Newspapers / The Warren News (Warrenton, … / March 19, 1880, edition 1 / Page 1
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--fXv. mm VOL. II. NO. 21. WARRENTON, N. C, FRIDAY, MARCH . 1880. SQKIffTIOI PBCI $150 per ) A Leap Year Proposal. Tray, gentle being, give me hoed, Ah km eling 1 umbly by tby tdcto, With lacerated heart I plead That thou'lt beoome my blushing bride. I long I wildly long to preaa Thee to my heart, yet stand alasb I pine to print a fond cartHB Upon thy meek and mild mustache, Why, tell me why thine eyolidd drop Ard turn away bo pettishly, And why witjh tierce, tnmnltaon flop Thy bosom hefcvtu coqucttiehh V I know ib u art yonng and fair As tiny buds in early spring liut thou shall be my connUut euro, Thou frail and fragile little thing, T'li sew thy shirts aud darn thj Lus, Thy victual cook, tby firea will light Ill grease tby gracious Grecian nose Each tn jwj, croupy. wintry night. Bo, surely, thon'lt not tell me nay And-bid me dying qait thy side Brace up, pull down thy vest and say Tha thou will be my blushing bride. SAVED FROM SUICIDE. TbrilMo sketch Twenl y-Fi c of I ii 1 1 tor n i it Yearn Auo. Life J? rem the advanced sheets of fornia Sketches. " by Rsv. Dr. "Caii O. P. Jbitzgerald. editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate, we take the follow ing descriptive of "AN INTERVIEW." An I viiH oming out of the San Fran cieeo Fotsfc Office one morning in the year 185 , a tall, dark-t-kinded man placed himself in front of me, and fixing his intensely glittering eyes upon me, Baid in an exciting tone: "Sir, can yon give me a half hour of your time this morniug? ' "Yes," I replied, "if 1 can be of any service to yon by so doing." "Not here but in your effice, private ly," he continued. "I must speak to Homebody, and having heard you prtach in the church on Pine street, I felt that I ojuld approach you. I am in greet trouble and danger, and muot speak to sme one!" His manner was excited, his hand trembled, and his eye had an insane gleam as ho spoke. We walked in si lence until wo' reached my ofltiae on Montgomery street. After entering 1 laid ''own my letters and paper?, and was about to offer him a chair, when he hurriedly locked the door on the iuside, saying as he did so: "This cjnversatiou is to be private, aud I do not intend to be interrupted." A he TWrucd toward me I saw fchrft T. had a pistol in his hand, which he laid on a desk, aud then sat down. I waited for him to speak, eying him and the pistol closely, and feeling a little un comfortable, locked in thus with a mad man of almost giant like size and strength. The pistol had a sinister look that I had never before recognized in that popular weapon. It seem to grow bigger and bigger. "Have you ever been haunted by the idea of suicide?" he asked abruptly , his eyes glaring upon me as I spoke. "No not particularly," I answered, "but why do you asked?" "Because the idea is haunting mo," he said in an agitated tone, rising from his chair as he spoke. I have lain for two nights with a cocked pistol in my hand, calculating the valuo of my life. I bought this pistol to shoot myself with, and wonder that I have not done it; but something has held me back. "What has put the idea of suicide in to yonr mind?" I inquired. "My life's a failure, sir; and there is nothing left for such a fool as I have been," he said bitterly, "When a man has no hope left he should die." I was making some reply when he broke in : "Hear my history, and then tell me if death is not the only thing left for mo," laying his hand upon the pistol as he sptoke. When he told me his name I recog nized it as that of a man of genius, whoeo contributions to a certain popu lar periodic xl had given him a wide fame in the world of letters. He was the son of a venerable New EDgland bishop, and a graduate of Harvard University, I will give his story iu his own words, as nearly as I cm. "In 18C0 I started to California with honorable purposa and high ambition. My father being a clergyman, and poor, ana greatly advanced in years, I felt that it was my duty to make provision ior mm ana tor the family circle to which I belonged and of which I was the Aiiiiunteu uy uus purpose, 1 was full of hopo and energy. On the ship that took me to California I made the acquaintance and fell into the snares of a beautiful but'tmprincioal woman, for whom I toiled and sacrificed everything ior eigut years oi weakness and folly, never remitting .a dollar to those I had intended to provide for at home, carry ing all the while an uneasy conscience and despising myself. I made immense sums of money, but it all went for noth ing but to feed the extravagance and recklessness of my evil genius. Tortur ed by remorse, I made many a struggle to tree myself from the evil connection that blighted my life, but in vain. I had almost ceased to struggle against my fate, when death'lifted the sLaiow from my path. The unhappy woman dried, and I was free. I was astonished how rapid and how complete was the reaction from my despair. I felt like a lowiui? hopes that had ueeu smothered revive!, and I felt some thing of the, buoyancy and em rgy with which J had left my New England hills. I worked hard and prospered. I mado money aud saved it, making occasional remittances to the family at home, who were overjoy e 1 to hear from me after so long aud gnilty silence. I hadn't the heart to write to them while pursuing my evil life. "I had learned to gamble, of course, but now I resolved to quit it. For two year I kept this resolution, and had in the meantime saved over $6000. Do yon beleivo that the devil tempts men? I tell you sir, it is true I I began to feel a strange -it sire tovisit some of my old haunts. This feeling became intense overmastering. My judgment and con science protested, but I felt like one under a spell. I yielded and found my way to a well known gambling hell, where I lost every dollar of my money. It was like a dream I seemed to be drawn on to my ruin by some invisible but resistless power. When I had lost all, a strange calm came over me, which I had never understood. It may have been the reaction, after a night of fever ish exoitement. or possibly it was the unnatural calm that followB the d ato of hope. My self-contempt was complete. No language could have expressed the intensity of my self-f orn. I sneaked to my lodgings, feeling that I had parted with my manhood as well ar. my money. "The very next day I was surprised by the off of a lucrative subordinate position in a Federal office in San Fran-f cisco. This was not the drat coincidence of this sort in my life where an rnex pected influence had been brought to bear npon me. giving my plans and prospects a new direction. Has God anything to do with these things, or is it accident? I took the place which was offered mo, and went to work with re newed hope and energy. T made a vow against gambling, and determined to recover all I had thrown away. I eavod every dollar possible, rmebing myself in my living, and supplementing my liberal salary by literary labors. My savings had again run high up in the thousands, till my gains were steady. The Frazer-River mining excitement broke out. An old friend of mine came to me and asked the loan of a hundred dollars to help him oh to the new mines. I told him he should have the money, aud that I would have it ready for him that afternoon. After, ho lott the thought occurred to me that $100 was a very poor outfit for such an enterprise, and that he ought to have more. Then the thought was suggested yes, sir, it was suggested that I might take the hundred dollars to a faro-bank and win another to place in the hands of rr.y friend. I was fully resolvod to risk not a cent beyond this. The idea session of my mind, aud when he came for the money I told him my plan, and proposed that he accompany me to the gambling hell. He was a free-and-easy sort of fellow, and readily assented. We went together, and after alternate snccess and losses at the faro bank, it ended in the usual way : I lost the 1 1 1 .1 1 ! T . uuuurwA uunars. i went nome m a freiDzy of anger and self reproach. The old passion was aroused again. A wild determination to break the faro bank took hold upon me. I went night after L'.u: i i , ... niKut, uemug recKiessjy until not a dollar was left. This happened last week. Can you wonder that I have concluded there is no hope for as weak a fool as l am?" He paused a moment in his rapid re- eitai, pacing me noor, with his nana ou ii a . i i . , the hammer of the pistol, which he had taku up. i "Now, sir, candidly don't vou think that the best thing I can do is to blow out ray brains?" said he cocking tho pistol as he spoke. The thought occurred to me. that it was no uncommon thing for the suicidal to give away to the homicidal mania. me man was evidently half mat, and ready for a tragedy. The pistol seemed almost instinct with conscious evil in tentioa. If a suicide or homicide was to end the scene, I preferred the for mer. "How old are you?" I askel aiming to create a diversion. j"I am 45," he answered, apparcntlv i i . ...... " orougnt to a little more reooollectioa of himself by the question. I should think," I continued, having arrested his attention, "that whatever may be your follies, and however dark the future you have to face, you have too much manhood to sneak out of life by the backdoor of suicide." The shot struck. An instantaneous change passed over his countenance. Suicide appeared to him a new light as a coward Jy, not an heroic act. He had been facmated with the notion of having the curtain fall upon his career amid ti e blase of blue light and the glamour of romance and the dignity of tragedy, amid the wonder of the crowd and the tears of the sentimental. That was all gone; the suicide was but a poor creature, weak as well as wicked. He was sated He sank into a chair as he handed me the pistol, which I was very glad indeed to get into my hands. "You ahould be ashamed of yourself, sir," I continued. "You are onlv forty- five years old; you are in perfect heal h, with almost a giant's strength, a classi cal education, extensive business exper ienc?, and with a knowledge of the world gained bv Vour mistakes that should be a guarantee against the pos sibility of their repetition. A .brave man should never give up tie battle th! bravest never give up." r Give me the pistol," he said un quiet ly; you need not be afraid to trust me with it. The devil has left me. I Will not act the part of a coward. You will hear from me again. Permit me to thank you. Good morning. I did hear from him again. The devil soemed indeed to have left him. He went to British Columbia, where he prospered in business and got rich, be came a pillar in the church of which his lather was one m" the great lights, and committed not suicide, but matrimonv, marry mg a sweetJ and cultured English girl, who thinks her tall Yankee husband the haudsomeest and noblest of men. When Mr. Fowler, colonial secretary of Honduras, was reeentlv exniorinr tho interior of the colony, he was overtaken by a drove of peccaries, and had only time to take a snap shot at the first f them andcramble up a tree, dropping his rifle in the performance, before the whole puck were round his perch, gnashing their teeth at him, grunting and sharpening their tusks against his tree. Now the peccary is not only fe rocious but patient, and rather than let an object -of its anger escape will wait about four days, so that the secretary had before him onlv t WO cnnrpe either to remain where he was until he dropped down among the swine from sheer exhaustion and hunger or eUe to commit suicide at once by comin down tooeeaien tiiere and then. Whiln ho was in this dilemma, however, a jaguar appeared. This animal has a particu lar fondness for wild pork, and the pec caries bolted helter-skelter. The jaguar was after them with admirable prompti tude, and the secretary, finding thet coast clear, made his escape. The Masker's Last Mash. Down the Baltimore and Ohio tnwam Newark, Ohio, we fly. We fly close to 'the ground but all the same it is flying "Here comes the masher," the fat passenger said, " How much be travels this winter. His coat is Hart v;0 trousers are light, Mis collar is high and nis mamy uiroat is bared tn t ho i ,1 - . Dreeze. "With a lump in it like the .ornt.ro r an old oak tree," said the cross passen- letters on his little KuSua &fl3S valise is parted in the middle: hi r. glass is faultiest and his Iront hair is banged ' " And there m something hulking in the urer story," stud the tall thin passenger, v his head lopes irom the buinn of se P-estopm down to his nose forwHrd. find rnhe straight down to his neck aft.. Hp is not brilliant, he U not useful, he is not inUlligent, he is lacking" mere is a hole in his skimmpr ov.'. dently," said the man on the wood box. " Pale saffron is his neck-scarf, and brightly theion gleams the twenty-cent diamond of Alaska," remarked the sad passenger; "meager is he as to his in tellect, but fertile are his whiskers; fas cinating beyond the song of the siren is the melody of his voice -t he cannot pro nounce R, and the Italian A is soft in his speech, but he says ' git' and 'bbet" up,' and when he gbeth he says he is 'goin'.' Sweet is his countenance, and the lone, helpless female who gazes upon it is gone." " She is left, indeed," sighed the fat passenger. "You bet," said the brakeman, ear nestly, " she is clear broke up." " She is paralyzed," mourned the sad passenger, " and the palpitations of her maidenlv heart palp only for him." ' And he lets it palp," said the man with the sandy goatee, " for if he would he cannot many all of them. He i sorry for the girls, but he really cannot do it." "And so," said the tall, thin passen- rr i it- 1 4 I w i i . . . - - C 1 " j 1 ,-.., pine awtiy ior mm; iiiey. watch for his coming in the car, and their faces grow brighter when he comes; they admire him when he paces up and down the platform and smokes the attenuated but harmless cigar of the kraut plant of the Connecticut plan tations'; his plaid pantaloons are day stars to their longing eyes, and his cut away coat they adore. They cannot help it; they love to have him stare at them, and he knows it. He is too irre sistible; he is too sweet to live, and he knows that, too." "Let us look at him also, and admire him," said the fat passenger. "See how he sits graceful as Apollo new lighted on a rail fence to talk politics with the neighbors. But soft, here comes a girl seeking a seat. Maiden, our prayers are all lor thee. Too late ; all in vain; the masher has caught her eye, her fate is sealed, her heart is lost." She was a beautiful girl, fair as the morning, lrandsomely arrayed, little U loved hands that you would even like to have box your ears. Drawn by the irresistible fascination of his inviting eyes, she approached the masher who made room for her beside him. Her eyes beamed on him in beauty only equaled by his own, her voice was sweeter than the song of the siren when she spoke to him. She had to speak to him, how could she help it? "Sir," she said, and the music of her voice thrilled the car. " Sir, is this seat engaged?" He looked up at the vision of glow ing cheeks and laughing eyes, marble brow and clustering curls, and he re lented, even the masher's heart warmed toward the lovely girl, the latest victim of his manly charms. " Oh, certainly not," he said, and his bow 'was a study of grace for the steam man. "Oh, certainly not; you are en tirely welcome; I shall be onl7 too happy " "Then," cried fhe charmed victim, "Mother you can sit here beside this gentleman." And an old woman, seventy-three if sue was a day, witli no teeth, and only one eve, a small box, a bie band-box in a nag, a green reticule and an umbrella, two paper bags and a piece of calamus root, tott ered into the pronered seat and saTdown and piled her things into the 3'oung man's lap. And the girl, the beautiful girl, went and sat down beside the passenger vvith the sandy goatee, who "was so bashful that he couldn't and didn't say a word to his companion all the way to Newark, and blushed to his ears every time the fat passenger winked at him. Thu? ended the saddest chapter in the history ot the masher. Burling ton Hawkeye. A Terrific Snarl. A letter from the Austrian capital says: A lady well known in the fashion able society of ,Vienra pined to go to a lily ball, which is the Viennese repre sentative ot the Jrarisian Mabille. At last she found a conddential connection of her husband's family, whom she per suaded to take her to the ball in domino, but with all her disguise she refused to lay aside for the time her wedding ring, which she held to be the talisman oi good luck, not to be parted with for a moment. It was a peculiarly cut ring, set with seven bcautilul diamonds, which some mask admired even more than the woman's adorable eyes, and while he was comparing them in a com plimentary speech to the lady, which she endured with a frolicsome spirit natural in a disguised domino, the ring disappeared. The lady was frantic with fright, and her escort with fear that her husband would shoot him if he discovered the escapade, and so a fac simile ring was made, and the lady fondly thought that she was safe, when suddenly a detec ive appeared with the real ring. This story being related by a Bohemian of the press, th re at once epsued a complicated situation. A pawnbroker came for the price of the ring, and the husband of the lady ar rived to whip the man who took her to the ball ; the wife of ihe escort of the lady came to have a diyorce on account of jealousy, and the owner of the newly found ring wrote to the Bohemian nar rator of the story to come and explain, and a poor actor, being mistaken for him, was badly pummeled, and sued the husband of the ring-owner. So the net result of the frolic was that three men were beaten, one couple divorced, all o Parties involve,d in scandal, and last, bu not lea' the BohJmJan discovered He Ires in a Vienna prison, wishing he had never told the truth in a news paper. Near Monkstown, Texas, a deer was found fastened by his horns in a tree top. He was captured, of course. iu ut au uim ' 11 in j ui uiiv c viiiixivuiii STARTING A PAPER. A Story of Two ( lever HnmerUta. It was nearly twenty years ago when Dan De Qoille and Mark Twain at tempted to atari a paper in Mendocino county. They toolf the type and ma terial of their re cent'y defunct estab lishment in San Francisco, and, loading the stuff on a big wagon struck out into the country to retrieve thiir fortune. They packed their type jost as it stood in the forms tied up th articles' with spout cords by a process well known to printers, and packing them closely in boxes, vowed to establish a newspaper somewhere which would bo the leading exponent of politics aud liistory of the, rcinc coast. .Had not tfn unfortunate circumstances taken plica it is evident that the newspaper which they con templated founding would have been alive to- lay. Their journey over the mountains was utterly uneventful until they reached Simpson's station, a spot well known to old travelers on that route. Here they met a party of emi grants making for Lower California, and the latter had with them a small mountain howitzer which they' had brought with them across the plains. Twain took a great fancy to this gnn, and offered fifty dollars for it, with two kegs of powder. The emigrants were glad enough to part with it, as they con cluded the time for its use-had passed. Dan thought the purchase of the artillery and military supplies was a reckless piece of extravagance, and said as much, but Mark replied: When we start our paper we must fire a salute. A newspaper office with artillery has a big bulire on the business. No well regulated tmoe in Uilifo nia should be without a howitzer. If a man coiuts in for a retraction we can blow him into the next county. The howitzer goes. This silenced argument, and the day the two journalists took the road wita their printing outfit and artillery. The next night they camped in a mountain ravine, fifteen miles from Simpson's, and after building the usual camp fire, fell asleep. About eleven o'clock the horses wakened them by prancing about, and the two journalists were led to the conclusion that a party of Indians was making arrangements for a night attack. In the dear moonlight human forms could be distinguished about half a mile away at the foot of the ravine. The idea of encountering In dians had never entered the heads of the two fortune-seekers, and they had no arms. Suddenly Twain brightened up, remarking: I'ho howitzer! We've got nothing but powder,' said Dan, Well, powderll scare' 'em; and we'll load her up.' The piece was immediately loaded with a good big charge, an-4 the two men felt quite certain that the Indians, hearing the roar of the gun, would beat an un conditional retreat. The piece was hardly loaded and placed in position when about forty red skins came charg ing up the ravine. Twain seized a brand from the camp- fire and was about to lay it on the touch hole, when Dan yelled tflold on !' as he rammed something intdjfthe month of the piece and remarked :fi Turn'er loose!' The roar of the howitzer echoed through the lonely forest, and the sav ages, with frantic cries of pain, reeled down the ravine in wild confusion. What in h did you put in?' asked Mark. A column of solid nonpareil and a couple of sticks of your spring poetry. ' The poetry did the business, Dan. Get one of your geological articles ready for the next charge, and 1 guesT it 11 Jet the red devils out for the present cam paign.' v The savages again advancid. Mark attended to the powder, and Dan as sorted the shot, so to speak. 'Jeems Pipe a song, 'My Mountain Home.' Good for three Indiane sock er in. An acrostic by John B. Ridge, in long primar. It Jl paralyze em. Frank Pjxley on the constitution-half a column of leaded brevier.'" If it hits 'em, the day is wod.' 'Your leader on Law and Order.' '8a ve it as a last resort.' Dan pulled the type out of the boxes, and stuffed column after column in the howitzer's mouth as the aavages came charging on. Another round from the gun, and the redskins rolled over each other, like boulders swept away Jay a mountain cloud-burst. Mark.""" in an ecstacy of delight, pulled an American flag out of his effects, rrtled it to the tail-board of the wagon, and was about to make a speech, when the dusky fig ures of the foes were once more seen moving to the attack. The piece was again loaded, and this time with a double charge. Mark's leader on Liw and Order; the puff of an auc tion house, by Fred. McOrellish, 'an a sickener,' Dan said; Frank Gross's verses on 'The Rebel Yell,' an agricultural ar ticle by Sam Seabaugh, showing the chemical properties of corn juice as an educational lever; a maiden poetical ef fort by Olive Harper, and some verses by Col. Cremony and .Frank boule com pleted the load. 'That poetry reaching 'em first will throw 'em into contusion, and my editor ial coming on the heels of the rest will result in a lasting demoralization. It will be like the last cavalry charge of the French troops at the battle of Auster litz.' For the third and last time the faith ful howitzer belched its typocraphical compliments to the advancing foe. The havoc was terrible. There was a wild yell from a score of savage throats, and then the low groans of the dying floated up the ravine on the gentle wind. The two men walked over the field of slaugh ter and counted fifty -six aboriginals ly ing in heaps. The bodies were horribly mutilated with nonpareil, bourgeois, caps,' misery dashes, and un as or ted pi. My leader cooked that man's goose,' said Mark, pointing to a savage hanging over the limb of a cedar. 'My geological article did the business for him.' rejoined Dan, nodding careless ly at an Indian, whose headVyjas lying twenty yards away. The pen is mightier than the sword.' 'You bet. Hurrah for Faust and Gut ten berg!' Is there any type left! 'Not a pound.' Ten days later the two journalistic tramps reached Virginia City, weary .dis couraged, and footsore, and secured places ou the Enterprise. A few days ago Dan received the fol lowing from his former partner: Habtfokd, Conn., Jan. 1, 1880. Dear Dan: I send yon the congratula tions of the New Year. Do you recol lect the time we exterminated the tribe of unlettered (?) savages in Mendocino county? Ii you oan tpare the time, I wish yen would make a pilgrimage to that historic spot, gather the ghostly relics together, and plant a tablet (not too expensive and at yov own enpeose) to the memory of the departed. Have a 'shooting-stick lying across a long bow, with our monogram and coat of-arms entwined, and some appropriate epitaph carved on the stone; an extract from Carl Sohurz's views on the 'piece policy' might do. Enclosed is a dollar and a half for your incidental expenses; yon can deadhead traveling expenses. Yours, Mask Twain. P. S. Send me a thigh-bone of the fallen chief by next express. M. T. Dan will attend to the matter in the spring. The old howitzer used on the occasion is still in his possession. The Disadvantages of City Boys. Some months ago. Rev. Washington Gladden, of Springfield, Mass., bleiv ing that if he could find out how the active and prominent men of his own city spent their boyhood, it would help to solve the problem of what is the best training for boys, prepared the follow ing circular, which was Rent to the one hundred men who coo 1.1 fairly be taid to stand at the btal of the financial, commercial, professional and educa tional interest of the city. 'My deer sir: I desire to find out, for the benefit of II e boys, how the leading men of this city spent their boyhood. Will you be kind enough to tell me. '1. Whether yonr home during the first fifteen years of your life was on a farm, in a village, or in a city, ard, '2. Whether you were accustomed, during pny part of that period, to en gage in any kind of work when you were not in schorl? I should te glad of course.to have you go into rariiculors as fully as you are disposed to do; but I do not wish to tax your patience, and I shall be greatly obliged for a simple answer to these two questions. No less than eighty eight of the busy gentlemen who received this circular were kin I enough to answer the que s Hon. some of them briefly, most of them quit j fully, and it turned out that. few he d been brought up like most of the boys who crjwd the ball grounds and fill the streets of our cities in these after doyp. Here is a brief summary of the returns. Of- tbeie eighty -tight men, twelve spent the first fifteen years of their life in the city, twelve in villages, and sixty four were farmers boys. But ef the twtnWfour who lived in villages and citie3, six were practical farmers' bovs for thev lived in Bmall villages, or on the outskirts of the cities, and had the same kind of work to do that farmers' bovs have. One of these village boys tau 'I learned to hoe, dig ana mow; in in fact. I was obliged to work, whether I liked it or no. In winter I went to tchool, r nd worked nights and mornings for my board. ' Another said: 1 used to wort away from home tone en a farm m manner and fall. In winter, when going to sahool, we three boys used to work up the wood for winter use. Farther obhers told substantially the 88 me story. As these were abort; the same as farmers boys, we may add them to that list, so that seventy out of eighty eight. almost four-fifths of all these men, had the training of farm life. Now how was it with the eighteen city and village bovs on the list? Did they have an easy time of it? Five o them did, as they testify, five of them had no work in particular to do, but one of the five says that he strdied law when out of school, and that was not e xactiy play. The rest of the eighteen were poor boye not paupers, by any meanp but children of the humbler classes many of them in narrow and needy circumstances and though they lived in cities or villages, they were accuBtoni ed from their earliest years to hard work. Was generally employed,' says one, during the tummer months, and in vacations, ingoing any kind of work that offered.' Four of the city boys were newsboys. One of them ss: 'The last year I was connected with the press, I earned one hundred dollars before breakfast.' Another : 'I have paid my own way since eight years of age, without any assistance except my board from my eighth to my ekventh year.' Of all these eighty-eight boys five onlv bad nothing particular to do. While these boys were growing and working, a great many other sons of merchants and lawyers were growing in Spriiigtield. going to school and amus mg themselves, as boys of their class are apt to do. Where are they? Only five of this class are heard from among the eighty eight solid men of that city. Seme of them, perhaps are prosperous men in other cit'es, but the number cannot be large, fcr in Springfield only five men out of eighty-eight came from this class. Ninety-four and a half per cent, were either farmers' boys or poor and hard working town boyF. Save the Rags. The price of paper has been advanced heavily all over the country. If the price is maintained the public will be compelled to pay more for their news papers. Many daily and weekly papers nave already increased their subscrip tion price. The advance in paper can be stopped if the people will save and sell their old paper and rags. Three months' saving of rags and old paper by the entire popu lation, and selling them in the markets, would check the advance in paper. Every newspaper in the land should appeal to the people in this matter. And they should also economize in the con sumption as much as possible. Historic Slang. How common is the expression. "Oht she is down in the dumps" that is out oi spirits, l his is a very ancient slang phrase, and is supposed to be derived irom "Dumpos, King of Egypt, who built a pyramid and died of melan choly;" so that the thieves and gypsies are not all to blame for having given us a few expressive words. We next come uoon a word full of na- thetic meaning for many of us; it is the ghost that haunts and pursues us mnrr or less throughout the year it is the wora -aun." it is a word of conse quence, for it is at once a verb and a noun, and is derived from the Saxon word "dunan," to din or clamor. It owes its immortality so tradition says to having been the surname of one Joe jlud, a famous baiiinT of Lincoln, in the reign ot Henry VII., who was so aettov and dexterous in collecting bad debts that when any one became "slow to pay," the neighbors used to say. " Dun hini" that is. "send Dun after him." "Draw it mild" and "Come it strong," have their origin in music, be ing the terms used by the leader of an orchestra when he wished hi violin players to play loudly or gently. From this they have passed into synonyms for exaggerators and boasters, who are re quested either to moderate their state ments or to astonish their audience. The word "coach," in these duvs. is a familiar one, as parents know vriio have to employ tutors to assist their sons to swallow the regulation amount of cram " necessary for competitive ex amination. The word is of universitv origin, and can boast of a logical etyniof ogy. It is a pun upon the term "git- ting on fast." To get on fast -you must take a eoach; you cannoi srt on fast in learning without a private tutor ergo. a private tutor is a coach. Another tanular worn in university slang is "a regular brick" that is. a jolly good fellow : and how the simile is logi cally aeuui-ted is aiiiusm enough. A brick is deep-red, so a deep-read man is a brick. To read like a brick, i? to read until you are deep-read. A deep- read man is, in university phrase, "a good man ;" a good man is a " jolly fel low" with non-reading men ervo. a oily fellow is a " brick." A Railroad Bridge on lee. A Montreal correspondent of the Bos ton Herald describes the passage of the first train on rails laid across the frozen surtaoe of the St. Lawrence river: At the hour appointed for the trial trio an immense concourse of citizens lined the river banks on both sides, many, no doubt, being attracted by morbid curi osity to witness the spectacle, which many predicted as likely to take place of a terrible disaster wherein several hundred people would be swallowed up in the cold waters of the St. Lawrence. Fortunately, they were disappointed, as the experiment resulted in a grand tri umph, invitations had been issued and accepted by the -ministers of the pro vince, the city corporation, judges. members of the press and others, and at noon ahout i)00 persons got on two plat form carsj upon which seats had been improvised, and the start was made under favorable circumstances, a ring mg cneer irom the snore sending the voyagers off on their exploit. At first the rat of speed was moderate, so as to ascertain the durability of the founda tion, but, as the city was gradually left behind, the rate was increased until, at mid8tream, a speed oi twenty miles an hour was attained without in anv way detracting from the pleasurable sensa tion of the trip. As the train slowly emerged from under the shades of 1 he Hochelaga highlands a visible depres sion in the ice was apparent. An omi nous cracking, followed by the appear ance oi water on the surface, impressed the passengers with a sense of their dan ger. All fear, however, was dispelled y the announcement from one of the managers that the water was only the superficial deposit occasioned by .fast night's rain. Thus reassured, jollity and mirth again reigned supreme;! but. as the swiftly-gliding cars passed the several (air-holes, close observers per ceived a slight detection on the surface in midstream. A stoppage of ten min utes was made so m to allow a photo graph ot the train, with its living freight. to oe made. Has concluded satisrador lly, steam was once more applied, and the opposite shore was soon reached without anything occurring to militate against the pleasure of the voyage. A sumptuous lunch was spread at the sta tion at Longueuil, and a good timr spent there by the eompanV in feasting and speech-making. The return journey was subsequently made with as much safety and satisfaction as thchrst crossing. A Novel Bridal Tour. It is a little out of the usual order to make a bridal tour on a Mississippi river flatboat, and it is not often aone but every now and then a spirit of ad venture strikes into the hearts oi a loving pair and the excursion is made. Last year, or the year before, a Captain h&py, ot ltiarag buu. Jml.T married oeautnui Wluo valley heue, nu u up a real bridal chamber in exquisite style, and regardless ot expense, started on a voyage to the Lower Mississippi, where the live oak forests tower, and the frag rant orange blossom? spread their odor upon the breeze. The couple passed several months in this way, and the time was delightful for both. Y ester-' day another pair of bridal tourists went by here, going south on a flatboat. They were also from Rising Sun, Ind . a short distance below Cincinnati,-on the Ohio, and the boat was a month out from her starting point, the pilot beinz Captain Thomas, and the same who steered the Espy boat south last se;ison. It was the silver bridal trip of Captain and Mrs. William Hemphill, ot Kir-ing Sun. a couple well on in worldly goods, and whose resi dence is the finest and most attractive in the town of Rising Sun. The gardens and eroves in which their house is situ ated occupy ten acres, all in a high state of culture and carefully kept. In ad dition the captain owns a large and pro ductive farm near by. He has been flat- boating for the pist thirty-four years, and this is the first time Mrs. Her phill ever made a trip from home. Their children are all grown but one, a lad oi fourteen, who accompanies his parents on the voyage. Several of the children are married, and all are well-to-do. The boat upon which Captain and Mrs. Hemphill are floating down the river contains 5,000 bushels of corn for distri bution and sale among sugar plantations in Louisiana. At one end of the craft is a neatly-fitted cabin, where a stateroom is comfortably fitted for the lady and her spouse. She enjoys the novel voyage, she says, and will not in future allow her husband to make other trading trips on the river unless he takes her along. I Memphis Ledger. ITEMS OF GENERAL INTEREST. William H. Vanderbilt has riven tz,- 000 to the University of Virginia. Two sleighs have been sent front Pouffhkeensie. N. Y.. to the Emrjeror of Japan. A Mr. Harel. one of the richest men in Roacn, recently died, leaving his en tire fortune of several millions of iranes to hig valet. , w The corn crop of Illinois is prodigious. For the year 1879 it amounted to 396,- 813,477 bushels, and the value of the crop was $97,483,052. An octopus embraced a diver in an Australian river, and it was twenty minutes before the man could release himself. He was nearly exhausted. Tt aid that owing- to nature's still- ness ariu the clear air and silence per vading the Arctic regions, a sermon strongly delivered can be heard at a dis tance of two miles. Durine the winter iciclns thp si nf a man's Dody fringed the mouths of the noun tain tunnels along the Central Pa- " a a ... . cine raiiroau, ano constantly endangered the brakemen on the freight cars. Mrs. Harris was ill. at Mitchell. Ind. and deliriously insisted on equine out of bed. The hushond tried by persuasion to keep her quiet, and then losing his liauencc, Kiueu uer wmi an axe. The Suez canal receipts are reported to have decreased in 1878 S323.2O0 from those of 1877. and 1879 showed a still reaief fallingoff. Ahout three-quarters of the vessels passing through are British. Mr Oliver Dalrymple, th irreat Min nesota farmer, intends to cultivate 30.00C acres ot wheat this year. He will have twenty steam threshers in operation. with 135 reaping machines. Last year he employed 600 laborers, and this year will increase the number to 700. The first steamships that crossed the Atlantic were the Siriua and Great Western. The former sailed from Cork, April 4, 1838.and the latter from Bristol, April 8, 1838. They both arrived in New York on the 28th of the same month, the Sirius being only twel-e or fifteen hours ahead of the Great West ern. An oak tree in a graveyard. at Carth age, . u., apparently died and re mained d ad for several years, all the lintha and twigs falling off- A man oica anu was nurn-a at tne loot ot dm tree, after which it came to life, flour ished, and is three feet in diameter at the base, having as fine limbs and boughs as one could wish to see. Will L. Marple. a St. Looiinrlist. has applied for a divorce from his wife. One of his grievances is that she snt a broken frying pan to an art show, where some of his pictures were on exhibition, with a request that the haneing com mittee would give it a position, as " an example of the way in which the tah ented Mr. Marple provided for his fam ily's necessities." An Ohio mining company nas dis charged forty employees because they are single men. The alleged objection to the unmarried is that they do not re turn ap much money to the corporation store Ss married men. Whether this is an argument in favor of getting married does not appear, as the married em ployees oi the company strur-k on ac- count of the discharge of the bachelors Conversation through the telephone between St. Louis and Omaha, a dis tance ol 410 miles, was successfully car ried on during a recent Sunday. The conversation was varied with singing, of which apparently not a note was lost? The wires over the greater part of the distance were quiet and not in use, but at the St. Louis end there was a heavy induction. This is said to be the Ion treat distance over which the telephone has been successfully operated. During the past year there have leen in r ranee twenty-nve persons con demned to death, of whom two were women. Three of these condemnations were pronounced by Conseils de Guerre, and were all commuted. The remain ing twenty-two sentences were pro nounced by tie assize '-ourts of France, and four bv the assize court of the Seine, namely, against Abadie and Gillc, Delatre and Prevost. Of the- twenty-five sentences only three have been carried out: eurht remain to be ex amined by the president of the repub lic: the rest have been commuted. A bill has been passed in Congress providing for the ini(orLation. free of duty, of all articles for exhibition at the Millers's International fair, to be held in Cincinnati, Ohio, during theiummer. The exhibition will be opened June 1. The m chinery will be shown in mo tion. In vie w of the enormous inter M 1 involved in milling, the variety of grains made use of, the numerous rival sys tems and processes employed, and the wide range of invention covered by million apparatus, it is safe to predjcl a notable exhibition. American millers and mill furnishers are taking a lively interest in the fair, and the president of the National Millers' Association re ports a hne prospect ior a mil and in structive cispiay. Ap account of a case of clear grit, phylical endurance and suffering from pain, which stands without a parallel, comes from Ontonagon county, Midi. The story runs i hat a woodman named James Irwin left Rockland for hi forest home aLLac-Vieux Desert.on snow fch over an untraveled road through tic woods, which was covered with two or three feet of snow. A short distance out he stopper to buiid a tire, ajd while engaged in chopping some fuel he cut one ol hia feet. Failing to appreciate at the time the extent of his injury, he continued on his way, and when out about twenty-five miles Irom. Rockland he discovered that his wound was a serious one and required tlie offices of a surgeon, and as there was no physician at Lac Vieux Desert, be re traced his steps toward Rockland where he could get one. His foot rapidly cot worse, so that he could not hear his weight on it. Alone, on an unbroken I trail or road, heavy with snow, with a crippled and painful foot, his horrible position can be imagined. It was a case of life or death with Irwin, so falling on his knees he commenced crawling on" " all fours " and after thirty-six davs he was found within three miles of Rock land, having crawled iwenty-two miles in a most deplorable condition, and barely life enough left to stir. The wounded foot had to be cut off. and it was thought he would lose the other one, which was frozen. For sev en days he had dothingto eat. A man who would undertake to accomplish what Irwin did was not turner! out of a common mould.
The Warren News (Warrenton, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 19, 1880, edition 1
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