Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

■ i OCILI.A. GEORGIA. HENDERSON k HANLON, Publishers. The sanguine inventors are prom* isiug a liquid air trust which will leave nothing of the ice trust and coal trust except a mass of shattered de- lu i-. desire for foreign conquest—a wish to capture prizes now hold else¬ where—appears to’bave taken a deep root in tho hearts of American col¬ lege athletes. The ex-queen of tho Hawaiian Is- latrtis and the ex-king of the Samoan Islands might organize an aristocracy that would set the pace so far as gen¬ uine royalty is concerned for the west¬ ern hemisphere. If the purpose of the giver of tha •‘America Cup” was to finally secure the best form of vessel for sailing in coatit waters that purpose seems to have been fulfilled in tbe fact that both the American and British vessels built for the coming contest are substan¬ tially of the same type, with similar appliances, and the contest is likely to be decided by a mere chance differ¬ ence in the traveling of the vessels,or in the happening of the wind. It is worthy of note that both vessels are absolute departures from tbe charac¬ teristics of the “America” 'ami the competitors from whom she won the trophy originally. Probably some enterprising explor¬ er will soon attempt to reach the north pole in an ice-crusher. We have a fine one operating at the Mackinac straits and doing duty as a railway ferryboat at the same time, It .-ails easily through ice two and a half feet thick, and has broken down ice walls as high as fifteen feet. But this is j left far behind by a Russian boat in J the Baltic steaming easily through ice j five fees thick. Whereat her cbm- | mandiug officer grows sanguine, and, \ accepting Nansen’s assertion that polar j ice seldom attains twenty five feet in | thickness, concludes that an ice- ! breaking steamer of 29,000 horse j power would be strong enough to i reach the pole. No doubt somebody j will try it and spoil all the fun and 1 danger of north pole hunting. Conversation is decaying and we are degenerating into unsocial silence, observes a writer in the Philadelphia I Saturday Evening Post. This is not j a negligible danger. Man’s chiei | duty—his unending duty—the proper aim of life —is to talk. Soldiers light, j statesmen plan, attists paint poets j rhyme merely that they may talk and be talked about. Men live nobly iu order to har e fine topics of conversa- tiou. Books are written ndt so much - - - to be read as to be talked over. The decav of conversation is a rea?Iy-made sub J iect for the critically ", minded man The divergence between the written and spoken language is growing wider every day. We talk in a sort of tele- graphic slang. No sane man would think of introducing into liis conver¬ sation the phrases and words of the written language. >eiy litt.e oi tho spoken language gets into print. In the end the books will beat the touches. The idea that anyone who has ever • been familiar with the delight of driving an intelligent and spirited horse will surrender that pleasure for that of guiding a soulless machine can only have occurred to a man city born and bred, and thus deficient in half the knowledge and experience which makes for the happiness and health of the race, says the Brooklyn Eagle. The cheapening of horses, which will come from the general use of automobiles, will extend the possi¬ bilities of driving to many persons to whom horses have been hopeless lux¬ uries heretofore. The bicycle has already begun that process and many people in the country now own horses who could not have doue so at the ex¬ alted prices^which prevailed ten years ago. The change is bound to go fur¬ ther, and although it will injure the horse breeders it will still leave a mar¬ ket for horses of blood and breeding. The demand which is left will be for horses of the best quality,, and the good horse will come into more honor for the qualities which no machines can possess, ami the poor horse will no longer be worth his keep when the automobile shall kave been made cheap. So long as these machines cost from $400 to $6000 each the horse need not fear their competition outside the busiest of city streets. success comes always to those who believe in printer’s ink judiciously used. Let ns have your advertise- in ent. A LUCKY ESCAPE. - "I’m going to bring Nicholi around to play for you, girls,” Rex Brooks said to Ethel and me one evening. “He is a superb pianist and intensely inter- esting. I found him at a vecital at music hall and interviewed him. He has engagements enough already to keep him here all winter.” “Is he handsome?” I ventured htugh- lngly. “Very,” replied Rex, enthusiastically, "and there’s a magnetism about him you cannot resist. You’ll enjoy meet- ing him, I’m sure.” And Rex kissed Ethel good-by, little thinking he might ever regret introducing to her a man "who has eo much magnetism” about him. My sister Ethel had b«8n engaged to Rex Brooks for a year and they expect- ed to marry as soon as Rex’s promised promotion to the editorial staff of the daily occurred. We girls were orphans and lived in a tiny flat in the city, supporting our- selves by giving lessons, Ethel In mu- sic and I in drawing; and, although we were poor, hardworking gkls, we man- aged to get considerable pleasure out of life. One of our greatest pleasures was our friendship with Rex, a friend- ship which, on the part of Rex and Ethel, soon ripened into love. So when they laughingly asked my consent to their engagement—for I was two years older than Ethel—I gave it willingly, and Rex had been like a dear brother to me ever since. He was a noble, warm-hearted young fellow, very industrious and ambitious and I felt that Ethel would be safe in his keeping. A few evenings later Rex brought Nicholi around. He was an Italian, remarkably handsome, with a dark, foreign sort of beauty, graceful in his movements and possessing a voice sweet and musical, although, having been but a year or so in this country, he spoke English rather imperfectly. They had been in the room but a short time when Rex begged Nicholi to play for us. He rose at once and went over to the piano, Then something strange happened, He struck the keys in a plaintive min- or chord and as the sound leaped forth a little-ase of Venetian glass standing ------ PH llit -aiiifca* fi if UK m a =~ Ptf m IraKf? ■Y inf ■ j I m 1 VY a 1 m '■C:' yn Vi¬ r< SHE LISTENED ATTENTIVELY. on the mantel, a gift from Rex to Ethel, was shivered to atoms as if by a blow and fel1 in a tinkling shower to the hearth beneath - We a11 s P ran ” involuntary to our feet and Rex cried out . “Was it hit by a sound wave, Nich- oil?” “A thousand pardons,” Nicholi ex- claimed; "it was my fault, and yet not. Objects like people have a keynote. I struck the keynote of the little vase, it ma( j e rsponse and too great was the effort, so it made a shatter—‘what you call it?’ ” We had been startled by the inci- dent, but Nicholi’s words in his imper- feot Sng!lsb crea -ted a revulsion of feel- ing and we laughed heartily. The fragments were gathered up and tbe Italian returned quite calmly to piano and played a weird composition beginning with a swi , impassionei movement which grad ly me g men/ 1 ^ shivered as he ended I did not like the man. nor did I like his music.and vet I could not but acknowl- edge the great charm of both. "Nicholi would break a woman’s heart with as mueh composure as he broke your beautiful vase,” I said to Ethel after the men had left. “But he did not break the vase, dear,” remonstrated Ethel; "you heard what he said about the keynote, Nan.” “Oh, yes, I heard,” was my reply, "hut I do not understand it. But 1 am positive of this. If he found the keynote, as he calls it, to a woman* heart, he would not hesitate-” “Come, come, Nan.” interrupted Ethel, impatiently, “you are nervous and cross tonight. Nicholi is nothing to us, we may never see him again, but you must acknowledge that he Is a su- perlor musician, whom it is a great treat to hear.” - That night I dreamed that Ethel had turned into a golden harp, the strings of which seemed to be made from her own beautiful sunny hair. Nicholi was standing before the harp, and as I looked he struck the strings violently with a tuning-fork, holding it up to his ear to catch the “keynote.” ■ The dream distressed me so that I felt a forboding of ill and sincerely hoped the musician would not repeat his visit. But he came, again soon, and ere long becams a frequent visitor. Sometimes he came with Rex. but oft- ener alone, and he always played. I do not understand music, but I know when it pleases me, usually, Yet I could not analyze the effect NlcUoll’a playing had on me, It gave me a strange thrill, yet it loft me depressed and fatigued, just as I feel after reading an exciting book of adventures. On Ethel it had a differ- ent effect. It seemed to excite her pleasantly and lift her out of herself; 1 she listened attentively, absorbing ev- ery note. And although I knew she adored music and I could see that it was the man's talent and not his per- sonallty which attracted her. I watched her growing delight in his company and was afraid, I tried to warn Rex that this person of whom he know but little except that he was a genius, was dangerous, but Rex, loving Ethel as he did with a perfect trustfulness, only laughed at my fears. I gave Nicholi cold looks and colder words, but still he came, Ethel thought me rude and prejudiced and seemed incapable of comprehend- ing my anxiety; yet I felt that he was gaining more influence over her every time they met. go matters rested until one day Nich- oli came, alone. He soon sat down to the piano and, opening a new piece of music, quickly tried the opening bar% then suddenly exclaimed: “This is peculiar. My wife would say-” He broke off as if shot and began to play very noisily, but it was too late to drown his words, He had unguardedly revealed a carefully con- cealed secret and could not recall it. So he had a wife! Why had he not told us? We naturally supposed him to be single a^nd Rex did not know, Rex was always too hasty In taking up with talented strangers he casually met. I drew a long breath of relief and looked at Ethel. She had turned very pale and I feared she would faint. I pushed my vinagrette under her nose and the .strong, pungent odor revived her. Then I began laughing and talking so gayly that when Nicholi had finish- e d his tempestuous composition she had rallied and was seemingly as gay as I. ‘‘I thinl: that is the last we will see of Nicholi,” I said after he left us; and my heart sang a psalm of joy, for I saw that although my darling had re- ceived a hurt, it was a mere surface wound, and not a deep, serious one that would fester and poison her hap- piness for life. I was correct in my prediction, for Nicholi never returned. He dropped out of our daily life as if he had never entered it. He evidently was flattered by Ethel’s pleasure in his company, and had meant to make a conquest of her heart, which he might break at will. But ha understood her pure nature too well to think that she would ever care for him when she found he was sacredly'"bound to an- other. And so he vanished. je or a sb ort time Ethel was restless and unsettled,but she soon crept grate- fully back to the safe refuge of Rex’s honest love, and he, dear, stupid, trust- ing p 0Yerj never knew how near he came to losing his most cherished ear fhly possession. A Moatln)f Fresh Air Hospital. For twenty years a fl aating hospital hag regularly carried out from New YoI ' k each mornin S a load of infants, to breathe the pure air which it is difficult for them to obtain in the tene- ments in which they dwell. On this ship are a few cots and beds for “cases” too ill to sit outside, but the great mass of the patients sit or play on deck, breathing fresh air and en- ! joying sea breezes. Then feeding- j time comes round, and both the chil- | dren and the mothers—for no infants ; come without their mothers—get, for j once, a good meal. Bathing is another great feature, and on the lower deck 0 f the floating hospital baths of vari- ous sorts are supplied, so that the lit¬ tle ones return after their outing with j c i ea n skins and full stomachs, with : bo 4i e s revived by the sea air and min( i s refreshed by new sights which b h e y will not readily forget, The Heauty of it. Muggins—“What have you there— Browning? You don’t mean to say you enjoy reading that stuff? ' Sweet- low—“Stuff? Why, sir, it is beauti¬ ful.” Muggins—“But do you really understand what he is driving at?” j Sweet'.ow—“Of course I don't. That’s I ! the beauty of his writings.”—Boston : ■ Transcript. j More Than lie Expected. | “Scribbler has had a story accepted i at last. ’ Is it possible? “Yes. He went home late last night with an awful yarn, and bis wife believed it.” • RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. MOST OF THEM DUE TO LOSS OF SLEEP. V Engine*r Grown Reminiscent Over tho Heading’ Wreck- How Billy Gardner Awoke Just in Time to Prevent a Freight Crashing Info a Passenger. Washington Post; “I have been reading carefully the evidence regard¬ ing the terrible accident at Exeter, Pa,, on the Reading railroad, the other day, and while it is contradictory, 1 believe that the verdict of the coroner’s jury will he that some one of the em¬ ployes was asleep’ while on duty.” Tho speaker was one of the oldest railroad engineers in the country, who, after twenty years in charge of the throttle of a locomotive, voluntarily resigned to seek other pursuits not so dangerous or exciting. When the Pennsylvania railroad was completed to Pittsburg nearly fifty years ago he took the sec¬ ond locomotive over the Alleghany mountains, with the late Thomas L, Scott as his conductor, At that time the Pennsylvania railroad named all of its locomotives after rivers or creeks along the line, and this engineer was known as "Billy Gardner, qf the Black- log,” the latter part of the title being the name of the locomotive and the former the engineer's name, Resum- ing, tho engineer said: “There is something about railroading that con- duces to sleep. It may be the rumbling that causes drowsiness, it may 1 ’ the long hours on duty, but in many cases, la my judgment, it is the failure of the employes to secure needed rest when they have the opportunity. During my twenty years’ experience as a driver of tlie iron horse I knew of hundreds of severe wrecks due entirely to some one being ‘aeleep on the post of duty.’ Even the responsibility imposed on the nlan wou i<j no t have the effect-of caus- icg jj im t0 keep awa i fe . Sometimes it jg the fau j t 0 j t he higher officials in compelling the men to work too long gieep. „j remember one occasion during the flrst year of the c ; vil war when M thfi members of my crew , includ- jng myge]f were requ i re d to work 72 conse cutive hours without sleep, and then were dismissed because we de- dined to make another trip before seeking repose. During that period there were times that the only way I could keep awake was to rub tobacco juice into my eyes and the pain, of necessity, banished slumber for a time, However, when the superintendent was told of the facts leading up to tho dismissal he not only reinstated all those dismissed, but gave them two weeks’ leave of absence with pay. At the same time the master mechanic, who made the dismissals, came in for a severe scoring at the hands of the “But once in my railroad career did I turn my engine over to my fireman and go back to the caboose for a little rest, and the narrow escape that I then had from a severe wreck and the kill¬ ing and wounding of hundreds of sleeping passengers taught me a les¬ son that was never fdrgotten. The in¬ cident occurred in Illinois, in Febru¬ ary, 1870. At that time I was running an engine pulling a fast freight on the Illinois Central railroad. My fire¬ man was a young man named Houck, whom I had instructed in all that he knew about railroading. My health was not of tbe best at that tlme ’ as 1 had been an annual victim of the ague that pervades southern Illinois, and my system was shattered from the ‘shakes.’ In addition, there was some sickness among the members of my family, with the result that my nights at home would be broken, up in looking after the comfort of the loved ones. Business on the railroad -was brisk, and there was a heavy pas- senger traffic due to the annual Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, "On the night in question my train was running south. I had a" five-and- a-half foot Rogers engine and was hauling 40 loaded cars. Along about jo o’clock I found that. I could hardly k«ep my eyes open. The road ahead of me was clear of trains for an hour « more. About the on] Y thi “S ° r im ‘ pertance in view was to meet and pass the Chicago express at Makanda, which was 24 miles away. I then yield- ed to temptation Placing my fireman in charge of the trottle, with the head brakeman to do the firing, I went back to the caboose to secure a little rest, 1 should not have taken this step if I had not reposed every confidence in my fireman, and I believed that he was thoroughly competent to run the engine. “How long I slept I do not know, but I awoke with the premonition tha^ something was wrong. As I regained my senses I realized by the swaying of the train that it was running much faster than it would have been had 1 been in charge of the throttle. There was a heavy down grade for five miles to the point where I was to meet the express, and my first thought was that we had struck the grade and gained the impetus. Springing to my feet I hurried out the front door of the ca- boose, and climbed to the top of the flrst freight car. The sight that met my eyes nearly paralyzed me. There in full view I saw the headlight the heavily loaded express train wait¬ ing at Makanda for my train to take the sidetrack and permit it to pass. How I got over that train to my en¬ gine I hardly know. But I did. Jump¬ ing down on the tender I sprang into tbe cab, shut off the throttle, and took other means to reduce the momentum. “I glanced at the fireman. He was 3ound asleep on the seat; the head brakeman kept him company on the other ditle. I realized that it was ut¬ terly impossible to stop the speed of the train, and I had visions of the aw¬ ful wreck that would follow. My en¬ gine was making 4.0 miles an hour, be¬ ing propelled by the heavily-laden cars In the rear, and certain destruction seemed to face, the express and the hundreds of sleeping passengers, A the rules required that I should stop, and, after the head hrakeman had opened the switch, should pull by the passenger train, there seemed to be no way to avert the disaster. All these thoughts flew through my brain in a twinkling, and as I expected to meet death at my post, I wondered who would care for my two boys who would become' orphans. Fortunately the siding,was a short one, and that fact, coupled with my reputation as a careful engineer, prevented the disas¬ ter at the critical moment and saved the lives of many. The engineer of the passenger train divined from the rum¬ ble made by my train that something unusual had happened, He told me afterward that he knew I would not have approached that meeting place at such rate of spieed if everything was all right. When my train was about 300 -yards from the express I saw a man run from the engine cf the ex¬ press train and throw the switch for me. At the same time I could see by the swinging of a lantern in the ex¬ press train that the switch at the other end of the siding had also been opened. The disaster had been avert- ed. My train dashed onto the side- track, past the express, and then out on the main track again at the rate of 35 miles an hour, and I could not bring it to a standstill until I was more than two miles past the station, Y'ou can imagine the effect upon the express if the engineer had not acted as he did. It is needless for me to add that during the remainder of my career on the rail i never left my en- gine again in charge of that fireman or any other fireman. One such les¬ son was enough for me. Naturally, my fireman was much chagrined over hi,s act, but I never had confidence in him afterward. He had b«n tried in the balance and found wanting. A few years later he was promoted to be an engineer, and had been running his engine but a short time when it ex¬ ploded, killing him, his fireman and a brakeman.” A “GIG.” Obsolete In Its Mean Ing of a Flighty Girl. “Gig” has one or two obsolete and rare meanings of interest, says the Academy. 4 It is obsolete in its mean¬ ing of a flighty girl, though a writer so comparatively modern as Mile. D’Arblay wrote in her diary: “Char¬ lotte L- called, and the little gig told all the quarrels.” In the sense of an oddity or fool the word probably survives locally. Whyte-Melvflle makes someone say in “Kate Coven¬ try” “Such a oet of ‘gigs,’ my dear, I never saw in my life. * * * Not a good-lookmg man among them,” 5 et note that the word is put into quota- tion marks. In high gig meant in high spirits, “Gig” had the third meaning of fun, glee. Sir Walter „ Besant , locates . the phrase in the thir- ties of this century in his “Fifty Years Ago”: “A laughter-loving lass of 18, .who dearly loved a bii of gig.” No connection with “giggle” is suggested. By the way, I see that Mr,- Leslie Stephen has had the temerity to write of the house of commons ‘‘giggling over some delicious story of bribery and corruption.” Although “gig,” a flighty girl, is obsolete, “gigglet,” meaning the same thing, is apparently not so. A writer in Chambers’ Jour- nal uses it with effect in the sentence: “Why should female clerks in the post- al service consist of pert giglets hard- ly out of their teens?” ‘Giglet fairs” (for hiring female farm servants) are still held in the west of England. SUBWAYS IN EUROPE. With this century’s close has come a revival of the tendency to dig below ground. A few decades ago there were no long burrowing tunnels under Lon- don except the wine cellars on the river’s edge, where for centuries they had existed, miles in length. To-day as much traffic goes on under as above the streets. It is feared big buildings may collapse an a result of the tunnel¬ ing. No one knows the extent of under- ground Paris. There are constantly being found subways and tunnels, the existence of which was not known,and subterranean v vaults and passages are met with whenever excavation takes place. These long passages are of great use to burglars and criminals, who know their extent and profit thereby. Rome is cut up underneath like Paris. These subterranean passages were in existence in the earliest days of the Christian era, but were closed and forgotten till the seventeenth gen- tury, when they were discovered. No ■ one knows their extent, though they may measure easily 1,000 miles. Junior Republic. Washington and Baltimore are about to make a Junior Republic for news¬ boys, where the little fellows will make their own laws, make their own judges and police officers, and learn to be use¬ ful men. This plan has been tried for five years in New York, and is a suc¬ [ cess. ! i Only one person in every four of the J j inhabitants $5 week. of London earn more than a THE BRAVE BASQUE. A Froud and Unconqnered People AVho l.ive ill thu Mountain* of Spain. In the most northern part of Spain, where the Pyrenees dip into the Bay of Biscay, is • the country of the Basques, the unconquered Spaniards. These are the people of whom Caesar, in his account of his conquest of Spain, writes, "a few pretty people higher up in the mountains, did not make submission or send hostages.” The Roman poets called these people Iberians, and pictured them as almost supernatural, whom neither hunger, heat, cold, nor armies could conquer, and whose greatest joy was 'facing peril. The Basques of today bear tbe stamp of this ancient people;'in char¬ acter, disposition, language and cus¬ toms, they arc entirely different from the Spaniards south of them, and in¬ deed they can be classed with no other race of the earth. Their earliest an- cestors were probably the cave dwell¬ ers of the Alps and Pyrenees, whose bones are found in the caverns of til mountains, together with the remains of thc*e gigantic animals which- were the ancestors of our present quadru¬ peds. Only in this tiny country, among the mountains have these sturdy, stalwart people succeeded In retaining anything of their own in¬ dividuality. If this is their true ori¬ gin, their earliest ancestors must have lived twenty centuries before Christ, and have been surrounded by a coun¬ try different in physical features, and covered with plants and animals which have long since ceased to exist. Since those days long ago, their whole force has been used in fighting their way in the world, in trying to preserve their racial distinction. All previous to the Roman conquest of Spain is, as far as Basque history is concerned, a blank. Even the Romans found it im- possible to conquer these sons of the mountains, who, when hard pressed by armies, or besieged in their forti¬ fied towns, dashed themselves from the highest rocks, and died by their own hands rather than surrender. At length Caesar, with great wisdom, mardo them his allies, since they would not become his slaves. As followers of hfs army they left their mountain homes and often the tide of battle, and, indeed, the trend of history has been turned by their boldness and courage. A few centuries later, it was the Basques »rho fell upon tbe army of Charlemagne and brought death and disaster to the cause of the Franks. But no sooner had they established their claim to liberty with their north- ern neighbors than they were met by the Saracens, who had crossed into Spain from Africa. In overcoming these uusurpers, the Basques took so active a part that they were all en¬ nobled, and now there is but. one class among the Basques; to be a Basque is to belong to the nobility. When the late queen, Isabella, came to the throne, the Basques sent to her thd fol- lowing message: “Senora, In a little corner of your kingdom is a people few, living in a poor and rugged re- gion; we will be loyal to you, if you w jjj as we beg you to do, respect our j uerog (parliaments) and the freedom hag never been impaired.” The Basque language is unlike any j European tongue and is, in fact, al- j j * unj fol , it can scarce iy be clag8ed with an other language nor is | any ol, her allied to it. It is highly in- fleeted, each word and even each letter of the alphabet being capable to change to express many different Ideas, Students of the Basque language tell us that although it is hardest of -tongues to learn, it is the richest of languages, Until the fifteenth century- there was no written Basque so, of course, the literature is quite unim- portant. This is a matter of much regret for had this people written tra- ditions of the far away centuries they might throw much light upon^ those early days, There are three Basque provinces, Biscay (Vizcaya), Guipriz- coa, and Alva. Each province has its parliament, chosen by its own people, and there is also a parliament of the three, which decides the general policy of the people and deals with the Span- j ish government. j In the mountains there are rich i mines of iron, lead and zinc and the valleys are sufficiently fertile to yield grain of various kind's. Along the sea coast the fisheries are extensive. John Was Ready. j Jn these days of proposed interna- j tional alliances it is interesting to read ' of the little difficulty in which a Chi- cago newsboy found himself involved, and how he extricated himself there- from, He had wandered over into one of the “foreign quarters,’ on the nest i side, where one can hear almost every I language except our vernacular and j he was set upon by two or thiee voys. j He defended himself bravely ant .sas ; holding his own fairly well, until the i two or three were joined by as many more, and then the battle began to go against him. “Say!” he yelled to a j group of boys watching the fight trom j the sidewalk, “is there an English boy j in the crowd?” “Yes,” shouted a stocklly built urchin of about his own i size. “Come yere, then! panted the young all American, his might, laying “an' abjlut wall clean him with did. out the hull gang!” And my ProVmbllUiea to JR- Wife (at breakfast)—I want to do some shopping today, dear, if the weather is favorable. Rvbat are the forecasts? Husbami (consulting his paper)—Rain, bail, thunder and light¬ ning. authoritXtelares A dc-ntal that it is not uncommon at fie present time to find infants with fiecayc-d teeth and | girls of 14 or 16 w<# rin S artificial teeth.