Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-06-29

Allow me to digress for a moment
while speak Of the wagon road OF
North Carolina The system has been
bad one for some years especially in the
western part of the state For that rea-
son the roads have been practically i'm
passable good deal of the year The
Asheville and Hendersonville road. for
instance, is kept now in the same repair
that the road is from Zanzibar to Lake
Victoria Nyanza 1t was formerly a
toll road, and though the tolls were used
mostly for personal expenses by the
owners Of the road, the bill was always
made out for those who desired TO ride
over the route. speak thus plainly of
these roads hoping that it may result in
great good to those who live thereon
At present the road above referred to
is simply an i'll kernpt trail, along which
are strewn the wrecks of busted vehicles
and the bones of people whose necks
have been dislocated in trying to ride
over them, and who have been left alone
to die Though public road Of great
importance, very few people drive over
it unless under the influence of liquor.
There are places on this road where
mountain springs soak up through the
roadbed, and have done so for centuries,
while the roadmaster has been waiting
for them to dry out. The result is that
a stoneboat is the only vehicle which
will safely make the trip. Hitch a
2-year-old heifer with claybank mule,
and then on the lead put a lavender
jackass. and if you are n careful driver
ral- rhi1l-ay1 m 81
vile, but if not you will surely be short
two or three on the way home Lots Of
North Carolina families have only eleven
or twelve children left ont of possible
twenty, owing to the condition of the
roads This reckless outlay of children,
it seems TO me, if nothing else. should
teach US TO improve our roads.
Asheville has made an appropriation
recently Of S625. ZOO, most all of which
will go for the improvement Of her
streets. This is better than a like
amount laid out in fenceboard advertis-
| ing, Now let the issue in the county be
bully roads for Buncombe county" and
let the party who opposes the improve
ment correct the bad grammar and poor
punctuation in its dying speech, and do
! il soon too.
was saying the other day that after
a pretty general knowledge Of North
| Carolina for five or six years was as
tonished to notice that there had been
no burglaries within my observation.
| This is remarkable, especially to me, for
| have lived where burglary was not
uncommon, and where | have suffered
myself, having lost silver plated butter
dish in that way eight years ago, also
what butter we had in the house at the
time, it being concealed in the butter
dish. also shot burglar, eleven years
ago, who was breaking into my resi-
dence, but he had only sixty cents on his
person at the time, and even that the
coroner took away from me on the fol-
lowing day. The burglar has it all his
own way at the north, but here in North
Carolina, where the mosquito never lives
and the politician never dies, burglary is
capital offense All burglars over
fourteen years of age are executed. This
tends to turn the attention of bright
young burglars toward politics.
/ never felt SO secure before in my
life leave my large, massive. solid
silver watch on the escritoire every night
now, whereas used to put it underneath
the mattress 1t is very comfortable
feeling, assure you. Of course chick
ems are not SO safe, especially during &
colored revival / do not wish to bt
misunderstood regarding this matter
but was told on the start by a devout
Christian of the Caucasian race that if
cared anything for my "broilers"
would watch them most carefully dur
ing colored revival, for at that time
the more ''earnest" negroes were SO al
tore up in their minds that they could
not work at all during the day, and the
revival took all the night, or nearly so
Therefore, when the pangs of hunger
and the rumblings and retchings of {
sin-sick soul had been preying on an or
binary colored man for week or ter
DAYS he was hollow clean into the
ground, and his better judgment didn'
stand any chance whatever.
got some chickens when first cam,
here Some of them had cholera, but
did not know it at first Quite mum