Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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P, II i Iff-; "r A BOOK. m He are and drank the precious worcts, His spirit grew robust; He knew 110 more that he was poor, < Nor that his frame was dust. He danced along the dingy days, And this bequest of wings [Was but a book. What liberty A loosened spirit brings! g&r ? Emily Dickinson. . ! B vV ' > <IS Jg THE % IS I f MINISTER'S J * %SURPRISE/^ Sl> BV <t/ f|.' F. E. C. ROBBJNS. & y-:. "Don't you notice anything new, >' Eleanor?" asked Mrs. Amelia Bates, lh pausing in her preparations for iv. church, and watching her niece narrowly. jk "Why no, T don't know that I do, r":.v except the things you showed me |T when I first came," replied the young lady, as she quickly ran her eye over ' the familiar furniture of the room. " ."Oh, it isn't anything in the P house," said Aunt Amelia, "or on ; the place^ either," she added, foliowV; ing her niece's glance out of the wiudowf and toward the barn, where Uncle Andrew was engaged in "harf'[ nessing up." "I was in hopes you would notice y It the first thing,*' she went on, in a H tone of disappointment. "I've kept | It for a kind of surprise. Of course 1-' you are used to them in the city, and V not having been here lately over Sunday, I suppose you've forgotten about jyv our old one. Still I should have If; thought '' K^.y: "Come, aunty," interrupted Elea|p nor, with a laugh, "hadn't you better ?Mtell me what you are talking about?" |L "Well, I will if you will give me a chance," replied Mrs. Bates. "To IJj, begin at the beginning, it so hapg pened that I was spending the after soon with Mrs. Tyler, the minister s wife, when he came home with that plotter from Mr. Perkins. Mr. Perkins? Why, he is xthe Xev York gentleman that was boarding at SV Pike's last summer. Well, in the letter he said that he should not be able to come to Greenhill again for some time, if ever, but he ventured .to show his appreciation of Mr. I Tyler by a little enclosure. 'This is a personal gift,' he went on to say. /"and I want you to^use it in the way that will give you the most satisfaction.' The little enclosure that lie spoke of turned out to be a check for three hundred dollars. "The minister took it as quiet as if three-hundred-dollar checks were every-day affairs, but Mrs. Tyler she bubbled right over. 'That money is going into the travel fund,' says she. Then she explained that they have been putting-by little extra change thac came in?wedding feis and the g like?hoping that some day Mr. Tyler could go abroad. It almost seemed s, as if she wanted to begin to pack his p valise right off. Ik "But the minister ca-.med her pj down. He said he should have to p think of it a. little. 'In the meaner time, Sister Bates,' says he, 'perhaps we will say nothing about it outside.' JjK>' "Well, I can keep a secret as well %'i as the next one, but I guess Mrs. Tyler must have dropped a word to Piv somebody that isn't so close-mouthed Ipr- as I am, for somehow a story did PI get around that the minister had had a windfall, and was going abroad. But I heard nothing definite until last Thanksgiving day. I was hurry?ing my work that morning, and was just thinking it was about time for ^ me to change my gown for church, $;- when all at once?now, Eleanor, do f. ~ you mean to, say that you haven't noticed anything yet? Don't look, "but listen!" "Why, aunty," cried the niece, in sudden recognition of a fact that had ^ been vaguely present in her consciousness, "it's the church-bell! It sounds different." ^ "I guess it does," said Mrs. Bates, complacently; and she stood listens' Ing in rapt attention. "I guess it L does," she repeated, "and it didn't | / take me so long to sense it that Thanksgiving morning. I didn't know just how to account for it, but F. " the minute I heard it I connected it a in my mind with that three-hundreddollar check. You see, Mr. Tyler never could get reconciled to our old bell. He said that the ringing of the church bell of a Sunday ought || to be the sweetest of music in the people's ears?an invitation and a song of praise. And he allowed that '??* l^oll eniin/i )il*o oifhpv I | ?DUi UVii UiUU V V?VTl4M.Vt V ?v?v. . ? doubt if it would have pleased him even when it was new, and it was cracked long before he came here. "Well, there was about the biggest j congregation that morning that I j ever saw on a Thanksgiving day, and ' of course everybody was wonderiDg. Just before the sermon Mr. Tyler said, in his quiet way, that the generosity of a friend?Mr. Perkins, of New York?had enabled him to provide a surprise for his people, in the shape of the sweet-toned bell that had summoned them to the Thanksgiving service. It seemed that Mr. Tyler had bought the bell, and had arranged for a couple of men to drive over with it from Cushoe the night before and hang it unbeknownst to anybody except John Miles, the sex- j ton. There is considerable of the v- boy to our minister, you see, and he is U- quite a hand to plan surprises. I "Of course the people generally were pleased, and if it hadn't been in church I guess there would have . been some applause. As it was. Andrew was twisting and hitching about all through the sermon, and as soon as it was over he hopped up and moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Perkins for his generous and timely gift. When that was clone he looked as satisfied as if he had given the bell himself. '"But when we had started for home, and he began to talk about our having one more thing to be thankful for on that Thanksgiving day, I just freed my mind. . " 'Thing to be thankful for! You'd better say a thing to be ashamed of!' I said. 'The money that bought the bell was a present to the minister and nnt trv thp nnrish and it ouerht to have gone into his travel fund,' \ said. 'And if you men that hold the ! purse-strings had done as you ought about that bell there wouldn't have been any need for him to make such a sacrifice. And now that he has made it. if you had the least sense ol' the fitness of things,' I said, 'you'd find some other way of showing your appreciation than by passing a vote of thanks to the man that didn't give the bell,' I said. "Well, at that Andrew never opened his head. But I knew well enough that he was thinking. The next day he harnessed np, and drove off without mentioning where he was going; but I heard from him all over town, taking the men one side, and confabbing with them. And in the course of the next fortnight several of me sisters toia me iney suspecica the men were hatching up something that we women weren't to know anything about. " "Very well,' I said. 'If the men of this parish, for once in their lives, can do something worth while without our help, let 'em do it and welcome.' "But if the men could keep from telling, they couldn't keep us from guessing, and I presume to say that nobody was much surprised at the next social circle when Andrew asked the minister to step forward, and then started in on a presentation speech. "He talked well, Andrew did. They say that 'praise to the face is open disgrace,' but I guess that doesn't apply when you are talking to your minister, and say only what's true. "After a spell Andrew branched off on to the advantages of foreign travel, and at that I pricked up my ears. Up to that minute I had rather calculated that the men had bought Mr. Tyler a gold watch, same as the people down at the Hollow did for their minister. But now I whispered to Abby Ellen Caswell, 'Do 'you suppose they have been and raised money to send Mr. Tyler abroad?' " 'Xo,' says she, "I don't suppose anything of the kind!' Aud no wonder, for just then Andrew had picked up a good-sized parcel that had been hidden under the table, and was making the awkward piece of work that he always does undoing the wrappings. " 'So,' Andrew says, winding an his speech,''we trust that you will be pleased to accept at our hands this handsomely illustrated book of travels; and as in the future you turn its pages,' he says, 'we hope that you will be pleasantly reminded oL' your loyal parishioners of the Greenliill Society, and of the affection and esteem with wnicli they regard you.' "Abby Ellen looked at me out of the corner of her eye as the minister took the book. 'Seems to me that's quite a come-down from foreign travel,' says she. Not having any husbaud of her own to feel responsible for, of course she was quite free to make remarks. "As for me, I said nothing, though I felt as if somebody had thrown a wet blanket over me. "But the minister was as smiling as could be, and ho made a beautiful speech, though Abby Ellen kind of snickered when he said he should prize the gift not so much for its intrinsic value as for the spirit that prompted it. "After he had finished speaking, he left the book on the table and went to mingling with the people as usual. Jbut a Dei nayes spuae u|/. and says he, 'Brother Bates, in his remarks, said something about Elder Tyler's feelings in the future when he should turn the leaves of that book. I think that some of us would like to see him turn the leaves a little now.' "The minister flushed a little at that, perhaps taking a hint that he hadn't shown enough interest in his present; but .he stepped up to the table and opened the book, and began telling us what the first chapter was about. Then all of a sudden a queer look came over his face, and he was holding up a twenty-dollar bill that he had found at the end of the chapter. " 'Keep on turning, elder!' says Abel. 'The book is handsomely illustrated, just as Brother Bates said.' "And if you will believe me there was a twenty-dollar bill at the end of every chapter. There were twentyfour chapters in all, and besidec one bill was tucked into the index. When ' *- ?- Ji t V? nm oil nut LUG IIllIIiSlt?r ilctu lex lit; 11 LIUJlll ci i i urn. he tried to make another speech, but it was no use this time, though hehad been glib enough before. All he could say was, "Again I thank I you, friends!' "Well, Andrew is ready to come I into the house at last, and here I've | been standing before the glass and | doing nothing but talk for the last ten minutes. Yes, the minister is going abroad next fall, and I hope that the way will be provided for Mrs. Tyler to go, too. | "We must make, haste now. The i second bell will be ringing soon. Yes, it is a sweet-toned bell, as you say, and we all take 1? -ts of comfort with it."?Youth's Companion. x *"~-vv ' T? ' SS*' V Vv -J -v \v "... X " ? " ' Good Roads. Some of the roads in New York State are a disgrace to this Commonwealth. Many an automobile tour has been given up because of their impassable condition. Charles Glidden and party, of Chicago, who were making a tour of this country, became stranded between Albany and Syracuse, and had to give up the trip. Mr. Glidden pronounced the roads in Central New York the worst he had encountered in the civilized world. The poor highways in this State have not only been a deterrent to lourlscs 0:1 pleasure bent, but tbey have been the one great obstacle to farming. Many a farmer who could | have ma.de a financial success of. his [ efforts has had to succumb to the poor highways, which prevented his | getting his goods to market. There is a striking difference between the farmers up the State and the prosperous agrarians on Long Island. For years the Long Island roads have been famous. This has enabled the farmers to get their produce promptly to New York in all kinds of weather. \ ? $ $ * The railroads up the State have always been the antagonists of goodroads. y Railroads find sharp competitors in good roads, as they do in canals. Attempts have been made for years to get good roads, and some time ago 550,000,000 was appropriated for that purpose. It will fall to the lot of the newlyelected Democratic State Engineer aiiU S?U. VCJUi f 1' 1 CUCi KJXWilWy t-vr inaugurate a system of good roads throughout the State. The appropriation of $50,000,000 will be supplemented by further appropriations as soon as thje first is exhausted. Fortunately for the State and for Mr. Skene, he comes from Queens County, which, as has been said, has the finest roads in the world. The Merrick road is famous al{ over the United States and abroad. Mr. Skc^ has built many of those new roads which have been a joy to the pleasure-seeker and an incalculable help to the farmer. He has all his professional life been interested in this one phase of engineering, and he knows all there is to know about it. # . * t- * Being so thoroughly equipped for the position he will be able to expend the large appropriation of $50,000,000 in the most effective manner. He will give to the State value received for every dollar expended? a system of splendid roads'that will build up every community through which they pass. It is not expected that Mr. Skene will be able to finish any great system in the two years' term he has just been elected to fill, but those who know him and his work say that so satisfactory will it be that he will have to be continued in office from sheer necessity, and that the Republicans may have to indorse him for that very reason.?New York News. Government Road Experiments. The work of the Office of Public Road Inquiries, in the Department of Agriculture, is primarily educational in character. Its province is to de- i tail engineers and experts to give information and advice. Whenever there is any question as to what road material is best suited for the local conditions, samples of all the available materials may be sent to the laboratory of the office, where tests will be made to determine the selection of the best material. In the majority of cases the detail of an engineer or expert to make a preliminary investigation and give advice is all that is required. There are, however, communities where it has been IOUHCL <AU VlbctUit? IU DUp^iciucu t auvice by a practical demonstration of effective road building. To meet tbig need the object lessoij method was adopted on the following plan: A section of road is selected for improvement, and after the proper surveys and estimates have been made by an engineer of the office, expert foremen and machinery operators are sent out in charge of modern roadbuilding machinery, and the local officials are taught by actual demonstration every step in the proper construction of a road. Absolutely no expense is incurred by the Federal Government in this work except for the salaries and expenses of the government employes, the local communities being required to furnish the right of way, all common labor, materials, teams, etc., used in the work. The total number of experimental and object lesson roads built under the direction of the office since its organization is ninety-six, the roads being built in twenty-eight States. The materials used in construction ?. -v. .*1iri-ovol nil. tar. were biicus, giaivt, ?, ?, sand clay, marl, stone, slag and steel track.?The Automobile. A pageant will be held at Romsey, England, on June IS, 19 and 20 next in honor of the one-thousandth anniversary of the founding of Rom* sey Abbey by King Edward the Elder. At a mild red heat, good steel can be drawn out under the hammer to a fine point; at a bright red heat it will crumble under the hammer, and at a white heat it will fall' to pieces. m - w*. v ; ' ; v ;;; Palmetto State News! Proposition Badly Defeated. Ine commissioners of the proposed new county of Fair view met in Greenville to canvass the returns. The new county proposition was badly defeated, losing: by about three to one. * * * . They Go Divergent Ways. Mrs. F. If. Newton, who recently sited her husband, Pr F. H. Newton, for $.3,ij{)0 alimony and got $250, has Granville for her former home in Wisconsin, Dr. Newton departing previously for Washington. 2 * Bill Against Bucket Shops. The house of representatives paused the Georgia law against bucket shops. A less drastic biil was rejected and the no use without discussion passed the Georgia law. The senate lias already rejected the Georgia law and passed the less drastic bill, so that the two houses are at cross purpose on the bucket shop light. , ?= * * Traced by a Love Letter. W. It. Woody, the marine corporal charged with the murder of Lillian' Reeves in Charleston 011 October 31, and who escaped from Charleston jail December 21, was arrested at Dallas, Texas, a few days ago, being trapped through a love letter written to a Charleston girl. He refuses to return to South Carolina without requisition papers * * * To Entertain Grand Commander. Grand Commander J. D. Richa-'dson el Tennessee, Ancient, and Accepted Scottish Rite Masons of the Southern jurisdiction ot the United States, will visit Charleston, the fonner seat of the Scottish Rite, in April. lie will visit Council ot Kadosh, composed of thirteen degree asons, to be organized in two weeks' time at Charleston. This organization .narks a revival of interest in Masonry of high degree in South Carolina. * Lever Attacks Cannon. According to a Washington dispatch Representative Lever of South Carolina offered to the agricultural appropriation bill an amendment approprintin<r s.TOOO.OOn %tor the purchase of the Appalachian and White Mountain forest reserve, and said the speaker was continuing to hold the bi)l up and he wanted the country to know the facts about the measure. "I have profound regard for the speaker/' said he, "but he and some of his henchmen are blocking consideration of this biil and by the gods i propose that the people shall kfiow it." ( * * * *. His Conscience Smote Him. The last of the alleged "county graft" cases were disposed, of in court at Greenville a few days ago. These cases all originated in the Speegle regime. Speegle was supervisor, and died about two years ago, and with him died all evidence. Consequent jy all those cases heard at this term were nol prossed, except in the case of one former county commissioner, who broke down in the court room and plead guilty to drawing eighteen months' salary in one year. He was fined 5100 or tnree months imprisonment. * * # Under President's Orders. . James B. Reynolds of New YorK, who is in the south studying mill conditions, was in Greenviile the past week. Mr. Reynolds wiil report to President Roosevelt on his findings when he returns north. Mr. Reynolds is a trained observer, and will be remembered as the principal investigator of the Chicago slaughter houses. The presence of Mr. Reynolds in the south just at this time is significant. He is in tills sec tion to study primarily the labor question as it concerns southern manuiacturers. Aware of the importance' ot the subject; Mr. Reynolds is making minute examination into conditions wheiever he goes. * "Purification'' Bill Tabled. Mr. Richards' purification state dis-) pensary bill, known as the RaysorManning?Richards-Tiilman bill of last, year, and wnich carries out Senator Tillman's idea ol reform in dispensary abuses, was tabled in a viva voce i vote, alter the house by an aye and Tinv vote of 73 to 49 had rejected Mr. Richards' motion to inaennueiy puscpone the Carey-Cochran local option bill. This practically settles the whisky fight and insures local option, after a fourteen-year stormy state dispensary method of handling whisky. The senate is practically certain to pass the Carey-Cothran bill, as it came from tnc committee which was amended so as to provide for a state dispensary auditor, with one simple amendment from Mr. Carey, allowing beer I I breweries in the counties given permission to manufacture. * * * To Hold Second Inquest. Coroner Joe Wooten will hold a second inquest in the case of a negro by the name of Cordoza Williams, whose body was shipped to Greenville irom Concord several days ago, with a certificate attesting thai the man had died of heart failure. The negro was a member of a freight train crew and when his body arrived in Greenville his family discovered that the man had died from some violent cause, as his body showed unmistakable signs of it. Borh legs were broken, the skull fractured and the abdomen crushed. The negro's family reported the matter to the coroner, who empaneled a jury, and at the inquest it developed that the man had been killed by a locomotive, having had his foot caught in a switch. After Dispensary Officials. As i result of the recent investigation of ihe state dispensary by a legislative committee, tne judiciary committee of the senate reported the' following resolution, which was adopted by ihe senate: "lie it resolved by the senate, the house of representatives concuurring, That, in our opinion, the directors of the slu.to dispensary have violated the law in the purchases of liqtors and are liable to removal by the governor and prosecution. That it be referred to the governor to take such action as he. may deem necessary and proper in the premises, and that a copy ol this resolution be transmitted to his excellency, the governor, with a copy of the testimony taken by the legislative committee on the affairs of ihe state dispensary together with their report IhCreon." If the house concurs, Governor Ansel will at once remove the three di rectors, J. M. tfawunson, josepn a. Wvlie and John Black. The investigation showed that Black, without authority of the other members, purchased $130,000 worth of whisky in person in the dispensary's name from one of the firms. \ JAPAN BENT ON A SCRAP. Is Concensus of Opinion Being Expressed by Washington Officials. A Washington dispatch says: Despite the most vigilant precautions of the president and his advisers 'in keeping the information to themselves, the fact has leaked out that the relations between the United States and Japan have reached a most critical stage. According to one of the president's advisers, the two countries sepm to be drifting rapidly toward war, and deft and vigorous diplomacy must he exercise if certain new evelopments are to be disposed without an explo6ion. Bluntly stated the administration is t in possession ot information that forces it to assume that the Japanese government is attempting to withstand | tremendous pressure tending toward a .rupture of friendly relations with the j United States. This ominous situation in Japan is made doubly critical by the attitude of the Pacific coast, which refuses to budge an inch in "its hostility toward the Japanese. The San Francisco school authori-' ties have not only prepared to make a fight against the federal government in the courts, but the California senate a few days ago adopted a resolution strenuously protesting against the "unwarranted interference" by the. government with the "constitutional rights of a sovereign state," and reqnesting the governor and attorney general to take all steps necessary to protect the state and save its rights. ' WHITECAPPERS PLY THE LASH. Prominent White Man and Twer Negroes Their Victims. Information comes from the Metcalfe neighborhood, which is near Thomasville, Ga., to the effect that whitecappers got in some bloody work with the lash in that section recent" * ?*JA Vfoii ly. Men of integrity, W UU 2UU1U U1QU in the community, say that Eli Futcii, a. prominent white man, was taken out at night and given more than a hundred lashes. So severe was the whipping that Mr Futch has hardly been able to either sit or lie down comfortably. It is understood that a negro woman and her husband were visited the same night by the same crowd of whitecappers and given severe beatings. Those who claim to know all the circumstances are reticent in the matter, giving no reason for this* action, but they assert, in most emphatic language, that those who perpetrated the deed knew what they were do(ing and they would even go further and say that they were penectiy justified in their action. Eli Futch recently married a woman from Oklahoma, in answer to a marriage advertisement. The woman drove all the way from the west to Fitzgerald, where she sold her team, later meeting Mr. Futch in Monticello, Fla., where they were married. Mr. Futch is related to the other i Futch family near Thomasville; upon j whose lives several attempts have I keen made recently. 'S- . < PROBE IS ORDERED -? . 3 For Cotton Exchanges in BW Passed by House. ' | CONGRESS TO USE GAFT M Maim V/M?1/ Dflnf/?ron*i4!u? ^ HV?f W? l\ V0VllkUV( W HIU WW Speech in Defense, While Living*' ^ stone Contended That Only 3*2 Square Deal is Wanted. The LivingstOn-Burleson resolution ; .* : >?/-4 calling lor an investigation of the cot-^ '&j ton exchanges of the country, passe?l'the house Monthly, with barely a _ dissenting vote. The work of the lob- A by for the cotton exchanges, whick . A Hai vie Jordan predicted would be m -'Am evidence, did not materialize. Representative Fitzgerald of Neyr York made a speech, in which he declared that the New York cotton exchange was all right, and its con- . 'M tracts and operations perfectly legit- *. ^ imate, anu liiac any mvesu&auuu. should be directed not against tne ex? ,:-j change, but against the Southern Cotton Association. His attitude seemed to be that it was all right for the cotton exchange gamblers to depress the price of cotton, but that for the southern farmer to attempt to combine, and refuse. to. make a big cotton crop, and take the ^ same money from a small crop that j would follow from a bumper crop, was . 7^ all wrong. He said the complaint set . forth in the resolution differed from . the usual protests against corpora- "'rjljsj tions, and trusts in that the usuaL plan was to enter objection against v, -|| putting up the price of a productHe said he always took the side, the consumer in such fights. He did \^f|S not favor a tariff in the interest ofc, the producer, and he did not behove in the combination of southern cotton associations in the interest of tho;prd--'-^l?j| ducer. He said the south was so pros- V I>erous' she was becoming rapacious- . > John Sharp Williams of Mississippi - *t:r .explained that it was not a question of a lower or higher price, bu.1 the. -;h object sought was a fixed staple .> price, so that the market would ,uoV *?$ be continually affected by violent. fluctuations. He protested that thisfixed selling price, such as the era Cotton Associatibn secks# to plaintain, was for the best interest of both. : ^ ibe producer and the consumer, farmers and the mill men. He sabi d^jW the south is net too prosperous, SuL-^ijgg is laying up in fat years for lean years, putting aside in her years plenty for the years of need. He de- % dared that if Fitzgerald had lived in the days of Joseph he would .haye^/^^ have declared the combination made , by Joseph and Fharaoh, at the decrs?.Av '/M ion of God, was an iniquitous trust. , Colonel Livingston made a strong, clear presentation of the facts tnat v;? led up to the introduction of the res- . / ? olution, saying no-fight on the ex,changes was intended, but the movement was simply against some of rhe d; rules and methods. He said; ?u;h/in *haxT onnit- tn honest: con- <; : TT 11VM vuv^ tracts, and cease to use the exchanges to control prices, and oh- '/:& struct interestate and foreign commerce. the object cf the trainers of the resolution would he attained. All they wanted was the square deal." In conclusion, Col. Livingston 3aid: CQ "The cotton producers lor thirtyyears have struggled for a squhre deal in marketing cotton, handicapped by the obstinate interference an St ; ^ manipulation on the part of the eotT-'i|*S ton exchanges. We have begged for relief, and our appeals have been treated with silent contempt Recent-- ^1^8 ly when we appealed to one of the great departments of the government for relief, we were threatened and laughed at by the New York cotton , exchange. We were threatened witli libel suit3 and subsequent imprisonment We appealed for the adoption v.?fi of this resolution believing it will be a starter at- least, and result, in the ?||| cotton farmer being given a square deal." INVESTIGATION IS BEGUN. / v|| Negro Soldiers Give Evidence feegartfring "Shooting Up" of Brownsiite. The Investigation by the senate . committee on'military affairs cf the -^^ Brownsville, Texas," affray was be gun at Washington Monday, a score of negro soldiers connected with the. ^y|j| "shooting up" of the Texas town,, were in attendance when the coinmittee began its first sitting. Theywere not invited into the committee. ?<8|i room, as a whole, but were assign^! . to an unused end of the corridor.. There was only one white man in the group of witnesses. LIVES LOST IN SNOW SLIDE, ; ^ Several Houses and Occupants Buried at Salido Colorado. At least a dozen lives are believed^ to have been lost at Salida, Colo^. v ^ in a terrific snow slide that came S down Monarch mountain at about o'clock Monday, completely overwhelming three business houses and burying their occupants under fiftj? feet of snow and dirt.