The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1882-1884, 1883-06-21

s..e The TEXAS CATTLE DR1vE.-St.
Louis, jane I0.-A dispatch from
Dallas. Texas, says the cattle drive
50 far this season exceeds all expec.
tations. Over 100000 head of cattle
have already passed over the trail
that leads through Albany. and this
does not include more than half the
number that will be driven from the
State.-Daily Workman.
PLOwiNG UP EMERALDs.-Mr.
James M. Smith, at Gibsonville,
while blowing, turned up a genuine
emerald, weighing nine ounces. It
has been tested and pronounced by
an expert a genuine stone. A mi
croscope shows it cotains various
small diamonds, and its value is es.
timated away up in the thousands.
The stone is about the size of q
goose egg, and Mr.. Smith is conf.
dent that he has found a bonanza,
and that next to the King of Prussia,
he owns the biggest emerald in the
world. He has standing offer
of $1,000, from diamond miner, but
hopes to realize several times
that amount.-Patri0t.
Daily Patriot: 'sWere it left to
me-" said jefferson, "to decide wheth-
er we should have gov eminent With
out newspapers or newspapers with
out a government, l should not hest.
tate a moment to prefer the latter"
1--WE shall next hear of Victoria's
abdication. The Prince of Wales is
a 'jolly dog" and will, no doubt, stir
up the old fossils as never before.
1.-THE Chapel Hill correspondent
of the Raleigh News- Observer says {:
The summer normal school begins on
the 21st instant. 1t will surpass all
it's predecessors. The managers have
literally outdone their former efforts.
DIR. Newell, the Incompatible lecturer,
scholar, and superintendent, will be
here. Prof. Moses who has made the
Goldsboro Graded School famous
throughout the United States will be
here. 1t will be worth trip to see
and hear these two masters In their
art.
Daily Review: Treasury Gilfllan
received letter Monday from the
cashier of one of the banks of Wash
ington, in which he says: II have
seen one of the new five-cent nickles
so perfectly gold-washed as to de-
ceive any ignorant persons and pass
easily among them FOR new five.dollsr
gold pieces. 1t was exhibited as a
curiosity. and l do not know whence
| it came" The letter will be referred
to the Secretary of the Treasury......
In 1858 the rich alluvial lands of Ash.
ley county, in the southeastern por-
ton Of Arkansas, readily commanded
from $25 to $50 per acre, and the up.
lands from S. to $40 per acre, but
now these lands average only about
So to SIS per acre in the lowlands,
and the hill lands can be bought from
81 to S.. The excessive cultivation
of cotton is the cause......P Prof.
Ryder, of the United States fish com.
mission, is very hopeful that this
seasons experiments will prove the
feasibility of oyster propagation and
cultivation by artificial means.
Meas. Observer: It is announced
by telegraph that there Is great com.
motion at Cairo, Egypt, on account
of the conversion of young Ma.
hometan by American missionaries.
The anatical Arabs attempted to
maltreat the convert, but he was
rescued by the British Consul, and
will be sent to Cyprus for safe keep
ing. Such an event as the CONVEX.
sion of full-blooded Moslem to
christianity ought to create stir in
this country as we'll as Egypt. The
United States alone probably ex-
ponds $4,000 year in missionary
work among the Mahometans, and
the converts are gathered at the rate
of about one in five years. They
cost something like 100000 a
piece. ....Vennor has crawled from
under a Canadian snow bank long
enough to say that June is going to
be a hot month. >. Mrs. A. T. Stew.
art has donated 100000 for the
erection and support in New York
city, of the largest college in the
United States. 1t will furnish free
tuition, and be strictly non.sectarian.
The building, work upon which is to
be begun Immediately, will be the
largest and finest collegiate ediice
on this side of the Atlantic. if not in