Benoni, Wald
INK SLINGS.
—Sunday's rain was a God-send.
—1It fakes one hundred years to
grow a stately elm and one day to cut
it down.
—There are lots of things you
would do if you were the other fellow,
but being yourself you don’t do them.
—Oh for the days of 1864 when a
ten dollar gold piece bought as much
as twenty-eight dollars and fifty cents
will buy today.
—The new moon is lying far in the
southern skies, which means warm
weather; we hope, at least until local
dealers get some coal in stock.
—Mr. Arthur Brisbane, who is her-
alded as the “world’s highest paid ed-
Ea
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7
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y
7B
STATE RIGHTS AN
D FEDERAL UNION.
SPAWLS FROM THE KEYSTONE.
—Pittsburgh specialists have leased 500
acres of land in Clinton county to pros-
pect for oil and gas.
--Notices of an increase in wages, to
take place on September 14th, have been
posted in the Milton plant of the Ameri
can Car and Foundry company. Large or-
ders for tank cars which are manufactured
there was given as the reason, and it was
also said by the management that 200 men
will be added to the force as soon as ma-
terials are assembled.
—George Gunn, whose home was at
Glenside, in Montgomery county, was tak-
VOL. 67.
Pinchot’s Platform Disappointing.
Mr. Pinchot opened his campaign
for Governor of Pennsylvania at Al-
lentown on Saturday by pledging him-
self to several propositions against
which there is no opposition. He says
BELLEFONTE, PA., SEPTEMBER 1. 1922.
Pinchot’s Absurd Pretenses.
In a speech delivered just before
the final vote on the Fordney tariff
bill in the Senate, Senator Smoot,
first apostle of the Morman church
and one of the leaders in the Republi-
Law Making in Washington.
Debates in the United States Sen-
ate are mostly stupid but occasionally
interesting. For example, during a
discussion on the bonus bill the other
day Senator Wadsworth, of New
NO. 34.
Government Operation.
From the Philadelphia Record.
Of course it is incredible that a na-
should
have its industries stopped and be
tion of 110,000,000 persons
threatened with hunger and cold be-
en to the Chester county prison early last
Thursday from Charlotte, N. C., and is
held for a hearing on the charge of plan-
ning and assisting in executing a robbery
at the National Bank at Elverson nearly
two years ago, when $25,000 in cash and a
large amount in securities and bonds were
taken.
—TFive houses at Hazleton were struck
by lightning, hundreds of cellars were
flooded, some streets washed out and the
fire alarm system was disabled in a severe
electrical storm early on Saturday. A
bolt of lightning hit the home of Anthony
Skales and set fire to the beds he and his
wife and children occupied, but the flames
were extinguished before much damage oc-
curred.
cause of wage disputes on the rail-
ways and at the mines. Therefore it
is quite certain that if the employers
and the employees do not agree very
soon the President, probably with a
mandate from Congress, will operate
a part at least of the railways and the
anthracite mines.
But the government cannot dig coal
or repair engines in its own person; it
has got to hire men to do the work.
Presumably they will be the strikers.
The companies have not succeeded in
getting enough men to do the work,
and the government is not likely to
find it easier -than the companies to
get men. Probably there are not
enough competent men among the gov-
ernment’s employees, say in the mili-
tary and naval services, to do the
work. The government, therefore,
will have to procure men to dig the
coal and carry on the repair shops.
But it has no authority to make men
jtorial writer,” exudes more piffle than
most of the world’s lowest paid men
of the pen.
—Secretary Herbert Hoover’s idea
of a “fair price” for coal doesn’t seem
to have been absorbed by many of the
gentlemen who are producing what is
on the market today.
—Of course Senator Reed is not for
a bonus for the soldiers. He was a
soldier, ’tis true, but he has all he can
use and more so he is opposed to giv-
ing anything to the boys who are not
as pampered with pelf as he is.
— Former State Treasurer Kephart
now declares that the late Senator
Crow ordered him to pad the State’s
pay roll. Mr. Kephart gave testimo-
ny on this question before the Senator
died, but he made no such charge then.
he will drive the saloons out of the
State and prevent bootlegging. Only
the Legislature can do one of these
things and the courts the other. Mr.
Pinchot’s promise is therefore only
foolish and futile gesture. He prom-
ises to maintain and secure goed
laws for the protection of working
children, women and men. The only
opposition to such a policy in recent
years has come from Joe Grundy, who
spent $80,000 to secure Pinchot’s nom-
ination and is not a professional phil-
anthropist. Maybe he will accept
Grundy’s interpretation of such laws.
There is probably not a thinking
man er woman in Pennsylvania op-
posed to any of the other propositions
set forth by Mr. Pinchot as his per-
sonal platform. Even Senators Vare,
Eyre and Leslie, the conspirators
can majority on the floor, said “this | York, declared that “there will come
is an embargo a thousand times over a time when the American people can-
and worse than an embargo. * * * not bear any more taxation burdens.”
No Pomon being San defend fess be Yoted In te Voraney ang
ates before the American people.” | which will add more than two billion
Senator Smoot is a man of a, os; | dollars a year to the burden. “We
an intellectual giant. But the power | lost $450,000,000 in revenues,” said
oF te 1 party machine compelled him Senaloe Hijghenek, of ih “by
o subdue his conscience, betray his repealing e excess profits tax.
public obligation and stultify himself | “Excess profit taxes were not paid by
by voting for the measure he had thus | the rich corporations,” Wadsworth re-
Sonoma: peng as he = menially | ied, “The = was shifted all Sor
and physically, he was unable to stand | the line until the very poor paid it.
against the coercive power of politics. | “There never was a time,” Senator
In the fare of fs Same of help- Borah, of Yap Tomato, een the
essness Giffor inchot is trying to corporations did not pass eir taxes
deceive the public into the belief that on to the consumer.”
if elected Governor of Pennsylvania! At this stage of the proceeding the
he will set up policies and adopt meth- | discussion took on a serious turn. Mr.
ods of his own in spite of the machine Wadsworth reverted to the evil of ex-
of this State. An intellectual freak “There is nothing
—A bruise caused when his wife struck
his thumb with a hammer instead of the
head of a tack at which she aimed, result-
ed in the death of C. F. Rafter, mine su-
perintendent of Cheat Haven, in the Un-
iontown hospital. The finger became in-
fected several days after the accident and
septic poisoning caused his death, al-
though his arm was amputated in an ef-
fort to save his life.
—Men hunting groundhogs in the vicin-
ity of Hazleton last week chased one of the
animals into a hole and in digging for it
came across six gallons of whisky cached
there. The beverage was more attractive
—We all make mistakes. The
“Watchman” makes 2 lot of them, but
we've got the dead sure dope this
time and you're to be let in on it. The
next Governor of Pennsylvania will be
at the Granger’s picnic, at Centre
Hall, next Thursday.
— The Philipsburg Journal thinks
that because “wise men talk to a pur-
pose others should not talk.” Are we
to infer from this that some one has
been mean enough to say that the “nice
Eighth street home” that brother Bair
has for sale isn’t as nice as he says it
is.
—Henry W. Haysen, who thinks he
is a candidate for President, has been
sentenced to thirty days in jail, in Cin-
cinnati, for drunkenness. Henry is
running on a “Universal Brotherhood”
ticket and it is quite possible the joys
of the Brotherhood led to his down-
fall.
— Next week the kids will all be
back in school and gloom is falling on
them but joy is fluttering around the
mothers who have had to look after
them ever since June. Isn’t it awful,
what a trouble kids are, but would you
give one of yours up for all the joys
that could be conceived? .
—Bellefonte is away behind the
times. Last week there was a garden
party in Lock Haven and of the two
hundred and fifty women present
there was not one short skirt. The
days are past, girls, for frizzly bobbed
hair. and fifteen inch skirts. You've
got to get back to the place where
vour bow-legged sisters can be just as
stylish as you are.
—Elizabeth Frazer, we'll bet, got
them coming and going when she
wrote that article on the Pinchots that
was published in last week’s Saturday
Evening Post. It wasn’t marked “po-
litical advertisement” but that’s what
it was all the same and the Curtis
Publishing Company probably paid
Miss Frazer for it and Giff probably
paid the Curtis Publishing Company.
—Some of the modern methods of
doing things are not as modern as
some believe. Take the loose-leaf
system, for example: While it is gen-
erally supposed to have come into use
in 1888 we know that it was in use
ages and ages before that. In fact
Adam and Eve must have known
something of the loose leaf system in
the Garden of Eden. The fact that
there was a Cain to kill Abel proves
that.
—There is a good bit of discussion
in scientific journals, these days,
about what should comprise the break-
fast of a brain-worker. Since we set
up no claim to classification among
those whose great producing plants
are located above the Adam's apple,
we feel that we can eat anything we
can get for our matutinal meal. They
can prate as much as they please
about hot water and prunes or excel-
sior with cream and sugar, but give
us the old-fashioned breakfast we
used to have when there was always
meat and potatoes and eggs and hot
cakes. Certainly there were brain-
workers in those days. At least they
{id encugh brain work to provide
breakfasts that would look to us now
like a Chamber of Commerce banquet.
—If Pinchot should take advantage
of the chance John MecSparran has of-
fered him there would be an interest-
ing afternoon at the Granger’s picnic
next Thursday. As the program
stands Pinchot is scheduled to speak
n the morning and McSparran in the
afternoon, but we have just learned
that our candidate has invited his op-
sonent to meet him on the same plat-
form at the same hour. This is inter-
sting. MecSparran has been trying
:0 get Pinchot to meet him for some
ime but Giff hasn’t found it conven-
ent. It is generally known that he
wasn’t any other important engage-
nents for Thursday afternoon and if
1e side-steps the invitation that Me-
Sparran has extended it will be ad-
nission of weakness and if he accepts
t he will probably be put so deep in
‘he hole that he’ll never get out.
sg a
who met with Governor Sproul in
somebody’s back room and brought
out a candidate against Pinchot, are
willing to “safeguard the industries
and promote the prosperity of Penn-
sylvania,” and “advance the interests
of the farmers who feed us all.” Most
men and women will also favor giv-
ing “our children the best schools in
America,” and “keep the expenses of
the State within its income,” as well
as “get a dollar’s worth of service for
every dollar spent.” Moreover it may
be said that opposition to woman suf-
frage is as “dead as a door nail.”
But these are not the causes of
complaint against the Republican ma-
chine which has adopted Mr. Pinchot
and is now striving to make him Gov-
ernor. It is such offenses against
common honesty as violating an oath
of office and the constitution of the
State in order to grab an increase of
salary without giving increased serv-
ice for the additional dollars spent.
Pinchot made neither promise nor ex-
planation of that trifling but con-
temptible trick to loot the treasury
and he never said a word about spend-
ing fifty thousand dollars more than
an office is worth to get a nomination,
or how he expects to “split even” on |
the proposition. And a man who stul-
tifies himself to get a small amount
is not ready to lose a much larger
sum.
—Penrose saved the party from
defeat in 1902 by settling the coal
strike in the anthracite region, and
Senator Pepper imagines he will be
able to achieve the same result by the
same process this year.
Senator Reed Opposed to Bonus.
In his maiden speech in the United
States Senate, the other day, Senator
Reed, representative of the Steel trust
in the upper branch of Congress, de-
clared himself against the soldiers’
bonus. “I am not willing,” he said,
“to pass the buck to the President.”
That was not only cute and coura-
geous, but a trifle tough. It is al-
most as good as “spitting in the eye
of a bull dog,” and shows that there is
nothing “stuck up” about Reed. He
could easily affiliate with “Buck” Dev-
lin or any of the “underworld” states-
men in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. It
reveals in plain terms the reasons why
Mr. Reed was favored by the Republi-
can machine so highly.
Mr. Reed, enjoying a salary of at
least five figures from the Steel trust,
which is taxed for income more than
the average bonus would come to, and
a lesser but fairly substanial wage
from the government as a Senator in
Congress, doesn’t need any bonus. He
would much rather see the national
debt paid and the income tax decreas-
ed. Incidentally he would vastly pre-
fer to pay subsidies to ship owners
and bounties to service corporations.
Most of the agents of very big and
exceedingly predatory corporations
view such subjects from the same an-
gle. Senator Pepper, who represents
the Pennsylvania railroad, is fully
convinced that there is no other side
to the question.
Mr. Reed and Mr. Pepper are can-
didates for election to the Senate at
the coming election. Strangely enough
neither the Steel trust nor the Penn-
sylvania railroad can make permanent
appointment to seats in the Senate.
If they could the problem would be
easily solved. But the people of the
State and the veterans of the world
war have a voice at the polls and thus
equipped an opportunity to oppose the
election of the two gentlemen who
have so frankly expressed opposition
to the bonus. Judge Shull, of Strouds-
burg, and Colonel Kerr, of Clearfield,
favor full and complete justice to the
war heroes and if elected will serve
the public instead of the corporations
in the Senate.
LL
——Pinchot is also “spitting in the
eye of a bull dog.” He inferentially
accuses Governor Sproul of making a
mess of affairs in Harrisburg.
Pp
| cessive taxation.
and a physical “sissy” he declares he | more henious,” he said, “than for a
will resist the power of such virile !
politicians and trained party bosses as
W. Harry Baker, Joseph R. Grundy
and Max Leslie. He may be deceiv-
ing himself in this manner and possi-
bly he will fool a few feeble-minded
partisans who want to be deceived.
But no intelligent voter will be de-
ceived after analyzing the proposi-
tion. No man is greater than his par-
ty and the alacrity with which the
machine managers have come to the
support of Pinchot shows that they
understand.
If Gifford Pinchot is elected Gover-
nor the old Penrose machine “will re-
sume business at the old stand.”
Boies Penrose will be absent at the
roll call but that is an unimportant
detail. W. Harry Baker, who has
been the real Penrose manager for
half a dozen years, and Joseph R.
Grundy, who has financed all his po-
litical enterprises within the last ten
years, will be there to represent him
and they will run the machine just as
they did before. Mr. Pinchot under-
took to steer a different course by se-
lecting his own chairman. But the
bosses promptly rebuked his absurd
proper place. Since that he has been
docile enough to satisfy the most ex-
acting master.
——It was hardly necessary for
“Giff” to say that the measure of his
ambition will be filled with his election
as Governor of Pennsylvania. Any
further ambitions on his part, in view
of recent events, are likely to be dis-
appointed.
etapa
The Source of Our Trouble.
In a speech delivered in the Senate,
the other day, one of the most capa-
ble and conservative members of that
body said “this is going to be the
worst year for business in our history.
More concerns will fail than ever be-
fore.” And this in the face of and
immediately following the official re-
port of a crop upwards of a billion
dollars in excess of that of last year
and touching closely the bumper high
mark of the most prolific yield of the
soil. What is the matter? There is
no great army to absorb the fruits of
industry. The navy has been cut
down to a peace basis. This ought to
be a year of exceptional prosperity.
The fact is that the administration
of the government is profligate and
inefficient. Instead of mitigating the
evils necessarily attending national
reconstruction after a great war the
aim of those in authority has seemed
to be to increase them. We refused
to join the rest of the civilized world
in adjusting industrial and commer-
cial conditions by the processes offer-
ed in the League of Nations, and we
failed to reorganize domestic affairs
by boosting up instead of pressing
down the cost of living. We are pay-
ing the penalty of putting inferior
men in control of affairs that require
the guidance of the greatest minds.
President Harding has neither the
ability nor the disposition to adminis-
ter the affairs of a great government.
A free junket in a government ship is
of more importance to him than the
sufferings of millions of people. A
half day on the golf links is worth
more in his shallow mind than an act
of beneficence which would relieve dis-
tress in a million homes. And what
is wrong in Washington is wrong also
in Harrisburg. We have in power in
both places vain, feeble and pleasure-
loving men who neither understand
nor care. Because of these facts the
future is ominous and it is the fault
of the people.
rm ————— A ———————
——One of the principal objections
to commissions is that they provide ten
thousand dollar a year jobs for one
thousand dollar a year politicians.
e——————— A ———————————
——A careful investigation would
probably develop the fact that the Re-
publican machine is behind the move-
ment for a third party this year.
government to impose unbearable tax-
ation on the people. It is there revo-
lution begins. This question of dol-
lars has become the greatest question
that confronts the men and women of
America.” This was sublime but the
Senator being versatile glides easily
to the ridiculous. “What can be done
with a capital of $100?” he asks, and,
answering himself adds: “It will
make a last payment on a flivver.”
“It will make a last payment on a
cook stove or something else necessa-
ry for the veteran’s wife and fami-
ly,” said the Missouri “butter-in,”
Senator Reed.
“Payments have been postponed for
three years,” said Wadsworth, “in or-
der that methods of taxation may be
evolved,” and within that period he
has voted mililons of dollars to guar-
antee profits to railroads, hundreds of
millions to pay subsidies to ship own-
ers who contributed to the Republican
slush fund two years ago, and billions
to reimburse the tariff-mongers of
the country, through the medium of
the Fordney bill. In view of these
facts Senator Reed was not impress-
ed by the sob stuff. “Payments were
deferred three years to wait until t
Democrats came in to raise the mon-
ey,” he said. The dialogue ended and
the page boys retired to the cloak
rooms to ponder upon the wisdom of
“most grave Senators” who thus
frame the policies and destinies of a
nation.
——Centre county voters who care
to hear Gifford Pinchot, the Republi-
can candidate for Governor, open his
campaign so far as Centre coun-
ty is concerned, next Thursday,
will have to go to Grange park
to do it. The only available
hour open that day for his talk
is 10:30 o'clock in the morning,
and that is the time the Republican
meeting will be held. Mr. Pinchot’s
original itinerary included a visit to
both State College and Bellefonte but
these trips will probably be abandoned
because of the fact that so many peo-
ple will be at the Granger’s picnic
that few would be at home to greet
the candidate in either State College
or Bellefonte.
— Bellefonte coal dealers are en-
tirely out of hard coal and inasmuch
as the strike of the anthracite mines
is apparently no nearer settlement
now than it was two months ago many
families in Bellefonte will have to use
bituminous coal, as very few have a
supply of hard coal on hand. While
the bituminous strike has been set-
tled and the miners are gradually re-
turning to work it will be some time
before the supply gets up to normal,
so that the shortage will be serious
for a month or six weeks to come.
rr ————— ———.
—Well, if the President doesn’t ve-
to it, the soldiers will likely get their
bonus bill in a short time. The Sen-
ate, which had been the stumbling
block has finally decided to pass it.
——— A T_T ————
——The increase of wages by the
Steel trust may be a tribute to im-
proved industrial conditions and it
may be a gesture to bolster the Ford-
ney tariff bill.
———————— A ————————
——Chairman Baker has given Pin-
chot full license to say what he likes,
but Joe Grundy has been ominously
silent on the subject.
————— A —— A —
——The discovery of a billion dol-
lar loss in revenues has been made,
singularly enough, precisely at the
psychological moment to influence
votes against the soldiers’ bonus.
——President Harding might ac-
complish more by his various activi-
ties if he would “stay put,” for at
least a week or so at a time.
————— A ——————
——1It is actually dangerous to sug-
gest a new idea these days. Some-
body is likely to ask for a government
commission to put it into operation.
| works o
en to them at the instance of the gov-
The men are quite likely,
then, to demand from the government
higher wages than they demanded
from the companies. The government
will pay whatever is demanded in or-
der to keep the wheels turning and if
the government shall make a move to
restore the mines and the roads to
their owners the latter will have to
agree to pay the same wages that the
government paid, or there will be
work
against their will, and it is quite cer-
tain that Congress will not give it
such authority, and if it did grant the
authority it would be futile because
it could only put men in the mines and
the shops; it couldn’t make them do a
thing, except by punishing them for
not doing anything, and that is un-
thinkable.
So if the President shall seize the
mines and the railways and undertake
to supply the community with fuel and
transportation it will have to induce
several thousand men to work for it.
Will they work for any less than the
sums they struck for? Probably not.
Furthermore, there is no reason why
they should be content with the wages
for which they struck. They knew
there were limits to the amount they
could get from the companies even by
threatening the suspension of busi-
But there are no limits to the
amount they might conceivably get
from the government which has ample
facilities for levying taxes and issu-
ness.
ing bonds.
The immediate result of taking over
the railways by the government in the
increase of
Wages were very high in the
The government i now
the men
war was a very great
wages.
shipyards.
disbursing $1,500,000 among
employed by the Bethlehem -.
on account of extra wages:gv
ernment.
another strike. -
Government operation of mines and
railways involves a good deal besides
an act of Congress authorizing Mr.
Harding to seize the properties.
A Right Memorial.
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
The memorial to American soldiers
who rescued Cantigny from the Ger-
mans in May, 1918, is to take the form
of a perennial water supply for the
The fund is the contribution
This is a memorial of
a proper kind. The first thing the vil-
lage needs, in the slow process of re-
establishing its homes and its indus-
tries, is an ample supply of water. The
fields may be cleared and the crops re-
planted by individual effort; the res-
toration of the public utilities is a cor-
porate task too large and too costly
for those who were driven out by the
German shells and lost their all in the
village.
of Americans.
ruins.
Statues, bas-reliefs and monuments
commemorative of heroism every-
where abound, and the sculptor has
his admirable function in creating the
emblems and inspire posterity to em-
ulation.
ice to the whole settled region means
even more than a statue or a bas-re-
lief. It should not exclude the princi-
ples of graceful architectural design;
fitly it may invite the sculptor’s con-
tributory art to tell the story of the
gift. As the people daily share the
benefits of the water of life that free-
ly flows, where the blood of warriors
ebbed in death but yesterday, they
v2 give thanks and they will not for-
get.
Reed Opposed to Bonus Bill.
From the Altoona Tribune.
The attitude of Senator Reed, of
Pennsylvania, on the bonus issue was
awaited with considerable interest. He
has answered the question without
hesitation or evasion. A soldier in the
world war, an officer in the American
army, he has just joined his colleague,
Senator George Wharton Pepper in
the resolution not to do anything to
embarrass President Harding at this
stage of the country’s progress. So
he will vote against the proposed bo-
nus bill at this time, believing that the
President is entirely correct when he
declares that the condition of the
treasury at the present time makes
it impossible to appropriate such large
sums as the bonus would require. Sen-
ator Reed has a proper appreciation
of the deserts of his former comrades.
But he has a notion that national well-
being requires economy in every
branch of government activity at this
particular time.
in the mines and the shops
than the meat in prospect and the hunt
was abandoned by the hunters, who divid-
ed up the prize, and now-there is likely to
be a pronounced increase
hunters in that section of the State.
in groundhog
—A hook in the chamber
locks at Catfish dam, Port Kennedy, saved
Mrs. John Alderfer, a member of a varty
But this work of daily serv-
of Philadelphia campers, from drowning
on Sunday night. In the darkness of the
night she failed to notice her nearness to
the locks and slipped in. As she fell her
duck skirt caught on a protruding spike
or hook and while she was in the water
almost to her chin she was able to cry for
help.
—Five years ago, little Andy Bednar, of
Sandy Creek, Allegheny county, lost two
fingers of his right hand while working
around a gasoline engine on the farm of
the Thorn Hill detention school. Recently
released from the school, he immediately
brought suit against Allegheny county for
damages, but discovered that the statute
of limitations for bringing the suit had
expired, and that he was in danger of los-
ing the ¢laim in its entirety. The matter
dragged on for some time until a meeting
of the Allegheny county commissioners
was arranged, and it was decided to award
the boy $1500 for his injuries.
—Persons who use the mails for trans-
” mission of checks in payment for public
jautility service must bear the consequences
cording to a ruling of the Public Service
Commission in dismissing a complaint of *
A. L. Hepler, of Blair county, against the
People’s Telephone company. It was con-
tended that a check was mailed on the fif-
teenth of the month, which happened to be
Saturday, and the day when payment was
due, but the company maintained the let-
ter came in Monday morning, postmarked
5 a. m. the same day. A 10 per cent. pen-
alty was imposed, which the ruling upheld
as justified. "
—Manuel Davis, of Chester, wasn’t such
a bad fellow in the judgment of Paul
Rasher, a man he intended to kill, for the
reason that he consented to give Rasher
time to pray before sending him into
another world. But Rasher was not think-
ing of praying, his thoughts were of mak-
ing a getaway from the man who held an
ax over his head, ready to execute him.
“Get down on your knees and pray,” Da-
vis told Rasher, but the latter jumped
through a second-story window and made
to a place of safety. He was badly hurt
in the fall to the sidewalk, but he told the
police that he saved his life by the leap.
Davis was arrested and fined five dollars.
—“It was not a home I was living in—
it was a menagerie,” declared Mrs. Marga-
ret Chamberlain, who, after living two
months on a farm in Sinking valley, has
moved back to town with her 'hree small
children. She explained: “Buars drank
from the same spring we did. Our wood-
pile was infested with rattlesnakes. Milk
snakes came into the house, and the chil-
dren, not knowing what they were, toyed
with them. Wild cats growled near the
house and made night hideous with their
shrieks. Weasels ran over my feet when
I sat on the porch, and vipers hissed when
I picked berries. When the wind blew, it
rained devil’s darning needles. Outside of
that, life in the country was quiet.”
—A casual acquaintance of less than an
hour on a Pennsylvania Railroad train be-
tween Chambersburg and Carlisle last Oc-
tober has resulted in Mrs. Harry Myers,
of Carlisle, falling heir to $15,000, accord-
ing to word she received last Saturday. A
letter from Jersey City contained the in-
formation that Dr. Harry Wolfinger, of
New Jersey, died last month and left Mrs.
Myers the legacy. Mrs. Myers met Dr.
Wolfinger on a train and engaged in a
conversation with him, in which he asked
her to accept the position of housekeeper
for him. She told the physician she was
married and had a family. Mrs. Myers,
after leaving the train, mentioned the in-
cident, and forgot about the doctor. She
is the mother of fifteen children.
—The greatest conflagration that ever
occurred at Johnsonburg, Elk county, took
place late Saturday night at the Rolfe tan-
nery of the Kistler Leather company. The
loss approaches $200,000, but is mostly
covered by insurance. A smouldering fire
was discovered by the watchman on his
regular trip. He gave the alarm, but in a
few moments the entire pile of bark and
the warehouse was an inferno of flames.
The Johnsonburg fire companies respond-
ed and summoned the Ridgway fire de-
partment, and both battled with the
flames all night before they were under
control. The fire destroyed 1000 cords of
seasoned bark, several carloads of hides
and a large stock of other supplies in the
large warehouse. The plant employed
about 200 men,
fof any resultant penalties for default, ac-