The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-04-22
Hard. Times.

It may be stated with absolute certainty that
with very few exceptions, all classes of our peo
pie are suffering serious embarrassment from
the stringency of the times. In the country
the planters complain that they have no mon
ey; but, taking into consideration the fact that
their houses belong to them, and that living is
much cheaper in rural districts than in cities
the hardships of this portion of the commune
ty are comparatively few. Indeed, we may
credit the suggestion that the farmers are bet
ter off than any other Glass; and intellectually
more fortunate than 6ve-eighths, at least, OF
the dwellers in the town. Here, in Augusta
for example, the struggle for bare subsistence
has become problem of grave consideration,
and stubborn problem not to be evaded by
thousands. Many men, in professional and
mechanic walks of life, have either lost their
places altogether or else submitted to reduc-
ton of salary which scarcely makes two ends
meet, from month to month. How to pay rent,
servant hire, the butcher, the grocer, the wood
dealer, the doctor and the dry goods merchant
that is the omnipresent conundrum which
frets the minds of thousands of perplexcd per-
sons by day, and harrows their very souls in
troubled sleep at night Bad as the case may
be with the man who sees his labor redoubled
and his pay cut down to a frazzle, his lot is
heaven itself compared with the fate of his
brother in misfortune who has lost even the
little pittance that came to him from some
menial or hap-hazard employment. The only
consolation men can have, under such circum-
stances, is that the distress now prevalent will
be but temporary, and that, when the worst
has come to the worst, by Providential means,
in the majority Of instances, relief of some
character unexpectedly arrives to keep the suf-
ferer from absolute despair. And yet, there
are hundreds among us who have reason to feel
desperate. Some are too old to rally from a
blow which has shattered their household gods
around them, and yet, somehow, even this
catastrophe must be endured, with the help of
heaven Without the help of supernatural
grace, a poor creature hunted down or all at
sea without spar to cling to, may be persuaded
in an evil moment, to end the tragedy here by
plunge, darkly and impulsively, into the
dread Hereafter. That such sinister thoughts
have crept into the imagination of many indi-
viduals, in the hour of disaster, we know too
we'll but it is to be trusted that the idea has
been repelled as soon as harbored, and the
better sentiment revealed that neither God nor
man has forgotten the demands of mercy and
the practice of charity. The world is full Of
the unlucky; but the larger member pull through
somehow. The world is full of changes aud
the man who is in rags to-day may be clothed
in fine raiment Tomorrow All Of us should
live with hope of brighter times in the not
distant future; and all who have an abundance
still of material prosperity should help the
most worthy of their afflicted felow-citizens.
While we feel confident that the stress is we'll
nigh universal, we feel equally we'll assured
that good will eventuate from all trials borne
in the proper spirit Many noble deeds will be
done in secret by those who acknowledge their
wealth to be trust and stewardship from the
Lord, and that, in parting with moiety of it
to the INDECENT, they are lending it, with COM
pound interest to the King of Heaven, who
has recorded that He is the father of the poor,
and that the widows mite shall weigh against
the largess of the opulent, in the day of reck-
oning.
We recently heard gentleman-who had
enough trouble to weigh him down, God knows
declare that he would complain no more,
because he had had wonderful lesson taught
him that very morning. II came along the
street." he said, "pondering my wretched plight
and marvelng if any other person, under the
canopy of heaven, had worse burden than
mine to stagger under and, if so, could such
a person ever wear smile upon his face! AS
if in response to this mental interrogatory,
behold limping up the street an ex- Confederate
soldier, clad in the tattered grey habit ne had
worn in battle and surrendered in at the last
ditch Faded, patched and ragged was that
uniform which seemed to be his only refuge
from nakedness itself He had lost an eye, an
arm and leg. Poverty had made its abode
in his old garments and every rent in them had
mouth which spake with more than the
eoquence of words. And yet, beneath that
rusty garb the stout heart beat and on that
o,,l frth loti
there was smile of resignation and content.
He h even went up Broad Street achistling some
n,e,rv tune and looked the picture of anything
but sullen desperation, though he had far more
cause than thousands of others to abandon
even the memory of laugh. When l saw
that man and remarked his composure and
light-heartedness under circumstances of pc
culiar wretchedness, l felt ashamed of my own
moral cowardice, and resolved that, rather than
again murmur at my lot, should get down
upon my knees, night and morning, and thank
God that | was, for no merit OF my own, so
much more favorably situated than hundreds
of others, who had not been cloven down by Il
fercer tornado than that which had made me
prostrate but not utterly torlorn.'
Is there not saving lesson in that little an
ecdote of the poor Confederate soldier? Let
if roll the stone from the sepulchre OF too
many hearts which become unduly morbid by
too much elfcontemplation. Let us all do
the very best we can to endure the present at
Fiction, hoping for more sunshine presently,
and impressed with one truth when 5 IS some, vi .o
way-that no matter what fatalities betlde US
at the hands of man, we can not be thrust from
the immortal haven save by our own act, and
that the way to heaven is more frequently
strewn with thorns than with roses Let, even
the most sorely oppressed soul take courage,
therefore, and, perchance the clouds will be
suddenly swept away, revealing the supposed
unmitigated calamity as genuine genuine, blessing IN
DESTRUCTION TO MATcHEs--The Paris cor
RESPONDENT of the London Daily Nc,vs writes,
II have just been shown simple apparatus
which will ere long sweep away the match
trade 1t is called the electrical tinder box,