Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / Dec. 8, 1899, edition 1 / Page 1
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$LOO n, Yonr 1ml Aclvnnco. "350X1 OOX5, FOIl OOX7NT11Y, POIl TllUTII." Single Copy. Cents. VOL. XL PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, NGLESlBER 1QTI899. NO. 8. t I X THE MAN WITH THE HOK. Rowed by the weight of centuries he Icons Upon his hoe and 'gazes on the ground, The emptiness of ages In liis face, And on his back the burden of the world. Who niiidft him dead to rauture and despair, A thing that grieves not and that never hopes, Stolid and stunned, a orouierxo me i. ? AVho loosened and let down this brutal law? Whose was the hand that slanted hack this hrovv i Whose breath" blow-out the light within his brain ? Is this the Thing the Lord Ciod made and gave To Imve dominion over sea and land ; To trace the stars and search the heavens for power, To feel the passion of Eternity? Is this the dream lie dreamed who slif aped the And pillariedthc blue firmament with light? ' Down all the stretch of llell to its last gulf There Is no shaoe more terrible than this suns More tongued with censure of the world's blind greed More tilled with signs and portents for the soul More fraught with menace to the universe. What gull's between him and the seraphim ! .Slave of the wheel of labor, w hat to lilni Are Pinto and the swing of the Pleiades? What the lonir reaches of the peaks of song - - The rift of ihiwu, the reddening of the roses? Through this dread shape the suffering ages look; Time's tniiredv is in that aching stoop; Through tids dread shape humanity betrayed, Plundered, proranetl, ami tlisiniienteu. Cries protest to the Judges of the World, A protest that is also prophecy. () masters, lords and rulers in all lands, 'Is this the handiwork you give Uo, This monstrous thing distorted and soul quenched ? How will you ever straighten up this shape; Touch it again with immortality; (iive back the upward looking anil the light; . ilebuild in it the music and the dream; Muke right the immemorial infamies, " qrlVrlldlous wrongs, immedicable woes? . () masters, lords and rulers in all lands, How will the luturc reckon with this Man? How answer his brute ouestions in that hour When whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world I low will it be with kingdoms and with kings WiHi those who shaped him to the thing he is When this dumb Terror shall reply to God, After the silence of the centuries ? " Edward Murkhain. THE WOMAN IWDEll THE HEEL. OP THE MAN WITH THE HOE. "Down all the e'retch of Hell to its last gulf There is no shape more terrible than tins," From "The Man with the Hoc"' Look Into that "last gulf," O Poet! I pray tnee, . ...1 !i tl., . ,!., IJOWn, UOWli, iicrc lis newiei tavt ivuun, And find there God help us! a "shape" to gainsay tnee, Mint. nlTriirhteth the fiends. And listen, O listen! For through all the , thunder A voice crieth heavy with woe "I, I am the woman, the woman that's under ,The heel of 'The Man with the lloe.' " She is the begotten of derelict ages, Of systems' senescent the Haw, She is the forgotten of singers and sages Tim itft.citni'i. iif lilut. nml of 1:1 v. The tale of she "Terror" the ox's brute urotner, Can never be told overmuch, But she is the vassal, and she is the mother, The thrice-accursed mother oi such. Look up from that last gulf, thou newest evangel, Thou bulkier of ladders for men. Look up to the pleading, pale face of the angel s That wooeth a Prince of the Pen, And sometimes, a little, tho' half the world wonder, And critics ci v hitrli and crv low- Sing out for the woman the woman that's under The heel of "The Man with the Hoe." Hester A. Benedict. UEN. UOMEZ TO WHITE A BOOK. Havana. Nov. 3. Gen. Maximo Onmfiz Haid to-dav that he had a very large quanity of manuscript treating of the warlare in uuoa irom 1000 10 me date of American occupation. .This he regards as his greatest treasure. Of late he has been going carefully ..hrough his papers, collecting all data bearing on the subject, with a view of writing a history of the revolution, as he has known it internally and externally. "Now that peace has arrived," he said, "it proves to be exactly what 1 had expected, with all its sadness and meanness. I do not rare what people may say about me, though many are trying to injure me and telling lies about ray motives and conduct. All that is immaterial. It does not disturb me, for I have known the ins and outs of the revolutionaiy movement better than any one else, and there ie no use in trying to falsify history. I have known all who fought in the war. 1 have known who joined at the last minute in the struggle and who watched it from a safe distance like a spectator at a bull fight. 1 "One curious trait of character in the tubans has impressed me. The more rVrage a Cuban showed in fighting the ?niards, the less he has done for ' in times oi peac. Yet theminia ace has impelled many a Cuban 'Vreaten the Americans, who are an mely difficult people to move iu (liny. Diplomacy is much more 7 Stiou8 in dealing with the Auier- nv of tnose wno now occupy '.iMisitions in Cuba are convinced Kood conscience that they are &the interests of the island, but are really mistaken. They are J Borvinc the cause of intervention. j though accepted, and even asked will be found difficult to termi bn conditions that will enable them ' i-ansfer their services to the Cuban . hm ..v j.j i ,1 Routine Alley buuuiu uviu m miuu "'"UH-nat they have taken an oath. s "The honorable Cuban should place before himself the ideal of the republic, remembering that every day on which the sun Bt ts until the establishment of the republic is an injury to the Cubans." Candidate (explaining away his de feat): "Yes, gentlemen, I have been defeated, but how have I been defeat ed?" Voice in the crowd: "You didn't get enough votes." Tit-Bits. BILL A HP'S LETTKll. A friend writes mo from Florida that bacon will not keep well la that climate, and that the old settlers say it always gets rancid. He wants to know if there is any remedy for this. Yes, I think so, unless hogs fattened on pinders are different from those fattened on corn. This reminds mo of a war story. Iu 18G4 my wife and half a dozen little children found refuge from the foul invader at her father's plantation on the upper Chattahooche river. There was no white man there or near there save hr old father, Judge Hutchins. There were about a " hundred negroes, moro than half of them too old or too young to work. Food for our soldiers wa3 getting scarcer every day and or ders came that every farmer should be tithed that is to say, he should give up to the government agents a portion of his corn and meat and beef cattle. A mounted detail from the home guard was sent out with wagons to enforce the order and gather in the supplies. There was nobody to resist them, for everybody was in the army save old men and invalids and women and chil dren. Late one evening a company of thirty men came to Judge Hutchins' house aud rudely informed him that they came for bacon and beef cattle. The judge vry calmly told them he had none to spare. For awhile they parleyed with him, but finally demand ed the key to the smokehouse. My wife and children and two other little grandchildren listened in fear and anxiety. They knew that the judge was a fearless man, but there was so many well armed men against him, the odds were fearful, and when he refused to give up the key they said they would arrest him and break down the door. Then he pleaded with them in a trembling voice and said to the captain : "Here is ray daughter and her little helpless children and hero are two oth ers whose mother is dead and their father is in the army. 1 have but four sons and they are in the army. My two sons-in-law are there. Here on this place are fifty or sixty negroes who are too young or too old to work, and it is a struggle for us all to live. I am alone and getting old. I have done my share for the Confederacy and can not do more. Now I know that you can overpower me or kill me and take away the little meat I have saved for tiiese helpless ones, but let me tell you, Captain, the first man who goes to that door to break it down will be a dead man before he can do it." His black eyes flashed as if lit up by sparks of fire and his voice no longer trembled. He was desperate. Lightly he ascended the Btaira, where he had two double barreled guns well loaded, and planting himself by the window that overlooked the smokehouse, he said: "Now break that door if you dare to," and the per cussion went click, click. The captain looked at the door and then at the judge. There was an awfu! silence for a few moments. My wife and children heard it all and trembled. Some of the negroes had gathered at the cabin doora, and old Sam dared to exclaim in a low, husky voice, "Better not bet ter not old massa kill you kill you dhore." The captain suddenly reconsidered. "Come boys," said he; "it's getting late, and there ain't no use in fighting about a little meat. We can report the case to headquarters and if we are or dered back we can try it again, I reckon." Without saying goodbye or farewell they left. That night about midnight the judge called up old -Jack and Virgil, whom h3 knew he could trust, and had the joints of the meat and a part of the sides carried quietly down to the old blacksmith shop on the bank of the river. With pick and shovel the cin ders and earth in the old hearth were boop excavated and a chamber fash ioned that would hold and hide a thou sand pounds. It was buried there and the hearth was covered just like it had been. Some scattering charcoal filled in the space and some was left on top and the black old basket placed where it long had been. With shovel and wheelbarrow the surplus earth was taken down the river bank and tumbled in and then all was quiet on the Chat tahooche. The burial of Sir John Moore was not more silent. In January, 18G5, 1 joined my family on the plantation and not long after the judge furnished us a good mule team aud wagon and we returned to our home in liome. I he day before we left his hospitable mansion he. opened the cache and found the meat all sweet and sound and we brought a good por tion of it with us and it was as precious as gold. My wife says the charcoal purified it and kept it from tasting old or rancid. Now, then, I have answered my friend's question. He must get up an other civil war and hide his meat in the hearth of an old blacksmith shop. Eirth and charcoal are both good dis infectants and preservers of llesh, and if I was in Florida I would pack my meat in charcoal, not dust, but small crushed coal. Before putting the meat down I would powder it from a pepper box with borax. Borax is almost uni versally UBed now. It is sure death to skippers and other vermin, and a drug giet told me that the sale of it had in creased a thousand per cent, within the last five years. When my family got home we found that it was not good to live by meat alone and we had to send down the river a hundred miles for a few bushels of corn and hid it near a mill in the country, because the outlaws and de serters were patrolling the land and taking everything they could find. A good friend brought us half a bushel of meal at a time on the sly, and so we got along. The memory of old Row land Bryant is still precious to us for kindness in those days of tribulation. It is encouraging to know that Armour & Co. have not abolished all the smoke houses in the land, nor drawn our home made meat into their mighty trust Our farmers are generally raising their own meat and bring a good deal to town to sell, and my wife saja that country lard is purer and better than any that comes from the packing houses of the west. Our home market is well supplied by our farmers with almost everything that is good to eat, Beef, pork, butter, chickens, eggs, po tatoes, turnips, cabbages, beans and apples are in great abundance. Of course we can't have mutton, for the negroes must have dogs and the candi dates must have negro votes. I lost eight fine Merinos in one night and my neighbor, Mr. Dobbins, lost three hundred in five years, and quit the business. But with all our drawbacks, our people are on the upgrade. Seven cents cotton has helped greatly, and if our farmers will cut down the acreage still more it will bring 8 cents next year and leave more land for wheat and corn. The southern farmers ought to form a mighty trust and regulate acre age and price. Our own county could regulate itself by organizing and com bining with the local banks. Our aver, age crop is 10,000 bales, and at 8 cents a pound would bring $400,000. About one-half of this could be carried and held by thd m re wealthy producers. The other 5,000 bales could get an ad vance of G cents a pound, or $30 a bale, from the banks on warehouse certifi cates. This would take only $150,000 Even $25 a bale would pay the cost of production and leave the margin for the producer, and this would require from the banks only $125,000. If every county was to do this a 10.000,000 bale crop would jump to 8 cents within sixty days. That's the way to meet trust with trust and defy the speculators Why can't it be done ? Bill Ai?r. Porto ltico Under Military Kale. The report of Brigadier General Geo. W. Davis, commanding the department of Porto Rico, has been made public by the War Department. It contains a large amount of interesting material on the social, commercial and political conditions on the islands. Gen. Davis incloses a copy of a circu lar issued to the inhabitants of Porto Rico, outlining the General's scheme of military government. He calls atten tion to the fact that he haa refrained from making anything . that might be construed as a promise of what ultimate action would be taken by Congress fo: the government of the island, but he says that his aim has been to promote the well-being of the people under ex isting conditions. This he seems to have accomplished, from the fact that a general contentment reigns through out the department. Gen. Davis closes his report with a brief statement as to the great hurri cane of 1S99, and extends his thanks to the War Department for the prompt aid tendered him in caring for the destitute. Accompanying the report is an interest ing discussion on the government of Porto Rico, by Major W. A. Glaseford. Among the suggestions for ref ornr of fered by Ma j. Gla88ford is one that a market for sugar, coffee and tobacco is indispensable for the well-being of the island. He says that a reduction of duties on Porto Rican products entering the United States, and also on some American products entering Porto Rico, would facilitate the development of trade relations between the two countries. He suggests that a removal of the duty on Porto Rican sugar would double the output, and that the same increase would doubtless take place on coffee and tobacco. He says that it would also be advantageous to remove the existing duty on such machinery and its repair parts as are used in the production of these crops. Lumber is also an article of prime necessity, together with build ing material. Regarding the financial conditions, he says that about one-half of the 5,929, 000 pesos in circulation is at present in the hands of the individuals, and the other half in the banks. He recom mends the withdrawals of this currency and the substitution for- it of United States money. The Cost of Politics. .Southern Farm Magazine, Baltimore. The cost of an average campaign has become so great that the average man cannot afford to hold office if he is salary-dependent. The salary he deserves is not sufficient to meet his bills and to make him a living at the same time. The people who pay the exaggerated bills thus made, outside of the cities, are in a great measure the farmers, who not only suffer that ill, but who are liable to drawbacks arising from legislation concocted in vindictiveness or tomfoolery by men seeking to make fortunes at officeholding. The respon sibility for the reduction of the crop rests upon the farmers largely, and it is hoped that the day is not far distant when they will cease to allow the office seeker to throw sand in ther eyes. WHAT UOOD REPUTATION STANDS FOR. Baltimore Sun. in a recent criminal trial, the ac cused persons being men of high stand ing in the community, couiihc! for the defense ostentatiously called high pub lic officials to testify to their good reputations. There was scarcely any limit to the number of men who could have been called to thus testify, for without any doubt the defendants had borne a good reputation before they were accused of this particular crime. The testimony respecting good reputa tion had no ellect upon thenury be cause there was posUive evidence of guilt, ana in the lace oi such evidence ";ood reputation only adds to the Offense committed. Where, however, triere is only circumstantial evidence of guilt, or there is doubt arising from any cir cumstance, good reputation has great weight ,and may turn the scales of judgment. This is the real value of a good reputation. It shields one from the suspicion of wrong-doing, .and it must be broken down by positive and unquestioned testimony before its pos sessor is deprived of its benefits. It is because reputation usually corresponds with character that it is accepted as an answer to unproved accusations of wrong-doing; it is because it does not necessarily correspond with character that it is accorded little if any weight as against direct testimony showing it to be a false reputation or one that has been sacrificed. Reputations are built up slowly, and a man is tried ih many ways and for a long time before his fel low men feel fully assured that he is to be trusted, that he is in fact what he seems to be. His credit having been established, it cannot be swept away by mere suspicion. It is not easy to es tablish a false reputation in the smaller circles of one's intimate associates, nor can a false reputation fe long main tained before the general public after its character has become known to the few. Gossip soon destroys it. But a Ood reputation honestly earned may be sacrificed by one criminal or dis honoraMe act. That good name which hau been built up by years of probity and fair dealing may be swept away in an instant by a single act of iishonesty. Sometimes, also, a;man of good reputa tion may maintain it for a long time after his character has changed, through concealment of his crimes; but the moment they become known his good reputation vanishes. Although it may be so easily lost or sacrificed, goinl reputation is a most valuable posses-' sion, and every man should aim to build it up on the sure foundation of good character. Reputation is seldom highly vlaued until its loss is threat ened. Cassio had probably never thought anything about his until, in a moment of weukness, he sufiered mili tary disgrace, and then he felt that he had lost the immortal part of himself. There are men of character who are so careless of their good name that they fail to establish a good reputation. They do no evil, but their associations are of a character to make men suspicious of them. The young more especially should take care not only that they live upright lives, justifying a good reputation, but that they avoid the ap pearance of evil. They should not be hypocritical, but should be careful of appearances so that their characetrs and reputations may alike be good. Our National Finances. Hon. Lyman J. Gajro, in Frank Leslie's Pop ular Monthly roraovemoer. Columns of figures are seldom inter esting, yet I fancy the two which regis ter the receipts and expenditures ol the United States year by year from 1791 to the present time will, without illuminstion, stimulate the curiosity even of those ordinarily indifferent to statistics. If some modern Rip Van Winkle were to be handed this table, which annually appears in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury to Congress, he would know at a glance that in one instance, 'at least, some great and tremendous event had hap pened in his country s history. Be ginning with gross receipts, Which in cludes revenues and loans, of fr4,71,- 000 in 1791, he would notice steady growth, until they rerched $83,371,010 in 1801. Next year, 1SG2, they were $581,080,000 an increase in a twelve month of nearly half a billion of dol lars; in 1SG3, $889,379,0r2; in 18G4, $1,393,401,000; in 1805, $ 1,805,939, 8 15; and for three years thereafter receipts in incees of one billion dollars annual ly. From then until this day he would see, also, that the Government's ordi nary revenues have been counted an nually in the hundreds of millions. If, after seeing such a picture, one were to tell him that this country, a genera tion ago, suffered four years of strife such as the world had never seen, it ought to occasion in his mind no sur prise. Ihe plain cold figures are suf ficiently graphic to toll the story of the magnitude of the Civil War. The waiter girl knew a thing or two about table etiquette so she sniffed scornfully as she said : "It's not ou custom to serve a knife with pie." "No ? remarked the patron m m- nriao 'iHpn Li-ino m an byp " ft t" "5 " J' Gentleman : "You can't wo count of paralysis ! Norsense "T as strong as I do." " Tramp: "Well, you fee. paralysisof de will dat I'm t: f STORY OF A GAMBLER. "Two friends of mine," Baid the old gambler, "were broke and pretty hungry. One was an indefatigable gambler, the other a man who thought of his stomach before anything else in me worm, iney stood in iront oi a Sixth-ayenue beanery, looking hungrily at a pot of pork and beans from which a waiter was taking some for a custo mer. They hadn't a cent between them, bui pretty soon a friend of mv game friend came along and passed out a $2 bill on request. " 'Thank heavens, we can have some of those beans now,' said the hungry one. " 'We can, eh?' said the other. Well, wait awhile and we'll see.' "My friend made a bee line for a gambling house, followed by the hungry one, who pleaded with him eloquently to gei someining to eat nrst. lie was inflexible, however, and a few minutes later was seated in front of a layout with $2 worth of checks before nim. He won a little and then he lost a little, and every two minutes the hungry one would whisper to him to quit and get some beans. He drew fascinating pictures of that smoking be n pot they had been looking at, but .ae other was game to the core. He finally had about $20 in front of him, and then began to plunge. The hungry one gaeped for breath and finally implored him to give him a. quarter check to put aside for beans in case chey went broke. " 'Not a cent,' said the ather, 'and if you don't shut up I'll kick you out of the place." "The thuat was useless, for the other was too far gone in hunger to fear vio lence. He kept nagging and nagging at the player, who finally got up and threw him bodily across the room. But the hungry one crept back, and his first remark was about beans. With an exclamation of rage the gambler jumped up, cashed in $300 worth of checks, grabbed his friend by the coat collar, dragged him down two ilights of stairs to the street, and fairly hurled him through the swinging doors of the beanery. " 'Give this blaukety-blanked idiot $300 worth of beans,' he roared, 'and make him eat every one of them.' "Then he stood over the hungry one aud made him eat beans for an hour. He wouldn't let him have anything to drink, not even water, and the hungry one's pleadings for bread aud butter were in vain. He wanted to quit on his third plate of beans, but the other wouldn't let him. He made him eat beans until he could eat no more, and then he gave him a $50 bill and left him." The Slttbtowii Bazoo. St. Louis Republic. We don't mind receiving wood at this office in exchange for the paper, but we want those readers who have more wood than money to understand that we do not call pine knots and worm-eaten fence rails wood. If this hits anyone in particular let them holler. The pie-faced jay who runs a mil dewed sheet in this town and calls it a newspaper may jump on us legitimately but he might as well know it now as not that we object to his wife talking about the wife of the editor of this pa per at the meetings of the sewing circle. Let him paste this in his slouch. The Up-to-Date Debating Society will meet at the courthouse to-morrow night and discuss the question, "Was Gen. George Washington Justified in Crossing the Delaware ?" Miss Birdie McGuffin is visiting the home of 'Squire Squilsby. Miss Mc Guffin is from the city and sings like a lark, her favorite selection being that popular ballad, "When the Surging Tidelets Tide." While Deacon Hemlock was attend ing class meeting last Thursday some one entered his house aud stole his large hair satchel. The deacon fays he does not mind the loss of the satchel, but that it was filled with a new kind of green paper, which he intended to make experiments with in this country. He says he bought the paper in the city. Briefs From Illllvllle. Billville has a society for the preven tion of cruelty to authors. Some of the farmers in this section plow them from sun to sun, and then make 'em chop wood by moonlight. The Billville regiment reports that General Otis is not making much head way in the Philippines. But no man can make headway without a head. We are getting ready for Christmas in this neighborhood, and are daily ac cepting turkeys, cows and possums on subscription. For one turkey you get the paper six months; for live possums you receive it one year, and for a good fat cow it goes to you during vg time; but we no longer in exchange for struck five trees. plit them int length wl-V : the fact Ojiri .JS ir HOW BILL. JONES ACTED HORSE. Doxoiio, S." C, October 31 There died not long ago in the Donoho com munity Bill Jones, a one-armed man. Bill made himself famous by pulling a plow one year, while his two boys held onto the plow handles by "BpeHs." That was when Bill was in hiB prime. Bill owned a small farm, and his family as large and expensive. Then ' just before breaking the soil for" planting one spring, Bill's only horse up and died; and Bill could not buy another horse in all the country around. 'The people who had horses to sell told Bill they were sorry for him; that he would certainly have to let his familj starve. There was no encouragement or as sistance that he could get from his neighbors. So poor Bill, who waa an industrious man and a good father and faithful husband, determined upon a novel plan for making the crop. He told his two boys that he would pull the plow if they would do the plowing. The boys ridiculed the idea and tried to disparage their father. Then Bill Jones hitched himself uf to a plow and the boys ''lled" one another as their fathfgjfpranced up and down the field, puTung a heavy turning plow to break the soil. The neighbors came by and looked on in amazement. Bili would not stop to talk to them; but the neigh bors got in a word every time he reached them on his rounds aud predicted that he would not be able to pull the plow all the spring and summer, and that the crop would never be made and 'the family would starve. But Bill proved himself equal to the any horse or any six horses in the county, and pulled the plow every week day till the crop was laid by. When the crop was harvested and marketed Bill paid himself out of debt, paid cash for a horse, bought winter clothing for his family, laid in a supply of provisions, and still had $100 in cash on hand. ' ' When Bill Jones died he was the rich mau of the Donoho community and his family lived in comfort and the boys and girls are married off better than their neighbors. A Speaker With a Backbone. Texas Correspondent of The Voice. Judge Sherrill, present Speaker of the House of Representatives of Texas, allows no liquor of any kind in the house or other portions of the capitol f.der coutrol of the Speaker and ser- geant-at-arM8. Y hue there has never been any liquor sold m the Texas cap itol, yet this fact did not debar mem bers from drinking or keeping it for use. Ofteu in other davs. the Speak er's room and also the room occupied by the sergeant-at-arms are reputed to have been the places where beer has been kept on tap, or where bottles and iugs of stronger beverages have been stored for the use of the members, who were wont to resort hither to play poker. lhis is the order of the present Speaker: "There shall be no drinking in any of the rooms under the control of the Speaker or sergeant-at-arms, nor shall any intoxicating liquors be kept in or about said rooms." . Eleven pages were appointed under cortrol of the Speaker. They accepted their positions with the distinct under standing that any one of them known to smoke cigarettes would be dis charged. Eleven colored porters were appointed, under control of theSpeaker Ihev accepted their positions, all agree ing that drunkenness, or even drink ing intoxicating liquors, would be cause for their removal. 1 w TSta Comssig of Baity brings lov or pain. It's for thel mother to decide. With good health and a strong womanly organism, motherhood but adds to a woman's ! attractiveness. ST".' m m I t "... mmm r jttiT. iiHitiiii ,i in rrrxim i S:ti. , n Muni r w
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 8, 1899, edition 1
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