Lamar County AlArchives News.....Vernon Courier February 4, 1887 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Veneta McKinney http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00016.html#0003775 October 27, 2007, 4:03 pm Microfilm From AL Dept Of Archives And History February 4, 1887 Microfilm Ref Call #371 Microfilm Order #M1992.4966 from The Alabama Department of Archives and History THE VERNON COURIER ALEX A. WALL, Editor and Publisher VERNON, LAMAR CO, ALA. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1887 VOL. I. NO. 36 Subscription $1.00 Per Year THE WISHING BONE – Poem – [H. S. Keller, in Judge] ---RE OF THE EYES - ----Simple Rules Which All --- Should Follow …(First column cut off)…. (Starting 2nd column) eye. This may seem a very minute precaution, and such it is; yet nothing is trivial which tends to the better preservation of the delicate functions of the organ; and the habit is one which is easily learned. Reading in the cars is a thing which one would hardly undertake to depend on theory; yet it is a practice which is likely to increase rather than to diminish, especially with the increasing smoothness of railway travel. The things to bear in mind are that the book or paper should be held as steadily as possible under the circumstance; and that in the railway car there is double reason for taking time to think upon what one reads. 5. One device which is a veritable eye-saver is the protection of the eyes against the direct morning light on waking. How few people think of this, or at least how few arrange their bedrooms so as to provide for it! I have slept and waken in a good many different countries; but it is very seldom that I have found the beds rightly placed in this respect. As a rule, the morning light glares into the sleeper’s eyes on waking. Perhaps this position of the body at night is a survival of some earlier time when the dangers of war, or, later, the needs of agriculture, made it necessary to awake with the earliest light. But it need scarcyible said that the stress of the morning light is a trial to the eyes, and one which they should be spared when possible. The use of bed-curtains, still in Europe, but comparatively rare in our country, was intended to guard the sleeper from this annoyance; but they cut off the air to such a degree that they are very properly disused among us. I have referred to this rule as a hard one to follow, and indeed it may seem to propose no less than a revolutionary measure in suggesting that the beds which face the light should be turned the other way. Indeed it is always feasible, and I am the last person in the world to urge anything that should bring confusion upon the housekeeper. But one can sometimes make the bed, and sleep in it, with the head turned away from the light, even though the stringent rules of housekeeping forbid the moving of the bedstead itself. And when the sleeper’s head can not be turned away, a screen may be placed between the bed and the window. 6. Don’t read in bed. It is an indiscretion, to give it the mildest name. It strains the eyes, it curtails the hours of rest – and most of us do not sleep enough – and once in a while it sets the house a-fire. Bed is the place for sleep before anything else, and not primarily the place for pursuing intellectual culture. II. COMING TO SPECTACLES When I was a boy I used to envy the wearers of spectacles; they gave a sort distinction. I thought, even to some commonplace faces. I remember that I looked forward with a certain expectancy to the time when in the order of nature, I should be promoted to the use and enjoyment of glasses. Well, I am using them now, and not with that unmixed delight that I expected in them. I find that they make me out older than I was; and I learn that while augmenting years are supposed to bring wisdom, which is all very well, that there are still cetin offsets to the value of augmenting years. Perhaps one would just as soon be ten years young again, and avoid some of his mistakes, even if one had to forego the dignity of spectacles; and yet, when they are resorted to at the right time, and properly chosen, what a delight they are, what a comfort! More than this, they are one of the necessities of civilization. We could spare steamboat and railroads almost as soon as spectacles. Imagine the stoppage of work in almost every department of life that would follow the suppression of oculists and opticians. Their services, on the contrary, are constantly more and more in demand. Many children are found in need of them; in Germany seventeen per cent, out of ten thousand school children were found to have trouble with their eyes. By the age of forty at least half of the people in our community require to begin with weal glasses of one sort or another, and how reluctantly they often being! People who would “make no bones” of wearing ear-trumpets or crutches (because lameness and deafness can not be hidden) will stoutly resist the coming to spectacles. Nothing amuses me more, in a quiet way, than to observe the reluctance, the coyness, the backwardness with which my friends defer their privilege, “dreading, tho’ wishing to be near it.” And long putting off their comfort before they come frankly to the luxury of glasses. People will put it off for two or three years, and suffer all the time. One of my friends is now going through the process. He has procured this glasses; on occasions he brings them out in a very quiet way; he puts them on almost furtively, and how modestly and yet speedily they slip off again and into a specially –provided pocket! But they bring him back the clear sight of childhood; he enjoys them, and really he can not do without them for reading fine print; and soon he will use them as unreluctantly as his telephone. How shall we select our glasses? We have two classes of advisers in this matter; their names are somewhat similar, but their functions are widely different. We have the oculist or ophthalmic surgeon, a trained specialist in all that concerns the eye and its conditions of health and of disease; and we have the optician, who may be more or less informed in the science of the eye, but whose business is to sell glasses. Which of the two shall we consult? The optician, in his business of selling glasses, will often have picked up more than little knowledge of the ordinary requirements of eyes that need his help. Whether you need a “near-sighted” or “far-sighted glass” whether a strong or a weak pair of lenses – this he can ordinarily tell. But if the case is any thing out of the ordinary – if it is a question of unequal vision in the two eyes, or a of astigmatism, or of trouble with the optic nerve, or of nay one of a score of complaints s which though individually uncommon, yet constitute in the total no small part of the total percentage or change of the ailments of the eye – then the oculist, not the optician, is the one to pronounce upon the case. Here the optician is as likely to go wrong as right; and a mistake made in such a case may, and sometimes does, result in serious injury. But who is to tell beforehand whether your own case, or your child’s is a perfectly simple one – one for which you may take the chances on the optician’s advice; or whether it is a case which requires the trained expertise of the oculist? No one can tell. the practical rule consequently, is a simple one. As soon as you feel that your sight is wrong in any way, consult a good oculist. He will tell you what is the matter with your eyes, and just what they need or do not need; and with his directions in hand you will then go to the optician with all the certainty that can be had of finding the best treatment that your eyes may require. I shall not attempt, after laying down this precept to describe all the kinds of different eyes, and the kinds of glasses that they require. But for presbyopic or far-sighted persons, and for myopic or near-sighted, I will give the excellent summary that Dr. W. S. Dennett, of New York, has prepared for the guidance of opticians who are called upon to prescribe glasses without the guidance of an oculist. The rules are as follows: 1. Make all persons see distant objects as well as possible; near- sighted persons with the weakest, far-sighted persons with strongest glasses. 2. Allow the near-sighted persons to use still weaker glasses, or none at all, for near vision. 3. Allow far-sighted persons to use still stronger glasses for near vision, and no glasses at all for distance, if they desire it. And refer to the oculist (1) all who can not see as well as they out (2) all who are very near-sighted (3) all who have become near-sighted recently and (4) all who are not satisfied with their glasses. – [Dr. Titus M. Coan, in Chautanquan] LICK TELESCOPE – The Delicate Grinding Required for the Great Lens of the Instrument There is something almost romantic in the design and construction of the monster Lick Telescope. Being the greatest work ever undertaken, presenting difficulties that had never before been e countered; inviting and suffering drawbacks and disasters that seemed to be sufficient to stagger the most persistent and painstaking skill; watched from day to day by a whole world of anxious observers; hovered over and caressed by the united wisdom of a generation –t he lens has come into the world with its great cyclopean eye ready to pierce the mysteries of the heavens. Captain Thomas Fraser, superintendent of the observatory, furnishes some hitherto unpublished and highly interesting information concerning the grinding of the crown-glass lens, and the plan adopted for transporting it from Cambridgeport, Mass., to San Jose. On the subject of the grinding, he says that the closes measurement at command was the 110,000th part of an inch; but on grinding the great lens it was discovered that even this infinitesimal fraction was too large. A still finer measurement was required in reducing the lens in numberless places to a thickness (itself unequal) that would exactly concentrate parallel rays of light filling a circle three feet in diameter to a point a little larger than a pin. In order to reduce the fine measurement already at command, the flowing ingenious arrangement was employed by Alvin Clark & Sons, makers of the lends; a gas jet was placed before a mirror, which sent the rays of light through the telescope to the great lens, thus magnifying the rays. The magnified light, passing through the great lens was still further immensely magnified, and after having passed through this lens, it was observed through a second telescope and thus further magnified. In this way the least failure of the great lens to concentrated perfectly was detected, and there was also determined the amount of glass in it, at any given point, that had to be ground off in order to secure a perfect focus. Thus a measurement of the 2,000,000th part of an inch was secured. It took very little grinding to remove so small a thickness of glass from a given point, a gentle rubbing with the thumb being sufficient, as the glass is softer than common window glass. – [Boston Transcript] Mr. Minks – “I met an old schoolmate today for the first time in forty years and we had a grand talk about old times”. Mrs. Minks – “It was a man, I suppose.” “O yes, and as long as I’ve lived I never saw such a perfect example of contentment and earthly happiness as he is.” “Did he marry any one I know?” “No, he never married.” – [Omaha World] Thompson – Suppose a man should call you a liar, what would you do? – Jones (hesitatingly) – What sized man? – [Pittsburgh Dispatch] STRUGGLING QUAKERS – Opposition to Shop-keeping Friends During the Society’s Earliest Days A cause which brought much suffering on the quiet people must not be omitted – their founder insisted on the strictest honesty in all commercial matters. In the earliest days if a Friend kept a shop it was avoided as if it were a charnel house, and an artificer who professed the same creed might reckon on being without work for an indefinite period. Many of these unhappy people must have been starved to death had it not been that almost from its very foundation the sect had been organized into what can only be described as a huge friendly society, upon the funds of which any member could fall back in time of need without feeling himself an object charity. This, however did not always suffice, as numbers of Puritans refused to sell them food, and the Friends had frequently to walk long distances before they could get as much as a loaf for love or money. Fox relates that in one good-sized town there was no one who would sell him a cup of milk, and no inn-keeper who would let him have a bed, so that he was compelled to sleep under a hedge, from whence he was roused in the morning by blows from the amiable inhabitants. But gradually this narrowness died away, and the masses went to the other extreme – Quaker shops were crowded, Quaker workmen in demand; and this his how Fox accounts for the change: “When people came to have experience of Friend’s honesty and faithfulness, and found that their yea was yea and their nay was nay; that they kept to a word in their dealings and that they would not cozen or cheat them, but that if they sent a child to their shops for anything they were as well used as if they had gone themselves., then things altered so that all the inquiry was where was a draper, or shopkeeper, or tailor, or shoemaker, or any other tradesman that was a Quaker, insomuch that friends had more business than many of their neighbors, and if there was any trading they had a great part of it. Then the envious professors altered their note and began to cry out; “If we let those Quakers alone they will take the trade of the nation out of our hands.” This extract illustrates the two proverbs: “Out of evil good cometh,” and “Honesty is the best policy” while showing that self interest was a cause of a considerable part in the persecution the Friends underwent. – [Belgravia] A GOOD BOARD FENCE – Directions for Making it on the Farm During the Winter Months Take two saw horses, rather longer than your fence is high; cover them with strips of iron four inches wide, one-eighth inch thick. Make plain marks across them for the upper edge of each board, have a lot of cleats cut to length, lay them over the iron two feet from the end of the panel, and use wrought-iron nails half an inch longer than the double thickness, which will make a smooth clinch. This is in-door work for winter. Have your posts sharpened and drive them with an iron sledge. Se them so the panels will lap four inches. Get hooks made of bending three-eight inch round iron at a right angle with shanks five inches long. Drive them into the post so as to put the second boards from the top into them. Drive them up snug and the fence is done. This is a good temporary or permanent fence. Gates may be made in a moment anywhere; the posts are easily got at for repairs; snow drifts are headed off by taking off the panels; it might pay to pt them under shelter for the winter in some case. To nail boards to post too soon develops all the weak spots in the lumber – cross-grained boards are torn in two and nails are snapped by the heaving or swaying of the posts, and almost the only way to mend a broken post is to drive a new one beside it. Posts of bar iron two inches wide and half an inch thick with the hook welded into a hole, are in used hereabout; they never rot and are highly portable, but the first cost is somewhat serious. – [E. S. Gilbert, in N. Y. Tribune] WORTH KNOWING – How to prevent the discoloration of the skin after a blow. Take a little starch or arrow-root, and merely moisten it with cold water, and lay it on the injured part. This must be done immediately, so as to prevent the action of the air upon the skin. However, it may be applied some hours afterwards with good effects. I learned this when a resident of France. It may already be known here, but I have met with none among my acquaintances who seem to have heard to if. The old remedy, raw meat is not always at hand, and some children have an insurmountable repugnance to let it be applied. I always make use of the above remedy when my children meet with an accident; there is nothing unpleasant in its use, and it keeps down swelling, and cleanses and facilitates the healing of scratches when the little ones fall on the gravel in the garden. – [Journal of Chemistry] Professor (to students) – Pray, go on smoking, it doesn’t annoy me in the least; on the contrary, I like to see others enjoy it. It is the same with tobacco as with hay; I don’t eat any myself, but I am delighted to watch others enjoying it. – [N. Y. Telegram] PITH AND POINT - jokes CHRYSANTHEMUMS – Some Useful Hints about the Culture of This Charming Plant This charming race (Pyrethrum si inse) which may justly be considered everybody’s flower, from its easy culture and its wide adaptability to soils and localities, is especially valuable for coming in at a time when approaching winter denudes the gardens of their accustomed ornaments. Indeed, it seems almost smoke and frost proof, and will struggle on against both drawbacks with the perseverance and resolution that a brave spirit encounters difficulties, blooming during intervals whenever open weather permits till its period of duty is accomplished. Under the shelter of glass, of course this is not interfered with, but a warm house is not required; indeed, it is rather against the welfare of this plant. The chrysanthemum has undergone similar improvement to that which has attended so many other favorite plants. New types have been introduced, and new varieties have come to the front. Of all these, however, the Japanese are unquestionably the crème de la crème. As to their treatment, it is worth while noting that the taller varieties succeed well trained against a wall, and in that position, being somewhat sheltered, continue to flower later than in the open ground. For indoor blooming in pots, it will be most advantageous for amateurs to purchase compact little plants about to come into flower. But where any of the dwarf kinds are not already in bloom in the borders, same may be taken up with a good “ball” and dropped into pots (not too small) already prepared, with crocks for drainage, and rich loamy and sandy soil about one-third up the pot for the ball to rest upon. Then drop the ball into the pot with as little disturbance as possible, and fill in firmly with the soil already named. Water with tepid water and kept the plants close for a few days. If this operation be carefully done, the plants will receive no greater check than will protract their flowering for a short time – which is one of the advantages of such a procedure. To increase a stock of favorite varieties, young suckers from the roots may be taken after the blooming has entire ceased. Let them be potted singly in small pots of sandy soil, and placed in a gentle hotbed in a frame, or kept in a warm green- house if such be at command. As they grow they must be shifted once or twice, according to circumstances, and will be fit to plant out or potted on if intended for that mod of culture. – [London Queen] CHARACTER IN WALK- People’s Feet A Sure Indication Of Their Temperament And Occupation – anecdote about how people’s feet show where they work THE PREFERRED CREDITOR – anecdote PAGE 2 THE COURIER ALEX A. WALL, Editor and Proprietor Vernon, Alabama Friday, February 4, 1887 A CHANCE FOR A RAILROAD - Help! Everybody Help! We have information from a source which we consider reliable that a company has been formed to build a railroad from Decatur, Morgan County, Alabama to Aberdeen, Miss. The company have two routes in view, one by MOULTON in Lawrence County and up the mountain at MCCLUNG’S GAP, thence along the Byler Road to the MILLER STAND – formerly the DAVIS STAND - thence down Buttahatchie River through Marion and Lamar Counties and on to Aberdeen, along a survey made in 1868. The other from Decatur to the CLEAR CREEK FALLS in Winston County, thence through the JAGGER’S COAL FIELDS and by ELDRIDGE in Walker County, by TEXAS CITY in Marion County, and by VERNON and the iron oar near Vernon, and to Aberdeen. The agents of the company will be along both of these routes in a few days asking the people to give the right of way, and to donate lands and mineral interests in lands to aid in building the road, and then the road will be built on the route found most practical, and along which the greatest inducements are offered. If the people along the proposed route by Vernon through this county do not meet this proposition liberally, it may be long before they get another such opportunity. And this is the condition all along this route as proposed. Though it may seem hard to give what is asked for, let every one compare the present condition of the county with this certain development in the near future by the proposed road, and give, at least, the right of way, and as much more as can be spared. Mrs. Cleveland is a total abstainer from all intoxicating drinks. “Jack the Bear” the negro who murdered two men in Walker County several weeks since has been captured by the officers of Birmingham. On the sixth ballot for United States Senator for the State of Tennessee, on the 24th isn’t. Gov. Bate was nominated, which resulted in this election the day following. Three robbers at the muzzle of their revolvers forced the depot agent one mile from Houston, Texas to open the safe from which they took $1,400 and fled. On Monday of last week the Court House of Jefferson, in the city of Birmingham was inspected by a committee from the city council and decided unsafe and only a matter of time when it will fall. Of course a new one and better one will be built. We admire, and fully endorse Senator Wilson, of Iowa, for introducing a bill in Congress to better provide for the compensation of third and fourth-class post-master, and hope his bill may become a law. Said post-masters are not paid enough for their services At Free Port, Kansas, on the 28th ult., Miss Cora Boulder who was attending a masked ball, had her dress, which was trimmed with paper, to catch fire from a bracket lamp and she burned to death in the presence of a hundred panic stricken people.. WM. RODEN, son of VINCENT RODEN, of Marion County, was fatally shot by BYRON LEATH, near Abram Myer’s residence, 18 miles west of Jasper, Sunday evening last. He was shot through the body and survived about 24 hours. The killing seems to have been from sudden altercation. LEATH we learn has fled the country – [Jasper Citizen] NEW RAILROAD TO THE TENNESSEE Columbus, Miss. January 28 – Capt. C. A. JOHNSON, President of the Tombigbee Railroad Company and also of the First National Bank, of this city returned from New York several days ago. At a meeting of the directors of the railroad company yesterday it was decided to survey a route from Columbus to the Tennessee River. Johnson says New York capitalists are interested and will furnish all the money, if necessary. Over a hundred thousand dollars stock has been subscribed for by non-residents in the Columbus Land Company. The Decatur News says: The citizenship of Decatur today is quite different from what it was a short time back. Here where we have lived for thirteen years, we are a stranger among strangers. A clerk in the post office who has theretofore known every person who called for mail does not now know one half of those applying. Canadians are here, men from the east and the west and from the extreme south are here, all mingling and mixing in the stir and whirl that is daily going on. Old citizens are astonished, the thoughtful are amazed and even the unconcerned and listless are surprised. Day after day property is advancing. THE WORLD’S IGNORANCE OF THE SACRIFICES AND SUFFERINGS OF WOMEN The world knows little of the sacrifices and sufferings of women married to unkind husbands. Men have resources of torture which are rarely exposed even in our most sensational criminal trials. With the wide latitude allowed them they may systematically commit offenses against propriety and even decency without the condemnation of society. They have the business center, the clubs, and the theaters to which they can resort; but according to those rules which society has prescribed as almost inexorable the wife must remain at home. There is no escape for her. The limitations of her lot forbid diversion. Her troubles are in her bosom. She dare not utter one loud cry of broken-hearted agony and despair. And it must be admitted that, as a rule, these patient martyrs bear their fate right nobly. The tortures of jealousy the coolness, perhaps the cruelty, the long and anxious watching for her lord who comes not, are borne with a meekness and long suffering which no one but a woman could endure. Yet they utter no murmur of complaint to the world. With something stronger and more loyal than the marital spirit of the general who buttons up his coat to conceal the fatal shot, those noble wives of ours are ever ready to deny our faults and conceal our faults and hid the scars we leave. Like doves the truest and gentlest of all birds, they close their wings over their wounds, and it is only when the life blood is seen dripping from their plumage that the world learns something of their sufferings. – [New York Star] Ah! How true the above is, and pity it is too. MISNOMER – [Talladega Reporter] The word “boom” is getting to be as common as pig tracks in these days. It may mean much or little, according to circumstances. In connection with solid business interests the word conveys the idea of an explosion, which is not very agreeable to a business man. There is something of the bombshell sound about the word “boom” to which we object. A real and permanent advance in market prices should not be characterized as a “boom.” There is more sound than anything else about the word “boom.” It is an extravaganza, a misnomer, and carries the idea of an exploded inflation of coagulated gas going off into insubstantiality. We object to the word and suggest “option” as more suitable. Instead of saying such a place is on a “boom” let us say such a place in on an “option”. That is about the size of it. WALKER & DONOGHUE, Dealers in Staple and Fancy groceries and plantation supplies Columbus Miss. Keep constantly on had a full supply of all goods usually kept in a first-class grocery house. Give us a call when you are in the city. Mr. GEO. TAYLOR is connected with the above firm and will be pleased to see his friends and will sell them goods at rock bottom prices. W. B. SPANN of Lamar County with NATHAN & OPPENHEIMER Whole sale & Retail Dealers in Staple & Fancy Groceries, Tobacco, cigars, plantation supplies, etc. Wholesale dealers in liquors, wines, etc. Columbus, Miss. Note: I respectfully solicit my friends from all parts of the country to call in and see me when in the city. Will sell you goods at a very small margin above cost. I am ever thankful to my customers for the past favors. – W. B. SPANN J. A. JORDAN of Lamar County in now connected with TROST & SOLOMON Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Wines, Liquors, Cigars, & Tobacco. Columbus, Miss. Call and see him before purchasing elsewhere. L. S. METCALF, with T. O. BURRIS, Columbus, Miss. Groceries, Dry goods & shoes, hats & caps & clothing. Note: I respectfully ask my friends of Lamar and Marion to give me a call when in the city. Will sell you goods at a very small margin above cost. L. S. METCALF. OTTLEY & NEWBY Dealers in Crockery, Glassware, Lamps, Guns, Pistols, Powder, Shot, Steel, Iron, nails, Castings, Sash , doors, blinds, and a full line of stoves and tinware. Special attention paid to the repairing of tin work. No. 51 Market Street, Columbus, Miss. Cotton! Cotton! Cotton! S. E. WEIR & Co. Kennedy, Alabama Pay highest prices for cotton, country produce, &c, and sell all goods at rock bottom prices Fancy prints 4 ½ @ 7 Ladies Hats 25c to $3.00 Brown Domestic 7/8 5c Men’s hats, 25c to $3.50 Brown Domestic 4-4, 6c Kip Boots, $1.75 to $3.50 Cotton Checks, 6 ½ @ 7 ½ Kip Brogans, $1.00 to $3.15 8 oz Osnaburg, 10c Best Brogans, $1.25 Dress goods, all styles and prices Men’s and boys clothing, latest styles and lowest prices. Muzzle and breech loading guns, $2.50 to $35. Stoves with full line of fixtures, $10.00 to $20.00. We keep constantly on hand a full stock of bridles, saddles, harness, &c. Also good and fresh line of groceries, such as salt, flour, meat, lard, sugar, coffee, and all shelf goods, that we will sell as low as any market. Bring us our cotton and produce and we will pay you the highest cash price for same and sell you any and all goods kept in a first-class store, as cheap as money will buy them in any market. You will find it to your interest to give us a call before purchasing elsewhere. Mr. GARLAND SMITH will be found always on hand to serve his friends and the public. S. E. WEIR & CO. W. G. RICHARDS & Son – Dealers in general merchandise and country produce. Fernbank, Alabama. Not in favor of two weeks court, but selling goods low for cash. Headquarters for dry goods, notions, general merchandise, hats, caps, boots, shoes & clothing. Choice family groceries, including the best coffees, crockery, queensware, earthen and wooden ware, and a thousand and one “Nick Nack’s” which can not be enumerated always in stock. A car load of flour just received, which will be sold at a small margin above cost. We mean business, and I will sell any and all of our goods at rock-bottom prices. Columbus prices paid for cotton, hides, chickens, eggs, and all country produce. Please ask for what you want, we like to show our goods. Established 1867. Cash Store. A. A. SUMMERS, Special announcement for Fall and Winter. The best selected stock of general merchandise ever brought to Vernon. Now on exhibition fine clothing and dress goods at giving away prices, hosiery and furnishing goods at astonishingly low prices. A fine line of notions in abundance at a great discount. No lady can afford to buy elsewhere before seeing my goods and prices. Bargains in shoes, boots, and hats, never heard of before in Vernon. A full line of medicines, hardware, and goods of general utility. Call and see the attraction for yourself. Established 1856. 1886 Still here. N. GROSS AND COMPANY. We are now receiving one of the largest and best selected stock of dry goods, notions, boots & shoes, hats and caps, and clothing, gents furnishing good, that has as yet been received in this city, to which we call it’s attention of all of our Lamar friends. Our intention is to sell our stock at rock-bottom prices, and as we buy our goods for cash, we can of course offer you goods at figures which are astonishingly low. We would call special attention to the wholesale trade. Respectfully, N. GROSS & Co., Columbus, Miss. Note: We have secured the services of Mr. S. WOLFF, who will pay the highest marker price for cotton, and would be glad to see all of his Lamar friends. Call on him. N. GROSS & CO. COLUMBUS MARBLE WORKS. Monuments and Headstones of every description furnished to order with the best of stock. I invite orders for anything in my line from all parts of the country. Don’t be deceived before calling at my yard, for seeing is satisfaction. Everything warranted. LIST OF PRICES OF PLAIN HEADSTONES LENGTH WIDTH THICKNESS 3 ft. 0 in. x 1 ft 0 in x 2 in $12 3 ft 6 in. x 1 ft 2 in x 2 in $15 4 ft. 0 in. x 1 ft. 4 in x 2 in $20 5 ft 0 in. x 1 ft 6 in x 2 in $25 All work done on short notice. Material and work warranted the best. Correspondence solicited. W. H. NEWLON, Columbus, Miss. Fall and Winter Goods. F. OGDEN & Son. Cansler, Alabama. Dry goods, boots, and shoes. Dress goods, prints, notions, etc. Also keep constantly on hand, flour, meat, sugar, and coffee all of which will be sold as cheap as the cheapest. A fine line of snuff and tobacco and in fact everything usually kept in a first-class dry goods store. Give us a call and be convinced that we mean what we say. We wish to call especial attention to our wool carder which is now in first-class repair. We have with us Mr. W. T. TROTTER, an experienced hand in carding, and who will take pleasure in giving prompt attention to all wool brought to our carder. F. OGDEN & Son. Cansler, Ala. Clothing and hats. When you want a first-class article in the clothing line or a first class shirt or hat, call upon the clothing and hat store where you can select from a very large, nice stock of all kinds of goods for men’s wear. We deal especially in men’s goods, fitting a man from head to foot. We carry suits from $6.00 to $30.00. We have attached to our store a Tailoring Department, with a large stock of piece goods and trimmings to make suits to order. Call and see us when in the city. BUTLER & TOPP, No. 55 Main, Columbus, Miss. PAGE 3 THE COURIER Published Every Friday LAMAR DIRECTORY ALEXANDER COBB Judge of Probate R. E. BRADLEY Circuit Clerk S. F. PENNINGTON Sheriff L. M. WIMBERLEY Treasurer D. J. LACY Tax Collector W. Y. ALLEN Tax Assessor JAMES M. MORTON Reg. in Chancery B. H. WILKERSON Co. Supt of Ed. R. L. BRADLEY Representative ALEXANDER COLLINS Coroner N. L. TRULL, County Surveyor COMMISSIONERS R. W. YOUNG W. M. MOLLOY ALBERT WILSON SAMUEL LOGGAINS S. J. SHIELDS – Attorney-at-law and Solicitor in Chancery. Vernon, Alabama. Will practice in the Courts of Lamar and the counties of the District. Special attention given to collection of claims. J. D. MCCLUSKEY – Attorney-at-law and Solicitor in Chancery Vernon, Ala. will practice in the Circuit Courts of Lamar, Marion, Fayette, and Walker. The Federal Court and Supreme Court of Ala. Special attention given to collection of claims. NESMITH & SANFORD, Attorneys-at-law will practice in all the Courts of Lamar, Fayette, and adjoining counties. THOS. B. NESMITH, Vernon, Ala. J. B. SANFORD, Fayette, C. H., Ala. A. J. STANFORD, Attorney-at-law and Solicitor in chancery Beaverton, Alabama will practice in the Circuit and Federal Courts of Alabama. Special attention given to the collection of claims. ABRAM I. HUMPHRIES. Attorney at Law. Columbus, Miss. Special attention to collection of claims SAM’L M. MEEK, WM. C. MEEK - S. M. & W. C. MEEK, Attorneys and Counselors at law. Office on Military Street, (Opposite Court House), Columbus, Miss. Will practice in the Courts of Lamar County, Alabama LOCALS Miss JALA GUIN is at home resting from her school duties. Dr. W. A. BROWN is in Montgomery this week. Dr. ELLIOT and wife, of Beaverton spent several days in town this week. Rev. Mr. HEWITT preached an interesting sermon at the church lat Sabbath night. Last Sabbath and Monday appeared as though kind Providence had doubly smiled on this section – It was bright and clear. A large petition has gone to the Legislature praying for a continuance of two weeks court in this county. Also one against it. The District Annual Conference of the M. E. Church will meet here this summer, and it does seem to us that the church ought to be completed. Can it not be done? Our beautiful and intelligent cousin, Miss EMMA ARMSTRONG, of Moscow, is visiting the family of Mr. and Mrs. A. A. SUMMERS. We really wish her a pleasant stay among us. We talked with a good many substantial citizens in Columbus last week on the railroad question, and found them considerably enthused about the subject, and desirous of a road from their town to Vernon, and -----. We noticed last Friday on our way to Columbus, in company with Sheriff Pennington, a very marked improvement going on in the Matti-----n and KEMP neighborhood, which we were pleased to see, and which denotes thrift, intelligence, and enterprise, and speaks well for nay community. We hope our citizens through the county are aroused to a lively interest in renovating and building up their farms. See and read 2 Sheriff’s Sale in this issue. Mr. J. L. MILLER, of Gentry, gave us a social call last week. Sheriff PENNINGTON has a daisy spanking pair of harness horses. The prayer meeting was well attended Wednesday night. Col. C. C. NESMITH is expected in Vernon this week, in the interest of the proposed Decatur RR. Remember the Gilmer Hotel, Columbus, is a neat and first-class place to stop. Maj. KING, the proprietor, is a noble gentleman, and delights in pleasing his guests. Our town this week has had a number of gentlemen prospecting for minerals near town (we suppose, don’t know what else.) They are Messrs. R. HUDSON, Columbus, T. H. FRIEL, J. B. RICKOLS, Birmingham. We are not apprised as to the ultimate result of their visit, but are constrained to believe that something substantial is yet in store for Vernon. A rail road perhaps. Early Tuesday morning we noticed the ladies of our town wending their way to the residence of our popular fellow-townsman, Mr. HUGH PENNINGTON. The occasion was an invitation by his amiable wife to a quilting. We hear that three beautiful quilts were nicely quilted. The day was passed very pleasantly, and last but not least by no means was the elegant dinner set by the good wife, and of which we have heard many compliments. We return many thanks to friend HUGH for requesting our presence at this dinner – and not the quilting. The following is an account of the robbing of the Columbus post office of Sunday night of last week, which we take from the Index: “Mr. DAYTON HALE, Post Master of this city, whose office was robbed on Sunday last of about $500, was in receipt yesterday of a telegram from the Chief of Police of Nashville, Tenn., to the effect that CHARLES TAYLOR, formerly employed in his office was arrested in that city for carrying concealed weapons, and that he had on his person $500 dollars. To this Mr. HALE answered in brief that his office had been robbed and to hold the prisoner to await further order. CHARLES TAYLOR is a young man who was recently an employee in the Columbus post office, and who was well thought of by those of our citizens whose acquaintance he enjoyed. ******* The peculiar circumstances surrounding the case showed plainly that some one familiar with the workings of the post office was the guilty party, but whether or not TAYLOR was suspected cannot say. He left Glasgow, Ky., his home, on the 18th inst. and was reported to have been in Nashville on the 21st, and it is supposed reached Columbus on Saturday night last, the night previously to the robbing. SHERIFF’S SALE RICHARDS & RINHARDSON vs O. J. JOYNER Lamar County, Alabama By virtue of two executions which were issued by the clerk of the Circuit Court of Pickens County, Alabama, in favor of said plaintiffs against the said defendants for the sum of Eleven Hundred and Twenty Five Dollars and eighty four cents and cost on judgment rendered by said court on 17th of February 1886. I will sell to the highest bidder for cash on the First Monday in March 1887 in front of the door of the Court House in Vernon in Lamar County, the following described land situated in said county to wit: An undivided fifth interest in the NW ¼ W ½ of NE ¼, NE ¼ of SW ¼ and NW ¼ of SE ¼ Sec 36 T 15 R14 West, levied on as the property of O. J. JOYNER in the absence of personal property. This 3rd day of Feb. 1887. S. F. PENNINGTON Sheriff of Lamar County, Ala I MEAN BUSINESS From this date I will not sell to any one on a credit, or on a ticket. I must have the CASH for all goods sold from now on. Respectfully, HIGH PENNINGTON NOTICE The undersigned will do all hauling that may be entrusted to him as cheap as anyone. Will haul to and from Columbus or any where. GEORGE BENSON S. E. WEIR & Co, Kennedy, Ala. are selling stacks of goods. They buy their goods so close and sell so cheap that they have been able to successfully compete with and sell a number of bills around Birmingham. In fact, they have sold several bills that went directly to Birmingham himself. HUGH PENNINGTON’S Livery and Feed Stable - centrally located within 50 yards of the Court House. Vernon, Ala. My price for feeding and taking care of horses shall be as cheap as the cheapest. The public generally is invited to give me a call. Respectfully, HUGH PENNINGTON. FINAL SETTLEMENT The State of Alabama Lamar County Probate Court Estate of SANDY B. RIGGAIN, deceased. This day came R. W. CLARK Administrator (by his Attorney THOS. B. NESMITH) of said estate, and filed his statement, accounts, and vouchers for final settlement of his administration. It is ordered that the 15th day of February AD 1887 be appointed a day on which to make such settlement, at which time all persons interested can appear and contest the said settlement, if they think proper. ALEXANDER COBB, Judge of Probate of said County Ad for Dr. J. H. McLean’s Liver and Kidney Balm Ad for Dr. J. H. McLean’s Chills and Fever Cure Ad for Dr. J. H. McLean’s Liver and Kidney Balm Barber Shop. KELLY & ALBERT, No. 58 Market Street Columbus, Miss. Upstairs, opposite Cady’s Stable. Hot and cold baths. WAREHOUSE. The Cotton storing public must not forget the popular firm of TURNER & Co. who occupy the Brick Warehouse at the depot, where every convenience is offered to campers. Messrs. J. D. & W. M. TURNER, the sons of Major J. H. TURNER, deceased, are successors in the business, and will be on hand to look after the interests of their friends in this section. READ THIS All those indebted to mew ill please come and settle their tickets and accounts inside of ten days, otherwise said accounts and tickets will be placed in the hands of Esq. W. G. MIDDLETON, for collection. You owe me, and I need the money. J. B. MACE The State of Alabama, Lamar County In the Probate Court The Memphis & Birmingham Railroad Company having filed in this Court an application for the condemnation of the right of way, covering a strip of land 100 feet wide, fifty feet on each side of the center of the road bed, over and through NW ¼ of SW ¼ of Section 11, and SE ¼ of NE ¼ of Section 10, T13 R 14, lying in this county, five and six tenth acres, and it appearing to the Court that MARY W. B. SULLENS, H. B. SULLENS, and CLARENCE SULLENS minors and the owners of an interest in said land, and are non-residents of this state and reside in Lee County and State of Mississippi. It is ordered that Monday the 28th day of February 1887 be set as a day of the meeting of the Commissioners of award on said lands, and that notice be given to said MARY W. B. SULLENS, H. B. SULLENS and CLARENCE SULLENS by publication in the Vernon Courier a newspaper published in this county for four consecutive weeks, before said day of hearing, that they may appear in said proceedings if they see fit so to do. This 20th day of January 1887 ALEXANDER COBB, Judge of Probate PENSIONS J. D. MCCLUSKY, Esq. has associated with him Esq. H. S. BERLIN, a prominent attorney of the Washington City. These gentlemen will give close attention to the collection of Mexican War Pensions. A law has recently been passed in Congress granting Pensions to Mexican War veterans and their widows under the Pension laws. Application to J. D. MCCLUSKEY, Esq. will be promptly forwarded and looked after. NOTICE Parties indebted to the undersigned are earnestly requested to come and settle notes and accounts without further notice. – A. COBB & Son For sick headache, female troubles, neuralgic pains in the head take Dr. J. H. McLean’s Little Liver and Kidney Pillets. 25 cents a vial. KINGVILLE HIGH SCHOOL under the principalship of B. H. WILKERSON will open Oct. 25, 1886 and continue for a term of nine scholastic months. Rates of tuition as follows: PRIMARY: Embracing Orthography, Reading, Writing, Primary Geography, and Primary Arithmetic, per month, $1.50 INTERMEDIATE: Embracing English Grammar, Intermediate Geography, Practical Arithmetic, Composition, and U. S. History, per month, $2.00 ADVANCED: Embracing Algebra, Geometry, Physiology, Rhetoric, Logic, Elocution, and Latin, per month $3.00. No incidental fee. Discipline will be mild but firm. Special attention will be given to those who wish to engage in teaching. Board in best families from $4.00 to $5.00. Tuition due every three scholastic months. For further information address B. H. WILKERSON, C. Supt., Principal. Kingville, Ala, Oct. 29, 1886 We are not selling at cost, but just a little over cost. Geo W. Rush & Co Ad for Dr. J. H. McLean’s Strengthening Cordial and Blood Purifier FARMER’S INDEPENDENT WAREHOUSE. We have again rented the Whitfield Stables, opposite the Court house, for the purpose of continuing the Warehouse and Cotton Storage business, and we say to our friends and farmers of West Alabama and East Mississippi, that we will not be surpassed by any others in looking after the wants of our customers to make them comfortable while in Columbus. We will have fire places instead of stoves for both white and colored; separate houses fitted up for each. We will have also good shed room for 100 head of stock more than we had last year; also a convenient and comfortable room for our friends who may come to Columbus. We do not hesitate to say that we can and will give you better camping accommodations than any other house in the house in the place. Mr. J. L. MARCHBANKS of Lamar County, Ala., and MILIAS MOORHEAD, of Pickens County, Ala., will be at the stable and will be glad to see their friends and attend to their wants, both day and night. Our Mr. FELIX GUNTER will be at the cotton shed where he will be glad to see his old friends and as many new ones as will come. All cotton shipped to us by railroad of river will be received free of drayage to warehouse and have our personal attention. Thanking you for your patronage last season, and we remain the farmer’s friends. Yours Respectfully, J. G. SHULL & CO, Columbus, Miss. SHERIFF’S SALE Within legal hours on Monday, the 7th day of March 1887, I will sell at the Court House door in Vernon, Lamar County, to the highest bidder, for cash, at public outcry, the NE qr, sec 17, T13 R 15, levied on as the property of M. W. LOYD; and the NE qr of NW qr, Sec 17, SE qr of SW qr, N hlf of SE qr, Sec 8, E hlf of E hlf of SW qr, SE qr, Sec 33, T12 R15; SW qr of SW qr Sec 3, E hlf of NE qr, S hlf of SW qr of NE qr NE qr of SW qr Sec 4; NE qr of NE qr, NE qr of SE qr, S hlf of SE qr, Sec 8; NE qr N hlf of NW qr, SW qr, N hlf of SE qr, SW qr of SE qr Sec 9; NW qr of NW qr, E hlf of SW qr, Sec 10, T13, R15, levied on as the property of GEORGE R. TURMAN; N hlf of SW qr, NE qr Sec 22, S hlf of SW qr, sec 23, T 12 R15, levied on as the property of CHARLES DUNCAN; S hlf of NE qr, NW qr NW qr, of SW qr, Sec 24; W hlf of SE qr, Sec 14 Township 12 R 15 levied on as the property of JAMES V. CRUMP, to satisfy an execution to me directed from the Circuit Court of said county, in favor of THOS. B. NESMITH, as administrator of the estate of JOHN POPE, deceased, and against said parties, for $1085.45 cents, Judgment rendered, March 5, 1885, and interest and costs. This Feb. 3, 1887. S. F. PENNINGTON, Sheriff Clothing! Clothing! At A. COBB & Son Dealer in General Merchandise. Ladies best fitting (picture of a corset) always in store, and at prices to suit the ladies. Our summer stock is complete – consisting of ladies fine dress goods, ladies shoes, men’s shoes, boots, hats, etc. Our stock of clothing of the best quality, which we are offering at a small margin above cost. We are selling cheap. We mean what we say. Don’t fail to call when you are in town. We have a lot of Iron Foot plows which we will sell very low (picture of iron foot plow). Very Respectfully. A. COBB & Son Ho! (picture of canteen) Every one that Thirst food and lodging for man, and provender for horses can be had to live and let live prices at the WIMBERLEY House, Vernon, Ala. L. M. WIMBERLY, Proprietor Gilmer Hotel. Columbus, Miss. This establishment has changed hands and will be thoroughly overhauled and refurnished and first-class accommodations guaranteed and charges will be moderate. A. W. KING, Proprietor THE FERNBANK HIGH SCHOOL under the Principalship of J. R. GUIN, will open Oct. 25, 1886 and continue for a term of Ten Scholastic months Rates of Tuition: PRIMARY: Embracing Orthography, Reading, Writing, Primary Grammar, Primary Geography and Primary Arithmetic, per month $1.25. INTERMEDIATE: Embracing Brief English Grammar, Elementary Geography, Elementary Arithmetic, Letter Writing and Hygiene, per month, $1.50. PRACTICAL: Embracing English Grammar, Practical Arithmetic, Complete Geography, English Composition, U. S. History and Physiology, per month, $2.00. HIGH SCHOOL: Embracing Rhetoric, Elocution, Algebra, Natural Philosophy, Botany, Geology, Zoology, Hygiene, Physiology, Latin, &c, per month $2.50. Discipline will be firm. Special attention will be given to young men and women who wish to engage in teaching. Good board at $7.00 per month. No incidental fees. Tuition due every five months. Correspondence solicited. Address J. R. GUIN Fernbank, Ala. Lamar County G. W. RUSH B. F. REED New Cash Store. BUSH & REED, Vernon, Alabama. Dealer in Dry goods and groceries, boots, and shoes, hats and caps, clothing, hardware, Queensware, etc. which is offered at bottom prices for cash or produce. Our stock of clothing is complete and first-class. A superb and well selected lot of notions. We have a large and handsome line of school books, also inks, pens, and paper. Always keep constantly on hand a full stock of Patent Medicines. KENNEDY HIGH SCHOOL Located in the live and growing town of Kennedy on the Georgia Pacific Rail Road. The moral and religious influences surrounding this school are unsurpassed in any part of the state. Boarders can find pleasant homes in refined families at very reasonable rates. The first session will commence on Monday Nov. 1st, 1886 and continue for a term of ten scholastic months. TUITION PRIMARY: Embracing Orthography, Reading, Writing, Primary Geography, and Primary Arithmetic, per month, $1.50 INTERMEDIATE: Embracing English Grammar, Intermediate Geography, Physiology, History of U. S., Practical Arithmetical and Elementary Algebra, per month $2.00. ADVANCED GRADE: Embracing Higher Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Rhetoric, Elocution, and Latin, per month, $2.50. An incidental fee of 25 cents, per session. Special attention will be given to those who expect to engage in teaching and preparing boys and girls to enter college. Tuition due at expiation of each quarter. For further particulars address J. C. JOHNSON, Principal, Kennedy, Ala. J. T. STINSON & Company. Cotton Factors and Commission Merchants. Columbus, Miss. We return to our many friends and patrons, our usual thanks for their very liberal patronage extended us; and trust by strict attention to their interests to merit their favors and influence in future. Our local facilities for handling cotton are unsurpassed by other markets, having suitable warehouses with storage capacity of 60,000 bales, two Banking institutions with ample money facilities to move the entire crop marketed here, and a Morse Patent Compress similar and equal to presses located in the coast markets; with these interior business conveniences our markets has become a spinner’s market, and we are enabled to realize the highest market price for cotton marketed here. The bulk of our cotton is readily taken by our local cotton buyers and shipped direct to Eastern Mils. We make liberal advancements as usual on cotton consigned to us, which will receive our prompt attention on arrival. Bagging and ties furnished on application. Soliciting your patronage, Respectfully yours J. T. STINSON & Co. PAGE 4 FOREIGN GOSSIP • Thin plates of metal in the backs of books are a new London notion. • There is a plot afoot to crush poker in Europe. The St. James Gazette and also certain officials are encouraging it. • Out of 700,000,000 passengers on British railways last year only 100 were killed; in addition 857 employees, trespassers, or suicides were killed. • British Guinea is making large shipments of god to England, and the prospects are that the shipments will rival in value the great exports of sugar, molasses and rum. • Two years ago Baroness Alquier left $1,200,000 to the City of Paris for an asylum to be named after her. The municipality has now purchased a park of 275 acres and will erect the asylum therein. • Herr William Herz, the famous Berlin manufacturer of ladies’ cloaks, recently celebrated the completion of the 100,000th cloak of this season’s make with a grand banquet to all his employees. • A most astonishing phenomenon of the Japanese earthquake was the splitting of the Paupundayang Mountain. In a flash of time it was spit into seven parts. Where the lone mountain had stood, loomed up seven peaks, each some seven thousand feet high. • The discovery of a new variety of coffee-plant in West Africa is reported. The berry greatly resembles that of Arabia in appearance and flavor, but grows on a rapidly developing and very productive tree nearly seven feet high instead of on a shrub. • An experiment was recently made of a female omnibus conductor on the new line between Piccadilly Circus and King’s Cross. She only lasted a day. Most probably she met with an offer of marriage and closed her connection with one bus to get another as legitimate. – [London Court Journal] • A strange effects of light transmitted through a solution of sulphate of quinine upon the blossoming of plants has been made known by Sachs. From a series of experiments he has shown that plants germinated and grown under the influence of such light, while thriving otherwise develop only small, imperfect, and speedily perishable flowers. Light transmitted in a similar way through pure water impaired in no way the blossoming powers. • Fred Archer is still talked about. While at Newmarket the other day the Prince of Wales made a pilgrimage to his grave, where he sent for Archer’s sister and baby daughter and sympathized with them. Patriotic indignation has been expressed because French papers have said that English ladies loved Archer for his fine eyes as well as for his riding. A proposition to perpetuate his memory by founding a reading and reception room for stablemen and boys at Newmarket is meeting with much favor. • In the vault of the Capucine Church at Vienna, where the Austrian sovereigns have found their tombs, is a splendid and enormous sarcophagus raised by Joseph II over the remains of his mother, Maria Theresa, and at its foot a plain iron box in which are the bones of Joseph himself, with the inscription, often repeated by him in life: “I have got so far that I love nothing on earth except my mother and the State.” Near by is the tomb of the unfortunate Maximillian of Mexico, by the side of which the Emperor often spends an hour in mediation and prayer. THE EUCALYPTUS –Imported as an Ornament, It has Been Turned to Practical Use by American When a mail steamship line was established between San Francisco and the Australian Islands, enterprising persons sought to transfer some of the wild products of the latter regions to the California soil. One thing attracted the attention of the admirers of nature, and that was the eucalyptus tree, which formed ninety-nine per cent of the forest vegetation of Australia. This tree grows very rapidly in that country with a straight stem reaching commonly two hundred and fifty feet in height, and having a circumference of seventy feet at the base. It was believed that as this tree produced a great mass of leaves it could be utilized for shade as well as ornamentation, if the soil of the Pacific States should be found suitable to its growth. The experiment was tired, and slips of the Australian forest giant transferred to California, where they soon took root and thrived in the prolific soil of the Golden State. The tree was found to furnish honey to bees, and in this way alone the foreigner was soon ascertained to be a valuable addition to the honey-giving products of that now extensive honey-producing state. It was ascertained that the eucalyputs globuus, or blue gum, could be further utilized as a remedy for marsh and other fevers. So valuable, indeed it is that it will destroy and feed upon the animalcule of marshy regions and help to eradicate mosquitoes by destroying the food on which they exist. Its value by being efficacious in such fevers has given to the tree among many persons especially the Spanish Americans, the name of the “fever tree,” and it is therefore somewhat revered by the Spanish Americans countries along the Pacific coast. The tree produces an essential oil which is valuable, and a resin like the resin of cinchona. An extract made from the tree yields a substance capable of neutralizing strong acids and forming crystalline salts. The leaves, dried and powdered, have been found useful as a medicine for certain maladies, and the bark and wood have also been utilized for the same purposed. But the discovery of the most remarkable use to which this tree can be put was the result of an accident a couple of years ago. The eucalyptus tree had flourished on California soil and had been employed as an ornament and shade tree in many of the cities and settlements along the Pacific coast. It will be remembered that for a long time past the engineers all over the country suffered from scale forming in their boilers and from corrosion. About a couple of years ago Mr. George Downie, the proprietor of a flouring mill at Salinas City, California was in the habit of filtering water in an old heater in order to free it as far as possible from the mineral qualities that formed scale in his boiler. Chemical compounds supposed to prevent the formation of scale had been used without effect, and Dr. Downie resorted to the filtering of water as a partial preventive. His process was to run the water through the heater and let it drain through straw. One day he happened to be out of straw, but as the leaves from one of the eucalyptus tress which stood near the mill were handy he employed them instead. To Mr. Downie’s surprise the formation of scale in the boiler stopped and that which was already there began to be removed. He thought it well to continue his experiments with the eucalyptus leaves, and on proving the result informed others what he had discovered. In a very short time the leaves of the eucalyptus tree fell into very general use among the engineers on the Pacific coast for removing scale from all boilers and of preventing corrosion. The value of the tree to American industry having thus accidentally been developed, its rapid growth having been demonstrated, and its usefulness in destroying the pests and maladies arising from marsh lands being proved by eminent physicians, a strong desire has arisen among the keepers and cultivators of park lands, as well as those who take great interest in ornamenting their grounds with forest vegetation entirely different from the native productions, to reproduce this tree in various parts of the country, not only as a curiosity, but also as one of the valuable additions to the productive resources of the United States in both an agricultural and commercial sense. – [N. Y. Mail and Express] AN ODD CEREMONY – The Burial of an African King by the Noisy Savage Subjects Among the passengers on board the schooner Lottie Beard, brought to this port from Kebanda on her recent passage, was a young man of perhaps seventeen, who attracted the eyes of the observers that had gathered on the wharf to witness the arrival of the vessel. The young man’s name was Arch Steel, and his native place Dennison, Iowa. He is a son of a well-to-do furniture dealer of that place, and a Methodist missionary. He went away last March and returned because of home- sickness. He was one of Bishop Taylor’s colony that left for Africa in March, which consisted of twenty-seven persons, including men, women, and children and apprentices. It sailed by steamer from New York on the 20th of last March, and first landed at Madeira. The next port was Tenerife, one of the largest islands of the Canary group, where a day or two was spent. At Grand Canary Islands a short stay was made, which allowed the party time to visit the Jesuit Cathedral. A change of steamers was here made, and the party embarked aboard the steamer Nubian and Sierra Leone. Proceeding down the coast, Mayambia was reached, which was the headquarters at that time of Bishop Taylor. With Bishop Taylor the party proceeded and arrived at Kabenda the 20th of May. “Upon first landing at Kebanda,” said Mr. Steel, “we were met by the Governor of the place and invited to dinner and supper with him. The next day he picked out a place for us to pitch our tents and gave us a couple of natives to help do our work, which we paid by giving them a certain quantity of cloth. Kabenda comprises a settlement of fifty-four towns within a distance of ten miles of the bay where we landed, with a population of 500,000. Shortly after we arrived at Kabenda a King of one of the more important towns died, and whenever a King dies a week is taken to bury him. “In this case a huge coffin twelve feet long, nine feet high and three feet wide was built on a rack six feet high with immense wheels. It was only a short distance from the King’s house to the burial-place, but the rack is moved only a short distance each day. A large delegation of natives from each town held services around the coffin, and they made the day and night hideous with the noises from their rude instruments, the principal one being a tom-tom or native drum. “A big bell is suspended from the rack, which is rung at regular intervals. The crowds around the funeral rack at night is larger than in the daytime, and everybody dances. That is, they turn round and round in one spot, but do not move in a circle. “The most impressive part of the ceremony is that performed by gilley-gilley doctors, or medicine men. Everybody gets drunk on the rum which is purchased of English traders, and which is a great deal worse than American rum. While a certain part of the natives are holding services around the coffin, another party is engaged in digging an immense grave, which was over twenty feet deep. The grave is always dug at night by the light of torches made of native gum, and carried by women on the edge of the grave. “Singing is kept up throughout the night. On the morning of the last day the coffin is lowered into the grave and the natives disperse to their homes. Nearly all the men on the coast have coats which they obtained from sailors in steamers by selling them parrots, and the women nearly all have garments of American cloth. “Witchcraft prevails to a certain extent among the natives of Kabenda, and if any person has been offended in any manner by another person he charges him with witchcraft and the gilley-gilley doctors take him in charge and administers a dose of sasswood. If the mixture makes the person vomit he is adjudged not guilty of witchcraft, but if he does not vomit he is looked upon as a witch. His lands and goods are taken from him and given to the person whom he has offended. This had been done since our party landed there, and it is hard to make them believe there is no such thing as witchcraft.” – [New Bedford Cor. Boston Globe] It is estimated that there are 325,570 telephones in use in this country. Nine years ago there were only 780. NEW DEPARTURE – A Brooklyn Dentist Who Sells Teeth On the Installment Plan “Everything is now sold on installments,” said a Brooklyn installment dealer to a reporter. “Of course everybody knows that furniture can be bought on installments, but I was not aware that one could have his teeth filled on weekly or monthly payments. While recently passing a dentist’s office in a quiet street in the eastern district I saw this sign: “Teeth filled on installments. Five dollars down, the remainder in terms to suit. Cheapest and best work and easiest terms of credit.” Being desirous of having a tooth pulled I entered the office of the installment dentist. There I found a little wizen-faced man, who, on learning my errand, lead me to a chair. In a few minutes my tooth was extracted and I was enabled to talk with the installment operator. In the course of conversation he said that he had many customers whom he had treated and who paid him in weekly and monthly payments. Business was good and he had all he could do. Did he ever get cheated? But seldom, as he was always sure that his customer had some visible means of support. “Do you think that eventually everything will be sold on credit or installments?” was asked. “Yes. A difference exists between the credit and installment plans. When buying on installments one is obliged to pay just a little more than when he buys on credit. Some tradesmen don’t give credit unless they are sure that their customers are good. Many installment dealers, however, don’t even ask for references, and are satisfied if they but know the address of the customer to whom they sell their goods. All goods sold on installments are subject, of course, to a chattel mortgage. The mortgage can be foreclosed without notice in case payments are not promptly made. It is only in recent years that men’s and women’s wearing apparel has been sold on installments. Now one can purchase an entire outfit for five or ten dollars down. The installment idea is a blessing to many young girls and men who receive their wages weekly. Of course, when one buys on installments he is sometimes a little extravagant and purchases much that he doesn’t really need. Some working girls whom I know would not be able to appear respectable were it not that they could dress themselves on the installment plan. There is now so much competition in the installment business that the cash and installment prices differ but little.” HARD TO SHAVE – A Washington Tonsorial Artist Talks about Some Prominent Men I dropped into a barber’s chair the other night for a shave. The young colored man who handled the razor was a character. He told me that he shaved many of the prominent men of the country. Said he: “Speaker Carlisle is a hard man to shave. He has an angular, rough-bearded face. He drops into a chair, and does not say a world until he gets out of it, except when he is afraid of being cut.” “Did you ever shave a President?” I inquired. “No, But I used to go over Hendricks’s face every day or two. Vice-President Hendricks’s was a very hard man to keep clean. It took a long time, too, to shave him, but he was such a good talker, and told so many stories that I never noticed how the time was pasting. The last time he was here Postmaster-General Vilas came with him, and he kept telling anecdotes to him between the sweeps of the razor. I have shave Dan Voorhees, too, at times. Voorhees has one of those red and gray, coarse beards, which is very hard to cut. He is very particular as to his personal appearance and considers himself a dandy. Governor Curtin has a National reputation as being the worst man in the country to shave. His beard is very hard and it runs alls orts of ways. The hairs overlap each other and have no regularity whatever. All the barbers about Washington know him, and some of them will make an excuse to get out of the shop when he comes in. Bancroft comes here to get his hair cut, but he oftener has us come to his house for this purpose. He likes to talk while we are dressing his head, but you have to work very carefully with him. He is getting old and is liable to be out of humor at times.” Ad for St. Jacob’s Oil There are thirty thousand brass bands in this country. That accounts for our terrible wind storms. – [Boston Transcript] A Bonanza Mine of health is to be found in Dr. Pierce’s “Favorite Prescription to the merits of which as a remedy for female weakness and kindred affections, thousand testify. Who make the best prophets in winter? Plumbers and coal dealers. The foot of a horse is one of the most ingenious and unexampled pieces of mechanism in animal structure. The hoof contains a series of vertical and thin laminate of horn, amounting to about five hundred and forming a complete lining to it. In this arc fitted as many laminiae belonging to the coffin bone, while both sets are elastic and adherent. The edge of a quire of paper, inserted leaf by leaf into another, will convey a sufficient idea of the arrangement. Thus the weight of the animal is supported by as many elastic springs as there are lamiae in all the feet, amounting to about four thousand, distributed in the most secure manner, since every spring is acted on in an oblique direction. – [Science Monthly] Most persons being to show gray hairs while they are yet in their twenties, and some while in their teens. This does not by any means argue a premature decay of the constitution. It is a purely local phenomenon, and may coexist with unusual bodily vigor. The celebrated author and traveler, George Borrow, turned quite gray before he was thirty, but was an extraordinary swimmer and athlete at sixty-five. – [Boston Globe] A few of the finer class retail shoe stores are selling a balmoral shoe for ladies wear that is made precisely like a man’s balmoral, except that it sis higher cut. The heel, sole, vamp, quarter, stitching and fitting are identical with the same features of a fine shoe for gentlemen’s wear. It looks sensible, will be very comfortable, and must be much more healthful for street wear. – [Boot and Shoe Recorder] Cardinal Mezzofante, or, as Pius IX used to style him, the living miracle of Pentecost, has at last been excelled in linguistic achievement by one Signor Marcantonio Canini, of Venice, who, on undoubted authority, can speak fluently ninety-three languages. A deceived woman is the lady who used cosmetics, face lotions, white lead, bismuth powders, arsenic, etc in the belief of enriching and beautifying the complexion. It is but temporary and ultimately destroys the skin beyond the power of nature to restore. Stop it. Stop it now, and use only Dr. Harter’s Iron Tonic, which imparts the vigor and liveliness of youth. The home stretch – trying to make both ends meet. – [New Haven News] Ad for Dr. Combs Cod Liver Oil Reckless men are going to Reuen. – [St. Paul Herald] Ad for Catarrh Remedy Lead astray – the shot of a green sportsman – [Yonkers Gazette] Ad for Prickly Ash Bitters Every miser should have a chest protector. – [Boston Post] Ad for Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery Female dancers were first introduced in the ballet in 1681. Some of them are with us yet. – [Cambridge Chronicle] Ad for Brown’s Bronchial Torches The latest thing for breakfast - the young men of the family. What might be considered the shortest way to spell dog – K9 – [New Age] Ad for Pike’s Toothache Drops Cure Railroad brakemen should emigrate to Switcher-land – [St. Paul Herald] Ad for Dr. Isaac Thompson’s Eye Water Ad for Hood’s Sarsaparilla Ad for Ely’s Cream Balm Ad for Brown’s Iron Bitters Ad for Prickly Ash Bitters Ad for Dr. Sanford’s Liver Invigorator Ad for Benson’s Porous Plaster AD for Harter’s Iron Tonic Ad for Oaklawn Percheron Horses (picture of a horse) Ad for Tansill’s Punch Ad for Swayne Ointment Ad for Holiday Music Ad for Mason & Hamlin organs Many smaller ads File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/lamar/newspapers/vernonco1515gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 72.4 Kb