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THE SIN OF ("SMIP. Rev. Dr. Talmage Denounces the Whispering of Evil. AMONG GREAT VILLAiNIES. More Harmful Than Open Sh:m ders. Destroying GcoJ Names the Worst of Crimes. In this dis'urse Dr. Tain:e vr ously arraigns one uf the grea! vliS that have cursed the woria au ures generous interpretatiCn of the eharae teis of others; text, llomans 1, 2. "Full of envy. murder, debate, deceit, malignity-whisperers. Paul was here calling the long roll of the world's villainy, and he puts in the midst of this roll those persons known in all cities and communities ana j1aces as whisperers. They are so called be :muse they generally speak undervoice and in a confidential way; their hand to the side of their mouth acting as a fun nel to keep the precious information from wandering into the wrong ear. They speak softly not bccause they have lack of lung force or because they are overpowered with the spirit of gen leness, but because they want to es cape the consequences of defamation. If no one hears but the person whisper ed unto and the offender be arraigened, he can deny the whole thing, for whis perers are always first class liars: Some people whisper because they are hoarse from a cold or because they wish to convey some useful information without disturbing others, but the creatures photographed by the apostle in my text give muffled utterance from sinister and depraved motive, and some times you can only hear the sibilant sound as the letter "S" drops from the tongue into the listening ear, the brief hiss of the serpent as it projects its venom. Whisperers are masculine and femi nine, with a tendency to majority on the side of those who are called "the lords of creations." Whisperers are heard at every window of bank cashier and are heard in all counting rooms as well as in sewing societies and at meet ings of asylum directors and managers. They are the worst foet of society, re sponsible for miseries innumerable: they are the scavengers of the world, driving their cart througn every community, and today I hold up for your holy anathema and excreation these whis perers. From the frequency with which Paul speaks of them under different titles I conclude that he must have sufferea. somewhat from them. His personal presence was very defective, and that made him perhaps the target of their ridicule, and besides that he was a bachelor, persisting in his celibacy down into the sixties-indeed, all the way through-and, some having failed in their connubial designs upon him, the little missionary was put under the raking fire of these whisperers. Het was no doubt a rare morsel for their* scandalizatibn, and he cannot keep his patience any longer, and he lays hold of these miscreants of the tongue and cives them a very hard setting down in my text among the scoundrelly and t ie murderous. "Envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity-whisperers. The law of libel makes quick and -stout grip of open slander. If I should in a plain way, -calling you by name, charge you with fraud or theft or mur der or uncleanness, tomorrow morning I might have peremtory documents served on me, and I would have to pay in dollars and cents for the damage I had done your character- But these creatures spoken of in my text are so small that they escape the fine tooth comb of the law. They go on, and they go on, escaping the judges and the juries and the penitentiaries. The district attorney cannot find them, the sheriff cannot find them, the grand jury cannot find them. Shut them off from one route of perfidy, and they start on another. Y on cannot by the force of moral sentiment persuade them to de sist. You might as well read the Ten Commandments to a flock of crows, ex pecting them to retreat under the force of moral sentiment. They are to be found everywhere, these whisperers. I think their paradise is a country village of about 1.000 or 2 000) people whe e every body knows everybody, but the'y also are to be found in large quauutu~es in all our cities.. They have a prying disposition. They look into the basement windows at the tables of their neighbors and can tell just what they have morning and night to eat. They can s.ee as far through a keyhole as other people can see with a door wide open. They can hear con versation on the opposite side of the room. Indeed, the world to them is a whispering gallery. They always put the worst construction on everythrxg. Some morning a wife descends into the streets, her eyes damp with tears. and that is a stimulus to the tattler andi is enough to set up a business for three or four weeks. "I guess that husband and wife don't live happily together. I wonder if he hasn't been abusing her? I~s outrageous: He ought to be dis eiplined. He ought to be brought up before the church. I'll go right over to my neighbors, and I'll let them know about this matter." She rushes in all out of breath to a neighbor's house and says: '"Oh, Mrs. Allear. have you heard the dreadful news? Why, our neigh bor, poor thing, came down off the steps in a flood of tears. That brute of a husband has been abusing her. Well it's just as I expected.e I saw him the other afternoon very smiling and very gracious to some one who smiles back, and I thought then I would just go up to him and tall him he had better go home and look after his wife and fami ly, who probably at that very time were up stairs crying their eyes out. Oh, Mrs. Allear, do have your husband go over and put an end to ti~is trouble! It's simply outrageous that or" neighbor hood should be disturbed in idis way! It's awful!" The fact is that one man or woman set on fire of this hellish spirit will keep a whole neighborhood a boil. It does not require any t'ery great brain. The chief requisition is that the woman have a small family or no family at all, because if she have a large family th.n she would have to stay at home and look after them. It is very important that she be single or have no children at all, and then she ran atteird to all the secrets of the neighborhood all the time. A woman with a large family makes a very poor whisperer. It is astonishing how these whisper era gather up everything. They know everything that happens. There arc telephone and telegraph wires reaehing from their ears to all the houses in the neighborhood. They have no taste for healthy news, bat for the scraps and peelings thrown out of the scullery into the back yard they have great avidity. Ic theepaprs tCy have ar tImC t, go abroad. On the day when there arc four or fe -lumns of delightful pI vare letters published in a divorce ease she stays at home and reads and reads ana reacs. Nc time for her Bible that day, but to.vard night, perhaps. she may fin'd time to run out a little while and see whether there are any new develop mnfofnts. Satan does not have to kcep a very sharp lookout for his evil dominion in that .ihburhood. Ile has let out to .:er t whlIe contract. She gets hus bu:s and wives into a quarrel and brothers and sisters into antagonism, and she disgusts the pastor with the flaek and the floek with the pastor, and she nakes noighbors who before were kindly iTsnosed toward each other over 5usic-inus and critical. so wlien one of thc neighborS passes by in a carriage they hizs throulah thcir teeth anA say, "Alh. we could all keep earriages if we never paid our iebts When two or three whisperers get to gether. they stir a caldron of tiouble. which makes me think of the three witches of -Macbeth" iancing around a boiling caldron in a dark cave: Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn and caldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake In the caldron boil and bake: Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind worm's sting, Lizard's leg and owlet's wing For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell both boil and bubble. Double. double, toil and trouble, Fire burn and caldron bubble, Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy. maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt se2 shark: Make the gruel thick and stark: Add thereto a tiger's chaudron For the ingredients of our caldron. Double, double, toil and trouble, Fire burn and caldron bubble; Cool it with a baboon's blood, Then the charm is firm and good. I would only change Shakespeare in this, that where he puts the word "witch" I should put the word "whis perer." Ah, what a caldron! Did you ever get a taste of it? I have more re spect for the poor waif of the street that goes down under the gaslight with no home and no God-for she deceives no one as to what she is-than I have for these hags of respectable society who cover up their tiger claws with a fine shawl and bolt the hell of their heart with a diamond breastpin. The work of masculine whisperers is chiefly seen in the embarrassment of business. Now, I suppose there are hun dreds of men here who at some time have been in business trouble. I will undertake to say that in nine cases out of ten it was the result of some whis perers's work. The whisperer uttered some suspicion in regard toyour credit. You sold your horse and carriage be cause you had no use for them, and the whisperer said: "Sold his horse and carriage because he had to sell them. The fact that he sold his horse and car riage shows he is going down in busi ness." One of your friends gets embrassed, and you are a little inv'olved with him. The whisperer says: "I wonder if he can stand under all this pressure? I think he is going down. I think he will have to give up." You borrow oney out of a bank, and the director whispers outside about it, and after awhile the suspicion gets fairly started, and it leaps from one whisperer's lips to another whisperer's lips until all the people you owe want their money and want it right away, and the business circles come around you like a pack of wolves, and, though you hadassets four times more than were necessary to to meet your liabilities, crash went everything. Whisperers! Oh, how much business men have suffered! Sometimes in the circles of clergy men we discuss why it is that a great many merchants do not go to church. I will tell you why they do not go to church. By the time Saturday night comes Lhey are worn out with the an noyances of business life. They have had enough meanness practiced upon them to set their whole nervous system a-twitah. I think among the worst of the whis perers are those who gather up all the harsh things that have been said about you and bring them to you-all the things said against you, or against your family, or against your style of busi ness. They gather them all up, and they bring them to you; they bring them to you in the very worst shape; they bring them to you without any of the extenuating circumstances, and after they have made your feelings all raw, very raw, they take this brine, this aua fortis, and rub it in with a coarse towel and rub it in until it sinks to the bone. They make you the pincushion in which they thrust all the sharp things they have ever heard about you. "Now, don't bring me into the scrape. Now, don't tell anybody I told you. Lat it be between you and me. Don't involve me in it at all." They aggravate you to the point of profanity, and they wonder you cannot sing psalm tunes! They turn you on a spit before a hot fire and wonder why you are not absorbed in gratitude to them because they turn you on a spit. Peddlers of night shade! Peddlers of Canada this te! Peddlers of nux vomica! Some times they get you in a corner where you cannot very well escape without being rude, and then they tell you all about this one, all about that one, and all about the other one, and they talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. After awhile they go away, leaving the place looking like a barnyard after the foxes and the weasels have been around; here a wing, and there a claw, and yonder an eye, and there a crop. Ihow they do make the feathers fly! Rather than the defamation of good names it seems to me it would be al most as honorable and useful if you just took a box of matches in your pocket nd a razor in your hand and go through the streets and see how many houses you can burn down and how many throats you can cut. That is not a much worse business. The destruction of a man's name is worse than the de struction of his life. A wt :an came in cofessional to a priest and told him that she had been slandering her neigh bors. The priest promised her absolu tion on condition of her performing a penance. Hie gave her a thistle top and said. "You can take that thistle and scatter the seeds all over the field." Se went and did so and came back. "Now, said the priest, "gather up all tose seeds." She said, "I can't." 'Ah, he said. "I know you can't. ter can you gather up the evil wods von spoke about your neighbors." All good men and all good women have somietimes had detractors after them. John WXesley's wife whispered about him whispered all over England, kep. o' wisperin about that good man-as od a man as ever lived-and kept on hisering until the connubial relation was dissolved. Jesus Christ had these whisperers after him, and they charged him with company. -A wiuc bibbel and thc friend of publinans and sinners." Yot take the best man that ever lived and put a detective on his track for ten years, watching where he gocs and when he comes with a determination to dis cover everything and to think he goes here for a bad purpose and there for a bad purpoe., with that determina tion of de.-troying him, at the end-of the ten years he will be held despicable in the sight of a great many people. Some people say there is no hell, but if there be no hell for su-.h a despoiler of womanly character it is high tine that some philanthropist built one! But there is such a place established. and what a time the v will have when all the whisperers get down there together rehearsing things! Everlasting carni val of mud. Were it not for the un comfortable surroundings you might suppose they would be glad to get there In that region where they are all bad what opportunities for exploitation by these whisperers. On eprth, to despoil their neighbors sometimes they had to lie about them, but down there they can say the worst things possible about their neighbors and tell the truth. Ju bilee of whisperers, Semiheaven of scandal mongers stopping their gabble about their diabolical neighbors only long enough to go up to the iron gate and ask some newcomer from the earth, "What is the last gossip in the city on earth where we used to live?" Now. how are we to war against this iniquity which curses every community on earth? First, by refusing to listen to or believe a whisper. Every court of the land has for a law and all decent communities have for a law that you must hold people innocent until tney are proved guilty. There is only one person worse than the whisperer, and that is the man or woman who listens without protest. The trouble is, you hold the sack while they fill it. The receiver of the stolen goods is just as bad as the thief. An ancient writer declares that a slanderer and a man who receives the slander ought both to be hanged-the one by the tongue and the other by the ear-and I agree with him When you hear something bad about your neighbors, do not go all over and ask about it, whether it is true and scatter it and spread it, You might as well go to a smallpox hospital and take a patient and carry him all through the community asking people if they really thought it a case of smallpox. That would be very bad for the patient for all the neighbors. Do not re: i slanders and whisperings. Do t oc make yourself the inspector of war- s, and the supervisor of carbuncles, , ad the commissioner for street gutters, a nd the holder of stakes for a dog fight. Can it be that you, an immortal man; that you, an immortal woman, can find no better business than to become a gutter inspector? Beside that, at your family table l low no detraction. Teach your chil dren to speak well of others. Show them the difference between a bee and a wasp-the one gathering honey, the other thrusting a sting. I read of a family where they kept what they call ed "A Slander Book," and when any slanderous words were uttered in the house about anybody or detraction ut tered it was all put down in this book. The book was kept carefully. For the first few weeks there were a great many entries, but after awhile there were no entries at all. Detraction stopped in that household. It .would be a good thing to have a slander book in all households. Are any of you given to this habit of whispering about others? Let me per suade you to desist. Mount Taurus was a great place for eagles, and cranes would fly along that way, and they would cackle so loud that the eagles would know of their coming, and they would pounce upon them and destroy them. It is said that the old cranes found this out and before they started on their flight they would always have a stone in their mouth so they could not cackle, and then they would fly in perfect safety. Oh, my friends, be as wise as the old cranes and avoid the folly of the young cranes! Do not cackle. If there are people here who are whis pered about, if there are people here who are slandered, if theie are people here who are abused in any circle of life, let me say for your encouragement that these whisperers soon run out. They may do a little damage for awhile but after awhile their detraction be comes a eulogy and people understand them just as well as though some one chalked all over their overcoat or their shawl these words: "Here goes a whis perer. Room for the leper. Room!" You go ahead and do your duty, and God will take care of your reputation. How dare you distrust him? You have committed to him your souls. Can you not trust him with your reputa tion? Get down on your knees before God and settle the whole matter there. That man whom God takes care of is well sheltered. Let me charge you, my friends, to make right and holy use of the tongue. It is loose at oce end and can swing either way, but it is fastened at the other end to the floor of your mouth, and that makes you responsible for the way it wags. Xanthius, the philoso ~her, told his servant that on the mor row he was going to have some friends to dine, and told him to get the best thing he could find in the market. The philosopher and his guests sat down the next day at the table. They h..d noth ing but tongue-four or five courses of tongue-tongue cooked in this way and tongue cooked in that way, and the philosopher lost his patience and said to his servant, "Didn'a I tell you to get the best thing in the market?" Hie said: "'I did get the best thirng in the market. Isn't the tongue the orgau~ of sociality, the organ of eloquence, the organ of kindness, the organ of wor ship?" Then Xanthus said, "Tomorrow I want you to get the worst thing in the market.' And on the morrow the phi losopher sat at the table, and there was nothing there but tongue-four or five courses of tongue-tongue in this shape and tongue in that shape, and the phi losopher again lost his patience and said, "Didn't I tell you to get the worst thing in the market?" The servant re plied, "I did, for isn't the tongue the organ of blasphemy, the organ of dlefa mation, the organ of lying?" Oh, my friends, e'nploy the tongue which God so wonderfully created as the organ of taste, the organ of de.:lu' i tion, the organ of articul't ion to make others happy and in the service of God! If you whisper, whisper good-encour agement to the fallen and hope to the lost. Ah, my friends, the time will soon conme when we will all whisper' The voice will be enfeebled in the last sickness, and, though that voice could laugh and shout and sing and halloo un til the forest echoes answered. it will be so feeble then we can only whisper con solation to those whom we leave be hind and only whisper our hope of hea While 1 speak this very moment there are hundreds whispering their ,las utterances. Oh, when that solemn hour comez to you and to mc, _1 come 3oon it will. may it be found that we did our best to serve Christ, and to cheer our comrades in the earthly streg gle. and that we consecrated not only our hand. but our tongue. to God. So that the shadows that fall around our dying pillow shall not be the evening twilight of a gathering night, but the morning twilight of an everlasting day. This morning at hali past 4 o'clock I looked out of my window, and the stars were very dim. I looked out a few mo ments after, and the stars were almost invisible. I looked out an hour or two afterward. Not a star was to be seen. What was the matter with the start? Had they melted into darkness? No. They had melted into the glorious light of a Sabbath morn. New England's Crime. The loss of her cotton mill industry is not the greatest calamity that the fu ture has in store for New England. [cr greatest calamity is to be found in her exceedingly low birth rate. An average of about two children to the family is the rule among the old New Englanders. Observers of the decline of the old New England stock as a re sult of this low birth rate declare that it is only a question of time when the prolific infiowing French-Canadians will one day possess New England's rural districts, while the children of the Irish and other foreigners will pos sess its cities. There is no doubt about the correctness of this position. Old New England is passing, and in a few more decades a new population will have supplanted the old. This is a patent fact to all but those who dwell within the sacred precincts of New England, bu. it will become plain to them even in a few more years. In curtailing the birth rate the people of New England have committed a great crime against their section, and as a punishment their inheritance will be taken from them and given to others. The impending fate of New England should be a warn ing to uF of the South. We should arnestly pray that the Malthusian ontagion may not invade our beauit nl So toudth -lanany great extent for many years to come, for should it do so it will mean that the Negro will supersede us, as the French-Canadians are the old New England stock, and in herit the land of our fathers. A high birth rate among the whites of the South is the easiest and simplest so lution of the race problem, that we hear -) much about from time to time. Al ready great alarm has been felt owing to the belief that the blacks were in creasing much more rapidly than the whites. But happily the last census established beyond question the fact that the whites are increasing faster than the blacks in proportion to popula tion. Whether this desirable ratio will be maintained by the census of 1900 and those that follow remains to be seen. It cannot be doubted that upon the comparative birth rate of the tvo races as determined by investigation during the next few decades will de pend the remote history and welfare of the southern states. The South should profit by New England's sad ex perience and pray for a high birth rate among her white people, as therein lies her only safety from Negro domination in the distant future. Cow Thieves Captured. The Augusta Herald says: "Charley Jones, colored, was arrested Wednesday afternoon by Sergeant Norris of the Augusta police force and Officer Webb. They arrested him at the instance of Detective G. B. Kittrell of Orange burg county, S. C. The detective ar rived here yesterday and had a confer ence -with the police. He said he was after Charley Jones, who had been stealing cows in Orangeburg county and who was wanted for the murder of a man some years ago. Sergeant Norris and Officer Webb took the trail. They arrested Jones out near Railroad ave nue about dusk. He was sent to the station and is therc now. He denies the charge. This morning another party, who is said to be concerned in the cow stealing case with Jones, was arrested by Officer Webb at about the same place where Jones was appre hended. His name is nothing less than Simon Washington Hampton. Both are charged with cow stealing, but the first one captured also has the charge of murder overhanging him. They will be taken to South Carolina. There is a bit of uncertainty about the man Jones being the one wanted for murder, but he will be taken to Or angeburg county and the matter fully investigated." Corn Crop Ruined. The Columbia State says Capt. D. J. Griffith, superintendent of the peniten tiary, returned from the State farm Tuesday and tells of a bad state of af fairs on the bottom lands of the De Saussure farm. The young corn on 250 acres has been completely destroyed by worms, bugs and other pests. lHe brought back a number of specimens of stalks ruined by the depredations of the worm. The stalks are eaten al mot through and the leaves are shred ded. A Ie~v acres on the Reid farm have suff'r'd in like manner and a number of neighboring farmers state that their bottom lands have been vis ited by the pesta. The uplands have fared better, and for this reason Col. Grifith thinks the vermin germanated in the spring freshets which flooded the lowlands.__________ Marriage in the Philippines. The Negritos have a curious mar riage custom, says Self Culture. When a young man makes known his prefer ence, the young woman flees from him, while he gives chase and catches her in his arms. She struggles and frees her self, whereupon the chase is renewed, and so on until he has caught her the third time, when she yields, and he pr'udly leads her back to her father's dwelling. The father and mother of the bride-elect then meet with the zon tracting parties. the latter kneeling side by side. The father then takes some water in a cocanut shell and throws it over them. Continuing the ceremony, he take~s each by the neck and bumps their heads together everal times, and they are thou adjudgecd to be duly married. A wed ding tour of five days' s. journ alone in the inoun tains fsows. after which they take up their abode as staid citizens among their friends. A Thoughtful Act. Governor McSweeney has obtained through a Chlicago concern a very handsomely bound scrap book which contains clippings from all newspapers in the United States that had anything to say about the death of his predeces sor either in its editorial or news col umns. The volume is indeed a hand sonc and valuable one the pages being admirably fitted for the purpose for which they are used. Gov. McSweeney will send the book to Mrs. Ellerbe with his compliments, having obtained it for that purpose. Such a volume is of course invaluable to the family and no doubt the gift will be most highly Wrmational Conered 'h.h, educational conference reccntly held at Capron Springs, Va., was a most important gathering and is engag ing the attention of t. oughtful mcn in all sections of our country. The rep resentative character of those who par ticipated in the proceedings hAs left its impress upon the public mind. The presiding oflicer was Dr. J. L. M. Cur ry and a list of the leading spirits pres ent includes prominent southern edu cators and men well known for their intcret in the cause of southern educa tion. There was no evidence of any sectiona' feeling and those who came from the north freely recognize that the chief part of the problem of south err. education is to be found in the pro per and thorough educiatioi of the white race as the independent and permanent ly dominant race. Most of the ad dresses and papers. says the Augusta Chronicle, dealt with only one phase of the broad subject of education in the south, but four of them handled the entire subject .ith the greates ability and calmness. These were the ad dresses made by Dr. Curry, President Wilson, Dr Dickerman. and President Baldwin. These distinguishedd the conference, it is believed, above any similar body that has met in this coun try for a generation, if not for the en tire period of its history. Dr. Curry gave a review of the en tire field. He showed what the south had been and what it is, in so far as to illustrate his (laim that the present condition dates back to the end of the war. He gave the following data: In 1860 the northern states had a popula tion of 19,000,000, 205 colleges and universities, with 1.407 pro fessors and 29,044 students. In the sama year the southern states had a population of 8,000,000. 262 colleges and universities, with 1,4SS professors and 27,055 students. These are the figures of the last census before the war. At the same time the north was spending for its universities and col leges $1,514,68S and $4,663,749 for its academies yearly; and the south was spending $1,662,419 for its colleges and universities and $1,328,127 for its academies yearly. The showing is tre mendously in favor of the south, and Dr. Curry said it fully explained the fact that before the war the great leaders of men-the Washingtons, Jeffersons, Madisons, Henrys, Clays, Taylors, Scotts, etc.-weie found in the south, the product of the southern school sys tem. With the war everything suc cumbed to the general disaster. Now the northern colleges and universities have a productive fund of $102,721, 451, while the southern colleges and universities have a productive fund of only $15,741,000. Under such condi tions, he said, it is no wonder that the south finds herself utterly unable to keep up with the rapid progress of the northern states. He also spoke of the great work that the south has done for education since the war. In thirty years it has spent $500.000,000 in edu cational work, $100,000,000 of which went for the Negroes. an amount large ly in excess of their just proportion, if the sum had been equally divided be tween the tw> races on any basis what ever. Good systems of public schools, which Dr. Carry declared to be the most original and highest idea yet con ceived by the American people, had been established in every southern state. This he declared to be the grand est work ever accomplished by any peo ple in so short a time after sa great a disaster. An Unqualified Success. The News and Courier, of Thursday, says: "Col. Asbury Coward, superin tendent of the South Carolina Military Academy, returned to the city from Orangeburg Tuesday night, and was yesterday asked about the encampment and the prospects of the next session of the Academy. Col. Coward said that unquestionably the visit of the ca dets to Orangeburg bad been one of the most pleasant incidents in dhe history of the school, and he was inclined to think one of the most useful. The people of Orangeburg were untiring in their efforts to make the stay of the cadets and officers agreeable and they succeeded most admirably. The ca dets. by their soldierly conduct and gentlemanly deportment, he was sure, had made an excellent impression upon the people of that section, and it was thus mutually beneficial. In talking of the next session Col. Coward said that the future of the Academy seemed very bright. There will be nine bene ficiaries admitted at the next term, and these will come, one each, from the following counties: .Aiken, Anderson, Clarendon, Greenville, Horry, Newber ry, Orangeburg, Pickens and Charles ton. Blanks of application to enter competitive examination, with sheet giving necessary information, can be obtained from the respective county superintendents of education. All ap plications, fully and clearly made out, must be in the hands of the chairman, Col. C. S. Gadsden, by August 1. Be sides these there will be one vacant scholarship in the disposition of the City of Charleston. Information con cerning this scholarship can be obtain ed from the city authorities " Anti-Trust Delegates. Wednesday the governor received a letter from Chicago announcing the postponement until Sept. 13 16 of the proposed conference on combinations and trusts that was to have been held in that city this month. The governor was asked to appoint seven delegates to the conference to represent this State. This he did, announcing the following: Frst district-J. HI. Marshall. Second district-L. W. Youmans. Third district-J. E. Boggs. Fourth distrit-T. L. Gantt. Fifth district-J. S. Brice. Sixth district-A. HI. Williams. Seventh district-S. HI. Rodgers. Ate Poisoned Candy. Mrs. Elsie Scheib, 610 Ellis Street, San Francisco, ate of some candy re eived by mail on Friday and since has been seriou-sly ill with symtoms of arse nicl poisuning. On the day mention ea box of candy and a letter were re ecived at Mrs. Scheib's house. They had not been sent to her, but were ad dressed to her friends, who frequently visited her. The box was opened and some of the candy was offered to a half dozen young women who were em ploy ed as dressmakers by Mrs. Scheib. They declined to take the candy, but Mrs. Scheib ate a small quantity. Soon afterwards she became alarmingly ill, with every symptom of having been poisoned by arse:ne Antidotes were administered and she is reco rinng. Mch mystery surrounds the ca. A Fair Exchange. A Perkins, Okle., bachelor started to Joplin, Mo., not long ago with a wag onload of peanuts, and on the way he met a widow with seven children. It was a case of first-sight love, and marrying her the next day, he carried aiagnoad of family back home with THE V'OR S AND WEATFIIB. What the Department of Atiiculture Says About Them. The following is the weekly bulletia of the South Carolina section of the climate and crop service of the United States weather bureau issued last week by Director Bauer: Columbia, S. C.. July 4, 1899. The week ending July 31 averaged lightly cooler than usual, especially over the western portion of the State, during the latter half of the week, with airima temperatures g-nerally below xty degces. There were numerous showers from June 27th to the 30th, heavy and well distributed over the eastern half of the State, and light aver the north central and northwestern portions, where the rainfall was poorly distributed, and where more rain is needed, except over very limited areas. Over the areas of deficient rainfall, crops are not making satisfactory growth, but over the eastern portion of the State generally, they are up to, or above, their average condition on July 1st. and are generally very prom isil!r. Worms continue to destroy corn; bat worms to injure tobacco; and caterpil lars to devastate rice; while lice on cotton have appeared at various points. Cotton continues to make seasona ble growth and is blooming and fruit ing freely, with no reports of shedding. The plants are generally undersized, but vigorous and healthy. The nights have been too cool latterly for the best development of sea island cotton. Corn, is in a few sections. very prom ising, but on the whole it is below its seasonable average condition. Wire worms are destroying old corn at many points. Corn is being laid by. Tobacco varies greatly in condition. with many reports of injury by bud worms. In places the need of rain is urgent. Cutting and curing is as yet making slow progress, although some inferior grades have been sold in open market. Late reports on wheat contirm earlicr estimates of small yields. The sami is true of spring sown oats. The bulk of the rice crop is very promising, but caterpillars continue to devastate late plantings, and fresh wa ter for flooding is not available in places. Melons are ripening but do not prom ise a large crop. Many sweet potato slips have been set out during the week. Sugar cane, sorghum and gardons show some improvement. Peas are being ex tensively planted, and coming up to good stands. Haying is in progress on the coast meadows. SAVAGE AND FEROCIOUS. The Devil Dancers of Ceylon and Their Mysterious Ways. The real Singhalese devil dancers in Ceylon are ferocious and savage fel lows. Their dances are revolting and horrible. But their profession is popu lar and affords a royal living for the -men who go into it. There Is a super stition among the Singhalese that when a man fans sick he is supposed to be afflicted by a devil. In order to rid him of the disease the devil danc ers are called in to propitiate the de mon. Two or more of them go by night to the sick man's house, in front of which a small, square inclosure about six feet high, has been made of grasses and palm leaves. This answers the purpose of the green room at a theatre. The men appear at first without masks and with long yellow grass streamers banging from their head and waists. The only light cast on the scene is by torches, made of sticks, round which pieces of cloth are wrapped, dipped in oil. To the music of a tam-tam, kept up on one note ,the dancers sing a peculiar, wild funeral dirge, in which the spectators often join. The dancers begin by slowly moving about, stretching the right foot and bringing the left up to it, and appear as if they were searching for some thing, during which the singing sounds like crying. They are then asking the devil to appear. There are twenty four different sorts of devils, and after the first part, the dancers are con stantly changing their clothes to repre sent the entire species; some wear masks, some don jaws and terrible teeth reaching to their ears. The jawt open and close in a very realistic man ner. A dance lasts over two nights, as the whole twenty-four devils have all to be personated before the particular de mon who is afflicting the man is pitch ed on. When he gives signs of his presence the dancers go into a sort of frenzy, which increases as he takes possession of them; the tam-tam beats faster and faster, the enanting grows Into yells, the men whirl and stamp and the bells on their ankles jingle and clash. At this stage the dancers appear to be looking for some object to give the devil in sacrifice, and into which he may pass. A chicken is usually offered by the friend of the sick man, and the unfortunate bird is seized upon, twisb ed and tormen'ted and bitten between the false teeth, until the dancers, worn out, move slower and slower, and the chicken sinks into a sort of trance, which is a sign that the dovil has accepted the sacrifice, and is will ing to pass from the man into the bird. Speed of an Earthquake. T he course which an earthquake runs is usually very rapid. From the instant when the first shock was felt at Lisbon to the period when all was over, and many thousands of people killed, not more than two minutes had elapsed. Usually from ten to thirty seconds elapsed between the first and last shocks of severe earthquake. But this lightning speed is not always the earthquake's mode of traveling. While Caracas, in Venezuela, was almost totally destroyed and 12,000 people were killed in less thain twenty seconds by the great shock there many years back, there are cases in which con stantly recurring shocks have lasted for weeks. No matter how brief the span, the most frightful havoc can be wrought and the wave of destruct ion propagated from the most distant regions. The rmbling earth-sound travels at the rate of about 10,000 to 11,000 feet per second, and the earth wave, on an average, about 1,200 feet in the same space of time. Salaries of I'residents. Very few persons would suspect how small the salaries of presidents of re publics are, when the enormous sums crowned heads receive are taken into consideration. '1 he foreigner often thinks the $50,000 salary of the Presi dent of the United States is merely a joke, and that he receives ten times as much in reality, but the same for eigner may not know that the French President, in a country where the wealthiest mna~nchs once reigned, re ceives only $120).000 a year. T he President of the little Andorra Re public contents himself with a salary of $15 a year, and the President of the Swiss Republic must be satisfied with $3,000 The gota2 contam~fea inwe mienais, vessel, chains and other objects pre served in the Vatican \would make aore gold coin than the whole of th~e presnt European circulation. Nvv ANTb MA sLAVia -arrior Auii. Which Enslaro the Small and Weaker Species. The warrior ant is a slave-making species. It is a large red kind, and it makes raids against nests of the small yellow turf ant, a mild and docile race, large numbers of which it carries off to act as servants. But it does not steal fully grown turf ants. Their habits are formed and they would be useless for such purpose. What the warrior ant wants is raw material, which can be turned into thoroughly well-trained servants. So it merely killed the adult ants which strive to oppose its aggression and con tents itself with truniling home to its own nest the lavae and pupae of the turf ants which it has put to flight and vanquished. In time these grubs and cocoons pro duce full-grown yellow workers, which can be taught by the warrior ants to act as nurses and housemaids. I once saw in a garden in Algiers a great pitched battle going on between slave makers and the family of the future slaves, in which the ground was strewn with the corpses of the vanquished. Not till the nests of the smaller ants were almost exterminated did they re tire from the unequal contest and al low the proud invader to carry off their brothers and sisters in their co coons, asleep and unconscious. Oc casionally, by dint of mere numbers, they beat off the invader with heavy loss; but much more often the large and strong-jawed warriors win the day and destroy to a worker the oppos ing forces. They crush their adver saries' heads with their vice-like man dibles. Meanwhile, within the nest the other half of the workers-the de vision told off as special nurses- are otherwise employed in defending and protecting the rising generation. At the first alarm, at the first watchword passed with antennae through the nest, "A warrior host is attacking us," they hurry to the chambers where the cocoons are stored and bare them off in their mouths into the recesses of the nest, the lowest and most inaccessible of all the chambers. Limit of a Deer's Life. Romance has played a prominent part with regard to the longevity of deer. What says the Highland adage? Thrice the age of a dog is that of a horse. Thrice the age of a horse is that of a man. Trice the age of a man is that of a deer. Thrice the age of a deer is that of an eagle. Thrice the age of an eagle is that of an oak tree. This Is to assign the deer a period of more than 200 yeaTs; an the esti mate is supported by many highly cir cumstantial stories. Thus; Captain M.cDonald, of Tulloch, who died in 1776, aged S years, is said to have known the white hind of Loch Treig for 50 years, his father for a like period before him, and his grandfather for sixty years before him. So, in 1826, Mac donald of Glengarry is reported to have killed a stag wilich bore a mark on the left ear identical with that made on all the calves he could catch by Ewen MacIan-Os, who had been dead 150 years. Analogous stories, it may be noted, are told in countries on the con tinent of Europe, where deer are to be found in any number. But alas! 'the general opinion among experts would seem to be that thirty years or there abouts the limit of a deer's life. Wonderful Knives. King Humbert, of Italy, possesses a hunting knife, the handle of which is solid ivory, beautifully carved, an'd surmounted with the royal crown. Its sheath is of pigskin, mounted In mas sive silver chased to match The knife, with the royal arms of Italy in bold re lief. The price of the knife was $100, and the case cost another $75. At Windsor Castle among the royal plate is a knife which was presented by the cutlers of Sheffield to George IV. It is remarkable as having more than a hun dred blades. Perhaps the most exqui site and valuable specimens of knives are in the possessIOn of the cutlers of Sheffield. One, which is very remark able, is not longer than a thumb nail, and yet contains twenty blades. An other, which is but an inch long when closed, has seventy blades, beautifully made, and illustrating nearly all the forms ever given to knife blades. An other specimen has 220 blades, all etched with portraits. landscapes or other artistic designs. Another of these wonderful knives .has 1,840 blades, all having hinges and springs, and closing into the same handle. The handles of some of these knives are of Ivory and tortoise shell, and they are valued at from $100 to $500. Emperor a Hard Worker. The mass of work which Emperor William does is apparent by the fig ures of last year, just issued from the chamberlain's officee. His majesty re ceived 1,026 immediate reports, gave 751 decisions, signed 802 cabinet or ders, appointments, and other docu ments, 5,857 reports were presented to him personally, while the civil cabinet dealt with 50,000 documents add.ressed to the emperor. and about 400 letters or telegrams were received by 'him daily.__ _ _ _ An Automatic Curefi11. One of the most remarkable develop ments of the automatIc machine is a "Doctor Cureall," which is seen in Holland. It consists of a wooden fig ure of a man, divided into many com partments, which are labeled with the names of various ailments. If you have a pain, you have only to find its corresponding location on the figure, drop a coin into the slot and the prop er pill or powder will come out. Killed by a Woman. A terrible tragedy was enacted on Monday last on the shore of Grand Lake, 'immediately in the rear of the village of Charenton, La., in which Thomas W. Webb was shot and jitdnt ly killed by Mrs. W. F. Smith. It ap pears that Smith and Webb were en gaged as partners in gathering and pre paring moss for market, and in the division of the moss Webb used very insulting language to Mrs. Smith, who was present, whereupon she seized a dobule-barreled shotgun loaded with buckshot near at hand and discharged the contents of one barrel into the breast of Webb, killing him instantly. Depu:y Sheriff Pecot buried the re mains of Webb and arreted Smith and his wife and they are now in jail at Charenton, La. Elown Overa Fence. A cyclone struck New York State near Glens Falls Wednesday-afternoon. Large trees were up-rooted and other damage was done. James Nesbitt. a farmer living east of Lake George was driving, was blown, with his horse and buggy from the road over a fence and into a field. He was injured so evrelyr that he died. some keaso.ns for tntying the.Marrigd Knot Are Ludicrous. Although Is is happily not possible in every country to dissolve the mar riage tie because a husband has an aversion to soap or because a wife has a tongue more active than her fingers, there is a ludicrous facility In many lands for getting rid of an undesirable wife or husband. In Greece a wife, to maintain her position, must be the very "pink of propriety," and If she goes to theatre or race meeting or even dines with a friend without her husband's sanction he may send her back to her mother and bid her stay there. Time was, and not long ago, in Crete, when a man might divorce his wife if she appeared likely to add too many quivers to his bow; and In Rus sia, if husband and wife wished to part for any reason whatever, all they need do was to adjourn to some pub lic place. and in the presence of on lookers tear a strip of muslin In two. In Morocco it is not fashionable to be attached too long to any particular wife, and a man's social position may be gauged by the number of wives he has divorced. It is quite common for a man to have married and parted from a score of wives before he has reached the age at which the average .nglishman thinks it prudent to marry. In France, during the "time of terror," the daring experiment was tried of allowing divorces at will and without any assigned cause. The re sult was disastrous or happy, accord ing to the point of view; for within a year 4.000 couples agreed to part in Paris alone, and within a short time there were actually more divorces than marriages every year. In Japan if an oblique-eyed beauty gives too much rein to her tongue, "off she goes," to learn that a discreet reticence is a virtue in a wife. In Germany If the wife uses her husband's purse too freely he can keep the purse to himself and bid her go, while he looks out for a fraulein of simpler tastes. In Australia a man can divorce a wife who is too fond of her cups, or rather glasses; and no Ciinaman Is called upon to tolerate a shrew. From the oldest times divorce has been in some countries almost as simple a matter as untying a shoe lace. In ancient Rome a man who wearied of his wife could free himself by the simple process of telling her to go. In biblical history, too, we leirn that Abraham divorced Hagar by providing her bread and a bottle of water and sending her away. How Toads Pass the Winter. "Studying the physiology of the toad," "Professor Simon Henry Gage combats the opinion that this creature hibernates under leaves or tree-trunks. It Is often found in such refuge, but only when it has come out of its hole at the opening of the spring and has been caught. by a return of cold weather. Ordinarily it hibernates In the earth, preferably in dry soil not apt to freeze. It buries Itself back ward, its hind feet and the end of its body serving to scoop out its hole, while It pushes itself in with its fore legs. Once buried. 1,. leaves no trace whatever of its hiding-place. When-it Is in a temperature near the freezing point its own temperature Is three fourths to one and one fourth degrees higher than that of the surrounding medium. When toads are found under frozen leaves, they are still able to move about. Mr. Gage has seen these creatures with feet and skin absolutely frozen solid, but with Internal organs! in good condition, and able to come to life perfectly." - why Fishes Are Slippery. Fish of almost every sort are, when fresh caught, slippery and hard to hold. This slipperiness is due to a sort of mucus exuded, through the scales and Is of the greatest Import ance to all finny creatures. One of the Important functions of the fish's slimy coating is to protect it from the attacks of fungus, a fo~ of plant life found In all waters, af and fresh, foul and pure. If the fish is so injured that some spot becomes uncovered by the slime, a barely visible fungus will be likely to lodge there, and when It Is once lodged the process of its reproduction Is very rapid. It soon extends over the gills and kills the fish. The primary purpose of the slime of the fish is to reduce its friction' when in motion through the water and In crease Its speed. It also serves as a cushion to the scales, which It thus protects from many Injuries. Red-Haired People. An eminent man of science has re cently declared that red-haired, people are far less apt to go bald than those who are possessed of other colored hair. The average crop on the head of a red-haired person is only 29,200 hairs. Ordixary dark hair Is far finer, and over three dark hairs take up the space of one -red one; 105,000 is about the average. BLat fair-haired people are still better off; 140.000 to 160,000 Is a quite common number of hairs on the scalp of a fair-haired man or woman. This authority does not comment on the peculiarities of red-haired people, but it is well known that they are of a more passionate nature than others, and often of a fine and sensitive dis position, akin t-> what is known as the artistic temperament. Disappearing Islands. The islands in Chesapeake Bay fre quented by fishermen and duck-hunt ers are so rapidly disappearing be neath the assult of the tides that in a few years there will be none left. A striking instances is Tangier Island, where the British fortificatiouds of 1812 are under water. Distanzce in China In China there is no regular standard of distance. a Chinese mile may be from a quarter of an English mile to a mile and three-quarters, according to the province. -- Indian Income Tar. The tncome tax in India is levied on all Incomes of $1G5 and upidard, and then only one man In '700 comes with inits scope. The Ceylon silk spider. T he Ceylon yellow silk spider has a body that weighs nine ounces. Illustrated by a Fable. There is a touch of humor in the situation anent the Samoan kingship that reminds one of the .oyster in the fable. Of that famous bivalve it is re lated that it was discovered on a sea beach by two wayfarers. One of them tooped and picked it up, but the other one claimed it by reason of the fact that he saw it first. The dispute was left to a lawyer who happened to pass that way. He calmly opened the bivalve, swallowed the juicy morsel inside, and, parting the'shells, gave one to each of the disputants. The island kingship is the oyster on the beach, the ownership of which the three commissiojers of the ,jwers have settled by swallowing, giving Malietoa Tanus and Mataafa a shell each. It is well known that the rusting, of bright stecl goods is due to the precipi tation of the moisture in the air upon it. This may be obviated by keeping the air surrounding the goods dry, and a iaucer of powdered quieklime placed in an ordinary showcase will usually suf fice to prevent the rusting of the cut lery exhibited therein, asserts The .weler' Review.