Bellefonte, Pa., July 22, 1910. ft Gave Columbus the Idea For His Voyage of Discovery. Mediaeval rurope knew but very lit- of eastern aud northeastern Asia. of the most learned cosmogra- of the time taught that Asia stretched eastward indefinitely, and no iE riously taught that eastern Asia was a land of vast swamps, inhabited by monster serpents and dragons. This was the opinion that still prevailed up to within 200 years of the time of Co- | At this time two Venetian merchants of the name of Polo went on a vast trading expedition to the uttermost parts of Asla. They were gone many years. Upon their return the son of one of them, a young man named Mar- co Polo, wrote out a full account of their travels, described the empire of the grand khan (the Chinese emperor) and revealed the fact that Asia was bounded on the east by a vast ocean. He described this eastern coast mi nutely, with all its vast cities and its wealth of precious stones and spices. It was from reading this book the imagination of Columbus was | ; ; Ail g E 1 | : : g had gazed upon 200 years before. | Still, ‘the Philosopher Didn't Like It | When Death Called. i A certain philosopher was in the | habit of saying whenever he heard ' that an old friend had passed away: “Ah, well, death comes tous all! Itis no new thing. It is what we must ex- | pect. Pass me the butter, my dear. Yes, death comes to all, and my | friend's time had come.” i Now, Death overheard these philo- | sophical remarks at different times, | and cone day he showed himself to the | philosopher. “I am Death,” said he simply. “Go away!" <aid the man in a panic. “] am not ready for you." i “Yes, but It is one of your favorite trulsms that Death comes to all, and 1 am but proving your words.” “Go away! You are dreadful!” “No more dreadful than [| always am. But why have you changed so? | You have never feared the death that | has come to your friends. 1 never heard you sigh when I carried off your | old companions. You have always said, ‘It ie the way of all flesh.’ Shall I make an exception in favor of your flesh? “Yes, for 1 am not ready.” “But 1 am. Your time has come. Do | not repine. Your friends will go on | buttering their toast. They will take | it as philosophically as you have taken | every other death.” | And the philosopher and Death de- | parted on a long journey together. | Charles Battell Loomis. | About Sneezing. Hospital nurses when assisting at a | delicate operation have their own way | of suppressing a cough or a sneeze. | The operator's attention must not be | distracted for a moment. Coughs and | sneezes, too, spread germs on surfaces | carefully rendered antiseptic. So ev- ery nurse soon learns to press her fin- ger hard on the upper lip immediately | below the nose when she feels a cough | | consented to give a performances in aia Managing the Weather. It may safely be suid that control of the weather by sorcerers was al- together @isbelieved in by very few perncus lo the sixteenth century. But if ihe Dellef was beld more strongly along ope coast line than another it was around the Baltic rather than elsewhere. As late as 1670 a traveler tells us how, being becalmed off Fin- land, the captain sent ashore to buy a wind from a wizard. The fee was 10 krooer (say 36 shillings) and a pound of tobacco. The wizard tied a woolen rag with three knots in it to the mast. Untying the first koot pro- duces just the wind they want, south- west. That slackening, untying knot No. 2 revives it for a time, but knot No. 3 brings up a fearful northeaster. which nearly sinks them. “Qui nescit orare, discat navigare,” was a much quoted phrase. True enough of one traveler, it would appear. seeing be is reported to have prayed during a storm: “0 Lord. | am no common beg- gar. | do oot trouble thee every day. for 1 never prayed to thee before, and if it please thee to deliver me this once | will never pray to thee again as long ax | live." - Atlantic Monthly. Norway's Love For Bjornson. What Hjornson was to his own people Ix bext made clear by an inci dent which occurred at his beloved Aulestad not long before he was forced to start on his final journey to Paris in search of another letise of bealth and life. A regiment passed the place in the course of na manen- ver. Its commareder sent word head to the poet asking him to review the soldiers ax they marched by. Bjorn- sou stood ou the veranda of his house, surrounded by his entire family—a man whq had never held any public office. mind you: As the troop ap- proached on the highroad below offi- cers and men gave the salute due to a commanding genera! or a member of the royal house. But this was not all. From the rapidly moving ranks rose one mighty shout after another-a spoutaneous outburst of devotion and gratitude such ax it has been granted very few men the fortune to inspire. —~Edwurd Bjorkman in American Ie- view of Reviews. Figures of Speech. A well known veutriloquist who had of charity heard that certul members of his prospective audience were die termined to watch the moveuents of his mouth with the closest scrutiny with a view of confounding tim. ‘The nigkt came, the attendants carried in three dummies on chairs, and the artist made his appearance, His perform. ance was unusually successful, the muscles of his face giving no evidence of his art. The changes of voice were marvelous, and the astonished crowd at the close of the exhibition gave him a rousing cheer. Again and again they called him back, and he express- ed his pleasure by innumerable bows. At last the cheering ceased, and he was permitted to retire. Scarcely had he done so when the three “lay” fig- ures got up from their chairs and walk- ed off the stage. The ventriloquist had employed three friends to impersonate his usual mechanical figures. The “Bull” The origin of the word “bull” as the definition of a confused utterance is doubtful. Some philologists say it comes from the French boule—*fraud" —and others that it is derived from the Icelandic bull—‘‘nonsense.” Many definitions have been attempted. but the best probably is that of Sydney Smith. Writing of the difference be- tween wit and “bulls,” he says: “Wit discovers real relations that are appar- ib the course of some military evolu. | The pearl striuger's eye becomes tions Frederick the Great of Prussia, frrituted by sowe mistake of a captain, ran after bim with bis stick in order practiced iu the detection of real and imitation pearls. Oue glance is usually sufficient. A genuine pear! has a bard to strike him. The captain ran away. The next morning the commanding of- ficer reported to the king that the offi- | This blush is so cleverly counterfeited cer in question, vue of the most effi- | in wax imitations that even those who clent in the regiment. bad sent in hi~ | are accustomed to handling pearls day papers. “Tell him to come to me.” | after day are Hkely to be deceived. said the king. Tbe officer, In great In one of the large New York jew- perturbation. came. “Good morning. | elry houses last winter a customer major.” he upostrophized the officer. purchased a hand painted miniature who was speechless with surprise. “1 get in a frame of imitatiox earls. wanted to tell you of your promotion. | Op examination it was found that sev- but you ran so fast | could not catch | gral of the pearls bad been slightly you up. Good morning.” | defaced. and the whole thing was sent Annrslier time an officer attempted 10 | ¢5 the manufacturing rooms for re- get a comrude into bud odor with the | pairs By chance it came under the king by telling his majesty that be | eye of one of the pearl stringers, who was a drunkard. In a subsequent bat. | instantly detected four genuine pearls tle the latter's fitness was conspicu in the circle of imitation ones about ous, whereux his xiunderer played n gpe picture. The frame had passed very poor part. When afterward he cp.ough 5 dogen expert hands with. jook. It presents a sort of shell-like surface with an indescribable blush. ent; ‘bulis’ admit apparent relations that are not real. The stronger the apparent connection and the more com- or a sneeze coming on. A pressure in the neighborhood of the ear, too, or a hard pressure on the roof of the mouth | ota the real disconnection of the will nip a cough in the bud. And the | jgeqg the greater the surprise and the will bas great power to control a cough | patter the ‘bull’ ” or a sneeze. | There was a French surgeon who | used to say whenever he entered the | wards of the hospital, “The first pa- tient who coughs gets no food today.” This method was usually successful.— Chicago News. Where Looks Don’t Matter. Apropos of a titled foreigner's mar. riage to a rich and rather plain Ameri- can girl a New Yorker said: “The count has no cause to com- plain. The ethics of such a marriage What Came Up. A young man wishing to have a bit | of fun at a farmer's expense passed a few remarks about his cattle and his garden and then said he had set some lettuce and cabbage which had not grown up. Then the farmer said: | “Oh, that's nothing! 1 set some car rot seeds, and what do you think came up? “Don’t know.” man. Farmer—Why, old Brown's donkey, and ate the lot.—Newark Star. replied the young The Turnip. l The turnip is supposed to be a native | of Asia and Europe. It has been culti- vated for centuries. The wild East Indian turnip is said to be remotely to the edible turnip. It is the size walnut and first tasted is sweet- but in ERE soi} | as his are but the ethics of the matri- monial agency. “A man called at a matrimonial agency. “‘l am interested.” he said. ‘In the young lady who has $250,000 in her own right. Could you let me see her photograph * | “No; that is not the custom.’ agent replied. ‘In any case over $100.- | 000 the photograph is never asked | for” Working Him. “1 want the office. of course,” said the aspiring statesman, “but not unless I am the people's choice.” . “We can fix that. too.” said his cam- paign manager. “only you know it's a good deal more expensive to be the people’s choice than it is to go in as the compromise candidate.” Chicago Tribune. Friendship. | Friendship is a vase which when it is flawed by heat or violence or acci- dent may as well be broken at once. It can never be trusted again. The more graceful and ornamental it was the more clearly do we discern the hopelessness of restoring it to its for- wer state. A Continued Story. “What did your wife say when you | stayed out so late last night?’ | “I don't know. She hasn't finished | telling it all to me yet."—Detroit Free | Press. In this world it is not what we take ! un. hut what we give up, that makes us rich.—Beecher. i defiled past the king at the head of his regiment Lix majesty called out to him in a voice of thunder, “The sooner you take to drink the better!” The O!d Time Surgeon. Before anuestbetics were known the surgeon's outy expedient was to abridge his patient's sufferings by working rapidly. In this the oid time surgeons did wonders. They bad a control and a surety in their hands that are now seldom found. One day the celebrated surgeon Maixonneure had to amputate the leg of a poor devil, who begun to bow! in advance. “I'll give you my watch.” suid the surgeon, “if the oper ation lusts more than a minute.” The man accepted the offer. but was oblig ed to forego the handsome watch, as the operation took lesx “ime than it re quires to describe. To amputate an arm at the <honlder ix a moxt difficult operation many did it in two minutes. A young physician who came to see him per form :he operation adjusted hix spec. taclex to hix nose =o ux pot to lose n single movement, but when the spec tacles were in place the operation was over and the severed arm lay on the floor. Times have changed much since then. Dr. Johnson's Church. 8t. Clement Danes hax never torgot- ten the fact that Johnxon worshiped within its walix to the pulpity ix marked hy un brass plate which was erected by the parish. foners in 1851. centenary of Dr. Johnson's death was observed by a memorial service, when a special address was delivered by the | Rev. Dr. Lindsay. at that time rector of St. Clement Danes. .Johnson's pew was on thut occasion draped in violet. Johnson was always constant in his attendance at church on Good Friday | and Easter day. On April 0. 1773. he ! “His behavior.” | went with Boswell. writes Boswell, “was, as | had imagin- ed to myself, solemnly devout. | shall never forget the tremulous earnestness | with which he pronounced the awful petition in the litany. ‘In the hour of | death and in the day of judgment, good Lord. deliver us!" —~London News. Fine Art of Letter Opening. In Russian one letter In every ten passing through the post is opened by the authorities as a matter of course. Indeed. the postal authorities of every country have esperts who have raised | Some letter opening to a fine art. kinds of paper can be steamed open without leaving any traces. and this gimple operation is tinished by re- burnishing the flap with a bone instru- ment. Ib the case of a seal a matrix is taken by means of new bread be- fore breaking the wax. When other methods fail the envelope is placed be- |. tween pleces of wood with edge pro-| jecting one-twentieth of an isch. The | edge of the envelope is first flattened, | then roughened and finally slit open. | Later a hair line of strong white gum | is applied and the edges united under pressure.— London Chronicle. i Charity and Prudence. The contradictions of life are many. An observant man remarked recently . that he was prowling about a certain | city square when he came upon a drinking fountain which bore two con- flicting inscriptions. One, the original inscription on the fountain. was from the Bible, “And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Above this hung a placard, “Please i the | do not waste the water.” — Youth's | Companion. Stewad Deers’ Horns. Deers’ horns when young may form a dish for human consumption. Sir 8S. W. Baker writes, “When the large horns of the sambur, or wapiti, are growing they make an excellent dish, | first scalded to divest them of down and then gently stewed with a good sauce and a few vegetables.”—London Mall, Her Description. Muggins—Women have such queer ways of expressing themselves! Bug- gins—Such as? Muggins—Well, my wife was telling me about Miss Yel lowleaf and said she was a sight to behold and in the very next breath said she wasn't it to be seen.—Phila- delphia Record. Rural Amenities. Fair Passenger—But, good gracious, why didn’t the train stop here? It is supposed to. Porter—Yes, miss, but the engine driver has quarreled with the station master.—Pele Mele. A Conclusion. “Her husband doesn't smoke, drink, shew. swear or piny cards” “Introduce me. Widows are my spe salty.” —~Houston Post. Dr. Langenbeck of Ger | The pew in which he sat (it ix in the north gallery. close | In December, 1884, the | . out any one's noticing the presence of real pearls. No one could account , for their being there. If they had not been detected the purchaser of the frume would have had a bargain, for the four genulue pearls were worth many times more than the picture and the rest of its setting.—New York Tribune. Spirit of Young America. | A teacher in a Philadelphia public school parruted the following account ' of how an aspiring young Italian citi- gen was beginning to show the effects of an American environment. The story. which was told at a teachers’ as- sociation meeting, runs something like this: Tony bad been away from school | about a week, and when ke showed up | one morning the teacher asked bim | where be had been. “1 ran away.” said Tony. | “Ran away: What ¢id you do that ; for?" asked the teacher. “My father was going to lick me, so { 1 thought I'd run away.” was the re 1 | The teacher by further questioning | brought out the fact that Tony for | some trifling dereliction had been threatened with a beating and had | stayed away from home the best part | of a week. { “But your father bas the right to | whip you.” said the teacher. “Yes, he may.” added Tony, “but I was born in this country. and 1 don't . want no foreigners to lick me.”-Pitts- burg Chronicle-Telegraph. Costa Rican \oicanoes. | Costa Rica bas been subject to earth- quakes for many years. Part of the republic Is exceedingly mountainous, | and in this part of the country there , are more than a score of volcanoes, | some of them dead, but a few that break out periodically. There are three or four that have been active | for more than a century. Some of these are near San Jose, the capital Costa Ricans have always believed that earthquakes, which the country has ex- perienced ever since it was first set- | tled by Spanish adventurers. were caused by the volcanoes. There is good ground for this belief, because it has been noticed that earthquakes of more or less intensity followed the ac- tivity of these volcanoes. If the vol- | eanic eruptions were violent the earth- quakes were correspondingly severe.— Washington Post. A Witty Retort. A good story is told of two great Irishmen. :he late Archbishop Plunket and Father Healy. the well known parish priest of Bray. Making their | way together to Bray railroad station one morning. the priest urged that they should hurry. but the prelate's appeal to his watch convinced him that they had ample time. They ar- rived to see the train for Dublin dis- appearing. The archbishop’s apolo- gles were lavish, He pleaded that he had always had unbounded faith in his watch, “My dear Lord Plunket,” was Father Healy's rejoinder, “faith won't do without the good works.,”"— i Blackwood's Magazine. Alkarazza. Alkarazza is the name given to ves- sels cf very porous earthenware which when filled with water are always moist outside and owing to the evapo- ration of the water on their surface al- ways keep their contents cool. Alka- razza can be made from any good pot- | ter's clay by mixing with it 10 per cent of its weight, dry. of very fine sawdust and then working it. On | burning the sawdust is destroyed and the clay thereby left porous. Started In Business. “Father thinks 1 ought to go in for business a bit." remarked the gilded | youth, “Made a start yet?’ “Oh, yaas. I've ordered three busi- ness suits and had me name put up at a onmmercial club.”=Louisville Cou- vies dournal. Her Instructions. Conductor—Ticket, please. Passen- ger—Certainly. sir. Here is the key of my trunk, which is in the baggage car. In the pocket of my second best dress is my mileage book.—Harper’s Bazar. Life and a Living. Many a man has made a good living who has made a poor life. Some men have made splendid lives who have made very moderate and even scanty livings. A Hard Task. “Now, sir.” said an Irish barrister “hold your tongue and give your evi dence clearly !™ Happiness consists largely in belsg { too busy to be miserable.—Sheldon. with severity to a loquacious witness,’ |. Straw Hats AT HALF PRICE 2 The price on every Straw Hat in the store, Panamas ex- cepted, are cut exact- ly in half. IT'S CHEAPER to own a new hat at these prices than to get the oid one cleaned. FREESE ETE =ELE:EEER:EXEEEK fe
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers