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THE TRAVELLED MISS TREE.
BY HENRY DICK.
Most little girls are fond of stories,
and Annie MacFarlane was no excep
tion to the rule; but then, she was the
fortunate possessor of a grandmother
who could tell the most charming sto
ries in the world. Of these Annie's
favorite was a really, truly, live story
that had happened to grandmother
herself whe" she was a little girl. An
nie called it the "Lydia Tree Story,”
and twice a yeac, for a few days at
Christmas and a for a good long time
in summer, when she went to visit her
grandmother, they bpgan at once with
poor Lydia.
“Haven't heard anything from Lydia
Tree yet, have you, grandmother?”
Annie would call from the carriage
door.
And grandmother always shook her
head and smiled, it seemed a little
sadly, as she said: "Nothing yet, my
dear.”
This was the story:
When grandmother was a little bit
of a girl she did not have as many
playthings as little girls have now,
and the few she had were so plain and
home-made that the children of to-day
would consider them very poor affairs
indeed; but to grandmother they were
simply beautiful. never having
dreamed of anything any finer than
her simple toys, it never occurred to
her that they could be thought ugly
or ridiculous.
Grandmother lived on a large fram
not far from the city of Boston. As
she was the only little girl in the fam
ily, she was greatly petted by every
one. In the long winter evenings,
when there was little to do, some of
the farm hands who were clever with
their pen-knfves used to employ their
skill in whittling out toys for grand
mother.
Sometimes they were rough block
houses that came apart, which you
tited together puzle fashion. Some
times they, were curious trick boxes
made of countless small pieces of wood,
which only those who were admitted
to the secret could open. Sometimes
they were wooden chains made of
small links whicn had been cut from
a long strip of wood, which grand
mother thought made beautiful neck
laces. Poor grandmother! You see
this was long ago and she didn’t know
any better.
But the toy of toys whicn had sim
ply filled her little heart with rapture
was—what do you suppose? —a white
birch dolL Can you fancy such a
thing?
Its head was made of a knot of white
birch wood upon which eyes, nose and
mouth had been painted with yellow
paint. It had a ottle blue calico sun
bonnet, from under which hung two
long yellow braids made of braided
silk. It had a blue calico dress like
the sunbonnet. Its sleeves were
stuffed with rags for arms, and it had
two little pieces of wood for hands.
Legs it had none; but then its dress
was very long, and grandmother never
missed them.
It must be that little girls who are
intended to grow up into good grand
mothers have grandmothers’ hearts
from the first. When this beautiful
doll was given to grandmother, she
took it without a word, and simply
sank down on the floor and hugged it
to her small breast with a rapture
which made her speechless.
“Haven’t you a word of thanks to
give John, my uear?” said grand
mother’s father. He wished his little
daughter to grow up well-mannered
and not to be ungrateful. Grand
mother simply could not speak; but
she looked at John with such beaming
eyes that he understood.
“That's all right, little ’un," he
said, as he gave her brown hand a pat.
John must have had a grandmother's
heart.
Grandmother does not remember
how the doll came to be called Lydia
Tree; but Lydia Tree she was from
the first. Never—until the terrible
day which we are coming to —was
grandmother separated from Lydia
Tree day or night. From that day she
forgot to be lonely or to feel sorry that
there were no little girls with whom
she could play. Lydia Tree filled ail
the empty places in her heart.
What secrets they shared! What
Plans they made! And they played
together so happily! Lydia Tree was
always thinking of new games—that
is. grandmother pretended that it was
I-dyia Tree who thought of them.
One day in the early summer it hap
pened that there was a great deal of
work to be done for some reason or
other, so grandmother was told to
take Lydia Tree and go out and play
in the front yard, where (hey wouldn't
!>e “under people’s feet.’’
So they went out and sat beside the
horse-block, as it was called, for it
"'as the place where the wagons al
ways stopped and where people
mounted their horses. The horse
block was the stump of an old tree
"ith a smoothly planed top, which
m ade the most beautiful place in the
world to play store.
It was Lydia Tree’s turn to be store
keeper that day. She was standing
propped up against the side of the
block, trying to persuade grandmother
to buy some very expensive kind of
calico, which grandmother was not
*ure she could afford. They were dis
cussing the important matter of
"'hether it would wash or not, when
grandmother heard the clatter of
horse's hoofs coming up the road. Both
s he and Lydia Tree forgot the excite
ment of driving a bargain in their
interest in seeing who was coming at
that hour of the morning.
It seemed to grandmother after
wards that at first the rider intended to
to keep on without stopping; but just
as he came opposite the horse-block,
his eye lighted on the little girl with
Lydia Tree hugged tightly under arm.
He aparently changed his mind and
reined in his horse.
Grandmother was never able to give
much of a description of the man. She
always had a vague idea that he was
much browned by the sun, that his
blue clothes were of a queer cut, and
that, he spoke in some way differently
from people she knew.
But ke smiled down upon her very
pleasantly as he asked, “Who lives
here, little girl?”
‘My father,” said grandmother,
promptly.
And then, as she was really a very
polite little girl and wished to behave
properly, she introduced herself. “An’
I m his little girl, an’ this is Lydia
Tree.”
At the sight of Lydia Tree’s inter
esting countenance held up for his in
spection, the stranger seemed much af
fected. Probably he had never seen
anything quite so beautiful. Grand
mother was very much pleased; so
when he asked her if she could get
him a drink of water, as he was very
warm and thirsty, and politely offered
to hold Lydia Tree while she went to
fetch it, she consented at once. It
would be a pleasant and novel expe
rience for Lydia Tree to be on horse
back. She was not the mother to deny
her child any reasonable pleasure or
advantage. Lydia Tree was handed up
to the stranger, and grandmother de
parted for tne water.
It took her some minutes, for the
drinking gourd was rather large lor
her small hands, and she had to walk
very slowly to avoid spilling the water.
When she reached the horse block she
saw Lydia Tree’s head sticking out
from the top of the stranger’s jacket.
She looked very much distressed,
grandmother thought, buttoned up in
that way. with her arms inside. Grand
mother felt half inclined to cry. She
was just about to request Lydia Tree’s
return, when the stranger finished his
long draught.
“I think I’ll take Lydia Tree now,
please,” said grandmother, holding up
her short arm.
The man cast his rapid glance over
the yard. There was no one in sight.
He gave his horse a sharp cut
with the whip. It seemed to grand
mother afterward that in that one
jump Jthey were dowm the road, leav
ing nothing behind them but a cloud
of dust.
It was several moments before her
poor little brain was pierced with the
terrible idea that Lydia Tree had also
gone. For a moment she was simply
paralyzed with anguish. Then, with a
cry which brought her mother run
ning from the house., she threw her
self on the ground in a tempest of
tears.
It was some time before any one
could make out what had happened.
Poor grandmother could, only wring
her hands and sob: “Lydia Tree! O,
Lydia Tree!” When, finally, she had
become sufficiently coherent to give
them some idea of the tragedy that
had befallen her, horses were saddled
and several of the farm hands started
in pursuit. Grandmother was a great
favorite and everybody burned with in
dignation to think that a grown man
should meanly rob a little girl of her
treasure.
The man had too long a start. Never
again had grandmother set eyes on
him or Lydia Tree, although it was
many years before she gave over ex
pecting them both. She could not be
lieve that he did not intend to come
back. Her heart was sore at the
thought of Lydia Tree compelled to
live among strangers. They all decid
ed that the man was probably a sailor
who had stolen this odd-looking baby
doll, perhaps to take to a little child,
of his own.
Grandmother’s father tried to com
fort her by promising that John should
make another Lydia Tree for her. John
somehow understood little girls as few
grown-up people do. So he made her
a playhouse instead, for which grand
mother was secretly very grateful, al
tlßmgh she did not think it right to
say she didn’t want another doll, as
her father had suggested it. She and
John became greater friends than ever.
He certainly did have a grandfather’s
heart.
This story of Lydia Tree was An
nie’s favorite story. She never tired of
hearing it. It was her secret convic
tion that Lydia Tree would returp
some day, although grandmother had
given up expecting her. She never
dreamed that she was to have any part
in it.
When Annie was 10 years old, her
'ather had some business that obliged
him to go away over to Holland, to
the city of Amsterdam.. As he might
have to be there for many months,
Annie and her mother went with
him. It was certainly a great ex
perience for a little girl, and to say
that Annie enjoyed all the wonderful
things she saw on that journey and
the quaint life in that curious old
world city would not express it. It
is only with the part of her journey
that has to do with Lydia Tree that
this story is concerned.
When Annie and her mother had
been living in Amsterdam about a
month there was a great fair held
there for the benefit of some charity.
Annie’s father had been told that one
THE WEEKLY NEWS, CARTERSVILLE, GA.
of all sorts of curious toys, which the
children from all parts of the world
are accustomed to play with. So An
nie and her mother went one after
noon.
It would take too long to tell of all
the curious things that made up that
wonderful collection—of the tops from
Iceland, kites from Japan, stilts from
the Marquesas islands, and what An
nie called "Noah’s Arks.” from Africa.
Of course what interested her most
was the collection of dolls. Annie
thought most of them frightful, and
felt a great deal of pity for the un
fortunate children who had nothing
better to play with.
There was a very kind man there
who explained a great many things
to Annie and her mother in faultless
English. He showed them the most
primitive form of doll from Mashona
land. Africa. Simply a small lump of
w’ood, polished and blackened with
age. with a few scratches on top to
represent features. The dolls of the
Kaffir tribes were a little better; they
at least could boast of arms and legs.
Then there were dolls from West Af
rica. made of hard brown wood highly
polished. The strangest thing about
these dolls was that their bodies were
made bell shaped. Within the bell
hung a bunch of clappers made of
reeds, which were supposed to repre
sent the voice of the doll.
"I do not think that the little girl
finds these strange dolls very beauti
full,” said their guide laughing. “In
one moment I will show you some that
you will admire more, for they have
come from the city of Paris. But first
I will show you ?. quaint doll from
your own America. She is not very
beautiful, either.”
As they walked on. Annie’s mother
stopped a moment to examine some ob
ject that had attracted her eye. She
was startled by a cry of “Mother,
mother, mother! Oh, do come here!”
She found Annie dancing up and
down in excitement, waving something
about, to the great astonishment of
their new friend.
"It's Lydia Tree, I know it is, I
know it is!” cried Annie, nearly in
tears.
It certainly was. In every particu
lar the outlandish looking doll baby
answered grandmother’s careful de
scription. There was the knotted
wooden head with the yellow paint
features; the blue calico dress and
sunbonnet, the yellow silk braids, the
legless body. Annie’s mother was
nearly as excited as her little daugh
ter. With a few words of explanation
she asked permission to take off the
sunbonnet. She had suddenly remem
bered a part of the story that Annie
had forgotten. If this really were the
•long-lost Lydia Tree, her name would
be found cut in the back of her head
where John had carved it so many
years before; and there it was! The
curator was very much amused and in
terested but of course Lydia Tree had
to be returned to her shelf for the
time being, as she was a part of the
collection.
I do not know just how it was man
aged. but the curator and Annie's
father laid their heads together and
managed it; but first one of the Am
sterdam papers published a long ac
count of the “Traveled Miss Tree's”
life and adventures. Annie could not
read it, to be sure, as it was all in
Dutch, but the paper is one of her
most treasured possessions today. It
tells how Miss Tree had been sent to
the fair by the grand-daughter of a
long dead Dutch sea captain, who had
bought the queer doll from one of his
sailors, presumably the very man who
had robbed grandmother of Miss Tree.
At all events Lydia Tree crossed the
Atlantic once more in Annie's own
trunk. After landing in New York
they went almost immediately to pay
grandmother a visit. You can imag
ine how excited Annie was when, al
most tumbling out of the carriage in
her eagerness, she asked the old ques
tion:
“Haven’t heard anything from Lydia
Tree yet, have you, grandmother?”
“Nothing yet,, my dear," said grand
mother.
“Well, I have!” shrieked Annie, and
waving Lydia Tree before grandmoth
er’s amazed eyes, she threw herself
into her arms.
It was certainly a complete sur
prise; and when, after a happy day,
Annie came to grandmother for her
goodnight kiss, she received one of
even more than usual tenderness. “It
was the most beautiful present I ever
received in my life,” she said.
For many years afterward Lydia
Tree, after her stormy and adventur
ous life, passed her time sitting in a
low chair beside grandmother’s bed.
Grandmother’s glance was some
times a little dimmed when she looked
at the old companion of her childhood.
So many things had happened while
Lydia Tree was on her travels.—
Youth’s Companion.
(ieneral Bell in the Philippines.
Once when riding ahead of his col
umn in company with 10 of his officers
they suddenly came upon a 100 or
more insurgents. Bell was cut off
from his comrades and found himself
alone in a clearing with seven Fili
pinos, who were armed with rifles. He
bad only a revolver and only one shell
in it. He rode headlong into the group
of Filipinos shouting, and he shot off
his single pistol ball. It struck the cap
tain. and the others ran. He caught
them and commanded them to throw
down their rifles. He captured a part
of them and brought them back to
their captain, who had only been
wounded in the arm. When he re
joined his companions he was leading
the captain and two other Filipinos
as his prisoners. It was for this ex
ploit that he received the medal of
honor. It was Captain Bel! who res
cued Lieutenant Gillmore and his com
panions of the navy.—The World's
THE UNREST IN RUSSIA.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PART TAKEN
BY THE WORKING CLASS.
New Departure in the History of Nihilism
A Krmnrkable I’ropagiinda—Scholars
Pleaching the Gospel of Peaceful ltevo
lution—'“Underground Trade* Unions."
The characteristic feature of the
disturbances in St. Petersburg is the
participation of large numbers of fac
tory workingmen in the demonstra
tions led by college students, states
Y’ork Commercial Advertiser.
The despatches from St. Petersburg
tell of "a bloody encounter between
Cossacks and workingmen.” This is
anew departure in the history of
Nihilism. The movement which began
in the seventies by "going among the
pryiple” for purposes of peaceful prop
aganda, and which culminated in the
killing of Alexander 11. in 1881, was al
most exclusively a crusade of cultured
young men and women.
The educated revolutionists started
out upon the theory advocated by
Nicolai Chernyshevskl. the leading
Russian critic and economist of the
sixties, that the better classes owed
their superior position to tha labor
and sufferings of the masses, and that
it was their mo’-al duty to pay the
debt by working for the economical
and intellectual elevation of the pleas
antry. Accordingly, the early phases
of Nihilism —a name, by the way,
which is seldom applied to the Russian
revolutionists in their own country—
were of a purely educational nature.
The first secret organization to which
the present movement is directly
traced and of which Prince Kropotkin,
the scientist aurl anarchist, now lec
turing in this country, was an active
member, was starred by a man named
Chaikovski. The Chaikovt.?:. or Chaik
ovists. originally confined themselves
to the spreading of literature allowed
by the censor and delivering lectures
to working people. Pvinee Kropotkin
and others were arrested. The move
ment spread. Hundreds of educated
young people learned to speak the dia
lect of the common people, and putting
on peasant garb went to teach the un
lettered to read and to write, and to
preach the gospel of peaceful social
ism. The agitators were sent to Si
beria by the hundred, while scores of
them died of consumption or went in
sane in the political prisons of St.
Petersburg and Kharkoff.
In 1879 the Russian socialists held
a secret convention and split into two
factions, the majority assuming the
name of Narodovoltzi (party o? the
will of the people), while the minority
remained faithful to the old policy of
propaganda among the peasants. The
Naradovoltzi favored a constitutional
government as a fi rst step which
would clear the way of socialist agita
tion. “In order to preach equality
and liberty one must first make sure
that one will not be buried alive for
trying to teach a peasant to sign his
name,” they reasoned. “All our ef
forts have been set at naught by this
barbaric government of ours, and be
fore we do anything let us secure some
freedom of speech and assemblage—
rights which the people of every civ
ilized country have been enjoying for
years.”
4s an inevitable means to this end,
however, as a. “deplorable necessity,"
the will of the people started a series
of “terroristic” measures, expecting
to demoralize the government by kill
ing off its more obnoxious officials and
thus to bring the panic-stricken czar
to terms. In order to show that this
“terror” was forced on them by the
government, and was justifiable under
the peculiar conditions under which
the Nihilists had to work, the organ
of the “underground party” printed,
among other things, an obituary of
James Garfield, condemning the as
sassin and expressing deep sympathy
with the mourning republic.
The terrorists who staked their lives
by mining the tracks of railroads over
which the c?ar was to pass, attacking
the monarch in broad daylight, or
blowing up h*s dining-hall, included
the sons and daughters ot some of
the highest families in the country.
Thus, Sophia Perovskaya, the young
woman who gave the signal to fire
the fatal bomb upon Alexander 11.,
was the daughter of a former gov
ernor of a province of St. Petersburg
and the niece of a cabinet minister.
The last issue of the paper pub
lished by the terrorists was printed
in 1886. Since that time the party of
the Will of the People has bean dwind
ling in numbers, gradually giving away
to “the Social Democratic party.”
The underlying principles of this or
ganization are identical with the dec
larations of the socialist parties of
western Europe. Like the German fol
lowers of Karl Marx, for example, the
Russian Social-Democrats avo bitter
ly opposed to anarchism in prinicple
as well as in practice, and if they
justify, in exceptional instances, “the
terror,” they refer the student of their
movement to the special conditions
which call forth such a departure
from their general policy.
The basic idea of socialism in west
ern Europe is that the “co-operative
commonwealth" is to come as the
natural outcome of *ho growth of cap
ital on the one hand and of the antag
onism between the interests of capital
and labor on the other. The Social-
Democratic movements in Germany,
France. Belgium. Austria and other
countries are. therefore, essentially
labor movements. This is. at present
the case in Russia. “Capitalist indus
try” in our country is developing rap
idly, say the Nihilists of the new
school, and the field for socialistic
trades unionism, which is the insepar
able concomitant of this progress, is
growing apace.”
The attention of the Nihilists is
thus concentrated upon the working.
strike and they look upon them as the
backbone of the revolution which they
advocate. That the new Nihilism is
meeting with considerable success is
shown by the growing trade-union
movement in Russia. An organized
strike for an advance in wages was a
very uncommon occurrence in that
country in the days when the “Will of
the People” was at the zenith of its
strength. Now these conflicts be
tween c apital and labor are the order
of the clay.
As trades unions are strictly forbid
den in Russia the labor organizations
are all secret societies, and their rev
olutionary character is implied by the
very nature of their existence. The
working people who take part in the
strikes accuse the government of sid
ing with capital, and as they clamor
for the right of assemblage and of
struggling for better wages by the
same methods which are regarded as
legitimate in western Europe, these
"class conscious” workingmen, as the
socialists are fond of calling them,
naturally form the main force making
for the extortion of constitutional re
form from the czar.
The conflict between students ancl
the military in St. Petersburg the
other day grew out of the severe treat
ment of college students by Bogolye
poff, the minister of education and the
excommunication of Count Tolstoi.
But the rank and file of the demonstra
tion was made up of workingmen who
had learned in the “underground”
trade unions to demand political free
dom and to revere the names of the
great Russian writers and thinkers.
QUAINT AND CURIOUS
The finest human hair is blonde,
and red is the coarsest. The thick
ness of human hair varies from the
250th to the 600th of an inch.
In Polynesia baby girls of a year old
are placed in wicker cages, and in
cages they remain until the time they
are married. Happily the children do
not seem to mind much, and they
grow fat and healthy. At the age oi
12 years or thereabouts most of the
little damsels leave their cages to be
married.
In a chronological record of some
of our United States histories is
found the following note: “1757, Mont
calm took ft. William Henry; massa
cre.” Judge of the teacher’s surprise
when a pupil arose, and with a confi
dent air said: “In 1.757 Montcalm
took a fit. and William Henry was
massacred.”
Compressed oxygen and carburetted
hydrogen were made use of by bur
glars lately in breaking open a safe
in a London nostoffice. It is supposed
that they provided themselves with a
bottle of oxygen and obtained the
other gas from a jet in the building,
thus producing a flame intense enough
tq destroy the lock.
Since the patent office was first es
tablished in 1790. only 5757 patents
have been granted to women. There
are other interesting figures. ThPre
have been 415 patents issued to
colored men, of which 28 were granted
to one inventor and 22 to another.
More than 80 percent of the patents
issued are to citizens of the United
States.
The dry lake of the Mojave desert in
southern California, about 7x9 miles
in extent, has a sandy surface almost
as level and smooth as a floor, without
a sign of vegetation. Two miners
named Hoyt who live near by lately
got up a land sailboat for navigating
this singular lake. It is made very
much like an iceboat, only instead of
runners it has wheels. It can be
sailed in any direction, and as close
to the wind as a sailboat. It lias made
as high a rate of speed as 40 miles an
hour and is a complete success.
An ingenious Austrian inventor has
just patented a speaking clock, which
he claims’will be of tbe greatest value
to people of forgetful and irregular
habits. It consists of a clock phono
graph combination. In place of the
usual striking attachment is a phono
graph. which can be set to speak a
sentence at any hour desired, and
thus become an unfailing reminder of
the duties of each successive hour.
There is no mechanical difficulty in
the way of charging this moral time
piece with any number of daily ex
hortations. ft can be set to speak
once or a dozen times, and may be
trusted never to forget its message
so long as the clock is duly wound up.
Click of tlie Buahmen.
In talking the Bushmen give the
impression of being in the transition
stage, between the click and throat
method, of conversing. Imagine the
hollow, indistinct utterances such as
proceed from a roofless mouth, re
lieved by numerous clicks, and you
know as much of this language as I
am able to give you. In 1896 a few
of these people, copying the Maiye,
adopted the village system and cereal
cultivation for the first time. The
great bulk of them still exist on most
primitive lines. They wander about
the bush without cover, sleeping where
they happen to be when the sun goes
down, and eating what they find, main
ly roots, snakes and berries, as being
easily acquired. In wet weather they
place a piece of detached bark over
the head, and leave the rest of the
body to look after itself.—The Geo
graphical Journal.
Overdoing It.
“There’s such a thing as being toe
cool in the face of danger,” says the
Manayunk Philosopher. “Many a
man's reputation has suffered by his
temperature getting so low as to make
his teeth chatter." —Philadelphia Her-
MAUD.
The Man with the Hoe, on that sum
mer’s day
When Maud Muller raked the hay.
Was at work in the corn, just over the
fence—
Apd Maud was a girl of good horse
sense.
When the Man with the Hoe said,
“Marry me!”
‘Go get a reputation!” said she.
He worked it right, and in course of
time
lie, too, was written up in rhyme.
And so they were wed, ’mid feasting
and laughter,
And lived very happily ever after.
—Detroit Journal.
HUMOROUS.
Muggins—Why do you allow your
boy to work in a bowling alley? Bug
gins—Oh, just for pin money.
“The shirtwaist must be about to
bloom.” Why do you think so?” “Be
cause there goes one on a bud.” •
Hoax—l suppose when the footpad
held you up you were greatly in
censed. Joax —Well, he left me cents
less.
Teacher —Man proposes and —and
what? Who can complete the sen
tence? Bright Pupil—And that’s the
end of him.
Romantic Maid —I wonder what the
wild waves are saying? Practical
Youth —Oh, they are probably telling
fish stories to each other.
Nell—Has Mr. Siokoche proposed to
you, yet? Belle—No. He reminds me
of a self evident truth. “How do you
mean?” “He goes without saying.”
Teacher—Of course you understand
the difference between liking and lov
ing? Pupil—Yes. miss; I like my fa
ther and mother, but. I love apple pie.
Towne —So he’s really dead. Well,
he made a hard fight. If ever a man
had an iron will he was the man.
Browne —Yes, but I’ll bet the lawyers
will break it.
Prison Visitor —This wouldn’t have
happened to you if you had been
taught to pray from your childhood.
Convicted Burglar—You’re wrong. I
was taught to prey from my childhood.
“And do these Indian girls never
evince a tendency to relapse into their
former savagery?” Tears sprang to
the eyes of the mission worker. "Ah,
yes,” sighed she. “Only last evening
they set the table without putting doy
lies under the finger bowls.”
They were on the train, on their
wedding trip. “It seems to me the
conductor is rather personal,” com
plained the bride. “Perhaps he thinks
this is a, personally-conducted tour,”
replied the groom, who was still rat
tled from has recent experience.
“So you quarrelled with George?”
said one young woman. “Yes,” an
swered the other, with much pathos.
“Is your engagement broken off?” “Oh,
no. I told him I never wanted to see
his face again, and he said that he
would leave me forever. But we didn’t
go so far as to break off our engage
ment.”
A PYRAMID OF DIMES.
They Count In the Uiriml Total of the
Kecelptn.
“Does the government make much
out of these pretty blue stamps?" she,
asked the clerk at the stamp window
as her gloved hand dropped a dime
on the glass counter in payment for a
special delivery letter to Charlie.
“Certainly, miss,” responded the
clerk. “The government must get
revenue from some source other than
the internal revenue and import taxes.
It tries to make both ends meet In the
postal service and endeavors to earn
an honest penny or two extra.
“You will now, upon mailing that
letter, obtain a special service, for
which, of course, you ought to pay.
The government cleans up a neat little
pile ear,h year from dimes naid for
special delivery stamps, receiving last
year 5,191,000 pieces, and employing
2173 messenger boys to deliver them,
the average time for the delivery of
each letter being 15 minutes.
“The government received in rev
enue from his source d.imes to the
amount of $627,800, and paid for run
ning this branch of the service $477,-
100, making a neat little profit of
$147,000.
“You see, miss, the carrying in the
mails of love letters like the one in
your band, and other missives, costs
money, and the department spent last
year $107,700,000 to do it. As it re
ceived only $102,300,000, there was a
deficiency of $5,385,000. these re
ceipts $94,000,000 came from the sales
of postage stamps, stamped envelopes,
newspaper wrappers and postal cards.
So every cent the government may
make adds to the total receipts and
lessens the deficiency, even down to
the amount received from the sale of
waste paper. The profit it makes on
the sale of the little stamp books with
leaves that won’t stick together at an
advance of only one cent over the
face value of the stamps in the book
has yielded $4500 in a single month."
—Washington Star.
Virtue Poorly Kewnr<le<l.
A curious example of the reward of
excessive virtue is the case of certain
British pickle manufacturers who have
been making their pint bottles hold a
little more than a pint, to be on the
safe side of the English law. When
these pint bottles arrived at Canada
they feund that there was a law in
operation which provides that any
package measuring more than a pint
must pay duty as a quart.—London
Chrenicle,
It takes a brave man to face a den-