Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 March 1883 — Page 2

THF> kAI«WAy Moite L \ MABGABEd. E. BAXGBTEB. Somewhere, dear friend, upon our pilgrim way, We reach a place at which we pause awhile And backward gaze and forward, ere the day Reluctant carries hence its lingering smile. Below us stretch the hills we crossed at mom. The streams we bridged, the orchard’s pleasant rows; Above, white peahen peak climb bights unworn. Crowned with the beauty of eternal snow*. And much we marvel, looking o’dr the path. That e’er we deemed it tangled, rough or long, Since dale or cliff, or briery thicket hath To-day the grace of a remembered song. Forgot the toils, the terrors all forgot; Only the blessings garnered, like the sheaf, Remain onr wealth, which rust nor stain shall blot, Nor moth despoil, nor rifle reckless thief. And fearlessly we scan the years to be— The coming days, advancing one by one: Steadfast and blithe we hail them; strong and , fro®. Henceft rth we walk to meet the setting sun. Dear Half way house! Sweet friends hast thou been there; Dost know how soft its pillows to the head; Hast e’er breathed its pure caressing air; Hast dreamed its dreams; hast there been comforted? Then grateful for the good hand of thy God, And trustful for the changes still unknown, Once more thou mayest essay the pilgrim road, Secure of never faring there alone.

ONE WOMAN’S WIT.

From “Border Life.” Crack, crack, crack! One,of the horses dead! The driver tumbles down from his seat a second later, followed by an outside passenger. The crash of glass, flying splinters, the shrill whistle of rifle balls! over and above all, the unearthly yells of the savages! Taken prisoners—Billy and Dave Hopkins, known on the theatrical posters as the “Balsamo Brothers;” “Mademoiselle Helene, the queen of the floating wire,” in private life, Mrs. Billy Hopkins; “Eli Nino, the child wonde ,* in fact, Billy Hopkins, jr. Dead— and two passengers. The Balsamo Brothers, Mademoselle Helene and Eli Nino, were en route to fill an engagement in Denver, just then, assuming the importance of a mining city The prisoners were tied upon the coach horses and hurried some ten or fifteen miles away. When night approached, a green spot was selected by a running stream, and the party encamped. Words fail to portray the anxieties, the agonies of the prisoners. Poor little woman! How she reproached herself in an agony of tears—for she it was who urged the acceptance of this western engagement. The salary, which was something wonderful in figures, was to be paid in gold. Its dazzling light blinded Mrs. Lucy to the risk of which they had spoken and at which they had laughed; the salary which would go so tar toward paying for the little home they meant to buy,and for which they had been hoarding ever since their boy was born. “Great heavens, Dave! what are we to do? These devils mean to torture us. See, they are collecting wood for that purpose. My wife and child will be saved for a worse fate.” “It would have been much better for us all to be lying on the road stiff and stark like those other poor fellows.” “I tell you what, Dave, I mean to give them trouble yet.” •‘What can we do Billy? Our hands are tied, and wherever we go we are guarded!” The two men relapsed into gloomy silence.

For some time the Indians amused themselves over the wardrobe of the show people. ■ Especially were they delighted with the stage jewelry/ and fluffy skirts in which the “Queen of the floating wire” appeared in public. “The tights” belonging to the Balsamo brothers, however, occasioned much wonderment. Over these they gesticulated and vociferated as they were passed from hand to hand. Presently a couple of the braves brought the garments forward and reeled off words, the purport of which the brothers might not have fathomed, had the gestures been omitted. It was evident they asked an explanation of the use or merits of the singular affairs. “I say, Dave,” spoke up Billy, quickly “they want to know what these tights are for. If we can only persuade them to let us do some stage business it may save our lives a day or two.” “Or they may take us for medicine men,” answered Dave. “If we get our hands free we may escape somehow.” With this idea in their minds they went through a great amount of pantomimic dialogue, and succeeded in conveying some ideas into the brains of their dusky captors, which resulted in their being released, still carefully guarded, however. They swung the trapeze from the bough of a large oak - -performers on this contrivance always carrying the necessary ropes and bars with them. The savages watched every movement with the deepest interest, their curiosity increasing with every movement. Bill managed to exchange a few words with his wife, and was glad to see she had her hands free.

tJL lookihg their eyes out, take the Boy and slip away. Follow that star and you will strike some town before long.” “And leave you, my husband? Never! We ton together.” ' “You must fly, my darling! A worse fate than death awaits you, Oh, my God, Lucy, do not hesitate! We will keep them interested as long as we can. You must hasten away with all your might. I would plunge a knife in your heart myself rather than leave you to the mercy of these worse than brutes.” “Come on, Billy," shouted Dave. “They are impatient” “Billy, with a whispered, “Good-bye! God keep you safe!” left his wife. It was a curious sight, certainly, the like of which the mammouth trees about them never before witnessed. The Balsatao Brothers had performed before many audiences in the east, but never were they so anxious to excel as on this occasion. Pride in their skill, the wish to astonish the blood-thirsty audience, and the thought of the woman and child they would save, conspired to stimulate them. As they sprang from the bushes before the crowd a murmer of surprise and admiration came from the braves. For a moment the acrobats stood like marble statues, saving alone the embroidered shirt about their waist and the little bracelet which ornamented the wrist. In

the led man’s eye they looked like gods—like being from another world. Both men were models of physical beauty, and the light from the blazing flame-wreaths added to the glamcur. The half-audible expression of wondering approbation reached their ears, and nerved them for their task. Billy cast a fond look in the direction of his wife and child. A shiver ran through his heart as he asked: “Shall I ever see them again?” Hand in hand the brothers advanced until directlyjbeneath the trapeze. With a bow as graceful and profound as they would have bestowed on a Fifth avenue audience they took their places on the bar. Lucy and the child were seated in the shadow, not far distant, and in full view ofthetrapese The savages reclined on the ground between her and the fire. She was tortured between the salvation of her child and the desertion of her dearly loved husband. She could not decide the question. Strive as she would, she could not summon resolution sufficient to leave Billy to his fate. When she thought of that which was more cruel than death, she dare not stay. If she could but yield her own life, and save her husband and her child, how willingly, she thought, she would go to her death. The performances began. As the brothers passed from the simpler feats to those more astonishing the applause grew more and more vehement among the savages. A sensation the like of this they had never before known. Feats of activity and strength appeal with irre -istable foroe to the wils men, and create a respect and veneration, where the higher qualities of the mind would fail entirely. Most eagerly they watched the swift contortions of the agile acrobats,as their shapely white limbs flashed in and out among the ropes, now hanging from the bar or swinging in the air. The vocabulary of Indian gutturals was exhausted in vain effort to do justice to the performance. Conscious of the sensation they created, the brothers, during brief intervals of rest, were busily employed in devising some plan to take advantage of it. Billy hoped that Lucy and the boy, ere this, had found a propitious moment to steal unobserved from the camp; but it was impossible to be sure of it. He expected every minute to hear the shout which would follow the announcement of their escape. He knew they could not continue their exertions much longer. Already they felt the strain and fatigue which must soon be followed by utter exhaustion.

“Shall we cut and run for it, Billy? I can’t keep the mill going much longer, ’ whispered Dave. There was no answer to the question for the next instant the Indians were upon their feet, scrambling like mad toward their ponies, and giving vent to exclamations of fear. Heaven, it seemed, had interposed to rescue the prisoners. Lurid balls of green and red fire fell flying among the retreating host Was it some curious electrical phenomena, with special vengeance for their cruel foes? for the flaming bells followed them along. Several times they flashed quite near the dismayed braves, and succeeded in filling their souls with infinite terror, and the ir with agonizing yells. It seemed but an instant before the hoof-beats began to sound more like echoes than realities,telling how rapidly the discomfitted red men were putting grass between themselves and the haunted camp. The acrobats themselves were startled, and knew not what to make of it until a woman’s laugh was heard, and Mrs. Lucy sprang into her husband’s arms,and With a woman’s inconsistency exchanged the laugh for sobbing explanations. “I couldn’t leave you, Billy—l just

eouldfi! And when I happened to thmk ofthat package of webrought with us for one of our acts, I knew what to do. I found them, fortunately, without trouble, and fired them right among the crowd. I never jmw e house cleared so quick before, did you? ’ But it was not the time to discuss the subject In the flight and frenzy of the red foes’ retreat they stopped not to think or prisoners, hence the coach horses remained to carry the whilom prisoners to a small settlement, where they arrived the next afternoon.

Pa as An Inventor.

Peck’s Sun. “What’s your pa invented? , J saw a hearse and three hacks go up on your street the other day, and l thought may be you had killed your pa.” “Not much. There will be more than three hacks when I kill pa, and don’tyou forget it; Well, sjr, pa has struck a forune, if he can make the thing work. He has got an idea about coal stoves that will bring-him in several million dollars if he gets a royalty 6f 85 on every coal stove in the world. His idea is to have a coal stove on casters, with the pipe made to telescope out and in, and rubber hose for one joint, so you can pull the stove all around the room and warm any particular place. Well, sir, to hear pa tell about iV you would think it would revolutionize the country, and may be it will when he gets it perfected, but he came near burning the house up, and scared us half to death this morning, and burned his shirt off, and he is all qpvered with cotton with sweet oil on. and he smells like salad dressing. You see pa had a pipe made and some casters put on our. coal stove, and he tied a rope to the hearth of the stove, and had me put in some kindling.wood and coal last night, so he could draw the stove up to the bed and light the fire without getting up. Ma told him he would put his foot in it, and he told her to dry up, and let him run the stove business. He said it took a man with brain to run a patent right,and ma she pulled the clothes over her head and let pa do the fire act She had been buildigg fires for twenty years, and thought she would let pa see how good it was. Well, pa pulled the stove to the bed, and touched off the kindling wood. I guess may be I had got a bunch of kindling wood that the hired girl had put kerosene on, ’ cause it blazed up awful and smoked, and the blaze burst out of the doors and windows of the stove, and pa yelled fire, and I jumped out of bed and rushed in, and he was the scartest man you ever see, and you’d a dide to see how he kicked when I threw a pail of water on his legs and put his shirt out Ma did not get burned, but she was pretty wet, and she told pa that she would pay the 85 royalty on that stove and take the casters off and let it remain stationary. Fa says he will make it work if he burns the house down. I think it was real mean in pa to get mad at me because I threw cold water on him, instead of warm water, to put his shirt out. If I had waited until I could heat water to the right temperature I would have been been an orphan and pa a burnt offering. But some men always kick at everything. Pa has given up business entirely, and says he shall devote the remainder of his life to curing himself of the different troubles that I get him into. He has retained a doctor by the year and buys liniment by the gallon.”

How to Cure a Balky Horse.

“What do you do with a balky horse?” “On the road I should first tie a string around his fetlock, or unharness and harness him again, or put a handful of sand in his mouth.' ’ “What is the philosophy of the string around the fetlock?” “The horse wonders what it is therefor, and, while thinking, he resumes his customary trot and forgets all about his pain.” “Why would you unharness and then harness the horse again?" “Because some part of the harness may have chafed him, and the change in its position may relieve the pressure.” “And the sand?” “The use of sand in the case of a balky ’ horse is quite common in the country. The gritty substance is very disagreeable to a horse, and while trying to got rid of it he ignores his real pain and starts off without any further incentive. Shakspere says in one of his plays: Where the greater ill is fixed The leeeer is scarce felt. Thoud’st shun a bear; But if thy course lay toward the raging sea, ’ Thoud’st nieet the bear ’i the mouth. “Some animals greatly desire sand in the craw, but I know of nothing that so greatly puzzles a horse as fin ounce or two of sand in his mouth. Till he has it removed he knows and eares little about anything else." Mr. Bowman, a divine of Harrison Co., captured and handcuffed a young man who had seduced his daughter, a short time ago, under the promise of marriage. The young man is now offering to marry he daughter if he is released. v Gladstone’s re appearance in Commons Monday, was greeted with cheers, ■

STEPHENS' SINGULARITIES.

A Few Illustratioe* of Some of the Dead Statesman’s Peculiarities. Collected from Various Sources. The great Mirabeau wished to die to the sounds of delirious music, and have the odor of sweet flowers wafted over his death bed, and Chopin, when gasping for breath, begged that they send for a tortain gifted pianist, and playfOr him one of his. favorite airs. Alexander H. Stephens, who after a life cradled in suffering and hounded through its course of seventy one 1 -years by horrible physical tortures, passed away midnight Saturday, wished “to die in harpeea.” He did. Elected last year to the position of Goverhor, he literally died in the tratos. His career has been one of the most remarkable of any man of the* Century, and will ever be a living monument of the triumph of mind over matter, of brain over physical force. His career has been an interesting and distinguished one. Perhaps no public man in the country ever surmounted greater difficulties, and in the end was crowned with such ultimate success. His family were of English origin, respectable, but not of high social position. He worked as a boy on the plantation and had meager schooling. His parents left him a penniless lad, and charity opened the way..for him into the university, but when he graduated he taught school until he earned enough to repay the money he had borrowed. Many great men have arrived at eminence from poverty," but few have had disease added. He was a sickly boy, morbidly sensitive, and of melancholy disposition, and has all through life been racked with most painful diseases. He was admitted to the bar when only twenty-two, and weighing eighty-five pounds, and offered a partnership of 81,500 a year, but his love for home* anchored him to the spot of his boyhood. He lived on 86 a month made his own fires, blacked his own boots, and made 8400 the first year. He joined the Presbyterian church m those days, as he had found a friend, who loaned him the money by which he went through college, in Charles C. Mills, his Sabbath-school teacher. The second year of his practice he owned a horse, which he groomed himself. When he first started in the practice of law at Crawfordsville he passed every morning a shoe factory, and as he was hurriedly walking by, one of three negroes, who were drinking from a tin pail heir morning coffee, suddenly suspended operations and one asked: “Who is that little fellow that walks by here so fast of mornings?” “Why, man, that’s a The third negro shouted aloud with a genuine negro guffaw. “A lawyer, a lawyer you say. Yah, yah; that’s too good.” In less than six months Stephens saved that negro, who had mirrored popular opinion of the struggling boy, from the penitentary by picking a flaw in the indictment But these were the early wrestles with poverty, for he was very poor. There were no railroads in those days, in Georgia, and on one occasion, when the court was held in Washington, Ga., he wanted to attend there in a style befitting his profession. Too proud to borrow a horse from a friend he walked ten miles to his uncle’s, carrying his saddlebags containing a change of clothing upon his shoulder, and asked the loan of a horse. His change of clothing consisted of a pair of thin white cotton pants of cheap material, and just before he entered the town he halted his horse under a big oak tree, and changing his unmentionables, he entered town in style. Dr. Samuel Johnson, who used to lay in bed until his washwoman washed and ironed his only shirt, was not put to much greater shifts. He was barely started in life before he was prostrated by sickness. In 1837 he was confined to his room for months, and when moved was carried from room to room like a child. When convalescent he took a horseback trip through the mountains of Georgia. ' In the following year he was again laid low by illness, and advised to take a sea voyage. He went by water to Boston, and entered Boston harbor, passed by Fort Warren May 25, 1838. Exactly twenty-seven years after to a day he stopped at Fort Warren as a prisoner of war, May 25, 1865. Such is one of the remarkable coincidbnees of his lifetime. For several years he was a member of the lower, and afterward upper House of the Georgia Legislature. Here he won a fame that extended all over the State as a logical and shrewd debater and orator of great power. ANECDOTES.’ Many anecdotes are extant of the mistakes made in regard to him, His head was so small, his body so emaciated, that few, at first sight, could believe him to be the great Stephens. Once, while vicepresident of the Confederacy, on his way to Richmond, he was taken at Danville by a presumptuous official for some country boy. He produced his certificate of identity, signed by his county clerk, but the pompous official declared th it “it was two thin,” and would un-

donbtedly have conscripted him, but for the fact that he looked too weak to pack a musket On another occasion he saved a drunken soldier from being put off the cars for disorderly conduct, and when the fellow had sobered up enough to regain some of his senses, he asked the name of his benefactor, and on being told that it was Vice-president Stephens, simply sighed and said, “such is feme.” On another occasion he was invited to a commercial convention at Charleston 8. C., where he was expected to make a the great speech of the occasion. Arriving quietly at a hotel kept by a lady, he threw himself oh a lounge to obtain rest The bustling housewife Was keeping everything in apple-pie order, for the benefit of her distinguished guest, and wishing to start up the country youth as she supposedhe was, in as mild a manner as possible, when two portly country merchants arrived she 'said: “Wake up, my son, and let these gentlemen have this seat.” Despite hi? withered, pinched-up form, puny body, holding a big soul, he wasone of the greatest anecdotists and one of the most interesting con veraati on al i sta of the age. Not old Barton with his mimicry» or Sam Ward with his elegance, brought out a point so clearly and inimitably as the great Georgian. One of his best stories, and which many have heard him relate in that irrisistable manner, was about the Peter Bennett speech. A certain Dr. Roysten sued Bennett, who was a farmer, for his bill for medical services. Mr. Stephens told the farmer that he could make no defense. “Never mind,” said Bennett. “I want you to speak the case.” Stephens replied: “You had better speak yourself,” and was much surprised when the farmer said: “I will if Bobby Toombs won’t be too hard on me.’ Toombs promised, and Peter began: 'Gentleman of|the jury, I ain’t no lawyer and no doctor, and you ain’t nuther, and if we farmers don’t stick to-gether these here lawyers and doctors will get the advantage of us. I ain’t no objections to lawyers and doctors in their place, and some are clever men, but they ain't farmers, gentlemen of the jury. Now this Dr. Royston was a new doctor, and I sent for him to come and doctor my wife sore leg. And he did, and put some salve truck on it, and some rags, but it never done a bit of good, gentlemen of the jury. I don’t believe he’s no doctor no way. There’s doctors as I know is doctors sure enough, bat this ain’t no doctor at all.” The farmer was making headway with the jury, when Dr. Royston said: “Here is my diploma.” “His diploma,” said Bennett, with great con fem pt; “that ain’t nothin’, for no piece of paper ever made a doctor yet.” “Ask my patients,” yelled the now thoroughly enraged physician. “Ask your patients,” slowly repeated Bennett; and then deliberating; “ask your patients? Why, they are all dead.” Then he rapidly enumerated case after case, most of them among the negro servants and in the immediate neighborhood, of such of the doctor’s patients as had succumbed to his pills and powders, and continued: “Ask your patients! Why, I should have to hunt them in the lonely graveyards and rap on the silent tomb to get answers from the dead. You know they can’t say nothing to this case, for you’ve killed ’em all.” Loud was the applause, and farmer Bennett won his case. AS AN ORATOR. Before the war Stephens ranked as one of the most powerful orators in Congress. His' hair fell in long black masses over his fine forehead, his cravat was tied m a sailor’s knot, and an immense gold chain ending in a heavy seal gave him an outre appearance. His arms and legs were long, complexion sallow, while his voice was high-pitched, inclining to the falsetto, yet he al way i commanded the closest attention. His points were made rapidly and apparently without effort. The midnight oil never flashed forth its sickly glare in his eloquent passages. He gradually unfolded his subject like the leaves of a book. His memory was remarkable and served him to good purpose, while his powers of sarcasm and invective were second to none. He was feared as an antagonist and sought for as an ally in debate. He has been compared to Randolph, of Roanoke. Both were sensitive, morbidly sensitive plants. Both were fearless in debate and action. Randolph f. fought duels; Stephens challenged Herschel V. Johnson and Gen. B. H. Hill,yet both refused to fight him. Both were powerful in Congress; both disease j; yet Randolph was cynical and misanthropic, all gall and wormwood, embittered, perhaps, by suffering and disease; yet Stephens conquered his pains, and was as modest as a schoolgirl, and as amiable and genial as possible. Both were fond of their homes and birthplace and both were ardent devotees to doctrine of State rights. •A.’ Murders in 1883. During 1882 the murders committed in the United States averaged two a day, while the executions only averaged two a week.