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KILLED THE COBRA. Methods of a Mongoose In Attacking the Big Snake. I had the good fortune to witness a flight between a four foot cobra and capeilo and a mongoose. On first catching sight of the cobra, rlkki tik (as Kudyard Kipling calls the Indian mongoosei quietly smelled its tail and then hung around awaiting events with curiosity, but he had not long to wait, for the cobra spread its hood, hissed out its death seuteuce and prepared to dart from its coil at its natural and hated enemy. Now commenced a most interesting and deadly b.-iitle of feint and couuter feint by the mongoose and strike and lightning-like leeoverv by his adver sary, who was also on the defensive, all the time watching for the opportu nity to get In his properly aimed late. Time after time nkki tik squirmed slowly up to within reach of those !er rible fangs, belly on ground, with ev ery gray hair of his body erect with singer and excitement. Ins eyes glaring from.his head, which, by the way. lie invariably held sideways during ibis approach and attack, out the moment the cobra struck u: a Hash back sprang master mongoose, aid. although often it appeared as if impossible that lie could have escaped i he dreaded fangs, ne'er a scratch harmed him. ai.d there be would be again wearing the cobra out and pressing his advantage im h by inch. At last, with a growl and sharp rikki cry. the plucky little beast flew in. avoided the strike and seized the snake behind the head, never for a moment getting under his mouth, hut right at the nape of the neck and head, which he scrunched with a loud cracking sound despite the struggles and twisting and turning of the cobra. Again and again rikki returned to the now writhing reptile and hit its head and body until it lay dying. Finally he ate three or four inches of his mortal foe, but carefully avoided eating the fangs and poison glands, which 1 picked up by a stick and found them broken, but with the ven om sacks attached. Contrary to popular belief. I am of opinion the mongoose is not immune from snake poison, else why should he so particularly and carefully avoid be ing bitten? It is only by his marvel ous activity that he escapes the spring and darting strike of his deadly ene my, the cobra de capeilo. Ceylon Times. DESTROYED BY CHEMICALS. Weapons Used by Assassins Against Royal Personages. Very few people are aware that as soon as the trial of an assassin of royalty is concluded the weapon with which he accomplished his crime is carefully destroyed so that no trace of it remains. The reason of this is twofold —first of all, the possibility exists that at some time or other the weapons used in a royal tragedy may Lx* exhibited to the public in some museum or show, and. second, there is a strange super stitious dread existing among reigning houses that the existence of the inno cent but unhallowed weapons by which rulers have been dispatched to eternity is fraught with peril to their descendants. The method of destroying these weapons is a curious one. The wooden portions, such as the stocks of pistols or the handles of poiuards, are burned, and the metal portions are eaten away in a bath of nitric acid. This has been the custom ever since the attempted assassination of Queen Isabella of Spain in IS.Y2 by Merius. Prior to that date the metal work of firearms or knives was ground or filed away, but the blade of the dagger with which Merius sought to execute his dastardly crime proved to be of such exquisite temper and hardness that it resisted both file and grindstone. This became known to the populace, and the superstitious Spaniards believ ed that Merius had invested his weap on with magical qualities. To divest them of this absurd belief the authori ties had the weapon destroyed by im mersing it in chemicals, a rule that has been followed ever since. High Class Suicide. In China suicide has been a fine art for several centuries. If a mandarin is guilty of misconduct he is requested to put himself out of ttie land of the living. There is a distinction, too, in the manner in which ttie oriental may die. If he is of exalted rank and enti tled to wear ttie peacock feather tie is privileged to choke himself to death with gold leaf. This is regarded as a distinguished manner of ending life. If the mandarin is only of the rank that is entitled to wear the red button he must be content with strangling himself with a silken cord. Such are the distinctions of caste. • Financial Information. “So yon at last yielded to that man’s importunities and gave him some tips on the market?" “Yes." answered Mr. Dustin Stax. “What happened ?” "Well, they turned out so badly that I’m mighty glad 1 didn’t Invest any money •** ’em myself.”—Washington Star. ODD ELECTION SIGNS. Th Signs Ars In Washington, ths Elections Elsewhere. “Of course we don’t have any elec tions of our own," said a man from Washington, "but we have election iu timations. If 1 may call them that, which can’t be duplicated anywhere else in the country. "You see, when we Washingtonians want to vote we’ve got to do it some where else, and as most of us have a lingering fondness for the franchise we are pretty likely to hang on to a residence somewhere outside the Dis trict. “We especially like to do it because it makes us feel as if we bad some sort of weapon to flourish before the observing eyes of the politicians who may have something to say about our hold on our jobs, and when the time comes to go home to vote we visibly swell wi:h importance. “Natnrail.v a national election is the one tinu cinches us ail at once, and it is then that tin* intimations I spoke of do most nbor.ml. The papers are full of advertisements of loans for election expenses. Department He; ns can be accommodated with sums covering their railway fare, n, w cb tiles for the trip and a substantial margin over and above necessary items. The inter est is a bit high, but a clerk who is pining to go back home to splurge a hit is willing to mortgage his re sources for the pleasure. "These offers of loans fill columns of the daily papers. Alongside of them are other advertisements, all turning on the one theme, the election. ‘Buy yourself anew suit to go home and vote in!’ The grammar is a hit off. hut the prices are asserted to be all right. "In the shop windows there are doz ens of election placards: 'Just the hat to wear when you go home to vote.’ ‘Specials in suit cases for the election,’ ‘Take a souvenir hatpin to your best girl when you go home to vote.’ ‘Swell suit for the election, only Si a week.’ and in a shoe store window, ‘Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching—home lo vote; wear ’s shoes and you won’t get sore feet!’ “The railways offer special rates to voters, and so it goes. You won’t find anything like it in any other town.”— New York Sun. EASILY MANAGED. The Clever Scheme Evolved by the Clock Winder. The contract for keeping the church and town hall clocks in order was giv en to anew man. Unfortunately from the start he experienced a difficulty in getting the clocks to strike at the same time. At last the district council re quested an interview with the watch maker. "You are not so successful with the clocks as your predecessor.” be was told. “It is very misleading'to have one clock striking three or four min utes after the other. Before you took them in band we could hardly tell the two were striking. Surely you are as competent?” “Every workman lias his own meth ods, gentlemen.” replied the watch maker. “and mine ain't the same as ll.’s wore.” “I'm decidedly of the opinion that it would be for the general good if they were." remarked one of the councilors. “Very well. sir. in future they shall he." came the reply. "I happened to write to him last week about the trou ble I had with the clocks, and—hut perhaps," tie added as he produced a letter and handed it to the chairman, "you'd like to see what he said.” "Dear sir.” ran tlie letter—“about them clocks. When you get to know what a cantankerous lot of busy bodies the council consists of you'll do the same its I did for fifteen years-forget to wind up the striker of the town hall clock, and the blooming jackasses won’t be able to tell that both clocks ain't striking together!"-London Tit- Bits. Curious Laws In India. Some of tlte old laws ot Nepal, In dia. were curious. Killing cows ranked with murder as a capital offense, for instance. Every girl si t birtli was married with great ceremony to a betel fruit, which was tlien east into a sacred stream. As the fate of the fruit was uncertain, the girl was sup posed never to become a widow, i'o obtain divorce from a husband a wife had only to place a betel nut under his pillow and depart. In Nepal tlte day is considered to liegin when it is light enough to count the tiles on the roof or distinguish the hairs on a man’s hand against the sky. Ancient Sacrifices. • Many Roman and Creek epicures were very fond of dog flesh. Before Christianity was established the Dimes on every ninth year ninety nine dogs were sacrificed. 1 11 Sweden each ninth day liinety-uiue dogs were destroyed. But later on dogs were not thought good enough, and every ninth year ninety-nine human beings were immolated, the sous of the reigning tyrant among the rest, in order that the life of the monarch might be pro longed. Free= —=—=Free ——Absolutely Free= — AT Smith hC&Y&Yo&Ye Cos. TO THE PERSON PLACING THE Keen K inter Puzzle TOGETHER IN THE SHORTEST TIME ON Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 20-21 Will receive, absolutely free, one of the handsome prizes, which consist of a $7.50 Keen Kutter Tool Set $5.00 Keen Kutter Safety Razor (Gold 5.00 Keen Kutter Silver Knives and Plated) Forks 6.50 Keen Kutter Scissors Set It doesn’t matter how long it takes you, just so vou put it together in the shortest time. Two are sure to win. You may be the one. After TUESDAY, and continuing through FRIDAY, the one plac ing the puzzle together in one hour, or less time, will receive a prize. It has been put together in 26 minutes. Don’t torget the time and place. ™ E DECEMBER 20-24 PLACE Smith AC&Y&mYe Cos. WINDER, : : : GEORGIA. Tfir f VDir WEDNESDAY I Oil LI ML December 22 e t-*!'.—iwi-'jfi nyi-s”- —n nsu-n. '■<-- —i '•■■■ .1 mu'"B"i >i ' • •***•'""•"***** ~ The Musical Event of the Season B. C. Whitney Presents the Newest and Best Musical Comedy . . . 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