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The Morgan Monitor. VOL. II. NO. 22 SI PER YEAR. V.J ft* o MM\W: _ ! i >. CONTENTMENT. ' Merry Happy, the face ’neath the tattered AVhat matters eyes matching tho ribbons on it ; With her sunny hair, for a golden crown, She’s the richest queen in all the land— AVith her happy face under the bonnet. Her kingdom, tho billowy meadows fair; Her subjects, the birds and butterflies Her wine, the dew in the floweret’s cup, Which she «raffs with glee, ere the sun is She’s the proudest queen in all the land, With her winsome face under the She cares not for fashion, cares not She knows fame; • not sorrow—to her, but a She wears bright jewels, the wild sweet, And they lift their heads, her smile to She’s the happiest queen in all the land, ’Neath her oid and faded bonnet. To those who are blest with wealth Comes not such joy as her life doth hold; They think they are happy—how little feel The sweet content her eyes reveal; We may find, if we search through fall ! land, A queen ’neath a tattered bonnet. —Good Housekeeping. lOQQQQQQQQQQQQOQQQQQOQQQi MARIONS MISTAKE. V* BY JENNY WREN. UCH a i^§|i|sdt|si^^k> V wooing of Nelson was Ellis. ISBSPp Perhaps its '■OstSg J|] Strangeness J M a r i o n ?W =3 nolds into sent-. She been so tomed to see men at her feet—to them smile at her bidding and her slightest whim, that there was singular fascination in knowing momentary caprices had no power sway the current of one mat’s will, that what he thought right he held to, even should it subject him to her pleasure. His wooing had not very demonstrative. In a few simple, straightforward words, he told her his love, and asked her to he his wife, but when she had as quietly him in silent wonderment at her submission, he drew her to him pressed a single kiss upon her head, and for one moment, as she in his arms, a look came into his as of a man who has won a grand race, whose triumph ail the world exult in. Women smiled when the gagement was announced. A ous rival was removed from their way. Men frowned. Who was this man who had outstripped them in the ranks ? They had not even recognized him as a competitor, and, lo! he borne away the prize. But of all this outward conjecture the lovers heeded little. Once Neison said to her, as he bade her good-night after returning from an evening of dissipation at some fashionable ball: “I shall be so glad, Marion, when all this is over, when society will be con¬ tent to let us drop from its roll, and retire into our own quiet homje life.” “Oh, but Nelson,” she answered, “society is not going to give us up simply because we are married. I ex¬ pect to make quite a sensation, I as¬ sure you, as Mrs. Ellis.” “A sensation! My wife a sensation? I trust not. Wives, Marion, have other duties, which I hope the girl I love will find greater pleasures than auy society can offer. I am not a jealous man, Marion—at least not con¬ sciously so; but to see you as I have seen you to-night, giving your smiles, your glauces to other men, has shown me how little I could tolerate in a wife. But I will atone for all you give up, dear, by devoting my life to you, and making your happiness my own. ” It was hours after he left her before Marion fell asleep. She could have yielded society with all its glare and glitter without a pang, but what he had said had grated on her. He had asked, not as a something yielded for his sake, but taken it as a simple matter of course. He seemed to ignore that it might to her be sacrifice to yield that which had really given her keen enjoyment. Suppose tire light- in the crowded ball-rooms was artificial, it was none the less pleasant to her young eyes; if the whispered nothings in her ears were subtle flatteries, they were so delicately veiled that they fell softly and jarred not. It had grown part of her life, and simply because her life was to he merged with his must she leave behind her all the pleas¬ ant follies of her youth? When he next met her Nelson missed something. Her greeting had lost none of its warmth, her smile none of its sweetness, but there was now and then an absent look in her eyes which haunted him long after he had left her. It was at this time that Allen Fane ■ came upon the scene. He and Marion had been friends when children. He had carried w r ith him all these years the pictured memory of her face, and when he returned to find its radiant beauty all undimmed, the first glad¬ ness was met with the absolute shook of finding another its possessor. He had not been conscious of liis dreams until he was rudely awakened from them, as one walking peacefully in his sleep upon an unguarded parapet, sud¬ denly is aroused to a sense of his great danger. Marion met him with a warmth which brought a ray of hope into the darkness. He might yet re¬ trieve his late return, and, subtly, quietly, hi laid the snares which were to el/ p her feet. “I suppose it would be hard enough to give you tsj», Marion, to'any one,” \ he said to her one evening when her lover was absent. “Notwithstanding my own love is hopeless, I cannot make a secret of its existence to you. I could not hide it, if I would, but to sfee you give yourself to a man who prizes your who loveliness only as a Turk his slave, will possess it only that he may hide it from the world, who will doom your young life to be spent only for his own selfish ends, is intol¬ erable to me.’* “You do Mr. Ellis great injustice, Allen. But even did I think him so selfish as you portray him, I certainly would not discuss his faults with any one so long as I looked upon him as my promised husband.” But when again and again her be¬ trothed urged her to appoint a day when Fane’s he might call her really his, Allen words came to her mind. Linked to her own unexpressed thought which had rankled so long and sowed the first seed of doubt, she shrank at the idea of taking the step from which there was no withdrawal. “Why are you so anxious, Nelson?” she at last said to him. “Think of the long years we are to spend together. Absolutely it is appalling. You will get tired of mo soon enough.” “Tired of you, darling! Does one tire of the sunlight or voluntarily seek the shadow? It seems to me since I have met you that I have only for the first time realized what great boon life may prove. I have waited long and patiently, dear. Give me the promise I ask to-night. Let the June roses blossom for my bride, anu the robin’s song echo our happiness.” ‘ ‘YVhere shall we spend the summer, Nelson?” “I have chosen a little cottage far away from the noise and hustle of the world. It is perfect in its every ap¬ pointment, and we can spend the long summer days in forgetfulness that there exists the seething, surging cur¬ rent of human life, from which we have so separated our own. Do you won¬ der I am impatient, dear?” “Oh, hut, Nelson, I hate cottage life, and I am sure our society would become mutually unbearable in such monotony.” “What do you meau, Marion?” and Nelson Ellis’s lips grew white. “Do, you, who have promised to spend your whole life with me, talk of it already as beyond forbearance? Is this the fond picture I have painted of my home? Pause, Marion. Think while yet on the threshold. If your life is mine, it belongs not to the world. If it is the world’s, then in it I have no claim. I offer you, darling, all I have. I ask of you only yourself, but I ask it as a free boon aud one which-is placed willingly in my keeping. You must decide, Marion, for yourself. I had hoped your decision long since irrevo¬ cable, but once more I place the choice in your hands. ” “You say you ask of me only my¬ self. Is it not all I have to give? I cannot give up the world to lead the life of a’ recluse, even though you so selfishly make the demaud. One would suppose I was a child to be dic¬ tated to at will. It has all been a mis¬ take, Mr. Ellis, and we may truly con¬ gratulate ourselves that our eyes have been opened in time to redeem an otherwise fatal error. We part as friends, I hope?” “Friends? Who has been at work? Whose hand may I thank for having laid this network of worldliness and suspicion in the mind of a girl, who, a few short months ago, harbored no such thought? You could not trust me, then, with your beauty. You feared I would guard it beyond the reach of other eyes. True, I might have held it as a sacred shrine, but its bloom, its radiance would have been undimmed till death robbed me of both. You give me up, then? So be it. Go back to your world! Glory in it; revel in it, aud teach men the les¬ son you have given me, that the brighter the eye, the fairer the cheek, the falser the heart. Good evening, Miss Reynolds,” and, with a low bow, Nelson Ellis went out from the light into the shadow. Marion stood as in a stupor. She had spoken her own thoughts for the first time, for the first time expressed the feeling which so long had rankled. How cold, how heartless and worldly it had sounded even to her ears. What was the selfishness of which she had accused her lover but the reflex of her ow n? Had the world really grown so dear to her that she could not yield it even in the first flush of wifehood by a husband’s side? How inviting picture had been? She had not meant what she had said. She not dreamed Nelson would so ac¬ her at her word, and wordless de¬ was in the beautiful eyes, as the tears -welled up and dropped one one faster and faster, until she her head -in her hands and as a child. But there was one who heard of tho engagement with keen exul¬ and a suppressed look of tri¬ was on Allen Fane’s face when he saw the woman he had deter¬ to win for his own. “You did splendidly, Marion,” he to her. “Have I not told you from first how selfish ho was, oven in love,that he never appreciated you? now, darling, that you are free to won and I to woo, will you not let prove that a man may he generous? could have given you up to any other f thought your happiness was at hut not to one I read so well. ” “Hush, Allen, hush! It seems to me to listen to such words. If were selfish, then is such selfishness You call it splendid to show man who has placed liis whole noble at a woman’s feet how frivolous, and beneath him is that for he sues. I have thrown away highest prize life’s lottery will ever me. I have listened to the subtle words which have first borne seeds of i distrust—hut now that all is over, and ! I have with my own hand plucked the | POPULATION AND DRAINAGE. MORGAN, GA.. FRIDAY, JUNE 11. 1801. ufibiossomed fruit, I can at least do him justice, and tell you my heart ia his, his only, though he may never know it.” Baffled only for the moment, Allen determined to let time work its cure, and sooner or later achieve the end on which his mind was bent. It whs a great benefit. The opera house was crowded, and many turned ere the curtain raised to look at the last newcomers, who had just entered their box. None who looked on that fair young girl dreamed that she bore be¬ neath that outward show a heart sad¬ dened and weary, to which were ever added the pangs of remorse. Allen Fane is by her side to-night, hopeful, exultaut as of old. For six months he has played his role without faltering. Soon he must meet his reward. The curtain rises and falls to rise again, The house is enthusiastic. Flowers fall like rain upon the stage. But when the evening is but half over and the strains of the lovely songstress seem to rise sweeter and clearer every mo¬ ment, a tongue of flame leaps out from behind the scenes. The song dies on her lips, tumult gives place to raptur¬ ous silence, and on the air is borne the cry of “Fire!” Men act like madmen, women faint and are trampled to death by the crowd. Pale but silent, Marion turns to the man at her side. He is no longer there. Save her he could not, but for himself lay one desperate chance, which he seized as a drowning man a straw. She was alone—alone who and helpless,deserted by him had told her of that other’s selfishness. “Keep calm, Marion. Our only hope lies in decided action without ex¬ citement. I will save you or die with you,” whispered a voice in her ear, and turning she saw the man who had fought his way not to life and air, but to her side to bear her with him into safety or share her peril. “I am not worthy, Nelson. Save yourself, and when you, think of me, remember that my folly was for the moment, that I have met its just re¬ ward, for I loved you through it all.” “Hush, darling, hush—even though your words nerve me to fresh courage. Marion, will it be my wife with whom I live or die?” , “Your wife, if you will take her, Nel¬ son. Happier to meet death at your side than live apart from you. ” But death was not to have his prey. And, though Nelson bears on his hand¬ some brow a cruel scar, in his wife’s loving eyes it is new beauty, since it ever tells her of the noble struggle which gave her life and happiness—a life which met its rich fulfillment when crowned by Nelson Ellis’s love.-—The Ledger. WISE WORDS. Only in a world of sincere men is unity possible, and there, in the long run, it is as good as certain. Man is like a plant, which requires a favorable soil for the full expansion of its natural or innate powers. What men want is not talent, it is purpose; in other words, not the pow¬ er to achieve, but the will to labor. Drudgery is as necessary to call out the treasures of the mind as harrow¬ ing and planting those of tho earth. If we would be happy, we should open our ears when among the good and shut them when among the bad. Generosity, to deserve the name, comprises the desire and the effort to benefit others, without reference to self. Men are so constituted that every¬ body undertakes what he sees another successful in, whether he has aptitude for it or not. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not he lost: that is where they should be. Now put foun¬ dations under them. Every day is a little life, and our whole life is but a day repeated. Those therefore that dare lose a day are dangerously prodigal. There can be no social beauty, where disorder prevails, no national beauty where law is set at naught, no beauty of life where the true ends of life are disregarded. Character is measured by the dis¬ tance traveled from the starting point, and everything depends upon whether the progress has been up stream or down. Bethink thee of something that thou oughtest to do, and go and do it, if it be but the sweeping of a room or the preparing of a meal or a visit to a friend. Heed not thy feelings: do thy work. Politeness is a kind of ansesthetic which envelops the asperities of our character so that other people be not wounded by them. We should never he without it, even when we contend with the rude. Some say that tile age of chivalry is past. The age of chivalry is never- past so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth, or a man or a woman left to say, “I will redress that wrong, or spend my life in the at¬ tempt. ” xviiy Some Trees Die. Because they Rre allowed to lie around in the sun and wind until their rootlets aro all dried up. Then they are planted like a post in a sod, with no chance for their roots to expand, with no chance for air or food, for tho grass gets i£ all. Many trees die foe- cause the cattle persistently eat off their tops. The young orchard is not a good place for cattle. Many trees die for want of a little food. Others are choked to death with grain crops, Plant lice suck the sap out of some, and they give up the struggle and die. Mice and rabbits girdle some, and they perish. Borers in the trunk near the ground kill many. A young tree is like a child. It needs some care.—G. G, Groff, in New York Tribune. IMMENSE SR EET IRON TUBS CRASH THROUGH FIVE STORIES. TWO MEN BURIED IN THE RUINS. The Building, Which Was a New One, Was Almost ltcady For Occupancy. Thirteen Workmen Escape. Five enormous tanks, each contain¬ ing 13,000 gallons of water, fell five stories through the new building of David S. Brown & Co., soap manufac¬ turers, at Twelfth avenue, Fifty-first and Fils” -second streets, New York, Thursday morning, burying two men under thousands of tons of debris. The body of William Frazer, forty years old, a surveyor in the employ of the Otis Elevator Company, was taken from the ruins sometime afterwards. Jacob Jacobson, a carpenter is mis¬ sing. The place was nearly ready for oeou- pancy. The tanks were to have con- .tabled soap fat. They were put in by tho Cotes Iron Works, of Cotesville, Penn. Alexander Brown, the brick con¬ tractor; Henry F. Kilburn, the archi¬ tect, and Hamilton, inspector for the iron works contractors, were arrested charged with homicide. The five tanks shot through the five floors like a stone dropping through so much space. There were fifteen men in the building at the time of the accident. They we’re scattered around the factory. There was not a second’s warning of the fall of the tanks. They had been filling with water for testing and were nearly full. The tanks were eaeh 13x13 feet square by 20 feet in beigbt. They were made of sheet iron and were a quarter of an inch thick. To prevent the water from bulging their sides, stout iron bands had been placed in¬ side of each tank. The fall of the tanks carrying with them five floors of iron and woodwork was heard for several blocks around. At the fall of the tanks they carried down iron girders and beams a foot in width and four inches in thickness, snapping them as if they were pipe stems. There was no stopping, as they struck the floors in succession, so enormous was the weight of the tanks. All the men wholiad been inside the building were got together and count¬ ed. It was found that two were miss¬ ing. They were Jacobson and Frazer. A wrecking firm undertook the re¬ moval of the debris. At 4 o’clock Fra¬ zer’s body was partially uncovered and three hours later it was taken out. Coroner Fitzpatrick said that it was probably the bulging of the tanks which had caused the dislodgement of the walls and caused the fall of tho tanks and floors. A SENSATIONAL PRAYER Offered Up By Chaplain in the Illinois State Legislature. The chaplain of the Illinois house of representatives, Rev. David G. Brad¬ ley, opened the session of the state legislature Thursday with the follow- in prayer: ‘Almighty God, we seek Thy pres¬ ence and blessing at the beginning of another day’s diligent labor. Help us, pray Thee, in the discharge of this day’s duties. Help these men to re¬ member tlie poor, tax-burdened people of this great state. Contract, we pray Thee, tho capa¬ cious maw of penal reformatory, char¬ itable and educational institutions of Illinois. May they learn to be con¬ tent with less money and may we re-’ fuse to worship a golden calf, refuse also to worship gold in any other form. Forbid that any foreigner visiting our shores shall ever again have occasion to write: “Money, money, is all their cry; Money’s tho total sum. Give us money or else wo die; Oh, let the money come.” “And we will give Thee praise.” The prayer created a sensation and was greeted with enthusiastic applause. Missouri Congressional Election. The election in the first Missouri district for a sudeessor to Congress¬ man Giles, deceased, resulted in fayor of J. T. Lloyd, demoerrt, by a plural¬ ity of 5,510 over Clark, republican. OFFICERS WERE GAMBLING. An Alderman and Two Policemen Were C.'auglit In tlie Bald. A sensation in the police department of Chattanooga has leaked out. Several days ago a gambling house on Market street was raided by the police. The only inmates caught were Ed Spencer, alderman from the Second ward, and Officers Robert Baird and f. C. Morgan, of the police force, in full uniform. The three, together with n 'veil known gambler,were play¬ ing poker and drinking. PROTEST MADE RY DURRANT. A Formal Demand For Beleaae, Claiming Unjust Imprisonment, A Ban Francisco dispatch says: There will be two hundred invita¬ tions issued for tho execution of Dur¬ rant and Warden Halo has fixed 10:30 a. m. as the hour of hanging. Twenty- five medical men will be permitted to witness the execution. Durrant has made a formal demand for release, claiming to be unjustly imprisoned. This will be part of the appeal to the supreme court and is to cover the point which might tie made that by failing to protest and demand his liberty he had tost the right to complain. FAURE IS RESERVED. French President Withholds His Viewl On Monetary Question. A Paris special says: It is learned from an authorized source that the let¬ ters of credence presented to Presi¬ dent Faure by Senator Edward O. Wolcott, of Colorado, and his col¬ leagues of the United States monetary commission, designate them as minis¬ ters plenipotentiary to France, Great Britain and Germany, with the mis¬ sion in concert with the United States ambassadors to those countries to dis¬ cuss monetary questions and come to some agreement on bimetallism. President Faure carefully avoided making a statement to them at the audience which he accorded to the commissioners at the Elysee palace on Wednesday last, which might he interpreted as n promise to take any steps in the matter. Before the com¬ missioners left the palace he invited them to share his box at the race for the grand prix de Paris. No doubt the government of France is friendly to the American nation,but nothing tangible will be done beyond the expressions of sympathy and the assurance that the matter will be se¬ riously studied. IN MEMORY OF AMERICANS. Cuban Sympathizers Hold a Housing; Meeting In Washington. A large crowd gathered at the Na¬ tional theater at Washington, D. C., Friday night to attend the Cuban meeting in memory of Americans who have sacrificed their lives for Cuba. Speeches were made by representa¬ tives Swanson, of Virginia, and Green, of Nebraska, and others. Mr. Green declared that not only should the belligerency resolution be passed by congress, but Spain should be given so many days to take her sol¬ diers from the island. He made light of the probability of war with Spain, and said that if she declared war against tho United States 3,000,000 swords would spring from their scabbards ready to fight and the blue and gray would march together to the music of “Dixie.” Resolutions were adopted calling for a prompt recognition of Cuban bellig¬ erency and arraigning all who make the “honor and glory of the nation and the demands of the people sub¬ servient to tho interests of the Spanish bondholders and the sugar trust.” WHITE FACED DEATH COOLY. Ascended tlie Scaffold NonclmlentJy Smok¬ ing a Cigarette. With a cigarette in his mouth, Hen¬ ry White, tho murderer of Police Offi¬ cer William Jackson, cooly descended into the yard of the Muscogee jail at Columbus, Ga., Friday to pay the death penalty for his deed. The young man was more composed than any member of the party which escorted him to the gallows. Not once did he show the white feather during the long hours of the last day of his confinement and at his death the culmination of liis wonder¬ ful display of nerve was reached. Ho made no speech—simply bade those about him “goodby.” The trap was sprung at 1:32 and at 1:42 White was pronounced dead. His neck was not broken. DURRANT HANGING POSTPONED. Judge Gives Attorneys Permission <o Ap¬ peal From Ills Decision. A San Francisco special says: Theo¬ dore Durrant will not be hanged ou next Friday. His attorneys have gained for him a new lease of life for four months at least, and the condemned man made merry in his cell when he heard the cheerful news. He had become resigned to his fate, when information was received at the prison that Judge Gilbert, of the United States circuit court, had grant¬ ed his attorneys permission to appeal to the United States supremo court from his order previously made deny¬ ing the application fora writ of habeas corpus. UNLOADED THE GUN, But In Doing Son Young Boy Kills His Two Sisters. At Greene, la., the 15-year-old son of L. Schwartz, while attempting to unload a gun, discharged the weapon, killing his two sisters. The bullet passed-through the neck of one sister and struck the other sister just above tho heart. IRISH HORSE WON DERRY. Galtee More Heeures For Ills Owner the Sum of WHO,ODO. The derby of 1897, derby stakes of 6,000 Epsom, sovereigns, ($30,000) was won at, England, by Mr. J.Gubbins’ brown colt, Maltoe More. Thousands of people watched tho race and interest was more intense, perhaps, than on former occasions. This time tho favorite won. Belting on the Irish-owned horse, Galtee More, was at odds three to on«. A DAY OF SPEECHES. A KeHoliition Panged For the Benefit of Houtli Carolina. The seriate had a period of speech- making Friday and as a result little progress was made on the tariff bill. A resolution aiming at u solution of the South Carolina dispensary muddle, and for which Mr. Tillman has con- contended for, was passed. It reads as follows: “Resolved, That the committee on the ju¬ diciary be directed to consider and report, by bill or otherwise, what legislation, If any, Is necessary to give full effect to the purpose of the act approved August 8, IHHO, entitled ‘An act to limit the effect of the regulations of commerce between the several states and with foreign countries in certain cases.”’ T. P. GREEN, MANAGER. CYCLES AND CYCLISTS THE SUB¬ JECTS 01 SOLILOQUY. M ENJOYABLE TRIP TO CAROLINA. The Philosopher Makes a Swift Journey Homeward to lie Present at His Help- moets’s Birthday. The bicycle lias come to stay—at least until there is something better. Prejudice is passing away. I confess that l had it, hut I am cautious now-a- days and made no fuss about it. Some¬ how I don’t favor things that I can’t do myself. I don’t like to ho left be¬ hind. One of our school hoard re¬ fused to vote for our superintendent. “1 believe he is the best man of all,” he said, “but he rides a bicycle.” I was in South Carolina last week and found them everywhere. There were eighty-seven registered in the town of Blackville and nearly half of them were used by girls and matrons. It is a beautiful town, as level as a floor and the streets look like they have been fore planed and sand¬ papered. The light, sandy surface is not much in the way of the wheels and the pretty girls wheel to school and to the postoffiee and the stores and go visiting and take their evening excursions. They ride with grace and modesty and nobody objects or is sur¬ prised. There is a first-class repair shop there, where every broken or damaged part is mended and even plating in silver and brass is done. From this skilled mechanic I learned that it cost a man about $5 a year to keep his wheel in order and cost, a woman about $1.60. “You see,” said he, “the young men take more risks and ride over the cross- ties on the railroad track, but the girls are more prudent and careful. Oh, no, it does not cost one-tenth as much to keep a wheel in order as it does to feed a horse. With careful nusgee a good wheel ought to last ten years, but the improvements come so quick and fast that the old style Soon becomes a seen -hand and is sold for half price and a new one bought. Like the sewing machines, the price will soon come down as the patents run out and then a good wheel can he bought for $30 or $40,” My next stop was at Bamberg, a live town on the South Carolina road, and the first thing that greeted me was a bicycle dress parade and then a tour¬ nament. Riders and wheels were all decorated. Some of the men were in fantastic array; the wheels were adorned with gay colors of ribbon and fancy paper. The company was forty strong and had its officers, who gave command, “Right wheel, forward roll, evolute, speed well, round the bend, wheels ahoy, slow up, dis¬ mount, salute your queen,” etc. There were some young ladies in the procession and some men in fe¬ male garh, but it took no Solomon to divine their sex. Bamberg is an old town made over, renewed and invigo¬ rated by the wheels and spindles and looms that hum day and night in a large cotton mill near by. This mill has brought good schools and artesian wells and new hotels and churches and many beautiful new rcsideuces. A cotton mill does as much or more for a town as a pension agency. The latter pours free money into a commu¬ nity, and free money goes as easy as it comes, but a mill distributes money that is earned. I saw more mills at Orangeburg and that city is on a boom. More mills are being built— built from the dividends of the first mills. The town is stretching out and putting on city airs. I wish it would stretch to that Coast Line depot, for it is an awful long mile for a man of iny ago to walk and carry a valise. I was told that a hack would come for me at half past 5 o’clock, but as it did not come, I walked for fear of being left. It was a little after daybreak by that eastern time and I had hardly got rested in the depot before the street car came rolling down without a passenger. What an idiot I was, hut nobody told me how to do and I wouldent have been left for $1(1. But just think of it, I left at 6 o’clock and reached At¬ lanta at 12 o’clock—261 miles in six hours, 43 miles an hour, including stoppages. eling I This did was the fastest trav¬ over in my life. 4 visited another town that is just taking on its second growth. Ht, George is a lovely little village that has recently been made a county seat and the people are proud, very proud. They are prepar¬ ing to build a courthouse and expect that factories and street cars and Wll- terworks and gas lights will soon fol¬ low. “But right now,” said my friend, “we have a town full of the prettiest girls in the state.” Yes. His wife is in Europe and every girl looks sweet to him. I learned that the town was named for a clever old settler by the name of George, but how he came to be canonized into a saint I did not learn. 1 met a Howell there—a cousin of Evan. He is editor, postmaster and general factotum and a rebel to tho core. Our own I), li. Freeman of Gartersvillc,another editor, has proved his claim to the youngest soldier of the confederacy, but Howell pushes him very close, for he ran away when he was fifteen years old and fought at Vicksburg and Chickainauga aud then got into a hospital at Rome aud Dr. Miller took pity on the beardless sick boy and cured for him two months at liis own home and then sent him home to his mother. But Ram well, old time-honored Barnwell, quiet, peaceful Barnwell, gave mo tin most royal wel- oome. T1 o'.o good people are not in a hurry a’> >nt anything except once a year, and that is on the race track. They trot around that and talk politics and discuss Ttllmanism and the <Tis- pensary on the way. What fine old gentlemen I met. A riper scholar than Colonel Simons, a son of William Gil¬ mer Simons, can hardly he found. A handsome man and a pleasant and earnest talker. Then there was ex- GoVernor Haygood—General Hay- good, the hero of Petersburg. His solid, massive, benevolent face made an impression on me that will endure as long as I endltro. But who would have, thought of finding there a brother of Mrs. Lincoln— ])r. Todd, a leading physician and surgeon, a friend to the south, a life-long Democrat. He has domiciled there ever since the war and commands the respect of that people. I knew his younger brother, who was an nuterrifled rebel and was an aide- de-camp on Joe Johnston's staff. Is it not singular that all of Mrs. Lincoln's kindred were loyal to the south during the struggle? 1 remember that one of her nieces presented a flag to the Sel¬ ma Guards when they started to Vir¬ ginia. I wonder if Mrs. Lincoln’s kin¬ dred were all traitors and guilty of treason. But I am home, again and happy— not that T was unhappy while away, but a feeling of rest and repose comes over me here that l cannot find abroad. T would never leave home if there was not a pressure of necessity, and I count the days and the hours when I shall return. There lias been another birthday in the family and 1 was bound to be here. , My wife, Mvs. Arp, shall not close her sixty-fifth year without my presence. It is is all over now—the morning kiss and a ten-dollar bill slipped under the breakfast plate was the best I could do, and 1 don’t know yet which was most appreciated. She will spend that money on somo of the children or grandchildren. Strange to tell, but it is true, one of onr neighbors bas tho same birthday and is the same age and invited my wife to dine. Of course she accepted and found there a goodly company of matrons. There were nine of them and they were over 000 years old. No, I don’t mein that; I mean that the sum of their several ages was 000. Some of their ages had to be guessed at, for they were widows. They talked prin¬ cipally about ante-bellum days and the times “when niggers was” and alwut the falling of the stars and when matches and steel pons and cooking stoves and kerosene oil first came ami about the old high swung carriages their fathers owned and how the stops folded up in the door and were let down like a staircase and a little nig . stood up behind and a big nig set up before on a dickey and was proud of belonging to “quality folks.” Their one of the most ancient of these ma¬ trons said that kind of riding was all right and ladylike, but ns for her, she never intended to ride a bicycle, no in¬ deed—not unless they invent a side saddle arrangement, said another. It was a goodly company and no rude man need apply. They discuss¬ ed no gossip and had kind words for everybody and closed the happy com¬ munion with prayer—a good, humble,! grateful prayer by one of their number.* My wife says it was a day to be re¬ membered and slie has invited them all to meet at our house ou her next birthday and spend another centennial Amen and amen, say I, and may the good Lord take none of them away.— Bum Arp in Atlanta Constitution. Fisherman’s Worst Enemy. There is in New York rivers and lakes a parasitic fish,the lamprey,which blood of lives entirely by sucking the vig- other fishes, attacking oven such orous fish as the black bass and the pickerel. Professor Gage of Cornell University has seen 12,000 of these lampreys spawning at one time in the inlet to Cayuga Luke alone. By ac¬ tual count twelve out of every fifteen bullheads caught in Cayuga Lake and tributary streamsliave been attacked by bloodsuckers, and Professor Gage, who has made a special study of the lampreys, makes the sober scientific statement that they actually destroy more good food fish than all the hooka and nets of all the legal and illegal fisherman of New York State. The lamprey is about the size and has somewhat the appearance of an eel. An effort is now being made to obtain from the State a small appropriation to see whether the lampreys can be exterminated by trapping them aa they go up tho creeks to spawn in the spring, ns Professor Gage thinks they can. If so, we may see the day when fishing with nets may safely be made legal throughout the State.—Now York Press. A Converted Skeptic. An exchange tells of an old man whc. would not believe he could hear hi w wife talk a distance of live miles by a telephone. His better half was in a country shop several miles away wherd there was a telephone, and tho skep T tic was also in a place where there was a similar instrument, and on being told how to operate it he walked bold¬ ly up and snouted: "Hollo, Sarah!” At that instant, lightning struck tho telephone and knocked the man down, and as he scrambled to his feet, ex¬ citedly cried: "That’s Sarah, every Inch!” The American Baptist Near Book for 1897, just Issued, gives the following denominational statistics: Ministers, 27,267; Churches, 40,658; members, 3,- 324,038; Sunday schools, 23,7 87; teachers, 164,431; scholars, 1,590,190; uni versi¬ fies and coilogea, 37 theological semi¬ naries, T. The members of denomina¬ tions which are In harmony with the Baptists in tho matter of church polity 1 anil immersion number 5,134,378. _