Roanoke Publishing Co. 'fob ood.-for comrar and for truth." " ' $1.00 a ycarin advance.
VOL. VI. PLYMOUTH N. C, FRIDAY, MA"Y 3, 1805. , NO. 43.
- . ' . ; I .,
. The Czar of Russia tells his subjects
Ihnt he is an . autocrat, as his father
was, and means to remain so.
ju. Andre, a European aeronaut,
' thinks he could get to the North Pole
in a balloon at an expenditure of
nbout $35,000. He is still looking fox
a millionaire to blow him off,
The N cw : fork World - announces
that a prize of 100,000 is offered by
this Government for the best air-ship
for pnsse-jger and freight traffic. In
ventors have until i900 to.perfeot
their plans.
- Switzerland is about, to establish a
State bank at Berne, which will have
the exclusive right to issuo banknotes.
The capital is fixed at $5,000,000, the
Swiss confederation making itself re
sponsible for all liabilities. '" .
, Obeervcs the Baltimore American
All the reports of M. Felix Faure since
his accosswn to the highest office in
France indicate that he will make one
of the very strongest Presidents in the
history of that romarkable country.
lie is a solid, sensible man.
A movement is on foot in England
to celebrate' the sixth centenary of the
British Parliament, which will be
rounded out this summer. It was in
1295 that Parliament ' first assembled
on the basis from which has grown the
form of the present assembly. ,
The statistical fiend has been figur
Ing out the cost of the chain letter
business asking for stamps. , He esti
mates that if the letter reached its
.fiftieth number and brought back ten
ttaraps for each letter written it would
take 101,372,704,958,094,779 cars to
carry the stamps.'
ine oan jrrancisco Argonaut ex
claims: A toy has wrought a revolution
in this country. The agitation in favor
of good road, begun by the bicycle
manufacturers some years ago, and
taken up and given foroe by the
riders, has at length reached the
masses of the people.
The examples of New Tork and Ohio
in founding colonies for 'epileptics is
about to be followed by Illinois, an
nounces Harper's Weekly. The medi
cal societies of that State and of the
city of Chicago are moving in the
matter, and have submitted a bill for
the purpose to the State Legislature.
Theodore Roosevelt maintains ii
theFornm that "there1 is not in thi
world a more ignoble character thai:
the mere money-getting Anierioan, in
sensible to every duty, regardless o"
every principle, bent only on amass
ing a fortune, and putting bin forlnnt
only to the basest uses whether these
-uses be to speculate in stocks an
wreck railro ids himself, or to alio
his son to lead a life of foolish ant
expensive i lioness ami gross debauch
ery, or to p-.ir chase some scoundrel o.'
high sociar positioU, foreign or na
tive, for his daughter. Such a man
is only the more, dangerous if hi
ocasionally ' does some -deed like
founding a. college or endowing s
church, which makes those good peo
ple ;who are also foolish forget
his real iniquity. These men art
equally careless of the workingmeu,
whom they oppress, and of the State,
whose existence they imperil. There
are not very many ot, them, but there
is a very great number of men who
approach more or less closely to the
1 -1
approach, they are oursesto the coun
try. The man who is content . to let
politics go from bad to worse, jesting
at the corruption of politician., the
man who is content to see the malad
ministration of justice, without an im
mediate and resolute effort to reform
it, is shirking his' duty, and is pre
paring the way for infinite woe in the
future. Hard, brutal indifference to
the right, and an equally brutal short
sightedness as to the inevitable re
sults of corruption and ' injustice, are
baleful beyond measure ; and yet they
aro characteristic of a great many
Americans who consider themselves
perfectly respectable, Sand" who are
considered, thriving,
by their .easy-goin.?
erous men
-citizens."
A sotio OP HOPE.
JTo tears, dear, if tlio black skies froWn
Hopo for the best
No storm the rainbow's smilo can down i
Hope for the best.
There is a light somewhero, Borne dajr,
From east to wept
Will shine a deathless morning's ray;
Hope for the best. '
Old proverb! Yes, but cheering swoot
Divinely blest;
Even with the sharp thorn around your fee
Hope for tho best.
What hope in sighing? Time still flics
From life's unrest; .-.
Tears blur the blue in God's sweet skies,
Hope for the best.
And, old or new, still sing the song
That life loves best;
One melody a whole life long
Hopo for the best. ; , '
" AN INSPECTOR.
BI HELEN rOMtESX QBAVE3.
IfcKTOK'S
boj
said
again!"
Hannah Digby.
"Now what does
Pink ton's boj
want this time
man t l gi v
himhaif amines
pie and all the
rest of tho cold
boiled ham not
two honrs ago!
Thumping awaj
,at tho door loud euough to wnkt
the Seven Sleepers, when uncle has
list laid down for his nap ! I declare,
I've no patience with that child?"
"It's on an errand he's come this
time, Miss Hannah," said Thyrza, the
help. "At least that's what he says.
There ain't no believin' Pink ton's boy,
though."
Outside in the angry red twilight,
the March wind was howling like some
infuriate demon, rocking tho bare tree
tops to and fro and rattling tho loose
window shutters against the side of
the house, while under the hill the
breakers of Lone Bay flung themselves
like miniature parks of artillery along
the rock bound shore.
Hannah shuddered as she stepped
out on to the porch and confronted a
dirty, red-haired little vurlet.
"What is it, Hezekiau?" said she,
sharply. "Now you can't bo hungry,
and I know you are not cold, for you
are wearing uncle's old overcoat.
should like to know what sends you
here now."
"Please, mis?," said Hezekiab, 'it
tain't I; it bees old Mrs. Kesley."
"Mrs. Kesley again?" said Hannah;
with a gesturo of despair. "Why, it
was only yesterday that undo was
there."
"It bees old Mrs. Kesley," stolidly
repeated Hezekiah. "She be in a
mortial hurry. Her have got mortial
bad paia in her bones."
"Pshaw !" said Hannah, more to her
self than to Hezekiab. who added:
"Her told I to run ; then I runned,
I did, an' the wind 'most blow'd I off
the hill."
Poor child I " said Hannah.
"Thyrza, give him a bowl of tea and
a slice of gingerbread. -But all the
same, I am not going to disturb uncle.
He was out all night, and this morn
ing he had to drive over to Castle
Peak, and he has only just laid him
self down for a nap. I'll take a bag
of hops and a little quinine and some
aconite, and drive over myself, with
old Blackie, in the gig."
"But how will Mrs. Kesley like it?".
said Thyrza, with a broad smile.
"Oh, she won't care "said Hannah.
"And besides, she can't help herself.
I shall tell her that uncle sent me."
And with haste and speed the doc
tor's niece bundled herself into a black
and green shepherd-plaid shawl and a
hood from which her plump, dimpled
face looked out like a pink trailing
arbutus from a snow drift.
"Come, Thyrza come, Hezekiah I"
she said. ."Light the lantern and come
along ; we'll ' harness up ourselves.
Uncle must not be disturbed." I
Hannah Digby was one of those
bright, spirited girls who understood;
a little of everything. She led out
old Blackie . and skillfully harnessed
him while Thyrza held the lantern,
and the half-witted boy lent ready
assistance with girths and buckles,
and the was soon on her way to Mrs.
Kesley's house, in the faco of the how
ling March wind. .':.'
I ' suppose ' all doctors have such
patients," she said to herself. "But
I what a blessing it would be if ; Mrs,
Kesley would either dio or get well!"
It was a long and ' dreary orive.
Hannah was thoroughly out of pa
tience, besides being chilled through,
before she sprang out on the door
stone -of Mrs. Kesley's old brick
house.
"Pd give her a pioci of my mind,"
said Hannah.
' Fresh as a rose ahe came into the
room nobody bolted their doors or
tamed an inhospitable lock on Green
Mountain bringing with her a fra
grant accompaniment of pine wood
breath and sweet hillside breezes.
"Well, Mrs. Kesley, what is it now?"
she said, tartly, as she saw a figure
huddled up on the broad chintz sofa,
just outside the coral-shine of the fire.
"I do think it is too ridiculous of you
to be sending for poor Unole Zalman
every ache-and pain that you have ;
and so hard as. he has to work, tool"
A groan was the only reply.
"Now don't iie.there and groan iu
that senseless sort of way," said Han
uas, undoing tne layers or tne ulaefc-and-green
shepherd-plaid shawl. "Be
cause you . know it won't do a bit of
good. I don't want to be cross with
you, but"
"Bless rue. Hanner Digby, is that
your said a voice behind her; anu
there entered on the scene a stout,
Hhort old lady, with a double chin
ovt-rlapping her brown cap ribbons,
and a candle in her hand-. none other
than Mrs. Kesley herself. "Why,
there's the doctor 2"
"He couldn't come," said Hannah
crisply. "He sent me."
"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Kelsey.
'Who is that?" said Hannah, with
a quick inclination of her head toward
the prone figure tossing to and fro on
the lounge.
"It's my husband's nephew from
fork State," said Mrs. Kesley Law
rence Neville. Larry, we've always
called him, for short. Stopped here
on his way to Concord, and was taken
sick."
"Oh, what shall I do?" exclaimed
poor Hannah, clasping her hands.
"And I have been scolding him liko
all Billingsgate !"
"Eh?" said Mrs. Kesley, upon whom
the classio 1 allusion was lost. "It's
fever, I calculate ; or p'raps measles.
I don't remember that Larry over had
the measles as a child." -
"What will he think?" said Hannah
despairingly.
' 'La, ho don't senou word you say I "
said the old lady. "He's as crazy as
a cricket!"
. Hannah went up to tho side of the
lounge.
"Hold tho candle, Mrs. Kesley,"
said she, as she laid her light, cool
hand on the fevered brow and felt the
bounding pulse.
"Why, you don't know nothin' of
doctorin', do you?" said Mrs. Kesley,
in amazement.
"Don't I, though?" said Hannah,
who had, in very truth, gleaned many
a pathological experience among her
uncle's patients. "This is nothing
more than a heavy cold, Mrs. Kesley,
accompanied with a slight sympathetic
fever."
"Lai" said the old lady, again.
"Let his feet bo soaked in hot mus
tard-water, and kept warm by water-
jugs, 6tia , ilannali, p.utnoritatively.
"Give him nine drops of the contents
of this vial once in two hours. Use
every effort to throw him into a pro
fuse perspiration."
"Folks used to steam themselves
over tea Kettle wuen i was a gai.
said Mrs. Kesley.
Ah!" said Hannah. "That was
the e'd system."
"Lai" again repeated Mrs. Kesley.
"But," calmly added Hannah, "wo
have improved upon all that now.
You'll be sure and not forget the mint
drops, Mrs. Kesley. The pulse is fre
quent, but not alarmipgly so. I think
I should recommend cld-water band
ages around the . throat aud on the
forehead. And be sarc tbs he is kept
very warm. How ftrangely he looks
at me ! You. are quite 6iire, Mr.- Kes
ley,, thai he is delirious?"
"As crazy as a croton-bug!" re
peated Mrs. Kesley, rather at a io3-,
for a comparison and remembering a
peculiar variety of insect which she
t. .1 l-vMun oa a Tfltp YnrV Vinnsn.
kteper thirty years ago.
M aw lisii tiL.it Kin rr Inn ovna nfti n "
fli tt-' i. ' .,: i :ti.
f miivii(it,i'(! tonnhos over his brow.
" '""a
?oor fellow?" '. ' " " ,
'P'runa." m TTfulnA 1 Mrs.. Kdslav.
. i'r oo - W '
"I'd better get the big shears and cut
off his hair. It's plaguey thick ; and
if his head has got to be kept cold "
"Oh, no, I wouldn't do that!" said
Hannah. "It's such soft, curly hair I
Let it remain."
And 6he applied herself to measur
ing out sundry camphor-smelling pow
ders from a pooket-case.
"I will call early in the morning,"
said she, when the powders were all
measured out.
"Lai" said Mrs. Kesley.
Hannah Digby drove home, silently
and meditatively, old Blackie picking
his slow way along tho dreary road,
while the wind shrieked and the pines
rustled mysteriously on either side of
the highway.
"Now I have got myself into a pret
ty scrape," said she, addressing old
Blackie's ears. "Shall I toll Uncle
Zalman, or shan't I? Will he scold,
or won't he? After all, the man has
only got a touch of influenza. If
congestion set in Oh, pshaw, it
won't! If there is any danger of
pneumonia But. tbe man breathes
as regularly as a pair of bellows. No,
I'll risk it. I've begun the case, and
I'll carry it through."
While Larry Nevillo, smiling to
himself in the firelight, thought : ,
v"How pretty she was ! and how
velvety and cool her hand felt on my
forehead ! Oh, yes, I'll take all tho
powders between litre and the Maine
line if Bhe says so !"
The next morning the patient was
decidedly improved. He was sitting
up in the big rocking-chair, in front
of the fire, while Pinktou' boy piled
on more logs, and shuffled ' back and
forth on errands for Mrs. Kesley.
"Here she comes !" said Pinkton'a
boy, staring out of tbe window.
"Who comes?" Larry asked.
"Tbe doctor-young-'oman," said
Pinkton's boy. "Will I lell her you've
got well and don't want she no more?"
But Larry only frowned at him.
"Oyen the door for her, you young
scamp!" said he.
Miss Digby was as good as her word.
She conducted the case triumphantly
through to its end.- ,
It is just possible that -Mr. Neville
protracted his convalescence unneces
sarily, but that is neither here nor
there.
"3o Larry is going home to-morrow,"
said "Mrs. Kesley. "Well, I
declare I. shall miss the boy 1" .
"acs, said Hannah, demurely.
"But he's coming back again in May,
he says."
"What for?" said Mrs. Kesley.
"To marry me," said Hannah.
"La!" said the old lady.
"We had a little explanation, yoo
see," mid Hannab. "Se confessea tc
me that ho was not at all delirious that
first night, you know, while I felt hi
pulse and Smoothed his hair. Wasn't
that dreadrul?"
"Dear, dearl" said Mrp. Keslex
"And then," said Hannah, "I told
him I wasn't a doctor at ail only a
wretched imposter."
"And what did ho say?" said Mrs.
Kesley.
"He didn't seem to mind it in the
least," Hannah said; and we are en
gaged. He says ho fell in lovo with
me that very first evening."
"La!" said Mrs. Kesley.
"And, after all," went on nannan,
"the whole thing can be traced back
to that ridiculous blunder of Pinkton'
boy. To think that I should owe my
life's happiness to Pinkton's boy."
Pinkton's boy himself was not at all
surprised when he heard that - Mr.
Neville was engaged to Hannah Digby.
"Yes," said he reflectively, Vif I
was a, growed-up man, with a -real
goold watch chain, I'd marry she.
Her's the kind of gai to suit U "Sat
urday Night.
Electric Shuttle.
.' The numerous accidents duo to
shuttles flying out of the loom have
been reduced in a large English mill
by magnetic action. The electro
magnets are placed along - the side of
tho shuttle and arranged to '. bear
against a reed. By their attraction
toward the wires of the latter, says
the Philadelphia Becord, they tend to
keep the shuttle in the race. In many
cnKC3 this will be found sufficient, bnt
in addition there are a, number of
magnets in the face of the race, aud
an iron roller, provided at each end
of the shuttle, which, being attracted
by the magu?s, keeps the shuttle from
flying out. .
ASBESTOS.
A WONDKRKUIj substanck tuk
PARADOX OF M INERALS.
Quarried Just Like Marble Yet
Feathery . Enough to Float Its
Manifold Uses Deposits More
Valuable Thau Gold Mines.
;
IT SBESTOS is a wonderf nl sub-
jL stance. Its name comes from
JL a Greek word meaning in
consumable. Fire will not
burn it, acids will not gnaw it, weath
er will not corrode it. It is the para
dox of minerals for a mineral it is.
quarried just like marble. The fibers
of whioh it is composed aro as soft as
silk, and fine and feathery enough to
float on water. Yet in the mines they
are so compressed that they are hard
and crystalline liko stone.
Although the substance has been
known for ages iu the form of moun
tain oork or mountain leather, com
paratively little has been learned as to
its geological history and formation.
A legend tells how Emperor Charle
magne, being possessed of a table
cloth woven of asbestos, was accus
tomed to astonish his guests by gath
ering it up after tbe meal, casting it
into the fire and withdrawing it later,
cleansed but unconsnmed.
Yet, although the marvelous attri
butes of asbestos have been known for
so long they were turned to little
practical use until about twenty years
ago. Since that time the manufacture
of the material has grown until it can
take its place shoulder to shoulder with
any of the giant industries of this coun
try. Indeed, so rapid has been its prog
ress and development that there is al
most no literaturo of any kind on the
subject, and to the popular mind it is
still one of those dim, iuexplainable
things.
Up to the '70s nearly all tho asbes
tos used came from the Italian Alps
and from Syria, but one day a party
of explorers 'discovered a rich deposit
in what is known as the eastern town
bhips of Quebec in Canada. Com
panies were at once formed and In
1879 the mines were opened.
Tho Canadian mines are located in a
wild, rough country almost outsido of
the pale of civilization. The sides of
the hills gape with great holes in
which the men mostly French Cana
dians are at work. The veins of
chrysotile, as tbe Canadian asbestos is
called, are from two to four inches in
thickness and are separated by thin
layers of hornblende crystals. The
nearer to the surface the veins run the
coarser are the fibers and tho leas
valuable.
The mining is done by means of the
most improved quarrying maohinery.
Holes are drilled in long rows into
the sides of the cliffs by means of
steam drills. They are then loaded
with dynamite and exploded simulta
neously by , wires connecting with an
electric battery iu such a way that a
whole ledge of tho rock falls into tho
bottom of the pit at onoe. Then the
workmen break oat as mnch of the
pure asbestos as possible, load it into
groat tubs or trucks, which are hoistod
out by means or steam derricks, and
run along to tho "cob house." Here
scores of boys aro kept busily em
ployed ornmbling or "oobbing" the
pieces of rock away from the asbestos
and throwing the lumps of good fiber
to one side, where it is plaoed in
rough bales or sacks ready for ship
ment to the factory. -
The greatest work in connection
ith the mining of asbestos is in dis
posing of the waste rock and the re
fuse of the quarry. Only about one-twenty-fifth
of the material , quarried
is real asbestos and the rooky parts
have to be lifted out and carried away
to the damps at great expense.
As the asbestos comes from the
mines it is in small lumps of a green
ish or yellowish hue and the edges are
furried with lose fibers. The more
nearly white the asbestos is the better
its grade. The length of fiber is also
o! great importance,, the largest being
the most valuable. ;
From the mines tbe asbestos is
taken by rail to the manufactories in
tho United States. Here the lumps of
the substance are emptied from the
Bftoks and fed into the hopper of a
powerfully built machine, not unlike
an old fashioned stono process fiour
mill. They' are crushed through a ser
ies of rolls until the fibers are all sep
arated into fluffy masses, when they
pass out along a tm n ana into a
jeparator. Here the small pieocs 01
stone and other refuse rattle out
through, a sieve and the long fibers are
senarated by a series of comb-like
sieves into various lengths. The very
suort-ones are taken out to the pulp
mills, where they are ground up find .
for the manufacture of Bolid packing
for steam pistons, milf board and
other commodities. The longer fibers
are gathered together, carded and spun
into yarn, just like cotton or wool.
After that the substance may.be
woven , into cloth ir various waysv
The cloth is of a dirty white color and
has a soapy feeling.
Tho uses of asbestos are almost in
numerable. Ground fine and com
bined with colors and oils by a secret
process it makes a beautiful paint,
which is said to go far toward fire
proofing the surface to which it is ap
also made by treating strong canvas
flt and backing it with manilla paper.
it is extensively used for roofs of fac
tories, railroad shops, bridges, steam
boat decks and other places where
thero is danger of fire.
" Nearly every one has seen the thick
asbestos felt covering for steam pipes
and fnrnacos. , Asbestos cement is
sometimes used for hot-blast pipes and
fire-heated surfaces.- As apacking for
Innnmotive nistonB. valve stems? nnd
oil pumps it is almost indispensable. - .
It is also made into ropes . and mill
boards, which cau bo nsed?almoB "
everywhere. Asbestos cloth is beinj
used more every year. Some .State,
require theatres to use an asbestoi :
drop-curtain to protect the audienc
if the scenery catches fire. ,Tbeyar .
is knit into mittens for workers it
iron and glass. Goldsmiths uso f
block of asbestos to solder upon.
' Asbestos is found in a good manj
hundreds of places in the world be
sides Italy and Canada, but the fiberi '
are nearly all too splintery and Lrit
tie. Bioh deposits have recently beer
found in Wyoming, California an
Montana. A good mine of asbestos ii
more valuable than a gold mine, an.d
as the substance ; becomes bettej
known and more ased it will be stil .
more precious. Tbe time may not bi
far distant when firemen will b
clothed in suits made from asbestos
Chicago Pkeoord. .
The Sea Threw Rocks. ' ' K
An Astoria (Oregon) dispatoh eayst
The lighthouse tender Columbine has
returned from a trip to Tillamook;
Rock to investigate the damage to the'
light from tbe recent hurricane, - ,'ine
sea was too rough to approach within'
speaking distance of the rock, and the
chief keeper 6ent his report ' to the
steamer in a bottle, attached to a buoy.1
The report stated that the hurricane
was the worst ever experienced on the'
coast. Mountains of water dashed
against the rock on which the light
stands, carrying away the top of the
adjoining rook. Great waves leaped
over tne nign wans, spending tneir
force on the building, which trembled
and rocked as if about to fall into the
raging sea below. A crash of glass
told of the damage caused by the t
waves. Fragments of rock, torn loose
from the foundation, were hurled
against the outer glass,' which pro
tected the costly lenses. The panes
were all broken aud the lenses ruined,
and the clock machinery revolving the
light rendered useless. The force of
the wind and waves oan be . imagined
irom the breaking of the lights 136
leet aoove tne water. At one stage oz
the storm the water was six feet deep '
m the siren room and four feet deep -in
the living rooms, which are eighty
eight feet above high water. A mon' .
ster rock, weighing about a ton, was
trttn.l VtwtViA mrawAA .nil rr -
i J 1. - J il 1 1L ..
the living room, everything movable
being washed away.' Supplies weri
destroyed and he tank, flooded with
Dm. n . i.ifi i ji n r.i. luovitjiiiii.
An Eye to the Main Chancs.
The Philadelphia Record tells of a !
careful citizen who refuses to walk in
the middle of the street when the side
walks are slippery, because if ho
should Blip down and sustain an in
jury on the sidewalk he could recover
damages from the city, while ho could
not if he was walking in the middle of
the street. -"' .;,'.
Tapan I nlnsort m largo na Cal.
fornia,; 'having 117,000 tqunru iiii: ,
while the Americ'iu Stata ha 1 V
XI