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V )R OOP, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH.'
Single Copy, 5 CenU.
VOL. XIV.
PLYMOUTH, N. C, FRIDAY. FEBRUARYf2pl904.
NO. 47.
THE BUILDERS.
.We quarrel of land end line, .
We bicker of work and wage;
We trouble our soula with a doleful
sign, .
Forgetting our heritage
Forgetting the tireless hands; '
Forgetting the restless feet
That fared, undaunted, through unknown
lands -
Till the path was made complete.
The fathers the men who dreamed, '
And, dreaming, were strong to dare,
To straggle ahead to the goal that gleamed,
i A prize that' was rich and fair.
The fathers the men who thought
Of all that the future held.
'And, hearts uplifted, essayed and wrought
. All the work their dreams compelled.
EXCHANGE NO ROBBERY.
A Secret Service Story.
By CHARLES
come to' our knowl
' wrote a certain high
i0 T has
V fe edge."
o I o
official of the French Intel
HgenceiDepartment inar-
is, to M. Louis Pronge," of
the Secret
Service in Loadon, "that
the English Government has just 'pur
chased the design of a new light field
gun, identical with the 'Bracket' which,
you are aware, has been adopted by
our Artillery Department. We fear the
inventor has deceived us. Verify our
information and procure, if possible,.
a copy of the design. This is of special
importance, for the gun may even be
an Improvement on the one we have
MUUU Wjfwtw V bvuw,
is of the utmost importance." .
This command of his paymasters oc
cupied his mind as he breakfasted. He
wrinkled his brow over it It was a
highly delicate and' difficult matter,
but not, he decided, impossible. There
were two points In his favor. None
of his English friends suspected for a
mnm a-n f 4-hat lift wo a in til a nflxr nf thp
'French Secret Service; and among his
numerous friends he reckoned Cecil
FelSowes, son and secretary of Gen
eral Fellowes, the head of the ordnance
office. The designs of the gun would
h. rarefnllv studied bv the ceneral be-
rnra n nrmi 1 1 Jf l nu m t i iiv i iih- -i j u l: i iriii
Government, and copies of the plans
would very likely be now at the gener
al's house. By the end of his third af
ter breakfast cigarette Pronge had de
cided on his method of action and dls
nntnhii a teiecn-nnn trt rtiA of his sub
ordinates to come to him at once.
Within an hour M. Villepart was an-
. '
nuuutcu.
"A matter of importance, mj dear
colleague," said Pronge waving a hand
toward a vacant chair and the cigar
ette box. "Listen to me attentively
"You. know the house of General Fel
lowes in the Cromwell Road? Good.
, it is tne custom or tne general, j. De
lleve, to work In his study every even
ing after dinner. It will be your busi
ness to see th?,t he is not at home to
il night at 10 o'clock "Get him put of
the way by means of a forged tel'egram
or similar means. Watch the house
yourself; you will see me arrive a'llt-
tle before ten, nve minutes later anve
pp in a hansom, knock and demand
with much agitation to see Mr. Cecil
Pellowes immediately. Contrive to
wait in the hall and have him come to
you. Keep him there engaged in con
versation as long as possible." . "
Monsieur Pronge lunched at home,
4ind later, he dressed with care and
.went out! He turned' home to dress
and dined at his club, which had a
IiitTi f (inlfnnnr roYintn tlrnv A f tPI'Ward
he was the centre of a lively group in
the smoking-room, and at 9.30 arose to
-depart.
"Ah, my friend," he cried to a good
looking young Englishman, Harold
Rising by name, much his height and
build, whom he meit on the stairs, "I
owe vou a thousand thanks. The tail
or you recommended Is admirable. My
clothes., see; the best suit I ever had.
And the overcoat like yours I ordered
fits superbly."
"Glad you like him, Pronge. Where
are you off ?"
him from his work to' the Countess of
Arrow by's balL Adieu.''
In spite of the protests or tne gen-
P. Hi a uuuei, itiuusieiu iiuugc, iraiu-
1ng his friend was alone in the study,
gayly insisted on penetrating there.
"Cecil, my good friend, I have come
to take you to the Counteef Arrow
:hy ball. Positively. I will take no
We pluck. from the vines they set,
We walk in the wavs thev made:
We harvest, tfcjeir fields; and their forests
Are giving us rest and shade.
The fathers the men of old
Who builded a place for us,
A country-magnificent; brave and bold
In their faith all glorious.
We quarrel and dread and doubt, ,
Forgetting we only hold .
The comfort within" and the peace without
By grace of the men of old;
Forgetting the toil and. stress,
Forgetting the bygone age J
When cities were planned in their comeli
ness For a future heritage.
Chicago Tribune.
D. LESLIE.
denial. I have a secret to impart in
your ear; a" certain young lady will be
there: at 11 o'clock. The news from
the highest authority 'herself."
Young Fellowes had no intention of
going to the dance, but the interrup
tion of the Frenchman-for a few min
utes was not unwelcome;, he listened
with amusement as Pronge's pleadings
grew5' more urgent In the midst of
the visitor's' eloquence a servant en
tered and addressed CeclK ;
"If you please, sir, there's a foreign
gentleman to -a very excited state in
the hall. He says he must see you im
mediately ,on: important business." ..
',:"Well, show him injo a sitting-room
and I'll come." ' '-
"He won't leave the hall, sir; says
his cab is waiting." 1
"What a remarkable reason for stay
ing there," observed Cecil, rising with
a laugh. "Excuse me a minute, Pron
ge," and he left the room.
In the second that he was alone the
Frenchman sprang swiftly to the gen
eral's writing desk." "It had a sliding
front, and the owner having left it
open all the pigeo'n holes and the doc
uments thereiff were free to inspection.
Bundle after bundle of neatly docketed
papers did the spy rapidly examine.
Nearly all were concerned with artil
lery, but minutes. passed and still the
plans he sought eluded discovery.
Pronge panted with excitement as bun
dle after bundle was scanned and re
placed. At last he snatched' out a
small packet' tied with Ted tape.
"Plans, etc., of New Belgian Field
Gun," he read breathlessly. Success!
At that instant the door opened and
Cecil returned. Pronge had only just
time to slip the packet into. his over
coat pocket, but not enough to spring
away from the table.
"Sueh a madman, Pronge,-a country
man of yours, too. Said he was on
the staff of the Cri de Paris and seek
ing the whereabouts of 'prince Victor
of Orleans. Had been informed the
prince was seen in "my company to
day, begged to . know" his address,
wouldn't accept my denials that I
didn't even know the prince. He posi
tively raved; I couldn't get rid of him."
"Ah, it Ms for him of importance,"
answered the Frenchman hastily. "The
prince, you know, for some weeks has
been missing; no one knows where he
island all the French journalists are
seeking clues. This man followed a
wrong one. Now, again I imploreyoff
to accompany me just a brief visit."
' To his infinite disgust Cecil "an
swered: , "Weli. you. have persuaded
me; Jet us go then' -,. . .
Pronge expressed his delight and
swore under his breath, but his annoy
ance at having to leave the house with
Cecil instead of alone changed to
alarm as he quickly discerned his com
panion suspected him of espionage.
His acuteness was not at fault. Cecil
was no fool, and before he had been
five seconds back in his study some
thing very near the truth had occurred
to him. By what strange concatena
tion of events was it that the French
man had been left alone for fully five
minutes in his father's study with the
desk open and war secrets almost ex
pbsed to view? Even were hjs suspici
ions wrong his friend had been guilty
of vulgar prying; he had left him
standing over the fife and returned to
find him standing, close to' his father's
writing desk. On the spur of the mo
ment Cecil determined not to let Mon
sieur Pronge out of his sight until he
had decided bow to act.
The two men drove to the danee;
Pronge exerting himself to the utmost
to banish suspicion from Cecil's heart.
Before they, alighted the spy had de
cided on his plan of campaign. He
dared not remove the precious paper
from his overcoat pocket while Cecil
was with him; he would yield coat and
hat to the attendant in the cloakroom
and enter the ballroom, then give his
friend 'the slip, hurry down, retrieve
them, and make his escape. When the
loss was known some suspicion must
rest on him; he would perhaps have to
leave London, but the French Govern
ment would amply reward him for his
success in so promptly and completely
fulfilling their desires.;
He felt, therefore, assured of ulti
mate triumph and safe from immediate
detection as he stood on the pavement
paying the cabman, when a hand
gripped his arm and a voice in his ear
whispered, "You thief!"
Though his nerves were good Pronge
was powerless to repress a start He
turned to find Harold Rising facing
him with a smile on his face, but the
spy's sang froid had momentarily de
serted hlm. '
"What do you mean?" he stammered,
quite out of countenance. -
"There! Your face betrays you,"
shouted Rising. "I appeal to Fel
lowes." "But you speak riddles. What is
the joke?" Pronge strove desperately
to guess what Rising was talking of.
"You bolted from the club with my
cigar case," explained his tormentor.
"Your cigar case? I have not got
It."
"Haven't you? Feel in your right
hand pocket." -
Pronge obeyed mechanically. There
was a cigar case in his overcoat pocket.
However did it get there? Then all at
once the truth flashed upon him. He
was wearing Rising's overcoat; the club
waiter had 'helped him on with his
coat and made a mistake. And Rising
was wearing his. The two coats were
of similar cut and material, made by
the same tailor, and owing to the re
semblance in build and height of the
two men tbe, difference of fit had been
so trifling ' he had never noticed the
servant's error.
"It is your coat I am wearing," he
gasped. .
"Exactly," laughed Rising, "and I'm
wearing yours." He whipped it off as
he spoke. "They are 'as like as two
peas, and the stupid fellow at the club,
mixed them up. Now we'll exchange
if you please." v
Exchange! and the stolen designs for
the gun worth a small fortune to him
lying in. a pocket of the coat he was
himself wearing. Was there ever so
luckless a mischance! Pronge stood
hopelessly trapped. In the full glare
of the street limps with Cecil Fellowes
(his suspicions confirmed by Pronge's
obvious embarrassment) watching him
with jealous eyes, the simple action
of withdrawing the plans ere he di
vested himself of the , overcoat meant
his instant detection and arrest.
"Come, exchange is no robbery,"
quoted Rising. "I'm sold, man; off
with my coat."
There was absolutely no help for 'it:
Pronge obeyed, and Rising, receiving
it, first politely helped the Frenchman
into his own overcoat. Then he donned
the one Pronge had doffed, and the
substitution was complete.
"Has Monsieur Pronge any property
of his own in the coat he was wear
ing?" asked Cecil dryly at this junc
ture.' Pronge hesitated a moment, then
saw from his former friend's manner
that the game was up. He turned and
fled.'
"Why, what's come over the fellow?"
cried Rising in innocent astonishment.
"Hullo; , there' is something of his in
this pocket. Look here, 'Plans, etc., of
new field gun.' "
The French Government is now . us
ing the services of Monsieur Pronge
in another ' European capital. lie is
a violent anglophobe, with a special
prejudice against English tailors.
New York Commercial Advertiser.
Climate of Panama.
Tracey Robinson, one time United
States Vice-Consul at Colon, called at
the State Department to see Secretary
Hay, and sent in a card, the first yet
received there, bearing the words,
"Republic of Panama." He told the
Secretary " that he wanted to enter a
defense of the- climate of the Isthmus,
where he had lived for forty years and
enjoyed perfect health, a statement
borne out by his appearance. Wash
ington Star.
The Prince and Princess of Wales
are possessors of nineteen pianos, ev
ery one of which was a weeding -present.
-"- - -
Disposition of Horses.
Horses differ as greatly in disposi
tion as do human beings. Some horses
will enter into a race with vim and
courage and ambition to be first at the
wire. They do not need to be encour
aged or even spoken to. They will try
to beat another horse "and show almost
human pride in doing 'so. Somehorses
will make as great a fight in trailing
a field of horses as when they are
ahead. Others while in the lead are
full of ambition and make a desperate
effort to maintain their position, but let
another horse pass them and they lose
heart, become discouraged and do not
seem to have within several seconds, of
their usual natural speed. Sometimes
a driver asks more of a horse than he
can perform, and that moment his in
fluence over him weakens. The asking
too much is oppression, and the ahorse
knows it and shows it by his discour
agement. Impossibility is asked of the
horse and all honest endeavor is gone.
How often has this been witnessed
with horses too heavily loaded. A team
of horses may be ever so true, but if
they are once or twice loaded beyond
their capacity their discouragement
will be noticed In their half-hearted
efforts. A team will sometimes make
two or three desperate efforts to move
a load, and being unable will not try
again, despite 11 the efforts of the
driver.
Balzac's Flan Didn't Work.
When Miss Marie Manning, author
of Judith of the Plains, was1 a "girl at
boarding-school, she and her "chum"
determined to devote their lives to the
pursuit of literature. They decided to
follow the plan of Balzac namely to
eat a substantial dinner in the evening
and retire at once to sleep until mid
night. Upon the stroke of that hour
they would , rise and devote the rest
of the night to labor, thus securing the
most quiet hours for wtwfc The plan
,worked admirably so far as eating the
dinner was concerned. They then re
tired. An hour passed. Then a voice
broke the silence: "Are j'ou asleep?"
'.'No,", was the reply, "can't." Another
hour passed.. "Are you. asleep?" said
the voice again, softly. "No. can't
close my eyes," came the gloomy re
rly. At midnight, however, they arose,
and prepared for the night's labor.
jKut they had scarcely arranged their
writing materials and clad themselves
appropriately than they immediately
became much too sleepy to work. "Are
you awake?" said the voice again.
"Yes, but I can hardly keep my eyes
open." "Let's go to bed." "Very well."
And two discouraged litterateurs re
tired to the slumbers.'of the young and
healthy. Thus Balzac's plan failed.
Harper's Weekly.
'Had Forgotten Something:.
Porter Smith tells this one on Colonel
Beverly Dorsey, of Hutchison, who is
greatly troubled with absentminded
ness. On his way home from Paris, af
ter arranging for the delivery of 1000
turkeys to Brent Brothers, the thought
came to Bev. that he had forgotten
something. He took out his notebook,
went over every item, checked it off
and saw that be had made all the pur
chases that he had intended. As he
drove on he could not put aside the
feeling that there was something miss
ing. He took out his notebook and
checked off every item again, but still
found no mistake. He did this several
times, but could not dismiss the Idea
vhat he must have .forgotten some
thing. When he arrived home and
drove up to the house his son came out
to meet him, and with a look of sur
prise asked: "Why, where is maw?"
Paris (Ky.) Gazette.
A Money-Loving Rat.
A rat has recently caused consider
able consternation in a French family.
A gentleman, on leaving his office" in
Paris, 'locked up in his1 cupboard, for
temporary safety, a canvas bag con
taining about fifty gold coins. Next
morning, when he went to fetch the
money to put in the bank, the cupboard
was a bare as that of Mother Hub
bard. The police were called in and
set to watch certain suspected per
sons, but in the meanwhile some one
noticed a small hole in the cupboard,
suggesting a fourrlegged thief. So
small parcels of meat were locked up
in the cupboard for two nights. These
also disappearing, some of the wood
work was taken up, and the remnants
of the meal showed the way to the rat
hole four feet away, where the remains
of a canvass bag and the missing coins
were duly discovered. Golden Penny.
The pension issue last year was the
largest in ten years; the Issue for the
first quarter of the present year ex
ceeds the same period last year by
twenty-five per cent. ,
CATS AND DOGS IN NEW YORK.
An Estimate of Their Numbers,
Based on Defoe's Figures.
"Few of us, I suppose," said Prof,
von Joggleby, "have any adequate no
tion of the actual number of cats and
dogs that would be found in New York
if a census of them could be taken.
"We all know, in a general way, that
there are lots of dogs here and a
good many cats; but few of us, I sup
pose, have any adequate conception of
their actual numbers. Perhaps we
could get some light on this subject
by the aid of certain statistics con
tained in Defoe's history of the
plague in London.
"It being deemed that dogs and cats
were dangerous to the community at
that time, on account of their natural
habit of running about from house to
house" and from street to street,
whereby they would spread the infec
tion, it was decreed that all dogs and
cats should be killed and officers were
appointed for their execution.
V 'It is incredible, if their account is
to be depended upon,' says Defoe,
'what a prodigious number of these
creatures were destroyed. I think
they talked of 40,000 dogs and five
times as many cats, few houses being
without a cat, some having several,
sometimes five or six In a house.'
"There are some persons, I know,
who, while conceding to Defoe full
credit for the power of his imagina
tion, are inclined to doubt his accu
racy as a historian. But my own ob
servations of the conditions in New
York at the present time prompt me
to accept his dog and cat statistics as
to London at the time of the plague
as true; and so accepting them, what
do we find?
"The population of London at the
time of the great plague, 1665, was
about 500,000, while the population of
New York at the present day is about
4,000,000. Accepting Defoe's figures of
40,000 dogs and 200,000 cats to a pop
ulation of 500,000 as a working basis,
we should get a ratio of 80,000 dogs
to the million inhabitants and 400,
000 cats. .
"Now, multiply these figures by
four, the number of millions of people
now finding a home in New York, and
we find that there are here existing
at the present day 320,000 dogs and
1,600,000 cats, and these figures I be
lieve to be well within the facts.
"I know, for instance, that from my
study window, which commands a
view of a range of backyards, I see in
every yard one dog at least, and in
some two, while the cats that walk
the fence-tops are innumerable, and
Is it not fair to assume that the same
conditions exist everywhere?
"And do we not meet dogs and cats
wherever we may go, whenever we
walk the streets? In the absence of
an exact census I tnink we might say
that there are In New York at the
present day 500,000 dogs and 2,000,00
cats ,and be not far from the truth."
New York Sun.
Medieval Marconi.
Several old writers mention mys
terious methods of aerial communica
tion, and Strada, an Italian antiquary
who wrote during the 16th century,
describes an invention having an ex
traordinary resemblance to Sig. Mar
coni's present-day wonder.
Strada says that two friends about
to be separated each procured a nee
dle magnetized at the same odestone
and affixed them to swing on dials
marked with the letters of the alpha
bet. They agreed that, at certain speci
fied periods after they parted, each
should retire into a private apartment
with this apparatus; and thereafter,
by directing the needle to the letters
necessary to spell out their meaning,
the pair were able to convey their
thoughts in an Instant to one another
across the continent, as Strada puts
it, "over Cities or mountains, seas or
deserts."
This, at the last, is an astonishing
forecast, and may be a fact, for to ex
pound such a scheme at that period
was to chance being burnt as a sor
cerera risk Strada would be un
likely to run for mere fiction. Stray
Stories.
Faithful Dog.
A beggar who recently died in a
Paris hospital possessed a dog which
was greatly attached to him. During
the man's stay in the hospital the
animal never moved away from the
door. When the beggar died the dog
followed his body to the cemetery,
where it remained lying on the grave
tor several days.