if-' - .
FIFTY-FOURTH YKAR.
ORGAN OF THE NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE.
NUMBER 21
RALEIGH, N. C, THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1908.
THE WORLD AS WE SEE IT.
It is refreshing to note that the funeral of ex
President Cleveland was conducted on last Friday
without any pomp and display. It was simply a
private funeral. This was in accordance with the
wishes of Mrs. Cleveland, and we have no doubt,
of Mr. Cleveland himself.
You farmers who are awaiting the appearance
of the first cotkm bloom, think of that cotton
halo, I he first of the season, which w as sold at the
Now York Cotton Exchange on .June 2 4th. Just
think, too, of the price it brought thirty-five
routs a pound. Of course it was Texas. Great is
Texas.
And so the question of Mayor McClellan's plu
rality is at last settled. The recounting of ballots
is closed. Hearst has made a net gain of 863
votes, leaving a plurality of 2,971 for Mayor Mc
Clellan. After all, the recount of the ballots has
established what Mr. Hearst contended for, that
there was an excess of ballots in the boxes over
the record of the number of voters in many elec
tion districts.
&
The International Sunday School Convention,
which met at Louisville, Ky., last week was a
great event. There were present about 2,500
delegates and over 10,0000 visitors. They were
there from the United States and Canada, from
Europe, Asia, and Africa. The addresses were
many and inspiring. The world's greatest Sunday-school
workers were there. San Francisco
will have the honor of entertaining the next Con
vention. A first blush, the fact that the three candidates
for the Governorship spent nearly a hundred
thousand dollars among them for campaign ex
penses would suggest nothing more than it was
thoir own money to spend it as they chose. But
n second thought, it will readily be seen that
there are several reasons why little should be
N'ont for a political office in North Carolina.
Among I hem is the fact that it all has a tendency
(,) debar men of moderate means from aspiring
:niy of the larger offices.
'I here have not been wanting those in all ages
1o sing the praises of divers liquids which give
'elroshniont and joy to the inner man. Cold wa
,(,' wine, stronger spirits, cider, and other drink
ables have received their meed of praise. It is
served, however, for Dr. Ulie Metcbiniffoff to im
mortalize that drink which is not so popular, espe
cially with those who as boys were called from
(he stern diversions of youth to take monotonous
louts with the churn. We refer to buttermilk.
The learned Doctor says that buttermilk is the
long-sought elixir of life-a sure cure for dyspop
sbi and other ailments.
J 11 the brightness of the morning, an old color
td man with an honest face and of tbo anto-bol-
lum type, accosted us on the street. There was
an apprehensive eagerness in his face as he said:
"Boss, what are they doin' down at Charlotte?
Who's ahead now?" We said: "No one has been
nominated yet, but I think either or
will be the man." The old man's face
brightened and he limped away to work, saying:
"Well, I hope it'll be Mr. . He was my
ole marster." The incident was but a sunset flash
from the paling sky of a day that is dead and
gone a day whose meridian sun looked down on
a scene of fratricidal strife, making a scene in
the race of which the old colored man was a type,
took a silent but conspicuous part. The old man's
words, the old man's look, and the pathos which
trembled in the old man's tones, formed a tribute
which should be sweeter to the whilom "ole mar
ster" than all the "shouting of the captains" dur
ing that memorable Convention which has taken
its place in history.
Born March 18, 1837, in Caldwell, New Jer
sey; licensed to practice law in 1859 in Buffalo,
New York; appointed Assistant District Attorney
of Erie County in 1863; elected sheriff of Erie
County in 1870; elected mayor of Buffalo in
1881; elected Governor of New York in 1882;
elected President of the United States in 1884;
elected President again in 1892; removed to
Princeton, New Jersey, in 1897; died June 2 4,
1908 these facts present in brief the career of
Grover Stephen Cleveland who, at the time of his
death, was the first of America's private citizens.
Other Presidents retired from the White House to
pass the remainder of their days in a kind of pa
thetic obscurity, but Grover Cleveland retired
from the White House to live as the center of a
circle of constantly-widening influence, loved by
his friends, and respected by his foes. His word
on any public question had to the very last a
weight unclaimed by and unaccorded to any other
contemporary American statesman. Jn the life of
this silent austere, positive, masterful man are
mingled the softer lights of a domestic experience
which began when he led to the White House as
his bride in 1886 Miss Frances Folsom, and end
ed as she bowed in the most anguished grief at
the bedside of the dead ex-President on the
morning of June 2 4th. He was the son of a Pres
byterian minister. As a bereaved nation is wait
ing by the bier it is pleasant to record that, the
little Bible, presented to the lad, was cherished by
him as Governor and President.
It is always well to consider seriously the state
ments of experts who have a world-wide reputa
tion. Dr. Benjamin Ward Richardson gives this
as his personal experience:
" am recording a matter of personal history on
this question when f say that I once had no
thought of alcohol except as a food. I thought it
wanned us, gave additional strength, enabled us
to endure mental and bodily fatigue, cheered the
heart, and lifted up the mind into greater activity.
But 1 asked it, In the course of chemical experi
ments extending over a lengthened period, 'Do
you warm the animal body when you are taken
into it?' The reply came invariably, 'I do not.
except in the mere flush of surface excitement.'
1 ask again, 'Do you give muscular strength?' I
test it by the most rigid analysis and experiment I
can adopt, and its reply is, 'I give no muscular
strength.' I turn to its effects on the organs of
the body, and find that, while it expedites the
heart's action, it reduces tonicity. 1 find also
that the nervous system is more quickly worn out
under the influence of this agent than if none
were taken. I ask it, 'Can you build up any of
the tissues of the body?' The answer is, 'I build
nothing. If I do anything, I add fatty matter to
the body; but that it is a destructive agent, pierc
ing the tissues and est roving their powers.' Next
I turn to the facts of experience, and say, 'Well,
as I have come to the above conclusion, I will ex
periment on myself.' I did so. I gave up thai,
which I thought warmed and helped me, and I
can declare, after considering the whole period in
which I have subjected myself to this ordeal, I
never did more work; I never did more varied
work; I never did work with so much facility; I
never did work with so complete a sense of free
dom from anxiety and worry, as I have done dur
ing the period when I have abstained altogether."
A MAN'S MOTHER.
Man, if you have an old mother, be good to her.
Tell her that you love her. Kiss the faded old
lips. Hold in yours the work-knotted old hands.
Scatter a few of the flowers of tenderness and
appreciation in her pathway while she is still alive
and can be made happy by them.
Don't wait to put all of your affection and
gratitude and reverence for her into a costly ton
of marble inscribed "Mother."
Don't wait to throw all of your bouquets on her
grave. It's mighty doubtful whether an angel in
heaven takes any interest in cemeteries or gets
any satisfaction from revisiting earth and con- .
templating a flattering tombstone; but. it is utter
ly, certainly certain that you can make your old
mother's heart sing for joy by showing her, while
she is alive, just one tithe of the love and appre
ciation that you will heap upon her when she is
dead.
These words are written for some one particu
lar man who reads this page. I do not know his
name, but. I know his story.
He is a middle-aged man, married, prosperous.
He is a good man, highly respected, and he hasn't,
an idea but what he is doing his full duty by bis
poor old mother who lives in his home and whom
he supports. He supplies her wants. She eats
at his table, is sheltered by his roof, is warmed
by his fire, is recently clothed by bis hands; but
that is all.
lie neglects her.
lie never says a word of affection to her.
He never pays her any little attentions.
When she ventures an opinion, he ruts it short
with curt, contempt.
When she tells her garrulous old stories, as old
people will, he does not even try to conceal how
much he is bored.
In a. thousand unintentional ways the old moth
er is made to feel that she is a runiboror of the
ground, an impediment in the household, an old
fashioned and useless piece of furniture of which
every one will be glad to be rid.
Under this coldness and neglect, the poor old
mother's heart is breaking, and in a letter, writ
ten in a trembling and feeble handwriting, she
asks me if I cannot, say something that her son
will read, and that may make him think.
Ah, if I only could!
If I could only say to him, "Man, man, give love
as well as duty to your mother. Give her the
wine of life as well as the bread. Don't, forget the
woman, who never forgets you." Philadelphia
Evening Bulletin.