THE- .A.N EXCELLENT ADVEBTISING MEDIUM. Official Organ of Washington County. FIRST Or ALLTHE NEWS. Circulates extensively In (he Counties ol Wonjgartia. Tyrrell and B.aafort. Job Printing In ItsVarious Brancfets. 1.00 A YEAR IN ADVANCE. "FOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH." SINGLE COPY, 5 CENTS. VOL. IX. PLYMOUTH. N. C, FRIDAY, JUNE 10. 1898. NO. 38. it SONG. Time may steal the dewy bloom Of all our summer roses ; He can never bring to doom Hearts where love reposes. He may 6hower us with dole, He may rack the bosom ; , Be can never from the soul Shake one tender blossom. J THE flONSTER; V "OR,1 AN INTERNATTONA.L. MATCH. ft" V VV1 .J Thomas P. Corbins lives a mile or two out of Hartford, on rising ground, above a prettv. tributary of the Con necticut. He is an excellent fellow, ana tnougn uis establishment is on a Staple scale, because he happens to ifVer it, he has made his pile. ' Hia wife is dead, and he has only one child, a pretty daughter. At present Dorothy was acting as cook, her cook in a fit of wrath having taken French leave and her waitress having ler hands full caring for the house. It was a warm summer afternoon, and Dorothy was alone in the kitchen, the ingredients for a sponge cake neatly lidd out before her. The clock struck three, and just as it struck the electric train stopped before the house and dropped a young man. He was fair, hie eyes bine, his moustache light, but it was not the fairness of , the Anglo-Saxon race. In fact, Max de Resal had only very lately arrived in America. Opening the small wicket near the larger entrance, through the high red pahng,he walked up a white pathway, f shadowed by tall trees, and took in rthe character of the house he was ap- proaching . at a picturesque, ivy-cov-'' ' ered angle. ' ' A Lapland wolf-dog, aroused from his slumbers in an armchair on the . .verandah, broke the intense stillness that hung like a spell over the house, and his noisy alarm, brought a tousy mop of hair to one of the Queen Anne windows in the roof. Max felt he . was expected to explain himself and said, interrogatively: 4 'Mr. Cor bins'?" but the maid, seemingly misunder . standing him, waved him around to the kitchen. "Let us find the kitchen, then," he said to himself; "but Pierre shall hear of this, sending me to such a place, wasting my time." A little farther on a door was open with a screen drawn across it inside, and Max, without any ceremony, walked in. The shutters were half closed to keep out the light and flies, but he distinguished a wpman's figure. "I have an introduction for Mr.Cor bins," he said, addressing her. Miss Corbins took the envelope from his hand, pulled out the card it contained and, to the horror of Max, calmly read it: "The Marquis de St.Cybars begged to remind Mr. Corbins of their ac quaintanceship and to introduce his - great friend, the Vicomte de Resal, .who was traveling in America for a few months." ' While Dorothy read the Ietter,Max, becoming accustomed to the dim light, was making tip his mind that the beauty of American cooks was quite as uncommon as their manners, and ,; Dorothy was turning over in her mind schemes for baffling this would-be for tune hunter. She spoke French fair ly, and her next speech was in that language. ' "So it's not on business you want to see Mr. Corbins?" ' Up went Max's hands as if words were inadequate to express his amaze ment. "She speaks French, too!" he cried. "Madainoiselle.in my country I should think you a disguised princess. But here I have sworn that, after all the strange things I have seen in the last i month, nothing shall astonish me. SStill, I must confess I think Mr. Cor ' bins' cook breaks the record, as you say. Yes, if I have still any vestige of sense left, I think I may say I only wanted to pay Mr. Corbins a visit of courtesy. " "Travelers like you," she said, a Bpice of malice in her tone, "are not very common in America. French men, especially don't generally visit v.b just for the pleasure of it." "But," he went on, seating himself on a pitch-pine chair, "I give you my word I am neither an engineer, a painter, awriter nor a singer." "Well, then," said Dorothy, using '. the egg-beater vigorously, "I know what has brought you here. You want to catch an heiress! Oh I you may as well tell the truth to a poor ser vant j me f'' i . ,fung man wants a wife," -onrse it's an heiress." " '.better go to New- ""tou there, just is perhaps 'vSuch very a pity, Ir. de : flair al- He can never raise the bar To that inner garden ; He can never hope to mar Hearts where love is warden. Therefore let us not deplore Any stress of weather, But, securing fast the door, ' Laugh at him together. Chicago Record. --r V A A WV 1 i "Aren't you?" she said. "Oh.dear, is it a poor American girl you want to marry, monsieur? ' There are plenty of that kind. , "Well," said Max, "you see I'm poor myself, and, what's more, inca pable of earning my living, so I must have a rich wife. But why shouldn't a rich wife love , me? I shall never marry anyone I don't love." "I'll tell Miss Corbins everything you said, said she. ."But when you see ner you won t want ner sne s a monster. Her neck is down between her shoulders, and as to figure, well, she has none." Max took from his pocket a French gold piece. "Look here," he said, "would you mind not mentioning my visit at all? I'll go back to New York and not see Mr. Corbins. I shouldn't like to spend my life with such a woman as you describe." "Don't be in too great a hurry," she said. "If you are you may make mistakes, as the author of 'Outre-Mer' did." "I might have expected that!" cried Max. "You know Bourget, then? What a country! And to think I'm not likely ever to see you again!" "Why not?" You can see me to morrow if you find me interesting." He paused a moment, not sure whether some 'other adjective might not be more expressive, but he could think of nothing better than "Very interesting!" Then he looked straight into the honest, clear eyes that met his and, leaving the money on the table, went away. His curiosity had been aroused, he had been amused, interested; more than this, charmed. She was very handsome, of this there was no ques tion; figure, eyeSjfeatures, expression, all were good, and she was remark ably intelligent. Still, she was but a cook after all, who wore a white apron and beat eggs like any other cook. Next day he had not to invent even the mildest of stratagems to carry out his purpose. For reasons of her own Dorothy made things easy for him, and, thanks to an exciting baseball match in the neighborhood, he fouud the house as empty as the day before. "Well, you've come for the answer to your card?" she said. "Here it is. Miss Coibins wrote it before she had to go out. You really are unfortu nate about her. But she has invited you to dinner tomorrow." He interrupted: "Just now I am more interested in something else. You have read Bouvget, I know. Do yon remember what he says about girls in Aruervii Imean girls who haven't much money and who are so anxious to be well educated that, to go on with their studies, they hire them selves out in the holidays as servants? That, at any rate, was true, I sup pose?" "Oh, yes," she answered; "there was a girl here once who read Virgil and Xenophon, a housemaid; but she had to go; she was really too fond of books." "Madamoiselle," saidMax,faltering- ly, "I am sure you are one of those in teresting girls." "You are paying me a comnliment I don't deserve," she said, presently. "I shall always be what I am now. A.nd don't you think," she went on, with a charming smile, "that a good cook has her value? Then Dorothy turned to the table and went on, with her jelly making. S.he tried to pull the cork from a bottle, and the vicomte took it from her and drew it. 'This not the sort of work vou were intended for, my poor child," he said. "With vour mental gifts you ought to do something more suitable." Then she said: "I presume you will accept Miss Corbins' invitation to dinner?" 'If I do, what good will it do for either yon or me? I shall not so much as see you." "Only come, she said; "you will see me, l promise you. An hour or so later Miss Corbins received the Vicomte de Resal's for mal acceptance of her invitation. Before going to dinner the next dav Max made all his preparations for leaving Hartford on the midnight train. When he reached the house the flaxen-haired NovaScotian let him in and conducted him through large folding doors to the lair of the "mon ster." Apparently the room was empty, and Max thought he was too early. Just then, through a half-glazed door, be caught sight of soft purl's of tobacco smoke and hear d the tones of mascu- iline voices. 1 Corbins received him with the warm ndiality of an American, introduced to the minister and then said: XJ ought to have been in there to j e you, but my daughter was, at all events. You know her I think?' "Miss Corbins is not in the drawing room," said Max. - "Is she not? On, then, there is some more bother or other in the kitchen. Ah, sir! dinners come into the world ready made in France; but here! It was just by 'the nearest shave my daughter hadn't to cook it again tonight herself." "Again?" said Max, bewildered and conscious that he stood on the edge of an abyss. "Oh, yes!" said Corbins. "For the past week she has been coveied up in an apron cooking for a house full of people, too. It seems to astonish you, sir; but wait a bit longer before you think you understand us. But here is my daughter." ,. "Come," she said, "dinner is ready." She held out her hand to him as if no ceremony of introduction were re quired between them and, taking his arm, led him into the dining room. "Courage," she said to him, her face radiant with amusement. "Haven't I kept my promise?" ' "Yes," said poor Max, "you have and to such purpose that I don't know how to lo'ok you or Mr. Corbins in the face." Max never knew how he got through the dinner.and he thanked God when Corbins and the minister adjourned to the garden to smoke. Miss Corbins thought it too cool for her in her evening dress, but begged Max not to think of staying with her in the draw ing room if he wanted to smoke, too. He looked at her for a moment, then said: "No, thank you. I don't care for a cigarette tonight. " "I am afraid," she said, "you are going to leave us on bad terms." "What do I care if I am the laughing-stock of all America?" he an swered. "I only mind being a fool in your eyes. If just for half an hour or even for a moment I was idiot enough to take you for the " "Don't say the word, "said Dorothy, "if it hurts you so much. But, all the same, I'm proud of your mistake." "Ah!" he said, "making fun of me again as you did then, little as I sup posed it!" "Oh, I don't want to hurt your feelings," said Dorothy.. "You'll for get all about me; you will soon be on your way to Saratoga or the Catskills, according to the addresses on your in troductions. You have some left, I suppose?" "I have," he said, now in a white rage; "here they are," and, taking them out of his pocket, he tore them to bits and threw them on the carpet at her feet. She watched him quietly, but when she spoke her voice was a little altered. "I can give you better ones," she said, then stopped suddenly. There was nothing cruel about her, and she saw tears in his eyes. He turned away from her and, standing at the window, seemed to be gazing at the deep blue vault above studded with stars. But he soon mastered his emotion and again turned to her. "Sixty minutes more and then good bye forever. So I may speak, as I dared not if we were to meet again tomorrow. I did come to Hart ford to look not for a wife, but for my wife. I hoped to find her and take her home with me. Perhaps I counted a little on my happy star, but more on a loyal, honest wish to be happy with her and make her happy." Dorothy listened, softly waving her white, fluffy fan and taking in his every look and movement. "To hear you talk," she said, "one might believe you had been on this search for years. America is rather big, you know." "too I thought three days ago. But now it isn't a country or a state or even a town to me; it is all one house, this house where my destiny was to be determined. If you knew what I felt the very first look you gave me not a thunder clap, as sudden, but so beautiful, so sweet. You know I came here to marry you or some rich girl, and you know why I dare not say now I love you." She made a little face; to her he seemed to have said nothing else for the last half hour. He understood what she was thinking and went on. "Ah!" he cried, "how beautiful.how dear you are! How can you think I shall forget? Think what you please of me, but of - on9 thing be sure, I wouldn't marry an American girl now for the whole world." "I haven't the whole world," she said, smiling; "I can only offer you "What?" he said, with a strange thrill of expectation. "Myself !" N. Y. Mail and Express. Antique Vegetable. Asparagus was originally a wild sea- coast weed of Great Britain and Russia, and is now so plentiful on the Russian steppes that the cattle eat it like grass. In some parts of southern Europe the seeds are dried and used as a substitute for coffee. Philadel phia Inquirer. ( Five Hnydred Trip. The White fitur steamer Britannia recently made ber 500th trip across the Atlantic. She is 24 years old.and her engines and boilers have never been renewed. She has traveled more Ih&a 1,500, Qm miles. THE WOMEN OF SPAIN. Interesting Statistics Concerning Their Social and Intellectual Condition. A great deal has been written about Spanish men, but I think one may find a truer key to Spanish character by taking a glimpse of the misery of the Spanish women. I doubt if the Spanish woman is any better off than the Turkish woman, and while Ameri can women are not clamoring for a conflict, the fact remains that the taking of Spain from the European geography might prove a great 6tep in advance for the women of that land. It appears from an official document which came my way the other day that but 2,636,615 Spanish women can read or write. This fraction is al most as big as the male army that knows its own language. It is a pitiful showing, but it is only the be ginning of the table of female wretch edness. The municipalities list 51, 946 professional beggars who wear petticoats. Then there are 828,531 women who earn their living by work ing in the farm fields. There are 329,596 women rated as day servants who get but little more than board and shelter for their work, and in all the dying dynasty there are but 719,000 girls iu the schools of any kind,public or private. There are twice as many female mendicants as male. The cen sus shows that 6,764,406 women have neither professions nor trades, and are altogether dependent upon charity, the possibility of getting married, or hard labor at starvation wages. The same lamentable condition of the Spanish woman is shown by a glance . at another side of her life. The kingdom has but seventy-four women classed as literary writers. There are but seventy-eight women physicians in the mother country and ail the provinces. The women school teachers number only 14,400, as com pared with 24,612 men, but this does not include the nuns, who are classed by themselves, and number 28,540. Spanish women who are fortunate live in the most magnificent homes and seem never to bother their heads about the poorer sisters at their doors. The favorite resort for the grande senoras is San Sebastian, and the lives the careless Spanish women of fashion lead there during the summer are said to be a scandal over all Europe. There is scarcely a pretence at propriety or even ordinary conventionality. As in France, a majority of the young girls of the best families are educated in the convents. Their greatest ac complishment is embroidery, and they sit and sit and sit at their knitting until some man from an ancient and bankrupt house or a bull-raising plan tation comes along and marries them. Club life is unknown. Marriages are celebrated very early in life, and but few people who get weary of these early alliances ever go to the trouble and formality of getting a divorce. The unhappy couples simply divide up the household things and live the balance of their lives the best way they can. Spanish women, as I have found, have very little outdoor amusement. The bicycle is just beginning to be admitted, but under protest. The young women love their queen next to p.-etty frocks and glittering fans and bright ribbons. They flock to the cruel shows in . the bull rings and laugh and cheer at the horrible spec tacles.' They show no more pity than an American girl bestows upon the dashing hardships which the average tennis player or the golfer undergoes when he performs in a broiling sun to amuse her. Chicago Times-Herald. JACK PAST AND PRESENT. The Man-of-War of Today and Years Ago. The American man-o'-war's man of today is as different in personal char acter from his predecessor of a few de cades ago as is the steel-clad, turreted, mastless battle ship of 1898 from the graceful' wooden frigate of past gen erations. 'The new weapons, motive power and othereguipnient of latter day war vessels necessitate different and often higher qualities in the men that handle them. To this is due the fact that the modern man-o'-war's man is more cf a mechanic and a soldie'n than a sailor pure and 6imple. 1 But this is not all. The general character of Uncle Sam's blue-jacket has undergone a change since the de velopment of the new navy, as radi cal as his professional training. Such familiar phrases as "Like a drunken sailor" and "Spending money like a sailor" no longer apply, for Jack is today steadier, more self-respecting and better behaved than the average man in his own walk of life on shore. Where in former days but few would return on board ship on time, "clean and sober," from a day's liberty,- it is now the exception for liberty to be broken. vA party of liberty men on Bhore from an American cruiser is an orderly, respectable body of men. Several causes have contributed to this change for the better. One is the apprentice system, which has been in successful operation now for abont twenty-five years.a period long enough to give predominance to the Anient ac born 6eamen graduated from the ap prentice training ships. This sys-tem has given to the service a large num ber of respectable young Americans, who have displaced a like number of i irresponsible foreigners, waifs of for tune, whose only interest in our navy was the pay and the food, both de cidedly better than they could get in the navies or merchants marines of their own countries. Another potent cause of the good quality of the American man-o'war's men of the present day is more intell igent treatment. In the days of the "old" navy the men were allowed to draw but a small fraction of their pay each month, the remainder accumula ting until the end of the period of en listment. The final balance due was paid in full at the time of discbarge. The men, unaccustomed to handling much money at a time, did not know the value of what they had received, so they squandered theirmoney. Quite likely they became the prey of sharp ers. In either event they were com pelled to re-enlist soon, and in dismal ejririts. When "liberty" was given in the old days it was the custom to let a whole "watch" half the ship's com pany go ashore at once, and then only at long intervals. Knowing that it would be a long time before they would get on land again, the men thus freed would endeavor to concentrate as much revelry as possible in the short period given, and were usually regardless of consequences. All that has been changed. The crew of a man-of-war is now divided into three conduct grades, according to behavior. Those in the third or lowest grade are permitted ashore at long intervals, in the discretion of the commanding officer ; those of the sec ond may have liberty once a month, and those of the first once a week, while there is what is known as the "special first class," the men in which are given almost as much shore leave as the officers. FLOWERS AND PERFUMES. An Industry at Nice That Has Grown to Huge Proportions. The very fewindustries of this place aside from hotel keeping (which is not an industry, but a fine art when prop erly done) are eminently in keeping with the tone of an ultra-fashionable watering place. They are the growth, arrangment and shipping of cut flow ers, the distilling of sweet waters from flower blossoms and the manufac ture of candied fruits, olive oil and marqueterie. It was Alpbonse Karr, the French author, who began the flower business here, and it- has grown until it brings in pomething over $250,000 a year. They raise roses and other flowers by the acre, arrange them in bouquets, pack them in boxes with the stems sticking through a hole, aud ship thern to the uttermost parts of Europe. A great quantity of the winter flowers of Paris corae from here, and they go without damage to London, Berlin, Vienna, and even as far as St Petersburg. Roses, pinks and carnations are the favorite flowers for shippirg, aud a large number of orange and lemon trees are literally "nipped in the bud," being grown exclusively for the blos soms, which, when cut off, aie either mixed with theflowersor used for dis tilling. The orange flower water of Nice has a gcod reputation, and it would be hard to find daintier confec tionery than the crystalized violets, orange blossoms and rose leaves that are made there in great quantities. Marqueterie is rather a high-sounding name for the little carved love boxes, handkerchief boxes and tea caddies that are made here.sometimes very handsomely inlaid. They are made in great quantities, generally of olive wood, and the people who buy such things are not all dead, though one would think they must be nearly extinct by this eud of the century. Nice Letter in the New York Times. Victim of Thirteen. The late Woolf Joel, themany times millionaire, who was murdered re cently at Johannesburg, was noted for his abstinence from anything in the shape of "blue verbiage" in his speech. He rather prided himself, says a Lon don correspondent of the New York Mail and Express, on never using an oath except in serious temper, and he was very seldom, if ever, out of humor. A curious fact has transpired concerning him, which will interest tfce Thirteen club. He arranged for a party of fourteen by way of a fare well dinner just before he sailed from England. One of his guests was un able to attend. Mr. Joel remarked on the common super stition, and added that as it was generally supposed that he who rose first from the table would lie the first to die he would take the risk upon himself and take precedence in moving from his seat. He did, and voit know the rest. Explaining a Phrane. "W lie Giggs is regarded as the flowe'Jof the family," said Maud. "P'rfcaps," rejoined Mamie, "that trilaswhy we so frequently hear him 'alluded to by the men as a 'Lluo.ring g;iy' " Washington Star. Sacrifice Which Paid. v nwaV.y that al Sending cashier got saerifieiV his beard, didhe?" .skedy be reporter'. ' "Yev," the detective, "I missed him bvl clce shave. lnuiatiapo THE FLAG. Lo! f k. jight dry rods have boomed In flowers of red and white and bluej On ev ry staff the dawn's illumed The new glorious banner waves anew! No blossom this, to droop and fade In Bulph'rou9 smoke of belching guns; Its roots were set, its tints were laid In the best blood of Freedom's sons. Across its hues the eyes of men Flash each to each with patriot Are, And heroes press its sacred stem To lips that smile as they expire. The sluggish blood, by commerce chilled, Leaps to its fount with sudden pride; And children gaze, with bosoms thrilled, At this their heritage and guide! Grace Duffle Boylan. HUMOROUS. Newsboy (to distinguished author just arrived) Extra, sir. Full ac count of your arrival. The Rejected One I have a rival, then? The Girl -Hardly that; I have promised to marry him. Many a young man who has entered on a career has been glad soon after wards to get a steady job. Mrs. A. Do you think Mary Gil pert is as old as she looks? Mrs. B. ' My dear, she eonldn't be, Fuddy Are you in favor of a sin gle tax? - Dnddy I go farther than that. I would have no tax at all. Teacher (showing off his pupils) Now, Johnny, tell us how the earth ia divided. Johnny (vivaciously) By earthquakes, sir. Clerical Friend I hear you are hav ing trouble in your church. The Rev. Dr. Fourthly Not a word of truth in it. The trouble is in the choir. His Wife They say 'a photographer is to establish a place here soon. The Suburbanite How can he expect people who live here to look pleasant? Miss Blackleigh(looking at her pho tograph) I shou! like to know what people say about my picture. Miss Daisey No, dear, I dou't think you would. She Do you recollect the night that you proposed to me? I bent my head and didn't say anything. He Quite right; but you've made up for it since. Proud Father My daughter strikes B and is reaching for C. Friend Oh, but you can't really complain until she begins to strike you for V's and reach for X'fl. Editor Why don't you want your article on "Advice to Housewives" signed? Hack-Writer Because I want my wife to take some of the advice herself. "Governor, the bicycle trade-positively refuses to go to the front." "What's the reason?" "They ejainx that they would be at once disabled by the hard-tack." He "In the spring the young man's fancy " you know; the little 1 birds begin to mate the She Yes; in the spring, even the potatoes begin making eyes. "Pa, can I go to the circus?" "No, my son; if you're a good boy, you won't want to go to the circus." "Then I'd better go while I'm bad enough to enjoy it, hadn't I ?" "Do you think said the man who is slightly superstitious, 4 "that a comet pressages danger?" "Well," replied'' Mr. Meekton, with the deliberation aA a man who is accustomed to thank many times before he speaks, "i.'does if I stay out lave enough to, it." Pat was suffering dreadfully from, seasickness, and there wa no pros pect of relief, for the vffel pitched, and rolled without cesWiou. "By, t'under," he cried iu Tis agouy. "Won't somebody second thS motion, and let it be passed without Rebate!" A teacher asked a little boy to spell "responsibility, "which he did. VNow, Tommy," said the teacher, "canVyou. tell me the meaning of that big word?." "Yis, mum," answered Tommy. "If ., I had only four buttons on my trou sers, and two came off, all the respon sibilitv would hang on the other two."" "Papa," said the youthful student of history, "is an ultimatum the last word?" "No-o, not exactly; that is, not always," replied the old gentle man thoughtfully. "You see, there are circumstances under which a man may give an ultimatum to a woman his wife, for instance but, of course, that doesn't mean that he will have ' the last word; not by a good deal." , A Better Kxpresslon. "I suppose," said Mrs. Snaggs,' "thai when soldiers are said to be sleeping on their arms the idea is that they are ready for instant service ?" "Your idea is correct," replied Mr. Snaggs. "How did you guess it ?" "But would it not be more expres sive," Mrs. Snaggs went on, ignoring the sarcasm, "to say that they slept on their nap-sacks ?" Pittsburg Chronicle-Telegraph. X-Kay to Determine Sex-. Another new use of the X-ray has recently been discovered. Much dif ficulty has been experienced in dis tinguishing the masculine from the feminine silk cocoon, and the distinc tion is important, as the former yields more silk. The female cocoon con tains many unripe eggs, rich in min eral salts. The dark shade produced by them denotes tha sex.

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