(® by D. J. Walsh.)
INDY RAND heard a chicken
squawk. Almost instantly a hawk
whistled triumphantly. She leaped
to the door. The children, Jack
and Elsie, ran to her, screaming at the
top of their voices: “He got It!”
Against the blue afternoon sky sailed
a great bird with a half-grown yellow
ehicken clutched in his talons.
“We were keeping watch, mother,
honest!” Six-year-old Jack said ear-
nestly. “But he just swooped right
down!”
“It wag the chicken with the droopy
wing, mother!” sald five-year-old
Elsie, half crying.
“He'll be back after more,” Lindy
sighed. She was almost overwhelmed
by this new difficulty. A woman alone
with two small children, she had to
fight more than hawks.
The hawk had perched on the
branch of a tree within plain sight
of the house and was coolly making
a meal. When he had finished he
came back for more. Round and
round above the chicken yard he cir
cled.
Lindy watched him anxiously. She
was desperate. Every chicken meant
money. She needed money as never
before.
Suddenly she turned and went into
the house. Her husband's shotgun
rested upon wooden pegs against the
kitchen wall. It had never been
touched since the last time he put it
there. It was loaded. Lindy knew
how to shoot, although she had a hor-
vor of firearms. She took the gun
down and went out of doors again.
“Mother; mother! The hawk! Look,
the hawk!” shrieked Jack and Elsie.
Lindy had a glimpse of gleaming
wings, low to the ground. As the
bird lifted into the air with another
chicken in his talons she raised the
gun to her shoulder and fired. The
weapon kicked so violently that she
was almost thrown over backward.
“Mother! You got him!” shouted
Jack.
Breathless, shocked, Lindy saw the
bird floundering before her. The shot
had broken his wing. She laid down
the gun, grabbed an empty chicken
coop and put it over the bird.
Down the dusty road frém town
¢ame a powerful car driven by the
one person in the world whom Lindy
feared and distrusted. This was Abe
Akroyd, the man who had sold the
place to her husband. Payment and
interest were due that day, and she
knew that Abe had come to see
about it.
The car stopped under the great
spruce tree that shaded the shabby
house and Abe stepped out. He was
a heavily built man with a gray-bris-
tled jaw and small hard eyes. He
had a gold tooth that gleamed hugely
when he spoke, Somehow in that mo-
ment he made Lindy think of the
hawk, potent, relentless, predatory
But she had worsted the hawk. That
knowledge gave her courage to face
the man.
“Well, Lindy, how are you com
ing?” he began. “You know what
day this is, I suppose?’ He took a
small black book from his pocket and
consulted it. “Payment and interest—
$530.”
“I can pay only the interest.” Lind,
looked pleadingly into the coarse face.
“My chickens came on slow. Tn the
el now! I expected better than
that of you, Lindy. You've had a
whole year in which to get righted
since John dled.”
“A whole year!”
ered.
Abe consulted the book again ana
shook his head.
“Business is business. You know
that, Lindy. I'd like to accommodate
everybody. But if I begin with you
the rest of em will be on my back.
I've got a good bit of property trust
ed out around the country. And I live
by what folks owe me. I got to treat
all alike; it don’t pay to get too soft-
hearted.”
“1 don’t expect anything but fan
treatment, Mr. Akroyd. I am doing
the best I can. A year isn’t very long
for a woman that’s working alone with
two small children to earn $500 or
$600 outside her living expenses. All
I ask is an extension of time. Mr
Akroyd.”
Abe squinted upward at the roof 0
the small house. A corner of the
loosely shingled roof had blown off in
a recent high wind. When Abe sold
a piece of property he always demand
ed that the buildings be kept in good
condition.
“That looks bad,” he commented.
Lindy knew it. She bit her lips.
“Lindy,” said Abe, putting the black
book back into his pocket, “I'll tell you
what you better do. You better give
up this place and move into town.
You'll find work there. You're never
going to get this place paid for, that’s
fair and square, Lindy.”
Lindy went white. She clutched a:
her throbbing throat. The place was
home to her and the children; it had
been John's home while he lived. He
had brought her there a bride. They
had planned to pay for it and im:
prove it and continue there in their
old age. She couldn't give it up.
From her pocket she took a purse,
opened it and with trembling fingers
counted out $30 in worn bills. The
interest. She held out the money to
Abe, but he refused it with a gesture.
“All or nothing, Lindy. 1 hate to
do it, but I got to be firm. Ill pay
Lindy’s lips quiv-
you back cash for every cent due you
The money will give you a start some
where else. I'm: offered more for the
place this minute than I asked when
I sold it to John Rand. Ed Holmes
wants it, Lindy, I can’t turn down »
good cash offer for it, you know.”
“Ed Holmes!” Lindy’s face was
scarlet now. “I've seen him snooping
‘round on my hill yonder. 1 don’t
know what he's looking for. But he's
going to keep off the premises as long
as I occupy them or—or I'll drive him
off with a shotgun!”
“What's this?” Abe looked in aston
ment at the palpitating little figure of
the young woman.
Lindy pointed toward the chicken
coop within which the hawk was glow
ering.
“I just shot him,” she said.
“Yes, mother did. too!” cried loya’
Jack.
Abe looked at the hawk. which he
hadn’t noticed before.
‘Guess I'll have to warn Ed to stay
away,” he sald. Then as Lindy again
held out the money to him pleadingly
he turned from her and went to his
car. Stepping in. he drove swiftly
away.
Weak and faint Lindy sat down on
the doorstep. Abe had refused the in:
terest. That meant he was deter-
mined to get rid of her. He wanted
to let Ed Holmes have the place. What
did Ed want to for? What was he
doing up there in that stone patch?
“Jack and Elsie,” she called. “You
stay here and watch the chickens. I'm
going up on the hill for a little while.”
She hadn’t been on the hill since
John died. It was nothing but an old
rock pile anyway: no good land. John
had paid much more than the place
was worth and now Abe Akroyd was
squeezing her for the payments.
She climbed up to where she had
seen Ed Holmes a few days before.
Just inside the woods she stopped
aghast. Before her some freshly dug
earth and chippings of rock. Rd
Holmes had been digging into her
land. What for? What did he hope
+0 find in a barren place like this?
Lindy ran all the way back to the
house.
Ten minutes later she was racing
toward town, the twe children bob-
bing on the back seat of the old
flivver.
Down Main street she drove, past
all the lawyers’ offices until she came
to a shabby house, where on the porch.
sat an old man reading a big book.
“Mr. White!” Lindy said, going up
to him. “Youve read just about ev-
erything. John always said you were
the best informed man in these parts.
I've got a mystery to solve. You
know what my land is. You know
what that hill back of the house is.
What would a man like Ed Holmes
9nd there to interest him?”
“Been snooping round there.
he?” inquired the old man.
has
No White Man Carries
Own Parcels in India
Outside the bazaar in Calcutta you
observe as you pass in, certain lean
little men in. loin cloths, each having
a large circular basket with twe
handles. :
One of them promptly follows you.
padding along noiselessly with his
bare feet, and you are half-way
through the first alley before you be-
come conscious of his presence.
You tell him to go away. He does
pot go. You try to shoo him, as you
would an over-affectionate dog. Noth:
ing doing. He is there to carry par
cels for buyers in the bazaar, and It
is not within the range of his under
utemding to conceive of a foreign
sahib, all done up in white clothes and
shoes and pith helmet, to be anything
olge than a prodigal buyer.
So he abides with you, and when
you have bought one small brass tea
caddy and a carved box 3 by 4 inches.
he insists on putting them into his
basket. fo be taken home with you.
After trotting around with you for an
hour or so, and padding along with
you to your hotel, where the pack
ages are delivered to a house boy, he
receives four annas—about 10 cents—
qnd he is content.
This system prevails throughout In
dia. where no white man is expected
to carry a bundle, however small
The carrying of burdens is the duty
of the menial classes, hence the firm-
ness with which the earriers of the
bazaars maintain their particular kind
of special delivery.—From the Ocean
Terry.
Moral in This Short Story
of Absent-Mindedness
A Los Angeles real estate dealer, In
addressing a group of salesmen said:
“Explain all the documents and
maxe the prospective customer read
and understand them. Never let a
man sign who doesn’t know exactly
what he’s signing. Never let a cus
tomer find himself in the position of
the doctor I met on my last trip te
Honolulu.
“I've seen a good many changes,
the man told me and added, ‘1 used
to he a prosperous doctor but owing
to one little slip, most of my patients
have deserted me.
“What was the slip? 1 inquired.
«well, sir, replied the doctor, ‘in
filling in a death certificate for a
, patient who had died, I did not notice
that the printed form had been al-
tered, so 1 absent-mindedly signed
| my name in the space headed ‘cause
“Digging dirt, chipping off pieces of
cock.”
“Ed Holmes, you know, Lindy, has
made a great study of the rocks here:
abouts. He prides himself on being a
genuine geologist. Yes, yes. Guess
Ill go home with you, Lindy. and
see what [I make out.”
Back toward home raced Lindy with
the one person she felt she could ab-
solutely trust. She helped the old
man up the hill; she boosted him up.
He knelt down. He picked up a bit
of rock. He held the specimen close
to his eyes. The light and life of
youth streamed Into his old face.
“Blue granite!” he said. “Yes, yes.
Lindy, don’t you breathe a word of |
this to anyone. There's a plot on foot
to rob you. But you'll fool ’em, Lindy.
if you just keep your mouth shut.”
! lar,
of death.”—Los Angeles Times.
Peculiar Thing in Life
If you choose to represent the vari-
ous parts in life by holes upon the
table, of different shapes—some circu-
some triangular, some squars,
some oblong—and the persons acting
these parts by bits of wood of similar
shapes, we shall generally find that
the triangular person has got into the
square hole, the oblong into the tri:
angular and a square person has
squeezed himself into the round hole.
The officer and the office, the doer and
the thing done. seldom fit so exactly
that we can say they were almost
made for each other.—Sydney Smith
(1769-1845). “Sketches of Moral
Philosophy.”
Martyr to Science
Dr. Auguste Marie of the Pasteur
Institute died in a search for a serum
| which would annihilate the bacillus
For the second time that day Lindy |
raced to town. It was near sunset
when she located Abe Akroyd. Mr.
White had lent her the money to make
the last payment, and Abe reluctantly
received it.
Ed Holmes had not let Abe know
why he wanted the Rand place. When ;
he found out that he couldn’t have it
he was furious, but not half so furl-
ous as Abe himself.
As for Lindy, who had outwitted
them both and who found herself
about to become a rich woman, she
went home and commiserated with the
captive hawk.
“Keep up your courage, old boy,”
she said. “Your wing is going to
mend nicely. And then you'll be able
to fly again. I owe you something and
1 always pay my debts.”
Cruel Treatment of Insane
Among many primitive races the in-
sane oF feeble minded were looked
upon as being specially loved of the
gods and treated with gentleness. But
the Nineteenth century occasionally
chained them in dungeons, in the care
of former convicts armed with whips
and clubs; the Seventeenth burned
them as witches.
When George I[I1 of Englana
went insane after the death of a
favorite daughter in 1811 he was
kept in a straitjacket most of the
time and his feet were blistered to
induce docility. A physician asking
after the king's health when he was
troublesome was told by the keeper.
“Sir, we knock his majesty down as
flat as a founder.”—Detroit News.
Legends About Snakes
According to Rev. H Seddall s book
“Malta, Past and Present,” there are
two or three species of snake on the
island, but none of these is venomous
as one undoubtedly was in the days
of St. Paul. It is probably mere
legend that venomous snakes taken
to Malta lose their venom, just as It
is legend that St. Patrick drove out
all the snakes from Ireland. In con
nection with the latter, scientists af
firm that there is no evidence to show
that snakes have ever existed in Ire
land. :
botulinus which produces the fatal
disease known as botulism. While ex-
perimenting, his left eye was touched
by a drop of liquid containing bacilli
botulini. Knowing that he was
doomed, he set about recording a
complete story of the progress of the
disease. Within a fortnight after the
accident, in his laboratory he dic-
tated the last word. He was post-
humously awarded the Medaille
d’Honneur des Tpidemies, as a vic-
tim of devotion to the cause of hu
manity.
Chinese Tit-Bit
The Chinese regard as a delicacy
the nest of the selangane or of re-
lated species of swift or swiftlet of
the Malay archipelago. [It has the
shape and size of half a teacup is at-
tached to the rock in the interior of
a cave, and has the appearance of
fibrous gelatine or isinglass. It Is
composed of a mucilaginous substance
secreted by special glands, and is not,
ag was formerly thought, made from
a glutinous seaweed.
Considerable “Explanation”
A brother and sister, six and four
years of age, respectively, spent a con-
siderable part of each day pla, 1g to-
gether, One day their father found
them sitting in little red chairs, rock-
ing their dolls. He inquired of them
what it was they were playing and
they replied “Mothers,” explaining fur-
ther that they were both “widows.”
“How can that be?” asked the father.
“Oh,” they said, “we're married to dead
men,”—Pathfinder Magazine,
Right-of-Way
The movement to clear the tracks
for genius brought a snort of derision
from the famous California educator
David Starr Jordan. “Genius,” he de-
clared, “recognizes no obstacles. That
is part of the genius. He who must
have his way made smooth is but an
ordinary mortal.
“Looking back over a long period, it
is my opinion that the world always
turns aside to let any man pass who
knows where he is going.”
Marks Birthplace of
Father of Locomotive
At Wylain, on the north bank of the
River Tyne, under the auspices of the
Institutions of Shipbuilders and Me-
chanical Engineers, a tablet commem=-
orates the birthplace of a man who
achieved the seemingly impossible,
George Stephenson. the father of the
steam locomotive engine. Past the
front of his cottage, within a few
vards of the door. heavily laden and
tight trains of coal trucks pass today,
as did the tiny chaldron wagons drawn
by horses along plate-ways 150 years
ago. The cottage itself is a two-sto-
ried house. typical of many of those
built years ago by the colliery owners
for their employees. [t was divided
into four rooms, in each of which a
different family dwelt. The lower
room at the western side of the cot.
tage was the home of the Stephenson
family, and it was in this room, which
served for sleeping, eating and shel-
ter, that George, the second son of a
family of four boys and two girls, was
born on June 9, 1781. “Old Bob.”
George Stephenson’s father, was a
Scotsman who crossed the border as
a gentleman’s servant, and then mar.
ried a local lassie, Mabel Carr. the
daughter of a dyer. “Bob” found work
as fireman of the pumping engine of
the Wylam colliery at 12 shillings ($3)
per week.—Edinburgh Scotsman.
Found He Had Financed
Small “Deal” in Rabbit
Some Saturdays ago a small boy
asked his father for a quarter to buy
a rabbit. On being satisfied that
hut was being fixed up in which to
keep the rabbit, and being also a be.
liever in the civilizing influence on
boys of keeping pets. dad gave him a
guarter.
The following Saturday a secona
youngster came on the same errand,
and obtained a quarter. It happened
to be a large family, and not wish.
ing to display any favoritism. dad
eventually gave a quarter to each of
his children for the purchase of a
rabbit.
One day he went out to see all these
rabbits and was surprised to find only
one! He inquired of his children what
they had all done with their quarters.
Each declared that he or she had
bought a rabbit. “Well, where are
they then?” he demanded.
“Why. dad,” cxplained one of hia
youngsters, “it was the same rabbit;
we bought it from each other.”—Ex-
change.
Forest “Conversations”
A well-known western Canadian
guide, born and bred in the great wide
open, has given some intelligent ob-
servation of the ways of the four-foot-
ed inhabitants of the woods, and he
sincerely believes that the lower ani-
mals have a for of communicating
with each other that cannot be ex-
plained at present. He believes that
radio will eventually solve the ques-
tion and be the means of interpreting
the animal messages, and he hopes tc
prove shortly that animals utilize wave
lengths outside of the range of the
human ear. The cow moose will leave
her calf or deer her fawn and tell it
in animal language not to stray and
the little fellow never disobeys its
parent. Also the youngster can in
some way communicate with its moth-
er in time of Janger without uttering
a sound or leaving the spot.
On Diet to Conquer Air
“Live on air to conquer ihe air,
was the slogan of a certain school of
flying originating with the Taolsts of
China and also followed by air-minded
ancients of early India. This school
believed that levitation could be
brought about if starvation of suffi-
cient length to lighten the body were
practiced rigidly, says Dr. Berthold
Laufer, curator of anthology in the
Field Museum of Natural History at
Chicago, in his book, “The Prehistory
of Aviation.” The application of in-
ternal remedies to fly was also a
Taoist idea. A “flying elixir,” com-
pounded by T'ao Hung-king, physician
of the Fifth century, consisted of
mixed gold, cinnebar, azurite and
sulphur.
Spruce Spikes as Rivals
The spruce tree has a penchant for
symmetrical lines which causes it to
go through an unusual contest if, by
some mishap, the topmost spike is
broken off. When this happens all of
the spikes leading out to the side
from the joint at which the upstanding
spike was attached begin to curve
upward.
This continues for some time with
each apparently endeavoring to be the
“king branch.” Eventually one at-
tains this rank, and the others almost
fmmediately begin to droop and re-
sume their former lateral positions.
Who's to Blame?
A leading medical journal announces
that Americans are morbid over vita.
mines, periodic medical examina-
tions, dietetic systems, roughage,
thereapeutic dogmas and health
“jams,” and figuratively calls them a
“lotta bunk.” Well, who started us
that way if it wasn’t the medicos?—
Louisville Courier-Journal.
Consider the Minutes
Minutes are given us to use. Every
man gets exactly the same number.
How we employ them determines
largely our success or failure in life
Remember, therefore, that he who
“kills time” often. murders oppor-
tunity. —Grit. :
Banking
Banking has become a varied occupation. The
early banks did little more than receive money on
deposit, pay it out on checks, and lend to borrowers.
These duties, while still the chief functions of a
bank, now are supplanted by many others of im- i
portance. For example, National Banks, in recent
years, have been granted all the fiduciary powers of i
a Trust Company, and can act as Executor, Admin-
istrator or Trustee. More and more the public is
becoming financially interested in our great indus-
tries, in public utilities and carriers, through the
ownership of stock in these corporations.
Today expert knowledge is necesary to the prop-
er settlement of an estate. We advise everyone to
make a Will, and to name a proper bank as Execu-
tor.
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK
BELLEFONTE, PA.
mS ———
RCC LR CCC CE CORR EA MAA) RONEN)
In Our Modern :
Vault
N our modern Safe Deposit Vault
you have the strongest protec-
tion against loss from fire and
theft. Why not avail yourself of this
safety for your valuables. Private
Lock Boxes rent for $2.00 and up
per year.
THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK
STATE COLLEGE, PA. 3
MEMBER FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
a RR TE TC CR NE A AA A A
EE EE Se
EE EET,
This week
brought to the Fauble Store
the Greatest Clothing ‘Oalues
ever offered in Bellefonte.
Suits and Overcoats
that are at least ten dollars un-
der the regular price.
We want you to see them---
the saving is so big that you
will realize it at a glance.
Don’t wait. Come at once
and profit by what we know
are the biggest bargains in
the store’s history.