-THE- AN EXCELLENT j JLDVEItTISING BIEDIUIX! Official Organ cf Washington County. " . FIEST OF ALL THE NEWS. Circulates extensively la lbs CounUas el ) Washington, Martin, Tyrrell ui Bimfort I) Job Printing In ItsVarious Branshss. 1,00 A YEAR IX ADVANCE. "FOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH." SINGLE COPY,- CENTS. VOL. X. PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER t, 1899. NO. 50. 1 ft I COOD When the gooa times come, they needn't beat the drum. For the weary world will know it when the good times come; . There'll be musio on the hilltops and -musio on the plains, And musio in the tinkle and the twinkle of the rains ! r Bpi i Green-Baize Door. ' There was a mystery beyond the green-baize door; tangible or intangi ble nobody kuew, since no one but Mr. Blakely ever saw the inside of the door which shut his private roem -at Messrs. Blakely , and, Stephen's bank from the narrow passage connecting it with the general offices. We were so accustomed to the green-baize door, and to the rule that no one was to ap proach it, that we did not often give the mystery much thought Ey.en Mr. Sharsley, the head cashier, was not permitted access. Clients' and callers of all kinds Mr. Blakely inva riably interviewed in another rooni, where he was summoned by an electric bell connected with the green room, as we used to call it. There was nothing strange in the baize door itself; a plain green door, with a brass handle, which in no way influenced the secret springs by which the.1 door opened and closed. Brass headed nails marked the outlines of the door's panels. A less suggestive door never swung ou hinges. Yet for ten years (the- length of time I had been at the bank) that door had pos sessed the most melancholy and un canny influence over the bank's staff, from cashier to charwoman. But no one kuew why. . Mr. Blakely was sole proprietor of the 'bank, -which was the only one in town and showed every semblance of the soundest financial basis; and the magnificence of his income was clearly displayed at Somers Towers, his splen did residence two miles out, where, at the time of this story, he lavished the luxuries of life upon his second wife, a very lovely and proud young lady half his own age or f 25. ; ' i' Mr. Blakely was a man strangely devoid of eccentricities, considering his conduct concerning the baize dco:; he chief faults the . bank staff found with him were his indefatigability.and that whenever there was business to be done in London selling or buying stock, buying cash, etc. he invariably attended to it himself, t I was seated at the desk of the head cashier, who was away on a short holi day one morning in September, when one of our clients entered the counting house. "Mr. Boylonr'look here,!' he said, slipping a crown-piece upon the coun , ter. "Where did you get it?" ) I took up the coin and raug it. It tang unmistakably true. J "What's wrong with it?" I inquired, examining it closely without noticing any defect. "Did I give it toyou?" I "Yes. Look at the edge; the letters' are missing it's quite smooth." He was light; the edge was as smooth as that of a four-shilling piece. I weighed it and found it true weight, and it properly resisted the other tests." . .1 "It's perfectly good," I said. "No doubt it is of an experimental mint, and got into circulation by mistake. How will-you have it?" "I don't care; half-crowns." ! I passed him the money, and, as he went away, I slipped the crown into my pocket, intending to keep it as a curiosity. But, later in the day, when Mr. Blakely was in the oflice,! showed it to hiin. His handsome dark face clouded as lie took it and exaniiued the edge. j ''"How did 'we come by it, Mr. Boy , ton?" he asked. He immediately re- i eumed his natural easy manner when I explained that I had passed it out and had it returned, jj "Curious!" he muttered. "One of an experimental mint, for it's dated 1896. Do you think we've any others i similar?" " , ; "No; I have been through them." J", "Strauge! Well, I'll keep it It is probably unique." . i. I was disappointed with his deci sion, as I wanted the coin myself. It was against my principles, however, to protest I went back to my desk, re paid myself the five shillings I tilled if or the coin, and forgot the matter forgot it entirely until some weeks i later, wheu Mrs. Blakely, to the utter AniMnViKnt Anf Af ilia Vionlr'a - of off turned up an hour or so before luncheon time. , Up to that time, although she had been married more than ten months, Mrs.-Blakely had never been inside the bank. Now she drove up in her carriage, came in proudly and asked for Mr. Blakely.' ,'- I replied that if she would step into the waiting room I would summon him Jh the usual 'way. "No. Show me into his private room. I am Mrs. Blakely, " she said, hastily. I?ooguized ,vou, madam, I re- liut the rule i9 that all visi tors, whoever they may be, are to be ehowp into the waiting room, .where TIMES! When the good times come, then the right shall trample wrong. The world shall move forever to a ballelula - song; And joy will bless and brighten, and sorrow will be dumb, , j In that mad and merry season when the good times come ! P. L. Stanton, in Atlanta Constitution. "Nonsense!" she ejaculated. "Such rules do not refer to Mr. Blakely's wife. The room is at the end of the passage, is it not?" t 'You are putting me in an awkward position," ; I replied. "I am not al lowed to let visitors approach the green-baize door " "Ah! Her proud eyes flashed. "So there is a green-baize door which no one approaches? I interrupted you, sir." "I was saying, madam, that if I let you pass, I offend Mr. Blakely by neglecting an old-established rule. On the other hand, I offend you. Pray step into the waiting room, where Mr. Blakely will joiuyou in less than half the time we have spent in argu ment." When Mr. Blakely came, he did so in his habitual leisurely manner, and he walked into the waiting room, leav ing the door ajar. "Mr. Blakely," she said, haughtily, "I have been insulted by one of your clerk?. He refused to admit me to your room, although he knew me." She paused in a way that seemed to tell me she was looking at him search ingly. "My dear girl," he replied, tender ly, "what has come over you? You're not like yourself, Mary. What is it? And what hai brought you here so un expectedly? "Bid you not hear what X said, Richard? Surely, the fact that I have been insulted is reason enough for the change you remark." "But not reason for your advent, sines you must have been insulted through coming here," he responded, with his usual promptness. "Since when has your wife been denied the right to enter your private room? she demanded. "Ever since she wrongly assumed that she had such a right, Mary. My clerks have their ciders; they obey them. You cannot blame them for up holding rules I niyselt have " framed Come, dear, be reasonable. What do you want? I am very busy this morn ing. The market is very unsteady just now." At this juncture it struck me that it was incumbent upon me to let them know in some way that they could be overheatd, or else to get out of ear shot. While undecided which course to take, I heard what aggravated my indecision. "Tell me, Bichard; had you known I was coming, would you have allowed your clerk to deny me access to your private room?" Mrs. Blakely inquired, somewhat sternly it seemed to me. "Did you ccme here to ask me that?" "Answer me, yes or no!" she in sisted. "The rule is of many years' stand ing, Mary, " he said, deliberately. "If it were set aside for you it would be the thin end of the wedge; my room would no longer be private." "You indorse your clerk's insult?" "I uphold my clerk who upholds the bank's rule?." She was evidently nonplussed for the moment by the fine fencing, for she paused. "If you have any shopping to do in town," he said, "you might come back in an hour, when I shall be free to drive home with you." "Bichard," eh e said, quietly, "I married you, not for your money, but because I loved you. 1 loved you be fore a younger man because I believed I could trust my whole soul to you. We have been married ihow long? ten months; and until within a few hours my confidence in you has been unshaken. You let me into all your secret hopes and fears; you kept noth ing from me. Suddenly I hear a strange' 6tory about a mysterious green-baize door, which no cne but yourself is allowed to approach. I call the cariiage and drive here to, fathom the depths of the mystery which I fancied was only imaginary. But I am more than amused now; I am piqued; my confidence iu you is at stake. Let me see into the room which no other person but you has ever entsied, and I'll go home." "iou are the first person to suggest that any mystery attaches itself to the room, dear," he replied, with a good natured laugh. "It is simply a humble room, where I work too hard to admit of being disturbed at all hours of the day. "Will yon let me see? I don't doubt you why should I? But I am determinedly inquisitive. Will you show me the room?" "Not today, dear, I am very busy." I felt her brush past me as she came out of the room, aud saw her walk round the desks, her lips tiihtly compressed and her head very hiili. The following morning when turned up at the bank the porter met me with the inquiry, Hal I seen any thing of Mr. Blakely? No? Strange! No one had seen him since the bank closed the night before.. He was not in the bank had not been home in deed.it was Mrs. Blakely who had driven down the first thing to inquire bout him; and no one had seen him. "Was he ou the premises when yoa locked up?;' 1 asked. "Can't say; shouldn't think so," the porter replied. "I left the side door on the latch until seven, as usual, and then bolted up, expecting he must have gone generally goes before that, you know, sir. He must have gone. for I ruug his bell again and again this morning." Mrs. Blakely came up to me at this moment, looking pale and anxious. j.ur. 5oyton, sue askeu, nave you seen my husband? You were the last to leave, I believe?" "xes, maaam; our jl nave not seen Mr. Blakely since he put you into your carriage yesterday. "That decides it," she muttered. "Something has happened to him in his room. The door must be forced, Porter, go for a carpenter!" "You take tho whole responsibility of forcing the grccn-baize door?" I suggested. "The whole responsibility," she re plied, and turned away impatiently. When the carpenter arrived Mrs. Blakely led him to the door and or dered him to force it. He smiled grimly, as he looked the door up and down. He sounded it with a mallet, and his law fell. "Iron !" he said, laconically . " 'Tisn't my job; you want a blacksmith." The porter was sent off in the car riage to fetch a smith. When the man arrived, he eyed the door critically and looked dubious. "A long job!" he said. "Break it down then!" cried Mrs. Blakely. "But waste no time. " The smith bared his arms, and, or dering Mrs. , Blakely, the "porter and myself to give him space, picked up a heavy hammer. He tapped the dcor gently in various places until it rang thinner than elsewhere. Then he swung his hammer and struck the door heavily, just in the exact spot, again and again. For five minutes he dealt a rapid fire of blows, and then the door began to tremble, then to shake. Fiuallv, . after ten or twelve minutes, it gave a shudder and came forward, swinging on its hinges. Mrs. Blakely darted forward end stopped. Six feet farther down, the narrow passage another door' ob structed the way. She signed impet uously to the 3mith, who stepped for ward and shivered the leck of the sec ond door, which was only light wood. All was darkness beyond the door.' - I turned to Mrs. Blakely, who stood gazing in wonderment into chaos. "Porter," she said, in a hushed voice, suddenly turning her ashy face towards the light which crept down the. passage from the farther door, "get me a lantern. Then you can both leave us. Mr. Boyton's will be all the help I need." When the porter returned she took the lantern from him, and watched him retreat down the passage into the countiug house. "Prop the door so that it won't fall," she said. I did so, and, returning to her side, took the lantern from her. "You had better not come, madam," I said. "I am coming," she replied, calmly. We passed through the doorway and into a small, dark room, poorly fur nished with a little office furniture and littered with papers. There was no sign of Mr. Blakely. The one window in the wall was high up; its glass was fastened, and the blinds were pulled. "Look!" cried Mrs. Blakely. "Look! A trap-door!" I crossed to her, and glancing down saw a square had been cut out of the carpet, in the centre of which was a ring by which I raised a trap. Looking through we saw a ladder leading down to darkness. "Go on, sir; go on," said Mrs. Blakely, in a hollow voice. "We must go on." , Going carefully down four rungs of the ladder I held the lantern out at arm's length and surveyed the scene. A stone-walled chamber stretched before me like a large vault. In one wall was a low, barred door; in a cor ner was a small furnace. A peculiar looking machine stood in the middle of the vault, aud upon a ledge of its frame rested a row of silver coins. "Go on," said a voice above me. I went down, and, stepping as I thought to the ground, my foot en countered something soft. . I sprang aside, avoiding it, and saw the body of Mr. Blakely huddled up in a broken bundle. "Don't come'' for pity's sake don't comer i cnea to Mis. uiakeiy. uut already she was half-way down the ladder. In another moment she had stepped upon her husband's body aud had shrieked. . "Ah, me; ah, me!" she moaned, propping the nodding beau upon her knees with uenzied tenderness. Bichard, husband! You did not merely meam yon lived your crimes that night and now ! Oh, Mr.Boyton, do vou understand a' 5 this? My hus- dead. This is his secret! Last night the night before he was restless in his sleep, he talked of coining, yes of coining coining silver coins and reaping profit profit. 'You're a liar,' he cried once in his sleep, 'the coins are good equal to the Mint's. The Mint makes profit on its silver coins, and why not I?' He said that, and, as I lay awake, I hoped he merely dreamed I knew he dreamed. But now I know the truth! - Dead, dead! Yes, yes, and if you lived these hands should kill you for the ignominy and shame! Bichard, oh! Bichard, Bichard!" Little beyond evidence of identifica tion and as to the cause of dc ith was given at the public inquest held upon the body of Bichard Blakely, but the police pursued the matter to some length in the hope of discovering the men who must have helped the banker in his secret silver mint. The police found the door in the vault opened upon a narrow subter ranean passage, running to a cottage hard by. But when the police raided the cottage they found it completely deserted. Their theory is that the banker's assistants went to the vault, found their employer lying at the foot of the ladder with his neck broken; and realizing that exposure must fol low, they took flight without delay. Beyond the police.only Mrs.B'akely and myself know the true secret that hid. beyond the green-baize door Tid-Bits. BREAKING THE- SAD NEWS. Railroad Men on Special Duty to Notify Wives When Accidents Occur. "We formerly left it to some of the employees to inform wives that their husbauds had beerf1 kirled,' said a rail road boss, "but now regular men do it men who know how to break the sad news to widows and orphans at home. I did it myself for thirteen years. The company chose me be cause I was fatherly looking, and I stuck to the job as long as I could, but it's wearing work. To go into a home and hear the wife singing about her work aud be compelled to tell her that her Jack's just been killed down in the freight yard takes nerve. "Of course, I had different ways of breaking news. Sometimes I asked what time Jim would be home, or where he was going that night, anything to get started, especially if I never knew the woman. Strange to say, whenever I came near to the- fact, saying I'd heard that Jim wa8 hurt, the women would scream out that they were sure he was killed. Then I let them cry awhile, until they'd get ready to ask further about it. It was not so hard after that. I often thought that the women saw so much sorrow in my face from my long service in the business that they knew what I came for. I tried to look cheerful, but there was a weight in my heart that I couldn't throw -off. "I once called at the home of a young wife. Her husband, au engi neer, was killed at a bridge that morn ing. When she opened the dcor and looked at me she dropped in a dead faint without a word. Afterward she told me that she had taken a nap after breakfast that morning and had seen me in her dream standing in front of her, telling her that Harry was killed. Once the wife I came to warn was making bread. She was up to her el bows in dough. S. asked where Mr. Jones lived, walked off and waited for half an hour until she got her bread in the pans, and then I went back and told her the sad story of her husband's death by a cave-in at a culvert. At another house the mother and two children, neatly dressed, were ready to goto a Sunday school picnic. It took nerve to stop them and break the news. I begau by saying that there might be rain. It was cloudy. Then. I said to the wife she had better not go as Tom might be back from work pretty soon. Then she knew. "I asked the company to be relieved of my job three times before they found some one to take my place." New York Sun. Thought She Should Keep It. About the first thing a well-to-do American family does on landing on London soil is to hunt up the Ameri can consulat3 and inquire the points of the town. Oue of the things most Sure to be recommended is the "Lit tle Old Lady iu Threadueedle street," as the greatest bank in the world is jocularly called. Ladies like to visit the vaults of the Bank of England. They love to see the tons of shining gold and the bales of "crisp 'uns." The other day a certain New England capitalist was making the rounds with his little daughter, a typical Yankee girl of sweet sixteen. The treasurer, who had reason to be particularly polite to the American, handed the young lady a $30,000 note to hold for a moment. She demurely said: "Thank you ever so much, aud opened her tiny purse preparatory to depositing it snugly therein. She had partly folded it when the genial treasurer started and said: "I really didn't give it to vou to keep." Miss Innocence opened wide her beautiful eye.", and as she 'if turned it quietly remarked: "I beg your pardon I mUnndev id Ton : I 1 ': . f , cni V, pou- QUAINT AND CURIOUS- One of the fashions established la Paris iu recent years is to leave bicy cles in pawn for the winter at the Mont de Piete. Experts estimate their value, and those who bring the wheel are obliged to take the sum offered, though most of them would like to take much less with 'a view to escap ing the charge. A European government servant was recently married to a native woman in Samarang by the Mohammedan ceremony. It took place in the mesjid, and it was conducted by the penghulu, but the bridegroom was not present He had given written notice that he would not put in an appearance, bnt he sent his hat, and that was, accord ing to native custom, quite sufficient She married the hat. A mining engineer of Six, Belgium, wrote a little book last year in which he advanced the conclusion that coal mining was first begun in 1113, in the Worm district of Belgium. Now he comes out in a sequel saying that he is convinced that the industry elates from some years earlier than this, according to some ancient records. Coal was first mined in England (or rather Scotland) on the Forth river, and the monks of Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, had the right of tithes in these mines, from the king. This was about 1214. A rat's tail is a wonderful thin. There are more muscles in this curious appeudage than are to be found in that part of the human anatomy which is most admired for its ingenious structure namely, the hand. To the rat, in fact, its tail serves as a sort of hand, by means of which the animal is enabled to crawl along narrow ledges or other difficult passages,, using it to balance with or to gain a hold. It is prehensile, like the tails of some monkeys. By means of it the little beast can jump up heights otherwise inaccessible, employing it as a pro jecting spring. The oldest orange tree in France has just died. It was brought to France with several others in 1421, by Queeu Leonore, of Castile, the wife of Charles III of Navarre, and in 1684 Louis XIV, ordered that it be trans planted to the orange grove in Ver sailles, and there it has remained ever since. During Ihe last two centuries the tree has been known as the Grand Bourbon, and for many years every possible care has been taken to pre serve it from decay. Now it has ptassed away at the great age of 478 years, and many Parisians who knew it well are sorry that they will never again see this stately ornament of the Versailles gardens. A quaint old custom still prevails in the beautiful country on both sides of the Danube, some hundred miles above Vienna, commonly called the Wachnau. At the summer solstice fires are lit on all the more prominent heights of the mountains that give the Wachnau its peculiar charm. The picturesque towus and villages on both shores are beautifully illuminated, and the bridges across the great river are ablaze with a million lights. The most charming sight of all this year was the illumination of the ruins of Castle Durenstein, above Krems, the legendary castle where Bichard Cour de Lion heard Blondel sing outside his prison walls. This festival is now called Johannisfeier, or St. John's fete, by a devout population, but the old people call it" by its real Pa pan name, Sonnenwendfeuer, Solstice Fires. They Tarried Not. The Indians of Mexico know noth ing of the laws of contagion. They display an apathy toward certain loath some diseases which surprises a for eigner. In a recent hunting trip in the Sierra of Pueblo our party of eight was descendiug toward Zaeapoaxtla. We rode leisurely, for the trail was narrow and hemmed in by Indian huts. At the door of one of these stood a woman aud a little girl. We stopped to inqnire the way, when the following conversation took place: "Good morning, senora." A very good morning, at orders, senor.' youi "This is the road to Zaeapoaxtla, is it not?" "You are quite right, senor." "And is it very far?" "On the contrary it is a very little ways." , "A thousand thanks for your kind ness, Fenora." "There is nothing for which to offer them, senor." "Is the little girl sick, senora." "She is a little sick, senor." "What is the matter with her?" "She has the smallpox, senor." "Ah, good day, senora." Forest and Stream. Anxlom to Know. Employer For lunch you will have thirty minutes. . O'Toole And how w ill Oi ate them, scr? TALKING WISE. When the daylight fades away And the sunset colors play O'er the mountain in tbe west -That's the time I like the best; When I've done up every chore, Gatherin' jest outside the store, With the jrood old chums I prize, Settia' 'round an' talkuV wisei 'Lections an' monopolists, Base ball games and fights with flst Naval victories, war on land, Trusts, Imperialism and All the rest! If you'd come 'round You'd eDjoy it, I'll be bound. It 'ud fill you with surprise If you heard us taikin' wise. Golf is what some people like. Others fish or ride a bike; Some play ball or sail a boat; Some'Il sing by ear or note. But us folks our pleasure finds , Jes' lmprovin' of our minds, When the busy daylisht dies, Settia' 'round an' taikin' wise. 'Course, we're amachoors. That's alL But I've heard big men an' small Meetin' to debate fur pay Made their daily bread that way. - 'Twan't no more convincin than What'll pass from man to man When wo folks extemporize Settia' 'round an' taikin' wise. Washington Star. i HUMOROUS. Tommy Say, paw. Mr. Figg -Well? "How big is the universe?" "As big as all out doors, of course.' He I wish I could be a kissing bug a little while. She Oh, well, there might be a little kissing bee, yoa know. Williams The baseball profession eeni3 to be getting overcrowded.. Hopkins .Yes, the colleges are turn ing out more players than the clubs ;an use. "Do you mean to say that you will recognize Aguinaido as a -dictator?", asked the rebellious Filipino. "I can't help myself," was the sorrowing re ply, "I'm the official stenographer." . Mr. Kiddby Who is making that infernal jangle on the piano? ' Mrs.i Kiddby That is Constance at her ex-', arcise. Mr. Kiddby Well, for heaven's sake, tell her to get her exercise some other way. "When a man pays attention to a woman," says the Manayunk Phil-; osopher, "it's generally a sign that he wishes to marry her, and when he doesn't pay attention to her it's often a sign that he has married her." "Freddie," said his mother, severe ly, "didn't I tell you that yon' shouldn't ride your bicycle today, be cause, you . were naughty?" "This isn't niy lucycle," said Freddie; "it's Tommy Jones's. We've exchanged just for today." . "Your hair isn't wet, uncle, is it?,': isked little Tommy. "No, of course' not," replied the amused relative; "what makes you think my hair is wet?" "Because I heard mamma say you had a hard time to kesp your head1 bove water." i Little four-year-old Flossie was looking at a picture book and finally said: "Mamma, why do men hunt' lions aud tigers?" "Because they ire cruel and kill sheep and poor lit tle innocent Iambs," replied her mother. "Then why don't they hunt the butchers, too?" she asked. " Mrs. Newham Oh, John, there" was such a tender-hearted tramp here today! Mr. Newham Tender-hearted! Mrs. N. Yes. I asked him to weed the garden to pay for the dinner I had given him. and he said he was a botanist, and that it hurt his feelings to destroy living plaats. "When I can't sleep at night," said she, "I say to my husband, 'Oh, read me one of my dear minister's ser mons!' And he has not , read live minutes .when I am sound asleep!" The "dear minister" said, of course, that he was delighted to hear it; al though it was not wholly for that pur pose the sermons were published. The Came of His Modesty. The cause for the modesty of the echool boy who gave the following ex cuse for being late is obvious. One morning last week he came in about ten minutes late. "Willie," said the teacher, sternly, "what made you la'e this morning?" Willio hung his head down and shuffled his boots on the floor. "Willie, why don't you answer my question?" "Has I got ter tell?" he whined. "Certainly," repdied the teacher. "Why will I haft ter tell?" he asked. "It is oue of tho rules of the school, and if you want to come to achool you must abide with the rules." "Must wot?" - "Abide with tho rides." "Wol'3 abide mean?" "To stand by, ihat i?, you rmtst obey tho rules of the school." "Then I'll have ler tell or leave tha school?" V--. The tardy Hd unfiled this foot.the'i that. He looked at the teacher to see if she would not relent. Then ha gazed at the scholars, who were all listening for his reply. "I ha I tor wash and wipe therdishe this iijoriun', because my madder is siok an' couldn't do it" 'Ho was.-ex?nscd, but he knew that his life would be in ado miseraUiy-tint rest oi the dy lr tic s.:-V?.?:-i-. . N .-