FA RE
Co —————————— A ——
Bellefonte, Pa., September 14, 1017.
LETTERS WRITTEN HOME.
Tell How Three Philadelphia Boys,
Two are Penn State Students,
Dodge Hun Shells.
How three young graduates of the
West Philadelphia High School for
Boys are dodging German shells, driv-
ing ambulances in France, is told in
letters written home. The three chums
are Fred Philip Smith, "14; William
Bartlett Byers, ’14, ani Charles M.
Ashton Jr., 15. The former pair were
room-mates at State College, and met
their old schoolmate in Paris a short
time after they arrived there. Ash-
ton, whose home is at No. 5027 Chest-
nut street, is seriously wounded, while
his comrades have thus far escaped
damage.
With all the recklessness and dash
of the famous trio of Dumas’ roman-
ces, these three youths are bringing
honor to West Philadelphia High.
Every week brings letters to their for-
mer schoolmates, written with a grim
humor.
A letter received a few days ago by
H. Brooks Harvey, of Ne. 5300 Girard
avenue, a classmate, from young
Smith, relates how a German shell ex-
ploded under the engine of one of the
motor ambulances and “scattered it
over the landscape,’ leaving the driv-
ers unhurt but withcut means cf ve-
turning to headquarters.
FROM “OUT AMONGST "EM.”
“Out Amongts ‘Em, Thursday, July
26, 1917. Dear Brooks:
“Your letter of June 27th reached
me last Monday. All mail, no matter
from whom, is welcome over here, and
when it comes from one of the old
guard, why, it makes life different for
a couple of days.
“T,ast Saturday’s Paris papers had
a small item to the effect that Charles
Ashton had been wounded on the
night of July 14th. In the same mail
with your letter there came a note to
me from Charlie, telling me that at 2
a. m. on the morning of July 15th, he
and a German shell played that little
game of ‘You chase me and I'll chase
you,” and he lost. The shell exploded
right beside his car, one of the frag-
ments entering his back, just below
the left shoulder blade, shattering his
shoulder blade and coming out
through the neck muscles just below
his right ear. The other piece tore
his left toe off and lodged in his left
leg.
“He was pretty well done up, ana
had his lieutenant write the letter for
him. His letter, however, was cheer-
ful, and he said that as soon as he got
strong enough to stand the trip he
would be moved to the American Am-
bulance hospital, just outside of Par-
is, at Neuilly.
OF INTEREST TO MOTORISTS,
“With his letter was a note to me
from his lieutenant, saying that
Charles was seriously but not danger-
ously wounded, and that his progress
so far had been wholly satisfactory to
the doctors.
“Well, Brooks, I hardly know what
to tell you, except that war is hell.
The farther this bird keeps away from
Boche shells the better it will suit
him, although me and some of the
aforementioned shells have had some
speaking acquaintance. By the way,
Charlie is attached to Section 28, and
Bart and I are in Section No. 65.
“When Bart and I landed over here,
all the Ford sections were filled, so
we were put in a section of Berliet
cars. I need hardly tell you that as
cars and ambulances these Berliets
have the Fords shaded to a finish.
They have lots of guts and pull well,
even when loaded heavily.
“The only thing I have against
them is that they are built too near
the ground, so that you really have to
be careful when driving over rough
roads. They have wire ‘wheels, but no
self-starter. And that leads me to re-
mark that self-starters sre unknown
in France; even on the 1917 models of
pleasure cars I have yet to see a self-
starter. They just don’t have ’em,
that’s all. Also, they don’t have vacu-
um feeds.
“Everything has a rice little pump,
which you work like (censored.)
You know Herb used to have one of
em. Outside of these two little de-
fects, though, the Berliet car is a
(censcred) good car, aad I'll stick up
for it any day in the week.
TELLS OF MANY DANGERS.
“Being as large as they are, each
ear has two drivers, and, of course,
Bart and I drive together. Our car
is No. 551,647, and No. 7 of Section
65. There are 20 ambulances, two
staff cars, a kitchen truck, a repair
car and a gas and oil car in our sec-
tion.
“The section is in command of a
lieutenant of fhe French army, and
second in command is the American
chef or chief. The chef, however, is
the real commander as the French
lieutenant is merely a figurehead. Our
chief is a handsome duke from Indian-
apolis, named Jimmy Thompson. He
is a Lehigh man and used to be quite
a football player there. Our section
has been out here at the front for
about four weeks now, and the sector
in which we are stationed has seen
some of the hardest fighting of the
war.
“We have had marvellous luck.
Charlie’s section, No. 28, has been out
only 1 week longer than we have and
vet already they have lost two killed
and two wounded. So far all of our
section have escaped unwounded, al-
though it has been a matter of good
luck rather than good management.
The first day we were out a Boche
shell lit on the road right under the
frort axle of one of our cars.
“It ripped the motor completely out
and scattered it over the landscape,
but both drivers got off without a
scratch. Last Sunday night another
of our boats ran into a shell hole and
while the repair car was trying to pull
it out a shell lit on it and as the re-
sult the repair gang couldnt find
enough of it left to tow home. Yet
no one in the gang working on it was
hurt. Speaking of luck, you’ll have to
pass us the brown derby.
“Night driving did you say. Oh,
yes, very much yes, and it’s the love-
liest ever. We cannot use a light, not
even a pocket flash, and whenever we
drive at night we have to just crawl
along, as the roads are jammed with
artillery trains and provision wagons
and staff cars, and it is almost impos-
sible to move faster than six or eight
miles an hour.
“Do we ever get lost? Quite often.
Night before last Bart and I got ball-
ed up, took a turn to the right instead
of to the left, and didn’t discover our
error until we saw trench lights zd
star shells bursting over our heads.
“About this time out of a dugout
comes a lieutenant, wildly waving his
arms and yelling French at the rate of
200 words a minute. We couldn't fig-
ure out what ailed him, but soon he
ran away and brought back a sergeant,
who said in perfect English: ‘It’s not
good the Americans should be here.
These are the second line trenches and
we are expecting an attack in five
minutes.’
“Did we move? Oh, no, Brooks! Oh,
no! We just turned that old boat of
ours around in half the time it ever
was turned before and tore down that
road so fast that the Boches couldn’t
see us for dust—and it had been rain-
ing all day.
“Well, Brooks, old kid, I guess TI
have spread enough for this time. We
go on duty at 4 o’clock in the morning,
and I'm going to eat now and turn in.
Hope these letters get through to you
O. K., and that you will write when-
ever you can. Always glad to hear
from you. You will remember me to
vour father and mother, please. Also
give ‘my regards to any of the bunch
when vou see them.
“FRED.”
The trio have been in France since
last November. Ashton went with a
unit from Dartmouth Ccllege, where
he wos a student.—Philadelphia Rec-
ord.
Labrador Perils.
Few Labrador fishermen can swim.
“You see we has enough of the water
without goin’ to bother wi’it when we
are achore,” a man said to Dr. Gren-
fell, the Labrador missionary and phy-
cician Yet this very man had fallen
overboard in the open sea no less than
four iimes, and had only been saved
on one occasion, writes Dr. Grenfell
in “Down to the Sea,” by catching a
line thrown to him in his teeth and
holding on until he was hauled in. !
His hands were too numb to be of any
use.
One spring the two sons cof a fish-
erman who lived in a lonely bay were
out on the ice after seais, when sud-
denly it gave away and let the boys
through. The father, seeing the acci-
dent {rom the shore, seized a fishing
line, hastily fastened one end around
his body and, giving th: other end to
his daughter to hold, ran out to the
hole through which they had fallen.
He jumped into the water, went down
and brought up the bodies, too late,
alas! to restore life.
There are many heroic tales of wo-
men. Early one fall the arm of the
sea just north of the missionary’s hos-
pital was frozen over enough to allow
dog trains to travel over it. In the
early morning two men started off to
cross it on a Komatik, to cut firewood
on the far side. As they rounded a
headland the whole of the team fell
into the water where an eddying tide
had kept the ice thin. The Komatik
followed into the water, carrying the
men with it.
the ice and was drowned. The other
got free of the boat and held onto the
One disappeared under
ice edge although he was unable to
crawl out.
From the shore his sister saw the
accident and at once ran to aid him.
As she drew near she heard shouting
and saw several men pulling 2 boat |
down to the ice some distance away.
They shouted to her to keep away from
the hele, but instead of stopping she
had the presence of mind to throw
herself full length on the ice and glide
along until she got near enough with
outstretched arms to reich her broth-
er’s hand. Already he was half frozen
to death; but she managed to get him
upon the surface near her and, al-
though one of her own legs was
through the ice, to hold him until the
boat came.
When Dr. Grenfell asked her how
she had dared to go out to almost
certain death, she replied:
“IT couldn’ see him drown, could
1?”—Youth’s Companion.
French Comments on “Sammies.”
A writer in the Sept2mber Every-
body’s who was in Paris when that
city received its first glimpse of
American troops says:
“T listened with all my ears to the
comments that were made, and as
everybody was talking at the top of
his voice to be heard above the din, I
caught a good many, some of them
amusing. A great many times they
said: ‘Oh. ils sont fameux’—they’re
fine. 1 heard several times: ‘How tall
and thin they are!’ Once or twice,
with a hearty emphasis, almost of ad-
miration: ‘Heavens, how ugly they
are” (And this was really true. I
didn’t realize until I saw a mass of
them together how the Lincoln type of
powerful raw-boned, sincere ugliness
has persisted in many Americans.)
And of course a thousand times ‘Vive
les poilus d’Amerique!’
“One working woman walking in
front of me, carrying a baby, kept
saying: ‘It makes me want to cry
when I see their flag here,” and an old
man said: ‘I hope there is a German
spy on every street corner.’ One
woman, jumping up and down with
excitement said: ‘Oh, I am so glad I
am going to see tham; I never saw any
Americans in my life.’ I gathered
from her accent that she expected
them to wear feathers and paint their
faces with war paint. I cannot begin
to tell you the atmosphere of genuine
friendliness and evidens good feeling
which permeated this enormous crowd.
I never felt anything like it in my life.
But what pleased me most of all was
that a middle-aged, middle-class wom-
an on the street car going home said
to me after she noticed John’s uni-
form. She said: ‘Every time I see
the American flag it makes me think:
“No, the Germans were wrong. Ideals
are the reallest things there are.”
——Put your ad. in the “Watch-
man.”
PICKING MEN FOR WAR.
The Selective Draft Was Known In the
Time of Moses.
Registration for a selective draft was
known thousands of years ago. The
first chapter of Numbers tells how Mo-
ses in the second year after the exodus
from Egypt was commanded to choose
from among the various tribes men to |
tabulate the names of the males over |
the age of twenty who were able to |
go to war. The passage, in part, fol-
lows:
“Take ye the sum of all the congre-
gation of the children of Israel by their
families, by their fathers’ houses, ac-
cording to the number of the Dasaee]
every male by their polls; from twenty
years of age and upward, all that are |
able to go forth to rar, thom and
Aaron shali number them by thelr |
hosts. And with you there shall be a |
man of every tribe. (Here are men- |
tioned the men who are to assist in the
registration.) '
“And Moses and Aaron took these
men that are mentioned, and they as-
sembled all the congregation together
on the first day of the second month,
and they declared their pedigrees after
their families by their fathers’ houses,
according to the number of the names
from twenty years old and upward.”—
Chicago Tribune.
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DIET AND DISEASE.
Rickets In Children Is Caused by the
Wrong Kind of Foods.
“Beware of giving young children too
much pasteurized milk. proprietary
food or even cereals to the exclusion of
brown bread and butter, stewed fruit
or roasted apple and a little meat once
a day,” writes Dr. Beverley Robinson
of New York in giving a warning note
about rickets in the New York Medical
Journal,
He adds that he is “considering espe-
cially children two or three years old
who are healthy and vigorous unless
rickets develops unawares by reason of
faulty dietary.” And he quotes the fol-
lowing from Osler: .
«Like scurvy, rickets may be found
in the families of the wealthy under
perfect hygienic conditions. It is most
common in children fed on condensed
milk, the various proprietary foods.
cow's milk and food rich in starches.”
Rickets is the cause of knockknees
and bowlegs. It is due to too little
animal fat and protein in the dietary,
together with too little lime salts.
Curious Choice of a Wife.
Some years ago an English curate
surprised his parishioners by marrying
a widow considerably older than him-
self. The astonishment was still great-
er when the cause was known. The
curate had become engaged to a young
girl whose frivolous conduct soon led
him to regret the step. He offered a
settlement for his release, but it was
refused. He endeavored in every way |
to break the engagement, but without |
success. {
“Is there nothing 1 can do to escape
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this?” he exclaimed one day in despair. |
“Yes.” remarked the girl’s mother,
who was present and who had been
the prime mover in the marriage nego- :
tiations, *‘by marrying me.”
The curate decided if he had to mar-
ry one of the two he preferred the
mother and accepted her. The young
girl married a wealthy stockbroker.
Unkind Wit.
The desire to shine by delivering him.
self of a crushing repartee all too often
leads the witty individual into excesses
that seriously offend charity and not
rarely justice as well,
A wit that is unkind is not a gift to
be proud of. It usually belongs to a
discontented and spiteful person who
apart from these failings would be a
very nice friend, but the biting wit on
which he prides himself keeps every-
body at a distance. While ene dislikes
the person who is ready to agree to
anything one may say, it is rather bet-
ter to have that than continual disa-
greement and stinging wit.—Exchange.
Fattening Snakes.
There are ranches in the great south-
western part of the United States
whose whole business is the fattening
of rattlesnakes and other reptiles for
market. The market for these crea-
tures is an active one, including mu-
seum proprietors, circus men, side
show actors, zoological devotees and
also chemists who are after the vari
ous snake poisons.—Exchange.
Inconsistent Teachers.
“And how do you find school. Har-
old?”
“Rather difficult, sir. The teachers
are inconsistent. In English composi-
tion we are told to be original. In
arithmetic we are all expected to get
the same answer.” —Louisville Courier-
Journal.
The Same Argument.
«J don’t see why you complain about
the size of my bill,” said the doctor.
“Jt is not as big as it might have
been.”
sPhat’s all right,” replied the man
“I wasn’t as sick as I could have been
either.”’—Petroit Free Press.
Awful Thought.
“And you ought to be made to eat
humble pie.”
“But don’t you try to make it your-
self, dear. Spare me that.”—St. Louis
Post-Dispatch.
Giving Her Credit.
“Giddings willingly gives his wife
full credit for what he is.”
“What is he?”
“Bankrupt.”—Chicago Herald.
He that would have his virtue pub-
lished is not the servant of virtue, but
glory.—Ben Jonson
| They vanish into oblivion.
| from the shock the bill gave him.”—
" GIRLS WHO DISAPPEAR.
Tragedy of the Thousands That Sink
Into Oblivion Yearly. i
Police statistics of New York city!
show that at least two girls disappear
from home every day in the year. i
They vanish into oblivion. Soon they
are forgotten, but the heartache of the
mother left behind is never stilled. It |
will ache on through the remaining
days of her life. i
And what becomes of the girls who
disappear? i
That is a problem that we will not
attempt to solve. We only know that !
they are swept away by the great |
whirlpool of life. !
The federal statistics furnished by |
the bureau of vital statistics show that |
£0,000 persons disappear each year.
A greater
proportion of these are young girls. |
The men who disappear turn up sooner |
or later in most cases, but the girls, as
a rule, are forever lost. Having cut
away from their social ties, having |
burned their bridges behind them, |
these disappearing girls abandon usu-|
ally all thought or hope of returning |
and become isolated members of the |
social colony of which they once were |
members. They prefer to struggle on!
as best they can.
It is one of life's tragedies.—Memphis |
Commercial Appeal.
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THE BANK OF ENGLAND. |
It Is a Private Company, but Acts as
the Nation’s Banker.
The Bank of England is not, as most |
people think, a government institution.
It is a private company, but reaps a
good profit by acting as the nation’s
banker. The remuneration paid to the
Bank of England for the management
of the national debt was fixed in 1906
as a yearly sum of the rate of £325 per
million pounds and at the rate of £100
for every million pounds above this
amount.
Before any of the government money
that goes into the Bank of England
can be spent a certain procedure has to
be followed. First of all an order sign.
ed by the king and countersigned by
two lords of the treasury has to be for.
warded to the comptroller and auditor
general of the exchequer and audit de-
partment. Then the comptroller hands
an order to the treasury authorizing
the Bank of England to debit the ex-
chequer account and credit the account
of the paymaster general, who makes
all payments on behalf of the various
departments.
Afterward the comptroller scrutinizes
all the accounts paid to see that the
money has been spent in accordance
with the wishes of parliament.—West-
minster Gazette.
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Training Naval Gunners.
When England trains her gunners for
the sea she sends them to Whale island
in Portsmouth harbor. Here the entire
island is given over to steel sheds which
are built like gun turrets on a battle-
ship. The great guns projecting from
these sheds are dummies, though they
are exact counterparts of those on a
battleship. The prospective officers and
men are made to go through the exer-
cise of range finding, loading, aiming
and “firing” these guns as rigidly as if
they were in a real battle at sea. The
heavy steel projectiles are hauled from
the magazine by hydraulic and electric
cranes, just as in an actual ship, A real
breech mechanism locks the projectile
and its powder charge in the gun, while
an intricate swivel mounting of steel
swings the gun into the firing position.
—Popular Science Monthly.
Remarkable Luck.
In Gold Hill, Nev., in 1877, one of
the mining bosses—Tole by name—had
trouble with some of the laborers in
his mine. One night three of them at-
tacked him in a barroom. Two of them
pinned him down, while a third stood
over him with a revolver. The muzzle
almost touched his stomach. Once,
twice, thrice, a fourth and a fifth time
the weapon shapped. Tole closed his
eyes. Each moment he expected to be
his last. The disgusted ruffian threw
his disappointing weapon on the floor
with an oath and, joined by his aids,
left the place. Tole wiped the cold
sweat from his brow, mechanically
picked up the discarded weapon, went
to the door and fired off every charge.
remarking that it was just his luck.
How He Cleared Himself.
While passing along a busy street in
Dublin a lady was relieved of her hand
bag, and Sandy was arrested on suspi-
cion of having snatched it. He was
placed among a group of men, and the
lady was asked to single out the cul-
prit. She passed down the line till she
came to Sandy.
“Officer,” she said, “I think that is the
man, although I did not see his face,
but his clothes appear to be similar.”
“The lady’s wrong, sir. I was wear.
ing a different suit. Can I gonow, sir?”
said Sandy.
Very Formal.
“Are you on very friendly terms with
your neighbor in the apartments »
“Well, no. She's rather formal—al-
ways sends her card when she wishes
to borroyv flour, and if she wants both
flour and sugar she sends two cards.”—
Washington Herald.
Stunning.
“Qh, Effie, your new gown and hat
are stunning!”
“Yes. Alfred hasn’t recovered yet
Exchange.
A Good Rule.
Do all the good you can to all the
people you can as long-as ever you can :
in every place you can.
ee msesmea————
Our deeds determine us as much as
HAS NOT GONE UP
IN PRICE
EVERYTHING
All the goods we advertise here are selling at prices prevailing
this time last seascu.
Aa
MINCE MEAT.
We are now making our MINCE MEAT and keeping it fully up to our
usual high standard; nothing cut out or cut short and are selling it at our
former price of 15 Cents Per Pound.
Fine Celery, Oranges, Grape Fruit, Apricots, Peaches, Prunes, Spices,
Breakfast Foods, Extracts, Baking Powders, Soda, Cornstarch. The whole
line of Washing Powders, Starches, Blueing and many other articles are
selling at the usual prices.
COFFEES, TEAS AND RICE.
On our Fine Coffees at 25¢, 28c, 30c, 35¢ and 40c, there has been no change
in price on quality of goods and no change in the price of TEAS. Rice has
not advanced in price and can be used largely as a substitute for potatoes.
All of these goods are costing us more than formerly but we are doing our
best to Hold Down the Lid on high prices, hoping for a more favorable
market in the near future.
LET US HAVE YOUR ORDER
and we will give you FINE GROCERIES at reasonable prices and give
you good service.
SECHLER & COMPANY,
Bush House Block, - 57-1 - - - Bellefonte, Pa.
ARR TR.
Come to the “Watchman” office for High Class Job work.
Shoes. Shoes.
YEAGERS SHOE STORE
Shoes Shoes Shoes
$1.98 $1.98 $1.98
Your choice of any
pair of Ladies’
3 SHOES
For $1.98
These Puinps are of this
season’s goods, made in
many styles, Patent and
Gun Metal. A Rare
Bargain.
SHOES SHOES SHOES
$198 $198. $1.98
YEAGER'S,
The Shoe Store for the Poor Man.
Bush Arcade Bldg. 58-27 BELLEFONTE, PA.
we determine our deeds.—George Eliot,
-66
(XE
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. THE ry
Present Your Wife
SE AE EE TRO ER
With a Check Book!
You'll be surprised at the system you'll inaugurate in your home if
give your wife a sort of business education.
Wife's Name
THE CENTRE COUNTY BANK,
BELLEFONTE
you PAY ALL YOUR BILLS WITH CHECKS. You can tell HOW
MUCH IT COSTS TO A PENNY TO RUN YOUR HOME. It will
Start an Account Today In Your
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