Newspaper Page Text
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MO KG ANTON, GA.
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Postmaster General Wanamnker
recommends promotions as the best
plan for increasing the efficiency of
the postal service.
The mortality among the poor, ac¬
cording to reliable European statistics,
Is in proportion of SO to 18 to that
unong the wealthy.
The New York World claims that
“in more than half of the 106 counties
of Kansas the Farmers’ Alliance is
taking steps towards defeating the
foreclosure of farm mortgages.”
An English paper has the politeness
to state that American lady delegates
made the brightest and most effective
speeches at the great meeting of tho
British Women’s Temperance Asso¬
ciation.
___
Charles Emory Smith,United States
minister to Russia, says he did not try
to learn the Russian tongue while he
was at St. Petersburg; for all educat.
ed people there speak English, French
and German fluently.
r In Europe wherever the sugar-beet
is grown tlie value of the land has in¬
creased. Beets are grown for two or
three successive years on the same
land, which will then produce better
cereals and other farm products.
The Japanese language is said to
contain 60,000 words, every one of
which requires a different symbol. It
is quite impossible for oue man to
learn tho entire language, as a well
educated Japanese is familiar with
only about 10,000 words.
The New York News says: Under
the jury law in Minnesota, five-sixths
of the jurors are enabled to render a
legal verdict. This will minimize tlie
temptation to tamper with these guar¬
dians of justice, as well as offset the
Bullishness of the man Who knows
that lie is right and all the others are
wrong.
__
It is very hard to convince people
that sending “duns” on postal cards is
an offense against the law, observes
the St. Louis Star-Sayings. It cost
an Illinois man $45 to appreciate this
fact, while the debt he tried to collect
was but $5. Nine hundred per cent,
is a heavy commission to pay for col¬
lecting a debt, especially, as in this
case, the debt wasn’t collected after all.
E. Deville, the Surveyor General of
Canada, has introduced a speedy
method of surveying in the Rocky
Mountain region of the Dominion. It
is to photograph the country by a
specially designed camera, which is
carefully levelled and adjusted. Mr.
Deville considers the photographs as
accurate as a plau laid down by means
of a very good protractor, The
method is likely to be useful in mil¬
itary operations.
As the government of Morocco
slowly dies of dry rot the eyes of
France—that France which is doing
so much in north Africa just now—are
greedily turned upon the land of
mosques and white walls and palm
trees. But Spain’s mouth has been
long watering at the same prospect,
and Germany and England may find
it to be to their interests to aid her
and oppose the stronger claimant. To
the American it matters little, confes¬
ses the Washington Star, whether the
last sigh of tlie Moor is breathed in the
ear of the Gaul or of the Iberian.
A short time ago a man entered a
savings bank in New York, presented
a * pass-book, answered the teller’s
questions, signed a receipt and was
given $681. The real depositor, from
whom the book bad been stolen,
brought suit against the bank to re¬
cover the amount wrongfully paid,
and Judge Beach, before whom the
case was tried, directed a verdict for
the defendant. As the depositor’s
signature was in possession of the bank
officers, the question of negligence
would seem to the Philadelphia Record
to be an open one, notwithstanding the
legal decision.
A new plan has been adopted by the
municipal authorities of Home, Italy,
to prevent adulteration. Recognizing
the fact that tlic public can gain but
little knowledge from the annual re¬
ports of food inspectors, they have re¬
quired the names of all makers and
tellers of alimentary substances inju¬
rious to health, or adulterated, to be
published in the daily papers.
One remarkable feature of the grip,
muses the San Francisco Chronicle, is
the extent of its spread. It has pene¬
trated to the frozen north and to the
Antarctic wastes; in fact it lias almost
rivalled Puck’s feat of putting a gir¬
dle about tho earth. It is noteworthy
that it has proved most fateful among
simi-civilized people, its ravages
among the Esquimaux and the Chinese
being very great. This mortality was
due probably to poor sanilary rules
and lack of medical attention in
Alaska and in the Orient.
p- ■ -----------
Photographs of a novel form ap.
pear m the handsomely Illustrated
Boot and Shoe Recorder. Two young
women smiling \o» each side of an
enterprising looking young man
make up the firm of Lewis, Reilly &
Davies of Scranton, Penn. This sort
of a business trio, comments the Bos-
ton Transcript, probably exists no¬
where else. Tiicy have been in busi¬
ness for three years and make a success
of it. Wo are not told whether or
not Mr. Reilly is a brother-in-law or
cousin of either Miss Davies or Miss
Lewis, but the writer of the Recorder
article says mournfully that Mr.
Reilly did not introduce him to either
of his partners.
Recent statistics show au enormous
developmeni of the frozen-meat trade
between New Zealand and England.
In 1882 the number of frozen sheep
exported to England was only 8839.
In 1890 tho number had risen to
1,562,047. The transit charges now
amount to only l-8d. per pound, and
it is probable they will soon be re¬
duced to the even penny. Curiously
enough, the frozen-meat trade in
Australia has not expanded in any¬
thing like the same degree, but a lead¬
ing Sydney journal remarks that
“what with the steady reduction in
the cost of freezing and freights, the
spread of the taste for frozen mutton
at home, and the inevitable increase
of our flocks and herds, we have good
reason to see in tlie food requirements
of England and Europe an almost nn-
touched and inexhaustible mine of
wealth for Australia.”
Of tho aggregate population of the
United States fifty years ago only a
little more than forty per cent, inhabi¬
ted the cities. The ratio had increased
from something more than three per
cent, at the time of the establishment
of the government the half century be¬
fore. As the most remarkable in¬
stance of rapid increase of population,
New York had only 33,000 inhabitants
in 1790, and in 1840 the number had
grown to 313,000. The population
of this city, asserts the Mail and Ex¬
press, is now about 1,600,000, and the
ratio of population in the cities has in¬
creased from twelve to thirty percent,
of the total, or more than 18,000,000
out of the grand aggregate of 65,000,-
000 of population in the whole coun¬
try. With this most astonishing ratio
of increase of population in cities, the
accumulating of enormous wealth has
maintained an equally rapid pace.
The oft-repeated questioa, Why do
Englishmen mafry Americans? is
commented upon by the British Court
Journal, the point having no doubt
been inspired by the wedding of Sir
William Gordon-Cumming and Miss
Florence Garner. According to this
paper the reason is: “The American
girl is beautiful; she has a piquant
figure and dresses in excellent taste.
She is shrewd and often wise; she is
self-dependent, straightforward and
courageous.” In fact, it sums up the
article in the followingmanner, which
cannot be deemed other than flattering
by the greatest stickler for America
and its daughters: “She can, as a
wife, adorn a ducal mansion, or make
tlie money of a not too rich husband
go twice as far as it would in the
hands of an ordinary woman.”
“Therefore,” continues this journal,
“they have been eagerly sought in
marriage by the leading men of all
countries and have made the best
wives.”
Unconquered.
Deem not, 0 rain, that tbqu shalt vanquish
me,
Who know each treacherous pang, each
last device
Whereby thou barr’st the soul from Para¬
dise!
At least, who suffers constantly
Tliy joyless fellowship, may gain
The lessons—only taught by Pain,
And know, tho’ broken, that his will
Subdues thee still!
Man was not born the slave of things like
thee
And thy companion, Death: the livelong
day
He valiant strives, and bolds you still at
bay;
And when he can no longer see
For thick’ning shadows—faint and spent,
He bears bis standard to his tent
And yields ye seeming victory;
But—he is free!
— [Florence Coates, in Independent.
g^UFFED BANKER,
A STORY FROM RUSSIAN HISTORY.
The Russian officials in the time of
Catherine II., or before or since her
flay, for that matter, were never par-
*ticular or exact in their orders, even
when it concerned tho hanging of a
man or the knouting of a serf. Even
foreigners were exposed to the com-
billed zeal and stupidity of these gen-
try.
A rich English capitalist, Sunder¬
land by name, residing in St. Peters,
burg, enjoyed the friendship of the
empress in consequence of his having
given her an Italian greyhound, of
which she was very fond.
One morning he was awakened
early by bis valet, who said to him:
“Sir, your house is surrounded by
soldiers, and the chief of police in¬
sists on speaking with you.”
“What can he want of me?” ex¬
claimed the banker, jumping out of
bed, and in a panic already over an
announcement which in Russia gener¬
ally has a terrible significance.
Ml do not know, sir,” replied the
attendant, “but it seems to be an affair
of the greatest importance, and which,
according to him, can be communica¬
ted only to yourself.”
“Let him come in,” said the banker,
hastily putting on his clothes.
The valet went out and came back
in a few minutes afterward conduct-
ing the chief of police. A single
glance at his face convinced the banker
that he was the bearer of some very
serious matron.' The Enghsh-
mail dill not> ] lowover , abate in the
3 iig-ljtest degree his usual urbanity in
bis we i come 0 f the official; offered
him a chair and begged him to be
seated. But his visitor declined it
with thanks by a shake of his head,
stood upright, and, in as sympathetic
a tone as he knew how to assume, ad-
dressed the banker:
“Mr. Sunderland, you may well
belive that I am distressed beyond
telling at having been selected by her
most gracious majesty to carry out a
decree whose severity afflicts me, but
which, without doubt has been pro-
voiced by some great crime.”
“What great crime? Who .has com¬
mitted it ?” cried the banker.
“You, undoubtedly, sir, since it is
to you that the punishment is com¬
ing.”
“Sir, I swear, that I have in vain
scrutinized my conscience, and I can
find nothing with which to reproach
myself toward our sovereign, for yon
know that I am a Russian by natural¬
ization.”
“It is just because you are a natural¬
ized Russian that your position is so
terrible. If you were a subject of his
Britannic majesty you could call on
the English consul for protection, and
so, perhaps, escape the rigor of the
orders 1 am charged with enforcing.”
“What then, your excellency, are
your orders?”
“Oh, sir, I have scarcely strength to
tell you.”
“Have I then lost the esteem and
favor of her majesty ?”
“Oh, if it were only no worse than
that!”
“What do you mean? Are they
talking of sending me to England?”
“If it were only that do you sup¬
pose I would hesitate so long about
telling you?”
“Great God! You alarm me. It is
surely not exile to Siberia?”
“Siberia, sir, is a delightful coun¬
which has been greatly miarepre
sented. Besides people come back
from there.”
“Am J, then condemned to
prison?”
1 -Prison is nothing. Ono can leave
a prison.”
“Sir, sir!” cried the banker, more
and more terrified. “Am I destined
to the horrible knout?”
“The knout is a very painful pun¬
ishment, but the knout does not
kill.”
“By the Divine goodness!” cried
the panic-stricken Sunderland, “ it is
death then?”
‘ ’And such a death! ” said the chief
of police raising his eyes with an ex¬
pression of profound compassion.
“Such a death!” echoed the English¬
man. “ It is not enough that I am to
be killed without trial, assassinated
without cause? Has she ordered any¬
thing more?"
“Alas! yes. She has ordered-”
“Well; speak on sir. What has she
ordered? I am a man of courage. Tell
me!”
“Alas! sir, she ordered—if she had
not given it to me personally I declare,
Mr. Sunderland, I never would have
believed it.”
“You put me to death a thousand
times. Come, let me know what
orders she has given you.”
“She has ordered mo to stuff you
alive.”
The poor banker uttered a cry of
distress, then looking the chief of
police squarely in the face, lie said:
“But, your excellency, this is mons¬
trous. Have you lost your reason?”
“No, sir, not at all, but I shall go
,
crazy during the operation.”
“But how could you take such an
order? You have told me a hundred
times that you were my friend. I
have had the good fortune of being of
some service to you. Ilow, then,
could you take such an order without
trying to make her majesty compre¬
hend its utter barbarity?”
“I did what I could. No one in
my place would have dared do as
much. I begged her majesty to give
up her project or at least commission
somebody besides me to carry
it out. I did so with tears in
my eyes. But her majesty answered
in that tone, which, as you know, ad¬
mits of no reply: ‘Go, sir! do not for¬
get your duty, and fulfill, without
murmuring, the commissions I charge
you with.’”
“And then?”
“And then,” continued the chief of
police, “I visited immediately a very
skillful,naturalist, who stuffed the
birds for the Academy of Sciences;
for, since the thing must bo done, 1
thought it ought to be done in the
highest style of ihe art.”
“And did the wretch consent?”
“On account of the close resem¬
blance between the human and the
monkey species, lie sent me his broth¬
er, who has stuffed apes.”
“Well!”
“Well, he is waiting for you.”
“Waiting for me! Is it to be done
at once?”
“At once. Her majesty will permit
no delay.”
“Not even to give me time to put
my affairs in order. This is impossi¬
ble.”
“It is so, sir.”
“But you will give me time enough
to send a note to the empress.”
“I am afraid I ought not to.”
“Listen! This is a last favor—one
that is not refused of the worst crimi¬
nal—I beg of you.”
“I risk my situation.”
“But my life is at stake.”
“Well, write it! I will permit it.
At the same time I must warn you
that I cannot leave you for a single
instant.”
“Thanks, thanks! Only have one
of your officers come to take the
letter.”
The chief of police called a lieuten¬
ant of her majesty’s guards, handed
him the note and bade him bring back
the reply with all possible haste. In
ten minutes the lieutenant returned
with an order to bring the banker to
the imperial palace. This was all he
wanted-
A carriage was waiting at the door.
Sunderland entered it, tho lieutenant
taking a place by his side. In five
minutes they were at the Hermitage,
where she was waiting for them. The
condemned man was taken into her
presence. He found he almost burst¬
ing with laughter. Sunderland thought
she must be crazy, but, throwing him¬
self at her feet and seizing her hand,
he exclaimed:
“Pardon, your majesty. In Heaven’s
name, pardon me, or at least tell me
for what crime have I deserved this
horrible punishment?”
“My dear Sunderland,” said the
empress, “you are not concerned in
this nffnir at all.”
“How, your majesty! I am not in¬
terested in it? Who, then, is?”
“The dog you gave me, and which
I named after you, died yesterday of
indigestion. My grief was so great
that I wanted at least to preserve his
skin. So I told that fool of a chief of
police: ‘Have Sunderland stuffed.’
He hesitated, and I thought ho was
ashamed of the affair. I got angry
and he went away.”
“Well, your majesty, you can boast
of having in him a faithful servant;
but next time I beg of you to make
your orders to him very much clearer.”
As a matter of fact, if the police
superintendent had not been influenced
by the bankers appeals, poor Sunder¬
land would have been stuffed alive.—
[Detroit Free Press.
Wedded in a Tennis Court.
There have been weddings in bal¬
loons, yachts and store windows, but
Milford Center, a small place near
Springfield, Ohio, can probably lay
claim to the first lawn tennis wed¬
ding ever solemnized in the country.
For some time Andrew Bates lias been
laying siege to the heart of Miss Ber¬
tha Stokes. Both parties are the
champion tennis players for miles
around. Ono day Mr. Bates was press¬
ing Miss Stokes to name the
day for their marriage. “You may
name it yourself if you will have the
ceremony performed in the tennis
court,” said Miss Stokes. “Agreed,”
said the young man. A day or two
ago 200 guests gathered on the spa¬
cious lawns of the beautiful country
place of Asa Bates, father of the
groom. The bride and groom were
dressed in jaunty tennis costumes, as
were the bridesmaid and groomsman.
The four finally engaged in an excit¬
ing match. Right in the middle of it
Rev. Mr. Wardell of Milford Center
walked out on the lawn to tlio tennis
court and raised his hand. The game
was stopped and the contracting par¬
ties clasped hands, and in a few min¬
utes the marriage vows had been
spoken, Jliss Stpkes and Mr.
Bates wore man and wife. After the
bridal kiss had been given they seized
their racquets and finished the game.
A splendid wedding banquet and an
old-fashioned barn dance followed.—
The Austrian Executioner.
In Austria criminals are put to
death by strangling or shooting, ac¬
cording to the sentence of the court.
The gibbet is used at executions of the
former kind, and Professor Storneck,
as lie is called, the most noted of Aus¬
trian executioners, has been detected
in practices very much resembling cru¬
elty. A few years ago he used to put
an iron gag in the mouths of prison¬
ers to prevent them from utterance.
The practice had for a long time passed
unobserved, until at length it was dis¬
covered by the local press. The “Pro¬
fessor” excused himself on the ground
of necessity,but he did not do it again.
The shooting of criminals would have
been altogether substituted for strang¬
ling but for the objections on the part
of tlie soldiers to be detailed for any
such purpose. This fact and the re¬
luctance to use the gibbet have tended
to bring about the virtual abolition of
capital punishment in Austria, except
in the worst cases. Besides, as the
emperor grows older, he grows more
tender toward his subjects.—[St. Louis
Republic.
A Steeple Climber’s Feat.
The great illuminated cross which
for eighteen years capped the steeple
of St. Stephen’s Catholic Church,
Hicks street, Brooklyn, has been re¬
moved. The cross was six feet high
and weighed eight hundred pounds.
The difficult task of removing was
performed by Charles J. Kent, a
steeple climber. The cross was fixed
320 feet above the sidewalk. The as¬
cent was a perilous one. Kent went
up 200 feet of the distance inside of
the steeple and then got outside and
climbed to the top by way of the
lightning rod. A great crowd watched
him and everybody felt relieved when
he got down safely. The cross used
to be lit up at night and could bo seen
sixty miles from Sandy Hook. Navi¬
gators complained that it interfered
with them and the pastor of the church
discontinued the illumination.—[New
York Press.
