Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MY LITTLE PLAY.NIATE. I'm thinking of a playmate, Who mate my childhood bleit, Within the quiet churchyard, She lies at peaceful rest. Light as the winged zephyr, Feree as the birds of air, We roamed the hills and valleys When summer skies were fair. Sweet little brown-eyed Eflie, With heart so full of love. She seemed to live for others An angel from above. 0 friend so true and faithful, o playmate kind and dear, Blest with thy sunny presence, it seemed as heaven were here. At last, her feet grew weary, Along life's rugged way; She sank in gentle slumber One lovely autumn day. A strange unearthly beauty Across her features spread, Then up the golden gateway On snowy wings she sped. Where the night winds softly whisper, And stars their vigil keep, And streamlets gently murmur, We laid her down to sleep. While I life's storm breasted Through all these weary Sears, My platmate dear has rested Secure from grief and fears. THREE DIAMOND RINGS. There had been a thunder shower in the night. All the pink, shell-like petals were beaten off the apple blooms; the high grass in the orchard lav in lone. flat waves close to the ground; tlie very daffodiis and tulips in the borders were crushed into the rich black mould; and Janie Barr was trying to tie them up again with as tender a sympathy as if they had lrtce little children fallen down. When suddenly Mrs. Barr came out with a perturbed face. "There!" said she. "I knew there wpuld be trouble." "What is it, mother?" said Janie, cheerily. "It's those worn-out shingles on the roof," said Mrs. Barr, in the melan choly half-whine which was habitual to her. "The rain leaked in on the boarder's bureau all night long and she says she won't stay here if she isn't to be properly protected from the elements." Janie tied the last puce-colored tulip to its stake and straightened herself up. "We must have the roof mended." said she. "Who is to do it?" sighed Mrs. Barr. "There ain't a carpenter to be had since Squire Follett commenced the new cottages, and even Crazy Jim won't go up on that steep roof. And if Mrs. Lepell goes away what shall we do about the interest on your father's old note?" "She won't go away,mother-never fear," said Janie, brightly. "Dpn't fret. You'll see that things will all come right." "But the shinoles must be fixed right away," said Mrs. Barr. "They shall be fixed, mother," said Janie. "Who will do it?" impatiently re peated the widow. "I will!" said Janie. "That's all nonsense !" groaned Mrs. -Barr. "Why shouldn't I mother?" said Janie, merrily. "Of course I haven't been brought up to a carpenter's trade, but any one could manage a few shin gles and a handful of nails. You shall see, little mother! .O~nly wait !" "Janie, if you think of such a thing, I shall be very angry !" said Mrs. Barr. "Then I'll leave off thinkino. of it," said Janie. "Where's the bas'-et and the claspknife mother? I am going- to cut some dandelion greens for din ner." "Of course she is only joking," said Mrs. Barr to herself as zhe re turned slowly to the house. But Janie had never been more seri osyin earnest in her life. Mr.Barr went to the Parish Sew ing Society that afternoon. Colonel Addison from the Valley Hotel, who was paying his addresses to Mrs. Lepell, the boarder came with a spirited horse and a buggy to take her to the sea-beach, where a merry bathing-party were to take advantage of the tide and practice the noble art of swimming. "Now is my time!" said Janie ex ultantly to herself.. But Mrs. Lepell 'came back before she had got twenty rods away from the house. "Janie," said she, "I forgot to tell you that I had left my three diamond rings in the little left-hand drawer of the bureau. I mio-ht lose them in the water. I thoughtI would tell you, in case of fire, you know, or any other accident." "Yes," said Janie; "but there won't be any accident." Mrs. Lepell laughed, and ran back to the carriage and the impatient col onel. And not till then did Janie perceive that a tall, half-grown lad, lurking behind the porch rails, was waiting to speak to her. "Who are you !" said Janie, briskly. "What do you want? No, we haven't any old clothes. If you really want work, you had better go on to the new buildings, a mile up the road. I dare say they can find some thing for you to do there." The lad mumbled out something, whether thanks or otherwise Jame was unable to discriminate, and shuf fled away. And, slipping on her hat and bolt ing the front door, she ran across the back meadows to Ralph Parson's car penter-shop, a quarter of a mile by the wood-path. "I want a few shingles," said she. and a pound of shingle-nails" "What for?" Ralph~ asked. "No matter," calmly retorted Jane, "How much will they cost?" "They will cost you about a quar ter," said Ralph. "Is it a hen-coop you're going to build? Because if you'll wait until Saturday, I could do it for you.' "It isn't a hen-coop. and I can t wait until Saturday." said Janie, shaking the bright-brown curls out of her eyes. 'Her-e's the quarter. And you needn't think, Ralphi .Parsons, that we are going to call upon yNr again until we've paid something on the bill that we owe y-ou already." She nodded good-by, and hurried away under the canopy of pink ap ple blossoms. Ralp looked admiringly after her. "She's a regular clipper of a girl, that Janie Barr !" said he. "If ever I'm able to support a wife, that will be the one i'll choose." Light as thistledown, Janie hurried back with her precious bundle of shin gles, and the pound of nails in her pocket. "Now I'll show them whether I can mend the roof or not, said she, as, with a hammer added to her stock in trade, she ascended to the garret and climbed to an odd little ladder that led out through a rusty trap-door to Lhe steep roof. The slant was abrupt, the old shin gles were wet with the recent rain, and slippery with greenmoss incrus tations, but Janie Barr was not one lightly to be discouraged, and present ly she found herself neatly balanced with her feet braced against the broad gutter, one elbow leaning on the roof and the other hand busily engaged tearing away the old shingles and re placing them deftly with ov-erlapping row of ne- frant wood. The click of the hammer, the ring of the nails, was like music in her ears. It meant that she had saved her moth er's bill of several dollars, to say nothing of mental tribulations which could not be estimated; that Mrs. La pell would still remain with them, and that she, Janie, had actually proved herself of some use in the world. "I've always -wished I had been born a boy, instead of a girl," mused Janie. "'but now," with an exultant glance at the neat row of shingles, "I ain not so dissatistied with my lot in life." Suddenly, however, as she sat perched like a squirrel on the slanting roof, the sound of voices strick on her ear, she paused to listen. "Three diamond rings: I heard her say so herself. In the lefthanddrawer of some bureau." said the same ac cents, which half an hour ago had asked her for charity. "And no one but a woman in the house "Sure of that " said a deeper voice. "Yes, plum-sure." was the answer. "And I wouldn't wonder if there was other things for the picking up." "Come on. then." said the other one, "and step lively. We can't stand here jawing all day. The door bolted, is it? Wait a minute, I've got a little joker here as would start any staples this side of Denver." Janie had listened in breathless horror. In an instant, as it were, she comprehended the full danger that menaced 'Mrs. Lapell's treasured gems -the three diamond rings that the boarder had once told her were worth thousands of dollars. And here was Phe alone and helpless: Hurriedly she turned over the crisis in her mind. If she were to re-enter the house by the same way in which she had left'it she must certainly meet these rufians and any resistance which ie could offer would be speedily over powered. But Janie Barr was not one to hesitate long. While the thoughts yet careered through her brain, she sprang from the eaves to the blooming boughs of the great cherry tree, which grew so close to the house that its branches scraped the roof on windy March days. It was a hazardous thing to do for any one who was not swift of limb and accurate of eye. but Janie alighted like a cat on the fork of the tree, climbed lightly down until she reached its lower bough, and thence leaped breathlessly to the ground, springing swiftly across the meadows toward Ral h Parsons'carpenter shop. "ff he is not there," she thought, some of his men will be." "Janie. what is it?" Ralph Parsons himself rose up out of the green hedges, directly across her path. "I was drinking at the Ice Cold spring," he said, "when I heard your footsteps. What is it?" She told'him as well as she could for excitement and breathlessness. "Come," she cried. "Do make haste:" He paused only to blow a small wil low whistle which hung on his steel guard. "That will bring my workmen," he said. "Its a singal we have agreed upon among ourselves for just such an emergency as this. You and Jones, Janie, shall go around to the back door, Hall and Robbins will watch the front, and I'll go up and settle the fel lows." Janie glanced with shy admiration into his set, determined face. After all, it was something to be a man. The little campaign was skilfully conducted. The two thiers were taken, the diamond rings were deliv ered into Janie Barr's -eeping, and the ruffians were dragged to the near est jail. "Oh, Ralph." said Janie, when all the little crowd was gone, "how can I ever thatuk yvour He smiled. "By letting me put on these shing esfor you," he said. "I can't :" said Janie, laughing and blushing. "They are put on already. But I'll promise you my next job of carpentering." "Will you let me be your carpenter always. Janie?" he asked. "Will you promise one day to be my wife?". The words had risen almost imvol untarihy to his lips as he held her hand in his-the words he had so longed, yet dreaded, to speak. And Janie hung her head and col ored like a carnation and said she "would see." And Ralph Parsons knew that lie had won the day. Mrs. Barr and the boarder were alike amazed when they returned "Our Janie to circumvent a gang of burglars:" said the proud mother. "To save my three diamond rings?" hysterically cried Mrs. Lepell. "But that isn't all I have done, mother," said Janie laughinz. "I have shingled the roof. And-I have promised to marry Ralph Parsons next spring. Upon the whole, I think it has been rather an eventful day, mother, don't you ?" And Mrs. Barr did nat quite know what to answer.-Satuday Night. A Train Held Up. ToLEDo. 0., July 24.-Train No. 37, the westbound Chicago express on the Lake Shore and Michigan South' en Railroad was held up by six masked men at 12:30 this morning at a lonely place in the woods known as Reece Siding, between Archibald and Striker, Ohio, about ten miles west of W .usee. The train stops there to let the eastern express pass. The latter train was approaching when the rob' bery took place. The robbers were mounted and rode out of the woods, which are dense and close to the track. Conductor Darling, who was stand ing near' one of the coaches, was or dered inside at the point of a revolver. Admission to the express car was ob taned by the same means, and the messneer was forced to open the safe. The ru~bers were evidently entirely familiar with the traiin and it is thought fact employes of the railroad company or ithe express company must i.hi2]licatei, either as principals or s confederat(& It was undoubtedly knowii to the bandits that an unusual ly large .Cum was in the express safe last nihs h amount reported to ave been ied by them is said to be $3,000, but it is believed that a much larger sum was taken. No attempt was made to molest the passengers, many of whom knew nothing of the occurrence. 'When the thieves had secured the contents of the safe they rode quietly away. Siiver City Inundated. EL PAso, Texas, July 23.-Silver City, New Mexico, was visited on Sat urday night by one of the most disas trous washouts in its history. The town is located on the side of a hill and in a eulch. A cloud burst above it, and afmost without warning an avalanche of water swept over the town from several points. Probably half the business part was washed away and in the main street the sand and debris was piled up to the win dows of the houses. The postollice building was destroyed and the Tr'e mont, Timmier and Broadway hotels were wrecked; in fact houses tumbled down all over town. Gillette & Son lost $12,000' worth of stock. Bridges were washed away and five miles of Santa Fe track was torn up. The w~eather is still thr'eatening. The loss is estimated at $150,01(. iSilver City THE COM ON PEOPLE, REV. DR. TALMAGE PREACHES UPON A POPULAR SUBJECT. These Ordinary People Who Move lit Ordi nary Spheres--The Disadvantage of Bei ng Conspicuons-The Go-pel of Content--A iieavenly Elixir. NEW YonK, Jilv 21.-Rev, Dr. Tal mge, vlo is still abseit on his annu al midsunuier tour, preaching and lecturing, has prepared for today a scrmton on "Plain People, a topic w hich wili appeal to a very large ma jority of readers aiy where. The text selected was Romans xvi, 14, 15, "Sa lute Asyneritus. Phlisgon, 11ernias. Patrobas, Iermes, Philologus and . ulia." Matthew llenry, Albert Barnes, Adam Clark, Thomas Scott and all the commentators pass by these verses without any especial remark. The other 20 people mentioned in the chap ter were distinguished for something and were therefore discussed by the illustrious expositors, but nothinz is said about Asyncritus, Phlegon, Her mos, Patrobas, Hermes, Philologus and Julia. Where were they born? No one knows. Where did they die? There is no record of their decease. For what were they distinguished? Absolutely for nothing, or the trait of character would have been brought out by the apostle. If they had been very intrepid or opulent or hirsute or musical of cadence or crass of style or in anywise anomalous, that fea ture would have been caught by the apostolic camera. But they were ~good people, because Paul sent to them his high Christian regards. They were ordinary people, moving in ordinary sphere. attending to ordinary duty and meeting ordina ry responsibilities. What the world wants is a religicn for ordinary people. If there be in the United~States 65,000,000 people, there are certainly not more than 1,000,000 extraordinary, and then there are 64,000,000 ordinary, and we do well to turn our backs for a little while upon the distinuishied and con spicuous people of the Bible and con sider in our text the seven ordinary. We spend too much of our time in twisting garlands for remarkables and building thrones for magnates and sculpturing warriors and apotheosiz ing philanthropists. The rank and file of the Lord's soldiery need espe cial help. The vast majority of people to whom this sermon comes will never lead an army, will never write a state consti tution, will never electrify a senate. will never make an important inven tion, will never introduce a new phi losophy, will never decide the fate of a nation. You do not expect to. You do not want to. You will not be a Moses to lead a nation out of bondage. You will not be a Joshua to prolong the daylight until you can shut five kings in a cavern. You will not be a St. John to unroll an Apocalypse. You will not be a Paul to preside over an apostolic college. You will not be a Mary to mother a Christ. You will more probably be Asyncritus or Phle gon or Hermas or Patrobas or Hermes or Philologus or Julia. Many of you are women at the head of households. This morning you launched the family for Sabbath ob servance. Your brain decided the ap parel, and your judgment was final on all questions of personal attire. Every morning you plan for the day. The culinary department of your household is in your dominion. You decide all questions of diet All the sanitary regulations of your house are under your supervision. To regulate tho fnnl-1 't nonarel. and the hab its, and decide the thiousarnd questions of home life is a tax upon brain and nerve and general health absolutely appalling, if there be no divine allevi ation. It does not help you much to be told that Elizabeth Fry did wonderful things amid the criminals of Newgate. It does not help you much to be told that Mrs. Judson was very brave among the Bornesian cannibals. It does not help you much tobe told that Florence Ni itingale was very kind to the wounded in the Crimea. It would be better for me to tell you that the divine friend of Mary and Martha is your friend, and that lie sees all the annoyances and disappointments and abrasions and exasperations of an or dinary housekeeper from morn till night, and from the first day of the year to the last day of the year, and at your call lie is ready with help and re enforcement. They who provide the food of the world decide the health of the world. One of the greatest battles of this cen tury was lost because the commander that morning hind a fit of indigestion. You have only to go on some e'-rand amid the taverns and the hotels of the United States and Great Britain to ap-I preciate the fact that a vast multitude of the human race are slaughtered by incompetent cookery. Though a young woman may have taken lessons in mu sic and may have taken lessons in painting and lessons in astronomy, she is not well educated unless she has taken lessons in dough. They who decide the apparel of the world and the food of the world decide the en durance of the world. An unthinking man may consider it a matter of little importrnce-the cares of the household and the economies of domestic life-but I tell you the earth is strewn with the martyrs of kitchen and nursery. The health shattered womanhood of America cries out for a God who can help ordinary women in the ordinary duties of housekeeping. The wearing, grinding, unappreciated work goes on, but the same Christ, wh'o stood on the bank of Galilee in the ear lymorning and kindled the fire and lad the fish already cleaned and broil ing when the sportsmen stepped ashore chilled and hungry, will help every woman to prepare breakfast, whether by her own hand or the hand of her hired help. The God who made indestructible eulogy of Hannah, who made a coat for Samuel, her son, and carried it to the temple every year, will help every woman in preparing the family war drobe. The God who opens the Bible with the story of Abraham's enter tainment of the three angels on the plains of 3Iamre will help every wo man to provide hospitality, however rare and embarrassing. It is high time that some of the attention we have been giving to the remarkable women of the Bible-remarkable for their vir tue or their want of it, or remarkable for their deeds, D~eborahi and Jezebel and Herodias and Athalhiah and Dorcas and the MIarys, excellent or abandoned -it is high time that some of the at tention we have been giving to these conspicuous women of the Bible be given to Julia of the text, an ordinary woman amid ordinary circumstances, attending to ordinary duties and meeting ordinary responsibilities. Then there arec all the ordinary busi ness mien. They need divine and Christian help. Wh len we begin to talk about businesslife, we shoot right of and talk about men who did busi ness on a large scale, and who sold millions of dollars of goods a year, but the vast majority of business umen do not sell a million dollars of goods, nor half a million, nor a quarter of a mil lion, nor the eight part of a million. ,, ont all thusiness men of our citie towns, villages and neighborhoods side by -side, and you will find that they sell less than $50,000 worth of goods. All these men in ordinarv business life want divine help. You see how the wrinkles are printing on the countenance the story of 'worri ment and care. You cannot tell how old a business man is by looking at him. Gray hairs at 30. A man at 45 with the stoop of a nonogenarian. No time to attend to improved dentistry, the grinders cease because they are few. Actually dying of old age at 40 or 50, when they ought to be at the meridian. Many of these business meii have bodies like a neglected clock to which you come, and you wind it up, and it begins tobuzz and roar, and then the hands start around very rap idly, and then the clock strikes 5 or 10 or 40. and strikes without any sense, and theii suddenly stops. So is the body of that wornout business man. It is a neglected clock, and though by some summer recreation it may be wound up still the machinery is all -out of gear. The hands turn around with a velocity that excites the aston ishment of the world. Men cannot understand the wonder ful activity, and there is a roar, and a buzz, and a rattle about these disord ered lives, and they strike 10 when they ought to strike 5, and they strike 12 when they ought to strike 6, and they strke 40 when they ought to strike nothing, and suddenly they stop. Postmortem examination re veals the fact that all the springs and pivots and weights and balance wheels of health are completely de ranged. The human clock has simply run down. And at the time when the steady hand ought to be pointing to the industrious hours on a clear and sunlit dial, the whole. machinery of body, mind and earthly ca acity stops forever. The cemeteries have thous ands of business men who died of old age at 30, 35, 40, 45. Now, what is wanted is grace divine grace for ordinary business men, who are harnessed from morn till night and all the days of their life -harnessed in business. Not grace to lose $100,00, but grace to lose $10. Not grace to supervise 250 employees in a factory, but grace to supervise the bookkeeper and two salesmen and the small boy that sweeps out the store. Grace to invest not the $80,000 of net profit, but the $2,500 of clear gain. Grace not to endure the loss of a whole shipload of spices from the In dies, but grace to endure the loss of a ,)aper of collars from the leakage of a di.placed shingle on a poor roof. Grace not to endure the tardiness of the American congress in passing a necessary law, but grace to endure the tardiness of an errand boy stopping to play marbles when he ought to deliver the goods. Such a grace as thousands of business men have today-keeping them tranquil whether goods sell or do not sell, whether customers pay or do not pay, whether tariff is up or tariff is down, whether the crops are luxuri ant or a dead failure-calm in all cir cumstances and amid all vicissitudes. That is the kind of grace we want. Millions of men want it, and they may have it for the asking. Some hero or heroine comes to town, and as the procession passes through the street the business men come out and stand on tiptoe on their store steps and looks at some'one who in arctic clime, or in ocean storm, or in day of battle, or in hospital agonies, did the brave thing, not realizing that they, the enthusiastic spectators, have gone through trials in business life that are just as great before God. There are men who have gone through freezing arctics and burning torrids and awful Marengos of experiences without mov ing five miles from their doorsteps. Now, what ordinary business men need is to realize that they have the after the religious interests of Matthew, the custom house clerk, and helped Lydia of Thyatira to sell the dry g-oods, and who opened a bakery and fish market in the wilderness of Asia Minor to feed the 7,000 who had come out on a religious picnic, and who counts the hairs of your head with as much par ticularity as though they were the plumes of a coronation, and who took the trouble to'stoop down with his fin ger writing on the ground, although the first shuffle of feet obliterated the divine caligraphy, ana who knows just how many locusts, there were in the Egyptian plauge and knew just how many ravens were necessary to supply Elijah's pantry by the brook Cherith, and who, as Iloral comman der leads forth all the regiments of primroses, foxgloves, daffodils, hyac inths and lilies which pitch their tents of beauty and kindle their campfires of color all around the hemisphere; that that Christ and that God knows the most minute affairs of your busi ness life, and however inconsiderable, understanding all the affairs of that woman who keeps a thread and needle store as well as all the affairs of a Rothschild and a Stewart. Then there are all the ordinary far mers. We talk about agricultural life, and we immediately shoot off to talk about Cincinnatus, the patrician, who went from the plow to a high position, and after he got through the dictator ship in 21 days went back again to the plow. What encourragement is that to ordinary farmers? The vast majori ty of them, none of them, will be pat ricians. Perhaps none of them will be senators. If any of them have dictatorships, it will be over 40 or 50 or 100 acres of the old homestead. What those men want is grace to keep their patience while plowing with balky oxen, and to keep cheerful amid the drought that destroys the corn crop, and that enables them to restore the garden the day after the neigh bor's cattle have broken in and tram ped out the strawberry bed and gone through the limna bean patch and eaten up the sweet corn in such large qunti ties that they must be kept from the water lest they swellup and die; grace in catching weather that enables them without inprecation, to spread out the hay the third time, although again andl again it has been almost ready for the mow; a grace to doctor the cow with a hollow horn, and the sheep with the foot rot, and the horse with the distemper, and to compel the un willing acres to yield a livelihood for the family, and schooline for the chil dren, and liite extras to help the older boy in business, and something for the daughters wedding outfit, and a little surplus for the time when the ankles will get stiff with age, and the breath will be a little short, and the swing ing of the cradle through the hot liar vest field will bring on the old man's vertigo. Better close up about Cin cinnatus. I know 500 farmers just as noble as he was. What they want is to know that they have the friendship of that Christ who often drew his smiles from the farmer's life, as when hic said, "-A sower went forth to sow," as when he built his best parable out of the scene of a farmer's boy coming back from his wanderings, and thie old farm house shook that night with rural ju bilee, and who compared himself to a lamb in the pasture field, and who said the eternal God is a farmeir, de claring, "My father is the husband man. Those stonemasons do not want to hear- about Christopher Wren. the ar chiitect, who built St. Paul's cathedral. it would be better to tell them how to carry the hod of brick up the ladder morning with the trowel to smooth off the mortar and keep cheerful and how to be tliankful to God for the plain food takei from the pail by the road side. Carpenters standing aiid the adz, and the bit, in.1 the plane, and I the broadax need to be told that Christ < was a carpenter, with his own hand wielding saw and haimner. Oh, this is a tired world, and it is an over worked world, and it is an underfed world, and it is a wrung out world, < and men and women need to know : that there is rest and recuperation in i God and in that reliioi which was < not so much intended for extraordi- < nary people as for ordinary people., because there are more of them. The healiug profession has had its Abercrombies, and its . Abernethys, and its Valentine Motts, and its Wil lard Parkers, but the ordinary physi cians do the most of the world's medi cining, and they need to understand that while taking diagnosis of progno sis, or writing prescription, or com pounding medicament, or holding the delicate pulse of a dying child, they may have the presence and the dicta tion of the Almighty Doctor, who took the case of the madman, and af ter lie had torn off his garments in foaming dementia clothed him again, body and mind, and who lifted up the woman who for IS years had been bent almost double with the rheuma tism into graceful stature, and who turned the scabs of leprosy into rubi cund complexion, and who rubbed the numbness out of paralysis, and who swung wide open the closed win dows of hereditary or accidental blind ness, until the morning light came streaming through the fleslhly case ments, and who knows all the diseas es, and all the remedies, and all the herbs, and all the catholicons and is monarch of pharmacy and therapeut ics, and who has sent out 10,000 doc tors of whom the world makes no rec ord, but to prove that they are angels of mercy I invoke the thousands of men whose ailments have been as sauged and the thousands of women to whom in crisis of pain they have been next to God in benefaction. Come, now, let us haye a religion for ordinary people in professions, in occupations, in agriculture, in the household, in merchandise-in every thing. I salute across the centuries Asyncritus, Phlegoh, Hermas, Patro bas, Hermes, Philologus and Julia. First of all, if you feel that you are ordinary, thank God that you are not extraordinary. I am tired and sick and bored almost to death with extra ordinary people. They take all their time to tell us how very extraordinary they really are. You know as well as I do, my brother and sister, that the most of the useful -work of the world is done by unpretentious people who toil right on-by people who do not get much approval, and no one seems to say, "That is well done." Phenomena are of but little use. Things that are exceptional cannot be depended on. Better trust the smallest planet that swings on its orbits than ten comets shooting this way and that, imperiling the longevity of worlds at tending to their own business. For steady illumination better is a lamp than a rocket. Then, if you feel, that you are ordinary, remember that your position invites the less attack. Conspicuous people -- how they have to take it! How they are mis represented and abused and shot at! The higher the horrns of a roebuck the easier to track him down. What a delicious thing it must be to be a can didate for president of the United States! It must be so soothing to the nerves! It must pour into the soul of a candidate such a sense of serenity when lie reads the blessed newspa pers. I came into the possession of the abusive cartoons in tho, time of Napo iwa I, je imi~al while ne was yet alnve. The retreat of the ar-my from Mosco~w, that army buried in the snows of Rus sia, one of the most awful tragedies of the centuries, represented under the figure of a monster called General Frost shaving the French emperor with a razor of icicle. As Satyr and Beelzebub he is represented, page af ter page. page after page, England cursing him, Spain cursing him, Ger many cursing him, Russia cursing him, Europe cursimg him, North and South America cursmng him, the most remarkable man of his day, and the most abused. All those men in his tory who now have a halo around their name on earth wore a crown of thorns. Take a few extraordinary railroadmen of our time and see what abuse comes upon them, while thous ands of stockholders escape. All the world took after Thomas Scott, presi dent of the Pennsylvania railroad. abused him until he got under the ground. Thousands of stockholders in that company. All the blame on one man !The Central Pacific rail road-two or three men get all the blame if anything goes wrong. There are 10,000 in that company. I mention these things to prove it is extraordinary people who got abused while the ordinary escape. The weath er of life is not so severe on the plaim as it is on the high peaks. The world never forgives a man who knows or ains, or does more than it can know or gain or do. Parents sometimes give confectionery to their children as an inducement to take bitter medicine, and the world's sugar plum precedes the world's aqua fortis. The mob cried in regard to Christ: "Crucify him: Crucify him!" And they had to say it twice to be understood, for they were so hoarse, and they got their hoarseness by crying a little while be fore at the top of their voice, "Hosan na :" The river Rhone is foul when it enters Lake Leman, but crystalline when it comes out oii the other side. But there are men who have entered the brioht lake of worldly prosperity crystalfine and came out terribly ril ed. If, therefore,' you feel that you are ordinary, thank God for the de fenses and the tranquillity of your position. Then remember, if you have only what is called an ordinary home, that the great deliverers of the world have all come from such a home. And there may be seated, reading at y-our evening stand, a child who' shall be potent for the ages. Just unroll the scroll of men mighty in church and sate, and you will find they nearly all came from log cabin or poor homes. Genius almost always runs out in the third or fourth generation. You cannot Aind in all history an in stance where the fourth generation of extraordinary people amount to anthing. Columbus from a weaver's: hut, Demosthenes from a cutler's cel lar, Bloomfield and Missionary Car~y from a shoemaker's bench, Arkwright from a barber shop,] and lie whose name is high over all in earth and air and sky from a manger. Let us all be content with such things as we have. God is just as good in what lie keeps away for us as in what lie givs us. Even a knot may be useful if it is at thieend of a thread. At an anniversary of a -deaf and dumb asylum a child wrote upon the1 blackboard words as sublime as the ( "Iliad," the '"Odyssey" and the "Divina Commnedia" all compressed< in one paragraph. The examiner, in the signs of the mute language, deaf1 and dumb girl wrote upon the black board, "In the beginning God created C the heave and the earth." The exam inecm' asked her, ''For what purposte did t Cris com- int the world" Tlhie leaf and dumb girl wrote upon the blackboard, "Tis is a faithful saving md worthy of all acceptation, that .Thrist Jesus caie ilt) the world to are sinners." The examinier said to -er, "Whv were you horn deaf -ind lumb, while I hear antid speak:" She rrote upon the blackboard, "Even so, ather, for so it seemeth good in thy sighrt." Oh, that we might be baptized vith a contented spirit: Tie spider .raws poison out of a Qlower, the bee y'-ts honiev out of a thistle, but happi 1 ess is a hieaveilv elixir, anid content Ad spirit extracts is not from the riod >dendron of tie hiiis, i.t fron the ily of tihe valley. ATMOSPHERE AND SOIL. How They aive hEtreeted the Crops ofi the Strate. Umn.sma, S. C.. .1 uly 2. -The fol owing weekly bulletin of the con di ion of theweather and the crops in the tate, issued yester(lay by State Ob erver Bauer, will be read with inter st by those who give their attention o agricultural conditions: Correspondents, as a rule, report hat the condition of all the crops con inues satisfactory, but there many ex eptions from all parts of the State. 'ood rain is the indicated need for a rreat portion of the State, as it was the case last week, only the need for rain has become more urgent, for two reasons, because in some portions of State very little or no rain fell during tire past week, and because it was very ot week with less than the usual am unt of cloudiness to prevent the ground from drying quickly even where the rainfall was heaviest. The reports indicate that in Williamsburg Union counties the droughty condi ions are most severe and there corn is iring badly. In portions of Aiken, Anderson, Pickens, Greenville and Barnwell there has been considerably less than usual amount of rain since crop season began; in fact, with the possible exceptions of Newberry, Rich land and Fairfield, where there has been plenty of rain, it appears that in every county there are larger tracts where the summer's rainfall has been below the usual amount, and in such sections the crops are poorest, being slightly uader an average condition, otherwise they are above the aver age. There was a hail storm in the ex treme western portions of the State and in Chesterfield on the 15th, doing but itttle damage; it was accompaniea by a high wind in places that blew down trees, stripped the green fruit from the trees, leveled corn and cotton fences, etc. The wind did materal in jury over limited areas only. On the same date there were heavy rains in Newberry, Richland, Fairfield and portions of Lexington counties that more or less injury by washing lands, overflowin- creek bottoms, etc. The wind~s were generally from the south, southwest and west-very hot and drying. There was more than the usual amount of sunshine except on the im mediate coast, where it was about nor mal. The temperature was very even dur ing the entire week, with maxima ranging from 88 to 102, and minima from 68 to 78 (exception noted.) The lowest maxima and highest M' ima occurred along the coast, aa the interio, so that the daily mean tem perature differed but little in the dif ferent p)ortions of the State. The highest temperature reported was 102 on the 17th at Batesburg. The mean temperature of the week :for the State was about 82, and the normal for the same period is approximately 82. The rain of the 15th was the heav ies and most general for a week past. On thr-20th (Saturday) and 21st o~mn day) were light local showers in var ous parts of the State, but they were for the most insufficient for the grow ing crops. Of the thirty-seven stations reporting rain during the past week, thirty-one report less than the usual amount and six more. The ave rage of the thirty-seven stations, including the rainof the 15th is 1.01 inches, and the normal for the same period is ap proximately 1.39 inches. As indicated above, the general con dition of the crops in this Stat~e is no longer as unformly good as heretofore, except that cotton has made g'eat im provement everywhere, the weather having been just right for it. In places it is turning slightly yellow ai:d in a few places growing to much w ced. In some localities it continues small, and in others has attained a seasonable growth, but every where it is ~ruiting welt with very little shedding. Lice have entirely disappeared. Rust has formed on sandy land in some places, otherwise the crop is clean and free from pests. It is being, or has been, laid by generally. In the eastern portions of thre State and where rains were sutlicient the earthly corn crop is safe and is a fine one; westward, and where tlie rains were wanting, it is in a critical stage, but as yet looks promising. Bottom land corn is looking very line every where and is being laid by generally. The present pr1ospect is that the entire coin crop will be an extra la-ge one this year, only a small po0-Lion of which is already made. The pea crop has imnprovedl and a good stand has been attained in most places. Some being shown even now. In p laces pods are large eno~rgh for picking. Sweet potato slips are doirg well. but the crop still promises less than an average one, owing to the reduced acre age. Second crop of Irish potatoes be ing planted. Cutting and curing tobacco is the orderof work in Williamsbu:-g. Flor ence Darlington, and to a less; extent in a few other counties. The entire rop is said to be a fine one of superior quality. General perparations are being made for planting fall vegetables. Some turnips are being sown and a large acreage idicated. Fruit continues plentiful generally, but in Florence county it is said to be scarce. Apples appear generally to be inferior and unsound. The second crop of figs promises to be a large :e in the eastern portion of the State. Large shipments of water at; d musk melons weire made northern 2 nd west irn markets, nevertheless the local markets are glutted and prices ver-y Gardens are practically ruined over large part of thre State, as it.e weath cr has been too hot and dry for them, yet fine okra and tomatoes ar-c in ab .mdance. German millet is growving well. and are soi-gumn cane, rice. peanuts, and ?astu res. The prospects. in general, arc very mcouraging at this mridsuninerseason Then nearly all crops have been laid > and are entering threir third or last tage. which ends withr fructescence. Tw Children Cremtated-t. Nonwitri. N. Y., July 21.- A disas rous fir-e which causedt thre loss of t wo ivs broke out here this ever ing, the Joigegationalist parsonage occupied yr Terv. W. M. Scudder, antl fanily. :nsisting of wife anrd seven *.hidreni, >einrg totally destr-oyed. Thre cildrenr, ;rho occupied a back roomi, were just etir-ing. when coal gas in a chirmey xplodd and instantly thre house wvas blaze. All the children escaped wvith le excep)tioni of Clar-ise and Mary,. )Ot, isuis being burned to cr1i5n. DISASTER ON THE DEEP. TERRISLE LOSS OF LIFE IN A COLLI SION AT SEA. Marie P. From Naples For the River l'Iate. Struck and Sunk in Piteiy Dark neps 1ay the Ortigia, and -Is 1asseIZ(e) Perkih. LA SPEzzi.A, Italy. July 21.-A ter rible accident, resulting in the lossot 143 lives. occurred near the mouth of the G ulf of Spezzia today. At half past I o'clock this morning the steamers Or tigia and Marie P. ran into each other and the latter vessel was so badly dain - aged that she sank in a very short time. The Marie P. had on board. in addition to her crew, 17S passengers, bound from Naples for the River Plate. by far the larger part of whom were emigrants. The night was pitch dark when the collision occurred and the scene on board the sinking steamer almost de fies description. Most of the passen gers were asleep in their bunks at the time, and were awakened by the crashing of the steamer's plates, deck beams and dock planks. They were panic stricken and rushed pell mel I on deck, where they ran hither and thither calling upon the saints to save them. From the reports of the disaster re ceived here, it is impossible to deter mine whether any attempt was made by the Marie P. to clear away and launch her small boats, to attempt to rescue the passengers, but judging from the accounts given by the sur vivors, it is surmised the steamer went down too quickly to allow of this be ing done, though one boat got away. The blackness of the night added to the terror of those on board, and it is understood that some of the passen gers, crazed with fear, jumped over board. The force of the collision was terrific. The Ortioia struck the Maria P. squarely on the starboard side and her stem penetrated the ill-fated steamer for a distance of eighteen feet. When she backed out a grat volume of water poured through the orifice and the ves sel began almost immediately to set tle. No mention is made of the Or tigia lowering her boats to attempt to rescue the imperilled people on the Maria P. Whether the former vessel was damaged or not is not known. The survivors are in such a mental condition, that it is impossible as yet to get any connected story but from the statements of some of the crew, it appears that the disaster was the fault of the Ortigia. The crew of the Maria P. numbered seventeen. Of this number fourteen was saved in the boat that got clear of the ship. This boat also saved the thirty passengers who escaped drown ing. The Ortigia, on her previous voyage, collided in this same spot with a French steamer and this fact adds strength to the belief that she was responsible for this morning's disaster. Admiral Morin, minister of marine, has ordered an inquiry to be made into the affair to place the responsibili ty. The collision occured off Isola Del Tino. The Ortigia left Genoa at 10 o'clock last night. Maria P. was bound for Genoa, where the emigrants on board her were to have been trans shipped to the steamer Sud America, which was to convey them to the River Plate. It was learned this af ternoon that the lookout man on the Ortigia saw nothing of the other stea mer until it was too late to avert a collision. The officers of the Ortigia say that no boats were lowered by the Maria P. and their vessel saved all the survivors. The Ortigia remained in the vicintly of the accident for several hours, hoping that she might be able to rescue others. The bows of the Ortigia have in them a rent four yards long .just above the water line. Admiral Morin, minister of marine announced the disaster to the Chanm ber of Deputies this afternoon and the news created a deep impression. Many of the deputies expressed sympathy with the families of the victims. Chas. Ferara was the master of the Maria P. Later information is to the elfect that al l~her passengers were emnigrantIs. Five Ncgroes Killed. ST. Louis, Mo., July 20.-A special to the Chronicle from Waco, Texas, states that a frightful tragedy occur red this morning at Mart, a small village in this county, twenty miles distant. Five negroes were killed and one seriously wounded. T wo nithls ago a dispute :irose between A. Phil lips, a negro, and Phil Arnold, white, both farmers, in which the latter shot and killed the former, and was in turn killed by Phillips's young son. The tragedy of this morning is the sequel. Since Arnold and Phillips were killed feeling has been bitter between their friends, and they have recently been threatened with extermination. This morning the entire town was aroused by a loud report, and people fouid tihe the house of Mrs. Phillips, widow of the negro killed by Arnold, in Ilames. A stick of dynamite had been thrown into the building, blowing it to pieces and setting fire to the wreck. There were six negroes in the building at the time, five being killed. But one person escaped, and it is thought he will die. Ollicers have gone to the scene. The Murderer Smiled. TRENTON, N. J., July 24.-John S. Collins, the negro who shot and killed Frederick Ohl, the Princeton student, and who was last week found guilty of murder in the second degree. w~as sentenced this morning to twenty years at hard labor in the State prison. le pleaded non vult contendere to the indictment for atrocious assault upon Garret Cochran, the student who was with Ohil in the fracas and got ten years more, but the sentences are to run concurrently and therefore, the first one only counts. In pronounc ing the sentence. Judge Gummer said that had the jury's verdict been mur der in the first degree, the court would have considered it a proper judgment. Collins snmiled as he stood up to re ceive his sentence. His council hav ing saved his life, had nothing further to say for him. SDouble Murde~r. JACKS)NVILLE, Fla., July 25.-A special to the Times-Union fronm West, Palm Beach, Fla., says: Sam Lewis. at Lemon City. shot and killed .John' F. Higsmith, ex-tax collector of Dade county, and George A. Davis. Hig smiths nephew, yesterday. Lewis had been insulted in a drunken row the night before. He armed himself with a Witnchester, and meeting lig smith, commanded him to kneel and apologize. H~igsmith refused, where upon Lewis shot him through the heart and then shot his~ephew through the heart. Le wis fled to the woods, vow ig he would not be taken aliive. A fraid to stand Trial. WINsToN, N. C., July 20.-News was received here today of the suicide yesterday in Nash county of I r. WV. . Spruill, a promtinent citizeni and practcinlg physician of that county. ie stood charged with attempting a eriminal assault ont a resp~ectable mar riedl lady of his neighborhood. Whlen le saw the otlicers comiing to a reest himn le drew his pistol and fired a ball in his head, which produced death abnmost ROYAL.9t POWDER Absolutely Pure. A cream or tartar Daring powder. Highest of all in leavening strength.-LA - test United States Government Food Re port. Royal Baking Powder Company, 106 Wall St.,N. Y . Kemilin Was 'Not Killed. The Press and Standard, of Walher boro, says it is probable that Henry Barnes, who was incarcerated in the county jail a week ago. on the charge of murdering John Kenlin, will be liberated from prison this week under a writ of habeas corpus. It now ap pears that Kemlin was not killed. Messrs. Ilowell & Gruber, attorneys for Barnes, have in their possession several allidavits from reliable men of IIanpton, setting forth the fact that Keinihi has been working in Hampton county ever since he mysteri ously disappeared from the communi ty in which he was supposed to have been murdered. These affidavits will be supplemented by the testimony of the train hands on Mauldin's railroad, who will swear that Kemlin rode on their train to Hampton on the 27th of last February, the day after the sup posed homicide. It appears from the facts as they have been developed in this remarkable case that Kemlin left Hampton for his home in Atlanta the day Barnes was imprisoned. It is un deistood that the people of the com munity in which Barnes lived became intenselv excited when he was arrested and would have lynched him at the dropping of a hat, so confident were they that he had committed a foul and brutal murder. Subsequent develop ments have shown, however, that an innocent man would have been hung had they yielded to the impulse of their passions. It also appears that the articles of clothing which were found on the scene of the supposed murder, and identified as belonging to Kemlin, were some that had been discarded by Henry's elder brother, Joe Barnes, the story of whose career for the past three years is not uninteresting. One day about three years ago, it is said, Joe left home and for several weeks his whereabouts were not known. Then his family discovered that :ae visited the house in the dead hours of the night for the evident purpose of getting something to eat. Upon mak ing this discovery they placed within his reach a plate of provisions every night for six months, which he as of ten devoured. He was never seen in the day time, the neighboring ;oods and swamps affording means for his effectual concealment. Finally, his father summoned to his assistance several of his neighbors and too-ether they laid wait for and capture him one night when he camne for food. Around his waist he. had tied pieces of rope from which dangled scraps of leather. Otherwise his body was nude. he was examined for lunacy, prenounced insane and sent to the State Lunatic Asylum. Sometime af ter being contined in that institution he escaped and wandered off to the Blue Ridge Mountains. There hea. taken and darried back to the asylum, but escaped. Again he was captured, but for the third time he was success ful in effecting his escape from the surveillance of the authorities. Since then lie has been living at home. He is not violent, but is unfit for work of any kind. Latterly, however, he has ac~juired a fondness for fishing and in this pursuit is quite successful. KoBE, .Japain, July 2.-A frightful accident. in which 14 soldiers perished has occurred on the rail-oad running - from this place to Osaka. A train of twenty-three cars wvas conveyed to this city with 400 Japanese soldiers, who were returning from China, where they had taken part in the military operations. A heavy storm was rag ing, and. as the train was running along the sea wall, on which the tracks as they approach the city are laid, an immense sea leaped over the wall, separ-ating the train and derail tng the engine and eleven cars, which plunged off the wall into the bay. Most of the men in them were drowned like rats in a trap. The accident oc curred at about 1 o'clock in the morn ing and the night was pitch -dark. The sea was runnn so high that it was impossible to render any assist ance to the men in the cars that had gone overboard, even had means been at hand to do so. Some of the men who managed to get out of the cars while they wvere in the accident were dashed to death against the wall. A Great Rice Crop. The latest circular from Dan Tal mage's Sons has this to say about the coming rice crop: We hand herewith the present condition of and the pros pect for the rice crop in the respective States. It cannot as yet be said to be assured as contingencies may arise which would curtail the promised out come. If, however, there should be a continuation of previous favorable circumstances, it will give a result fractionally in excess of 1892. Esti mated yield 1u0,000 bushels-treble the amount grown prior to the war and double that of any other since. The yield by states is: North Caroli na, 2u0,00' bushels; South Carolina, 85Q,000; Georgia, 450,000: Louisiana, , U,00 Texas, FlIorida, Alabama and 3Iississippi. estimated yield for those States. 500,0011. shot With His Owd Weapon. BaANL'ExBUcn, Ky., July 25.-Geo. Robinson, the keeper of the work house in this place, was shot and killed this morhing by Bland Shacklett, one of the commissioners of the institution. Shacklett and another gentleman were riding into town in a buggy, and when within three miles of town. Robinson rode out of a cross road and, it is said, began cursing Shacklett. Robinson soon began liring and one bullet hit Shacklett in the mouth, lodging just beyond tile ear. Thr-ee others missed hin. Shacklett, although wounded. took Robinson's pistol away from him and tired one bullet in Robinson's right breast. The man fell and died in a Mm ent. Tharee' Inov, Killed. DaLcmiJm-:, July 28.-J. 'Waters Blundon. aged thirteen years, J. Guy Brown. fifteen years old, and Charles E. Lvnch. !!fteen vears old, were killed last iighit near Riverdale Park station, seeral mliles from Wash:ington on the Blaltimo're and ( hio Railroad. The - youngsters wer'e walking on the north ioundx tracku. To avoid an approach ing train the boys step~ped on to the south-bound track. directlyv in front of a fast mnoving "Royal Blue" express tri. All three wer-e instantly killed, their bodies being frightfully man