North Carolina Newspapers

if h i! K jyp w iiii-iv $1.00 a Year, in Advance. "FOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH.' Single Copy, 5 Cent. VOL. XIII. PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 1903. NO. 42. THE ALBATROSS. FROM "THE ANCIENT MARINER." BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. -.AHongth Jid cross an albatross Through the fog it came; As if it had been a Christian soul, U'e hailed it in God's name. It ate t ho food it ne'er had oat, r And round and round it flew The- ico did split with a thunder-fit; The helmsman steered us through! And a pood south wind sprang up behind; The albatros. did follow. And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariner' j hollo! In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, U perched for vesoers nine; Whiles ail the night, through fog-smoke white, Glimmered the wliite moon-shine. Thr pun row rose upon the right ' ;!; of the pea came he. 'StiM hid in mint, and on the left Went dowa into the yea. .And the good south wind si ill Idewbchind : Vut no sweet bird did follow, Nor any day for food or play Came to the mariner's hollo. And T had done a hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe; For all ave'-red I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow! Ah. wretch! said they, the bird to slay, That made the breeze to blow! About, about, in reel and rout. The death-fires dancpd at night! The water, like a witch's oils. Burnt green, and blue, and white. g3 Pea Desperado. it 1 friend Buggies bad gone I so far as to iut a name to f 8 his automobile, not tin? . graved on its various inwards, nor yet the name of Buggies himself, dangling m a patent leather tag just above the steam. So you eau see that he was pretty far gone, as automobilists go. I tii Ink he called it the Pea Green Des perado. The reason I happened to mention 'P.uggles and his machine at all was thai he came round the other day and .asked me to" take a spin in it with him. It seemed to rue as though the .siccount of what followed might be .interesting. I can't hope, of course, to stir auy oue up by a-plain black and white story of the' "spin" as I was -stirred up, but if I can impart to this tale a hundredth 'part of what I felt .1 shall be well repaid. Understand, in the first oplace, that I'm not an automobile man and not used to the machines any way, and that my heart is weak aud I have a '; prejudice foolish perhaps against get ting ai res ted. But Buggies came around and asked me to come along with him, and, as you may have found yourself, there's .u good deal in the idea of clattering about the drives in one of the things, whether you own it or not, with every one marking you down for having money. K you're careful not to make up too much like a professional chauf feur, you know, they're bound to think ; you're worth something an automobile . js vulgarly supposed to be a sign of lucte fht'y all cost pretty high, too. I know how much Buggles's cost, for -one he must have told me a dozen times. Well, he came around and caught me just as I was feeling particularly perky and daring, any., way. He had on a shiny automobile cap and an i.-iinglsfs eyeshade and fine large oily .gloves, and he looked just like the -pictures of chauffeurs in the comic papers, drawn as standing at the pris oners' dock in court, by preference. "Come along with me, old boss," said Uuggles, "I'll take you rattling up the . Drive in the Pea Green Desperado and -we'll scare all the old ladies out of their wits from here to the Monu . orient." The long and the short of it was that 1 climbed into his machine, standing outside my house with a crowd around it, watching it gurgle and tremble, and rill the neighbors hiding behind their lace curtains and Avondering who my oxpensiA'e friend was. I didn't see them the neighbors but I knew they were there. Because I've done it; my self. It was a pretty instrument Bug- Nor dim nor red, like Cod's own head, The glorious sun uprist; Then all averred I had killed the bird That brought the fog and mist; 'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, That bring the fog and mist. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flctr, The furrow followed free; We were the first. that ever burst Into that silent s"ea. Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down - 'Twas sad as sad could be; And we did speak only to break The silence of the sea. All in a hot. and eoflpcr sky The bloody sun, at noon. Bight up above the mast did stand, No bigger than the moon. D;iy after day, day after day, We stuck nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean. Water, water everywhere. And all the boards did shrink; Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. The very deep did rot; O Christ! That ever this should le! Yea, slimy things did crawl with Ir ; Upon the slimy sea! gles's automobile. As you might have guessed from its sobriquet, it was a tine bright green, except the waist of it as you might say where you sit and Avork it. That was red and oily. There Ave re a number of shiny lan terns and things stuck over the front slope of it, and down on the prow Avas a shutter that steam came through. You can sce that it Avas the bona fide article. We got into it and Buggies grasped some levers firmly and I curled up my mustache and glanced up at Miss Guinnes's AvindoAV in No. 27 and Avondered if she was home. There was a terrific steamy clatter that near ly shook my shoes off, a cloud of smoke dashed into my eyes, and by the time I had assured myself that my head had not been snapped off Ave were in a strange street. The rate of speed that Buggies Avas going at Avas positively sickening. I am Avilling to swear that Avhen our big fat wheels hit a manhole the Avhole engine jumped a foot. We Avcuf around corners on one Avheel, with Avomcn fall ing limply into policemen's arms on the curb, and the policemen shouting at us until their yells sank to a drone in the distance. We ran over a yellow dog and threw .the animal into the air behind us in the most talented fash ion. It landed on the top of a brougham a rather stylish position for a yellow dog. I noticed these things then, but (hey didn't appeal to mo as interest ing. The most interesting thing just then Avas the preservation of my life. It, Avas in Buggles's hand I felt that and Buggies Avas about as careless of it as though it Avas the life of a Hock away oyster. We dashed into the Park on a curve that shot a fan of gravel off of the near Avheel and all over a belated May party, Avhich immediately looked to me like a coterie of landslide victims being dug out. A mounted policeman put his horse at us, but he got in the trail of our gasolene gas, from .the exhaust thing in the back, and his horse balked. An old lady, trying to cross the drive ahead, just escaped be ing rolled out by such a close margin that her silk boa was Avhisked into the near fore wheel and twisted about the spokes while she could ha-e said knife. Try it on an electric fan witli a hand kerchief, from behind, aud you get the same effect. Later on. Buggies said, he Avould get the boa out and put it up in his den Avith a lot of other relics that he Avas in the habit of prying out of the shutter on the automobile's prow after trips. Bits of little things he'd hit, you know. He admitted that he Avas a sentimental cuss, did Bug gies. We Avcnt up the West Drive like an express making up time and with about as much noise. Around the corner I saw the-Van Doutzers coming in a victoria. They are one of the families that I really like to bowx to, and so, abolishing as much of my fear for my life as I could, I got ready to take off my hat, hoping, I must confess,- that they'd take me for the owner of the Desperado, instead of Buggies. To carry out the idea I just rested my hand on the Avheel thing that you steer by. I boAved. but I discovered, to my horror, that I Avas bowing to a park policeman the Van Doutzers must have been Avhisked by about three blocks back by the time I got my hat off. All at once there was a frightful rush of profanity from Buggies, and I noticed that Ave Avere richotting on a Avomlerful angle up an incline covered Avith tulip bls. I peered Avildly be hind me the road Avas just disappear ing in the disvauce between trees and IJie tracks of the automobile among the flowers looked like the first dig gings for a canal. Suddenly Ave dived ! into a shady grove on the summit. ijiviv .1 iiiruuTuuua, piim IT ilia Jl and I shot, head first into a prickly sort of bush. The Pea Green Desper- ado Avas trembling and gurgling, head ; on, against a tree trunk. As for Bug gies, he had traveled some feet further I ban I had, and landed in a sort of rus iie summer house through the Aviudow. on the laps of two persons already there. They Avere very angry, both of them, and vanished down the hill threatening to have the law on us. I told Buggies that I didn't blame them, either that I had been young myself. He got mad at that and said it Avas all because I'd put my bally hand on the steering gear and switched the machine off the road, and that he'd "like to have been killed" in con sequence. He Avanted to knoAV Avhy the deuce I should switch him up on this hill did I like the scenery so much, and Avould I pay the fine? What's the use of arguing with a fel-Ioaa- like Buggies Avhen he's mad, any way? I just kept quiet and got into the machine and sat still, Avhile he climbed in and backed her up and turned her around aud tried to start her. But she Avouldn't start. He pulied fall of the levers and things in sight. but she just stood still and shook. Then he got out and crawled in underneath among the works, to see what Avas the matter. I sat in the waist effectj that Avas all red and oily. . Presently I heard him say from the bowels of the machine, .as it were: "Are you touchiu' anything'-'' I said, "No." Buggies said: "There's a chunk of wood' in the chain I'm a-goin' to pull it out." "Pull away," said 1, and I heard him give a grunt. Gee Avhiz! The Desper ado leaped like the arrow from the bow; I heard a Avail of horror from Buggies, and the next thing I kncAV, he aud the hill were gone, and I was ripping across 1 lie sheepfold like the frout of a cavalry charge. I don't remember rightly the rest of the trip I made through the Park in the Desperado; it's more of a bad dream than anything else. Those Avere crowds that dashed up on walls, yell ing, and mounted police that galloped after, yelling, and horses that sat down on carriage shafts or tried to climb up AA'ith tiie coachman on the box the coachmen j'clling. too. I pulled all the movable bits of brassware that I saw, but there avas no stopping her Then I grabbed the A7heel and fiddled about trying to get the hang of how 1o steer, the blooming thing plunging for Avard all the Avhile. mind you, like a runaway engine. Finally, after a couple of Avild runs onto walks and one complete circle, I got that straight, and started on. Avith a splintered park bench hanging over the prow, but happy, for at least I could put it to right and left. By this time it was dusk. As the Desperado thundered around another curve, the lake unfolded away down below, on my left. Suddenly I got an idea. I twisted the wheels, put the machine's nose down the dusty slope and scrambled from my seat. Figuratively, I had washed my hands of all Avorks. I slid over the back of the machine on my waistcoat, and dropped. My lapel caught on a hook. I was jerked in the air, sailed like a bird for tAventy feet, broke loose sud denly, and struck the ground hard, but happily. Doavu below, in the growing twilight, I saw the Pea Green Desper ado swaying 'toward the water at light ning ppced. A splash, a. muffled con cussionand a column, of water shot into the air. , , . Silence fell. ' ' " " After dinner I got on my hand painted smoking coat that Miss Guinnes gave me last Christmas I always put it on when I'm in a chastened mood and smoked a pipe by the fire, waiting for Buggies. I knew he Avould come if he Avas alive. The first thing he said Avhen he ar rived was: "Where's the Green Desperado?" He said it quite fearlessly, too. although I couldn't so much as hear that name without shuddering. I told him, though. "In the lake!" he ejaculated, bound ing out of his chair. "And a good thing, too," I said, sol emnly. "I looked forward to seeiug you dead' , to-night. Buggies dead flattened! That devilish machine made my Avhole past come up in my mind, and, by gorry. it Avas up to the Desperado to finish." "But my money!" cried Buggies pa thetically. I always thought, he was a paper sport. I should. haA'e imagined he had a pretty good run for his money that afternoon. ' I said nothing. hoAvever. Inwardly, I confess, I was a little pleased. Buggies had lost his automobile, and I couldn't see Iioav he was any hotter than I was now. New York Evening Sun. A Sane View of Mad Anthony. In Harper's, John II. Spears denwn strates that General Wayne, commonly known as "Mad Anthony," was in real ity the sanest, coolest soldier in Wash ington's Army. "They called the hero of Stony Point and the Maumee Bapids 'Mad Anthony Wayne,'" says Mr. Spears, "The title' Avas originated by an Irish soldier av'ho had been confined in the guardhouse at the order of the General, and it was taken up by the people because of the Avild enthusiasm and determination Avith which Wajno led his men Avhen the supreme moment of battle came. But observe that when the War of the Revolution impended he 'ransacked his tory' for accounts of battles that he might learn military tactics; and he gave his days to the training of his neighbors. At Stony Point he led his men in spite of his wound, but in pre paring for the battle he appealed to the pride of his men by parading thein 'clean shaved and Avith hair well powdered,' while the prelaid plans included even tl:o slaughter of the dogs, that no yelp should betray the approach of the assaulting host. When in Virginia he charged the hosts of CornAvallis Avith only r00 men to back him: when in Ohio. Avhere the honor of the Nation and the integrity of it3 territory were committed to his care, he took a legion of 'boys and mis creants' gathered from the slums, and trained them until their skill Avith the musket equalled if it did not surpass that of the most noted backAvcods Indian-fighters. " 'Mad Ant iony Wayne' as a leader in battle was unsurpassed; but it should also be remembered that his record as z drill-master is unequalled." Gladstone's Lojracj. In a recent speech Andrew Carnegie paid a handsome tribute to the char acter and life work of Gladstone, of Avhich the folloAving is part: "Mr. Gladstone's fame h beyond England, beyond the English-speaking race. It is Avorld-wide. What he did for Italy, for Greece and the Balkans Avas evidence of a noble soul sympa thizing with the oppressed and strug gling peoples. "By stepping fonvard boldly to arbi trate on the Alabama question he erected an effectual barrier to auy future Avar between the two great branches of the English-speaking race, and made it humanly impossible that the earth should ever again be stair.ca .by the blood of English-speaking peo pie killed by other English-speaking people in battle." lifty Years an Usher. Stephen M. GriSAA'old, of Brooklyn, has given fifty years of service as usher in Plymouth Church. Mr. Gris wold is President of a bank, vcas re cently elected President of the State Bankers' Association, and has served a terra in the State Senate, but above all these honors he esteems his long connection Avith "Beecher's Church," as it is still called in Brooklyn. As usher he has escorted to seats in that famous church such men as Lincoln, Grant, Sumner, Phillips, Fremont, Gar rison and other celebrated before, dur ing and after the war times. A kind thought is like a blosfom: It always lias' the potential fruit of a good deed at its heart. , THE OPTIMIST. Some peop!e seem to think thia world i fuii of base deceivers: Of interested persons, who, with fraudu lent intent, Assume the mark of virtue and are callous unbelievers. In piety and goodness that are plain and evident My nature is confiding; I am really opti mistic; My faith in human nature has been long securely pinned. Concerning it 1 feel that I can't be too eu logistic Still, it is Just as Avell to keep your two eyes skinned. My loving friends are dear to me I know; that they are loyal I Avouldn't make a statement that would be considered rash. . I hold them stanch and trusty,, and with natures fine and royal, And I would even trust them well, to some extent with cash. I like to have them round me there'a suf ficient reason why. too At times they are quite useful, and it's rarely I have sinned By doubting them. I'm sure they nearly all are safe to tie to. Still, it is just as Avell to keep your tw eyes skinned. I have no sort of doubt about the teaching of the teachers. The physic of physicians or the justice of , law: My cotdidence is boundless in the preach ing of the preachers; The truth of lovely woman's Avithout the slightest flaw; I do believe policemen have an honest sense of duty; In short, our good old world is full of love liness and beaut-r-Still. it ia just as well to keep your two eyes skinned. Chicago News, j "What profession do you follow? "I folloAv the medical profession; I'm an undertaker." To Avn Topics. . "Father, what is an umpire?" "An umpire, my boy, is merely a human ex cuse for a row." Chicago Post. She "My little brother will not both er us to-night.". He "That's good. When does the funeral take place?" Chicago News. Patience "I would never squeeze my feet out of shape." Tatrice "Oh, yes, you would, if you were in my shoes." Yonkers Statesman. ; I began didatically. "The fool and his money " "Are the salvation of the industrious," interrupted the Shrewd Promoter. Puck. To air our knowledge Ave're inclined, And though our talk be gusty, 'Tis Avell to air it, for Ave find That knowledge groweth musty. :. Philadelphia Kecord. "She says she believes in evolution.1 "On what grounds?" "Well, she mar ried a dude, and he has turned into a real sensible husband." Philadelphia Bulletin. Blind Bill (who had just received a; copper) "Thankee, sir; thankee. I noo as you wouldn't fergit the poor blind! man d'rectly I see ycr come 'round the corner." Tit-Bits. "Did" you say that my face would stop a dock?" "Not exactly; I inti mated that it would tempt Father Time himself to pause in admiration." Washington Star. j Work at your task from year to year, And when at last success is Avon, ! Some smiling sluggard Avill appear And tell you how it should be done. Washington .Star. "Now, Willie," said the careful moth er, "I don't want j'ou to associate with, those Smith boys they are so rough and rude." "Not t me, ther' ain't. Why, I picked a fight an' licked 'em as soon as I struck ue neighborhood." Baltimore Herald. "See here," remarked the guest ta the neAV Avaiter, "there doesn't seem to be any soup on this menu card." "Oh, no, sir," replied the Avaiter, nervously, "I didn't spill it at this table it waa the one on the other side of the room." Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune. "Your husband, I suppose, still keeps up his habit of taking two baths a day, as prescribed by that physical culture teacher?" "No; he got tired of it and hunted up a physical culture teacher who says bathing is Aveakening and in jurious." Chicago Tribune. Tommy Reasoning;. It was a cold, dark, rainy day and little Tommy . wanted his mother to read to him. When it was discovered that the gas did not light the room sufficiently for his mother to see the type, Tommy's face . brightened, and he said: "Oh, mamma, come up in the den. That room is only about half the size e. this, and the gas ought to make it twice as light." New Yorlc Times,