Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1884 — The Nopal Cactus. [ARTICLE]

The Nopal Cactus.

This plant which is abundant in Texas and Mexico, is claimed to be excellent food for sheep, and is so full of watery juice that sheep fed on it do not need water, bnt can be kept in the dryest sections of the country; but before being used the cactus must be divested of its numerous thorns and spines, and to accomplish this a machine has been devised. . It is to snch men as Abraham Lincoln, and Jefferson, and Jackson, and Franklin, all most lowly born, that we owe moet of onr greatness as a nation. They made themselves new units in the social problem, and out of poverty and ignorance carved honor and renown. This is the proudest fact in onr history. We make men, we do not inherit them. We have, in theory at least, based greatness on endeavor and character, not on titles and blood, and the illustrious annals of the Republic show that it was a good working theory. —New York World.