lit n.fllf Vv c
4
$1.00 a Year, in Advance.
" FOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH."
Single Copy, 5 Cents.
VOL. XIII.
PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, JULY 25, 1902.
NO. 20.
1
iOFF TO THE
BY GENESEE
Rest in your cradle,
Dreamily sway,
Twilight is silver,
Hushing the day,
Deap little barefoot,
Drooping your eyes,
Rest till the dawn light
Creeps in the skies.
Quivering leaflets
Softer voice take.
Stars step like fairies,
Still the blue lake,
Birds only listen,
Hid in the trees,
Lest they may startle
Babykm's ease.
r.
MRS. KA VAN AUG II, a frail
little -woman of forty-five,
with a few hundred dollars
6 sewed in her dress, and the
fire of hope in her bright gray eyes,
had come into the strip two years af
ter its opening. Of course she got the
worst of it, for the choice land was
already taken, and the self-satisfied
settlers who watched her old gray
norse ana clattering Duggy meander
across their fields, smiled half-pitying-Jy
at the tardy boomer.
When at last she set up her little
tent and staked out her horse on a
bare and rocky quarter section, wlere
even the short grass looked stunted,
the women pitied her and some of the
neighboring men came over to ask her
if there was anything they could lend
her. But she only thanked them, as
she guessed she ''would get along all
right," so that the women who passed
by her tent every day began to say that
she was "stuck up," and the farmers
who knew that she was on an almost
barren claim, only grinned and mut
tered: "She won't last nior'n one sea
son." But she fooled them. A tiny shack
was built by a half-breed who hauled
the lumber from the railway station in
her buggy. He built a frail little fence
around a few acres of her ground, and
left her at home on the desolate hill
she had chosen. Then every morning
when the sun swung up from the yel
low floor of the dry prairie that
stretched from her door to the horizon,
she was out in her little garden dig
ging, planting, cultivating the small
pace from which she hoped at least
to wring a living. In tbe afternoon
she would hitch up her aged nag and,
-dressed in her best widow's weeds, set
off for the postoffiee five miles away.
She brouglit home a few chickens, and
in the lengthening evening hours sat
knitting at her low back door, watch
ing the sun drop down into the path
less;, treeless, west.
When spring had come and gone and
Sirs. Kavanaugh's little garden showed
all the squalor of its pinched cabbages
and sickly vines the passing neighbors
pitied her. If they had known her
.simple story perhaps they might have
helped her develop her poor land, but
ehe confided in none, and came at last
to be known as a headstrong, cranky
old woman, who would be better off
"back East" with her people. Rain or
.shine, spring, summer, autumn and
winter, she drove to town, tied her
horse at the postofiice and asked 'for a
letter. The overworked clerk came
to know her at last, and with an effort
at kindly deception, for there had never
come a letter for her, would shuffle
over the package of ICs and Say soft
ly: "Nothing to-day, Mrs. Hava
na ugh." Then she Avould drop the old
crepe veil that was growing rusty,
draw a letter from her pocket, and
drop it into the box. That Avas for
her .ou, her runaway bqy, and it was
always addressed": "Mr. Tom Kava
liaugh. Twenty-seventh Infantry, Ma
nila, Philippine Islands." 13 very day
she sent him a letter and every day
she looked for an answer. But none
came, and the nervous old woman
went gravely back in her rickety bug
gy to the lonely shanty upou the deso
DREAM ISLE,
BICHABDSON.
Bonniest love-bird N
All the land wide
Nestled for night in .
Pale eventide;
Cheek warmly tinted,
Like a rose,
Long, curving lashes
Lulled to a close.
Drowsily crooning J
Forward and fro,
Off to the dream isle
Babe and I go,
Drowsily crooning,
Forward and fro.
Off to the dream isle
Babe and I go.
urn
late hill to watch the sun set and to
hope and pray.
Her boy Tom had run away from
home before his drunken father had
died. He had written her just one line:
"Gone to the Philippines with the
Twenty-seventh Infantry." He had
been gone a year when his father died.
She had written to him often, but,
knowing what a thoughtless boy he
was, first attributed his silence to for
getfulness and neglect. When she told
him of his father's death, she felt sure
- .
ralfc.B II' T I I Mr III! ' 1-
ML mmML.
WMWhMm . '7Zy
CALLED EVERYDAY.
of some answer, and though none came
she continued to write gentle, loving,
warning letters to the absent scape
grace, lie had been a youth of some
spirit, and she knew that his father's
dishonor in their home had driven him
into the ariny,frwtvith all he? moth
er's condoning love, she could not un
derstand why he did not at least send
her a word. She hated the town which
had been the scene of her own and her
boy's disgrace and separation, and
Aviien the "new country" was opened
and the stories of its glowing future
reached her she sold her out all her
belongings and set forth to find a home
that should be her boy'.s home, too.
After two years of this eventless life
Mrs. Kavanaugh came to be recog
nized as one of the characters of the
town. Most people thought her harm
lessly insane. The sand storms and
the careening winds, the burning suns
and Avinter snows, had turned her
withered checks to parchment. Her
old crepe veil Avas broAvn now; her ill
made black alpaca dress, threadbare
and discolored, hung loosely about her
shrunken body. When the third win
ter came she sold her horse and buggy
for 30, but bought only shoes' that she
might trudge to town and stamps and
paper that she might send her dally
letter to the boy. Silent, bowed, tear
less, but with a quenchless light of
hope in her mother eyes, each day
she stood in line at the window and
asked softly for the letter that never
came, The postmaster, .who had half
guessed her story, tried to whi her con
fidence. . He wanted to help her some
way, but she evaded all his questions.
And then at last there came a day
when she did not call at the postoffice.
It was quite an event, for the post
master and his clerk had come to re
gard her visit as the one inevitable and
poignant occurrence of each day's busi
ness. So that night,, suspecting the
worst, he drove in his buggy to her
lonely home. She was in bed, quite
ill, it seemed, but gentry grateful for
his visit.
"I did my best," sir, she told him,
"but my money is all gone. I killed
my last chicken last Sunday, and now,
God help me, I must sell my home, his
home," and she looked around the
wretched, candle-lighted room with
dim, wet eyes.
"It will be best for you, Mrs. Kava
naugh," quoth the postmaster, kindly;
"you're too that is, you're no longer
young or strong enough to live like
this. Have you no relatives? no chil
dren?" "Oh,, yes sir," she answered, proudly
looking up. "I have a son, sir; a fine
boy; but he's away in the army, and
it's on his account I don't want to
give it up."
But he persuaded her to ride to
town with him, and assured her that
there would be no trouble about sell
ing her place.
"It's not worth much, I know," she
said, as they drove toward town, "but,
much as I want to kee) it, I'd rather
sell it than take charity."
Ho assured her that she "might
"board" at his home until he had sold
f
I . 1
the place, raid she went there only to
lapse into a fever that taxed the best
ingenuity of the tAo doctors of the
town. She was a Avorn, ghostly old
Avoman Avhen at last she sat up and the
postmaster told her that he had sold
her place for ZW.
"If you feel able you can ju?t sign
the deed; the money is ready down at
the bank, and Mr. Rogers; the young
felloAV who wants to 'buy it, has gone
out to the place to lock it OA-er."
So she signed the document, a few
Aveak tears dropping upon it, and hand
ed it back to the postmaster. He took
it and left her alone, but in the CA'en
ing, when he came home to supper,
lie came quickly into her room and
said:
"Mrs. Kavanaugh, the man who
bought your place, Mr. Rogers, AAants
to see you a moment. Shall I show
him in?"
And when he came in she felt for her
glasses, but could not find them, so
she bade him sit down and told him
that there were a few things in the
old shack, her Eible and an eld album,
that she wished to take away. And
the stranger, a freckled, red-haired
giant, took her hand and Whispered-
iFi r
"Mammy, don't you know me?"
"Rogers," she murmured, feeling his
face with tremulous hope and fear,
"Rogers? If it's you, Tom, why are
you Rogers?"
"I wasn't of age, mammy, when I
enlisted. I was afraid daddy would
stop me, so I took Rogers."
And as he held her close to his breast
and felt the hot tears drip an his hand
he did not ask for his father, for on
the wall he saAV the weather-beaten
widow's cap and the dusty veil of
mourning. John H. Raftery, in the
Chicago-Record Herald.
Mount Etna's Heich,t,
The height of Mount Etna, the -famous
volcano of Sicily, has long been
fixed at 10,866 feet. Its height has re.
cently been more accurately measured
by trigonometrical processes, and the
exact eloAation is found to be 10,753
feet. The difference is not important,
but the more exact determination will,
of course, be given on the maps here
after published.
The main crater has a width of 172S
feet and a depth of S20 feet.
Mount Etna has periods of almost
complete quiescence. Six j-ears had
elapsed after the eruption of 1S02,
when in. the autumn of 1S0S blue
flames began to emerge from the
mouth of the largest crater, and a
great deal of vapor Avas emitted from
the lesser orifices. It was then an
nounced that Etna seemed to be pre
paring for an effusion of laA-a, probably
on the south or southwest slopes. The
expected eruption, however, did not
begin till the morning of July 19. 1800,
when great volumes of smoke and
lava began to issue from the main
crater, but after several days the ac
tivity gradually subsided, and Etna
soon resumed its peaceful aspect an'd
has since seemed' to be in a .slumber
ous condition.
The I'olson of the Lily.
A German botanist has disco ered
that the pretty floAver known as the
, lily of ihe valley contains a poison of
the most deadly kind. Not only the
flower itself but also the stem as well
contains an appreciable quantity of
prussic acid. While injecting a concoc
tion of lily of the valley into the ear of
a guinea pig he noticed the animal suc
cumbed immediately, with all the
symptoms of poisoning by hydrocyanic
acid, says the Pittsburg Dispatch.
Chemical analysis of tbe little plant
has disclosed, hoAvever, the presence of
this poisonous constituent, to which
strange to say scientists attribute pre
cisely the penetrating perfume of the
lily f the valley. The attention of the
German botanist has been drawn by
the fact that one of his gardeners has
felt himself seized with dizziness and
vomiting after having inadvertently
raised a bunch of lilies of the valley to
his mouth, the lips of which were
cracked.
As Viewed by the Departing Prisoner.
The Rev. Samuel S. Searing, chap
lain of the House of Correction, South
Boston, frequently has amusing ex
periences A-ith the prisoners Avho
come under his care. He is required
by law to have an interview with ev
ery man whose time has expired and
who is about to leave the house. It
is the chaplain's duty to give the de
parting prisoner good advice and to
exhort him to be a decent and honor
able man in the future.
In the course of one of these inter
Ariews the chaplain said: "Now, mj
friend, I hope you'll never have to,
come back to a place like this."
The prisoner looked at him thought
fully and then asked: "I say, chaplain,
you draw a salary here, don't you?"
When Mr. Searing replied in the af
firmative, the prisoner remarked:
"Well, say, if me and the other fcl
Ioavs didn't keep coming back you'd
be out of a job." Boston Herald.
Didn't Disturb Anybody.
The rude boys of the neighborhood,
having learned that there had been a
Avedding in the lone brick house near
the edge of tOAvn that evening, had
been giving the happy couple a ser
enade with tin horns, cowbells and
other musical instruments for four or
five hours, when an upper AvindoAV was
raised and a nightcapped head was
thrust forth.
"Don't stop if you're having a good
time, boys," said a voice pertaining to
the nightcapped head. "You ain't
disturbin' nobody. The young folks
that was married here this eveaiu'
are deaf and dumb."
Then the windoAA' was lowered again,
and deep silence immediately began to
reign Chicago Tribune.
- - - '
. ALPHABETICAL PETE. .
Alphabetical Pete was an N V S fellow
If U should wear saffron, he'd hanker for
yellow;
N D D Avas swagger, yet only too true, it
Is said, N E bill E could B T would do it.
As E Z as mud, when his clothing was C D
He'd IRA cab, tho' decidedly needy,
And drive to the tailor's (or L C might
Avalk it)
K A himself swell, and the tailor would
chalk it.
Alphabetical Tete was C Qr with a lady, an
They sighed M T things in love's pastures
R K D N,
Until she discoA'ered his bankrupt condi
tion And said: "You meander and C K posi
tion!" Ah! sad was the N D refused to do labor, '
And punctured himself on an O D S sabre:'
A way of S K P, could not have found
neater
That's all I S A to relate about Peter!
Baltimore News.
"Mrs. Talkington's husband ought to
be a good listener." "He is. He can
listen to nearly two hundred words a
minute." The Smart Set. 4
When a widoAv says the men are all
alike she indulges in a mental reser
vation in favor of her former hus
band. Boston Transcript.
"Do you think they'll marry?" "Cir
cumstances point in that direction.
Her people object, and he's as poor as
a church mouse." Detroit Free Press.
Oh, what a pleasant Avorld 'twould be ;
How smoothly we'd slip through it, ,
If all the fools Avho "meant no harm" $
Could manage not to do it.
New York Times.
Joakley "Budds, the florist, has a
big inquisitive plant on exhibition."'
Coakley "What's an inquisitive
plant?" Joakley "Rubber!" Phila
delphia Press.
"Eating pie, old man? Why, I thought
it never agreed with you." "It doesn't.
But I don't care; 'it's my turn to take
care of the baby to-aight, anyway."
Town Topics. ':
He "You are worth your weight in
gold, dear." She "Oh, that's old; give
mo something new." "What shall it
be?" "Say I'm worth my weight in
beef." Yonkers Statesman.
She (proudly) "Oh, Henry, I got the
prize at our women's club!" He
"Good!" She "Yes, I blackballed more
members during the past year than any
other member." Ohio State Journal.
Knott "I am having an awfully
hard time. It's all I can do to keep the
wolf from the door." Scott "Why
don't you let him in and train him to
keep your creditors out?" Tit-Bits.
Teacher "Now, Ethel, who wrote
the 'Elegy in the Country Church
yard?'" Ethel 'Tlease, ma'ara, it
was Willie Smif. I. seen him goin
in the churchyard at recess, ma'am."
Chicago News.
Stern Father "What an unearthly
Jjour tuat youug felloAV stops till every
jight, Dora. What does your mother
say about it?" Daughter "She says
men haven't altered a bit since she AAas
young, pa." GlasgoAV Times.
"Beauty's only skin-deep, so they say;
Ah, well, that's plenty deep enough for
me;
They'll never get rne to give myself away
While the surface still is beautiful to
sec."
Chicago Record-Herald.
Tommy (tearfully) "If yer don't
gimme back them marbles yer nabbed
I'll tell my big brother." Patsy "Tell
him! He dasu't do nothin'." Tommy
"He dasn't? Why?" Pats3--"lle
walks out with my sister. See?" Tit
Bits. "I feci a presentiment," said the
shad, as he passed up the river, "that
something terrible is going to happen
to me." "Ah!" replied the sturgeon;
'a -ague presentiment, eh?" "Vague
nothing. Why, I feel it in my bones."
Philadelphia Press.
World's Largest Match factory.
The largest match factory is in Aus
tria, and each year it uses 23,000
pounds of phosphorus, turns out 2,500,
000,000,000 matches, and fcr the boxes
100,000 feet of wood.
A Persian Custom.
In Persia tho man who laughs is con
sidered effeminate, but free license is
given t feminine merriment.
The biggest castings crfr ordered is
a steamship stmt to weight 134,000
pounds, to be made at Chester, Ta. .