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THE COUNTY RECORD. Published Every Thursday ?AT? VNGSTREE. SOUTH CAROLINA ?BY ? C. W. WOLFE . Editor and Proprietor. r The latest Invasion of Knsfland Is that of a New York Insurance syndicate. This looks like a deliberate attempt on John Cull's life. .i ? . .The responsibility for the attack on a German vessel in Venezuela seems to have been llxed on only two men. anu xuey naviug own uivu^ui i? ,n.?tice, Germany expresses a willingness to dose the incident. .So the trouble passes away, after having done very good service as a "feeler" of international sentiment. The Old Testament tells us that the horae is a vain thing for safety. i>ut we may be inclined to include, after many lamentable experiences of late, that at least he is safer than the sel*motor, as a rule. Trust the average hors^ to the average automobile or the average trolley car, and your confidence will not'often be misplaced. Frightened horses play strange pranks sometimes, but when do you see thtui, even in their wildest frenzies, trying to climb trees or to ascend perpendicular walls of great height? Unbridled au tomobiles make such attempts. They ' aped to be curbed. i The recent death on the peninsula of 1 Erris-Lauin, county Gahvay, Ireland, j of a man named John MeDone, who had attained the extraordinary ape of 125 years, is recorded, lie was born In 1T7G, and was known as the patri- , arch of Connemara. This veteran is said to have grandchildren and greatgrandchildren living in America, but the wide gulf created by ag? and distance seems to have caused them to forget him, for lie died in <lcstitntlon . . in a little sicne but en the Eastern edge of the Atlantic. McDone could v . speak no other tongue than Gaelic, which is cow practically a dead language, although an attempt is being made these days to revive it. The Vienna correspondent of one of the great London dailies, says Sydney I Ercoiis in The Atlantic, a man of sin- J gnlnr powers of observation, and with a highly, rhjijied political sense, was . asked what was the popular move of the day /in Central Europe, and re, plied at^nee, "What the people of the ; i dnal-mojiurchy and of the German Ein- j m pire are most thinking and talking i about lust now is American comneti- ! tlon. aufl the bost way 01" meeting it"? an answer which ten years ago would have been amazing, and fifty years ago tncredible. The decline of European agriculture has been the familiar night-mare of the past generation, but the intrusion of the American manufacturer has a doubly sinister significance. It blocks up the one road of escape open to Europe, and chokes the source on which she was relying to make good her natural deficiencies. In charging the Grand Jury iu Montgomery, Ala., recently. Judge W. II. Thomas directed attention to the excessive number of homicides iu Alabama. Iu the State each year, he said, 197 persons are tried for murder or manslaughter, while there are a like number of prosecutions for murderous .assault. This iudicated altogether too light a regard for human life, the Judge thought, ami he gave added force to the figures by comparisons with conditions elsewhere. Thus Canada, with nearly three times the population of Alabama, has only* fifteen prosecutions for murder annually. 1? the rate of homicides was as high as in Alabama, the Dominion's courts would be cr. Tiled with 52(1 prosecutions. So, in like proportion, Kuglaud and Wales would have 3423 prosecutions, iasttad of the present average of 322; France would multiply its present trials by eight, New Hampshire would have forty-tlirce Instead of six, Connecticut ninety-seven instead of thirty-one, Michigan 203 Instead of forty-three, Olilo 43S instead of 1-14, Indiana t'da Instead of twenty-seven, Utah twenty-nine instead of eleven and ^Cofth Carolina 200 instead of 120. ; \ hov .isound l Litre a living th-.ng the straight rait* sintj " ''C* The coaches reel o'er t?'c v.lic- 'A*%? As wo tSiur.di-r across the plait). Th.i.::;.! i::;^;n. thro:.5.1 day, [2 we leap away Vv^n'^^OT j' With rattle and eras!) and v'' v^P5jr# And our pul es leap as wo norr.e. And Christmas c>rr.es once. ^SEasSBBfa . more. ZEE=g^'& S*> ^Wnir Mabel cjffoiid was out ? of sorts. There was an Unhappy expression closely i ^ approaching a scowl upon [ < her iresli, young face as she gaxed ! i moodily from the kitchen window upon j a scene bright with the glitter of sun- j i light upon fresh-fallen snow. Ap open . i letter lay upon her lap. Her mother | ( glanced at her anxiously from time to time on her short journeys to and fro j ( from kitchen to pantry, and at last said gently: "I am sorry about your disappointment. dear, but I suppose it couid not he helped." j ] "It is all Helen's selfishness," burst, out .Mabel, hotly. "She promised last summer to spend Christmas with me, and now because she has had an invitation that suits her better she accepts it. no matter how I feel." Mabel thought of the rows of mince aud pumpkin pies on the pantry shelves, the plump turkey waiting to be stuffed, the numerous other dainties prepared for the Christinas holidays, and of the zest and energy with which she had swept and dusted. putting the house in perfect order from cellar to attic, eveu to decorating the pictures, and every available spot with evergreens, hoping to make the old farmhouse attractive to her fastidious guest. Everything was done, eveu to the stoning of the raisins for the plum pudding, fc'hc was aroused from her reverie by her mother's voice, saying: "Well, I declare, if there isn't Maria Church plowing through the snow, with a market basket 011 her arm. I k;jow it must be heavy the way she carries it. lino." to her son. who had just come in. "If the team is still there and the load off. go after Miss Church and drive her home. It's enough to kill her to get her skirts so drabbled." "All right. Mux." said the good-natured Rob. "Come .along, sis, and don't sit mooning there any longer." They soon overtook the solitary spinster. who ejaculated with gratifying emphasis: , "For the land sakes! Is that you, Rob Clifford? I guess I'm in luck this time." aud depositing her trembling forui upon the board witb a sigb of Riinppme satisfaction. After driving a couple of miles they stopped before a small frame house of forlorn and dismal aspect, doubtless owing in part to its aloofness from neighbors. "Wait here until I come back," said Rob. "I'm going to drive over to see Tom Wilson. I won't be gone long," " DECORATING THE HOUSE. Mabel followed Miss Church into the house. It was very scantily furnished. The floors were hare, but white as soap aud j water could make them. The table , was spotless in its purity. Not a VF 'CHRISTIEA^Tipe The smoke flung back on the shining track. Like a banner floatsan<l forts. Jul? With a leap and bound. l?kc aa Sg|i<ac. unleashed hound. A The engine forward hurls. Beside us fly the field cr.d sky And the woods with echoed roar. And our hearts beat fast as the wdHi\\\VttvV\vHk rai'cs sweep past. g^^^gj^^For "Christmas comes, onca . more' D'orovuv Ocakc. feiSIMS & M_WooDR,0FFf *p<?ek of dust could be seen anywhere. Ku?8 and mats of all sizes, shapes and colors were spread here and there. frtl* tllfin ! use. "They're heru." whispered Mabel's companion, noticing the girl's eyes ttxed upon them. By "her" Mabel understood Miss Church to mean the sister who had lived with her and had died a year before. "Martha had a wonderful gift that way," she continued. "It's surprisin' what she could do right out of her head. They're all her make. I never had no taste for it" Mabel murmured something inaudi- , w -At \\ PDIMTTWr UHMTT TH juiiiiiumur iiuiTij-? in (Drawn by Sarah S. Stilwi bio as she contemplated the works of art before lier. Scroll work of extraordinary design, bouquets of wonderful flowers of enormous size and painful colors, and animals and birds of astonishing proportions. "It must be very, very lonely for i you," said Mabel with ready sympathy. "Yes, 'tis," replied Miss Church. "I don't know how to stand it sometimes. When I found Christmas was com in' it pretty nigh made me sick to- think of it. When folks git o'd aud uuiuter cstin' people aon t nanner aner iiavm 'em round much, and I'd'uo as I blame 'em auj*. But when you git used to yet own you miss 'em when they're ijone." "Yes, indeed." said Mabel, fervently, swallowing the lump in her throat with difficulty. "I'm so sorry you have to live here all alone, Miss Church." "There's them as has ast me to live with them," she said, "but I somehow i r.fin'i- lonra niv whorp I'VP lived I all my life, and I'd'no as I could sit I alons willi 'em if 1 did. There's yer ] brother coiue back." "Did you notice that rooster. Mini?" he asked with a snort when they had started homeward. "Wasn't he a caution?" but Mabel was in a brown study and did not respond satisfactorily. Her abstraction continued until after supper, making Rob-uneasy at such unusual conduct, and giving her mother real concern. Then came the unburdening, followed by consultation, with the result that Rob was dispatched in the morning with the cutter with a note to Miss Church, whleh ! read thus: j "Dear Friend: I, too, am lonely this j Christmas Day, and disappointed, for j the friend I expected ha* not come, j and 1 Lope tbat you will do ne the : kindness to come in her stead. Please ' do not disappoint mo. Your sincere 1 friend, MABEL GIFFORD." Miss Church was sitting at the window, with Lor steel-rimmcd spectacles astride her ncse and her Bible iu her lap, when Rob drove up. Curiosity quickly brought her to the door, litter amazement was depicted upon lier counteiiauce wnen sue unu reau the note. "Mercy nie!" she said. "I don't see i what the child wants of me. But If it's a-goin' to be any disappointment my not goiu,' why I'm a-goin' to go," and she put on her wraps without another word. . ,| Mabel devoted herself to her guest, who enjoyed the day immensely. She was interested in everything?Mabel's fancy work, Mrs. Gifford's recipe for ginger cake, Kob's account of how he caught the mink that had been robbing his henroost, and Mr. Gifford's politi-_1 ?t Y 1 ? X*.^,11 ; * InfonAcf cat views. H was micui?cui iuici?i, too, with a toucli of quaint humor that made her company very agreeable. "I had no idea that Maria Church was so well informed," said Mrs. Gifford to her husband, discussing her afterward. "She's just like her father, old John Church?shrewd, * honest and plainspoken." said Mr. Gifford. The dinner was pronounced a great success by Miss Church, whose opinion was of value from the fact that she was a judge of good cookery, and was never known to pay undeserved compliments. The crowning part of the day's pleasure was the Christmas tree entertainment In the church in the evening. She beamed on the minister when he made the customary remarks, mm r^-p^MU WrmWi i mm ECHR1STMATTRE E 11 for Harper's liazar.) and rejoiced audibly when little Polly Pratt, a yellow-Laired toi, screamed with delight over the huge doll presented to lier. She was nearly worn out with excitement and pleasure when the evening was over, ami said to Mabel when putting on her wraps while Kob was getting the horse ready to take her home: ' I'm real glad I didn't disappoint you. I never had a better time in my life," and Mabel answered earnestly: "I aia so glad you didn't. Miss Church. I never had a nicer Christmas either, and I'm coming to see you often if you will let inc." "Come along, my dear," said-Miss Church, heartily. "The oftenor the "VOLLT SCr.EAMEU WITH DELIGHT OVIB THE BIG DOLL.1' better. I don't seem to feel nigh so lonesome as I did. I tvill let you take j off the pattern of them mats when j you come. I'd just a3 lief you would as not. A girl as smart as you be had | ought to copy 'cm in no time. Is that I . I 7011, Rob? Whatever Is the mattet svlth the boy. I guess he's got tb* tilgh-strlkes. Good-uight."?Chicago Record-Horn Id. St. Nick bj Aatomoblle. Good old Saint Nick comes to one of the up-town stores this holiday season in a sadly unpoetlc vehicle. There will be no clatter of light hoofs or jingle of slelghbells to mark his passage'over rooftops in that vicinity on the night before Christmas. No wicked children.-who lie awake to catch him, ivlH : hear that jolly old voice urging on " Dasher and Prancer, Donner and Blitzen, and all the rest of the famous c'd four-tlmes-fourdn-hand team. In other, words, reindeer as a motive power ar? out of date, ?<nd the metropolitan Santa Claus comes this year in an automobile. Nor is this all of the new revelation. The store's decorators have pictured Krlss as coming, strange tosny, from a Southerly direction and not out of the frozen north, as he used to appear to the watchful parental eyes of generations gone by. His new- ' Wangled vehicle seems to follow a route that lies over the hills of Staten Island and just touches a corner of South Brooklyn before it leads up toward Liberty's little island jjnd the sky-scrapers of Manhattan. To the youthful "higher critics" of the Christmas saint, these disclosures ought to furnish new material for reflection.?New York Sun. In Santa's Doll Factory. l 'fw wmm0 Mm- H/> ^$??f <m*> ': lie propaves to make glad the heart* of good little girls. BRINGING THE CHRISTMAS TREE' illft " $} ?13 naming long tn? heavy t'ty , f& Jies aeemed to threaten jrow. <Mr/ And over bleaV and wintry fictile (/ /it The crcwa are flapping low ' Tm ctuidrcn'a voices carry far v\f/ ft On such a winter's day. ? j \_M An1! TOJ clTi bcac the hatchet sound /^Tj \ ?Jjf Alcoa: two Acids atvay. 1 f ,* 1L. fW W W(# Ji C To'ir.^ow r;St tht fif j Shall decked and lighted be. \ \ jft 1 i ^ J And it shall thine with toys and jy1./ A lavciy^ Christmas All Alike. d Husband?"Do you think we can af? J ford to give away so many Christmas ireseuis, ui'iu : mm Wife ?""That's no argument. Tbe^^H icople who give r.s presents cau't ford it, cither."?Puck. ? ' ' "* ' " *' ? #r *' ' V'" '??