Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-09-14
THE PATRIOTS OF 1915.

The FAIhlUIS Of 100.
In looking at the signatures to the declara-
tion, not one is written with a trembling hand
except Stephen Hopkins. 1t WAS not fear
that made him tremble, for he was as true
patriot as any of them, but he was afflicted
with the palsy.
But one of the residences Of the signers is
attached to his name, and that is OF Charles
Carroll II is said that one was looking over
his shoulder when he wrote his name, and
said to him ''There are several of your name
and if we are unsuccessful they will not
know whom to arrest" Heimmeniately wrote
"of Carrollton, - as much as to say if there is
reproach connected with this, | wish to bear
my share if any danger, l am ready to face
it. There was genuine patriotism.
It was rather amusing, after they had sign
ed their names, to hear Benjamin Franklin
say to Samuel Adams: "NOw, / think we
will all hang together" eyes," said Mr..
Adams, cor we shall all hang separately" !"
Many have supposed that all the names were
signed on the 4th of July, 177G. Not so. 1t
was signed on that day only by the President,
John Hancock, and with his signature it was
sent forth to the world. On the second day
Of August it was signed by all but one of the
fifty-sx signers whose names are appended to
it. The other attached his name in Noyem-
ber..
The signers of the declaration of indepen-
dence were all natives of the American soil
with the exception of eight. Sixteen OF them
were from the Eastern or New England Colo
MES, fourteen from the middle and eighteen
from the Southern Colonies. One was a ma
tive of Maine, nine were natives OF Massa-
chusetts, two of Rhode Island, four of Con-
necticut, three of New Jersey, five Of Pennsyl-
vania, two of Delaware, five of Maryland,
nine Of Virginia, and four Of South Carolina
Two were born in England, three in Ireland,
two in Scotland and one in Wales.
Twenty-seven of the signers had been regu-
larly graduated in colleges, or about one-half.
Twenty others had received a thorough aca-
demic education, and the remainder had each
been taught at plain school or at home. Of
the fifty-six signers twenty-five had studied
the institutions of Great Britain while sojourn-
ing in that country. All had something to
lose if the struggle should result in failure to
them. Many of them were very wealthy, and
with very few exceptions, all of them were
blessed with competence.
Thirty-four of the signers were lawyers,
thirteen were planters or farmers, nine were
merchants, five were physicians, two were
mechanics, one was clergyman, one ma
son, and one surveyor. The youngest mem
Der of Congress when the declaration was
signed (Rutledge) was twenty-seven years OF
age /; the oldest one (Dr. Franklin) was seven.
ty. Forty-two Of the ffty-six were between
thirty and fifty years of age the average age
of all was forty-three years and ten months.
They all lived to good old age. The aver
age of fifty-three at the time of their decease
was over sixty-eight years. The last survivor
was Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, being
over ninety when he died. Fourteen signers
lived to be eighty years old, and four past
ninety. The pen used by the signers is pre-
served in the Massachusetts, Historical Society
at Boston. What tales that pen could speak
What history there is connected with it
Not one Of the signers ever fell from the
high estate to which that great act had eleva
ted him. 1t had been we'll said that 1.-THE an
nails of the world can present no political body
the lives of whose members, minutely traced
exhibit so much Of the zeal of the patriot, dig
nifed and chastened by the virtues OF the
man,"
TIE CAUSES AND CURES OF OLD AGE.-L
LANCER has recently been engaged in the com
parative analysis Of human fat at different
ages. He finds that infant fat is harder thar
that of adults or old men, that there are OF
globules in our fat, but none in that OF babes
the microscope shows one or two oil globules
in every fat cell of the adult, while very few
have fat crystals The fat cells Of the infant
contain no oil globules, and nearly every eel
contains fat crystals. ''Infant fat forms no.
mogeneous, white, solid, tallOW-like mass, and
melts at forty-five degrees c." while adult fat
standing in a warm room separates into tWC
layers the lighter and larger is transparent
yellow liquid which sOlidilies below the treez
ing point of water, the lower layer is granu
lar crystalline mass melting at thirty-slx de-
grees c.. Infant fat contains 67-75 per cent
of oec acid adult fat $3.50. Infant con.
tains 2S97 per cent. of palmitic acid, against
SIG in the adult, and 1928 of stearic acid
against 2.04 These latter, the palmltlc ano
stearic acids, are the harder and less fuslble
while the oleic acid is the softer and more fusl
BILE constituent of fats.
No ATTEMPT is made to explain the reason OF
these differences, or to suggest any means by
which we may re-harden or re-palmitize our fat
and thus regain our infant chubbiness.
Old age is evidently due to changes of this
kind, not only of the fat, but also of the Other
materials of the body. The first step TOWARD
the discovery of the elixir of life, the ''aurum
potabile' of the alchemist, is to determine tine
nature of these changes, the next to ascertain
their causes, and then to remove them. II, a:
we are so often told, there can be no effect
without cause, there must be causes for tht
organic changes constituting decay and ole
age. Remove these, and We live forever
The theory is beautifully simple.
A RUSSIAN CoNvICT's MARcH.-On the
road to Omsk, just before arriving at tha'
city, writes a correspondent from Siberia, We
met a number of detachments OF conVlcts
&oI ,nffo
a small company of distinguished political eX
lies, banished for their supposed plotting:
against the Car. Among them were a number
of young mobiles. Special care seemed to be taker
of these and they were watched as though they
were unusually dangerous. Half dozen OF
them were conveyed in sleighs singly, each OF
them having for personal guard seated Deslde
him an armed soldier, to whom he was tightly
chained. The party was also closely guarded
by a company of mounted C0ssacks, and thus
the slightest possibility of any escape was
quite avoided. Political eXiles, that chance
to be particularly prominent and dangerous
are almost invariably forwarded to their destl
nations under this close surveillance, ant
rushed through, by night and by day as fast a.
the swiftest horses can take them.
THE INDIANS FEAR OF LIGHTN1NG.-Ir
the course of a lecture at New Haven, upor
the customs and religions of hisrace, the Rev
Thomas S. Dana, an educated Indian, made
this singular statement "The Indians never
cook anything in the house where they live
They cook outside, and they give as a reason
that if they cook inside the steam collects il
their clothing and draws the lightning
Whether this IS so or not do not know, but
know that an Indian wigwarm is never strucl
by lightning, and no Indian has been killed b.
lightning in 100 years.