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VOL. I. r m x--' a Your Gifts. If you have the gift of seeing, ever look for beauty; Noting faults In all your friends, is plainly not your duty. If you have the gift of hearing, list to wbnt ' Is meet; Shut your ears to everything that. Is not good and sweet. If you have the gift of talking, use tratpleas ant words; Let your speech be glad and cherry as the songs of birds. —Emma C. Dowd, In "South’s Companion. The Gingerbread Man. Bat flve years old was little: Nan When she fell in love with a gingerbread man. Site said as she placed him beside her cup, “I love you enough to eat you up!” Aud then the roguish little miss Devours 1 her sweat heart'with a kiss; “How nlee you are!” sold little Nan— And that was the end of the gingerbread man tears passed, and the math to womatfnoc* grew, And she had of suitors a, dozen or'two; But she found none as sweet as the ginger, bread man, 'For he was a regular snap," sighed Nan. —The Commonwealth, The Blossom of My Heart. Azure eyes a-twinkle, Silver Amber looks a-oarl, Shining laugh a-tlnkie, o’ pearl; teeth When she is nigh I gaze and sigh I cannot fly The spot: There is no fairer blossom than That sweet Forget-me-not. / Poets sing of beryls,' 1 Gems of peerless hue; Coula they meet the perils In her eyes of blue. Each captive wight To be her knight With wild delight Would plot; For she can smtle to wltoh the wOrH My sweet Forgot-me-not. V When the blossoms shimmer In the dawn o’ May When her glee grows dimmer .. On our wedding clay, And in my pride I lead my bride May Her joy tot; betide The blossom o’ ray heart for aye, Mv sweet Forget-me-nott —Samuel M. Peok, In Boston Transcript As to Friends and Enemies, Preserve me from my friend, because I whis per in his ear The little secrets I’d not like a cruel world to hear; And if he at some looso-tongued time gives forth what I have said, The world sadly will say he head. speaks the truth, and wag its But If my enemy should spread that Belt same truth, yon see, The world would cry “We doubt It—he’s the fellow’s enemy!’’ —John Kendrick Bangs.ln Harper’s Weekly. A Commonplace Letter. It seemed so little, the thing you did— Just to tako.the pea in your hand, And send the warm heart’s greeting, hid ’Neath the common two-eent stamp of the land. But over the mountains and over the plain, And away o’er the billowy prairies went The small, square letter, to soothe the pain Of one who was fretted with discontent. She was ill and tired; the long, hot day Hal worn itself to the merest Bhred; The last of the light, ns it ebbed away, Fell on her patient needle and thread. A Where shadow came fading flying sunlight across filtered the gp am through; the There was just the gleam of a sweet young face, you.” And a voice said, “Here is a letter for i The quick brushed tears blurred them in a sudden mist, But she nway, and then she smiled, should how kissed And you have Been she and kissed The postmark’s circlet, like a child. "Why, the name brought back the long ago When she dressed in her best of afternoons. When she found it a pleasure to sit and sew. And her seams were hemmed to tripping tunes. Poverty, change, and the without drudgery end, Of work that goes on an Had fettered the heart" that was light and Till free, she’d almost forgotten she had a friend. * The people at home so seldom write. Her youth aud its pleasures He all behind; She was thinking bitterly but last night That “out of sight is out of mind.” - Now, here is your letter! The old hills break Beyond these levels flat and green; She thrills to the thi ash as his flute noteB wake In the vesper hush pi the woods serene; She sits again in the little church. And lifts her voice in.the choir once more; Or stoops fora four-leaved clover to search In the grass that ripples up to the door. J It was very little it meant, for you— An hour at best when the day was done: But the words you seat rang sweet and true, And they carried comfort and cheer to one Who was hear needing the to feel she a clasping used hand. hear: And to voices to And the little letter, the breadth of the land, Was the carrier-dove that brought home near. —Mrs. E, gangster, in Christian Advocate. A Chinese Superstition. The Hong Kong Telegraph says that the fact that Li Hung Chang’s coffin, which he carried with him on his trip around the world, was burned in a fire on the steamer Glenartney, indi cates to the.Chinege superstitious miud that the great statesman will roach a very old age. - ._______ Murray News. SPRING PLACE, GA.. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1897. That Bashful Blinker, BX TV. J. HAMPTON OW pretty she was as she sat with her shape UV ly fingers dancing on the keyboard of her typewriter. think the time I in X to come when this (JN- „J shall classic have period become for the the future centuries, as the ancient Greek is the classic for us of this time, that instead of the maiden with the distaff as we have, they will have the maiden at the typewriter, as one of the beau tiful figures that make art everlasting. Her eyes were so blue, Per cheeks were so pink, and truly, he; hair must have been transplanted from the banks of the Pactolus whose shifting sands were crystals of pure gold. The man sat near her dictating a letter. On the window pane next to the street were the words “Hurford, Blinker & Co., Brokers," and the man dictating was the Blinker of the firm. He was aiso the Hurford and the Co., seeing that ho had bought out every body else, including the well-known name of the firm. And what a man was Blinker— Haverhill Blinker. A bachelor of forty years’ experience, a business man of large and increasing wealth, a calculating speculator, a good the all ’round fellow, and among women very prototype and synonym of bash ful ness. To see him bow and smile to and at » lady when meeting her would have led the most critical to say he was a courtier of courtiers, but if it became necessary for him to go be yond the bowing and smiling limit, life had no further charms for Haver hill Blinker. Strange to say, too, he was not always conscious of his weak ness, and there were times when he really thought he was quite a ladies’ maD. When he recovered from one of these latter attacks he was always sur rounded by a large circle of sympa thizing friends (male). Until within six months he had never been' able to persuade himself that the real and only way to accustom himBelf to the use of a woman’s society wa@ to employ a “iady typewriter,” and then he did it becauso a relative of his, his aunt, in fact, in a neigh boring town, had asked him as a spec ial favor to help the daughter of an old school friend of hera, in sore dis tress, who was quite a skilled stenog rapher and typewriter. It was entirely beyond the compre hensibility of Mr. Blinker’s aunt that Mr. Blinker would give her employ ment, but the aunt thought he might know someone who had a place for heT. Therefore, when he wrote to his aunt saying tha\ he would give the young woman a place in his office at $40 a month she was more than surprised— she was delighted, and sent the gold- old en-haired daughter of her dear sohool friend right over to her nephew. The day she made her first appear ance Mr. Blinker was out when she called about II o’clock, and the office boy and the clerk having insisted upon her remaining for a few minutes until Mr. Blinker should return, she sat down near the window and waited, never onee noting the fact that the office boy and the clerk were each pat ting in every moment of his spare time watching her and wondering what the mischief business an angel right from heaven had with Mr. Blinker. When Mr. Blinker finally appeared, and the office boy aud the clerk col lapsed, he hadn’t the least idea who she was, and bis heart began to pound so on the inside of him that he thought it was the shafting janitor turning on more steam and up the radi ators in the office and halls, It was the veiy first time he had ever seen a woman in his office, and the experience ■was so entirely novel that for an in stant he was speechless. Blinker?” she inquired, “Is this Mr. rising to meet him as he came hesi tatingly toward"her, "Yes’m,” responded Mr. Blinker, as if he were a sohoolboy about to be licked for pasting a wet wad on the ■wall. “May I inquire to what I am indebted for the honor of this visit, ma’am ?” Blinker would no more have made such an egregiously silly and stilted speech as that to a man than he would have tried to have told the truth in Chicago, but this was a woman, and Blinker was not resnonsible. "Your, aunt,” said the visitor, with roguish twinkle in her eye, but Blinker didn’t see it any more than he saw profit in honest politics. ma’am,” "I—I—beg your pardon, he' stammered. Tbejvery idea of his saying "Ma’am,” to a girl like that! It would have been criminal if Mr. Blinker had been responsible. told him who she and Then she was, the way Mr. Blinker began to assume airs and strut around as if he were a migbiy potentate with a lot of sub jects was as funny as it could be. Now she had been with him six months, and he sat near her dictating a letter. short. In the midst of it he stopped this He had been tempted to do many times before. He had studied the matter thoroughly, as he thought, and having considered it in every light and having deliberated upon it for many days, and having tried to ac complish the desired result by every means in his knowledge, he had at last determined to do this. Therefore he stopped in the midst of it. “I am very sorry, Miss Prince,’’ be began, quite abruptly, and as if he wanted to get through with the dis agreeable task in a hurry, “but I am afraid I shall have to lose you as my typewriter. clutched suddenly the sides She at of the machine as if to support her self. “W-w-whv,” she stammered with qvivering lips, "why, Mr. Blinker, what have I done that I should be discharged without warning?” warning,” “But I’m giving you he said, half with bravado, half with apology. "Yon don’t have to go right away.” “I do not want to go at oil until I know why I am going,” she argued. I Tins is ail I hare in why the I world, Unfitted and am entitled to know am for this,” "Ob, it isn’t your fault, oxaotly,” be went on evasively. "There are no such things, you know, asmisfortunes, which can scarcely be classed as faults. In your case, Mias Prinoe, your mis fortune is that you are too tucked pretty,” and Mr. Blinker actually his head to one side and simpered at her. She had been suspicious for a long time, as most women are when they have their wits about them under cir cumstances similar to those surround ing Miss Prince and Mr. Blinker, and she almost smiled through the mist that was gathering in her eyes. "You have always said, Mr. Blink er," she pleaded, "that you liked to see pretty things in your office." He coughed nervously, uneasily. How many thingB he had said to her be did not know. How many more he wanted to say be did not know. What he was now saying he did not know how he wftB evBr going to finish. “I know that,” he admitted, "but sometimes, you know, my dear Miss Prince, a man cannot always have what he wants. As long as I was a bachelor, Miss Prince, I could do as I pleased, but I am to be married, at least I hope so, and you know a man’s wife sometimes differs with him on what may seem to the world at large to be quite tiivial points.” Married I At one blow all her castles were thrown to the earth, with not so much as a corner standing to show thut they had ever been other than crumbling ruins. True, ho had never said anything definitely to her, but there is so much more in what is never said, and daily out of the unspoken affinity whioli turely existed between tbeBe two con genial people the more foolish woman had constructed such hopes as women cherish to the end of time, That ho had thought enough of her to warrant tnese hopes, a thousand wordless wit nesses testified. How thus in the very midst of the work that he had given to her to do for him, and that she loved to do be cause it was for him, the blow fell. "Yes?” she responded to his state ment in the faint pathetic question IBg that fills a woman’s voice when she is thus called upon to face her heart’s doom, and her hands uncon sciously sought to go on with her work. "Yes, Miss Prinoe,” he said, with no sound of sympathy in his voioe, "and I am pretty sure my wife will not per mit you to remain here as my type writer. Imaysay,”and typewriter.” he simpered again, "as my pretty the sim She never so much as saw per, and in that far Mr. Blinker should have thanked his good fortune. all "I have thought the matter over,” he continued, "and I leave it to you as a fsirminded woman whether it is my duty to gain a wife and lose a typewriter, or vice versa?” By this time she had recovered from the primary shock. She had even begun to wonder bow he had ever mustered up sufficient courage to propose to the future Mrs. Blinker. She even went further and made up her mind that the lady was a widow, and had used the traditional wiles of the widow on the unsuspecting and . bashful Mr, Blinker. "By all means, Mr. Blinker,” cbe said coldly, "gain the wife. The world is full of typewriters, but it is not every day that a man can get a wife. At least snob a wife as you de serve,” and in spite of herself there was something soft in her tone that she did not want to be there. Mr. Blinker noticed it, too, but be didn’t stop to comment upon it. “Good for you, Miss Prinoe,” he laughed. "I knew yoa were a woman of sense.” She shrank as if she had been touched with a hot iron. "Thank yon, Mr. Blinker,” she said, “Now, if you please, we will go on with our work. ” It had seemed as if a lifetime had past since she had written the last and as she bent down over it, if the better see what it was, a tear fell upon the line. This Mr. Blinker also observed, hut said nothing, seeming to enjoy it. "Before we do, Miss Prince," he said, "may I ask a favor at your hands —a promise?” "Wliat is it? Yes,” she answered, Mr. Blinker braced himself. "Ihavif this woman whom I am soon to ask formally to be my wife,” he said, "should refuse me, that you will marry me.” For an instant the girl looked at hitn, then she rose to-her feet, her eyes fairly blazing. Mr. Blinker saw that the tigress was about to spring, and he was fright-, ened. "Wait, stop!” he explained, hold ing up his bands as if to shield himself from the blow. “Hold on till I tell you who the woman is. It’s you, Miss Prinoe—you—you—youl Won’t you marry me? Will you be my wife? Haven’t you always known I didn’t care a cent for any woman on earth but you? Ruth, darling, don’t look at me like that!” Mr. Blinker was going all to p ieoes mentally and emotionally, ana the young woman took pity on him, for it dawned upon her all at once that the more bashful a bachelor is the more ridiculous he is in love, and the only way to prevent a tender emotion from becoming ludicrous is to accept it on the spot. Which she did, and Mr. Blinker never had another pretty typewriter. —New York Sun. SpfKins, It is admitted that spoons are very “nnoiont," but just exactly how old thef are and by whom and where they ■were first used are points upon which we are left completely in the dark. Creighton says: ’ Spoons must have "been a very ancient invention, for tv Saxon spoon of perfect silver gilt, or namented with gems was found in a grave at Sarre, Thanet. ” When forks were unknown, spoons played a very important part at the tabte. Spoons of the thirteenth cen tury, and even later, had handles ter minating in a knob, knot, acorn, or other odd and cumbersome devices. About the period of the Restoration, of which so much is said in English history, a great change was mado in the forms of spohus. In some of the unique patterns the “spoon” part divided into two, three and even parts, and the handle always split twisted and turned up, instead down and back. SpoonB of that iod were all blunt, instead of pointed, ns in the forms continued generally seen at present. They George and blunt down to the time of I., whon they were first made and had the handles turned down in stead of up. About the year 1500 what known as "apostle spoons” were troduced. They were so called be cause they had the figures of twolve apostles carved upon their handles. They were generally by sponsors to children at fheir time of baptism. The wealthy the entire twelve, those who could afford to indulge in snch giving one ox more, according as felt able. The most curious and spoon in the world,perhaps, is a onation spoon” preserved the among Tower other royal relics in of gold and London. The bowl is handle of silver. The handle is down the middle and set with kinds of preoious stones. The relio valued at about £20,000, or upward $ 100 , 000 . Grades of Mackerel. "Mackerel only comes in three grades,” said a well known grooery man, "though there is not one buyer in each thousand who knows anything about it. These grades They are bloaters, also selects and extras. are known as Nos. 1, 2 and 8. Number ones should measure thirteen inches from the tip of the nose to the crutch of the tail; number twos should be not less than eleven and a half inches long, all sizes smaller are lamped un der the general head of number three. The terms bloaters, selects and extras refer to the quality and condition, and not to the size. Mess mackerel means that the beads and tails have been re moved. In the oase of mackerel the fatter the fish the better is the quality. Mackerel are also referred to as Nor ways and shores, This indicates where they are caught, Shores are not as fat as Norways. The mackerel caught off Prince Edward Island and known as islands should be of a dark red oolor. Those caught in the St. Lawrence Bay ate known as ’bays,’ the meat of which is darker than that of the ‘islands.’”—Washington Star. For Neuralgic I’nins. For facial neuralgia this is the very beet plan to secure quick relief: Heat a freestone hot and roll up in a cloth, wetting one side of it and turning about a teaspoonfnl of essence of pep permint on the wet surface. Lay the face against this and cover the whole bead up warmly with flanneh It will give relief in almost every instance. Or heat a basin of salt very hot, put it in a bag and apply to the face. There is something about the salt that seems to relieve the pain where simply the beat will not help it.—New York Jour nal, WORDS OF WISDOM, We have but one instant to live, and We have hopes for years. The winner is he who gives himself to his work body and soul. happy Doing good is the only life. certainly action of a man's Our happiness in this world depends ohiefiy on the affection we are ahlo to inspire. Whep the character of a person is discussed, silence,in the good natnred, is censure. There are more fools than sages; and among the sages there is more folly than wisdom. We must often consider not what the wise will think but what the fool ish will say. The next time you are tempted to buy an article on credit remember the impudent collector who will call on you. One reason why the world gains knowledge so slowly, is that every child must find out for itself that fire is hot. Be honest, Dishonesty seldom makes one rich, and when it does riohes are a curse. There is no such thing as dishonest success. It is well to remember when in or out of society that people acid fine linen never made a porcine character a fine gentleman. "The older a man gets,” said the corn-fed philosopher, "the harder he finds it to feel sorry for a woman whose pug dog has died.” One of the superstitions that will sur vive until the end of time is that the man who does not smile when ad dressing a female acquaintance is a cross-grained bear. The wife who is meek aud patient and forgiving and always meets her husband with a smiling face no matter how much he makes her cry in secret, gets terribly tiresome. Narrow-minded men who have not a thoughjt beyond the little sphere of their own vision, lecall the Hindoo saying, “The snail sees nothing but its own shell, and thinks it the grand est in the universe." Climate and Movement, "The most important physical fac tor in determining lines of movement,” says a well-known man of science, "has been climate. Speaking broadly, migration follows the parallels of lati tude, or, more precisely, the aud lines of equal! mean temperature, not so much, I think, of mean annual heat as of mean winter boat. Although the inhabitants of cold climates often evinoe a desire to move into warmer ones, they seem never to transfer themselves direotly to one differing greatly from that to which they are accustomed; while no people of the tropics has ever, so far as 1 know, settled in any part of the temperate zone. "There is one instance of a North European raoe establishing itself on the southern shores of the Mediter ranean—the Vandals in North Africa, and the Bulgarians came to the banks of the Danube from the still sterner winters of the middle Volga. But in the few oases of northward movement, as in that of the Lapps, the cause lies in the irresistible pressure of stronger neighbors; and probably a into similar their pressure drove the Fuegians inhospitable tendency isles. retain similar "The to climatic conditions is illustrated by the colonization of North America. The Spaniards and Portuguese took the tropical and sub-tropioal regions, aegleoting the oooler parts. The French and the English settled in the temperate zone, and it was not till this century that the country toward the Gulf of Mexico began to be oc cupied by incomers from the Carolinas and Northern Georgia. When the Scandinavian immigration began it flowed to the Northwest aud has filled the States of Wisconsin, Minnesota md the Dakotas,”—New York Herald. The Balancing of Trees. A very interesting suggestion con cerning the utility to a tree of the irregular arrangement of the branches is made by a correspondent of Nature. WatohiDg a large plane tree during a gale, he observed that while one great limb swayed in one direction, another swayed the opposite way, and although all the branches were plunging did and bending before the blast, they not move in uniBon, or all at once in the same direction. But for the peculi arity in the motion of the branches, he thinks, the tree could not have escaped uprooting; and he suggests that this kind of balancing serves in general to protect large trees, like oaks and beeches, wbioh have their branches unsymmetricaliy placed, from being overturned by high winds. He Knew the Meaning. A teacher was giving lessons in word illustrations, and was examining the word atom. She told the children that atom meant a small particle of anything. It might even be so small that it could not be seen by the naked eye. After she had defined the word m i plainly that she thought the pnpiis all knew its meaning, she said: "Now, some one speak a sentence in which the word atom will be used correctly. ” A boy answered: "Jimmy Brown hit me, and I’d like to get at him. NO. BO. THE FLIGHT OF THE AHR9Y HU Tlio life of man Is an arrow’s flight, Out ot darkness Into light. And out ot the light Into darkness again; Perhaps to pleasure, Perhaps to pain! Thera must be Something, Above, or below; Somewhere unseen A mighty Bow, A Haud that tires not, A sleepless Eye That sees the arrows . Fly, and fly; One who knows Why we live—and die, —B. H. Stoddard, in the Atlantic Monthly, PITH AND POINT. An eavesdropper—The icicle. No man is a hero to his hired gifl. Two is company until thoy become me. Everything wox&s well on paper— except the fountain pen. It’s pretty hard to get people inter ssted in what you used to be. Some men have greatness thrust upon them, but they think they aoliioved it. You never knew how to take some people; but then they are not often the kind yoa want.—Puck. Party at the Door—"Is the lady of the house in?” Cook—"I'm wan of fchim, surr.”—Boston Transcript. When some people do wrong, they waste a lot of time in trying to con vince themselves that it isn’t wrong.— Puck. She—“I hope yon were polite to papa, dear?” He—“Indeed I was. I gave him a cordial invitation to make his house my home."—Detroit Free Press. “You geniuses are getting so thick that ySu will soon crowd common peo ple off the earth.” "No we wont— most of us are so lazy.”—Chicago Record. Social Discretion: "Osmond’s new girl baby is sending her cards round.” "Well, let’s hurry and oall on her be fore she learns to talk.”—Chicago Record. Amy— "Yes; he is very persistent. o'f He says he would goto the ends the earth for me.” Alice—“Why not send him? It would take him some time to get back.”—Puck, Hubby—“YeB, dear, you look nice in that dress; but it cost me a heap of money.” Wife—“Freddie, dear, what do I care for money when it is a question of pleasing you?”—Tit-Bits. Mrs. Mann (meeting former servant) —”Ab, Mary, I suppose you are get ting better wages at your new place ?” Mary—“No, ma’am, I’m working for nothing now. I’m married. ”—Boston Transcript. Evasive; She—"If yon were to find that I hod lost all my fortune—every penny of it—would you hesitate to carry out onr engagement?” He—"I would hesitate at nothing.”—Indian apolis Journal. Safe Ground—"Slingink has got out a new book—‘Poets and Poetry of Patagonia.’ ” “Why, he doesn’t know anything about Patagonia.” “Neither do the people to whom he sells bis book. ”—Chicago Record. "John, what are you going to do?” "I am going to hitch the horse to the sleigh and drive him over to the park and back. He needs exercise.” "Aren’t you going to church-?” “No; it’s too cold.”—Chicago Tribune. Author—-"I am troubled with in somnia. I lie awake at night hour after hour thinking about my literary work.” His friend—“How very fool ish-of you! Why don’t v you get up and read portions of it? ’—Tit-Bits. Hicks—"Tell me frankly, when Smoothebore gets to telling bis army experiences, don’t you sometimes wish he was dead?” Wicks—“No, but I sometimes wish that the war had oc curred fifty years earlier.”—Boston Transcript. Soap From Sun Flowers. The Tacoma News says that a com pany has been organized in Spokane County to manufacture soap from sun flower seeds. The average yield of plants to the acre is twenty-five hun dred pounds, gross; percentage of oil is one-third the weight of the seeds; so that six hundred pounds of seed will make two hundred pounds of oil. The latter, when refined and ready to use in making soap, is worth about one dollar a pound, and iB said to make the finest of toilet soaps. The net profit of the sunflowers to the grower is put at eleven dollars au acre, They require little core after being planted. Singing as an Antidote to Consumption, It is asserted that singing is a cor rective of the too common tendency to pulmonic complaints. An eminent physician observes on the subject: “The Germans are seldom afflicted with consumption, and this, I believe, is in part occasioned by the strength which their lungs acquire by exercis ing them in vocial music, for this con stitutes an essential branch of their education. ”