the carolina watchman ol x third series salisbury n c january 30 1879 no 15 state gholog.l.-t \ careful examination of mr -,,.,,,!•, bill to abolish !<:•• o$ee of lu . geologic hi <■ nueclion nritli the w estublwhlhg the depart ment of tgricultur-q sustains ihe yrisdom of ii . proposed legislation by refer r n stos$c 15 chap 274 laws of 870-77 it will be scenting the depart llc ut of agriculture is fully equip , ted for the work of th geological i urvey the revenue derived from |, e imposition of a state tax on the 1 ; ( . 0 f commercial fertilizers sustains | ia t department in ss way a great l useful work is carried on with out costing the tax-payers ofihe state m e cent under the directjoii of this lepartuienl the work ofthe geol-pgi al survey can be prosecuted without 1 |, e costlv machinery of a separate j iimieiit we do not depreciate iu kerr's valuable services lo the ime but the state docs not lose hh lrviccs by the contemptated change either the office of the state qleolo isl ought to be a bo iri shed or the sec j los of the law to which reference i lsbcen made ought to be repealed ive quote : the department shall prepare a convenient handbook with the ne taassarv illustrative i i^|;s which shall contain all necessary information as tn mine minerals forest soils c'i niates waters water powers ti-iier ics mountains swamps industries and till such statistics as are best adapted to give proper information nf the attiactiona and advantages which thia stale affords to imini grants and shall make illustrative exposition thereof whenever practi cable at international exhibitions sec " the department agricul nrai is authorized and directed to btahli.-li and keep in its office in the it v ef ka'cigh a general laud and lining registry wherein shall bere-i nrded if the owners shall request lithe finning mineral or other iimi offered for sale in this state rith a brief aud truthful description f the same — ral neic killed by a meteor lie wonderful slorif that comes from an indiana town covington special to tbe indianapolis journal ou tuesday night hv^t leonidas trover who resided it the vicinity of lewton fountain county met his eath ina way that is probably with tit a parallel in this or any other buutry mr grover was a widower viiig on his farm with a married aughter and her husband on the veiling refered to the married couple ad heen absent on a visit to some pighbors and upon returning at a ue hour entered the house finding kerything toall appearance iu usual wer and supposing that mr gro er had already retired went to bed lemselves next morning the daugh v arose and having prepared break bt went to the adjoining room to call er father and was horrified to find un lying upon l)ig shattered bed a lntilated corpse her screams brought her husband sickly to the bedroom and an in action disclosed a ragged opening • the roof directly over the breast i the unfortunate man which was rn through as if by a cannon shot nd extending downward through the puding and floor ; other holes show p the direction taken by the deadly lissile subsequent starch revealed e fact that the awful eaiamitv was rused by the fall of a meteoric tone and the stonp itself pyramidal ii shape and weighing twenty pounds nd a few ounce avoirdupois and gained with blood was unearthed om a depth of nearly five feet thus win the fearful impetus with 1'ich it struck the dwelling the osition ofthe corpse with other sur mudings when found showed that ta victim was asleep when stricken d that death to him was painless the late mr mcnab curator of the uinburgb botanic garden was once iken to see dubufe's painting of k«qi and eve and was asked for 1 * opinion i think io great things fthe paint said the great garden fi why man eve's temptin adam ri a pippin of a variety that wasna n un until about twenty years o !"' dom estic ated si lk worm s the magnificent silk-farms of north italy shows the domesticated silk vvonr at ids best in these great nurseries the worm is watched over with unremitting care froip tie mo ment when a tiny black thread he chii>s the shell until a corpulent mass of waddling whiteness he leaves off eating and clothes himself in the gol den sheeting of the manv threaded cocoon the noise niade by the ni^ny thousand worms as they browse on the fresh picked leaves has not been inaptly compared to tha caused by grazing sheep while scores ot spindles are ever i,;iisv in reeling oil the yellow iiim that is the future grist for the silk lu'.il of lyons genoa and lom bard s n fortunately for some quar '.-. ;• ofa century pust the silk worm i'anii yf france and i-taly have been so scourged by a malady akin to the odium in vines and to potato disease yuder the influence of which the worms sicken and peris by mil lions no domestic animal fattens so rap idly as the silkworm give him his choice and he will urefe tht lettuce to even the white mulberry as he j likes tlio white leaves better than the red and the red leaves better than our common english black lettuce leaves however imply a white and weaker silk and a deficiency of lk'ul ihy silks untj invaluable eggs the leaf of the white mulberry which does not suit mir soil and climate is the true food of the true silk-worm in warm count ries it is not indispensa ble that he should spend hut little life in a house a mulberry tree will harbor a vast population of the crawl ing alchemists that turn vegetable fibre into sheeny gilk but giich a grove needs careful netting to protect s5 ... o i the toothless white fit-l?its from tiie beaks of birds while it is difficult to • collect the cocoons and a single thun der-shov.'er or dust-storm means ruin to the stock — ex a plague of rabbits a rabbit suppression bill has been passed by the legislative as sembly of victoria the bill says a contemporary which is intended to deal with the evil caused in the colo ny by a superfluity of rabbits was in troduced by the minister of lands who in moyh the second reading drew a vivid picture ofthe desolation caused in certain districts by these voracious creatures the mischief thev effected could not he said be exaggerated on the occasion of a recent visit paid by him to a district where thev abounded he passed over tracts which were now grassless the rabbits having devoured the herbage roots and all power is given by the bill to the shire councils to levy a rate of one penny per acre and it also au thorizes them to go upou private property and destroy rabbits at the expense of the owner a'l the brush wood fences in a rabbit district are liable to be burned down on the or der of inspectors under the act and anybody turning rabbits loose in a district is liable to a penalty of 10 for each offence in order to encour age the shire councils to destroy the rabbits on unoccupied crqwn lands * pubddy will be given often shillings in the pound on the amount of the rabbit rate collected happiness is not what we are to look for our place is to be true to the best which we know to seek that and do that and if by virtue its own re ward be meant that the good man cares only to continue good desiring nothing more it i a true and noble saying but if virtue be rained be cause it is politic because in pursuit ofit will be found most enjoyment and fewest sufferings thca it is not noble any more and it is turning the truth af god into a lie — froude give your hogs a rubbing post in some acoessible part of their inclosure it facilitates tlieir keeping glean and seems to afford them much satisfaction a pail of milk standing ten min utes where it is exposed to the scent ofa strong sraeljing stable or any other offensive odor will imbibe a taint that will never leave it discoveries at rome a new gate will shortly be opened tforpugh the walls of rome and a new avenue will lie laid out earthworks already began at what is known as the vigna venturi have led te tha discovery of the pavement of the old via tibtirtina lined with the tymbs of the gist century and en earlier only one of them has egeaped destruction u contains a coffin with the skeleton of a lady with gold earrings necklace and sig net ring who belonged to the statair family more important discoveries ofa.it works belonging to the pariqd of the republic wore fyund in destroy ing a wall built of numberless pieces of sculpture cemented in a mass with m ml thev are so many in number and when put together form so many different animals that a writer in the authenceum suggests that the writer was a pupil of darwin and meant to represent in stone his master's theories about mankind there aie 400 pieces and when joined togctlier make a weeping old wretch a boyish faun a score of dogs a woman nursing i forgot how many babies a couple of lions an armor-plated warrior some chickens etc a story of a wonderful memory comes from sidney australia a prisoner set up in his defence an alibi claiming that at the time of the rob bery he was at home listening to the recital ofa novel the old baron l»y a man named lane who had com mitted it with other works to memo ry lane nvitytioih ue said took two hours and a half the attorney funeral holding thisio be incredible lane began jn the iii^e fif king henry when the good duke hum phrey returned from the wars in the holy land where he had been so journing for a number of years there lived — " after the witness had rceir ted several pages the attorney-geu eral told him to stop as he was satis fied hut the defence iusistetj that as the veracity of the witness had been questioned he should be allowed to go on finally a compromise was effected ; lane gave a chapter from the middle of the story and its con cltf.siqu aiuj the accused was found not g.!,iil.'y during our very cold weather in the mountains the surface of our streams rarely freeze smoothly over owing to the rapidity of their current except where there are long gtr.et.ches of comparatively stijl water au along each bank however there is more or less sheet ice extending towards the middle of the stream here how ever is open water varying from one foot to many feet in width depending on the velocity ofthe water and width of the stream in this little channel which always indicates the thread of the stream flows what is called mush ice — a mats of needle like ice — fine icicles this mush ice moves with the current passing entirely under the ice where the river may be frozen oyer and in heaps drifts into fish traps — those commonly called fall traps here it solidifies to some ex tent and fine fish drifting iu with the slush form a part ofthe frozen mass here they may lie for days and then be dug out apparently lifeless but if placed in a spring soon recover franklin reporter a french soldier named moreau whose jaw nose and two eyes were carried away by the splinter of a shell at the battle of bapaume in january 1871 has just been able to leave the val-de grace and to return to his native village not cured but wonder fully patched up he has a metallic mask provided with eyes a false nose and a dental arrangement which al lows him to masticate it appears that this unfortunate gunner before joining the army of the north was engaged to be married he natural ly expected that after what had hap pened he would be rejected but this was not the case and moreau has re turned to his wife the day after washing day i.s one of sad irony a western woman who has jost two husbands by lightning id advised to marry a conductor gen barringer during the late war was dubbe by some mischiev ous reb aunt j^ancy one night about the time of the big fight near spotteylvania c h the general was riding around to see that all was in fighting trim as there was a good prospect for business the next day riding up to some sentries at a certain point he called out whose com mand is this answer nancy's another place he made the same enquiry and the same ans wer on lie went and enquired once more when some wag answered aunt nancy's said tue general oh aunt nancy !" and for ever niter wore tiie name — franklin reperter things that ray — thc.re ai;e two things that al>yay.s pay e^ven '\\\ this not over remkutrative existence — they are working and waiting — either is useless without the otiier both united arc invincible and inevi tably triumphant he who waits without woi kiiig is s'mply a luan yielding to sloth and despair he who works without waiting is fitful in his strivings and misses results by im patience he who works steadily and waits patiently may have a long journey before him but at its close he will find its reward — carolina farmer the walnut is a native of persia and its fruit is used much in the irreen state as a pickle this nut is very oily and on the continent its oil when fresh is used in cooking as a substitute for olive oil in switzer land ilie po«r people use the refuse matter after the oil i.s extracted for 1 bread j r alnuls and hickory nuts w often used by fancy cooks for shortening and flavoring cahejite addition of these nuts makes a deli cious but very indigestible articl/j children are quick to perceive the standard of integrity held by those around them and to catch th.c pre vailing tone of moral feeling when they hear injustice condemned in large things and paliated in small oijes : when their own childish depredations are treated with indifference ; when deceitful practices are tolerated and ; simply troublesome habits punished it is not strange that they learn to measure the guilt of dishonesty only by the material ipsa or annoyance entailed acorns from remote antiquity have been used as food for man and ani mals the ancient britons lived most ly on acorns so says galen 4 id the arcadians they were prepared in many shapes boiled and roasted dried and ground ami made into bread at present they are chiefly used for fattening hogs deer and poultry though jn noi'way and sweden thev are boiled and mixed wilh corn meal to make bread irish wit — a gentleman who had the misfortune to lose his nose was followed by a begger in ireland who ifept exclaiming heaven preserve yotir honor's eyesight !" the gentle man was at last irritated by his im portunity and said why do you wish my eyesight to be preserved ? nothing ails my eyesight nor is like ly to no your houor said the beggar but it will be a sad thing if it does for yytj v/il have nothing to rest your spectacles upou senatorial contests washington post tl}6 senatorial contests iu various states have been an interesting feature of the week's n»w the missouri demo crats selected two gentlemen whoss nomi iifitions will be ratified by the btate leg islature to-day in the persons of col vest and gen shields the connecti cnt republicans after a fierce struggle threw both hawley and jewell overboard and nominated an unknown individual by the name of piatt nnd the carolina democrats did honor to themselves and their state by giving a unanimous in dorsement to the senatorial aspiratious of gov vance contests begun during the week are still raging iu wisconsin and illinois with little prospect of an immediate settlement although in the latter state iljogan is supposed to be in the lead for the radical caucus nomina tion his ultimate election however is another affair logan revceived the nomination and jvill be elected to-chiy — ed news , criminal jurisdiction of mag istrates raleigh news 23d the following important bill passed the senate ye«tevday : : • secsion.1 justices of the peace shall have exclusive original jurisdiction to hear try aad determine the offenses enu merated in sections 4 4g 85 1u2 1.12 116 1,17 j.19 1120 aud 13d of chapter 32 battle's revisal — as amended by chapter 176 of laws of 18/3-74 and the punish ment of every offence shall not exceed a tine r fifty dollars or imprisonment for thirty days skc 2 justices of the peace slutll also have exclusive original jurisdiction l all peace warrants and proceed thereunder ' and of all bastard proceedings and issues j anising : th«reuuder and to take bond from j defendants in such proceedings wiih ap * proved security as heretofore required by lajr to be takeu in the superior courts of this state and also of all tissanlts assaults and batteries affrays where no deadly weapon is used a,ud the punishment of offences enumerated in this section shall not exceed a fine of fifty dollars or im prisonment for thirty days and the allow ance made to the woman in bastardy pro ceedings when the issue of paternity lias been found against a defendant shall be such sums as have heretofore prevailed iu the superior courts of this state sec 3 the party convicted before a justice shall always be adjudged to pay the costs and if the party charged shall be acquitted the complaituuit bead judged to pay the eoatej and may be im prisoned for the non-payment thereof sec 4 the wends imprissonment for one month whenever used in any of tho statute laws of this state shall be constru ed to mean imprisouiueutjfor thirty days by all the judges and courts ofthe state sec 5 section 6 of chapter 176 tho la of 1873-74 ps hereby repealed skc 6 section 111 chapter 32 of bat tle's re»isal shall be amended to read as follows in all cases of an assault with or without intent to kill or injure the per son convicted shall be punished by tine or imprisonment or both at the discre tion ofthe court provided that wher no deadly weapon has been used and no se rious damage done the punishment in such case not to exceed a fine of fifty dol lars or imprisonment for thirty days sec 7 justices of the peace shall have exclusive original jurisdiction ol all crim inal matters arising within their counties where the punishment now or which shall hefea£tef be provided by law sljy.ll not exceed a fine of fifty dollars or imprison ment for thirty days sec 5 section 1 19 chapter 33 of bat tle's revisal is hereby repealed sec 9 this act shall b.c jn force from its ratification the antiquity of weaving the earliest records of the art are to be found in the old te«t anient pharaoh arrayed joseph in vestures of fine linen and job lamented that his days were swifter than t he weaver's shuttle the use ofthe simile proving that the shuttle was a common and well known object at the time portions of woven cloth and a weaver's shuttle have been found among the remains of the lake dwellings and and as the latter are believed to belong to to the stone age the origin of the art may possibly have been nearly coincident with the existence of man few jf any savage races have been discovered altogether ig norant of the art and many of them have brought it to a considerable degree of per fection ; while the relics of the ancient peruvians and egyptians show that they were skilled weavers some fragments of egyptiar cloth were found on examination to be woven with threads of about 100 hanks to the pound with 140 threads to the inch in the warp and til in t he woof although the art was practiced extensive ly and with no mean skill in very an cient times it progressed very slowly and gradually by small steps at long inter vals the great advances in the art of weaving have been made dining the past 300 years mainly during tl:c jjast cen tury tiie northern papers assign senator vance to position ih the heavy ordinance train tho philadelphia times says in the forty sixth congress the repub lican side of the senate willbe mentally aud morally as well as numerically weaker than it has been for a score of years while the democratic side will be stronger in the same proportion than it has been since the day when tl}0 demo cracy fell into the arms of secession and became well-nigh comatose so far as the noithern states are concerned thurman bayard wallace kernan pendleton voorhees mcdonald hampton hill gordon vance will find only an edmunds as the peer of any of then in the heavy artillery of debate and blaine ahoitt the only foeinan fit to cope with them in the use of the lighter and keener weapons of parliamentary warfare mr graham's bill whijj ihe senate ri!l probably act on to-day repealing the law authorizing tho distribution of all private acts and resolutions among justices of the peace will save the state two thousand dollars ral news a grand scramble for boots rather mixed we stated last week how a portion of smith fc forbes stock of boots and shoes were removed from the store to the auc tion house of constable tfcclure subse quent results may be stated time : on sat urday night a d s deputy marshal un der a replevin boufl moved tthr gooda back to tlic store ; and then on tttesdiu last constable mcolw'c again took the goods from the store and carried them back to the auction house and then again sheriff alexander comes in and levies an attachment on the balance of the stick things are considerably mixed after writing the above we have to re cord another scramble for possession of the goods which took place on wednes day afternoon at the auction store a irresolute or inexperienced deputy u s marshal went into the store for tiie pur pose.of removing the go„ds away when he wa luiitjed out by the coustable and his aids breaking out a large pane of glass in the scuitte such proceedings uu der the advice of opposing counsel are not calculated to increase respect for the law iu this community char democrat origin of diphtheria diphtheria h believed to have originated in egypt more than 2,000 years ago it prevailed in egypt and asia minor to which it extended during the tirst 500 years aud hence was early called egyptian orsj riac disease having invaded europe the disease appeared in rome a d 330 and being akin to the plague of which it may be a remote moqilication have had the same origin with some similar characteristics and being like it and malignant typus high ly contageous the disease in its 1,500 years 1 transit on the continent of europe affected mainly rural districts and garrisoned towns it had extended to holland iu which it was epidemic in 1337 to paris in 157g and ap peared in 1771 having prevailed more ex tensively in france in is-}i and 183.1 in england and the united states from ls50to 1860 and more or less since in both city and e oun try more cases have occured other things being equal in warm autumnal and winter weather in damp local ities wii&re the air is almost destitute of ozone a powerful disinfectant and being sat urated with moisture is in a low orncgative electrical condition of the nervous svstem and correspondingly diminishing vitality in those predisposed to the disease damp aii also doubtless by diminishing the cutaneous exhalation and otherwise may increase the predisposition to this as well as other kin dred diseases 77ic homestead a respectable public meeting was held at morganton last week iu opposition to the present homestead law the morganton blade in a notice of the meeting says : col r 8 gaither addressed th meet ing at considerable length in advocacy of the present law defending it from a con stitutional stand point and eulogizing the philanthropic sentiment which moved the law givers of 1863 to incorporate it into the organic law of north carolina col thos g walton replied to him declaring that it was a radical device to secure the votes of enough dishonest dem ocrats to secure the ratification of their work that it was not an hone.m man's law that it was no protection or bene tit to the poor man nor to any such as had property to hide away from honest creditors that it destroyed confidence and credit and paralyzed enterprise judging from the applause which greet ed col walton throughout the home stead had few or uo friends in that meet ing one of butlers bricks 7 mr b f butler has been writing a felicitious letter to somebody in missis sippi in which he says t voted tifty-seveu times for jefter son davis as the democratic candi date for the presidency in the charles toii conveutiiti in i860 i believed him to be a representative man ofthe south and subsequent events havo shown that i was right and i believed then and bcli-uve now that if he could have beeu nominated for piesident and elected the war would have been saved and the attempted disunion prevented for he would have chosen to be president over thirty-two states rather than fifteen and my experience has been that the north always got more consideration on questions of human liberty from a southern statesman as ptesdent before the war than it did from a n r.hern doughface and that remains true down to the present time capt natt atkinson of buncombe is looking after reform the following bill has been introduced by him iu the house of representatives i resolved by tht house of representa tives the senate concurring that a joint committee of live on the part of the house of representatives and three ou the part uf the senate he appointed with fujl poor er to send for persons and papers and lo administer oaths to ascertain to what ex tent the public expenditures may be cur tailed ofhees and places abolished and fee and salaries reduced nnd report by bills sueh amend inputs to the laws as mny be necessary for that purpose provided that the expenses incurred hall not ex j ceed twenty five dollars i data for thk reform letlri&la corresiionder.ee raleigh news j servants hire in apitol in 18(30 was 1 servant who was also watchman at 15 per month $ 80 in 1878 there was 6 waiters at 363 ner l!3 j mm 7 2,190 00 wa "« r ** 547 50 1 watehuiau 547 5y total s servants in 187 3,-265~00 f,>0,<ast '- 3 105 00 each official has hia m nig and 3,285 for servants to wait upon these servants ot the people is refreshing 1'iatw dumb institutions i860 clerk hire 10,000 1878 42,500 increase s^oo insane asylum 1860 30,000 1;j7 06,000 iivrease 36,000 the above is accurate and furnishes data tor a reform legislature rekokm a sugar bill deported in the house of representatives tues day mr robbins of north carolina from the committee of ways and means re ported a bill to regulate duties on sugar and asked to have it made the special or der for the next saturday mr ward of pennsylvania objected and the bill was ordered to be printed and recommitted it provides that tank bottoms syrups of sugar cane juice tuilado k^entrated milado concentrated molasses and all other sugar not above no 13 dutch stan dard shall pay duty of j 40-100 cents per pound above no 13 and not above no ll dutch standardiu color shall pay a duty oi*2 75-100 cents per pound and all above no lli dutch standard in color shall pay a duty of 4 cents per pound provided nothing in the act shall be cou strued to altar or repeal an art entitled an act to carry iuto elicit the conven tions between the united states aud the king of tho jjlavaiiau island approved li?3 the penitentiary — it is reported tiiat the committee on the peuiteutiary are of the opinion that work on that iustitatjui should be discontinued and a wm r drain on tbe state treasury may be there by stopped — ral observer and would it not be a great saving fy the state and prevent a large increase of salaried officers to stop work on tho western asylum and the colored asylum sell the property and erect necessary ad ditions to the insane asylum at raleigh and have the whole concern under one management it would eventually result in economy to even give away the works at morganton and gold.sboro charlotte democrat some ofthe wisest business men in this community also hold tiiese or very simi lar views watchman the wife of the mayor of salt lake city and mrs williams a blooming mormon widow mrs williams is a daughter of rrigham young were belore the house ju diciary committee last week ; they urged that polygamy as it e$ists now in 1/tah be condoned they said that the decision of the supreme conrt making it punish able as a crime will prevent any more polygamous marriages in the territory they alleged as a reason why it should be condoned that to enforce the law ngail st it now would he lo turn out thou sands of helpless women and children up on the cold charity of the world if018 tun sentinel ecrosene dangers — a correspondent mentions a source of danger in the use of kerosene lamps which seems to have been generally overlooked namely the habit of allowing lamps to stand near hot stoves on innntlepieccs and in other placing where tbey become heated sufficiently to convert the oil into gas not unfrequeut ly persons engaged in cooking or other work about the tove will stand the lamp on an adjacent mantelpiece or even ou the cop of a raised oven ; or when ironing will set the lamp near the stand an which the heated iron rests it i nccdle?s to enlarge upon the risky character of such practices a diba8tk0c9 libki suit the plaintiff iii one libel suit at least regrets that he brought it dr c c o'donnell a member ofthe constitutional convention of califor nia was charged with murder ar-un and other crimes by the san francisco chronicle a suit for damages was the result the chfvnieu substantiated its charges tjed won the buit o'donnell was arrested before he could leave the room on thp chagre of murder in the trial which followed he was convicted and sentenced to be hung no li bel suit perhaps was ever so ovens helming in its consequences as this fee of a county officer — w w white register of deeds of wake county has written a circular letter to registers throughout the state calling their atten tion to the fact that a hill has been intro r duced in the legislature looking towards a reduction of the bos pertaining to tho office and suggest ing that they write to their representatives on the subject the bill referred to proposes to give to the board of county commissioners the right to fix the fees of the register mr white i6 evidently alarmed