Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

VOL. I. When the twigs begin to rustle And the birds are all a-bustle On the bough; When the azure skv discloses Promise sweet of June with roses On her brow; When tho brook that sang so sadly Welcomes every sunbeam, gladly Frolicking; When to wood-songs’ subtle rhyming Countless echoes soft are chiming, Then it’s Spring. Mag Halman’s Debt, r AD, them old . of cows Hendrick’s is __g 1' over yonder in ^ S the ’taler 1 patch!’’ don't t i * ‘‘T° u tell me so ! I’ll jest ha’ter see - 3 * p j »bout them e e cows o’ his’n. Mow’d they git in, Mag?” “Dunno, ’les they jumped the fence over at the back side. ” The freckled, red-haired girl re treats into the cabin but reappears at the window a moment later and calls out—“Dad, I’ll take Joe and Billy and go drive them cows out. You jes’ stay hero and git yer talk out * with Mr. Snow. Here, Joe, you an’ Billy come on an* hurry up, about it, Yer air most as slow as ole Pete his sef.” And with a merry laugh at her bright remark Mag jerks a faded calico sunbonuet from a nail on tbs “porch" and followed by Joe and Billy, is soon on her way to the “ ’tater patch.” “Honey, be shore ’brin’ie an’ nut the fence up good; that ole critter's a tarrible jumper, she is,” colls the old man after her, then turning to Francis Snow he says: “Mr. Know, that gal o’ mine’s a mighty smart gal." “Yes, Mt. Halman, I tee that she is very industrious. Is she smart at school or has she ever been to school?” “Smart! Well, I should remark! Why, Mr. Snow, I tell you whut’s a fao’, Mag could beat every chile in school an’ the teacher ter boot all holler on spellin'an'readiu'1 Smart! I should say she wits smart!” Francis Snow stroked his soft thick mustache in order to conceal a smile. "Well, Mr. Hulmau, these little country schools are well enough for small children, but don’t you think you ought to send Mag to college? You told me you wanted to educate your boys; now isn’t it just as irnpor tant your girl should receive a college education? I think that it is even more so. Now suppose you were to die suddenly—not that you look ill at present”—with a slight smile as he notes tbo round, good-humored face and the robust frame of tho old man— “but- such things frequently occur; your boys could Jive on here and work the farm, but what could Mag do? Yes, Mr. Halman, I think you should send her oil to school. How old did you say she is?” “Fifteen, sir; fifteen this month,” replies the old man, as he removes his wide hat and begiiTs to scratch his head slowly and thoughtfully. “Well, sir, everything you say is gospel truth, and I b’leeve I ought’er send Mag to a better school ’n what we has np here. I did ’low ter send Jim over to Perfeseer Jinkius’s as soon as the cotton’s all picked, an’ how I’m agoia’ to pay fer two is more’a I kin see at the present. Yes, siree! there ain’t no doubt about it, Mag oughter be sent to school some more ’gin she gits gTOwn, ’cause Mag's a pretty tolerable good gal, Mag is.” “Well, Mr. Halman, I am very much interested in Mag’s education, and if you’ll pay half, why t’li go the other." “Boy, air yon clean gone crazy? You are grit through and through, boy, and I’ll take it an’ pay yer back when I kin.” “And if you never can, it will be all right; 1 will never miss the money. Good-Dye, I’ll come over in the morn¬ ing,” and with a parting nod Francis is walking away. “HoP on! boy; Mag can’t go to that thar town school, ’cause thar jest ain’t no place fer her ter stay at, an’ I have sot my foot down that thar shan’t nary gal o’ mine board at none o’ them colleges.” Francis slowly retraces his steps. “That matter can be easily arranged, Mr. Halman. I have a sister in the city, Mrs. Terroll, who no doubt will be glad to have Mag stay with her. I’ll write to her to-night. Good-bye.” “Good day, Mr. Snow, I’ll talk ter my wife about it,” and Air. Halman enters the house, stooping his head a little as he goes through the low cabin door. Francis Snow having written to his sister and having received a satisfac¬ tory answer, and Mr. Halman having talked it over with his wife and Mag, they meet and hold a long conversa¬ tion, and the result is that when the cotton is opening in the field, the burrs are turning brown, and the leaves begin to fall Mag leaves her log cabin home in. the hills and eaters Mrs. Bostwick’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies in the city. Four years have passed since Mag, SIGNS. When your clothes seem dank and clinging And you cannot hear the singing, Since a cold Gave your head that buzz ecstatic. When you throb with sharp, erratic Pains untold; When good-natUred folk assure you That they know just what will cure you, And you bring A most harrowing melancholy ’Mougst your friends who would be jolly— Then it’s Spring. * with red, disheveled hair and bare, brown feel, drove the cows out of the potato patch, and to-night Mag, tall and graceful, is to read her graduating essay. The brilliant alumnae hall is thronged with people who have asaem bled to hear the commencement exer cisea of Mrs. Bostwick’s school. Mag’s essay is last on the programme. As she rises and comes forward she is very unlike tho Mag of four years ago. The red hair is almost auburn now, and the freckles havo disappeared. Her simple white dress is made low, and around the slender white neck is clasped a beautiful gold necklace, the gift of Francis Snow. She has chosen for her subject “The Englishman in America,” and handles it with skill and grace. Only once does the clear voice falter, and that is when, looking down into the sea of faces, her bine oyos encounter the dark brown ones of Francis Snow fastened earnestly upon her. When the exercises are over he comes up on the stage to offer his congratulations. After the recap tion he walks with her to Mrs. Ter roll’s, “Did you like the little present I sent you?” he asks, as they walk slowly down the street. “It is just beautiful. Thank yon so much,” she answers quietly. “Mr. Snow, how can I ever repay you for what you have done for me?” “Repay me! What do you mean? I haven’t done anything for you,” he ex claims in astonishment. “But J know yon have been paying the greater portion of niv expenses during these ,"«ur ye -.6 I have been at school.” "Mag, who told you this?” “Father told me two years ago when was at home one summer.” There is a moment’s silence, then Francis says slowly : “Mag, I am very sorry your father told you. He promised me that he wouldn’t tell. Yon speak of repaying me ; never mind about it now, you may repay an hundred fold some time.” “No, not an hundred fold, but I will try to nay you all I owe,” Mag an swers a Ltt e sharply. They walk on in silence until they reach Mrs. Ter roll’s door, then Francis pauses a min ute and says: “Well, 1 suppose I must say good bye. I only ran up to see you your diploma. Tell sister good-bye for me.” “I will. Good-bye and thank yon again.” “Good-bye; remember what said about paying me.” “I will remember,” she shortly, and in a moment Mag passed into the hall and shut the door, Bhe unclasps the shining necklace her throat and puts it away in the very bottom of her trunk, muttering: “Now, stay there, you hateful thing I never will wear you again! If is any man in the State of more conceited, more egotistical, altogether more despicable Francis Snow I have yet to see him. Never mind, I’ll show him some who can be the more high and mighty, he or ‘Mag’ Halman.” Francis Snow is sitting on the veran¬ da talking to his uncle when a ser¬ vant comes out and hands a letter to him saying: “A boy hab jes brung dat from Mr. Halman’s, sah,” Francis tears it open hurriedly and reads: Kisd Fbibnd: I! you have no other en¬ gagement please come over sometime to-day. as I wish to see you on very important business. I would not send so soon after your arrival, but I did not know how long you wish expected to remain before at your uncle’s, and 1 to see you you return to the city. Respectfully, Mabgabet Hai.mas. “Tell the boy that I will be there at once, and tell Robert to saddle Nancy Hanks and bring her around,” he com¬ mands, and then awaits with im¬ patience. He has not been up here in over five years, and is not prepared for the changes which have been made in his absence. At first he thinks he may be lost, then he sees that the barn and onthonses have not been altered. The old log house has been replaced by a neat white cottage, and in place of the hollyhocks, bachelor buttons, prince’s feathers and morning glories, • which formerly “adorned” the front yard, rosebushes, violets and honeysuckles have been planted. Kindly Mrs. Halman meets him at the door with a smile of welcome. “Howdy’e, Mr. Francis. Walk in, Mr. Francis; take this cheer, Hit’s a powerful sight better’n’tother nn. Didn’t hardly know the old place, did yor? Hit’s terribly improved; all ; Mag’s doing. Here, take this fan, Mr. m . Murray EWS ’* ’ • SPRING PLACE. GA., FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1897. Francis; ’pears ter me dike it’s power* ful* warm for the time o’ year. I’ll (kill Mag.” Francis, left alone,, looks around the tiny parlor with no small degree of interest. As Mrs. Halrnau said, things have indeed been “terribly im¬ proved.” The pretty matting on the floor, the white muslin curtaius, the flowers on the mantel, and in fact every article in the room is indicative of a retiued woman’s presence and a woman’s thoughtful care. In another moment Mag enters the room. He extends his hand quickly. “This is Mag 1" “Yes, I am Margaret Halman,’’ without noticing the proffered'hand; “have a seat, Mr. Snow.” They sit in silence for a minute, then Francis, looking at his companion, fanoies he sees a faint smile quivering around the perfect lips. pleasant “Fr-r we are having weather now,” he stammers, looking at his companion. The fact is, he simply cannot keep from looking at her. He thought she was pretty four years ago when she graduated, but she is ten times more beautiful now. “Do you think so? I never could endure such extreme heat,” she an¬ swers calmly, “But, Mr. Snow, I did not send for you in order to exohange compliments on the weather. Mr. Snow, I wish to know the exact amount you expended in my interest while I was at school?” “I—I don’t remember the exaot amount, Miss Halman—about fivehun dred dollars, I think. Why do you wish to know?” “Because I have constantly expected to hear from you relative to my debt to you, and now that I have the money I wish to make a settlement with you.” think I "Miss Halman, why do you would write to you about it?” “Because I thought that perhaps you would think I had forgotten it, ak you seemed so anxious to impress it upon my memory the last time I saw you,” bitterly. did think “Miss Halman—Mag, you I wanted you to pay me that way? Didn’t you know that—that—that—” “That-what?” They have risen now and are stand¬ ing before the window. “Didn’t yon know 1 loved you that night, and that—that was what I meant by yonr repaying me?” “No,” slowly, turning her face Horn him. “Now that you know, won’t you take me, Mag?” he asks softly, look* ing down into her blue eyes. “Won’t you take me, you mean, as a mortgage on that debt,” she an¬ swers playfully; then, as he takes her hand in his, she adds; “Yes, if you think I will do as a mortgage for a five-huudred-dollar debt.”—Washington Silver Knight. Diseases of Gems. The Philadelphia Times is authority fox the statement that gems are af¬ flicted with uiseases just as individuals. Among the infirmities to whioh pre¬ cious stones are liable, says the Times, is one common to all stones, that of fading, or losing color, when long ex¬ posed to the light. Thb emerald, the sapphire, and the ruby Buffer the leoBt, their colors being as nearly per¬ manent as colors can be, yet experi¬ ments made a few years ago in Paris and Berlin to determine the deteriora¬ tion of colored gems through exposure showed that even those suffered, a ruby which has lain for two years in a Bhow window being perceptibly lighter in tint than its original mate, which was kept in the darkness. The causes of the changes are not very clear, even to expert chemists, but it is evident that the action of the light on the’col oring matter of the gem effects a de¬ terioration, slow but exceedingly sure. In the case of the garnet and topaz the change is more rapid than in that of the ruby and sapphire. Opals that have successfully passed the ordeals of grinding, polishing and setting do not often crack afterward, but it is best not to expose them to even the mod¬ erate heat involved by the wearer sit¬ ting in front of an open fire, for ths opal is composed principally of silicic acid, with from five to thirteen per cent, of water, a combination which renders them very treacherous objects. The idea that they are otherwise un¬ fortunate in the sense that they bring disaster to the wearer may he dis¬ missed as superstitious. The Eye a Perfect Camera. The eye is a perfect photographer’s camera, says a writer in the Ladies’ Home Journal. The retina is the dry plate upon which are focused all ob¬ jects by means of the crystalline lens. The cavity behind this lens is the cam era. Tbe iris and pupil are the dia¬ phragm. The eyelid is the drop shut¬ ter. The draping of the optical dark¬ room is the only black membrane in the entire body. This miniature cam¬ era is self-focusing, self-loading and self-developing, and takes millions of pictures every day, in colors and en¬ larged to life Bize. Swiss Telephones. In Switzerland, from the smallest village it is now possible to telephone to any place in the country at a fee from two cents to eight cents for the most distant points on instruments through which one can hear with perfect distinctness, and which are kept in thorough repair. WORDS OF WISDOM, the Disappointments are wings that bear soul skyward. Whatever makes men good Chris Mans makes them good citizens. Kindness is a precious oil that makes the crushing wheels of oare seem lighter. Happy the man who learns the im¬ measurable distance between his wishes and his powers. It is a good deal easier to convince a man that, he is wrong than to get liun to acknowledge it. Enter into thebnsiness or trade that you like best and for which nature seems to have fitted you, provided it is honorable. It is the character of consummate merit to be able to live in a retreat with honor, after ouq has lived in pub ho with splendor. Words are good, but there is some¬ thing better. The best can not be explained by words. Tho spirit on which we act is the chief matter. Oliver Wendell Holmes said: The human race is divided in two classes— those who go ahead and do something, and those who sit and inquire, “Why wasn’t it done the other way?” Be cheerful. If you have no great trouble on your mind you have no right to render other people miser¬ able by your long face and dolorous |ones. If you do yon will be generally ^voided. The best way to remember anything is to thoroughly understand it, and to often recall it to mind. By reading continually, with great attention, and never leaving a passage without com¬ prehending it well, we cannot fail to improve the memory. It is a truth which needs continual emphasis that the highest work for any. one is that whioh he can do best. A weak lawyer,an inefficient physician, an incapable financier are vostly in¬ ferior as men and as workers to the skilled mechanic or the well-trained laborer who knows his work and does it with thoroughness and self-respect. Sixes. A hand is 4 inches. A size in eollars is 1 inch. The nail is 2j inches long. •A nautical knot is 6100 feet. . 4t’-> ska in cuffs is half an inch. A quarter of cloth is 9 inches. The royal 82 mo. is 5x3 inches. A royal quarto is I2jxl0. One hundred quarts make a cask. The royal 24 mo. page is 5^x3 i. A square 16 mo. page is 4ix3|. The hedgehog is 10 inohes in length. A royal octavo volume is 10jx6j. The ordinary pin is about 1 inoh long. considered be about 2 A pace is to feet. The medium octavo is 9Jx6 inohes. The 48 mo. paged volume is 3ix2j. A size in finger rings is 1-16 of an inch. A bushel is equal to 2150.42 cubic inches. One hundred spoonfuls make one quart. moccasin is from 18 inohes to The 3 feet. A demy folio volume is 18x11 inches. Desks are from 26. to 30 inches in height. human is 2 The ordinary nose inches long. red from lj to The common fox is feet long, A size in stockings is three-quarters of an inoh. Knitting needles are usually 9 inches in length. from to 2$ The average ear is 2 inohes in length. The viper grows from 2 to 3i feet in length. 6 The average cigar is from 4 to inches in length. The American mole is about 6 inches in length. Prison Sold at Auction. The literature of auctioneering is full of cleverness and verbal oddities, but Carlow, England, turns up with a line of humor which is all the more effective because it is so unconscious. An advertisement recently printed there stated that “the old gaol” would be offered in one lot. It goes on to particularize with enthusiasm and di¬ late with zeal concerning a “female prison of thirty cells,” “debtors’ pri¬ son,” “convict prison, containing thirty-fonr cells,” “house of correc¬ tion,” "treadmill” and "three-throw pump.” There is also “a very fine cut granite gate entrance,” and “all cells are fitted with double wrought-iron doors.” In fact, “all modern improve ments”would seem to be the only ad¬ ditional necessity in the way of entic¬ ing description. The Ancient Uame ot Mora. “Nessus” writes to the New York Times, asking for a description of the ancient game called mora. This is the game the Romans used to call Digitis Maeare (flashing or snapping with the fingers). It is a very old game, and is played in all parts of the world, generally by only two persons after at a time. One of the players, low¬ raising his right hand, suddenly ers it with one or more of the fingers extended; the other player tries to guess the number of fingers so ex¬ tended. Mora is even now played for small stakes in Mulberry street. POPULAR SCIENCE. The horse when biow mg is guided entirely by the nostrils in the choice of proper food, and blind horses ore never known to make mistakes in their diet. Moths may be kept from furs and woolens, United States entomologist L. O. Howard concludes, by cold stor¬ age during the summer at forty de¬ grees. Insects are for thoir size the strongest members of the animal creation. Many beetles can lift a weight equal to more than 500 times the weight of their own bodies. Professor Riebarz and Dr. Krigar Menzel, of Berlin, announce, as tbo result of investigations extending over twelve years, that “the density of tho earth is such that tho whole globe weighs 54,661 trillion tons.” A number of people in New York have formed a club called the Mycolo gioal Club, which, as its name indi¬ cates, will have for its objects the “classification and identification of the larger fungi of the United States; the study of edible mushrooms and toadstoolsand also the poisonous varie¬ ties, and to arouse a wider interest in economic foods.” It has recently been discovered that iodine exists in combination in the human body. It ocours in the thyroid gland, and may be concerned as the essential chemical substance in the in¬ ternal secretion of that gland. The proof of the occurrence of iodine in the living structure of animals is of great scientific interest and import¬ ance, says Knowledge, and is the most remarkable discovery made by chemi¬ cal physiology for some time. There are several speoie3 of fish, rep¬ tiles and insects whioh never si. ep during their stay in this world. Among fish it is now and positively known sleep that piko, salmon goldfish never at all. Also that there are several others of the fish family that never sleep more than, a few minutes during a month. There are dozens of species of fiies which never indulge in slum¬ ber, and from three to five species of serpents which the naturalists have never yet been able to catch napping. The bat flight is somewhat flutter¬ ing, and they are exceedingly hard to shoot, owing to their extraordinary rapidity. The bat wing is formed on a principle different from any other wing. The flying-fox bat has its third finger particularly elongated, and the membrane of the wing is stretched down to the side of the body. The principal motion in flight is the down¬ ward sweep produced by the construc¬ tion of the breast muscles; and in birdsthe breastbone has a vertical keel, bo as to afford point or surface for at¬ tachment, which, in the chiokou, is called the breaBt. In the bats we find the keel and the collar bone. The Biggest Sailing Craft. The largest sailing craft in existence is the Potosi, now engaged in the nitrate trade with the west coast of South America. She was built by F. Laeisz of Hamburg, in 1895. Her principal dimensions are; Length, 362 feet; breadth, 49j feet; depth, 3l£ feet; gross register, 2995 tons, and net register, 3789 tons. She has a dead weight carrying capacity of 6150 tons, and besides being the largest sailing ship in existence, she also possesses the distinction of being the only five-masted one, with the ex¬ ception of the La France of Dunkirk, whioh is of considerably smaller di¬ mensions. During her first voyage to Iquique, a distance of 11,000 miles was covered in seventy-two days, a re¬ markably fast trip. trade The largest vessel engaged in on the American coast is the Governor Ames, a five-masted wooden schooner trading regularly between Newport News and Providence, R. I. She was built at Waldoboro, Me., in 1888, by Levitt Storer and her principal dimen¬ sions are: Length, 345 feet 5 inches; beam, 21 feet 2 inches; depth, 21 feet 2 inches, and her net tonnage is 1,- 689.84. Captain C. A. Davis is the master and owner, and her hailingport is Providence. She is one of a fleet of schooners engaged in carrying the celebrated New River coal from New¬ port News to Providence, and carries about 3000 tons on a draught of 22 feet. She is the only five-masted schooner on this coast, the largest in existence; and she has a sail area of about 7000 square yards. Study of Earthquakes. Professor Milne described to the Royal Institution recently the latest discoveries regarding earthquakes. He said that seismology was now so well developed that he was able not only to study earthquakes which no one felt, buthad commenced to investigate their relations, of which there were many, with the most promising concerned results. As far as geology is there are thousands of earthquakes or eartl* tremors every year, and a half of them came from deep water. The ocean was really the home of earthquakes. Twenty years ago their study was com¬ menced in Japan, with the result that the seismology of that country bad revolutionized the seismology of the whole world. As a consequence the methods of building in Japan had been entirely altered, so that the houses erected on new principles stood while their neighbors’ were shattered. NO. 35. AFTER THE BATTLE. Sins banners and cannon and roll of drum! The shouting of men and the marshuling! Lo! cannon to cannon and earth struofc dumb! Oh, battle, in song, is a glorious thing! Oh. glorious day riding down to the fight! Oh, glorious battle in story and song! Oh, godlike man to die for the right! Ob, manlike God, to revenge the wrong! Yen, riding to battle, on hattle day— Why a soldier is something more than n king! But alter the battle? Tho riding away? Ah, the riding away is another thing! —Joaquin Miller. rrra and point. “Nan, did that editor return your manuscript?” “Yes, the mean old thing 1 Why, I poured a whole ounce of the best violet extract on that Btory 1”—Phck. Editor—“Who was the first humor¬ ist?” Author—“I really don’t remem¬ ber." Editor—“Ithought you might; you have been bringing us in his jokes.”—Truth. Tyres—“Have you named your boy yet? ” Spokes—“No; my wife and I can’t agree. She wants to name him after her wheel and I want to name him after mine.” She—“The Count, you know, can trace his flmily back 800 years.” He — “Ah! Through the bankruptcy court records, I suppose.”—Philadel¬ phia North American. “I wish I were an ostrioh,” said HiokB, angrily, as he tried to eat one of his wife’s cakes, “I wish you were,” returned Mrs. Hicks. “I’d get a few feathers lor my hat then.”—Standard. Bacon—“My partner and myself want a wooden partition across the store;” Builder~“Well, I guess if you put your heads together you can accomplish it. ’’—Yonkers Statesman. Hicks—“It is so hard to get any¬ thing through Jaokway’s head." Wicks —“Iknow it. Strange, too, when you come to think of it. Surely, there can be nothing in the way 1”—Boston Transcript. Lawyer—“I must know the whole truth before I can successfully defend you. Havo you told me everything?” the Prisoner—“Except where I hid money, I want that for myself,”— Detroit Free Press. “His aim in life seems to be a poor one.” “Yes; he inherits that from his mother. I once saw her throw a stone at a dog in the street and hit hei husband in the back yard.”— Cleveland Plain Dealer. Miss Summers—“That was an aw¬ fully old joke your friend got oft a little while ago. I can remember hearing it when I was a girl.” Mr. Winters—“Oh, it can’t be as old as that.”—Yonkers Statesman. 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 1 Why don’t you get up and read portions of it?”—Standard. Husband—“What did you think when you heard the chandelier fall m the night?” Wife—“I thought that you had been detained on ‘business’ again and were getting upstairs Free as quietly as you could.”—Detroit Press. Hieks—“What a confounded chatter those women are keeping np in that room! Wonder what they are up to?” Wicks—“Having-a game of whist, I believe.” Hicks—“Of course; I ought to have known it.”—Boston Tran¬ script. Old Friend—“Great heavens, man? Do I find you reduced to playing a cornet on the street corner to make a living?” Boggs—“I ain’t doing this to make a living. My wife won’t let me practice in the house.”—London Tit-Bits. Very Stout Lady (watching the lions)—“ ’Pears tome, mister, that ain’t a very big piece o’ meat for sech an animal.” Attendant—“I s’pose it does seem like a little meat to you, ma’am, but it’s enough for the lion.” —Household Words. A (Juaint Kentucky Episode. News comes to the Mount Vernon (N. Y.) Signal that a couple, just out of their teens, got married over in Madison County last fall. The mother of the groom presented him with a large sweet potato, directing him to place it between the featherbed and the straw tick to prevent its freezing, that he might use it next spring for seed. smoothly He did so, and everything ran very until abont a week ago thoy noticed that the bed had become very springy, and upon examination found that the potato had sprouted and sent out vines until it had formed a large mattress underneath, and at¬ tached to the potato was fifteen pounds of small potatoes. Left His Card. Voltaire and Piron were enemies. To their embarrassment they met one day at the country house of a friend. Piron got up early, went to Voltaire’s door and wrote upon it the word “Rogue.” At breakfast Voltaire smilingly said tGhim: "I thank you for showing your interest in my wel¬ fare by leaving your card at my door this morning.”