De ——————————————————
BenorraicADatdpon,
Bellefonte, Pa., January 15, 1926.
rma"
Franklin and His Kite.
The ordinary person—particularly
the ordinary young person—likes his
history in dramatic form. That is
the only way in which he assimilates
much of it. Plenty of people remem-
ber the story of how Pocahontas sav-
ed the life of Capt. John Smith, but
can tell you nothing else about that
hero of the young Virginia colony.
Everyone knows Parson Weems’s
story of George Washington and the
cherry tree, but not everyone is fam-
jliar with the much more important
story of George Washington's deal-
ings as president with the French rev-
olutionaries and their emissary in the
United States. a
Benjamin Franklin, flying his kite
in the thunderstorm is the Benjamin
Franklin we all know. Many of us
know little else of moment about him.
But the scholar and the profession-
al historian distrust these bits of
drama. They are always poking in-
to the evidence and finding it insuffi-
cient. The story of the cherry tree
they long ago branded as a myth in-
vented by Parson Weems for “instruc-
tive” purposes. Some of them have
given excellent reasons for doubting
John Smith’s own tale of his rescue
from the hands of the executioners
by the Indian maid; though we have
always had a warm spot in our hearts
for John Fiske, that most human of
historical writers, who defended to
the last the old adventurer’s veracity.
Now learning, in the person of Pro-
fessor McAdie, the director of the
Blue Hill meteorological observatory,
tells us that we must give up the story
of Franklin's flying a kite made of a
silk handkerchief into a thunder cioud
and charging a Leyden jar with the
electricity that he thus drew from the
air. Professor McAdie says that there
is no good evidence that Franklin ever
performed the experiment, though he
described in a letter to a friend how
it might be done; and he adds that,
if he had really tried it in a thunder-
storm, he would not have got the re-
sults that he expected and would prob-
ably have got a shock that would
have killed him.
This is a blow at one of the most
cherished of American traditions.
Everyone has accepted the Franklin
story for a century and a half. You
will find it in all books about Frank-
lin and in a great many of the books
abou® electricity. The government
once decorated a bank note with a pic-
ture of the famous scene.
Ben Franklin without his kite would
still be a great man—one who did
many great and interesting things—
but as a popular hero he would have
got a knock-down blow. He still
stands fairly firm on his feet, how-
ever, for there are plenty of men of
science who do not agree with Pro-
fessor McAdie, and who think of the
story as credible and well authenti-
cated. Something of the kind must
have happened. According to Dr.
Stuber, who wrote a life of the phil-
ospher-states-man, Franklin desecrib-
ed the episode at length to him. Cer-
tainly the French people believed it
during Franklin’s lifetime. Turgot—-
or was it D. Alembert ?—made a fam-
ous epigram about Franklin’s “snatch-
ing the lightning from heaven and the
sceptre from tyrants.” Perhaps the
conditions were not quite what we
have imagined they were. Professor
McAdie admits that the results that
Franklin describes could be got on a
clear day or when electrical disturb-
ances were a long way off. Perhaps
the thunderstorm has grown during
the hundred and fifty years that it
has been talked about; stories have
a way of growing with repetition. We
may have to give up the big, black,
angry storm cloud full of restless
lightning flashes that we used to see
on the old ten-dollar bill. But we
must respectfully decline to give up
the rest of the story. We have be-
lieved it too long, and it is too good a
story anyway.—Exchange.
Restore Lands to Indian Boy.
Washington.—A four years’ legal
struggle to prevent the transfer of
valuable oil lands without compensa-
tion from a restricted Creek Indian
living at Eufaula, Okla., to private in-
dividuals, has resulted in a favorable
decision by the Federal Circuit Court
of Appeals for the Eighth district, it
was announced at the Interior depart-
ment. The land is located in Okfus-
kee county, Oklahoma.
. The name of the restricted Indian
is Miller Tiger. In December, 1921,
this Indian boy was induced to con-
vey 80 acres of land to his aunt,
Rosannah Brown, without any con-
sideration, it being represented to him
that the land was valueless. The aunt
immediately transferred a three-
fourths interest in the land to T. E.
Brotton, C. R. King and J. E. Whiten-
ton. Within one month after the In-
dian had executed the deed to his
aunt, an oil well drilled on the tract
brought $7,600 in royalities and within
three years $107,000 in royalities had
accumulated.
When the deed made by the Indian
boy was submitted for the approval
of the secretary of the interior, an
investigation was conducted by the
bureau of Indian affairs with the re-
sult that the attorney general was re-
quested to institute a suit to recover
the land. A decision of the District
court of Oklahoma upheld the legality
of the transfer. An appeal was then
taken by the government to the
Eighth District Circuit Court of Ap-
peals. This court has just announced
a reversal of the dicision of the lower
court and reinstated the title of the
valuable oil lands to the Indian, can-
celing the deeds to the aunt and the
other parties.
. —The “Watchman” makes it a bus-
ness to print all the news that's fit
to print. It’s a home paper. :
| MIGHTY HUNTER IS
THE LITTLE WEASEL
Small Hope for Mice When
He Takes the Trail.
No bigger in girth than a walking
stick is that nimrod of the hedges,
ditches and meadows which hunts the
dwellers in the rank tangled jungle of
undergrowth and herbage, writes Fran-
cis Pitt in the London Spectator. A
hunter by trade, his life’s object the
chase, he is one of the most dapper
little fellows that ever laid nose to
trail. But a few inches in length, still
less in girth, he is clad in sandy-red,
with creamy-white underparts, includ-
ing a cream “choker” right up to his
muzzle, delicately furred paws, a little
short bottle-brush of a tail, and last,
but not least, the brightest of dark
eyes.
But it is not his lithe and graceful
form, nor his smart and dapper ap-
pearance which is the great charm of
the weasel—for after all our mighty
nimrod is only the weasel, the little
red hunter of mice and voles, that, if
his quarry be but small, is yet as great
a hunter as any man or beast that
treads this earth. No, what makes
him so engaging is his dark inquisitive
eyes, his air of alert curiosity, com-
bined with a light-hearted enjoyment
of life. He i8 ever on the dance, frisk-
ing about in and out of the mouse
runs which he usually haunts.
When really bent on the chase a
weasel is deaf and blind to all else,
and it hunts mice and voles with a
grim determination that does much to
keep these prolific rodents within
bounds. No wonder the unfortunate
mice flee before it. The mouse may
have bolted for dear life, but that
makes no difference. With its keen
nose on the trail the weasel follows,
through all the turns and twists of |
the underground tunnels, where mouse ‘|
holes run into mouse galleries, and up
again to the light of day, he hunts
the scent; however complicated the
line of that mouse, however the scent
may. have been crossed by other mice,
he will patiently work it out, and hunt
on and on, through that labyrinth of
the underground world te which the
small creatures of the hedgerows have
entrance. The chase may be. con-
tinued along the runs and highroads
which thread the herbage, the be-
wildered rush of the hunted mouse
along the paths it knows so well, until
its panic takes it blindly into up-
known ways.
A break in the scent may give it a
respite for a moment, when the weasel!
shows what a hunter he is, for as a
huntsman casts his hounds in a circle
when they have lost the line, so does
the weasel seek to recover the scent
by dashing around. Soon recovering
it, he gallops on. Now it is, with the
end near, that a hunted mouse will do
any desperate thing.
sight and all is over, the weasel bounds
upon its victim, and with a quick bite
ends its career.
Schneiders Are Thorough
The Schneiders of Hoernsheim,
Germany, believe in doing things
thoroughly. When Wilhemine Schnei-
der was wed to a tailor named
Schneider (which in German means
tailor) there was a civil marriage be-
fore Justice of the Peace Schneider,
in the presence of Heinrich Schneider
and Ludwig Schneider as witnesses, |
after which the newlywed Schneiders
went to church and again were wed,
this time by pastor Schneider who
gave them his blessing. Then the
Schneider couple, the Schneider wit-
nesses, Judge Schneider and the Rev.
Herr Schneider foregathered at the
home of Widow Schneider, the bride's
mother, where a wedding breakfast
was served to the whole Schneider
clan.—The Associated Press vouches
for these interesting details so they
must be true.—Capper’'s Weekly.
Ice Mine in Black Hills
A huge ice mine has been discov-
ered in upper Spearfish canyon, in the
northwestern section of the Black hills.
Workmen, after removing four or five
feet of rock and dirt, encountered the
frozen soil. Digging deeper, the men
came upon the formation, which re-
sembles a stone wall, with the mor-
tar replaced by ice. The ice is found
on a slope facing west, upon which
the hot sun has beaten all summer.
The so-called “vein” of the “ice mine”
is, according to the highway workers,
about 15 feet wide and approximately
10 feet high. It is believed it may
prove an opening to another Wind
cave, In the southern Black hills, which
is one of the wonders of the district.
Long Separation Ended
Reunited by the accidental finding
of an unopened letter that had lain
in a trunk more than a quarter of a
century, Mrs. Mary Price of Bremer-
ton, Wash.,, and Mrs. Cella Gates of
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, started a search
for their only brother, from whom
they had not heard in twenty-eight
years. Recently Mrs. Gates found a
letter from her sister written in 1897,
which she had put away unread, and
in which her marriage to B. F. Price
was announced.
President and Automobile
According to the American Automo
pile association, Taft was the first
President to make regular use of an
automebile. During the latter years
of Roosevelt's administration the se-
cret service had a car at the White
House, but the President did not care
for it and seldom used it. Harding
was the only person elected to the
Presidency who had driven a car him-
self.—Pathfinder Magazine.
Once within
“Soldiering” on Work
Not Modern Monopoly
The cynics, who know that the world
is getting worse all the time, are sure
that idleness and “soldiering cn the
Job” are faults of the Twentieth cen-
tury. In the good old days everyone
worked hard and conscientiously.
But there have always been honest
workmen and the other kind just as
there are today. There is a curious
old French epic written by one who
called himself the Grocer of Troyes in
the Thirteenth century. Here is one
passage quoted by M. Langyois in his
“Life in France in the Middle Ages”:
“When I finally make up my mind
to work I take with me a young mate
who knows nothing cf the job, but I
insist on his being paid the full wage
of 12 deniers. When, at last, I get
on the roof, I lay one tlle in the time
it should take to lay eight or ten. I
ease off and sing a song, then take a
siesta between two slopes of the roof.
It is then time to knock off for dinner.
After that, it is soon supper time, so
we leave work for that day. Of course,
with plece work it is different: I can
do as much In one day as in five days
by the hour.”
Such is the speech that the Grocer
bard put into the mouth of a tiler 700
years ago.—Youth’s Companion.
Methods of Naming
Newcomer to World
Choosing a name for a new baby
is always a matter of anxious consid-
eration.
But in many lands this anxiety has
been minimized by the laying down of
rules to guide the choice, says a writer
in Science magazine.
For instance, in Egypt the parents
take three candles and the one that
burns the brightest and longest deter
mines the child’s name.
The Hindus allow the mother to
name the baby. Then, when the baby
is twelve days old, if the father does
not like the chosen name, he selects
another,
Then the two names are written on
slips of paper and held over a lighted
lamp, the one that burns the brighter
being the name adopted.
Egyptians place 12 names in the
Koran. One slip is drawn out, and
the name on it is the name for the
<hild.
Chinese girls are not named. The
boys are named by their mothers.
When they reach twenty the father
names them over again.
Good Start
Attached to the early morning train
going east was a car for laborers. The
lattice gate between this car and the
one in’ front was closed, so that no one
who. belonged: in. the front passenger
car would stray into the special ear. A
passenger standing on the back plat-
form of the-regular -passenger coach
peered curiously through this lattice
gate and the open door into the car
beyond. A wag In the laborers’ car
promptly bleated out, “Ba-a-a, ba-a-a.”
Immediately his comrades took it up,
and “Ba-a-a, ba-a-a,” they went in
chorus, in solos, in duets, for all the
world like a cattle train loaded with
sheep. It ended in a howl of laughter
from all the men and as the car pulled
out of the station it was evident they
had put themselves in good humor
for the day’s work.—Springfield Union,
Celtic History
The term “Celtic Renaissance” fs
applied to the intellectual awakening
and the renewal of interest during the
latter part of the Nineteenth and the
beginning of the Twentieth century, in
the languages, literature, history and
customs of the native inhabitants of
Ireland, the Scottish highlands, Wales,
Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of
Man. This movement may be said
to have started with the publication
of J. C. Zeuss’ Grammatica Celtica in
1838. The Society for the Preserva-
tion of the Irish Language was estab-
lished in Ireland in 1877 and this was
followed by the Gaelic league in 1898.
The movement was not confined to
Europe, but spread to Canada, the
United States, Australasia, Argentina
and other localities inhabited by per
sons of Celtic strain,
Fate’s Grim Jest
About the middle of the Seventeenth
century, when so-called witches were
being persecuted in England, there
were many fanatics who went about
the country seeking out persons ac-
cused of witchcraft and forcing them
to confess by means of examination
and tortures. One man in particu-
lar, Matthew Hopkins, received the
title of witchfinder-general because of
his Industry in the search. In a single
year (1644) he brought 60 persons to
the stake. Being finally accused of
witchcraft himself, Hopkins was sub-
Jected to his own favorite test of swim-
ming, and, happening to float, was de-
clared to be a wizard and put to death.
—Kansas City Star.
Ancient “Small Ad”
The to-let “ad” In 79 A. D. was not
totally like our own in phraseology,
but painted conspicuously in red and
black letters on the sides of buildings,
-and was In vogue in Herculaneum and
Pompeii, according to the reports of
the excavators who have been uncover
ing the ruins of the ancient cities—
buried in 79 A. D. One such advertise
ment is sald to have been translated
as follows:
“On the estate of Julia Felix, daugh-
ter of Spurius Felix, are to be let from
the first to the sixth of the ides of
August on a lease of five years, a bath,
8 venereum and ninety shops, Bowers
and upper apartments.”
PREFERENCE IS FOR
“CAVE-MAN” HUSBAND
Modern Girls Seem to Favor
Strenuous Type.
Answers to a questionnaire circu-
lated among 1,000 college girls of the
Middle West are said to show that 65
per cent of them think that the ideal
husband should be cave-mannish, but
in a “refined” way. These responses
would be more {illuminating if they
were more complete. It is a common
failing of questionnaires to elicit ev-
erything but the one thing most per
sons would like to know.
It is not at all clear what kind of
caveman the “refined” variety is. Of
course some of the things not to be
expected of him are apparent. He is
not supposed, in the pet phrase of pro-
fessed wife tamers, to ‘Catch ’em
young, treat ‘em rough and tell ’em
nothin’.” It is to be presumed that
he may be entirely ruthless in seizing
the weekly pay check, dragging it
home and hurling it into his wife's
lap. On occasions he may even be
cross with the janitor—especially on
cold mornings when the steam is low
—and he must not allow landlords to
browbeat him when it comes time to
renew the lease.
Undoubtedly he is not to be a per-
fect amorist. In primitive times when
‘the troglodyte had wooed his mate
with a bludgeon and carried her in-
sensible to his lair it was not denied
that he might afterward comfort her
with such endearments and tender-
nesses as occurred to him. Yet in
idealizing the qualities a refined cave-
man should have 75 per cent of the
girls say he must not be a petter and
the other 25 per cent say he may pet
moderately but mmnst not indulge out-
side the home.
The refined caveman must neither
drink nor smoke. In physique he
must be muscular. There is grave
doubt whether he should be a social
worker, 60 per cent of the girls fear-
ing that he might thereby become a
“sissy.” Above all, he must not be
flirtatious where other women are cor-
~erned.
From all this it appears that the re-
finement and the cave-mannishness
are subject to qualifications. Happily
the 1,000 prospective husbands of these
1,000 college maidens need not be cast
down. The probability is that while
few of them will prove 100 per cent up
to expectations at the outset of the
matrimonial journey, the dear girls
will train them so to be before the voy-
age is ended.—New York Sun.
Crook’s High Life Ended
That persistent individual who for
more than ten years has been wander-
ing about Europe, posing as “the bish-
op of Warsaw” and collecting bourd,
lodging, alms, loans, raiment and rev-
erence from the pious, has been ar-
restéd in Rome. His smooth speech
and commanding presence had enabled
him to impose himself on his victims
and escape detection, despite the fact
that he had been formally denounced
by the Vatican and the police had
been assiduously on his trail. His
name, it appears, is Tarwoski, He
was born in Lemberg, a peasant, and
his profession, when he is doing hon-
est labor, is that of a cook. But since
taking up his avocation of “bishop” he
has slept in many a soft bed and eaten
many a fine meal as the guest of high-
ly placed personages.
Wrong Number
When Frank Harris last visited
New York he was very much put out
by an attack on one of his books.
“Only ignorance and misunderstand-
ing,” he said, ‘“‘can see viciousness in
this book. Its critics remind me of
a story.
“An old farmer and his wife halted
in a picture gallery before a painting
of Adam and Eve.
“‘Who’s that brazen hussy? said
the wife.
“The farmer turned to his cata-
logue, but got the number wrong.
“ ‘Queen Victoria,’ he read out, ‘re-
ceiving General Grant.”
Only a Dream
The late Max Hirsch, the noted New
York theatrical manager, had a fine
library and a fine literary taste.
Mr. Hirsch dined with Michael Ar
len, the popular but shallow Armenian
novelist, during the latter's visit to
New York, and in the course of the
dinner Mr. Allen, relating his life
story, sald:
"So I woke up one morning and
sound myself famous.”
Mr. Hirsch gave a loud laugh.
“You mean,” he said, “you found
ourself famous, and then you woke
up.
Boss Was Guilty
On returning home from my vaca:
ton, I found that a simple set of files
that I had, supposedly, left for the of-
fice boy to take charge of, was all
muddled up. With utter disgust in my
voice I said to the office boy, in front
of my boss, “Why a baby could keep
these files straight.”
Can you imagine my embarrassment
to hear the boss reply, “I kept those
files, Miss Stone.”—Chicago Tribune.
Child’s Marvelous Escape
A child was run over by forty cars
at Monroe, La., and was extricated
without a scratch on its body and no
more than a bad scare was the result
of the experience. As a freight train
was passing through the town the
engineer saw the child, just able to
toddle, in the middle of the tracks
throwing stones. He was unable to
stop the train,
Colony of Beavers Discovered in
Lebanon County.
Lebanon county has for many
years rejoiced in the possession of
honored families of Beavers, Bievers
and their kin, but it has just been dis-
covered that there is now not only a
family, but a whole colony of beaver
residents there. They were discover-
ed by county Game Protector William
L. Ibach in the northern Blue Moun-
tains while on a business trip. The
animals are making their home in a
large pond.
Beavers were almost extinct in the
entire State of Pennsylvania ten years
ago, and no such animal was seen in
Lebanon county for years. About six
years ago the State Game Commision
placed about twenty-five of the ani-
mals in the State, scattered over a
wide territory. None were placed
nearer than Schuylkill county, how-
ever, and it is believed that those dis-
covered migrated from that region.
They are protected by law for fif-
teen years or more, and killing of onc
of them is an offense punishable by
a heavy fine. The colony discovered
by the game protector seem to be
thriving nicely. These are the enly
known wild beaver to exist in Lebanon
county.
Merry Christmas
We take pleasure in announcing that enrollment in our
1926 Christmas Savings Club
Began Tuesday December 1, 1925
You will be sure to have money for Christmas if
you Join one or more of these Classes.
Class 25—Members
will receive
Class 25
paying 25 cents a week for fifty weeks $ 12.50
Class 50—Members
will receive
Class 50
Yayitig 50 cents a week fur fifty weeks $38 ()f)
Class 100
will receive.
Class 100—Members paying $1.00 a week for fifty weeks
$50.00
Class 200 Class 200 Members paying $2.00 a week for fifty weeks $ 1 00.00
Class 500—Members
will receive
Class500
Glass 1000
will receive.
Class 1000—Members paying $10.00 a week for fifty weeks
paying $5.00 a week for fifty weeks §3§0) 00
$500.00
weeks will receive
Class 2000—Members paying $20.00 a week for fifty
S000netensasenseartantnant arnns seseasitarenen senenn
$1,000.00
with three per cent. interest added if all payments are
made regularly in advance.
Bellefonte Trust Compan
70-48-tf
BELLEFONTE, PA. :
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Lyon & Co.
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of manufacture.
The Greatest Slaughter of Prices Ever
Heard of During the Month of January
Ladies and Childrens Winter Coats
Must be Sacrificed Regardless of Cost.
One Rack of Ladies Dresses
—Point Twills, Flannels, Satin Back, Canton,
Crepe de Chene and Satins—at less than cost
Lyon & Co.
Pre-Inveniory Sale Throughout (he Store
We Invite Inspection of Prices and Qualities
[TO VIO IPO IOI N
WWIII
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Save Money....Byy Here
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