HIS WEAPON'S.
Here hnngs his gauntlet by the door!
At thrice a hundred foemcn's feet
Be hurled thin challenge to the floor.
And never stained it with defeatl
To me he Hropt hie eyei no more
I And his the victory sweet!
Here, like a silver moon, his shield,
That fronted thrice a hundred foes,
Cut once, upon the tourney-held,
1 He cast it off to wear my rose.
(Be fought and fell; his wound, it healed;
But mine, it grows and grows!
Froie to the scabbard, hangs his sword
That smote the doughty foe to dust,
Bis token, like hia promised word.
Forgotten in the years of rust;
But once he spoke; because I heard,
, J trust him still T'trust!
L Aloysius Coll, in Lippincott'l.
4444 THE 44444
Struggle on Swartz Kop X
4
Br MARK F. WILCOX.
4444
I With his curly flaxen hair and red
eheeks, Plet Joubert was not what
you would call pugnacious - looking.
He was big and fat, too, or at least
lie appeared so; but those who had
had occasion to feel the grip ot his
Angers said that the plump flesh was
'made of corded steel; and no one in
our little South African school cared
to pick a quarrel with him.
He was a good-natured young
giant, though, and rarely did we ever
see him in a passion; but then, as the
saying goes, he saw blood. One of
those times was when he fought the
leopard.
There were four of us, all stout,
, country-bred-ouths of English or
Dutch parentage, Plet Joubert, David
Saalfleld, John Gebers and myself,
out for a Saturday holiday, bird
shooting in the bush on Swartz Kop, a
broad, flat-topped hill five miles from
town. No one of us carried a gun;
for, in the first place, we could not
afford it, and In the second, there was
vastly more sport for us and more
chance for .he birds in using sling
Shots. None of your factory-made elastics
buttoned on a east-iron prong were
. these; but thick, tough, genuine rub
ber In round red or gray cords the
size of a lead-pencil, which we bought
by the foot for ninepence, cut into
halves, equipped with leather thongs
and a pouch big enough to hold
acorns and fastened to a stout
wooden prong on which was carved
In little notches the record of the
game killed.
We were after rock-pigeon that
afternoon, among the squat mimosa
shrubs on the undulating hilltop,
which was nothing more than a huge
' block of granite with precipices on
AH sides except the one toward the
school, where a steep, although con
tinuous, slope led to the summit. In
the excitement of the chase we wan
dered over the two square miles ot
table-land, until on the side farthest
from town, we entered the thickest
part ot the bush and became sep
arated. Still, We kept fairly close together,
for when 'Plet shouted we all heard
him; but we all mistook it for the
cry he usually made after a success
ful shot, and we paid no further at
tention to him. It was only when
John Gebers happened to stumble on
him, about ten minutes later, and
raised a continued outcry that we
discovered anything out ot the or
dinary. - David and I found John, with a
bloody nose, sparring with a wild,
dlsheveled-looklng man, 'whom, all
tatters and gore, we hardly recog
nized as Plet Joubert.
"Vy not you comes ven I callB! " he
roared, and made furiously at us.
- Finally, by united opposition, we
- managed to pound him Into tarae
ness and rationality, so that he was
able, in his quaint Dutch dialect, to
tell us ot his experience.
I cannot begin to do Justice to that
phraseology and the characteristic
gestures that accompanied it; but
perhaps it will prove almost as in
teresting if I tell the story in plain,
Straightforward English.
He had been crawling across a
bare, stony spot near the brow of the
hill in order to get within firing dis
tance of three brown birds in a shrub,
when, suddenly and without the
slightest warning, one of those small
South African leopards, now so rare
among the colonies, and yet all the
more dangerous because of their in
creased wariness and stealth, ap
peared, climbing over the edge ot the
cliff. .
The surprise was mutual, for a
fresh breeze blowing In over the hill,
had prevented the animal from catch
ing tha human scent. It drew back
at first, showing its teeth and spitting
as any cat will do when cornered.
But it was evidently misled by the
appearance of a human being crawl
ing on all fours, or maddened by hun
ger; for instead of retreating whence
It came, it made ready, all at once,
lor an attack.
Plet understood the sudden, men
acing flattening of the lithe body on
the bare rock, and countered with a
swift snap of his already loaded sling.
, He never knew where he hit the
beast, but the effect was astounding.
With a hideous snarl, like the tear
ing of canvas, it came swift as a bul
let at him. His sling was lost, his
bent arms were thrown against his
ides, and there was the chunky,
warm body ot the animal right
against his chest before be could
Wink!
He liad risen to his knees to make
the shot, and the impetus of the at
tack threw him back upon his bams;
but with a tremendous effort be was
able to keep himself from going over
Completely on his back. The beast
was ripping the shirt off him with
horrid digs ot its claws, while Its
tense, snapping Jaws shot hot breath
into bis face and sought his Jugular
vein. Just in time he caught its
shoulders with both hands, and by
sheer force of will and muscle kept
the head away from him.
Then it was that he remembered
us and called for help; tor he found
that he bad strength enough to keep
the animal, tor a few seconds, at
least, from his throat, and thought
that he could hold out until we came.
BUt the muscular strain must have
constricted his voice, for we heard
only a short exclamation, and that
was all. When we did arrive, the
fight was over.
Meanwhile an unexpected dig ot
the thing's claws caught him over the
eyebrow, and the gush of blood that
followed half-blinded and thoroughly
roused him; so that now he began to
struggle not only for life, but for re
venge. Still wrestling with the beast,
he managed to get up on his feet, and
With a Herculean effort be tore It
from him and hurled it to the ground.
Before he could jump on it, however.
and crush it under his heavy veld-i
schoen, the leopard had sprung away.
It came back immediately, with a
high vault into the air toward Plet's
face. He met it with two powerful
swings of his. fists on its bullet head
that would have stunned an ox; for
you must remember that he was a
large boy, even for his eighteen years,
and had the muscles ot a heavy
weight prize-fighter. But the blows
caused the leopard simply to drop on
Its feet a yard from him, when with
Incredible swiftness of rebound It
leaped again at him, this time catch
ing him with its Jaws high up on the
right shoulder.
Fortunately the thick double seams
of his khaki Jacket turned the ani
mal's teeth, so that the bite was
hardly more than skin-deep; other
wise it might have proved the end
of the doughty Boer. As it was, Plet,
with something hot and sticky blind
ing his eyes and wetting his shirt,
and making him feel that the leopard
had got the better ot him at last, was
maddened to desperation, and put all
of his great strength into one last
furious attempt to tear the vise-like
jaws loose. He gripped the neck, and
squeezing hard, jerked savagely away
from him.
The beast held on with deadly per
tinacity, until the checking ot its
wind caused it to gasp a little, when, '
with a sickening tear of clothes and
flesh, it came away so suddenly that
it was propelled far out of Plet's
grasp, and the recoil sent the boy flat
on his back.
He was up again in an Instant, rag
ing by now with the fury of the con
flict. Wiping his eyes on his sleeve,
he looked for his antagonist, and was
all the more exasperated when he
found that it had totally disappeared.
He was still blindly and frenzledly
hunting it, when John Gebers and the
rest of us appeared; and overwrought
as he was from the awful struggle,
he turned his mad fury upon us.
When he had finished his narrative,
David Saalfleld peered apprehensive
ly over the hill, and asked what had
become of the animal,
"I not know dot," replied Plet, in
his dialect. . "Maype he gone pack to
der cave."
".I don't believe that," broke in
John Gebers, who was the oldest and
most experienced ot our crowd, "not
after fighting the way it did. It
doesn't usually attack a man, but
when it does Which way were
you facing, Plet, when you pulled the
thing from you?"
"I not know," said the Boer, nurs
ing his eyebrow.
"Well," declared John, "I believe
you must have been facing the preci
pice near the edge, and you threw It
clean over into the valley."
"Why, dot's so! I not dinks of
dot!" gasped Piet.
We all threw ourselves flat and
craned over the edge of the cliff.
Only a few feet below was a fissure
in the rock that made a narrow ledge
on the sheer wall, and seemed to lead
into a natural cave. A few days later,
armed with a borrowed rifle, we ex
plored that crevice, but how we came
and saw and conquered the nlate of
Plet's leopard is another story. The
proof of the Boer's tale, however, was
before our astonished eyes, as we
stared into the rocky valley far be
low. There, caught upon a jagged
boulder, was a bunch of dark-spotted
brown fur, which, even at that dis
tance, we recognized as the body ot a
leopard. From the Youth's Com
panion. Sounding by Sight.
An Ingenious device by which the
depth of a swift river above a hlch
fall in Ontario was ascertained is de
scribed by Mr. H. W. Hixon In the
Engineering and Mining Journal. It
was too dangerous to make soundings
from a boat, so Mr. Hixon planted a
transit on one bank, and from it car
ried a strong wire, with a heavy lead
weight at the end, to the opposite
snore. Tne wire was drawn taut,
and the weight was gradually pulled
across on the bottom of tha rivar
At stated intervals a sight along the
wire from the transit to the point
where the wire dipped into the water
gave the inclination of the straight
line. The length of submerged wire
and its angle with the water surface
being known, it was easy to calculate
the depth at the various points.
, Labeled Workmen.
Japanese workmen are all labeled
with the characters of their trade and
the name ot their employer.
Of the seven best graduates abroad
recently examined in Pekin, China,
five had been educated in the United
Btates,
New Tork City. Military effects
are greatly in vogue just now, and
this blouse is one of the fffvorltes of
the season. In the Illustration it is
made of striped material and its
smartness is somewhat enhanced by
the fact that it could be utilized for
plain fabrics cut on the straight it
the bias effect Is not liked. It Is the
straps and buttons that really give
the military suggestion, and these re
main however the material Itself may
be cut. The model is closed invisibly
beneath the strap at the back, but
those women who find that waists
that close at the front are a boon can
asily make it that way by simply
dosing the back seam and finishing
the front edges under the strap.
The waist is made with fronts, slde
frontSj backs and side-backs, the vari
ous joinings allowing of the chevron
effect, which is so well liked just now.
The fronts are joined to the yoke
portions and the side-fronts are
tucked. The strapB conceal all the
seams and the straight military collar
finishes the neck. The sleeves are
made in sections and the seams join
ing them are to be found beneath the
straps, while straps also trim the
lower edges.
The quantity of material required
for the medium size is five and one
half yards twenty-one or twenty-four,
three and one-half yards thirty-two,
or two and three-fourth yards forty
four inches wide, to cut from striped
material as Illustrated; four- yards
twenty-one or twenty-four, three
yards thirty-two, or two yards forty
four Inches wide, to cut from plain
material or with stripes on the
straight.
Collars and Chains For Mourning.
Jet collars, necklaces, long chains,
bracelets and pins of all descriptions
In a dull finish are worn by women
who are in mourning.
Pongee Parasols.
Many of the pongee parasols are
embroidered in all-over design, or in
a deep border, the embroidery usually
being In self color, though occasion
ally the Chinese and Japanese designs
and colorings are employed and rich
Oriental blues, greens and yellows are
used upon the natural toned ground.
Some very good pongee models are
quite plain, save for a wide border ot
gay stripes or a border of gay color
embroidered in pongee-toned dots.
Rang to Return.
Bangs are coming back to fashion,
but that does not mean that young
women need cut their front hair short
and do it up in crimps at night,
neither smear it with the stick quince
seed and dandelion lotions of ancient
bang days. The new bang is a soft,
fluffy row of what are called pincurls
resting on the forehead, Just below
the pompadour; and they are called
pincurls presumably because a good
many ot them are attached to a hair
pin arrangement and tucked in after
the pompadour Is finished. That is to
say, they have no more connection
with the wearer's head than they
have with the braids and puffs and
curs that decorate the top of it. This
little' row of curly bang across the
forehead is to be considered more and
more au fait as the days go by.
Skirt With Spanish Flounce.
Every design that suits bordered
material or flouncing is In demand
Just now, when there are so many
beautiful fabrics of the sort offered.
Here is a skirt that Ib made with a
Spanish flounce and which is eminent
ly graceful and becoming, while it is
simple in the extreme. In the illus
tration it is made ot bordered batiste.
Bows of ribbon and folds of silk are
greatly in vogue for the purpose, and
lace and bandings are much used
after the same manner, while folds ot
one material on another are also
liked.
The skirt is made with upper por
tion and the flounce, The upper edge
of the flounce is turned under to form
its own heading and is gathered and
joined to the skirt, which in turn is
gathered at its upper edge and Joined
to the belt.
The quantity of material required
for the medium size is seven yards of
bordered material twenty-four inches
wide, or seven and one-half yards ot
plain material twenty-four inches
wide, five and one-fourth yards thirty-two,
or four and one-fourth yards
forty-four Inches wide.
Ylofets Worn on Arms,
i No longer does tha New York girl
have a huge bunch of violets pinned
to her corsage. Instead she ween
about her glove a band ot velvet of
green or purple as a bracelet, and to
this is securely pinned a rather small
bunch of violets, flatly grouped.
Sometimes there is a gardenia in the
centre, with Just a few violets en
circling it, and then again there is
just an orchid with sufficient violets
surrounding it to form a border.
FOR CUT FLOWERS.
Plant early-flowering cosmos, giant
'snap-dragon, scarlet salvia, let
peas, annual chrysanthemums, pop
pies of the peony and carnation types,
verbenas, asters, nasturtiums, Stella
sunflowers, petunias, nlcotlana and
zinnias. Ladles' World.
FOR EDGINGS.
Choose free bloomers of low
growth, like sweet alyssum, lobelia,
dwarf candytuft, double portulaca,
dwarf nasturtium, California poppy,
ageratum, dwarf snapdragon, phlox
Drummondll, and tor an edging for
tall background, the dwarf zinnias.
Ladles' World.
WHEN TO CUT.
Gather the halt-opened buds ot the
poppy in late evening or before the
sun shines upon them in the morning,
and they will keep perfectly for a
few days a most effective cut flower.
Cut sweet peas and all fragrant flow
ers in late evening. Others may be
cut in early morning. Place stems in
deep water. Ladles' World,
FOR MASSING.
The edging plants Just given are
unsurpassed for low effects, but tor
places requiring taller plants, choose
giant snapdragon, mammoth zinnias,
scarlet salvias, African marigolds, and
later, the asters. For massing against
high fences and buildings, common
single hollyhocks, Alleghany holly
hocks, hundred-flowered sunflow
ers and rudbeckla golden-glow.
Ladles' World.
BERRY NOTES.
Berry growing, like market gar
dening, requires both experience and
brains.
The successful grower Is the one
who selects the crops adapted to his
soil and climate and for which there
is a demand in his market, and who
then sticks to these crops through
lean as well as fat years.
The most obvious means of con
trolling the brown-tall moth, and the
easiest one, is the collection and de
struction of the winter nests after the
leaves have fallen, says American
Cultivator. These webs are conspic
uous from October to April.
SALAD AND "SMELLY" HERBS..
In the days of our grandmothers no
kitchen garden was without Its com
plement of herbs for flavoring dishes
and perfuming the linen closets.
These are all easily raised, and many
ot them, once started, will seed them
selves while others still, once estab
lished, only need a little attention
in the way ot mulching through the
hot months and protecting through
the cold, yielding their store ot
leaves, buds and blossoms freely, and
far superior to any of the commercial
"dried" things or tinctures. In mak
ing out your order for seeds, it would
be well to include an. assortment ot
these. Many of them would better
be ordered as plants. -
Celery, even where not blanched.
Is fine for soups and salads, and the
seeds, sown in boxes early, germinate
readily. Transplant sb the seedlings
become crowded, clipping oft the top
as they grow to prevent their becom
ing spindling. The large plants may
be blanched. by wrapping with thick
paper.
Watercress, peppergrass, parsley
should all be grown; chives, leeks,
tarragon are grown from bulbs, and
used for flavoring soups and salads;
sorrel, mustard, dandelion, chervil
are grown for salads, while mints,
sage, thyme, summer savory, sweet
marjoram, sweet basil, dill, caraway
and many other things are used in
various ways for seasonings for
meats, gravies, pickles, catsups, sum
mer drinks and the like. The Com
moner. ,
TO PULL GARDEN POSTS.
Many a farmer has trouble in pull
ing posts, especially if they Ore firmly
set. I will furnish you with an easy
method which' I have used to avoid
the tiresome task of digging them out
with' a cpade, etc. Take the hind
running gear of a wagon and leave
the reach in it. Take a long, heavy
polo cbout ton feet long. Lay this
over the bolster. Attach a chain
about a foot from tbe end of the pol
Back the whcsl3 and the pole up to
the post in'.oitded to pull. Fasten
the chain to the post close to the
ground, while one man is lifting the
pole on tho other end.' Then when
(he chain is fastened let the other
man bear down on his end of the
pole and the post will come out. Then
loosen the chain anl throw the post
on the wagon or out to the bide. In
this way you can pull from sevenfy
Dve to 100 poBts in an hour, and is
very simple, because no horse is need
4. Tbe Epltonilst.
x tJL. ?
)' IP .
ilDE-ot
AS THINGS LOOK TO THEM.
Pa says that things look very dark,
Hut ma keeps hopeful right along;
She says there's no use feelin' blue,
For right will triumph over wrong.
Ma's got a lot of fine new clo's.
And all her words are full of cheer;
I guess that pa will have to wear
The spring suit which he got last year.
Chicago Record-Herald.
POSSIBLE ON PAPER.
"Do you believe a woman can dress
on )S0 a year?"
''Yes, in a magazine article."
Brooklyn Life.
UNSYMPATHETIC.
. "Sir, I am looking for a little suc
cor." "Do I look like one?" Louisville
Courier-Journal.
A COLLECTOR, PERHAPS.
Mrs. Benham "A tramp stole one
of my pies to-day."
Benham "I wonder what he will
do with it?" Harper's Weekly.
FAVORITISM.
"I haven't a pull with any one,'
said the unsuccessful man.
"Oh, yes, you have, dear," said his
wife, encouragingly, "with the fbol
klller." Life.
A GRADE HIGHER.
"I understand he has risen in the '
social scale." '
"Yes, he used to be a blacksmith;
now he's an automobile repairer."
Brooklyn Life.
MIGHT BE EITHER.
Mrs. Baker "My old school friend,
Mrs. Jones, writes me that she Is just
ucgiiiuius iu live
miss Ann ieeK wiuowea or ai- i
vorced?" Brooklyn Life.
EXPERIENCE TEACHES.
"Wot's up wlv yer face?"
"Toot'ache!"
"Woy don't yer. 'ave it drawed
out?"
"Ugh! It 'urts too much!"
"No, it don't. I've 'ad millions
drawed!" Washington Star. '
A HOPELESS CASE.
Wyld "I suppose your wife's will
Is law."
Enpec "Yes, and the worst of It
Is that she can't be bribed not to en
force it." Brooklyn Life.
AN INCENTIVE.
"What makes Jones so economical
these days?"
"Some one gave him a pair of gog
gles, and now he's saving up for an
automobile." Llpplncott's.
THE PRACTICAL GIRL.
"Jack told me he could live on my
kisses forever."
"Are you going to let him?" ..
"Not till I find out what I'm going
to live on." Chicago Journal.
A GOOD WEIGHT.
"How did Harry enjoy bis trip
abroad?"
"Very much. He looks happy, and
has gained one hundred and fifteen
pounds."
"One hundred and fifteen pounds?"
"Yes; and she's an heiress."
Brooklyn Life.
MAGAZINE ASTRONOMY.
"What sort of telescope do you use
for seeing things on Mars?"
The eminent astronomer, habitu
ated to scanning the heavens at mag
azine space rates, stayed his pen but
an instant. "I have learned," he re
plied, "not to rely on any telescope.
The best ot them sadly hampers the
play ot the Imagination." Philadel
phia Ledger.
A DELICATE TASK.
"The newspapers," said the orator
solemnly, "do not tell the truth."' .
"Perhaps not," answered the edli
tor, regretfully. "We do or best.
But you know there is nothing more
difficult that to tell the truth in a
way that won't put it up to some one
to challenge your veracity." Wash
ington Star.
HIGH FINANCE.
"Say, Jinks, I have a proposition to
put before you."
"Put ahead."
"Four of us are going to chip in
and buy a beefsteak on credit. We
propose to bond it for four times the
purchase price, sell the bonds and
pay the butcher. Then we're going
to divide the beefsteak. Are you in?"
Jinks was 1".. Kansas City Jour
r-A
1
.