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MANY SECRET MINES. ENGLAND’S COAST STUDDED WITH THESE DEFENSES. Their Locality, Approach*** nnl Fir- Idk Point* Arc >Jy*terle* That For eign Spir* Have Often Tried, hut Alnip In Vain, t< Solve. England has the most formidable navy in the world, but she does not rely upon it alone in the event of war to prevent a foreign force from landing upon her shores. London Tit-Bits, in an article on the secret coast defenses of (treat Britain, says: In the event of war no alien army con Id approach our shores without im periling its navy by encountering our explosive mines, scores of which sur rom 1 our coasts at all places likely to be selected for attack by a foreign foe. The Thames is al o carefully shielded by similar secret mines, one of those being in the vicinity of Blaekwall. The precise locality of these mines is, how ever, for obvious reasons, kept a dark and inscrutable mystery, and the ap proaches to them ure so cleverly con structed and concealed that noone save an expert would suspect their real character. An innocent looking cellar at the basement of a certain tradesman’s shop is the entrance to one important mine,, but even the tradesman himself is not aware that the government rents his cellar, nor does he ever surmise the trim nature of the operations carried on therein. The mines are equipped with explosives of the most potent kind and admirably connected with tho secret chambers on shore by means of electric wires. Each mine iH controlled by a button, over which are printed particulars re lating to the location and character of the mine. This button is placed in the wall of the secret chamber and covered by a double door, securely locked, the outer door so closely resembling the wall of the chamber that no one bnt those in tho secret could detect its pres ence. The chambers are double locked and approached by passages protected in a similar manner. Every lock and key is specially made for tho government and is unlike any other. Only a few of the very highest officials are allowed to use these keys, ambthoy are solemnly sworn to preserve their secret rigidly. No persons apart from those especially empowered may inspect or visit any of the secret cham bers at any time except by express written permit personally procured from a certain high official. This is ex ceedingly difficult to obtain, and in fact is rarely ever granted. Prior to such a permit being issued the officials assure themselves that the possessor of the document bears a blameless character, is British born and has no ulterior reasons for preferring his request. This settled, he is sworn to secrecy in the most solemn manner, blindfolded and conducted by a circuit ous route to the secret chamber, where he is permitted to use his eyes, but not his tongue, no questions being answer ed by the attending officials. Strange stories have been told of at tempts made by foreign spies to pene trate the privacy of these mysterious mines. A young lieutenant in the navy, whose honorable character won the con fidence of his superior officers some years since, was accorded the privilege of guarding one of these secret mines and intrusted with certain information concerning its character. Soon after his appointment ha became engaged to a charming young French lady of whom ho was desperately enam ored. By some inexplicable means lii fiancee got to hear of his appointment and hy alternate threats aud persuasioi induced him to take her to see the se cret mine under his care. On the evening arranged, after ex tracting a solemn vow of secrecy from his ladylove aud getting her to don the dress of a naval officer for the occasion, he was about to set out on his secret mission when, to his surprise and alarm, ho and his companion were ar rested by detectives. In Borne mysterious manner tho authorities had been en lightened as to the proceedings on foot and were in time to stop them. For “breach of regulations” the young lieutenant was subsequently court martialed and reduced, while his charming companion, who proved to be a spy in the employ of the French gov ernment, was conveyed back to her own country, with a caustic caution. On another occasion a German gen tleman contrived to locate the entrance to om of the secret chambers and actu ally hired a member of the Bill Sikes frat, rnity to aid him in negotiating the double locks one dark November night. But so splendidly fitted and fortified were these appliances both the visitors were doomed to disappointment. Re turning from the rendezvous, both the plotter and his accomplice were arrested aud imprisoned. In 1850 the tallest building in New York was only five stories high, and the church spires were conspicuous above them. Now there is only one spire in the city as high as the tallest building A Kaffir’s religion consists mostly in tinging and dancing. POPULAR PROVERBS. |OME THAT ARE FAIRLY BRIMFUL OF A3SURDITY. Maxim* Often <luot**l n ntl nt Time* tdvnncrd n Armament Which Have Neither AVIt Nor Wiadom to Com mend Them—Contend ictory Saying*. There is a mistaken notion abroad, says a writer in London Tit-Bits, that proverbs’ are epitomes of wisdom, the concenti ated experience of generi f ions, and that to quote one of th an in a dis cussion is to advance an unanswerable argument. And yet what is there to recommend many of them beyond their jingleV Take oar familiar friend: Earlv to Bed and Early to Rise, Makes a Man*Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.r- OLvionsly, tla* main idea was to find a v• rd lorhyv v. b!i “rise " and “wis.*” v as the uni . r.unate word chosen. Am. now, trustL little hoys arc persuaded t go tobed n, in,:’ •asoiaibly early hours in the hope of becoming a sort of San dow-Rotlischl Id-Solomon, though we all know milk; ■ :: ana market garden ia’s who get up at 5 a. m. and are nei ther rich nor clever, and members of ]•• riLament who go to bed late and are, if not clever, at least not poor and in firm. Since the invention of gas and electric light thi ridiculous old proverb has outlived its original modicum of truth, and proves we must not venerate proverbs on account of their hoary an tiquity. The Early Bird Catches the Worm. — The mistake made b. re is that it assumes we are all birds. But some of us are worms. If we were not, what would become of the birds? And, therefore, while tli© birds do well to be early, let the worms be late—the later the better. The Pitcher That Goes Oft to the Well Is Broken at Last.—Note, it does not say “is broken first,” but “is broken at last.’’ Of course, every pitcher, wheth er it goes to llie well or stays on the shelf, is broken at last, and the only re sult of this absurd proverb is to encour age lazy folk to do as little work as pos sible and unnecessarily keep out of harm’s way. If You Want a Thing Well Done, Do It Yourself. —There’s shocking bad ad vice with which to start a youth on life’s journey. If lie wants a button well sewed on, he’s to do it himself; if he wants his hair well cut, he’s to cut it himself. He must mend his own chairs, shoe his own nag. darn his own socks. In short, from buying a horse to blacking his boots, he must do it him self. Poor fellow! A Contented Mind Is a Continual Feast. —Can any one say what that means? Does it mean that the owner continually feasts on his contented mind or that the contented mind is contin ually feasting? Probably the latter, as we sometimes hear that “a hungry man’s an angry man,” and we all know that a satisfied appetite is the source of contentment. Hence it is not the con tented mind which makes the feast, as the silly proverb implies, hut the con tinual feast which produces the con tented mind. There’s No Rule Without an Excep tion. —This is not only a proverb; it is also a rule. But obviously there is no exception to this rule, because if there were a rule with an exception this proberh would be untrue. But the prov erb is a rule which has no exception, which, as Mr. Euclid would say, is ab surd. Which was to be shown. Where Ignorance Is Bliss, Tis Folly to Be Wise. —For oracular stupidity this proverb may be classed with the one about the pitcher. Granting it true, the difficulty is to know where igno rance is bliss and of course the prov erb gives no assistance where it is most needed. Most people quote it as “ignorance is bliss,” in their blissful ignorance, but if a proverb gives rise to error it is not only absurd; it is also dangerous. When people say— A Little Learning Is a Dangerous Thing—They make that a reason not for learning more, but for learning less. Love Me, Love My Dog.—lf I go a-eourting, and my ladylove bids me love her scented, dyspeptic poodle, which is not necessary to her health and comfort, must I not much more love her glass eye%nd false teeth and hair, which are? Yet common sense revolts at the notion, and 1 therefore assume that a proverb which, logically treated, makes such unreasonable demands on my affections is wrong and absurd. Seeing Is Believing. —How can any re llectiug person repeat these words? For very often we believe we see what real ly we do not. If a conjurer were to take this proverb as his motto, every one would see its absurdity. A straight stick half submerged in water looks crooked. Fortunately, another proverb says, “Trust not to appearances. ” And this bring us to the exquisite absurdity of popular proverbs which run in con tradictory pairs and support both sides of an argument. Thus one proverb says, “Look before you leap;’’ another, 4 Who hesitates is lost. ” Sometimes we hear that “Second thoughts are best;” at other times that “Delays are danger ous. ’ ’ The desperate man relies on “Nothing venture, nothing havethe cautious man on “Never venture out of your depth till yon can swim. ’’ The impatient matrimonial candidate be lieves that “Happy’s the wooing that’s not long a-doing;” the tardy one that one may “Marry in haste and repent at leisure. ” And so on ad infinitum. “Ab sence makes the heart grow fonder” — “Out of sight, out of mind,’’ “It’s never too late to mend” —“A fool at 40 will never be wise.” “Too many cooks spoil the broth”—“There’s safety in num bers” and “Two heads are better than one. ” Therefore, let us examine our prover bial coinage before we pass it into the moral currency. TRICKS OF A MIND READER. Tiie S.’mple Explanation of an Ap parently Iliftleult Feat. “Speaking of telegraphy, ’ ’ said a gen tleman who takes an interest in occult studies, “reminds of an incident which created a great stir some years ago, but is now about forgotten. A New \ork lawyer, who claimed to be able to pro ject thought, had a committee of skep tics select a playing card at random and then wired a friend in San Francisco, asking him to think of a card and tele graph back what one came into his mind. The card selected was the five of spades and the reply was correct. AH the parties were well known, and the experiment caused an immense sensa tion. “The newspapers discussed it by tha column, and it was exploited as a posi tive demonstration of thought transfer ence, but as a matter of fact the whole thing was merely a clever trick. I had it afterward explained to mo by one of the people on the inside. It had been prearranged with the San Francisco man that the cue to the right card was to be the wording of the message. The denomination was indicated by the number of words in the second sentence. If, for instance, it was an ace, the sen tence would be only one word, ‘Answer;’ if a deuce it would bo ‘Answer immedi ately, ’ and so on. “As it happened to boa five the mes sage ran, ‘Telegraph reply quickly as possible. ’ The suit of the card was re vealed by the signature. Signing the name in full meant hearts, the first only meant clubs, the last name meant spades, and the initials meant diamonds. The system was beautifully simple, and the message seemed on its face perfect ly innocent. It was carefully examined to find a hidden word, but baffled tha investigators. As far as I know, the truth about the affair has never been printed.”—New Orleans Times-Demo crat. Diplomacy. One day a gentleman was holding a conversation with his wife in the pres ence of their 5-year-old son, and among other things mentioned was “diploma cy.” “Pa,” said tho youngster when a break in the conversation allowed him to interfere, “what does diplomacy mean ?” “Diplomacy, my son,” said the fa ther, “is this—doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right moment.” “Then I suppose I used diplomacy when I got out of the pantry yesterday, dad, did I?” “What do you mean?” was the reply. “Why,” said tho son, “I got into the back yard with that meat pie just at the moment ma caught the cat in the pantry and told you to drown her foi thieving. ” —Pearson’s Weekly. He Wasn’t Proud. The London Telegraph says that while a certain bishop was waiting fci a train at Waterloo station, a porter, who often sees him into a compartment and shuts the door, in order that his lordship may be alone, came up to him in a state of excitement and asked: “Your reverence, do you see that gentleman standing in the doorway over there?” “Yes,” answered the bishop. “Do you know who it is?” continued the porter. “No,” said his lordship. The railway man then whispered: “It’s the ‘Coffee Cooler,’ your rever ence. Oh, he ain’t proud! He’ll shake hands with your reverence if you like.” The “Coffee Cooler” is a noted col ored prizefighter. Ingronlng Nalls. To prevent an ingrowing nail a strip of cotton should be worked between the nail and the flesh, left large enough to cover the entire nail. A piece of cotton is then twisted into a long roll and placed on the other side of the nail groove over the sound skin. The space between is filled with lead nitrate, heaped up, and the larger piece of cot ton folded over it, with more cotton outside, held in place with a moist bandage. This dressing is renewed ev ery day, and in two or three the exu berance is reduced until the edge of the nail can he seen, and cotton inserted between it and the flesh beneath, when the nitrate can be discontinued. Moruiotilsm. The good wife looked at her mending basket and sighed. If she hadn’t seen them there she wouldn’t have believed her husband could have worn holes iu so many pairs of socks in so short a time. “There are occasions,” she said at last, “when I am almost ready to be lieve that it would be a good thing for a man to be a Mormon. ” Then she went at the job she would willingly have shared with a few other wives.—Chicago Post “Pitts' —- Carminative Smvad My Bmby’m Ufa. " ¥¥ LAMAR & RANKIN DRUG CO.i I can not recommend Pitta* Car minative too strongly. I must say, I owe my baby’s life to it. I earnestly ask all mothers who have sickly or delicate children just to try one bottle and see what the result will be. Respectfully, -Irs. LIZZIE MURRAY, Johnson’s Station, Ga. Pitts' Czirminatlvo Is sold by all Dru&ylata. PRICE, 25 CENTS. JACK AND HIS WILL. A Special Act of the British Parlia ment Arrange* That Matter. Jack has the proud distinction of having had an act of parliament passed for the express purpose of deciding the way in which he must make his will, so that while all other Britons are lumped together in this matter under the wills act of 1838 sailors’ testament ary documents are made under the naval wills act of 1866. The most im portant proviso of this act is that all wills made by sailors or marines must be witnessed and attested by the chap lain or some other officer if they are actually made on board ship, and this is somewhat curious. If a sailor likes to make his will on shore, any one can witness it for him, but on board ship the case is different. Needless to say they almost all to a man choose the latter course, as they know that things will be straighter for bearing an officer’s signature. If, how ever, supposing that the vessel was in action and a man was to be struck down who had not previously made a will, if he had to do so before he died, even if it were not attested by an offi cer, the admiralty has full power to act on the merits of the case and to dis pense with that or any other formality that it was impossible to comply with. Another thing—-a sailor shares with a soldier the privilege of when on active service being the only nan who can dispense with a written \wh and make a verbal one. In former times any one could make his will verbally if he so desired, but this, as may be supposed, opened the door to no end of fraud, and it was consequently repealed in the 1838 act, except in the case mentioned above. On the night before a ship or a regi ment goes into action there is no more pathetic sight than to see the men, young and old, laboriously writing their wills in case tomorrow should be their last day in this world, and what with witnessing wills and making them on the forms issued by the authorities for those who cannot write—and this class has now almost entirely disappeared from both the navy and the army—the officers have a very busy time.—Lon don Golden Penny. THISTLE DOWNS. Lighter and whiter than a flying flake Of winter snow-3 through wan air winnowing, The thistledowns their sudden journeys take O'er meadows wide in vagrant wandering. No more shall they to earth reluctant cling Asa moss lined and slowly sinking stone Left lying in an outer \va=ie alone. Beside the edge of some remote morass, But high they toss above the fields new mown, Like disembodied spirits of the grass. The drowsy atmosphere in lines opaque Leans to the sun, that fast is gathering The last faint dews, his iiery thirst to slack, While swallows dip, on ever restless wing. Across a dusty road the robins sing, And bumblebees upon the clover drone, While thistle downs in airy spaces lone Along the skies in happy freedom pass, Voyaging afar to mystic climes unknown, Like disembodied spirits of the grass. —Ernest McGaffey. HERE is a medical lecture in a nutshell. The Kid neys drain water and im purities from the blood. The Liver makes bile and helps to drive off other waste. If these organs work badly the body becomes a cesspool and disease sets in. You must get them into healthy action or die. DiiUtlcbans Lwwl&Mdb Is an old and unsurpassed rem edy for Backache, Debility, Sleeplessness, Lost Appetite, Foul Tongue, Palpitations and all other symptoms of disease in those organs. It cures as well as prevents every serious trouble in Kidney, Liver or Bladder. At druggists, SI.OO per bottle. THE DR.J.H. MCLEAN MEDICINE CO. •T. LOUIS. MO. For sale by Winder, Drug Cos. MIS. BDSH’S' SPEGIFIC, The Greatest Remedy In the World For Burns, Scalds, Spasmodic Croup, Ik i IVIHUiniaUMMBnHnnHHMHnHIBHMMBHHHHnHMKMMM Eryspelas, Chilblains, Poison Oak =-and== Old Sores. If your Druggist or local Dealer does not keep it, send 25 cents in P. 0. Stamps or silver for a bottle to MRS. W. H. BUSH, Winder, Ga. The World *£ Almanac and S Encyclopedia ! <£ for 1899 Illustrated History of the Spanish- American War READY FOR SALE EVERYWHERE JANUARY *st, *899. Together with The Battle Calendar of the Republic* Compiled by EDGAR STANTON MACLAY Historian of the U. S* Navy* THE STANDARD AMERICAN ANNUAL. PRICE 25 CENTS. Postpaid to any addreii. i *' THE WORLD, Pulitzer Building, j new york: Law-Made Wealth. You may think that peoplo can not be made rich by law. There are some peoqie whom you are pleased to call shrewd and wise that don’t share your opinions. They art always pleasent with men and money, to have certain laws passed, and are ever willing to pay for them. Do you think these fel lows make no money by the law? Laborers are so far too ignorant to see the character of laws that would benefit them. Capitalists study the situation, find how the law will operate in their favor aud then go after it with the votes of the fools who will be skinned by the law.—Reform Press. DRufAMA CUBAN RELIEF carer ■ lulftlvl S Colic ’ Neuralgiaand Toothache ** “in five minutes. Sour Stomach and Summer Complaints. Price, 25 Cents. G. W. DelaPerrlere, Winder, Ga.