Newspaper Page Text
4
f ljtjjlcrning Hems
Morulug Nr> Building, bHTMiuU, Gu.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4. IM>*.
Bcfillcred al the postoffice in Savanaah.
The MORNING NEWS is published
every day in the year, ands served to
eubscribers in the city, or sent t>> mail,
at SI.OO a month, $5.00 tor six months, and
*IO.OO tor one year.
The MORNING NEWS, by mall, eh
times a week (without Sunday Issue),
three months, £.00; six months, £.OO, one
year, £.OO.
The WEEKLY NEWS, 2 Issues a week,
Monday and Thursday, by mail one year,
*I.OO.
Subscriptions payable in advance. Rem t
by postal order, check or registered tet
ter. Currency sent by mall at risk ot
Benders.
Transient advertisements, other than
ep.cial column, local or reading notices,
amusement and cheap or want column, 10
cents a line. Fourteen lines of agate type
—equal to one inch square in depth—is
the standard ot measurement. Contract
rates and discounts made known on ap
plication at business office.
Orders for delivery of the MORNING
NEWS to either residence or place of busi
ness may be made by postal card or
through telephone No. 210. Any Irregular
ity in delivery should be immediately re
ported to the office of publication.
Letters and telegrams should be address
ed "MORNING NEWS,” Savannah, Ga.
EASTERN OFFICE, 22 Park Row,
New York City, C. S. Faulkner, Manager.
THIS ISSUE
CONTAINS
TWENTY-FOUR PAGES.
ISDEX TO HEW ADVERTISEMENTS.
Meetings—Notice of Meeting of Properly
Owners of Collinsville.
Military Orders—Orders No. 22, and Or
ders No. 23, Georgia Hussars.
Special Notices—To My Pupils and
Friends, Mamie G. Bennett; That Model
69 Columbia Bicycle at *lO, T. A. Bryson,
Columbia Agents; Miss M. E. Ryans Bus
iness College; E. A. Von Der Hoya, Teach
er of Violin and Voice Culture; Stearns
Wheels for 1599, R. V. Connerat; Christ
mas and Pianos and Organs, Ludden &
Bates; Pianos and Gramaphones, Lipp
man Bros.; Partner In Naval Stores BusL
ness YVanted; First Annual Ball of the
Cosmopolitan Social Club, Dec. 7; The Fair
by the Ladles of the Church of the Ascen
sion, Dec. 5; Ship Notice, J. F. Minis &
Cos.; Wanted, a Partner; Stem's Liquor
House and Bar; That Residence, No. 114
New Houston, East, C. H. Dorsett; Stocks,
Bonds, Real Estate, A. R. Myrcs; Shoes
R.-paired at Once, Okarma; High Toned
Bicycles, R. D. & Win. Baltimore; Lade
veze's Picture Frame Factory; Roses,
Wolf & Cos.; Leopold Adler's Clothing De
partment Been Busy All the Time.
Business Notices—Henry Solomon &
Sim's LePanto Cigars.
Christmas Coming—Leopold Adler.
Pretty Doll Babies. Etc.—West's China
Balace.
Suburban Schedule—Savannah, Thunder
bolt and Isle of Hope Railway.
Christmas Time—A. S. Nichols.
Postum Coffee—Post urn Cereal Company.
Before the Holidays—Daniel Hogan.
Stationery Specialties—G. P. Putnam's
Cons. i •lii, if
Pleasing the Public—Metropolitan Cloth
ing Company.
Holiday Goods—Walsh & Meyer.
Five Thousand Dollars Worth of Useful
ffoya—W. E. Wimpy.
Close Upon the Heel of Thanksgiving
Comes Christmas —M. S. Brown.
Beef—Liebig's Extract of Beef.
Cocoa and Chocolates—Huyler’s.
The People's Friend—Cubbedge's Phar
macy.
Auction Sales—“ Old Hose" Sale, Central
of Georgia Railway and Ocean Steamship
Company; A Large Lot of Furniture, Etc.,
by C. H. Dorsett, Auctioneer.
This Carries a Message—Byck Bros.
The Cup Which Cheers—C. A. Munster.
Now Is Your Chance to Get a bargain—
Gardiner's Bazaar.
Really Too Busy to Write Ad.—H. H. Co
hen.
Live Men!—Falk Clothing Company.
Our Holiday Goods Are Now on Exhibi
tion—At Gutman’s.
The Hand of Destiny—At Levy's.
We Have Planned to Make the Coming
Week One of Wonderful Buying—Jackson.
Metzger & Cos.
A Reduction in the Price of Gas—Mutual
Gas Light Company.
Opening Every Evening Until Christmas
—At Eckstein's.
Too Many Goods, Must Unload Without
Delay—Foye & Morrison.
An Acceptable Present for One Dollar—
J. P. Stevens & Cos., Atlanta, Ga.
Beef—Liebig's Extract of Beef.
Medical--World's Dispensary Prepara
tions; Pe-ru-na; Hood's Sarsaparilla; Cu
ticura Remedies; “77" for Colds; S. S. S.;
lb B. B.; Y\ M. F.; Erie Medical Com
pany.
Cheap Column Advertisements—Help
YVanted; Employment Wanted; For Rent;
l or Sale; Lost; Personal; Miscellaneous.
The French government has advised the
Washington authorities that it wishes to
establish a naval attache al Washington
in connection with its embassy. Heretofore
France has r.ot thought our navy worth
fudyinr.
The /xople of Hawaii are to become our
fe!!o/-cUlzens. Those islands are to have
n territorial form of government, putting
them right In the line of promotion to
e an hood. The people of the- Philippines,
li vvever, according to the statement of
< iie of the Paris peace cominb loners lo
the Associated Pres.., ure to become our
'VtioJ. -is." The characterization is dls
x tiuclly impel iulibtic.
IDLE MONEY.
The amount of idle money in the coun
try Is causing a great deal of comment.
The general feeling stuns lo be that the
country is about lo enter upon a period
of great prosperity. There is certainly
money enough waiting for profitable in
vestment to encourage the beginning of all
sorts of enterprises. It may lie that tho
reason there Is so much money idle is
that there are very few railroads being
built an<l scarcely any great enterprises of
any kind occupying public attention. But
lie the cause what it may, It is certain
that there is an abundance of idle money
in the banks and in the hands of the
people.. So great is this abundance that
many millions of dollars due this country
fiom Europe are permitted to remain on
the other siile of the ocean, because they
ran be used to better advantage there than
here.
The savings banks are reducing the rate
of interest ail the time. The most promi
nent of them are now paying only 3 per
cent. They don’t want deposits In largo
sums at even that rate. The reason ts
they cannot use the money profitably. And
first-class securities are exceedingly scare
and high. Last week Atlanta sokl $300,000
1 per cent, city bonds at nearly 10 per
cent, above par. At the price at which
they were sold they will net the holder of
them not more than 354 per cent. At
about the same time New York sold some
of her municipal bonds. They will yield
the purchasers about 3 per cent. The rate
of interest is downward all the time be
cause of the quantity of Idle money.
It is predicted that there will be a great
increase in prices of all kinds of products
in the near future on account of the very
great Increase in the production of gold.
It looks now as if the silver question
would soon settle itself. The output of
gold is increasing so much faster than that
of silver that the bullion value of tho
two metals, if the output of gold con
tinues to Increase faster than that of sil
ver, will draw closer together and the
ratio of 18 to 1 will finally be reached.
The gold production for this year will
be as much as $283,192,800. That is about
$48,000,000 more than It was last year, and
more than $80,000,000 more than it was In
1896. The production this year Is $150,000,000
greater than It was seven years ago, and
is greater than the combined gold and sil
ver production of ten years ago. This re
markable increase in the gold production
Justifies the prediction that there will be a
rise in prices, such as there was soon after
the discovery of gold in California, and a
period of great prosperity.
No doubt a groat deal of our Idle money
will be invested in our new possessions as
soon as the terms of peace are fully ar
ranged, but there Is no necessity for wait
ing for opportunities in Cuba and the Phil
ippines. There are opportunities for In
vestments In all parts of this country. It
only needs somebody to lead the way. We
need ships to carry our commerce and
we need mills to change our raw cotton
into cotton yarns and cloth. In fact, there
are many things we need—things that
would require hundreds of millions of dol
lars to provide. Let the people feel that
the time for starting new enterprises has
come and there will be very little idle
money.
WHY DO THEY' NEGLECT HIM?
A few days ago the Atlanta Constitution
said it had discovered that the Democratic
papers which in 1896 opposed that part of
(he Chicago platform which demands free
silver coinage are now opposing the policy
of expansion—that is, the acquisition of the
Philippines. Since the Constitution has
made that discovery, and announc
ed It, a fair question would be,
why Is it that so many of the
Democratio patters which were so
enthusiastic over the Chicago platform in
1896 are now saying nothing In praise of
Col. Bryan, the Democratic leader In 1896?
Is it because Col. Bryan finds nothing to
praise in the expansion idea?
Some of the Democratic leaders. It Us
said, visited Col. Bryan while he was at
his home at Lincoln, and tried to induce
him to change his views respecting expan
sion idea, but, It is asserted, he firmly de
clined to do so. He takes the view that
Senator Hoar,does, namely, that the ac
quisition of the Philippines means the pur
chase of sovereignty, and that the genius
of our institutions is opposed to the barter
and sale of sovereignty. It is said also
that ho holds that the acquisition of the
Philippines would eventually make the
conditions for the common people harder.
Col. Bryan Is entitled to credit for
standing by his convictions, notwithstand
ing the fact that some of the papers which
were the loudest in their demands for free
silver and the Chicago platform appear
now to be giving him the cold shoulder.
the pay of soldiers.
Secretary of War Alger recommends an
increase in the pay of private soldiers. The
suggestion is a good one as far a it goes,
but it might have gone further and pro
vided that there should not be such dis
parity between the pay of the men who
do the work of the army and those who
wear the honors. Otherwise stated, while
the privates at present are not paid
enough, some of the officers ore paid too
much. Our army Is organized and paid
under an old plan which recognized a
privileged class. The privileged class does
not exist with us to-day. The plan may
have done well enough half a century or
so ago, but it Is now out of date. In our
modern civilization white Americans are
pretty well "evened-up,” and in our vol
unteer army stars and bars and eagles and
oak leaves designate, not a privileged
class, but the holders of superior offices.
Under the present system In the array
the wearers of shoulder straps get all of
the honors and a disproportionate amount
of pay as compared with the pay of pri
vates. That the private Is not a colonel
is very often a matter of chunce rather
thun one of merit. In the Confederate
army at the beginning of the civil war
there was a country boy who was promot
ed from private to lieutenant In the
twelve-months troops. On the re-enllst
rnent of his regiment the men hud the
privilege* of making anew choice of offi
cers. The colonel was quite a prominent
man and a fairly good officer, but he was
uot much liked by the men, who tried to
THE MORNING NEWS: SEN DAY. DECEMBER 4. ISOS.
find someone to oppose him for re-election
to the colonelcy. Candidates, however,
were scarce, the colonel’s official and social
prestige being thought quite sufficient to
make a candidacy against him a
forlorn hope. However, the “boys" in the
ranks put up the young lieutenant for the
office, and much to the chagritt of the old
colonel’s friends, he was elected. At the
battle of Fredericksburg the young colo
nel—almost fresh from the ranks—com
manded a brigade, and the corps comman
der, In his official report of the battle, said
that the enemy had driven back the Con
federate lines, but Col. , In command
of the Brigade recovered the ground,
and complimented him for his gallantry
and ability in leading his troops. It wa|
only by the commonest kind of luck that
the young man who was carrying a mus
ket in '6l was the communder of a brigade
in '62; but he was a typical American sol
dier, and was equal to the occasion.
The country that has such men In its
volunteer ranks—and there are numbers of
them in the ranks of our present volunteer
army—should not make them wait until
they get on the pension lists for their re
ward; they should be given fair pay and
fair play, and there should be no such
wide difference of wages between enlisted
men and junior officers as is now the case.
Discipline, of course, demands that there
shall be a line of demarkation between
the various grades of soldiers, but the
matter of rank alone should not make
such a difference as there Is at present.
It might, indeed, be a good idea to reduce
the wages of all commissioned officers be
low the general grade, and otherwise
graduate the steps from the ranks up to
shoulder straps and sword so that the
army would be more democratic, and
merit and personal pride in the ranks
would not suffer injustice.
what is the meaning of it?
The announcement yesterday in our At
lanta dispatches that the bill to repeal
the law creating the assessment commis
sion had been held up in the Senate caused
very general surprise. It is certatnly not
the wish of the people of this city that
the assessment commission shall continue
to be one of the Institutions of the city
government, and it is hardly probable
that the Senate will disregard the wishes
of the people.
The platform on which the psesent mem
bers of the legislature from this county
were elected called for the repeal of all
the commission laws, except that creat
ing the Park and Tree Commission. The
people particularly object to the assess
ment commission, not because it has not
rendered good service, since It appears to
have done all that it was expected to do,
but because it is believed that all the work
that is done by the three assessment com
missioners at a cost to the tax payers of
$4,200 a year can be as satisfactorily done
by one assessor at less than one-third of
that amount.
The people are crying out, and very
justly, against the high rate of taxation.
They know that high taxes hinder the
prosperity of the city. It may be .'.aid
that the $4,200 paid the assessment com
missioners dosen't materially increase the
tax rate. No, it doesn't, but it is three or
four thousand dollars here and a thous
and or two thousand dollars there which
force up the tax rate. Many thousands
of dollars could be cut out of the budget
without Injury to the city’s interests. A
comparison of the budget now with what
it was ten or fifteen years ago would as
tonish the average citizen. There has
been an extraordinary growth in the ex
penses of the city—a growth not Justified
by the city's increase in population.
One great objection to the assessment
commission Is that its decision in respect
to any citizen's assessment is final. There
is no appeal from its action, to the City
Council. If the senator who represents
this senatorial district, and who has held
up the bill repealing the assessment com
mission law, insists that this city must
have an assesmen t commission let him
have the present law amended so that there
shall be only one commissioner at a rea
sonable salary, and let it be provided
that any citizen who Is dissatisfied with
his assessment shall have the right to ap
peal to the Council. But under no cir
cumstances should he insist upon the as
sessment commission remaining as it is.
The legislature is expected to obey the will
of the people, not defeat it.
WITCHING EYES AND JURIES.
If Mrs. Fayne Strahan Moore, formerly
“Pet” Strahan, well known in Atlanta so
ciety, should escape the grasp of the law,
it would not be surprising to see her on
the stage shortly as the star of some ma
chine-made play constructed especially to
fit her. Mrs. Moore, as is very well known,
is on trial in New York, with her hus
band, on the charge of having worked the
“badger game" on and robbed Martin Ma
hon, a hotel man. The yellow Journals of
the metropolis have discovered Mrs. Moore
to be a very remarkable woman, and they
are giving her an abundance of notoriety
such as would be very useful to a person
In the show business.
Mrs. Moore, It is alleged, is not only a
very handsome young woman, but she
has a most witching eye; a hypnotic eye,
in fact. So strongly did the yellow jour
nals write up the “hypnotic eye" that
the counsel for the state took note of Its
powers and requested the court to order
that Mrs. Moore be kept out of the court
room until her presence was actually nec
essary. He feared the power of the mes
meric glances upon the Jury. The court
declined to order the sequestration of the
woman while her husband's case was on.
but directed that she should be seated
where she would lie unable to exercise her
witchery upon the Jury. With this ba
sis to work upon, the yellow juornals have
been interviewing oculists, hypnotists,
mind-readers, fortune tellers, astrologers,
lawyers, doctors and others, respecting
Mrs. Moore's hypnotic eye and the secret
of her power. There does not seem to be
room for doubting that she has got in
the work of her eye upon some of the
newspaper boys, and they are proceeding
to give her advertising that she could
not otherwise have secured.
Meantime there are experts who assert
that there is nothing peculiar In or about
the young woman's eye. They declare
that the only “influence” she possesses
is that which any handsome young woman
with languishing eyes can exert, and to
which moat men, jurymen Included, are
susceptibly In connection with the power
of pretty and soulful feminine eyes upon
a Jury, the New Yotk correspondent of
the I’hiladelphia Press tells a tuoehing
story of a court scene. The late James T.
Brady was counsel for a* young woman
in a case involving an attempt to break
a will: “His client sat by his side. She
was a very beautiful young woman, whose
eyes seemed always to rivet the attention
of those upon whom her glance fell. There
was a pathetic expression which affected
every one. She sat watching the jury
during the course of the trial and at
last there was some complaint that she
was attempting by means of her glances
to excite the sympathy of the Jury. Then
Mr. Brady arose ,md in one of the most
touching and beautiful of all the ad
dresses he ever made in court, he spoke
of the blessings which every one who
had an appreciation of beautiful things
and could see them enjoyed, and dwelt
for some moments upon the happy lot
of the Jury who could see the budding of
the flowers—it was then spring lime—
and the charms of nature, then sudden
ly turning to his client, he said: ‘That
blessing is denied my client for, though
she has eyes which seem to look upon
you gentlemen, there Is no vision in
them, for her sight has been taken from
her.’
“She has been, in fact, the victim of to
tal paralysis of the optic nerve which
had not impared the beauty of her
eyes, but had given to them that singu
lar pathetic expression which she was
thus falsely charged with employing that
she might secure the sympathies of the
jury.’’
It appears from the official figures In the
state treasurer’s office that twenty Georgia
counties are bearing the burden of the
state government, and that five of these
counties, Bibb, Chatham, Fulton, Musco
gee and Richmond, pay four-fifths of the
net revenues paid by these twenty coun
ties. In other words, 117 of the 137 coun
ties draw more out of the state treasury
than they pay Into it. Chatham, for In
stance, pays in $192,450, while she gets back
only $45,585. More than half of Chatham's
taxes, therefore, go to counties that are
not self-supporting. Some of the counties
receive in and school funds as
much as *15,000 to $17,000 more than they
pay In. The opposition to the equalization
of taxation, the reduction of expenses and
the lowering of the- tax rate, and the sup
port of bills for increasing pension and
other expenditures, come, from those coun
ties which do not have to pay the cost but
really fatten at the expense of the twenty
counties that bear the burden.
Saving grace and brotherly love are to
be spiced with the “manly art of self-de
fense” at Dr. E. L. Stoddart's church, In
Jersey City. The reverend gentleman has
instituted a. boxing class in connection
with his church, at which ambitious youth
will be Instructed in upper-cuts, short
stops and solar plexus blows at the rate of
ten cents per lesson. “I believe,” says the
preacher, "that it makes a fellow more
manly.to learn that he can use his fists
when forced to It.” Prayer meeting Mon
days and Thursdays; amateur pugilism
Tuesdays and Fridays.
The Georgia House of Representatives
concludes that $2,000 a year each is quite
enough to pay the state railroad commis
sioners. For this sum—the hire of a head
clerk in a department store—the House
evidently expects to secure talent capa
ble of coping with the legal experts em
ployed by the railroads at $lO,OOO or more
a year.
It seems that there was a “crime of 1873”
in Spain also, but it was committed in
1875, when an edict discriminating against
silver was promulgated.
CURRENT COMMENT.
To Regulate the Franchise.
From the Nashville American (Dem.).
There is a strong and growing sentiment
in Alabama in favor of the constitutional
convention. The main purpose of the
movement is the regulation of the fran
chise so as to keep the illiterate and irre
sponsible voter from the polls. All the
Southern states are coming to this idea as
a matter of self-preservation.
Agrulnnlclo’s Prisoners.
From Louisville Courier-Journal (Dem.).
Dewey has proved himself to be as good
a man at raising ships as he was at sink
ing them. He has already floated three
of the Spanish vessels he sent to the bot
tom on the Ist of May. So far, this gal
lant salt has proved himself equal to any
thing he was ordered to do. and if he is
(old to release the Spanish prisoners from
Auginaldo's clutches it is the same as done
already.
More Taxes Altentl.
From the New York Times (Dem.).
At the approaching short session of Con
gress nothing will be done with the reve
nues. It looks as if the most that could
be expected would be appropriations that
will not more than exhaust the accumula
tions of the treasury by the close of the
next fiscal year, June 30, 1900. The next
Congress at its first session will unques
tionably be obliged to take up very serious
ly the question of revised and additional
taxation.
Generona to A Fault.
From the Chicago Chronicle (Dem.).
Judge Day says that America has al
ways treated her foe most liberally.
Nothing can be more considerate of Spain
by the United States than the payment of
$20,000,000 for the privilege of taking up
Spain's quarrels with the Fiilpinos. This
is, indeed, liberal, it is munificent. It Is
prodigal. That $20,000,000 has done much
for us. It has assured us the privilege
of knocking Aguinaldo on the head with
out any interruption from the power that
formally called Aguinaldo a subject.
Liberal treatment! Spain ought to rise
up and call us blessed, even if she have
the furtive feeling that we are the biggest
fools in Christendom.
—"There goes young Skimming, the art
ist " "Artist? Black and white?” "Ochre—
mediocre.”—lndianapolis Journal
Mr. foul (lock'll Hoodoo.
Among the anecdotes of Charles Walter
Couldock, which Etfie Ellsler tells, Is this:
"There are some plays,” sakl Miss Elis
ler, "that are the actors’ hoodoo3. Some
thing is certain to go wrong every time
they are produced. ’Louis the Eleventh’
was Mr. Couldock’s hoodoo. One engage
ment my father wished him to play it.
He refused and began to swear terribly.
"Now, my father had an infallible meth
od of bringing Mr. Couldock to terms on
such occasions. Mr. Couldock got mad,
my father got madder, and Anally Coul
dock would come around all right. He
did so in the case in question, and the
play was produced.
"AH went swimmingly until the last
act, and everybody hoped that the evil
spell was broken. It was not. Mr. Coul
dock died and laid there on his couch
waiting for the curjain to come down.
But it didn’t. So what did he do but come
back to life, go to the side of the stage
give the necessary order, and then return
to his bed of death.
"Then, when the curtain was down,
there was a terrible time. He frothed at
the mouth and declared that never again,
so long as he lived, would he play ’Louis
the Eleventh.’ Then he tore off all his
stage clothes and tossed them angrily
upon the floor. My father picked them up
and carefully carried them to his dress
ing room.
"The theater In which we were playing
had very long windows that extended be
low' w here the floor was put in the dress
ing rooms. This left a sort of pocket.
My father absent-mindedly stuffed all
these clothes down this hole.
"When Mr. Couldock came around a
year later, father wished him to play
‘Louis.’ They had the same sort of a
time, but Anally Couldock had an inspira
tion.
" ‘l’d play It, hut I haven’t the cos
tumes.’
“ ‘Yes, you have,’ said father. ’Here
they are.’ So he took his cane and Ashed
them out. They had been there untouched
for a year, and they were covered with
cobwebs.
"And so, much against his will, Mr.
Couldock had to play ’Louis the Eleventh’
again."
An Odd Christening.
There lives a man in Detroit, says the
Free Press, intelligent, prosperous, and
happy, who does not know that he has a
living relative In the world. He bears this
deprivation philosophically and seems to
regard it as something of a distinction to
be alone in the world.
"Nearly fifty years ago,” he relates, "I
was picked up by a slow sailing vessel
some 600 miles out from Liverpool. I was
a lusty youngster of ftve, lashed to a mast,
a pleasing assurance that the parents
whom I barely recall loved me and had a
care for my safely In the catastrophe that
must have caused their own deaths. I was
cold, hungry, thirsty, and sleepy when ta
ken aboard the old-time trader. My ap
pearance was, of course, against me, anrl
my clamor to be supplied with creature
comforts did not please the gruff captain,
w’ho had a dense Ignorance of children and
their management. His first order was to
give me the rope’s ehd, but there was suc
cessful intercession, and I was cared for
while he growled at his hard luck.
"But the captain took sick and found
more comfort In my prattle than in any
thing else provided for him. He took a
great liking to me and called me his son.
As soon as hie was up he decided that I
must be christened, one of the few things
that he knew should be attended to in the
case of children. Of course, there was no
chaplain aboard, so the captain himself
undertook the ceremony. He gathered the
crew about and with a mixed knowledge
of his duties he glared about him as he
asked whether any one knew just cause
why I should not be christened.
“ ’lf there is,’ he roared, “speak up like
a man or forever hold your clapper.” Then
he suddenly cracked a bottle of wine over
my head and christened ine.”
Here the citizen laughed, and added that
he was nine when the captain died, and
had made his own way ever since.
Fleas on Thnrber.
Among the laughable scenes of life Is a
woman trying to catch a flea, says a writ
er in the New York Press, But she isn’t
a circumstance to Frank Thurber, about
whom I had a recent paragraph. In the
offlee in the old building, at Chambers and
Greenwich streets, Dick Healy, the invoice
clerk, made about SSOO out of his chief
and the wicked flea whom all mankind
pursuelh. Out of the deep quiet of ihe
counting room would spring a demoniac
yell, and a long lean body would shoot
into the air. A flea had made tracks
across Thurber’s manly breast, and he was
“cussing a blue streak that would make
hell hot,” as the phrase goes. He was a
past master in the art of cursing. He
would fling to the winds the most original
and expressive oaths—whole cataracts of
them. One day he grew quite ashamed
and agreed to give Dick Healy SSO every
lime Dick caught him swearing. After
this had cost him SSOO in a few weeks,
he called the contract off and stopped the
cursery habit by mental resolution. They
say he cannot spell “damn” now. But
he still hates fleas.
A Rather “Close” KentnckUn.
I heard of a Louisville man who was
pretty close, says a writer in the Nash
ville Banner. There died a preacher who
was perhaps the most popular man in
Louisville. His friends undertook to raise
a neat sum of money for his family, and
did raise a goodly sum. Somehow they
succeeded in getting a contribution from
this man I am telling you about, but in
stead of giving cash he gave his note at
ninety days. The. committee tried to get
him to pay cash, but he refused, and they
left with the note. There were two or
three other notes, but when the commit
tee explained to the givers that they would
like to make it a lump cash contribution,
they all except this one took up the notes
and paid the money. When all had paid
cash except this one, they went to him
and explained the situation. He declined
to make it a cash subscription, but finally,
in answer to the committee’s repeated ap
peals, he agreed to pay it in cash if the
committee would discount the note. This
they did, deducting the bank discount for
the time the note had to run. He was a
very close man.
A Question.
From Harper's Magazine.
I asked the wind for word of him,
The wild west wind that scours the sea;
But all the sky wtth rain grew dim,
And dead leaves trembled’ on the tree.
I asked the sea, so still and gray,
Sighing strange secrets o’er and o'er;
But with a moan it side away,
And left me on the wide, wet shore.
I asked the sea bird, proud and shy,
The plaintive bird that never sings;
He swooped toward me with a cry,
And on a far wave curled his wings.
I asked the moon, the harvest moon.
Hanging so still In Heaven's high place;
But while I spoke she paled, and soon
Gathered the clouds about her face.
And with a sudden throb I know
That my poor iioie had been in vain;
And round me wept the heavy dew,
And the leaves fell, and sobbed like rain.
■Ethel A. Ireland,
• ITEMS OF INTEREST.
—Jack Tar used to get his rum undiluted
till Admiral Vernon, whose nickname was
“Old Grog,” Instituted the practice of wa
tering the spirit before it was served out,
and ihe mixture has gone by that name
ever since.
—The Deutsche Farber Zeitung recom
mends that iron reservoirs should be pre
served from rust by cleaning off the paint
and rust with a steel-wire brush. The sur
face is then to be healed by a soldering
lamp, bit by bit. and cobblers’ wax rubbed
into the heated parts. The wax enters
the pores and protects the iron.
—A Christmas entertainment Is annual
ly given to nearly 2,000 poor persons in Ber
lin with the proceeds of the contributions
of cigar stubs and tip cuttings by charita
ble smoker* who are considerate enough
to save these seemingly worthless scraps.
The annual call for the turning in of the
accumulation of the past year has just
been issued.
—ln electrical matters Germany takes
the leading place among the nations of
Europe. According to Industrie Electrique,
Germany has 711 miles of electric rail
ways and tramways, equal to those of all
the rest of Europe together. England is
credited with a modest 98 miles. Most of
the larger towns of Germany have electric
tramways, and the whole tram system of
Berlin will, by the year 1901, be converted
Into an electric one.
—The Germans have always been proud
of Leibnitz as one of the greatest philos
ophers. resenting the various attempts that
have been made in France and elsewhere
to prove that he was of Slavic descent.
Kuna Fischer felt inclined to admit that
his name was of Slavic (Polish) origin. Not
long ago, however, Dr. Croker discovered
In the Leipsic library a genealogical table
of the Leibnitz family, which enabled him
trace it back as far as 1450 in Central Ger
many.
—lt has been observed that 'there is a
great family resemblance among the Eng
lish Christmas weeklies. On the front
cover there are always ihree willowy
young ladies putting up holly in the par
sonage, and on the back cover a soap ad
vertisement. Inside one invariably finds
silverware and cheap jewelry announce
ments, with more soap literature; a cou
ple of Dlckenesque stories and the time
honored comic fox hunt in two pages of
small colored pictures.
—R. M. Quigley, a St. Louis contractor,
says that there has not been a time since
ISB7 when labor was so hard to get as it
is to-day. “Every contractor in the coun
try,” he says, "is complaining about -the
inability to get laborers. They are not to
be had in any section. Many are already
employed. 1 have been up and down the
Mississippi river a good deal in the last
few weeks, and I know that 5,000 men
could right now be placed to work on the
river levee construction between New Or
leans and Memphis.
—Rock Island, in the Straits of Mack
inac. was recently sold to the register and
receiver of the Marquette (Mich.) land of
fice for 5 cents. It was put up at auc
tion in a bunch with Foose, Eagle and
Haven Islands, and was sold to the high
est bidder, who happened to be William
St. James of St. Ignaee. St. James bid
$1.25 per acre for the islands, and as Rock
Island contains just one-twenty-flfth of an
acre, its purchase price was 5 cents. Green
Island, another tiny bit of land, which was
put up at the same sale, brought the same
price.
—Kansas City grain merchants have
made many complaints of late about short
ages In the shipments of wheat to that
city, and a committee of the Kansas City
Grain Dealers’ Association was appointed
to investigate the matter. It has been
found that 26 -k per cent, of the cars in
use for the shipment of cereals are unfit
for that purpose, some of them having
leaks through which many bushels of
grain are lost between the initial point of
shipment and the Kansas City elevators.
Many cars had also been bored into by
thieves in the freight yards and tapped.
—Travelers who have been up the Colo
rado river bring back stories of a curious
ape that lives in the forests along the
banks. The animal is four feet in hight
and is supposed to be something more than
20 years old. He is strong and fearless.
When a vessel comes near the territory
over which he ranges he dropped on board
from an overhanging tree. Then he makes
for the pantry, and by Ills actions shotvs
that he wants liquor. If indulged in this
wish he is good-humored; If not, he is
ready for a fight and sailors dread him.
Usually he is given repeated drinks of
liquor, and as soon as intoxication begins
to overcome him the ape goes ashore and
stays in the woods. At the appearance of
the next vessel he is on deck again. It
has been going on this way for three
years, or more, and the ape is demoral
ized.
—An animal with a skin much tougher
than that of the alligator and so far as is
known actually bullet-proof has been dis
covered in 'South America. In these war
like times this animal should be domesti
cated. This would be difficult, however,
as it Is a survivor of the old ground sloths
and wanders about only in the night. It
was first seen and shot at several years
ago in the interior of Santa Cruz, by the
late Ramon Lista, who heard of the ani
mal frequently from the Indians. It was
described by that naturalist as a pangolin
without scales and covered with reddish
hair, but It was impossible either to kill
or capture a specimen, and by many it
was believed that the observer had been
deceived. Now, however, Dr. Florentino
Ameghino has received from South Pata
gonia some bony ossicles and a partly de
stroyed skin which bear out completely
Lista’s observations. The skin is slightly
less than an inch in thickness and so
tough as only to be broken with a hatchet.
Its surface was covered with coarse hair,
about two inches in length and of a red-1
dish gray shade.
—Some curious facts about canary birds
can be learned at the exhibition of cage
bird fanciers in New York. Many people
do not know that there is any other kind of
mule than the long-eared animal, but there
is. and he is a very sweet singer. The
sweet-singing mule is a cross between a
goldfinch and a canary, and Is a better
singer than either. Unfortunately mules
cannot perpetuate their kind. Curious ex
planations are given for the appearance
of peculiar varieties of canaries. The Chi
nese white canaries are said to owe their
color to a long system of treatment by the
Chinamen, who gradually bleached them
out afier many generations and left them
albinos. Their forefathers were yellow, or
perhaps green, as are the canaries in their
native islands, but by keeping them in a
white room, feeding them on white food,
and even having their attendants always
clothed In white garments, so that the
birds never saw any oilter color except
white, they were gradually made to pro
duce white offspring which now perpetu
ate that color. The long Belgian birds!
with down-pointing craning necks, arc said
to have been produced by keeping their
progenitors confined in narrow cage's which
forced them always to stand holt upright
and to crane their necks downward to get
food and water, and the crescent-shaped
birds, the fanciers say, were produced by
similar means.
\S. It. MILLER,—Mi /
■Koberttdale, Pr. w U
I eaw your advertisement of CcTtctar
Rf.medies in tho Philadelphia “ Record," and
paid only $2.00 for Cuticuxa Resolvent,
Ccticcea (ointment), and Cuticlua Bore
which cured me of Salt Jlheum on my hands
of -0 years’ standing.
I had tlis worst hands I have ever seen.
At first my hands and fingers broke out in
red, watery blisters witUgerrible itching, 50 1
could nearly twitch the skin oft my fingers in
agony, then after tho watery fluid would corns
out, there would a scab form with matter un
der it, which would peel off and come in great
cracks, the blood running out in streams.
My finger nails grew out in wrinkles like a
cow’s horns and the roots of the nails were so
affected that I lost six nails, three off each
hand, but now they have grown out nice an<l
smooth. lam very thankful to you for C cti
cuka. 8. R. MILLER, Robertsdale, Pa.
ECZEMA and every kind of torturing, humlll.
sting, disfiguring, itching, burning, bleeding, ant
scaly skin, scalp, and blood humors, with loss ot
hair. It Instantly relieved and speedily cured by
warm baths with CUTICURA SOAP gentle
anointings with CUTICURA (ointment), purest ot
emollient skin cures, followed by mild dosei
of CUTICURA RESOLVENT, greatest of blood
purifiers and humor cures, when all else fails.
Pottvh Peru 1D Chbm. Cobp . Bole Props., Bortnn
W How to Cure Every Kind of Eoiems," ineiled free!
GARDNER’S BAZAAR
12 Broughton Street, East.
25 per cent, discount on afl Jardineros
sold on Monday, Dec. 5.
Now is your chance to get a bargain.
Handsome Sterling Silver and Silver
Plate Novelties.
Large assortment of Games, Toys ar.d
Dolls.
Special and new are our Burnt Leather
Goods. Just the thing for souvenir and
holiday presents. Come and see them.
Slationery, Cutlery, Razors.
Fine line of excellent Novels, 10c each.
Toothpicks, package, 3c.
Boys’ Wagons, Velocipedes.
nnhiMtirlv
differs from our form as much as their
fine mattings differ in wearing qualities
from any other made. We have the hand
somest designs and coloring. In both Chi
nese and Japanese mattings, that are im
ported, and that are not only cool, but
decorative and cleanly. Our stock of
floor coverings Is unexcelled.
A full line of carpets and rugs arriving
bv steamer.
J. W. TEEPLE.
THE MARSHALL HOUSE.
Broughton and Drayton sts.
Under new management. Thoroughly
renovated and refurnished. Electric lights
throughout. Hot and cold water on each
floor. Table cuisine unexcelled. Rates $2
to $2.50. Cars pass the door.
BOYCE & CATHARINE.
Proprietors.
SCOTT & DAVIS,
HIM IB
And Fancy Grocers,
The best the nuirket afford*
ways in stock.
Persounl nitration given to all or *
tiers.
813 HIC.tUY STREET, EA*
TBOBE 2236.
oranges/
NUTS, RAISINS, COCOANUTS,
APPLES, LEMONS, CANDY,
VEGETABLES. PEAS. BEANS,
HAY, GRAIN, FLOUR,
SEED POTATOES.
213 and 215 Bay street, west.
W. D. SIMKINS CO.