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Cor. rcnnulvanla e. ami Uth St. NerTfonK Bt'nKiU The Sun HulMlne London Uurkao London Times subscription' Tr.nxta Ttio JCre.MNu rtauo Iju;rat Is served to sub scribers III Philadelphia and rurroundtns towm m the rato of tnelto 112) cents per week, rasablo to the carrier. ny mall to points oulsldo of Philadelphia, In the United Htates. Canada, nr United States pos esslons, prutriRp free, fifty (Ml) rents per month, BIT J0) dollars per car. paable In advance. To alt furelRn (.ountrlcs ono ($1) dollar per month. NoTtci! Subscribers wishing address changed must clve old as well us now address. tltLL. 3000 CA!.MJT Kl.YSTONTJ, MAIN 3000 f r tyAddrtsa oil romtnuitrrottoMl to JJvcnino Vubho .edger, mlcpciidciico Siiwro, PA(lodtlp7ila. Jlember of the Associated Press rnv Assocrn:D vni:sn t.i crcfu- Mi-ctjt entitled to the use for republication of all ilexes dispatches credited to it or not otherwise oedltcd in thii paper, anil also the local iictcs published tliciein. Ml rights of republication of special dis patches herein arc also reserved. Fhiladtlphia. Turil. 1 1-bru.iry .1, I0JU TIME TO DO SOMETHING T17HEN a family was found dead from ' ' gas that had come into the house fiom a broken main in the street two or tliree weeks ago the officials of the gas company explained that until something better than iron was found for gas pipes they must be expected to break. Yesterday morning in the same part of the city the members of another family were found unconscious from gns that had entered the house in the same way and the mother could not be revived. The husband and three children were "acci dentally found before they were too far pone for medical aid. The gas mains may be of iron and heavy traffic may break them if they arc laid too near the surface, but unless there arc to be more "accidents"' like that of yesterday it will be necessary to do some thing besides talk about the fragility of cast iron. AMflNr, TUP Al fin RIIMWINP. W A DMIREttS of A. Mitchell Palmer bc- heve that a& a candidate for the presi dential nomination ho deserves an article all to himself. Louis Seibold, who is run ning in the Sunday New York World a series of articles on presidential possi bilities, docs not. This week Mr. Seibold gioups in a sin gle article the candidacies of Bryan, Un derwood and Palmer, whereas he has de voted a whole article to the consideration of the qualifications of men whom he thinks have a chance of getting the nomi nation. He seems to Ihink the nomination of Palmer is about as likely as the nomina tion of Bryan or Underwood. This means vthathe regards these three men as among those who are also running. In passing it maV be remarked that he Is in error when he says that Underwood had the support of Tammany in 1912. As a matter of fact, Tammanj supported Tudson Harmon, of Ohio, on the first nine ballots. Then it swung the ninety votes of New 'S ork to Champ Clark, for whom Bryan had been voting. Bryan thereupon announced that he would not stand for any candidate backed by Tammany and began to vote for Wilson. It is generally admitted that this attack upon Clark by Bryan prevented his nomination, al though for twenty-nine successive ballots he led and for eight ballots polled more than a majority of the votes. If it had not been for the two-thirds rule Clark would hac been nominated on the tenth ballot when Tammany threw the New York vote- to him. IT'LL TAKE MORE THAN THAT , (SECRETARY GLASS hah asked Con- gress to appropriate ,?2,000,000 to be used by customs officers in stopping the smuggling of whisky into the country. This was the proper thing for him to So, for it is his duty to enforce the law. But when one considers the length of the coast line and the nearly 4000 miles of the Canadian boundary and the 2000 miles of the boundary between this coun try and Mexico the sum seems pitifully inadequate. Unless human nature has changed since January 16 there will, for some time, bo inducement enough to lead smugglers to run all the risks of their occupation, even to the extent of carrying the whisk about with them when they get it inside of the country. The prohibi tion commissioner will attend to them after they get under his jurisdiction, but jt will be up to Hip customs officers to catch them on the desolate stretches of the coast or at strategical points on the international boundaries. A ROOSEVELT RETROSPECT ',K TRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT adds ,- nothing new to the iccord of our un- Nirpnarrdness before thn war. From I he Rv "'moment the European conflict broke two diametrical I y opposite points of view on thfssubject were developed in the United " JStatos. . jfTho' President hoped to keep this na- Vition out of the struggle and it was per- ' li'aps largely because of this apparent Attitude that he was re-elected in 1916. Events repudiated his deductions. The Jloosevclts, Franklin and Theodore, were right. , But there is nothing .startlingly sensa tional in the assistant scoretary of the 'navy'tf retrospect. So long as the gift of hindsight is bestowed upon us there will h disputes as to whether we could hac rnded the tragedy sooner than we did or whether our late entrance was well timed, oth as regards Europe and the public temperament at nome. V j" ' mm '$ INCORRIGIBLE GERMANY 'Jhnx'lS difficult to find a trace of sincerity J-or logic in Germany's plaintive objec tion to tho allied demand for army offi ' who nmaxed and enraged civilization rV bv thoir wanton atrocity in France and Belgium. U is naruur i uiiuv.bu " .. t in hi mind of tho German Gov- i;? wmmont, which speaks now of the danger m- v, itp popular uprising" of Germans dc- drained to protect the men who dls- graced their nationality. A simple and honorable way out of the difliculty has been open to Germany since the beginning. If the Germans have re formed they should be the first to hate and punish the men who' did more even than the former kaiser to make Germany an outlaw among civilized nations. Efforts to protect these savages will merely direct new suspicions at a nation that is being treated harshly for the sim ple reason that other nations fear to tnist it. AN AMATEUR MILITARISM THE NEWEST SENATE FAD Compulsory Military Training Bill Cheer fully Offers the Country a Billion Dollar Delusion TT is most unfortunate that the mi- nority lcport of the Senate military committee, just submitted in opposition to the majority's billion-dollar compul sory military training bill, rends terribly like a speech. Because it reads like a speech it will fall flat in a country that has been specched at until it is weary. That is regrettable, because the com pulsory' training bill, as it stands, runs counter to logic and common sense. All the lessons of costly experience show that tho scheme to drill the youth of the land for two weeks each year woultl be waste ful, futile, inefficient. What the senators are dreaming of is a sort of pacifist war machine. We are not even asked to be militar istic. We are asked to be dabbling dil ettantes in a sort of white-washed Ger manism. The minority in the Senate military i committee therefoie had a good case which it didn't know how to plead. It wrung its hands and cried out in breath less passion against what it called the danger of military despotism and sat down. It forgot to say that the plan it attacks would be a costly delusion nnd a snare. There is no possibility of a military despotism in this country. There is a probability, however, that the Senate military scheme would cost not one bil lion but two. and that if it, were made actually dependable and kept in trim it might cost five or six. A training system that didn't train would be worse than useless. It would be in everybody's way. If circumstances force the United States to be in constant readiness for war wo shall have to have the other sort, and a billion dollars will only be a drop in a very large bucket. The simple fact of the matter is that until the Senate accepts or rejects the peace treaty, until the fluid politics of Europe settles into recognizable forms and trends no one can know what will be necessary in the way of a military estab lishment. The prospect of enforced reliance upon military organizations is still present in America. But we cannot prepare until wc know what we are preparing for. Dpfinite assurances and guarantees of a long peace ma yet emerge from the disorder of world affairs. New perils may loom suddenly. No one knows. But if there is to be a revival of militarism in any elaborate form we. like all other people in the world, will hae to shoulder staggering burdens of taxation. If the majority of the Senate commit tee is optimistic about the probable costs of its miliary scheme, it is because it has learned none of the conspicuous lessons of the war. What the committee seems to sec is an army of millions of youths drillimr in camps with riiles or perhaps with the wooden models of rifles that were doled out in the first rush of the training camps. But rifles count for little nowadays. They have been superseded very largely by hand-grenades. Hand-grenades and lines are only the small change of mod ern warfare. It is with long-range artil lery, air machines, flying torpedoes and the amazingly expensive instruments of i-hemicnl warfaie that future armies will train if they aie to be fit for a fight. You cannot make an artillerist of a man in a few weeks. Airmen who remain inactive for a year even now find themselves ignorant and stale because of the speed with which aviation science is progress ing. Air gunnery is a science in itself. Soldiers nowadays must be technicians. They cannot be trained without elaborate equipment of a costly and perishable sort that may become obsolete before it is de livered to the field. One modern tank costs from 550,000 to $100,000. Long- range field guns arc even more expensive. It is with the cost of such implements that the Senate committee will have to deal in any rational estimates, because these devices will be necessary to train ing and they will be necessary in vast quantities. Lord Brycr saw the question whole when he suggested that in any future state of an elaborated militarism a great part of the normal energy and resources of even the richest countries would be necessary to sustain big armies. Con gress, and particularly those men in Con gress who sneer at Mr. Wilson's hopes for peace, are not yet ready to admit all this. Congress is never eager to look an uglv and threatening fact squarely in the face. If it were we should not have bills such as that just framed by the majority in the Senate military committee. The Senate military committee has simply dodged with a large gesture. Even now Congress is denying the bare necessities of life to tho military air forces. And it is worth remembering that until we were almost ready to enter the war money was not made available for the work of bringing American ord nance up to the standard of efficiency re quired in modern battle. Congressional committees seemed to suppose that you had only to give orders to the steel people and have guns deliv ered. They seem to have known a little less than nothing of the unbelievable re finements of modern fighting machines, of the applied science involved in guns or of the intricacy of problems that have to be met and solved by the men who have to keep up with the pa.ee set by competing designers. So our guns were late in Europe and important experiments that should have been completed years ago were still in progress when the armistice was signed. Are wc to repeat all these errors and rely on some millions of unarmed and un trained young men exercising twice a year In the country? That, apparently, EVENING PaBtlOMUdERPHILADELPHIA) TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, is what tho Senate committco would have us do. The senators aro afraid to face the truth. While somo of them aro ready to jeer at tho suggestion of a League of Nations, they are without the courage to suggest tho alternative that may be nec essary. It is an appalling alternative. It is militarism. And we should have to bo efficient militarists if the need arose. Wc couldn't be amateurs nnd dabblers unless we were ready to itvyite disaster. We will be without nctive enemies on this continent unless Ave wish to make them. Europe is utterly sick of war and the war makers. The old nations cannot take up the old game. Russia is tho only country that boasts now of its fighting strength nnd Russia is on an emotional jag. The awakening, the headache and all the rest of it may come at any minute. So the army training bill ought to be pigeonholed and taken up again for ra tional consideration when tho world finnlly settles down and reveals its plans. CAN WE KEEP THE PLUM? TIRADE was diverted from its accus- tomed channels by the war and tho United States profited immensely by it. Leaving out of account the export of enormous quantities of war material to Europe, which brought the total value of exports to that part of the worltl from $l,48G,000,00q,in the fiscal year of 1914 to $4,634,000,000 for 1919, our exports to North American countries increased in the same period from $528,000,000 to $1,291,000,000, to South America from $124,000,000 to $400,900,000, to Asia from $113,000,000 to $603,000,000, to Oceania from $83,500,000 to $208,000,000 and to Africa from $27,000,000 to $83, 000,000. The Euiopean nations were shut off from trade with the rest of the world and wo sold goods where wc had not been able to sell them before. But goods flowed in both directions. Our imports from North American countries increased from $427,000,000 in 191-1 to $1,052,000, 000 in 1919. From South America the in crease in the same period was from $222, 677,000 to $5G8,000,000, from Asia the in crease was from $286,000,000 to $830, 000,000. from Oceania from $42,000,000 to $190,000,000 and from Afrien from $19, 000,000 to $81,000,000. The imports from Europe, however, fell off from the hitherto unprecedented sum of $895,000,000 in 1914 to $372,000,000 for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 1919. Since the war has freed the oceans Euro pean export trade is beginning to revive, and it is estimated that the goods sent to tho United States for the calendar year of 1919 will amount to $750,000,000, or nearly as much as in the record vcar of 1914. These figures, however, arc misleading, for values .measured' by dollars today do not represent so much as they did in 1914. Yet they are significant, for in a single year, during which values have been vir tually stationary, they represent an in crease in imports from Europe of more than 100 per cent. The fact that the imports are chiefly luxuries, including embroideries, precious stones and works of art, rather than manufactured products to compete with articles made here, does not lessen their importance. Europe is selling what it has for sale in the market where there is money to pay for it. When her factories resume operation and produce a surplus for sale abroad the imports are likely to be as varied as in the past and to enter into competition with native products. The problem before the American busi ness man and before Congress is how to keep the trade with the rest of the world which the war threw into our laps. We cannot keep it without making some effort, as the nations which had that trade in the past will seek it again in the future, and unless we arc alert the Old World, impelled by dire necessity, will outstrip us in the race for trade as it out stripped us when we thought the home market was all that need concern us. Secretary of Agricnl Blographical ture Edwin T. Mere dith owes his start in life to .a Hint pig which his father gue him nnd which he turned into n fine porker. Later he tinned to journalism, for the sec ond time demonstrating that the peu is mightier than the sword. Suppose pseudo-scien-Lesson in tifio conjecture is right Perseverance nnd n Martian is try ing to ring up the Larth '. Doesn't it make one nsbamed of oneself when one fusses with Central when "the line is busy"? The Senate made no nettor Than mistake in passing the Deportation Americanization bill of Senator K enron, of Iowa. 'Money expended to tench aliens Kng- lisb will be well spent. Producer and investor is the way Chair-' mau Maekey of the Workmen's Compensa tion Board refers to employe and employer. His nim is, if possible, to do nwny with class feeling. He may buccced. Perhaps ; per haps not. It all depends on how the ear is nttuned. There will hardly be any difference in the tone's in which money talks. It was generally understood yesterday that if the groundhog saw his bhadow wc would have six more weeks ot winter and that if he didn't sec his shadow winter would last another forty -two days. The German Government is expending large sums of money in equipping great man ufacturing plants on the Rhine, the economic edict being that dyeing must be made easy if living is to be possible. John D. Rockefeller's pastor savs depor tation will not cure bolshcvism. True; and yet odder things have happened. Gasoline, for instance, bus been fouud to be a great aid to philuuthropy. Seaplanes armed with bombs may soon be on the trail of schools of porpoises which are playing havoc with the sardine fisheries off the coast of Brittany. Ash-canuing the porpoises, ns it .were. Navy yard employes who have listened to Congressman Vnre are of the opinion that explanations are a poor substitute for bread and butter. - ; Back-page pictures of Philadelphia nt work show thnt City Statistician Cuttell's figures describe live ones. ! What troubles tho country most is the Borah from within. Pity the poor weatherman! He is denied belief in the groundhog simply becahoe the critter is unscientific. MADE-TO-ORDER CAPITALS Psychological Aspects of Such Cities Are NoCto Be Ignored, Either In Washington, or Canberra THE propriety of nnmhif; n notional capi tal "Lrtuftliltii; .Tncknss" lias been ques tioned by the thoughtless. Irreverence, however. Is sometimes another term for truth. Cervantes, Molicrc nnd Mark Twain attest this ond the last was seldom more convincingly veracious than in his observa tions on and his relations with our own fctlornl town. His acute reallnntion of Wash InRtonlan oddities which he set forth In "The Gilded Age" nnd "The American Claimant" and llnttcrcd with his celebrated nil-white spit, would perhaps have moved him to admiration concerning Canberra. It is this word which has becu given to the fiat city which the commonwealth of Australia is formally erecting us the pout of its government offices mid national legisla tures. Jt is this word nlo which nti expert in antipodean nutiVe dialects translates as "Laughing Jackass." A MERICANS are justly proud of Wash- ington. its majestio streets, lis stately buildings, its impressive position in history ; but they arc not uniformly respectful to the vnriegatcd rumors, sidelights, "Inside, talcs which have poured forth from the capital t'ver since its formal debut in the year JS00. It is admitted that Washington has Us own distinctive way of viewing nuy subject; that opiniou there is'colorrd by conditions with out parallel in our oilier cities. Can a townj created by command nnd arti ficially maintained think according to processes current in communities of spon taneous growth V Wo arc quite used to our negative verdict on this poiut and are, on the whole, not too greatly disturbed when Washington nets htrangely. It has hud rt strange life. It is n strange place. Dl"f for conventional slolh in Congress, --' Germautowii might have been the subject of our amused nnd lenient perceptions. In the early da.s of the republic n 'bill once passed both the House nnd Senate locating tho capitalin the Philadelphm suburb. Recon sideration followed the long delay, nud by that time the agency of compromise which haB governed so many crises in our nnnals was opcrntive. Alexander Hamilton entertained the en gaging idea that the South would abandon its opposition to his plun providing for the assumption of the Revolutionary War debts of the several states by the national govern ment if the fedcrnl capital were placed below the Mason and Dixon line. President Washington was eager for the selection of the site which .now bears his name. He envisaged brilliant commercial development, fostered by the navigable Po tomac and the execution of canal piojects. Had he lived but a few jenrs utter 179!) he would linvc beheld the demonstration of the truth that n city deliberately built to contain governments machinery stands n slim likelihood of becoming a yenter of trade nnd iudustry. Tho official functions take overwhelming pre-eminence over everything else. HAMILTON, however, was no prey to illusion. He had n bargain to drive and Thomas Jefferson to persuade. The lat ter task seems to have been comparatively easy. Jefferson consented to the debt as sumption proposal, provided a southern capital were established. Agreement was made in the lcisurel eighteenth century style over a glass of wine. Charles L'Enfant'.s magnificent metropoli tan dreams were soon set on paper. It has becu said that "he would not plan for thir teen states nnd three millions of people, but for a republic of fifty states and for the hundred millions: not for a single century but for a thousand ears." Architecture and engineering were his couccrn, not psychology. It is tho inevitable singularity of the latter which today particularly identifies Washing ton even more than its material splendors. THE psychology of Canberra is bound also to bo typical. It is curious indeed to trace the similarities in Australian and American political development. The self governing British colonics under the Southern t'ross have indulged in rivalries much akin to those which excited our joung states in Washington's day. The capital problem has, of course, been thornj. It has been forcibly empbnsizcd in Sidney that lodgment of the federal otlices nnd assemblies in Melbourne was only tempornrj. Melbourne hns longed to make its priority permanent. The ques tion was settled in 1010, when Ihc unbuilt city of the "Laughing Jackass" Cauberra was formally selected as the home of the common wealth's legislatures. The Cnubcrrnns will be u queer set. No matter what their original inclinations, they will be u clan apart. They will have gran deur and. almost certainly, commercial iso lation. They will be fiat citizens, u curious and interesting tribe, for Canberra is with out industrial importance, nnd is neither on the coast nor an important river. It will be the triumph of the artificial in other words, n gorgeous freak. Monumental construction has been going on in this aloof corner of New South Wales for seven years. This section is now federal territory, its- organization closely resembling that of the District of Columbia. THERE is a temperamental consanguinity ill "made" cities the world over. Dowu in Argentina, La Plata stunds n cavernous monument of legislativn command. When Buenos Aires became the capital of the re public a new scat for the state capital was sought. The congressmen chose n site thirty one miles down the River Plata. On the open plain streets were laid out so wide that they een dwarf those of Washington, Paris and Salt Lake City. A'ast structures for scientific institutions were buTlt. impos ing quarters for the state offices and a huge railway station. It is difficult to find a more depressing city than La Plata. Completely overshadowed by bustling Buenos Aires, it is a specimen of dismal pretense. Conversation in its deserted streets has almost the eerie effect of tones in a whispering gallery. The Platanos aie as suredly exceptional folk. So, In some decree, are the Mndrilcnos, for Madrid has morn ot the nature of n fiat town thun anv capital in Europe. It wus a straggling village when Phillip II moved the court there in 115(51. The sunounding' region is arid. The climate is ubominable cold and pneumonia-breeding in winter, scorching in summer. No city in the king dom is so untypical of Spain as is Madrid. But it is nearly in the geographical center of the country, nnd tho ruge for centraliza tion, still rampant in our time, was not to be denied. BOLIVIA christened her capital Sucre, after her first president, nnd subse quently moved her Legislature to the morn convenient location, Ln Paz. The capitoliuc honors arc still, however, officially Sucre's, but that is about all. High up in Andean Bogota the legislative and executive officers assume to rule Colombia, Mcauwhllc the "Coastal League," along the steaming Carib bean, threatens secession. Bogota, with its poet-statesmen, the most isolated of nil bureaucrats, is temperamentally and actu ally very far away. It is best to be charitable with artificially developed cupitolinc compatriots. Their in llueucco and euvlronmcut are uot nonual,. whether In thu District of Columbia or in the pasture of "Luughlug Jackass." i'A&jY. 1. A .-" jv-- -" -s?u t S, --". " -r .v .-: .f.' . xm jsmnrnF f - I 1 s . S TRA VELS IN PHILADELPHIA By ROY HELTON Humors of South Street SOUTH STREET BRIDGE is a rickety affair and, for its importance, the poorest of all the spans on the Schuylkill. Oue sees warning notices about speed nnd lond that testify to its precarious margin of safety. AVhcn a trolley car or a heavy truck comes onto the draw the unwary foot passenger is exposed to nil the terrors of a miniature earthquake, and it is unwiso to have your tongue between your teeth, or to carry deli cate glassware in your pockets. But there aro compensations in tho sight of the bustle of the river nnd sometimes in the maneuvers of tho boys along its bank. Here one may behold, on Into summer after noons, the proscribed spectnele of whole gangs of boys tnking perilous headers into the oil-filmed water, and then scrambling up some chance rope -end to scurry off nmong the lumber piles when thrir lookout whistles his warning that n watchman has swung into view. By just what miracle of tho toilet these same boys prepare themselves to face the cold scrutiny of the streets nftcr such hurried dcpnrtuies 1 do not -know. I have seen a whole crew of them scatter oft in that interesting state of dishabille befitting their late employment, a brawny watchman in hot pursuit. A few beconds later their heads appeur on the other side of the fence, and the whole gang ot tneni may no seen murching guyly und decently into town. IT IS NOT only in summer days, however, that the shore life nt South street becomes interesting. Last week as I stood there, half hypnotized by the rising buckets of n tall conveyer that lifts the precious anthracite from river barges into the bins of one of the ..mat overlords of lump coal. I chanced to look down to the earth beneath me. There in the shadow of the housing crouched n small boy ot perhaps ten years old. He had n large wicker basket on his arm, and ever and ngain, ns the conveyer buckets spilled down n lump of coal, the boy would dart' out from his shelter and corral it into his basket. As he btood them under this raiu of lumps and dust he held his left arm protectingly above his head. In spite of that, he got more thnn one hard crack that knocked off his dusty golf cap and made bim flinch n little. At length to my great relief the basket was filled, und I saw him begin to stagger away with it. He wbh u very dark-looking little boy nftcr all that drizzle of coal dust, but as he walked off two white bpots were evident in his dingy stockings, where the rubbing of his shoe-tops had worn long oval holes. K S THE BOY went on ncrc-s the railroad J. track a large nnd weatherbeatcn cat climbed out over a lumber pile und sat down, fixing n btony but scornful eye on the little boy. The response was instantaneous. The urchin dropped his basket like a shot. Reach ing down he selected a largo round ,piece of coal and sent it spiuning toward the cat. It sailed high over the animal's head and shivered to pieces against the side of a freight car. Lump uftcr lump followed tho same sporting career, but the old cat hardly moved a muscle. The boy was goaded to more and more extravagant efforts. He hurled two lumps at n time, nnd sometimes three the result was always the same. The old cnt, confident in the possession ot some secret feliue charm against missile weapons, re mained us impassive as a sphinx. At length, however, one chance shot caromed up from the curt ot a uoaru unu juuui-u muuiy ur tween the cat's outstretched paws. WUh an exasperating calmness the animal rose and stretched itself. Then mincing leisurely to the edge of tho woodpile he dropped out of sight and made off under the wheels ot the 'freight cars. The boy stooped for his basket and then looked into it. Fully one-third of the coal was gone. But the littlfc fellow was game. He turned back to the conveyer ngain, and began once more his painful col lection of fodder for the kitchin fire. AS ONE comes off the bridge he passes into a region of dwelling houses dotted here nnd there with the bulk windows of old fnshioncd penny candy stores, where 'oue may slill purchase licorice straps adorned with i'ouk of pink sugar collar buttons, or tops with the kind of pegs that always full out at ,ju j.- 1920 mi$i' -"JUST SO YOU COMB ON!" v j&Mr" . i ,i .prttfiT: t-t. xi' i.'Vu vw.' xj-j-h Mk w . .'j ir v k tt i,;f t .r . ' - 'J the third encounter with a hard brick pave ment. The saloons that of old always afforded. u group ot, corner loafers nre mainly uoaruea up now and placarded "Closed." It appears to a disinterested observer that the little clumps of men nud boys rolling the "hones" on the sidewalk are not so numerous ns they were this time last year. It may be only the weather, for rolling dice is nn ancient and convenient pastime for idle young men, but it may also bo due to a growing suspicion of the game, arising from certain indctcct ablo improvements recently devised for the loading of its rolling stock. If that bo true it affords another pregnant instance of the decay of romance at the touch of modern in- venti6n. Perhaps the day may even come" when the mystic duo, seven and eleven, will bring no answering thrill to the cars of men and "Roll 'cm out, boy!" or "Fade, Char lie, fade!" will have no music for the heart of youth, ONE passes little cookshops with displays of home dinners smoking on the window ledge, nnd large provocative bigns proclaim ing ample stores within of "Pigs Knuckles and Chittlings," or invitations to "Old Vir ginia Home-Cooking nnd Pumpkin Pie." Through their doors may be seen little red- covered tobies laden wjth generous plates of fried chicken, bouquets of celery, nud tall inountuins of mashed potatoes, rivercd with the generous lavn-flow of steaming brown gravy. HERE and there nt a corner may some times be seen a street faker with methods peculiarly suited to the folk of this highway, the most dramatic being the Hindu nystic, Hungat Singh, or whatever his name may be, for I have observedithat it changes radically from week to week. He wears a long scarlet wrapper and sometimes dons a red bandanna turban. With him goes a spieler, a breezy little fellow who docs all the talking, and gives all the signals, on a simple alphabetical scheme long forsaken by drawing-room mind readers. "Ladies and Gemmen: If you-all will kindly write youh age on this here pad of paper, Hungat Singh will go off into a trance and tell you your longevity by sup'natural agencies." A buxom lass nt my right painfully set down the number 33. "Can you tell, sah, what this lady's ago is?" cried tho barker. "Come on and hurry up!" "Lady am thuty-three year old," droned the mystic. There was general amazement, in the midst of whiclutlie Hindu produced a long glass tube with a cap and base of hand polished pewter. This he raised nnd stroked hypnotically with his jeweled left hand. "Now, it you-ull will write youh names on this pad, Mr. Hungat Singh of Barnares, India, will give you a written readin of youh life composed by spirit hands in the broad light of day, for the nominnble consideration of one dime." TO ENCOURAGE the performer I wrote my name ns suggested. The paper wns lowered into the glass tubo nnd tho cap has tily fitted on again. Within the tube, to which the swami now imparted a slight jogging motion, mysterious white vapors arose. In n minute the paper, now closely covered. by a- nent copper-plate bcrlpt, was. thrust into Iny hands. It smelt rather oppressively ot hydrochloric ucid, but my fortune w-ns in dubitably there: "You nre fond of the pleasures of life you appear to good advuntage in public your life partner will inherit n vast fortune which will materially aid you in obtaining fame and social distinction" so began this revealing screed. Modesty forbids that I print the rest o It. As I read on I heard at my right hand a gasp of amazement. The large buxom lady of color who stood beside mo was tracing with plump fingers the words of her message from tho world of shades, On her features were struggling the mingled ecstasies of amazement nnd gratitude. I looked over her shoulder at the lines she had just read. "Your life partner will inherit a vast fortune which will materially nld you In obtaining fame and social distinction." She turned dreamily uwuy, her market' Imslut ilntielinf enrelpsnlv frnm hir flnimu and as she stepped around the corner of the I street I could seo her still staring down it that little square of written pupcr. AS I WATCHED her a mau in a passinn crowd called out to the swami, "Hey there, Joe Williams, why don't you git back on youh job, 'stead of makin' a fool of youh self in your Lizzie's ole wrapper?" There upon the man of Benares turned round with nn nir of infinite scorn, and when the inter locutor had passed well out of earshot, screnmed out in an Alabama cornfield accent, "Como back hear nn' say that again and I'll bus' youh face in !" To this invitation there was no reply and the swami cast his eyes up to heaven, and reopened communication with the seventh sphere.. PIONEERS WHAT strength! what strife! what rud unrest! What shocks! what half-shaped armies met! A mighty nation moving West, With nil its steely sinews set Aguinst the living forests. Hear The shouts, tho shots of pioneer. The rended forests, rolling wheels, As if some half-checked army reels, Recoils, redoubles, comes again, Loud-sounding like a hurricane. O bearded, stalwart, westmost men, So tower-like, so Gothic built I A kingdom won without the guilt Of human battle, that hath been Your children's heritage. Joaquin MlUer. News comes from Makanoy City thit the men of-Gilbcrton borough aro so busy mining coal thnt the women have been called upon to clean the streets. If the news from Gilberton were not sober sooth it would sug gest Gilberton-Sullivan. What Do You Know? QUIZ 1. Who gave the order to sink the Interned German fleet at Scapa Flow? 2. Who was Ixion? 3. From what city in Palestine docs gauze takes its. name? 1. What constellation contains tho start Castor and Pollux? fi. Whnt was tho Hanseatlc League? U. Name an architect who became a cele brated novelist?" 7. When docs spring begin this year? 8. What were the seven wonders of the ancient world? 9. What fish is sold to live from 100 to 150 years? 10. When were the Virgin Islands added to the domain of the United States? Answers to Yesterday's Quiz 1. la the celebrated presidential campaign of 1810, in which the Whigs elected William Henry Harrison, their chief slogan wob "Down 'With' tho adminis tration," 'which referred to tho Jack sonian Dcuiocracy nsdt had beeh rep resented by Jackson himself nnd hU succcsso'r, Martin Van Buren. 2. Ausonius was aJLatin Christian poet and man of letters, born in Bordeaux ubout 310 A. D. Ho died in 304. 3. Petrogrnd is famous for its picture gal- cry called '.'Tho Hermitage." 4. Mldincttcs are Parisian working glrlt who throng the streets at about noon on their way to luncheon. "Midi" 1' French for noon. fi, Auguste Renoir was a noted French painter nllicd with tho school of Monet, Manet and Sisley. Ho died a few weeks ago at tho age of seventy eight. 0. An epjeedium is a funeral ode. 1( 7. General Lew Wallace wrote "Ben Hur. 8. Dollies or doylcys get their name from the Doylcys, a firm of linen-drapers lu business In Upper Welllngtoa street, Strnnd, London, from the tim of Queen Anne until 1850, 0. Henry III, nn effeminate king of France of the sixteenth century, wus callw the "Man Milliner." 10. Esparto is a klud of rush imported froo Spain fur paper-making. r V y"i si, - s. i Y ,"W. fi , kif- JAHS
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers