The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-01-18

but by Americans who delight in
shocking the English people by outra.
geous stories about Americans Iknow
of only one state and one town in my
country where the divorce Laws are so
scandalously lax as they describe. That
is q small town. in Indiana.
There are two great American rail-
ways which have very luxurious trains,
fast trains which we call limited ex.
presses. One of these trains passes over
the New York Central railway, OF
which I have the honor to be the pres
ident, and the other over the Pennsyl-
vania. 1t is customary, believe, one
hour before the limited express on the
Pennsylvania road reaches that town,
for the conductor, or guard as he is
called in Britain, to announce that the
train will stop half an hour at the next
station for those desiring to obtain di-
vorces, and that the court house is at
the right Of the station and directly
across the street.
$50 many Americans, I regret to say,
avail themselves of this escape from
matrimony that the Pennsylvania linn
tied express is never without passen-
gers. Sometimes if the divorce has
been mutually agreed upon by husband
and wife, they travel together in the
greatest luxury and good Will inagin-
able, and where either party intends to
marry again, ii is, believe, not un-
common for the new bride elect end
bridegroom elect to accompany as
third party the two persons about to
obtain their divorce. The court is al
ways in session when the train arrives,
so that the petitions may be filed, cases
argued and degrees entered well with
in the limit of half an hour, which the
railroad allows.
"a clergyman has his o1ics next
door to the courthouse, so that one and
sometimes both of the divorced persons
may be united to Others seeking conju-
gal happiness Immediately after the
late marriage has been dissolved, so that
at the end of half an hour the Chicago
limited resumes its flight west. and the
couples who came to be divorced have
taken their partners and are already of
on their second honeymoon" The
duchess threw up her hands in horrer
and said, "a civilization which permits
such outrages as that is simply dread
full"
At Yale alumni dinner held shortly
after Andrew Carnegie's declaration
that a college education did not do a
man any good and was waste of time
Mr.. Depew remarked:
A college friend of mine, translated
from the lawto railroadiag. rescued q
bankrupt corporation from ruin and
placed it upon a prosperous basis, and
then administered its affairs with con-
summate ability. When he returned
many years afterward to his country
home, and sat as of old upon the nail
keg of the corner grocery, the wise men
of the neighborhood gathered about
him, and one said, "Is it true that you
are getting salary Of more than slo,-
900 a year,"
Myfriend said it was t-ue.
"Well," said this local oracle, "that
shows what cheek and circumstances
will do for man."
Eli Perkins attributes the following
story to Mr.. Depew. He says that be
once got to talking to Mr. Depewabout
the subject Of supply and demand. He
asked the president of the Central if an
instance had ever occurred when the
price of an article did not depend on
supply and demand. Hr. Depew
said:
Well, the other day I stepped up to
German butcher, and out of curiosity
asked, "What is the price OF saus.
ages?"
"Dweuty cends pound" he said.
+ "You asked me twenty-five cents
this morning." I replied.
sYa. Dot was when I bad some.
Now ain'd got none I sells 'em for
dwendy cends. Dot makes me repu-
tation for selling cheap, und l don'd
lose holdings"
"You see I did not want any sausage,
and the man dio not have any. There
was no demand and no supply, and
still the price OF sausage went down."
This story about Mr.. Greeley has
been often told, but Mr.. Depew was the
first to tell it, and he was a witness of
the scene.
To interrupt Horace Greedy when be
was in the throes of bringing forth an
editorial was danger which no friend,
no enemy, none but fool, dared to en-
counter. I was once in his editorial
sanctum when the fool was there. He
was one of tL:se itenerant and persist
ent gentlemen with subscription
book. He kept presenting it while old
Horace was writing away with his pen
up his chin. Horace had habit of
kicking when any one would interfere,
and so he kicked at the subscription
fend. Finally, when he saw that he
could not get rid of the intruder by this
means, be stopped in the middle Of a
sentence, turned around and said rasp-
ingly in that shrill voice of his:
"What do you want? State it quick
and stste it in the fewest possible
words.
SWELL" said the subscription fend1
'I want subscription, Mr.. Greeley,
to prevent thousands of my fellow hu-
man beings from going to hell"
81 Il n yof ~