Newspapers / The Roanoke Beacon and … / Aug. 28, 1908, edition 1 / Page 3
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IT. The Earth is flontisg like a little ball In such proportions do both stretch and . Upon thin air and on its back a sprawl, i . nifin; And all around, above, about, below, . bmce that strange chaos from which all Are other bubbles dancing on the air; , began Some million billions, rolling here and there, to hath it bobbed sea, mountain, man, And on their shells more men, for all we et al; know, inot a one ever na a a" et m ta'3 scheme stupendous, our great Though land and water, envious of wit tt Plafe; , , . Saith, once for all Man and his Earth Have shifted often, leaving little trace, are IT. Lurana W. Sheldon, in the New York Times. The Further Research of Wickhani. By RITA Thomas Henry Wlckham was good looking, Intellectual and twenty eight. He had always considered girls unworthy of attention, and had devoted his time to research in old Gothic. To be sure, once or twice during the year he had taught in the West ern university he had accepted invita tions to places of amusement where ladles were present. But that was be cause, it being leap-year, the ladies liad done the honors, and Miss Eu genia Harned, instructor in French, was not a young woman to be re fused. Now the year was over and he was off for his home in Boston, glad to be free from Western crudeness forever. He had planned to leave on the evening train for Chicago, where he would join an excursion going past Niagara and Toronto, down the Hud son, arriving at Boston in three days. He .lushed with pleasure as he bade the president good-by. The old man was saying with admiration: "Good work, my boy. You are doing well to be called back to Harvard after one year of teaching, and I wish you suc cess." Wickham was still blushing as he left the office and ran into Fan shaw, fellow in English, and Jenks, of the philosophy department. "Hello!" Jenks said. "They tell me you're leaving to-day?" "Yes," Wickham announced; "I go out on the 10.30." "Why," laughed Fanshaw, "Miss " he suddenly choked "we'll be down to see you off," he finished lamely. Wickham, absorbed in the business of getting out of town, walked off through the campus, unconscious of the winks and nods of the two men in front of the executive office. He reached the station barely In time that night, and found the plat form crowded with men of the younger university set and young women, among them, Miss Eugenia Harned. Apparently they were down to see him off, and Wickham was flat tered. He had never thought much of popularity, but if this was posing in the public eye he liked it. The ..Lorain thundered in and he climbed aboard, lifter several of the young omenT including Miss Harned, had preceded him. Some of the men fol lowed, and when he got inside he saw a whole host of them coming from the other end of the Pullman. His heart warmed. He had never considered himself a general favorite before, and the thought pleased him. Something was flying through the air like confetti on a fete night. The passengers in the other sections were all looking toward his end of the car and laughing uproariously. As he dropped his traveling bag on the seat an old shoe, thrown through the air, glanced off his sleeve. He turned and saw Miss Harned, the French instruc tor, in the opposite section, sur rounded by bagsand suit cases. She was blushing furiously and looked vexed. Wickham thought she was going to cry. He opened his mouth to speak. . Something hit against his teeth and he bit on it. It was white and hard, like a kernel. He saw that it was sprinkled over seats; people and traveling bags, and that the floor wis peppered with it. Someone at the door called out, "W'here's the bride?" The bell rang, the train be gan to move and the young people all scuttled. . The train was getting well under way as Wickham stepped out on the platform and slammed the door be hind him. Jenks and Fanshaw, returning from the station arm in arm, were rendered speechless by the apparition of Wickhani coming toward them from the second corner. "Why why what's the matter?" stammered Jenks. "Nothing," returned Wickham; "I just came down to meet you. I'm going out on the morning train," he announced. "The lady is more com fortable so," and, turning, he walked with them up the street. He barely made an east-bound train out of Chicago the following after noon, and was walking down the aisle looking for a seat when he stopped short, staring blankly. There before him sat Miss Eugenia Harned, look ing very pretty, in a cool brown and gold dress. Strange, he had never thought her pretty before! She was smiling at him in a timid way. He pulled off his hat and sat down in the seat facing the one which she occu pied. yf' ; "Miss Harned," he gasped; "this is indeed unexpected." "I'm sorry if you regret meeting -me again." Her long lashes swept her cheek as she looked down. Then she glanced up at the man glaring discomfited at her. "But I'm glad I have a chance to tell you how unut terably mean you were to leave me in that situation last night." "Why, Miss IJarned-f-" Wickham was growing rnK uncomfortable every moment; "l'coiKln't do any- thins else If I had ptlyed on they would have believed KCLLEY. "It was true. Exactly," she finished for him. "And they did. I spent half the night explaining that you had dropped off to save yourself from false accusation." "But, Miss Harned, I tried to save you!" Wickham was flushing in his effort to justify himself. "Well, you didn't," she announced, looking him steadily In the eyes, "They decided you had been kid naped, and they are all on tiptoe to see you make thl3 train." "Here now?" Wickham looked around him. "Are these the same people?" he asked; with a blank ex pression. "Yes," she said; "the excursion train was held over for twelve hours by a freight, and they are all bound for B6ston." Wickham groaned. Miss Harned settled herself in the extreme corner of her seat and looked steadily at the flying scenery. Wickham took to studying her face, because there was nothing else to do. "Three whole days of this," he thought, and he decided to move on into the smoker. He made some at tempt to excuse himself without at- J 0 a 0 t 0 9 C t 0 9H.QC9 Matthew AND- Benjamin ON THE EIGHTS 9 Matthew Arnold says: "Inequality, like absolutism, thwarts a vital instinct, and being thus against nature, is against our humanization. A system founded on it is against nature, and in the long run breaks down. And again he says:' "Democracy is trying to affirm its own essence; to live, to enjoy, to possess the world. Ever since Europe emerged from barbarism, ever since the condition of the common people began a little to improve, ever since their minds began to stir, this effort of democracy has been gaining strength; and the more their condition improves, the more strength this effort gains. "Our shortcomings in civilization are due to our inequality; or, in other words, the great inequality of classes and property, which came to us from the Middle Age, and which we maintain because we have the religion of inequality, this constitution of things has the natural and necessary effect of materializing our upper class, vulgarizing our middle class, and bru talizing our lower class. And this is to fail in civilization. We are trying to live on with a social organization of which the day is over." And then there was serene old Benjamin Jowett, who pauses in his analysis of Plato's "Republic" to ask: "Are we quite sure that the received notions of property are the best? Can the spectator of time and all existence be quite convinced that one or two thousand years hence great changes will not have taken place in the rights of property, or even that the very notion of property beyond what is necessary for personal maintenance may not have disappeared? The reflection will occur that the state of society can hardly be final in which the interests of thousands are periled on the life and character of a single person. And many will indulge the hope that the state in which we live will be only transitional, and may conduct to a higher state, in which property, besides ministering to the enjoyment of the few, may also furnish the means of the highest culture to all, and will be a greater benefit to the public generally, and also more under the control of public authority. There may come a time when the saying, 'Have I not a right to do what I will with my own?' may appear to be a barbarous relic of individualism." From Collier's Weekly. 0 9 $ 9 0 9 0 9 0 9 i 9 0 9 $ 9 9 9 t 9 9 4 9 4 9 0 9 -Cvl tracting the attention of the passen gers, but she ignored him. He fell to wondering if she would forgive him for the embarrassment of the evening before, and remembered that he had not asked for pardon. She seemed unconscious of his gaze, and he watched the sensitive outlines of her face vary in expression. Really, she was very interesting. The brown of her dress just matched the sheen of her hair and eyes. He found him self adjusting his panama on his blond head, squaring his snouiaers that had been broadened by rowing in the Harvard crew. If only they had not been thrust together under such trying circumstances! He met her eyes and looked at her till she spoke. "And you are such a woman-hater, too " she said. "Oh, but I'm not! " He flashed itout and smiled dazzlingly at her to see the light in her eyes. Truly, Wick ham was waking up. "Some women, perhaps; but certainly not of you. "Oh, your husband has found you, I see!" exclaimed a thin, little voice. And Wickham turned to see a moth erly person beaming upon them with kindly eyes. He bent toward Miss Harned with the least bit of a wicked gleam in his eyes. "We'll have to stick it out to the end," he said. "To Boston," she corrected. "Madam, won't you be seated?" He rose and bowed gravely to the odd little person in a brown alpaca dress. She slipped into the seat shyly, her thin, worn hands fingering a pleat down the front of her dress. Her eyes redeemed her plain face; they grew large and almost wistful as they looked at Miss Harned. "You must be so happy," she said, her voice lingering over the words. Eugenia Harned flushed crimson. "Pardon me," the little woman hastened to add. "I, know just how you feel; it is all so new and won derful. And you can't hardly realize that it is all true yet that you've got each other." She looked from Miss Harned to Wickham. That wicked person returned the glance steadily and smiled. "Exactly," he agreed. ' "I remember when John and 1 wore' married," s'tte continued, "we want from MeadowvIIle to Chicago on. our wedding trip." She smiled reminiscently. "That isn't such a nice one as yours " Eugenia squirmed in her seat by the window. She threw Wickham a glance that should have softened his heart, but it didn't. "Are you going to live In Boston?" the little woman was questioning. And Wickham, with a charming bow, acknowledged that they were. He looked at Miss Harned. He de cided all at once that he wanted a smoke. He bowed himself off as smoothly and as quickly as possible. By the time he had reached the smoker he had forgotten all about cigars. His face betrayed unusual perturbation of mind, and he adjusted his hat several times before it rested entirely to his satisfaction. He was conscious that he had gone too far with Miss Harned, and he had the uncomfortable thought that she would never forgive him. And through all he knew he should be proud of Miss Harned if she were ac tually his wife. His wife! The mere thought had all the flavor of wildest romance. To the man's man to a digger of old Gothic roots the first realization of femininity as a potent force in life struck him broadside with a force that made him gasp. His wife! Why not? He started up with his chin out, a full light of determination in his eye he would go and ask her now. And he swung down the aisle. Miss Harned was being entertained by the little woman in the brown al paca dress. She looked tired and cross, and a red spot glowed in either cheek. He ignored the little woman, who looked up brightly at him, but went on talking,- and, leaning over toward Miss Harned, he said steadily: "Come on out here; I want to talk with you." She threw him a glance that was half scorn, half entreaty. "Then they all got the measles and (1 c o 4 9 a 0 0 0 Arnold Jowett, OF PROPERTY. 9 4 a 0 a 4 a 4 a 0 a f a 0 a 4 a 0 a 4 a 0 a 4 a 0 a 4 a 0 Johnny took the whooping cough " Miss Harned shot to her feet and was crowding into the aisle before the amazed little woman could finish her sentence; but Wickham bent over and looked into the hurt, brown eyes. "Thank you," he said, gently, let ting his fingers sweep over her worn hand. "We'll be back presently," and he strode after Miss Harned, overtak ing her on the platform. "I am sorry, Miss Harned," -he said, taking hold of her arm and closing the door at the same time. She con fronted him with angry eyes brim ming with tears. "Oh, forgive me," he said, with a world of compassion in his voice. "It is all a miserable mistake, and I'll go back and kill those university people if you say so." He looked so vicious that she laughed through her tears. "No, no; let them live. The poor dunces! They've nothing else to do." "But their asinine foolishness has made you uncomfortable." "Really, I'm beginning to enjoy it it's all so so unusual." A round ing of a curve sent her into Wick ham's arms. "Yes, it is," he assented, steadying her and looking down at the brown head so near his shoulder "and nice," he added, watching the tendrils of her hair stream out in the wind. "Don't, don't!" she pleaded; "don't you see they are all looking?" Wickham became conscious that his arm was still about her and that there were people in the coach ahead. A sudden light came into his eyes. It was a mingling of Satanic glee or triumph. Eugenia could not tell which; but the arm around her tight ened. Instinctively she knew her hour had come that there was no escape. "It is quite the customary thing for a man 'to put his arm around his wife when they are looking at the scenery," he said, assuredly. Eugenia gasped. She tried moving away nat urally, as though to take another look at a telegraph pole flying past. lie moved with her, keeping her firmly in front of the plate-glass door. "And especially on the rear platform of a railway coach; it is dangerous other wise," he added. "Then I shall go in," she said angrily. "I'm wsrry, but I'm really afraid the door is locked a.little formality the porter saw to. This road is par ticularly kind to newly-married peo ple." "Dr. Wickham," her eyes blazed dangerously as she confronted him, "are you a fool or a madman?" "Neither, my dear," he said, sooth ingly; "only this thing has got to end here, and the only way out of it is for you to promise to marry me. Will you?" Again Miss Harned could only gasp. "You see, these people are mainly Bostonese, and I've met a few who are personally acquainted with our families (may the Lord forgive me)," he said under his breath, "and there Is really no other way out of it. Will you, Eugenia? You see, our family has known yours for generations, and it is truly not so bad, and and I love you, Eugenia. Say yes." ' His arm was like iron about her. The people in the coach sat with eyes turned discreetly away. She looked up at his broad shoulders, his fine head, and reluctantly into his serious blue eyes. She had half expected to find them mocking, but they held her reluctant ones with a quiet force that fascinated her. She could not look away. "Will you, Eugenia?" he asked. She could not bring herself to say either the one thing or the other. His eyes were searching hers, and she felt herself yielding irrevocably. She made a last futile effort to get away, and stopped motionless. "You will, Eugenia," he said, soft ly, and bending over he kissed her full on the lips. He smiled to see the hot color surge in her face. She laughed with embarrassment. "Have it your own way," Jhe said. "But, thank heaven, getting engaged doesn't mean getting married. If I ever get off this train " "You'll marry me," he said, smiling down at her. "Well, we'll not speak of that now," sh9 said, disengaging herself with a sigh of relief and glancing into the car. "Yes, time enough when our friends meet us at Boston," he as sented, lazily. "Have you had enough fresh air?" he asked, turning toward the door and opening it. "Why I'll never speak to you again!" she said, looking at the open door. "You said it was locked." "All's fair, you know," he said, stepping aside for her to pass, and looking so handsome that she had not the heart to more than frown. "I'll say good-by to you for a little goou-uy 10 you ior a nine 3. Wickham," he grinueft her in her section. I t known definitely what while, Mrs as he left her It is not known definitely Wickham did in the following two days, but he must have made himself very engaging, for Eugenia had prom ised to marry him in the fall, and they were on good terms when the train pulled into Back Bay station. She was stunned to descend into a very bedlam of old friends and rice rice everywhere. She threw one van quished glance at Wickham, who stood smug and complacent, his arm around an elderly woman with nose glasses, who clung to his coat buttons with tremulous hands. "But I thought you were going into further research, Thomas," with a discomfited glance at Miss Harned. "Yes, so I have, mother. Come, meet my wife," and he went toward Eugenia, who stood expostulating to the hilarious and utterly incredulous crowd. He bent over her. "We'll run out to Cambridge to morrow at 10 and have it fixed up," he said. She looked at him with relief and resignation in her eyes. "I guess we'll have to!" McCall's Magazine. NDU5TRJA The American Museum of Natural History has received samples of the hair, wool and hide of a mammoth, probably the only samples of the out er covering of this extinct animal now in America. They are from Ele phant Point, Alaska. Most of the opium in India is pro duced in the agencies cf Bihar and Benares, which have, respectively, 106,000 and 215,000 acres under cul tivation. The net revenue derived from the opium in 1907 amounted to $14,574,S93. A machine for making corks out of waste paper and paper pulp has re cently been perfected and patented. This machine makes corks out of all kinds of waste paper, which are much superior to the ordinary corks, as they are impervious to acids or oils. Tests made, by chemists and the larg er users of corks "ay they are far su perior to the old style in every way. A learned Italian doctor says that giantism is a morbid process a dis ease due to an enlargement of a part of the brain which is endowed with growth regulated functions. When that nart of the brain enlarged, the limbs grew to an abnormal extent and other physical changes occurred, the excess of growth being chiefly in the lower jaw, the arms and legs. The average life is only a fraction over twenty years. Ireland has produced at least four giants McGrath, bora in Tipperary, in 1736 (ha was 7 feet 5 inches in height); Malone, 7 feet G inches; Murphy, 7 feet 3 inches, and Charles Byrne, 1 feet 6 inches. None of them ever reached great mental development. C5 tor?! Tr c 11 1 CHILDREN SILENT LETTERS. , Of vowels, all good, better, best The loud, round "O! is noisiest; The rest have ways more laudable, Because they're all in-A-U-d-I-bl-E. Nixon Waterman, in St. Nicholas. A SYRUP-CAN MOTHER. Dorothy Deane and her little brother Laurence were standing by the window watching for papa. Ev ery night when it was time for him to return home they waited until they saw him come In sight around the corner, and then ran as fast as they :ould to meet him. , Unless papa was very tired indeed, he always carried one of them home Dn his shoulder, while the other took hold of. his hand, and both tried to tell him of all that they had been do ing that day. "There he comes!" cried Dorothy at last, and the children raced toward the corner as fast as their chubby little legs would carry them. "Careful, now!" said papa, warn Ingly, as the two hurrying little fig ures reached him. "Don't hit against my dinner pail! " "What is in it?" asked Dorothy and Laurence in one breath, as" they stood on tiptoe, trying to peep inside the cover. "Guess!" said papa, laughingly. "A nickel to the one who guesses right! " BOAT TO SAIL AGAINST THE WIND. You can even make a boat that will sail readily against the wind, ancf it's quite simple at that. For the deck or body of your boat take a piece of wood about twenty; inches long, six and two-thirds inches wide and about five-sixths inch thick. Taper at the ends. Draw a line from end to end along the flat surface. On this line and about five-sixths Inch from the end, which will finally serve as a stern, make a hole and insert in it a little mast about seven and one-third inches high and one-half inch in diameter. To its top fasten a little ringbolt. . Then, at about half an inch from the prow of the boat fasten another, ringbolt of the same diameter hole as the other about one-third inch. Your propeller should be thirty-three inches in length and thirteen, inches in diameter, tapering at the ends. To one end you will attach the "sail" and to the other the "paddle." This diagram shows you exactly how the different parts of the boat are put together and how they Jook. By following these details of measure ment carefully and using a little patience in construction you will soon have a fine little sailing vessel that will make good time through the water. "Candy!" cried Laurence. "Oranges!" said Dorothy. Papa shook his head at both these guesses, and at all the others that followed, until they had reached the house. "Now let mamma have a turn," he said, holding the dinner pail up to her ear. "Why, it isn't " mamma began, with a look of the greatest surprise. "Yes, it is!" papa declared. Then he took off the cover and tipped the pail gently over in the middle of the kitchen table, and out came ten of the fluffiest, downiest little chickens that any of them had ever seen. Several of them stepped about timidly; but most of them huddled together near the pail, peeping softly. "Oh, oh, oh!" cried the children, delightedly, jumping up and down in their excitement. "Are they really ours? Where did you get them?" "They are power house chickens," papa replied, smiling at their enthusi asm, "hatched right in the engine room! " "Wrhat do you mean?" asked mamma in astonishment, gazing at the pretty little creatures. "Just what I - say," replied papa, who was an engineer in the big power house down town; "they were hatched on a shelf in the engine room." "You are .joking," mamma de clared, but papa shook his head at once. Vlt was just this way," he ex plained, hanging up his hat. "Tom Morgan brought me a dozen eggs from his new hennery about three weeks ago. I put them up on the shelf, intending to bring them home that night, but never thought of them again until this morning, when there seemed to be something stirring up there. I looked, and, sure enough, there was a fine litter of chickens just picking their way out of the shells!" tfBut how did it ever happen?" asked mamma in a puzzled tone. while Dorothy and Laurence scattered tiny bread crumbs near the new comers. "Eecause the engine, running night and day, gave the eggs just as much heat as they would have found under a hen's wings," papa replied; "and so they thought they were put up there to hatch." "Oh, aren't they darlings!" cried Dorothy, clapping her hands aa the chickens began to eat the crumbs. They are the nicest pets that we ever had in all our lives!" "The only question in my mind is DEPARTMEOTi night," papa said, patting Dorothy' bright curls as he spoke. "If mamma can decide that question for us, I will agree to make a nice home for them." Mamma looked thoughtful for a moment, then told papa that, if he would make the little house, she would soon have a mother ready to put inside it. While papa was making a nice coop out of a wooden box, mamma found an empty tin can that had once held a gallon of maple syrup. She filled this full of boiling water, screwed the cover on tight, and then, wrapped it up in pieces of flannel. "There," she exclaimed, triumph antly, fastening the last strip, "let ua see how the chickens like this for a mother! " Setting the can carefully in the cen tre of the coop, she put the little chickens close by it. Finding it soft and warm, they cuddled up against the flannel cover, and began to chirp as contentedly as if it were a mother hen. Then she pinned a square of flannel to the upper side of the can, letting it spread either way like a mother hen's wings, and leaving the ends open for the chickens to go in and out. "We will fill the can with hot water every night," said mamma, "and it will keep the chickens nice and warm. They will never know that it is not a real mother." Whether or not this was true, the chiokens certainly lived quite happily with their syrup-can mother, until papa declared they were large enough to go to roost in the barn. Mary Gil bert, in Little Folks. WISE WORDS. Many years ago, when your grand mother and grandfather went to school, they had reading and spelling lessons very much- like ours to-day only now they seem to us "old-fashioned." Here are some of the sen tences from their old English spell ing book: It is wiser to prevent a quarrel than to avenge it. He is always rich who considers himself as having enough. Sincerity and truth are the founda tions of all virtue. He can never have a true friend who is often changing his friend ships. There is no real use in riches, ex cept in the distribution of them. By taking revenge for an injury, a man is only even with his enemy; by passing it over he is superior. It forms no part of wisdom to be miserable to-day, because we may happen to become so to-morrow. Which do you think you prefer, the old-time reader, full of advice, or your own pretty book, with its wealth of stories? Washington Star. His Dream of Buried Wealth. For a week past Thomas Wade, a. prosperous farmer in Tuckahoe dis trict, Henrico County, dreamed each night of a buried box bulging with gold in ingots and ancient coins. The spot where this treasure vras secreted was indicated unvaryingly in his dreams by an old stump, which he recognized as being on his farm. Yesterday, with the assistance of Constable I. H. Henley, he went to the placa indicated in hts dream, and after digging for several hours hl3 shovel struck the traditional "hard metallic substance." Believing his'dream of wealth real ized Wade fainted from emotion, but the constable nursed , him back to consciousness and then the box was unearthed and examined. It con tained three big copper cents of an cient date and four fishhooks. Rich mond Correspondence, Washington
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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Aug. 28, 1908, edition 1
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