Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, January 09, 1903, Image 2
SONG FOR AN AUTUMN DAY, BY CLINTON BCOLLABD, Bull en pkv, and a sea That heaves its sombre breast; 'And a wind that dirges ceaselessly In blind unrest. And yet. and yet one heart Is blithe as a May-tide flower; One soaring spirit bears no part In the gloaming hour! Blue is the sky (her eyes!) And bright is the sun (her smile!) And there is a right of paradise For a dreaming while. —Collier's Weekly. THE STRAWS OF DEATH How a Rivalry Was Settled on the Firing-Line. By W. O. Geclian. THK regiment was settling tlotvu l'or the night with some grumbling and much 4 profane jesting, for Western volunteers possess a sense of humor superior to the most trying conditions. Somewhere In the darkness in front, the Filipinos were taking pot shots between their cigarettes, as an occa sional zeu! attested. "There go the blamed typewriters," cried a young private. "Firing at fireflies, as usual. No sleep to-night." "Typewriters" was a contemptuous appellation given to the Fourteenth Regulars, because the popping of their magazine guns in the distance slightly resembled the noise of the machine of peace. "I'tit your mouth on the safety notch," ordered the captain from the right of the company. "They're send ing out the outposts. Get their bear mgs so that you can shoot around them if the ball opens up." Two men were receiving final In structions from the colonel, previous to venturing into the hostile country in front. "Sneak out about 200 yards," ordered the officer, "and lie low. If you see any signs of an attack, try to get back and warn us. If you can't get back, you must warn us somehow, and take your chances. No need to tell you to be careful. You hold the lives of many men in your hands. Good luck, hoys." This sort of work is called Cossack outpost duty, and men detailed upon it should not be men of family or nerves. A few nights previously two nervous men were detailed upon it. One of them fired at a white pariah dog. The shot caused the Filipinos to concentrate a series of volleys last ing thirty minutes in the direction of the outposts. The Americans awak ened from a sound sleep and let go several unauthorized volleys. Conse quently the two nervous men, being between two fires, were riddled with two kinds of ammunition. The two men detailed for this even ing's work were of different metal. "Morituri te salutamus, colonel." said one with a reckless laugh. With the easy nonchalance of veterans, they gave the rifle salute, and, sliding over the top of the trench, disappeared into the night. "There go two good men, observed the colonel. The two men tiptoed across the dry rice paddies, each holding his rifle at the ready. There was no sound ex cept the occasional hiss of a random bullet, or the faint and distant pop of a rifle. "Guess this is far enough," said one of the men at length; "here is a little hollow. Why, it is almost as safe as the trench." The other acquiesced with a faint murmur, and they sprawled upon the ground facing the enemy's territory. "It's a queer freak of fate that we two should be detailed on this to gether," observed the shorter of the two, "after avoiding each other so suc cessfully." "It's blamed queer, Osbourne," re turned tlie other, "but we'll have to stand it." "It is not (hat I would want a better man for a tight place, Wade," said Os bourne, "but there is that one tiling." "Yes, I know," wearily; "that's the trouble. If you were not as good or a better man than I, there would be no danger of Helen Bartlett earing for you." "We were good friends in the old days, Billy," said Osbourne, rather huskily; "if one of us only loved her a little less." "No go, Tom," replied the other. "It is either her or the jumping off place for me. Our friendship was a friendly thing, hut she is above that. Would you : —" c "No, you are right. It's no thorough fare. I wish it were ended, one way or the other." "What can we do?" queried Wade, with studied composure. "We can't gouge each other with bayonets out here, and Springfields at two yards is a bit too unique." Osbourne laughed harshly. "We might draw straws, the loser speedily to meet an accidental death." "No, thanks," replied Wade. "I am am willing to take my bullet, if it comes, hut not that way. One of us might get it decently at any time." "You're right, Wade," said Osbourne. "You're a good fellow." "Same to you," returned Wade. "Let's quit chatting and attend to our work." For some time they lay silent, star ing into the darkness for things they could not see. even had they been there. Ouly the intermittent popping of musketry and the occasional zeu! of u Mauser bullet broke the silence. Now and then they could see through the blackness a faint, momentary red flare. "Confound tliem," observed Os bourne. "I he Filipinos can smoke, any how. I'm dying for a cigarette." "If you light a ma toll here," said Wade, "we'll be targets for about 4000 ifles." "That's true enough," agreed Os bourne, with a soft chuckle; "cigarettes are rather expensive out here." An other period of silence followed. "Wade," inquired Osbourne, sudden ly, "are you willing to try a wild scheme for settling this matter for ever?" "Anything fair and reasonable," re plied the other. "What's your plan?" "Draw straws," said Osbourne, brief ly, "the man who gets the short one to stand up and light a match, and— go to his fathers." Wade caught his breath and re mained mute for some time, consider ing. "Not so bad," he observe*!, after a time: "but we are on duty now." "O, Fudge!" said Osbourne, lightly; "the Filipinos wouldn't attack for all the loot of Manila. An outmost here is merely a matter of form. Besides, one of us will be left." "That's so," returned Wade, "and I see no objection." "You fix tlie straws, then," said Os bourne, quickly. "I'll draw." lie be gan to whistle softly in a nervous fashiou, as men do when they are close to death. Wade fumbled silently with some fragments of rice straw. Ills movements were slow and mechan ical. Some men are constituted that way. "Here, Tom," he said, stretching out his right list. "May the better man get it." Osbourne extended a hand that trembled slightly, and fingered the dis closed ends of the straw for a brief time. Suddenly he clutched one and pulled It out. At the same instant there was a strange, soft thud, and Wade fell upon his face. His limbs moved convulsively for a moment; then he lay motionless. "For heaven's sake, Billy! what's up?" cried Osbourne, in an agonized whisper. He laid his hand on the man's face, but jerked it away liorri- Ued, for it touched something warm and wet. "She's mine!" he muttered, with fierce triumph; then, "Poor Billy." A thought came that caused him to gasp and shiver. He hesitated, reached for tlie dead man's hand, and loosened its clasp from the other straw. It was several inches longer than the one he had drawn. "What shall I do?" he moaned. "Oh, Billy!" ho cried, shaking the dead man's shoulder, as if to rouse him. "What shall 1 no?" Only the far-off popping of tlie rifles broke the oppres sive stillness. "What would yon have done?" he asked in tile same strain. "By Jove!" suddenly, "you were a good man. Y'ou would have kept tlie compact. I lost fairly. Bear witness, Billy, I am as good a man as you." He laid his liantl for an instant on the dead man's forehead. Then he rose slowly, and fumbled in his pocket. At length be found a match. For a moment he stood Irresolute, inhaling strong breaths of air. Already he had begun to feel the horror ol' being shut out from it forever. It was hard to give the signal for his own dentil. His teeth enmc together with a click, and, scratching the match on his shoe, he held the flame before his breast.— San Francisco Argonaut. Making tho Dead Live. Dr. Lnborde, of Paris, appears to have given a striking demonstration of the possibility of restoring to life persons apparently drowned or other wise asphyxiated. It is well known that forced or artificial respiration has often been successful when all hopo seemed to have vanished. Dr. La horde's method consists in producing rhythmical traction of the tongue, which has been found to revive res piration when other means had failed, and he has invented a small apparatus for the purpose. In the course of ex periments he chloroformed a vigorous bulldog, so that breathing seemed to have ceased. After fifteen minutes tongue traction tlie animal recovered. In another experiment anaesthesia was carried to a more extreme point, and it took two hours of the action upon the tongue to restore sensibility. In the case of a human patient the sub ject is laid on his hack and tlie tongue Is grasped by a pair of tweezers, at tached to the apparatus, by means of which a continual pulling in and out process Is kept up. The experiences seem to point to the assumption that, athougli an animal organism may have apparently ceased to live, a germ of life may exist somewhere within which Is kept alive, and gradually tho in fluence of tlie living spark spronds to (he rest of the system.—Loudon Tele j graph. Autumn Leave. Instead of Crape. "Within the last two months I have had at least a dozen orders from my customers to supply autumn leaves in stead of crape as a badge of mourn ing." said a Columbus avenue under taker. "These leaves are woven iutc a wreath and tied with black ribbon, and they make, to my mind, a much more artistic emblem of grief than tlie long streamers of crape usually fast ened to the front door. "I don't know who is responsible for ! I lie innovation, but I certainly think : the idea a pretty one, and I hope it ! will keep on growing."—New York | Tribune. An Abfturrtlty. The craze for affixing tablets to his toric houses has uow reached the ha tlietlcal stage. It is announced that a tablet has been affixed to a house at Soden, near Frankfort, with the fol lowing inscription; "In this house Richard Wagner spent the first night on German soil after his exile of eleven years. August 12-13, 13(10."—London Post The Hungry Blackbird. 6aid the blackbird at the glowworm's door: "I've lost my way to-night; Please come out and guide me homeward with Your pretty little light." Said the glowworm: "Sir, I greatly fear If I come out to shine, Though you might reach your home, that 1 Should not return to mine! And she kept the door shut all the time And would not show her head, So that naughty, hungry blackbird went Off supperless to bed. —Chicago Ttccord-llerald His Reward. It was Donald's lirst year at school and lu came home one day a very sober boy. "Mamma," ho said, "the teacher says If we do it again we'll all have to stay after school. I don't know Just what it is—if we whisper or we don't study— but anyway it's something like that, and when she told us, we all cried together." "Well," said mamma, "you need not feel badly, because 1 don't suppose you will have to stay," and she gave Donald a reassuring smile. "Why?" lie asked. "Because you have too much sone. It must be a very stupid boy who will play and whisper in school and then have to stay in and study in play time." Donald seemed satisfied with this hopeful view of the case. Two days after, his mamma saw him coining up the street holding liis head so high lie fairly leaned over hack ward. lie came in and hung up his hat. "IIo! Some boys may like to play and whisper aud get kept, but I've got Sense! All the boys but me got kept. AIISSING PARENTS' PUZZLE. l' VN i* i ~7|i Find the lather and mother of These children. We can't tell yet which it was—whis per or not study—but it was one of 'cm, and I just was still and worked, and here I am!"— Youth's Companion. A Trick IVltli n Coin. "Give me a five-cent piece and a handkerchief. I place the coin in the middle of the cloth, and cover it witii ail four ends of the handkerchief, un til the eoiu cannot be seen any more. Convince yourself, please, that the coin is still in its place." The performer slips his two hands in between "a" and "li," pulls tlie handkerchief apart, and tlie coin Is gone, absolutely gone. While folding end "a" over the coin the performer slips a small ball of wax underneath the end and presses the end against the coin, fastening the two together. When he pulls the handkerchief apart the coin slips into his left hand. Shaking the handker chief, he removes wax and coin, and returns the handkerchief to its wner. —New York Tribune. An AmuHino: Trick With Fire. Soak a piece of linen thread in n strong solution of salt (two tablespoon fuls of water to one tablegpoonful of salt). Take it out and let it dry, re peating this three or four times before you are ready for the performance of this marvelous trick. Show the piece of thread to the audi ence, and as the thread will look like an ordinary pieep of linen thread, no body will know that it lias been pro pared. Suspend a light ring from the thread; set fire to the thread and burn it up. The ring will stay sus pended, although the thread is burnt. This experiment must be executed with great care, as a line fibre of salt suspends the ring instead of the burnt thread, and the least 1)11 of draft or shaking will spoil the experiment. This *®§ &J- V V i r - . ~, r^ trick can also be done in the following manner: Take a small piece of muslin and tie a piece of linen thread to each of the four corners, as the figure shows, forming u sort of hammock. This hammock, together with the thread, place in a strong solution of salt, as described before. Take It out and dry it, and repeat this treatment three or four times before the per formance. Hang it up. as shown in figure, and put an empty egg shell in the hammock. Set fire to it, and yon will see that although the threads and muslin are burnt up, the egg v%*ill stay suspended ia the air.—Chicago Tribune. A Tuic-of-War. Ppecky was a very greedy little chicken. Whenever Mother Hen gave him a big, fat worm to divide among bis little brothers and sisters, naughty Specky would run off with it to an other corner of the yard and gobble it all up himself. Mother Hen soon found out this greedy trick of Mr. Specky. and so one day when she found a nice juicy worm, instead of giving it to him. she called little Topknot. Topknot ran off with her prize and all the rest of the chickens after her. Specky went, too, you may be sure, and because he was stronger than the rest, he pushed through and grabbed hold of that lovely worm. Then all the little chickens were scared, for they knew that ho was much stronger than Topknot and would soon get it away from her. So they all grabbed hold of Topknot's end and tugged away, five of them pulling against one. I don't know how it would have ended, for Specky was very strong, but Mother lieu saw tlie tug-of-wur and witli angry clucks she marched over to tlie struggling chicks. l'oor Specky! She gave him a peek that sent him flying, and away tumbled tlie others over backward. And then Mother Hen ate the worm herself, after nil!— Brooklyn Eagle. Invasion of Canada. The "American invasion"' of Canada is assuming proportions that are al most alarming to those who fear tlie future domination of settlers from the States. It is estimated that in the first srxen months of tlie present year over 5,000,000 acres of land in Manitoba and Northwest Canada have been pur chased by citizens of the United States. A recent issue of the Medicine I-lat News says: "Tlie Influx of settlers to tlie Canadian West is simply wonder ful. At Medicine Ilat we are in a po sition to size up the great incoming, es pecially of Americans, as we see here, daily, train load after train load of would-be settlers, bringing with them car-loads of miscellaneous effects— horses, cattle, implements, household stuff. The rush of settlers is unprece dented. and is taxing tlie railways to the limit to handle the business iu con nection with tlieir trade." How to Grow. The proprietor of a small store in New York says his trade came from only a small section of the city until lie began to advertise in a newspaper. Now lie draws enough trade from be yond his old limits to more than pay for his advertising. "Besides," lie says, "I am sowing seed for the time when 1 shall have a large department store. The only way for my establishment to grow is by newspaper advertising." Americans Are Forest Lovers By Eben Grcenough Scott. ™ all the forest-loving races of Europe, none has sought the wood** Ofor the woods' sake, like unto the English-speaking people; no.' has ever afforded the spectacle of an annual migration to the wilderness in such magnitude as do the Americans of to-day. They go with the eagerness of hounds loosed from the leash, and, buoyant with the spirit of adventure, accept adventure's strokes T^T—or rewards with the indifference or delight of a knight of Mancha. Nor have the Americans stayed at the mere enjoyment tmmmmmaJ their adventure; they have embodied it in their literature. They have been the first people to introduce into fiction the life, savage and civilized, of the forest, and to portray in classical accents the real life of the woods, the lakes, and the plains. Their first novelist of reputation, Cooper, laid his scenes in the forests of the upper Hudson, of the Susquehanna, and in the Oak Openings of Michigan; Irving descends the Big Horn in a bull boat, and follows the adventurers across the Great Plains and the Rocky Moun tains, and through the desolation of Snake River to the Oregon; and Parkman, enlightened by his tribeship with the Ogalallas, has endued history with the spirit of the wilderness, and has drawn inspiration from its woods and streams. The greatest and best of the Americans, their writers, poets, philosophers and statesmen, all have worshiped Great Pan in his groves. Bryant, Lowell, Emerson, Agassiz made annual pilgrimages to the woods; Webster composed a part of his Bunker Hill Monument oration on a trout stream; death overtook Governor Russell on the banks of a salmon river; and the present President of the United .States was called out of the Adirondacks to assume his oifiee; while President Harrison, the moment his duties were done, turned his back on White House and sought repose in a cabin on the Fulton Chain. These are a few only of the worthies of our land out of the great number who have hied to the woods for recreation, observation and inspiration; who. indeed, , have gone into the woods for the woods' sake. We can say of the American forest what Jacques du Bois said of the forest of Arden: Men of gron worthy resorted to this forest every day. 999 ? ¥ ¥ imaginary Crimes By Major Richard Sylvester, Superintendent of the Washington (D. C.) Police. ✓ SN every walk of life we meet with queer and at times sm* prising experiences, but the police hear and sec more that tends to question humanity than employes in any other line It seems strange, hut nevertheless it is true, that persons have dreams and hallucinations which arc reported to the police as facts lor investigation. Dreaming of robbers, they have awakened suddenly with all the excitement and alarm that would attach to a genuine case, fired revolvers at the supposed intruder and only been reconciled to their mistake after close inquiry proves it such. I know of a case where it was reported that a burglar knocked at the bedroom door before entering to carry off money and valuables. There was j another Instance of a prominent official of the Government who, while ex perienclng the wildest horrors in his sleep, jumped out of bed and fought the bedpost, imagining that he was attacked by burglars, and the exhaustion which followed his midnight defense was as great as if he had actually encountered marauders. This gentleman had seen service in the Mexican War and through the Civil War, and bad hand-to-hand encounters which, however, were attend ed with hardly more serious results than the imaginary conflict. The greatest imposition is that which occurs a great many times a year when persons who cannot or do not want to pay their just debts report that they have been rohlted of sums of money. They will prearrange to give color to the truth of their report, but are generally found out in the end. A man has been known to have reported being held up by footpads In order to avoid paying out part of his income to his wife, and all kinds of losses have occurred to those who courted the sympathy of creditors about the first of the month. The public should not believe everything they read and hear about burg laries and highway robberies, for many of the cases so reported, after investi gation, are shown to be without foundation. #9 * 9 ¥ America's Great Future. By President Roosevelt. T SHE world has never seen more marvellous prosperity than that which we now enjoy, and this prosperity 1s not ephermeral. We shall have our ups and downs. The war. at times will recede, hut the tide will go steadily higher. This country has never yet been called upon to meet a crisis in war or a crisis in peace to which it did not eventually prove equal, and decade by decade Its power grows greater and the likelihood of Its meeting successfully any crisis becomes even more assured. * We are optimists. We spurn the teachings of despair and distrust. We have an abiding faith In the growing strength, the growing future of the mighty young nation still In the flush of its youth and yet already with the might of a giant which stands on a continent and grasps an ocean with eithei hand. Succeed? Of course we shall succeed. llow can success fall to come to a race of masterful energy and resolute character, which has a continent for the base of its domain, and which feels within Its veins the thrill that conies to generous souls when their strength stirs In them and they know that the future is theirs. No great destiny ever yet came to n nation whose people were laggards oi faint-hearted. No great destiny ever yet came to a people walking with their, eyes on the ground and their faces shrouded in gloom. No great destiny ev.rj yet came to a people who feared the future, who feared failure more tlam 1 they hoped for success. With such as these we have no part. * We know there are dangers ahead, as wc know there are evils to fight and overcome, but we feel to the full that pulse of the prosperity which we enjoy. Stout of heart we see across the dangers the great future that lies beyuud, and we rejoice as a giaut refreshed, as a strong man girt for the race; and we go down into the arena where the nations strive for mastery, our hearts lifted with the faith that to us and to our children and our children's children It shall he given to make this Republic the greatest of all the peoples of mankind. ?????? Why Country Boys Succeed By John Gilmer Speed. cou KTRY hoy's lack of opportunity Is Ills best equipment fot w 0 the serious struggles of life. This sounds paradoxical, hut It is x- 1 A, £? ' roc. It is just as true as the opposite proposition, that the U £k □ greatest hindrances n city boy has to contend with are the op- O ® O portunlties which beset him when young and pursue him until uL 7 -~lu lie begins the real business of life-a business which each Indt- I'UUDUU.I vidual must carry on lor himself. For the city boy everything* is made as easy as possible. Even pleasure becomes to blm I an old story before he is out of his teens. Brought up In the feverish rush op a place where great tilings are happening day by day, he sees the world with a cynic's eyes atul despises the small things which, like the bricks in a house, go to the upbuilding of characters and careers. He believes in using large markers in the game of life; for pennies and small units of value he lias little taste and scant regard. The conditions surrounding the country boy are as different as possible. There is a deal of regular work that every country boy must do, and this regularity of employment, mostly out of doors, Inculcates industrious habits, while It contributes to a physical development which in after years Is just as valuable as any athletic training that can be had. He cannot run as fast, perhaps, as those trained by a system; he may not be able to jump so high or so far, or excel In any of the sports upon which we bestow so much time and from which we get so much of pleasure, but Ills development enables liim to buckle dowu to the hard work in which hours are consumed and from which very little or no immediate pleasure is extracted. His strength may be some thing like that of the cart horse, but the cart horse is to be preferred where a long and steady pull is required. The thoroughbred race liorse has a tine flight of speed nnd canters with delightful lightness and grace along the park bridle paths, but the heavy work is the work most in demand, and lor that we want the draft animals every time. , Enthusiasm Is the spur to endeavor, and at the same time It is the savor of life. The country hoy whose ambition has taken him to town comes filled with enthusiasms. Even the little things are novelties to him, nnd as he accomplishes this and that he feels that he is doing something not only interesting but valuable. His simple tastes have not been spoiled by a multiplicity of gratifi cations, and so he is glad of everything good that comes his way. At thirty, if lie leads a clean life, he has more of the boy in him than liis city cousin has"left at fifteen. He does what is before him because It is his duty, while the other is too apt cynically to uuestion the value of doing anything and ask, "What is ■he use?"