The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-22

| happiness. GarfieldS repeated testl-
mony of her love and affection for him,
given when he was dying, forms one
of the most pathetic yet beautiful
chapters in the history of American
| Presidents.
Mrs. Grover Cleveland was in sense
| a daughter of the nation" Her ro-
mantle wooing by Mr.. Cleveland, her
| marriage in the White House, her tour
of the country and loving welcome
from all classes. the birth of her chill
dren, and above all her ability to know
her place and to keep it with grace
| and modesty, made her easily the most
popular of all the Presidents wives
since "Dollie" Madison passed away.
! The respect of the nation was laid at
her feet, and I'm the hold on the ma
! tional heart she had a much stronger
grip than her distinguished husband
| Mrs. Mckinley completes the list. Of
| what she has borne 1t is not necessary
| to write. The nation has shown her
during the last week that sympathy
| which makes all the world kin, which
leaves no room for doubt as to its sim
| cerity. AS to personal love, sacrifice
| untirins devotion, the life of President
| Mckinley with his wife has been "A
story of duty sanctified by the highest
affection.
1T puzzled me for some time" said
the portly party, to the Detroit Free
Press, but the explanation was sim
| pie enough from the standpoint of my
wife. During the trying hot spell that
we had in July she visited a sister
who lives in the central part of the
state. When she left I told her to
wire me when she got to her destina-
ton, so that / would know that she
had arrived safely. I said that the
word arrived would be all that was
! necessary and I would know from that
that all was well. In due time l re-
ceived telegram from her which read:
| Arrived, the big black bug and the big
black BEAR
Il sat and looked at the telegram
in blank amazement, trying to figure
out what she meant. l concluded at
last that the message had been mixed
| up in sending, so | went to the tele-
graph office and had it repeated. The
answer came back that 1t was correct
and according to the copy that had
been filed. Fearing that the heat had
affected my wifes head, boarded the
| first train and imagined all sorts of
| dire things that might have happened
to her.
Goodness she gasped, when I ap-
peared on the scene what has brought
you here"
This telegram, said I, breathing
sign of relief, perhaps you will be
| kind enough to explain what you
meant by such a fool tumble OF words
Why. said she, the clerk said it
would cost no more to send ten words
than it would to send one; so 1 decided
to have my moneys WORTH
"'Well' said 1, it seems to me that
you might have picked out a less idi-
otto combination
why, you see," she answered.
that was what the car wheels said all
the way out here, so 1 just put it in to
fill out!'"
In some portions of the world, says
the New York Press, the customs of
the good old days" still obtain The
method pursued in the treatment of
drunken husbands in the North of Eng
land is a survival from the time when
there were no magistrates convenient
before whom the erring husband might
be hailed
This method is known as "Riding
the Stang" and though very old
practice, quite recently two cases Of
| its being enforced were brought before
the public notice.
The erring husbands were tied astrlde
| long poles and carried in this ridicu-
| pOSlllOn
through the streets of their town, and
followed by a jeering crowd of men,
women and children, who did not hesi-
| tate to pelt them with refuse. accord
| ing to the me-honored usage on these
| occasions.
There are variations of the methods
Of riding the stang. however. that
mentioned above being perhaps the
severest form.
In parts of Yorkshire and other
northern counties, for instance, rid
ing the stang" is practiced more as a
vicarious punishment for any frailty
on the part of man or wife than d.
rect and personal punishment, as in
| the cases instanced above.
Needless to say, in the cases in which
| the ceremony is performed vicariously.
the person who rides the stang is not
subjected to bodily ill treatment at the
hands of those who perform it.
1t is usually some good-natured
| friend who is selected for bestriding
the strang He is carried through the
streets in the dusk of the evening on
| the shoulders of two men, preceded by
another carrying a lantern.
At every fifty yards or so the pro-
cession makes halt, during which the
accommodating stang rider recltes
these verses:
| Good nelghbors attend while l you
harangue,
IT'S neither for your sake, nor for my
sake
| That / ride the stang.
But it is for the wife of John Smith
| That l ride the stang.
In the fullness of time the process
sion finds itself outside the house of
the guilty husband, where it disperses
after few choruses of boots and
| jeers.
The vocal discord, however, is sell
| dom deemed sufficiently soul-stirring
a supplementary pandemonium pro-
duced from pots, pans and kettles us
ually being employed against the Of
fender.
One of the village merchants in
! Great Neck, l.. l.. says the New York
! Sun, is congratulating himself over UNI
LIKE OPIUM EATERS,