Newspaper Page Text
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J C. KEARTSELL, Ed. and Pub.
VOL XII.
CAPTAIH SHEET.
A Itomanceof the Civii
War.
BY MAJ. JAMES F. FITT3,
CHAPTER VI.
LOVE AND LOYALTY.
The op.vidlos burned and sputtered,
and hardly illumined the dark corners
of the room; but the moonbeams pour¬
ing into one of the small windows helped
to light the the piece. Charles Smedley sat
upon small box, his head leaning on
his band, in much tho same attitude iu
which we saw him before the rush of the
mountain men upon him. Graham Bran¬
don sat carelessly on one corner of the
large down box, his shapely head slightly bent
as he earnestly looked at the
other’s face. Only six years of time sep¬
arated them; yet there was much, very
much, in those few years. For a care'-
ful observer, scrutinizing both of them
as the they sat there, would have seen that
one face was full of hope and life,
eager, earnest and enthusiastic; the
other, serious, reflective, careworn, with
a dash of tho bitterness of trial and dis¬
appointment in its lines.
The i aptain’s sword lay between them,
its hand-ome mountings glittering in the
light. Brandon took it up ana placed it
on the bl snkets.
“I am superstitious,” ho said, with e
smile. “I want no we qxm, however hon¬
orable between us. The events of the last
few hours have made us friends. From
this time for.h, whether there lie war 01
peace, friends we must be."
Smedley grasped the outstretched hand.
“You have saved my life,” he said.
“The hours are not many when I thought
it but a poor possession, at le ist. But, as
the worid goes, you have done me th«
gre itest service that man can do for man.
That service binds me to you.”
“There is another bond,” replied Bran¬
don. “and perhaps a better one,. We are
both firm y enlisted in the Union cause;
that makes us brothers.”
SmoiHey’s face clouded.
“Yes,” be said. “I have reached that
point at last. By the sacrifice of every¬
thing—love, kept friends, possessions—I have
flag. myself true to the country and the
1 am at last a soldierof the Union,
but I have given up all to become one.”
Iiis woeful voice deeply touched his
companion. placed The hand of the latter was
upon his shoulder.
“Yott will be honored for that, here
and elsewhere,” said Brandon. “I ki low
now something of what you have sacri¬
ficed for your loyalty. I read those let¬
ters; fully pardon explain me, I had to, so that I could
your conduct to those sim¬
ple, ignorant men. They have supplied
me with what was lacking iu your ex¬
planation when you came to me at Knox¬
ville, Y'es, I understand you thoroughly
now, and honor you accordingly. But,
my friend, may it not be possible that
you are selfish in your heart-burnings?
May others not have suffered, too, and
•till kept their loyalty bright and steady?
In brief, do you care to hear about me—
to know me just as I am, with all that I
have put aside to be here now?"
“Tell Smedley mo,” rose and said. walked shall the floor.
lio “I be inter¬
ested in it. When I have heard it, you
may have to be corrected about myself.
“Well, then, I was bom and bred in
Knoxville. My fathers were soldiers
back even beyond into our Revolution. I
grew up educated a love for the
union. I became an attorney, and when
this war began I had become well settled
there at home in business, and was to
of have the been misery married of in May. disappointed Yon are full
your own
love. I don't suppose you want to hear
about mine.”
“Tell me all,” said the other.
“I will. Alice Clay is the best and
handsomest girl in tho place. Her
parents are secessionists, of the bitter¬
est kind. When the struggle came on
they forbade me to see her. I disobeyed,
and she did, too. With a great deal of
trouble we were able to have a stolen in¬
terview once a week. I am sure of her
affection; whatever may happen to me,'
she will be faithful. The city was oe-!
copied all by a Union large people force of Harris’ men,'
sud the were put under
the severest espial. Many were arrested
and imprisoned, or sent away from home.
I restrained my feelings and kept strict
be guard over my actions, that I might not
molested. I knew the time was sure
to come when I must join the Union
army, and fight as Alice, I thought; but it was
iike death to leave and for a while
I wanted to be of service to these sorely
persecuted people up here, where I hail
become well acquainted during the few-
fears before the war. You remember
what I did for you a few weeks ago in
hiding you and getting you away, when
you were threatened with arrest and con¬
finement; I did the same for many others.
There has been hardly a week of the last
two months that I have not been able
to secretly send news up into the
mountains of the plans and movements
of our enemies in and near Knoxville. 1
did it at the risk of my neck, for theii
rage was so great at being often baffled
in this way that I should certainly have
been hung when detected. When 1
learned of this last projected raid, 1
could not find a man I could trust, and
who wan willing to make an exile oi
himself from his home, to warn these
sturdy mountaineers have perished of what was com¬
ing. I would rather than
that they should be taken by surprise (
Well knowing the penalty of coming, I
have done it. I had a last brief inter-
riew with Alice in the night; there was?
a parting that wrung both our hearts. Iii
secrecy and stealth I turned my back
upon love, home, and friends, to return—
when? God only knows! I am a marked
man now; never may I return to that fair
city that is all the world to me but with
a Union army. When shall that day
come? It seems like a mockery to hope
for it. All East Tennessee is overrun
and held down by the Harris’ bayonets and sa¬
bers of Governor army; the
Government does not answer our ap¬
peals for help; we must go and battle fox
it on distant fields, while our own grand
* val region lies prostratei”
SPRING PLACE, MURRAY COUNTY, GA. MAY *26, 1892.
.. speaker turned from the
As the story
of his love to the condition of his sec¬
tion, his eyes flashed, his cheeks burned,
and he strove not to repress the deep ex¬
citement that thrilled him. His com¬
panion eyed him unmoved.
“You suffer for the cause, to be suro,"
he thousands said, slowly. of “You about suffer here just as
others do. Yet
( tell you, Graham Braudon,” and he
raised his voice as he went on, “that il
my ease were yours I should sit here
amid this barrenness and desolation,
supremely tight, happy only in the for prospect of go¬
ing to not a country but
for love and home, in that day—if it
ever come—when this people and land
shall be.reunited.”
Brandon was silent; the bitter force of
the other awed him.
“Have you given up home and friends?
So also have I. Back of Vicksburg I
own the finest cotton plantation alobg
the river; it hae-T|een confiscated ere
now, and should the Confederacy prevail
it will be lost ’
to me forever. That I
oonld bear; it would be the lightest of
my misfortunes. And you have left be¬
hind you a beautiful girl who will be
true to you in weal or woo, whatever
shocks and storms of war sweop tjxe
land; wlio loves the Union and the flag
--Ah, but is that so? Y’ou did not say
so.”
“Indeed she does!” cried Brandon,
with enthusiasm. “There isn’t a firmer
Union woman in the whole land, though
her parents are secessionists. In fact,”
and he tried to laugh, “I don’t believe
she would see any good in me if I were
not a stanch Unionist.”
“ And,” pursued Smedley, “you have
the hope of somo day being reunited.
Now, suppose she were an ardent rebel
—do you think you would love her?”
“It’s a hard question; I never thought
of Alice in that way. We agree so per¬
fectly about the war that it is difficult to
imagine her only being on the other side. But
—there is one Alice Clay in East
Tennessee, iu the world! Yes, I believe
I should love her, anyway.”
“Then put yourself in my place! Look
at that picture.”
He handed a small nmbrotype-ease to
Brandon, taking; it from an inner pocket
next his heart. The young Tennessean
gazed with wonder upon the lineaments
of that superb face, where the proud,
passionate beauty of tbe South appeared
in every feature—in the oval face, the
wealth of dark hair, the soul that looked
from the expressive eyes, Graham Brau¬
don thought as he looked that here was
one whom ho could admire at a distance
as lie would some Eastern queen of old
fable or story; and then the sweet, ear¬
nest face of Alic Clay came between,
and ho thought, !‘I could admire, not lovej
her.”
“Age, gaze at that countenance!”
Kmedly cried, in a kind of rapture.
“Not in Mississippi, not in all the
South, is there another such woman.
Sho is just five years younger than I;
she has not alone beauty, but mind,
accomplishments, wealth in and, least, of all,
her own right. Her father is
a pompous, invalid. chattering nobody, her moth¬
er an She has two brothers,
both in the Confederate armies. With
her, as with many other Southern wo¬
men, tho cause of the Confederacy is a
passion; there is no sacrifice that she
would not make for it. She is the toast,
the reigning belle of Vicksburg. She
had a dozen suitors from tlie proudest
and wealthiest Mississippi families, and
she chose me from them all. Think how
proud and happy I was in the position
of her accepted lover! Then came this
accursed war, she knew niv devotion to
the. Union, and she grew cold to me, as
that letter says. I was tormented with
the pangs of jealousy; I saw each day
the men I had supplanted iu her affec¬
tions admitted to her house, proudly
wearing their new gray uniforms, while
I was denied admission, I wrote to her,
the answer came back that you have
read.
“Well, I dared not rcg her. No, I
dared not, for she would have won me
over to rebellion in spile of myself. I
fled from Vicksburg; I roamed about at
the , , North, T , unable , to decide wliat to do,
feeling each day drawn nearer and near-
er to the only cause for which I can fight,
knowing that the gulf was daily widen-
mg between her and me To take arms
for the Union is to give her up.
“At last I have taken the plunge. I
have become a soldier of tlie Union, and
have put an insurmountable barrier be-
tween Isabel and nte. No matter how
the strife may terminate, I shall be
worse than nothing to her. She will
hate me. I shall never see her again,
C clasne'd wv!,'d' i,f £. n tii h> I u1 0gam to . ok and tb *j
“/tell it to his heart
vou ” he nassionatelv cried “I
have given everything for this.” ’
His head up drooped
upon Iris hand; with
tender sympathy in his blue eyes, Bran-
don looked upon him, and be heard him
W ° rds that hannted hls
troubled ml
“Never Never acain agam-never never to to see her again! t"
CHAPTER VU,
CAPTAIN SMBPPEY’S iEMV.
Brandon persuaded his companion to
lie down again and try to get himself
rested and recuperated for the work that
was before them, and he had the satis¬
faction to see him fall into a sound sleep.
Then the young Tennessean sat down,
meditated upon the stirring events of the
past two days, thought about Alice Clay,
and nodded off into slumber.
It was daylight still when he awoke. His
companion stirred was sleeping, and he be¬
himself to get some bodily re¬
freshment. He found Smedloy’s little
store of provisions, and made strong
coffee. The humble repast was set out
on shook the large sleeper box, and then he went and
the by the shoulder.
“Wake up, Captain,” he called.
“Breakfast is ready.
Smedley stirred and muttered in his
dreams.
“No, I can’t see her. She’d persuade
me far to fight against the old flag. I’ll go
away; it’s my only safety.”
“Wake, I say! Quit your dreaming,
and come back to the mountains.”
“I have not deserved death, ” the sleeper
murmured. “But if you will have my
life, don’t hang me! Let me die like a
soldier; let mo be shot.”
Brandon now made such a noise at hie
ear that he awoke and sprang up. He
recognized his surroundings and hie
companion; he was still pale, but hie
nerve and strength had returned. To¬
gether they sat down and refreshed
“ TELL THE TRUTH ”
themselves for the business before them.
It was only an hour after daylight that
by twos, threes, and singly the mountain¬
eers began to arrive at the cabin. We
need not describe them; in dress,- face,
a rd general appearance they were like
those we have seen, and there was no
uniformity in the arms that tliev carried.
They were men of strong build, full oi
sinew, and for the most part lean and
spare; men who had been toughened to
endurance by hardship and the hard con¬
flict for mere'existence in these wilds be¬
fore war came to vex them further. One
and all they had promptly responded to
the mountain tocsin, semo of them leav¬
ing their homes hungry, and with a hur¬
ried farewell to their wives and children,
roused from sleep for that purpose. One
and all they were ready and eager to
take the field in defense of their homes:,
and could not. brook delay.
kins Captain make Smedley directed Burt Haw¬
to up all the tea and coffee and
distribute all the provisions in the cabin
among the men; and presently two dozen
of them were sitting on the grass eating
each’ liis share of bread and dried beef,
and passing from hand to band the Cap¬
tain’s tin cup, often replenished with hot
coffee.
To the statement that these rude sold¬
iers were of a like appearance wo must
make About a single exception.
the middle of the forenoon a
strange figure came uu through the wood.
bearing on his shoulder a firelock of
formidable weight and length. He was
full six feet in height, and would not
have weighed less than two hundred and
fifty pounds. He was so fleshy that he
walked with the characteristic waddle of
very fat men. His face was round and
rosy, a large He double chin depending
from it. had little twinkling eyes,
and a snub-nose almost buried in the
overlaying flesh; instead of the deep
bass voice that might have been expected
from this bulk a tliiu kind of a squeak
was heard when the man opened
his mouth to speak. His dress was a
hopeless mingling of hunter’s and citi¬
zen’s costume, quite seedy, the whole
absurdly crowned by a battered “stove¬
pipe” hat. His appearance upon the
scene, instead of causing any sensa¬
tion, was few met by tho utmost indiffer-
ence. A words as to the history of
this singular character will be oppor-
tune, before taking a closer view of him.
Years before, Ithuriel Muncy was a
bappy, good-natured youth at Nashville,
ou good terms with everybody, full of
brag, confidence and bluster. For a time
he passed for what, he pretended to he;
wliat you will, there are men, who
horn lazy, and who never get the bettofi
of it. ithuriel was of this kind. He
studied law and could make nothing
out of it; medicine tho same—but did
succeed in making the doctor’s patients
very sick with some of the wonderful
uasty doses that he compounded ‘iot
grace before the end of tho week. After
several more dismal Mlures he disap-
good-natured, peared, and was graceless next heard of as a fat,
loafer in some
of the villages of East Tennessee. Among
this plain, industrious aud temperate
people but the for vagabond might have fared
hard his never Tailing good-
«»n. ‘it
could not be respected. Frequenting
the villages in winter, in the mild, and
pleasant self seasons he would betake him-
to the mountains, and there wander
harmlessly and aimlessly about, at peace
with the world and himself, never re-
fused the shelter of the mountaineer’s
cabin or a share of his humble food,
His ponderous and useless firearm al-
LVS-m" ways accompanied him; and the stories
£ S; cun“,
among hears and American panthers
were simply amazing. of No one over saw
any of the trophies his skill and dar-
ing; but his blood-curdling narratives
tion, were “It’s always concluded with the asser-
true; every word of it is true, ,
Ithuriel Manoy says it, and he stakes!
his honor as a gentleman upon the cor- !
rectness of this account.” When it is ;
added high-sounding that he was much given to tho use i
of words, which he re
membered from his former reading cf
professional books, his photograph will 1
be complete.
With his ureat nnn lennino !
stalked ’ or rather waddled
one gr0 up to another, a huge chunk of
brand in one hand and one of meat in
the other, and, with his mouth full
half the time, poured out a flood of bun- I
S0 J?? and k'aeconade. j
al/o^vo/ al jJ ° sterif 0 ^HclVk'Tf' cnVrnands comi ! ade8 ' :
e the ‘ call of dutv
, (1 (lj t t . ,
bo found deficient in those stunen
Ions and resounding virtues of patriot- !
ism ’ courage, and indomitable self-as-
jertiveness-”
”Oh, shut up, Ithy!”
[Go Ret lie yourself down.” out fer pillow."
a
toiv” «, v r a tc/dhc-r-lied. to make
soap-grease
“Gentlemen and comrades.” squeaked !
ithuriel, not in tho least abashed, “your
hearts are in the right place, if vour
tongues bosoms are a little free. Yes, your
clarion blast respond, as mine docs, to the
for Union anil freedom that
blows among these hills. Let tbe haughty
Davis and Isham
G. Harris come up here if they dare!
Let them strive to pollute the free air of
these inaccessible empyrean regions with
the hated standard of the Southern Con-
federacy! of I think the" they will find a living
rampart men in way; at least I
know that they must first surmount the
prostrate body of Ithuriel Mancy-”
it’-on7mimfe7t/d g0al0ngwayst0 fin4
'“They nright take it for a puff-ball,"
jump “Maybe they’d have to take a run and
a to get over it.”
real "Laugh if you will, gentlemen. The
test of valor is at hand; we shall
soon know who has the divine afflatus of
warlike Mars in his composition. Mark
me, and you will see one who will not
falter nor turn back-”
“Won’t, hey? That’ll be more'n calf you
did when you met my yearling in
the woods, an’ thought it was a bear.”
“You’re safe enough, Ithy. A bullet
would wander all round in that fat, an’
not find anything to hit.”
“Let's send word to the other side that
Ithy is here with his gun. They won’t
come at all, then.”
These men were grave enough over the
and prospeetof meeting and fighting a large
powerful body of armed foes; but so
heaviness naturally does the human mind turn from
and care to mirth, that they
were glad of a chance to crack their jokes
upon the braggart.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
Wise Sayings Well Said.
There are eight million nine hundred
thousand eggs in an eel.
“ J umbo,” the giant elephant, weighed
ten tons.
They have discovered a cfiallt moun-
tain iu Montana.
A web-footed boy has been born in
Somerville, Mass. ‘
An eagle sailing half a mile above
the earth can see a field mouse.
The entire front of one of the banks
at Riverside, Cal., is constructed of
onyx.
A “tootometer” has been invented
which will make a noise that will be
heard ten miles. . V •
A talking piano, operated by numer¬
ous kinds, keys is and producing words of all
one of the curiosities of a New
York museum.
A hornet flew into the mouth of Har¬
rison Sands, neai;jSyracuse, N. Y’,, and
gave him a sting that resulted in his
death.
Just about fifty years ago stoves—
cooking and heating stoves—first be¬
gan to be generally used. That was
when Americans began to make stoves
for the home market.
As late as 1820 there were as many
as three thousand confined for debt in
prison of Massachusetts, ten thousand
in New York, seven thousand in Penn¬
sylvania, three thousand in Maryland
and a like proportion hi other States.
Hydraulic Clocks.
A * system ot i.. hydraulically i> n controlled , .
clocks has recently been-installed in the
Berlin University by the I rania-Uhrou
a lauer ndSanlenCojpainanuitgescllschaft(Bres- and Dr. Von Orth).
The iustullu-
tion consists of an ordinary clock, seven
secondary clocks and four ringing nr-
I ra ngemenls, all connected by a system
erected m tlie \ostibule ol the to- building.
At tue end.of each Complete hour tho
principal clock sends an electrical bur-
rent central through the electromagnet thereby of the
arrangement apparatus, of wheels and disengaging opening
an u
water-cock. The water then flows through
(ho water-jet pumps and absorbs the ait
.........*»■
ondar v docks and ru gum arrangements
-
I a f e connected. Each of the secondary
j clocks is provided with a brass casing,
] which is closed by moans of a loathoi
j membrane.
As soon as the air in the casing be-
1 comes rarified tho membrane lifts a bar,
by means ot which the hour finger is
—” i* “—
p'ctmg the lioui. and the clock is wound
U P to ,ho axtont If “as tun down during
hour just completed. Tho ringing
arrangements are also fitted with a sim-
ilar casing and membrane, which, during
the rarefaction of tlie air, lifts the ham-
mer and causes tho bell to ring three
times. When the necessary amount of
rarefaction of the air has been attained
and the work of the apparatus is com-
*>» "1':
P ara D' 3 [ s aut0 ™ at ‘ca ly closed, beveial
} nstalIutlons ot ci(,cks 011 tl)is a vsttM ’»
h already been made, notably . the
ave at
Beylin Exchange and the Potsdam rail-
way station.—[Industries.
, Tub r , pretended , - alchemist, Edward Pin¬
tcr > who now languishes in a British jail,
evidently had very "his little faith, in the
common senso of fellow-creatures,
His claim was that ho could melt tsover-
eians in a crucible and treble treble the flu- weio-hr weight
oi fo old by tho addition „ ot a mysterious
b powder. It is supposed that this
powder , was some preparation of gold
mixed m oil winch prevented it from
SIllkin "'. but !l « otllc 'r a »d more probable
suggestion is that he simply throw more
gold into the crucible under cover of the
doa<1 smoko and the horrible stench which
the compound created. At all events, he
contrived to put the gold into the eruci-
of b i e 't some]low got ^10,000 or othev from ’ and on the strength and
one man
$3,500 from another, if ho luid been in
!oss hurr T to become rich, lie might h»ve
made a very comfortable living. He was
sharp enough to plead guilty when ar-
ranged in court, thus saving the cost and
trouble of a prosecution. This was one
reason, off with probably, why of the judge lot him
a sentence three months’ im- ^
pr!sonmenti or porhapg tho form
/V ^ ° f f" ^ ^
I"?"® 18 ,mont dld tlmn . >mt deserve unconscionable much more tools pun-
™
W1 ° encourage d him.
_
THE FAISTIS0 Racket.
Mike? First Tramp—“What’s Ho looks the matter wid
as if life wasn’t wort’
livin' ’ ”
i framp __«rm,. That *■ s jist t how , h(
£ teeIs Ye mind two days ago
- a pool
man fainted in front o’ that big house
over yonder,and the kind lady ruslmti
out wid a bottle o’brandy to restore’im?’ 1
“Wall,' “I mind ”
Mike, ho tried w faintin'
"J ras hod 8 * out tli t . , h , is same mornin as '. aa before, ’ th’ ole lady Bui
when she seed Mike, she said, ‘Poor fel-
^°' v ’ b‘ s P ores > s all slopped up so he
can’t breathe,’ says she, an’ then sin
turned the hose on ’im.”—[Yew York
Wa<»VU
SCHEDULE TIME.
Hungry Traveler (at railway dininj
station)—How soon will the train start
conduotor?
Conductor—I’ll start on time to-day. ]
ain't got muoh appetite.
$1.00 a Year in Advance.
FOUR'.FOOTED SENTINELS
ANIMALS UTILIZED IN MILITARY
OPERATIONS.
Valuable Aids on the Battle Field—
Horses of the Cossacks as Pickets
—■simian Sentries.
D OGS have been utilized for
military purposes with great
success in France, Prussia and
& Italy, but especially in Austria,
where regular' drill barracks for the
training of four-footed soldiers have
been established at three different points
—one on the Mititar Granze (the “mili¬
tary frontier” of the Turkish border),
one at Temesvar, and one near Wells on
the Traun River, in the foothills of the
Austrian Alps.
At the latter place surprising results
have been obtained with Alpine collies,
who range a territory of twenty and
thirty square miles and contrive to
discover “cripples” Tu all sort3 of hid¬
ing places.
Bogs of the same breed are also trained
to carry messages, in a small leather bag
attached to a ring in the collar, between
different detachments of a corps engaged
in active service. Oil field maneuvers
these four-footed adjutants may be seen
darting battle front, along heedless the line of of the the imaginary
crash of big
Hnd small guns, but withal taking care
to confuse the aim of hostile marksmen
by running zigzag, or taking advantage
of every bit of cover the ground affords.
Knowing that the miniature mailbag is
not apt to be detached by the scraping
of a bush, the dog will prefer thickets to
opeu fields, but in. default of a better
chadce he will run along the safe side of
rocks or fallen trees and occasionally stop
ind look about for a moment, as if caf-
tulating the best route for avoiding an
encounter with a party of hostile skirm¬
ishers.
Arriving at the post of the addresses
the shaggy mail carrier will look about
for a commissioned officer or a sergeant,
ipt to be statioued near a flugleman, but
privates attempting to touch the collar
will be stood off with a warning growl.
Should no answer be needed the dog will
take a short rest and .recenuiter the
ground before running the gauntlet' of
another bullet shower. A reply depos¬
ited in his collar bag is, however, the
signal of instant departure, and within
half an hour the fleet messenger may thus
make a round trip of five or six miles.
Near Wells the operations of a train¬
ing party involved a considerable ex¬
pense of gunpowder to accustom the
four-footed recruits to the noise of fire¬
arms. Horn signals guide the scattered
skirmishers, and a stranger passing a
night at the summer hotel of the little
town might easily be led to believe
that the neighboring highland must
he the favorite rampage ground of
the wild huntsman, or that all the fox-
hunters of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
must have met iu general convention.
An hour before daybreak the echoes of
rifle shots and horn blasts may be heard
all along the river cliffs, and soon the
shouts of the skirmishes will be answered
by clog voices as multitudinous as those
of a first-class bench show, the object
being to conclude the somewhat exten¬
sive maneuvers during the cool of the
morning. An average of four out of ten
recruits will prove intelligent enough to
graduate. The rest are sold or returned
to their breeders, or possibly assigned to
a different training post, since some ex¬
cellent messenger dogs are too deficient
in scent to make good scouts.
A breed of Hungarian dogs resembling
our Spanish-Americau bloodhounds make
the best sentries, and a competent Aus¬
trian army officer maintains that after
dark their efficiency surpasses that of
the best human sentinels by as much as
the range of a good field-glass exceeds
that of the unassisted eye.
Horses, too, will scent danger before
a man with his ear on the ground can
hear the slightest sound of an approach¬
ing footstep. The Cossack ranges
habitually take their ponies on picket
duty, and more than one of our Western
Bcouts owes his life to the timely snort¬
ing of his horse.
Still stranger sentries are employed by
the Kaffir nomads of the Orange River,
Dogs being rather expensive pets in a
country where every scrap of animal food
is needed for culinary purposes the na¬
tives have bethought themselves of do¬
mesticating a species of their Darwinian
relatives, the chacma baboons that haunt
the rocks of Southern Africa and whose
senses have been miraculously sharpened
by the exigencies of their defensive war¬
fare against the prowling carnivora of
that wilderness. Iu frosty nights, when
dogs curl themselves up on tho lee side
of a board wall, leopards may approach
a Kaffir village unperoeived, but they
cannot baffie the vigilance of baboons
that seem to sleep with one eye open and
shriek out their alarm signal at the
slightest intimation of danger. That
they are by no means deficient in the
faculty of scout is proved by the circum¬
stances that they can detect edible roots
under a four-inch stratum of drift sand
and find hidden springs by nosing along
the ground like dogs. Their hearing,
too, equals that of a cat, and altogether
they would make ideal sentries if their
better talents were not rivaled by their
capability for mischief, for in the course
of a single night a pet of that sort kept
on a Transvaal plantation once managed
to turn fourteen hens and a dozen young
ostriches into Platonic definition of a
human being “Biped without feathers
and without the power of flight.”—San
Francisco Chronicle.
NO. 12.
WISE WOEDS.
Riches do not insure wealth.
Call any man what he is and it makes
him mad.
When a man attempts to fteeze you
out, freeze right back.
A map’s acts are the shadows cast long
or short by his beliefs.
The blind cry for light and declare
the fallacy of the belief in its existence.
If you whip a boy, he will hate you;
if you don’t whip him, you will hate
him.
A man finds his warmest welcome at
the place where he spends the most
money.
Some people imagine that the world
stands still until it has heard their side
of the story.
The bigger fool a stranger in town is,
the more money he usually has on him to
be robbed of..
He that buildeth a bridge shall walk
on it, he and his posterity. Therefore
let him look well to its support.
There is nothing unlovely about love
save the process of unloving, and unhap¬
piness is half happy untii deprived of
hope.
It is unfortunate that people do not
have the same faculty for getting out of
trouble that they have for getting out of
work.
Some men put the brush in the hands
of their enemies and then complain that
they are not as black as they are
painted.
After the first baby has arrived in s
family a man can’t kiss his wife without
waiting for her to take a lot of pins out
of her mouth.
Men neglect little things every day
that cause them worry at night. It is a
bad custom, but we don’t suppose there
is any use saying anything. •
Find the cause of each wrinkle on a
raau s face and you will find it was put
there by worrying over something that
worrying could not help.
Easy Cure of Whooping Cough.
A medical man at the city of Aix-en-
Provence has a son who had been suffer¬
ing from whooping cough. One day the
son told him that at school tho teacher
of chemistry had evaporated some
naphthaline and that the fumes had im¬
mediately suppressed the irritation of
the throat that would have made him
cough. Iu order to remove the fumes a
window had been opened, after which
the whooping cough had come on again.
The doctor evaporated naphthaline by
the bedside of the boy, who felt much
relieved and went to sleep. The next
morning the cough was much better.
The same was done again on the night
following, after whica the patient was
entirely cured of his cough. Then tht
doctor himself was afflicted with •
whooping cough, He tried the same
means ana was cured on the third day.
He then proceeded to employ tbe remedy
and had great success. At a boarding¬
house thirty persons were seized with
whooping cough and had the naphthalina
vapors applied. It cured all except two
nuns, who could not stand the vapor, as
they were afflicted with tuberculosis.
Place fifteen to twenty gram3 in au
earthenware mortar and place on red hot
coal, heating it slowly. Remain in tho
room filled with smoke for about twenty
minutes. Although it seems suffocating,
it is considered altogether innocuous.—
Chicago Herald.
Suicide Is Rarely Attempted Twice.
‘‘Did you ever notice that as a rule the
persons who seek death and are rescued
from the grave never efturt the society of
the dark augel again?”
The ptopounderof the question was a
hospital physician, and he proceeded to
explain without waiting for an answer.
“What I mean is that of all the per¬
sons who attempt suicide and are toiled,
but few try self murder a second time.
Probably one-half, if not more, of all
those who try to kill themselves art
frustrated. The percentage of those who
leap into the darK river a second time is
exceedingly small. I have tried to dis¬
cover the reason for this from the lips of
those who have gone through the terri¬
ble experience, but I have not met with
success.
“It is queer that persons, after devot¬
ing weeks and months to a consideration
of so momentous, a question and decid¬
ing to end their existence, should, when
foiled, declare that they were fools, and
swear never to do the like again. Yet
this is what is done in a large majority
of instances. Those who have stared at
death seem to live life anew. The past is
effaced—a new light seems to havo
dawned. The sunshine is dearer; th#
air is purer. It is the convalescent tak¬
ing great draughts of the outdoor air
with a keenness of relish that was uu-
known before.”—Chicago Tribune.
Fossil Coral.
A new building material called “fossil
coral” has been discovered in a small
island in the Bay of Suva Fiji. When
it was first removed it is sod and easily
cut into square blocks or any other de¬
sired shape, but when it is exposed ta
the air for some time it grows very hard
aud assumes some of the characteristics
of fire-brick.—Chicago Times.
Isaac S. Dement, the President of tht
Chicago Stenographers’ Association, hu
a record of 360 words a minute, and it
said to be the fastest shorthand writer of
the day.