North Carolina Newspapers

(w - THE- AN BXCELLBNT) ADVERTISING HEDIUII.1 iHnr4nn Pnnitftr EISST OF ALL THE NEWS. CfreulaUs extensively la the Counties ! Wasiiiaiton, Martin. Tyrrsi! ted SiiafsrL Jsb Printing In ItsVarlous Eranches. l.OO A YEAR IN ADVANCE. TOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH." SINGLE COPY, 5 CENTS. VOL. X. PLYMOUTH, N: C, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1898. NO. 10. fi f u A! AT THE Oh, wkat care I for wealth or fame ! They vanish as a dream, When night is drawn through gates of Sawn On Slumber's ebbing stream! Let others sing of Death and War, Or Sorrow's tragio lore; But Love has come and calls me home To meet him at the door! Oh, what care I to weave my Fate On Life's mysterious loom, Its warp and woof from peace aloof The glittter and the gloom! Let others sing of Death and War, Or Sorrow's tragio lore; But Love has oome.and calls me home T6 meet him at the door! THE CONVENIENT TIGER. I Adrentare of a Maa Who Fonad Himself In an Eait Indlaa Jnngle with a Hag of Rupees w j and a Dishonest Servant. Jj BY J. C. POWTOK, I. C. 8. f-ygnm yt y spry jjyijajainprjnajtjyt jsjrijpi.ifnyygr "I don't know that 1 have ever met a full-blosomed yogi in all my years in India. One has to come to America to find out the wonders and mysteries of. theosophy. But I have seen per k.forinances of Indian fakirs quite as in-'-f'- explicable as anything I have heard H of the Mahatmas. There was one in ,, particular in which I was concerned a matter of some 20 years ago. It had. tragedy in it and some things which neither you nor I can explain. You understand, no doubt, what an Indian fakir is a man of the Brahminical fiaith who devotes his life to commun ion with the Hindoo gods. Through player and' contemplation and the leading of an ascetic life the fakirs at tain powers that Beem miraculous to the Western mind. "The fakir that I am to tell you about came one afternoon to Archie Eedvon's bungalow, near Charpore, where I had been staying for a few days during a round of inspection. He was an old, brown-skinned man, with $5 a long, intellectual face and hair and I beard snowy white. A waist cloth, f turban and sandals were all he wore. and the rest'of his visible belongings consisted of a prayer mat, a hubble bubble, or native water pipe, and an earthen bowl from which he ate his food. He spread his mat in the mid dle of. the compound, seated himself cross-leged upon it and began to take tinsel balls from somewhere from the mat, it seemed, although none could be seen upon it and to throw them one by one up into the air. Each one, as he threw it, went sailing up, up, until it was out of sight, and none of them came down. Then he did the boy and ladder and the mango tree V' trick in a mauner that showed that ha - was a fakir of no common order. "Then he took a hollow reed, fash ioned it into a sort of pipe and went round in the compound and on the outside of the bungalow, playing a weird tune. Presently a cobra poked ; its head out from a hole in the wall, its body followed, and the serpent came to the'ground and glided along after the fakir. Soon another cobra crawled out of the grass and followed the sound'of the pipe. When the fakir stayed his steps the snakes stopped, and as he played on the reed they reared their hooded heads from the ground, and their bodies swayed to and fro as if they were keeping time with his piping. He called for a bas ket. A house servant brought him one, and the fakir, with his bare Tiands, took the snakes each by the neck and body, placed them in the basket, pressed their heads down and tied a cloth above them. "This ended his performance. Red von gave him a rupee, and I handed him five, for I had never seen any thing to compare with what he had done. He gravely took the coins, after the manner of the Brahmins, without a thank or salaam. But as he dropped them somewhere in his waist cloth his eye fell on my servant Nagho, standing at my shoulder, and he looked at him with a strange intentness, then turned to me with a gaze as searching. Have you ever chanced to notice a Hindoo's eye so sombre black, so keen to see and comprehend and revealing no more than a pool of ink might the thought behind it. But I noted in the fakir's eye what seemed to me to be a flash of perception, of discovery, as his look rested on Nagho and then on me. It was the episode of a mo ment He said nothing, but picked up his mat and pipe, put the basket and snakes on his shoulder and went his way, taking the direction of Char , pore, three miles away. "On the next day I had to go to Baghra to meet the deputy collector there. To save distance I decided to travel in a palanquin over a bullock trail too rough for a carriage, instead of going twice as far round by the kMghway. I made my start in the Jniddle of the afternoon, expecting to fTr& n Baghra in the early evening. X :Y ray traveling satchel were notes and coin to the value of 12,000 rupees, which I was taking to the deputy col lector. At the last hour Redvon showed some anxiety about ray taking the route I had chosen. " 'Once your start is made, don't waste any time in getting through to Baghra,' he said. 'Beyond Charpore the road is through jungle all the way. There's a chance of dacoits and then Y if your palanquin bearers should run H npoa them or get a tiger scare, they DOOR. Oh, what care I for clashing creeds, Or hostile schools of art, If I may wear through smile and tear The ermine of the heart! Let others sing of Death and War, Or Sorrow's tragic lore; But Love has oome and calls me home To meet him at the door! Oh, what care I for houseless winds, With rain and darkness blent. If through the blight on me may light The shy dove of content! Let others sing of Death and War, Or Sorrow's tragio lore; But Love bus come and calls me home . To meet him at the door! Harper's Bazar. would think nothing of setting down the palanquin and leaving you in the jungle. Of course, you have your re volver by you in working order?' "I had cleaned and oiled and re loaded my revolver that morning and told Redvon so. But he had still another caution to give me. He looked at Nagho, who was tilling a water ves sel from a chatty at the further end of the veranda. " 'That servant of yours have you had him long?' he asked. 'My stew ard tells me that he is a hill man by birth, that he talks the argot of the Indian thieves' guilds, and he carries a tulwar. Do you know that you can trust him?' "This was news to me about Nagho. I had hired him two months before in Calcutta. He had come well recom mended and had proved a capable ser vant. I did not like the idea that he should have carried a tulwar unknown to me. The tulwar, let me explain, is the wide-bladed knife which the men of the hill tribes use so effectively in lighting, wielding it at close quarters or throwing it. With his tulwar, a hill man can cut off the branch of a tree 20 paces away or lop a man's arm trom his body. I made up my mind that I would find out more about Nagho be fore I took . him with me on another trip, but today there was nothing I could well do in the matter. " 'I think the Hindoo is all right,' I said to Redvon. 'I'll have my eye on him, though. Good bye. Hope I'll see you at Baghra next week. ' "We shook hands, and the four bearers of the palanquin trotted away with me at a four-mile-an-hour gait, with Nagho and two relay bearers fol lowing. At Charpore, where we stopped a few minutes to rest,, the bearers got hold of a report about a tiger, which was said to have killed a man or two lately on the road to Baghra, and when they, started on it was with little of the willingness that they had shown in the beginning. We had got about four tniles beyond Charpore when we met a crowd of grass cutters coming on the run for the village, and they shouted 'Tiger 1 Tiger!' as they came near us. I man aged to find out from them that no one had been hurt, but that one of them thought that he had seen a tiger. That was enough for my six palanquin bearers. They set the palanquin down and joined the grass cutters in their run for the village, leaving me with Nagho in the jungle. "I reckoned that it was about ten miles further to Baghra and decided that I would walk there rather than turn back. I spread my umbrella to protect me from the sun and started along the path, with Nagho following, carrying the satchel. It was a rough road, miry in places. I had to stop often to rest, so as not to be overcome by heat, and darkness fell before we had made a third of the remaining dis tance to Baghra'. But I plodded on in the darkness, feeling rather than see ing my way, and hoping that nearer Baghra the road would improve. I was beginning pretty thoroughly to distrust Nagho. There had come an unpleasant change of expression in his face since the palanquin men had left us, and I did not like the furtive look in his eyes which I had caught several times in turning suddenly toward him. Now that darkness had fallen I carried my revolver in my hand, quite . as much on his account as on the chance of falling in with a tiger or leopard. "I had ordered him to walk ahead, which command he obeyed sulkily. He was walking about 30 feet in ad vance of me when he turned suddenly round justas my foot tripped against a tree root, sending me sprawling to the ground. As I fell somethiug whizzed above my head, and I heard leaves and twigs falling far back of me down the road. It was Nagho's tulwar, and but for my lucky tumble it would have split my skull as neatly as you please. The Hindoo ran as soon as he saw that his knife had missed, taking the satchel with him. I sent three shots after him from the ground, then got up and started on at an easy pace, for there was no hope of my overtaking the Hindoo, for, leaving the darkness out of the ques tion, he could have outstripped ma on such a road two to one. My only hope of recovering the satchel and money and bringing him to punish ment was in getting to Baghra and setting the native police on his trail. "It soon became clear to me that I should not get to Baghra that night. The air was horribly hot and humid, and the road got worse as I went on. I could feel the jungle fever clutching at me in the miasma that rose from the moist ground, but it was better to chance that than risk falling from heat and fatigue. I had rested myself under a tree by the roadside and had begun to nod with drowsiness, when the roar of a tiger somewhere off in the jungle gave a new turn to my thoughts, and I got up and stumbled on. Just as the tiger roared again I saw a smouldering fire in the clear ing off to the right. It was an even chance whether it meant a camp of woodcutters or a rendezvous of da coits, but I turned off the road and approached it. Only one man was by the fire an old white-bearded man seated cross-legged on a mat and I saw that it was the fakir who had been at Redvon's bungalow the day befere. Here in the jungle he was sitting, ab sorbed in contemplation, as calmly as if such things as tigers or jungle fever did not exist. Two cobras in a basket by his side reared their heads and hissed as I crme near, but the fakir did not raise his eyes until I stood be fore him. Then he looked at me with out the slightest sign of surprise and motioned that I should seat myself opposite him. " 'I expected yon,' he said, in Hin dostanee. 'You will remain here until the morrow. ' "He returned to his contemplation and spoke not another word through the night. The tiger's roar came tnearer, and I clutched my revolver as it changed into the low, eager,purring cry that tells he has scented his prey but the old man gave no sign that he had so much as heard it. I watched the misty darkness around for an hour or more, but there was no more roaring, and no tiger appeared, and I laid my pistol across my lap and prepared to pass the night as comfort ably as I could. In searching my pockets for cigars I found a package of quinine. I took 50 grains of it be fore morning and thus saved myself from jungle fever. Hour after hour I sat on the ground smoking cheroots, with the old man sitting opposite me. "Part of the time his eyes were closed, but he did not nod or change his position, and whether he slept or not I could not tell. From time to time he fed the fire from a little heap of dry branches at his side, and two or three times he lighted his hubble bubble, but he did not once rise to his feet or leave the mat. Toward morning sleep overcame me, and I woke to find myself on my back on the ground with the beams of the ris ing sun streaming into my face and one of the cobras crawling across my legs. I kept still, and the snake crept away in the grass hunting his break fast "The old fakir, who was smoking, presently laid aside his pipe, collected his snakes and other luggage together, told me with a look that we were to move, and we left the clearing and turned into the road toward Baghra, In the dust, and more plainly in the miry places, we could see the tracks of Nagho. Presently there were other footprints above the man's and taking the same course the tracks of a tiger which had come into the road from the jun gle. I had not said a word to the fakir of what had occurred the night before, but he pointed to the tiger's tracks and said gravely, the first words he had spoken that morning: " 'These are bringing you to your property.' "We kf pt along the road until we came to a place where the tracks showed that the swinging trot of the tiger had changed to a succession of long bounds, which ended at a spot where the dust had been stirred by marks of a strnggle and caked with drops of red. The bushes and long grass crushed and bent to left and right, showed where the tiger leaped back into the jungle, and there was no track of man or beast in the road be yond. But in the tiger's path at a few paces from the roadside, strung along the bashes, was the unwound turban of Nagho with a long smear of rod upon its white. " 'It was so appointed,' said the fakir. 'He was weaving the plan of his own death when he thought he was compassing yours. Now, take your own, restored to you, and we will go on into Baghra. "He pointed to my satchel, which I had not seen, in the grass by the roadside. It was unopened, and all its contents were safe. We went on to Baghra, where the fakir left me at the outskirts of the town, takiug his way, I suppose, to the house of some person of his religions order. I gave him a bag of rupees at parting, which he accepted without thanks or com ment to him it came by appointment of the gods, aud I feel sure he would ha3 received a sentence of immediate execution with the same calm fatalism. I saw him once more, when he was called before the magistrate to give his testimony as to the manner of Nagho's death, but he gave me no sign of rec ognition. To one like him, wrapped in eomniuniou with diety.a mere man, whatever his degree, was worthy of nothing more than a passing notice. "My story of the fakir is told, and you may explain it if yon can to your atisfaction. His tricks at the hnnsa- low were incomprehensible to the Western mind. Beyond these, -what do you think of his reading of the hu man soul, as when his glance at Nagho rovealed my servant's thought of murder and robbery against me? Of his knowledge of the events occurring V.J his case beyond the perceptions of the recognized senses of seeing and hearing? Was it the reading of Nagho's mind at the bungalow and of mine by the fire in the jungle? Let that ex plain it if you will. But what a gen uine and lofty order of mind reading. Compare it with the jugglery that passes by that name among people of the Western hemisphere." New York Sun. PASTIMES AT SEA. Curloni Way in Which Old Salt Enjoyed Themselves. There are many curious instances of the way in which the "salts" of former times enjoyed their pastimes at sea. A custom called the "ambassador" used to be practiced upon "ignorant fellows or landsmen" in warm lati tudes. The sport is thus managed: A large tub was rilled with water and two stools placed on each side of it Over the wholoa tarpaulin or old sail was thrown. This was kept tight by two persons who represented the king and queen of a foreign country, aud were seated on stools. The person intended to be ducked was called the "ambassador," and after repeating a riduculous speech dictated to him,' he was led in great state to the throne, and there seated between the king and queen, who, rising suddenly, the ambassador'rell back into the water. Another observance practiced near the Hue was called "Autor, or King Arthur." A sailor, who represented the king, ridiculously dressed, and having an immense wig made of oakum or some old stuff, was seated at the side of, or over, a large vessel of water. Every sailor i'n his turn was to be ceremoniously introduced to him, and to pour a bucket of water over him, crying, "Hail, King Ar thur!" If during this ceremony any seaman laughed or smiled (to which he was provoked by the wry faces and facetious gesticulations of the mon arch), he had to change places and assume the throne, until relieved by some brother tar, who had as little command over the facile ' muscles as himself. Another game on board ship waa called "hoop." To turn the hoop was an ancient marine custom. Four or more boys having their left hands tied to an iron hoop, and their - right to a rope, called a "nettle," being naked to the waist, waited the signal to be gin. This was done by the application of a stroke of the cat-o'-nine tails, given by the boatswain to the back of one of the boys, who struck the next to him, and so on until all became en gaged in what can hardly be called an amusing game; for though at first the blows were gently administered, each boy irritated at the strokes of his neighbor, at length laid on lustily and the play became earnest. This cus tom was practiced when a ship was wind-bound. These sports, the off-shoot of others practiced in earlier times, such, for instance, as the rude and boisterous ceremonies on "crossing the line," have in their turn yielded to the more refined and reasonable mode of whiling the tedium of a long voyage bj theatricals, recitations, concerts and the like. Chinese Economy. No people in the world can exceed the Chinese in the matter of economy. They waste nothing. The old cast off account book of the merchant is cut into pieces and oiled to serve in stead of glass, in windows or lanterns. A coolie who has a six hours' march with a heavy burden will return tc his point of departure without having broken his fast in order to save the two cents his breakfast would have cost away from home. Nothing is more curious than to see them eat, although, with their famous chop sticks, they do not perform all the wonderful feats generally supposed. Everything is served them in bowls or saucers, and with the chopsticks they raise the pieces of meat or fish to the mouth with sufficient grace. Each one has a bowl of rice, which he holds near his Hps, and with the aid of the chopsticks he pushes the con tents into his mouth. It is curious to see them pick up with their chop sticks the grains of rice that fall on the ground. The children are taught this art L'om their earliest years. Nothing must be lost, not even the smallest grain. Use of the Electrophone. Bv the aid of the electrophone, whicl is au improvement on the telephones person seated m his own house lr Loudon can hear what is going on it any of fifteen theatres in the metrop olis. and on Snndav he can listen tc sermons by noted preachers. Sixteen churches and sixteen theatres are al ready oi the electrophone circuit i Fenoclous Humming Birds. In the' Island of Minora, one ot the Philippines, the humming bird are pugnacious little creatures. Thou sands of them frequently attack hunts men without the slightest provoca tion, inflicting sometimes serious wounds on the face and neck. SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS. The common caterpillar has more than two hundred muscles. Some insects are in a state of ma turity thirty minutes after birth. At sea level an object one hundred feet high is visible a little over thir teen miles. If five hundred feet high, it is visible nearly thirty miles. One of the most interesting features of modern industrial- chemistry is the synthetic production of odorous sub stances, closely related to the odors of flowers, plants, and animal sub stances. The longest wave hitherto observed is said to have had a length of half a mile, and to have spent itself in twenty-three seconds. During storms in the north Atlantic waves sometimes extend to a length of 500 and 600 feet, and last from ten to eleven seconds. A peculiar nervous mali mali, is sometimes in old women, among disease, called noticed, chiefly natives of the Philippine Islands. Th e victim, whose symptoms may appear only on being excited,has an uncontro liable desire to imitate the movements before him. of some persoD MAUSERS VS. KRAG-JORCENSENS. Some Comparisons Kecently Made by Experts at the Springfield Arsenal. Whilo no decision has yet been made as to what shall be done with the Spanish ilauser rifles which ar rived in the United States arsenal re cently, it is expected that, after hav ing been cleaned and repaired, these weapons will be sold to the public as curiosities. Officials at the arsenal1 state that these Spanish guns, besides being in every way inferior to the Krag-Jor-gensen rifles used by our regular army, show rough and ignorant us age at the hands of the Spanish sol diers. The main difference between the Krag and the Mauser is that, while both are bolt guns, the former has a magazine which, filled with five car tridges, can be cut off so as to make the rifle practically a single shooter ; the latter's magazine cannot be so cut off. It is, therefore, really a repeat ing rifle. Furthermore, in the Krag the bolt is opened and closed by the iction of cams an application of power similar to that used on chain less bicycles while with the Mauser the man has to compress the main 3priug by direct force. It is probable that these Mausers yill be sold for not less than $15 apiece, so that for every one sold the government will be a little more than reimbursed for the manufacture of Dne Krag-Jorgensen, which, as made at the arsenal, cost $14.50. Several Krag3 have arrived at the irsenal for repairs after having been used by rough riders. They show that they can stand very hard usage without impairing their efficiency, proving thereby the excellence of their pattern, manufacture and ma terial. There are two which, after having been carried through the surf, filled with sand aud wet with water, and having gone through all the fight ing, were quite ready for use just as they were when they arrived without my cleaning or oiling. The butt of one Df these carbine pattern was split and jerforated by a Mauser bullet, which most likely bored a hole also through the arm of whatever Rough Rider held the gun at the time. One reason of the inferiority of the Mausers is that they are made by con tract by a firm in Berlin, Germany, while our guns are made at the Springfield arsenal under the direct supervision of ordnance officers. Our guns are therefore exactly alike, one to the other, while the material and workmanship of the Spanish rifles mow many degrees of Springfield Union. quality. Swallowed n Hole. The other day Jimmy, four years old, found one of those bone-rimmed sircles which, I believe, ladies call eye lets, and, while playing in the garden, swallowed it. The family were inthe nouse busily engaged with a work on sntomology, when Jimmy ran in, with mouth wide open, and eyes dis tended to their utmost capacity. His mother caught him by the arm, and trembling with that deep anxiety which only a mother can feel, inquired: "What is the matter? What has aappened ?" "Water!" gasped little Jimmy, nearly scared to death. It was brought him, when, after Iriuking copiously, he exclaimed "Oh, mother, I swallowed a hole !" "Swallowed a hole, Jimmy ?" Yes, mother, swallowed a hole, with piece of ivory around it !" liuried by His Name. It i3 said that the full name of the Sultan of Ternati, who received the Order of the Lion of Nasrah at Queen Wilhehaina's coronation is Tadjui Mahsnl Bindjatillahillhanan Siradjui Mulki Amiraddin Iskander Mnnauur russadik Wahn waminaladiliri Sjah Patra AJanhar Rnsidhiuktank Sudib- . Electro magnets capable of picking jp a load not exceeding five tons are used by one of the great steel compa nies to transfer steel beams or plates kozi ont part of a shop to another. FOLK SONG. This la the lore the old wife knows Who sees the storm draw nigh, And wind and cloud together close The windows of the sky: "The north wind is man's wind. Entangled with his fate; In tbat he joyed, in that he sinned, 1 It chants his love and hate. 9 "The west wind is the angels' wind, He sweeps their lyre strings; And where the gray storm elonds ar thinned, "We see their rushing wings. 'The east wind is the devil's wind, And etings with Are and ice; But the south wind is God's wind. And blows from paradise. "And whence they go none mortal knows Who hears them riding by; We can but watch them as they close The windows of the sky." HUMOROUS. My friend, don't put your oar into & general conversation of sensible folk, unless you have a good skull. Spain's map is not mounted on the. right kind of cloth. It shrinks dur ing the reign of every one of its rulers. "My grandparents married in haste." "And did thov repent at lei sure?" "Oh, yes, both lived to be over ninety." . "What can equal the warmth of a true woman's love?" asked the Dear est Girl. "Mer temper," replied the savage bachelor. " Harry How very dull it was at the Cutlers' party last night. Vera Yes, in the early part ot the evening; but it was brighter after you left. "Would you please help me?" said the poor beggar to the pedestrian; "I have a wife and five children at home, and an installment to pay on my bicy cle tomorrow." Stranger That man is evidently crazy. Why is he not put in an asy lum? Native His property is so heavily mortgaged that none of hia relatives want it. . ' Yeast Jesse tells me that he . ia practicing in the courts; I didn't know that he had been admitted to the bar? Crimsonbeak He hasn't. It's the tennis courts he means. . Bumps (sadly) You are not what you used to be, Viola. . Mrs. Bumps, (sharply) Of course I'm not. I used to be your best girl, but, now I'm your wife, and it makes all the difference. ' Mother How did papa's new book get in this condition? Bobby Why, mamma, I heard papa say last night that the book was too dry for him, so I put it in the bath and let the water run. . A Michigan farmer abused his mother-in-law, and then asked her to lower him down the well to recover the lost dipper. The coroner decided that the rope broke, though others thought it . had been cut. ' He It seems to be generally ac knowledged as a fact that nearly all women admire a soldier. She I don't know as to the married ladies, but none of the single ones would object to a good offer-sir. Elsie was trying to eat a dessert ot, gelatine, and had some difficulty in conveying the quivering spoonful tc her mouth. "3Jamma," she said at length, "I don't b'lieva I like such nervous desserts. " 1 "Yes," remarked the Widow Tacum, "before we were married I. used ta admire John because I thought he was so noble. I continued to admire him afterwards; but it was because he was such a splendid humbug!" - She Do you know, that kitten there reminds me of you? He I'd like to know where the connection is? She It seems to have just about as much success in catching its tail as you do in finding your moustache. "Madam, you've already overdrawn youraccouut." "What's that?" "Yon haven't any more money in the bank." "The idea. A fine bank, I think, to be out of money because of the little I've drawn! Well, I'll go somewhere" else." Freshman (to dentist) I wouldn't pay nothing extra for gas. Just yank her out, if it does hurt. Dentist You are plucky, sir. Let me see the tooth. Freshman Oh, 'taia't me' that's got the toothache; it's my wife. She'll be here in a minute. She had been arrested for .shoplift ing. "Do you wish to make, any state ment before sentence is passed on you?" asked the judge. "I hare nothing to say," was the response. Those few words were her undoing. Everyone knew then that the prisoner was a man masquerading as a woman. Meeks My wife is nothing if not original. Now, what do you suppose she said when I asked her to marry me? Weeks Oh, something about its being so sudden,! suppose. Meeks No, indeed! She said, "Well, I think it's about time; I've been ex--pecting you to make a break for three months." Gillings You said that kerosene was perfectly safe, and that it could be used without the least danger. I took your word, and what is the re sult? The stuff has exploded and made a ruin of our kitchen." Dealer I said the oil was not dangerous. I . did not say anything at all about ihm servant girl.