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Leaf From the Devil's Seat Book. Beside the sewing-table chaized and bent, They stitch for the lady, tyrannous an! proud For her a wedding gown, for them a shroud; The sticth and ttcth, bat never mend the rent Torn in life's golden curtains Glad Youth went, And left them alone with Time, and now .f bowed With burdens they should sob and cry aloud, Wond'i ing, the rich would look from their content. And so this glimmerring life at last recedes In unkLown, endless depths beyond re call; And what s the worth of all our ancient creels, If here, at the end of ages, this is all A white face floating in the whirling ball, A dead face splashing ir the river reeds? Edward Markham. DR TALkMGES DISCOURSE On the Importance of Prompt Action in Anything We Have to Do. From a passage of Scripture unob served by most readers Dr. Talmage in this discourse shows the importance of prompt action in anything we have to do for ourselves or others; text, Ecclesi asats xi, 4, "He that observeth the wind shall not sow." What do you find in this packed sen tence of Salomon's monologue ? I fiad in it a farmer at his front door examin ing the weather. It is seedtime. His fields have been plowed and harrowed. The wheat is in the barn in sacks, ready to be taken afield and sesttered. Now is the time to sow. Bat the wind is not favorable. It may blowup a storm before night, and he may get wet if he starts out for the sowing; or it may ba a long storm, that will wash oat the seed frem the soil; or there may have been a long drought, and the wind may continue to blow dry weather. The parched fields may not take in the grain, and the birds may pick it up, and the labor as well as the seed may be wasted. So he gives up the work for that day and goes into the house and waits to see what it will be on the morrow. On the morrow the wind is still in the wrong direction, and for a whole week and for a month. Did you ever see such a lon3 spell of bad weather? The lethargic and over cautious and dilatory agriculturist al lows the season to pass without sowing, and no sowing, of course, no harvest. That is what Solomon means when he says in his text, "He that observeth the wind shall not sow." As much in our time as in Solomonic times there is abroad a fatal hesitancy, a disposition to let little thirgs stop us, a ruinous adjournment. We all want to do some g-od in the world, but how easily we are halted in our endeavors. Perhaps we are solicitors for some great charity. There is a good man who has large mean;, and he is accustomed to give liberally to asylums, to hospitals, to reform organizations, to sch)ols, to churches, to commumties desolated with flood or devastated with fires. But that good man, like many a good man, is mercurial in his temperament. He is depressed by atmoshperic changes. He is always victimizzd by the east wind. For this or that reason you poitpone the charitable solieita tion. Meanwhile the suffering that you wish to alleviate does it~s awful work, and the opportunity for relief is past. If the wind had been from the west or northwest, you would have entered the philanthropist's counting room and sought the gift, but the wind was blow ing from the east or northeast, and you did not make the attempt, and you thoroughly illustrated my text, "He that observeth the wind shall not sow." There comes a dark Sabbath morning The pastor looks out of the window anda sees the clouds gather and then die charge theii- burdens of rain. Instead of a full church it will be a handful of people with wet feet and the dripping -umbrella at the doorway or in the end of pew. The pastor has prepared one of his best sermons. It has cost him great research, and he has been much in prayer while preparing it. He puts the sermon aside for a clear day and talks platitudes and goes home quite depressed, but at the same time feeling that he has done his duty. He did not realiss that in that small audience there were at least two persons who ought to have had better treatment. One of those hearers was a man in a crisis of struggle with evil appetite. A carefully prepared discourse under the divine blessing would have been to him complete victory. The fires of sin would have been extinguished, and his keen and brilliant mind would have been consecrated to the gospel mintistry and he would have been a mighty evan gel, and tens of thousands of souls would have, under the- spell of- his Onristian eloquence, given up sin and started a new life, and dhroughout all the heavens there would have been songratulation and hosanna, and after -many ages of eternity had passed there would be celebration among the ran somned of what was accomplished one stormy Sunday in a church on earth under a mighty gospel sermon delivered to 15 or 20 people. But the crisis I speak of was not properly met. The man in struggle with evil habit heard that stormy day no word that moved him. He went out in the rain unin vited and unhelped back to his evil way and down to his overthrow. Had it been a sunshiny Sabbath he would have heard something worth hearing. But the wind ble w from a stormy direc tion that-sbath day. That gospel .--a.hsindman noticed it and acted upon its suggestion and may discover some day his great mistake He had a sack full ef the finest of the wheait, but he F withheld it, and some day he will find, when the whole story is told, that he was a vivd illustration of the truth of my text, "He that observeth the wind shall not sow." In all departments of life theie are those hindered by the wind of public opinion. It has become an aphorism in politics and in all great movements, "He is waiting to see which way the wind blows." And it is no easy thing to defy publio opinion, to be run upon by newspapers, to be overhauled in so cial circles, to be anathematized by those who heretofore were your friends and admirers. It requires a heroism which few possess. Yet no great reformatory or elevating movement has ever been accomplished until some one was willing to deny what the world should think or say or do. But there have been men and women of that kind. They stand all up and down the corridors of history, examples for us to follow. Charles Samner in the United States senate, Alexander H. Stephens in Georgia convention. Savon arola staking his life in time of perse cution Martin Luther fighting the battle for religicus freedom against the mightest anathemas that were ever hurled, William Carey leadizg the missionary movement to save a heathen world while churches denounced him as a fanatic aod with attempting an impossibility; Jenner, the hero of medicine, carcutnred for his attempt by vaccination to beat back the wo:Ft disease that smue the na ticos. They who watch the wind of public opinion will not sow. It is an uneErtain indication and is apt to blaw the wrong way. Communities and churches and na tions sometimes are thrown into hys teria, and it requires a man of great equipoise to maintain a right position. Thirty-three years ago there came a time of bitterness in American politics, and the impeacbment of a president of the United States was demanded Two or three patriotic men, at the risk of losing their senatorial position, stood out against the demand of their politi eal associates and saved the country from that which all people of all parties now see would have been a calamity and would have put -very subqequcnt president at the mercy of his opponents. it only required the wai ing of a few months, when time itself removed all controversy. "Let u; have war with England if reeds be," said the most of the people of our northern states in 1861, when Mason and Slidell, the distinguished southerners, had been taken by our navy from the British steamcr Trent and the English government resented the act of our government in stopping one of their sbins. "Give up those prisoners," said Great Britain. "No," said the almost unanimous opinion of the north. '-Do not give them up. L t us have war with England rather than surrender them." Then William H. Stward, secretary of state, faced one of the fiercest storms of public opinion ever seen in this or any other country. *Seeing that the retention of -those two men was of no importance to our coun try that their retention would put Great Britain and the United States into im mediate conflict, he said, "We give them up." They were given up, and through the resistance of popular clamor by that one man a worldwide calamity was adverted. Some of us remember as boys buzz t ing when Kssuth, the great Hunga rian, rode up Broadway, New York. Most Americans were in favor of taking some decided steps for Hungary. The only result of suah interference would have been the sacrifia of all good pre cedent and war with E aropean nations. Then Daniel Webster, in his immortal "Huleemann letter," braved a whirl wind of popular opinion and Eaved this nation fr~m useless foreign entangle ment. Webster did not observe the wind when he wrote that letter. So in state and church there have always been men at the right time ready to face a nation full-yea, a world full-o! op position. How many there are who give too mnh time to watching tne weather vane and studying the barometer! Make up you mind what you are going to do and then go ahead and do st There always will he hindrances. It is a moral dis aster if you allow prudence to over master all the other graces. The Bible makes more of courage and faith and perseveranca than it does of caution. It is not once a year that the great ccean steamers fail to to sail at the ap pointed t'ms because of the storm sig nals. L t the weather bureau prophesy what hurricane or cyclone it may, next Wednesday, next Thursday, next Sat urday, the steamners will pus out from New York and Pniladelphia and Boston harbors and will reach Llveroool and Southampton arnd Glasgow and Bremen, their arrivals as certain as their em barkation. They cannot afb rd to con salt the wind, nor can you in your life voyage. The grandest and best things ever ac complished have been in the teeth of hostility. Consider the grandest enter prise of the eternities-the salvation of a world. Did the Roman empire send up invitation to the heavens inviting the L ard to descend amnii vociferations of welcome to come and take possession of the most capscious and ornate of the palaces and sail Galilee with richest fin perial flotilla and walk over flowers of Solomon's gardens. which were still in the outskirts of Jerusalem? No. It struck him with insult as soon as it couli reach him. Let die camel drivers in the Bethlehem caravansary testify. See the vilest hate pursue him to the borders of the Nile! Watch his ar raignment as a criminal in the courts! See how they belie his every action, misinterpret his best words, howl at him with worst mobs, wear him out with sleepless nights on cold moun tains! See him hoisted i.nto a mai-tyr dom at which the noonday crowled it self with midnight shadows, and the rocks shook into cataclysm, and the dead started out of their sepulcher, feeling it was no time to sleep when such hor rors were being enacted. The winds of stormiest opposition blew on his cradle, blew on his moun tain pulpit, blew upon the homesteads that dared to give him shelter, blew upon his grave, but he went right on and sowed the earth with sympathetic tears and redeeming blood and consola tion and helpfulness and redemption and victory. It was an awful time to sow. iBut behold the harvest of churches, asylums, worldwide charities, civilizations, millenniums! Just call over the names of the men and women who have done most for our poor old world, and you will call the names of those who had mobs af ter them.' They were shunned by the elite, they were eartooned by the satirsts, they lived on food which you and I would not throw to a kennel. Some of them died in prison, some of them were burned at the stake, some of them were buried at public expense because of the laws of sanitation. They were hounded throygh the world and hounded out of it. N{ow we cross the ocean to see the room in which they were born or died and look up at the monuments which the church of the world has reared to their matchless fid lity and courage. After 100 or 200 or 300 years the world has made up its mind that instead of being flagellated they ought to have been garianded instead of cave of the mountain for residence they ought to hava had bestowed upon them an Al hambra. Young man, you have planned what you are going to oe and do in the world, but you are waiting for circumstateaS to become more favorable. You are, like the farmer in the text, observing the wind. B:Lter start now. Onstacles will help you if you co::qatr them. Cut your way through. Peter, Coop er, the millionaire phiianthropist, who will bless all succeeding centuries with the ins:itution he founded, worked five years Jor $25 a yeare and his board. Henry Wilson, the Chrian statesman who commande.d the United States senate with the gavel of the vice pre sidency, wrote of his early days: "Want sat by my cradle. I know what it is to sek a n'other for brtad when she has r'one to give. I left may home at 10 years of age and served an apprentices hip of 11 y'eare, receivieg a month's schooling each year, and at the end of 11 years of 2ari wo.rk a yoke of exea and six sherp, whieh brought me~ $84 In the first menth after I wes 21 years ei age I went into the wonds, drove a team and cut mill logs. I arose in the morning before daylight and orked hard till ae darlr and ranniv Bd the magnifiaent sum of $6 for the month's work. Each of those dollars ooked as large to me as the moan looks tonight." Wonderful Henry Wilson! But that was not his orginal name. He changed his name because he did not want on him the blight of a drunken father. As the vice president stood in my pulpit in Brockiyn, making the last ddress he ever made, and commended the religion of Christ to the young meD )f that city I thought to myself, "You ourself are the sublimest spectacle I aver saw of victory over obstacles." For 30 years the wind brew the wrong way, yet he did not observe the wind, but kept right on sowing. Many of us who are now preachers of the go3pel or medie l pracidtioners or members of the bar or merchants or oiti :ns in various kinds of business had very poor opportunity at the start be suse we had it too easy-far too easy. We never appreciated what it is t> get in education becauie our fat hers or o'der brothers paid the sahooling, and we did not get the muscle which nothing but ard work can develop. I congratulate ou, young man, if to you life is a strug gle. It is out of suAh circumstancss xod makes heroes, if they are willing to be made. Cut your way through. if it ere proper to do so and you should stand in any board of bank directors, in ny board of traie, in any legislature, state or national, and ask all who were brought up in luxury and ease to lift heir hand. here ani there a hand might be lifted, But ask those who had an wful hard time at the start to lift their bands, and most of the hands would be ifad The heroes of church and state were not brought up on crnfectionery and cake. Whether in your life it is a south wind or a north wind, a west wind or an ast wind, that is now blowing, do you not feal like saying: "This whole sub ject I now decade. Lord God, through thy Son Jesus Christ, my SAviour, I am thine forever I throw myself, reckless Af everything into the ocean of thy ercy." "But," says some ens in a frivolous and rollicking way, "I am not like the Larmer you find in your text. I do not watch the wind. What do I care about the weather vane? I am sowing now." What are you sowing, my brother? Are you sowing evil habits? Are you sowing infidel and atheistic beliefs? Are you iowing hatreds, revenges, discontents, aecean thoughts or unclean actions? If o, you will raise a big crop -a very big 3rop. The farmer sometimes plants things that do not come up, and he has to plant them over agai2. But those )vil things that you have plinted will :ake root and come up in harvest of dis ppointment, in harvest of pain, in har vest of despair, in harvest of fire. Go right through some of the unhappy omes of Washington and New York nd all the cities and through the hos pitals and penitentiaries, and you will ad stacked up, piled together, the seaves of such an awful harvest. Ho sea, one of the first of all the writing prophets, although four of the other prophets are put before him in the canon )f Scriptura, wrote an astounding meta phor that may be quoted as descriptive ) those who di evil: "They have sown the wind, and they shallreap the whirl wind." Some on has said, "Children sy be strangled, but deeds never." There are other persons who truthful y say: "I am doing the best I can. The louks are thick and the wind blows the wong way, bout I am sowing prayers and sowing kind 2ess and sowing help. Eulness and sowing hopes of a- better world." Good for you, my brother, my ister! What you plant will come up. What you sow you will rise inmo a har est Lhe wcalth of wh:ch you will not now until you go up higher. I hear the matling of your harvest in the bright ils of heaven. The soft gales ot tnat land, as they pass, bend the full headed gain in curves of beauty. It is gok~ en n the light of a sun that never se ts. As you pass in you will not have to gird on the sacale for the reaping, and there will be nothing to reminds you of weary hus bandmen toiling under hot summer sun n earth and lying down under the sha low of the tree at noontide, so tired were they, so very tired. No, no; your harvest will be reaped without any toil af your hands, without any beaweating af your brow. Christ in one of his ser mons told how your harvest will be gathered when he said, "The reapers ire the angels." A N ew Horse Disease. Recently a disease has appeared among horses in New York which seemc to be very fatal, and none of the veterinary surgeons seems to know much about it other than that it is very ontagious. For some time horsemen hereabouts have been apprehensive that it- would spread as far as this State, and have been looking out for it witn much oncern. A telegram received by the governor Fuiday may mean that it has already re-ached South Carolina and the eterinary surgeon has been asked by the governor by wire to look after the matter very carefully. Here is the telegrara received, which is signed by M1r. LiR~y Springs of Lancaster: "Pieass have veterinary surgeons come to Lancaster at once. Epidemio among mules; one dead; four sick. Local orsemen don't known anything about it. Pease send him at once. Answer." President Hartzog of Clemson was noti led at once. In this connection the governor suggests that hencefor ward parties needing the veterinary surgeon telegraph Clemson College direct, as this would be quite a saving of time. We clip the above from the Columbia tate and would adviso our farmers to watch their stock closely and if they notice any symptons of the disease to solate the sick animal at once and tele gaph for the veterinary surgeon. That Honey Was Out. The Kansas City Journal tells this story: "Frank Anderson was for years a weil known commercial tr.svcler who maae Galena. He was passionately Eond of honey, and the proprietor of :he Galena hotel, at which ho always sopped, always had some on hand fur im. On one trip Anderson took his wmfo along, and as iLe approached Ga tens e mentioned to her that he was etting to a place where he could have oney. When the pair was artsing at ue supper table that night no honey ippeared, a:.d Anderson said sharply o te head waiter: Wnere is my hon y' Thne waiter emiled and said: Yea ean the lnitc blaet haired one? On, she dan't worn Lere now.'"~ One of the President's Cars The Southern railway having ioa'igu rated -Guntiemcn's Club Cars ' on the asig-.on and Seu liestern Lucii~ed ~eween Atlanta and Ykw Ycrk, making .his one of the nnesu passenger trains a the Uinited States, has succe.eded in btainng a3 one of the cars for use on ieie trains G,.ntamen's Ciuo Car "At anti," which .was recently used Dy rident MieKinleyon his tour to the ~aifo Coas. N>) bear guarantee of .-i elegance ofthee club cars copid' be~ avea hnan tha hey aro of the class of Bui man eqipnItt selected by the resid n fr his t ur which, as a mat .er of curse, is or the finest workman THE F)ECASTS FOR JULY. The R .V. Irl Hicks PJedict Many Astronamic Distwrbanc:-s A combination of astro)nomic events out of the ordinari falls on and about the opening of July. The opposition of the planet Jupiter-The world greater than all other planets and moons combined-falls cn June 30h, and the opp sition of Satura, the next greatest planet, falls on July 5th. The full moon, or moon in opposition to ei -.h and s in. and hence in conj inction with both Jupiter and Sa.turn, falls on July 1st. The planetu Venus and Mereuy are, also, in coi:junction with each other and the earth on Jane 30.h, with earth and Mercury in aphelion, and Venus in p3rihelion. Such a bal ancing and lining up of the worlds is not an ordinary oocurrer e, and to say just what the result Ehould be, in meteorological way, is nc t an entirely easy thing in our present etste of knowledge. Added to all the abovo, it must be kept in min.d that we are still near the center of the Jupiter eqriaox, and that a regular Valean storm period extends from the 1st to the 6 .h of July, wind ing up with moon on the celestical equator on the 6 h. We feel warranted in saying that a maximun tendency to seismic, electrical and volcanic pertur bations is more than probable under this c)nditian of things. We have also many times called attention to the fact such remarkable cnjunctions and op postions of otier planer.s with earth and sun, has a marked tendency to scatter and segregate the solar energy in that par: of the celestial longitude occupied by an unu ail assemblage of planets. Tnese things being reasonably prob able, we predict that the world's cor rcct record will show a aate of 'cosmic and meteorological unrest during the closing days of June and well into J2ly. Let it be positivly understood that we do not predict anything out of natura's regular order, and that we counsel quietness and peace of mind, even in tae exarcise of that caution, forethought and watchfulness which should always be exercised in the face of nature's vicissitudes and phenomena. The storm period central on' July 3.d, shown in the storm diagram will bring a series of very active storms, during which the frequent and marked fluctuations of the barometer will both be an admonition and consti tute a stu ly. The onco ning of storm areas may be attended with very high temperatures in scattered sections of this and other continenti; but we pre dict that the phenomerally low tem peratures will be reali:. sd generally. Ordinarily, we would name the 3rd, 4th and 5th as days of greatest storm danger, but under the unusual condi tions prevailing, they are probable any time from the 1st to the 6th. Reactionary storm conditions will exist on the 8.h to 10-h, continuing probably over the moon's perigee on the 11th. Falling barameter, rising temperature and winds from the east and south will preceed the actual storms and pnipitation of this and all other Jaiy periods. ?he c~ntril storm period for July fslls from the 13.h to tie 18th. Tne crisis of this period will fail from Sun day, the 14;t., to Wedinesday, the 18 h. Barometrnc and atmosphberic conditions will plainly indicate waen storms are gathering we~t of youw locality, and just as positively will the sanme things indicate when thae storm centers have gone east of your locality, although the path of the actual storms may not have passed over your immediate section. This central Vucern period for July is embraced in the Venus period, shown by the storm diagram to be central on July 31st. The one thing that gives possible hope for rains over interior parts of our country during the last half of July and the first haif of Au gust, is the presence of this Venus period. if suifibient humidity should not be present during the regular storm days in this Venus period, there is great probability of extrefie heat and hot, withering winds, especially in the open grain regions of the west and northwest. Thunder gusts are always probable when the moon passes the celestial equator in summer, the 19 ;h of July being such a date. The stars printed in connection with Snday and Monday, the 21st and 222id, show that reactionary disturbances are duo on and touching those dates. The probability of rain and storms at this time is increased by the presence of a Mercury period, blended with that of Venus, central of the 265 sa ~d extend ing from the 21st to 31st. More or less rain with probable cloudbursts, hail and dangerous winds need not surprise any cne during the storm period which is central on the 26th. One of the warmiist terms of the summner may be expected in connection with this period, and many storm clouds with severe thunder gusts will be natural about Thursday, the 25.h, to Sunday, the 28th. Destructive hail storms are mare than probable at this period, as well as at other periods with in the Venus brace. The great heat probable a~t this time will break up at the conclusion of the storms, and very cool nights for the season will follow in most parts of the country, especially in the northwest. If rains do not appear during the last ten days of July, the outloor for rain in the great western and northwestern grain regions is not encouraging for the rest of the sun mer and early autumn. The last two days of the month, with full moon and Venus at the center of her disturbing period, are reactionary storm dates. On and tourching these days the baro meter, thermometor and wind currents will show a return of storm conditions. Our readers must remember that even in a season of great drouth the regular and reactionary storm periods wiul be plainly apparent-the barometer will fall, and black, blustering storm clouds will arise on and about tae storm days. But wihat promises to be an abundant rain will too ozten end in violent gusts of wind, thundr and dust. Such couds may center about a narrow area, and iet lali a destros ing cloud burst extremely iocal in extent; but the very intesity of such s;.orms prevents a nor mal diffusion of wnat moisture there may be in the atmosphere anid clouds. Hence, we olten hear of deaua and de struction in local ficods when the coun try as a whole is suffering from extreme drnes. This is pecuarariy the ten dncy daring the Jupiter period of per tubtioa. This season is in a Jupiter period. Work of Lightning. A dispatch from Fiorcnce to The State says a single boat of .lightning Wednesday afternoon temnporarily sopped th~e wonrirg of a dozen Beil, and twenty-five south Carolina telC ~hnes by buraing ou; the fuce wires. it sllo straoh the court houce and Split svral trees. Anotner buit dameaged the electric light plans considerably, burtag ouat several iights and one trans formr. i'here was very uile rain. A OUR BATTLE FLAGS. The Colors o' the Lost Cause and Their Origin. AN IN 'ERESTING STORY Which May 3 ar Ruvision of an Ante-Sacession Flag Which Bec-ime the Flag of South Carolina. The first, says the Newport Newi Herald, f ag indicative of sebeasion was raised at Charleston, S. C., December 19, 1860, one day prior to the passage of the ord*nance whereby South Carlin% withdrew from the Federal Union and declared its independence. The flag is a flag of solid red, ivith a crescent and a star, in white, quartered in the upper left hand cyrner. Who designed the fig is not known to this writer; a number of Charleston ladies purchased the material, male it on the pattern desir.bed, and ran it up on the tall staff of the Custom House. Its dimensions were eight feet in length and aix feet broal. Later it became the naval flag of South Carolina and continued such to the close of the war. Those made for the navy were forked at the end. The South Catolina privu teer Dixie, flying the star and crescent flag, engaged the Uaited Etates battle ship Keystone State, and after a terrific fight, in which the Keystone dtate suffered terribly, the Dixie was captured in a sinking condition its enird crew being dead or disabled from wounds. The critics objectel to the red fig with iis silver quarterings, on the ground that silver or whi-e on red was non-heraldic. .It was criticised also on the g'ound that it was almost identical with tne Turkish flag. Those and other points of objection, while fahing to attract the attention of the naval oommanders, caused alterations to be made in the original, after which the Legis lature adopted the remodelled pattern as the flag of the sovereignty of the State of Sou h Carolina. cROss OF ST. O9ORGE. The revised South Carolina flig bad the cross of St. George in blue as its chief quar tering, the cross emblazoned both on its up. right and transverse, with white stars cor responding in number to the number of States in the Southern Confed eracy. Another ateration was that the small star in white appearing on the original dag near the cres cent was substituted in the flag of sover eignty by a white palmetto tree The first national flag of the Southern Con feder-acy was adopted at Montgomery, Ala., March 4, 1861, and was hoisted to the sum mit of the staff of the Capital buildmg in that ci'y, Miss L. C. Tyler, daughter of Ex-Presi dent Tyler, pulling the cord which sent the Stars and Bars gliding gloriously up the pole in the presence of a multitude who greeted the new flag with deafening cheers. The Act of the Confederate Congress in session at Montgomery. Ala declares that the flag of the Confederate States of America shall consist of a red field, with a white space extending hariz ntally through the the centre, and equal in width to one-third of the width of the flag, the red space above and below to be the same width as the white; a canton of blue extending downwar. through the white space and stopping at the upper border of lower red space. In the centre of the blue canton stars correspond lng in number Ic the nuaber of States in the Southern Confederacy must be placed in a circie, the circle indicative of perpetuity. T3uE FIRST FLAG. The first filg bore seven etars, that b ing the rumber or Sates in the Conf-deracy at the timne the stars and Bars became the Southern fb g by enactment at Monrg amery, Ala . on the date mentioned above Later became customary to make flags with thir teen stars, one for each of the eleven seceding 6tates, one for Ma~ryland and one for Ken tucky, and in some instances the Stars - and Bars bc-re fourteen stars, the State of Mis suri being included in the Southern constel lation? Ihe Stars and Bars ceased to be the legal national dlag on May 1, 1863, an Act of Coa gross passed on that date substituted another flag hereafter to be described, but while the tars and Bars by the subsequent enactment ceased to be the flag of tne Confederate -tates of America, to the end of the war it floated on many forts and was carried by many regiment. Ii is probable that when Father Ityan wrote his immortal requiem of the Lost Cause he had in mind the flag of the Stars and Bars. The Beauregard Battle flag is the best known emblem of the Lost Cause, and the history of its origin is exceedingly interest ing It was designed jointly by Gen. Pierre Toutant Beauregard and Col. Willam P. Miles, of Gen. Beauregard's staff. In heraldic terms the battie dieg consists of a field of red and quartered therein a broad, blue saltier bardered and white, both bars of the blue white bordered saltier to be em blazoned with five-pointed stars correspond ing in number to the number of States in the Bouthern Confederacy. BALTIMORE GIRL's wouK. After agr eeing upon the .pattern and de sign a German artist, serving on Gen Beau regard's staff, made a picture of the battie flag, which Gen. Jcseph E. Johnston ap proved, and immediately Misses Constance and Jennie Carey, two Baltimore belles, so journing in Fairfax County, Va., organized a sewing club and malie a number of these flags, which were used in subsequent battles. In eptember, 1861, the Canfederate Con gress enacted a bill authoroziog the design uescribed above as a battle flag of the South ern Confederacy, and such it continued un ti the end of hontilities. In an address beforec the Louisiana Division of the Army of Northern Virginia, delivered in December, 1877, Gen. Beauregard de scribed the incidents leading to tate adop tion of the battle flag, in substance, as fol lows: At 4 c'olock in the afternoon; July 21, 1861, the battle was raging on the plains of Manassas ond reinforcements were urgently needed on both sides. Gen, McDowell was asing anxious eyes towards the Blue Ridge Mountains, hoping to see Pattersert's column emerge from the er cloud which hung like a pall on his flank. Gen. Beauregard was alo watching Lun thte same direction, expect Ing jubal Early, with the 24th Virginia, the th Louisiana and the 15th Mississippi, a column strong enough to rouite the enemy already hammered to the verge of defeat. A Uonfederate signal oilicer informed his anious commander that a strong column was approaching by the Warren turnpike, prob atly Patteison, the signal officer state I. The ar was motionlessa, not a breeze stirring, and the colors of the advancing host drooped around the staff, so taat at the distarnce ia ervening 'hey resembled the United States hag. Just :hen agust of wind caught the dig of the front line and aeait it streaming iut from its staff, enabsing the Confederate leader to see at a glance usat it was Early and not P'attersoni he discerned, it was the litliculty unserved at the first battle of Z'.anasras in distiruguishong between the Stars and Bars and Stripes that brought aout une adoption of tne Beauregard battle aha g which enduced to the end of the atal struegte, and has since been alopted as ~ne seal or the imost Ciuse. OrEW FLAG ADoPTED. As has been stated, the Stars and Bars adopted March, 1861, at Montgomery, Ala , onnued to be the national flag until May 1, 8t0d, on which day the uongress of the orfederate states or Asnerica, in session at tichmond, Va., which had become the Capi al or the Southern Confederacy, enacted a id adopting a ne w tug the model of which a said to nave been tan crea ion of two Mis disippians The new national thag enacted mn May 1 1863, was a solid field of white with he Beauregard battle flag quartered in the opper left-saand corner as a canton, the vidth of the fig to be two-thirds of its ugh. The piropordion the canton bore to he tlag was as fo:[owa: Tae canton to be n Wata itnree-fifrni of the width of the mtire flag, t.he width of white beneath the :ton to ne one-third of the length of the ehite from tha outer border of the canton to the end of the flag. Actual test of the flag i indicated fatal objections. When wrapped on its staff a few furls of the canton disap peared from view, leaving in sight only the white tleld- The soldiers ridiculed it as the 'flag of truce," applying other epithets, and the new tflg fell into drause. It is not likely that many of them were ever made. There are Confederate Veterans now living who never saw or heard of the flag of 1863, known jocularly as the flag of truce, so-called by the gallant boys who believed with all the zeal of their hearts and the courage born of deep conviction impressed upon their souls that the white flag would be raised by the other eide to the contention. BEA'REGARD BATrLE FLAG. The national flag last authorized by Con gress in a bill enacted March 4, 1865, con sisted of the flag with the snow-white field described in the foiegoing paragraph, being the same in all particulars as the flag adopted by the confederate Congress, May 1, 1863, with an additional quartering, consisting of a vertical, bar of red at the end of the flag, the t red bar to be in width one h Af of that portton of the flag between the right-hand border of the canton and of the flag. In addition to the Beauregard battle flag there were other battle fags, which, while not santioned by the Confederate Congress, were used on bloody battlefields with the authority of generals of corps and divisions. One of these battle flags was that borne by the regiments and brigades of Gen. Pat Cle burne's divisions. It consisted of a field of blue, bordered with white and a silver moon quartered in the very centre of the blue field. The veterans who fought under the com mand of Gen. Pat Cleburne remember the beautiful moon flag, which in camp, on the march, or in the tumult of battle, cheered their hearts and aroused them to deeds of valor which are still going- down the ages, and will always have a p ace on the pages of history. Were no mention made of the "Bonnie Blue Flag that Bears a Single Star," tee creation of that beloved ministrel of the South, Harry McCarthy, the title of the 8ag describes it exactiy. It is a field of solid b ue with a single large five.pointed star quartered in its centre. It is said that Harry McCarthy saw Texas soldiers at New Orleans carrying the flag and conceived the idea that it was the flag of the Confederacy, hence the inspiration which came to the heart of that sweet singer breaking forth in song. which will be neardwhen the great-grand children of the veterans of the war will in their turn be the ancesttrs of the coming daughters and sous of the Southera Confed. eracy. SIXTY LIVES LOST Exaggerated Reports Caused by Dead Bodies Being Washed Up. A dispatch from Roanoke, Va , says a telegram from Blaef 3ld Wednesday afternoon says there are no important developmonts there. Repair work is going ahcad with a rush and vigor Bluefield is the groat shipping point for the Pocahontas Coal company com ivg east. It is said there that ocal fields will not be able to ship out any coal for the next 30 days. It is thought at Blut fl-Id that the loss of life will reach in the neighborhood of 60 The coal fields will suffer almost inoalcul ab!e loss as a result of the washed-cut tracks and damage to their machinery. A gentleman. arriving from -the stricken section gives an explanation for the report first circulated that great masses of human bodies were to be seen floating around in the' water. It seems that th are is a graveyard between Nor folk Janetion and Keystone, which towns are about a mile apart, and at which point the storm was very severe. his graveyard is near the barnk of the river which caused the great destine tion. When ti~e flood came the graves give up their dead and added greatly to the bodies seen. Mr. J. B Frances, a Roanoke man who is in Eeystone installing a water plant, and who was first reported dead, has written his wife telling her he is safe and sound. He has the following to say about the disaster: "A big flood visited the town last Friday night lEve-y body had to go up on the moun tains. Men, women, and children were drowned in the streets and houses went fb ating down with people in them. Al) our crotwd are safe. We are entirely out off from the outside world and provisions are getting very short. There is now no water in the town." Another letter Wednesday from Keystone says between 10 and 15 people were drowned and 40 hcuses washed away at that place. Tas swell, Va., also suffered from the cloud 'burst. The house of Paris Van D,ke, four miles west of Tazewell, in a gorge of the mountains, was washed away. Van Dyke heard the roar of water and started home from the field. When a short distance from the heuse he saw the water sushing down the mountains and tearing up and twisting off giant trees as if shrubs, the water leaping 40 feet high and travelling with frightful speed. Van Dyke rushed for the house toward his family, but the water overtook him and swept the house and all its inmates away. Two children, 5 and 7 years old. were in stantly killed, their brains being dashed out against the rocks and timbers. The bodies were washed to low lands. A little girl, 11 years old, holding a young sister in her arms, was oarried 200 yards. The sisters tossed onthe waters arnd when rescued were unconscious. Another membor of the fsmily died Wednesday afternoon and Mrs. Van Dyke is still unoonscious and cannot live. At Cedar Bluff, 16 miles west of Taze well, 17 dwellings were swept away, but no lives are lost. At Pounding Mill, four lives were lost. Knobe, a small town seven miles west, was al most completely destroyed. Ravens, two miles west, was badly damaged, arnd many business hduses were de stroyed. The damage to county roads will not be less than $50,000. As They r xgnt Sow. Spartan-Did I understand you to admit that your rival is the champion pugilist?. Fitz-Corbett-No, sir, I said "plagla riat." He's been using a lot of my old newspaper interviews as his own. Philadelphia Press. Well Described. Mrs. Pierpont (ecstatically)-Isn't-It just a poem of a spring bonnet! Mr. Pierpont (dublously)-Yes, a magazine spring poem-I can't make head or tail to it;. or tell.which is the front or back.-Brooklyn Eagle. A Likely Tarn. Lady-I suppose you got that red nose from drinking rum? Sandy Pikes-No, mum. I stuck me head out of de car door an' me nose rubbed agin de bricks on de side ob die tunnel.-Chicago Daily News. What Was Required. Mr. Hlolesayle-I want an ofice boy that don't chew, smoke or curse, and is always neat, clean, brave, manly and courteous. Applicant-Hlully Gee! Wot you want is a matinee idol!-Puck. A Mure Sign.1 "I am certain that Minnie intends to marry Frank." "What makes you so certain?" "I heard her scolding him for sand Ing her such valuable presents."-E~r 1cm TA1e. The Bidding Off 1 of Maria Fairchild ' 04 By Bmuche EUimbet Wad HERE'D got to be an auction, Loretty Smith Wilkinson, best ra I could fx it. I turned over ore'n a million plans in my mind, ill my head felt like a windmill in a: tiff breeze, and there wa'n't nothin' hat seemed to kinder stand out be ore my dizzy eyes, 'cept an auction,. ,nd I jest thought the sooner I had t the better. Pa's been dead nigh nto a year, and there's all them arm tools goin' to waste for want of ein' used. I shan't never undertake o hire my farm run ag'in, and I an't run it alone. Yes, sir, I'll jest el all but the house, and garden atch, and one cow, and my bay iorse, and have an auction of the 'arm tools and lots of old furniture nd stuff I don't need. Then, Loretty mith Wilkinson, I shall begin to feel s though I was livin' and had room ;o breathe, and oppertunity to reathe, without bein' all cluttered ip with that mess of stuff all the tme." "You don't mean to say that you're roin' to keep right on livin' here all tone, Maria Fairchild! What'll you o in tramp time, a quarter of a mile way from the nearest house, and hem big, dark woods t'other side f you? You're fyin' in the face of rovidence!" "How can I be flyin' if I'm jest tayin', Loretty? Now don't you go ;o work and worry 'bout me, for after ,he auction, rve no doubt, I'll be jest ts comfortably fixed as you be, and prob'ly a great deal better." "Well, don't get huffy, Maria. I idn't intend to hurt your feelin's ny, but I couldn't bear to think of rou livin' all alone where nobody'd mow If you was took sick or wanted mnythin'. Have you decided when Four auction's goin' to be?" "Yes, I'm goin' to have it on the [6th of Februwy, and that'll be two eeks from next Friday. Ebeneezer isher's jest taken notices to the vil lage, for me, and his brother Abe's ;oin' to be auctioneer. rm powerful iorry I can't ask you to stay this aft rnoon, but I've got such an awful lot of work ahead of me to git my iouse in order for folks as prob'ly ill be comin' in to warm themselves f it's too cold to stand outside all lay, that rm too drove to spend any minutes visitin' jest now. Then ['ve got to kinder fresh up a good hare of the stuff, so's it'll bring as Aig a price as possible, and altogether, ['ve got my hands full. But I hope to see you at the auction, even if I tin't got nothin' you're likely to want to bid off, and say-I've just thought! [f 'taint too much trouble, I'd be real bliged to you if you could stay all lay on the 16th, and help me make :off.e for them as wants it. I'm go n' to make a lot of doughnuts, too, for there ain't nobody goin' to say Mfaria Fairchild's stingy, if she is an ld maid, and I guess there's lots will be thankful for somethin' hot, and omethin' to stay their stomachs, aft er standin' around in the cold." "I'll be more'n glad to come and help you, M'aria, and I can as well as not. If there's anythin' else I can lo for you beforehand, you let me know." After the departure of her visitor, afaria Fairchild went back into the kitchen of the large, old home, and began her task of revarnishing a massive table that until lately had idorned the parlor. In Squire Fairchild's prime, the house had been considered little less than a mansion in those parts, and his extensive farm lands were the pride of the country. Ethan Fair hild had managed well, and, there ore, must be a rich man, concluded his neighbors; but after the death ,f his wife, the squire took little in erest in anything. He rarely left the oor yard during his latter years, and nder the slack attentions of his !arm bands, his crops ceased to yield io abundantly as In former times, and showed plainly the want of the eforts of the master of the place. Even the house, and the well kept arns and stables began to look for orn and dilapidated, and the general ppearance of shabbiness extended to :he animals as well. With rough, un kempt coats, the once sleek horses imbled along with downcast heads, neekly giving up to the spirit of radual decline, which seemed to pre Tail. When Maria remonstrated, call g her father's attention to some 2ew evidence of neglect on the part >f the hired men, -the squire would ay, merely: "There, there, Maria, I'll speak to roe about It. Don't go to fussin' over iothin'. Things will come out straight n the end." But the result was that things be ~ame crooked rather than straight. [he fences sagged, posts leaned, ~craggly branches drooped-in fact, ~verythng seemed to have become ired and to have settled down for a est. This feeling likewise seized the quire himself, and one day he, too, ank into a peaceful slumber from hich he never woke. People said that now Maria Fair hild would likely spunk up and narry Jed Tompkins, whom the quire had disliked for no apparent eason than that Jed would deprive Lim of his daughter who, to the best f her ability, made her father com 'ortable. But Jed had left the town ome years before, and if he had Leard of the squire's death, he made Lo Sign. Then the popular opinion was that ~nyhow Maria would fix up the place, >ut when it became known that there ally was no mney, and that Maia He Died for Her. Sauel Logan, son of Judge S. T. .ogan, was drowned in the Tennessee iver at Knoxville. Tenn., Thursday vening after rescuing Miss Guion of ew Orleans from the same fate. A rowd of young society people had one on the river for a boating. In ittempting to ride the wave behind a tern wheel of a steamboat the boat lipped and Miss Guion, thinking the >oat was overturned, leaped into the iver. Logan followed and kept her rem sinking. After a hard struggle n the tur bulent waves he got Miss uion to the boat. As she was being >ulled into the boat and before help ould be extended, young Logan sank rem exhaustion and drowned. Ante may be easily killed by pour ng a tablespoonful of bisulphide of car ion into a small hole opened in the 'enter of the ant-hill and then quickly d tightly closing all openings into he nest. The deadly vapor of this olatile liquid will spread through all he galleries and tunnels and kill the int bye whol..al. was, indeed, a poor womAt, spe ions changed to expressions of wo lerment as to what she would d inyway. Then came the announ ntent of the auction. "Dear me, Sus!" exclaimed one rood soul. "Jest to think! Maria -in't more'n 35, if she's that, abd to :hink she's come to this!" Maria worked industriously. Be fore the afternoon had gone, several landsome, old-fashioned pieces had 'eceived shining coats of varnish, and leamed anew with restored beauty. Loretta Wilkinson arrived bright Wd early on the eventful day, and if ihe noticed the closed-up appearance if certain portions of the house, she iaid nothing, but had her thoughts. "Why, Maria, where'd you git that itove?" said she, as she caught sight of a peculiar object in the wood-shed. 'That ain't never your show-off par ,or stove, is it?" "Yes, Loretty, it is," answered Ma :ia. "I've got one in there, you know, Lnd this one ain't nothin' but a relic, Fou might say. rm most in hopes nobody'll buy it, for that's the one thing I can't bear to part with; but [ ain't thinkin' 'bout it any more'n [ can help." It was a curious article. On top was a mirror mounted like any chif fonier mirror, and at each side was a olue glass vase. "Them held grasses most of the." time," explained Maria, "and how many times rve seen pa himself ta-n3 front of that glass, with his shavind -up set there to keep warm on the side. But that was 'fore we had the stove in the parlor; after the stove was moved in the parlor we kept a fire in it only on some occasions, and ma used to joke me about my sparks but 'tain't a subject I can talk abou to nobody." "Yes, I know," said Loretta. "You was thinkin' 'bout Jed. If I wasyou [wouldn't sell it 'thout rd got to. -"Maybe I can't let it go, LoretK but we'll see. There! There's folks come already, and Abe FisherN leadin' the way to the barns." - The day was clear and cold. tices of the auction had been ' tated far and wide, and many faim and their wives had driven in fr the surrounding towns, bent on p* curing something from the sqmre. place. The kitchen and si were well filed during the. part of the day, and the sta coffee and the new doughnutso ready consumers. Curiosity brought many, not only to.'h, grounds, but intd the house Atse for the reputation of the squire's sessions had led many to see themselves if the house was from cellar to garret, or whetherAW some affirmed, Miss Maria had of much better stuff -she won think-of selling. The closed dooja quenched the ardor of those intend-R Ing a general survey of the house but-Z the fact that the coffee was served: In Mrs. Fairchild's best old-fasioned spriggled china cups, conveyed tiev Idea that there must be lots of..," uable articles retained by the ent owner. The afternoon was half gon most of the things were sold. substantial milk-cans .ern ~h~' squire's name, sleighs, argen& many articles besides the fam tools and the furniture had been purcesed, and yet the -stove remained in t s corner of the woodshied. Marla ssw ' It as she passed through on erranas, and thought she would say nothing about it; if Abe Fisher did not seei. She had finally decided she could not let it go. A little later, as she was getting i cup of coffee for a neighbor, eZ glance fell on the group outsideth window, and she saw with 1dsmy her stove dragged up for With a cry, she darted throughtb door and up to the auctioneer. "Oh, don't sell that, Abe; I enf let it go! It's jest the only part f my life I can't get away from..Yu mustn't put it up!" "It's on the list, Maria-," said Abe,~ "and it'll sell all right." "I know it, Abe, but it's like seflin' part of. me. It is part of mel you. know," she cried, wildly. "Oh, nog.f you sell that, I go with it!" "Then I91 bid my hull stock of worldly goods for it!" said a loud voice, and elbowing his way throib the crowd, a stranger took Mari' Fairchild in his arms. "It's Jed Tompkins!" gasped the.~ members of the group. "Yes, sir," laughed Jed, "and bs here jest in time to buy up the msj valuable thing in. the lot. And sea here, you folks, anythin' Mariawa4 back, T11l buy from you, fermy money's hers and she's got a fortune of her own, too. I may as wall say to cut matters short, that her fatherz privately made over his property -to me, some years. ago, on condition that I'd keep .away and not marry Maria till he was dead, as he couldn't spare her: I've only jest heard of bis death, bein' on a long trip out west, and catchin' wind of this auction, rye -rode all night and all day to git here. Now you jest leave Maria to me, and to-morrow we'll straighten up the auction business." "What you goin' to do, Jed?" queried Maria, later, as she heard him struggling with something in the shed. "rm jest gettin' in the parlor stove ag'ln. If I'm goin' to spend the even in', seems as though a little fir. would be good in the parlor. Stove pipe's all right, I see." "But there ain't no furniture in the parlor," laughed Maria,.happily. "I believe I ketched sight of a cair or two as you unlocked the door, Ma ra, and anyway, all we need's that stove with them blue vases branchin' out at the aides, to make the room look real homelike-and, say, we can't-, git that fire started up any too soon to suit me!"-Ledger Monthly, New York. A Sad Accident. Hon Win. E. Clarke, his two daugh tre, Mary B., aged 12, and Francis D., aged 8. and George B. Bryan, the1O year old- son of Green Bryan, wr~ drowned at Newbern, N. C., Friday. The party was out rowing opposite the waterworks, when the boat was swamped by waves Mr. Clark's little son, Win. E , Jr., was the only one of party saved, he clinging to the boat un till rescued. The b-adies of the two young women have been recovered Mr. Clarke was a Republican arnd had at different t'mes been State senator, re presentative, deputy c -llector of Gus-. os and postmaster of Nbern. To Birmingham and Eturn, On account of the National Grand Temple, Mosaic Templars of America, to mleet at Birmingham, Ala . July 30 to August 4, the Southern railway an.-. nounces rate-of one first-class fare for the round trip from all points on its lines to Birmingham, Ala , and return.3 Tickets to be sold July 28th, 29th and 30th, final lhmit August 6th, 1901. For detailed information call on or address any agent of the Southern railway or connections. W. H. Tayloe, A G. P. A. Atlanta. G.