THE
-rvo
VOL II.
RALEIGH, N. C, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1905.
NO. 36
TTT 1 O
Kaleigl
onse.o
' LETTER FRon BILKIN5.
He and Mrs. Bllkins Had a Qrcat Time
Shopping -Spend a Day In Raleigh
With Small Results -Bob, the Fam
ily Buggy Mule, and Mis Smart
Ways.
Correspondence of The Enterprise.
Me an' Betsy air erbout ready fer
Christmas. Leastwise Betsy iz, fer
she iz the whole thing when hit comes
ter hollerdays an' picknicks.
Betsy begun ter talk Christmas two
months ergo, an' hez bin ter". town
"a-shoppin' ." several times. She
axed 'me awl erbout whut ter buy
fer me an' herself an' fer the chil
dren. But I played the dummy an'
tole her ter count me out. Still she
kept on talk in' an' gittin' my opin
yuns. Sez I, ''Betsy, my time iz awl
taken up with the farm an' with my
justis ,ov the peece court. You go
ter town an' shop till you git tired,
nil J. ii. n,y lv;jl laisv ciuuuu tci
foot the bill by borrowin', bcggin',
or stealin'."
She sed I was a powerful gude hus
band, but she couldn't go ter town by
herself. "Why ?" sez I. She 'lowed
she was afeared ter drive old Bob tei
town an' awl them trains an' street
cars an' ortermobills runuin' an'
o srn f nimrTr trra tt trrn-i Vitv 1 rnr
"That iz awl rite, my dear," sez I.
"I'll have a little talk with old Bob
ea-r:iare jist plain everyday affairs
an that they won t hurt him pur-
vided he don't git run over by them,
an' lie will know awl erbout the game
then an' take you through same az
a flyin' macheen."
But she wasn't satisfied and sed I
: i i .. ii t i.
must go an unve oiu uuu.
"Awl rite,'' sez I, "I'll go an' do
rliMirin QTi-'flfn Vnnllfl flnV COO mV
ole friend. Col. Graham Haywood,
while you air shoppin'.
I ain't never afraid when a woman
goes shoppin', so far az money iz
concerned, fer they never spend
much then. But wait till they decide
ter buy then you kin hev a chill.
The nite before we went ter town
Betsy talked till erway late. She
sed she would git Mary a new hat,
Sarahann a new coat, Jennie a new
pair ov shoes. Then she sed she
would git Annie a doll, an' cloth ter
make Flora a new dress.
X i Ui J vu O " " ' J ' ,
up the gals an' sayin' nothin' erbout,
the boys. I reckon you air goin' ter
let Santy Claus bring sumthin fer
the boys."
She sed: "No, I wuz cummin' ter
them purty soon. We will hev to git
Jimray a new gun, for he iz sot on
that, Willie needs a new hat, Sam
orter hev a suit ov clothes. Az fer
the four small ones, Edwin, Jethro,
Arthur an' Pelix, they will be satisfied
with firecrackers, toys, candy an'
fruit."
"Awl rite," sez I, "let's git a litUc
sleep an' start ter town early."
The next mornin' I hitched up ole
Bob an' we left the chaps in charge
of Mrs. Benson, a nabor woman, ter
keep them from burnin' up the house
an' things before we could git back.
Az we rode erlong, Betsy wuz mity
quiet, but I wuzn't surprised, fer
when a woman iz goin' shoppin' she
iz allers nurvous an' exsited. "Git
erlong," sez I ter Bob, "we air goin'
a-shoppin'." An' Bob kn owed every
wurd I sed, fer he hez bin one ov the
fn.ilv fer fifteen venr. They ain't a
better or smarter mule than Bob in
sixteen States. If I hed hitched him
ter the buggy an' tole him ter go
ter town an' be powerful keerful, he
would hev made the trip on skedule
time.
I driv up in front ov the market
an' dumped Betsy out an' tole her
ter shop from one end ov the town
ter the other. I went an' put Bob
up at the stable an' spent the day
with several ov my ole friends. That
wuz erbout nine in the mornin'.
Betsy started off at a twenty-mile
gait fer a dry goods store. I didn't
see her ennymore til erbout four in
the afternoon. She wuz eround on
Martin street then an' hed two little
bundles in her hand. She sez :
"Zeke, I am so tired I can't hardly
walk," an' she looked like she wuzzent
walkin' more than a mile a week
when I first seed her.
"Well, air you ready ter go out
ter the poor house?" sez I.
She 'lowed, "Yes, bring Bob an' the
buggy an' I'll wate rite here."
"Whar iz the bundles ?" sez I. "let
me drive eround an' git them."
She sez: "I hev got everything rite
here."
I hev bin married long ernuff not
ter ax too menny questions, so I went
after Bob an' the buggy.
On the way home I ventured ter ax
if she got every thin' she wen t af ter,
an' if it wuz awl in them two little
bundles? '
" She sed, "Yes, I looked an' looked,
an' wrent shoppin' from one place ter
another, but only bought a spool ov
thred and three yards ov purple rib
bon. I'll hev to cum back sum day
an' finish shoppin'."
"Get up Bob," sez I, "we air in fer
at least two more trips ter Raleiirh
before Christmas, fer Mrs. Bilkins
didn't go ter town ter buy ennything
she wuz jist out shoppin'.
Bob struck er brisk trot an' I
seed him sorter wink one eye an'
smile, fer Bob hez bin at our house
a long time an' understands every
thing that iz sed, espeshually every
thing erbout shoppin'.
Merry Christmas ter awl!
ZEKE BILKINS.
The Italian King's Jest.
The king spends the holiday ac
cording to his humor. Last Christ
mas Day he took a cab at a public
stand, and as he drove, chatted with
the cabman, who discussed his sov
ereign in a free-and-easy and per
haps not altogether complimentary
way. By and by the king told him
to drive to the palace, where he or
dered an officer to pay the man and
note his number. When cabby learn
ed who his fare was he whipped away
without his money and in great
fright, which was in no wise lessen
ed when the next day he was sum
moned to appear at a police station.
To his relief and joy he was in
formed that as he had expressed a
wish that the vehicle he drove were
his own. his majesty had decided to
present him with a new cab, a horse
and some money to start him in busi
ness. Woman's Home r Companion
for December. - .
"0 mamma, come quick!" cried
little Bess, who had never before
seen her small brother do anything
but crawl. "Come quick, mamma !
Baby is standing on his hind legs."
Pacific Unitarian.
Christmas in Other Lands.
The original entertainment was
given by a Sunday-school teacher to
her class of boys and girls, and was
intended to instruct as well as
amuse. The children were old
enough to have some idea of geog
raphy. Soon after they reached the teach
er's home, she conducted them into
a room decorated to represent Nor
way. Here they were greeted in a
most cordial manner by a maiden
dressed in the costume of Norway,
who told them the story of Christ
mas in that country, which is called
Yule-peace instead of Christmas,
and is celebrated by feasting all
quarrels are made up. She spoke of
the preparations made by the moth
ers, the way the gifts are distributed
from the tree, how the birds are re
membered with bunches of wheat
placed outside the window on poles,
and that all animals are given extra
portions of supper, how strangers
are treated on Yule-peace day. Af
ter the story, little girls in the na
tive costumes of Norway appeared
from among the pine trees with trays
of dainty sandwiches.
Then they went into another room
where many dainty articles from
Holland were displayed in a very ar
tistic manner. After a hearty wel
come from a maiden in the tv pical
Dutch costume, some time was spent
.looking . at the pretty things
Defore she began the story of
how the Dutch people keen
Christmas as a holy day; do
not work. Among other things she
told them that Dutch children think
Santa Claus comes driving a white
horse instead of reindeer, and they
clean their wooden shoes, and fill
them with hay and oats for the white
horse. Here ice-cream was served
in little wooden shoes with flags of
the country stuck in them like sails.
They next visited Denmark. Here
was a pretty Christmas tree with
dainty gifts for each one. A young
lady in the native dress told how
Christmas is celebrated there. Es
pecially interesting to the boys and
girls was that part of the story that
the children of Denmark do not
know about Santa Claus, but "Nis
son," a little old man who is a
Brownie, and supposed to live undei
the ground takes his place.
The idea is a beautiful one, and
might be elaborated on for an enter
tainment for a Sunday-school. It
was really talks on the way Christ
mas was observed in other countries,
which were told in such an interest
ing, fascinating manner that they
were heartily enjoyed by the chil
dren, who begged to be told about
Christmas in other countries than the
ones mentioned. The Pilgrim.
Sacrifice Is the Spirit of Christmas.
A curious thing comes to my mind
concerning which I have a word to
say, and that is apropos of honesty.
No one has a right to give away any
thing except what may be in excess
of the just demands upon the income.
The butcher, the baker, the dry goods
man needs his money as surely as
does the enthusiastic woman eager
to make a pretty gift, or the lover
to bestow upon his sweetheart what
he knows is her heart's desire. Suc
cessful Christmas giving should
mean self-sacrifice, and it is often
a gre'atcr sacrifice to deny one's self
the privilege of expenditure than to
do just what one has in mind. I be
lieve that from the nursery days
this theory should be inculcated, and
as the coming to this world of our
blessed Lord was one great act of
sacrifice so in planning for our
Christmas gifts, each child in the
family should be encouraged to some
thing of self-sacrifice in the gather
ing together of the money for his
gifts. I like to picture the old-fashioned
Virginia home, where round
the library table through the fall
months the children of the house
hold and the kinsfolk and acquaint
ances who might be within the doors,
busied themselves in the preparation
of dainty nothings which should car
ry on Christmas morn the sweet
words of loving remembrance. This
is a great contrast to a pretty wo
man's thought who came into my
office a year 'ago on the 27th day
of December and showed me $50
worth of lace and a sunburst of dia
monds, which she wore at her throat,
and said, "I am sure you are glad.
Dr. Smith, that I have these things,
but I would not have had them ex
cept that I was clever enough to put
your bill under the paper of my bot
tom drawer, and Mr. X thinks it has
not been sent." Can you conceive
of any graver dishonesty than was
this ? A trick upon the man whom
she had vowed to honor as her hus
band a trick upon the doctor who
had been of service. And yet that
woman said she had a happy Christ
mas. Where was her conscience?
The Perfect Pun.
A perfect pun makes good sense
both ways; the edges meet with a
click like the blades of a sharp pair
of shears. Sometimes the very
thoughts fit tight together in antago
nistic identity, as when the man said
of the temperance exhorter that he
would be a good fellow if he would
only let drink alone; or when Dis
raeli (if it was he) wrote to the
youth who had sent him a first novel,
"I thank you very much. I shall lose
no time in reading it;" or as when a
man, seeing a poor piece of carpen
try, said : "That chicken coop looks
as if some man had made it himself."
Exquisite perverse literalness ot
thought! And the same absolute pun
ning, the - very self-destruction of a
proposition, was the old death thrust
at a poor poet by the friend who said :
"His poetry will be read when Shake
speare and Homer are forgotten."
It was a fine, doubled-edged blade
of speech until some crude fellow
Heine, I think sharpened it to a
wire edge by adding, "and not till
then" a banality that dulled its perfection-forever
J. A. Macy, in the
Atlantic.
"0, papa," Marie, "do you know the
meaning of Christian names? 'Wil
liam' means good. I wonder what
what 'Arthur' means?" And the girl
blushed, 0 so prettily! Papa put on
his severest aspect. "I hope Arthur
means business," was the reply.
It is supremacy, not precedence,
that we ask for the Bible; it is con
trast, as1 well as resemblance, that we
must feel compelled to insist on. The
Bible is stamped with speciality of
origin and an immeasurable distance
separates it from all competitors.
W. E. Gladstone.