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************************* Contributed by Briggs. Caleb Rogers Doe A Bit of Figgerirr By JOSEPH C LINCOLN Of the Vigilantes. Caleb Rogers was seated at the little desk behind the counter of his "gen eral store" at Rogers' Corners. His check book was open before hun, and he was tapping his front teeth with the end of a penholder and apparently considering deeply. Daniel Griggs, who owns the big farm half a mile up the road, entered the store aDd stood for a moment regarding its proprietor with an amused smile. "Well, Caleb," he observed, "you look and act more like a Rockefeller every day you live. I presume likely you're tiggerin* whether you'll invest this month's income in more Standard Ile or use it to buy your wife another diamond collar:" Mr. Rogers smiled also, but he was serious enough a moment later. "Dun." he said, "I tell you whnt I was tiggerin'. 1 was tiggerin' whether I hadn't better make the check I was goin' to give the Red Cross folks a hundred Instead of fifty." Griggs' mouth optmed in astonish ment What About Jim Griggs? **You give a hundred -dollars to the Red Cross, Caleb Rogers !" he demand ed. "You! Are you crazy? You sar tainly ain't worth any more money than I am, and I was calculatin' to give about ten-not tnore'n fifteen airway. The Red Cross is a mighty fine thing. I know that well enough. But if you'll tell me why folks no richer than you and me should give" Caleb's foot, which had been resting over one corner of the desk, came to the floor with a bang. Ile straighten ed, leaned forward and shook his fore finger earnestly at his visitor. "Tell you?" lie repeated. "Yes, Dan Griggs. I will tel! you. I'll tell you be cause you've got a boy. same as I have, np here at the big camp, and it won't be many weeks, or even days, afore they're both over on t'other side of the big pond fightin' the most cussed, cruel, unscrupulous gang of thieves and murderers that ever rigged up in uniforms and killed women and babies for fun. Oh, of course you know all rhat, you"l say. You know your son has enlisted and is goin' to war, to* bartle, to run his chance along with the rest of bein' killed or wounded or taken prisoner. Y'ou know it, yes, Lu a general way you do. Such things, the woundin' and all that, happen to other boys every day, but it's amazin' how slow fellers like you and me are to re alize that they're Just as likely to hap pen to that one boy we set so much store by. It's what I've just been try in' to realize, Dan. I've been sittin' here thinkin' it out. "Take my own boy-or take yours, to fetch it right home-take your Jim. Jim left here and he went oif to camp to be trained. And it was colder than the northeast corner of an ice chest up in that camp, and he no sooner landed thar than he realized he hadn't got the heavy sweater he'd ought to have. His mother would have knit it, but 'twould have taken time, and he'd have pretty nigh froze waitin'. So the Red Cross gave lt to him, along with wrlsters und a comfort kit. On the way up to camp wherever that troop train he was on stopped there wa* Red Cross women with bot coffee and sandwiches, a-makin' him comfortable, doin' the little kind things you and his mother are just longin" to do this min ute. "Whjn Christmas come who sawi that the bundles from home got to | him? Who gave him things-candy and smokes and ijuch-on Its own ac count? The Red Cross, that's who J And when he had the bad cold and fever who supplied the nurse rhat did more thau anybody eise to fight the pneumonia off? The Red Cross, Dan-; nobody else. "And when he's on the ship goin* I across, when he's merchin'' through France on Ins way to them trendies we read so much about, when at last he's in those trenches-who's lookln' out for him every minute of (he time? Who's motherin' and futherin' him, same as you and your wife would give all this wide world to be able to do? Why. the Red Cross, just the Red Cross. "And when he goes over the top to get his first roal punch at the Kaiser's gang of pirates, suppose he gets a bul let through h?ra some ..'heres. It can just as likely be him or my Sam as | anybody else's boy, remember that He's lyin' out lhere In No Man's Land, and lt's night and cold and wet, and he's in pain, awful pain, and" Mr. Griggs Interrupted. "For mercy sakes, don't Caleb r he pleaded. "I can't bear to think of lt" "Then you ought to. "Twill do you good to think Just a little. For pretty soon who comes crawlin' along through the hell fire to him and gives him wa ter-and morphine. If he needs it-and binds up his wounds and carries him back to the place where the doctors are? And whose doctors are they that gives him the very best treatment that's possible, and whose hospital does he go to afterwards, and whose doctors and nurses take such good care of him there? R?ttln' it all to gether, who makes Jim Griggs a well man again and makes it possible for his father nnd mother and sisters to lay eyes on him once more? Nobody on this earth but the Red Cross. And God bless lt, I say ! What ls Your Son Worth to You? "And now you wonder why a man no richer than I am is givin' a hundred dollars to a society that's doin' all that Umd a million times more for my boy. j "Look here, Dan Griggs. How much is ' your son worth to you? If you*could save his life by doin' lt wouldn't you sell the farra and the stock and your J house and the Inst shirt on your back? | Wouldn't you give him the last cent you had If he needed lt to save himself from torture and death? Well, the Red Cross is doin* everything humans can do to save him from those things, and lt's warrain' him and comfortin' him and keepin' him well and happy besides. And what it's doin' for him it's doin' for every one of the soldiers in the fields or the trainln" camps, the hospitals-even in the German pris ons. And it needs money-and you grudge givin' It" Mr. Griggs shook his bead. "No, I ilon't." he said. "I guess II can spare a hundred, too-for the boy's sake." ? i Friend ._ YOUR HUNDRED I ilLIONDOLLfflS WAR FUND COMMITTEE TELLS HOW IT WAS j SPENT. i No Jo Wat dish: Amei of til He announced that the week set apart for the drive ls May 20 to 27. "We have collected $105,000,000," said Mr. Ryan. "We have .allowed refunds to chapters-us you know, chapters are entitled to retain 25 per cent, of the collections covered by tile chapter. They have not In all cases availed themselves of the 25 per cent., but we hav? allowed $17,006,121 on this account. We have appropriated to date $77,721.918 and we have avail able for appropriation on March 1 $10.371.217, with the addition of $3. 500.000 we know to be perfectly good when called" upon. "The appropriations have been made to the different countries as fol lows: France, $30.936.103; Belgium,; ?2,0S6.131; Italy, $3,588,826; Russia, $1,243.845; Rumania, $2,076.368; Ser via, SS75.1S0; Great Britain, $1,885, 750, including $1,000.000 that was ap propriated by the War Council to the British War Relief, and for other for eign relief work, $3,576,300. "For relief work for prisoners we have expended $343,304, and this work ls only beginning. These appro priations have been made to care fdr. the prisoners that we feared might be taken. We also spent for equipment, and expenses of Red Cross personnel j sent abroad (113,800; for army base: hospitals in the United States, $54,-1 000; for navy base hospitals in the United States, $32,000 ; for medical and hospital work In the United States, $531,000; for sanitary service in camps In this country, $403.000 ; for '. camp service in the United States, $6.451,150. and miscellaneous in the United States, $1,118,748. We have funds restricted as to use by the donors amounting to $2,520,409, and we have as a working capital for the purchase of supplies for resale to chapters or for shipment to France of $15,000,000. We l*ive working cash advances for France and the United States of $4,2S6,000. "People say we use 60 cents to spend a dollar. The expenses of the Red Cross today are well within the amount of money provided by mem bership fees. No part of the $105,000, 000 that we got is spent for carrying on the work." ? * ?k I want to say to you that no -k k other Organization since the k k world began has ever done such k k great constructive work with the k k efficiency, dispatch and under- k k standing, often under adverse k k circonstances, that has been k k done by the American Red Cross -k k in Frotte.-General Pershing. * ? * Has Forced Authors to Recognize Changed Customs. Stilted Manners That Characterized the Victorian Era Have Passed as Completely as Has the Stage Coach. "" That the t?mpora and the mores Save suffered as much in this century as the lares and penates may be poor Latlu, but is sound truth, observes the Louisville Courier-Jourual. The times and manners are distinctly diff?rent, and in one especial particular of so cial Intercourse is there a powerful variance. For Instance, In .Victorian times, lt took the hero and heroine about twen ty chapters to set acquainted. By that time he was calling her "Miss Dora." instead of "Miss Spenlow," and he gulped every time he said it. When his love and passion had boiled and bubbled until he was a wretched hu man caldron, and he had to repress a moan every time he^aw her little hand on the arni of a dragoon, it took him eight pages to ask her falteringly If he might call her "Dora." She consented, and a proposal and marriage were the natural sequence. To call her Dora and not marry her was equivalent to breach of promise ki the Victorian era. And nobody but the hero and the mern I hers of her family ever called her Dora, except perhaps her girl friends But in these times what a difference! All the young folks call one another Jack and Jill, and lt is a curious and anachronistic youth who finds it hard to do so. In fact, he becomes a sort of gentle joke in his "set" and the girls think him rather slow. After he has met the lady two or three times he learns to consider it superogatory to call upon her in the name of her fa ther. She ls Gloria or Penelope in sua persona, and MisS Wllmerdillg Or Miss Schulz to her seems poky. It ls the same with the young married ones. You hear about thom for a while from mutual friends, and then you meet them. You make a. bow and say: "How do you do, Mrs. Kawsup." She does not resent it the first time. But the fourth time you meet her Mrs. Kawsup remarks: "It sounds so silly for you to call me that. Why don't i you say Lucretia and I'll call you Aga memnon?" And it's done. It is pretry hard on the novelist I Messrs. Dickens and Thackeray used tn I fill a couple of hundred excellent pages j with working up the hero to the Dora I and Claru point, and in the mild von? i .- . .. Trollope into the 5 villains were per al ways wore stiff isumed much space .1 Quid was negoii srless married lady The reading public now. and the long e unread on the y. One must start n page 1 the hero in), and on page 1(1 the home-wrecker ls squeezing the mar ried Indy's hand and calling her Esmer alda. Thus the fifth Georglan-Wilsonlan period nf life and literature as con trasted with the Victorian. And per haps lt makes no great amount of dif ference. Certainly it save? white pa per and makes tne serial stories short er-two results of real value in this hungry, hurried age. Mealle Pudding. Like the haggis, the mealie pudding is to the Sassenach a Scotch' delicacy the origin of which ls wrapped in deep est mystery. The other morning two travel-stained English Tommies drop pec? into the restroom at Aberdeen station for some much-needed refresh ment. They were heartily welcomed by, the ladies in charge, and In a few minutes a sueculent mealie pudding, piping hot, was placed before each. Both had seen more than a blt of life since joining the army, but a mealie pudding was one of the things hither to undreamed of In their philosophy. Determined, however, to brave the un known, one of them boldly cut his pud ding in two, scooped out some of the contents, and took a mouthful. As he slowly masticated the oatmeal a look of contentment came over his features. "Go ahead. Bill!" he exclaimed. "It's only good old porridge In a 'tank.' " -London Chronicle. Chasing the Calory. The first step toward spreading the mysterious cult of the calory has been taken at an opportune time. Unhappy man. deprived of his daily beefsteak and forced to subsist on corn mullins In which many alien hands have ex perimented,, may derive a modicum of comfort from the chase of the calory. Formerly sequestered In domestic sci ence schools, or the exclusive property of those sybarites of the tenement houses, who have proverbially many advantages nf which humdrum uptown knows nothing, the calorie has at last emerged into relations with the ordi nary hungry, quick-lunch-eating popu lace. On our menu cards now the calorie rides hand In hand with the cost of each dish.-New York Tribune. Sense of Fitness. Having just learned over the phone that he could not get an ounce of coal. Bangs, the terrible tempered, went into the parlor uttering the most awful im precations. "William." exclaimed his wife. "If you mcsc swear, for mercy don't do it standing on the prayer rug."--Bos ton Transcript zers for 1918 We beg to announce that we are now ready to deliver fertilizers for this season, having secured a liberal supply which we have on hand in our warehouses ready for delivery. Haul your fertilizers now while you can get your supply. Do not wait until there is congestion of freights, when you , cannot get goods shipped. Armour. Swifts and Koyster our spe cialty. Mixed goods with potash, mixed goods without potash. 16 per cent, acid; 26 per cent. acid, cotton seed meal. The Edgefield Mercantile Co. F. E. GIBSON, Pr?sident? LANSING E. LEE, Sec. and Treas. The Best Time to Build is Now Free booklets on Silos, Barns, Implement Houses, Residences, * etc., with suggestions of great value. Also "Ye . Planary'Vf service * through the Lumber Exchange of Augusta. Ask for further'information if interested. The'servicers with out cost. Woodard Lumber Co. 'Phone - - 158 AUGUSTA - - - - GEORGIA Quality-MOTTO-Service Sb BUTASUEWAYR-AM' ?J ?*> TOPUTAUT IN THE BANI EVERY WEEK Cooyrkht 1909. by C. E. Zi?"ocrmar Co.-No. 51 THERE is no doubt about money in the bank, it is sure and positive. Maybe slow, but there is the satisfaction that it is sure. Posi tive in every way, both that it will grow, and that it is safe. BANK OF EDGEFIELD OFFICERS : J. C. Sheppard, President: B. E.'Nicholson, vice-President E. J. Mims, Cashier; J. H. Allen. Assistant Cashier. DIRECTORS: J. C. Sheppard, Thos. H. Rainsford, John Rainsford, B.*E Nicholson, A. S. Tompkins. C. C. Fuller. E. J. Mirna. J. H. Allen