The Texas Countryman. (Bellville, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, February 16, 1866 Page: 2 of 4
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THE
COUNTRYMAN.
J. P. OSTERHOUT, Editob.
BellvilU, Friday, February 16,1806.
Wanted.—At the Countryman
office a good boy, 12 to 15 years of
age> to learn the printing business.
He should be able to ruad and write
pretty well. An American, German
or Bohemian will be accepted.
Death of Mrs. Tom Green.—-We
learn from the papers that Mrs. Gen.
Tom Green died recently ut Austin.
Public Sale.—We neglected last
week to call attention to the sale of
the Edwards land. This we are
told, is one oí the best tracts of land
in Austin County. It will probable
l>e sold cheap. We invite immi-
grants to an inspection of the premises.
See advertisement.
The Measles.—We deem it our
duty to wtato that the measles is pre-
vailing- here now. It is in a mild
form, and wo have not heard of any
deaths from it yet, and trust we shall
have none to record. Wo think it
best that persons should have this
disease wjiile they are young.
Cold.—Yesterday and day before
the weather was very cold in this
place. A severe norther blew up on
Wednesday morning about day-break
and blew a perfect gale all that day
We thought the sandy soil of Bell
ville was all about to leave this part
of the country; but we believe there
is some left.
Not Gone Yet.—The editor of this
paper gave notice last week of his
intention to make a trip to Houston
nud Galveston, but owing to sudden
and. serious sickness iu his family
be was unable to leave and bus hat
to postpone the journey. He is o
the opinion that he will be able to
"make the trip" some time in March
The delay, however, we fear, may
sadly disappoint the proprietors of
some of our favorite Hotels below.
Well, let them be patient j we'll see
them when we go below.
• _ _ *
EF'Engleke says he can sell moro
goods and cheaper, and of a hotter
quality, than anybody else. Pear
son says ho is determined not to be
undersold by anybody in town.—
Koch & Kopish say they have the
finest stock of fancy goods and sub
Btautials of any store in the interior,
and they are determ'd (as our Colonel
used to say,) to please their cu Uomers.
Luhn says all who trade with him
once are sure to come back again,
more than once. Comparisons are
odious and we make noue.
The Story.—The story on our first
page has a moral. We suppose most
people will know some of their neigh-
bors to whom it applies. To nil such
we say, look at home. We expect a
good many men will want to sub-
scribe to the Countryman to com-
mence with this number. We cannot
gratify them, we have no extra copies.
Let them get their mothers-in-law to
inake them a visit.
Jem Davis.
f- .1
A Baltimore correspondent of the
N. O Picayune writing under date of
Jan. 16,1S66, says:
"I very frequently meet with
gentlemen direct from Fortress Mon-
roe, some of whom have recently held
brief conversations with Jeff. Davis.
He enjoys good health, is comforta-
bly quartered, with every conven-
ience—even luxuries-—and is i osign-
e<l *e his fate. Permit me to y-ive it
to you aa my impression, baaed upon
information more than ordinarily re-
liable, that bo will never be tried. 1
further believe, in tbe course of time
not, however* before the (Southern
States are all harmoniously working
together in tbe Union, be will beset
at liberty; with a simple release and
told to go whithersoever be pleases.
As time progresses, and old animosi-
ties (lio out, tbe desire to punish this
man abates. The Government will
not risk in bis trial, before tlie civil
courts, and a jury of his peers, com*
posed of Southern gentlemen, the de-
cision of tbe great question of treason
Military commissions have grown
odious, and he will not be placet
before one of them. Courts martia
are also objected to with reference to
his case. It, however, Mr. Davis
ieels inclined to insist upon his con
stitutional rights, demanding atria
before some civil tribunal, I imagine
he need not apprehend da'nger, hav
ing, as he doubtless will, some a
least, who sympathize with him on
the jury."
Children'* Books.
We take the following from the
New York News. The time was
when nearly all discussion upon such
subjects was confined to the religious
press; but in these latter days, when
politic! have got into the pulpit, poli
ticians have undertaken by way o:
retaliation to dissect matters of relig
ion. The objections urged in this
article against fictitious Sunday
School literature, wo have heard of
before. In addition, it may be stated,
that all, or nearly all, the characters
or heroes of the Sunday School litera
ture, die young. The practice of re
ligion is a matter that should enter
into the every day life ; and Sunday
School instruction should be such,
and with the view of making thost
who obey the teachings of Inspira
tion, better men and women in the
active duties of life, which those who
arrive at mature years, have to per-
form. Why should all the good
children die young ? Why should
not Sunday School books permit
some of their characters to die of old
age, and thus show that by obedience
to the divine precepts, life may be
prolonged and rendered more happy
iu this world, as well as in that to
come ?
While we do not approve of all
that is stated in the subjoined extract,
wo let it go to the public. It may
induce reflection and improvement
on the part of those engaged in Sab
bath School enterprises :
"Of all the numerous fields of mod
em literature, none have been more
sedulously cultivated, than that de-
voted to the instruction and amuse
ment of children. From the abund
ance of schools, and the vast improve
ment in the methods of edncation, the
wants of the rising generation have
created a demand for what are term-
ed juvenile books, very far beyond
any that was known to their fathers.
An entirely new and distinct class of
writers has consequently rib en to the
surface, and the shelves of the book-
sellers groan under the weight of their
abora.
Children who can read, have usual-
y an appetite for print that cannot
be appeased. It grows by that it
eeds upon. And as no part of youth-
ful training is more entirely within
he control of parents and teachers
than this, the responsibility of those
who have the opportunity to direct
and educate this appetite, is all tho
greater,
on th*
The impressions made up-
Vnuilif
v C
mind and heart, bv
these earlier readings, are the most
lasting and ineffaceable, and cqlortfee
whole future life. The more preten-
tion there is about the book, the moge
do children take its teachings úpon
trust: and tbe dearly earned vxpeii
ence which comes in afteryears, cómes
too late to neutralize" the effect of
these first lessons. .
Concerning tiiose publications
which are primarily intended for the
use of Sunday schools, there is
wide-spread delusion in the public
mind. The prevalent impression is,
that it is always safe to purchase and
distribute these pious little volumes.
But any one who will take the time
and trouble to examine, say a hundred
books, will find ninety of them
chargeable with grave faults. They
all seem to have been ground out of
the same mill. Usually, the hero or
heroine is some impossible little
Saint, living a life of poverty and
hardship, with a deád or dying moth
er; and a habitually drunken father.
One. that we remember, recounts
the history of a little girl, who was a
monster of goodness from the first,
and who had no less than three cross
stepmothers, distinguished the one
from the others only by the frequen
cy and cruelty with which they beat
the child. Of course the child died
at last, with a triumph very much
like that recorded of the proto-marty'r.
As it seldom falls to the lot of real
children to be thrashed into Heaven
by three stepmothers, the book in
question lacks vraisetnblance at least.
Sometimes these pious little novels
consist of a series of antitheses. Two
characters are drawn,' one unnaturally
wicked, the other as unnaturally
good. One goes boating on Sunday
and gets drowned, and it is darkly
hinted that the balance of his eternity
is spent in a place too hot to be pleas
ant. The other, after resisting temp-
tations more urgent than those which
tried St. Anthony, and enduring
crosses and privations such as
merciful Providence rarely lays upon
men of full strength, gets to Heaven,
entering the pearly gates with the
tread of a conqueror. As the young
reader devours such a book, with
streaming eyes and broken heart, she
imbibes impressions of piety as hide
ous as the idolatry of the Thugs.—
And though better teaching may do
much to efface the false views of both
the present and the future life, yet
the scar will remain to her death
hour.
It is not easy to see how any sys
tem of religion could be recommended
by literature of this description. The
picture is not overdrawn; any man
can verify it by looking through a
half, dozen Sunday School books,
taken indiscriminately from the she!
ves of any library. Is it in fact the
teaching of Revelation, that the hap-
piness of the blessed is only to be at-
tained by a previous endurance of the
tortures of the damned ? Do no
children get to Heaven, except over
the corpse of a dead mother ?
The taste of the world changes with
changing generations. We may be
wiser than our fathers, and our chil-
dren may be wiser than we. But
hey will owo more to such books as
Robinson Crusoe, the Arabian Nights,
or the Fairy Tales which they know
to be untrue, than to these holy little
ables that they read on Sundays and
in whose trnth they are taught to
confide. It is true that all sects agree
n representing the Christian life as a
ife of self-denial and a time of proba-
ion, but God allows sweet flowers to
jjrow among the thorns. And over
and above all el&e, there will ever
remain to be fulfilled in each indi
vidual case, the magnificent predic-
tion and promise that another will
•'bear the griefs and carry the# sor-
rows" of all tkese that seek His face
and favor."
v. —'■
A copy of the following letter, says
the St. Lonis Republican, address
ed to a gentleman of this city, has
been giwn us for publication s
Cordova, Mexico, )
Dec. 16, 1865. J
My Dear Sir:—Your kind and
much esteemed favor of the 19th ult.,
was handed me a few days since, and
I flow proceed to answer it, in camp
and without shelter, but upon my own
six hundred and forty acres near the
town of Cordova and the railroad
leading from Vera Cruz to the City
of Mexico. The lands in this vicini-
ty aee not surpassed by any of the
Flatte lands in fertility of soil and in
the finest climate I ever saw, the
thermometer never above ninety de-
grees or below seventy, and in full
view of mountains covered with per-
petual snow. I m# gratified tobe
able to say that as soon as the survey
was completed, the thirty Confeder-
ates now here unanimously tendered
me choice of sections. I think 1
have made a judicious selection. I
have donated to the colonists twenty-
four acres for a town site on a rush-
ing stream of water, and near a large
spring of excellent water. We have
laid off the ground into town lots and
named it Carolina, after the Empinss,
and we are all -now upon our lots
clearing away the brush to erect our
houses. 1 write my family to-day to
join mo here a8 soon as they can raise
the means to do so. I cannot think
of returniug to the States and be re-
quired to oak pardon for the action
I took in the struggle. I am entirely
satisfied with the part I took. 1
would do the same again under similar
circumstances. I did all that my
talents enabled me to do to avert the
calamity of war. I was not a seces-
sionist, but when the struggle came I
did not hesitate to take the side of
the South.
I pray to God that my fears for
the future of the South may never be
realized; but when the right is given
to the negro to bring suit, testify be-
fore courts, and voto in «lections,
you ali had better be in Mexico.
There is no doubt of the stability
of this Government; French troops
are arriving every week, and the
marauding bands that have infested
the country for ages past are fast
being exterminated ; no quarters are
given.
When the character of our land is
well understood, immigration will be
a fixed fact under any circumstances,
and the finest lands that can,now be
procured at low rates will command
large prices. I have never known
the cultivation of lands to yield such
large profits. y neighbor, Mr.
Flink (a man of science,) cultivated
eighty acres in coffee with ten hands,
and sold his last year's crop for six-
teen thousand dollars. His coffee
field, shaded with every variety of
fruit trees, in full bearing, and the
walks fringed with the pineapple ,is
the most beautiful sight I have ever
seen.
I am, dear sir, your friend, truly.
Sterling Price.
Advices from Richmond to the 15,
represent that a warrant was <,ut for
Mr. Pollard, issued on'an affidavit
•rom Mr. Brooks, at the instigation of
jrominent officials and citizens, who
desire to meet the question in regard
;o the security of lifu.
There are l.'JS bachelor* iu t]le
British Housev>f Oouuuoit.
Debate on lie Statute or
Limitation*
Mr. Wilson chairman of tbe House
Committee on the JutttctaiTr made
on the 9th, a report on tht* memorial
from the Ñ. Y. Chamber of Commerce,*
as follows:
I am instructed ¿y the Committee'
on the Judiciary to report back it
memorial of the Chamber of Com.-
merce of the city of New York, and
to ask that the committee be discharg-
ed from its further consideration, I
desire to state the reasons for the ac-
tion of the committee. It is a mem-
orial asking that the statute of limita-
tions may be so amended as to sus-
pend action during tbe time of the
existence of the rebellion, in order
that the citizens of the loyal States
may not be barred of their right of
action against debtors residing within
the rebellious States. During the
thirty-eighth Congress I reported a
bill from the Committee on the Judi-
ciary, which passed both Houses and
is now the law, and which reads as
follows : "That whenevei, during the
existence of the present rebellion, any
action, civil or criminal, shall accrue
against any person who, by reason of
resistance to the execution of the laws
of the United States, or the interrup.
tion of the ordinary course of
judicial proceedings, cannot be serv-
ed with process for the commence-
ment of such action on the arrest of
such person, whenever after such ac-
tion, civil or criminal, shall have ac-
crued, such person cannot by reason
of such resistance of the laws or such
interruption of judicial proceeding,
be arrested or served with process for
the commencement of the action, the
time during which such person shall
bo beyond the reach of legal process, •
shall not be deemed or taken as auy
part of the time limited by law for'
the commencement of such action."
In the opinion of the Committee on
the Judiciary, this act covers the
ground embraced in this memorial of
tho Chamber of Commerce, so far as
Congress lias the power to respoud
to the prayer of the memorialists
Petroleum for Bugs and Worm.
Mr. Hicks suggests an application of
crude petroleum to fruit trees to pre-
vent the borers. He says kerosene
or benzine is an effectual remedy for
bed bugs and ants. A kerosene bar-
rel, placed in a room where ants in-
tested sugar barrels, caused them to
leave tho place. The chairman can*
tioned persons against bringing kero-
sene in contact with food substances.
suit is now pending in court here
for damages to sugar and tea in a
railroad car, caused by the odor of
kerosene. Mr. Dodge said petroleum
cars all go back empty, because ex-
périence has proved that everything
is damaged carried in them, even
iron. Solon Robinson cautions fami-
lies against keeping butter and lard
in the same apartment with kerosene.
All fats readily absorb and retain
odors, and the fine aroma of butter
may be injured by very slight con-
tact with kerosene. As to using
petroleum on trees, it must be done
cautiously, or the trees as well **
worms will be killed.
Roberts, the champion billiardist,
has sailed for this country, and it Is
very probable that an international
match between this champion and
Joe Dim, of Canada, will soon take
place.
"An American is only an English-
man rather more sharpened," says*
Sir Morton Peto, who has been able
during his Western tour, to see the*
point.
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Osterhout, J. P. The Texas Countryman. (Bellville, Tex.), Vol. 6, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, February 16, 1866, newspaper, February 16, 1866; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth180223/m1/2/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.