HA Vou
Bellefonte, Pa., September 6, 1912.
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Comic Opera Ending of a Serious
War Scare.
Ludicrous and Rather Undignified Man-
ner in Which Mason and Slidell
Were Surrendered to the
British Authorities.
By E. J. EDWARDS.
Forty-eight years ago, on January 2,
the United States’ government, yield-
ing to the demand of England, ordered
the release of the confederate foreign
agents, Mason and Slidell, and so
brought to an end the possibility of
war with England over the seizure by |
this government of the two commis-
sioners from an English vessel. All
this is history; but how many Amer-
icans know the somewhat dramatic
and decidedly amusing story of the
opera bouffe manner in which Mason
and Slidell were given back to the
British government? [I will repeat the
story as it was told to me by the late
R. D. Webster, who during the civil!
war was a confidential agent and ex-
ecutive officer of the state depart-
ment.
“After President Lincoln had or-
dered the re'ease of Mason and Slidell,”
said Mr. Webster, “Gustavus V. Fox,
the assistant secretary of the navy,
called upon the secretary of state.
“*‘Mr. Seward,’ he said, ‘you know |
that there is a sort of etiquette among
naval officers which causes them to
ask to be relieved of the duty of undo-
ing what some other naval officer has
done. Therefore, the secretary of
the navy is anxious that the state de-
partment should take over the release
of Mason and Slidell. Have you any-
body who can undertake the work?
“ ‘Yes,’ said Mr. Seward, ‘there's Mr.
Webster. Please tell Mr. Welis that
the state department will place him in |
charge of the work.’
“It was necessary,” continued Mr.
Webster, “that Mason and Slidell, who
were incarcerated in Fort Warren, in
Boston harbor, should be transferred !
secretly, because public opinion was
running so high against them in Bos-
ton and elsewhere that it might not
have been safe to take them through
the streets of Boston.
municated with Lord Lyons, the Brit-
ish minister, offering to deliver the
two prisoners to any British vessel and
at any place he might designate. After
some consultation he informed us that |
a British vessel would be anchored off
the harbor of Provincetown, Mass, |
ready at any time to receive two com- |
missioners.
“We engaged a tug at Boston, which
was to await us at Fort Warren, and
then steam across Massachusetts bay
to Provincetown. When we reached
Fort Warren and gave our instructions
to the commanding officer, he sum-
moned Mason and Slidell. Mason was |
a great user of tobacco, and the evi-
dences of it were plentiful upon his
chin and his linen, for he was not al-
ways discreet in his expectoration. He |
was simply tickled to death to get out |
of Fort Warren and to be taken to Eu- |
rope to meet his family. !
“But Slidell, who realized that as |
long as the north held him a prisoner, |
the chances of British intervention in |
favor of the confederacy were not |
hopeless, declared that he wowlan': |
leave the fort.
“‘You have put me into this place,’
he said, ‘and now you have got to keep
me here.’
* ‘Mr. Slidell,’ retorted the command-
er of the fort, ‘you were received here
by orders of the United States gov-
ernment, and now your release has
been ordered by the same authority.
If you won't go willingly, I shall have
to call a body of soldiers to put you
out.’
“Slidell still protesting that he
would not budge of his own accord, a
file of soldiers was ordered up, and
they were all ready to take the recal-
citrant commissioner, feet first, and
deposit him in the tug, when Slidell
thought that would be too undignified,
and so reluctantly went aboard.
“A heavy sea was on ,and that iittie
tug rolled in Massachusetts bay like
a cocklesheli. The two commission- |
ers were frightfully seasick, and ire |
Slidell, amid his groans, muttered dire
imprecations upon the United States
government.
“At last we sighted the British man-
of-war, signaled to her, and found that
it was going to be almost impossible
to persuade Mr. Slidell to leave the
tug. He was a pitiable object, with his
seasickness, his anger and his heavy
So we com- |
| nothing said about him.
Great Politician Who Relied on
His Intuitions.
Samuel J. Tilden's Prophecy of the
Intention of Conkling and the
Stalwarts to Nominate Grant
for Third Term.
By E. J. EDWARDS.
I know that many persons who knew
Samuel J. Tilden well were accus-
tomed to look upon him as oge of the
most sagacious and cold blooded poli-
ticians that the country ever had pro-
ducd. But because of a confidence
that he reposed in me shortly after his
return from Europe in the early au-
tumn of 1877, 1 have always looked
; upon Mr. Tilden as a great politician
who followed in great measure the
‘lead of his intuitions.
Immediately after the electoral com- |
mission had decided in favor of Ruth- |
erford B. Hayes for president, Mr.
Tilden set sail for Europe, where he
spent the summer. On the afternoon
of his return home 1 called upon him,
bearing an important message from
Mr. Charles A. Dana, editor of the
New York Sun and an intimate friend.
After he had given me a very cour-
teous but dignified greeting, the gov-
ernor asked a servant to draw two
chairs in front of the open fireplace,
in which a cannel coal fire was burn-
ing, for the day was a little chilly.
Seating himself, Mr. Tilden removed
his slippers and stretched out his |
feet toward the fire. [ noticed that |
he wore old-fashioned, home-knitted |
woolen stockings made of gray yarn.
He drew my chair close to his, and |
then, in almost whispered tones, and |
putting his lips close to my ear—al- |
: though | saw no one within hearing— |
began to question me after having ac-
| knowledged the message which 1
brought from Mr. Dana.
“l have been away since early April
; —nearly sl» months,” he said. “I
! have only learned in the most inci
dental way what events of interest
have happened in the country since
! that time. You have been here, and
, You can inform me on some things. Is
there anything of interest ot Washing-
ton, or in this state?”
Instantly there came into my mind
the events of the New York state Re-
publican convention, which had been |
held at Rochester a few days earlier,
and | told the governor that Senator
Roscoe Conkling had made an ex-
traordinary speech in which he had
: bitterly attacked the so-called reform
element in the Republican party for
causing certain removals of federal
officials by the new administration—a
one-cent stamps for the r covered | RSPR = Book.
speech that was a defiant challenge to | Sex or 31 ne for pel io Ad- | PVR: = FREE Ch SF sont
dress Dr.R. V. ed
President Hayes and Secretary of the
Treasury John Sherman in behalf of
the so-called stalwarts, the radical sec- |
tion of the party in the state. And
Ram’s Horn Wisdom.
Trials are not sent to crush us, but to
lift us.
The wider the Bible is opened the hard- | broke
er it strikes at sin.
God makes some men strong in order
that they may help the weak. }
The young man who has no fixed pur-'
pose in life will soon be “fixed.”
Whether truth is handsome or not de-
pends upon who looks into its face. |
You can find a dozen honest men to!
where you can find one contented one.
You can generally tell how much peo-
ple love the Lord by the company they
cep.
A rich man may give the Lord too lit-
He, put a poor one can not give him too
m
Every man wrongs the world who does |
not do what he can for the public good
while he is in it.
jungle Manner.
It is the etiquette of the jungle for the
elephant to drink first. No matter how
many animals are around the water hole,
they all stand aside for the greatest beast
of all. Many of the animals come forty
or fifty miles for a drink and there is a
truce between even the most deadly ene-
mies. After the elephant comes the rhi-
noceros. Although most of the other
animals observe the water-hole truce
faithfully, two rhinos will fight over their |
precedence. i
When the rhinoceros has finished, the |
iraffes drink their fill, followed by zebras. '
bras always travel in herds and some- |
times forty or fifty will arrive at the water |
hole at a time. According to the etiquette
of the jungle, however, they only come |
in fourth for the drinking. e first |
four animals are fixed in order, but the
rest get a drink just how and when they |
can.—{ Pearson's Weekly.) :
Passes for Bird and Beast. | y
Nowadays, even animals have to have
a pass to enter a country. Did you know
that without special permission from Dr.
Palmer, chief of the game reservation
division of the survey, no animal, wheth-
er bird or beast, ry enter the country?
The animals are divided into classes,
marked injurious, beneficial or neutral.
One day Dr. Palmer received a telegram
from El Paso, on the Texas border. It
read: “Party wishes to bring in one
gray squirrel and two chachalacas.” Dr.
Palmer at once wired back: “Admit
them.” So this gave the foreign squirrel
and the two little gray birds permission
to take up their abode in the United
States.— Selected.
In a dark night a traveler gropes his |
way along a familiar path, slowly and |
doubtfully. Suddenly a blaze of light- !
ning shows him that he is on the brink |
| of a precipice, having wandered in the
darkness from the familiar road. What
that blaze of lightning is to the eye, Dr.
Pierce’s Common Sense Medical viser
is to the mind; a revelation of unknown
dangers and unappreciated perils. This
great work on biology, physiology and
ygiene is sent jree on receipt of stamps
| to pay expense of mailing only. Send 21
—‘‘He always was a bad but no-
body seemed to notice it ile he was
“Yes, he was all right until he was
”»
-
Hardware.
EE
To
Quality Counts.
You will always find it in a Dockash
OLEWINE'S
Hardware Store,
57-25tf BELLEFONTE, PA
A good moro ie worthy of
the very bet casoline.
The three famous Waverly
Gasolines—
o rant
16° — Soceial — Motor
Give Powor Without Garkc:
They are all refined, distilled and |
treated. They contain no “na‘urai’
gasolines, which cre crude and un-
refined and which carry the maxi
mum of carbon-producing
elements. }
5 WAVERLY CI. WORKS CO,
ee Indeoender? Hefiners
RE PITTSSURS, PA.
Also makery of Waverly Spec
[= ial Auto Oil and Family
Favorite Oil,
Owing to the loudness of its song, a
lady in Chelsea used to up the ca-
nary in its cage in the trees in her gar-
den. She noticed one day a sparrow
cot 17
i 0 -
and-by it flew away, but re-
through the wires for its newly
It continued to be thus civil day
by day until the canary would receive
The Pennsylvania State College.
fhe worm directly from the sparrow’s
The lady's neighbors, observing this in-
teresting display of courtesy, also hung
up their cages, and were gratified to see
the sparrow attend to their birds too; but
it always made a point of ministering to
the wants of its earliest chum first.—
Little Folks.
——For high class Job Work come to
the WATCHMAN Office.
erate.
57-26
SE
glass is a sparkl-
exquisite taste
any brewer’s
sibly create. Our
ment is equipped
latest mechani-
and sanitary de-
the art of brew-
cently installed a
ment ranking
Our sanitary
ilizing the bottles
filled, and the
of pasteurizing
has been auto-
guarantees the
our product. We
at the brewery
tles, as exposure to
St, Mary’s Beer.
{ The : Pennsylvania : State : College 1
EDWIN ERLE SPARKS, Ph.D,, L.L. D., PRESIDENT.
the action of the United States Government and the
Established and maintained by the joint on ¢
FIVE GREAT SCHOOLS—Agriculture, Engineering, Liberal Arts,
{ Mining, and Natural Science, offering thirty-six courses of four years
each—Also courses in Home Economics, Industrial Art and Physical
$ Education—TUITION FREE to both sexes; incidental charges mod-
: :
First semester begins middle of September; second semester the first
of February; Summer Session for Teachers about the third Monday of June
of each year. For catalogue, bulletins, announcements, etc., address
THE REGISTRAR, State College, Pennsylvania.
The sunshine of lager beer satisfaction radi-
ates from every bottle of ELK COUNTY
BREWING COMPANY'S EXPORT. Every
ing draught of
and is as pure as
skill can pos-
entire establish-
with the very
cal inventions
vices known to
ing, having re-
bottling equip-
second to none.
methods of ster-
before they are
scientific process
the beer after it
matically bottled
lasting purity of
bottle our beer
in AMBRE bot-
injures flavor.
light
1 added that the spech had caused in-
tense excitement and was taken to in-
dicate a set purpose of the stalwarts, |
under the leadership of Senator Conk- |
ling, constantly to give battle to Pres-
ident Hayes and his administration.
For some time after I had finished |
my recita. Mr Tilden plied me with
many questions, seeking particularly
to know ot the personnel of the con-
vention. Then he became silent, and
for a long time looked very thought-
fully into the fire. At last he put
his lips close to my ear.
“Young man,” he said—and I shall
never forget his impressive tone—‘"my
political intuitions are infallible. They
now tell me the meaning of this
Rochester ccnvention and reveal to
me the hidden purpose that is in Sen-
ator Conkling’s mind. From this time
on the senator and those who regard
him as their leader will strive to con-
centrate and organize sentiment in the
Republican party so as to force the
nomination of Gen. Grant for a third
term at the Republican national con-
vention in 1880.”
I went away, puzzled. Gen. Grant,
who had retired from the presidency
in March, was then on his triumphal
tour of the world, and until Mr. Tilden
mentioned his name there had been
But when,
months later, it first became evident
to the players in presidential politics
that Senator Conkling and his follow-
ers were planning cunningly to secure
a third term nomination for Grant,
Mr. Tilden's strange prophecy came
back to me, and ever since then I have
believed that all through his public
career he was guided in large meas-
ure by what he was pleased to tell me
were his infallible political intuitions.
(Copwight, 1909, by E. J, Edwards.)
Pawnbroker Out One Ring.
One of the oldest established pawn-
brokers on Lexington avenue, New
York, learned something at his own
ierce, Buffalo, N. Y.
CLOTHING.
BEER EEE SRE ERE
BOY'S SCHOOL SUITS
ElK County Brewing Company
ST. MARYS, PENNSYLVANIA
57.27-14t
CLOTHING.
An Extra Big
NOW READY.
THE BEST BOY'S CLOTHES
We Ever Offered.
Assortment of
sense of dignity which had been se-| expense the other day when an Ital
verely shocked. But we told him that | ian came in with three diamond rings
if he did not leave the tug willingly, | to pledge. The Italian asked $350 for
we should have the sailors put yim the lot. The pawnbroker, who after
upon the British launch. Then Mr, | the custom of the trade carried a very
Mason, who despite his seasickness | fine diamond on his finger for pur-
was quite happy over his immediate | Poses of appraising others, took off
release, came to our aid. ‘Come, his ring and matched its setting with
Slidell, don’t be a baby,’ he cried. And | the stones offered.
80 this former senator from Louisiana i “Three hundred for the lot,” he an-
stepped totteringly into the launch, | nounced.
and in this rather ludicrous manner | ‘“No-no, tree hun’erd feefty,” the Ital-
the two commissioners, over whom so | ian protested.
much fuss had been made, invelving | They haggled over the value of the
danger of war with Great Britain, de- | pledge for some minutes and then the
parted from the United States.”
(Copyright, 1508, by E. J. Edwards.)
| pawnbroker shrugged his shoulders to
| indicate that he would do no business
; on his customer's terms. As he did
"Twas Ever Thus. | so he pushed the rings over the coun-
“There are tricks in every trade! ter. The Italian swept them into his
but mine,” quoted the stranger. , ralm and departed. It was not until
“What's your business?’ we ven-! too late that the pawnbroker yoticed
tured to inquire. that his own gauging ring had been
“I'm Boxo, the Great Magician,” we among the lot that he pushed across
worn informed, f the counter,
£
y
BKK E&E&=K
As
ALL PRICED THE FAUBLE WAY,
HONESTLY.
Brockerhoff House Building.
FAUBLES.