TliE GREAT AMERICAN PUBLIC. The child of li railway wrecker was wed to titled rnke, .With the Great American Public agape for the title's uk. The crew of a speeding flyer were killed in n reckless run, And the Great American Public thought eomethiiig should bo done. The son of a man of millions wns tried for his life or death. And the Great American Public stood by with bated breath. Three hundred men in a coal mine were crushed by a prnpless wall. And the Great American Public said never a word at all. The loot of the genteel grafters waxed richer year by year, But the Great American Public declined to interfere. For the Great American Public in blessed with a mind sublime A crime in the seventh figure is freed from the taint of crime. So come in a golden glamor and kill or steal your fill. For the Great American Public does love its gilded pill. Arthur Guitcrman, in Pu. Y m iiirairaiB w. i m i s &rj.iJiNjr ur vviixi inn. INCUBATORS. By HENRIETTA CROSBY. r Wilma and I were left, three years ago, with less than $000 after !the settlement of our family affairs. Several courses were open to us. We could accept a borne at the house of an uncle who had a family of his own, or seek positions as tenchers in primary schools, or go to the city as salesgirls in a department store, or take work as domestics in a factory. ' What we did do was to embark in the poultry business. For the use of an old farm, which was owned by a savings bank in Concord, we engaged .to pay thirty dollars for the first year, with the privilege or buying it at the end of the year for $700. w. It was about the most weathered, desolate, lonesome old place which fancy could portray. The buildings consisted of a one-story house, with broken windows and leaky roof, con nected to a long woodhouse, equally (dilapidated, which ended in a tottery, gray shell of a barn, which creaked .when the wind blew. ' But there were no neighbors with in a third of a mile, ct least; and that Is important when one wishes to avoid the expense of fencing. The old fields offered a fine run for fowls, al though there was some danger from foxes. 1 We could do nothing to better the buildings until we were richer; and moving in such furniture as was left us from the break-up of our home, .we established ourselves in two rooms of the old house on March 2d. We fortified ourselves with ham mers, nails and bits of board In those two rooms and the old woodhouse. The great drawback in so lonely a situation was our great fear of tramps. A friend lent us a gun, which we kept loaded for emergen cies. Such things are not agreeable for women to have to do, but there was no alternative for us. The rent was not due until the end of the year; but we had to buy at once of a breeder of "Rhode Island Reds" sixteen hundred eggs, at sixty cents a dozen, and five large hot air incubators. These, with brooders, cost $150. Also there was chicken food to buy, and poultry books, kero sene and other things. Still we had nearly (200 left to live on till we could sell "broilers" in June and July. With painstaking care and atten tion to every detail, we set our five incubators going. For three days we ran them empty, to learn bow each worked, and be certain that the ther mostats were in order before entrust ing our costly eggs to their keeping. Thenceforward, during those twenty-one days of incubation, either Wil ma or I was always at hand, night and day, with an eye to the ther mometers. The Eight of April 6th was the .night of all nights with us. Old poultry breeders may smile at our an xieties, but this was cur first hatch ing. There had been a week of mild weather. On the evening of the 4th, however, it turned raw and cold again. Winter seemed to come back at a bound; snow squalls howled down from the White Hills, and how are old barn did creak and crack! ' We had all our incubators in the woodhouse next to the kitchen, be cause that seemed the warmest, most secure place. Years before, this old woodhouse had been hanked up with earth and sod, which had never been removed, and higher up we had now stopped all the cracks with paper to keep out stray drafts of air. " To place an incubator just right in cold weather is a nice matter. There must be good fresh air about it, but not too much or too cold, and there must be some moisture in the air, but not to the degree of real dampness, else you will have "wet" Chickens. ' With the Incubator you must imi tate the setting hen as nearly as pos sible. The hen turns her eggs over now and then in the nest, and so must you in the incubator drawers; the hen goes off the nest and lets her eggs "air" once a day, and in like manner the incubator must be aired, but should not be allowed to get quite cold and if you open the incubator and put out the lamp at the same time the eggs may cool down too much. The first Incubator which we had filled was tow on the point of hatch ing. To add to our troubles, that af ternoon Wilma was taken ill with tonsil It is. I had to put her to bed and play the doctor, for there was no physician within six miles, and the night was too inclement to permit my going" even to bur' neinTst 'neigh bor. All the time, too, those incuba tors were showing their worst points, owing, I suppose, to the effect on the lamps of the strong wind currents and heavy gusts outside. At times they Us red up, although I hung up T T T rnTTn i i i i i i blnnkets and sheets at all four of the windows and both doors to excludes the drafts. I saw there would be no sleep for me that night, with a sick sister and those five incubators to look after, and I nerved myself for the task. Outside raged the gale. It seemed to increase in violence. Already the little panes of our bedroom window were plastered ' with Bnow. I was compelled to hang up a rug to keep out the cold. Our firewood, too, was the poorest possible, being merely bits of old fences which wo had picked up about the farm. At about 10 o'clock, punctual to their appointed time, those chicks in the hot air incubator began to hatch dear little downy things, issuing from their shells Into this world of storms! With my ear at the little drop door I could hear their low, sil very peepings within, and made haste to light the brooder lamp and get that warmed for them. Outside and all round were other sounds far less musical. Even in the sheltered, muffled woodhouse I could hear the old barn harshly straining and creaking, and at each hard gust I expected its final crash. Anything The Man Who Does Not Want Money Dominates Everybody and Everything. By RCDYARD KIPLIXO. 500NER or later you will see some man to whom the idea of wealth, as mere wealth does not appeal, whom the methods of amassing that wealth do not interest, who will not accept money If you offer it to him at a certain price, . . . and he will presently demonstrate to you that money dominates everybody except the man who does not want money. You may meet that man on your farm, in your village, or in your Legislature. But be sure that whenever or wherever you meet him, as soon as it comes to a direct issue between you, his little finger will be thicker than your loins. You will go in fear of him; he will not go in fear of you. You will do what he wants; he will not do what you want. You will find that you have no weapon in your armory with which you can attack him; no argument with which you can appeal to him. What ever you gain, he will gain more. more terrifying could scarcely be im agined. Yet worse fears were in store for us. I had run back into the kitchen to replenish the fire and change the bricks for Wilma when, blending with the roar of the gale, we heard shouts! "Who can that be?" Wilma cried, sitting up in bed. "WJio can be com ing here in such a storm?" "Somebody passing, maybe," I said. But the next instant the shouts were renewed at the house door out cries which sounded as wild as the gale on which they were borne in to us. Human voices, had they been Intel ligible, might have cheered us, but these shouts were strange. We could distinguish no words. An instant later there were blows on the door. Terror fell on us both, we were so utterly alone. But I summoned all my courage, and arming myself with our gun started to the door. Wilma, however, earnestly begged me not to do so. Again the shouts were raised, with further blows and kicks on the door. "Oh, what shall we do?" Wilma cried out. , I stole forward to the llttlo front entry to listen. We had the door propped on the inside with two old fence posts. Apparently several men were trying to force it open with their shoulders, but It held fast. Then arose another babel of voices. But plainly as I could hear them I was unable to make out a word of what they said. It was a Jargon. The tones, too, were strange. For a moment I had a wild impulse to fire the gun through the door. Just then, however, I heard them at one of the windows, trying to raise It. But the sashes were nailed securely. Exclamations that had all the en ergy of fearful oaths now burst forth, as if from many throats, but the in vaders seemed to be going toward the woodhouse, and I hastily ran out there with the gun. They had found the woodhouse door, and there the strange shouts were renewed. Whole sentences were poured forth, yet not a word could I distinguish. Wilma followed me out there, wrapped in a comforter. We dared not ask what was wanted, and stood, listening fearfully. Blows and kicks resounded, then heavy crashes, as from a club.- Still the door held, for that, too, was secured by props, and after savage efforts we heard them go toward the barn, shouting all the while, as it execrating us. I peered out at the door leading from the woodhouse through the wagon shed to the barn, and was made aware immediately that they had effected an entrance. The great doors. Indeed, had not been fast- ted. Above the roaring of the wind I eould hear the doors slamming and banging and the stamping of snowy feet on the barn floor. In trembling haste we then began to secure the woodhouse door, prop ping it with several pieces of old fence rails, which we planted securely In the hard earth of the shed floor. With all our strength we braced these props in place, then listened again at the cracks between boards of the old partition, for we had little doubt that those wild Intruders would attempt to come through the wagon shed to the house. Nor did our fears prove idle ones. Very soon voices and the clump of heavy boots were heard, as If several of the gang were finding their way in the dark through the empty wagon shed toward the door where we stood. That Was a trying moment. Wilma trembled violently, sobbing under her breath. It was Indeed but too probable that they would break in here in spite of us. But there was my gun. The supreme moment of our peril had come. I resolved to fright en them, if possible, and thrusting the muzzle of the piece out at a wide crack in the partition, I made frantio efforts to fire it, forgetting at first to raise the hammer. Bethinking my self of this, I then suddenly dis charged the gun, causing a blinding flash and a well nigh deafening con cussion! The report was followed by a sound of retreating footsteps on the floor, low exclamations and utter silence. Then presently a high pitched voice called out several times some thing like "Veeaggeetoree! Veeaggee toree! Na-teera! No ladronee!" fol lowed by silence again. They had retreated to the barn. I put another cartridge into the gun and waited, listening, but heard nothing further. Some time passed, and at Inst I persuaded Wilma to go back to bed, then, having covered her up, I returned to watch and listen at the woodhouse door. Not another sound came from the barn, however, and as the hours of night dragged by I began to think that our singular visitors had gone away. I resumed my ministrations to 0 I w 9 I Wllma and again looked to the incu bators. Amidst all the alarms of the nights those chicks were still coming from their shellB, and before morning nearly a hundred had hatched. At last It grew light, after a night that had seemed ages long. The storm had in part abated, and not long after this we heard a continued knocking at the barn. One of the end windows of the farmhouse com mands a view of the barn doors, and in fresh alarm I hastened to it to look out. One of the doors was part ly opened, and there stood a swarthy, dark complexloned man, who, when he caught sight of my face at the window, began making most extra ordinary gestures, smiling, grimac ing and shaking his head In a depre cating manner. Soon another and yet another dark fellow appeared at the barn doors, and they, too, smiled and bowed and shook their heads, as if craving a thousand pardons for be ing there. "Why, they look like Italians!" whispered Wilma, who had stolen out of bed behind me. I was already convinced of this myself, and felt pretty certain that they - meant no harm. I was so well assured of it, Indeed, that at last I nodded to them from the window. Immediately they all filed out of the barn, eleven of them, each with a little bundle or valise in his hand, and plodded through the snow, out toward the road, to go their way. In fact they looked so cold and pitiable that I wrapped on the window to call them back. Wilma and I banded out to them all the ready cooked food which we had in the house. It was accepted with many smiles, bows and cries of "Grazle, slgnore!" What they had attempted to tell us in the night was that they were travelers and not robbers. I suppose that It was the sound of a foreign tongue which had so wrought on our fears. We gathered that they were a party of laborers on a railway twelve miles distant, and they having set oft to go to Manches ter, they had lost their way In the storm, and mistaken our darkened habitation for a deserted house. Thus what seemed so alarming by night, by daylight turned out to be but a commonplace episode, and this, I may add, w3 our only adventure for the year.- From our 1600 eggs we raised nearly 1200 chickens, and well, we are going on with our en terprise in good hopes of success. The Youth's Companion. Spend Millions Abrond. It is estimated that American tour ists spent $40,000,000 in Europe last summer. 9 BOOMERANG DUEL. Port Augusta is almost on the bor der of the desert. In the Immediate neighborhood there were growing In profusion the "salt bush," which supports the life of the sheep during drought, and the tempting "prickly Jack," a weed good to look upon, but accursed to the farmer, as Its pointed spur works havoc among the fleeces, says "the London Field. Close by we saw a prosperous ostrich farm and a number of camels, with their Afghan drivers, about to start on a Journey still further north. ' The strange Impression of this Jux taposition of old and new was deep ened by the nature of the principal case for trial. It was a charge against Jimmy Wonyllta of the murder of Billy Lee, both aborignes. The story of the crime was not complicated. A quarrel seemed to have arisen through the refusal of the deceased, though of mature years, to submit to Initatory rites which technically made him a "young man." The wit nesses were careful to speak of him always as a "boy," though it was tes tified that he had a few gray hairs. The actual conflict between the two men was conducted with much of the punctilio of a duel. Each of them was armed with what Is commonly called the "double boomerang;" strictly speaking, it should rather be called a club in boomerang form. It Is a large and somewhat heavy wea pon, not Intended as a missile at all, but used to Inflict a blow which must be delivered only if such encounters demands that each combatant in turn shall bend his head to the attack, not attempting to repay it until he has steadily suffered his own chastise ment. Blow thus solemnly alter nates with blow, until the man with the stronger arm and harder head Is left the victor. In this ordeal Billy Lee succumbed. ' The witnesses in this trial were, of course, mainly aborigines themselves, for the crime was committed in one of their camps. Their demeanor was extremely nervous. Again and again they had to be exhorted to hold np their heads and to speak clearly. One of them, a strong man, with dents upon his head suggesting a long ex perience of boomerang duels, fainted in the course of giving his evidence, and another collapsed as soon as he had left the box. Later witnesses were therefore allowed to sit and were frequently refreshed with a glass of water, whjch they would empty at a single gulp. Their evi dence was given in pidgin English, interpreted by a police inspector, who was Protector of Aborigines for that district. The counsel for the defense had the advantage of having lived for some time among the black -when a boy, and could consequently make himself easily understood by them. "You yabba longa me now," was his Intimation that they were now to speak to him instead of to his learned brother. "You tell me straight; no tell me lies," was sufficient to em phasize the importance of truthful answers. Several peculiarities of linguistic usage came out during the examination. The witnesses used the word "lose" as a euphemism for "die" and "kill" in place of "strike." It had the oddest effect to hear how one man would kill the other, and then the other would retaliate by kill ing him. The peculiar characteristics noted by the writers on aboriginal customs were illustrated in this trial. One was the blacks' Inability to count. At one point it was desired to ascer tain what time elapsed between the death of the victim and the giving of information to the Magistrate. The man who had himself carried the news could give no answer when the question was put to him point blank. He was next asked how many "sleeps" he had during" his Journey. This inquiry was also Ineffectual. Lastly the lawyer proceeded in this fashion: "Were you sleep same night Billy Lee killed?" "Me sleep So-and-So Creek," was the prompt an swer. The place of sleeping .night after night was then elicited until it was easy to calculate the total inter val. So, too, the time of day at which any event happened was Indicated not by mention of the hour, but by point ing to the quarter where the sun was. The other characteristic especially illustrated was the reluctance of the friends of the dead man to mention his name after he was gone. It is stated by one of the latest authori ties on aboriginal practice, N. W. Thomas, that to mention the name of a dead man is thought equivalent to summoning the ghost, and that to avoid such a calamity words once fa miliar will even be allowed to drop permanently out of Use. In this case Bill Lee's "lubra" never once re ferred to her dead husband by name in the whole of her evidence. She spoke of him Invariably as "dead man." It it was uncanny to hear of a man killing his antagonist, it gave one no less of a creepy feeling when this woman told how "dead man" ate his dinner or walked outside his tent or took up his boomerang. WHY POLICEMEN FACE A GUN. . "A policeman never turns his baek on a man who has a gun out," sail copper tat other day, "and It Isn't bravery, either. It's a matter o! safety. If there's going to be any shooting done it is better to receive the bullet in front than in the back, I'll tell you why. Every officer has to carry a lot of books, guides and other things in nis pockets. He has a rule, a report book, a trolley guide and s slip book for accidents, in his breast pockets. Besides, he carries a watch, a billy, and wears bis shield all in front. This stuff is enough to stop or turn aside many revolver bullets, whereas in the back a policeman has nothing but his coat and Jacket a. covering. There are a number of instances where policemen have been saved by this 'front' protection,"- Philadelphia Record. INTERVIEW WITH A TIGER. The tiger crouched for a moment to take breath, then, gathering all his strength, he sprang again. This time he almost succeeded in touching my shoe (I could not draw up my feet for fear nt overbalancing myself), and I felt the hot, fetid breath from his mouth fan my face. In a silence which seemed to enforce his deter mlnatlon he prepared for a third spring a spring which I knew must end fatally to me. All hope seemed to have fled, and I had given myself up for lost, though I still continued to scream feebly, when an answering shout was borne back to me and I caught the sound of running feet. The tiger heard them, too, and turned Instantly to face his new foe; and a second later Teddy, rifle In hand, came Into sight. His bewildered glance fell on me. From where he stood he could not see the beast, which now started to worm its way slowly toward him, its body nearly touching the ground and a little track of crimson marking Its course. "It's there! It's there!" I cried hysteric ally, and fortunately he understood what I meant. Never for a moment did he lose his presence of mind, but. cocking his rifle, he quietly awaited the brute's onslaught, A slight wav ing of the grass alone showed him, as he stood on the ground, the direction from which the danger was coming; but I, from my point of vantage, could watch the whole scene, a help less spectator. I knew that Teddy was an exceptionally good shot, but he looked so powerless In front of that incarnation of brute force that it seemed to me the combat could only end one way. I had brought the man I loved to his death, and all I could do was to sit there and wait for the inevitable end. The brilliant Eastern sunshine lit up Teddy's quiet, set face and the gleaming yel low and black of his adversary. The trees stirred softly in a gentle breeze that had sprung up, and a cuckoo called quite close, as it might have done in a peaceful English wood. Suddenly there was a flash, a roar- was it the noise of the rifle or the tri umphant roar of the tiger? It seemed to me as if that smoke would never clear away, but when at last my star ing eyes could see again the beast lay dead on the ground, and the man stood there unharmed. E. Hobart Hampden, In The Pall Mall Magazine. GETTING THROUGH JAP LINES. Chinese honesty is proverbial, but would seem to have its exceptions. The Rev. John H. K. De Forest, of Auburndale, for thirty-five years resi dent in Japan and high in ihe confi dence of Japanese statesmen and of ficials, told of an episode of which he had personal knowledge while with the army of Kurokl in Man churla: "Some of the spies used by both sides during the war wore Chinese," he said. "Complications net Infre quently resulted. "Kuropatkin one day had a par ticularly important message to send to General Stoesael. To get through the Japanese lines seemed almost out of tho question, but the Russian com mander went to a Chinese famous for his skill and Intrepidity. The old fellow didn't want to risk, but Kuro patkin cajoled him to it, giving him $300 and promising him $200 when he returned. "When he reached thy vicinity of the Japanese lines, with an intention that had evidently been with him from the start, he went straight to Kurokl, insisting that his business was very pressing. "He explained in full to Kurokl that the Russian general had given him a task which he could not per form because of the admirable dispo sition of the Japanese forces, that therefore he had done the next best thing and come straight to the illus trious leader of the triumphant Jap anese. "Kurokl read the despatch, gave it back to him, bade him go on to Stoes- sel with it and return with the answer on to Kuropatkin and collect his remaining $200. The Chinaman car ried out his Instructions in detail and collected for his exploit $1U00." Boston Herald. HARNESS BOAT TO WHALE. Frank Paschall and James Harvey had an exciting experience to-day at sea. It might have had a tragic end ing had it not been tor the breaking of a line by which a big whale was drawing their boat through the water at terrific speed. In an ordinary skiff they left the wharf to visit their set line, and while they were examining it their craft was suddenly jerked through the water with such velocity that both were thrown from their seats. Recovering, they found they were in tow of a forty-foot whale. Instead of severing the line the lads fastened it to one of the boat seats. After a three-mile trip at a record pace, the line parted, and the strange steed, with an angry flip of its tail, went bottomward. Long Branch (Cal.) Cor. Los Angeles Times. 1 ESS oivnCJLTJI FOR THE FERN. If you have a fern that does not grow fast enough try putting the pot in hot water not boiling, but too hot to bear the hand. This is espe cially good for the large Boston fern ni farna that h tt vn TiAon trnnnnlAntAi 2!5V from the woods. New Haven Reg-" if later. ROSES ARB SENSITIVE. Rosea are amone tho mn&t nenslHvo B of house plants and seem to do their best for certain people who thorough ly understand them. Roses having numerous enemies In bugs and in sects need careful watching and tend ing. They are hard to kill, but fre quently grow in ungainly and awk ward shapes and have few flowers. ' Epltomlst. ! " RAISE LIMA BEANS. There is nothing much better In the vegetable line in winter than dried Lima beans not matured and dried, but shelled green when about two- thirds grown Just as though for the table, and instead, dried in the sun. ' Soaking will swell them out, and cooked they are only a shade less toothsome than the fresh Llmas. ' They" are far superior In flavor and sweetness than canned Lima beans. There are at least two vegetables which It always pays to raise enough of for drying. Lima and Okra. " MULCH IS USEFUL. " A mulch in the spring is useful for several reasons. It keeps the ground from drying out and baking in the surface, which results in harms to the young and tender root sys tem. A more equablo temperature Is secured. This is a point which does not receive as much attention as It should. A warm sun will rais the temperature of the bare ground several degrees during the day, only, to be cooled oft at night. Such changes are not good for tender plants. A straw mulch will also keep down weeds. Weekly Witness. FERTILITY OF WOOD ASHES. All farmers know that wood ashes are valuable as fertilizers. But that VHmtf. iu iiiuuv nuuw. la ii li a vei ashes come. Thus, ashes made from Mi in hard wood are more valuable than ashes from soft wood have not enough value to make it worth while to bother with them. It has also been found that the value is largely governed by the part of the tree from which the ashes are made. It is declared by chemists that the ashes ot young twigs is of more value than the ash of the trunk of the tree, while the ash of the leaves is still more valuable. Agricultural Epltomlst. THE MAKING OF GARDEN WALLS . Even in a small garden, the laying out of the walks is a delightful task. It cuts the inclosure even mors tellingly than the laying down ot rugs within doors; it divides sweets that may be neighbors from sweets that may not: the Introduction of little threads ot paths will harmo- f nlze vagrant colors as can no other I device. And this is a plea for walks of grass. It is true that gravels walks give a sense of neatness and I trimness; it Is true that the strip of cool white gravel is an institutiorl as honorable as the stars; but if you have ever been in an old-fash ionecTS. garden and stepped along between sweet-smelling wildernesses, with wide walks of thick grass between the beds, then you know that the gravel walk 13 useful for nursery men, but charming for nobody. Particularly in naturalistic garden ing as if gardening can ever bet any thing else grass walks are nnj'"' pensable. And why not let the laj extend to the border beds Tf x)t course, narrow gravel strips may. edge the border beds when they do not mar the general effect of the lawn, but especially in smal,i gfl dens these should be omitted. Do you not remember the old pictures of the castle gardens where prin cesses walk all day? From "How to Make a Garden," by Zona Gale, low J ale, In the Outing Magazine. AN ORCHARD SAW HORSE. To be used for cutting limbs the orchard that are too large r and too small to lay still on bl Leave all the limbs possible stick to be sawed and trim til as you get to them when sa the limbs help in holding it Here is the saw horse. It shrl j - . v maua uigu euuugu bo as to rat sticks eitghteen inches or more from the ground. This h of two by six mortised where cross and fastened' with a bolt er-sunk so the saw teeth strike it and thereby dull th All it is, is one end ot an or saw-horse. The branches and 1 on the stick and heft of sam the horse upright. I would in the woods without one Hauke, In The Epltomlst.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers