NEVER ¥ wish the kettle would sing again Just as it used to do— I wish it would sing of a lion slain— Of a pirate crew on the Spanish main— Of a clipper ship on the sea-way, high, With a cabin boy and the boy was I Just as it used to do. @ wish the kettle would sing again, Just as it used to do— Of a little girl in a bonnet red, Saved by a prince from a hydra- ‘head, That uted in the corn that towered high, And the girl was sheand the prince was 1— Just as it used to do. I wish the kettle wonld sing again, Just as it used to do— AGAIN. 1 wish it would sing of war’s alarms, The Dooriing of cannon and clash of ms: Of a blue clad boy where the strife ran With ig to the steel a willing to die— Just as it used to I wish the kettle would sing again, Just as it used to do— The lyrics it crooned and the tales it told— But the hearth is chill and the years are The ric it whispered have all taken wing, . : And never again the kettle will sing Just as it used to do. —John D. Wells, in the Buffalo News. On the Rancho del Norte, in south- ern California; there was employed a cowboy named Dan Millar, who very skilfully imitated the calls of ani- mals. With his own kind he was «not at all communicative. Some said he was of a quiet turn; others that he preferred to converse with his four-legged friends of the range; many maintained that he had formed the habit of silence through his un- willingness or inability to interrupt the eloquence of his voluable ‘side partner.’ The talkative partner told me this story, which . was cerroborated by several other vaqueros of the vicin- ity. : Millar was cattle foot- riding .. after. among some barren. granite hills’ twenty miles from the Home ranch when his treacherous Dronco, taking advantage of him on a steep _descent into a gully, began bucking, and after a few jumps succeedéd in unseating his rider. Millar fell sprawling at the bottom of the wash, and as he struck the ground his re- volver was discharged, and sent a bullet through the calf of his leg. Many broncos have a way of set- tling into a comfortable posture and demurely eyeing an unseated rider but this one continued his fantastic buck-jumps until he disappeared down the ravine. Millar had at one time worked in a hospital, and knew exactly how to apply a tourniquet and rough ban- dage that stopped his bleeding. This accomplished, he dragged himself to the shade of a bush, and lay, faint and sick, wondering if there was any way out of his predicament. As he reviewed the situation, it seemed to him that there was little or no chance of escaping. In the place, there was the hot weather. Ordinarily a man with- out water would not last more than three or four of those glaring Au- gust days. The possibility that any one would happen upon him within this time was very slight, as the arid foot-hill waste which stretched away for miles on every side was but sel- dom visited by cow-men at that sea- son of the year. In addition to this “ominous combination of circum- stances was the fact that his mus- tang had recently been driven from a distant range, and would be sure to return there instead of gcing back to the home ranch and advertising his master’s plight by appearing with an empty saddle. Millar naturally supposed from all this that he was fated to lie there and suffer a few days, and then die. But his whole soul rebelled against under- going the torment in that stuffy gully. From the top of the ridge just above him a huge mass of granite bulged up against the sky-line. The pile was flattened at the top, making a platform, on the centre of which there rested a®block of rock about the size of a small cabin. Under the overhanging edges of this huge boul- der, thought Millar, there would be a shade and a breeze and a lookout, and he deicded to attempt to reach it. Fearing that his wound would soon swell and stiffen, he no time in making the effort. Hard riding and plain living give the cowboy endurance and strong nerves, and these qualities, developed in a high degree, enabled Millar to raise himself on his uninjured leg and begin hopping up the steep in- cline. It was a hard and extremely painful struggle, but by steadying himself on thie sage-brushes and tak- ing frequent rests he finally reached the base of the granite dome. By this time his bandages had be- come loosened. He began to bleed “freely, and nearly fainted before he could readjust them. It was several hours before he gained sufficient strength and courage to attempt the final ascent; but before evening fell he managed to work himself up over the shelving granite mass to his lcok- out. That night the cowboy's nerves again triumphed over pain, and in spite of his hard couch and throbbing leg and fierce thirst, he slept fitfully till morning. Until noon he lay in the shade of the boulder, gazing off across the vast wilderness of granite and cactus and sage-brush, hoping against hope that a rider would ap- pear over the horizon. : Then, as he shifted his positica. to avoid the creeping sunshine, caught sight of thirty or cattle which were ridge perk tant. first lost he forty range passing along a aps a hundred yards dis- 0000900020 0080000000¢ 805000008 ee eassss and mutter like them to him. There was no bull among them to take up .the challenge, and as only two dish-faced. heifers took notice, Millar made a call’ which he knew would bring any cattle. In perfect imitation.he sent across the ravines a weird half-scream, half-bawl, their blood-cry! In an instant every animal in the bunch stood in rigid attention, head stretched forward ‘and snuffing eager- ly. He sent another call. The two giddy heifers broke into a wavering trot in the direction of the sound, and instantly. the ‘whole bunch followed anid .made the dust and sage-brush fly as they came lumbering across the -gullies. As they charged toward him a thrill of hope came to Millar, and left him wondering at his own stupidity. Why had it not before occurred to him that if he could excite that bunch of cattle with the smell of blood, the sound of their bawling and the dust of their pawing and “milling” would call a range-rider, if there was .one in the country? : . Two Mexican longhorns had taken the lead in the race toward the re- curring blood-cry. They paused for a moment at the top of the descent on which Millar's’ mustang had thrown him, and then, as they snuffed eagerly to lceate the sound, stiffened as in a spasm, and rilling their eyes in their sockets and rigidly stretching their heads to the side, inflated themselves with a spasmodic inhalation, and let out the rasping, piercing shriek which the smell of blood never fails to bring from wild cattle. They had caught a whiff of the blcod-soaked sand where the cow- boy had dressed his wound! The whole bunch took up the cry, and raced in headlong confusion to the bottom of the ravine. There they milled and bellowed and pawed, horning and crowding each other in frenzied attempts to get to the blood at the centre of the circle, From the chady lookout the wounded cowboy watched with eager, hopeful interest. After a half-hour of wild tumult, the excitement of the cattle began to diminish, the circle widened, and the animals contented themselves with fiercely rolling their bloodshot eyes and horning each other when an opening offered. Then Millar began sounding blood-call again, and presently a trio of lean cows led the bunch up the slope to the base of his watch-tower. Here they fcund the crimson-stained earth where the cowboy had adjusted his bandages, and the pawing and bellowing burst forth with renewed frenzy. Millar lay looking down upon their maneuvres, noting with satisfaction the column of dust that rose straight into the hot, still sunshine. That, he assured himself, was a signal which could be seen for miles, and which no ‘ider would fail to investigate. The mental precesses of the wounded man could not have been very alert, however, or he would have anticipated that the sight of him might cause the half-crazed brutes, that were so busily making noise and dirt for him, to clamber up over the shelving mass of rock to where he lay. He was disconcerted and alarmed when a big roan steer rolled his eyes upward, held his gaze for a moment, and then fiercely assaulted the watch- tower. Millar whipped out his six-shooter, but was not surprised when the ani- mal fell back from a granite ledge about half-way up the ascent and re- treated in confusion. He drew himself back out then, and was putting his back in its holster when above the tumult of the bellowing herd he caught the sharp scratching of hoofs on granite, and peering down, saw a wiry, cat-flanked cow charging wildly. With little apparent difficulty she bounded up the lagged ledge that had turned the awkward steer, and low- ering a pair of vicious, black-tipped horns, came scrambling toward him. There was only one passage by which the lookout platform could be gained. Millar, lying at the top of this, fired, without effect, one shot after an- other. Then, controlling himself with an effort, he waited with his last cham- ber. When the animal's head reached his level he fired at the white spot between and below the horns. When the smoke cleared away, the range cow lay, quite dead, in the passage. Entirely crazed now by the smell of the tiny red stream that trickled the cf sight revoiver both | intensity of this storm of brute fury shook his weakened nerves until he could hardly reload for the flutter- ing of his fingers The united madness of the herd, however, saved the day for the crip- pled cowboy. The jagged ledge, up which ‘the lone cow had with little difficulty clambered, was an impassa- ble barrier to the crowding, jostling animals, as they came on together. There was terrible confusion and tumult there for a few minutes. Cat- tle fell, rolled sprawling, and knocked over other cattle. Fortunately the animals in the rear could not: gain sufficient footing on the acclivity to trample forward over the ones that were prostrate. Soon most of them tired of scrambling for their pre- carious foothold, and turning tail, clattered down the ineline,~there to continue their milling and bawling. A half-dozen raw-boned Mexican cows persisted desperately, but even they finally wearied of horning and being horned, and of repeated back- ward falls from the jagged ledge. They whirled of a sudden and de- scended to help on the excitement at the base of the lookout. Millar took a deep breath, and with shaking hands thankfully laid aside his re- volver. After a little the uproar began to subside again, and the cowboy began to fear that the efforts of his signal- corps would become ineffective, when" he noted slender spirals of dust ris- ing against a distant blackened hill- side, where a running fire had re- cently scorched an area of cactus. The sight relieved and cheered him, for he knew it was kicked up by cattle attracted from the patch of burned cactus by the cries of their mates. The arrival of these recruits doubled the size of the bunch and trebled:ethe: volume of the tumult, sending to the skies a cloud of pow- dered adobe that satisfied even the eager desire of the cowboy. As the excitement of immediate peril passed away, Millar began to feel very weak and sick, and with a cautious peep at the wild melee, tc assure himself that there was to be no repetition of the. assault on the watch-tower, he drew himself. to a spot where the breeze was..strong and the shade deepest, and lay fight- ing back the blackness that crowded upon him. . He fainted, perhaps, or it may be that his was only a momentary weak- ness. At any rate, hé was roused some time later, as from a dream. by the sound of a horse’s hoofs,mingling with the bawling and trampling. With surprising alacrity for such a maltreated cowboy, Millar worked his way to the edge of the platform. He saw a couple of vaqueros try- ing to scatter his signal-corps, and when yells and gestures failed, suc- ceeded in drawing their attention by firing his revolver. He demanded water the instant the men reached him, and after emptying both their canteens, gained sufficient strength and courage to be lifted into a saddle and taken by easy stages to the near- est ranch in the valley.—Youth’s Companion. North Country Indians. One of the most distinctive features of the Hudson Bay Company, says the author of “The Norta Country,” is the cultivation of the Spartan vir- tue of truth upon the part of its em- ployes in dealing with the Indians. No misrepresentation is permitted for the purpose of effecting sales in that service, or for any other purpose, and any infraction of the rule is promptly met with summary dismissal. This money-making corporation thoroughly helieves, and its long ex- perience fully demonstrates, that the Indian of the North Woods is not only industrious, but honest as well. Upcn this theory an Indian comes into a trading post in August or Sen- tember without a cent. ‘He has no furs to sell, but he has many needs to supply. He requires flour, tea, sugar, bacon, a new gun, powder, shot and bullets, traps and many other things to maintain him eight months during the winter. He has honesty, industry and skill; and for the company’s trader this is suffi- cient. He is furnished with all he desires, and the company extends him credit on ‘its books for supplies aggregating from $200 to $500, and the Indian, with leaded canoe, deparis into the forest to his hunting grounds 300 or 500 miles distant. The trader loses no sleep, for he knows that when June has thawed cut the ice of the lakes and streams the canoes will return, bearing their valuable furs, and he will Le busy balancing accounts with his former debtors, who have returned to dis- charge their debits and to receive dit for the additional furs. they have brought to the trader. Last summer a post trader was asked about the frequency of bad accounts. He replied that he never had a bad account; that it sometimes happened that the Indian was unable to make full payment, but in suck cases the payment was simply post: poned until he had a more succcssfu!? hunt. The only event which prevents the Indian from paying is his death, anc in that case the company cancels the debt. cre Modern Education. “So Johnn JAS school?” almost in high “year period in December, ‘and in GOST OF LIVING GOES UP HIGH-WATER MARK FOR SEVENTEEN- YEAR PERIOD IN 1308, tabor Bureau's Statistics Now Include Retail Prices, and Show Why It is Hard to Save Money—No Direct Reasons Assigned in Report, The Bureau of Labor has taken another look into the cost of living and it finds it is: ‘still increasing, writes the Washinghton correspond- ent of the New York Evening Post. Its latest examination.had to do with wholesale prices only. It is now mak- ing a study of retail prices. The in- vestigation just completed shows that wholesale prices, considering 258 commodities as a whole, reached a higher level in-1906 than at any other time during the seventeen-year period covered. The average for the year 1906 was 5.6 per cent. higher than for 1905; 36.5 per cent. higher than for 1897, the year of lowest prices during the seventeen-yvear period, and 22.4 per cent. higher than the average for the ten years from 1890 to 1899. Prices reached their highest point during the seventeen- average for that month being 4.1 per cent. higher than the average for the year 1906, and 6.3 per cent. higher than the average: for December,-1905. The study of the bureau was ex- tended: to farm products, foods, clothes and clothing, fuel and light ing, metals and implements, lumber and build materials, drugs and chemicals, house furnishing goods and miscellaneous commodities. Only two of the nine groups showed a de- crease in. price. as compared with 1905—farm products and drugs and chemicals. Seven groups showed an increase in price, this increase reach- ing 10.4 per cent. in the case.of.met- als and implements, and 9.6 per cent. in the case of lumber and building materials. - ing Food. The average price for 1906 of farm products, taken whole, differs but little from tt} of 1905, a de- crease of only one-half cf one per cent. being shown. . Food as a whole increased 3.6 per cent. in ‘average price 19086, -compared with 1905. The principal articles showing an increase were ciaeese, fish, fruit, hog products, rice and vegetables. No charge took place in the price of bread. A slight in the wholesale cost of wheat flour, corn meal, and tea is shown. Of the seventy-five articles includ- ed under clothes and clothing, sixty- six showed an increase in price, five showed no change, and only four showed a decre In the group, as a whole, there an average in- crease of 7.1 per cent. in price. In fuel and lighting, as a group, there was an incre in price of .5 per cent. There was an advance in the price of ‘anthracite coal of domestic sizes, coke and peiroleum, and a de- crease in candles, broken anthracite coal and bituminous coal. There was a greater increase in price for metals and implements than any other group. In this group the increase for 1906 over 1905 was 10.4 per cent. Of a total of thirty-eight articles in the group there was an increase in price of twenty-nine articles, in- cluding tools, barbed wire, copper, lead, pig iron, nails, silver, tin plates, ete. Twenty-four of the twenty-seven articles included under lumber and building material increased in price in 1906. The only three articles that showed a decrease were pine doors, linseed cil and quartered oak. In the group, as a whole, there was an increase in price of 9.6 per cent. The only one of nine groups under consideration that decreased in price to any considerable extent was that of drugs and chemicals. - In this group there was a decrease of 7.2 per cent. There was an: increase in price of both grain and wood alcohol, that of brimstone. House furnishing goods, as a whole, in- creased 1.7 per cent. in price. More than haif the articles in this group, namely, arthenware, glassware, WOOOCHWATS. and articles of cutlery did not change the price. The in- crease in the general average of price in this group was caused by the in- crease in the priee of wooden furni- ture. In the miscellaneous group there was an advance in the prices of cottonseed oil and meal, jute, malt, proof spirits, rope and starch. There was no change-in the price of and smoking tobacco, and there a decrease in the lie of news wrapping paper, rubber and plug to- bacco. Taken together, the group of miscellancous increased 7.4 per Commeditices, Raw and Man Many students of desire to distinzuish between raw commodities and manufactured com- modities. With a view to such a presentation the bureau has divided the commodities included in its re- cent investigation into the two classes. As thus grouped it appears that the average wholesale price of raw commodities for 1906 was 3.9 per cent. higher than for 1905, and that the rage wholesale price of manufactured commodities for 1906 was 6.1 per cent. higher than for 1905. A study of the bureau's cables dealing with foreign products shows that these products reached the low- est average in the seventeen-year period under consideration in 1896, Changing Prices of Pop = 107Y as decrease Ofeon Voor COLES, Coos, beef, sugar was ase soap was and ariicies cent. ufactured. price statistics ave: 1906, the: | cheese | that period. 1897 and the highest in 1906; of 10e) and lighting, the lowest in | 1894 and the highest in 1903; that of yy and implements, the lowest in 1898 and the highest in 1906; that of lumber and building materials, the lowest in 1897 and the highest in 1906; that of drugs and chemicals, the lowest in 1895 and the highest in 1900; that of housefurnishing goods, the lowest in 1897 and the Lighest in 1903, while in the miscel- laneous group the lowest average was reached in 1897 and the highest in 1906. The average for all commodities combined was lowest in 1897 and highest in 1906. Of the nine groups, it is seen that one reached its low- est point in 1894, one in 1895, three in 1896, three in 1897, and one in 1898. The highest point was reached by one group in 1891, by one in 1900, by one in 1902, two in 1903, and by four in 1906. In 1890 and 1891, according to the deductions of the bureau, the prices of raw commodities were higher than those of manufactured commodities and remained so until 1893, when prices of raw commod- ities declined and those of manufac- tured commodities . were slightly above the price of 1892. From 1894 to 1896, thre "was a marked decline in both groups, the raw being lower than the manufactured in ‘each of these years. In 1897 raw advanced and manufactured declined. From 1898 to 1900 there was.a decided ad- vance in both groups each year, raw advancing to a higher point than manufactured. In 1901 there was a very slight decline in raw and a more marked decline in manufactured. The following year both commodities ad- vanced in price, and last year both that reached the highest point during the | seventeen years considered. No Reason Fdr Rise Given. The Bureau of Labor has made no attempt to go into the causes of the | rise and fall of prices. The aim has been to give the prices as they actual- ly prevailed in the market. - In ex- plaining why it does not discuss the increase in prices, the bureau says: “The causes are too complex, the rel- ative inflaence of each too uncertain, in some cases involving too many eco- nomic questions, to permit their dis- cussion in connection with the pres- ent article. “It will be some of the influences changes in prices. Such include variations in changes in demand due to changes in fashions, seasons, etc.; legislation ordering internal revenue taxes, im- port duties, or bounties; inspections as to purity or adulterations; use of substitutes—as, for instance, an ad- vance in the price of beef will cause an increased consumption of pork and mutton, and, it may be added, a probable increase in the price of both pork and mutton; improvements in methods of production; cheapen- ing of transportation or handling; speculative manipulation of the sup- ply or the raw product; overproduc- tion; unusual demand owing to steady employment of the consum- ers; organization or combination of mills or producers, thus enabling, on the one-hand, a greater or less con- trol of prices, or, on the other hand, economies in production or in trans- portation charges through the ability to supply the article from the point of production or manufacture nearest the purchaser.” The Staff of Life. Man has not always eaten the fine wheaten bread which is so frequently served to-day, and yet it would be necessary to go far back into prehis- toric times to find theperiod in which some kind of bread was not baked. Sarah, who cooked for Abraham, the “father of nations,”” made bread just as her ancestors had made it for’ hun- dreds of years before her time. She prepared a paste of flour and water and, having shaped it into raund flat pieces, buried it in the ashes of the hearth. It was many Years before the Jewish people knew any other kind of bread, although there were times when these flat cakes were baked upon the gridiron until they were dry and brittle enough ‘to be broken by the hand. According to tradition, it —the god with the goat— who first taught m als how to make bread. According to the same authority, it was the goddess Ceres who taught the Greeks to culti- vate corn, and Megalarte and Mega- lomaze-—who instructed them in the art of kneading flour and baking loaves in ovens. So successful were their pupiis, however, it at one time no than v-two kinds of bread were evolved -out of various combinations of milk, honey; and wine with flour of sufficient to enumerate that cause influences harvest; was Pan face and legs of a less seven oil, the For a very long time the Romans were eaters of gruel, the art of arching corn and of converting it op Hh 0 then Q » loo odin 1 i b t 1 XE townships were approved by: Ga Stuant. havin: square mile Shall first ships of Tocal of which shall be boards cially diseases e to be under joint pumping st ers & Re Pipe Line Companies at plant was destroyed ba followed, $20,000. Enterprise gheny, District Court. on dictments ¢ with books counts of applying the funds of the vey tion tion Work judgeship in asking authorizing cities, lish a sioner ginning were seven of the « t state in 19G5, has KEYSTONE STHTE SATE COLLINES EXPENSIVE BASEMENT Auditors ‘Report That 26 Roems Capitol Cost QCver $600,000. The total cost to the state of furn- ishing the 63 rooms in the basement of the new capitol was $638,879.01. Twenty-six of these rooms are used for storage purposes by the various departments or as House and. Senate pasting and folding rooms. The total cost of furnishing these 2. rooms. was $627,628.79, of which $614,365.18 ‘was paid to the Pen: ‘ania Construc- tion Co., of Marietta, Pa., for metal- lic furniture. There is no metallic furniture in any of the remaining 3 rooms, none of which is in use. Kachh of the 63 rooms contains at least one thermostat costing $79 each, and from one 15 white metal chandeliers ; teach. The thermost 1 chandeliers were supplied by John H. Sanderson of Philadelphia, general contractor for the capitol furnishings. Cne of © the interesting found on the table of basement rooms is the ley ladders. These la plied by the Peunsyvivania tion Co., and are ed to top of ‘the met: nses., 538 of them and state was $5,700. in ) ca exhibits for the item: of trol- iders were sup- Construc- reach the There are ir total cost to the COSLS DEPENDS ON MAY ENROLLME! MNT Boards of Education Notified of the Importance of Regarding New Carroll Law. The department of public: instruc- tion: issued a circular. letter to. the schoel boards throughout Pennsyl- vania calling their attention to-: ‘the’ Carrell bill signed by Gos. ‘Stuart re- centls This act directs the state su- perintendeuts the returns of the enrollmmént “of hen “hetween the azes of 6 and Ti der ompulsory dttendance 1c for ributi of third of 1 Heretofore has been made ii tion Mm thie « the d school a separate + the fall { one- arolm IIPOSEs, been al ished and » May enroll nt substi tuted. Hence for gee tnat re lists of rned to the ire COTTeCt, as SSity sch boards. to dren colini coun- cne- HOW being re ssjoners money. 1l wil the next two rette County. 1.000: acres of eriand township, Green ouHty, to the Gil- more chan $400) Wayne same company The newly. puret 1.390. acres Te Hitchcock & the. Youngst Youngstown, sharg Townehip Bil is Signed. Two: bills « of special. interest .to vernor One provides townships a Sepittion of to the he townships of the class. tOWI- entpowers boards are clothed where contazi xist. to infectious lish hospitals. $20.000 Fire in A mysterious losion. from an tion the boilers, Qil City, uppose gd of ons od in the the Produc- United State Oil: City fire oss of of finers and the which ca Convicted on 33 Co Thomas W. Harvey, National mvictec unts. was ox gainst him, the. -entirie acqintted mone? bank. falsifying and was abstracting on was not in court. Work In dorsed for The Fayette County unanimous! i indorsing for th¢ Gov. Si Retired Teachers. the I.vdick hill aut 10 itl S of estab- Can Pension (ov. Stuart sizned ot nhool except 1 ielphia teachers’ Reports. i Com: months be- that there distributed hatch Fish Commissio The report of St Meehan for the six Dec. Hh, SHOWS hatched a: nis- § against 143 and 78,985.867 in k904 been a decided improvement fish laws. Lo vag J The cowboy knew they were zoing {o a water hole on the borders of the valley below: and with no other ihought than that of whiling away ;he time in deciphering their brands end earmarks, he began to bellow down the rock from the dead brute’s wound, the whole bunch charged the lookout. Years spent in a dangerous occu- pation had hardened Millar to the thought of death, but the volume and “Yes; he’s had splendid marks ir whittling and beadwork and baking powder biscuts. If he were only s little more careful in sewing squared I shouldn't be a bit afraid about nis passing.”—Puck. and the highest in 1902. The tables out also show that the whelesale price of food was low-j est in 1S96 and highest in 1891; that | of clothes and clothing, the lowest ip | s cet Sei
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers