Mexico weekly ledger., November 16, 1876, Image 6

About Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
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GRANDMOTHER OR AY.
C-
TM&RT K. BOUTELLK.
Faded nd fair in her old arm-chair, . .
' r unect fftlcUiig her thin white hair, . -J
Silently knilAing sits Grandmother Gray;
' While I on ioy elbows beside her lean,
And tell what wonderful things I mean
To have, ami to do, if I can, some day;
Too cum tallt no to Grandmother Gray
She doesn't laugh, and send you away.
I ee, as I look from the window scat,
ji bouse there yonder, acrons the street,
With a fine French roof and a freeeoed-hall,
"The deep bay-windows are full of flowers;
They're a clock of bronze that chimes the hours,
-And a fountain I bear it tinkle and fall
When the doors are opeirl I mean," 1 say;
To live in a house like that, some day."
'Money will buy it," says Grandmotuer Gray,
'There' a low baroOchcJ all jrreen and gold , ;
And a pair of horses as black as jet,
Tve seen drive by and before I'm o.d
A turn-out like that I hope to get
How they prance and 6hine in their harness gay I
What fun 'twould be, if they ray away 1" r ,
Money will buy them," says Grandmother
x Gray. . , s ; v
'To-morrow, I know, a great ship sails
Out of port, and across the sea; . '
Oh! to feel in my lace the ocean gales;-
And the salt waves dancing under tnel ,
In the old, far lands of legend and lay
1 long to roam and I shall , some day
"Money will do iti" sffs Grandmother 3rayT
r ; i f .
And when , Iike'me, you are old," says she, ,
And getting and going are tioao with', dear.
What then, do you think, wrillhcone thing be
You will wish and need, to cont3nt you here?"
'Oh, when in my chair I have to stay,
liOve, you 6e' rid content mo,'.' I buy.
That, money won't buy ,V 6as Graidmothor
G,ray. . r :. 'J..
And, ture-'enough', if lucre's nothing worth
. AH your care, when the yeare are past,
But love in heaven, and love on earth,
Why not begin where you'll end at last?
Begin to lay no treasure, to-day, ,
Treasure that nothing can take away.
Bless Uic Lord !" tays Grandmother Gray.
Wide Atcale.
: - A DEAD-LETTER ROMANCE.
" BT WILLIAM E. CURTI3.
It was very long ago as far -back as
1835, if the old clerks in the lyew York
Post ofice remember correctly that
she first began to come to the general
delivery window a modest, plainly
clad laoy, with a sweet, uober face, and
a gentle manner. She was as regular
as the moon, and like the moon came
monthly, geuerally on the first Satur
day of the month, and always found a
letter awaiting' her, folded in the same
sort of an envelope ; always addressed
in the same cramped, angular hand to
: MARIA II. RUSSELL, :
Z I
Z New Yokk Post-office. :
It was always a "drop-letter," one of
the many thousands that found their
way through the little crevice in the wall
daily, and no one ever knew who brought
it; although, when the regularity of her
visits began to attract attention, the un
known correspondent was, carefully
watched lor about the. first Friday of
every month. But it was never known
who brought that strange yellow en
velope, did any one ever get a
glimpse of its contents, although its
outside was examined with curiosity a
great many times. And the mysterious
letter passed along like the thousands
of daily messages of love and hate, of
mortification and pleasure, of good
cheer and evil bidding the duns and
remittances and promises to pay.
Years passed. The delivery clerks
were changed one after another; some
of them died; others were promoted;
some went to other employment ; but
as each left he told the story of the
strange woman to his successor as a
part of the instructions of the office,
and the new clerks soon became famil
iar with her visits aa the months went
by.
' She was often questioned ; inquisitive
glances were often cast into her face,
and several times she was followed by
curious fellows ; but no one ever dis
covered wlience she came or whither
she went.
One day a new clerk who had con
! ceived a hoheme to discover her identi-
ty told her he was not sure the letter
! belonged to her, a3 he knew other la
dies iu the city of the same name, and
asked her if there wanot pome one in
'the neighborhood whom she could call
to identify her.
44 I am o, stranger in this part of the
,city, sir," was her quiet, dignified re-
; ply, "but! have been here a goo.l
rnanv tunes ana never before was ask
ied to prove my indentity. If it will be
any satisfaction to you I will describe
the appearance of the letter I expect
but wait ; I am quite sure it will corre
spoud with thi3 One" and she took
from a little reticule she always carried
the one she had received a month be
fore.
i A whole generation had passed away.
Men and women had been born and
juried, but still the queer letters came,
tnd were called for by the queer woni-
in. The clerks in the Post-office had
:f leard of her from those who had pre
f "eded them, and her mysterious ap-
V Frances had gained a romance with
Jj ; .ge
and strange stones that had been
aventcd bT the clerks long before were
! old of her as true.
i I Her face was smooth and round and
' ' lacid when she first came, but it was
I ! ettioe: wrinkled, and her hair was get-
' xxz erav. One time, only once for
! ' iveiiby years, as ueanjr as uuiuu ue ie-
lembered, she failed to come, and one,
' M ' 1 - v.-
, vo, three letters were 'waiting lor her
-1 the pigeon-hole. The cleric did not
J dvertise them nor send them to the
;('ead-letter Office with the rest, for he
new if Maria Russell was living she
' ould come for them in time, and if
ie was dead nothing could be gained
i ' orgue where all unclaimed letters go.
Tjit after lour months her laminar lace
peared at the window again, and the
rk was as glad to see her as if she
d been an old friend. But it was not
;e face he used to see. Its calm smooth
ies was fehrunken, its fullness was
?uted; there were deep-drawn lines
ound the mouth and eyes, and the
psh flush had turned to a wan pale
rss. A friendly greeting was on the
ligue of the clerk as he turned to meet
fr, but when he saw howpaiesnewas,
w w.ifltpd. and how the calm exrjres-
a of her face had been erased and
?yered with the autograph of pain, he
jpressed the cordial words that were
nhing his lips open, and simply re
frked :
You have been sick?"
Yes, I have been sick," she said,
) I gathering her letters in her hand
I if left the window, and, like a snow-,
77-- r : r
flake in the sea, melted away into the
surging wave of humanity that was
roaring in the street outside.
, After this she came fregularly again,
buttha paleness never left her face,
and the wrinkleu lengthened and deep
ened instead of growing less. y t ; n
The clerks i began to talk of ' her
changed ; appearance, ; and : concluded
that she was sufi eriagfrom some cause,
they could, not decide ! just what; al
though there . wre-, plenty of reasons
suggested, and it was jconcluded at'an
informal meeting; behind the; wall Of
boxes in the postro'ffice one day that the
next time she came it was their duty to
find out if sliewiiSr needing any thing
that they wini their ill filled purses
could supply. So when she came the
clerk who happened to be at the win
ddw'held her letter ' in his band a mo
ment toj delay, her, and stid with a great
if deal of trepidation for-the mystery of
her life and tne distant self-possession
of lier manner.-diucouraged any inquisi
tive attacks: fc t
I pray you to excuse tne, madam ;
I thought that if you were in any sort
of need ' 'i ' ' '
44 1 am very well cared for,, thank
you," she interrupted. . 44 You have a
letter for me,!I see."
And she was gone again.
The clerk;, went back to his fellows,
and, being ;' a person of pride, related
the- incident, with some details that
were not supplied in the occurrence.
He said he had tendered tha lady in
their name, as delicately as possible,
any aid .that she might need, explain
ing to her that thSy had learned from
long association' to feel an interest in
her, and hoped if she was in want of
any of the necessaries of life, or if she
needed assistance of any kind that
they would assist laer to the extent of
their abilities.
The - clerks applauded the deftness
with which their fellow had performed
the duty,' and inquired anxiously for her
reply. .
44 She told me,1? he said, rthat she
was in good - circumstances, and was
not just now in want of any assistance.
but, with pur permission, she would
remember our kind oner, and if ever
in need would not hesitate to call upon
us."
And if she had been a heroine for
merly she became a goddess from that
hour out a goddes s in an oid-fasmoned
leghorn bonnet, a rusty broche shawl,
and a reticule like the ones their grand
mothers carried. But she was as divine
to those habit-hs.rdened post-office
clerks as ever wii3 St; Cecelia to the
tone poets of thti mednuval, or St.
Agatha to the suffering women of the
church. The gray hair of the goddess
had grown much thinner,, in the last
few years, her eyes were sinking back
under her temples and Ignowing dim,
and the hands that clasped the letter as
each month came round were getting
very gaunt and shriveled.
The war came on, the mails were la
den down with messages of sorrow and
bereavement; the clerks were hurried
off as soldiers, and the widows and sis
ters of those whose places they went to
fill came into the Post-office to do the
public service ; but the wan old woman
came just the same as ever, and the yellow-wrapped
letter was always waiting
her there.
The war was over; the clerks who
went out to fight came back limping
and armless, to inquire after their mys
terious friend. She was still coming,
but soon after, in March, 1865, she was
seen for the last tim a. The letter came
as usual, one of the first days of April,
but no one called for it. The clerk,
who was a lady, then put it aside as if
it was too good far its company and
kept it near the window so that it would
be ready when Maria Russell came.
Another month went by, and another
letter came, which was put away with
its mate. Two more months and two
more letters, and four of them were ly
ing there in a pile waiting for the queer
old woman 44 the mysterions woman of
the delivery window" they called her
now to come for them. How often
those letters were examined. How
closely the address and the seal were
scanned, how thev were held up to the
light so that maybe a word of their eon-
tents might be discovered. Vhat a
temptation they were.
The chief of the delivery office or
dered them advertised.
. 44 Is o," said the clerks. 44 She will
come for them. She knows they are
here. She must be s.ick or something.
She has come for them for thirty years,
and they never have been advertised
yet. Let them wait another month."
So they waited another month, two
more, and still the queer old woman
didn't come. And they had to be ad
vertised. On a long list in the newspa
pers, near the bottom, under the head
of 44 Ladies' Letters," were these words :
Ilussell, Maria II., 6.
People glanced at them almost every
body looks over the list of advertised
letters to see if by some chance one be
longing to them had strayed.in among
the vagabonds, and people remarked :
44 1 wonder who Maria' H. Ru3sell is ;
she has six letters advertised." ;
To the clerks in the post-office it
seemed a shame 'that old' Mrs. or Miss
(perhaps she was an old maid) Rus
sell's letters should be advertised, and
stuck off into a dirty corner with a lot
of soiled envelopes, as.d there, was quite
an indignation meeting held over the
matter. But still the queer old woman
did not come. ;
44 Perhaps she is dead," they said,
44 poor thing. Perhaps she is dead."
But if there were whispers of dis
pleasure when the letters were adver
tised, there was a storm of wrath when
the clerk announced that they must be
sent to the Dead-letter Office. The
Postmaster was appealed to. He was
a man of business, and didn't care
much for romance.so he said the letters
must go, and the rules of the depart
ment carried out, and that the seventh
letter which had come in since the six
were advertised must go with them.
But through all the sorrow there was
gleaming the sunshine of relief. At the
Dead-letter Office it would be found out
what these mysterious envelopes con
tained. And the lady who made up the
packages for the Dead-letter Office
pinned this note to Maria Russell's
seven letters :
These are very peculiar letters. They be
long to a woman who haa been coming to
the post-office regularly every month for ;
thirty years; but she has ceased to come,
and we think she ia dead. . Whoever opens
these letters wiil confer a great favor by In
forming the clerks of the; New York Post
office of their contents, as we have a great
curiosity to know who Maria Bus&ell ia, or
was. and something about the person who
has been sending her these letters regularly
lor so Long. . .
- This note was submitted to a conven
tionof clerks and declared unanimously
to be the proper thing. A reply -was
awaited anxiously. Before it came two
more letters had followed their fellows
in, and were waiting for Maria Russell ;
but she never, came to get them, and
they were sent off like the rest to have
their secrets ; revealed in the great
morgue at Washington.
Finally there came an envelope ad
dressed to 44 the clerks of the New York
Post-office," and it was opened by the
first person in that category into whose
hands it came. That person read the
inclosure hurriedly through, and called
a convention, to which he read the fol
lowing: Although it is directly against the rules of
the office, I take the responsibility of grati
fying your curiosity. Nine letters addressed
to Maria II. Russell have come ts my hands.
Each one contained a brief note, calling at
tention to an inclosure, without date or sig
nature. Each inclosure was a five-dollar
bill. "We have a great deal of curiosity our
selves here to learn something about this
strange matter. Won't some of you write
us what you know? And if any further gs
closures are made we will inform you.
, Here was a romance indeed. Nine
unsigned letters, each with a s imilar in
closure of money. Was it possible,
they thought, that for thirty years these
same sort of letters, with the same in
closures, had been coming to Maria
Russell. And why didn't they stop, if
she was dead, as she certainty aust be.
The whole post office was excited and
perplexed in its efforts to find a solu
tion of this mystery. But there was no
clew to Mrs.'or Miss Russell ; no clew to
t her mysterious correspondent. I can
not repeat the many theories that were
advanced, or the many speculations that
were put out to explain the matter ; but
each was a different one, and each had
as good ground for believing his the
true one as any other, because none of
them had any ground at all. To add to
the mystery, some one brought in a
daily paper which contained the follow
ing advertisement :
PERSONAL ANY PERSON HAVING ANY
knowledge of the whereabouts of Maria H.
Russell, who has been a resident of this city for
thirty years, will relieve a terrible anxiety by
communicating with C. IJ. 11. , I'oot-ollice.
What a sensation that personal made
in the Post-office Department. Here
at last was a clew to the unknown cor
respondent who was wondering why he
had received no acknowledgement to
his letters for nine months; and to add
to the excitement another letter, in the
same pale-yellow style of envelope, ad
dressed in the same similar chirogra
phy, was tossed with hundreds of others
to the distributor's table, where it came
to light. Fifty letters were addressed
to 44 C. B. R.," each of which stated
that they had important information
concerning Maria II. Russell; but be
fore many of them were mailed it leak
ed out that the personal was put in the
papers by one of the clerks, who hoped
to reach in advance of his fellows a clew
to the mystery. But nothing satisfac
tory resulted even from thn p2rsonal.
Several Maria Russell's turned up to
answer it, and were very much disgust
ed to find they weren't the person want
ed ; but it brought no clew to the curi
ous old lady and her curious correspond
ent. Four, five, six years went by, and
each month brought as regularly as the
month canio round a letter for Maria
H. Russell. The reverence with which
these letters were treated was a new
feature in the Post-office Department.
It was a satisfaction even to handle
them, and feel of the thin, limpsy en
closure, and with what agony of inter
est they were advertised, and finally
sent away to the Dsad-letter Office each
tliirt days to bo deposited with the
others just like them that had gone be
fore. One day nearly two year.? ago a clerk
in the post-ofiijo Uld a friend who was
connected with a newspaper of the cir
cumstances, r.r.d a brief statement of
facts was published. Tho paragraph
was widely quoted republished in al
most every paper in the United States.
And with this publication the letters
stopped coming. The lastone was post
marked March 4, 1S75. It is thought
that the mysterious correspondent saw
the paragraph, and knew in that way
that Maria Russell was dead for she
must be dead, or she would have called
for her letters in the years that had
gone since she got the last. x
But it may be asked why the un
known correspondent doesn't send to
the Dead-letter Office and claim his
money the money he sent so faithfully
each month to Maria Russell, even for
ten years after she was dead and gone.
A large number of claims have been
made for; tho money since the publica
tion last year, and a variety of singular
stories have been told to account f or the
manner in which the correspondence
was conducted.
One man wrote to inform tho Post-
office Department that he was the per-.
son who haa been sending the money
to Maria Russell these forty years agone,
but as his manuscript was in every way
dissimilar from that in the original let
ters he was at once pronounced an im
postor. A man in Sturgis, Mich., has told the
strangest story and put in the strongest
clctim. He says that he is one of a fam
ily of five children, four brothers and
one daughter. In 1835 his father and
mother separated, the father taking the
boys and the mother the girl, and the
father agreeing to pay 5 a month for
his daughter's support as long as he
lived, but to have no communication
with her in any way whatever. He says,
this man in Michigan, that his father
used to send the money in the manner
described as long as he lived with him,
but having some differences about 1816
they, the father and son, separated, the
latter going West, where he has resid
ed ever since, without having heard
once from the rest of his family. He
said he was in no need of the money,
but would like very much to know'if
the strange correspondents were his
father and sister. He would identifv
the writing, he thought, if they would
send him one of the letters.
Mr. Russell's letter was strongly in
dorsed by several prominent residents
of Sturgis, who bore testimony to his
good character and general worthiness.
Mr. Dallas, the Superintendent of the
Dead-letter Office, replied that while he
greatly desired to oblige Mr. Russell, it
was not permitted to send any of the
letters out of the office ; but if Mr. Rus?
sell was ever in Washington he would
be glad to give him any information in
his power, and show him any papers in
the department relating to the case.
The law required that these letters and
their contents be reclaimed within three
years. At the end of which time the
money inclosures revert to the United
States Treasury, from which they, can
not be recovered without a special act
of Congress.
On a recent visit to the Dead-letter
Office I saw the silent, inanimate rel
ics of thi3 strange mystery. A pile of
plain, yellow envelopes, marked with
some hieroglyphics peculiar to the
Dead-letter men, indicating their refer
ence to the books of the bureau. If
they could talk what a strange story
they might tell. What a theme for a
romance are these dead letters dead in
every respect. Forlorn, too, the speeeh
les3 wanderers, with neither their writ
er nor their intended recipient to claim
them. I opened one ef them there
was no date, no signature and written
in the center of the page of blue note
paper, with pale ink, in an old-fashioned
hand that appeared to have been un
certain with age, were those few un
suggestive words:
44 1 enclose you the money as usual.
I will send more the first of next month.
You need not write." Chicago Inter
Ocean. ,
ITS IIME TO GO TO BED.
Tis 6trange how na does act sometimes
When I have ftot a bean ;
He seems to think it just the time
Authority to show.
He never thinks himself once young,
Hut thinks me old instead ;
Then raps ou the floor and shouts,
' 'It's time to go to bed."
Now all was 6ilent when at last,.
His saddened heart to cheer,
I said you mut not mind iana,
He's getting old and queer.
He sat U6 bttihts any ott.
And not a word was fcaid ;
When lo, another rap and shout
"It's time to go to bed."
Said poor George "May, I now must go,
And let folks go to bed;
He's knocked upon the floor now twice,
He'll nrya knock on my head
"Hut you must come again, dear George,
Remember, pa is old;
If he was youiu; like you and I
I'm sure he would not scold."
Hut poor George never came again,
The knocking scared him out;
And always when I've got a beau
l'a's gott bang and shout.
Hut I have got another now.
And Johnny is his name ;
'Tis true papa yet ban?s and shouts,
Hut Johnny he is game.
"I think your papa has retired"
It was no sooner said.
When instantly tbe rap and shout
; It's time to go to bed. "
1 quickly bade dear John good-night,
I'p to my room did go.
And what happened quite soon after
You very soon bhall know.
I crept quite silent down the stairs,
While John outside did wait;
I throw my shawl about myself.
And joined him at the gate.
Hours at tiie gate passed pleasantly
Hetween dear John and I,
I could not now enumerate,
No, not if 1 should try.
I'a says dear John has common senee
In not ttajing so late;
Hut knows not half the sparking done
Hy us down at the gate.
Hear papa no more raps and shouts
For us to go to bed;
Tiitre isn't so much sitting up
.Since John and 1 were wed.
l'owjhkccpsle 1'ress.
The Careful Mail.
Soon after noon yesterday a stranger
entered a Woodward Avenue hardware
store and asked if they kept shingle
nails there. Being informed that they
had a dozen kegs on hand, he further
inquired :
Are they genuine shingle-nails, or
only imitations?"
44 They are shingle-nails, of course."
44 Let me see them."
A handful was placed on the cou titer
before him, and he took several nails to
the door where he could get a stronger
light. After scanning them thoroughly
he tested two or three between his fin
gers, and said :
44 Well, they seem to be all right,
and I'll take live pounds. I don't want
to appear captious, but I bought some
shingle-nails along here somewhere
about a month atjo, carried them home,
and what do you suppose they turned
out to be?"
44 Six-penny?" answered the clerk
So, sir. They were shoe-pegs,
sir
44 That was strange," mused the clerk.
44 And another time when I ordered
shingle-nails," continued the stranger,
44 the clerk put up four stove-handles,
three nutmeg-graters and a coffee-mill.
Can I build a cow-shed out of coffee
mills? Can I shingle a barn with stove
handles ? Can I clap-board a smoke
house with nutmeg-graters?"
44 Curious mistake, that," said the
clerk.
And another time, when I asked for
shingle-nails, they put up four corn
poppers and a match-safe. These
things have sunk deep into my soul,
and you mustn't blame me for seeming
particular. Now, these are nails, are
they?"
44 Of course."
44 Shingle-nails?"
44 Yes, sir."
44 Just write it on this card and give
me your name, the name of the firm,
the number of this store and the date of
the month. I don't want to make trou
ble, but if I find when I get home that
you have put me up bath-brick and harness-snaps
in the place of shingle-nails,
I'll come back here and make it warm
for you!" Detroit Free Press.
A Dubuque girl played Copenhagen
at a party the other night, and yelled
and shrieked and howled and ran be
hind the door and scratched the young
man's face in seven places, and upstt a
kerosene lamp, and kicked, over the
piano-stool, and screamed for the
police, and finally, when he kissed her
just on the tip of the ear, she fainted
dead away, and said she could never
look any one in the face again, and they
led the bashful, modest creature sob
bing home. The next day she ran
away with a married lightning-rod ped
dler with a hare lip and six children.
Burlington Ilawk-eye.
A RELIC OF THE PAST.
Death of Tennessee UTegrro Who Had
Turned the First Quarter of the Sec
ond Century of Ills Existence His
Recollection of. the Revolutionary
War. m
From the Memphis Avalanche. '
There died near Rossville, Tenn., a
few days ag, a venerable and remark
able old negro perhaps one of the old-
test in the land a man who has seen
generation after generation come upon
the stage of life, act its part, and pass
off into oblivion. He has seen his friends
born, ripened into manhood, and gone
down in old age to the grave. Children
of three generations have clustered
around his knees and heard his recital
of the legends of a past century, and
have, one after the other, been laid to
rest in a grave over which his tears
have fallen. Yet, like the 44 Wandering
Jew " of Sue's great fiction, he had
been forced to 44 go on" until the Crea
tor that gave him life should see fit to
take back the gift. 44 Uncle Jake"
Pulliam has for many years been living
in the county where he' died, having be
fore the war been a slave of the Pulliam
family. 44 Uncle Jake" claimed to be
15G years old, and was probably, judg
ing from his age at the time various
scenes were enacted, not less than 125
years old.
To men of this generation there is
something weird and almost incompre
hensible in the existence, but a few
weeks ago, of one who was a man
grown at the time of the birth of the
republic. The old man's stories of the
stormy events of the Revolution were
singularly fresh and accurate, and
showed that he had acted his part in
those great and perilous scenes which
attended the ushering into existence of
the best government the world has ever
seen. The history of this old patriarch's
life, as he has told it over and over
again beside the pine-knot fire before
his cabin door, contains so much that is
marvelous that it should not be with
held from the public.
Uncle Jake's earliest memories take
him back to a confused mingling of a
savage crowd a sea voyage, and the
crowding of new sensations of a strange
people and a strange land. From all
of which Uncle Jake thought that he
was brought to this country when he
was about ten years old. He never
knew a mother or a father. His first
home was among the rice fields of the
Carolinas, where he was for several
years (he don't know how many) em
ployed 44 'round de house." When
about 17 years old he was sold
to the Du Pont family, of Hu
guenot extraction, and was the
body servant of the 44 young mass'r,"
Henry Du Pont. When the Revolution
began, in 1775, his young master en
listed as an ensign under Moultrie in
the Continental army, and he 'accom
panied him. The old man says he was
then 44 jes about grone and didn't had
no har on my chin." He remembers
clearly his first engagement with the
red coats ; it was when Col. Moultrie
sent his young master with their Cap
tain Marion, to take Fort Johnson.
When the fort was taken, he himself
rammed the ball in one of the old can
non that were turned against the British
lleet. Uncle Jake tells some marvelous
tales of his own personal daring upon
that and similar occasions. Owe ludi
crous incident of how 44 de sojers laffed"
when, a ball striking the sand bags of
the fort, he was covered up to the chin
and lay yelling for help, thinking that
the rest of his anatomy had been carried
off by the shot.
At the assault on Savannah by tbe
combined forces of the French and
Americans, his young master fell by the
side of the galiunt Pole, Count
Pulaski. The old man's voice would
grow husky as he spoke of the burial
us torchlight on the manrin of the
j marsh, and how Captain Marion kindly
i patted his shoulder as he lay sobbing
on the ground, and said: 44 .Never mind,
Jake. He fell like a brave man, and
you can tell his father so."
After that he attached himself to Ma
rion, and was, after the return of the
command to Carolina, presented to Ma
rion by his old master for his use until
the close of the war. Uncle Jake could
toil many incidents .of the s-iege of
Charleston; how Marion's leg: was
broken there, and how ho helped to
banduge up the shatttered limb. He
was with the 44 Swamp Fox" in all his
battles and brushes with Tarleton and
his tories, being once captured by that
bold rider, but afterwards escaped, car
rying off Tarleton's own pack mule with
his private baggage. He followed Ma
rion through the swamps of the Pedee
and S.antee River?, was present when
three 44 Britishers" were swung up to
one limb, by way of retaiation "for the
hauging of three"of Marion's men. He
describes Marion as a small man, whom
he feared, and yet loved devotedly. But
strangest of all is the narrative Uncle
Jake gives of an incident which is
familiar to every school boy the in
stance of the visit of the English officer
to Marion at Snow Island, and how
Marion gave him a dining on potatoes.
Uncle Jake affirms that his hands put
44 dem taters in de ashes, and took dem
out on a sharp stick, and put dem on de
log between de General and de officer."
After the war, Jake. returned to the old
homestead. The 44ole mass'r" hnd
gone down in sorrow to the grave, to
be followed soon by 44ole missis." The
plantation was sold and the slaves scat
tered among various owners. Jake fell
to the lot of a cousin of the Du Ponts,
who lived in the rice country of South
Carolina. Here his children and grand
children grew around him.
When he was, he says, about sixty
years old, he went down the river to
Savannah, 44 Pulling de six ode bote "
used on such occasions. There every
body was on the streets cheering and
yelling as an old man richly dressed
drove by slowly in a carriage bowing
to the crowd. From the date all this
must have been when Lafayette made
his tour of triumph through the land in
1825. Besides, Uncle Jake said he was
4a Frencher," though he "disremem
bered " the name.
Soon after this UncleTake came out
to Mississippi with a new master, tak
ing many weeks to make the journey,
In that State he lived for a few years,
and then was brought up into Tennes
see, where he has since lived. The old
man's account of his first sight of a lo
comotive, a steamboat, and the triumph
ant products of the march of civiliza
tion, was replete with interest.
Up to the last his faculties were won
derfully clear. Last year he. even made
a small crop of corn and cotton. :
On Thursday thi3 man, who measur
ed his life . by decades, not by years,
ended his long and eventful career.
Death, so long in coming, finally touch
ed his old limbs, and its icy hand crept
to his heart-strings, and cut the thread
of life asunder. Old Jake, who so long
has listened to the "angel voices call
ing," answering back 44I'm coming,"
has at length been gathered to his loved
ones to reap the reward of a life of use
fulness. Requiescat in pace.
The Canse of the 'Splosion.
44 1 would invite you to my house,
braider Jackson," said Deacon John
son, as he emerged from church last
Sunday evening, 44 but I dunno as we'll
get any supper dis night, the cook-stove
am so dreffully out ob repair."
44 What's de matter wid de stove?"
44 Why, you see cold wedder am com
in' on and wood's gettin' skese an
high, an' I've 'structed de folks to be
berry eknocomical in de usin' ob it.
Wes'e bin buyin' in small lots, an' last
night bein' out ob fuel I sent one of my
boys ober to a neighbor's to borrow a
few sticks. De man or his family had
gone to bed owin to de lateness ob de
hour, an' dat boy, who would 'spise to
do a unhonest transaction, wrote out
his note for de value ob de wood, an
droppin' it in a prominent place in de
woodshed, shouldered an armful an'
brought it home."
. 44 Jess so."
44 Well, a fire wa3 kindled, de tea
kittle put on, de ole woman she is gittin
de supper. All ob a sudden, puff' went
de stove, zoom ; ke swish, kusiush went
something, and as I tumbled over I saw
de ole woman makin for de roof wid de
teakittle and the stove-plates followin'
her, while de boys an de gals was as
brack wid smut as de ace ob spades.
De stove's goose was cooked for a fact."
44 What was de cause ob de splo
shun?" 41 I'm strongly 'clined to believe dat
dar was powder in dat wood, an' dat de
powder was done put in dar by dat
white man to ketch some thievin'
darkies wat nebber buys no wood, an'
bressed ef I don't think dat man spects
me, kase he couldn't find dat note, and
won't make any 'pologies."
44 Dat am an outrage."
44 For a fact, an' de chillen's supper
was spiled, too." Keokuk Constitution.
California Raisins.
We were shown yesterday a speci
men of layer raisins, with a bunch of
fresh grapes alongside of them from
which these raisins were made'. They
were as handsome as any Maiuira raisins
we have seen in years. The fresh
grapes are known as Muscatel, a va
riety, we take it, distinct from the Mus
cat of Alexandria. The former, we are
told, are the best variety for raisin
making, and will hereafter be culti
vated extensively in this State. The
specimen of raisins .shown us represent
ed about four thousand boxes, produced
from about twenty acres of grapes.
These raisins will bring the producer
in this market about !?J a box, or about
$8,000 in all. They will briag at retail
prices $2.50 a box. Now, in what way
can twenty acres be made to produce
more than in this instance? Of course
there are the expenses of curing, boxes
and several small items. But these ex
penses could not have been much, if
any, greater than would have been re
quired if the land had been sown in
wheat. There would have been the
plowing, seeding, cost of seed, reaping,
threshing, cost of sacks, and so on.
These items would have been equal to
one cent a pound on the wheat pro
duced, and the whole amount of wheat
would not have much exceeded four
hundrtd bushels, which would have
brought less than two cents a poucd in
this market, or an aggregate of less
than $600 against an aggregate of 88,
000 on the raisin crop. Huh Francisco
Bulletin, Oct. 17.
Prince Gortchakoff, the Rassiau
premier, is noted for his abstemious
habits. He nver drinks a cup of wine
and never smokes, ila drinks a cup of
coffee in bed before rising, and eats but
two meals a day. Retiring very early
in the evening, he sleeps tea or twelve
hours. His regular habits have kept
his frame in such excellent 'condition
that he does not feel the infirmities of
old age at all. He was born in 1798,
entered upon his diplomatic career un
der Count Xesselrode, and became the
Foreign Minister of Russia at the close
of the Crimean campaign.
At Paradise, Cache County, Utah,
a little son of Wm. Mitten, aged
seven years, went with his
sister to a shingle-mill. He told
his sister that he would tie a string
aronnd the coming shaft and 44 see
what it would do." Suiting the action
to the word, he tied the string to tho
shaft, and the result was the little fel
low's arm was drawn from the socket
and broken iu three places; his legs
were both pulled off below the knees,
and his head, stomach and side were
fearfully mangled and bruised. He
lived about two hours aftor the aoei
dent occurred.
The Welfare of the Human Nystcm
Is in a rrcnt measure depi nuVnt upon the
way in which the bowels perform their evac
uativc fum-tion. If they are regular and
they con always be rendered so by the use of
li Letter's fcstyniM'h Bitters an important
essential cf health is secured, audthat bless
ing is very apt to follow. If they are irreg
ular, chronic constipation , and indigestion
sut'crvcnc, the liver becomes disordered, and
the bile, being diverted from its natural
channel and purposes, enters and contami
nates the blood, producing that yellowish
cast of the skin and whites of tho eyes which
is such ' a sure index of biliousness. All
these disastrous consequences, as well as
others of a far more seus nature, arc
remedied and prevented by Hostetter's Bit.
ters, the leading American specific for disor
ders of the bowels, stomach and liver.
Coixixs' Vot.tatc Plastek is a gentle and
constant Electric Battery closely and contin
uously applied to the skin by the adhesion
of the Plaster and is capable at all times of
affording the most grateful relief in Rheu
matism, Neuralgia and Sciutica.