Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ISSUED SEMI-WEKKL,^^ l. m. orist'S sons, Pubiuhers. } % Jfamitg $eirspaper: 4" the promotion of the ?otiticat, ?ociat. ^gricnlturat and (Commercial Interests of the people. {ter9?nol*e'^pVrkive centoVANCK ESTABLISHED 1855. YORKVILLE, S C., TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 1908. ISTO. 34. I mMl 111 111 i I i t i By CLARENCE J mrmmmmwrwmrmmimmrm CHAPTER XXII. The Man's Plans?And What the Woman Did. The man stooped and kissed the woman who had given him her strange and reluctant promise to be his wife. "Thank you, Lurline," he said, exultantly; "you have shown yourself acute and sensible." She made no answer. He led her team to a place in a shed at the back of the bank. He blanketed the horses carefully. Then he returned, unlocked j - '?? < rwi th*>v pnt^red the lilt? mini uiiwi, ...v^ ? building together. The building had seemed dark and gloomy front the outside. But once within they found it well lighted, and warm. "Be seated, my dear." said Mr. Lyman, pointing t<t a chair, after they had passed into the private office at the rear of the bank. Miss Bannottie seated herself. She glanced curiously around the room. She rose and looked into the other room, the room in front of the counter. "Suppose I were to give the alarm?" she asked Lyman. "To the authorities, do you mean?" She nodded. "It would make it awkward for us both. Were I in your place, though, I think I'd prefer living with even Samuel Lyman?living in plenty, and peace, and comfort?to being imprisoned as an accomplice for bank robbery. Am I not correct?" "Perhaps so." "I know I am. I have not planned fur this night without taking every possible contingency into consideration ?except one." "And that was?" "Your possible final refusal. I have met and solved in advance, every other problem which may arise." Have you. Mr. Lyman, have you? Did you not, in your consideration of possible contingencies, fail to provide against two? You planned well when you thought of human justice; but how about revenge? You scorned God's law and human law as the books have it and the courts execute it; but how about the unwritten law hidden in the soul of the one you have driven to such terrible extremity? No, Mr. Lyman. you have not done all you think you have?or, hold a moment, perhaps you have done more! Have you never learned the fate of those who dig pits for others? Do you not know that cunning's weapons are turned against craft again and again? That army that plants the finest batteries upon the ridge of triumph, and from that vantage ground dominates over its foes and dictates terms to Its enemies, is fortunate?as long as it holds the ridge and the battery! But suppose the enemy rushes up and takes it; suppose the foe creeps up and seizes t it; suppose their fine guns are turned upon them: what then? Have you thought of that. Mr. Lyman, or have you not? Miss Bannottie made no answer to Mr. Lyman. He continued: "I am going to Canada. 1 am going to take the funds of the bank, of course. I have been gambling lately, of course, as you suspected, but not in Boomville. Boomvllle is too slow v and steady and sober for such business; too slow for such a man as I am; and so I've been down to New York and Boston quite frequently." "Neglecting the business?" "The business hasn't suffered. I've had excellent help, and I've done well myself?when I have been here." "You know you promised " "Never mind what I promised. I know that your recommendation got me this place. Lurline, and that you intended and expected I'd attend to business. I suppose you've got that power over Mrs. Elsie Senn that she'd hire a man just out of Sing Sing if you only said the word. I understand why you wanted to study, and why you intended that the Boomville Bank should prosper. You had just three reasons, fair Lurline. hadn't you?no more and no less?" "I had just three reasons, that is true." "Exactly. You see I understand you well. Do you know I think I understand you better than you do yourself? You didn't know, for instance, when you came here tonight, that you'd be my wife again within forty-eight hours, though I was sure of it. Shall I tell you your three reasons?" "You may if you wish." i "First, you wanted to have me at an employment and in a place where I could not indulge my passion for gaming. Is that true?' "It is. You have been a disgrace and a terror to me for years. You little know what a terrible drain upon my resources your repeated demands for money have been. I have asked Elsie for money until I have feared it would excite her suspicions; I have asked it until the humiliation has almost maddened me. 1 have endured much for your sake." "No. not for my sake. Miss Lurline Rannottie, not for my sake?but for your own. You have begged, and. putting it more truthfully than politely, plundered, because you did not dare to refuse when I asked. Rut Elsie Senn has always been willing to give; sue loves you. which i> imiuim, trusts you. which is unnatural. I take great credit to myself for rny penetration. Once?correct. Shall I tell you a second reason?" "If you please." "You wanted this business successful in order that the income left you by Donald Barron might not be endangered or lessened. Is that true?" "Certainly. And you design robbing me?me. as well as Klsie Senn and all who have trusted her and you." "I'm not robbing you, sweetheart. You seem to have forgotten that you ? are going with me to share this entire mass of plunder. And as for Blsie Senn. you needn't pretend you care for her; I know you too well for it to pay i BOUTELLE. mnwwunwiwwt HI m mm i for you to play the hypocrite. You stick to Elsie Senn because it pays; that's all there is in that. You've loved, for years, the man she was engaged to marry, and, if it was necessary to do it in order to keep them apart, you'd kill her as quickly and relentlessly as " "Samuel Lyman, don't you say another word on that subject; don't you dare speak so to me." "Very well. I will change the subtest if it hurt* votir hitrh-strung and sensitive nature. Or, rather, I'll finish what I was about saying1 when I came so near making my unfortunate digression. That is this: Your sympathy for other losers is not genuine, for you have never hesitated to injure another when your own hapiness was in question. Now, shall I tell you your third reason?" "Mr. Lyman, all this may be very amusing to you: it is torture to me: but I am in your power, and you can do as you please. I must be patient and resigned. I will listen to you, since I must." "Thank you. That means that you wouldn't talk if the conditions were reversed and >'?u had me in your power, does it?" "Yes." "A remarkable plan for a woman to make, a very remarkable plan. If you wouldn't talk, pray what would you do?" Miss Rannottie rose to her feet. She hissed the single word of her answer at him from between her closely shut teeth. "Act!" she said. "Ah! I am going to act, too. Rut for a few minutes I prefer to talk. I may tell you your third reason; may I not?" "I suppose so." "Very well, gracious lady, I will tell you. You expected, if you outlived Mrs. Senn. to have all this property. Is it so?" "Yes." Ana Mt vnn iturml let me come here in control?" "Don't taunt me with It: I ought to have known better." "Yes. I think so." "For I am to be the residuary legatee of this estate, so to speak, and it's going to be administered upon tonight. I presume you've arrived at the conclusion that I intend to burn the bank?" He pointed to piles of inflammable material scattered about in various parts of the rooms, and thoroughly saturated with kerosene. "I suppose you do, unless I make up my mind to kill you and save the bank." "You won't make up your mind to do that: that was one of the things I provided against in my plans. I know you are thoroughly capable of doing it, if it was safe to do so. Rut it isn't. Let me be found murdered here, and the whole country will be up in arms in the morning." "Won't the whole country be up in arms when they discover the Boomville Rank has been robbed and bumed?" "They won't discover the ouiik nas been robbed. They will only know It has been burned. It will be burned with the safe-door wide open. The pro Id and silver will remain here untouched. and they will be found melted tog-ether, after the fire. The bank bills, some negotiable bonds, some choice diamonds, and so forth, are in this valise: they represent a fortune?an enormous fortune. No one is to guess that they escaped the flames." "But suspicion will fall upon you when you do not appear after the fire." "Not at all. I've made a great reputation here for industry. I am supposed to leave town only when business demands it?business, you understand. I am known to work in the bank until very late hours, almost all night sometimes; that fact will account for the safe being found open. So I am going to pose as a martyr to my duty; do you see?" "No, I do not." "I am going to have it believed I was burned in the bank?" "Ah? How horrible!" "Is it? I think it quite a joke." "But suppose they put out the fire, and so discover the cheat? What then?" "They won't do that. I've provided against that." "How? When?" The words were only whispers. She was leaning forward in breathless at tention now, tins woman wno was umi and bored with this man's talk only a few minutes ago. Oh. Samuel Lyman. Samuel Lyman, why do you not look her in the face? Why are you deaf to what is in her tones? Why are you blind to what is shining in her eyes? Men who play with fire are cautious and watchful: why are not you?you who have done worse, and trifle with the happiness of a desperate woman? A joke, did you say? Do you know what you were speaking of when you said a joke? Look up. Samuel Lyman: look into the face of Lurline Rannottie; look before she has let the hideous falsity of her smile fall over the triumph she has not strength to conceal just yet: look up. and do it <ir p.nt Siimncl Lvmnn did not look up. He did not look at her. He looked around the room. And he answered her question. "When? I began the very day I arrived here. This night, with wealth and you. was a part of my plan from the first. I have given it all much study. There is not a link missing. To tell you how. will take longer. Hut I will try to tell you. First, you will admit that the tire will be quick and hot. will you not?" "Certainly." "Well. I've secured myself against watchfulness on the part of the night officers by working and sleeping in ihe bank and so dispensing with the need of their services. There will not lie an early alarm." "I understand." "And I've done away with the old r plan of leaving a light burning in the i bank at night, with an uncurtained and unshuttered window through c which the police may look and see all I that is going on inside. If an officer c stood at the very door as we went a out. the alarm would still be greatly I delayed." " I: "Exactly; I see that it would." "And then, under the pretense of greater security, I've had all these C windows shuttered with solid iron plates. Feel of one of them. It is an C inch thick. There is no chance to get s a stream in at one of the windows, when the alarm has been given and a the engines have arrived, for they cannot get through these shutters. They l< :ii'o as solid as the wall itself. They v couldn't get one down, even if they got d inside, for these padlocks won't give I way to anything less ponderous than ji a blacksmith's tools, and even with s tools it would take time." e "But the keys? Will they not find ? the keys?" I< "No. They wouldn't find them if p they got in, for I carried them outside f tonight?carried theni more than a tl mile away?and threw them into a well." h "It does seem as though the windows were secure. But how about the doors? Will they not break in the doors, and " so extinguish the fire and discover the cheat?" "No. They have two doors to pass, the outside door, which leads into the narrow hall, and this inner one. This | inner one has a spring-lock; I have ^ only to touch this catch on the edge of the door (a catch which is entirely out of reach when the door is shut, you n see), so, and there! This door once c closed again (I'll set this valise of t money against it in the hall to make ^ sure It doesn't close by accident and v make prisoners of us), and it cannot a be opened without a key." c "And the key? Is it with the oth- ^ ers?" f] "It is. It is with the others in the p. well." y "And the outside door?" tl "The outside door I shall lock on the tl outside. I shall take the key with us. tl It is locked on the inside now, and the L key is in the lock." g "But are the firemen not likely to h break in the doors?" y I "Really. Lurline. I am almost proud Iof you. You take almost as much in- d terest in all this as I do. No, my love, the firemen are not likely to break in. See the strong iron plates with v which the doors are strengthened. It a would take a half-hour, I believe, even Sl for men armed with bars and sledges, P to force their way through the outer d door." a "Yes." c "And longer to pass the inner one." 1 "I comprehend the difficulties. But e are there no duplicate keys?" ii "There are no duplicate keys to the tl padlocks on the shutters." w "So no one is liable to interfere with your pTarisf'Trr bringing forward other o keys? How about the doors?" v "There is no duplicate key to the in- 'I ner door." h "And the outer?" h "There is one other key to the outer A door." ti "And where is that?" a "Mrs. Senn has it." b "In Naples?" e "In Naples. The plan seems com- tl plete, doesn't it?" v "I think so. Will you give me a r drink of water?" s "I have wine here, a couple of bot- d ties or so. I am sorry to say there is v no water in the building." "Wine won't suit me. I want water, ii Surely the water works will furnish?" "The water works are out of order t in some way. We have had to bring b | in all our drinking water in pails for c | a week." f "Indeed?' a "Yes; and now I suppose we had * better be going. It is getting well to- 1 ward morning." ' "Very well." 11 He went out to the shed. He took * the blankets from the horses. He 1 drove the team down the street a block from the bank. He came back r and went in by her, as she stood In v the doorway watching1 him. v "We must hurry now," he said, as he drew a box of matches from his pocket. "I suppose so," she replied; "but?" 1 She paused. Is there any one so s wholly lost as not to shrink back from 1 contemplated evil? Is there any one 1 who would not rather find an excuse v for letting an enemy go than to crush ^ him utterly? Miss Bannottie was v looking at this man?this man who (i had deceived and injured her?this 1 man who had done so much to make s her what she was?this man to whom l' she had been forced to pledge her future?this man whom she had said she , hated, and to whom she had said she v would be merciless?and there was actually something akin to tenderness in her eyes, something like forgiveness ? in her tones. % Oh. man, man. if she asks you any v questions you should be ashamed to . answer; your only safety is to lie to <her. r "Well?" he queried. J "I have promised to go to Canacia t when you go, so it doesn't make much f difference now. hut wUl you tell me the truth about one thing?" r "Yes." J "If I hadn't met you tonight, what -s would you have done about it, and about me?" 1 The man laughed heartlessly. "Robbed the bank: burned tbe bank: gone to Canada, and into hiding." "Yes. I know; but about me?" "Well, it doesn't make much difference now. as you say, but I'll tell you. e I'd have sent Prier such a hint as t would have made him hunt you to the f death." a He struck a match. He lighted some ' of bis kindling materials. He stooped over his lire, and scattered it in a score * of places about the room. The red 1 flames sprang up. angry and ready. Stay on your knees. Samuel Lyman, if you are ready with your tardy re- s pentance! Rut if you love life, hurry. 1 "Did I tell you. Samuel Lyman," ' says Lurline's mocking voice at tbe J door, "how I destroyed your letter?" r "No." ! His answer was careless and tin- ' thinking. t "I will now. I burned it!" t He cast one questioning glance over ' his shoulder. "And you'd like " he began, with f nocking indifference, but he never finshed the question. He sprang to his feet, frenzied and J lespairing, to face her, standing with ter everlasting smile on her face, just f mtside the door. He read her purpose, nd knew his own fate in a moment. 8 Ee had planned all too wisely. He d lad planned for her. t He sprang toward the door. t "Oh, Lurline. Lurline, for the sake of v Jod!" he cried. c "Yes, Mr. Lyman, for the sake of J Jod!" she replied, mockingly, as she C hut life and hope against him. o He sprang with all his strength s gainst the door. j But he was too late. The spring- A r>ck held it. If Lurline Bannottie had o rishcd to undo the deed she had just g one, it was beyond her power. But f think she had neither desire to undo t, nor regret for the fate to which v he had sent Samuel Lyman. She open- E d the outside door with a steady hand. E >he took tne vanse or money. one >cked the door behind her. She went d i? her sleigh. She drove away?away p roni the horror behind her?away from js he scarcely less terrible fate that the p ying cashier had planned should be ers as his wife. tl To be Continued. I JttisfcUancous ilradiufl. ;; THE SURRENDER GROUND. o 1 i Visit to Appomattox Where the Con- s federates Laid Down Arms. v An American must recall brave ti lemories as he looks upon the red lap fields and pine-grown lands where ^ he Army of Northern Virginia laid fi own its arms, or stands on the spot r . here the terms of surrender were a greed upon and signed. There must y ome to his memory these words of t irant: "I regard it as my duty to shift o rom myself the responsibility of any s urther effusion of blood by asking of e ou the surrender of that portion of he Confederate States army known as f; he Army of Northern Virginia." Also v here comes to mind these words of v *e: "After four years arduous strug- t( le the Army of Northern Virginia h as been compelled to yield to over- J helming numbers and resources." ? It is impressive to visit the surren- a er ground of Appomattox. Today it <1 ? a ruined hamlet where a few drow- ?? y persons dwell. The court house c as burned fifteen years ago and R round the desolate court house tl rjuare, cumbered with ashes, charred >< laster and shattered brick, a half- * ozen tottering dwellings cling. Some a re tenanted, but others are too near n ollapse for even this faint distinction. n 'hese old and feeble houses, with fall- c n porches and falling roofs stare out i the muddy, deeply rutted roads o hrough broken windows and doorrays in which there are no doors. C The "surrender house," the home J' f Wilmer McLean, in the parlor of A hich Grant and Lee met, is no more. a 'he site and garden of this house is a eaped with piles of brick and rotting w jmber, which once was the house. h ibout 1892 the McLean house was ^ aken down for the purpose of remov- c 1 to and reconstruction at the Colum- n ian exposition at Chicago, but the ex- * cution of this was carried no further R han the demolition of the house. The c rar-time garden with its big trees, is v uined, and a growth of saplings is c pringlng up. At the present rate of b ecay the debris of the historic house d rill soon be wormwood. ^ There were two Appomattox towns a 1865, and there are two in 1908. E It was at Appomattox tsiauon on ? he lino of railway between Petersiurg and Lynchburg that Sheridan's avalry captured a train of supplies ^ rom Lynchburg intended for Lee's v rmy. These supplies stood between b ..ee's men and starvation. Appomat- 11 ox Court House?the county seat of ippomattox county?was three miles r, lorthward. Today Appomattox Court * louse occupies the site of Appomat- ? ox station and is a brisk village. Old v ippomattox Court House?the Appo- o nattox of histoiy, the Appomattox j1 I'here the expiring hopes of the south t rere crushed, this is the hopeless vil- c age the Star man tells of. 11 Much of the ground occupied by " he armies is now covered with tall, r hick pines. In a particular dark 1' treteh of pines the traveler comes ^ ipon the North Carolina monument, p he most?in fact, the only?imposing v. narker on the fields of Appomattox, "he inscription on the monument, ihich gives glorious praise to the sol- h liers of North Carolina, has caused s ?? .ltBA"0 3lrtn ortnllvortv nf t}l0 ' IV4 Iuo?r>iv/ii a xv uwui nv j ??& v v ^ tatements cut on the stone has been > lenied. The inscription follows: C "At this place the North Carolina * >rigade of Brigadier General \V. It. 'ox of Grimes' division tired the last olley April H. 1X65. "Major General Bryan Grimes of Corth Carolina planned the last battle |] ought by the Army of Northern Vir- v Inia and commanded the infantry en- 0 raged therein, the greater part of e i hom were North Carolinians. "This stone is erected by the author- ? ty of the (ieneral Assembly of North 'l Carolina in grateful and perpetual , nemory of the valor, endurance and ( atriotism of her sons, who followed rith unshaken fidelity the fortunes of he Confederacy to this closing scene, ,j aithful to the end. . "Brected April it, 1905. "North Carolina Appomattox comnission?H. A. London, chairman: B. , '. Holt. W. T. Jenkins, Cyrus S. Waton. A. D. McGill." " On the opposite face of the monu- li nent is this inscription: a "North Carolina First at Bethel ' Farthest to the front at Gettys- ( burg and Chickamauga Last at Appomattox." There are a number of simple mark- ( >rs in the country round about, but v he authority for and accuracy of sev- 1 ral of these might be questioned. In j tn open field may be seen a crudely s tainted signboard with this legend: a "General Grant and General Lee met j iere." It is safe to say that Grant s md Lee did not meet there. c The spot where General Grant's ' etter-bearer. Colonel Orville E. Bab- s ock, found Lee reclining by the road- j side under an apple tree, is marked, t Phis was the only foundation for the \ppomattox apple tree. Lee and Grant < lid not meet until they saw each oth- t r in the parlor of the McLean house, t The conference lasted from 1.30 until t I o'clock, and it is not recorded that t ..ee and Grant met again at Appo- t nattox. The site of Grant's tent be- t ween the time of the surrender and he parole of the Confederate troops c s marked by a tulip poplar tree and t he site of Ja?e's headquarters is mark- ?] *d by a small signboard.?Washing- t on Star. 1 YORK MAN WINS. o f I. C. Hardin of Clover, Victor In State " Oratorical Contest. u Jews and Courier. tl Greenwood, April 24.?Promptly at : o'clock tonight the doors of the Lan- t( ler college auditorium were closed and h he tenth annual state oratorical con- Cl est was commenced. After a song of welcome by the Lander College Chorus tub and prayer by the Rev. Robert n tdams. president of the Presbyterian c College of South Carolina, Mr. Hardin, j, if Wofford college, being the first fi peaker of the evening spoke, the sub- 'r ect of his oration being "The Battle J igainst Ignorance." Then followed the a ther speakers, the following pro- n ramme being carried out: "The landicaps of the South," It. S. Owens; s' The Spirit of the Age." T. C. Hey- tr l'jj rd "Tho Kirinll r,r>llocf? " .T Tt. Irown: "Christian Citizenship?The gr lope of Democracy," B. E. Petrea; t( In Defence of the Flag.' J. F. Nohr- n en; "The American Shibboleth," J. W. d rr licks: "The Menace of Mammon." G. a, I. McCormlck: "The South and Her g: leroes," R. E. Gonzales. ?] At intervals music was rendered by he faculty of Lander college and the tc .ander College Chorus club. After ti he speeches a wait of a few minutes ras made necessary for the judges. a dio were (he Hon. J. C. Otts of Gaffey; the Rev. J. It. Green of Green- tl /ood, and the Rev. J. Phillips Verner f Columbia, to make their decision. n 'hese few moments were moments of ai uspense, and anxiety was plainly d .ritten in large letters on the contes- * ants' faces. U But when the judges announced that si Ir. J. C. Hardin of Wofford, had won 01 irst place, the welkin was made to n] ing by the students from Wofford. k nd their presence was made known by a1 ells and flaunting and waving of ^ heir college colors. Mr. J. W. Hicks f Furman. was announced winner of h econd place, and his supporters cheer- ?' d him to the echo. The contest was a battle royal so 01 nr as thrught, oratory and elocution t\ ,*ere concerned. For gracefully and :^j *<*11 did the young orators endeavor (j( it hold nit the reputation of the col- st *ges they represented. Indeed, as the M udges expressed it. it was a hard ^ tatter to pick the winner, but all are (j greed that the right man. Mr. Hnr- ol In, won. Mr. Hardin's speech was 01 nj ne of the best ever delivered by a [l allege man in Greenwood, and he de- ti erves great credit for the masterly ai t 1 bought and beautiful composition of ^ leas he injected into his speech. e( lowever, all the speeches were good in rid taking them as a whole they have P ever been excelled, and many thought ever equalled, at any of the previous v, ontests held here. fi: Mr. J. G. Hardin, the representative 'e f Wofford college in the state orator- jg ;al contest, is 21 years old, is from c< Mover, S. C., and is a member of the ol unior cla^s of Wofford college. Soon " ui fter entering college Mr. Hardin won reputation for himself as a speaker s< nd because of his thorough literary dl rork. He has served as president of ^ is class during his sophomore year, 'he same year he was elected second tl ensor, corresponding secretary and jonthly orator in the Preston society, luring the present year Mr. Hardin is u erving as chief marshal, assistant ex- ir hange editor of the Journal staff and ** Ice president of the Y. M. C. A. He w ,as also elected to represent his solety on the preliminary Emory de- h ate and the junior debate. Mr. Har- h( is is a brother of the Rev. E. K. Har- ~j in. who won the state contest at rp Greenwood in 1904 for Wofford college. a) Mr. Hardin has as his subject "The iattle Against Ignorance." He spoke ' s follows: n< Mr. Hardin's Speech. di In reviewing the history of our proud pi Id state of South Carolina it is but J1' atural that we should be impressed fith the deeds of our forefathers and ecome in a great measure satisfied in lind that she has reached the highest n oint of development in statehood. We f ealize that our public men of the past, ur Pin?kneys, our C'alhouns and " Iamptons, had their trials in state- n raft, but is there no danger of our eaching that state of mind in which re think all such problems are matters is f the far distant past, and that we r( iow onl> have to reap the rewards of he labors of our ancestoi-s? If such be c' he case never were a people more 01 ruelly c.ecelved, for we have before c< is for solution in the very near future ^ . problem that is seemingly old to ome, but one which is vital in every espect, and which should be held fresh 11 the minds of our citizens until it is s< ightly settled, and settled forever. Ve refer to the state of illiteracy so s' irevaleni in a great part of our citl- c< enship. b Our state has always carried a heavy iercentage of illiteracy in proportion to ' ler population and continues to suffer w lumiliation in comparison with her tr ister Commonwealths: for in all of c< he forty-six years of the Union in tl lumbers of natural-horn illiterates tl forth Carolina, Tennessee and South ti 'arolina, yes, your own South Carolina, tl tand at tlie very bottom, holding in tl heir hands the black Mag of illiteracy e? -a condition to make us blush with fJ ha me. We are accustomed to refer to a tr icriod in our history as "before the A rar," and we revel in stories of the m pulence of our own state and of the A ntire south at that time; but there r< re phases in the history of that period w f which we have been taught little tl nd in which we can take little pride, it )ur land owners were living in splen- a or, educated abroad in the best uni- tl ersities of Europe, but there was a ti ioorer class, of which we hear noth- tl ng. boin in poverty, spending their c< Ives in miserable toil, scoffed at by tl he slaves themselves, and finally dy- tl ng in squalor. There is no system f education, properly called, which tl loes nol include all classes, and in ig- h loring the poorer whites at that time V re were but sowing the seeds which ei lave produced this harvest of ignor- w nee an 1 illiteracy which we are reap- m ng today. The fundamental princi- ri ile in the educational system of a 01 lemocracy must be :he education of gi he children of all classes, and this we w eem to have forgotten while trying to 01 olve other problems. And at present st he citizens of South Carolina are un- rr eiling monuments to honor and com- s nemorate the glorious lives of our he- in oes and at the same time we are rear- a ng children who cannot read the in- n criptions thereon, nor can they grasp tt nything of the true spirit or inspira- ri ion for higher citizenship and nobler p; ives for which these shafts should p erve. With such a condition un- b hanged we are surely breeding trouble n or the future, for a Democratic gov- s| rnment is never safe when any con- ai iderable part of its voting population si s Ignorant and an easy prey to corrup- a ion through its ignorance. p In discussing this condition we must w leal with three separate problems. f) hough they are so closely related as |s o be but one?the cotton mill element, si he agricultural class of our rural dis- s| ricts and the negro population. In tl he illiteracy of these three classes lies d he menace to our civilization. z< The present cotton mill element onsists largely of the rural populaion of just a few years ago. Conseluently they are not. adjusted to the 7 tonditions of a crowded community p ife. Many of them are not masters o f their occupation, and having come rom thinly settled back-woods or lountain districts are extremely Migrate. Suspicious of city people and ays, distrustful of all attemps to draw heir children into the public schools, hough possessing some strong rustic haracteristics, they are an easy prey j the degrading tendencies that go and in hand with ignorance. The ondition of these people constitutes ne of the gravest problems for the [>uth to solve. In our cities and towns it is a faliliar scene, rather an every-day ocurrence, to see the negro children ith an Insatiate desire for learning. i sharp contrast to this, and shamejl to say, we see the white children i equal numbers with ignorance and ice depicted in their countenances, pending their time in idleness round the mills, or perchance in lany cases working in the mill con ary to law, and by reason of the tlsehood to which their parents have worn as to their age. It is but fair i say. in justice to the management f our mills, that in many cases wlthl sight of these idle children are ood school houses with competent ?achers. But the blame for the igorant condition in which these chilren are being reared rests not so luch upon the managers of the mills s upon the shoulders of their denuded parents. On the factory hills f North Carolina today there are lousands of children growing up in ensest ignorance. Already the fac>ry vote has become a serious ques * It. n All? ? + on 111 DUUII1 V ctlUllllU puiiiiua, anu this condition is allowed to go unfiecked it will in a few years assume larining proportions. But now let us turn to the condi(iii in the country. When we refer to te public school conditions of South arolina our minds instinctively turn, ot to the schools of our large cities nd towns, but to t-hose of the rural Istricts, which in large measure are disgrace to a civilized commonealth. The short terms of our pubc schools are proverbial. Statistics low that the average length of term f our country schools is but eightyine days of the year. Less than ne-fourth of the year are the schools ept open, and we are sure that the verage attendance will be much less tan eighty-nine days. What a shame > our state? The children, those into whose ands must be intrusted the destiny r this commonwealth., being prepar1 for life in such a slovenly, inadeuate manner! The average value of iir school houses is something over vo hundred dollars while the averse value of the school buildings of (assaehusetts is over two thousand ollars. What would an enlightened ranger think of our solicitude for le education of the state's children hen he Is told the salary which we uy our teachers? Do you know that le average wages of the hod carriers r this country are nearly twice ns uicli per month as South Carolina ays her public school teachers, while lose of the blacksmiths are three, mes and those of the bricklayers re four times as much? I venture le assertion tnat me janitor or mis illege draws monthly wages nearly jual to the average salaries paid the istruetors of our children in the ublic schools of our state. Is South arolina willing to trust her children i the hands of such poorly paid sermts? How can she expect to secure rst rate teachers on fifth rate salars? The small compensation offer3 Is but a bid for cheap teachers. It a notorious fact that in many juntry districts those are the kinds f teachers secured, and even then lelr feeble efforts must be distribted among an average attendance of fty-two pupils. Of course there are ictions of our state where these conItions do not obtain, and where cerlin country school^ are the pride of le country; but in great measure le conditions as we have pictured lem are true. It is hardly necessary for us to say luch upon that phase of this queson which relates to the negro poplation. This has been the skeleton i the southern closet and it has been le delight of the cheap politicians of jr state?with whom heaven knows e have been cursed enough?whenrer the question of general education as been agitated, to dangle these ones and appeal to the lowest pasons and prejudices of our voters, he cry of the children has been roused. Surely a better day has owned. It is folly to talk about a ompulsory education law forcing the egro to educate his children. He is oitig it without force. The last reort of the state superintendent of iucation shows that there are twen^-flve thousand and more negroes lan whites in the common schools of nuth Carolina. And we would say nthinc hv wav of censure of the ne ro for embracing every opportunity ("forded him to better his condition, /ould that the members of our own ice were doing the same! We have attempted thus far to low the educational conditions exting in our state. Now what is the imedy? Surely there must be a imedy. for the God-given rights of (lildhood and the future welfare of ur commonwealth demand a better mdition of affairs. Illiteracy in an meriean commonwealth is a disrace to twentieth century civiliza011. We must have better country hools. longer terms, better paid >achers. and through local taxation lould be encouraged to remedy these mditions, school houses must be uilt in some communities by means f outside help. Legislators must be istructed to curtail expenses elsehere if they can. but by all means > increase the appropriations for rtmmon school education. Kveln urn many children will not receive le benefit until a compulsory educaonal law forces the parents to send tern to schord. I am of the opinion lat this is the only way in which Jucational conditions among the ictory operatives can be remedied. Rut back of all legislation and prior > it must be that greatest force in an meriean government?public sentilent. There the work must be done, n aroused public sentiment means iform. Witness, if you please, the ave of prohibition sweeping over le .south today. Whence comes it if be not the direct result of an wakened public opinion? And in ?e unmo irav the crusade for educa on must be conducted. To lead In le work we must have soldiers of the immon good, who are willing to give leir lives and talents for the sake of le children of the state. "Ood give us men! A time like lis demands strong minds, great carts, true faith and ready hands." fould that our young men and wornn. as they go out from our colleges, ere III led with this spirit, that they light be stalwart warriors in this ghteous cause. We. the youth of ur state, having the keeping of her nod name in our hands. How shall e handle it? Shall we be neglectful f our charge and allow the benirching influences of ignorance to lar the glorious pages of the past? hall it be said that South Carollnins of the present are afraid to take stand for Ood and humanity? Nay. <v?-of linf flniviiip- in hf>r n;ist. with le CJod-given assurance that we are gilt, we shall sweep over the ramarts of the enemy of Ignorance and lant there in victory the dear old attle-searred emblem of the Palletto. When our youth become iniiired and filled with right enthusism. the day for which we long will ion come. When that day comes, nd surely it is not far distant, the olitical campaigns of South Carolina ill no longer be upon the liquor uestion. but upon this paramount :sue. and from the Piedmont to the aboard, across the Palmetto state hall ring the battle cry of the tweneth century?education for ourchilren and preparation for good citi?nship. * >' At the last session no fewer than 80.600 letters and packets have been osted at the house of commons post Rice, and 1,087,4.r?0 delivered. A UNIVERSAL PEACEMAKER. t . r Money and Commercial Interests Welds ^ c the Brotherhood of Man. j. It will have been just thirty-eight I years this coming July since two \ great powers, each knowing the other I to be such, have engaged In war. c Russia fought Japan, but she did not 8 know until too late that Japan was s a great power. War scares have abounded. Venezuela. Fashoda, Dogge Bank. Morocco and Macedonia have set the alarm bells jangling, but always the din has died away, the snarling war dogs have laid their heads on their paws and gone to sleep ( again, and only the mounting bills ^ for armament have been left to rc- j mind us that peace has been in dan- j ger. Although they have never bef?*<-* trulnorl no monv mnn a r* cnAnf a a much money In preparation for fighting, the great powers of Europe ? have succeeded In keeping their hands off each others' throats longer than they ever did In their whole previous history, and It Is quite possible that they may never tight again. What does this mean? Are religI ion and philanthropy taking possession of the chancelleries of the world? It seems hard to believe it. There never was a time when the aspirations of most of the powers were more frankly commercial. Perhaps mammon is doing something for humanity after all. Formerly when one country fought another it was "woe to the vanquished." As an invading army seared its way through the fields and towns, trampling down crops and burning houses. It was the enemy's property it was destroying. When merchant ships were sunk at sea. the loss fell upon the nation whose people owned them. But now the strands of ownership are laced around the world. Every nation is a part proprietor of every other. Not long ago one of the magazines shudderingly pictured the horrors of a German bombardment of New York. If such a catastrophe \ should occur every shell would knock a hole in the dividends of a German corporation. German banks, insur- ^ ance, steamship, and trading compa- t nies are heavily interested in New x V/vmIt maoI not o t a rP U n cs V* o cno r\f American railroad, public service, ^ and Industrial corporations are large- , ly held in Germany. If a merchant t ship were sunk at sea, the loss would fall not upon the owners, but upon j underwriters, who might be of any a nationality. Even the war weapons j of almost every civilized country in t the world have been paid for by t bonds which are held everywhere. So t America has helped to build battle- t ships in Japan and England has help- N ed to provide rapid-firing field guns for a possible German army of lnva- ? sion. And when there Is talk of war r between the United States and Japan t some of the first sufferers are Amer- ^ lean holders of Japanese bonds, who % see a point or two knocked off the r price of their securities in the mar- a ket. If the danger seemed to be really acute, loans on these securities r would be called, and Wall street f would suffer in all its nerves in sym- g pathy with the distress of Tokyo. t T t Vino Kaon outimo tnrl that thp French people have about $9,000,- fl 000,000 Invested In foreign countries. ^ The English have more. The Ger- v mans have several billions of foreign r investments. Americans own a large ^ part of the British mercantile marine. The International Mercantile Marine r company, an American corporation, j owns ships under the American, Brit- j( ish and Belgian flags. Four hundred f thousand shares in the United States 0 Steel corporation are owned in Hoi- t land. The Chicago Great Western is g owned chiefly in England, and Eng- j( lishmen are among the largest stock- t holders in the Illinois Central, the Louisville and Xashville. and many t other American railroads. American capital has developed the railroad t systems of Canada and Mexico. When Dewey cut the Spanish cable at Ma- c nila, and Sampson at Santiago, it was t an English company in each case that was the sufferer. When the Westinghouse company of Pittsburg ^ failed, the new electric railroads of s St. Petersburg were tied up. When the Knickerbocker Trust company t of Xew York closed its doors, idle t diamond cutters walked the streets of Amsterdam, diamond diggers ceased to work in south Africa, banks failed In Chile, the business of every commercial nation of Europe was thrown into confusion, and the dis- ? turbance completed the demoralization of the finances of Japan. Capital Is the only truly Interna- 11 tional force of the modern world. In a the middle ages the church stood 1 ahove kings; now the rulers of kings a are the cosmopolitan financiers. When an ancient king thought of ^ going to war he first considered a whether he could meet with ten d thousand men him that came against ^ him with twenty thousand. If the prospect seemed unpromising, he Sl made peace quickly. Now the first question is whether the finance minister can raise a satisfactory loan. If Si not, the war is off. And it happens d that the very men who must furnish d the money for destruction are the g owners of a good part of the property that is to be destroyed. Formerly there was victory and defeat; now there is only defeat, for whoever wins, business, which is the common " interest of all mankind, must lose. t The universalizing of business * which has already so profoundly in- s fluenced the relations of the peoples of P the world is only in Its infancy, but its development has gone far enough in c, in n fl i von (innu tn cliAit' ivhat m n ir d be expected in all. The Standard Oil 1 company and the Russian Oil trust 0 have divided the globe into two pe- ? troleum hemispheres. Xo doubt that business will soon belong to a single 8 corporation. The lines of the great 1 English cable combination girdle the I1 earth. Wireless telegraphy is carried 0 on by companies whose sphere of ac- F tion is the world. The sleeping cars 0 of Europe and Asia are run by a single international company. All bus- F iness in all countries passes more and e more out of the control of individuals F and into that of corporations, whose r shares flit from hand to hand and f from nation to nation in the markets, ^ we may expect to see the field of ownership steadily broaden until the ^ nationality of a company counts that 1 it is domiciled in Xew Jersey. When 8 hat time comes the brotherhood of nan, which missionaries have been rainly preaching for nineteen hunIred years, will have become In a >usiness sense an accomplished fact, t will no longer make any difference vhether a nation is strong or weak, nvader or invaded. The wounds of me will be the wounds of all, and all ilike will have to pay for war's deduction, wherever it may fall. "If the red slayer think he slays. Or If the slain think he is slain, They know not well the subtle ways I keep and pass and turn again." Even in the romantic days of chivilry, people used to fight, not only be;ause they liked it, but especially be ause they thought they could make lomethlng out of It. The fact that nodern warfare is reaching the stage n which none of the parties to It can nake anything, but all must inevita>ly lose, explains better than the jrowth of peace societies why nations ire less willing to fight now than they iver were before. We find ourselves, therefore, in his situation. Every great nation in he world, and indeed almost every latlon. great and small, is spending rom a fifth to a third of its Income on jreparations for doing the greatest josslbje injury to its own people. It is is if the guests at a colored ball ihould go armed with razor-blades vlthout handles, ready to begin the estivities by cutting their own hands. The statesmen of the world, who are lommonly supposed to have a somevhat higher grade of intelligence, are ipending thousands of millions of dolars in just that way. The suppression >f the razor-budgets would transform he rocky roads over which most fimnce ministers are hobbling into lowery beds of ease. As long as war neant simply trying to injure one's leighbor the Golden Rule was poweress to stop it. Now that it means inuring one's self the Golden Rule is e-enforced by practical sense.?Samlel C. Moflfett in Collier's Weekly. IN THE MULLET BELT. ^hat the Inhabitant* of the Gulf Coast Owe to Biloxi Bacon. Down on the easy going gulf coast, vhere everybody loafs and is happy, here are one or two awful thoughts vhich occasionally shudder through he pleasant dreams of the inhabitants, he most dreadful of these Is the horiflc suggestion of a possible failure of he mullet crop. The mullet crop is locally known as Biloxi bacon, because down there it Is is absolute a necessary of life as pork s elsewhere in the south. The visitor o all the gulf resorts is more addicted o mullet than he realizes. It someimes parades on the bill of fare as rout or something else which gives variety to the menu. But be not deceived. While the coast :an furnish a good mullet no other fish teed apply. The names are changed o satisfy the uneducated northerner, >ut the fish remains the same. Just -v-A fViA miillof rHat VtQfl nn thft VIltLL ?L iiuiu me iiiuiivv vtt^v latives is clear from a story they tell ibout Biloxi. A good many years ago there was a millet famine along the coast. The >eople had to fall back on other fish, uch as the humble speckled trout and he unintellectual sheephead. It was . time of sacrifice whose memory has urvived until this day. when, It is . leclared, the old inhabitants recall it vith a shudder as they repeat their noming supplication: "Give us this lay'our daily mullet." It is said that a Biloxian can pretty learly navigate his whole career, from nfancy to death and burial, with mulet as his chief dependence. When he s a baby he cuts his teeth on a piece if mullet: as a boy he fishes for it; he chief requirement in a wife is that he shall know how to cook it, and it s most consolatory when served to he funeral guests. During the civil war the people of he mullet belt would have had mighty Ilm pickings if it had not been for heir favorite fish. Many a Confedrate soldier imprisoned by Butler on Ship Island has cause to be grateful o Biloxi bacon or black eyes, as the nullet is also called. It Is not an easy fish to land with 100k and line or even to catch with a otno "Huf anv nno ivhn ran throw a ast net to spread over a circle vof welve or fourteen feet," says an auhority. "can catch enough of them in n hour to supply a dozen families." FISH THAT GLOW. iome Deep Sea Creatures Able to Shed a Phosphorescent Light. The Inhabitants of the ocean vary in lany respects, according to the depth t which they live, but most of all in heir powers of vision. Fish that live t very great depths have either no yes at all or enormously big ones, 'here are two methods of getting bout in the gloomiest abysses?by elicate organs of touch and by sight? hat collects the few rays of light due o phosphorescence or other accidental ources. The fish which live near the top of he ocean have smaller eyes than those ay eighty fathoms down. One hunred and twenty fathoms deeper, where aylight disappears, the eyes are biger still. Beyond the depth of 200 athoms small eyes prevail, with long E?elers to supplement them. At this depth, in fact, sight is pracIcally useless. In the greatest abyss e.s the fish are usually blind, feeling heir way about solely by means of heir sensitive bodies. Some indeed how signs externally of having once assessed eyes, but that Is all. In other?the oldest and most conirmed abysmal species? the eye has isappeared altogether externally, hough traces of it are still to be reegnized, embedded deeply in the tissues f the head. Many deep sea fish have a curious ystem of hollows in the skull or about he body which hold a kind of phosihorescent slime. Others have round r oval shining opalescent spots, daced on the head or along the body >r tail. All of them are abundantly supdied with nerves, and they are apparntly organs for the production of ihosphorescent light. If so, such a fish nust swim about surrounded by a aint glow, somewhat like that thrown iy luminous paint. One scientist even suggests that these Ish may have the power of directing heir rays in any direction, like a earchllght.?Pearson's Weekly.