-THE-
JLN EXCELLENT
Advertising medium:
-J ( Official Organ of Washington County.
FIRST. OF ALL THE NEWS.
, Circulates extensively In the Counties el
Washington, Martin, Tyrrell ui Beaufort,
STNGLiE COPY, 5 CKNTS.
jj&b Printing In ItsYarlous Branchis.
l.OO A YEAR IN" ADVAKCE.
FOR OOD. FOU COUNTRY, AND POR TRUTH."
VOL. X.
PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1899.
NO. 52.
THE TWO
dries her goldeu hair upon the goldea
ti . sana,
Moist breezes steal from over seas to flit
a-by her;
, She soems the.queenllest girl in all the land,
And I, a Heaven-blest mortal just to sit by
i her.
But, though the sun drops kisses from above
I to her,
I A man "must not be ra9h, you know;
Ono simply can't refrain from making love
I to her;
But, then, Bhe has no cash, you know !
:Sho seems a Naiad dripping from her dlp
i pinjr there,
I A Naiad with kind eyes of pictured char
I itiea !
That smile at one from out the gleaming sea
! wet hair
And golden hair with golden heart are rarl
I , ties.
And then her laugh! The laugh of my
1 divinity
Is like the wave's soft plash, you know;
But to propose would be an asslntnlty,
Because she has no cash, you know I
A A A A- .
tWV
r A CONNECTICUT PRISCILLA. I
How She Rebuked
W W W W WW
If anyone had hinted to pretty Mat
tie Woolston that she would ever'fig
lire as a heroine in a story she would
have opened her brown eyes wide in
amazement. She was the only child
of good old Dr. Woolston of Greyport,
a thriving village in Connecticut, and
in the circle of village society was con
fiidered at once a belle and an heiress.
Hair aud eyes the color, of a chestnut
x jwhen first the burr uncloses, a corn
"HyTpiexiou as soft as satin and white as
Tmilk", with the prettiest rose tint of
, (color on the round cheeks; white.even
teeth set in a pretty, smiling month,
. and a figure tall, slight and graceful,
"were the attractions in appearance of
the village beauty.
I But those who knew Mattie Wool
I stoii well were wont to say that her
pretty face and figure were the least
of her charms. She had a low, musi
cal voice, a manner graceful and easy,
. high-bred by intuition of what was
dignified nnd maidenly; she was the
neatest housekeeper in Greyport, and
V 4II her tasteful dresses and hats were
the work" of her own deft fingers. She
'' had read iutelligeutly aud could con
verse well.
v So it is no matter for wonder that
Jfcjdattie had many lovers; but foremost
upon the list, to all appearance, was
handsome Ned Gordon, who was "col
'.' lege taught" andwhose father shared
, . the aristocratic honors of Greyport
with the doctor and niinister, being
rthe only lawyer in the village,
i' The minister was a baehe'or of near
ly 40 years of age, who had come but
-recently to Greyport to preside over
the church where the Woolstons and
the Gordons had each a pew. He was
a grave, reserved man,, whose face
bore the impress of sorrows and cares
.conquered, and succeeded by the se
rene peace that is far above the care
jless content that has never known in
terruption.' He was not a handsome
pnan, but had large, tender eyes under
a broad white brow, and these would
'irradiate his comely lace with a light
. almost divine when he preached with
an eloquence and simplicity rarely
combined. His earnest simplicity
was the deepest, highest eloquence,
. and men went from his church slowly
and thoughtfully, pondering upon
truths that were but homely, every
day facts, but'suddeuly had been illu
minated by earnest eloquence into
jGod-ordained paths to salvation or
perdition.
ji One of these men, young, wealthy
. and full of talent, was Ned Gordon,
Mattie's ardent admirer from boyhood.
Hehad left her in sobbing pain of
,pte-to go to boarding school, had felt
, heart torn when college took him
X5Q rom Mattie and had become
Vnore devoted than ever-when he came
faonie "for good," to rind her grown
to womanhood, fairer than ever.
Tha minister had been wont to say
of Ned Gordon, when he considered
the subject at all, that he "was not a
bad fellow, as fellows go," being sim
ply an idle hanger-on to his father's
wealth, a desultory student of musty
law books when the mood seized him,
.. floating carelessly down life's stre.am,
doing no especial harm by the way,
but assuredly doing no good, either.
Of his personal responsibility in the
scheme of creation .he had never
thought until Harvey Stillman came
to-preside over the white church at
GiJ import, where Ned's fine tenor was
quv a feature in the choir. It must
lie confessed that, under the dull,
prosy teaching of Harvey Stillman's
predecessor, the choir seat had been
a gathering place for much flirtation
and mischief-making among the belle3
and beaux of the village, and Ned's
chief magnet was the certainty of sit
ting near Mattie and hearing her clear,
sweet soprano join his own voice.
I I But before Harvey Stillman 11
been a month at Greyport Ned was nn-
easily conscious that many of his
words were a dagger thrusts at his
iowi aim!- life, and, waking to this
j conscioasf , he also wakened-to
another db-teeable fact, namely, that
attie was also realizing that ..iiewaaliLffiSOsure uefore she trusted h
LOVERS.
THE EOT. '-
She dries her golden hair upon the golden
sand
The very sun is glad to shine above her
so.
Bhe lets that fellow lead her by her little
baud
When wading In the surf, although I love
her so.
Of course, it's true ! she really doesn't know
It yet
I s'pose I'll have to wait, you know,
As I'm not big enough to show it yet
Because I'm only eight, you know.
If I were big I'd give her everything I
had
A thousand marbles, balls and tops and
marry her;
I'd work for her all day and try to make her
glad.
And over muddy placea I should carry
her.
I'd fight for her, and be a soldier, too, for
her.
And everything that's great, you know.
I'd love hr,then.forever,and be true for her
But, oh ! I'm only eight, you know!
O'Neill Latham, in Puck.
A A A A A A- A A A A- A A
Her John Alden.
BYG.H., : '
W'V vw v vwvw&
a more earnest.renl thing than she had
before pictured it to herself.
She had never been a drone in the
hive, but she had become more active
ly useful outside of her little home
world; visiting, in a quiet, unostenta
tious way, amongst the poorest of her
father's patients, doing good in an
humble spirit, but with a sincere de
sire to help, as far as possible, those
who needed her gentle ministrations.
Ned loved her more than ever for
the gentle self-denials she practised so
quietly that only those who were bene
fitted knew of them; but, to his great
dismay, there came a little gulf be
tween himself and his love, widening
so gradually he could not tell where
it had commenced or would end.
fully five miles. - Get in and Black
Prince will soon carry us there."
"But you?"
"My time is yours. Do not refuse
me."
The minister accepted the invita
tion, and before he fully realized what
he was saying Ned was making him a
confidant of all his perplexities and
resolutions, till eveu his love story
came out in earnest words. ' Led on
by the quietly expressed sympathy in
his resolves to enter upon a noble and
more useful life, impetuous Ned, by a
sudden inspiration, . said:
"If only Mattie could know how
much it would help me to feel sure of
her love! I cannot say if she ever
cared for me as I care for her, but if I
could believe she would be my wife
when I deserved her it would stimu
late me - as no other hope on earth
could do."
"You think she loves you?"
Harvey Stillman's very lips were
white as he asked the question.
"I did think soouce. Now I would
give all I own to be sure of it." "
There was much more to the same
put-pone, till Ned, with a sudden gleam
of hope, asked the minister to plead
his cause.
io one nas as mucn innuenee as
you have. She looks up to you as to
a father," said Ned, never seeing how
his listener winced at the comparison;
"and if you were to tell her how her
love would aid me she might believe
I do not always mean to be the idler
she has known. "
"I will see her," was the grave re
ply, "If she loves you she shall have
the happiness of giving you the en
couragement you desire."
But when the drive was over and the
minister entered, his study the quiet
gravity of his face broke up into an
expression of keenest suffering. He
had borne many sorrows in his Ufa.
Death had taken his nearest and dear
est; poverty had laid her heavy hand
upon him;" temptations had assailed
him, only driven back by prayerful
struggles. He had hoped to find in
Greyport rest, after a long battle in
life. His salary promised him an easy
competence and some leisure for stud
ies he loved, without neglect of his
higher duties. But before he had
been in his new home many weeks
Mattie Woolston's sweet, earnest face,
her goodness, her unobtrusive, sincere
piety had awakened in his heart an
emotion he had never hoped to experi
ence. Love had been a far-off possi
bility for happier lives, and he had not
realized that, it was seeking entrance
into his own till Ned Gordon roused
him to the consciousness of what his
deep interest in Mattie signified.
He loved her and he had undertaken
to plead the cause of. another to her!
Thought became such torture that he
resolved to have the dreaded interview
over, to know the worst at once. He
found Mattie in the parlor of her
father's handsome house, aud, fearing
for his own strength, told his errand
gently.
The girl looked at him with white
cheeks and a startled expression, as if
she had received. a sudden, unexpected
blow where she had looked for kind
ness. Her great brown eyes had a
hunted, piteous look that it went to
his heart to see. She struggled for
voice to speak, and it was low and
tremulous when .she said:
"Since you are Mr. Gordon's am
bassador, tell him from me that he has
my most sincere good wishes for his
success in his new life. He ha3 no
warmer friend, no more earnest well
wisher than myself. But I can never
be his wife. I do not love him. We
have been like brother and sister from
childhood, and I can give him my sis
terly affection nothing more."
For the first time since he was a
mere boy he saw that Mattie grave him
only the warm friendship of years of
brotherly and sisterly intercourse,
where he had given the first and only
love of his life. She seemed drifting
from him, absorbed in her new duties
and leaving him but little margin of
time for the recreations they had
shared for years. He was appalled by
the fear of losing her, and yet she
kept him from telling her either his
hopes or his fears.
"She thinks I am an idle, good-for-nothing
fellow," he thought, "and I
never got any chance to tell her how I
mean to buckle on my armor, too, anJ
do my share of work. I am studying
hard, and father will give me a start
in my profession that can be male a
comfort to the afflicted aud a light to
the down-trodden. I mean to be all even
Mattie can wish me to be, but I can't
get a word with her now. Last even
iug she was with that poor, dying
diild of Crossman's, nnd today she is
trying to comfort his mother. The
last time I called she was at the Dor
cas, aud when I do see her she is not
the careless, merry-hearted Mattie of
old. She thinks I am the same, though,
and despises me for an idle good-for-nothing."
Some such poudering was in Ned's
miud when, driving up the main street
of the village, he overtook Harvey
Stillman, going in the same direction.
He reined up at once.
"It you are going my way, Mr. Still
man," he said, "would you let me
drive you to your destination?"
"I am afraid I am going too far for
you,"' was the reply. "I am on my
way to Hawson's plare."
"How fortunate I met you. It ia
"I think he is sincere in bis resolu
tion to make his life more earnest and
useful than it has ever been," Harvey
Stillman said, his own pain urging him
still to plead Ned's cause.
"I hope he will persevere in his re
solve. He may make a noble man."
"But his love "
"I can never return," she said.reso
lutely. "Pray leave me now. I I
am not well."
He left her. OdIv a few feet from
the door he turned and retraced his
steps." He had satisfied his conscience;
had pleaded the cause of the younger,
handsomer man, whose pleasure
money probably doubled and trebled
his own entire income. Faithfully he
had placed before Mattie .all Ned's
pleadings, all her influence might do
for him, and he had won only a steady
refusal of the suit he urged.
Now he would risk bi own fate.
But at the door he paused, for Mattie
had thrown herself in a deep armchair,
and with her face hidden was sobbing
with a perfect passion of grief.
Was it for Ned? Did she already
repent her decision? Irresolute
whether to retreat or advance, Harvey
stood in the doorway till Mattie,
neither seeing nor hearing him, felt
she was not alone aud looked up.
In a moment she was on her feet, and
for .the first time the minister saw her
eyes flash with auger.' j
"Why do youcome back?" she said. .
"Have you not sufficiently humiliated
me?"
" '.'I?" he cried. "I humiliate you!"
"What else is it to come to me to
plead Ned Gordon's love"! Is he an
idiot that he cannot speak himself, but
must make my name a byword by prat
ing of his love to every strauger?"
"Miss Woolston, you misjudge him
and me me most of a'l, if you imag
ine I desire to humiliate you I, who
honor you above ail other women I,
who came, teariug my own heart, to
plead against it for your happiness.
Do not judge me harshly, Mattie, for
my love's sake!"
She had so visibly brightened as he
spoke, such soft, dewy happiness rested
in the brown eyes,, such tremulous
smiles gathered around the small
mouth that Harvey Stillmau felt his
own heart swell with rapture.
"Mattie," he cried, "I am poor,
many years older than you are, and
yet I love you with all the strength of
my heait!"
"And Hove you!"
Simply as a child she told the truth
of her own heart. He was not a man
for any outburst of rapture. Tender
ly he folded her in his arms, saying
softly: .
"Thank God, darling!"
Nobody but Mattie and her betrothed
knew why Ned Gordon resolved to
continue his studies in New York in
stead of remaining with his father at
Greyport; but years later, when he
came back to the little village to take
his father's practice, Harvey Stillman
felt, with gntifnl emotion, that the
good resolutions had not faltered, but
had ennobled and purified the entire
life of his old rival, while Mattie gave
a cordial welcome to the pretty blue
eyed wife who had won and kept the
heart of her old lover.
. There are nearly 130,000,000 Mas
guhnm under the British fUsr.
LOBSTERS ARE SCARCE.
NATURAL SUPPLY DYINC OUT AND
EXTERMINATION IMMINENT,
Fntile Kfforts of the United States Fish
CninutUaioners to Restock the Waters
Alone the New England Coast The
Egga in the Hatcheries.
Notwithstanding the efforts of the
United States' fish commission to re
stock the waters along the New Eng
land coast with lobsters, the anuual
supply of 2,500,000 pounds from
Maine is nearly exhausted, and the
government having become alarmed,
has sent the fish commission steamer
Grampus, Captain Griffin, to the
Maine coast to buy female lobsters
and transplant them at the hatcheries
in Gloucester.
The relative scarcity of the crusta
cean has caused an increase in price
of the canned article in every Maine
town, and the prices now are higher
than ever before.
Fifteen years ago the annual catch
of lobsters along the New England
coast exceeded 100,000,000, and over
15,000 men were employed in the in
dustry. Of this business, declares
the Bangor Commercial, Maine fur
nished more than one-half, but today
over 90 per cent, of the canned lob
sters are brought from the British
provinces.
An old lobster fisherman, who for
years has followed the business, said
the other day that when he began the
live lobsters were regarded as a nuis
ance because of their interference
with fish bait, and often thev were
destroyed as ruthlessly as crabs are
today. The farmers along the coast
would drive down to the water's edge
at low tide and fork them up on their
wagous in great numbers. They
were theu shipped to market and sold
at a ridiculously low price 4 ceuts a
pound at wholesale in New York.
The lobster as a dish soon grew in
general appreciation, and then the
fishermen found more profit in gather
ing them than trolling for fish. Then
the canning factories began to be
erected on the coast and rapidly ex
tended the consumption of the lob
sters. As the indnstry increased, the
canning factories multiplied, until the
high-water mark of the lobster can
ning business was reached in about
1888, when the output of the Maiue
factories was over 2,500,000 pounds,
representing a value of 200,000.
Today the lobster industry has de
clined to such a point that it may
never again play such an important
part in the commei'ce of the country
unless the -present object of the fish
commissiori is accomplished. The
latter established a fish hatchery at
Woods II611, Mass., three years ago,
and since it was put in' operation one
of the vessels belonging to the depart
ment at Washington has made annual
trips to the Maine coast for
seed lobsters to transfer them
at the hatchery. Other hatcheries
have been put in operation along
the coast, but no big results have
been obtained.
"The lobster is slow to grow," said
the old salt, "and then, too they
have so many enemies iu the water
that the percentage that ever reaches
maturity is necessarily small. In the
early days of the lobster industry
only large ones were taken by the
fisherman. These were so abundant
that the small ones were ignored. In
those days a single lobster filled two
or three caus, while today it takes
several oi the average size to nil a
can. Even in the British provinces,
where the canning industry thrives
be-it, most of the large lobsters have
been killed, and the managers of the
factories calculate upon from three to
five lobsters to fill a. can. A fifteen
pounder would be a big curiosity.
Only a month ago a lobster weighing
eighteen pounds was taken near Port
land, aud it was such a curiosity that
it was seut to a museum in Boston.
There is a lobster preserved in the
Smithsonian Institution that weighed
eighteen pounds when it was cap
tured, and those who have seen it de
clare that it was a young one and had
not attained its full growth when
taken.
"Beliable records show that speci
mens weighiug from thirty to thirty
five pounds Avere captured. Such a
lobster would measure nearly five feet
long, iucluding claws, aud prove a
mighty formidable antagonist for one
in the water."
Captaiu Griffin of the Grampus says
he had no trouble in getting euough
female lobsters from the fishermen.
The steamer takes a trip each day to
the fishing grounds and buys up all
the female lobsters at a good price.
The fishermen are much more willing
to catch female lobsters than they
were some years ago, on account of
the high price paid by the government
for them. Formerly the fishermen
would take a female with eggs at
tached, and. scraping the eggs from
her, releaso ber. The exgs were con
sidered as much of a delicacy as shad
roe nowadays.
"The work of catching the lobster
is nothing compared with the hatch
ing," said Captain Grifiin. "The
work of hatching the young ones at
the difierent stations
fir?t of July. The
breads ouce only in
ends about the
female lobstei'
two years, but
she makes up for this less of time by.
ten-inch lobster will produce about
10,000 eggs, while a nineteen inch
one will give over 75,000. It does
not, at this rate, require a great num
ber of female lobsters to produce sev
eral million eggs a year. New Eng
land and Canada make it punishable
to capture egg-bearing lobsters.
"We take theoe eggs to the hatch
eries, where they are kept in hatching
jars, filled with water heated to the
proper temperature, until they hatch
out. The young creatures when
hatched out are less than an
inch long and for a time they swim as
ordinary fish. They are turned loose
when they are an inch or two long,
and then begin their perilous life in
the waters of the coast. '
A large percentage of them never
pass beyond the stages of infancy,
and the few which survive this period
are then compelled to face new dan
gers incident to the shedding process.
Every now and then the crustacean
finds that he is outgrowing the shell,
sheds it, and takes on another one,
much as the crab dees. This process
is dangerous, and for a time the crea
ture is weak and helpless. Every
part of the armor must be removed,
and in the process the animal becomes
weak and thin, and the fishermen do
not consider them fit to eat. Before
the old shell has been discarded a
new thin one has been provided, but
it takes a long time to make it of much
protective benefit.
There are few things in the water
which can overcome a full-fledged
lobster, aud he apparently knows it,
for he does not hesitate to attack one
of his enemies of the days of his in
fancy, and he squeezes and cracks
them with infinite pleasure. H will
hunt for fish and clams all day, dig
ging up the mud and cracking the
shells of the clams.with ease. When
clams are scarce the lobsters lie in
wait for fish, flounders being particu
larly welcome."
THE CAME OF MOCCASIN.
The Curious Indian Original of the
"Shell Racket."
John Tipton, one of the commis
sioners who chose the site of the state
capital of Indiana, and who has left a
diary of his wilderness journey and
the attending events, tells how, on
two or three occasions, he found his
companions engaged in the game of
"mockuson." It would be difficult
now, perhaps, to find one who f:om
memory could give information con
cerning this game, but the late Eobert
Duncan has left a fugitive description
of it.
Moccasin was a gambling game
much practised among the Delaware
Indians, and was borrowed of them
by the white settlers. As originally
played," a deerskiu was spread upon
the ground and a half-dozen upturned
moccasins arranged in a semi-circle
withiu easy reach of the player. The
latter, holding to view a good-sized
bullet, then quickly thrust his hand
under each moccasin in turu, leaving
the bullet under one of them. This
was done so skilfully as to leave the
onlooker in doubt, and the gambling
consisted in betting where the bullet
was. This was called "moccasin."
Subsequently the whites modified the
game slightly by placing cans' on the
table, and the name became changed
t "bullet." It was played so exten
sively among the pioneers as to be
come a- recognized evil, and on the
early statutes stands a law making
gambling at "bullet" a finable of
fence. The game in th"s form has long since
dropped out of use, but it reappeais
a the modem ehell racket," in
which walnut shells and 1i pellet aie
used, and by which professional rob
bers mulct gosliugs who aspire to rob
them.
There was al-o another game, or,
rather, trial of muscle, called "long
bullet" that was popular in the twen
ties. A ball weighiug about a pound
was tossed, and the player who seut it
furthest in three trials was the win
ner. There was likewise, it is said, a
law against "loug bullet," forbidding
the casting of the weight across any
public highway.
Speculating on Death.
8ome of our cemeteries are private
property until sold to lot holders.
Men have grown rich selling laud to
the dead, or to his heirs and assigns.
Calvary, the Roman Catholic cemetery,
where sleep over 650,000 is owned by
the trustees of St. Patrick's Cathe
dral. Greenwood is a trust incorpor
ated uuder the laws of the state, man
aged by a board of trustees chosen by
the lot owners from among their num
ber. All money received goes into the
"Fund for the improvement and care
of the cemetery," This amounts to
nearly 2,000,01)0. oodiawu is the
popular necropolis among the mil
lionaires just now, its 39G acres fill
ing rapidly with mausoleums costing
from 10,000 to $500,000. It sur
passes all other places iu'the world iti
the number, beauty aud value of these
imposing sepulchres and tombs. New
York Press.
An Indian storekeeper.
Sleeping Bear, a full-blooded Ores
Ventre Indian, successfully conducts
a general store at Great Falls, Mon.
He will not cive his own eopU cred
it. b:t tondn it to "i :-"io-) y'-vi y
QUAINT AND CURIOUS.
Mrs. George Quint, of North An
son, Me., has a. fox which she keeps
about the house unconfined. It is as
playful as a dog and apparently enjoys
its domestic life.
i Until some forty years ago it was
customary among the Japanese to vac
cinate on the tip of the nose. This
rendered a written certificate a super
fluity. The proof of vaccination was
always in evidence, though whether
the practice enhanced facial beauty is
questionable. .
A well-known business man of New
Brunswick, N. J., regained a few days
ago a diamond stud which he lost
fifteen days ago. It was worth $100.
He left it in a shirt which went to the
laundry. At the laundry it disap
peared. It had been dumped into the
street gutter with the wash water, and
was close to the sewer opening whea
found. .
An enchanted ravine of the . Ulloa
Valley, Honduras, is described as a
regular weather bureau, with the pe-'
culiarity that it is always reliable.
The tumbling of a cataract down the
side of a mountain gives the ravine
its voice, which can be heard for many
rnile9, aud this indicates by its vol
ume the approach of rain and whether
the coming storm is to be light or
heavy. Tradition says that the ravine'
is the home of a dragon who controls
the clouds and winds.
In the county of Kent,' Eng!aud,
there was formerly a palace of the
archbishop of Canterbury, in which
Wolsey is said to have held court. It
was but a small- place aud is now" a
farmhouse picturesque enough, but
exhibiting no special signs of pros
perity. The other day, however, the
farmer sent for a carpenter to do somes
odd jobs about the house, "and among
other things, to mend the knocker. '
The man took it off and -said, after a
close examination of it, "Do you
know what this knocker is made of?"
"Why, brass, I suppose." "No, it is
jure gold." And it was. Think of
the years that rich prize had hung
there at the mercy of every tramp I
J
The case is reported of a young
woman, otharwise perfectly healthy,
who has symptoms of acute poison- '
ing on auy occasion on which she takes
3,2 gs in auy form aud in the minutest
quantity, the severity of the attack
being in proportion to the amount
which has been taken, states the Brit
ish Medical Journal. Almost imme
diately after it has been swallowed she
has rigors and vomiting, and in a very
short time the tongue becomes parched
.and dry, the throat sore, and there is
severe headache, with pain in the back.
The very smallest quantity of egg, no
matter how disguised iu any other
form of food, will produce the sympt
oms in a more or less severe form.
The symptoms may continue for from
a few hours to two days. A tiny par
ticle of the white placed on the skin
produces nettle rash.
Funston's Queer Bed.
That Brigadier General Funston.
can be original even white in a seuii
jomatose condition is testified to by a
member of the eug'neer corps just
home from the Philippines.
"The mo.-t characteristic thing I
ever knew Funston to do," faid the
augmeer, "was before the battle just
outside Calooean. He had had no
sleep for two day , and was iu bad
shape. He therefore rolled hini&elf
up in some leaves and went to sleep.
Meantime the division received, orders
to advance, but Funstou could not be
fouud. Many scouts had been killed,
and it was feared that the colonel's
curiosity for he was a colonel theu
had led him into trouble. Presently,
however, a glimpse was caught of his
red hair iu the tangle, and later they
found him shrouded in leaves.' As
this is the way bodies are. prepared for
bur al in that part of the world, we
got more and more apprehensive with
each step until, at length, some one
shouted:
" 'Colonel, are yon dead or alive?
" 'Neither,' grunted the colonel, as
he rolled over for another nap, 'I'm
6Ueping.' "Philadelphia Post.
A Feconl, In Widowhood.
A Mexican woman, the Seuora Ray
Castillo, certainly holda the palm for
supremacy iu the number of her real,
genuine widowhoods. She has worn
the weeds seven times between 130
and lSy5. So widely different have
been the causes of death by which her
seven spouses quitted this world, yet
so similar in the violence thereof, it
would almost seem that the fair Ben
ora was somewhat of a "hoodoo" to
the genus husband.
Her first husband fell out of a car
riage, her second took poison by acci
dent, the third perished in a mining
accident, the fourth shot himself, the
fifth was filled while hunting, the
sixth met Im death by dropping from
a scafi'olding and the seventh was
drowned.
As the senora lives iu Mexico she
ha3 not gained the notoriety wh'ch
would otherwise Lave been hers from
ber varied i::ati itnonial venture? ie