The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1902-01-17

and the friends and interesteu pai.io'
who had gathered to see the opening
of the session. Promptly at high mum
ION the Tuesday after the first MOI
day in January" the gavei leii anu
the two houses were called to order'
the Senate by Lieut-Gov. harrison
and the House by Speaker Russeh.
Gov. Longino's excellent and COM
prehensive message has been so wideiy
read ere this that comment here wouio
be superfuous. 1t speaks for itseiI
and carries to every reader the convlc-
ton that Mississippis Governor mas
at heart the interests of MISSISSIPPI
people. and that he will do his Ut
most to see that these interests are
protected. The first bomb thrown lhto
the camp of the solons was the report
from the penitentiary investigating
committee, which met and perloriheo
arduous labor last summer. Thls re-
port will be published at once anu
the people may read for themselves
the findings of their committee. Inc
next matter of great interest was lne
acceptance Of an invitation from MI.
Senter Of the Vicksburg American ana
the Columbus Commercial, and also
member of the House, TO DOH
houses, to visit the l. |. q Z. at 20
lumbus and the A. & M. at StarkVlile
at the end of the week. This courtesy
is indeed an unusual one, and proves
that Brother Senter is possessed OF
magic powers of persuasion, as wen
as Of wide influence, else the great
railroad would not have placed itself
at his disposal in so generous Iasn
ion. Whatever the argument he USED,
we rejoice that it prevailed, and con-
graduate him and the State OF Mlssls-
sippi upon the result. We believe
that the one and only thing needful
is that each and every member OF the
Legislature go and see for himself the
grand work of our great Industrial
college. Then there will be no mans
voice raised against all needed sup
port Of the Agricultural and Mechan-
zeal College and the Industrial lnsti-
| tute and College.
A most unusual appeal has been
| made by some ladies OF Utica, MISS
| for aid in refitting and repairing their
church building. Their statement
| which follows, has the merit OF being
| so far out of the common run OF such
communications that it ought certainly
To command the attention Of and draw
the dollars from every Yankee sol,
der who left his autograph on those
fair walls. Autographs come high
| these times, and these scribes OF
Grants army should pay well for their
names:
ut was in February, 1854, that Gen.
| Grant with his hosts of soldiers
1 marched through our land from Grand
| Gulf to Vicksburg and matted for few
DAYS in our little Town, taking for
headquarters our magnificent church
house. which still stands on an emf
nence. giving it commanding view
of the country for some distance in
every direction. The Federal soldiers
camped everywhere; the churchyard
was full and the benches OF the church
were taken out and made into horse
troughs and other things. The win
dows were shot to pieces by the Fed
erals shooting at skirmishers In this
way the church was torn to pieces in
side. But this is not all. The soldiers
wrote their names all over the walls,
which were SO pure and white. We
hone that they will now aid us in
painting and in other ways refitting
our house of worship and get others OF
their comrades to do the same. The
church house is perhaps the Oldest
Christian church in Mississippi"
Prof. G. F. Boyd has been gathering
statistics upon the school library move
ment in the State, and from answers
received from seventy-three county SUI
perintendents, school principals, presi-
dents. etc., he publishes the following
results:
Number of libraries in rural schools
~; number of libraries in separate
school districts, IA; total volumes in
rural schools, 1000; number of vol
umes in separate school districts
1887; total volumes read in rural
schools last year, no report; total vol
: umes read in separate school districts
! 3,275 reported; annual allowance fol
libraries in counties, nothing; allow
ance for libraries in separate school
districts, nothing.
The cnnn1lnrt Iihra r.r rnnnrfin 9