1.00 a Year, in Advance. "FOR COUNTRY, FOR GOD, AND EOR TRUTH." Single Copy, 8 Cents VOL. XI. PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1900. NO 37. MRS. WILSON IN JAPAN. The AVI fo of a Southern ITIethodiMt IliNhon Telia ol Condition!. Baltimore Sun. Koue, Japan, Aug. 1. Japan, ac cording to the patriotic Japanese, is situated at the summit of the globe. In the beginning, when the earth was separated from the heavens, Japan was found immediately opposite the sun. Perhaps that was the reason they call her the Land of the Rising Sun. I can imagine no better reason, except the beauty of the country and the long, long range of mountains clothed with a verdure that reminds one of a covering of velvet, reaching from base to summit, all the way from northeast to southwest. The Japanese believe themselves descended from the gods, and hence their continued certainty of superior ity over other nations. They assure us of the celestial origin of the Mika do, and hence his name, Son o Heaven. Their "Jiook of Traditions' is the "Dawn of History" to the na tive mind. : In this mv second visit to the beau tif ul islands I see signs of a new J a nan, whose annals must be written by some ready hand. Woman does not live the secluded life common, in other Oriental lands Hence wo see on every hand many pretty young women as weil as beau tiiul children. The old women nave no beauty, but we see as many attrac tive faces from 20 years of age down to boyhood as upon any street in on native city: , With a friend I called upon a young Japanese lady, as love lv in appearance as anyone l ever saw. She was handsomely dressed according to the fashion of her coun try, but received us with bare feet They do not wear shoes in their homes. Neither do foreigners tread their handsome lacquer floors until the shoe is removed. Thus our pretty hostess received us. we having left our boots on the outside of the door My friend knew her well and asked to see the baby, which was a fine boy of 10 months. After her servants had served us with refreshments we made our salaams and departed. ' The heads or little children are shaved in curious circles and bald spots, the meaning of which is un known to me, although 1 suppose some rule regulates the fashion. Baby traverses the streets strapped to moth er's back and appears happy. Some of the older ones climb to the should ers for a better yiew of what is going on. It often happens that the older brother or sister is the custodian of baby, and should a game be on hand neither nurse or little one is discom posed by the extra burden on the one hand or the jostling on the other. In the shops here and tnere are very beautiful curios ivories, deco rated china, bronzes, silks, embroid eries. The work of old Japan is fast growing less. They say the foreign demand no longer calls for ancient lacquer and the other elegant pro ductions of the olden days. It is al most impossible to find an old piece of Satsuma; the new taken its place The carvings, whether new or old, are more beautiful than any in our own country. The peripatetic vender of sweets ant: more wholesome eatables is seen on the right and the left, while the elat ter of the wooden clogs upon the feet of young and old, high and low, is heard at all hours, for many streets are cemented or paved with stones The houses are mostly small (there are not many wealthy people in Ja pan and the residences of such are en closed so that the passerby may not have full view) and immediately up on the street. . The four sides are made to slide back so that a stranger may well say that they are composed only of roof and foundation, or lloor One mav see all that is going on in the house. The Japanese are said to be cleanly in their habits, the taking of a hot bath beinsr the daily custom of each member of the family. The little home is frequently scrubbed and is quite orderly. The poorest have a bed of flowers or a table of plants at the front. They may be beggars, but they seem to have the artistic sense. I traveled 17 hours on a railroad a week ago, "and I noticed all the way vil lages of thatched roofs with the bor der of growing flowers on the top ridge. It is really very beautiful. The people as a rule are poor, gentle and polite. All classes are very punc tilious in matters of etiquette. If I may judge them by their e very-day manners I would say they will march to battle only in the most polite order. They are more accustomed to for eigners than a dozen years ago; travel has increased so that I am not so much an object of curiosity as former ly. I remember that villages turned out to seethe queer-looking beings that passed this way 12 years ago. Maidens and old women (with their black teeth, a hideous fashion that originated, I was told, in the jealousy of husbands who were determined that no other man should admire the women already married), men and childred followed us by the score, not certain as to what order we belonged. It is different today. Perhaps further oh I may find the same interest. I remember on one day I was engaged in a piece of needlework upon a "ko- joki," a small steamer on the Inland Sea. In a most good-natured way my serving was taken from me and passed around among the purious company on deck, for buttons, button-holes, needles and fashion were all new to them. Seeing their good temper, I was not discomposed and in due time my work was returned with many salaams. The position of a wife is not as try ing apparently as in other Eastern countries. She must be subject to her husband, and yet is not as abso lutely so as in some other lands. There are seven causes for divorce, two of which I recollect, namely,1 if the wife talks much and if she is dis obedient to her mother-in-law. Sec ond marriages are allowed, but not always encouraged. One of the his torians mentions a young widow who resisted a second marriage. She said that a little swallow outside her win dow lost her mate the summer before When winter came she went south ward as always. The spring time brought the same bird back, but she came alone. Her argument was con elusive. The artistic sense is well developed in Japan. I suppose.no people have afforded greater pleasure on this line than these. Fuiiama, an extinct vol cano, figures in all their drawings and paintings.,' There is scarcely a piece of their artwork in which Fugi does not appear. It is a perfect cone and there is no higher volcano in the world. The Dutch described it long before Commodore Ferry opened Ja nan to the commerce of the world Two hundred and fifty years ago Hoi land had some business relations with this country. Fuji was then active and one of their writers spoke of the "whirling flames of lire" that issued from her summit. We can scarcely wonder that a heathen people wor shipped the great Fujiama, for it was to them the most terrible emblem of power. They knew none greater Filcrims still visit the crater to wor ship the sunrise. The Japanese are gregarious. Along the range of mountains we rarely see a single house, but large villages nestle among the hills. Evil has of ten lurked near, and so, both for safe ty and because they possess social na tures, they live in communities. It seems a contradiction to this that there are temples in solitary places on mountain tops or in secluded clumps of trees. Pilgrimages are made to these shrines. Buddhism taught that in the fullness of life there is fullness of sorrow and that only in solitude can nature be mastered and man ascend to the lofty heights of perfection. Until recently every inch of ground even to the tops of the high peaks was put under cultivation. The peo pie were agricultural, and to feed 40, 000.000 people it was needful that there be no waste. But manufactur ing establishments are increasing and there is more money. They still raise all that the land is capable of, but there are waste places to be seen. Ilice was and is the staple of food but they are finding out that a sturdy race must have nitogenous foods, and the imports are increasing. Last year the sugar brought into the country amounted in value to $17,000,000. The emergencies ot every-uay lite in creases and men and women must have a new reserve of strength. The city oi Kobe, where l at pres ent am resting, owes its importance to its foreign commerce. The same can be said of Yokahama. Both were small fishing villages, and not so long ago. Kobe is a great importing point because Oska is very near, which is the distributing city of all this region The trade of, Kobe is larger than Yo kohama, though the latter is an ex port emporium, erpecially of silks I can say but little ot the situation in China in fact, nothing. No one can forecast the future. The outlook is disheartening. The fear is that i bloody year is ahead. Japanese transports have been em ployed by the Minister in Tokio at Government expense to convey refu gees from China to Japan, Consul; and Governors in China having ad vised all foreigners, especially women and children, to leave the country. Foreigners left in Shanghai have been organized (they are volunteers) into a remment and are drilled lor the de fense of their homes. A proclama tion was issued by the same Minister at Tokio and Lyon (American) at Kobe calling upon American citizens residing in Japan to open their homes and otherwise provide for refugees. The American and British Ministers in Tokio have issued public announce ment by the press and over their own signatures asking for subscriptions to fund for the succor of those who may be in need by reason of Chinese looting and similar cause. Our Minister, Mr. Buck, of Geor gia, is not behind in tins lanoroi love. Mrs. Lyon and other ladies of our legation are active in all these plans for the comfort of refugees, many ot whom nave arnveu, anu oi whom others are on the way. An American transport left Yokohama on July 10 carrying missionary families back to Canada and the United States, charging only the absolute cost of food. Among these passengers was a lady with her small children, whose husband, at this time, is still shut up in Pekin. , Let me note that our Minister at Tokio, Mr. Buck, was the first to issue a Thanksgiving proclamation, follow ing that of the President of the Uni ted States. The day, I am informed, was well kept by Amcrian residents in Japan by church observance. More anon ! Mrs. A. W. Wilson. ATTENTION TO DETAILS. Baltimore Sun. It would be erroneous to ascribe to any one quality or habit the success at tained by men eminent in business, in the professions or in politics, but the ability to grasp details and to under stand their relations is among the most important. The great men of the world seem to pay very little attention to de tails, but that is because they have mastered them; not because they give them uo thought. When a great en gineer projects a new construction he prepares only a general plan, leaving to his assistants the work of drawing the details; but he would not be a great engineer if he did not have such thorough knowledge of details as to be able to draw his plans with reference to them. They can be worked out leisure, provided the general design i8 practicable. The lawyer of the first rank has no time to look up precedents and decisions, but as he is a master of principles and has a broad knowledge of details, he can outline a case and leave to his assistants the task of find ing the decisions which support it. In all callings and professions the man of broad views who seems to give little at tention to details is always one who has obtained a mastery of details by giving to them close attention during the for mative period. Striking examples of this are to be seen in works of art. The master is one who, with a thorough knowledge of drawing, canafford to dispense with details in producing his effects. Those who imitate his mere style without his skill sever achieve success. The capacity to study details is a measure, in fact, of one a mental ability. It may be applied to any school. The pupil who can give atten tion to details, master principles and escape mental confusion is sure to be come learned. Years ago mathematics was made the test of mental ability, es peciallv in England. It is not alto gether a fair test, for there are lines of mental activity which do not demand the possession of the mathematical fac ulty, but it is as good as any one test can be. To succeed in mathematics requires close attention to detail, as well as reasoning powers. It is a most useful study, for the reason that it trains one to be attentive as well as to use the principles of logic. The good mathematicians in a class of young people are necessarily attentive; if they advance to the higher grades it may safely be assumed that they have clear heads and logical minds. Skill in mathematics is therefore a rough meas ure of capacity to learn, bat it is not the only measure. Its foundation is attention to details and principles, and this is the foundation of success in nearly all undertakings. The capacity to master details may be developed by study. Some men have this capacity as a gift of nature, others are obliged to acquire it if they would achieve suc cess, and to some it is a laborious task; but the young should disabuse their minds of the idea that they can become eminent in any business or profession without serving an apprenticeship The brilliant musician gives no thought to the scales he practiced day after day for years, but it is because of such prac tice that he is now able to astonish his auditors with his skill. He gaye atten tion to details and mastered them and has now become a great player. The successful business or professional man has practiced his scales in a similar manner and now apparently gives no more attention to details than the mu sician to his early exercises. Till" Bum)- world. Youth's Companion. There are times when progress moves so rapidly that it taxes a man s strength to keep abreaet of civilization. Many of us can sympathize with an unhappy looking English farmer, who always shook his head when the word ''pro gress" was mentioned. "What are you so low about, my friend ?" some one asked him. "Why," said he, "what wi' faith and gas and balloons and steam-ingines a-booming and a fizzling through the warld and what wi' th' 'arth a-going round once in twenty-four hours, I'm fairly muzzled and stagnated." Itrother Dickey on the Hot Wave. Atlanta Constitution. I don't niin' de hot weather. I knows one t'ing, an dat is de hottes' weather is comin ter some folks hereafter. De worl' may be roun', or de worl' may be flat: All I knows is, I'm in it twell de Ladw say, "Come higher! Ef you fall by de wavside de bes' 'ing you kin do is ter git up en shake yo'se'f, en take a fresh holt. Sinners is alius got a excuse fer dey sins. i)e righteous don t have ter make no excuse. The Light That Failed. She Left her husband, has she? Why she used to say ho was the light of her existence. He Yes, but the light began to go out at night. THE PENSION PROBLEM. Baltimore Sun. The statement just put forth by the Pension Office, though intended fcr a campaign document, makes melancholy reading for the patriot who is indiffer ent to the exigencies of politicalparties. It is in effect a boast that the present Administration is wasting more money than its predecessors in passing doubtful claims and is second only to the Harri son administration m the amountwasted in one year. This, it is thought, will win yotes, but it ought among a really patriotic people to repel them. It is boasted, for example, that the number of pensioners on the rolls of the office was swelled from 991,519 in 1899 to 1,036,803 in 1900, deaths and marriages being credited with evidently unwel come reductions that bring the net in crease for the year down to 2,010. Al ways lax and worked in the interest of doubtful claims, the Pension Officer compares its present administration with that of Cleveland's term to show how much easier it is to get a pension now. In Cleveland's first year 31 J per cent, of all claims made for pensions, it is stated, were allowed, but in Me Kmley's first year 52 per cent, were allowed! In President Harrison's last year, when a Presidential election was impending, $150,800,538 was given in pensions. This was the highwater mark of pension bribery of voters. Mr. Cleveland in his first year without re jecting a single meritorious claim re duced this figure to $139,980,020. A fully rational system would doubtless have reduced it a hundred millions more. This is suggested by the state ment of the Pension Office that between 1309 and 1881, when the really meri torious claims were more numerous than now, or than they were in 1894, the average yearly outgo for pensions was but $31,321,176. It is made a merit of the present Administration that it one year worked the largest to ex-soldiers up to $144,051,779. This is more than all other nations in the world put together distribute in pensions. Not only do we excel in the amount of our reckless waste in this item of ex penditure, but also in the proportion of revenue devoted to pensions and other military expenditures. In the year ended June 30. 1897, before the war with Spain and the increased taxes due to that adventure, the outgo on pen sions was 40 per cent, of our total reve nues. Of every $100 collected from the taxpayers $40 went to the pensioners. In that year the expenditure for the army was 14 per cent, and for the navy 10 per cent, of our total revenue, mak ing our total military expenditure for unproductive purposes 04 per cent, of our total income. The recent wars and war taxes, by increasing the revenue and by increasing the expenditure for army and navy, have altered the pro portions, in lby the revenue was $347,721,705; in 1900 it was $508,988, 94S. While the army and navy to gether in the former vear cost $S3,500, 000, or 24 per cent, of total revenue, in the latter year the army and navy to gether cost as much as $190,743,980, or 33 i per cent, of the total revenue. Pensions in 1900 cost $138,402,172, or 24 per cent., the smaller per centage being the result of the increased reve nue caused by increased taxation. Our total expenditure for military purposes accordingly in 1900 classing pensions with army and navy expenditures was $329,250,000, or 57 J per cent, of our total reyenue. VThat we spend for war purposes alone in 1900, it will be ob served, is but 18J millions less than the total of our revenue three years ago. Keyerting to the item of pensions, the Pension Office boasts that from July, 1805, to June 30, 1900, the pen sion business has cost $2,012,329,090, to which vast total must be added $47,- 885,382 spent on soldiers' homes. The public debt and the aggregate of inter est on it, together with war claims, must be added to the pension outgo in making out the bill for the preservation of the Union. It is being fully paid, leaving nothing due by way of grati tude for patriotic self-sacrifice. It is, however, open to doubt whether the idea that self-sacrifice is no part of the duty of the patriot is a good one. !fr. ltryan I In Groun. Atlanta Constitution. Every day it becomes more evident that Mr. Bryan has grown with the last four years. The Pittsburg Post declares that he has not lost his hold upon the people. In the four years since the struggle of 1890 he has traversed the country from end to end, addressing thousands upon thousands of listeners of every shade of political belief and the result is an overwhelming confidence in his di wn right and upright sincerity of purpose. And his many frank utterances as appearing in print have only tended to strenghen that confidence. Honesty and sincerity, then, are generally re-1 cognized as making up a large part of Mr. Bryan s character. All of which is true. It was com plained during the Democratic nation al convention that there was but one voice that of Mr, Bryan. The com plaint might have gone further and included all conventions. There was not one held in which Mr. Bryan's per sonality was not felt. Bryan is the great American of to-day. The end of the maiden's prayer- A-men. WILL VOTE FOR Hit VAN. Ex-Senator Sharp, of Iredell Given It ea no n tor Action. Ex-State Senator A. C. Sharp, of Ire dell, long a leading Republican of the Seventh district, will vote for Bryan and Stevenson and for Hon. Theo. F. Kluttz for CongresB. In an interview in the laBt issue of the Statesville Mas cot, Mr. Sharpe gives his reasons that will cause many men of other parties to vote the Democratic National ticket this year Mr. Sharpe s reason are thus given : "First The Republican party has always been unjust in its treatment of the South, and at the present time it is highly important for North Carolina that we have a friendly national ad ministration. This necessity is accent uated by the threat in the Republican national platform to reduce Southern representation in the electoral college and Congress and the menace of a Federal election law contained in that platform. At thia time when we have so recently adopted the constitutional amendment an unfriendly Federal Ad ministration, Buch as McKinley's has proven itself to be by reason of the ap pointment of so many negroes to office in North Carolina and other Southern States, can nullify to a large extent the benefits sought in the amendment. As a Southern man who believes the South the eqaal of any other part Of the com mon country and who believes in white officers, State and Federal, I can do nothing less than support the Demo cratic candidates tor President and Congress. ''Second After reading Mr. Bryan's speech of acceptance I am thoroughly convinced that the danger of imperial ism and millitarism is a present danger which threatens the fundamental prin ciples of the Government. The foreign policy of the present administration, with itij foicible acquisition of foreign territory and the forcible subjection of alien peoples to our laws, is contrary to eyery teaching of the fathers and cal culated to embroil our country in foreign wars. When Mr. McKinley went into office he found an army of 27,000 men, while the peace footing of the array is now 100,000 men, an in crease of nearly four-fold. The great advantage which our country has pos sessed over the countries of the old world has been in the fact that the in dustries of our country have not had saddled upon them a large, useless, un productive army to feed, clothe, equip and pay. That advantage we possess no longer, and unless a halt is called in the present imperialistic and military tendencies of the Republican party the recent increase in the army is but "a starter" to what we may expect in the near future. In my judgment the paramount issue in American politics today is imperialism and its necessary militarism, and on it I agree perfectly with the Democratic platform and Mr. J. Bryan, that party's great leader. I shall take great pleasure in voting for Bryan and Stevenson and Theodore F. Kluttz and will do all in my power, for their election." Rutler Not Ait Alliaiicemaii. GoLDShoiiO, Aug. 25. Thos. B. Par ker, secretary of the State Alliance, Mt for his home in Hillsboro to-day. He has been spending a few days here looking after his farming interests and also attending a meeting of Wayne County Alliance. I inquired how the Alliance was getting along and what were its prospects. Secretary Parker replied : "Good ; from letters received by me within the past two weeks from prominent farmers, ex-alliancemen, from different sections of the State, I am satisfied the Alliance can easily be re-organized throughout the State." He also said that much of the opposi tion to the Alliance had died out. "How about politics in the Alli ance ?" asked The Observer corres pondent. He replied : "If you could have been at the State meeting held at Hillsboro last week you would ask no such question. The members met there as brethren and politics cut no figure, aB evidence the president, sec retary, and assistant lecturer for the ensuring year are Democrats, but that fact did not affect them, as it was bare ly thought of. The object is to benefit the farmers of the State and through them the State at large. Its purposes are to build up -and net to pull down." "What are you going to do with Butler," was asked ?. "Butler?" replied Parker, "Why he has not belonged to the Alliance in tive years. That is the trouble with people. They blame the Alliance for the acts of persona who are or have been members instead of the man." Trying to lies the tliiefttlon. Henderson villa Hbstlcr. Other newspapers may do as they pleas; The Hustler proposes to de nounce every proinisition having the semblance of negro office-holding about it. Richmond Pearson is now drawing the salary, by virtue of a negro Con gressman's vote which rightfully be longs to W. T. Crawford. Is not this a national affair ? And have not the Re publicans of the Ninth district should ered this steal and appealed to the honest yoemanry of the mountains for endorsement ? The resolutions adopted at Waynesville, by the convention which nominated Mr, Moody, would indicate that they haye. Then what is the use of trying to beg the question ? TART, TERSE AND TIMELY. Mr. McKinley lost an 'opportunity to do something that would have been both right and popular when he failed to order the American troops out of China as soon as the Americans in Pe kin were out of danger. A'bright young Republican journalist has discovered that Jowa is safe for Mc Kinley. He should now go to Vermont and study the situation. Oh no ! The Republicans are not afraid of the issue of imperialism; they refuse to discuss it simply because they have no rational defense for it to offer the people. The Democratic managers Bhould en deavor to keep Hanna on the stump for McKinley; as a Democratic vote-maker he is a howling success. It is not surprising that there is no Republican enthusiasm for McKinley and Roosevelt. The average American, no matter what his politics may be, is not likely to enthuse over the prospect of turning the country into an empire. Generations of liberty and a personal share in making the government has made him value a republic at its true worth. - There may be a connection between the report that Andy Carnegie will op pose McKinley and the giving out by the administration of that big contract for armor. The coal miners and mill operatives who are on half time will not enthuse over Republican prosperity talk. At last the administration has official ly confessed that the statement some months ago of its intention to bring the volunteers home from the Philippines was a lie, and stated that none of them are to be brought home this year. It is said that a Republican poll of Indiana fchow9 a majority of 18,000 for Bryan and Stevenson. Perhaps Boas Hanna will revive the old Dudley "blocks of five" game to try to carry the State. The establishment of a branch of the national headquarters in New York City shows that the Democratic man agers do not regard the east as "the enemy's country." The Republicans may experience some disagreeable sur prises m the east when the votes are counted. Col. Bryan's speeches are more in de mand every day. That is because he talks as the plain people of this country think. A cablegram says, "England is for McKinley." Of course it is. It would be very ungrateful if it wasn't. SteveiiMou Endored. Chicago. Auer 27. At a meeting of the People's party national committee to-day, the declination of Charles A. Towne as the vice presidential nominee ot the party, after a long debate, was accepted, and the name of Adlai R. Stevenson was put in its place. In the beginning there were three courses ad vocated by different members of the committee, viz : To nominate a Pop ulist, to leave the place blank, or, last ly, to endorse Mr. Stevenson. Senator Marion Butler, chairman of the com mittee, in a warm speech of length, advocated leaving the place blank, contending that Brvan and Stevenson would receive more Ponulist votes than if a candidate for Vice President was not named, but on this no vote was taken. A motion was made to endorse Mr. Stevenson. For this motion Mr Wash burn, of Massachusets. moved as a sub stitute that a Populist be placed on the ticket. The substitute was lost on a call of the roll by a vote of 24 ayes to 1 nay 8. Ihe original motion waa then adopted by a viva voce vote. There were 124 members of the committee present, or represented by proxy. Ilryan'N Pastor Anked to Retdzn. Richmond Times. A special from Lincoln, Neb., says that Rev. William N. Hindman, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, of which Hon. Wm. J. Bryan is a mem ber, has been asked to resign. Pastor Hindman was formerly a Republican, but latterly he has followed Mr. Bryan's le idership in politics. A majority of the congregation, like a majority of the people of Lincoln, are Republicans, but it is denied that politics has entered into the church. Mr. Bryan's name has not been con nected with the controversy in a per sonal way, but friends of Dr. Hindman believe Mr. Bryan will champion his pastor's retention. TI19 charges against Mr. Hindman, so far as can be learned, are worldliness and lack of projier attention to pastoral duties, but no specifications are given. The Earth Burning Vp. Haloigh Correspondent. Dr. William R. Capehart, of the State board of agriculture, arrived here to day, from Bertie county, and says enormous fires in Hyde county con tinue, and are destroying trees and soil. The soil is pithy and burns like tinder. One farm valued at $10,000 is so burned away that its owner says it is not now worth $100. Fire is burning far underneath the surface in many places. Dr. Capehart is informed that as a farmer was driving along a highway the soil gave way under bim and he and his horse fell into a pit and were burned to death. The smoke extends many miles at sea and by obscuring the light at Oregon Inlet has caused two wrecks in a fortnight.

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