$s.oo a Year, In Advance.
44 FOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH."
5iagle Copy, 5 Cent.
VOL'.' XV;
PLYMOUTH, N, C, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1904.
NO. 35.
its-
s
I
LOTTERY
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88
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88
VH
0 AMES LANNING was a
4 ,-v-,t )i mechanic, a young, honest
O i O man, whose highest arnbi-
tion was to gain a com-
. 5Qf fortable home for himself
and wife, and to be
thought well of by his neighbors. He
had built himself a house, and there
Ktill remained upon it a mortgage of
$."300; but this sum he hoped to pay in
a few years, if he only had his health.
He had calculated exactly how long
it would take him to clear off this in
cumbrance, and he went to work with
his eyes open.
; One evening James came home to his
supper more thoughtful than, usual.
His . young wife noticed his manner,
and she inquired its cause.
"What is it, James?" she kindly
asked. "Why, I never saw you look so
sober before."
"Well, I'll tell you, Hannah," re
turned the young man, with a slight
.hesitation in his manner. "I have just
. been thinking that I would buy a lot
tery ticket."
': Hannah Lanning did not answer im
mediately. She looked down and
'smoothed the silken hair of her babe,
( which was chirping like a little robin
in her arms, and the shades of her
.handsome features showed that she
was taking time to think.
"How much will it cost?" she asked,
. at length, looking half timidly up into
her husband's face, .
"Twenty dollars," returned James,
trying to assume a confidence which
he did not feel.
"And have you made up your mind
to' buy it?"
Vt'U, 1 I.UII1K X Mi ill J. ViiML UU JUU
think about it?" ;
"If 3tou should ask my advice, I
'should nay do not buy it."
, "But why so?" ' ' '. ..
"For many reasons," returned his
Wife, in a trembling tone. ,
Kia wnnld not nfppnrl Iipv husband.
and she shrank from giving him ad
vice which he might not follow.
"In the first place," she said, "I think
the whole science of lotteries is a bad
fnf rmd tlipn vriii lmv rtr mnnPT in
. risk." ;
, "But just look at the prizes," said
James, drawing a "scheme" from his
pocket. , "Here is one prize of $20,000,
another of $10,000, another $3000, and
so on. Something tells me that if I
nuy a ticket I shall draw a large prize.
Ami then just think, Hannah, how eas
ily I could pay all up for my house,
and perhaps have a good handsome
sum left." -,
The young man spoke with much
earnestness and assurance, but he saw
' that there was a cloud upon his wife's
brow.
It seems to me that the chance of
drawing a prize is very doubtful," said
Hannah, as she took the scheme.
"Here are many thousand tickets to be
sold." .
. The babe tried hard to snatch the
paper, and Hannah laid it aside.
"I think I shall run the risk," re
' sumcd James, glancing once more over
the paper, and resting with a nervous
longing upon the figures which repre
sented the higher prizes. "There's
. Barney; ho drew about ?S00 a year
ago."
"Yes, I know it," said Hannah, with
more warmin tnan sue nau ociore
ml ..w, tiVicf nil nnil n-lnf line? LfiiAtllA nf
.' ilk iiium j . j.uu iuu iif jiu'j
squandered it all aAvay. Ah, James,
money is of no use unless we come
jfhonestly by it.
"Honestly?" repeated the young man.
"'Surely, there is nothing dishonest in
drawing a prize in a lottery.'.'
"I think there is," kindly, but em
pbaticalry, replied the wife. "All
. games of hazard, where money is nt
stake, are dishonest. Were you , to
draw a prize of $20,000, you would
rob a thousand men of $20 each ; or
at least, you would take from them
money for which you returned them no
equivalent. Is it not gambling in every
sense of the word?" v ,
"Oh, no! You look upon the matter
In too strong a light."
k ,, 1 -.T 1 1 , 1
1
TICKET.
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88
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88
88
Tcrhaps I do; but yet so it looks to
me. - What you may draw some one
else must lose; and perhaps it may be
some one who can, afford the loss no
better than you can. I wouldn't buy
the ticket, James. Let us live on the
products of our honest gains, and we
shall be happier."
James Lanning was uneasy. He had
no answer for his wife's arguments;
at least, no answer that could spring
from his moral convictions, and he let
the matter drop. But the young man
could not drop the siren from his
heart. All the next day his head was
full of "prizes," and while he was at
his work he kept muttering to himself,
"Twenty thousand dollars," "Ten thou
sand dollars," "Five thousand dollars,"
and so on.
When he went home the next night
he was almost unhappy with the ner
vous anxiety into which he had thrown
himself. The tempter had grasped
him firmly, and whenever he thought
of the lottery, he saw nothing but piles
of gold and silver. In short, James
Lanning had made up his mind that he
would buy the ticket. He went to the
little box where he had already $120
laid up toward paying off the mort
gage from his house. The lock clicked
with a startling sound, and when he
threw back the cover he hesitated. He
looked at his wife, and he saw that she
was sad.' . ' -
"Oh, I'm sure I shall draw a prize!"
he said , with ' a faint, fading smile.
He took four half-eagles from the.
box, and put them in his pocket. His
wife said nothing. She played with her
baby to hide her sadness, for she did
not wish to say more on the subject.
She had seen that little pile of gold
gradually accumulating, and both she
and her husuand had been happy in an
ticipating the day when the pretty
cottage would be all their own. But
when she saw those four pieces of gold
taken away from the store, she felt a
foreshadowing of evil. She might have
spoken again against the movement,
but she saw; that her. husband was
sorely tender upon " the subject, and
she let the affair go to the hands of
fate.
A week elapsed from the time .that
James bought his ticket to the draw
ing of the lottery, and during that time
the young man had not a moment of
real enjoyment. He was alternating
between hope and fear, and therefore
his 'mind was constantly on the
stretch.
At length the day arrived. James
went to the office, and found that the
drawing had taken place, and that the
list of prizes had been made out. He
seized the list and turned away, so
that those who stood around should
not see his face.. He read the list
through, but he searched for his num
ber in vain! It was not there. He had
drawn a blank! He left the office an
unhappy man. Those twenty dollars
which he had lost had been the say
lugs of two months of hard labor, and
he felt their loss most keenly. v
When he returned home that night
he told his wife that ho had lost. She
found no fault with' him. She only
kissed him and told him that the lesson
was a good one, even though it had
been dearly bought. ' '
But James Lanning was not satisfied.
He brooded over his loss with a bitter
spirit, and at length the thought came
to him that he might yet draw a prize.
He wished that he had not bought the
first tieket, and if he could only get
back his $20 he would buy no more;
but he would not rest Under his loss.
He was determined to make one more
trial, and he did so. This timy he pur
chased the ticket without his wife's
knowledge. The result was the same
as before. He drew blank!
"Forty dollars!" was a sentence that
dwelt fearfully upon the mechanic's
lips.
"Oh, I must draw a prize!" he paid to
himself. "I must make up what I have
lo.st. Let me once do that, and I'll
buy no more tickets."
Another $20 was taken from the little
bank, another ticket was bought, an
other blank was drawa. At the end
of three months the little bank was
empty, and James Lanning had the last
ticket in his pocket. Ah, how earnestly
he prayed that that last ticket might
draw a prize! , He had become pale
and careworn, and his wife poor, con
fiding soul! thought he only repined
because he had lost $20. When she
would try and cheer him, he would
laugh, and try to make the matter
light. ,
"James," said his wife to him one
day it was the day before that on
which the lottery was to be drawn in
which he had the sixth ticket "Mr.
Rowse has been here to-day after the
semi-annual interest. I told him that
you would see him to-morrow."
"Yes, I will," said James, in a faint
voice. "Yes, to-morrow I shall see
him." ;
Young Lanning thought -of the lottery
and of the prize. This was his sixth
trial, and he felt sure that he . should
draw.
The morrow came, and when James
Lanning returned to his home at night
he was penniless! All his golden vis
ions had faded away, and he was
left in darkness and misery. :
"James, have you paid Mr. Rowse
his interest yet?" asked Hannah.
The young man leaned his head upon
his hands and groaned aloud.
"For heaven's sake, James, what has
happened?" cried the startled wife,
springing to the side of her husband,
and twining her arm about his neck.
The young man looked up with a
wild, haggard expression. His lips
were bloodless, and his features were
all stricken with a death-hue.
"What is it?. Oh, what?" murmured
the wife.
"Go look' in our box our little bank!"
groaned the poor man.
Hannah hastened away, and when
she ..returned, she bore an empty box
in her hand. .
"Bobbed!" she gasped, and she sank
tremblingly down beside her husband's
side. .
"YTes, Hannah," whispered the hus
band, "I have robbed you." '
The stricken wife gazed upon her
husband with a. vacant look, for at first
she did not-comprehend; but she re
membered his betiavior for weeks
back; she remembered how he had
murmured in his sleep of lotteries and
tickets, of blanks and prizes, and grad
ually the truth-broke in upon her. ... "
"I have done it all, Hannah," hoarse
ly whispered the ' condemned man,
when he saw that his wife had guessed
the truth. "All, all has gone for lot
tery tickets. The demon tempter lured
me; he held up'glittenug gold in his
hand, but he gave me none of it. Oh,
do not chide me! You know not what
I have suffered what hours of agony
I have passed and you know how cold
my heart is now. Oh, my wife, would
to God I had listened to you'"
"Ah!" calmly whispered the faithful
wife, as she drew her hand across her
husband's heated brow. "Mourn not
for what is lost. Twill not chide you.
It is hard thus for you to lose your
scanty earnings, but there might be
many worse calamities than that. Cour
age, James; we will soon forget it."
, "And Mr. Rowse will foreclose the
mortgage. You will be homeless,"
murmured young Lanning in broken
accents.
"No"; I will see that all is safe in that
quarter," added Hannah.
At that moment the baby awpke, and
the gentle mother was called to care
for it. On the next day, at noon, Han
nah Lanning gave her husband a re
ceipt for $15 from Mr. Rowse.
"Here," said she, "interest is paid.
Now let us forget all that has passed,
and commence again."
"But how what has paid this?"
asked James, gazing first upon the re
ceipt, and then upon his wife.
"Never mind."
"Ah, but I must mind. Tell me, Han
nah."
"Well, I have nold my gold watch." ,
"Sold it!" . j
"But I can buy it back again. The
man will not part with it, if I want it.
But I don't want it, James, till we are i
able. Perhaps I shall never want it. I
You must not chide me, for never did
I derive one iota of the pleasure from i
its possession that I now feel in the
result of its disposal." i
James Lnnnon clasped his wife to his i
bosom, and he murmured a prayer, and
in that prayer there was a pledge.
Two years passed away, and during
that time James Lanning lost not a sin
gle day from his work. He was as
punctual as the sun, and the result
was as sure.
It was late on Saturday evening
when he came home. After supper, he
drew a paper from his pocket, and laid'
it upon the table.
"There, Hannah," said he, while a
noble pride beamed in every feature,
"there is my mortgage. I've paid it
every cent. .This .house is, ours; it is
our own house. I've bought it with
dollars, every one of which has been
honestly earned by the sweat of my
brow. I am happy now."
Hannah Lanning saw. that her hus
band had opened his arms, and she sat
down upon his knee and laid her head
upon his shoulder.
"Oh, blessed moment!" she mur
mured. "Yes, It is a blessed moment," re
sponded her husband. "Do you remem
ber, Hannah, the hour of bitterness
that we saw two years ago?"
The wife shuddered, but made no
reply.
"Ah," continued the young man, "I
have never forgotten that bittei lesson;
and even now I tremble when I think
how fatally I was deceived by the
tempter that has lured so many thou
sands to destruction."
"But its horror is lost in this happy
moment," said Hannah, looking up
with a smile.
"Its terror may be lost," resumed
James, "but its lesson must never be
forgotten. Ah, the luring lottery ticket
has a dark side a side which few see
until they feel it."
"Are not all its sides dark?" softly
asked the wife. "If there is any bright
ness about it, it is only the glare of the
fatal ignis fatuus, which can only
lead the wayward traveler into danger
and disquiet."
"You are right, my dear wife. You
were right at first. Ah," he continued,
as he drew the faithful being more
closely to his bosom, "if husbands
would of tener obey the tender dictates
of the loving -wife, there would be far
less misery in the world than thercis
now." Waverley Magazine.
Are Americans Popular in England ?
As a matter of fact, no English poli
tician ever thinks of mentioning the
United States in the speech without
some complimentary adjective, and the
British: public, which has. long ceased
to be the most stolid public in Europe,
and become instead, thanks to cheap
reading, one of the most hysterical and
sentimental, always cheers heartily
any allusion to "our cousins beyond
the sea," and agrees rapturously with
the speaker that "blood is thicker than
water." An American who tries to
persuade himself that his country has
a political foe in England had better
stay in America if he wants to keep
his faith whole. It would hardly sur
vive a fortnight in England itself.
Englishmen bear no grudges. They
are as proud of Washington as Amer
icans themselves; most of them are not
even aware that there was such a
thing as the War of 1812; while they
quite cheerfully admit that all through
the Civil War and the Alabama busi
ness they were in the wrong, and were
rightly made to pay for it. In the vis
itors' room at the Reform Club on
Pall Mall you will find over the mantle
piece a facsimile of the. Declaration of
Independence, and above it medallions
of Washington, Lincoln and Grant.
There is something rather fine in a peo
ple that can thus candidly publish and
acknowledge two of the greatest blun
ders in their history. But the British'
have grown into a blg'habit of always
exempting Americans from the ordi
nary divisions of nationality. Cecil
Rhodes was far from being the only
Englishman whose patriotism went be
yond the empire, and included the!
race. The least imaginative Londoner
feels himself and his couutry in a verjj
special degree united to America. It!
is the nation of all others he would!
most like his own to be on friendly and
even intimate ' terms with. Sydney!
Brooks, In Harper's Weekly.
A Cat Doxolojjy.
A gentleman who is heartily in sym
pathy with the Chancellor of the Ex
chequer in his resolve not to tax cats,
writes to tell us of a meeting held to
protest against the proposal. At the
conclusion of the proceedings those
present joined in ' singing "Kittens
Never Shall Be Slaves." London
News.
Ye OltJcn Mayor.
Mayors appear to have had their
troubles two centuries ago. At lli-'io-feld,
Germany, there is a tombstone
with this inscription: "Here lies Jo
hannes Bnrggreve, whs considered his
election as burgomaster of this city
the greatest misfortune of his life."
FURTHER INSTRUCTION.
Be entered the department store
And asked that he be shown
The route to reach the clothing floor,
Then he would go alone.
The courteous floorwalker said:
"Three aisles across, then down
Four aisles, you then keep straight ahead"
The roan began to frown.
"You take the elevator then,"
The floor man next observed;
"Get off the car at Number Ten."
(The man was quite unnerved).
'Across four aisles, and then you turn
Six counters to your right;
Look to the left and you'll discern
A distant ruby light.
"Pass under that and then you're near
The clothing stock you wish "
The man cried out: "I cannot hear!
You gabble like a fish,
I never heard such silly talk;
You're having sport with me.
Your jocular designs I'll balk
I'll make complaint. You'll see!"
The courteous floorwalker bowed
And said: "Turn to the right,
Go down the aisle until the shroud
Department comes in sight;
From there just thirteen aisles you trace
Until you reach the paints
Beside them is a desk the place
Where you may make complaints."
W. D. Nesbit, in Life.
; Irascible Old Gentleman (to cab
driver) "I say, cabby, we're not going
to a funeral." Cabby (promptly) "No,
and we ain't going to no bloom in' tire,
either." Illustrated Bits.
"I don't have to work for a living,"
said the shiftless individual. "Of
course you don't," rejoined the busy
man. "If you did it's a safe bet that
you --.wouldn't be living." Chicago
Daily News.
, "Is this a good climate?" "Yes," an
swered the- mild and credulous man.
"Everybody seems healthy just now.
But I've noticed when the ball club is
in town everybody working for me has
sickness" or funerals in the family."
.Washington Star.
I wrote the girl a letter,
Oh, most unheeky day!
Her lawyer has that letter;
It's, marked "Exhibit A."
Philadelphia Press.
Frog Hollow Citizen "How is yer
Bon doin' in th' city?" Bungtown Man
"Furst rate. He gits ?2a day on the
Steenth street line, and makes $3 more
a week as New York society corre
spondent of the Bungtown Bugle."
New York Weekly.
Hicks "I understand the man who
invented the fountain pen made a
great fortune out of it?" Wicks (who
has nsnil nnp "Sunnnsp Iir did? What
doth it profit a man if he gain the
whole world and lose his own soul?"
Catholic Standard.
Ernie "Yes, he plays the violin for
her benefit every evening. He says
that music is the food of love." Eva
"And does that impress her favor
ably?" Ernie "No. She is afraid he
will think it is the food of married
life." Chicago News.
. Doctor "I found the patient, to be
suffering from abrasion of the cuticie,
tumefaction, ecchymosis, and extrava
sation in the integument and cellular
tissue about the left orbit," Judge
"You mean he had a black eye?" Doc
tor "Yes." London Tit-Bits.
An actress who chummed with Clyde
Fitch '
Heard some terrible snoring, , t which
She took off her hat
And found that a rat
Had fallen asleep at the switch!
Milwaukee Sentinel.
"Here, young man," said tlie old lady
with fire in her eye, "I've brung back
this thermometer ye sold me." "What's
the matter with it?" demanded the
clerk. "It ain't reliable. One time ye
look at it it says one thing, and the
next time it says another" Philadel
phia Ledger.
He "After I am out of college, darl
ing, I may have to wait a few mouths
before I can make enough to support
you." She "It is so hard to wait."
Ho (bravely) "I know it. But, of
course, you know the world doesn't
know anything about me yet."
Brooklyn Life.
China and Manchuria.
'A correspondent in the London
Times says that the Chinese care noth
ing for the provinces of Manchuria.
They form no part of the eighteen
provinces which fill the Chinese con
ception of his native land, though they,
gave birth to the ruling dynasty. Thia:
indifference may be real and may ac-1
count for the ease with which the Rus
sians have overrun the country ; yet
Uanchuria is worth fighting for. j