Newspapers / The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, … / June 20, 1897, edition 1 / Page 7
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. .. by mm w mm. - . Story of a Telephonic Reconciliation Brought About by an Old Bachelor. I don't profess to M t. be able to see i luimu uiio a oncK wan than my neighbors, but It really required no ex traordinary degree of intelligence to perceive that my nephew Gerald was very much in love with little Amy Cres well. When two young people of op posite sexes living in different parts of n town thii ci?P rf T rvrj?vn o rma-rk- Imtl tations to the same houses on six suc cessive evenings, you won't persuade me in a hurry that the fact is due en tirely to mere chance. : - -The Creswells were staying at the Hotel Albemarle "for a few days, and it was a significant fact that Gerald was constantly sending the club com missionaire-with little notes to that hotel. I wasin't, therefore, in the least suh prised the other evening, soon after we arrived at the Willards' to dinner, to hear the Creswells announced, and I laughed in my sleeve when I called to to mind the sudden eagerness which my nephew had shown in calling on the Willards when he found out that-they were friends of the Creswells. I don't pretend to know how ihesa things are managed, but some how or other it happened that Miss Amy and my nephew sat next to one another at dinner that evening. I was a discreet but interested ob server of what took place. Although I am myself - a confirmed old bachelor, and consequently little versed in the art of detecting the symptoms which indicate the existence of the tender passion in others, yet on this occasion I saw quite enough to -convince me as to how the land lay. When Gerald looked at his neighbor her eyes were always demurely cast down, but when his gaze happened to be directed elsewhere she would steal a shy glance at him out of the corners of her eyes and little Amy certainly has very nice eyes. It has always appeared to me that the course of true love would run smoothly enough but- for the wanton way in which lovers create obstacles to. the fulfillment of their own desires. That Gerald was no exception to the ordinary run of lovers in this respect I soon had cause to realize, for he and Amy Creswell had a tiff at dinner that very evening, which, but for a happy inspiration on the part of the writer of this simple tale, might have ended in their permanent estrangement. It was all on account of a certain Captain Lachrnere, of whom Gerald didn't hap pen to approve, and who. had been for some time paying marked attentions to Miss Amy Creswell. That young lady didn't really care a button for the man in question, but she not unnaturally resented any at tempt on Gerald's part to put a stop to her intimacy with him. Accept my word for it, if you want to throw a woman into another man's arms, just abuse that other man in hec hearing. If my nephew had been a man of the world, he would not have made such a blunder; but you cannot put old heads on to young shoulders, and when a youthful head is under the influence of a youthful heart,which, in -its turn, is subject to the disturbing influence of the tender passion, there is really no telling what complications may arise. And so it came to pass that be fore dinner was half over these two young people were engaged in as pretty a little quarrel as you could well wish to see. Of course, neither of them supposed for an instant that I or anybody else had heard a word of their dispute, for their conversation was carried on in low tones, and to all appearance I had been listening with deep attention to the voluble utterances of a formidable lady on my right hand, who was laying down the law on the subject of the "ex tension of the franchise to women, but in the course of an acquaintance witn what is so appropriately termed "po lite society" one acquires the vtluable knack of carrying on a conversation with one person while one's atention thing which is going on elsewhere. "You are perfectly right, Miss Cres well," said Gerald stiffly. "I had ho business to .say what I did about u gentleman who appears to be such a particular friend of yours. Please con -sider my remarks as withdrawn." And with this he turned to his right-hand neighbor, May Walshe, and commenced to chatter with a really surprising de gree of animation. Poor little Miss Creswell was for the moment placed at 'a disadvantage, for, however much she may have desired to retaliate, it was rather a forlorn hope for her to attempt to make Ge rald jealous by commencing a flirtation with me; but there happened to be no body else available at the moment, and a woman is capable of any folly when she is angry with a man whom she really likes, and, to my intense amuse mnt, little Amy actually began to make the experiment, y I laughed in my sleeve ' when this mere child, whom I remembered in short frocks, opened her feigned at tack upon me; but I conscientiously iifji ttiv iest to helo the situation along handsomely, and I really, felt quite gratified when presently I observed that Gerald's animated conversaton with Miss Walshe was beginning to flag, and that he was casting glances of unmistakable surprise and annoyance in my direction. . That sort of thing makes one feel young again, and I allowed my tone to become distinctly sentimental. "Ah, my dear Miss Amy," I mur mured, with a well-stimulated sigh, "we old bachelors miss a great deal in life.. What would I not give to be once again my nephew's age! I should know how to use my opportunities." "But you aren't really a bit old, and, besides, men never understand lis a bit until they have had twenty year's ex perience of the world.". Undoubtedly this remark was in tended as a side shot at my nephew, but that youth gave no sign of having heard the remark-. "I fear that we never reauy mmcr thoroughly," said I;, "the stand vou study of your charming sex is like the study of a book each page or wnicn re quires pages and pages of explanatory notes." . "Have you ever read much of the book?" asked Amy with a little side glance, out of the corner of her gray eyes. . "I never got further than the first chapter," I replied with a sigh, "And what did you nna w prevent vmi from e-ettinsr further?" 4I found that twenty omereui Humcii might possess twenty different sets of charming qualities, all so deliciously that, for the life of me, I could not make up my mind to content myself with" any one of the dear creatures to the exclusion of, the rest; and as, un fortunately, the custom of the country ; In which we live does not permit a i man to be married to more than one . woman at a time, I am obliged to re- main a forlorn old bachelor I love too . much to love exclusively' I "I think you put that rather nicely, said Amy, reflectively; "but isn't it only a pretty excuse for a man's In , constancy?" J "My dear young lady," said I, laugh - ing, "constancy is only another name for narrow-mindedness. Suppose, for instance, that I had marreid ten years ago r what would have been my posi- "T don't auite understand ' fr a' : ens." , "Miss Creswell is evidently unaware of her own attractions," said I; "there is a marginal note, 'Destructive to pre vious attachments,' against -your jjame in the book of which I was speaking." "You mustn't talk nonesense," said my little neighbor demurely; but, be tween ourselves, I fancy that she was not particularly vexed at the innuendo. "What . about men from a woman's point of view?" she -continued present ly. "Are you men such paragons that we, poor women must be satisfied with a share of one of you?",. ; "There are not enough of you to go round," I murmured. "Suppose, now that we started the theory that no man possessed more than one or two of the 'many virtues which a perfect man should possess?" continued Amy, ignoring my .interrup tion. "That's just the difficulty," said I 'We are so sadly unequal to the re quirements of the case. Either we are too young or too old, too tall or too short, too amiable or too exacting, tco ardent or too cold, too ugly or not handsome enough." "That's the same thing," interrupetd Amy.' . - "Pardon me; there is a subtle dif ference." "And you yourself, Mr. Steevens?" "I fear," said I with a. regretful glance at my. pretty companion, "that in these days most ladies consider me too old for anything but a stop-gap." "And how do you yourself feel on that point?" "Upon my word, when I talk to you I almost begin to feel that you are right and that I am not so very old, after all." "Is it a pleasant illusion, Mr." Steevens?" "It has its drawbacks." "Which are" said Amy, raising her prettily arched eyebrows. "My nephew is one of them just now," said I, glancing at Gerald, and in truth the boy's rueful countenance did rather take the edge off my appreciation of the situation. ; "He's horribly 'cross tonight," said Amy, "and it serves him right!" "Tell me," said I, suddenly, looking full at my little neighbor, "does it give you pleasure to make him unhappy?" Poor little Amy's lip quivered, but she replied: "He sholdn't have been so horrid about Captain Lachmere." "I have no doubt Captain Lachmere is T- very charming .man," ;said I but" "I hate him," said Amy pouting, "and if your nephew had any sense he would know that." "Of course, he ought to, especially as you said that the gentleman was one of your particular. friends and that "you liked him so much?" "You mustn't take everything which 'a woman says about one man to an other too literally." "It is perhaps wise to allow a liberal discount," I agreed. At this moment Mrs. Willard gave the signal for the ladies to retire, and our conversation was brought to an un timely end. We men were left to enjoy our wine and cigars, land as I puffed medita tively at an excellent Havana and sipped Williard's unexceptionable port I really felt at peace with all the world. Poor Gerald drank his wine in moody silence, and when we joined Ui3 la-iioi he declined to notice the vacant seat next to Amy and went to where that wicked little flirt May Walshe was sit ting and commenced quite a voluble con-rsftticn. " I fancy that the young lady in ques tion rather enjoyed her triumph over Amy, for Gerald was an eminently pre sentable youth, and before Miss Cres well had appeared upoa the scene he had flirted a good deal with this Miss Walshe. And we all know that, how ever amiable a girl may be, she does not, as a rule, regard -with sincere cor dialtiy the rival who has surplanted her in the heart of a man. And so the situation stood when it was time for us to depart. ' "What a delightful girl that little Miss Creswell is!" said I to my nephew as we were driving home. "So you appeared to think," said Gerald dryly. "For my part, I hate all women." - "At your age, my dear boy, such sentiments are really incomprehen sible." "Wait until you have been treated by a woman as I have." said Gerald I maintained what I still contend was a most exemplary expression of gravity, and asked' my nephew what had occurred to cause him to take such unfavorable view of the sex. She's a heartless little flirt," re plied Gerald flecely, "and I've done with her." - "It struck me that you were -making the running fairly freely with Miss Walshe," I observed casually. "Oh, that's quite a different thing," replied my nephew, quite unabashed. "May Walshe knows that I am not in earnest, but Amy must know that I love her." "You have told her. so, I suppose?" "Well, not exactly; but she knows it as well as though I had done so." 4Oh, just so," said I; "still, perhaps, if you were a little more explicit" "I've finished with the girl," said Gerald gloomily, "and I'm not going to see her again if I can help it.' For the next few days Gerald acted upon this resolve, and certainly during that time he was not altogether a de sirable companion. -It was really too absurd. v Here were two foolish young people genuinely fond of one another, and yet j determined to quarrel about a per fectly trivial matter, simply because . both were too proud to make the first overtures to bring about a reconcilia ation. Amv was mnninc because Gerald made no attempt to see her, and my nephew's manner "was dally becoming more and more morose. - If Gerald's mamma had been In town,or if the girl had had a mother to whom she could have confided her trouble, the whole thing might have been put to rights in five minutes; but as things stood there was every chance of these two mis guided young people ending their days in single blessedness. After four or five days of this kind of thing I came to the conclusion than it was desirable for me to do something to help matters along a little, as any thing would be better -than the con tinuation of the existing state of af-. fairs. ; . ; -- ,-; -. ' ' I. thought the matter over carefully one night, as I smoked my usual after dinner cigar, and ; by the time I had finished my weed I had decided upon my plan of campaign. -j "What are your plans for tomorrow," Gerald?" said I. "I haven't any," replied my nephow moodily. " "Well, then, you might come with me and leave a card at the Williards';., we haven't been near the house since we dined there last Wednesday." "I'm sick of tlie whole farce of social intercourse; but I'm ready to do . any thing you like, Uncle Jack," said Ger ald indifferently. Gerald's was clearly a bad case.. I rose from my comfortable chair, put on my hat and overcoat, and stroll ed down to the club. -:-l -..... It really was a striking instance of self-sacrifice on the part of an old fogey; for I hadn't the slightest desire to go out that night. , V When I arrived at the club I went straight to the telephone cupboard and rang up the Hotel Albemarle. Miss Creswell was "at home." ( "Could she speak to Mr. Steevens?" I waited the reply to this question with considerable anxiety. Presently the little bell rang. ! "Miss Creswell will be at the tele phone in a minute." I had made up my mind to attempt a manoevure which required some little finesse for the securing of its succes. Presently Miss Amy's voice came faintly along the wire: "Yes; who is it?" : "Is that you, Amy?" I replied boldly. "Yes; who are you?" "Gerald Steevens'said I, with ment al reservations. I fancied that I heard a little excla mation of pleased surprise, but wheth- er this was so or not I could rot be positively certain; however, the next sentence which reached my ear through the instrument was spoken in tones of perfect unconcern. "What is it you have to say ti me, Mr. Steevens?" r "Oh; Amy," I replied, in the most be seeching tones I could muster, ."don't speak to me - like that; I've been so miserable ever since we quarrelled the other night." "That only serves you right," came clearly through the jear trumpet; but I raneiea 'tnat i caugnt two nine woras in a much lower tone, that sounded like "Poor boy!" - "But, Amy," I continued, "don't be so cruel as to say that you won't for give me, for it was only because I am so fond of you that I was so rude the other evening." 'Weir, Gerald, you were rather hor rid, I think; but, if you will promise never to be unkind to me again, I will forgive you for this once." "I promise," said I; "but I wish we could kiss and make friends." "That would hardly be proper, Pm afraid; besides, you see, you could only kiss my ear. which Would not be very satisfactory, would it?" And how do I know that you are the only person at your end of the wire?" "I swear there's nobody except my self," said I equivocally; "besides, you might put the trumpet to your lips.' "I shall ring off if you say another word." "Don't do that," I entreated; "the operator might intercept my message." "Well, then, you must not talk non sense." "I was never more serious in my' life," I replied; and, really, it was rather a serious situation for an old bachelor getting on for fifty, to be talking non sense at one- end of a wire with a charming girl of eighteen at the other. "I shall be calling on the Williards tomorrow afternoon," said I. "I hope you will find your visit amus ing." "It shall if somebody else happens to be there." "Somebody else will think it over, perhaps, though it would serve another somebody else right if she didn't." "But we are friends again now, Amy," said I tenderly. V "It would serve you right if I said 'No,' Gerald, after the way you flirted with May Walshe the other night." "But you were just as bad with my Uncle' Jack," said I. I " ""I'm afraid he's a, dreadful old flirt, but he really is rather nice. Do you think that I could make him really like me?" said Amy, laughing softly. "This is getting rather interesting." thought I, but I only replied: "For shame! I won t have Uncle Jack s af fections tampered with." : "Perhaps he likes it," suggesed Amy. "It's not good for him," said I. "Very few nice things are good for one." .'' ; "But people ought not to be tempted to do things which are not good for them." "Possibly he would not take quite that view of the situation," said Miss Amy demurely. "Now I come to think of it," said I reflectively, "perhaps he does not; but it is rather cruel of you to experiment with an old gentleman's susceptibili ties.": : W'V - ' "I will never do it again, Gerald; but he's an old dear, and I thin ne will forgive me. Don't you?" . "Possibly," said I, laughing. "Tell; me, Gerald, have you leally been unhappy because of our little tiff?" "Miserable! And you?" "It's very vain of you to ask that question, Gerald, but perhaps I have been a little bit sorry." "Then, Amy, do you love me just a wee scrap?" . "That's a very improper question to ask a girl through a telephone. In fact I think the whole of this conversation is very incorrect.and If you breathe a syllable about it to anybody I'll never speak to you again' "The severity of the punishment would be proportioned to the heinous ness of the crime," I replied. "I will never allude to this incident again as long as' I live even to you." "If you will promise that faithfully,: I'll forgive you for this . once. Do you promise?" ; ' V' "With alL my heart," said I. "Good night, Gerald." "Good-night, dearest," I replied. I could have sworn that the soft lit tle sound' which followed Miss Amy's good-night was not caused by the hanging ud of the ear trumpet ; but before I had time to try a little ex periment on my own account I was disgusted to hear the voice of the ope rator at the exchange asking whether I had done with No. . j - "No has done with - me, I'm afraid,' said. I, and , before the puzzled operator; had time to ask what I ment,. I "rang off.". There are some - things which we cannot explain, even to a telephone operator. I walked slowly home. There's no fool like an bid fool?' I thought, as I felt about with my latch key for, the keyhole; "unless It's . a young fool," I mentally added, a mo ment later, as I observed poor Gerald gazing disconsolately into the dying embers of the fire. ' ' "Where have you been during the last hour?" said Gerald presently. : "I have been "making love to a charming girl," said I cheerfully. Gerald was rude enough to laugh." "And I flatter myself that she wasn't altogether displeased with the per formance," I added, with a. self-satisfied air. "As for you,, you' young dog! I proceeded severely, "you ought to be ashamed " of yourself. " What business have you to be sulking here at home while a pretty girl has -been wearing the willow for the last week on your account?" " f "How do you know that?" said Ger ald, with the nearest approach to cheerfulness which I had observed in him for some days. "A particular friend, of hers told me that it was so, sad I "but if you ever dare to let her know that I told you Pll disinherit you, as sure as my name is Jack Steevens." ! "I should deserve it," said my nep hew. -. - : ... Of course Gerald and Amy Creswell met at the Williards- the following af ternoon, and Amy's manner was so cordial to my nephew that the dear boy was firmly convinced that she was try ing to show him how anxious she was to make up their little quarrel. A week later their engagement was publicly announced. ' The best of It Is that to this day each believes that the other took the first "step toward a - reconciliation. ; Reall the possibilities of Mr. Edison's ingenious machine are but dimly re alized in this conservative old country of ours. Sketch. - Speculation (Congregationalist.) Speculation is a passion which wrecks fortunes, bodies, characters, communi ties, nations. Many men reach after immense possible results rather than take , assured small ones. They prefer the bucket shop to the savings bank. The unknown patent medicine has more "value in their eyes than that whose composition Is understood, and whose operation has been tested by professional experts. The "divine heal er' or the "Christian scientist" is trust ed rafher than the trained physician. Crowds of citizens shout themselves hoare in praise of the orator who has some panacea . which never has been tried but which he warrants to remove all" national ills. Here and there one gains money. Some real or imaginary bodily ills are cured. Spamodic im pulses may be created toward national prosperity. But every sensible man knows that all these speculations offer immense risks and yield small returns. The many are duped, the few reap the rewards. Honest labor, diligent study, reliance on experience insure safety. Gambling in business, in medicine, in government, In religion, is immoral. Its consequences are disastrous. To warn men against it and to offer the sure rewards of honesty is to preach a genuine gospel, fitted especially to the needs of this time. " Another Globe Girdler (From The : American Cyclist.) Lieutenant Julius Brandstoettner, of the Austrian army, is making a tour of the world on his wheel. He is twenty-seven years old, more than six feet high, and a muscular athlete. A sycling suit, a sweater a pair or socks, a couple of spare tires and a repair kit are all the baggage he carries exclusive of the clothes he wears. His weapon is a big revolver. He started from his birthplace, "Vienna, on November 14, 1896. He made his way to Bordeaux by way of Prague, Dresden, Leipsic, Madgeburg, Berlin, Stettin, Lubeek, Hamburg, Bremen, Dus seldorf, Brussels and Paris. Only once was he, molested. He wore on his sweater an Austrian eagle and was attacked by some half a dozen French peasants in. the Department of La Tours. He shot one of them, wounding him in the leg. Then the rest ran away. From Bor deaux he took the steamer to London, thence by wheel to Liverpool, by steamer to Halifax, and .from that point - to New York. He is now on his way across the American , continent, with San Francisco as his objective point, thence by. steamer to Sydney, Australia. After "visiting the principal points in Australia he will cross to the Indian continent, and, after ex ploring his way through Afghanistan, will strike for the Rer Sea and Suez, and thence through Egypt to civilization. Mysterious Defects in Engines Defects often develop in steam engines and other machines that are very mys terious in their origin, and cajl for great ingenuity In detecting the cause. Unless a -man in charge of an engine develops habits of close, observation, he is likely to be easily beaten when anything un usual takes place. We read lately of a tendency to run away of a Corless engine, which was a great mystery for a time. . The engine would speed up for a. few moments with out - any . apparent cause, and drop back to its normal speed without anything being done, The; engine was taken apart and examined' carefully, and particular attention was devoted to the govern oh, but nothing wrong could be found. One day, while the engineer was looking at the engine, it suddenly speeded up about fifty revolutions above the normal, and before the steam could be shut off it dropped back to the regular speed. The engine was stopped, the governor again taken apart, the yalve mechanism , examined, and a minute .inspection made over the whole machine, and nothing could be found, the matter. Some of the people about were beginn ing to think this erratic engine was acting outside of natural laws and that a real mystery surrounded- the. tendency to run away. By accident -the engineer grasped 'the governor belt, and was surprised to find that the pulley turned on the shaft. The pulley, was of the common kind, made in two pieces and bolted together, being held to the shaft by the friction of the parts. The bolts had worked :. loose and permitted the pulley td turn on the shaft at short intervals. - . " : ' v When hearing .about this mystery the surprise we experienced. was that the en gineer did not thoroughly examine that pulley after he had looked at the gover nor. Lomocotlve Engineering. Commercial Use of Garnets "The average man, I presume, Imagines that garnets are used in our line of bus iness exclusively, ' remarked a State-st jeweller the other day, "whereas in fact the Jewelry; trade cuts a small figure in the erarnet industryr - . "About 3.000 tons of garnets .are used every year In this country for . making sandpaper. A very small proportion or the garnets have any value to the lapi dary, and the. best are only semi-precious stones, The -costliest come . iromrtne Adirondack regions and from Delaware County,- Penn. lp in Alaska; near the town of Wrangel. is a ventaoie garnet mountain, and a .corporation has been re cently organized to develop it. The Alaska . garnet sone said to be unusually fine." Chicago Times-Herald. SCIENCE OP HERALDRY The Crest Is the. True Badge of Chlraly and Nobility The real meaning of a crest seems quite obscure to many people. The crest is, in fact, simply the ornament on the top" of the helmet worn by a commander, and is to distinguish him in the confusion of bat tle. The mantle is the covering of the helmet, and is as inappropriate as the crest for ladies, use,: excepting only per sons who use it as a robe of , estate. Hel-i mets are of five kinds, - varying according to rank. The crest is always, unless espe cially stated otherwise, placed - upon a wreath upon the top of the helmet and Is always painted thus. The crest was in use long before armorial bearings were, and is the true mark of chivalry and no bility. ' - - - . ' -., : Achievements, shield of arms, escutch eon and coat of arms are one and the same, although achievements is usually applied to "those funeral escutcheons which being placed upon the fronts of houses or elsewhere set forth 5 the - rank and circumstance of the deceased." A man's coat of arms Is always painted upon a shield, with supporters and crest, if entitled to a crest. A coat of arms was "a habit worn , by the ancient knights over, their - armor, both in battles and tournaments, upon wnich was applied the armories of the knights, embroidered in gold and silver and enameled with beat en tin, colored black, green, red and blue, whence the rule ever to apply color on color, or metal on metal. The achievements of married women are arranged precisely as are their hus bands', without the helmet, crest, man tle or motto, the ground always painted black under the wife's and white under the husband's. - ,. L 4 Spinsters' and widows' arms must al ways be painted upon a lozenge. "The achievements 'of widows differ . from wives In two respects the escutcheon is lozenge shaped and the ground is entirely black. The arms should be encircled by a silver cordon." This cordon is the badge of widowhood, and, of dourse, should never be used by unmarried women, though some outside make the mistake of painting it around the arms of spinsters. "Shells, cherubian heads and knots or bows of ribbon are of ten placed about the arms of women whether spinsters., wives or widows." If an unmarried woman is a peeress, her "supporters' robe of estate and coronet" may be added to her arms. There are now nine different crowns or coronets used in ngland, flower-de-luce, strawberry leaves and balls forming their varying ornamentation,' according to the varying ranks. Our American Duchess of Marlborough Is entitled to , her coronet, but she may not use a crest. Philadel phia Times. - How a Brave Shikari Killed a Mau-Eate You all know that a man-eater Is gen erally a tiger too old, sick, or inactive to catch his natural prey in the jugles, so he hangs about a village like an area sneak, picks up goats and calves, one day falls on a helpless man,' woman or child at the edge of the forest, and having tasted hu man flesh," longs for more. Confirmed man-eaters, it is said, care for no other, but this I doubt; they may prefer it to any other: it is probably easier to get in many cases. But whether a tiger becomes a man-eater by force of, circumstances or malice prepense, he is a terror to the neighborhood he frequents, and, as he adds to the tale of his victims, helpless villagers invest him with supernatural at tributes, and call on their gods to avert his wrath. . . J A noted specimen of this class had killed a great number of people about a certain village somewhere in Kattyawar, and had taken to polishing off dak-runners as they passed through a narrow jungly defile, three or four miles from the village. He grew so cunning that shikaris ' were baf flled time after time in their attempts to sight him. When an armed escort ac companied the dak-runner nothing hap pened; so after some days it was thought the tiger had shifted his quarters. Then the escort was dropped one evening, and immediately another unfortunate runner disappeared. A special reward was offer ed by the gavernment.but without results. For months and months the man-eater continued. to . kill with Impunity. My cousin in the staff corps, a keen shikari and very determined fellow, swore he would shoot that tiger; got ten days' leave, and pitched his tent near the vil lage in question. He tried all he knew, tied up buffalo calves, beat the jungles with 300 or 400 men, even accompanied a dak-runner at dusk through the fatal de file, but in vain. . At last he resolved to personate the dak runner himself, and go alone. Attired as a native and armed with riflle and pis tol, he slung a mail bag over his shoulder and started on his perilous adventure one evening at sunset. Jingling a number ot little bells attached to his person, after the manner of dak-runners, he trotted on till he reached the place of evil omen. Then all at once with a bound the man eater appeared in the middle of the road not twelve feet wide, facing him. The man pulled up short at a distance of some fifteen yards, raised his 12-bore, and, by the mercy of God, dropped the tiger stone dead with a ball in the brain. Bad minton Magazine. What Is News , Recently The Augusta Chronicle con tained an interesting article on, "What is News?" and in reply thereto," it an-. swered its own query as follows i "News is anything that, the general public ought to know.,, "News consists of events that are either very usual or very unusual." "News is the daily record of the hu man race put-Into convenient form for the public." "News is the panamora of the world every twenty-four hours in embryo." "News is whatever the public will read and pay for." " "News is anything from Jones' arri val in town to the fall of an empire." "News is historical fact. It is what occurs, not what is imagined." "News is the truth concerning men, nations, and things. That is truth con cerning them which is helpful, or plea- sant or useful, or necessary, for a reader to know." While on this subject our contempo rary refers to the practice which peo ple make of requesting that news con cerning themselves be left out of the paper. They want all the news, but if it is about themselves or those con nected with them, they ask that it be omitted, but if it is about other people they like to see it in print. In other words, "if the news is about us leave it out; if about the other fellow, print it, and be sure to give the full story." This is about the idea which many convey to the newspaper man.and there is hardly a day that some request along the above line is not made of the daily newspapers. ' . - - '- It never occurs probably that the re quests are embarrassing to the newspa per men, but all the same it is. As the Chronicle observes, "when it comes to eulogy and flattery, however undeserv ed and extravagant, these people are ready enough to see that in print; and it is astonishing how; much it takes to satis wy them. As long as it is sunshine they will say publish it by all means, but when a shadow comes their way; when they violate lawr when the aspect In which they will appear before the public is not complimentary, then at once they say: "Keep it out of the pa pers," . '--:; -'T. - This is human nature. V But should a newspaper publisher accede to the re quest? Is he dealing, fairly with those who pay for the news? These are ques tions that persons who request the sup-! pression of legitimate news items should consider. Norfolk Virginian. r: The Straits of Nobility. ; The baron and the baroness had come to town, - and the young " New Yorker who had met them when he was a stu dent at Heidelberg was showing them the sights of the city, says The New- York Telegram. - . . , .' m , He took them, among other, places, to a German beer hall in Third avenue, where all manner of antique mugs and Dorelalns are nerched on shel vest against the dark, walnut panels of the wails. - - - Fritz, his favorite - waiter, I came, and with an air which was granduer on Ice, the youth who had studied abroad sum-, moned his most gutteral German to his aid, and ordered three steins of Wuerz burger and three sardellen sandwiches. The baroness detected the Bavarian accent in the Waiter's voice when he repeated the order, and addressed him in his own dialect. " "From Bavaria also?" said the waiter when he returned with the : foaming flagons. "My wife lives there now. Perhaps you know her already. Her name is ." ' The baroness smiled indulgently over the foam-flecked rim and shook her head. " --.. ' ; - "Shall I make him drop dead?" asked he who had been to Heidelburg. "Not at all," replied the baroness. The next time the foreign educated youth came to the place he hunted up the waiter, and by adroit conversation brought the subject around to those who had accompanied him to the res taurant. ' .: - . ; "That woman," he said, "whom you asked if she knew your wife was a baroness." - 's "So is my wife," replied Fitz, as he calmly slid a bill of fare across the table. "That was the baroness- , I knew her well." . 4 The Round Cotton Bale (Atlanta Journal.) ' While a number of cotton "experts have given their cordial endorsement to the cylindrical cotton bale strong objection is made to it by many cotton brokers In New York on the ground that it Is difficult to sample cotton packed in such a bale. The Boston ; Herald which is in touch with the cotton men of New England comes to the defense of the new bale as follows: "The new method of baling cotton In compressed cylindrical bales," bound with cotton cloth instead of jute bagging, Is said to have proved highly satisfactory. The space in a vessel's hold or In & rail way car for a given quantity of. cotton Is much less when cotton Is put up this way than when packed In the old manner. More than this, it has been found practi cally Impossible to set lire to a bale of COllon pui up in mis inaimer, anu nits: than when the cotton is put up in a some what loose and uncertain covering of Jute. From the grower to the .manufacturer re ports are highly satisfactory, "while as cotton is intensely inflammable, and as many fires that have occurred at sea have been : chargeable to cotton, the use . of a method of packing which eliminates this serious hazard is one greatly to be com mended. It is not easy to change a trade custom in a year or two, but the chances are that ten or tfelve years from this time all. or nearly all. of the cotton grown In our southern states which is sent to northern or to European markets will be packed in these closely compressed cyl indrical bales." v. What is still more favorable to the Inter ests of the cylindrical bale, the New York Shipping List has become its stout cham pion. After commending It in the highest terms that journal says: "Machines will be leased, hut in no case sold, to planters, and will turn out the cotton so tightly pressed that a 500-pound bale will be only half the present size of a bale of the same weight. Another im portant advantage lies in the fact that the cylindrical bale can be shipped direct ly to the spinner and fed directly to his machinery without further handling. An immense saving in freight will be effected by the decreased amount of room occu pied by the cotton in transit." :- How Fast Wild Geese Fly. I ' During the1 three days ending March 22nd numerous flocks of geese were seen migrating northward, tor, rather, north eastward, since they were following the general trend of the coast line, which. In Maw Rne-land' In nffl.rlv northeast ward north of Cape Cod. On the morn ing of March 22nd, while A. E. Sweet land and I were measuring clouds at the ends of a 'base line 1,178.4 meters in lncth Mrtendlne- from the Blue "Hill Meteorological observatory to the base of Blue hill, we succeeded in measur ing, with our Cloud theodolites, the height and the velocity of flight of one of these flocks of geese. So rapid is the velocity of flight that the flock was visible to the observers only about two minutes, -but during that time: two sets of measurements were taken with the. theodolites on the leader of the flock. , The first measurements, at 8:49 a, m., were accu rat el y taken at the observar tory station, but were only approxi mate at the other station. The second measurements, at 8:50 o'clock ja. m.. were accurate and simultaneous at both C stations. Using the second set of o"bservations at 'both s'tations for fha hoie-h'f anri thf twn Aet.cr Wf rthsftrvfl tions at the observatory station for the velocity, the calculations gave the height as 905 feet above the Neponset Hver vflllev. of 960 feet above sea level and the velocity of flight as 14.3 miles an hour. The direction of flight was from southwest to northeast. flock" of ducks flying from the niorth east at a height of 958 feet with a ve locity of 47.8 miles an hour H. Hemv C a vAn i r Snl am T Henry Drnmmood'i Hnmor : A feature of Professor Drummond's character, which has been missed by most who have given an estimate of the man, was his humor. He' had the "grand man ner" and a stately gravity - which kept outsiders from seeing the playful side of his nature. This also had its origin in the simplicity wmcn was the Keynote or all his character. He was fond of little practical jokes, and could hoax his friends to perfection. Almost the last time I saw him was at a dinner to which we had been invited to meet a London celebrity who was to address a meeting after dln ,ner. Drummond came over to me and whispered, "Do you want to go to thia meeting?" I shook my head a little sad ly, feeling that there was no "help for it, and he said, with a touch if mischief In his ye, "We'll run." We took an oppor tunity, when everybody was attending to the celebrity, to slip outr and went along to his house with the glee of two school boys playing truant. He enjoyed the es cape hugely and looked upon it as a practical joke that we had got the celebri ty's honey without his sting.- - . All his intimate friends could testify to his capacity for fun. "and with children there was nobody else In the house worth considering when Henry Drummond was in it. He would lower the gases and tell ghost stories with a comical denoument that was Irresistibly funny. He would gravely propound a problem and make you puzzle it out, only to find It was a hoax. At the very last, when he could hardly speak, he would try to keep up his friend's spirits by taking them in with some amusing conundrum. In the days of his power, after every visit to America and Australia, he came home with delightful stories that went' the rounds as Drummond's latest. This characteristic of humor : was part of the instinctive joy of living which beamed in his very face. He had so many; interests, artistic, scientific, and ' social, and he lived in such a sweet atmosphere, of faith, that life was to him very good. Woman at Home.
The Wilmington Messenger (Wilmington, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 20, 1897, edition 1
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