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__ _ ^ " ^ l. m. grist & sons, Publishers, t % J[amilg Deujspaper: 4or ^motion of the political, Social, Agricultural, and (Commercial Interests of the people. { term|i'nO$le02oApyY,1Ef^e1centsANC1 ' ESTABLISHED 1855. YORKVILLji]. S. C.5 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1900. NO. 13. THE CRUCI OF PHIL By REV. CHARL Author of "In His Steps: What Wou ^ Hardy's Sev Synopsis of Previous Installments * >?-Ao/loro Af TUP V.v Ill orucr Mint liuw i cavi ui o *'* m. mm ms m~*Mquirkr may begin with the following in stallmentot this story, and understand i just the same as though they had read i all from the beginning, we here give s synopsis of that portion of it which has already been published: Philip Strong, a minister, receives two calls ^ one to a college town, where he may live t w quiet, scholarly life, to his liking, the other t< a manfacturing town where there is plenty o work to do among the laboring classes. Hi accepts the more active field. Philip discov crs that a number of his wealthy parishioner have property rented for saloons and gambling houses. He Interviews one of them and i< advised that he had better not stir up tin matter. The next Sunday he preaches u|>or the subject, and Mr. Winter, one of his mosi V prominent parishioners, having property rent ed for such purposes, rises front his seat anc walks out of the church. The next morning Winter calls on the minister and resents what V he calls an insult to himself, then, threaten Ing to withdraw his support from the church retires ltt high dudgeon. The sermon creates great excitement, and the next Sunday a largi crowd attends Philip's church, expecting r sensational sermon; but Philip disappoint: them, preaching on a different subject entirely Philip attacks the saloons and preaches against them toa large congregation. Hecalls . upon his people to join with him in an at tempt to exterminate them. Later he leaves his house to visit a sick child, and a man on the opposite side of the street fires two shot al 1 fltnutrh Mfll nun. I'll 111p lias well uncivil VI...I.. * , mortally wounded. His assassin is arrested and. at Philip's request, is brought before him Philip assures him that he bears him no ill will and prays for him. Philip preaches on the Sunday question and makes new enemies, Coming home one evening, he finds his wife in a faint on the fioor. a knife stuck into the desk and two anonymous scrawls, one ad dressed "To the Preacher," the other "To tin Preacher's Wife." They were warnings tc leave the town. The minister's wife begs het husband to leave the field for another, but instead he prepares to continue the war against the devil there and in his own fashion. Philip v astonishes his parishioners by proposing tc move t heir church edifice into the tenement district. He speaks to the laboring men al their hall and unintentionally influences them against the rich by holding up the selfishness of many rich people. When he goes home, he is informed that a mob is tlmatening .Mr, Winter at his residence. Philip goes to the scene and rescues Mr. Winter from the mob Phlilp preaches against wasteful expenditure? when the poor are in need and is visited by h stranger who asks for food and shelter, whei tells his benefactor that he lives teio extravagantly for one who preaches against extrava. gance. Philip calls him "brother Man." Philip takes the words of the stranger tc heart and acts upon them. He requests his congregation to reduce his salary one-half and fit ui) the parsonage for a reluge for homeless children. Philip discusses his proposition with the trustees of his church, who oppose liis plan. I'liillp ts again visiieu uy me , "Brother Man." who encourages him. The sexton of Philip's church, a Negro, is converted and desires to join the church. Philip presents the nan e of the sexton to the church ^ committee on admission, and the candidate receives u majority of the votes cast. The sexton is rejected by the church. One who has been elected declines to be received into the church on account of the sexton's rejection, informing the members that tlie rejected man is caring for the son of his old master, who is in poverty and sickness. Philip goes to sec tlie sick man and administers the communion. Philip at the evening service throws up his arms, utters a cry and falls backward. He is taken home and recovers. Tlie next day he receives au important letter. It contains an v' otter of a professorship In the theological seminary at which he had been graduated. His wife urges him to accept. He tells her that he will pray over his decision. A laboring man calls upon him and tells him of a plot to waylay and injure him. The man aisoassures him of tlie value of tlie great work he is doing, He decides to remain at Milton. Philip is attacked. He wrestles with ids assailant and throws him. The man has mistaken him foi Mr. Winter, whom he intended to rob. being hungry. Philip takes the would be robbci home and feeds him. Philip gives a series ol s? addresses to the laboring men and thereby dissatisfies some of his wealthy parisioners, Going home one evening, lie finds the "Brother Man," who has lound a son in the man who tried to rob Philip. CHAPTER XXI. When the Brother Man had finished his prayer, ho rose. and. stooping over his son. lie kissed him. Then lie turned about aud faced Philip and Sarah, who almost felt guilty of intrusion In looking at such a scene. But the Brother Man wore a radiant look. To Philip's surprise lie was not excited. The same ineffable peace breathed from his entire person. To that peace was now added a fathomless joy. v "Yes," he said very simply. "1 have found my sou which was lost. God is pood to me. lie is pood to all his children. lie is the All Father. He is Love." "Did you know your son was here?" Philip asked. "No: 1 found him here. You have saved his life. That was doing as lie ^ would." "It was very little we could do." said Philip, with a sigh. He had seen so much trouble and suffering that day that his soul was sick within him. Yet he welcomed this event in his i t? ......in-,, n nttio IIMIIM-. 11 PVVIUCII lil\V U II111V uti^uv ness of heaven on earth. "I have not seen him for years. lie was my youngest son. We quarreled. All that is past, lie did not know that to give up all that one has was the will of (2nd. Now he knows. When he is well, we will go away togetheryes, together." He spread out his palms in his favorite gesture, with plentiful content in his faee and voice. As spring had blossomed into sum mer and summer ripened into autumn every one had predicted better times Rut the predictions did not bring them The suffering and sickness and help lessness of the tenement district grew every day more desperate. To I'hilii it seemed like the ulcer of Milton. A1 the surface remedies proposed am adopted by the city council and tin churches and the benevolent soeietiei had not touched the problem. Tin mills were going on part time. Thou sands of men yet lingered in the plac< hoping to get work. Even if tlie mill: Iliad been running as usual that wouh not have diminished one particle of tin sin and vice and drunkenness tha saturated the place. And as I'hili] studied the matter with brain and sou he came to a conclusion regarding thi duty of the church. lie did not pre tend to go beyond that, but as tin weeks went by and fall came on am another winter stared the people cold !y in the face he knew that he mus speak out what burned in him. He had been a year in Milton. Ever: mouth of that year had impressed Ida IFIXION .IP STRONG. ?S M. SHELDON, Id Jesus Do?," "Malcom Kirk," "Robert en Days," Etc. 5 - with the deep and apparently hopeless t chasm that yawned between the work1 Ing world and the church. There was , no point of contact. One was suspicious. the other was Indifferent. Some, thins was radically wrong, and someJ thing radically positive and Christian f must he done to right the condition I that faced the churches of Milton, j That was in his soul as he went his ? way like one of the old prophets. Im? bued with the love of God as he saw It | In the heart of Christ. With infinite . longing he yearned to bring the church 1 to a sense of her great power and op[ portunity. So matters had finally - drawn to a point in me ruonui or i>o: comber. The Brother Man had come i in October. The sick man recovered J slowly. Philip and his wife found . room for the father and son and shared : with them what comforts they had. It should be said that after moving out ! of the parsonage into his house in the i tenement district Philip had more than | given the extra thousand dollars the church insisted on paying him. The demands on hint were so urgent, the perfect Impossibility of providing men with work aud so relieving them had been such a bar to'giving help in that direction, that out of sheer necessity, as it seemed to him. Philip had given fully half of the thousand dollars reserved for his own salary. His entire expenses were reduced to the smallest possible amount. Everything above that went where it was absolutely ? - -* TT IU^.M.11.. nltniiiiw* tt'lui t ! nceueu. ue was ?? > ?> ; he had with the people who did not have anything. It seemed to him that 1 he could not consistently do anything 1 less in view of what he had preached and intended to preach. ' One evening in the middle of the 1 month he was invited to a social gatli-1 [ ering at the house of Mr. Winter. The 1 mill owner had of late been experienci ing a revolution of thought. His atti-; ? tude toward Philip had grown more ' and more friendly. > It was a gathering of personal friends of Mr. Winter, including some of the church people. The moment that Philip stepped into the spacious hall and caught a glimpse of the furnishings of the rooms beyond, the contrast between all the comfort and brightness of this house and the last place he had visited in the tenement district smote him with a sense of pain. He drove it back and blamed himself with an inward reproach that he was growing narrow and could think of only one idea. He could not remember just what brought ui> tin* subject, but some one during the evening, which was passed Ill CUIIVl'l^illUMI IIJUZMl. Iliuilliuucu p the rumor going about of increased disturbance in the lower part of the ; town and carelessly wanted to know If > the paper did not exaggerate the facts. Some one turned to Philip and asked hfm about it as the one best informed, lie did not know how long he talked. He knew there was a great hush when lie had ended. Then before any one could change the stream of thought some young woman in the music room who had not known what was going on began to siug to a new instrumental variation "Home. Sweet Home." Coming as it did after Philip's vivid description of the tenements, it seemed like a sob of despair or a mocking hypocrisy. lie drew hack into one of the smaller rooms and began to look over some art prints on a table. As he stood there, again blaming himself for his impetuous breach of society etiquette in almost preaching on such an occasion. Mr. Winter came in and said: "It does not seem possible that such a state of affairs exists as you describe. Mr. Strong. Are you sure you do not exaggerate?" "Exaggerate! Mr. Winter, you have pardoned my little sermon here tonight. I know. It was forced on me. Rut"? He choked, and then, with an energy tliiii was all the stronger for being repressed, lie said, turning full toward the mill owner: "Mr. Winter, will you go with nie and look at things for yourself? In the name of Christ . will you see what humanity is sinning i and suffering not more than a mile from this home of yours?" : Mr. Winter hesitated and then said: i "Yes. I'll go. When?" "Say tomorrow night. Come down . to my house early, and we will start i from there." When Mr. Winter eame down the . next evening. Philip asked him to - come in and wait a few minutes, as he ; was detained in his study room by a i caller. The mill owner sat down and 1 visited with Mrs. Strong a little while. 1 Finally she was called into tlie other room, and Mr. Winter was left alone. The door into the sick man's room was partly open, and lie could not help hearing the conversation between the Brother Man and his son. Something that was said made him curious, and 1 when Philip came down he asked him l? a question concerning his strange t boarder. i "Cotne in and see hint." said Philip. 1 lie brought Mr. Winter into the little e room and introduced him to the pa ticut. He was able to sit up now. At e mention of Mr. Winter's name he 1 flushed and trembled. It then occur. red to Philip for the first time that it t was the mill owner that his assailant that night had intended to waylay and s- rob. 1 TO UK CONTINUED. o O O O * 0 O O O O O O O O' * ? ( o o * * o o o o * * o * * o * * o o o o o t ? ? ? o ?? _ ^ ? ! V ! FIC o#o A o v n1 i'i bf* o TIN nia 11^ ? ? I *V1 O I I * * ? ? ^ ^ ^ ? 0 0^0-^0*^0^0^0'?0^0"^0'^0^0*^0-< M M M I 6 I o O * O O O O O O O O O O O H The officers who nre now lending the British force In South Africa against the Boers are the pick of the army list. It is quite true that the llrst divisions sent out were commanded by men who were better known as "war office pets" than as fighting leaders. GENERAL LOUD ROUKRTS. But there has been a change of policy since Magersfouteln aud Modder Itiver. In the early days of the war the British spoke of "the expedition" which they were seuding to the Transvaal. That was when Buller was talking about eating Christmas dinner in Pretoria. The English have ceased to refer to the war as "an expedition;" aiso tney nave suinniuueu meir uesi lighting leaders and sent them to the front. Fine looking lenders these men are, too. encli and every oue with his reputation. his title and his glittering medals. Alas, many of them have left only their titles and their medals! Their reputations, won in India for the most part, lie buried along the borders of the Boer republics. In sending Lord Roberts, the hero of India, and Lord Kitchener, the hero of the latest Sudan campaign, the British war office admitted the gravity of the situation. Lord Roberts has reached the verge of threescore and ten. and It was supposed that he had done his work. A year ago the suggestion that GENERAL BULL Kit. the affairs of the empire could reach such :i grave crisis as to bring him from practical retirement would have been laughed at as absurd. Yet such a crisis has occurred, and Lord Itoberts is again in harness. "Robs." as he is affectionately called, is the idol of the nation. At the queen's jubilee, when he was iu the procession to St. Paul's, he received almost as much of an ovation as did the aged queen herself. He is a soldier's officer. His very name inspires Tommy Atkins to deeds of valor. This uian. who was selected from a list of eight lield marshals and 14 full Hedged generals and litis been sent to save the destiny of the British empire in South Africa, is a small, tanned, wiry, withered up little man of about live feet in the perpendicular, and he weighs hub little over 10U pounds. His full name i> Frederick Sleigh Roberts. Like so many Hnglish officers. Lord Roberts may be said to have laid the foundation it his military career on the cricket I Ids of Eton and at 19 GKNF.KAL KITCF1K.VER. was already lighting the Afghans as a lieutenant of the Bengal Ilorse artillery. Before lie was live and twenty he had had live horses shot under him in battle, had been twice wounded, repeatedly mentioned in the dispatches and had won the Victoria cross, which constitutes the climax of every Engi lisbman's ambition. O O O O O O O O O 0 o o c ? ;hting l OF THE BRI' i south i BY SINCLAIR H h o 0 0 0 O O O O 0 O O c ? O O O O O O "* O O O O O O 0 Inasmuch as Lord Roberts, w characteristic modesty, refrains fr< giving any description in ids book as how he won his Victoria cross, the oi reference to the matter being a br mention in a footnote of three lines the effect that it had been awarded him. it may be just as well to stt that it was conferred upon him not I one, but for several, feats of ci spicuous gallantry at the battle of Ivl dagange. during the mutiny. In o Instance he rescued a regimental fi from several sepoys, attacking tlx single handed and cutting two of tlx down, the others taking to flight. < the same day he rescued a wound native olfio from several sepoys, k Ing one of the latter on the spot bj sweep of the saber, which split t man's skull. What has won for him more fan however, than anything else was I march to Kandahar. He had eaptui Kabul, the capital of Afghauistuu. a er the massacre of the Euglish euv there. Sir Louis Cavagnari. when ue was suddenly brought to biui of t crushing defeat of (leueral Burrows Maiwand. the routed forces, whi had lost their guns, being coutpell to take refuge in Kandahar, win they were besieged by Ayub Khan. Without a moment's hesitation Lc Koberts started with a force of 10.C men from Kabul to relieve Kuudah GENERAL METHUEN. For the space of three weeks this < pedition disappeared entirely from I man ken. At length it emerged fr< the trackless and. for the most pa waterless regions between Kabul a Kandahar and under the walls of I latter city fought a battle and won brilliant victory, inflicting a erusbi defeat upon the Afghans. This is not the first time that Lc Roberts has been ordered out to Sot Africa. He was assigned to the ch command there after Majuba Hill, I on reaching the Cape found that t Gladstone government had in 1 meantime concluded peace with 1 Boers. In many ways the direct antithe of Lord Roberts is General Ilora Herbert Kitchener, lord of Kbartu who !s second in command. He more than six feet In height for c thing. His reputation has been w G : : In Egypt ami tin* Sudan instead of India. lie is not a soldier's otiic In fact, lie is personally unpopu with his men. hut they have gr< coulidenee in him. and when tL know he is planning thiugs they i generally sure that all will he for 1 best, with victory at the end. Kitchener is a second Moltke In t machlnelike precision of his calcul lug mind. lie is a brilliant example the scientific soldier, the civilizing, n road building, administrating rnodt Cicsar and also the genius incarnate military organization. lie is known the general "who leaves nothing i done." One of the secrets of his s cess Is the fact that he always mal it a point to master the vernacular the country or district In which he in chance to he campaigning. The brilliant Sudan campaigns of t remarkable tighter are of too recen date to be expatiated on here. Fiftt years of hard work, it must be remc bored, preceded his brilliant victory Omdurman. But in South Africa tin was no chance for preparation, finds nothing but fighting cut out him. Of the other British officers co manding divisions in the war agaii ) o o o o o o o o o o o o o < ) o o o o o o o o o o o o o EADERS 1: nsH o* AFRICA, i: 0? OLMES. J? * f 0 O 0 0 O 0 O O O 0 0 0 o > O O O O O O O 0 0 O O 0 o c itli the Boers only those who have roeeut Jin arrived have succeeded in preservlt to the reputations which they tool; wl ily them to the lower end of the dark eo iof tinent When General Sir Uedve to Buller was sent to take cominan to great things were expected of hit ite and, if he has been reported correctl | cb led GEXKRAL WARREN. 're he expected great things of blmsel But England's confidence in Buller lit >i'd been shaken. )0l> General Buller was known prior i tr- recent events as one of the flghtir aristocrats. He gained the Victor cross and most of his reputation t fighting the Zulus. He has found tl Boers a very different propositio Early in his career he won favor wil Lord Wolseley. This was during tl China war of 1800. He also took pa In the Red river expedition and w: chief of staff in the Gordon relief e pedition of 1884. But whatever pre tige he ever had has been sadly dlr mod. General Methuen's reputation, whic went down in that catastrophe on tl Plodder river, was. It might almost I said, a heritage. He comes of a di tlngulshed family of soldiers and di lomats. As the heir to a peerage was a comparatively easy matter f< \ him to gain promotion when he wei m in for an army career. His active ser Ice consisted of a few months durir (La DnrtluinnolonH pnmnolffn whon \ I IUC UCLUUUUUIUUU vuui^/u^u, ?>MVM J III GENERAL KELLY-KENNY coinmnudi'd a cavalry force which I organized himself and which wf known as Mel linen's Light horse. (leneral William Forbes Gatacr who met his Waterloo at Stormber; has seen service in India. He ah served under Kitchener in the Sudan (leneral Catncre was born in 18-1 and entered the army when he was 1 From 1N7."> to 1S7!? he was instructor I surveying at the I toy a I Military cc lege. Sandhurst: <|uartermnster gener: at A Idol-shot during tho following yea and military secretary to the eon ? maudor in ch.'cf at Bombay in 1881. General Kelly Kenny, in command < y the Sixth division, is having his tin experience in South Africa. Fie serve in China and in Abyssinia. General Sir Charles Warren, who: name will henceforth he associate with the disaster at Spioti hop. was e: peeled to lie an invaluable assistant 1 'n Bailor, for he had the reputation < er- knowing South Africa as well as an lar ^ [ a GKXKKAL WHITE. )en Boer. He served there against tt m- Kaffirs and as a member of the Itoyt at engineers surveyed the new houndark ere of (irhpinlaud West when that terr He tor.v was taken from the Orange Frc for State. Such are the leaders who are cot im- ducting the campaign against tt ast Boers. piSffHanrous Reading. 3 FARM STATISTICS. i The CeniiuR Department Gives Out Infor? inutlon As to What Is Wanted. ? The following advance instructions 3 with reference to agricultural statistics * have been received from the census I department for promulgation. ? 1. The first really valuable census ol 3 agriculture in the United States was 1 taken in 1850, of the crops ol 1849. } The next enumeration of agriculture ? will be taken in June, 1900, of the 3 products of 1899. | 2. Instead of recording several farms on one schedule in the twelfth ceusus, as heretofore, each farm will be accorded a separate blank, the entries ly on which will not be known to any 'S save sworn officers of the department. (h No names will be published in con treeu lion with iuformation secured from the r9 people. d. 3. Tax assessors, collectors, and equalizers cannot serve as enumeray? tors, or have access to the census returns, or to the information therein contained. 4. There are more than 5,000,000 farms, plantations, ranches, stock ranges, and market gardens iu the United States, all of which, for census purposes, will be designated as "farms." 5. A "farm"isall the land cultivated or held for agricultural purposes under one management whether in a single body or separate parcels. 6. The enumerator will ask for the size and value of each farm, the value of buildings, and the aggregate value of all machinery, implements, vehicles, harness, etc., used thereon ; and the ' amount of land owned and leased, res pectively, by said occupant. 7. He will also ask for the acreage and value of each crop, and the acreage of improved, uuimproved, and irrigated lands. 8. The designation "each crop" iueludes all grains, cotton, corn, rice, 13 sugar cane, sugar beets, sorghum, hay, clover, wild grasses, gathered forage, tO U . .. 1. nUavvc rmonilio f aKq /iriA II21A | IICUJp, IIV|K, pvauuio, ivuui vv, 'S seeds, nuts tropical fruits, small fruits, ia orchard fruits, nursery and greenhouse ,y stock, broom corn, Irish potatoes, ie sweet potatoes and yams, all vegetan* bles, iucluding the product of all fumi ly, truck, and market gardens, etc.; 5e also new or unusual crops, when rt found. 13 9. The enumerator will ask for the x* number and value of the live stock on s" the farms June 1, 1900, which will be Q" reported under a number of heads, _such as horses, colts, mules, asses, :u cows, beifers, steers, calves, bulls, ie ewes, rams, lambs, swine, goats, chickens (including guinea fowl,) turkeys, geese, ducks, bees, etc. ^ 10. He will also ask for the quantity 3r and value of milk, cream, butter, 3t cheese, raisins, prunes, molasses, syrup, sugar, eggs, beeswax, honey, wool, wine, cider, vinegar, dried and evapor? ated fruits, forest products, poultry and meat products, and, generally, all articles made at home, or for the home, from farm materials in 1899. 11. If a person who moves from a farm between the end of the crop year 1899 and June 1, 1900, will leave a written record of the products and crops of that farm for 1899 where it will reach the appropriate enumerator, the statistics of his operations for that year will not be lost. He will be required to give the enumerator of the district in which be lives on 'June 1, 1900, the acreage, value, buildings, machinery, implements and livestock of the farm he then occupies. . 12. If every farmer will begin at * once to prepare a careful record of the ' facts which the enumerator will be iustructed to record in June, 1900, he will save time for himself and the officer, and insure more accurate returns to the government. 13. The twentieth century will be giu on January 1, 1901. Therefore, the pending census will afford to future generations a measure of the strength is and condition of the United States at the threshold of the new hundred-year ?t cycle. For that reason everyone B. should take an active interest in raukJ0 ing it as nearly perfect as possible. If each farmer will make his own report '3 perfect, the aggregated report for every 9. community, and for the nation, will he 'n perfect. 1 al SPION KUP. r, a- Description of the Hill That Warren Took From the Hoerg. Spion Kop, the new Majuba hill, is a 3t rugged mountain crest of about 4,600 !(I feet elevation, and nearly 14 miles south and a little west of Ladysmith. 3e General Buller described it as a "bar . .L- J :u ren and open stope, me nuges so sireji s* that guns cannot he placed upon them." Lo It is one of innumerable kops or pla teau peaks lying between the Tugelu river and Ladysmith, and is as formidable as a place of defense as the first eastern ridges of the Kockv Mountains would be. Old Majuba hill, where Sir George Colley fell before the Boers in 1881, is nearly 8,000 feet high ; hot Spion Kop is high enough to have served the purpose of the Boers well . this time. Near it, crowned by Boei '/ batteries, are half a dozen other kops, / all higher than the one General WarI ren settled only to be defeated. Some of them are 4,700 feet in elevation, } others 4,800 feel and 4,900 feel. Guns mounted upon them, | roperly depressed, would sweep Spfm Kop so that nothing living could reuiuiu upon its summit. Between the kops are ragged ravines, affording fine retreats for Boer riflemen, whose duty it would be to harass a retreating enemy. The ,e rocks are rough, difficult to climb ovet jj and unprotected by tree or bush. From ,g the Tugela river to Dewdorp, where j. the maiu body of the Boers await the ,e coming of General Buller, is a constant rise of land?laud such as English solj. diery never even saw in Afghanistan, ie land that blisters with heat by day and is dangerously chill at night. The to tal climb before the English to Ladysmith is over 4,000 feet, and the way is strewn with hostile guns. It is a superb spot for the use of artillery in resisting attack, and of this fact the . Boers appear to be aware. They themselves have calculated, according to ! press dispatches, that if General Buli ler bad 100,000 men at his command i he might gain these kops and enter Ladysmith by the end of three months f and at a sacrifice of 10,000 lives. The i new Majuba will be remembered.? Chicago Times-Herald. ! SHOOTING 01T THE LIGHTS. I An Occasion When the Old Ranchman Saw the Trick Done. "According to western stories," said \ a former ranchman, "one of the favorite amusements of frontier desperadoes is 'shooting out the lights.' I nev- . < er saw it done but once, but the inci dent made sufficient Impression on my mind to last me for life. It was at Benton, a small camp on the old 'Stake Plain' trail, in northeastern New Mexico. I was stnying there over night with a couple of cattlemen, and we naturally gravitated to the only resort i .In town, a sort of combination of bar and gambling house, in a rough one story building, containing a good sized single room. "The bar was on one side, and on the other were two or three 'Mexican monte' tables, over each of which were several large coal oil lamps In wall brackets. In the center of the place was a chandelier containing three more, altogether giving a good deal of light. We were sitting at one side smoking and talking, when in rushed half a dozen drunken cowboys, headed by a well known ranchman named Bill Wells. "The crowd were out for excitement and didn't care how they got it. They took several drinks and then clustered around one of the moute tables. In a few moments Wells insisted upon making a bet over the limit, to which the dealer objected. 'If you don't turn for that bet, I'll shoot out your blankety blank lights!' bawled the ranchman. The leemlt ez feety dollar,' Bald the Mexican dealer, and the words were no sooner out of his mouth than Wells and his gang pulled their six shooters and began blazing away at the lamps. "About 25 or.30 shots were fired, and almost at the outset the place was In complete darkness. Of course there was a stampede, but I remember being surprised that I had heard no crash of glass. Half an hour later I went back and found the place lit up as brightly as ever, Wells and his cowboys having been taken away by friends. The roof was full of holes, but not a single lamp had been hit What had put them out was the concussion of the shots in a confined space." ? New Orleans Times-Democrat. ' A PECCUL1AR SPIDER. He Catches Birds as Bis as Larks In His Mammoth Web. Far up in the mountains of Ceylon there is a spider that spins a web like bright yellowish silk, the central net of which is five feet in diameter, while the supporting lines, or guys, as they are called, measure sometimes 10 or 12 feet, and. riding quickly in the early morning, you may dash right Into It, the stout threads twining round your face like a lace veil, while, as the creature who has woven It takes up his position in the middle, be generally catches you right in the nose, and, though he seldom bites or stings, the contact of his large body and long legs is anything but pleasant If you forget yourself and try to catch him, bite be will. and. though not venomous, his - -- IJ-Ji Jaws are as powerrui as u uuu o u?&, and 3-ou are not likely to forget the encounter. The bodies of these spiders are very handsomely decorated, being bright gold or scarlet underneath, while the upper part is covered with the most delicate slate*?olored fur. So strong are the webs that birds the size of larks are frequently caught therein, and even the small but powerful scaly lizard falls a victim. A writer says that he has often sat and watched the yellow monster?measuring, when waiting for his prey, with his legs stretched out. fully six inches?striding across the middle of the net and noted the rapid manner in which he winds his stout threads round the unfortunate captive. He usually throws the colls about the head until the wretched victim is first blinded and then choked. In many unfrequented dark nooks of the jungle you come across most perfect skeletons of small birds caught in these terrible snares.?Pittsburg Dispatch. A HABIT. The lawyer asked the witness If an incident previously alluded to wasn't a miracle, and the witness said he didn't know what a miracle was. "Oh. come." said the attorney. "Supposing you were looking out of a window in the twentieth story of a building and should fall out and should not be injured. What would you call that?" "An accident," was the stolid reply. "Yes, yes; but what else would you call it? Well, suppose you were doing the same thing the next day; suppose you looked out of the twentieth story window and fell out and again should And yourself not injured. Now, what would you call that?" "A coincidence." said the witness. "Oh, come, now," the lawyer began again. "I want you to understand what a miracle is, and I'm sure you do. Now, just suppose that on the third day you were looking out of the twentieth story window and fell out and struck your head on the pavement 20 stories below and were not in the least Injured. Come, now, what would you call it?" "Three times?" said the witness, rousing a little from his apathy. "Well, I'd call that a habit" And the lawjer gave It up.