No. 8M
SUBSCRIPTION PRICK:
»r .*l-5»
Six mdhths.
Four month*-1... ..... -oO
On* month ... *1B
GASTONIA
County Seat of Gaaton County Af
ter January 1, 1911.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1909.
THE PANAMA OANAIs.
In the excitement over the Cook
Pear}’ dispute and other matters that
are engaging the attention ot the
public for the moment, there has
been very little said In the press of
late about the Panama Canal, whicl
was for months, In fact has been foi
years, a Btandlnj^hSrte for prolong
ed discussion. We therefore wel
~ ocnrwTthe views expressed -by Ohlel
Justice Gudger, who Is spending a
vacation of some weeks at his home
to Asheville, on the progress or the
work and the general conditions in
the. capai sone. Justice Gudger li
emtoently Qualified to give accurate
unbiased information on the
subject, having made the canal sone
bis home since 1897, when he war
appointed consul general. In 1894
he waa made associate justice of the
supreme coart of the canal sone and
in Janary of this year waa promoted
to the poet of Chief Justice. He
says that health conditions on th<
isthmus are now good and that th<
grrrenir'ent has made the sanltarj
^ conditions as good as is possible;
that there la practically no diph
W gheria, smallpox, yellow fever or
such diseases; that of course there
Is some malaria. He expresses a
firm belief that the great work ol
digging the canal will be completed
as estimated by the engineers in
charge by 191B, and compliments
. - . . .... __ I _ ^I.V
'■ work li betjtg-puShed by Colonel
Soethal«;'<fhlef engineer.
The canal 1« by far the largest un
dertaking which the government hae
aver entered Into, and while othei
matters may for the moment with
draw the attention of the people
from lte progress, H is still a matter
In which the whole nation is deeply
and vitally interested. Its comple
ted will mark a great change In our
commerce, especially at the South
' wrill moat certainly mean, at
; in many Important respects, a
. impetus to onr manufacturing
tipping interests.
seme to have struck pretty
every owe that the Hudson
celebration week was s good
time to make that long-deferred vis
it to New York City'. The World of
yheterday says that on 8und*y night
■t 9:10 there were two million sight
seers on Fifth Avenue alone, and the
reports Indicate that there are more
visitors in the metropolis than ever
Were gathered there at any one time
before In its history.
■
the Mask |
• ’ i
By HAROLD MAC GRATH
Copyright. ISOS, by lb. Bobb>
Merrill Co.
CHAPTER 111
•'UME. ANOOT. |
I
and swept (lls placid eye over the I
groups of diners. Sincling pin llll-,
lard, he, came solemnly down lo the j
corner table and inkl a blue letter at |
the side of Hillard's plate
“I did nut see you w hen you eatne
In, sir." said the steward, his rolce as (
solemn as his step "The letter ar
rived yesterday.”
“Tlinuk you. Thomas" With no
small dinic’ulty Hillard composed bis
face and repressed the eagerness In his
eyes. She had seen; she had written;
the letter lay under Ills hand! Who
said that romance hnd taken flight?
True, the rending of the letter might
disillusion him. but always would
there be that vision and the voice com
ing out of the fog. Noucbalantly be
Be tat there tuning.
turned the letter face downward and
went on with the mpal.
"I did not know that your mall
came to the clnb." said Merrlbew.
“It doesn't. Only rarely a letter
drifts this way ”
“Well, go on and read It Don't let
me keep yon from it Some charmer,
HI wager. Here I pour all mv mlreu
tnres into your eur. and I on uiy side
never so mnch as get a hint of yours
Go on. read It.”
“Adventures, fiddlesticks' The letter
csd wait. It is probably a bill.”
“A bill in a fashionable envelope like
that!” •' ' ' .
Hillard only smiled, tipped the cra
dle and refill’d Merrlbew'* plus* with
some excellent Romance CpmL “When
doe* Kitty sail?” he asked after awhile
of silence.
“A week from this Saturday. Feb Z
What the deuce did you bring op that
for? I've been trying to forget it.”
“Where do they land?”
“Naples. They open In Rome the
first week in March. All the-arrange
ments are complete.*’ After coffee
Merrlbew pushed back his chair. ”1*11
reserve a table io the billiard room
while yoo read your letter.”
“I’ll be with you shortly." grate
fully.
So with' the inevitable black cigar
between his teeth Merrlbew sauntered
off toward the billiard room, while
HUlard picked up bis letter and
studied it. His fingers trembled slight
ly as Of* lore open rne envelope. iur
handwriting, tbe paper, the modest
size, all these pointed to a woman of
culture and refinement. But a subtle
spirit of Irony pervaded It all. She
wonld never have answered bis print-'
ed Inquiry had she not laughed over
It. for plotted to the top of the letter
was the dipping, the stupid, banal
clipping: “Will the Indy who sang
from 'lime Anfcor communicate with
gentleman who leaned out of the win
dow? J. B.. Burgomaster club.”
There was neither a formal beginning
nor a formal ending, only four crisp
lines. But these Implied one thing
and distlnetly-the writer had no de-.
sire for further communication ‘"with
gentleman who leaned out of the win
dow ” He read and reread slowly:
I am sorry to team that my singing dis
turbed you. Th"'e was a reason. At that
particular moment 1 was happy.
That was all ,It was enough. She
bad laughed. She was a lady humor
ously Inclined, not to say mischievous.
A comic opera star would have sent
her press agent round to see what ad
vertising could be got ont of tbe Inci
dent; a prima donna would have ap
pealed to her prlmo tenor for the
same purpose. A gentlewoman surely;
moreover, she lived wlthlo the radius,
the official radius, of the Madison
square branch of the postofflee, for
such was tbe postmark. Common
sense urged him to dismiss the whole
affair and laugh over It as “the lady
Id the fog" had done. But common
sense often goes about with a pedant’s
strut and Is aomethtog to avoid od oc
casions. Here was a harmless pastime
to pursue, common sense notwith
standing. The vein of romance to him
was strong, and all the commercial
blood of his father could not subju
gate'it He rang for paper and a
messenger and wrote: “Mme. Angot
—There is a letter for you in the
man department of this office.1’ This
time his Initials were not necessary.
Once the message was on Its way hs
sought Merrlhew. whom he found
knocking the balls about to a spiritless
manner.
“A hundred to seventy-live. Dan.”
“For what?”
“For the mere fun of the game, of
coarse/*
“Make-It cigars. Just to add Inter
" 1— -I
••• v-v.v . £3e
"Cigara. then.” .
Bnt thpy both played a very Indif
ferent game: At lu.30 Merrlhew’s
eyes began to haunt the clock, and Hil
lard grew merciful for various rea
sons.
“What time does the performance
end?” he asked.
"At 10*11. bnt It takes about twenty
minutes to scrape off the makeup."
Merrlbew put his cue in the rack.
Be made off for the coat room.
Hillard laughed and went up to the
writing room to fulfill a part of his
destiny. He took the letter out and
read It again. He replaced the letter
in Its blue covering, and then for the
first time his eye met the superscrip
tion. I.ike a man entranced he sat
there staring. The steward had
brought the letter to him, and in his
first excitement this had made no Im
pression upon his mind. He had seen
nothing peculiar nor" strange. And
here it was, not his Initials, but his
name in full.
She knew who he was!
in a rasliionahle quarter of the city
there stood a brownstone house, with
grotesque turrets, winding steps and
glaring polished red tiles. There
was a touch of the gothic, of the
renaissance, of the old English man
or; Just a touch, however, a kind
of blind man’s buff of a honse. A
very rich man lived here, bnt for ten
months In the yeaf he and bis family
fluttered about the social centers of the
world. And. with a house like this on
bis bands, one could scarce blame btm.
Twice a week during this absence n
caretaker came In. flourished a feather
duster and went away again. Society
reporters always referred to this house
as “the pnlatlal residence.”
This morning » woman stood In the
alcove window and looked down into
the glistening street. The Venetian
red of her hair trapped the refleeted
sunlight from the opposite windows,
and two little points of silver danced
Id her blue eyes _ Ah. bnt her eyes
were blue— bine as spring water tn the
morning. Iiltte n> ' he summer sky seen
through a ■ left In the mountains, bine
as lapis lazuli. ni:li the some fibers q/
gold. Anti evert feature and contour
of tbe fa-e darniviiIzed with the mar
velous ba:r Mild the wonderful eyes; a
beautiful fnee, warm, dreamy, engag
ing, mobile It «;t* not the face of a
worldly woman: neither was It the
face of a girl. It was too emotloDal
for the reyond. and there was not
enough control foi the first. .
But tbe prophecy of laughter did not
rome to puss The little wrinkles faded,
the mouth grew sad. and tbe silver
points no longer danced In her eyes.
The pain In her heart was always
shadowing. She had seen her fairest
dream beaten and crumpled upon the
reef of disillusion
Yet again the smile renewed itself.
Sbe was a creature of varying moods.
She twisted and untwisted the news
paper. Should she 7 Ought sbe7 Had
she not always regretted thpse singu
lar impulses? And yet what harm to
read this letter and return It to the
sender? She was so. lonely here. It
was like being among a strange people,
so long ago was It that her foot bad
touebpd this soil, Was It possible that
she was twenty-five? Was there not
some miscount, and was It not fifteen
Instead? Would not this war of wis
dom and felly be decided ere Jong?
Sbe opened the paper and smoothed
out the folds. "Mme. Angot-There
is a letter for you in tbe mail deport
ment of this office.” It was so droit
It was unlike anything sbe had ever
beard of—a personal Inquiry colomn.
where Cupid* and Psychsa billed and
cooed. The merest chance had thrown
the original Inquiry under ber notice.
Her answer was an Impulse to which
sbe bad given do second thought till
too late. She ought to have Ignored
It But she was lonely: the people she
knew were out of town, and the Jest
might anrase ber.
This miiu was in an probability a
gentleman, since lie was a member of
B gentlemen’s club. But second thought
convinced her that this proved nothing.
Men are oTien canea geoueuieu out ui
compliment to their ancestors. Stm,
If this man only saw the affair from
her angle of vision, the grotesque hu
mor of It aDd not the common vulgar
Intrigue! She < hesitated,- as well she
might. Supposing that eventnally he
found put who she was? That would
never, never do. No one must know
that she was in A merles, abont to step
Into the wildest of wild adventures.
No; she must not be found out. The
king, who bad been kind to her, and
the court must never know. From
their viewpoint they would have de
clared that she was about to tarnish
a distinguished name, to outrage the
oldest aristocracy In Europe, the
court of Italy. But she had her own
opinion; what she proposed to do was
in itself harmless and Innocent But
this gentleman who leaned out of the
window? She bad seen the match
flare in the young man's face. Was
It the face she bnd seen In that flash
of light that Interested her sufficiently
to risk the note? Against the dark of
the night it had appeared for an In
stant,, clean. crisp, ruddy as a cameo
The face warranted confldence.
She bad snng because she had been
happy, happy with that transient hap
piness which at times was her portlon.
Could s|je ever Judge another man by
his looks? She believed not How
she had run! The man. bareheaded,
giving chase and Hie burly policeman
across the street!
Bhe stepped down from the slcove.
wound the gray rell round the riding
crop and tossed them Info a corner
Somehow In the daylight the magic
was gone from his facp, for she had
recognized him that first day In the
park. Be rode well She touched a
bell. A maid appeared.
“ttettlna. you will go to the office of
this newspaper and Inquire for s letter
—Contractor J. T. Spencer is now
engaged In -moving the Adams house,
corner Marietta and Franklin re
cently" purchased by Mrs. E. C,: Wil
son, to the rear of the lot. When
placed It will face on Franklin "ave
nue instead of on Marietta as here
tofore. 'Mr. Spencer also has the
contract to move two houses for Dr.
T. N. Dulin In the Befthel neighbor
hood. He Is an expert In this line of
business and has probably moved
more houses than any other man In
this section-of the State.
points were
eyes.
“You may
na’s mistress smiled—"perhaps I
let you read it and answer
am done . with it. That
rather neat.” «'
The slight nod was a dismissal, and
the maid- went about her duties, which
were not many In this house.
Meanwhile the lady with the Vene
tian hair toyed with the letter. Club
paper! •^pvldeutly he was not afraid to
trust ligr. But would he amuse her?
The contents gnve her a genuine sur
prise. She ran to the window. Ital
ian! It was written In Italian, with
all the,flourishes of an Italian born.
She turned to the signature—Hillard.
So he had signed his name In full?
Sho ruminated. How came such a
name to belong to a man who wrote
Italian so beautifully? She looked at
the signature again. Johu-Glovanni
She would caH him Giovanni. She
had been rather clever.—SW\ have
bad the wit to look fn the lliii^ry
for the blue book and the club
list—not every woman would have
thought of that. Then a new Inspira
tion came to her. She sent Bettinn
for the card basket. She scattered the
contents upon the floor and sat down
Turkish-wise. She Borted the cards
carefully, and, lo, she was presently re
warded. She held up the card In tri
umph. He had called at this house on
Thanksgiving day. He was known,
then, to the master and mistress. Very
good. She now gave her full attention
to the letter, which she had not yet
perused:
To the Lsdy In the Fog:
To begin with, lot mo say that 1. too,,
ha vs laughed. But there was some degree
of chagrin In my laughter. On my word
of honor, tt waa a distinct shock to my
sense of dignity when I saw that idiotic
personal of mine in the paper. It la my
first offense of the kind, and I am really
ashamed. But the situation was noi ordi
nary. Ordinary wymen do not sing In
the streets after midnight. As you could
not possibly be ordinary, my offense has
greater magnitude. To Indite a personal
to a gentlewoman: A thousand pardons!
I doubted that !t would come under your
notice, and. even If It did. I was sure that
you would ignore It. To And a woman
with on appreciable sense of humor Is
rare. To And one who couples this with
Initiation Is rarer still How you found
out ray name confuses me.
“Indeed!” murmured the lady.
Doubtless you have the club list in your
house. Do you Know, when the letter was
brought me l saw nothing unusual about
the addr<4s. It was only when 1 began
this letter that l comprehended how clev
er you were. There are half a dozen
J. H.’s at the club. 1 tell you truthfully
over my own name that your voice star
tled me.
1 was startled because my thoughts
were far away. 1 was dreaming of Italy,
Where 1 was bom, though there to no
more Italian blood In my veins than tfcere
it lp yours.
"What made him thhik that I won
der?"
1 therefore write this in a language fa
miliar to us both, certain you could not
sing Lecocq’s songs In Italian If yon did
not speak and* understand It thoroughly.
Signora or slgnorina. whichever It may
be, have we no mutual friends? Are yoe
not known to some one who knows me
some one. who will speak for me, my
character, my habits?
"It to ratter a dull tetter ao far."
»ald the lady.
Tea tay you mb* became et that mo
ment you were nappy. Tbla Implies that
yoo are not elereye w Surely with a
voice like yoore one cannot pomlbly be
i III
« ’ ■
She held uv the card tn triumph.
unhappy. if only 1 might meet you!
Will you not do me that honor? Isn't
there lust a little pur*, healthy romance
waiting to bo given life? four voice
haunts me. Out of every silence It comes
to me—"She Is so Innocent, so youthful I”
JOHN HILLARD.
The letter fluttered Into her lap. She i
leaned od her elbow*. It was not a
bad letter, and sbe rather liked tbe
boyish tone. of IL Nothing vulgar
peered out from between tbe lines.
Did be really love music? He must,
for It was not every yonng man who
could pick out tbe melody of an old.
forgotten opera. Rather than tempt
fate sbe decided not to answer this
letter. It would be neither wise, nor
useful.
Romance! Tbe word came back to
her With an unmusical laugh she
stood np. shaking tbe letter to the
floor. Romance! Sbe was no longer
B glrL Bhe was a woman of five and
twenty, and what shonld a woman
know of romance? Ah. there bad been
a time when all tbe world was ro
mance-romance: when the night
breeze had whispered It under her
casement window, when the lattice
climbing roses hnd breathed It. when
tbe moon snd tbe stars bad spelled IL
Romance! Sbe bated the word not
less than sbe bated tbe Italian lan
guage. tbe Italian people, tbe country
Itself. She spurned tbe letter wltb
her foot and fed the newspaper to tbe
Are. *
ATTENTION— FARMERS’.
We are better prepared than ever
to gin your cotton and guarantee
to give you satisfaction both as to
qqgllty and quantity of dally service.
Four gins, rewoven and second-hand
bagging.
GASTONIA OIL MILL.
Gastonia, N. C.
Bead the “little Housemaid” ads
and get wise.
The Gazette for first-class pristine.
Lebovitz Department
An assemblage of stylish Millinery for your inspection. You
charming. The new styles are magnificent and attractive,
find just the hat that is becoming *•" and the fin® n"a*ihB
will more than please her. utiful and
and all the leading colors. selection 3
Ladies* ready made Skirts from *t.%o 10 *9.98 such
seen before. Ladies’ Sweaters all colors $1.98 to $2.48.
Thousands of other articles too numerous to a
Invited to visit our store and inspect the new
vinced that we are the Leaders of
Lebovitz Department Sto
Agent May Manton Patterns 10c. I G
—. ' ■ ■■
Bbe went downstairs to the plan,
and played with strong fee.tug {'res
ently she begun to sing s haunting,
melancholy song by Abl. She was
mistress of every tone, every shade,
every expression.
The door opened gradually. Crash!
The music was over.
"Bettlna? Bettlna. are yon listen
ing?"
"1 am always listening." Bettlna
squeezed Into the room. ~rt Is beauti
ful, beautiful! To, sing like that!
There will be kings and dukea at your
feet!"
“Enough!"
“Pardon, ilgnora. 1 forgot But lis
ten. 1 bring a message. A boy came
to say that the rehearsal will be at 4
this afternoon. It la now after 12."
“So late? We most be off."
“And the letter upstairs on the floor?’
“Some day: Bettlna. you will entw
the forbidden chamber, and I shall
bar* to play Bluebeard. This time,
however. I do not mind. Leave II there
or born It.” Indifferently
Bettlna knew her mistress. Bbe
thought beat to leave Ibe letter where
It lay. forgotten for the time twin*.
(Confined in next lane.)
—Beet cotton la bringing 13 cents
on the local market to-day.
According to teets made recently
on 733 chHdren from the tenement
bonee section of New York City, 38
per cent, showed signs of tuberculo
sis either of the Joints, glands or
longs.
HuMna it RlarkshniW.
Gaffney, Ledger.
Blacksburg, S. C„ Sept. 26.—The
election for the issuance of $16,000
In bonds for electric lights and
street Improvements resulted In 89
votes for the bonds and 26 against.
Attorneys took special pains to see
thst'the 'most minute points of law
were observed and K Is hoped that
there will; be no question as to the
vote being a legitimate one thlr
time. This is practically the result
of the former election which was de
clared illegal.
Sacrlfled for Science.
Some statistician has given out in
teresting data concerning the large
number of lives that have been lost
to discover the North Pole; lives sac
rificed In fearless manner in order
to subserve the ends of science. The
list follows:
- Explorer. Lost.
1553—Sir Hugh Willoughby .. 62
1553—Richard Ohancellor - 8
1676—Sir Martin Frobisher-46
1685—Captain John Davis- 14
1694—Willem Barents.85
1606—John Knight.. • 8
1612—Thomas Button . .-1*
1620—Han Munk.
1631—Thomas James.14
i AC* * T_1 _ Ta. Unvan aAtflttlM 7
1634—Isle of Jan Mayen settler* T
1648—Dessneff ...T9
1719—James Knight ... 60
1725—Bering.’, ,..40
1735—Pron*dhlstohefl. 2
1785—Lassinius ...53
1739—Chaflton Laptief . . ..1*
1741—Bering.31
1773—Lord Mirl grave . B
1776—Captain Cook ...., 4
1813—Parry, first voyage. 1
1819—Franklin, first voyage .... 2
1821—Parry, second voyage-7
1825—Franklin, second voyage.. 4
1829—4Slr John Ross.4
1838—Pease and Simpson ...... 6
1845—Franklin, third voyage ..135
1848— Sir James C. Ross search
- - expedition . 1
1849— North Star expedition .... 3
1849—Plover and Herald ...... 3
1851—Rae . 6
1853—‘Kane expedition.
1862—Hall, first voyage.
1864—Hall, second voyage .'.
1870— B. Leigh Smith.
1871— HaM, last voyige.
1872— Tegettboff ..
1 875—English expedition .
1879—Jeannette (Be Long) -3
1881—Oreely.B
1897—Andree (balloon) .
Total .. 741
Sustained ’
m
IN THE HOME
Gkstonia Cotton.
p*M to wtgona e®*- SSt*
Good middling. >. .... IS*
Strict middling....1S%
Middling..I!**
cotton Mod .f • S*®
1—
Belmont Items.
Correspondence of ..foe Qasette.
BELMONT. Se0t. IT—Miss Mal
ta Gulllckr-Hriro Is attending <fc«
Presbyterian College at Charlotte*
spent Sunday with horoeTolks.—Mrs.
George Hanks Is very IH.—Messrs.
Janies Armstrong, Andrew Gullick,
Frank West and Howard McKee
were Lowey visitors Snnday.—Mr.
Lee Armstrong, of Gastonia, visited
his uncle, Mr. J. F. Leeper, Sunday.
Miss Mabel Patrick waa a Charlotte
visitor Saturday.—Mr. Lee Hanks, of
Spartanburg, S. C., is visiting his
parents this week:—Mias Margaret
Hall, of Bessemer City, spent Sun
day at Belmont with relatives.—
Miss Leah Clark visited relatives in
Lowell Saturday.—Mrs. J: B. Hall
was a Gastonia visitor Saturday.—
Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Leeper dellghtfuL
ATTENTION— FARMERS'.
We are better prepared than ever
to gin your cotton and guarantee
to give you satisfaction both aa to
quality and quantity of dally service.
Four gins, rewoven and second-hand
bagging.
GASTONIA OIL MILL,
Gastonia, N. C.
—Attention is called to the adver.
tlsement of the Lebovjtr department
stores In this issue announcing theli
millinery opening which is to taktJ
place on Wednesday, Thursday Fri
day and Saturday of this waek.
Williams is doing the bnslness
when it comes to furniture. • ]
The Fall Hat
—..
Should be selected by every lady
with great care and taste. We haw
given this subject of selecting the
right bat for the right face and feat
ure a great deal of attention and
have a stock that we believe will
meet the'approval of the careful la
dy .purchaser. We have been here
for years and we strive to please oui
customers by furnishing them hats
that will glva the best of sattsfae
tion and at the lowest passible price.
The ladles' sre cordially invited tc
take a look at onr HATS.
Misses Ruddock
Tv ', *T <./« s£.*ySjSiiBSRgSggi
Over the Singer Sewing Machine
Office.
*