Bellefonte, Pa., Oct. 21,1898.
THE FOUR WINDS.
This is the lore the old wife knows
Who sees the storm draw nigh,
And wind and cloud together close
The windows of the sky.
‘The north wind is man’s wind,
Entangled with his fate ;
In that he joyed, in that he sinned,
It chants his love and hate.
“The west wind is the angels’ wind,
He sweeps their lyre strings ;
Aud where the gray storm clouds are
thinned
We see their rushing wings.
“The east wind is the devil's wind,
And stings with fire and ice;
But the south wind is God’s wind,
And blows from paradise.
“And whence they go none mortal knows
Who hears them riding by ;
We can but watch them as they close
The windows of the sky.
— Westminister Gazette.
—— ———————
SHE TOOK THE BLAME,
The trial had lasted three days, and it
was now well on in the afternoon. The
court was very crowded, very hot, and in the
approaching gloom of a winter's day, rap-
idly becoming very dark. Just then the
electric light was turned on, throwing
everything into sharp contrasts of light and
shade. As its brilliancy flooded the court,
there was a momentary stir and hum of the
unconscious response of eyes and senses,
suddenly startled by the brightness after
the gloom, and nerves which had been on
the strain up until then seemed to revive
under the mere physical sense of buoyancy
which light so often brings in its train.
The court counsel was speaking for the
defense in a murder case, the motive being
jealousy, the victim a Colonel Thorpe,
and he was bringing his address to a termi-
nation, and was saying :
‘‘Gentlemen of the jury, you have had
the evidence of the provocation which the
prisoner had, and of the many remonstran-
ces addressed by him to his wife, who, if
not guilty, which I believe she was, cer-
tainly gave her husband every cause for
supposing the worst. How easy it would
have been for the prosecution to have
shown the innocence of this woman and
thus to have materially strengthened their
case by depriving the prisoner of any plea
of justification ; but wé know that the
witness Jerrold, who was to have been
called to show how unfounded the jeal-
ousy of the prisoner was, and to prove
what a perfect woman his wife was—this
witness, I would remind you, has not ans-
wered to her subpena, and cannot be
found. For the defense you have heard
the whole pitiful story of the prisoner’s
suspicions ; you have learned how, step by
step, these suspicions became a certainty.
These are the facts which will appeal to
you as men of the world, and which will
lead you, Iam convinced, to bringin a
verdict of manslaughter and not murder.”’
The few concluding words of the counsel
which dwelt on the law discriminating be-
tween the lesser and the greater crime,
were brought to a close in a dead silence,
broken only by the rustle of paper and the
‘sound of the usher crossing the court.
The prisoner, a gentle-looking man, de-
scribed in the indictment as thirty years of
age, had gotten up from the sitting posture
and had stood during the last words of his
counsel’s defense, apparently unconscious
of everything around him. Just then the
judge began to sum up, and the prisoner,
passing the back of his hand slowly across
his forehead, looked toward him, and a
slight shudder ran perceptibly through
him. As he stood there, the hair on his
forehead, which had grown white since his
trial, stood out whiter and more striking
than usual, under the glare of the electric
light, and the great hollows under his eyes
were darker than ever. The Judge spoke
carefully, picking his words with a delib-
eration which to many in the court seemed
a cruelty in itself. He spoke of the nature
of the crime and the provocation, and of
the law bearing on the case, with minute
fairness, but with a justice which so evenly
balanced and so discriminating as to sug-
gest the total elimination of all human
feelings or experiences from his mind. ‘‘A
soulless man,” said some. ‘‘A most ex-
periences from his mind. “A soulless
man,” said some. ‘‘A most excellent
Judge,’ said others.
At the end of the summing-up, which
lasted three-quarters of an hour, the jury
retired to consider the verdict, and the
public stretched itself and talked, as usual,
a polyglot patchwork of glibness, pertness,
censure and deep thought. They had a
good insight into the lowest passions that
move this world, and had not suffered
themselves. What was it to them that one
more tragedy was complete, one more fel-
low-man faltering on the edge of another
world. They had brought their lunch
with them, and though the court room was
rather hot and rather crowded, yet it had
its compensations.
At last the prisoner was brought back
and stood leaning on the bar. The warder
offered him some water in a glass to sip,
but he only shook his head. A man who was
seated near him, and who had known him,
in early days, looked up and smiled at him,
but there was no response. All the agony of
- his life was on him, and he knew no man.
Even the entry of the jury, as one by one
they came into the court and took their
seats, did not seem to rouse him. Then
the clerk of the arraigns said :
‘‘Gentlemen of the jury, are you pre-
pared to give your verdict ?’?
“Yes,” said the foreman.
“What is it 2”?
And he rose, and in tones a little above
a whisper said: ‘‘We find the prisoner
guilty of the murder of Colonel Thorpe,
but with extenuating circumstances.’
“Your representations shall be forward-
ed to the proper, quarter’’ remarked the
Judge laconically, as he turned to the pris-
oner and said :
‘‘Prisoner at the bar, you have heard the
verdict which has heen given by a jury of
your fellowmen : have you anything to say
why I should not pronounce sentence ?’’
There was no expression in his voice,
and he might have been addressing the
most ordinary inquiry to him.
As he spoke the prisoner became more
alert. He had heard the worst that the
world could now inflict on him, and the
verdict came absolutely as a relief to the
suspense which he endured for days. As he
stood there between two warders, observers
remarked how, for the first time during the
trial, he seemed to notice things around
him, and with immovable features listened
to the death sentence being passed on him,
and then went away out of the presence of
that unthinking public which had been
with him through the ordeal and had seen
him in his degradation.
Four stone walls, an asphalt floor, a
small window high up and strongly barred
and a prison door. In the midst of these
surroundings, on a three-legged stool, sat
the prisoner on the morning after the ver-
dict had been given.
It was the condemned cell, and he was
now awaiting the second visit of the pris-
on doctor. At the first interview with him
that morning it had been thought that the
necessity of removing him to the infirmary
might arise, as his heart’s action was weak
and showed pronounced disease. And the
matter was to be decided that evening,
when the doctor had seen him again. The
only person who appeared unconcerned and
indifferent as to what that decision might
be was the condemned man himself.
He had eaten nothing since his arrival,
and had not spoken to anyone. He had
laid down in his clothes at night, lying on
his back with wide open, staring eyes, un-
sleeping through the darkness, and since
then he had remained seated on the stool,
upright, rigid and speechless. For of
thoughts at first he had none, and no re-
grets or sorrows.
But as time went on the inertness of all
thought, the superfaction of all emotion,
had in its turn given away to a numb sense
of fatalism, in whose coils he had wrapped
himself up, and which led him to regard
all he had done merely as the sequence of
his wife’s action. Of his victim he never
thought. To his dull and confused mind
each link in the chain of misery which had
dragged him down was necessarily fol-
lowed by the next link—Ilink after link—
pulling him to the gallows. Still, through
it all he felt no anger towards his wife.
They were both fated. Rather, as the
time went on and his mind became clearer,
he could think of her as one remembers a
happiness that is lost; and there would
come to him small whisperings of the past.
As the day went on, those awakening mo-
ments became more frequent “until they
werea terror to him as he would go through
the details of his crime and his fatal climax.
And then, in contrast, his mind would go
to his early married life, and heard his
wife’s voice again, not as he last heard it,
but with a girl’s ripple of laughter in it.
Was he going mad! he wondered, after
hours of oscillation between fatalistic in-
difference on one hand and the agonies of
remembrance on the other. At last the
passionate dread of his own thoughts be-
came more than he could bear and getting
up he went to the window and looked up
at the small gray piece of sky which was
visible, and in so doing knocked over his
stool. The noise attracted the warder’s
attention, who opened the door and looked
in. The prisoner had caught sight of his
own face in the small wall mirror, and as
the man entered was looking at his reflec-
tion with dazed eyes.
‘I never knew it had grown white,’’ he
said, half to himself, half to the warder.
He put his hand to his left side, and with
the other was gently stroking the lock of
hair. ‘I want to see the chaplain ; can I?”
““Yes,”” said the warder, and went out,
closing the door. Some ten minutes after
the chaplain entered the cell alone, and re-
mained over an hour with the prisoner,
then, he, too, went away.
That afternoon a cab drove up to the
great outer gate of the prison, and a woman
closely mufiled, got out aud was admitted.
She was taken to the chaplain’s office,
where she remained with him for a little
time. Then he left her and went to the
condemned cell. When he had entered he
said, ‘‘She is come. Do you feel strong
enough to see her ?’
“Yes,” without any emotion.
‘Wou will forgive her? and she has
something to tell you which she would not
tell at the trial. Are you sure you can
bear anything.’
Anything.”
It had become dusk and the gas had
been lit in the office, when the door opened
and admitted the chaplain. Behind him
came the prisoner, followed by a warder,
who stopped, however, and remained out-
side.
At the entrance the woman, who, with a
thick veil still covering her features, had
been standing by the fireplace, looked up
and started, and while the chaplain went
to his table and outwardly became absorbed
in some papers, there was for a few mo-
ments dead silence, the only sounds
being the sobs of the woman. The
prisoner seemed unable to speak as he
stood there, with one hand pressed to his
side, gazing in dazed fashion at his wife.
Once during the paroxysms of her grief
she mutely held out her hand toward him;
and he with a great effort to steady his
voice, as if answering her. ‘Yes I forgive
you—forgive you all.”’
The effort to speak calmly must have
been great, for the beads of perspiration
were standing on his forehead, and his face
had assumed an almost livid hue.
But the restraint was not for long, for
with a quick gesture he turned and cried,
“Dolly, Dolly, why have you brought me
to this ?”?
And as he spoke the woman become
calmer. Taking a step forward, and with
a sudden movement lifting her veil, ske
said, with a burning misery in her voice,
‘Oh, John, I will take the blame, but do
hear me. You would believe nothing at
the time, and I do not blame you, for ap-
pearances were against me ; but now, be-
fore God, I say I am innocent.” Then she
again held out her hand to him. ‘Yes, I
am innocent. Flighty and careless if you
like, wicked I know, wicked in the way I
treated you, but never guilty.”
The prisoner looked up, and spoke as his
wife finished.
‘Why, then, did they not call Jerrold
to prove this ?”’
The woman was leaning against the wall
her handkerchief held over her eyes. She
looked up furtively and whispered : I
told her to goaway out of England. I
paid her, but she left this little paper for
me to show you.’ Her voice was break-
ing again as she drew out a crumpled en-
velope.
“I don’t understand,’’ said the prisoner
wearily, holding the paper listlessly in his
fingers.
‘Don’t you see ; they wanted to prove
you had no justification—that I was inno-
cent? But, John, I want you to know,
you only, that I did no wrong.”
The prisoner had opened the envelope,
and was reading. He had sunk on the
edge of the chair, holding his side. Slow-
ly he was realizing what his wife had done
and when, between her sobs, she again put
out her hand in silent appeal, he took it
and gently held her down to him. Then
she said in a low voice :
I had to choose between my good reputa-
tion and your life, and—I—chose your life;
but it’s been all in vain.”
“No, no, Dolly, not quite that’’—and
she was on her knees beside him with her
arm around him—*‘not all in vain. I
thought I had to forgive you. But I am
humbler now ; I only ask you to forgive
me all the horror I have brought on you.
Perhaps God will.”’
Here a great gasp seized him, and, as
one suffering greatly, he murmured :
“I have such a pain in my heart. Will
—you—hold me Dolly? TI shall be better
—soon.”’
As he spoke, holding her hand, he fell
suddenly against her. The chaplain had
got up, and eame toward them. Hurried-
ly trying to support him with her arm, she
said in a frightened voice: ‘*Are yon ill,
John 2?”
But there was no answer ; only from the
distance came up the strain of an organ
through the barred window, carrying with
it the hum and stir of the great world be-
yond. But within the dark walls of the
prison a prisoner had found his release.—
Pall Mall Magazine.
Murdered the Emperor.
The Abdicating Ruler of China Supposed to Have
Been Assassinated. Foreigners Insulted.
It is again asserted that the Emperor of
China died on September 21st after signing
the decrees that placed the dowager em-
press at the head of affairs There are
strong suspicions that he was assassina-
ted. There are stories that he was pois-
oned ; that he died by strangulation, and
that a red-hot iron was thrust through his
bowels. If he is dead his successor on the
throne will be Yin, a grandson of Prince
Kung. He is said to be young, forceful
and disposed to the encouragement of Eu-
ropean ideas.
According to a dispatch to the Times
from Shanghai, Hua-Ta-Pou has been ap-
pointed president of the court of censors
and a member of the grand council. He is
Yung-Lu’s chief supporter, and was re-
cently dismissed from office by the Em-
peror. The projected imperial review of
the forces at Tien-Tsin has been abandoned.
The Standard says editorially it is
convinced that England could con-
fidently reckon on the support of the
United States and Japan in the execution
of necessary measures in China.
During the celebration of the festival of
the moon the drunken crowds upon the
streets threw mud upon all Europeans who
made their appearance. As a precau-
tionary measure the Russian legation or-
dered an escort of Cossacks from Port Ar-
thur. The British minister also ordered
here a guard of 25 marines from Wei-Hai-
Wei.
A brief message was received at the State
department from Minister Conger at Pekin
concerning the situation there. He says
nothing concerning the reported death of
the Emperor, but states that a feeling of
anxiety exists, but he does not consider the
situation especially critical at present.
The state department officials do not dis-
credit the report of the Emperor's death,
and some of them do not hesitate to ex-
press their acceptance of the report of his
assassination.
The Chinese minister discredits the en-
tire report of a tragedy. ‘‘I do not be-
lieve that the Emperor has been assassi-
nated.”” ‘I have received no confirmation
of the report, and I cannot accept the
statenients sent out as true.’’
“Do you believe the Emperor to be
dead ?’’ he was asked.
‘I hope he is not,’ was the reply.
“Yet I do not know. It may be that all
the reports have grown out of some illness
of his majesty. But sick men sometimes
die and he may be dead. Men die natural
deaths in China as elsewhere.”
Bigotry’s Lame Excuse.
The Philadelphia Ledger confesses the
incurable dishonesty and danger of Quay-
ism, and the great ability and high moral
character of Mr. Jenks, but refuses to sup-
port that gentleman because he voted for
Bryan in 1896. His election, it contends,
would be a calamity, because it would
“*bolster up the cause of Bryanism.”’
The Ledger says : ‘‘Consider what would
be said about a Democratic victory in Penn
sylvania! Such an unusual occurrence
would call comment in all parts of the
Unicn. The Bryan papers would declare
that the candidate elected represented the
free silver idea ; that he was an open ad-
vocate of Bryanism and free silver in 1896 ;
that he was placed in nomination by Bryan
adherents, and that the people of Pennsyl-
vania, knowing this, had elected him Gov-
enor. Republican and sound money
Democratic papers would be forced into ex-
planations. They would show that, al-
though tainted with Bryanism he was elect-
ed on state issues, and throughout the
land the Bryan forces would be strength-
ened and encouraged, and the advocates of
free coinage would be misled intoa re-
newal of the contest in the false hope of
capturing the East.”’
What a pitiful excuse for a failure to
perform a plain duty the Ledger makes!
It admits that the moneys of the State are
squandered and stolen, that the Republi-
can party is hopelessly in the toils of the
corrupt Quay machine and that candidate
Stone is a mere creature of that machine,
but prefers an indefinite continuance of
that rule, to the election of an upright and
capable man, because he is a Democrat.
Could bigotry go farther than this 2— Doylcs-
town Dem.
The Saffron Industry.
Coloring Matter is Obtained from this Peculiar
Plant.
The saffron indastry, which formerly had
its principal centers of production in the
department of Vaucluse, France, and in the
vicinity of Paris, the districts of Montargis
and Pithiviers, iS being much affected in
those parts by the. foreign production which
has sprung up in ‘Spain and India. The
saffron has a crocus-like flower of violet
color. In its interior are the stamens, which
yield the coloring "material commonly
known as ‘‘saffron.’’ The French peasants
pick the flowers and take them home to
divest them of their stamens. Men and
women do this work during the winter
evenings. The base of the flower is pinch-
ed, and the stigmas, losing their adhesion,
are easily drawn out. They are then dried,
either in front of a wood or charcoal fire,
or artificially, and shipped in bags, cases,
kegs, or tin boxes. These stigmas, which
form the essential part of the plant, contain
a volatile oil and a coloring element called
polychroite. Under the influence of various
chemical products this coloring matter,
which is called saffronine, is capable of
assuming dissimilar shades, whence its
name of polychroite, or ‘‘many colors.”
Its normal color is yellow, but sulphuric
acid causes it to change to blue, and nitric
acid to green. The coloring principle of
saffron is not strong enough to be in favor
for dyeing, but it is largely employed for
coloring confectionery, butter, liquors, and
pastry yellow, and has numerous applica-
tions in pharmacy and medicine. As a
medicinal agent it is an excitant stimulant.
——There are no Garman men nor anti-
Garman men ; no Harrity men nor anti-
Harrity men,no Guffey men nor anti-Guffey
men in this political campaign. All Dem-
ocrats not for Jenks and the whole ticket
are boss Quay men and no amount of halder-
dash of theirs can change the status.
-—Subscribe for the WATCHMAN.
The Ojibway “War.”
If one should travel a little over 100
miles west from Duluth, at the western
end of Lake Supeiior, in the State of
Minnesota, and then strike due north for
about 20 miles, he would arrive at the
scene of the Indian outbreak. This is in
what is known as the Leech Lake Indian
reservation, so named because it lies along
the southern and eastern shore of the large
body of water known as Leech lake, the
largest source of the Mississippi. The lake
is of very irregular form and is about 25
miles in length from east to west at the
most widely separated points, and about
the same distance from north to south. On
a peninsula extending up from the south
into the western portion of the lake is
located the government agency. In the
lake are several islands of considerable
size. Bear islands, where the fight be-
tween the soldiers and Indians is said to
have taken place, is probably near the
eastern end of the lake, not more than 15
or 20 miles from the agency. A railroad
runs to the agency, so that reinforcements
can easily be transported there, from whence
the steamboats on the lake can get them to
the scene of action. The trouble is with a
tribe of the Chippewa Indians known as
Pillagers, who now muster, all told, only
1,113 souls, so that their fighting men can-
not number many over 200. Scattered
ahout on other reservations within 20 to
75 miles are about 6,300 other Indians. It
is improbable that many of the warriors of
these will take part in the trouble. By
reason of the railroad facilities the troops
ought to be largely reinforced before any
considerable number of other Indians could
join the hostiles. The chief danger is to
the few settlers scattered through the re-
gion near the Pillagers. The country of
the latter is, however, hemmed in by rail-
roads, and the area of operations of the
hostiles ought to be therefore speedily cir-
cumseribed.
* %
Several different causes have been ascribed
for the outbreak. One is that the Pillagers
were about to be removed tothe White
Earth Indian reservation just to the west
of their present location, and that they
were discontented because Congress had re-
fused to pass a bill allowing them $35,000
for their improvements. If this is so, the
economy practiced by our lawmakers in this
respect will prove to have heen a very dear
bargain. Another cause of the trouble is
declared to have been due to trouble about
the right to fallen timber. Still another
that some of the Indians were compelled
to walk home from attendance at the
United States court at Duluth, in which
they appeared as witnesses, because they
were cheated out of their mileage. The
immediate cause of the fight is said to have
been the use of the troops to rearrest In-
dian prisoner taken by force by their friends
from a deputy United States marshal. All
these factors and others doubtless contri-
buted to produce the war. Itis hardly
likely that the situation of the troops under
Gen. Bacon is as serious as some of the
panic-stricken settlers make it out, and it
will be well to await further particulars.
* x
*
The Pillagers, as has been said, are a
part of the Chippewa tribe, otherwise
known as the Ojibways. These belonged
to the great Algonquin family which once
extended to the Atlantic ocean. The Ojib-
ways were first encountered by the French
at Sault Ste Marie in 1642, where there
was a band of about 2,000. The French
established a mission among them and the
Ojibways were thenceforth the allies of the
French against the English. They took
part in Pontiac’s war and surprised Mack-
inaw. During the Revolutionary war they
were under British influence, but made
peace by the treaties of Fort Mcintosh in
1785 and Fort Harmar in 1789. Subse-
quently they joined the Miamis in their
hostilities until Wayne reduced them,
when they again made peaceat Greenville,
August 3rd, 1795. Some of them had
moved as far east as Lake Erie. but they
gave up most of their lands there in 1805.
In the second war with England they were
again hostile. but they took part in the
general pacification of the tribes in 1816,
and the next year finally relinquished all
their lands in Ohio. In 1822 thev num-
bered about 14,000. In 1830 the im-
memorial war between them and the Sioux.
By 1851 all but a few bands had been re-
moved west of the Mississippi, and these
bands ceded all except moderate reserva-
tions. There are several thousand Ojib-
ways in Canada. They are tall, well-deve-
loped, good-looking, brave, expert hunters,
little given to agriculture, and fond of ad-
venture. For 30 years they have given
little trouble, although the Pillagers have
long been characterized as restless and law-
less.
Silence Gives Consent.
This trite old adage was never better
emphasized than by the post office depart-
ment in a recent case. In one of his
speeches, William H. Sowden, Democratic
candidate for lieutenant governor, charged
corruption in the appointment of post-
masters in Lehigh county. A post office
inspector from Washington was put on the
case and his report has been filed, but the
department will not allow it to be made
public. Why, the reader will inquire ?
The reason is plain enough—the charge
has been sustained, and the post office de-
partment is afraid to make the truth pnb-
lic, lest it damage the fall elections. The
Washington correspondent of the Public
Ledger says that this is the case, and the
general public will take this view of it.
Wherever the truth is concealed, in any
such case, it may be set down that the ac-
cused parties are guilty, as they doubtless
are here. We hope President” McKinley
does not approve this shielding of the ma-
chine. If ‘silence ‘does not’ ‘‘give con-
sent” will somebody explain what it does
mean ?
OCTOBER.
October is the month that seems
All woven with midsummer dreams ;
She brings for us the golden days
That fill the air with smoky haze ;
She brings for us the lisping breeze,
And wakes the gossips in the trees,
Who whisper near the vacant nest,
Forsaken by its feathered guest.
Now half the birds forget to sing,
And half of them have taken wing,
Before their pathway shall be lost
Beneath the gossamer of frost.
Now one by one the gay leaves fly
Zigzag across the yellow sky ;
They rustle here and flutter there,
Until the bough hangs chill and bare,
What joy for us—what happiness
Shall cheer the night, the day shall bless ?
'Tis hallowe’en the very last
Shall keep us for remembrance fast,
When every child shall duck the head
To find the precious pippin red.
— Frank Dempster Sherman.
——A shoemake has a card in his win-
dow reading: ‘‘Any respectable man,
woman, or child can have a fit in this
store.”’
All About Our Red Men.
A Quarter of a Million of Them Out West.—Pillag-
ers of Leech Lake.—They are a Branch of the
Dwindling Chippewas, Who have Figured in
American History for Two Hundred Years.
The Indians of the United States number
about 250,000. Of these some 7,000 live
in Minnesota, whence the current out-
break is reported. In Michigan there are
7,000 more, and in Wisconsin about 9.000.
New Mexico has 20,000 Indians ; Arizona,
16,000 ; South Dakota, 20,000; North
Dakota, 9,000 ; California 15,000 ; Wash-
ington State, 10,000 ; Oregon, 4,000 ; Ida-
ho, 4,000 ; Nevada, 5,000; Nebraska, 4,000;
Oklahoma, 6,000 and the Indian Territory
9,000. In the Five Civilized tribes are
66,000 people, and in the Six Nations
about 5,000.
THE CHIPPEWA INDIANS.
The Chippewa Indians known in ‘‘Hia-
watha’’ and elsewhere once the ruling tribe
of the Northwest. They belong to the
Algonquin family, and are the ancient
enemies of the warlike Sioux, of the Foxes
and the Iroquois, all of whom they drove
away from the territory about the head-
waters of the Mississippi and of the Red
River of the North. For two centuries
they occupied that country supreme, until
the all-conquering whites cooped them up
in reservations.
The Chippewas were allies of the French
in the French and Indian war and with
the British in the Revolutionary war.
General Wayne defeated them, and ‘in 1817
they signed away their lands in Ohio.
THE PILLAGERS.
The Pillager Indians are a branch of the
Chippewa tribe. In Minnesota the Pillag-
ers number about 2,200. Of these, 1,504
are the Pillager Chippewa of Leech, Case
and Winnehagoshish lakes, Minnesota, and
680 are Otter Tail Pillagers. The Pillagers
are all in the White Earth consolidated
agency.
LEECH LAKE.
Leech Lake is the most picturesque sheet
of water in Minnesota. The Leech Lake
reservation covers about 150 square miles,
exclusive of the lake. It is all heavy tim-
ber, mostly hardwood, sugar maple pre-
dominating, but interpersed with pine
ridges. The Leech Lake tribe is composed
of 23 bands, numbering 1,115. There are
237 lodges.
Earth’s Oldest Flower.
All Accounts of the Origin of the Rose Have Been
Lost.
So great is the antiquity of the 10se that
all account of its origin has been lost.
There seems every reason to believe that
the national flower of England is the oldest
of which there is any record, to English-
men at least, it seems a case of survival of
the fittest. It is not mentioned in the
Bibical writings earlier than the reign of
Solomon, but the allusion to it then made
is such as to indicate that the flower has
already long been known. In Egypt the
rose is depicted on a number of very early
monuments, believed to date from 3000 to
3500 B. C,, and in the tomb of an Egyptian
Princess, disinterred a year ago in Southern
Egypt, several hermetically sealed vials
were found, which when opened, contained
genuine attar of roses, so that the modern
claims for the discovery of this delicious
perfume are vain. Rose water, or the es-
sence of roses, is mentioned by Homer in
the ‘‘Iliad.”’
Both the Greeks and Hebrews probably
borrowed the idea of its manufacture from
the Egyptians, and these, for ought anybody
can tell, may have had it from the Chinese.
The rose is one of those flowers which are
supposed by the people of every land to be
go well known as to need no description
and hardly mention, for it is a singular
fact that every coutinent on the globe,
with the solitary exception of Australia,
produces wild roses. Even the frozen reg-
ions of the north, where the summer lasts
but two or three months, and is at best a
season which may be described as very late
in the autumn, produce their wild roses,
and travelers through Greenland, Kams-
chatka and northern Siberia found, in the
proper season, while the crews of whaling
vessel which call at Spitsbergen. usually
come off shore with bouquets of the native
Spitsbergen rose.
The Philippines.
The animus of the proposed acquisitions
of the Philippine Islands is already coming
to the front in Congress. Chairman Can-
non, of the House appropriation committee
who has resolutely opposed large. expendi-
tures for military purposes, now declares a
marked increase in the permanent military
establishment of the nation is necessary,
and that the money required should be
voted ungrudgingly by Congress.
This is the first step in creating a large
standing army, and, if the plan be success-
ful, it will be followed by the piling up of
taxes, for the meney must come from
somewhere, and, in this country there is
but one resource, the tax-payers, and at
last labor. Even the suggestion of a larger
standing army is a blow in all the face of
all our traditions and public policy since
the founding of the Republic. We have
reached the turn of the road in our politi-
cal destinies, and the people must be ex-
ceptionally careful lest our form of govern-
ment may be gradually changed. A large
standing army is one of the most danger-
ous engines in the hands of demagogues
and would-be conspirators. Watch them !
Little Girl.
In Boston That was Too Smart to be Caught Nap-
ping.
They are telling a good story against the
Boston child, which may be a chestnut for
aught one knows ; but if it has been going
the rounds, I have not met it until the
other day. Itseems a Boston mamma was
instructing her little daughter how to be-
have when she went to luncheon at the
Bishop’s house. ‘‘Now, dear, when the
butler hands you something the first time,
take a little on your plate. When he
comes the second time, you may help your-
self to a little more ; but the third time
You must say : ‘No, thank you,’ just as
you always do at home.” So the little
Boston child went to the Bishop's house to
lunch, and came home much delighted
with her visit. Did you do just as I told
you, darling ?”’ inquired mamma anxious-
ly. ‘Yes, I did,” was the reply. ‘I took
something very nice when it was handed
to me the first time, and then, when the
butler came again, I took a little more,
but the third time I said : “No, I thank
you.”” ‘‘But when he came the fourth
time, you hadn’t told me what to do, so I
just thought of papa, and said ‘No, d—n
you !”?
——The Pennsylvania and Panhandle
handled about thirteen trains of horse cars
this week, enroute with government horses
from New York to Huntsville, Ala. There
were 5,000 horses in all, loaded on 250
cars. The Pennsylvania secured the con-
tract for $110.36 per car.
EE rs en
Insect Stings.
An Old Fashioned Remedy is the Most Effective.
The fact of death occasionally resulting
from the sting of insects, such as bees and
wasps, is no doubt responsible for the
species of terror which the presence of these
insects brings upon many persons. Onl vy
the other day, for example, a case was re-
ported of a laborer who placed in his mouth
a gooseberry which proved, to contain a
wasp. The wasp stung him at the root
of the tongue ; he went into his cottage,
and medical aid was summoned, but death
ensued in five minutes. In this instance,
of course, death most probably was caused
by suffocation due to intense swelling in
the throat and was not due directly to the
poison itself. Vomiting, fainting, de-
lirium and stupor strongly suggest a highly
virulent substance of the nature of a toxin.
The precise nature of the poison of wasps
and bees is not known. They possess a
poison bag and sting and the fluid secreted
is as clear as water, exhibits an acid re-
action, and, in fact, contains formic acid.
But this acid can hardly account for the
severity of the symptoms sometimes fol-
lowing the sting. Fatal results, have in-
deed occurred which could only be at-
tributed directly to the toxic action of the
sting. Some persons, however, endure
the sting with impunity, others develop
alarming symptoms, such as blood poison-
ing, and undoubtedly the toxicity of the
sting depends very much upon the condi-
tion of the ‘‘soil’’ into which it is implant-
ed. One of the old fashioned remedies,
and we believe a good one, is to apply im-
mediately to the part stung the juice of a
raw onion. The rationale of this remedy
is not clear, and sulphur oil in the onion
possibly serving asa palliative. The sting,
at any rate, if it remains in the wound,
should be extracted and the puncture
dressed with a little weak ammonia and
afterward a little bromide of ammonia may
be added, which frequently serves as a
sedative. Judging from the great number
of wasps which have somewhat suddenly
appeared in the country during the recent
hot weather this seasonal pest promises to
be one of no small dimension. The intense
irritation caused in some persons by mos-
quito bites may be promptly relieved by
the application of ipecacuaha, either the
the ‘‘vinum’’ or the powdered root, made
into a paste with water or vinegar being
used.
Slaughtered Soldiers.
Those Who Died in Battle and Those Who Died of
Disease.
The war department has issued a boast-
ful statement setting forth that out of 274,-
717 officers and men engaged in the war
with Spain only 2,910 have died from all
causes being 1,059 per cent.
But there were only 54,000 troops all
told sent tothe war. This includes all
the men sent to Cuba, Porto Rico and the
Philippines. The rest of the 274,717—
outnumbering the entire British army all
over the world—were senselessly called in-
to service either under an absurd scare or
for political purposes. They were sen-
tenced to long terms in pestilential camps
and to all the suffering that the incom-
petence of the ‘‘Sons of Somebody?’ in staff
positions could inflict upon them.
As a consequence, while only 318 men
were killed in battle and died of wounds,
2,485—or nearly nine times as many—died
from disease.
If only the army actually used—54,000
men—had been called into service, a death
rate of 1,059 per cent. would have buried
only 572 men instead of the 2,910 for whom
coffins were actually provided.
In matters of this kind mismanagement
and stupidity and the commissioning of
incapables to do the work of experts are
very nearly akin to crime.
Boston Brown Bread.
Two cupfuls of cornmeal (scant), one
cupful of ryemeal, two cupfuls of New Or-
leans molasses, one-half cupful of sour
milk, one teaspoonful of soda and one tea-
spoonful of salt. Mix the meals and salt,
thin the molasses and sweet milk, blend
the two mixtures together and stir in the
sour milk, in which the soda has previously
been dissolved, until it foams. Beat the
batter thoroughly, form it into a well-
greased mold, leaving room for the broad
to swell, and boil or steam (preferably)
four hours. After taking from the pot or
steamer remove the cover and brown in the
oven. A cupful of raisins may be added
to the batter. They should first be rolled
in dry meal.
Stung in the Throat.
Charles Matz, of Tyrone, was the victim
of a peculiar accident one day last week.
He was visiting at Dry Hollow and was
drinking sweet cider out of a barrel through
a small gum hose, when a yellow jacket
was sucked up through the hose into Mr.
Matz’s throat. The hee stung him three
times in the throat and breast, and the
stings swelled up until Mr. Matz nearly
choked. By the use of a tube the throat
was kept from entirely closing up and the
victim pulled through, but he will not
drink cider out of a barrel hereafter.
Sunflower Tea.
One of the old-time remedies to be re-
vived is that of sunflower tea for rheu-
matism. To prepare this tea, procure two
quarts of the black seeds of the sunflower
and steep all day in a gallon of water ;
strain and bottle, and take a cupful night
and morning. This was a favorite remedy
in the early part of the century, and it is
said to have been used recently with good
results by some one into whose hands an
old time receipt book had fallen.
——The hardshell preacher’s homily,
‘‘Men is scarce and wimmen’s plenty,”
isn’t founded on fact. There’s a shortage
of women in this great republic. In the
whole country there are 5,427,667 bache-
lors and only 2,224,494 spinsters. The
shortage is not confined to the new and
more sparsely settled districts of the West.
Right here in old Pennsylvania there are
562,843 bachelors and only, 331,257 spin-
sters. These are figures that the unmated
men should view with alarm. Think of
it ! 231,586 more marriageable men than
unmarried women in our State. Women
don’t be in a hurry select one worth hav-
ing.
——Farmers have rights that hunters are
bound to respect this fall. A hunter has
no right to go on a farmer’s land to hunt
for game without permission, and where
notices have been posted three months in
advance of the opening of the season, there
is a fine and imprisonment attached to the
violation of the law against trespassing.
Speechless and Spokeless.
‘Thompson while riding his new wheel
vesterday, was knocked speechless.’
‘“Was his wheel hurt much ?”’
‘‘Yes, is was knocked spokeless.'’