Downe lta
“Bellefonte, Pa., September 19, 1919.
THE SIGN OF THE RED CROSS.
Translated from the French Legendary
Poem, “Le Brassard,” of Vicomte ' de
Barrell.
By Harriet N. Ralston.
The Goddess of Pity was winging her way
Afar to the field where a young soldier
lay
(So humble a victim of war’s cruel aim
Yet Love's ministrations the wounded may
claim!)
In touch of her fingers the soldier found
rest,
The goddess again would continue her
quest,
But paused as she listened to murmur-
ings low,
“The name of this angel, oh, would I
might know!”
She smilingly sought out a white linen
band—
All untaught in letters, yet deft was her
hand—
She dipped in his lifeblood her finger so
fair
And pressed the fine linen lo, Red Cross
was there!
The daughters of France, loving legend
and charm,
Now wear the Red Cross as a
their arm!
sign on
—Red Cross Magazine.
MAKING HIS WAY.
“There's a gentleman to see you,
Mr. Worden,” called Mrs. Clark down
the cellarway.
Tom, busy with the furnace, thank-
ed her. “Teil him to go up to my
room, please. I'll be up in a minute.”
The landlady departed, and, after
finishing up, Tom took a hasty wash
and ran upstairs. Throwing open
his door, he gave a cry of surprise.
“Hardy!”
“Hello, Worden!” The big captain
of the track team withdrew his fin-
gers with a grimace. “Whew! Your
hand is like iron!”
Tom grinned. He had met Hardy,
known as the “most popular man at
college,” quite by accident, some
time before; and the star athlete had
taken quite an interest in the fisher-
boy from the north, who was too busy
working his way to give any time to
athletics.
“I’ve been thinking things over,”
continued Hardy. “Your job at the
boathouse will be over next week.
Have you anything in sight ?”
Tom shook his head. “No, I seem
to be up against it, Hardy. I can’t
think of a thing, and all the jobs are
taken.”
The athlete laughed. “Well, why
don’t you use your head instead of
your hands? Make other people
work for you, and take time off—"’
“For athletics,” laughed Tom, and
Hardy smiled.
“Well, wouldn’t you like the letter
on your sweater?”
“I can’t tell you how I would,” and
Tom was very serious. “But you
know that I can’t neglect my work,
and I really haven’ ten minutes to
spare during the day, Hardy!”
The latter nodded. “I know, old
man. Now, look here. There is a
certain class of fellows here who
think of nothing but dress, and a lot
of others who like te be well-dressed
and can afford it. The fellows up at
my house keep a half-a-dozen tailors
busy pressing their clothes. Why
can’t you do it?”
“Press them!” Tom looked puz-
zled. “I don’t know a thing about it,
Hardy!”
“You don’t need to. Get cards
printed and distributed, get a price
from one tailor, for clothes in whole-
sale lots—”
“I see! Charge the fellows less
money and still make a profit out of
it myself!” Tom leaped to his feet.
“Yes, and I can swing a lot of trade
to you,” said Hardy. Tom, barely re-
alizing what this meant, grasped his
hand.
“Hardy, I can’t tell you how I ap-
preciate what you have done for me!”
he said, earnestly. “It isn’t every fel-
low in your position who—"
“Stop it!” cried the other, smiling-
ly. It’s purely selfish, for I want you
on the track team next spring, so
shut up. There's the suggestion; now
go ahead and tell me when you're
ready.”
Tom closed the door after his vis-
itor with a full heart, and plunged
into his books with renewed vigor
. that night. He arose early, and, after
tending his furnace, set to work fig-
uring; then sought one of the smaller
high-class tailors, and found them
Just opening. He secured a price of
thirty cents each, provided he brought
fifty suits a week for pressing; the
regular price was fifty. He also got
special prices on separate garments,
and left the store jubilant.
The same morning he ordered five
hundred cards printed, bearing his
name, address, and a special price of
forty cents, provided a season con-
tract was secured with him. This cut
the regular price, and also gave him
ten cents profit, which would more
than cover delivery, as he intended to
do that himself.
Two days later the cards were dis-
tributed. Tom at first dreaded to
meet his classmates, but he found
that all who, like Hardy, commanded
the respect of the college, were glad
to meet him when the track captain
took him around and seemed to think
the more of him for his independence.
Inside of three days he and Hardy
had more than fifty orders, for every-
one in college liked the big athlete
and was eager to please him.
Tom had three spare hours every
day, and for the rest of the week he
was busy calling for and delivering
suits. To his delight, at the end of
the first week, he found he had made
eight dollars; Hardy, however, abso-
lutely refused to make any division
of the profit.
“You are doing the work, and I'm
glad to help you,” he laughed. “I
told you it was a selfish arrangement,
for as soon as you get down to sys-
tem I'll expect you at the gym for an
hour every day.”
Tom made a number of lists of his
customers, and after another week
had established a regular routine.
The work was well done, and he kept
getting more orders than he could
| fill, however, so he limited the num-
ber to ninety, which was all he could
handle, and, after finally arranging
the lists, was able to meet Hardy one
afternoon with an hour to spare.
“Hurrah!” cried the athlete, as
Tom came up to him in the gym.
“Mr. Keene, meet Tom Worden, the
man I was speaking of for the
weights.”
Tom shook hands with the famous
trainer, who eyed him keenly.
“I have a suit waiting for you!”
cried Hardy, “so come along.”
Following him to the dressing
room Tom slipped into a track suit,
and returned to the gym. There were
only a few men there ,and Keene
brought out 2 hammer and a shot, and
led the way to the circle.
He showed Tom how to stand, and
said, “Now try it, Worden. Remem-
ber, in putting the shot, your back
and shoulder muscles are the ones to
use as much as your biceps.”
Tom took the shot and giving a
slight jump, sent it hurling into the
sand. Hardy gave a cry of amaze-
ment.
“That will do,” said Keene. “I
don’t need to try you with the ham-
mer. You stepped out of the circle,
but all you need is the training to
make a star man. Wherever did you
get such shoulder muscles ?”
Tom laughed. “Hauling nets, I
suppose, and rowing around the bay
at home.”
“You can give up waiting on table,”
said Keene. “Join the training-table
squad tomorrow; the college pays for
all that, you know, and I guess you
will be worth it. You’ll have to quit
smoking right away, though.”
“That will be easy,” laughed Har-
dy. “He doesn’t smoke!”
Keene stared at him. “He doesn’t,
eh? Well, that is good news for me;
I wish some of my other boys could
say the same.”
While Tom had been working at
the boat-house, during the fall, he had
pulled Harry Varnum, a classmate of
his from his own town, out of the
water. Varnum had formerly looked
down on Tom, and had introduced the
latter’s old nickname of “Fishboat” to
the college. After the boat-house in-
cident, however, Varnum had com-
pletely changed front, and he was
now among Tom’s best friends.
Tom found Harry in his room on
returning home.
“Hello!” he cried. “What's
news?”
“Pretty bad, Tom. I got to play-
ing cards with some of the fellows
last night, and—well, you can guess.”
Tom hung up his coat silently, and
sat down. “Look here, Harry, why
can’t you cut out some of those
chaps? You know that your work is
slumping, and your health is running
down, too. Why not try something
different for a change?
“I'm not preaching, you under-
stand; but I hate to see you running
around with those fellows and getting
a bad name in the college. You used
to be quite an athlete at home, Har-
ry; why not pitch in and try it here?”
“I couldn’t give up smoking, Tom.
It’s different with you, I guess—"
“Rats!” exclaimed Tom, impatient-
ly. “Come to the gym with me to-
morrow, will you?”
Varnum looked at him surprised,
but Tom continued. “I'm going to
put in an hour a day; you come
along, and bring some of your work
up here ‘every evening. How does
| that strike you?”
Harry rose and went to the win-
dow; after a minute or two he turn-
ed, and his voice was husky. “Tom,
I treated you pretty bad the first of
the year, and I don’t deserve any help
from you. But if you really mean it,
why—I guess—I guess I'll do it!”
Tom gripped his hand silently, and
after a minute told him what had
happened at the gym that afternoon.
“Good for you!” cried Tom, when
he finished. “Come over to my room;
I want to show you some pictures I
just got.”
They made a short cut across the
campus, and, observing a crowd
! around the notice board, walked over.
Pushing through, Tom saw that the
list of training-table men was up,
with the positions they were candi-
dates for on the team; and on the bot-
tom of the list he read, “T. Worden,
Weights.” ‘
Seizing a pencil, Tom scratched
out the “T,” and in its place scribbled
“Fishboat,” amid the laughs of the
crowd. Turning away, he cried, with
a smile:
“I was ashamed of it once, Harry,
and declared that some day I would
make myself proud of the old nick-
name. Well, I guess I am, right
now!”—The Boy’s World.
the
The Census of 1920.
The inhabitants of the United
States will soon stand up and be
counted, for the taking of the next
decennial census is only four months
off. The work of actual collection of
statistics will begin on January 20th,
1920, after the blanks of the enumer-
ators have been in the hands of the
people who are to be counted for sev-
eral days, probably a week, for it will
take some little time to distribute
these blanks, which will contain many
questions, and require the disclosure
of a variety of facts concerning the
population. Then the tabulation and
digesting of the multitudinous reports
will be made and as soon as this work
is completed the Interior Department
will tell us how many of us there are.
There is a report that Seeretary
Redfield expects to find a population
of 120,000,000 accounted for in the
United States census of 1920, which
seems rather a generous estimate. In
round numbers the population in
1900 was 76,000,000, and a gain of 16,-
000,000 was made in the following
decade, the total for 1910 being rather
short of 92,000,000. To reach Secre-
tary Redfield’s ambitious total there
would have to be an increase of 28,-
000,000 in the last ten years. The
Census Bureau made an estimate of
the population in 1918 and placed it
at 105,253,300. Doubtless this esti-
mate did not err on the side of mod-
eration, but even if it were anywhere
near accurate an increase of 14,750,-
000 would be necessary in the last two
years to bring the number of inhabit-
ants up to the figue mentioned. But
reached or not, we are a great nation,
and ought to behave as fits our great-
ness.
——For high class job work come
to the “Watchman” office.
whether the 120,000,000 figure is!
perdicting its return to scourge the
ET
| GOOD GARDEN SEED AND HOW
TO HAVE THEM.
Now is the time to save your gar- |
den seed. |
Some people wonder why seed fails |
to germinate. Frequently the fault
is theirs. They do not gather seeds !
in the right way. !
Seeds should be gathered in the !
middle of a sunshiny day. The rea- |
son for this is simple. If you gather |
them in the early hours, or the hours
after sunset, they are covered with
dew. In other words, they are damp.
Then if they are put away in this
condition they are apt to mildew. |
They may not show visible signs of |
mildew but the following year when !
you sow them they will fail to ger-
minate.
Seeds must be gathered dry. After:
gathering them it is well to spread
them on pieces of blotting paper in
the sun for at least 24 hours. This |
will insure them being perfectly dry. |
Keep each variety separate. Glass |
bottles make the best containers. |
Each bottle should be carefully label-
ed. As you finish gathering the vari-
eties place the bottles in a dark dry
place. Any temperature above freez-
ing will do.
Only gather the seeds from well-
developed blossoms. |
A wise plan to follow is to take a |
piece of string and when you see a |
particularly fine blossom, one that is
true to color and having a perfect
shape, tie this bit of string about the
stem. Then ycu will be sure to se-
cure the seed because you will see the
string. All flowers when they have
gone to seed look alike and unless
you take this precaution, you fre-
quently secure seeds of inferior blos-
soms and instead of having finer |
strains than you had last year, which |
should be the aim of all gardeners, 't
you have inferior plants in every way. |
It is only worth while to save s
from stock having fine constitutions
and those that are true to color. A
poor strain is always in evidenc
the color of the blossoms. It shows
more here even than it does in either |
size or shape of flower.
Never gather the seed before it is
ripe. Like removing fudge from the
fire, there is an exact time for this,
before or after is decidedly too early |
or too late. ;
Never open the pods and scrape
away the seeds. If you do you injure
the seeds, which are still soft and
fragile, and next year they will likely
fail to germinate.
Again, do not wait until they have |
fallen onto the ground. Because then |
you cannot tell the poor from the
good seed.
The proper way is to carefully,
once each day, go over your borders
and note the pods that are open wide.
When they look dry and brittle, hold
a cup under the blossom and with a
lead pencil gently rap the outside of
the pod. This will sever the attach-
ments and the thoroughly ripened
seeds will at once roll into the cup.
This may seem like unnecessary
work. But such is not the case. It
will more than repay you another sea- |
son when you will be agreeably sur- |
prised at the number of fine, well-:
shaped blossoms you will have and!
the almost total absence of indiffer- |
ent blossoms.
ed:
The Influenza Threat.
Doctors are disagreeing on the!
probability of another influenza out- :
break in the coming autumn and win-
ter. Dr. Royal S. Copeland, New :
York Health Commissioner, is quoted |!
as taking an exceedingly pessimistic |
view of the future, declaring science ;
to be helpless against the disease and |
world. Not only does he prophesy
the return of the dread disease, but he |
names October as the time when it
is to ¢ome back.
On the other hand, Dr. William H.
Peters, health officer of Cincinnati,
commenting on Dr. Copeland’s
gloomy view, takes the opposite posi-
tion. He does not expect a recurrence
of the disease in epidemic form, for
the reason that the nation was “pret-
ty well immunized by the disease last
“fall and winter.” He adds the re-
assuring comment: “Epidemics of
such character do not, as a rule,
strike twice in the same place.” A
warning, however, is sounded by Dr.
Peters, when he says the mortality
rate may be high next winter, since
many persons whose power of resist-
ance to disease has been lowered,
may succumb to other causes more
readily for this reason.
Precautions to maintain one’s phys-
ical condition at a high standard are
always wise, but they would seem to
be especially imperative in face of a
fresh outbreak of the disease which
last year killed more Americans than
lost their lives in the great world war. |
State’s Hay Crop Huge.
Harrisburg.—Bradford is Pennsyl-
vania’s best hay producing county,
according to a series of figures issued
here by the Department of Agricul-
ture. The total yield of the State is
given as 4,430,000 tons, of which
Bradford, with 132,627 acres, raised
172,415 tons. Susquehanna county,
with 107,566 acres, is second with
169,954 tons. Lancaster county, with
106,176 acres, is third, with 159,264
tons; fourth place is held by Berks
county, with 153,857 tons; fifth by
York, with 146,772, and sixth by Tio-
ga, with 145,566 tons. The aggregate
of the acreage devoted to hay is 3,-
167,700.
The department officials expect a |
good corn crop as a result of reports
received showing conditions on Sep-
tember 1. Some counties report the
yield excellent in spite of the weather
conditions, and that pests did not do
the damage feared.
It is probable that the department
will make some changes in the regu-
lations relating to the shipment of
hogs in Central Pennsylvania coun-
ties, which are now quarantined on
account of the hog cholera. It is be-
lieved that the disease, which had
been causing heavy loss to hog rais-
ers, is under control. i
Home Burg Feels Slighted.
Pokeville Item—*“Abe Hopkins, the
only boy from this town to go to the
front, hain’t showed up here yet, al-
though he’s been back for five months.
The ‘home folks are kinder sore on.
Abe, thinking he oughta have come
home and made a parade.”
i thrown away as dross
i tien
mines.
| the Quinteca mine in the Alamos dis-
{ pany had been lost.
MEXICO’S SILVER STREAM FOR |
FOUR CENTURIES.
Mexico, since its conquest by Cor-
i
tez in 1519, has produced a steady |
stream of silver.
session of apparently inexhaustible
| stores of the white metal has un-!
doubtedly brought some wealth to the
nation it has brought infinitely more
misery, says the Salt Lake Tribune.
It was for silver that the happy, pro- |
gressive Aztec people were enslaved |
and robbed by the Spaniards. It was
the Spaniard’s lust for silver that
worked the ruin of a semi-barbarous
civilization that had built great irri-
gation systems, massive temples and
beautiful cities. It was for
: that the yoke of degradation and sla-
i very was fastened for four centuries |
Although the pos- |
silver |
LIKE THE BOOK OF GENESIS
Description of Flood of Time of Noah
Found Among Ancient Records
of Chaldea.
Perhaps the tracing of the story of '
the book of Genesis is the true fas-
cination that Mesopotamia has for
those who have time to read.
great boats of the Euphrates have the
identical lines of the toy ark that ean
be bought in London. Where a pent
roof has been added for our purposes
the two are one in shape. A Eu-
phrates “bellum” arranged as a sick
| barge is the toy ark of childhood. Is
upon a once proud, happy and free |
people.
ble power of ferreting out the locza-
tion of the hidden wealth of ther con-
quered kingdom. The mines of Gar-
najuato and Zacatecas, which had pro- !
duced fabulous treasures of gold and !
|
silver for the Aztecs and the Toltecs, |
were soon discovered by the Spanish |
and developed. On account of
cost of gun-powder and other sup-
plies, and taxes which had to he paid !
| to the crown, ore that would not pro-
the |
duce over 100 ounces of silver to the:
ton was not mined.
Guanajuato means the Hill of
as :
Frogs, so called because st one time,
it is said, a huge image of a frog, an
object of worship among the natives,
stood at the top of the hill. Immense
1 i 511 were found here.
d the superstruc-
teau which had
parily : and partly
overlaid by shales and limestone.
Larger profit has been obtained by
demobilization and reduction of
the material contained in some of the
s in the Chihauhua district.
The methods of the natives were =o
primitive that much mineral was
after the reduc-
of the ore. In the absence of
more convenient and .cheaper build-
ing materials this slag was used in
the construction of the walls of these
huts.
Strange tales are told of the wealth
of the Spaniards who controlled these
It is said that the owner of
the
trict, a Senor Almada, on the mar-
riage of his daughter lined the bridal
that toy ark an authentic tradition in
its shape? It is almost certain to be.
side and out with pitch, as was that
ark. In these same bellums, some as
large as 70 tons, we may find British
batteries sailing the Euphrates and a
modified menagerie could easily walk
on board. One more suggestion of
the toy shop tradition strikes the cas-
ual observer. The tribespeople from
the hills who work on the Tigris and
Euphrates wear high black felt hats,
a topper without a brim. Are Mr.
i and Mrs. Noah really correctly
dressed?
from
chamber of the palacio with bars of !
the precious metal and paved the path '
to the church with the metal.
Many of the churches of Mexico,
which have been on account of their
architecture and the priceless value of |
their ornaments the
world, owe their existence to a mine.
The Baroyeca Church, built in 1792,
was built with the wealth derived
from the Mina Grande in the Baroye-
ca mountains. Prior to 1850 the walls |
wonder of the!
of the Santuario and the Transcoro !
were lined with sheets of the pure sil-
ver from the mine, the altar vessels
were pure gold, the candelabra, the
altar rails and the other parts of the
sanctuary were ofsilver.
A great many of the lost mines of
Mexico were the result of the depre-
dations of the Yaqui Indians. Pros-
pectors were killed or driven from the
. country by these savages, the marks
{ of their
i and 2 mine that had
i ties lost to the world.
workings were obliterated,
great possibili-
For many years cone of the mines of
the Estrella del Norte Mining com-
The only clue to
its location was found on an old Jesu-
it map, which stated that the adit of
the mine could be seen by looking in
a given direction from the church
door. The directions found on the
map were followed. The hills for
miles around in the given direction
from the church door were searched,
but no mine was found. At last, long
after the search had bec abandoned,
a wall that had been built around the |
church at a later date fell down and |
revealed another door whose existence |
had been hidden. From this door the
hills were searched with a powerful
field glass, a trace of the old workings
was detected and the old mine was
discovered.
180 Men of the A. E. F. Blind.
Then on top of the discovery of the
ark comes the more serious reading
of a parallel version of the Bible
story of the flood found in the cunei-
form in Layard’s tablets from the
Royal library of Ashurabanipal at
Nineveh, copied or collected possibly
Sargon’s library at Accade or
Erech, older than Ashurabanipal by
perhaps 1,800 years. Were the stories
of Genesis the household stories of
Chaldea 4,000 years ago? It would
seem so, when from Babylon is un-
carthed a seal with the representa-
tion of the temptation, Adam and
Eve, the serpent and the apple tree.
HAVE TO SEARCH FOR POET
Great Mind by No Means Easy to Find,
and Some Can Never Dis-
cover Him.
There was once a small but mighty
nation, now numerous as the sands of
the seashore, and no longer so inter-
esting. To this nation was born a
poet, and they made him the poet of
all time. They took him and taught
him all they knew—and they had
great things to teach; and when, at
their command, he made great dramas,
they stood at his elbow; and every-
thing they gave him he gave back to
them tenfold.
England was then Shakespeare’s
land.
The poet is always amongst us; the
difficulty is how to find him; he is like
the proverbial needle in a bundle of
hay.
But one thing is certain—logicians
without love will not find him; they
leave a desolation, and call it peace—
nay, they call it culture. ' Critics of
this sort will allow nothing to exist
except themselves. No; I am wrong.
There is one thing they admire more
even than themselves—the fait ac-
compli a mundane success.— John
Butler Yeats.
Health in Trapshooting.
The great and popular detective of
fiction, Sherlock Holmes, once admit-
ted that a man’s knees were the seat
of great enlightenment and from this
source he drew many of his deduc-
tions. He may, therefore, scrutinize
‘with interest a trapshooter’s knees
while he is in action. Do they wab-
ble not? He is a seasoned shooter in
good physical condition. Do they wab-
ble? He is anxious, perhaps a little
. new at the game but so happy and
. willlng to get that next target he cares
little whether the sun shines or the
reports give the number of the A. E.
F. blinded in the war to be 180. Re-
education means much for this class :
of men, and about one-third of these
blinded soldiers
themselves of the opportunities for
training under the direction of the
$3 board for vocational educa-
ion.
are now availing
Poultry raising has been tested and !
proved to be a lucrative vocation for
blind men. With the assistance of !
their families these blinded soldiers
are making good at it. Osteopathy
| and massage are attracting others as
occupations desirable for the blind.
The policy of the board in building
upon the past experience of disabled
soldiers in fitting them for future em-
ployment is adhered to in its dealings
with the blinded. In following this
policy, an insurance man and a drug-
gist are training in their old lines of
work, learning to “carry on” in the
old way in spite of their handicaps.
These men have lost their sight, but
they still retain their ambitions and ,
their grit.
Remarks Caught on the Fly.
“Gee!
so much to get it.”
Washington, September 17.—Latest ; eqitipostial 1s oo
It is a fascinating sport without
placing any strain on the nervous sys-
tem, in fact, trapshooting strengthens
the nerves. It combines sport with
fresh air and sunshine and saves many
doctors’ bills. Physicians and nurses
recommend the sport as a health tonie,
and if the patients follow the advice
given there will not be much need for
the physician and the nurse.—Forest
and Stream.
Homer.
Homer is an epic poet and not a his-
torian, so it is quite natural that he
should have exaggerated everything
with poetic license. Moreover, the
events which he describes are so mar-
velous that many scholars have long
doubted the very existence of Troy
and have considered the city to be a
mere invention of the poet's fancy. I
venture to hope that the civilized
world will not only not be disappoint-
ed that the city of Priam has shown
itself to be scarcely a twentieth part
| as large as was to be expected from
You must love work to pay !
the statements of the Iliad, but that
| on the contrary, it will accept with de-
“If the profiteers didn’t have our
goat we might eat that.”
“Clothes were so cheap those days
a man could afford to eat soup with- '
| although he exaggerates, nevertheless
out a napkin.”
“Well,
we all make mistakes—
that’s why they put rubber tips on |
lead pencils.”
“The girl I was sitting next to at |
dinner was so cross-eyed she ate off
my plate.”
Nearer Heaven While it Lasted.
A newspaper tells of a New York
couple being married in an airplane.
light and enthusiasm the certainty
that Ilium did really exist, that a
large portion of it has now been
brought to light and tha¢ Homer, even
sings of events that actually happened.
—Robertson. |
You May Bet on It.
When you see a young man sitting
' in the parlor with the ugliest four-
The only advantage was that they got !
back to earth more quickly than most |
newly-weds.
Another One.
The suggestion that out of the.
great Juilliard bequest a prize be of-
fered for “the best merry-go-rounde- |
lay” adds another portmanteau word
to the list.
year-old boy that ever frightened him-
self in a mirror clambering over his
knees, jerking his necktie out of place,
ruffling his shirt-front, pulling his hair,
kicking his shins, feeling in all his
pockets for coppers, while the unre-
gisting victim smiles all the time like
the cover of a comic paper, you may
safely say that the howling boy has
a sister who is in a room not 20 feet:
away, and that the young man doesn’t
go there just for the fun of playing
with her brother.
The |
hd
a CL RS ASV UT RR ars OREN,
GREAT LAW MUST BE OBEYED
Mankind Helpless Before the
sistible March of Progress
Known as Evolution.
The old sailing packet crawled
along, tacking and trimming, that its
yards of unfurled canvas might catch
the freshening winds. The skipper,
his leathern face seamed with the
heavy lines put there by years of buf-
feting struggle with wind and wave,
watched the great engine-driven liner
Irre-
- race past him.
A dark bitterness welled up in the
old sailing skipper’s heart. For that
. engine-driven liner represented a re-
. lentless progress that would not be
: i The Euphrates boats are pitched in- .
Spanish governors had a remarka- | > P p
stayed or denied. It had driven most
of his kind from the face of the wa-
ters; it had made cargoes for the few
of his kind remaining difficult to ob-
tain and obtainable only at rates that
meant at best only a pittance.
On the bridge of the steam-driven
liner the captain, as he gazed at the
crawling old sailing packet, caught
the hum of a mighty motor overhead.
His glance turned from the miserable
old packet to the swiftly approaching
outlines of a giant aircraft. It came
from behind and it passed the racing
liner even as the liner had passed the
packet. And in the heart of the liner's
captain welled a dark bitterness. For
he understood. The workings of the
Great Law were written clearly in the
air and sea before him. Even as the
day of the skipper of the sailing packet
had ended so his own day was nearing
its end. A progress that would not
be stayed or denied was overtaking
him and his kind.
There is a sadness like unto no
other for they who watch and give
way before the changing eras, for they
represent life’s helpless discard.
PUZZLE FOR LEARNED MEN
Figures of White Horses, Cut in Eng-
lish Cliffs, Have Never Been
Satisfactorily Explained.
Every now and then, naturally
enough, a little wave of popular in-
terest eddies around the mysterious
white horses cut in the hillsides in
various parts of southern England.
Sometimes, owing to the encroaching
habits of the brush, the chalk which
constitutes the lines of the animals
fades from view and almost from
memory. This process had well-nigh
happened to the Westbury White
Horse at Brattan, Wiltshire, when
the clearing of the bushes laid it bare,
and revived inquiries as to its origin,
and solicitude for its preservation, as
well as for the upkeep of its various
counterparts elsewhere.
Well-known authorities have it that
the horse was cut out to commemorate
the victory of King Alfred over the
Danes at Ethandune, the site of which
is not for distant. Uffington, however,
has a better specimen as white horses
go. though abnormally lean and
seragey in proportions. In size it is
nearly 850 feet in length and the same
in breadth. It is mentioned in the
records of 1571 and was long the
scene of annual festivities known as
the “scouring” festival. The existence
of these and the other white horses
with which may be included the Cerne
Abbas Giant and the Long Man at
Wilmington, have been the object of
much learned and largely unfruitful
discussion.
-
Proof That Seeds Breathe.
It is easy to demonstrate that germi-
nating seeds take in oxygen and give
out carbon dioxide, according to the
following experiment described in the
Scientific American:
A score or so of peas are placed in
a close-fitting jar with a small amount
of moisture. After a while the peas
start to germinate, but soon they cease
all development, because the oxygen in
the jar is exhausted. A single pea in
a jar of the same size, however, will
develop and grow up into a little plant.
There is evidently oxygen enough for
the needs of the single specimen.
To prove conclusively that there is
no oxygen left in the jar in which the
number of seeds germinated it is only
needful to plunge in a burning match.
This instantly goes out. The presence
of carbon dioxide in this jar is clearly
shown by pouring into it lime water,
and then shaking. The lime water
becomes milky in appearance. This
would not happen in a jar in which
there had been no germinating seeds.
Sought to End Civil War.
On fhe 18th of Ju%, in 1864, Hor-
nen Gresley, one of the most famous
of the Abolitionists, received a letter
from George Saunders of Kentucky,
suggesting that Clay of Alabama and
Holcombe of Virginia, would, with
himself. meet Greeley and negotiate
peace terms for the ending of the
Civil war. Greeley was commissioned
by Lincoln to take the matter up, but
the negotiations came to nothing, as
the Confederate delegates did not
have the full backing of their govern-
ment, and the war lasted nine months
longer. Greeley was a rabid anti-
slavery leader, but he was not in ac-
cord with Lincoln. He was always of
the opinion that the slaves could be
liberated by reimbursing the south-
ern states for their value.
The Main Thing.
“My poor man,” said the sympathetic
prison visitor. “Do let me send you
some cake.”
“Thank you, mum. Dat would suit
me fine.”
“What kind would you prefer?
“Any kind, mum,” said the prisoner,
lowering his veice to a whisper, “Just
so it's got a file in it."—Birmingham
Age-Herald.
99
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