Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Nebraska advertiser. (Nemaha City, Neb.) 18??-1909 | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1897)
f ' ( iVT n feti P- m: i pf w w L i IM. t "a. tap rvf li'- 5 THE NEBRASKA ADVERTISER . W. IV. SANDEItS, TiiblUher. 1 i NEMAIIA, NEBRASKA, SPRING GLEANING. A to Valuable Hint for Uciiovitlliicr Old ami Soiled Articles. An efficient nnd economical house wife will ahvnys w'elcomc suggestions in matters of cleanliness and renova tion. To begin with, the best cleanser cl lmlr brushes iu spirits of ammonia and warm water. Take u tublespoon ful of ammonia to a qunrt of wuter, dip the bristles up and down in the wa ter without wetting tho back of tho brush, and rinse in clean warm water, then shake well and dry in the air, but not iu the sun. Soap and soda soften the bristles and will turn an ivory backed brush yellow, so in the case of -the latter the following treatment is recommended: Hub plenty of flour well in, wrap up iu paper, nnd leave all night, .give a good shaking and remove the remaining Hour by blowing the brush. All brushes and combs should be kept in the dressing case, or in a bag made for the purpose, when not in use, so .as to keep them us much as possible from the dust. Ivory that has become jellow from age or usage may be .whitened by a good rubbing with fine sandpaper or moist powdered pumice fctone. Glass which has become dull may t'e brought back to its original bright ness by washing with diluted hydro chloric acid and afterward rubbing with moist chalk or whiting. 1 Murble muy be cleansed with com mon dry salt, which requires no prepa ration, but may be rubbed directly in Ihe soiled surface, leaving the murble beautifully clean. Alabaster may be Iwushed with soapsuds. If stained, whitewash the stains, and let it remain for several hours, then clean it off. Take the finest quality of ground pumice stone and "mix it with verjuice; let it stand two hours; then take u sponge and rub the alabaster with tho mix ture. Wash it with a linen cloth and f resh water, nnd dry it with clean linen rags. Ormolu articles and trimmings of ifurnituro should be washed with plain fcoap and water and polished with cham ois leather. To clean brass and copper a mixture of oil and rotten stone up iplied with a piece of leather and then rubbed bright with clean chamois skin ,will give a beautiful polish. Furniture Ito be polished should be washed with ifioap and wnter, little by little, and each 'little quickly dried. Afterward the 'cream should be applied. Here are two ood recipes Uoil quickly in a gallon ,of water one pound of beeswax, four jounces of soft soap and two ounces of pearl ash. The second, which should be made ut least a day before it is used, lis compounded by melting together ut a gentle heat eight purts of white wax, two of resin and a half pint of turpen jtine. l'our into a jar, shake it well, land add six parts of reetilied oil of tur ipeutine. j A careful housekeeper is frequently 'troubled by the tannin stains in fine ichiua teacups. They may usually be removed by rubbing them with a little 'whiting on flannel. Salt will have the same effect, but it sometimes scratches .very fine wnre. I To clean wall paper use bread about a day old. If the paper is only dusty, iflick and rub it with a soft yarn mop. jlf it is marked with grcuse, hold a jpiecc of blotting paper over tho spot (with a hot ilutlron for a few moments. I Atlanta Constitution A MIND READER. IIIIs Honor Knew "What HI Private Secretin')- TliotiKht. "Job," snid his honor, holding be ,neath his nose a bunch of flowers which ihud been left on his desk a few minutes ibefore by a city hall bride, "did you 'know that I am a bit of a mind reader?" "I did not know it," answered the pri vate secretary, "but if you say so, of .course " "I will prove it to you," answered his j honor, chuckling gleefully. "I will itell you what was in your mind a few iminutes ago, Job. You remember that when 1 finished the marriage ceremony the pretty bride stepped forward and (presented her cheek for me to kiss?'1 "Yes, I remember," stammered the (private secretary, his cheeks flushing. "And you remember how I merely (shook her hand and did not accept the limitation?" , "I do," answered the private secre itary, with a regretful sigh. "Well," continued his honor, "the moment I turned nway from tho girl 3. caught sight of your face and I'll bet you a pound of the best fine cut that 1 can tell you what were your thoughts m I that moment." The private secretary blushed, hung this head, nnd mumbled something. "Ha! ha!" Ids honor chuckled, "you ,lon't want to hear j'our thoughts re peated, eh? Well, I am going to ve peat them, anyhow. At the moment I turned nway from that pretty girl you were thinking: 'What a blanked fool -the old man is!' Come, now, isn't that :fcO?" The private secretary saw it was use less to enter a denial, so he iled to his desk, nnd so agitated was he that in the next five minutes he missed the cus pidor three times in succession. N, Y .Journal. LEGAL OLLA-POMUDA. Funny Stato of Affairs in tho Dis triot of Columbia. U'luit In nn OlTeii-ic on One Side of Itoeli Crock In Perfectly Legiti mate on the Other Side. Special Washlncton Letter. The laws which are enforced in the District of Columbia are peculiar. Many of the old laws of Maryland, which wero made before this land was ceded to tho federal government, are still in force. Then thcrenre federal laws which were enacted before the creation of tho territorial form of government: inwsen actctl by tho territorial legislature, and laws enneted by congress since tho present form of government was cre ated in 1872. The ancient city of Georgetown was an independent corporation until re cently, but it is now West Washington. It in scpnrntcd from the nntionnl enp itol by Hook creek, nnd the laws thero are in many instances different from the laws on the east side of Hock creek. Ma ivy nets punishable ns offenses in that section do not constitute offenses under tha laws governing the rest of the district. Many of these old laws, though they may never have been repcnlcd, are seldom enforced, and then only when many complaints nre made about a certain thing, and the old law books are overhauled. Now and then ono of these old Jaw books is resurrected, nnd for awhile persons hnve to obey it, but it soon becomes a dead letter again, and tho law is violated with impunity for another score or more of years. Every few years tho question of observ ing the Sabbath is agitated. Some of the old laws arc found to meet the case. It is a violation of ono of the old George town corporation laws to sell on Sun day any article except medicines, fresh fish, milk and other perishable goods which cannot be kept over night with fiufety, but this law is seldom enforced, and then only when complaint is made, or after a general order has been is sued notifying storekeepers to close their places on Sunday. This law, like many others, has been contested in the courts and found to be valid. Then there is another lnw which pto hibits any manual labor on tho Sab- THIRTY-NINE STRIPES. bath. This law, like the precedingonc, has been contested nnd held to be still in force. It provides: "That more effectually to prevent ir regular practices so common on Sun day, every person working or com manding, or suffering their children or slaves to work, except in cases of neces sity, or otherwise profane the Sabbath by gaining, hunting, fishing or other unlawful pastimes, shall, on conviction, forfeit a sum not exceeding five dol lars." The second Eection provides that "if the offender be a minor nnd the fine is not paid by himself, parent, guardian or master, he shall be forth with committed to the penitentiary for a time not exceeding five days, or if he bo a slave ho shall be publicly whipped, not exceeding 30 stripes." At tho West Washington stution houFe the police hnve an old law book, printed in JS2t, which furnishes them tli2 text of the old laws covering cer tain offenses. Thero ure but few of the.se books in existence, so far as is known, and when a case otljer thnn as sault and battery or disorderly con duct is made the ollieer making the ar rest usually has to take this book to court to show his ground for action. The police doing duty west of Itoek creek have not only to be able-bodied men, strong and plucky enough to handle rullians nnd smnrt enough to capture thieves, but they have to be versed in all the ancient laws of George town. Most of them can stand for hours and discuss tho legal status of their section. Iteported in the book is a law passed August 4, 1793, which is intended to pre vent accidents arising from galloping horses through streets. Tho act pro vides "That any person, within tho jur isdiction of this corporation, who shall by galloping or otherwise force at an improper speed any horse, maro or gelding through any of tho streets, Janes or nlleys, shall, if a free man, for feit and pay for every such offense tho bum of 15 shillings, current money, to the use of this corporation, to be re covered either before any cue aldermen or by indictment or confession in the mnyor's court; and if nn apprentice, in dentured servant orsluve, the mistress or master of such apprentice, servant or slave shall forfeit and pay the sum of seven shillings nnd six pence, current money, to be recovered as aforesaid." An act of October 10, 1700, sets forth that "the rcspcetnblo Inhabitants hnvo suffered great inconvenience from the vast concourse of idlo white nud black persons who frequently assemble nnd engage in cock fights, at which times they drink to excess, became riotoui. nnd prevent tho quiet nnd repose of good citizens." The first section of tho not, nnd the second section, related to slaves, who wero eubjoet to 39 stripes on the bare back in a public place. Tho firing of guns or other firearms was made punishable under nn net of Octo ber 24, 1801. The penalty prescribed was ilvo dollars, one-half of which went to tho informer. If tho person violating the law was a slave or in dentured servant the penalty was ten lnshcs, unless two dollars was paid by Ills or her master or mistress. An net to prevent gonts from running at Inrgo was passed iu 1700, giving per sons power to ldll nil gonts found run ning ut large, and to sell tho same nt the market-house to the best advantage, the person doing so to retain one-half the money received and the corporation to receive the other half. September 4, 1804, nn act was passed to keep dogs out of tho market-house, where it appeared they went to get meat and other vege tables from the stands. A tax of one dollar was assessed on dealers whose dogs were found within tho walls of the mnrket, but country dogs wero not troubled, provided they were kept a re spectable distance from tho stands. A penalty of $20 was provided under act of March, 1800, for tho keeping of any public gaming table, whether "A, 1!, C," "L, S, IV "13, O," or other game. A subsequent net, entitled an "Ordinance to restrain vice," included "rooley pooley," or faro bank, faro table and hazard, and prescribed tho same pen alty. An act npproved April 30, 1808, regu lated and fixed tho hizo of loaves of bread offered for sale. The loaves were to be made in size according to the qual ity of tJio flour used and wero to sell nt tho sumo price per loaf. The va graucy act under which vagrants are now prosecuted fixes the term of im prisonment at not more thau 20 clays. Tho act also provides that if he fails to pay the jailer's fees ho shall, with con sent of the mayor, be sold ut venduo to serve nnd labor for any timcnotcxcced Ing four months. There are other acts of tho old corporation regulating com merce and protecting the river and vuri ous business interests. Tho chimney sweep is required, under penalty, to faithfully perform his duties, and to his advantage a penalty is prescribed for plucing a stove-pipe through the ex terior wall of any frame building or through tho roof of any house, so that stove pipes, under the law, are not per mitted to pass through tho frame parti tions of summer kitchens. "It would be almost impossible to en force many of these laws," said a police man, "yet when complaints are made, and the Jaw is found, there is nothing else to do, and, until congress acts in tlio matter, West Washington will re main under the old laws. Wo work under too many Juws," continued the officer. "Inside the city limits wo have one set of laws and in the county we linve an entirely different set. What is an offense in one place is permitted in another. Within tho lim.Us.of West Washington a man may strip off ids clothing nnd walk tho streets in de fiance of the officers because there is no law to punish him, but if ho docs the same thing on the river shore and goes n bathing before- nine o'clock in the evening ho may be nrrested for unlaw ful bathing. On tho eastern side of Hock creek the same state of AWalrs exists. "Persons can do nn act not in violation of tho law on ono side of -Boundary street, but if they repeat it on the other side they soon find themselves in tho hands of the lnw. Then, again, thero are some offenses punishable by a heavy fine In one section, while the pennlty in another section is not half so heavy. Such a state of affairs makes It very hard for a policeman to know whether lie is doing his duty properly or not." While nil Georgetown policemen ure required to know something of law, nnd intricate law at that, the policemen in Washington study only the police regulations, nnd very few of them seem to have brains enough to master even that much literature. At any rate they are a cureless lot of peace guar dians, nnd knowingly wink nt vice. Just across the river from George town, on tho Virginin shore of the Poto mac, there nre numerous gambling houses and vile liquor saloons, the very lowest of the low. The governor of Vir ginia claims that he has no legal power to control the lnwless or to arrest the vicious. The sheriff of the county does not call on the governor for aid, nnd the governor says that he cannot invade the county without the authority of the sheriff. Wliile the lawless can cap ture tlie sheriff they can continue to defy the law. SMITH D. FRY. lO.iuiiHed. Justice Mttgnilico Whnt is your ex cuse for not serving on the jury? Juror I'm an expert witness myself; and I know what fools all those testi fying would he 1N.Y. Truth. She Hud nn Idea. Ethel What is Stimsou in Wall street? A bear? Maude Why do you nsk? Ethel lie hugs just like one. Tom n Topics. ON THE CONGO KIVEK. A Boautlful Country Rloh In Nat ural RoBOurcoB. liiuroncnii Kmlwrntlon to Troplrnl Africa In liiurrnnlnix from Day to Liny Deplorable Condition of the Women of the Native Trlhea. ISpcctnt London Letter. Tho newest "new world" is the vast region watered by the Congo river and its numerous tributaries. It is over 000,000 square miles in extent, nnd has been discovered nnd mapped, and some parts settled, annexed, and eien par tially civilized within tho pnst quarter of a century. It is a strangely beau tiful new world of which Henry M. Stanley was the Columbus, whoso wealth and fertility and scenery are gradually becoming better known. Where "l-'ar nway through forests old Tho Congo rolls o'er minds of gold." Unlike some other great rivers of tho old world, tho Congo empties into tho Atlantic ocean in a single stream, boven miles wldo and of enormous depth, nnd although cataracts and rap Ids Interfere with Its continuous nav igation, there are between these imped iments, iu the Congo nud tha Aruwimi, its chief tributary, over 4,000 miles of navigable wntcra. The Congo valley, that is the country of tho Upper and Lower Congo, is a wonderfully fertile land. At present the chief commercial products i.ro VVZ f A CONGO LANDSCAPE-N'TOMBO FALLS. MANYANQA. palm oil, rubber, spices, gums for med icinnl use, and ivory. Gumcopal, wild coffee, enmwood powder nnd fruit in great abundance nre produced. These yield a revenue of about $25,000,000 un nunlly. In what is termed tho lake re gion of tho Congo thero are valuable iron and copper mines and gold and silver deposits. The Upper Congo region, between the Congo and the hikes, is bald to be a lino field for colonization. The climate is salubrious and temperate, tho alti tude ranging from 2,000 to 0,000 feet above tho sea. The rich river valleys and old lake bottomsyleld immnnsecrops of rice and grain nud there, as well as on the uplands, is found some of tho most valuable timber iu the world, the logs making the most costly transporta tion profitable. Speaking of the Congo valley as a New World is only figuratively true, for those lazy old pioneers, the Portuguese, have been settled nt the mouth of the greut river, nnd many a grand family in Portugal has been kept flourishing. for tho past 200 years on the profits of the Congo slnve trade. Thanks to the inter vention of the British, principally, this iniquity is being broken up, the only transgressors nowadays being the Arabs, next to the "unspeakable Turk" the most despicable member of the human family. Wherever the influence of tho believers in the false prophet ex tends tho traveler expects to find that the natives are treated with cruelty, nnd that neither ago nor sex is spnred when those demons are aroused. What the Mohammedan Is doing iu Armenia he has done iu Equatorial and West Af rica, and occasionally cities and culti vated regions are destroyed for miles by the Arabs so as to capture slaves. Among the many unlives which peo ple the Congo region there mny be fsund ns many varying types ns in Eu rope, and some of them nre ns strange In their appearance ns they are in their manners and customs. A fnvorite fncial adornment with the Ha Yansi, Usindl and Mablngn Is the curled barb of tho beurd which is' stiffened with gum and grease so as to. give It the most elegant curve. Dr. Huumunn, who wns one of the first trav elers to follow Stanley's footsteps in the Congo valley, had a pleasant experience among tho Uslndi. They believed that he was a relubodiment of their last king and had come back from the moon! The Urtindl, or Unsindi, clnim that their former kings were lineal de scendants of the moon, nnd in this re spect exhibit an extraordinary parallel with the belief of the Incus of Peru. One of the strange races of the great forests of the mid-Congo basin hi the Untwas. Before the early traveler ond pioneer had become familiar with the liatwas he had heard them described ns cannibals, though better acquaintance proved this to be incorrect. The JJutwti averages only four feet three Inches In height, but is well built, active and much stronger than his height would lead ono to expect. A dwarf woman was bought by Hr. T. II. Parke, who paid her former owner, an Arab, for her "a hnndful of benns, 12 cups of rice and six cups of Indian corn." lie tells mi that ho was obliged to bo very kind lo her at first to prevent her running away, but when she line ceased to have tiny dread of cruelty, her devotion was un bounded. "To her constant attention nnd care," ho said. "1 owe the enjoy ment of good hcnlth and good foods as far as forest weeds can bo foods dur ing mouths of what would, without her, hnvo been absolute starvation." Tho first of the forest dwnrfs that was measured was found to be ex actly four feet in height, it Is sup posed by scientists that tho pigmies rcpiesent the earliest type of African humanity, nnd that through the cen turies they hnve remained unaffected by tho partial civilization thnt ha conio to their larger-limbed fellows of other tribes. It has been found that these dwarf races aro not deficient in mental ability, that is, an compared with tho other races of the Congo. Among tho 50,000,000 or (10,000,000 of natives, divided into many different nations, there is a wonderful diversity of tongues. Not a few of these races use sounds made by "clicking" or "chirping" tho sounds we make with tho tonguo against tho palate when wo coll a dog or a horse. To tho hunter tho valley of the Con go presents extraordinary attractions. From Its mouth to its source it Is a grand hunting held where such mighty game as the rhinoceros, tho hippopota mus nnd those grout felines, tho leop ard, lion, etc., can be found, and in tho Lower Congo the African elephant Is at home, though ho has never been do mesticated like his Asiatic brother, nnd is hunted for his tuaks only. The condition of womankind nmong tho savages of the Congo and adjoining territory is shocking in the extreme. Generally she is classed ns a domestic animnl merely, nnd to murder his wife is not considered a crimo by n Mu kuiubi. A chief of that tribe, :n conver sation with a missionary, casually re marked: "I killed five of my wives dur ing the night." A Mabunga sent hla wife to collect firewood. She sunk up to her shoulders in a marsh, and, her screams attracting Ills attention, ho threw her n stick with which to defend herself against the hyenus and other wild bcusts, and left her till morning, when no truco of the wretched woman was to be seen I Writing from tho court of King Mtesn, dipt. Speke, the famous Eng lish traveler, said: "No duy has pussed without my witnessing the execution of at least one, and sometimes two oi three, of the unhappy women who com pose the king'B hnrem. A cord round their wrists, they are dragged to the bluughter, their eyes streaming with team, and venting their misery in heart rending erics of 'Hal Minangel K'bnk ka lini n'yavioP (Oh, my lord, my king! Oh, my mother, my mother!) Not u bond is lifted to suvo them, al though here and thero a remark upon tho beauty of some young victim passes current iu alow voiceamongthecrowd." Fr. Uuutecoeiir, a missionary, report ed that recently a child was born to ono of tho slave women in the village whero his mission is located. Ueguhirly every day, in defiance of uny considerution sho might have claimed for her child's nuke, tho wretched woman was cruelly beaten, so that she would spend tho greater purt of her time prowling Muong tho bushes round the village lor fear of tho ill-treatment which s lie knew uwuited her renppenranee. "Ono duy," ho says, "1 heard the baby was dead, and 1 learned a little later from tJio other natives that tho poor littlo thing's death was entirely caused by tho brutality of its own futlter, who would beat his wife without any re gard for the child which she carried on her back, according to tho custom of; the country." Ana If this is tho fato of African women in their own liomcs under in variable circumstances tho reader can imagine that it must be unspeakably worse when capture and exile are added to their sufferings. Tho conqueror, genernlly borne Mohammedan monster ,iu human form, profiting by tho fre quent bnttles between rival tribes, se cures a hundred or more of the prison ers.! 1',e:3e miserable wretches, bound together, weighed down beneath heavy burdens of jvory, or precious gums, nro driven for weeks and mouths across tho desert to an unknown Innd, there to bo again sold into abject slavery. Tho conquest and annexation of western nnd equatorial Africa by Eu ropean nations will be the dawn of day; for the women ut least, JAMES IR.VINQ CRAB13E, .