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p* ' ^ T ISSUES SSMI-WEEKi^^ l. m. grist ft sons, Pnbii?her?. I % Jfamilg gttrag*ftnjfcr tttt ffrontotion of (ht golitical, jSatial, g,grirulturat, and Commtmial Jittyyte af the gtoplt. {TEKM3m'G^0coiYYnraoEA?TOAWCIi" ESTABLISHED 1855. YORKVILLE, S. C., SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1902. NO. 74. 'F 0 By 8IR WALT Copyright, 1901, by Sir Walter Besant. CHAPTER XIIL A RESPITE. WAS as one who carl^4||| rles a respite for a l^/Yl H| man already In the kg&l Ml cart and on his way to Tyburn, or I was as B,|iSE3T one who himself refghja^g^i^ ceives a respite on the way to Tyburn, for If the charges in those letters were true there could be no doubt as to the result of un Inquiry. Nor could there be any doubt that Lord Fyllngdale in such a case would refuse an Inquiry. I ran, therefore, as if everything depended on my speed, and I arrived breathless. Molly was alone, walking about the garden restlessly. The sun was now set, but the glow of the sky lingered, and her face wus flushed In the western light. "Jack," she cried, "I thought we had parted this afternoon! What has happened? You have been running. What is it?" "A good deal has happened, Molly. For one thing, you will not be married tomorrow morning." "Why not? Is my lord ill?" "Not that I know of, but you will not be married tomorrow moruiug." "You talk in riddles, Jack." "Would you like to put off the wedding, Molly?" "Alas, if I could put It off altogether! I am downhearted over it. Jack. 1 It weighs me down like lead. But there is no escape." 1 "I think 1 have in ray pocket a menus 1 of escape-* respite at least?unless < there are worse liars in the world than ' those we have at Lynn." "Liars at Lynn, Jack? Who are I they? Oh. Jack, what has happened?" ] I sat down on a garden bench. "Mol ly," I said, "you hold the private char- 1 acter of Lord Fylingdale in the highest 1 esteem, do you not?" ' "There is no letter man living. This 1 makes me ashamed of being so loath to marry him." 1 k "Well, but, Molly, consider. Who has 1 P bestowed this fine character upon his 1 lordship?" ' "Everybody who kuows him?Sam Semple for one. lie is never weary of 1 -> ? ?! ?? nnoloAo Af hie notmn '' I BIligIiJ? (.lie Jiiainco ui mo |/uu vu. "Ht is a grateful soul and. on bis own account, a pillar of religion. 1 1 will show you presently what an orna meut he is to religion. Who else?" "The Ilev. Benjamin Purden. once his ' tutor. Surely he ought to know." < "Surely. Nobody ought to know bet ter. 1 will show you presently how ad- ' mlrable a witness to character this 1 reverend divine must be esteemed." ! "There is Sir Harry Malyns. who as- 1 sured us that his lordship is thought to be too virtuous for the world of fashIon." "He Is himself, like the parson, a tine Judge of character. Is that all?" "No. The Lady Anastasia herself spoke to me of his nobility." "She has also spoken to me?of other things. See here. Molly." I lugged out the two letters. "What I have here contain the characters of nil these excellent persons ? the latest scandals about them, their reputations and their practices." "But, Jack, what Bcandals? What reputations?" "You shall see, Molly. Oh, the allegations may be false, one and all. For what I know Sam may have the wings of an archangel, and Mr. Purden may be already overripe for the new Jerusalem. But you shall read." I I offered her the letters. "No." she i said. "Read th> in yourself." "The first, then, is from my father's I first cousin, Zackary Pentecrosse. a I bookseller in Little Britain, which is a part of London. He is, 1 believe, a re- i spectable, (Jod fearing man. You will < observe that he does not vouch for the 1 m truth of his information." I 1 then read at length the letter which i you have already beard. 1 "What do you think, Molly?" "1 don't know what to think. Is the i world so wicked?" i "Here is auother letter, concerning < the Rev. Benjamin Purden. Observe i that this is another and an independ- i ent witness." So I read the second letter, which you have also heard. i "What do you think of this worthy gentleman. Molly?" < "Oh. Jack, 1 am overwhelmed! Tell me more, what it means"? 1 "It means, my dear, that a ruined gamester thought to find an heiress who would know nothing of his tar- ' nishetl repuiauon. &ue must ue ricu. All he wanted was her money. She must not have her money tied up; it must he all In his owu bauds, to do with it what be chose?that Is to say, to dissipate and waste it In riot and raking and gambling"? "Lord Fylingdale? Jack, think of his 1 face, think of his manners. Are they Rucb as you would expect In a rake?" "There are perhaps different kinds of 1 rakes. Tom Rising would spend the night drinking and bawiiug songs. An- 1 other kind would practice wickedness as eagerly, but with more politeness. What do I know of such men? Certain I am that Lord Fylingdale would not scour the streets and play the Mohawk, hut that he has found other vices more pleasant and more, apparently, polite Is quite possible." "I don't understand. Jack. All the gentlemen like Mr. Rising drink and < sing Do all gentlemen who do not 1 drink practice other vices?" BY '' ER BEZANT. "Well. "Molly, you have seen the vicar 1 taste a glass of wine. He will roll it In tbe glass; be will bold It to tbe light, admiring tbe color; be will inhale tbe fragrance; be will drink it slowly, little by little, sipping the contents, and be will not take more than a single glass or two at tbe most In the same time Tom Rising would have gulped down a whole bottle. One man wants to gratify many senses; the other seeks only to get drunk as quickly as be can. So, I take it. with the forbidden pleasures of tbe world. One man may cultivate bis taste; tbe other may be satisfied with the coarse and plentirui aeDaucnery. Thi9 Is not, howevjr, talk for honest folk like you and me." "Go on with your story, Jack. Never mind the different ways of wickedness." "Well, he beard of an heiress. She belonged to a town remote from fashion?a town of simple merchants and 1 sailors. She was very rich; much richer than he at first believed"? ' "Who told him about this heiress?" "A creature called Sam Semple, whom the captain once cudgeled. Why, Molly, It was revenge. In return for the cudgeling he would place you and your fortune In the hands of a man who would bring misery upon you and i ruin on your fortune. Heavens, how the thing works out! And It happened 1 Just in the nick of time that a spring was found In the town?a spring whose medicinal properties? Ha!" I Jumped 1 to my feet. "Molly, who found that 1 spring? Sam Seniple. Who wrote to < the doctor about It? Sam Semple. ' Who spread abroad a report that the 1 rvK I'otAlnno r\f T nnrl/^n U'nvo ootwl Inc 1 ^ltv> OlViUUO VI UVUUUU *< VAV wv?v..?0 their patients to Lynn? Sam Semple. How many patients have come to us from Loudon? Noue. save and except nly the party of those who came scfcrelly in his lordship's train to sing his praises and to work his wicked will. Why. Molly"? I burst into a laugh, for now I understood, as one sometimes docs understand, suddenly and without proof other than the rapid conclusion, the full meaning of the whole. "Molly, I say. there has uever been any medicinal spring here at all. The doctor's well is but common spring water. There are no cures. The whole business is a plan, a bite, an invention of Sam Semple!" "Jack, have a care. How can that be when the doctor has a long list of cures?" "I know it, but I do know that Sam Semple Invented the spa in order to aring this invasion of sharpers and gamblers and heiress hunters. Oh, what a liar be is! What revenge! it au moclyt rutrr Ltrrt*. What cunning! What sigual service 1 lias this servant of the devil rendered i to his master!" ] Truly 1 was carried out of myself by ' this discovery, which explained every- ] thing. ] "So." 1 went on. "they came here all t the way from London, their lying ex- i fuse that they were ordered here by their physicians, and we. poor, simple I Polk, fell iuto the snare. All the coun- I tryside fell into the snare, and we < bave been fooled into drinking common . water and calling It what you please, and we have built gardens and eugag- I ed musicians and created a spa, and, i tih, heavens, what a liar he is! What * a liar! This comes. I suppose, of being I a poet." Then Molly laid her head upon my i arm. "Jack." she said very seriously, i KAHAVA thlo etniT V Hnlr 1 uu %)UU Itruuj UCHC > VT vino OIVI J v?-v consider what It means to me." Molly was more concerned about Lord Fyllngdale than about Sam Se tuple. "I believe every word of It. Molly. 1 believe that they have all joined in the conspiracy, more or loss; that they have all got promises and that tomorrow morning. If you do not refuse to meet this man in St. Nicholas' church, you will bring upon yourself nothing but misery and ruin." "1 have promised to meet him. I must at least send him a message, if only to say tlmt I shall not come." "I should like to send him nothing, but you are right. It is best to be courteous. Well, you may send him a letter. I will myself take it to the Crown." "But afterward. Jack? What shall we do afterward? If he Is Innocent, he will take offense. If not""If you were engaged to marry a young merchant, Molly, or to a skip- ( per and you heard rumors of bank- . ruptey. drink or evil courses, what , would you do?" "I would tell him that I had heard such and such about him, and I should ask for explanations." j "Then do exactly the same with Lord i Fylingdale. ITe is accused of cert'al things. The captain must make li qulry. He Is bound to Inquire. Wh] the vicar himself says that be woult If necessary. In order to ascertain th truth, travel all the way to Londoi there to learn the foundations. If an] for these charges, and afterward Int Gloucestershire, where his countr mansion stauds, to learn on the spc what the tenants and the people c the country know of him." "But suppose be refuses explan; tions. He Is too proud to be called t account." "Then send him packing. Lord c no lord, proud or humble, If he fui nisbes explanations, if these thing are untrue, then?why. then you wi consider what to do. But, Molly, 1 d not believe that any explanations wi be forthcoming and that your nobl lover will carry It off to the end wit the same lofty pride and cold tnien." "Let us go Into the parlor, Jacl There are the captain's writing mat< rials. Help me to say what Is prope; Oh. is it possible? Can I believe it Are these things true? That prou man. raised above his fellows by hi virtues and his rank and his princ pies! Jack, he risked his life for me. "Ask no more questions, Molly. W must have explanations. Let us writ the letter." It was Molly's first letter?the onl letter, perhaps, that she will ever writ in all her life. * Certainly she had neve written one before, nor has she eve written one since. Like most hous< wives, her writing Is ouly wanted fc household accounts, recipes for put dings and pies and the labeling of he bottles and jars. I have the letter bi fore me at this moment. It is writte in a large, sprawling hand, and th spelling Is not such as would satisf my father. Naturally she looked to me for at vice. I bad written many letters t my owners and to foreign merchant about cargoes, and the like, and wa therefore able to advise the compos tion of a letter which should b Justly expressed and to the point: "Honored Lord?This Is from me a the present moment in my guardian' parlor"?writing parlor when I as mat of the ship should have written port c harbor. "It is to inform you that li telligence has been brought by letter from London und Cambridge. Toucl Ing the matters referred to in these le ters, I have to report for your satisfa< Hon that they call your lordship i round terms a gamester uuu a rume rake and your companions at the spaviz, Sam Semple, the parson, the ricl sty old beau and the colonel?simpl rogues, common cheats and sharper! Shall not, therefore, meet your lore ship at the church tomorrow mornin is Instructed. Awaiting your lordship' explanations and commands, your mos ibedient, bumble servant, "Molly." This letter I folded, sealed, addresse md dropped into my pocket. Then bade Molly good night, entreated he L- * Kah ao/ionti onH C LU Ut? LLlU.Iiii.JL LI I LU1 uui O0V.t*|sw uuu w left her with a light heart. Verily I seemed as If the sadness of the las two months had been wholly and sue ienly lifted, and on my way back t die Crown I passed the Lady Auastt 3la's lodging just as her chair wa brought to the house. I opened th ioor for her and stood hat in hand. "Why. it is Jack!" she cried. "It I the sailor Jack, the constant lovei Have you anything more to tell me?" "Only that Molly will not keep tlin ippointment of tomorrow evening"? "Oh, that interesting appointment i St. Nicholas' church. May a body us ivhy the ceremony has been postpor id?" "Things have been disclosed at tb ast moment, fortunately in time." "What things, and by whom?" "By letter. It is stated as a fact wei icnown that Lord Fylingdule is nothin tetter than a ruined rake ami a notor >us gamester." "Indeed! The excellent Lord Fylinj lale! Impossible! Quite impossible The illustrious example of so man rirtues! The explanations will be, im sure, complete and satisfactory Ltuined: u rake; a notorious gumestet What next will the world say? Doe Ills lordship know of this discovery S'ot yet? You said it was a discovery lid you not? Well, my friend. I at much obliged to you for telling m< You are quite sure Molly will not b there? Very good of you to tell m< For my own part I start for Londo ""5 4" "n ^ A'i.lA/dr (1 rxrvH li t jllliv I'Ui ij O l l> \J V. IUV.U. VI vvuim%i lack!" Then I went into the Crown, wher I learned that the captain had bee reading another letter containing a< .'ligations as bad as those in the othe Lwo. So we fell to talking over the bus less, and it was resolved that the eai tain should demand explanations b letter, that he should refuse to recelv the villain Sam Semple or his lordsbl ind that the vicar should. If necessary proceed to London and there lear what he could concerning the past hi: tory and the present reputation of th loble suitor. Meantime 1 sa'd no mor ibout the intended marriage at S Nicholas' church and the abnndonmer the plan. As things turned out, I would have been far better had I tol the captain and had we both plante ourselves as sentinels at the door, so a to he quite sure that Molly did not g forth at t? in the morning. That evening, after leaving me. Lad Anastasla sent a note to Lord Fyllnj Sale. "I am leaving Lynn early tomoi row morning. 1 expect to be In Lor [Jon In two days. Shall write to Molly. TO BE CONTINUED. Xr in consequence of an increase i .he price of German coal sent to Swit jerland. that country is now being sni ilied with American coal. x-h' Los Angeles claims to have a great ;r stretch of attractive ocean beach i ts vicinity than any other America 'ity. 1 ?lisccUttnwu5 Reading. 1, A BLACK TYRANT'S TREASURE. 2 Hope of Flndluir It SprlnKN Eternal In Hayti. o According to tradition in the West Iny dies, the buried treasure of Captain >t Kidd is small in value compared with if that which was hidden by the Black Napoleon of Hayti. As there are men who hope to find Kidd's ill-gotten gains, 0 there are others who dig on the chance of discovering Chrlstophe's millions. ,r Popular report numbers these at fifteen r* and makes them, in great part, of Spanish coins of gold and silver. Kidd, both as a collector of wealth and a destroyer of life, was a tyro in comparison with Christophe. Kidd, at times, had bowels k of compassion, though they were shrunken. King Henri I of Hayti knew . not such a word as pity. s* Christophe was born a slave on one p of the English islands of the West In^ dies. Though not of large frame, he A had great physical strength. He also ia had a furious temper, but this he was LO j. taught with whips and irons to govern. ? The monotony of existence under the e Union Jack palled upon him to such an e extent before he was full grown that he ran away. His mecca was Hayti. Slavy ery had been abolished there and the ;e fame of Toussaint L'Ouverture had >r spread widely among blacks as well as ;r whites. After the capture through 2- treachery of L'Ouverture by Gen. Le>r clerc, of the French army of occupa1 tion, Christophe attached himself to tr the fortunes of Dessalorles. His brays' ery and cunning as a guerrilla attractn ed attention while his monstrous cruele ty was overlooked by those of his own y side, though it filled the enemy with terror. Dessalories, also a black and 1- ex-slave, gave Christophe high comO mands and trusted him as close as one 8 Haytien ever trusts another. 8 Unlike many of his countrymen, '* Christophe was highly charged with e energy. As a slave he envied those who indulged In a daily siesta; as a Lt freeman he slept little and never when s others were awake, e When Dessalories had himself crown>r ed as emperor in 1804, the thought ocl enrred to Christonhe that he could rule 's a people as easily as command a regil* ment. It required all his tact to escape the suspicious attention of Dessalories. As an emperor the latter played the n part of jury, judge and executioner, and ^ from his decision there was no appeal, ~ except a successful cry to arms. This cry was heard in Hayti In 1S06, and e while its echoes were still young the j' first black emperor of Hayti was ready for burial. g There was nwrftme to ho lost in serur,t ing a grip upon the direction of affairs and none was lost by Christophe. His command was well drilled for Haytien ^ troops and had boundless confidence in j its chief. By threatening and cajoling r he increased his little army until he ' was strong enough to proclaim himself U ruler of the northern part of Hayti. In |t the southern part the Spanish residents I made a brave fight. The war was prolonged for four years, but among the Spaniards there was no leader of the g calibre of Christophe and they capitue lated finally. Upon those who remained on the lsg land Christophe practiced the most sav ^ age cruelties. He had an insatiate lust for gold, as well as power, and it was from the Spaniards that he wrenched the fouindation and even the bulk of r> an enormous fortune. Full of suspicion u k and trusting1 none except, perhaps, his t. wife, be decided to build a fortress in which he could intrench himself in time e of danger: also a palace which would rival the royal palaces of Europe. Under his direction Sans Souci was built, [1 and, though in ruinous condition today, g is beautiful still. But the great monuj. ment of his power, energy and savagery is La Ferriere, a huge fortress perchr. ed on a mountain top and accessible ;! only by a steep and difficult trail, y Before the first stone of La Ferriere I was laid Christophe had himself pror. claimed King of Haytl, under the title ! of Henri I. As a ruler he was ruthless, a Some of his projects were magnificent, ? but wholly out of proportion to the size 7, of his kingdom or the wealth of his n people. i. This wealth, however, it was his dee sign to possess himself. He levied and i. collected taxes and these were so graded o that no man was asked to pay more 7, than he possessed, or the king thought he possessed. No man might labor for e himself while works for the king re n niained undone. Thousands of tons or : stone in huge blocks were needed for T La Ferriere. They were provided, though each block cost a life. Hills were I- levelled and ravines were filled to the i- tops. Steadily and not slowly grew the y frowning walls of La Ferriere. There e was no water on the mountain top from p which La Ferriere frowned. A well was 7, i dug deep into its heart and from an n ice-cold source water gushed. The gars' rison was safe from thirst, e Dungeons many, deep, dark, were e constructed. Of these the bottle-necked t- dungeons were built upon specifications 't provided by Christophe. There are four of these bottle-necked dungeons In a d row. The fall to the bottom of the J - - 1 u lirst is fifteen leet, tne seeonu ucmj 8 feet, the third thirty feet, while the 0 bottom of the fourth is in the heart of the mountain. The latter is a sepulchre ^ filled with the bones of those who per' ished under the rule of Christophe, otherwise Henri I. It is estimated that in the building and equipping of La Ferriere 30,000 lives were sacrificed. Those who built it received no pay and had the privilege of "finding themselves." The work was t equivalent to a quick shrift. Three hundred pieces of ordnance were pulled up the mountain and mounted. Many of these are in place today. In Christot phe's day it took a regiment a full day to drag a 32-pounder up the mountalnn side. Christophe had a sense of humor as black as his complexion. He was at luncheon one day when he noticed a company of soldiers tugging at a gun. There were a hundred men in the company. Leaving the table he sent for the officer in command. In his softest manner he inquired why the men were so slow at their work. The gun was heavy, said the officer. He was told to parade his men. He did so. "Let every fourth man step to the front," said Christophe. The order was obeyed. He then ordered that those who had stepna/i tho frnnt ha ohnt Thpv were shot. "You are now seventy-flve," said Christophe in his sulkiest tones to the survivors. "Let me see you pull the gun up." The seventy tried and failed. Once more they were paraded. Every third man stepped to the front in answer to Christophe's low command. They were shot. "You are now fifty men." he said; "let me see you pull the gun in place." With the desperation of despair the fifty men strained at the ropes and succeeded in their tasks. "I thought you could do it," said Christophe with a smile. Then he ordered the fifty men shot. They were shot and he resumed his luncheon. He was walking on the battlements one day with a young man toward whom he had shown some kindness. "How far is it to the bottom?" he asked of his young companion, looking over the edge, which bordered a precipice. "Two thousand feet, sir," was the answer. "Let me see you Jump over," said Christophe. The young man sprang into space. From the sides of the precipice grew some sturdy bushes and from top to bottom there were strong and elastic creepers. In some of these bushes the young man's body, as by a miracle, was caught. With wonderful agility he made his way to the bottom, then climbed the mountain t trail, ana, appearing Deiure ^iniaw^.n, torn, bleeding and breathless, murmured: "Your bidding has been done, sir." "Let me see you do It again," said Christophe. Only one miracle was performed that day and he did not return. When Christophe heard of a subject who had money he sent for him. If he failed to produce as much as was expected, he was thrown over the battlements or dropped into a bottle-necked dungeon. When a majority of his subjects had given all they possessed to the Black Napoleon and his gains amounted to many millions, he had them buried, it is said, by some of his most trusted guards. In a short time the guards were seen no more. They disappeared one by one, "on secret missions." Christophe said. The Haytiens were long suffering, but they rose at last. Christophe was in his Palace of Sans ^ouci when he heard of the revolt. He called his guards, gave them money, which was not his custom, and told them to slay and spare not. Had he been able to accompany them he might have won one more battle, so great was the fear Inspired by his presence. But he had been stricken with paralysis, ror which he took baths of rum and pepper. His wife and daughter were with him when word was brought that his guards had joined the Insurgents. He found strength to hobble Into a vacant apartment of his palace. There he put a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. His body was carried to La Ferrlere by his wife and daughter and burled In the fortress, where, It Is said, his millions lie hid. The guard at La Ferrlere Is changed at short Intervals to this day, that they may not find Christopher's millions. Official and unofficial digging for the buried treasure has been carried on from the day of Christophe's death until the present. Some years ago a rumor flashed through the island that the treasure had been discovered. It was during the term of President Hippolyte. A young man appeared at one of the gaming tables at Cape Haytien and paid his losses in old Spanish doubloons. He gambled. lost and paid with the air of one to whom money is dross. His manners and his money attracted much attention. The Haytiens are born gossips and tales of Christophe's millions are so ripe that many were quick to suggest that the stranger had dug to some purpose. The tale was borne to Hlppolyte. The president sent for the stranger. "Confide in me and become a general." said Hippolyte. in his suavest fashion. The stranger said that he had nothing to confide. This was exasperating. but Hippolyte kept his temper under control and maintained a friendly attitude. For many days entertaining the stranger, who seemed quite at ease. Finally Hippolyte grew tired of playing the gentle-mannered host and threatened. The stranger betook himself to silence. He was thrown into prison. His jailer practiced arts upon him which were calculated to open his mouth and his coffers. They failed to extract a confession or a fortune. The prisoner was set at liberty and followed by spies day and night. He disappeared as mysteriously as he had come. In spite of the many and persistent efforts of the Haytien government and the attempts of thousands of private adventurers to find the buried treasure of the Black Napoleon, there is much of La Ferriere that remains unsearche ed. There are dungeons and gloomy passages into which even threats of "* *? 11? whn n death fail to urive mu wm.?? ever on guard there. There are thick and rusty iron doors, the creaking of which sends shivers through the poor wretches who open them to the few visitors whose strength and nerves are of a quality to carry them along the steep and tangled path that leads to the fortress. That Christophe possessed great wealth when he killed himself is not a matter of doubt. There is no record that he smuggled it out of the country to a land of more stable government than his own, for he had too little faith in human nature to trust his foitune in other hands and In his day countries of stable government were less numerous than they are now. ?New York Sun. SILK CULTURE IN THE SOUTH. ^ Experiment* In North Carolina?Nn- ( tlonal Encouragement. , The work of Gerald McCarthy, the ( biologist of the department of agri- ^ culture of North Carolina, with the silk worm is attracting widespread attention. He declares that silk culture may be made practical and commercially profitable in the United States, and that he has already started it off In his state. In fact, encouragement 1 is given to Mr. McCarthy by the natlonal government appropriating $10,000 for a new series of silkworm experiments, although several years ago, Dr. L. O. Howard of the Federal depart- j ment of agriculture declared that the silk growing industry could not be made to pay here. Yet Biologist McCarthy has imported silk-worm seed ^ from Italy and distributed it as widely no rtAoaiKIn nmnntv Vi f n rmnra* n? I irao c*0 puooiuic aiuuiif^ IIIC lauiiCin t* i * vo ^ of North Carolina. Nearly 100 women ( and children he interested altogether and induced to make the experiment. But a very small percentage, he reports, failed in the work. Over his name and under the author- ^ ity of the North Carolina department ( of agriculture there has recently gone , out a circular to all these farms, direct- ( ing them to send on to the department j in Raleigh all the silk each has, that a , manufacturer who Is about to erect a ( reeling plant has agreed to buy it all. , These cocoons were to have reached the ( department by September 1. No price ( is spoken of In the circular, but Mr. Mc- j Carthy says the figures will be fair and , profitable. He calculates that when the ( industry is developed North Carolina < can produce $3,000,000 worth annually of ( silk cocoons. i Bradstreet's and other publications speak very doubtfully of the experl- , ment, as they call it. But It is a fact , known to a great many that silk was ) produced successfully in Georgia dur- | ing the war between the states. It was j not only produced In the raw state, ( but it was reeled off, put on the old- ( fashioned hand looms and woven Into , cloth, out of which handsome dresses . were made, retaining their natural rich j old gold color. The hand that indites , these lines worked many an hour help- , ing to convert the cocoon into "sewing ] silk" and into fishing lines. The , worms were fed on mulberry leaves. j Given a sufficient quantity of the latter and there need be no concern about 1 producing silk in this state. The ex- ' perlment has already been made. t Up to within a few yearn ago (if s not now) Mr. C. E. Zipperer, of Lowndes county supplied all that region round about with a very superior fishing line, made by his own hand out of silk produced by him.?Macon Telegraph. NEGROES' PHYSICAL CHANGE. Extraordinary Deterioration In Body and Mind SInee tlie War. Tuberculosis has. in recent years, become so prevalent among the Negroes as to Justify the belief that it may soon be the veritable scourge of the race. The susceptibility of Negroes to consumption has apparently undergone a most remarkable change within the last thirty or forty years. During the days of slavery the disease was so seldom found among them that they were considered immune to it. In fact, some of the older writers took the stand squarely, and asserted that consumption was unknown to the race. From being thus so rare as to be almost unknown, it has. in a single generation, become, so prevalent and so fatal that now more Negroes in the South are dying of tuberculosis than of any other disease. While it exists among all classes, it is in the densely populated quarters of towns and cities, where they live in overcrowded and poorly ventilated houses, that it is found to be most frequent. In institutions where large numbers are more or less closely con fined, the ravages of this disease are < becoming truly alarming. ( The following quotation from a paper i on the "Future of the Colored Race in j the United States." published some 1 years ago. by Dr. Eugene Corson, is interesting in this connection. He says, s "All the information which T have beer c able to obtain has satisfied me that the f race was a healthy cne, even healthier < In the main than the whites. Since the 1 war things have been reversed: the col- f ored race as a race is not a healthy and ( robust one; their vitality is in a state i of unstable equilibrium: liable from any t undue strain to give way." Statistics f from institutions, having both white i and colored patients, will show that the I latter is less able to resist the onslaught ? of disease. Dr. Mitchell, the superintendent of the Mississippi State Insane hospital, in his last report says: "There i is one great difference between the \ races as regards mortality, and al- ? though our treatment, both dietetic and , medicinal, Is the same, our loss from deaths among the colored far exceeds , that sustained by the whites." t Turning from the physical condition f of the Negro, let us now investigate the r mental stability of the race. Since 18G0 <. Mo?,.noo in this section, and the { 111C ... . same is true of the south generally, 8 have undergone such a change in their tendency to the development of mortal r diseases as is shown by no other people i in a similarly short period of time In t the whole history of mankind. I will t take the statistics of our own state, j Georgia, a typical southern state, as | they will probably be of more interest j to this society than would those of the r whole United States. In forty years the j total Negro population in the state has ( been a little more than doubled, while ? the number of insane has increased t twenty fold. No other such rapid and a radical change In the mental stability \ of a race is recorded in history. This g outburst of insanity becomes still more j remarkable when we consider that for s generations prior to 1860 the colored 1 people had been free from mental dis- 1 eases. It has developed, therefore, I vithout the slightest hereditary taint. I cannot leave this subject without jailing attention to one or more danger vhlch is threatening the Negro at this :ime; that is, the drug habit?New ifork Medical Record. ? m WHEN BRIDGES BREATHE. low Iron Expands In Snmmer and Contracts In Winter. Though to speak of bridges breathing ippears passing strange, nevertheless, inanimate structures are never still 'or a moment during the livelong day The Britannia bridge, for instance, vhich is 400 feet long under normal :ircumstances, is from half to 3 inches nnepr at 3 n m. than It Is at 12 hours ater, according to the amount of sunjhine it is subjected to, which draws t sometimes an inch upward if the leat strikes the top of the tube, or to >ne side when the sun increases its emperature laterally, though the heavest train will only bend it half an Inch it any time. In like manner intense :old will cause a bridge to shrink more ippreciably. To show how intense the cold must nave been, we have only to point out that Southwark bridge over the rhame8, which, however, is only about jne ninth the length of Brooklyn bridge, only rose in the centre to the imount of lj inches for 50 degrees rise n temperature. To allow for expansion or construction tne builder of the Clifton suspension bridge provided the ?nds of the roadway with hinged flapB 1 feet long, which allow of perfect freedom of movement; and the makers >f the tower bridge, which is about 15 inches longer in the summer than in the winter, made a similar allowance. After the choir of Bristol Cathedral was covered with sheet lead in 1851, it was discovered two years later that, lotwithstanding - the fact that the length of the covering was 60 feet, and Its depth 185 feet, it had crawled down bodily for 18 inches, drawing out nails from the rafters in its course which had been driven in to arrest its progress, rhe explanation of the movement lies In the fact that the lead naturally expanded more freely downward than upward when subjected to the sun's beat, and that when it contracted at bight it drew its upper edge after it, in preference to climbing up to it. The Eiffel tower, like the Britannia bridge, is ever on the move, either upward or downward, according to the temperature, the summit of the tower, *o it is said, entailing an extra climb jf five inches when the temperature is high than In the cool of the lay, while in winter It is 8 inches shorter than at midsummer. Even the vhite marble. .obelisk dedicated to Washington, which was erected at a lost of ?260,000 rears its head 555 feet n heigth on the bank of the Potomac, s not proof against the power of the sun, and is said to increase its height t>y 2 inches and to bend slightly on a lot day. With regard to the latter movement, i copper wire 174 feet long, carrying a plummet suspended in a vessel of wa:er, renders perceptible the slight bend )f the shaft caused by the rays of the mn pouring on one side only, though :he inclination of the apex of the monjment amounts to but a few hunIredths of an inch toward the north iach day at noon throughout the sumTier. The railway line is a very powerful espirator. Probably every Answerite las noticed the gap between each rail. [n winter the chink will be over a quar:er of an inch in width, but in summer t will be quite closed up. During one )f the frequent civil wars Incidental to South America one of the belligerents conceived a unique idea of train wreckng. During the night he drove steel vedges tightly into these gaps for a considerable distance. The heat of the >un next day caused the rails to wreathe heavily, but as they could not expand longitudinally they twisted ;hemselves clean out of the chairs vhlch clamped them to the sleepers md the railway was rendered completey useless for traffic. A battleship is over 6 inches longer in lummer than in winter, and an ironclad in the tropics is neariy a foot longer than her sister ship in a more northern sea. One of the most powerful ireathing materials employed for engineering work is concrete. The aqueluct for the conveyance of the water !or London, extending from Bell Wier ;o Hampton, a distance of about eight ind three-quarters miies, is provided ,vlth what are technical v termed exmansion joints, at intervals of 30 feet to enable the material to breath. Roosevelt and the Trusts.?Wm, J. Sryan evidently takes but little stock n President Roosevelt's anti-trust ipeeches. In the last issue of The Ooinnoner he has this to say. "A Republican must be dull indeed f he cannot discover from the presilent's recent speeches that he has come o an agreement with the trust magnates. Those who are looking for itrenuosity along that line will not ind it in his public utterances. They ire weak and puerile. "Tnstpnd of a warrior leadiner his nen up San Juan Hill, we see the poltician anxious for a renomination and tfraid either to Ignore the subject or o deal with It firmly and aggressively, t was quite certain in his Minneapois speech, delivered before President dcKinley's assassination, that he exacted the administration to have a >ro-trust candidate, and that he Roosevelt) expected to make his fight igainst the trusts as a candidate of he anti-monopolists of his party, but ifter he was suddenly ushered into the rVhite House and given a chance to ihackle cunning, he has been apologizng for, rather than denouncing trusts, md in his speeches shows more alarm est the people injure themselves moraly in hating the trusts than they be lurt by the trusts. jj :r?z rJfl