1 .
'0 i
$1.00 a Year, In Advance. FOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR TRUTH." Single Copy, 5 Cents.
VOL. XV. PLYMOUTH, N, C, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1904, NO, 39.
V
out in the Fields.
'I'll? little cares that fretted me..
1 lost them yesterday
Among the fields above the se.a,
Among the Avinda at play;
Among the lowing of the' herds,
The rustling of :the trees,
Among the singing'of the birds,
The humming of the bees.
THE HOLD
SOUTH
By !HA1II..i
2.QJm. Vj made -gas at the south
i( wnnrai .station. Our whole big
ATT 0 cty , was gyppjjed by two
. plants, the south and west
WK' stations, ours at the south
being the larger, and employing :i force
of 200 men. .
I had much to learn when I entered
the employment of the gas company as
bookkeeper, and I enjoyed my discov
eries Immensely, among them the fact
that water-gas was not . made from
X water; that the huge round gas holders
Hint were placed in the various city
wards were not meters, neither were
they filled to the; windows and doors
with a great bulk.of loose, floating gas
which might. rush out at any moment;
that' a gas plant must have engineers,
draftsmen, surveyors, masons and
builders, besides the host of stokers,
boiler tenders, pumpers and yardmen,
and that far and ammonia and coke, as
by-products, were turned out from the
huge plant, as well as its legitimate
products of coal and water-gas that
kept our city warm and bright of win
ter nights.
The consulting and contracting engi
neer for the whole company was also
local 'superintendent at these works,
and a man so enthusiastic in his pro
fession it has never since been my for
tupe to meet. He bad a huge technical
library of some 0000 volumes every
thing that bore even remotely on gas
making ami pamphlets and magazines
from alb over the civilized world. His
. only holidays were trips to attend con
ferences of gas men, and his social di
versions "were occasional evenings
spent with his confreres. For all this
he was the most genial and the most
versatile man I ever knew.
Kate Lloyd and I bad very good
times at the south station. Kate was a
later comer than I. She came in with
.Mr. Scorer's need for a private secre
tary," when bis mass of correspondence
grew, so bulky.
If I had been as ambitious and enter
prising before Kate's coining as 1 grew
afterward she would never have come,
f for when Mr. Storcr. one day remarked
that he wished I knew shorthand. I
only- replied vilh genuine regret that
I was very sorry I did not. And as it
was five months between that remark
$d the stenographer's coming, I
yiht have given my employer an
agreeable surprise by making myself
more valuable to him in the meantime.
However, that never entered my head
in those days. "Be fit for more than
the thing you are doing," I Lad not
then made my motto.
Kate Lloyd was a new sort of girl to
me. She was not willing to be idle two
' : minutes, 'When she was not catalog-
fug hooks or writing ber letters or
translating French documents she was
practicing touch typewriting, or getting
me to dictate to her in our leisure, for
Mr. "Storer was often away for clays at
a time, and we both had time on our
hands.
Thi'ie'was no escaping the contagion
of Kate's energy. It seems to have put
something into me permanently that
neviT was there before or perhaps it
only awoke something that had been
asleep.
Wf worked steadfastly and did om
work the best we knew how, and then
we did. other things. Kate told me
what I had already discovered, that I
was a little dunce not to learn short
hand, andfche proceeded to teach me
;Vwith energy and despatch. Then while
Vj practiced she, wanted to know if
there was .not anything I could teach
Tier, hut I could not think of a tiling
oept instrumental music, and we felt
iit we really must draw the line at a
p'mno at U c south station.
One day Mr. Storer brought the car
penters up stairs and set them at some
mysterious labor on the roof. We
guessed at a flagstaff and a tower and
h cupola, but Mr, Storer laughed and
would not tell.
-j r -1 1 finally, when the workmen bad
goiu leaving a rope which passed into
imv oilice through a hole in the ceilin
he hade me pull it. As I obeyed the
The foolish fears of what may happen
I cast them all away
Among the clover-scented grass,
Among the new-mown hay;
Among the husking of the corn
Where drowsy poppies nod,
Where ill thoughts die and good are born,
Out in the fields with God.
E. U. Browning.
- UP dT THE
STATION. f
M.
shriek of a siren whistle answered. I
let " with a fainter echo of my own.
"Which was you?" laughed Mr. Sto
rer. "It works all right, doesn't It?
Now we won't have to fall back on the
speaking tube, and get Michael to trav
el all over the works, hunting in a
hurry for a man he can't find. Miss
Nelson, you think up a dozen of the
men we send for oftenest and write
them down, and we'll see if we can't
get some sounds that they can each
answer to. Yes, and we must have a
general call to the office for pay night."
And here it was that I really bad a
bright idea myself quite worthy of
Kate.
"O Mr. Storer," I said, eagerly, "let
me call them by their initials in, the
Morse alphabet! The master mason,
Mr. Arnold, I'll call A. and then the
chief chemist you are always wanting,
he can tell his own D from A.1 May I
show you?"
"Go ahead." assented Mr. Storer, and
I laid my hand to the rope and blew:
" , , dash-dot-dash,
dash-dot-dot," twice. It worked beau
tifully. ,
"He needn't know the alphabet, of
course," I said, in explanation of my
idea, "but at the same time he can tell
D from A. So on with all the rest.
Shall I make a list, and then Kate can
typewrite it and hang it here, and I
will put the telegraph letters opposite,
so any one of us can pull the right one
by referring to it."
Mr. Storer thought the idea excellent,
and approved my list when it was com
pleted, merely adding to it:
"Six dots All hands double quick to
engineer's office."
How useful our new whistle proved!
The works were huge and shadowy
and full of nooks and corners, and a
search for a man was sometimes a
matter of hours, but when the whistle
spoke its voice echoed far and wide
across the .salt river, on the shore of
which, desolate and alone, stood the
long, smoke grimed buildings of the
south station.
Kate was delighted at my telegraphic
lore, and wished to learn it at once.
"You told me you didn't know any
thing to teach me," she said. "Yon
might bave been teaching me the
Morse alphabet. Do it now."
"Why, what good will it do you,
child? I learned telegraphy nine years
ago, and then took up bookkeeping,
and never put it to one cent's worth of
practical use till this very day."
"And isn't that quite enough?" re
joined Kate. "I should be glad if I
could do as much with anything I bad
learned. Why, you could call every
single man in the works with a two
letter combination, couldn't you?"
"I suppose so," I said, absently. "See
here, Kate, I believe I could teach you
telegraphy down here, after all. I
have a little instrument at home, and
Mr. Dale could fix us up a battery if
Mr. Storer is willing. He has every
thing in the laboratory. We'll ask
him."
Mr. Storer, on application, proved
perfectly willing. He knew almost
everything himself, it seemed to me,
and' he appreciated the desire of other
people to learn things. He superin
tended the construction of the battery
with the liveliest interest, and then as
tonished me beyond measure by sitting
down to the keyboard when it got into
running order end clicking oft noncbal
anly on the sounder.
"Well, how is it? All right?"
And f our ejaculations he said, with
a twinkle in his eyes as he hurried off
to some construction work, "I was
stranded down in Mexico once, and bad
to work my way home. I tried tele
graphing." "Did you ever see such a cosmopo
lite?" asked Kate, as he hurried away.
"Austria, Russia, China. California and
now. Mexico! The other day, in that
consultation, you know, the New York
man said, 'Where did you get that idea
of the roof arch? That seems an ex
cellent thing.' 'Oh, that's a little point
! I sot in Hungary,' said Mr. Storer. in
m
an every-day voice, and went on talk
ing. Shall I know half as much when
I'm his age?"
"You will if your present ihirst for
knowledge holds good," I laughed.
"Well, now, get your chair, and I'll
teach you the alphabet by sound. Ob,
what fun this is!"
We certainly did have good times at
the south station.
One winter evening it was pay
night, and Mr. Storer had gone up
town with the pay roll we sat at
work, Kate in the outer office, which
was separated by a wrought iron lat
ticework from the inner one, where I
was busy straightening out the books
for the last month.
The chemisu were in the works, get
ting bottlefuls of nauseating gas stuffs
for analysis; the draftsmen and assist
ant engineers had strayed afar, bound
on various errands. We had the up
per floor quite to ourselves.
It was a cold night and growing
dark. Down below, at the office en
trance, I could see, even through the
dark, the white linen cuffs and hoods
that gleamed against the sombre at
tire of two Catholic sisters. It was
their custom to appear promptly at the
works on pay nights, and to stand mod
estly and silently, with downcast eyes,
at the gates, to receive offerings from
the workmen as they passed out in
line, opening their yellow pay envel
opes. It was cold and growing colder, but
the sisters stood there patient, motion
less. The paymaster was late. I
thought, as I looked at the clock. Sud
denly I became aware, through the
monotonous click of Kate's typewriter,
of a sort of repetition in the sound.
My ear, trained to the spacings of the
telegraph alphabet, spelled out over
and over the word, "Ella! Ella!" my
own name.
I looked out with a smile, about to
make some amused comment on Kate's
discovery that the typewriter key
made an excellent substitute for the
key of a telegraph sounder.
But something strained and unusual
in her look and the pallor of her usu
ally rosy face deterred me.
"Don't speak!" the key went on.
"Look away!"
I did so, much wondering, and with
my heart beginning to beat uncomfort
ably fast.
"A man has come up stairs and
crawled into the laboratory," went on
the improvised key. slowly spelling out
the words. "He thinks I don't see
him."
Like a flash the situation dawned
upon me. The works stood on the
dark, deserted outskirts of the city,
and the paymaster, who drove down in
a little light buggy, always brought a
second man and a revolver with him,
to guard against highwaymen. The
works were generally well watched
within. What adverse fate was it that
had emptied the office building to
night? WThat should I do? If there was one
man already up stairs, of course there
was another one somewhere perhaps
two or three others.
I rose, humming a careless song, put
ting into it, I am sure, a most artistic
tremolo without the slightest effort.
"I think I'll firtish my tabulating on
the other machine!" I called out to
Kate, and whipped the cover off a
long carriage typewriter that stood by
me. Inserting for form's sake a long
sheet of paper, with trembling fingers
I rapped out:
"I understand. Can you tell if an
other one comes up?"
"Yes; I see the stairway," answered
Kate. "No one in sight."
"Is it too dark to see the road from
your window? Could you scream out
and warn the men as they come down
the hill?"
"Can't see the hill," answered the
chattering typewriter. "Don't dare
move. Think be has me covered with
revolver."
In spite of my fright I could but mar
vel at Kate's admirable composure.
She sat tapping ,away at her machine,
pausing now and then with a little puz
zled frown, with a pretense of deci
phering the notes in her book.
I thought fast. Could I write a note
and toss it down to those two silent
sisters below? It was too dark. They
would take it for a mere waste scrap of
paper, and I dared not call out.
"Another man." ticked the machine,
monotonously. "He has stopped on the
landing in dark corner. Not coming
up."
"Shall I call from my window?" said
the long carriage machine.
"No, no," answered the other. "Walt
till we hear the wheels, at least.'
"Don't you move, whatever you do."
I said. 'Til try to call from the, toilet
room window. Some one may see me.'
I rose, and still humming my care
less song, walked across into the safe
little inner room and flung the window
up. Outside all was silence and dark
ness. If only a workman wquld stroll
within that illuminating baud of light
that the lamp threw!
At that moment I heard the light
rumble of wheels. A wild impulse
seized me to fly back to the outer office,
fling up the window and warn the un
suspecting paymaster. Then I caught
sight of the whistle rope. In an in
stant I sprang to it well out of sight
of the crouching intruders and blew
for dear life, over and over, the six
short blasts of the "hurry-up" call.
Crisp and clear it shriekpd, in what
Kate used to speak of afterward ai
."angel tones," "All hands double quick
to the engineer's office!"
They poured in from every quarter.
I heard the crunch of mrny feet upon
the gravel. Never was a mere welcome
sound. Safe now from fear of detec
tion, I re-entered the toilet room,
closed the door behind me, flung, up
the window, and called cut to the won
dering crowd below:
"Two men are up here with pistols,
waiting to waylay the paymaster!"
I beard the calls, the sudden shifting
of pressure; I saw the throng pour in
below; I knew they would not come up
stairs unarmed, and I flew back to see
what had befallen Kate
Rut too bewildered to connect the
alarming shriek of the whistle on the
roof with the girl who still sat evoking
meaningless words from her faithful
machine, two men darted by her and
jumped out of the laboratory windows
to the yard below.
One fell heavily and was picked up
unconscious. A revolver lay beside
him. The other man never was cap
tured, although the hue and cry Avas
hot after him. It was found that he
boarded a car at the nearest point, and
after that all trace was lost.
Kate and I were regarded as great
heroines, and Mr. Storer was never
tired of joking us on our burglar
alarms and pretending to poke fun at
us. Rut we heard from many quarters
that he felt very proud of his assist-,
ants.
We still cherish, each of us, a sheet
of paper covered with typewritten
characters that seem destitute of all
sense, but we read between the lines
and they mean a great deal to us.
Youth's Companion.
Canada Finds Use For logflf7i.
Instead of offering a bounty for the
destruction of dogfish, the Canadian
Government has decided to establish
three reduction plants to convert the
fish into fertilizer and glue.
They will cost $0000 each, and the
Government itself will operate the
plants, paying the fishemen a good
prize for their fish offal and for all the
dogfish they can bring in. It is
claimed that the venture can be made
to yield a satisfactory profit. It is
calculated that the price paid for dog
fish and the desire of the fishermen
themselves to get rid of the nuisance
will be incentives enough to them to
keep the reduction works supplied
with all the material they require..
Kennebec Journal.
Higlits of Husband and Win'.
Without inviting discussion bf this
thorny question, I may say, writes
Labouchere in London Truth, that my
opinion is supposing anybody wants
it that a husband's rights are what
he can get. My view- of a Avife's rights
is the same. Whether it is wise for
either party to get all that he (or she)
can is a question of expediency, to be
decided according to circumstances
and individual inclination. The gov
erning principle of the situation is
that when two people ride the same
horse one must ride behind. The ques
tion, therefore, whenever a conflict
arises, is whether the front seat is
worth fighting about, and, if so, how
long and how hard.
Her Pertinent Query
,"Of course," she said, "I realize that
you have every confidence in me, as
you say, but I must admit that it
would be a great satisfaction to me
if you would tell me why "
"Yes?" he said, anxiously, as she
paused.
"If you would tell me," she repeated,
"why it is that you deem it necessary
to put your love letters through, a
copying press."
Then lie instantly recalled that she
had once been a stenographer in a bus
iness house, and was "on to" his irttle
precautionary measure, so to speak.
New York Press.
AN , HISTORIC WATCH
Time "jrlece Made For Klnjr. Cliftiles tat
Still Hunninjr.
! There is in the possession of Wilfred
Powell, who represents the Britich em
pire at this port, a timepiece that toldl
off the hours for England s royal mar
tyr. j After his victory over Charles 11,
Oliver Cromwell wrote exultantly to
j England's Parliament, telling how the-
enemy was beaten from hedge to
i hedge till he was finally driven into
I Worcester. There were 7000 prison
j ers among the spoils of that fight. The
! royal carriage in which the king had
; been carried waS there, too, and in
! that handsome carriage was the royal
carriage watch, which also ieil into
the bauds of the victorious Cromwell.
This timepiece of royalty, which
till ticks after a career of 202 years,
was made -in ,1040 for King Charles I.
by the royal .watchmaker of that time.
King Charles I. s beheaded two
years before his son Charles II. was
defeated on and escaped from the field
of Worcester.
It is of the oldest watchmaking pat
tern, being made entirely by hand,
and costing in its day a good round
sum of money. The case is of solid sil
ver, ornamented in beautiful pierced
filigree work, and there i.-? an outer
case of copper with a handsome leath
er cover, silver studded. The royal
watch runs thirty-six hours with one
winding. Only one hand is used iu
designating the time.
There is a s.lver bell enclosed within
the silver case, on which t tie hours
are struck. There is also an alarm at
tachment. The watch is four and one
half inches in diameter, and one aud
a half inches thick.
Cromwell kept it as a personal pos
session for years. Rut afte; the res
toration it fell into the hands of Jos
eph Kipling, Esq., of Oversione House,
North Hants, England, an ancestor of
Rudyard Kipling. Joseph Kipling was
also an ancestor of the present owner
of the watch. Philadelphia IVIegraph
Wanted A Remedy.
There is a fortune awaiting the man
Who invents a remedy for seasickness,"
said a physician.
"My brother is chief surgeon of an
Atlantic liner, and LQ tells me that
some people have offered him as much
as $300 to keep them well during their
trans-Atlantic passage. A sea voyage,
if one's health remains good, is the
most delightful thing in the world, but
If seasickness comes on it is a dread
ful agony.
"A millionaire and his young wife
crossed on my brother's ship during
their honeymoon. They had a $1200
suite on the upper promenade, and they
were not out of sight of land before
seasickness seized ;be:n.
"The bridegroom sent for ray brother.
" 'I'll give you $500 be said, 'if yon
can cure my wife and itl, aud keep us
cured till Ave reach Livapool.'
"My brother, you may be assured,
tried to earn that money, but it Avas of
no use. In their $1200 suite, on their
honeymoon, in the delightful June
weather, the unfortunate youug couple
lay in their berths from the beginning
of the voyage till its end, aud brother
says it "was pitiful to see how they
suffered.
"That is a sample of what my broth
er is continually running up against.
Hence, of course, be is t'.i xious to find
a preventive of seasickness. He tests
every remedy that he hears of.
"My brother says that a sure cure for
mal de mar would sell readily aboard
every ship for ?25 a bottle." Philadel
phia Bulletin.
A "Woman lecision.
From Geneva it is reported that a
sanguinary duel was fought in the
woods near Rellinzona between a
journalist and a rich tradesman, both
of Avhoui belong to Venice. Sabres
were the weapons used. Both men
were excellent swordsmen and the en
counter lasted ten minutes, when the
journalist indicted a horrible gash on
his adversary's cheek, almost cutting
away the lower part of his face. The
quarrel was over a woman, who de
clared, after it was ov-tjaat she
would have nothing to ,doVUJt;elther
of them, as the one-. w'HsNsisngu red
by the wounds and-;:iEe.thLv:Was too
bloodthirsty. '
Leap Years in Twentieth Century.
The greatest possible number of leap
years will occur in the twentieth cen
tury, the ; ear 1904. being the first one.
and every fourth year following up fo
and including 2000. In the same cen
tury February will three times have
five Sundays-in 1020, 101S. 107G.