Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1883-01-06

it was entirely gratifying to them.
After the festivities at the church
were over, "Miller's" Hall was
thrown open to the crowd, all of
whom repaired thereto, and re-
CALLED themselves with lemonade,
ice-cream and oysters, it being The
first night of our oyster supper.
Every one retired to their homes
al an early hour, and seemed IA
vorably impressed and filed with
curiosity 10 witness the reserved
portion of our holidays entertain
ment. Sabbath passed off quietly
and was observed with its usual
amount of religious worship.
Monday, that is, Christmas
morning, came very early. The
loud booming of torpedoes and
fire crackers, the footing of horns,
the clashing Of tin swords, the
rush of the footman and thuInp of
horses ho0fs, the yell of the ur-
chin and the snort of the adult,
aroused me from pleasant dreams
Of the grand panorama of light,
which was to be presented at
night-fall / reluctantly arose
from my couch, not in very ami
able mood, like every body else
similarly situated, and was max
ing for the door-knOb, where |
had hung my stocking, when /
came in contct with demUohn,
which somebody had thoughtless-
ly set in my way. This, of course,
did not tend to alleviate my dis
comfiture, at being so untimely
aroused; so / picked the thing up,
whacked it down on top of the
safe, intending, of course, to bust
the bottom out, but instead, out
flew the stopper. Instinct lead
me to know, that if the stopper
was not replaced, the flies might
get in, and while that was to be
done, curiosity led me to taste of
its contents. The nectar of the gods
is mild type of expression of
comparison. IRIS effects were. ex-
hilirating and solacing, and can
truly say it was the primary cause
of the fastest time on record. 1t
was the means of getting up
very interesting little race in the
culinary department between wife
and husband, as to who should
have break fast first or who should
get drunk first. The drunk beat
nine times out of ten, but it was
only momentary and soon passed
over. Christmas night came at
last, with its multitude of sight
seers. The fireworks were q sue
cess-the wind being unfavorable,
he balloon fizzlod; but on Thurs
day night following, we tried an
other which was more than sue
cess. / think some one must have
gotten that balloon off Jacobs
ladder, for it started heavenward
and went beyond the reach of the
naked eye. Jacobs ladder at the
Methodist church was very nice
affair. The program for the occa-
sion was we'll suited and finely
rendered, considering the short
iime for preparation. Rev. MIR.
Wood knows how TO conduct such
an affair, and his extempore adj
dresses to the recipients of pres
ents were excellent. l mast en-
brace this opportunity to return
our thank. to our friends for their
very liberal patronage. | hope all
were pleased and filled. | would
like to give more extended des-
criptiou of the weeks festivities.
out being DESTROYS of reporting a
few other items | must forbear.
l am sorry to learn that our
friend and neighbor, A. j. Ridge
way. met with serious loss of
cattle last week. He had shipped
from here, / suppose, the finestlo
that he has shipped since he has
been in the business. | under
stand the cars upon upon which
they were loaded became detached
from the other part of the train,
going down heavy grade, and in
the absence of cord and bell, the
engineer was not apprized of the
fact until the collision took place.
La my opinion the cord and bell
are two very essential requisites
to train OF cars, and one is of lit
tie use without the other. The
r.. r. company will not think of
|. ting Mr.. Ridgeway sustain this
loss. They cant well afford to do
it, because he has In the last 20
years shipped over that road more
than a million dollars worth of
stock, and he is just now in a fix
to double that amount in the next
10 years. This is only an estimate
of my own, but I have some idea
of the business he has done, and
feel safe in saying that l am not
over-estimating. Besides, when
lack retireS from the business