(burning the mortgage!
S)SBMS BY O A. BTEI'HOJtS. MU 0
' At exactly 11 o'clock on New Year's
morning there was a curious cere
. mony at "the old Edwards place" in
Maine. The word ceremony, In fact,
but faintly describes what happened.
It was more like a Jubilee, with the
semblance of a barbaric lite added.
All the Edwards kith and kin were
there, with n goodly number of their
friends and neighbors.
At the fnrther end of the garden,
In front of the farmhouse', there Is a
knoll, at tha top of which a mossy
ledge crops out. On this ledge there
was a pyre erected of dry wood, pitch
and rolls of curved birch bark a
flno pile of it. At the centro stood nn
Iron rod, set In n hole, drilled In tho
ledge, and here nn old oppressor of
the Edwards konistciul was burned
at the Btnke!
This sounds so savage that I mako
haste to say that the old oppressor
was not an nnlmato form of flesh and
blood, but merely nn clligy.
Tho efllgy was a masterpiece In Its
way, the very simulacrum of rapacity,
With a fnce like tho fabled Harpies
and hands like talon?, bugging to its
breast a folded, yellowed paper.
That yellowed pnper was a mort
gage, which had rested on the home
farm for ono entire generation.
The history of that mortgage Is so
much like thousands of others that
It would hnrdly be worth relating if,
at tho last moment, a noblo effort to
lift it had not been crowned by suc
cess. The story of that effort Is one
I like to tell.
The Edwards farm adjoins the one
where I lived when a boy. There
were three hundred acres of tillage,
pasture and woodland, with a well
built two-story I101130 nnd two, largo
barns. The Edwards children
Chester, Thomas, Catherine, Eunice
were my youthful neighbors and
schoolmates.
In those days the farm was well
Itllled, unencumbered and prosper
ous; but In an evil hour a traveling
agent cajoled Jonns Edwards, the
lather, Into buying the State right
to make and sell a certain newly pat
ented automatic farm gate, for the
Bum of two thousand dollars. Ed
wards had a thousand dollars In the
savings bank; he drew out thi3 and
raised tho other thousand by mort
gaging the homestead.
It was the old story. The much
vaunted gale proved a gate to trouble
for Edwards. lie was never able to
Bell it. nut if the gate proved il
lusory, the mortgage was tanglblu
The farmer spent the remaining
fifteen years of his life paying Inter
est on it.
After his father's death Chester
Edwards "went home to live," a3
peopla say in Maine. The family
then consisted of his mother, his Bis
ter Eunice, who was an invalid from
Bplnal curvature, and his mother'3
brother, Uncle Horace, who had lost
a leg in th9 Civil War, but for some
reason did not draw a pension. Ches
ter began by selling off the wood and
timber on the old farm, thereby pay
ing the accumulated Interest. He
then embarked In the dairy business,
but did not prove a successful farmer,
and during the fifth season lost al
most his entire herd of cows from
tuberculosis. Becoming discouraged,
he gave up and set off suddenly for
the Klondike gold region.
A nephew then carried on tho farm
for a year, but did not remain.
Meanwhile Thomas, the younger
Bon, had become a Methodist min
ister. He was unable to do anything
toward reducing the mortgage.
"The mortgage will get the old
place now, and no help for it," the
neighbors said.
But there was still another mem
ber of the family to be heard from
Catherine, the younger daughter.
Largely by her own efforts, Cath
erine Edwards had graduated from
the State normal school, and obtained
a position as Instructor in another
normal school at a good salary. Wo
imagined that Catherine would aid
her mother and sister, but never sup
posed that she would come home to
care for them there.
But after Chester left," Catherine
never hesitated for a moment. She
resigned her position, bade farewell
to all prospects of advancement as a
teacher, and came home.
She had saved seven hundred dol
lars. With this she paid a year's in
terest, had the leaky roofs repaired,
and hired such help as was necessary,
Indoors and out. Yet what could she
' do with that old farm and Us mort
gage?
That season, however 1903 the
old place quietly put forward ono of
Its natural assets.
Our county is In what is known
as "the apple belt" of New England.
Apple trees spring up everywhere
here, and if grafted and trimmed,
,' soon bear well. Although a cripple,
Uncle Horace Flint had been in the
habit every spring of hobbling about
from one young apple tree to another,
setting Baldwin scions and trimming
the trees. He had not thought his
work amounted to much, but he liked
to be doing something.
The young trees were scattered
about the fields and pastures, along
fences and in the. borders of the
woodland: and there 'were far more
of them than the neighbors knew of,
The year 1903 was an "apple year."
Every young tree, on the farm was
bending down under Its load. A great
crop with the farmers of the apple
belt is far from being an unmixed
blessing, however. They rarely get
more than a dollar a barrel for their
apples. The barrels cost them thirty
five cents each, and as- the expense
of hauling them is ten or fifteen cents
a barrel more, there "renftns but fifty
cents to pay for picking Sorting and
barreling. If the farmer does this
by hired labor he may clear ten cents
a barrel, or he may not. For Ca.th
erlne, therefore, a crop of seven or
eight .hundred barrels of apples on
the trees meant little it gathered, bar
reled and sold in the usual way.
"It seems a shame," one neighbor
sold to her, "but It will be about as
well for you to let those apples har
vest themselves."
Agnlnst such waste of nature's
bounty, however, Catherine's New
England thrift revolted. ' She begun
to look Into the applo problem; and
the result of bor study of It is worth
recording.
She purchased no barrels, nnd the
only help she hired wns a boy to push
a wheelbarrow. She herBolf, with
Uncle Horace and Eunice, wont out
to the trees to gather up the fruit.
The boy wheeled the apples In, two
bushels nt a load, and stowed them in
bins, built up In two rooms in tho
house, where, later, they could bo
kopt from freezing by means of a
stove in the cellar beneath.
Cntherlno had thought this all out
In advance, and she had sent off for
four "evaporators," payment for
which used nearly all her remaining
money.
Carelessly dried apples, on strings,
brings no more than six or eight cents
n pound, but nicely sliced, "evap
orated" apple always commands a
much better price. She had resolved
to put the wholo crop ot Baldwins
into evaporated apple.
In almost every rural neighbor
hood, village or small town there Is
sure to be some old "aunty," "grand
ma" or widow In Indigent circum
stances, who has outlived the most of
her earthly ties, and must go to thu
town farm," or subsist on sufferance
with Bonio grudging relntlve. Lite
grows very dreary to these old per
sons. There seems to be no placn
for them. In cases where a few hun
dred dollars can be raised for them,
they sometimes go to an "old ladles'
home."
Within three miles of tho Edwards
homestead there were two of these
old souls, "Aunt Netty" Stiles and
"Grandma" Frost, who were by no
means helpless or feeble, but had
merely outlived their welcome on tha
earth.
Catherine first made the old fnrm-
house dining room cozy and warm,
and then Invited Aunt Netty and
Grandma Frost to come nnd sit with
her mother and Eunice and slice np-
pies. She offered them seventy-five
cents a week and board. Moreover,
she took them all Into her confidence,
and told them her plans for saving
tho old homestead.
Uncle Horace peeled the apples on
a paring machine, and the old women
sliced them. Their tongues ran; they
were as chipper as crickets. They
had not had so good a time for years.
Catherine had to look to It that they
did not overwork. They produced
more Bllced apple than the four evap
orators would dry. Uncle Horace had
to contrive a fifth drier over a large
stove out in the woodhouse. Two
more forlorn old women from the
town farm came on foot, begging for
work. They were taken in.
Apple drying went on from the
first of October till the middle ot
January, and the whole crop was
dried. Before the first of March
Catherine had sold the entire output
nt eleven cents a pound. The result
was an object lesson to every applo
farmer in that locality. She received
fifteen hundred and sixty dollars; and
owing to the Bktll with which she
had managed the entire expenses of
drying the apples were less than a
hundred and seventy dollars. .
There was also this other curious
result: The old women did not want
to go home! In fact, the two from
the town farm cried when the last
of the apples were cut.
Then Catherine determined to keep
them all over for tho next season.
She bought a lot of yarn and set them
to knitting Bocks and woolen gloves.
In fact, she had started a happy old
women's home before she knew it!
And the number of applications which
came to her from homeless old women
and from those who had aged rela
tives on their hands whom they
wished to be rid of would have been
laughable, if It had not been pathetic.
But for tho time being Catherine
could do no more than keep those
whom she had.
The year 1904 also proved to be
an apple year; and again the whole
crop was put into evaporated apple.
two other old women having been ad
miLted to the "circle of slicers."
By this time, too, Catherine had
come to realize the possibilities ot
her new business. All the apple trees
were carefully looked after, and two
hundred young trees set out. She
planted, too, a hundred and fifty plum
and pear trees, and an acre ot black
berry shrubs; for now her design was
to mako a new venture, canning
pears, plums and berries in glass Jars.
In fact, it would not surprise me if a
few years hence this neglected old
homestead were producing five thou,
sand dollars' worth of fruit annually,
Catherine appears to have solved
two Important problems in social
economy: First, how to make a run
out farm pay a handsome profit; and,
second, how to utilize and make
happy a class of homeless and for
lorn old women who seem to have no
place in the world. With their wages
In their pockets, and the prospect ot
home and companionship ahead, It Is
quite remarkable how these old
women have cheered up.
Of course there were many ex
penses fer the first two years. The
house and outbuildings had to be re
paired and repainted; and it was not
until this present autumn three
years from the time she came home
that Catherine saw her way clear
to pay off the mortgage and free the
old place from its twenty year oi
bondage. Youth's Companion.
o rvy M
AN ADVANCE UNDER FIIIE.
In Hnrper's William Guldner, a sur
vivor ot the battle of Gravelotte, the
most hard fought victory of the
Franco-Prussian war, tells how he
aw the victory as color bearer of
bis regiment.
"It must have been, I think, about
4 o'clock when Colonel Von Boehn
rode to the bend ot the regiment,
and we all straightened, quick, as on
parade. As he snld, sharp, a few
words, something like, 'Men, tha reg
iment has a good name, and you will
give it a still better one.' I was in
front, nnd could rtear part ot what
he snld.
"The colonel led us to the left, and
we crossed a railroad track nnd went
through another little white village,
and then we faced a slope, n long
Blopo, with a village on It which tho
French hnd made Into a fort, and we,
our regiment and others, were to
capture it, and there were many
Frenchmen nnd ennnon then;.
"The colonel rode on a horse, he
tnd the majors and the adjutants.
Our captains usually rode too, hut
this dny the captains sent their horses
bnck and went on foot.
"And soon our first 'men began to
fall, for we came under trie fire of
the chassepot. It was hard, for we
could not Bee the enemy. These first
ones were many sharpshooters, in a
ditch, and the noise of their firing
was like Ua.t of a coffe9 mill Kr-r-r-r-r-r!
They drew off as we went
forward. It was only at a walk that
we went, a steady walk, Just as if
there were no bullets there.
"And now we would run forward
fifty ynrds nnd throw ourselves flat;
then another fifty yards and the halt
and the falling (lnt; nnd each time
we could see the village that was a
fortress nearer.
"And once, when wo were 1ylng;
down, and I saw that the officers were
Btandlng, Just cool and quiet, It came
to me that a man has to pay In such
ways to be an officer.
"I saw the colonel fall. lie wns
hot from his horse and cnrrled back.
"The first major, be took com
mand, and he gnlloped to the skir
mish line, nnd he was shot. Then
the second major, too, was Bhot. and
he tried to get up, but he could not
stand, nnd he sat on a big stone and
shouted: 'Go on! Go on!" And he
took a gun from a dead man and fired
It.
"We were ordered to fix bayonets,
and that made us glad; but even yet
the men carried their rifles on their
Bhoulders as they ran. We were not
near enough to charge with bayonets.'
"I wish I could tell you What it was
like ns we got near that village of
Bt.-Privat. The noise, the smoke, the
flashes, the1 falling men, and only one
desire in our hearts.
"There were three sergeants In the
tolor section, one at each side of me.
rind first the one at my right was
killed. Then the one at my left was
shot. Eight big bullets in his body
from a mitrailleuse eight! Yet he
afterwards got well, while many a
man died from only one little bul
let. "And at last we went nt a bayonet
charge, nnd for the first time there
wns a cheer, and we ran on, eager
to plunge the bayonets; and we could
lee, as we came near the village,
that the French were firing from be
hind barricades and garden walls and
from windows.
"And we looked into the wild faces
of the French, and they met us hand
to hand. Ah! we climbed over walls
and barricades, and we fired and bay
oneted, and wo fought them in the
streets".
"On and on wo went. It was a
wild time of shooting, bayoneting,
wrestling, clubbing, shouting. ' On
and on, but it was slow work and ter
rible, for the French fought for every
tep.
"I was at the front, for I had the
colors. There were a few officers still
left, and they were Elioutlng and wav
ing their swords, and other regiments
stormed into the village with us, and
after a while I can't say how long
the place was ours.
, "As I tell It to you It seems perhaps
a simple thing. But when the regi
ment was paraded before the battle
began, we were moro than 2900 uen
and more than fifty officers, and we
lost in the fight forty officers and
more than a thousand men. Yes;
that was tho loss of just my regiment
alone. It was morderiscb, but it was
necessary.
"Well, it's all over. The village
was blazing, and many a dead man
lay in the ruins; some sat upright,
dead, with their backs against the
walls."
FIRST MURDER DIDN'T COUNT.
. The approach of a sled was usually
balled with rejoicing, but one day the
announcement brought quite the op
posite result. The visitor was Dlrek
slna, an Eskimo from Kiglavalt on
Richard Island. When he was gone
th Qext day I learned the following
facts: . ..
A few years ago (I believe not
more than five; one can never get
definite ideas from the Eskimo if
. more than three years are involved)
a man, whose name I neglected to
make note of, was living with his
wife Ekopterea and two children in
little fishing house, for it was not
yet quite time to go Into wlntei iar.
tera. One day, when the woman'and
smaller boy. were a little way from
shore fishing, Dlrekslna came to the
house where the man was sleeping af
ter a hunt nnd shot him with a rifle;
then be phot the boy who was outside
playing, und oncie out on the ice to
shoot the woman also. But the wom
an shouted to him that if he did not
kill her she would tell everybody
that he had killed her husband in self
defense. With many vows and prom
ises the woman agreed to always tell
this story. Dlrekslna believed her
and did .not kilt her. That evening
she hitched up her dogs, drove to
Ovnyunk'B, and told him the whole
story. lie took her and the boy into
his house, and kept both, until last
winter Eknptnrea died, shortly after
this visit of Dlrekslna's.
The circumstances connected with
this murder throw many a sidelight
on Eskimo chnracter and views of lifo.
Most striking perhnps (nt least on
first Ihought) was the fact that al
though the announcement of Dlrek
slna's visit spread gloom for the mo
ment, yet when he nctually arrived
ho received a welcome only a trifle
less hearty thnn did visitors custom
arily. Even bis victim's widow, who
was the ollest nnd most decrepld
member of the housohold, Joked with
htm, and told him in great detail
her various sufferings from rheuma
tism and oncoming age.
The next day, when he was gone, I
learned the story, "nut," I asked
Ovayuak, "Is It, then, not true, as the
Hudson Bay trader told me, that you
formerly used to kill several men
each year in blood revenge and per
petual fruds?" Oh, yes, that was all
true, but It happened long ago before
the whalers came and the epidemics
which sometimes killed ten where
there were thirteen In a house. When
the epidemics were gone the people
began to talk nnd say, "We must
not fight nmong ourselves any longer;
v.e are too few." And then all
agreed, after talking about It a whole
summer, that there should be no more
killing for revenge, not even though
a murder were committed. Since
then there had been one murder only,
and Dlrekslna will not be killed for
It. When I asked why he was so well
treated even by the relatives of the
murdered, tho answer was character
istic: "To kill him, that might be
sensible, for he Is a bad man and may
commit more crimes; but to treat him
badly and make him miserable, what
good would that do?" Vllhjalmr
Stefansson, in Harper's Magazine.
GRIZZLIES TOO PLENTIFUL.
From nil parts of Interior British
Columbia reports are received of an
unusual number of grizzlies being
seen this season, and numerous en
counters with them have been chron
icled during the last few weeks. To
kill a grizzly weighing nearly 800
pounds with a .32 calibre revolver is
something that few nieri can boast of,
It was the uniiBual feat that Dr. A.
McKay Jordan accomplished while
visiting some mining claims in which
he In interested n&ar Jedway, Queen
Charlotte Islands. The eight small
bullet boles In the bear's skin are
the proofs of his unique experience.
The bear would never have been
bagged had he not been caught In the
water and practically At the mercy
of Dr. Jordan and his friends. They
were taking supplies to carrp in a
small boat, and while passing through
a channel between two Islands came
upon a bear swimming. They headed
him off shore despite angry snarls.
Dr. Jordan was the only one of the
party who had anything in the shape
of a firearm, and this was a revolver
with .32 short cartridges. H9 emptied
one lond of these at the half im
mersed bear, but the bullets had lit
tle effect except to glance off the hard
skull and make the animal redouble
his efforts to get away.
Dr. Jordan and his companions
got closer to the bear with their boat,
and in tho meantime the revolver was
reloaded. Two more shots were sent
in at short range, and finally one
right over the temple, fired from a
distance ot less than ten feet, did the
trick. The bear was so heavy that
the four men in the boat were un
able to drag him on board and the
carcass was towed ashore.
. S. May and companion attached
to Goldman's logging camp near Har
rison Mills had a more exciting ex
perience. The pair were going
through the brush along Cottonwood
Creek when they aroused a large
black bear, which mada for them.
Being unarmed they dodged among
the trees for some time, but were fin
ally compelled to climb to a place of
refuge. Their shouts attracted two
fishermen, who, being armed, quickly
despatched the bear.
WOMAN KILLS MOUNTAIN LION,
Mrs. Gussie Barnes, a wealthy wo
man of San Bernardino, Cal., had a
battle with a young mountain lion on
her ranch, six miles away. By the
merest chance Mrs. Barnes saved her
life, and when it was all over she col
lapsed.
Hearing a commotion in the chick
en yard, Mrs. Barnes, who was alone
at the ranch house, went to ascertain
the cause ot the trouble. She came
unexpectedly upon a young mountain
lion which was eating a chicken. The
beast, with an ear splitting snarl.
jumped at the woman.
Mrs. Barnes, without a moment's
delay, picked up a yoke at her feet
and Bhe had just time to raise it over
her shoulder when the beast was up
on her. She struck out wildly, but
the blow landed on the lion's head
with great force. The Hon was
stunned but quickly recovered, but
the woman rushed upon it, landing
blow (.Iter blow untlj she killed the
beast. -rf ' .
THE PASSING OF
How the Old Age Pension Works In Gcrmaiy.
P.-oliably few of us havo noted how
rapidly the Old Age Pension has been
spreading about the world. In Qor
many the plan In its practical opera
tion might be called a form of com
pulsory Insurance under Government
direction and with Government help.
Thus every person working for
wages or a salary not exceeding $500
a yenr must take out an old age or
Infirmity insnrance policy on which
he pays one-half of the annual prem
ium while his employer pays the other
half. From the fund thus obtained
pensions nro paid to persons whom
sickness or infirmity have incapaci
tated for work as well as to those at
taining the age of seventy years, To
each recipient of an Invalid or old ago
pension the Government makes an ad
ditional grant of lis own.
The amount of the pension is de
termined upon the doublo basis of the
wages received by the pensioner while
ho was nt work and the amount he
has paid in premiums.
In 1907 there were Insured in Ger-
mauy in the Government Old Age and
Invalidity Insurance more than four
teen million persons from which as
tounding fact you can gather some
thing of the proportions of the new
Idea, says Charles E. Hussoll, in a
notable article In Hampton's Broad;
way.
In practice tho Invalidity pension
lias proved moro popular than the
strictly old age pension, for the rea
son that the Infirmity pension can be
entered npon when the invalidity oc
curs and after the age of Beventy it
tnkeS the plaee of an old ago pension.
Thns while in 1907 there were 110,-
9C7 persons receiving the straight
old age pnslon, thero were more than
800,000 who were In receipt of the
infirmity pension. The total national
expenditure in 1907 on the insurance
account was $52,750,000, of which
about $4,200,000 was tor old age
pensions.
The average pension was: .
Per Year.
For old age $39.53
For permanent Invalidity.... 40.04
For provisional invalidity.... 40.14
Of course these Bums seem very
small to us, but we must remember,
first, that the difference between our
country and Germany in respect to
the relative cost of living is a fact
always to be reckoned with in mnk
ing comparisons, and second, that
Germany was the pioneer in these
reforms and her cautious first steps
have been far exceeded by the nations
that have followed her.
Thero are five classes ot contribu
tors to the German fund:
1. On annual wages or salaries of
$37.50 the annual premium is 3
cents a week; 2. On annual wages or
salaries of $137.50 the annual prem
lum is 5 cents a week; 3. On the an
nual wageB or salnries of $212.50 the
annual premium Is 6 cents a week; 4.
On annual wages or salaries of
$287.50 the annual premium Is 7V4
cents a week; 6. On annual wages
or salaries of $500 the annual prem'
lum is 9 cents.
Benefactions under the act are
somewhat restricted. Thus old age
pensions are paid to only those who
have contributed for at least 1200
weeks and the disablement pension to
those who have contributed for at
least 600 weeks. It was thought that
a wholly unrestricted pension scheme
was too fearsome an experiment, the
whole thing being at best so bold a
leap in the dark and in defiance ot
sacred traditions.
This is the scale of German pen
slons according to classes:
Class 1 $27.50 a year
Class 2 35.00 a year
Class 3 42.50 a year
Class 4 62.50 a year
Class 5 67.50a year
Even In a country where living is
as cheap, easy and comfortable as it
is. in Germany, $57.50 a year as a
pension is no great sum; but It is an
income, a man can live on it in Ger
many, and every reform must have a
beginning, often of a timid and feeble
character.
There is also another matter to be
considered. The Government collects
and cares for the fund from which
these pensions are paid, composed ot
the contributions of workmen and
employers. It Is thus in possession
of an enormous sum of money. Much
of this money it invests for profits !n
order to provide the pensions, but
part of it is put into improvements
for the benefit of the workmen for the
sole purpose ot improving their
health and thus keeping down the
pension payments. Is not that a most
curious and suggestive fact? As a
matter of mere business the Govern
ment uses a part (and a very consid
erable part) of the fund at its dis
posal to build sanitary homes for
workingmen, hospitals for working-
men, and to fight tuberculosis among
workingmen. And largely from this
cause have come those excellent, airy,
well-lighted dwellings in which bo
many Oernan worklngfen are com
fortably hoasea in the el t lee. And if
this GoTeraaent has now tonnd that
to provide healthful dwellings is good
business because thereby it can keep
down the Nation's sick list, how great
is the accumulated wrong that other
workmen suffer and have suffered,
being housed haphazard and so ofteu
in deadly environments? If the Old
Age. Pension had wrought no other
good but merely to force attention to
this vast, vital and fundamental hous
ing problem, the world should call it
blessed.
Germany, I need hardly say, did
not arrive at these humane improve
ments without fighting for them. At
best the whole thing was regarded
THE POOHnOlJ3E
by the philosophers and wise mon as
a piece of sublimated folly. They,
knew perfectly well that any such
scheme would be ruinous to tho na
tional character and an insupportable
drain upon the national revenues.
They not only, knew It, but they could
prove it, and they did, with the most
obliging kindness. There is also a
certain order of mind everywhere
that regards every Innovation as of
the devil and detestable, being, it
seems, quite able to see clearly that
the way everything has been done in
the past Is the best way ever con
ceived by man, and if anyone cays
there Is a better way he Is a scoundrel
and rauckraker and let htm die the
death.
All such minds In Germany per-
eelved that the thing was impossible,
and said so. Moreover, there is that
other school of thought that seem
to believe the miseries of mankind
be its blessing, and that the way
Improve the race Is to hnve the gre;.
or part of it live In slums, crowd
tenements, darkness, want and ins
flcleney. These foresaw that if 1
Government undertook to suppi
men in their old age there would b
no Incentive, and nf course the world
could not step house without In
centive, now eonld It? Unless a
man were re-sably snre that his
declining years would be passed amid
the horrors ef the Poorhonse, he
would never do a bit ef werk, Noth
ing but the Fiend sad the whelesome
fear of the Scours ever male any
body work. That wes perfectly elenr,
and consequently Prelaetlre ladtstry
would come to an end, and what
would the country do then, poor
thing?
But the Government was not great
ly impressed by these arguments, be
ing, as a matter of fae.t, not impelled
to the pension Idea by any process of
reasoning but driven thereto by the
rising tide of German Socialism,
which the Government, having mind
upon Its army, desired to stem. Any
way, tho thing was done. I hasten
to reassure the timorous by declaring
that so far as repeated and conscien
tious Investigation can discover, it
has not ruined the country nor de
pleted the revenues, nor Impaired the
national character. Productive In
dustry has not been paralysed and
there has been ample store of In
centive. Undenlnbly In the lost twen
ty years the condition of the German
worklngman has very greatly im
proved; he has more comfort, more
health, more joys. And this has been
one of the greatest causes ot his bet
tered situation.
FISTI GET DRUNK
OX WHISKY IN CHEEK.
Fifty Thewsaed Barrels of Fire
water Frem Distillery Emptied
Into Stream-
Scores of colonels living in the re
gion of the town of Midway, Ky.,
have taken to water, and are obtain
ing their "sousas" with fishing poles.
When Greenbauer's distillery,
which, for some reason or other, was
situated near the creek, was ae
troyed by fire, 50,000 barrels of fire
water were emptied Into Elkhorn
Creek, and the next day every fish
that inhabited the eree'.! below Mid
way had a "hangover."
The whisky floated down stream at
the rate of two miles an hour. Fish
ermen along the banks noticed that
the water suddenly was assessing the
color of their own bait. They were
astonished to see staid old members
Ol UIB linu mum innv n --"
themselves deeorotisly for years sud
denly flop out on the bank and at
tempt to climb a tree. Turtles came
staggering up the slopes, pursued by
crawfishes bent on a fight. Every
thing below the water line seemed to
have been drinking like a fish.
It was a glorloos day for the fishes,
but a sad one for the fishermen. The
former were too drunk to seo the
bait. Crowds lined the creek all the
morning watching the antics of the
fish. New York World.
An Uncmshnble Toad.
An experiment was recently made
In the clay testing department of a
machinery company at Bucyrus,
Ohio, in which a toad was placed in
a twenty ton brick press and was four
times submitted to a pressure of 11,
000 pounds without Injury. ;.
The question at Issue was whether
such a pressure would kill the toad
or whether its ability- to compress it
self Vas sufficient to allow it to come
out of the ordeal alive. The toad
was first placed in a lump ot granu
lous clay and the whole pressed into
a brick. After the hvge press had
done 1U werk the solid brick was lift
ed from the aaehlne and tho toad
winked its eyes eoatentedly, stretched
its legs and hopped away. Popular
Mechanics.
'aes.
The Great White Car gets a sal
ary of $25,000 a day, the Sultan of
Turkey $18,000, the Emperor of
Austria $12,000, the Kaiser $11,290,
the King of Italy about $7206, the
King ot England $6270, Leopold of
Belgium $1700 and President Roose
velt $137. Napoleon's salary was
about $15,000 a day. The President
ot France gets about $617 a day.
The Thing That Counts.
Every man feels instinctively that
all the beautiful s?nt!ments in the
world weigh k3 than a single lovely
action. Lowell.