Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-09-10
ALWAYS IN DANGER OF FIRE.


character of an oil-producing, storing, and
transporting district, writes Warren,
PENNSYLVANIA, correspondent of the New
York S,tn, can form any notion Of the scene
that is presented when the fire breaks out
and gets beyond control in such district.
Forest fires and lightning are the most
dreaded agents of destruction, but there are
so many other latent forces which may as
sert themselves at any moment, ana wrap
entire communities in flame, that life and
property in the oil regions may be said to
hang upon the slightest tenure.
The oil wells are all flowing over, anu
are pouring forth, by day and night, cease
less streams of material not only highly
infammable itself, but from which gases
of a most deadly eX plosive and combustible
nature are generated. Tanks holding from
900 to 80, 900 barrels of petroleum are thick
ly grouped in every producing district, and
from and to them the oil is constantly
pouring through networks OF pipes IN all
directions through the field. The ground,
the buildings, the trees and all surround
ings are literally saturated with crude pc
troleum. The puddles in the road are
depths of oil, or water thickly coated with
oil. The physical character of the country
in which petroleum is found in Pennsylva-
MIA is such that every district is cut up by
deep ravines or gulleys, and the wells are
drilled not only on every available rod in
the valleys, but they climb the rugged sides
of the steep and lofty hills to their very
SUBMITS. Rapid streams course the valleys
and tumble down the mountain sldes. Inc
oil towns are compact collections or frame
buildings, constructed without regard to
contiguity of the wells. Derricks rise from
tower above the buildings on every side.
Around about in this mass of int1ammable
oil wells and tanks, oil-saturated surround
ings and tinder-box buildings, railroad loco
motives scatter showers of sparks almost
hourly. Natural gas is conducted from gas
wells in all directions, and is used in all the
houses for light and fuel, at the oil wells for
fuel, and leaps in pillars of flame into the
air from pipes set here and there IN the
ground in all parts Of the region. Nltro-
glycerine factories are numerous In all dls,
tricts, and the dangerous explosive is stored
in magazines at many convenient points,
and is transported daily in wagons through
the field for use wherever it is needed at
the wells. The falling of live spark from
a locomotive, the premature explosion OF
a nitro glycerine torpedo, the careless or
imprudent lighting of the natural gas in
one of the combustible houses, is sufficient
to turn the whole community for miles
around into sea of flame in an incredibly
short time. Thus at Rev city, leading
oil town in the Bradford field, torpedo
exploded one day, and in five hours the ten
miles of territory was swept by tre. Not
derrick out of the three hundred that were
in the district was left standing, and for
days three hundred leaping fountains OF
flame, fed by the oil spouting from the wells,
presented such spectacle as ieW people
ever witnessed. Three hundred thousand
barrels of oil in tanks were destroyed, and
not building was left in Rev city.
THE WHEATEN LoAF.-Good wheat
bread and butter is the staff of civilized
life. Take away wheat bread and butter
from our families for a few generations, and
who is prepared to say that civilization
would not glide easily to state OF barbar-
ism? There is sound philosophy in this
suggestion; because there is no other kind
of human food that is so admirably adapted
to the development of the human frame,
including a noble brain, as good wheat
bread. Civilization has seemed to keep
pace with the production OF wheat, and
refined society the world over has seemed
to exist coveal with the wheaton loaf.
We find the lowest order of intelllgences
standing on potato. Only one step ABOVE
this class. another order is found on hoe
cake. One degree above this we meet with
the class that has risen in the scale or belng
as high as it is possible for mortals to rise on
a pancake. Head and shoulders above all
these classes we find the highest order OF IN,
telligences, with large and Well-developed
brains and noble characters, standing Sc
cnrelv on their wheaton loaf. No other
food can excel the wheaton loaf, because 1t
furnishes more and better material for the
human brain than any other food-Ihe
Cook.
A CHINESE FARM.-The Chinese farm
house is curious looking abode. Uusual-
ly it is sheltered with groves of feathery
bamboo and thick-spreading banyans. Inc
walls are of clay or wood, and the interior
of the house consists of one main room, ex-
tending from the floor to the tiled roof,
with closet-cooking apartments in the cor
ners for sleeping rooms. There is a sliding
window on the roof, made of cut oyster
shells arranged in rows, while the side WIN
dows are mere wooden shutters. The floor
is the bare earth, where at nightfall there
often gathers together miscellaneous fam
lily of dirty children, fowls, ducks, pigeons,
and litter Of pigs, all living together IN
delightful harmony. In some districts In
tested by marauding bands, houses are
strongly fortified by high walls, containing
apertures for firearms, and protected Dy
moat, crossed by rude draWbridge.
THE RULES OF ELIZABETH FRY.-The
following rules for the guidance of life are
by the celebrated Mrs. Fry:
Never lose any time. l do not conslder
that lost which is spent in amusement or
recreation every day; but always be IN the
habit of being employed.
Never err the least in truth.
Never say an ill thing of person when
thou canst say good thlng OF MIN. NoI
only speak charitably, but feel so.
Never be irritable or unkind to any
body. -
Never indulge thyself in luxuries that
are not necessary.
DO all things with consideration, and
when thy path to act right is most dlfiicult,
put confidence in that Power alone which
is able to assist thee, and exert thine own
powers as far as they 60.
SLEEp.-"Blessings," exclaimed Sancho,
son him that first invented sleep. 1t wraps
a man all round like cloak" 1t is de.
licious moment certainly-that of being well
nestled in bed, and feeling that you shall
not past the limbs have been just tired
enough to render the remaining in one
posture delightful; the labor of the day is
done. A gentle failure of the perceptions
come creeping over one-the spirit OF con-
sciousness disengages itself more and more,
with slow and hushing degrees, like moth
er detaching her hand from that of her
sleeping child; the mind seems to have
balmy lid closing over it like the eye; tits
closing-'tis more closing-'tis closed. The
mysterious spirit has gone to make its airy
rounds.-Leigh Hunt.
A Twr1yE.FOOT STRAIGHT EDGE.-An