Wh ce of \11 he of rt- speak- a vil- ach he ch dis- reupon )r, See- aid: answer o cried ey are ust do poor. really ? Dis- em and ,—L.on- in this it over though. Jarvard yird and i: every 1, ” THE MEYERSDALE COMMERCIAL. MEVERSPALE, PA. The Meyersdale Commercial All the News-- Every Week. Our Job Department Is Complete. 5% fie Bids Boerne du GIVE COURT POWER TO SUSPEND SENTENCE Washing{pn,—(Spedial Correspen- dence)—The recent decision of the Supreme Court that Federal judges’ have no power to suspend the imposi- tion of a sentence, and the necessity of returning to prison thousands eof men now at liberty uder suspended sentences if the decision is carried to its logical result, has lead Republi- can Representative John R. K. Scott of Pennsylvania to introduce a bill conferring power on the judges of New material has been added this ue sue me wm er week and will be added as fast as needed. We realize “A Satisfied Customer is our Best Advertiser.” Patronize the Meyersdale Commer- cial. When in need of Programs Envelopes Letter Heads Statements Sale bills Bill Heads ~~ Posters or Dodgers Call on the Meyersdale Commercial ~ WONDER ISLAND OF HISTORY. The Story of Sicily Is a Compendium ef : Medieval Romance. Sicily’s history is as vivid and plc- turesque, as ferocious and creative and destructive, as mythical and intensely practical as the stories of all the rest of the world put together. And in beauty of nature, of climate, or man, and of beast, the island is a paradise today, whether or not it was ever the workjess, painless, passionless elysium where our first ancestors enjoyed all the good things of life without having to toil. Nature itself, now in the guise of the misunderstood gods of old, now in cone vulsions or in quiet fertility: that sci. ence has nade plain to us, weaves its mysterious shuttle through and through the highly colored fabric. And men—such menl—tower above their fellows in the story like Titans— Pindar, Aeschylus, Theocritus, Thuey- dides, Archimedes, the two great Hie- rons, Cicero, Verres, Diodorus, Hamil- car and Hannibal, Roger the Count and Roger the King, Belisarius, the great crusaders: Richard of the Lion Heart and Louis the Saint of France, Charles of Anjou, Frederick II, the ‘wonder of the world,” and Garibaldi. Even this partial list reads like a compendi- um of ancient and medieval romance and chivalry.—National Geographic Magazine. CURIOUS FRENCH DUEL. When Man and Wife Tried to Settle a Dispute With Swords. Charles Coypeau, Sieur d’Assouci, a French poet and musician of the sev- enteenth century, relates in one of his “Adventures” that hig father and mother were one day engaged in a dis- cussion upon questions of law when a dispute arose between them with regard to the precise signification and bearing of a provision in Justinian’s eode with respect to the rights of brothers. ° Ultimately the quarrel waxed so furi- ous that the disputants lost all control of themselves, defied each other to single combat and proceeded to settle their difference and determine the mind of the ancient legislator by a fight with swords. This singular duel took place in their son’s presence. Coypeau pere was an advocate -by profession and a‘ mem- ber of one of the French parliaments. Madame was exceedingly diminutive and! ‘had to weaP exceptionally high pattens to. approach the ordinary stat: ure of women, but she was fierce and domineering in temper. The combat appears to have been a drawn battle, and. the sense of Justinian remained as obscure and debatable as ever. —T YF | | Tightwad. | «] understand that Mr. Pinchpenny has been operated on for appendicitis,” remarked Miss Cayente. «yes. It's the first tine any one was | known to get anything out of him.” «And even then they had to give him } chloroform to get that.” | RINTERS ARTICULAR EOPLE Héw the Captain Tacked. Captain Joshua Slo-um, ‘the famous solitary voyager, tells in his ‘Sailing Alone Around the World” an amusing story of the way in which he protected himself at night from marauding sav- ages while in the neighborhood of Cape Horn. When he went to sleep Captain Slocum would sprinkle the deck with carpet tacks, taking particular care that not a few of them steed “business end” up. It Is well known that ene cannot step on a tack without saying something about it. A pretty good Christian would whistle; a savage will howl and claw the air. And that was just what happened, Slocum re: ports, about 12 o'clock one night. His vessel was boarded while he slept. But no sooner had they stepped on deck than the savages, howling like a pack of hounds, jumped pellmell, some into their canoes and some into the sea, a great deal of free language escaping them as they went. Slocum says that he was never disturbed again, though he sprinkled his deck with tacks many nights thereafter. Winks and Eye Baths. Every few seconds we wink both our eyelids at once, although not purpose- ly. If we! stop winking our eyes be- come uncomfortable and gradually cease to work as they should. When the eye is open the front of it is ex- posed to dirt and dust and is apt to become so dry that a painful stinging sensation results or would do so if constant moisture Were not provided to cleanse and soothe the tissues. As a matter of fact, each time we wink we wash the eye, says the Popu- lar Science Monthly. Up above each eye is a tiny bag called the tear gland, and all the time we are awake it makes tears. When the froit of the eye feels itself becoming a little too dry or dusty a.communication is, sent for a supply of moisture. The eyelid then comes down with a tear inside it to wash clean the front of the eye. This is the most gentle and perfect washing in the world. Safety of a Ship. The safety of a ship depends upon its stability, strength, water tightness and reserve stability and floatability if injured. The strength is due to the framing and plating or planking: Wa- ter tightness is effected. by calking the seams between plates'and planks. The sedis | of ‘iron’ plates: are calked .by haihmering the edge of the uppermost plates against the one underneath it. The seams between planks are partly filled ‘with! oakum, which is forced in and the remainder of the seam filled with pitch, marine glue or putty. The reserve stability and floatability. when injured depend upon the position and volume of the interior space which is flooded. To reduce this volume to a safe point vessels are divided into co:o- partments by water tight bulkheads, which extend across the ship at inter- vals. Several hundred men were thrown out of work when fire damaged the Universal mill of the Céntral Iron and fiteel company, Harrisburg, to the ex- tent of $15,000. Stood on His Dignity. United States Scaator Hoar im his autobiogiaphy relates iu anecdote of of ‘Detroit,’ who was afterward minis. ter to China. He says: “Shortly after Burlingame came into active: life he made a journey to: Eu- rope. The American minister obtained for him a ticket of admission to the house of commons. He was shown to a’very comfortable seat in the gallery. In a few minutes an official came to him and said ‘he must leave that seat. that the gallery where he.‘was: was re- served: for peers. «They are very par- ticular about such things there. Bur- lingame got up to. go out, when an old peer. who happened to be sitting by him and had heard what was said in- térposed.” ‘Let him stay.’ he said; ‘he is a peer in his own country.” ‘I'am a sovereign in my own country, sir,’ re- plied Burlingame, ‘and shall lose caste if I associate with peers.’ And he went out.” : Shooting With a Revolver. Very few people, even accomplished shots, know how a revolver ought to be handled. Troops are taught in aiming never to look at the weapon at all, but to keep their eyes on the object to be struck. ‘In quick firing, and especially in shooting from horseback, much bet- ter results are obtained in this way. A man throwing a stone does not look at his hand. Neither does a bil liard player sight along his cue. The same rules apply to the use of short weapons. Men have been trained to shoot excellently at a mark when their pistol sights were hidden. Nearly any one can sight a pistol cor- rectly, the inaccuracy of the aim being due to the trembling of the hands be- fore the trigger is pressed. “By hiding the sight the temptation to hold too long is removed, and the first aim, gen- erally the most accurate, is preserved. —Pearson’s. Old Time Cutlers. The earliest instance of admission te the freedom of ‘the Cutlers’ ‘company of London by apprenticeship:is that of John, son of Saman the Knifesmith, who wag apprenticed to Stephen atte Holt, cutler, in 1287. . The Cutlers were divided into four main branches—the bladesmith or knifesmith made the, blades, the hafter produced the handle, or haft, the sheather the ‘sheath, while the’ ‘eutler put together. the various parts and sold ithe teol-or weapon Com- plete. Closely allied ito the craft were the burbours or furbishers, who were common to the crafts of cutlers and armqurers and were, engaged in fur- bishing and refitting old armor, weap- ons and garments.’ ‘Another subsidiary toecupation was that’ ofthe grinder. ‘The bladesmiths ‘were divided into two, ! brsiuches, the knifesmiths and sword- smiths. - London Graphie. Shaming the Professor. tifie research,” sneered his wife. “What of it, woman?’ “And yet every day I have to find ! your spectacles for you.” —Exchange. Anson Buriiigurie, the famous. liwyer f “You claim to be an expert in scien- ! | tence if in their judgement the cir- tion. Mr. Scott claims that the pas- sage of his bill will go far toward en- abling the courts to dispense gtantial justice, and prevent the inflic- ber of deserving men. More Sinecures. A fertile field where the Democrats could practice economy if they were’ so minded is ithe Adjutant General's office in the War Department. In thes legislative appropriation bill, which provides salaries for hat office. the.e is a provision for 11 messengers and 61 assistant messengers, an increase of 8 over the allowance for last year. In other words there are 16 more as sistant messengers provided for that one division ‘than all the other bu- reaus of the War Department com- bined. A further provision of the bill prohibits the assignment, even tem- porarily, of any of those men to anoth- er bureau in the Department. The result is that one finds one or two able bodied men lolling in front of nearly every door of the Adjutant General's portion of the War Depart- ment building. Another example of Democratic inefficiency! : Presidential Rage Continues. | The decision of the President not | to speak at the centennial of St. Johns church in Washingt )n is genera'ly at- | tributed by Republicans of the Senate to the fact that Senator Lodge of Massachusetts, who recently de nounced the Presidenc’s peace note, was scheduled to speak on the same occasion. If this country has reached a point,” remarked one Senator, “where the President caanot be cri- ticized without punishinent being ‘n- flieted on the critic we are in the same situation as the subjects of the Czar.” It is susgested that an effectual way to { retaliate would be for the Republican Senators to - boycott the President dress Congress, : A Prosecuting Attorney's View. The attempt of the Democratics of the House [to prevent further inves: | tigation of the much-talked-of leak in gressman B. M. Chiperfield of Illin- ois, a leading member of the Rules Committee that conducted the prelim, inary investigation. “As States at. torney,” asserted Mr. Chiperfield, “I have sent many a man to the peniten- tiary until the last day of hig life with less evidence than there is in this re- cord, that there was a leak to Wall stret from Washington.” Due to the insistance of Mr. Chiperfied and other Republican Members of the Rules Committee the House sent back to the committee the resolution of investi- gation for the purpose of demanding further information of the witnesses who had appeared before it. Redwood and Fire. Probably no other wood burns with more resistance than California red- wood. It seems to have been made fire resistant by nature. In logging camps this is peculiarly noticeable, for no other wood could be so treated. Be- cause of the enormous size of redwood trees the logs are very heavy—a six- teen foot butt log weighs from thirty to fifty tons—and it is very difficult to handle them when the ground is lit- tered with bark, undergrowth and tops. To get rid of this waste, or “slash,” as the lumberman calls it, he simply sets it on fire. The slash burns off, but the logs do not burn. They come through this test by fire, which lasts froth eight to ten ‘hours, with merely a slight char on the sapwood on their exterior. . Wrinkled Prunes. Personally we'd rather remain fat than to fall off suddenly and look wrinkly like a stewed prune.—Kansas City Star. It is ‘the unstewed prune that is wrinkly.: Stewed prunes are ‘plump. Where do you board ?—S8t.' Louis Globe- Democrat. t Darn 'it, the landlady assured us twice, very positively, that they bad been stewed.—Kansas City Star. Stewed” twice, perhaps. — St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Not at All Plain. “What is yonr husband's name, madam?’ asked the polite directory , canvasser. | “John Smith,” responded the lady. “Plain John Smith, eh?” “No, indeed! John is the handsomest man in this town.” —London Answers. | Children Cry | FOR FLETCHER’S | CASTORIA cumstances of a case warrant that ac- | sub- tion of great hardship on a large num- | when he comes to the Capitol ‘v0 ad- MINISTER ‘TO BALKANS IS ACOUSED AS UNNEUTRAL ¥ Photo by American. Press Association. CHARLES J. VOPICKA. American Minister Vopicka will be taken away from Bucharest as tho German government asks, although he garia. The German government has cited incidents in which it alleges he was unneutral toward the central pow ers and “favored Rumania. A GENERAL SURVEY 0F THE WAR Capture by the Teutonic forces of the town of Vadeni, about six miles southwest of the important Rumanian trade center of Galatz, on the Danube, is reported in the official German com- munication. Vadeni is on the railroad between Braila and Galatz. On the northern Rumanian front Teutonic forces took by storm the top of a mountain south of the Oituz road, the war office announces. Amn attaek by Russians on the Sereth, northwest of Braila, was repulsed. “Except for lively artillery firing on both “sides of the Somme there was little fighting at any point, owing to, rain and snow,” says the official re port from the Franco-Belgian front. still will be the accred’trd Amer ca: | minister to Rumania, Serbia and Bu. | faulty charts that did not show the ex- NAVAL DISASTERS | Their Rarity’ Is a Tribute to the Skill of Our Seamen, THE WRECK OF THE SAGINAW. This Catastrophe Brought Into Play the Wonderful Ability and Energy of Commander Sicard and His Officers and Crew—An Epic of the Sea. : American naval officers are noted for their dfficiency. fearlessness and en- ergy not alone in the stress and tur- moii of war, but also when emergen- ¢les ‘arise’ where a battle with the ele- ments may be more perilous than would be the heaviest ‘big gun fire of an enemy. Maritime disasters happily have beeis rare in our naval History. Their rarity indeed speaks volumes for the skill of our navigators, to whom negligence -or incompetence has hardly ever been im- puted. "At most an overconfidence may be urged in one or two instances; but, generally speaking, our naval wrecks have been caused by violent convui- sions of nature in her angriest mood or from causes over which our naval com- manders had no control. In the latter class was the wreck of the United States steamship Saginaw on Ocean island in the north Pacific Oct. 29, 1870. This disaster was due to istence of an outlying reef upon which the vessel piled up in the darkness of the night. Through the energy and good seamanship of its commanding of- ficer, Lieutenant Commander Mont- gomery Sicard, who realized at once that his ship was a total loss, every soul was safely landed, together with such stores and provisions as the time permitted which elapsed between the accident and the ship’s breaking up. Without delay he organized a camp on shore, establishing and enforcing the strictest rules, for upon them de- pended the lives of all concerned. He managed to secure a boiler from the wreck, and he converted it into a dis- tiller, thus obtaining a constant sup- ply of fresh water for drinking. It is | difficult to imagine the sufferings those poor fellows would otherwise have un- dergone, since there was no potabie wa- ter on the island. Recognizing the fact that his party might be® detained many weeks, if not months, and that Ocean island was a breeding ground for sea fowl, he at once drew a line around his camp and forbade’any one crossing it without au- thority, lest the birds be scared away Further advances have been made six machine gins and other booty fell into the hands of the ‘attacking forces, ‘Heavy fighting is in progress on the northern end of the Russian fromt, both ‘along the Dvina and south of | Dvinsk: ' The Russians attacked along regard to the President's peace mote | o Vilna-Dvinsk railroad, but, were was strenuously resented by Con: | repulsed with heavy losses, says army headquarters. .The fighting north of the, Ancre river, on the French front, is still in progress. Two attacks were made by ‘British’ troops north of. the 'Ancre. ‘North of Beaucourt the British gained initial success, but were driven bac with heavy lesses by: a counter at- tack: A thrust near Serre broke down under the German fire. Six lines of entrenchments covering the town of Rafa on the Sinai penin- sula haye been captured by the Brit- ish, it was announced officially in Lon- don. 'The statement says 1,600 Turks were captured: A’ Turkish relief force was destroyed. Rafa is thirty miles northeast of El Arish, Egypt. With this success the British have carried their advance to the border of Palestine. The attack was carried out by Australian troops and a camel corps. In accordance with the agreement with the allies on Dec. 1 King Con- stantine of Greece began delivery to entente naval authorities of six bat- teries of mountain guns. He gave or- ders to the troops to suppress all hos- tile demonstrations, which was promptly done and a meeting called to .protest against the acceptance of the allidd ultimatum was summarily dispersed. : It’ is ‘officially announced in Rome reports that the Italian battleship Re- gina Margherita : struck a mine and sank Dee. 11 off the Albanian coast. Six hundred and seventy-five men on board perished. Two hundred and seventy were saved. The Regina Mar- wherita was 13,215 tons, 426 feet long and manned with a normal comple- ment of 810 men. It was reported 1ast October that this warship had been damaged by an explosion. . A British cruiser of the Juno type (B,600-ton vessel) has been destroyed by Turkish gunfire, it is announced in the Turkish headquarters report of jan. 11. The British battleship Cornwallis (14,000 tons) was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean sea, Tuesday. the British admiralty announced. The Cornwallis was built in 1901; and carried a crew of 750 men. ‘She was capahle of # speed of nin