:-- THE- AN EXCELLENT ADVERTISING MEDIUM!. an of Washington County. FIRST OF ALL THE NEWS. Circulates extensively in tha Counties o! Job Printing In ItsVarlous Branchas. I Washington, Martin, Tyrrsll an B3iafdr 1. 00 A YE Alt IK ADVANCE. FOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY, ANI FOR TRUTH, SINGLE COPY, 5 CENTS. VOL. IX. PLYMOUTH. N. 0., FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1898. 4 -J NO. 24. Official Org 7 - SNOWDRIFTS. Listen to th plaintlvo stories Bung by moorland winds today I ' Dirges rang o'er vanished glories. Love and hope have flown away. Where are Summer's airy minstrels, Where our wnrblers debonair V Can they sing pne strain prophetic, Can they consolation bear ? Guild of faith ! What promise golden Nestles 'neath your drooping wing? We would bear Us balm ixnfolden In our hearts until the Spring. Saith it, "Not a sparrow faileth On the dreary, dreary snows, But its cry to heaven ca'leth. And our Heavenly Father knows." RUTH'S i i;y ehfx rf-F"" V V V C" When Rodney Dare came home om the war without his strong right arm Ruth Trevor's friends wondered if she would marry him. "Of course she will," said the friend who knew her best. "Why shouldn't she? He's the same Rodney Dare ndw that he was wheu she promised to marry him, isn't he?" "Yes, but thee's a difference," was the reply. "Then he had another arm to tight the battle of life with. Now well, I suppose it won't make any difference with Ruth. She always was peculiar." "Thank God for such peculiarity, " said her friend. ".She wouldn't be the woman I have always believed her to be if she refused to marry him be cause he had lost an arm. She will take its place to him. I know Ruth Trevor too well to believe that the idea has ever occurred to her that this loss need make the slightest difference in their plaus." "r yld her friend was right. When, day, Rodney Dare said to Ruth: have come to tell you that, of Jsd, I do not expect to hold you to .'A1 promise to me, under existing ' circumstances, if you care to with draw it," she rose up before him with something akin tb anger in her face and looked him squarely in the eyes. "Have I ever given you any reason to think I cared to withdraw it?'! she asked. "No," was the reply. "Rut wheu you gave it I was man. Now I am but part of one." . "I'll take that part of the man that's left," she said. "It's the part that the Rodney Dare I love lives in. Never speak of this to me again," she . added. And he never did. Rut he would not talk of marriage until he had obtained employment of some sort, aud for this he began to fit himself. It was almost like beginning life over in learning to make one arm do the work of two, but he had a brave heart aud a strong will, aud love stood ready to help him in the times when he felt incliued to become dis couraged. One day Ruth said to him: "I'm going away for a month or ' two. I've had a letter from Aunt Mar tha, who lives in the prettiest little country village you ever saw, and she wauts me to visit her. I shall enjoy a breath of pure air so much! Only, I wish you were going with me. Rod 's ney. I shall think or you back here in the city and feel half ashamed of myself for having such a good time ' that you cannot share." "I shall share it in thinking how much good it is doing you," he said. "One does not always have to take part in the pleasure of others to be benefited by them. There's a "Ihat sounds quite metaphysical, laughed Ruth, "but I think 1 under stand what you mean, and I promise to enjoy myself to the utmost in order that you may feel this 'reflex influ ence' to the fullest extent." Before Ruth had been at Aunt Mar tha's two days she found that she had f been invited there for a purpose. "Your coil sin Hugh is coming next '"week," said Aunt Martha. "I wanted you to meet him. I know you'll like him at least, I hope you will, and the better you like hiin the better suited I'll be." Ruth looked at her questioningly. " "You wonder what sort of a plan I 1iivpi in mv head. I sunnose." said her aunt. "I'm not going to say any thing more about it now, but Hugh knows." "I infer that it is a sort of niatri ..jnonial plan," said Ruth. "If it is, put it aside at once! I may like my cousin very much I hope I shall but I could not marry him." "Why?" asked Aunt Martha. ".Because I am to marry Rodney Dare," answered Ruth. ia T?nilnv TlarA'" fripd M her about her t"' cried Aunt quietly, her ',)ve I am caught in crystal shower3, Feathery Hakes and fairy blooms, Winter flings her seentless flowers O'er her dark, unlovely tombs ! Airy whispers float around me, "Trust His love and perfect rule. Though his keenest arrows smite thea Lo ! He giveth snow like wool." Koyal touch and flashing token Kingly presence here reveal. Faith in Him may bo unbrokon. Love may smile in woe or weal. By the splendor of His pathway Diamond flash in triple ray Sure I am that Ha is near me, That u King hath passed this way ! Clara Thwaites, in Sunday Magazine. LEGACY. k. nEXFonn. two brothers. You represent one of them, Hugh the other. I wanted you to marry each other and keep the property together. If yon persist iu your determination to marry this Rod ney Dare, Hugh may get it all." "Let him have it," said Ruth. "All the wealth in the world wouldn't in fluence ine iu the least in this mat ter." "You're a Trevor all through," said Aunt Martha, angry, yet admiring the spirit ot her niece in spite of . herself "Well, since you've made up your mind, we II let the matter drop; but if you are not mentioned in my will you needn't be surprised. " "I haven't asked to be remembered iu it,"said Ruth. "I don't want you to think for a moment, Aunt Martha, that 1 care tor your money. 1 assure you I have never given it a thought." "Perhaps not," responded Aunt Martha, "but money conies handy sometimes, and one wants to think twice before throwing away such a chance as this." "I would not change my mind if I were to think a thousand times,!,' said Ruth. "I am just old-fashioned enough to believe that there are other things more necessary to one's happi ness than money." "Very well, you'll do as you choose about it, of course," said Aunt Mar tha, frigidly, "but I think my oi:in ion worth considering, notwithstand ing." Cousin Hugh came. Ruth liked him, but he wasn't Rodney Dare! Mil lions of money wouldn't have tempted hev to marry him if she had had no lover "I suppose you haven't changed your mind about matters aud things?" said Aunt Martha one day, the Aveek before Ruth went home. "Not in the least," replied Ruth. "You're a foolish girl," said Aunt Martha. "Maybe, but I think not, " responded Ruth. . When she got home she told Rod ney all about Aunt Martha's plans. "Do you think I was foolish?" she asked, smiling into his face. "I think you're a noble, true-hearted little woman," he answered.and kissed her. "I hope you'll never regret giv ing up your share of your aunt's for tune for a man with but one arm to protect you with. I feel unworthy of such a sacrifice." "There was no sacrifice about it," said Ruth. "I don't care for the for tune, and I do care for you." Six months later a telegram came saying that Aunt Martha was dead. Would Ruth come to the funeral? Ruth went, and after the funeral she and Cousin Hugh sat down, in the old-fashioned parlor together, with Aunt Martha's old lawyer and one or two of hev intimate friends, to listen to the reading of her will. In it she bequeathed to Hugh Trevor "the property now in her pos session, to which she had just title and claim," with the exception of the old family Bible. That went to Ruth. "I have brought my legacy home with me," she told her mother on her return, as she deposited a package,, wrapped in thick brown paper and se curely tied up, on the parlor table. On the wrapper was written: "Ruth Trevor, to be given her, unopened, after my death," in Aunt Martha's prim penmanship. "You don't mean to say that you were left nothing but that?" cried Mrs. Trevor. "It's as much as I expected," an swered Ruth. That evening Rodney Dare came in. Suddenly Ruth bethought her of the package, which had not been opened. "I must show you. my legacy," she said, bringing the package. "Cut the strings, Rodney, please." He did so, and Ruth took the old, worn Bible from its wrappings. As she did so, some papers slipped from between its pages and fell to the floor. She stooped and gathered them uf.4 One was a some what bulkv' document. The other was an envelope on which her name was written. "Here's a letter from Aunt Martha," she said, and opened it. As she read it a tender light came into her face. Then a look of surprise and bewilderment. "I I don't understand,!' she said, looking from Rodney to her mother. "S!ie fays something about deeds, ""hat, does she mean by that, I won- AVYy took the large document i 'Myth's hp and unfolded it and glanced over the half-written, half printed page. "It means that you're a wealthy little woman in spite of yourself, Ruth. Your Aunt Martha had half her property deeded to you before she died. That which she spoke of in her will was the other half of it, which had not been deeded away, and you, of course, supposed that represented all. She leaves you her old home and other property in its vicinity, to the value of a good many thousands of dollars, I should say." "It can't be!" cried Ruth, excited ly. "And yet it must be so. Read her letter, Rodney read it aloud, and maybe it'll seem clearer to me:" Rodney read: My Dead Niece Ruth: I do not think I have very long to live, therefore, I shall so arrange matters now that there neod be lit tle trouble in disposing of what I leave be hind when I am dead. When you told me you could not fall iu with my plan about a marriage with Hugh I was indignant. If I had died then, you would have got little from me if I could have had my way about It. But by and by I began to think it over, and I caraa to bolleve that vou were right and I was wrong. I calculated Trom the head, you from ihe heart, and the heart ii to bo trusted most in such matters, I think. I admire you lor your honesty to your wom anhood aud your loyalty to your one-armed lover. You did just right, my dear niece just right! and to prove to you that I bear you no Ill-will for not falling in with an old woman's foolish plaus. I shall have half my property deeded to you at once, so that, at any time after my death, which I have reason to believe may happen at any time and sud denly, all there will be for you will be to take possession. God bless you, dear Euth, and make you very happy with the man you have chosen. He ought to be proud of so loyal-hoarted a wife as you will make him. Sometimes think kindly of . the woman who never got much happiness out of life, and may this legacy bring you more enjoyment than it has ever brought me. "Dear Aunt Martha!" said Ruth, softly, with tears rolling swiftly down her cheeks. "I wish she could know how much I thank her for her legacy and her letter. Do you know, Rod ney, I'm not sure but I value that most?" For answer he bent and kissed her. "Your love and loyalty are worth a thousand legacies," he said. And Ruth threw her arms about his neck and cried: "I'm so glad for your sake, Rodney!" New York Ledger. "Higher When Head's Off." About 10,000 pounds of eiderdown are cellected annually in Iceland, 7000 being exported to foreign countries. Formerly the peasants used to receive over 21 shillings a pound, but the price has now fallen to half that amount. The peasants seldom re ceive money and are obliged to barter their down for merchandise furnished by the Danish merchants at the little settlements on the fjords. An old Icelandic proverb illustrates the strange elasticity of the down: "What is it that is higher when the head is off?" "An eiderdown pillow," is the an swer. A pound ot down can be com pressed into a ball the size of a pint bowl, but, once released, it swells and mounts like something alive until it would fill a bushel basket. A pound and a half is enough to fill an ordi nary bed-puff. These very comfortable articles are found in the guest room of every Ice landic farm, however poor and small it may be. After a long, hard day in the saddle the traveler longs for warmth and shelter. Rut these litt'.e guest rooms have never had a fire m them, and, built as they are on the ground floor, there is in them a dread ful chill. Ouce tucked away, in bed, however, and well covered with the down-puff, a delightful sense of com fort follows, and tired bones lose their pains and stiffness. Good Words. A Frojf Almost lOO Tears Old. A strange story of a rog is told by one who is acquainted with the facts. On the old , Ritchie place, whicli abounds with relics of early day, is an old log spring house, built at the beginning of the century by John Ritchie, the inventor of the sour mash process of making whiskey. A never- failing stream of ice-cold water Mows into this old house, forming a pool soveral feet deep. Here, since John LUtchie left Lynns fort and built him- elf an independent dwelling, it is al eged a giant bullfrog has had its home. As the frog family is endowed with great longevity, it is said by those who ought to know that it is reasonable to suppose that the frog is the same one which took up its. resi- enee in the Ritchie spring house in pioneer times. What lends color to this theory is the fact that there has never been but one frog seen in the eiorhborhood of the old spring, and Stephen Ritchie, now a mu' well nd- aneed in years, slates that this same rog, or one very similar to it, had its o?!vtf in tha snrincr when he was s ttiitd, and that he has often heard his grandmother term the frog her ram gn. The frog is said to be of vast proportions, with a thunderous voica that can bo. heard a great distance. It very active, and shows no evidence : its century or more of years. ardstown (Ky.) Record. Expense No Object. "You have put too manv r's in tin, word 'very,'" sniddhe tutor. "What of it?" .retorted the tam pered scion of a nvly rich house. "J guess paw is ableto pay for the ink," 'Jmcmnati Enqprer. SUPPLANTING THE COW. MAKING BUTTER DIRECT FROM THE FOOD FED TO CATTLE. The Alleged Discovery of a Baltimore Inventor Electricity Utilized in the FroceHS of Turning Gratis Into Best Dairy Butter Without Bovine AstdMtance Butter without the aid of a cow is what Willard G. Day, an inventor, of Baltimore, Md., promises. Electricity, says the New 1'ork Her ald, is the chief agent Mr. Day pro poses to employ iu the production of butter directly from the vegetables which form the food of cattle whose milk is used in the churn. Mr. Day discovered first that the pe culiar characteristic traits of different varieties of butter, cheese, etc., were owing to two general causes. One was the kind of food on which the cow was fed; the other was the kind of microbe nourished at and by the roots or the plant which furnished the food to the cow. Armed with these two secrets, Mr. Day began his work, which consisted in extracting and then assembling ar tificially the same products which are usually brought about by nature. He succeeded in producing from the vegetable kingdom oils which differed very slightly from those of the animal kingdom. Having gone this far, the next step was to change the vegetable oil by giving it the same chemical con stitution as that possessed by the ani mal article desired in other words to make the animal' butter oil out of grass, corn, and similar vegetable substances. ' i The secret in this part of the proc ess Mr. Day found to consist in the fact that animal and vegetable carbo hydrates strongly resemble each other. The differences which are found in oils are nearly all owing to the nitro genous sheaths in which the globules of oil are contained. Thus to this sheath is due the tallowy smell of tal low, the mutton smell of mutton, as well as all the rank odors of many veg etable oils. When oils are extracted by heat, or the mechanical violence of pressure, the deletereous nitrogenous character istics of the globule sheaths are im parted to the oil globules themselves, and no art can separate them af terward. Here comes in the great discovery in the use of the electric light. Mr. Day found that when these oils and fats were subjected to the radiant energy of powerful electric light the nitrogenous sheaths were shrivelled and their contents put in a condition to be milked out or extracted by a gen tle pressure, without being contami nated by the characteristics of the an imal or plant itself. Another effect was also produced. Whatever microbe was associated with any particular oil or fat was killed by the actinic power of the light.thus leav ing the article free from any of its native microbes and ready to be used as a culture medium for any desired mi crobe. Among the microbes destroyed by the light are those which cause putre faction and decay, and so the articles acted on by the light are readily pre served as long as they are protected from new invasions of nature's host of destroyers. As a result, the various kinds of butter, cheese, etc., madeunder the Day processes show most remark able keeping powers, far surpassing those produced by the old fashioned methods. For the same reason, the new arti cles are not affected by any diseases, such as tuberculosis and typhoid fever, which may be carried and trans mitted in the milk of cows, as well as by contamination from barnyard asso ciations. The day process does not end with the treatment of fats and oils, but is applied to all the flesh of animals, as well as of lish, crabs, oysters, fruits and vegetables. Mr. Day found that the application of the radiant energy from the electric light produced pe culiar and wonderful effects on all these substances. Fresh meat was made rigid and hard as wood. It could then be ground or pulverized into powder, and this, when put into water, would swell up, and when cooked would have the substance and the good qualities of fresh meat. The electric curing process reduced four pounds of meat to one pound. In this condition it could be transported any where, and would keep in any climate. Then by adding the requisite amount of water the article would be ready to be cooked and served up, thus furnish ing an ideal meat, as to which "diges tion waits on appetite, and health on both." Mr. Day tested the merits of his proc cess in many ways. He found that meats could be cured in large or small pieces; in fact, that by suitable ex posure to the electric light, bodies of any size might be first disinfected from all microbes, and then preserved indefinitely. No matter what the germ might be, the inventor found that powerful light was fatal to it. He experimented with the entire range of germs supplied by the physicians of the Johns Hopkiu3 hospital, and killed them all. Extending the range of Ins process, Mr. Day found that fruits and vegeta bles could either be preserved very nearly in thoir natural condition anq 'size, or they could be made dry an hard as wood, reduced in size, atnj .w eight, then ground to powder and af. terward restored again to a food form by supplying moisture. POLITENESS IN TATTERS. Not Easy to Juclgre a Man hy the Condition of the Clothes He AY ear. The Utah Northern train was dis appearing in the distance when Arch Cridge, the storekeeper at Market lake, who had gone over to the station to ascertain if any oysters had coma up from Granger for him, saw a badly battered and tattered figure hobbling along the ties, coining from the direc tion of the vanishing train. Cridge forgot his oysters iu wonderment at the outlandish raggedness and genera damage and disaster revealed iu the person of the oncomer. He saw a tramp, and his face was scratched and his eye was blacked,' as Cridge saw when he drew near. But he was a polite tramp, nevertheless. "Good morning, my friend," he said, bowing courteously to the store keeper. "Can you tell me the name of a man who would care to share in the benefits rising out of $50,000. He did not appear to be crazy, so Cridge, who had once chased elusive gold mines, gave him some attention. "I don't just know," he said. "I mvself " "Exactly so. And a first class part ner you will make. Twenty-five thou sand sounds nice, doesn't it? Let ma have a chew of tobacco, please." Cridge gave him a lump of the de sired commodity and asked hiin to ex plain what he meant. "You observe the train now dim ming in the distance?" inquired the tramp. Cridge did. "Y'ou might not believe it, but I wras ejected from that train for the vulgar reason of poverty." "But you have how about your fifty thou " "One moment. Wait. I was thrpwn off like a mere bag of rags. I rolled. I scraped. I skinned myself. I tore my apparel. I cracked my kneepan. I dug up the soil and turned seven somersaults. " Cridge nodded sympathetically. ' 'In other words, I was treated vilely. By a breakman. A red-headed brake man who used profane language. I think he also struck me, but there was some confusion, and perhaps it was a telegraph pole. Receiving such indignity you can readily understand what must be the prompt action of a gentleman. " "Well, I do'no,"said Cridge, guard edly. "But a man with money " "Exactly. I see you perfectly un derstand. Y'ou appreciate the enor mity of the offence. I shall sue for $50,000 damages. You will pay the costs and give me $5 now as a guar antee of good faith. When I win I shall levy on the road to pay my claim and you will be madegeneral manager with power to issue passes. Please give me the $5 as soon as possible. I am aware that my present guise and garb " "Well, I do'no," said Cridge, draw ing hack. "Y'ou see " "You surely don't doubt my word? Y'ou surely don't question that I was thrown off the train, substantially as described?" , "No. I should ruther guess there was even more hustle to it than you've told. But ." "Y'ou don't deny that I was dam aged seriously? This eye. Thi3 peeled arm. This ear." "No, that's all right; but I can't go into it." The tramp looked upon the store keeper with great loftiness beaming from his one good eye. "I see. You are not in sympathy with the poor and oppressed. Y'ou are allied to the money power. You are subsidized. Your finer feelings of humanity have been crushed out by your association with capital. Nevei mind. I am used to disappointments. If you will give me 10 cents I will dance three extremely interesting j igs and will then by a clever feat of par lor magic swallow a knife aud with draw it from my ear." lut Air. cridge said lie had to gc and see about his oysters. Chicago Record. Four-Cfjnt Check. A firm of life insurance agents in this city believes that every man's time is valuable, and that he may be induced to read the prospectus of tha company mailed to him and at the same time be compensated for , the time thus consumed, a check on the Central National bank fot four cents accompanies the prospectus. The letter of explanation reads as follows: "Herewith please find our check for four cents in payment of two minutes of your time, assuming the same to be worth $10,000 per annum, asking that you devote the same to the careful consideration of the inclosed." Phil adelphia Record. iot Off Kasr. First Reprobate Well, old man, did you get home all right last night? Second Reprobate Yes; but my wife wouldn't speak' to me. First Reprobate Lucky beggar! Mine did! Punch, Afghan women are never jealous of each other. SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS. The average weight of the brain of a Scotchman ii larger than that of any other race on the globe. A Russian admiral has invented an ice plow capable ot breaking through ice from twelve to twenty inches thick. A German professor reports that he has found living bacteria in wine which had been bottled twenty-five or. thirty years. Berlin is to have a combination electric street railway, part of the sys tem being underground and part run on the American elevated method. Artesian wells have proved success ful in New South Wales, the area within which underground water is found extending 62,000 square miles. The Japanese cite 2G9 color varie ' ties of the chrysanthemum of whic' sixty-three are yellow, . eighty-seVt , white, thirty-two purple, thirty red, thirty-one pale pink, twelve r'usset and fourteen of mixed colors. Munich used to be notorious for its excessive typhoid-fever death rate, it being twenty-nine per 10,OC0 in IS50. Yvith the introduction of a pure water supply and improved sewer system it has fallen to less than two per 10,000. The Berlin Post says that the estab lishment having exclusive rights to manufacture Berlin's anti-toxin pays him a monthly royalty of $17,500. The Paris Figaro quotes these figures, and observes that L'r. Roux, assistant director of the Pasteur institute in ' Paris, does not profit at all from his discovery. Plague bacilli, it appears from the , elaborate report of the German gov ernment commission to Bombay, in most cases enter the system through small wounds or scratches, and the disease is mostly confined to dwellers in poor and insanitary localities. The bacilli are very quickly killed by ordi nary antiseptics, and heating serum inoculations gave little protection in the Bombay epidemic, but Haftkine's method proved very successful. This consists in inoculation with the prod ucts of bacilli culture. To a virulent growth of plague bacilli was added carbolic acid solution or essence of mustard, destroying the microbes, but leaving products having remarkable protective power. An even better vaccine resulted from heating the plague cultures to 150 degrees Fahrn heit for an hour. The 5r3-stery of Sleep. The sleep of a human being; if we are not too busy to attend to the mat ter, always evokes a certain feeling of awe. Go into a room where a person is sleeping, and it is difficult to resist the sense that one is in the presence of the central mystery of existence. People who remember how constantly they see old Jones asleep in the club library will smile at this; but look quietly and alone at even old Jones, and the sense of mystery will soon de velo1. It is no good to say that sleep Is only "moving" because it looks like death. The person who is breathing so loudly as to take away all thought of death causes the sense of awe quite as easily as the silent sleeper who hardly seems to breathe. We see death seldom, but were it more famil iar we doubt if a corpse would inspire so much awe as the unconscious and sleeping figure a smiling, irrespon sible doll of flesh and blood, but a doll to whom in a second may be recalled a proud, active, controlling " consciousness which will ride his bod ily and his mental horse with a hand, of iron, which will force that body to endure toil and misery, and will make that mind, now wandering in paths of fantastic folly, grapple with some great problem, or throw all its force into the ruling, the saving, or the destruc tion of mankind. The corjse is only so much bone, muscle and tissue. The sleeping body is the house which a quick and eager master has only left for an hour or so. Let, any ono who thinks sleep is no mystery, try to ob serve in himself the process by which sleep comes, and to notice how and when aud under what conditions he loses consciousness. He will, of course, utterly fail to put his finger on the moment of sleep coming, but in striving to get as close as he cau to the phenomena of sleep, he will real ize how great is the mystery which he is trying to fathom. London Specta tor. The Kuliy uml the Diamond. A well-known jeweler ays that a perfect ruby is of far more value than a diamond of similar size. The gem seldom weighs more than four carats, aud when a perfect, carmine-tinted stone appears on the market it will bring ten times as much as a diamond of the same weight. A six carat ruby, flawless and of the same rich, deep color desired, will easily bring $5000 a carat, or fifteen times as much as a diamond of identical size and similar flawlessness. The finest, rubies are found in Burmah, and it is a law in that country that all rubies over a cer tain size shall belong to the kiug, no matter who finds them. In the East the ruby is the favorits of all gems and considered the most valuable. -New Y'ork Tribune. The trees iu the streets of Pari3 are looked after by a public official &ri pointed solely for that purpose.

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