. shop? You can’t see over the breast-beam
- the flying one in a loom narrowly.
, stepped on the frame of the loom, drove
_ snapped or some uther accident occurred.
_ side and swollen wrists by wrenching at
_ 80 long, helping Sam. Stops on her way
- efficiency,
* she darted hehind the great looms, and
* the tears fell unheeded, dropping down on
~ ina fit of drunken fury. Didn’t you read
~ feel his pecaliar style,
_ again thought of Weeden’s looms, and.
. weight in a day.
_ the early train. I
_ terday, you recollect.”
* the tenement row through to the end. This
Deworraic; atc,
Bellefonte, Pa., December 2, 1904.
iL
THE LITTLE WEAVER.
‘‘If you please, Mr. Avery, I shall have
to run father’s looms while he is out.”
The overseer looked over his desk in sur-
prise at the diminutive figure standing just
within the office door, with a tightly roll-
ed check apron and a weaver’s belt in her
bands.
“Who is your father? and why isn’t he
doing his own work?’ he questioned,
sharply.
‘“‘Sam Weeden, sir, and he sent—"’
‘‘He’s drunk again, I suppose ; and what
kind of substitute are you to send into the
of a loom. I told him the last time he
went on a spree that I would not bother
with him any more. You can tell your
father—’
Just then one of the loom-fixers claimed
the overseer’s attention, and the child, for
she was little more, sped swiftly down the
long alley of the weaving shed to her fath-
er’s looms. In another minute they were
clattering and banging as hard as the rest ;
and she was flying all about them, chang-
ing the shuttles and mending broken
threads, doing the work as handily as the
oldest weaver in the shop.
It was nearly noon before the overseer
then he went in search of his second-band,
working himeelf into a passion all the way
down the room.
‘‘How have yon managed about Weed-
en’s work, Mr. Morse? Have any spare
hands come in ? I want you to give those
looms to the first one who is capable of
running them.’’
Having given his order, Mr. Avery turn-
ed to go back to his office, expecting no
reply ; bus his adjutant detained him with
a light touch on the shoulder.
‘‘Come down to Jack’s bench,’’ he said ;
‘‘I want your opinion of the weaver who is
running Weeden’s work. I can’t send her
out, as things are. If she goes, you must
tell her so yourself.” :
The two men were accustomed to stand
by that particular bench for many of the
conferences which the work made neces-
sary ; so little Aunie Weeden did not
know that she was being observed. She
stood with a shuttle in her hand watching
As it
laid in the last thread that it carried, she
the shuttle that she beld into its box, and
catching the empty one out of the warp in
its flight across the web, dropped hack to
the floor, where she quietly removed the
empty bobbin, and replaced it with a full
one. Then she tarned to repeat the pro-
cess as the filling ran out on the other
loom. This she did again and again, exe-
euting the series of motions with incredible
swiftness and skill in the brief instant
while she balanced on the bar of the loom,
not being tall enough to do the work stand-
ing on the floor.
The looms were thus kept running with-
out losing a single beat till a warp thread
If she had allowed the loom to stop, chang-
ed the shattles, and started it again, a
large fraction of time would have been
lost ; and she would have gotten a lame
the heavy bar that shifted the belt eight
times in every ten minutes; for the shut-
tles only ran two minutes and a-half.
Annie’s sleight-of-hand trick of changing
her shuttles without stopping the looms ar-
rested Mr. Avery’s attention at once. He
stopped grumbling ahout Weeden’s in-
temperance, and watched her with inter-
est. The looms were large and low speed-
ed, weaving a double width of heavy flan-
nel ; and the thing was quite possible for
any one with sufficient quickness of eye
and hand. But not half a dozen weavers
in the whole shop had caught the knack
of it ; though it saved muscular exertion
equivalent to the lifting of five or six tons’
‘‘She may keep the work up for a day or
two ; but a child like that can’t run those
two looms for a steady job. When did she
learn ?’?
‘Oh, she’s heen in here nights for ever
home from school, and works till speed
goes down. Then she goes home with her
father. She and ber mother put up the
job on the old man to get him by the sa-
loons on the way home. I thought you
bad noticed her.”
‘‘She didn’t steer Weeden by the rum
shops this time, it seems.’
The overseer smoothed his beard to hide
a smile as an ingenious device of the little
weaver to overcome the disadvantage of her
short stature caught his eye. He liked
aod enjoyed seeing Annie
promptly invent a way to do things when
she was not tall enough or strong enough
to follow the usual methods.
Presently he discovered that the child
was crying, though she did not for a mo-
ment neglect ber work. 1f she bad time,
wiped her eyes. If both hands were busy
the cloth as she reached over to draw hrok-
en threads into place, or running down her
cheeks when she was changing the filling.
Morse answered the quick change of ex-
pression in his superior’s. face. People
never wait to say everything in words in a
mill. They baven’s time ; and they save
their voices on account of the noise.
‘Probably she's worrying about her
mother. Mrs. Weeden is in a had state.
My wife was there all night, after it hap-
pened. It came near being a murder.
He’ll get six months at the very leass.”’
“What are you talking abont?”’ inter-
rapterd the overseer. aie
Morse looked at bim in astonishment.
‘*Weeden is in jail for half killing his wife
the acconut in the Bulletin 2?
The elder man smiled. *“‘I don’t read
every word of every paper,’’ he said ; ‘life
is too short. And I've seen no one this
morning. Came straight to the mill from
I wasin New York yes-
“I’ve got a paper in my coat pocket,
and I'll leave it on vour desk. Max laid
it on pretty thick, seeing that nohody
knew but the woman was done for. Annie
is fourteen, and quite mature enough to
I hope she hasn’t
seen it ; but she will, of course.”
The men separated ; and when the over.
seer got back to his office, he found the
paper on his desk, and read the report of
man sedulously cultivated indifference,and
prided himsef on ‘‘being ‘‘business-like’’
on all occasions. Now, however, when
the coarse hand of a professional sensation
monger tore aside the last shred of privacy
that veiled that brave young girl in her
etricken home, and used her shame and.
grief and horrible suffering as material for
"smo
amusement, trying with all his might to
turn a peony by holding it all up to rid-
ionle, and set the town in an uproar, Mr.
Avery found 1t hard to maintain his fa-
vorite mental attitude. He had laughed
heartily, times without number, at just
such clever indecency ; but this somehow
made his gorge rise. He laid the paper
down just as Morse re-entered the office
with some report connected with the
work.
‘‘Who is taking care of Wéeden’s wife ?”’
he asked, abruptly. x
‘‘The neighbors will look out for her
through the day ; and Annie can manage
to get along after working hours. That's
a very capable girl. Mrs. Weeden is pretty
badly hurt ; but she will probably he
about again in a few weeks.”’
‘Is she a weaver ?"’
Morse nodded, and then added : ‘‘Tip
top. I worked with her in the Borden be-
fore she was married.”
“Well, we’ll worry along with the child
till her mother can work. Perhaps, be-
tween them, they can run the looms. Isn’t
there a platform in the store room ? Shorty
Briggs used one, didn’t he ?”’
‘‘That’s only four inches high,” said
Morse. ‘‘Annie needs one at least eight.”
‘‘See Bently about it, right away. She’ll
get hart climbing all over the looms.’
Morse nodded again, and withdrew. It
was a much easier victory than he had
anticipated.
Late that afternoon, when three men
bore a long, narrow platform down the
alley,and laid it between the looms so tbat
she could reach her work at all times as
easily as the grown-up weavers, Annie let
the filling run out, and sitting on the end
of it laid her head on a great soft roll of
flannel, and cried for joy. She knew then
that she would be allowed to keep her
father’s work. : 1
Although she was so tired Annie ran all
the way home that night to tell her mother
the good news. But Mrs. Weeden was not
well enoxzzh to be troubled with anything.
The neighbors had been very helpful, and
there was little for her to do, besides hold-
ing the basin while the poor bruised head
was being sponged and rebandaged. For
many weeks the invalid’s condition was
eritical. Then she began slowly to gather
strength. Annie made a little feast of bhat-
ter cakes to celebrate the event when she
could sit up and be made comfortable in
the rocking chair. Her mother ate the
cakes, and alter a while walked feebly to
the kitchen door, and looked about the
room as if in search of some one.
Annie had been cautioned not to speak
of her father till she asked about him, and
her heart gave a great throb of apprehen-
sion. Was memory returning? Woald
she have to tell where he was and why?
Could her mother bear it then ?
But no questions were asked and the in-
valid returned to her chair in apparent
content. A strange, placid quietness had
fallen on her. Curiosity, surprise, inter-
est in the daily happenings at the mill, at
home, or in the village of factory tenements
which had constituted her little world,
there was none. She smiled when Annie
came in from her work, replied to her
pleasant chatter in a somewhat vague but
fond way, and lapsed into a sort of cheer-
ful impassiveness.
Annie watched every phase of her moth-
er’s convalescence with an anxious and
burdened heart. She was far too cour-
ageous to practice the least self-deception,
and long before their simple friends would
admit it, she knew the terrible trath. Her
mother’s life was spared. She would get
well in time ; but she would always bea
helpless imbecile. When this became a
certajnty, Anoie’s soul was filled with a
dering fury of grief and indignation.
The months were slipping by ; and in two
more the man whose insane brutality had
reduced her mother to this pitiful state
would return, and again rule the house
with absolute authority. How could she
endure to see her mother once more in his
power ? How could she hear his hulking
presence in the house? He would drink
barder than ever, not only to drown the
memory of his crime but to put himself
beyond the reach of such expressions of dis-
approval as would inevitably be given him
in the neighborhood. The feeling against
him was strong ; and he would undoubted-
ly encounter it at every step, except before
the bars of the rom shops, where he would
naturally take refuge. When he came
home—a sullen, growling brute—and
wrought himself intoa fury, how could she
protect her mother from his fist and foot ?
Day after day as Annie worked with su-
perhuman energy to provide shelter and
food for her charge, this storm raged with-
in her ; till sometimes she felt that any-
thing would be welcome which would rid
them of the monster once for all.
The storm raged itself still at last. No
greater victory was ever won than that of
this slight girl who fouglLt her battle out
all alone amid the din aud roar of the
clashing machinery and came to the quiet
resolution to make the best of a dreadful
situation.
The watched-for time approached and
passed, by several davs. Annie began to
breathe more freely. He might have gone
away to some other manufacturing town.
Perhaps he would never come back.
One day the looms were stopped for lack
of yarn ; and as it would be two hours at
least hefore any more could be distributed,
she ran out through the back yard and
climbed the steep bank littered with rub:
bish behind the row of tenements. It was
a much nearer way than going around to
the front ; and she could always unlock the
basement door by slipping a broken panel
aside.
Through this small opening she could
look through into the kitchen ; and what
she saw made her panse with a sick feel-
ing of despair. Sam Weeden had return-
ed ; stealthily, for he had not wakened his
wife, who slept peacefully in the rocking
chair, as was her habit in the afternoon
when the house was still. He was care-
fally searching the little corner cupboard,
and presently brought out a tin baking-
powder can. From this he poured a quan-
tity of speckled heans on the red table-
cloth and then pulled out a wad of paper
which he unrolled and disclosed a half.
handful of silver—all the hard-won sav-
ings that Annie had hoarded, a dime ora
quarter at a time, for other necessities be-
sides the weekly bills for food, fire, and
rent.
She clezched her hands hard and with
difficulty restrained hersell from loudly
and histerly denouncing the thief. Bata
loose bundle of clothing on a chair caught
her attention. Weeden was dressed in the
rough, heavy winter clothing that he wore
when arrested ; and a thick, shapeless cloth
cap was on his head. It looked as though
he had edbme for his things and intended to
£20 away.
Thgnk God ! Let him go. It would be
a cheap price to pay for the blessed deliv-
erance. If only her mother would not
waken. But this was not to be. Weeden
put the money in his packet, and returned
the box to its place ; but in doing so he
rattled some of the dishes. Mrs. Weeden
opened her eyes, and looked at him with-
out the least surprise.
‘‘Are you hungry, Sam ?’’ she asked,
and the man hisked around, confronting
her with a threatening look.
“*I ain’t no thief. It belongs to me.
Whatever you earn is mine, and I can do
what I please with it. Bat why ain’t yon
in the mill? I thought you’d both be
working.’’?
His voice was harsh, and he watobed her
warily ; but what he said did not seem to
reach her. She seemed remote and strange,
though she smiled, and was evidently glad
tosee him.
‘If you’re hungry I'll get you a launch.
There’s no hot water, bus it will boil in a
few minutes on the oil stove. Sit down,
Sam, and don’t—don’t be cross.’’
Annie caught her breath and sank down
in a heap on the back steps. Here was a
miracle. Her mother bad never offered to
do anything of her own accord since her
illness, though she would pare apples or
potatoes, or perform other simple tasks if
the materials were set before her. The
sight of her husband had supplied some
mental simulas, and her locked intelli-
gence began feebly to assert itself. That
put a new face on the matter. Apnie arose
and entered the house, but so absorbeii was
ber father in staring at, and trying to un-
derstand, the subtle change in her mother,
that he barely glanced at her. He was
pale, and the three days’ stubble on his
face looked black and wiry.
‘‘What’s—what’s wrong with Marthy ?'’
he asked. trying to speak naturally. He
had thrown himself in her chair when she
arose and went cheerfully ahout preparing
a meal for him.
‘You pounded her head a little one
night last winter,’’ said Annie, bitterly,
‘‘and she has been a fool ever since. She
doesn’t know enough to comb ber own
bair. It is pretty hard for me to get
along ; and I need the money you swiped
to buy shoes and a wrapper for her. I
have to plan and work every way to make
her comfortable.’’
Weeden handed her the money, search-
ing faithfully for it all, his face working
with some strong emotion which he re-
pressed, or tried to repress, by shutting his
jaws bard, and scowling.
Annie gave him back a half-dollar. ‘Go
and get shaved after youn’ve changed your
clothes, pa. Things will be better, per-
haps, now you are home again.” There
was a note of relenting in this, and a prom-
ise to let by-gones go, and begin anew the
broken family life. Then Sam Weeden
broke down completely, and sobbed with
his head on his arms on the kitchen table.
Mrs. Weeden caught Annie by the arm,
and drew her away. ‘‘He’s going to be
awful, this time,’’ she whispered. ‘‘Keep
out of his way. I’m never afraid of him
till he hegins tocry, or starts to praying.”
*“I’11 be careful, mammy ; he won’t hurt
us today, I guess.”” Aunie watched these
evidences of renewed mental activity with
a keen joy of hope trembling within her.
There was a possibility that her mother
might get well ; nay, she felt sure of it.
Weeden mcved and sat up, mopping his
face quite frankly with a dingy handker-
chief. ‘‘I guess I'd better light out before
the crowd comes out of the mill,’’ he said.
Annie sprang to his side as he stooped
forward to lift the bundle which had fallen
on the floor, and caught him firmly by the
shoulder. She jerked him back in the
chair with surprising strength, and shook
him so that his head wagged, which pun-
ishment he submitted to like a lamb.
“Of all the stupids! Talking about
lighting out ! Where? I'd like to know !
And how long do you mean to stay ? Don’t
you see that she is beginning to think,and
do things without being told? ’Stead of
lighting out, go down on your knees and
thank God for giving you the chance to
undo what you’ve done.”’ *
“Do you mean that, Annie ? How can
I make her right again, same asshe was
before ?”’
‘‘By staying right here and going to
work, and aoting just as if nothing had
happened. Do you mean to say that you
ain’t man enough to do that? Of course
some of ’em will guy you ; and some of
em will try to get you to drink np every
cent of your pay ; but what’s that side of
this help youn can be to mother ?”
Annie bad spoken rapidly and intensely,
but she almost whispered the words in her
father’s ear. Weeden had made no effort
to talk to his wile, and he shrank visibly
when she again approached to draw Annie
away from him. He had the popular re-
pugnance and fear of the insane to an un-
usual degree. 3
*‘Dad won’t hurt us any todav, mother.
See how good be is,”’ said Annie. Then
she put her palm under his stubby chin,
and, holding her breath, stooped and kiss-
ed the tohacco stained lips. Then a new
and unexpected feeling began to assert
itsell. Anniestepped away and looked at
the tramp-like figure in the chair with a
man’s imprisoned soul trying to reveal
iteelf through the coarse, ¢riminal face, and
meagre, ignorant language natural to his
kind.
‘*You look like a hobo,’ she said candid-
ly ; ‘‘and I ought to hate you, but I can’t.
I’ve been trying to get you to stay, and
let the sight of you around the house bring
back mother’s senses if they ain’t com-
pletely gone. But there’s something else.
I want you to stay ; and if mother was all
right, it would be just the same. Look
here, dad ! You half killed mother, but
you wasdrunk, and didn’t know what you
was about. But you ain’t drunk now;
and if you kill the decent man that you
always wanted to be, and turn hobo that’l]
be a thousand times worse.” :
Something like superstitions dread seized
Weeden as he listened to Annie’s argn-
ment. He did not know that she had been
learning to think in a very superior school
for years und years.
Who told her that he loathed himself,
and that he always meant to be a decent
man, and win nambers of genuine friends
sometime ?
Aunie saw that he was unable to reply
in worda of his own choosing. “Don’t
you want mother to get well, all well, just
as she used to he ?”’
“I'd give my right arm,” he hegan,
catching at a convenient current phrase,
Annie laughed. ‘‘Nohody wants your
right arm,” she said, picking up the gai-
ments on the floor and tossing the bundle
into the bedroom.
“Go and change your horrid ld winter
duds and get shaved before everybody sees
you,’’ she said.
It was far from a miracle of sndden re-
from. Weeden fell and fell again ; but
Aunie was vigilant and resourceful, and
she nsnally traced and resoued him before
the brutal stage of dronkenness super-
vened. Her mother’s steady improvement
was an incentive to large patience and long
suffering, and the battle was finally won.
It is difficult to believe that the sober, in.
dustrious workingman, who spends his
evenings quietly in his comfortable home,
or at the meetings of the clubs and orders
of which he is a respected member was
only a year ago the disreputable Sam
Weeden, whose drunken frenzy furnished
the police reporter with such delectable
copy; or that his comely, energetic, capa-
ble wife is the lamentable mental wreck
who eat all day impassive in her chair com-
prehending nothing of the life around her.
Annie is only fifteen, and the last time I
eaw her she was entirely happy in the pos-
session of a new shirt waist ; which is as i6
should be. The levers which builders vse
are laid aside; and when the building
stands complete all these things are gath-
ered up and put in the tool-house ; neither
does any know itself save as a common bar
of wood or iron.—By Gertrude Roscoe, in
the Pilgrim.
Etigunette of Note-Writing.
The widespread ignorance of the average
woman in regard to the proper way to
write a note is deplorable.
We have resigned onrselves as t3 the in-
evitable when we receive nowadays short
letters containing only necessary informa-
tion stated in a concise manner. One has
not time, or we think we have not, to write
of the intimate little affairs of everyday
life that a letter of 50 years ago contained
and which made it so reauable.
Bat it seems ridicnloas that our daogh
ters cannot compose even a passable note.
An important part of a young girl's
knowledge in the past was her ability to
write a graceful response to any kind of an
invitation; indeed, it was included in her
education, and a large amount of her time
was devoted to acquiring this most useful
accomplishment.
The other day a young friend of mine,
who had received a most expensive and
supposedly complete edneation, said to me
in despair, ‘What shall I say to this invi-
tation and how shall I say it?”’ She had
even speut a year at a ‘finishing school.”
There are forms used in correspondence
that will help anyone to write at least a
correct note; on= well expressed and grace-
fully written =an only be produced after
long practice.
Details, details, everything in this mat-
ter depends on details and must not be
despised by anyone.
Correct stationery is the first one to be
cousidered. Always have two sizes, one
one for letters and one for notes, nothing
looks more awkward than a short note
stranded on a large sheet of paper.
Highly colored and perfumed paper is in
the most questionable taste, use rather
white, creams or gray, with your address
stamped at the top of the first page If
you prefer a crest leave off the address,
either is correct, hut both are decidedly too
much.
Larger note paper is used than formerly
and the twentieth-century maiden finds it
impossible to get more than three words of
one syllable or one word of three syllables
on a line. Extreme neatness is another
detail to be regarded.
A formal note should be just long enough
to cover the first sheet of your note paper.
There are different modes of opening and
closing a note. These vary according to
the degree of formality needed. The third
person is seldom seen now except in en-
graved in the same form as—
Mr. and Mrs. Blank
accept with pleasure
Mr. and Mrs. So and So’s
kind invitation for Tuesday
evening at eight o’clock.
In a business note the name is wristen
with the ‘‘Dear Madam’’ below. To close,
use the phrase ‘‘yours truly,"’ signing your
full name. If you area married woman
put Mrs. Blank underneath; an unmarried
woman simple prefixes (Miss) in brackets.
It this is omitted the person receiving your
communication would not know how to
address her reply.
Among the many phrases in use ‘‘sin-
cerely yours’ for an acquaintance, ‘‘cor-
dially yours’’ for a friend and ‘‘affection-
ately yonrs’’ for a relative, or one with
whom you are very intimate, are the
bess.
Whether or not to answer a wedding
invitation puzzles many women. By re-
membering the following you will never
be bothered again. ’
It it is merely a card to the church it
requires no answer. If oneis invited to
the breakfast or rsception and attends that
is reply enough. If one cannot go send
visiting cards to the latter on the day
named. R.S. V.P. on the cards obligate
a reply at once by mail.
A dinner invitation must be acknowl-
edged within 24 hours. For large teas or
other receptions replies are nob expected.
If you cannot go send cards, as to any
other reception. :
Canterbury Cathedral,
The ancient cathedral at Canterbury shei-
ters the remains of only one English King,
Henry IV. That this particular monarch
should have been entombed there is the
more remarkable since he breathed his
last in the Jerusalem chamber of West-
minister abbey, and it might paturally
have been laid to rest in the abbey, where
so many other of Eogland’s kings sleep
their last sieep. It seems, however, that
Henry before his death gave orders that
he was to be buried in the cathedral at
Canterbury opposite the tomb of his uncle,
Edward the Black Prince.
For handreds of years a story was cur-
rent that on the way down the rivera
hurricane arose and that the people on
board the vessel, convinced that the storm
was caused by the fact a king’s body was
on board, cast the corpse into the water in
the dead of night and filling the coffin
with rubbish, brought iv with all pomp
and circumstance to the cathedral. Some
years ago the dean and chapter resolved to
get at the truth of the story.
So they opened the royal tomb and the
king’s lead coffin. For one brief moment
dean and chapter gazed upon the kingly
lineaments of that monarch whom Shake-
speate describes as ‘‘sky aspiring Boling-
broke.”’ Only for a moment, however, as
the body crumbled to dust almost at once.
But Canterbury now knows beyond all
doubt that an Evglish king rests within
its walls.
While strolling along the shore of the
Delaware Bay, near Fishing Creek, N. J.,
five years ago, Miss Benlah Bate and three
young women companions wrote their
names and addresses on four slips of paper,
sealed them in as many bottles, and cast
them far out into the bay. For days and
weeks they watohed and waited for tidings
of the bottles, but none came, and they
bad almost forgotten the incident.
A day or two ago Miss Bate received a
long letter from the captain of an English
man of-war, stating that while coasting
along the coast of England one of the sea-
men fell overhoard and narrowly escaped
being devoured by a buge shark. After
bauling the man aboard, the sailors se-
cured the shark, and found in its stomach
the bottle containing Miss Bate’s message.
Miss Bate is now a student at the State
Normal school in Trenton, and has become
quite a heroine among the more romantic
of her classmates.— Philadelphia Record.
Irrigation Exhibit at St. Louis of Mar
velous Interest.
Other Products in Pro-
fusion which were on Lands which were once Re-
garded as Without Value.
Ponderous Grape Bunches.
Of the hundreds of thousands of people
who bave viewed with amazement the
magnificent fruits and grains from the
Western States exhibited at the St. Louis
fair—far more notable in size, appearance
and yield than anything they ever saw in
the East—few of them realize that these
products were borne upon lands which a
few years ago were useless deserts, but now
made fertile by the art of irrigation.
No irrigation exhibits of prominence
were in evidence at the World’s fair as
such, vet in everything agricultural they
formed a leading part, and their with-
drawal would have ieft huge gaps and have
taken away the best. Had the products
of the dam and the ditch all been labeled
“'Grown by Irrigation’ the irrigation ex-
hibit would have been a very big one. And
it seems to me that that would have heen
a good thing. The West is proud of its
irrigation. Why pot thus call attention
to its superiority of production ?
FABULOUS GRAIN GROWTH.
In grains and grasses Colorado’s exhibit
led easily, though splendid showings were
made by other arid States—Oregon, Wash-
ington, Montana, Utah, California—bnt
the Centennial State showed 100 different
kinds of grasses and 130 varieties of grain.
It bad oats eight feet tall and timothy
heads eight inches long. It took 340 prizes
and 89 gold medals; and its separate fruit
exhibit included almost all the products of
America except the truly tropical.
Oregon had ‘‘mortgage lifter’”” wheat
seven feet tall. Think of a wheat field in
which an army of six foot men wonld
stand concealed. And snow-white onions
six inches across. And Idaho and Utah
and New Mexico and all the West set forth
a dazzling display of irrigated apples and
plums, peaches and grapes of a color, size
and beauty which it would take a book to
describe.
But ahead of all the West in the extent
of variety of her exhibit stood California—
that vast strip of golden land reaching
from Oregon to Mexico and including the
vegetable wealth of the tropics.
THE PRODUCTS OF A GREAT EMPIRE.
Fruit is the mainstay of the Golden
State, and $250,000 is represented in her
showings at 8t. Louis. The great Palace
of Agriculture is the largest building of
the exposition, covering 16 acres, and it
seemed as though I would never get out-
side of the domain of the California ex-
hibit. Single counties made showings
creditable for a State. Such things caught
the eye at a life-size elephant of English
walnuts, the State capital building con-
structed of almonds, the famous Lick Ob-
servatory done in dried fruits and big
enough to contain several families. The
wine exhibit took the grand prize above
all foreign competitors. The most lncious
and enormous pears, peaches, oranges,
lemons, grape fruit, plums, cherries and all
kinds of huge vegetables were stacked in
rich profusion along side of great branches
and clusters of fruits of all kinds, showing
how things can grow under irrigation. The
grape bunches of California are almost of
the Biblical kind, requiring two men to
carry a single bunch. No man can carry
the product of a single vine. :
Practical methods of irrigation were
demonstrated at tlie Government Building
hy a model of the Salt Riser Valley, in
Arizona, showing the great government
dam now under construction in the moun-
tains and the system of di
als by which the water is distributed onto
the farms and orchards below. Real water
was running through these ditches. This
great work of Uncle Sam’s in Arizona is
progressing rapidly. A cement mill, to
make the 200,000 barrels of cement needed
in the masocry, is completed ; a $100,000
mountain road, toconvey the dam mater
ial from Phoenix is finished, and, most re-
markable, the river iteelf has been carried
through tunnels around the dam site, and
is furnishing some 1000 electric horse pow-
er with which to build the dan:. This is
$0 be need to construct the giant works,and
thus the river will hunild its own dam and
form a reservoir the greatest in the United
States.
GIANT PUMPING MACHINERY.
Of all sizes and classes were the irriga-
tion pumps exhibited in the farm imple-
ment department of the St. Lonis Fair ;
but more striking than these were the
windmills. These busy machines, rearing
their tall heads above the surronnding
buildings and whirrivg gayly in the breeze,
formed a striking example of man’s in-
genuity in harnessing the elements. The
highest of these, built by oue of the larg-
est windmill manufacturers, spread iis
galvanized steel wings 120 feet in the air,
and with a moderate wind pumped 40,000
gallons an hour. The water gushes up
like a fine artesian well and supplies a
ditch to irrigate a good-sized farm.
IRRIGATION’S FUTURE.
What will be the next irrigation exhibit
at a Word's Fair? Somesay that for many
years to come this is the lass of the big in-
ternational expositions. If this be so, and
it should be 15 or 20 years before another
great fair, when one does come its irriga-
tion exhibit is likely to overshadow every-
thing else in agriculture. The West is at
the beginning of great things. The Gov-
ernment has undertaken the work of
national reclamation of the desert and is
pushing the work rapidly. Vast engineer-
ing works—hugh dams and cauals—are
being constructed in the Western States
and Territories, and as the work proceeds
the people will realize its wisdom and:
worth, and it will be pushed forward still
faster. As Engineer Savage remarked:
**It is an entrancing work, is it not—this"
creating of homes for men ous of desert
waste ?'’
And so 20) ears from now, if the course
of wisdom is pursued and the Government
irrigation work continues along right lines,
and is kept pure of politics and of grafs,
we may see a West with nearly dounhle its
present population, and the splendid
products of American irrigation reaching
to every nook and corner of the world.
——Wife—'‘What is meant, John hy the
the phrase, ‘Carrying coals to Newcas-
tle?’
Hushand—''Tt 1 a metaphor. my dear,
showing the doing of something that is un-
necessary.’’
Wife.—*‘I don’t exactly nnderstand.
Give me an illnstration—a familiar one.”
Husbhand—* Well, if I were to bvieg you
home a hook entitled "How to Talk,’ that
would he carrying coals to Newcastle.’
——Envy is always looking for empty
heads wherein to lodge and grow.
——Whenever we hear a hoy calling his
father ‘‘the old wan’’ we yearn for a pad-
dle.
hes and later--
ee —————————————————
Interesting Facts.
The Chinese name for Port Arthur is
Lushunkow, and 20 years ago it was a
small place, with only a few thonsand
inhabitants, China used it as a place for
the deportation of criminals.
There are 1,000 American teachers in the
Philippines centered in 338 larger towns
ous of 934 towns in the entire archipelago.
Two thousand primary schools are in
operation, and they employ the services of
3.000 native teachers.
The smallest inhabited island in the
world is that on which Eddystone light-
house stands, for at low water it is only
30 feet in diameter. At high water the
base of the lighthouse, which has a diame-
ter of only alittle over 28 feet, is com-
pletely covered by water.
So far as known, the first campaign em-
blem was a finger ring of copper. It was
worn by the adherents of John Quincy
Adams in 1825, when he ran for President,
and was inscribed ‘‘John Quincy Adams,
1825.” Tintypes and medallions were
among the insignia of the 1860 campaign.
James Mooney, attached to the Smith-
sonian bureau of ethnology, sees a hopeless
future for the Indian, among whom he
has spent the greater portion of his life.
‘He believes that it is practically impossi-
ble to civilize the Indian; that, baving no
ambition for improvement or progress,
they will continue in their present state,
dying out in numbers till they become
simply roving bands.
The women of savage tribes have not
infrequently a wardrobe consisting of fars
which would be worth from $5,000 to $10, -
000. Grundeman, the explorer, relates
how one fair Greenlander wore a dress of
sealskin with a hood of that costly far, the
silver fox. The garment was lined with
fur of the young seal otter, and there was
a fringe of wolverine tails. About $600
is probably the average worth of the dress
of Indian women on the Columbia and
Fraser rivers.
On exhibition at Coventry, England, is
a pile carpet, 24x7} feet, which was made
in Latrobe in 1634 for a director of the old
East India company. The beautiful col-
oring is still perfect.
The first lead pipe ever made in Canada
from Canadian lead is now being pro-
duced at Trail by the Canadian Smelting
works. Any dimensions required are made
up to four inches in diameter.
The United States employed 10,555
men in distributing mail last year. The
cost, ‘distributed among 1,400 lines, was
$63,594,000. In 373 accidents to mail
cars 18 clerks were killed and 78 serious-
ly injured.
The number of immigrants departing
from Hamburg and Bremen during the
first eight months of 1904 was 170,558.
For the corresponding periods in 1902 and
1903 the numbers were 187,181 and 226, -
485 respectively.
In Bolivar a chef indulges in front-door
gossip. His stove is portable, being made
of a stone hollowed out, with two open-
ings, one at the side for fuel, the other a
the top for the eastern saucepan, and he
sets it up in the street, outside the door.
A Vienna society bas been formed to aid
persons with short memories. A ecard is
issned upon which the purchaser writes
the date of an engagement and posts to the
society’s office. By the first post on the
day of his engagement the card is received
by the purchaser.
The St. Gall embroidery distriot con-
tains about 500,000 people. In the industry
alone there are about 100,000 men, women
and children engaged, the children being
employed as helpers in the hand industry.
The persons working in their homes are al-
s0 occupied with farming, which alone
makes it possible for them to exist.
Vienna is experiencing a slump in cor-
sets. The Chamber of Commerce attributes
the great decrease in their manufacture
during the year to the publication of med-
ical opinion condemning tight lacing, and
also to the extension of the ‘‘reform-
kleid,’’ or rational dress. All corset fac-
tories have reduced the number of their
employes, and some have closed altogether.
In nearly every langnage in the world
there is an equivalent for ‘‘God bless youn’’
when anyone sneezes, for the same super-
stitution in regard to it holds good in every
country. To this salutation in France
there is added sometimes the phrase, ‘‘and
preserve you from the fate of Tycho
Brahe,’’ who is believed to have escaped a
death of cold by a single sneeze—which
killed him. In England a regnlar formula
is: ‘‘Once for a wish, twice for a Kiss,
three times for a letter and four times for
a disappointment.’’ In Italy the regular
salutation is simply ‘‘Felicita,”’ or ‘‘May
you be fortunate.”” In India. when one
sneezes it is the custom to say, ‘‘May you
live,”” and the reply runs ‘Long life to
you.”’
Radium Clocks.
A novel exhibit at a lecture given by
Sir William Ranisay, F. R. S,, recently at
Ealing, was a radium clock, an idea of Dr.
Hampson. By means of an exceedingly
small qnantity of radium salt a feather is
electrified. It hends away from the metal
until it tonches the side of the vessel and
loses its electrical charge, then springs
back and is again electrified, the process
being repeated any number of times, prac-
tically like the swinging of a pendulum.
A clock of this kind would be conceivably
possible, and as it would persist so long as
the radium retained its power, we might
have a timepiece going for, say, 2,000
years and never require to be wound up.
From an idea of R. Strutt, son of Lord:
Rayleigh, a radium clock has been con-
structed which is considered by Sir Wm.
Ramsay as likely to go for 2,000 years
without “winding.” Tt is made on the
principle of the electroscope, and depends
on the well-known power possessed by the
emanation from radium of conducting elec-
tricity. A small piece of gold leaf is the
pendulnm;it is charged with electricity by
radinmsalt, and swinging against the side
| of the vessel containing it discharges the
electricity. The process continues inde-
finitely. Needless to ray it is nota solu-
tion ofperpetual motion any more than
radium is a contradiction of previons heat
theories. In hoth cases the chemical energy
issimply exhausted at a very slow rate of
speed.— London Globe.
Thrice Blest,
‘A pair of deaf and dumb lovers ought
to consider themselves fortunate.”
**Why so?"
“Why, they can git down in the middle
of the largest crowd and have a nice, quiet
talk.’’—New Orleans Times Democrat.
—— We feel sarry for the man who is al-
ways too buey to remember that be was
once a boy.