Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 November 1899 — Page 6

THANKSGIVIN’ IN THE COUNTRY

EC yer goln’ to the country, to spend Thanksgivin’ there, Jest take along yer appetite, an' sharpen It with care; -Fur ther's goln’ to be a turkey and a chicken pie, I ween, •Pertaters,- squash an' onions, too, the finest ever seen; in' ther's goln’ to be a raisin’ cake, an' mince an' pumpkin pie, An’ a puddin’ full o’ plums, et with sugar sass, oh, my! ■An’ ye’ll eat enough to bust ye, ’fore ye know what yer about; JU' ye goln' to get the colic, Es ye ! don't watch out. ,-ln* when the dinner’s over, on that Thanksglvln’ day, An' the dishes Is all tidied an’ the table cleared away, 'When the old folks in the parlor by the fire are settln' down, . An' the popcorn, an’ the apples is a circulatin’ roun’, 'When the men is talkin' politics, the women talkin’ do es, , . . An* gran'ma in her spectacles has dropped off in a dore. While the young folks in the kitchen is a frolickin' about, "Ther’s goln’ to be some sparkin’ Es ye don’t watch out. An' when It's gettin’ darker, an’ the fire is burnin' low. An’ the shadders in the corners keep a-wav-in’ to an’ fro, When the wind comes round the corner with a sad an' mournful soun’. An’ ye see outside the snowflakes, one by one, a settlin' down, ' When ye hitch yer chairs up nearer, as the twilight's wearta’ on .An’ speak of them ’twas with ye In Thanksgivln's that are gone, When ye look upon the empty chairs a standin’ round about. Then ye’ll blubber like the dickens Es ye • don't watch out.

THANKSGIVING DUEL.

T was Thanksgiving Day, and this is II the story as it was told by Miss PepAe per, the fine needle worker, at the woman's boarding house on Tenth street: ■"You see, my dears,” said Miss Pepper, who was like a sweet faded old rose in the group of eager young women about her, “the trouble with Jack Brice was this: He was heels over head in love with my cousin, Margery Lee, but he was too .poor to marry. “He lived with his uncle, Tom Brice, of the Mansion House—old Squire Brice, as all the county called him, though he wasn’t more than 50; and naturally when they both came courting Margery, her ■father favored the squire’s suit most. But Margery favored Jack’s, and showed it openly. “A man may be as rich as Croesus, but When he’s choleric and up in years—none too good in the bargain—he needn't expect to make much headway with a love sick girl of 20. Long-legged Jack's good looks outweighed the squire’s gold, but when I»er father found out which way the wind was blowing he forbade Margy to see him again. She said nothing, for she was not -a girl to talk. But every night she wrote him a long letter, that she would hide in « hollow tree stump, and that Jack would come and take away. “Sometimes, too, in the early morning, hardly daylight, she would jump on her bay mare, Hornet, and dash two miles down the river to the ford, where Jack would be waiting, and would swim his 'horse over from the other side, just to have five minutes’ talk with her. .“Ah, but they were in love, I can tell .you! And I never saw a better matched jpair—both so good looking; both so full Of life! , “Whether my uncle ever heard of their .goings on I don’t know. But he stopped talking against Jack and urging the •quire’s suit. He only told us, Margy and me both, for I lived with them, that old Tom had him in his power and could ruin |fifan, and now that she wouldn’t marry he was going to take his revenge. "Then he fell sick, and seemed likely to • die, and my poor cousin was in a terrible "She loved Jack, but she loved her •gather, too. And she felt it was worry “One terrible night, when we were alanost expecting my uncle to breathe his last, Margy fell on her knees and promised she'd marry the squire, and he at once a « si/vlr n/Ml

THANKSGIVING

to her, and then left the county on top of it “This left the field of love open to the squire, and he made the most of it, coming every afternoon to our place, spruced up like a young man', in a light black suit and with his hair combed over his bald spot “He would send Margy splendid presents, too. And sometimes a love letter, a fine, proper love letter, calling her a red rose with the dew on it, a black-eyed gypsy, or some such prettiness, all of which you may be sure, though, only I ever read. “Meanwhile the wedding arrangements were going on with wicked hurry. My uncle seemed like one possessed to have it over with. And Margy, numb with misery ,and worn to a shadow with longing for Jack, said nothing. Perhaps she was afraid if too long put off she would lose courage for the sacrifice; perhaps she was all the time hoping and praying

—as women can pray sometimes —for the very daring thing that did happen'. “That night, I remember, it stormed. The wind howled, and all along the country road the big oaks swung their arms and creaked as if ready to fall on our rumbling old carriage. “It was Thanksgiving night, a festival not in favor in the South in those days, and we were going to the mansion house to a family dinner. The wedding was only three days off now, and the squire had taken a fancy to keep it in honor of his coming happiness. “When we rolled up to the open doorway there he was, magnificent—in a rosebud satin waistcoat, and with a flower in his buttonhole, for all the world like a bedecked old turkey cock! “ ‘Welcome to the Mansion House,’ he said, gayly, as I bundled up the stairs first. “And then to Margy, though quite loud enough for me to hear: Tn three short days!’—meaning, of course, the marriage that was to leave her in his home forever. “She winced as if he had struck her, her face as white as her muslin frock, and I verily believe that if he hadn’t walked her into the dining room on his arm she would have fallen. “What sort of a dinner did they have? Why, the best in the world, you may be sure! “The Mansion House was the finest place in the county —for that matter in all South Carolina—and the squire knew good living, and the big mahogany table fairly groaned under cut glass and silver. “Uncle and I were at each side, and Margy was at the foot in the place of honor; where, three times a day, sho was soon to face old Tom, until death should mercifully take one or the other of them out of the world. None of us talked much; none, even my uncle, who was emptying goblet after goblet of wine to drown his thoughts. And when the squire stood up suddenly with his champagne glass to toast the bride —a frozen bride that looked ready for the tomb —I almost welcomed the interruption that followed. “ ‘To the bride!’ repeated the squire,

glase high in the air, and was echoed by a dreadful laugh. “ To the devil, you mean; to the devil, you old villain,’ said a voice. ‘He gave you money enough to buy a wife, so toast him deep!’

“And there in the middle of the floor, landed by a jump through the flung up window, was Jack, his clothes covered with mud and satan in his eye. “True love poisoned by wounded vanity, you see, my dears, may sleep drugged for a while, but the time will come when it will fight like a tiger for what it feels its own. “And this had been the case with Jack, who was now almost maddened with thinking over the coming wedding. “ ‘You young puppy,’ roared the squire, ‘didn’t I tell you not to come here again?’ “ ‘That for your telling,’ said Jack, diabolically cool; and with the whirl of a long whip in his hand the squire’s uplifted wine glass fell to the floor cut like a flower from the shank! “Then followed a terrible scene, while we looked on like people in a nightmare. “The two men seemed suddenly to turn into raging demons, but from the very first I could see Jack had the upper hand. “He held the squire, squirming and cursing like a trooper, down in his chair as if he had been a child. “ ‘Margy,’ he called out over his head, ‘did you write me that letter of your own account?’ “And getting no answer beyond the denial of her death-white face and piteous

eyes, his rage knew no bounds. ‘Your friend, the devil, gave you money enough to buy a wife,’ he kept saying, shaking the squire as a cat would a mouse; ‘but by heaven it’s only over my dead body you’ll get her!’ “ ‘Defend yourself, you old rascal,’ he yelled, tAiefend yourself, for, kin or not, we are one too many on earth.’ “There was a pair of swords crossed on the wall, Mender, murderous dueling swords, and, tearing them down, he flung one to his uncle, and in a moment they were fighting like mad, parrying, thrusting and feinting, with a dexterity sickening to see. “For the squire, you must understand, was an experienced swordsman; he had pinked his man in his time; but, fired by love and hate, and always' a good fencer, Jack was a match for him. One moment it was he who was doing the parrying. The next it was the squire. And presently, as if in a dream, I could see my uncle and Prince, the negro butler, standing on chairs and putting out the candles that were fastened to the antlers of the deer heads against the walls, in the hope that this would stop them. “But it did nothing of the sort; it only made them all the more determined to kill each other; and directly in the pitch dark, after a moment’s groping—groping that sent an icy chill to the roots of my hair—their swords clashed, and we knew that the duel was not yet over. “Margy fell faint across my lap and my uncle began to pray. “All I could think of was to hope that Jack would beat, and with my heart in my mouth I sat staring at the sparks that flew from their swords and waiting for the end. “At last, after an eternity of time, a time made up of appalling silence and mad, blind, loomings together—and again that hideous groping—there was a cry, a fall, and when the frightened negro made a light again, there was the squire, pinned by Jack’s sword, through an ear, to the floor, and there outside the window were Jack and Margy clinging to each other on the same horse and ready to dash off into the night. “Well, my dears,” said little Mies Pepper mildly in conclusion of her spirited recital, “of course, they got married and lived happy ever after. “And equally, of course, the squire melted in time and forgave them, and tore up the notes he held against my uncle. “And to this very day, if any of you should go to Buck Forest, anybody there will tell you how Jack Brice won his bride on Thanksgiving night,”—SL Louis Republic.

SOLDIERS' PUDDING.

How the Cook of a Company Snr prised Hia Comrades. "Tn November, *62,” said Judge Langbein, who was a drummer boy in the famous Hawkins Zouaves, “we were in camp at Falmouth, directly opposite Fredericksburg; Md., where many of our command fell a little later. We could get nothing but the ordinary rations, but we had prepared for that by starting a company fund several months before for the purpose of supplying a Thanksgiving dinner. There must have been something like S4O in the fund, and our cook kept the disposal of this fund a profound secret It seems ridiculous now, but I don’t believe that any child ever waited far the coming of Christmas morning

with a keener excitement than we did for that Thanksgiving dinner. When it came at last, we found that the great dish was nothing more nor less than a good old-fashioned plum pudding, rich and savory. I’ll never forget that’ pudding, but it was the only thing we had. It had taken all the company fund to buy the flour and other ingredients for the pudding. I tell you, though, it seemed good to our stomachs, which had endured a steady diet of hardtack and coffee for weeks. I don’t believe that a band of street ragmufflns ever tackled a feast with a keener relish than we poor fellows felt when we devoured that pudding.”

SUBJECT OF THANKSGIVINGS.

Extensive and Highly Interesting Volume Might Be Compiled on It. An extensive and highly interesting volume might be compiled on the subject of Thanksgiving and the events which have signalized them. For instance, on Thanksgiving day, 1783, the British army evacuated New York, while Washington and Clinton marched into the city at the head of the continental army and took formal possession in the name of the young republic. Festivities and a grand display of fireworks closed that memora-

ble day. Thanksgiving had fallen that year on Dec. 25, and the combination of evacuation day and that festival were long jointly honored in New York. The Thanksgiving day of 1816 is memorable as the occasion upon which an American theater was first illuminated with gas. This event happened in Philadelphia. The experiment was a complete success, and the manager of the affair was Dr. Kingler. During the war, of the battles and skirmishes fought on Thanksgiving, the most notable was that of Lookout mountain (1863). A few odd and distinctive methods of celebrating the great holiday still survive in different parts of the United States, although the tendency is toward a uniform manner of rejoicing. In sections of Connecticut, for instance, the “Thanksgiving barrel burning” is a timehonored institution. For a month before the day Connecticut boys diligently collect and store in a place of security all the barrels, old or new, which they can find. All barrels are regarded as the property of whomsoever can carry them away. On Thanksgiving night the barrels are piled in a huge heap and ignited. Boys and girls then dance around the bonfire until the very last barrel has gone up in smoke.

A Thoughtless Remark.

“How often,” said Miss Miami Brown, “hit do happen dater thoughtless remark’ll spile de plaisure ob er occasion!”

“Yassendeed,” replied Erastus Pinkley. “One o’ de gues’es at ouah own table stopped pap right in de middle o’ de kyahvin’ ter ax ’im whah he got de turkey.”

A Boy on Thanksgiving.

Here is a funny little composition written by a boy about Thanksgiving day: “Thanksgiving was brought over from England by the Puritan fathers in the year 1620. It has staid here ever since. On Thanksgiving everybody goes to church in the morning, so as to have everything out of the way before dinner. Then you come home and hang around a little while and get awful hungry smelling the turkey. After dinner Thanksgiving is over.”

Influence of Food.

"I know that the food a person eats has much to do with the eater’s characteristics” “la that a»F “It is. You will notice that about Thanksgiving day many turkey eaten wifl become

INDIANA INCIDENTS.

RECORD OF EVENTS OF THE PAST WEEK. Bold Burglary in Jeffersonville—Briscoe Building Burns at HartfordFreight Trains Collide at Reeleville Bottle Factories Unable to Get Help. The most daring hold-up ever attempted in Jeffersonville occurred the other night about 10 o’clock in a thickly settled locality. Herbert Loomis, clerk in a drug store, was in the act of closing, when two unmasked men walked into the lighted store and covered him with their revolvers. One of the burglars ordered the other to fire after he had counted ten if Loomis failed to o.pen’’ the safe. The safe was then opened and the entire contents, which aggregated nearly SSOO, was taken. The thieves escaped. Boy Famine Worries Factories. The boy famine prevailing all over the Indiana gas belt, and more especially in towns and cities where bottle factories are located, is seriously felt at Hartford City, where three large bottle plants are located. Notices of “boys wanted” have been posted all over the county, and money prizes are offered for the boys who remain in the firm’s employ longest, but there is the greatest scarcity. Many of the concerns in the gas belt are compelled to run only half force owing to the scarcity. Business Block Is Burned. Fire broke out in the furniture department of the J. L. Hoover store in the Briscoe block at Hartford City, and three hose companies battled with the flames for two hours and a half before they were finally subdued. The interior of the structure was destroyed, only the walls being left standing. The R. Kirschbaum block adjoining was damaged by water. The estimated loss is $75,000, about one-third of which is covered by insurance. Natural Gas Is Diminishing. Natural gas is rapidly failing in the north part of the Indiana field. The Dietrich syndicate has given notice that it will abandon its plants in the smaller towns. Five towns in Howard County are left to freeze and nearly 2,000 families will eat cold victuals and shiver over tireless stoves. Coal cannot be had at any price and there is no wood in the market. Bad Wreck on the Vandalia. The Vandalia Railroad Company suffered a most damaging wreck at Reelsville. Train No. 22, east-bound, was trying to make a switch and was run into by train No. 26, also east-bound. The engine of the last train plowed through ten cars, totally demolishing them. One of the cars was loaded with stock. Three of the trainmen were injured, one seriously. Within Our Borders. Smallpox at Fort Wayne. Linton wants a city charter. Frankfort is grabbing for a steel plaint. Greenwood high' school has been commissioned. Fort Wayne waiter works bonds have been floated. Noblesville is fighting an increase in natural gas rates. Clinton County has the largest corn crop in her history. Columbus thinks she has a shoe factorj within her clutches. Thomas Williams, 73, Mexican wai veteran, Salem, dead. North Manchester is planning a fifteenmile sewerage system. William Mabee and wife, Martinsville, celebrated their golden -wedding. ' Marion and her suburbs are o again entangled in the school transfer law. Robert Myler, former county auditor, died at South Bend, aged 58 years. Charles W. Byers, 13-months-old baby, Vincennes, drank carbolic acid and died. Spencer County will vote on an issue of bonds for the new Southern Indiana Railroad. At Lapel the 9-year-old son of James Anderson shot and fatally wounded his 2-year-old sister. Prof. F. L. Morris of the chair of mathematics, Hanover College, has resigned. Old age. One hundred and twenty-five miners went out on strike at the Princeton Coal and Mining Company plant on account of the scale weights. The company will have the scales tested. William Reas, farm hand near Princeton, is told that he is heir to a $75,000 estate in Gertnany. Wesley Harwick, 87, Hendricks County, has lived on the same farm seventy years. He never used tobacco or whisky. Miss Barbara Frank, Newburg, who was to have been married in a week, avoided the ceremony by jumping into a cistern. Cause unknown. Ed Spencer, in jail at Evansville, charged with murdering his sweetheart, Lizzie SwaneT, Troy, tried to commit suicide by setting his clothes on fire. The pastor of the Methodist Church in Ebeneezer preached from the text, “Do Away with the Old and Build Anew.” A few days later the church burned. At Connersville Miss Katherine Welstf, aged 20 years, was found dead, with her head nearly blown off and a shotgun lying by her side. The family express the belief that her death was accidental, but others think it suicide, as she had been in poor health for a long time. Options on 7,000 acres of marl beds near Milford have been taken up by parties who expect to establish an immense cement manufacturing plant at that place. The purchasers will incorporate as the Indiana Cement Company and build a mill at Milford which will produce 1,000 barrels a day. John Flora, Paoli, was sentenced for life for the murder of Jesse O. Burton. His defense was insanity. Rural mail delivery in Boone County is a success, besides being the means of building several gravel roads. A. P. Powell, Versailles, has an apple tree’ that has borne two crops already this season, and is blooming for a third. Loogootee’s gas wells are of unusual capacity, having a rock pressure of from 180 to 250 pounds and a daily output of from 890,000 to 415,000 cubic feet. Land hns doubled in Drice and factories are feokina.

STATE CAPITAL CHAT.

The last Legislature directed the State librarian, W. E. Henry, “to compile, edit and direct the printing of a State manual for Indiana.” The act does not give the librarian any direction regarding the work, leaving the whole matter to the discretion of that official. The result is a volume of 1,250 pages, which is filled with useful information. Among the more important topics are the names and salaries of all State officers and boards, the official register of Indiana from 1816 to 1899, names of the members of the two constitutional conventions, names of the members of both branches of the Legislature since the formation of the State, constitution of the State, index to the constitution, financial condition of the State assessment of real estate in 1899, tax laws, educational funds and statistics, congressional districts from 1821 to 1895, Indiana’s representatives from 1816 to 1899, the electoral votes Of Indiana, election laws, abstract of vote for State officers in 1898, formation and organization of counties, county officers elected in November, 1898, names of township trustees, United States postal regulations, postoffices in Indiana, Indiana in war;, call for troops in the civil war, index to Senate and House rules, beginnings of Indiana, and a general index. The foregoing are only a portion of the .topics considered in the first State manual. This work meets a want which, those who have desired to obtain information regarding Indiana have long felt, and for which nearly all other States have provided. Mr. Henry has put a vast deal of intelligent labor into this manual, which makes it invaluable. Only • one thousand copies have been printed, and these are distributed by the act providing for the publication of the manual. , The State bureau of statistics has completed a table on divorces in Indiana for the year ending June 30, 1899, based on returns from every county, the first of its kind accurately prepared. It shows 3,483 divorces granted in the year, which was over 10 per cent of the number of marriage licenses issued in the same period. The County Clerk issued 25,051 of these passports to bliss. There has been much complaint of recent years of the facility with which divorces are granted in Indiana, and particularly in Marion County, which leads with 575 divorce®. Madison County is also a banner one in proportion to population, for there 142 were granted. Gruel treatment caused nearly *a third of the total divorces, abandonment a fifth of them. Along the Ohio river the hill counties show the cleanest records. Two-thirds of the separations in Indiana were on the complaint of wives. In Indianapolis the proportion of divorces to weddings was unusually large, over 25 per cent, the divorces numbering 575 and the weddings 2,250. Clark County (Jeffersonville), the Gretna Green for j<<\ntucky, comes next to Indianapolis in licenses issued, there being 1,362 in the year. Indiana ha® not been backward in furnishing soldiers to Uncle Sam, in his quarrels with the Spanish and Filipinos, The records in the adjutant general’s office show that the grand total of Indiana men enlisted for the Spanish-American war was 7,301, including 261 officers. Indiana has two recruiting stations, at Indianapolis and Evansville, but some of the Indiana men have enlisted in other States. The Indianapolis station is one of the most important in the country. Its records show that from April to December, 1898, 1,331 men enlisted, and from January to August, 1899, 1,658, making a total of 2,989 for the regular service. For the volunteer service 1,200 men have enlisted at the Indianapolis station. Many Indiana men are now in the Philippines. Volunteers are still- being accepted for the Forty-first volunteers, Capm Meade, Pennsylvania, and the Forty-ninth colored volunteers, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. Those enlisting for the regular service in the Philippines spend a month at the instruction camp, San Francisco, before going to Manila.

Short State Items.

Terre Haute now has a curfew law. Churches and schools at Colfax are closed. Scarlet fever. Glass tableware trust has been formed with $4,000,000 capital. Indianapolis-Greenwood electric line will begin operations Dec. 15. Big Four headquarters will not be. moved from Wabash to Anderson. Of the $4,000 worth of stolen goods found in the Alexandria “fence,” $3,800 worth has been claimed. Two-year-old child of Berry Warrum, Fortville, played with a box of matches and was burned to death. Plant of the Lafayette Bridge Company, destroyed by fire Oct. 9, has been rebuilt, and will enter the trust. Joshua Bruce, Lafayette, suddenly became insane, rushed into the street nude, and tried to commit suicide. Police overpowered him. A supposed jilted lover fired through the window of Geo. Carpenter’s house, near Seymour; barely missing his 16-year-old, daughter? Thieves who robbed Wilson Trueblood’s house in Sullivan of S3OO threw off the bloodhounds by sprinkling the ground with cayenne pepper. Miss Maude Neal, Noblesville stenographer, was taking down the statement of an old soldier who was applying for a pension. He mentioned the name of Cart. Neal, who turned out to be Miss Neal’s father, and it was the first any of the family had heard of him since he went to war. The captain died in Andersonville. Justice of the Peace M. U. Orr, Frankten, has disappeared, making the second in a year. James Dolan, inmate of the Marion soldiers’ home, was found dead in the Mississinewa river. Thought to have fallen from a railroad bridge. .. - Mrs. James O’Dell and her three children, Evansville, were awakened by the howling of a dog and escaped from their burning home just as it collapsed. * Yadock R. Hamaker, driver of a laun-