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NORTH GEORGIA TIMES. X. K'W*. (l'ro|) riotor a a CARTER. Ascertain Your Weight. tn public places nowadays there stands a handsome scale, Without proprietor or clerk to tell Us simple v . tale; But passers-by may read the words engraved upon a plate, To “Drop a nickel in the slot and ascertain your weight." A moral's here, good people, if you’ll take a moment’s thought, A lesson for life's guidance 'tis and most succinctly taught; Co* if it be the part of man to have a bout with fate, (t surely is the thing to do to “ascertain your weight.’’ So, if you think that politica affords yon r widest scope, If to puli the w tres deftly is your purpose and your hope. If you fancy that your destiny's to glorify the state. Just drop a nickel in the slot and ascertain your weight. If you dream that you’re an actor, and Im¬ agine you're endowed With graces and will) gifts to win the plau¬ dits of the crowd, If sock and buskin visions fill yoursoul with jOy ciste. Just drop a nickel in the slot and ascertain your weight. If you feel that you’re a poet, and hy right divine belong To those whose wings have borne them to Parnassian heights of song, If ballades, rondeaus, triolets, you long to incubate, Just drop a nickel in the slot and ascertain your weight. If you deem your forte the story, and you only ask the chance To run a tilt with Haggard in the regions of romance. If another Robert Elsmere you are eager to create. Just drop a nickel in the slot and ascertain yW weight. If you sec yourself a lawyer, or a doctor, or a beau, If you think that as a lover you couid make a touching show, If you deem society the field you ought to cultivate, W. Just drop a nickel the slot and ascertain your weight.' ' In abort whnt'pr the path to which ambition points tin* way. Repeat this legend to yourself ere yet you make essay, For it is well that modesty, before it is too late, 1 Should drop a nickel In / la slot and ascertain its Weight. —[William L. Kcese. Mrs, Raymond’s Economy. BY ANNA RAVENDALE. Drifting—drif ing away into the quiet land of dreams—dialf uncertain whether lie was awake or asleep, with a p'casant semi-consciousness the while, of the clear lire glimmering on the wall, nnd of the gray kitten pur¬ ring dtowsily on the hearth-rug, George Rasinond had a very narrow escape from a sound nap, when his wife came in, with fluttering dress and elastic step. “George, dear!” said she. “Well Cis.” , He was wide awake in a moment, and ready to make an affidavit that he hadn't had the least idea of going to sleep. “What is ir, little busybody?” ho asked, lazily stretchiug out his hand to play with lier wutclucliain, as she came toward him. “Can yon spare me ten dollars this evening?” “Of course I can—what is it for? ’ he asked, leisurely opening bis purse and handing tier (he money. “Tho milliner’s bill; she will be here early to-morrow morning. Thank yon, dear.” Mrs Raymond sat down on a hassock, close (o the sofa, when she had put the money in her purse, so that the firelight played genially on her delicate face with its shadowy masses of dark hair, and large, violet gray eyes. “Wed, Pussy, what are you think¬ ing about?” said lier husband, after a momentls unbroken silence. “To tell the truth, George,” said Mrs. Raymond, looking up smilingly, “I was wishing that, in-tead of com¬ ing to you for everything 1 want, I had a regular allowance of my own.” A regular allowance of your own?” he repeated, “Really, that is compli¬ mentary to my generosit I” “1 knew you wotilld laugh at me, George; yet indeed I do wish it very much indeed.” “And pray, why? Don’t J give you every thing you ask for?” “J kiiow you do, my love; yet t ehoitld feel richer, somehow more in¬ dependent, if I had my own resources -—if you would allow me just such an •mount evurv mouth.” SPRING PLACE. GA.. THURSDAY. JANUARY ], 1891. “How much would satisfy you, little miser?” “Well, I think I could do very well on forty dollars n month.” “Do you happen to know that I have handed over to you just one third more than the sum you specify during (he last four weeks? It strikes me you would not be much of a gain¬ er, pecuniarily speaking, by this new system of finances.” “But. I believe I should, Geor«j, for it would teach me to calculate and economize, and-” “In short, you want to try the ex¬ periment?” said iier husband. “That's just it,” said she, coax in g iy. “My dear, this is all nonsense,” said lie. “Believe me, I understand the care of money better than you do.’ “Then you aro not going to indulge me?” said Airs, Raymond, and there was such a plaintive accent in her voice, that her husband checked him¬ self in the midst of a tremendous yawn, to look full into the aggrieved lit lie face. “My dear,” he said, laugh'ngly, “I have never refused you anything yon chose to ask. atul it isn’t likely I shall begin to assert my independence at this late hour. Take your forty dol¬ lars a month—take what yon please— bi t I'm considerably mistaken if you don’t come to me, teasing mo for *just a little more money’ before the four weeks have expired." “Now you shall see!” said the de¬ lighted little wi.’o, “What shall I render in payment of your docility, Mr. Prophet?” HA"'kiss,” replied Iter husband. and “AYrI jjow finish bo off'about your business, lertne my nap.” How often, during the next twelve mouths, George Raymond rallied his wife within an inch of the “crying degree” about iter financial schemes— how often lie alluded mischievously to the probably exhausted state of her purse, aud his entire willingness to hand over any amount of money the moment she would confess herself to bo wrong, and him to bo right, until she was nearly tempted to abandon her cause in ijespair. D<it she persevered so bravely that after a while he de¬ clared that ho believed his littlo wife could do vory well with a smaller sum thau he had previously had auy idea of. “But I know you arc denying your¬ self scores of feminine fol-de-rals, Cis,” said lie. “Say the word, my dear, and I’ll make it fifty dollars a month, instead of forty.” “No, indeed,” said Cicely, decisive¬ ly. “Didn’t I toll you that forty would be enough? And it is.” Nearly live years had passed away. It was a stormy night in March; the clouds were flying before a strong gale, and the air was chill and raw with occasional gusts of snow. Mrs. Raymond sat in lier cheerful parlor, stitching away at a little frock for her sleeping baby, and singing her lialf forgotteu melody to herself as she worked. “I wonder what makes Geoige so laic,” she murmured, as a stronger blast than usual shook the windows and roared down the chimney. “I ho; e it isn’t any difficulty in his busi¬ ness matters. He lias looked very grave lately.” The words had scarcely passed through ber mind wlion tho door open¬ ed, and Mr. Raymond entered. He did not speak to his wife as usual. “George, ate you ill, dearest? What is the matter?” He made no reply. She rose and cirao to his side, reiterating her in¬ quiries. “Ask me no questions, Cicely,” he said at length, in a lone so strange and altered that she started at its sound. “You will learn evil tidings soon enough.” Tell me, my husband. Aro not my joys yours, your soriows mine? Surely we have not ceased to be one?” “Cicely,” he said, rising, “I did not intend to cloud your happy brow with my griefs, but it is too late longer to dissemble. I had hoped, dearest, to outride this storm of disaster, which has wrecked so many of Our wealthiest morhliiftts in its whirlpool of failure. Tomorrow!,djowdvor, f a bcaVjhpiyitfcnt A# receiving falls duo. jiid rclfcd debts which would fuuy ljdnid|te the amount; instead of wliicb, I have heard today of the failure Of the fi rm on which 1 Ita l so wlioi y depended.” “But can the amount be raised in no other way, George?” “By borrowing here and there—by straining my credit to the utmost, an.l scraping together every dollar of available funds, I can raise the sum, all except one thousand dollars. But it might as well bo one hundred thou¬ sand. Unless the whole amount is met, I am a ruined, disgraced man. To think that my wholo fuluro lifo should be darkened for want of one thousand dollars!” “Aud is that all you lack,” asked li'ts wife. “All!” he replied. “But what is the use of dwelling further upon it. I appreciate your syuipa.lty, Cicely, but it is vain.” He sank back on the sofa, clasping his hands on his closed eyes. lie must have lain there motionless for five or six minutes, when Cicely, who had left the room, returned, and laid her soft hand on his forehead. “Dearest, look up a moment. Do von remember our childhood's fable of the lion who was released from the net by a little mouse’s tiny endeav¬ ors?” “What of it?” lie asked, with a vague apprehension that Cicely’s wits lmd been a little unsettled by the sud¬ den news of their impending misfor¬ tune. “Well, I am the little mouse—you are the snared lion. Here is the sum you want. Take it, and may it prove useful in your time of need.” lie sat suddenly upright, staring al¬ ternately at Iter and the roll of neatly folded greenbacks. “Rut, Cissy, how—when “Dear George, I saved it from my allowance,” she replied. “I thought perhaps the day might conio when it would be welcome. Believe mol, niy husband, it gives tie ten thousand¬ fold more pleasure to place it in your hands than to have expended it in waste, or on anything 1 did uot abso¬ lutely require.” k j{, , “My darling wvnorfaliercd George Raymond, “you mWave preserved from ruin. T1 ■W - * 8 ' 8 onco passeu, P can bid defiance io misfortune.” At that moniout Cicely seemed to him to wear the lovely guise of an angel of rescue. Later in tho even iug, as she sat hy his side, she could not forbear whispering, with a touch of loving mischief in her voice, “George, who was right about my financial abilities, you or J?” “You little tease!” said he, laugh¬ ing, “I never realized before wlmt a blessing it is to have an economical wife.”—[New York Weekly. Prompt Iy Excused. The Rev. Myron lteed recited an amusing incident of his military career at tiie Loyal Legion banquet tho other night. Ilis regiment got into Nash¬ ville one morning, and the following morning lie was told to go and relievo the guard at the Capitol. He took up his company, and was told the first business was to put tho prisoners to work to clean out tlio place. He set them to work with mops, pails and brooms, and just as they were fairly at work a person came up and wanted to know what he was doing making such a noise. “ 'Hero, I don’t want anything of that,’ ” said Mr. Reed; “ <Jnst get your broom and help these men. > ?> it t Do you know who I am?’ ” “ ‘No, I don’t know,’ nnd I told him again to get his broom anil pail and fall in quick. Then he introduced himself—Andrew Jackson, military Governor of the Stale of Tennessee, and I excused him.”—[Denver Re¬ publican. Skin-Grafting on a Foot. Tlie delicate operation of skin-graft¬ ing was performed in St. Mary’s Hos¬ pital at Astoria a few days ago. Tlie patient was Ole Anderson, who had his left foot badly crushed at the jetty about two months ago. Tlie skin from the ankle down tlie side of the foot for the space of four or five inches square was torn off and the flesh left exposed. From the leg of Anderson sevoral strips were taken, but not enough to cover the space necessary, Another patient offered to lend Andor son a little section of lus cuticle. The offer #as accepted and W»s from tho pa* tint's ’t'fta enough taken to coin $oW the tjiporatum, and four out of this six tiew tf«es are growing nicoy, and in a short time Anderson will have a .-kin all over his iujurud foot.—[Ports land Oregonian. SHELL MONEY. Conchological Currency Circu¬ lates Even Now. Cowry, Clam and Abalone Shells Largely Employed. Shell fish lwvo from time immemor¬ ial contributed enormously to the wealth of the world. Not merely have they given up to man pearls of price, as w.'ll as the material of their own dwellings for ornamental purposes, but they have supplied him for centur¬ ies with till the money he needed to spend. Be Tore gold, silver and copper camo into n.so as a medium of exchange shell money was used for tho same j urpo-cs alt over the World. To this day it is employed ns cash to an enor¬ mous extent in southern Asia, the islands of the India t aud South Pacific oceans and in many parts of Africa. In these regions tho “cowry shell” is tlte one chiefly employed, for the reason that it is of convenient size and the tin!urn! supply of it is limited, so that no one cowry shell may bo con¬ sidered to represent a definite amount of'hthor in the process of finding, and (hire is no material chance of a sudden inflation of the currency by the dis¬ covery of a great deposit of cowries. One hundred cowries aro worth two cent*, and strings of them arc receiva¬ ble where they are current for trier, chandise, labor or anything purchasa¬ ble. One can build a house for instance, wortli $2000 and discharge the expense with 10,000,000 cowries. For purposes of trade in tho Itulo P- eiiic and Africa vast quantities of cowries aro imported to England, whence they are carried by merchants for use in barter. On tho west coast ot Africa a young wife can he bought for 60.01)0 cowries, equal to $12, while an ordinary wife not guaranteed * US J H , y 0iu i, nmv q>e had for 20,000 r c() , vl .j es j,i tho Soudan there is no oilier currency in nso. Tho late firm of Goileffruy & Co., Hamburg, was accustomed to send each year fourteen vessels to Zanzibar for cargoes of cow r ; es w ;which cargoes of palm oil an j other products were purchased on lho west coagt of Af.ica. Cowries were formerly largely used in tho pur¬ chase of slaves. The main source of supply of this species of shell is the Maidive and Laccadive Islands, in the Arabian sea. Before llw s ((lenient of America by the whites, and for a long time after, shells were exclusively used for money by tho Indians, mostly under the name of “wampum,” which con sisie.i of disks and pieces in other shapes cut out of shells of various kinds. One of the shells ,most com¬ monly used for this purpose was the common round or “qua' aug” clam. About half fin inch of the inside of the shell is of a purple color, and this the Indians used to break oft’ and con¬ vert into beads. Cash in the early days of this country’s settlement was chiefly, apart from the sited money employed in trade with the natives, beaver skins, heads and musket balls. The island of Conanicut in Navra gansett bay was oiinitially sold to the whites for one hundred pounds of wampum. Wampum was originally worth $2.50 a fathom, strung on or¬ dinary I wine, but enterprising mer cants in New York, then New Am. sicidam, set to work to make it by machinery, the result being a great depreciation in this sort of currency. The California Indians were ac cus ottied io ma tufacture large quanti¬ ties of wampum, to lake the place of the constant was'ngo caused by their custom of burying big sums of shell j money with every one ofimportance tvho died. In their country $100 worth of shell money would buy two very desirable wives. Periwinkles were largely used for monoy by the Indians. The sort of greatest value, however, was the abalone of the Pacific coast, j which was worth as much as $10 and gq .5 a shell. Out of the flat part of tho shell were takou round $1 pieces, md where tlio curve was 6jjarper, twenty,five-cont pieces. The beauty of these shells is much appreciated at this day, and in those times jjkne one wa » considered a fair equivalent for a horse.—[Washington Post. Grain is now stored iu steel tanks. Vol. X. New Series. NO. 48- The Paper Frnit Basket. Tho li.tie villugo of Charlestown, Md., has tlio distinction of containing a manufactory whoso counterpart does not exist in the world, This is the factory for the making of paper fruit baskets, which is tho only one of the tlte kind in existence. The plant was built and is owned by tho American Slrawbonrd Company who manufac¬ ture a basket from straw-boards, with a wooden top-hoop and a wooden in¬ side bottom-hoop, the article being lundsoinc in shape, st ong and welj ventilated, of tho standard 6ize of fruit and produce baskets. The main building is 156 feet long and 50 feet wide,two stories,with iron roof and sides. A building 50 hy 100 feet is devoted to the water-proofing process, while a third, 20 by 50 feet, also of iron and brick, is a chemical slock-ioom. An additional building, 200 by 50 feet, will probably he erect¬ ed at au early day for storage pur¬ poses. All the work is dono by ma¬ chinery, which lias been adapted to tho requirements, and patented, much in¬ genuity having been exercised in per¬ fecting tlte various devices. The first story of tho main building receives the straw-board and witnesses tho earlier processes, such as the cut¬ ting and crimping of bottoms, the stamping out and perforating of the bodies, tho cutting of paper hoops, which are of three sizes, and tlte raw¬ ing, steaming, pointing and shaping of the wooden hoops for top and hot loin. The second slory is tilled with light machines, adjusted to a nicely, which aro run by boys, where tho baskets are sewn together, tlte hoops, bottoms and forms being fastened, when the mill is at full capacity, at the r to of more than 1,000 an hour. The water-proofing is tho lust process, and so perfectly dono that the basket will stand immersion for 24 hours without damage, being stronger after ten minutes’ exposure to the all thau it was before.—[Paper World. Travel in China. Travel in Northern China is accom¬ plished in a cart, a mule litter, or the saddle. The first method is the most uncomfortable but the most rapid, the second the most comfortable but the slowest, the third tho most independ¬ ent hut the most uncertain. The cart used in Northern China has two heavy w’hccls, with wooden axle, no springs, and a body about four feet long and three broad, over wltich is a light frame-work top cov¬ ered with blue cotton. The mules driven tandem by a carter sealed on Hie left shaft (tike it along at a rato of about three miles an hour, and one can make In it an averago of thirty live miles a day, even over the rough¬ est country. It will carry about three hundred pounds of goods, and one or even two passengers; and lhc lighter one is squeezed in the more comfort¬ able it will p.ove, for that, and that alone, will be a protection from the terrible jolting over the rough country roads. It is told in some old books of travel in the narrative of the mission of Lord Amherst to tho court of Peking, if 1 remember rightly, that one of his attendants died from the effects of the jolting he received during a short jour¬ ney in one of these carts. But this mode of travel being the most rapid, l adopted it. Several years of exper¬ ience of cart travel in China had made he bold, so that I did not fear the fato of t. e Amherst mission man. Com f rtably wrapped in my wadded Chinese clothes, I squeezed myself in¬ to my cart feeling like a delicate piece of china ware packed in cotton, and after a hearty fatcwell to tho friends with whom I was s.taving at Pek¬ ing, the carters cracked their whips, and with a slnut to the mules we were off.—[Century. Removes Ink from the Fingers. It is not generally known that ink stains can readily be removed the fingers with the head of a parlor match. A book-keeper in a Wall Street banking house is said to made tho discovery. Moisten stained spot and rtib it gently with head of tlio match, keeping tiie skin wet 60 that it will not bo purned. stain rapidly not disappears. The match should be used Where there-is a cut. Violet ink stains' can <S>’ften removed by rubbing them with a woolen cloth. A coat si -eve answers vory well.—[New York Times. Love's Opportunity. Two lovers by the oKl tract gate, So young and all alone 1 The village clock tolls: Late! Lutel latte I Twelve times in so’ernn tone, “No! No!” A deep voice says aloud, “Sweetheart, don’t go Till the moon goes under a cloud." The Queen of Night rules high in spaoo Serenely briitUt and fair. Iler kis.-es gild the young swain's fica. The uiatde "s glossy hair. ’Tis late. And all their vows are vowed; Why wait, and wait, Til! the moon goes under a cloud? The fair girl's lips repeat: “Good night is not good-by.” But love tn youth is very sweet, Ami village maids are shv. Dear one. With head so sweetly bowed— Don’t run, don't run. Til! the moon goes under a cloud. — [George llorton, in Chicago Herald. HUMOROUS. A rustic player—The village hamlet. A stoic is a man who never had the toothache. Tlte faster a man runs in debt the less he is apt to get ahead. A counter-irritant—Tho shopper who doesn’t buy anything. Some of tho ocean razors make a pretty close shave in crossing. The waiter in a bustling restaurant always “sots tho table” in a roar. Fame is a glorious thing io achieve, but a small salary is more negotiable. A thunder storm is said to “como up.” Other rain usually comes down. “Does your ladyship take in table boarders?” “Yes; she took mein.’ “Why don’t you take something for your cold?” “Thanks; don’t care if 1 do.” A man of a flighty disposition should never bo made tho cashier of a bank. Merritt —l wonder wlmt makes your grandmother like to rock so much? Little Johnnie—’Causo the i hair creaks so. “Don’t you know, prisoner, that it’s very wrong to steal a pig?” “I don’t know, your Honor. They make such a row.” A man nltvays feels a great deal sicker when the doctor lias called bis disease by a high-sounding aud unfa¬ miliar Latin name. “Did you do any good deed to-day, my son?” “Yes, mother; I gave up my seat in tlie car to an old lady— when I got out at my station.” Boss Builder (shouting np to brick¬ layers on scaffold)—How many of yez is up there? Bricklayers (iu chorus) —Throe. Boss—Sure that's too many; half of yoz como down at once. * “My papa is having the family jew¬ elry cleansed,” said one little neighbor girl through the knothole in the fence. “Is lie?” responded the other little girl. “Yes; ma says he has it in soak now.” Airs. Blossom (to her husband who has come home iviili a black eye) — That’s what yon get for riding a bicy¬ cle. Air. Biossoin (mournfully)—No, my dear, it’s what I get for not being able to ride one. “Well,” remarked an Eastern man, as the train robber covered him with a rovolver, “l’vo pawned almost all my possessions at various times, bnt this is the first timo I’ve been obliged to put up my hands.” At a public contest lately held the following was the prize conundrum: What is the diff renco between a ten¬ ant and the son of a widow? r ihe tenant has to pay rents, but the son of a widow has not two parents. Resta rant Keeper—“John, what kind of meat did you order to-day?” Steward—“Veal, sir.” “Only veal?” “Yes, sir.” Then lie sat down and wrote on tlie bill of fare: “Chicken polpie, chicken salad, roast'veal, beef a la mode, veal potpic.” The Problem Solve!. Wife (looking up from a book)— This writer soys that half the miseries of married life como from the fact that wives do not have a certain, ro.u* larsurn per week to spend as they plcaso. tfa»b$ftdW»Truo; ap^ the ot{ier hall of the misery comes from the fact that btisbands do not have a certain, regular 1 sum per week to s|hsiu1 as they please, , York Weekly.