VOLUME XX.
Si
3Stnru nf a Whalo Uiinfor !
13 VIUIJ VI U
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
' My hair, Is as white as the salt sea
foam, and as I sit before the fire in
the Quiet evening hours, .1 often re
call the wild adventures of my early
manhood. They wore upon the ocean,
along the shores of various lands, and
associated with the capture of the
whale. Many of the books within my
reach are" full of Interest, but I am not
just now in a reading mood; and as
my good wife is at this moment nod
ding over some of her fancy knitting,
I will have a pen-and-ink talk with
you, my friend, about the times of old.
Within the entire range of natural
history there 'is nothing In my opin
ion which can give to the general
student a more profound interest than
the whale, and nothing in all the
various pursuits of mankind possesses
a more exciting and thrilling Add of
adventure than that of hunting the
whale.
My experiences as whaler have been
chiefly as an officer, and I have both
ma-e and lost a good deal of money,
sailing from New London and New
Bedford.'
' I cannot here go deeply into the
natural history of tne whab family,
.: but' will give you their names and a
few particulars. The sperm whales,
Which sometimes move in schools of
, two or three thousand, and at the
rate of six miles per hour, are sup
plied with teeth, attain their full
growth In twenty years, and often
yieid 150 barrels of oil, in addition to
their sperm. Next in importance is
the black or right whale, which has
no teeth, but "carries a bone in his
mouth" which all nations have ad
mired .and coveted. And then come
the hump-back, fin back, and sulphur
bottom whales, which in different de
grees are sought for by the men who
Co down to the sea In 'Mips.
If we can believe anything that is
asserted by the wise average man of
science, the whale would never make
a fl"lu" as it Is In reality a quad-
p a warm-blooded animal,
appendages called flns or
In reality Us legs; Its
ice that of man and other
avlng two cavities, and do
duty in the line of clrcu-
. It is not tho offspring
but is born alive. What
y culled blowholes of the
Wily nothing but Its' noa-
1 whlpnQnarjrconimproi
:3i
TTTTT
THE
SSI
SEE
3
IIIIUIU llUIIIUIIf
as
have frequently suggested very de
cided thoughts of eternity, Once a
fellow dragged me downward Into the
sea "full forty fathoms," Judging by
my feelings; and on another occasion
I happened to be on the back of a big
Sperm whale when he made a start,
and holding on to the harpoon, I trav.
eled for a short time In a circle at the
rate of thirty miles per hour, when I
thought it expedient to slide into the
sea and trust to being picked up by
one of the boats forming the hunting
party. And what will strike you as a
Ssh story, but it is true, before I was
rescued I actually went within an ace
of swimming directly into the mouth
of another whale which was strolling
along the spot as if anxious to inquire
about the general commotion going on.
The largest right whale I ever saw
was captured off the coast of Kams
chatka by one of my crews, and It was
during the same year that I procured
i full ship of 3200 barrels of oil and
40,000 pounds of whalebone within the
spacj of sixty days. When the mon
ster just mentioned was killed, the
sea was very rough. After the boats
bad been lowered, it was necessary to
move them with great care, lest an
unlucky wave should carry us on top
of the whale, and this actually hap
pened, for when I called upon the
harpooner to fasten, he did so, when
our boat was Instantly thrown upward,
and one man killed. Fortunately, be
fore the boat filled, I had time to put
a fatal lance Into the whale, and we
were rescued by another boat. As 1
was getting In, I saw near by the body
of the killed man, In a standing po
sition, a few feet below the surface of
the water, when by diving I caught
him by the ear, but a big wave came,
causing me to lose my bold, and the
body of our brave comrade went ,wn
out of sight In the blue waters. Into
this whale we were obliged to send
a succession of lances, and he spouted
blood and diBgorged food for six hours,
having in that time lost what we es
timated at a hundred barrels of blood
alone. But I must tell you something
more about this hero of Kamschatka.
He was as long as our ship, and she
measured 120 feet; his greatest girth j
75 feet, head 30 feet long, and flukes
30 feet broad. His lips alono
thirty barVls of oil
tongue thj one amount,
tal ytr- blubber
ras)
happened to me at New Zealand a
great many years ago. I had killed a
whale, and having stripped oft the
blubber cast off the carcass. The wind
and tide landed It high and dry on the
shore. A few weeks afterwards, on
visiting this spot, I found that a whole
family of natives had eaten their way
Into the carcass and turned it Into a
habitation; and this was anything but
a "sweet home," and -its Influence
such as It was prevaded the whole
country for miles around.
And now, my good friend, I will con
tinue my yarns, which I tell yon are all
true, with a brief dash at tho sea-serpent.
I am a believer In the veritable
existence of such a creature. I once
saw a specimen In the South Atlantic
Ocean, near the Ascension Islands. He
was at least sixty feet long, an! I fol
lowed him with a bold crew for at
least two miles, but he gave us the
slip, and went down Into the world
unknown, and I have talked with many
whalemen In different parts of the
world who substantiated my belief.
In 1847, while working away from
Cape Horn against a head wind, I ran
my vessel Into a bay and found safe
anchorage. After night had settled
upon us, I discovered a light not far
from shore, and was greatly bothered
to know what It meant When morning
came I made an exploration, and found
a trio of shipwrecked sailors In a kind
of camp. They were in a terrible plight,
almost without clothing, and greatly
emaciated by hunger. Here they had
been for nine months, and one of them
was so weak that he could not stand.
Seven men had deserted from the ship
Elinor of Mystic and four of them had
died and were still unburied. Their
tale of suffering was most deplorable,
but I took these survivors on board
my ship and succeeded in bringing
them alive and well to New Bedford.
Many years afterwards, while sitting
in a friend's office In New York, I sud
denly heard my name called by a per
son present, who rushed up and threw
hlsarms around my neck. He was a
very large and rough looking fellow,
and these were his words:
"Sure's I'm a living man, this Is
the captlan who saved my life at Cape
Horn! Don't you know me, captain
the boy Jim whom you saved T I swowl
You haven't changed a darn bit sltfce
I last saw you. Come, I am a farmer
now, over In the 'Jarsles,' and you
must go over and let my wife see the
man who saved Jim's life. Come and
spend the whole summer with me."
And then followed a long talk, and
I felt very certain that my old ship
mate, like all good sailors, had a very
grateful heart. But I did not go tor the
"Jarsles," although It would have been
bad a talk-with Jim's
thj,n
FRA
FRANKLIN. N. C. WEDNESDAY. MARCH. 1,
ENGINES KILL THE BIRDS
MANY DESTROYED BY' LOCOMO-
. TIVES GOING AT HIGH
SPEED.
Interesting- Experiences of Engineers
During Night Runs Collisions With
Feathered Travelers All Hate to
Hit the Songbirds Tragedy of a
Dove Family.
"How many people realize," said an
old Missouri Pacific engineer at the
Union depot a few nights agq, "that
In limited trains, they are going faster
than a bird tiles? And how many of
them know that tue runf a fast train
for a trip of 300 miles causes the death
of from one to six birds?"
Not a trip Is made across Missouri
by any of the fast trains that one or
more birds are not Killed In its flight.
When the fast mall trains come In
from their runs frequently one of the
little feathered tribe Is found lodged
in some nook upon the engine. A
little tuft of feathers, clinging to the
Iron monster, tell where a life was
taken. Engineers say that If they get
within ten feet of a bird before It
rises from the roadway it will be
killed. The noise and speed of the
train, they say, bewilder It.
"1 was bringing the fast mail, the
government train, from St. Louis one
day," this Missouri Pacific engineer
said, "and if I killed one bird I'll
bet I killed fifty. It was one of those
foggy mornings In the early spring,
just after a big rain. The country all
around had been soaked, and the little
path down the middle of the railroad
track was one of the dry est pieces of
ground the birds could find. The
crows, the sparrows, the doves and
the quail were settled all along this
walk In the track. We left St. Louis
forty minutes late and I was trying
to make time. I had one of our big
1100 engines, and she was working as
smooth as a sewing machine.
"Down In the lowlands, between
Washington and Jefferson City we
were sliding along with an easy sixty
mile clip. The smoke settled and hung
along over the train and the suction
from behind brought it into a hurried
roll as we ran from beneath it. It
was nearly daylight, and the birds
were out on the dry railroad track
feeding. A man couldn't have heard
that train more than a hundred yards
and It seemed we fairly jumped on
those birds. One big crow raised slow
ly In front of the engine and "bang'
he went Into the headlight. A small
er, bird, which J judged was a spar
row, plunked against the window pane
In the cab. f"1 along that run, clear
to SedallT" 'bit the birds.
miv 1100 to the
-l blrc
cerM birds.
en-
NKLIN PRESS,
headlight I think he would have
knocked the whole works out of it."
Killing Songbirds.
"Lou" Ward, who takes the Frisco
fast mall out of Kansas City at 2.10
o'clock every morning, perhaps strikes
more birds with his train than does
any out from Kansas City. His little
nr a umua up oi ouij cue uiui
a chair car and the engine. With the
light engine he uses he goes down
through Southern Kansas at a speed no
other train equals. He makes only one
stop In the first ninety-eight miles.
Much of his run between Kansas Cuy
and Fort Scott Is through wooded
country, where the hawks and the
owls are flying. At the roundhouse
this little mall train is known as the
"Babbit."
"In the early mornings," said Ward,
a few nights ago, "I sometimes hit the
songbirds, and I hate (bis. - I have
made a pet out of my engine, and I
hate to have a pet of mine hurt the
birds that Blng. But my tittle- 'favor
He' Is an owl exterminator.. There's
a world of them down between Paola
ana Fort Scott, and they will get In
front of my train. One night I hit one
down near LaCygne, and he stuck by
his head In a niche on the headlight
He dropped after a while and the
feathers flew as he skated along the
ground in the bottom of the railway
ditch."
The englnemen regret especially to
kill a dove, and, above all, in the
spring, at mating time. "It seems that
all doves are lovers," one englneman
said. "You can see them together
feeding, wallowing In the dust or sit
ting by each other's side. There are
always two, especially when they are
feeding. Down on the Wabash this
year, Just at the time when Bpring was
opening and the grass was turning
green, I killed a dove, one of a pair.
I remembered It because as It rose the
edge -of the boiler struck It and
knocked It high In the air. A little
fluff of feathers showed where It lit
and I turned to watch it
. "Next day when I passed that spot
I thought of the little dove. There,
by the side of the feathers, close to
the piece of body, sat the mate. It
fluttered to one side as we passed. The
next day the little dove was sitting
there, and so it was tue third. I never
saw It again. Since then I have
watched the doves. One will mourn
for its mote, and it seems to realize
what has happened when Its mate Is
killed." Kansas City Star.
QUAINT AND CURIOUS.
The last of the old-time convicts
transported from Great Britain to Tas
mania Is dead. )His name was Freder
ick Clarke, and she was sent to the col
ony In 1847 undeV a ten-year sentence.
In a short period e did busteanging,
bank robblne and enough &V Amus
ing little things to pile upf ty.
1905.
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. A. C, DIXON, D. D.
Snidest i The Book of Wisdom.
New York Clty.-Tbe following ser
i. on whs contributed to the Uniort
t.ospel News by the Rev. A. 0. Dixon,
u. L. It is entitled "The Book of Wis
dom," and Is an appreciation of Prov
erbs. He took for his text, "The prov
erbs of Solomon, the sou of David,
king of Israel." Proverbs 1:1.
To prenoli a sermon on the whole
book of Proverbs may be difficult
tnsk, but I shall attempt It this morn
ing in order that. If for no other rea
son, I inny Impress upon yon the Inv
portnnce of reading the whole book at a
sitting.
If we should rend a part of a friend's
letter and another part to-morrow, and
another part the next day, we should
have at the close a very confused no
tion of wlmt be had written to us. The
method which ninny have of rending
the Bible by piecemeal may Impart Im
portant Instruction, but It does not Rive
us the setting of the books nor a view
of the Bible ns a whole.
Renders of fiction think little of sit
ting up Into nt night thnt they may
finish a thrilling story. If the lovers
of God's Word would spend the snme
time rending It consecutively they
would find It more thrilling than nny
book of fiction.
To a superficial observer, rending
the book of Proverbs may be like
reading the dictionary. The subject
changes so often. And yet there is
a plnu In the book which a closer
study shows to be an orderly arrange
ment. The first nine verses arc the preface.
In which we have tho use of proverbs.
They pnnlile us to "know wisdom and
Instruction, to perceive the words of
understanding, to give subtlety to the
simple, to 1 lie young inn n kuowledge
and discretion." If he hears nnrt
heeds then they will be nn ornament
of grne'e unto his hnnd and rbnlns
about his neck. Each proverb is n
Jewel of wisdom more precious tbnn
rubies.
From the tenth to the nineteenth
verses there is described the socialism
of sin, and the young man Is warned
against It. "My son, if sinners entice
thee, consent thou not." If they sny,
"Cast in thy lot among us, let us all
have one purse," "Walk not thou in
the wny with them; refrain tby feet
from their path; for their feet run
evil, ami make haste to shed blood."
The social element in sin Is one of its
most dangerous features. The habit
of social drinking bns made many a
drunkard. The soclnl nature carries
the young mnn to the saloon, the pool
room, the gambling den, nnd entices
blm to destruction. Men and women
go In flocks like sheep to the slaughter,
and, when one tries to escape, the so
cial nature becomes n Insso with which
Satan drags Ms victim 'to the slaugh
ter pen. It Is so hard to tear away
from congenial company. The social
club has wrecked innny a Christian
for time and eternity.: Watch, there
fore, against the socialism of sin.
lists say, "Cast in tby
all have one
XiV'"'"VBensua
elated with punishment nnd disobe
dience with reward, send forth into the
world the manliest sons and most
womanly daughters. To refuse to ad
minister loving chastisement to a child
is to train blm in a life of disobedience
that will unfit him' for citizenship in
tne state or usefulness In the church
Let there be no anger, for anger only
provokes anger. Love can administer
chnstisement with regret and tears,
out it must not shrink from the duty.
"Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it nre the Issues of life." This
proverb expresses the teacblng of Jesns
Christ. The heart Is the source of good
or evil, nnd if the heart is right the
life will be right. Let Jesus Christ
fully occupy the heart, and you may
he careless about everything else. Over
the nrehwny In the old Tombs prison
In New York were the words: "The
way of transgressors Is bnrd," nnd
every criminal who passed beneath It
needed no argument to prove Its truth.
On the walls of every store should be
buns the words: "A false weight is
abomination to the Lord, but s Just
weight is Ills delight." Our God be
lieves in fair dealing. The mnn who
gives good measure pleases Him, and
we need to know thnt honesty in trade
Is ns holy a thins as prnyer,
And when you bear anyone laughing
nt nn oath, a vulgar remark, or n
wicked deal, quietly repent the words:
"Fools mnke a mock at sin." The man
who plays with the poisonous adder is
wise compared with blm who sports
with sin or trents It lightly.
If you are tempted to surrender your
convictions In order that you may
further your interests, social or finan
cial, recall the words: "Buy the truth
and sell It not." They will give- stiff
ness to your moral backbone and stam
ina to your character. No man can
afford to hold the truth for sale. It Is
the most priceless thing that he can
possess, and whatever the father of
lies may offer him for It, he should
scorn the price with contempt.
There are si many of "these that
barely to mention them would take the
time of n sermon, ".V merry heart
doelh good like a medicine." If, there
fore, you. would save the doctor's bill,
be merry In heart, and If you have true
heart merriment, let Christ the Lord
of Joy reign there. Link with this
proverb its opposite: "He that loveth
pleasure shall be a poor man." The
pleasure-seeking spirit brings poverty
of soul nnd purse. The mnn and
woman whose-cole object in life is to
have a good time rarely have a merry
heart. Their laughter Is hollow, be
cause their very pleasures have be
come a burden. "The fear of the Lord
prolongcth days." If, therefore, you
wish to live to a ripe old age, cultivate
the fenr of God, which will cast out all
other fear. "He that walketb uprightly
walketb surely." The position of sta
bility Is not in prostrnting yourself, or
crawling, or creeping after the world's
fashion,, but in the upright walk of a
manly, conscientious life.
The mnn who has wandered from
God needs on'y to hear the words:
"The backslider in heart shall lie tilled
with his own ways," to realize thnt
they apply to him. God's wny Is the
way of light, psnce and joy. Our way
without God Is the wny of darkness,
turmoil and despair. The backslider
whe has turned from God's ways to his
own ways Is truly to be pitied. When
N UMBEll 9
WANDERINGS.
I'm off Inclined to wonder If
An angleworm, when frozen Hf?, -
WouMd meat with any luck nt all,
Buppoalng that It tried to crawl.
Then, ton. I often wonder whether
A man whu twt about to tether
Ten tigers In a field like cows.
Could make thv striked creatures bra
And then again, I wonder which
la atlcklest tnr. glue or pitch.
1'erhapa earli, nil or elrher are,
but L ahoulU Bay pitch, glue or tor.
And, furthermore, I wonder why
A normal person mien as I
Can't walk alHitit u:on one hand
Bome things we never understand.
ButtB40f nil I wonder how
A man can tell 'nut r hen In Now,
For Now keeps Koine: back to Then,
While Boon la straightway Now A tain.
'Tla useless, though to wonder what
la meant by tills Impressive rot.
P. il. in Life.
JUST FOR FUN
Bacon Where do you suppose that :
203-Meter Hill got its name? Eg
bert Oh, I guess that'B where the
Port Arthur Gas Works are located.
Yonkers Statesman.
Ferdy What's the best time for me .
to propose to Ida?. Algy Right after
Christmas; she will be so used to ac
cepting things she doesn't want, she
may accept you. Judge.
Inquisitive Girl Why do you stand
In front of that kettle ringing a bell all
day? Salvation Army Captain I'm
practising "Frenzied Finance." Cin
cinnati Commercial-Tribune.
"And this," said the foreign visitor
in the Senate chamber, "Is where your
statesmen assemble?" "Oh! no," re
plied the native, "only the senators
meet here." Philadelphia Press.
oiiujiy j ye SJL imtw reppsr, t
deahlv love TOfcwwJssw Pewr I
Imagined so when I saw how you
hugged the neck of the one you were
riding yesterday. Cleveland Leader,
'I'm engaged In the dairy business,
now," said the lawyer. "You don't
say!" exclaimed his friend, the doc
tor. "Fact," rejoined the legal light.
"I'm milking an estate." Chicago
Dally News.
"Cholly says he doesn't patronize
one tailor only. He goes to the best,
vox,
wherever he tlnds them." "Huh!
It's.
evident that less than nine of them
have had a chance to work on him so
far." Philadelphia Ledger.
The Little Sister What was that
you played then, Efflo? The Larger
One That was a cradle song, my pet.
The Little Sister Well, can't you play
a wagtlme cwadle Bong? That one
almost made me go to sleep. Puck.
Cabman (who thinks he has been
passing a lijof llnkmiijr-IflJh,l?
right W
rts seem unprepared and our
re not right for semlre, let
t thot "
1 the
I r-jiin