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FIRST SUBMARINE. The American Turtle Was Tried Out at New York In 1776. GAVE THE BRITISH A SCARE. Hsr Attempt to Blow Up the English Frigate Asia Didn’t 8uceeed. but the Enemy’s 3hlps Fled In Terror—Her Second Escapade Sealed Her Fate. The American Turtle deserved a bet ter fate. It was the drat submarine war vessel of tlje United States. It was tried out In 1778 In New York hbrbor. Its Inventor and builder was David Busbnell of Connecticut, of whom little Is known. The man who went under water with It and In Nfew York bay tried to blow up the British frigate Asia, under General Washing ton's orders, was Colonel lfiara Lee. « The Turtle was built at Saybrook, Conn. After its vicissitudes of being captured, sunk and resting for years at the bottom of the East river it was raised and taken back te Its birthplace. There, after more years. It was taken to pieces. Its metal went Into grand father’s clocks; which are still ticking in the hallways of New York and New England homes,, its oaken, pitch smeared timbers were put to struc tural usee and all trace of them lost. Busbnell did not get even a tardy re ward for his inventiveness. The coun cil of safety of Connecticut In 1777 di rected that he be paid £300 for his services In •‘annoying ships.” but there is no record that he avor got the money. Here la the story ef the American Turtle’s ««rt eiploUt as It Is told in the quaint plmauedassr ,*f <*» y<dl»w- lug maw Merit* Mfceira If was set do wn long agat -Mtm 1km wm* U* *► ** * YMl «3» IMR* Iml MMMlM *f A* «** *** ▼eqr matom w ha rid *f ma» urig*- bora. David ttaabae* «f fiayfcw* lu- vented * wabumTno auafentey united the America* TartS*. wWrii received General WashSagian'* approval for that pnrpwie. A JMuihnr ef the In ventor was to operate.the BHrehlite. but ou trial he declined t» hazard his aeiw- ice. Colonel Lee. distingntshed for his courage and patriotism, volunteered his services, and after practicing with the machine to discover Its powess a night waa died upon for the attempt •‘General Washington and his associ ates In the secret took their stations upon the roof of a house on Broad way. anxiously awaiting ,the result Morning came, but no intelligence of the bold navigator. While the anxious spectators were about .to give him Up as lost severhl barges were seen to start suddenly from Governors Island, then tn possession of the British, and move toward some object near the Asia, ship of the line, and as suddenly they were seen to put about and steer for the Island with springing oars. In I wo or three minutes an explosion took place from the surface of t he wa ter. resembling a waterspout, which aroused the whole city. The enemy’s ships took the alarm, cut their cables and proceeded to the Hook with all possible dispatch, sweeping their bot toms with chains and with difficulty preventing their affrighted crews from leaping overboard. ‘‘Colonel Lee. coming to. the surface during this scene of consternation, was obliged agaiu to descend to avoid the enemy’s shot from the island. After forcing his machine against a strong current under water he lauded safe at the Battery amid a great crowd. General Washington express ing himself as much pleased that the object was effected without the lose of life. "Colonel Lee had . been under the Asia more than two hours endeavor ing to penetrate her bottom, which, be ing sheathed with copper, resisted all attempts to attach the magazine to the ship.” Apparently the American Turtle made oue more attempt to "annoy the euemy’s shipping" before she ended her career. Another old diary preserved by a Connecticut family mentions this In cident. It seems that the Turtle, manned by some nameless hero, per haps again by Colonel Lee. ttrough the chronicler does not state, made an at tempt to blow up a British ship ia tbe East river. By. this time the British aupear to have discovered what unture of craft it was that bad eoeajred to de stroy the Asia and .*• were ou the lookout, for anything suspicious that disturbed the surface'of the water. At any rate, the American submarine was discovered before she had made any progress ou. her second mission of de struction. The British bouts gave hoisted aboard, sail was set. and tbel American boat tried to show a clean! pair of heels lo her pursuer, but It wusj In vain. She was sunk by the English] guns. For a long time the Turtle lay lu the I submerged vessel’s bold. After tbe war] was over, however, the ship was raised] and the Turtle was recovered oud car-] ried back to Saybrook, If every one] else bad forgotten her and her achieve-] ments by that time the people of her] Inventor’s nntive towu still held thoj Turtle In uffeetionate remembrance.— ] Tbaddeus S. Dayton In Boston Post Welcome Joy. Ef you ain’t got manners ter teH .Toy I good mawnln* when you meets him, how does you expect him ter call roun' by de place you live at? You better be mighty keorful, fer whilst he Is [ alius In a good humor he sho‘ do ex pect you ter moot him half way.—At-1 lanta Constitution. banOhecks. '“T The Part They Play In the Payment ef a Debt. A young man hud kept in his pos session for several days a check from bis uncle. His uncle died, aud he hastened to tbe bank to each the check. When be found the hank would not pay the check until It bad orders from .the heirs or from' the courts he was surprised and observed to hla fa ther that be thought of a check as be ing so much money if the signature was good. As a matter of fact, however, a check Is merely an order from A. to B., who bolds some of A.’s money, to pay a eertaiu umouut thereof to C. It Is not money, even If the names on the check are good and Well known and the hawk Is solid as the govern ment. Although checks are given In payment of debt and a receipt usually Is signed on tbe sput. yet the passing | of a check does not constitute pay ment of Indebtedness am* It Is paid j by the bank. j ft«r wftt tfe»'«me»nwi<tt receipting ef We t» which ft to gbr-eu change this. Yt rite, cheek te aatgaid oa pros- t* rite hank the otfgnal claim ***** a a* Host the drawer or steer ef | the cheek. But a certified check dim- stimtse payment on the part of the j perse* who draws tt Checks may be antedated or post-1 dated—that la, dated before or after the date of delivery. If postdated cheeks are paid before the day sped-] fied the drawer cau recover the mon ey, for the bank has acted not in ac-| cordance with any order from him. J but ou its own responsibility. If a btunk la left for the date the] holder Is authorised to'- Insert the truel date of delivery, but no other date. | The Insertion of any other date or] changing the date without the consent] of the drawer makes the check void.— ] New York Herald. BIBLICAL TROUBLES. Knotty Language Problems Translators | Have to Solve. Some of the riddles that have to be] solved before the Bible can be trans- ] lated Into remote aud barbaric tongues | are cited In that annual wonder book, the popular Illustrated report of the| British and Foreign Bible society. How, for example, can you find name for “lamb" among the Inhabit-1 ants of some Island where the only | quadrupeds are pigs and rats? How' cau you render “whiter than snow" In I the dialects of West Africa, where | snow is utterly unknown? Occasionally the difficulty Is one of I sheer space. Leugua, the speech of an Indian tribe in Paraguay, which has been furnished with the gospel according to St. Mark, is so unwieldy that the word eighteen can only be rep resented thus: "Soliogomek-wakthla- 1 mok - emlnik - antauth,l«ma.” Literally translated, that means “finished my hands, pass to my other foot—three.” for fingers and toes serve as, unite. The word .for butter In Leuguu Is “waltky - anamankukingnink - ikpith- mukv’ which means literally “the grease of the Juice of the udder of the cow." In New Guinea the translator want-1 ed the proper idiom for "far be it | from me to do this thing.” so he con sulted an intelligent cateehumen.f "Yen." replied the catechumen, ‘‘I un- j derstand exactly. We have the pre cise-idiom. We say. ’May I speak to I uiy mother-in-law before I will do this I thing?* ” for In that laud of strange I taboos one of the unpardonable sins Is for a man to open his lips to his wife’s | mother.—8t Louis. Globe-Democrat slderlng that the maximum speed of Jwstifiabla Deception. The talk, bad gone back, and fro] and tbe youthful Socialist bad been] announcing that no man ought to get] his living by cheating, and we all lis tened to him and agreed that it was I tTreadful when men and women did] notjteil the truth, but tried to make] tbelr living by deceiving people. Mll- ttae Turtle was three mites an hour, Honalros. landowners, financiers, wej the pursuit could not have been a very' Mjjl “ long one. At any rata, an American vessel, probably some small schooner, was waiting for the submarine, and the Turtle fled thither for protection. fcUuUhr riri add .S* scarified all of them who cheat the] public. . . “No one should make a living by de-| caption." said the young man. Then * quiet voice from a woman | .coiner of