North Carolina Newspapers

THE VOL. IV. NO. 9. injs Charlotte Messenger IS PUBLISHED Every Saturday, AT CHARLOTTE, N. C. In the Interests of the Colored People j of the Country. Able and well-known writers will eonti ib- , ute to its eolumns from different parts of the 1 country, and it will contain thejitest Gen eral News of the day. The Messenger is a first-class newspaper and will not allow persona! abn3e in its ed it is not sectarian or partisan, but ndependent—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 its opinion are best suited to serve the interests of the peopfc?. It is intended to supply (he long felt need of a newspaper to advocate the rights and defend the inter-sts of the Negro-American especially in Ibe Piedmont section of the Carolines. SUBSCRIPTIONS: (Always m Advance.) I year - - - *1 SO h months - - • 100 <0 months - - 75 months - - - 50 ‘‘ mouth.- . - * 35 Single Copy - - 5 Address, W.C. SMITH Charlotte NC* Few pcreciv* are aware how equable is the climate of British Columbia in the neighborhood of Vancouver, or how high is the tcmjierature relative to the lati tude. It seems that in some years the gooseberry buds open iri February, that at the beginning of Maich native hemp is three inches high, and by May 1 po tatoes are above ground. Meteorological observations ina !e in 1800 every day throughout the year gave the following astonishing results: The mean heat ol the whole j ear was about 52 degrees. In January, the coldest month, it was 38 degrees, an,l in August, the hottest month, it was 03 degrees. Mexico, notwithstanding it 3 republican form of government, h very much of a military despotism, and the general offi cers of the army naturally arrogate to themselves a great deal of the authority that is supposed to be ve ted in the civil arm. A curious example of this occurred in June of this year, when Gen eral Ruiz proceeded by train to Chihua hau with a couple of c mipanies of sol diers, with all their women, children, and other field necessaries; at about Jimenez the engine turned a somersault, greatly to the indignation of the doughty i general, who, calling a corporal's guard, put the unfortunate engineer under in stant arrest for having caused the acci dent. , The question in the General’s mind was: “What can we do with him?” And it required all the calmer judgment of his combined stall to pursuadc him that “immediate execution” was not the right answer. In 1830 only about six per rftsi. of our population lived in cities ol over 8,000 inhabitants, and the census returns of 1880 show that the ratio of population in these larger towns had increased to the large proportion of twenty-five per cent, of our population. So observes a Penn sylvania correspondent of the National fitockman; whereupon tho Michigan Farmer remarks: “The statement that there is a less percentjge of the popula tion engaged in agriculture than for merly is true, and the farmer is the man who should feel pleaded over this fact. The fewer farmers, the bettor prices for farm products. The less wheat, wool, pork, beef, corn and cotton grown, the better prices they realize. That farm products, wheat possibly excepted, fetch larger prices t han they did in 1830 must be admitted. At that time beef in the shambles was bought at 4 to 5 cents per pound, eggs in market from 5 to 10 cents a dozen, batter 10 cents per pound, a good fat turkey from 87$ to 50 cents, fat yellow legged chickens $1 to $1.20 per dozen, and other products in proportion. From $0 to $lO per month, with board, hired a good helping hand, who was con tent with 87$ to 50 cents per day. True, mechanics’ wages wer.s about one-half of present rates, and on the other hand gro gerics and store goods were double their present nominal costs. We think a fair comparison throughout would prove farming to 1 • a far more remunerative business than it was fifty years ago in this country, but possibly the great bulk of the farming community are not so well content with mode rain returns as they were formerly. The print* of horses and some other kinds of stsvk ara 100 per cent, higher now than s > W3O, com paring quality with quality, • CHARLOTTE MESSENGER. THE KING. Who is the king in this beautiful land, this beautiful land of the palm and pine! With its valleys green and its mountains grand, With Its oil and corn and wine? With its mines of silver and gold, its gems, Fit for the kingliest diadems; ! With its cities fair and its prairies free, j Stretching from s?a to sea, • Who wears the sign, on his brow and hand, Os king in this beautiful land? I Is ft he who holds in his hands the keys j Os the vaults where the gold and silver hide? Whose greAt white ships on tho mighty seas Laden with treasures ride? It is he who looks to the east and west, And sees, wherever his glances rest, His own green vines, his fertile fields, With their evor-bountiful yields? Dees he weal* the seal and sign Os King by a right diVine? Is it he whose meed of a noble fame Is won on the terrible fields of war? Whom the nations haU with a loud acclaim As hero and conqueror? Or is it he who in patience delves For the wisdom stored on the centuries* shelves? Who seeks with a master's eye to scan The secrets hidden in nature’s plan? Shall we crown the scholar with one accord, Or him of the conquering sword? Is it that one who sings wonderful songs. Whose lips are touched with the altar firs? Who sways the heart of the listening throng As the wind the chordei lyre? Is it he who carves from the marble white His own great thought for the world’s de light? Is it he who paints in colors rare As those that his own dream-pictures wear? Shall artist or poet for their renown Wear the scepter and the crown? Though the poet his truest song shall sing, Though the drums of fame for the soldier beat, Though the scholar his truest lore shall bring And lay at a glad world’s feet, Though tho picture glow and the marble gleam, With the beauty born of the artist’s dream Though the landed lord in his hand shall hold Treasures of silver and finest gold, Though crowned with honors fair and fit, None of these on the throne shall sit. Is there then no one in this beautiful land This fairest land on the great round globe. To wear the ring on his royal hand? To wear the purple robe' From tho east and the west a voice comes forth, From tho smiling south, from the icy north. From the sounding sea, from the heights serene, From the valleys that lie between. We hear it echo and surge and sing, Aj r e, the MAN is the king. The leaf of laurel that genius wears, The soldier’s fame or the learned degrees That the scholar wins, 10, the voice declares, That the man is more than these, j He stands in a realm as high and broad As the heart of nature, the truth of God, The realm of manhood, and who can reign As a ruler wise in that vast domain? He needs no purple, no robe, no ring, For he is a twice-crowned king In this beautiful land of the free. A king is he. —Carlolla Perry, in Good Cheer. A THUNDEE SHOWEE. BY MARY C. PRESTON. It was such a hot day—no cool breeze at any place, and the whole world palpi taring under a broiling sun. But the sun had at last sunk slowly into a mass of fleecy, feathery clouds, which piled ’nigh in the heavens, and gradually grew darker as they stretched down to the western horizon; and slant ing shadows fell softly on the picnicking party in Howland's Grove. “It seems to me that we will all be perfectly cooked before the day is over,” said Meg Christian, in a voice as sweet and clear as a bird’s carol. “lam sure, were there any cannibals near at this moment, it wouldn't be necessary for them to light a lire before they made a meal of! us.” “Something else would be necessary, before they should make a meal off you,” said the gentleman who was ly ing on the grass at her feet. “Yes,” she answered, laughingly—, “for them to catch me, I think.” “You would fly?” “I would run.” And again she laughed a little, and put the damp tresses from her forehead, looking down on him with her pretty gray eyes alight with merriment. He was a rather pale faced youth, at tired in a fashion which left no doubt of his being no native of the little town be low, but one of tho many atoms which drifted into its each summer—a city boarder, as they were termed by the peo ple of Beaville, who, by-the-way, gener ally treated them well while they re mained, but were never sorry to see them go- But it was whispered that Meg Chris tian would be sorry—nay, more than sorry" —when this stranger drifted back to his city home; find some said that when he did go he would leave his heart behind CHARLOTTE, N. C., SATURDAY, SERE. 17, 1887 him, with the gray-eyed girl who was treating Jack Linton so shamefully— honest farmer Jack. Meg knew that Jack was near, leaning idly against a tree, and frowning a little, when she laughed down at Percy Vigues; but Jack had not spoken a dozen words to her through the afternoon j and Percy Vigues had been very devoted; so, when a bunch of roses which she had thrust in her belt fell on the grass, and Percy, gathering them for her, kept in his hand, she did not claim it; and when he brought her lunch-basket, she sat cozily beside him, and shared all the good things it contained with him. “You will allow me to drive you back, will yon not?” asked Percy, as they ate and chatted. “It. is quite a mile, you know, and I have a horse and buggy in the edge of the grove.” Meg looked about her a moment in Si lence. She may have been thinking of other picnics, from which she and Jack. Linton had walked hand in hand, before the cloud had arisen between them, which she had not understood. Ah, there Jack was. lunching comfort ably with Bella Ray, the prettiest girl in the town, and he seemed to be having a merry time of it. .By this time the sun was wholly ob scured, the white clouds had become tiun, and a quiver of lightning shot over ha sky. “You will go with me?” Percy said again; and she answered him with un smiling lips: “Yes; you are kind.” Another flickering thread of light across the whiteness of the fleeces and the darkness of the dusky clouds, a sud den, loud peal of thunder, and all save Meg sprang to their feet. “A thunder-shower!” some one cried. “Wehad best start for home at once.” Jack Linton waked to where Meg was sitting in the shadows, with Percy be side her; but the stalwart young farmer took no notice of the elegant New Yorker, as he addressed Meg. .“Ws arc going to have a heavy shower,” he said. “Will you not come to the farm with me? It is near, and the others are going there. My mother will be delighted to receive you. ” His tones were cold, his manner severe, Meg thought. Some impulse of contradiction made her turn from him. “Mr. Vigues has kindly offered to take me home in his buggy,” she said. Then Jack looked first at Percy. “You have Dalton’s black horse,” he said. “Are you aware that the animal always takes fright at thunder?” 3lr. Percy Vigues began to look un easy. “No,” he replied. “Miss Christian, would it not be best to—” “Hurry? Yes,” cut in Meg, crisply. “I’ll be ready in a moment! There! you take the lunch-basket and we can go at once.” “But,” Jack began, impatiently, “I tell you it isn’t safe to drive that animal when it thunders, and—” A long, loud reverberation broke his' speech. Meg looked at Percy. “Come,” she said, gaily, “let us try to race the shower. Not a drop lias fallen yet.” There was nothing for Vigues to dc but accompany her through the gather ing dusk of the now darkened day; and when they reached the edge of the grove, there stood Dalton's black horse, quiver ing in every limb, with dilated nostrils and rolling eyes. “Perhaps,” muttered Vigues, uneasily, shrinking back and turning pale—“per haps you had best accept Mr. Jack’s offer, after all. I wouldn’t care to be the cause of a fright to you, you know, and this—this creator > looks decidedly vicious. ” “Nonsense!” Meg laughed. “You will be able to control him very easily. I’ll get in while you untie him.” Muttering a few unpleasant words, he moved toward the buggy to assist her. “Pray hurry! ’ she cried, when he had put her in. “I am sure it is going to rain hard soon. Do untie the horse, Mr. Vigues.” Percy went to the animal's head, an evident shrinking upondiitn, and began to fumble with the halter. The creature started back sharply, and so did Mr. Vigues. 3lcg’s Up curled. “I believe you arc afraid,” she said, with a low little laugh. And he tried to echo the laugh, as he again advanced, but warily, toward thf restive horse. At last he succeeded in unfastening the halter from the tree, and at that very moment a vivid sheet of light went danc ing over the world about them; a loud, sharp, angry peal of thunder crashed above their heads. Even Meg cowered an inslant, dazed ami stunned; but Percy Vigues, loosing his nervous grasp of the bit, performed a series of rapid backward steps. The horse crouched an instant, trem bling violently, then, with a snort of ter ror, plungd madly through the bushes, both reins flying loosely on his back. Meg gave utterance to a shriek of fear, j and then sat, silent white faced, clinging to the back of the seat. Air. Perey Vigues had no thought save for his own safety, and made no attempt to capture the runaway. But a tall figure darted out in the very path of the flying black animal, and 8 pair of strong hands closed firmly on the reins. The horse plunged, reared wildly, but those firm hands did not lose their \iold. I At last, in the sudden fall of great plash-1 Sng drops, the horse stood, panting but J 6ubdued, and Jack Linton, gathering up , the reins, sprang in beside Meg. “I’ll take you to the‘farm,” he said, j breathing hard after the struggle. “All the others are there by this time. You are not hurt at all?” with a keen look at her pretty, white face. “No; but— Oh, Jack, if you hadn’t come!” “Vigues would have let you go—tc death,” said Jack, calmly. “And yet be cause he can quote poetry prettily and looks like a tailor's block, you have giver him your heart 1” very scornfully, although he w as having all he oculd do to keep th< black horse in the roadway. “I haven’t!” cried Meg, indignantly “and if you are going to say such dis agreeable things, I wish you had let th< horse run as far as he wanted to. Percy Vigues is only a dandiied fool, and J hate him!” “You hate me, too, I suppose?” saic Jack, curtly, as he drew the qpimal u{ and turned in at the farm, which belongec to himself and his mother. It was just pouring. The great drop: had become a sheet of rain by this time, and Meg’s muslin was soaking wet. Sh< was a little pale, too, but her lips begar to quiver as she stole a look at her com panion’s face. “I don’t hate you,” she said, softly “but you have acted lately as though yoi hate me. AVhy is it, Jack?” “Because that idiot was always hang ing around you, and I knew I wasn’l wanted. Ah! there they all arc, gathered on the veranda.” And the picnicking party were grouped on the wide veranda of the farm house, in gay spirits seemingly, watching Meg and her cavalier drive up through tin rain. “But, Jack, I didn’t want him,’ whispered Meg, desperately. “I have been very miserable for the last few weeks.” “Because?” Jack looked at her with kindling eyes She colored hotly. “Yes,” she said, very low. He reined in the black horse and sprang out. Lifting his hands to help her frouc the buggy, he asked a question whiel every inan asks at least once in his life: “You love me a little, Meg?” “I love you very much, Jack!” she an swered, as his strong hands closed oi hers. Then she ran up to the house a sadly drenched little figure, and Jack took the horse to the stable. It was not long before Percy Vigues appeared, looking rather white-faced, with his white flannel suit clinging to him more tenderly than he could wish. But Meg greeted him with a scornful glance and turned to her lover. “A’ou thought I cared for him?” Oh, Jack !’* she whispered, reproachfully, as the brief shower began to abate and the •un shone out through the rain drops. And Jack smiled happily as his moth er bustled out to offer Meg dry garments. “I ought to know better,” he an swered; “but I wouldn't have come to my senses to-day but for this blessed shower. I'm awfully glad it didn’t for get. to rain on this particular day. But Percy Vigues was not— Saturday Night. Home singular statcn.ents nave been made iii a German paper concerning the effect produced by different trades and industrial occupations upon the general health. Among these facts are those contributed by Prof. Hesse, of Leipsic, who points out the deplorable condition of the teeth of bakers, and who also as serts that he is frequently able to indicato the occupation of persons by the con dition of their teeth. In the case ol bakers the caries is soft and rapidly pro gressive; the principal parts attacked are the labinland buccal surfaces of the teeth, commencing at the cervix and rapidly ex tending to the grinding surface—the approximal surfaces not seeming to be at tacked more than in other trades. Prof. Hesse believer t’uut the disease is owing to-the inhalation of flour dust, tho caries being caused by the action of an acid which is formed in the presence of fer mentable carbohydrates. FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS. A church organ constructed entirely of paper is on exhibition at Milan A Florida woman has made a bed quilt containing 18,000 pieces less than the size of a man’s thumb-nail. Texas has 180 counties, and is as large I as Kentucky, Indiana. Ohio, Illinois. ; AVisconsin and Michigan combined. The first city in America to employ gas j in lighting the streets was Baltimore, i The street lamps were first lighted in 1810. A trumpet has been invented for tele- j phoning at sea, by which conversations arc said to be carried on miles apart with j no wire. Coining with a die was first invented j in 1017, and first used in England in 1020, the year the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Mahmoud, the Mohammedan Sultan ol Ghizna about A. D. 1000, invaded Indis twelve times and laid the foundation ol j the Mojul empire. Among the early Romans commander \ of armies were called “imperitores,” but when Cfesar became Emperor, the com manders were called dukes or lieutenants j of provinces. There are cities in Asia the date of whose origin is not actually known, but it i 3 known that they are older thar j Rome or any other city in Europe. Jem- > salem and Hebron in Palestine and Da I masons in Syria are all many centuries' older than Rome. “The Middle Ages” is a name applied j to the period between the fall of the j Roman Empire in the Fifth Century and the invention of printing in the Fifteenth. | Or, as timed by some historians, from the | invasion of France by Clovis in 486 tc f that of Naples by Charles VIII. in 1495. It comprised about ten centuris, and is; often called “The Dark Ages.” In a recent letter to a daily paper, a correspondent states that he has mad-: twenty-six trips or fifty-two tours across across the Atlantic, and has in every in stance except the last, suffered very muck from seasickness. Un this last trip, ht had with him a rubber bag, twclv« j inches long and 4 inches wide, th« mouth of which was closed by an iroi ' clamp. This he filled with small piece: of ice, and applied to the spine at the j ba*c of the brain for half or three-quar J ters of an hour every morning. It had» most soothing effect, and he enjoyet every hour and every meal. Mills in India. The Indian method of grinding carries pne back to the Bible, says a w riter. I remember when I was a little boy being very much puzzled with the saying: “Two women were grinding at a mill; the one shall be taken and the other left.” My ideas of mills were confined to w ind mills and water mills, and in neither case could I understand what functions “two women” were required to perform. [ But a single visit to an Indian bazar will . probably make the parable clear, for the \ visitor can scarcely fail to see several sets * of women at work, sitting in an open shop or by the street. The instrument employed consists of two small mill stones. In the upper one, toward the edge of it, is fixed an upright stick about a foot , long. The two women sit on opposite j sides of the stones, each grasping the up right stick with one hand, and working together they turn the stone, just as two j men sometimes work together on a wind lass. AViih their free hands they feed in i the corn, and the Hour, as it is thrown [ out by the stones, spreads out on the floor beside them. The Panama Canal Company has been * able to obtain only about $28,000,000 out of the $45,000,000 it was to raise by j the usurious loan it has placed on the | i Paris market. As the interest charges are now $18,000,000 annually, this is but a drop, and, while it cannot . prevent the collapse of the enterprise. A great financial writer in France, M. Leroy Beaulieu, has just attacked the manage j nient of the company in a sledgehammer article, and it is difficult to see how the enterprise can be kept on its legs a year j longer. Reminders of Home. Celeste, piano | winder. Was torturing tbe keys. When in a »traogvr walked and sold: " Excuse me, if you please, " But I, alas! am homesick. And when i heard the din Os crushing hammers, blow on blow 1 thought I'd venture in. “ I pray you keep on pounding, I wish you wou*d not stop. It makes me feel I*>s* i»*oesi> oe, for 1 own a blacksmith shop.” —The Jsiga. The San Francisco Alta boasts that the voting citizens of that city come from sixty different political divisions of the world, Egypt being aU>ut the only coun try not represented. Tens. $1.50 per Aim Single Copy 5 cents. FUN. A morning call—“ Charles, get up and light the fire.”— Til-Bit*. The point of the hornet is generally well given, if not well taken.— Harper’s Bazar. There is one household article that ap pears to have escaped the decorating craze the washtub. —Syracuse Herald. The man who is seeking to elude tho detectives is not much troubled by hot weather. He keeps him-elf shady. Three years' undisturbed possession of a setter dog will destroy the veracity of the best man in America. —Macon (Q a.) Telegraph. A Burlington girl is learning to play tho cornet, and her admirers speak of her as “the fairest flower that blows.”—Bur limit ui Free Press “Humph!” gnlmbled the clock, “I don’t kuow of any one who is harder worked than I am—twenty-four hours a day year in and year out.” And then it struck. —Jetcdry Setts. ' Wliat is life and no loving,'' she tenderly sighed \ As her head on his shoulder she laid: “What is love and no living,” he sadly replied. As he thought of his board-bill unpaid. A yacht under full sail went ashore on the rocks on the Maine coast the other clay. The captain explained it all by saying that if he had had a reef in his sails he should not have had a reef under his keel. —Boston Pott. A seedy fanner in old Md. Moves! West and took up some Prd., Wher? he prospered so well That he sent back to tell How at last he had lighted ia Fd. — Pittsburg Chronicle. “How to write a check” is one of the things treated of in a neat little pamphlet issued. That sort of information will hardly fill a long-felt want up to the brim. No special learning is required tc write a check. “How to get a check cashed” would make far more interesting reading. —Piftdnirg Build in. Arctic Cold. A person who has never been in the polar regions can probably have no ide3 of what ’cold really is; but by reading the terrible experiences of arctic travel T ers in that icy region some notion can br i formed of the extreme cold that prevail* | there. When we have the temperature down to zero out of doors we think it bitterly cold, and if our houses were not |so warm as at least, sixty degrees above ‘ zero, we should begin to talk of freezing to death. Think, then, of living when the thermometer goes down to thirty-five degrees below zero in the house in spit* of the stoic. Os course, in such a cast the fur garments are piled on until a mar looks like a great bundle of skins. Dr. Moss, of the English j»olar expedition ol | 1875 and 1876, among othejr odd things, tells the effect of cold on a wax candlt which he burned there. The tempera^ ; ture was thirty-live degrees below zero, j and the doctor must have been consider | ably discouraged when, upon looking al * his candle, he discovered that the flame f had all it could do to keep warm. It was so cold that the flame could not inch all the wax of the candle, but was forcec to cat its way down the candle, leaving j a sort of skeleton of the candle standing, t There was heat enough, however, to meli oddly shaped holes in the thin walls ol f wax, and the result was a beautiful lace 's like cylinder of w hite, with a tongue ol j yellow flame burning inside it and send : ing out into the darkness many streak* |of light. This is not only a curious effect [ of extreme cold, but it shows how diffi cult it must be to find anything like warmth in a place where even fire iteell | almost gits cold— Orient {fie American. , The United States is supposed to be f lean exposed to chances of war than any other country, but one of the chief recent topics has been the armament of fight • ing ships and the failure of the gun-flx ■ tuzesou the cruiser Atlanta to hold her s pivot guns. These guns are considered J formidable, yet they are not to lie com i oared to the heaviest ordnance now car r»Vl on war ships. In 1860 the largest of I these threw a ball weighing sixty-eight pounds, with an initial velocity of 1,570 ' feet per second, and an energy of 1,100 foot tons. Now, initial velocities have j been increased to 2,100 feet, the largest ■ projectiles weigh as much as 2,300 | |K>unds, ami the 110-ton guns of the \ English vessel Benbow reach an energy ; of alwut 60,000 foot tons. Every country | is providing itself with a more and more formidable armament. Recent French vessels are equipped with 76-ton guns, while the improved Armstrong guns for Italian men-of-war we ; gh 100 tons, and xthers have been made weighing 105 tons. The largest Krupp gun weighs I mi tons; the English are making one at | Elswiek weighing 110 tons and 44 feet tong, and a 150-ton gun is to be attempt ! sd at the Essen works.