Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

HLP OF A KIN WOM REV. DR. TALMAGE PREACHES HU MAN KINDNESS. It is a Means of Defense as Well as Useful nesso-Enemles May be Conquered With a Soft Tougue-SYU1pathy i Potent With Sinners-Christ's Chief Characteristles. WAisaosN, Aug. 30.--In these days, when satire and retort and bit terness fill the air, the gosp el carol of this sermon will do good to all who read and practice it. The text is Pro verbs xxv, 15, "A soft tongue break eth the bone." When Solomon said this, he drove a whole volume into one phrase. You, of course, will not be so silly as to take the words of the text in a literal sense. They simply mean to set forth the fact that there is a tremendous power in a kind word. Although it may seem to be very insignificant, its force is indescribable and ilhmitable. Pangent andall conquering utterance, "A soft tongue breaketh the bone." If I had time, I would show you kindness as a means of defense, as a means of usefulness, kindness as a means of domestic harmony, kindness %s best employed by governments for the taming and curing of criminals and kindness as best adapted for the settling and adusting of internation al quarrel, but I shall call your atten tion only to two of these thoughts. And, first. I speak to you of kind ness as a means of defense. Almost every man, in the course of his life, is set upon and assaulted. Your mo tives are misinterpreted or your relig ious or political principles are bom barded. What to do under such cir cumstances is the question. The first impulse of the natural heart says: "Strike back. Give as much as he sent. Trip him into the ditch which he dug for your -icet. Gash him with as severe a wound as that which he inflicted on your soul. Shot for shot. Sarcasm for sarcasm. An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth." But the better spirit in a man's soul rises up and says. "You ought to consider that matter." You look ap into the face of Christ and say. "My Master, how ought I to act under these difficult circumstances." And Christ instantly answers, "Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you." Then the old nature rises up again and says: "You had better not forgive him until first you have chastised him. You will never get him in so tight a corner again. You will never have such an opportunity of inflicting the right kind of punishment upon him again. First chastise him and then let him go." "No," says the better nature, "hush, thou foul heart. Try the soft tongue that breaketh the bone." Have you ever in all your life known acerbity and acrimonious dispute to settle a quarrel? Did they not always make matters worse and worse and worse? - About 55 years ago there was a great quarrel in the Presbyterian family. Ministers of Christ were thought or thodox in proportion as they had measured lances with other clergymen of the same denomination. The most outrageous personalities were abroad. As, in the autumn, a hunter comes home witha string of game, partridges and wild ducks, slung over his shoul der, so there were many ministers who came back from the ecclesiastical courts with long string of doctors of divinity whom they hdshot with their own rifle. The division became 'wider, the anmmosity greater, until af ter awhile some good men resolved upon another tack. They began to ex pla'naway the difficulties, they began to forgive each other's faults, and lo! the great church quarrel was settled, and the new school Presbyterian church andthe old school Presbyterian church became one.' The different parts of the Presbyterian orde, welded by ahammer, alittle hammner, a Chris tian-hammar that the Scripture calls "a soft tongue." You have a disute with your neigh bor. You say to him, 'I despise you." He replies, "I can't bear the sight of you." You say to him, "Never enter my house again." He says, "If you come on my door sill, I'll kick you off." You say to him, "I'll put you down." He says to you: "You are mistaken. I'll put you down." And so the contest rages, and year after year you act the unchristian part, and no acts the unchristian part. After awhile the better spirit seizes you, and one day you go over to the neighbor and say: "Give me your band. We have fought long enough. Time is so short, and eternity is so near, that we canot afford any longer to quarreL .I feel you have wronged me very -but let us settle alnow in one t''ad shakring and be good 'frinsor all the rest of our lives." You have risen to a higher platform than that on which before.you stood. You win his admiration, and you get his apology. But if you have not con quered hnin that-way at any rate you have won the applause of your own consciene, the igh estimation ofgodmen and the honor of your Lodwho died for his armed enemies. "But," you say, "what are we to do when slanders assault us, and there come acrimonious sayings all arounnd about us, and we are abused and spit upon?" My reply is: Do not go and attempt to chase down the slanders. Lies are prolific, and while you are illing one, fifty are born. All your demonstrations of indignation only exaust yourself. You might as well on some summer night, when the swarms of insects are coming up fro~m the meadows and disturbing you and disturbing your family, bring up some -great "swamp angel," like that which thundered over Charleston, and try to shoot them down. The game is too small for the gun. But what, then. are you to do with the abuses that come upon you in life? You are to live them down! I saw a farmer go out to get back a swarm of bees that had wandered off from the hive. As he moved amid them they buzzed around his head and buzzed around his hands and buzzed around his feet. If he had killed one of them, they would have stung him to death. But he moved in their midst in perfect pla idity until he had captured the swarm of wandering bees. And so I have seen men moving amid the annoyances, and the vexa tions, and the assaults of life in such calm, Christian deliberation that all the buzing around about their soul amounted to nothing. They conquered them, and, above all, they conquered themselves, "Oh," you say, "tknat's a very good theory to preach on a hot day, butit won't work." It will work. It has worked. I believe it is the last Christian grace we win. You know there are fruits which we gather in June, and others in July, and others mn August, and others in September, and still others in October, and I have to admit that this grace of Christian forgiveness is about the last fruit of the Christian soul. We hear a great deal about the bitter tongue, and the sarcas tic tongue, and the quick tongue, and stinging tongue, but we ko very little about "the sof1 tongue that br-eaketh thie bone . We read Hudibras and Sterne :an Dean Swift and the other apostles o arimony, but give little time to study ing the example of him w ho was re iiea nd ve revil not agin. Oh ihat the J -rd, by his Spirit, woulsd endov us all wit 'the soft tongue that breaketh the b.me." I pass now to the other thought that I desire to present, and that is kind ness as a means of usefulness. In all communities you find skeptical men. Through early education, or through the maltreatment of professed Chris tian people, or through prying curiosi ty about the future world, there are a great many people who become skep tical in religious things. How shail you capture them for God? Sharp argument and sarcastic retort never won a single soul from skepticism to the Christian religion. While power ful books on the evidences of Christi anity have their mission in confirming Christian people in the faith they have already adopted, I have notic-d that when skeptical people are brought into the kingdom of Christ it is through the charm of some genial soul, and not by argument at all. Men are not saved through the head; they are saved through the heart. A storm comes out of its hiding place. It says. -Now we'll just rouse up all this sea," and it makes a great bluster, but it does not succeed. Part of the sea is roused up -perhaps one-half of it or one fourth of it. Af ter awhile the calm moon, placid and beautiful, looks down, and the ocean begins to rise. It comes up to high water mark. It embraces the great headlands. It submerges the beach of all the continents. It is the heart throb of one world against the heart throb of another world. And I have to tell you *at while all your storms of ridicule and storms of sarcasm may rouse up the passion of an immortal nature, nothing less than the attrac tive power of Christian kindness can ever raise the deathless spirit to happi ness and to God. I have more faith in the prayer of a child 5 years old in the way of bringing an infidel back to Christ and to heaven than I have in all the hissing thunderbolts of eccle siactical cnntroversy. You cannot overcome men with religious argu mentation. If you come at a skepti cal man with an arguinent on behalf of the Christian religion, you put the man on his mettle. He says: "I see that man has a carbine. I'll use my carbine. I'll answer his argument with my argument." But if you come to that man, persuading him that you desire his happiness on earth and his eternal welfare in the world to come, he cannot answer it. What I have said is just as true in the reclamation of the openly vicious - Did you ever know a drunkard to be saved through the caricature of a drunkard? Your mimicry of the staggering step, and the thick tongue and the disgusting hiccough, only worse maddens his brain. But if you come to him in kindness and sympathy if you show him that you appreciate the awful grip of a depraved appetite, if ycu persuade him of the fact that thousands who had the grappling hooks of evil inclination clutched in their soul as firmnly as they now are in his have been rescured, than a ray of light will flash across his vision, add it will seem as if a supernatural hand were steadying his staggering gait. A good many yearsago there lay in the streets of Richmond a man dead drunk, his faced exposed to the blistering noon - day sun. A Christian woman passed along, looked at him and said, "Poor fellow!" She took her handkerchief and spread it over his face and passed on. The man roused himself up from his debauch and began to look at the hazdkerchief, anid lo I on it was the name of a higly respectable Christian woman of the city of Richmond. He went to her, he thanked her for her kindness, and that one little deed saved him for this life, and saved him for the life that is t: come. He was afterward attorney general of the United States; but, higher than all, he became the consecrated disciple of Jesus Christ. Kind words are so cheap it is a wonder we do not use them oftener. There are tens of thousands of people in these cities who are dying for the lack of one kind word. There is a busi ness man who has fought against trou ble until heis perfectly exhausted. He has been thinking about forgery, about robbery, about suicide. Go to that business man. Tell him that ibet ter times are coming, and tell him that you yourself were in a tight busi ness pass,~and the Lord delvered you. Tell him to put his trust in God. Tell him that Jesus Christ stands -beside every business man in his perplexities. Tell him of the sweet promises of God's comforting grace. That man is dying for the lack of just one kind word. Go tomorrow and utter that one sav ing, omnipotent, kind word. Here is a soul that has been swamped in sin. He wants to find the light of the gos peL He fe els Eike a shipwrecked mari ner looking but over the beach, watch ing for a sail against the sky. Oh. bear down on him! Tell him that the Lord waitsto be gracious to him; that, though he has been a great sminer, there is a great Saviour provided. Tell him that, though his sins are as scara let, they shall be as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool That man is dying forever for the lack of one Lind word. There used tobe sung at a great many of the pianos all through the country a song that has almost died out. I wish some body would start it again in our social circles. There may not have been very exquisite art in the music, but, there was a grand and glorious senti ment. Kind words never die, never, die, . Cherished and blessed. Oh, that we might in our families and in our churches try the force of kindness: You can never drive men, women or children into the kingdom of God. A March northeaster will bring out more honeysuckles than fretfulness and scolding will ever bring out Christian grace. I wish that in all our religious work we might be saturated with the spirit of kind ness. Missing that, we miss a great deal of usefulness. There is no need of coming cut before men and thun dering to them the law unless at the same time you preach to them the gos pel. The world is dying for lack of kindness. These roung people want it just as much as the old. The old people sometimes seem to think they have a monopoly of the rheumatisms, and the neuralgias, and the headaches, and he physical disorders of the world; but 1 tell you there are no worse heart aches than are felt by some of these young people. Do you know that much;of the work is done by trie young? Raphael died at :7, Richleau at 31, Gustavus Adoiphus died at 38, Inno cent III came to his mightiest influ ence at 37, Cortes conquered Mexico at 30, Don John won Lepanto at 25, Grotius was attornoy general at 24, and I have noticed amid all classes of men that some of the severest battles and the toughest work come before :0'. Therefore we must have otir sermorn and our exhortations in prayer meet ing all sympathetic with the young. And so with these people further on im life. What do these doctors and law yers and merchants and mechanici care about the abstractions of religioni whimsicalities of patients, the brow be-ing of legal oppoutnnts, the un fness of customers, who have pleu tv~ of fut finding for every imiperfee Io o"(f handiwork, but nlo praise to; :seelecs WhatL doe-- t hat brait rachf ii.I1t blistert-l mian eai- fr,, Zwingili's "Doctrine of Original Sin" or Augustin's "Anthropology?" You might as well go to a man who has the pleurisy and put on his sidea plas ter made out of Dr. Parr's "Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence." In all our sermons there must be help for every one somewhere. You go into an apothecary store. We see others being waited on. We do not complain because we do uot immedi ately get the medicine. We know our turn will come after awhile. And so while all parts of a sermon 'uay not be appropriate to our case, if we wait prayerfully before the sermon is through we shall have the divine pre scription. I say to these young men who are going to preach the gospel, three theological students, I say to them, we want in our sermons not more metaphysics, nor -more imagina tion, nor more logic, nor more pro fundity. What we want in our sermons and Christian exhortations is more sympa thy. When Father Taylor preached in the Sailors' Bethel at Boston, the jack tars felt they had help for their duties among the ratlines and the forecastles. When Richard Weaver pre.iihed to the operatives in Oldham, England, all the workingmen felt they had more race for the spindles. When Dr. South preached to kings and princes and princesses, all the mighty men and women who heard him felt preparation for their high sta tion. Do you not know that this simple story of a Saviour's kindness is to re deem all nations? The hard heart of this world's obduracy is to be broken before that story. There is in Ant werp, Belgium, one of the most re markable pictures I ever saw. It is "The Descent of Christ From the Cross." It is one of Ruben's pictures. No man can stand and look at that "Descent Fron the Cross," as Ru bens pictured it, without having his eyes fioded with tears, if he has any sensibility at all. It is an overmastering picture-one that stuas you and staggers you and haunts your dreams. One afternoon a man stood in that cathedi al looking at Ru berns' "Descent From the Cross." He was all absorbed in that scene of a Sa viour's sufferings, when the janitor came in and said: "It is time to close up the cathedral for the night. I wish you would depart." The pilgrim look ing at that "Descent From the Cross," turned around to the janitor and said: "No, no; not yet. Wait until they get him down." Oh, it is the story of a Saviour's suffering kindness that is to capture the world. When the bones of that great behemoth of iniquity which has trampled all nations be broken and shattered, it will be found out that the work was not done by the hammer of the iconaclast, or by the sword of the conqueror, or by the torch of persecution, but by the plain, simple, overwhelming force of "the soft tongue that breaketh the bone." Kindness. We all need more of it in our hearts, our words and our be havior. The chief characteristic of our Lord was kindness. A gentleman in England died leaving his fortune by will to two sons. The son that staid at home destroyed the father's will and pretended that the brother who was absent was dead and buried. The ab sent bro.her after aw hile returned and claimed his part of the property. Judges and jurors were to be bribed to say that the returned brother and son was no son at all, but'omly an impostor. ?he trial came on. Sir Matthew Hale, the pride of the Eng lish courtroom and for 20 years the pride of jurisprudence, heard that that injustice was about to be practiced. He put off his official robe. He put on the garb of a miller. He went to the village where that trial was to take place. Hie entered the courtroom. He somehow got impaneled as one of jurors. The bribes came around, and the mani gave ten pieces of gold to the other jurors, but as this was only a poor miller the briber gave to m only five pieces of gold. A verdict was brought in rejecting the right of this returned brother. He was to have no share in the inheritance. "Hold, my lord," said the miller. "Hold! We are not all agreed on this verdict. These other men have received ten pieces of gold in bribery and I have received only five." "Who are you? Where do you come from?" said the judge on the bench. The, response was: "I am from Westminister hail. My name is Matthew Hale, lord chief justice of the king's bench. Off of that place, thou villian !" And so the in justice was balked, and so the young man got his inheritance. It was all for another that Sir Mat thew Hale took off his robe and put on the garb of a milles. And so Christ took off his robe of royalty and put on the attire of our humanity, and in that disguise he won our eternal portion. Now are we the sons of God-joint heir. We went off from home sure enough, but we got back in time to re ceive our eternal inheritance. And if Christ was so kind to us, surely we can afford to be kind to each other. The Citadel Academy.' The Board of Visitors of the Citadel Academy met at the Hotel Jerome in Columbia last week. Col. Asbury Coward, superintendent, was present as were the following members: Gen. Johnson Hagood, Col. John P. Thom as, Gen. Watts, Gen. E. J.- Dennis and Gen. Edward Anderson. The board devoted a large portion of their time to the consideration of 110 applicants for beneficiary cadetship in the Citadel Ninety-six were accepted and ordered to appear before county boards of their respective counties for examination. Superintendent of Education Mayfield will appoint the time for these exami nations this month. There are twen three beneficiary vacancies distribut ed as follows: Abbeville 3, Barnwell 2, Berkel~ey 2, Charleston 1, Claren don 1, Colleton 1, Darlington, Edge field 1, Kershaw 1, Lancaster 1, Marl boro 1, Marion 1, Orangeburg 1, Richland 1. -Saluda 1, Spartanburg 1, Sumter 2, Union 1. The board met again last night and among other things the election of a successor to Prof. Reese of the chair of chemistry came up. Professors Bond and Coleman, who have been assistant professors, were promoted and Mr. F. L. Parker, Jr., of Charles too was elected an assistant professor, it being the intention of the board to rearrange all the professorships be fore the opening of the session. A Ma:d Skunk's Bite. SvANsAU, Ga., Aug. 30.-A Spe cial to the Morning News from St. Augustine, Fla., says: Allen Miller, residing at Moultrie settlemient, near here, was bitten by a skunk on Wed nesday, and at once gave signs of hy drophobia. Before he was secured, le badly bit his steo-son and ran through the woods bitting trees and everything coming in his way. Efe was tied to his bed, and today, in a paroxysism, broae the lasking and es caped to the woods, severely bitting t wo of his keepers, one dangerously. Application was made to J udge Coop er here tonight for the sileriff and a posse to hunt for and captur-e Miller, who is a raving miamia. Women and children in tli- settlteent are ter rorized, and as wor-d is passed about houses are barricade'd -.gainst the man, who, when last. seen, w~as- bitting cat on top or thi head, as e verv time it raised its head above water it blowed oe "spouted," as we see whales do, only with, much more vigor than any whale we have ever seen. "The tail vas vertically flattened and compressed. and thus well adapt ed for swimmmirng. The diameter of its body at the thickest part, which was almost the middle, must have been fully ten feet, tapering to about six leet diameter at head and tail: and. judging from the lenzth of our ship, it niust have been fully 190 feet long. I Its skin appeared to be covered with large and very thick scales, or shields, and from head to tail it was very pret tily marked with bands of pale yellow and very dark green; however, it would be better t3 add that these colors were so happily blended on the under neath that it looked as if a line of pale, very pale, sea green, was the color from head to tail. Its eyes were placed well on the side of the head, and, in color, looked as if two enormous rubies had been placed there. "Now, as this monster approached the scene of the late cmliLct, its motion was rapidly accelerated, and its head kept about six feet above water. The scales on the side of the head appeared to stand well out as does a cobra's hood when the serpent is very much alarmed. "The small fish, small as compared with this monster, scattered right and left, the only laggard being the huge shark, which must have been wounded by the alligator. This unfortunate was seized in an instant by the snake, and, being lifted well out of the water, he was shaken as a terrier shakes a rat, forfully one minute, when we saw the head and tail part of the poor shark drop into the water, the middle section disappeared down the serpent's gullet. "The breeze having gradually fresh ened we soon ran out of the muddy water, and the last we saw of this huge serpent it was finishing its breakfast in a very leisurely manner.' Such is the history written, particu larly this history of sea serpents. I looked upon Captain Peabody and he looked upon me. So far as sea serpents went I saw that it was not in his gen tle nature to damn with faint praise. I tried to divert his mind from the subject and to ask him about other things-other snakes. He commenced to tell about the fifty miles of poor, cheap, tawdry little snakes, and then a blue eyed, golden haired little fairy of six happy summers came tearing into the cabin like a mad little firework. I asked Miss Claire, for that is her name, what she thought of the snakes, and she gave answer unreservedly: "Great, horrid beasts I" she said. "How long were they, little girl?" "Oh, they were long, so long," and she looked around the cabin to find something long enough to compare them to. And failing she strode along the carpet ten mighty strides, and, looking up triumphautly, gave that distance as their length. Mrs. Peabody, a sweet faced lady' smiled. She preferred to have Claire and the Captain tell the story. The Captain continued. "There was no current," he said, "and but little wind. There was no sea, just an oily swell. And after en tering that snake pack-I don't know what else to call it-as far as the eye could see there was a twisting. writh ing maze of serpents. "Then night came on, and blue, glossy green and velvet black they coiled and swam, and every track was a flash of golden fire." The captain did iiot say that, but an other Ancient Mariner did, and the de scription fits what he did say. When the shadows tell, he says that the sea was alive with phosphorescent light from the myriad of water snakes flashing through the blue. Daylight came again, with the ship making her same languid progress. And all around the snakes were coil ing. 'He fired a ritie at one and saw the water stained with blood, but the others swam on, unheeding and un fearing. To get away, from snakes for awhile I asked the captain about weather. He told me about a typhoon, with low flying clouds and tumbling seas and how his ship was decorated with comn posants during a thunder storm in those far away seas. Ti~man's Good Work. WASHisaTON, August 30.-Senator Tilman, of South Carolina, who has been spending a week in Pennsylva nia, passsed through Washington Friday and held a conference with Lawrence Gardiner, secretary of the League of Democratic Clubs. Senator Til man was accompanied by William Wilhelm, of Pottsville, who will be recalled as having been promi nent in the attempt to coerce Penn sylvania manufactu:'ers to support free coinage at the conference held last winter with the silver Senators here in Washington. Mr. Wilhelm remained in the city to discuss with the Democratic managers the situa tion in Pennsylvania. He insisted that the work of Senator Tillman dur ing the past week had made converts by the thousands in Pensylvania, and he was urgent that the South Caroli na Senator should be at once returned to Pennsylvania and placed on the stump through the mining regions. Mr. Wilhelm stated that from his own personal observation free cinage sentiment in Pennsylvania was more widespread than had been believed even by the most earnest advocates of the Demccratic ticket. He said that the work done by Senator Tillman was surprisino. "Last Saturday," said Mr. Wilhe~rm, "I found that Sen ator Tillman was to speak to some farmers at Mount Gretna. I wired him, asking that he speak at Pottsville; he heritated, but at last agreed to make some speeches. Little notice was given that he would speak any where, but in Shenandoah, Pottsville, Ashland and other cities and towns where he spoke this week the audi ences were larger than ever known in those places. and Senator Tillman created the most intense enthusiasm. The people went wild about him, and last night at Tamaqua he was waited upon by large delegations from all over the coal regions, begging him to speak at various places. There are four Congrcssional districts in the coal regions. All are now represent ed by Republicans, but every one of them will go Democratic this fall. The meetings addressed by Senator Till man were all held under the auspices of Riepublican silver men. In Sch uyl kill County nearly every one of the former Republican managers has gone over to the silver ranks. The gain of Democratic Congressmen in Pennsyl vania this year will be iarger than any oher State in the Union. I have managed1 a good many campaigns in my' county, but there never was such entusiasm as has been created by Sen ator Tillmian. Iheretofore when a meting was held there has always beeu a questiou as to who would pay the bills, but this time the bills were all paid by silver Repu blicans. When Seator Tillman and myself asked for our bills -at the hotels we were told that they had been paid. Besides that the people ihsisted on paying our rail road fare." Ex SENATORt Rice, ofi A rkansas, '- ho was a prominent R epubllican politicjin during reconstruction days, wr-ote to Demnocratie headquarters se veral days ago to announce that he had ab~an doned the Republican party and to ofer to take the stump for Bryan aud FIFTY MILES OF SNAKES. STRANGE TALE TOLD BY CAPTAIN PEABODY OF PORTLAND. He Saw the Great Sea Serpent and Milllons (it others, and That Too Without H aving )runk Any Vispensary Lhior. NEw Yontax, Sept. 3.- A big fleet of sailing ships, with a vast, varied and weird assortment of tales from the deep, reached this port recently. The fleet is the largest that has come in in many a day, and the yarns that were spun ran the entire gamut of marine adventure. There were stories of mu tiny, of raving typhoons, of compos ants, that marine corpse light which no wind can blow out; of that strange disease, beri-beri, which afflicts sailor men whosail on sugar laden ships; cf water snak-s, such as the Ancient Mariner never dreamed of; of a three sided conflict between a sea serpent, an alligator and a shark-but wait till you hear the stories. The long overdue clipper Roanoke, owned by the Sewalls and built at Bath, was among the arrivals. She was from Honolulu. Tugs been search ing for her throughout the past week. She brings the biggest cargo of sur-.r ever carried by a thing afloat. he vessel herself is the largest of her c'ass. Eight other square riggers followed the giantess into port. They are from all over the world, and all sorts of conditions of seafaring have been theirs. An outline of the adventures met was telegraphed to the city upon the fleet's arrival at Quarantine, and short ly afterward I went alongside the big Portland packet Tam O'Shanter. Cap tain Peabody had told the Quarantine man about his having sailed through fifty miles of snakes-of wriggling, coiling things of many colors and of many shapes. And this, too, off Bor neo, where the Raines bill runs not to the contrary. Captain Peabody was leaning against the after railing when I climb on board. His head was swathed in a bandage. and when I asked him abcut snakes he said that the bandage had nothing to do with the case-a wholly unrelated incident. A boil was the wherefore of the bandage. About snakes? Well, come below, and he would talk that subject out lengthwise. T'was off Borneo wnere he saw them, "where there ain't no ten command ments," but where there are plenty of snakes and such. For fear the impres sion would fade, or that he might for get some of the details, Captain Peabody wrote out an account of these strange happenings at the time. The reporter was allowed to copy it. This is what the record says: "An account of the sea serpent, as seen from the deck of the ship Tam O'Shanter, off the coast of Borneo. "At the risk of being doubted and called evil names I am going to try to describe a little incident that has happened during our late passage in this ship from Hong Kong to New York, and I may add en passant only one of the many 'remarkable incidents' -I hear the landsmen call them-that have happened during my thirty-four years of sea life. "May 28, 189.-At daylight, the low land of Borneo in sight of the ship, exactly on the equator and in longi tude 109 degrees '7 minutes East, I no ticad that the water on the port side of the ship looked very muddy, while that on the starboard or off shore side was quite blue. On pulling up a bucket of water from either side of the ship we found that the blue water was as we expected, quite salt, while the muddy water on the port side was near ly fresh as water could be under such conditions. The fresh water had, without doubt, ben driven far off shore by one of the many estuaries of the Pentiniak River, the tides of which are very strong, especially on the ebb, when the fresh water forces its way for fully five miles off shore and, for some un explained reason to me, refusing to amalgamate with the salt water. "Large numbers of sharks, all sorts of others fishes, and snalres, were seen en the blue water side. Some of the snakes were of immense size, while the smallest, which came very close to the ship, were not less than three feet long. They were of all imaginable colors, some of the long ones very prettily stripped, and others spotted. "On the port, or fresh water, side a number of alligators and huge catfish, such as we catch in the Southern riv ers, were to be seen swimming close to the dividing line of fresh and salt water, and every once in awhile one could be seen to make a dash at a dol phin or boneta andseize the fish in its1 Jaws, swim back to fresh water and eat its unfortunate victim at leisure. "But the alligators were not always so fast in their excursions, for we saw one which had to pay dearly for its temerity in trying to seize a beautiful dolphin that was at the moment being hotly pursued by an immense shark. Alligator and shark both seized the dolphin. at the same moment, and in an instant we beheld a most terrific conflict. The shark in the melee managed to seize the alligator's right hind leg in its mouth. and, keeping itself well under water to avoid the frightful lashings of the 'gator's terri ble tail, it simply steered the unfortun ate saurian out into the blue, or salt, water. This apped to be more than the alligator could stand, for we saw he rapidly grew weaker, and the shark also appeared to realize that he had his antagonist out of his element, for he suddenly let go the bull-dog hold on the leg, and, making a most terrific dash at the 'gator's stomach, literally tore its entrails out. "The blood from the combatants at tracted every one of the salt and fresh water denizens in the vicinity to the scene of combat, and the utmost con fusion appeared to prevail, but at the same time we could see from our deck that the larger and more powerful of the fishes had formed pools or syndi cates, and, as a result, the small fishes on both sides disappeared in very short order. "However, much as we had been surprised, it was ordered that we were to be more surprised yet, for just as we thought the turmoil in the water was growing less our attention was called to the other side of the ship and we there saw a sight such as we had never seen before and never believed any man could have seen. Marco Polo and Baron Munchausen, in their wildest lighits of imagination, never attempted to describe such a monster as we saw dancing with easy undula tions toward the bloody spot of water. Without doubt it was the veritable sea serpent and a serpent among sea serpents at that. Every writer who has seen it gives a ditferent descrip tion of the sea sei-pent. Iu fact it ap pear-sjto be like Proteus, whose distin guishing characteristic was the faculty of transforing himself into ditferent shapes. "Our- snake was like any ordinary everyday snake, except, mind you, in size. Its head was shield shaped and only very little wider that its body: its jaws were enormous and armed with four immense fangs. They were placed well in front and must have been fully ten or-twelve inches longer than the other teeth, with whic-h its jaws were thickly studded. Its nios riSapparad inb lacoed scmnowhat CROP SESONN CLOSIN(E WEATHER OBSERVER BAUER'S GLANCE A3OUT THE FIELDS He i5SueS a'eyt teeti and Valuanble WLeekly weathr :ind Crop 1itilletih -The Harvesit Time ns Arrive!. Co -l~:m, . C. S-p'. 2. -Tlie fol lowing weekly bulletin of the condi tion of the weather and crops of the State issued yesterday by Observer Baur will be read with peculiar inter est as the season is so fast drawing to a close: This bulletin covers the weather and crop conditions for the week ending Saturday, August 29, and in its prep aration were used reports from one or more correspondents in each county of the State. WEATHER. For the first time in seven weeks the average temperature for seven consec utive days was as low as the normal for the same period. The fore part of the past week was quite warm, but there was a gradual lowering of night temperature until the end of the week, when the lowering August minimum temperature, for many years, occur red. The lowest weekly mean tempera tuee was 75 at Walhalla, the highest 81 at Allendale;the average mean tem perature for 36 stations was 78 and the normal for same period is approxi mately 78. The maximum tempera ture was 101 on the 24th at Gilison ville, the miniuma 56 on the 29th at Santuc. Thirty-four places reported rainfall during the past week against twenty one the previous week, with an aver age measurement of 1.42 inches against 0.48 for the previous week. The ap proximate normal amounts is 1.38 inches. The wind came generally in the form of showers, and they were report ed from all sections of the State, but in many places were local in character and failed to bring the desired relief from the prevailing drought. In other places the drought was effectually bro ken as the following measurements will show: Augusta, Ga., 2.60; Allen dale, 3.38; Blackville, 119; Green wood, 120;Spartanburg, 1.05;Cheraw, 1.29; Florence, 1.49; Charleston, 2.29; Kingstree, 5.20; St. George's, 2.20; Yemassee, 2.00; Chesterfield. 1.63; Oakwood, 3.70; Camden. 1.06; Hol land, 3.75; Longshore, 1.17; Pinopolis, 1.08; SocietyHilL 1.33; Elloree, 1.6(0; Gillisonville, 1.87. Ten other places and measurements between 0.50 and 1.00); and only four less than 0.50 inches. There was somewhat less than the usual amount of sunshine, due to al most general cloudiness in the eastern portion during the greater portion of the week. In the western portions t here was somewhat more than normal. The percentage of possible sunshine ranged from Si at Reid, Greenville county to 33 at Pinopolis, Berkeley county, with an averageof 60 for the State, CROPS, Marked changes in crop conditions cannot be looked for at this season of the year, especially under normal wea ther conditions such as prevailed dur ing theweek under review. The prin cipal crops are, in deed, so far matur ed that they are no longer susceptible to meteorological influences. Minor crops can yet be benefited by the rains of the past week. Telast rodder has been pulled from late corn and from one-third to one half of it is unfit for forage on ac count of being badly burnt by the sun. The grain of late corn is gener ally not lull nor well developed, and last week's estimate of the poor condi tion and yield of late corn is fully sus tained by this week's reports, with this difference, tha~t a few localities have made a full crop. Corn in portions of Hampton is~ infested with weevel and worms in ti.e ear. Corn is so nearly ripe that its yield cannot be effected by any sort of weather, except such as may favor or interfere with- gathering or housing the crop. The past week gave less favorable weather for rice harvest than the pre vious one, there having been showers on all but t wo days in the rice region. On one day a heavy local wind storm did considerable damage to a few plantations. On the whole the rice crop will be a very good one, at least for the early seeding. Late or June seeding looks well. Cane seemingly was improved by the rains. Syrup making has begun in various portions of the State, but no reports as to yield have been made. There is no improvement to note in the general condition of cotton. The weather no longer affects it as for the most part growth has stopped, the plant is nearly or- quite dead, and half, or more, of the bolis open. In a few loclites the plant remains green and stimulated by the late rains, shows signs of putting on a top crop. Blooms are very scarce now; in many fields none are to be seen; which indicates a small late crop. Indeed, it is the opin ion of nearly all the correspondents of this service that cotton will be picked out by October 1st, or by the 15th of that month at the latest. It continues to open very fast and the first picking was a heavy one. Many correspondents say that this is the ear liest season for cotton within their re collection. Sea Island cotton contin ues to do very well. Tobacco curing is over, and it ap pears that this crop lacked uniformity in the various counties w aere cultiva ted. In Florence the crop was large, but of inferior quality. In Williams burg there was less raised than last year. In Darlington and Kershaw the quality is reported to have been very good, but the stands irregular and the yield comparatively poor. The above are the only counties from which special r-eports on tobacco were re ceived. There seems to be an improvement noticeable in the condition of peas, es pecially where planted in corn fields, but where sown in open fields with grass for hay the crop is not so good. The latest planted have revived' and may make a good crop. Sweet potatoes have apparently tak en on a new growth wher-e the 2.how ers fell, and an inease in the siz~e of the tubers is e xpected. Where pota toes have been dung, they have turnied out small in si~e, aLnd consequently small in yield. Much land was sown to turuips and other root crops, following the r-ains, and a better stand is expectedI than ha~s heretofore been obtained. The cooler weather tavored farmn work, and it is being prosecuted ini ad vance of the season. Pliowingc for- fall seeding hans been begun. Houke Smith InetIr,'. W~asmseros, Sept. ;.Secretary loke Smith closed his admini-stration of thne aifairs of the interior D)epar-t ment today and retired from the Cab iet. Tlhe last papers ini the routine business of thne dlepartment were sign ed and his active wvork closed yester day afterunoon. Tloday the Secretary ws at the department, but he devoted almost his entire time to callers and! to taking leave of his asssociates and of theenmployees in the department. When lCe-overnor Franceis will arrive fromu Missouri and take the oath of ullece is not yet definitely kniown, though it WEATHER AND CROPS. Coa.i....' Fer Cottou Picking Gueraly Good. W as11\ToN, Sept. I.-The follow ing are extracts from the weekly crop bulletin of the weather bureau: Virginia-Gentle rains in tidewater and valley counties have improved the prospects for late corn, pastures, tobacco and truck and have put the ground in condition for plowing; the general condition of corn shows above the average; in middle counties crops are falling off; tobacco curing begun. North Carolina--No material change in crop conditions this week; rainfall oorly distributed and drouth still pre ~vailing in middle counties; nearly half of the cotton crop open and bulk of crop cannot now be improved by rain; making pea vine hay, ground too hard for fall plowing. South Carolina-Cooler weather and numerous showers helped sweet potatoes, cane, peas and root crops materially, but not corn, which is ful ly ripe. nor cotton, except to check premature opening; half of cotton crop open 2nd no blooms to indicate late or tr. crop; unfavorable rice bar v est weatner. Georgia-With the exception of 10 cal showers during the first of the week, dry weather with warm days and cool nights continue; cotton is shedding and opening rapidly; pick ing is being pushed as rapidly as pos sible and most of the crop will be gath ered by the middle of this month; yield of cotton will be but little more than half the average; late corn and all inferior crops inferior; gardens - complete failure; some late gardens being planted. Florida-Week generally favora ble for farm work and crop growth, although frequent showers over por tions of northern district interfered with cotton picking; cotton opening rapidly and condition beyond materi al imnrovement; corn thought to be below average; cane, potatoes, rice and peas doing well; turnip and cab bage seed being generally sown. Alabama -- Heavy but scattered showers during the first part of week and good rains in southern portion, though drought unbroken in many central and northern counties; about two-thirds of cotton crop is open and picking progressing rapidly with no improvement in prospective yield; corn yielding light and minor crops only fair; sorghum syrup being made. Mississippi- Showers beneficial to all crops, except cotton and corn; weather favorable for cotton picking, corn gathering, fodder pulling and fall gardening; cotton picking prog resssng rapidly and some few have gathered all the crop and finished picking, owing to the light yield which required but one picking. T - Louisiana - Unequally distributed showers benefited vegetation in locali ties in north and west portions, but uplands continue dry; week favora ble to cotton picking, gathering corn, hay and rye cutting and threshing; corn yielding well in southern por tion; rice below anticipations; cane good, but needs rain; cotton short crop. Texas-Generally fair, pleasant weather during the week wvas favora ble for cotton picking, which is mak ing rapid progress; the greater portion of the crop will be picked by the mid. dle of October; the outlook for tcp crop is very poor, except over south west portions of the cotton . district, where, in some sections, the plant is still growing and blooming. Corn is gathering well advanced and the yield is light; rice is a poor crop and has been slightly damaged by brisk winds. Arkansas-Condition of cotton re mains unchanged; it is opening and being picked rapidly and with favora ble weather wvill all be gathered by Oct. 15; some complaint of damage where rains were heavy and slight im provement in top crop in other locali ties; all minor crops much improved, but more rain needed for fall plowing and gardens. Tennessee-Local showers early in week slightly improved conditions where they fell, but drought still se vere in most sections: cotton opening rapidly and picking in full progress; tc bacco mostly housed, and good ex cept where worm eaten; quantities of fodder, pea and millet hay saved; plowing greatly delayed. An A ppeal for Funds. WAsINGToy, Sept. :3.-Assistant Treasurer James L. Norris, of the Democratic national committee, to night issued a c all for funds, in which he says in part: "The Republican party can boast of over flowing coffers; coffers constantly replenished by the collossal fortunes of Europe, fortunes gathered in a large degree of American industry, to de feat the will of the people. The Demo cracy must depend upon the voluntary contributions of patriotic citizens for funds to defray the leg itimate expenses of the campaign. It has no such re sources of combined capital to draw from; itis undoubtedly conducting the people's fight and must look to them for the means to derfay the indispensi ble expenses incident to a campaign of educating, printing and distributing literature, and the securing of thorough organization throughout the land. In view of the foregoing fair statement of the political situation and party necessity I take the liberty of appealing to you for such contributions as your means will permit, transtnitted by check, bank draft, postoffice money order or cash as may be most convenm ent, payable to my order. An official receipt will be promptly sent you." U'ncle Sam's Debt. WASHIINGTON, Sept. l .--The debt state meat issued this after-nooni shows a net increase in the public debt 1.'-s cash in the treasury during August of $12,342, t;83. The interest bearing debt inc 'ased $1,000,000n. The non-interest b -.ring debt decreased $4O9,398 and can~ in the tr-easury decreased $t2,812,017. The balances of the several classes of debt at thie close of business August 31 were Interes' bearing debt, $517, 30l2i0. Debt on which interest n-as ceased since maturity, $1,622,960. Debt bearing no interest, $372,856, 376. Total, $1.221,81:,596. The certtticates a'e tev~mrv notes offset by an equal ao ':::at of cash in the treasury outstan'.,: :,; ihe end of the inonth were $5 t:,3::, an in crease of $11U.00tJ. The total t-:sh in the~ treasury was Tlhe gold reser ve was $l00,000 100. Net cash balance, $143,346,400. iz a the month there was a de rease in gobd e')in andl bars of $11i 4S1 I 1I? the to al atL umc el e uen,;. i;.~m Of silver, there wats an increase of $,4147,8632. Of the surplus there was in national bank depositories $16,;19,tm14. against $20, 952, 972? at the end of thme preceding month TFhe tr-easury oilicial statemecntshows that for- August. the delicit was $10,. 1:;9, S.0, anid for the fiscal year- to date $:,luS.73:3. The receipts for August were $?5I03,Il36, or $3.0u0,isio less than for August, 1895. The expenditures for .\ ii fust wer-e $25,701,G76, or $2,000, - on :ore than for August, 18:5. Thje taasury goldI reservte at thte close of bumsiness today stood at $1I3, 77,572. Thne day's withdr-awails at POWDER Absolutely Pure. A cream of tartar baking powder. Hiohest of all in leavenine strength. -.atest United States Government Food Repolt. ROVAL BAKrsa POWDER Co., New York City. Called the Wrong Witness. Prof. Otto Arendt's statement pub lished recently in the New York Jour ial hits the gold standard advocates a square blow between the eyes. They always masquerade as being in favor of international bimetallism, which they claim could only be secured by international agreement among the leadIng nations of the world. So fond have they been of quoting Dr. Arendt as a stanch upholder of their views that they have lauded-him to the skies, and have held him before the country as the one great authority on bimetal lism before whom they bent in adora tion and whose word was final on the whole subject. Now, too late, they learn that he is a strong advoc :te of. free coinage on the part of the United States as the one measure sure to force the hands of Eu rope's money kings from the triroat of silver. What course they c in pursue to back water from the brink of the logical Niagara before them can-ot b imagined. The Democratic leaders are swift to see the advantage before them. Dr. Arendt's masterly aoalysis of the situation will be sent t> ever)r part of the United States as a cam paign document, in both E iglish and German. The Washington Post, a stanch gold paper, but oue giveu to puncturing sham arguments and false logic, reprints Dr. Arandt's article in full with an editorial comment. -So much has been said ab.ut the opinions and utterances, of Dr. Arendt, the famous German writeron flaanca," says the editorial, "that it occurs to us to reprint in the Post this morning the full text of a lette- he has just written to the New York Journal. His worldwide reputation: as a student of the question, his brilliant attain meats, his profound and varied infor mation, all conspire to lend peculiar interest to this product of hki pen. Mr. Whitney has quoted himu in refu tation of the free conage heresy.' The gold standard nwwspapers delight in falling back upon him as the most po tent destroyer of the silve- fallacy. . Republican and assistant Rtpablican speakers use him a 'stock' for. their more or less inspired outbursts. Now, it will be as well to see -what Dr. Arendt has to say for himself. "Of.-course, we are all bimetallists. Mirr. Whitney, Mr. Belmont, Mr. Pier pont Morgan-all the really impor tant leaders of the anti-Bryan move ment, declared with tearful fervor that bimetallism is the one dredm of their lives, the dearest and thet sweetest. thought they harbor. What they writhe under, however-what tortures their unselfish souls-is-the knowledge that the United Sta\es cannot uadier take bimetallism alone without ca1nsing ruin to e. noble workingmen anas spreading penury among the dearly beloved masses. Otaerwise, the Bet monts, the Morgans, the Rothchilds. the Bleichroders, the Lazards, th., Ickelheimers, and all the rest of them would welcome bimetadism with an ecstasy too deep for words. But it is not possible. 'Ask Dr. Arendi; doa't believe us, if you don't want to? they say. 'Go and ask scientists like Dr. Arendt, who have made the subject the study of their lives.'" "And so, at last, somebody has ask ed Dr. Arendt, and the professor'sre ply is given in full elsdwhere in thi-s edition of the Post. We have advo cated the gold standard, not hecause Englahd or any other nation has adopted it, but because we consider it as the best standard for ourselves, and because we tear the elf -ct ot' free and unlimited silver coinage uo-m our do mestic welfare. Dr. Arendt's views, therefore, are of no grert consequenc.a to us,but are given to the public simply in accordance with our settled pohicy of presenting facts to our readers, au tagonizing perversions and fallactes and castigating humbugs and sharp ers wherever we may find them. De. Arendt says that free coinage by the United States will force bimnetallisiu upon Europe. He predicts an inter national agreement as the result of Bryan's election and hadls that consu i mation as the vanguard of universal prosperity and peace." s Good for the Taxpayers. ComMBAa, Sept. 3.~-The Sete Board of Controi miet last night in regular monthly session. One of the matters in which the public has been interest ed was the investigation int-> the cow'm. duact of Dispenser St enfa' oin occi sion of the campaign meeting~ at Winnsboro. The County Board of Control made a report and it wassgiv en out last night that the board het4 exonerated the Dispenser from the "charges" made against hun. Tne re port of the county board was uut made public, but it was accepted by the State Board. A matter in w hich all taxpayers are most interested, how ever, was the determination of the board to pay into tue State Treasury $100,000 from the accrued net profits of the business. This sum will be paid in four monthly installments, the tirst payment to be made on October 1. That the board is able to pay this much towards the reduction of taxes will not only be welcomed by the peo pie at large, but is an evidence of the good business principles on which the disensary is being conducted under the present regime. So far the dis pensary has paid directly inito trbe treasury $50,000 borrowed te start on, $50,000) towards the paynment of the expenses of the constitutional couven tion, which is to be followed by this payment of $100,000. TIllznaan in k'ennntylvania. W\asarser~os, Sept. 2. - Te Bryan capagn mfanagers have decided tbat Senator TIillmau of South Carolia shall resume his campaign inlahn sylvanlia amng the coal miners where, it is clainmd, ha- aime such a hero by a few speeches delivered r-c cently. The SCua.tor will cone from~ South Carolina andi go to Veansylva 1ia about the luth of this Iioth. tie wil remiaiu ini that st:ite until tue 2thm, sin-al.hi cuutiu~ously .Un the IEnh he i-i se:ieduiled to speak in Phila dephia, and the Sil verits ther-,e wil prepare an ovation for hhu. Hlis pech therec will be addr-es.d particu larly to the workingmen, who are suposed to put great faith in him.