Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1898 — Page 8

AN OLD POEM. \ Homesickness, guess, is silliness—at least that view is taken By some who seem to have almost no memory' to awaken, But Daniel In captivity—though few heard him complainin'— Would keep the window open which looked over to Canaan. Bad writers lived when Adam’s heart with , * exile pain was burnin’ XOpy would no doubt have told of things about the old man’s yearnin.’ Ido first-rate until l see—as fancy's pictures show ’em— Old things that Holmes was thinkin’ of in them lines of bis poem: "There are no times like the old times— They shall not be forgo t; There is no place like the old place— Keep green the dear old spot!" Right then I’m somewhat sha’.ep up—and to the past I’m goin,’ To view the old farm on the hill and appleblossoms Mowin'! Down through the woods I hear again the kildee's wild shriek fallln,' And sister's voice out by the gap the cows at evenin'callin'; The old hill-fleid where little grows but hoarhound and green mullein— Why, that is gorgeous through time's mists, with breezes that are lullin,' There are no pictures painted yet—if so Ido not know 'em— As holy as old times and spots as men tioned In the poem: "There are no times like the old times— They shall not l>e forgot: There is no place like the old place— Keep green the dear old spot!" —WillT. Hale in Cincinnatti Enquirer.

AN OLD SPANISH SWORD.

ha Young Revolutionist Captured It from Three Spanish Soldiers. . xhere are none now living who remember the first battle, if such it might be called, by the exercise of a Cfittle imaginative latitude, between KR American citizen, a resident of the pjd trading post, now St. Louis, and half a dozen troopers belonging to the j*rmy of his majesty, King Charles 111. nf Spain. But among the relics of the Missouri State Historical society ({here hangs an old-fashioned sword, (fhkh, if it could speak, would resent tlje tale told here: ' How the sword got into the poeapeeion of the society the secretary .floes not know, but it is there, and [frith it its interesting history. It has brown black and rust-covered from ige, and perhaps did duty in many an incounter before its capture by the Ivave young American who later Ifrecame its possessor by right of con-

fcneet. r The “battle” occurred in the lattpart of the year 1776, a 1? months morable to all loyal Americans. Euri was at the time a part of the iana tract and owned by Spain, government, in 1767, had estab- [ a fort at the mouth of the Misjpouri river, where the Big Muddy empties into the Father of Waters, 'About 18 miles north of St. Louis.

• In honor of the heir apparent to she Spanish throne, the post com(piandant, Capt. Francisco Rise, had jfiamed the fort “Fort Prince St. Charles,” The Spaniards, naturally tarogant and overbearing, were anything but well thought of by the comparative handful of people then comprising the trading post of St. Louis, ffbere was a constant friction, and jjpore than one serious encounter resulted in the clashing of the citizens And soldiers.

This condition of affairs continued a number of years. Rumors of ihe threatened revolt against England occasionally reached the little boat and the ears of the soldiers. JThey were not slow in denouncing the proposed efforts for freedom as treachery, and its instigators as only fit subjects for the jibbet. The 4th of July, ’7(l, had passed j*nd its record was written indelibly jn the pages of the world’s history. Late in that year there arrived from jibe far eastern states a young fellow ijbamed Elmer Thornton. He had the lugged, hardy appearance of a youth accustomed to anything but the easy baths of life, and he made no secret of ©is determination to make for him•elf a home and a fortune on the franks of the big river. ' He brought with him the latest frews of the revolt against England, ft* 1 his enthusiasm and confidence in [the success of the cause of the revolutionists was so pronounced that he poon became an object of hatred to the Spanish soldiers. He was warned to keep his ideas to jhimself, but he in giving greater vent to his republican ideas of Some government and home > rule, [Xho Spaniards grew exasperated, and jOB6 night half a dozen of his majesty’s troopers, after listening to some pariScriuurly rabid revolutionary talk by young Thornton in a public house in obe post, determined to lay in wait for the young man and teach him a I'es<om. It was after ten o’clock when /Thornton started for his home. He hod quite a distance to go, and had fcaarly reached his destination, when [three of the Spanish soldiers sprang On him from ambush. Thornton had frothing hut a abort side dagger, but fre Used it to good effect. The .three soldiers ran away, their companions frot caring, evidently, to take a chance it getting a dig in the ribs from the wonag fellow** tooth pick.

next morning, on um wirf vo im* village, Thornton, in passing the scene of his previous night’s adventure, picked up a sword that had been the property of one of his assailants. The owners initials, R. A., were plainly and deeply cut in the outer side of the hand guard. No effort was ever made to return the weapon to its owner, and after a lapse of nearly a century and a quarter Hie old sword has found its way to the relic rooms of the Missouri Historical society, where it hangs in a glass case, with other warlike pharaphernalia. The Spanish owner’s initials are on the hilt, and on the two-edged blade is stamped the motto of the arms of Spain: ’Tor El Key Carlos 111.,** translated, ’Tor the king, Charles m.” Somebody, possibly Thornton, scratched the date 1777 on the reverse side of the blade, which was one used by the Spanish infantry. King Charles’ troops continued to occupy Fort Prince St. Charles until after the Louisiana purchase, in 1803, when this section of the country passed out of the hands of the Dons and became free American soil.— St. Louis Republic.

Moat Go to Church.

At Gonoatoa, in the South seas, every man, woman or child on that island who does not go to church at least three times a week is liable to be arrested and fined.

Wealth of the Pope.

The pope is one of the wealthiest men in the world. In his home, the Vatican, a palace which contains 7,000 rooms, the worth of gold objects stored is estimated at £4,000,000 by weight alone, and each piece has been increased in value a quarter or a third by the skillful artisans through whose hands it has passed. These treasures are practically the personal estate of the pope.

AZTEC MINES REDISCOVERED.

Important Find of an Exploring Exposition late Mexico. Tho discovery of William Niven, of Brooklyn, of important evidences of the past civilization of the Aztecs and related tribes has been verified on the arrival of the explorer in the capital of Mexico. He found a number of prehistoric ruins and a sealed ossuary containing skeletons. He has incidentally round new silver mines and promising placers, the latter perhaps a rediscovery of diggings from which the Aztecs drew their wealth. It needs that only half which is on record of the Aztecs in Montezuma's time be true to indicate that gold was the commonest of their metals. They did not hold it in the value that Europeans gave to it, and this fact enabled Cortez and his followers to rob these people m a royal fashion. Shields, helmets, cups, bracelets and nuggets were delivered in exchange for promises and friendships that were as empty as the promises of Spain have ever been. After enriching Cortez the natives found themselves at his mercy, their emperor a captive, their temples despoiled, strange images set up in public places before which they were compelled to bow and worship, and in the end the Spaniard possessed the land. In Peru and adjacent states similar dramas were enacted, and the white man gained his power by the copious shedding of blood. It is nOt improbable that when the greed of the invaders for the yellow metal was discovered the Aztecs and other native tribes desisted from the mining of it,* hoping by representations that the supply was exhausted to keep the troops, with their swords and thundering cannon, from any further advance into their country. It does not take Tong in a tropical country for eroded banks to clothe themselves afresh in vegetation, hence in a few years the tokens of placer mining would have disappeared, and after the people had been driven to other parts of the country or had been occupied in the general defense, these beds of gold-bearing gravel would be forgotten . Their d iscovery, if such it is, may prove to be important—not so much so as the Klondike, probably, for much has already been taken from them, yet not insignificant, since modern methods insure a larger return for labor than the old way, which was nothing but the picking of nuggets from the stream beds. American capital will probably develop these mines and we may have a peed of gold in the next few years.—Brooklyn Eagle.

Prima Eacie Evidence.

Old things often take on new impressions under a new definition. A certain learned judge* famous tor his brogue and hit wit, was asked by a juryman what was prima fade evidence. The judge replied in his broadest Hibernian: "Supposin', me good man* you were goin’ along a road an’ you saw a man cornin' out of a public house—an' supposin’ you saw him dhrawin' the shleeve of his coat across his mouth, that's prima fade eridins that be waa after hayin' a dhrink.”—— Youth’s _Compenion. . _ _

SCHLEY AND THE GAS MAN.

Story Showing That the Commodore Waa Ready with Rio Plata. Commodore Schley is a man of the highest moral courage. He is strong and vigorous in thought and action. He is a man of great physical &a well as moral courage. He is an excellent example of physical bravery. This was well illustrated on one occasion, in the course of my service with him, relates Edson Brace, in the St. Louis Republic. With his wife and daughter, the commodore occupied a handsome house on Sixteenth street, in Washington. The instance that I allude to Was in the summer of 1889. The commodore had sent his wife and daughter for the customary summer outing to Newport, the great navy seaside resort, and the house had been closed for a month. A big, double-fisted fellow, whose name I forget, was the collector for the Washington Gaslight company, of which Tom Lansden, who is well known in St. Louis as a gas engineer, was manager. The man was zealous in protecting the interests of his company. He came to the Schley house on his usual monthly visit and found that the meter registered aero—in other words, it showed that no gas had been burned in the month; but the collector assumed that the meter waa out of order, not knowing that the house had been vacant. He, therefore, rendered a bill for the month’s service approximately the same as it had been the month previous, and came to the house to collect it. This was in the afternoon, just after the commodore had passed through a day of arduous duty, and had gone to his house for his accustomed rest. The collector was waiting at the door and presented his bilL I live but a couple of blocks from the commodore’s residence and chanced to pass by at this interesting moment—for it proved to be a moment of very deciaed interest. The commodore tpid the collector was engaged in a colloquy in which, on the commodore’s side, there was some startling profanity. It shonld be understood en passant that the good old commodore is a past master in the use of viol ent expletive. The collector was als > pretty handy at this same kind of business and it was a talking match worth a day’s journey to hear. The commodore’s indignation was terrifi.'. The gas company was a thief concern; it was conceived in thievery and nurtured upon robbery and pulled up to the present moment in a state of sauare stealing. Everybody connected with the company was a thief and a robber with many blanks to qualify it. There need be no guessing as to the character of the conversation. As I approached the collector was backing away from the steps, across the little lawn, and the commodore was following closely, with startling vociferations and threatening mien, and before the collector had reached the sidewalk the commodore had planted under his left cheek bone a thrust of the fist, which sent the unfortunate man reeling aud careening half way into the street before he got himself straightened up. Upon recovering himself, the collector took down the middle of the street and said newer a word. The commodore stood on the curbstone, put his hands in his pockets and gazed with contempt upon the departing gas man. The affair became noised abroadin both services, and there was strong talk of the burly commodore being court-martialed for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. The collector was very much cut up Over the harsh treatment that he had received at the hands of the commodore, and was disposed to follow the thing up closely. Had he done so, it would have been in his power to make serious trouble for Schley. It was here that I was enabled to do my chief a service, Maj. l&nsden and I live&at the same boarding-house. I related the circumstance to him at dinner, and he was greatly concerned. He is a man of high sense of honor, and the intimation of wrong doing on the part of one of his subordinates was extremely repugnant to him. He said:

“Well, I will have to follow this thing up,” I told him that I would be sorry to see the commodore compromised by any court-martial proceedings, however strongly justice might set in his favor, and that I had no doubt he would be glad to protect his company from the discredit that would be involved in the publication of the collector’s bad break. He agreed with me, and said that as far as the gas company was concerned the thing would be called off. Thus the commodore’s lively scrap became merely the subject of humorous comment throughout the service. He had to stand a tremendous amount of chaffing on account of it, and no man can tell hpw many bottles of high wine he haa to pay for in consequence.

We Are Good Customers.

Bwsden and Norway find the TJnittes a good customer of cod liver oil and matches* those articles being the principal .items of export to this country.

,~JUDY_ AND THE LIEF BUGGY CO. ....Have come to stay at.... GOODLAND, INDIANA. * We have good reasons for so doing. It is because the lands around Goodland and vicinity are fertile and the farmers thriving, because from out of the ground, all the good things must come. ~ ...We have Proof of it already... We are already running a corps of mechanics repairing buggies here; we mean business so do our friends who have trusted us with their, work; we shall and will do their work so that we will merit their confidence; we want the buggy repairing from all over the vicinity of Goodland and other towns around that have no such repair shop.

11111 111 There will be a grand display of all kinds of Harness on these Special Sale Days. Come and see them. We sell at the lowest possible price for cash and will sell to anybody and everybody without personal security on time. We believe in every man standing upon his own resources, therefore we have adopted this plan. Come and talk to us. Be sure and call on Sale days. Special terms offered. Judy and the Leif Buggy Go.

CORN MEAL IN OLDEN TIMES.

Colonial Methods of Preparing It—Bow Samp Waa Made. The colonists quickly learned from the Indiana to harvest, grind, and cook the corn in many palatable ways. And the foods made from maize have remained to this day the names given by the aborigines, such as hominy, pone, suppawn, samp, succotash. Samp ana samp porridge were soon favorite dishes. Samp is Indian corn pounded to a coarsely ground powder in a mortar. The laborious Indian method of preparing maize for consumption was to steep It in hot water for 12 hours* then to pound the grain in a mortar till it was a coarse meal. It was then sifted in a small basket* and the Urge grains which did not pass through the primitive sieve were again pounded and sifted. > Samp was often pounded in aprimit tive and picturesque Indian mortar made of a hollowed block of wood or a stump of a tree. The pestle was a heavy block of wood shapeddike the interior of the mortar ana fitted with a handle attached to one side. This block was fastened to the. top of a growing sapling, which was bent over and thus acquired the required spring back after the Mode or pestle was Bounded down-on the qpnk. Popnd-

mg samp waa slow worjt, orteo acne master years by unskilled negroes, goring” com. After those simple spring-mortars were abandoned elsewhere they were used on Long Island, and it was jestingly told that skippers in a fog could always get their waring off the Long Island coast because they could hear the pounding of the samp mortars-—Alioe Morse Earle, in Chautauqnan. < . -run 1 .1 >

An African Snake Story.

An exciting incident marked the trial trip on the new Congo railway from Matadi to Stanley Pool, Bays the Westminster Gazette. When nearing the latter place a huge python waa observed on the lin& The reptile appeared fdlly alive to the discomfort of .being cut to pieces, and ‘‘made tracks” with all possible speed; but, a* the train entered a narrow cutting, he found himself at close quarters and turned on the engine dirar. who well-timed blow put the intruder kora de combat

When Most Men Are Boy[?].

Every time a circus comet to town we have a lot of fresh evidence that men are but grown-up children.—Chicago Daily Newi. ; , • I*-?- f ; ... I

Story of the Bpanish Navy.

A little story that appeared not long ago in a Spanish comic paper is sent to ns by a correspondent, to. •bow -what Spaniards thought of their navy before the present events. A Spanish admiral* touching at some foreign port, in the natural course of events called on the governor of the local fort, and on the return call the governor sees the one little gun of the Spanish man-of-war run out to fire a return salute; but at the critical moment the Spanish admiral rushes up and throws the gun, carriage and all, into the sea! “What!” exclaims the distinguished visitor. “Why do you throw your government's guns overboard?” “Because,” replied the! admiral, “if the gun had gone oft it; would have blown the whole ship to pieces! That means another deration for me!” “How's that?” “For my courage in saving this ship from destruction.”—London Daily News.

Kept in Stock.

Tailor—Did that gentleman buy one of our misfit suite? I Assistant No; we're out of them. { have some more made up at once. Don't let the stock; run doira again this wsy.—Tit-Bits.