Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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} * THE TjEDfrEIt: 0\FF\EV. S. C.. APRIL !*2, 181)7. .‘5 THE “OiNLYEST” ONE. Elov ''Scroggins tho Smoothest Card in the Pack. ( 'Ter. ' ‘ Ont for 8tuir» and in th** <intnr to '»* n ~A Ilanilnoun. Vounu Widow and Mxty Apron VVan the Stnken. ^ hen in the fullness of Ijrae—and through tho gracious plenty of His wisdoLi ami mercy —the good Lord raked up tlie neces sary materials to make tho most smoothest card in the whole pack— there ain't an> doubts iu my mind but what about that time JJlev yeroggins first saw the light of day in this lost and mint world. In my day and generation I have scraped up possin acquaintance with 1 (great squads and droves of people, which at the same time I don't claim to know but mighty few. Dot if I don’t knew 15lew Scroggins—if I don't know him as perfect and familiar as a school boy knows his oM blue-back speller— then by gracious I don’t know a livin mortal man on the broad bosom of tho discovered earth. Many and many’s the time I have beard JJlev make his brags about liow he could “come into the game with narry pair and take tho. pile*,” and in regards to that lie is the onlyest man I Itivc ever saw that could handle the “documents” to that extent. less time than three weeks—with the deeds and titiements made out bemb-proof in my own full and proper name—then human nature ain’t human any more, the ways of this wicked world are past findin out, and Ulev Scroggins has never yet shedded his colt’s teeth. “What's on the wind? Old man llan is a poor, lone widower—with nobody to comfort and console him in his few remainin days on eart h—nobody to darn his socks and patch his clothes, and no body tolling the sunshine acrost his path as lie hobbles on down the hill, a.s it were. Old Iran llan wants to git mar ried. He wants to marry so bad till he don’t know anything for certain. You could take a bundle «.f calico and a litt le bunch of red ribbon and make a ravin idiot out of that old man Indore sunrise in the morn in. “Now the Widder Stinson—Nan Weav- nsc to be-;she would love 1 to give her own sweet better or for worse, to person. Old man llan has .•Is over appetite in love wiuder—and—well—the wid- s’u* niut gone nowheres. So there are, llufe—two souls with but one mainest hope, two hearts that ache as out'—and the country is now seriously threatened with music and dar.cin and another wed din match. “flat if l»!ev Scroggins nint nil sorts of a fool at onest, old man llan Phillips never will marry hin:.'••elf olT with the Widder Stinson—cover in the round <lis- corered world, llufe—till all the deeds and titiements to that Co acres of irwamp bind are signed, seale<l and lar.derl safe in the ohl family chest at heme.” SHOULD BE WHIPPED. Arp Tolls How Children Ought to Bo Brought Up. or a.-; ? lie tremeni !u.i velf awi ay. some in an already full with tii e w dor she niu. you arc , Hu In the (lame to Win. ■‘This plain, everyday life which we nro now livin is a game, anyhow, llufe, and everybody plays it »ne way or an other,” says Ulev to me onest upon a time, “if you don’t play somebody, the next thing you know somebody will play you. We are all in the game— borned and bred andbrung up in it—and the onlyest way under the sun to keep from playin your hand out is to shuck off your mortal toils and put on your •vhitc wings and quit this dull old world. “N’ow as for me, if I didn’t know any more aliout handlin of the documents than aome people, blamed if 1 wouldn’t tend a night school hand ruunin for ten years to come. And if there is any points about the game in general which I haven’t already learnt, by the stars and stripes it was tore out of the books before my day and time. “Jlight now. llufe, you mought as well to take out your little note book end set it down that Ulev Scroggins is in the game to win. You never heard me make any proud, high-flyin remarks ul>out the family records of the Scrog- ginsgeneration of people, and you never will. St) fur os I know, we didn’t ectne down from the highristooraey of the first! set tiers of this great awl growin co tin try. On my own hook 1 roley don’t know for certain whether I ever bad any great-grandfather at all scarce ly. but I reckon I did. At any rates, I am willin to leave that question for time and future history to settle. No doubts you have heard me claim some kinnery with a man by the name, of Scroggins which fit plum through three wars and swum the Potomac river one cold winter night to beat (Jeorgc Wash ington in a little game of stud ]x>kvr. But we will let that jxi.ss, Uufe. Ac- cordin to the Seriptuies all men are liars off and on. more or less. “But whilst the Scroggins people are only plain American citizens—without any extry frills and fancy trimmings— you mought as well to remember that there are two places in this country where no mortal man of my mime can be found—the Poor House and the Crazy Asylum. And I am in this game to win, llufe. I never will lie good enough to turn out and preach, nor smart enough to run for eongre<«, and It’s little more than nothin that I have learnt in books. Hut by gatlins, I do know tremendhiB well that — with Hushes barred—four aces will bust the bank. And I am in the game to win.” i “Foreordnlned to Sin and Snirerln.** Days atid weeks and months and Pytars liavo rolled by and stacked up in I the past since me and Ulev rid down the jold Jackson Trail mad one momin [along in the spring of the year and I [heard him talkin w ith his mouth aliout Ibc game of every day life, wherein [is had learnt the document* and would »lay to win. And it all come buck to ly mind as clear as a bell the other day [when old man Ban Phillips driv by our [house on hi* return Ixick home from a trip over in the Bivcr bend. 1 couldn’t keep from thinkin about the time when old man lion met Ulev in u little game— which a handsome young widder wom an and CO acres of swamp land was tire stakes—and how the old man, with a full h^nd and three cards up his sleeve, as it were, had to cut the pot and divide the pile, whilst Blev belt nothin to speak of or to bet on. “Everything that goes up must come down, llufe,” says Ulev to me out at the horse rack one night after supper. “In this (iod forsaken country mortal man bom of woman is foreordained to sin 4Mid sulTcrin, and from all the signsof tire t miics it would seem to me like old man Ban Phillips will have to stand his turn and take his dost.” With that Ulev shut one eye slow ami editions like and whistled a few stanzas •oft and low. .hod from that day till this I have took particular notice that a slow wink and a little soft whistle from Ulev Scroggins simply meajisthat somebody must suffer, and you mought as well stand from under. • “You recollect that old man llan has got CO acres of bully sw amp land which joins my farm over there on the crock, Jtiife." Ulev went on tarectly. “Well, naturally of course I haven’t got any money. \ if whisky was goin at four bit* a barrel l ruley couldn’t buy enough 10 ehangfl « baby’s breath. But If I don’t •^raddUMliqt 00 acres of swamp land in They Unfilled the Game. Haley it was nothin to me nnd nmic ■ of my business, but 1 told Ulev he would | better rush the game all he could. When two people—one a man and the other a woman—have both lieen married one tijne already, and then lake up a fool ! notion to go and come mvl try the fatal step onest more, you never can tell how i suddent and surprisin it will be. Uright and early next mornin Ulev ! conic by our house drivin his big high- beaded, dapple g ray horse to a spankin new buggy and spiittin the big road wide open as he went. He was all ; dressed out in his Sunday best, w ith his w hiskers dyed black a.s night, and bless the heavens if you couldn’t stand on j the front porch and Finell the bear grease and cinnamon drops in his liaJr as he driv by—wlnstlin soft and low and headed straight for tlie Widder Stinsons. “Mind you now, llufe, I never have put myself out on the bargain counter to git married,” said Blev to me the other night, “but 1 reckon I mought let some good woman hornsncggle me into j a game like that if nothin else would meet the general circumference of the calamity. 1 wouldn’t even make out to you like life wouldn’t l>e worth the livin to me w ithout the Wkhler Stinson for my w ife. But yet w hen it comes to oourtin and carryin on with the female generation I nint no slouch, and it wont take me more than a week io put old man Han through a cold sweat and give him jiaipitatian of the lieart. He can have the widder and more than wel come, but he can't take her ^nd still hold the jxipers to that 00 neros of swamp lamb This vain and flcetin world Is full of trials and troubles and tribulations, imrI sickmias and Borrow and suffer!]) aqyhow, Uufe, and old man Han's trme has Come.” Dovru to s Ftulab. Then about the next news wc got Blev Scroggins end the Widder Stinson had worked up a scandalous bad love f.erape ana pitched out flyin around and court in and goin on to boat six bite. They Hew »o high and went so fast, and kept company together «o regiar and constant till it was the talk of the coun try for nriles and miles around. It was Ulev Scroggins and the Widder Stinson, cr the Widder Stinson and Blev Scrog gins everywhere you went. And yet still old man llan Phillips would i»ole off down there two or three times every week to pay his double- broosted regards to the w idder—which if kIic. didn't Injipen to lie out ridin up oud down the big road with Blev Scrog gins, she wont even bi idlewme to old man Ran. Slie toted her head so high nnd pallid on the bits so heavy till finally at last the old man returned beck home and took sick and went to b; d. One day I rid around by the Phillips place to find out if there wais anything I could do for old man llan. and whodo you reckon was there—who but Blev Scroggins? When I started home Biev followed me out to the front gate look in like a* if lie. had somethin particlar in his mouth to say. “The hand of the. afilicVion is restin on the old man mighty heavy right now, llufe, but he will recover in the due full- new of time,” says Ulev with that same slow wink and woft whistle. Now you can’t prxne anything by m? as to how it all come to [kiss. But on the third day after thutoid man Han was np and nlxiut—spry and actions and happy mi any youngster in the country. And when Blev Scroggins rid by that night on his return back home, w hist)in soft and low, he had the “deeds and titiements” to that CO ueres of swamp land—nsslo out in his own full and projKT niumv—put away in kis inside breast jmcket. Now in conclusion you mought maybe love to know what ever went with old man.Run and the widder. Bless your sweet lift, my honey d<«r, they got married, they did. With Blev out of the game it was Mtsy as fallin off of a wet log for old man Run to o[>en the pot and take what w as left. No doubts they linve been happy henceforward* from that day—old man Ran and his seeont wife—and nmy they linger yet through many years to come in the land of tlieir fathers. But in the maintime human nature is human still, and Blev Scroggins and that 00 acres of swamp land si at gone nowheres. RUFTS BANDERS. —There are from four to six grains of aaueous humor in the eye. Cnles* Clilldren Are Mode to Fear Tliclr Parents They V. ill .'.ever SJahc Gcoii 'lea naif AVo men. An esteemed friend requests Hint I write a letter about how to raise a fam ily of children so that they will all be have, the boys make good citizens, good husbands, good fathers, and the girls make good w ives and good moUiei i:. “Is it possible to do this.” he ado:. When the lawyers determine that a thing cannot be legally done they say it is “ultra vires,” which meats* bwyond strength. Iu the first place it is not possible to devise any plan or mothed by which all children can be raised or trained to do right and behave. It is “ultra vires” ami even if it were possi ble, it is “ultra vires” with me to make it known. Ever since the failure of Adam to raise Cain, this tiling of rais ing all the children to bo good has been on unsolved problem. WheUser the diffenence in children of th® same family is due to the laws of he redity or t >e doctrine of election or to different environment and as sociations or to tho devil himself we cannot tell, but one or more of these causes ha ve been at work. My wife and I were discoursing this last night and in all out* acquaintance uf half s cen tury w e could not name a single family of six or more children of whom all were good. Anxiety and grief and trouble because of children is the com mon lot. It began with Adam and came on down to Noah and Jacob anil David and Solomon and yet these men had the special favor of (Jod and were blessed by Him in every way except in the con duct of some of their children. Poor old Eli, the high priest and judg»of Is rael for 40 years, w as cursed w ith two bud boys and Cod at the last cursed him for not restraining them. “There shall rot l>e an old man in thy house forever, nnd ail the increase of thy house shall dio in the flower of their age. Because his sons made themselves i ile and he re strained them not.” What an stvful curse was that. These sons of Dslial! This word means worthless — bod, naughty—vile, and fits man}' r. bad boy in our day. It is a fact that reflects on cur sex that the sons of Belial are men tioned more than a dozen times in the Scriptures, but there is no daughter of Belial. “He restrained them not.” Well, the good old man did talk to them and reproved them most enrn®»tly. “Why do ye such things? R is no food roport that I hear. Ye n»ahe. the Lord’s people to transgress. If one man sin against anotjior the judge shall judge him, but if a man sin against the Jx>rd who shall entreat for him?” I wonder w hat kind of restraint the Lord expected or required of It was not talking or pleading with them, of course, for he did that. I wonder if the old man didn’t experiment ntt Ms* modern Atlanta plan of raising the lx>ys on his love and their honor, for fear of breaking their spaurts. It makes an old man very tirod to read tha wise utterances of the modern Salons against corporal punishment of l*:d boys in the. public schools. I had rather go nnihaek the convicts in t!v.* chaiDgurg for m opinion. Nine-tenths of tV'm trrsdJ say I began in disobedience and wa*not restrained. The lamentable fact i^l•l*»•. at least one-fourth of the Ixws at these schools have no restraint nt hmuatjBtil if they are not punished at school they get it nowhere, and so thus® son* of Belial go to the bad very early end W- <•0106 victims to tho rigor of kb® tew and the courts. There is many a boy in tlwese schools who is right now on kis way to the chaingang. Tliese S;#ixis ray that corporal punishment is Iwvte! nnd barbarous and must give away to the progri’ssand refinement of the age. About what time did the youths of this generation become letter than those of half a century ago? Iteod the daily pa pers nnd answer. How many hoii^wiu Atlanta arc in mourning hecaume (J rim bod conduct of thejr boys? What |g*jil results can come from expulsion a/ a Ijcd boy from school? He is not wool - ed anywhere by decent people, and so he associates with his kind and l^eomes worse and soon comes to grief load brings sorrow to his kindred. Obedience to law, to government, to parents is absolutely necessary ford®* peace and welfare of society. Thisolie- dience is enforced among bad Hu rl 14 the fear of the law. It cannot 1** en forced among l*ad boys except by tear of corporal punishment. Their Lum^ or their shame is too feeble a factor to be considered. Oliedienee must leglii early, even in infancy. My little *wo- year-old grandchild love* to [say in Sit® dirty coal box. “Caroline, you )im£t not do that,” her mother says, nnU en forces her command by slapping br# little harnb) and then washing tlieni. That is corporal punishment, nnd is just n* severe to the little child as Mm rod is to the boy of ten, and both ■e® right and both effectual. The enforce ment of ol>ediencc in early childliooil eaves all necessity for poni*Linen* Jtg later years, and it saves a sighfof scohl- h:g. Whftt a world of worry l*t*l <■4#- dren are to other people! Wlhut a cdog- fort are good ones at home »nd rbrosd. Borne mistaken parent® say that tMir boys are too high-strungto be w hip^e^. Yes, ami those boys are in danger tef Being still higher strung wkeu iu u* tt* of passion they kill somebody. 'IJtes poet Khelley said “0b«dienee is ffe* bane of genius, virtue, freedom and truth; makes slaves of men and of the human frame a in< chanicaiuiitomato**.*’ He was one of theee high-strung Msb- limated creatures w hose rule of life woo to do as he pleased, to follow his owq sweet will. What a miserable lif.* M ISvikI, ami was drowned when onlyflV years old. lie nlnrmed hisHchonlniata* by his storms of [mnsion. Was expelled from Oxford when 10. The ®:tneyc«x he eloped vv!th a hotel kee|K*r’sdaug'.^W and manned herntGfetna flrecn. Three years later he abandoned her and she drowned herself from grief. Soon after this he married another woman, with w hom he bad been living previous to his first wife’s death. He was the intimate friend of Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt, and they witnessed t lie cremation of his body and deposited the ashes near the grave of Keats, iu the Drotestunt cem etery nt Rome. No, I cannot tell anybody how to raise 1’ieir children. It is a Earful responsi bility. 1 hate known preachers to un dertake the task nnd fail, and the con gregation smiled inwardly at tie preacher’s failure to raise his own in an exemplary and orthodox way. I said something about the laws of heredity earning in as a factor in tho rearing of children. I knew two good men in Home before the war. w ho had a like number of boys growing up, ar.:l these two families v ere close neighbors and their boys mingled together and went to the* same day school and Sun day school and church. One set of these boys was good, manly, indus trious and a comfort iuhI an honor to their parents. The other set was bad. mischievous and untruthful. In fact, they were several tiimvs caught steal ing or w it h stolen goads in their posses sion. And yet the parents in l>oth fam ilies were always exemplary in their conduct and conversation. 1 asked Dr. Miller how he accounted for that. “Hereditary,” said he. “One set of these boys have bred after their grand father. who was a very bad man. 1 knew him well, and he was a terror to the community. These grandsons have started out on his line. Bad blood in horses will some times skip n genera tion and then crop out. Just so it is with human blood.” “Can it not be eradicated?” said I. “Oh, yes.” he re*- plied. These l>oys should have had more restraint in infancy and youth. It takes more for that sort. The whip pings they are getting now come too late, and I fear will not reform them. But most any disposition to vice can be reformed if begun in time. It is the same in animal and vegetable crea tions. You can cut off a kitten’s tail from one litter to another until they will ultimately be l>orn without tails. You can dwarf a peach t roe or enlarge n tomato.” Now, while I have my nettled convic tions on thesse things, i do not wish any body to suspect that there has been any brutality nt our house. Some of our hoys received corjx>ral punishment at rore intervals. Olliers had none—not a stroke, except a spank or two from their mother. Like most parents, we thought that other people's children needed more than ours. But even the punishment they did get they hove not forgotten and still talk of it as a big thing. Now, as to the girls, cf course they should not suffer cor|>oral punishment in the schools. In the first place, they do not need it. Secondly, if they did, there is no natural and suitable place to receive it, and if there was, it can not be found with propriety.—Bill Arp. in Atlanta Constitution. DOG AND TELEPHONE. LARIATING A LION. Trtxy's Isatcnt AecoiupliNliineiit Hum n Serious Drawbnek. Thomas Reynolds, of Rcynoldsville. Pa., is the owner of a trick dog, recently received from Australia, whose latest accomplishment is his knowledge of the telephone. On several occasions when away from the bouse Mr. Reynolds w ould call up his residence and have the dog brought to the ’phone and the re ceiver held to his car, when he would talk in such soothing language as to fill the canine with great d;*Iight. The animal would recognize his master’s voice and make *11 sorts of demonstra- tiona of joy. Mr. Reynolds went on a trip *0 PuBxsBtnw ney, and while there talked over the ’phone to his friends at home. He also permitted the dog to listen. From this the dog must have gotten the idea that there were only two ’phones in existence, on«* at his home and the other at the Hotel Waverly in Punxsutawncy, as the circumstance which followed will prove. Mr. Rey nolds went to Punxsutawney and called up the dog ns usual. The animal barked and whined and made a great ado, all of which could be distinctly heard over the wires. About nn hour latex, and just as Mr. Reynolds war. ready to start on his return trip home, what was his surprise to see his dog come bounding into the hotel. He had run the entire distance from Jleynokls- vllle to Punxsutawney. 14 miles, in about three-quarters of an hour. And row ?Jr. Reynolds is in adiiemna. as the dog seems to lie firmly impressed w ith the idea that there are but two tele phones in tho country, the one at home nnd the other in Punxsutawney; he will not dare talk to the dog from any other ymint, lieeause if be does the ani mal will start immediately for the Ho tel \\ iverly to find his master.—Orange Judd Farmer. Ileal Ilotyic on AVhrdfi. Mr. (’. A. Hanley, of Port Angelus, Wash., passed through Greensburg. Ind.. traveling overland in a house on wheels. The vehicle is built of Wash ington oedur, weighs 2,100 pounds, is six feet high, the same number in w idth and 12 feet long. The “hous*” Las two doors and throe window*, is furnished with folding bed and table, chair* and caaup stove, and is a comparatively com fortable place to live. Mr. nnd Mrs. I.asley, four children nnd *hree canary birds occupy the “hesisc.” in which they have traveled from Port Angelas. They are traveling un/h*r contract w ith a museum iu New York city, v.hlther they are now bound, ami where the “house” will 1* placed on exhibition. When here they had lieen on the road for three years and 11 days, and had traveled 5,270 miles. S*tr® *( One MrtV Dr. D'Jrtrioh Bnrfuth, of Doput, Ger many, reporta the occurrence near there of seven children at one birth. Only one e«®e of the kind i® reported, which took place abcut the year 1000. How a New Mexlcnn t aed a Hope to Excellent Advnntnee. The trallic in guns and ammunition at White Caps, N. M., is likely to suffer a depression if the methods of John W. Ow en in hunting wild animals are adopt ed generally. The other day Mr. Ow en and Oliver Pcaker were in the Jicarilla mountains, having several hunting dogs with them, but 110 guns. Besides cap turing two wild cats and one fox, their hounds got on the fresh trail of a huge mountain lion, which had just gorged itself w ith the fresh veal from a calf it had killed. The lion had taken refuge from its pursuers in a tree when Messrs. Owen and Peaker came up and V: \ f fi. Mi/l I m/ :ujf. HlV ‘ 1 fip STRANGLED TO DEATH. drove it off its perch with clubs. This w;us repeated until it had reached its third resort. Here Mr. Owen, being an expert cow man, and realizing that a few dogs and two unarmed men could not hope to capture an animal of this character by means of noise and only clubs nnd stones for w eapons, concluded to adopt the rope, which he knew so well how to use. Taking his lariat in his hand, ho climbed the tree to within about six feet of the lion, and. making the throw with care and precision, the animal was caught around the. neck just as he was ready for a spring at his captor. Mr. Owen dropj>ed to the ground, the lion springing at the same time. When only two or three feet from the ground the animal reached the extent of the rope which remained over the limb, w ith the other end fast ened below , and w a* strangled to death. This lion was cne of the largest ever captured in that region, measuring nine feet four inches from tip to tip and weighing aliout 3C0 pounds. Mr. Owen say® that, he did not realize that he w«« in any danger until he had skinned the lion and mounted his horse to ride to ce.inp, when his nerves re laxed and he became frightened. TROUSERS SAVED HIM. PcrlloM Fall of an Electrician from n LlKht Pole. William Keenan, who is employed by the Peoria (111.) Electric company has hod a miraculous rocaj>e from death while nt work putting new carbons in street lamps. He ascended one of the 20-foot pok* and bail just reached the top, whea by a peculiar slip of the foot he lost all hold on the pole. Both hands and feet wer* freed. Realizing that a fall of 20 feet to the brick pavement be low meant probable death, he uttered a piercing end agonizing cry. The pas sers-by, startled by the shriek, saw Du* falling man. but were unable to render any assistance. In falling, however, Keenan’s left trowel's leg caught the upturned point of one of the steps and for an instant hi* fall was checked. Then, befur* 1m could grasp the pole, the cloth hogon to tear. The crowd stood in. breathless excitement as the fii „, f Uf < tr cVj u uTTi * * « * . ^ 'lf^nifI is ■ i rL' KEENAN'8 TfJRRIBLE FALL. man hung between life, and probable death. The trouser leg had torn for about 12 inchcniMid when the waistband was reached it happily resisted. For an immeasurably short time Keenan hung suspended by bi* waistband, and just as it gave way be grasped the pole and was saved. He descended slowly and with great car*, and upon reaching the ground was completely exhausted and suffering greatly from the shock to his nervous system. He vwu* qahttly surrounded by a large number of people glad for his safety umiL aaxiou* to offer con gratulation*. He soon recovered suffi ciently to return botn?, but stated that during Ih* remainder of the afternoon and all night h* was nnabi* to rest a minute on account of nervousness. Get • Chech; hj- F1®mI. A unique fre«k of Hie Kentucky flood came to light at Frankfort, Ky. A box containing some valuable paper* wns found floating in the river. Among the [xi[i*rs was a letter addn*«red to Judge \V. 8. Pryor, of that, city, from a Befl ctfimiy man. containing a cheek for $100 for Icgul services. The letter waa turneil over to Judge Pryor, w ho placed the check to hi* credit in the bonk. The I •ox had been waahed out of the offlee the county clerk nt Plnevllle. which was recant!)' inundated by high water, and hod floated over 200 mile*. SWALLOWED THE CIB. Boa. Constrictor Preparea to Dino on a Baby Lion. nut Just In tlie Nick ot Time Clren* Euu»loyes Itcucuc Little McKinley from the Jaws of the Lis Reptile. “McKinley,” a cub lion, was dozing leesido the stove in the winter quarters of Lemon Bros.’ circus. Around the room were the animal cages containing the lithe creatures of the jungic placid ly passing the time away waiting for tho circus season to open. Not far from the little sleeping lion cub stood several large boxes of snakes, which have to be kept near the stove to pre vent tho reptiles from freezing. There was not a human, being in the room. It was as still as death. Suddenly the head of a large South American boa constrictor appeared above one of the boxes. It rose slowly up into the air until about two feet of its body was in sight. Its evil little eyes sparkled and it twisted its head and looked around the room until it beheld the sleeping cub. Then its head dropped over the side of the Ihix and began moving across the floor. Yard after yard of snake came out of the box. It was a monster reptile, and it moved cautiously and with its eyes still fastened upon “McKinley.” The snake moved up to within a few feet cf tho lion oub. when it paused. The cub’s tail was closest to tlie snake. It glided closer yet and then drew* the tail into its mouth. As the tail disappeared the snake drew closer and closer to the cub’s body, and then with a wide spread ing of its jaws it tool: in the entire hind quarters of the cub. “McKinley** invoke and began to cry in a plaintive voice. Swiftly its body disappeared, and louder grew its cries. The mother of the only lion cub born in captivity in the United States heard the wails of her offspring, and, looking between the bars of her cage, comprehended the situation at a glance. She sprang to the bars and let out a roar that brought every animal in every cage to its feet, nnd pandemonium broke loose. The mother of “McKinley" roared inees- fl HIM ■ KJ DOWN THE RED LANE. eantly, while the lion* joined in the chorus and even the sea lions bellowed and soon the elephants began to trum pet. Only “McKinley” won silent. All of his body had passed inside the snake’s jaws except a small part of his head and hi* front paws. There was a self- satisfied look on the snake'* face. The turmoil of the animals reached the circus attaches in another building, and they ran quickly to the scene. They comprehended matters at a glance. One of them ran to the elephants, which were tugging at tlieir chain* and still trumpeting, and with an iron prod quieted them. Others tried to extricate “McKinley.” The snake, like a miser able coward, tried to sneak away, bat was caught and held. Then one man caught "McKinley” by the paw* and other men held the snake, nnd they all pulled together. “McKinley” stayed where he was. He either refused cr couldn’t come out. Occasionally a little more of him Kiipjxx] inside. Matters were approaching a crisis. 11 was either the life of the snvke or the cut). A quick consultation was held and it was decided to sacrifice the South American native. Knives were procured and the snake was cut in two. When the blades penetrated its flesh it seemed to realize its position und struggled with its edi tors. the men finally failing upon it and lidding it still. The snake was handicapped by its meal. Itdid not take long to sever the body, though, nnd then they tried to [will the cub through, but it stuck und stuck tight. It was neces sary to split the snake’* jaw* und pry them apart before the cub could be re leased. Then “McKinley” was taken out. He. was nearer dead than alive. Tlie snake was one that had been with tlie show for many years. The cub is one of twins born just prior to the last election. Being born in captivity and r.n exceptionally fine specimen, lie was highly prized. Last November, just prior to the e’oetion. oneof the lionesses gave birth to two whelps. Beth were innles. nnd in keeping with the spirit of the times one was named Bryan, the other McKinley. Just before the ejec tion the cub called Bryan sickened and died. McKinley, on the costrary. grew' sleek oixl fat nni? met with no mishap until the escapade of yesterday. That evening, after the attendants had given “McKinley" a hath ami a careful rubbing, he appeared to be quite recovered from five s(]»«s*zing process lx* hail undergone and gamboled ubout the building quite as happy and eare free os ever. ItnblHt Cluli In Texas. The people of Wolfe Talley. Tex., hnr® organized u rabbit club. The club pays one cent for each cottontail scalp nnd two nnd one-half cent* for each jack- rabbit. The organization of this c!»il> is a necessity. Rabbits have ruined all fruit trees this winter which were not protected by oak bushes. If something is not done to destroy these peat* tho fanner* will suffer great loss. ^ j ..i..* , ■ \