Newspaper Page Text
is f«y that the time
' 1 n ovary known disease can
The police force of Alaska is prob
the smallest in the world for a
Sat itry of its size—two chiefs and
nineteen privates.
In spite of liberal rewards for kill
lag dangerous animals in India, the
.«tms«l mortality from that source is
still on the increase.
The New York Observer maintains
that the taste of mutton is far less
strong and disagreeable than it was
ten or twenty years ago.
Berlin is one of the most cosmopol¬
itan of European cities. Though it
is the capital of Germany only thirty
•even per oent. of its inhabitants are
Germans by birth.
The French have made great prog¬
in devising motors for carriages
to take the place of horses. Thus far
•mail gas engines are found superior
to electric storage motors 1
Dr. J. L. Kevin, who wu called as
a witness in a New Jersey court, de¬
clined to kiss the Bible, having scru¬
ples against taking in any of the
bacilli luxuriating in its covers. He
was allowed to affirm.
The Duke of Newcastle hae been de¬
feated as a candidate for membership
of the London School Board, and by
• woman, maintains the San Franoisoo
Examiner. The successful candidate
STM Miss Davenport HilL
The United States Government has
Irailt at the harbor of Galveston,
Texas, • jetty system upon whioh
millions of dollars have been expend¬
ed, with the result that ships oan now
pass out to sea drawing from fourteen
to fifteen feet of water.
After careful consideration of the
question, the Emperor of Germany
and the Berlin War Office have now
d«flid«d that artificial teeth are to be
provided free of charge to the sol¬
diers, on the ground that the troops
•re better able to render good service
with sound grinders than with teeth
whioh either ache or are inadequate
to the performance of their work of
teaatioation.
It hae for • long time been the be¬
lief, states the New York Ledger, that
maters for gas and water were not as
••liable as the companies would like
to have consumers believe. Interest¬
ed parsons at Mannheim, Germany,
have been investigating meters, with
not at all favorable to the
themselves. Many of them
__ ed far more than was con
and, as a role, they were
: •ooorate regular. The
not
os do* to bad plumbing and
eoooanted for some of
Urn waste, and a obeok-valve and air
chamber were recommended in order
to equalise the pressure. It is said
that vary sudden abutting off of either
fM or water will cause the meter to
-ovar-Ngtetec. Thera should ba soma
simple and effective way to regulate
meters. As matters now stand the
producer has things all his own way,
and the oonsumer has no redress what
The Atlanta Constitution lsoonvinoed
that the Japanese are a patriotic peo
Pi* In the struggle with China they
hat* voluntarily contributed $ 15 , 000 ,
000 to oarry on the war. The Bank
of Nobles has dqnated $ 1 , 000,000 and
loaned $ 15 , 000,000 more without in
Many noblemen and
have gi $100,000 each, and
ST citizens have con
is. Bat the Chinese
t no such spirit. They are not
to part with thair money or
ir Uvea The highest offloiate
sol
M , try to skulk out of every battle,
toe naval fight of Tain
said take no part inherit* Captain
Mg salted away with bis ship before
fired. His eowardly con
t ceased him to teas his head. The
•re indifferent to the
of the war. All they
la •
-
*£&**&>
s i *
THE urn* MEETIHO LASS,
_ ^
When meeting bells began to toll,
And pious folks began to pass,
She deftly tied her bonnet on,
The little sober meeting law,
AU in bar neat, white-curtained room, be¬
fore her tiny looking glass.
Bo nicely round her lady cheeks -
She smoothed her tends ot glossy hair,
And innocently wondered If
Her bonnet did. not make her fair—
Then sternly chid her foolish heart tot har¬
boring such tanciss there.
So square she tied the satin strings,
And set the bows beneath her chin;
Then Mailed to see bow sweet she looked;
Then thought her vanity a sin,
And she must put her thoughts away before
the sermon should begin.
But, sitting ’neath the preached Word,
Demurely in her father's pew,
She thought about her bonnet still
lea, all the parson’s sermon through,
About its pretty bows and buds, which bet¬
ter than the text she knew.
Yet sitting there, with peaceful face,
The reflex ot her simple soul,
She looked to be a saint—
And maybe was one on the whole—
Only that her pretty bonnet kept away the
aureole.
—Mary E. Wilkins.
Widow Muggins’s Revolt
BS. MUGGINS
stood at the door
of the little two
story house in
which she and her
two brothers had
lived since Mug¬
gins had beau re¬
moved from the
responsibilities of
Ufe through the
convenient agency
of a railroad smash-up. His widow,
capable soul that she was, felt more
keenly the financial smash-up than the
other one, that had forced her into
unbecoming mourning attire, and
'when, after a sifting out of assets and
liabilities, she found herself with less
than $1000 to call her own, she de¬
termined to put pride in her pocket
and go back to the little home on the
edge of the prairie, from which she
had walked proudly forth a bride
some twenty years befote.
When the letter announcing Mrs.
Muggins’s intention of taking up her
abode with them reached the two
brothers it created a distinctly disa¬
greeable-sensation. Henry and James
were “sot in their ways," as and the
reighbors would have told you,
the thought of breaking up the regu¬
lar routine of their existence, even for
the sake of their only sister, bachelors was a
bitter pill for the two old to
•wallow.
“Thank goodness, she ain’t got no
children,” exploded Henry, as he
tipped his chair stiU farther back af
ter having refilled bis pipe for its final
doty, just so many pipes being e part
of the regulation evening formula.
“Yes, we couldn’t abide children , no
how,” echoed James, pulling off his
great boots and tossing before the
blase a pair of decidedly ample feet in
woefully holey gray socks.
Tho light of these foot coverings
evidently furnished Henry with minutes’ food
for reflection, for after a few
silent puffing he remarked: “P’raps it
wouldn’t be such a bad idee after alL
Seems if we kinder need a woman to
look after us. Phoebe Jones is all very
well as long as the oookin’ goes, but
there’s other things—dook at they’d yer socks been
fer instance. Looks as it
shewed, an’ mine’s jest es bad. I kin
remember we didn’t her no sioh look¬
in’ rags when ma wus alive to look
arter ’em.”
“No more we didn’t P’raps Mary’s now,
oome to think on it,
cornin’ might prove a savin’.
We kin do away with Phcsbe
Jones’s help, and she writes she’s got
some little money of her own, so she
won’t expect us to give her no clothes.
We’ll let her oome, though I s’pose
it’ll sorter upset our evenin'* ”
“I’m 'fraid it will,” responded
Henry, “but then she's our blood re¬
lation, an* there may be a savin’ in
it”
Thus it was that the Widow Mug¬
gins reoeived a terse, cold letter an¬
nouncing that she could once again
taks up her abode in the hones of her
youth, the selfish sentences had winding
up with: “Ef yer had children we
couldn't have stood it nohow.”
. Ten years had passed ainoc arrived the day
the little pate faced widow at
the old farm, and aa aha stood at the
open front door, shading her eyes
with her hands, one could see the
change that the yean had brought to
her. The soft brown eyes had in
them the took that oomca to those ae
to viewing great plains, to
gasing out and beyond, away off into
another world from which the gamer is
tout by the unvarying tedium of daily
toil. in their There depths waa that a wistful crept hopelessness there only
as
when alp waited for the folks to
window of her little room.
“I wouldn’t care,”
ns mu--1—
tbe test dish
gmd kind
a
»only way to make them
‘
.1
the brothers were economical
0 ^bm though they never would have
l she had
forgiven JveAo Mary if ever ven
tured to much as a stale bis
cuit to a tramp or any of the poor
-«■
queried Mrs. Muggins, as she passed*
the speaker a fragrant cup of tea,
which he at once proceeded to turn
into his saucer before appearing to
notice the question. days,” he replied,
"Nigh onto ten
after the first gnlp. sick meetin’, ”
•q heard she was at
put in James, who was a regular at
tendant at all religions services, but a
most reluctant giver when the plate
was
“You knew she was sick last Sun¬
day and never told me,” here put in
Mrs. Muggins, with more spirit than
she had ever shown in the whole ten
years of her service in the old house
on the edge of the prairie. When folks is
“What was the use?
sick they ain’t no account, and there’s
no sense of well folks bein’ worried
about ’em. I thought as how ef you’d
a knowed Phoebe wuz took down you
might er had some notion of goin’
over to see her, and knowin’ it wuz
soap-mokin’ time I thought I’d better
not.”
Mrs. Muggins only * bit her lip at
this .typical selfish explanation,
her hand trembled m she refilled
ry’s cup, and into her eyes crept
look of determination such as they
seldom worn since Muggins died.
“I s’pose the pa’son wanted some¬
thin’. 'Pears as if that man ain’t con¬
tent with a decent house and $150
year for preachin’ only twice on Sun¬
day. Some folks never know when
they’re well oft ”
“A hundred and fifty dollars a year
ain’t much when there’s five mouths
to feed, and besides, you* know he
don’t get that regular,” put in Mrs.
Muggins, the new spirit of resistance
making her feel inclined to argue
every question that was raised. The
brothers looked at each other iu
alarm. ♦ They did not know what to
make of this outbreak from the usual¬
ly passive third member of the house¬
hold. James, who recovered first,
evidently thought it best to nip any
such argumentative tendenay in the
bud, bo, with an impressive cough and
a look indicative of the pride he felt
in thus suppressing the offender, he
said:
“Mary, wimmen folks wasn’t made
to think. how What Pa’son High’s salary
is, or it is paid, is no oonsarn of
yonrn. I think your kittle has biled
over." *
When Mary went to look after the
imaginary trouble on the stove he
turned to his brother and as nearly
winked as he had ever been guilty of
doing, and then took up the thread of
the interrupted discourse. ailin’
“What did the pa’son say wuz
Phoebe?”
“Fever,” laconically answered
Henry; “it’s some kind of catchin’
thing, an’ no one’ll go near her. She
ain’t go no dootor, nuther, but pa’son
knows a good bit about medicine, an’
he says she’ll die ef some one don’t go
an’ nnss her pretty quiok.” ,
“Wny don’t his wife go ef it’s so bad
as all that?” put in James.
“’Nother baby,” graffly replied
Henry. me,” said his brother,
“Goodness
up*; “here we’ve set a talkin’
and it’s ten minits past our usual time
fer goin’ ter bed. Good night, Mary.
Henry, don’t set there starin' like an
owl,” at whioh the other arose and the
two went above and were lost in
dreams long before poor, tired, little
Mrs. Muggins had finished tidying np
Hie kitchen.
The brothers would not have slept
so peacefully if they had known that
up in Mrs. Muggins’s room the single
candle was spluttering along until
close on to midnight and the former
little sister in its feeble light
busily engaged in putting some
her- belongings into the capacious
that she had brought out
ten years before. “It’s downright
that’s what it is,” she said
herself as she patted down an extra
“If they want to go before
Maker with that girl’s death on
oonscienoe it is more than I do,
even though the; torn me out of
Pm going to go and do my duty
Phcsbe—poor girl; many a time I
given me a helping hand when
ready to drop, and the knew right
too, she oouldn’t expect any pay
it I’ve got my $1000 and its ac¬
interest, and if the worst
to the worst I'll just pack up,
when Phcsbe gets well the and I’ll
East and see if wa can’t make a
living aomehoW. Land know* I
oouldn’t work any harder than I
in the last ten yean if I had to go
into a factory.'* it that in the morning
Thus
the brothers
they found a on the table ex
piiittisxg whose loaa they already keenly
drudge, cold and unprepared
felt, the ve
toy
n
of ki
H
amen is
‘ a
■-7* :
"Do without her,” x&ptie& Henry,
sasrits? that
his brother wm losing com*
modity. days went onthey .. found . .
Butas the
they could not do without her. lhe
sssy Mrs. Muggins, * now Msi-s-; absolutely refused
to come to the aid of the helpless
despots, who saw their pretty* tody
home slovenly assuming an that uncomfortable,^ had not been
appearance
there for years,
Mrs. Muggins, on her side, was in
her element. She had found poor
Phoebe far on the road to the other
world when she stepped into the little
ctojn in the, wee sma’ hours of that
morning when she had crept from her
brothers’ house like a thief. Good
nursing, however, had done wonders
for the girl, who was now able to sit
up. The plan to go East became more
and more a delightful prospect as she
thought of it, nntil so full of it was
she that she confided in the minister,
who in turn told James all about it
when next he passed by the field
where the old man was at work. This
information was the climax of the
brothers’ woe.
“James,” Said Henry, “Mary’s
prettier than I thought—ef she once
gits East she won’t come back, an’ you
know how bad that ud look to the
neighbors. I think we’d better drive
over to Phoebe Jones’s and ask Mary
ter come back. ”
“Ef it wasn’t for what folks ud say
I wouldn’t go near her—for we’re get
tin’ on very tolerable well without
her,” capitulated James, who on the
eve of surrender would not acknowl¬
edge how much they missed and needed
the sister who had been given so
grudging a welcome.
The next day the lumbering old
farm wagon drew up before Phoebe’s
door. Mrs. Muggins had seen it as it
crawled over the dusty road, and,
feeling that her one chance of eman¬
cipation was at hand, prepared to
make the most of it. Phoebe was
asleep in the room that answered for
kitchen and bedchamber as well, so
Mrs. Muggins walked out to the road
as the ramshackle wagon drew up be¬
fore the door.
“Pa’son says yer thinkin’ uv going
East,” was James’s salutation, as
though no long weeks of separation
had intervened since he saw her last.
“Yes, I’m off in a day or two, as
soon as Phcebe’s strong enough to
travel. ”
Being thus admonished, Jamaa
looked over the head of the little wo¬
man standing at the side of the wagon
and stammered: “Yer brothers’
house te the place for you, Mary.” when
“I know that, James, but
brothers don’t know how to treat a
sister as though she was a human be¬
ing, it’s time for them to quit part¬
nership. ”
, „ in
“Why, what do you mean?” came
astonished choruB from the two.
“Haven’t you had your board and
lodgin’ free for ten years?”
“And haven’t I worked hard enough
to pay for it? You haven’t hired any
kitchen help since I came. Yon’ve
never had to give out any carpet rags
to be sewed or feather beds to be sort¬
ed, and I’ve served and slaved until
I’m sick. Board and lodging, indeed 1”
and the little woman, who now real¬
ized that she had the upper hand,
sniffed scornf ally. words apparently
The truth of her
struck home, for James, after sundry
telegraphic nudges from Henry, went
on: “P’haps we have been hard,
Mary, bnt if you’ll only oome we’ll back
home and try us once more, try
to do better; indeed, we will,” and a
ray of kindness flashed for a moment
m the old man’s eyes as he surveyed
the small figure bristling with the
same spirit of which he was so proud.
“Will you hire Phoebe to help me
in the kitchen?”
“Yes.”
“Will you carry out the tubs to
catch the rain water at night, instead
of letting me tote them when my
back’s nigh onto broke?”
“We will," came the subdued
ohorus. ’
“And will you let me go to meetin’
when I want to and have oompany to
tea, and give away cold victuals?”
went on the little general, making
terms once and for alL
“Anything, Mary, if you’ll only
oome back and look arter us as you
used ter.”
“AU right, then, Ill oome. ”
And thus Mrs. Muggins’s —Philadel¬ mutiny
ended in • blase of glory.
phia Times.
_ _
A Big Cedar.
fl. A. Dyer, of this oity, has the
largest tees on exhibition ever shown
in the State, says the Tacoma (Wash.) Ooosta,
News. It is a cedar, eat near
Wash. It took right men twenty-four
days to eat end load it on the car.
The part exhibited consists of four¬
teen Mjtfmrr feet of of the the root* butt, together 'Die marked with
features of this tree are that it waa
felted it was split into and
oould ba handled
out. It is now set
t*MWM 407 fast in bright, and that
feet in
■ the • and
•mo, white at
its
feet. It wee sixty mid teat be to
ib, which te to
SO0
N»t at the top.
U.____W .....- - - .
j «
&
agricultural
TOPICS OP INTEREST RELATIVE
TO F VEM AND GARDEN.
AS EXCELLENT DRINKING TANK.
The illustration of a drinking tank
is from M. K. Baramn, Nebraska. It
is simple, cheap and easily cleaned.
It is a tin box, about two inches deep
and a foot square, having a detachable
cover, with the corners of the cover
cut away to permit the chicks to
drink. The portions cut ont may be
small, so as to prevent chicks from
getting in the water, bnt with such a
shallow tank they cannot drown at all
events. The cover also keeps the dirt
out, and prevents evaporation of the
water. Mr. Bsrnmn states that there
is no patent on it, and he sends it as a
gift to our readers. A larger and
deeper tank on the same design may
be used for fowls. The plan may also
be adapted to a tight wooden box if
desired.—Farm and Fireside.
WINTER MULCHING OF STRAWBERRIES.
As plants grow until freezing weath¬
er sets in, mulching must be delayed
until the ground is frozen sufficiently
to hold up a loaded wagon. With a
wide-tired vehicle there is less danger
of injuring the crowns. Any kind of
straw may be used. That most free
from weed or grass seeds is best.
Stable manure is good where the laud
needs enriching, but it must not be
placed directly on the plants. Marsh
hay is most desirable, but any straw
or coarse litter will answer.
The object of mnlching strawberries
in autumn is to prevent rapid thaw¬
ing. When once frozen the frost
should come out very gradually. If
the ground is merely shaded this ob¬
ject will be accomplished. To con¬
serve moisture in the , spring until
after the berii^s are picked, apply the
mulch thiokly between the rows. Put
a little light chaff directly on the
plants. Bake off this chaff when
growth begins. As freezing and
thawing is not rapid or frequent in
December, mulching may often be
delayed even to the latter part of Jan¬
uary.—American Agriculturist.
ENSILAGE NOT A COMPLETE FOOD.
Ensilage alone is not an economical
food, as it is deficient in the starchy
matter, and has so muoh water in it
that a cow must eat 100 pounds of it
to get enough nutriment to live upon.
For in 100 pounds of it there are only
twenty-two pounds of dry matter, of
which one-fourth is not digestible.
The digestible matter has about two
pounds of protein, or matters that go
to make flesh; six pounds of carbon¬
aceous matters, that go to support the
animal heat, and not quite half a
pound of fat, while an animal of 1000
pounds must have fully two and one
half pounds of the first, twelve and
one-half pounds of the second, and
nearly half a pound of fat. Thus the
ensilage is deficient in the heat-form¬
ing substances, and it will need some
addition of starchy matter, suoh as
middlings, to oomplete it. But 100
pounds of food of any one kind, ex¬
cept it be of the best pasture grasses,
is too much, and especially of ensilage,
which is by no means desirable for the
Bole nutrition of an animal. Thus
is better to give one-half this quantity,
or fifty pounds, or even fortv of it,
and make up the rest of dry fodder,
clover hay, with sufficient grain food
to make the even ration. With
pounds' of ensilage and ten of hay,
adding four pounds of cornmeal
the same of bran, or the equivalent
any of the oil meals or the
meals for these, will make a fall
tion for a cow giving a pound of but¬
ter a day.—New York Times.
HANGING A STABLE DOOR.
In windy climates some other w^y
hanging the stable door than swing¬
ing it on hinges is greatly desired.
device to do this is shown in the
graving from a sketch by J. L.
send, of Utah, and can be
3
HUH DOOR.
tbe following d e s cri ption: For a
way tores by right feat, make a
ten door in the easel manner,
it, and
the door, or make the door
belaaee the weight* Purchase
eight pulley* yards cf aato Place cord in and position two
frame made of two by eight ineh plank
having the pulleys near the top, and
fit the door so shot it will slide up
ine the cord.
cords to the bottom of
eu. On each
of the to toe frame
to hold
or te
A
ttaxTa boxed in to protect them w?« and the co»a
frpm the weather. This method costs
less than is yery the durable, common overhead be hatf
ers, can used fa,
doors or shutters, and any farmer »u
is handy with tools can easily p^tit
into practice.—American Agricnl
turist c
HOW A MULCH acts.
The value of a mulch is only pa
tially appreciated by Americans, and
there is a wide field for development
in using mulches of all kinds, thinks
A. B. Barrett. We obtain our ideas
of mulches from the prairies and for
ests, where nature forms her own
mulch. The decaying leaves and
stems soon.form a mass on the sur¬
face, which prevents the soil from
losing much of its moisture. This
leaf mold and accumulation of vege
table matter acts as a protecting
covering for the soil, and it will be
found around the trees in everv for.
est, and around the roots of wild
grasses on every meadow. In imitat¬
ing nature, as she works in the field
and forest, we adopted the artificial
mulch around our fruit trees, and
found that it worked to their advan¬
tage. A mulch, besides retaining the
moisture in the soil, also secures a
more uniform temperature and adds
considerable plant food to it. The
nature cf the mulch is an important
part of the work. Flat stones may be
used around trees, forming a perma¬
nent mulch, but their action is merely
mechanical. It retains the moisture
and temperature of the soil, but it
adds nothing to it. Sawdust is but
little better, but straw and new-mown
lawn grass form rich mulches that add
plant food to the soil. **
The exaot change which takes place
in the soil when a covering is placed
over the surfaoe is not generally un¬
derstood. Some chemical change
takes place, and the soil is enriched
for a time. In some of the gardens of
France the benefit derived from shad¬
ing a portion of the soil is understood
and carried out successfully. Tiles
cover tho strawberry beds, with holes
made through them here and there for
the vines to grow out of. Flower
gardens are likewise covered with tiles
or cement, leaving no part of the soil
exposed except where the plants coma
through. Expert horticulturists there
find this method of great advantage.
In a less expensive way parchment
paper oan be used for covering the
garden soil. Brown paper dipped in
sulphuric acid should be used for this
purpose, as it is then made tough Mid
waterproof. In times of drought this*
mulch acts splendidly. It retains the
water, accelerates the growth of the
plants, and keeps down the weeds.
More experiment with mulches will in
time make gardening much easier and
more profitable. The parchment
paper mulon, however, for small
places is the simplest, oheapest and
most effectual that has yet been ex¬
perimented with. —New England
Farmer.
* FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.
Ventilate tbe frujt cellar.
Let the strawberry patch be thor¬
oughly frozen over before mulohing.
A warm blanket on the horse will
save more than its cost in feed daring
one season.
Wagon grease costs but little, and
is hardly any trouble to put on, Be
member this at all times.
Do you raise calves from your best
cows only. If your best cows make
$10 a this year moTe than your poorest
cows is five per oent. interest on
$ 200 .
* The feeding and milking the training af^the
butter cow operates just as It tends
and racing of tbe horse. to
fix tbe performing habit—and heredity
tends powerfully to transmit all fixed
habits.
Feed the fowls whole corn at night
if you wish, but in the morning let
them have wheat, oats, bran or corn
meal, mixed with the soraps fronf the
table; mix to a stiff dough with water
or milk.
When the real oold weather comes,
keep the horse’s bridle in the kitchen
by the stove. This will be appreciated
by the animal, as it will overcome the
necessity of having to take a oold bit
in his month.
The Alabama State Farmere’ Insti
tnte and Agricultural recommended Society that at their the
lateqneeting of that Stite reduce their oot
farmers
ton acreage twenty per oent. and grow
diversified crops.
Cottonseed meal fed to excess will
injure tbe flavor of butter just as lin¬
seed meal in excess will injure the
grain and flavor. The wise way is to
mix the different foods so as to —
the'beet flavor, grain and hardness.
Fowls are creatures of habit in the
strictest sense, and when onoe they
form a habit, suoh as egg-eating,
feather-pulling, or eating to excess,
they will continue the fault aa long as
they have opportunities for to doing.
Every farmer is, at ought to he, in¬
terested * in protecting hie own
products, and every pound of but ter
properly made and sold at a fair
valuation; <5a a paying factor in the
interest of every other batter maker.
It would be well to
during the long winter profftebfv evenings you by
can occupy your time
reflecting upon the mistakes of teat
i by
which you overcome
ntm. *■ ■ A
lhe time has fully
be sub se t r ed by a
monioua working together of all who
are in any deg*
with, and in no
of
§