Jasper Weekly Courier, Volume 25, Number 40, Jasper, Dubois County, 24 August 1883 — Page 7

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WEEKLY COUBIER.

t DOANM, PKblfartiAV. JASPER. IffDUVA. 77A' ,. OF run nKus. It nt Hllk or of tmmUt. Tbi fa that Hli tyrant auhur; It Ium m herafclle dcvke, : fnnrutni. vuica, aure. vert, or It color sable and anient; ir 'U-iiuu paper nit l Ink, Tb spirit of knowkxUe and free torn, And whatever such npirin may thinj And Its hf mWry'a simple ettouvh: Jumm wwMiy ootumm r pair; llut in thmn fat foitirtii without ivnalnt The ba'tle tkst Fiwtiwa must wasm. The wrfir tf od airatnt nil. tf wikne in autt asainat taurht, or lveranotseeaJna( for hnowlcdsjro. Of wctmg la coninMo.i with rifht. It nutter In 'it4 and pauiee; la fount In Lbu worfcinawuMt sand. More f row than the sateless of freodota, It dares every wrong- to withstand ; It mi tw not fw King nor for Kaiser; So tikaae can fold It away When ft an tk cnaslot or Fraodotu, Then kingdoms mid Klara pass awajr. Fir over the world, paper Bonner. , In thy aMe awl argent dress! For tlie b inner of Frendom ia freest. When it flies with the Has of the PiM. Flv over the armies of knowledge! . Un forth with the armic of right! In H a i In palaee, In aenato, Fly! iUniu-r of Freedom anil Kiirtot ! IMie A". Hirr. in A. 1'. ImkneiHitnl. TUB FKAIJtIK CIRCLE. A Wtamln IMwtieer'a Adventure In aw Kleetrieal Mtort In 14. Every traveler who, in the early day i - . i.. . .1 i ...in ot r iM-uimn, imvcrMw nit prairwa win remember to have ecit rings or circular mark on the ground, of almost every aire, varying in diameter fruui live up to fifteen and even twenty fret The circle were often the subject of much comment ami speculation, anu many an evening wm spent in the parly days of the State by tniYelers ami others m attempts to intelligibly account for them, and to explain the causes that led lo their formation. They not ttnfrequently resembled the track made in modern days by the tramping round the hone-power of a thrashing-machine. No matter how luxuriant might be the gra and herbage around the edge of the circle, and also ia the area of it, then wan always a track of a foot or twM in width around the area, on which nothing bttt a four coarse and hardy weeds ami fungi grew. Various were the reasons assigned by the first settler for the formation of these rings. Some asserted that they were caused by the tethering of an Indian pony, ami that the outer edge we as far as he could crop the grass while fo tethered. Another aerted that the female elk, there defended her young front the attacks of the wolves, and that the outer edges or iracK wnero nothing grew were can en by the pawing of her fore-feet. Still another reason assigned was that in very early times an Iudina. condemiied to torture. was tied to a stake driven in thu prairie-ground, and that h waa made to ntn round at the extreme end of a roje fastened to his body, and that his feet striking ho continuously in one track had worn out tbe ground, which remained barren. Numerous other theories were advanced, none, however, ascribing the circles to their true cause. Few men have erer seen one of these circles made, and as 1 may be danacd among those very few, 1 purpose in the following relation to describe when and how one of those prairie circles was founded, on tbe prairie lying between Fox Lake an 1 Lake Emily In Dodge County. It might be remarked, however, that the statement is written out from notes made long ago to form one of a series of stories of early Wiseont us f j i . Kin iue, ana runner it is as retascHi one evening to a company for their amusement. It was In the mil of IMS when tbe occurrence took place, and during one of those thunoer-etorms not uafreoueat in that summer. It was, too, during a tempestuooi night, such a one as Burns described in " Tan 0Shautcr:" M The wind blew as 'twad Mown Its ta. Hie rattlta showers rots on the Mauait The aaeedjr aieama the darimess swaUowwl, UhhI, deep and lana the thunder betlowed; That night, a ehIM might umtentaaMt, The de'll had baameaa on Ma hand." I had been sent for the doctor for a neighbor reported in urgent need of a physician's aerrice. and had galloped over the prairie with the matter-tags of the gathering atornt all about me. The 1 physician at first declined to go. bnt on j my representation that the woman was deathly aksk started with me. It was now night. The open prairie was at feast three miles across, with but a neck of openings and thicket, which at one point crossed it the road passing through the narrowest part of the thicket. By the time we had reached the high ground of tbe prairie it was seen that the storm was nearer than we had Mtpposed it to be when in the valley. Though to some extent really terrific, there waa yet something grand and even glorious in the whole To the northwest there was an immeugfe bank of clouds the uinier edge of which were freotienUy lighted up with the repeatedly piercing nasmes of Hghtaing, sending a sheen through them and silvering for an instant their edges with a brilliancy and brightness (hat was almost daxsUng. Every mo meat or so a heavier flash lighted up the lower edges, or streaked the horiaon lint with a bluish or livid look, lasting however only for n instant. Aa if anticipating the impending danger, flights of birds were plainly ntmrif overhead. Intermingled with the scream of the curlew, and the peculiar wield notes of the plover, and "the mianing sounds of the grouse, as they hunHm to a place of safety and shelter from the now rapidly approaching storm, was the twittering of the smaller Wrds, ae all ky aoethmoa htstlnct were seeing the shwiger

that threatened them. Looking upward there was bo perueptible motion in the clouds ths stillness was painful. The whole aapeet of the heavens was changed. Before ascending the incline to the high ground there was apparently aoniH chance to eacapo the storm and reach our dot:nation before it lairst upon us. Now it was too plainly to bo sen that a few moments more and it would be down upon us with a fearful force. The moon, nearly at its full, had a sickly glare In its light, a if timidity had sehted it, and H was scared at the scene over which it looked. The horses were evidently frightened. There was only one road, and that but a faint one across the prairie, with, however, a deeply indented Indian trail upon which we were traveling, the horses clinging tenaciously to it The horses showed still more fear, and the (ittlvering of their fleah was plainly felt through the saddle flaps and their snort bags, and now frequent pawing, added mill more to our reallv unpleasant poaition. What if the horses should break away from us, and the storm continue all night, and we alone on tbe prairie? No efforts on our part could make the frightened lieasts move from the spot to which they seem riveted with fright. The clouds were by this time merged into one black hollow, overhanging the small sace of clear ground around us, as if a huge black cauldron was inverted and descending to cover us. For several seconds there was no lightning; the low muttcrings of the thunder seemed more distant, and, though constant, appeared to be receding. There was however, a stillness in our immediate vicinity that was ominous of something impending and to follow, but what? we could not divine. All at once the thunder ceased entirely, and tbe silence was then truly dreadful to bear. At last a flash of bright and white flame darted across the black arch hanging over us, illuminating tbe vast dome, out revealing no outlet for our escape, could we have urged the horses to move. All was darkness, dread and quietness. The horses suddenly; without perceptible cauw, crowded together, and so quick was their action that we were nearly unseated. They kept pressing against each other, and with such force that

our positions were becoming painful Their ears were extended, with their necks arched, they were looking Intently in one direction, and apparently at one point. The air was getting more, close, and the dilliculty in our breathimr was becominsr greater, but still more awful became the now stillness. " The beating-rtf ourown hearts I Wsa ail the sound we heard." , Again and again, m rapid succession, j flashes of lightning shot athwart, the sky. followed instantly by short daps of thunder, which evidently was coming nearer to us. "Our horses. If possible, mom frightened than before, were now crouching so near the ground that our feet nearly touched. A double flash of glare lightning lighted up the dark vault above us with such brilliancy that our eyes were daisied, and we had to close them. Still another burst of lightning came, bluer and yet brighter than the former flashes, with a peal of thunder instantly following, that seemed to rend tbe earth beneath us. The last nash and pealing thunder was succeeded by another streak of light, so bright that everything near us was made plain as noonoay. ana revealed the doctor with his hands pressed together as if in prayer, and. when the quiet follwed, the words: From lightning ami tempest and from sudden death, good Ird, deliver ntt." were plainly heard, as I wa llsteniqg intently to catch any syllable that mlgH fell from his lips. A moment or two more of stillness followed, when there was an opening in the gloomy darkness, and from thence came a burst of flame, neither white, nor blue, nor any color we had ever seen. It wa really horrid, chillingly, dreadfully depressing and frightful. It was evident that the horses were sinking tinder the fright they had so long felt. Their limbs trembled under them, and the quiverings of the poor lwasts imparted a trembling to their riders. We both no ticed how they invariably looked toward one Mint of the compass. seeming to strain every nerve to catch sight of something, as M led so do so bv Instinct. Suddenly the doctor grabbed my arm, and yetted out wish a piercing series: mat staraeu me horses as well as myself. "Seel Good Ood, what U that rr Far of to the northwest, and high up in the dome that now appeared larger than erer. was a small bine speck, alone in the deep black darkness. It seemed like a star, yet to intensely blue that the eye became daaxied in an instant, and the sight had to be averted, unable to stand the gaite. We both turned our heads away at the same moment. Again we looked at the bine ball that watt rapidly approaching us. As it neared our spot the bloeuess became still more brilliant, until the sun at noonday was not wore powerful In brightness of light. All at once the ban, as If propelled from a run, burst into a ring with a bright blue center, its extreme outer edges of fierce and glaring orange color, and enlarging as it descended until It was seventHest in diameter, ami striking the ground, from which a circle of flame shot up, and myriads of sparks filled the air near to as. The horses, at the instant the ring of Art struck the earth, whirled round, and only by chasms did either of us keen in our saddles. As if relieved from the fright they had so long sujfered, they twrteu of. at a gallop. It takiwr us some mmwfcw before wt I tnukt put them dow to an ortflnarv

trot, their beads, in spite of our efforts, kept turning toward tbe spot where the lightuing, or meteor, or electricity, or whatever It was, had seared the ground. The rain was now coming down in torrents, and the horses feet

were splashing, as they trotted along ia the Indian trail thev followed. The oars ns was soon uisetpatea, ana in a few minutes we could begin to distinguish the outline of the thickets and timber that skirted the prairie, and by the time we it ached the log-house from whence I started, the storm, with tbe exeeptjou of the lighter rain, some few flashes of distant and fast-receding lightning, with an occasional clap of thunder, was nearly over. 'How was the sick woman when you got there?" asked one of the listeners. She was found by the doctor sitting up all right, and smoking her pipe," (a common practice in those days) was the answer. "Then ymt had your, ride for nothing?' said another. "To have been out in such a storm, and see one of those, circles made, was worth half a lifetime.' ' "Did you go to the place the next day?" 'Yea, and we found that the ground was seared into tbe distance of several inches.. All the grass wss burned off in a ring about fifteen or eighteen inches 1 t . . m " a wide, ana about twelve or fifteen inches aoross. On tbe inside, where the grass was not burned at all. the rain stopped the fire from spreading. The doctor, long since dead, frequently spoke of his night on the prairie, when he saw the prairie circle made. He has a nephew, now living at Portage, who has often heard him relate his account of the incident above described. He had his own theory about it, and what caused it, but which seemed inexplicable to any but himself." "Did you ever find anything in any book about such occurrences ? was asked. ' Yes, after searching through all the books I could And that treated on electricity, lightning, etc., I at last discovered the following explanation of tbe phenomena in "The Botanic Garden, a toem in two parts, containing tbe Economy of Vegetation and the Uvea of Hants." bv Erasmus Darwin, M. D., Ixmdou, l&f6. It is headed, "Fairy Kings." "There is a phenomenon, supposed to be electric, wnk-h is yet unaccounted for; I mean the fairy rings, as they are called, so often seen on the ma. The

wrfect numerous flashes of lightning which ocI enr even summer are, I believe, gener

ally discharged on tbe earth, and seldom (If ever) from one cloud to another. Moist trees are the most frequent condoctors of the flashes of lightning, and I am informed by purchasers of the wood that innumerable trees are thus cracked and injured. At other times larger parts of prominences of clouds gradually sinking a they move along are discharged on the raoititer parts of grassy plains. Kow this knob or corner of a cloud in being attracted by the earth will become nearly cylindrical a loose wool would do when drawn out into a thread, and will strike the earth with a stream of electricity, perhaps two or ten yards In diameter. Now, as a stream of electricity displaces the air it passes inrougn, ii is piain no pn m the grass can be burnt by it, but just the external ring of this cylinder, where the grass can have access to the air, sinoe without sir nothing can be calcined. This earth, after having been so calcined, becomes a richer sou, and either fungi or a bluer grass for many years marks the place. "That lightning displaces the air in its passage is evinced by the loud crack that succeeds it, which is owing to the sides of the aerial vacuum clapping together when the lightning is withdrawn. That nothing will calcine without air is now well understood from the acids produced in the burning of phlogistic substances, and may be agreeably seen by suspending a paper on an iron prong and putting It into tbe center of the blase of an iron furnace; it mar be held there some seconds, and may be again withdrawn without its being burned, if it be passed into the flame quickly, and out again through tbe external part of It, which Is in contact with air. I know some circles of many yards diameter of this kind near Foreman, in Derbyshire, which annual ly produce large white fungi and stronger grass, ami nave none so aonve. thirty years. This Increased fertility of the ground by calcination or charring, and its continuing to operate to many years, is wen worm toe attention . K ST SL . - m of the farmer ami snows me use ot paring and burning new turf in agriculture, which produce its efects, not so much by the ashes of the vegetable fibers, as by charring the soil that adhere to them. "These situations, whether from em inenoe or from moisture, which were proper once to attract and discharge a thundercloud are more liable again to experience the same. Hence many fafrv rings are often seen near each other, either without intersecting each other, as I saw this summer in a garden ia Nottinghamshire, or intersecting sett other, as described la Arthurs seat near Edinburgh, in the Kdinb. Trans, vol. II., p. e. W. fm, m CMcngo Intet Oemtu Those largo but light parasol bandies, so useful for summer, traveling, are made nut of cahbam Stalks grown In the fields of Brittany, A particular kind of long-stalked cabbage or collard is left in the ground to grow higher and higher for two or three years, the leaves being carefully stripped from the staiR wmen, oeeoming very magn aad Sanaa-, bt then used for the slick of one of Those large (wmsi called the wersvy mnmaue.

ftaatl tlte Peenie lUrfe I

Tt.ere art thousands of honorable; Republicans in Now York and other State. They have no occasion to feel ; indignant at the cry now m every hon- i et man's lips "Out with the rascals." 1 The KepublicsH party is not In power. Not the Republican party as it existed 1 under Abraham Lincoln, atruggling to 1 save the Union from the fury nf see-1 tionsl strife Not tbe Republican party ; insiitrod by the noble dcidre togive free-: dom to the slave. Not the Republican party of high m itivea and ttrong integ- ; rit v, willing to make sacrifices for the ' preservation of the Nation That .truly Republican party dtavl with the raucnabused Andrew Johnson's accidental term of office. It elected Grant for his first term, it is true. But it ceased o exist before his second nomination. In 1872 the Republicans were continued in office by a Democratic blunder, aided bv tbe new power whioh bad been built up inside the Republican party the power of organized special privileges and monopolised corporations. The party of Lincoln had become debauched by the prodigality of Urantiam. Whisky rings baa grown up and reached tbe White House. Corruption had eaten into the Cabinet. The moneyed power had felt its way and, Mire of its footing, stood up as the lord sad master of the Administration. The honorable Republicans were pushed from their seats in the party coutul. They deplored the degeneration of the organisation, but they could not prevent it. In 1876 they rebuked It. The people elected Mr. Tildetv President. The oligarchy of privileged interests which had seised on the old Republican party prevented Mr. Til den' inauguration and stole the , Presidency for Haves. But for that the oligarchy would long since have been out of power. It exists now only by virtue of that robbery a crime Abraham Lincoln would have denounced had he been living. In 1880 the oligarchy, still usurping the title of the Republican part', perpetuated its power by shameless and acknowledged bribery. It bought the election with the money of corporate monopolies it had pampered, official thieves it had fostered and protected, ambition millionaires to whom it pledged Cabinet appointments or foreign mission i, and Federal office-holders whom it blackmailed. It U this oligarchy to which the people allude when they cry, "Out with the rascals." It is no more the Republican party of I860 than James A. itartield was Abraham Lincoln, or than Tom Brady is William Dt-nnNon. It is a party ruled by oftlco-holders, jobbers, monopolies privilegiat and corruptionhu. It is the party which abuses patronage, plunders the Government and corrupts the ballot-box. It is a party which rules now onlv through stealing the Presidency in 1K76 and purchasing it in 1880. ft has no honest title to power, and every honorable Republican ought to join the Democrats in the cry: " There must and shall be a change!" - N. Y. World. Churftehfs BeftttJers. Were tbe late President alive he would doubtless pray to be delivered from bis friends, unless he could show them how to make a more creditable explanation of certain fact of his public career than any that hasconiefrorutuemsin,etne suit's chatves were made public. Wharton Barker, of rennytvanta, uasconiesseu inadvertently, perhaps -that Gcner-" Garfield was negotiating' for the Pi j. idential nomination long .before he headed the Ohio delegation bearing the pledges of the State for John Sherman. But in their desperate endeavor to show that he made no bargain looking to the appointment of Stanley Matthews to the Supreme Bench, in consideration of value received, his friends attach to him the responsibility of acting upon mostives that sho..id never Infiuen'-e a servant of the people. "The appointment of Judge Matthews was an Inherited obligation at least that Is the way (ieneral Garfield regarded it I feel sum," is the only justification that Governor Foster has to ofier. The real tm aning of that is that Hayes made the request and Garfield felt bound in courtesy to honor tbe solicitations of his predecessor. But was Hayes the only one to be considered In that connection f Hayes was just about to take leave of a position obtained by fraud, and go into retirement after an Administration that had been weak aad colorless, and ha virtues all of a negative character. One of the last and worst of Mr. Hayes' acts the ap pointment of Stanley Matthew s to the position he now occupies. He worked as hard for the confirmation of his friend as hi ever worked for anything, bnt without avail. -After comprehensive and deliberate consideration of the nomination by the Senate, it was rejected for good and sufficient ressons, and all the people said amen! Now, the best excuse that hisfriendii can urge for President Garfield's action In sending in tbe name agnin is that it was an "inherited obugation." The obligation to consider the veto of a full Senate never sfjesjaed to occur to the late President. The obligation to accept the judgment of the public as it had been reflected by the press of the country did rot penetcate his moral cuticle. His reason was simply a personal reason, even when we permit his friends to tell it. Was U a perstmal reason based on contempt for tbe opinions of Senate and people, or was it a )M?raoaal reason based on an obligation not inherited? The dilemma has two mwns, thowgh aae Is a ttttkj fttarper than the er. -Jl JBJ. w"fe XTPWrK wenrjpn was rawoa wile us this year. fcjufc m. Hanaflh

A tttf-CMtlcl Farty,

It a euriovs fact, deserving mora notice than It receives, that a very large proportion of those lond-smeUlng scandal which have mads the Republics party both odorous and odions, own their exposure to Republican Jealousies and quarrels. Usually it is the opposing party that doss the exposing, but In tats itutnnoe the Democrats hsvs been spared the trouble, their antagonists takinir it unoa themselves, and displsying the soiled linen of the family to aa astoniahed and distrusted public with as much mmchaiance as if it ware white as tbe driven snow and sweet as the bed of roses, All that Democrats have had to do has been to bold their noses, open their eyes and make the most of the political advantage thus gratuitously bestowed. As far back as 1861. when the war had lust begun. Secretary Cameron was suddenly invited to leave the Lincoln Cabinet, lor reasons not then specified. But it soon leaked out that the veteran Peansylvanla statesman had been "improving his opportunities' rather more vigorously and exclusively wan other statesmen of his party, equally hungry for spoils, thought fair, and that in his greed for contracts ha had omitted to grease" those who needed greasing in order to stop their mourns. So the Csjaeronian scandal crept into the light of day, tbe first in a long line of such, but considerably smaller and less infamous than the majority of its notorious successors. The systematic stealing which was a familiar feature in military and naval affairs from 1861 to 1866 seldom escaped the eternal vigilance of Republicans who failed to get their share, and the would-be thieves, unless mean while silenced by a judicious application of hush-money, hastened to expose the , real thieves and demand their - punishment. And so it has been ever since. Take the immortal whisky ring as aa illustration. If the ringsters, who were all Republicans, of course, had not insisted upon making their conspiracy to rob the Government a very close corporation, it might have remained unrevealed much hmger than it did. But Republican outsiders, no more honest than the Insiders, determined that K they could not have cash they would nave revenge, ana so gave unstuw ine points he worked up not as they ought to have been, but as well as be could with the combined forces of the ring and a Republican Administration against him. Belknap's dealings in Indian acearies and traderships, whioh hustled him out of Grant's Cabinet, and came near bringing his impeachment, were first proclaimed by certain Republicans who wanted agencies or traderships for themselves or their friends and did not get them, therefore proceeded to "get even" by denouncing the too monopolising Belknap. "Laundelet" Williams was slaughtered In the same way and for tbe same reason, and if Robeson had been s .generous In his division of the plunder as he was hn- ' pudent in acquiring It half his doings might have gone down to posterity in much better shape. The ineffable infamies of Republican reconstruction would not have been fixed in history half as firmly as they are if the white and black Republican rogues In the South had not quarrelled over the proceeds of their roguery and told on each other. If every carpet-bagger could have been a United States Senator, Governor, or State Treasurer, and every negro could have had all the land and mules he wanted, the Republican performances In Southern States during that dismal period would not be as well ami widely known as they are. Aad if" the RepuoUean "visiting sUteeraea" and iurning-hoarders, who cheated the American people out of their fairly elected President, had not been embittered by mutual jealousy and suspicion that erownlng Republican crime wonld not be as clearly set forth as R hi for the execration of future ages. If there had been enough of the Star-route slush " to go round tbe circle of Republican politicians the Star-routs swindle might still be on Its legs, and If Dorsey and Brady had not been dragged into court by disappointed Republicans wa might never have known how Garfield obtained the .Republican nomination, how the f3,00O,6tX) Republican campaign fund was raised, and how the Republicans carried Indiana in 1880. And if Republican Mahoae had admitted RepubUcaa Desendorf to an equal partoerahip ia the distribution of Federal offices, tees anybody suppose that Desendorf would have told how Republican voters were manufactured at the Norfolk Navy Yard,' and how much it eost to "repnir" the nntar The cases we have presented; though not one-tenth of the whole number, are sufficient to show that Rpublicau rash calities have been proved by the testimony of Republican witnesses the wit-, nesses being, so far as Intention concerned, as bad as the crimlnamand thai ha no instance does the proof ot these rascalities depend upon Democratic testimony. We may, therefore, with utmost propriety call the Republican parry a self-convicted party: and. if, with such self-eon vlctlon before the, the people do not furnish proper made nutation at the polls mmtytnt then they deserve to be saddled, tewed and ridden by Republican raseals ts the end of time. & er Ikfmbikm. Numerous burglaries go uridetected. in Sing Sing, X., and the Detroit JVer Prcxt moralises: "The man who, swims whero sharks are ia the habit of swimming, the mouse which jumps upon the cat's tmck are supposed to be times of recknaeuess and meek. Bit the burglar who phes his tradf hi State's Prison town evmantiy tnmsT smsasea m ansasgsr am

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