Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

WHEN POLLY WAS MY SWEETHEART. When Polly was my sweetheart When Polly was ray sweetheart The (lays went dancing by And vowed she loved mo true, As lightly ns her laughter, | I had not guessed the lurking She Hermoaklng, brought or her sigh; Of guile In eyes so blue; the sunshine with her, Or that a oheek can offer A dawn of new delight, The same dellolous roso And left me when we parted To greet a wooer’s coming. To dream of her all night. And speed him when he goos. When Polly was my sweetheart Whon Polly was my sweetheart— I knew no sordid care; Oh, Idle time and blind! What gold oould keep its lustro Its memories blow backward Beside her glinting hair? Witli every April wind And who was I, to envy Until, it I oould suffer The proudest of the land, The Joy and palupf yore, That felt but lately on me I should not mind her making The touch of hor dear hand! A fool ot me once more. —M. E. W., in Lite. Behind a Closed Booh. , Dy W. J. LAMPTON. m OLOXEL HARRY ... Ford was the presi¬ dent of a big bank in a Western State and the colonel and $ I were at the chron¬ icling of this tale in New York, whither we had gone as chance traveling companions on a train from the West. It was on Sunday morning, and as we took it easy in the handsome apartments he was brought occupying, a messenger boy him a telegram. The message was from his wife, and the boy being colonel a bright-eyed youngster, the cheerful chatted with him pleasantly a moment and gave him a quarter as he departed. “Doesn’t that make telegraphing come pretty’high?” I inquired, with the true Yankee spirit of thrift. “Iused to be one myself,” he said in explanation, “and now. whenever I see a bright-eyed kid like that I warm up to him and give him something, though not always a quarter. Being Sunday, and the telegram being from my wife, I do a bit better than usual and part with all of 25 cents.” “Do you really mean that you were once great a surprise, messenger boy?” I asked in as I looked over the elegant man of the world, every inch a gefftleman born, who sat in the big chair by the window gracefully pois¬ ing a cigar on his thumb aud finger. “Really and truly,” he laughed, “and if you can stand a reminiscence this morning, I’ll tell you the story of my life. Journalists,” and he bowed over the arm of the chair, “I believe, are always on the lookout for interest¬ ing facts in history and fiction, aren’t they?” I hastened to assure him that they were, and after making me swear that I would keep awake at whatever sacri¬ fice, he began. “When I was a youngster of ten,” he said, “I was a messenger boy earn¬ ing the luxurious salary of three dol¬ lars a week, all of which I gallantly turned over to my mother, who was a banker’s daughter, though she had been turned out of her father’s house because she had not married to suit him and her stepmother. Indeed, she had gone farther and married the man who had suited her, and after that, while her heart was never empty, she and her husband and only son were often so, and life was not quite as rosy as it might have been. Wo were brave people, though, and with my three dollars a week wo managed somehow to get along. I improved after a year or two, and incidentally picked up te¬ legraphy, so that when I was fifteen I got a place at a small country station in Missouri and took my mother there to live with me on my salary of forty dollars a month, my father having died a year before. “At sixteen my mother died, leav¬ ing me alone in the world, and at my mother’s funeral my grandfather re¬ lented sufficiently to propose that he educate me, which proposal I accept¬ ed and agreed to take a good business education. By the time I was twen¬ ty-one I had been graduated, and my grandfather gave me a position in a bank he owned in a very pleasant in¬ terior town, where I showed such ap¬ titude that the old gentleman entirely forgave me for having been the son of his disobedient daughter and told me to go ahead and I should be a partner some day. “The next most natural thing in the world to do was to fall in love, and I did it for all there was in mythrobbing heart, and on the evening of the day I was promoted to the cashiership of the bank I asked Kate Vernon to be my wife. I did it advisedly, too, for my grandfather had told me when I married he would give me an eighth interest in the bank. Miss Vernon wasn’t the most beautiful girl the eye of man ever rested on, and even I was forced to confess that there was too much pug in her nose for classic beauty, but she was the brightest young woman in the county, aud the cheeriest, and I was heels over head in love with her, which made up for all discrepancies. “During all the time of my experi¬ ence in tbe bank I had kept up my interest in telegraphy, and after Kate and I had settled upon our future relationship, I had connected her house with my room at the bank, and whenever I had the chance I called her up and talked love to her between meals by eleotricity. I don’t know how much of that kind of talk we in¬ dulged in, but I do know that Kate became almost an expert telegraph operator, and could easily have made her living at it had there been such a necessity. that “One of the other customs of charming time of love in tho fore- ground was a drivo that Kate and I took two or three times a week in a trap she owned, leaving the bank just after closing time, 4 o’clock, and driv¬ ing for a couple of hours, to eudather house, where I took supper with her. On the days when shewould telegraph dowu that she was coming, I would lock up the money and valuable papers in the inside safe and leave the outer doors of the big vault open, bo tho last man out of the bank could put the books away and lock them up against fire. The man who did this nearly al¬ ways was an old fellow, partly deaf, and a janitor rather than a clerk. One day, when I had shut up the inside safe and gone out to join Kate in her trap at tho door, she sent me back to wait until she went up town to see a friend about a church supper they were interested in. Old Jock, as we called him, was not at his desk when I came back, though I had said good-bye to him as 1 went out, nor was there anyone in tho bank, and as I sat a mo¬ ment at my own desk I noticed a pa¬ per that that had been left there by mistake. I got up at once to put it where it belonged in the safe, and as I went into the vault I did not observe that all the books had been put away, though I could hear old Jock, in the little room bask, telling his boy about sweeping out. “The paper belonged in a pigeon¬ hole far back in the vault and high up, so that I was compelled to go up a stepladder we kept there, aud about the time I had got myself hid away in the shadow the big outer door swung to aud I could hear old Jock turn the combination out of joiut. I yelled out, but it was too late, even if the old man’s ears had been sharp, and I found myself in the disagreeable pre¬ dicament of being sb^t up in my own safe and no visible means of escape. At first it struck me as ludicrous; then it became serious, and in a few moments I had gone to thinking as those people think who are confronted with tremendous moments in their lives. I soon decided that my only hope of getting out was through Miss Y ernon, who, when she returned, would naturally inquire “or me and in this way old Jock would in time dis¬ cover that he had shut me up in the vault, How long it would be until Miss Vernon roturned, or what chance of the old man still being there when she came now began to demand dis¬ cussion in my brain, and for a minute or two I stood still in the thick dark¬ ness and listened to my heart beating. Then I remembered that we always kept a hammer in a pigeonhole near the door, and groping around I found it and at once began to pound on the door. Immediately a response came, but, of course, I did not know who was giving it, though evidently the boy, as the old man could scarce¬ ly have heard. This gave me hope, at ouce, and I sot up a regular tattoo on the door with my hammer, to all of which came the responses from the outside. But it was not getting out of my prison, and confinement was be¬ coming irksome. “For the first time now I hoard faintly the sound of human voices call¬ ing to me, but it were as if they were miles away, and I could not distin¬ guish whose they were, though I thought I know Kate’s. I answered back, but the place was so thick and heavy that my voice frightened me, and I used the hammer instead of call¬ ing. Up to this time I had not thor¬ oughly realized what my entombment meant, but now it came upon me that the only man in town except myself who knew tho combination bad gone away for a vacation to the seashore, and that with the door air-tight, or practically so, I could not live a very great while in the vault. Certainly not long enough to hear from either the clerk on vacation or from the peo¬ ple from whom we had bought the safe in St. Louis. Indeed, if I stood it for two hours, I felt I would be doing well, for my had pounding had filled the little air I with dust, and it was nearly suffocating mo. The pounding from the outside increased the dust, too, and whilo I could prevent myself from doing it, and did stop, the very fact of my stopping mads those on the outside pound harder as if to encour¬ age me, whon, as they thought, I was losing hope. “This thought came to me with a shock so great that I almost collapsed. I caught at the sides of the vault in the inky darkness and for a minute I became deathly sick. Following this came almost a frenzy to yell and howl and claw at the door and scratch at my face and tear at my hair. I had heard of people doing that way and going mad when lost in caves and such places, and I felt it coming on me in that dreadful hole. To add to the horrors of my situation, the air was growing rapidly worse and I could not stand ux> in the vault without a feeling of tlie most profouud nausea. It was the nausea of despair, if anybody has ever analyzed just what that is. At inter¬ vals, notwithstanding the harm of it, I would grape around for the hammer and pound on the door, only to choko more and to hear the muffled thuds or tho responses from the outside. “Two feet from light and air nnd love and life and utterly shut off from them all. It was horrible to thiulc of, and I am sure a thousand times worse than if I had been entombed in a mine ten thousand feet deep or had been buriod in the sands of a desert a hun¬ dred miles from water and green trees. Slowly I felt my strength going, and at last I could not so much as respond, even at long intervals, to the knocking on the outside, and I sank to the floor with my bead against the oold steel wall between the light of the world and the darkness of death. As I lay there panting I heard the dull thud of the beating on the outside, and it soon came as a beating of time, or rather eternity; a measure of music to soothe me to sleep, and I sank into semi-con¬ sciousness and seemed to be dreaming. “You know, they say that when a man is dying under unnatural or vio¬ lent circumstances all his past life comes back to him, even in minute de¬ tail. It did not quito appear to mo that all my life was passing in review before me in my dungeon, but it did seem as if the youth of my life had come back to me, and I thought I was once again in that little telegraph sta¬ tion on the Missouri River catching tho clickity-cliek-click of the instru¬ ment on my table, and which always seemed to me as important as a ship’s deck is to an admiral. I seemed to bo hearing the ‘calls’ of operators all along the line, but I gave no response, and then the scene changed, as it does so suddenly and unaccountably in dreams, and I was at my instrument in the bank listening with all a lover’s eagerness for the first call of Kate Vernon’s over the wire I had put up for her. “It was very faint and far off, and I think I must have smiled as I bent my ear closer to the instrument to catch the sound, having in mind my sweet¬ heart at the other end of the wire es¬ saying her first attempt in handling the lightning. For a moment it was vague enough, with its modest little clickety-click-click, but all at once it seemed to say something to me. I could not distinguish at first, but presently it took form and I could catch the ‘call’ I had taught her. It was the letter K, repeated over and over again, ‘just as all operators do when they want some other operator who is not at hi3 desk to respond promptly. Then it was the clickety- click-click of the letters that formed my name, and I smiled to think that as a child learning to talk says ‘mam¬ ma’ first, so Kata was saying first in this new language of the wires that she was learning the name of her teacher. “Sat there was something more than a dream in the sensations I was experiencing. I could feel that it was something more than a dream. I knew that some sound must be shaping my dream for me, and without know¬ ing what I was doing and with an odd feeling of the very peculiar key we had put on our instruments I took up the hammer and sounded my ‘call’ to Kate,in response to what I was hearing. Instantly the ‘call’ was repeated aud my name followed. Now I seemed to throw off the nightmare, aud I roused myself. Striking with the hammer on the door I called to Kate by name, and then distinct enough, though muffled, I heard the clickety-click-click on . the outer door, and Kate was telling me in the mysterious manual of Morse, a message of courage and hope. “Aud what a wonderful strength is hope. Now that I had established communication with the outside world, I took great courage immediately, though I did not understand just what or how I was going to do to be saved, for I confess that I was not very clear headed at this time. I thought only of telegraphing to St. Louis for the combination, and had actually sig¬ naled to Kate to do so at once, and I would try to keep up until word was received, when to my indignation, she laughed at me over the wires, that is the door plate, and told me to telegraph right then and there to her what the combination was and she would do the rest. “How plain and simple that was, and I had never thought of it. Neither had I thought of telegraphing to her from my prison, and it was only be¬ cause she was a woman that she ever thought of sending word through that dull door to me with a hammer. She has since told me that some men never will learn anything unless it is ham¬ mered into them, and I never say a word. Anyway, when three minutes after I had told her what the combin¬ ation was, the door opened and I fell forward into the fresh air of the world of sunshine. Kate caught me in her arms, and it was her voice I heard faintly and far off as I had heard the olickety-click-elick of her tapping that led me back to life and light and love once more.” “And you lived happily ever after?” I inquirod, after so long a silence that I was surprised at myself. “My boy,” said the banker, earnest¬ ly, “she has saved my life a hundred times since that, and I wouldn’j; trade her for all the other women in the world. And when she sees this story in print,” he added laughing, “I’ll need to have my life saved again, hut she won’t do it, I’ll bet a horse and harness.” “She must draw the line some¬ where,” said I.—Washington Star. “On the whole,” said the aged weather prophet, “I have found that the safest course is to predict bad weather.” “How so?” asked the neo¬ phyte. “Because people are much more ready to forgive you if the pre¬ diction does not come true.”—Puck. WHILE EXROL'TE FROM SAN SE- BASTAIN TO SPANISH CAPITAL. A SENSATION CREATED IN MADRID Over the Alleged Ascertainment of Uncle Sam’s IVogrum »s Regards the Cuban War. Advices of Sunday from Madrid state that the arrival of United States Min¬ ister Woodford from San Sebastian has made a sensation. The programme of the United States has been ascer¬ tained. This does not contemplate a declara¬ tion of war if Spain rejects meditation, but, according to report, an ostenta¬ tious proclamation to the world of dis¬ approval of the Cuban regime by sus¬ pending diplomatic relations with Spain and withdrawing the United States minister. General Woodford has declined to be interviewed on the subject further than to say that his conference with the duke of Tetuan, the foreign minis¬ ter, was of the most satisfactory char¬ acter. The unexpected bitterness of tho press and of public opinion has painfully impressed him, but he hopes this will soon be allayed,as he believes his mission favorable to Spanish inter¬ ests and cannot comprehend that Spain could reject mediation designed to stop an impoverishing war. He has not named a time at which the war must be terminated, but he hopes, as the result of his tenders, that it will be ended quickly. He be¬ lieves the war is inflicting incalculable loss upon the United States and it is impossible to prevent the organization of filibustering expeditions. Unusual measures were taken to protect Minister Woodford on bis journey from San Sebastian to Ma¬ drid, but the trip was quite unevent¬ ful. A party of gendarmes,commanded bya sub-lieutenant,guarded the south¬ ern express on which he was a passen¬ ger. Secret police were posted at the station and the prefect of police was in waiting to escort him to his hotel. The drive through the streets was marked by no special incident, though several people saluted him, receiving a bow in return. Some comment has been caused by tlie fact that Minister Woodford’s family has not accompanied him, but remains on tho French frontier. Min¬ ister Woodford explains that his party is a large one, requiring a commodious home, and prefers spending a pleasant October in Biarritz until a suitable residence can be secured in Madrid. NEW EDITOR SELECTED For Cotton Plant, South Carolina’s Al¬ liance Organ. A Columbia, S. C., dispatch says: The managing committee of The Cotton Plant, the alliance organ, has awarded the printing and editing of the paper to Colonel James A. Hoyt, editor of The Greeneville Mountaineer. The paper was until recently under the management of Colonel T. B. Crews, of Laurens. It attacked McLaurin during the campaign and caused considerable dis¬ turbance in the alliance because of its partisan action. The contract was forfeited and Colonel Crews displaced. MINERS HOLD CONFERENCE. Alabamians Beeline to Unite With United Mine Workers of America. A convention of coal miners of Ala¬ bama was held in Birmingham last Saturday, with nearly all mines repre¬ sented, for the purpose of effecting an organization. A discussion arose as to forming a state organization or becoming a part of the United Mine Workers of America. The delegation from Pratt mines worked against affiliation with the na¬ tional organization, and it was decided to form an independent state organi¬ zation on October 22d. JURY FAILED TO AGREE. Responsibility For the Shooting of Miners At Hazelton Not Placed. The coroner’s jury to inquire into the manner in which the strikers met their death at Lattimer, Pa., on September 10th, failed to agree on a verdict after a lengthy session. SEVENTEEN LIVES LOST. A Mine Caves in With Fearfully Fatal Results. The San Pedro mine, in the Carril- itos group, twelve miles from El Paso, Tex., in Mexico, caved in Saturday, killing seventeen men. The victims, according to the report, were buried under thirty feet of rock and dirt. The San Pedro is one of the oldest mines in the group and rich with silver. It is the property of the wealthy Carrilitos company, the prin¬ cipal stockholders of which reside in New York. If the mine was not timbered the Mexican government will impose a heavy fine on the compan. AUSTRIA AS PEACEMAKER. She Will Mediate In the Trouble Between Spain and United States. A dispatch to the London Standard from Madrid says: “The rumor of Austrian mediation between Spain and the United States in the event of hostilities has created a great surprise, mingled with much in¬ credulity. Spaniards failed to see what Austria oould do unless seconded by naval powers or at least by the com¬ bined pacific action of governments.” MORE YELLOW FEVER NEWS. Saturday and Sunday's Record In Three Plague-Stricken Cities. In one respect Saturday was a record breaker in the fever situation in New Orleans. There were more new cases reported to the board of health than on any previous day and a number of new foci of infection were established. The number of new eases reported reached twenty-three. The death list, however, was not heavy. Only two cases had proved fatal during the day. Several cases were reported to be in a critical condition. Fifteen cases were recorded on the books of the board of health Sunday, but there were no deaths. Although there were six new cases in Mobile Saturday, the week closed without any material change in the situation in the Alabama city. The fever manifests itself in the infected district mostly in the houses where there have already been cases. It is a fact that not one person has yet died of the yellow fever who would not in ordinary cases have been carried off by malaria. The sick have recovered with remarkable rapidity, most of them having such light attacks that it has liven with difficulty that the symptoms of yellow have been recognized. The returns at the board of health office Sunday for the twenty-four hours ending at noon, showed five new cases and one death, with two patients discharged. The Biloxi board of health reported Saturday as follows: “Total cases of yellow fever to date, 85; now under treatment, 46; new cases, 10; total deaths to date, 4.” The condition of affairs at Biloxi Sunday was changed very little. Ten new cases were re; .rted, and the sick, with few exceptions were doing well. There were two deaths' at Edwards from yellow fever ,,Saturday. Total cases for the day, 6r 'Ll; total to date, 140; deaths to date Edwards’ sick list Sunday showed a rapid growth. Twenty-three new cases and one death was the day’s record. A few more strides and the fever will have stricken the entire town. Information has been received from Stonewall, Miss., that the Morgan family at that place are dov/n with a suspicious fever, pronounced dengue by the local physicians, but generally believed to be genuine yellow fever. GERMANY IS FOR SPAIN. Her ’Support Assured in Case of War Witlr * !.,■ United States. Advices from Berlin, Germany, state that the reported American ultimatum to Spain lias been received with pro¬ nounced displeasure by tbe entire Ger¬ man press. The official denial from Washington is generally disbelieved, and the denunciation of jingoism, yan- kee insolence and the ridiculing of tho Monroe doctrine have filled the news¬ papers. The conservative press, as usual, is the most violent in denoun¬ cing American aspirations. The Staats Zeitung, a leading or- .gan, says: “A coalition of all the European coun¬ tries is absolutely necessary to repulse the schemes of American patriotism and jingo¬ ism, as both are becoming more and more insolent.” The same newspaper claims that Spain has been assured of Germany’s support in event of the United States taking hostile steps. ALLEGED VVHITEC ADDERS FREE. After Being Out Twenty-One Hours the Jury Acquitted Them. A Columbia, S. C., special says: The jury on tbe case of the citizens of Fairfield and Kershaw counties, charged with white-capping Mormon elders, after being out twenty-one hours, sent for the judge and said that they could not agree. Judge Beuet ordered them back in their room to “try again.” It is said they stood eleven for acquittal and one for conviction. In less than an hour they returned to court and reported a verdict of not guilty. The accused were charged with whipping A Mormons, burning their church an persecuting them. The elders say they will continue their work. Free Coinage Not Wanted. The Journal des Dehats (Paris) con¬ tains an article from the pen of M.. Pierre Paul Leroy-Beaulieu protesting against the proposal of the free coinage in the French mints, which, he declares, would “compromise the commerce, credit and political power of France.” GREE KSSTILL BE LLIGERENT. Hold a Mass Meeting and Call For a Renewal of Hostilities. A large meeting was held in Athens, Greece, Sunday, at which a resolution was adopted calling upon King George and the cabinet to renew tbe war with Turkey rather than accept the terms of peace offered by the peace confer- 1 ence. Moipt Speaker of the making addresses were violent bellicose, attack one a upon the king aud Crown Prince Cou- stantinei. The police endeavored to arrest him, but he escaped with the as¬ sistance of the crowd. The motst influential section of the press continues peaceful in tone. TWO LOST IN FIRE. Village of Bain bridge, O., Almost Wiped Out of Existence. A special dispatch from Chillicothe, O., says: “An entire sinuare in the village of Bainbridge, containing most of the business houses? several handsome residences and tl)ie Methodist church, was entirely destroyed by fire Thurs¬ day afternoon, and! two prominent bus¬ iness men lost tlie'jr lives in an explo¬ sion which occurred in a drug store." \ 1 COMMISSIONER GLENN’S REPORT WILL SHOW GOOD RESULTS. . CONSOLIDATION OF STATISTICS. Significant Facts—Information As to Pay¬ ment of Teachers for the Third Quarter. The consolidation of statistics of the public schools of the state which has just been completed by State School be Cojnm^sioner incorporated Glenn, in that and official’s which will an¬ nual report to the legislature, is of general interest, and, when compared with corresponding statistics of last year, show a gratifying increase in the number of schools, in the enrollment aud in the number of new school houses, and an important improve¬ ment in die efficiency of teachers as shown by tbe large increase of normal trained aud first grade teachers. The following is a comparative statement of statistics for 1896 and 1896: Number of teachers, 1896, 8,125; 1895, 7,982; increase, 143. Number of normal trained teachers, 1896, 937; 1895, 695; increase, 242. Number of first grade teachers,1896, 3,187; 1895, 2,909; increase, 278. Number of schools, 1896, 7,419; 1895, 7,252; increase, 166. The in¬ crease in the number of colored schools is 3. Number of pupils enrolled in 1896, 389,057; 1895, 366,937; increase, 22,- 120 . Number of school houses owned by county boards of education in 1896, 423; 1895, 277; increase, 144. Value of these houses in 1896, $78,977; value in 1895, $51,157; in¬ crease, $27,820. Number of visits made by county school commissioner in 1896, 10,615; in 1895, 8,742; increase, 1,853. Significant Facts. One of the most important features of these statistics is the increase in the normal trained and first grade teach¬ ers. This, of course, means better teachers, better scbools and conse¬ quently a better improvement of the money appropriated for school pur¬ poses by the state. In speaking of the statistics, Com¬ missioner Glenn said: “While Georgia’s public school sys¬ tem lacks much of being that which it is hoped to make it, the people of the state are to be congratulated upon the condition and growth of their schools. In my visits to all portions of the state I have noted an increasing interest in the public schools on tbe part of the people, and to this is largely due the improvements and the growth which the figures show. “The increase in the number of school houses is of especial interest. Nothing will more quickly aud more satisfactorily re-populate rural dis¬ tricts, and make lands and homes more desirable and consequently more valuable in such sections, than good school houses. A fit school house is good evidence of the proper interest in educational affairs and of the pro¬ viding of adequate educational facil¬ ities. “There is no better indication of the coming of prosperity to our state than the evidences that better school facilities are being provided for the rural* sections.” Fay Of Teacliers. Commissioner Gleen has just issued a circular letter to the county school commissioners, notifying them that on account of a lack of funds in the state treasury, the money for the payment of teachers for the third quarter, cannot be sent out until about December 1st, at which it is estimated that a sufficient amount of tax money will have been received at the treasury to supply the funds needed. REFORMATORY DLAN As Regards Convict System In Georgia Will Be Pushed. Although the joint meeting of tho committees of the senate and house ad¬ journed without committing them¬ selves by direct action to any plan for the disposition of the penitentiary convicts which are to be dumped up¬ on the the st ate at the expiration of the present lease, they manifested their plain approval of the plan out¬ lined by Governor Atkinson. The joint assembly defeated, almost unanimously, the proposition to re¬ lease the convicts under the present system. With that question out of the way the members promptly turned their attention to the many schemes which have been proposed in the way of reform legislation, and, after nearly a whole day of discussion and debate, declared in favor of the plan aud passed, without opposition, the follow¬ ing resolutions: Resolved, That a committee he appointed by the chair to be composed ot three mem¬ bers from the senate and four from the house, together with the chairmen of both senate and house penitentiary committees to draft a bill for the purpose of disposing of the convicts of this state, and to present such bill to this committee two days imme¬ diately preceding the convening of the coming session of the legislature. Resolved, further, That such committee shall sit during the time intervening be¬ tween now and the meeting of the legisla¬ ture for the purpose of hearing arguments and submission of plans to enable them to draft a bill. Resolved, further, That the bill drafted by the ooramittee shall be printed and mail¬ ed to Caoh member of tlie joint committee by the 10th of October, togother with all in¬ formation gathered by the committee.