Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The PLANTERS LOAN and SAYINGS BANK, AUGUSTA, GA., Organized 1870. oidett S?riBKf\ Bank In Eastern Georgia. Largest Savings Capital In City. PaTA Intered* and Compound? every 6 months. TFT?S J. ADAMS PROPRIETOR. EDGEFIELD, S. C., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1898. . VOL. LXIII. NO. 38 A YEAR FROM TO-NIGHT. A your from to-night, Shall we sit hore tho samo? I wonder and wonder, And stare at the flume That will not reply, Though I study its light, And sadly am thinking A year from to-night. A year from to-night, jj Ah, who can foretell? Dut this I may count on That all will bo well; : Tho rest just as hnppy, Tho fire just ns bright, Where e'er I .am dreaming A year from to-night. The world will bo laughing, . Nor hush a glad breath. Although a tired dreamer Be dreaming ot death A foolish young dreamer, Whoso Hps have grown *v!iltc, May sleep all forgotten A year from to-night. -Ethel M. Angler, in Boston Transcript. >0000OO0DO2?00?50OO0OO000CK50 O S o o o O FLOYD GIFS By Eben E. Roxford. Q O 'LOYD GEAYusedto tell himself when he and Mary Dexter were children, that some day, when he grew to be a man, lie was going to marry tho rosy ohceked, bright eyed girl who al-, ways counted on him as her champion in all the ' difficulties that arose to ruffle tho happiness of those child hood days. As he grew older, he used'to'picturo to himself a pleasant home, and Mary's face and smile made sunshine in it. The other lads seemed to recognize that iu some way, ho had an especial claim on Mary, aud they never thought of interfering between them. Even the grown-up people, eeeing how much they were together, and how little they seemed to care for other society, used to say: "It was going to be a match," and it is not at all to be wondered at that Floyd felt confident of the future, so far as Mary was concerned. So confident was he, indeed, that when he had grown to be the man he had thought so much of being, he did.not feel it necessary to say anything to Mary about his plaus, because he was not yet ready to carry them out. He felt sure she under stood all about them. Ho wanted to get some hind of a start in the world before he took upon himself the re sponsibility of home-making. A chance came for him to make this start in .life in .the West. Ho hesitated about taking advantage of it, afc first, on Mary's account, but all his friends told him ho would-bo--doing~-a-ve*y ioolish thing in letting such aa oppor _trinity slip through his fingers. . And Mary, when he came to talk with, her about it, thought very much as all the rest of them did. So it carno about that he went awayfrum Brantford to make- his start ia tho world, and he went away, foolishly enough, without auy definite understanding with Mary about the future. He understood how he felt about it, and what his inten tions >vere, and ho took it for granted that she did also. And in doiug this he made the same mistake that a great many other young men make. Noth ing should bo taken for granted in love or war. Of conrsc.they corresponded with each other, but their letters wero not at all love^hke. Floyd Gray, was ono of (.hose men who find it exceedingly difficult to express themselves satis factorily on paper. Ho might think, beforehand, of a good inauy thiuga ho would like to say, and that he meant to say, when he wrote his letter; but when th Tn. was in j his hand, aud ike paper before him,-waiting for the record of his thoughts, his ideas Deemed to desert him, and what he nucceeded in writing was wholly lack ing in sentiment-a colorless trans cript of a few formal phrases that might mean anything or nothing. Therefore, it was quito natural that the love he felt for Mary, in his heart, never found its way into tho letters ho wrote her. He had been in the West three years when a letter came to him frrm his mother that stunned him with the news, that Mary Dexter was soon to bo married to a young doctor who had recently settled in Brantford. Married--Mary? It could not be! She knew-she must know-that he loved her-that ho intended to marry her, and that he felt sure she under stood what Iris, intentions -were, and had "signified his willingness to wait for him.to "get his start" in life be fore they entered into the partnership of matrimony. But when he came to think it over, as he did, when tho ability to think soberly came back to him after the stunning, effect of the bitter news had worn away somewhat, he saw what a great mistake he had made. How was she to know anything about his intentions without being told of them? No matter what she might thinkabout them, so long as he said nothing she could not bo expeoted to lrave any definite knowledge of his plans. He realized, when it was too late, the folly of "taking things for granted." Mary married. She had done well, his mother wrote, in one of the letters he got from her shortly after the mar riage. By-and-bye, she wrote, that, after all, Mary had not done so well, for the young doctor had begun to lead a dissipated life. He had re lapsed into habits formed before his marriage, of which no one in Brantford had any knowledge. Poor Mary! His heart went out to her in pity, for, though he had lost her, he loved her still, A year later au irresistible longing came over him to visit his old home. And he went back to it, bronzed al most to swarthiness by Western winds and sun, aud with a face so hidden by tho beard he wore that his eyes were about all his old friends could see to recognize him by. It happened that Mary was one of the first persons ho met on his arrival iu Brantford. Ho knew her tho mo- j ment he saw her, and yet-she was so changed that he could hardly believe it was the Mary he had loved so long. Her face was pale and grave. Her eyes had a look of settled trouble in j them, The girl was gone, and in her j place he found a woman whose life h not brought her happiness. Ho had hoped that the old love h died out in his heart. He had felt sa of it, because he had accustomed hil self to the thought that Mary cou never bo nearer to him than she w at present. But when ho met her, ai felt the touch of her hand in his ow and looked into her grave, thoughtf eyes that kindled with warmth aga at sight of him, he knew that he lov her the same as of old. He toldfimself that it was wroi to feel like this. She was the wife another. But the heart cares little f cold, abstract reasoning of this kin He loved her, and there was no way evading the truth. "But I can prevent any one el from knowing it," he said. "I dor know that I am to blame in loving ht but I would be to blame if I let peop ?nd it out, now that matters are they are." He mot Mary's husband frequent at the village drug Btore. He unde stood when he saw him why her fa had such a sorrowful look iu it. Youi Doctor Beed was dying slowly. Co sumption had set its seal upon hil And he was going down to his dea under the influence of the demon drink. There was not a day when 1 was sober. The village druggist c lowed the poor fellow to help hims? to the liquors on his shelves, and 1 availed himself fully of the opporta: ity to'deaden and stupefy tho pain i his disease. Floyd could not but pity the victi of his own weaknesses. . There wi something winning about him. E could understand how Mary had bee attracted to him. He wondered if were not possible to save him yet, an he tried to* do so, for Mary's saki But he was soon conviuced that ri clamation was out of tho questioi The only escapo from the terrible it fluenco that was over him was throug tho door of death, and that door wi already ajar for his entrance. Lister ing to the cough that racked tho fori of the dying man, Floyd realized tha tho end was not far off. It might com at any time. One day ho saw that Beed was i an unusually wrought-up condition He was weaker than usual. H coughed more. His nerves seemei all a-quivcr. Time and again, as the talked together, he got up and wen behind the couuter, and poured him self out a little glass of liquor, which for a short time, seemed to relier tho tension of his nervous condition But the effect of tho drug wouh speedily wear away, and auothe draught was soon necessary to kee] down the torture of the pain within Floyd wondered how a mau in such t condition of physical weakness couh stand the usual effect of BO mud . liquor. The .pain he felt must- bi poworfui enough to counteract it, h< thought, and again he felt a great such shipwreck of his life. By-and-bye, a terribie paroxysm ol coughing 'seemed to almost exhaus' the mau. ' "When it was over, he gol upj trembling ih every limb,1 ?'?wita great drops of sweat on his ghastly face, aud weut behind tho countei for another drink. Looking at hin with tho pity he felt expressed in hi: face, Floyd Gray saw him reach nj for the bottle from which he usu all] drank, but he saw, with a thrill o? horror, that he took down one instead whose label told that it coutained t deadly poison. Ho poured out some of its contents into a glass, with ai uusteady hand, too keeuiy alive to thc torture of his inward pain to notice the mistake ho was making. Then it was that the moment oi Floyd Gray's terrible temptation came to him. If poor Beed drank thc draught he had prepared for himseli ho would die. Death would come speedily. It would relieve Mary's lifo of the burden it was bearing, and -she would be free! . Free for him to woo and win her! It seemed to him that it was an age that he sat there and debated with himself as to what he should no. Should he let tho man drink the draught that had death in it, and thus remove the obstacle in the way of hap piness, or should he save him from the consequences of the mistako he was making, and in doing it, put away from himself, forever, perhaps, the possibility of the happiness he longed for? Who knew? Ree'! might'get well, after all. Stranger things- had* hap pened. Now was the chance for him to make sure of the future. Let the poor fellow drink the draught, and die! It would, be better for him, bet ter for Mary, better for himself. But-would it not leave. upon his conscience a stain almost like that of murder? Could he afford to carry with him through life the conscious ness that it had been in his power to put back death from this man for a time, and he had made no effort to Jo so? But-death was a question of time, simply. "Why not let the mau meet it now? Was it any kindness to him to prolong his misery? Then something seemed to whisper to him, Do not be deceived. The man will not die. Fate will step in and work a miraole-to keep you and the woman you love apart. Prevent him from drinking that draught, and in doing it you dash away from your.own lips the draught of happiness you might drink if it were not for him. He stands be tween you and all you have hoped for, for years. It is in your power to choose between possession and loss utter loss, remember, for Fate will surely bring this man back from the brink of the grave to thwart you in your desire for happiness. Fate likes to do these things. Why should you hold yourself guilty for the man's death? You are not offering him the deadly draught. You are simply allow ing him to do as he pleases. Surely j ou are not responsible for the result. Let him drink it-let him die! Coward! Murderer! The words seemed to form themselves in letters of fire before Floyd Gray's eyes. He sprang to his feet. He was at Beed's side before he knew what he was about, almost, and he dashed aside the glass that was almost at the other's lips. "What do you mean by that?" cri?d Beed, angrily. "Look at the label and you'll know why I did it," answered Tloyd, his brain whirling dizzily. Ho knew, now, that all I have written down had passed through, his mind in a few short seconds of time. But it had seemed [ an age, as I have said, and the reali zation of it came with a reaction thal made him weaker than the man at his side. "I got hold of the wrong Lottie, it seems," said Reed,' frightened almost into soberness by the discovery. "You've saved my life, or what little there is left of it. But it wasn't worth saving," he added bitterly. "I be lieve I'll go home. Somehow I don't feel as if wanted another dram. I'm scared, I suppose." "Let me go with you," Floyd said, and the two men went down the street together, to Mary's home. They parted at the gate. "I suppose I ought to thank you for what you did," Roed said. "Ido thank vou, though I think it -would have been better to have had it all over with as soon as possible. I've wished I were dead many a time, but-I'm afraid to die, so I keep on living as long as I can. But I can't keep on forever, can I?" and he laughed in a way that made Floyd shudder. "Well, good-bye, till we meet ngain. I you like. . If I had known you years ago you might have helped me to be a better man. But it's too late for thai now." Reed holdout his thin, blood-, less hand, and the two mon stood for a moment looking into eaoh other's faces. Floyd could meet tho eyes of the other without shame or fear, and he thanked God for it. * * * ^ * The next morning he heard that Dr. Recd was dead. ? * ? * * A year later he came to Brantford again. And ho came because a letter from Mary had told him that he might. He had written her in his clumsy, awkward fashion, a letter that made it unnecessary for her to take anything for granted. There were nono of the graces of finely worded phrases- about it, but it went straight to tho heart of the matter. "I love you. I need you. Will you be mv wife?" And she had answered: "Come." When they stood up before the man of God, and tho marriage words were spoken, a thought of his awful temp tation came to him. What if he had yielded to it? But-he had not yield ed, thank God, and there was no seuso of guilt to cast a shadow on the happiness that seemed opening out before them.-New York Ledger. tho Gateway to Pacific Trade. Hon. Frank A. Yanderlip, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, contributed to the Century an article eutitled "Facts About tho Philippines, with a Discussion of Pending, Problems." Mr. Vauderlip says: . While it is true that tho islands lie a little ont of the direct line of ocean traffic in voyages by way nt -* ern passage, there are rc. - operate strongly for a di;-, of navigation by way of t . Malacca and the China Orient^ The voyage Jbjjj? one dreaded by all c?v?ga tain seasons of the yef Straits become the center storm disturbances kr - world, and when .ni > consequently restricted opening of the. Nicaragut. i_.How ever, tho trade of our Atlautic ports with the Orient will take the safer and shorter route thus provided; and in addition to this, tho commerce of much of Europe which now seeks the East by the voyage through tho Medi terranean, tho Suez Canal, the Ihdian Ocean, and the Straits, or byJtheCape route, will turn in the opposite direc tion. The possession of the Philip pices by a progressive commercial power, if the Nicaragua Canal project should be completed, would change the course of ocean navigation as it concerns a large percentage. of the water-borne traffic of the world. Eu rope looks to the Nicaragua Canal and the Pacific as offering a better routo to tho iar-Eastern countries, and in the event of its completion the archi pelago will be tho gatoway to all the trade of lower China and the countries south. Hong Kong, the great ware house where are stored and whence are distributed the products of tho earth in the maritime trade of China, may, in the course of theso changes, now in prospect, become scarcely more than a 'distributing point for the trade of the valley of the Si-Kiang. Insanity in Great Britain. There are to-day 5526 more certified lunatics in this country than there were two years ago. That is the ' startling statement contained in the annual report of the Commissioners in Lunacy which was presented to Parlia ment. Wo do not forget that it has been officially pointed out that the recent apparent increase in the num ber of lunatics is accounted fqr by greater strictness of regulation lead ing to larger numbers of patients .being drawn into tho Commissioners' net. But we find it very difficult to believe that these swarms of lunatics are a?ything like entirely accounted for*by the sweep of the net. The meaning of the figures will be more clearly realized when we point out that, as there aro 102,000 persons (in England and Wales only) who are of ficially certified to bo insane, more than five per cent, has been added to their number in the last two years. There is now one lunatic to every 308 sane people, . which strikes us as a dreadfully large proportion, and really does sug gest that there is something in the notion that the rush and worry of modern lifo are peculiarly favorable to the production of insanity.-St. James's Gazette. A Nevr Device in Guns. ' Tho tremendous havoc wrought by Admiral Dewey's guns at Manilla shows the capabilities of modern ord nance. Machine guns, rapid-fire can non and great 1000-poundexS, mounted on disappearing cartridges, all are part of the necessary equip ment of a first-class battloship of tho latest type. An electric gun for coast defense purposes has been lately de vised; if successful, it will throw a steady stream of explosive bombs aud give neither report nor smoke to show its location. The gun will be a sort of cumulative magnet; that is, as tho projectile passes along the tube it successively closes new- circuits and thus acquires a velocity which will carry it e3veral miles. Tho advantage of a contrivance like this is that it would protect the bomb without tho sudden shock of a powder explosion, and thus remove tho danger of burst' ingthe gun,-Guntpn's Magazine, S SPAIN'S BRUTA THE CHARACTERISTICS F0STEBED : LY BESPONSIBLE FO] OF THE LD SPA?N, despite; the disgusting ?rn- j morality of the thing, knows of no sight more, stirring and ira* posing than the first port of an ex* pensive bull fight, . with the ? e r e monious entrance to the blare of trumpets; the pro cession of historic costumes of crim son, pale. blue,, white and canary; of pea green, silvery white and pink ; of scarlet, black, dark blue and white-11 and over all of it the brilliant sun-, light, the perfumes of spring in the sweet air, and the enthusiasm of a mighty audience that moves and shoutB and blazes with excitement.. The ring at Tarragona, for example -little, old, lost-to-the-world Tarra gona-gives sea'ts for 17,000 people-I more than the entire population of. j that backward town along the Medi terranean; and yet, the s?ats are often full, for the country people for milos around flock in, on foot, on donkeys, asses, horses and in bullook carte. So. | that when the big band strikes up the old barbaric march, and the thousands on the benches move themselves un easily, and shout down greetings to their favorito fighters, you have a scene before you not to be forgotten. The central idea of a bull-fight, the. Spanish will tell the visitor, is to dis play the courage and dexterity of men. It is acknowledged that!the bull is more than a man's match-the bull with his strength, ferocity and sharp horns, and the man alone, armed with a sleder sword. Again, it is essential that the bull should be killed with but, one single stroke, given while the J swordsman,' the espada, faces him. This stroke must also be delivered in' one spacial spot, behind the shoulders, to penetrate the heart. Should it | glance and strike the lungs instead, so that the bull will drop t blood from ! his mouth, the audience ls disgusted, j and expresses its disgust. All this is delicate and dangerous work, and it requirns -** . INSULTING A LAZY BULL. and bull. Besides there must be cere mony and a show. Out of these ne cessities the numerous and well-de fined acts and scenes of a bull-fight take their due progression. Tho bull must first be exercised be fore the audience, that they may take pleasure in his strength. The ani mal is noble, with a pedigree as long as that of many a Don. He is slender, with Imall hind-quarters and tremen dous neck and shoulders. Neverthe less, he is rather small than large. His horns are straight and sharp; and he is quick, tricky and vicious. The ordinary bull-fighters, toreadores, flaunt their cloaks before his face and escape with difficulty, often being obliged to jump the fence around the ring. But for the poor horses there is no escape, and here is where the ill ness of the stranger takes its sudden rise. . The object of bringing in the horses, early in the game (poor broken-down old creatures), is really four-fold. It is first to exhibit the vigor of the bull, when he lifts and tosses them wi^h the most abominable strength. Next, it is to tire the bull a# little, so that it will not be impossible for a single man to face him, later on. Thirdly, it is to give the bull a smell of blood, that being naturally what he himself ?B fighting for. Lastly-it must be said, unhappily-it is to give the people themselves a sight of blood. I believe this latter to be absolutely true, in spite of all denials bf Span iards. The audience seems to like the blood of mangled horses! And now, while the bull is being taunted in the ring, almost at the be ginning, the horses, blindfolded, are therefore being slowly ridden around to him. Upon them are mounted the LAST GREAT ACT most degraded of all bull-fighters, the picadores, so littlo-thought-of by the people themselves that the iowest, cheapest brand of Spanish cigarettes aro called, with one consent, the pica dores. It is the trade of these gentle men-who ride in always, it is said, half drunk-to see that the bind-folded horses which they ride are properly ruined by the bull; it is their trade to spear the bull with a long lance, to irritate him, and to save themselves. They, themselves, are protected on the legs by iron sheathings. After two or four or even eight horses have been gored and tossed and tumbled, and BTjiTBB T0BEAD0BS ATM?. LABGE a ^?HB DEGENEBACY ION. gged away dead and bleeding, mpet sounds and a very difl'er fi?t'of men dash into the wide bull i ieee are the banderilleros. Eaoh th?mhaetwobe-ribboned darts, little harpoons, in his hand, which met. fix in the bull's neck to pain to infuriate -him, and to make exhibit the 'agility of men. - ! is a matter of no little skill and iger; if successful, it almost crazes tho animal, giving him the maximum of .ierooity with the minimum of strength. It is also one of the "pret tiest" parts of the corrido de toros; for the bull comes on with a rush to these most nimble and courageous banderil l?aos, who often must evade him by a siugle inch. Each evasion and each "THE ENTRANCE TO THI trick of daring has its name, and is applauded or. hissed by the excited thousands on the benches, according , t?r the audacity, coolness and dexterity flth? men. or the reverse. These lively fellows, who take ter "?jble-risks,, will seat themselves Kerchief and slip aside from him. Their harpoons, which they jab into his injured and insulted neck, should make him wild. But if he does not show sufficient wildness, the people cry for "Fire!" And here it is too sickening and cow ardly to proceed in detail. Sufficient it will be to say that there have been invented banderillas with firework at tachments, that they may burn after they have been thrust into the bull's neck! . Enough. The time has now arrived EASY TO DEAL WITH A GIDDY BULL. for the great act of the matador, or the espada, the most important man, the high professional who has to kill a crazy bull, made monstrously wicked by, ill-treatment and a thousand goad ings. The bull is weakened, it is true, but he is still so dangerous that half "the matadors of history have found their death in the ring. It is in vain that the Spanish de fend their bull-fights as "the heroio games" of their ancestors, "conse crated by antiquity." The truth is the ancestors of their ancestors long ago abandoned the corrida to paid professionals of low birth. Spanish OP THE ESPADA. I bull-fights ceased to possess anything of the old chivalry whon chivalry it self expired, more than two centuries ago. Apologists of the ring, indeed, olaitn for tho end of "the aristocratic period" a dato a J late as the accession of the Bourbons, in 1770; but as their chronicles are silent concern i ug the exploits of the Spanish nobility in this regard all through tho eight eenth century, there is reason to give the date of "the accession of the Bourbons" its mere sentimental value.. The chronicles of tho ring begin again in 1770, with tho name of tUe plebeian Pedro Romero; with the Corrida de Toroa in full awing as 1 a mercenary shew; and with the Spanish dons content to patronize it in the simple act of paying for their seats. Eomero. found the national sport "degenerated" to a simple conflict be tween, a bull and professional-with out-a-profession. Apart from the lack of- noble Spanish blood in the bull fighter, the degeneracy appears to have consisted in an exchango of the heavy armor in which chivalry was wont to prudently envelop itself fbr the cheaper suit of padded leather and Bhirt of mail of the time and trade. Pedro Eom?ro, first, threw aside every kind of protection, appearing as a gymnast, light, graceful and exact; and secondly, to counterbalance tho obvious disadvantage, hit upon the device of "tiring out" the bull by a whole series of "preliminary exer cises," to be performed by under studies. He invented, also, a new and very dangerous method of killing the animal, a single sword-blow, which must penetrate a certain spot behind the shoulder of the bull, while the bull-fighter perilously faced him. How much this was "degenerating" from the prudence of the old aristocrats I who, in their knightly armor, speared,, " ? 2 BLARE OF TRUMPETS." the bull from the backs of their war horses, and hacked ' at him, when un seated, with their battle-axes, is a question rather delicate than difficult to answer. During the nast twenty years two s n all-powerlul in the tel Molina y Sanchez )) and Salvador S&n . ) have dn?? *-- V. . - ; ,-.:f Sckii ?..:>. van did-j ..*?. Hghiii' '.?>? .M'r.. j.; America, j FRASCUELO AND LAGARTIJO. paratively small pay of their predeces sors, and by reason of their popularity were able to make extraordinary terms with the Spanish public and impres arios. The profession is grateful to them to-day, now that 'they are in their old age, and they are still called by courtesy the two stars of Spain. Lagartijo, in particular, was always a ferocious follow, insisting that the public should have its full of blood and excitement. Nowadays tho success of the fight ers does not depend so much on the applause of wealth and beauty in the boxes as it does on the fidelity of the respectable middle-class public in the reserved seats of the grada, to say nothing of the yelling populace on the ?tone benches immediately around the arena. As for the modern Spanish lover, he feels that he is ?loing a great doal when he pays the admission price to tho grada for his sweetheart and her mother. The Spanish lover is, ordinarily, spoony, and the Spanish girl is seemingly-ordinarily, timid to a degree; the Spanish mother is very often pretentious, and the whole mid dle class and lower class population astonishingly democratic and out spoken. This, theu, is the bull-fight, and the spirit of the bull-fight audience. The audience is composed of every type of citizen-the respectable and good, as well as the depraved." Little children suck their oranges contentedly while the miserable horses are squealing with pain, their entrails protruding "from their ruined bellies. It seems to be only a question of getting used to it. <They say you can get used to anything._ The Heliograph. With all its superiority in distances, the heliograph is too uncertain for sole reliance. A passing cloud is sufficient to interrupt the clearest signals, per haps in the critical moment of abattle; or a Bun haze may render invisible the rays from the largest mirror; so that, at any time, without a clear atmosphere, the system is useless. It is not known that the heliograph ic system has ever been in use on ship board, and the sea service has noth ing for daylight signaling that ap proaches its accomplishment in dry atmospheres. For night service at sea the flashlight appears to be the best system of signaling in all weathers, though, on rare occasions, the long beam of tho electric search light thrown up on the sky has proved effective for communication when it was possible by no other means. An instance of such nae was reported a few years ago by two British ships, waioh, whilo on opposite sides of a high promontory niue miles in width, opened communication with each other by means of dot nnd dash dashes on tho sky from their search lights.-Lippincott's. It is eighteen years siuce the first Japanese newspaper was established, and now there are in existence 575 daily and weekly papers, thirty-five law magazines, thirty-five medical magazines, eleven scientific anda large number of religious journals. YOUNO HERO OF SANTIAGO. Charles Esendero, of Ohio. Age Trounces Carried "Water to the Wounded on San Juan frill. Although Charles Escudero, four teen years old, doesn't realize it yet time will show that as the water bo] of the Ninth Infantry in Cuba he r ai CHAULES ESCUDERO. (He marched beside his soldier father and gave water to the men as they fought before Santiago.) as much a hero as any man who car ried a gun in the wild fight anc fearless charge np San JV 1 hill. Charlie arrived at New York City, s few days ago, on the transport Lou isiana and was shipped to his home, Columbus, Ohio, by the Children'fi Aid Society. Charlie looked like a picturesque re concentrado, wearing a r?gul?t i or brown cavalry hat, an old brown jacket and a pair of trousers much the worse for the Santiago campaign. The rem nants of the shoes that carried him up the rocky hill of San Juan held hit feet, and a blue flannel shirt, much toe large, was lapped about him. His father was a bugler in the Nintl Infantry, which Charlie managed tc join at Tampa. There he was smug gled on a transport, and wh- *--{ in 0nHc * aa. r Dov for tua $?9$ lr?f.iai.w. 3 -.v.v tn ell tSs fighting i. ; . ' illume ntxate w Consumption of Coal. The consumption of coal per head ol population is lowest in Austria, where it is only one-sixth ton per annum,and highest in Great Britain, where each person averages three and three-tenths tons each year. In the United States the average is two and one-fourth tons a year. Commercial Plants. It is stated that 4200 species oi plants are gathered and used.for com mercial purposes in Europe. Of these, 420 have a perfume that is pleasing, and enter largely into tlie manufacture of soents and soaps. The Time It Failed. Mrs. Callahan-"Don't yez rer mimber Oi told yez th' inurnin' not to go in swimrnin' to-day?" Patsy Callahan-"Oh, come off. mudder. Youse wuut me ter say yes, an' den you're goin' ter 6ay, 'Fergit it BJI' remember de Maine. "-Judge. 1 .- ' . -JU ai" jsroucs O? ! ?< .." ; c- . Tuan hill. . | . :ar <* . '... to the SO?i?'ers? ; ft?jj if. hsi b ,'; bugler ?ad I x:s? vjth . . -.um. wnen 1 saw our men geting killed I wished T had a gun, but I had to carry wator. I had four canteens. One held about two quarts. The men firing would see me and yell to ask if I'd got any water. If they wer.e all empty I went to the creek and filled them. At the last it got a long way to go. 'Wasn't I afraid?' I just thought I'd get killed, and we'd all get killed that day, the bullets came so thick. I saw men I knew get hit. "I kept run*of my father by the bugle, mostly. Did I see man j wounded? Yes, Ioarrisd water to 'em when I could. Sometimes I had to pour it into their mouths, but most oi the men I saw wounded were able tc get on their elbows to drink. "I've got plenty of relics for my mother-Spanish cartridges and other Spanish relics. I'm going back to school. I'm in the fifth grade." The boy seems to have suddenly be come aged by his experiences. He is only a little chap, with big brown eyes and long lashes, and he says he does so want to see his mother and sisters. Odd Seaside Recreations. We saw a man the other day-t man rich in lands and beeves-clost to nature, perfumed by pine trees, with the sound of the sea in his ears, absorbed in the study of bookkeeping for his amusement. We know a man who finds the quiet of a sea village delightful because he can concent^ his mind on a cook book. Anr finds that earth and sea and sk] not distract him from a treatise political economy, the dismal science. Thus do men take variously their pleasure.-Boston Journal. Bussia is said to own 3,000,001 horses-nearly one-half of the whole number in existence. A NEW WAY TO PROPOSE. A Fino Samplo, of >'crVe That Won tb? Old Man's Consent. As the yoong man entered, the old mnnjooked upland scowled. "Well?" said the old man shortly. "Your daughter," began the young man, but the old man cut him off abruptly. "I've noticed that you've been hanging around a good deal," he said. "I suppose that you've come to tell me that you love her and want to marry her?" ,fNo," replied the young man, calmly. "I've come to tell yon that she loves me and wants to marry me." "What!" roared the old man. "She i says so herself," persisted the yonng man. "I never heard of such an exhibition of egotistical impertinence," said the old man. "Then yon misunderstand me," ex plained the young man. "My as sertion is dictated by policy and not by impertinence. You s?e, #it's ' just this way: What Lwant is nothing to you; now, is it?" "Why-er-not exactly/' "I might want a million dollars, bat that wouldn't ont any figure with yon, .would it?'? "Certainly not." "Tour're under no obligations to supply me with what I want?" ~ "Hardly." "Then what a fool proposition it would be for me to come to yon and say, 'Mr. Parkinson, I have been very favorably impressed with -your house and lot,' or, 'I think Fd like your daughter,' or anything else in that line. But when your daughter wants anything it's different. Now, isn't it different?" "It certainly is different," admitted the old man, cautiously. "Precisely," said the yoong man. "She an a I ?gored that all loot very carefully last night. Yon see, I have no particular prospects, and we could both see that there wasn't one chance in a hundred that yon would give her to me. Then she suggested that yon had never yet refosed anything that she wanted, no matter what the cost might be, and that perhaps it would be a good plan to change the usual or der somewhat. We sort of felt that it wqoldn't be right to ask yon to do any thing for me, bot it's different in her case; as I remarked before. So I'm here merely as her agentto say that she wants me, that she wants me very much and to ask you to please see that she gets me. She never hos wanted any thing so much as she wants me, and I am so favorably disposed toward her ' that, if you care to make the invest ment, I shall be quite willing to leave *u"*?rmR entirely to you and her." awake ? s??aess man is going to ov.-v ' .? ; s^>: to get econ . . P '. kehlte *'ntiuddc-i ia l ... ; considerable interco nun . " . w&y?r? h- ;nl?y :h'i?'-'v. ..:-\-f> ? jgti vi i"* riving hy ?ihn k-r- .. arc which the Indian uses to-day is prob ably 6000 years old, and nothing can more clearly indicate the unprogres sive nature of the people who have used it so many centuries than its very primitive condition to-day. It is supposed that there are 7,000,000 of them at work in India, , using Indian made yarns for the coarse counts and English imported yarns for the finer qualities of cloth. The weaver site"" with his legs in a hole in the ground below the cloth beam, on which the finished cloth is rolled. This beam is carried on two stakes driven into the earth. It is wound tight and kept from revolving by means of a stiok thrust through a hole in it, one end of < which rests on the ground. The reed is of bamboo skin, and the healds, stiffened with some drying oil and hung on two wooden pulleys, consti tute the greater part of the appliance. The fact that a man can subsist, how ever poorly, on the product of such a machine, is a proof that with a better designed but cheap and simple loom he could probably double his outturn and make a good living. Throwing the shottle by hand, he can obtain about twenty picks per minute, and with strings and picker about fifty per min?te. With the new foot loom he can make fifty picks a minute, and thus treble his present daily income of twenty-five cents a day,, which it takes the help of his wife and children to earn.-Chicago Becord.* A Natural Problem. What is the scientific explanation oi the mysterious readiness with which portions of the human frame pass in to openings by which it is afterward found impossible to yithdraw them: Everyone knows how easy it is to get a ring on the finger which will only come off again with the help of a liberal ap plication of soap. Only a week or two ago a gentleman, igno ant of this, got his fingers into the ring which usually forms part of the window fittings of a hansom cab, and had to be conveyed in his cab to a hospital, and worked ai tor an hour or two before he was set free and now a small boy has been a prisoner by the head for an hoar at' one of the iron openings in the parapet of Westminster Bridge, which had to be filed before he could be released. Probably the circulation of the blood and a consequent slight i welling is re sponsible in both oases. Anyhow one sympathizes with the gentleman who may have been of a nervous and fid gety temperament, and also in a hurry, rather than with the small boy, who probably pat his head through the opening in or 1er to spit apon the passing steamers-a not uncommon amusement of small boys when th? police are not vigilant opon bridges. St James's Gazette, London. Waste Land Profitably Utilized. Five years ago a farmei in one of our country towns, who had on his farm a thorny little ravine of no value, set it with balm of Gilead shoots. He now gathers every spring from 380 to $100 worth of buds from the ravine, selling them to pharma cists. Tho Hardest Japanese Wood. The hardest Japanese wood is what is called kilaki, which resembles oak fibre. It takes a high polish, and is med for line work and also for the frames of ships. Un account of th? scarcity of this wood, the price has doubled within the last few years.