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II l i vi
VOL. IV., NO. 24.
PiNEIIURST, N. C., APRIL 19, 1901.
PRICE THREE CENTS
A CELESTIAL COLLOQUY.
At day break one morning, the Sun and Moon
met,
One ready to rise the other to set.
The Sun from a cloud-bath, emerged all aglow,
While Luna wad pale as the snow-Adds below.
Quoth the Sun: My fair lady, you must not forget
That using my moments doth plunge you in debt."
Dian's soft glance grew cold, as she said:
Behold my last quarter!" and scornfully fled.
Anna IIubbakd Mercur.
SUNNY SOUTH.
The local weather recorder reports the
last 128 days as follows : Twelve days
storm and cloud and 116 of sunshine.
This may be an exceptional year and it
may be an exceptional place. It is, truly,
an exceptional place in some respects. In
this crowded village of more than 800
souls there are no liquor saloons nor
public bars. There is no drunkenness
nor indications that intoxicants are used
except it be the exhileration that comes
from pure air, pure water and plenteous
exercise. There are no policemen nor
lockups nor court machinery that sug
gest inebriation and crime. Outer doors
may le left unbolted with safety sit
night.
There are no ancient nor embryo poli
ticians seeking the adornments or emolu
ments of oilice. Protestant, Catholic
and Jew worship in the same hall with
out thought that the place has been
defiled by either. Such are some of the
pleasing exceptions we find here.
A Massachusetts man and his wife
came here a few days ago and as he
could find no quarters at any hotel lie
became a neighbor to me in the Franklin
Flats. After they had got settled he
said to me "Every hotel crammed,
jambed full and not a bar in either. 1
don't understand it. 1 didn't suppose it
possible to run a hotel anywhere with
out a bar." He found here an existing
evidence of his error. Mr. Tufts owns
and controls this place absolutely and
as his friends and associates are not of
the bar-bloated, blear-eyed, loud-mouthed
order. That class of patrons is conspicu
ous by its absence.
Besides, Mr. Tufts is a business man
and he knows that policemen, courts,
houses of correction and with their
immense cost and great expense are the
inevitable concomitants of the public bar.
About a mile and a half from here is
a veritable goat farm. A few days ago
a new found friend and I set out to visit
it. We were given the general directions
of its location but no one could describe
to us which of the many lumber roads
and toe paths to follow to reach it.
forest fires had been burning for some
'lays and our sight was much limited by
the smoke that still hung low among the
trees. When we were certain we were a
mile and a half from home we began to
snuff the air for scent of the fragrant
goat but there was either no goats there
Rise the perfume from the burning pines
had prevented our sense dt smell so that
we were unable to detect them. We zig
zagged about the country for awhile till,
at length, we discovered, on a little emi
nence in the distance, amid the flame and
smoke, what appeared to be animal life.
We immediately struck a bee line for the
spot and when we got there we found a
man, a woman and two small children
lighting the fires and trying to control
them. After a little time we made known
to the man the purpose of our tramp and
he promptly informed U9 that that he
was the proprietor of the farm and goat
herd of the flock. lie said we were half
a mile from the farm and, as he could
not leave the fire, he would send his lit
tle girl, a child of about ten years, to
pilot us. We set out, following our little
guide, over the burned territory and had
not gone more than half the distance
when we met "ninety and nine" less
nine of those beautiful creatures as varia
gated and fragrant as a bed of pansies.
resting on the bench while the other was
on the ground. On each side or edge of
the plank a board six inches wide had
been nailed so that there was a guard on
each side of the plank two inches high.
The upper surface of the plank was very
smooth, almost like glass. The little
girl went into the yard and turned the
plank over when I saw that cleats had
been nailed about a foot apart on that
upper surface. No sooner had she turned
it over than the little kids commenced to
run up its steep surface to the top
of the bench. When half a dozen of
them had gone up she turned the plank
or bridge over again when they com
menced to slide down the incline head
first. They seemed to enjoy the sport
almost as much as would their two leg
ged brothers. The performance was
repeated with the same results as before.
We "tipped" the little girl for her guid
ance and her show and passed on to the
ft j X acSq?
PRIZES GIVEN Br THE PINEIIURST GOLF CLUB.
The little guide said they were not
allowed on the fire side of the farm at
that time and she set out to reverse their
order of march. In a little time she had
them travelling farm ward and all will
ingly except one old Billy, evidently the
leader of the gang, who manifested a
good deal of anger and disappointment.
He hung back so doggedly she com
menced to chastise him with a small
stick which she carried when he suddenly
turned to butt her (not the kind you put
on bread), but I chanced to be close by
and lent him one with my walking stick
across the nose which evidently caused
him to forget his anger and disappoint
ment for he treated her with marked
respect the rest of the journey. When
we arrived at the farm-house we found
the "less nine" in the barnj'ard enclosure.
They were little fellows, too young to
follow the others on their tramps for
forage. In the centre of the yard was a
bench about six feet by eight and six
feet high. One end of a long plank was
house where a young lady of about
"sweet sixteen," plump and fair, came
out to greet us. She seemed to be
unusually intelligent and well informed
for one brought up in the woods indeed
richly endowed with many of nature's
choicest gifts. She appeared so honest
and frank in her replies to our questions
and so artless and innocent in her queries
that I could not prevent a feeling of sad
ness and of sorrow that such charms
should be wasted in a forest home when
she turned her head slightly and ejected
a mouthful of tobacco juice as carelessly
and as unconcernedly as a masculine
tobacco juice extractor would have dis
posed of his surplus liquid filth. With
this exhibition of her accomplishments,
this nauseous and disgusting spectacle,
all her womanly beauty instantly van
ished. I had no desire to' know more of
her or her family. My cup was full.
We, therefore, turned and left her in the
enjoyment of her, probably favorite and,
possibly, only pastime, and the subject
of goats again assumed its former place
of paramount importance. But the goats
soon disappeared in the woods and with
them went our interest in the subject.
Jackson's spring on a recently built
branch railroad about 10 miles from here
has long been a summer resort for inva
lids in the southern part of this State
and in South Carolina. The waters of
the spring are said to possess medicinal
qualities and are good for what ails you.
A special free train was run up there
from this place to-day and it being a
"free" train of course I took it in. When
I arrived at the station the coaches were
all full and half as many more dis
appointed looking people were standing
on the platform. Mr. Page, one of the
owners of the road, was present and he
ordered a freight car that was on a siding
near by, switched into the train. This
done we, later arrivals, were loaded into
it. 1 had no thought when I last wrote
the Journal I would so soon become
freight. We found the spring gushing
up through the seams of gneiss ledge
close by a running stream and about one
foot above its surface. If disagreeable
taste and smell make it medi'kial I
should think it would be good for leprosy
and small-pox. On the opposite bank of
the stream from the spring is a white
painted wooden dhurch and it has a bell.
The bell is not attached to the church.
It is an entirely separate institution
belonging to the church. It is in a belfry
set on a pole about ten feet high and
looks like a martin house. I don't know
what use they have there for a bell in
that piney wilderness unless it be to let
the Lord know when they are ready to
worship. In rear of the church is a well
stocked cemetery. I lost faith in the
curative properties of that spring when
I saw that cemetery. I soon met a young
native white man of good appearance,
however, and asked him if the waters of
that spring possessed any healing or
healthful virtues and if so why so many
people inhabit that cemetery. He replied
that he knew they were all that was
claimed for them and that the people
referred to had no faith in them and
consequently took an early departure,
lie also told me that he was one of a
family of fourteen children; that his
father and mother and their parents, all
of the fourteen children and thirty-three
grand-children were now living and that
there had never been a death in either
family. I told him as politely as I could
that I thought he was prevaricating and
that he was in the employ of the Spring
Water Company. He somewhat indig
nantly repelled my insinuations as to his
veracity and lie being a much larger man
than I am I very reluctantly believed
him. Near the spring is an Indian mound
from which the boy3 in the surrounding
country dig arrow heads and sell to vis
itors. When the engine whistle blew we all
climbed into the cars again according to
our rank, first class, second class and