Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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DRUNKADS' 'I Dr. Talmage's Stro'ng Denuncia. tion of Intemperance. ITS VICTIMS ARE COUNTLESS! Worse Than Any of the Ten Plagues That Befell Egy pt. God's Grace the Sure Remedy. At this time, when the evils of the drink trafie are being widely discussea and the movement for the abolition of the degrading and brutalizing canteen in our military camps is gaining many supporters, this sermon by Dr. Tal mage, dealing with the broader aspects of the plague of intemperance, should cheer and inspire the friends of temper anee everywhere. His text is Exodus:. xi, 6, "And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt." This was the worst of the ten plagues. The destroying angel at midnight fapped his wing over the land, and there was one dead in each house. Lamentation and mourning and woe through all Egypt. That destroying angel has fLed the earth, but a far worse has come. He sweeps through those cities. It " the destroying angel of strong rink. Far worse devastation wrought by this second than by the first. The calamity I in America worse than the calamity in Egypt. Thousands of the slain, wl lions of the slain. No arithmne can I calculate their number. Once upon a time four fiends met in the lost world. They rcsolved that the people of our earth were to-. happy, and these four infernals came forth to our earth on embassy of mischief. The one fiend said, "I'll take charge of the vineyard." Another said, "I'll take charge of the grainfields." Another said, "I'll take charge of the dairy. Another, "I'll take charge of the m isic." The four fiends met in the great Sahara desert, with skeleton fingers clutched each other in handshake of fidelity. kissed each other goodby with lip of blue flame and parted on their mission. The fiend of the vineyard came in one bright morning amid the grapes and sat down on a root of twisted grapevine in -sheer discouragement. The fiend knew not how to damage the vineyard or. through it, how to damage the world. The grapes were so ripe and beautiful and luscious! They bewitched the air with their sweetness. There seemed to be so much health in every bunch! And while the fiend sat there in utter indignation and disappointment be reached up and clutched a cluster and squeezed it in perfect spite, and, lo, his hand was red with the blood of the vineyard, and the fiend said: "That reminds me of the blood of broken hearts. I'll strip the vineyard, and I'll squeeze out all the juice of the grapes, and I'll allow the juices of the grapes to stand until they rot, and I'l call the process ,rmentation." And there was a great vat prepared, and people came with their cups and their pitchers, and --they dipped up the blood of the grapes,j and they drank and drank and went away drinking, and they drank until they fell in long lines of death, so that when the fiend of the vineyard wanted to returnute his home in the pit he stepped from carcass to carcass and walked down amid a great causeway of the dead. Then the second fiend came into the grainfield. He waded chin deep amid the barley and the rye. He heard all the grain talkng about bread and pros .perous husbandry and thrifty homes. He thrust hi1 long arms into the grain. field, and he pu!led up the grain and threw it into the water, and he made beneath it great fires-fires lighted with a spark from his own heart-and there was a grinding and a mashing and a stench, and the people came with their bottles and they drank, and they bias he dand they staggered, and they and they rioted, and they mur dee, and the fiend of the pit ,the fiend of the grainfield, was so pleased with their behavier that he changed his resi dence from the pit to a whiskey barrel, and there he sat by the door of the bunghole laughing in high merriment at the thought that out of anything so harmless as the grain of the field he might turn this world into a seeinng pandemonium. The fiend of the -dairy saw the ows come home from the pasture field full uddered, and as the maid milked he said: "I'll soon spoil all that mess. I'll add to it brandy, sugar and nutmeg, and Trl stir it into a milk punch, and children will drink it, and some of the temperance people will drink it, arad if I can do them no more harm I'll give them a headache, and then l'll hand them over to the more vigorous fiends of the satanic delegation." And then the fiend of the dairy leaped upon the shelf and danced until the long row of shining milkpans almost quaked. The fiend of the music entered a grog shop, and there were but few custom era. Finding few customers, he swept the circuit of the city, and he gathered up the musical instruments, and after nightfall he marshaled a band, and the1 trombones blew, and the cymbals clapped, and the drums beat, and the bugles called, and the people crowded in, and they swung around in merry dance, each one with a wineglass in his hand, and the dance became wilder and stronger and rougher until the roomi shook, and the glasses cracked, and the floor broke, and the crowd dropped into hell. But, whether by allegory or by ap palling statistics this subject is pre sented, you know as well as I that it is impossible to exaggerate the evils of strong drink. A plague! A plague! In the $rst place, the inebriate suffers from the loss of a good name. God has so arranged it that no man loses his reputation except by his own act. The world may assault a man and all the powers of darkness may assault him they cannot capture him so long as his heart is pure and his life is pure. All the powers of earth and hell carnot take that Gibraltar. If a man is right, all the bombardment of the world for 5, 10, 20, 40 years will only strenghthen him in his position. So that all you have to do is to keep yourself right. Never mind the world. Let it say what it will. It can do you no damage. But as soon as it is whispered, " He drinks," and it can be proved, he begins to go down. What clerk can get a position with such a reputation? What store wants him? What church of God wants him for a member9 What dying man wants him for an executor? " He drinks;" I stand before hundreds of young men-and I say it not in flattery -splendid young men, who have their, reputation as their only capital. Your father gave you a good education or as good an education as he could afford to give you. He started you im city life. He could furnish you no means, but he! has surrounded you with Christian in. fluences and a good memory of the past. ortune. ad as your reputation is your >1lv capital do not bring upon it sus plein by going in and out of liquor stablishmects or by an odor, of your -reazh or by any dare of your eye or : any unnatural flush on your checks. You lose your reputation and you loe our capitai. The iiebriate suffers also in the fact hat he loses his self respect, and when cou destroy a man's self respect there is not muchn left of him. Then a man ,;ill do things he would not do other x ise, he will say things would not say :therwise. The fact is that man can aot stop, or he would stop now. He is bound hand and foot by the Philistines, and they have shorn his locks and put ais eyes out and made him grind in the ill of a creat horror. After he is three-fourths gone in this slavery, the Erst thing he will be anxious to impress you with is that he can stop at any time he wants to. His family become alarmed in regard to hi m, and they say: "Now do stop this. After awhile it will get the mastery of ycu.- "Oh no,' he says, "1 can stop at any time. I can stop now, I can stop t-itorrow. His most confi dential friends zay: "Why, I'm afraid you are losing your balance with that habit. You are going a little further than you can afford to go. You had better stop.- -Oh, no." he says, "I ,an stop at any time. I can stop now." Hie goes on further and further. He gennot stop. I will prove it. He loves himself. and he knows nevertheless that strong drink is depleting him in body, mind and soul. le knows he is ZoinZ down, that he has less self con rol. les <quipoise of temper than he ased to. Why does he not stop' Be au,e he cannot stop. I will prove it by g .ing still further. He loves his ife and children. ie sees that his babits are bringing disgrace upon his homne. The probalilties are they will uin his wife and disgrace his children. He sees all this. and he loves them. Why does he not stop? He cannot stop. I had a very dear friend, generous to a fault. He bad give thousands and tens of thousands of dollars to Bible societies, tract societies, missionary societies, asylums for the poor, the halt, the lame, the blind. the imbecile. I do not believe for 20 years anybody asked him for $1 or $50 o01 $100 for chari ty but he gave it. I never heard of anybody asking him for help but he gave it. But he was under the power of strong drink, and he went on down, down, down. His family implored him saying, "You are going too far in that habit; you had better stop." He re plied: "I can stop any time: I am my own master. I can stop." He went on down, down. His friends advised and cautioned him. He said: "Don't be afraid of me. I am my own master; I can stop now; I know what I am do ing." He went on down until he had the delirium tremens. On down until he had the delirium tremens twice. After the second time the doctor said: "If you ever have an attack like this again, you will die. Yoa had better stop." He said, "I can stop any time; I can stop now." He went on down. He is dead. What slew him? Rum, rum! Among the last things he said was that he could stop any time. He could not st'p. Oh, my young friends, I want to tell you that there is a point in inebriation beyond which if a man go he cannot stop. But sometimes a man will be more frank than that. A victim of strong drink said to a reformer: "It is impossible for me to stop. I realize it. But, if you should tell me I couldn't have drink until tomorrow night unless I had all my fingers cut off, I would say, 'Bring the hatchet and cut them off.'" I had a very dear friend in Philadelphia whoso nephew came to him and was talking about his trouble and confessed it. He confessed he could not stop. My friend said, "You must stop." He said: "I can't stop. If there stood a cannon, and it was loaded, and there was a glass of wine on the mouth of the cannon, and I knew you would fire it off if I approached, I would start to get that glass of wine. 1 must have it. I can't get rid of this habit. I can't get away from it." .Again, the man suffers from the loss of usefulness. Do you know some of the men who have fallen into the ditch were once in the front rank in churches and in the front rank in reformatory institutions? Do you know they once knelt at the family altar and once car ried the chalice of the holy communion on sae amental days? Do you know they once stood in the pulpit and preached the gospel of the Son of God? We will not forget the scene witnessed some years ago in my Brooklyn church when a man rose in the midst of the audience, stepped into the aisle and walked up and down. Everybody saw that he was intoxicated. The ushers led him out, and his poor wife took his hat and overcoat and followed him to the door. Who was he? He had once been a mighty ministeL of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a sister denomination, had often preached in this very city. What slew himi? Strong drink! Oh, what must be the feeling of a man who has de str >yi d his capacity for useful nes.? D)o not be angry with that man. Do not lose your patience with him. Do n'ot wonder if he says strange things and gets irritated easily in the family. He has the Pyrenees and the Andes and the Alps on him. Do not try to persuade him that there is no future punishment. Do not go into any argu ment to prove to him that there is no hell. Hie knows there is. lie is there rnow. But he sufiers also in the loss of phy sical health. The older people in this audience can remember Dr. Sewell going through this country electrifying great audience by demonstrating to them the effect of strong drink upon the hu man stomach. I am told he had eight or ten diagrams which he presented to the people showing the different stages in the progress of the disease, and lam told tens of thodsands of people turned back from that ulcerous sketch and swore eternal abstinence from all in toxicants. God only knows what the drunkard suffers. Pain files on every nerve and travels every muscle and gnaws en every bone and stings with poison and pulls with every torture. What reptiles crawl over his shivering limbs? What specter stand by his mid night pillows? What groans tear the air! Talk of the rack, talk of the fun ml pyre, talk of the Juggernaut. He suers them all at once. See the attendants stand back from that ward in the hospital where the in briates are dying. They cannot stand it. The keepers come through it and say: "Hush up now! Stop making this noise! Be still! Iou are disturbing all the other patients. Keep still now.' Then the keepers pass on, and after they get past then the poor creatures wring their hands and say: "Oh, God! Help, help! Give me rum, give me rum! Oh. God! Help: Take the de vils off of me: Oh, God; oh, God!" And they shriek, and they blaspheme, and they cry for help, and then they ask the keepers to slay them, saying: "Stab me, strangle me. smother me. Oh, od! Help, help! Rum! Give -e rum Oh God melpn Tey t ea: 2ut their hair by the handiful, Zr-" they bite their nailb into the quick This is no fancy picture. It is trans piring in a hospital at this moment. It went on last night while you slept, and more than that, that is the death some of you will die unless you stop. 1 see it coming. God help you to stop bo fore you go so far that you cannot stop. But it plagues a man also in the loss of home. I do not care how much he loves his wife and children, if this hab it gets the mastery over him he will do the most outrageous things. If need be, in order to get string drink he would sell them all into everlasting captivity. There are hundreds and thousands of homes that have been utterly blasted of it. I am speaking of no abstraction is there anything so disastrous to a man for this life and for the life to come? Do you tell me that a man can be happy when he knows he is breaking his wife's heart and clothing his chil dren with rags? There are little -hil dren in the streets today barefooted un kempt, uncombed, want. written on every patch of their faded dress and on every wrinkle of their prematurely old countenance, who would have been in the house of God this morning as welli clad as you had it not been that strong drink drove their parents down into the grave. Oh, rum, rum, thou de epoiler of homes, thou foe of God, 1thou recruiting officer of the pit, I hate thee' But my subject takes a deeper tone wnen it tells you that the inebriate suffers the loss of the soul. The Bible intimates that if we go into the future world unforgiven the appetites and pas sions which were regnant here will tor ment us there. I suppose when the in ebriate wakes up in the lost world there will be an infinite thrist clawing upon him. In this world he could get strong drink. However poor he was in this world. he could beg or he could steal 5 cents to get a drink that woul for a little while slake his thirst, but in eter nity where will the rum come from? Dives wanted one drop of water, but could not get it. Where will the ine briate get the draft he so much requires so much demands? No one to brew it. No one to %nix it. No one to pour it. No one to fetch it. Millions of worlds now for the dregs that were thrown on the sawdusted floor of the restaurant. Millions of worlds now for the rind flung out from the punch bowl of an earthly banquet, Dives called for ter. The inebriate calls for rum. If a fiend from the lost world sh come up on a mission to a grogshop . d. having finished the missiou in the g '2 shop, should come back, taking or: he tip of his wing one drop of alcohlie beverage, what excitement it w uild make all through the world of the last, and, if that one drop of alcoholic bev erage should drop from the wing of the fiend upon the tongue of the inebriate, how he would spring up and cry: "That's it! That's it! Rum! Rum! That's it!" And all the caverns of the lost would echo with the cry: "Give it to me! Rum! Rum!" Ah, my friends the inebriate's sorrow i a the next world will not be the absence of God or holi ness or light. It will be the absence of rum. "Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it moveth itself aright in the cup, for at the last it biteth like a serpent, and it stingeth like an adder." 'When I see this plague in the land and when I see this destroying angel sweeping across our great cities I am sometimes indignant and sometimcs humiliated. When a man asks me, "What are you in favor of for the sub jugation of this evil?"' I answer, "I am ready for anything that is reasonable." You ask me, "Are you in favor of Sons of Temperance?" Yes, "Are you in fa vor of good Samaritans?" Yes, "Are you in favor of Good Templars?" Yes. "Are you in favor of prohibitory law?' Yes. "Are you in favor of the pledge?" Yes. Combine all the influ ences, 0 Christian reformers and phil anthropists! Combine them all for the extirpation of this evil. Thirty women in one of the western states banded together, and with an es pecial ordination from God they went forth to the work and shut up all the grogshops of a large village. Thirty women, with their song and with their prayer. And if 1,000 or 2,000 Chris tian men and women with an especial ordination from God should go forth feeling the responsibility of their work and discharging their mission they could in any city shut up all the grog shops. But I must not riwell on generalities. I must come to specifics. Are you astray? If there is any sermon I dis like, it is a sermon on generalities. I want personalities. Are you astray. Have you gone so far you think you cannot get back? Did I say a few mo ments ago that a man might go to a point in inebritation where he could not stop? Yes, I said it, and I reiterate it. But I want you also to understand that, while the man himself of his own strength cannot stop, God can stop any man. You have only to lay hold (If thc strong arm of the Lord God Ahinty. He can stop you. Many summers ' I went over to New York one Sabbaht~ evening, our church not yet being open for the autumnal services. I went into a room in the Fourth ward, New York, where a religious service was being hell for reformed drunkards, and I heard a revelation that night that I had never heard before-15 or 20 men standing up and giving testimony such as I had never heard given. They not only tes tified that their hearts had been chang ed by the grace of God, but that the grace of God had extinguished their thirst. They went on to say that they had reformed at different times before, but immediately fallen because they were doing the whole work in their own stength. "But as soon as we gave our hearts to God," they said.~ 'and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ has come into our soul the thirst has all gone. We have no more disposition for strong drink." It was a new revelation to me, and have proclaimed it again and again in the hearing ofthose who have far gone astray, and I stand here today to tell you that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot only save your soul, but save your body. I look off today upon the desolation. Some of you are so far on in this habit, although there may be no outward indications of it-you never have staggered along the street --he vast majority of pcople do not knowv that you stimulate, but (od knows. and~ you know, and by humau calculation there is not one chance 'ut of' five thou sand that you will ever be stopped. Be ware! There are some of you who are my warm personal friends to whom I must say that. unless you quit this evil' habit, within ten years, as to your body, you will lie down in a drunkard's grave and as to your immortal soul, you will lie down in a drunkard's hell! It is a hard thing to say, but it is true, and 1 utter the warning lest I have your blood upon my soul. Beware! As today you open the door of your wine closet let! the decanter flash that word upon your soul, "Beware!" As you pour out the'. beverage let the foam at the top spell out the word, "Beware!" In the great nuilion Irunl-ard: -aln --ame -up to get their doom, I want yo- io testify that this day, in lovo of your sCul and in ear of Gol. I gavc you warning in re :ard to that iniinence which has already L)eeni feAt in your home, blowing out some of its lights-premonition of the blackneos of darkness forever. Oh, if you could only hear intemper mrce with drunkards' bones drumming >n the top of the wine cask the "Dead Marcl" of immirtal souls, you would go home and kneel down and pray God that rather than your children should ever become the victims of this c'il habit Fou might carry them out Io the ceme tery an d put them down in the last slum ber, waiting for the flowers of spring to ome over the grave-sweet prophecies f the resurrection. God bath a balm for such a wound, but what flower of -omfort ever grew on the blasted heath >f a drunkard's sepulcher? A MYSTERIOUS CRIME. Eadt*ed the Man His Daughter Wis to Wed. A Vatational di.patch fruwu ran vIle, S. C.. to the Atlanta Journal says ne s comes from Glendale, in Spartan burg county, of a murder mystery ia volving a pretty girl. a disappointed uitor, the father of the gir! and the leath of a prospective groom. The pt o ple involved are prominent in that sec tion and a sensation was produced when the revelations came to light during the funeral services of the prospective :room. On last Sunday afternoon Louis McAbee, Tom Smith and Roland Black left their homes to go to Pacolet river, about one mile below Clifton No. 2, to go in bathing and they had not been gone long until the news began to spread that young Black had been drowncd, that they had gone in a very rough place where the water was very swift and he got strangled and sank. His body lay in the bottom of the river twenty-four hours before it was recovered. Many people from both Glendale and Clifton visited the place and assisted in searching for the body, but they did not find it until twenty four hours after the tragedy was re ported. Wednesday morning prepara tions were being made for the burial without holding an inquest. When it began to be talked that foul play was suspected it was decided to hold an in quest. Coroner Bishop was notified and he held the inquest. The post mortem examination was Luade by Dr. W. A. Smith, of Glendale, and Dr. Chalk, of Clifton, and to the great surprise of everybody young Black's neck was found to be broken and great signs of finger prints were found on his throat and other places on his head and shoulder showing very plainly that there had been a consider able struggle on his part. After the witnesses had all been examined and the examination by the doctors, the jury's verdict was "murder," and the result was that MeAbee and Smith were hustled off to jail at once. Rowland Black deceased, was to have been married to McAbee's daughter on the 10th of this month, and it is said that McAbee was opposed to the match, and it is generally believed that this was a prearranged plot to get Black out of the way--so the talk goes-in favor of Smith, who, it is said, wanted to marry the girl himself. THE ENGLISHMAN WINS. A Foreigner, Not Naturalized, Cannot be Made to Pay Poil Tax. According to an opinion by Attorney General Bellinger Wodnesday a citizen of a foreign country who has not been naturalized, though resident in this State, cannot be compelled to pay poll tax. This is the result of the novel question raised in York county and re ferred to Wednesday. Here is the de cision addressed to the comptrollergen eral: Dear Sir: 11 have just received yours ncosing letter from W. W. Boyce, county auditor of York county. In his letter he says: "There is an execution in the hands of the sheriff against H. A. Brown, an Englishman who comes to me and makes this statement, that he is not liable to poll tax for the following rea sons: That ho has not taken out natur alization papers; that he never voted, and that he was not sent to the public schools. He has been America 13 in years. Will you instruct me on this subject."' In reply I give as any opinion the followiug: That while, as stated in the American and English Encyclo paedia of law, volume 25, page 101, residence not citizenship fixes the liability for poll tax," yet the general rule is recognized that the legi-lature, sbject to constitutional limitations, has the right to prescribe the quahfica tions of a poll tax payer. The constitu tion ot this State 1895 (article xi, sec tion 6) says, "there shall be assessed on all taxable polls in the State between the ages of 21 and 60 years (excepting Confedrate soldiers above the age of 7 years) an annual tax of $1.00 on each poll the proceeds of which sha be expended for school purposes in the 5en ral school districts in which it is collected." The question natural ly susgests itself, '-what is a taxable poll A resort to lexicons for a defini tion in this case cannot avail us. for we can expect to iind in substance that a taxable poll is a poll liable to tax. An investigation of the statutes since 1863 to the present time discovers as a de finition of a taxable poll, "every miain citizen between the ages of 21 and 6') years except those incapable of earning a support from being maimed or from other cause, and except those who are now exempt by law, shall be deemed taxable polls." The act of 1882 adopts the definition above quoted, while the general statutes "adopted by the gen eral assembly of 1881-S2," defines a tax able poll as 'every made between the ages of 21 and 50 years," etc. Except ing alone this last definition, a taxable poll, since the constitution of 1868 down to the present, in this State has been and is necessarily a citizen. There ore, unless one is a citizen of this State, and of course necessarily a citizen >f the United States. he is not liable to oll tax. Citizens ar vibber native >orn or stu:PzA, an~d anyone who w: 1L i-n ir: a foreica country and has I bxen naturalized as an American :itzn cannot be compelled to pay o~l tax, however long he may have ecsided in this State. I. therefore, con :lude that the Englishman who still iaims allegiance to the kingdom of -reat Britain is not liable to poll tax. G. Duncan Bellinger, Attorney General. Meeting of Insurance Agents. The insurance agents of Columbia ave invited the acents of other cities id towns in the State to meet in con rentiond in this city during the firemans :ournament. The object of the conven :ion is to dis.:uss matters of mutual in eest a'd benefit to the agents. It is lenied, i~owever, that it means any :ombina "n of the companies which vould be anla wjful. A large attendance "HELP ME ACROSS, PAPA.: The La;t Trustful Words of a Dying Little Girl. There was anguish in thle face of those who bent over the little white bed, for they knew that baby Mary was drifting away from them, going out into the dark voyage where so many have been wrested from loving hands, and they tried in vain to keep her, or even to smooth with their kind solici tude her last brief sorrows, they, too, experienced in the bitter hour of part ing, the pangs of death. They only hoped that she did not suffer now. The rings of golden hair lay deep and unstirred on her white forehead, the roses were turned to lilies on her cheeks the lovely violet eyes saw them not, but were upturned and fixed, the breath which was on the pale. pale lips came and went, flattered. and seemed loth to leave its bweet prison. Oh. the awful and cruei strength of death, and the weakness, the helplessness of love! They who loved her better than life, eould not lift a hand to avert the de stroyer, they could only watch and wait until the end should come. Her merry ringing laughter would never again gladden their hearts; her feet would make no more music as they ran patter ing to meet them. Baby Mary was dy ing, and all the house was darkened and hushcd. Then it was as the shadows fell in denser waves about us, that she stirred ever so faiatly. and our hearts gave a great bound as we thought "She is bet ter! She will live!- Yes, she knew us; her eyes moved from one face to another with a dim, uncertain gaze! Oh, how good God was to give here back! How we could praise him and bless him all our lives! She lifted one dainty hand cold-almost pulseless, but better, bet ter-we would have it so--and laid it on the rough browned hand of the rug ged man who sat nearest to her. His eyelids were red with weeping but now a smile lighted his bronzed face like a rainbow as he felt the gentle pressure of his little daughter's hand-the mute, imploring touch, that meant a question. "What is it, darling?" he asked, n broken tones of joy and thanksgiv ing. She could not speak, and so we raised heron the pretty lace pillow, and her wee white face shone in the twilight like a fair star, or a sweet woodland flower. She lifted her heavy eyes to his eyef that even then had the glory and the promise of immortality in them, and reached out her little wasted aims, said in her weary, flute like voice: "Help me across, papa!" Then she was gone! We held to our breaking hearts this frail, beautiful shell, but she was far away, whither we might not follow. She had crossed the dark river and not alone. "Over the river the boatman pale Carried another, the household pet, She crossed on her bosom her dimpled hands And fearlessly entered the phantom bark: We felt it glide over the silvery sands And all our sunshine grew strangely dark." 05i, Infinite Father! When we weary and disaj pointed ones reach oiut pleading hands to thee, wilt thou take us even as the little child, and help us across the mountains of defeat and val ley of humiliation into the eternal rest of thy presence, into the green pastures and beside the still waters, into the City of the New Jerusalem whosc build er and maker is God! A Remedy for Lynohing Representative N. A. Morris of Cobb county, has prepared a bill which pro vides for speedy court trial in all cases where the defendant is charged with the crime of assault. The bill prepared by Representative Morris will be introduc ed at the next session of the general assembly. It is provided in this bill, which is intended to be an act to cover the specific crime of assault, that the accused shall be tried within five days after his arrest and that within five days after his conviction he shall be hanged publicly. The bill further provides that in the event a new trial is asked and the motion overruled that it shall be sent to the supreme court within twenty-four hours and the court shall immediately stop all other busi ness and hear the ease that is being railroaded through. The bill does -not contemplate any delay whatever in the trial of these cases, even making ari rangement for the appointment of counsel by the court in the event law yers for the defendant are ill or absent. -Atlanta Journal. Want Peace The Filipinos seem to have come to the concluslon that we are too strong for them, and they have sued for peace. Several of their officers entered our line rear Manila under a flag of truce last week with a request from one of their leading generals that hostilities be sus pended until the Filipino congress could be convened and patch up terms of peace. This ::equest Gen. Otis de clined to grant, and the Filipinos re turned to their lines. We believe and hope that the war is over, and that there will be no more fighting in the Phili pines bet ivven the Americars and Fili Claims Approved. A telegram has been received from Judge C. P. Townsend at Washington stating that all remaining claims .on account of the mustering of troops had been approved and that a check would be sent to the governor at once. A bout $600 of these claims have been paid, but they amount in all to $10,0i00. The matter of pay for rejected volunteers is still unsettled, but data is being gotten and the matter will be pressed with '.igor before the war department. Wives Cheap in Germany. The trial of Herrmann, charged with the murder of his three wives, whose bodies he was said to have walled up in a cellar was concluded at Berlin Thurs day. Ie was convicted of manslaugh ter and sentenced to 13 years imprison me~nt and 10 years loss of civil rights. Devoured by a Shark. A dispatch from Nice says that the valet of the Earle of Strathmore and Kinghorne, while bathing at Bordig hea, near 3Monte Carlo, was devoured by a shark. The tragedy ccurred in the presence of a crowd of onlookers who were unable to rescue the victim. A Series of Accidents. A Kansas man not long ago shot a dog by accident, and in showing the owner how it was done he shot the lat ter. Subsequently in showing the coroner how he hid shot the owner of the dog the man with the gun shot the A 60C0 0t JOY. .'.4 can~ in y..uh as a humming bird. (Sing hey: for te lhoney and bloom A ndi in.i.-' a litne in my summer bower With the hon-y-su-kle a-1 the sweet Pea inhover. (Sing hey: for the biossams and sweets of life!) Joy cament as a 1-irk when the yeais had gone, (Ah: hush, hush still, for the dre:amf is short!) And I gazed far up tu the melutng blue W~re th rare song dropped like a aciden dew. (Aha, swert is the songr though the dJ:ani be short') Jvy hovers row in a far-off iist. (The iLght draws un and the a Ir I.reathe snow:) And I realh. %-an.ms, with a trerub lng land T]u Lb.-Ad-tpped vlion. of :he Joy hird',, land. (Alad' 1or th,- d 1 of the strm11 And the sno !) - mA M. A. IiENSLEY. Lady Geraldine Mauleverer sat in her dressing-room comfortably hab ited in dressing gown and slippers, glancing fondly now and again at a large morocco case which stood open on her dressing-table, and contained a magnificent necklace of diamonds. Lady Geraldine had just returned from the county ball where her dress had eclipsed that of every other wo man and her diamonds had outshone all other constellations of gems and she was consequently in an agreeable frame of mind. "Dear old thing," said Lady Geral dine, half aloud. "What should I do without you? And to think how near ly I was to having to give up wearing diamonds. What a nuisance it is to be har up, and have debts, and a hus band that has gone to the dogs and disappeared, and does not keep one supplied with pocket money. But I can still beat the other women thanks to my own ingenuity-and no one knows but Marie, who has eyes like a lynx. Heigho!" Lady Geraldine sighed, and settled herself a little more comfortably in her chair. She was not a woman whom one would naturally be en clined to pity, but she had hertroubles. Married young to Capt. Mauleverer, of the Blues, she had spent a year of happiness, to be followed by two years of estrangement and mutual re crimination. Capt. Mauleverer proved a bad bargain; bad in every sense of the word, and when three years after the marriage the discovery of a shady transaction In which he was involved compelled his flight from the coun try, Lady Geraldine found the liberty thus gained decidedly agreeable. She was clever, if not intellectual, and a general favorite at country houses. She had inherited an income of some eight hundred a year from an aunt which enabled her to dress with some extravagance, and to keep up a small house near York, which had come to her as bequest. Her most dearly be loved possession was an old family heirloom, a necklace of diamond, re set in the modern style, and worth so much money that her friends had of ten remonstrated wl'th her on keeping them in the house with no one to de fend them but an elderly butler and a couple of maids. Lady Geraldine, however, laughed all such suggestions to scorn. She was not a nervous wo man, and declared herself a match for any burglar. While Lady Geraidine sat comfort ably reviewing her triumphs of the evening, she heard on the Boft carpet behind her a light footfall, and sup posed it was her maid. "You had better put them away in the safe, Marie," she said. "You are very kind," said a mascu line voice, in low tones. "That Is ex actly what I propose to do. I have a safe that will hold them admirably." With a slight shriek the lady turn ed and saw, standing close behind her, the figure of a tall man, dressed en tirely in black, and wearingasilkmask which concealed the upper part of his face. In his right hand he held a sih ver mounted pistol, the muzzle of which was directed towards her heart. "Let me advise you not to make any outcry," said the stranger, whose gently modulated voice contrasted oddly with his threatening attitude. "I should be sorry to make any fuss but I really cannot afford to have the house aroused." Lady Geraldine could certainly not be called a nervous woman, and after the first shock of surprise, she rallied her faculties amazingly, and smiled, while the color returned to her cheeks. "This Is rather an unceremonious visit, isn't it?" she said, "Gentlemen -for I gather from your voice that you are gentlemen, and gentlemen do not a a rule invade ladies' rooms with re volvers, and wearing masks-may I ask what you want?" "I want your diamonds, nothing else, believe me," replied the Intruder. "My diamonds?" cried the lady, "surely you would not be so 'cruel as to rob me of n~y chief charms?" "Pardon me," said the visitor, "only time can do that." Lady Geraldine laughed. "For an avowed burglar," she said, "you are Immensely polite. Do not find it pays in your profession? I suppose it is use ful to wheedle servant girls, but you see I am not a servant, and am prool against flattery. A diamnond necklace for a compliment Is rather too high r price." "I do not exactly see," said the burg rr, quite unruffled, "how you are going o avoid It. Johnson is away, and there are only two women besides yourself in he house. I think you had better make he exchange with a good grace, tough I can realize that you do not njoy your position." Lady Geraldine looked keenly at the an for a few moments, and then, with er foot, pushed a chair towards him, "You are rather interesting," she aid. "Sit down for a few minutes, ad let us talk. You will find cigar ettes in that case, and Meraschino it the cellaret." The burglar took the chair offered im, but declined both tobacco and iquor, on the ground that he never smoke or drank in business hours. "Don't you find that mask rather un leasantly stuffy?" inquired the lr-dy. If you would like to take It off, don't ind me In the least." "And have my description in the pa per to-morrow?" replied the burglar. No, thank you." "I think that I could give It In my ase," said the lady. "Listen: 'A tall. fair man, about 40 years of age, scar ou right temple, and left eyebrow, blu'e me, rather nlose together. dark eye ABS9WUELY P Makes the food more dell ROYA& 2A04N P&MV "You needn't go on, Geraldine," said the man pulling off the mask, and flinging it on the table. "I see you know me well enough." "Do you think anyone could live with you for three years and not know you pretty well, Arthur?" asked the lady in a tone that made her visitor wince. "I knew you had gone to the devil, but I did not think you had come down to robbing your wife." "If you do not want to lose your jewes." said Captain Mauleverer, "write me a check for four thousand, and call it square." Lady Geraldine laughed bitterly. "This is a delightful reunion of two* dissevered souls that ought to beat as one. I am afraid, Arthur, you do most of the 'beating,' don't you? No, I don't think I will write you a check. My bank account is too low. How much money have you?" "I have two hundred pounds, and upon my honor-well, upon the Bible -I have no more. With what I can get on your jewels, I shall have enough to leave the country and become an other man." "A laudable ambition, certainly," said Lady Geraldine. "I will offer you another suggestion. Suppose we makt this a regular business transaction. Rather than be robbed, I will sell you the jewels for half of your two hundred and give you a receipt to the effect that it was a regular sale." "You take it coolly, my girl," said Captain Mauleverer, "I always said you were a well plucked one. Well, let it be as you say." ' He took out a pocketbook and count ed out ten ten-poundnotes on the table; then he wrote on a sheet of crested paper. "Received from Captain Arthur Mauleverer the sum of one hundred pounds, as the price of a diamond necklace." "Sign it," he said, handing it to his wife, and at the same time picking up the jewel-case and dropping it Into his pocket. Lady Geraldine appended her signa ture, and carefully counted the money. "Don't blame me if you are sorry for your bargain, Arthur," she said lightly. Captain Mauleverer laughed. "Well, good-bye," he said. "It has been a queer meeting, hasn't it? I am off for Amsterdam to sell the stones, and then for Australia. Will you shake hands before I go?" "Why not?" said Lady Geraldine, lightly. Always shake hands over a good bargain. Good-bye, and if you happen to be in the neighborhood of Botany Bay, you will probably find the associations rather interesting." She stepped to the French window, through which her husband had made his entrance and exit, and watched his figure disappear in the night; then she laughed softly to herself. "Poor Arthur!" she said, t'he is still very good logking. Heigho, I am afraid the poor fellow will be disap pointed. What luck it was that I re ceived that money in time." She rang the bell, and in a few moments her maid made her appearance. "Marie," she said, "I shall want you to go up to town by the early train. Go to Solomon's, and tell him I want a facsimile of my necklace as soon as he can make it. He has the stones to copy, and can repeat the setting as closely as possible. Now put me to bed, for I have had rather an exciting even ing." In a small room in the top of a low London lodging-housesatan ill-favored man gnawing his nails, and glancing now and again at'the door with an air of impatience. Presently a tread sounded on the crazy stair, and Cap tain Mauleverer entered the room with a jaunty at'r, and threw himself into a chair. "Well," said the other, in a surly tone, "did you work it." "Like a charm," replied the Captain, "and saved my conscience." "D- your conscience!" was the reply, "where's the stones." "In my pocket," said the captain, "and a little receipt for the money paid to rthem." He took out the case and the receipt, and laid them on the table. "What's this," said the surly man, "one hundred pounds? Do you mean to say you bought them?" "What if I did?" replied the other. "Isn't it worth a hundred to get four or five thousand, and no risk of quod? Besides, it was my own cash." The surly man grunted, and pIcked up the case, which he opened, while Mauleverer watched him in evident expectation of some complimentary remark. "Well, Fancy," he said, having to gather anything from his friend's countenance, "are you not going to congratulate me on my management of the affair?" Fancy laid down the case, and plac ing his hands on his knees, took a long stare at Mauleverer. "How long have you and me been pardners?" he asked. "Five months or thereabouts," said the captain, airily, "why do you ask?" "B ecause," said the other, deliber ately, "you and me can't be pardners no longer. It won't pay Fancy Wills to be any more pardners with ad ool." The captain started to his feet with an oath. "What do you mean?" he said. "How much do you reclkon them dia monds is worth ?" Fancy asked, with an ugly grin. "About four thousand, after deduct ing expenses, I should reckon," re plied the captain, fiercely. "What are you grinning at, you old villian?" "I'm a grinnin' at you," replied Fancy, showing every yellow tooth in his head. "I'm grinnin' at the hand some captain that got played for a fool by his wife. Ho: ho: ho! what a lart she must have had on you. I'll tell you what them diamonds is worth. They're a good quality of paste, and at the outside they're worth about twen ty quid." Why Doctors cemit .suicide. Statistics show that the medical pro fession is more prone to suicide than any other. During the last three years the number of suicides occuring among physicigns in the United Kingdom has been, respectively, 45, 49 and 47 per annum, an average of nearly one to 2,000. or, as the death rate among phy sicians, is about 25 to 1,000, nearlyi ne-fiftieth of all the dpaths In the profession have been by suicide. It has been suggested that an ex plantation of this tendency may be L ANNO FOWDER LRE dous and wholesome aCO., w vOMe. runcies 1n tie mina or a doctor, on ac count of his constant association with the sick and dying, or because he has the requisite knowledge of how to die painlessly and conveniently. A medical journal dessents from all these views, and holds that the leading factor in the accessibility of tne poison drugs, which are almost invariably used. Suicide is largely a matter of insane impulse. Imagine a man fatigued in body and depressed in spirits-as a doctor often is-swayed by an over whelming conviction of theutterweari ness of life to the impulse of suicide. If he had but to put on his hat and walk to the chemist's and tax his in genuity for a lie with which to explain his desire for poison, he might post pone the fatal act from mere inertia, or may meet a friend or have his interest in life aroused by one of a multitude or everyday occurances, or physical exer cise may bring him to his senses. If, however, as is the case with al most any doctor, he has simply to feel in his pockets, or walk across his room to get a deadly poison, the impulse may be carried into execution before any thing can happen to supplant it in the brain. Lockwood's Client. When the eminent English advocate, Sir Frank Lockwood, was a young man, he was retained to defend a ruf flan accused of a desperate crime. There seemed little hope of saving the prisoner, and Lockwood said to him: "Take my advice and plead guilty and save the old man trouble. It's your only chance of getting a light ren tence." The prisoner looked him up and down, and leaning over the bar of the dock, said: "You fuzzle-headed beggar, what do you suppose I pay you for? For me to do your work that you can't do? Go back to your seat and do what you're paid for!" Lockwood went back and got the man acquitted. Spoke for Twenty-Six Hours. The longest speech on record was made by Mr. do Cosmos in the legis lature of British Columbia when a measure was pending to confiscate the lands of settlers. He was in a hope less minority, and the enemy expect ed to rush the bill through at the end of the session. It was 10 in the morn. ing; at noon the next day, if no action were taken, the act of confiscation would fail. De Cosmos arose, spoke for twenty-six hours continuously, and then with baked lips, bloodshot eyes, and almost dead with fatigue, he won the victory that nearly cost him his life. The Country Postmaster. A new postoffice was established in a small village away out West, and a native of the Boil was appointed postmaster. After a while complaints were made that no mail was sent out from the new office, and an inspector was sent to inquire into the matter. He called upon the postmaster, and stat ing the cause of his visit, asked why no mall had been sent out. The post master pointed to a big and nearly empty mail bag banging up in a corner and said: "Well, I ain't sent it out 'cause the bag ain't nowhere nigh full yet." ...--__ __ __ Size of the British Empire.' At the present moment the British' empire is fifty-three times the size of Frank, fifty-two times that of Ger many, three and a half times that of the United States of America, thrice the size of Europe, with treble the population of all the Rusas.n It ex tends over 11,000,000 square miles, oc cupies one-fifth of the globe contain ing one-fifth of the human race, or 850,000,000 people, embraces four con tinents, 10,000 islands, 500 promono tories and 2,000 rivers. An American physician in China writes that he has -been specially fin pressed by the vitality of the natives. Of a hundreCd cass treated In a dis pensary, some of them very serious, not one proved fatal. COST OF TH~E WAi -TO DATE. Treasury Officials Put the Cash Expen dituares at About $275,000,000. The monthly comparative statementt of the government receipts and expen ditures shows that the total receipts for April, 1899, were $41,611,611,587, an increase, as compared with April, 189%, of about $8.600,000. The expendi tures during A pril, 1899, were $65,949, 105, an incresse over A pril last year of $21,700.000. Included in the expendi tures is the payment of $20,000,000 to The total receipts for the ten mor~ths of the present year were S424,056 014, as compared with $340,926,950 for the same period in tiate last fiscal year. The expenditures for the last ten months aggregate $533.451,409, as compared with $347,673.195 for the same period last year. During last April the receipts from the several sorces of revenue are given as fellows: Customs, $17,645,945, increase /'over April, 1898, about $3,450.000; internal revenue, $22,207,099, increase. $7. 387,000; miscellaneous, $1, 758. 551, decrease, $2.242,000. The expenditures on account of the war department since July 1, 1898. ag aregate $210,645,536; on account of the navy department, 555,5o22. 894. Th'e amount of cash payments already made on account of the war is approximna ted y the treasury officials at from $273, 000,000) to $275,000,000. Of this amount about $196,000,000, it is esti mated, has been paid through the war department; $54,000,000 through the navy department; $20,000,000 under the treaty with Spain, and $4,000,000 on acount of increased expenses in the civil establishment. The Human Face. A German biologist says that the two sides of a face are never alike. In two cases out of five the eyes are out of line: one eye is stronger than the other in seven persons out of ten, and the right eye is generally higher than the London Fountains. In the streets and suburbs of L.ondon there are now not only 712 fountains for human beings, but 286 large troughs for horses and cattle and 470 small troughs for sheep and dogs. Eyes of the House Fly. The common house fly has 16,000 eyes. T o the fly, therefore, caught by the small boy, the latter appears as an army of giants.