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W By T. R. LLOYD.
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They were blamed idiots, both of
'em. But I’m not holdin’ that up
against any man when there's a girl
in the case # Nell was all right, too,
mind yer, as girls go—red hair, full
form, fire an’ all that sort of thing—
but she couldn't play soft. Had to
be things doin’ when she handled
the bow—with her novel-readin’ no
tions of heroes and trusty swords and
ridin’ into death's ways before you
could kiss the tip of her finger. Oh,
shucks! I hate bein’ harsh on the
child, but good men are too blamed
hard to lay your hands on these days,
to want to see them go under before
their appointed time, all along of a
whim and a little lace. All right,
I’m gettin’ there. The drive had
come down pretty slick that spring,
no serious accidents or nothing, and
we were just holdin’ the logs above
the last dam till we had got enough
water to float them out onto the
home stretch. The boys lied around
in the shade of the cook-house and
chewed their pipes and cursed a
little and waited —thinkin’ on the
settlement only thirty mile away and
pay-day just ’round the bend. The
second day we heard the squeakin’
of wheels and Nell appeared on the
scene, havin’ buggied out to wish us
luck and with greetings from the
home folk —that’s what she said.
I’m guessin’ different, and seed later
I guessed right.
We all jumped to our feet, bein’
mighty starved for the sight of a
pretty face, but Angus Carmichael
was Johnny-on-the-Spot all right and
had the honor of liftin’ her out and
receivin’ a smile that would ’ave
softened a pike-pole. We were all
right envious of Angus, but big Jim
Connors was the only one weak
enough to show it. They’d been run
nin’ neck and neck for favors all that
winter and weren’t too friendly about
it either. The other boys had long
since dropped out and were just
waitin’ around to hold the coats and
pick up the pieces. Jim butted in
between Angus and the smile and
grabbed her hand so she winced.
“Right glad ter see yer again.
Nell,” says he. “Ain’t yer goin’ ter
let me have the pleasure of drivin’
yer back ter the settlement this af
ternoon? Yer said 1 could sometime
and I’m not needed here jest now,
you know.”
Nell looked up at him out of the
points of her eyes: “Maybe, Jim,
we’ll see.”
Angus was lookin’ sort of pale in
spite of the tan. “She’s already
promised me, Jim, but of course she
knows what she wants, and I’ll step
aside if she says the word.”
Connors swung ■ ’round quick,
blazin’ mad. “Go to blazes, you! and
mind yer own business!” His fists
were stuck out in Carmichael’s face,
and we looked for. things happenin’
right there. Nell did too, I guess,
for the look of scorn on her face
when Angus jest gave a gasp and
stepped back wasn’t pretty to see.
“I’m thinkin’ yer didn’t hear
straight, Mister Carmichael,” she
said softly. “I wouldn’t be feelin’
safe with a coward at the reins!”
"No, I’m not a coward, Nell, and
yer know it. If Jim wasn’t a heap
sight better man with his fists than
I be he wouldn’t be so free with his
speech. Now ask him if he feels like
runnin’ the dam with me or no and
we’ll see whose scared.”
We held our breath when we
heard that, for though Connors was
about the best man on a log in the
province, not barrin’ Carmichael
either, the devil himself couldn’t do
the trick and live. Nell knowed it
as well as we did, but by Jimminy
she jest stood there with the hot sun
flamin’ on her red hair and a little
smile on her face that said plain as
day: “Will yer let him dare yer,
Jim?”
Yer could hear the throbbin' of
the dam cornin’ up under yer very
feet, though it was really round the
bend below', and it didn’t sound pretty
ter Jim’s ears as we could see. He
pulled the battered felt off his head
and mopped his forehead with a red
bandanna, but I guess none of us felt
much sympathy for him, seein’ as
he’d got himself into the hole.
There was a twenty-eight foot head
of water behind the dam. Then
there was a sluice sixty foot long
and ten wide where the water ran
smooth and swift as greased light
ning, till it shot out on the apron
and was carried some eighty feet far
ther over a ledge of rocks. Near the
lower end of the apron the water
was that shallow that though a small
log would shoot out straight and drop
into the pool below almost horizontal,
the big sticks would drag and tip
and go over head first and not rise to
the surface for a couple of hundred
feet below.
The pool was as ugly a bit of wa
ter as I’ve ever seen. Boilin’ and
eddyin’, and chock full of undertow's
that w’ould drag a human body down
among the jagged rocks on the bot
tom and Sweep it back under the
apron and spit it out hundreds of
feet below in a condition that weren’t
,pretty tc see.
As Angus had given the dare, he
had to go first, and the rest of us
climbed out onto the rocks close to
the water as we could get, with pike
poles and ropes for life-savin’ duty.
Nell stood on the top of the bank
where she could see good and plain.
A small spot of red burnt in each
cheek and her eyes were shinin' bril
liant.
“Take a rough, solid-barked log,
Angus,” yells out Boss Murray. “It’ll
give yer a better grip if she dives,
and for God’s sake hang on to it till
she clears the eddies! We’ll git you
then.”
“I’ll keep on the sunny side of her,
Jack, don’t worry,” and Angus runs
lightly out on the loose floatin’ logs
that are held back by a boom from
goin’ through the sluice. He picks
one out, pushes it through a gap
where the chain joins a couple of
the boom logs and jumps aboard.
“Ain’t yer goin’ ter use a pole?”
hollers Terry.
“N aw —by-bye!” and we see the
blamed goat is runnin’ it empty
handed.
The log now began to step along
lively and entered the upper end of
the sluice. As' it dipped to the in
cline, Angus bent forward with his
fingers touchin’ the rough bark and
his eyes on the boilin’ caldron below
him. He sure looked cool and steady
crouchin’ there, while the log rocked
from side to side and plunged
through the sixty foot of sluice. At
the foot of this where the water
struck the less steep apron, the back
surge made a wave that jumped up
most eight feet high. As the timber
struck, this, Angus leapt into the air,
cleared most of it and lit on his stud
again as fine as you please.
Murray yells, “Pretty work!” and
then we holds our breath.
The log as it neared the end of
the apron begun to drag, but be
cause of the weight on the back end
didn’t go over perpendicular as we
feared. It shot far out, dipped sharp
and plunged into the roaring mess
of yellow W'ater.
But Angus kept his head, you bet!
At the last moment he threw himself
flat on the log and wrapped his arms
and legs around it, and crash! they
disappeared, and the foam swished
over. He told us later that it weren't
much fun down ther. He seemed to
be goin’ right on down to hades, while
the currents tore and bit and
wrenched, and pieces of bark and
chips and sawdust cut and bruised
him every place at once. And his
one little thought all the time was
jest to hold on till he bust and trust
in God.
After a few years of this sort of
thing he begun to see sky-rockets
and hear cannon crackers and then
a flood of sunlight hit him in the
face and he knew he’d come back to
the family.
I reckon it was nigh as long a time
to us as to him before the log hove
in sight and we were allowed to
move our lungs again. We certainly
let out one Indian ear-splitting yell
that made the noise of the dam sound,
pale. Angus climbed right side up,
sprang onto a jutting log and walked
ashore and into our arms.
Nell stood up there and waved her
kerchief at him, but his eyes were so
full of sawdust I reckon he didn’t
see it, for he never so much as
glanced in her direction.
The first words he said were:
“Don’t let Jim try it, boys! God
ain’t goin' to give two return tickets
to hades, and that’s certain!”
“You’re too late,” says Little Bill,
“he’s a-comin’ now.’*
And he was all right, with his hair
blowin’ back and his face white as
milk—slickety-pelt down the sluice,
till he struck the wave, made a spring
that miscarried somehow and fell
plump on his back three feet behind
the log. Didn’t look any too cheer
ful for Jim, just then!
The rest of the way down they
didn’t change their positions none,
though Jim kept clutchin' wildly at
the log beyond his reach, knowin’
that he didn’t have no chance for life
if he didn’t get it. We couldn’t do
nothin’—jest watch!
Then the stick shot into the shoaler
water and dragged just a bit, and as
it went over we seed Jim catch up
and clutch the log, then his hands
slipped, his arms straightened out
with a jerk and both of ’em sunk be
neath the foam.
Well, we were right certain he had
got a grip and again stopped breath
in’ and waited for the log to show up.
After a time it did saunter to the
surface and we seed a hand dingin’
to a projection on the side of the
timber, and then slip off.
Angus hitched a rope around him
and jumped into the pool and made
a desperate fight to get out, but in a
couple of strokes he was jerked clean
under and we started pullin’ him
back again. Yer can imagine our
amazement when we discovered we
were draggin’ the two of them in!
The blame cross-currents had ham
mered Jim plump into Angus’ arms
and couldn't get ’em apart again.
Well, Connors was pretty nigh all
in and we lugged him off to the bunk
house, but Angus was as chirp as a
sparrow after we'd poured a little
stimulant down his guilet. We were
crowdin’ around shakin’ hands with
him and congratulatin’ him when Nell
pushes through, lookin’ mighty
ashamed of herself and rather scared,
too. I guess she'd been gettin’ a
bigger dose of real life than she had
bargained for.
“I'm right proud of you, Angus,”
she begun gentle, “and reckon I
spoke a little too quick a few mo
ments ago. I ain't forgot what I
promised you, and am ready to start
whenever you say.”
“Thanks, Nell,” says Carmichael,
lookin’ her straight. "I knows yer
didn’t mean what yer said, but the
truth is I’m all tuckered out after so
much excitement and bathin’ and
guess I’ll let one of the other fellows
drive yer back to the settlement.”
Angus turned and walked up the
bank. —From the Outing Magazine.
STATE CLEANINGS.
/
Postmasters appointed: Braswell,
Paulding county, Rose Crossley, vice
E. J. Singleton, resigned; Lavender,
Floyd county, Nathan H. Bass, vice J.
A. Erwin, resigned; Leslie, Sumter
county, Elizabeth A. Watkinson, vice
I. H. Wilkinson, dead; Lambert, Lib
erty county, Melissa Miller, vice E. M.
Hammond, resigned; Harris, Merri
wether county, Geo. W. Jenkins, vice
James E. Carriker, resigned.
Standing Master J. N. Talley, in the
Tift lumber case, has set June 15 as
a date upon which a number of claims
against the railway lines involved will
be heard.
The first car of watermelons of the
season arrived in Atlanta Monday.
The melons came from Umaville, Fia.
The annual convention of the Fun
eral Directors 'Association of Georgia
will be held in Atlanta on June 16-17.
J. B. Hart of Macon is the president
of the state association. The execu
tive committee is G. H. Brandon of
Atlanta, chairman; E. L. Alman of
Mansfield, W. I. Wilson of Augusta
and J. B. Hart of Macon.
The infant child of Mr. and Mrs.
Barefield of Lithia Springs was drown
ed in a tub containing about two and
one-half inches of water.
The master plumbers of Atlanta
who pay SSO a year for the privilege of
doing plumbing in the city limits are
complaining, owing to tile fact that
journeymen plumbers are not taxed.
They are able to compete with the
master plumbers on Atlanta work and
not be subject to the tax. The matter
has been taken up by the Atlanta
council.
Frank Hunter, who shot and killed
Frank Wilson on April 30th at Val
dosta in a quarrel over politics, was
found not guilty by the jury, after
remaining out several hours. Hun
ter introduced witnesses to show that
Wilson was advancing on him with a
knife when he fired.
For many months there has been
an unusual demand for residences in
Cuthbert and on account of their lack
quite a number of families have been
deprived of the privilege of moving
there. Some of the citizens are awak
ening to the emergency and several
new residences are going up. They
are rented before they can be built.
The R. F. D. carriers of the sixth
and tenth congressional districts met
in Milledgeville and had one of the
most successful meetings yet held.
They selected Griffin for the next
annual convention.
County School Commissioner J. O.
A. Miller has just completed the
school census of Spalding county,
showing there are 1,731 white and
1,967 colored children of school age
in the county, or a total of 3,698,
which is a decrease of 90 since the last
census was taken in 1903. But the
census of the city of Griffin will show
an increase of several hundred, thus
showing an increase of population for
Spalding.
J. J. Weaver, indicted by the Ful
ton county grand jury for the alleged
forgery of Columbus clearing house
certificates, is in jail at that place. W.
O. Bowden, who was also indicted, is
under bond and so is C. E. Davis, of
Rome. No date is set for the trial.
On Sunday in Macon a special com
mittee from Tattnall Square Presby
terian church was appointed to call a
pastor for the church to fill the va
cancy made by the resignation of Rev.
D. N. McLaughlin. Rev. Mr. Laughlin
will leave Macon on June 10th for
Austin, Tex., where he has accepted a
call to the First Presbyterian church.
In the future all ‘‘flat wheel” street
cars found in operation in Macon will
be ordered to the car barns by the
policemen and both the conductor and
motorman will have cases made
against them for violating a city or
dinance.
An ordinance to regulate the sale of
“near beers” in Macon, both at re
tail and wholesale houses, was intro
duced in council. The ordinance pro
vides a license of S2OO for the retail
ing of “near beers” and $250,f0r the
wholesale dealers.
W. P. Autrey, a prominent young
lawyer, who came to Ocilla a few
months ago from Young Harris, died
of typhoid fever after a short illness.
He was buried at Molena. He was
married only eleven days before his
death.
Seaborn A. Wright was shot and
instantly killed at Eastman by Gus
Ragan. Both are of prominent fami
lies.
Recent destructive storms Which
have swept over Georgia and adjoining
states was caused by a series of nine
tornadoes, according to a statement
issued by the weather department.
Mrs. C. A. Meitzler of Savannah,
aged 75 years, committed suicide by
taking poison because she was about
to be evicted from property she had
owned for years and upon which a
mortgage had been foreclosed.
Atlanta is to have a $400,000 cracker
and candy factory, to be built by
Harry L. ’ Schlesinger on the site of
his factory, which was burned in the
big terminal fire.
Columbus held a tag day to secure
funds for a public park.
The statements of the five banks of
Americus show aggregate resources of
nearly one and three-quarters millions,
an increase over three years ago of
■seven hundred thousand dollars.
The Macon County Bar Association
has effected a temporary organiza
tion at Oglethorpe, Ga. Judge J. A.
Edwards was elected chairman and C.
L. DeVaughn secretary'.
SCHWAB SEES PROSPERITY.
States Progress of the United States
Cannot be Retarded.
Detroit, Mich. —Speaking Saturday
at the annual banquet which closed
the convention of the International
Master Boilermakers association.
Charles M. Schwab, former president
of the United States Steel corporation,
predicted that in ten years the annual
production of steel in this country
would be forty million tons, as against
twenty-five million in 1907.
Nothing, he said, could retard the
progress and prosperity of the United
States.
CONFIDENCE
IS HALF THE BATTLE
HOPE AND CONTENTMENT
IS THE SECRET OF LIFE!
When you buy, buy from people you know, in whom
you have confidence and whom you can trust.
You know OSCAR BLOODWORTH
You have known and trusted him all his life and never once have you
been deceived by him. He is a Wwith pride. He is a member of the
every Wilkinsonian can point to ilkinson county product, and one that
new firm of
Bloodworth & Stembridge,
MILLEDGEVILLE, GA.
IF YOU WANT TO BUY
Dry Goods, Shoes, Notions, Hats,
Clothing. Ladies’ and Gents’ Furnishings,
4^ TRUNKS. ETC.
He will tell you “what is what,” treat you right, sell you as cheap as
anybody or cheaper, and you can rely on what he says. His guarantee
means something, it means what he says. Satisfaction or your money
back. You can depend on it.
His goods are as good as anybody’s.
His prices are better than most of them 1
Mail Orders carefully filled and returned promptly. When in Milledge
ville call and see us.
BLOODWORTH & STEMBRIDGE,
HANCOCK STREET.
WHEN YOU GO TO MILLEDGEVILLE
CARRY YOUR
Watches, Clocks, Spec
tacles and Jewelry re
pair work to
jnniM
114 WEST HANCOCK ST.
ALL WORK GUARANTEED TO GIVE
PERFECT SATISFACTION OR YOUR
MONEY CHEERFULLY REFUNDED.
YOURS TO PLEASE,
J, S. LABAMORE,
Edwards’ Bottling
Works,
MILLEDGEVILLE, GA., U. S. A.,
THE HOME OF
Edwards Gold Crown Ginger Ale
SKY HIGH ABOVE
THEM ALL.
WE PAY THE HIGHEST PRICE.
For Every
Kind of Peas.
CHURCH SERVICES.
Irwinton Baptist. Rev. J. M. Kelley,
pastor. Preaching third Sunday morn
ing and evening and Saturday before.
Sunday school 3 o'clock p. m.
Irwinton Methodist, Rev. H. Stevens,
pastor. Preaching fourth Sunday
morning and evening. Sunday school
10 a. m. Prayer meeting Wednesday
evening at 7 o’clock.
Preaching at Poplar first Sunday 11
a. in. Toomsboro first Sunday even
ing at 7 o'clock. Salem second Sun
day 11 a. m. Balls third Sunday 11
a. m. Red Level fourth Sunday 3
p. m. t£
Spria Amokiml 1808
CHARACTER CLOTHING FROM SIO.OO TO $35 00
DOUGLAS SHOES FROM $2.00 TO 7 50
EUTAW HATS 3 00
MAJESTIC SHIRTS 1 00
GOLD BRAND SHIRTS 1 50
FINCK'S DETROIT SPECIAL OVERALLS, NOW 1 00
EVERY DEPARTMENT NOW COMPLETE AND WE CORDIALLY IN
VITE YOUR INSPECTION.
YOURS TO SERVE, ' 'a ’ .
I. KESSLER,
L. D. STRONG, - Manager,
116-418 Third St., MACON, GA .
ULLMANS
GENUINE
Gim-phosphate
Acts on the Kidneys-Stimulates the
Blood and gives quick relief.
Formula on every bottle.
<’"s4oo
prepaid JXmX
ImRS 1 ^B factory money
Sample Qt. $1.50 Cheerfully R®-
Ml PREPAID |lßl
ORDER DIRECT FROM YOUR NEAREST DEALER
OR DIRECT FROM FACTORY.
THE ULLMAN CO.
SOLE PROPRIETORS
CINCINNATI. OHIO.
Restaurant
And Confectionery Store
I HAVE RETURNED TO MILLEDGEVILLE, GA., AND OPENED
FIRST CLASS RESTAURANT AND CONFECTIONERY STORE IN^|
HORN BUILDING. NEXT TO JOHN CONN & CO. BEST MEA^gflM
HOURS. I WILL RUN AN UP TO DATE RESTAURMj^
PARTIC! LAR. AND I ASK THE PATRONAGE OF^
PROVE WHAT I SAY. YOURS T^^^K
Spiro
Prop™
