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EDITORIAL PAGE
THE SUNNY SOUTH
i
THE SUNNY SOUTH
V? Publifhed Weekly by
Sunny South Publifhing Co.
if Bufinefs Office P
THE CONSTITUTION BUILDING
Atlanta, Ga.
Subscription Terms:
To those who Subscribe to
THE SUNNY SOUTH only
SIX MONTHS, 25c. * ONE YEAR, SOc.
"Lefs than N PENNY a Week."
Entered nt ilie nONtotUcc Atlanta, (in., tin second-class mail matter
HI nr eh 13, 1!HH
fBi* funny South ia the oldest weelclx paper
of Literature, Romance, Pact and Fiction in
•he South It is now restored to the original
shape and will be published as formerly
every week. Founded in 18T4 it grew until
1899, when, as a monthly, its form was
changed as an experiment f It now returns
to its original formation as a weekly with
renewed vigor and the intention of •clips*
ing its most promising period in the past*
^ &S>e SVJNNY SOUTH ^
SHORT STORY CONTEST
For the Best Short Story ..... 950
For the Second Best Short Story . 930
For the Third Best Short Story . . 920
CONDITIONS
FIRST This Is NOT a catch penny scheme. It Is NOT necessary
that you should he a subscriber to The Sunny south. You are
NOT required to send In a year's subscription in order to be
come a contestant. If you have never heard of The Sunny
South, which is not likely, and a neighbor informs you of this
contest, you arc eligible.
SECOND Quality and not quantity is wanted. No story must
be longer than 5,000 words, though not less than 3,000. 'No
person must send in more than one manuscript.
THIRD The Sunny south reserves the right to use such of the
unsucccsful stories it deems of sufficient, merit to entitle them
to a place before the public.
FOURTH While typewritten copy is preferable, pen written
will be read. Write only on one side of the paper and if you wish
your manuscript returned enclose stamps.
FIFTH All manuscript for this competition must reach The
Sunny South, Constitution Building. Atlanta, Ua., before noon,
June l, 1901.
SIXTH In sending your manuscript do not roll or bend it. Mail
it flat.
SUGGESTIONS
1 FIRST A story of the South is preferable, but remember that
it is not necessary to laden your story with dialect to secure a
Southern flavor. The majority of persons who try to write dia
lect fail. Make a good, strong plot the basis of your story.
SECOND If you have never written a story and have never
thouahtyou could, do not do so simply because a prize is offered.
Qn the other hand, if you have written stories and have had
all rejected, try again.
THIRD Use as material in your story the things you know some
thing about. Don't select Switzerland as vour scene simply be
cause you have heard the lakes and mountains are pretty.
FOURTH Try to write legibly. While bad spelling and poor
punctuation will not prevent your winning if your story has mer
it, be careful.
FIFTH If you desire to obtain additional information, address
Editor Short Story Contest
&/>e SUNNY SOUTH
Constitution Building Atlanta Ga
Memorial Day and
What it Means
EXT Friday southerners will
pay the annual homage of
flowers to the heroes who
made the supreme sacrifice
on the martial field for a great
patriotic principle. All over
the southland, from the Poto
mac to beyond the Father of
Waters, are graves that are
to freedom shrines. The dust
they hold returned to dust
that a people’s cause might
live. The cause, like the
sleepers, perished. So much
the more reason for this trib
ute of grateful love. They
who fall with vanquished
right are doubly martyred.
No perfunctory ceremony
this, continued as a seemly
duty, since once begun. The
tears may be of other years, but the dull pang of
sorrow recurs as memory lifts aside time’s sable
veil and bids us remember “the unreturning
brave.” The land has still women whose hearts
are in those graves, and men whose strongest
friendships lie buried there.
The south has forgiven, but she has not for
gotten.
And so. with April sun and shower wooing
the verdure from earth’s pulsing breast, while the
mockingbird whistles and trills among the haunted
pines, we send our garland-bearing processions to
the bivouac of our soldier dead and for the day
live over the epic-tragedy in which they acted well
their part. There are emotions of a nation, as of
an individual, too tender for words, too sad for
tears. In such dumb grief, God has given but one
adequate and satisfactory expression to the heart
of a people or the heart of a man—
Flowers.
Let your white-gowned daughters bank high
those weather-beaten, sunken graves with the first
bloom of the year, and bid commerce, which af
fects to know no sentiment, stand uncovered. If
this is not a sacred day, and this not holy ground,
truth is a will o’ the wisp and life but apples of
Sodom.
On this confederate Memorial Day no spectral
hand is stretched from the dead past to make the
living present shudder. No raven flits from the
cypress shade to croak “nevermore” in the sun
shine. No vanished hopes and thwarted ambitions
return to trouble joy and stir insurgent thoughts.
Today the south is a paean of peace and good
will- She has put her hand to the plow of prog
ress and is not looking back. Vanquished by the
sword, she has learned in travail and patience the
secret of a victory greater than any gain of war.
The crash of falling trees is heard in her thinning
forests, and the din of industry sounds from her
spreading cities. Over her cotton-whitened fields
bangs the smoke of textile factories, and out of
her busy marts the wheels of traffic glide groaning
with the fruits of her development.
“How that red rain hath made the harvest
(grow!”
Hut the “new south” is not disloyal to the old
In the flush of the victory of peace, she stoops
reverently and proudly to lay a cross of immor
telles upon the turf that covers her heroes slain.
They arc worse than blind who think this latter
generation is conscious and secretly ashamed of
a skeleton of treason in its closet. The “new
south” has never doubted either the motives of
the men of the sixties or the righteousness of
their cause. A different race will people this
*
bvv uup.
century
blood-bought land before revolution is regarded as
rebellion and patriots in arms as misguided
rebels.
* yp *
There is No Taint ReJting
on the South
m F blame there be, it must rest with the
men of '76, for precedent is the
Gordian knot that binds the hands of
liberty, and the slow and painful ef
fort of ages must untie it. When the
fathers laid the foundation of our gov
ernment, they laid sandstone with the
granite as a necessity of compromise.
A thousand years of British precedent
was not to be eliminated at one fell
France tried that before the eigthteenth
closed, and the result was a dictator on
horseback. The compromise of the founders re
sulted in a composite product of statesmanship
that had its inconsistencies. The greatest was
negro slavery, and a necessary anomaly of the
transformation of crown colonies into federated
states was their mooted individual sovereignty.
These were the rocks upon which, three gen
erations later, the good ship Republic drove
through storm-lashed seas, and it is the providence
of heaven that she was not split in twain.
When the war cloud burst in 1861 and del
uged the land with blood, two ideas that eyed
each other with suspicion over the cradle of the
republic and were never reconciled in its youth
settled their differences by the arbitrament of gun
powder. Hamilton personified one idea; Jeffer
son the other.
The south, for all its social aristocracy and
the feudal' institution of slavery bequeathed by
New England, was passionately democratic and
steeped in the patriotic ideals that made Virginia
the mother of revolutionists who could defy king
ly tyranny in superb Philippic and write a declara
tion of independence in immortal words of fire.
The north, more coldly practical, less homogene
ous, and, therefore, having less state pride, was
essentially federalistic.
Some will deny the analogy of the Puritan
federalist and the cavalier democrat that we have
followed to the warring sections. The very terms
are paradoxical and seem to need a transposition
of their first words. Nevertheless, the sectional
prejudice originated before Bunker Hill, and po
litical affiliation of north and south under a sys
tem of government open to a dual construction
intensified dislike to enmity. Slavery was an in
cident—a very irritating one, but only an inci
dent—of the underlying causes of hostilities. The
clash was over organic principles, and goaded to
the breach by mutual suspicions and antipathies.
If the north fought to save the union, the
south fought to save the constitution.
'l'he south went into that war animated by
great ideals. If those ideals were chimerical, the
south passed by way of the cross to the crown of
martyrdom without being disillusioned. Smiling
today under her chaplet of peace, she is not dis
illusioned.
Those who speak dogmatically of “state
rights" as a fallacy know not whereof they speak.
Principles are eternal. Brute force never settled
a question of morality or legality, and conquest is
not vindication. There are triumphs even in de
feat, and time is a great evener. The south has
been vindicated many times since the war in its
construction of a state’s inherent power, both in
the courts and public opinion. The sovereignty
of a state is still something to be guarded sacredly.
Not in a circumscribed, local spirit, without a pa
triotism broad enough to include our great
er country, but in our peculiar federal
system it is the palladium of liberty, the cor
nerstone of democracy. There never was graver
reason for jealously preserving the prerogatives of
statehood than now.
The south was not exactly “whipped back
into the union.” Puritan and cavalier, on close
(and it was deadly close) acquaintance, conceived
a much greater respect for each other and con
cluded thev could get along very well living in
the same governmental house. And they have
got on famously, as Donna Hispania might tes
tify- The war between north and south practi
cally wiped out the distrust and ill-feeling between
them. Whatever prejudice may have existed
since has been against the partisanship, not the
people, of either section.
To say that the south loves the union now,
as implying a contrary sentiment in the past, is
balderdash. The south always loved the union.
The American spirit draws its healthiest in
spiration from this side of Mason and Dixon’s
line now, and always did.
The south is the only section of our common
country that retains its American individuality.
She has no polyglot population, harboring' alle
giance across seas.
Her sons arc straight descendants of the pre
revolutionary pioneers, and their Americanism is
bred in the bone. It is because they were such
intense Americans that they were drawn into “the
late unpleasantness.”
There is no lingering touch of bitterness in
the sentiment with which the south enshrines the
memory of “The Lost Cause.” There is a touch
of the divine in the spirit with which she has for
given. We have spoken of the wonder of her re
covery from the desolation of those four terrible
years. The completeness of her reconciliation to
the fate of the conquered and her forgiveness is
yet a greater wonder. To the children of the war
time generation, that stupendous epoch is only
history. The father taught the son no Hannibalic
oath of eternal hatred. No rancorous feud was
transmitted to the unborn years. The south
forged her bayonets into plowshares with right
good will, and set about her own “reconstruction”
in good faith. How well she has succeeded—be
hold her!
* *
The Pafsing of the Con*
federate Soldier
N the passing of the confederate soldier
much that is distinctive and noble in
American character suffers loss. The
term chivalry in connection with the
southerner is somewhat trite, and a
phase of what was never the quality
is sheer bombast and a stage role.
But if you would know what real chiv
alry is, get intimately acquainted with
almost any graybeard who wore the
x ids man, the steel of whose youth issued
the fiery crucible pure gold, has given the
an example of heroism in peace greater than
he gave it in war- He has never posed and held
out his hat. The poverty that received him rag
ged and lea nfrom the surrender has stuck to him
closer than a brother, perhaps, these thirty-five
years, and the infirmities of age have added gall to
life’s wormwood cup, but he is swallowing the
dregs with the dignity of self-respect and the pa
tience of a lofty manhood. This relic of the Spar
tan breed was never a swaggerer breathing out
tlireatenings, but gentle as a woman and simple
as a child. He did and is doing his duty, as con
science taught him to see it, and he has accepted
the consequences a§ such natures face frowning
fate. God knows how he has “worried along” to
this good day!
Here is a volume of .insight into the character
of the living confederate soldier in a brief para
graph : Georgia, the right arm of the confederacy
and the Empire State of the South, is only now
about to complete a modest frame home for her
invalid and superannuated veterans. Of the thou
sands of confederate soldiers who have valid claims
upon this refuge in sickness and age, eighty-three
have applied for admittance!
Flowers for our soldier dead, but better that
bramble and underwood obliterate their resting
places from this generation’s memory than that
their surviving comrades be left to totter alone in
their dire necessities. Each year sees more age-
worn stragglers drop out of this little army’s ranks
in the forced march of life.
Flowers for the sleepers, and the bosom of a
country’s love for the tired heads about to fall
asleep.
But, looking across to the shade of the eternal
trees, there is something that disturbs the soul of
the confederate veteran more than fear of penury
and death. Jealous of the honor of his deeds, he
is afraid of the perversion of history.
Let hjm be reassured.
We, his sons and daughters, will take care of
that for him forever.
R° rAL suZZ™ Royal
OP HE sultan of Turkey, who lives in
* constant dread of what has been
described as the “happy dispatch.’’ would
not be an oriental if he did not believe in
the efficacy of charms. His own particu
lar talisman is said to be a richly bejew-
eled miniature dagger, which he invaria
bly carries about with him. Despite its
virtues, however, he takes the precaution
of insisting: on one of his ministers tast
ing every dish prepared for him before
partaking of it himself.
When the late German emperor was
lying desperately ill at San Remo a re
markable amulet was sent to him by the
sultan. It consisted of a string of nine
stones of the size of hazlenuts, each of
which bore an inscription from the Koran
end had been prayed over by a Moslem
priest. Accompanying this talisman was
a letter assuring the emperor that If het
only wore it his health would be at once
restored.
No Chinese potentate has ever been
without his precious amulet. It is re
corded of a former son of heaven that
this talisman was a bracelet which he
wore upon his forearm. The result was
that, when his Celestial majesty was
stricken with paralysis, the use of tnat
particular arm was preserved to him,
and he issued his decrees as usual. Rut
the full extent of the amulet’s mystic
power was only revealed at the emperor-
or's death. Three days after that event,
when the priests were viewing the body,
the removal o£ the bracelet was suggest
ed. Instantly th? hand was lifted up in
deprecation of the proposal, which was
thereupon abandoned. At least, so runs
the story.
The czar of all the Russtas constantly
carries about with him a ring, without
which nothing would induce him to move
a step from bis palace, says London Tid-
B-ts. He believe.* it to contain a tiny
piece of the cross on which the Savior
was crucified.
The ring is supposed to be endowed
with some occult power cf shielding its
wearer from personal danger; hence the
czar’s anxiety to always have it with him.
Relief in its tragic influence was im
mensely strengthened by the fact of the
present emperor’s grandfather being with
out the ring ; t the moment of his assas
sination.
King George, of Greece, possesses a
talisman which is also a grim reminder
of an attempt on his life. Just at the
conclusion of the war with Turkey- he
was waylaid and shot at several times,
one of the bullets imbedding itself in the
box of his carriage.
Mis majesty's esc/i^j was so miraculous
that lie had this bullet «xtracted and
trade into a charm for hfs watch chain.
He would not part with it, firmly believ
ing that, as it mercifully missed him
vs hen directed at him. it was designed to
insure him immunity from assassination.
Late queen no stickler
F'OXTRAKV to what has often been
written, the queen was no stickler for
etiquette, as the following anecdote will
show, says The London Express; One
day a lamp placed on a table near her
majesty began to flame. The qpee.11 got
up and lowered the wick, the result be-
ijig general surprise and regret among
her assistants.
“But." said the queen, “if I had cried
out, ’The lamp is flaming!’ one of my
ladies of honor would have said to a
gentleman in waiting. ‘Look! the lamp
is flaming;’ the gentleman in waiting
would have sent for the major domo, and
would have remarked to him that the.
lamp was flaming, then the major domo
would have called a footman, and the
lamp would have been llamirs all the
time. 1 prefer to lower the wick my
self.”
Of course, when the dignity of her
station required it, she always insisted
upon necessary ceremonies being carried
out with all due solemnity.
The father of Queen Victoria, the duke,
of Kent, had no objection to dissenters,
and, in fact, cultivated intimate relations
with a well known congregational minis
ter, Dr. Stoug|iton, whom he knew both
at Windsor and Kensington. The doctor
lent the embarrassed duke some money,
says The New York Tribune, but refused
many invitations to dine at Kensington
palace. At length Victoria’s father
pressed for his reason, and the doctor
explained that he would not accept be
cause he could not entertain in return.
“Oh,” said the duke, “you can easily
do that. I like boiled leg of mutton and
trimmings better than anything, but I
cannot often get it.”
Taking the hint, the doctor had a fine
leg of mutton duly prepared, and the
duke thoroughly enjoyed his dinner. The
warm friendship cemented by the leg of
mutton continued unimpaired until the
duke’s death, and one df the first acts
of the queen on coming to the throne
was to repay the doctor's loan, express
ing high appreciation of his kindness.
Rights of queens
IGHT of the queen consort to be
crowned along with the king was
raised by- the unfortunate Queen Caroline
in 1821. The claim of the queen was re
ferred to the privy council, who decided
that, as the queen was living separate
from the king, she had no inherent right
to be crowned, and thus it was left to
the king to refuse it. Lord Brougham,
in his argument for the queen, stated
that there Was no evidence whatever of
a queen not being crowned, except one
when she was abroad, and another when
there was a diffe-ence of religion and
she declined it; but that no precedent
existed for a queen consort not being
crowned when site was within the realm,
of the same religion as the king and
willing to be crowned.
Garrison leaves Dumbarton
C UM BARTON castle, the most historic
Scottish military fortress next to
Edinburgh castle, has fallen on evil days.
The war office has withdrawn its one sol
dier. last of the garrison. It is understood
that the castle is to be handed over to
the custody of the Dumbarton town coun
cil. For many hundreds of years it lodged
a military garrison and contained thou
sands of ancient and modern weapons.
Among these was the “Wallace sword.”
about six feet in length, but, to the gen
eral indignation, this famous weapon has
been moved to Stirling castle.
Gifts to queen’s officer
T HE king has bestowed an unusual
token of recognition of services upon
the Hon .Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane. a
life-long officer of Queen Victoria’s house
hold.
Sir Spencer, who is broken down by old
age and is retiring to private life, was
summoned to Marlborough house, where
the king In a few simple phrases of
thanks for Sir Spencer’s loyalty to Queen
Victoria, presented to him the cane with
which the queen had walked for thirty
years.
The old man’s relatives say- that if the
king had raised him to a dukedom he
could not have more kindled his pride or
touched his heart.
Story of a royal clock
' l i < ' HERE is a clock now in possession of
^ King Edward at Marlborough house
to which a somewhat curious story is at
tached. It was presented to the then
prince of Wales on the occasion of his
visit to India and was said to have been
made by a priest of the greatest sanctity,
showing the hours in Sanskrit figures,
the changes of the moon and other
things. After it was brought to London
the clock remained quiescent for some
years, and eventually the prince desired
that it should be put in working order.
When it was taken to pieces there was
found on the interior of the ease which
covered the mainsrping the name of an
English firm.
Not afraid of royal golfer
A ROOD story is told of King Edward's
* ^appearance as a golfer 42 years
ago, when he was a student at Edinburgh
High School and University. Tom Browne
was the professor, and was very frank
In his comments on his majesty’s play.
At Inst he burst out into a more than
usually fervent expostulation. “Don't y-ou
know,” exclaimed Sir James Baird,
“whom you are addressing? You are
speaking to his royal highness the prince
of Wales!” “Ah, weel.” said the imper
turbable Tom. “his royal highness maun
learn. If he had done that in a match
he would have lost.” His majesty laughed
heartily at the frank comment.
Some royal visits
T HE London Chronicle says fho an
nouncement that the king of Italy
will be the guest of King Edward VII this
year recalls the visit paid by his grand
father, Victor Emmanuel, when he was
king of Sardinia, to Queen Victoria. The
king used to tell his friends for many
and many a year afterwards little stories
to illustrate Queen Victoria’s friends and
homely spirit. When his leave taking of
the queen and the prince consort was
formally over, and he was in his apart
ments on the point of liis departure, the
queen knocked at the door and ran in
alone for a last handshake with her gruff
but greatly delighted guest.
Women in parliament
C AN it be. asks an English paper, that
the occupation of the peers’ benches
by the peeresses at the recent opening of
parliament is an omen of ladies again
sitting in the house of lords as law
givers? Gurdon. in his “Antiquities of
Parliament,” says that in the reigns of
Henry- III and Edward I four abbesses
were summoned to parliament. Again, in
the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Ed
ward III, were summoned by writ to
parliament, to appear there by their
proxies, the countesses of Norfolk. Or
mond, March, Pembroke, Oxford anti
Athol.
Kaiser’s gift to potters
T HE tolkemit clay in Germany, which
is exceptionally well fitted for pot
tery purposes, is being exhausted and
for some time the potters of the district
have been confronted with the probable
lapse of their industry. The kaiser has
teme to their rescue.
On his newly acquired property- at Cadi-
nen there is a clay yvhich resembles tol
kemit, and in response to a petition from j
the potters, his majesty presented them
with 150 acres of the land. The potters )
will present his majesty- yvith the first
vessels made in the new district.
Memorial
Day
A Day of Remembrance
Here, by a costly monument;
There, by a humble stone,
This bearing eulogistic phrase.
That simply marked “Unknown.”
O’er each grass hidden mound of earth
Today a flag is set,
A token that our soldier dead
We ne'er forget.
It matters not the station, rank.
Of him who lies below.
“He fought for freedom and the flag,’*
Is all we care to know.
And high or low, o’er all alike.
Our fragrant wreaths we lay
And bring our offerings to our dead
On Mem’ry’s day.
Our Silent Ones
Tenderly place the roses upon their earth
ly bed.
Our valiant ones, our heroes.
Our ever honored dead.
Far from life's griefs and woe.
Safe from the cares we know;
When, the sky is weeping.
Our silent ones are sleeping.
Under th£ grassy sod,
Far from (jje paths they trod,
'Neath the buds and the flowers.
Our silent ones are sleeping.
Unheeded pass the hours;
When the morn comes peeping.
Our silent ones are sleeping.
Peace to their memory
And hallowed the spot
Where our brave ones are sleeping,
Remembered—not forgot,
There, when the night comes creeping.
Safely in God's keeping
Our silent ones are sleping.
C7>e Blue and the Gray
ONE
Twine laurels to lay o’er the blue and tfe
gray; spread wreaths yvhere our heroes
jest.
Let the song of the north ech . back fram
the. south for the love that is truest
and best!
Twin wreaths for the tomb? of our Grant
and our Lee, one anthem for Jackson
ami Meade,
And the flag above y-ou is the banner for
me—one people in name and in deed:
TWO
Clasp hands o’er the graves where o;:-
laureled ones lie—clasp hands o' r the
gray* and the blue;
Today we are brothers and bound :
tie that the years shall but serve ;;
renew.
By the side of the northman who po,i>-
fully sleeps, where tropical odors are
shed
A son of the south his companionship
keeps—one Hag o'er the two heroes
spread.
THREE
Weave tokens of love for tin li. : s ip
blue; weave wreaths for the hero - -
gray.;
Clasp brotherly hands o'er the gravi th
are new—for the love that is .rs ;
day—
A trinity given to bless, to unite, litre;
glorious records to keep.
And a kinship that never a grievance shal:
sever renewed where the brave are
asleep!
FOUR
Spread flowers today o'er the blue mi the
gray; spread wreaths where our he
roes rest;
Let the song of the north echo bn from
the south for the love that is true?;
and best!
Twin wreaths for the tombs of otto- r*:■ ■
and our Lee, one h*-nin for you:
father and mine!
Oh. the Hag y-ou adore is the banner for
me,.arid its folds our dead brothers In
twine!
VHORT Stories, Strayed
^ or Stolen
T HERE is in the family of Mrs. Doug
las, on Eastlake avenue. Chicago, a
most remarkable bird, one who has never
received any more instruction than
would naturally come by the association
in perfect freedom and equality- with
human beings for eleven years; yet in
his little brain cells there seems to have
been implanted a good deal of the mate
rial from which humanity draws its
higher phases of consciousness, for he
has evolved many traits that bear strik
ing resemblance to better developed
forms of personality.
He is compelled to stay in his cage
only at night time; and owing to unre-
trieted exercise he has lived long and
well. His appetite is voracious for a
small beast, he eats five or six times the
quantity of a bird in captivity. His
times of feeding are as regularly noted
as if he were aware of the exact posi
tion of the hands of the clock. At the
precise hour for breakfast he. sets up
such a chatter that his meal is quickly
served, sometimes before the family have
theirs; then he flies down to the table
for his dessert, which consists of tiny
bits of sugar. At 11 a. m. he wants his
moistened cracker, and for this it is nec
essary- to go to a chest back of a screen.
Through the curtains ho peers and
watches the process, shouting out his
commands to “Hurry up! increasing in
rapidity and shrillness until the mis
tress is driven nearly to distraction.
Early in the afternoon he needs some
thing green, so he seeks for it at the
regular hour and repeats his demands,
emphasizing them by flying around the
heads of those in the room in a circle,
frequently pecking them on the fore
head or nose, at first very gently and
then more persistently, until some one
goes into the y-ard to get the desired
chickweed. He will go repeatedly to the
door and stand before it waiting, and
then fly back into the room to attract
the attention of the family of his wants;
and he never makes any mistake either
in the time of day or. in the door.
Depew was too slow
S ENATOR DEPEW was riding home
ward in an F street car the other day
in Washington. At the Baltimore and
Ohio depot two ladies boarded the car.
One was evidently a stranger—she had
a new dress suit case^and the other was
a resident. At least she posed as a resi
dent and an oldest Inhabitant at that,
for in a very loud tone of voice she named
the various public buildings. She was
not quite sure whether or not the city
hall was the white house or whether
the pension building was the treasury de
partment, but when the car reached
Lafayette square she was apparently
quite ai home. She knew the Arlington
hotel by sight, and recognized the white
house across the park. A moment later
the. car was opposite Senator Depew’s
home, and it stopped for the senator to
alight.
“That large building,” said the voluble
lady, pointing to Depew’s house, “is the
government fish hatchery.”
Senator Depew caught the words as he
passed out upon the platform of the
car, and for a minute stood on the corner
laughing. Then his face became seri
ous. He started as if to run after the
car, but it was almost out of sight. ‘‘By-
George." he said, “I have just thought
of something I ought to have told that
lady. Ha! ha! ha!”
For what the clever retort should have
been no one will ever know, for, still
laughing softly- to himself. Senator De
pew disappeared under the portals of his
home.
Cat lives in the ruins
*TP HE special ruins of the Grand opera
house are haunted, not by- a ghost,
but by the old eat that for years was
a pet about the historic old playhouse,
says The Cincinnati Enquirer. The night
of the lire "Tom” was missed. It was
thought that he hart been incinerated,
and he was accordingly mourned as be
fitted his dignity- and importance. The
eat came back, however, only- to find his
home in ruins. Tom was disconsolate.
He did not know what to make of the
change that was wrought by the fire, and
he mewed mournfully. It is well known
that a feline^forms a strong attachment
for any place where he has been housed
and fed. and Tom is no exception. Since
his return he has taken up his home in
a warm part of the ruins, and is living
comfortably. At night he takes up his
position in the entrance of the theater and
gazes sadly up and down the street in
the hope of seeing some of his old friends.
H e sits there all night, and is a most ab
ject. disconsolate and heart-broken cat.
learned that the cat is still there, and they
The firemen at the Gift’s house have
feed the battle scarred feline every day.
A new Madonna
H ugh huntington Howard, the
water-color artist, laughs every time
he has a picture by the famous artist,
Bodenhausen. “Years ago,” said Mr.
Howard, “I lived in a boarding house at
which thera was a woman who was al
ways unintentionally amusing the other
boarders bv her reckless use of big
words and her wrong pronunciations. It
was at the time that the beautiful ‘Ma
donna of Bodenhausen was being exhib
ited and it was quite the fad for ladies
when out on a shopping expedition to stop
I in and view the wonderful picture. One
evening at the table this woman asked
of one of the other boarders in a voice
which could be heard by everyone else
at the table: “Oh. Mr. Blank, have you
been to see the beautiful boarding house
“Madonna” yet?’ It nearly- choked the
rest of her hearers, and I don’t remember
that the gentl?man addressed ey-er an
swered her question.”
Oldest parliament
S PENCER CHARRINGTON has the
honor of being the only octogenarian
member of the house of commons. He
is 82 years old. Twenty members are be
tween seventy and eighty, and over a
hundred are between sixty and seventy.
The septuagenarians include two opposi
tion leaders—Sir William Hartcourt and
Sir Henry Fowler—but there is no man
over seventy- on the government front
bench. The three, septuagenarians in the
cabinet are all in the lords. The cabinet
is equally divided between peers and com
moners, and the average age of the peer
members is sixty against fifty'-three for
the commoners. Mr. Chamberlain, Mr.
Ritchie and Sir Michael Hicks-Beach are
the three government front-bench M. P.’s
who are over sixty.
Three German battleship*
T HREE battleships will be placed in
commission in the Germany- navy
during the latter part of the present year.
They are of the Kaiser class of 11,000
tons and were begun and launched in
the following order: Kaiser Wilhelm der
Grosse, laid down in November, 1S97,
launched June 1. 1S99; Kaiser Barl arossa.
begun August 3. 1898, launched April 14.
1900, and Kaiser Karl der Grosse. keel
laid in July, 1899, floated ' me, 1899.
* A double meaning
*¥* HE late Charles s Spurgeon was fond
* of recording the following incident:
While leaving the tabernacle after a
sermon one Sunday a man approached
him, and, addressing him by name, shook
his hand warmly. “I see,” said he. “that
you have forgotten me, sir; and yet you
once did me the greatest service that one
man can do another.” “And what service
was that?” asked Spurgeon. “You burled
my wife, sir,” responded the stranger, his
eyes suffused with tears.
Flre>proof wood used
”F* HE fireproofed wood used in Ameri-
^ can ships of war is reported to meet
oil the requirements. Samples were re
cently taken from the torpedo boat Wins
low, built four years ago, and pieces
placed in a stove for seme length of time
were only slightly charred. Splinters
held over a Bunsen burner withstood the
flame, no ash forming.
Sunshine
“It is scintillant”
St. Louis. Mo.. April ie.—Editor Sunny
South: Why don’t you get your paper more
out our way, It is seintilliant. Your edi
torial's on “Common Sense” and the
"Bravery of Woman” (God ble:-- her!)
were sound in logic and unsurpassed in
thought. Anfl your editorial on “Liars in
General” put a new light before me. Nev
er again .shall I “cuss out” a reporter be
fore investigating the facts fully. You
certainly furnish more than the monev's
worth.
By the way, j see in this issue some
praise of your Easter editorial. Sorrv I
missed “’ HUGH WELb8
Wishes us success
_ Belle view, Ga.. April 13, 1901.—Editor
unny South: Years ago when The Sunny
faouth was first published. I was a <ub-
s. rt.ier for a Ion gtime. Then the paper
changed somewhat; I did not like it so
well, and it had been quite a while
since I had seen a copy until recently.
In the Easter edition I note the short
story contest, and 1 am so glad the par r
has jieen changed to a weekly and th it
it will encourage home talent and south
ern writers. We of tne south have felt
the need of just such a magazine as you
■propose to make The Sunny South, and I
sincerely offer my best wishes for its suc
cess. May this dear home paper go on
ward and upward until its fame shall
spread far over our sweet southland.
MRS. J. W. JONES.
*
Hearty congratulations
Hava. Miss.. April 13. 1901,-Editor Sun
ny South: I was perfectly delighted when
the dear old Sunny South came in its fa
miliar form as a weekly. Allow me to
offer my hearty congratulations and ex
press my approval of the change. I have
been a reader of the dear old “Sunny”
for a long time, and as a lover of south
ern literature and as a member of The
Household band, i appeal to you to give
us back "Our Household.” We long for
the old-time weekly reunions and pleas
ant chats. Please give us one page all
our own, and we will put forth every ef
fort to make it bright and attractive.
Wishing you much success, I am
Yours truly. MATTYE DOWNEY.
*
than pleased
Triana. Ala.. April 12, 1991.—Editor Sun
ny South: I am more than pleaded with
your paper. I cannot see how you can
get up such good matter for the price.
Am doing my utmost to get up a club,
but failing in this will surely subscribe
myself, as I really think it the best in
vestment in literature possible.
J. H. LYLE.
yf
Pt mine from an editor
Farmington. Mo.. Aipril 13, 1901.—Editor
Sunny South: A copy of The Sunny
South Is on my desk. It comes very close
to fulfilling a long-felt want on m v part
for a true southern publication. and must
had a warm welcome In every southern
home. CHARLES R. PRATT,