GAMBLERS.
Flung on the whirling cosmic wheel,
This great green sphere spins out the
game
Through alternating night and flame,
Reckless of what the players feel.
Eager, each change of luck they mark,
With curse or prayer, or grin or smile,
And win or lose a little wnile,
And then go back into the dark.
And some lose all, dead broke and blank;
Most hedge, some plunge to make or
break
And some win wild on every stake,
But none will ever break the bank.
By their drawn brows and quivering lips,
As their stacks slowly grow or shrink,
The looker-on might almost think
They played for money, not for chips.
And one vague dread without a name,
Shadows on everybody here—
By what back stairs can we get clear,
Should the powers come to raid the game?
—Frank Lillie Pollock, in Life.
OOQCOGGQGGGOOGCGQOQGGOOQO
1 TRACK |
1 OF FLOUR 1
o o
oocoococoooooocoooooooaoo
SOME persons change their con
dition for better or worse, as
the fates may go. Others have
their modes of life changed
for then). Helen Gray belonged to this
latter class. It happened before the
flonr incident of a snowy day in mid
winter, and it happens now. But you
may read and know.
Long ago, oi long it "Seems now.
though hut few years have passed
since then, Helen played with her doll
under a great elm tree which shook its
branches in front of a Southern home
and east its shadow across the Broad
reranda and Corinthian pillars. A
few years wont by and Helen's skirts
lengthened, and her hair, which in
former summers had been left to curl,
was knotted on her head, and she put
In her time with hammocks and hooks
when the great tree threw its shadow
along the house. Then she had callers,
Hplen did. gentlemen friends of her
early youth, and gradually they fell
away to two, who became suitors and
rivals. One was long of face and hair
—which was straight—and talked of
authors and flowers. The other was
tall, had smiles for everything, his
curly liair dancing over a shining face.
Mrs. Gray liked this dandy of the
South. Helen was more favorably im
pressed with the former. Their names
were Frederick Hudson and Harold
Stetson Frederick was a young at
torney of the town, and Harold—well,
he had nothing to do, and did nothing,
for his father was rich.
ITelen's ROWD touched the floor and
trailed fat out as she came down to
dinner one Sunday afternoon, the day
slie was to tell ITnrold his pleadings
had been heard and his prayers grant
ed. It had been a long struggle, and
had lasted more than a year. Freder
ick found in Helen's face and voice the
thing that kept him so long. That
which ho saw came from the heart and
he knew It,
r The mother won.
When the bolls rang out for Christ
mas Helen and Harold walked slowly
up the aisle of the church while the or
gan piped out its wedding march.
Bright were the lights and rich the
gowns; beautiful were the flowers and
sparkling the gems that night. And all
the tears were tears of joy and all that
was said were congratulations. But
In the hack of the church sat a young
man, somewhat by himself, and
watched the march to and from the al
tar. and who had heard the words that
made the two one for all time. After
the procession had passed out of the
door he. too. rose and went away It
was Frederick Hudson, lawyer, hut
the olace knew him no more, for that
night he went away into the North
and snow.
One night in the early spring follow
ing the wedding Harold was brought
home oy his companions. He was
breathing hard, and when Helen
stooped over him the men laughed and
she smelled liquor on her husband.
From then on he drank hard and sat
late before the green cloth. After a
time old Mr. Stetson died and Harold
was left with the mills and the estate
of his father. But he ran through it
al! like the fire that got in his cotton
gin. and had nothing. Neither did Helen
have a thing to add, for she had given
him all she had and all her mother had
left, even to the house with the elm
tree where the girl had spent her baby
hood.
As for working. Harold knew little
and cared less The young man thought
if lie could get away from his asso
ciates he could get to work, and even
if it was that of a day laborer it
would be the "entering wedge." It
was that which caused them to sell
off tlie household furniture and the de
sire to get away from all who knew
them that drove them to Chicago,
where for a time they struggled
against fate, and where Harold fell
among those who were like the asso
ciates he had left. He got to drinking
and gambling and one stormy day the
woman was summoned to the morgue.
Harold was there, dead. The police
had found his form in a doorway. His
grave was in the potter's field.
After the funeral—simple in the ex
treme— Hplen sat down in her single
room and asked herself what she
should do. Snows neat upon the win
dow. and the fire burned low in the
stove; nothing was in the larder.
Never before had the woman been hun
gry. but she was starving. Yet she
went to bed with the intention to again
apply for work In the wholesale
houses.
Without breakfast Helen slipper]
down the stairs and looked on
the outer world. Snows were
iU'ing and the wind was eom
ing down the street in gusts that
to the blast and struggled forth, stag
gering along till she eatne to a door
that opened the way into a warm
rooac. But there they wanted no one,
and she turned about to face the storm
again. House after fwuse she visited,
and In, all of them met the same an
swer—surly. some of them were, and
sent her back into the street wonder
ing where she could go next.
Next? That was a problem. It
seemed she had been everywhere and
still she was cold and hungry; her
head ached and she was bedraggled
by the snow. At that juncture Helen
came to a track of flour that led across
the sidewalk and into the open door of
the docks of a steamship company.
In front stood a dray laden with bar
rels of the stuff, fresh from the mills,
and inside the big shed the driver was
wrangling with the foreman. In a
twinkling Helen grabbed a paper from
the hack of the wagon and swept the
path of flour from the walk with her
bare hand, one track after the other,
until she had them both in her paper
and straightened from her toil.
Into the eyes of Frederick Hudson
she looked
"You here!" he exclaimed.
"I am," replied the woman, standing
at her full height. She was Helen
Gray again, even in the storm of snow.
"1 am here," she repeated.
"And "
"A widow and starving!" Tears
trickled down her cheeks as she said
this:
"A widow—and starving?" Frederick
echoed. "I have been your friend in
the past and will be now. You shall
not want."
Arm in arm they walked away, and
she told him all; how her husband had
fallen; haw their all had been sacri
ficed, and how at last they had come to
Chicago; how he had met his death,
and why she was in the streets. When
they were seated at a table in a res
taurant Fredefiek told her how he had
come to Chicago and how he had pros
pered as a lawyer.
That very week the remains of Har
old Stetson were shipped to his former
home in the South and were accom
panied by the widow. At the funeral
was Frederick Hudson. A year later
there was a quiet wedding in that
town in which Helen Stetson was bride
and Frederick Hudson the groom.
Now this man and wife live on the
South Side of this city, and tile man is
a lawyer of prominence.—Harry A.
Armstrong, in the Chicago Record-
Herald.
Still Finds Life Worth Llvlag,
Two years ago a wealthy New
Yorker was injured while swimming
and it was thought that he would never
get over the effects of the accident.
But by a modern miracle of surgery
he recovered after lying for months
between life and death.
He Is still confined to his bed and
will never again he able to stand on
his feet. The greatest luxury that he
lias enjoyed since his accident came
the other day when he was allowed to
smoke a cigar.
When it became certain that he
would live the question of the place of
residence was the most important. As
his wealth made it unnecessary to con
sider any question hut the suitability
of a place for a person compelled to
stay in the house always, it was not
so difficult to find a home for him aa
it might have been. The choice finally
fell on an apartment house on Brook
lyn Heights.
The windows of this house command
a wonderful view of the harbor and the
East River. Night and day there is
always a moving panorama of beauty
before the eyes of the injured man
who lies on his couch by the window.
And he is philosophical enough to ad
mit that life even under such condi
tions is well worth living.—New York
Sun.
A Mounter Topaz.
An Interesting story of a valuable
topaz now In the possession of Signor
Nicola Carelli comes from Naples, says
the Rome correspondent of the London
Leader. The topaz which Signor Car
elli brought back from Bazil some
years ago is so large that it is said to
weigh over two pounds. A Neapolitan
artist, seeing the stone, begged to be al
lowed to engrave the figure of Christ
on it in cameo. The work is now fin
ished and Signor Carelli has been look
ing for a purchaser. The value of the
jewel is. however, so great that even
the Pope himself, to whom it was of
fered, could not afford to btiy it. Fin
ally, says the Italie, a committee has
been formed in Naples with the pur
pose of buying the jewel from its pres
ent owner by public subscription and
offering it to Leo XIII as a jubilee
present. H is to be hoped, therefore,
that this wonderful treasure will be
seen oy visitors to the Vatican Mu
seum. Signor Carelli declares that
there is no other such stone in the
world.
If© Knew the Secret.
The secret of growing younger as the
years advance Is not the solo posses
sion of womankind. There are cir
cumstances under which man may
learn the art and ply the trade with a
success that may put woman to shame.
A bachelor who five years ago unblush
ingly acknowledged his fifty years as
his companions drank his health
around the festive board has recently
taken to himself a bride who boasts
of eighteen summers When the news
papers announced the engagement last
spring the prospective bridegroom was
referred to as a man of forty-five.
Just now there are invitations out for
a banquet to celebrate his thirty-eighth
birthday. Some of his friends are won
dering if the next year's celebration
will be in honor-of his attaining his
majority.—-New York Sun.
She Funny
of
Life.
Economy.
"Thrice armed is he," so we are told,
Who hath his quarrel just,
But that a little less will do
Is what we hope and trust.
For when it is a lover's tiff
'Tis proven in a trice,
You very probably will find
Two arms will quite suffice.
—New York Times.
The Auto-Commuter.
Summer Boarder—"ls this what you
call live minutes from the station?"
Farmer Geeliaw—"Yes, sir."
Slimmer Boarder—"How many miles
an hour is that?"—-Puck.
A Definition.
Little Clarence—"Pa, what Is experi
ence?"
Mr. Callipers—"Experience, my son.
Is the headaches you acquire from
buttiug against the world"—Puck.
Their Polite Restraint.
Gussie (gleefully)—" Bah JoveJ All
the girls around here smile at ma"
Tom—"Well, that shows they have
some manners. Anywhere else tlioy
would laugh outright."—Chicago News.
Itlglit in Their T,lnp.
"How did your baseball game come
out?"
"They mopped the ground with us."
"I thought they would when I heard
you calling them a scrub nine."—Chi
cago Tribune.
Tlic Important Detail.
Dealer—"Now, sir, you will find this
automobile always ready to go auy
distance—"
William Wise—"That's all right; but,
say, how will I find 1 ivnou I'm ready
to stop?"— Puck.
The Proper Answer.
Mrs. Newlywed—"What is the dif
ference between 3*oll and a twenty
dollar bill, pet?"
Mr Newly wed—"l'll glv~ . up*"
Mrs. Newlywed-"Tli; J the answer,
dear—l need a no— -Puok.
A Hargain.
Hotel Proprietor—"lf the whole com
pany puts up here I'll knock off twen
ty-five per cent."
Press Agent—"Make It fifty and I'll
catch a twenty-two-pound trout aud
see the sea serpent."—New York Sun.
Poetic Justice.
"Are you a believer in poetic jus
tice?" asked the critic.
"I am," answered the foreign author;
"at least to the extent of hoping that
the laws will see to It tha': we get
the money coming to us for royalties."
A Coming Terror.
Fare—"l say. what's gone wroug?
Why are 3 r ou going down here?"
Santos 1001—"Gm a puncture, Fir!
One o' them 'ere wireless telegrams, I
expect, gone slap through my balloon."
—New York Commercial Advertiser
The Plagiarist.
"Oh, Mr. Wrltemuch. is everything
you write original with you?" asked
the giddy young thing of the literary
lion. (
"I'm afraid not," replied the 1. I.;
"ovcry word I use may be found In
the dictionary."—Cincinnati Commer
cial Tribune.
A Grave Responsibility.
Do you think the king will recov
er?"
' Yes," answered one of the royal
physicians, "we feel 110 further appre
hensions concerning his majesty What
we desire to do now is to keep some
of the people who expected to be so
cially prominent at the coronation from
dying of disappointment."
Oue Definition of It.
"What do you consider domesticity in
man ?"
"It is the trait of wanting to stay
home when his wife wantß him to go
out with her."
"And what Is domesticity in wom
an?"
"That is the trait of being willing
to stay home when her husband wants
to go out without her"—Chicago
Post.
A Responsible Position.
"So you have dismissed your stenog
rapher?"
"Yes," answered Senator Sorghum.
"Wasn't he accurate?"
"Yes; that was the trouble. I
haven't had a good stenographer for
years. What I want Is somebody who
can throw in a few big words on bis
own account for the sake of style with
out changing the tucuniug."—Washing
ton Star.
VILLAGE LIFE.
Change Wrought l>y Telephones, Trolley
Cars and Mail Delivery.
Telephones, rural mail routes, Inter
urban and trolley lines have had the
effect, It is said, of making small vil
lages more quiet than formerly. A lit
tle cross-roads settlement, with a gen
eral store, a postotHce a blacksmith
shop and a doctor's otHce as Its chief
business establishments, is not at any
time a very lively centre, but the com
ing and going of the persons with af
fairs to transact at these places create
whatever stir is, and at times
bring about the appearance of consid
erable activity. But now that the
farm telephone has come into use its
owner does not "hitch up" and go to
the village as formerly to do his er
rands. He telephones to the store
keeper his order for goods and asks
him to send them out by trolley or by
the first man traveling that way; he
consults the doctor ovoi the telephone,
and talks with his friends in the vil
lage In the same way.
The mall is brought to his gate, and
thus relieves him of the necessity of a
daily trip. His relations with the
blacksmith remain unchanged, for no
way has yet been devised whereby that
useful personage can shoe a horse or
mend a wagon without having horse
and vehicle present. But these needs
nre not of daily occurrence, nnd so it
happens that the little street or open
square which was wont to seem almost
crowded with horses and vehicles at
certain hours every day or on certain
days in the week now often wears a
deserted look, and the residents are
conscious of a sense of loneliness. They
Bay too, that when once a man gets
on a trolley car with intent to make a
purchase lie passes by the little country
store and goes to a larger town, and
that this is particularly true of his
wife or daughter on similar errand.
All this is a natural but rather curious
development following the extended
use of modern conveniences, nnd what
remedy the village has Is not plain.
Its only hope is apparently to establish
attractions of a social or educational
nature that will offset the loss in other
directions and will draw its rural
neighbors there for amusement and en
tertainment.—lndianapolis Journal.
WISE WORDS.
One has only to die to be praised.—
German proverb.
The only way to keep a secret is to
6ay nothing.—French proverb.
Opportunity sooner or later comes to
nil who work and wish.—Lord Stanley.
One lie must be thatched with an
other or it will soon rain through.—
Owen.
Fullness is always quiet: agitation
will answer for empty vessels only.—
Aleott.
Just do a thing! Don't talk about it!
This is the great secret of success in all
enterprises.—Sarah Grand.
Awake no man from a dream unless
he struggles In It. A weak belief is
preferable to a bittei unbelief.—Lan
dor.
Readiness to answer all manner of
questions involving book learning is
the beginning of a species of idiocy.-
The Unspeakable Scot.
The good right arm of the breadwin
ni. is strengthened more by an unex
pected caress or an encouraging word
from loved ones than by all the roast
beef in Christendom.-Buell Hampton.
True elevation of mind does not take
a being out of the circle ot those who
are below him, but binds him faster to
them, gives advantages for a closer at
tachment and conformity to him.—Sox
tus.
To know that the greatest men of
earth are men who think as I do, but
deeper, and sec the real as I do, but
clearer, who work to the goal that 1
do. but fastet, and serve humanity as
I do, but better—that may be an incite
ment to my humility, but it is also an
Inspiration to my life.—Baldwin.
True poetry is truer than science, be
cause it is synthetic, and seizes at once
what the combination of all the
sciences is able, at most, to attain as a
final result, l'he soul of nature is di
vined by the poet. The man of science
only serves to accumulate materials
for Its demonstration.—Amiel's Jour
nal.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could. Somt
blunders nnd absurdities, no doubt,
crept tn: forget them aB soon as you
can. To-morrow is a new day; begin it
well and serenely and with too high a
spirit to be cumbered with your old
nonsense. This day is all that is good
nnd fair. It is too dear, with its hopes
nnd invitations, to waste a moment on
the yesterdays.—Ralph Waldo Emer
son.
Treeß and Llßhtnlng.
An ancient Swiss proverb advises
people during thunder storms to avoid
the oak tree, to tly from the fir and to
seek the beech tree, which is safe. A
little time ago a special inquiry was
made In the canton of Lucerne to find
if there were any truth in the proverb.
Statistics showed that out of eighty
trees struck by lightning in a forest
district fifty-six were oaks, twenty
four firs and larches, but, though there
were seventeen beeches, not a single
one suffered.—Chicago News.
A Naval Scoot.
A new fast cruiser Is now being
built in the Baltic shipbuilding yards
at St. Petersburg, intended for scout
ing purposes and for carrying dis
pntches to nnd from the Russian Pa
cific squadron. She will be of 3000
registered tonnage, fitted with 18,000-
liorse power engines, nnd capable of
developing a speed of twenty-five
knots. The vessel will be armed with
quick-firers and torpedoes, and will
carry a complement of 400 men.
Jobs That Are Easy
Not Worth While
By President Roosevelt.
IN this life, as a rule, the job that is easy to do is not very well
0 worth while doing. Now, let each man here look back in his life
9 and think what it is that he is proud of in it—what part of It he is
e * glad to hand on as a memory to his sons and daughters. Is it
• oeso* his hours of ease? No, not a bit. It is the memory of his
of his triumph, and the triumph and the success could only come through 1
work [applause], the rough effort.
Is not that true? I.<et each one think for himself, look back in your ca
reers and if you have not got it in you to feel most proud of the time when
you worked I think but little of you. [Laughter and applause.] Who are
the heroes of this nation? Who are the two men that you think of at once?
Washington and,J,incoln. [Applause.] Each one of them all his days worked
for himself arid worked for others; one faced death on a .score of stricken
fields, and one met it at the hands of an assassin for the country's sake.
They are the men whom Americans delight to honor—they and those like
them. There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease
whose name is worth remembering.
Now understand me. Make holidays. I believe in holidays. I believe in
play and in playing hard whfie you play, but don't make a business of it.
[Laughter and applause.] Do your work and do it up to the handle, and
then play when you have got time to play.
r
How Much Debt
Should a Farmer Carry? f
By E. L. Vincent.
c TEN the question is asked; "How much ought a man to go
F in debt for a farm?" And sometimes men who have a fancy
S § tlial they would like to become farmers write to the editor
Btf 'fc 9of some agricultural paper asking his advice on the subject.
If fi Je k Now. no man can intelligently answer such a question, any
v V more than he could tell the inquirer how much dinner ho
t Jj ought fo eat or how many hours he should sleep. Evevy
tiling depends on the man. One man might go into debt, for
his farm, stock, tools, and all the needed equipments of a
first class farm and be able to work out all right, while another would surely
run the risk of making a total failure were he to undertake such a thing.
It is impossible to lay down any hard and fast lines for men to go by in
this matter, but one thing is certain—unless a man has some knowledge of {
farming and has had some experience in practical economy lie never should /
think of going into debt for a farm at all. It is easy to incur debt. There (
are plenty of men who can get the money to buy a farm. The next thing is I
to work out the problem. It is important that a man love the farm.; that ills W
V-ife docs also; that he has good health; that he is used to practicing economy J
in his expenditures, and that he has a stick-to-it-iveness which will laugh at '
the thousand and one drawbacks he will be sure to meet. If he can meet '
these requirements and has had some knowledge of what farming means he
may with some degree of safety go in debt for part payment of a farm.
Otherwise, he might better stay where is is.
jg? £7
Poverty ard Sorrow vs.
Prosperity and Happiness
By N. E. Badgley.
HILE Mr. Jay Cooke's views upon labor and capital are
about all that one should expect from a capitalistic point
if;ii JK jg tgfc ot reasoning, they are very far from being equitable to all
--Si \J& / parties concerned. He states that "Rockefeller's money is
ijiXj Mit jek!t all here," and that "Morgan won't eat ills millions." From,
whence eame these hundreds of millions which are so uu-'V
SlWwKlKsHttiVA justly claimed by a few men as their own? Does not labor '
produce all wealth and capital? Is the Individual capi
talization of a hnlf-billion so essential to the common good that the millions
who labor to produce it should be kept on starvation wages from generation
to generation? The maudlin talk and brazen effrontery of those who intimate
that a common brotherhood could be established on such a tyrannical basis
as this only show their extreme cupidity and lack of intelligence concern
ing the laws of equity and the common needs of humanity In a civilized
country. Mr. Cooke unwittingly states that these many millions of wealth
will eventually return to the people! To this I say never; no, never, so
long as our present politico-economic methods are enforced. The demise of
these rich men will simply allow their immense fortunes to pass into the
possession of a few heirs, who will continue to rob the vast majority of us,
and add to their wealth, millions upon millions, to gratify their unworthy
selfishness. Their sympathy for common humanity Is about as deep as
that of the slave holder, who sees his fortune only in the men that toil.
There is, however, a very reasonable and an equitable way of changing all
of this turmoil, poverty and sorrow into one of cheerful Industry, general
prosperity, contentment nnd happiness. Any one with nverage intelligence
and a little reflection should know that a civilization producing no better
results for mankind than this we now have Is far from being what it ought
to be and far from what it would be if we simply correct our four .
greatest evils. These are ignorance, intemperance, concentrated wealth anl~j
asury. These opposites are intelligence, temperance distributive wealth ana T
low interest.
-£7 £7 £7
Is Man or Woman
the Social Arbiter?
By J. Saxe Du Bue.
ITCnWCTCT 118 question whether man shall resign to woman the initia-
CrUtTOUtT tive in making proposals of marriage is just now agitating
tTCTrrtSS t ' le ra 'nd feminine and finding expression in the columns of
SpKr I Bai t ' le d""' press. The burden of their opinions is that women
iSfw 1 wrw shall propose. But it so happens that they are not the arbi
ters of such matters, and that consequently the world will
pyQmjULJ continue to wag along in the same old way and man continue
to propose while woman disposes still.
There is a feature of this discussion that is worth a passing notice, even
If the discussion jtself is trivial and idle. It is this:
While women may discuss such questions pro and con. man is the social 2
arbiter, and upon him alone will depend the solution of this aifd similar w
problems. Writing from the standpoint of a man, I hardly believe that
man's mind is about to undergo such a revolution as to permit him to allow
woman to usurp this time-honored and reasonable prerogative.
Difficult as it may he for some men to screw their courage up to the
proposing pitch, once they conclude that the only oliss for them is the con
jugal bliss, they feel that it Is a game worth many times the candle, and
they will continue to hold it us one of their rights; and the woman who
preaches that woman should propose will find, probably to her sorrow,
that she will not make a brilliant success if she endeavors to practice what
she preaches, and that, on the other hand, the preaching of such nonsense
puts her farther from being proposed to by the son of man a woman might
desire to win than Bhe ever was before.
What is so attractive in womnn as a sweet, retiring disposition; one that
waits to be courted, one that keeps her lily sweetness to herself until she Is
won by the attentions of some worthy man? Do not men infinitely prefer
a woman with such a disposition to one who spots some man out for her
prey nnd then sets out to catch him?
Do we want a race in the future where the man looks after the babies
and the household affairs while the wife goes to the club and loafs about V
the hotel and such? Do we want a race that is the incarnation of the funny yv
man's idea of the new woman and her twentieth century "hubby?" Then,
give us women who propose and it will come to that.
On the other hand, if we want wives wo can love, admire and respect;
wives who can rule as the presiding genius of the sacred precincts of the
home; wives who we can feel are to be protected from the cruelties of life;
wives who command all the gallantry and knightly devotion that are in us,
let us still choose tho dear mortal who disposes rather than her- sister who
insists on proposing.