\ ~~~~ n\r WM A RADFORD.- Mr. William A. Radford will answer questions and give advice FKBE OF COST on all subjects pertaining to the subject of building, for the readers of this paper. On account of his wide experience as Editor, Author and Manufacturer, he is, without doubt, the highest authority on all tli€;se subjects. Address all inquiries to William A. Radford. No. 178 West Jackson boulevard, Chicago, 111., and only enclose two-cent stamp for reply. "A little house we've got, on a flower-bowered lot, in a hustling, breezy, busy little city; it's big enough for two, for our wants are very few. there's only just myself and little Kitty." A simple little house like this is very much like going back to first principles, but it furnishes accommo- Jation for two just as well as a more affair. We all have ac quaintances, especially among our older friends, who commenced life as Bimply as tills, and who are now en joying the accumulations resulting from frugality and good management. if a young couple form the habit of paying rent, they are very iikely to pay rent as long as they live. We often hear the remark that it is cheap er to rent than to own our own prop erty. There never was a more foolish or misleading statement. The man who lives in a rented house seldom gets ahead financially. This holds good whether lie is working on a sal ary or is conducting a business on his own account, it would de difficult to say why, but it probably is because in the majority of oases a renter fails to give attention to the advancing value of real estate. I knew a man, a clerk in a lubri cating oil manufactory, who rented a new bouse on a pleasant street about twenty years ago. At first he paid i S2O per month, but In seven or eight years' time the rent was raised to S2O. He is still living In the same I house, and is now paying $35 per month. The house has not improved with age, and he Is continually look Ing about to better his condition, but ran And no other property that BUits him so well or that he can rent at a cheaper rate in proportion to the advantages he uow has. He has paid enough rent to buy the house, to pay ail street improvements, city taxes, Insurance and repairs. He tells me lie was offered the property years ago for $2,C00, which he thought was too much money. The lot itself is worth more than that today. This is only one of many similar instances that bave come to my notice. It is not al ways that a neighborhood improves so rapidly and substantially; but, gen erally speaking, all property in Ameri can towns advances in value. There Is another very great advan tage in owning a home, and that is the comfortable feeling you have of being a landed proprietor, and the fact that you are not obliged to have ZJ i H I T n t u «• • >i •' ; rrj lip A>*4.*a *u<. FLOOR ?1.A5 your rent money ready promptly when the month comes around. You cau plant a tree or a shrub or some flow er bulbs without the permission of the landlord; you can make altera tions in the house when it suits your convenience; and if the house or neighborhood is not to your liking, you can rent It and borrow the money to build another, and the rent from ibe old one will help pay for the new A little house like tills may be made very attractive by making a nice ! lawn and planting a few trees and flowers. The lawn is the most essen tial and the most difficult undertaking on the average town lot. The ground i is often not very good; it is mixed j with cellar earth and rubbish that is j not well calculated for a good seed j bed for grass. It is easy to put the J ground in proper shape, however, if the job is started from the bottom. The ground must be plowed deep, arid thoroughly worked, to get the objec tionable grass roots out of it. The | condition of the soil will determine j whether to seed the first year or the j second year. If there is no humus in ! the soil, it will pay to cover it thick with coarse manure, and plow it un- | der. This, again, leads to complica- j tions in the moisture problem; but tf you have a hose attachment, you j can easily keep the ground moist. The ] top two or three inches of earth must [ be repeatedly worked with a disk har- j row or some implement, every other day for a week or two, to kill the weeds as they sprout; then, if the top is well mixed with a good commercial fertilizer, the grass seed may be BOWU. and you have a lawn that will last ; as long as you want it, a lawn that j will be green when others are parched i with sun, a lawn that will look vel- j vety and add ten or twenty per cent, j to the value of the property. This is a secret that not many j householders understand. It is not always the house Itself that makes a j home desirable. I have seen cheap | little houses made so attractive that t strangers passing would stop to ad mire. A young man can build a house like j this for S7OO or SBOO, and the money i that he would naturally pay out for ! rent will pay for it in a few years, j He can grow fruit trees, and have j fruit enough for home use, and some 1 | to sell, without going to much expense or spendlug a great deal of time in the garden. An hour or two at night for a few weeks, early in the season, will accomplish a good deal if the work is intelligently laid out. In , building a house like this, don't forget the outside embellishments. The lawn 1 and the garden will be the making of the projverty; at the same time, you will be getting a good example that is almost sure to benefit the neigh borhood. Another very Important item is the : painting. A little house sometimes is conspicuous Just because it is small; and more attention is paid to it than to other houses in the neighborhood, especially if It is nicely painted and j neatly kept. Always choose quiet col- ! ors for a small house; never attempt to make it showy. A drab with white trimmings always looks well. You may deviate from this without serious injury, possibly; but you cannot im prove on a light drab with white trimmings for a small house, especial ly if it is partly hidden among the trees and screened with vines. War's Glamor Gone. There is no sane, economic reason why there should be wars. They are economically wasteful. They have ceased to be picturesque. The uni form of the soldier has changed from scarlet and gold to clay color. He lies on his stomach in a trench and shoots at an enemy half a mile or more away. Sea fighting has suffered the same decay in romance. The mod ern dreadnought looks more like a factory with a couple of derricks stick ing out of the roof than a boat. Or ders are communicated by telephone. It must be very trying to an officer in the skeleton mast during an en gagement to call up the captain to de liver some important Information and learn that the line Is "busy." The i ■men are not sailors In the old mean ing of the word. They know little about the picturesque side of life at sea. A fine looking lot of young fol lows, probably not more than half a L dozen of them on any battleship could t splice a rope.—American Magazine. 112 Her Principal Reason. Mrs. Homes—Fanny, Mrs. Hangs ■ threw a saucepan at her husband be - cause he sat on her new hat. 1 never could do a thing.like that, r Mr. Homes—Ah, no! Because you i love me so dearly, eh, ;?et? Mrs. Homes—Ye-es. Besides, I > haven't a new hat. ADVICE FOR SMALL CITY MERCHANT By WM. C. FREEMAN. A clothing merchant, operating In a city of 50,000 inhabitants, is doing a business of $50,000 a year on an ad vertising expenditure of about $1,300 a year. He wants to expand his business and asked me how 1 would go about it. When he flashed that $1,300 year \ ly expenditure on me—which is less than three per cent, of his gross busi i ness—l advised him to multiply his advertising expepdlture by three. In the general talk we had 1 asked : him about the chances of increasing his business In his community—the '■ kind of merchandise he sold and the | earning ability of the people in his j community. I was surprised when he told me that he sold more S2O and $25 suits j than he sold of the chaper grades. He said he buys the best material he can find—clothing that bears the labels of honest manufacturers. He holds a special sale twice a year to J clean up the odds and ends of his stock —the rest of the time selling his goods at a fair percentage of profit. : He was as frank a man as I have ever talked to. I pointed out to hlin that he could use 0110 full column advertisement | every day except Sunday In all of the ! papers in his town, including a page I at the beginning of the season and a | page to introduce his special sales in ! January and July, at a cost of about I $3,200 a year. He could also use the weekly papers { In the counties adjacent to his own j town, with a quarter page space every I j week, at a cost of from SSOO to SI,OOO. ! This would make his total advertising appropriation about $4,800, or 8 per j cent, of his present gross business, ! and such an advertising policy could not fall to Increase his business. This story is told in the hope that it will be a help to merchants in the j smaller communities who want to do | more business. Any clothing business, during Its j growing stages, can afford to pay *> j j per cent, of its gross business for ad j I vertlslng. as an Investment, and the ■, ■ percentage of cost will grow less as ! the business grows. ____ FARMERS AND ADVERTISING Large Farm Sales Recently Held At test That Use of Newspaper Space Pays. News dispatches the other day her alded a farm sale held near Emerson, | lowa, that totaled nearly SB,OOO and | touted It as one of the largest public | sales held on a farm In lowa this I year. Hamilton county, however, has i at least two farm sales which beat It —and in each instance by 50 per cent, i The John Sloatie sale held near Blatrs burg totaled $11,600 and the John Ely j farm sale held near Webster City ran j around $12,000. In point of attendance, however, | the Emerson sale will probably beat j either of the Hamilton county sales. ; The Emerson farmer spent S2OO In j advertising his sale and considers he j got the worth of his money, for 1,000 j people attended. In case of the Ham ilton county sales probably not over SSO was spent in advertising. Had S2OO been spent doubtless the crowds would have been a good deal larger and more than likely, also, the re ceipts would have been bigger, nut 1 Hamilton county farmers have not yet learned the full value of advertising. I They used more of it this year, however, than ever before. A farm sale most anywhere with an attend ! ance of 1,000 people would certainly bo a novelty—but a novelty which would certainly delight auctioneers. Say Something In Your Ads. So long as advertising Is news, there need be no apollgizing for it on the part of the advertiser People wel ! come advertising that will really help i them find what they want. I don't i like a printed announcement that be j gins: "Please rend this advertlse | ment." It reminds me too much of I the poor devil standing down on the I street corner with a tin sign, which ! reads: "Please help the crippled." ! Say something in your advertising— j give the public news of your store j and your service—and the public will read eagerly without being begged or i cajoled.—Jerome P. Fleischman in I Baltimore Sun. Unnoticed Customers Grow Angry. Customers wil not wait long in a store if no attention is paid to them. They stand around a few minutes, get angry, then leave. Yet a few words to them at the very first—a polite re quest to take a seat and you will serve them In just a minute —will generally cause them to wait the full est limit of their time and result in a firm friend, if not a big sale. Advertise truths—they are less expensive.—Printers' Ink. Dutch a Nation of Flower Lovers. The Dutch are a nation of flower lovers, skilled gardeners and inventive farmers. On canal boats, on floating river houses, nround farm houses. In humble village and great city, one finds flowers, flowers, flowers. Some one has said that Holland's most Illus trious conquerors have been her en gineers and her florists. Through this flower culture has come her wealth, for this has long been one of her chief Industries. —The Magazine of Flowers. TALE OF 2 JEWELRY STOKES One Merchant Lost Business and Closed Up While the Other Pros pered and Became Famous. Once upon a time a man rented a store and stocked it with fake jew- : elry. Then lie bought large advertis ing space in the city papers and print- j ed big advertisements of the jewelry he had for sale. Arid people came and bought and went away, but did I not come again. And they said noth- | ing to their neighbors about the Jew- | elry they had bought, for they were J ashamed of it. But some were wroth | and made much talk fo everyone they met, and called the merchant hard names, and threatened to do him bodily injury because of the worthless jewelry he had sold them. But others, not knowing of this, saw the advertise ments and came and bought and went away and joined the company of knockers. And so it happened that when there were sufficient knockers the merchants business languished and he closed his store and departed for parts unknown. But another merchant offered good jewelry at fair prices, and few bought j of him. But they came back. And some told their friends and neighbors ' of tiie good jewelry they had bought and where they hud bought it. And they were not ashamed. So it hap pened that when the boosters became numerous, and the knockers few, the merchant's trade waxed great and he prospered exceedingly and his name became famous throughout the land, j And men said, faith (based on adver- j tising) without works (service) is ! dead. —American Artisan and Hard- j ware Record. GOOD STATIONERY IMPORTANT Poorly Printed Letter Heads Give Poor Opinion of Business House Which Sends It Out. Purely practical men affect a dis dain for anything that deals in such high-sounding terms as "psychological influence," etc. Vet it is a very real and known quan tity. especially in business. You never read an ad. or a business letter without coming under this "psychological influence." You may not know it. You only j know you like or dislike the propo- ! sition or tiie person behind the letter or the ad. —even before you kuow what the letter or the ad. says. You are affected by the "atmosphere" of the letter or ad—by its general visual form—by the "psychological influ- : ence." When you get a cheap, poorly print ed business letter you are instantly impressed with a poor opinion of the firm or person that sent it. Maybe you don't even read the letter —you don't kuow anything about the stand ing of the firm or person or the im- j portance of the proposition it contains The cheap effect gives you a cheap opinion. And the reverse is generally true when you get a letter printed or en graved in an attractive manner on good stock You think that a firm or per son must be one of influence to use such stationery may be of higher standing than the latter. But the bet- j ter stationery gives the latter the ad- j vantage. CKKK) OO O 000 OO OO O 000000 CyXn>o O A man one time a good thing o O had § 6 Which people would have O prized; X O But he never sold a single one, O For he never advertised. $ a ! aoocoooooaoaoooooooooooooo Lunched In Forbidden Room. There is a lunch room in the city where only the gentler sex are per- : mitted to satisfy their appetites. It is run by women exclusively and no man dare enter there. This Is a strictly enforced rule and when a group of young bloods went to (he top of the Wyoming building to try ; and get a meal they were politely , shown the exit. Rut one of their number was not I discouraged. He meant to lunch there, and bets were put up on all 1 sides that he could not "slip it over." : On the day named, a tottering old ' lady hobbled into the room. Her eyes 1 were concealed by dark glasses and she was heavily veiled. It would have been an astonished waitress who j could have seen her customer later whisk nimbly in a taxi to the rooms of his friends and was rewarded with his justly earned winnings.—Kate Rus sell. in the Denver News. European 24-Hour Clocks. Visitors in Belgium will have no ticed tha 24-hour clocks which are to , be seen in public places and railways. The same system Is In vogue »u Italy, 1 and both in Germany and Switzerland there is to be found a considerable number of persons in favor of this new notation. French military author!- j ties alsi. prefer the system, as do two thirds of the conseils generaux and four-flfths of the chambers of com merce. In view of this opinion, M Augagneur, .the minister of posts and telegraphs, has addressed a letter to to prefects announcing that during the summer the 0 to 24 system will be In troduced on the main lines of the rail ways, and Inviting the prefects to take measures to equip the local lines in thu same way. Need More Frills. A pretty close observer of men and things says that it Is just barely pos sible that more people would do their perfectly plain duty if ouiy It had a few more frills on 1L REBEL VICTORY IN MEXICO Federal Troops Retreat to Tor reon After Four-Day Battle. TROOPS TRAIN DYNAMITED Madero's Army, Surrounded by About 4,000 Rebels, Suffered for Food and Water—Panic Stricken Federals in Under Artillery Fire. •Mexico City.—Messages received iiere tell of a terrific Federal rout in j Jiminez, in the State of Chihuahua. \ Jose Gonzalez Salas, who left the War Ministry to become commander- ; in-chief of the Government forces in I the campaign against Orozco, commit- ! ted suicide at Berjemillo by shooting j himself through the head while, with j a part of his army, he was retreating j to Torreon. after a reverse at Corrali- | tos, twenty miles south of Jiminez. i Both officers were killed and fifty j officers taken prisoners to the City of j Chihuahua, together with many pri- j \ at.es. General l'ascual Orozco, with 1«4 1 carloads of rebel soldiery, is moving toward Torreon. All Federal troops j have already retreated to that, point, j The rebel victory came after four j days of almost continuous lighting, in j which the early advantage seemed to bo with the Government army. The Federals pressed forward j through the outposts of the Orozco I forces and compelled tliein to abandon I the town of Escalon, where the first j serious resistance was offered. Under General Campa, 800 revolu- j t ionists were sent by a circuitous route I some miles south from Corralitos with j instructions to fall in behind the troop trains of the Federal army, which were ! bringing up the reinforcements. .Meanwhile a locomotive loaded with dynamite was prepared in the rebel j camp. A volunteer engineer piloted the locomotive out of town, and when a Fedeal troop train approached the engine was started with an open throt- j tie, the engineer jumping to safety. In the explosion caused by the col lision of the locomotives eighty Fed eral soldiers were killed. The move threw the Federal army into a panic. By this time Campa's deploying party had closed in behind the main Federal forces and the real attack of the revolutionaries began. Under cover of the night the Feder-; als retreated and at daybreak the re volutionists found their enemy had disappeared. By special instructions of General Orozco, the prisoners sent north were received with ail honors of war at Chi huahua, their wounds being given at tention and the soldiers fed and treat ed with respect. Nicholas Martinez, chief of staff of General Salas, is reported to be among those killed. Federals are pouring into Torreon exhausted and par.ic stricken by their complete defeat. For days they had been advancing under the discomforts of heat and short rations, and are said to have been in poor condition for the battle. Chihuahua. With Oeneral Blan quest, their coiuinalidßi', wounded, the 2,000 Federal soldiers trapped near Coralitos by between 3,000 to 4,000 re bels fought desperately to escape the cordon and retreat to Torreon. The losses have been tremendous ajid they are without food and water. Four hun dred dead are supposed to represent the Federal loss; 100 the rebel loss. KILL THREE AND LOOT BANK. Paris Bandits Make Haul at Chantilly Branch of Societe Generale. Paris. —Three bandits entered the branch of the Bank of the Societe Gen erale at Chantilly, murdered two watchmen and robbed the vault of SS,- 000, all the money it contained. They made their escape in a high-powered automobile, and the police are certain they are the noted "phantom bandits" who earlier in the day held up an auto just outside of Paris, murdered the chauffeur, slightly wounded the owner and escaped in the car. For bloodthirstiness and boldness of execution these crimes have seldom been paralleled. The trio responsible for a dozen murders and a score of the boldest robberies in the past month, stopped the motor car by wav ing their handkerchiefs to the chauf feur. As the car came to a stop one man walked around the car, apparent ly inspecting it. At a signal the two others drew re volvers and shot the chauffeur who had sat quietly, seeming at a loss to understand the actions of the men. They picked up his limp body, care lessly dumped it into the roadway and then clambered into .he car and made off at a full speed before two eye wit nesses could make a move to stop them. WAGE INCREASE DENIED. Locomotive Engineers Hold Out for 18 Per Cent. New York. —The demands of the lo comotive engineers for wage increases averaging IS per cent, were flatly re fused by the conference committee of the managers of the 50 railroads in the district east of Chicago and north of the Ohio River. The committee con tends that "the present rates of wages are as a rule full and liberal, and the railroads are financially unable to bear the increased expense involved." MANY SEEK FLOWER Edelweiss Grows Only on Sides of Mountain. Blossom Is Responsible for Deaths of Many Climbers Evsry Year—Legend of the Coveted Posy Is Told. Lucerne.—When the warm spring sun kisses the rugged slopes of the Alps the snow will gradually disap pear. In the nooks and crannies of the rocks here and there will appear the shoots of a tiny plant. It will push its soft, velvety stems upward a. few inches. Upon these fragile stalka later will appear dense clusters of white flowers —so white that they al most appear greenish in their purity of color. The heads of the llowers are covered with a fleecy substance, soft as down to the touch. This modest little blossom Is tha edelweiss. Every summer season intrepid moun taineers give up their lives to gather the edelweiss. It is precious because it is rare. It is desirable because It is difficult to obtain. For the edel weiss grows generally In the most In accessible places. It nestles in tha steep sides of the precipice and the chasm. Invigorated by the mountain air, intoxicated by the scenery, the climber beholds the blossom In its dangerous crevice. 11a determines to make his way to it and bear it away with him. Sometimes he succeeds in the quest, only to fall as he attempts to return. A loose stone that lie has trusted as a foothold slips away. His hands are flung out to save himself. There is nothing secure to cling to. The end is deep down in the ravine below. The edelweiss has lured an other to death because of his covetous ness. in a certain legend the edelweiss ipoble white) is related to heaven, ri-f, ■' which it grows. An angel, weary- her celestial home, longed once more t<-. tr.st«» the bitterness of earth. She line.red permission to appear in the llesti again, but she found her self unprepared to mingle again with a world where her eyes beheld crime, sickness, poverty, oppression, misfor tune and discontent. So she chose a home for herself high up in the Swiss Alps. There she could look about up on the world and yet dwell apart from The Coveted Edelweiss. It. The angel soul of the visitor il lumined her face and transfigured her form to one of slender, .bewitching beauty. Comes one day a climber, more dar ing than others before him. The icy fastness where she hides her loveli ness Is invaded by him. Having been seen by him her retreat soon is in vaded by many men eager to behold her and, from the thrill of beholding her, doomed to love her hopelessly. She is kind, but cold to all. Unable to endure the sight of one,so beauti ful and still not possess her, her ad mirers join in a prayer to heaven. They ask that since they may not claim her for their own they may at least be spared the sight of one so lovely. The prayer Is answered. The angel is taken back to heaven. She leaves behind her human heart in the edelweiss as a memento of her earth ly residence. And so from an object of love itseir, the edelweiss has come to be the symbol of love. The Swiss maiden to i whom some swain nas brought the edelweiss knows that he has risked his life to gather the tiny blossoms for her. Receiving them, she under stands, because the mute appeal ot the edelweiss is stronger than words. Girls Steal a Bath. Fort Worth, Tex. —Chief of Police Renfro and three policemen were call ed to a barbier shop late at night to arrest burglars. With drawn revol vers they opened, 'he door of a bath room where rft® "burglars" were hid in 9, ajfcl w- it# #inazed to find two pret ty yol p wovnen, nude, bathing in the tub. 1* screams startled pass ersby. The two girls threw water into the chief's face and he beat a retreat. he arrested them for stealing u bath. They gave their names as .Miss Katliaryn Reid and Miss Jessie Hoover. Deposits Savings of 20 Years. Monticello, N. Y. Miss Cynthia I plntler deposited In a local bank near ly SI,BOO in old coins of small denom inations, the sayings of her brother during 70 years. Was Disappointed in Wife. Chicago.—Held for deserting his 17- year-old wife, Albert Kosticky de clared he was disappointed in her, for | American girls were far prettier.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers