The Weekly Independent. (Belton, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 29, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 14, 1857 Page: 1 of 4
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INDEPENDENT IN ALL THING8, NEUTRAL IN NOTHING.
ANDREW MARSCHALK SR., EDITOR.
FRANCIS MARSCHALK JR., PUBLISHER.
VOL. 2.
Belton, Bell Conntr, Texas, Saturday, November 14, 18Ó7.
NO. 29.
V
X.:
Till WEEKLY IXDEPESDBXf
itS PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY
'"BY
A. MARSCHALK St SON.
'TERMS.—Subscription, Two Dollau
■and Fikty Cents ,>er annum, in advance ;
hrer dollar within six mouths, and tour
dollars if not paid until the end of the year
Advertisements will be inserted at the
Tate of one dollar pur square for th>- first,
and tifty cents for cach subsequent insertion
—eight lines (or less) constitute & square.
A liberal discount will bfe made to those
who ¡idvertise 'by the year.
All communications, except such as tend
to tho advancement of the personal inter-
ests of the writer, will be inserted gratis.
No communication or advertisement of an
abusive cliaractei will inserted into our
-columns on any tebus.
N. B.—All advertisements not marked
with the length of time desired for publica
tion, will be inserted till forbid, and charged
accordingly
J on Work executed to order with neatness
and dispatch.
0*AU kinds of producetaken in exchange,
for subscription, advertising and job work
atihis Office.
MISCELLANEOUS READING.
From the Saturday Evening Post.
What n Curse!
'What a curse!' Such is the title
of one of those temperance tales of
Sargeant's, which made a great im-
pression when published some twen-
ty years ago.
johnny Hodges was a blacksmith,
a good, honest, hard-working man,
but he bad a drunken wife, and was
often forced to exclaim—
'What a curse! can nothing be
done?'
'What a curse!' cried I, the other
morning, after a few hours spent in
various calls. 'Can nothing be done
to put a stop to this intemperance?'
I had promised to give a man em-
ployment, and, as he did not come at
the time appointed, and I had a few
moments to spare, I determined to
go and see for myself if all were
true that he had told of his wane and
struggles, and 'doing his best.'
I followed the direction to the sec-
ond story of a crowded tenement
house, and, as I knocked at the door,
observed that the place was decent,
and an effort at cleanliness seemed
to have been made.
My knock repeated, finally bro't a
gruff 'Come in!' and I eutered a room
in tolerable order, and as tidy as
circumstances would permit. In a
chair near the fire sat the master of
the house, with dull complexion and
bleared and watery oye—drunk.
It was the old story. Here was
the secret of the mournful tale of
trying day after day to find employ-
ment, without success. Just as I
was turning to leave, saying in my
mind, 'what a curse!' his wife came
in with a bundle of coarse work on
her arm, and leading a little child by
the hand. A glance told my busi-
ness and the state of things. She
tried, woman-like, to excuse him;
•there could not be a kinder or a
better man when he was himself, .
but he had no work, and a friend natural
had asked him to take a glass, and
he had not the strength to refuse.'—
This was the end; the insatiate devil
was awakened, and I shrewdly expec-
ted that a bruise on his wife's face
had some connection with the drop
he had taken. It was useless to try
to talk with him then; so I left word
for him to come to me when he was
sober. ,
^Having a call to make in the next
street, I went on musing, when sud-
denly my attention was arrested by
sounds of uproar and confusion, and
from the door I was about entering
rushed forth the terrified wife and
children of a man who in a drunken
fury was breaking all before him,
and pelting them with tho fragments.
Fortunately a police officer was at
hand, who kindly took care of him,
and marched him off to a more quiet
place.
port yóuf 'Yes sir, when he can get
work; but, like most of the men, he
is a little unsteady I'
'Yes, a little unsteady,' I thought;
'works half tho time for gin to be
drunk with the other*halt'I'
The next call was but an echo of
this. The poor woman had just come
in from a hard day's work, having
left three little children alone all
day, while she was earning a dollar
to buy them bread. The same old
story.
'Yes sir, John is a little unsteady.'
'Does he do nothing for you?'
""No sir, of late nothing; he has
got among a bad set, and they have
led him away.'
'Oli!' thought I, 'Is he led or lea-
der?' 'But why do you live with
him?'
'Why, sir, he will come home; I
can't keep him away.'
'Then move off and leave him.'
'But, sir, he follows me, and I cant
hide from him. The last time he
was so mad, that when he found me
he came in when I was out looking
for a bit of work, and drove the poor
children into the street, and broke
the glass and all the platea and
dishes'
On another day, in one of my calls
I found a man quietly at home, hav-
ing actually brought all his wages,
and looking tolerable comfortable,
as his wife was gladly preparing him
some supper she had just bought.
The children looked up, half afraid,
as if they were not sure.in what
mood they might find him.
It seemed a good opportunity to
reach him; and when I was alone
with him for a moments, I spoke of
steady work, and of the comfort to
himself and his family that steadi-
ness would bring. He listened with
interest, and his eyes glistened as
he promised fair that he would ne-
ver drink again. Alas! I knew
how many times he had ma'de that
resolution—and broken it. So I
tried once more.
"Will you not sign a promise with
me not to touch a drop?" I did not
say pledge—I knew he would take
alarm at the very word.
"Oh, no!" he shrank back; he
'would not sign away his liberty.'
In vain I explained and expostu-
lated. It was but to give him the
strength of a written resolution in
the hour of temptation. No; the
master of evil had spread his snare
but too certainly, and the poor man
was unmoved. With a sigh I turn-
ed away. I would give him employ-
ment so long as he would refrain;
but what power has a man against
the demon within him, in the shape
of diseased nerves and craving ap-
petite.
So I went away, crying, with
Johnny Hodges. 'What a curse!—
Can nothing be done to put a stop
to this intemperance?' We look
with peculiar compassion upon a
man with a drunken wife, and it is
pitiable. There is something so un-
in a woman's being the
janoe, by heavy duties on liquors,
I putting them beyond the reach of
the poor. But we have no such pow-
er here. More than this, 'whiskey
is the poor man's wine.' Why
should he exercise more self-denial
than the rich?
Recently there has been a panic
about poisoned liquors, which has
actually frightened some men into
abstinence. Perhaps, in my dream,
^ they had grown so poisonous that
they killed off the drinkers and
frightened others. This, on the
whole, would not be a bad move.
It could hardly have been done by
the pledge. Satan has attached too
much odium to that.
Was there a liquor law? and was
it enforced? I shall never know—but
still I cry, with Johnny Hodges,
'What a curse!' Can't something be
done to lessen the sorrows of the
drunkard's wife, and to save poor
children from the miseries entailed
upon them, body and soul, as the
drunkard's children?
HUHOBOUS.
Going Home Willi a Girl.
slave to so vile an ar
something so chce
appetite; there is
«•less and forbid-
ding in such a home! Yet the man
has one resource—lie can leave it,
and leave her, but alas! Still more
for the woman with a drunken hus-
band; she cannot go, or, if she try,
he may follow her and claim his
home; the law gives all to him—
wife and children, and she has no
redress.
What a curse! Can nothing be
done?
After an absence, I need not say
precisely how long, these visits of
mine were repeated; but I was as-
tounded at the change that had
taken place. I found in each house
comparative comfort, a smiling wife,
tidy children, good furniture, abun-
dant food—all the elements of sim-
ple comfort. Peter Sykes overtook
me on the walk, and led me to his
From the Houston Telegraph.
"IVewspapertorial."
John
a
Another day I had occasion to call door with evident pride.
upon a poor woman to have some Holmes met me at his door with
work done (poor lone bachelor that smiling face, and each one greeted
I am!) and found her looking pale;me wllh an evident consciousness
and woe-begone, but doing her best of better times. I was puzzled—
to make things tidy and decent in something, I saw, had been done—
- - -- * •- "— but merely congratulating them up-
on their happiness, I refrained from
asking any questions, and had just
stepped into a Bhop at the corner to
inquire What had taken place during
my absence, when I awoke, and, be-
hold! this was a dream. The evil
was real; the reform only a vision.
I was disappointed to have awa-
ked so soon, only again to cry.
'What a curse! Can nothing bo
done?' My waking thoughts do not
lead to any way out of the difficulty.
In Norway and Sweden, legislative
enactments have arrested intemper-
the midst of half a'dozen children.
There are i>o more discouraged look-
ing beings in these Northern States
than a poor woman with a drunken
husband and a family of children.-*
Past, present and future, are alike
dark.
She looked up eagerly at the men-
tion of work, as if she thought only
of the reward, and not at all of the
toil and the midnight labor to get it
finished. 'You see sir, I must do
something for the children, to put
bread into their mouths.' 'But where
is your husband—does he not Rup-
"Poor piipter," "one-horse paper,"
"delinquent subscriber," are house-
hold words in the typographical
family.
As a class, newspaper publishers
work harder and exercise los3 gump-
tivn than any class of industrious
men1. Giving reckless credits, when
a bill is presented, it is often either
paid grudgingly, or indefinitely pro-
crastinated.
Again, papers are started on
foundations that would startle busi-
ness men. The wonder is not that
there are so many failures; the
marvel is that there are not more,
when it is considered how the pub-
lisher conducts his concern, and
with how disproportionate an
amount of capital, to the enterprise
contemplated. . .' -
Your printer is rarely a hard man.
He does not understand dunning or
harrassing distressed debtors. It is
not until his creditors pass him that
he duns his. "patrons,"—an absurd
word, that last, in a democratic
country.
People are often inclined to sneer
(sneering is so easy for a' lazy intel-
lect !) at the country paper—its
small size, its "weakness." On the
contrary, there is more brain-work
displayed in these same little papers,
than would stock a city belle or a
dandy Big Bug for a twelvemonth.
Your outsider knows nothing of the
work of an industrious editor or
typo. Writing for a paper is noth-
ing—at least, it is very different
from editing one. Your good editor
is rarely" a great writer," nor is he
often a "business man." In fact,
your best editors write least.
The advantages of a paper to a
country town are entirely beyond
dollar-and-cent measurement. The
best index of the status of a town
is in its local sheet.
In Texas newspapordom is over-
done; many papers perish or lan-
guish from want of people rather
than ability to conduct them. Our
country papers will not suffer in com-
parison with country papers in any
older state.
We would suggest that people in
all parts of the State, send at least
one copy of the paper in the county
wherein they reside, to friends in the
8tates. That is the way to induce
the right stamp of emigration, and
to make our position as a State thor-
oughly understood.
Raising Sunken Ships.—The N. Y.
Day Book says that Wm. Leland, of
New York, who has just returned
from the Crimea, where, with his
associates, he has been engaged, in
raising' the Russian ships sunk at
Sebastopol, reports the operation a
good one financially. Many articles
are raised in a perfect state. Chains,
anchors, guns, rigging, are entirely
uninjured, but the hulls of the ves-
sels arc badly worm-eaten. There
are two companies on the ground-
one from New York, and the other
from Boston. They have united
their operations, have between them
four vessels, and have ninety-seven
Americans engaged in the operations
When he left there were but two of
these on the sick list. Quite a large
number of Russians are also employ-
ed, at about thirty cents a day. The
companies have half of what they
raise, the other half going to the
Russian Gbvernment—which also
! stands ready to purchase anything
I of value that falls to the lot of the
! companies.
"Jeems," the local editor of the
Baldwinsville Gazette, is something
of a wag. In a recent number of
that paper ho gives an account of
"the first time ho ever went homo
with a girl," which is certainly the
richest thing we have ever seen.—
As he thought proper to chronicle
it for the edification of the public,
wo give it the benefit of our circula-
tion:
We were between sixteen and
seventeen years of age when the
event about to bo related transpired
and as a description of our personal
appearance at that time is absolutely
essential to the point of our story,
we will give it as concisely as the
subject will allow. In reference,
then to that period, to say that we
were green in tho usual acceptation
of that term, would give the reader
put a poor idea of the figure we dis-
played. Rather imagine a tall, lean,
cadaverous, swarthy looking chap,
with legs like a pair of tongs, a
countenance about as expressive
as a plate of Dutch cheese, a mouth
that come very near making an Is-
land of all the head above it, a face
covered with a furze that looked
very much like tbe down on a newly
hatched goslin, with a gait that would
lead the beholder to conclude that
we designed to travel down both
sides of tho street at the same time,
and you have a correct daguerreo-
type of "Jeems" in the seventeenth
year of his age.
One dark gloomy night in the
month of December, we chanced to
be at a "spelling school" not a thou-
sand miles from Baldwinsville, where
our eyes fell on a "fairy form" that
immediately set our. susceptible
heart in a blaze. She was sixteen or
thereabouts, with bright eyes, red
cheeks and cherry lips, while the
auburn ringlets clustered in a wealth
of pj'ofusiou arour.d her beautiful
head, and her person to our ravished
imagination, was more perfect in
form and outline, than the most fault-
less statue ever chisseled by the
sculptor's art. As we gazed, feel-
ings, which never before had aspired
girlwarcj, were fully aroused, and we
determined to go horn with her that
night or perish in the attempt. As soon,
therefore, as School was dismissed,
and our "ladylove" suitably bonnet-
ted and cloaked, we approached to
offer our services as contemplated,
and we then learned an important
lesson, viz: the difference between
resolving and doing. As we neared
her we were seized with a partial
blindness—red, green, blue, and
yellow lights flashed upon our vision
and appeared and disappeared like
witches in a phantasmagoria—our
knees smote together like Belshaz-
zar's when he discovered the hand-
writing on the wall, while our heart
thumped with apparently as much
force as if it were driving ten-penny
nails iuto our ribs. We, in the
mean time, managed to mumble over
something which is perhaps known
to the Recording Angel, but certain-
ly not to us, at the same time po-
king out our elbow as nearly at
right angles with our body as our
physical conformation would admit.
The night air blew keenly, which
served in some sort to revive us, and
as our senses returned, what were
our emotions on finding the cherish-
ed object of our first love, clinging
to our arm with all the tenacity a
drowning man is said to clutch at a
straw I Talk of elysian, or sliding
down greased rainbows, or feeding
on German flutes; what are«cA 'phe-
links' in comparison to those mighty
ones that swelled our bosom nigh
unto bursting our waistcoat buttons?
Our haziness was sublime sublimity
sublimely sublimated, and every person
who has ever felt the divine throb-
bing of a fledged love principle, ful-
ly understands the world of bliss
couched in the fourth, fifth, sixth and
seventh words at tho commencement
of this sentence.
Well, we passed on pleasantly to-
wards our Sally's home, talking of
'love and (Jove, and dart and heart,'
until, so courageous had we become,
that we actually proposed 'to go in
and sit awhile,' to which our Dulci-
nea very graciously assented. Alas,
for nsl how soon were we to be re-
minded thát the 'course of trae love
never did run smooth.'
Sally had a brother of some ten
summers who accompanied ua along
the way, and who was in wonderful
high spirits at the idea of his sister's
having a beau, and he would walk
around us frequently, giggling «
the héight of his glee, ana eyeing us
as closely as if ourself and Sally
were the world renowned Siamese
twins, and he was taking his first
look. Bill, by the way, was a stub-
bed, chuckle-headed boy, whose ha-
biliments would have made the for-
tune of any two dealers in mop rags.
At length we reached the bars,
and while wo were letting them
down, Bill Bhot past us, and tore for
the house as if pursued by a thou-
sand bulls of Basham. He flung
open the door with a bang, and ex-
claimed at the top of his voice:
"Mother! Mother! Jim Clark is cumin
hum with our Sail!'
Is ho?' scroamod the old woman
in reply, 'wal, I declare! I didn't think
the sap haul knew enough
A Good IIn.
We heard the other day a capital
anecdoté of a witty clergyman of
this city, who it is said, never comes
off second best in a jocular encoun-
ter.
As one day ho was passing down
one of the streets of a largo village
in this State, where be was settled,
he was observed by Borne waggish
hangers ou at a public house which
he was approaching. One of tho
fellows, knowing that the Rev. gen-
tleman was a 'hard case4 at a joke,
said that he would bet the drinks for
all hand3 that he could head Mr.
H . 'Done,' was the response
from a number. As Mr. H. came
opposite to the merry group, the pro-
poser of the bet called to nim. Mr.
H halted and drew near,
whereupon the confident chap thus
addressed him: 'Mr. H , we
have a dispute here of some import
tanco which we have agreed to
leave to you as one competent to
give a correct decision.'
'Ah, what is it?'
'It is in relation to the ago of the
devil—will you tell us how old he
is?'
'Gentlemen,' said the imperturba-
ble minister, 'how could you presume
me to be acquainted with a matter
of that sort, you must keep your own
family records.'
The minister went about his bus-
iness, and the vanquished gentleman
and bled
went
Oasis.
in
freely.—Nashua.
How to get rid of rats.
There is a public house on tho St.
John called Rat Tavern. The name
originated thus: An American was
travelling up tho river during a thaw
in winter, when snow ana water
were very nearly knee deep. Late
in the afternoon he came to this tav
em, cold, wet and hungry, and call
ed for dinner. Ho was told rather
roughly by the landlord that the din-
ner hour had passed, and he must
wait till tea. He then asked for a
cold lunch, as he was wet and hun-
gry. After some grumbling, this
was brought on. The stranger ate
and asked for his bill. 'Fifty cents,
was the reply; in a growling tone.
'Dinner is a quarter, but lunch is out
of season, and you must pay fifty
cents.' The traveller paid tho bill
and Bat down to dry himself. Soon
a cheese was brought in by the maid,
very much mutilated by the rats.—
The whole race of rats received a
volley of abuse from the enraged
landlord. "And why do you keep
rats?" said the Yankee. "I can give
you a receipt that I can warrant you
will keep every rat away.' 'Ah! and
how much will you charge?' '0, about
fifty cents.' The landlord, somewhat
complacent, returned the half dollar;
'and now,' said he, 'for the receipt.'
'YVell, sir,'said the Yankee,'when-
ever a rat comes to your house, cold,
wet and hungry, give him a cold
lunch and charge him half a dollar,
and I'll bo bound he'll not come
again.'—Eastern Star.
Very Touching.
Here is a touching description of
a moonlight scene: After whirling
some time in the elastic mazes of a
waltz, Cornelia and myself stepped
out unobserved, on the balcony, to
enjoy a few of those moments so pre-
cious to lovers. It was a glorious
night—tbe air was cool and refresh-
ing. As I gazed on the beautiful be-
ing by my side, I thought I never saw
her look so lovely; tho full moon cast
its rays over her whole person, giv-
ing her a most angelic appearance,
and imparting to her curls a still
more golden hue. One of her soft
hands resting in mino, and evej and
anon she met my ardent gaze with
one of ber pure confiding looks. Sud-
denly a change came over her soft
features, her fhll red lips trembled
with suppressed emotion, a tear drop-
rested on ber long drooping lashes,
the muscles around her faultless
mouth became convulsed, she gas-
ped for breath, and snatching her
hands from tho warm pressure of
my own, she turned suddenly away
and—-sneezed!
A Novel Swimming ¿Hatch.
Our foreign exchanges chronicle
the following:
A swimming match tóok place at
Paris between Madame do 0 - ■
and the pretty Marquise de B
who undertook to accomplish tho
distance between Point Neuf and
Point Notre Dame, in a given time,
being allowed the use of the left hand
only, the other to be occupied in hold-
ing a green parasol to screen tho vis-
age of the fair swimmer from the sun.
Tne usually quiet, naked river was
crowded with littlo boats. Count
de C himself sat at tho head of
the boat in which the fair rivals had
been conveyed to tho midst of tho
river, and gave the signal for start-
ing by hoisting a little bluo flag.
At the summons tho fair Ñaiads
plunged over cither side of the boat,
and were soon beheld gliding along
rapidly in the stream. The ladies
were attired in loose, wide trowRers,
of fino cashmoro, white, striped with
blue, the waist bound with a scarlet
belt, a shirt of the finest cambric,
with short sleeves. The Marquise
de B——was of a dark Moorish
complexion, and her jet black tresses
were confined by a net of scarlet ftiit;,
adorned with braids and tassels,
while the golden locks of her com,
panion were secured upon a roller,
and shortened round her neck o la
Samin de Paris. ,Tj e dark eyed
[arquise won tlie victory by an arm's
length. ^ '
Sad Indsbd.—Boston, it appears,
finds timé in the midst of her finan-
cial troubles to bewail the loss of
a great man, whose death is thus an-
nounced:
Died: Major George BaÉs, aged 78
years. He was a dignified person,
well posted up in public affairs.—
Being in Paris many ycará ago, and
wishing to Bee tho Emperior Napole-
on, he, Yankee-like, climbed tho wall
of the Tuilleries. For this crime bo
was imprisoned in the Bastilo, but
was soon afterward liberated.
The death of a man, says the St.
Louis Leader, who contrived to get
himself shut up in the Bastile, at
least fifteen years after that disa>
greeable edifico was destroyed, and
for the crime of climbing on a wall
which never existed, to seo an Em-
peror who spent more time In the
open air than ever sovereign did be-
fore or since his time, really it a
public calamity, and we sympathzo
with our Athenian neighbors in their
affliction.
Latest Burst.—The editor of the
St. Louis Leader thus philosophizes
respecting the earthquake:
We do not remember to have felt
the shock of an carthquako since the
evening of the Presidential election
in 1852, just as the sun was going
down and Franklin Pierce bad been
elected President of the United
States. If it took an earthquake to
herald the defeat of Gen, Scott, who
knows but that this second earth-
quake was intended to announce
that the financial crisis is over, aa4
that nothing more is going to burai
on the top of the earth, juot at tl
títtíe.
A Woundboüs PaoDücnoK!—Capt.
J H Beck, of this place sent us on Sat-
urday a stock of bis sccoud crop ofw
Sorgho, which was truly a remarka-
ble specimen of tho vegetable king-
dom. The stalk measures within a
small fraction of twelve feet in height
with a head of finely filled grain,,
almost ripe. Tho Captain hps'pro-
mised ns a statement of the result of
this bis second crop of the Bugar
Millet so soon as he shall have gath-
ered it. We predict that it Will as-
tonish those of our readers who are
unacquainted with tho productions
■San Antonio Hrrald.
'Hans,' said a Dutchman.to his ur-
chin son whom he had just been
thrashing for swearing at his mother,
'vat's d&t you're tinking so vicked
apout in de corner dare?'' I aint tjnk
not'n.' 'You lio you vQgafeaRt, m
—you tinke tat dan—and now I'll
yip yon fot Mlj'* i%
If 'i '- ' tito '' : " ■
' • "V«
-J
; • «. r
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Marschalk, Andrew, Sr. The Weekly Independent. (Belton, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 29, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 14, 1857, newspaper, November 14, 1857; Belton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth180547/m1/1/?q=green+energy: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.