Pike County Democrat, Volume 30, Number 24, Petersburg, Pike County, 20 October 1899 — Page 3

H* McC. STOOPS, Kdltor and Proprietor. PETERSBURG, : INDIANA.

11/*IH2I1E on earth did you get VY that bowl?” Nelly Marshall *aid to old Mrs. Graves. She and her friend. Ellice Davidson, had stopped at the old woman's cpttage on their return from a long, *liot walk to get a drink of her cool well water. As Mrs. Graves opened her cupboard ■to tqke out her one tumbler Nelly’s curious eyes noticed ,o« the top shelf a ■china bowl covered 4vith dust, on which •the pounced eagerly. “That chiny bowl, is it, honey? Why, it was my mother’s afore ever I was born, and she set great store by it. My father was a sailor, and he used to bring oil kinds of queer things from his voyages. They’re all gone but that one bowl, and somehow I’ve got it fixed in tny mind that 1 won't have any good luck if anything happens to that bowl.”. The two girls glanced at each other. Cood luck and poor old Mrs. Graves .seemed far apart. She was very old, and had survived, all her family and friends. •She picked up a wretched living by knitting and quilting. She owned the little cottage in which she lived, and with sturdy independence refused the «ha> ity of her neighbors, save during h v attacks or rheumatism, which of 1;.. c were frequent and severe. Everyone pitied and respected the desolate ® old woman. “Well, what do you think of this?” Nelly breathlessly exclaimed, lyffding out the bowl, when Mrs, Graves had gone to the well. ”1 see an old china bowl,” laughed Ellice, “very queer-looking, and very dirty, aud a little ehipped at the edges.” “You see a genuine Satsuma!” Nelly *aid, impressively. “1 question wheth- » er another such can l>e found in this country. Look at that diapering of ■dull gold at the base and edge, and * those birds with outstretched wings in the Center! Why, it’s a treasure!” “Is it?” Ellice answered, indifferently. “It just looks to me like a queer bowL Very nice for a milk bowl.” “A milk bowl!- You know I spent year before last with my aunt, Mrs. Davenport, in the city, and she and her friends were all deep in the study of ceramics. Aunt is a great collector of old china, and as she is very wealthy and a great traveler, she.has some su- * per.b specimens. Why, she gave $40 for •ai Hatusma eup and saucer that isn’t to be compared with this! One "of her friends gave $:500 for a pair of vases, and they were cracked. Oh, I’m an expert in china. I’d give anything in the w orld to own this bowl, and I’m going to have it. too! Hush! Here comes the old woman. Not a word to her of its value.” “Here’s your bowl. Mother Graves,” «he said, handing it to her with an indifferent air. “It’s very queer, and I I

UEI.UE BROUGHT IT TO THE BEDSIDE. would like to have it jn my cabinet of curiosities, 1 suppose you wouldn’t ■cure to sell it?” ‘'Land sakes, no, honey!” laughed the old woman. “Who’d buy an bid thing like that? I call it my luck bowl. It wouldn't be a mite of use to anybody but me, and it really isn’t any use to me; but it’s all that’s left of my old life, and 1 think it would most break my heart to look in the cupboard and find it gone.”“Very well, Mrs. Graves, but if you ever change your mind and wish to sell it, let me have the refusal. I’ll give vou more .for it than anyone around here.” As the girls walked home.Nelly was silent undjpreoccupied. “I’ll have that bowl!” she cried oaf, suddenly. “Yes, it will be mine before many weeks. The old woman can hardly hobble about now, and it won’t be long before she is laid up. That will be my time, and won't it be a triumph to show my aunt as fine a piece of china as she has in her whole collection—and at a bargain, too!” Ellice looked at her friend in mute •■surprise. Nelly was a good girl, kindhearted and humane, and yet she was exulting now that a poor, wretched .creature should be tortured \^th pain, and laid up, helpless and hopeless, in order that it might give her an opportunity to possess an old piece of china! A mania for ceramics, she thought, was not likely to enlarge the sympathies or •often the heart. “What will you give Mrs. Graves for the bowl?” she asked. « “Oh, a fair price. She’ll think it more than fair. But of course I’m not such * fool as to offer even a quarter of its actual, value. I couldn’t begin to afford it. Don’t look so grave, as if I were going to swindle the old woman!

A pearl Is only a pearl to one who known its mine, and to Mrs. Grams it is only an old, useless china bowl.” “But some one might give Its mint: to the poor old creature.” “Now. look here, Ellice Davidson,** "Nelly cried, red with anger, “you talk as if I were going to take a dishonest advantage of the woman! Who would give 25 cents for it here? In this little out-of-the-way village the people have never even heard of Bhtsuma ware.1 Why, it will stay on that shelf till old Mrs. Graves is dead and buried, and then be thrown aside, or some old woman will keep her milk in it. No, I expect to get the bowl at a bargain, and mv conscience won’t trouble me if I take it.” - Nelly was correct in thinking the bowl would soon be in her possession. In less than a week Mrs. Graves sent for her. She found the old woman in bed in a cold room and suffering terribly from rheumatic fever. On a little table by the bed was a tumbler of water and a plate of food, sent in by some pitying neighbor. “Seems as if that turns my stomach,” she said, pointing to the food, “but it was mighty good in Mrs. Ives to send it. Jenny,” to a little girl who had come in, “won't you pick up some chips and make a blaze, so you can boil some water and make a cup of tarragon tea? I’m just parching with thirst. Miss Nelly, 1 sent for you to tell you if you want that bowl I’ll sell it. I’m too sick to work, and 1 haven’t got a cent to buy medicine or firewood.” Nelly’s heart beat high with delight. “Certainly, Mrs. Graves,” she said. “1 meant what 1 said, and I’ll give you what you ask for it.”

“Do you think a dollar is too much : Nelly glanced at the abject poverty of the room, the poor old woman's paindrawn face, and for very shame at herself blushed deeply. But the bowl mustbe hers. “Mrs. Groves,” she said, hurriedly, “i’ll give you live dollars for the bo>vl, and here’s the money.” She took it out of her pocket. v “Five dollars!” exclaimed the old woman, in astonishment. “Miss Nelly, honey, 1 reckon it’s because you want to give me the money. It ain’t certainly because the bowl is worth half that.” “To me it is,” Nelly said, hastily, with a sudden twinge of conscience, “and if I had more money I’d give it, but this is my last cent.” “Oh, I’m afraid you’re paying high for, just a whim! Please bring me the bowl. Miss Nelly, so I can tell it good-by before you take it away.” Nelly brought it to the bedside, and the tears were in the old creature's eyes as she took it in her trembling hands. “It is ail that is left me of the blessed old time. When I look at it I see them all—father, mother, husband and children, all lying in the churchyard. It was my wedding present, from father, Miss Nelly. I remember the night 1 was married.. Everybody wished me health and prosperity* but father, he says: ‘Health and prosperity are mighty good things, but 1 wish for my children honesty and fair dealing with all the world.’ Yes, those were his exact words. It is hard to part with the last thing I have of his.” She pressed it to her quivering lips with a sob, and handed it to Nelly. “Don’t think I’m not thankfbul to you, Miss Nelly,” she said, “because I’m sorry at parting with it. You have given me six times its value. God bless you! You’ve a kind heart. May God deal with you as you’ve dealt with a poor, desolute old woman!” As Nelly hurried home with her treasure, these words kept ringing in her ears and beating at her heart. Semehow she did not feel as triumphant over the bargain as she had expected. But the next day she packed her bowl and took the first train for the city of New Orleans. “Why, it’s unique—it’s worth it’s weight in gold, Nell!” her aunt cried, ecstatically. “Where did you pick it up? What did you give for it?” “Oh, 1 got it at a bargain,” was all Nelly would say. There was a mettiing of Mrs. Davenport’s friends at her house that night to inspect the.liowl. One of them. Mr. Wentworth, a gentleman of large fortune, whose collection of old china was one of the most costly in the United States, was enthusiastic in his admiration. “I never saw but one like this before, and it was in a private collection in Japan. It would be priceless if it weren’t for that chip on the edge and that brown stain; but even as it is, it’s 'worth $200 to any collector, and I’d be glad to give that or more to own it, if you ever care to part with it, Miss Nelly,”

That night, when Nelly lay sleepless on her bed, the words of old Mrs. Graves kept ringing in her ears. “And he says; ‘I wish for them honesty and fair dealing,’ *’ and then the words so fervently spoken: ‘May God deal with you as you’ve dealt with a poor, desolate old woman!” When she rose in the morning her mind w as made up. She told her aunt the story, concealing nothing of her own cupidity. “And now, aunt,” she said, “I look upon myself as only the custodian of the bowl. I am going to get all I can for it, and make, so far as I can, the poor old woman comfortable for the resit of her life.” When it was found that the bowl was for sale, the bidding was fast and furious among the collectors; but none went higher than Mr. Wentworth, and it became his property for $300. The story of the destitute woman who had! owned it became known in the circle, and another hundred was adcufiL to titye fund for her support. WhenNelTf told Mrs. Graves what had been done, the old woman exclaimed, in devout wonder: “0 my blessed Lord, thou hast worked a miracle for me in my great heed. I nan’t help crying, you dear, blessed ,,-irsl. The tears are tears of relief, for you have lifted me ov,t of the depths!"— Youth’s Companion.

DEFIES THE CONSTITUTION. McKialejr's Violation of Aancrleom Principle* to the Solo Affair. In the perfunctory adulation of Pres* ident McKinley by the Massachusetts republicans in state convention one of the causes alleged m their platform for ecstatic admiration of that public functionary is “the tact, the patience, the skill and the statesmanlike spirit with which the, president has approached the perplexing problems arising from the war.” Without discussing the spirit in which Mr. McKinley has “approached” these problems, which is altogether a matter of opinion, we may be permitted to regard the manner in which hehas solved them, which is simply a matter of fact. The only one of the “problems arising from the war” which President McKinley has not only “approached” but actually solved is that of the establishment of the United States sovereignty over the Sulu archipelago, lying to>the southward of the Philippines proper, which was included in the purchase for which we paid $20,000,000 to Spain. We have no possible use for these islands, of course; they must always be an expense and a nuisance, but Mr. McKinley insisted upon having them, and'he has got them, and he has actually established sovereignty over them. It is the one completed act of his administration in the adjustment of the new relations of the United States arising out of the war. It is the crown of his “tact, patience, skill and statesmanship.”

The establishment of the sovereignty of the United States over the Sulu archipelago has not been made by conquest but by diplomacy. The president has made a treaty, or agreement, or bargain, with the “sultan” of these islands. He bas pledged the American people to pay to this magnate an annual tribute to keep him quiet, and- in consideration of his acknowledgment ol^ the “sovereignty” of the United States. This is cheap enough, in corn-' parison with the cost of Mr. McKinley’s policy in respect to Aguinaldo in Luzon. We might buy up and pension the local posses of all the islands in the China sea at far less expense than the country is put to for the maintenance of Otis’ authority on a few square miles about Manila by the foree of arms. Hut the statesmanship of President ,McKinley does not stop with the payment of tribute to this yellow monarch; it includes the guarantee of certain peculiar institutions of that country for which the “sultan” has great affection. We may pass over the Mohamedan tenet of polygamy, with which Mr. McKinley has pledged the United States not to interfere; this is merely a matter ^f morals or sociology. But the question of slavery is another story. The thirteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States declares as ^llows: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for erime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or in any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This amendment was proclaimed as a part of the organic law' of the republic, December IS, 1S65. President McKinley cannot plead ignorance of the law. Every child in our public schools knows it by heart, and knows that wherever the jurisdiction of the United States extends no man or woman or child can be held in servitude. Mr. McKinley has established, by the payment of tribute to the yellow potentate of the Sulu archipelago, the sovereignty of the United States over these islands. By the terms of the constitution under which the president holds his office and exercises his authority, the establishment of that sovereignty frees every human being held in bondage on those islands. Mr. McKinley has no right to say that slavery shall continue. Whatever he may say can count no more than the word of the least of his fellow citizens. The people of the United States have freed every slave in Sulu. It is decreed by the organic law of the laud. But what has been done by this “wisq and patriotic administration,” as the sycophantic republican state convention styles the Hanna-McKinley syndi

«V miomugiuu, XV UCtt^V UUd i been made with the "•sultan” of this slaveholding territory whereby "all slaves have the right of buying their freedom at a price to be fixed by disinterested parties or another may bjjiy a slave’s freedom for him.” Such, at least, is the statement made regarding the treaty with the "sultan” of Sulu effected by Gen. Cates and heralded as a great diplomatic triuiqph by the organs of the administration. If President McKinley has not consented tq this flagrant violation of the constitution of the United States he cannot too speedily absolve himself by giving publicity to the terms of the treaty by •which he has established the sovereignty of the United States over Sulu. There is every reason to believe that the situation is as stated. Slavery has existed in Sulu from time immemorial. The slaves are captives of war, poor debtors and the children of such unfortunates born while their parents arfe in a condition of servitude. Everyone of these slaves is free to-day under the constitution of the United States. By what usurpation of authority has President McKinley dared to allow the "sultan” of Sulu to retain these human beings in involuntry servitude? The theory of those who sustain the policy of the administration in the Philippines is that the declaration of independence is outgrown; that it is no longer true that all men have equal political rights; that just government to-day does not rest upon the consent of the governed; that representation need not accompany taxation. But the declaration of independence and the constitution of the United States are two different documents. The declaration may b* n,,,wnui, as the republic

an supporters of Mr. McKinley tell na but the constitution is the law of the land, to which the president must bow as well as the humblest citizen. And the constitution declares that there ahall be no slavery or involuntary servitude within either the United States or “any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Mr. McKinley has, by his “wise, statesmanlike and patriotic” conduct, established the jurisdiction of the United States over the Sulu islands. In doing: this he seems to have reestablished slavery within the jurisdiction ‘of this republic. On the face of it, here surely ia a case for the house of representatives to make a presentation to the senate of the United States, —Boston Post. PASS THE PORK AROUND. Wall Street Philanthropists Get a "Hand Out” from the Government Pantry. “We may be overdoing this thing,'* says Hon. William McKinley, referring to the booming prosper;ty that is being enjoyed by the trust promoters, the stock gamblers and th> money sharks generally. “Let ust lea half hitch on our enthusiasm lest we go to smash— thereby endangering my prospects for a second term,” These are not his exact words, but the sentiment is preserved. And it is evident that the understrappers who have been steering the ship of state while the regular crew have been eating expensive dinners and talking about the old flag have received instruc

uons 10 inaxe an snug ftioit m ease tnere should be a stiff breeze. The assistant secretary of the treasury, Mr. Ynnderlip, is keeping an eye to windward, at any rate. Money is tight in Wall street. The gentlemen who shear lambs, the philanthropists who rig the market, the financiers who come to the rescue of the government when a bond issue is in sight, are paying considerably more than the legal rate for money, and in their stress and trial they naturally turn for aid to the treasury department, which is considered a sort of branch office of the New York establishment. Mr. Yanderlip, acting undoubtedly upon the orders of his absent chief, is quick to respond. He announces that the United States government will prepay the interest on all its bonds for the rest of the fiscal year—a period of eight months. The stock gamblers must have easy money at the expense of the taxpayers. It. is true that on a large part of the anticipated payments the government wTill exact a discount at the rate of onefifth of one per cent, per month, but the difference between this discount and the current money rate in Wall street will go to the distressed financiers. Upon $5,000,000 of the whole $26,000,000 to be paid out no discount at all will be exacted. The government will give the use of the money gratis to relieve the worthy persons who amuse themselves by “skinning the Rubes,” as they poetically express it. tfIt is a thank offering of our noble executive to the patriots who gave so freely of their adipose tissue when Mr. Hanna was operating the frying pan in the fall of 1S96. If they are treated liberally now they may be equally responsive w’heh Mr. Hanna takes up his pilgrimage again next year. And of course it is all right. Stock gambling is one of our most cheri^kd and aristocratic industries. It xflrat be protected and fostered like other favored industries. But while our noble executive and Mr. Yanderlip are in this generous frame of mind why shouldn't the federal pensioners, the federal officeholders and other prospective creditors of the government seize the opportunity to ask an advance payment? As a matter of fact, why shouldn’t we all have a “whack” at the United States treasury, dividing up the funds on hand pro rata and thereby insuring general prosperity and a high old time throughout the length and breadth of the land so long as the money lasts? Let us make this thing general. It is not '‘fair that the W’all street philanthropists should monopolize the pork.— Chicago Chronicle.

POINTS AND OPINIONS. -‘It is not so strange that William McKinley should have thrown civil service over for Mark Hanna. Hanna has done infinitely more for McKinley,— Chicago Democrat, -It is a good democratic doctrine to stand up for the right and resist wrong. And no exception will be made in favor of chartered robbery.—St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1 " Secretary Boot is now spoken of as a running' mate for McKinley in 1900. As a former trust attorney he would be a fit candidate if the republicans are going to put a plank in their platform denouncing trusts and apologizing for them at the same time.—Buffalo Times. -There seems to be no shame in Mr. Hanna, the dictator. In his speeches he boasts that his party has enacted laws against trusts. He takes care, however, not to tell that he himself has used his influence and prevented the enforcement of these laws.—Canton (O.) News-Democrat. -The Ohio state republican campaign committee is sending begging letters all over the United States, asking for contributions to save the president’s own state from being lost this fall. This shows what confidence the republicans have in the popularity of the president’s party.—Utica (N. Y.) Observer. -—The nature of President McKinley is to have no principles and to urge no measures that are antagonistic to anybody. And this is his policy, too. Such is the way in which he has treated the money question and such is tha manner in which he has endeavored to deal with the Filipino insurgents. The basic principle of such policy is to be amiable and not offend anybody. Even in war don’t shoot to kill.—Portland Oregonian.

CAPT PABST, OP MILWAUKEE. HAS THE ( LARGEST, MOST EXPENSIVE COLLECTION OF FAMOUS AUTOGRAPHS OF MODERN TIMES .v AN $8,000 VOLUME .v . v < - - - ': .Hi

TO HAVE on exhibition sentiments you like from the people you admire most is interesting; to have the sentiments they themselves like best, is more so; and to have them in their own handwriting with their name attached, indelible as a laundry mark, is fascinating, and has just cost Capt. Pabst, of Milwaukee, $8,000 to achieve. The purchase has just come from the* hands of the book binder, and the great, exquisitely bound tome is probably the costliest book in the world. It is exactly 150 pounds of autographs, mixe<f with some of thebrightes* 4 Mugs in the ken of quotation, and some of the stui *

sage from the year book of his life, , whether a bar of his own or another’s; and hardly an artist whose returned slip was not dainty in blue and white water coloring, cr bold in black and white, or graceful with curve of shoulder or fall of sweeping drapery of skillful sketching. And everything, from the three ’‘Emma Calves,” i scrawled in gracious super-compliance, to J. G. Brown’s characteristic bit of bootblack kit, is a dear possession, and gives one that repeatedly, delightful feeling of looking into the kitchen garden, unofficially. This, in short, it'what the book con*

pidiest; with bits of uncommonly conceited biography, and tremendously trite echoes, and exceedingly clever saws. It is an edition de luxe such as no printer’s establishment in the world, from Kelmscott down, could put out, and Dewey and the De Reszkes, Charles Dana Gibson and Kipling, and Clara Barton, have touched the leaves, and said their say within. Upon the slips is some of the worst handwriting, some of the most astonishing scrawls, and some of the neatest chirography one ever saw. Only pretty writing, you notice, is ever called chirography, and then only when you are either fond or tolerant of the writer. When you have worshiped a water-color woman or revered a supreme-court Judge all your life, it gives you & blank feeling to see a blot or a soily thumb mark below his hand-made name. It is like finding the Bengal tigress you were dreaming about, only the cat on the bed.

fains, and the table of contents at the back is a good-sized book itself: Autographs of President Cleveland and his cabinet; President McKinley and his cabinet; fJnited States supreme judges; United States circuit judges; Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth congresses; the army and navy; United States commanders-in-chief G A. R.; the artists, sculptors, musicians, actors, authors and writers of note in the United States; journalists; scientists; civil engineers; railroad officials; notable ecclesiastics; governors of all the states; and a miscellaneous assortment of men and women, with a general addenda of everybody notable and previously omitted. The two congresses, the cabinets and muTx* ■ ■—.-v

THE EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLAR BOOK.

But you are not all disillusioned by Capt. 1‘abst’s befrky purchase. You at&rt out impressed by the scintillating price he paid for it, and the fact that it is really the most costly volume in the world, at least without age to back it; you stumble at the first egotistic biography, and then fall down over a blotted platitude above an ideal signature; then you find Church’s little sketch of a fair woman and a tawny lion, or tjie girl Gibson, drew on purpose for it, or the bit .qif sword motif notated by a De Reszke, and life gets presentable again. ° To go back just for a minute to its reason for being: The sum paid for itj by Capt. Pabst completes a fund of $30,000, which Mrs. Lydia Ely, of Milwaukee, raised alone for the soldiers’ monument. The bronze, completed in Rome last June by John Severino Conway, to whom the work was intrusted, was unveiled in June, and is one of the finest monuments in the United States commemorative of the soldiers of the civil war. The raising of( the amount for its purchase by Mrs. Ely was prob

the judiciary are, with all due deference to their general importance, pretty dry reading. Most of them contented themselves with inscribing their names; a° few of them tabulated neat little autobiographies, registering the successive steps in stellar careers; one or tvh^of.them wrote down sentences sonorous even in black and white. A number of them write very badly and not even pursue an intelligent straight line as the shortest distance between two points, probably because they regard it as unconstitutional ever to see just where they are going. Most of them are well-ordered, fat-lettered compliances to do as they are told. ' The officers of the army and navy do better. Among these the one most interesting at the present time is that

ably a bigger task than was ever accomplished by any woman, single-hand-ed, for a patriotic purpose, Spartan ladies with shields and long hair not excepted. She did it in three years in more ways than columns eouid enumerate, from bazars infinite in size, to raffles, and Polock school solicitings; and she exhibited more ability and energy thereby than most other $30,GOO’s in the world can point to for ancestry. And the crown and climax was the book. Capt. Pabst was already identified with army interests since the day marked by white bowlders to Milwaukee G. A. R. men, when for one of their national encampments he bought the grandstand seats en bloc, for $15,000, and gave them back. His magnanimity in purchasing the book was therefore a foregone conclusion when it began to be talked about, and now it is his. The autograph book is a thing apart. Hardly an American author responded to Mrs. Ely’s request without some dear sentence of his own, or wisa* chosen word from the best that has influenced him of another’s; baWly amur sici un-composer, or grand opera singer, or director, who did not send some mes

of Admiral Dewey, written when a commodore in the nav£. The statesmen contribute not only their names, but in many cases some trite saying in support of their various platforms, or may bqfc quotation for the same purpose. J An interestiiigrportion of the book is that devoted to the artists, for many of them have added to their signatures some bit of their work that is characteristic of them, as for instance the Gibson girl. — The authors have added to their signatures the name of a favorite book or a quotation, and many of them a bit' of biography. The pages devoted to the musicians are filled with bits of music or quotations from favorite composers. The actors add bits from piaya in which they l|ave been prominent. Famous educators, as a rule, have been content with inscribing their names, as were also the scientists and railway officials and financiers. Among tbs famous preachers have added sentiments or quotation*, and the last pages are devoted to famous wen and women who could not b*e classified, and to pension era of tha revolution. ' i||§ soft***** #1