Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / May 15, 1903, edition 1 / Page 1
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C- ; r, , , ' ; -T $1.00 a Year, In Advance. FOR OOP, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH." Single Copy, 5 Cent. r- - r ' J ; VOL. XIV. PLYMOUTH, N. C., FRIDAY, MAY 3jT903. NO. 7.. 7 4 THE, HAUNTED PALACE. By EDOAU ALLAN l'OIi. ' In ihc greenest of our valleys I5y go;d angels tenanted. Once a fair and stately palace Radiant palace rears its honl. In the monarch thought's dominion vIt stood there; Never seraph spread a pinion Over fabric half so fair. ' ' Banners yellow, glorious, golden, A On its roof did float and flow (This all this was in the olden Time long ago), , 'And every gentle air that dallied, In that sweet day; Along the rampart's plumed and pallid, A wing-ed odor went away. Wanderers in that happy valley Through two luminous windows saw Spirits moving musically. To a lute's well-tun-ed law, , Hound about a throne where, sitting, I'orphyrogene, In state his glory well befitting, , Tho ruler of the realm was seen. Tlie Longest BY NORA1AN it LiviiU.v.i,ujIgMV T was a very narrow escape," said the doctor. I "Crossing the harbor?" I exclaimed. ' "Yes," said he, with a laugh, then gravely, "it was my narrowest escape." "Tell me the story," said I, much in terested. It was a quiet evening twilight wit! the harbor water unruffled, and the colors of the afterglow fast fading from the skj We were sitting by the surgery door, watching the fishing bouts come in from the sea. and our talk had been of the common dangers of that life. "Do 3'ou see the little cottage on the other side back of the church and to the left?" said the doctor. "Under the big rock?" said I. "With the little garden in front -and the lad .going up the path?" "Aye," said the doctor. "Some years ngo, when that sturdy little lad was a toddler in pinafores hb was taken sud denly ill. It was a warm day in the spring of the year. The ice was still in the harbor, locked in by the rocks at the narrows, though the snow had all melted from the hills, and green things .wore shooting from the earth in the gardens. The weather had been tine lor a week. Day by day the harbor Ice had grown more uusafe,7until, when Tommy, the lad you saw on the path, was taken ill, only tho daring ventured to cress upon it. "Tommy's father came rushing into the surgery in a pitiable slate of grief and fright. I knew when I first caught Fight of his face that the child was ill. ".'Doctor,' said ho, "my little lad's Wonderful sick. Come quick!' " 'Can we cross by the ice?' I said. 1 " 'I've come that way,' said he. 'Tis safe enough t' risk. Make haste, doc tor, sir! Make haste!' , " 'Lend the way!' said I. 1 "He led so cleverly that we crossed 'without once sounding the ice. It was ji vM'".'.z way a long, winding course and I knew the day after, though I .Was too intent upon the matter in hand 1o perceive it at the moment, that only liis experience and acquaintance with the eondiiion of the ice made the pas sage possible. After midnight, when my .situation wai one of extreme peril. I 'realized' that the way had been licit her safe for me, -who followed, nor -easy for the man who led. " 'My boy is dying, doctor'.' said the 'mother, when we entered the house. Oh? save him!' 1 "My sympathy for the child and hi? parents they loved that lad no less Than, , a. certain professional interest whiisli tales hold of a young physician in swli cases, kept me at Tommy's bed fdde until long, long after dark. I aieed not have stayed so long otigh't Hot to have stayed for the lad was safe and out of pain, but in this far si way place a man must be both nurse and doctor, and there I found myself, at 31 o'clock of a dark night, worn out. and anxious only to reach my bed by the shortest way. " 'I think, sir,' said Tommy's father, whe n I mr.de ready ,to go, 'that I wouldn't go back by the ice.' " Of nonsense, said I. 'We came over without any trouble, and I'll find .my wiy back, never fear ' . And all with pearl and ruby glowing Was the fair palace door, Through which came flowing, flowing, flow- And sparkling evermore A troop of echoes, whoe sweet duty , Was but to sing. In voices of surpassing beauty. '( The wit and wisdom of their king. , But evil things, in robes of sorrow. Assailed the monarch's high estate; (Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow Shall dawn upon him desolate!) And round about his home the glory j That blushedand bloomed. Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed. 1 And travelers noAV within that valley Through the rcd-litten windows sec Vast forms that move fantastically To a discordant melody: While, like a ghastly rapid river, Through the pale door A hideous throng rush out forever, f And laugh but smile no more. 1 Way Home, DUNCAN. aJLlirj.MJl.MJ1i.i.nimi..iimi,..in.m,i mmm yrwiS " 'I wisht you'd stay here the night,' said the mother. 'If you'll bide, sir, we'll make you comfortable.' " 'No, no,' said I. 'I must get to my own bed.' " 'If you'll not go round Ivy the shore, sir,' said the man, 'leave me pilot you across.' " 'Stay with your lad,' said I, some what testily. 'I'll cross by the ice.' . " "Twill be the longest way home, the night,' said be, "When a man is sleepy and worn out he can be strangely perverse. I would have my own way, and, to my cost,- 1 was permitted to take it. Tommy's father led me to the landing stage, put a gaff in my hand and warned me to be, careful warned me particularly not to take a step without sounding the ice ahead with my gaff, and he brought the little lesson to an end with a wist ful, 'I wisht you wouldn't risk it.' "The tone of his voice, the earnest ness and warm feeling with which ho spoke, gave me pause. I hesitated, but the light in ray surgery window, shin ing so near at hand, gave mo a vision of clean and comfortable rest, and I put the momentary indecision away from me. " 'It is a quarter of a mile to my sur gery by the ice,' I said, 'and it is four miles round the harbor by tho road. I'm going the shortest way.' " 'You'll find it the longest, sir,' said he. "I repeated my directions as to the treatment of Tomnry, then gave the man good night, and stepped out on the ice, gaff in hand. The three Lours fol lowing were charged with more terror and despair than, doubtless, anj- year of my life to come shall know. I am not morbidly afraid of death. It was not that not the simple, natural fear of death that made me suffer. It was the manner of its coming in tho night, with the liarbor folk, all ignorant of my extremity, peacefully sleeping around me the slow, cruel approach of it, closing in upon every hand, lying ail about me, and hidden from me by the Light." . The doctor paused. He looked over the quiet water of the harbor. "Yes," he said, repeating" the short, nervous laugh, "it was a narrow es cape. The sun of the afternoon it had shone hot and bright had weakened the ice, and a strong, gusty wind, such a wind as breaks up the ice every spring, was blowing down the harbor to the sea. It had overcast the sky with thick clouds.- The night Avas dark. Nothing more of the opposite shore than the vaguest outline of the hills a blacker shadow in a black sky was to be seen, ' "But I had the lamp in the surgery window to guide me, and I pushed out from the shore, resolute and hopeful. I made constant use of my gaff to sound tho ice. Without it I should have been lost before I had gone twen ty yards. From time to time, in rotten places, it broke through the ice with hut slight pressure, then I had to tur to right or left, as seemed best, keeping to the general direction as well as I eot.ld all the while. "As I proceeded, treading lightly and t cautiously, I was dismayed to find that the condition of the ice was worse than the vorst I had feared. "AV thought I, with a wistful glance toward the light in the window, 'I'll be glad enough to get there.' "There were lakes of open water in my path; there were flooded patches, sheets of thin, rubbery ice, stretches of rotten 'slob.' I was not even sure that a solid path to my surgery wound through theses dangers, and if path there were it was a puzzling maze, strewn with pitfalls, with death wait ing upon a mis-step. "Had it been broad day my situation would have been serious enough. In the night, with the treacherous places all covered up and hidden it was des perate. I determined to return, but I was quite as unfamiliar with the lay of the ice behind as with the path ahead. A moment of thought persuad ed me that the best plan was the bold estto push on for the light in the win dow. I should, have, at least, a star to guide me. " 'I have not far to go,' I thought. 'I must proceed with confidence .and a common-sense sort of caution. Above all. I must not lose my nerve.' "It was easy to make the resolve; it was harel to carry it out. When I was searching for solid ice and my gaff splashed water, when the ice offered no more resistance to my gaff than a similar mass of sea foam, -when my foothold bent and cracked beneath me, when, upon either side, lay open water and a narrowing, uncertain path lay ahead, my nerve was sorely tried. "At times, overcome by the peril I could not see, I stopped dead and trem bled. I. feared to strike my gaff,. feared to set my foot down, feared to quit the square foot of solid ice upon which I stood. Had it not been for the high wind high and fast rising to a gale I should have sat down and waited for the morning. , But there were ominous sounds abroad, and, although I knew little about the ways of ice, I felt that the break-ujr would come before the dawn: There was nothing for it but to go on. . ' . "And on I went, but at last the mis chance was inevitable my step was badly chosen. M3' foot broke through, and I found myself of a sudden sink ing. I threw myself forward and fell with my arms spread out; thus I dis tributed my weight over a wider area of ice and was borne up. "For a time I was incapable of mov ing a muscle; tlie surprise, the rush of terror, the shock of the fall, the sudden relief of finding myself safe for the mo ment had stunned me. So I lay still, hugging .the ice, for how long I cannot tell, but I know that when I recovered my self-possession my first thought was that the light was still burning in the surgery window an immeasurable distance away. I must reach that light, I knew, but it was a long time before I had the courage to move for ward. "Then I managed to get the gaff un der my chest, so that I could throw some part of my weight upon it, and began to crawl. The progress was inch by inch slow and toilsome, with no moment of security to lighten it. I was keenly aware of my danger; at any moment, as I knew, the ice might open and let me in. "I had gained fifty yards or more, and had come to a broad lake, which I must round, when the light in the win dow went out. " 'Elizabeth has given me up for the night,' I thought in despair. 'She has blown out the light and gone to bed. "There was now no point of light to mark my goal. It was very dark, and in a few minutes I was lost. I had the wind to guide mo, it is true, but I soon mistrusted tho wind. It was veering, it had veered. 1 thought; it was not possible for me to trust it implicitly. In whatever direction I set my face 1 fancied that t'ac open sea lay that way. "Again and again I started, but upon each occasion I had no sooner begun to crawl than I fancied that I had mischo sen. the waj Of course I cried for help, but the wind swept my frantic screams away, and no man heard them. The moaning and swish of the gale, a? it ran past the cottages, drowned my cries. The sleepers were not alarmed. "Meanwhile that same wind was breaking, up the ice. I could hear the cracking and . grinding long before I felt the motion of the pan upon whic.'i I lay. But at last I did feel that mass of ice turn and gently heave, and then I gave myself up for lost. . " 'Doctor! Doctor!' "The voice came from far to wind ward. The wind caught my answering shout and carried it out to sea. " 'They will not hear- me,' I thought. 'They will not come to help me.' "The light shone out from the surg ery windovr. again. Then lights ap peared in the neighboring houses and passed from room to room. There had been an alarm. But my pan was breaking up! Would they find me in time? Would they find me at all? "Lanterns were now gleaming on th? rocks back of my wharf. Half a dozen men were coming down on the run. bounding from rock to rock of the path. By the light of the lanterns I saw them lauch a boat on the ice and drag it out toward me. From the edge of the shore ico they let it slip into the water, pushed off and came slowly through the opening lanes of water, calling my name at intervals. "The ice was fast breaking and mov ing out. When they caught my hail thej- were not long about pushing the boat to where I lay. Nor, you may be sure, was' I long about getting aboard." "Doctor," said I. "how did they know that you were in distress?" "Oh," said the doctor, "it was Tom my's father. He was worried, anel walked around by the shore. When he found that I was not home he roused the neighbors." "As the proverb runs," said I. "the longest way round is sometimes the shortest way home." "Yes," said the doctor. "I eliose the longest way." Youth's Companion. WHERE INDIANS TRADE. ' members of tn Lipan Tribe Drive Close Kargalns Willi Lunfftry Merchants. Langtry, Texas, is one of the few Indian trading places remaining in the United States. By this is meant the genuine Indian trading such as ex isted at many frontier points until the red men were either exterminated or brought under the influence of civili zation. This has been an. Indian trad ing post for half a century and more. A thriving business was done here with the Indians long before the ad vent of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In those days the little collection of houses, situated on the bank of the Rio Grande, midway between San Antonio on the cast and El Paso on the west, aboat SOO miles from either place, was known aa Vinagaroon. When the rail road was built the name was changed to Langtry. The Lipan Indians who occupy a reservation in the Santa Rosa Moun tains in Mexico, about 100 miles south of here, have made Langtry their trad ing point for many 3 ears. Only a few days ago ten big, straplng Lipan bucks crossed the Rio Grande with many boats full of bear, deer, javeline and panther hides. They also had a great quantity of hides of smaller animals. In their collection was also the hides of three mountain sheep, which are considered very valuable. There were several beaver hides in the lot, but the Indims said they had met with poor luck this year in trapping beavers, al though there are several largo colonies of tne animal scattered along- the mountain streams and in the valley of the Rio Grande above Langtry. The Indians were close traders, as (hoy knew fairly well the value of the different kinds of -hides, and the local merchants gave full value for them in blankets, calicoes and foodstuffs, principally in flour and canned goods. It took the Indians all one day to com plete their, trading, and they left for their distant mountain home, a train of burros awaiting them on the other side of the Rio Grande to carry tho goods. These trading visits are made at frequent intervals during the winter season. The I.ipans are great hunters and trappers and they make a good living out of the business. They are peaceable, citizens.' and it has been many years since they gave the Mexi can authorities any trouble. Their reservation is remotely situated, and the tribe has not bcni disturbed by the influences of civilization. New York Times. Tlio K.ijjll3li Oyster. It affords us pleasure amid the citi cism recently directed against the Ger man Emperor to find something in his judgment and conduct to commend, it is therefore with genuine joy that we learn from a cable dispatch of his order banishing the English oyster from the imperial table. Of all the bitter, copperish, unpalatable products of the sea the English oyster is entitled to an odious pre-eminence. It is small and devoid of fatness. For an oyster it is tough and indigestible. To the taste it suggests a diabolic compound of quinine and corroded copper. It has tho appearance of a diseased mus sel, turned blue by long abstinence from healthy diet, or by defective di gestion. Loulsvillel Courier-Journal. Some people measure success by what they cai UNCLE ABNER'S WHISTLE; Uncie Abner has a sure. Nev-jr-failing trouble-cure; Maks no difference what it is. 'T can't withstand that tune of his,' He k-.eps whistling day by day. Smoothing all his cares away; Making heavy burdens light, And the shadowed places bright. Trouble, seeking out the men It would bother, pauses when It comes close enough to hear Unele Abner; leans its ear, Listens, and remarks, "That tune Surely makes him an immune; No use trying to get at Men who whistle tunes like that." 'Tisn'fc what most folks would call 'A line, classic tune at all; 'T just goes softly rambling on. Like a robin's nest at dawn, Till, somehow, you understand That hi3 head and heart and hand Form a trio that must win Sweet rsward through thick and thin, I have watched him, rain and shine, Tending plant and tree and vine; Never knew him hot or cold To forget himself and scold. Still there comes to him his share . Of the world's big load of care; ComTS, ah. yes! but doesn't stay He v.ist whistles it away. Nixon Waterman, in the Woman's Ilome Companion. . 1 eJ 1 S$Df 6S "Did you ever hear 3Iiss Mammerton play the piano?" She "No; but I've seen her work at it." Chicago News. 'Tis true, as every man must know, (And every man regrets it), Man wants but little here below, And very seldom gets it. Philadelphia Record. "Daughter, I am surprised that you would suffer a man to kiss you." Her Daughter "But, mamma, - it wasn't; suffering." Detroit Journal. "How does that razor feel?" inquired the conventionally over-obliging bar ber. "' Why, I hardly knew you were using a razor," answered the martyr in the chair. Punch Bowl. "What a luxury a clear conscience it," exclaimed the high-minded states man. "Yes," answered Senator Sorg hum, "it's a luxury. But it isn't a ne cessity." Washington Star. Philanthropic Visitor (at county jail) "My friend, how came j'ou here?'" Embezzler "Well, I got so straitened in my finances that I turned crooked." Chicago Tribune. The light of love shone in his cye3 At sight of lovely Maude. His face lit up with glad surprise, For he Avas lantern-jawed. Philadelphia Record. Miss Gushy "Oh, Mr. Jones, won't you take a chair? We're getting up a, raffle for an old lady who is as poor '' Mr. Slim (interrupting) "Excuse me, ladies, but I would prefer er some rich young widow." Colorado Jester. Uncle John "I'm glad to hear you say you've got such a nice teacher." Willie "Yes, she's the best ever." Uncle John "That's right." Willie "Yes, she gets sick every ether week or so, an' there ain't no school." Phila delphia Press. Herbert "Did you get what yon wanted yesterday?" Horatio "Didn't even get what I deserved." Herbert "You'll hardly get that in this world, you know. I should think you'd want to stave it off as long as possible." Boston Transcript. Griggs "Don't you think you can hear exceptionally well in the new lec ture hall?" Biggs "It ought to have some redeeming feature;, you can't sleep in a single seat without being seen by the lecturer:" Harvard Lam poon. At the request of the confirmed dys peptic the operator was taking an X-raj' photograph of the seat of his trouble. "This, I suppose," remarked the sufferer, with a ghastly attempt to be facetious, "is what might be called taking light exercise on an empty stomach." Chicago Tribune. Cold Comfort. "I was sitting 'here with the crea tures of my brain for company," said the budding poet and playwright to a' visitor Avho had found, him before a dying fire. "You poor thing!" said the visitor, who was a practical person and a dis tant relative. "I said to myself as I opened the door, 'If he doesn't loote, lonesome, then I never saw a man tha did!'" Youth's Companion. It is seldom that you can get a self mads man to apologize. iu borrow,
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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May 15, 1903, edition 1
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