JBI1A. ARP'S LETI'EK.
ltiches bring a pain when they come
1 Ana m?n leaves a pain when It jtom.
But everybody now should have a little sum,
To brighten up the year at its close.
And bo my wife thoughtful woman
told me that I had better start out
arid see it 1 coumeni tain me gwu pu
pie out of enough to make the grand
children happy. The weather was un
iroi)itious and my old bones were
grumbling, but I obeyed the maternal
orders and went. 1 nertia is a great in
vention. The older we grow the more
inertia we have. When I have stayed
at home a few months, I want to keep
on staying there and it nearly kills me
to rouse up and go away lor even a
week. After I have gotten on the road
the harness seems to warm me up, my
inprtia is broken and new scenes and
people and friends absorb my attention
I " have just returned from Alabama
from a second trip and the welcome
home haa settled roe down so calm and
serene, that my inertia has begun to
work and I feel like I could never go
away any more. The weather was
against me somewhat, but I reckon I
Bold enough talk to run us through this
Christmas. I hope so, for it may be
the last, and then what then ?
There is a wonderful difference be
tween the people of big cities and those
of little unpretending towns. By re
quest I visited Childersburg, a village
of a few hundred people, whom 1 did
not find to busy to talk to me; especial-
ly the old confederate veterans, whose
iflzyy beard? and settled features al
ways mark ILem. I can tell them a
hundred yards off. "And the common
people heard him gladly," sayeth the
scriptures. Just so have I found the
yoemanry of our sunny southland are
my most willing hearers. I love them
and love to talk to them, for they have
neither policy nor hypocrisy. I am
glad myself to Ion? to the middle class
and to mingle with them. Aristocratic
society has but few charms for me.
The sweetest poet who ever wrote a
verse said that Abou Ben Ahdam was
placed high in heaven because he
loved his fellow men. That was his
only credential.
In Childersburg the good people
r gathered at f I e academy that cost noth
v" ing. Infant not anything cost any
thing, and I wa3 most hospitably enter
tained and left with a kiss on the lips
of a sweet little girl who recited a
speech for me that her aunt had taught
her. She was only a little child. Be
fore I left home I had a letter from a
cousin in Birmingham cordially invit
ing me to his house, and said he would
meet me at the depot with a brass band.
Also another letter from a lady friend,
a widow, who said I must come to her
house and she would meet me at the
depot with open arms. When my wife
read them I asked where I had better
go, and she replied with peculiar em
phasis, "go to Fred's."
Birmingham is a wonderful city and
a very beautiful one. A large, clear,
well arranged depot receives you.
Broad, well paved streets and side
walks delight you, and magnificent
commercial blocks astonish you.
Everything has been planned on a
grand scale and everybody is busy with
trade and industries that seem to be
increasing and spreading out in every
direction. Thousands of beautiful
dwellings adorn the highlands that en
viron the city and hundreds are being
built on new streets that are being
graded and paved as fast as it is pos
sible. There are churches there that
cost over $100,000 each. Money,
money, money! It is there by the mil
lion and keeps on coming from all points
of the country for investment Wealthy
merchants from other cities have
planted branch houses there and the
child is outgrowing the parent. All
around this center the whole face of
the earth is dotted with iron plants and
their fires are ever burning. It is a
magnificent sight to approach Birm
ingham by night, and on either side of
every railroad to see the angry looking
flames going up from thousands of
coke ovens and hundreds of smoke
stacks. It makes one think of Dante's
Inferno and Hades and Pluto and Hell
itself. Not very long ago a tramp
wandered out among the ovens before
they were fired and laid down to sleep.
DuriDg the night, when the fires were
all aerlow. he was found in dangerous
. proximity and was rudely punched up,
s and when asked who he was and where
he came from, said: "I was in Birm
ingham yesterday and I reckon I got
drunk and I suppose I am in hell now
just as I've been expecting no water
about here, is there ?"
I visited Ensley, the Southern Pitts
burg, where the leviathan steel plants
are going up. There is a population
now of 10.000 busy people operating
the furnaces and rolling mills and min
ing for coal, but the half has not been
told, and I'm afraid to tell what I think
I was told about the plants that are go
ing up and are under contract to be
completed and in operation by 1st of
April next. Hundreds of handsome
cottages, all neatly finished and paint
ed, are now ready and hundreds more
going up for the workmen who are to
man these immense steel plants one
of which is to be the largest in the
United States, and I was told that by
the 1st of April these plants at Ensley
will require 26,000 men, and they with
their families would make up a popu
. lation of 100,000 people. There are a
cluster of five furnaces there now that
. " turn out 750 tons of pig iron every day,
and these are not the half of them and
the great steel plant is to make 6,000
tons of steel every day. "Mirable
dietu!" Have 1 got these figureu down
right. I made some notes on the back
of an envelope and that's the way they
read. I know that the 2b,vw opera
tives is right, though another man said
20,000. Not long ago I retold a story
that a friend told me about his hunting
expeditions on the Pan Handle region
just after the civil war, and how he and
hi? companions camped in an old cabin
one night and the wolves came down
. from the mountains and besieged them,
and how they shot at them all night
through the craca between the logs
and killed hundreds of them, and as
fast as they killed them the pack of
hungry varmints wouli jump on the
dead ones and eat them all up all ex
cept the hair and bones and bow the
wolves left at daybreak, and after they
were all gone these hunters went out to
see how many they had killed. They
never found a single- wolf, but the
ground for three acres around the cabin
was covered throe feet deep in ,hair.
. i IT.
That's what I thought he said ana l re
told it that way. Not long after this a
mutual friend told me that my hunter
friend was hurt at me for exaggerating
the story, for he declared that he told me
that the" ground was covered two and a
half feet dep in hair, ard I had, with
out any provocation, added, a nan tool
to it. And so to keep the peace I
agreed to take oft that half foot and
have ever since done so when I repeat
ed the hunter a story. It is a sore
temptation to us all to make a story a
lUfU KWer when we retell it and we
"""BO
ought to be very careful on that line
And so I fell very cautious about re
tailing the magnitude of things at Ens
ley. But my eyes did not deceive me
and I saw solid steel billets that weighed
6,000 pounds each piled up and cross
piled like great logs of wood, and I saw
the men molding them from the fiery
furnaces. The men had on large blue
p.s and visors, for it is awful to
Innk unon the dazzling heat that glows
from the caldron of liquid steel. These
rnldrons were not tapped from the botr
torn, but were turned up at an angle of
45 degrees, so that they would overflow
like water from a wash bowl, and let
the top of the lava run into the upright
molds. These huge molds were ar
ranged perpendicular on a little train of
cars that was moved siowiy Dy electrici
ty, and as fast as one was filled another
took its place. Oh, it was grand and
fearful. These caldrons were lifted up
and careened by great rams that looked
like immense, cannon. But I forbear.
The huge leviathans all around me
made me dizzy and I begged my friends
to let me go home, for my amazement
was tired. Now just to think of the
wire department, where one of these
great billets was reheated and started
through the great rollers and was
squeezed smaller and smaller as it went
on through hundreds of them till it was
reduced to wire steel wire of all sizes,
even down to silver steel- wire that was
small enough to make the bows to a
pair of spectacles What a wonderful
thins' is the brain of a man? I could
tell more wonderful things about Enb
ley, but I remember that during the
civil war, when confederate money had
flooded the south and everybody had a
hat full or a bag full, I asked a treasury
official how much had been issued, and
he looked dazed for a moment and
said it was either three hundred mil
lion or three thousand million, he
wasn't certain which. And so I will
take off the half foot.
Birmingham has been accustomed to
speak of Ensley as one of its suburbs,
its pet, its cub," but Ensley is already
putting on Pittsburg airs and talks of
taking in Birmingham within the year
and calling herselt the "Greater tna
ley," for the parent city has only 1 5,000
people
I wa3 going to write about Tuscaloosa,
that sits high on the banks of the Black
Warrior, the Athems of Alabama, the
home of the university and the col
leges, the alma mater of culture and
refinement, the druid city, the historic
capital of the state up to 1844. I was
going to relate something about the
destruction of its beautiful university
buildings by the federal army, and
their reconstruction on a tar more
magnificent scale. 1 wished to say
something about its splendid organiza
tion, its teamed and efficient faculty,
its museum, the largest in all the south
and its magnificent library. It wished
to make favorable mention of the Stil
man institute, where negro students
are studying theology and preparing
for the white man s methods of minis
terial service, and to tell about the two
negroes from Africa who are there, and
who are the genuine sons of negro
princes, whom the missionaries have
converted to Christianity. But this
letter is already too long and so I will
suspend. Bill Arp.
THE hOUTH'S DISCOVERY.
A Knotty Problem.
Charlotte Observer.
The case of McNeely vs. the commis
sioners of Morganton, recently decided
by the Supreme Court, presented one of
the knottiest problems, we opine, ever
submitted to jury and judges. It ap
pears that the town was dry, when an
election was held and it voted wet.
Thereupon J. H. McNeely opened a
barroom. Another election was held
and the vote was a tie. It was sought
to shut McNeely up. He said no, the
town was wet and it required a major
ity vote to change the status a tie vote
didn't do it. The commissioners, on
the other hand, said that whenever at
any election a majority failed to vote
for license the town became dry. lhe
Supreme Court sustained the conten
tion of the commissioners.
Solution, of the Question as to How ho
Great Supply of Raw Cotton Can be
Turned to Advantage.
Richmond Times.
The Southern people are makiDg a
discovery. For years the cotton plant
ers of the" South attempted to bring1
which the supply of raw cotton should
be kept within prescribed bounds. They
said that when the crop was short the
price was high and that when the crop
was abundant the price was low. There
fore, they argued that the way for the
Southern planters to help themselves
was to make short crops every year and
so keep the price up. But what a short
sighted policy that was! The South was
producing an average of about 10,000,
000 bales of cotton a year, giving her
an enormous supply of the cheapest
fabric in the world and giving her
practically a monopoly of the cotton
industry. let, it was seriously pro-i
posed to reduce the product and to in
crease the cost of this great staple. All
sorts of plans were devised; luckily for
the south, they all failed. The planters
kept on growing cotton in large supply
and while there has been an advance in
the price of raw cotton, it is still cheap
and cheap enough for all practical
purposes.
It is proverbially said that necessity
is the mother ot invention, and bo as
the Southern planters were unable to
devise any means which would reduce
the cotton crop from year to year, at
tention was turned in another direction.
The question thee arose as to how the
South could turn this great supply oi
raw cotton to advantage. Mr. D. A.
Tompkins, of Charlotte, N. C, a large
manufacturer of cotton, blazed the way.
He toid the southern planters that the
worst thing that could happen to the
South, in a material way, would be a
short Bupply of raw cotton at a high
price. That what the bouth needed,
above all things, was an abundant
supply of cheap cotton as furnishing
the basis for great industral development
Take your raw cotton, said Mr. Tomp
kins, and turn it into cotton cloths, and
so double and quadruple its value. In
short, Mr. Tompkins said that the
solution of the problem was for the
South to establish cotton mills here,
there and everywhere and turn its raw
cotton into the finished product.
As eoon as The Times heard Mr.
Tompkins on that subject it declared
forthwith that here was the solution of
the problem. Tompkins made the dis
covery and while, like all great discover
ers, he wa8 laughed at in the beginning,
tie Southern people are now rapidly
realizing that Tompkins was right.
The New Orleans Picayune reviews
this whole subject in a well-considered
article, and says that the thing for the
South to do is to manufacture at home
the greater part of its surplus cotton.
It says that the question was recently
discussed at a meeting of the Press Club
of that city, and that it was there shown
that a crop of cotton which required
2,800,000 laborers to grow and get
ready for market brought $246,000,000,
or a wage of $90 to each hand for a
year's work. But this cotton was spun
and woven by 1,000,000 persons, who
got an average each of $500 for a year's
work. The result was that only $246,
000,000 was received from the sale of
the raw cotton, while more than double
that amount was paid to the labor that
spun and wove the cotton, and yet the
spinning and weaving were done out
side the States where the cotton was
grown. ' "Now," adds our contem
porary, "if that cotton were spun and
woven in the Southern States, not only
would $246,000,000 paid to the pro
ducers of the raw staple have remained
in the Southern States, but $500,000,000
more, paid for manufacturing outside
those States, would also haye remained
to enrich the Southern people, who
would have received a3 their return for
a single crop of cotton the enormou8
sum of $746,000,000."
This is a perfectly pain proposition,
in will ne be benentea oy iurmsning
the cheap material for this great manu
facturing industry. . Only let the
Tompkins idea be carried out and the
farmer will very soon understand where
the advantage to him comes in. If the
South should manufacture practically
all the cotton which she produces, she
would be the most prosperous section
in this country, and if bo, it g .es with
out saying that the farmer would get
his full share of the prosperity which
should come. We might explain in
detail, but it is not necessary. The
general proposition carries with it its
own conclusion.
ST AXIS flfiWS.
Five cadets have been expelled from
the Bingham School at Asheville for
drunkenness. - ,
A movement is on foot to organize a
stock company for the purpose of man
ufacturing wagons in Mooresville.
The reporta of the North Carolina
corporation commission, soon to be
issued, will show that 108 miles of rail
road were built during the fiscal year,
wnicn is a considerable increase over
the previous twelye months.
A deal has been made by which the
Spnngvale cotton mill of Springvale
Me.-, will be moved to a point near
Hickory, and located on the water
power owned by E. L. Shuford. The
Springville mills is capitalized at $135-
000 and operates 7.500 soindles and
200 looms.
GENERAL NEWS.
The company which is building the
new Cullomee mill in Yadkin county,
haye in contemplation already the erec
tion of a second mill even before the
first one is equipped. The second mill
will be located in Kowan county, not far
from Salisbury, where the company has
secured a hne water power.
A mortgage deed of the Aberdeen
and Bockfish Railroad to the Mercan
tile Trust and Deposit Company of
Baltimore is being recorded in Cumber
land and Moore counties. It has
authority to issue $Tu000 of 6 per cent.
bonds, receiving $2,500 for each mile
'jUllt.
W. H. Gilbert, bankrupt hardware
merchant from Winston, who fled to
California, has formally declared to
United States Commissioner Peacock
that he will no longer resist the legal
effort to send him to North Carolina for
trial on the indictment charging him
with having concealed a portion of his
assets with intent to defraud his creditors.
The supreme court gives J. J. Jeffer
son, the assassin of Captain Calvin
tsarnes, from Wilson county, a new
trial, on the ground that Barnes's dying
statement to his little son, "Ned, have
Methodists and Baptists.
Chester and fjenoir Railroad to
tended South and West.
be Ex-
li ALE 1(7 H, JN. c, Dec. "Zo. lhe new
officers of the old Chester and Lenoir
Narrow Gauge Bailroad made a trip
over it last week. They say the com
pany which purchased it (as yet un
known here) has all the money needed
to extend the road, make part of it
standard gauge and bring it to large
proportions. They say the . plan is to
extend it on the one hand from Chester
to Charleston and on the ether from
Lenoir to the Blaefield eoal mines in
West Virginia. Work on the latter end
ts to begin next month. It is said the
gauge of the 22 milea between Hickory
and Lenoir will be changed to standard
by April 1. . This will enable it to get
supplies over the Southern Railway,
which it crosses at Hickory. It will
pass the Cranberry iron mine. There
are people who believe the Seaboard Air
Line is the real owner of the road. A
gentleman who has large business rela
tions with the Seaboard Air Line inti
mates his belief to that effect.
The Biblical Recorder this week quotes
Rev. J. E. White as sayiDg that durhag
the past year the Baptists in North Car
olina have raised $36,517.15 for mis
sions, divided thus: State Missions,
$20,074.98; Home Missions, $5,768.20;
Foreign Missions, $10,673.67.
The Methodists, he says, raised a
total of $34,144.70, divided into $21,
331.71 for Foreign Missions and $12,
812.99 for Home Missions.
The Recorder goeB on to say :
"The Methodist system is thorough
and to a degree efficient, but it is expen
sive. For support of Bishops arid Pre
siding Elders they contribute more thau
$25,000. The total expense of admin
istration, oversight, etc., in our North
Carolina Baptist work last year was $4,-
000. But of course the Presiding El
ders are more than administrators and
leaders, they are also missionaries after
a certain order.
"It is clear that while the Methodists
excel in gifts to Foreign Missions, the
Baptiste are far ahead in efforts to re
deem the waste places in our own
State."
Jefferson arrested," was supposition and
not fact. Justice Montgomery, in de
livering the opinion, expressed great
surprise that the solicitor admitted the
statement. The new trial iB granted on
the further ground that the jury in its
verdict sad ' 'guilty of murder as charged
in the bill," while it should have said
of murder in the hrst or second degree,
Walter Cotton, the desperate negro
murderer who was to have been hanged
January 12, for the murder of Charles
Wyatt, a merchant in the suburbs of
Portsmauth, several months ago, walk
ed out of the county jail about 5 o'clock
Tuesday morning, despite the presence
of J. Saunders, the night death watch
in the cell, and has apparently made
good his escape. Saunders was asleep
in a rocking chair. Cotton, who had
in some way niea away two aiiegea
bu rglar proof steel bars of his cell, took
the oveicoat and cap of the death watch
and stole away without awakening him.
The Prize Composition on Pants.
The following composition by a little
girl won e prize of a fruit cake, offered
by a school teacher m the .Boston cook
ing school:
Pants are made for men and men are
made for pants. Woman was made
for pants. When a man pants for a
woman, and a woman pants for a man,
they are a pair of pants. Such pants
don't last. Pants are like molasses.
they are thinner in hot weather and
thicker in cold. The man in the moon
changes his pants during an eclipse.
Men are mistaken in pants. Such mis
takes make breeches of promise. There
has been much discussion as to whether
pants are singular or plural. " Seems to
us when man wear pants it is plural and
when they don't wear any it is singular.
Men get on a tear in their pants and its
all right, but when the pants get on a
tear it's all wrong.
B'ifty If ears in a Caie.
Chasing a bear into the dense woods
of Pike county, Pennsylyania, a few
miles from Dingmaa, a party of hunt
ers came across a cave. On investiga
tion they found it inhabited by Austin
Sheldon, who for fifty years has occu
pied it as his home lhe man waa
sick, but refused aid, saying he was well
able to care for himself. After much
persuasion, Sheldon said:
"Here I have lived for years and here
I here I hope to die. I want no other
company than these mountains and
woods give me. All I ask of my fellows
is that thev will leave me to follow in
peace my own desires."
When young Sheldon was married,
his bride died after a iiw weeks and
he left the world. Sheldon says he
comes from Connecticut and his people
are in good circumstadces. He lives
mostiv on vegetables and c'ickena
raised by himself.
The Filipinos are reported to have
placed in Europe a large order . for
artillery.
The Duke of Westminister, who was
the richest man in England and was
said to be the richest landowner in the
world, is dead.
The Senate has connrmed the nomi
nations of Fitzhugh Lee and Joseph
Wheeler to be brigadier generals in the
regular army.
Adjutan-Gener dCorbin estimates that
the fund for the family of the late Gen
H. W. Lawton already amounts to $30,
000.
Gen. Joe Wheeler is said to be dis
satisfied with the duty assigned him in
the Philippines and will return to the
United States if he is given permission
The city council of Ocala, Fla., has
placed a tax of $1 on all telephone and
telegraph poles in that city's limits and
also a tax of half a cent a yard on
wires.
A Republican member of the House
of Representatives says ex-Speaker Reed
la not missed by his party, and that
Speaker Henderson will make a very
successful presiding officer.
There is a renewal of the talk of
bringing forward ex-Senator Gorman as
a rival of Mr. Bryan for the Democratic
Presidential nomination. Mr. Gorman's
record is said to be against him, how-
eyer, and it is not believed he could se
cure the nomination.
Governor Candler haa signed the bill
prohibiting sleeping car companies op
erating in the State of Georgia from
furnishing berths to negro passengers,
except in coaches used especially for
the accommodation of negroes. The
measure is now a law.
William Plank, of Muncie, Md., had
a startling experience while hunting.
He had some looBe cartridges for a re
volver in his coat pocket, with some
smoking tobacco, and in filling his pipe
loaded it with a cartridge. The ammu
nition exploded, shattered the bowl of
the pipe, and the bullet cut a furrow
through his left cheek, inflicting a
slight wound.
'Gip," the big elephant in Fore-
paugh and Sells circus, which was in
North Carolina several years ago, killed
his keeper at Columbus, Ohio, last
week. The elephants were being led
into the ring at their winter quarters
for their daily training when "Gip"
became unruly, threw the keeper upon
the ground and ran his tusk through
him. On the end of the tusk was a
brass ball six inches in diameter.
Willie's Dream.
Papa (at the breakfast table) Willie
my boy, why are you looking so
thoughtful? Are you not feeling well?
Willie (very seriously) Yes. papa,
but I had a strange dream this morniDg.
Papa Indeed ! What was it ?
Willie I dreamed, papa, that I died
and went to heaven, and when St.
Peter met me at the gate, instead of
showing me the way to the golden
streets, as I expected, he took me -out
into a large field, and in the middle of
the field there waa a ladder reaching
away up into the sky and out of sight.
Then St. Peter told me that heaven was
at the top, and that in order to get there
I must take the big piece of chalk he
gave me and elowly climb the ladder,
writing on each rung some sin I had
committed.
Papa (laying down his newspaper)
And you did finally reach heayen, my
son?
Willie No, papa, for just as I was
trying to think something to write on
the second rung I looked up into the
sky and saw you coming down.-
Papa And what was I coming down
for, pray?
Willie That b ust what I asked you
papa, and you told me you were going
for more chalk.
Hoed-Up Comforts.
Young People.
"Impatient people," says Spurgeon,
"water their misery and hoe up their
comforts." Oh, the pity of it and "pity
tis, 'tis true.
Let young people be on guard against
such woeful gardening as this, and take
heed betimes before the first mischief is
done. Sometimes a misery grows up
in tne nignt. i ne . hot sunshine of a
cheerful spirit might wither it at once;
but it instead there is weeping and be
wailing over it, these drops of impa
tience sprinkle it and quicken it into
fresh vigor and give it longer life. A
merry heart acts like a burning glass
upon misery and scorches it beyond
recovery many a time. It often hap
pens that one evil spirit does double
wrong, and so it comes about that im
patie: ce which waters miseries, also
hoes up comforts. It will not give them
time to grow, but digs hastily about
them without faith and hope enough to
wait for their natural development,
pernaps even doubting that thev are
there, taking the ruinous hoe to see
Beware of such watering and hoeing in
the heart-garden and along lite s way
side, where flowers and fruits and
wholesome herbs must take their time
to grow.
North Carolina Leads.
Boston, Dec. 27. The number of
textile milla constructed or contemplated
in the United States for the last half of
1899, as reviewed by The American
Wool and Cotton Reporter, is 183
against 116 for the first half of the year.
This makes a total of 299 mills for the
year, against 262 for 1898, and 155 for
1897. The South still leads in the new
mill construction, with a gain of 14
mills over the number for the first of
the year. The North has shown a
greater increase, having an accession of
53 over the 25 reported the first six
months cf the year.
North Carolina, as usual, leads the
list, with a total of 41. Georgia comes
second, with a tital of 21. Pennsyl
vania shows 19; South Carolina 16,
Alabama 16; Massachusetts 13; New
York 9; Rhode Island 8; Maine 8;
Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia
each; Texas 5; Connecticut, Lousiana
and New Jersey 3 each; Ohio 3; Illinois,
Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire,
New Mexico, North Dakota ana Ver
mont 1 each.
The Editor's Escape.
The editor of The Bincombe Pioneer
is what may be termed "a good one"
every inch of him. This is the way he
talks to the people:
"We were fired at twice last night as
we were seated in our sanctum peacefully
devouring cold turkey with cranberry
sauce and two leaves of home-made
bread, sent us by Sister Tripp, who has
been a subscriber to our paper for twen
ty five years ever since she lost her
third husband, who was one of the best
men in this country, and stood six feet
four in the woolen socks she knitted for
him with her own hands, which are
never weary in well-doing, and which
will one, day receive a crown of glory in
lands hfcyond the sky. Well, as we
said, before, we were fired at twice last
nightjbut both shots missed us and
only filled oar foreman and the yellow
dg fey which he was distinguished.
Verilv the Lord will Provide!"
HAPPY NEW YEARS
"Happy New Tear!" Like a bell,
Peals the happy, joyous call.
"Happy N e w Year " Louder yet !
"Happy New Year one and all !"
As the cheery cry rings out
Winter storms are all forgot ;
Gloomy skies are summer blue ;
Tears no more life's pages blot.
Hope again with tints of rose
Faints our castles in the air,
Happy thoughts drive care awav,
Ana happy smiles our faces wear.
"Happy New Year !'-' once again
Falls upon our waiting ear.
Childish is the voice that call:,,
Joyous, fearless, sweet and clear.
Years slip off, and youth anew
Fires our blood like mellow wine.
Age and honors count for naught
Sixty's sadder far than nine !
"Happy New Year !" Speed the wish !
Send it thrilling through the air
Till every heart beats perfect time
To "Happy New Year !" everywhere !
Hard to Please.
A poor but worthy young man ft It
the chill of winter enter his bones and
stopped in one of the minor clothing
stores of this city to iuvest in an over
coat. He wanted something good, but
not too expensive. The shrewd old
proprietor of this establishment showed
him one coat after another, and the
young man at last decided upon one
which he took to the light for closer
inspection. There were numerous
little holes revealed, and the young man
said: . -
"Look here, thisoyercoat'sgotmot" .s
in it."
"Py gracious, man! Vat you egsnect
to find in a five-dollar overcoat canary
birds?"
The State Agricultural and Mechani
cal College will have a new and special
feature next year in the shape of short
courses in agriculture, at which cattle
feeding, grafting, hotbed and green
house propagation, poultry raising,
staple crops,-iudging cattle, etc., will be
taught.
Senator Butler, in speaking of there
port that he is to be the candidate for
Governoi, says that be will be a candidate
for re-election to the Senate and not for
gubernatorial honors.
Only Nine Now.
The minister dropped in to pay a
social call in the course of the after
noon, and while he waited for the ladies
to present themselves in the sitting
room he was entertained by Miss Mai
sie.
Miss Maisie was a Sunday school
pupil, and just to sustain the conversa
tion the minister undertook to pro
pound a few questions to sound the lit
tle lady 8 Biblical education.
"iiow many commandments are
there ? he began.
"Nine, was the prompt reply.
"No, Maisie. Ten,you know."
"Oh, I know there used to be ten,
but there's only nine now."
"Why, how's that ?" -
"I heard ma say last night that papa
LJKIU Ul U KJLKS JM. IU Will lUVU
"Something equally as Good."
Charlotte Observer.
The Concord Times calls our atten
tion to a fact which we had overlooked,
viz : that experiments recently conduct
ed by the New York Central Railroad in
the endeavor to lay the dust along its
road by sprinkling the bed with oil have
failed. We are grieved to learn thia
but not wholly suprised Our friend
Sherrill, of The Times, correctly states
that this oil treatment waa not The Ob
server's first choice of a method of mak
ing good roads, but that its preference
is the building of a shed over them.
Under thia la'ter plain failure is impos
sible, and while the failure of the oil
treatment is to be regretted, it at least
clears the way for "something equally
as good."
Orlential Humor.
Some of th8 similes used by oriental
advertisers are as remarkable for humor
and naivete aa even those of the im
mortal Sam Weller. Here are one or
two specimens which have recently ap
peared in eastern newspapers :
"Goods dispatched as expeditiously as
a cannon ball."
'Rarcels done up with as much care
as that bestowed on her husband by a
loving wife."
"Paper tough as elephant's hide."
"The print of our books ia clear as
crystal, the matter elegant as a singing
girl." -
"Customers treated as politely as by
the rival steamship companies."
"Silks and satin e smooth aa a lady's
cheek and colored like a the rainbow."
Characteristic ot Knssell Sage.
Chicago Record.
Railroad people have an arrangement
by which they can regieter the speed of
a train. It looka like a steam gauge
and is connected with the axle, so that
the pointer registers the number, of
revolutions every minute. There are so
many revolutions to the mile, and by
an ingenious arrangement the number
of miles an hour ia shown upon the
dial. The apparatus is expensive as
well as delicate.
The late lay Gould was one of the
first to adopt it, and shortly after a reg
ister was placed in his private car Rus
sell Sage was making a journey with
him and inquired what it waa. Mr.
Gould explained the mechanism and
the usefulness of the machine with great
care. Mr. Sage was silent for a lew
moments, and then looking up in
quired :
"Does it earn anvthing ?"
"No, I think not." said Mr. Gould
with a smile.
"Does it 8a ve anything ?"
"No."
"Then I would not have it in my car.
will
It Is a "Remover ,"
An exchange says that alcohol
remove ereaBe stains from summer
clothes; and the Danyille "Breeze" very
breezily and truthfully adds: "The ex
change ia right. It will also remove
Bummer clothes, and also the spring and
autumn and winter clothes, not only
from the one who drinks it, but also
frrm his wife and family: It will like
wise remove the household furiiture
from the house, the eatables from the
nantrv. the smiles from the face of his
... . .
wife, and the happiness from tne nome
As a remover of things alcohol haa fev
equals."
Not A Harden.
In consequence of insufficient support
the Rev. Dr. Goodman had been com
pelled to resign and was about to accept
a call from a church m another city.
"You will carry with you to your new
field of labor, Doctor," said the leading
elder of the flock, "our most earnest
hopes for your future success and pros
perity.
"I beheye you, .Brother iiiggersiy.
renlied the Doctor, "and that is about
all I shall have to carry."
The Observer's Hew City Editor.
Greensboro Telegram.
Mr. I. E. Averv who haa for some
months filled the position of Greens
boro correspondent for the Charlotte
Observer and the Morning Post, haa ac
cepted the city editorship of the former
paper and will begin his duties January
1st. Mr. Averv haa madecaany friends
in this city who will regret his depart
ure, but who congritulate him on hia
promotion. He iata good newspaper
man. !
lhe celebrated pinnacle Rock, which
overhung Cumberland Gap and waa
noted natural Bpectacle. fell from its
lofty height Tuesday. The town was
awakened as if by an earthquake, as
the immenl3 mass, weighing hundreds
of tons, came tumbling down. The
course of the rock waa from the town,
and no Uvea haye been reported lest,
although considerable property was de
stroyed.
Four more bodies have been taken
from the wrecked mine near Urowna
ville, Pa., making a total of 16 victims
Our Congressman.
Thr Washington correspondent of the
Raleigh News aad Observer says:
The Charlotte visitors, consisting of
President King and twenty-five young
ladies, are thoroughly enjoying their visit
to the capital. Thev are the hotel Oxford.
They are much pleased with their cor
dial recption at the White House
thi8 morning, where they were intro
duced by Hon. Theo. F. Kluttz. Mr
Kluttz haa the makiDg of an ideal Con
gressman in him. He ia able, polished
and most approrchable. He is especial
ly pleased with his assignment aa a
member of the Census committee
When we get a man likg this we ought
to keep him here.
"The New York Press is seeking infor
mation. "Why," it asks, "should Hart
ford be the centre of insurance in this
country instead of New York ? Why
should Boston be the centre of the cop
per industry ? There is no coppe . within
1 000 miles of the Hub. Why should
a majority of our shoes be made at
Lynn? We can understand why Pitta
burg snould be the centre of the iron
industry, sitting as she does in the
heart of the ore and coal region; but
why should she make nearly all of our
glass when there is better sand else
where? hy is Providence the great
jewelry making city ?"
TO
ATLANTA, CHARLOTTE,
AUGUSTA, ATHENS,
YILMINGTON,NEW ORLEANS
CHATTANOOGA,
NASHVILLE,
AND
NEW YORK, BOSTON
PHILADELPHIA,
WASHINGTON, NORFOLK,
RICHMOND.
SOUTHBOUND.
No. 403.
No. 41.
Lv. New York, Pen u.rr
ftnitiaeiphia "
Baltimore "
Washington "
Richmond A. C. L.
Lv. Norfpjt, S. A. L.
rorxsmoutn,
Lv. Weldon, "
Ar. Raleigh "
" Hamlet - "
" Monroe "
Ar. Charlotte
Ar. Clinton "
" Abbeville, "
Atnens
" Atlanta, cent.time
1100 am,
1 12 am;
3 15 p m '
4 40 p m
8 5ti p m
8 30pm
8 45 p m '.
112pm
2 It; am
5 10 a m!
6 5S am
7 50 a m
9 45 a m
11 05 a m
1 24 p ni:
250pmi
900p m
12 05 a m
2 50 a m
4 30 a in
3 05 a m
905 a m
9 20 am
11 55 a m
3 34 a m
6 53 p m
9 30 p m
10 25 p m
12 10 a m
1 40 a m
3 48 a m
5 15 a m
NORTHBOUND.
No. 402.
No. 38.
Lv. Atlanta, ct S.A.L.
" Athens
" Abbeville "
" Clinton "
Ar. Charlotte, "
Lv. Monroe
" Hamlet
Ar. Wilmington "
Lv. Raleigh "
Ar. Henderson "
Ar. Weldon '
" Richmond, A. C. L.
Washington, Penn
" Baltimore, "
" Philadelphia "
" New York, "
Ar. Portsmouth S.A.L.
" Norfolk "
' Henderson
Lv. Henderson
Ar. Weldon-
13 00n'n
3 16 p m
5 15 p m
6 34 p m
10 25 p m
9 40 p m
1123pm
2 16 a m
3 28 a m
4 55 a m
8 20 am
12 31 p m
1 4o p m
3 50.p m
6 23 p m
7 80 am
XI 50 a m
" 50 p m
11 21 p m
1 45 p m
2 55 a m
7 50 a m
6 05 a m
8 15 am
12 30 p m
11 35 a ra
1 00 p in
3 00 p m
7 35 p m
1 30 p ia
10 08 a ia
3 50 a m
t 53 a m
5 50 pm
6 05 p m
3 28 a m
12 50 p m
1 05 p in
2 55 p m
WESTWABD.
No. 41.
No. 403.
A Cool Book-keeper.
Jones turned up at the office even
later than usual. His employer, tired
of waiting for him, had himself set
about registering the day's transactions,
usually Jones' first duty. The enraged
merchant laid his pen aside very de
liberately and said to Jones sternly:
"Jones, this will not do '."
"No, sir," replied Jones, gently, draw
ing off his overcoat and looking over
his shoulder, "it will -not. You .have
entered McKurken's ordsr in the wrong
book. Better have waited until I came."
An eastern paper says that a syndi
cate composed of J. Pierpont Morgan,
A. S. Cassatt, William Eockfeller, Jno.
D. Eockfeller, Geo. F. Baker, August
Belmont and the Vanderbilts, now con
trol the Pennsylvania railroad, New
York Central, Erie, Baltimore -and
Ohio, Chesapeake and Ohio, Southern
railway, Louisville and Nashville, Big
Four and New York, New Haven and
Hartford. These roada have a mileage
of about 28,000 miles or nearly , one
seyenth of the entire railroad mileage
of the United States. Their combined
capital Btock is $863,768,365, and
bonded debt $703,878,270.
The demand for timber in this" State
shows.no abatement, and the lumber
men are coining money.' All the saw
mills are taxed to their utmost capacity.
Some of them are making lumber cut
of fallen trees. The demand for hard
wood equals that for pine. For Wal
nut and poplar there ia a scramble.
There are timber iaf ts for a distance of
thirty miles on the Black river. Many
new saw mills have been put up and
long disused ones rt fitted.
. An earthquake in California damaged
several small towns and shook up , Los
Angeles and San Diego.
Lv. Wilmington
" Lumberton
" Maxton '..
" Laurinburg
Ar. Hamlet
Lv. Hamlet '.
" Rockingham ...
" Wadesboro
' Marshville
Ar. Monroe
Lv. Monroe;
Lv. Charlotte
" Mt. Holly
" Llncolnton
" Shelbv
" Ellenboro
" Rutherfordton .
3.20 p. m
5.26 "
6.12 "
6.23 "
6.53 '
7.13 "
7.30 "
8.11 "
8.48 "
9.12
9.35- "
0.25 "
5.10 a. iu.
5.23 "
6.25 a. in .
6.43 "
7.00 '
9.00 "
9.45 "
10.20 "
11.37 "
12.15 p. m.
12.50 "
EASTWABD,
, - ' - No.38: i No. 402.
Lv. Rutherfordton ".. '4Sp. in.
" Ellenboro 5.f 0 "
" Shelby aJO "
" Lincolnton - 6.fJ "
" Mt. Holly 7 ; 2 "
" Charlotte 5.00a. m. 8.18 "
Ar. Monroe 5.45 " 9.10 "
Lv. Monroe 6.05 " 9.40
" Marshville.......... 6.25 "
" Wadesboro .... 701 " 10:31 "
" Rockingham 7.41 " 1105 "
Ar. Hamlet 7.43 " 11.23 ".
Lv. Hamlet 8.20 "
" Laurinburg 8.46 "
" Maxton & 9.05 "
" Lumberton 9.53 " ...........
Ar. Wilmington 12.05 "
Lv. 8.40 a. m.t
Ar. 10.00 '
Hamlet..
Cheraw .
Ar. 6.20 p. m.t
Lv. 5.00 p. m.
Dally. T Dally except Sunday.
Nos: 403 and 402. "The Atlanta Special."
Solid Vestlbuled Train pi Pullman Sleepers
and Coaches between Washiirgton and Atlan
ta, .also Pullman Sleepers between Ports
mouth an'd Chester, S. C. "
Nos. 41 end 38 The S. A- L, Express,"
SolW Train,' Coaches and Pullman Sleepers
between Portsmouth and Atlanta. Compa
ny Sleepers between Columbia and Atlanta.
Both trains make Immediate connections
at Atlanta for Montgomery, Mobile, New Or
leans. Texas, California. Mexico, Chatta
nooga, Nashville. Memphis, Macon, Florida.
for tickets, sleepers, etc., apply to B. A.
NewlandjGeneral Agent Passenger Depart
ment, 8 Kimball House, Atlanta, Ga.; Geo.
McP. Batte, Traveling Passenger Agent.Char
lotte.N.C. E, ST. JOHN,
Vice-President and Gen. Mangr.
H. W. B. GLOVER, Traffic Mangr.
. V.-B. McBEE, Gren. Supt.
L 8. ALLEN. Gen. Pass. Asrb.
GenzbaXi Offices. Portsmouth, Ya,