum became a little annoyed. "We will see, sir, whether this man is not removed," and the Chair man of the National Committee and the Congressman sought Mr. Vilas. "Is it necessary." Mr. Barnurn asked of the Postmaster-General, "that we should bring an indictment against on officeholder before we can secure a change?" "If you will put it in writing that the man is an offensive partisan. I will remove him.'' 'I will put it in writing that he is a Republican, and therefore an offen sive partisan," said Mr. Barnum. "The Postmaster-General was, of course, anxious to meet the wishes of the man to whom above all others he is indebted for his extraordinary and sudden political, advancement. "Very well. That will do, Mr. Barnum." When the accusation had been put in writing, Mr. Vilas said to Mr. Barnum : "Your man will be appointed, but i? it should turn out that we you and I have been deceived, and that the present incumbent is not an offensive partisan, and the man you desire to be appointed is an offen sive partisan, then I will turn the new Postmaster out and put the old one back again. Good morning." "Tell me," said the Congressman, who a few days ago told this story, "that the new administration isn't in love with Eaton's civil service reform! It is ; and I was so well assured of it that I did not offer a single other ap plication. I made up my mind that Congressmen were a soit of to-be-to erated nuisance, and so I've come home. Well, there's going to be funny times. I believe Congress sits next winter." Sun. The success attending the elephant hotels at the watering places is lead ing to the erection of cottages in the semblance of animals. Progress says that club houses ought to be model ed after the tiger. Philiadelphia Call. Facts About tbe Bible. The books in the Old Testament, 39. The chapters in the Old Testa- ment, 929. The versea in the Old Testament, 22,241. The words in the Old Testament, 592,430. The letters in the Old Testament, 2,728,700. The books in the New Testament, 27. The chapters in the New Testa ment, 260. The verses in the New Testament, 7,959. The words in the New Testament, 181,253. The letters in the New Testament, 838,880. The Apocryphy has chapters, 188. The Apocryphy has verses, 7,081. The Apocryphy has words, 152, 185. The middle chapter and least in the Bible is Psalm cxvii. The middle verse in eight Psalm is cxviii. The word "and" occurs in the Old Testament 85,543 times. The word "Jehovah" occurs 6,865 times. The word "and" occurs in the New Testament 10,604 times. The middle book of the Old Testa ment is Proverbs. The middle chapter of the Old Testament is Job 29. The middle verse of the Old Testa ment is 2 Chronicles, 22nd chapter 17th verse. The least verse of the Old Testa ment is 2 Chronicles, 1st chapter, 25th verse. The longest verse of the Old Testa ment is Esther, 8th chapter, 9th verse. The middle book of the New Testament is Thessalonians. The middle chapters of the New Testament are Romans 13 and 14. The middle verse in the New Test ament is Acts, 19th verse. The least verse in the New Testa ment is John, 11th chapter, 35th verse. Verse 21, of chapter 7, of Ezra, has all the letters of the alphabet ex cept "j." 1 Chapter 19 of 2 Kings, and chap ter 37 of Isaiah, are alike. Didn't Wan't to Catch It- A gentleman who spent several years teaching gives the following account of a teacher's interview with a bov of about fourteen in a rural district. Other teachers have prob ably had similar experiences. "What is your name?" . "Sam." "What is the rest of it?" "Sam yell" "But what is your sirname?" "Middle name's Hazayer." "And the last name?" "Jackson.'' "Jackson, then, is the name of your parents?" "No, mum, it aint. One of 'em's named Willyum, and t'other one Ma ry Jane." "How old are you?" Dunno.'' "What ! A boy as large as you and don't know his age?" "Yes'um." "A boy of your size ought to know the exact year of his birth." "I do know the year.', "What year was it?" "Same year as my sister Harriet." "Indeed!" "Yes'um ; we're twins." "I want you to ask your mother how old you are, and tell me to-morrow." "Shedunno. Shedunno nothin'." "That is not a nice way to talk about your mother." "She don't keer." "Why don't she?" "She's dead." "Where do you live?" "To home." "Where is your home !" "Over yon." This with a jerk of his head over his left shoulder. "Have you any books?" -"No mom ; I don't need none." "Why not?" "I'm only in my a-b abs." "Then you never had educational advantages?'' Boy scratches his head, and says, "No, mom ; not that I knows of. But I've had airysipilas. If what you said is worse nur that.I don't wanter ketch it." Ex. Subscribe for the Democrat Sub scription $1.50 per year. TUIKI) TO ENLIST HIM. We have smiled at the story of the honest English tradesman, who, not knowing Mr. Gladstone, was so pleased with a bit of rapid writing and reckoning that he chanced to see him do, that he offered him a good salary to come and be his book keeper. The following case of im pression is till more amusing. When the famous Chancellor Kent was preparing the commentaries which won for him such distinction throughout the world, he spent the greater portion of his time in Albany, that he might have the benefit of the State Law Library, then the best and most complete in the common wealth. Among the peculiar characteris tics of the great jurist was a passion ate fondness for martial music, good bad or indifferent. Another was the extreme simplicity he affected in the matter of wearing apparel, often mistaken when in his prime for a workman or a comfortable mechanic. Upon one occasion, while busily engaged upon hi3 great work, he heard the drum of a recruiting party, which had taken its station in the old Capital Park, and was beating a point of war. Leaving his task, and approaching the scene, that he might hear the better, he commenced insensibly to whistle the reveille, when the recrui ting officer accosted him. "You are fond of music, my fine fellov,?" said he. "Yes," was the reply, "Well, then," said the sergeant, "why not enlist? Good bed, solid food, and lots of good company, come you'll go, won't you?" Well, yes. replied the Chancellor, "I would, if I had not one very strong objection that I don't think can be overcome." "What is it?" queried the son of Mars. "J have a good trade," responded the votary of the Thesmian Temple, "and I hate to leave it. What is your trade?" "I am chancellor of the State of New York.".. . .: ;I .. . "Whew ! beg pardon, excuse me," muttered the crestfallen sergeant. "Strike up quick time forward march !" Albany Express! Xtllxl, WYE. He Writes a Letter to Queen Vic. To Queen Victoria, Regina Del Gra cia and Acting Mother-in-law, on the Side: Dear Madam : Your most gra cious Majesty will no doubt be sur prised to hear from me after my long silence. One reason that I have not written for some time is that I had hoped to sce-you ere this, and not because I had grown cold. I desire to congratulate you at this time upon your great success as a mother-in- law, and your very exemplary career socially, As a queen you have giv en universal satisfaction, and your family have married well. But I desired to write you more especially in relation to another mat ter. We are struggling here in America to establish an authors' in. ternational copyright arrangement whereby authors of all civilized na tions may be protected in their rights to the profits of their literary labor, and the movement so far has met with generous encouragement. As an author, we desire your aid and endorsement. Could vou assist us? We are giving this season a series of authors' readings in New York to aid in piosecuting the work, and we wdfcld like to know whether we could not depend upon you to take part in these readings, rendering selections from vour late work I assure your most gracious Ma jesty that you would meet some of our best literary people while here, and no pains would be spared to make your visit a pleasant one, aside from the reading itself. We would advertise your appearance ex tensively, and get out a first-class audience on the occasion of your de but here. An effort would be made to pro vide passes for yourself, and reduced rates, I think, could be secured for yourself and suite at the hotels. Some of us travel with our suites and some do not. I generally leave my suite at home, myself. You would not need to make any special change as to costume for ths occasion. We try to make it inform mal so far as possible, and, though some of us wear full dress, we do not make that obligatoryon those who take part m the exercises. If j'ou decide to wear your every -day reign ing clothes it will not excite com ment on the part of our literati. We do not judge an author or authoress by his or her clothes. You readily -! see that this will afford you an opportunity to appear before some of the best people11 of New York, and at the same time you will aid in a deserving enterprise. It will also promote the sale of your book. Perhaps you have all the royalty you want aside from what you may 1 1 s receive ironi ttie saie ot your worics ; but every author feels a pr-.rJouf.ble pride in getting his books into every household. I would assure 3'our most gracious Majesty that your reception here as an authoress will in no way suffer be cause you arc an unnaturalized for eigner. Any alien who feels a fra ternal interest in the advancement of thought and the universal encour agement of the good, the true, and the beautiful in literature will be wel come on these shores. This a broad field, and we aim to be a broad and cosmopolitan people. Literature and free willing genius arc not hemmed in by State or national lines. They sprout up and blossom under tropical skies no less than be neath the frigid aurora boreal is of the frozen North. We hail true merit just as heartily and as uproariously on a throne as we would anywhere else. In fact, it is more deserving, if possible, for one who has never tried it little knows how difficult it is to sit on a hard throne all day and write well. We are to recognize struggling genius wherever it may crop out. it is no small matter for an almost unknown monarch to reign all day and then write an article tor the press or a chapter for a serial story anlv perhaps to have it returned by the publishers. All these things are drawbacks to a literarv life, which we here in America know lit tle Of. I hope 57our Most gracious Majesty will decide to come, and that you will pardon this long letter. It will do j'ou good to get out this way for a few weeks, and I earnestly hope that you will decide to lock up the house and come prepared to make quite a visit. We have some real good authois here now in America, and we are hot ashamed to show them to any one. They are not' only smart, but they are well behaved and know how to. appear in company. We generally read selections from our own works, 'and can have a brass band to play between the selections if thonght best. For myself, I pre fer to have a full brass band accom pany me while I read. The audience also approves of this plan. We have been having some very hot weather here for the past week, but it is now cooler. Farmers are getting in their crops in good shape, but wheat is still low in puce, and cranberries are soaring on the vines. All our canned red raspoerriesworked last week, and we had to can them over again, lur. iaei, wno went m- the rebellion business, in Canada last winter, wiil.be hanged, in Sep tember, if it don't rain. It will bo Ins first appearance on the gal lows and quite a number of our leading American criminals are going over to see him debut. Hoping to hear i'to.n you by return ail or prepaid cablegram, I beg leave to remain vour most gracious and indulgent Majesty's humble and obedient servant. A Wicked Citt. "When I cum to New York," said a countryman, 'I alleis go lound hold in' on to ray pocketbook like grim death. You can't tell what minute some feller may rob you. This city is full of thieves." . "Do yon carry much money with you?" "I've got about $200 now. I sold an old boss this mornin' that I slick ed up fer $200 that wasn't wuth $75. I see in a minute that the feller I sold him to didn't know m-thin' 'bout bosses." Sun. Confuciu3 says: "To die well, one must first learn to live well." In reply to this, we will say thnt, in the first place, a man cannot die well. If he is well he won't die, he will live. In the second place, if he learas to live well he will soon die of the gout. The Chinese must go. Prof. W. G. Summes, of Yale Col lege, says of Andrew Jackson that "the work of redistribution of officers, began almost at his inauguration.' Keep his memory green! Uli'y, Ob serves. William F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill,' is forty-three years old and has i fortune that will probably roach the $500,000 standard.
The Commonwealth (Scotland Neck, N.C.)
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Sept. 3, 1885, edition 1
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