Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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WOMAN'S BIG WORK Bill Arp Addresses the Womanf'4 gonie Mission Society. HE GIVES ilS UNSII ;'i? ?RISI Tells of the Splendid Work and Self' Sacrifice of Women-His Address Published in Full. Atlanta Constitution. Recently in Cartesville. Ga., th Woman's Home Mission Society of the north Georgia conference met. Among those who made addresses were Bil Arp. His talk was interesting through out, and is by request from many re produced in the Constitution in lieu o1 his regular letter. It follows in full: "If our youth is happily spent, ou old age will be crowned with pleasani memories. How blessed are those 'hil dren whose homes are happy, whose parents are kind and loving, who arE not cursed with wealth nor pinched with poverty. I believe that it is pos sible for parents to make the home sc attractive that even the boys wou'd rather stay there in their leisure hours than to seek the careless company of those about town whose homes are not happy. I don't know about David'c home, nor what he did in his youth, but his prayer was one of great anguish when he said 'Visit not upon me th( iniquities of my youth.' "But I was ruminating about the state and condition of Methodism an, missions in the long ago, when I was young and the most of you were an un known quantity. When I was in ry teens and was just noticing the girls and wondering what they were math for, the Methodist church was the oni. church in our town-and it had tihE only graveyard. I was very familia' with that graveyard, for I had to pas: right by it every night that I visited my sweetheart's home. I had a rival ir her affections, and one dark night hE saw a ghost and ran home and I gol rid of him, though I was accused 01 being the ghost. Near tL.ere was the church and there were the people, bul where was the bell and where was the steeple, for it had neither. It was ar old-fashioned unpainted building anc had small glass windows of 8 by 1( glass, and two doors in front, which used to be a peculiarity of Methodist churches. It was said that one door was to take In the converts and the othei to turin them out. The Baptist churche< of tha: day had but one door, foi when mnce they got in they never gol out. This old church contained on the Sabbath nearly all the religion thai was in the town, and at night was the trysting place of the old people whc lioved God and the young men anc maidens who loved one another. No tice was given that meeting would be gin at early candle-light. Candles! thai -gave what 'Milton calls a dim relikious light. Don't smile, my young frkends for Shakespeare wrote by candle-ligi and says, 'How for that little candle throws its beams, so shines a good deed In a naughty world.' Everybody was familiar with the amen corner and had reverence for those who occupied it. My wife and I still remember the low, guttural amens of Brother Mur phy, the snap-short amens of Brother Ivy, and the deep groanings of oldl Father Norton In echo to the pleading prayers of the preachers. Father Nor ton was a very close and stingy mart and on one occation got to shouting and clapped his bands and exclaimed 'Thank God for giving us a religion that has never cost me 25 cents.' And the preacher responded, 'And may the Lord have mercy on your stingy soul. We remember, too, the good Siste1 Jenkins, who always had three or four little children tagging- after her, be. sides one at the breast, and how she always took them to church and spread them out on the long front bench and took a basket of biscuit and fried chickeli to keep them quiet, and all the space between the front bench and the pulpit was their crawling ground, and when they wanted water she reached up to the pulpit and get It from the preacher's pitch er. "By and by a new preacher came who was deaermined to purge the church of Its loose and languid members. At his second service he had before him the book of membership and read out the roil and remarked that somebody had been adding to some of the names in pencil with such capital letters as D D.. which he supposed stood for doctor of divinity, but learned later that ii stood for dram drinker, and there wvere other letters, such as B. K., which stooc' for barkeeper, and N. T. for nigger trader, and H. R. for horse racer, and there was G for gambler and an F. for fiddler. He raised a big rumpus over all such as these and declared they should all be turned' out and they were. He re minded me of old Simon Peter Richard. son, who, while stationed here, weni over to visit his old home on the Pee. dee, in South Carolina. When he re turned I asked him if he had a good time, and he said yes he had a glorious time In his old church-the church he first joined and used to preach in. Oh said he, we had a glorious revival. the best I ever experienced. Did you take in many? said I. 'Take in, take In: nc my friend, we never took in nary one; but we turned seventeen out, thank the Lord. Oh. it was a glorious revival.' CHURCH WORK THEN AND NOW. "But I was ruminating about the dif ference between now and then ir church work and missions and salaries and church environments and the cul ture of the preachers. There was old Father Donally. with his woode.n in who always came to our campmeetingr and attracted great crowds, who cams to hear him scare the sinners and scari fy the Christians and deno-unce the fashions and follies of the day. I have uMt forgotten his rebuke to a gay younf couple who behaved unseemly during the sermon and the old man stopped and said, 'If that young man over there with hair on hir face and that ye.ung woman with a green bonnet on her head and the &avil's martingale: around her neck and his stirrups on her ears don't stop their giggling sinners, I will pint 'em o'ut to the con gregation.' But we had a number e' very great and notable? preachers it those day3. George Pierce, the bisbop and old Lovic Pierce, his father, anr Judge Longstreet, the eloquent presi dent of Ermory ecllere, and Dr. Mean: and Walker Glenn . ad o!d brothe: Parks used to attei i our quart?rl: meetings and our revivals. They we:' all great and good men and the peopl( came from far and near to hear them No more eloquent and gifted divines have occupied the pulpits of Geo:gi from that day to this. "But mission work was totally un knows as an organized feature o :hurch work. The first we ever heard o. was introduced by some northern emis saries who came to this region to plani Christianity among the Indians. Twc of them, whose names were Worcestei and Butler, were suspects, and arrestec by order of Governor Gilmer anc placed in jail in Lawrenceville, wher my father lived. It was believed that these men, who were Massachusett: yankees, were secretly trying to influ ence the Indians to violate the treat3 and not to sall their lads to Georgia; but this was never proven, and Gov ernor Gilmer turned them out on con dition that they would go back to Nev England, and they went. I remembci the excitement that pervaded om townspeople during the event. Johr Howard Payne, the author or 'Mome Sweet Home,' was another suspect. He too, was arrested and sent to Milledge vlle a prisoner, but was soon release, and sent to Washington city with at escort. Two years ago I received a let ter from an old woman in Texas. whc said she was born near Cartersville ix 1831, while her father, who was a Meth odist preacher was teaching an Indiar mission school up the Ftowah river a a place called Laughing Gal, which wa: the name of an Indian chief. My ol partner, Judge Underwood. knew hin well, and said he was a good Indian. HI got his feminine name according to in dian custom, which was to name a new born child for the first thing that the Indian doctor saw from the door of the wigwam after the child was born, anc so, when the doctor looked out and sat an Indian maiden laughing, the littil baby boy had to be named Laughing Gal. Old man Harrison, who has beer living here for sixty-fve years, is fa miliar with the name and the home of Laughing Gab The Cherokee Indian took kindly tol this missionary work John Ross and Major Ridge, who wer, half-breeds, became converts, anc Ross' son became a preacher, and sc did his grandson ,and I and m3 daughtr, Mrs. Aubrey, heard hir preach at Little Rock about twent3 years ago. CHANGE WROUGHT BY WOMAN'S WORK. "But you must pardon me. I did noi forget that the object of this confer ence was home mission work, but elo quent men and cultured women whc have preceded me have faithfully cov ered that ground in every phase anc have left for me nothing but memorie: that are only kin to it. There Is, how. ever, no dividing line. Both foreigr and domestic missions are founded i: Christian charity and Christian prog ress. There was a time when thern was no such organization as home_n1ls rant preachers were sheltered In an3 house that was vacant and could b4 rented for a trifle-when their house hold goods were moved from place t( place by a single team and the gooi wife and little children were mixed uj with the load; when two or three hun dred dollars was considered a libera allowance for a year's support. Bul woman's work has wrought a wond rous change over these condIitions, anm almost every town and villaige has pro. vided a comfortable horne for thi preacher's family. The adyance on this line has been rapid and- it has beet contagious. Ten years ago there was not a preacher's permanent domlcil< in Cartersville, but now every churcl has a comfortafble home attached. Bui let me say just here that there is ye room for improvement. A house Is no all of a home. It takes shade trees and flowers and fruits and green grass and vines to adorn and shade the veranda Even a few pretty pictures and a mir ror would not come amiss, for sucl things cannot be safely moved. I nothing better can be supplied, yot might put a painted motto over thi mantel, "God Bless Our Temporary Home.' Our Qartersville Methodist have built a nice, comfortable house but I have to furnish Brother Yar brough with Presbyterian strawberries and be feels constrained to pay me back in Methodist tomatoes. I prom-isi now to furnish every parsonage ir town with strawberries and raspber ry plants next fall if the good ladi will have them planted. I have notice( that the children of preache-s are as fond of these things as other children and their wives and daughters are as fond of flowers. Yes, my friends, mis sion work, whether foreign or domes tic, Is advancing all along the lines EIome missions are but a nursery foi those wider fields that take in all man kind. The spirit of charity-love o. God and love to man-4s the founda tion of all and there is no boundary tt that, no conference limits, no Masot and Dixon lines. The good Samaritat did not stop to inquire where the sui ferer lived. Cliarity is the only thinj upon which all mankind agree. Pope says: ''in raith and creed the world wil Btdisagree, Btall mankind unite on charity." "And Wadsworth says: "'The charities that soothe and hea and bless Are scattered at the feet of man likE flowers'" MADAME DE STPAEL ANr., MISI STONE. "Charity is the essence of love, and love is the fulfilling of the law. Chari. ty, like mercy, is not strained, bui droppeth as the gentle dew from hea en upon the earth beneath. It is twice blessed. 'It blesseth him that gives and him that doth receive.' Madame de Stael said, 'The only bank account we will have in heaven will be what we gave away in charity.' Sometimes we question the self-sacrifice of mis sionary work in foreign lands, and thE recent case of Miss Stone has stagger ed the faith of those who help unwill ingly; but the command of the Savio: af-er His resurrection is ever beforc us: 'Go ye unto all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. we cannot convert them, we can ci ilize them.' The gospel. of a clean sm:rt gees side by side with that of re Pc"ntar-e. Wherever the 'nissionary has gcn, his or her message has been aressed to the head as w4l as to th' he:rt. John Wesley said that cleanli ness was next thing to godliness. A eL,an body and a comforts-le home is the beginning of religion. ut neither the abduction of Miss Stone nor the personal sacrifices of thous ds of oth ers for a moment stops or pedes the work of the missionaries. t broadens and lengthens as the years roll on, up lifting the lives of the ignorant and degraded in the dark places of the earth. The twenty millions contribu tcd this last year to thil cause proves that the god cf greed pnd- selfishness has not assumed entire sway over this nation. These millions bring no re turn in wealth to the nors, nothing Dut tne reward of duty ormed. "Just think of it for moment. Do you know that we have ei ten thous and missionaries in forel lands? In China, India, Turkey, , and Cape Colony, and these missl n ries are re inforced by eighty t nd native preachers and teachers hey have churches in twenty-t thousand towns and villages, withi and a half million communicants! Christian communities of over four .million Ipupils. These missionaries have over , four million pupils under instruction. They have ninety-four universities and colleges, and so; .e of them are world renowned and rank well with out own. The best endowed of these colleges are at Constantinople, Beirut, Pekin, Egypt and Cape Colony. Then there are over one thousand 7econdary schools for training in the arts and industries, and also one hundred and twenty-two kindergarten schools. The most gra.ti fying and significant fact is that more and rejoice, for it is a pitiful fact that girls. The colleges have over two thousand of them, and in the comnon schools they constitute more than half the number of pupils. Just think of it and rejoice, for it is a pitful fact that for centuries in these benighted lands women has been under. the ban, and young girls were slaves to man's domi nation, convenience and passion. What a beautiful and glorious picture she now has of the freedom and ele vation of her sex, and it has all come through the work of missionaries, and is worth a million times more than it has ever cost. WOMAN'S GREAT WORK. "The freedom and elevation of wo man is the most glorious and heav-nlY work of the past cetury, and it still goes on, not only in foreign lands, but here at home. Woman is now at the head of every charitable work. Who else is educating our children in the public schools? Who is,foremost in the church, the Sabbath school, the Epworth League and the aid societies' who is in almost exclusiye charge of this conference? Fifty years ago she had no voice in these tljngs and they were considered beyond her sphere and St. Paul was quoted ag 'nst her evry time she presumed to in meeting or speak very loud at ho. The Sav ior did not so speak to ,e woman of Sanaria, nor conden the one the Jews wished to'stone - use i$ was tho Mosaic law. ~N that was ever preached. ' t the halt cannot be now told you relaton to our mssonary work. Th k of the 151) publshng houses that last year sent out 10,80,000 volumes. Thn of t.he 456 diferent translatons of e Bble nto foregn tongues. Thnk of the depart ment of medicine that pes side by sidel vwith the mission -w4k in every land. We have now 379 hspitals and 783 dispensarIes or-drug itores and during last year 6,500),000~ casez u ere treated. There are sixty-seven medi cal schools and training'schools for nurses, with 650 pupIls, reale and fe male. There are 247 orphlanages and asylums, over one hundred homes for lepers, thirty for the mute and blind and 156 for the Insane and Ite slaves to opium. Is It not a ~, the ex tent of this - work? Can $e stop it? Can we imptde It? Shall we eglet it? If It be of man it will come .to naught, but If It be of God we cannot over throw It, and If we oppose or neglect It it will be like fighting against God. "My Christian friends, I thank you for the privilege of making these fare well remarks. When your. presiding offleer wrote to me a kind letter, In viting me to participate In these exer cises, I was surprised and pleased, for It was another sign of that growing fellowship which Is now pervading all Christian denominations. The bitter n, s of sectarianism is passing away. I heard a gentleman say the other day; 'I am a Lutheran, and prefer that church to any other, for I was raised up in it, but when I travel and find no Lutheran church 'in the town or vil lage where the Sabbath catches me I always find a welcome and feel at home in any Christian church. Love of God and love of man covers all creeds and all forms of worship.' "That is the spirit of universal brotherhood. Love is stronger than creeds or kindred or country. Espe cially the love of woman. David's highest tribute to Jonathan was that his .love of women. Ruth, the Moa bitess, was not an Israelite, but she left her-home and her native land to live with her husband's mother because she loved her. How often do we see Methodist or Presbyterian women choosing their mates outside of their church and joining the church of their husbands. They do not stop to consult the creed, but change their church as willingly as they change their name, and I have known the.m to do that two or three times. Brother Sam Jones is not ashamed to tell how he found his wife In a Baptist duck pond, and I make no secret of telling how I found mine in that same old Methodist 'church I have described to you-not up in the 'Amen' corner among the saints, nor afar back among the sinners, but at~it midway, where the angels con gregate. Men do not change their churches to please their wives for they still maintain their rightful lordship as the head of the family. But for love a woman will change not only het church but her name. The love of wo man has no parallel. It extinguishes all fear. The apostles shrank from danger and hid themselves, and one be trayed and another denied his Lord grave. and master, but woman was last at His "Then we bid you God-speed in your noble work, you members of this mis sion. It Paul had respect for the Jews oracles of Gor. how much more shall we h'aev respcet for the Christian we r-n of this land who are planting those orac!es at hor,: and abroad. Gigantic Flour Combine. Chicago, Special.-The final steps in the formation of the National Mil ler's Federation representing a total capital of $400,0001000, and an annual flour output of 100,000,000 barrels, w:ere taken at a meeting held here. The federation is the national or ganization of the various State as sociations and in addition it will in clude the National Millers' Associa tion and the National Winter Wheat Millers' Association. Owns a Whole Town. Raleigh, N. C., Special.-The Su preme Court decides the interesting case of Mrs. Scott vs. Ingram, involv ing the title to the whole town of Star, in Montgomery county. Mrs. Scott, a married woman, living in South Caro lint, sold the land on which the town now stands, for a trifle, it seems. The town was built, and it is said the land is now worth $70,000 or thereabouts. The Supreme Court decides in favor of Mrs. Scott and so the property owners lose it. Tired of Rebellion. Manila, By Cable.-Rufino, who has spent $30,000 In his efforts to incite rebellion in the province of Misamis, island of Mindanao, now says he is tired of rebellion and has offered to surrender, with 75 rifles, to the native constabulary. General Chaffee will leave Manila April 10, on a tour of in spection to the Island of Samar. He will visit every port in the island, and will witness the surrender there ca April 15, of the insurgent general. Guevarra. After this surrender, the American garrisons in Samar will be largely reduced. LABOR WORLD. Three hundred miners are on strike at Congress, Ark. In Spain a man who works on a farm receives abouf twenty-five cents a day. The dockers at Rochelle. France, 700 In number, have struck for a $1 daily wage. In Albany, N. Y., the vegetable and fruit peddlers have formed a union and -affiiated with the Central Fed eration of that city. The trouble which has existed be tween the New York Sun and Typo graphical Union No. 6 for so long a time has been settled. The International Association of Machinists has saved 75,000 hours for its members during the last year by obtaining the nine-hour day. The strike of painters In Pittsburg, Pa., was settled by a compromise agreement. The rate will be forty cents an hour, or $3.20 for an eight hour day. -& nte f e^nty-two and' a half eents per hour. ey formerly worked ten hours for $2 per day. Labor Commissioner Ratchford, of Ohio, says that the average weekly earnings of the women wage workers in the large cities of the State is $4.83, and their living expenses $3.23 per week. President T. .T. Shaffer, of the Amal gamated Association, says the organi zation went into the last strike with the United States Steel Corporation with $72,000 in the treasury, and spent $200,000 in the fight. It will go into the next convention with $100,000 in the treasury.. Secretary Morrison's report for the year 1901 shows an unprecedented growth of the American Federation of Labor, 3G4,000 members having been added to the rolls of affiliated unions, and the total membership of the Feder atio-1 now being more than 1,000.000 wage workers. NEWSY CLEANlNaS.' Austria is arranging a commercial treaty with Mexico. A cotton mill, to cost over $500,000, Is to be erected at Spartansburg, S. C. A non-partisan City Council is ex pected from the next election In Chi cago.. A splendid laboratory for anatomical purposes is contemplated by the Uni versity of Chicago. Navigation to the St. Clair flats In . Lake St. Clair has been opened, the earliest ever known. Peru has accepted the invitation to participate in the St. Louis Exposition, and will be well represented. A movement has been started in Bel fast, Ireland, for- the erection of a statue of the late Lord Dufferin. It is estimated that over 4000 build ings will be erected this year at Bil mingham, Ala., at an aggregate cost of $4,000,000. It is stated that there will be 2500 colonial troops in London for the coro nation. Practically every colony will be represented. An agitation is on foot among cer tain villages in Lincolnshire, England. with a view to having poor tenants ex cused from paying poor rates. Glasgow, Scotland, has decided to seek Parliamentary powers to borrow $3,750,000 to build houses for the poor. This sum will build 400 tenements of three stories, accommodating 300 families. During the year 1900 the number of establishments in the bicycle business in tihe United States was '.12: the cap ital, $20,783,6.5!: number wage-earners employed. 17.525; total wages paid. $8,189.817, and total value of products, $31,915,908. The present industrial activity in Mexico is hardly less noted than that of the Southern United States, and among the principal enterprises are the cotten mills, which have been very successful, considering the difficulties to be overcome. Out of ninety-seven senators elected in France the other day three weye na tza:1:saa A nd So = w monarchnsts. LIVE ITEMS OF NEWS Many Matters of General Interest in Short Paragraphs. The Sunny South. A famine exists among the people of five counties in Northern Arkansas. George Gordon, colored, was hanged at Raymond, Miss., for the murder of his wife. There is now a prospect of settlement of the suffrage question by the Virginia Constitutional Convention. Jess Gupton was shot and killed by D. Shearon in Cheatham County, Ten't, last Wednesday night. Shearon plea's self-defense. J. Pierpont Morgan and party wej2 stalled at Brunswick, Ga., by bad wei ther. Outlaws attacked the town of Lytton Springs, Texas, but a posse of residents surrounded them in an intrenched po sition a few miles distant. - At The National Capital. Rcar Admiral Schley Saturday left Boston, Mass., for Washington, D. C. Joseph H. Manley, of Maine, has de clined the President's offer of the First Assistant Postmaster-Generalship. Attorney-General Knox decided that public lands in Porto Rico formerly be longed to Spain, and by virtue of the treaty of Paris now belonged to the United States. Lord Pauncefote has returned to Washington, D. C., from the South, not at all improved in health. At The North. The Nagle bill, prohibiting baseball on Sunday, has passed the House, in Iowa. Corsiderihle alarm is caused at the War Department by the spread of dis ease among troops in the tropics. Frank Carpenter.. of Darbyvilie, Ohio. has been arrested for alleged im plication in a plot to rcb the post office of Columbus. On his way home from the Philip pines, where he s?rved in the Fifth In fantry. Henry C. Hale was killed at Winfield, Kan. Frank U. Suling, a clerk, v,'s ar rested, charged with embezzling 35000 from the Gorham Manufacturing Com pany, of New York. Rev. W. H. Sallmon. pastor of the South Congregational Church of Bridgeport, Conn., has declined the call to the presidency of Tabor College, Iowa. William Klumpp, arrested in Grand Rapids, Mich., on suspicion of com plicity of the murder of his wife, at Lowell two weeks ago, was released. The New York Cotton Exchange will be closed March 28 and 9. Porto Ricans have given $1497.40 t ~~i ey ienfor1at-tfmi Ihwi ds at Adams, Mass., did much damage to buildings. Three Slavish workingmen were kill ed in the iron mills of Steubenville, 0. KnIghts of Pyt.hias of Illinois, MIch igan, Wisconsin and IndiAna ai-e to have a jubilee at Chicago, Ill. Eight Hungarians, sleeping on a Pennslyvania -Railroad - work train, were hurt at Niles, 0., in a collision. The National Retail Hardware Deal ers' Association meeting at Chicago. Ill.. proposes to move against the mail order business. At -t spelling match at Double B3"id ges. Ill., John Adams killed Frank Rushing and shot the se'nool teacher. A switch engine in Indiana, after a mad race, caught a freight train and prevented a collision on the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern. The freight handlers' and teamsters' strike, at Boston, Mass., has so far been settled that only 300 men are out of work now. Four laborers in New York were riurled under a sand bank, two being tilled. All the mills in Fall River, Mass., resumed except the Sagamore, where labor troubles are still unsettled. From Across The Sea, Chinese rebels captured the town of Kan-Chow, in the province of Kwang Tung. President Castro is said to be con scripting into service every available man In his effort to put down the re volt in Venezuela. Colonel Grimm, the Russian officer who was arrested at Warsaw, confesses high treason. Mohammed Reshad Effendi, heir to the Turkish throne, is seriously Ill. A Carlist rising is ,again feared in Spain. Emperor Francis Joseph opened an international art exhibition at Vienna. Emperor William has named a new naval yacht Alice Roosevelt. The French budget for this year amounts to $720,000,000. MisciPftneou4 M,atters. The Navy Department will start the naval dry dock at Havana in tow for Cavite, P. I., May 1. A settlement of the Indiana bitumin ous miners' scale, which has been be ore joint conference of miners and ap erators for nearly three weeks, is now in sight. Police proteetion has been asked by George Van Sittart, British Consul at New Orleans, La., for fear of Boer .sym pathizers. Three Italians fell from a skiff and were drowned at Spring Valley, Ill. Paderewski's special car had to be turned around on a drawbridge at Da venport, Io., because he would not sleep with his feet toward the engine. While leaning over a piece of ma chinery at Indianapolis, Ind., Mrs. Jo sephine Stevens had her hair torn off. Dr. R. G. Ellegood, one of the leading physicians in Delaware, died in Con cord, Delaware. Wh-ile delirious Charles Ehlert threw himself from a hongital window in De +rlMiem,and was kiled. SERIdUS SOUTHERN FLOODS. rfgh Water Does Darm.ge in Many Places. Meridian, Miss., Special.-Meridian s entirely cut off from the outside world, except that two Western Union wires are still In operation, and not a train is moving with 50 miles of the 3ity. A fast freight on the Northeast rn Railroad is 6 feet under water and the crew is in danger of being swept y. Efforts to reach the train by bEats have been futile, owing to the swift current. Two relief parties start d to swim and wade streams, but noth ng has been heard from them since Thursday night. Water at Enterprise, L2 miles south, is rising at the rate of 18 inches an hour. There is no prospect or the resumption of traffic for two or hree days. The southern section of this !ity has been under 3~feet of water for l4 hours and many families have been 'orced to leave their homes in the low ands and escape to higher ground. New Orleans, Special.-The win4 and rain storm which has prevailed Dver southern Mississippi for the past 18 hours has demoralized all railway :raffic and telegraphic communication The town of Hazlehurst, Miss., has been completely isolated for the past :wo days on account of the heavy rains. Kany streams in the country overflow d their banks and all traffic from the !ountry has been stopped, with no trains or mails. The rainfall has eaused great damage by flood at Newton, Miss. and there is little probability of the trains running through for several lays. About ten miles east the water is running over the railroad tracks six teet deep and four or five miles wide and two miles of track have been swept away. Telegraphic lines are prostrated an all locations. No mail has been re ceived over the star routes since the rain. Mobile, Ala., Special.-The -:ain storm that has caused,serious floods in the upper country set in here Friday with steady but not heavy rain and wind. The outer bar is reported as cx eedingly rough. No vessels have at tempted its passage since . Thursday sight and no vessels passed through the ship channel since this morning. The coast steamer Alpha, which is the last to arrive, reports a very rough ex perience on the bar. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad is operating as asual, no damage being reported. The Southern is also operating. The Mo bile & Ohio is tied up at various points. Jackson, Miss., Special.-The flood situation is somewhat improved so far as the railroads are concerned, but . traffic has not yet been resumed from - New Orleans, Vicksburg 'or Meridian. Mail from the North arrived Friday 30 hours late, but no mail has come in from the South in two days. Pearl ri - trise an i o the vicinity of Jackson. The flood fro > j the upper country Is being felt her and Pearl river has already backed up to within 100 feet of the' old capitoL. Scores of families moved to -high ground. So far there has- been no loss of life. Meridian, Miss., Special.-Eleven in ches of rain has fallen here during the past 48 hours. The streams are raging and many farms are under water, bridges have been washed away and railway traffic in this vicinity Is aft a standstill. An Alabama Great South ern freight went into a washout near Newark, Friday night. Two trains were lost on the Alabama & Vicksburg this morning, and on the New Orleans 3.nd Northwestern, 20 miles south of Mferidian. No trains have entered or departed from Meridian since Thurs day afternoon. Several serIous wash auts are reported. Many telegraph wires are down and some points are entirely cut off. Mobile, Ala., Special.-Traffile on the Wobile & Ohio Railroad in Mississippi tias been seriously interfered with by the floods of the last two days. Friday tight a trestle 30 feet long, just south af Shuqulak, Miss., was washed out mnd the track is under water from Por :erville, Miss., to Iron Bridge, a dis-. :ance of two miles. Minor washouts are also reported between Artesia and l'uscaloosa. The passenger train which left Mobile last night was turned back at Enterprise. Decatur, Ala., SpeciaL-A very se rere wind and rain storm accompain ad by a heavy fall of hail, struck here about 4 o'clock Friday afternoon, last ng one hour. Heavy damage was done and severe and serious, washouts were ncurred by roads. Haywood Roberts, a white man, and Tom Evans, colored, were killed by live electric wires which were blown down. Wires fell down across street car tracks and killed two :nules attached to a car, the passengers being severely shocked. Va!uable Jewels Stolen. Washington,,Specia.-The police of the various cities on the Southetn Rlaiway between Washington and Facksonville are mystified over the lisappearance of a $3,000 pearl neck Lace, the property of a passenger on a Southern train out of Jacksonville an March 7. The necklace was missed from a traveling bag, at charleston. It was set in heavy gold mnd in graduated order. The jewel was manufactured by a Philadelphia irm and on the clasps were engraved the letters "H. S. B." The necklace as believed to be the property of some well-known Washingtonian, whose identity is not disclosed. Not After Atlantic Coast Line. Wilmington, N. C., Specal.-It is known almost to a certainty here that here is no truth In the report that the Pennsylvania Railroad has purchased he Atlantic Coast Line. Railroad au horities here are disposed to treat: ~he rurmor lightly -and will not discuss :he matter for publication. It is be ieved, however, that a movement is on oot for a joint operation of the Plant System by the Atlantic Coast Line and 2nnthorn.