The ledger. [volume] (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1896-1907, August 06, 1896, Image 3
THE LEDGER: GAFFNEY, S. C., AUGUST <», 1896.
3
I
AFTER THE WAR.
All Qulot at tho “ Confluence
tho Streama”
of
■▼rr/thlnc Around Rorky Crork for tho
Old FIar ond Freo Cotnogo—Ooly
Two Mm Fighting ond Ono
■•Mliamed to Oeoth."
In rp^ards 1o the prent nrxl prowlrff
question of jK)Iitie« the wnr in mw almut
over with
everybody
down In thl»
pleasant atrip
of country ex
cept 1 n lller
Scrofffflnn arid
J u 1 r Nabora.
l^verylxxly la
fflnd but I’.lev
and .Inle, which
T they are mod—
r a i e foam in.
fiffhtin ni a d.
I’.lev ahiit mnd with Jule, yoti untler-
ntund, and neither Is Jule mad with
Jllev. They nint mnd with anybody In
particular, but they are mad with every
body in general.
as a right young: girl and clumsy and
awkward as a short-handled dog at a
log wnlkin.
In durln of the dance that night the
ether boys in the gsmg put in and
worked on lluek till they got him in
the notion to fall in with the general
foot, shakin. Hack lowed he would
dance if Miss (irnoie Winters would be
his partner, and Miss Grucie she was
willin. So tho music went on and the
proc si ins proceeded, lluek Jenkins
soo. got llmlKTcd out and was wnrm-
In up to his work in flue- shajic. Fiut he
had a pair of heavy red leather shoes
SAGE OF-BARTOW.
Hill Arp Discusses People’s Habits
and Prejudices.
The Former I.lve I-on" After the 1 Jitter
Are Dead — Political Prejudices
Stronger Than Religious
Prejudice*.
The Abundance of Ilta Mouth.
Jule Nabors, aa you svll know, is one
of these tangly-haired, wild-eyed thlrd-
jxirty men and a livln epiaile of frm
sliver at the rates of sixteen to one,
whilst lllev Scroggins he ia a sereumim
democrat and still maintain* flat-foote«l
that fn"* silver Is somethin which you
hear tell of so infernal frequent and seo
so ‘nfernal never,
"Well, when the cat hunched her feet
this stlinmer It would seem like slie
picket! a good, soft platv and landed In
the middle of the big road. Hhe didn’t
jump to Nnlnirs, and she didn’t Jump to
Reroggina. As the pnme now stands
every hotly in the llceky ('reek country
is for the old Hog and free silver—
everybody but Kiev anti Jule. Blev is
inatl because the democrats made
friends with the third party, ami .hile
he is mad because the third party took
ami made up with the democrats,
"Pndblnmo it. your crowd has stole
our thunder and our platform," says
Jule to Kiev.
"Vcs. but by gatlins, your crowd has
stole all our vote*, and votes nrv the
mainest thing,” says lllev to Jule.
Ho there they are—Just two men and
the onlyest two in the settlement—that
want the fight, to go on after the war
is over, and each one floeklii off in a
lonesome little gang all by himself. I
reckon no doubts they woukl light In
and cins out the American republic
from Keel foot bake to Ilnbbersliani if
they thought they could do the subject
justh'e.
lllev and Jule they put me in mind
right frequent of old man Lon Jlmfter.
of Cyclone Rfreak, and Ills loiwl of
i tpmpklns. I'nelf l#on, as we l>oys are
urn wont to call him, used to lie a
penndlo’i* bail man about cumin. If
twery thing didint run smooth and prop-
IT with old man Ixm lie would pitch In
and cuss creation on* quicker than a
pat could shot her eye.
I’l|t 1 recollect opcst ujion a time w hen
phi man l^ui got nilghty mad and dhln't
do pny eussin tq speak of. That was
filo’ig in the fall of the year, and lie had
took his ov wagon and drlv down in
fhe swamp new ground after p load of
pupipkins. I’omehow it also ecm- to
piirs that day that T had went to town,
and pn iny return back home I overt«K>k
the oh! man op toji of the hill on yonder
Side of Murder creek, He had drlv tlw
oven and wagon Up that long, steep
hill, v. hioli Jest as they turned the brow
of 11 the back gate of the wagon dropjied
out in d here went hif loud of pumpkins
l ack down to the foot of the hill. Old
man Ixm had stayed thereon h's wagon
and saw the hist pumpkin go rollln ami
Itotmcin back to the sand bed at the
foot of the hi’l. Alaiut that time I rid
up and saw the general elremufereuer
of the surround ins, and it did look tre
niend'us strange and funny to me to
see old man Ixm so silent and so still.
"What’s the matter, Cnele Lon. and
how comes it, that you ain’t eussin
tilings out?" says T.
“Out of the abundance of h's mouth
a man Kpenketh,” says lie, "mid I never
felt more like eussin a few stnnr.as in
nil iny horn days. Hut to tell you the
honest truth, Kufns. I Jest naturally
don’t see how I could do tl>e subject
Justice."
on, and when lie got into "a wcavin
way," ns the Ixjya called it, hanged If
he didn’t look like he would shake down
♦ he house. Ily and by in ruttin some
fancy figger with a high stroke lluek
got his big feet ami them loud
,red leather «hoes nil tangled up
there together and down he went In
one fell pile as it were. He fell face
foremost and then laid there like he
was dead. The crowd broke out in a
big laugh at first, but when lluek didn’t
move everybody got sheered for fears
he was killed. The boys called him,
but he didn’t come. Then presently
thej* tried to turn him over and he
wouldn’t turn. Hut. by this tinm every
body could »**e that he was still brenth-
!n the breath of life.
"Are you killed, Hnek?" says one of
the boys.
"No, I ain’t killed," says lluek, na he
bnggvd the floor and hid his face.
"Are you had hurt, lluek ?" they went
on.
bit
••Shsmeil to Oentli. Oh I.or
Now as to me, 1 am always willin to
gallop with the gang and holler for the
winnin ticket and fight for the mainewt
thing. Tor the good runic and honor
nnd glory of piy country—for the sake
of jX'iiee and good will In the net 11 emeu.t
—f can fuse with anything from a
lereamlii democrat to a blood-aud-
thundcr third j»nrty man, and then with
anything el.e you could think of from
a big barbecue dinner to a plug of
"white Ink” or "sjM rit.s-of-cnts-n-flght-
In.”
Tint some men are so proud nvd so
wise in their on deeiets till they are
shamed to stand up and take a l!ck*n
if the oilier fellows is man enough to
lay it on. Little Hunk Weatherford—
which next to lllev Scroggins he Is the
moat all-ovcrest. deniocint In tlw set
tlement dors hnto to give up Ids gnu
and quit t lie tight.
"Takin things as they eonw* nnd gv>,
I don’t pre no other chance bn* f.vriiN'to
git on the Umd wagvm and follow fbe
iiiusie," ruys little Hunk to me when lie
found out that t he war w as ended, "but
It w ill Is' like shrddineye teeth or pay-
*li taxes."
And from that time hence forwards
little Ilunk has looked to me like a
man about three parts sliamed of him
self and one part, sorry for the human
inee. He puls me in mind of a young
fellow by the name of Jenkins—Hnek
Jenkiivi I’uy lulled hint which I met
vp witii at. a breakdown dance over in
the Missis vipni river country years and
years n<»-o. lluek was only about 17
years «<H. 1 tit monstrous well grown
for h's y ats. He wav a great, tre
mendous atrappin big fellow, us timid
Hen Franklin said that man wnsn lutn-
dlc of linbita. Somebody else said that
lie was a bundle of prejudices. It is fair
to say that his habits outlive his preju
dices. Mine have, I know. My order
of life, my daily routine, my food and
clothing, my time to go to lied and to
rise in the morning hold me faster than
they did 30 years ago. Habit comes
from the Ixttln word “hubeo,” to hold—
to hold fast. I can’t hoc or chop left-
handed. Unconsciously 1 dress and un
dress the saute way every time and al
ways put on ray left slim' first. When
my good friend, Maj. Foute, lost his
right arm in battle he was young and
soon learned to write with his left hand,
if 1 were to lose* mine now I do not Ite-
lieve I would ever learn to use my left.
I nm too old nnd the habit has held me
too long. It is hard to tench an old dog
new tricks. Unites are subject to ihe
saute force. I had an old mare who con
tracted a habit of lettiug the bars down
to get into another field, and she would
let them down to get out of a good pas
ture into a poor one.
Hut I feel Hint I have got over sonv* of -
my prejudices. Daniel .Webster told ills !
"No, says lluek, I uint hurt a blame | people that they had conquered every-
t, but shntned to death, oil. Lord. thing but their prejudices. Nothing but |
They Kuoekml Hun Oat.
Black Jack Wiggins driv by our house
tine other day to tell ns the news touch-
iti a Hcnndlous big mens which come to
I'ukh over then' in Cyclone Streak one
night lost week.
It would seem from the general way
In w hlch Black .luck gives out the news,
that n gang of them bad boys ftbin the
P;r«ii.k had went look there in the
hills to see the W’ulder Harkins ucd lier
girls, and whilst there they rounded |
tip a little square dunce amongst them- i
selves to make the time j ass si:u>oth
and pleasant. Hut in llic main time ‘
two or three members of the pang ha-1 ,
got tangled up with some of the "firsT
runnin* of the eotrn," and naturally, pf |
oourae, things then went on from bad
to worse ami still more of it. Then
presently Kaz Lumpkins—which 1
reckon he hml got more than his share
—pulled his gun ami proeo* ded to shoot
wild nnd promise us. In the mighty
eenttemtion which followtxl, all the
llghtn got put out and the crowd left
tlie house to dnrk ness ond to Kaz. After
no long a time It would seem like Kaz
conic to the conclusion that he had
killed some nnd crippled some and run
tlx* 1 vilance otT, which he then come
forth ami got on his mule nm! rid off
tor unlx hons*.
Then finally at last when the crowd
••truck a light and reassembled thein-
srlvea together oix'st more (ild Law
rence was the onlyest tnirain mini. No-
Itotly eouldn’t tell what had v en* wl*h
(ikl—whether lie wan livin or dead, <>r
Jest naturally abscatulatcd. I’ut t >-
reefly they foutal his hat nnd one of Ira
Imots in the chimney jam, ami then one
of tho girls took the trail nnd found
Hint Hid had started out, through the
top of the chimney, lie went so far
and no further, and then his cnlv
chance was to back down and rut.
Now anybody and everybody InCyclo'ic
Strcuk will tell you that Hid Lawrence
must of liecn wny back by Hi:' out
side door when they handed round the
brains, am] with the noise and enn-
fiiMiontnent and the sn»ell of guii]x>Av-
dor—by this Him* he had lo f what
little sense he started out with. The
l>oys called him and the girls railed
him, lint he wouldn’t say nothin nnd
he wouldn’t come forth.
And what do you reckon that gang
of boys, the YVidder Harkins nnd her
girls nil then pitched in to do? Th< y
struck n match and started a little Cre
and proceeded to smoke Old Lawrence
out. of the chimney like you would
smoke n rabbit out of Ids hollow. Hid
he sneezed and kicked ami scuffled, nnd
-ruffled nnd sneezed nnd kicked hard
and fart nnd furious. Hut they fetched
Irm—oh. they fetched him. And
when lie did turn loose ami come forth
he come with n mighty crash ami ro..r.
It then took the crowd two hours to
bring him around on Ids feet in ids
right mind onest more.
Everything that goo* up must corue
down. Leastwise that’s what they
say in Cyclone Streak. And there is
plenty of fun in America yet,
Fruler False I’reten*lons.
The wild ami feckless way in which
the jmliticlans aftt now t.ryln to borm
r.nopgle the niggers with the talk ubmit
tree silver puts me In mind of the old
song nnd dance* a iron t “40 acres and a
mule." To bo certainly the colored
brother is for "free silver," or "free
lieker," or anything else that Is free.
Ho is most In generally always out for
the stuff in one way or another, and
route of the candidates have now /rot
him to thrnkln that if the country goes
for free silver lie can Jest buck his cart
down to the pile and load up and drive
•nit. On gem-nil principles and In a
general election lllev Scroggins is right
—“the mnlnest thing Is the.votes." Hut
it nhvrys did give ineaeomlii npjs'tite
to go out in the Imek ynnl nnd spit when
I we enndulutea for public offlee willin
nrouml under false pretensions.
They put me in mind of what the good
Rook says alxiut the dmll and some of
his tueiinnes-. Von reeolhs't. when
Pntln took the bleswd Masti*r way un
on top of a high mountain and told
Idin *o look out on Hie broad nml'bonu-
Hful worlil around liim.
“Now,” rays the devil, “if you will
»nly fall down nnd worship tm' I will
give you e\cry thing in sight—land nnd
water, < ni tli and .sk.\ ’’ i\ lien t ight then
Hie infernal old scoundrel didn't own a
.‘oot of land in th'' round created world.
tM’lTH RAND1I18
—Amerieaii corned beef was ex|>orted
•n’t year to the amount of 02,473^525
pour.ds, valued nt $3,55S,23Q.
old ag«' and reflection will conquer
1 them. They are hard to give up, tor
i most of them are born with us. Ottrre-
i ligion ami sujH'rstition and jxrlit'eal
i faith, as a general rule, are inherited.
; Like father like son, like mother like
i daughter. If the old man shakes a piece
of coin nt the new moon or makes a
cross mark in the road when he turns to
go hack, the son will do It, too. If the
mother will not begin a garment on Fri
day the daughter will not. And so it
goes with our religion. I am a Presby
terian because my parents were. I
could have just as cnsHy been a Hap'ist
if they bad l>ecn. Or I could have been
a Methodist or an Episcopalian. It
does not shook me to say so now, and I
hope it does not shock anybody else, j
Sectarianism abounds in prejudice in
herited more Ilian acquired from rnti.m-
al methods. One Christian faith is
about as good as another if it suits the
Christian. I would not proselyte «ny
of them if I could. 1 uonld no! disturb
the peace of a Methodist family by seek
ing to draw away a single member of it
to my church. I like iny church not be
cause I believe Jt to Im* the best, but from
long familiarity with its mode of wor
ship. I feel more at home there. The
Presbyterian habit has got bold of pie
Just (ike Hie Methodist habit lias got
hold of ( ather ^Vik|e. in fact, l believe
a better service ppuld lx* jande up by
i ailing out Hip Ixist. things In al( Hie
churches.
For instance, Hie Mothodist anil Epis
copalian communion service is more sol
emn and impressive than oms, and sols
kneeling or bowing ill prayer. The
Kplseopalinu church has too much > is-
Ing up ami sitting down—the other
chit relics have too little. I would like
to see the Litany adopted in Ml tho
eliurches and hour e\cry child join in
the r< Sl'fipson,
Hut of all prejudices the strong-et
nnd most unreasonable are those of a
jMiliHeal nature. Political intoh nir.ee
Is not tciii|K'’red or toned down by Chris
tian charity. Hitter isirtisans uuiy ap
pear to lie friendly, but at heart tie y are
eimmica. When a prominent one dies
his jiolitleal foes thunk God for that
much. Those who covet the ottiees will
use all kinds of hypocrisy to get them.
What makes the matter so ridiculous
is the nl>soliite ignorance of the masses
of these partisans concerning the
‘ ‘ s of their party. When David
Hennett Hill straightened up an I said:
"1 uni n democrat!’’ his utterance was
echoed from a million throats all over
tins broad land. What did he mean?
I nin sure I do not. know. It has been
nearly r*0 years since 1 east my first
vote, and it was for a democrat. Hut
there were no such issues thru. The
great question was whether the federal
government should make .appropria
tions for internal improvements or not.
Up to that time no rivers had been
cleaned out and no pos.l offlccs or pub-
lie buildings built in the interior cities.
Hut now every muddy etcck and every
two-horse town must have an pppru-
printkm. Free trade was once an i««ue,
but it is not now. Tariff reform and
protecticfi have Ix'cn occasional lssii‘*s
for 50 years and more, but sonietlnies
the parties compromls" on incidental
or accidental protection. The repub
licans claim to in* for protection, and
Mr, McKinley championed a bill
through that did protect his party
friends nnd left out those who were not.
He took off the duty on mangniies" and
ruined the lieat industry we had in this
region. A company that hud invested
$:HK).000 in this county in that busi
ness and wo* paying out ?2,000 a week
for Inlor. Everything in Carterville
prmqicrrd and we could pay off our lit-
tle debts with alacrity, and even pay our
doctors’ hills nnd our preachers tlie*r
salary. But Carnegie wasn’t happy and
got the tariff taken off and then got all
bis manganese from South America and
the West India Islands. The collapse*
came here, of coui^c, and thebudm'ss
was abandoned. That’s the kind of pro
tection we $ot.
Rut what is a democrat now? Some
times a consequential gentleman who
hunkers after an office will swell tipprid
exclaim: “I nm a Jeffersonian demo
crat,” hnd the editors have n. nest-egg
in Jeffersonian democracy nnd hatch it
frequently. What i« that? Jlis bi
ographer says the most material article
in his political creed was that "the will
of the majority must govern. This may
sometimes err, but its errors are honest,
solitary end short-lived." There is no
special democracy in that. All parties
indorse it. Jefferson said that a differ
ence in politics was not a reason for
the removal of competent nnd faithful
officers, nnd he did not remove but very
few while he was president, nnd those
were for misconduct. But now the
democratic doctrine is to turn the ras
cals out, and every officeholder is pre
sumed to be a rasaal. I have tried in
vain to make these modern politienl
garment* fit Thomas Jefferson, but they
won’t do it. In his day there vvis no
quarrel over gold and silver, nor slat *
banks, nor income tax. He went into
offlee in good circumstances and came
out insolvent. Even his home nt Monti-
cello wtw levied on nnd would have been
wild but for the generosity of a few
wealthy friends. After his second term
v.os out. he was not suro of lieing al
lowed to go home without arrest ami
giving IkhhL On becoming a public
man he resolved never to engage in
any kind of enterprise to Improve his
fortune. He kept this resolve faith
fully for 50 years, which was as long
ns he held office. He married n young
nr<l beautiful widow and could play
the violin exquisitely, lioth of which
were democratic usages, and still are,
though neither playing the fiddle nor
shooting ducks are put in any modern
platform.
Hut the Issue now is concerning the
currency, nn adstruse speculative ques
tion about which the. average man
knows so little that he ought to be
ashamed to talk nnd thereby show his
ignorance. And yet there are here and
there good citizens who profess to It now
ni! about it, and will talk about "sound
money" and Jeffersonian democracy os
gushingly as a professor of polificn.1
economy in a northern college.
I wish we. could put the X rays upon
this question nnd explore it. but ns we
cannot and ns the great men of the na
tion conscientiously differ on It I am
going to pin iny faith to the purest nnd
best man I know of in public life. He
is ns pure in private life nnd ns poor
ns Jefferson, nnd could have written
the Declaration of Independence if'he
had lived In that day, for Jefferson
was then only 33 years old. My admira
tion for William J. Hrynn is very great,
nnd l shall bank on him with more re
liance than on the platform. A repulv
Lc.nn congress ran knock n democratic
platform into (its, but they can’t move
Air. Hrynn from his convictions nor hU
integrity. When these gold standard
papers assail him and make sport of
him he can sny to them ns Job did to
his three friends: "Nodoubt ye are the
people nnd wisdom will die with you."
—Hill Arp, in Atlanta ('oustitntion.
PICNICS.
Bam Jonos Goes to Ono Which H©
, Thoroughly Enjoyod.
Hat the Ginger Cuke and the l’«r-
• Lmuimt lleer Were N»t the
Kerne wa When lie
Wm* a l.oj.
THE VENICE OF TO-DAY.
It In .Not
at In Tlmea
So lloantlful
Gone lly.
That which first strikes the observ
ant stranger in Venice to-day is the fact
(lint the Venetians hove absolutely and
entirely lost their grip ujxm the beauti
ful, Nothing on eartli eun lie fiimr than
the art of it* glory; nothing la the
world can I** viler ♦hui. the so-ealled
art of its decadence. That the de
scendants t ,f th«' men who decorated the
palaees of 500 or 000 years ago could have
conceived, or endured, th'* wall ixijx'i's.
the stair<tirj>et«nnd the hat racks in the
Venetian hotels of the present, is beyond
belief. Whatever is old Is magnificent,
from the fresco of St. Christopher by
Titian in the chapel of the Doges, to the
window of the Cicogna. jsilaoe on the
I'ondamentn Hriati. Whatever is new is
vgly, from the railway rtation nt one
end of the grand canal to the gashouoe
at tin' other. And the iron bridges nnd
the steamboats and the bond stand In
tho Square of St. Mark iire^he worst, of
nil.
When the Engllsh-Hjxxiklng nnd Enf»-
lish-rending visitors to Venice, for whom
this pnjier is written, overcome tlve feel
ing that they arc predestined to fall in
to one of the canals ix'fore they leave
the city; when they grow accustomed
to lieing driven about in.t hearse-shaped
cne-manned rowboat; when they luive
Ix'cn shown nil the traditional sights,
have bought the regulation old brass
nnd old glass, have learned to draw
smoke out of the long, thin, blncjf, rat-
tr.iled, straw-covered things the Yctv-
tians call cigars—when they have wen
and have done nil these, they will And
themselves much more interested in the
house. In which Byron lived, nnd in the
perfectly restored palace in which
Drowning died, than In the half-mined,
wholly decayed mansions of nil the
Ikigos who were ever lord mayor* of
Venice. The. guide-books tell us when*
Falieri plotted ami where Foe earl fell,
where Dcsdemnna suffered nnd where
Shylork trailed; but they give us no
hint, ns to where Scott lodged or where
Rogers breakfasted, or what was done
here by the many English-siienklng
men of le tters who have made Venice
known to ns and projicrly understood.
Upon thgsc chiefly it is mv purpose hero
to dwell.
The modern Venetian dealers In sec
ondhand portraits and Hie venders of
bric-a-brac of nil kinds seem to have
li a rued their strict nnd universal econ
omy of truth from the memorial tnb-
lets over their shops. If} on are offered
here an article of original, homemade,
present-time antiquity for five lire, you
may depend upon getting it for 2% lire,
and you may lie sun* that it costs you,
even then, nliout twice .is much a* It Is
worth. If an inscription In old Ixitln
or in choice Italian tells you that."Here
lived’’ some particular Venetian hero of
• word and pen, you may put down In
your diary Hint, he probably visited
next door, or that he died over th** way.
—Tourcnc.'* Hutton, in Harper’s Mag:i-
zlne.
Trees amt I.lKhtnlng,
Cedar and fig trees ore rarely struck
by lightning. The beech, the lurch, the
fir and Hie. chestnut also seem to be
peculiarly obnoxious to the "liolLs of
Jove.” There are trees, however, which
appear to attract rather than to repel
the lightning flash. The trees general
ly enumerated In the category at those
which tho lightning is most apt to
strike are the ouk, the yew, the elm and
the iFimhardy poplar.
I spent the day in a beautiful grove
with two lieautiful, clear, sparkling
springs bubbling from under the
cliff, with.the beautiful Etownr river
rolling along near Hu* edge of the grove,
picnicking wit h a number of neighbors
Mid friends. I wn« frequently lit pic
nics when I w as a boy, since 1 have beem
* man, but this is the first old Georgia
picnic I have enjoyed for 20 years. It
whs h day of solid enjoyment, of so
cial pleasure, and physical fulfillment.
tor more than a score of years I havo
crowded my days and weeks Into the
Isl-ors and toils of the ovangelical-
Istic work and the lecture platform.
A* we get older wo get young again.
We find our tastes and our appetites
and our enjoyments in the things of
ehildhood and youthhood. It makes us
recall the days gone by. Since coming
back home thN evening from the pic
nic I have lx*en “ruminating,” as BUI
Arp says, over the day and the mem
ories which it brings up. When I was
quit*' a lioy 1 livtd in the country. The
old-fashioned ginger cake nnd per
simmon lieer were the luxuries of the
picnic occasion. I can remember the
• ild black woman who hnd her large,
basket full of old-fashioned ginger
*akes, her jug of persimmon beer and
fhe tin cups sitting around it. Five
•cuts for a g*nger cake nliout eight
’itches long, four Inches wide nnd nn
'neh anil a quarter thick, ami a cup
of persimmon lieer thrown in. My
money generally gave out on occasions
bke that liefore my capacity did. I
then frequently felt that if ever I grew
to lie a man my hlglvcst ambition would
lx to have solid cash enough in my jxiek-
et to fill up thoroughly on ginger cakes
«nd persimmon lieer; but like St. Haul,
mid: “When I became a man I seemed
to do away with childish things.”
It was a touching incident w hen the
‘*>11 of nn eastern lionie who had spent
many years in tlx* west ennio buck to
his old nioflx r’s home in the east nnd
brought his wife and several children
with him to enjoy the social days w ith
the old mother nt horn*'. On one occa
sion nt Hhe table lie said to her: “Moth
er, can you bake some grrsl old ginger
enkee like you used to bake when 1
was a boy?” She said: "Yes. son, I
hare not forgotten how." Then hr
said: "If it is not too much trouble
bake them. I want to cat some more
of your good old ginger rake* before
I go Imek west.” The mother baked
the cakes an*! when he. picked up one
of them, after a bite or two of tlw enko
he turned to his mother with a disap-
jHilivted look upon hi* face and said:
“Mother, these are not like the ginger
onkca you used to make." “Oh. yee,"
she raid, “my son, they nr** the snme
ginger cukes I used to make, but 1
haven’t got my same little Imy to eat
them!" The ginger cakes an* tlw fame,
but the boy has changed, llow tru*' this
!.<*. not only with ginger cakes, but with
everything else. When I remember the
days wlwn I used to go Imthlng in the
creeks, fishing In the jionda, rollicking
in the fields, rabbit hunting by day ami
’possum hunting ni night, who, with
me, would not like to go Imek and live
those days again? Watermelons wen
1 >ettcr then than they are now; peachc*
are not the same, lieenuse tho lioy has
changed. Stick candy then was better
than the finest fruits nnd candies now.
'Hie old-fashioned game of marbles, the
t ame of hide switch, town ball—not
lnwwl%ll. Oh, how these* thoughts
with magic jiowtT take me back to
rhildbood’s hour,with father and moth
er as my guardians and protectors, the
ones who loved me and fed me and
clothed me and tqKWikcd me on the one
side and aM (he fun and frolic 1 could
get out of life on the other side.
How kind In a good Providence to
throw nrouml children the joys and
pleasures which they fall heir to. nnd
all the sterner, wearisome things are
shut out from them. No creditors to
dog them, no hardshijis to crush them,
no heartaches to bereave them. Like
the calve* and colt* of the pasture they
rollick ami run almost as free from cares
ae the colts themselves; but by and by
they grow up to manhood and woman
hood, in the natural order of tilings
they marry, and then comes the lug of
war, the battle of life. Shall 1 win it or
«l*nll I lose it? Shall 1 Ik*swept w ith the
current or ride on some of its waves to
fortune? Children which come to the
home come like angels to bless us.
They bring only good to us ;liut wh *n
sickness cornea to them and in after
years folly and sin nnd wrong should
come to them along with the other bat
tles of life, we frequently feel that the
burden is more than we can bear. God
waits for us to get strong before lie
loads us, and we all curry according
lo our capacity.
These thoughts are the aftermath of
the pleasant day spent nt the picnic
grounds, but an old-fashioned picnic
under the shades of the broad spreading
foliage of the lieech trees we spread out
the tablecloth until the length grew
and then the baskets being emptied up
on the tablecloths, and then the table
clotlis being emptied Into our capacity
until nil the. grown people, childn n,
servants and all were full nnd feasted.
A thousand merry laughs, a thousand
cheerful faces, a thousand cheerful
looks. It seemed that every person left,
every care and burden behind them anil
came to enjoy the day w ithout reference
to goldbugggcry or sib erdiggery, high
nr low tariff, or the world, flesh nnd the
devil, nnd while the fearful drought was
j.laying havoc with the corn nnd cotton
—-the harvest of lioth being cut off at
least one-half—we forgot It all and
seemed to remember only that It was a
day of pleasure and enjoyment. When
ever wo can bring such days into the
busy life of men w c ought to do it. If
the over-worked brain and imisHe of
this country could see more days Lkc
tins we would have less doctor’s bills toj
piy, fewer coffins to buy, nnd less crape
to wear. If every day Hint comes to
man couid lie a day like this I see no rea
son w hy a man should not live 009 years
ns Methuselah d id. I sometimes wonder i f
the old patriarchs who lived from 500
to 1,000 years could have lived vine-
fourth or one-tenth of that time if they
hnd lived amid the roar nnd rush and
pull and dig as men do to-day. After
all. I am content with my lot. Amid
the work and worry of life I have a
thousand pleasant hours to one day of
insufferable cares. I want to live for
ever, and I lielicve the way to live for
ever is to live liest and happiest here, I
am glad I went to the picnic.
RAM P. JONES. :
1 ■ t
THINGS LOOKED BRIGHTER. |
A R.ired Man Comes Face to Fare with *
Kit of Real Life and FeeU Getter.
lie didn’t know why he should feel
that way.
And anybody else having a knowl
edge of ids worldly condition would
have marveled at the unconquerable
feeling of despondency that had come
over him.
lie had money; the large order of
flowers which were to grace a South
side society function, and for which he
hail paid cash, would attest to that.
Ami he had friends; the mere fact of
his ordering the flowers was evidence
on that point. Besides, unimpaired
health was his. In fact, take it all in all,
he had alxiut ns much to lie thankful for
ns anybody you could have met.on State,
stre**t. And yet, tliere. was a vague feel
ing of longing and unrest tugging at
his heartstrings that could neither be
accounted for nor driven away.
He paused liefore the windows of a
large retail store, and after hxiking
abstractedly nt tho lieautiful array of
artistically draped goods was alxiut to
I mss on. when a hearty ship on the hnek
arrested all physical ns well ns mental
progress till the effect of Hie salute,
should wear off.
“How are you?” said the newcomer,
transferring the grip of his brawny
hand from the Ixircd gentleman’s back
to his soft, white hand, and bringing to
the aristocratic face a florid counte
nance that glowed with humor and
kindliness.
The man who but a moment liefore
had been gazing listlessly at the win
dow full of finery looked with Interest
at the young fellow before him, but,
though it was a deckh'dly striking
face, with hair and whiskers a little
hit redder, nnd mouth nnd. nos*' a lit
tle bit larger, and eyes a little bit bluer
than any he had ever seen U'fore, he
eouldn’t for the life of him tell where
itx owner Ix'lopged, or where he had
Been him.
"I*ve lieen wanting to see you ever
since that night,” the young man
went on, still clasping the tender
fingers with a grip that, would havo
brought tears to the eyes of the well-
to-do man hnd be not bi'en too busy
just, then thinking of something be
sides himself to notice the pressure that
wan lieing brought to bear upon his
four right, digits. “I've wanted to
thank you for what you have done for
us. Mv wife rays to me ever’ morn
ing: ‘Now, John. If you happen to run
across him to-day. tell him that I’ve
never censed to think of him, nnd to
nray that .some great good may conic to
Vm ns a recompense for what he did
for us.’ Pile’s rather religiously in-
clincd.m v wife is,you see. Ard I tell you,
sir. Hint was a wonderful th*ng to me,
that, lift you gave me that night. Why,
it raved the child's life, fdie’d ha.ve died
before morning if I eouldn’t have got
what the doctor ordered, nnd if I hadn't
happened to strike you for Hie money
1 couldn’t have bon'Hit the tilings.
We’re liv ; ii*d iwn on Went worth avenue
now, and doin’ well. When the baby
got. well I seemed to get. n new grip
on life myself. I’m glad I saw you, sir.
I hojx' you're well.”
, He wrung the white band nt parting,
rnd st.artixi down the street. Ily degrees
tin* little side play in his life, in which
the red-whiskered y^ung man had liecn
the center figure, came back to tho
Ixired man In detail. He had met tho
man on the bridge one night long past
midnight. “My baby Is dying. I have
no money. For God’s sake help me,”
the man had cried, nnd he. rather tho
worse for wine, had given the suppli
cant what money he had. He didn't
know whether It was $20 or $50 or $100.
Anyway, it did not. matter.
And so the child lived, nnd he had
don** good, after all. And a grateful
woman prayed for him. too. It wait
rot often such things come into m
man’s life.
He turned from the window with it*
dainty drnpings, and passed on down
the street. Somehow things looke<?
brighter than they had done a few
minutes before.—Chicago Tribune.
Queer Family In Tcniiessee.
"There is in Tennessee," rays a trav
eler in the New Orleans Times-Demo
crat, “u family of three sisters which
presents some of tho strangest pe
culiarities Imaginable. These three
sisters, all of whom are old maids, live
together on a farm, their sole means of
subsistence, ond work early and late
to earn a livelihood. Two of them work
in Hi*' field, the third d**'s the cooking
and other housework. There ls but
one period .of the year when any mem
ber of the trio ha* anything to say to
any other memlier. All during the
winter, spring and summer they go
about, their business with the seal of
silence on their lips. When fall comes
and the crop Is harvested they break
the silence, nnd then only quarrel over
the division of the proceeds. When each
has succeeded in getting all that she
thinks possible, silence reigus again un
til the next harvest time. The sister*
luive made a name for themselves. They
are known far nnd near r.x the ‘deaf
nnd dumb triplets,’ although tliistitlo
Is scarcely appropriate."
—Of cotton other than sen island wo
last year ex|H>rted 3.502,171,787 pounds,
for which we received $202,118,351.