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THE MEYERSDALE COMMERCIAL. MEVERSPALE, PA.
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GIVE COURT POWER
TO SUSPEND SENTENCE
Washing{pn,—(Spedial Correspen-
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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
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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<teen
knots and ‘wos 405 feet in length.
Of the crew, thirteen are missing.
The seaplano carrier Benoychree
the admiralty said.
The Cornwallis is listed in the naval
register as a class C battleship, but
considering that she was sixteen years
| old, it is probable she had been put |
|
i to other service than with the active
| fighting fleet.
|
by the Austro-German forces in the
Moldavian. frontier mountains, where
‘and the only source of food disappear
with them. ?
Raids for obtaining eggs and fowls
were stealthily carried out out at night
under specific orders by selected and
carefully instructed men. In this mans
ner, reflecting great credit on Sicard’s
forethought, there was never any lack
of food, such as it was.
Since the scene of the disaster was
a thousand miles removed from the or-
dinary path of vessels trayersing the
Pacific, little or no hope could be enter-
ined of casual rescue. In some way
or other word had to go to the outside
world. One of the Saginaw’s boats,
prepared for this perilous service, was
dispatched under Lieutenant John G.
Talbot, with four seamen, to the Ha-
walian Islands, some 1,500 miles away
across a wintry ocean. Upon this slen-
des thread hung the salvation of a hun-
dred and more men.
The difficulties, storms and dangers
encountered, the hardships and suffer-
ings endured, make this trip of these
gallant sailors one of the finest among
the countless epics of the sea. Terri-
bly exhausted by privation and the
ceaseless struggle against old ocean's
fury, their oars all lost in a heavy
gale of wind, the boat pushed on under
sail, only to be capsized by the surf in|
landing on the beach of tne island of
Kauai. :
It is related that Talbot sighted the’
very last outlying rocky islet of the
Hawaiian group, fortunately recog-
nized by one of his crew, and from
there beat up against the trade wind to
Kauai. Had he missed this islet, no
more, in all probability, would ever
have been heard of him, and it is
equally likely that his shipmates on
Ocean island might not all have sur-
vived until success should crown a sec-
ond attempt to communicate with civ-
lization.
In the overturning of the boat four
of its occupants were drowned, the
brave Talbot among the number. Hap-
pily one seaman got ashore, more than
half dead, to bring Sicard’s dispatch-
es to the American minister to the
Sandwich Islands, who at once char-
tered a steamer and sailed the same
day to the relief of the marooned
ship’s company. of the. Saginaw. Ex-
cept for the sad ending to Talbot's mis-
gion, this wreck, however unfortunate
in itself, is a splendid example of the
pesourcefulness and skill of the Ameri-
ean naval officer and so may be re-
garded with vastly more pride than re-
gret.—Rear Admiral Caspar F. Good-
rich in Philadelphia Ledger.
Odd Name Oddly Wen.
The inn known as the “Same Yet,” at
Prestwich, has a curious history which
1so sunk in Kastelorizzo harbor, | :
Was al fa to’ put on the board he received
Mr, Hackwood iglates: “The House
originally bore the ‘Seven“Stars,’ but
many years ago it beeameé necessary
to have its faded sign repainted: When
the painter asked the landlord what he
the answer, ‘The same yet’ And the
{| man took him at his word.” —London
| News.
ave the courage to appear poor
and you disarm poverty of its sharpest
sting.—Mrs. Jameson.