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NORTH GEORGIA TIMES. *»■ W! C. MLAU^IN. 's WUww'Mid Proprietor*, HUSBAND AND WIFE. «qt’a the strangest thing that ever t knew, And the most provoking ’twist me and yon And a woman who’s got a man like me, A good provider, and steady and free With ail her folks, with funds salted down. And as fine a house as any in town, To be lamenting ’cause one child in ten Ain’t quite as good as he might have been. “It’s a pretty good showing, it seems to me That only a tenth ot the lot should be A little off color, and teat’s what I say To their mother twenty times a day. But I can’t make her t ee it in that light Ano she listens and waits night after night For the sound of his step, till I grow so wild That I almost curse both mother and child. “She ought to live for tee others, yon know, And let the tormenting vagabond go, And folios'his ways and take tee pain; But I turn him out and she calls him again. This makes a hardness between hor and me, And the worst of it is, the children agree That Tm in the right. You'd pity her then; Such times I think I'm the meanest of men. ‘T’ve argued and scolded and coaxed without end; Her answer is always: ‘My boy has one friend As long as I live, and your charge is untrue That my heart holds no equal love for you And all the rest But the one gone astray Needs me the most and you’ll find 'tig the way Of all motliers to hold oiose to the one Who hurts her the most. So love’s work is Cone.’ “Now, what can I say to such words as those? Fin not convinced, as the history shows, But I often wonder which one is right, As I hear her light step night after night, Here and there to the window and door, As she waits with a heart that is heavy and sore. I wish the boy dead, while she gives hor life To save him from sin. There’s husband and wife.” Tom Slug. A STORY FOR YOUNG FOLKS. “This will never do, Tom,” said Mr. Benjamin Slug, as he read his son’s school-report for another term. “You must really rouse up, or you’ll never make a man of yourself.” Mr. Slug had got ou in the world by acting on the motto, “Labor conquers everything,” and thus from an oflioe-boy he had risen to the head of the firm. Justly proud of his own success, and knowing its secret, he was very anxious his son should follow in his stops. To this end he had put him to the best schools, and given him every chanoe of a good education. But the burden of every report was the same: “The lad has good natural abilities, and would make a splendid scholar had he applica¬ tion”—a polite way of saying that Tom was lazy. There was a picture in his bedroom of a field in a wilderness state of briers and thorns. Part of it had been originally inclosed as a vineyard, bnt it was now covered with nettles, and the vines were overran with foxes, finding ready en¬ trance by the rained wall In one cor¬ ner of the vineyard was a lodge, the latticed window showing the drowsy keeper within murmuring now and again; as he tnmed from side to side . “Yet a little sleep and a little slumber, then will I arise and till my field and trim my vines.” In the dim distance, the grim, gaunt, hungry-looking figure of Poverty was seen stealthily approach¬ ing, Tom often looked at this picture, bnt hitherto had not fully learned its lesson. He was a thoughtful boy in his way, and sometimes philosophized a bit about his lazy tendencies. Indeed, he was a philosopher in petticoats, for he would sometimes argue to himself in this way: “My name is Slug. Why, it’s the name of that slimy, gliding thing on the garden walks! Wonder if the family got its name—as Edward Long¬ shanks got his, from his long legs— from the slowness of some member re¬ minding people of a sing ? If so, how can I help being sluggish?—it’s in the blood.” He had jet to learn that people are « born into the world like oolts, and need breaking-in to be of foil use. The boy was quick with his eyes, however, if slow with his hands and feet. He had pioked np a great deal, in this way about beasts and birds and flies and creeping things. On this memorable afternoon he was fresh from a book about the termites or “white ants,” found in Africa, which build nests twelve feet high, some on the ground, shaped like pointed haycocks or huge mushrooms, and some in trees, shaped like sugar-casks, with a covered way to them, winding round the trunk, from the ground. There was a seriousness in his fatherVi tone as he begged Tom to free kimsti from the growing slavery of indolence by one grand effort, which made bin feel very miserable and disgusted witl himself. In this mood he wandereci into the orchard and threw himsel/' down under a tree. It was a beautifd summer evening. The slanting sunligb barred the grass with long shafts oi green and gold. Hard by, a little SPRING PLACE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, APRIL 80, 1885. stream made music as it ran. The ah was thronged with insects, dancing away their little day in the snnset hour Tom could not help feeling the beauty of the scene. And some sense of sweet, ness would mingle with the bitterness that found vent in his tears. When these had censed, his eye chanced to fall on a nest of ants, the inmates of which were very busy arouud him, Borne repairing the nest, others guarding it and others carrying stores into it. As he watched them, the nest began to grow sensibly bigger, until it seemed as if he could walk up and down in it. Tom thought this was a splendid chanoe of exploring an ant-hill, and making up to the nest, was about to enter, when two of the guards rushed out, clashing their jaws so fiercely that he felt quite frightened. He was still more startled, however, when one of them asked him what fee wanted. On recovering him¬ self, he made bold to ask if ho might be allowed to see over the nest. The guards conversed for a moment, ar.d then one of them went inside and pres¬ ently returned with a kindly, motherly looking ant, who said: “The queen has been pleased to grant yon your request and appointed me your guide. Please 6tep this way.” The entrance opened into a kind of hall, which again narrowed into a lobby, having a pillar at the entrance, midway between the walls. Seeing Tom look wonderingly at this pillar, the guide told him it was to make the nest easier of defenee when attaeked. “Yon see,” she said, “a couple of ants conld keep a whole army at bay here.” Tom thought it a most skillful device. Passing through this lobby, they came to another ball, mneh larger than the first, with pillars here and there, to sup¬ port the roof. “This is the grand assembly-room,” said the guide. Then she led him into another lobby, having a row of cells on each side. They mounted a staircase, and passed through a gallery, which also had rows of cells on each side. There was some¬ thing, or somebody, in every cell. Now and again, they met a long string of ants bearing burdens. The leader of one of these—a big-jawed ant siezed Tom with his nippers as they were passing, and would have made them meet in his flesh, had not the gnide signaled that he was a friend. Tom might have grown weary with his long tramp, but for some entertain¬ ing accounts of other ant nests by the guide. She described one hollowed ont of the branches and twigs of a thorn tree for the soke of honey hidden there; an¬ other pnrse-shaped, made by gluing leaves together while on the tree; and another, stranger still, made with dried cakes of refuse, arranged like tiles on the branches of a tree, one large cake form¬ ing the roof As they came to one cell a joyous com¬ pany passed out, having among them a large ant of very stately bearing. “The queen! the queen 1” cried the guide. “Isn’t she a right noble lady ?” Tom took note how very devoted and attentive the ants were to their queen. Her body-guard lifted her gently over all rough places; and when the royal party met a troop of working ants, the latter divided and saluted the former as it passed along. Tnrning into the cell the queen had just left they saw the floor covered with the smallest eggs Tom had ever seen. They were scarcely bigger tban a pin point. “But como this way,” said the gnide, “and I’ll show yon the nursery.” This was one of the cosiest cells in the whole nest. Here, ranged against the walls like classes in a school, were rows upon rows of small, white, legless grnbs. They looked like tiny sugar loaves, and were made up of eleven or twelve rings. Every little creature had its nurse, who was either feeding it or washing it, or just taking it ont for an airing, or bring¬ ing it in. “What in the world are these funny little things ?” asked Tom. “Why, they have come out of eggs tike'those you sawjust now; and if spared will be full-grown ants some day. Now yon must see the spinning room.” So saying, the gnide led across a passage into another cell Here a number of fine fat grnbs were spinning gauze dresses for themselves, whioh were to shroud their bodies from top to toe. A few were spinning an ad¬ ditional ooat of silk to pnt over the gauze dress. “These are their nightgowns,” said the gnide. “And the moment they are covered from head to foot they will go to sleep for a month or six weeks without waking.” Tom thought that wonld be nice. The spinning room led to the dormi¬ tory. Here Tom saw what at first looked like piles of broken twigs and tiny balls of silk; bat when he examined the bits of stick more closely he oonld trace the race and limbs of an insect through the gauze covering. They looked, for all the world, like the pictured mummies he had seen in books. The guards in the room looked rather savagely at Tom when he entered, but a glanoe from the guide made all right On reminding the gnide that the qneen they saw a little while ago had no wings, she said: “You are quite right, Master Sharp-eyes. But she once had wings, and Til tell yon how she lost them. The wings of the king and qneen are for the wedding-trip only. The king dies, or is killed off on his re torn, while the qneen strips off her wings and sets seriously to her life-work of laying eggs; and that is how she loses her wings. See 1 there they go for the wedding-trip 1" Tom turned, and saw two rather ele¬ gant-looking ants, with wings halt raised, making toward the door of the nest. He and the gnide followed just in time to wish them much happiness, as they flew away through the sunlight air. Tom, seeing himself at the main door again, and thinking he had trespassed quite long enongh on the kindness of his ant-friend, turned to thank her, and to send also a message of thanks to the Qaeen, when she exclaimed: “Oh, I have a good deal more to show you. You have not seen onr cows yet.” “Cows, cows? Ants have cows 1” 3ried Tom, in astonishment. “Yes, ants have oowb; and if you will step this way you shall see them." Tom obeyed, and they retraced their steps through one of the long corridors. As they went along they met an ant carrying a heavy burden. “What! busy yet ?” said the gnide, and they touched hands as they passed. “That is one of the best workers in the whole hive; she works fifteen hours a lay many a time.” Presently they came upon a little insect with a toft of hair an its back, whioh an ant snoked, and then went away licking its lips. “That is a walking honey-pot,” said the guide. “We keep several in the nest, and when we want a taste we snok them, as you saw that ant do juBt now.” Tom opened his eyes at this. Bnt he opened them wider when he learned that there were ante who were living honey-jars, who stored Up honey and gave it ont as required to the other members of the community. Just then a very small ant leaped on the baok of the gnide and pnt its long spider-legs round her neck. “Stennie, Stennie, my little pet, don’t quite ohoke me with your hugs. You see we have pets, as well as cows and living honey-pots,” turning to Tom. They had now reached the cow-shed, connected with the main nest by a cov¬ ered way. It was built round and over the loaves of a daisy plant which formed the stalls for the cowb. Tom was looking for a large, four legged creature, and when the guide pointed out quite a herd of small, green iuseots, he thought she was sorely pok¬ ing fun at him. But these were the ant-cows. For by and by the milk¬ maids came in, went up to the oows and stroked them very gently until drops of honey fell from them, which they drank. As Tom stood watohing them, he remembered to have seen green in¬ sects like these on the rose-trees and gooseberry bushes in his father’s gar¬ den, and the thought strnck him that what people call honey-dew was the honey dropped by these little oreatures. The guide told him, as they walked away, that there were some ants that grew their own rice and even mnsh -ooms. “Dear me,” thought Tom, “ants are as clever as men.” Goming to a door that led into the grand hall and looking in, the gnide ex¬ claimed : “Why, the sports are on and 1 did not know.” It was a merry scene. Atone end was the qneen, with all her courtiers round her, watohing the games. Here along double row of ants were playing at thread needle. There a company was dancing; close by were several pairs wrestling and boxing; while many of the youngsters were playing at hide-and seek all round the hall. Suddenly, when the merriment was at its bight, a cry was heard : “To the pillar, to the pillar! The foe, the foe 1 Seal the inner doom I” The scene was ohanged in an instant. The qneen had her bodyguard doubled, and was taken off to the royal cell, and sealed np. The keepers of the eggs, the grnbs, and the mummies hurried away to their respective cells, and filled up the doorways with olay. The cow keepers did the same with the entrance to the covered way. All was excitement. When the defenses were completed, all waited the onrush of the enemy. But it proved a false alarm. One of the out¬ posts had indeed seen a legion of soldier ants in the distance, tending toward the aest. however, They were simply rounding a hill, and then made for a nest of negro ants, intent on making slaves. This Js the explanation of a scout, who ( been sent out to see how the thing would turn. Tom Was utterly dnmfonnded when he heard of ant slaves. “Do ants really make and hold slaves?” he asked, in utter astonish¬ ment, qjf his guide. “Yes, some; not all. We have no slaves, bnt do all oar work ourselves. There is one tribe of ants, the ‘Ama¬ zons,’ great slaveholders; but they do nothing but fight and lounge. They are very brave in war, however, ana never take or kill the np-grown ants of a nest, exoept these try to hinder them from carrying off their yonng, which they want to bring np and make into slaves. Bnt tbey have to pay dearly for their laziness.” Tom winced. “They are called the * Workers;’ but they are just the opposite when not fighting. They neither feed nor clean themselves nor their yonng ones. All this h done for them by slaves, who actually have to carry them on their backs when they go to a new settle¬ ment. Jn fact they have lost the power of doing any thing for themselves through having everything done for them and not using the power they had. Their jaws have lost their teeth, and are now simply nippers with which they kill their foes. And all this results from in¬ dolence.” Tom winced again. Was she pointing at him % “But?’, went on, “I know another tribe, tM ndjaws, who have become more i still in the same way. They ; to even losing their nipping power; and if it were not for their slaves, 'ho carry them to the field and then A; hi by their side, they would never w n a battle. There is one other tribe which sloth has plunged into yet deeper depths of degradation, the Worn outs. y are tlie mere puppet mas ibch okveS/ who have become the real masters. Laziness is a terrible enrse; it can blight the finest powers.” The speaker’s thousand eyes flashed fire as she spoke these words, and made Tom tremble. fie shuddered at the pioture of the ants on whom the curse of idleness had fallen. It made him think of the pic¬ ture in his bedroom. Did he really see what his future might be—and would be, did he not change—in these pic¬ tures ? And he groaned aloud, in an¬ guish of heart, at the thought. “Tom, Tom, rouse up, my boyl You will get your death of cold sleeping like that in the grass. Come in and get some warm supper. ” This was Tern’s father, who had been seeking him, high and low, for some time, and had found him at last, fast asleep in the orchard. Tom’s adventure in an ant-hill was a dream; yet not all a dream, passing away with his waking thoughts, like the morning oloud. The last words of his guide rang through his mind for many a day: “Laziness is a terrible ourse and can blight the finest powers.” It was the turning-point in his life, whioh suf¬ fered as great a change as that which turned the white, legless grub, in his dream, into a light airy inseot. It was a new birth. A few months later he went to business, and soon won a char¬ acter for patient industry whioh he kept throughout his life. An Actor’s Good Angel. Herr Sonnenthal, the celebrated German aotor, who is mJw playing an engagement in New York city, tells a reporter the following tale: “For twelve years past I have been followed almost daily by a woman. I have never spoken one syllable to her, nor she to me. Never has the slightest communication of any kind passed between us. For twelve years I have seen her almost nightly at the theatre; I have oanght occasional glimpses of her at a window or on the baloony of some house in some street in which I might be living; I have met her in obscure villages when on some tour or rest. Whenever I fail to see her, some piece of ill luck always seems to befall me. At first her continual re-appearances somewhat worried me. I tried to communicate with her, bnt al¬ ways failed. Finally I grew to regard her as my lucky star. I have built up an ideal in my mind concerning her. Not for the world would I speak to her, lest that ideal should be destroyed. Judge of my astonishment when I saw my Olucksengel on board the ship when we were a few days ont. When £ open at the Thalia, I know I shall see her there. If on the night I am to play Hamlet my eyes fall on her, I know 1 shall carry all before me.” The good angel was present when he opened, and he did oarry all before him. VOL. V. Now Bones. No. 12. SUBDUING AN ELEPHANT. AJAX, AN ELEPHANT IN PHILADEL¬ PHIA, BECOME* VICIOUS. Swinging him In the Air to Bring him to llcanon. The work of conquering the proud spirit of Ajax began at nine o’clock on Tuesday morning and ended Ehortly before noon Saturday. Beating has no effect upon a mad elephant. It only renders him more stubborn and wicked. The breaker’s only hope is to convince such an animal that he is powerless against man. That accomplished, the beast becomes as docile as elephants ever are. On Tuesday morning four hawsers were passed through immense pulleys attached to beams under the roof. Then a Bet of harness, shaped something like a monster shawl strap, was fastened about Ajnx’s defiant body. The leather straps, which were three-ply thick, covered small chains. All the leather plates were copper riveted and a foot wide. Ajax looked as though ho were in armor after being encased. Three hours were spent in getting the harness on him, and during the job he slightly injured two of the keepers. Through iron rings, supporte#*by great chains, were passed the hawsers. Then a dozen men grasped two of the lines of rope that passed through the pulleys, and before Ajax knew it his hind feet were six feet above the ground and he stood on his front ones in the most approved performing elephant style. For a moment he was paralyzed with astonishment, but surprise gave place to fury when he appreciated the ridiculous posture he was in. He surged and trumpeted and flapped his ears, but all to no purpose. When his struggles subsided some of the men ran off with the front ropes and in a jiffy Ajax’s body was suspended in air. He made frantic efforts to tear the belting off with his trunk, but the chains between his fore legs and around his shoulders prevented it. There the monster brute hung, as helpless as an infant. He was free to kick and plnnge and butt the air as mneh as he pleaded. From time to*time he was lowered, so that he conld rest his legs, but none of the men were allowed to approach or worry him. In the evening he was low¬ ered and fed, and allowed to spend the night on the ground, thinking over the indignities that had been put upon him. "After his breakfast on the following morning he was trnssed np as before. He resisted, but his efforts were un¬ availing. He was a stoat-spirited brute, however, and the second day’s punish¬ ment only seemed to increase his rage. When he came down to supper he was the maddest elephant that ever trum¬ peted in winter quarters. At the sight of the harness on Wednesday he became greatly excited. He was “coming to his senses.” This, however, did not'pre vent him from being hoisted np again. He surged about less in his comfortable swing on Thursday, but otherwise he was as stubborn and dangerous as ever. An anchor was sunk five feet in the ground and covered with earth in an¬ other part of the quarters. Only a ring was exposed. Ajax’s forelegs were hitched to the ring on Friday merning. Hopes were attached to his hind legs, which were then drawn ont, leaving him “spread-eagled” on his stomach on straw. The elephant was let up and thrown down several times daring the day. After three or four hours’ experience of this kind Ajax.became meeker, and he was quite dejected when, in the even¬ ing, he was unchained and ordered to stand up. He was hobbled and thrown down on Saturday morning, and when he tonohed the ground he cried out, and tears trickled down his trunk. He was conquered. The chains were removed at once, and he got np quietly. At the word of command he walked into the room he had broken out of on Monday night, and was as meek aB a sheep. IN THE LEGISLATURE. “Mr. Speaker, I arise to place in nomination a man, sir, what we all know, sir, to be a man what ain’t got no peer nowhar. We all know that he is more than qualified, sir, for the posi¬ tion, for I served with him durin’ the wah, sir; he will not only represent the great partoe, bnt, sir, the entire State. Durin’ the dark and bloody days when the pale face of hanger put its bloody hand on the heart of the nation he was found to be as true as steel, an grabbed the gory wolf by the lappels of his shirt and shook him until he loudly begged for mercy. ’’—Arkansaw Trav¬ eller. _____ I object strongly to myself as a bun¬ dle of unpleasant sensations with a pal¬ pitating heart and awkward manners. Impossible to imagine the large charity I have for people who detest me, Bnt don’t you be one of them, THE HUMOROUS PAPERS. WHAT WF. FINI» IN THEM Till* WEEK TO (SMILE OVEH. Not In l»i» Office-A Street Romance—Inno¬ cent Childhood—Fun lu Boatoo* Etc* THE SEASONS. 1. The winter’s almost past, the time is coming fast that brings the genial sunshine bright and clear, clear, clear, and paragraphers gay will shortly pnt away the sealskin joke until another year, year, year, 2. The coal man and the plumber, all through the oowing snmmer, will be allowed to take a well-earned rest, rest, rest, and, springing from its tomb, the ice cream joke will boom in new and handsome garments gayly dressed, dressed, dressed. 3. The pionio sandwich, too, exist¬ ence will renew, and jokers on its make¬ up will descant, cant, cant, declaring it is made of neither ham nor bread, but from the hardest kind of adamant, mant, mant. 4. Then, both in prose and verse, the jokers will rehearse the tale anont the lovers who till late, late, late, sit on the stoop and spoon, or ’neath the silver moon together swing npon the garden gate, gate, gate. 6. But this is merely done for pur¬ poses of fun, intended as a little harm¬ less chaff, chaff, chaff—no malice in the play—to drive dull care away, and make the melancholy person laugh, laugh, langb.— Boston Courier. A mother's poem on babt. A young mother sends us a poem upon “Baby.” It is certainly a gem. The only fault we have to find with it is that of sacrificing melody to hard sense. The third stanza is a striking instance of this: Doxery doodle-urn dinklo-um dam, Turn to its mozzery muzzery mum; Tizzery, izzory, boozery boo, No baby so sweet and so pitty as 'oo. — Upton Bewt. HE MOVED. A Detroit gentleman went to his front door one fine afternoon to inhale the balmy air of spring. To him a casual passer-by remarked: “I'll bet you two dollars, Mister, that you’ll move before night.” “You are an impudent fellow,” replied the gentleman, “but I'll take your bet. Why do you think I am go iug to move?” “Beoauae, Mister, yonr house is afire.” INNOCENT CHILDHOOD. Fond mother—What a dear, sweet little fellow Bobby is 1 Ho asked me last night if he were to die aud go to heaven if I thought God would let him play with the stars. Father (turning his boot upside down and shaking it violently)—Now, who put that tooth brush and powder in there ? Fond mother (resignedly)—Ob, I sup¬ pose it was Bobby.— N. Y. Times. TRAVELING “INCOG.” A retired humorist one day ventured into a cotton mill and while in an un¬ guarded moment he was perpetrating jokes some of his old and shopworn upon an innocent operative, he was drawn into some of the crushed. ponderous They gear¬ ing and dreadfully combed ,lum out of the machinery after a spell and spread the effects is it on ?” the floor. “Who is it ?” “Who was the anxions inqniry as the crowd gathered around. Nobody knew. Then the humorist slowly opened sympathizing his eyes aud moved his lips. A bystander bent down hia ear. “There is good reason why nobody recognizes me,” the humorist whispered sympathizing painfully. by¬ “Why is it?” the stander asked. “Because,” the humor¬ ist explained, as he saw a chance to steal home, “because I have been travel¬ ing incog,” And then a smile like a summer cloud played for an instant over his features and was gone. He never spoke again .—Boston Journal. FURTHER COMMENT UNNECESSARY. A Washington hotel keeper was boast¬ ing of the amount of money he had made during inauguration week. “What do you think of that ?’’ he said, tnrning to a stranger. The stranger lifted his shoulders, but made no reply. “Don’t you think that’s doing pretty well ?” persisted the hotel man. “My wife’s a runnin’ a boardin’ house in New Orleans," said the stranger sen tentioasly, and then the Washington man was silent. LITTLE EDITH UFPERTON. “Good-by, I shan't sea you again for six weeks.” Little Nellie Lowertou : “Why, are you going away?” “Yes. Wo is aii going away to Aunt Harriet's in the country. We’s going to skate, and sleighride, and have quilting bees, and country dances, and tea parties, and oh, lots of fun.” “But why oan’t you all stay in the city aud have a nice time just the same ?’’ “Why, dou’t yon know? It’s Lent, and it’s wioked to have fun where people can see you,”— Philadelphia Call ,