Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-05-07

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was of much use, and he was of no use at
all. This certainly was marvellous train of
reflection for a boy Of seven years of age.
There are hundreds of old grey headed men
and women, who have never as yet been Of
as much use to society asa COW, and although
they are growing old, they are so stupid as
to be unable to discover that they are worse
than drones-terrible pests to society.
During Robert Blair's last year in the
University of Glasgow he concluded that
his health required that he spend consid-
erabIe amount of time in taking exercise in
archery and catch-pole, whatever that was.
In order, however, that the time spent in
taking exercise might not interfere with
his studies he determined to spend every
other night entirely in study. For some
reason he desired to keep this concealed and
this could be effected in no other way than
by retiring to room in the University
which was regarded as haunted. 1t was a
current belief among the students of the
University, and probably by some of the
professors, that the devil or some evil spirit,
had, for some unknown nefarious purpose,
, taken possession softst the room. The result
was that without a word of objection the
room had been turned over to evil spirits.
Blair himself had seen the devil in the
room. He appeared in the shape of a
fellow student. Blair chased him around
the room, when finally the evil spirit, as
Blair thought, seemed to hide in one corner
of the room. From his hiding place Blair
attempted to pull him out, but found moth
ing to pull out. The spirit had vanished.
To this room, infested with evil spirits,
Blair retired every other night and pored
over his text books. The reader must re-
in 1913, and the belief in ghosts and witches
was more common then than it is to-day.
The fact that Blair could remain at his
studies all night in a room which every
body regarded as haunted shows that ne
had in him something that is in few men.
After graduating Blair taught school for
two years and afterwards was one of the re-
gents in the University Of Glasgow. Shortly
after this he was licensed to preach the gos-
pei. James the First was King of England
and Scotland. The work of reformation in
the church was stopped by the efforts of the
King and his minions to force everybody to
conform to his hierarchial notions. Blair
became involved in difficulty with certain
parties in authority, and about the same time
he received an invitation from Lord Clane-
boy to visit Ireland. Lord Claneboy was
patron of Bangor parish. The justly cele-
brated James Usher, D. D., was Archbishop
of Armah and Primate of all Ireland at that
time. Impressed with the idea that he
could accomplish nothing for the advance
ment of religion in Scotland, Blair accepted
the. invitation of the patron Of Bangor.
Early in 1923 he landed at Glenarm, small
town on the eastern coast Of Ireland about
twenty miles northwest from Carrickfergus.
From Glenarm he went to Carrickfergus and
from thence across the Lough of Belfast to
Bangor. Although Blair knew it was per-
ilous for him to remain in Scotland, still it
was with great reluctance that he set out for
Ireland. At that time Ireland was consd-
cred by the English and Irish as scarcely
civilized. 1t was place of refuge for the
prosecuted Scotch and a hiding place for
outlaws. It was in 1923 to the English and
Scotch what Texas was few years ago to
the people of the other States. The first
individuals seen by Blair on landing was a
crowd of persons who had been drinking
usquebaugh and eating wild garlic. The
smell of the "rampions" for the time con-
firmed, he says, his prejudices against Ire
land. have often heard of cramps" but |
saw no ramps either in the neighborhood
of Glenarm or in any other section Of Ire
land. Here, if an episode is admissible,
will remark that onions grown in Ireland
are neither so strong scented nor as acrid to
the taste as those grown in our country. 1t
may be that cramps" or ''rampiOns" smell
as strong as our onions, if so usquebaugh
Soon after arriving in Ireland Blair was
settled as pastor of the congregation at Ban
gor. Here he remained in peaceand preach
ed to the edifcation of the parish for a mum.
Der of years. Archbishop Usher was good
man and disposed to bear and fOrbear and
to agree to disagree with those who held
views different from those held by himself.
Some of the bishops, however, were men
who had no regard for either the opinions,
convictions or doubts of others.
Charles the First, became King in 1925. He
had no use for religion, in any form, only so
far as it had tendency to establish absolute
monarchy. Multitudes of the nation caught
the spirit of their master, and were even,
as might have been expected, greater perse-
cutors than the king himself There were
in Ireland, at this time, only a few non-con-
forming ministers. These were suspended
in 1851. They were temporarily restored in
1854, and again deposed. In the winter OF
1886 the deposed ministers seeing no pros
pect that they would be permitted to preach
the gospel in Ireland, came to the conclu-
sion to leave the country and 60 to America.
They built ship of one hundred and fifty
tons burden, at point near Belfast, sold
out at a sacrifice, much of their household
stuff, and investing in various articles of
merchandise, they set sail from Carrickfer-
gus for New England, on the 9th of Septenl--
ber, 1886. There were on board one hundred
and forty persons. After struggling against
winds and waves, until they were about
midway the Atlantic Ocean, they were
forced to return. The vessel on which they
embarked was called the Eagle Wing. A
name taken from Deuteronomy, thirty-sec-
ond chapter and eleventh verse.
Not long before this the NaNfolCer had
crossed the Atlantic, bearing the English
Purtans to America. Had the Eagle Wing
succeeded in crossing the Atlantic, it is prob
able the whole character of New England
would have been changed, and in some re-
spects the character of the British Govern
ment would not have been changed as it
was. Not long after the return of the Eagie
Wing to Carrickfergus, Robert Blair, in obe-
dience to the General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland, returned to his native
land, where, after experiencing many trials,
he died in 1866.
THE BENEFIT OF LAUGHTER Green,
in his "Problem of HEALTH" says there is
not the remotest corner or little inlet OF the
minute blood-veSselS of the human body
that does not feel some wavelet from the
convusion occasioned by good, hearty laugh
ter. The life principle, or the central man,
is shaken to its innermost depths, sending
new tides and strength to the surface, thus
materially tending to insure good health to
| the persons who INDUCED therein. The
blood moves more rapidly, and conveys a
different impression to all the organs of the
body, as it visits them on that particular
mystic Journey when the man is laughing,
different from what it does at other times.
For this reason, every good, hearty laugh
| in which person INDUCES tends to lengthen