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THE SONG OF THE AERONAUT. When sunset has folded the earth In a veil , , ... Of rose-colored tissue embroidered with gold, . . Then I rise and I rise through the shim mering skiis .. To heights where the stars glitter sil very cold. . . Beside me the moon glides away to tnc In her shallop of delicate ivory wrought. And beneath me the clouds are luce mother-of-pearl— Oh, such are joys of the aeronaut. The world is below with its care and its woe, , ~. And no one can follow me here w ltn a bill. . I am safe from the bore with a story to And clear of the dame with a mission to fill. . No trolleys to catch and no autos to dodge, ~ ~ , , No annual taxes to drive me distraught But the infinite peace of the limitl .ss i r Oh, great ure the joys of the aeronaut! Would you feel that the V in your pocket is yours, . , And no one can borrow or steal *>- nway? Would you " flee from the wrath of your mother-in-law, . . . Or the thirsty mosquito determined to a!ay? t Would you go where the lawn-mowei cannot be heard, . Or the grnphophone puncture the ouo hies of thought? , ~ Then take a balloon to the top of tnc And taste of the joys of the aeronaut. —Minna Irving, in Leslie's Weekly. An Old Woman Whose House Faced the Sea . By Frances J. Delano. Once there was an old woman who lived in a little house facing the sea. There was a great hill in back of her, the sky was over her, the sea in iront of her, and not a house in sight for many a mile. It was thought that the old woman s days of usefulness were over, for she could not go to the little fishing ham let as she used and care for the sick. It was all she could do to keep her house in order and tend her garden. But still she was useful and happy because she had a friend. She could not see her friend, it is true, but no more can we see our friends; it is only their body we see, and what good would that be if the friend were not Inside? Well, the old woman knew that her friend was with her, and she tried to make her little house a pleasant place. When she felt the fresh wind sweeping in from the sea, and saw how the tide came in and washed the sands clean every day, and how the rain came down and washed the whole earth, then she know that her friend liked whatever was clean. So she scoured her pewter plates, and brought white sand for her floor, and kept her candles always as good as new. She found, too, that her friend loved beautiful things; for the great sea, both in storm and sunshine, was al ways wonderfully beautiful, and the shells thrown up on the beach were delicately fashioned. So, when she planted her potatoes, she planted pop ples, too, and Canterbury bells and fox glove. Sometimes she picked a flower or two and set in a cup upon the table, and then she would smile, thinking of her friend and of his love for every beautiful thing. She found out, after a little, that her friend loved people—the staunch old fishermen who kept the ships al ways steady before the wind, and the . wives of the fishermen, the poor old wives and the flighty young ones, and the little children everywhere, and the wicked people away out in the great world. The old woman knew that it was beyond her power to understand bow great was her friend’s love for all these. v But she tried to help, and, when ever the fishermen went by. she would nod to them, and sometimes, when the weather threatened, she would call to them: "Ye’re safe, ye’re safe,” she would call, “whether ye come back, or no, ye're safe." Now and then, in the summer time, when the children went waudering by, she would give them flowers and help them in their seasch lor shells; and no weary, discouraged traveller ever went by her door with out being fed and cheered. One winter's night, when there was a great storm abroad, when the wind came from far out of the north and lift ed the sea as if it were a feather and hurled it against the rocks, when the rain came in sheets on the roof of the old woman’s cottage, and when every ship that could had been run into har bor, on this night the old woman lay in her bed. which was rocking like a cradle, and she was listening to the sweep of the wind, and thinking of the sailors at sea, when all at once lie heard a strange sound. It was not the sea, nor the wind, nor the rain: It was a different sound from any of those. The old woman raised her head and listened, then she dressed herself. Her candle burning in the little room below, and she seized it and peer ed cut Into the night. She could see (nothing because of the storm, so r- s o hi: . die upon the table and Bpeued her dear. With the wind and the rain, which almost deluged the old woman’s cottage, there came also a stranger into the room. The woman helped him to a seat, then did her best to close the door against the wind. When this was done, she turned to the stranger. His strength was spent, and seeing this, she started the fire to blaz ing, and made him some gruel. The stranger was not like the men she was used to seeing. He was taller and thinner than the fishermen, and his hands were white and shapely. His clothing was like the clothing of a king. “Ye come from a far country, be like,” said the woman, when the heat and the gruel had restored her guest. “Aye,” said the stranger. The old woman eyed him keenly. “Belike ye’re a king,” she said pres ently. The stranger looked at the woman. “Aye,” he said, and dropped his head upon his breast. “Yer courage will come with yer strength.” said she. But the stranger neither spoke nor lifted his head. Then the old woman knew that something more than lack of strength ailed the king. “Belike he’s forgotten,” said the wo man to herself, and she gazed sorrow fully at the king. Her eyes brightened presently, and she nodded her head. “He’ll find out that there’s naught to take the courage out of a man. He’ll find it out.” And she began crooning a little song as she stirred her gruel. The storm was over in the morning. The beach was washed clean, the air was sweet, and the great sea was filled with light. But the king did not mind the beau ty of the morning. He sat in the door way of the old woman’s cottage with his head bowed upon his breast, and for a long time lie did not speak. The old woman, however, looked out upon the sea and thought of her friend, and her heart was glad within her. The sun was high in the sky when at last the king lifted his head and and looked far up and down the coast. “A God-forsaken country, madam,” he said, looking back into the cot tage. The old woman was cutting bread and cheese for the king’s dinner. She stopped a moment, and looked down at him. “Ah, man, there’s no such country as that,” said she, and her voice was quiet and sure, and there was a light in her deep eyes that set the king to wondering. For many days after this the king stayed at the little house facing the sea, and watched the old woman and wondered at her. At length he asked a question that puzzled him. “Madam,” he said, "why is it you’re content? You are alone and have but little. You may starve, die here alone in this miserable place, with no one to give you a cup of water.” The old woman gazed at the king, and he saw that the sorrow in her heart was for him and not for herself. “Why is it,” returned she, “that you, being a king and having much, no fear of starving or of dying alone, why is it you are not content?” The king did not answer the ques tion, he turned away and went out and walked along the store. For many days after this the king puzzled over the question he had asked. At length, in the sure way that God has of answering questions, the truth came into the king's heart, and he knew. Then he sought out tho old woman, and he had no need to speak; for she saw that his courage had come, and she knew that he had got at the bot tom of all the truth there is. After this the king was for going back to his own country. And a sad country it was, too. Strong men sat idle in the towns. The wheat fields and the corn fields were gone to weeds. Little children lay in their cribs and cried because they were hungry. Boys and girls grew up ignorant and quar relsome because the money to keep the schools had been spent at the king’s court. There were no good laws in that country, and no one minded what laws there were and so things had gone from bad to worse for a long day. But,now the king was back again, and he had the courage of a regiment. He gathered the wisest men in his kingdom around him, and they made new laws. The taxes were reduced, and the schools were opened. Then the strong men began to work, and the boys and girls to go to school, and the little children to laugh and play. All this time the old woman lived on in her little house facing the sea. nor dreamed that the joy in her heart had spread into a great country, and made thousands of little children glad. —The Christian Register. His Occupation. Magistrate—What is your occupa tion? Prisoner— l am an employer of labor, your honor. Magistrate—Well, what do you do? Prisoner—l find employment for such gentlemen as yourself and prison of ficials. Sentence — Six months’ hard. —Tit- ; Bits. Jl r New York city subways are now carrying 90,000 more passengers daily than they did one year ago. Georgia Briefs Items of State Interest Culled From Random Sources. Rewards for Barn Burners. Upon complaint of citizens of Ogle thorpe county that a number of barns have been burned there within the last few months, Governor Smith has offered a reward of SIOO for each arrest and conviction of the par ties guilty of these crimes. The most recent cases were the burning of the barns of T. J. Erwin and A. H. Talmadge near Winterville on December 15 and 18, respectively. * * * Georgia Liberal to Old Vets. With what care and liberality Geor gia provides for her confederate vet erans is shown by the annual report of State Pension Commissioner J. W. Lindsey, which has just been issued for the year ending December 31, 1907. Since 1879, this report sets forth, there has been paid out to the vet erans of this state $11,208,011.55. For the year 1879 the pension roll carried $70,580. In 1907 it carried $932,685. In 1908 it is likely that $950,000 will be paid out. In 1906 the number of pensioners was 15,298; in 1907 this number had increased to 16,713. * * * Short Respite for Glover. At a late hour Saturday afternoon, Governor Smith affixed his signature to an executive order, in which he de clined to reduce the sentence of Ar thur Glover from death to imprison ment for life, but he granted a res pite from Monday, January 27, at which time the condemned man was to have paid the penalty of his life, until Friday, January 31. The gov ernor felt that Glover was entitled to a few more days in which to make his preparations for death. Glover was convicted for the murder of Maud Dean, his sweetheart, in Augusta. * * * Road Working Case Up. The department of justice at Wash ington has taken up the case of the ci vilian teamsters in government em ploy who are quartered at Fort Ogle thorpe, and who were arrested and imprisoned for not working on the Georgia roads. A question of the right of the local authorities to require the men to work on the roads is at issue, the Washington authorities holding that the teamsters were bound by con tract to serve the national government and that the attempt of the local au thorities to take them out of the serv ice of the United States and require them to work for a definite time on the state roads is an interference with the operations of the federal govern ment. * * Cotton Association to Meet. The annual meeting of the Georgia division of the Southern Cotton As sociation will be held in the senate chamber of the state capitol at Atlanta on Wednesday, February 5. Officers will be chosen for the ensu ing year, important resolutions will he adopted relating to the work of the as sociation, delegates at large will he named to go to the national conven tion. It is desired that every county in tlie sta-te be represented at this meet ing and county associations are urged to act at once in the matter of the se lection of delegates and to notify Pres ident M. L. Johnson, room 919 Empire building, Atlanta, of the names and addresses of the delegates chosen. School Train Ready to Start. An agrciultural train, conveying ex hibits, expert lecturers and President A. M. Soule of the State College of Agriculture, will start on its journey of 3,000 miles over the state at Commerce on Febraurv 10, at 8 o’clock in the morning. The train will reach more than 150 towns, and take one month in so do ing. It is the purpose of this train to confer upon the farmers of Georgia many useful and important facts re garding agriculture. The baggage car will be filled with exhibits. Two pas senger coaches will be used as lec ture rooms. Five stops will be made each day, each one being in length an hour and a half. It is figured that the train will reach over 300,000 citi zens. this having been taken from the last census; in this estimate, however, the larger towns are not taken in. The last stop will be made at El berton, March 14. • • Falling Off in Tag Sales. According to reports made to the agricultural department the fertilizer tag sale is falling off considerably, this spring, from what it was last year, Indicating a curtailment of acreage be ing devoted to cotton and in conse qence a diminution in the amount of money to be raised from the sale of these tags. The eleven agricultural schools about the state and the SIOO,OOO agri cultural college at Athens, which has just completed such a successful cot ton school” are supported out of these proceeds. To increase this fund a bill is now pending in the house, which will raise the price of these fertilizer tags from the present rate of ten cents a ton to twenty-five cents a ton, therefore more than doubling the sum to be secured. One of the chief fertilizers used in Georgia, and throughout the south, is cotton seed meal which serves in a dual capacity of being a good fertil izer filler and in addition when mix ed with cotton seed hulls becomes the best known cattle feed. All of these district schools and the agricultural college at Athens urge the use of it both as a fertilizer and cattle feed. The state department oZ agriculture has sold only $6,405 worth of fertilzer inspection tags since January 1, as compared with sales aggregating sll,- 458 for the same period of 1907, a fall ing off of $5,053. j As January and Februa*y are the big months for sales of these tags, this fact is considered as bearing Out the recent statement coming from the de partment that there is prospect of large decrease in the sale and use of fertilizers as compared with last year. FORGER IN THE TOILS. Ex-Bank Cleik Chased Ail Over the Coun try and Finally Nabbed at Mayport, Florida. Tracked through many states and sailing under many different names, T. Nordstrom, a former bank clerk of As toria, Oregon, was captured at May port, Fla., Thursday night. He is wanted at Chicago, where, posing as the representative of F. A. Cole & Sons, wealthy wholesale grocers of his home city, he forged the name of J. Roy Bennett, cashier of the Astoria Bank, and cashed a draft for $15,000 at the First National Bank. From Chicago Nordstrom fled and continued his crooked daalings in many cities throughout the United States. During all of his operations since the Chicago forgery he has been closely followed a Pinkerton detective. This detective who located the man and planned his capture when his- pri vate yacht Kathryn was boarded as she lay in midstream off Mayport by a party of officers. Nordstrom was taken from his bunk and hustled to Jacksonville. From Chicago, where he was C. A. Cole, Nordstrom appear ed in various cities under other names. At San Francisco, where he was track ed, he operated under the name of B. F. Kavanaugh. Under this name also he carried on crooked deals at Galves ton, Texas, and at New Orleans. From New Orleans he was followed to Bruns wick, Ga., where he had dealings with the Brunswick Bank and Trus| com pany as F. M. Wood. The forgery of the draft on the Chicago bank was committed on December 3rd last. From that time until December 13 Nordstrom was followed over miles of territory, and finally traced to Bruns wick. Here he lived in luxury for a time and purchased from Frank D., Aiken, president of the Brunswick Bank and Trust company, the yacht, aboard which he was beginning a world tour when captured. From Brunswick Nordstrom went to Jacksonville aboard the boat, whose name was changed from Lucile to Kathryn. On the return trip Nordstrom was positively identified as the man want ed for the big forgery by photographs in the possession of the detective and by the fact that hir, right hand is bad ly disfigured. The first finger is mis shapen as the result of some accident, and the second finger is cut off at the second joint. When he saw' that to deny his iden tity would gain him nothing, Nord strom admitted his guilt and said he would submit peacefully. GIGANTIC FEDERAL PENSION ROLL. Appropriations Committee Calls for Enor mous Sum of $150,000,000. Representative Kaifer of Ohio, chair man of the subcommittee on pensions of the house committee on appropria tion, has announced informally that that committee has agreed to recom mend a pension roil of $150,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909. This will be about $7,000,000 in excess of the pension roll of the res- nt year. STOP AT THE ZETTLER HOUSE. The best SI.OO a dsy house in the city. 2f,3 FOURTH ST., MACON, G*., Mrs. A. L. Zettler, Proprietress. WESLEY MEMORIAL CHURCH Soon to Be Under Construction in Atlanta*, Says Building Committee. Announcement was made through the daily press last week that Wes ley Memorial Church, the institutional church of Georgia Methodism, will soon he under construction. This an nouncement comes from the building committee of the church, and will be read with interest by the people of Georgia. The great movement looking to the erection of an institutional church, a hospital and a dormitory for girls was inaugurated in Atlanta on. June Id, 1907, by seven of the bishops of the Methodist Episaoal Church,. South, who came at the invitation of the executive committee of the Wes ley Memorial Enterprises. On that day more than $200,000 was subscribed and since that time other subscrip tions have been made from Atlanta, other cities and from rural communi ties of the state. Wseley Memorial Hospital, which: was opened about two years ago, and which was a part of this undertaking, is doing splendid work, and is favor ably known throughout the state. It has been enlarged since the beginning of this movement by the addition of an annex, and from time to time fur ther additions will be made. The dormitory for girls will be built at a later date. This dormitory will fur nish a comfortable home for girls who cannot afford to pay the prices de manded by the best class of boarding bouses. The church, on which work will soon be begun, will be planned and equipped in accordance with mod ern ideas of institutional church, work. The building of this church, dormi tory and hospital is of interest to the people of Georgia outside of At lanta, because of the fact that the work will be especially among those who go to Atlanta from rural districts and towns and cities of the state. The church will be fitted with attractions that will draw young people from dangerous places of amusement; the hospital is open to people of the en tire state, and the dormitory w*.ll care for young women who go to Atlanta from other places. Altogether the movements is one whose influence will be felt throughout all of Georgia. The purpose of this movement is explained in detail in a booklet which has been issued and which can be secured upon request from the secre tary of the executive committee of the Wesley Memorial Enterprise, Candler building, Atlanta. The executive committee of the en terprise is as follows: ‘R. J. Guinn, chairman; T. K. Gienti, vice chairman; Forrest Adair, Asa G. Candler, E. V. Carter, M. M. Davies, C. J. Haden, R. A. Hemphill, J. G. Lester, R. F. Mad dox, James L. Mayson, Dr. C. E. Mur phy, J. A. McCord, H. Y. McCord, J. N. McEachern, presiding elder of At lanta district, and pastor Wesley Me morial Church. The building of thi3 church will mark a great step fordward in relig ious and moral life, and the people of Georgia will undoubtedly give their loyal support to this church and its institutions which are planned for great helpfulness to the people, es pecially the young people, and for car iusr far the sick. HITCHCOCK PLEADS FOR BRYAN! Nebraska Representative Delivers a Polit ical Speech in the House. While the urgent deficiency appro* priaticm bill was under consideration in the house Friday, Mr. Hitchcock of Nebraska delivered a political speech in the course of which he at tacked certain statistics of Grosvenor of Ohio regarding the political out look. His remarks were devoted main ly to a plea for William J. Bryan for president. ROBBERS SEIZE MAIL WAGON. Bold Exploit in New Orleans Nets Thieves Sum of $5,000. At New Orleans Sunday night, daring thieves robbed a United States mail wagon loaded w’ith incoming mall over the Qusen and Crescent route. The thieves were reported to have secured about $5,000, but the postoffice authorities refuse to make any state ment about the amount of the rob bery.