The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-17
A VALUABLE

A VALUABLE COLLECTION.
OF BOOKS and Pamphlets Relating to North
Carolina-North Carolfnians a oroad-Pe.
c1liar Freaks Of an Insane Man
Especial Correspondence.)
Messenger Bureau, arr Hotel.
Raleigh. N. c., September II.
The recent visit of DR.. Stephen 3
Weeks to Raleigh was quite resultfui.
He dad much work for the United
States government and also procured
for himself nearly 800 books and PAM
phlets relating to North Carolina. He
has now over 1000 SUCH. He secured
two copies of the reports Of the Toiar-
McRae trial at Raleigh in 1861 For
one COPY Of this $40 was recently offer
ed. He says the gem Of his entire
collection is IN Abstract Of the army
accounts of the Continental Line" be-
ing Of the North Carolina troops in the
United States service in the war of the
revolution. There is an imperfect copy
Of this in the Office o. the state auditor
These are the only two in existence.
He has a German copy Of Lawson.s
dlStOIy u 0S~N 'A
Another treasure is a perfect copy of
the revisal of the laws OF North Car
DINA. 1751. Only two others are in ex-
istence and for one copy the Pennsyl-
vania historical society paid $500. This
state does not own one. The third copy
is in the New York public iforary. Dr.
Weeks also has a number OF original
editions of the Session Laws" as
early as 1852.
1t is to be deplored b a this state
| does not have a "bookish" man or wo-
| man as state librarian, and make the
| office one for life and nOn-political. For
| wears it has been a political gift. But
! now the library calls for better treat
! ment and greater talent 1t Will sur
| prise most people to know how little
the library, which is absolutely free,
| is used. OF reading, in the sense one
| sees it carried on further north, there
is little.
How North Carolinians are dispersed
l abroad. A history Of the migration or
| people from this state to the west dur
l ing the period since say 17f6 would be
Undressing. Being at Fort Monroe the
! otte day a visit was paid, in company
with Major E. NJ. Hayes, to Captain
| John D.. Hoskins, of the First artillery.
oFrom North Carolina?" said he, why
| my father was from He was
tCaptain Charles Hoskins OF the Fourth
| infantry (of which General Grant was
| at one time quartermaster) and he was
| ki1,ed at Monterey, Mexico, eight
| months after I was born" Before the
war. in New York, Colonel John w.
| Hinsdale and Captain Hoskins were
| classmates, and the other day at Old
| Point they had a euniO at which
| Major Hayes assisted.
|
Mention was made the other day of
| the venerable Albert johnson, of RAJ
leigh, who began to run an engine IN
1881, who brought the first engine from
Petersburg to Blakeley, N. c., and
! also the first to Raleigh. But his ser
| vice as an engineer has not been con-
tinuous. Superintendent T. w. Whis-
| nant Of the SeabOard Air Line, tells me
| that Edward Rawls, who quite recently
retired, was for f1fty-eight years agent
of the Seaboard Ink Roanoke division
at Carrsville, Va. He is we'll and hear
-tyaand like a fish out of water since his
retirement. At first he got no pay. and
actually, with his own money I'LL the
first warehouse there, for such were
the beginnings of railroading.
"A gentleman who has for quite a
number of years been in charge OF
the insane was asked what was the
very freakiest thing he a ever known
"a patient to do. He said: ITO think he
was a goose and sit upon eggs" This
patient will sit for our in placid hap
piness with his "a so arranged as
to cover a lot Of brickbats which he be-
lieves are eggs. He has to be called off
his nest by the promise of food, just
as would a real goose. Another fancy
of the insane man is to lie in a coffin
and with this is coupled a great desire
to be buried. A narrow o is arranged
for his benefit and he will lie in it, per-
fectly contented, as long as permitted.
When on his nest he will "blow' at Wis
itors quite like a goose.
A gentleman who travels much says
no state offers such strange contrasts
in mode of living as North Carolina
and that the difference in these,a as be-
tween, say Cape Hatteras and Mitchell
county, is as wide as between canada
and Louisiana. The extremes of eli
mate is almost as great.
F. A. OLDS.