THE CHARLOTTE MESSENGER
VOL. IV. NO. 2.
THE
Charlotte Messenger
IB PUBLISHED
Every Saturday,
AT
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
In the Interest* of the Colored People
of the Country.
Able end well-known writers will contrib
ute to its columns from different parts of the
country, end it will contain the Intest Oen
eral News of the day.
Thk Messenuer Is u first-class newspaper
and will not allow personal abuse in its col
umns. It is not sectarian or partisan, but
mdc|iendent—dealing fairly by all. It re
serves the right to criticise the shortcomings
of all public officials—commending the
worthy, and recommending for election such
men as in itsopinion are best suited to serve
the interests or the people.
It is intended to supply the long felt need
of a newspaper to advocate the rights and
defend the interests of the Negro-American,
especially in the Piedmont motion of the
Carolina*.
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
(Always in Advance.)
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8 months - -1 00
0 months ... 75
4 months 50
5 months - - - 40
Address,
W.C. SMITH. Charlotte HC,
The coal beds of China are five times
as large as those of Europe, while gold,
silver, lead, tin,copper, iron, marble,and
petroleum are all found in the greatest
abundance. Owing to the prejudice of
the people the mines have never been
worked to any extent, it being the popu
lar belief in China that if these mines are
opened thoasands of demons and spirits
imprisoned in the earth would come forth
and fill the country with war and suffer
ing.
It will not be long before preparations
for taking the eleventh census will be in
order, and yet there are four volumes of
the tenth census that have not been pub
lished yet. This is due in part to the
failure of Congress to make necessary ap
propriation, but the reason why Con
gross has refused to do this is because of
the great delay of the statistiean in pre
paring the volumes for the press, which,
it is held, has destroyed their usefulness
and made it not worth while to publish
them.
The mortality of the globe has recent
ly been completed as follows: Per min
ute, sixty-seven; per day, 97,790; per
year, 85,639,835. The number of births
per year is about 30,792,000; and per day
about 100,000. This makes about three
births more per minute than deaths. If
the population of the globe goes on in
creasing at this rate of about a million
and a quarter per year, mankind will be
obliged to soon hang out the sign of
“Standing Room Only!”
It is • curious fact that persons far
from robust often outlive those of extra
ordinary strength and hardihood. Upon
this subject the Canada Uealth Journal
■ays that the vital parts of the system
must be well balanced in order to attain
long life, and that excessive strength in
one part is a source of danger. lienee
an over-developed muscular system in
vites dissolution, because it is a continu
ous strain on the less powerful organs,
and finally wears them out.
There are some facts connected with
the world’s wheat production, as set forth
by the Department of Agriculture, which
arc equally interesting and instructive.
The total product is 2,031,322,285 bush
els; the supply is for a population of a
thousand millions, or two bushels per
capita. But.lndia, with her two hun
dred million of inhabitants, is a promi
nent wheat-exporting country, while
raising only 258,000,000 bushels. The
United States arc the largess growers of
wheat of any country. In 1860 wc raised
457,000,000 bushels. The average
yield per acre in 188# was, say
twelve bushels. In Great Brit
ain it a trifle under twenty-seven
bushels. This is a matter for considera
tion. Our fanners might grow on the
same area as much again wheat with
greater profit. France tame next to us
in production. Russia raises rye as the
stsple bresd food of her people. The
wheat fields of this country hare fol
lowed the “breaking up” of the new ter
ritory. The cost has been slight, but the
land has in many cases been badly im
poverished. An exchange believes there
will eventually be a return to the culti
vation of this cereal in the Middle and
Northern States, but under a higher
method. In the meantime, the agricul
ture of the West, North and Southwest
will become more diversified, while on
the Pacific slope irrigation will make fer
tile the now barren soil,
WHO CAN TELL?
Who can tell when the winter is coming?
Who can tell when the summer is going?
We go to sleep when the asters are blooming,
W© ©Tike, and we find it snowing.
Who can tell when the winter is going!
Who can tell when the snmrner is coming?
We go to sleep when the tempests are blowing,
We wake, and the bees are humming.
—Ernest Whitney, in the Century.
BY TELEPHONE.
I was the happiest man in the city as 1
folded and laid away in ray pocket-book
a letter from the dearest girl in the
world, and jumped on the horse-car, en
routefor my office!
Some months had passed since I saw
my Agnes, far the first time, at a dinner
at the Peytons’. I had frequently met
Miss Georgie Peyton in society, and had
been several timC3 invited to her recep
tions, so I was not surprised to receive
one day an invitation to dino with her
“informally,” to meet a young lady from
Aiken, S. C. Os course I presented my
self at this informal dinner in full even
ing dress, where I met someothergefltle
men in similar attire—Clarkson was one
of them—and a few young ladies, and
was introduced to my Agnes. If I could
only make you sec her as she appeared to
me that night—so fresh and blooming:
the blue of her clear, peaceful eyes; the
delicious curve of her fielicate lips 1 But
enough that then and there I yielded, and
became her ardent adorer.
From the first she distinguished me
with her favor. I was her escort to con
cert and opera. I was allowed to claim
the best dances; they were always my
flowers she carried, and, finally, before
she returned to Aiken, I was her accepted
lover!
The year had flown swiftly, and now a
brilliant prospect seemed to open before
me. My firm was about to establish a
branch department in another part of the
city, and proposed to make one of their
clerks a junior partner and manager of
the new concern. I had been the longest
in their employ, and had reason to think
I was regarded with favor by “Old
Gruff”—as Mr. Gruffiand, the senior
partner, was called—and he would be the
one to make the promotion and settle the
question of salary.
Indeed, for some weeks I had seen that
he was working the management into tny
hands, so I felt justified in Writing to
Agnes, urging our immediate union. The
dear girl consented, and in the letter re
ceived that morning she told me she was
coming again to make a long visit at the
Peytons’ to “do some shopping.” En
trancing words 1 What did they not im
ply? And that “if all went well”—if I
got the position, of course—“we might
Be married before very long!” I was the
happiest man in the world, as I folded
Hie dear little letter away, resolving, if it
was in the power of man to earn promo
tion, I would make myself indispensable
to my employers.
Well, she came. There was a demure
but delightful meeting at the station and
an enchanting twenty minutes until I de
livered her to Miss Georgic’s arms at the
Peytons’ door.
Then followed days of devotion to
werk. followed bv evenines of unallovpd
bliss. Isay ‘ unalloyed,” but there was
one drawback. The Peyton family were
very considerate, Miss Georgie especially
so, hot my darling Agnes was haunted
with the fear that they would think her
visit to them was only to enjoy my so
ciety, and was constantly suggesting
that we should “join the family in the
sitting-room.” Old Mrs. Peyton was a
boro, but a mild one—paterfamilias an
unmitigated one; Miss Georgia was be
nignant, but slightly tiresome. There
was only one other member of the
family, a pretty little fellow named
Ralph, but the girls had taken to call
ing him “Raphael,” from some fancied
resemblance to one of the Sistinc cherubs.
He seemed a quiet little chap, with a
sweet inoocence of expression and de
meanor, who posed a good deal of the
time with his cheek on his hand, after
the mnnner of the cherub aforesaid. He
was devoted to Agnes, and hung round
her more than was pleasant, for which I
oceassionslly snubbed him rather le
vcrely, but she always interceded for
him. “He was such a little fellow—and
then he was so lovely I was he not one’s
ideal of a boy?”
Agnes had been in the city a few weeks
when, one morning, the telephoilc.bcll in
our office rang sharply. This was of fre
quent occurrence, and Clarkson’s desk
was stationed near it to save time in an
swering the call. The rest of us scarcely
looked up a* the familiar "hullo!” was
shouted, or the concluding : “All right?
I’ll tell Mr. Gruffiand. Good-by 1” But
this morning Clarkson turned to me with;
“This is for yon, Dixon 1” Accordingly
I shouted “hullo!” and in return beard
Mitt Georgies voice.
CHARLOTTE, N. C., SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1887
“I* that you, Mr. Dixon? Agnes Is
here, and wants to try to speak to you.”
Then I heard her giving directions.
“Stand a little nearer; press this close to
your ear—so.”
“ Good-morning,” I called.
In return I heard a giggle and my
Agnes's voice exclaiming: Oh, oh! It
tickles my ear 1” Then ’more directions
from Miss Peyton, and at last the
sweetest voice in the world began in as
nearly as might be a stentorian roar:
“Is that really you, Harry? Isn’t this
perfectly sweet? Are you sure they can’t
hear in the office, Georgie?"
“Well,” from Georgie, “I should
say they certainly could, if you shout
like that.”
“Harry,” in a half whisper, “if you
are sure it’s really you, and that no one
else can hear, I want to tell you some
thing. Do you remember that queer
Miss Blake in Aiken? Do you hear me,
Harry?”
“Yes,” I replied.
Then another little giggle. “Isn’t it
too funny? Do you know, Harry, now
that I see how to use it, I’m going to
talk to you ever so often. Won’t it bo
fun? But where was I? Dear me. how
stupid! Oh, I know, Miss Blake. Well,
she has just sent me the loveliest—”
Here Clarkson muttered, “Old Grusf 1
ccming,” and knowing that he would
ask an explanation of my receiving the
telephone messages, I was obliged to
abruptly interrupt: *‘l must go now”—
I had almost said “my darling.” “Tell
me the rest this evening.”
“But, Harry 1” I heard in a grieved
little voice; but Mr. Gruffiand’s footsteps
were too near, and I hung up the re
ceiver upside down, and hurried back to
my desk.
All day I worked in nervous despera
tion. Would she try to resume the con
versation? Every time the bell rang I
glanced at Clarkson. The thought that
it might be her voice whispering in his
great red ear covered me with cold
perspiration. The fear that in Air.
Gruffiand's hearing I might be called
upon to answer some of her chatter was
still worse. I made up my mind that I
must make Agnes understand that very
night that she could not amuse herself in
that way, and I did so, gently but
resolutely. I described Clarkson's ear,
and I took some liberties with it. It
would be just like the wretch to receive
all her little confidences, and retail them
for the amusement of the clerks.
Old Gruff was an ogre, capable of dis
missing me without warning, if I did not
attend every minute to my business. Our
hopes of happiness depended upon his
good pleasure. Miss Peyton was cool
and dignified. I suppose the knew I
was exaggerating. Agnes looked hurt.
Her sweet lips trembled a little,
and her eyes were suspiciously dim. I
longed to have her alone fora little while
to comfort her, as I knew I could; but
there was no chance, for, though Miss
Georgie relented sufficiently to go up
stairs to write an “important letter,”
Raphael was there, resting his elbow on
the table, and looking up at Agnes with
aD expression of deep pity in his beauti
ful but sleepy dark eyes.
And yet the next dsy the same thing
occurred. Mr. Gruffiand was there, and
looked up from his papers with a glance
of disapproval as I took Clarkson's place
at the telephone. My “Hullo” was
rather savage.
‘ ‘Oh Harry! Do forgive me! Indeed,
indeed I felt so sorry last night, and
wanted to tell you so; but, you, you see,
Ralph was there. I’m all alone now.
Oh Harry, won’t you forgive me?”
"Os course,” I returned, feeling Gruff’s
eyes burning unpleasantly on the nape of
my neck.
“Oh Ilarry dear, don’t talk like that
to me. Do say you love me 1”
Was there ever such a child? I felt
like a cold-blooded wretch, as I hurriedly
replied:
“All right. I’ll come up as soon as I
can. Very busy now. Good-by.
I felt, rather than heard, a little sob at
the other end of the wire. Gruff said
nothing, but I was doomed to another
miserable day. I managed to ask Clark
son, if I was called again, to say I could
not attend, and five times I heard him
give this message, and each time he
turned away with a mighty grin. What
might not Agnes have said to him?
Os course, I hurried to the Peyton’s,
determined to see her alone. She came
running into the hall to meet me, bright
and loving, but the annoyances of the
day had made me cross, and I said
curtly:
“ Really, Agnes, it is very strange you
don’t understand that a man cannot take
his business hours to talk with his
friends. After all I said last night, I
must say I was surprised to bo called np
again to-day I”
Agnes stopped abruptly, and said, with
dignity:
“I do not understand you!”
“Why, my dear little girl,” I said,
sobered by the change in her manner,
“I do not mean to be cross, but how
could I talk to you about my affection or
forgiveness through the telephone, with
all those fellows listening, to say nothing
of old Gruff?”
“But I have not touched the tele
phone to-day, Harry 1"
“What!” I exclaimed.
“Georgie!” called Anges, stepping
back to the sitting-room, and I followed
to tell the story.
“It is very strange,” said Miss Peyton,
but, of course, it is some mistake. The
lines are out of order or crossed in som"
way. But mamma and Agnes and I have
been out shopping all day, and we
lunched down town, so we can prove an
alibi.”
It certainly was very strange, but we
all concluded that it might be as Miss
Georgie suggested, and the pater at
once began to spin long yarns about
queer messages, till at last I coaxed Anges
into the conservatory alone, and the
close of the evening was all the brighter
for the shadow with which it began.
The dear girl sympathized with me,
and forgave my impatience, and
was so sweet, that before I knew 1
found myself telling her the one event of
my life I had determined to keep secret
—the entanglement I once had with Lu
cretia Chase. Os course she had been
the most to blame, and Agnes thought
her very horrid and forward, so I had to
admit that Cretin had misunderstood
some things I had said to her when a
mere boy, and then Agnes asked me if
I really, really loved her best. Ah me!
what a happy evening that was!
And the next day the telephone an
noyances began, but I felt sure of my '
ground, and told Clarkson he could re
fuse to listen. Imagine my surprise
when he turned to me with a clever imi
tation of Agnes’s voice, saying:
“She is quite sure Harry will come
when he knows she wants to talk to him
about ‘Cretia.’”
I was thunderstruck! Lucretia Chase
lived in Vermont; I was morally sure no
one in the city knew of her existence—
no one but Agnes! I rushed to the in
strument. It was the clear girl’s voice.
How could any one have known that
Cretia possessed some idiotic lines I had
once written her—any one but Agnes?
Yet now I heard them repeated: "
“Oh, Cretia! fairest valentine!
Wilt thou accept this hand of mine?
A smaller giftray soul forbids;
But ten s toe number of my kids!”
I jerked away in anger and surprise,
only to meet old Gruff’s grim glance.
“If this thing goes on, Mr. Dixon, it
might lie well for you and Mr. Clarkson
to change desks!”
I knew what that implied, and my
heart sank to my boots.
“Ido not understand it myself,” I re
plied. “I assure you, sir. that lam ex
ceedingly annoyed. I will not answer it
*gain.”
“I will myself, sir,” he growled, and
I went back to my desk to upset my ink
bottle, to make mistakes in my accounts,
aad torture myself with the conviction
that since no one but Agnes could have
sent the message, she was teasiDg me,
without realizing the fatal consequences
to our happiness. And si! day Mr.
Gruffiand would answer that confounded
telephone. That some of the messages
were meant for me I could tell, and that
they must be utter nonsense I could con
jecture from his occasional comments:
“ ’By jimminy Johnson!’ is a remarkable
expression for a young lady, Mr. Dixon.”
It would be too long to tell the story
of these days in detail. Sometimes there
would be respite, and then the nonsense
Would begin again. It was larks for
Clarkson and the rest,but to me it seemed
as if the bell of the telephone was ringing
the knell of sll my bright hopes. Agnes
assured me of her innocence, and Miss
Peyton was ready with explanations;
they had been shopping, or calling, or
practicing duets. But I could see that a
coolness had come between Agnes and
me. She feared that I doubted her, and
I—what Could I think? Again and again
the messages referred to what I had said
to her when quite alone. Could she have
repeated my confidences?
At the office preparations for the new
business were being hurried on, and not
one word had been said to me of promo
tion. To crown ail, Agnes informed mo
one evening that she was going to shorten
her visit; she had heard of friends going
directly to Aiken, and thought it best to
secure their escort. I passed a wretched
evening, but left, determined to make a
desperate effort to clear the mystery. ,
Agnes had told me that they were all to
be out the next day, so I begged off at
Um office, ranched the house at tea, and
persuading the servant that I wanted to
rest, and would let myself out when I
was ready, I managed to conceal myself
in a closet in the hall, where I waited
four mortal hours.
At last X was rewarded. A light step
came through the hall, a chair was drawn
to the telephone, and a clear voice, won
derfully like Agnes's called;
“Please connect with Gruffiand &
Co.!"
Waiting only long enough to let him
actually begin conversation in his usual
style, I rushed out, and catching the
culprit by the arm, bestowed a resound
ing box upon the ear of the astonished
Air. Raphael. The little imp! This was
his revenge for his well-deserved snubs.
I have no doubt he had heard every
word of my conversations with Agnes.
Os course the Peytons were distressed
and apologetic, and Agnes was persuaded
not to hurry away, and old Gruff re
lented, and I got the promotion in due
time; bnt I never could endure the sight
of that cherubic boy. I verily believe
that the box I bestowed upon him was
his only punishment, and I rejoice to
think that it was such a stinger 1
If this story has a moral it is a short
one. The more innocent and guileless a
boy looks, the less is he to be trusted.—
O. Linton, in Domestic Monthly.
Among the “Thousand Islands.”
Among the Islands one lives upon the
water. By a certain tacit understanding
between the islanders, every resident has
a recogized right to explore every other
resident’s petty domain. No obtrusive
notice-boards flaunt before the innocent
face of heaven the anti-social and wholly
uncalled-for information that trespassers
will be prosecuted with the utmost rigor
of the law. On the contrary, the usual
formula painted on the neat little placard
beside the tiny landing-stages assumes
the optative rather than the imperative
mood: “Parties landing on this island
are requested to kindly abstain from
damaging the ferns and flowers.” The
fact is, all the islanders are there as sum
mer visitors only; each possesses but
a tiny realm of his own, often
beautifully varied, but always readily
exhausted of its native interest;
and the whole charm of the spot would
evaporate entirely if proprietors insisted
with ingrained British churlishness upon
their legal right to shut themselves in
from landless humanity with the effectu
al protest of a high brick wall Accord
ingly, every body always lands freely, no
man hindering, upon everybody else’s
private island; and the day is mostly
passed in wandering (afloat) in a deli
cious, aimless, listless fashion down tiny
channels between an islet, stopping here
to pick a rare wild flower from a cliff on
the side, and halting there to explore
and climb some jetting rock whose peak
promises a wider view over all the sur
rounding little archipelagoes.— Popular
Science Monthly.
Eucalyptus and Ague. ■*
What has been the effect of planting
the eucalyptus! Professor Tommasi-
GTudeli has never attributed to these
rees the least influence upon fever. On
the contrary he says that in the southern
hemisphere, where vegetation is more
richly developed than in Europe, there
are numberless forests of eucalyptus
where, as Professor Liversidge, of the
University of Sydney, has declared,
malaria obtains to a very great extent.
He also mentions the futile efforts to pro
mote health made at the instigation of
the French Trappists at the Three
Fountains, where among vast plantations
of eucalyptus, all the inmates of an agri
cultural penitentiary instituted in the
neighborhood of the Abbey were subject
to fevers, more or less severe. Not an in
habitant of the Three Fountains escaped
the malaria in 1882, during which, in all
the rest of the Roman eampagna the
health was excellent, and the percentage
of fevera very small. — Sanitary Era.
Professor Charles E. Bessey, of
Nebraska, writes: “Men and women of
the country, I want to make an appeal to
you in behalf of the country boy. Give him
the opportunity to become acquainted
with the things around Mm. Put the
study of soils, plants, animals, etc., into
your public schools. Ask your school
teachers to give instruction of this kind.
Demand that they knew enough to give
such instruction in the right way.”
The whole world seems to be hunting
for natural gas or oil. While many towns
in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Aiichi
gan,and other States are seriously consid
ering the matter of securing natural gas,
Eaglish capitalists are preparing to de
velop the oil prospects in Upper Burmnb,
where in many places signs of oil are yis-
Iblt on the surface.
Terms. $1.50 per Amue Suite Copy 5 cents.
POPULAR SCIENCE.
A leaf of the giant water lily (Victoria
regia) has been known to measure 24 feet
91 inches in circumference, its weight
being nearly 14 pounds. One of the
flowers was 4 feet 2 inches in circumfer
ence, with petals 9 inches in length, and
weighed pounds.
A German mathematician has calcu
lated that the snowfall of Central Ger
many from December 19 to 23 weighed
no less than 10,000,009 tons in the area
between 50 degrees and 5.25 degreea
north latitude, and between 7 degree#
and 18 degrees east longitude.
An apparatus of Iron and glass, in
which a pressure of 1,000 atmospheres can
be developed for the purpose of studying
the influence of great pressure on animal
life, has been exhibited to biologists in
France. With it deep sea animals can
be observed under their natural com
pression.
Besides its unusual temperature and
rainfall observations, the New England
Meteorological Society has on hand for
this season two special investigations:
the thunder storms in New England,
and the sea breeze on tho Massachusetts
coast. The former inquiry is in its third
year, the last is now undertaken for the
first time.
The main factor in the production of
consumption is believed by Prof. Hirsch
to be overcrowding and bad hygiene.
Damp when conjoined with frequent os
cillations of temperature predisposes to
the disease ; but humidity of the air ie
less important than dampness of soil.
Occupation is extremely important, but
mainly indirectly, as tending to good or
bad hygienic conditions.
The alkaloid solanine, from the fruit of
the potato plant, is being employed to
relieve acute pain and as a narcotic, in
the place of morphine. It is said that
its administration in large doses does not
occasion the nausea and vomitting
which occurs frequently from the use of
this latter. The therapeutic dose is
from three-fourths of a grain to four
grains, and even H grains have been
given without any unpleasant effects.
A Russian physician, Dr. 8. Th. Stein,
reports such remarkable experiments, in
which he has induced cataract in the eyes
of young porpoises by subjecting them
to the continuous vibrations of a tuning
fork for twelve to twenty-four hours, or
for a much less time when the animals
were deprived of the power of bearing.
The cataract soon disappeared on remov
ing the exciting cause, and could be re
newed. The phenomenon has not been
satisfactorily explained.
From statistics collected in parts of
the German Empire, G. Heilman finds
that the danger from lightning, though
generally increasing, is diminishing in
certain districts, the risk becoming less
the more closely houses are clustered.
The character of the soil has great in
fluence. letting one represent the dan
ger from lightning on calcareous ground,
two will give it upon marly, nine upon
sandy, and twenty-two upon clayey soil.
It is a curious fact, yet not explained,
that oak is struck much more frequently
than other trees, so that if the danger
for beechea be one, that for pinea is
fifteen and_for i oal<sjfiftv ; four i _ >
A Cheap Inoubator.
“Chicken raising has become a science, ”
writes a Washington correspondent to
tho Cincinnati Enquirer. “I was st
Keedysville last week, and the proprietor
of the Union Hotel there showed me hit
incubator. He puts 125 eggs in a box,
which cost him to make it *3 or •8.
Three times a day he takes a tea kettle,
filled with boiling water, and pours it in
the middle of this box, which is sur
rounded on all sides by galvanized iron
or zinc, filled with sawdust, or some non
conductor. The influence of the warm
water is thus shed down upon the eggs,
which are turned every day. He gets
about eighty chickens from the eggs,
which start to picking up a living at
once, and are much in advance of those
got by the old process of ths eggs being
batched out by the mother."
Lieutenant Dudley Mills,of the British
army, in a recent expedition to Shang-
Tung, China, discovered the sculptured
stones near Chinsiang, which he was the
first foreigner to visit. The inscriptions
and figures are cut on the walls of tombs,
and are mainly devoted to the illustra
tion of moral precepts. They are said to
be seventeen centuries old, and the first
description of them was givsn by a Chi
nese scholar of the twelfth century.
It is stated that the money given by
the women of the Presbyterian Church in
the United States during the past sixteen
jears foots up to s2,lso,ooo—represent
ing the entire support of more than 200
women' missionaries, 200 native Bible
readers, and more than 180 schools.