Newspapers / The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, … / April 18, 1897, edition 1 / Page 3
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THE WILMINGTON MESSENGER: SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 1897. 3T PRAYER FOR RULERS. . REV. DR. TALMAOE CAIiTLS THE NATION TO ITS KNIFES. He Gives Many Reasons Why We Should . Tray For Those In Authority His Plea For the High Tide of National Prosper ity. . :; - - . v-'" This discourse of Dr. Talmaee. iipiiv before a mighty throng, goes' forth from the capital, calling the nation to its knees. Before beginning his sermon Dr. Talmage made an eloquent appeal for American aid for the suffering1 millions of India. Eighty millions are affected by . the famine, and unless America generously cqmes to the rescue millions of lives will be sacrificed! His text was I Timothy ii, 1, "I exhort, therefore, that, first of all. Supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority." That which London is to England, Paris to France, Berlin to Germany, Rome to Italy, Vienna to Austria, St. Petersburg to Russia, "Washington is to. the United States republic. The people who live here see more of the chief men of the nation than any who live anywhere else between Atlantic and Pacific oceans.' If a senator or member of the house of representa tives, or supreme court justice, or secre tary of the cabinet, or representative of foreign nation enters a public assembly In any other city, his coming and going are remarked upon, and unusual defer ence is paid to him. In this capital there are so many political chieftains in our churches, our streets, our halls, that their coming and going make no excitement. The Swiss seldom look up to the Matter horn or Jungfrau or Mont Blanc, because those people are used to the Alps. So we at this capital are so accustomed to walk among mountains of official and political eminence that they are not "to us a great novelty. Morning, noon and night we meet the giants. But there is no place on earth where the Importance of the Pau line injunction to prayer for those in eminent place ought to be better ap preciated. At this time, when our public men: have before them the rescue of our national treasury from appalling deficits, V and the Cuban question, and the arbitra tion question, and in many departments men are taken important posltons which are to them new and untried, I would like to quote my text with a hole' ton page of- emnhasls worn- written-by the scarred missionary to the young theolo gian Timothy, "I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, inter cessions and giving of ' thanks be made for all men, for the kings and for all that are in authority." ' REASONS FOR PRAYER. If I have the time and do not forget some of them, before I get through I will give you four or five reasons' why the people of the United Staes ought td make earnest and continuous prayer for those in eminent place. First, because that will put us in proper attitude toward the successful men of the nation. After you have prayed for a man you will do him justice. There is a bad streak in human nature that demands us to assail those that are more suc cessful than ourselves.' jit shows itself "nn boyhood when the lads, all running to get their ride on t the back of a car riage, ancf one gets .on, those failing to get on shout to the driver, "Cut behind!" Unsuccessful men seldom like those who in any department- are successful. The cry is, "He is apolitical accident!" or "He boughtshis way up!" or "It just happened so!" artd there is an impatient waiting for him to come down more rapidly than he went up. The -best, cure for such cyni cism is prayer. After we have- risen from our knees we will be wishing the official good instead of evil. We will be hoping for him benediction rather than maledic tion. If he makes a mistake, we will call it' a mistake instead of malfeasance , in office. And, oh, how much happier we will be, for wishing one evil is diabolic, but wishing one good is saintly, is angelic, is godlike! When the Lord drops a man into depths beyond which there is no lower depth, he allows him to be put on an investigating committee with the one hope of finding something wrong-. In gen eral assemblies of the Presbyterian church, in conferences of the Methodist churchy in conventions of the Episcopal church, in house of representatives and In senate : of the United States there are men always glad to be appointed on" the . committee of hialodors, while there are those who are glad to be . put on the com mittee -bit, eulogiums. After you have prayed, inr the ! words of my text, for all that are in authority, you will say, "Brethren, gentlemen, Mr. Chairman, ex cuse me from serving on .the committee of malodors, for last night, just before I prayed for those in eminent position, I read that chapter in Corinthians about charity which 'hopeth all things and thlnketh no evil.' " The. committee of malodors is an important committee, but I here now declare that those are incom petent for its work who have, not in spirit of conventionality, but in spirit of earnest importunity, prayed for those in high po sition. I cannot help It, but I do like a St. Bernard better than a bloodhound, and I would rather be a humming bird among honeysuckle than a crow swoop- ing upon field carcasses. PERPLEXITIES OF PUBLIC LIFE. Another reason why we should pray for those in eminent place is because they have such multiplied perplexities. This city at this time holds hundreds of men who are expectant of preferment, and United States mall bags, as never before, are full of applications. Let me say I have no sympathy with either the uttered or printed sneer at what are called "office seekers." If I -ad not already received appointment as minister plenipotentiary from the high court of heaven as every minister of the gospel has and I had at my back a family for whom I wished to achieve a livelihood, there is no employer whose service I would sooner seek than citv. state or United States government Those erovernments are the promptest fn their payments, paying Just as well in hard times as in good times and during summer vacation as during winter work Besides that, many of us have been pay- 4ing rtaxes to city and state and nation for years, and while we are' indebted for the protection or government, tne government is Indebted to us for the honest support we have rendered it. So I wish success to all earnest and competent men who anDeal to city .or state or Tiation tor a place to work. But how many men In high place in city and state and nation are at their wits' end to know what to do, when for some places there are ten ap plicants and for others a hundred! Per plexities arise from the fact that citizens sitrn Detitions without reference to the qualifications of the applicant for the r places applied fur. You sign the applica nt km because the applicant is your ariena. : PeoDle sometimes want that for which they have no qealifieations, as we hear Teoiile siner "I want to oe an angei, -when ithey offer tfae, poorest material posi sible for arigelhoed boors waiting to be sent -to foreign palaces as embassadors. and men without iny business qualinca Hon wanting to e consuls to foreign ports, a-nd illiterate, capable in one. letter of wrecking all the 'laws .of orthography ana synttx, desiring tto be put Into mesi tions where most of "the work is done by correspondence! If Srvine help is needed in any place in the world, it is in tlaose plaoee whtre patronage is distributed. In year gone toy awrul mistakes have been made. Only God who anade the world out of chaos, could, out of the crowded pigeonholes of public men, develop synx metrical reetflts. For th.s iason pray Al mighty God for all those is authority. GOD TO THE RESCUE. Then there are the vaster perplexities of our relations with foreign governments. For directions in such affairs the God of nations should be implored. The demand of the people is sometimes so. heated, so unwise, that it must not be heeded. Hark to the boom of that gun which sends from the American steamer San Jacinto a. shot across the bow of the British merchant steamer Trent November5 3, 1861. . Two dis tinguished southerners, with thir secre taries and families, are on the way to Kns'iand and France to officially enlist them for the southern confederacy. After much protest the commissioners, who had embarked for England and France, sruv rendered and were taken to Fort Warren, near Boston. The capture was a plain in vasion of thelaws of nations and an tagonistic to a principle for the establish ment of which the United States govern ment had fought in other days. However, so great was the - excitement that the secretary of the United States navy wrote an applauditory letter to Captain Wilkes, commander of the San Jacinto, for his 'prompt and decisive action," and the house of representatives passed a resolu tion of thanks for "brave, adroit and pa triotic conduct," and the millions of the north went wild with enthusiasm, and all the newspapers and churches joined In the huzza. England and France protest ed, the former demanding that unless the distinguished prisoners s,hould be surren dered and apology made for insult to the British flag within ten days Lord Lyons must return to London, taking all the ar chives of the British legation. War with England and France seemed inevitable, and war with England and France at that time would have made a restored Ameri can nation Impossible for a long while, if not forever. Then God came to the rescue and helped the president and . his secretary of state. Against the almost unanimous sentiment of the people of the north the distinguished confederates were surrendered, the law of nations was kept inviolate, the lion's paw was not lifted to strike . the eagle's beak, and perhaps the- worst disaster of centuries was avoided. - ' There came another crisis i within the last two years, L when millions of people demanded that American war vessels sail into Turkish waters and stop the atroci ties against the Armenians. The people at large have no idea of the pressure brought upon our government to do this rash thing. Missionaries and other promi nent Americans in and around Constanti nople assembled at the office of . the American legation and demanded that our minister plenipotentiary cable to Wash ington for United Staes ships of war, and they suggested the words of the cable gram. . Had our ships gone into those waters the guns of foreign nations, ever lastingly jealous of us, would have been turned against our shipping, and our navy within a few years become respectable in power) would have crawled backward in disgrace. The proposition to do what could not be done was mercifully with drawn. THE RIGHT THING. ' There will not be a year between now and the next twenty years .when those who are in authority will not need the guidance of the God of nations. Gou only can tell the right time for nations to do the right thing. . To do the right thing at the wrong time "is as bad as to do the wrong thing at any time, Cuba will one day he free, but it wiil be after she has shown ,herself capable of free government. To acknowledge' Cuban in dependence now would be to acknowledge what does not exist. The time may come when the Hawaiian islands may be a part of our government. But it will be when they have decidedly expressed the desire for annexation. In all national affairs there is a clock. The hands of that clock are not always seen by human eyes.. But God sees them, not only the hour hand, but the minute hand, and when the hands announce that the right hour has come the clock will strike, and we ought to be in listening attitude. "The Lord reigneth. Let the earth rejoice; let the i multitudes of the isles be glad thereof." I i You see there are always in places of authority unbalanced men who want war, because they' do not realize what war is, or they are designing men, who want war for the same reason that wreckers like hurricanes and foundering ships, because cf what may float ashore from the ruins. You see that men who start wars ( never themselves get hurt. They i make the speeches and others make the self sacri fices. Notice that all those who instigated our civil war never, as a consequence got so much as a splfnter under the thumb nail, and they all died peacefully in their beds. I f had two friends as thorough friends as old men can be to a young man Wendell Phillips and Robert Toombs. They were not among those who expected .anything advantageous from t the strife, but took their positons conscientiously. They both had as 'much to da with the starting of the war between the north and the south as any other two men: A mil lion brave northern and southern dead were put in the grave trenches, but the two illustrious and honest men I have mentioned were in good health long after the ending of things at Appomattox, and if those who advocated measures recently that would have, brought on war between our country and Bpain or England or Tur- Key nad oeen successtui in Dringmg on the wholesale murder, they themselves would now have been above ground, as I hope they will be, to celebrate the birth of the twentieth century. If God had not interfered, we would have had three wars within the last two years war with Eng land, war with Spam and war with Tur key, this last joined by other nations transatlantic. To preserve the peaceful equipoise which such men are disturbing, we need a divine balancing, for which all good men on both sides the sea ought to be every bay praying. . ; A MIGHTY SERVICE. Again, prayer to God for those in au thority is our only way of being of any practical service to them. Our personal advice would be to them, for the most part, an impertinence. They have all the facts as. we cannot have them, and they see the subject in all its bearings; and we can be of no help to them except through the supplication that our text advises. In that way we may be infinite re-enforce ment. The mightiest thing you can do for a man is to pray for him. If. the old Bible he true, and if it is not true it has been the only imposition that ever blessed the world, turning barbarism into civilization and tyrannies into republics I say if the old Bible be true, God answers prayer. You may get a letter, and through forget fulness or lack of time not answer it, but God never gets a genuine letter that he does i not ' make reply. Every genuine prayer is a child's letter to his heavenly Father, and he will answer it, and though you may get many letters from your child j before you respond, some day you say: j "There! I have received ten letters from my daughter, and I will answer them all now. and at once, and though not in just the way that she hopes for, I will do it in the best way, and though she asked me for a sheet of music, I will not give it to her, for I do not like the music spoken of, but I will send her a deed to a house and lot, to be hers forever." So God does not in all cases answer in the way those who sent the prayer hoped for, but he in all cases gives what is asked for or some thing better. So prayers .went up from the north and the south at the time of our civil war, and they were all answered at Gettysburg. You cannot make me believe that God answered only the northern prayers, for there were just as devout prayers answered south of Mason and Dixon's line as north of it, and God gave what was asked for or something as much more valuable' as a house and lot are Worth than a sheet of music : There is not a good and intelligent man between the gulf of Mexico and the St. Lawrence river who does not believe that od did the best thing possible when he stood this, nation down in 1865 a glorious unity, never to be rent until the waters of the Ohio and the Savannah, the Hudson and the Alabama, are licked up by the long, red tongues of a world on fire. Yea! God sometimes answers prayers on a large scale. , In worse predicament nation never was than the Israelitish nation on the banks of the Red sea, the rattling shields and the clattering hoofs of an overwhelming host lose after them. An army could just ae easily wade through the Atlantic ocean, .from New York to Liverpool, as the Israelites could have waded through the Red sea. You need to sail on its waters ts realize how big It is. How was the crossing effected?- By prayer. .Exodus xiv, 15: "And the Lord said unto Moses: Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the cSbildren of Israel, that they go forward" Saat is, "Stop praying and take the answer And then the waters be gan to be agitated and swung this way and that way. and the ripple became a billow, and th billow climbed other bil lows, and now they rise into walls of sapphire, and Invisible trowels mason 'them into firmness, arid the walls be come like mountains, topped and turreted and domed with crags of cystal, and God throws an Invisible chain around the feet of those mountairfs, so that they are obliged to stand still, arid there, right before th Israelitish army, is a turnpike road, with all the emerald gates' swung: wide open. The passing host did not even gt their feet wet. They passed dry shod thg bottom of the sea. as hard & the pave ment of Pennsylvania avenue," or New York's Broadway, or London's Strand. Oh, what a God they had! Or I think I will change that and say, "What a God we have!" . . What j)Ower put Its hands upon astron omy in Joshua's time and made the sun and -moon stand still? Joshua x, 12, "Then spake Joshua unto the Lord." Prayer! As a giant will take two or four great globes and in astounding way swing them this way or that; or hold two of them at arm's length, so the Omnipotent does as he will, with the great orbs of worlds, with wheeling constellations and circling galaxies, swinging easily star around star, star tossed after star, or sun and moon .held out at arm's length, and per fectly still, as in answer to Joshua's pray er. To God the largest world is a pebble. RIGHTEOUS SELFISHNESS. Another reason why we should obey the Pauline Injunction of the text and pray for all that are" in authority is that so very much or ourNhm prosperiity and happiness are Involved in their doings. a. seinsn reason, you sav. Yes. but a . righteous selfishness like that which leads you to take care of your health and pre- serve your own life. Prosperous govern- ! ment means a prosperous people. Dam aged government means a damaged peo ple. We all go up together or we all go down together. When- we pray for our rulers, we pray for ourselves, for our homes, for the easier gaining of a liveli hood, for better prospects for our chil dren, for the hurling of these hard times so far ; down the embankment they can never climb up again. Do not look at anything that pertains to public interest as having no -relation to yourself. We are touched by all tne events in our national history, by the signing of the compact in the cabin of the Mayflower, by the small ship, the Half Moon, sailing up the Hud son, by the treaty of William Penn, by the hand that made the "Liberty bell' sound its first stroke, by Old Ironsides plowing the high seas. And if touched by all the events of past America, certainly by all the events of the present day. Every prayer you make for our rulers, if the prayer be of the right stamp and worth anything, has a rebound of bene diction for your own bodymind and soul. M.;tl..S.TUCffi RALEIGH. N. C. eaufiful French ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. THE SHOWING OF THIN, DAINTY VyTASH FABRICS AT "THIS BIG STORE" EXCELS IN BEAUTY ANYTHING SEEN IN FORMER SEASONS. , IN ORGANDIES THERE IS AN ALMOST BEWILDER ING CHOICE BETWEEN THE VERY FASHIONABLE NEW GREEN TONES IN STRIPED AND ALLOVER DE SIGNS, DELICATELY TINTED PERSIAN COLORINGS, ENTIRELY NEW PATTERNS; COOL, SUMMERY-LOOKING OLD-DELFT BLUES; THE EXCEEDINGLY TASTY SMALL DRESDEN STYLES, AND MANY OTHER CHAR MING EFFECTS, WHICH ARE AMONG THE BEAUTI FUL THINGS ONE ALWAYS EXPECTS TO FIND HERE. BY BUYING EARLY AND IN LARGE QUANTITIES EN ABLES US TO MAKE THE PRICE 35c PER YARD. . YOU WILL WANT THE DAINTIES BY-AND-BY, AND YOU WILL WANT THEM IN A. HURRY. YOU HAD BETTER TAKE THEM NOW. YOU GAIN NOTHING BY WAITING. THEY ARE FRESHER NOW. THEY WILL BE NO CHEAPER THEN. ; THE PRETTIEST STYLES WILL BE GONE SOON. EVERYTHING FAVORS YOU BUYING NOW. ' ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. organdies, organdies, organdies. organdies: organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies, organdies. ORGANDIES. ORGANDIES. THE LACE QUESTION WILL BE VERY IMPORTANT TO YOU CONCERNING YOUR NEW SPRING COSTUME AND YOU MUST HAVE LACET TRIMMINGS OR YOU'LL BE OUT OF THE WORLD OF FASHION. OUR NEW SPRING STOCK IS ALL ON DISPLAY IM MENSE QUANTITIES AND ENDLESS VARIETIES OF THE MOST WINSOME AND PRETTIEST FANCIES IN NET-TOP LACES, VALENCIENNES LACES, ORIENTAL LACES; RUSSIAN LACES, ARABIAN LACES, BOURBON LACES, TORCHON LACES,' IRISH POINT LACES, Gauze LACES, POINT de PARIS LACES AND A SELECT VA RIETY OF THE NEWEST STYLES IN ALLOVER LACES BESIDES A COMPLETE LINE' OF NEW INSERTINGS TO MATCH ALL LACES IN BLACK, WHITE and CREAM. ALL AT OUR USUAL LOW PRICES. R..T.EIC3-I3:, 3ST. o. Better Write Now for Samples. j Another reason for obedience to my text Vis that the prosperity of this country is coming, and we want a hand in helping on its coming. At any rate I do. It is a matter of honest satisfaction to a soldier, " after some great battle has been fought and some great victory won, to be able to say: "Yes, I was there! I was in the brigade that stormed those heights. I was in that bayonet charge that put the enemy into flight!" Well, the day will come . when all the financial, politicaland moral foes of this republic will be driven back and driven down by the prosperities that are now on their way, but which come with slow tread and in "fatigue dress" when we want them to take "the - double quick." By our prayers we may stand on the mountain top and beckon them on, and show them a shorter cut. Yea, in answer to our prayers the Lord , God of Hosts may from the high heavens j command them forward swifter than mounted troops ever took the field at I Eylau or Austerlitz. V In 1672 Holland was assailed. Her peo ple prayer 'mightily. The ships of her enemies waited for the high tide on which to come in. In answer to the prayers of fered ' the tide, as never before, was de tained twelve hours, and before that 12 hours had passed a hurricane swooped upon the enemies' ships and destroyed them, and Holland was saved. If God de tained the hig tide in answer to prayer, will he not hasten it in answer to prayer? Surely it has been low tide long enough. May the Lord hasten the high tide of na- - tional welfare. American citizens, our best hold is. on God. We have all seen ; families in prayer and churches in pray er. What we want yet to see is this whole nation on Its knees. WORDS OF WEBSTER. The most of them are dead-those who in 1851, moved in that procession that marched from the city hall of Washing ton down Louisiana avenue to Seventh street, and then through Pennsylvania avenue to the north gate of yonder capi tol, to lay the cornenetone of the exten sion of that capitoL- The president, who tiiat day presided, and . solemnly truck the stone three times In dedication, long life? We have as a nation received so much from God. Do we not owe new con secration? Are we not ready to become a ago quit earthly scenes, and the lips of the great orator of that hour are dust, and the. grand master .of that occasion long ago put down the square and the level and the plumb with which for the last time, he pronounced a cornerstone well laid. But 'what most interests are now is that inside that cornerstone, iri a glass jar, hermetically sealed, is a document of national import, , though in poor pen manship. It is the penmanship of Daniel Web3ter, which almost ruined the pen manship of this country for many years, because many thought if they had Daniel Webster's poor penmanship, it might in dicate they had Webster's genius. The document reads as follows: "If it shall hereafter be the will of God that this structure shall fall from its base, that its foundation be upturned and this deposit be brought to the eyes of men, be it then known that on this day the nation of the United States of Ameri ca stands . nrm; that their constitution ctiii ovictc nnimnQtrDH on with oil tta original usefulness and glory, growing every day stronger and stronger in the affection of the exeat bodv of the Ameri- can people, and attracting more and more the admiration of the world, and all here assembled, whether belonging to . public life or to. private life, with hearts de voutly thankful to "Almighty God for the preservation of the liberty and the happi ness of the country, unite In sincere and fervent prayers that this deposit, and the walls and arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures now to be erected over it may endure forever. God save the United States of America! Dan iel Webster, secretary of state of the United States." .. A NEW CONSECRATION. That was? beautiful and appropriate at the laying of the cornerstone of the ex tension of the capitol fifty-eight years after the cornerstone of the old capitol had been laid. Yet the cornerstone of our republic was first laid in 1776, and at the re-establishment of our national gov ernment was laid again in 1865. But are we not ready for the laying of the corner stone of a broader and higher . national . - better Sabbath keeping, peace loving, vir tue honoring, - God ? worshiping nation? Are we not ready tor such a cornerstone laying? Why not now let it take place? With long procession of prayers, moving from the north and the south the east, and the west, let the scene be made au gust beyond comparison. The God of nations, who hath dealt with us as with no other people, will pre side at the solemnization. By the square and the level and the plumb of the ever lasting right let the cornerstone be ad justed. Let that cornerstone be the ma soning together of the two granite tables on which the law was written when Sinai shook with the earthquake, and inside that cornerstone put the Sermon on the Mount and a scroll containing the names of all the men and women who, have fought and prayed and toiled for the good of this nation, from the first martyr ' of the American Revolution down to the last woman who bound up a soldier's wounds in the field hospital. And let some one, worthy to do so, strike the stone three times with the gospel , hammer, in the name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Then let the building rise, one wall laved by the Pacific ocean, and the other, washed of the At- ? lantic, until its capstone shall be laid amid the shouting of all nations, by. that time as free as, our own divinely founded, . divinely constructed - and divinely pro tected republic, the last throne of op pression haying fallen flat into the dust, and the last shackle of tyranny been hung up in museum as a relic of barbaric ages. J The prayer that the great expounder ! wrote to be put in the cornerstone at the extension of the capitol. 1 regulate as our own supplication,' "God save the United States of America!" only ; adding Va nnMa -wTftVi nliltK . Pnharf Smith -vaa 1 "X7 AZu- ed before - the court at Christchurch chaple or in Westminister Abbey, at an niversary, of restoration of Charles II or on the death -of Oliver Cromwell amid the worst tempest that ever swept over. Eng land: "To God be rendered and abscribed, as Is most due, all praise; might, majesty and dominion, both now and forever. CO.; Organdies K IS. lucKer S w. ON HATTER AS BEACH. Oar Correspondent Visits and Describes 1 this Point so Dreaded by Mariners He Views tne Land and Sea From the lofty Light House His VUIt to Hatteras Til lage. - (Special Correspondence.) Raleigh, !N. C, April 17. " This is a continuation of the story of a trip through - the !North Carolina sounds.;: In the last letter the reader was left at Hatteras light house. The prevalent opinion of Cape HaU teras is of an awful, desolate, wind swept place, with the wreck and ruin of great ships as a feature. The reality, on a bright day, as was April 2nd, was very different. ; The Tanks' or vast barrier of sand which separates the ocean from the sounds, is almost tree less north of Hatteras. Here and there are stunted live oaks, and at places on the banks are the stumps and remains of thousands of . them, showing- that, perhaps centuries ago, the banks were well wooded. But while all is bare down to Hatteras light, yet there a new aspect begins, and there are heavy woods, which reach southward (or, really, .westward,) all the way to Hat teras village and light house, twelve miles away. - These woods are53 pictur esque in the extreme, with splendid pines and live oaks, with fan palmet toes among the undergrowth and in numerable holly trees, crimson with "berries. The light house rises from a gTassy meadow to a height of 200 feet. It was built in 1870, and cost $175,000. The old light stood 200 yards nearer the point of the cape. It was blown up that year and a mass of ruins marks its site; a great mound of brick and concrete perhaps forty-five feet high, left as it fell. The light which surmounts the light house is of the first class, cost $35,000, is 'by Lepaute, of Paris, is ten feet high and six and one-half feet in diameter. Kerosene oil is used. Only a few years ago it was considered im possible to use this oil. Now it is found to be the 'best. The feeding of the light is effected 7y clock-work, the weight, suspended from a steel rope, extending when run down in a recess at the bot tom of the tower. In the long1 nights seven and one-half gallons of oil are consumed. The lamp is four feet high and has five circular wicks. These do not reach into the oil, .but the latter ip pumped up to them. The light is fixed that-is, does not revolve and is white. It is often seen at. Roanokcp island, fifty miles away. The view from the top of the tower is a wide and grand one, and the pencil was kept ;busy recording observations. 'First of all, one wishes to see the dreaded shoals, the terror of this cape. For two centuries or more Hatteras has been a name dreaded by mariners. It is a graveyard of ships, and well does it keep the secrets of the grave. "The great steel vessels, the "tramps," -which strike these g-o absolutely to pieces in twenty-four hours, not a trace remain ing. ; :.' . - But, on this beautiful day, the shoals do not show their fangs. They smile Eat the kisses of the sunshine. The shoals are known as the "inner" 'and outer diamond." From, the point of the cape to the "outer diamond" is teri miles, and the latter is only eighteen miles from the gulf stream the nearest point on the Atlantic coast. The beacon, or range light, iknown as the '"bug," is low, ; and stands on steel piling1. When built it was high and dry. Now it is in the surf at ordinary high tide. There are three keepers of the lig-ht house and one of the "Bug:" light. Nowr the etim has bean to-markthf ''outer diamond." First, an attempt was made to put a caisson thfere. This was an Immense steel cylinder, to be filled 'with concrete and to which other sec tions were to ibe riveted until it formed a light house. But when tne cylinder of the lower part of jthe caisson was towed there from Norfolk there was not enough concrete ready to fill it, nor was there haste in ooiting tne otner cylinders. A storm came, the caisson was tipped over and sank. The sand literally swallowed it. Then an experi mental structure, a skeleton ' beacon, was put up, as a test of the power of the wind and water. A storm tipped it to one side, then it sank. Now it, too, has gone. The sand is not a quicksand. It in simply in motion all, the while. The water is like a lather, with sand in stead of soap in suspension. When a breaker on these shoals tumbles into a hoat It leaves a large quantity of sand.. This sand adds to the natural heaviness of the water. Nothing can withstand such a force. J Rut, April 2nd, the shoals were not threatening' in aspect. In a storm the seas smite each other there and are tossed to a height of fifty or seventy five feet. It is also a notahle place for the formation of water spouts. It is true that there are often storms at Hatteras while fifty miles away there is bright sunshine. Near the light house there are thi keels of : two wooden vessels, looking merely like a couple of beams. Near the life saving station is the wreck of the 'Altona, a big ship. These are ,all the outward and visible signs- . The government years ago kept a light ship at Hatteras. Now another one Is to be put there. It is doubtful whether it will stay. It does not seem possible that it could stand the awful pounding of the seas on the ''outer diamond." The light ship will have to be put in what Is known as the "lead," where ships j:o and where the water is twenty-five to thirty feet in depth. But it must be remembered that at Hatteras the seas break in thirty feet water a phenomenon. With the powerful telescope In use "by the Keepers five life saving stations are in view. Near the light house are fresh water ponds and in these are gardens, reclaimed and dyked, produc ing: a most picturesque effect when viewed from the great height. Tour correspondent is the guest at Hatteras light of Keeper T. F. Smith and wife, and is pleasantly entertained. The keeper of the "Bug" light is Mr. A. W. Simpson, who was in the legislature of 1883 as the member of the lower house from Dare county. ODare is, by the iway, the biggest county in the state. Including land and water. Mr. 1 Simpson is a sort of Pooh Bah on this long, stretch of beach, the hanks. Me is United States commissioner, and is the only officer save one with a seal between Hatteras and Oregon inlets. He was first met at Little Kinnekeet life saving station1 enjoying Keeper Hooper's good fare, and he illustrated the beach way of changing diet. He makes what he termspilgrimages. iAt Big Kinnekeet he gets corned fish, at Little Kinnekeet ' corned beef and .white potatoes, at Gull shoal wild fowl and further up clams, and oysters. Tn the mid-afterjioon your oorre spondent .left rthe light house and was driven, across the beach by one of tho assistant, keepers to the ; boat, the Braceforidge -Hall, which was at anchor In the sound. Sail was hoisted and the Bracebridge bore away for "Hat teras village, twelve. miles distant The wind was light and it was 6 o'clock when the village was reached. It was found to be the most picturesque place seen'on-the trip, and a vow was res' -istered to revisit it during the .summer-. The place has perhaps .800 people. . K is literally screened by live oaks. 5C' part of it is over eight feet above tb& -sea level. Directly upon arrival a. -visit lis made to Durank's life saving: station. The walk to it leads directly through the town and is delightfuL.. G. N. Burrus is the keeper of the sta tion. The light of 'Hatteras light house Is shining brightly. A very important United States siff- hal office is at Hatteras. It is of tb first class. An ingenious device far showing at a glance the direction of the wind is in the telegraph room. A cirr'' cle, with the points of the compass; i laid off on the ceiling,! and a big arrow revolving shows where the wind is from. The weather observer says that fa great tides all the place, is under water save the hillocks and the houses, and hip rubber boots are quite necessary to pedestrians on such occasions. Tw years ago, during a very high tide i intensely cold weather, ice formed, and when the tide receded the whole place was literally wrapped in a sheet of f ce which reached from tree to tree, house to house and hillock to hillock. Walk ing in this was laborious indeed, anaT footsteps were merely a series of holesu Mr. Horner W. Styron, a leading citi zen, said such ice formations have several times occurred at this queer little town. The weather officer says that, taking; the winter through, it Is 10 degrees; warmer on these banks than on the mainland, and that during the summer it is 1Q degrees cooler. iHe regards It as a delightful climate, and gave your correspondent full blown roses from his garden as a proof. (To 'be continued.) A Desperate Situation Once when the Pensacola was coming:' up to San Francisco from the , soutlx seas, somewhere off Honolulu she met a. gale that almost laid her own. Car penter McGloin, a privileged character, who invariably became sick in heavy weather, promptly went to bed. Final ly it was reported to the captain, that, something was wrong with the foretop mast. The captain sent for McGloin, and the carpenter .staggered on deck. : "Get up there," commanded the cap tain, "and see what's the matter at the foretop." "Up- that mast'?" gasped McGloin. The proposition-so dazed him that he lost his breath. "Up that mast," reiterated the cap tain, "and find out what's the matter at the foretop." . "Captain," said McGloin. in a last despairing protest, "do you really mean that you want me to go up that mast in this storm, with this ship going this way, and see what's wrong with that foretop?" - " "You heard what I said," exclaimed the captain, losing, patience at last; "now get up that mast, 'and be quick about it, too." "Captain," said McGloin, solemnlyv "if there was a four-inch plank from here to Brooklyn, I'd walk home. Argonaut. Some Favorite Authors, A noted firm of publishers, with a strong provincial clientele, has printed! a collection of titles of works demanded by correspondents, in many cases evi dently taken down phonetically from verbal orders! "The Republic of Flats, by Jowett," which suggests something: interesting about the present dwellers in such habitations, turns out to be onljr losopher's handwriting might very well pxcnse "Pharaoh's Life of Christ which raises expectations of an entirely new view of the subject, is only a pho netid rendering of Dean Farrar's welt known work. "Worcester's Diseases of the Calendar," again, might recall to an expert tie Worcester Diocesan Cal endar, and'in Murray's "Hnnrihonk fw Algebra and Tunics,", a hint of Algiers . and Tunis may be dimly discerned. But who would be likely to detect in "God aim us by a Farmer" a booked called Gaudeamus; or in "Jewel Logs," Duo logues; or in "Founders and "Heretics." Mr. Ruskin's "Frondes Agretes"? Household Words. As baldness makes one look prema turely Jld, so a full head of halr'gives . to mature life the appearance of youth, V To secure this and prevent the former, ! Ayers Hair Vigor Is confidently recom mended. Both ladies and gentlemen . prefer it to any other dressing. More Trouble for Spain. The Spanish governmen t probably r has another revolution on its hand, the people of the island of Porto RJooj . having taken up) arms against Spanish? rule. The information comes through? Porto Rican revolutionary committee' in New York, who fully confirms the truth of -dispatches from the island an nn..u . l - a, 1 4 -m it. . . uvuuvmg me ucgiuuiiig . ui nie revoiu--tion. Dr. Henna says the spirit of th -people in Porto. Rico at the present time is such .that their effort to over throw -Spanish rule will necessarily", succeed. Spain is evidently in hot water pretty nearly all around the globe, and is even threatened with Car- list troubles at home. The young king is indeed growing to manhood in a tur bulent age, knowing not what he may call his own when he reaches his ma jority. Baltimore Sun, Warships as President's Pleasure HoiIk The New York Sun, in speaking of th& presidents' using government vessels for pleasure boats, says of Mr. MeKm ley's recent trip on the Dolphin: 5 If the Dolphin's boiler should bursty sparing the skins of the presidential deadhead party, "but scaring Mr. Me Kinley out of all thought of nautical enterprise at the public expense,ft would be abou the best thing that: could happen under the' circumstancesr for the president and. for the country- Pimples, blotches, blackheads, red, roogb. oily, mothy skin, itching, scaly scalp, dxy thin, and falling hair, and baby blemishes . prevented by Cctxcuba Soap, the meet-, effective skin purifying and beautifying, soap in the world, as well as purest u& sweetest for toilet, bath, and nurserv. ill Soap is mOA throerhoat flis verid. " Pmn A Ckm. Cor Sol Prop Bostott. U.8.A. How to Rnnt I-ftMHuMxs," asiM fit. EVERY HOB uiyuvuluJuM)' (Ell til
The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
April 18, 1897, edition 1
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