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VOL. I. On stormy days the snow-clad hill, Whose lofty grandeur feasts my eyes. Is hidden ’ueath a bank a cloud, And darkness all around It lias, I do not fear my mount is gone, I know it watts behind the cloud; I wait tor sunshine to return And gleam upon Its misty shroud. The stars whose quiet calm I love, Night after night are dark to me; My eyas gaze on the pall above. But not one rav of light I see. I know my deathless stars are there Above the dark, and shining on; 1 know they’ll shine for me again Some night when all the clouds are gene. The road I travel to my home, In fog Is shrouded, many days; One step before Is all I see, The vale is hidden In the haze. But still my face is homeward turned. Iu perfect trust I’ll ftud It there; In light a-gleam, its Are warm, And by their side my easy chair. The Whispering Wind. 'sOr N three sides of the little house the dry § corn stalks stood close to the eaves; on the fourth was an open space, by courtesy titled “the yard.” It was but a bare patch of blaok earth, so dry that it was cracked and fissured ia a geometrical design. The low stable was opposite the bouse and between them stood a farm wagon and a cultivator, under which a few ehickeus huddled, trying to find shel¬ ter from the sweep of the wind. Oo casionally a hen gave an angry cluck as a gust ruffled her leathers. As the wind rushed through the dry stalks it made a sibilant whisper, now and then dying away, only to again rise to a shrill crescendo. A woman stood in the door of the house, looking at a distant tendril of smoke that trailed’in tho sky—the smoke of the eost-bimad passenger train. She was young and rather pretty, bat her red hair was twisted into a hard, defiant little knot, her mouth dropped at the corners and her eyes were iieaVy and brooding. She listened to the harsh creaking of the corn and her face grew set and intent; she was always trying to catch the moaning of the wind’s whisper. It seemed as if she would go mad, liv¬ ing in the house day after day, with the wind always rushing through tho corn stalks. She wished that it was spring and that the land was plowed— then she could at least see the main road and the “pawing.” But the long winter was between. What was the use of working from morning till night for a bare existence? It were better to be resting under tho ground. Then the wmd whispered: “Go back, go back. Go back to the coun¬ try where there are neighbors and trees; baok where there are door yards with grass and flowers, whore a woman is more than a drudge. Go baok, go back,” the wind insisted. She thought now that it must have been telling her this for the past four years. Yet she remembered that when she had coma a bride to this Kansas farm she had laughed and told Dick that the wind said: “We’re here, we’re here—that’s clear, that’s clear.” It seemed a long time since she had been able to laugh at the hor¬ rible wind and disregard its voice. “Rick had no right to bring me to such a place, ” she thought, forgetting how willingly she had come. “He will be late to-night, but I will make np tbe fire and have the supper ready. ” As she turned to go in she glanced down the wagon track that led out through the corn to the main road. She could see the shiny top of a baggy and in another .’ moment a sorrel horse driven by a man in a light overepat. Probably the real estate agent coming to see Rick about the mortgage. The man drove into the yard, tied his horse to the wheel of the wagon and came toward the house, “Don’t you know me,Kate?” he called loudly, to be heard above the wind. “Why, George Gilbert, is it yon ?” •he exclaimed. She held out her hand. “How did you ever happen to get here? Come right into the house. Rick’s gone to town for coal,” The man followed her into the main room of the honse, which served the double purpose of parlor and kitchen. In one corner stood tbe stove, above it a long shelf covered with neatly scalloped papers on which Btood the lamps and tinware. A Bale with per¬ forated tin doors was in another cor¬ ner. A bit of ingrain carpet, a rock¬ ing chair and a rourid table with a red cover made the parlor. On the win¬ dow ledge were two spindling gerani¬ ums planted in tin cans; on the wall hung some crayons, framed in black walnut and having Kate’s initials done in straggling letters in the lower cor ners. These had come to have almost the sacredness of relics, reminding her as they did of the easy, pleasant lile of her girlhood. “You see, I’m traveling for a gro cery honse,” the man said, sitting down, “and I make Houstan now, ar.d : fAlTH, Why do I donbt when dark olouds hide The things In life I wish to see? The faith I give to things of earth Shoutd be a lesson plain, to me. Behind the olouds the sun must shine, Else how would wo know cloud from sun? And In our lives a purpose lies. Some goal there Is which must be won. What thought the mount of my desire Is hidden deep in cloudy gloom; My eyes should tarn in perfect faith To where In pride it used to loom. And, when Ambition’s star is hid, Why should I mourn and cease to climb? The star is there behind the dark, And clouds must break in God’s own time. If my life’s path is wrapped In fog, Why should I falter and show four? One step ahead I still can see. And Faith can sue the end, all clear. The road will lead mo to my homo, I need not see its winding way; Each step I take will lead mo on To heights where dwells eternal day. —Mary C. Bant?., in the San Francisco Call. your folks said I must be sure and come out and see you. So when I got through with Bailey & Donahue I went to the livery, got a rig and here I am. Being a cousin. I took the lib¬ erty word—can to drop down without sending only stay an hour or two, anyway. How are you doing?” “Doing!” Kate cried, scornfully looking around the room. “Can’t you see? Making just enough to keep soul and body together—corn four¬ teen cents, and we’re nine miles from market. ” “Why don’t you come back home?” ho asked, leaning forward in his chair and noticing how much Kate had aged since she oarne West. “Riok never seems to think of it, besides I don’t think we’re got money enough to take one of ns, let alone both. I just long to go—sometimes it seems like I’d go wild staying here. A man can get along better’n a woman.” “Yes, that’s so,” George assented. He looked very prosperous, sitting there in his dark business suit, his shining linen and new gloves. Her brown calico seemed to grow older nnd liraper, and she felt as if she be¬ longed to another world than his. Be told her of their kinsfolk, of the marriages and deaths in the old neigh¬ borhood, who had sold and moved away and who had come in their places. How she longed to go baok to the commonplace, prosperous life she had left! He went to the door. “Not much of an outlook here, is it?” He wheeled and gave her soarohing re¬ gard. “Kate, I’ve been thinking that if you really wanted to go back home that I can lend you enough to do it, and you can pay back when you please. I don’t want to interfere be¬ tween husband and wife, but I judge that you and Rick haven’t been get¬ ting along first rate by what you said.” “We haven’t had any open quarrels, ” she answered, “but I don’t think he had aay right to bring mo out to such a God-forsaken country as this. I don’t think, either, that I’d do wrong to leave him. I’ve never let my folks know how things were going, and last spring when ma talked about coming out I just prayed she wouldn’t, though I wanted awful to see her, too —I was ashamed for her to see how we lived.” “If yon intend to go with me, you’d better make up your mind,” the man said, looking at his watch. “You wouldn’t want to meet Riok. Can we go a road that we won’t meet him?” Kate nodded. “Yes—the back road —it’s rough, but wo could take it, ” “Are you coming?” he asked. She stood a moment straightening the cover on the table. “Yes, I’ll go," she said decisively. “There are a few thing I must take, but I can be ready in half an hour.” She went into the other room of the honse and knelt at a trank whose cushioned top and frilled skirt tried to beguile the beholder into the belief that it was a divan. Opening the lid. she lifted ont folded garments, laying them into neat piles on the floor. Then she turned over the articles in the tray. She took some photographs ia her lap and looked them over. There was a picture of Biok’a Uncle Ben— how they had langhed at his fierce frown, knowing so well that he was henpecked; then there was Mary Haines, her bridesmaid, and Cousin Lou and Emery's twins. A card slipped from her lap to the floor and lay face downward. She pioked it np. It was a photograph of himself that Rick bad given her before they were married. It had been taken by a wandering artist and he was an awkwarK figure, olad in a qneerly made suit, holding his hat tight in hia hand, but his steadfast young eyes were looking straight into hers. She remembered the day he had given it to her and how she had praised it, meanwhile laugh ing at the presentation of Uncle Ben, though they were the work of the same “artist.” She had tucked Rick’s picture in at the edge of the mirror and oae ft. night Mary Haines had dis covered How Mary teased her un¬ til she confessed that they were to be a/Ti URRA NEWS r SPRING PLACE, GA., FRIDAY. MARCH 19, 1897. married in tho spring and were to go to Kansas. “It’s 4.30,’’ George called. the She dropped the photograph into trunk and closed the lid with a crash. She laid her hat and oloalc oti the bed. “I’m glad I baked the bread and dried-apple pies this morning,” she thought, “men are so helpless about housework. I must leave some word of where I’m gone. I guess he has tried to bo good to me, but he has no right to keep mo here. ” She found a sheet of the thin, blue lined paper on whioh she had so often written to “her folks.” She sat down on the bed, with the ink bottle on a chair near by. “Dear Rick,” she wrote, then hastily crossed it out and began “Bick.” Then she was motion¬ less for a time, her eyes fixed on the eeiling. At last she wrote: “George Gilbert is here, and is going to lead me money to go home on. I cannot stand it here any longer. I hope you will forgive me, for 1 know you have tried to be good and—” She threw down her pen and ran in¬ to the kitchen. George stood in the doorway, smoking and looking down the road. “Beady?” he askod, with¬ out turning. “Oh, I can’t go I” she cried huskily. “I can’t go—he has done his best. It would be wicked when he has worked so hard—poor Rick.’’ She sat down and covered her face with her hands. “All right.,’’George answered, -I was willing to take you, but if you think you’d better not, that’s all right. I don’t want to interfere, as I said be¬ fore. ’’ “I shouldn’t have said what I did,” she sobbed, “but it seems like the wind has made me half orazy. I’ll stay now, though, if it kills me.” “Well, I guess I’d better be driving back to town,” her cousin said. If I could help you any by-” He fum¬ bled in his pooket and she heard the rattle of loose change. “No, George. There is only one thing you can do for me. Promise that yon will never say a word about this to any living soul. Tell ma that you found me well and happy—be sure you remember—well and happy.’’ “All right; I’ll be mum as an oys¬ ter,” he answered. He was puzzled but rather relieved to find that she was not going with him. He bade her good-by and drove out into the wheel track. She watched him out of sight, then she went into the house and laid her clothing baok in the trunk. Her letter lay on the Boot. She picked it up and threw it into the fire, as if it had been something unclean, She watched it blaze and turn to a white ghost, which she crumbled with the poker. When the house had taken on its ordinary look she put the taa kettle on the stove and set the table for sup¬ per. As she cut one of her pies she smiled—she was to eat them after alii The wind had gone with the sun, and it was dusk when she heard the sound of wheels. She took the lantern from the high shelf, lit it and set. out to the barn. “Is that you, Riok?” she called. “Yes—been expecting me long?” came from the other side of tbo team. “Cousin George has been hero; he couldn’t wait for you, but he left his she said. “Yes, I met him the other side of Marker’s. We stopped to talk a little while; said he didn’t have time to stay to supper or all night.” Kate held the lantern while her hus¬ band unhitched and fed his horses, then they walked together to the house. Through the open door a block of light fell on the gronnd and within the red table cloth and white dishes shone pleasant and cheerful. “I’vo got some table, good news, sis,” Rick said across the as he helped himself to a third cut of pie. "Old man Schultz wants to buy this farm; says he don’t like the way my land gouges out the corner of his section. He will take up the mortgage and give me $600 clear. It ain’t much, but we can go baok home and begin over again. Begin over again in a country where a man gets a decent living f or his sweat and labor. ” Kate laid her head on the table and D6gan to cry. "Why, sis, ain’t you tickled?” bo asked. "I did it because I thought this was no place for you. ” "I am awful pleased,” she answered, "but I was so tired and I thought mebbe you didn’t care.” In the night the wind came up and set the corn stalks creaking and rustl¬ ing with a thousand whispers, but they said to Katie: "Years fly, years fly— good-by, good-by, ” Now the whisper of the wind was sweet to her as she lay listening: “Years fly; years fly —good-by, good-by.—New York Ad¬ vertiser. Drove 700 Turkeys Tea Miles. A drove of 700 turkeys arrived at Hanover from East Berlin, ten miles distant, for dressing. The fowls were more trouble than a flock of sheep, except when some became stampeded, which case they all fly after their The drovers are provided long poles, to which long pieces of cloth are attached.—York (Penn.) Times. Ruined by Earthquakes. The Saxon village of Eisleben, famous as the birthplace of Luther, is falling into decay ns the result of con¬ tinued earthquake shocks, which be¬ gan in 1892. POPULAR SCIENCE. The most recent estimate of geolog¬ ists aB to the age of Niagara Falls is pine thousand years. It was formerly calculated at forty thousand. A new dental obair is so arranged a3 to bring all the working parts of the chair up to a higher position fox use when a child is treated, and can bo again lowered to normal position for larger persons. Jupiter, Knowing the average diameter of as well as that of the earth, it can bo shown by a little calculation that so far as bulk is concerned, not fewer than 1230 globes, each as large us the earth, should be rolled together into one to form a single globe as big as Jupiter. Not long ago Professor Verrill ex¬ hibited to the members of the National Academy of Sciences in New York some beautiful examples of mollusks, dwelling in the Sargasso Sea, that imi¬ tate not only the seaweed among whioh they live, but even the parasitic growths found upon the weeds. At a meeting of the Royal Society Professor McKendrick desoribed a method by whioh it was possible to stimulate electrically the sensory nerves of the skin “so that some of elements of musio—rhythm and in¬ tensity—might enjoyed be perceived and become even by those who had deaf.” Professor Simon Newcomb, in a re¬ cent paper, discussed the question of stellar distances. He said the start of small magnitude were evidently not as remote from the earth as their faintness would indicate, and this faot seemed to warrant the inferenoe that the visible universe ha3 a definite limit in space. The red-colored snow frequently mentioned in scientific reports of polar deemed expeditions, and formerly of miraculous origin, is now known to be colored by a minute vege table organism, whioh is sometimes found in enormous quantities, and which grows to perfection at a tern perature below freezing. A . Japanese T man of a science, • Mr. Muraoka, reports m a German soien title journal, the curious results ob tamed by him last summer while ex perimenting with the light of glow worms He operated with three huu dreu glowworms *t Kyoto, and he says that the b gkt which they emitted, when fi tered through cardboard or 8 ; of X rays, „ or Becquoiel s fluorescence ra J s * California Woodpiles Grease wood roots are of all sizes, and of all shades of rich, deep brown. More like tubers than roots, they seom globules of hard, resinous wood. From each bulb protrudes, as if it were an afterthought of nature, a slender stem, the base of the ever¬ green shrub, whioh makes a good handle for lifting the main bulk. These grease wood roots are a study. I remember the first pile of thbrn whioh l saw in a neighbor’s yard, writes Elizabeth Grinnell, of Califor¬ nia. They were stacked with great care in a round, even pyramid. I thought tho rustic mound a novel at¬ tempt at open-air decoration, and wondered that it was not in the front yard instead of at tha back door. “Why don’t you have it varnished ?” I said. "Varnished?” and my neighbor laughed. "That’s our stove wood.” We have oak roots, also, dug like the grease wood, but they are harder and leas resinous. More costly, too, by half. Another unique woodpile in this disiriot is one of grapevines. Many of the old mission vineyards have died; the vines, pruned baok from year to year, are like tree trunks. It seems a pity to burn them, bat we lose all sentiment when comes a rain storm anything in that January, will* and we welcome Perhaps warm us. the most peculiar woodpiles which we see about us are the peach and ap¬ ricot stones of the canneries. Daring the fruit-preserving season the pits are heaped together, tons upon tons, where they dry until needed for win¬ ter fuel. They are as good as coal, and lie, like corn when the blaze is ont, glowing, red, perfect shapes. The peach stones are dimpled, while the apricot pits are smooth, —Ameri¬ can AgrflSfSltarist. Animals That Do Not Drink. How long would you be oontentad without a drop of water to drink? There are many different kinds of ani¬ mals in the world that never in all their lives sip so much ss a drop of water. Among these are the llamas, of Patagonia, and the gazelles, of the far East. A parrot lived for fifty-two years in the Zoo at London, England, without drinking a drop of water, and many naturalists believe that the only moisture imbibed by wild rabbits is derived from green herbage laden with dew. Many reptiles—serpents, lizards and certain batraebians—live and thrive in places entirely devoid of water, and sloths are bIbo said never to drink. An arid district in France has produced a race of non-drinking cows and sheep, and from the milk of the former Roquefort cheese is made. There is a species of mouse which has established itself on the waterless plains of, western America, and whioh flourishes,notwithstanding the absence of moisture.—Chicago Record. WORDS OP WISDOM. Faith and hope cure more, diseases than medicine. A woman's endurance will outlast a man's strength. You should stick to your friends but don’t stick them. Women kiss and remember. Men strike and forget. Well-meaning people get into a ter¬ rible lot of trouble. The flower that lacks perfnste can never entirely please. Njt oiS^in One symptom of the disease is hatred of its remedy. To be agreeable m sooiety it is me essary not to see and not to remember: many things. Nothing from a man’shand, nor law, nor constitution, can be final. Truth alone is final. Poverty is the only burden which grows heavier by being shared with those we love. Lots of people tell you they are hustlers, when they know very well they are only bores. You have a place in society pecu¬ liarly your own; endeavor to find out where it is and keep it. A man that Btudieth revengekeepeth his own wounds green ; which, other¬ wise, would heal and do well. It is better to be nobody who amounts to something than to be a somebody and accomplish nothing. Skating in Old Days. While skating is now me of tho most popular sports of the winter season, it is only comparatively a few years since it has beoomo so in this city. When the Central Park was being constructed in 1860, and the 8£Da " artificial lake at Fifty-ninth 8treet ntjar! J completed, the Park Commissioners . announced that it ™> uId be tbrown open for the use of skaters. A few men took advantage of the invitation, but women could n otbe ™ duced to *® ou th ® r ° e Blsate8 , the “ ln U8e wher ® ° f tho mo8t antique pattern, some of the runners extending 8 a long “ way in front of tho foot end in in ri ng-like curl. In a orowd tha skates were quite \ dangerous, ftnd tho firgt year fik ti wa8 thi £ but opular , v D ri next winter tho larger $ !ake flt 7 end of the Mall as . BUch condit on that it epu!d be used f gkatj Here there was more the sport, but still the wo men cou ; d not be induced to venture on the ice. A number of gentlesneu determined to overcome this predju dice and organized the New York Skating Club, having a regulation patterned skate, almost even with the sole of the boot, which was laced up tight to the ankle, while the objec¬ tionable strap was done away with, the runner being fixed to the sole while in use by a ball and socket and held firmly with a clamp, These be¬ came popular that winter with the men, and a lighter kind was made for women. The prejudice, however, still existed among the latter, until the club invited a lady, who was a fine skater, from Portland, Me., to visit the Central Park and skate with the club. This lady wore a pretty and appropriate dress, similar to that worn in winter by women skaters in Europe, and she created such a sen¬ sation by her artistic skating as to at¬ tract much notice. The result was that before the season ended several young ladies were induced by the club to venture on the ice, and the season of 1862-3 found many, with pretty costumes, enjoying the sport. A series of carnivals were arranged by the club during the following sea¬ son, and skating in the evening be¬ came one of the fashionable winter amusements.—New York Mail and Ex press. The Japanese Farmer. Japan is one vast garden, and as you look over the fields you can im¬ agine that they are covered with toy farms where the children are playing with the laws of nature and raising samples of different kinds of vegetables and grains, Everything is on a diminutive scale, and the work is ns fine and accurate as that applied to a Cloisonne vase. What would an Illinois qr an Iowa farmer think of planting hii corn, wheat, oats and barley in bunches, and then, when it is three or four inches high, transplanting every spear of it in rows as far apart as you can stretch your fingers? A Japanese farmer weeds his wheat fields just as a Connecticut farmer weeds his oDion bed, and cultivating his potatoes and barley with as much care as a Long Island farmer bestows upon his asparagus or mushrooms or his flow¬ ers. —Boston Journal. «It Micht Ila’e Been the Morse.” An old farmer and his plowman were carting sand from the seashore at St. Andrews. They were behind tbe target on the rifle range, but hidden by a bank of sand from a party of vol¬ unteers who were then on foot et prac¬ tice. A stray ballet struck the plow¬ man on tho leg, and he immediately dropped, exclaiming, “I’m shot!” Without more ado the farmer scram¬ bled up the bank, and, waving hia hand to the volunteers, shouted, "Hey, lads, stop that, will ye! You’ve shot a man, and it micht ha’e been the horse*”—Osborne Magazine. NO. 31. [ opportunity. Master of human destinies am I; Fame, love and fortune on my footstep* wait. Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate. Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late, I knoek, unbidden, onoe on every gate. If sleeping, y^ke; if feasting, rise before I turn away; it is the hour of fate. And they who follow me reaoh every state Mortals desire, and conquer every foe, Save death; but those who doubt or hesi¬ tate, Condemned to failure, penury and woe, Seek me in vain, and uselessly implore; I answer not, and I return no more. i —John J, Ingalls. j. PITH AND POINT. V ' -- SR •“Truth is stranger than fiction;”, but some of the liars are making a good uphill fight.”—Pack. A Gloucester fisherman reports that lit he dropped his pipe overboard and it on the water,—Philadelphia Record. “Have you got any high-grade wheels?” "Yes, sir.” “Well, I want one I can use on Pike’s Peak.”—Yonk¬ ers Statesman. Miss Soragg— “Yes^ once when I was out and, alone on a dark night I saw a man, oh, my goodness, how I rah,!’’ “And did you catch him, Miss Soragg?” “Are you in favor of one-eent post¬ age, Barclay?" “Yes, think except on love letters; I don’t courting ought to be made any oheaper.”—Chicago Record. “Do you think it would hurt Maud’s feelings if I should speak about your breaking off the engagement ?” “Oh, yes. Wait until she becomes engaged again. ”—Truth. Antique?” “Why have you thoughtlessly never married, Miss he inquired. “You never asked me before,” she said coyly as sbe gave him her hand,” —Detroit Free Press. “My dear, if you want to seoure a small waist why do you eat so much?” “Well, if I didn’t eat I wouldn’t have the strength to lace myself into shape.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Well, you see, old man, I’m afraid the Governor won’t come down with the cash. He’s sort of a bombshell.” “How so?” “He goes off when I touch him. Washington Capital. “That is a very handsome binding,” said Guilfoyle, as he picked up from the oounter a sumptuous book. “Yes, err,’’ replied the fc ? kseller; “that was bound to attract ./ iention.’-Descoit Free Press. Mrs. Tenspot (reading) Italy taking - “Is Premier Crispi of is a bourse of mud baths near Padna.” Mr. Tenspot—“Why, I read some¬ where that he was out of politics.”— Glasgow Times. "Professor Baton has devised a scheme to make the people keep their seats until the end of the concert." “What is it?” "He is going to mix the programme so they can’t tell which number comes last.”—Chicago Reoord. A Western farmer wrote to his law¬ yer as follows: "Will you please tell me where you learned to write? I have a boy I wish to send to school, and I am afraid I may hit upon the same school that you went to.”—Yon¬ kers Statesman. She—“Major Pommelwell wears three medals. I wonder why they were given him.” He —“He got the third because ho had the other two, the second because he had the first, and the first because he had none at all,”— Washington Times. He—“Sometimes I wonder if you really love me.” She—“As if I hadn’t proved it! Haven’t I colled you ‘Dumpsy darling?’ ” "Well?” “And that is a name which until I met you I had held sacred to dear little Fido,”-— Cincinnati Enquirer. Maude—“Whioh style do you pre¬ fer in the opera—German, French, Italian, or French?” Ethel~“Oh, b-r, iai all means. There was a lovely one front of me last week—green velvet, with blaok and white ostrich tip com¬ bined with lace and pink roses,”— Harper’s Bazar. Wooiug Sleep Willi Song. Professor Blackie was onoe staying at Tynemouth. Before retiring to rest he informed his host that he had two requests to make: First, that they would allow his bedroom door to stand wide open; and,second, that they were not to be alarmed should they hear him singing in the middle of the night, for when he could not fall asleep he wooed Somnns with a song. Accord¬ ingly, at 2 o’clock in the morning the old professor was heard singing ia strong, chery tones, “Scots Wha Hae Wi’ Wallace Bled,” like a veritable Highlander on the warpath. And again, in the stillness of the night he sung out, “Green Grow the Rushes, O. ” The last lines were sung in more subdued tones, and sleep came to him ere he finished his song. Germany’s Merchantmen. Germany is forging ahead in an altogether phenomenal manner with her mercantile marine. In 1871 it consisted of 147 steamships, with a total tonnage of 82,000, whereas, last year the Government returns showed a total of some 1200 steamers, with a tonnage of over 1.000,000. _