North Carolina Newspapers

X $1.00 a, Yoar iix Advanoo. Pon aoD, port oounthy, a.ztd pon TnuTii; Single Copy, O Cents. VOL. XL PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1899. NO. 6. ;sr- 1 V i WHEN 1 AM. DEAD. I do not want a Raping crowd, To come with lamentations loud When life has lied; Nor would I have my words or ways Kuhearsed. perhaps 'raid tardy praise, When I am dead. . ' I do not want strange, cnrlous eyes To scan my face when still it lies In silence dread; Nor do I want them if they would, .To tell my deeds were ill or good, When I am dead. I only want the "very few" Who stood through good and evil, too, True friendship's test; Just they who sought to find the good, Aud then, as only true friends could, ,;, Forgive the rest. " I They who, with sympathetic heart, Sought hone and comfort to impart, When there was life ; Not keeping all the tears and sighs Till weary, worn-out nature dies, 1 And ends the strife. I'd have them come, the "friendly few," Aud drop, perhaps, a tear or two, By kindness led; Not many tears I'd have them shed, Nor do I want much sung or said, When I am dead. CZ3 To have them each come in alone, . And call me in the old, sweet tone, Would suit me best ; And then, without a sob or moan, Go softly out and leave alone The dead to rest. Just as I've lived, almost unknown, A life unmarked, obscure and lone, 80 let me die ; Just one who lived, and loved, and died, A mound of earth and naught beside, There let me lie. He Diet Ilia Own Marrying. John G. Thomason, 72 years of age of bummeryille, South Carolina, is probably the first and only man who has officiated at his own marriage ser vice. Mr. Thomason recognizes that he has done something remarkable and worthy of notice. lie was not phased in the slightest rie saia he wanted a wile ana he im mediately began to try to get one. He found several girls whom he thought he could love and finally he centered all his affections upon one, Miss Emily Alice Lamb, who resided about seven miles from Summerville. She agreed to marry him and arrangements for the marriage were immediately begun. Mr. Thomason said tae magistrates and ministers had frequently expressed their sympathies for him and their willingness to officiate when he got girl who would be willing to marry him. but when he finally produced her they all flunked and would not perform the ceremony. Mr. Thomason was not again to be outdone, so he d3cided to officiate at his own marriage. He Be cured a number of witnesses for the appointed tim, which was on the after noon of April 23. Miss Lamb was pres ent and when the time came, he said he called her and told her to stand on his left. He then read the service, and at the proper place took her hand. He made his own response, and at the con clusion he told the gathering that he and Miss Lamb were now Mr. and Mrs. Thomason, and they were con grata lated. Mr. Thomason said that he had been marrying people for twenty-five years and he saw no reason why he should not marry himself. He said that he had discarded his former wife who de serted him last summer, and he lives happily with his present wife, .who, by the way, is the third woman to whom he has been married. Mrs. Thomason is 32 years of age. Typhoid Closes a School. Richmond, Va., Oct 17. Gen. Scott Shipp, Superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, today dismissed the entire corps of cadets for thirty days on account of the epidemic of typhoid fever there. The corps nam bers 250 young men. Dr. Pauleus Irv ing, of the State Board of Health, was A at Lexington on Saturday examining ? the water used at the Institute and the W l9amtftrv conditions. After considering auVilhe conditions and the fact that half a ipv dozen or more cadets had the disease, 5.' which seemed to be spreading, it seemed Aju, prudent to close the place temporarily The editor of an exchange drove 7 away dull care a half hour the other day in the production of the following "k pathetic tale: A humble boy with a Mining pail gaily singing down the dale inhere the cow with the brindle tail VV clover pasture did regale. A bee did gaily sail over the soft Vj2iing pail was milking the cow CWr'he brindle tail. The bee lit dowa -V8 left ear, her heels flew through qimosphere, and through the leaves "Chestnut tree the boy soared to 'Jlie, aged 5, hounded into the C one day, exclaiming, as he hung ' ?vat on the hall rack: "This is my CfJbl This is my home!" A lady MlorEaid: "The house next door is 01 like this, Willie; suppose you went lrsr there and hung your hat up in the jxll, that would be your home as much ..xs thi3, wouldn't it?" "No ma'am,' Wr.riswered the little fellow. "Whv not?" doesn't live there," was the triumphant reply. The gold mine operators in the Transvaal are doing some paying in advance for the racket down there. Their stocks have already depreciated $250,000,000. Dili L MIPS LETTISH. A friend living in Arkansas writes me about the recent fall of a meteor near his home, and he compliments me by asking some questions that cannot answer. The origin of meteors and their flight and fall is vet the un solved problem of the ages. He says that on the 16th of last month at 8 o'clock in the morning, when there was a clear sky and not a cloud to be seen, there was a rumbling sound of thunder so weird and unnatural that it wa8 alarming. It was like the rolling ot heavy trucks over an uneven plat . 1 1 -w. rorm, oniy immensely louder, it was heard in all the neighboring towns, and they all telegraph each other to know if a mill had not blown up or a maga zine exploded. Suddenly there was an explosion .in the air and a dark cloud formed and meteoric fragments fell at different places in this vicinity, A small piece that weighed one and half poundu fell in a field near by and was brought to town while it was yet hot. It was powder-blackened on the outside, but inside was a grayish color, and its particles Bhone like gold dust Under the microscope they resembled quicksilver. It was a full minute from the begin ning of the rumbling thunder till the explosion came, and the course of the sound was from east to west. The event was so unexpected and so like the mythology of Jupiter tonans throw ing a bumb from Mt. Olympus that the white people were spellbound, and the negroes declared it a warning and went to prayer. Philosophers and astronomers have been studying these phenomena for 2,500 years, and have not yet agreed upon a solution. The archives of the Chinese empire record the fall of six teen great aerolites from 800 to 600 years before Christ. The Greeks and Komans record a number, and Aristotle and Diogenes commented upon them So did Livy, Plutarch and Pliny. They nave been seen so large that the estimated weight of the fragments after the explosion was 30,000 pounds, and the light was so bright as to pale the sun by day and obscure the moon by night. There is now in the Yale college cabinet a fragment that weighs l,6do pounds. This came from near the Red river in Arkansas. . Many of the western states have furnished specimens for the museums of colleges and all of them are composed of the same mineral ingredients principally iron and include copper, tin, sulphur, carbon and other metals known to our own earth. Not a single new substance has ever been discovered, and for this reason the theory obtained that they were thrown up from our own vol canoes with such force as to wander for a time in the outer atmosphere of the earth, and to revolve with the earth But this theory has long since been abandoned, for they seem to have an orbit of their own from west to east men came a theory that they came from the moon, and were of volcanic origin, and were thrown out with such terrific force as to get beyond the moon's influence and within that of our earth. But this was discredited because these fragments have been falling, no doubt, for thousands of years on the land and on the sea, and on all countries, and would have by this time materially diminished the size and weight of the moon. La Place and Hum bolt favored this moon theory for a time. But our modern astronomers, such as Professors Arago and Almsted and Bowditch declare that meteors are simply clouds or nebulae of meteoric plannets that have a motion and orbit of their own, and that orbit sometimes comes within range of the earth's and produces a commotion a disturbance that causes the fall of some of their own nebulae. Some of the children got too far away from their mother, reckon. Sometimes me tors are simply lumi nous and have no body to explode or strike the earth. These have periodic vibrations of thirty-four years. They come in showers as thick as snowflakes, and fall as gently to within a few feet of the earth and are extinguished, They fell in 1799, 1833 and 1867, and each fall was on the 13th of November. But there have been minor displays at irregular intervals generally about the 10th of August. I am old enough to remember well the "falling of the stars" in 1833. My father held me in his arms as he stood in the portico, for was scared. Our old negro, aunt Minty, was praying and shouting so it scared all of us children. George Lester lived on the opposite side of the street, and his mother held him in her arms. Sometimes in these later days I would get my old-time friends, Dr. Jim Alexander or his brother Tom, or George Adair, and we could boast of the wonderful era in which we had lived, and the advent of steamboats and railroads and cotton gins, and sewing machines, and telegraphs, and we never neglected to say, "aud we saw the stars fall in 1833." Dewey never saw a night like that but I reckon the Spaniards at Manila thought they did on the 1st of May. But this is enough about the meteors. At least, it is about all that I know. Joe Mulhattan, or Munchausen, made up a big fake a few years ago awhile was in Texas and telegraphed the fall of a meteor near Brownwood that was as big as a meeting house and had buried itself thirty feet in the earth. I was at Brownwood a few days after 1 11 . -m ana me postmaster was as mad as a hornet with Joe, for telegrams came to him from all over the United States and England wanting to know about it and wanting to buy it at any cost. Joe had to leave there and hide out for a month or two. The postmaster answered a tew and then swore on. There is one good thing about meteors. They never hurt anybody. The books say it is remarkable and perhaDS'provi dential that in all the earth there is no record of one having fallen on anybody or destroyed a habitation, Terrestial lightning gets tis BometimesCTtT ueieoutu iirejmre nui uaiagerpj. I young farmer who wants to know if iM is good farming to follow grain with gram. He does not say what kind of grain, but I will tell him that fifteen years ago The Courier-Journal of Ken tucky, offered a prize of $1,000 for the best essay on pratical agriculture. Over 200 were contributed and the essay that got the prize detailed the writer's plan of farming in Kentucky. It was brief, very brief. He had laid off his corn rows seven feet apart, drilled his corn eighteen inches apart, cultivated the ground thoroughly and harrowed it; sowed wheat early and harrowed it in. When the corn was ready to gather he drove the wagon in every sixth row and loaded from three rows each side. After the corn were all gathered he went oyer the cornstocks crossways with a heavy roller and rolled it all down fiat on the wheat. The stocks and the blades covered it like a blanket. When the first good snow fell he sowed clover on the snow. When it rained or thawed the clover seed fell into the ground and took root, and so he had corn and wheat and clover following in rotation and made a fine crop of each. But in this region our farmers have learned the value of peas as a fertilizer and stock food, and the harvest of hay this year will no doubt double all pre vious records. One of my friends has a small farm near town and last year harvested a fair crop of wheat from a twenty-acre field. After the wheat was off he sowed ten acres of the ground in cow peas. Last fall he sowed it all down in wheat and this spring you could tell just where the line of peas came to. There was no difference in the qualtiy of the land. It was all level and all alike and yet he harvested this year ten bushels per acre on one half and eighteen on the other. Now, what caused this great difference? It was the shade of the pea vines, the shade that produces nitrocftn. and nitrogen is the best of all plant food. The denser the shade the more nitrogen goes down into the soil. A canebrake, a briar patch, a clover covering, an old house in a field remove it and plant the ground that was under it and see how luxariant vegotation grows. Plant a grape vine near your house and the roots will all run under the house to feed to feed on nitrogen. My wife has a wisteria vine at the end of the veranda, and three years' time its roots had traveled underneath the floor and sent up sprouts twenty feet away and tor a time we did not know where they came from. A good farmer will shade everything he can. He will field with wheat straw. There is ro virtue in wheat straw, but it makes Bhade, ana tnai mastes nitrogen. There is no virtue in a stone or in rocks, but they make shade, and notice how plants will grow near to rock wall. My long lamented friend, Dr. Berchman, told me that "rocks were God s blessing to the land," and he purchased ten acres of very stony land for his vineyard and his liower garden. It rejoices me to see how our middle Georgia farmers are looming up on wheat culture. Forty bushels to the acre, len years ago it would have been declared impossible. This re minds me of my old English neighbor, John Allan, who asserted that his father was never content m old Hen gland with lees than sixty bushels of wheat to the acre, and sometimes he made seventy. "Sow wheat in dust and rye in mortar," was his motto. Good old John Allan. I shot his cow in mv cornfield, for it was her third offense, and the old man was grieved. He never got mad, but only said: "I know me coow worried ye, but but major. wouldent have shot your coow. I love you too well for that." How true it is that "kind words take away wrath." Bill Aep, Wot Her Favorite Preacher. A parson who occasionally preaches in (south London arrived to take the place of the yicar, who had been called away on account of some family be reavement, and found an old and rather asthmatic lady struggling up the steps which led to the front door. He cour teously gave her his vra to assist her, and when they reached the top the dame asked him if he knew who was going to preach. "Mr. So-and-So, replied the parson, giving his own name. "Oh, dear me," exclaimed the old lady, "help me down again, if you please! I'd rather listen to the groaning and creaking of a sawmill than sit un der him," and she prepared to descend. The parson gently assisted her down stairs, aud eighfully remarked, as he bade her good-by, "I wouldn't go in either if I weren't the preacher. OVATION FOU Mil. BKYAN. Nebraskan's Tour of Kentucky Was Great Personal and Democratic Trl umph. Lexington, Ky., October 18. The speeches of William Jennings Bryan in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky yeB terday afternoon created great enthusi asm. The Democratic leader seemed to be at his best and he made some telling points in iavor oi uoebei and the regu lar Democratic ticket. He was given an ovation at nearly every town, and de spite a great storm and heavy downpour of rain all the afternoon great crowds wailed at thTTdepots to get a glimpse at tneTQt$rakan. 1 The reception, which was of the most enthusiastic character, continued every where the party stopped during the dav Mr. Bryan was introduced as the man who "came with a meseage of warning and advice to the Democracy of the State and natkn." He said: "I would not deserve your confidence if 1 stayed in Nebraska and allowed bolting Democrats to play on my name If bolting Democrats want to vote for Republicans, or for a Democrat put up in opposition to the regular nominee of the party, let them do it, but let them come out boldly and state their real ob ject and not claim that they are doing it to save me. "I know something of bolters. There were some in 1896. (Laughter). Only the bolters of 1896 said they bolted be cause of a principle, and a bolt against a principle is higher than a yote against a person. 1 regard a principle as mfi nitely more important than a person What did the bolter do in 1896? He helped to elect the president, and every thing that Republican president has done that bolter who helped to elect him is responsible for. "Your governor signs the credentials of the electors who repreient the people of this btate in the electonal college, and sometimes the election is close. It was close in 1896, if I am not mistaken (laughter). I have my suspicions that it was closer on the count than it was on the vote. (Laughter and applause.' I have heard it said that General Har din was defeated in 1895 because s great many men who had a right to vote did not put their votes into the ballot box, and I have a suspicion that we lost Kentucky in 1896 because great many votes were put into the bal lot box that had no individuals entitled to vote behind them. (Applausee.) I know that the contest in which we were engaged was a great contest, a contest where victory was bo important to the aggregation of, wealth that they contributed to a campaign fund the most magnificent ever used in any cam paign in the United States. Victory was bo important to them that they raised a fund which I think I may say was larger than all the campaign funds used by the Republican party from the day that Fremont ran down to the day when Hanna took charge of the organi zation. "Men who feel that victory is so im portant to them financially will bring to bear all the influence they can to control the action of the people, and am afraid that in a very close place they might be able to manufacture votes if necessary. (Applause.) When such pressure is brought to bear upon those who stand in authority I would rather have a Democratic governor to certify to elections than a Republican governor, "It has been suggested to me that this bolting convention endorsed me for the presidency. I appreciate the good will and confidence thus expressed, but, my friends, I would be unworthy the confidence expressed by those bolting Democrats if I did not place the prin ciple involved above a personal compli ment. (Applause.) "I have a right to believe that the Democrats in this State will vote in 1900 for any Democrat whom they please, that they will want a Democrat who is true to the principles in which they believe and one who can advance the cause to which they are wedded. I am interested in the triumph of these principles. I have talked for them be fore they were written in the Chicago platform. In this very building in June or July 1895, a year before there was a Chicago platform, I Btood upon this floor and defended the free and un limited coinage of gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. I stand today where 1 stood then. "If there are reasons in this State that make it necessary for you to elect a Republican governor and a Republi can senator, then give these reasons and don't put it on the ground that you are trying to save the cause of free sil ver. I know these men who have been fighting for free silver. I have come in contact with them. I know their char acter and zeal, and I know what they have done for Democracy, and I would rather trust the judgment of such men as Stone and Jones and Wetmore and Johnson as to what is best for Demo cracy than the judgment of the rail roads. The railroads have been in politics before. We have them in Ne braska, and I know in 1896 nearly. every railroad in this nation wag basil ing men to Canton, O., to uphold - the! from theST nation's financial policy. (Applause.) jeu'jmft X I am not willing to believe "-'vjt they of the Chicago platform, wl in favor of arbitration of d tween labor and capital, ffLV government by injunctioi- leave you with the su ri t , while every citizen has a right to vote as he pleases, while every citizen owes it to himself, his country and his God to voto according to his conscience, yet every intelligent citizen is responsible for the consequences of his act. If every candidate on the bolting ticket was my brother I would not advise any one to vote the ticket and thus aid in the election of a Republican governor, (Applause). A Coming Meteoric Spectacle. Baltimore Sun. On the 14th or 15th of November next a magnificient display of meteors is to be expected by persons who watch the eky at night especially late at night, toward sunrise. Meteors are small solid bodies shooting through space at a yelocity averaging 25 miles a second. The fragments of wrecked comets, they travel in orbits more or less regular. Owing to the perturbing influences of other heavenly bodies, they no longer all travel together, but are scattered along the whole length of their orbits, being thicker at some places than at others. As their orbits approach very nearly that of the earth, they can be Been at all times of the year, but particularly in November, when we encounter an unusually large group. Such as pass through our at mosphere are heated by the frictioa of the particles of air to a white heat and become visible. Their velocity is checked and they sometimes fall to the earth, either in masses known as meteoric stones, or more frequently as a fane powder produced by the anvil-like re sistance of the air. As a single obser ver can see, upon an average, five me teors an hour any night of the year, it has been calculated that if the whole earth were covered with observers the number visible daily would be from fif teen to twenty millions. Adding those too faint to be seen with the unassisted eye, it is estimated that 100,000,000 meteors traverse our atmosphere daily. The number on November 14 or 15 if the astronomer's prediction is verified will far exceed the average of 15,000,- 000 or 20,000.000. anproachine. ner- haps, billions. Reproved By Bryan.. New York, Oct. 17. William J. Bryan, in a sharp note to a local politi cian who has been workiner for his success ever since he was nominated in 1896, indicates that Bryan counts on the support of Tammany Hall in the next convention. It indicates also that he does not want to offend Richard Croker by approving or even seeming to approve David B. Hill in the former Senator's fights against the Tammany leader. At the recent meeting of the Demo cratic State Committee in the Hoffman Houee, when Croker so thoroughly vanquished Hill, the Bryanite politician who received the letter referred to, was present with a proxy and voted with Hill against Croker on every proposi tion except the resolution indorsing Mr. Bryan. Mr. Hill did not vote. With sadness the Bryanite supporter of Hill told today of the receipt of what he called a hard "throw down from the silver leader. Mr. Bryan did not mince words in reproving his Eastern friend for overzeal, which he declared tended to harm him with the regular New York organization. Bryan, it is said, declared he wanted nothing what ever to do with Hill. Exercise. Next to bodily cleanliness exercise may, l think, be reckoned as the great est aid to beauty. In fact, exercise is almost necessary to cleanliness, for it is a great incentive to perspiration, which is Nature's way of throwing out the im purities of the body to the surface of the skin, which are then removed by the use of soap and water. Open air exercise should be taken every day, but according to strength. One should re turn home after walking or ridiag or. cycling with a sense of being pleasant ly fatigued, but without any feeling of exhaustion. Exercise should be taken regularly, and if possible dumb bells should be used night and morning; the corset should not be worn while exer cising with dumb bells. Skipping is an excellent exercise for the figure; it is one oi wnicn our granamothers were fond, and I have known certain old ladies who preserved quite youthful figures by their habit of skipping It is usual with children to throw the rope forward when skipping, but it is far bet ter to throw it backward, for it expands the chest much better. No Improvement In Condition. Price McCormick & Co., the New York cotton men, have issued another general letter saying that "The rumor having been widely circulated that the South was holding back from the mar ket its cotton, which would have to be sold at a concession in price, we tele graphed to the bankers and business men of the South .representi p, ,-y. section of the iotcon bf 't" JfewHnaa to Texas, ij-s her, , YiPB 11 cuu" "irv graphic rooived." These relets, V ''"ln8 4- .c-r TIIM PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. A Forecast of Ita Moat Important Re commendations. Washington, Oct. 19. With the return of President McKinley and hia Cabinet to-day will commence the preparation of what promises to be an unusally important message to Con gress. The message, it is believed, will contain the following recommendations: Philippines Sovereignty to be estab lished by all the force that may be needed and to be maintained parman- ently. Civil government to follow the military at the earliest possible moment, and wide latitude to be allowed tha natives in local self-government. The recommendations for the specific form of civil government to be established in the islands to be based on the conclu sions of the Philippine commissions. ouba, Military occupation to be con tinued .until some substantial ' progress has been made, through the medium of suffrage, toward the establishment of an independent form of government. iruerto luce Uivil government to im mediately replace the present military government. Hawaii Immediate legislation to nut in effect a territorial form of govern ment. Financial The maintenance of the present gold standard. Currency and banking recommendation to be based upon the conclusions of the Republican -caucus committee of the House and Republican members of tho Finance Committee of the Senate. Foreign Affairs The outcome of The Hague conference to be pointed to with satisfaction, and a statement made that the treaty agreed to at this conference will be submitted at once to the Senate. Gratification will be expressed at the final settlement of the Venezuelan boundary controversy. The statement is to be made that ne gotiations are in progress for a final so lution or the bamoan question, and that a treaty providing tor a new plan of government will probably be sub mitted soon. A new executive department, with a Cabinet officer at its head, to have ' charge of all matters relating to inter state, colonial and foreign commerce, which are now divided among the sev eral different departments, will be strongly urged. Trusts Regulation of trusts and great commercial combinations so as to prevent the stifling of competition and the levying of tribute upon consumers by the inordinate advances in prices, but without hampering the deyelopment of American manufacturing and com merce. Inter-Ocean Canal Emphasis to be giyen to the importance of early action by congres for the construction of an inter-oceanic canal. Shipping The passage of a shiD sub sidy bill to be urged. Army Recommendations for the prompt reorganization of the army to be delayed until after the close of the war in the Philippines. No reference will probably be made to the nominations of Rear-Admiral Sampson and Schley and other officers participating in the Santiago campaign. which failed of action at the last session of Congress, but later in the session something will probablv be done bv the Administration toward rewarding these officers. There is a rumor to the effect that the Seaboard Air Line contemplates extending a line to Greensboro, within the next year, says the Richmond Dis patch. The rumor is not confirmed by the chief officials of the road in this city. Tho Timo Gome to every elderly woman when an ii portant functional change takes placfi. This 13 called "The Change of lAf- " Theentlresystem undergoes a change. Dreadful diseases such as cancer and consumption are often contracted at this time. mcf strp,cNjij and rmrif of mm .i. i. imu.,.. i i mmmmilMu.-' '."UiiJ'i .H-,-,-