Newspaper Page Text
» «
THE t
, * k
4 ffi y •FV. A 0 * V ♦
VOL. VIII.
RAILROAD ACCIDENTS
NOT SO FREQUENT IN RECENT
YEARS.
Travel on American Trains Safer Now
Than Ever Before — Work of Guard¬
ing Against Accidents Is Being Dill'
gently Followed Up.
There are 50,000 flagmen, switchmen
and line watchmen employed on the
rajlroads of the United States, and the
•dalles which devolve upon them relate
primarily to the security of passing
trains. The use b,v them of lanterns
at night and flags by day, while de¬
sirable in a small way as a measure
of protection, especially at crossings,
is by no means so important as the
' signal Ughts which are displayed from
towers and whm-fi are regulated by tel
graphic communication maintained
long the lino of track. Under the sig
rules adopted by the American
road association, thb application of
Jvhich Rhe United is general States, not only Mexico throughout and
but in
■Canada as well, a red light whenever
displayed signifies danger and calls for
a stop; a green light cautions and com¬
mands “go slowly;” white indicates
safety and commands “Go ahead.” A
blue flag by day and a blue light by
night displayed at one or both ends of
an engine, car or train signifies that
workmen are engaged on or about it.
When thus- protected it must not be
dis-j^bed. eral One effect of the more been gen¬
use of uniform signals has
the steady reduction of the number of
fatalities on American railroads, the
total number of which is now consid
less than it was ten years ago,
in the meantime railroad travel
rs increased enormously. The total
ficah ’jpber of passengers carried on Am- far
railroads in a year is not
jn,5C0.jtoiL,0QQ. passeiigere and the k.ertge «•-«>-ofcj less tti
ities to an
- 250, or less than one two-thousandth
of 1 per cent. While the number of
passengers carried is increasing, the
number of accidents is diminishing in
■jsosequence of the fact that while
Arne railroad accidents appear to be
absolutely unavoidable, serious acci¬
dents entailing the wreckage of trains
and wholesale disasters are very much
less frequent than formerly. The adop¬
tion and maintenance of a complete
system of railroad signals entails at
considerable railroad 1
expense upon
companies, but it is much more than
taRde up by the advantages attained,
which include greater security in
travel, a high rate of speed for pas¬
senger trains, a much diminished dan¬
ger of track obstruction and a practi¬
cal diminution in the number and
success of suits brought for damages.
The work of making travel safe on
American railroads is going ahead even
faster than is the work of railroad
bjjttding, ISlfw York actively Sun. resumed Since 1897.—'
PAPA FROG AND THE TADPOLES
His Children Cling: to Hi« Back Till
They Are Big Enough to Leave.
A male frog with little tapoles liv¬
ing on his back was discovered lately
by Dr. August Brauer of Marburg, Ger¬
many. For a little fellow it has a
pretty long name, but perhaps its pa¬
ternal devotion has earned it the long
Latin name, arthroleptis seychellensis
boottger. It has been noticed befora
that in some species of frogs living ini
Venezuela and the island of Trinidad
the male bears the young on its back,
to which they hold by their mouths.
But thi 3 new species is the first one
on which so many as nine little ones
$|pre discovered, and besides they do
not hold on by their mouths, hut seem
to be stuck to the papa frog's back and
sides by some gummy substance which
holds them in place until they are
large enough to care for themselves.
It is a wonderful device of nature, that
the female sometimes deposits her
eggs on the back of the male, where
they hatch out, and the little tadpoles
Ifrow until they attain a certain size.
- Such is, of course, not the case with
our common frogs, but in these rare
-species only lately found by natural¬
ists Is a strange reversal of what seems
to us to be the usual law that the
,§! mother species takes the care eggs of are the not young. laid on In
back of the male, hut on the
ground, and only after they are
hatched do they take up their position
papa’s back. And there they ride
they are big ■ enough to walk
[round and look for their own food.
‘To thme own self be true,and it will follow, as night the day, thou cans’t not then be false to any man.”
LINCOLNTON, GA . THURSDAY JULY 12, 1900.
ONE AMERICAN PAA1ILY
The Joys Expanded Across the Continent In
245 Years.
James R. Joy writes as follows in
the Chautauquan: The founder, Thos.
Joy, came over from England as a
young, unmarried man of twenty-five,
with his fortune to make. He settled
in Boston, married the daughter of a
bay pilot and Indian trader, and hegal
sons and daughters, whose births and
baptisms, marriages and deaths, are
written in the records of the town and
church, and printed in the precious
“Report of the Boston Record Com¬
missioners.”
Four generations have brought us
down to 1750, and the great-great¬
grandchildren of tlie emigrant have not
yet left the tidewater region; it was not
until the seventh generation that the
family began to spread abroad. The
fifth and sixth show slight wanderings
from the seaboard into the new inland
tiers of townships, for which lands
were being granted to the older
settlers, after the cessation of the
French and Indian wars in 17(,t3. In
the* seventh generation New England
becomes too small. One man goes (0
Ohio and makes a fortune in farm im¬
plements. Three brothers go to Mor¬
gan County, Illinois, 1n 1838, to spy out
the land. Settling there with other
neighbors from New Hampshire, they
create a little prairie colony of New
England farmers, clustering about a
white Congregational meeting-house.
Their children and grandchildren have
crossed the Mississippi and settled in
Colorado, and California, as merchants
and professional men. Another man
of the seventh generation finds his life
work in Detroit. Still another of the
Salisbury families, after turning north¬
ward into New Hampshire, and later
trying its fortune in Maine, goes to
the ninth generation from Thomas, the
emigrant, are now in their cradles or
in school, and three out of every four
of them have been horn beyond the
limits of New England. It was not un¬
til 1880 that the first scion of this
branch touched the Pacific coast at San
Francisco. Tilt family had been 215
years in crossing the continent.
A Royal Architect and Gardener.
Kings are generally supposed to owe
their distinction to their exalted posi
tion. It is said of King Leopold of
Belgium, however, that if he were not
King of the Belgians, he would be a
king among architects, or among
landscape gardeners. prob
His taste in these directions is
ably more marked than his taste for
ruling, for it is well known that he de¬
tests the ceremonials of royalty, and
is never so happy as when inspecting
and correcting designs for a new build¬
ing or planning the laying out of an
estate.
Brussels has much cause to be grate¬
ful to him in this respect, since it is
to the keenness of his eye for the beau¬
tiful in landscape that she owes many
of her open spaces from which delight¬
ful views of the country can be ob
tained.
The summer palace of the King and
Queen of the Belgians is at Laeken,
a suburb of Brussels. It is an estate
of about 300 acres, and the park and
grounds plainly show the influence ci
the King’s love of horticulture and
floriculture. They have been so beau¬
tifully laid out that they are the pride
and delight of h:-s subjects. The King
himself superintended the opening of
every glade and the arrangements of
every group of trees.
Since the Queen shares with her hus¬
band a great fondness for flowers, and
since Laeken is her favorite residence,
it is not surprising that the conserva¬
tories there are said to be the finest
private conservatories in the world.
They were begun in 1874, and have
been added to from time to time since.
—Youth Companion's.
A Queer Name.
There is a woman’s outing club ur
In Maine, composed of a dozen Port¬
land feminines that glories in a name
which has proved a puzzle to pro¬
nounce and an equal puzzle as to mean¬
ing. For ten years these women have
preserved their secret, hut it has just
leaked out that Rammejheckt, the club
name, is composed of the first letter ol
the Christian name pf each of th«
members.
A Pistol ur.ja Pen.
A great deal is being written about
the wonderful marksmanship of the
Boers, and it is stated as a fact that
when a boy reaches the age of eigh¬
teen lie is presented with a fine rifle by
the Transvaal government.
But no men in the world are so ac¬
complished in the use of firearms as
our own Texan cowboys, One of
these, Betmeeky by name, Is the sou
©f a gunsmith and only a boy in years.
His favorite rifle trick and probably
the most remarkable on record is tb
throw a brick high in the air breal
jug it into two pieces with one shot
and then with two succeeding shots lie
shatters each of the two pieces syid
all before the fragments reach the
earth.
Joseph Tumlinson, a famous Texap.
was very proud of writing his initials
on a tree with a six shooter as he
galloped along on his broncho.
Even more astounding is the per¬
formance of still another Texan,
Adolph Loepperwein, who draws por
traits on a board by a rapid suedes
sion of revolver shots. Among artist!
he should rfnk as an impression!bit
certainly he makes an
the board.
This is,
/ vs. 8. G. Tarver,
..■"•-a
X
Manager oi the
ISSIl EAT EASTERN
if 1 Sfc-- SHOE CO.
*•
■; ■ * Ulrou ‘ -;’W .
R. G. TARVER, • all Know Him!
_
He is the
SELLS THE BEST SHOES
ON EARTH FOR THE MONEY.
If you want Good Shoes Cheap, do not fail to see him. Call at
KIT EASTERN SHOE HUM,
907 Broad Street, Augusta, Ga.
PROFITING BY A PEST.
Australia Sells For Food the Rabbits
She Cannot Exterminate.
Everybody has heard of the extraor¬
dinary ravages of the European rab
bits that were introduced into Aus-:
tralia years ago. The animals were
imported so that the British subjects
who had removed to the antipodes
might enjoy the sport of rabit hunt¬
ing. They had more sport than they
bargained for and the whole country
regrets the days the little animal was
introduced to Australian scenes. Therd
are many millions of them now and
the little nibblers eat the grass, de¬
stroy fields, orchards and gardens and
are the great nuisance of the country.
The rewards offered by the various
colonies for some sure way of destroy¬
ing the pest would make the fortune
of the man who should discover the
process. Today, however, the Aus¬
tralians appear to be a little mor4 re¬
signed under the infliction. The idea
occurred to them, a while ago, that
they might utilize the animal on a
large scale as a commercial commod¬
ity. So they set to work to kill rab¬
bits by the thousands, can the ineat
and send it to Europe in cold storage.
Australian canned rabbit sells [it a
cheap price in the British markets and
is beginning to be largely consumed
by those who cannot afford very often
to indulge in prime beef. Australia
has found a new industry and who
knows but some day, the rabbit may
come to be regarded as one of the
great resources of the continent?—
New York Sun.
Wide open eyes are indicative of
rashness.
Whoever makes one hour suffice
where before two hours were needed
to cover a given distance lengthens
life. "Time is money” is an inadequate
expression. Time is life. Enable us
to do in a day, a mqntb or a year what
our fathers could only do in two days,
months or years, and though we die at
fifty wc are centenarians. Therefore
it is a large piece of news, full of hu¬
man interest, that one of the German
steamship companies is building an At¬
lantic liner that will plough her way
| from Sandy Hook to Queenstown in
* little over four days. Twenty years
eight days was a swift run. Halv
| ing the running time of ocean liners
is the same as doubling the lifetime of
ocean travellers. The twentieth cen¬
tury will be remarkable for the tremen¬
dous lengthening of the life of man.
Very few of its people will live less
than a hundred years, measuring their
lives by their increased opportunities
for either work or play. And after all
is not that the only rational way to
measure it? “We live in deeds, not
years; in feelings, not in' figures on a
dial.” and “he most lives" who travels
fastest, sees, hears and mentally ab
sort's most and generally “gets there”
soonest and "with both feet,' reflects
the New York World.
The Chameleon’s Revenge.
“Mercy! What is that crawling
thing?” shrieked four young ladies in
the Walnut Hills floral bazaar, as they
pointed to a diminutive lizard-like rep
tile crawling on the cup of atulip.
“That," said Itoswell Brooks, with
the air of one who knows, “is a c-hame
j e on from Brazil, ladies. We received
it this morning. Observe, ladies, if
you please, that the reptile changes
color to accord with that of the oDject
upon which it is placed. It is at pres¬
ent crimson in color because it is
crawling on a crimson tulip.”
“Dear me!" saiu the girls, in chorus.
“How strange!”
•II now take the chameleon from the
tulip,” said Brooks, with the air of
a professor of natural History, “and
place it against my eheeck. What col¬
or is it now?”
“Green!” cried the girls.
And so it was. The animal had turn¬
ed a light shade of green, in spite of
Brooks’ furious blushes. Scientific gen¬
tlemen in the neighborhood were un¬
able to account for the color it as¬
sumed, as Mr. Brooks is anything but
green.—Cincinnati Enquirer.
Wise Cat*
Th®^ are the three reflections of
Theophile Gautier’s cat when she first
saw a parrot: “This is certainly a
green chicken,” wa's her first thought.
Succeeding it, came the conclusion;
“Chickens, even if green, are good to
eat.” Then she sprang upon the
perch, and the parrot shouted at her
in French. “Ah,” thought pussy, “it
can’t be a chicken at all! It must be a
gentlema"
NO. 0.
ANIMALS AFRASD OF GHOSTSi
Many Members of the Brute Creation
Fear the Supernatural.
There is a widespread belief in south
Germany, in Ireland, in Scotland, andf
I know not how many countries, that
horses and dogs have “an instinct” for
uncanny realities. In Germany the
popular notion is that no horse will
pass by the place where the body of
a suicide lies, or even by the spot
where someone has committed suicide,
or where an execution has taken place.
This is something different from the
repugnance that all horses have to the
neighborhood of a slaughter-house.
Only two days ago a Tyrolese horse of
very docile disposition, driven careful¬
ly by his Italian owner, was greatly
upset at having to pass two widely sep¬
arated government shambles, used for
supplying meats to the crews of Italian
warships. He whs also greatly dis¬
gusted at having to go near a scaven¬
ger’s cart. His protests, however, were
mild compared with the behavior of
horses under “uncanny” influences.
The Moro’s owner said: “A horse has
a keener nose than any dog,” and he
talked soothingly to him; “didn’t
know why that dirt cart was always in
the same place,” “well-welled” him
and told him “the slaughter-house was
fifty yards off his road," and so forth.
In "haunted” quarters, on the other
hand, the horse refuses with determin¬
ation; he trembles, snorts, is covered
from head to heels, in time, with a
white foam, his eyes roll and shoot
fire and the end is sometimes a bad
accident, sometimes a hard-fought vic¬
tory for the driver, sometimes his ig¬
nominious defeat. I could name Irish
cross roads past which almost every
horse in the county refused to go quiet¬
ly after dark. The last purchase from,
maybe, the other end of the island
might he taken to the spot without any
(possibly Indoctrinated) equine com
Pa^y-/,to frighten him, but he unlail
tried the unhallowed grcjuifu.Rhe local
explanations were various; that the
land on one side was “cursed,” that
formerly criminals were executed and
then buried at many cross roads, and
possibly here, and that the fir trees
and a castellated lodge in one angle of
the Intersecting ways made the spot
terribly dark, and so on.—London
News.
Every Man Is a King.
Only one people and one little vailey
south of the equator whose sovereign¬
ty has not been claimed by some Eu¬
ropean power now -remains. It is the
valley of Marotse, fifty or sixty miles
wide, north of Liauli, in South Africa,
and the only reason why the Marotse,
who inhabit it, have preserved their
independence is that England and Por¬
tugal both claim it, and, therefore, the
work of “civilization” is at a stand¬
still.
It may not be as easy to conquer
the Marotse when the time comes, for
they are a tall, well set up race, very
black of skin.
In manners they are very courteous,
and in bearing dignified. Every full
blooded Marotse Is by birthright a
king, and takes his place in the aris¬
tocracy of the empire. In fact, as
every one is king, there is no head
ruler.
The bare fact that he is a Marotse
insures the respect of the subservient
tribes, and as l*e grows to manhood
a sense of superiority usually implants
in the native tiio dignity of self-re¬
spect. All the labor is done by slaves,
who have been captured from neigh
boring tribes.
/To Smoking in ADysslnla.
Three travelers, one of whom is an
American, were in Abyssinia recently.
One afternoon after their midday cof¬
fee they lit cigars. Hardly had they
done so when an official who was pass¬
ing informed them through an inter¬
preter that smoking was prohibited in|
that country, and that it would be well 1
for them not to indulge in the practice
in public. The travelers took the hint.
The use of tobacco, they learned after¬
ward had been prohibited in Abyssinia
since the year 16-12. At that timet
priests were in the habit of smoking
in churches, and the main object of
the law then passed was to stop this,
practice. After a few years, however,
the law was made applicable to all
classes of the people, and today strang¬
ers In Abyssinia are politely informed
that if they want to smoke they must
go where none of the natives can sea
them or can smell the seductive weed.