The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-14

DR.. r.. II Whitaker
distressing calamity, Is, one of the gen.
tI,ILea w.-O Witnessed the sIocAiag
scene Yzas paying his address 70 the
declared. and 1t Is understood the day
was fixed for their MARRIAGE
Thai was, indeed, q sad occurrence.
1t is more n a probable that some
Of the older people Of Franklin coun-
ty remember hearing OF that tragedy.
| find two North Carolina Items in
the issue Of October p, 1869, as fol-
lows:
Died a short while ago on South
: River, Bladen county, North Carolina.
a man by the name Of Matthew Prid-
geOn, aged 103 years, who raised a
family Of fourteen children. seven Of
whom served as soldiers in the Arleri-
can Revolution. His wife now lives on
the same place where her husband
died, still smart and active, though
upwards OF a hCndged years of age"
The other item is, that. at Concord,
n. c., a Door girl named Dolly Udy, az
orphan, hanged herself with a ban
dana haI1dI erchief. because some I'M
faithful man had dec eived and ruined
her.
Now here IS an item which 1 find In
the issue Of December End, 1909,
copied from a Fayette vile paper:
"A Fat Jury.-At a court held in
Samson county. North Carolina, on the
9th ult.. the weight of the twelve
jurymen to $500 pounds.
Two Of them weighed each 800, three
700 each, one 220, ard the remaining
six 1,180. As those gentlemen have
long been residents in the county, we
ray form some idee Of the he%aIthiness
or It particularly as they were not
@el7"t@d on accoun OF their size,
"'NI h i moderate in Sampson"
~ The comment need make is.
the ii@ blues must have agreed with
tie Eansonians in those days. That
ces tainly was a weighty jury-the av-
orage weight being 375 pounds. Can
Samson empannel such a jury in 1907
as she did in 1902
might copy many other things
from that old paper. but [ have given
quite enough to establish the fact.
that The people of a hundred years
ago did very much like they do now
a days. They committed murder and
did other bad things. then, as people
do now For instance, a daughter
killed her mother, a son killed his
father. friends and neighbors got mad
and killed Caeh other, drownings and
runawavs happened then as now and
h~lghw2yn-en shot from b ani
killed as they DO in these days. The
only difference between a hundred
! years go and now is, crime is a hun
dredfold more FREQUENT now thar
$3.50 phpSl
having only one or two murders, or
tragedies of any kind in a week. Now
the great dailies TEEN with them. AL
most any little country town has more
news in a week than New York had
a hundred years ago. What will be
the conditions in Greater New York
Il hundred years hence. if crime in
creases in the ratio Of the populations
increase?
Let US hone thai the pendulum will
\ --v r. DfbA~ a-I ~~&@@ -
being a hundredfold worse at the close
of another century, the great cty will
become as famous fer Righteousness as
it has been and now is for all sorts of
deviltry.
- =
The preachers tell jokes. when they
get together. and generally they are
first-class. Here are some l culled
from an old magazine.
The text was, Thou art weighed in
the balance and found wanting" At
ter listening to the preacher over an
hour, the congregation showed signs
of restlessness, and, one after another
several gentlemen arose and went out.
The preacher stopped for a
and said: That's right gentlemen; as
fast as you are weighed and are found
wanting, 1t is expected that you will
leave" No one else left until the dox-
ology was sung.
The white folks" had brought their
camp-neeting to a close. and the
brethren of the African tho per-
suasion were to use the same grounds
for Their two weeks meeting. The col
ored presiding elder, after looking over
the situation, said to the white pre-
siding elder: yves gwine t. open our
meetin~ wild de Lawd's Supper, and
we'd like. sab for you to a charge
of it fox US"
The white presiding elder courteous
ly thanked him for the Droffered nom
or. but said, to the colored brother:
You are presiding elder. and your
people will expect you to magnify
THANK you, Doctah, I 'spected to
do that. sab. l jist axe you for COM
Dliments."
a circuit rider, lived at the county
seat and, as a matter of course. wore
good clothes, or as good, at least, as
his small salary would justify. He was
holding a protracted meeting at one Of
his school house appointments-in a
very dark corner of the world-and
one night he stopped with a brother
who boosted Of being a pillar his
wife, though not a pillar, was pure
salt and couldn't look upon sin with
the least degree of allowance. LAS we
sat near a roaring fire" said the
preacher: Il saw the sister had a load
on her mind, To relieve her, I said;
"Out with it ~sister!" IF 1 do" she
said. you won't be offended, will
your" Certainly not" I answered.
The people like your preaching
they think YOU are sociaple and all
that. but" said she, they think you
dress too we'll"
II don't know how I am to man
age I said, looking very serious"
In town they do not think l dress
quite up to the standard. At H
chapel my clothes are just about right.
| see | must have three suits OF
clothes. A new suit for town. I'll
preach in that on Sunday morning.
In the evening I'll preach in his suit
at H Chapel. After preaching
there, I'll ride up to Uncle Ben's ami
put on a suit of homespun jeans.
pepper and salt pattern. and be ready
5 to preach for YOU all that night.
"Ill have you to know if we is poor
ives as good as the town people, and
2 if you've got anv good clothes we've;
: got as good a right to see 'aEl as any
l body" said the good sister. her face
, looking a: If a little pepper had been
t added TO the salt"
| 4 Methodist class meeting; was in
full blast The preacher confessed
Y that, at times, he was sorely and
s! grievously tried by his besetting sins.