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THE LEDGER: GAFF#ET, S. C.,%#feCH 7 4, 1897. tPW- 5 r* OLD ROCKY. 1 Keep a Weathor Eyo on tho "Boft k Sottin-Dowm Plitcoa” One Man 'Who i! n>I<uln;-liu v Crouuu—T !-• <T«f '-‘avla-l'p-for- ii'ir.'i> • »)) Into the 1». <>>:t Time Life at and short tho id very l>est is vain Jiectin, but every man ought to manage .^o as to sa\e up a stalio and feather u uo«t for Lim- s e 1 f a^in a rainy day. It ji wight be that the rainy day never will come, and then maybe it will. Hut you can’t make no ti<u lius big mistake by keepin your w e. r eye open on the future time to . And then, if you don’t die young, id age is comin swift and certain by nil by, and some of these days you v. ill i‘- i your rusty self in need of a soft rest. Some men gut ■ young, and soin n around and stay • old. But they w .1 to a stoppill the line. When t Ik and the race, is when tho gold <.i Uin down place to v. iiilst yet they are .ain over and tarry ; ng when they an? lii have to eome uj> soincwheres down day’s w ork is done nuidin to a finish— , in merits the dusk of night—and 1 cn: tired f«H*lins are crawlin up and d n and all around, you will f(T-l Id ■ 1 • pin yourself down somewheres tu> i Then if you can manage so irs t<i ; a\ c- a good soft place ready and v aii n, , i can hleAu your stars, and laugii t .1 world, and shake your fist at fat . Kufe Kainlers was plum right as usual. • A Good Scb<>i<I-MHrm. This thing wliid; - ui.<- folks call fate, and some cal! predi ti .at ion, is a power- ! ful gocxl school-!!i .. aecordin to my doxology. You 111 •: - rstnnd I have, been one of lu r ><'• -lars for Jo these many years, and sli<- has learnt me some lessons w 'ii< !l J. never can live long enough to.! . :ucnd>er. Icouldn’t forget them if I w i .’ t<d to and tried my level bkimd< A. She l.ns likewise also give me some terrible hard knocks and mode me wear the dunce cup many and many's the time. But as yet I never have spelt up heud, and I oint quit school neither. In my bummlu ■ od bruisln around promiscus thivugh ti.i-; vain and lleetin world below I 1;:.\ r.ln ady learnt that a man can niight^v . on run tim suvin- U p-for-a-r a i n }-< I a y business into the ground if he wuinls to. lie can starve and stint and 1 1 e and sera5x1 and worry and wear hi life outliefore the rr.iny day oom- r <.r the first frostof old age conies. Some men wai t to get rich too all- fired snddei l lii traddle a fortune at one jump, as A were, and then live high and riotoi , in their old remainin days. But if you w il only watch a man like that you will 1.1 ' that lie most in generally alw.- y ; . , old quick and lives hard and <iii , i,efom Ills jmrjs’r time. He may make Its and cords of money and put it out where the dimes will turn to dollars every oncst and occasionally, bm yet ;it tiic- sunn; time feel poor and ’he |*oor and jnu-*s out ahead of f':; •. .. •• ,rdin to Andy Lucas and tlu Se 1 ip’m money makes the mare go. lim it. makegood, solid grub go and wh« 11 a, man's general m:u liii 11.s bou n and the bot tom drops < it c? h -bn id basket. So when you ci ... :o count up all the costs I would a v i.oli lot. ruther let everything g<- nr f • as it eonu a and take my chain i ai ' tlm set tin down ]>la< , e, tlian to w ar r ysclf out ami liave to take out and q it before, I ever find time to stop and r< Mortal man, born of fern le w oi, in, “breaks" and “spurts" a mo t too much anyhow. He, runs too high npor. it her too low down. If he would but o:dy strike a level, and make a. good :n r; 'e. and let well enough alone, bo 00 :d Imld lus Hjxnsl better and stand the pace longer. Jim Weatherford tlie Quitter. Little Jim Wt 1 berford — a lialf brother to old man Hu ok—was what you mought call u tjuiUer. lie most in generally went in for lt’3 whole hog or none, and got none at last. He scared a good start and got away with a fine burst of sjH'id, but lie broke all to pieces before he got on. the homestretch and then went homo and quit. The maim st trouble with little Jim was that he was too infernal nervloua like and smart. He must of been born in a hurry, and 1 kn< w for my own in dividually self that he, lived and died at about the same ruU . He was a. mover and a hustler from breakfast all the way. He didn't have a bleased thing to start on but bO acres of land and one mule, but his 1 end was svt on makin money, and he made it. He t4»ok the lead row hiim-clf, and tne.rytiling and everyboily on ti.< place had to follow and keepup. He. lived at liotne all alone by liimself—lived as (.lost us the. baric on a dogwood ti<< and waenaoincver he got a dollar ho belt on, to it till the eagle screamed, and another one turnwl up to keep it eompany. Little Jim )i;ui been homed and brung up in the midst of poor folks and hard times, and when he <*>me to lie a man lie give it out that bo was gofai to put plenty of money in his thinks ami then take out and quit and liave a high-heel good time. He was as good me ills word to some caUmiI, and at 30 years old lie had three plantations and twenty-odd head of mules and was pnyln taxee on nbout $7,000 worth of stutf. And yet I never saw him in in', life when he want hard run and bended straight for the pix>r hotii , t > In ar him tell it. lie inado mom y on lop of money, aed got rich, but lie in 1* could see it in that w ay. With him tin’, t akin out time and S settin down place never did come, raked uml luv »»cn.ptsl, ami htf ted and saved up for a rainy .day, but long before it coma he was out and gone the common w ay of all flesh, lie was only a little turned 30 when be died, and the doctors gave it out that there want anything tine matter witli him in particular—jest a gonend givin aw ay and anal; around herilumiirix. He was too infernal dost and stingy to git married, and coL- 'pientiajly ids money went by lor " d: vision to tbc law yers and his poor i clat ions. Little Jim pitclioil his tune too biame high, and naturally of course it didn’t take him very long to sing the t»ng out. The Good Averutre Way, But now there was old man Jerry Scroggins, which took the good overage way and kept It to the end. Jle want to say very sjieedy, but he licit his own and kept his feet under him an 1 stood the pace through a long' heat. He started out jioor and never got rich, but at 40 he was right tolerable well fixed, and every time he took a step forwards he would drivi-down afxgso he couldn’t slip back. He was slow but steady. Gradually by degrees he bought a good farm and stocked it, and built a nice home, and planted out a fine orchard and raised a big family. He took his own time and went a good, safe gait, savin his strength as well as his money, and was fresh and sprightly and active as a cat at CO. Ho never got in any tre- mendius big hurry, but he hit a rvgl ir. steady lick seein how it would take him through by and by. He took things ns they come—ea«y and natural—and made home happy and life, pleasant. He lived long enou gh to see nil of his grand children grown up and married off and settled down, and then when he got old and poor and weary with the storms of life he had him a warm, soft settin down place to rest. But old man Jerry made one break In his old age which y ou never would of counted on from a safe and prudent n an like him. He let his foot slip oncst. and if he hadn’t caught the step mighty quick he would <>f lost his nest and went forth into the cold world alone. You ought to have a nest, and hit well feathered, when you get old and feeble, and then you ought to stay wuth it and stick to it till the sun goes down and the cows come home and the even in stars sing together. The OIU Mun V. a * C rowded. When Jerry Bcroggins was 90 years old and a goin, with his good w ife dead and buried and all the, children mar ried off, he got lonesome and wanted his youngest son, Blev, to move in with his family and run the place, mid keep him company. Of eo.n •• Blev and his wife they jun.jM*d at the chance- w hich you understand t he old man waa now comin across w ith hi: hu t Joa ! of pohs, and lie had the Ix'st farm and the most love liest home anywheres in the Kocky Creek regions. So they moved in and treated him so kind and gentle 1 nd lovin till the next news the rest of tin children got, tho old man hud mod • over the home place and all h< hail in the w ay of thh world’s goods to hi;, son Hie , and his son Blev’s wife, and tie ir children after them benceforwurds and forever. “I am now old and In Iph 1 . i?\d wink and tired, Blevins,” i-aM old man Jerry, “and all i want in th : vain and flee tin world is a pi; x- to rt ‘ 1 easy i ml die In [icncf. You can run th*- lann ami your wife can keep the hou.w. L>-t me have my old ehai- iw, e in t h<“ corner, and uwe my tobacco, and eat at t he table so long as I live, and the old place is yours.” So then he made out, tin paper givin everything to Blev, wife -.in- took the jrapi*r and put it away under loi’k and key. Now it want so very long after that Indore tiny look to crewdin the old mun eonsldi l ahlc and prcseiitly it seems as if they would soon crowd him and his old chair out of the corner, and crowd him out of doors, and n ow d him into the grave. j'hVs wifi she fussed and fumed and ding-donged at him and crowded him terrible 1 c;i r e he would use his tobaix-o, and lie couldn’t always 1 pit right exactly where lie was look in. He had sln-d his third set of teeth and lost his stn ngt li so till he couldn’t ruley spit much p u t his nose, whereon it follows that he w as bound to make a right smart mess around the fireplace every day. And Hlev’s wife Jawed and nagged at him day in and day out about spit tin on her floor, and messin up her house, t il! bless gracious tho old man got sick and tired of it. One suninii r day when the sky was culm and ch nr, and p> uce wins broodin like a gentle spirit ov« r the whole en tire family, old man Jerry happened to remember that he had l<*ft somethin out when he w asfixin the paps-rs and makin the place over to Blev. Ho he called Blev’s w ife by one of her jx t names and 1 told her to please bring him the paper and let him put in. everything right. She went and brung it out like she w as told, and quick tut a flash that old man laid it. over behind the back log in the big fireplace, “Now, there, young woman,” says he, “this house mid this farm and every thing on the place belongs to Jeremiah Scroggins in ids own name. You and my son Blevins can now shell out and IniKtlo for yourself till I git ready to move. In tho main time, I will use as much tobacco art I want to and spit where I durn please. I can have all the room I :ie*Hland take my rest and not lx? in the w r ay. 1 bought this place and built t his house and planted out t he orchard with my own hands, and I’ll lx- dn/lbumed if you and Blevins can crowd me out in my old age.” With that the old mun went to thobig family chest, got out a fresh plug of to bacco, pulled ids chair mound in front of the fireplace, put his feet on the chimney jamb and let tlio juice of the weed fly free and jnomiseus, ri^ht and left. Then Blev and Ida fMk.s they bad to rnovo out, and whin the old man died It coon turned out that In* had wontniid made a will loavin his property to lie divided amongst all the children fair «tPd equal, cxeeptin i his non Blev and hbf i on Ulev’a wife. A Wide Open Weather Eye. You will please take notice that I aint rich, and maybe I aint smart nor very foodlookin, but I w ill bet the best pair of mules in the settlement that I never will git turned out in the cold world for the want of a softsr’tin down place. 1 will have a little nest of my ow n to start with, and if in ca.M that slides out from under me I have already j. it three or four places picked out, where I can go and flop down and rest when I git old and tired. There is James Saunders Scruggins, whidh didn’t have no ma when he turned up at our house, and never did have any pa so fur anybody knows of. But I toted fair with him and give him a white boy’s chance. He Ikis got a grxxl house now, and plenty to go on, and I nm os welcome at his tabic us his own dear daddy, if not more so. Ami then there is Will Tom Pickens. He wouldn't have a pretty home and a good, smart wife and four promisln children to-day if I hadn’t fixed up a little scheme and worked it out so he could marry Mamie Lou Galloway. I was for Will Tom and Mamie Lou, right or wrong, when their own homo folks was tryin their level durndestto bust up the match, and eon-sequentially there is a warm place in their house for me. whenever I may call and need it. I got a letter from Will Tom the other dny, and this is the w ay it reads: To Hon. R. Sanders, Rocky Creek. You dear delightful old Dlekunce: You would come to see us Christmas or New Year, but we have still got plenty of somethin good to eat and drink savin up agin you can git oft and come down. I have got four more hogs to kill, whilst Mamie Lou left the biggest turkey and put away a basket of egga and also a large bottlo of vegetable mutter to go with them. Como as soon as you can and stay as long as you golnatlon please. We will look till we see you comin, Yours through thick and thin. WILL TOM PICKENS. Moreover, also, Mi.ce.s Josephine Crit tenden—little Jo Itunnels as she use to be—she is married now, li\ in down in the Flat Woods and doin well. She always did think a great pile of me, and if it ever comes to jiass that I mought run out of soft .settin down places I know -she w ill have a pleasant comer somewhere around the iiou.se whore she can tuck me in and keep me warm. It ain’t much probable that I will ever git big rich or run for congress, but}'on can IxM 30ur Sunday Ixxita and your side whiskers that if I ever git old and broke down ami genrally in the w’«3', I will manage to find me a soft place, where I can flop down and curl up and go to sleep as neat and snug as a meader mouse under a fodder stack,. RITES SANDERS. BATTLE WITH A COUGAR. Thrilling Experionco of an Engineer and His Fireman. ARP SUSTAINS REED. The Bartow Man Writes of Dr. Thomas Holley Chi vers Again. riie Itenst, in T.enplna to the Cab Window, Fell Ilenentli the Wheel* nnd Was Killed—Derailment Seemed Certain. To battle with a huge mountain lion, »even feet in length and 253 pounds in: weight, on a trestle at night, is the thrilling experience that has just be fallen Edward C. Depew, on engineer on the Great Northern railroad. The great beast leaped at the engine, and narrowly escaped crashing through the window of the c:ib. Altogether, the episode was one of the most exciting that a railroad man has ever experi enced. Mr. Depew was prevailed upon to write for the Cincinnati Enquirer an account of his adventure, believing that additional Interest would be lent b3 r the fact of the stor3 - coming from his own pen. Mr. Depew’s statement is as follows: “I was the engineer in charge of En gine No. 219 of the Great Northern, which was attacked by a monster cougar, or mountain lion. At the time of the adventure I was pulling the over land passenger train going east, and as we were a few minutes late we were try ing to make up a little time. After we- had left Lowell, Wash., and almost two miles east of there, about half wn3' across a long trestle, m3' fireman, George Lawrence, jumped down off his box seat and come quickh' to m3' side of the engine. I noticed a startled look in his face, and turning quiok^' asked what was the matter. All he could do was to glare through the window of the cab and point ahead. “A cold perspiration broke outon m3' brow, I looked ahead and saw, through the darkness, some black-looking ob ject on the track. M3' first thought waa of some obstruction on the track. For a second the thought of Jumping flashed through 1x13' mind, but I banislhed it. This takes quite awhile to tell, but it could 011I3’ have been a few seconds ut the most, in winch it all happened. “As soon ns I saw the obstruction on the track i felt that a possible accident Letter from Mr. .1. P. Grnvrr—Phll- osopber \ovr Certain That Ihlear Allan Poe Wrote "The Ra ven”—Poet* Dlncanaed. CHICAGO’S Ills Ofllcera HEAVY COPPERS, tbe Street on Guard at CroaMliijfa. The arithmetics of the future will perhaps contain a proposition like this for the youth to puzzle over: “If a crossing policeman weighs 240 pounds and his Ixdt is 32 inches in diam eter, how far ahead of.him will a thief keep who has a start of 2 < rods, 12 feet pjid 3 inches? The answer will l>e varied, accord ing to tlic experionco of the student. If he knows a lot of things about the Chicago crossing coppers he will say about a mile. When the civil service commission is examining a man for police force material for the days that ore to lx*, it would do well, perhaps, to pick out a few w ho can do 100 yards under three minutes. They are not on the force now. It may be that it takes a man w eighing over 200 pound.-: to hold down a job on the detail, but whatever the reason it is evident to the observer that the squad runs more to obesity than anything else. It seldom runs at all, for that matter, since vio lent exercise is not pnE of the duties of a crossing cop. The Broadway squad in New York city is <0 npoeed of ihc plr!< of the 10- lice force, xdeeb-d for intelligence, m at- nevs. polish and g« ncrnl appearance— not for height and oinlujxjis solely. Tlx* oiy.-i-r* an- the fi; i-st-lo filing Ixxty cf |ioliec in the world without doubt. The Chestnut street squad of Phila delphia is composed of tall men, but they are all finely built and an orna ment to tire force. In Chicago the man on the corner seems to lx*, strong on girth and little else. To be sure, the crossing copper does not have to travel a beat nnd ids duties are largety confined to waving a club at obstinate drivers and helping ladies to cross the street. But should a thief be seen rush lag through tho stn*et with a tray full of rings or a pickpocket jump from a street esir and run, how- many crossing cojx-rs In Chicago could do anything exccjit throw adubathim? Not one In a dozen. It is a grievous fact that the onl\’ claim to pminenee Chi cago can make for its downtown police Is that they outweigh any equal number of officers in the world.—ChicagoChron- icle. From uh Fnem> of Ton-.utoe*. The chicken heart in human beings is not iiiiftnowu, but the “tomatoheart” seems new. A western Pennsylvania savant inform*, the world that toma toes, whether raw or cooked, are unfit for human consumption, and that near ly everybody who eats tomatoes suf fers from lyeoperaieum curdiopathia, or tomato heart. “Their effect,” ho says, “even upon tho most robust is invariably injurious.” The first symp tom Is difficult breathing, which evi dences “an arrest of vital activity.” It seems that tho secret of the baneful effects of eating tomabxw was revealed to the professor in the discover)' of the fact that the inmates of the Pitts burgh almshouse, who jiartakc largdy of canned tomatoes, are also ulllicted with “general depression.” Mie Didn’t See It ’that Way. Mother—Why, Johnnie, what on eartli have you been doing? Johnnie—FiglitV! And you owe me 50 cents on it. You know that tooth you was going to pa)’ a dentist to draw? “Yes.” "Well, Billy Differ knocked it out. 1 *—• Odds and Ends. , THE ATTACK. was at iwind. Nothing could be done. Wc were too close to the danger, and the fright had the same effect on me that it hud on Lawrence, it took awa)' my power of sjH’eeh instinctively 1 crawled out of t he cab on to the side of the engine. The train dashed on, and an instant after 1 had discerned the form I sa w t lie monster’s C)'es flashing through the darkness, green and yel low b) r turiis. Lawrence was still in tilic cab, speechless, with fixed eves and finger outfit retched toward the animal. His expression was frightful to look upon. The whole scene was so horrl- fv ing that it was photographed on in)' brain so elearl)' as to make me able to deserilx* every detail that occurred in those few short seconds. “As the train approached the lion I could sex* it prepare to spring, and final- 13' when the leap was made tbe situation was so dramatic t»s to lie almost theat rical in effect. The headlight of the en gine threw its ravs on the crouching animal, and when it plunged into the flood of light it looked as if its mission of death would sure!)* ixv successful. The force of the jump was astonishing, ami as the body of the beast cnwlied into t!i<* edge of the engine front tbb sound echoed through the wilenee again and again. To jump then was certain death, for we were right in the center orf the trestle, and )'et, ns the lion made its (leap, I could almost feel its hot breath on m)' throat. When the engine crashed into the beast, or it crashed into the engine, whichever wav' )'oti wish to put it, the lion fell Inick on to the trestle writhing as if In frightful agony, and Mien, for the first time. I realized that the danger was over. “I learned afterward tiftit the cougar, after we >hnd struck it, lodged on the cross-ties of the trestle. It was found there by the train crew of Engine No. 498, who picked it up and brought it to Skykomlsh. There it was skinned. The claws were taken by some of the other firemen and engineers, who had watch charms made of them, vvliloh are very attractive. The beast was still alive vVhen tho men of No, 498 discov ered it, but its hind leg* were cut off, nnd when the men got down to investi gate, they kept at a safe distance until it was known to be dead. In fact, Fore- man John C. Wright would not go near it until ho had emptied a couple of chambers of ids revolver into it. Then tIvey fastened it to the cow-catcher and took it to Hkykomlsh.’* A Coiiiity'* Criminal llccoril. Mingo county, W. Vn., has a remark able record. It is a young county, and but few terms of court have been held. There are not quite 1,W!0 votes in the county, bill there are over 1,000 criminal cases to be fried, most of them on in dictments returned by tho last two grayd juric*. If m)’ good friend Wallace. Reed had not come forward as Poe’s defender, I should have refrained from further mention of Dr. Thomas Holley Oliv ers. It seemed to me that enough had been written b)’ outside parties to pro voke a clearer expose from bis kindred or more intimate friends.. There is still u shadow over his relar tiona to Edgar A. Poe. That the)' were personal friends 1« proven, but as to who preceded in that peculiar style of l)'ric poetry is not proven. I have on interesting let’er from a cultured old gentleman of College Park, Mr. James P. Graves, father of John Temple Graves, who says that while a college boy on Ids return home to Wash ington, Wilkes county, he visited Dr. Chivers and had a conversation with him. Hesa)'s: “This conversation awakened in me the liveliest, interest. He spoke of an essav' or criticism he had just written for the Southern Literar)' Messenger, of Richmond, Instituting a comparison of the literar)- merits of the poets Byron nnd Shelle)'. The impression made on me was that it was a masterful produc tion. He spoke of his‘Lost Pleiads’and other poems; said he had just received a letter from Poe, and I think he read it to me, and he mentioned correspond ence with other distinguished men of the north. “The picture given of him in tho Constitution is most accurate. His complexion was dark, esixxuall)’ so un der the e)'es. “The idea that Dr. Chivers inspired ‘The Raven’ or in an)' wa)' aided in its production was not in that da)' enter tained b)' an)'oae eo far as I knew. “Dr, Chivers’ style of talking was very ornate, and he appeared familiar with the arts and sciences and to be a ver)' erudite scholar. I used to wonder why he was not more recognized by the learned of both sexes, but suppose it was because he was something of a recluse, and preferred to revel in hie own dream)’ and poetical thoughts. There was no show of wealth about him, nor did he seem to core for any. Long after that ho removed to Decatur, where he died and was buried. Mrs. Chivers was a cultured and most es timable lad)'. For further information I refer you to Dr. F. T. Willis, of Rich mond, Va., who was a half brother to the late Samuel Barnett, of Washing ton, Ga., and also to Judge William Beece and Rev. F. T. Simpson, of Wash ington.” So it seems that if Dr. Olivers did not himself bring charges of plagiar ism against Poe.but remained his friend and correspondent, the bill should be “nol prossed.” More especially is this so since Mr. Graves, liimself then a young man of classical culture and a contemporary, never heard of such a charge, and Poe's biographer in Apple- ton makes mention of a life of Poe yet to be published that was written by Dr. Chivers. When 1 last wrote on this subject it was my impression that Dr. Chivers was Mr. Poe’s senior not only in years, but in poetical work, and os they were bosom friends in New York, that Poe drew his inspiration from the doctor; but more mature reflection satisfies me that Wallace Reed is right. My wife says lie is. She has but little patience with people who seek to rob the dead, or wlio destroy the idols of her youth. Ever since siie used to re cite “William Tell,” the hero of the lakes, as her Friday evening speech at school she has lx.*e:i mad with the man who first discovered that then* was no nnch hero, or if there was he never shot an apple from off his hoy’s head. Poe was certainly a gifted genius, for his prose is us marvelous as his poetry. Both are artistic, ingenious, dreamy and of the bonlers of fairy land. But they live in the admiration more than in t lie heart. For jioems that charm our human nature iuid linger in t he soul of memory I would rather read Goldsmith, Gray, Cowper, Cole ridge, Burns and Tom Hood than any others. Byron’s are grand and stately In their beauty, but do not melt down within us and make us Ixitter, kinder and more loving. The most lieautiful lyric poem ever written is, I think, Coleridge’s “Gene vieve.” When I was a young man I read it with supremo delight nnd It lias not yet lost its charm. My sym pathy for love and lovers is still alive and glowing and my soul Is thrilled with ecstasy when 1 read how lie won his “bright and Ix-auteous bride.” That poem ami Goldsmith’s “Hermit” I com mitted to memory more than half a century ago and I dearly love to recall them. For solemn, serious meditation on the vanity of earthly tilings there 1b no poem equal to Gray’s “Elegy.” For home and heart Burn* lead* all in tenderness. For exquisite pathos that appeals to our charity and our pity there is noth ing in the English language so affecting as Hood’s “Song of the Shirt,” On this side of the water we have some few poets whose works have stood nnd will continue to stand the test of time. Marco Bozzaris is sublimity itself. In thought and execution as n single poem it stumbi alone and un rivaled. I would rather have composed it than to have been Wellington at Waterloo. fiomehow I have no taste for poetry that has to strain for language or that has to hunt the dictionary for unusual or uncommon words, such as aidep, gloaming, sheen, etc. Nor for poetry that has to strain for rhymes. It re mind* me of the freshman's first effort: “DadJy built a well sweep, Tbe wind blew it down-sheep.” The rhyme should be as natu ral as the, sentiment. All of our best hymns have beenj handed down to us from famous Eng lish authors. With but a few exceptions there have been none written wPhin' the century. Did these old authors ex-': haust the field or has the spirit of sacred poetry departed? Who writes a hymn now? But ewen some of these ( old popular English hymns are quite faulty or unfortunate in expression. 1 When I waa a boy I used to hear “Come, thouFountof every blessing” sung very often in our church and I got the idea into my head that angels' tongues were 1 made of fire, for the hymn says: “Sang by flaming tongues above.” I did not like that nor do I like it yet. That kind of music Is a little too hot for mortals to appreciate and adds nothing to the attractiveness of Heaven. I reckon I nm hypercritical about such things, but I can’t help it. When the similes in verse are unnatural they distress me. As much as I admire Long fellow I have never been reconciled t<r the lines: "As a feather is wafted downward From an eagle in his flight." There is nothing like the falling of darkness in that to me. It is a strain of thought; might as well have said: “From a buzzard in hi.: flight,” and that would have been horrid. The coming of darkness is a big thing and shrouds the earth from horizon to horizon, but the falling of a stray feather from a bird is a ver)* little thing—too little for a eomporison. But I reckon it i« mean to find fault with a poet who wrote so many beautiful poems. I was only ruminating. Sometimes a change of ex pression brings us down suddenly from the sublime to the ridiculous. Web ster’s last words were whispered: “I still live,” but a young man I knew un dertook to repeat them and said: “Boys, I’m not dead yet,” and all the solemnity disappeared.—Bill Arp, in Atlanta Constitution. THE WHITE HOUSE. Arrangement* of tbe Official Quar ter* of tbe Kxeeutlve. At ten o’clock a hardly discernible sign against the gloss of the barrier an nounces to the citizen who has arrived under the grand portal that the execu tive mansion is “open” to visitors; at two o'clock tbe sign is changed to “closed.” The doorkeepers swing the doors open to everybody. Within the large vestibule nothing is seen which indicates the arrangement and purposes of the different parts of the mansion. It was not always so, for originally the now concealed corridor, or middle ball, with the staircase on the right, was a part of the entrance hall; now the spaces between the middle columns'are closed with colored-glass partitions, and the vestibule is simply a large square room pleasant to get out of. No way appears to open to the state apartments in the center, or to the west wing, which is devoted to tlie private apartments; yet glass doors are there, though as Imperceptiblotothe st ranger as a swing ing panel. To the left there is a door which is always open. It admits to a small hall across which a similar door in the side entrance to the great east room. About this splendid room, com prising the whole east end of the man sion, the visitor may wander at will be fore the portraits, or enjoy from the windows the beauty of Mie treasury building to the east or the impressive landscape to th© south, including the towering shaft of the Washington monument, and, beyond, the ever- charming Potomac spreading with en larging curves toward Mount Vernon; and in the private garden under the windows he may chance to see a merry band of little ones, two of them the president’s older daughters, with a few playmates belonging to a kindergarten class. From the small hall between tbe ves tibule and the east room a stairway as cends toward the medial line of the building to a wide middle hall, on each side of which are the offices of tho president. The arrangement is simple, nnd in the floor-plan covers the space occupied below by the east room and the green room, tbe latter being the counterpart of the small hull with tho public stairway, just mentioned. At the head of these stairs, over the green, room, is the cabinet room, which is the first apartment in the south side of tbe hall; a jog of two steps, at the private door into the president’s room, mark ing the raised ceiling of the east room below. The president reaches his of fice through the cabinet room, entering t he latter from the library, which corre sponds on the second floor with the blue room of the state apartments. Pres ident Arthur, indeed, used the library as his office and th© cabinet chamtJcr for an anteroom, while his private sec retary was domiciled in the traditional office of the president. During his first term Mr. Cleveland preserved the same arrangement; but Gen. Harrison went bock to the office hallowed by Lincoln’s occupancy, and Mr. Cleveland, on his re turn, found the arrangement so satis- foctory that he continued it,—Century. Employment of Wet Nurse*. It is said that if a mother is com pelled to allow another to nurse her child, if the nurse does not remain be yond the first year and the mother is closely associated with and devoted to the child, it* love la not appreciably affected. But if the nurse is allowed to practically take the mother’s place, it will reflect her manners, ideas and in dividuality, and may even become indif ferent to tho mother. Mental and phy- *ical ailments may be asquired from a nurse, hence she should bo selected with great care. She should be healthy and near the same age and complexion as tho mother and be fed liberally with food best suited to her needs and the development of the child. ‘•The strength of a nation is in the care of it* children.” So Joy in Hi* Cap. Wyld—The paper says Easter will bo pleasant. Mack—Not for me. I refused to boy my wife a new bonnet.—Bay City Chat.