Newspaper Page Text
EIGHT pages.
VOL XXII
PEDRO.
The Story of a California Dog That Catches
Flying Fish.
Pedro was one of the most important
personages on the island of Santa Cata
lina. lie was owned by a fisherman
and always went out in the boat, occu
pying- a position in the bow and aiding
in the work by barking vociferously,
taking ropes in his mouth and pulling
and hauling at every opportunity.
When a vessel came in Pedro was al
!l.vays on hand to receive it, and was
sometimes the first to catch the line
thrown by the crew to the dock. When
the men heaved away he seized the
hawser in his mouth and braced back
and pulled with the rest, all the time
uttering low growls to accompany the
heave-os of the men.
In brief, Pedro was a perfect sailor;
he knew the ropes thoroughly, and
there was little, apparently, that he
did not understand about fishing and
boating. He passed much of the time
in the water in warm weather, and,
when his master went along shore for
a walk, Pedro would go into the water
and swim the distance, preferring this
method of procedure.
One day his master was crawling
over the rocks in search of lumber that
had washed ashore, and Pedro was
swimming along quietly about fift\
feet from the rocks, when something
very singular happened. Directly in
front of Pedro and not ten feet from
his nose, up came a big black head,
with round, shining black eyes and
long whiskers. Pedro stopped short
with amazement, uttered a loud whim
per, and, as the head popped down
out of sight, he turned to the rocks
and swam in as fast as he could, climb
ing out and running to the highest
rock in the vicinity to catch a glimpse
of the strange object, all the time bark
loudly.
f [Thinking posibly that he had been
• deceived, he then entered the water
again and swam along, but in a few
minutes the shiny, black head came U P>
this time uttering a loud guttural bark.
Pedro answered, but in a very subdued
tone, and swam quickly to the shore,
while the head watched his retreat,
uttering occasional barks, as if rejoic
ing in the dog's defeat.
It was some time before Pedro would
enter the water again, and the sea-lion,
for such it was, had a clean sweep o
the beach, up and down which it swam
every night. . . ,
Pedro had another adventure, which
undoubtedly made an impression upon
his mind. He was standing as usual
one day in the bow of his masters
boat, his fore paws on the cutwater,
lookina- very much like a figure-head,
whei one hundred or "*"'™**
school of flying fishes ieft the w ater
alarmed by some large fish and came
rushing on with their wings •
Two of them were headed for
boat and one for Pedro. He £
coming and began to bark, but the fis
was aimed directly at bun and masse
ond more had skimmed jus o
head and dropped into the wa
feet below. , . , __
A few nights later Pedro .
bother experience. It was Pf r , ,
r <}aiet on the little bay. The wind had
gone down, when all at once a ro
•ounds was heard; at first a pattering,
then asplashing, and then a soun
if heavy bodies were leaping
fffffffffffffffffff
tue water ana returning with loud
splashes. Pedro was in a high state
of excitement and his barking attract
ed the attention of people on the
beach, who found that the dog was
being fairly bombarded with flying
fishes. Alarmed by the onslaught of
large fishes the flying fishes had rushed
inshore, and in their fear were leaving
the water in dozens, some landing in
the small boats anchored all about,
while others struck the beach and
thrashed around on the pebbles.
It was the latter that Pedro was at
tending to. Standing in the water, al
most crazed with excitement, he seized
the flying fish as soon as they struck
the beach and carried them up to a
place of safety, then running back for
others. Those of my readers who are
familiar with the Atlantic flying fish
would he surprised at the one found
off the California coast. The latter is
three times as large as the little flyer
common on the Atlantic seaboard and
a formidable object when dashing
through the air. One came on board a
steamer that plies between San Pedro
and Catalina island, passing directly
through the glass window into a room,
and many fishermen have been struck
by them at night and seriously injured.
—Charles F. Holder, in Chicago Times.
An Kuropenn Turned Indian Fakir.
At Bishop Cotton school at Simla
there was once an English boy named
Charles de Reusselte. He got into
some boyish scrape and, to avoid the
consequences, absconded. Search
proved abortive and nothing more was
heard of the fugitive. It appears now
that he had wandered no farther away
than Mount Taktho, just above. There
he had taken refuge with the fakir of
a native temple. He became first the
holy man's acolyte and eventually his
successor. His identity with the run
away schoolboy was entirely lost, and
the sanctity of his life made him an
exceedingly influential personage.
Meantime, Charles de Reusselte h4d
become entitled to a large fortune and
was being advertised and sought for
far and wide without success. One day
a correspondent, who chanced to be at
Simla, fell in with the fakir, and
either discovered his secret or had it
communicated to him. but the heir
manifested no desire to claim his in
heritance. On the contrary, he as
sured the correspondent that he should
never revert to the religion of his
fathers, nor even return to civiliza
tion. He was quite happy where he
was.—Pall Mall Budget.
Want of Confidence.
Mama —Take this medicine now, like
a good boy. The doctor says it will
make you better. n .,
Johnny— What does he know? Didn t
he vaccinate me twice and it never
took? —Puck.
—The largest egg is that of the
ostrich. It weighs three
is considered equal in amount to
twenty-four hens' eggs.
Evenly Matched.
Magistrate (to witness)—And where
were you when this assault occurred.
Witness—Just across the street, your
why did you not
go l to the plaintiff's assistance when
* . saw him attacked?
y Witness— Faith, I wasn't sure then
be" wouldn't le the defendant, your
honor.— Puck-
$15,000.00 AT COST!
OTJJR 332STTIEE STOCK TO GO -A.T
ACTUAL COST!
\ j f
THOMPSON BROS., Prop’s. White Store.
CROSSED THE RIVER.
The Story of a Man Who Wasn’t Studying
for the Ministry.
The endless monotony of mountain
and sage-covered plain, unbroken by
the introduction of any foreign object,
has, I imagine, at times a tendency to
make one oblivious of his own immedi
ate surroundings, at least so I have
found it, and it was on one of those oc
casions, after having indulged in a pe
riod of wayside reverie, that I became
suddenly aware of the loss of my trav
eling companion. It was a day of early
spring, and grim-visaged winter,
pierced by the sun’s bright arrows,
had retreated step by step till he en
camped perforce on the topmost peak
of the Sierras, and even at times the
immense waste of sage brush and stunt
ed cedars were almost beautiful in their
verdure.
I turned in the saddle and about a
quarter of a mile back saw that the
object of my search had dismounted
and was kneeling in the sand close to
the stream we had just forded. I
wheeled and started back over tho
trail, wondering what was so engross
ing the attention of my quondam re
tainer. I had hired him at Cheyenne
to pilot me across the plains, and he
was one of the relics of the early days
that one so often meets out in the
western country who never have lost
the quaintness in dress, manner or
general deportment that have ever dis
tinguished them from their fellow mor
tals.
“What are you doing there. Bill?” I
asked as I came within speaking dis
tance. •
“Jest pullin’ weeds,” he retorted
somewhat gruffly.
“It’s a peculiar place to harvest
weeds, isn't it?” I hazarded.
“Thet depends on what a feller is
doin’ it fur,” was the answer in the
same tone.
I drew still nearer and found that
my companion was removing the
weeds and brush from a low mound
that elevated itself above the genera]
level of the sand, and closer inspection
revealed a small headstone which bore
the legend:
“I’m gamblin’ thet none o’ the boys
hev cum by this trail sence last fell,”
said my guide after a pause, during
which time he had been working in
dustriously.
“How* do you know?”
“Them weeds wouldn’t be hyar if
they hed.”
There was another long and impres
sive silence, and at length Billy looked
up from his labors.
“It war up yander thet Buck tried
to cross,’’ he resumed, pointing with
his sombrero to the point where the
stream diverged and rolled swiftly
toward the westward. I don’t know
whj T it is, but Billy always commences
his stories in the middle and works
out in a manner completely his own.
“Who was Buck Ford?” I ventured to
fislt.
“He war the whitest feller ever
handled a pick,” retorted the plains
man emphatically, “and,” he added,
“he warn’t studyin’ fur the ministry,
JACKSON, GA., THUSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1894.
“BUCK FORD
Crost the River
April 9,186 L”
“It war up yonder lie tried to cross, j
We war workin’ in the minin’ camp at
t’other side, an’ when spring- cum we
hed ter keep a purtv sharp watch thet
the big- rains wouldn’t swell the river
an’ flood us out. Late one night a
rider kim down from the camp above
us with the information thet the water
war risin’ in the hills, an’ we hed bet
ter cross to this side, whar the ground
war high.
“In course, we lit out fur dear life,
women an’ children, bag an’ baggage.
We didn’t have no bonanza gittin’
acrost, neither, fur the current war
reasonable strong even then, but we i
planted ourselves on this shore an’
figured thet we wuz all right, when a
woman commences to holler an’ says
she forgot one o’ her kids.
“Ford was only a young slip of a
chap, but I never seed one with more
nerve, an’ he ’lowed right erway as
he'd go back fer the child. We told
him he couldn’t make it, but while we
wuz palaverin’ he just turned his pony
and plunged right in.
“How in the world he ever got over
is a mystery, fur the river war swollen
high then, an’ runnin’ like a millrace,
but he landed lower down, an’ purty
soon we sees him takin’ to the water
agin with the baby on his shoulder.
“The stream was gettin’ wider and
wider all ther time an’ it jest swept
that pony eriong as ef it war a chip,
but he kep swimmin’ till he hed got
morn half way. It wuz bright moon
light, an’ we could see Buck a-wavin’
his hand ter us as he kim by whar we
stood, an’ it ’peared at fust ez if he
might make it, but a log er so’then
struck em furder down an’ it seemed
as if they went under while you’d clap
yore hands.
“We found him ’bout two mile away
a few days arter, with the little baby’s
arms still about his neck, an’ we
brought him up hyar an’ buried him.
Thet thar writin’ don't mean as he
crost this river,” concluded my humble
friend in a subdued tone that had per
haps some tremor in it. “It means ez
thet he crost th’ big river an’ all.”
And the sympathy of his toles made
me turn and regard him, and mayhap
the weather-beaten face was shadowed
and the piercing gray eyes dimmed by
something more than the dust of the
plains, but still it seemed to me that,
by some unknown beneficence, the
bowed, ragged figure was clothed
in the shining splendor that can only
be acquired by a man rich in the rare
commodity of true friendship.—Cin
cinnati Enquirer..
Take Care of the Feet.
If the skin is hard on the soles or
heels it may be softened by repeated
soakings in hot water and the wearing
of soft stockings and shoes. To keep
the feet in good condition they must,
of course, be washed every day in tepid
water. Then they should be gently
massaged and rubbed with good toilet
water. The nails should be cut level
with the toes, but no shorter. Shoes
too short or too tight and shoes too
long and too wide all produce corns.
Hard leather also rubs against and
hardens the skin. So do “darns” of
any dimension,' ? n stockings. It is
necessary to wear smooth stockings
and easy-fitting boots, with low heels,
to obtain and retain a well-shaped
foot.—Chicago Times
WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE WED. j
They Seem to Make a Hopeless Muddle of
Their Domestic Life.
Premising- that, bachelor though we ■
be, we are quite alive to the value of a
good wife, appreciating to the full the
heaven which such a one can make of
home, and admitting that by nature
there is a void in man's heart which can
only be adequately filled by the ad- >
vent of that “mysterious she,” we
nevertheless confidently assert that the |
fair sex of the middle and upper classes
are themselves very largely responsible
for any present falling oft' in the wor
ship of Hymen. Thus writes a bach
elor:
The irrevocable step is not lightly to
be taken by those who would deserve
matrimonial happiness, and yet how
many men and maidens change their
condition without any prior inquiry
into mutual antecedents although
they would not purchase a blood horse,
which they could get off their hands
without muc#L trouble, without scru
tinizing closely the pedigree —with
scarcely a thought to the future, only
in too many instances, thenceforth to
wander uneasily through labyrinthine
mazes in search of heart’s ease and con
tent.
Sensible, well-brought-up girls,
domesticated, of good physique, and in
every way calculated to become true
helpmates, though unfortunately in a
decided minority in the girl-world of
to-day, are by no means altogether un
known, and careful, intelligent re
search will discover quite a sufficient
choice for would-be benedicts. But
such jewels,though they may be appre
ciated to a certain extent by most, are
too good for the average run of men,
and if the seeker of a wife be not a
Bayard in miniature, he would better
avoid the probability of a refusal and
seek his divinity among those who will
not decline to accept him and his not
too scrupulously manly habits.
Though married, life is not without
its cares, the case of the average
bachelor is of too pitiful and lonely a
character for him not to be willing to
escape from it by entering the matri
monial noose, could he only depend on
some maiden to whom his heart flies
out proving a real helpmeet. But, un
fortunately, he has no guaranty that
such will be the case.
The playfulness which charmed be
fore marriage sometimes develops into
temper after the knot, which no efforts
of the teeth can loose, has been tied
fast by the tongue, having merely been
assumed for the moment as part and
parcel of the equipment matrimonial,
while in other cases post-nuptial expe
rience demonstrates that frugality and
the proper rule of a household are ab
sent virtues. Thus the presence of
many showy imitations of the genuine
article renders the task of the searcher
after a true helpmeet no light one, but
perseverance will usually meet with
due reward. To deserve a wife of
worth, however, the would-be benedict
must choose his divinity for what she
is, not what she appears to be.
There would be some prospect of an
improvement in succeeding genera
tions, physically, mentally and mor
ally, if the majority of right-thinking
men, and women, too, for that part,
contemplating marriage avoided as a
pestilence the multifarious crew of
fast, brazen-faced representatives of
the opposite sex, wno, if appearances
go for anything, have lost all power to
appreciate wholesome home life.
Their talk is of the sewage of life,
and among them even women, who
ought to be examples of better things,
listen without a blush to double en
tendres and seem to take a positive
pleasure in the discussion of subjects
of more than doubtful character. Out
wardly not a few of the women may be
fair to look upon, though all too fre
quently close investigation goes to
prove that all is simply another version
of the old tale regarding the whited
outside of the charnel house.
But another and a vastly different
type of womanhood calls forth the
praises even of the cynic. Regard with
feelings akin to those with which you
welcome the coming of spring in the
sight of the first snowdrop, in which
pleasure and admiration blend into
something near akin to veneration,
any girl in whom maidenly modesty
and unsullied purity are fitly framed
in good physique and a fair modicum
of that self-sacrificing disposition
which has the effect of causing her to
think twice before speaking once, lest
in so doing something might unwit
tingly be said that would hurt the feel
ings of some other person.—Westmin
ster Review.
Egyptian Geometry.
The Ahmes papyrus doubtless repre
sents the most advanced attainments
of the Egyptians in arithmetic and
geometry. It is remarkable that they
should have reached so great proficien
cy in mathematics at so remote a period
of antiquity. But strange indeed is
the fact that, during the next two
thousand years they should have made
no progress whatsoever in it. All the
knowledge of geometry which they
possessed when Greek scholars visited
them, six centuries B. C., was doubtless
known to them two thousand years
earlier, when they built those stupen
dous and gigantic structures the pyra
mids. An explanation for this stagna
tion of learning has been sought in the
fact that their early discoveries in
mathematics and medicine had the
misfortune of being entered upon their
sacred books, and that, in after ages,
it was considered heretical to augment
or modify anything therein. Thus the
books themselves closed the gates to
progress.—History of Mathematics—
Cajori.
Matrimonial Dangers.
A. —I hear that since you are married
you are no longer attractive to your
wife, that you never say a kind word
to her.
B. —Well, she is to blarne for it. I
have had some sad experiences by be
ing amiable and complimentary. Not
long since I compared her teeth to
pearls, and the result was she badgered
me into buying her a £2OO pearl neck
lace. so you see I can't afford ( to be
complimentary.—Alex Sweet, in Texas
Siftings.
A leading express company has
closed its mouey and valuable package
business in the Indian territory on ac
count of the frequency of train rob
beries, which they attribute to the
negligence or incompetence of the ter
ritorial authorities.
DO YOU TAKE THE ARGUS ?
’OFFICIAL ORGAN.
SOME LIVING PRETENDERS.
/Ln Amusing Spanish Duke with a lleraltl
and an Enormous Fortune.
The profession of the royal pretender
is very much overdone in Europe just
now. A Madrid editor has found six
men who think they have claims to the
one crown of France, besides any num
ber who think they have paramount
rights to the throne of Spain and the
purple of small Italian principalities.
The most interesting of the Spanish
pretenders is not Don Carlos, but a
man whose name is seldom mentioned
outside the Iberian peninsula. He is
the duke of Medina-Celi, chief defender
of the faith fourteen-fold grandee of
Spain, first of all Castilian knights, and
direct descendant of Ferdinand and
Isabella. For him and his family the
race of Bourbon-Anjou, who now rule
Spain, are nothing more than usurpers.
As often as anew king of Spain is
crowned the duke’s herald appears in
the palace, and, in' the presence of all
the grandees of Spain, protests in the
name of his lord against this usurpa
tion,sets forth the claims of the Medina-
Celis to the throne, and challenges
every knight who may venture to dis
pute the legitimacy of the duke’s rights
to defend his opinion in a duel to the
death “on the mountain or on the
plain, by day or by night.” As no
grandee of Spain has ever seen fit to
take the duke and his herald seriously,
the head of the house of Medina-Celi
has been left free to spend the income
from his enormous fortune on beauti
ful Spanish girls and to make peren
nial tours of his numerous estates. It
is said that he can travel from one end
of Spain to the other and sleep every
night in his own house. Under these
circumstances he has proved a much
less troublesome pretender than Don
Carlos. This chief of Spanish pretend
ers was once so impoverished that, with
the help of his secretary, he tried to
turn into coin the gold chain of his
Order of the Golden Fleece. By the
death of Count Chambord and some luck
in matrimony, however, he was enabled
eventually to lay up a fortune against
a rainy day and keep his decorations
away from the goldsmiths and pawn
brokers.
A group of pretenders, who are
chronically bankrupt, afflict the Ital
ian provinces. At almost any time one
may find in the continental newspa
pers brief paragraphs concerning the
difficulties which a count of Aquila, or
Trani, or Syracuse, is having with the
sheriffs. A census of pretenders has
not been taken. A partial list of those
who think they have valid claims to
the throne of France was published re
cently, however. They are: “Don
Carlos, duke of Madrid; Alfonso XIII.,
king of Spain; Francis, sometime king
of both Sicilies; Francis, Sebastian’s
son by his second wife, an aunt of the
dead king; Robert, once duke of Parma;
Louis Philippe of Orleans. All of
these gentlemen are descendants of
Louis XIII., of France. The last one
to announce his pretensions to the
world is Gen. Francis of Bourbon, who
suddenly began calling himself the
duke of Anjou after the count of Paris’
death, and sent out a manifesto con
cerning his claims. This course has
been rather disastrous to him, for he
has been deprived not only of his com
mand in the Spanish army, but also of
the salary that went with it. He
spare the command, but will *■
salary, for be is poor.—N. Y
NO 48