The Charlotte Messenger.
VOL. 111. NO. 45 ’
THE
Charlotte Messenger
18 PUBLISHED
EVERY SATURDAY,
AT
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
In the Interests of the Colored People of
the Country.
Able and well-known writers will contrib
ute to its columns from different parts of the
country, and it will contain the latest Gen
eral News of the day.
The Messenger is & first-class newspaper
and will not allow personal abuse in its col
umns. It is not sectarian or partisan, but
independent—dealing fairly by aIL It re
serves the right to criticise the shortcomings
of all public officials—commending the
worthy, and recommending for election such
men as m its opinion are best suited to serve
the interests of the people.
It is intended to supply tho long felt need
of a newspaper to advocate the rights and
defend the interests of the Negro-American.
especially in the Piedmont section of the
Carolinas.
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
(Always in Advance.)
One Year t 1.50
H Months 1.00
f> Months 75
4 Months 50
3 Months 40
Address,
W. C. SMITH, CHARLOTTE, N. C.
An Emperor’s Awful Diet.
The recent improvement in the Em*
peror William’s health is due to the
fact that since his return to Berlin he
has become much more amenable to
the wishes of his physicians. He does
not now expose himself to cold weath
er as he has hitherto insisted on doing,
he sleeps in a warm room instead of
having his appartments arranged as if
he were a robust subaltern in a barrack;
and he no longer lives by cloekw r ork.
The emperor till recently neither ate or
drank except at certain specified hours,
when he indulged his appetite in a very
reckless w'ay. But now his majesty
takes some kind of food every two
hours, such as a very strong beef tea,
eggs beaten up with wine tokay and
cream, coffee and isinglass.
The emperor’s great meal had always
been supper till this autumn, and most
of his recent illnesses have arisen from
indiscretions at table. He delighted
in lobsters in every shape and form, es
pecially hot, with a rich sauce, and
washed down by copious draughts of
lthine wine. Another favorite dish
was crayfish soup, and also the Russian
batwinia, a cold fish soup,in which beer,
cider, rancid herrings and salt cucum
bers are ingredients. The emperor
was also fond of veal stewed with cloves
and cinnamon, and of pork stewed with
nutmeg and marshmallow; while a fre
quent sweet was a large sponge-cake
steeped in rum. The physicians are of
the opinion that his majesty may now
live for some years longer, unless there
should be very cold weather.— London
B arid.
Very Dong Waits.
A pause of a week in an interesting
story—especially*when the words, “To
be continued in our next,” come in the
middle of a thrilling incident—is ag
gravating, but even this one becomes
accustomed to in time. Such pauses,
however, as a year and six years are
really too long for mortal endurance.
A story is told of a man of a very
silent disposition who, driving in his
gig over a bridge, turned about and
asked his servant if he liked eggs.
The man replied, "Yes, sir."
Nothing more was said on tho sub
ject till the following year, when, driv
ing over the same bridge again, the
master suddenly turned again to hil
servant and said, ’’How?” to which the
man promptly responded, -Poached,
sir.”
This, however, as an instance ol
long intermission of discourse, sinks
into insignificance beside an anecdote
of a minister of Campsie, near Glas
gow. It is related that the worthy
pastor, one Archibald Dcnniston, was
deprived of his ministerial office in
1655, and not replaced till after the
Restoration. He had, before leaving
his charge, begun a discourse, and
finished the first head. At liis return
in 1661 betook up the second division
of his interrupted sermon, calmly in
troducing it with the remark that “tht
times wero altered, but the doctrine!
of the Gospel wore always the same.”
A Sailor Describes a Ball.
The Bucksport Clipper's nautical
editor went to a New-Year’s ball. He
says the ladies “had pennants, bur
gees, and pilot flags all over them and
a heavy cloud of light, good setting
sails. A breeze sprung up," says this
nautical man. - ‘First four right and
left!' was the order. The inshore craft
hove up, struck a choppy sea, and
sailed back and forth, passing each
other with their port tacks aboard.
Then, catching a flaw of wind, they
laire away down outside the lines with
uu eight-knot breeze, rounded to, and
came back before a ten-knot souther.”
The old salt says he did not quite
understand all the manoeuvres, but he
considered them an improvement on
the old-time fore-and-aft breakdown in
an old barn.— Lewiston (Me.) Journal.
Managers say that it la only a ques
tion of time when Italian open Will be
revived in all iu glory.
The World.
'fie world Is a queer old fellow.
Aft you journey along: by his side
You had better conceal any trouble you feel.
If you want to tickle his pride.
No matter how heavy your burden—
Don’t tell him about It, pray;
He will only grow colder and shrug his shoul
der
And hurriedly walk away.
But carefully cover your sorrow.
And the world will be your friend.
If only you'll bury your woes and be merry
He’ll cling to you close to the end.
Don't ask him to lift one finger
To lighten your burden, because
He never will share it; but silently bear it
And he will be loud with applause.
Tho world is a vain old fellow;
You must laugh at his sallies of wit.
No matter how brutal, remonstrance Is futile t
And frowns will not change him one whit.
And since you must journey together
Down paths where all mortal feet go.
Why, lire holds more savor to keep in bis
favor,
For he’s an unmerciful foe.
—Elia Wheeler Wilcox.
THE END OF A JOURNEY.
The Houghton landau drew up at
the station and Louise alighted with
her friend, Sybil Travers. The latter
young lady, clad in a gray Mother
Hubbard, and wearing a pretty poke
bonnet piled high with ostrich feathers,
was the very picture of elegance.
Louise was a little, insignificant thing,
and she appeared less attractive than
ever as she made her way to the wait
ing-room alongside of her distinguished
looking friend.
‘■lt is too absurd, Sybil,” she said as
they sat together in a remote corner,
enjoying a last confidential chat before
Miss Travers left for the West “The
idea of your posting off to San Fran
cisco all alone, simply because a harm
less youth promises to come this way,
and to act as your escort!”
“It is only three weeks earlier than
I meant to go, anyhow,” said Sybil,
stoutly. “You know why I prefer to
go alone, Louise. You see Uncle Jerry
has made up his mind that propinquity
is the only thing necessary to make
Mr. Valleau and myself fall madly in
love with each other. He fancies that
a trip across the continent is especially
well calculated to bring about that
much-desired result But I don’t see
it that way. I know very well that I
should hate Mr. Valleau from the out
set I should feel bound to do it just
for contrariety. So, you see, I prefer
to go home a few weeks earlier, and to
go alono; for if I did wait for Mr. Val
leau, as Uncle Jerry wished me to. and
if I failed to fall in love with him, you
know very well that it would be im
possible for me to explain the phenom
enon satisfactorily. As it is, I can
smooth matters over easily.”
“How far-sighted you arei Sybil,”
Louise said, laughing. “Mr. Valleau
will be terribly disappointed though, I
fear. But there’s your train, dear.
Good-by. Write to me as soon as you
arrive.”
Then followed considerable girlish
demonstration, which provoked a smile
on the lips of a nonchalant young
traveler who reclined at his ease before ;
one of the windows of a parlor car, and
who had been watching Louise and
Sybil with interest.
“A very handsome girl, by Jove!”
was his mental comment as Sybil took
her scat just behind him, and the mir
ror at the end of the car enabled him to
command a full view of her face. “I
wonder how far she is going.”
There was no means of ascertaining
just then, but when the conductor came
through the car, and the young man
presented his ticket, to which was at
tached a long string of coupons run
. ning all the way from New York to
San Francisco, he noted with satisfac
tion that Sybil had one like it.
“A through passenger,” he observed.
“I wonder who she is? Traveling
alone, too; hut evidently a lady. She
must be a Californian, but she looks
like a New-Yorker,” etc.
The young man’s fancy ran riot, and
all the while he kept his eyes fixed on
the mirror in which was reflected
Sybil's lovely face, with its rich, warm
coloring and its beautiful frame of rip
pling hair. Very often their eyes met,
as was only natnral; but Sybil had
wonderful composure for so young a
girl, and the look of serenity she con
tinued to wear rather chagrined the
handsome stranger, who had enter
tained a hope, innocent enough in its
nature, that the long ride over the
plains might be enlivened with piquant
flirtation.
“Pallas Athene,” he said, regret
fully. “Beautiful, but susceptible of
no passion that is not animated by
reason.” m
Such a conclusion might have been
rather.hasty, but it appears that this
aggressive young man in an ulster and
traveling-cap made some pretense to
ward being a reader of character.
Meanwhile Sybil, constitutionally op
posed to “ogling,” as all sensible,
womanly girls are, formed a pretty
severe opinion of the stranger who
took such a mean advantage of the
power of reflection. But she scorned
to change her seat. Her policy was
one of complete oblivion, and, settling
herself comfortably, she soon forgot all
about the handsome pair of brown eyes
so deliberately fixed on the telltale
mirror.
The other passengers wero pretty
well acquainted by the time they reach
ed Chicago, but Sybil, naturally re
•erred, and becoming more so through
the protective instinct which prompted
her to make few friends when traveling
alone, had sot joined the little coterie
which soon establishes itself la »»»
CHARLOTTE.'N C. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1887.
westward-bound train. Her neighbor
had been baffled in several attempts to
make her acquaintance, but difficulty
only fired his determination.
“She’s something new in the fem
inine line, by Jove she is!” he re
marked, when one of his deepest-laid
schemes had been overthrown by Sy
bil’s courteous but unapproachable
dignity.
It appears that this handsome stranger
had been a “lady’s man for many a
day.” He was of a peculiar tempera
ment When he made up his mind to
anything he usually accomplished it
and in accomplishing it was quite will
ing to relinquish all subordinate in
terests. He, too, held himself aloof
from his fellow-passengers, and so it
was tiiat when they reached Council
Bluffs not a soul was on board the train
who could have told who the lady and
gentleman were that traveled alone
and were so very exclusive.
Any one who has made a trans-con
tinental trip will appreciate the desire
to take a turn on terra firma that seized
Sybil’s peculiar vis-a-vis when be
reached Council Bluffs. He was a
lithe, athletic fellow, and during the
hour and a half that the train halted
he made a pedestrian tour into the sur
rounding country. Unfortunately, he
prolonged his walk beyond a desirable
limit, and when he reached the station
again the train had already begun to
move slowly. Many a time he had
boarded the train when it was going
much more rapidly, and, with a mo
ment's hesitation, he ran for the rear
platform of his car, making a spring
and catching at the iron railing.
As often happens, be had not calcu
lated on the full speed of the train.
He missed the step and fell backward,
6triking his head on the platform, and
only escaping a terrible fracture by the
presence of a pile of empty mail-bags,
which broke his fall.
The train stopped, and the injured
man was taken aboard. He was
wholly insensible, and the blood gush
ed freely from the wound in his head.
A skillful surgeon who happened to be
among the passengers was summoned
at once, ana, having seen the yonng
man made comfortable in a sleeping
car, he examined the contusion.
“WiR some one please help me with
these bandages?” the doctor asked.
“No. thanks,” he added as a gentle
man offered his services. “A lady,
please." .
He glanced around the car and his
eyes fell on Sybil's calm face, on tho
slim white hands that looked so deft j
and agile, and he noted the composure j
with which she bore herself, while the !
rest of the ladies were nearly all in a
semi-hysterical state.
“Will you hold these bandages,
miss?” hi; asked, kindly. “Do you
understand how to do it?”
“O, yes, sir,” said she, promptly,
“My father was a doctor. lam used
to sueli work.”
The wound was shortly dressed, hut
it was a whole day before the young
stranger awoke from the stupor oc
casioned by his fall, and then it was
only t» pass into a state of delirium.
“Do you know who he is?” the doc
tor asked Sybil, who had been in
stalled by common consent as the sick
man’s nurse.
••This dropped out of his pocket,”
she replied, binding him a business
card. “I think that is his name, as
his baggage is marked with those
initials.”
The doctor read: “Robert Vincent
& Co., commission merchants. New
York.”
“He had a narrow escape,” he ob
served, handing the card back to Sybil.
“A little more force would have crush
ed his skull like a nutshell.”
A new interest suddenly awakened
for Sybil.
“I wonder what Louise will say
when she hears that I have been play
ing nurse?” she pondered the day fol
lowing the assumption of her new
duties. “Poor fellow! I’m sorry for
hitn."
At Cheyenne, happily for the sick
roan, the train was delayed two days
by a landslide. During the interval of
quiet and rest the doctor succeeded in
breaking his fever, and on the fourth
day after the accident Mr. Vincent
opened his eyes in weak astonishment
as his returning consciousness discern
ed in his faithful attendant the hand
some young lady with whom he had
tried so assiduously to flirt.
He felt too weak from the shock and
from the loss of blood to ask any ques
tions. bnt Sybil divined his wonder,
and she explained to him the details of
his accident, with a gentle grace as
charming as her former reserve had
been admirable.
Nothing could have been prettier
than Sybil’s devotion to the unfortqpate
stranger, and the other passengers
seemed to appreciate it, for they held
aloof and were content with being
merely spectators. Jihe waited on him
with persevering devotion. It was
Sybil’s way to do that She read to
him, or, when he wished it, talked to
him. The presence of an invalid seem
ed to infused a home feeling into the
life aboard the train, and when the
week's journey was protracted by
various obstacles to ten days no one
complained.
Before they reached San Francisco
Mr. Vincent was able to sit up. It
! would take some time for the wound to
j heal, but he bad recovered pretty well
1 from the shock. In the opinion of
tome of the passengers ho Wt* not al-
together anxious for immediate con
valescence, which was hardly to be
wondered at; and really I think Sybil
felt a twinge of regret os she sat the
last evening beside Mr. Vincent’s
couch and listened to a party of gentle
men warbling a Swiss air out on the
front platform. It was twilight, and
the porter had not yet come in to light
the lamps.
“Don’t you think, Miss Sybil," Mr.
Vincent said in alowvoice, “that some
acquaintances ripen very much faster
than others? I feel as though I had
known yon for years, yet I cannot tell
what your last name is. The doctor
tails you just Miss Sybil.”
“l tnougnt you knew,’- she snia,
simply, ignoring his first question,
which had sent a strange thrill to her
heart “My name is Travers."
“What?” he almost shouted. “What
did you say?”
“Travers,” she repeated, looking at
him surprised.
He sank back on the cushions help
lessly, and, turning his face toward her,
he murmured: “Kismet!”
“Do you know.” he continued, after
a pause which Sybil felt to be pregnant
with meaning—“do you know we have
been as badly mixed up as to our
identities as the people in a play. I
had no idea you were Miss Travers.
Your Uncle Jerry ”
“Do you know my Uncle Jerry?” she
cried in surprise.
“I ought to," he replied, with an
odd smile. “I am—Sybil, do yon over
forgive people who practice little de
ceits upoil yon?”
The familiar manner of this address
did not offend her, strange to say.
“That depends,” she said softly.
“What would you say if I were to
tell you that my name wasn’t Vincent
at all?”
He had contrived to get hold of her
hand, and he felt it flutter slightly, but
she made no response.
“I do not know what led you to be
lieve that iqy name was Vincent At
first. I could not correct the impression,
and, when I was able, I didn’t care to,
for I was so pleased with our relation
that I feared to do anything that might
jar upon it It is all the worse for me
now, for I fear this deceit may have
prejudiced you. I am your uncle’s
friend, Sybil. 'I am Royal Valleau.”
It was her turn to start in astonish
ment She snatched her hand away
from him, but he secured it again.
-*X>Oik***’’ 1— plan,la.l Lm. - Inn,
“Forgive me! -You have made me love
you and you must not be so cruel. You
will at least forget that I have deceived
you at all?"
Sybil gave no spoken reply, but her
hand was still clasped in his, and be
fore the porter lit the lamps she suffer
ed him to carry it to his lips.
This story was detailed in a letter to
Miss Louise Houghton the following
week, with the appended comments:
And just think of It, Louise 1 I have ac
tually engaged myself to him. I meant to
hate him so, too I Uncle Jerry is delighted,
of course. For myself, I can only say that
1 am perfectly happy, and leave the rest to
your imagination. Wasn’t it funny, though?
lie left New York three weeks before he
had intended to, because he didn’t want to
be bothered with looking after me; and I
ran away from him in the same unceremo
nious style. Yet we both got on the same
train after all. It is quite like a romance,
isn’t it, dear? But I must close, as Roy is
begging me to hurry and finish. I will
write you more again. Your loving friend,
Sybil.
Lincoln's Father's Arithmetic.
Mr. William' G. Greene, an early
friend of Mr. Lincoln, relates that in
1836 he was going to Kentucky, and
“at the request of Abe Lincoln I car
ried a letter to bis father, who lived
in Coles county, Illinois, at the head
of the ‘Ambraw’ river. When I got
to the place the old man's house looked
so small and humble that I felt em
barrassed until be received me with
much heartiness, telling me what a
handy house he had and how con
veniently it was arranged. It was a
log house, ami some of the logs stuck
out two or three feet from tile wall at
the corners. He said that lie could
dress his deer as lie killed them, and
hang them on the projecting logs, and
could tic his horse to them. The old
man inquired how his son was getting
along. He said Abe was a good boy,
but lie was afraid he would never
amount to much; lie bad taken a no
tion to study law, and these men were
generally ’eddieated’ to do wrong.
‘Here now,’ he said, 'I cannot read or
write a bit ; but I can beat any book
keeper I ever saw at making my ac
counts so easy and simple that any-
Isiily can understand them, just by
taking my forefinger and rubbing out
that black mark.’ In the little cabin
where he was living, the joists were
about seven feet from the floor, and
were of course unfinished. The old
man had taken a fire-coal and drawn
four black marks on the face of a joist,
something like the four bars of mnsic.
Hu then explained that he had been
■tending mill' for a man down the
river; and when he sold a customer a
peck of meal he simply reached up and
drew his finger through the lowei
line. For two pecks he rutjbed a hole
through two of the lines, for three
Cks three lines, and for a bushel four
■s were erased. He put a mark to
indicate the customer right over hit
dues. 'The simplest thing in the
world,' said he, and added: ’lf Abe
don't fool sway all his time on book!
•he may make something yet.’"—
browns's "Every-Day Lift of Abraham
Lincolns"
MISSING LINKS.
A Stockton, Cal., bootblack carrieq
a box that is covered with silver plate.
During tho past year thirty-one
murders occurred iu San Francisco,
Cal.
A new sect has appeared in Michi
gan, one of its tenets bejng that a paid
ministry is ungodly.
It is said that “Lotta” is making a
new venture. This time in the literary
world as the author of a novel.
Georgia prohibitionists want the
state to pass a law to require a SIO,OOO
license fee on “family wine-rooms.”
Sarah Rernhardt, while in Buenos
Ay res not long ago, was presented with
the title deeds for a tract of land ten
miles square in tho Argentine Repub
lic.
Up to dato tho state capital at Al
bany' has cost New York taxpayers
$18,000,000, while the national capital
at Washington has cost but $13,000,-
000.
Frank Hickey, of Ogden, Utah,
forged a dispatch to stop shipments of
oysters to his rival in the oyster busi
ness, and-is now held for trial in bonds
of SI,OOO.
On a street in Bluehill, Me., less
than half a mile long, live fifteen
widows. No man has ever been bold
enough to pass along that street after
dish wash-up.
Until the publication of his divorce
notice the other dqy, nobody knew a
certain socially accepted man in New
York city was married, and my! how
the people talk now.
In the lower Brule agency in Dakota
the Indians have a church and four
chapels. One hundred of their number
are members of the church, in which
they take great pride.
William Tabor, a Pennsylvanian,
made fun of the big trees in the Yosem
ito Valley, and John Ashton, a guide,
felt it his duty to stab the scoffer/
twice in the right arm.
The superintendent of the public
schools at Buffalo has been censured by
the New York civil-service commission
for appointing teachers without a com
petive examination.
Tho number of weekly and daily
newspapers in the United States
amounts in round numbers to 12,800,
exclusive of a vast number of monthly
anu quarterly peciouiv.—.,.
Owing to ill-feeling growing out of
a suit at law the chief of police at
Tombstone, A. T., searched most of
tho men in town for concealed
weapons and found only one toy pis
tol. $
A man in Ontario can repeat perfect
ly 166 chapters of tho bible, fifty-eight
psalms, and every collect, epistle and
gospel in the ecclesiastical year, ac
cording to the English church prayer
book.
When asked his opinion about legis
lating against tho liquor traffic, Fran
cis Murphy, tho blue ribbon temper
ance evangelist, remarked: “If lcgisla
tion would save people, Moses would
have been Christ”
This is the way that a New England
lover of winter sports announced the
new year: Eighteen hundred eighty-six
toboggans slide down the slide of time
to-night at 12 o’clock, and 1887 begins
its flight down the steep declivity.
Dainty cards announcing new ar
rivals in fashionable families are now
sent out to those supposed to be interest
ed in the event, and from whom a sil
ver cup, coral beads, spoon, Os an am
ber necklace may. be expected, per
haps.
President Arthur used to say that
the first money he ever earned was S2O
or $25 for writing the biography of a
temperance lecturer. Ho had forgot
ten the name of the lecturer, but the
Troy Budget has recently discovered
that it was Hamilton.
The telephone is put to a new and
convenient use in Brussels. Gentle
men who wish to rise early, but don’t
like to, can have a row of little bells'
along the edge of their beds, which
ring viciously, until they rise and stop
tho disturbance.
* New York heirs are taking steps'
toward securing the English estate of
John Sands who died in this country
some time during tho eighteenth cen
tury. It is valued at $75,000,000,
and if not claimed before January 1,
1889, it will escheat to the crown of
England.
The difficulty of sighting rifles in the
dark in warfare has been ingeniously
overcome by the use of luminous paint.
A small luminous bead is clipped on to
the rifle over the fore-sight and an
other over the rear-sight when used at
night in reply to an enemy’s fire, form
ing two luminous sights.
Senator Hearst, of California, owns
a fine ranch of 48,000 acres at San
Simeon. It formerly belonged to the
great Mexican Castro family, but the
senator loaned the Castros $15,000 on
the property at the merely nominal 5
per cent a month, it is said, and as a
natural consequence owns it now.
A gang of colored boys in Indian
apolis have been making considerable
money by furnishing a fur dealer there
with cat skins. He pays them 25 cents
for a Maltese skin, 15 cents for a well
spotted skin and 5 cents for the aver
age every day cat skin. The dealer
says that Maltese cat skins make tha
finest of doves.
Terms: 11.50 per Ammo. Single Copy 5 cents.
A gentleman, who afterward became
a celebrated lecturer, described to a
friend his dismay when he was first
asked to speak for three-quarters of an
hour. Said he: “I got on very well
for a quarter of an hour, and in that
time 1 told all I knew in the world.
Then I amplified myself, and that is
what I hare been doing ever since.”
In twenty-three of the thirty-eight
states a prior undissolved marriage
sets aside a new union. In twenty
insanity does the same, in seventeen
nonage, and in thirteen fraud. These *
are grounds for declaring the mar
riage null and void a5 initio. Deser
tion as a ground for divorce varies la '
length and character in many states.
A new kind of practioe will be tried
by Yale’s crew this winter. A tank
sixty feet long by thirty feet broad is
now building, and will be filled with
water. Then a shell is to be put in
and fastened, and in this the crew are
to sit and row. This plan is said to
have been used by the Cambridge, En
gland, crew with considerable success.
C. B. Galusha of Cape Girardeau,
Mo., has a pair of linen sheets that
have been in use for eighty years.
They were made from flax grown on
the form of his grandfather, Jacob
Galusha, and manufactured by him
and used by him in 1809, when he was
first governor of Vermont. They look
as if they would last for another cen
tury.
Prince Bismarck, being asked by tho
Royal Library at Munich for his auto
graph, replied: “I fulfill with pleasure
your wish, glad to have another oppor
tunity of expressing the .gratitude
which Germany will ever feel (or your
magnanimous king and for your Bava
rian bravery, in remembering the re
storation of the unity and security of
Germany.” ,
The editor of the Washington Critic,
who has evidently visited a fair, below
says: “We expect to pay 25 cents apiece
for one consecutive 6-cent cigar this
very evening. Five cents for the cigar,
6 for the beautiful hand we take It
from, 5 for the lovely eyes that look
at it go, 5 for the cherry lips that tell
the price, and 5 for charity; isn’t that
cheap enoughP”
Fire in the Water.
The sinking of the big gas well neal
the French Camp turnpike calls to mind
the fact that the artesian well in Court
in small"quan titiesV*anil ®
ural and just gradation, leads to an
incident? which happened before tha
Water Works Company went to mix
ing the artesian with other water.
When the artesian was piped the pure
gas went with it; the people didn’t
want the gas, but they got it, any
how.
A drunken man staggered into a sa
loon and called for whisky.
“Better take a drink of water first,"
said the smiling barkeeper; “it will
straighten you up.”
“A’right, Johnnie; fetch ’er out!” be
said.
The barkeeper turned the faucet, at
the same time slyly setting fire to the
gas. and let the water rnn into the sink
while he went for the glass.
The inebriate's eyes opened wide as
he saw the blue flames playing in the
falling stream. He shook. He stood
silent and white. He shook again.
“What’s the matter?" asked John
nie.
“D-d-d’yer think I’m goin’ter swallet
hell fire?”
“Fire? Hell fire? —where? I don't
see any fire."
“Why, there—right in that w-w-wa
ter!”
“Aw, you’re crazy! What's the mat
ter with you, man?”
“Holy heavens!” he yelled, jumpirfg
for the door, “I've got ’em! Gee whil
ikens, I’ve got ’em!”
And they picked him off the tide
walk and carried him home in an ex
press wagon. —Stockton (Cat.) Mail.
Superstitions of Sneezing.
Most people sneeze in the course of
their lifetime, and even in this country •
there are many communities among
whom bystanders, upon such an occa
sion, will exclaim, “God bless you!”
This is designed to avert the evil omen.
The superstition was brought here
from England and from most of the
• northern nations of Europe.
Many of our readers will recall what
Longfellow wrote of the custom in
Sweden, “You sneeze, and the peas
ants cry, ‘God bless you!’ ”
A writer at the beginning of the Cen
tury, remarking upon the customs of
Italy, says that when you sneeze,
“even in the theaters, men rise and
wish you ’Felicita!’ ” The purport of
this is the same as the hearty Swedish
and English “God bless
The origin of this custom In the dif
ferent countries of Europe was the
same, just si its meaning is the same.
It has been traced to those venerations
of fearful pestilence known ss the
Black Death. One will read of it in
England in the time of Edward 111. In
1350 this plague swept over Sweden
and Denmark. Its ravages in those
countries were so great that the dis
ease gained tho name of the tiger
death.
The earliest symptoms of an attack
by so dread a pest was a sneeze.
Thereupon the pitying bystanders,
with sorrowing glance, would tarn to
the newly maned victim and exclaims
«M«y God be with youl” ...