Newspaper Page Text
VOL. XIX.—NO. 881.
ATLANTA, GA., DECEMBER 10, 1892.
PRICE: ®2 00 A YEAR.
'MY RUTHERS.”
I tell you what I’d rutlier do—
If 1 only had my ruthers—
I’d rutner work when I wanted to
Than be bossed round by ethers,
I’d want to kind o’ git the swing
O’ what was needed first, by jing!
Afore I sweat at anything!
Ef I only had my ruthers.
In fact, I’d aim to be the same
With all men as ray brothers,
And the >’d be all the same with me,
Ef I only had my ruthers.
The poor ’ud get their dues sometimes—
Ef i only had my ruthers—
And be paid dollars ’stid o’ dimes,
Eer children, wives and mothers;
Their boy ’at stokes; their girl ’at sews—
Fer others, not herself, God knows!
The grave her only change of clothes!
Ef I only had my ruthers.
They’d all have “stuff” and time enough
To answer one another’s
Appealin prayer fer “lovin care”
Ef I only had my ruthers —
They’d be few folks ’ud ast fer trust—
Ef I only had my ruthers—
And blame few business men to bust
Theirselves or hearts of others;
Big guns ’at come here durin fair
Week could put up just anywhere
And find a-full and plenty there,
Ef I only had my ruthers ;
The rich and great ’ud ’sociate
w ith ad their lowly brothers
Feel in we done the honor un—
Ef I only had my ruthers.
—James Whitcomb Riley.
DAMASCUS THE ANCIENT.
Moslems Growing Richer, Chris
tians and Jews Poorer.
The British consul in Damascus, in
a report which has lately been issued
by the foreign office, gives some inter
esting information in regard to the
condition of that city and its neigh
borhood, says the London Times.
Damascus sends to Beyrout and oth
er towns in Syria, flour, grain and
fruits, while in regard to the neces
saries of life, it is practically self-sup
porting, with the exception of Man
chester manufactures.
The trade of the Diace is almost sta
tionary from year to year; if there is
an increase in the trade in an article
one year there is a corresponding de
crease the next, for luxuries are scarce
and the necessaries of life will only
luctuate with the population, while
the exports depend on the harvest,
which rarely fails.
The population is given at about
210,000, of which 180,000 are Moslems.
The number is supposed to be increas
ing, but it must be slowly, for the old
walls still surround the greater part
of the population, and the houses built
outside are very few.
The poverty of the Christians and
Jews is remarkable, the Moslems hav
ing of late years absorbed the trade
and wealth which were formerly in the
hands of the others. The Moslems
steadily increase in wealth, while the
Christians and Jews as steadily de
cline.
This unusual state of things is said
to be due to the loss of the through
trade at Bagdad, to the difficulties
which those who are not Moslems en
counter in business, and to the insolv
ency of the government. The Damas
cus bonds, which were repudiated to
the extent of £500,000, were mostly
held by Christians and Jews, and
the repudiation was a heavy blow to
them.
But it appears that the wealth of
the place has considerably increased
in the last 30 years, and it is probable
that Damascus will still further in
crease when the railways now pro
jected from the coast are constructed.
The exportation of licorice root, how
ever, seems to be doomed by the dis
covery of root of a superior quality in
Asia Minor and elsewhere.
Apricots form one of the chief prod
ucts of Damascns. It is estimated
that in a good year no fewer than 17,-
000 tons are gathered. Large quanti
ties are sent fresh into the. neighbor
ing towns and villages, while the rest
is dried or made into paste and ex
ported to Egypt. Hemp, too, is an im
portant local production.
Local industries are numerous, and
gome are of importance. The chief is
weaving. There are about 2,000 looms
for cotton, wool and silk weaving. The
first produce calico, curtains and divan
covers, the material used for the long
coats worn by Moslems, and for the
cloaks which cover the native women
from head to foot.
The manufacture of ropes, harness,
hammered iron, copper and brass work
are among the other industries. The
ornamental brass work and mother-of-
pearl inlaid work are chiefly supported
by travellers, why pay exorbitant
prices.
Comets’ Pranks.
When Ciesar was assassinated a large
double-breasted comet, with its tail
over the dashboard, was visible day
or other. It had too perihelions and
an extra blonde nucleus. The tail ap
peared to be obscured by the moisture
in the atmosphere.
In 1645 another comet showed up.
Several persons died during the year
and the comet was supposed to be im
plicated. The great peculiarity about
this comet was that it had lost its
perihelion and neglected to advertise
for it. The convulsions of this comet
were larger than those of any other
comet in the business.
1728 a comet appeared in some parts
of the United States and Mexico whose
tail was so long that it had to be con
tinued. It was very brilliant.
In 1812 a sorrel comet, with a bob-
tail, attracted considerable comment.
Some were of the opinion that this
IDOlfTOTT^lfT.
A TALE OF RUSSIAN NIHILISM.
By Carl Crofton.
Author of "Phyllis,” 1 Ivy's Secret,” ‘ The Mystery of White Towers,” etc., eic
CHAPTER I.
Every one who knew George Dono
van—and there were those who hated
him, those who loved him, and those
who were utterly and comfortably in
different to him—agreed in one thing
and night in Rome. It was also seen | was the same comet they had seen be—that he was a lucky fellow. It wa
THE EQUITABLE BUILDING, ATLANTA, GA.
in Utica, Syracuse, and other places in
New York Stats.
it was in the year 1456 that a $250
comet, with a nucleus as big as a ham,
appeared. It w r as of such a frightful
aspect that the Pope issued a bull
against it. It roamed around the
milky way, hut finally got mad and
went off without doing any damage to
the shrubbery.
In 1127 a comet shone so bright that
the stars failed to draw.
In 1246 the largest comet ever seen
had quite a run.
In 1308 a comet, three times as big
as the other, filled a three weeks en
gagement to crowded houses.
In 1409 there was a still larger
comet that shone so bright the gas
companies did a losing business, it
was steering straight for the earth,
but it was side-tracked for some reason
fore, and was merely giving a farewell
performance, a la Patti and Salvina,
but other savans maintained that it
was an entirely new comet that had
never been used before.
Quite a number of other comets have
appeared and disappeared, which is a
way comets have of doing when they
get near enough the earth to discover
bow much gall and unreason there is
among the inhabitants. The present
comet will probably follow their ex
ample as soon as it has a chance to
read the daily papers.—Texas Sif
tings.
Japanese women put up their hair
with wooden, ivory or tortoise-shell
pins, seven or eight inches in length
and fully half an inch wide. The
pins are usually carved, and are often
capped with pivoted figures that dance
with every motion of the wearer.
a verdict agreed to without a di
sentient voice.
Yet, viewed impartially, there were
a good many circumstances against
him, the prime one being that he was
poor. Then he belonged to an Irish
family so commonplace that its mem
bers did not even try to establish a
line of direct ancestry with the ancient
kings. On the other hand he was
young, strong, well-built, nandsome as
men go, pushing and energetic, though
romantic and fanciful too, with the
happy national faculty of making the
best of things and seeing the light in
dark places, with brains he was at
once too shrewd and too genuine to
let lie fallow, and, finally,
was a man who could not vegetate;
also he had been taken up, enthu
siastically taken up, by the great
Serjeant Ryder, Q. C. And there lay
the prime factor of Donovan’s “luck.”
In the same orbit of society in which
the Serjeant moved there was no more
brilliant star than Rosa, Lady Gilder-
dale. She was a handsome and wealthy
widow, old enough to be sensible,
young enough to be charming, under
standing the dual arts of dressing and
entertaining to perfection, and more
over a woman of such strong and
genuine stuff that a dozen years of
ordinary fashionable frivolity had not
frittered away her brains. Lady Gil-
derdale liked people who were some
bodies. “Lights,” literary, forensic,
artistic and musical—all were alike
fish that came to her ladyship’s cos
mopolitan net. And she had the art
of drawing together people who never
clashed with each other. People who
as a rule rather shirked “society” came
to her, and of these Serjeant Ryder
was one. And with him mostly came
George Donovan, for, as a second piece
of luck. Lady Gilderdale had taken a
fancy to him.
Tne season was at its height, and
Lady Gilderdale was in her glory; one
of her most successful “evenings” was
in full swing. All her invited “lions”
had come, and had, in their various
ways, exhibited themselves with affa
bility. Lady Gilderdale, standing in
a curtained doorway, which com
manded the full suite of rooms, was
imparting her satisfaction thereat to
her particular friend, Mrs. Charlcote.
Her ladyship was looking her hand
somest and brightest, and, as always,
was perfectly dressed. Mrs. Charl
cote, a smaller, slighter woman, passee
now, hut who had once been very pret
ty, wearing a tasteful mourning
gown of black and white, looked, as
she always did, gentle, quiet, refined,
and a little depressed. She, too, was
a widow. Her ladyship looked about
her wPh a pleasurable satisfaction.
How well dear Mary is looking to
night!” she said, suddenly. “She was
always pretty, but I really think she
improves every time I see "her. I sup
pose”—in an amused tone—“that some
credit must be allowed to the charm of
propinquity. Young Donovan is very
devoted.”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Charlcote, for the
moment ceasing to smile.
Both, as they spoke, had glanced
across to another recess, where a
white-gowned girl was seated on a
capacious ottoman with a young man
beside her—a very pretty girl, whose
plentilul hair, long lashes, and large
eyes were all of the same soft, hazel
tint, and who had the purest of lovely
milk-and-roses complexions. The man,
whose smooth, conventionally-crop
ped dark head was bent so closely to
her little ear, showed as he glanced up
a face whose principal claim to strict
beauty lay in the deep, purple-gray
Irish eyes. But for the lurking smile
in these eyes, the general expression
of the face might have been pro
nounced too grave and fixed for so
young a man. Most people who looked
at hiiii looked again for there was pow
er, character in George Donovan’s
face. His look was not grave or fixed
now, for he was talking to the girl
with whom he was in love, and more
over, with a girl whom he knew was
in love with him.
•‘You don’t seem to like it, Emily,”
said Lady Gilderdale, frankly, follow
ing her friends glance and noting her
sudden gravity. “Surely you like
w j ^
good-humored frank determination to • George Donovan?”
be somebody one day. Essentially be | (coxtinckd on fourth faoe.J
