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10 GEORGIA SCENES. (Continued from page 7.) not too fine; for Soap stick bears up her ball well. Take care and don’t touch the trigger, until you’ve got your bead; for she’s spring-triggered and goes mighty easy; but you hold her to the place you want her, and if she don’t go there, dang old Roper.” I took hold of Soap stick, and lapsed immediately into the most hopeless despair. lam sure I never handled as heavy a gun in all my life. ‘‘Why, Billy,” said I, ‘‘you little mortal, you! what do you use such a gun as this for?” ‘‘Look at the bull’s eye yonder!” said he. “True,” said I, “but I can’t shoot her; it is impossible.” “Go ’long, you old coon!” said Bil ly; “I see what you’re at;” intimating that all this was to make the coming shot more remarkable; “Daddy’s little boy don’t shoot anything but the old Soap stick here today, I know.” The judges, I knew, were becom ing impatient, and, withal, my situa tion was growing more embarrassing every second; so I e’en resolved to try the Soap stick without further par ley. I stepped out, and the most intense interest was excited all around me, and it flashed like electricity around the target, as I judged from the anx ious gaze of all in that direction. Policy dictated that I should fire with a falling rifle, and I adopted this mode; determining to fire as soon as the sights came on a line with the diamond, bead or no bead. According ly, I commenced lowering old Soap stick; but in spite of all my muscular, powers, she was obedient to the laws of gravitation, and came down with a uniformly accelerated velocity. Be fore I cold arrest her downward flight, she had not only passed the target, but was making rapid encroachments on my own toes. “Why, he’s the weakest man in the arms, I ever seed,” said one, in a half whisper. “It’s only his fun,” said Billy; “1 know him.” “It may be fun,” said the other, “but it looks mightily like yearnest to a man up a tree.” I now, of course, determined to re verse the mode of firing, and put forth all my physical energies to raise Soap stick to the mark. The effort silenced Billy, and gave tongue to all his com panions. I had just strength enough to master Soap stick’s obstinate pro clivity, and consequently my nerves began to exhibit palpable signs of dis tress with her first imperceptible movement upward. A trembling com menced in my arms; increased, and extended rapidly to my body and lower extermities; so that by the time I had brought Soap stick up to the mark, I was shaking from head to foot, exact ly like a man under the continued ac tion of a strong galvanic battery. In the meantime my friends gave vent to their feelings freely. “I swear poin’ blank,” said another, ‘that man can’t shoot.” “He used to shoot well,” said anoth er; “but can’t now, nor never could.” “You better git away from ’bout that mark!” bawled a third, “for I be dod darned if Broadcloth don’t give some of you the dry gripes if you stand too close there.” “The stranger’s got the peedoddles,” said a fourth, with humorous grav ity. “If he had bullets enough in his gun, he’d shoot a ring round the bull’3 eye big as a spinning wheel.” said a fifth. As soon as I found that Soap stick was high enough (for I made no fur ther use of the sights than to ascertain this fact), I pulled the trigger, and off she went I have always found that the most creditable way of relieving myself of derision was to heighten it myself as much as possible. It is a good plan in all circles, but by far it is the best that can be adopted among the plain, rough farmers of the coun try. Accordingly, I brought Soap stick to an order with an air of triumph; tipped Billy a wink, and observed, “Now, Billy’s, your time to make your fortune. Bet ’em two to one that I’ve knocked out the cross.” “No, I’ll be dod blamed if I do,” said Billy, “but I’ll bet you two to one you hant’ hit the plank.” “Ah, Billy, said I, “I was joking about betting, for I never bet; nor would I have you bet; indeed I do not feel exactly right in shooting for beef; for it is a species of gaming at least; but I’ll say this much: if that cross isn’t knocked out, I’ll never shoot for beef again as long as I live.” “By dod,” said Mealy Whitecotton, “you’ll lose no great things at that.” “Well,” said I, “I reckon I know a little about wabbling. Is it possible-, Billy, a man who shoots as well as you do, never practiced shooting with the double wabble? It’s the greatest take in the world, when you learn to drive the cross with it. Another sort for getting bets upon, do the drop sight, with a single wabble! And the Soap stick’s the very yarn for it.” “Tell you what, stranger, you’re too hard for us all here. We never nearn o’ that sort of shootin’ in these parts.” “Well,” said I, “you’ve seen it now, and I’m the boy that can do it.” The judges were now approaching with the target, and a singular com bination of circumstances had kept all my party in utter ignorance of the result of my shot. Those about the target had been prepared by Billy Curlew for a great shot from me; their expectations had received assur ance from the courtesy which had been extended to me; and nothing had happened to disappoint them but the single caution to them against the “dry gripes,” which was as likely to have been given in irony as in ear nest; for my agonies under the Soap stick were either imperceptible to them at a distance of sixty yards, or, being visible, were taken as the flour ishes of an expert who wished to “astonish the natives.” The other par ty did not think the direction of my ball worth the trouble of a question; or if they did, my airs and harangue had put the thought to flight before it was delivered. Consequently, they were all transfixed with astonishment when the judges presented the target to them, and gravely observed, “It’s only second best after all the fuss.” “Second best!” exclaimed I, with uncontrollable transports. The whole of my party rushed to the target to have the evidence of their senses before they would believe the report; but most marvelous for tune decreed that it should be true. Their incredulity and astonishment were most fortunate for me; for they blinded my hearers to the real feelings with which the exclamation was ut tered. and allowed me sufficient time to prepare myself for making the best use of what I had said before with a very different object. “Second best!” reiterated I, with an air of despondency, as the company turned from the target to me. “Sec ond best only? Here, Billy, my son, take the old Soap stick; she’s a good piece, but I’m getting too old and dim sighted to shoot a rifle, especially with the drop-sight and double wabbles.” “Why, good Lord a’mlght!” said 811- ly, with a look that baffles all g ascrip tion, “ain’t you drlv the cross?'* “Oh, drlv the cross!” rejolred 1, carelessly. “What’s that! Jus*, look where my ball Is! Ido believe In my soul Its center Is a full quarter of an Inch from the cross T wanted to lay THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. the center of the bullet upon the cross, just as if you’d put it there with your fingers.” Several received this palaver with a contemptuous but very appropriate curl of the nose, and Mealy Whitecotton of fered to bet a half pint, “that I couldn’t do the like again with no sort of wabbles, he didn’t care what.” But I had already fortified myself on this quarter by my morality. A decided majority, however, were of the opinion that I was serious; and they regarded me as one of the wonders of the world. Billy increased the majority by now coming out fully with my history, as he had received it from his father; to which I listened with quite as much astonishment as any other one of his hearers. He begged me to go home with him for the night, or, as he ex pressed it, “to go home with him, and swap lies that night, and it shouldn’t cost me a cent;” the true reading of which is, that if I would go home with him, and give him the pleasure of an evening’s chat about old times, his house should be as free as my own. But I could not accept his hopsitality, without retracing five or six miles of the road which I had already passed, and therefore, I declined it. “Well, if you won’t go, what must I tell the old woman for you for she’ll be mighty glad to hear from the boy that won the silk handkerchief for her, and I expect she’ll lick me for not bringing you home with me.” “Tell her,” said I, “that I send her a quarter of beef which I won, as I did the handkerchief, by nothing in the world but mere good luck.” “Hold your jaw, Lyman!” said Billy, “I an’t a gwine to tell the old woman any such lies; for she’s a rale regular built Meth’dist.” As I turned to depart, “Stop a min ute, stranger!” said one; then low ering his voice to a confidential, but distinctly audible tone, “What you of fering for?” continued he. I assured him I was not a candidate for any thing, that I had accidentally fallen in with Billy Curlew, who begged me to come with him to the shooting match, and, as it lay on my road, I had stopped. “Oh,” said he, with a conciliatory nod, “if you’re up for any thing, you needn’t be mealy-mouthed about it ’fore us boys; for we’ll go In for you here up to the handle.” “Yes,” said Billy, “dang old Roper, if we don’t go our death for you io matter who offers. If ever you come out for anything, Lyman, jist let the boys of Upper Hogthief know It, and they’ll go for you to the hilt, against creation, tit or no tit, that’s the tatur.” I thanked them kindly and repeated my assurances. The reader will not suppose that the district took its name from the character of the Inhabitants. In almost every county in the state there is some spot or district which bears a contemptuous appellation, us ually derived from local rivalships, or from a single acidental circumstance. HALL. ft ft ft A young woman receiving instruc tion in piano playing was told one day by her Instructor that she was a “Christian pianist.” On the way home she debated what might be meant by the expression. Her father also con sidered the “compliment” as doubtful, and meeting the Instructor a few days later asked why hts daughter had been called a “Christian pianist.” “Oh, sir,” was the reply, "I smply meant she didn’t 'et her right hand know what her left hand does.” —Philadel- phia Record. ft ft ft Tom Watson and his home are il lustrated In his magazine for Februa ry. Everybody Is Interested In what this great southerner does and owns.— Girard. Ala., Workman THE SANTO DOMINGO TREATY. The new treaty with Santo Domingo, submitted to the senate yesterday by the president, provides that the United States shall guarantee the payment by the black republic of a bond issue which is intended to be devoted to the extinguishment of its foreign debt. The sale of the bonds, it is said, is assured as soon as the senate ratifies the compact. The bonds will not bring par, although they ought to be as good as United States bonds with this gov ernment’s guarantee behind them. It is proposed by the treaty that the United States shall collect the cus toms revenues of Santo Domingo for a period sufficient to insure the pay ment of the bonds. The bonds are to run for fifty years, and it is sup posed that the occupation of Santo Domingo’s custom houses by American officials will last that long. In order to make certain that the revenues will be collected, the United States binds itself to preserve order in the island. The chaotic state of affairs in San to Domingo and the large claims held by foreigners whose governments cling to the policy of collecting private claims by force, when necessary, re quire that some kind of action should be taken by the United States if it is to avoid disputes with European gov ernments. The occupation of Santo Domingo for fifty years by the United States will be regarded, we believe, as preliminary to the inevitable annexa tion of the country. But what is the alternative? Can the United States acquiesce in the occupation of Santo Domingo for any length of time by any foreign power? If it cannot, what excuse can it offer for its attitude of refusing to intervene between San to Domingo and Its creditors and at the same time preventing the latter from obtaining redress otherwise? The president’s argument is that if the Monroe doctrine is to be enforced, the United States is bound to see that San to Domingo settles her obligations to foreigners. The question arises whether this government is imperatively required to run Santo Domingo’s financial ma chinery in order to keep European powers out. The United States does not use force in the collection of its citizens’ claims against other nations, yet it has not objected, up to the pres ent time, to the employment of force by other powers against delinquent American republics under the protec tion of the Monroe doctrine. Is it not time that such a policy should be adopted? If the United States was strong enough seventy-five years ago to prevent the permanent occupation or colonization of American territory by any European power, it should be strong enough and courageous enough now to prevent the collection of pri vate debts by force. American citi zens dealing with foreign governments do so with the knowledge that this government will not lend its guns to the enforcement of their contracts. Europeans should be made to under stand that their dealings with Amer ican republics cannot be followed by the use of force on the part of any power.—Washington Post. ft ft ft TOM WATSON IN MISSISSIPPI. (Special to The Georgian.) Jackson, Miss., Feb. s.—Thomas E. Watson was given a big ovation here this morning by the Farmers’ Union of Mississippi, which met today. Mr. Watson delivered a rousing address at the Century Theater this morning. His address was along the same line as his recent speech at Atlanta. An audience of about 1,500 heard Mr. Watson’s speech at the theater.— Cordele, Ga., Rambler.