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. YORKVILLE ENQUIRER. ISSUED SEMI-WEEKLT. l. K. OEisTS SOHS P.bu.h.r,^ % #"??? S?WW?1 = Jf? th< #?? ? ? *i jggnjM and (Toinmtrcial jntrrcsts of tft< fMjjt. {_wwg~^^^?rgy% ESTA BLTSHED 1858. YORKVILLE, 8. C., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1913. : ISTOTIH. . PRODIGAL Jl The Famous Nova VAUGHAN KE5 ^ Copyright, 1911, The Bobbe-Kerr * -V CHAPTER XXVIII?Continued. "Will you stt down?" asked the judge. Hicks signified by another ^ movement of the head that he would not. 'This is a very dreadful business!" began the Judge softly. Ain't it?" agreed Hicks. "What you got to say to me?" he added petulant!y. . j "Have you started to drag the bayou? asked the judge. Hicks nodded. 'That was your idea ?" suggested j I the judge. ? "No, it wa'n't," objected Hicks qulck? ly. "But I said she had been actin' f * like she was plumb distracted ever since Charley Norton got shot?" "How?" inquired the judge, arching his eyebrows. Hicks was plainly dis luroea oy uk iiunuvn. 1r "Sort of out of her head. Mr. Ware seen It, too?" "He spoke of it?" "Yea, sir; him and me discussed it together." The Judge regarded Hicks long and intently and in silence. His magnificent mind was at work. If Betty had'been % distraught he had not observed any sign of it the previous day. If Ware were better Informed as to her true mental state why had he chosen this time to go to Memphis? "I suppose Mr. Ware asked yoil to ^ keep an eye on Miss Malroy while he was away from home?" said the Judge. Hicks, suspicious of the drift of his questioning, made no answer. "I suppose you told the house servants to keep her under observation?" continued the Judge. "I don't talk to no niggers," replied Hicks, "except to give 'em my orders." "Well, did you give them that or der?" "No, I didn't." - The sudden and hurried entrance of big Steve brought the Judge's examination of Mr. Hicks to a standstill. "Mas'r you know dat 'ar coachman George?the big black fellow dat took you Into town las' evenln'? I Jes* been down at Shanty Hill whar Milly,-his wife, is carryin' on something scandalous 'cause George ain't never come home!" Steve was laboring under intense excitement, but .e ignored the presence of the overseer and addressed himself to Slocum Price. "Well, what of that?" cried Hicks quickly. \ "Thar warn't no George, mind you, Mas'r, but dar was his team in the stable this mo'ning and lookin' mighty nigh done up with hard driving." 0 "Yes." Interrupted Hicks uneasily; "put a pair of lines in a nigger's hands and he'll run any team off its legs!" "An' the kerriage all scratched up from beln' thrashed through the bushes." added Steve. "There's a nigger for you!" said Hicks. "She took the rascal out of the field, dressed him like he was a gentleman and pampered him up, and now first chance he gets he runs off!" "Ah!" said the judge softly. "Then you knew this?" V "Of course I knew?warn't it my w business to know? 1 Reckon he was off skylarking, and when he'd seen the mess he'd made, the trifling fool took to the woods. Well he catches it when I lav hands on him!" "Do you know when and under what circumstances the team was stabled, Mr. Hicks?" inquired the judge. "No, I don't, but I reckon it must ? have been along after dark," said Hicks unwillingly. "I seen to the feeding just after sundown like I al- I ways do, then I went to supper," Hicks vouchsafed to explain. "And no one saw or heard the team ^ drive In?" "Not as I know of," said Hicks. "Mas'r Ca'ington's done gone off to get a pack of dawgs?he 'lows hit's might' important to find what's come of George." said Steve. Hicks started violently at this piece ?nt news. "I reckon he'll have to travel a right B smart distance to find a pack of dogs," he muttered. "I don't know of none this side of Colonel Hates' down below Girard." W The Judge was lost in thought. He permitted an interval of silence to elapse in which Hick's glance slid round In a furtive circle. "When did Mr. Ware set out for Memphis?" asked the Judge at length. "Early yesterday. He goes there ^ pretty often on business." "You talked with Mr. Ware before he left?" Hicks nodded. "Did he speak of Miss Malroy?" Hicks shook his head. "Did yon see her during the ? afternoon?" "No?maybe you think these niggers ain't enough to keep a man stirring?" said Hicks uneasily, and with a scowl. The Judge noticed both the uneasiness and the scowl. "I should Imagine they would absorb every moment of your time, Mr. Hicks," he agreed affably. "A man's got to be a hog for work to hold a Job like mine," said Hicks m sourly. "But it came to your notice that Miss Malroy was in a disturbed mental state ever since Mr. Norton's murder? I am Interested in this point. Mr. Hicks, because your experience is so ? entirely at variance with my own. It was my privilege ^ see and speak with her yesterday afternoon; I was profoundly Impressed by her naturalness and composure." The Judge smiled, then he le&ned forward across the desk. "What were you doing up here early this morning?hasn't a hog for work like you got any business of his own at that hour?" The Judge's tone was suddenly offensive. "Look here, what right have you ^ got to try and pump me?" cried Hicks. For no discernible reason Mi. Cavendish spat on his palms. "Mr. Hicks." said the Judge, urbane and gracious, "I believe in frankness." "Sure," agreed Hicks, mollified by ^ the Judge's altered tone. "Therefore I do not hesitate to say that I consider you a damned scoun drel!" concluded the judge. Mr. Cavendish, accepting the Judge's ultimatum as something which must debar Hicks from all further consideration, and being, as he was, exceedingly active and energetic by nature, if one passed over the various forms of gainful industry, uttered a loud whoop and threw himself on the overseer. There was a brief struggle and Hicks went down'with the earl of Lambeth astride of him: then from his bootleg that knightly soul dashed a hornhandled tickler of formidable dimensions. The judge, Yancy and Mahaffy sprang from their chairs. Mr. Mahaffy was plainly shocked at the spectacle of Mr. Cavendish's lawless violence. Yancy was disturbed, too, but i not by the moral aspects of the caseu ?-- ao tn inal haw his iiitr n<M uvuuiiui -w ? ? friend's act would appeal to the Judge. He need not have been distressed on that score, since the judge's one Idea was to profit by it. With his hands on his knees he was now bending above the two men. "What do you want to know. Judge?" cried Cavendish, panting from his exertions. 'Til learn this parrot to talk up!" "Hicks," said the judge, "it is In your power to tell us a few things we are here to find out." Hicks looked up into the judge's face and closed his lips grimly. "Mr. Cavendish, kindly let him have the point of that long knife where he will feel it most!" ordered the Judge. "Talk quick!" said Cavendish with a ferocious scowl. "Talk?or what's to hinder me slicing open your woozen?" and he pressed the blade of his knife against the overseer's throat. "I don't know anything about Miss Betty," said Hicks In a sullen whisper. "Maybe you don't, but what do you know about the boy?" Hicks was silent, but he was grateful for the judge's question. From Tom Ware he had learned of Fentress' Interest In the boy. Why should he shelter the colonel at risk to himself? "If you please, Mr. Cavendish!" said the judge, quietly nodding toward the knife. "You didn't ask me about him," said Hicks quickly. "I do now," said the judge. "He was here yesterday." "Mr. Cavendish?" and again the Judge glanced toward the knife. "Walt!" cried Hicks. "You go to Colonel Fentress." "Let him up, Mr. Cavendish; that's all we want to know," said the Judge. CHAPTER XXIX. Colonel Fentress. The Judge had not forgotten his ghost, the ghost he had seen in Mr. Saul's office that day he went to the * W.?B|?ADU Phorlov I coun-nuuae un uunumo iv< v,..u..v, Norton. Working or idling?principally the letter?drunk or sober?principally the former?the ghost, otherwise .Colonel Fentress, had preserved a place in his thoughts, and now as he moved stolidly up the drive toward Fentress' big white house on the hill with Mahaffy, Cavendish and Yancy trailing in his wake, memories of what had once been living and vital crowded in upon him. Some sense of the wreck that littered the long years, and the shame of the open shame that had swept away pride and self-respect, came back to him out of the past. He only paused when he stood on the portico before Fentress* open door. He glanced about him at the wide fields, bounded by the distant timber lands that hid gloomy bottoms, at the great log barns in the hollow to his right; at the huddle of whitewashed cabins beyond; then with his big fist he reached in and pounded on the door. The blows echoed loudly through the silent house, and an Instant later Fentress' tall, spare figure was seen advancing from the far end of the hall. "Who is it?" he asked. "Judge Price?Colonel Fentress," said the judge. "Judge Price," uncertainly, and still advancing. "I had flattered myself that you must have heard of me," said the Judge. "I think I have," said Fentress, pausing now. "He thinks he has!" muttered the judge under his breath. "Will you come ln?A It was more a question than an Invitation. "If you are at liberty." The colonel bowed. "Allow me," the judge continued. "Colonel Fentress?Mr. Mahaffy, Mr. Yancy and Mr. Cavendish." Again II1C CU1UIICI WWW V M. "Will you step Into the library?" "Very good," and the judge followed the colonel briskly down the hall. When they entered the library Fentresa turned and took stock of his guests MahalTy he had seen before; Yancy and Cavendish were of course strangers to him, but their appearance explained them; last of all his glance shifted to the" Judge. He had heard something of those activities by means of which Slocum Price had striven to distinguish himself, and he had a certain curiosity respecting the man. It was immediately satisfied. The Judge had reached a degree of shabbiness seldom equalled, and but for his mellow, effulgent personality might well have passed for a common vagabond: and If his dress advertised the state of his finances, his face explained his habits. No misconception was possible about either. "May I offer you a glass of liquor?" asked Fentress, breaking the silence. He stepped to the walnut center table where there was a decanter and glasses. By a gesture the judge declined the Invitation. Whereat the colonel looked surprised, but not so surprised as Mahaffy. There was another silence. "I don't think we ever met before?" observed Fentress. There was something In the ttx<-d stare his visitor was bending upon him that he found dls quieting, just why, he could not have told. But that fixed stare of the judge's continued. No, the man had not changed?he had grown older certainly, but age had not come ungracefully; he became the glossy broadcloth and spotless linen he wore. Here was a man who could command the good things of life, using them with a rational temperance. The room Itself was in harmony with his character; it was plain but rich in its appointments, at once his library and his office, while the well-filled cases ranged about the walls showed his tastes to be in the main scholarly and Intellectual. "How long have you lived here?" asked the judge abruptly. Fentress seemed to hesitate; but the Judge's glance, compelling and insistent, demanded an answer. "Ten years." "You have known many men of all classes as a lawyer and planter?" said the Judge. Fentress inclined his head. The Judge took a step nearer him. "People have a great trick of coming and going in these western states? all sorts of damned' riffraff drift in and out of these new lands." A deadly earnestness urtea tne juages woraa above mere rudeness. Fentress, cold and distant, made no reply. "For the past twenty years Thave been looking for a man bv the name of Gatewood? David Gatewood." Disciplined as he was, the colonel . started violently. Ever heard of him, Fentress?" demanded the judge with a savage scowl. "What's all this to me?" The words came with a gasp from Fentress' twitching lips. The judge looked at him moody and frowning. "I have reason to think this man Gatewood came to west Tennessee," he said. "If so, I have never heard of him." "Perhaps not under that name?at any rate you are going to hear of him now. This man Gatewood, who between ourselves was a damned scoundrel"?the colonel winced?"this man Gatewood had a friend who threw money and business in his way?a planter he was, same as Gatewood. A sort of partnership existed between the pair. It proved an expensive enterprise for Gatewood's friend, sinoe he came to trust the damned scoundrel more and more as time passed?even large sums of his money were in Gatewood's hands?" the judge paused. Fentress' countenance was like stone, as expressionless and as rigid. By the door stood Mahaffr with Yancy and Cavendish; they understood that what was obscure and meaningless to them held a tragic significance to these two men. The judge's heavy face, ordinarily battered and debauched, but infinitely good-natured, bore now the markings of deep passion, and the voice that rumbled from his capacious chest came to their ears like distant thunder. "This friend of Gatewood's had a wife?" The judge's voice broke, emotion shook him like a leaf, he was tearing open his wounds. He reached over and poured himself a drink, sucking it down with greedy lips. "There was a wife?" he whirled about on his heel and faced Fentress again. "There was a wife, Fentress?" he fixed Fentress with his blazing eyes. "A wife and child. Well, one day Gatewood and the wife were missing. Under the circumstances Gatewood's friend was well rid of the pair?he should have been grateful, but he wasn't, for his wife took his child, a daughter; and Gatewood a trifle of thirty thousand dollars his friend had intrusted to him!" There was another silence. "At a later day I met this man who had been betrayed by his wife and robbed by his friend. He had fallen out of the race?drink had done for him?there was Just one thing he seemed to care about and that was the fate of his child, but maybe he was only curious there. He wondered If she had lived, and married?" Once more the Judge paused. "What's ad this to me?" asked Fentress. "Are you sure It's nothing to you?" demanded the Judge, hoarsely. "Understand this, Fentress. Gatewood's treachery brought ruin to at least two lives. It caused the woman's father to hide his face from the world: It wasn't enough for him that his friends believed his daughter dead; he knew differently, and the shame of that knowledge ate into his soul. It cost the husband his place In the world, too?in the end it made of him a vagabond and a penniless wanderer." "This is nothing to me," said Fentress. "Walt!" cried the Judge. "About six years ago the woman was seen at her father's home in North Carolina. I reckon Gatewood had cast her off. She didn't go back empty-handed. She had run away from her husband with a child?a girl; after a lapse of twenty years she returned to her father with a boy of two or three. There are two questions that must be answered when I find Gatewood: what became of the I woman and what became or tne cnua; are they living or dead; did the daughter grow up and marry and have a son? When I get my answer it will be time enough to think of Gatewood'a punishment!" The judge leaned forward across the table, bringing his face close to Fentress* face. "Look at me?do you know me now?" But Fentress' expression never altered. The judge fell back a step. "Fentress, I want the boy," he said quietly. "What boy?" "My grandson." "You are mad! What do I know of him?or you'" Fentress was gaining courage from the sound of his own voice. "You know who he is and where he is. Your business relations with General Ware have put you on the track of the Quintard lands in this state. You Intend to use the boy to gather them in." "You're mad!" repeated Fentress. "Unless you bring him to me inside of twenty-four hours I'll smash you!" roared the Judge. "Your name isn't Fentress, it's Gatewood; you've stolen the name of Fentress, Just as you have stolen other things. What's come of Turberville's wife and child? What's come of Turberville's money? Damn your soul! I want my grandson! I'll pull you down and leave you stripped and bare! I'll tell the world the false friend you've been?the thief you are!. I'll strip you and turn you out of these doors as naked as when you entered the world,'" The judge seemed tc tower above Fentress, the man had shot up out of his deep debasement "Choose! Choose!" he thundered, his shaggy brows bent In a menacing frown. "I know nothing about the boy," said Fentress slowly. "By God, you lie!" stormed the Judge. "I know nothing about the boy," and Fentress took a step toward the door, "Stay where you are!" commanded the Judge. "If you attempt to leave this room to call your niggers I'll kill you on its threshold!" But Yancy and Cavendish -had stepped to the door with an intention that was evident, and Fentress' thin face cast itself in haggard lines. He was feeling the judge's terrible capacity, his unexpected ability to deal with a supreme situation. Even Mahaffy gazed at his friend In wonder. He had only seen him spend himself on trifles, with no further object than the next meal or thexnext drink; he had believed that as he knew him so he had always been, lax and loose of tongue and deed, a noisy tavern hero, but Iiuw IXC oan mai lie nao Iiunig nitav must have been the measure of his manhood. "I tell you I had no hand In carrying off the boy," said Fentress with a sardonic smile. "I look to you to return him. Stir yourself, Gate wood, or by God, 1*11 hold so fierce a reckoning with you?" The sentence remained unfinished, for Fentress felt his overwrought nerves snap, and giving way to- a sudden blind fury struck at the judge. "We are too old for rough and tumble," said the judge, who had displayed astonishing agility in avoiding the blow. "Furthermore we were once gentlemen. At present I am what I am. while you are a hound and a blackguard! We'll settle this as becomes our breeding!" Hie poured himself a second glass of liquor from Fentress' decanter. "I wonder If It Is possible to Insult you," and he tossed glass and contents in Fentress' face. The colonel's thin features were convulsed. The Judge watched him with a scornful curling of the lips. "I am treating you better than you deserve," he taunted. "Tomorrow morning at sun-up at Boggs' racetrack!" cried Fentress. The judge bowed with splendid courtesy. "Nothing could please me half so well," he declared. He turned to the others. "Gentlemen, this is a private matter. When I have met Colonel Fentress I shall make a public announcement of why this appeared necessary to me; until then I trust this matter will not be given publicity. May I ask your silence?" He bowed again and abruptly passed from the room. His three friends followed in his steps, leaving Fentress standing by the table, the ghost of a smile on his thin lips. As If the very place were evil, the Judge hurried down the drive toward the road. At the gate he paused and turned on his companions, but his features wore a look of dignity that forbade comment or question. He held out his hand to Yancy. "Sir," he said, "If I could command the riches of the Indies, It would tax my resources to meet the fractional part of my obligations to you." "Think of that!" said Yancy, as much overwhelmed by the judge's manner as by his words. "His Uncle Bob shall keep his place In my grandson's life! We will watch him grow Into manhood together." The Judge was visibly affected. A smile of deep content parted Mr. Yancy's lips as his muscular fingers closed about the judge's hand with crushing force. "Whoop!" cried Cavendish, delighted at this recognition of Yancy's love for the boy, and he gleefully smote the austere Mahaffy on the shoulder. But Mahaffy was dumb in the presence of the decencies, he quite lacked an Interpreter. The judge looked back at the house. "Mine!" he muttered. "The clothes he stands In?the food he eats?mine! Mine!" (To be Continued). HICKORY GROVE NOTES. ^ People Who Come and Go?Programme of Washington Birthday Celebration. Corrwpondenre Th? Torkvllle Enquirer Hickory Grove, February 19.?Miss Evelyn Lipscomb of Gaffney, spent last week with Miss Sallie Wylle. Mr. Chas. Hardin of Grover, N. C.. was in town last week on business. Mr. D. M. Ellen was In town on business last week. Mr. Ellen is a former teacher of this place, and the people are always glad to have him In their midst. Mrs. W. W. Coney gave an excellent turkey dinner last week in compliment to her sister. Miss Annie Belle Huff of Camden. Mesdames Sam and Joe Leech are in Atlanta buying their millinery goods for the spring. Mr. Brooks Good's entire family has the measles. The following is the programme for the 22d instant here, and also at Shaon on the 23rd, by the*high school department: Song?Our Country's Flag; debate?Resolved, That Washington was a greater warrior than Lee; Ralph r*natlo<. on/1 Vfoty/vla CmUR r% fflrmo * Sallle Smarr and Barron Whlsonant, negative. Declamation?Sam Wllkerson. "The Black Horse and His Rider"; music by Hickory Grove band; play? Heir of Mt. Vernon. I think I can safely say that this will be 'the best programme this school has rendered in the last two years. The teachers have taken special pains in getting up this programme. The songs will be under the direction of Mrs. W. H. Whisonant and I think that that Is enough said to assure the public of its efficiency In every respect. The play is in charge of Miss Irene Montgomery, who Is especially gifted along this line. In this play we have graphic pictures of old colonial times at the period when Washington was a boy and when slavery was in existence. The characters will be dressed in full colonial costume and it promises to be quite creditable. In the debate you can almost Imagine Washington and Lee marching before you exhibiting their military skill. The public is invited. Miss Mattle Lesslle of Lesslie visited Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Wilkerson at this place last week. ; iWisrllancous Ufitdinji. ! MEDICAL INSPECTION BILL. i ' Governor Bleat* Sent it Back to House With Red Hot Veto. . Governor Blease has vetoed the hill providing for the medical Inspection ol the children of the public schools. The veto message, which is a hot one, went 1 to the house last Saturday night, and ; Instead of acting upon It at once, the house referred the bill and the message back to the committee on medical affairs, thus avoiding an immediate vote on the question of sustaining oi overriding the veto. Governor Blease, In his veto message, says the board of school trustees referred to Is vague and indefinite. Then Governor Bleas^ continues by quoting from the bill: "Every school physician shall make a prompt examination and diagnosis of all school children, students, teachers, etc." "Now, gentlemen, this in my opinion, Is' taking from the parents of the children the right to attend to the physl cal condition of their own children. I h4ve no children, but If I had a girl and she had some deformity, or she had some disease by inheritance by which she could not by association communicate to any other children, and which could not injure any other child by her being its schoolmate, I would consider it a most outrageous intrusion upon tny family affairs to have any physician examine that child and expose its deformity or its condition to the world. Ah, gentlemen, more than that, I would not permit it, unless I was paralyzed and unable to use my powers which God Almighty has given me, and I cannot see why you want to place such an imposition upon the little children of this state. ?Do you not think that every man In this state is able and has love enough for his children to care for and protect them? It is my rule in life to pity and endeavor to help those who are afflicted, and not endeavor to hold their afflictions up to the public gaae. Pass a law, If you please, prohibiting any child with tuberculosis, a disease which may be transmitted to others (but, from your present hosiery mill condition, you seem to have little concern as to this terrible disease), from attending any public school of this state, or any child which has any disease that may be transmitted to the other children by attendance upon a public school, but I cannot approve of the publishing in the records of your state and from the house tops of your schools that a certain child has a certain disease, thus holding It up to ridicule and scandal, to the humiliation of the child, for something for which, possibly, - its parents are to blame, done In an unguarded or unthoughtful moment "People have a right to control their own children; therefore, why so much legislation? Have all the people, and all the classes of people become imbeciles and children that the legislature at"%n?ry turn must pass acta crwttinx guardianships, or do you wish to establish an anarchy and force every poor man to bow down to the whims of all professions? Now, your provision as to smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, chlckenpox, whooping cough or mumps is all right and, as I have said, carry it further: make it apply to tuberculosis, scrofula, and the disease that causes scrofula, if you please, but do not say that every young girl in this state from 12 years old and up, without her consent, must be forced to be examined and her physical condition certified by her physicians to some school teacher, to be heralded around as public property. "Section 5 of your bill provides that a third person shall be present. If so requested by the said school child, student, teacher or Janitor. Why not say if requested by the parents of the child, the father or mother? Why do you take from the father and mother their God-given privilege and put it It, hntiHa nf anmplindv else? Amend you bill and say at the request of the father or mother, or guardian, If the father and mother be dead, but here you absolutely take from the control of the father and mother the physical child and put it in the hands of the child itself, the student, the teacher or janitor. What negro Janitor has got a right to request that my child or any other white man's child shall be examined as provided for in your act, section 5?* "I have promised on the stump to veto all bills creating useless offices. This bill creates the position of school physician and says 'which shall be paid in the school district in which the service is performed out of the school funds therof. Now, gentlemen, I am ' opposed to that. This money is voted and appropriated for the education of the child and for the development of its brain, and vou have no right to take it to pay doctor's bills or for having children examined at the instance of some crank. If some people are so afraid that their children will catch a disease, let them be more careful of their own personal actions and let them first examine themselves before they marry to see that they will not cause the transmission of disease. "I cannot approve your bill, for I think it both iniquitous and outrageous, and If a child refuses to submit to being thus examined I believe that its parents should get a mandamus from the courts compelling the receipt of the child in the school for which he has been taxed to run. I hope that enough of th members of your body will so respect the girl children of this state as to kill the bill. If not, I believe that it will be a dead letter, for I do not believe that the people of this state will submit their children to any such outrageous examination and exposal." The Other Side. Replying to the foregoing. Dr. Wm. Weston of Columbia, has written the Columbia State as follows: I regret extremely that it should be necessary for me, or anyone else, to have to appear In the public prints in the defense of a measure that aims to put the children of South Carolina on a footing of equal opportunity with children elsewhere. But in view or the fact that the governor has deemed It his duty to veto the medical inspection bill, and has given as his reasons statements that I believe erroneous, I consider it my duty, because of my connection with the matter as one of the representatives of the South Carolina Medical association, at whose instance I, among several others, prepared a bill looking to the enactment of a law that In the light of knowledge before us we believed it our duty to bring before the proper authorities (the legislature) for their consideration and disposition. This we did to the best of our ability and the two bodies of the legislature accepted our views and passed a bill carrying Into effect provisions that nearly all the rest of the civilized world had already accepted as being not only expedient but necessary to carry Into effect measures that are considered to be proper functions of government, namely, the preservation of the life of its citizens. The bill, as passed, was in a manner a compromise, and every possible objection that was suggested was withdrawn, and every safeguard and protection to the children was most carefully provided for In the bill. In fact nothing "outrageous" was even suspected to exist in the bill and no honest or enlightened individual would have so suspected. The governor, in returning the bill with his objections for disapproval, displayed a monstrous and unpardonable Ignorance of : the facts in the case. I say unpardonable, because if he had desired to know the facts and observe the methods of conducting these examinations ? he would have been most welcome to visit one of the schools In Colum. bia and learn the facts for himself. 1 Rut, on the contrary, he has seen fit f to pervert the facts, try to create > prejudice, and otherwise display tac. tics repugnant to the statesman. ' The governor Is probably ignorant ' of the fact that the average citizen ! of today is given more consideration . and that life possesses a higher value than ever before In the history of the world and he likewise possesses op* portunlties for life and happiness that ten or fifteen years ago would have seemed Improbable* Unquestionably the greatest inheritance which the world has received from the last decade of the nineteenth century is the manner and means by which these blessings can be secured. We are also taught that if disease and vice are to be successfully combated and controlled, childhood Is I the period to which we must look, because there the seeds are sown. We have learned that childhood is the , most impressionable period of life, and that If a child from whatever cause, he It from defect or disease, suffers pain, the nervous system is apt to become perverted. This perversion may not present itself for years after the beginning of the trouble, and it may display Itself in various ways, even to criminality. Again, only when a child is free from defects and is in good health can it really appreciate the Joys of childhood, and who would deny a child the innocent pleasures incident to that remarkable period of life? It might be well to state here that there occurs more development of the nervous system during the first eight years than during all the remaining years of one's lite. This, of course, Includes the brain. Is it not, then, most evident that if we are to have a sturdy race, free from disease and vice, that children must be protected from whatever causes that prevent development? These causes are usually unsuspected defects. They are not found unless looked for, but when found are easily corrected. They are generally of the eyes, ears, nose, throat and organs of the chest His excellency lays a great deal of - stress upon the likelihood that gross deformities will be discovered and heralded to the whole* world. As a matter of fact, they are very unusual, and when they do exist they are evident to everyone who observes even casually. He overlooks the Important fact that it is the object of the bill to correct the 50 to 75 per cent of physical defects, rather than to discover and herald to the world onehalf of 1 per cent of deformities. Few, I must say. can agree with Mr. Blease in his assertion that if the bill became a law, parents would be deprived of authority over their children. If the state has a right to train a child's mind, it also has a fight to protect Its brain and body, and every rightthinking parent would acknowledge this jurisdiction and commend its beneficence. Perhaps the governor takes the view of the Roman senator who over 2,000 years ago proclaimed In the Roman senate that a parent possessed the right to kill his child. The twentieth century answers the senator today that our civilization commands us to protect the lives of children, and shows us how to do it. His excellency, always so deferen. tlal to modesty and virtue, seems to fear that virtue will be violated if these examinations are made. He need have no misgivings In this regard, since the examinations Include only the face and chest, and are made in the daylight, and invariably In the presence of many witnesses and at the rate of about fifteen per hour. I ani very sorry that this reply to the governor's objections should be so brief, and because of its brevity, so superficial, and so. In conclusion, I will say that medical examinations of school children have been adopted over nearly the entire civilized world. HIIU IIICLI no im an i i ?a?c uvvh ?? <. to ascertain, its results have far exceeded the expectations of those who instituted them. Xo community, having once adopted this system, has singe given it up. It is conceded by all that this system has accomplished remarkable results in settling many of the different problems of the school room by banishing the laggard and the truant and wlnnlnf their interest. industry and regular attendance. It has relieved unnecessary suffering and sickness. It has given childhood many Joys and comforts by removing disabilities. It has restored those who were apparently hopeless. It has saved many boys from addiction to vicious habits and vices. It Is steadily reducing the numbers appearing In Juvenile courts of correction. It is rapidly reducing the mortality rate among children, and above all. It is saving the individual from prejudice and bitterness incident to defect and disease, and is giving him a fair opportunity to pursue unencumbered whatever vocation he desires. It Is believed that It will materially reduce the unrest and demagoglsm so often seen in our form of government. I realize that this Is claiming much for any system, but I can submit abundant evidence to anyone who doubts or denies. Final'y. If these statements are facts, is the system not worthy of trial in South Carolina, where Illiteracy is so great and where perusal of the most recently taken mortality rate staggers twentieth century sensibilities? THE WALL STREET GAME. Advice to Those Who Would Buy and Sell on Margin. "A broker once told me that there was one rule which he would give if he dared to his customers to guide them in selecting stocks for trading purposes. 'Take a piece of chewing gum; reduce It to an adhesive condition, mold it Into a form convenient for throwing; throw it at the board. Buy or sell the stock Indicated by the spot on the board to which it adheres. Go to Europe for three months.' By following this advice, he said, the customer would have a chance?not much of a chance, it Is true, but some chance. If however .he reads the financial page of the newspaper and listens to the gossip In the brokers' office, he has not even the gambler's chance, since he will be doing exactly what the powers back of the market want him to do In order that they may as quickly as possible get his principal before It is exhausted by the constant nibbling of the broker. "A well to do man showed his ingenue bride a check for $1,800. 'Do you see this check? Now with this I'm going to buy sugnr. Sugar is going up, and I'll give you the profits.' Sugar went down, and he lost his $1,800. The lady asked for an ac- , counting. 'My dear, sugar went down. The money is lost.' 'And you haven't even any sugar?' she asked, plaintively. 'Not even any sugar?" i "As a means of making money spec- 1 ulating on margin Is worthless; as a means to loss and ruin it has no rivals. With the large number of sound In- I vestments constantly offered by bank- 1 ing houses to the public on terms | which offer a reasonable chance of In- < creasing value, together with security j of principal and Income, It should no longer be necessary for Inen and wo- 'j men to put their savings Into mar-|i gins."?Edward Sherwood Mead In.! Lipplncott's. FIRST CONVENTION Hsld in New York in 1812 and Was Result of Insurgency in the Party. Insurgency waa rampant In the dominant party a century ago, and out of the opportunity thus presented to the Federalists came the first national nominating convention of an American political party. The men of the north and the east believed that Madison was coerced Into urging on the war with England by threats upon the part of western and southern Republicans to prevent his renomlnatlon in 1812 and antagonize him with some popular man of the war party. Luckily for Madison he had conciliated Monroe, disappointed because he had been forced to wait In 1808, by making him secretary of state when the war of the Maryland Smiths on Gallatin at length resulted In the forcing of Robert Smith out of the cabinet. After Monroe's nomination by the Republican caucus of congress In May. 1812, Joslah Qulncy .openly charged In congress that Madison had bought his nomination by agreeing to the war programme of Clay, Calhoun and others of the south and southwest, but nobody has brought. direct proof of it. In June came the declaration of war, and then followed a long summer of Intrigue against Madison. A Repub lican caucus of the New York legislature nominated as an independent "peace" candidate for president, DeWitt Clinton, who had resigned the United States senatorahlp at 34 to become mayor of Nfrw York city, and had he been elected president In 1813 he would have been by far the youngest man. up to that time to occupy the chair. Since that time only Grant and Roosevelt have held the office younger. The Republicans of New York and New England professed to believe that the politicians of the south and west were forcing war upon the country for their own selfish purposes, with utter indifference as to the ruin that it must bring upon the commerce of 1 the north, while the Federalists shared 1 that belief, and ardently wished to get ( out of the situation whatever partisan 1 advantage they might snatch. Rufus 1 King, the leading Federalist of New ' York, was in correspondence with lead- 1 era in his own and other states with ' reference to the situation, and Anally 1 an intimation came to him through a friend up in West Chester county that Clinton would be glad to confer with 1 leading Federalists. Clinton, King and ' Gouverneur Morris were finally brought 1 together in the library of Morris's house at Morrissania, where Jay and King had been having a 1 o'clock dinner after the manner of the time. Clin- 1 ton had been asked to dinner, but he got in only in time for dessert, and 1 Jay, who was in a hurry, left the party about 6 o'clock, and apparently, ac- 1 cording to King's letters of this time, < did not take part in the actual confer- J ence. The talk went on In the library I pretty late, and Clinton outlined a pol- 1 icy that was In the main satisfactory < to the Federalists, though he did not succeed 4n quieting the distrust of King. 1 Out of this conference between the 1 insurgent Republican Clinton and the i Federalist leaders, and out of correspondence and conferences between 1 the Federalists of New York and New 1 England and those of the south came the first national nominating conven- ? tion, held In New York city in Septem ber, 1812. ' Most of the historians dismiss this ' convention with only a few words, and ' the contemporary newspapers tell lit- < tie or nothing as to its composition i and doings. The meager story of the i convention is to be found in the cor- I respondence of some who took part, especially in that of King and Morris, and above all, in the Familiar Letters < of William^Sullivan, of Massachusetts, i written between 1831 and 1833, and < published ' in 1834. Sullivan was a i typical high Federalist, such as were seldom bred outside Massachusetts. He took kindly to Clinton because the latter had been reproved for his ex^ pressed dislike of "mobocracy" by an official government utterance. Sullivan gives his story of the Federalist convention in one of his letters, and his son, who published, in 1847, a revised edition of the book under the title, "Public Men of the Revolution," gives in a footnote to that particular letter his recollection of what his father told him. The elder Sullivan, acordlng to his son's account, was at Saratoga Springs in the summer of 1812, along with a fellow Federalist of western Massachusetts. Governor Roger Griswold of Connecticut, a stiff Federalist, also was then at the springs, but confined to his room with Illness. Sullivan and his friend used to call upon Griswold daily to talk politics, and when the governor was at length too ill to receive them they took long walks in the woods and continued the discussions. They really believed that the Union was in danger because of Madison's war policy, and they at last decided that the thing to do was to call a ( national convention of the Federalists and nominate a candidate against Madison. They apportioned the work I of correspondence among themselves ] and others, and Sullivan seems to think that but for the chance meeting at Saratoga there would have been ' no convention. King's letters of midsummer, 1812, ( do not indicate Sullivan's share In bringing about the convention. It 1 seems, however, that the leaders of < the Federalists believed the time had ( come to make an appeal to the rank and file of the party, and there is even reason to believe that the New t York members of the convention were i chosen by local conventions In at least some of the counties. The term "Peace Party" was employed in the < correspondence of the leaders, and the t attempt was to make the movement ? ?r\f hnth a genuine popuiar upi ume ui parties against Madison and the Virginians and their southwestern and southern allies. Up to September 9 King was doubtful whether or not he should attend the convention, but when it met on the 15th, he was present. King says there were "upward of sixty gentlemen in attendance. Sullivan's letter says eleven states were represented by seventy delegates. There was some attempt at a Just apportionment. New York had eighteen delegates, and most of the smaller states had from two to four, while others had from six to twelve. South Carolina was the only far southern state represented. Sullivan says the body was one of great distinction, and he begs survivors who read his book to recall the dignity and patriotism displayed by the delegates. King was not so well pleased with the convention and its work. After reports from various delegates as to Londitlons In their states it was resolved that the Federalists could not hope to defeat Madison with a candidate of their own party. This action pointed to the endorsement of Clinton. The convention sat for three days and rame near breaking up without action and in strong disagreement. King denounced Clinton a good deal in the style employed by Hamilton In speaking of Burr. The Pennsylvanians an dthe mem- ' ber? from the south were anxious to take a steamer for Philadelphia at 2 o'clock on the 18th, and the time was getting short, with nothing accomplished, when Harrison Gray Otis of Massachusetts, afterward a leader In the Hartford convention, arose, hat in hand, to urge the endorsement of Clinton. He spoke languidly for a minute or two, and then, warmltlft up, dropped his hat on the floor and poured forth an eloquent appeal that fairlv took the convention off Its feet, a performance to be repeated by orators In many gfeat conventions since. The result was that Clinton was unanimously endorsed. In spite of King's reluctance, and the Pennsylvanians and their southern colleagues caught the steamer for Philadelphia.?Philadelphia Record. GEN. LEE AT WHITE HOUSE. An Interesting Reminiscence from Edf* tor McKelway. Forty-three years ago Dr. St. Clair McKelway was watching events in Washington. D. C., for the New York World and Brooklyn Eagle. An event occurred which he did not report In his dispatches, and which has not got Into the history books and biographies. He now tells of It In his Brooklyn newspaper. Virginia was about to elect a gov ernor under the reconstruction act The conservative candidate was Col. Gilbert C. Walker, a Union soldier; the Republican candidate was the state's military governor, H. H. Wells. The conservatives feared that Wells would use the troops "in a way to Insure his own election." It occurred to *Mrs. Myra Galnea widow of the distinguished major general, that it might be a great thing for Virginia to have the situation explained across a table by Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant. She gave McKelway a letter to Gen. Lee, and he set out for Georgetown (where the general was then sojourning) on his errand. It was a Sunday, he remembers, and an uncommonly stormy one. He says In his Eagle story: "The general had the correspondent's horse and carriage taken to the stable and himself spent the whole day with the correspondent, questioning him closely about northern opinion and answering the correspondent's inquiries with fullness and candor. Over a period of time so long as that which has elapsed since the conversation between the general and the correspondent, the memory of the latter concerning Impressions is more clear than concerning details. The correspondent can say that he never saw a man more commanding and Impressive in appearance or more dignified yet natural In manner than Robert is. Ltee. nor aia ne ever me a man whose bodily and Intellectual resemblance to General Washington as the latter has been suggested by historians and artists, was more striking. No notes, of course, were taken of what Gen. Lee said at the time, but the effect of the personality of the general himself has never been lost, and is made only stronger by the flight of years." On, his return McKelway was able to report that Gen. Lee would be glad to go to the White House on the mission suggested. President Grant said he would be.glad to see him; through the secretary of war, Gen. Rawlins, he Invited him to the White House. Lee asked and got leave to take Gen. Jubal E. Early and ex-Senator R. M. r. Hunter along. Grant and Lee had not seen each other since Appomattox. The three Virginians put the situation In their state before the president, and told him that all they asked for was a fair election. He said they Bhould have It "He gave and enforced that promise," says McKelway. "Wells was defeated and Walker was elected. Virginia's resumption of elective government was prosperously and peacefully effected under Walker's four-year governorship. TWfc state escaped the worse conditions that had befallen Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana. Alabama and Texas, and which a peaceful revolution within the Union was required to throw off." The fact that the three Virginians had called at the White House got to the papers, but no hint of what took them there, or of the promise they took away with them. Both Grant and Lee asked McKelway to keep mum. and. of course, he did so. He thinks that "the lapse of time and the course of history" Justifies him In now telling the story. He feels sure that It will be news to Dr. Thomas Nelson Page. Lee's latest biographer.?Hartford Courant. TO WOO SLEEP. Better a Rug on the Floor Than a Too Yielding Mattress. "I sleep fairly well," a man said recently, "but seldom soundly, and I frequently wake In the morning with Bches in my legs, joints and vertebrae. [ never feel aupp' until I have had my * j - *.?f. rnh with a rnnph :oia oam auiu a unoa towel." Sleep should be invigorating, not entrvating. and the following theory was advanced by a man who in hia earlier lays had slept for many months tinier the stars on veldt and Jungle: "It Is the mattress and the pillow :hat are responsible for half the trou>!e of the insomniac. The ideal resting ilace is the ground, with its natural :overing of soft grass. The next most ,'omfortable bed Is a wood floor overaid with a soft carpet or rug. The Melding mattress does not rest Mie nuscles, which remain all night in a condition of alternating relaxation and ension. When the sleeping place is Ixed and hard they adapt themselves 0 it and remain quiescent. "Furthermore, the spine and nerve enters of the bed sleeper are exposed ill night to the heat of the mattress, vhlch is the cause of the sense of ensrvation so commonly felt when one 1 wakens. 'The pillow is even more enervating han the mattress. A well-stuffed sadlie whose cleft center permits the irculation of air, soft, yet unyielding, s the ideal head rest. Next to It, poriaps, should be placed the Japanese leek block. "When the discomfort of the experiment has been overcome by a few lights of perseverance a wonderful mprovement will be discerned in the luality of sleep."?Harper's Weevty. X' ' The new diseases you hear about ire merely the old ones masqueradng under unpronounceable names.