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//ANTED—A LITTLE GIRL
ffh«re bare they gone to—the little girls
tVith natural manners and natural curia.
Who lore their dclllcs end like their tcya
Ard talk of something besides the boys?
Little old women in plenty I find.
Mature in mrnners and old of mind;
Little old flirts who talk of their ‘'beans"
And vie with aach other in stylish clothes;
Little old belles, who at nine and ten
Are sick of pleasure and tired of men,
Weary of trav-. 1, of balls, of fun,
And find no new thing under the sun.
Once, in the beautiful long ago,
Home dear little children I us< d to know—
Girls who were merry ns lamb at play
And laughed nnd rollicked the livelong day.
They thought not at all of tho style of their
clothe s;
They never imagined that boys were “beaus;”
“Other girls’ brothers’’ and “mates’’ were
they,
Splendid fellows to help them play.
Where have they gone to? If you see
One of them anywhere, send her to me.
I would give a medal of purest gold
To one of these dear little girls of old,
With an innocent heart and an open smilo
Who knows not tho meaning of “flirt" or
“style."
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
MY NEIGHBOR.
I mado her acquaintance through
the accident of renting a small cot
tage for a few weeks in a remote Dev
onshire village. I had been over
working, f.o the doctors said, and
was now ordered “country ail’ and
quiet,” Loth of which I found in the
pretty abode (quite the ideal cot
tage of fiction) of which I was now
temporary owner. Laburnum cot
tage was situated on the outskirts
of the village, and its only near
neighbor was a somewhat larger
abode of tho same rustic type of
architecture, whose garden, back
and front, was only separated from
mine by a low hedge. I believe the
Louses had originally been built for
tho occupancy of relatives who wish
ed to bo together.
“You will find Mrs. Fraser, the
lady next door, a most quiet and in
offensive neighbor,” said the house
agent from whom I rented my coun
try abode, and his words certainly
proved true. No noisy pianoforte
performances broke my repose; no
disagreeable exhibition of “washing
at home” offended my eyes in the
garden next door. Mrs. Fraser kept
neither dogs, nor pigeons, nor fowls.
She was indeed a model next door
neighbor, as I often reflected, re
membering my sufferings at the
hands of some of my suburban next
door residents in London. I often
caught a glimpse of Mrs. Fraser flit
ting about her garden or sitting at
work in her bow window. She was
a sweet faced woman about 60, with
bi 1 very hair smoothly braided un
der a lace cap, and possessed of a
voice as gentle as her face. Her
modest establishment consisted of a
little village maid and an elderly
servant, who was devoted to her
mistress.
My married sisters (I am the only
maid in the family) often laugh at
me for the manner in which I “take
notice of strangers.” Perhaps if my
life was as full of home cares and
interests as are theirs I might look
less far afield, but a solitary wom
an’s personal affairs are not very
engrossing, and I plead guilty to
“taking notes” of my neighbors.
Possibly my literary avocation as a
novelist has disposed me to observe
“traits and characteristics” more
than I should otherwise do, and I
had not been many days in Labur
num cottage before I had begun to
speculate regarding my next door
neighbor's history and had settled
in my own mind that she must be a
widow.
Longfellow truly remarks that
some faces bear a story in their lin
eaments—others nothing but a date.
My gentle old lady looked as if she
had experienced sorrow as well as
joy in her lifetime, and the tranquil
look which her countenance usually
bore seemed that of the calm which
succeeds a great grief, when the pas
sionate prayers for happiness which
we offer in youth are exchanged for
the hope of passing per pacem ad
lueem.
I was greatly attracted to my
neighbor and was pleased when
chance gave me an opportunity of
speaking to her. As I had expected,
her manner was as fascinating as
her face, and before 1 had been a
week in the cottage Mrs. Fraser and
I regularly “gave each other the
time of day,” as the servants phrase
it, whenever we saw each other over
the garden hedge, although neither
had yet entered the other's house. I
returned from a long ramble one
evening to find my neighbor stand
ing at her gate. As I passed into
mine I made one of the usual
"weather remarks.” The sunset
was cloudy, and I said that I hoped
the next day would be fine, as I ex
pected a niece to stay with me and
was to meet her at the station, about
a mile away.
“Yes, I, too, hope it will be fine
tomorrow,” said Mrs. Fraser, “for I
also am going to meet some one at
the station, and this place looks so
cheerless on a wet afternoon. lam
going to meet my husband,” she
added.
Here was an end to all my precon
ceived theories, but somehow I had
never the house next
door, so neat, so quiet, with (he idea
of a man on the premises. I suppose
my face showed my surprise, for
the old lady went on;
“My husband was obliged to g)
to London for some business, but I
expect him back tomorrow—indeed
I am quite sure he will comethat
day, for it is my birthday. Os
course I miss him so much when he
is away. ”
“You have no children to keep
you company?” I said.
A slight blush rose to the old la
dy’s cheek as she said “No” with
a little hesitancy of manner and
then walked into her house.
“Perhaps her family has given
her trouble,” I thought to myself,
now driven to construct a fresh ro
mance to account for the lines of
former care on my neighbor's brow.
A daughter who had left her home,
a son who had disgraced his name—
was some such domestic tragedy
locked in my neighbor’s heart?
Despite the threatening sunset,
the next day proved bright and
cloudless, and I set off on foot to
meet my expected guest, instead of
rumbling both to and from the sta
tion in the one decrepit fly which
the village boasted, and which duly
awaited the arrival of possible
fares at the station. As I walked
down the lane I heard steps behind
me and turned to see my neighbor.
She looked ten years younger, with
a bright light in her eyes and a pret
ty faint color in her cheeks. Hap
piness beamed on her generally quiet
face.
“I am going to the station to meet
the 3 o’clock train,” she explained.
“Edward will be sure to come by
that.”
My sisters always say I am “ab
surdly romantic.” Certainly,though
I am an old maid myself, I still take
much interest in other folks’ love
stories—perhaps long ago I had one
of my own. And there is always
something inexpressibly touching,
to my way of thinking, in the faith
ful love of an elderly pair, the abid
ing affection between a Darby and
Joan which has withstood the chill
ing effects of age and time. I looked
at my dear old lady, as flushed and
eager at the idea of meeting her
(presumably elder) husband as any
young bride might have been to
greet a newly wedded bridegroom
and reflected that hearts can keep
young if faces grow older.
“I suppose you have been married
a long time?” I hazarded. But Mrs.
Fraser's replies seemed fated to sur
prise me, for, to my great amaze
ment, she answered promptly:
“Not very long ago only—about a
year.”
“About a ye?r!” And surely my
neighbor must be 60 at least. Well,
one sometimes hears of elderly lov
ers, sundered in youth, coming to
gether in labhr life, and it has been
truly said, “The tenderest thing in
the world is j.n old love revived.”
Assuredly this old lady was still
in love with the husband whom
she was now hurrying to meet,
checking herself, indeed, as she
noted that I could hajdly keep pace
with her rapid stepsand saying half
laughingly:
“I am walking too fast for you,
and I know we have plenty of time.
It is very silly of me, but I am so
anxious to see my husband again,
although, of course, he cannot ar
rive before his train comes in.”
“ Has he been away long ? ” I asked.
A sudden shadow fell on my com
panion’s face.
“I—l scarcely know,” she said
slowly. “I am never very good at
counting time exactly. But he is
sure to be here this afternoon,” she
continued, brightening again, “for
he promised to be with me on my
birthday today without fail, ’ ’
and she walked on again so rapidly
that I could scarcely keep pace with
her.
The little local train duly dawdled
into the station somewhile after the
appointed time, and a few passen
gers, among them my expected
guest, alighted on the platform. But
I was sorry to observe that my com
panion was still standing solitary,
with the tears rising to her eyes. I
was busy collecting my niece's par
cels or would have spoken to her,
and before I could do so her old
servant entered the station.
“Your master has never arrived,
Sarah, and he promised,” said Mrs.
Fraser in a piteous tone.
“Well, it is no use waiting here
any longer now, ma’am,” said the
woman in a soothing tone, as one
would address a child. “There’s no
other train till tomorrow. I have
the pony chaise outside, and you’d
best drive home now and rest, be
cause you know”—here she whis
pered something in Mrs. Fraser’s
ear—and the old lady blushed again
and said with a little laugh:
“Yes, Sarah, you are right. I
must not overtime myself, of course,
it would so vex your master when
he comes home to find I had been
fatiguing myself waiting here, ” and
the two women left the platform.
“I am sorry that lady has been
disappointed of meeting her hus
band,” I remarked to the civil sta
tion master, with whom I had be
come op friendly terms through the
trouble he h.:d taken on nay first ar
rival at the village to trace the er
rant wanderings of a lost box of
mine.
Mr. Smith looked at me with sur
prise.
“Mrs. Fraser meet her husband,
ma'am 1 Why, she's been a widow
these 35 years. ’ ’
“But she was coming to the sta
tion all in a hurry today to meet her
husband, she said,” I exclaimed.
“Ah, that’s how it is, poor lady,”
said Mr. Smith, shaking his head.
“I forgot, ma’am, you're a stranger
in these parts and don’t know the
story. It's over 35 years agone that
Mr. and Mrs. Fraser came down to
live here, a young mamed couple,
and wonderfully devoted to each
other they was, all folks say. It was
quite a vexation when Mr. Fraser
had to go to London for a few weeks
about some law business—he had
had a little property left to him—
and the doctor here fori id Mrs. Fra
ser, who was keeping quiet just
then, traveling with him. You re
member the railway accident at
,” mentioning one -f the most
terrible fatalities of the last half
century of railway annals. “Well,
Mr. Fraser was in that crash and
was killed on the spot. And, by a
most unlucky accident, the poor la
dy, who was come to the station all
eagerness to meet her husband,
heard the dreadful news all of a
sudden, and Mr. Fraser's name, he
being well known in these parts. I
was a boy at the time, but I’ve of
ten heard father, who was station
master here then, say that he never
to the end of his life should forget
the look on that pool’ creature’s
face, nor the awful scream she gave
when some blundering fool jumped
out of the train which had come in
at last, some two hours late, and
bawled out, ‘There’s been the most
awful accident at , and our Mr.
Fraser is among the killed.’ ”
“I wonder the shock did not kill
her outright,” I said.
“It nigh did. The poor little baby,
as never drew a breath, was born
that night, and no one ever thought
that the mother would be long here.
But the doctors pulled her through
somehow as regards her Body, but
her mind was altogether gone for a
long while. She was took away for
years, poor soul, and the little
house shut up. But after a time she
came back here with her maid, Sa
rah, who’d stuck faithful to her all
through, and the doctors said Mrs.
Fraser was ‘cured, ’ least ways they'd
done all they could for her. It was
what they called an experiment
bringing her back to her old home,
but it answered, for they say the
poor lady grew a sight more quiet
and rationallike after she was back
in her old home.”
“She has always appeared per
fectly rational whenever I spoke to
her, ’ ’ I remarked.
“Aye, so she is to talk to. But it’s
a curious thing, ma’am, and perhaps
a merciful one, too, that the poor
lady has clean forgot all that hap
pened after her husband left her.
She doesn't understand that she’s a
widow, she doesn’t count how the
years have gone by, she believes
she’s still a young wife of five and
twenty, preparing for the little ba
by that’s soon to arrive, and that
her husband’s only away for a day
or two. Sarah manages to keep her
quiet and happy just like a child.
There’s only one day in the year
that she grows restless, and that’s
today—the day of the accident.
Somehow she always seems to re
member today and will come to the
station to meet her husband.
They’ve found it best to humor her
in this. Sarah coaxes her home aft
er the train comes in and quiets her,
and by tomorrow she’ll have in a
way forgot and be only looking for
ward in a general sort of style to
her husband's return. They say she
keeps his room and all his things
ready, just as he left them all those
years ago.”
It was a piteous little story, and
my companion and I were silent on
our drive home. How little any of
us fathom the tragedies which may
have occurred in our neighbors’
lives!
As I walked up my garden I saw
Mrs. Fraser seated at her window
busy with some sewing. The tears
were gone from her eyes, and her
countenance had resumed its wont
ed serenity of expression. She look
ed up as I passed and nodded with a
bright smile.
“Edward will be here tomorrow,
Sarah says,” she remarked, “and
you see I have some work—pleasant
work—to keep me quiet while I am
alone,” and she held up the mate
rials on which she was engaged.
I turned away, sick at heart. The
old lady's fingers were busy with an
infant’s shirt, the dainty cambric
and lace faded and yellowed by
time.
And yet, perhaps, as the station
master had remarked, the delusion
was a merciful one. In her own im
agination the desolate widow of 60
was still the happy girl wife, the
hopeful prospective mother of near
ly 40 years gone by. Some dreams
are happier than the actual realities,
o—Madame.
PROBLEM
A POSER
What Will Georgia Do
With the Convicts?
Atlanta, March 26. —Governor At
kinson returned to Atlanta yester
day morning, from Albany, where
he went to attend the Chautauqua
military celebration.
Next week the governor will com
mence an investigation of the con
vict or penitentiary question tha’
will be of importune to tho state.
The legislature at its next session
will have to make some disposition
of the convicts, and tho governor
regards this matter as the most im
portant feature of his four years’
administration. The lease does
not expire until in April, 1899, but
it is manifestly impossible for the
solution of the problem now on
hand to be put off until the leg
islature of 1899 meets. If the dis
position of the convicts should be
left to that body, there would be
only three months’ time between
the time of the expiration of the
lease and the commencement of
whatever plan might be adopted.
If it was decided to make another
lease it would be hardly possible
for suitable lessees to be found
and contracted with in the space
of three months, as whoever would
want tho convicts would want suf
ficient time to prepare for their re
ception before having them dump
ed into their hands. On the con
trary if the legislature should a
gree upon some plan by which the
lease would be avoided and the
state could work its own convicts,
either on farms or otherwise,
three months would not be time
enough to make the necessary ar
rangements.
Therefore the problem will have
to be solved at the next session of
the present legislature, which
meets in Atlanta next fall.
With a view to thoroughly post
ing himself on all phases of the con
vict question, Governer Atkinson
has decided to go to work on the
question in a systematic and prac
tical way. He will start with the
present lease system and go up the
scale, investigation the methods of
treating and handling convicts in
other southern states, where the
class of the convicts is the same as
in the Georgia penitentiary, and
from these to the most approved
and advanced penitentiaries of the
states where the criminal classes
are of a different kind. Next week
lie will begin visiting the Georgia
camps. Be will go to see convicts
who are being worked on farms, in
mines, at saw mills, and other
places, so as to be able to compare
their treatment and work in these
places with those he finds in other
states. After finishing the rounds
of the Georgia penitentiary, the
governor will go to A'abama, Mis
aissippi,, South Carolina, Louis
iana and other southern states.
EIGHTY THOUSAND.
All of Thein Dead Anxious to
Cancel Stamps.
Washington, March 27. —Since
the change of administration over
80,000 applicants for postoffices
have been filed at the post office
department.
The number is said to be some
what smaller than four years ago.
All the papers have been recorded
and classified and the cases made
up to date.
Up to the close of business today
the appointment division of the in
terior department has recorded
1,000 applications for presidential
positions under the interior de
partment.
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Ripans Tabules cure torpid liver.
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AN OFFICER’S FATAL WORK
Two Moonshiners Will Die and
Two Are Badly Wounded.
Atlanta, Ga, March 27.—A
special to the Evening Constitution
fr in Blumpton Gap, Va., s?ys:
The most extensive moonshine
raid ever undertaken in the moun
tains is reported to Lave taken
place in the neighborhood of Round
Head Gap. Fifteen officers de
stroyed thirty-one stills and thou
sands of gallons of “mountain dew. ’
Five still workers were pursued sex -
eral miles over rough hills by night
and finally turned and fought the
officers.
A number of shots were fired.
Three officers and lour moonshine! s
were wounded, two of the latter
fatally.
TULIP, GA.
The health of our community is
g'od.
Mr. and Mrs. Etheridge attended
preaching at Prospect church last
Sunday.
Mr. Wi'lie Rhineheart visited
friends and relatives at this place
last Saturday and Sunday.
Mr. Wofford Rich and Miss Lu
la Weathers attended preaching
at Prospect church last Sunday.
Messrs Simpson Vanpelt and Eli
Akins were thrown from their bug
gy last Friday while returning
from Rome, but luckily were not
hurt.
Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson, of north
Carolina, have been here for a
month on a visit to Mrs. Vanpelt,
Fiom here they went to Huntsville
Ala., their future home.
Kitty.
To Whom it May Concern.
At a recent meeting of the Town
Council the following ordinances
(being part of the general ordi
nances of said town) were ordered
published as being most material
to the welfare of said town and of
information to the public
generally and which will he rigidly
enforced, unh ss revoked during
the incumbency of the present of
ficials :
Shooting, gambling, drunkenness
cursing, swearing and disorderly
conduct generally ; persists nt loiter
ing in and about the saloons or upon
the streets ofsaidtown; blockading
the sidewalks to the inconvenience
of pedestrians, blockading cross
ngs by trains, swinging trains;
riding bicycles, pushing wheeled
vehicles or driving upon sidewalks;
hitching to shade-trees or fences -
Proprietors of barrooms shall not
permit music, dancing, loud talk
ing, cursing, throwing dice or any
game of chance in their places of
business and will be held equally
guilty as the offenders for such
violation
Minors shall not be allo.ved to
enter barrooms under any circum
stances.
Tho law applying to vagrancy
will bo strictly enforced.
by order of Council.
C. L. Odell, G. D. Hollis,
Recorder, Mayor.
Onyx in large quanity, and it is said,
of good quality, has been found in
Ilart connty, Kentucky.
Europe has four times as many cities
as it bad in I§3l, and the United Slates
fourteen times as many.
The jurymen in a murder trial at
Muskegon, Mich , went to a barber’s to
get shaved and haircutted and the ton
sonal artist was not permitted to speak
a word during the entire operation.
A London millionaire offered $5,000
foi the use on jubilee day of three
small windows iu the oilice of a small
weekly newspaper, which was notcon
sidereda first class position. The
offer wa« reins ed.
Owing to many unreasonable com
plaints a postoffice has found it neces
sary to gravely announce that the Uni
ted States mail is indifferent to lovers
and that delayed letters are not with
h Id out of malice.,
A Mount Vernon woman was sen
ft i><- lin l.n-e months’ imprison
ment in the King’s county, New York,
penile.. . ~y she did not keep
her childr cl • in. She was the first
woman to be cuin icied on such charge.
A St. Louis jury which acquitted a
man charged with murder on the reg- ’
ulation ground of insanity w rre some
what surprised when he arose to his
feet and said: “Gentlemen of the jury,
I want to thank you for your verdict.”
DAY OF ACCIDENTS.
AU Occurring in Chattanooga
Same Day, <
Chattanooga, Tenn., Mardh 28. )
A series of fatal accidents occured
here today, which strikingly illus
trate the truth of the saving that
troubles never come singly.
First was tho tragic death of J.
F. Coffey, a w- 11-known merchant
tailor. Mr. Coffey went to his
room this morning, having t.kena
dose of some narcotic to make him
sleep. His dead body wss found
at noon by his landlord, lying on
his bed in his room, his clothing
half removed, as if preparing to
lie down. Coffey came here from
Cincinnatti. Ho was state secre
tary of the Order of Hibernians
and was well to do.
Squire J. D. Blackford, aged
eighty years, one ot the pioneers of
this section, while going to attend
chuich this morning, was run over
by a train of the Memphis and
Charleston railroad ai d recieved
injuries from which he died this
evening.
This morning Mrs. H. C. Linder
man, wife of a well-known Ger
man dairyman, was thrown from
her buggy, while driving to the
city, and sustained injuries, from
which it is expected she will die
before morning. It appears that
her horse was frightened by a mis
chievous negro boy, who jumped
at the animal from behind a fence
along the roadway.
\\ alter Houston, a colored dray
man, and a man of some property,
while assisting in the preparing
for a balloon ascension this after
noon, was struck on the bead by a
heavy scantling, which had been
knocked from its place by the
swaying balloon, and was knocked
senseless, Bis nose was broken
and he was otherwise injured, from
the effect of which hois now lying
at the point of death.
This evening a tire broke out in
the ti. Euno butcher shop and the
building and contents were totally
destroyed. The proprietor narrow
ly escaped with his life, and not
until he had been severely burned.
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his tendency to explain things to
his juries, expressed in a recent
case his own ideas with such force
that he was surprised the jurors
thought of leaving the box They
They did leave it, however, and
were out hours. Inquiring the.,_
troub'-e, the judge was told one of
the twelve was standing out a
gainst the eleven. He summoned
the jury and rebuked the i* calcit
rant sharply. “Your honor,” said
the juror, “may I sav a word?”
‘ Yes,sir,” said tho indignant judge;
“what have you to say?” “Well,
what I wanted to say is, I'm the
only fellow that’s on your side.”
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