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THE TRIBUNE.
VOL. II.
BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
If y iu've a gray-haired mother
iii the old home far away—
Sit down and write tho letter
You put off day by tired day.
Don’t wait until her steps
Beach heaven’s pearly think gate—. of her
But show her thut you
Before it is too late.
If you’ve a tender message,
Or a loving word to say.
Don’t wait till you forget it,
But whisper it today.
Who knows what bitter memories
May haunt you if you wait—
So make your loved ones happy
Before it is too late.
We live but in tho present.
The future is unknown—
Tomorrow is a mystery,
Today is all our own,
The chance that fortune lends to us
May vanish while wo wait,
To spend your life’s rich treasure
Before ft is too late.
The tender words unspoken,
The letters never sent,
The long forgotten messages,
The wealth of love unspent.
Jor these some hearts are breaking.
For these some loved ones wait—
So show them that you care for them
Before it is too late.
—Ida Goldsmith Morris.
f OR LOVE OF HER MOTHER,
The Self-Sacrifice of Kaomouna, the
Hawaiian Flower Girl.
The usual Honolulu crowd was
down at the dock when the steamship
Australia, seven day’s from San Fran¬
cisco, pulled alongside the pier on a
brilliant, balmy afternoon in January,
1895. American women, trim, groomed,
wholesome to look upon, in summer
afternoon costumes, such as happy
feminine exiles in the subtropics con¬
trive so prettily and effectively'; a few
English and a few German women of
society, arrayed also for the steamer
day (which is a Honolulu function),
but lacking in the elusive distinction
and that indefinable “last touch” that
characterized the appearance of the
American women—these leaned back
languorously in their carriages and
phaetons, under the shadoof parasols,
listening to the lazy, complimentary
talk of the duck-clad, lei-enwreathed
young business men who combined
duty with pleasure in thus waiting for
the great steamer to laboriously slip
into her measured berth beside the
pier. The usual groups of silent, ex¬
pectant-eyed Kanaka men stood iu the
shade of the pier sheds, humble in
attitude, chary of words, and yet not
sulky—your ordinary Kanaka man is
the sweetest-natured human animal in
all this surly world. Some of the
men wore shoulder leis (wreaths of
flowers) over their labor-grimed hick¬
ory shirts. All of the Kanaka women
(there were perhaps fifty in all at the
dock) also wore leis in cross-belt wise
over their flowing white mother hub-
bards. In truth, the flower wreaths
were everywhere. Staid, middle-
aged merchants among the whites
wore them about their helmets and
straw hats,and all of the white women
iu carriages hud belts of Hawaiian
exotics.
All of the Kanaka women were in
their bare feet. They stood about in
little groups, as silent as the men of
their race. There was no entry in the
glances they directed toward the
female occupants of the carriages, even
if there may have been some wonder¬
ment over the lavishness of the Ameri¬
can and European women’s costumes.
A few of the Kanaka women carried
tiny brown babies—silent also. Posi¬
tively, Kanaka babies do not cry. No
mother of children will ever believe
this until she has lived somewhere in
Hawaii.
The Kanaka women,young and old,
wore the flowing mother hubbard.
The young women were of varying
degrees of prettiness, even of beauty
—the countenance of no Kanaka
young woman is actually homely. The
figure of no Kanaka young woman is
ever anything hut genuinely excellent
—the forms of most of them are
simply beautiful.
One of these Kanaka women at the
dock on this brilliant January after¬
noon was as beautiful in face ancl form
as an empress—in a way of primitive-
ness, of course. She was clad like
the rest of the women of her r ice.
Yet she was stately, eveu in her bare
feet—which were small and perfectly
formed. She was fully five feet ten
inches iu height, and the white silk
cord with which, unlike the other
Kanaka women, she drew her white
dress about her waist, emphasized the
splendid, heroic proportions of her
figure. Her glistening, raven-black
“Don’t G-i-cr© Up tlx© Sliip.”
BUCHANAN, GA., FRIDAY, DECEMBER!). 1898.
Lair hung straight down below her
waist. Her features were of the
aquiline, classic mold, her skin a dark
olive, with a film of rose under her
great black eyes. Kaomouna, who
had been one of King David Ivala-
kaua’s flower girls, was a woman such
as many a young student, day-dream¬
ing in the quartier Latin, would have
given worlds to see—famous painters
did see her, and portray her.
Kaomouna, surpassingly beautiful,
seemed quite unconscious of her
beauty on this brilliant January after¬
noon. The young shipping clerks,
hurrying to and fro on the dock, with
their pencils behind their ears,
stopped suddenly when they caught
sight of her, and their stole off be¬
hind bales of goods, in order that
they might observe her carefully, un¬
observed themselves. The women in
the carriages who had not been long
down from the States or from Europe,
saw Kaomouna, and asked the women
of longer Honolulu residence. “Who
is that glorious creature?” Kaomouna,
with g, very sad face, spoke only an
occasional word to one of the Kanaka
women. Her voice was a deep con¬
tralto, like the harmonious monotone
of palms and the sea, heard from a
The Australia was made fast to the
pier, and the passengers began to
troop over the gangway. There was
one man with his pretty young wife
and three-year-old little girl. The
little girl was the first to catch sight
of Kaomouna as she reached the bot¬
tom of the gangway. She quickly
freed her hand from the grasp of her
father’s and rau toward Kaomouna
with baby words. Kaomouna smiled
at the little girl, but did not offer to
take her up. Instead, she folded her
arms, looking down at the little pink¬
faced child pleasantly. The child
hung onto her skirts, and was thus
found by her mother. When the
mother had taken the little girl, she
raised her eyes to look at Kaomouna.
She gave a start—as, indeed, all men
and women did, who first gazed upon
this woman, who had been King David
Kalakaua’s flower girl.
“Did you ever in your whole life
see such a perfectly beautiful woman?”
asked the young wife of her husband
in a whisper when he came up. “And
Tita seemed to take to her immediate¬
ly. If we could only have her for a
nurse for Tita!”
Kaomouna heard her.
“Kaomouna would Love to be that,”
she replied in a soft Kanaka-accented
speech, smiling. Then a look of pain
darted across her face. “But it may
not be—it may not be —’’and with her
hands on her eyes Kaomouna turned
suddenly and disappeared among the
departing men and women of her
race.
Three months later the parents of
the little girl —they had come from
the States to settle in Honolulu—were
at the dock together to witness, for
the first time, the saddest sight in this
world—the departure of the lepers
from the Island of Molokai. The
Kilauea Hou, the lepi** steamer, was
out iu the stream, and the lepers were
being carried out to her in barges. A
litter was borne through the roped in-
elosure for the lepers. On it lay a
very old Kangka woman, loathsome in
the fiual stages of the disease. At
the side of the litter, walked Kao¬
mouna, still as beautiful as ever, with
no tear sad. in her The eyes. parents J^t of the her^face little was girl
very official
wondered. They spoke to au
of the Hawaiian board of health, who
was busy in the task of’embarking the
lepers. does
“Surely, ” they said, “she not
accompany the lepers?”
“Who, Kaomouna?” replied the
health official. “Oh, yes, she does,
but it is her own choice. Kaomouna,
you know, has been secreting her old
mother, who, as you perceive is a
leper in leprosy’s advanced stage for
a number of years. We always knew
there was something mysterious about
Kaoniouua—that is, we have known
it for the past five years. She had
made queer visits to a palm hut far
over iu the Nuuami valley. Last
week we followed her—we felt there
was leprosy in it. We found her
mother in the but—Kaomouna had
had her in hiding, trying to save her
from Molokai, ever sinee the disease
became evident. Kaomouna is not
infected in the least—she has been
careful. But she elects to follow her
mother to Molokai, and she will be a
leper herself after a while. Extraor¬
dinary' 1 Why, not at all! You do
not understand the filial devotion of
Kanaka women—men, too, for that
matter. Such cases are common
enough.”
The parents of the little girl looked
at each other. There were tears in the
mother’s eyes.
“That is why she folded her arms
and would not touch Tita!” she <aid.
“In this world of God, civilized or
uncivilized, could tliero be anytliiug
more noble?”
All was ready,and the Kilauea Hou,
with Kaomouna and her mother on
board, slowly started down the har¬
bor, the Kanakas on the dock setting
up the weird, wild chant of farewell
which is always sung when the leper
ship sails.
WORKMEN’S ACCIDENTS.
Days on Which They Are Most Frequent
anil Why.
Dr. Wolff of Strasburg, probaby
one of the best authorities in Ger¬
many on workmen’s accidents, lias
been investigating some interesting
and important questions. First, on
what day of the week do most acci¬
dents occur? Second, at what hour
of the day? Dr. Wolff bases his gen¬
eralizations on 1071 oases of accidents
which happened in his own district
during 1897. Mondays and Fridays
are the days when most accidents oc¬
cur, because, according to his state¬
ment, the drinking shops are most
frequented by workmen on the days
previous, viz., Saturdays, Sundays
and Thursdays. Fewer accidents hap¬
pen on Tuesday thhn on any other hSfy
of the week because on no day are
drinking houses so empty as on Mon¬
day.
With reference to tho hours of the
day, Dr. Wolff states as an undoubted
fact that the hours after breakfast,
dinner and the afternoon rest are
those signalized by most accidents.
He attributes this to lassitude, caused
by the work of digestion, and to the
use made by men of intoxicants dur¬
ing menl times.
He also establishes the fact that iu
factories where the meal hours are
greatly curtailed there is an excess of
accidents over the factories where the
men are more liberally treated in this
respect. If Dr. Wolff’s statistics can
be corroborated by extending these
investigations to larger areas, temper¬
ance reformers will be in possession
of another powerful argument.
Colors of Uniforms.
The question of the color of sol¬
diers’ uniforms has often been dis¬
cussed from many points of view, and
a number of theories as to the best
shades for the battlefield have been
proposed, only to be upset by subse¬
quent experiments or practical experi-
ence. In Germany the subject has
again been approached, and the re¬
sults of a series of thorough experi¬
ments are not only most interesting,
but quite at variance with the ideas
on this subject previously held, A
squad of men was selected for the
tests, and two men were clad iu dark
gray, two in scarlet, two iu blue, two
in light gray aud two in green, As
they marched across the country their
movements were carefully watched,
and it was found that the first to dis-
appear from sight were those wearing
light gray, and then successively those
in scarlet, dark gray, blue, and finally
those in green. The next test was
made-at the rifle-range, to find which
color afforded the worst mark for tho
rifleman, and 20 .soldiers, all expert
shots, weke employed at the experi¬
ments. Here it was found that the
scarlet was by far the most difficult
color to hit, and there were recorded
three misses for the scarlet target for
one of any other color.- These experi¬
ments are quoted iu the British army
by. those in favor of retaining the his¬
toric red coat, as good and scientific imi-
evidence in favor of the scarlet
form.—New Evening Post.
A Bottle’s Bong: Cruise,
The example of the Prince of Mon¬
aco in “liberating” sealed bottles on
the high seas in order to test the di¬
rection of ocean currents, was fol¬
lowed by Sergeant T. M. Owen, of the
Natal Caribineers, on his voyage to
England to take iu the jubilee cele¬
brations, says the London Chronicle.
While iu the XJmfuli, off' the coast of
Spain, on June 5, 1897, he dropped
overboard a bottle, containing a suit¬
able piece of printing, The derelict
has been picked up in tho West Indies,
having taken just under twelve months
to journey across the North Atlantic,
following the trade route from Eng¬
land to South America. — Philadel¬
phia Record.
The Canadian senate is the most
patriarchal of contemporary upper
houses, one-third of its members
being in the seventies, flve iu the
eighties, aud one ninety-four.
LITTLE HAMPERED BY BLINDNESS.
Kemarkablo Things Doha by ji Sightless
Man in the Hoosier State*
John Walther, who lives within two
miles of Clinton, Ind., has been blind
from birth. Until he reached man¬
hood John lived on the farm with his
father, and it was not uncommon to
see him driving to the city with a
load of corn, wheat or other farm prod¬
uce. A piece of ground was given
to him, and each year he would plant
and cultivate a big garden, which he
would market in Clinton and place
the proceeds to his credit in the bank.
He would buy horses, cattle and hogs.
Even when a boy he was regarded as
a good trailer. It is now a common
occurrence for John to stop in the
middle of the road and trade horses
with some jockey, and it is said that
he is never worsted. He will go to
any part of his father’s large farm,
unattended, in search of a truant horse
or cow, and his searches are usually
suecessfirl. How he manages to distin¬
guish the stock fi r which he is search¬
ing is a question which puzzles every¬
body, and a mystery which the blind
man himself cannot or does not ex¬
plain.
When he decides to come to town
he goes to the woods and, with appar¬
ently as little difficulty as a man blessed
with two good eyes, selects his favor¬
ite horse from perhaps a dozen grazing
in tliO|pusture. He has each season
for years made a hand in the harvest
field, and the farmers regard him as
one of the fastest and most reliable
wheat “shockers” in the neighbor¬
hood. It was three years ago during
harvest that the blind man’s
became entangled in the machinery
of a harvester anil suffered a broken
arm. As soon as the accident occurred
John started on a run from the field
to the barn and began hitching a
to a spring wagon.
He worked rapidly, and when the
men hove the injured man to
house the blind boy had the team
hitched up, driven out in the road
ready to start with his brother to a
doctor iu this city. He drove almost
at breakneck speed, made the turns
the streets after reaching the city,and
brought his horses to a standstill in
front of. a do ct or’.! ogEo. After as-
sisting the wounded brother Tip the
stairway into the office he drew out
his watch, slid his index finger quickly
around the dial, and, with a sigh, re-
marked. “Just hall-past 10—1 was
only twelve minutes driving to town.”
There is no work on the farm that
the blind man cannot do, aud during
idle times he builds and repairs fences.
He can lay the “worm” for a rail fence
as well as any man, and prides him¬
self on the rapid manner iu which he
gets along with the work. He built a
plank fence along the gravel road in
front of the Walther house. The line
is perfectly straight, while the work¬
manship on the fence aud gates is not
excelled by many men who can see
aud who profess to be carpenters.
England's Good Wishes.
The brotherly feeling shown by
Great Britain for America is not en¬
tirely an outgrowth of our war with
Spain, but was most touchingly ex-
dressed a score of years ago by the
English novelist, W. Clark Russell,
in “The Wreck of the Grosvenor,”
where, in chapter 27, in telling his
story in the first person, he gives a
most vivid description of the slow
sinking of tlffi ship he was in and the
anxiety with which he looked for a
rescuing sail,
He describes the joy on sighting an
approaching bark, aud, after telling
^ow she brought her bows astern of
us > writes :
“At the same moment she hoisted
Russian colors. I-was bitterly disap¬
pointed when I saw the flag. I should
have been equally disappointed by
the sight of any other foreign flag un¬
less it were the stars and stripes,
which floates over brave hearts and is
a signal to Englishmen ns full of wel¬
come and promise, almost, as their
own loved bit of bunting.”
Queer Result of a Cycle Accident.
At Sydenham, Christchurch, New
Zealand,a cyclist named William Har¬
per, when riding home after attending
a dance, ran full sjjeed into a night
cart which was standing parallel with
the footpath, resulting in his almost
instantaneous death. No evidence of
external injury was apparent about
the deceased, but au autopsy revealed
the fact that his liver was completely
torn in two. Being a member of the
Cycling Volunteer company, he was
accorded a military funeral, at which
over ten thousand people were pres¬
ent.—Cycling Gazette.
NO. 2
THE MODERN “YOUNC CHINA.”
Hi* Sympathies Ail With the Poo?
People — Wishes ( oilapHe of Dynasty.
The modern type of “Young Chinn”
is chiefly a product of America, Hong
Kong and the treaty ports, it has ac¬
quired the rudiments of an English
education together with a smattering
of information on many questions of
tlie day. It is largely employed in
Ynmen secretariats, in the telegraph
and China merchants’ offices, and in
the clerkships of foreign firms; but,
except in very rare cases, the sweets
of office fall not to his share. This
type—which is in China what the
Baboo is in India, but in an earlier
stage of development—is rapidly in¬
creasing and its iullueuce is gradually
spreading.
Springing generally from the lower
middle classes, the foreign educated
Chinese of Hong Kong and Shanghai
possesses an instinctive antipathy whom to
the representatives of literati by
the plebs have been misruled and
“squeezed” for centuries—au anti¬
pathy which even his ragged educa¬
tion serves to increase. In writing
and in speech his denunciations of
the existing systems of government
ave loud and bitter, and having per¬
sonally nothing to hope from that
system, he freely advocates the col¬
lapse of the dynasty and the intro¬
duction of foreign methods, wherein
his opportunity would probably occur.
Together with the “three It's” of a
missionary school course he has ac¬
quired sufficient knowledge of the
Chinese written language to enable
him to earn his liviug (pending the
revolution) as a translator, and this
knowledge he frequently devotes to
the edification of his fellow-country¬
men in the columns of the vernacular
prC ‘ S . But fTower his literary style education) is^not
ft - s the fine of native
and therein his classical rival is placed
at an immense advantage in appealing
to the general reader. For the Chinese
mind—still in the thraldom of ages—
J s powerfully affected by literary
style, irrespective of the virtue or
wisdom of the writer, and this feature
is likely to obtain for many years to
come, in spite of the emperor’s dimiu-
ishing territory, and the advances
made by western innovation,—Con¬
don Times.
AVliat It Means to Walk. 1
The man who is content with a mod-
est average of six miles’ walking a
day scarcely realizes that every twelve
years he walks a distance sufficient to
girdle the earth at the equator.
Startling - as this simple calculation
is, he may be excused a feeling of in¬
credulity when he learns that in walk¬
ing this distance he has expended
sufficient energy to raise our thirty-
eight first-class battleships a foot
high.
It is calculated that in walking an
average mile a man uses sufficient
energy to" raise 17 1-2 tons to the
height of a foot, or conversely a ton
(of coals, say) to three times his own
height. The mere thought of such a
feat is sufficient to deter a man from
taking the most modest constitutional.
Thus every year the man who walks
six miles a day does sufficient work to
raise a ton weight to a height equal
roughly to one and a half times that
of Mont Blanc, or to raise all the gold
current throughout the world a foot
higher than his own head.
A tramp of eighteen miles a day in¬
volves as much exertion as the day’s
work of an ordinary laborer; aud the
young athlete who lightly undertakes
a holiday walk of forty miles expends
.more energy on it than two hard work¬
ing navvies put into a day’s labor.—
Tit-Bits.
Only One Way.
Someone tells a story of a judge who
could not control his temper and so
could not coutrol other people. One
day there was unusual disorder in the
court room,and at last the judge could
endure it no longer.
“It is impossible to allow this per¬
sistent contempt of court to goon,”
he exclaimed, “audI shall be forced to
go to the extreme length of taking the
one step that will stop it!”
There was a long silence; then one
of the leading counsel rose and with
just a trace of a smile inquired: “If
it please your honor, from what date
will your resignation take effect?”—
Youth’s Companion.
Groom In? Horses by Electricity.
The electric current is now applied
to operating horse-grooming machin¬
ery, less than three minutes being
sufficient for going over an animal.
Horse-clippers can also be operated by-
electric power at high speed..