T H B
Yl K o
Ent
erprise
VOL. I.
RALEIGH, N. 0., THURSDAY, APRIL 13; 1905.
NO. 52
LETTER FROM BILKINS.
A Few Facts About the Twin City
How Time Was Divided - An At
tempt on the Life of the Tlajor
Can't do Home Yet, and Why.
Winston-Salem, N.; C.
Correspondence of the Enterprise.
Winston an' Salem put their heds
tcrgether a few years ergo an' they
air twins. Salem wuz gittin' purty
old an' wanted sum young shoulders
ter lean on.
Salem wuz settled in 105 A. D. by
the Moravians. They started an al
manack called Blum's Salem Alma
nack purty soon after they got thar;
also a newspaper called the Salem
Press. In them days time wuzzent
cut up inter years, weeks, days, hours
an' seckonds like hit iz now, an' the
moon didn't change exsept when hit
wanted to. The Blum boys thought
they would give the folks a little
sumpthin' extra, so they got up a
time-table an' changed the skedule so
we hev a hundred years in a centery,
twelve months ter the year, seven
days ter the week and twenty-four
hours ter the day. They awlso figger
out whut sort ov wether we will hev
fer next year an' print hit in the al
manack. And they tell the farmers
when ter plant an' what ter plant.
Fer a long time Blum's almanack
wuz used fer purty nigh everything
in Western North Carolina. Peeple
wouldn't plant enything or do eny
thing without lookin' in the almanack
ter see if the signs were rite. The
Blum's cut the moon into f our peeces
tryin' ter see whut hit wuz made ov
an' that iz why hit hez four quarters
now. The moon hez awlways stood
high, even if it does get full purty
often...'-
Winston-Salem is situated erbout
half way betwixt Kernersville an'
Cornatzer, near Belo's pond. Win
ston wuz first settled by a race ov
terbacker manufacturers. They did
well unti lthe American Tobacco
Company settled them. Now they
ain't so many factories there. Hit
wuz the birthplace ov "Checkers," a
liver remedy that prevents snake
bites. But the manufacturer iz go
in' ter Virginia, the mother ov Pres
idents, an' the present home ov booze.
I think Durham and Winston orter
git tergether an' be twins. They
look more alike than Winston and
Salem, an' the smell ov terbacker iz
jist az strong.
A slick lookin' feller made an at
tempt on my life the other nite an'
I haint got over hit yit. I finished
eatin' supper at my boardin' house
and went up ter the leadin' hotel ter
pick my teeth. I hadn't moron set
down till that feller cum an' inter
dused hizself. He sed he represent
ed the Monumental Mutual Aid Ser
siety, which iz the biggest thing in
the world, an' he wuz rite after takin'
a polisy on my life fer the benefit ov
my wife an' children. I looked him
over purty careful, fer I wuz af eared
he would knock me over with one ov
them gold-bricks. A feller can't be
too careful eround strangers. My,
but he could talk at the rate of a
mile a minit. But hit wuz purty nigh
awl Dutch ter me. He talked ordi
nary life polisies, which air fer folks
whut ain't rich nor aristercratick, I
guess. I didn't bite an' he talked
erbout twenty year endowments, ten
year endowments, partisipaytin' an'
unpartisipaytinV and blamed if every
one ov 'em wouldn't figger me out
rich before you could walk eround a
ten-aker field. I listened ter him
talk erbout endowmints an' semi-en-dowmints,
annual dividends, guar
anteed bonus polisies an' things till
I got rite lite heded. Then he want
ed ter know awl erbout my family
histery an' how old my grate-grand-daddy
and grate-grandmuther wuz
before they died. Hit wuz powerful
interestin'. "My friend," sez I; "I
want you ter go an' see my wife an'
spin off that Latin an' Greek fer her.
She awlways did dote on big wurds,
an' maybe she'll take out a polisy."
He sed he'd be charmed ter meet her.
I thanked him fer hiz perlaverin' an'
promised ter think hit over. He wuz
so nise that I hated ter say no, fer
I reckon purty nigh everybody takes
a polisy when he gits after 'em.
But I didn't wanter jump in too
quick.
Betsy iz still writin' fer me ter
cum home. She says the children air
dyin' tor see me. Poor things! T
reckon they hev a hard time when
I'm erway, fer Betsy haint got no
body else ter speak her mind to.
But I can't go an' sell that cotton
yit an' spend hit awl fer Easter hats
an' ribbins. The price iz too low.
I'll hold my cotton till the rust eats
up the ties before I'll give hit er
way. ZEKE BILKINS.
'You Never Can Tell."
"My friend," solemnly observed the
man with dandruff on his coat-collar,
"you, who think you are so wise, do
you remember that not long since
you vouchsafed to give me certain
advice as to the conduct of my love
affairs?" v
"Why, sure!" exclaimed the friend.
"And I venture to say that if you
followed it you have succeeded ad
mirably." The man with dandruff on hh
coat-collar gave the other a look of
ineffable contempt. "Succeeded ad
mirably! I should say I did! Listen!
You will recollect that, in your su
perior wisdom, you told me that if I
wanted to win the girl I should make
love to the mother."
The friend chuckled. "And a very
good idea that was, too."
"Foolish man !" exclaimed the oth
er, with a note of pity in his voice.
"And you said, too, that if I could
get the mother on my side, all I had
to do was to hop around with a ring,
and say, 'When'll it be?' to the girl."
The wise man nodded.
"Also," continued the first speak
er, "you thought it would be a neat
idea to hand the mother a compli
ment or two with respect to her
youthful appearance, together with a
jolly to the effect that the young wo
men of the present were not at all to
be compared with those of the past."
"Well, well !" impatiently inter
rupted the wise one, "how did it all
come out ? You've won the girl, 1
suppose."
"Yes, I have 1" protested the man
with dandruff on his coat-collar.
"You're a fine one to give advice in
love-affairs. The old lady has sued
her husband for divorce and me Tor
breach of promise !" April Woman's
Home Companion.
Jerry Simpson is one of the big
gest sheep owners in New Mexico.
It seems like a reversal of form to
find Jerry raising material for socks.
Washington Post. ,
HELROSE KNITTING HILL.
A Raleigh Enterprise that Sends It's
Products Far and Wide.
, One of the busiest places in Ra
leigh is the Melrose Knitting Mill,
located near the Seaboard Air Line
in the northern section of the city.
The Melrose was built in 1901 and
has in operation the most modern
machinery for the manufacture of
men's underwear. The output is
about 150 dozen daily, and eighty
five people are employed.
It is a stock company. Mr. V. B.
Moore is president and treasurer and
Mr. J. S. Wynne is vice-president.
Both gentlemen are in the foremost
ranks of the most active and pro
gressive business men in the city, and
are too well known to need an intro
duction. Mr. F.W. Kohler is the
efficient superintendent. lie is a na
tive of Florida, but has been in the
manufacture of underwear in North
ern States nearly all his life and
knows every detail of the business,
and understands the machinery thor
oughly. The process of knitting, dying,
drying, cutting and sewing under
wear from first to last is very inter
esting, and it is done very rapidly,
the machines, seemingly, being just
as intelligent as human beings,
though experienced help is necessary
to carry it all out.
The products of the Melrose Mill
go to many cities in this country, in
cluding New York, Boston, Chicago,
St. Louis and smaller cities ; also
to Canada and Porto Rico.
terest to note that during 1903 there
were 177 samples examined, 155 being
found to be adulterated. The sam
ples analyzed during the fast year
were gathered from various parts of
the State as follows:
New Bern, 51 ; Edenton, 5 ; Lex
ington, 8; Mocksville, G; Kinston, 5;
Rockingham, 11; Wintson, 5; Greens
boro, 14; Wilson, 4; Elizabeth City,
14; Monroe, 5; Concord, 5; Raleigh,
105; Durham, 29; Hendersonville, 1;
Graham, 3; Pittsboro, 6; Oxford, 4;
Charlotte, 1; Washington, 4; Statcs
ville, 8 ; Thomasville, 1 ; Greenville,
3 ; Lincolnton, 3 ; Hickory, 2 ; Wadcs
boro, 10 ; Asheville, 17; Reidsville, 2 ;
High Point, 5 ; Newton, 2; Salisbury,
1; not stated, 12 total, 347.
Adulterated Food Sold.
The fifth annual report on the in
spection and analysis of food prod
ucts in the laboratory of the State
Chemist, Dr. B. W. Kilgore, has been
issued. It covers the work of the
analysis of food products for the
past year and throws some interest
ing light on the matter of the adul
teration of foods that are found in
the various markets of the State.
For instance, the report shows that
during the year 347 samples of foods
and drinks were analyzed chemically
and microscopically, and of these,
fifty-nine samples were found to be
adulterated. Of the total number
of samples fifty-nine were flour and
were all pure; thirty were all pure;
twelve were fresh meats and ten of
them were adulterated by the use of
such preservatives as sodium sul
phite, boric acid and silicic acid;
thirty-three were canned meats and
thirteen were found to be adulterated
by the use of about the same injuri
ous preservatives; fifty-three were
caned oysters and fish and only one
was found to be adulterated, boric
acid being the preservative used;
eleven was canned fruits, all being
pure; thirty-three were prepared
mustards and salad dressings, twenty-five
being adulterated with color
ing matter and starch; twenty-seven
were canned vegetables, only one be
ing adulterated with silicic acid;
sixteen were canned corn, seven being
adulterated by the use of silicic acid
and sacharine; fourteen were cocoa,
none 1 being adulterated ; ten choco
late, two adulterated with starch,
fifteen butter, eleven cheese and four
teen whiskey samples Were all found
to be pure.
In this connection it will be of in-
The Young Han and His Wife.
The suburbs and small towns offer
special advantages to those who must
live on narrow incomes, and who yet
have a taste for the refinements of
social converse, good books and good
pictures. These are the places to
which other persons similarly situ
ated have already gone, and in them
one can find the perfection of neigh
borly life and mutual helpfulness.
Indeed, the very fact that your neigh
bors know all about your business
and your income, unpleasant as it
doubtless is at first, serves as a cor
rective of the sham which comes to
be second nature to the dweller in
cities, accustomed either to have or
to imitate the having of a nmnber'bf
quite superfluous things.
As for example, the city woman
who confesses to the necessity of do
ing her own work is rare indeed,
while the country dweller is long past
any sense of shame in this regard.
"Help" is so hard to get and so in
competent that most women of health
and ability dispense with it alto
gether. A friend receiving your af
ternoon call, gets up in the middle of
the chat, and without u thought of
apology, goes into the kitchen to take
the ginger-bread out of -the oven, her
unembarrassed talk floating back over
her retreating shoulders with n, flavor
as sweet and homely as that of the
spicy bread itself.
Now that machinery is at last in
vading the kitchen, it is no longer
necessary to give ud the life of read
ing and music and social graces
generally in order to get along with
out a servant. One young woman,
having set her mind and heart upon
marrying a poor young lawyer, and
receiving the enthusiastic support of
a wealthy uncle, who said he admired
her courage too much to spoil it by
any gift of money, received from him
a dish-washing machine. It was a
contrivance somewhat like a revol
ving book-case, furnished with hooks
and racks upon which the cups and
dishes were hung or set. A stream
of boiling water rose through the
centre and played upon all the dishes
as they slowly circled round it. Af
ter they had been thus washed. ley
hung there till the next meal, the
steam evaporating quickly, and leav
ing them clean and polished. This
little machine saved her from two to
three hours' work every day, and
proved so satisfactory that, although
her husband has now a larg.i income,
she continues to send her laundry out,
employ a woman to clean once a
week, and do the rest of the work
herself. Marion Foster Washburne,
in The Pilgrim for April.