Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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A STRONG SERMON., Dr. Talmage Says We Must Strive to Overthrow Evil. LIVE IN STRENGTH OF GOD. Dr. Talmage Says We Must, as the Wrestlers of Old, be Po lite in Warfare Against Sin. In this discourse Dr. Talmaige se lects one of the boldet tigues of the Bible to present most practical and en couraging truths; text, Ephesians vi. 12, 'We wrestle not against fiesh and blood, but against principalities. against powers, against the rilers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Squeamishness and fastidiousness were never charged against Paul's rhe toric. In the war ag-ainst evil he took the first weapon he could lay his hand on. For illustration, he employed the theater, the arena, the foot race. and there was nothing in the Isthmian game, with its wreath of pine leaves, or Pythian game, witl4 its wreath of laurel and palm. or Nemean game with. its wreath of parsley. or any Roman circus, but he felt he had a right to put it in sermon or epistle, and are you not surprised that in my text he calls upon a wrestling bout for suggestive ness? Plutarch says that wrestli'ng is the most artistic and cunning of athle tic games. We must make a wide dif ference between pugilism, the lowest of spectacles, and wrestling, which is an effort in sbort to put down another on floor or ground. and we-all of us - indulged in it in our boyhood days if we were healthful and plucky. The ancient wrestlers were first bathed in oil and then sprinkled with sand. The third throw decided the victory, and many a man who went down in the first throw or second throw in the thrd throw was on top, and his opponent under. The Remans did not like this game very much, for it was not savage enough, no blows or kicks being allow ed in the game. They preferred the foot of hungry panther on the breast of fallen martyr. In wrestling, the opi onents would bow in apparent suavity, advtnce face to face, put down both feet solidly, take each other by the arms and push each other backward and forward unti! the work began in real earnest, and there were contortions and strangulations and violent strokes of the foot of one contestant against the foot of the other, tripping him up, or, with struggle that threatened apoplexy or death, the de feated fell and the shouts of the specta tors greeted the victor. I guess Paul had seen some such contest and it re minded him of the struggle of the soul with temptation and the struggle of truth with error and the struggle of heavenly forces against Appollyonic powers, and he dictates my text to an amanuensis, for all his letters, save the one to Philemon, seem to have been dictated and as the amanuensis goes on with his work I hear the groan and laugh and shout of earthly and celestial belliggerents. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, in high places." I notice that as these wrestlers ad vanced to throw each other they bowed one to the other. It was a civility, not only in Grecian and Roman games, but in later day, in all the wrestling bouts at Clerkenwell, England, and in the famous wrestling match during the reign of Henry III, in St. Giles, Field, between men of Westminster and peo ple of London. However rough a twist and hard a pull each wrestler contem plated giving his opponent, they ap proached each other with politeness and suavity. The genuflexions, the affability, the courtesy in no wise hin dered the decissiveness of the contest. Well, Paul, I see what you mean. In this awful struggle between right and wrong, we must not forget to be gen tlemen and ladies. Affability aever hinders, but always helps. You are powerless as soon as you get mad. Do -not call rumsellers murderers. Do not call infidels fools. Do not call higher critics reprobates. Do not call all card players and theater goers children of the devil. Do not say that the dance breaks through into hell. Do not deal in vituperation and billingsgate and contempt and adjectives dynamnitic. The other side can beat us at that. Their dictionaries have more objurga tion and brimstone. We are in the strength of God to throw flat on its back every abomina tion that curses the earth, but let us approach our mighty antagonist with suavity. Hercules, son of Jupiter and Alemena, will by a precursor of smiles -be helped rather than damaged for the performance of his "12 labors." Let us be as wisely strategic in religious cir cles as attorneys in court-rooms, who are complimentary to each other in the opening remarks before they come into legal struggle such as that which left Rufus Choate or David Paul Brown triumphant or defeated. People who get into a rage in reformatory work ac complish nothing but the depletion of their own nervctns system. There is such a thing as having a gun so hot at the touchhole that it explodes, killing the one that sets it off. There are some reformatory meetings to which I always decline to go and take part, because they are apt to become demonstrations of bad temper. I never like to hear a man swear, even though he swear on the right side. The very Paul who in my text employed in illustration the wrestling match behaved on a memora ble occasion as we ought to behave. The translators of the Bible made an unintentional mistake when they re'. resented Paul as insulting the people of Athens by speaking of "the unknown god whom ye ignorantly worship." In stead of charging them with ignorance the original indicates he complimented them by suggesting that they were very religious, but as they confessed that there were some things they did not understand about God he proposed to say some things concerning him, begin ning where they had left off. The same Paul who said in one place. "Be courte ous," and who had noticed the bow preceding the wrestling match, here exercises suavities before he proceeds practically to throw down the rocky side of the Acropolis the whole Parth enon of idolatries, 31inerva and Jupiter smashed up with the rest of them. In this holy war polished rifles will do more execution than blunderbusses. Let our wrestlers bow as they go into the strug gle which will leave all perdition under and all heaven on top. Notice also that in this science of wrestling, to which Paul refers in my text, it was the third throw that de cided the contest. A wrestler might be thrown once and thrown twice. but the third time he might recover himself and by an unexpected twist of arma or oe who i alrs tarougl car or eye, by vice or printed page. have been tiown in their wrestle with evil %.e. you have been thrown twice. but t] at does not mean. oh. worsted soul, that 3 ou are thrown forever! I have no authority for saying how many times a man may sin and be forgiven. or how many times he may fall and yet rise again. bat I have authority for saying that he may fail 490 times, and 490 times get up. The Bible declares that God will forgive 70 times 7. and if you will employ the rule of inultipdieation vou will find that 70 times 7 is 4 B. Ilessed be God for such a gospel of high hope and thrilling encouriagement and iagnifi cent rescue. A igospel of lost sheep brought home on shepherds shoulder. and the prodigals who ->t into the low work of putting husks into swilles troughs brought home to jewelry and banqueting and hilarity that made the rafters ring Three sketches of the same man: A happy home. of which he and a lassie taken from a neighbor's house are the united head. Years of happiness roll on after years of happiness. Stars pointing down to nativities. And whether announced in greeting or not every morning was a "Good morning" and every night a "Good night." Christ mas trees and May queens and birthday festivities and Thanksgiving gather inas around loaded tables. But that husband and father forms an unfortunate acquaintance who leads him in circles too convivial, too late houred, too scandalous. After awhile, his money gone and not able to bear his part of the expense, he is gradually shoved out and ignored and pushed away. Now, what a dilapidated home is his! A dissipated life always shows itself in faded window curtains, and impoverished wardrobe, and dejected surroundings, and in broken palings of the garden fence. and the unhinged gate, and the dislocated doorbell, and the disappearance of wife and children from scenes among which they shone the brightest, and laughed the gladdest. If any man was ever down, that husband and father is down. The fact is he got into a wrestle with evil that pushed and pulled and con torted and exhausted him worse than any Olympian game ever treated a Gre cian, and he was thrown-thrown out of prosperity into gloom, thrown out of good association into bad, thrown out of health into invalidism, thrown out of happiness into misery. But one day while slinking through one of the back streets. not wishing to be recognized, a good thought crosses his mind,, for he has heard of men flung flat rising again. Arriving at his house he calls his wife in and shuts the door and says: "Mary, I am going to do differently. This is not what I promised you when we were married. You have been very patient with me and have borne everything, al though I would have had no right to complain if you had left me and gone home to your father's house. It seems to me that once or twice when I was not myself I struck you, and several times, I know, I called you hard names. Now I want you to forgive me. I am going to do better, and I want you to help me." "Help you?" she says. "Bless your soul, of course I will help ou. I knew you didn't mean it when you treated me roughly. All that is in the past. Never refer to it again. To day let us begin anew." Sympathizing friends come around and kind business people help the man to something to do, so that he can again earn a living. The children soon have clothing so that they can go to school. The old songs which the wife sang years ago come back to her memory and she sings them over again at the cradle or while preparing the noonday meal. Do mestic resurrection! He comes home earlier than he used to, and he is glad to spend the eveoing playing games~ with the children or helping them with arithmetic or grammar lessons which are a little too hard. Time passes on. and some outsider suggests to him that he is not getting as much out of life as he ought and proposes an occasional visit, to scenes of worldliness and dissi pation. Hie consents to go once, and, after much solicitation, twice. Then his old habit comes back. He says he has been belated and could not get back until midnight. He had to see some western merchant that had arrived and talk of business with him before he got out of town. Kindliness anid geniality again quit the disposition of that hus band and father. The wife's heart breaks in a new place. That man goes into a second wrestle with evil habit and is flung and all hell cackles at the moral defeat. "I told you so," say many good people who have no faith in the reformation of a fallen man. "I told you so! You made a great fuss about his restored home, but I knew it would not last. You can't trust these fellows who have once gone wrong." So with this unfortunate, things get worse and worse, and his family have to give up the house, and the last valuable goes to the pawnbroker's shop. But that un fortunate man is sauntering along the street one Sunday night, and he goes up to a church door, and the congrega tion are singing the second hymn, the one just before sermon. and it is Wil liam Cowper's glorious hymn: There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Emanuel's veins, and sinnera plunged beneath that flo~d Lose all their guilty staini'. He goes into the vestibule of the church and stops there, not feeling well enough dressed to go among the wor shippers, and he hears the minister say, "You will find the words of my text in Luke, the nineteenth chapter and tenth verse. 'The Son of Man is come to seek and save that which was lost." The listener in the vestibule says: "If any man was ever lost, I am lost, and the Son of Man came to save that which is lost, and he has found me, and he will take me out of this lost condition. Oh, Christ. have merey on me." The poor man has courage now to enter the main audience room, and he sits down on the first seat by the door, and when at the close of the service the minister comes down the aisle the poor man tells his story, and he is encouraged and invited to come again, and the way is cleared for him for membership in a Christian church, and he feels the omnipotence of what Peter the apostle said when he spoke of those "kept by the power of God through faith unto complete salva tion." Yet he is to have one more wrestle before he is free from e :il habits, and he goes into it not in his own strength, for that has failed him twice. but in the strength of the Lord God Almighty. The old habit seizes him, and he seizes it. and the wrest lers bend backward and forward and from side to side in awful struggle, un til the moment conmes for his liberation. and with both arms infused with strength from God he lifts that habit, swings it in air and hurls it into the perdition from which it came and from which 't never again will rise. Vic tory, victory, through our Lord Jesus (Crist! Ilcar it. all ye wrestlers! It threw him twice, but the third time he threw it, and by the grace of God he !i lee ten years n ieateJ Oh I am so glad that !al ii 1:y text sug ,est. the wrestler and the pmver of the third throw. But Totice hut !11y OXt 1uggests that the wrestlers on the tither side in the great struggle for the world's redemp tion have all the forces of demonology to help them, -We wrestle not against flesh and bloo. but against orincipali ties. against powers. against the rulers of the darkness of this world. against spiritual wickedness in high places." All military men wili tell that there is nothing more unwise than to under estimate an army. In estimating what we have to contend with the most of the reformers do not recognize the big gest opposers. They talk about the agnosticism, and the atheism, and the iaterialisi, and the Nihilism, and the Pantheism, and the lirahimanism, and the Mohammedanism. as well as the more agile and organized and endowed wickedness of our day. But these are only a part of the hos tilities arrayed against God and the best interests of humanity. The invis ible hosts are far more numerous than the visible. It is not so much the bot tle: it is the demon of the bottle. It is not so much the roulette table; it is the demon of the roulette table. It is not so uch the act of stock gambling as it is the demon of stock gambling. It is the great host of spiritual antago nists led on by Aziel or Lucifer or Beel zebub or Asmodeus or Ahrimanes or Abadden, just as you please to call the leader infernalistic. Can you doubt that the human agencies of evil are backed up by Plutonic agencies? If it were only a co mmon war steed, with panting nostril and flaunting mane and clattering hoof, rushing upon us, per haps we might clutch him by the bit and hurl him back upon his haunches, but it is the black horse cavalry of per dition who dash down, and their riders swing swords which, though invisible, cleave individuals and homes and na tions. I tell you Paul was right when he ruggested that we wrestle not with pygmies, but with giants that will down us unless the Lord Almighty is our co adjutor. Blessed be God that we have now and further on will have in mightier degree that divine help! The time is coming-I know it will quicken your pulses when I mention it -when the last mighty evil of the world will be grappled by righteous ness and thrown. Which of the great evils will survive all the others I know not, whether war or revenge or fraud or lust or imtemperance or gambling 01 Sabbath desecration. It will not be "survival of the fittest," but the sur rival of the worst. It will be the evil the most thoroughly intrenched, most completely reinforced, most patronized by wealth aud fashion and pomp, most applauded by all the principalities and powers and rulers of darkness. It will stand, with grim visage, looking down upon the graves of all the other slain abominations-graves dug by the hot shovels of despair and surmounted by such epitaphiology as this: "It biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an ad der." "The wages of sin is death." "Her house inclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead." "There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof is death." Yes! I im agine we have arrived at the time when we may say, Yonder stands the last and only great evil of all the world to be wrestled down. It stands not only looking upon the graves of all the entombed and epitaphed iniquities of the world, but ever and anon gazing up ward in defiance of the heavens and shaking its fist at the Almighty, saying: "Nothing can put me down. I have seen all the other enemies. of the hu man race westled down and destroyed, but there is no arm or foot, human or angelic or deific that can throw me. I have ruined whole generations, and I swear by all the thrones of diabolism that -I will ruin this generation. Come on, all ye churches and all ye ref orma tory institutions and all ye legislatures and all ye thrones! I challenge you! I plant my feet on this redhot rock of the world's wvoe. I stretch forth my arms for the mightiest wrestle any world has ever seen. Conic on, come on!" Then righteousness will accept the challenge, and the two mighty wrestlers will grapple, while all tihe galleries of earth and heaven look down from one side, and all the fiery chasms of perdi tion look up from the other side. The two wrestlers sway to and fro and turn this way and that, and now the monster evil seems the mightier of the two. and now righteousness seems about to tri amph. The prize is worth a struggle, for it is not a chaplet of laurel or palm, but the rescue of a world and a wreath put on the brow by him who promised, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown." Three worlds -earth, heaven and hell-hold their breath while waiting for the result of this struggle, when, with one mighty swing of an arm muscled with omnipo tence, righteousness hurls the last evil first on its knees and then on its face, and then rolling off and down with a crash wilder than that with which Sam son hurled the temple of Dagon when he got hold of its two chie0f pillars. but more like the throwing of satan out of heaven, as described by John Milton: Him the Almighty power flung Headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combvustion, down To bottomless perdition there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms. Nine times the space that measures day and night To morral man, he. with his horrid crew. Lay vanquished, rolling in the tiery gulf, Confounaed, though immortal. Hilton s. Iodoform Liniment is the "nee plus ultra" of all such preparations in re moving soreness, and quickly healing fresh cuts and wounds, no matter how bad. It will promptly heal old sores of long standing. Will kill the pois on from "Poison Ivy" or "Poison Oak" and cure "Dew Poison." Will counteract the poison from bites of snakes an stings of insects. It is a sure cure for sore throat. Will cure ny ease of sore mouth, and is a supe rior remedy for all pains and aches. Sold by druggists and dealers 23 cents a bottle? A South Carolina Tree. Mrs. Jefferson Davis. in a personal letter to a gentleman friend in Charles tol, writes: "The pahiiitto tree that was sent to be planted near my Win ie's grave I did see through my tears, nd it was a distinct gratification to me to havec a South Carolina tree sent to keep watch over her resting place. 11cr father's family came from there, and he always loved the State." A Handsome Sword. IT' is said that the sword to be p're sented to Admiral Schley by the p~eople of Pennsylvania will cost 8,500I( and will be the finest sword ever presented to a military or' naval officer of this government. With the exception of the blade, all the metal work will be 8k gold, and both hilt and seabbard rc richly ornamented with precious REPUBLICANS WIN. They Will Have a Small Majority in the House. SENATE ALSO REPUBLICAN. The South Once More Solidly Democratic. The West and East Stands by the Re publicans. The election last week resulted in a victory for the Republican party. Sev eral of the Western and Eastern States which have heretofore been Democratic have gone over t6 the Republicans, but the South has. again become solidly Democratic. The following is the vote by States: ALABAMA. The Democrats made a clean sweep, electing all the congressmen, which is a gain of two congressmen. ARKANSAS. As in Alabama, the Democrats car ried the State by a large majority, elect ing all the congressmen. CALIFORNIA. The Republicans carried this State by a good majority, making a clean sweep of all the congressmen. CONNECTICUT. The Republican candidates for Gov ernor and Congress were elected by good majorities. DELAWARE. Delaware goes Republican, electing the only congressman and a majority of the Legislature, which will elect a Re publican Senator in place of Senator Gray. FLORIDA. The Democrats carries the State by a large majority, electing both congress men and a large majority of the legisla ture. GEORGIA. Every congressional district in this State was carried by the Democracy by large majorities. IDAHO. This fir off Western State went Domocratic. electing a Democrat to congress. ILLINOIS. The Republicans carried the State, but the Democrats gained six or seven congressmen. INDIANA. The Republicans elect their State ticket and a majority of the Legisla ture, which will enable them to elect a Republican Senator in place of Senator Turpie. The Democrats gained one or two congressmen. IOWA. The Republicans made a clean sweep, electing all the congressmen and State officers. KANSAS. This State has gone back to her Re publican moorings. All the congress men elected are members of that party except one. KENTUCKY. In this State the Democrats carried ten out of the eleven congressional dis tricts, which is a Democratic gain of several congressmen. LOUISIANA. The Democrats in Louisiana made a clean sweep, electing six congressmen, three railroad commissioners and three judges in the parish of Orleans. MARYLAND. The Republicans elect three and the Democrats two congressmen from this State. This is a gain for the Demo crats. MASSACHUSETTS. This State went Republican as usual, but the Democrats gained two congress men. Among the Republicans defeat ed was Congressman Walker, chair man of the banking and currency com mittee in the present congress. MICHIGAN. The Republicans made a clean sweep in this State, electing all the congress men and everything else. -MINNESOTA. The result in this State is somewhat peculiar. The Republican candidate for governor is defeated, but that party elects all the congressmen and the bal ance of the State ticket. MISSOURI. The D~emocrats carried the State by a iarge majority, electing twelve con gressmen out of fourteen, which is a gain of several. MONTANA. The Democrats made a clean sweep, electing the congressman and Legisla ture. NEBRASKA. This State elects a Republican gover nor by a small majority. The congres sional delegation will stand two Repub licans and four Fusionists. NEVADA. This State elects a free silver Repub lican to Congress. NEW HIAMPSHIIRE. The Republicans make a clean sweep, and captures everything in sight. NEW JERSEY. The Republicans carry this State, electing the governor, the Legislature and six congressmen out of eight. This will givithe Republicans a senator in place of Smith. The Democrats gained two congressmen. NEW YORK. New York gave Roosevelt a plurality of 20,000, and elected a Republican Legislature, which will elect a succes sor to Murphy. The Democrats gained ten or twelve congressmen. NORTil CAROLINA. The Demnorerats gained a glorious victory in this State, carrying all the congressional districts except one. Al so the Legislature and nearly all the county officers have been elected by them. The election was very quiet. The Democratic majority is a'bout 40, 000. OIII0. The O .publicans carry this State by a large majority. The congressional delegation will stand about as in the present congress. PENNSYLVANIA. The Republican majority is very large. but the D~emocrats gained several congressional districts. RIIODE ISLAND. The voting wras light throughout the State, as the election of both Republi an candidates for congress was a fore gone conclusion. SOUTII CAROLINA. As a miatter of course the Democrats carried South Carolina. electing every thing in sight. SOUTHI DAKOTA. The Republicans elected both con gressmen fromn this State. TENNESSEE. The Decmocrats carried the State by a large miajority, gaining one or two ongressional districts. TEXAS. This State gives her old time D~emo ratic majority, electing ten or twelve Democrats to congress out of thirteen. -UTAII. This State went Democratie, and her lone congressman is a member of that party. VIRGINIA. in this State, electing ec-ry congress w%,sT, Yll1ilNIA. 'he lepublicans elect a urajority of the congressmen in this State. ili11 WI.SCONSIN%.I Thie Republicans carry every von gressional district in the State. wASmwN(oT0x. This State goes Iepublican by the usual majority. SLOW TO MOVE. Some Gold 'Standard Testimony on Prosperity. ARGUMENT FOR FREE SILVER. Law and Declining Prices Not Productive of Prosperity or Industrial Activity. According to the New York Journal of Commerce. Southern bankers think that five-cent cotton is a fairly good thing for the planters. It has been polling the bankers and announces these unique conclusions: The uniformity of the replies is re markable. With scarcely an exception, they give satisfactory assurances that five-cent cotton' does not mean any se rious injury to the South, chiefly for he se reasons: The cost of production has been greatly reduced by various means. especially in the new regions; the reduction in some cases amounting to about one-half the cost of ten years ago. It is generally conceded that there is a small profit to the grower in cotton even at present prices. Consid erable relief is reported from the diver sification of crops and industries, while an increased number of planters have raised supplies themselves, for which they formerly paid exorbitant prices. In fact, the financial condition of the growers seems much improved in spite of cheap cotton. They are universally reported as getting out of debt, and this of itself should have an important bear ing on Southern prosperity. But the Springfield Republican is not convinced; and it puts the case strongly as follows: Whether the banks are the best pos sible source of information on this sub ject we cannot tell. They certainly should know if the planters are getting out of debt at the hands of a lower priced product than ever before expe rienced. But if low-priced cotton were calculated seriously to affect the pros perity and financial strength of that section. it is to be questioned whether the banks would be among the first to admit it. Meanwhile we may say that all the petty considerations and offsets, which may be advanced or invented to belittle the consequences of low and de elining commodity prices, cannot set aside the fact that such conditions are not productive of prosperity or indus trial activity and enterprise and profit. The particular producer whose product goes down and down in the market can indeed partially recoup himself in time under conditions of a general fall in prices, through ability to purchase his supplies at a lower rate. But not a tw of his charges, such as wages, taxes, insurande, and interest on longtime notes, remain substantially the same, and the margin of profit declines, while the investment in the business remains beyond recall at the higher level of for mer higher values. The low and fall ing price extends its depressing influence far beyond the plantation. It depreci ates the value of the raw material held by the mills and of the goods made and making therefrom which have not yet been sold or have not reached the hands of the final consumer. Thus every link in this chain of production is weakened, and the chain itself is necessarily slack ened in consequence, producing hesitancy, contraction of effort and de pression. Furthermore it is simply not true that the general fall of prices is commensurate with the decline in cotton, or that the planter has been en abled to offset the shrinkage in his gross incomethrough a corresponding shrink age in his expenses. While cotton is at the lowest price ever known, Brad street's table of averages for over 100 staple commodities shows that general prices are considerably above the low record of 1896. The planters cannot combine to advance their prices. They are too numerous and scattered. But those who supply the planter with what he has to buy can, and do, in an astonishing number of instances, com bine to dictate terms to the planter, for the time being, at least. It is fol de-rol to say that five-cent cotton is in consequential in its industrial and fin ancial effect. The Columbia State, in commenting on the above, says "our friend, Col. Youmans, of the cotton reduction organization, couldn't put the case bet ter than The Republican-and we take the liberty of adding that he couldn't make in as many lines a stronger free silver argument than our Massachusetts goldbug contemporary has done in argu ing against the theory of prosperity with low and falling prices." Here is another witness-no less a paper than the chief gold organ in this country the New Yonrk Evening Post. The Post quotes Chauncey Depew's prosperity proclamation in Chicago, and says: The Tribune happens to be in a sim ilar state of exuberance. It declares that the business of the country is in the most prosperous condition known in years, that it is from 10 to 15 per cent. larger than it was last year at this time, that the number of hands employed has increased greatly-"in the iron business about a quarter. in some others more, and in others less, iut on the whole so largely that earn ings and expenditures of the working people have everywhere expanded more than was expected by the most san guine." Other paeans of prosperity abound in the Republican newswspapers, but we do not find any responsive echoes in the trade journals. One of these, The iDry Goods Chronicle, says that mierchants who are heavily stocked up with goods read these articles with amazement; that everything is in readi ness for the procession to move, but that the much-vaunted prosperity is as halting as a street parade. It has not yet started. Talk as you will about the statistics of pig-iron and the clearing house returns, the men who have goods to sell know that business is bad. There have not been many failures as yet, but there have been some bad ones, and they have come where they were not expected by the Republican party. The wool and woolen industries arc in a de plorable condition. The Evening Post then goes on to at tribute the condition of the woolen in dustry to the Dingley law and the gen eral had state of business to the war. It also takes occasion to whack those of its contemporaries who predicted that the war would improve business. The State says "that would really have been the case, however, if it had lasted long enough to force a new issue of pa per currency or had brought us to the silver basis as so many on the other -e arned uh it w.midi The war wa: not big ouuuglt ,r Ing enough to break our financial L-od. We have war taxes and war interest with no more money to pay then with." Continuing The State says: "Business is bad." It is worse in the south than it ought to have been even on a gold basis, because the south has thrown an excessive crop on a country unable to consume its due share of an average crop: but even a moderate crop would have yielded un remunerative prices. The war demand for products has helped industries in spots, but in the country as a whole "the men who have goods to sell know that business is bad." "The much vauited prosperity is as halting as a street parade," says The Dry Good Chronicle, endorsed by The Evening Post, a paper which promised at the time of the repeal of the Sherman act the quickest recovery of prosperity the country had ever known. That was five years ago and we have had the gold standard ever since. "Low and decl in ing commodity prices,"says the Spring field Republican, are not productive of prosperity or industrial activity and enterprise and profit." And what causes low and declining prices but the gold standard, which enables the dollaIr to buy more and more of commodities be cause it is progressively scarcer and scarcer in comparison with the volume of commodities? Are the people think ing of these tings and the false promises of 1896? We shall know netx week. Hard Times Everywhere. Some folks seem to be under the im pression that the South is the only sec tion of the country now experiencing hard times, but such is not the case. The wail of hard times goes up from one end of this country to the other, and the South is about as well off as any other section. The Benton, Ill., Standard, .in its issue of last week, says- "The McKinley prosperity has proved to be a bitter dose. Times are harder now than they ever have been. Prices are down lower than ever. And the farmers under stand that this is due to the gold stand ard, and the contraction of the currency thereunder. The people must have re lief, and it must come through a party that has not sold itself body, soul and breeches to the organized greed of the nation. The Democratic party had the nerve and honesty to-kick out the trusts and combines and the Cleveland wing of its party and stands for the people. And in full confidence that we are right, we say vote for the party of the people." The farmers of Illinois plant wheat principally as a market crop, and as it is very low they are experiencing the same hard times that our farmers are experiencing with four cent cotton. Two ules Drowned. The Greenville News says while at tempting to cross a ford near Batesville recently with a wagon and two mules, Lewis Kennedy, coloined, experienced a runaway in mid stream that resulted in the drowning of his mules, and he him self narrowly escaped death. He started out with the team from M. L. Marchbank's place, about two miles from Batesville, to go to that town. At the ford near Batesville the mules became frightened and ran down the stream into deep water and were drown ed. After a hard struggle Kennedy got ashore. A Terrible Record. A special from Gloucester, Mass., says: The past season has been very severe on the fishing fleet. The reck oning for the year is 14 vessels a total loss, 82 men drowned in the pursuit of the fisheries, 23 wives widowed and 55 children made orphans. The loss will aporoximate $100,000. The terrible gales which raged on the banks during Oetober, 1897, are undoubtedly respon sible for the loss of three vessels and their entire crew, while the series of gales which prevailed during the win ter also brought the fate of many a Gloucester fisherman. A Noble Gift. SUPERINTENDENT Waddell, of the Epworth orphanage, in Columbia, has .ust been informed by a gentleman in this State that he has made a bequest of over $50.000 to the institution. The devisor, whose name, the trustees will not divulge, is 67 years of age and has no children. Ihis wife is still living. At his death the entire property, both real and personal, passes directly to the orphanage and its disposition and investment of the proceeds are left en tirely to the discretion of the trustees. The will has already been made in ac cordance with the rules governing be quests to the institution, and has been properly recorded. Help Each Other. LIFE is too short and full of care and sorrows for one to be the cause of adding one feather's weight of trouble to another's load. Kind words have the same effect the world over. They lift a fellow out of the slough of de spond they break the stiffened, set features of the worried into a pleasant, hopeful smile. And how much bet ter it is to cultivate the habit of treat ing every one as though a time would come when we should lay down the mortal form; and that to leave behind a character and reputation of fairness, truth and honor is the. most enduring riches. Want No More of It. A number of "leading bankers" of the South. says the New Orleans Times Democrat, have written to the New York Journal of Commerce in response to its inqairy addressed to them con cerning the effect of 5 cent cotton .on this section. The consensus of opin ion among them seemed to be that low prices bring prosperity, "because they enforce economy," which the Times regards as 'excellent foolery." It says withi much pith: "The same prosperi ty accompanies 50) cent wheat, 19 cent corn and $4 pork and the like. The farmer has had enough of that kind of prosperity, and wants no more of it, no matter what the bankers may say-" They Must Move. Now that white men have regained control of North Carolina they intend striking at the root of all their evil and put themselves on a sound fovting for ever. Negro editors and agita; ors have been notified to leave certain iocalities within twenty-four hours and the gen eral opinion in other localities is to tell these outcasts to "move on." This is possibly a more humane method than hemp, and it is to be hoped that it will be as effectual and lasting. Putting on Airs. The Columbia Record says: "Geor gia leads in Federal appointments. Augusta has a negro woman in charge of the revenue stamp agency, and is putting on airs because Atlanta's agen y is looked after by an ordinary male coon. A Pension Fraud. A soldier's widow, a resident of Phil idephia, died there in 1877. For 13 years she had been a pensioner. It has just been discovered that her daughter has been impersonating her for the past CORNERS. BY ISABELLA M. ;HAW. "Not by appointment do we meet Delight and joy: They heed not our expectancy; But round some corner in the streets of life They, on a sudden, clasp us with a smile." A MONG other passengers alighting from the train was a tall, dark _.plexioned gentleman and a short, iuuby child, holding fast his free hand, also a mite of a blue parasol. F;in the geneltnan's other hand iun a traveling case and an umbrel . he sun was. yet high and its rays arning. It had been a breathless day, -:U.d aithough the station sat on theout .iirts of Woodville, flanked by hay lied ai.d facing a meadow, the only ador zla:t seemed that of plank and pa::t. A new sidewalk was being laid, a:so the station platform was undergo .1;g repai!s; but Biools, the village aek-of-all-trades," lo-unged beneath :i, chestnut tree whcse leaveshung t ::uw a-nd limp on dry twigs. --'anl you direct. me to the Locust est?" the tall gentleman. asked this . aiinger. -You can't miss it; it hides in the lo ::st wood; the 'bus stands around :im: e." and scrambling to his feet the speaker led the way to a low, narrow, re-pellant vehicle which the child re futsed to enter. "'Tis considerable loose in the joints, :ittle miss, but 'twill carry you safe Cnough. Good land, no! 'tisn't a hearse!" They rumbled over a bridge, turned ::aother corner, rounded the village :quare, struck into the Rooney road, z:s'ended a hill. halting on its shoulder :.efore a swinging white gate through wlhi h a woman had just passed. The house was delightfully old-fashioned. i)r. Cyrus Flint and little daughter ex changed wordsof approval as they went up the gravelly path leading to the great door. Largeness seemed all about them-"these cramped-up -city folks," znd the 'bus driver who had run with a message to the back door, added, in parting: "Your nest must be getting -ight full; five last week and two to ..ight." He was addressing Cathy, the coa-k, whom Bools wvas courting. Two front rooms off 'the -upper hall rere assigned to the doctor, one of which jutted over the side. veranda and was called the balcony chamber. In at :he open window the locust branches :;eered, and above, almost within reach, .h ayed an oriole's nest. A large waxen doll sat in a chair and a child's cot stood in one corner. The little girl cr tered the chamber to look about, lay ing the blue silk parasol on the table while she removed her hat and pushed back her damp, tumbled hair. The wee cot with its spotless draperies drew her instantly. "See, father, this board ing house lady must have known I was rather small. If your room is as pretty as mine is let us live here for a long time." A few hours later, refreshed, retoned,, restored, the doctor and Girlie went be low and met the boarders assembling for dinner. When Mrs. Winters Ierself approached the doctor started slightly. Only Girlie noticed .the tremor and tightened her wee 'warm clasp of his big hand' and looked up. A lady, a veryv small lady, was looking down. The very -tip 'top of this lady'seomb reached her father's elbow. Bending to the child, she said, with a winning smile: "I hope that we shall become very good friends." 'Perhaps we may," replied Girlie, with 'her most captivating nod and smile, for she was greatly pleased with every detail of her surroundings. After dinner there followed an evening full of chat, song and music. Each of the company seemed to have forgot'tenhow high the thermometer was running. When the doctor left the circle 'that evening Mrs. Winters again bent down to his little daug'hter and kissed her. "Good night!" returned the child. "I shall dream of 'the angels all night," and het father added: "She is in love with the couch, you see." The next day the inmates of the nest betcok themselves to wood and stream, and a few went in the down 'bus to the station, where 15 fresh-air children we re looked for, 'homes among villagers and farmers awaiting them. Mrs. Winters also went down. and sat n her phaeton. with the doctor's daugh t er beside her when the train pulled up. The children were handed out, each with a tag attached to his or her left shoulder.' "Bools, bring me two of them, will you? Prof. Fix--Rooney road ?" Bools stood at the Shetland's head, butmoved off at this word toward the newcomers, returning soon with the oldest and the youngest of the group. Pic addressed himself to the road, but. just here the doctor on. his new mare and his dog leaping before him rode by, 'wheeled and trotted back to the phaeton. "Oh, good morning!" as he lifted Girlie to h'is saddle, and pony and sorrel moved along together. "I confess, doctor, I stole your daugh er. These boys are tagged for my cous in, who lives a half mile above the Nest." "Is your pony a. good -traveler? Those storm clouds are rolling up rapidly."? "Yes, very good; what a bark that dog has!" "Soul-stirring, is it?" The speak-er smiled, 'touched his hat and the sorrel darted ahead, whereat Pic shook him sf and quickened his pace. By ten o'clock the storm was raging through the town. Two churches were struck by' lightning, also chimneys and win dow glass about the square suffered caor.sidera.bly. Bright and e'ar'v the fol lowing morning Bocols was up~ to see (othy,. the cook. Bools genernli'y did bring the village btudgets. 'but this morning mneh turned on his tale, for had not a matter of two inches or so t'he difference in the height of those two-the Presbyterian spire at.d the Methodist steeple.heiihi :'wo hearts apart for four good years cir more ? It wax as tonishing how unbridgea4~e. by dint of brooding over and cherishing, this trifling matter had beeor~". But lo!I the elements had arbitra'ted. Mr. Cook) announced his finale at the breakfast] table: '"Ihank the gods and graces, odds are even at last; faiithful Blools< and warn -hearted Cat'hy can ecnscien tiously wed." After this outbreak 'the weather re sumed the even tenor of its way; charm ing days rolled by. one so much like the othei' that few called them singly to account. Locust Nest stood in the midst of a dreamy old garden and the1 hum of bee and the drone of insect sounded by the hour. The doctor's child. when she was not. haunting the stairway and window ledges of the de igithsome old nest itself, haunted this garden. She started out of nook or by ~ath, taking Mrs. Winters often. un awares,. and alw'ays with a book in hand. Mrs. Winters. liking to pull beans herself and to "fuss" among her vege tables, stood one day under an apple tree survevi nr her store, 'when a some Ro&L Baking Powder Madefompr cream of tartar. Saf~ardsthe f00d against alum. A o= eban powee n.,wo. - -MY&L maKIN POW=E MO, I"5 "Pa. thing dropped from the gnarf branches above. "Mercy, child, *he were you? Why do you always have that book?" "It is not that- book, it is dhother. Father and Ithink schnol sre %~ able. so I study -by myse:f. I :ean all over just what I wish to, and every Fri day evening father and I visii together - ard I tell him what I de not know. You see when people have not got much but each other they think a good deal of each other. Folks say I have lost my mother, but father said that I am not real well acquainted with anybody but old' nurse, who looks like your Cathy, and father; we cannot-stay here much longer now; I thought I wdtd telJ you. We like corners; you always find something nice around a corner; the city is full of corners, so, I think we will go away soon," and blue eyes met blue eyes. At that instant the thud of hoofs was heard, and away down the drive and out into the road, ran th child. Mrs. Winters hastened intober kitchen. That evening closed in early full of darkness and storm. Heaven and earth seemed to shake beneath the' mighty tread of its approach. Light-L4 -. ning cut the air, thunder rolled; the creek a quarter mile above the Nest rose defiantly so that fordingwasmade S impossible, and the bridge mighteasily :' be missed in such a night. Girlie, who had been studying up thunderstorms of late, desired her father to neitherf stand nor to run if ever caught by one, "tall, pointed objects beingfinemarks. Several persons watched from windows the increasing gloom and fury without when dinner was called, but scarcel were they seated at table 'when the waitress appeared at her mistress'-eI bow. The ,school-teacher at the pro fessor's was very ill; no doctor to-be- -; found'. Would Dr. Flint accompany the messenger.? Girlie uttered an involuntary "Oh! Mrs. Winters not a word nor evenraised -- her eyes. Cyrus Flint rose and et-ode from the room. He reappear'ed. capped and becloaked and opened-tbe-'.' outer door. Bools was there-with wo hcrses and a lantern, under'whose bed glower glistened the. coats- of i and horse. A fierce gust of wind met him, but he made his way out. "Father!" the doctor bent frocih saddle; "hold this high and sit low and the little figure stood on its tip toes and reached up a smnalsunsha& that precious blue silk parasol-sacri ficed by a warm little heart to alec-e tric greed, confident that surrounding that beloved head it -would be quite "tall" enough and "pointed" enough to avert attack. "Bless you, sweetheart! Take her in," he cried; but Cathy's arms were already about her and she was carried in while her father rode away into the wild night. The chime-like stroke of the grient clock was telling 11 when a violent knock came on the kitehen door apd Bools' voice was heard. Cathy set the door ajar when Bools pushed it'ee and entered, followed by neighboring farmhand~s bearing a rude litter upon which was stretched a form whose gar ments, as did those of the other men, dripped water which trickled right and left over the polished floor. The cook wrung her hands. "Oh, my! Oh, my! Is he killed or drowned that you fetch him on alt, and his fatherless babe above stinrs Oh,rmy! Oh, my!" "Hist! Where's the lady? BuVMrL~ Winters, her eyes wide and full alarm, already stood on a...hreshold beckoning. "Bring him this way iirt the bedroom, and do you, Bools, watch all the -trains and catch the first doc tr who comes." Then she and Cathy. worked over the injured man until day break-with which came Bools and Dr. Kale. - Late 'in the afternoon Dr. Flint wak ened, conscious and observant. An anx ous face was bending over him, and before its owner could withdraw the. dotor grasped two small hands. "Reta! My Reta! I see all nob'. Some thing has shadowed me persistently> since the night I arrived- For two years I have dreamed of you by night and searched for you by day. Beta! my wife!" Mrs. Winters Flint sobbed as she hid her face on 'his armn. "I went directly to Paris whereI came to myself and solemnly abjured my base vanity. I did indeed! Uncle Cook returned with me in the fall and we have been here ever since. I, wait ing and watching for my husband, for I knew he would aiso return sconeror later to find me. Oh, Cyrus, it was my pride, not my heart, which went astray -my fa!.ee pride, -but 1 renounced it long ag'o!" "So round this corner in their streets of - life Thy, on a sudden, clasped them with a smile." Good Advice. An agricultural exchange gives this advice to farmers: "The low price of . otton surely suggests to your mind the mportance of growing that which will pay the producer more for his labor. ft is an evident fact that as long as we produce as much cotton as we have been ~oing, in the past six years, the price ,f cotton will remain so low that those who produce it, will lose money there y. Then what is to be dode? We be ieve the best thing to do is to raise ess cotton and more wheat, and corn. ats, sweet and Irish potatoes, hogs and ~attle. Produce a living at home, be 2ore independent. Raise half as much ~otton as you have been doing and com and better prices, and we will surely et them" Have Good Seed. There is no doubt about the fact that here will be much more wheat sowed a this county than usual. We have eports from all sections of the county, ad the story is the same. Indeed, uch wheat has already been ,s'owed. id there is another encouragwg cir ~umstance connected with the matter. La rule. the farmers have chosen the )est lands that have heretofore been de roted to cotton and corn, and they are )reparing it well. This is all right and )roper. The quality of seed used hould be carefully looked after, and - one u+he ver used.