The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-01-08
Street Corner Notes.

We do not remember for long time to
have seen the streets in condition SO I'M
slightly as they are at present. Every pub
lie thoroughfare IS covered with mud from
one to three inches deep, and the crossings
are but little more than fords. AS con-
the payements are but little bet
ter than the crossings. Mud is plastered
over everything. A thorough cleaning IS
needed and the sooner the street corps get
at the work the more creditable III will be
to the city.
The absence of New Y ear callers was II
feature of Thursday last. Very
few ladies formally received and Jhe'e0rps
of good wishes was notably small Whether
the custom which but few years ago mad
obtained such social promin snce, has
fallen into disrepute, or whether the rega-
lar callers were too lazy to extend the
cOnrtesies of the season lisa problem whIch
we are not prepared to solve. But certain
it Is that New Years day in Staunton lGls
marked by few of the features which lrlve
hitherto rendered it red-letter day in the
calendar of society.
There is room in Stanton for an INTEL /
gence office, and some of our enterprlslrlg
coIored men might make it pay to Try tue
experiment. Almost every day parties III e
looking for cooks, nurses. maids and mousse
servants, both male and female. There
are generally number of colored people
wanting employment, but the difficulty is
to find them when needed. For small
fee a register might be kept at some cor
venient point where both employer and
employee might apply and thus be brought
together. In the hands of a man of judg-
ment the enterprise could be made a great
convenience to the public, and one which
would well repay the trouble necessary to
carry it on.
If we just had Lanetry again, to dedi-
cate the new Opera House. and she would
prove us popular in this section as she does
in London, the question Of paving for the
frescoing would not continue To alarm our
City Council. The Jersey Lily opens at
the Princess The atre- London, about the
18th. She will play an adaptation OF
Dumas Princess Geoges.F Neither the
date nor the price is announced. but there
are applications for places the first night
for ten times the capacity Of The house.
Before the curtain rises almost the entire
house has been sold to ali agent for the
whole season to the 1st of July. The
greater part has yielded already $50,0Jo
maid into the box Office in :ulvMnce-a fact
without precedent even i'll the theatrical
history of London. Our Council Commit
tee should at once open correspondence
with Manager Abbey, whose address IS
London.
All OF natures products seem destined to
to the requirements OF man.
1t has been but a few years since the gath
ering of sumac was introduced in this sec
ton, and plant which before that had
been regarded as a worthless weed, was
into a merchantable article.
Now comes another discovery. The mis-
chev gus nettles which have proven suclr a
to farmers, especially the owners,
of low. damp lands, have recently been de-
clared tf high commercial value, and q
very considerable demand is promised for
them. They are to be used in the manu-
facture OF seer-sucker cloth, a light
strong mate rial which has lately become
very popular for summer wear. The anti
Gle now in use is made from the fibre of
Tie Chinese nettle, and when genuine sells
for good price. The process of manu-
racture is said to be very peculiar one.
The Chinese until 1851 alone possessed the
secret of freeing be flores of the nettle from
5he resinous gum holding them together.
These fibres are then not spun, but cut in
to long narrow str Ups, and glued together
with species of glue known only to the
Chinese. This process preserves the pc
culiar gloss of the fibre and causes some
people to mistake it for silk. If the cloth
were spun it would. lose its lustre. In
Rhode Island, seersacker cloth is initiated
in cotton. Mr.. Felix Fremery, a we'll
known French inventor, thinks there is no
doubt that it could he manufactured in
large quantities from the fibre of the
American nettle, so abundant in the South
ern states and especially the low lands of
Virginia. The thread produced from the
fibre is similar to that Of flax. but glossier
and more like silk in appearance. 1t can
be produced very cheaply the plant beings
perennial one-that is, it does not have to
be planted every year. In Germany there
are already ten or twelve manufactures
where this fibre is prepared TO be made in
to clothing, handkerchiefs, stockings, lace
tile articles. 1t completes with wool on
account of it's greater strength and cheap
ness. 1t costs but a third OF the average
price of wool and it's strength admits of it's
being mixed with wool in equal proper
tiOns in the ordinary process of manufac
ture. The product combines the warmth
of wool with the toughness of the other
material, and is said to be the most dura
BILE cloth that can be made. The yield of
pure fibre is from 20 to 25 per cent. of the
dried stock. The nettles must be cut from
the first to the middle of September, when
the sap begins to ripen. The loss when
dried will average from 20 to 25 per cent.
A Philadelphia firm is preparing to intro
duce machinery for the manufacture
Of this material and the prediction is made
that before many years the now worthless
nettles of the South will be a source Of
permanent revenue, at a very small cost to
The producer.
CHRISTMAS TREE AT SSTUART'S CHAPEL.
The annual visit of the ladies', who for
years have conducted the Sunday School
at this place, brought it's unalloyed happi-