North Carolina Newspapers

" ' - - J 1 . r Go: sl Gastonia zett he r ESTABLISHED IX 1SS0. Devoted to t,lie 'Protection of Home and the Interests t" the County. ESTABIilSHED IN 1SSO. VoL 5. f J. E. PAGE, Editor and Propriktor. Gastonia, N. C. : October 28, 3 887 f One Dollar and A Half per Annum, No. 43 1 in Advance. J. 3 k i FORBIDDEN HOMY. SERMON BY REV. DR. TALMAGE IN THE TABERNACLE. Depleting and Injurious Hooks of the Period The Popular Tinte for Pure ZJterature la Poisoned by tbe Scum of be Publishing House. Brooklyn, Oct. 10. "Seven hundred and eighty -one thousand three hundred and six teen dollars and twenty-four cents have been paid cosh down in this church for religious uses and Christian work during the nineteen years of my ministry said the Rev. T. De Witt Talnmge, D. D., in answer to the mis representations that have been going through BOtne of tbe religious papers depreciating the work of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. After giving out tlio hymn: Our God, our help in ages past. Our hope for years to come. Dr. Talmage preached a sermon, the subject of which was "Forbidden Honey," the text being I Samuel xiv, 43: "I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was In my hand, and Jo! I must die." Dr. Tal tnage said : The honey bee is a most ingenious architect, , a Christopher Wren among insects, a geome ter drawing hexagons and pentagons, a free booter robbing the fluids of pollen and aroma, a wondrous creature of God, whose biography, written by Huber ami Swammcnlaui, is an enchantment for any lover of nature. Virgil celebrated the bee in his fable of Arista?us, and Mose, and Hamuul, and David, and Solo mon, and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and St. John used the delicacies of bee manufacture as a Bible symbol. A miracle of formation is the bee: five eyes, two tongues, the outer hav ing a sheath of protection, hair on all sides of its tiny body to brush up the particles of flowers; its flight so straight that, all the world knows of the bee line. The honeycomb is a palace such as no one but God could plan and the honey bee construct; its eHl sometimes a dormitory, and some times a storehouse, and sometimes a cemetery. Thesn- winged toilers first make eight strips of wax, and by their nnteu tue, which are to tliem hammer, and chisel. And square and plumb line, fashion them for use. Two and two, these workers shape the walL If an accident: hapjK-u they put up buttresses or extra beams to remedy tbe dam age. When about the year 1776 an insect, before unknown, in the night time attacked the- beehives all over Europe, and the men whoTbwned them were hi vain trying to plan something to keep out tbe invader that was the terror of the beehives of the continent, it was found that every where the bees had ar ranged for their own protection, and built before their honeycombs an especial wall of wax, with port holes through which the bees might go to and fro, but not large enough to admit the winged combatant,' called the Sphinx Atropos. Do you know that the swarming of the boes :1s divinely directed? The mother bee starts for a new home, and because of this the other bees of the hive get into an excitement which raises the heat of the hive some four degrees, rnautlMy"'uiu9C"die unless they leave iheir hmtd ,aparttients, and they follow . ihe ' timelier bee and alight on the branch of a tree, and cling -to each other and hold on until a committee of two or three have ex plored the region and found the hollow of a tree or rock not far off from a stream of water, and tliey here set up a new colony, and ply their aromatic industries, and give themselves to the manufacture of the saccha rine edible. But who can tell the chemistry of that mixture of sweetness, part of it the . very life of the bee and part of it the life of tbe field? Plenty of this luscious product was bang ing in the woods of Beth-aven during the time of Saul and Jonathan. Their army was In pursuit of an enemy that by God's com mand must be exterminated. The soldiery were positively forbidden to stop to eat any thing until the work was done. If they diso beyed they were accursed. Coming through the woods they found a place where the bees bad been busy, u great honey manufactory. Honey gathered in the hollow of the trees until it had overflowed upon the ground in great profusion ot sweetness. AH the army obeyed orders and touched it not save Jona than, and he not knowing tbe military" order about abstinence, dipped the end of a stick he bad in his hand into the candied liquid, and as, yellow and brown, and tempting, it glowed on tbe end of tbe stick he put it to his mouth and ate the honey Judgment fell upon him, and but for special intervention he would have been slain. In my text Jonathan an nounces his awful mistake: "I did but taste ; a little honey with the end of the rod that was In my band, and, to, I must die." Alas, what multitudes of people in all ages have been damaged by forbidden honey, by which I mean temptation, delicious and attractive, bat damaging and destructive. Literature fascinating but deathful comes In this category. Where one good, honest, healthful liook is read now there are one hundred made up of rhetorical trash con sumed with avidity. When tbe boy in the cars comes through with a pile of publica tions look over the titles and notice that nine out of every ten of the books are depleting and injurious. All the way from New York to Chicago or New Orleans notice that ob jectionable books dominate. Taste for pure literature is poisoned by this scum of tbe pub lishing house. Every book in which sin tri umphs over virtue, or in which a glamour is thrown over dissipation, or which leaves you t its last line with less respect for the mar riage Institution and less abhorrence for the paramour, is a depression of your own moral character. The book bindery may be attractive, and the plot dramatic and startling, and the style of writing sweet as the honey that Jonathan dipped up with his rod, but your best inter ests forbid it, your moral safety forbids it, your Uod forbids it, and one taste of it may lead to such bad results that you may have- to say at the close of the experi ment or at the close of a misimproved lifetime: "I did but taste a little honey with the rod that was in my hand, and, lo, I must dir Corrupt literature is dcing more today for the disruption of domestic life than any other cause. Kiojiemeuts, marital intrigues, sly correspoiidenco, fictitious names given at postoffice windows, clandestine meetings in parks, and at ferry gates, and in hotel par lors, and conjugal perjuries, are among the damnable results. When a woman, young or old, get her head thoroughly stuffed with the modern novel she is in ap palling periL But some one will say: "The heroes are so adroitly knavish, and the per sons so bewitching! untrue, and .the turn of tbe story so exquisite, and all the charac ters so enrapturing, I cannot quit them." My brother, my sister, you can find styles of literature just as charming that will elevate and purify and ennoble, and Christianize while they plfease. The devil does not own all the honey. There is a wealth of good books coming forth from our publishing bouses that leaves no excuse for the choice of that which is debauching to body, mind and oul. Go to some intelligent man or woman and ask for a list of books that will lie strengthening to your mental and moral eecditiou. Life is so short awl your tiite for improvement so abbreviated that you can not afford to fill up with husks and cinders and debris. In the interstices of business that young man is reading that which will prepare him to be a merchant prince, and that young woman is filling her mind with an intelligence that will yet either make her the chief at taction of a good man's home or give her an independence of character that will qualify her to build her own home and main tain it in a happiness that requires no aug mentation from any of our rougher sex. That young man or young woman can by the right literary and moral improvement of the spare ten minutes here or there in every day, rise head and shoulders in prosperity, and charac ter and influence above the loungers who read nothing, or read that which bedwarfs. See all the forests of good American litera ture dripping with honey. Why pick up the honeycombs that havo in them the fiery bees which will stiiij: you with an eternal poison while you taste itl One book may for you or me decide everything: for this world or the next. It was a turning point with me when in Wynkoop's bookstore, Syracuse, one day I picked up a book called "The Beauties of Ruskin." It was only a book of extracts, but it was all pure honey, and I was not satisfied until I bad purchased all bis works, at that time expensive beyond an easy capacity to own them, and what a heaven I went through in reading his "Seven Lamps of Architecture" and his "Stones of Venice" it is impossible for me to describe, except by saving that it gave me a rapture for good books and an everlasting disgust for decrepit or immoral books that will last me while my immortal soul lasts. All around the church and the world today there are busy hives of intelligence occupied by authors and authoresses, from whose pens drip a dis tillation which is the very nectar of heaven, and why will you thrust your rod of inquisi tiveness into tbe deathful saccharine of per dition! Stimulating liquids also come into the cate gory of temptations delicious but deathful. You say: "I cannot bear the taste of intoxi cating liquor, and how any man can like it is to me an amazement." Well, then, it is no credit to you that you do not taste it Do not brag about your total abstinence, be cause it is not from any principle that you reject alcoholism, but for the same reason that you reject certain styles of food you simply don't like the taste of them. But multitudes of people have a natural fondness for all kinds of intoxicant. They like it so much that it makes theni smack their lips to look at it. They are dyspeptic, and they take it to aid digestion, or they are annoyed by insomnia, and they take it to produce sleep, or they are troubled, and they take it to make them oblivious, or they feel good, and they must celebrate their hilarity. They begin with mint julep sucked through two straws on the Long Branch piazza and end in the ditch, taking from a jug a liquid half kerosene and half whisky. They not only like it, but it is an all consuming passion of body, mind and soul, and after a while have it they will, though one wine glass cost the temporal and eternal destruction of themselves, and all their fami lies, and the whole human race. They would say: "I am sorry it is going to cost me, and my family, and all the world's population so very much, but here it goes to my lips, and now let it roll over my parched tongue and down tny heated throat," the sweetest,' the most inspiring, the most rapturous thing that- ever thrilled mortal or immortal. " To cure the habit before it comes to its last stages, various plans were tried iu olden times. This plan was recommended iu the books: When a man wanted to reform be put shot or bullets into the cup or glass of strong drink one additional shot or bullet each day, that displaces so much liquor. Bullet after bullet, added day by day, of course the liquor became less and less until the bullets would entirely fill up the glass and there was no room for the liquid, and by that time it was said the inebriate would be cured. Whether any one ever was cured in that way I know not, but by long experiment it is found that the only way is to stop short off, and when a man does that he needs God to help him. And there have been more cases than you can count when God has so helped the mau that he quit forever, and I could count a score of them here today, some of them pillars in the house of God. One would suppose that men would take warning from some of the ominous names given to the intoxicants, and stand off from the devastating influence. You have noticed, for instance, that some of the restaurants are called "The Shades," typical of tbe fact that it puts a man's reputation in the shade, and his morals in the shade, and his prosperity in the shade, and his wife and children in the shade, and his immortal destiny iu the shade. Now, I find on some of the liquor signs iu all our cities the words "Old Crow," mightily suggestive of a carcass, and the filthy raven that swoops upon it. "Old Crow!" Men and women without numbers slain of rum but uuburied, and this evil is pecking at their glazed eyes, and pecking at their bloated cheek, and pecking at their destroyed man hood and womanhood, thrusting beak and claw into tbe mortal remains of what once was gloriously alive but now morally dead. "Old Crow!" But alas, how many take no warning. They make me think of Caesar on his way to assassination, fearing nothing; though his statue in the hall crashed into fragments at his feet, and a scroll con taining the names of the conspirators was thrust into his hands, yet walking right on to meet the dagger that was to take bis life. This infatuation of strong drink is so mighty in many a man that, though his fortunes are crashing, and his health is crashing, and his domestic interests are crashing, and we hand him a long scroll containing the names of perils that await him, he goes straight on to physical, and mental, and moral assassination. Iu proportion as any style of alcoholism is pleasant to your taste, and stimulating to your nerves, and for a time delightful to all your physical And mental constitution, is the peril awful. Remember Jonathan and the forbidden honey in the woods of Beth-aven. Furthermore, the gamester's indulgence must be put to the list of temptations deli cious but destructive. I have crossed the ocean eight times, and always one of tbe best rooms has, from morning till late at night, been given up to gambling practices. I beard of many men who went on board with enough money for European excursions who lauded without enough money to get their baggage up to the hotel or railroad station. To many there is a complete fascination in games of hazard or the risking of money on possibili ties. It seems as natural for them to bet as to eat. Indeed, tbe hunger for food is often overpowered with the hunger for wagers, as in the case of Lord Sandwich, a persistent gambler, who, not being willing to leave the dice table long enough for the taking of food, invented a preparation of food that he could take without stopping the game namely, a slice of beef between two slices of bread, which was named after Lord Sandwich. It is absurd for those of us who have never felt the fascination of the wager to speak slight ingly of the temptation. It has slain a mul titude of intellectual and moral giants, men and women stronger than you or L Down under its power went glorious Oliver Gold smith, and Gibbon, the historian, and Charles Fox, the statesman, and in oldeu times fa mous senators of the United States, who used to bo us regularly at the gambling bouse all night as they were in the balls of legislation by day. Oh, the tragedies of the faro table! I know persons who began with a slight stake in a ladies' parlor, and ended with the suicide's pistol at Monte Carlo. They played with the square pieces of bone with black marks oft them, not knowing that Satan was playing for their bones at the same time, and was sure to sweep all the stakes off on his side of the table. The last New York legislature sanctioned the mighty evil last 1 spring by passing a law for its defense at the race tracks, and many young men in these cities lost all their wages at Coney Island this summer, and this fall are borrowing from the mouey tills of their employers or arranging by means of false entry to adjust their demoralized finances. Every man who voted for the Ives pool bill has on his hands and forehead the blood of these souls. But in this connection some young converts say to me: "Is it right to play cards? Is there any harm in a game of whist or euchre?" Well, I know good men who play whist and euchre and other styles of game without any wagers. I bad a friend who played cards with bis wife and children, and then at the close said: "Come, now, let us have prayers." I will not judge other men's consciences, but I tell you that cards are, in my mind, so as sociated with tbe temporal and eternal dam nation of splendid young men, that I should no sooner say to my family: "Come, let us have a game of cards," than I would go into a menagerie and say: "Come, let us have a game of rattlesnakes," or into a cemetery, and sitting down by a marble slab, say to the grave diggers: "Come, let us have a game of skulls." Conscientious young ladies are silently saying to me while I speak: "Do you think card playing will do us any harm?" Perhaps not, but how will you feel if in the great day of eternity, when we are asked to give an account of our influence, some man shall say to you: "I was introduced to games of chance in the year 1887, in Brooklyn, at your house, and I went on from that sport to something more exciting, and went on down until I lost my business, and lost my morals, and lost my soul, and these chains that you see on my wrists and feet are the chains of a gamester's doom, and I am on my way to a gambler's hell." Honey at the start, eternal catastrophe at the last. Stock gambling comes into the same cata logue. It must be very exhilarating to go into Wall street. New York, or State street, Boston, or Third street, Philadelphia, and de positing a small sum of money, run the risk of taking out a fortune. Many men are do ing an honest and safe business in the stock market, and you are an ignoramus if you do not know that It is just as legitimate to deal in stocks as to deal in coffee, or sugar, or flour. But nearly all the outsiders who go there on a little financial excursion lose alb The old spiders eat up the unsuspecting flies. I had a friend who put his hand on his hip pocket and said to me in substance: "I bave there the value of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars." His home is today penniless. What was the matter? Wall street. Of the vast majority who are victim ized you hear not one word. One great stock firm goes down, and whole columns of news papers discuss their fraud, or their dis aster, and we are presented with their features and their biography. But Where one sucb rauious firm sinks five hundred un known men sink with them. The great steamer goes down and all the little boats are swallowed m the same engulf ment.- Gam bling is gambling, whether in stocks or breadstuffs, or dice or race track betting. Exhilaration at the start, and a raving brain and a shattered nervous system and a sac rificed property and a destroyed soul at the last. Young man, buy no lottery tickets, purchase no prize packages, bet on no base' ball games or yacht racing, have no faith in luck, answer no mysterious circulars pro posing great income for small investment; shoo away tbe buzzards that hover around our hotels trying to entrap strangers. Go out and make an honest living. Have God on your side and be a candidate for heaven. Remember all the paths of sin are banked with flowers at the start, and there are plenty of helpful hands to fetch the gay charger to your door and hold the stirrup while you mount. But further on the horse plunges to the bit in a slough inextricable. The best honey is not like that which Jona than took on the end of the rod and brought to bis lip, but that which God puts on the banqueting table of Mercy, at which we ore all invited to sit. I was reading of a boy among the mountains of Switzerland ascend ing a dangerous place with his father and the guides. The boy stopped on the edge of the cliff and said: "There is a flower I mean to get." "Come away from there," said the father, "you will fall off." "No," said he, "I must get that beautiful flower," and the guides rushed toward him to pull him back, when they beard him say, "I almost have it," as he fell 2,000 feet Birds of prey were seen a few days after circling through the air and lowering gradually to the place where the corpse lay. Why seek flowers off the edge of a precipice when you may walk knee deep amid the full blooms of the very Paradise of God! When a man may sit at a king's banquet, why will he go down the steps and contend for the gristle and bones of a hound's kennel? "Sweeter than honey and the honeycomb," says David, "is the truth of God." "With honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee," says God to the recreant Here is honey gathered from the blossoms of trees of life, and with a rod made out of the wood of the cross I dip it up for all your souls. The poet Hesiod tells of an am brosia and a nectar the drinking of which would make men live forever, and one sip of this honey from the Eternal Rock will give you immortal life with God. Come off of the malarial levels of a sinful life. Come and live on the uplands of grt co where the vineyards sun themselves. - Oh, taste and see that the Lord is gracious. Be happy now and happy forever. For those who take a different course the honey will turn to gall. For many things I have ad mired Percy Shelley, the great English poet. but I deplore the fact that it was a great sweetness to him to dishonor God. The poem Queen Mab" has in it the maligning of the deity. The infidel poet was impious enough to ask for Rowland Hill's Surrey chapel that he might denounce the Christian religion. He was in great glee against God and tbe truth. But be visited. Italy, and one day on the Mediterranean with two friends iu a boat which was twenty-four feet long he was coming toward, shore when an hour's squall struck the water. A gentleman standing on shore through a glass saw many boats tossed In this squall, but all outrode the terror ex cept one; that in which Shelley, the infidel poet, and bis two friends were sailing. That never came ashore, but the bodies of two of tbe occupants were washed upon the beach, one of them the poet A funeral pyre was built on the sea shore by some classic friends and the two bodies were consumed. Poor Shelley! He would have no God while he lived and he probably had -no God when he died. "The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." In Process of Fattening. Customer (in Chinese laundry) Does that dog belong to you, John! Celestial Yep. Customer Are you fond of dogs? Celestial When hungly, dog belly good. New York Sun, PEOPLE WHO ARE KNOWN To the Whole World of Newspaper Readers Interesting Items. Queen Victoria has made such progress in Hindustani that she is able to give orders in .that language to the two Indian servants in her service. Mark Twain sent to Caroline B. Le Row, the teacher who collected the examples given in the book "English as She is -Taught," the check for $250 paid him by The Century company for his reviewing article. Miss Braddon is about to bring out her fiftieth novel. Her husband has made 60 much money by publishing her books that he has retired from business. There is a wicked story afloat that after beginning the publica tion of her books, when she was a spinster, he found that he owed her a pile of money whicu be couldn't pay, so be proposed a com promise in the shape of marriage, which the novelist accepted. A man of unusual "prondnence" died tbe other day at his home in Austria. It was the giant, Joseph Wiukelmayer, who measured 8 feet 3 inches in height and appeared iu many a European dime museum. But his lungs were apparently not able to stand tbe great rariflcalion of the ail in the elevated strata he was compelled to breathe, and he succumbed to tuberculosis. Erastus Corning, of Troy, the famous iron founder, never thinks of going into his con servatory to examine his bsautiful orchids without first lighting his pipe, which is a large and beautiful meerschaum, heavily mounted with solid silver, and a stem made from a jasmine grown in his own conserva tory. ; . F. Marion Crawford, the novelist, and poet of Philadelphia's recent centennial, is a man of many accomplishments besides his literary gifts. He is a good musician, being able to accompany bis own songs on either piano or guitar. He is a rare linguist, and an athlete of acknowledged power. Although the pen is the instrument by which he is known to the world, he is equally accomplished in the use of the fencer's foils. ' Mr. Crawford is of American parentage, but he was born in Italy, and has just taken up his permanent residence in that country, in the Villa Craw ford, overlooking the bay of Naples. Claus Spreckels, of California, who . has been termed the Sugar King of the Sandwich Islands, is a German who began life in the west as the keeper of a grocery store. He was an expert cluimist, and invented some new process for refining sugar. It was esti mated three years ago that he made 600 bar rels of sugar a day, each barrel worth $30, thereby giving him an income of $6,570,000 a year. His wealth is now estimated at $25, 000,000. Mr. Spi-eckels is an old man, but he is still very active and energetic. He speaks with a strong German accent, is simple in his dress and domestic in his habits. - Ed Scheffelin, who sold :out the celebrated Tough Nut mine in Arizona for something like a million dollars, wears his hair iu long ringlets and is somewhat eccentric in his dress, but he has a big Heart, aud those who know him well say that a worthy charity never appealed to him in, vain. . Up to the time he old the Tough ftuthe" had "been a bard working miner and knew nothing of the ways of tlje workb ,. Wth the proceeds, of - the sale be went to San Francisco to enjoy his honestly acquired riches. He bad deter mined to have the best of everything, and registered at the Baldwin hotel. When meal time came he sought entrance- to the dining room m nis shirtsleeves. The sable door keeper told him he must put his coat on b$f fore goirg in. Ed got mad - at this infringe ment on his private rights and long estab lished custom, and exclaimed: "I guess you don't know who I am, you black rascal." "Dat don't make no odds, sir," The honest miner was riled clear through and through and sent for Landlord Pearson. The latter told him he must finish dressing before going to eat, no matter who he wife. Mr.' Scheffelin is a man of observing qualities, and he has not been slow in adapting himself to his changed circumstances. He has good busi ness sense and although anything but stingy, takes good care of his fortune. "Jenny Lind," said Miss Emma Thursby to Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton recently, "is living on a lovely street in London called 'The Boltons,' and her house, which is cov ered with graceful vines, is shut in from the noisy city by trees and fragrant flowers. But the famous singer is a suffering invalid now, rarely seeing one, and when American re porters call, as they do now and then, they are met at the door by a faithful old servant, who has watched over her mistress for thirty years past, and who delivers this brief but grateful message, 'that Jenny Lind wishes them to say that she will never cease to love the American people with all her heart' One of Jenny Liud's most intimate friends and neighbors is Mine. Albani, who lives with her husband just across the street from the 'Swedish Nightingale.' Albani's voice? No, I don't think it in any way phenomenal, but she has gained a great success because she has always been an earnest worker, and then she has chosen for her home the best city in the world for a singer London. Why do I not go there myself? Ob, I am too good an American to be willing to live abroad, and then in any case I could not endure the Lon don climate. . You see I havo just won back ' my health, and I do not want to lose it again." i An Extraordinary Blind, Header. v The gift of "tongues" has hitherto been considered a special blessing communicated by the spirit of pentecost But a peasant of Western hausen, in the kingdom of Wurtem berg, Germany, is reported to be possessed of that gift now. The girl is 19 years old aud reported to be sound and hearty every morn ing, but hardly do tbe shades of evening begin to fall when she is attacked by nervous twitchings. In that condition she is troubled with a knack of mind reading, and if asked questions in tongues she does not understand while the sun is shedding his full light upon her she will answer in the same tongues dur ing the hours of darknees. Less remarkable is the darkness in which her medical attend ants profess to be regarding .the true in wardness of her condition. She is also re ported to shed her hair periodically, as four footers will do in summer time, and to crow a new periwig as regularly. So the medical men are dumf ounded at the phenomenon. Chicago News. The Reward of Notoriety. "Since my husband was mixed up in that divorce case," said Mrs, Cant well, "he has made more money by literary work than hU ministerial fees amount to." "Indeed!" exclaimed Mrs. Cobwigger. "What kind of literary work does be do, may I ask?" "Why," replied the good man's better half, "ho writes those unsolicited testimonials for soaps and patent medicines." Judge. . ' Fiddles for the Trade. : ' A French maker of violins declares that tbe fiddles be makes for the trade cost him ninety cents apiece, and that he is satisfied with the profit earned by selling them for $L12 apiece. Thousands of these are exported yearly from France and Germany. Home Journal. The Chinese government has ordered 1,500 gross of bottled beer for the Chinese navy. The Terrors of tlio Aphis, j "Do you see that speck on this slide? The reporter closely examined the glass slide of the microscope, j The eye unaided by the lens could I distinguish absolutely nothing. i i j "Now look through this tube." The reporter gazed through the long tubes of the big binocular microscope. On the slide there was plainly to ,be seen, instead of a single speck, a collection of monsters, who were crawliiignround on the glass uneasily, as if out of their natural element" I "See their long legs, peculiar eyes and ferocious appearance," observed the entomol ogist, in whose .uptown office the research was being made.. "Those are aphides or plant lice. The aphis only weighs ,l-100th of a grain. Its life is short and its habits are de structive in the extreme to all kinds of plants, particularly those which are reared indoors." "What is so remarkable about them?' "I was coming to that They are among the most fecund creatures in the world. They breed with almost ' miraculous rapidity. I will illustrate. A heavy man will weigh in the neighborhood of 2,000,000 grains, two billion times as much as an aphis. Well, in ten broods, if nothing were done to destroy them, how much do you suppose the offspring of one of these minute creatures ; would weigh V j "I have no idea," i "Of course we have no way of absolutely determining that matter, but judging from tbe increase of a single aphis in a given length of time, and estimating what would be accomplished in ten broods, we estimate that they would weigh as much as 800,000,000 men weighing 280 pounds each or one-third the human population of tbe globe." j "Lucky their increase is checked." I "I should say it was. They would destroy in one year every particle of vegetable mat ter in the world, and create a famine equaled only in its destructiveness to the deluge it self." New York Mail and Express. tost While in Quest of Gold. It was over fifty years ago that Father De Smet, with a number of missionaries, visited the Black Hills county and discovered gold. Traces oi their path have been found by the hopeful prospector whose little earthwork is always in sight. A huge tree was felled a few miles from here, and in the very top of it was found a huge log chain. , The tree had grown completely around it Father De Smet and party ore supposed to have camped at this point and the chain was hung on a sapling and forgotten. The tree grew, ant, when the chain was discovered by white men the tree had attained its mammoth propor tions and carried the relic of De Smet's camp with it. - ; I - - ' ; . A message from the past was unearthed a few days ago by Louis Thome, a Swede quar ryman. He was excavating a number of largo rocks from a gulch and pried up a huge flat stone. It rested against a giant oak and the deep imprint on the tree proved that years and years had rolled by and no living thing had disturbed this locality, j With three or four blasts he removed the stone and found underneath a smooth piece of lime stone about two feet square. It was covered with moss aud teuiment, and must have beeu eight feet mnder ground. Mr. Thorne-eare-lessly threw the rock on the bank, and in the morning, upon returning to his work, noticed that it was scratched on one side. He tried to decipher the hieroglyphics, but was unable to do so. An application of soap and water, with the assistance of a magnifying glass, brought forth the following inscription: "Got all the gold we could carry our ponys all got by the Iudians I have lost my gun and nothing to eat and Indians hunting near." Upon further inspection the reverse side bore this inscription: i "Came to these hills in 1833 seven of us De Lacougt, Ezra Kind, G. W. Wood, T. Brown, R. Kent, William King. All dead but me. Ezra Kind killed by Ind." Dakota Cor. Philadelphia News. I ! j Transformed into Highland Chieftains. The transformation of severely correct gentlemen, faultlessly arrayed in London clothes, into Highland chieftains is daily taking place before one's eyes. When tbe Scotch gentlemen, er even Englishmen hav ing places in Scotland, come up here they immediately put on kilts. In the morning,' when they are shooting or tramping over the nioors, they wear woolen kilts and carry a hunting knife, instead of the regulation dag ger, in their stocking leg. But in the even ing they appear at dinner in tartans of beau tiful style, with a jeweled dagger sticking out of their right stocking leg. " i Not only the gentlemen, but their upper servants, put on kilts, aiid, if anything, the change in the servants is more startling than in the masters. Mr. Panmure-Gordon is a great landed proprietor up here. His coach man, who was one of the most immaculate jebus hi London, sitting upon tbe box as rigid as iron, and looking as if he were made at the same tune and of the same stuff as the car riage, came up to the Highlands., and suddenly turned into a Highlander, and a rampageous Highlander at that, and wheezed, and blew, afid puffed at the bagpipes like a Trojan. It was really alarming to see him beading tbe Gordon pipers. The Highland fling is as popular as the Highland dress, and the Prince of Wales' sous dance it beantif ully, as indeed their father and the Duke of Edinburgh did before them. The Prince of Wales, even now, with middle age aud adipose upon him, can dance the Highland Ming gracefully, "loupin " aud "schreechin' " with all bis might and main. Scotland Cor. Boston Transcript ; - -., j , -:; Mrs. Iiogau and Gen. Sherman. "Logan didn't come in there," cried Gen. Sherman to Mrs. Logan the other night, as he caught sight of the representation of Lo gan's brigade charging to recover De Grasse's battery in the battle of : Atlanta eyejorama. "No; tbst isn't where Logan came in. He came down the line of that railroad and struck in 100 yards to the left of that" "He came in just there," said Mrs. Logan, firmly. "He described the position to me often. That corresponds exactly with the description. He came down through the ravine and crossed that bridge inexactly that position."-Tbe tears welled up into Mrs.- Logan's eyes as she said this, her lips quivered and she stood transfixed to that part of the railing which overlooks the splendid likeness of her hus band. . Gen. Sherman was about to reiterate bis first statement when Gen. Alger led him away, requesting him not to talk to Mrs. Lo gan about the battle. Detroit Journal. Lotteries in Germany. Lotteries of .every description are common in Germany. There is, an agricultural so ciety at Corbach, in tbe principality of Wal deck in Rhenish Prussia, that raises funds by sucb a yearly lottery. At the last drawing, a fortnight ago, the great prize, an immense ox, was won upon share 3,423. Al Jewish dealer with share No. 3 bud como out with a blank'. But that ox sorely .tempted him. He could not resist, but added the figures 423 to the 3 upon bis share, went, claimed and got the ox delivered to him; Immediately after the possessor of the genuine share claimed bis prize and the covetous wneak was sent to the penitentiary for twelve months. Chicago News., ;; ' j-. . ' I :. j' Thero are 337,000,000 people in Europe, ac cording to recent estimates. ! ; Detection of Counterfeits. Photography has long been considered tbe faithful confederate and trusty ally of coun terfeiters and forgers, but it cannot be looked upon in that light any longer, as M. Gobert, of the Bauque de France, has succeeded in converting this art into .a most effective de tective agent His process consists of taking a greatly magnified photograph of the sus pected coin or document, on which any erasure or defect can then easily be detected. An interesting example of the success whicu can be obtained in this way is given in La Nature, from which we abstraot tbe .follow ing account: , i "Some time ago a check for 1,106 francs, drawn in favor of a Mr. Rochu, was pre sented for payment at a Parisian bank and was to all appearances perfectly genuine, the signature being undoubtedly correct, and no erasures or alterations in the amount could be detected. The suspicions of the bank manager were, however, aroused and the check was forwarded to M. Gobert for ex amination, who made a photographic repro duction of it as explained above. It was then discovered that the check had originally been drawn in favor of a Mr. Suller, and for 110 francs, the name and amount being easily readable under the sew writing. Probably equally good results could have been obtained by chemical means, but photography has the advantage of not injuring the fabric of the check. False coins are detected in much the same way, an enlarged photograph of both a genuine coin and the suspected one being made, and the two then compared. Scientific American. i Made Old In. an Instant. I Mary Harmon, daughter of a farmer, was engaged to be married to Jacob Eberlein, who followed the Harmgns from Pennsyl vania a short time ago. About six weeks ago the young couple came to the city. ; One of the young man's friends worked in one of the electric light establishments and they went to see the machinery. While passing through the shop Miss Harmon received a severe shock of electricity and fell to the floor. In a few minutes she recovered suf ficiently to be removed from the place and was taken to her home. Medical aid was summoned. For four days the girl lay para lyzed. Then she regained the use of her limbs but immediately began to lose flesh. The hair on the left side of her head turned gray and began falling out After four weeks she was able to be about and able to attend to most of her household duties, but in that time she had been transformed from a young, handsome girl into a feeble old woman. Her form, which had been plump and rounded, is thin and, bent and the skin on her face and body is dry and wrinkled. Her voiee is harsh and cracked and no one, to look at her, would imagine that she was less than 60 years of age. The physicians claim that the electric current communicated directly with the principal nerves of the spine and left side of the head and that the shock almost destroyed their vitality. New York Tribune. She Pawned Her Teeth. It would be difficult to find any sort of per sonal property that was not, under the pres sure of unforeseenjni-cumstances, at some time or other pledged ror the payment of debt' But : that a woman should pledge her teeth is certainly something entirely new. V It happened the other day at a suburban pleas ure resort of the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany. A young couple had en joyed a good supper aud were about leaving, wheii the male half was shocked to find that his purse was gone. He walked up to tbe hostler, told him of his dilemma, and begged of him to let him go, promising that the money : should be sent the next day. The landlord said he would detain the couple bodily until the bill was paid. Then the fe male half the couple advanced and beg ged of the landlord to grant her a private hearing, which be did. .There, in the back room, the lady pulled out of her mouth a splendid set of teeth in gold and offered it as a pledge for the payment of the bill. That act of heroism struck the sordid soul of the publican to the quick, and he allowed the couple to depart after the lady had replaced the teeth into her mouth. He received the money next day. Chicago News. j Preparation of Gold Beaters Skin. . The article known to commerce as gold beaters' skin is the large intestine of the ox prepared by a laborious process until a thin, firm and very elastic surface is the result The article is used chiefly by gold beaters, who place the sheets of gold to be beaten for gilding between tbe skins and apply reg ular pressure in the form of blows from a heavy hammer. It has been proven that a gold beater's skin can bear the blows of a twelve pound hammer for a year and still leave the membranes in good condition. The skins come in parcels which represent tbe large intestines of 400 oxen. The process of manufacture is long and unhcalthful, the strongest disinfectants being always employed in order to protect the workmen. The in testines are first partly purified to diminish the adhesion of the membranes, which 1 are separated and the outer coating removed, cleaned and dried and pressed for the mar ket Detroit Free Press. f ' The Tip System In New York, j "Is has been prejty hard for Americans to get used to the tip system, but it is pretty firmly planted in New York now. It is no wonder that waiters expect it, and carry out neat little schemes to fish the small coins from your pockets. Many of them have to if they mean to live at all. "They only get from $8 to $12 a week. " The girl waiters in some of the .places get less than that It is tip or nothing, you see. It's a shrewd, small scheme of the proprietors to make the people pay their employes.. Ttey payraominal wages and encourage the waiters to take the rest out of the customers, just as the sleeping car companies pay the porters $15 a month, and turn them loose to gouge the other $70 out of the traveling public." New York Commercial Advertiser Interview with Club Man. ' . : . j : Penny Sheet Music. s j ; The penny song sheet business in New York city is confined to a couple of firms. When the music dealers publish a new song they permit these firms to reproduce the song, without the music, in their penny sheets, thus creating a demand for song aud music. Tbe business, so one who is in it said, is not profit able just now, perhaps because songs can be bought so cheaply with music attachment New Youk Sun. if ' A Kiss Among Ancient Komans. Among the Komans, if a man kissed bis betrothed, she gained thereby the half of his effects in the event of his dying before the celebration of their marriage. If the lady herself died under the same circumstances, her heirs or nearest of kin took the half due to her. A kiss was regarded very seriously by the ancient Romans. Chicago Times. Mustaches and the Eyesight.' There is a theory that the absence of a mustache impairs the eyesight. Bjrt at a recent shooting match in New York two oi the best marksmen were clean shaved men. i The umbrella trade iu England last year was practically knocked out by the drought. Unfailing Specific for Liver Disease. YRSPTflPfls Bitter or bad taste i' ' I Uliia mouth; tongue coated white or covered-with a brown fur; pain in the back, Bides, or jointa often mistaken fi r 'Jheumallsm : sour stomach) loss at aopetite; sometimes nausea and water ' brash, or Indigestion ; flatulency and acid .-ei-m-tutions; bowels alternately costive and lax; headache; loss of memory, with a painful sensation of having tailed to-dA somet hing, which onght to have been done-; debility;. low spirits: a thick, yellow an- -, pearance .of tbe skin and -eyes; a dry cousb.; ifevcri restlessness : ?the urine is scaiity-and high colored, andjif allowed to stand, deposits a sediment . SIMMONS LIVER REGULATOR (PURELY VEGETABLE) Is generally used in the South to arouse the larpid Liver to n. healthy action. It sots with extraordinary efficacy .on.the ' I iVEB, Kidneys. and Bowels. INEFFECTUAL 8PECIFIC FOR Malaria, Botirel Complaints, Uyxpepslav, .Sick Headache, . - Constipation, SUionsness, Kidney Affections, vJAnndioe, ' Mental Ipression, Colic Endorsed by the use of t millions of Botues.s THE BEST FAMILY MEDICUIE for Children, for Adults, and for the Aged, ONLY GENUINE has our Z Stamp in red on front of Wrapper. J. H. Zeilin & Co., Philadelphia, Pa., bulb PHuFRiBToxs ; Price, SI.OO. Obtained, and all PATENT BUSINESS attend ed to PROMPTLY and for MODERATE FEES- Our office is opposite the U. S.. Patent Office, and we can obtain Patents in less time than those remote from WASHINGTON. Send MODEL. OR DRAWING. We sdvise as to patentability free of charger and we mate NO CHARGE UNLESS PATENT IS SECURED. We refer here to the Postmaster, the Sunt ef Money Order Div., and to officials of the U. S. Patent Office. For circular, advice, terms and references to actual clients in yonr own State or county, write to C. A. SNOW & CO., Opposite Patent Office, Washington, D.;Q. DE. jflTMcKAYTr Offers bis Professional ' Services to the Citizens of Gastonia and Sur- f : rounding Country. 0A11 calls given prompt attention day or night. . Office at residence. ; i - 9 tf . .... .- .. .J-,".-, j , R. W. SANDIFEE, ' ' ; ATTORNEY AT li AW, -Practices In the Courtfi of Gaston and adjoining counties. Also in the Supreme and Federal courts of North Carolina. ' jan5-6 Something New J Come one! Come all! and ' see' he great Smith's ' ' '- - ' Dixie Cotton Elevator Working at S. B. Banna & Sons' Gin." We' claim, 1st, That the Elevator will unload from your wagon from 1700 to 1800 pounds of cotton in 13 minutes; 2d, That it will loosen t'P all dirt, sand or hard pods that may be in your cotton; 3d, That we will gm faster than any other gin, and 4th, . That by tbe use of our Elevator we can make a better sample than any in the oounty. Give us a trial. Satisfaction guaranteed. r ' S. fl, MANNA & SON$. Dental Surgery ! I J. A. & eTIF. GLENN, Surgeon Dentists. , Office; next door to the postof ice. . : MONEY to be made. Cut this out and return to iiR-ftni we will send you free, something' of gTeat vain and importance to you, that will start you in business which will bring- you jja more money right away than anything else in this world. Any one can do the work and live at home. Either sex; all ages. Something new that Just coins monev for all workers. We will start you; capital not needed. This is one of Uu genuine, importmt chances of a lifetime. Those who are ambitious and enterprising will not delay. Grand outfit free. Address Tbtjs $ Co., Augusta Maine. Farm For Sale. ? The farm known as the John M, Roberts place lying on the head wa ters of Long Creek in Gaston County, adjoining lands of P. R. . Long, Jasper Glenn and ethers is offered for sale. The place contains about 375 acres, of which 20 to 30 acres is bottom. The land is well adapted to the growth of wheat, oats, corn, cotton and tobacco. The dwelling is a good two-story building with seven rooms, surrounded by a beautiful grove of . oaks, and lias a well of excellent water very convenient. For particulars as to price, terms, &c, address, R. P. ROBERTS, - Black's Station,-S. C. For Sale. The store-house and lot on northsideof Air. Line Railroad, bcloinrinir ' to John M. Hanna, The lot eornerson Marietta, Air-Line and Long Streets, and is a very hiii-ablo pivice of prop erty, i'er further particu lars, call on or ad dress M. W. Hanna, Gastonia, N. C. vol . 33 ft WORKING CLASSES prepared to furnish all classt-s with employment at home.thc Whole of the time, or for their spare moments. Busin-ss new, light and protitable. Persons of cither sex easily earn from 50 cents to $5.00 per even, intf, aud a proportional sum by devoting all their time to the business. Boys and Kir Is earn nearly as much as men. That all wHo see this . may send their address, and test the business, , we make this oiler: To such as are not well satisfied we will send one dollar for the trouble of writing-. Full particulars and outfit free. Address Gbokge Stinson; & Co., Portland, Maine. . LORD &TKGfdASj Aiu-erushiff.to 49'ta:ido!ph St., Chietso, kcop laiss jiiji r on nle- ' and arc authorized to nti CnTlfMT make contracts with RU 1 Ml I ImCmI