THE PINE KNOT?.
I .- - - r,
SOUTHERN PINES, N.lc.
The New York Commercial observes.
"It almost seems a pity now that we did
do V get into war with Mexico., An offi
cer of our army, sent by General Mac
kenzie, to investigate the arm of Mexico,
reports a standing force of 40,000 men,
divided between four great, districts.'
Ten new batteries of field guns have of
late years been imported from France.
There "is o, factory for small arms near
the capital. The officers come from the
"National Military School at Chapultepee,
and the rank and file are the lowest of
the peons.
Ignorance, violation of all sanitarj
principles, miserable poverty, the ex
treme rigor of winter, and neglect by
drunken parents are said to be some of
the principal reasons why out of 1,0.00
children born in Jhissia scarcely 423 will
reach their twentieth birthday. Statis
tics show that 345 out of each 1,000 die
in the first five years. The Russian Gov
ernment! is seeking means to diminish
this frightful infant mortality, but with
little hope of speedy success, since the
main causes can only be eradicated by
the progressive education and reformat
tion of successivegenerations of the peo
plo. A Nevada newspaper calmly . alleges,
that some months ago W. J. Marsh, of
Fort Churchill, built a fence around one
of his meadows along the bank of the
river, and for posts used young cotton-
wood and willow trees. A eatewas made
in the fence and an extra heavy post was
put in the ground for the gate to swing
on. It was noticed that a number of the
green posts were sending out branches,
but no attention was paid to this
fact. After cutting the first crop of al
. falta in this field some cattle were turned
into the inclosure through another gate,
away from the river. They were soon
found outside of the fence and a man
was sent to find out where the fence
was broken. He had found the fence
all right, but upon comiug to the lower
gate found it raised about five feet in the
air high enough for cattle to go undr.
The post to which the gate was hinged
had grown that much and carried the
gate with it.
Stevens, the in&omible correspondent
of an American magazine, has been
obliged to give up hi3 trip through Af
ghanistan, but he is still determined to
get around the world on his wheel.
Finding that the Russians would not al
low him to carry out his original plan of
proceeding by Merv to the Oxus, he ap
plied to Sir "West Ridgeway for permis
eion to join the camp of the boundary
commission, with the view of finding
his way thence to India. Sir. West Ridge
way replied that the plan, was impracti
cable. Thereupon' Stevens went from
Meshed southward to Birgan, where he
BUCC
and
?edcd In crossing the Afgan frontier
reaching Farrah, Thence he hoped
to go to Buetta by way of Candahar, but
the Governor detained him and eventu
ally sent him to Herat. He was kept
some dajfs outside Herat, and was then
sent under escort to the Persian frontier.
The attempt to ride across Afghanistan
was thus bafEed.. Stevens now proposes
to wheel himself to Lahore and to Cal
cutta, and then go by sea to Canton, to
ride to Northern China on his bicycle,
and finally to take ship for Japan and
America.
Glaciers, the ice-rivers of lofty moun
tains, have been found to move down
ward from due or two inches to over fifty
a day, , from ten to twenty inches a day
in summer being most common. The
rate in whiter is about half that of sum-
MORPHIAS SLAVES.
PEOPLE WHO IIAVJS FALLEN
VICTI3IS TO THE DRUG.
The Lady at the Banquet How Per
sons Acquire a Taste for Morphine
Its Exhilarating Effect
! Ultimate Result.
Amos J. Cummings says in a New
York letter: One day recently I attended
a dinnerat Dclmonico's. The repast was
truly recherche. It was given by a se
date gentlemah, prior to his departure
for Europe, Flight ladies and ten of the
male sex were his guests'. All were in
full dress. The table, was banked with
rare "rose?, and tropical palms and ferns
embowered the windows. The bills of
fare were printed on satin and "were ex
quisitely illuminated. The boutonniers
were marvels of beauty. A string band
of surpassing excellence tilled the air
with piquant music. At my right sat a
lady richly dressed and- of remarkable
beauty. Her husband was on her rights
He was a Brooklyn phisician. His wife
wore a V corsage and tight-fitting lace
sleeves. ! Her features were-regular, her
nostrils thin and firmly chiseled, and her
face had the charm of extreme delicacy.
Her eyes were large and liquid, and her
complexion exquisite. Her words were
uttered as sweetly arid distinctly as the
notes of i an Andreas canary. Her wit
flashed like the scintillations of a dia
mond, and she was the life of the south
ern endrof the table. Everybody was
charmed by her intellectual radiance.
The conversation eddied suddenly to an
other -quarter. The Brooklyn lady es
sayed a remark that died away as though
frozen on her lips. I looked at her in
astonishment. All her elan had gpne.
The luster had fled from her eyes. The
roseate lids were partially closed, and her
face was as pale as alabaster. She
seemed to be goin into a trance. A
peal of merriment at the other end of the
table had attracted the attention of the
guests. J The husband saw my gaze riv
ited upon his wife. Leaning toward me
he murmured: "May I beg your good
offices for a moment? Oblige me and be
so kind as to steady my wife."
1 He was as cool and collected as though
in his own drawing room. I took the
lady by the arm and placed my hand on
her waist, fancying that he wished me
to assist her in leaving the table. But
no. .. He had drawn from the inside
pocket of his dress coat a small hypoder
mic syringe. He drove its point between
the meshes of the lace into , her white
arm. In an instant the syringe had done
its work. With,in thirty seconds the
large eyes were again sparkling with
pleasure. The rich color returned to the
cheeks, ana the lair creature was again
smiling upon the sea of merriment. She
had more than regained her chic and
gaiety. The husband-drew a sigh of re
lief when he saw that he had revived
her without attracting attention. His
wife was as witty as ever,andshe drank
copious draughts of wine, apparently ut
terly impervious to its effects.
1 he explanation vouchsafed to me later
in the evening was hardly necessary. The
ladv was a slave to the morrvhine habit.
It was first acquired when the drug was
prescribed in sickness. The taste for
morphine thus developed, the lady for a
long time supplied herself secretly from
her husband's medical laboratory. He
discovered it too late to check her desire
for the drug. He tried to shut off the
"source of her supplies, but she outwitted
him by patronizing pharmacies in New
York. ' Lit 's of no use," he. said bitterly.
"The habit is confirmed, and death alone
will stop it."
. " Every drug store in the city is patron-
! izeq more or less by-, the victims of mor
; phine. When the habit becomes settled,
the weak mortal grows crafty and artful.
I The drug is obtained at pharmacists far
away from his residence. He places the
. powder on the plana of his hand, and
. laps it secretly. A drug store on Hud-
j son street has two regular customers.
Both come from above Fiftieth street,
tne buyers iancymg tnat they are en
1 tirely unknown. The morphine is put
up in what are known among druggists
: as "drachm vials. - .bach vial contains
3ixty grains. One of the Hudson street
customers consumes two oi these vials a
! week. They are always labeled
; "poison.'? The law limits sales to these
vials. Anv one taking the contents o
two vial a week is totally unfit for work
t takes two or three ye irs for the habit
ito become chronic. After that a cure is
itterly impossible. , The post of a vial is
f 55 cents, j Nothing exhilarates themmd
uid the
body like morphine. Liquor
tlrckens the utterance and stupifies thi
Dram.
Morphine, on the contrary, freeA
the tongue and makes its accent as dis
tinct as the notes of a well-played banjo.
It makes the brain bright but insouciant
:V veteran morphine eater is prooi i
against stimulants. Whisky and brands ;
no not
intoxicate him. He defies al
drunkenness except the intoxication pro
duced bv the drug. His muscles grad-
ually become filled with the
Frequently pins and needles
thrusted into his flesh without
poison,
can b(
produc-
mg any pain. When tnorougniy satu
rated with morphine, the victim either
dies or attains an extraordinary size. Nc
matter how thin he may be, he begins to
grow fat and in some cases is said to dii
of suffocation. The mind is usuallj
shattered in advance of the body.
These few facts I have learned from 8
druggist, who in a lifetime has known
many victims. He says that the fate ol
the morphine stave, however, is not morf
shocking than that of the confirmed takei
of chloroform. The taste for this aa
aesthetic is b2Coming as great as that foi
morphine. Dissipation and nervous ten
sion both produce, sleepless nights. Tc
woo sleep chloroform is used. "Hun
dreds in our large cities," said the drug
gist, "saturate napkins and handker
chiefs with chloroform at night and fall
asleep in breathing the fumes. Thehabil ;
produces a palpitation of j the heart, and
in time ihe victim is sure to be found
dead in bed." .
WTiile I was conversing with this drug
gist a pale but handsome young woman
came in with a prescription, bhe seemed
downcast and melancholy, but quicklj
brightened up when the prescription was
filled. As she passed cut with a hastj
step the proprietor tossed me the memo
randum. "It is for morphine," he said,
";and it is undoubtedly a bogus prescrip
tion. But the poor g:rl is happy by this
time." There are probably 1,200 drug
stores in this city. On an average each
one sells a drachm vial of mornhine a
day. This would indicate at least 5,0CC
habitual morphine takers ;in New "York
alone. Nearly 4,0CO of these are women.
Druggists will agree that this estimate is
under rather than over reality. Place
chloroform in the same crucible, and we
have 8.000 miserable beings traveling
the road to an insane death.
Gunninsr For Hares.
A Norwich (Conn.) letter to the New
York Sun says: The Fisher's Island Gun
Club and the Westminster Kennel Clut
of New York stocked Fisher's Island
with long-legged English hares a year oi
more ago, and the hares; thrived won
derfully. There are no trees on the
island, and they find coverts in the
almost impenetrable shrub corpses in the
hollows between the hills. Thence they
emerge into the cultivated fields and
gobble up the young crops. When a
man comes.near them they gallop across
the hills, bounding like kangaroos over
obstructions, and get into their retreats.
It is as difficult to catch one as it is to
overtake the wind. j
They have become a great nuisance to
the farmers, and the city sportsmen have
come up from New York to hunt them.
The club men have brought along dogs
whose legs are ' longer even than the
hares' are, and daily there is wild sport
on the island. The hounds penetrate
into the thicket3 and drive the game out,
and the hunters shoo the hares while
they are careering through the air in
their astonishing jumps. It is not easy
to hit a hare in full spring, the per
formance combining the fine points of
both bird shooting and fbx hunting, and
the sportsmen waste a great many shots
on the Atlantic Ocean. But as the hares
cannot get off the island, the chances of
one once started for escape are limited.
Some big hares have been taken, the
largest weighing eighteen pounds. The
sportmeh hunt in the fall for prizes, the
first premium! being $1,000 to the man
who bags the greatest number of hares.
The dog that does the best field work
gets $250.
The Best Race.
You may talk of the pleasure of yachting,
And of sailing before a stiff breeze,
But corn he had rather be husking',
With a bushel between his two knees. ;
Fcr if 'mid the ears there's a red one,
He noisily jumps to his feet.
While way through the barn she goes flying,
With her hair streaming wild in retreat.
Then what are the pleasures of sailing
To this race through the keen autumn air,
And what prizes that yachtsmen may con
quer ..
With the one that he winslnay compare?
In grace lovely woman's no rival, -
As she skims from the oncoming kiss,
And the la l that's her venturesome captiT
Has reached the fair haven of bliss.
. Boston Budget
Clay-Eaters.
"hvwa seen 'sandhilles,, it
certain?.
parts of North and South Carolina, ana
some within ten mi es of Columbia, while
engaged in eating their dinner, and have-
observed them consume, with evident-
relish, large quantities of clay, and what s-
more, I nave joiaeu in tueir iruj;i jrepo
and partaken of some of the stuti myseu,
Rays a North Carolina doctor in the At
lanta Uomtitution. it is neany iasieiesr
but some of the clay-eating epicures pro
fess to enjoy it becaus3 of a delicate fla
vor it possesses. It is white, devoid of 2
grit and not unlike the kaolin of which,
plates and saucers are made. There is
nothing disagreeable about this clay and
it may betaken intothe i stomach with
impunity. It is not injurious as an article
t)f diet, indeed many contend that it in
sures longevity and wards off several dis
eases. There are well auth ;nticated in
stances of wonderful longevity amonj
'clay-eaters." and it is well understood
by such of the faculty as have studied the
subject that none of the ,sandhillers,r
ever suher with indigestion or dyspepsia, .
and I have never known one to die of con
sumption; in fact, foolish as it may seem,
l am constrained Nto believe that this
strange habit exempts the clay-eaters'r
from many of the ailments to which the rest
of the human family are heirs. Of course;
there is nothing very succulent or nutri
tious about a slics "of clay, but it cer
tainly allays the gnawings of hunger.
This is done by. distending the walls of",
the stomach. It is not to be expected,
that, a clay diet will take entirely the
place of bread and meat, but it-does this
to a certain extent.
In my country practice, which occa
sionally carries me out into the sandhills
(occasionally I say, for although the sand--hillers
are the sickliest looking, most
cadaverous and woe-be-gone beings in ;
the world, they are the healthiest), I have
good opportunities to study their pecu
liar habits. Th?y can subsist on exceed
ingly limited quantities of meat; in fact
they get very little to eat, and that fat
bacon, about thrice a week. They are
not lazy, but decidedly shiftless. They
are troubled with few. wants, howcverr
and these are supplied easily.
"Do they e it only one sort of clay?"
'As a general thing, yes," was the
reply, "but sometimes their table is gar
nished Dy aKindoi yellowish man,some- .
what scarce, which they consume with a.
keen relish. It is said to taste sweet, andT
they use it as a dessert. They,however,
, draw the line at red clay. Tnis not even.
their ironclad stomachs can digest.
'Don't you eat red clay ?T Tasked a gawkv
old fellow. No, surree,'j was "his ani
mated response ; 4I have occasionally
had er brick in my hat, but I'll be blamed
of T VionVpr after mnVinrr mxr 1m wrrl a a '
brickyard.'" j
Origin of Some First Families of the
Metropolis. A New York letter to the mcmnat
Enquirer says: The genealogical record,
of some of the first families is threatened
by an exposure which may make some
wince, but no true A merican will be
ashamed of an humble origin. In fact
there is but little room for bDasting
among the New York millionaires.- Pe
ter Gilsey begani as a journeyman piano
forte maker, and the founder of Cooper
institute, first appears in the directory as
"Peter Cooper, machinist." The Bre
voorts were market gardeners.. Alder
man Carman, who left a round million,
was a house carpenter. A.- T. Stewart
began by teaching a small school. ; The
millionaire Vermilyes were the sons of a-
sexton )f a downtown church. Cyrus
W. Fietdjfirst opened ti a le a3 a dealer in
rags. Lawyer Hummel began as an er
rand bov in the same office in which ho
merly of A. T. Stewart fc Co., and nowa
retired millionaire, was the son of a New
burgh carpenter.
The first Astor that came to America
was a butcher and had a stall in Fly mar
ket. Rufua Story, who is now the milf
l.onaire veteran of Front street, begar
nere as a hard-worked boy in a cheai
grocery. Jay Gould was in "early life
clerk in a country store, and felt that he
was doiDg remarkably well when he pe
died maps in Delaware county. KeaclerJ
it will not do to dispute the day of mall
J things.' . Why, even the Spoffords were
j shoemakers, the Stevenses kept tavern,
f and the Wolfes can be traced back to a
gin-mill. Let the genealogical fiend do
. his worst, he will iStill find that wealth,
like charity, covers a multitude of sins.
j The island of Chiloe, on the southwest
; coast of South America,; has 200 days of '
cold rain and sleet in tie year. Yet ca-
tarrhs and pulmonary troubles are said
J tc be very rare amor r the native dwellprai
in thi3 remarkable r.limate.
i