THE SLEEPY SONG.
Ai soon u the fire burnt red and low.
And the house upstairs is still.
She sings me a queer little sleepy song
Of sheep that go over the hill.
The good little sheep run quick and loft.
Their colors are 'gray and white;
They follow their leader nose to. tail
J)'or they must be home by night.
And one slips overnd one comes next,
And one runs after behind;
The gray one's noso at the white one's tail.
The top of the hill they find.
And when tlicy get to the top of the hill '
They quietly slip away,
But one runs over and one comes next
Their colors are white and gray.
And over they go and over they go.
And over the top of the hill
The good little sheep run quick and soft,'
, And the house upstairs is still. .
And one slips over and one comes next,
The good little, gray little sheep!
I watch how the fire burns red and low.
And she says that I fall asleep.
SPLITTING OUT
By ALBERT
The keel of the schooner extended
over 200 feet 'up the sloping ship
yard, from a sunlit harbor to a pile
of Georgia pine near the blacksmith's
shop. Her Inner "celling" of heavy
timber was almost finished, and a big
"planking" crew was putting on
fetreak after streak outside her oaken
frames. Sledges rang on steel bolts
and thudded on locust treenails, and
the whole yard buzzed with life.
Under the bow an old man with
gold earhoops and iron gray hair be
neath his bandless straw hat kept
filling two coal hods from a whitish
heap of coarse Trapinl salt. These
the carried along gangplank and
stagings and emptied between the
framea, till each "berth" could hold
no more. Thus was the vessel
"salted" to preserve her from future
decay.
The old man's face had a healthy
flush; his blue eyes were bright and
clear. His bare brown forearms dis
played hard bands of muscle; the
Tight bore the Stars and Stripes, tat
tooed dull blue in India ink; while a
fancy scroll pricked into the left en
closed his initials, "G. W. N." As he
Tested in the shadow of the knight
beads I questioned him about ship
building. His first replies were mon
osyllabic, but on further acquaint
ance he grew more communicative.
"Yes," he said, "I've worked round
vessels Bince I was old enough to
drive deck-bungs. Twenty years I
was carpenter on different ships, and
I've circled the globe more times
than you've got fingers on one hand.
Storm, fire, wreck, mutiny I've seen
'em all, yet here am I, back in my na
tive town, working in the very yard
where I learned my trade almost six
ty years ago.
"The launching ways used to be
over there." He indicated a chlp
ttrewn slope where lay several un
smoothed spars. "Down in the rock
weed you'll find some of the oak cob
work still. I've been In a good many
tight places, but never in a tighter
than near those old timber ends one
July night when I was seventeen.
"This yard was then owned by
Enos Carrington, whose ships were
famous the world over. The Zeno
bla Semple was a beauty of 1S00
tons, the largest and finest vessel ho
had ever built. She was finished by
July 1, and her launch was appointed
for the 15th, at ten minutes before
midnight, as in summer the tides by
'night are considerably higher than
those by day.
"When a vessel is begun, her keel
Is set on square oak blocks about
five feet apart, which remain under
tier until she is completed. Just be
fore the launch, a smooth, sloping
track of heavy hard pine timbers,
called' the 'standing ways,' is laid on
the ground a few feet from each
aide of the keel, beginning at the
how and running clear down Into the
rwater. This track is smeared with
lard and tallow, and on its greasy
surface is laid another line of tim
bers, almost as long as the vessel,
and called the 'running ways.' The
space directly above this is filled up
to the bilge with planks and wedges,
forming a solid wall, called the 'cra
dle.' "Mr. Carrington had determined
that the launch of the Semple should
be long remembered. ' By eleven
that night the yard" was welt, filled
with spectators.- The ship was alive
with lanterns and. bunting.. Directly
before the bow was a platform for
the band. With, cap torches flaring
on their music sheets, they played
two or three selections, while the
Wedges were being driven in between
the' cradle planks and the bottom of
the vessel, raising her slightly, and
easing the pressure on the 'shores,'
or short props, under her bilge, so
that they could be knocked away.
"The master builder, who had
been walking up and down the yard
directing operations, now halted be
side the stem, and raised his Hand
The music stopped..
"Split out your blocks!' he
shouted; and a dozen men with
sledges and steel wedges sprang un
der the bow into tbe two black tun
nels that ran from stem to stern be
. tween the .keel and the cradle walls.
Lanterns held outside the ways shone
through the crevices and gave them
light for their work.
"The' ship was now entirely sup
ported by the cradle resting on the
ways, and by the oak blocks under
her keel. As these were split . to
pieces one by one and knocked aside,
josepnine JJaskam, in T. r. s Weekly.
THE BLOCKS
W. TOLMAN.
leaving the keel hanging in air, she
settled steadily, bearing more and
more heavily on the ways.
"Soon her weight would start the
running ways moving down over the
sloping surface of the standing ones,
and she would go Into the water with
a rush, borne along as if on a pair
of greased hard pine runners fast
ened under her bilge.
""Nowadays we split the stern
blocks first and work gradually up
toward the bow, so that, when the
vessel starts, the men under her are
pretty near the stem. Of course
every vessel is launched stern first.
But it was an earlier custom in some
yards to split down from bow to
stern. The men on the last blocks,
therefore, rarely having time to get
out before the vessel started, were
obliged to let her pass over them,
thereby running no little risk from
flying timbers. The blocks of the
Semple were taken in this latter or
der. I had helped wedge up, but
was not considered experienced
enough to take part in the splitting.
"The band was silent. The only
music came from beneath the ship.
Klang! kllng! klang! pealed the
sledges, as the tough fibred oak
cubes, hardened almost to iron by
months of increasing pressure, were
cut away. Slowly sternward moved
the ringing strokes; outside the ways
the lanterns kept them company.
"No sound came from the specta
tors. Closer and closer to the rud
der drew the hammering. She might
start any second. Suddenly she
moved two or three inches. The
crowd hurrahed, and the band began
'Hail Columbia.' The music ceased
when they found she had stuck fast.
The block splitters, thinking that
she would move in a moment, scram
bled from under her as fast as they
could.
"Now and then rose the cry, 'There
she goes! There she goes!' But
she didn't go.
"The crowd aboard shook the rig
ging and ran about the decks, trying
td jar her loose; but she wouldn't
budge. Then somebody on the
ground suggested butting a timber
against the stem. Twenty men
picked up a big plank and struck
several blows; but even that failed.
The unsplit blocks beneath the stern
held her stock still. A panic seized
the gang who had left their duty un
finished; not one could be persuad
ed to go under again. When she
started, she would move like a flash,
and the man who did the work would
be taking long chances.
"The tide had already fallen two
inches below its highest point. Soon
it would be too late to launch that
night. The vessel was chartered to
load as soon as she was rigged; and
if she lost two weeks by waiting for
the next course of high tides, some
other craft might get the freight.
"Mr. Carrington, hat off, came
running down toward the group un
der the quarter. All the blocks had
been split save the last three, which
were Jn plain sight under the keel.
He waved his hand toward them.
" 'Who'll split those blocks out
for ten dollars?' he shouted. No
body stirred.
" 'I'll make tt twenty-five!' cried
he, a little louder. Two or three
men . with, sledges glanced at one
another, but didn't move.
"Just then the band struck up a
popular air. The old man grew fran
tic. .'. ' 'Tell 'em to stop that noise!' he
r
Why the Preacher Should Know All
- About Farming.
m
ty ZLH L. H. BAILEY, of Cornell University,
. ost Teacher and Writer on A-jriculiirj.
Subjects in America.
"Every country preacher should take a coarse lu
agriculture." This is true. The true preacher should
be a leader. He can not lead, without a thorough
knowledge of the occupation ot his people. We have
known three preachers in our time, who had consider,
able knowledge of botany, and to us they were the
most interesting preachers we have ever known. No
one can estimate the interest it would add to the lives
of our rural people, to know the names and history of
all the plants Indigenous to their soil. It is remarkable,
the amount ot Ignorance along this line. It becomes
our preachers and teachers to Instruct our people in this
ui
.matter, as well as upon the
m crop growing.
yelled, angrily; and they stopped.
Matters were too serious for music
then. He tossed his hands above
his head.
"'Are you all cowards?' shrieked
he. 'If I wasn't so old, I'd do it my
self. Fifty dollars!'
"When he said fifty I thought how
much that would mean to my family.
Why shouldn't I volunteer? But I
hung -back, waiting for some one
else. Still nobody took him up. . The
more he offered the bigger looked
the danger.
" 'It's the price of a man's life,' a
carpenter near me muttered.
"'One hundred dollars! Carring
ton cried, hoarsely. That broke the
spell.
" 'I'll do It, I said, stepping quick
ly forward, afraid that some one
might get ah';ad of me. But I need
n't have felt anxious; nobody else
wanted the job, even at that figure.
"Carrington eyed me a minute.
Then' he thrust Into my hands a
sledge and a couple of wedges. A
man behind me said in a low tone:
" 'It's a shame to let that boy go
under. He'll never come out alive.'
"That wasn't very encouraging;
but I had determined to see the
thing through. I crawled over the
slippery standing ways- below the
cradle end, splashed through the
tide covering the rocks and cobwork,
and was soon close to the keel, about
twelve feet from its end. I began
to split sections off the first ot the
three blocks.
"It was hard. work. Knee deep In
water on the slippery logs, I put all
my strength into every blow. The
time was short. If I took too long,
the tide wouj,d fall so that the ship
might strike bottom when she went
off.
"I had plenty of light from the lan
terns outside the ways. A few feet
off stood Carrington, almost crazy
with anxiety.
" 'Work hard! Work fast!' he
kept shouting. He didnt mean to
be heartless; but he came pretty
near being so.
"Little by little I split away the
edges of the first block. Soon It was
loosened so that I could knock it
from under the keel. Two mofe!
"I rained my blows furiously up
on the second. Splash! One of my
wedges disappeared In the water.
Another was quickly passed In to
me. I could hear nothing save the
ringing of my sledge on the steel.
This block took longer than the oth
er, but In a few minutes It, too, gave
way. A single cube of oak directly
under the stern post was all that now
held the great ship on the ways.
"Mustering my final energies, I at
tacked this last block. Strange that
a single blow by my tired arms
should have affected so huge a mass!
Yet that one stroke was what the
ship had waited for.
'Along the ways sounded a groan
ing; the groaning grew to a rum
bling; the rumbling deepened Into
thunder. The block before me was
crumpled into match wood. The
ship had started.
" 'Down! Down!' came the warn
Ing cry, as the lantern holders sprang
back, leaving me In darkness.
"I had no time to get out. The
moving cradle would have ground
me to pieces. I must hold my place,
while the ship slid over me. Down
into the water I dropped on hands
and knees. The lower I could get,
the safer I would be.
"The next few seconds I have nev
er forgotten. I was facing the bow;
on my left, the keel; on my right,
the cradle wall; overhead the bottom
of the ship. It was a tunnel, of
which the top and sides were rushing
past me, and only the floor was still.
Far up under the bilge, but rapidly
approaching and growing larger,
was a dim square of light, framing
the smoky flare of the bandsmen's
torches.
"I was deafened by the fearful
screeching, as the greased hard pine
ways ground together. What was I
beneath those hundreds of tons of
wood and iron! A wedge squeezed
from the cradle wall or a swinging
timber end would blot me out with
as little compunction as If I were a
barnacle on the cobwork. Great
though my peril was, I could not
help a thrill of satisfaction. The
job nobody else had dared to attempt
had been done by me, and done well.
"Lower and lower came the top
of the tunnel, as the bilge amidships
approached. The wind ot the moving
mass stirred my hair. The next two
or three seconds would be the most
dangerous. I must take no chances.
Ducking my head under water, I
pressed my face down on the cold,
slimy, logs. They, were trembling as
In the throes of an earthquake.
"A few seconds of rolling thun
der, ot cracking, vibrating timbers,
then a great plunge!
more Important matters of
iSaSHSHSHSHSZSHSSSZSZSai1
"I raised my head. A thin smoks
cloud, smelling of scorched wood
and tallow, swam before my eyes;
and amidst a tumult of bells and
whistles I caught tbe strains of the
'Star Spangled Banner.' The ship
was off, and I had escaped un
harmed." From Youth's Compan
ion.
Tine
NDU5TRJ
An electrically operated clothes
wringer is one ot the latest Inven
tions for the domestic laundry.
There are 125 miles of electric
street railways la Rio Janeiro. The
current Is obtained from water power.
The output ot the Russian oil fields
in the Baku district has been greatly
increased by recent installation ot
steam turbines to drive the electrle
dynamos and for the pumping in
stallations. The human system can endure heat
of 212 degrees, the boiling point of
water, because the skin is a bad con
ductor, and on account of the per
spiration cooling the body. Men have
withstood without injury a heat of
300 degrees for several minutes.
Experiments show that there is an
Intimate relation between the color
ot sea water and the proportion of
salt it holds in solution, the blue
water containing much more salt than
the green, the difference in the two
colors being entirely a matter of
more or less brine.
Thunder is just the snap that we
hear in our electric machines greatly
intensified, and it is no doubt caused
by the violent commotion in the air
by the rush of electricity through it.
Light travels enormously faster than
sound; consequently we see the flash
long before we hear the thunder, the
interval depending on the distance ot
the lightning from us.
Fish contain three times as much
phosphorus in their composition as
quadrupeds, and as phosphorus is an
essential constituent of the human
brain and requires renewal in pro
portion to the amount ot work that
organ is required to perform, It fol
lows that a dish partly composed of
fish will be serviceable to such as
are engaged in severe mental labors.
Rabies is a far more common dis
ease than is generally admitted; so
that Dr. E. C. Schroeder, ot the Bu
reau ot Animal Industry, urges con
stant observation of dogs and their
muzzling in public places. Recent
progress has greatly lessened its ef
fects, for,. since Negri's discovery in
1903 of the distinguishing micro-organisms
in the nerve cells, the disease
s easily recognizable, and the Pasteur
treatment is effective in curing it.
The mortality of sixty and eighty per
cent, in untreated bits on hands and
head has been reduced to 0.75 and
1.25 per cent.
Who Did?
One ot our subscribers writes us
that William Balfour Ker's picture
"The First Spank" reminds him of
the following story: A little fellow
who had just felt the hard side of
tbe slipper, when the tears had dried
somewhat, turned to his mother.
"Mother," he asked, "did grandpa
spank father when he was a little
boy?"
"Yes," answered his mother, im
pressively. "And did his father whip him
when he was little?"
"Yes."
"And did his father spank him?"
"Yes."
A pause.
"Well, who started this thing, any
way?" Everybody's.
The Wrong One,
A young man had been calling now
and then on a young lady when one
night, as he sat in the parlor waiting
for her to come down, her mother
entered the room instead and asked
him in a very grave, stern way what
his intentfons were.
He turned very red and was about
to stammer some Incoherent reply
when suddenly the young lady called
down from the head of the stairs:
"Mamma, mamma, that is not the
one." Ladles' Home Journal.
Tbe Woods of Idaho..
An example ot tbe progress ot the
science of . forestry in this country
is furnished by 'the. co-operation Just
arranged between the University of
Idaho and tbe United States Forest
Service for testing the timber grow
ing in the State of Idaho. The tests
will be specially directed to deter
mining the fitness ot these timbers
for use as bridge stringers, railroad
ties and- paving blocks.
One Look Enough.
"Are you Mme. Bombazino, the
beauty specialist?" asked the fair
caller.
"Yes, ma'am," answered the elder
ly square-jawed matron. "What can
I do for you?"
"Nothing!" said tbe caller, making
a hasty exit.
The Tannery.
"What building is that?" asked
a stranger of Willie Blllfuzz, point
ing to the school-house.
"That," said the boy, "why. that's
the tannery." And he feelingly
rubbed his back as he passed on.
Uncle Remus's Tbe HomeMagazina.
TALE5 OF
THE BEAR TRIED TO SAVE.
The bears were about to be fed and
the usual crowd had gathered before
the Iron fence of their enclosure In
the Bronx Zoo. The bears themselves
knew It was time, and most of them
nodded their heads or strolleS up and
down Impatiently.
Only one- bllnky eyed old brute
seemed Indifferent. Her flocked by
himself away back on the rocks. His
Indifference vanished, however, when
the keeper arrived with the menu,
which consisted of whole loaves of
white bread and several baskets full
of small fish.
As the man chucked the food Into
the enclosure, distributing it as well
as he could to prevent collisions be
tween hungry diners, the bllnky old
fellow showed how fast a bear can
move when he tries by getting Into
the scrap In ten seconds and -promptly
gobbling several fish, while he
seized a good sized loaf with his couth
paw.
Oddly enough the animals did not
seem to care so much for the fish, and
the scramble for the loaves was ac
tive. Perhaps It was only accidental,
but the way the bllnky old chap
Beemed to sneak an extra loaf away
from the others amused the crowd.
It had fallen a little to the rear,
and as he scrambled over the fish he
gave It a slap with his hind paw that
sent It back to the entrance of one of
the dens In the rear of the enclosure.
""Gee," said a fresh boy, "he's
sneakln' the bread away from the
other one3 so he can have another
lunch all ter hlmselluf when he gits
hungry again."
It certainly looked that way, and a
school-masterly looking person vol
unteered the Information that ani
mals, squirrels, for instance, often
laid by a store of food for times of
scarcity. His lecture fell flat on the
crowd, and even the bears were for
gotten In the comedy incident that
took place at the back ot the en
closure. The loaf had hardly been kicked
to the rear when a tiny pink muzzle
and a pair of white whiskers, with
beady eyes shining through them, ap
peared over the edge ot the. nearest
den. Tbe situation was easy; the
bears were busy eating with their
backs turned; so out popped Mr. Rat,
gray and fat and agile. He promptly
tackled the loaf and gave it a yank
toward the opening.
Then out popped Mrs. Rat and
Joined forces with her spouse. It
didn't take half a minute for them to
push and pull that loaf to the edge
and down into the dark cave. What
happened to it there cannot be- re
corded. It certainly was not eaten at once,
tor in a minute or so the two gray
rats were back again in the rear of
the arena on tbe lookout for further
chances.
When he had finished all the prov
ender in sight the old bllnky bear
turned toward the dens and the rats
ran.
"Say! Watch! He's goin after
his loaf," chirped the fresh boy. "Oh,
ain't he disappointed!"
Such a construction might be
placed upon the bllnky bear's de
meanor if one had the imagination ot
a nature faker. As a matter of fact
he went nosing around the dens
for a minute or so, and then he slow
ly and gloomily climbed back to his
roost amid the rock work. The
crowd grinned at his rueful expres
sion. "Well, it's life all over," comment
ed a shabby man badly in want ot a
hair cut. "You stint yourself to put
something by. You wear old clothes
and eat ten cent lunches and smoke
two for five cigars. You' soak your
money away for the time when you'll
want it maybe, and when you go to
look for it It ain't there. The rats
took it." New York Sun.
ESCAPES FROM RUSSIAN PRISONS
No other country has witnessed so
many daring escapes from prison as
has Russia, says JaakoC Prelooker,
In an article In the World Wide Mag
azine. Probably the simplest escape
ever effected by a political prisoner
was that of the famous Mile. Sophie
Perovskaya. Belonging to the high
est Russian aristocracy, she joined
the revolutionary movement, and at
the age ot seventeen was arrested,
but was liberated. In 1878 she was
again seized and was sent to the Arc
tic regions.
On the Journey Sophie had several
opportunities to escape, but the
guards were so kind to hr that aha
would not risk the punishment they
would suffer. Finally two guards
were put over her who were so brutal
that she was freed from conscientious
scruples.
One night the party had to stay at
a railway station: the two ndirmH
slept in the same room as the pris
oner, one at me window, the other on
the floor before the door.
Sophie appearing to ba fast aaloon
the guards soon fell asleep, too. The
prisoner then rose, tried the door,
which she found to open outward,
stepped across the slumbering guard
and was free. She managed to slip
Into a train for St. Petersburg, while
the gendarmes snored on.
Sophie took part, in the plot for the
assassination ot Alexander ti., and
was hanged In 1881.
Leo Deutscb, the revolutionist, has
a record for repeated arrests and es
capes which is probably without par
allel. Once he escaped through the
medium of a bath. The Russian bath
Is a national Institution. The author
ity which thinks nothing of freezing,
knoutlng and starving its prisoners,
never refuses a demand for a bath.
All Russian prisons have their bath
ing establishments, where the prison
ers are sent under the escort ot
guards.
Deutsch demanded to be taken to
a public bath, saying he did not wish
to mingle with the criminals, and was
allowed to go, with three soldiers as
escort. On arriving, two of the sol
diers took stand before the two win
dows, and the third at the door.
Deutsch undressed, and handed his
clothing and purse to one ot the sol
diers. The soldier felt quite Bate,
thus holding the prisoner's clothing,
for the cold was so severe there was
no question of any one leaving the
bath naked. However, when Deutsch
entered the hot room he found a com
rade, who by previous plan brought
him a bundle of ordinary civilian
clothing, which Deutsch put on at
once, and with an assured air
marched out of the premises without
any challenge.
None of the guards paid any atten
tion to the private gentleman leaving
the baths, and Deutsch easily escaped.
The soldiers waited long for the bath
er, and, on finding that he had es
caped, could not explain how he got
away. Only long afterward did It
dawn on the officials that the prisoner
must have passed the guards in dis
guise. In 1906 an audacious hoax was per
petrated in Russian Poland which re
sulted In the liberation of ten polit
ical prisoners who were condemned
to death. The friends who assisted
them knew that failure in the slight
est detail of their plan meant death
to themselves as well as to the "polit
icals." The prison administration received
a telephone message purporting to
come from the chief of the city police,
saying that the Governor of Warsaw
desired the transfer of the ten pris
oners from the Pavlak to the citadel.
They were to be conveyed by an
officer who would ' bring his own
guard.
The message was taken in good
faith; One evening a man In the uni
form of a gendarme officer appeared
at the prison and presented an official
document ordering the transfer. In
the whole proceeding there was noth
ing to rouse suspicion. The officer
had brought six policemen with him,
and no other escort was sent. The
gendarme certified that the prisoners
had been delivered to his charge.
The prisoners were placed in the
carriage. The only prison servant
with the party was the coachman. As
the prison van was being driven down
a deserted street the coachman was
chloroformed, and tbe next morning
was found inside the van, while
around were lying prison clothes, uni
forms and swords, all that was left of
the prisoners and their escort. All
efforts to discover the culprits were
unsuccessful.
BOYS' BATTLE WITH SNAKE.
Dan Russell, ot Brownsville, and
Wren Tyus, residing west of town,
went fishing Thursday in Big Hatchie
River, near Van Buren, nine miles
from here. A3 they stepped into the
boat' they noticed a big moccasin
snake crossing the ' stream. They
had hardly left the side of the river
when the moccasin discovered their
design and came back, meeting them
in midstream, showing fight by his
upright position. Russell struck at
the snake with an oar and sent him
under the water. He came up more
vicious than ever He struck savage
ly at the boat and Its occupants and
made a dash for the inside ot the
boat.
In their efforts to keep the snake
out the boys overturned the boat and
both were in the water with the mad
snake. The; dived and came up di
rectly opposite the reptile. A second
dive was made and the snake followed
Tyus and bit him In the thigh. He
came up calling for help. Russell
managed to get him to the bank and
examined bis wound, which was fast
swelling. He carried him to his home
near by and there medical assistance
was rendered. He is very sick, but
the attending physician thinks that
he will recover. Brownsville Corre
spondence Nashville American.
NANSEN'S CARRIER PIGEON.
One day a carrier pigeon tapped at
the window of Mrs. Nansen's home in
Chrlstiania. Instantly the window
was opened, and the- wife of th&
famous Arctic explorer in another
moment covered a little messenger
with kisses and caresses. The carrier
pigeon had been away from the cot
tage thirty long months, but had not
forgotten the way home. It brought
a note from Nansen, stating that all
was going well with his expedition in
the polar regions.
Nansen had fastened a message, to
the bird, and turned it loose. v
The frail carrier darted out Into
the bllzzardy air, flew like an arro-jr
over perhaps a thousand miles of
frozen waste, and then over another,
thousand miles of ocean, plains and
forests, to enter the window ot its
waiting mistress and deliver the mes
sage which she bad been awaiting so
anxiously.
We boast ot human pluck, sagacity
and endurance; but this loving car- ,
rief pigeon, after an absence of thirty
months, accomplished a teat so won
derful that we can only give ourselves
up to amazement and admiration.
Nansen's Arctic Explorations.