The age-herald. [volume], September 05, 1900, Page 4, Image 4

About The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902

Image provided by: University of Alabama Libraries, Tuscaloosa, AL

                
The Age-Herald.
t. \V. HAKKETl.Editor
ceeSSSSeo
Daily and Sunday Age Herald.t8?®
Daily and Sunday, per month.
Sunday Age-Herald, alone, per amuMP-- 2.00
Weekly Age-Iierald, per annum.
All subscriptions payable in advance.
Fred L. Allen and H. L. Parrish are the
only authorized traveling representatives
of The Age-Herald in its circulation de
partment.
Remittances can be made by express,
postohice money order or drafts at current
rate of exchange. Address
THE AGE-HERABD,
Birmingham, Ala.
T^TT^cilL^DXllYnMEWSPAPER IN AIA8AMA
Coal for All the World.
Tho export coal outlook is very promis
ing; but actual accomplishments are bet
ter than outlooks. The exports of coal
during the last seven months of the last
fiscal year were 50 per cent In excess of
the exports of the corresponding months
of the previous year, and double those of
the year before. In the seven months end
ing with June, 1893, the exports of coal
were 2,875,451 tons; in the like months of
1899 they were 3,006,082 tons, and In the like
months of 1900 they were 4,801,755 tons.
"While this growth is perceptible in the
exports to all parts of the world, it is es
pecially marked with reference to the
American countries. To British North
America the exports of 1898 were 1,788,398
tons and in exports of 1900 were 3,253,S03
tons. To Mexico in 189S, 243,938 tons; in
1900, 415,834 tons. To Cuba the exports
have more than doubled. In 1898 they were
114,035 tons and in 1900 241,712 tons, while to
Porto Rico they increased from 2,021 tons
in 1898 to 15,313 tons in 1900. To the Ha
waiian Islands the exports of 1899 were 10,
881 and in 1900 21,001 tons, thus more than
doubling in a single year. To the Philip
pine Islands the exports of 1898 were 4,810
tons, while in 1900 they were 41,008 tons.
These are handsome beginnings near at
home, and when all the rest of the world
wants our coal, an almost illimitable
field will be opened to American industry.
When a comparatively small stock in Eng
land carries steam coal up to $8.50, it is
plain a wonderful opportunity is offered to
American coal. There is not an European
country that is not anxious to secure a
better coal supply. Germany is willing to
exclude American meats, but she would
welcome American coal.
The wildest dreams of the value of Ala
bama coal will be fully met in the next
twenty-five years, and the present activity
of our mines is but a prelude of what is to
come. Much remains to be done. The
Warrior river must be opened and the
Nicaragua canid built; but the 8tate that
has an abundant supply of excellent steam
coal nearest the sea need not entertain
doubts of the results of a reasonable period
of time. It is not too much to say that
coal lands which now go begging will
bring twenty-five years hence at least
Pennsylvania prices.
School Histories of the War Period.
Several well-meaning people are distress
ing themselves unnecessarily over the his
tories used in the public schools of the two
great sections of the eastern half of the J
country. Such distress is wholly uncalled
for. Time will cure all that needs to be
cured, and there is no occasion for worry
over either the books that uphold the Lost
Cause or the books that denounce it. The
children will readily see the truth as they
grow' to manhood or womanhood, and any
agitation of the subject at present is'whol
ly unprofitable.
The country is becoming more and more
unified, and in forty years more all the
sears of a gigantic civil war will be healed.
There is no healer so good and beneficently
happy as Time, and there never was a
question that more properly belonged to
Time thau this same school book issue.
Leave it where it belongs. Entrust it to
Father Time, who will see that it is prop
erly determined. The demagogues and
eruptionlsts of the hour are not to be
trusted with it. It goes very deeply, touch
ing memories and tender thoughts that
rude passersby know not of. Let it alone.
• Time is the true arbiter and adjuster of
subjects that are embedded in honest
hearts.
From Furnaces to the Sea.
Pitt><burg Is agitated from center to cir
cumference and back again. When wheat
Is carried from Chicago to New York at 10
cents for 100 pounds, Pittsburg wants to
know why Its finished steel must pay IS
cents for 100 pounds to the same port, al
though the distance is not one-half as
much. When Pittsburg considers this prob
lem It gets so mad it desires to build at
once a canal to Lake Erie, a rail line to
New York, and also a rail line to Norfolk.
And why to Norfolk? The Pittsburg Dis
patch answers the interesting question by
stating that it is necessary to have cotton
shipments in order to keep ocean rates on
steel down. In other words, Pittsburg wants
to get In on the ground floor or Birming
ham plan.
"The exporting manufacturers of Pitts
burg." says the Pittsburg Dispatch, "first
made their appeal to the railroads about
six months ago. So far no response sugges
tive of any action has been made. The
manufacturers assert that Alabama, which
is on the seaboard and Is fostered and en
couraged by southern railroads, Is fast leap
ing Into the place held by Pittsburg, and
that lake cities like Chicago, Detroit, Cleve
land and Buffalo are given such an advan
tage that Iron and steel may be carried
past the Iron City to markets abroad, while
the steel-makers here are helpless to pro
tect themselves.
"The freight rate on Iron and steel ar
ticles or finished material, such as plates.
bars, channels and beams, pipe and other
commodities, to New' York Is 18 cents per
100 pounds, or $4.03 per gross ton. Billets
are sent to the same place for $2.90 per
gross ton, and pig Iron for $2.S0 per gross
ton. The manufacturers have demanded
that the rates be reduced to 9 or 10 cents
per 100 pounds on finished material, and
that the rate on billets, considered the base
for raw material, be made $2 a gross ton.
They believe that with suofc concessions
they can conquer the export trade of the
world and keep the mills of Pittsburg busy
and prosperous.
"Pittsburg manufacturers control that
they are offered large orders for steel for
export that they are unable to figure on
because of the excessive rates to the At
lantic coast. They claim that freight rates
on steel are higher now than they were 20
years ago when steel was selling for four
times what' it is now. They protest that
in the meantime railroads have been reduc
ing the cost of operation enormously—that
while they have reduced the average freight
rates the charges to Pittsburg are higher
than they were a score of years ago. The
manufacturers therefore argue, with the
weight of evidence on their side, that Pitts
burg Is being unjustly discriminated
against.”
A meeting of railroad freight men Is to
be held in New York today, but Pittsburg
is not hopeful. It prefers to urge the build
ing of new lines or a canal or both.
Paving Fifth Avenue.
Tonight before the City Council the sub
Ject of paving a section of Fifth avenue
will come up, and some of the residents
of tills much used street hope favorable
action will be had thereon. This street is
free from trolley tracks and other hin
drances to driving, and its cherted exten
sions cover the easterly halt of the coun
ty.
There is much heavy hauling done on
this street because of the brickyards an l
factories in East Birmingham, and in wet
weather the heavy loads overtax the bear
ing capacity of the street. In dry weather
they render the dust uncomfortably thick
The residents of the street see no remedy
except in a good pavement, either of brick
or asphalt.
The question is not one so much of gen
eral public utility as it is one of desire on
the part of residents in the street who are
willing to pay for the proposed improve
ment. If a majority of the lot owners de
sire a paved street they should have it,
because they alone will be taxed for it.
As General Hancock said in another case,
the paving of a street is a local matter.
When residents desire to improve the city
by paying for a section of pavement it is
difficult to see why they should not be per
mitted to have their own way.
Health Uoes With Sanitation.
The gulf and South Atlantic States are
enjoying September day3 without once
thinking that they are escaping another
visitation of yellow fever. These states
are not wholly out of the woods as yet,
but they are so nearly out that a little
crowing will be pardoned.
The story of Memphis should be printed
everywhere in the gulf and Mississippi val
ley states. In ISIS that city suffered se
verely from an epidemic of the dread dis
ease. It had then no sewers, and its
water supply was deficient. The lamented
Colonel Waring was Induced to come to
Memphis, and in due time sewers of the
best sort were put in, water was sent Into
the city in floods of purity, cleanliness of
every sort was Inculcated, and the city ha3
been tree from epidemics ever since. Babies
prosper as well In Memphis now as in any
other city In the land.
New Orleans and Jacksonville and Gal
veston and Mobile and a number of lesser
towns are following In Memphis' footsteps,
and the closer they keep to the Memphis
line the better and safer their condition
will be. Every other town of 1,000 Inhabi
tants or upward should do likewise, Un
drained towns that depend upon wells tor
a water supply need not expect freedom
from disease and epidemics in this latitude.
Safety is to be found in sanitation, and it
is not to l>e found hi any other direction
or method. Cases of dangerous disease
will appear where unclean streets, un
drained soil, filth and impure water are
harbored, and they will not appear and
spread where opposite conditions are main
tained. Memphis is a standing object les
son to all towns that desire health and
the uninterrupted prosperity that attends
health.
Timothy L. Woodruff will accept a re
nomination for Lici tenant Cijoernor of
New York. He aimed his gun higher, but
he does not propose to despise what Is
within reach.
If Uncle Sam has got to feed the world
and coal it, and supply the nations with
money, he will have his hands full. And
that seems to be about the size of his pros
pective job.
Warrior Waldersee may meet at sea the
returning forces of the Americans, but not
of the Russians, for they have business to
attend to in Manchuria.
The name of the new commander of the
Grand Army of the Republic, Leo Ras
sinur, dues not have a thoroughly natur
alized sound.
General Otis will not have to strain his
intellect in Chicago in devising optimistic
dispatches that are foundationless.
The war the allies are waging In Tien
Tsin and Pekin seems to be the genuine
General Sherman article.
Acting Mayor Guggenhelmer of New
Yo'rk Hobsonizcs all brides that come be
fore him officially.
The Deutschland keeps on breaking its
own record. She is a downright five-day
ship.
Kentucky is progressive even beyond the
shirt waist point, for its Senate recently
had a bare quorum.
Some of the towns even in the ,South
neglected to live up to their population
prospectuses.
Other towns will be convinced this week
that their respective censuses are not on
straight
If we have got to make it hot for the rest
of the world, we must have an open
Warrior.
The Dingley-McKlnley duty of 67 cents
on coal is enough to make a horse laugh.
The Philippine war and the Boer war are
petering out on the installment plan.
Barker and Donnelly still stand unrecog
nized in the middle of the road.
The summer still has enough backbone
left to enable it to assert itself.
Cleveland has passed all cities of its
class. It is in Class Three.
Mark Hanna and General Apathy are
hitched for a severe tussle.
A bet after all is a man’s best judgment
on the point at issue.
There will be nothing to loot when our
Waldersee arrives.
The Alabama rates A1 in the navies of
the world.
Waldersee promises to be the German
Otis.
Labor Day is second only to Christmas.
Cigar box fame comes to but few.
Garabaldl invented the shirt waist.
TIS THE BUSY MAN WHO DOES THINGS
By Elbert Hubbard.
If you want a piece of w’ork well and
thoroughly done, pick a busy man. The
man of leisure postpones and procrasti
nates, and is ever making preparations and
"getting tilings in shape," but to focus on
a thing and do it is the talent of the man
seemingly o’erwhelmed with work. Women
in point lace and diamonds, club habitues
and "remittance men"—those with all the
time there is, can never be trusted to carry
the message to Gomez.
Pin your faith to the busy person.
HOW RUSMA WINS
From the Philadelphia Press.
In half a century Russia has acquired
by various steps about 500,000 square miles
from China, ending with the present pos
session of Manchuria, and in this period
Russia is the only country which has, up
to this year, never fired a shot on Chinese
soil. England, France and Japan have
made war, a clumsy step followed by no
serious acquisition of territory by any one
of them. Russia has never made war.
Russia, instead, has peacefully "ab
sorbed," and entire provinces, kingdoms in
area, have been shifted from one side of
the Russo-Chinese boundary line to the
other, with the amicable consent of man
darins on whom Russia has always known
how to bring the joint pressure of corrup
tion and fear.
After this peaceful and profitable ex
perience for two generations why should
Russia abandon this prosperous practice
and begin "war?" The Asiatic department
of the Russian foreign office b* far more
likely to appear as the defender of the
Chinese empire and the protector of its
fugitive government.
DO YOUR REST
By Rev. George H. Hepworth in New York
Herald.
We ought to recognize the fact that all
work is honorable, that a man is a high
priest of God, in wheatever sphere he la
bors. No one is condemned to drudgery,
and in its largest sense there is no such
thing as drudgery. Who does his work
grandly, and does it with his soul as well
as his hands, is making the world better
by living in it. It is nobler to lay bricks
according to the plumb line than to rule
a kingdom badly. The distinction between
one man and another is not to be found
in social position or the environment of
wealth and power, but in the qualities of
the heart. The humblest creature that
ever lived, whose horizon is bounded by
poverty and obscurity, has a wider pros
pect lor the future if the soul is conse
crated, than crowned selfishness, though
all mankind may look upon it with envy.
The artisan, the merchant, the one with
slender means, the other with means be
yond the reach of arithmetic, are equally
servants of the Most High, and there is
more eloquence in their dally deeds than
ever poured from the lips of the orator.
To feel that the work you are now doing
is God's work, and must be done with
fervor and fidelity, is to stand facing the
throne of the Eternal, and to wear the
robe of authority.
Bankrupts Accounts
London, Sept. 4.—The examination of
Baron Sudely In the bankruptcy court today
showed liabilities amounting to £7!),6S0 and
assets of £260, Baron Sudely became bank
rupt in 1S93 with liabilities reaching £460,
273. His creditors then received a divkiend
o£ 10 pence on the pound.
rOINl'KD PAKAUK.A1-HS
From the Chicago News.
Crows are wise birds—they never do
things without caws.
Your neighbor is any one for whom '
can do a good turn.
When a criminal loses his shadow the de
tective is apt to be puzzled.
A dark cloud, financially speaking, Is one
that has no silver lining.
Five of America’s kings—Jo-king, smo
king, drin-king, thlu-king and tal-king.
Tell your secret to your servant and you
promote him to the jiosltion of master.
The way to rid a tree of its bark Is to
skin it. This Is also applicable to dogs.
He who takes a glass too much at night
has time for sober reflection the next morn
ing.
Fame is like a duck In a mudpuddle—
easy enough to see, but hard to get hold
of.
A woman who probably speaks from ex
perience says a husband who can be led
isn’t worth leading.
Return good for evil. If your enemy heaps
coals of tire on your head, pile chunks of
ice on his.
Although the average girt has a horror of
robbers, it's ten to one she isn’t averse to
. having a kiss stolen occasionally. ,
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
AND ELSEWHERE
Astrologer Raphael’s prophecies for
this day, Wednesday, September 5, 1900:
“Avoid women.”
“Run no risks In business.”
“Expect law, losses, annoyance, and af
fliction; thy affairs will all go wrong, and
thou wilt have a sad year in every way.”
“A child born on this day will be very
rash and unfortunate in all it undertakes;
it should keep in employ.”
“Bake bread; brew not strong drink.”
Astrologer Raphael's prophecies for
Thursday, September 6, 1900:
“Ask favors of women, travel, and seek
work.”
“Success will attend thy endeavors and
thy business and money will increase.”
“A child born on this day will be quick
and bitter of temper, but fortunate in its
business affairs.’’
“This day is good for hiring menser
vants.”
• * •
“We receive from various states numer
ous letters of inquiry respecting our county
roads,v said Colonel J. F. B. Jackson, Su
perintendent of Roads for Jefferson Coun
ty. “Within tlie past few days such letters
have been received from Texas, Arkansas
and other states distant from Alabama.
In most instances- the writers are county
officials who wish to know our methods of
road-building, the cost by mile, availabili
ty of material, and so on; thereby showing
that the fame of our public roads has gone
far throughout the country.
“We are now mending the roads already
built, and not attempting to build addi
tional new roads, because there is no
money available for new work. Road
building will be resumed in November,
when we shall have funds in hand. We
built twenty-five miles and a half of new
road the past year.
“The roads, which now extend Into
nearly all sections of this big county, are
even better now than ever before, and are
the best in the country. The unprecedented
rains of the early summer, which It was
feared would be disastrous to the roads,
I really served good purposes. The roads
were badly washed, hard and substantial
as they were, but we have been enabled to
mend them more substantially and throw'
them up so that no future rains may harm
them.”
The paving of South Twentieth street
from the foot of Twentieth street Hill to
the base of Red Mountain, a distance of
two-thirds of a mile, has been at last com
pleted. The material is vitrified brick; and
thus, from Eighth avenue to Fifteenth,
there is one of the cleanest, best paved,
and handsomest streets in the states of the
South.
Now if Highland avnue be paved from
Twentieth street to Buena Vista, and the
avenue be graded and macadamized from
Buena Vista to Lakevlew through the Bir
mingham Realty Company's splendid do
main, there will be given an impetus to
fine residence building that will have a
powerful influence for good on every block
within the limits of Birmingham.
It is amazing that the owners of proper
ty w'hich is for sale do not realize that the
only wray to get the best prices is to build
the best roads. It is historic that Boss
Sheppard created Washington a city by
building paved roads through vacant prop
erty; and South Court street, Montgomery,
now one of the most beautiful of all resi
dential streets, is a striking example near
at hand of the immense value of paving!
No man will build a home in mud, with
rivers of mud leading to it, if he can pos
sibly build on the side of a good road. The
county road lying along the base of the
mountain on the right side of the valley
hading beyond East Lake is illustration of
the point. Along its far winding way are
innumerable homes that are attractive and
farms and gardens that are beautiful. It
I is a fact worty of consideration that Jef
lerson County has two hundred miles of
country roads that are better than most
of the city streets inside the county limits,
and better than most o' the streets of the
average American city!
Paving brick have been placed along Sec
ond avenue, between Eighteenth and Nine
teenth streets, and at the w’ord of the city
engineer the work of laying the brick will
be begun. That is the worst section of
road wr ay in the city, and its pavement
will be a Godsend.
«• V ■
It is perhaps natural, and perhaps true
of all progressive cities, that Birmingham
is constantly appearing to be straining at
gnats and swallowing camels. The loud
est thundering is against strong drink and
gambling, whilst men of wide information
mainluin that those vices are merely over
rated incidents connected with deeper im
morality. There is a man in town who
spent many years in the West when it was
both “far” and “wild,” and declares that
there is more real “toughness” here than
he ever observed In any of the towns In
the West in the older days. By this he
means that there is more crime directly
attributable to concealed weapons and
nameless concealed immoralities; and he
accounts the saloons and whatever gamb
ling there may be as minor matters. The
deadly concealed weapon is the worst foe
to order and law. On this general line:
“I spent a short time in Lexington, Ky.,
the other day, and 1 saw more drunken
ness and more indications of grosser im
morality within an hour or two than I
have ever observed in Birmingham,” said
a citizen of distinction who is an official
of one of the principal churches of Bir
mingham. “It was astonishing, revolting.
Numerous men and women were reeling
and staggering around drunk, and the po
lice paid no attention to them, thereby
lending me the impression that such con
ditions were usual there. At the rail
way station there was a large crowd and
amongst it many negro women of lowest
character, apparently there for a purpose,
some of them drunk and speaking to white
men: one of them talking loudly of things
perfectly horrible. It beat anything I ever
observed.” ,
I never observed anything wrong about
Birmingham,” said one of the greatest
manufacturers in Alabama, who was pres
ent and who spends much of his time here.
‘‘I never see drunkenness on the street,
or any other obnoxious conduct. Respec
table men don’t get publically intoxicated
in Birmingham; and I don’t believe there
is a city in the United States more evident
ly moral than Birmingham. It seems to
me that the city could not be better con
ducted as to public morality than it is.
Chief of Police Austin is a good man for
his place, and his police force is good.
They keep the streets and public places
morally clean, and that is what police are
for. 1 believe iu liberal nolice firnvern
merit, but I do not believe In permitting
vice to flaunt itself openly In the view of
women and children.”
• • •
She adjusted his tie,
And he, why, he kissed her!
No other person was nigh,
And she wasn’t his sister:
She adjusted his tie—
Why shouldn’t he’ve kissed her?
* * *
The cause of charity is ever the cause of
the higher moralities, and none who has
at heart the general welfare can fail to
respond when charity calls. Therefore the
Ladies of Charity of St. Paul’s should re
ceive abundant encouragement at their
festival and dance at Lakevlew on Friday
evening. That will be an enterprise of
charity, the receipts being intended to aid
the charity funds of St. Paul’s church,
which like all the churches, takes a deep
and Intelligent Interest in charity’s work.
Whatever money men and women may
have to give to charity should be paid into
the fund of some charity organization,
where it will not be wasted or misspent.
The individual application of individual
charity often does harm.
* » ■
Arthur Chenoweth, the son of Mr. Wil
liam Chenoweth and Mrs. Chenoweth, has
g’one to North Carolina to resume his stud
ies at a famous school in the healthful hills.
He is hut a lad in years, but he is a man
in character. Morever he is a gentleman;
and he is that in the fullest sense. There
is a world of comfort to men and women
to meet and observe a boy whose manner
and bearing are those of a cultured man
of the world. Such a boy in fullest degree
is Arthur Chenoweth; and there are hun
dreds of men and women in Birmingham
who feel for him warm personal regard and
high personal esteem. This is so conspicu
ously true that it needs to be said. If all
boys would know how beautiful Is boy
hood graced with the real qualities of gen
tlemanhood the world would be better.
There are such boys in Birmingham, and
they shall rule Birmingham one day.
• • •
Former Mayor Frank V. Evans, who has
been ailing for several days, is getting to
be strong again.
• * *
James Hillhouse, formerly official in
spector of mines in this State, and now
superintendent of mines in Tennessee, has
been spending several days in Birmingham
and the county.
_ _ * * *
Dr. Dabney Luckle is still very ill, though
he is slowly mending.
“The Postal's business has kept up well
this summer,” said Charles Irwin, manager
of the Birmingham office of the Postal Tel
egraph Company. “This being a relay of
fice the company employs forty-five oper
ators, and these operators handle a great
volume of business. Last year 3,000,000 mes
sages passed through the Birmingham of
fice and the number will not be less this
year.”
The Postal's Birmingham force, including
messengers and clerks, numbers over sixty
persons. The Postal works in connection
with the German-Amerlcan cable, which
was opened for business a few days ago.
* * *
Hon. Basil Manly Allen Is In Marion,
Perry County, whither he is gone to lead
counsel for the defense in a noted murder
trial.
• * •
The most illustrious of all the Confeder
ate Veterans and at the same time one of
the best loved men In tho world, arrived
in Birmingham last night, and Is at the
Morris. General Gordon will tonight deliver
at the Auditorium his lecture on “The p’irst
Days of the Confederacy.”
H. T. Staats, In etiarge of the music
school of Pollock-Stephen Institute, re
turned yesterday from New Turk, where he
had spent his summer vacation. He suc
ceeds Mr. Guekenberger as organist at St.
Mary's-on-the-Highlands, Uls services there
beginning next Sunday.
* * *
One by one the fences fall! The ugly
picket fence which detracted so seriously
from the good appearance of the southwest
corner of Fifth avenue and Twentieth
street, has been removed. If the still uglier
fence in front of the next house but one
from the corner. In Fifth avenue, were
removed, as It ought to be removed today,
the improvement in that block, from
Twentieth street to the Follock-Stephens
Institute, would be very marked. All Fifth
avenue would be greatly improved if all
those hideous fences were removed!
OBLIGING ALABAMA LANDLORD
Wlieu Rats Disturbed 111b Guests lie Turned
the Ferrets Loose
From the Washington Post.
“Recently *1 had an experience with rats
that I will not soon forget,” said D. B.
Purks of Fredericksburg, Va.
“It happened in this way: I was travel
ing through Alabama, and, landing in a
small town, worn out alter a day's over
land travel in a broken-down buggy,
sought the only tavern the town boasted.
Afer I had been in bed about fifteen min
utes I was startled to hear strange and
curious noises—the most unnatural sound I
had ever heard. I immediately proceeded
to Investigate the cause of this midnight
distrubauee, and lit the candle, the only
illuminant procurable, and to my surprise
beheld ten of the largest rats, in my opin
ion, ever seen. They ranged In size from
an average squirrel to an ordinary dog.
Not the least fear was manifested by these
rats. They deliberately surveyed me and
continued the work of eating my shoes.
“One large fellow', evidently master of
ceremonies, was bold enough to attempt
to bite me. This affront was more than
I could stand. Jumping back into bed I
screamed for the landlord, who, after
being awakened from a drunken sleep,
slowly shuffled up to this chamber of hor
rors, dignified as a room, and contemptu
ously inquired the cause of the racket.
After stating thi nature of the trouble he
‘allowed’ he would settle it in short order,
and in about ten minutes rats poured in
to the room in droves to the number of
about one hundred and fifty, all sizes and
conditions, large and small, lean and fat,
all squeaking and apparently frightened.
I thought something unusual must have
tianspired, when ray suspicions were con
firmed by the arrival of several ferrets,
whose eyes sparkled with glee at the
slaughter they proceeded to institute.
“As soon as I collected myself after the
execution I hastened out of the room and
made myself as comfortable as possible in
a chair, waiting for day to break, that I
could shake the town. Although I made
my escape In carpet slippers. It was one of
the happiest incidents of my life. The
landlord evidently thought nothing of the
occurrence. He said it happened very
often, and he always kept a supply of
ferrets to clean the rats out when they
became unmunageabl and too annoying to
his guests.”
SKETCHES FROM
EVERYDAY LIFE
President McKinley Is considered by
many as the shrewdest politician In the
country. One evidence of this is what might
be called his ability as a “snuffer out." He
possesses a genius in getting rid of op
position and snuffing out the light of his
opponent.
At the breaking out of the Spanish war
there was a great deal said of Fitzhugh
Dee. He was a popular hero, and hailed as
the next Vice President. His constituents,
however, did not count on McKinley, who
threw a robe of some office around him and
hid him fr< m view. Today, he is forgotten.
A little later came the battle of San Juan,
and Joe Wheeler became the popular hero
nothing was too good for him. He was Con
gressman and general nt the same time, and
was hailed by the hero-worshippers as the
next Vice President. Wheeler hac done so
well at San Juan that he wanted a chance
at the Philippines. This was McKinley's
chance, however, and General Wheeler was
sent to some obscure island, where he had
nothing to do. Today he is hidden away
in an army post at Chicago.
Then came the Dewey craze. It looked
at one time as If the whole country would
be given to him with the office of President
thrown in. Today his name Is ; ever men
tioned. McKinley gave him shore leave and
rope enough to hang himself witfli, which
Dewey lost no time in using.
McKinley's cleverest and latest snuffing
Is putting that rough and unruly Roose
velt, who promised to give him trouble, in
the Vice Presidential grave to be. If he
either succeeds or fails in reaching it there
will be no more heard of Teddy.
The Presidential oanrpaign so far this
year has been extremely apathetic. The Re
publicans have been taking it easy, assum
ing McKinley's re-eleotlon a forgone con
clusion. Then wtlli Mark Hanna to do
things, of what use to worry? The Demo
crats have shown a little more life, but
still the campaign has exhibited a drowsy
condition like the atmosphere of a country
store.
A recent bet made by Mr. Richard Croker
on Bryan has startled everyone. He bet
$30,000 against $00,000 put up on McKinley for
Mr. Wormster. As Mr. Croker is one of the
most remarkably successful men in politics
the world has even seen, his bet on Bryan
Aeans something. It means that Bryan, in
Mr. Croker's opinion, Is a winner. As the
old lady wisely said, we shall see what we
shall see.
Tt Is hard to realize In this land of plen
ty, the frightful condition of the people of
India. Think of 1,000,000 people having died
of starvation, and 10,000,000 at one time be
ing without a crumb to eat. In this rich
and fertile land of America, if a single per
son starves to death, the newspapers are
full of it, and the public filled with horror.
Yet In far-off India the people are dying
by thousands, dying by inches, wasting
away until she soul and body from sheet
weakness can no longer hold together. And
from all these thousands dying silently
there Is no murmur, no complaint. Misery
learns In time to take the decrees of fate
without appeal.
But the charitable of other lands have ap
pealed for them, and the Christian Herald,
Bible House, New York, will receive and
forward all sums sent for their relief.
Should Charles Egbert Craddock shortly
revisit the Great Smoky Mountains she
will find there a new kind of prophet, which
would possibly furnish material for a new
story. She must hurry, however, or the
police may arrive first. This prophet, from
an acoount in the Cattanooga Times, be
longs to a sect of “Holy Dancers,’’ which
exists among the Ignorant mountaineers of
the Great Smokies. They believe the end
of the world is at hand, and that they can
not stn. So they are placing cards and doing
all kinds of Improper'things. They torment
the sick, force them to Join In the “holy
dance,’’ which they have at all hours of
the day and night, and acting on a vision
of the prophet were about to kill their chil
dren as useless, when some of their neigh
bors stopped this human sacrifice and burnt
one of their churches.
The Ignorance of some of these moun
taineers Is appalling. In some of the moun
tains can be found little Scattered com
munities, where the people have lived iso
lated for generations, marrying and Inter
marrying among themselves, for years, un
til a race of degenerates and Idiots Is pro
duced.
It is pitiful to see these people, but hav
ing seen them, one can understand haw
they are capable of any piece of folly aris
ing from Ignorance.
SEPTEMBER IN TENNESSEE
Walter Malone in the Criterion.
The sad September comes, with asters In
her auburn hair,
Her lovely face transfigured with a genlla
touch of care,
With pale blue morning-glories, paler than
her pale blue eyes.
And pearly hillside hazes, dimmer than her
direamy skies.
She comes with cataracts of amber honey
suckles sweet,
With golden-rods that powder all her gar
ments and her feet,
With humming-birds for heralds, all be
decked In starry scales,
With glow of Jeweled armor, burnished
throats and twinkling tails.
Amid her forest depths, like whlte-llmber
giants In the land, .
The (dean athletic sycamores In lordly gran
deur stand;
The fragrant sweet-g-um overflows with aro
matic drops,
And odorous sassafras perfumes the bram
ble-tangled copse.
Pecans on bending branches hang their
wealth of russet nuts.
And chinquepins and hazels ripen by the
negro huts;
Tho brown buckeyes are swelling, purple
wild grapes bending low.
And sumac berries by the fence like blood
red torches glow.
But now the year has lost the gladness of
her girlhood time,
And prose of homely autumn follows spring
and summer rhyme;
Deserted by the song birds, hang her mel
ancholy bowers,
And like a cobweb curtain her deathly-pale
moon-flowers.
The lonesome cat-tails quiver by the
marsh's dreary wave,
And nightshade sprays are rising by the
proud peony’s grave,
Beneath the summer bloscoms that, have
withered into brown,
Our bygone summer blisses in the dust
are trampled down.
A smothered Desdemna, here the lily hangi
her head,
The Iron-week, a huge Othello, scowdng by
her bed*
And. like a ghostly Romeo, calls a lone*
some whippoorwill
To some forgotten Juliet in her grave oa
i yonder hill.