AVERAGE r CIRCULATION 1,()00. OMI0Mo o- Place your "ad" with , us and see the results. Vol. 9. fell Diniii, Two Big In the Spring a young man's fancv lightly turns to thoughts of love, hut a young woman s fancy seriously turns to thoughts, of SPRING dresses; for the young woman knows well that the young man's thoughts of love will turn quick er towards her if she is diked out in a dainty UP-TO-DATE NEW DRESS. We have the stuffs that are as thin as rainbow vapor and as delicate as the changing color of a soap bubble. We also have a beautiful line of Duck Serges, Percales, Welts, Sattens and Cashmeres in all the Spring Shades. It would he a pity if you were to miss seeing our line of Shirtwaist goods and lfcady made shirts. C.Co. - We sell Warner's Corsets and , Hosiery, Muslins, Hamburgs, Laces, Belts, Umbrellas &c. You ought to see the latest in Ladies' Slippers they are out of sight. , Now just a word to the Lady house-keepers whose thoughts are turning to house cleaning. We have not forgotten you. We have just received a com plete line of Mattings, Rugs, Floor-Oil Cloth, Curtain Poles, Screen Curtains &c. Linen Window Shades at 25 cents. Everybody knows that we are headquarters for "Coats' Spool Cotton, Ball Thread, Knitting Cotton, Turkey -lied, Embroidery Cotton and wash Silk in all shades. We have added to our stock a complete line of GROCERIES, Crockery, Glassware, all kinds of Snuff, and the cheapest line of Tobacco in the city. We make a specialty of country Lard, and water-ground 5 Meal. We can sell you two large cakes of soap for 5, and four Boxes of Lye for 19. You want these goods. We want 3011 to have them. PRICES : Well, you know, or you ought to know 1)3' this time that there is never a question of prices between us and our customers. We sell so much cheaper than any other house that it gets positively tiresome to talk about it. Come to see us and we'll do you good. Very truly, P. T. MASSENGILL, Manager. Dry Hoots Co., TsT.C. Stores In the other store we carry the most complete line of , Gents j Furnishing Goods, Trunks and Valises ever shown in the town, all the goods are bran new and most UP-TO-DATE lines you ever saw. And our prices will so surprise you that it will he impossible for you to resist them, even if you wanted to. We would like to call your special attention to our line of Summer Clothing which is the most complete line ever shown in Dunn of course, and what interests yoit most the prices are cut down to the very core. We advise you to look at our stock before buy ing. we advise you also to in spect our line of SHIRTS for it is so great, as regards variety, value and quantities. Our prices are so low that it will only take a glance to see what opportunities we are offering. Nice Percale Shirts for 33i cents. How does that strike you? (dollars and guffs. An entirely new line of Col lars and Cutis, we place before our friends. The styles include the very latest produced. A more up-to-date line will he hard to find. Prices of course have received their usual "riz up" so that they are hardly noticeable. THE LUSOEFi IS WORTHY of the very best goods obtain able for his money. That is the reason we are selling our line of Overalls and Pants at such reduced prices. Our bet ter grades of overalls are made as well and strong as it is pos sible to make them and no one can offer any more. Our line of Men's Fine Shoes are absolutely the best in the world. No one can contradict this statement and tell the truth'. The Shoes of which we speak is the W. L. Douglass, sold by no other firm in town. Jcclnccar ! Last but not least is our line of Spring-and Summer Neck wear. Boys, you ought to see it, for we tell you it is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. With best wishes, we are, Yours truly, G. K. MASSENGILL, Manager Gent's Furnishing Department. v 1 Prove all Odd Pension Office Letters. Picturesque Accounts of Woes on Which Applications Are Based. Washington, May 3. "We probably tile more queer letters in our department," said aTen sion Office clerk, "than are re ceived in any other branch of the government service, hardly excepting the Postoffice. Some of them are intensely amusing, too. I have concluded that im igration is not bound down by illiteracy, either, because some of the most ignorantly written letters display inventive genius and cover the whole range of fact, fiction and an Ananias like propensity for lying. Men write to have their pensions in creased. Neighbors write to help along the cause of .a man seeking a pension. Wives write to tell the Commissioner why they ought to get pensions. Family troubles are aired for the benefit of the office. Some times the letters are so odd that I have waived red tape long enough to make copies of some of them. For instance, this is one from a man asking for a pension, after all these years : "The way I got my war in gery was a-ketching of a hog. The hog wor a sow hog and our Captain wanted her for forage. We was chasin the sow and she crawled threw a hoal in a rale fence it war a big hoal and I thot I were about the sis of the hog and tried to crawl threw. I stuck and tryin to wigle out I throde the rales off and one hit me on my hed and nocked me senseless. I do not think the sow had nothing to do with my line for duty fer I did not ketch the hog. , Wish she never war caught." A neighbor tried to do., a pen sion seeker a good turn in the following effusion : "I varily believe that Orville Jameson is fatigued from earn ing his leavin becos he is too fatt ways 200 pounds and have a family 10 fead the nabors think he hav dropsy but 1 no he hav no dropsy becos he would bust if he had inoar insides him than he now have besides wich he are without vitious habits or references. I no he hav solid fatt and vittels in him an no dropsy." "A New England 'farmer, who seems perfectly certain in his own mind that a pension will be forthcoming just be cause he asks for it, writes to the Commissioner in a spirit of vindictiveness against his wife, which seems a little excusable after you read his letter : " 'I got blood pison by beinge hit with a hens eg which was ndt good when you send ray pensen 1 want tne jjeeci maae sos my wiie can t get none on it she throde the eg.' "A Pennsylvania pensioner waives his demand for an in crease of pension on considera tion of being otherwise provided for, and writes direct to the Secretary of the Interior to this qffect : "'Now i want you or the corriesenir of pensens to give me a plais .in your offits then i won't ask for no moar raze in pensen jus now. i can clurk o. k. buti can't laber, or i cud boss the other clurks and maik them stan roun an raze dewliei entitel pensens keape them from laofinge whesperiii in offes ours' in fack akt as janeter or supper- j viser' seeinge all thing goan rite.' "A widow, feeling herself en titled to a large pension, writes detailed statement of her hus band's sufferings and death. Among otlier things she says ; " My husband was terribel bloated. It didn't look like hissel. He couldn't stoop over and straiten up without help ing hissel. To ham, beans, pork, mashed potatoes, eggs, veal, cabbage, his stummach was repulsive. His rumatism was the kind called lumbago at furst. His dropsy was ter ribel. "P. S. When my husband came back from the war I sup ported him on my needle tell he died.'" "A man from Delaware did not think that thb doctor's cer . m ' : X things; hoid fast that which ouimim, rsi. c ; wirt tificate he sent would have suf ficient influence, so he supple raented it by stating that : 'I fust got to be a total wreck from liver and kidnevs then I was . totully ; wrecked by con sumption wich came on me. Now I am totully wrecked by? army trubbles, sprains and hard marching. "Sometimes, like Silas Wegg, they drop into' poetry, or at least they threaten to do so. A Massachusetts applicant in forms the Commissioner as fol lows : "'I am a grandson of the revelision a son of the war 1812 I will rite you a peace of portry I made on myself and ancerter : My mem rays carrys me back to the day when I was stout Al ways able to roll myself about, but when I undertake it I feel the kean pane over Take me, it make me think of thirty three year ago it was the Ene ma thirsty bullet thatpearst me threw the leg it has made me wish that I was dead. I have always been to proud to beg. it has made me dred when I had to walk upon my Leg. . It has gave me sucn a pane, it lias made me so lame that I have wisht that I was dead then ser ten men wrould says, heare sleepes a herow he suffered thirty-three years fore his coun try know wonder we can . weep not only that he was a granson of the revelision that hope make the constetushun not only that he was a son of the war of 1812 that never did rebell the caus of it I never could tell." "An old fellow from the West who hacf been put off the rolls because of palpable fraud in securing his pension couldn't stand being outside the breast works, and so sent this short communication ttT the Commis sioner : " 'I poot in application too bee re in Stated being bline in 1 i dog Gon it. t "Oh, yes," said the clerk, as he put away his copies, "if you go into the Pension Office with a snse of humor you re apt to find plenty of matter upon which to feed it while you are filing away the letters." Ral eigh Post. ' : A Narrow Escape Thankful words written by Mrs. Ada E. Hart, of Groton, S. D. "Was taken with a bad cold which settled on my lungs ; cough set in and finally termi nated in Consumption. Four Doctors gave me up, saying I could live put a short time. I gave myself up to ray Savior, determined I could not stay with my friends on earth, I would meet my absent ones above. My husband was ad vised to get Dr. King's New Discovery for Consumption, Coughs and Colds. I gave it a trial, took in all eight bottlesC It has cured me, and thank God, I am saved and now a well and. healthy woman." Trial bottles free at McKay Bros. & Skinner's Drug Store. Regu lar size 50c. and $1.00. Guar anteed or-price refunded. Seeing Stars in Daytime. The phenomenon of people 4 'seeing stars" in the daytime is not at all an unusual one, says the Westminster Gazette. As a rule, however, the circum stances under which these heavenly bodies become visible by dayli' :it are not of the sort which m ke the sight of thera But to see a rain- desirable. bow at midnight, and under conditions which leave nothing to be desired, is a much rarer occurrence. It was witnessed a few nights ago in Switzerland. The moon was shining in a brilliantly clear sky, and round it spread a circle, in which all the colors of the rainbow gleam ed. And any loyal and litera ry Switz?r witnessing the phe nomenon might well be proud of seeing in Teal life the "strange and wondrous token" which, so Schiller says, shone on the night when Tell and his friends swore the great oath on the Rutli a thousand years ago. . o Beuit&e Eign&tiro of Tha Kind Yoa Haie Always Baugfit is good." 10, isoe. Letter From A. B, Crumpler. Dunn, N. C. , May 4th, 1899. Mr. J. P. Pitt man, Dear Sir : 1 . . 1 1 want a ntue space in your valuable paper that I may disa buse the minds of some of the good people of Cumberland and TT . , . narnett counties wno mav think that T am in sympathy with the Fire Convention that recently assembled in Fayette- and Dunn. I want the people among whom I have labored and to whom I have preached, to Know mat 1 disclaim any connection with the "Fire Movement" or any sympathy for it. I believe there are some good people misled by it and mixed up with it ; and against them or any experience they may have felt that has made them more Christ-like and more useful, I have not a word to say, let thera call it what they will. But from what I have seen -'of the work and spirit of the Fire Movement as it was carried on in Fayette- ville, Dunn and r elsewhere in the State, I am convinced be yond a doubt that the thing is not of God. a Anything that has the spirit of our blessed Savior in it is riot bitter ; but is long suffering and kind. It envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself un seemly, seeketh not her own, is not provoked, thinketh no evil. But a thing or spirit that spends its time and force in denouncing everything and everybody that does not feel as it does or see as it does or who can not subscribe to its narrow views in toto is not of God. Some of those fire-baptized brethren made a wholesale de nunciation of all preachers and people who do not claim a spec ial experience of fire after they were - sanctified and who has not seen fit to tear off their neck tie and cut off their mustache. I am frank to say that I believe that spirit is born of the rankest kind of fanaticism. Paul tells us that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Now if there are any of my friends who have received a special baptism of fire after you were sanctified (I got it like the Apostles and Isaiah in order to be sanctified) and not after I was sanctified, Acts 2:1 2, Isa. 6 :G-7. I hope you got a suffi cient quantity to keep you sweet while you read these lines and make you love me and pray for me always. A. B Crumpler. Spain's Greatest Need Mr. R. P. Olivia, of Barcelo na, Spain, spends his winters at Aiken, S. C. Weak nerves had caused severe pains in the back of his head. On using Electric Bitters, America's greatest Blood arid Nerve Rem edy, all pain soon left him. He says this grand medicine is what his country needs. All America knows that it cures liver and kidney trouble, puri fies the blood, tones up the stomach, strengthens the nerves, puts vim, vigor and new life into every muscle, nerve and organ of the body. If weak, tired or ailing you need it. Every bottle guaranteed, only 50 cents. Sold by McKay Bros. & Skinner, Druggists. Immortal Joys. In this sin-stained earth there is no permanent peace, no per fect rest, no unalloyed happi ness. All joys are ephemeral here, but "up there" they are immortal, and cheer us with never fading raptures. Yes indeed it is labor here, refresh ment up there ; work below, rest above ; fighting a warfare here, reaping the victories there ; wearing the cross and its thorns for a time, and then put on the crown of fadeless flowers and wear it forever in celestial bowers. And then with loved ones gathered there, we'll weave joy's garlands pure and rare; for where the crystal waters flow, no weeds of trial ever grow. Rocky Mt. Motor. Nash County Gold, Rocky Mount, N. C, May 4. A gold bar, weighing four pounds, worth between $800 and $900, Nash county gold, is on exibition at the Planters Bank in this town this room ing. It is the product of a six-days run of the Mann-Arnngton gold mill, operated by Messrs. Camp bell & Lyon, of Argo, Nash county. The bar is pure gold and its value and the time required in getting it out shows a yield of $160 per day at a cost of about $35 or $40. The eastern Apalachian gold belt is on the eve of a great movement, and the eyes of the world will soon be opened to the wonderful richness of the East Carolina mines. Some of the best gold mines of the world are to be found within twenty five miles of Rock Mount, and gold mining is expected to be come a mammoth industry in this section. Within a week the Culpeper mine has developed a new vein eighteen inches in width, and fine gold is visible in nearly every piece of ore extracted. These rich veins make the prop erties a veritable mineral farm, whose owners are Hon. B. H. Bunn, W. A. Campbell and E. W. Lyon. Work is being rapidly push ed and gold bricks will soon be come an ordinary spectacle. North Carolina will always be at the head of the list. All she needs is development. Corres pondent to Raleigh Post. Red Hot From The Gun Was the ball that hit G. B. Stedman of Newark, Mich., in the .Civil War. It caused hor rible Ulcers that no treatment helped for 20 years. Then Bucklen's Arnica Salve cured him. Cures Cuts, Bruises, Burns, Boils, Felons," Corns, Skin Eruptions. Best Pile cure on earth. 25 cts. a box. Cure guaranteed. Sold by McKay Brcs. & Skmuer, Druggists. Paid $300 for Four Inches of Rain. Banker H. H. Pitcher, of Livermore, Cal., wanted four inches of rain. It would mean the saving to him of thousands of dollars in an agricultural way. He jokingly mentioned the matter to Mrs. A. L. Fuller, an ardent worker in the Metho dist church. "Why don't you pray for it?" she asked. "Do you think it would do any good?" inquired the bank er. "Certainly," she said. "If you will give me four inches of rain I will pay the debt of the Methodist church," said the banker. Mrs. Fuller at once went home and commenced to pray. She told other members of the church about the matter and they prayed. The whole town of 1,500 people became interest ed. Two days later it com menced to rain. Steadily down it came one inch, two inches, three, three and three-quarters ! At last, while the town held its breath, the gauge filled up to four inches and the crops of Almeda county were saved. Then Mrs. Fuller reminded Banker Pitcher of his promise. He was still inclined to treat the matter as a joke, but he toed the scratch manfully and paid the church debt of $300. Then came the complications. Mr. Pitcher is a trustee of the Presbyterian church of Liver more, and the members thought he ought to help his own church insteaa 01 ,inc iueinouisi. do he compromised the matter by paying for extensive repairs on the Presbyterian church proper ty. Opinion is divided as to whether the rain came in an swer to the prayers of Mrs Ful ler et aL, but both the church people and Banker Pitcher are satisfied with the result. bt. Louis Post-Dispatch. o f Tin Kind Y01 Kan Unyi Bxzht CUMBERLAND, JOHNSTQN, SAMPSON Large circulation in each county. No. 22. Report on Cotton Belt, New York, May 3. A valua ble report on the condition of affairs among farmers of the great cotton, belt of the United States and of the prospects for the acreage and crop of cotton for the coming season has been prepared by Knott & Closson, bankers and brokers, of Bur lington, Vt. The material was gathered by sending letters di rect to farmers of nine cotton growing States. It was intend ed that the inquiries should reach planters about the time of planting, and this was ac complished. The report com piled from these letters says : The average net price to planters for this year's cottou in the States of Texas, Georgia, Arkansas and Louisiana was 4.50 cents; in Florida, Missis sippi and the Carolinas, 4. GO to to 4.70 cents ; in Alabama, 4?75, and Mississippi and Missouri 4.80 to 4.90. The opinion was universal that this crop had been raised and marketed at a loss to planters. "Three great reasons have operated to bring about a geu oral reduction in this spring's acreage. "First, the unprecedented lateness of the season and ex cessive rains, the latter espec ially true in Alabama and Geor gia; second, the continued and abnormally low price of raw cotton ; and third, the complete demoralization of planters' cred it inhibiting the usual purchas es of fertilizers. The reduction of acreage has reached a total of 17.2 per cent., and this, to gether with the largo decrease in the use of fertilizers and many reports of poor quality of seed, as well as hasty prepara tion of land, is taken as indi cating the folly of expecting a third crop equaling - that of 1897-98. Working Nieht and Day. The busiest and mightiest little thing that ever was made is Dr. King's New Life Pills. Every pill is a sugan-coated globule of health, that changes weakness into strength, listless ness into energy, brain-fag iuto mental- power. They're won derful in building up the health. Only 25c per box. Sold by McKay Bros. & Skinner. American Shoe Pegs in Austria. It is a well-known fact that the fashionable Austrian capi tal, Vienna, is the seat of an immense shoe industry. Most of the wooden shoe pegs used in this industry are imported from the United States, and it seems that this little American article meets with extreme fa vor in Austria. Thus, in 1897, the shoe pegs imported from the States amounted in value to no less than $127,800, as com pared with only $92,400 in 189G. American shoe machin ery is also, finding increased sales in Austria. In 1897 the exports of Austrian shoes were valued at $4,720,000. During the same year the exports of boots and shoes from the United States amounted to only $1,708,- 000, and in 1898 to $1,81G,000. These figures show the magni tude of the Austrian shoe indus try, Ex. G3rmany's New Canals. The German Government is now at work on what is known as the Midland Canal, which is to run east and west, cutting throueh the territory between the Elbe and Rhine, permitting not only the direct passage of shins from one to the other without unloading, but also al lowing the Rhine boats to carry cargoes gathered in the harbors of the North Sea to places far inland. The canal will also connect with other canal sys tems penetrating to the Oder and Vistula, so that all parts of. the country may be reached by water direct from the North Sea. Side canals are to run to Osnabruck, Hildersheim, Peine, Brunswick, Madgeburg and perhaps to Nienburg. The cost of the work is estimated at $38,55G,000. Ex.