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J)on*& I:if U' an«i wliifi^, JiiMt in line With the* fejiown whoVp grit and pluck; Don’t frown and scowl, Look gin in and grow). Stop prating about ill ltl' k. Lift up your head. Don’t M*«?m half dead. Stop wearing •* wrinkled fare; Clive ainiling hop** fcuffk-ic*nt *cop»-. And joy a will como apart. 11 By A< l vert isement. I ' ‘ it » 'i $3 By M. C. Seymour. S 3 - j-'V C •; o/^T> 'T'J "Ac» r *y;> Mils. HI.I.ISON hail begun j to feel that life was not I worth living. She wish a r rich woman; a fact which goes to prove that money doe, not al ways make up for other loss' s; nor give supreme content. Married and j w'idowed very early, she had formed no new Ilea. Tile yearn had come and gone; paused at her town house and country lioimcjn turns.- according to ‘.lie sea . Mm. and varied by an occasional so i JoifNi al Nfciv. Spa. or Kins. I’.iit when slic bail reached the age td fifty-five and realized that old'age wad, no to say. within speaking dis tanee, the loneliness of her existence deemed oppressive, and she resolved to make an end of It. Ilow could tluil lies! lie done? .Mrs. Klllson possessed nil excellent maid, and very capable servants; but even the very lies! domestics are not qmili lleil lur the constant society of a gen tlewoinaii. She had tried a ••useful companion," tmd a “companionable lady," whose adverlldcmenta in a l.ondon daily pa per had been unusually striking. Hut both experiments resulted In dire fail ure. one day a happy thought suggested itself; lit’ liumm-She hoped it would prove u happy thought. As a girl she laid bibm fond of children, and envied those of her friends who pus Sensed brothers and sisters. As a young widow, she hail often thought how lmppy shi’ might have been as a mol her. So now, in her advancing age. Mrs. Ellison resolved Hint she would adopt s {-Itlid. As a matter of course it in list lie a nice child, and well born. Hie WOtlld prefer i| boy, lull she would nut refuse a girl. If a pretty, sweet naltired girl should he offered. And It must be small. Not more than three nr four years of age, when It would he easy for the little creature to forget its Itrst home ami habituate Itself to new surroundings. Mrs. KlHson -spoke of tier purpose lo only two of her most Intimate friends. Not bi cause she wished for I heir advice (for she was the sort of woman who acts upon her own Judg meat and unaided). Inti because she chose to acquaint them with her Inten tion of cheering her home and her life. "My dear."' said one an old maid she was "don't llilnl. of it! A child la the house means an end of peace and comfort," "Do you think so?" answered the widow, with a peculiar smile. "Well, I fancy I have bail too tuueh peace mill comfort, t waul a change.” The other friend was the mother of a .dozen grown and growing up hoys sml girls. Sla- looked doubtful nud suggested that there might he some tlllHiatlty .in getting possession of just tls’.r'ghl roll of eltllil ".I shall advertise," said Mrs. Elll ► »<!. And n few day.-, later, the advertlse lueat made Us appearance in several papers, reading as follows: "A lady of wealth wishes to adopt a ehilil of gentle birth nut above the age of four years. l'nexee|hionable references will lie given ami required.” • * u • In the small, cheaply furnished si* ting rccui of a house situated in a fourth rate Loudou suburb, a young woman cat ..cunning the advertise meat columns of that day's Telegraph. The eheerlcasuess of her surroundings was aggravated by the fact that. ; though, the month was January, the |gr*|e wu* tireless. The explanation of (his circumstance was the comparative mildness of the temperature The young woman, by name Mrs. Latimer, would have found n tire cheering that evening, but she could dn without it And hers was one of -tho*c sad fates which cal! for "do lug without" all that Is not an Impera tive neceoaity The room was on the "Itrst floor front,” as the landlady would describe l . and opeued into a small bedroom wliirh liad a view from its windows over the back yards and out-buildings of neighbor.ng houses \\ Idle Kstelle 1 ait I titer studied the ltuily Telegraph, her boy slept penn fully in the hack room. Itis three years of life's experiences had left chubby «od cheerful Kven alsecp when the charm of the brown eyes, Ho like his dead father’s, was not visi ble he was a handsome little fellow, who hade fair to develop imo a still tnorc handsome youth and niuuiiKod Kstelle had married a poor citrate. The! U|k ant to tisllt the battle o’ Hie braids, sio by side. Hut unfortun ately. Mr i it lull i succumbed to an attack ol lit(1 i. -ti: a during the - . aid \» .titer of tto'.i wedded life, ami the yotfug s - t w no future prospects and UttU laur |, e to proi i*l and care so, Her parent.' lo»d died, lea i:;g no worldly behind them and of near ri'lattr. • young Mrs Latimer pi*s>'-ss, ,t u It she hr.it -y isms tfif more ■ - tes* distant, ttiey jtw no HEADS UP. Out on the man Whose little h;i in In full of grief and gloom. Always dreary Never clicery From trundle-bed to tomb. Dive me the chap Who, what’er may hap, t,oolcs up, and is cheerful still, Who meets a brunt \\ ith a smiling front, And nerve, and vim, and will. —Success. | sign of life. But this is no unusual ! experience for those who would rank as poor relations. Kstelle had taken n eh<ap lodging, and gained her bread by giving music or French lessons, to (he somewhat | vulgar young people of the neighbor ' hood who, in this matter of education, l wished to out-distance their fathers and mothers. A laudable ambition ; and progress is the order of the day. i But to a well-born young woman of j refined taste, this close touch with rough humanity is somewhat of u t rial. It is more than probable that Mrs. I,a tinier might have been successful In finding more congenial occupation if flattriee laid been non existent. But she could not leave him alone; nor | could she afford a nursemaid, or en trust him to the care of Mrs. Perkins, lhe landlady, although she had hinted at her willingness to make the "little dear” free of her kitchen in the base ment whenever his mother wished to absent herself. Ho, tis Estelle Latimer could not go out to give lessons to better class children, she must perforce accept those who would present themselves In her sitting room and thumb out exercises, scales, and simple melodics upon the piano, whose tone and quali ty may be imagin ’d when the price of ils hire (eight shillings per month) is taken into consideration: But the courage with which Estelle bad set to work was melting like snow itt sunshine. She uas, so far, not getting on. Despite ail her economy, ail her sacrifices, she was in arrears with her rent —not much, and Mrs. Perkins was not "nasty” about It—and a few shillings were owing here and there, the sum total being very incon siderable, yet sutticient to cause anxious days and sleepless nights. Ho though Mrs. Latimer did not often Indulge In the luxury of a pen ny or a half penny—newspaper, she had bought one for that January even ing's reading, in the hope that it would suggest something which she might do ns a means of earning more, and quicker. It was as it always is plenty of situations offered, and plenty needed; yet few which seemed to present a suitable opening to me person who scans the list. If Estelle had been eligible for mil linery. or as a bar-maid; if slie could have declared herself experienced iu wiutlow dressing or in bookkeeping, typewriting and shorthand, she might have ventured a few applications. But for just what she was and could do, there seemed to be no demand; and that penny newspaper would cer tainly have been a dead loss. In her ease, if she had not happened to notice that advertisement for a child, which, as we know, was inserted by the wealthy Mrs. Ellison. It was only noticed, and a very casu al notice, at first. It seemed to her mind “odd” that a lady of wealth should have this desire for some child not her own. Still more ‘odd,” not to say heartless, if any mother gave up her little one to a stranger. With that she pushed tin* paper aside with a sigh, and turned to the correcting of a French exercise writ ten by one of her pupils, who called herself, and was called by her friends, "Miss Maude 'Awkins." Blit when it was done, and the day's work xx as done too. Estelle Latimer sat gazing into the tireless grate and . also mentally. Into tDo dark future of | her little -mu. Maurice. How could she rear and educate him on her miserable earnings, as his fath er would have wished? Even if his education was compassed, what lies before a lad wlto has no money and uo powerful friends - except perhaps some ill-paid clerkship and a life of struggling poverty to the end? If only some one would take an in terest in him: Such things-though soinexvhat in the fauciful Hue of fairy godmothers hail been heard of, and proved true. He was such a pretty fellow—so lov ing. though a little quick tempered, which was ever so much better thau the stillenuess of some children, though* Estelle, with a mother’s par tiality even for the faillugs of those who are her very own. Then, with a half smile, she remem bered again that advertisement for a child. Would not that "lady of wealth" i >’*’ delighted to get such a boy as Maurice? ( Hut that xv:.s uot possible, for no child quite so sweet or so handsome would be discovered and* well, uo! in .or ,-dl the money in the Hank of i England would she let her little sou I go frxxni her to an adopted Hint Iter! W ith that, the subject ought natural ly to ha o pt.ss.d from Mrs, Latimer's miud. Km it did not. It returned again and again and with such strong . msisit t- ,» that s. > i-ould not sleep for hours. Was her love for her hoy sel ti-h.' That was a tormenting ques tion. ’ 1 ■ ts;u: ..-d her .irate-hus- band one of the cleverest men of bin time. lie xvas not so. we may say in parenthesis; but site thought it. and therefore treasured up the memory of such of his impressions and opin ions as he had confided to her during Ids life. He had often talked of love, ideal love; the love of others before self and self a long way last. If Charles Latimer could speak to bis xvidoxv noxv from the next world, would lie put before Iter the love which shrank from nothing for Maur ice's future good, even if it meant the giving of him up? Jt worried her as she dressed the child; she very nearly cried over the task. Hhe looked so xvliite, so wretch ed, so unlike her usual self, xvhen she ! went into the sitting room that Airs. Perkins, arriving xvith the teapot and Maurice's matutinal porridge, ex claimed ; “Lor! Misses Matimer, whatever’s the matter?” The ex cuse of a bad night was-a true one; no need to explain the cause of her sleeplessness. Hut she could not turn it from her mind; indeed, as the day passed on she grew so nervous, so fanciful, that even through the reci tation of a French verb in the most nasal tones of “Miss ’Awkins,” or the rendering of “Ah, che la morte,” by one of her music pupils, she almost imagined her dead husband’s voice saying, “The greater love, is to give up.” By the time Maurice was asleep that night, Estelle’s mind xvas all made up to sacrifice. The adoption of her boy by a lady of xvealth would change all his life; the bitter straits of poverty would lie un knowu to him—she could bear them better alone. The advertisement should be an sxvered and that answer posted before she went to lied. It might be too late. "I almost hope it. may,” said the poor woman to -herself; "but I shall feel that I did not Lola back from my duty to my little child.” It xvas a simple little Vote when writ ten; her explanation was brief and to the point, yet the sadness of her heart could be read in it. Mrs. Ellison hail other nnswers to her advertisement, but she unhesitat ingly selected the one s igned “E. Lati mer” as the most promising. She asked the writer to call and bring the child. When in after years, Estelle thought it all over—the anguish of the deci sion, the offer to give up Maurice, the day xvhen she stood at the door of the beautiful house xvhieh xvas perhaps to become his home, and all the min gled feelings xvhieh made her sick at heart—she wondered if she had been quite in her right mind. For long after she could remember the effort to be calm, to follow the man servant composedly into that spa cious drawing room instead of catch ing Maurice in her arms and escaping from tlie house, as a sudden wild im pulse seemed to prompt her. Then Mrs. Ellison came in—sorne xvliat stately, yet so kind and so charmed with the child as he, uucon scious of xv hat all this meant, seemed charmed xvith her. “You's a nice lady," lie said, looking tip into her face; and she cried, “Wlmt a perfect darling!" and took him in her arms as if he were already hers— not his mother’s darling! And at that Estelle’s self control broke down. "It is for liis sake, so that he may never know any want aiid care,” she cried, "(live nothing to me—l do uot sell my darling; but give him love and At that point Mrs. Ellison turned suddenly and looked searehingly at her visitor. "If 1 were some years younger,” she said, “I should think that a friend of my early days was speaking. There is a tone in your voice xvhieh reminds me—something in the expression of your face, too—of Estelle Somers.” “That xvas my mother's name be fore her marriage. 1 atn Estelle—aD ter her. But, 1 never heard her men tion a Mrs. i.llison.” “Because she never knew me as such. Ours xvas a close acquaintance in our unmarried days, but our lives drifted apart, by force of circum stances. My dear." and noxv Mrs. Elli son took the younger woman's hands in both of hers, "it is indeed strange that xve should thus be brought to gether, but it solves a difficulty for us. i need no longer b• a lonely wom an, and you nee i not give up your boy. For as soon as you have proved that you are the child of tny early friend, 1 must adopt both of you." That xvas soon done, and young Mrs. Latimer's troubles were ended, and Mrs. Ellison's Indian summer set in "by advertisement."—Waverley Maga sine. Georgia's Glnni Sycamore Tree. Dougherty County now lays claim to the champion big tree of Georgia. It xvas discovered several weeks ago by lumbermen who were engaged in cutting timber. It rears its head from the midst of a thick swamp xvliero hard-wood trees abound, and to this is due the fact that it was not discovered sooner. This giant of the swamp is a syca more. It is on a little knoll, and ex cept in seasons xvli"i) a great deal of rain had fallen its trunk is not reached by water. A foot front the ground its trunk is forty-four feet iu circumfer ence. For twenty feet above th, ground the body of the great tree is round and symmetrical, but at that (mint it branches Into four sections, any one of xvhieh would make n g.ant ,roV if standing alone. The four arms of the lug sycamore do no: spread out as would seem natural, bm reach sky ward, almost perpendicularly. The tree is pronounced by all who have seen it a cariosity, and places "iu tbi simile” all the known trees In Ceot gia —Atlanta Constitution. F OR VILLACT (IMPROVEMENT. Loth in Homo (.roun<U and Public Grounds. “In dismissing the method of m:;n agement for our Village Improvement Society,” says Ebeh E. Ilex ford, in the "New” Lippineott, "we decided to have everything about it as simple as possible, for some of us recognized the fact that success in undertakings of this nature is largely dependent on simplicity and directness. In order to avoid friction and ‘running ex pen.-: s,’ it is wise to have but little machinery in a society of this kind, and that of the simplest character con sistent with effectiveness. We dis pensed with a formal anti elaborate ‘constitution’ and ‘code of by-laws,’ for we did not think either was need ed. We simply drew up a paper set . ting forth the object of the society and the few rules we thought necessary to formulate for its operation, and when we had subscribed our names to it we were full-fledged, active members. "In this paper it was stated that membership was conditional on an agreement on our part to devote ai: least one day’s work, spring and fall, to the Improvement of the home grounds, and to give one day’s work, spring and fall, to the improvement of public grounds and vacant places be longing to non-residents if cailed on to do so. “Each member pledged himself to the payment of one dollar semi-annu ally, the money thus secured to con stitute a general fund to be drawn on in meeting the expenses attendant on the improvement of public places. We had but three officers, a President, Sec retary, and Treasurer. It was under stood that the President was to have supervision of all work on public places, with the power of appointing such committees as might be deemed necessary whenever they were need ed. “At first we had not proposed to take women into membership, but it was suggested that they had as much right in the society as men had. and would, no doubt, take as much inter est In It,—and quite likely a good deal more. Accordingly it was unanimous ly voted to admit them.” America'** Superiority in “Expectation.'* The expectation of life at a given age, to use the actuarial phrase, dif fers considerably, as might be expect ed. in different countries, and Eng lishmen may be surprised to learn that they are not the longest living among the white race. At the age of twenty an Englishman in average health may expect to live- forty-two years, and any life office will grant lijm a policy based on that probability. The American’s expectation is for a slight ly longer period. On the other hand, a German lad of twenty can count upon little more than thirty-nine years and a half. It would seem, therefore, that the restlessness attributed to the. American temperament does not nec essarily conduce to the shortening of life, nor tlie composure of the German to its prolongation. Fossibly the bet ter feeding and clothing of Americans in the lower classes of the population arc the principal cause of their great er longevity. Their position is, at any rate, maintained in later as well as in earlier years. The American who has reached sixty may look to complete fourteen years more, while the Britisher’s, expectation is only about thirteen years and ten mouths, and the German's as nearly as possi bly twelve months less. Both at twen ty and sixty the Frenchman’s pros pect is a little better than the Ger man's and a little worse than the Englishman's.—London Globe. What is Xtwsf The late Charles A. Dana was once asked: "What is news?” The reply: “Anything the people will read,” was characteristic of the man. What the venerable editor of the New York Sun said years ago is quitt as true to-day as then. The definition was not meant to bt taken literally, but for all that, a col uinn might have been written on the subject and little more of value added. As a matter of fact this is the gen eral rule that governs the newspaper world to-day. It is, of course, true that all newspapers do not print all that might come under this head, but it is true nevertheless that every item of any possible interest to anybody is sure to get into type somewhere. The newspaper to-day gets up news in the way its readers demand it. It they are more interested in the latest sensational murder than in a Wall street panic, the panic must give way in order that the blood-curdling details may be played up to the Unit— Fourth Estate. A Mailbox Sleuth. A now electric letterbox on exhibi tion last week in Washington, if adopt ed by the Government, would make life anything but pleasant and com fortable for the or unlucky carrier. The electric letterbox regis ters at the main postoffiee each time a collection is made, so that it is impos sible for a carrier in making his rounds to skip a single box without being in stantly detected. Worse yet. if on - letter is left in the box the electric at tachment promptly records that fact at the main office, an t the carrier is liable to thirty days' suspension for undue haste and negligence. How Dreams Are Wnntifai litr.-d. M. Bergson, professor at the Coil go do France, now calmly asscri; ilia: .>*» l.a« discovered the stuff dreams rjv made of. The circulation of the hi d iu the retina and the pressure of eyelid on the optic nerve, lie claims, cause a color s t: a:,o,i. i’hr s assume phantom shapes, which sca the memory I»e<pir> tin- '. . ; poets and *tnn-"ciats. \iys I* of,-.- -or Bergson, there is i cthiug tie v .a- i j j iug vagaries. Paris Corresj r ! i.re New York Lie raid - 1 —==•— —~ 1= ■ ] Superiority, * Is the distinctive characteristic of our Men’s, Women’s, Boys’ and Children’s # SPRING and SUMMER tmh\ CLOTHING j yjjij r\ NO STOCK in the SOUTH /isl r' J eqtla,s ours‘n QUANTITY, QUALITY, VARIETY, /■ j \ S' lor general excellence of STYLE and FINISH, and QT on EQUAL QUALITY j Our Prices Always Lead. Ijpfff I U “(■ Ladles’ Tailor-Hade Suits, ' 1\ , l Waists, Skirts, Underskirts, 1 : \\ \ Corsets, Neckwear, Under- * IwK I y j wear, in especially exclusive f > At:'' j V l selections .... :: aBSSS %& gj MAIL ORDERS / \il solicited. Care'ul attention, and shipments C.O. D. UM/ 1 i with privilege of examining before paying. Corresp< tidence invited.— ‘ fB. H. Levy & Bro. j| SAVANNAH, -- - GEORGIA. j RIPANS taboies j Doctors find A Good ! Prescription j lor mankind WANTED : —A cue of bad health that R-I-p-A-NSwUI not benefit. The, banish pain and prolong life. One give, relief. Note the word R I R A N'S on the package and accept no substitute. R |-PA'N S, to for 5 cents, may be had at any drug store. Tea samples and one thousand testimonials will be mailed to any address for five cents forwarded to the Ripans Chemical Co.. No. ,0 Sprue, street, new Yofk. j- - - - PROFESSIONAL CARDS. E. D. Graham. Wm. B. Kent. Mcßae Ga. Mt. Vera on, Ga. j GRAHAM & KENT, Attorneys fIT. VERNON, GA. jul2l'9B-ly&tf-Ip YFe are ready to enter your name on onr subscription books. Y'ou will not miss the small sum necessary to become our customer GEIGER 5l PETERSON. ATTORNEYS AT LAW, MT. VERNON, GA. Will practice in the counties of the Oconee Circuit, and elsewhere by special contract. All business will re ceive prompt attention. A. B. HUTCHESON. W. L, WILSOX. Hutcheson & Wilson, Lawyers, MOUNT VERNON, GEORGIA. Commercial Law and Collection a Specialty. 12-13-00-ts W. M. Lewis, LAWYER, Mount Vernon,Ga. 9-20-1900-ts B IKG YuJL— | Job * Printing TO THIS OFFICE. Best work at the most reasonable prices. Double Daily Service Effective February 24, 1901. Lv Mt. Vernon 8. A. L. By 632 a 500 p Ar Snvannan “ ’ 8 45a 8 25 p Lv Savannah, “ 1 50 p 11 59 p Ar Columbia, “ 621 p 436 a “ Camden “ 7 21 p 643 a “ So Pines “ 10 32 p 10 05 a " Ralei.-h, “ 12 28 a 11 50 a “ Petersburg, “ 408 a 433 p “ Richmond, “ 456 a 540 p Ar Washington Penn B. B. 845 a DSO p Ar Baltimore “ 10 03 a 11 25 p Ar Philadelphia *• 12 27 p2s# a Ar New York “ 803 p 6IS a Lv Mt. Vernon 8. A. L. By {B2 a 500 p Ar Portsmouth “ 700 a 660 p Lv Mt. 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Keep abreast of these stirring timei by snb»eril>ii:ir for your I.ome paper. Ih e price i- little and you ( vuiiot aCTordto be without It. I