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I HE proposition which will be urged
upon congress at its present session
to provide for the retirement and
pensioning of employes of the Unit
ed States Life-Saving Service is di
recting public attention to one of
the bravest and most conscientious
corps of men in the world. The
plan to pension the members of
our coast patrol who have been dis
abled In the performance of their
duties or who have grown gray in
* rendering such humanitarian service
.to their fellow-men has been agi
tated for some years past. Congress at its last
session was on the point of passing the neces
sa.ry law thus to give recognition to the life-sav
ers and it is believed that these faithful servants
of the people will not have to wait much longer
now tp be accorded their rights—for, be it known,
the life-savers only seek such relief from the
conditions of physical disability and old age as is
freely accorded men in our military and naval
service.
Nor is it merely that such a plan of retirement
and pensions will do justice to the surfmen whoT*’
It is claimed, run greater risks and endure more
hardships for the wages paid them than do the
men in any other branch of the government
service. Quito aside from this is the influence
that will be exerted upon prospective recruits
for the service. Indeed, the officials of the Life-
Saving Service assert that with \a. satisfactory
retirement and pension plan in operation a supe
rior class of men will be attracted" to this voca
tion where so much must needs depend upon
the Individual. And, by the way, probably very
few of our readers know that the United States
Life-Saving Service Is the largest as well as the
most efficient fn the world. Like the firemen
In our cities, they are on duty all the time and
they risk their lives every time they go to a
wreck. But, for that matetr, if the surfmen did
no more than discharge the duties of their “night
patrol’’ on the . lonely storm-swept beaches they
would have to their credit more hazardous and
more arduous work than almost any other class
In the community.
The scope of the relief work of the American
Life-Saving Service is expanding all the while.
During the past year the life-savers rendered aid
In the case of nearly 1,500 wrecks and thanks
largely to the aid of these brave and experienced
men only seventy-four out of this large number
proved to be a total loss. Measured in dollars
and cents, the service rendered by these fear- ,
less men was even greater. In the wrecks of
the past year there was Involved property, in
cluding vessels and cargoes, to the total value
of $11,880,000, and o( this amount the surprising
proportion of $10,057,000 was saved. This in it
self makes the two million dollars a year which
Uncle Sam spends on his Life-Saving Service
seem like a pretty good investment and that is
without taking into consideration the lives im
periled on the shipwrecked vessels. There were
6,661 persons on board the craft that met dis
aster last year and the total loss of life, which
was fifty-five, would have been many times that
number but for the succor afforded by Uncle
Sam’s heroes of the beaches.
Former Governor William A. Newell of New
Jersey is generally recognized as the founder of
the Life-Saving Service and he took the initia
tive as the result of a marine disaster which he
happened to witness during the summer of 1839
when the Australian bark "Count Perasto’’ was
wrecked on Long Beach, New Jersey. The thir
teen members of the crew, all of whom were
drowned, might readily have been saved had
there been at hand apparatus such as now con
stitutes the regulation equipment of the United
States life-saving crews.
The need thus pointed out made so forceful an
Impression upon the mind of Mr. Newell that he
soon after entered upon experiments with bows
and arrows, rockets and a shortened blunderbuss
as a means of thdbwing lines to ships stranded in
positions inaccessible by small boats. Eventually
his experiments culminated in complete success
by the use of a mortar or carronade with ball and
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line. About this time Mr. Newell was elected to
congress and on the first resolution day of the
first session of the thirtieth congress—on Jan
uary 3, 1848, to be exact —he introduced in the
national legislature the measure which laid the
foundation of our Life-Saving Service.
The national government now maintains up
ward of three hundred life-saving stations dis
tributed on the coasts of the Atlantic, the Pa
cific, the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes.
Each of these stations is maned by a crew of
from six to eight surfmen —hardy and fearless
fellows who are splendid specimens of physical
manhood and who are skilled in handling boats in
angry seas and in manipulating the various me
chanical appliances which Uncle Sam provides
as aids to the brawn and the quick wits of our
coast patrolmen in the dangerous task of cheat
ing the deep of its prey. For devotion to a duty
that necessitates eternal vigilance and the most
fatiguing service the life-savers receive the mod
est wage of S6O per month. Moreover they re
ceive that pay for anly nine months a year, the
crews being laid off during June, July and Au
gust, at which season severe storms and wrecks
are almost unknown. Should a life-saver be in
jured during his summer “lay-off” he not only
cannot get back into the service but he cannot
under existing conditions draw any pension or
retirement pay, no matter how many years he
has faithfully served the nation.
The vast majority of rescues effected by the
life-saving crews are accomplished by means of
lifeboats or surfboats. These stanch craft, which,
as now manufactured, are almost unsinkable, are
the ideal vehicles for taking considerable num
bers of persons from Imperiled vessels in a lim
ited space of time. If the patrolman, who in his
vigils on the beach discovers a vessel ashore and
hastens to the life-saving station for assistance,
reports that the use of a boat is practicable eith
ed the large lifeboat is launched from Its ways
in the' station and proceeds to the wreck by wa
ter, or the lighter surfboat is hauled overland to
a point opposite the wreck and launched as cir
cumstances may dictate. Formerly all of these
boats were propelled by oars and many of them
yet are, but latterly there have been introduced
big motor lifeboats, which are a vast improve
ment in every way over their predecessors.
Ofttlmes a ship mepts disaster in so dangerous
a position or with such a high sea running that it
is manifestly hopeless to attempt to reach the im
periled craft with a small boat Under such cir-
cumstances recourse is had to the wreck gun
and beach apparatus with a view to carrying on
rescue work through the instrumentality of the
breeches buoy or the life car. First of all a
shot with a line attached is fired across the
stranded vessel by means of a powerful little
mortar or snub-nosed cannon, which will hurl a
line over a wreck 400 yards distant, even in the
teeth of a gale. With this preliminary line in
their possession the crew of a shipwrecked craft
can quickly haul out a larger line and finally a(
three-inch hawser. Attached to the hawser is a
board which bears in English on one side and in
French on the other instructions as to how to
make the hawser fast to a mast or the best place
that can be found.
When the shipwrecked mariners signal that
they have obeyed instructions as to fastening the
hawser the life-savers on shore haul the hawser
taut and perhaps elevate the shore end by means
of a tripod in order to lift it well clear of the
water, after which there is sent off to the ship
a breeches buoy, suspended from a traveler block,
or a life car depending from rings running on
the hawser. Only one person at a time can be
landed by the breeches buoy, but from four to six
people can be carried ashore at each trip of the
life car. Whichever be the vehicle employed the
trips continue until all the imperiled persons are
safely ashore, after which an ingenious mechan
ical device known as the hawser cutter is draws
out to the wreck along the cableway and upon
arriving at the terminus of the hawser auto
matically cuts the rope, allowing the life-savers
to haul it ashore and thus preserve intact a val
uable part of their apparatus.
Ambitious inventors are constantly devising
new forms of aparatus for the use of the United
States lifesaving crews. Indeed, these inven
tions are so numerous that the federal govern
ment has felt obliged to create a board of experts
whose special duty it is to test novelties and who
hold such trials several times a year. However,
not many of the new ideas that are advanced
prove practicable, for the exacting conditions of
the rough and ready service involved and the
above mentioned classes of apparatus continue to
be the standbys on which our life-savers place
the greatest dependence. However, there has
latterly been an advance in facilities for signal
ing and there is now in use a form of beach light
so powerful as an illuminant that it enables one
to read the face of a watch at a distance of more
than nine hundred feet
NOTED CAREER ENDS
John Bigelow, a Famous Diplo
matist and Author.
Fame Won as Editor and Representa
tive of America in France Dur
ing Civil War —His Life’s
Span 94 Years.
New York.—John Bigelow, <sr., dist
lomatist and author, died at his home
in ^his city, aged ninety-four years.
■ Mr. Bigelow, sometimes termed the
“first gentleman of New York,” was
almost the last connecting link be
tween the great men of the first half
of the nineteenth century and the
present day. Born at Malden, Ulster
county, N. Y., in 1817, of a well-known
family, he was prominently associated
with the great men and the determin
ing movements of the country during
his entire life.
In 1849, at the invitation of William
Cullen Bryant, Mr. Bigelow became
an editor of the New York Evening
Post, in which position he continued
until 1860. Under his editorship the
paper came to a great influence.
Sainte Beuve’s critical letters were
published under his supervision. Walt
Whitman was a reporter and later a
war correspondent under Mr. Bigelow.
Artemus Ward worked for the paper
at the time; and it was at this period
that “Bret Harte was remarkably
regular at the office on pay days.”
. Mr. Bigelow’s series of articles on
the effects of slavery in the West In
dies worked up some of the feeling
which made Lincoln’t election pos
sible in 1860, and at the emancipator's
urging the editor went as minister to
France during the trubulous times of
the civil war.
In France Mr. Bigelow succeeded to
much the same power and position
that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas
Jefferson had held more than 50 years
previously.
It was at this time that Mr. Bige
low discovered Franklin’s “Autobiog
raphy,” of which he edited the author
itative edition. Later a “Life of Ben
jamin Franklin” was written and
edited.
Mr. Bigelow was appointed an ex
ecutor of the estate of Samuel J. Til
den, and in addition to his ordinary
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duties as an executor he undertook
those of the literary administrator.
Tilden’s “Wrtings” were published
and later a “Life of Samuel J. Tilden”
was written.
During all this time a constant
stream of magazine article, pamphlets
and books were coming from the am
bassador-editor. His literary activi
ties were frequently interrupted by
other political appointments and hon
orary positions given him, but since
1867 Me main thought was given to
his writings.
His “Life of William Cullen Bry
ant,” with whom he was associated so
many years, was published in 1893.
and in 1908. at the age of ninety-one
years, his greatest work. “Retrospec
tions of an Active Life,” was publish
ed in three volumes. Bigelow’s
“retrospections” covered more than
half of the life of the nation.
To the very last Mr. Bigelow kept
a clear head and an active mind for
all the problems of the nation, “writ
ing with the ease and the elegance of
the older school and with an accuracy
all his own on every subject that in
terests him.”
Two sons of the aged author. Major
John Bigelow, Jr., of the United
States army, and Poultney Bigelow,
the writer, have attained distinction
in their respective fields. Mr. Bige
low was a trustee of the New York
public library, of the Metropolitan Mu
seum of Art and a member of many
learned and honorary societies in this
country and abroad.
Pastor Is Some Farmer.
Sandusky. O.—Not satisfied with
the good work he is doing in saving
souls. Rev. C. H. Schoepfle, of Birm
ingham, has set out to show the far
mers of this neighborhood that his
duties are not so arduous but that
they give him time to work a few
wonders in agriculture.
Considerable rivalry has been ex
cited among the farmers of this
neighborhood in ability to grow
prodigies in the various agricultural
products. It was started early this
fall when Frank Kuhl produced some
enormous ears of corn. Others sprang
up from time to time to claim recog
nition. but Rev. Mr. Schoepfle blded
his time. The secret of his plans
came to light when he drove to town
with two enormous carrots, which
tipped the scales at six and three
quarters pounds.
<«teFREE
^■^®L.Asa. .•h2®| I want every person
-- -oejvfnHn who is bilious, consti
■ W T pated or has any stom
~ _ ach or liver ailment to
^send for a free package
of my Paw-Paw Pills.
I want to prove that
they positively cure In
digestion, Sour Stom
ach, Belching, Wind.
Headache, Nervoua-
'“iidl Bl Wz"^* ness. Sleeplessness and
wUHCSMb are an infallible cure
for Constipation. Toda
this I am willing to give millions of free pack
ages. I take all the risk. Sold by druggist*
for 25 cents a vial. For free package addreaa.
Prof. Munyon, 53rd & Jefferson Sts., Philadelphia, Ra.
Simply Blushing.
A Gillman man, it is related, has a
very red nose, and recently a very in
quisitive person said to him; "Please
don’t take offense, but I’m curious to
know why your nose is always red?"
And this is the reply the inquisitive
got: "My nose is merely blushing
with pride over the fact that it has
never butted into any one’s business."
—Fort Smith Times-Record.
THE SAFE LAXATIVE
FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE
Most elderly people are more or
less troubled with a chronic, per
sistent constipation, due largely to
lack of sufficient exercise. They ex
perience difficulty in digesting even
light food, with a consequent belching
of stomach gases, drowsiness after
eating, headache and a feeling of lasst
tude and general discomfort.
Doctors advise against cathartics and
violent purgatives of every kind, rec
ommending a mild, gentle laxative
tonic, like Dr. Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin,
to effect relief without disturbing tha
entire system.
Dr. Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin Is the
perfect laxative, easy in action, cer
tain in effect and, withal, pleasant to
the taste. It possesses tonic proper
ties that strengthen the stomach, liver
and bowels and is a remedy that has
been for years the great standby in
thousands of families, and should be
in every family medicine chest. It is
equally as valuable for children as for
older people.
Druggists everywhere sell Dr. Cald
well’s Syrup Pepsin in 50c and sl-00
bottles. If you have never tried it
send your name and address to Dr. W.
B. Caldwell, 201 Washington St., Mon
ticello, 111., and he will be very glad to
send a sample bottle for trial.
Cornered.
Lord Guilford tells a story of a
young lady’s resources at a bazaar.
Business was in full swing when a
young man strolled around the various
stalls, with no intention of purchas
ing anything. As he passed a larger
beautifully decorated stall the young
lady seller detained him. “Won’t you
buy a cigarette holder, sir?” • she
asked. "No, thank you, I don’t
smoke,” was the curt reply. “Or a
pen wiper worked with my own
hands?” “I don’t write.” “Then do
have this nice box of chocolates." “I
don’t eat sweets.” The young lady’s
patience was exhausted. “Sir," sho
said grimly, “will you buy this box
of soap?”
The young man paid up.
Suspicious.
When the four-and-twenty black
birds which had been baked in the pie
began, immediately the latter was
opened, to sing the king grew sus
picious.
“How,” demanded his majesty,
“were you so remarkably preserved?"
The blackbirds, visibly disconcerted
offered no reply.
"Was it by the use of benzoate of
soda?” thundered the king, thorough
ly aroused. —Puck.
Misleading Sneezes.
“How did you come on with your
study of the Russian language?”
“Not well. While I was trying to
pronounce a few words our family
physician came along and forced me
to take all kinds of medicine to break
up a coid.” ।
The
Promise
Os a Good
Breakfast
is fulfilled if you start
the meal with
Post
Toasties
Sweet, crisp, fluffy
bits of toasted com
ready to serve direct
from the package
with cream and sugar
Please
Particular
People
“The Memory Lingers”
/
Postum Cereal Company, Limited,
Battle Creek, Hick. •.
