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\ ISSUED SEMI'WEEKL^ L. K. 0EI8T ft sons, Publisher.. I % ^atnilg $twsfaftr: $or the fromotion of the political, ftocial, g^rirultura1, an<1 <ComtntrLria! jnl^sls of tht c^NCK" ESTABLISHED 1855. YORKVILLE. 8. C., WEDNESDAY, 1STOVEMBER 5, 1902. ISTO. 89. 1 THE M1 H OF ORA H> : B ?!?* ?????? 1 Copyright, J9BU b* CKaria B. EOurtm 00*90900?H?&??0fl Synopsis.?Prince Neslerov wants to marry Frances Gordon, the charming daughter of an American who is building the Tran8siberian railroad. Frances t? intomoto^ in thp fortunes of Vladi mlr Paulpoff, a stalwart Russian blacksmith. She asks Neslerov to use his influence for Vladimir. Neslerov goes to Vladimir's hut. The blacksmith has talent and shows Neslerov a picture he has painted. It is the portrait of a woman of rank copied from a miniature. The prince is excited and asks for the original. Vladimir's father says it has ben lost. To Vladimer old Paulpoff confesses that he lied to Neslerov and still has the miniature. Neslerov has the Paulpoflfs sent to Siberia as nihilists. Frances Gordon goes to the forge with books for Vladimar. At the door of the lonely hut she encounters Neslerov. The prince presses his suit violently, and Frances stuns him with a pistol shot in the head. Gordon wishes his daughter to marry Jack Denton, an American bridge engineer. Frances demands that her father intercede with the governor for Vladimir. They start for Obi. Neslerov boards the same train, which breaks In two, and Neslerov has Frances alone In his power. Neslerov drags Frances before a priest and bids him to perform a marriage opppmnnv. Jack Denton comes to the rescue. Neslerov is beaten off. Denton nearly kills Neslerov in a duel. CHAPTER VIII. THE INTERVIEW IN THE HUT. FRANCES lay on a rude bed, scarcely conscious, and Denton stood a moment looking down solemnly upoi the lovely upturned face. He bent ovei her, touched her brow and felt her pulse. All sense of his own injuries seemed to leave him as he saw her need of immediate care. Frances felt his touch and looked up at him with about the same expression she might have worn had he been a stern and high priced specialist called in to make an examination. "You are merely knocked out by the ohnr>L* " hp said, with assumed indiffer ence. "You will probably be all right as soon as we get to Tomsk." "Yes. if I could get there," she whispered. "My father will be anxious." "We must relieve his anxiety as soon as possible. You must not worry." "What will you do? And Neslerov?" "Never mind Neslerov now. Keep cool. You've got to be braced up a little. 1 wish I had some wine." "There was some in the car," she answered. "Neslerov had It. He tried to make me drink, but I would not." Denton went to the car, still on the main track, and brought from it the remains of the bottle of wine Neslerov had opened. This he took with him to the hi^t and offered some to Frances. "I don't want it. I refused it before." she said. "Oh, don't you want it?" he asked lronicguv. "i suppose iu yuui neeu uuu subtle mind there is do distinction be-1 tween a glass of wine offered by Neslerov when you were his prisoner and by me when you are 111." "I did uot mean that," she said meekly. She reached out her hand, took the cup and drained it. "Now, then." said Deuton, coolly seating himself on a stool near her bed. "tell me this whole miserable business from the beginning." "I haven't thanked you yet, Jack," Bhe said, with a return of color. . "Never mind thanking me. I did merely what any other American would have done, and, seeing you in danger. It would not have been manly, indeed, to stand off. I accept your thanks, but let's get to the business. How did you happen to be here?with Neslerov?" "We were in Moscow." she said. "There was a meeting about the new railway." "Yes. I know. That was what took Neslerov there." "TT" In^AwnlATtT **rlfh nonft ritr uau au tuici ti\.h *t??u |/w|/? while In Moscow?he"? , "Why do you hesitate? It is not a new experience to have a man want to marry you, is it? You gave him the usual answer, I suppose." "Oh. Jack! There was but one answer papa could give him. I do not like the prince, and papa knows I will never marry a man I do not love." "Everybody knows that?who knows you," said Denton soberly. "He told him about you?and about Vladimir?and the prince got angry." "About Vladimir! Who is he?" "Vladimir Paulpoff, an ironworker, now sent"? "Never mind, we will get to that afterward. You started for the Obi, where Gordon is to take a house in ? 1-1 99 V USXJ1UV. "No. not yet. I must tell you about Vladimir?poor fellow! I met him In the forge?in his shop?one day while the railway was being put through Perm. Papa and 1 went there. He Is a marvelous man. Jack. You would think as much of him as I do If you knew him. He is so handsome and strong. He Is"? "Do you mean young Paulpolf, the blucksmitb of Perm?" "Yes. Jack. Do you know him?" "I've had him turn out some iron for small bridges. Well?" "He is so intelligent, and was so anxious to learn, to improve, I helped him. I used to send him books, papers, magazines, scientific works?anything I could get hold of that would | help him. He studied hard, poor fellow! He grew to?I think he loved me -he""Of course you returned his affec- I Iff? /STERY ? SLOV 8 y Ashley Towue ?f ?2 ?9 >09090090909999 tiou. You've done It so?I mean It came quite easy." Tears glistened In her eyes, and she turned away her head. She had quarreled with this man and had said she would never marry him, and their friendship had been almost cut asunder. But he had saved her from Neslerov. Now he was chiding her. "One could not know Vladimir without admiring him," she said suddenly, with a great accession of spirit. "I fail to see why I should be put through this catechism by you." "You needn't be if you don't want to," he answered coldly. "This is a nice, quiet village. Neslerov is lying not far away, somewhat cut up now, but be will get over that. I could go on my way and leave you If my questions are distasteful. The thing is that there must be an explanation to this affair, and I'd like to know what it is to be. It Is no trifling matter to cut the governor of a Russian province to pieces." "Have you been fighting?" she asked quickly. "No." he replied, with a tinge of sarcasm. "Neslerov and 1 indulged In a few pleasantries. He doesn't feel as gay over them as I do; that's all." "Oh. I see your hand Is bandaged?I never noticed it. Oh. Jack, forgive me!" "We were following a course of Inquiry," he said, putting the bandaged hand behind him. "This Vladimir? you met?there was an attachment?so far. so good. Now, how did that lead to this affair?" "I wanted to see Vladimir and went by train from .Moscow to Perm. 1 found a drosky at the station and was driven to the shops. Shops, house?all were deserted. I found Neslerov there with a painting under bis arm. He was taking It away. It was a beautiful picture. a beautiful face. I asked the prince where Vladimir was. He said that all the Paulpoffs?father, mother and Vladimir?had been sent to Siberia." "Sent to Siberia! That big simple hearted fellow!- For what?" "Conspiring with others to kill the czar. We were alone; the drosky driver went out, and Neslerov tried to kiss me. I fought him; I shot him." "You shot Neslerov?" "Yes, I shot him. I would again. I then returned to Moscow, but did not tell my father anything about the matter. save that Vladimir was sent to Siberia. We soon after started for the Obi and stopped at Perm. We saw the governor, and he promised that If be discovered that Vladimir was innocent lv I rv\ ?? ut; wuuiii ut'ip uiiu. "He might as well have said that If he discovered the moon was cheese he'd give It to you for lunch. Things like that are rarely corrected In Russia." "When we left Perm, Neslerov was on the train. Of course, as papa did not kuow anything about the shooting in the house of the Paulpoffs he greeted Neslerov as a friend. Everything went well till we had crossed the border and come into Neslerov's own province. At this place?I had been sleeping?I woke up. The car had become detached from the train. I was alone with Neslerov. He took my revolver from me and dragged me here and ordered the priest to marry us. Then you came." "Yes, I think I came just In time," said Denton. Then a stern look came again upon his face. "Frances," he said, "I do not know, of course, how this matter will end. If Neslerov wishes, he can destroy me. If he finds It advisable to keep silent, then I may find a way to assist this Vladimir. I think we shall soon be on the way to the Obi." With these words be left the but and was met at the door by an angry, threatening mob of villagers. "There he Is!" growled an old mas, evidently the leader. "He tried to kill his excellency. Kill him!" "Kill him!" said another. "It Is the governor's command. He put the Iron road, the bridge, the devil wagons, through our country. The czar does not wish it. and we must avenge the wrong. Kill him!" TO BE CONTINUED. Parsley Honey. It is very seldom that we come across honey that is not fit for human consumption, but It Is just possible that you may have that experience. Beerather honev for themselves, not for 08, and they naturally study themselves only. It generally happens, fortunately for us, that what suits them is also good for man, but there are exceptions. The honey that bees gather from parsley is likely to make man feel very ill indeed. Probably that honey does not disagree with the collector, or It may occasionally be gathered and placed with the rest by mistake. There is Just the chance that It is done for purposes of revenge by one member of the community who considers himself aggrieved and vents his spite on bis fellows. Hemlock honey may be Innocuous to the bee, but It is likely to poison t?an and give him a decidedly bad time if not kill him. The plant known as green fly will yield honey with a taste that will make a human being lose all desire for the j treasures of the beehive. I pijirtltanwtts Itading. ' THE FARMER SPEAKS. f (A New Prayer to the New Ceres). 11 The following effusion is taken from a 1 New Orleans paper, the writer not ^ agreeing with Buston, the Liverpool ' cotton estimater, who recently passed * through the south and then announced t that his trip had convinced him that c ' -- - ?J .. 11 OAA AAA 1 ine crop wouiu nggrcBtiic ii,4uv,?w bales: 'i Oh, Buston, bounteous Buston! You t have left our happy shore! t But our hearts are thrilled with gladness As they ne'er been thrilled before. v s You've steeped our souls In peaceful a balm, Our fainting hopes renewed; a For instead of crop disaster a It will be "eleven-two!" g Oh, Buston, Mr. Buston, the farmer is a * fool e To plod for weary weeks behind the rudder of a mule; _ Or view the rains with anguish, or trouble at the drought, r When all he needs to make a crop is c "Buston's visit south!" t Oh, Buston, sapient Buston, lend us * your magic glass! a Where you see "green, well-fruited ^ stalks," We see but weeds and grass.. We thought the fields, which you de- g clare t "A truly marvelous sight," Were white because our pickers "Jump- c ed" a A month ago last night. r Until you reached our "Dixie" land?a * Liverpool MesBiah? k We really thought that drought and e worms . Had wrought us havoc dire. How sweet it is to know at last, those v "bug tales" were but lies; 1 And if the weevil came at all, 'twas e [ "blessing in disguise!" s We thought our fields were overrun a With locusts, slugs and lice, ?, And listened to those "snort crop ads. (To hell with Mr. Price)! E t But now we know the truth at last! 0 And, while farm work Is slack, We'll drive to town and sell those bales 1 You say we're holding back. u The "second growth" is doing well and ^ "looking green," you think, a (It might as well be dappled gray or y heliotrope or pink); f Where they ain't "green," the fields are "white." r c The "top crop's fine," you say, j And "the plant will still be making" On the fourteenth of next May. Oh, Buston, bounteous Buston! Tell us. oh, tell us true! What is you "simple method," so "accurate" and new? Did you talk with the conductor, as the * train sped night and day? Or did youi seek the "butcher" and and steal his brains away? Or did you "swap statistics" (if you did, g you hadn't oughter) With that grim guardian of the . berths, the Pullman porter? 11 But never mind, dear Buston, how you o made your estimate, ]< You have filled our hearts with glad- t ness at the prospect you relate; c So come again, sweet Buston, and pre- r diet big crops of hay. And say our cows will soon have calves, our hens begin to lay! e Oh give us bumper crops of corn, and 1 fill our empty bins! a But don't "estimate" our families, for you're sure to figure twins. w. c. o. t f SETTLERS FOR THE SOUTH. v Substantial Results of Many Years' e Work For Immigration. f m. v. Richards, the land and Indus- v trial agent of the Southern Railway s company, is a worker rather than a talker. But a few days ago, the wrl- P ter meeting Mr. Richards for an hour * or two on the cars while passing 8 through the Carolinas turned naturally a to a discussion of the progress of the 8 south, and without attempting to quote ' his exact words, some of the points e made by Mr. Richards may be summed up as follows:- 3 "At last, after many years of seed P sowing, often under great discourage- d ment, the south is beginning to reap 11 the harvest. To get capital to come P south was for a long time a difficult c proposition, but it was much more dif- P flcult to induce people to locate here. ^ To the great mass of northern and 0 western people, the south was an un- ' known region. So deep were the pre- * judlces against this section that the * people were more inclined to accept every false or sensational statement u against the south than to believe any good of it. The men who in the early r days blazed their way through the for- F ests, crossed the Alleghanies and open- 0 ed up the west and the men who later a pressed on from Ohio, Indiana and II- f linois to Iowa and Minnesota and the c Dakotas were not in one sense greater 8 pioneers than were the men who 20, lii ' or even 10 years ago, moved from the t west and the north to the south. That f the anticipated dangers were never en- * countered by the latter does not alter I the case. They thought they were d going into a far and dangerous land, F and except for those who, driven by an inhospitable climate at home, sought r health here, the majority of the people r who formerly came might, if you use 1 the word in its better sense, be called a adventurers. Pioneers they certainly were, and very generally In the same * financial condition of the Dioneers who * made possible the creation of the e mighty west. Some of them succeeded ^ and some failed, but back in the north h and west, whence they came, the fail- * ures were promptly widely heralded, F while not so much was heard abo.ut the 11 successes. But after awhile the story 8 of the men who had come south, often t with no capital but brains and brawn, e was told back at home, at first with t some skepticism, since there was a dls- \ inclination to believe that any good v could come out of the south. Now, c though, these reports are being every- f where accepted. Men are saying if g John Doe could go south and succeed, o surely we can do so. And just about s the time when this conviction was a spreading over the country the great a prosperity of the west caused such an v enormous advance in the price of farm c lands that every western paper is filled a with stories of farmers selling their s ?lgh-prlced land at $50, $75 and even tl it $100 an acre and moving south where b< hey can buy cheap land and thus re- In >eat the success made In the west. At fr east 100 western farmers are today go- fr ng over the Southern railway between m Washington and the Saluda river look- w ng for farms, while we have Just sold in o a western man for $35,000 cash a no- tl ed Virginia farm. Along other parts si if the road the same activity In huntng for good farms is going on. But it 8 not alone farmers who are moving his way in great numbers. Timber H luyers and lumber operators, pleasure eekers having a competence, and who vant to make a permanent home In a eciion naving such a gemm timiaic -* & much of the south, and many others dl ire moving this way. The immigration p< .nd industrial development work of the ci Southern railway has grown so rapidly bi hat it is difficult to keep up with the ni nquiries from prospective settlers." A Thinking over Mr. Richards' enthu- tf iastic talk about the great southward hi novement of population, the writer a ould not but recall the long and often- th imes weary fight of the pioneers in n< he endeavor to press upon the world's w ittention the claims of this section, the v< loubt which even southern people had b< f these efforts ever being crowned b< vith success, of the time when the th Southern railway managers determined 1" o take an active part in this work, and ailed to this uphill fight Mr. Richards, n< . western man, whose father, like so h< nany others, had gone from Virginia P< o make a home in the then almost un- w mown west, and whose son was destin- b< - - - ?? ? x ni a to piay sucn a prummem pun m iringing to Virginia people from ail the Y ^est, with which he was so close- sc y identified. This work of the South- of rn Railway company has been aggres- ai ively pushed for some years, the man- U ,gers of this company realizing that es mmediate results could not be secured, ra >ut now the whole south is beginning cc o reap the benefits from the hundreds it, >f thousands of dollars thus expended. P> 'he seed have been sown sometimes in ec inpromising soil, sometimes in good, tt ?ut the seed sowing has never ceased, P< nd often the unpromising soil has se ielded even a larger harvest than that a rom what was supposed to be the it; nost fertile. The Southern Railway hi ompany, through its industrial and th mmigration bureau, has done a great P< rork for the south.?Manufacturers' tl tecord. cc TOTAL ABSTAINERS. ill A iife Insurance Companies Uraed to S1 Favor- Them. el EfTorts are being made abroad to or- ai anize total abstainers into what is tc mown as a "super-standard" class of la Ife risks. The movement is the result if careful investigation into the death *1" osses of life companies, with the result S? hat much valuable data has been acumulated to show that persons who do ?' lot use alcoholic beverages make nl- *1 ogether the best class of policy-hold- n' rs for an insurance company to have. 81 'he subject has been studied before by h< actuaries in this country, and although sc lUthorlties are not in agreement as to si ? - r\1 he exact enect or sucn indulgence, me reeling is general that it adds material- th y to the ordinary life-risk. In cases tl yhere policy-holders have been attack- tl d with a serious disease, it has been si ound that the chances of recovery de- <J> idedly favor those who do not use 01 timulants of any kind. ** One foreign expert cautions the com- tl anles against making any allowance w or even moderate drinking. This, he tl ays, may easily lead to excess. He Pi dds: "The outlook for a man who ei hould fall ill with pneumonia, typhoid st ever, dysentery, nephritis, heart dis- re ase, diabetes and affections of the liver si 3 bad enough under the best circum- or tances, but if the patient is an intern- P( lerate man his hope for recovery is re- 01 luced very materially, and the fight for Ife is desperate, if not hopeless. Every ihysician who has had much emergen- Qi y hospital practice, among the intern- k: ierate, can assent to these statements, ta Ve know that men who follow hazard- si us occupations are frequently liable to k< njuries. In case the party injured is E ? roonifOrV fVf>m tl ciiipci aic mo tiiaiiV/to ivi ivvv*?i^ he injuries and the surgery incident E hereto are far in excess of the man who ai ises intoxicants. % d< "Since inheritance plays such a great ole in life insurance, and many risks A personally good are rejected on account R f bad ancestry, would it not be well a< ilso to consider, not only the physical sc eatures of a risk who has drunken an- ec estors but also the moral features of nl uch a risk in all its bearings? Namely, H ntemperance is usually frequent among in he vicious and those of low habits, who in requent all kinds of resorts, the dive, he brothel, the levee?all places of th ;reat risk to health and life. The chll- w Iren of heavy drinkers are personally pi poorer risks than those whose ancestors bl ed temperate and pure lives. We pi night multiply instances to show the ic nany correlative combinations in which tli ntemperance is a factor as a great ha/.- a .rd in life insurance. "Under present conditions we have pi iut two kinds of risks, the standard and g< he so-called sub-standard. The first ul mbraces all those who can pass a sat- ai sfactory examination and can get an inmodifled policy at the usual rates; he second embraces all those who can pi >ass only a partially successful exami- ti? lation and can obtain a policy with ome modifications and inserted condi- til ions. I wish to make a plea for the stabllshment of another class of risk han the two already existing, and rhich for the want of a better name I will call the super-standard class. This lass shall possess all the good qualiications of the standard risk, namely ec ;ood family history, free from the taint if disease, bad habits, longevity, peronally good health and in addition to es .11 this must be teetotalers. There are th , sufficiently large number of these rho take life insurance to justify the reating of such a class of super-stand- ki ,rd risks, to whom policies should be is- ca ued at reduced rates. This is no more lan just to them, as they should not i compelled to pay for the shortcomigs of that large majority who, aside om what good traits they possess om a life insurance standpoint, are lost of them drinkers of intoxicants, ho vary all the way from the worst lebriates up to the regular every-day ppler, and the so-called thorough-bred )ort."?New York Evening Post. j ? THE MOLINEITX TRIAL. latory of the Noted Murder Caae Now on Itn Second Hearing In New York. On December 28, 1898, Mrs. Katherine dams, an aged woman In New York, ied from the effects of a dose of deadly >lson administered to her for medine. The poison had been sent In a romo-seltzer bottle to a young man imed Cornish, who lived with Mrs. dams and her daughter, and son. On le morning of that, day Mrs. Adams id a headache and Cornish gave her dose of the medicine. In a short time le woman died and the physicians proaunced that she had been poisoned 1th cyanide of mercury, a rare and >ry potent poison. The bromo-seltzer >ttle which contained this poison had ?en sent to Cornish anonymously trough the mall and it was contained i a silver bottle-holder. Soon after the iath of Mrs. Adams, Roland B. Molijux was charged with having caused ir death, tried and convicted. He ap;aled from some ruling of the judges ho sat on the case and the case has ien in the courts ever since. It Is an lustration of the theory about New ork Justice that a conclusion can larcely ever be reached so long as one ' the parties In Interest has the money id Inclintation to continue litigation, niess justice is speedy It almost ceasi to be justice and Is apt to become ink injustice. If at last Mollneux Is invlcted of this crime and executed for , the retribution will have lost Its im esslveness. If it Is finally determln1 that he Is Innocent then he has been ie victim of the grossest wrong ana ?rsecution. To be practically under intence of death for several years is punishment almost as bad as death self, and the state has no right to \n>Ict it upon an innocent person. It is lis delay in dealing with cases, and es?cially criminal cases, which brings ie law into discredit and makes the urts a mockery. It is conceded by the state that Molieux did not intend to murder Mrs. dams. He did not know her. It was lown in the first trial that there was lmlty between Molineux and Cornish, id the theory is that the intention was ? poison Cornish. Under the common w, if a person attempts to murder ie person and the attempt results In ie death of another, the crime is the ime as if the purpose of the attempt id been accomplished. Therefore, it is ily necessary for the state to prove lat Mollneux attempted to poison CorIsh and the death of Mrs. Adams rellted. It was shown that the bottleJlder was purchased in Newark, and ime connection or acquaintance was lown between the prisoner and an emdye of the firm that told it. One of ie main features of thi evidence for ie prosecution was the testimony of ie writing experts, who undertook to jow that the handwriting of the ad~ess on the bottle was that of the prisler. This, taken in connection with ie handwriting in certain letters, with ie alleged motive for the crime and ith certain proof and theories about ie purchase of the poison, was the -inclpal evidence for the state. All the 'ldence seems to have been clrcumantial. Nothing in the nature of dlict connection with the crime was lown. To sentence a man to death up i the testimony of a handwriting exirt would seem to be a most hazardis proceeding.?Baltimore Sun. How Much Whisky Is a Load??The lestlon of how many drinks of whis/ a man can stow away and still mainiln an equilibrium was Indirectly at isle In a case that Judge John H. Ba?r, of the Federal court, tried at vansville this week. The plaintiff? le man who drank the whisky?was dward Murphy, a large land owner id distiller, near Owensboro, Ky. The jfendant was the city of Rockport. Murphy travels for his own distillery, bout two years ago he made a trip to ockport, where he met with a serious :cident. Rockport Is built on hills and ime of the streets are abruptly end1 by cliffs. Jn going to his hotel at ight, Murphy walked off a precipice, e fell several feet into a ditch, breakg a leg and arm and sustained other Juries. He began suit for $15,000 damages, but le defence set up the claim that ne as intoxicated when he walked off the "ecipice, and that the city was not liae, although It had not guarded the eciplce. Murphy denied being intoxated and in his testimony he declared lat he could drink 40 glasses of whisky day and not be affected. Several saloon men testified that Murly was not drunk, but was "feeling )od." The jury was out but 15 min:es, reaching a verdict for the defendit.?Indianapolis News. A Regulation Legal Farce.?The ospective juror was under examinaon by the attorney for the defense. "Have you expressed an opinion on le merits of this case?" "No, sir." "Have you formed such an opinion?" "No, sir." "Have you read of the case?" "No, sir." "Do you know any one who has formI an opinion?" "Well, I can't just say as to that." "Ah, now we're getting down to interiting facts. You think It possible lat youi may know such a person?" "I think it probable." "Yes, yes, of course. And do you low any one who has read about this ise?" "I know a man who has a cousin who works on a newspaper and reads nearly everything." "Ha! then you have some connection with a man who presumably has read about the case and formed an opinion! We'll get at the whole truth presently. Now, sir, do you know the prosecuting witness or any of his lawyers?" "No, sir." "Do you know any one who does know them?" "We?ell?" "Speak up! Speak up! Don't try to conceal anything." "Well, I know a man whose wife's brother worked for the father of one of the lawyers." "Challenged for cause!" cried the attorney for the defense triumphantly.? Brooklyn Eagle. UNCLE SAM'S BUSY POSTMEN. The Earth Nightly Crlaa-Croaaed With Line* of Fire and Fait Mall. If you could take a voyage around the earth with the flying night, so that whenever you gazed down at the globe you would find it in the darkness, you would see darting lines of light going criss-cross over it in every direction. Where the United States lies you would see more of them than anywhere else. You would see them gliding restlessly from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Glimmering lines would be visible to you where they go threading among the Rocky Mountains. North of the United States you would see some black patches where there would be no such bewildering maze of them. But even there, even in the wilderness of Alaska, you would see some. In fact you would see some lights flashing and hurrying along everywhere on the globe. You would see them rushing across Siberia. You would see them in Africa, some flitting along the shores of the Indian ocean, some speeding down toward the Cape of Good Hope, others going along the northern coast on the shores of the Mediterranean sea. You would see them in China and the Philippines, in India and in TurkestSin. As for Europe, that continent would look to you like a great loom of flaming threads, all busily weaving. Those lights are the railroad trains of all the world carrying the fast mail. The fastest trains, the fastest ships, the fastest horses, the fastest runners of the world are used day and night everywhere from Point Barrow, Alaska, to the Cape of Good Hope, to carry the mails. Your Uncle Sam was not one of the first in the field of carrying malls. Some nt tho amnllar pnnntrlM In Fnmnp were far ahead of him for a time. But now he Is the leader of them all. He has more postofflces and employes than any other country. He carries more mall matter. More mall Is delivered to each of his sons and daughters than anywhere else. He has 33,000 more postofflces than Germany and 55,000 more than Great Britain. He has 8,000 more employes than Germany, and Great Britain Is 39,000 behind him. He has nearly 316,000 more miles of mall routea than the nearest country, Russia. He spends $10,000,000 more a year on his malls than any other country. But he is behind in some things still. Germany, for Instance, has 8,000 more letter boxes than Uncle Sam. He ranks second in this. In fhe number of postofflces, as compared with population, he is seventh in the list. .The countries that lead him are New Zealand, Canada, South Australia, New South Wales. Victoria and Switzerland. Uncle Sam has been making some comparisons between his postofflce business and that of other places, and he has found queer things. For instance, he has found that while the United States, Germany and Great Britain have the most postofflces in the world, the country that has the fourth place is in far away Asia. It Is British India, ana ic ranxs iourxn in mc number of its postofflces. Another country that stands high in the list is Japan. It is eleventh in the list for number of postofflces and leads such European countries as Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Sweeden, Norway, The Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Greece. The land that has the smallest number of postofflces is the Independent republic of the Congo. It has thirty-two. In these thirty-two it employs seventy men. Every now and then a letter carrier of the Congo postofflces is eaten by a lion or a leopard. The path .of these bearers of the mail is through forests and swamps. Sometimes they must camp at night in places where the wild beasts prowl around them in the darkness. Uncle Sam has some peculiar mail routes himself. Even in the populous Middle Atlantic states scores of his carriers have to drive, ride or climb nlnn? roads that are old Indian trails. Some of his carriers have to ride armed. He has real western rough riders, who go through defiles of the Rocky Mountains on broncos. He has Indian runners and canoemen in Alaska. All kinds of steamboats carry his mail. They range in size from great coast liners and tramp steamships to little puffing launches. Men dwelling on coral islands in the Gulf of Mexico are sure of one visitor at least, and that Is the mall boat. Sternwheelers go into the beautiful dreamy bayous of the south with a mighty splash that frightens alligators and herons and deliver the United States mall in lonely marsh settlements. Even whaling ships are used by Uncle Sam. They go far north into Behring sea. One mail route of Uncle Sam is attended to entirely by steam whalers that sail from Seattle in Washington. These ships take letters and packages from home to men hidden away in the frozen country north of Behring straits. The whalers and sealers in the Arctic circle are bunted for by Uncle Sam and he tries to deliver their mail to them, though they have been cruising for a year or more. Sometimes he will send their mail from ship to ship, until at last one will And the vessel and send the letters aboard. They may be many months old by that time, but they are none the less weldbme for that, you may be sure, and they are read over and over in the dim light from oil lamps in the laboring tempest-beaten ships. One of Uncle Sam's mall routes in Alaska uses ships and canoes and dog teams and sleds. It is a route more than 4,000 miles long and carries the mails into the far Interior, where the mighty Tukon river roars in the solitudes. Four round trips are made over this route each year and each trips costs Uncle Sam $1,495. The letter carriers who do this work do not wear the neat uniforms that you see on the letter carriers at home. They are athletic men, ready to swim a river full of drift ice If need be, and think nothing of sleeping In a blanket and a rough tent by the side of the trail with the thermometer far below zero. The postoffice that Uncle Sam has at Point Borrow, Alaska, Is the most northern postoffice of the world. Never before was mall delivered so near the North pole.?New York Sun. THE PENSION PROBLEM. Wrong to Eneonrnge Idleness at the Expense of the Thrifty* The appropriations for pensions in South Carolina hare reached high water mark and In all probability future appropriations for this purpose will be less than in the past. For the reasons: First?The tax levy is heavy, and will have to be increased, unless the pensions are reduced. Second?The political reasons for continuing the appropriation no longer exist. The Confederate soldiers have been so reduced in numbers that they are scarcely a factor in politics. This was proved In the last election. Third?The distribution of the pensions is so unavoidably unequal that dissatisfaction has arisen. The conditions imposed are very humiliating hi many cases, and it is a common remark that undeserving men draw pensions, while it has often been accepted as a fact that deserving men do not get the pensions. The Press and Banner does not believe that any Confererate Is undeserving. We believe that every soldier is deserving of consideration at the hands of the state, and we further believe that pensions should be given to all alike. The pensions should not be, as now, too often a reward for the lack of thrift. Better cut the whole thing short than to demoralize men who are able and otherwise willing to work. Almost anybody would quit work if the state would give a sufficient pension to enable him to live on the shady side of Easy Street. If a man can earn from one to two dollars a day, why should he be excused from work and put on the pension roll? Give a pension to those soldiers who lost a limb, and give a pension to needy widows whose husbands were killed in the war. Stop pensions to others. Why should the state Riven a pension 10 u man **??*# Is able to work, or who has squandered his estate, or who has children that ought to care for him? Soldiers being no longer factors In the elections the political reasons for giving bounty at public expense no longer exists. Reform is needed in the pension business, and it is needed badly.?Abbeville Press and Banner. The Slayer op Custer.?A former Sioux chief, now an Episcopalian rector, the Rev. Philip Dalorla, of Flora, S. D., who Is attending the council of the Protestant Episcopal church here, said yesterday to a North American reporter: . "It was only a year ago that I learned the true story of the death of Gen. eral Custer. I had been the mean's of converting an old warrior named Appearing Elk. Unlike most Indian braves, he was not much given to boasting of his exploits, but I knew that he had taken many scalps. "Appearing Elk became a fervent Christian, and one day, after he had been baptized and taken into the church, I asked him to tell me of his experience in the battle of the Little Big Horn. Every Sioux wants to know who killed Custer, ana that was my unsi question. I was surprised when the old man replied, 'I did.' "I felt pretty sure that Appearing Elk told the truth. I drew his story from him in detail, and this is what he said: " 'We had surrounded the last cluster of soldiers when my pony was shot from under me. When I got on my feet again. I discovered that I had been wounded. Suddenly a man in blue loomed up in front of me. " 'I knew he was a big chief. He was swaying like a drunkard man from exhaustion and loss of blood because of many bullet and arrow wounds. I felled him with my tomahawk, and then sat on his body to be sure that I should not be robbed of my spoils. In order to make doubly sure I took the revolver from the holster of the dead man and stuck it in my belt. " 'I didn't scalp the man, because his head was shaved, and I was ashamed to take a mere piece of skin.' "I know postively," continued Mr. Daloria, "that the revolver taken by Appearing Elk was subsequently identified as Custer's, and so far as I have been able to learn, Custer was the only * * J Klo hooH man in me cummu.nu nuu nau mo Uv>?> shaved." Appearing Elk died last spring.?Philadelphia dispatch October 24. Will Thin the Gruel?The price of whisky in Kentucky has advanced 25 cents on the gallon. That doesn't mean, however, that men will drink less; only that the women and children will eat less, says an exchange.?Anderson Intelligencer. w