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•'Ban tv leg, Bantyleg, where are you
from V
You must have been riding aatride of
(t drum!
All up with your prowess, all up with
your jig,
J* ever you started to fender a pig!”
t his was the cfy that the little town set
Wherever Bowlcgged Hutterball went —
*-* e Jest of the village, the Joke of the
place,
But, Lord, what a winner he was in th*
race!
Tho capUtin who captured him first on
his nine
Was a victor all season. He took the
base lino
In a Hight not exactly a leap or a run:
Ho rolled himself up and his little legs
spun,
And long ere the (lclder had captured tiro
hall
Bantyleg struck the home plate with a
sprawl.
Whenever ids turn came to handle the
hat
1 lie nine scored a run, there was no doubt
of that!
'the fire companies fought for him year
after year
To capture the plug with a shout and a
choc r.
With his uniform on in the village parade
iie looked like a beetle ill splendor ar
ia,Veil ;
Hut lie* marched to the tune of the old
country hand
As proud as the proudest In all the broad
land —
A red shirt of glory, a buff overcoat,
And a hat, fofe and aft, most as big as
u boat!
The Preacher’s Grip.
“Say, Phil), lei's put up a joke ou
the preacher,” said Jim Larkins, a
loutish fellow, to his ne’er-do-weel
c&mrade In many a drinking bout at
the village tavern.
“I’m in it, whatever it is,” replied
Phin Crowle, with a vicious grin.
These worthies were notable sports
anti dog-fanciers, and each had his
bulldog “that could whip anything
of its size and weight in the country.”
It was agreed, therefore, to bring their
respective dogs to the evening preach
ing, to keep them asunder till the ser
vice was well under way, and then to
Incite them to a tight. A few wall
directed digs with their heels ex
cited the beasts to angry growls and
snarls, to the great amusement of the
village toughs and to the great alarm
of the women and girls.
Lawrence Temple, a student from a
neighboring college, had just been ap
pointed a local preacher with a view to
the ministry. He was sent to try his
'prentice hand on the natives of the
Four Corners Schoolhoase, a neglect
ed rural neighborhood near the college
town. His lirst preaching experiences
•were likely to be, to put it mildly, not
uninteresting.
His previous practice of athletics in
felling trees in a lumber camp stood
him in good stead. He did not easily
get rattled nor lose his head. When the
disturbance became too obvious, he re
quested tlie owners of the dugs to keep
them quiet or to take them out. When
the unnoyauoe continued, he an
nounced that the disturbing of a re
ligious service was a violation of the
law and must cease at once.
"Now's yer time, Phin,” said Lar
kins, in a loud aside, “let her go,”
and in a minute the exasperated dogs
were rushing at each other's throats
and causing a panic of terror among
the women.
Quickly leaving the teacher’s desk
which served as a preaching stand,
Lawrence walked down the central
passage to where the dogs were snap
ping, snarling and rolling over each
other on the floor.
"Take your dogs out,” he said with
a very decided tone and gesture. See
ing that their owners took no notice,
he added sternly: “And do it at
once.”
“Take ’em out yerself if yer wants
to,” said Phin Crowle, “but I warns
yer it's at yer peril. If my Ttge grips
yer leg he’ll never let go—not if yer
cuts his head off.”
“Open the door, please,” said the
young preacher, which was promptly
done by a man sitting near it.
■ Lawrence had not practised football
In vain. Before their loutish owners
could interfere, lie had planted a well
directed and tremendous kick on the
Interlocked and astonished dogs that
unlocked their jaws; followed by two
others, that swept first one and then
the other over the threshold and into
the outer darkness before they knew
where they were.
“Now follow your dogs!" he said
grimly to the cowardly bullies—for
your bully is always a coward.
"Supposin' wo don't choose to!"
drawled Larkins.
“I'll simply have to make you!" said
Lawrence with blaring eyes, "and to
morrow have you fined for disturbing
public worship."
"Let's go, Jim," said Pliin; "he's
got the drop on us this time."
"We’ll be even with yer yet, Mr.
Preacher, and be blanked to yer,”
growled the human brute, Larkins,
more degraded than his dog, and went
Into the blackness of night making the
air lurid with oaths and curses.
In a moment Lawrence was calm
again, and with earnest pleading tones
he read over the words in the Apoca
THE BOWLEGGED MAN.
The regiment forming enlisted mm.
He carried the water, lor something’ to <1 .
And when the led rattle and thunder o
war ...
Came knocking one morning on isnmt
ieg’s door ~ ,
Ho sprang to the rally and followed tn
Of the ilag to the heart and the heat of
the imp ~, „
"Ono tiling,” he shouted, "you 11 s ee ITI
ega.in; , ~ .
I’ll straddle the balls and the bullets, di
pen!”
And he did! Not a scratch had he borne
when he came ,
1 forr.e again, happy and agile and '-.an ■■
With the badge of a veteran he waiiciu
with renowh, , .•
A relic of laughter long years in the t°” n -
Shoemaker, carpenter, sexton as wen.
Funeral or wedding, he tolled the >
And smiled tlie old smile when t.i>>
laughed at his legs
And his penchant for checkers and mum
bletypegs.
"Bantylegs Butterball, bowlegged man-
Catch me and kick me, if catch me you
Youngsters who shouted this challenge
to him ; ’
Are shadows as dim as those old
are dim, ■ ,
But still through the valley of memory i
The dear little town that was home town
to me, ' '
And laugh when I think of that shape on
the street
With knees that had parted to nevermore
meet! „
—Baltimore Sun.
By W. H. WITHROW.
lypse concerning the finally impeni
tent: “ ‘Without,’ in the blackness of
darkness forever, ‘are dogs, and sor
cerers, and whatsoever loveth and
maketh a lie,’ ” and with tears in his
voice he exhorted his hearers to heed
the solemn warnings of God and to
flee from his present and eternal
wrath. His words came home with
strange power and not a few of the
ruffians’ companions who had “come
to scoff remained to pray.”
An hour later Lawrence was making
his way home from his first service at
the Four Corners Schoolhouse. A
great gladness filled his soul and he
heeded not the wild and wintry winds
nor the drifting clouds that were scud
ding rapidly across the sky. Through
their rifts the moon shone brightly.
Just as he reached a bridge across a
ravine two figures glided out of the
shadows of the trees, accompanied by
two dygs. Lawrence at once recog
nized them as Jim Larkins and Phin
Crowle and their invariable compan
ions—we might almost say comrades
—Bull and Tige.
“Now, Mr. Preacher,” growled Lar
kins, “I said I’d be even with yer yet,
and blest if it isn’t goin’ to be ter
night.” Only “blest” was not exactly
the word he used, but one of opposite
meaning.
“I have no cause of quarrel with
you,” said Lawrence. “I forgive you
all about that little incident at the
schoolhouse.”
“But I ain’t forguv yer, nor Bull
neither, and we’ve got yer where we
want yer. Slc’m, Bull! Sic’m, Tige!”
Ominous growlings and snarlings
followed, but just then a rift in the
cloud emitted a bright gleam of moon
light which, reflected by the snow, re
vealed the group with almost the light
of day. Both dogs seemed to recog
nize the man with the emphatic boots
with which they had so recently made
unpleasant acquaintance, and slunk
behind their respective owners.
“Curse ’em! 1 never knowed ’em to
do like that afore. Ye’re not afraid,
be yer? ’Ere, Bull, sic'm. Tige, seize
holt.’
“We’ll have to wade In, Phin.”
“I have no quarrel with either of
you, and don't want to have,” said
Lawrence.
“Oh, ye’re a coward, be yer? On
yer own ground in the schoolhouse
yer wuz bold enough, but here yer
sings another tune. Ye’ve got ter fight
and one or other of us goes over that
bridge,” and he pointed to the deep
shadows in the ravine.
“Not I, if I can help it, nor you
either, so far as I am concerned,” re
plied Lawrence, calmly.
“Take that, will yer?” said Larkins,
and he hit him a buffet mi the cheek.
“I never struck a man yet,” said
Lawrence, “and I don't intend to; but
l don’t object to a passive resistance,”
and he skilfully warded off blow after
blow of Larkins’ furious onset.
“Why don’t ye piten in, Phin? Give
it ’im heavy.”
"Not I,” said Pliin, ‘lt’s no fun hit
tin' a man that won’t hit back. I’ll
stand by and see fair play."
"Curse 'im an’ yer too. It's not fair
play I want, but his blood, an' I’ll nave
it, fair play or foul," and he made a
mad rush at laawrence which would
have swept him over the undefended
edge of the bridge, had he not been
quick as a weasel.
Larkins, with another rush, got In
side Lawrence's guard and flung his
long arms around the slim student
preacher with a grasp like a boa-con
strictor’s. The ground was icy. Law
rence was in real peril of being hurl
iedover the bridge side into the ra-
I vine whose bottom was studded with
stumps and wo*d-cutters’ debris. Put
to his mettle he got a wrestling grip
on Larkins, and they swayed and
struggled on the narrow bridge, the
one trying to get near the edge, the
other to keep in the centre.
It was not for nothing that Lawrep-~
had developed his thews and sinews
Joading saw-logs in the lumber-camp.
AVith a mighty effort he lifted his an
tagonist from the ground and could
easily have flung him over the bridge
into the ravine, but he merely threw
him into the snow-drift by the road
side, and was in turn dragged down.
“Here, Bull, hero, Tige, sic ’irn!
Seize ’im! Tear ’im!” roared Larkins
with lip-biistering oaths.
“No, yar don’t, Tige,” said Phin:
“two to one is agin the rules o’ the
game.”
Bull snarled and snapped, but the
clouds agai ndrifted across the moon
and in the shadow it v/as impossible
to distinguish which was Lawrence.
“Curse him! He’s bruk my wrist.
The game’s up for this time.”
“Sorry I hurt you,” said Lawrence.
“I didn’t want to. Let me see if it
is badly injured.”
“Pains like thunder,” said Larkins,
holding up a dangling wrist. “Here,
Phin, yer take holt.”
“Let the preacher try,” said Phin,
as Larkins howled with pain. “He
knows more about these things nor
I do.”
Lawrence, who had often bound up
sprains and bruises in the lumber
camp, took hold of the injured wrist,
despite Larkins’ reluctance, and ten
derly examined it, though Larkins
winced at the touch.
“No bones broken, my good fellow,”
said Lawrence, “only a bad sprain. Let
me make a splint,” and he rapidly
shaped two flat pieces of wood, and
saying, “See, Phin, how it is done,”
carefully bound them with his own
handkerchief on the sprained wrist.
“Isn’t that better?” be asked.
“Ain’t so all-fired painful as ’twuz,”
admitted Larkins,
“Now let me make you a sling. Got
another , IKl'ndkerchief, boys?” But
neither of them possessed such an
article; so Phin took oif his braces —
“galluses,” he called them —and “took
up the slack of his trousers,” as he
termed it, with a nail, while Lawrence
made a sling to suport the injured
wrist.
“I 'am very, very sorry,” he said;
“I didn’t want to hurt you, believe me.”
“Oh, hang it all,” said Larkins,
"served me right, I guess—ye’re not
such a bad lot arter all. Will yer
shake hands and call it quits?” and he
held out his uninjured hand. “I meant
murder, though, blest if I didn’t! ”-*-and
this time the word was not a cur6e.
“I couldn’t have done like yer did
arter the ways I treated yer, not by a
jugful. Will yer forgive me?”
“With all my heart,” said Lawrence;
and as he shook hands with both the
cronies, he added, “I bear you no mal
ice at all. God bless you both.”
“Here, Bull, here Tige,” said the dis
comfied comrades as they lurched
along to the Four Corners, and Law
rence went, light-hearted on his way
to town. He had both killed an en
emy and made a friend, adopting the
Master’s own method, the true psy
chology of overcoming evil with good.
Jlenceforth Larkins and Crowle were
he preacher’s champions at the Four
Corners.
"I ain’t no slouch at a wrastle nuth
er,” Larkins admitted to Phin; “that
underholt uv his is a corker.” —From
The Christian Herald.
A Silent Trumpet.
Alexander Graham Bell, whose ex
periments promise to give him as won
derful a success with the flying ma
chine as he ha<| with the telephone,
used to teach the deaf and dumb —it
was, in fact, his work among the deaf
end dumb that led to the telephone’s
invention —and at a dinner in Wash
ington he told a deaf and dumb story.
"This story illustrates,” he began,
"the necessity for carrying on aero
plane experiments secretly. Were
they carried on publicly interference
would ensue. Ignorance always causes
interference. Many years ago an aged
friend of mine visited a church in
Maine one Sunday morning. As soon
as the sermon began my friend, who
was very deaf, took from his pocket
an ear trumpet in two parts and pro
ceeded to screw the parts together.
\\ hile he was engaged in this work he
noticed that the sexton, from his seat
near the pulpit, kept frowning and
shaking his head at him. Finally, jus;
as my friend got his trumpet joined
and made as if to put it to his ea~, the
sexton hastened to him and whispered
fiercely:
" ‘Ye can’t play that here. If ye do
I’ll put ye out’ ” —San Antonio Ex
press.
The Cat.
The woman crowded into the seat
reserved for smokers and sniffed
ominously, contemptously.
"Tobacco,” she remarked, "is a vile
poison Nicotine would kill a cat.”
"That being the case, madam,” re
plied an unembarrassed smoker, “if I
were you I’d make the cat cut it out."
—Philadelphia Ledger.
Bakers of Pompeii made their bread
circular and flat, as appears from
loaves found in the ruins.
Georgia Cullings
Curtailed Items of Interest
Gathered at Random.
Farmers’ Union at State Fair.
R. F. Duckworth, state president of
the Georgia Farmers’ Union, has an
nounced the full program for "Farm
ers Union Day,” which is to be cele
brated at the state fair in Atlanta on
October 16. This is to be one of the
really big days of the fair and there
is sure to be large delegations from
the various farmers’ union organiza
tions in the state.
* * *
All Telegraph Offices Open.
When the railroad commission Fri
day morning called for the considera
tion of the petitions of citizens from
various towns of the state, in which it
was requested that the telegraph com
panies be forced to furnish service at
these towns, their offices having been
closed since the strike of the opera
tors, representatives of both the Pos
tal and Western Union announced that
every telegraph office in Georgia was
now open for business.
In view of the fact that there was
no challenge of the claim of the tele
graph companies, the commission de
cided to notify the complainants of
the telegraph companies’ statement,
and if there was no further complaint
the matter would be closed.
* * *
Pushing Work on G. & F. Road,
It is officially announced in Augus
ta that all necessary steps have been
taken for the taking over of the sev
eral railroads which will form a part
of the Georgia and Florida railway.
The connecting roads are the Au
gusta and Florida railway, the Atlantic
and Gulf Shore line, the Millen and
Southwestern, the Douglas railroad,
the Augusta and Gulf railway, Nash
ville and Sparks railway and Valdosta
Southern, comprising a total mileage
of roads now in operation of about 220
miles.
Contracts are about completed for
the building of the four lines necessary
to join the existing roads, and the
entire system, when completed, will
be about 350 miles long, the main line
extending from Augusta to Madison,
Fla.
A. & W. P, Withdraws Motion.
The Atlanta and West Point rail
road has withdrawn its motion pending
before Judge W. D. Ellis of the Fulton
superior court, asking for a temporary
injunction restraining the state rail
road commission from enforcing its
order reducing passenger rates within
the state and the case of the petition
ing road will now take its regular
place on the docket, coming up for
final adjudication in from twelve to
eighteen months.
This for the time being, takes the
fight of the railroad out of the state
courts, and is taken to mean that the
Atlanta and West Point railroad will
comply with the order of the state
railroad commission, reducing passen
ger rates pending final settlement of
the case.
* * *
Seaboard Bows to Law.
President W. A. Garrett of the Sea
board Air Line railroad has expressed
the willingness and intention of his
road to co-operate with the Georgia
railroad commission in carrying out
the state laws. This expression ot
President Garrett was contained in a
letter received by Hon. S. G. McLen
don, chairman of the railroad commis
sion, and was in reply to a letter
written him by the chairman. In his
letter to President Garrett Chairman
McLendon expressed the appreciation
of the railroad commission of the at
titude of the Seaboard Air Line in
os readily complying with the law re
ducing passenger rates.
The Seaboard Air Line and the
Western and Atlantic were the only
roads that did not enjoin the commis
sion from enforcing the reduced rates.
* * *
State W. C. T. U. Convention.
The twenty-fifth annual convention
of the Georgia Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union will be he:d at Co
lumbus October 23-25. It will be
known as the jubliee convention.
Eaoh union is requested to elect del
egates at once and forward names to
Mrs. John C. Cook, 1516 Third avenue,
Columbus. If they find later that they
can not attend, they are requested to
not fail to notify Mrs. Cook of that
fact also and thus avoid disappoint
ment and confusion.
The reduced rates granted by the
Southeastern Passenger Association
have been recalled, on account of the
unsettled conditions with regard to
rates brought about by recent legis-
STOP AT THE
ZETTLER HOUSE.
The best SI.OO a day house in the
c ; ty.
253 FOURTH ST., MACON. G A.,
Mrs. A. L. Zeltler, Proprietress,
lation, but the rates have been redusea
on some -roads so expenses will not
be so heavy as heretofore. Certificates
under the circumstances will he use
less.
* * *
Will Guarantee Valuation.
The first application of the new
law which requires a Georgia corpora
tion to obtain the sanction of the rail
road commission before it can issue
additional stocks or bonds occurred
Friday when the Atlanta Telephone
and Telegraph company argued its pe
tition for permission to float a $2,000,-
000 bond issue.
Heretofore all stocks' arid'beffids is
sued by Georgia corporations have at
least had the prima facie sanction ol
the state. In future- such issues will
not only have the approval of the
state through its railroad commission,
hut the fact that a corporation has
permission that back of such issue
there exists actual valuq. The commis
sion will, in no instance, approve a
bond or stock issue until by painstak
ing and thorough investigation it has
satisfied itself that the applicant is
entitled to such approval.
* * *
Cotton Interview Condemned.
At the recent meeting of the Upson
County Farmers’ Union at Thomaston
a strong protest was made against an
interview recently published in the At
lanta Journal, placing the cotton crop
in Georgia at 2,000,000 bales. The
resolutions passed were as follows:
“Whereas, Governor Hoke Smith and
others, in a recent interview given to
the Atlanta Journal, place the cotton
crop of the state of Georgia at two
million bales for the year 1907; and,
“Whereas, recognizing that estimate
is wholly untrue from the present out
look and what we can learn from all
sources, we, the Farmers’ Union ofi
Upson county, in called meeting as
sembled, do hereby
“Resolve, That we strongly condemn
this method used to lower the price of
cotton by making it appear that the
state will yield fully 500,000 more bales
than it is possible for her to yield this
year, and words of censure are not
too strong towards those who use such
unfair methods against the farmers of
the state.
“Be it further resolved, That we
heartily endorse the position taken by
our state president, Hon. R. F. Duck
worth, in his recent interview's pub
lished in several of the daily papers
of the state criticising the action of
these gentlemen.”
~Several other county unions have
taken similar action.
- * * *
Pure Food Law Operative.
,Tuesday, October Ist, the Pure Food,
Law of Georgia, which, went into effect
on August Ist, but inspection on which
was temporarily suspended by Corn
. missioner of Agriculture T. G. Hudson,
became rigidly operative and will be
strictly enforced.
Out of deference to the country mer
chants of the state w'ho were heavily,
stocked with feed stuffs
which come "’the, registration
clause of this law,--the department saw
fit to put off the inspection until the
last named date.
It is required by the department
that all foods and feed stuffs shall be;
registered and* the contents plainly
printed, the foods tagged aiid on each
tag there shall he placed an inspec
tion' stamp ’and the .fS'tfiiftßr’-fged stuffs
analys'd depar^eiiL,*^’:'
In a special order “Commissioner
Hudson calls attention-to that great
cattle feed, cottoii seed ' meal, and
states that to be biassed as -a legal
meal, it nlus.t contain 38.G2 ybr- cent
protein, and if It falls beldw that
standard, it will be known as a mix?d
feed and registered asjsuchiv
Under section 17 of Food
law, it is the duty of sheriffs to seize
and sell at public outcry all "foods and
feed stuffs not properly Registered.
Already $6,000 worth, ppf pure food
stamps have been sold by'the agricul
tural department.
This country manufactures about 32,-
000,000 lead pencils annually, argues
the Boston Transcript, but it is stated
that the red cedar from which the best
ones are made is growing scarce, and
no substitute has • yet been found.
Strangely enough, no effort has been
made to maintain the supply, though
cedar trees are easily grown from the
seed.