Newspaper Page Text
THE ARGUS,
f VCKSON, - GEORGIA,.
**ifiK suitable for love letters” is ad*
vertised by a Paris stationer. It fades
in about four weeks.
The Rural New Yorker prints letters
seeming to show -that the odor of sweet
peas is poisonous to common house
flies.
The silver coinage of France con
tains only forty per cent, of its face
valne in silver. The Qovernment re
fuses to accept francs bearing the
effigy of Charles the Tenth, Louis
Philippe, and Napoleon the Third
without the laurel leaf.
The question of the “stopping* 1
capacity of a bullet, fired from the
rifle which is now the standard arm of
British infantry, has reached a some
what acute stage. Wherever the rifle
has been used against a savage foe, it
has proved comparatively ineffective.
Unless the bullet strikes a vital organ,
it no more stops a wounded man* 8
charge than would a popgun.
Every political campaign has its pe
culiar superstitions. These supersti
tions are powerful agents in
bringing men to the polls and serve to
win votes where logic proves inef
fectual. When Franklin Pierce en
tered the Presidential race some forty
years ago, relates the Atlanta Consti
tution, it was discovered that his
initials, “F. P.,” were identical with
those of fourteenth President. In like
manner it was also found that the let
ters composing his full name num
bered exactly fourteen. As the Presi
dent to be elected was the fourteenth
in regular succession, this startling
discovery had a most potential effect
upon the campain.
If the Japanese are oleaning out the
Chinese in the south of Formosa, it is
because these people are in league
with the savage natives. The policy
of Japan in Korea as well as in For
mosa, has been fair and merciful. In
Korea no slaughter of natives or Chi
nese was permitted unless bushwack
ing occurred j then the Japanese were
meroiless, as they had a right to be.
In Formosa they have oarried out the
same policy, but they have met more
savagery. Their losses have been
mainly due to ambuscades of small
forces and stragglers, and to the dead
ly fevers of the island. The Chinese
naturally resent the encroachment of
the Japanese, and it is probable that
they have adopted the guerrilla meth
ods of the head-hunting savages. In
this case they will be exterminated,
for the oonquerors have an Oriental
way of wiping out opposition that
is barbarous, but very effective.
A vexations question just now
among cyclists and prospective cyclists
is the price that a first-class wheel
will bring in 1897, remarks the New
York Sun. Whether one may be had
then for the same price or less than it
fetches now, or whether the price will
be advanced, no one seems able to tell
absolutely. The oldest makers of SIOO
wheels say that it would be disastrous
to their business to sell maohines at
the low figure which several younger
manufacturers have named, and at the
tame time furnish each customer with
a guarantee. On the other hand, it is
said in some quarters that enough
money is made by many of the con
cerns which have cut their prices to
warrant their continuing tho experi
ment next year. It is understood al
so that oertain of them have promised
to offer even better wheels at a
cheaper price next year than now.
Experienced wheelmen seem slow to
believe that the difference in quality
of the component parts of high grade
bicycles is so marked as some of the
makers of those machines would have
tho public believe it is. These riders
say that skilful workmanship is re
quired in the oonstruotion of all dura
ble wheels, and if it is true that some
of the high-grade wheel makers em
ploy more skilful workmen than
others, the fact is often indiscernible
both in their wheels' appearanoe and
ose. Whether the wooden bicycles
whioh are promised for next year will
materially affect the wheel trade, re
mains to be seen. Their advocates say
that the wheels will have many ad
vantages over those with metal frames.
Nobody was surprised when wheels of
disputed quality were sold at a low
price, but now that those of a stand
ard make can be bought for half price,
everybody is set to thinking. When
the stock of wheels now selling so
cheaply is exhausted, cyclists wonder
what move the dealers will make then.
Persons who will want wheels next
year are probably safe if they wait till
then before buying.
BRYAN’S ELOQUENT PLEA
HE SPEAKS FOE FREE SILVER TO
FARMERS AND WORtCIHGMEH.
The Gifted Nebraskan’s Magnificent
Address to an Immense Audience
at Hornellsvllie, N. Y.—Asks
Some Questions of Silver’s Foes.
William J. Bryan, the Democratic
champion of free silver, spoke to an
immense audience of farmers and
workingmen at the Hornelisville (N.
Y.) fair during his tour through the
State. Mr. Bryan said:
Onr opponents have no policy on
the money question. They don't say
that the gold standard is good. No
party in the history of the United
States ever said that the gold standard
was good. And yet, my friends, parties
have existed here, parties have written
platforms, parties have nominated
candidates, parties have oarried on
campaigns, and yet no party from the
beginning of our history until to-day
has ever said* in a National platform
that the gold standard is a good thing
for the American people. No party
would dare to say that and then go
forth before the people, who for twen
ty years have suffered beneath the bur
den of a gold standard.
But what does the Republican plat
form say? Why, it says we pledge
ourselves to get rid of the gold stand
ard and substitute the principle of bi
metallism. Doesn’t that mean that bi
metallism's better than a gold stand
ard? There can be no other construc
tion placed upon it, and after having
declared that bimetallism is better
than a gold standard, that same plat
form says that until the leading com
mercial Nations shall consent to an in
ternational agreement we must bear
the gold standard. Now, if the gold
standard is a good thing, the Republi
can party ought to have declared in
favor of its permanent maintenance.
If the gold standard is a good thing
the United Staves ought to have it.
If the gold standard is a bad thing
no foreign Nation shonld be permitted
to force a gold standard upon the peo
ple of this country. How long does
the Republican platform say we must
endure the gold standard? For a
year? It doesn’t limit it to a vear.
For four years? It doesn’t limit*it to
four years.
You know that platform in substance
declares that we must submit to it for
ever if other Nations insist upon our
doing it. There is not in that plat
form, in that money plank, a single
ray of hope.
Are you satisfied with your condi
tion? If you are you want to keep the
gold standard. If you are not satis
fied with your condition are you will
ing to submit to present conditions
until other people take pity on us and
come to our rescue? That, my friends,
is the position in which we are placed
in this campaign—no party defending
the gold standard and yet a great
party willing to surrender the right of
self government, willing to place in
legislative powers in other Govern
ments the right to legislate for the
people of the United States. Ido not
believe the American people will ever
consent to receive their mandates from
across the ocean.
Our opponents do not attack one of
the strong planks in our platform.
We declare against the issuance of
bonds in times of peace and the traffick
ing with syndicates, that are them
selves out for a high price, to look af
ter our Government. We denounce
that policy. Does the Republican
party denounce it? No, not a word
in its platform denouncing it.
If the Republican party succeeds
will it stop that policy? No, because
every man who is interested in that
syndicate, every man who proiits out
of the Government’s extremities, is
declaring that tho Republican ticket
must be elected this year in order to
save the country.
And yet when our opponents come
before the people, to wnom do they
appeal for votes? Do any of the Re
publican speakers turn to the money
changers and appeal to them to vote
the Republican ticket? No, it is not
necessary, my friend, to waste time on
them. They appeal to the ones who
they think will require the most per
suasion. To whom do they appeal?
To the laboring men of this country.
They tell the laboring man that thev
are so afraid that something is going
to happen to him.
Well, now, how can you tell whether
these men who stand at the head of
the gold crusade, and yet do not have
the courage to say so, are going to
help the laboring men or not? Jndge
the future by the past. We have
soriptnral authority for the assertion
that the tree is known by its fruit.
These trees have been bearing fruit
for twenty years, and there has not
been a thing on a single tree that a
laboring man would have in his house.
These are the men who by the for
mation of great trusts have stifled
competition, driven the small com
petitor out of business. Will they at
this late day turn around and cham
pion laws for the special benefit and
protection of the laboring men? Show
me the man who has tried to break
down labor organization and I will
show you a man who to-day is sweating
blood for fear some laboring man is
going to have his wages cut into.
Now, my friends, the policy of the
enemy is to diyide and conquer.
Whenever there has been an effort
upon the part of the laboring men to
secure any legislation needed by them,
where have they found their friends?
They have lound their friends npon
the farm, and not in Wall street. And
now they appeal to the laboring man
to come with the money changers ami
help them defeat the farmer because*
he wants a higher price for his pr<#
duct.
They want the laboring man to be
lieve that the free coinage of silver
going to hurt him. My friends, I
would rather risk the laboring man to
deoide what is good for him than to
leave his interests m the hands of his
ancient enemies. And what do the la
boring men say? It is only a little
more than a year ago that a petition
was sent to Congress asking for the
immediate restoration of the free and
unlimited coinage of gold and silver,
at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1,
without waiting for the aid or consent
of any other Nation, and it was signed
by the leaders of every prominent la
bor organization in the United States.
Who can best be trusted? The men
who have led the labor organizations
in the fights in the past, or the men
who in the past have used their pewer
to defeat the only protection of the
laboring man, namely, bis organiza
tion. Now, why did these laboring
men demand the restoration of silver?
Because they know that when the dol
lar goes up property goes down, and
they know that when property is fall
ing all enterprise is retarded and stag
nation follows. They know the gold
standard encourages the hoarding of
money, instead of the expanding of it
in the development of the resources of
the oountry, and now this policy of
hoarding is driving thousands and
tens of thousands and hundreds of
thousands of workingmen out in the
streets, where they beg for the privi
lege of working for their daily bread.
These workmen know that they can
not separate themselves from the till
ers of the soil. These laboring men
know that there can be no prosperity
in business in this oountry unless the
armer is selling what he prodnees for
more than what it cost him to pro
duce it.
Now, I want to suggest these ques
tions: When you meet a who is
opposed to our platform, you find out
what busines he is engaged in. Find
out whether he has any pecuniary in
terest that will lead him to take a po
sition against us. Ask him if he is in
favor of a gold standard. If he says
he is, ask him if it is not queer that
there never was a party in the United
States that was in favor of a gold stan
dard. Tell him that he is a man with
out a party in the United States. If
he says that he is opposed to a gold
standard,and|is in favor of bimetallism,
you ask him bow much he is in favor
of bimetallism. If he saj she wants
other Nations to help, ask him what
other Nations he wants to help and
what chance he thinks of their doing
it. You ask him whether he thinks
that a creditor country, whose rulers
profit by the rise of the value of the
dollar, whether those countries are
very good people to expect to come
and help us to stop the thing that is
doing them good. If he says that he
does not think this oountry is large
enough to have a financial policy of
its own, ask him what he thinks this
Nation is large enough to have.
If he says that we are not able to
legislate for ourselves on the greatest
question that can come before the
people, ask him what right we had,
anyway, to deolare our independence
a hundred years ago.
You tell him that under free coinage
the dollar will be the same size that it
is now, the same weight and the same
fineness. It will be a legal tender
better than it is to-day, because while
the silver dollar to-day is a legal ten
der, unless somebody contracts against
it, the new silver dollar will be of legal
tender no matter whether man heie
after tries to demonetize by law what
the Government calls money. You
tell him that if a dollar is worth a
hundred cents to-day, because yon can
pay taxes with it, and pay debts with
it, and buy property with it, how he
knows it is going to be less when yon
make it better than it is to-day.
If he says that when you melt that
Bilver dollar down it is not worth more
than 53 cents, you tell him it is be
cause the law says that if the dollar
melts you cannot have it coined again,
but must use it to make spoons out of,
but you intend by law to say he can
take it to the mint -and have it re
stamped again just as he can take a
gold dollar to-day and have it re
stamped if it melts.
Bulness Men.”
In common with millions of our fel
low cit ; zens, we contend that when the
money question is considered from a
“business” standpoint (and that is the
standpoint from which it should be
considered) every business should have
fair play and an impartial hearing,
and that no few special calling should
arrogate to themselves the right to be
considered the only “business” worth
figuring in the premises, and the only
ones which have within them intelli
gence enough to say how our mone
tary systems shall be formed or of
what our money shall consist. The
gold handler and those who agree with
him may demand gold exclusively,
but other men engaged in different
pursuits, whose business is crippled
by adhering to tbe gold standard,
have jnst as much right and better
reason for demanding a broader and
less monopolistic system, one which
will give them a better showing and,
in their opinion, the country more
prosperity.
A Frank Bri ish Adm'sslon.
England, as a creditor country,
must receive goods of a certain value
every year, or else some of her debtors
must declare themselves defaulters.
Owing to ths decline in the value of
raw materials, it is no longer possible
for the world at large to pav its an
nual debt to them, an 1 therefore Eng
land now takes a certain proportion of
what is owed her in the manufactured
articles. —London Spectator.
Silver's ITuce is With Gold.
The amount of real money, that is
primary or redemption money, per
capita in circulation in the world is
stated to be $5.01, of which $2.51 is
gold and $2.50 is silver.—Youngstown
(Ohio) Buckeye Record.
THE TRYST.
At night beneath the silver stars,
The gleaming stars, the dreaming stars,
She waits beside the pasture bars
Till down the path I pass, O;
And all the whispers of the airs,,
The shifting airs, the drifting airs.
Are freighted with the angels’ prayers
To guard my little lass, 0.
Her eyes are like a summer sea,
A heaving sea, a grieving sea,
And, ah, their light is all for me,
And all for me her love, O:
As waiting there amid the gloom,
The darkening gloom, the hearkening gloom,
She breaths the evening’s faint perfume
That broods the fields above, O.
Oh, Margery, my l : ttle love,
My nearest lcve, my dearest love,
Soft-eyed and gentle as a dove,
Across the fields she trips, O;
And, ah, the all-enthralling charm,
The captured charm, the raptured charm,
To feel her hand upon my arm
And touch her dewy lips, O.
Beside the bar3 with shiniug eyes.
With youthful eyes, with truthful eyes,
The listening vastness of the skies
Bends low to see us meet, 0;
Till up the lane she goes from me.
She starts from me, she parts from me,
And all the grasses bow to see
And kiss her passing feet, O.
—Guy Wetmore Carryl, in Truth.
ZULEIKA'S WOOING.
AN ENGLISH COLONEL’S STOBST.
Jp r T is a good few
I y ears ago since one
ggl B April found me
i-giga p quartered atPesha
wur, in India. Out
~ on the frontier, as
wBFy most of you know,
our extreme out*
nKSuf posts are Michni,
.v Abazai and Siiub
kudr, three a? 4
iWol?|_3 S |§sg:—>■' dreary spots as a
man could ever hope to see. They
have not, as I dare say you know, a
single redeeming feature, being soli
tary mud buildings which hold the
police and native troops who are sup
posed to overawe the tribesmen, and
which, except the commandant and
the doctor, don’t offer many attrac-
tions in the way of society. You
know what frontier service in the old
days was like. Forays by the trades
men, and punitive expeditions by the
Sirkar, carried to such an extent that
we almost realized the idea of
“Branksome Tower,” in the “Lay of
the Last Minstrel,” and “drank the
red wine through the helmet barred.”
You know the sort 6f life—rows
with the tribesmen eternally spring
ing up and dying down again in indi
vidual localities, while as a matter of
fact there was always trouble at one or
more places along the frontier.
At the time lam speaking of, the
post of commandant of the frontier
forts was not in much quest. I don’t
know that the authorities at Simla
were much troubled by eager appli
cants ; in faot X think the general at
Peshawur usually detailed some un
lucky major from the Staff Corps and
sent him nolens volens to hold the
fort as long as he could with decency
be made to stay. There was trouble
brewing that April, and in Peshawur
we all knew it. How it come about
we none of us cared much, but the
man before the then incumbent had
gone home sick, and the commandant
pro fcem. was reported to be in daily
fear of his life.
Well, unpleasant as it was, it was
scarcely a surprise, when, one morn
ing the assistant adjutant general
rode up to my bungalow in great ex -
citement, and told me I was to out at
once and assume command of the
forts.
“You’re to lose no time,” he said.
“Poor So-and-so” (mentioning the
late commandant) “was shot last
night by some scoundrel, and the
general wants you to try and find out
who did it. 'The police are making
inquiries, but you know what that
means. By the way, he wants to see
you before you go.”
A soldier never has much time to
make his arrangements, and that very
evening I rode out to the forts,having
receive 1 a long lecture from the gen
eral on that confounded word “tact”
which, as we find in the service, is
always on everybody’s lips, aud not
understood by one man in a hundred
who uses it.
Well, I must get on with my story,
or wo shall be m tiie Thames before I
come to the point of it. I never
thought much about tact, but I al
ways believed that a well-born native
is as much a gentleman as an English
duke, and will behave to you just as
you treat him. I soon discovered my
unfortunate predecessor had tried to
ride rough-shod over the tribesmen,
and had made his hand felt in every
corner of his command, A Pathan is
as vengeful as a Corsicar of good fam-*
ily, and will carry his lends as far as
a self-respeoting American desperado.
There are always ready with knife or
rifle to exact vengeance from any
enemy, and near Pesnawur will often
murder the wrong man, if they can’t
find the right. An Englishman who is
accustomed to living in a law-abiding
country is no match for them, and so
my predecessor found to his cost.
They shot him as he was smoking his
pipe after dinner one night, on his
own veranda in view of the guard. Of
course I never found his murderer—
I never expected I should —but I did
find that my own system of treatment
paid better than his, and before very
long I had, as the politicians would
have expressed it, “establistied excel
lent relations with the surrounding
tribesmen.”
There was a very simple way of
testing this. A few hundred yards
from the gate of the fort a former
commandant had made for himself a
garden, sunk a well, and planted trees.
Here most of the vegetables used by
the garrison were grown. The Path*
ans broke down the walls, cut the
water ooarses and stole the vegetables.
But I started a different system; I
was civil to the neighboring Kahns
and sent them baskets of vegetables,
and before very long I found my pro
duce grew in plenty, and more, on
the fine summer evenings, after the
heat of the day, when I went across to
the garden and sat under the trees and
smoked my pipe, one or other of
the Khans would drop in for a chat,
and in a short time I reckoned many
friends among the supposed irreclaim
able blackguards who owned the fron
tiei villages.
Among them all there was none
with whom I got on better than a
grand old fellow named Mahomed
Aslim Khan, chief of a village near
the fort. He was a thorough gentle
man, had served in his younger days
under the Sikh generals, and was as
proud of his home and his scars as
any honorable man need be. Many
were the pleasant evenings we spent
together, for, as I have said, European
society was limited, and a fine old fel
low like that a perfect godsend to a
lonely man.
Well, for a time all went merry as a
marriage bell, till one unlucky day a
case arose regarding a theft of oattle
from old Aslim Khan’s village. The
thief was caught red-handed and tried
by a native magistrate, and condemned
chiefly on the Khan’s evidence. Af-
ter the trial, I met the old gentleman
casually and exchanged a few sentences
with him. Not five minutes later I
heard a shot. Alarmed by the cries, I
ran in the direction, and to my hor
ror found my old friend weltering in
his blood. Inquiry soon showed that
the assassin was the tnief condemned
that day. He had escaped from cus
tody, armed himself somehow, and
before finally taking himself off had
shot his accuser.
We always kept a portion of the
cavalry escort in readiness for emer
igencies, and in less time than it takes
me to tell you, the assassin was being
followed by a mounted party. My
horse was soon saddled, and I, too,
tried to follow, but unsuccessfully, as
they were too far ahead, and I had to
sit at home and wait for news.
It was late in the afternoon when
my searoh party returned, unsuccess
ful. They had ridden after the mur
derer, and, being slightly better
mounted, were rapidly gaining on
him, when the way was barred by a
broad, broken nullah, beyond which
lay a village. The assassin knew the
ground, his pursuers did not. The
advantage enabled him to get clean
across tne nullah, while the cavalry
were looking for a road for their
horses. He rode boldly into the vil
lage, from which, unluckily, all the
men happened to be absent, and find
ing au elderly woman munching a
chu patti, snatched it from her hand,
ate a portion, and proclaimed that he
had eaten of their salt, and claimed
sanctuary. You know the Pathans.
By the time my party got across the
nullah he was securely hidden, and
while they were haggling, a
second search party arrivell from
Michni under command of a Euro
pean officer. Had the natives been
left to tUemselves they would prob
ably have secured their man,
but the officer, in wholesome
dread of the authorities’ orders re
garding frontier complications, said
he must withdraw, as they were out
of British territory, and sent both
parties home. Personally, I think I
should have risked a wigging, as the
Pathans were little like to object to
the capture of a British subject who
had murdered one of themselves. But
my subaltern ruled differently.
Of course we were disappointed,
but one or two Khans who were with
me bade me be of good cheer; the
murderer would be caught. I said I
hoped so.
Next day a fine young Pathan, who
was a sowar in the cavalry detachment
at the fort, came to me and asked for
long leave to visit his home. 1 granted
it without hesitation, but that night,as
I rode past the spot near my garden
where his relatives had buried the
body of poor Mahomed Aslim Khan,
1 saw that a lamp was burning on the
new made grave, and flowers were
strewn upon it; and happening to
meet one of the Khans, I was told that
where public punishment had failed,
private vengeance would step in. The
young sowar, Afsul by name, had
taken up the vendetta, and Aslim’s
murder would assuredly be avenged.
It was six weeks later when, one
evening, my servant brought me news
that Afsul, the sowar, would like to be
admitted to my august presence. I
readily granted the permission, and in
he came. He was a great swell. His
flowing, white garments were new and
spotless, his hair carefully dressed,
and his face clean shaved, except his
mustache. I asked him what brought
him to see me, and a smile ef pride
lit up his face as he replied, with many
curses on the dead scoundrel,
that Aslim’i murderer had met his
deserts, and that he himself had slain
him. Shocked as I was, I asked for
particulars. Ho told me how with in
finite patience he had tracked the as
sassin from village to village as he fled
from the vengeance which was, he
knew full well, sure to follow. How
he had assumed disguise, and traveled
hard, often hungry and thirsty,
through the valleys, till at last, one
evening at sunset he had overtaken
his enemy. He had found him in a
quiet spot kneeling, with his face to
ward Mecca, beside the shrine of some
forgotten saint, going punctiliously
through those devotions which no
pious Mussulman, however blood
stained his hands may be, ever
neglects. He described how he stood
watching him paying his last devo
tions on earth, his own finger on the
of his carbine, and how, as he
finished his devotions, he rose and
folded up the shawl he had used as a
carpet. This was A foal’s opportunity.
Calling upon the assassin to turn, ho
oovered him with the oarbine, and r*.
Tiling him in all the expressive terrnl
of Pathan abuse, he then and there &g
the sun disappeared in the west, shot
his enemy like a dog.
You know how hard it often is to fife
our English notions of justice on to
native customs. Personally, I should
have liked to let the boy, for he was
little more, go scot free. But the
commandant of the frontier forts
dared not do so, and to Afsul’s sur
prise I ordered him into custody. I
did so with great regret. After he
was securely locked up I sent for the
Tehsildar and asked if he was safe.
I think the man guessed my anxiety
for he said gravely, as an Oriental
will, even when he is making a joke:
“Sahib, that young man is as safe
as we can make him, but our prison is
a very bad one. Men escape.”
“But Afsul won’t?” I asked, eag
erly.
“These things, my lord,” he an.
swered, “are in the hands of Provi
dence. We must wait and see.”
Next morning the Tebsildar was
early at my house. As he
spoke I could not help thinking
that the suspicion of a smile was lin
gering round his fat face.
“My lord,” he said, joining his
hands and bowing to the ground, “a
miracle has happened. In the night
that young man broke his bonds and
escaped. I fear we shall not see him
again.”
I need not tell you how I held an in
quiry and censured all concerned. I
do not think they minded much. None
of them seemed to think I was in earn
est. However, there was no help for
it —Afsul had vanished.
That night I rode away toward old
Aslim Khan’s village. As I approached
it I heard sounds of merriment, and
presently there issued from the village
a gay procession. First came a group
of horsemen all gayly attired, and pre
ceded by drums aud horns—among
them was one I thought I knew—then
followed a closed litter, and then a lot
of men driving buffaloes and carrying
distaffs, cooking-pots, and a large na
tive bed, painted in gaudy colors. As
they saw me the musicians beat louder
than ever, and 1 thought the horseman
waved his hand. I determined to in
quire. An old graybeard volunteered
information.
“Your lordship,” he said, “prob
ably knew the late Mahomed Aslim
Khan, who is now with the prophet in
Paradise. He had a lovely daughter,
Zuleika, who loved a young man, Af
sul by name. The chief did not favor
the maten, for he was rich and the
young man was poor. Well, the chief
was slain, and Afsul undertook to
avenge him. Now the beautiful Zu
leika is his by conquest. Yonder Af
sui rides, this is his bride, these arc
the marriage gifts. They are going
Afsul’shomo in a distant village.”
I turned my horse’s head home
more or less contented, though I
dered, too, over the strangeneJr or
frontier customs.
That was the only excitement while
I was commandant. Well, lads, that’s
my yarn. Mako the best of it. If
we don’t turn in,it will be daylight be
fore we get to bed. Good-night.—
Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly.
A Crack Shot.
“Out our way we are apt to think
that an Eastern man cannot shoot a
pistol,” said H. T. Jenkinson, of
Cheyenne, at the Metropolitan, “but
I bad one experience at Laramie that
conciuced me this idea is incorrect.
A finely dressed young man stepped
into a saloon to get a drink, where a
lot of cowboys were having a good
time. The sight of the ‘tenderfoot’
was the signal for some fun, and half
a-dozen pistols were drawn just to
scare the man from the States. The
stranger wore a silk hat, and the cry
went up, ‘shoot the tile.’ The man
turned with his glass at his lips and
without a tremor drew a pistol from
his coat pocket. By the time the
drink was swallowed six pistols lay on
the floor; he had shot every one of
them out of their owners* hands. They
crowded around him, and the tender*
foot was not allowed to pay for any
thing that night.”—Washington Star,
Horned Toads Are Useful,
“The ugliest and yet most useful
things in California are horned toads,”
said A. L. Mason, ot Los Angeles, at
the Shoreham. “They are by no
means pleasant to look at, and the In
dians formerly held them in saored
veneration. The people of California
do not regard them very highly, and
they are killed whenever found by
many who imagine that they are ven*
omous, which is not tho case. The
Hawaiians, however, know their value,
and President Dole has written to dif
ferent sections of California to arrange
for having several thousand sent to
Hawaii for the purpose of destroying
certain insects. Careful investigation
has shown that they are exceedinly
valuable for this purpose, and there is
now a good deal of talk about preserv*
ing them more carefully in California’*
Washington Star.
New Use lor Glass.
Somebody has been experimenting,
and finds that glass is a substitute for
marble and granite in cemetery work*
Glass gravestones are inexpensive, ex
tremely durable and almost without
serious objection of any kind. They
are not porous, therefore will absorb
no disease germs or uupleasnut odors.
The elements have practically nc ef
fect on them, and it is said that in
scriptions placed on them will be
everlastingly enduring, and after a
couple of centuries will be as fresh
and bright as ou the day they were
set up. This idea was developed by
watching the wear of the glass iu the
port holes of steamers. This resists
the heaviest shocks of the waves, and
is more durable than any other known
substance that can be used for this
purpose.