IT IS YOU AND I. A fool there was in the days of old, And, faith! he wasn't the last on earth Wiho bartered his place and his birthright sold For a mess of pottage of dubious worth, He wasn't the last of his kind, I say. For ever arid aye, as the aeons run 'And the gray earth whirls, in its old, old way, A sage is a rarity under the sun. Who isrit.barters his soul for naught? Stand in your places, or low or nigh— Who is it falls when to stand he thought? Join in confession: It's you and I. Who is it stumbles and falters and fails; Bowing to error, yet loving the true? Who when the wrong wears a coronet quails? Tears for confession: It's I and you. Whose are the lips that a prayer have framed, Only in living to give it the nay? Who is the one who is not ashamed, .Knowing the truth, with error to stray? Who lias forgotten his youth's fair dream, The armies of evil to meet and defy? Who has but learned to plan and to scheme? Alas, for the wreckage! It's you and I. A fool there was in the days of old, And, faith! he wasn't tiie last on earth Who bartered bin place and his birthright sold For a mess of pottage of. dubious worth; For still we are fools, and we barter still; Y r et who is it lifts his eyes oil high, And says: "I have fallen, vet rise I will?" Now God be praised! It is you and I. —Alfred J. Watcrhouse. A Ranger's Love Letter. By John H. Raftery. HE rnugers were lounging __ about the corral. Brcak -0 I O fast was over, and the -*• J? April sun was scattering "fJOW the pale blue fog that up rose from the Rio Grande. "Guess who I seen In Juarez last night," said Tomkins, pleating his .quirt. "Phnhandle Pete?" said Holliday, lounging up as he rolled a cigarette. "Yep. How d'ye know?" "How did he know?" roared Kelly. "What's he sparkln' Pete's gal fur? Eh, Holliday?" And the pockmarked Kelly laughed in the young ranger's face. "Oho, that's the lay is It?" growled Tomkins, sneering. "Well, mebbe that aecdunts fur Pete bein' so leery o' comin' acrost the river. I never did think Panhandle Pete was a mind reader." "What do you mean?" asked Holli day, his florid face tawny with anger. "If yo mean that I've told the woman anything, you lie!" "Never mind, purty,", snarled Tom kins. "I ain't a-goin' to fight ye till 1 ketch this Panhandle bully. I'm nfter the reward. 'F ye klu lay low till I git it, ye can git all the scrnppin' ye want." Just then Peterson galloped round the corner of tlio corral with the mail from El Paso, and the rangers crowd ed around for letters. Captain Crews, a low-voiced, sun-browned man with Hack, curly hair, came out of his tent and took his letters. "Tomkins!" roared the mail carrier, a newspaper at the bowlcgged ranger. "Kelly!" and the surly giant reached Out a big paw for his letter. "And a love letter fur Holliday!" The young ranger bit his lip as the crowd roared in ridicule, but lie took the letter lu silence, and going to his tent read: S SWEETHEART:-I found c i: the flowers on my table nfter : it supper. I know they came : i: from you. Meet nie at the : : middle post of the bridge at : 9 o'clock to-night I have : I! something to tell you. Your : own FLORENCE. : "Listen here, boys!" Captain Crews was calling to ills men, "a letter from the Governor. The reward for tiro Pete Dimitri is increased—five hundred now. Can't some of yon scheme up away to get hint across the river? I've sent him half a dozen baits, hut he won't come." "I sent lilra a letter from his gal," said Kelly, "hut " ."You don't expect him to bite at that kind of a game, do you?" "It might of worked," said Tomkins, lowering ids voice, "but every time we sot a trap that dad-gasted woman puts ihini next." "How in tlio dovi] docs she know?" asked Crews, looking from 0110 to the other. "You might ask Iloiliday," sneered Tomkins. "I. seen him in tlio Plaza With lior Tuesday night, and I bet six bits he's a-readln' a letter frum her tight now. I don't like that dude nohow, Cap. 110 ain't never done notli in' 'cept ride round an' look purty. He " "He can outshoot you, Tom." "He ain't never shot nothin' 'r no body, is he?" "He's a peach with a lariat, isn't he?" "Well, 'sposin' he is. ne ain't roped nothin' 'eept this here gal o' Panhandle Pete's. I don't mind sayin' right out that I think he's a tippln' off Pete fur to stand in with th' gal." "Ah, get out, Tomkins!" said the Cap tain, trying to smile as the men shuffled out of his tent, but he looked uncomfortable, and he saw that his men agreed In their estimate o£ the new ranger. Holllday met Tomkins half way be tween the corrnl and the camp and Bald: "Tomkins, do you know where Pete is .living in Juarez?" "Naw, I don't know whar he's livin'," ■napped the suspicious fellow, striding •after his saddle and bridle. "I sees him dealin' faro In Del Nodal's monte, an' I got him spotted so's he-can't get no letters there 'tjiout me know in' it. llear that, Mr. Tenderfoot." But Holliday only sneaked back to his tent and sat down at tlio soap box ■which served him as a table. With much effort and.many loving touches of the pen ho iinished addressing his letter. Then he saddled his pony, and loading it before Captain Crews' tent, saluted and-said: "Captain, I'd like a leave of absence till midnight." Crews eyed him furtively from the corners of his bright, gray eyes, saw the end of a letter peeping from the pocket of his blouse, coughed, hesi tated and then drawled: "All right, Holliday. I won't ask you what you're up to, but I don't mind telling you that the boys are saying ugly things " "I know it, sir. X hope you don't believe everything you hear?" "N-no-00, but, Holliday! You'll be careful what you say and do, won't you? I've my heart set on getting this Pete Dimitri. There are seven warrants out for him, and I'd give a week of my life if this troop could land him." "I'll not spoil our chances, sir. You can bet on that." And the big suspect stalked away with the light of a lover in his black eyes and the spring of young fervor in his tread. But when he had ridden away, the Captain summoned Tomkins and said: "Tommy, I don't like the idea of spotting one of my own men, but " "I'll watch him like a hawk, sir," anticipated the bowlcgged bully. "But not a word to anyone, Tom! And promise me?" "Yes, Captain." "If It turns out that Holliday Is all right you'll stop this hackcapping and make friends with him?" "I'll go you better, sir. I'll beg his pardon." "Ho has leave till midnight. So have you." And Tomkins, grinning maliciously, got on his pony and trailed away toward the river. And all that Jay like a stealthy shadow Tomkins stalked his man. At 8 o'clock from his hiding place In a doorway Tomklns saw the "dude" come out of Wak Lee's restaurant, mount his pony and lope leisurely away toward the west. A mile from town ho turned toward the river, and riding In the shallow water so as to leave no trail, went pacing slowly down stream toward the low wooden bridge which spanned the shallow river be tween old Paso del Norte and the American town. Torakins, riding out of sight and hearing, in a parallel with his quarry, saw Ilolliday stop like a blacker shadow In the shelter of the bridge, his pony's head almost on a level with the low floor of the central span. Tomklns crossed the approach and driving his pony down Into the ooze of the eastern side dismounted and tied it among the willows. Then he crept into the yellow shallows till ho was opposite Holliday,, raised him self Into the low timbers of the bridge, and peered up and down the viaduct in search of the woman, or was It Pan. handle Pete lie should see at this lone ly rendezvous? Even as he watched he saw the outlaw skulking along the western sidewalk of the bridge. He loitered, scanned the American ap proach, turned his back upon the little mule car which passed, and then, with a light spring, sat upon the top rail of the fence-like guard and began to make a cigarette. lie was lighting It when suddenly from the opposite side Tom kins heard the whistle of a lariat. A woman screamed, "Itun, Pete, run!" and tlie bulky body of the outlaw fell backward into the water. The watcher dropped down into the sand, got out ills revolver, mounted ids pony and scrambled out of the black shadows toward the shore. As he reached the level he saw a horseman streaking eastward in a long cloud of dust that rose high into the moonlight, and as he gained the bridge approach Tom kins saw the seared woman standing under a street lamp looking wildly after the vanishing cloud. Captain Revere was smoking in the moonlight hefore his tent when he heard the clatter of horses' hoofs com ing loud on the rocks and dull on tho sand. "Kelly's drunk again," ho guessed, as lie walked toward the cor ral. But there he found Holliday dis mounting. Tlie men came running, but the "dude" laughed in their faces and said: "I've got him, fellows. There at tho end of my rope." Tomklns, all befuddled with his vain stalking, galloped up as they stooped over the bound outlaw. They carried the limp prisoner into a tent and searched liim, and in his greasy pocket they found a letter which read: : SWEETHEART: I found : : the flowers on my table after : : supper. I know they came : : from you. Meet me at tho : : middle post of the bridge at : : 9 o'clock to-night. I have : : something to tell you. Your : : own FLORENCE. : They looked up at Holliday. "I didn't forge the letter," he said, blushing. "She sent it to mo all right But I—mr—just fixed up the envelope a little."—Chicago Record-Herald. Spanish Hunchback*. Spain has more hunchbacks than any other country. In some of the villages of the Sierra Modeun seven per cent, of the people arc deformed in this way. Scottish Eagles Increasing Golden eagles are increasing in the Scottish highlands through the efforts pf land owners for their protection. | The Tracks of Wild Animals. By Ernest Harold Baynes. i SNOWFALL is a blank page from the notebook of Nature, and B B H l, P° n It her children -write the stories of their lives, each in his !| ——a H ovrn -way. When we begin to read and translate them the win -1 /\ S ter tvoods no longer present a cheerless appearance; they no & 9 h'ngor seem a dreary waste of snow-covered ground and bare, fc vf 1 IS gray trees. We find tliat they are peopled by a busy com j 8 fi 0 munily, whose lives are as full of problems as our own. gsaSrHSssslj Here, you see, the first note we come across has been writ ten by a mink—a uniform trail, which might be imitated by dragging a narrow board through the snow. The legs of the mink are very short, so that his body sinks in the snow, often covering up the prints of ids I webbed feet, and the trail is simply a gutter in the snow, with deeper spots : at Intervals marking the points at which the feet have sunk. The trail of an J otter through deep snow is similar, but very much larger, as a full-grown otter jis sometimes nearly four feet in length. In moving through the snow an I otter leaps forward, and slides for a considerable distance, plowing up the ! snow with his chest, then leaping again, and sliding, as before. The distinct ness of the footprints depends upon the depth of the snow; when there is only a thin covering they are as plain as the tracks of a hare. Here is quite a different trail, also leading to the water. It was made i by a muskrat, and in one important particular differs from nearly all other trolls—there Is a sharp and almost continuous line comiecting the tracks. That line was cut into the snow by the sharp-edged and almost hairless tail, which drags on the ground as the animal moves.—Woman's Home Companion. American Women in Europe. By Henry Laboucliere. American woman has unquestionably been a success In tP Europe. She is generally pretty. She is clever. She takes pains k~p jj' to please those whom she considers wortli pleasing. She has that instinct for the class above which only they have who be long to the class below, and. to use Talue's expression, she al- Ha ways "stands with shouldered arms and feels herself on parade." Her affectations and the sins which she commits against the commandments of European good manners are overlooked because of her American origin, and the favor accorded to her by royal personages and the exalted position she sometimes acquires by marriage. With those advantages is it to be wondered at that American women have succeeded socially in Europe? But are they also a success as wives? It is true that comparatively few American women have trailed their charac ters through the divorce court in England. Social success is what they aim at. and the exposure entailed by divorce court proceedings might endanger this success. They nre tolerant and expect their husbands to be tolerant. Society is the end-all of the life of such an American woman and since she has ob tained a foothold in England, society has degenerated from a polite pleasure Into a profession. Has the American woman come to stay? If the women of this country can maintain their higher and more womanly ideals and profit by the educa tion and experience of modern surroundings, they may await a reaction with confidence, assured that their beauty, their home-making qualities and their disinclination to thrust themselves under the limelight will bo appreciated when men of the Old World cense to go the new to procure money and when the American woman and her ways are no longer popular novelties in Europe. —London Truth. jg? Jc? A Steady Atmosphere. It is a Prime Requisite For the Study of Planets' Surface Conditions. From William H. Pickering's „ Lookout Into Space," In the Century. nmam STBONOMICA.L science is divided naturally into two parts, that S pertaining to the stellar universe and that pertaining to our jx jw immediate family of planets. The latter are the only bodies Id Un the heavens of which we are aware that at all resemble our H n earth, and they are all, comparatively speaking, our nenr neigh j—n © bors, and have, therefore, a much more personal and populnr t£T TtTOPU interest than the stellar universe at lnrge. The study of their relative motions was virtually completed during the last cen tury, so that at the present time the astronomy of the planets is confined chiefly to a study of their dimensions and surface conditions. For this study there is one paramount requisite, and that is a steady at- Biosphere. With a good atmosphere, important results may be obtained even with a small telescope of ordy five or six Inches diameter; but without such an atmosphere the very largest telescope will be of no avail. This is not the case in other departments of astronomy; for many kinds of observations on the stellur universe tile quality of the atmosphere is of little account, provided only that it is cloudless and transparent; but for planetary and lunar astron omy a steady atmosphere is the fundamental requisite. To understand what, is meant by a steady atmosphere, we have only to look at some object across * hot stove, or along the line of a railroad track upon a summer day. There ?s a shimmer in the air, a wavering motion, with which we are all more or less familiar. This wavering is always present In our atmosphere, although we usually cannot see it; but when we magnify the image of a planet in a tele-" scope one thousand times, we magnify the ntmospheric tremors in the same proportion, and they are then not only conspicuous, but they interfere very Seriously with our observations. In some parts of the world the atmosphere is much more steady than in others, and it is evidently a matter of the highest importance for the astron omer interested In planetary research to find where these places are situated. To illustrate the importance of this matter, I may say that a year ago, situated in one of these favored spots, I saw night after night, with a five-inch and even with a four-inch lens planetary markings and details that I have never seen even with the largest telescope in Cambridge. & Desire is Weak Without Resolve By Margaret Stowe. .(BnaEKtMTBN** ANY times in this column you have been told that you are what B you will to be. 8 Jj? B It is such an important truth that Ido not think it can be I 8} xt M I repeated too often. * & 3 E Parents could do so much for their children by training them 1 along those lines and carefully guiding them to the point where I § they have the understanding to choose for themselves the sturdy Teach them that It is will—force of purpose—that enables a man to do and to be whatever he sets his mind on doing or being. It is not a new saying that "Whatever you wish, that you arp; for such is the force of our will, joined to the divine, that whatever we wish to be, seri ously, and with a true intention, that we become." No one ardently wishes to be submissive, patient, modest, or liberal, who does not become what he wishes. You have possibly heard the story of a working carpenter, who was ob served one day planing a magistrate's bench which he was repairing with more than usual carefulness; and when asked the reason, he replied, "Because I wish to make it easy against the time when I come to sit upon it myself." Tids same carpenter actually lived to sit upon the bench as a magistrate. The strong desire for that position that the man had could accomplish nothing without resolve, or force of purpose. Each one of us feels that he is free to choose between good and evil—that he is not here to be blown in any or every direction by the wind, but thntj he has within him the power to direct his own movements, and is capable of pushing along on the path of his choice no matter how strongly The wind may blow or how often it may change. This will, or force, of purpose is the only thing that is wholly yours, and it rests with you individually whether you give It the right or the wrong direction. Your habits or your temptations are not your masters, but you of them. Tile advice that Lamennals once gave to a guy youth Is something that each one of us might read and take home to ourselves with some benefit. He said: "You are now at the age at which a decision must be formed by you; a little later you may have to groan within the tomb you yourself have dug, without the power of rolling away the stone. "That which the easiest becomes a habit in us is the will. Learn then to will strongly and decisively; thus fix your floating life and leave it no longer to be carried hither and thither, like a withered leaf, by every wind that blows."—New York Journal. EARLY TOMATOES. The earliest tomatoes are those that are rather small in size, especially the varieties that grow in clusters. The best varieties are the late ones, though seedsmen nre now offering new varie ties that are somewhat early, as well as being much improved in quality. Every garden should have a few to mato plants. KILLING A TREE. The surest wny to kill any kind of tree is to pile a heap of stones nround it. The reason appears to be that the stones obstruct the light and act as a mulch to the soil, causing the tree roots to feed near the surface. But tile stones are no obstruction to frost, so that the soil under them is usually deep frozen, and the roots, being en cased in frozen soil, cannot supply sap to the tree, as all roots should do to some extent, even in wiutcr. PLANT SOME SWEET TEAS. If only one flowering plant Is grown the one to choose is the sweet pen. It is easily grown, gives plenty of flowers for a long time, and is as gay and cheerful as a dock of humming birds. Sow as early as common pens and treat in tlie same way, except that wire net ting is more neat and satisfactory than brush. If brush is used, sow the seed in small clumps and set the brush nround it, growing half a dozen plants to the clump. With mixed varieties this plan gives a beautiful effect. SAVING FRUIT TREES. In some parts of the West box irri gation is practical as a cheap method of saving fruit trees, vines and gardens from drought. The boxes are made of rough planks, usually about six inches In length, and inserted In holes a foot or more in depth, a few inches from the tree or plants to be irrigated. Wa ter is filled in the boxes and left to find Its wny to the roots. This places the water where It will do the most good, precludes the possibility of waste, and overcomes the objections to surface Irrigation. POWDERY MILDEW. Fowdery mildew ordinarily affects young cherry and apple trees. It ap pears in white spots on the leaves; the fungus threads send little suckers down in the plants' cells and ab sorb the juices there. Black spores are formed later, and these, with their thick wnlls, live safely through the winter and germlnuate in the spring. The disease defoliates young frees and robs older ones of much nourishment. Burning the leaves in the spring is an effective preventive. Finely powdered sulphur dusted over the diseased parts of a tree kills the fungus, and potas sium sulphide solution—one-half ounce tc a gallon of water—is nearly as ef fective.—The Cultivator. AN ENEMY OF THE CHERRY. Frequently the black cherry tree lice so completely cover, distort and smear with excrement the cherry leaves that they are disgusting to behold; they not only stop the growth of the tree, but take much of the nourishment that should go to the fruit while maturing. As with nil plant lice, they winter in the egg stage, hatching early in the season into females which soon com mence to produce young, and by the time cherries are ripe we have several generations, each of which is pro ducing young each day. About July the lice disappear to the roots or to other plants. In the fall winged males and females are produced and the fe males return to the cherry trees, there depositing their eggs around the buds. Remedy.—lf kerosene emulsion is used on the lice before they roll nnd knot the leaves around themselves, they can be very easily killed, but when protected by the leaves it is dif ficult to reach them with any remedy.— National Fruit Grower. A NEW ANNUAL. One of the newest annuals that may be started from seed in the spring with every assurance of success belongs to the Petunia family. The new star Petunia is one of the most curious of the season's novelties because of a ||l j NEW STAR PETUNIA. distinctly outlined and variegated star that appears in the centre of every open flower. The petals, which serve as a background, are of rich and varied shades of velvety crimson nnd rich maroon, while the live-rayed star, broadening half-way up, then narrow ing to a point near the margin of the flower, is of pure snowy white or tlnt ings of blush or pink.—Philadelphia Record. tl ... 11 HI ii w i i nir *'■> >■■<> ihiW n§QEgjIFIC It is estimated that the standing timber of tlia Dominion of Canada! equals that of the whole continent o£ Europe, and it is double that of thO United Slates. The turbine plnnts that have been in ' opera l ion during the last few years have shown high economy and call for. practically no repairs. Compared with' passenger steamers of similar size, but having reciprocating engines, the in stallation of turbines has shown a gain l per indicated horse power in favor of the turbine steamer of twenty per cent. Lord Kelvin has suggested that living spores from other planets might be thrown off into space by the perpetual hurricane of their upper atmosphere' and conic within the earth's sphere of atrraction, he drawn to it, and then be developed. This theory of the origin' of life upon the earth is as plausible as the "fortuitous concourse of atoms'® theory of life's origin. Electricity is making rapid progress throughout Spain. At the end of last year there were 110 less than G3P cities,' towns and villages in Spain with an elcetrie power station, and there were> only 430 towns with a population of more than 4000 souls where electricity] had not as yet made its appearance. In the district of Barcelona alone there aro now over 850 turbines in use, repre senting 35,000 horse power. t In order to determin • the density of the enrth, President F. W. McNnir, of the Michigan College of Mines, and! Major Joliu F. Hayford, of the United! States Coast and Geodetic Survey, will conduct experiments at the Tamarack' mine, which is particularly well fitted) for this purpose, since Its shaft Is one of the deepest in the world, penetrating , ■ to a depth of 4550 feot in strata of lint- \ form density. The density of the earth is largely a matter of scientific con jecture. It has been computed by formulae based on Newton's laws of gravitation. It is true that Sir George Biddel Airy, the British Astronomer, Royal, computed the earth's density; from experiments which he carried on at a Welsh colliery, but the figures which he obtained varied so much from those based on the formulae that they, have not been generally accepted. The substitution of working on a large scale, with heavy capital, fon the Individual operations which char acterize a new placer mining country, is quietly but rapidly going forward 1 In the Yukon region, says the Engineer ing and Mining Journal. While some hydraulic work has been done, tho conditions are such that it will prob-Y ably never be an Important element itfa the region. Dredging in the rivers audi creeks was tried this season with such success that next year it is probable a large number of dredges will be at work, despite the short working sea son. Already much machinery for dredge work is 011 the ground, ready for next year. Over 4000 quartz claims were filed during the last season, and while the majority of them will amount to nothing, a largo amount of explora tion and development is certain. A I)oze In Division Lobby. I once saw Mr. Gladstone fast asleep in one of the division lobbies, while a division was actually going on. It showed how utterly tired nut lie must have been, for usually when lie was going tbrougli a division lie rushed to find a table, and started to write cither n letter or the dispatch to the Queen in which he nightly recounted the events of tile Parliamentary sit- v/' ting. On this occasion there was no * doubt of ills being asleep. Members paused for a moment as they passed. It was a dark hour in tlic fortunes of the Liberal lender, for his Government was breaking up, and lie himself was witliin a few weeks of his everlasting farewell to public life. Ilis followers were touched ns they saw in the strangely pallid face, in the drawn' fines and in the slumber of utter fa tigue the signs of coming disnster and final fall.—London M. A. P. Fish Ate Their Young. A pair of catfish that were continu ously watched in 11 Government aqua rium made a nest by removing tho gravel from a corner. During the first few days after batching the fry, banked in the corners of the tank, were at irregular intervals actively stirred by the barbels of the parents, usually ' the mate. Subsequently the parents were seen to suek the eggs into tlieir \ mouths and then cxtruue them with ' some force. Tho prednceous feeding habits of the old fish gradually over came tho parental instinct; the tend ency to suck tho fry into their mouths continued and the inclination to spit them out diminished, so that the num ber of young dwindled daily and the 500 that hail been left with their .pa rents had completely disappeared in six weeks, although other food was liberally supplied. The Spectroscope's Usefulness. In the field of astronomy the spec troscope is often more serviceable than the telescope, for by its means hnve been discovered dnrk, pianet-like bodies which revolve about the stars, and which a telescope thousands of times . more powerful than any we now nosy sess could ever reveal. ' Germany's Maritime Position. Germany has built the finest, fastest vessels ailoat, although she is not geo graphically a maritime country, una no other country is so largely depend ent on others for the raw materials which enter into the making of a ship.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers