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VOL. XXII
ARCTIC EXPLORERS.
XANSEIT WILL THY TO CItOSS THE
XOHTI! I‘OLl',
And Peary Will Go a Good Wavs-Several
Ollier Explunri Preparing: toSiart for
the Icy Regions—V. liat They Say.
Washington, June 9.—The fever for arctic
exploration is beginning to burn again in
mail’s breasts- The records of northern
discovery. show that human effort in this
<lirecti->:i undergoes regular v:i: i itions
through cycles of years with periods of
maximum and minimum intensity like the
.spots i.n the sun and certain epidemics.
There is reason to believe that the
v, >i i-i is entering on one of these maximum
periods of north-pole enthusiasm. Lieuten
ant Peary, scarcely returned from the
iiorthermust point of Greenland, is pre
paring actively to set out with another
expedition in a few weeks. Nansen, the
Norwegian explorer, the man who fii-st
on>.s -d Greenland from east to west, has
alrr:t y sailed for the Behring sea. whence
he v.iii launch forth on a perilous journey
Ciitotigh the ice. Lieutenant Melville, the
..
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i
LIE! 1 ENA LT PEARY.
explorer who found the bodies of DeLong
ar 1 his comrades, has a pet scheme for
rea liitig the pole by the way ol Franz
Josef laud, ami is anxious to put it into
execution. Besides these there are various
other polar expeditions planning in var
ious parts of the world.
The -lose of the nineteenth century, thore
fore. will witness a plucky race tor the
pole with brave fellows in the running.
Let it-, then, take a comprehensive glance
al this much discussed ami much misunder
subject of arctic exploration. Let
us try to see what has been done in the
past ami what are tiie prospects for th<’’fu
ture. It must be confessed thttt the pic
ture one sees in looking back situ < men first
.*-*r*y x*-»t*e prow* ft*.-:,. -t.,*.. 1 '- I '-
pot.* is rot a pleasant or a reassuring one.
Disaster and death, suffering and horror
that seems to hat'e been the wretched story
year after year, generation after genera
tion. and little to show for it. 'J'wo hundred
ami eighty-six years ago that valiant Hutch
ttavig-itor, Henry Hudson, reached 89 de
grees 23 minutes north latitude in his
clumsy wooden sailing vessel. The best
Lieutenant Peary could do last year with ail
bis science and line equipment was to reach
82 degrees 34 mmutes, ami the best that
has ever been done, the groat record among
all polar explorers, is >3 degrees 44 min
utes. made by' two officers of the Greely
expedition in ISS2. t hat means, as any
one can see for himself, that modern civili
zation has been able, in nearly 3>Ht years,
to gain ony 200 miles on the record of Hud,
sou made three centuries ago. At that
rate, allowing an advance of one degree a
century, ,the north pole would be discovered
about the year 2tA)O A. D.
A glance over the records since ISIS,
■when thg British parliament began offering
large rewards for arctie discoveries will
show th ij nine-tenths of all the trouble and
•loss of lisp in ail the polar expeditions has
been caused by this strange mania to drive
a light body through a heavier one, a ship
which floats in water through mountains
of congealed water. As well try to cut a
diamond with a piece of glass. Lieutenant
Melville, of the United States navy, who
has made a deep study of this subject, says:
“The wonderful potency of these floes is
Im-rediblc and can only be calculated in
inilliops of tons. I therefore consider it
impossible to construct a floating body which
will bo able to resist the tremendous strain
of the polar iee packs. I do not think such
a vessel could withstand the pressure even
though it were built in solid.
(hie has not to look far for proofs of this
statement-woeful proofs'. In 1829 Captain
John Hoss started north on the Victory.
The Victory was crushed in the ice. In
ISl’t Sir John Franklin lei the Erebus
ami the Terror within the arctie circle and
both staved their grounds to atoms. Then
came the Pioneer, the Intrepid, the Resolute
ami a score ©f others —it is curious what,
nwc-inspiring names they all bear —and the
ice crushed them one after the other. Dr.
Kin-sailed in 1X53 on the Advance,
which also became the prey of the
hum'rv ice packs and advanced no fur
ther'. ' The Polaris, with Captain Hall
ami party was ground to pieces in
]S72. One year before that the German
ship Hansa,* with Dr. Peterman and Ins
jiariv. was crushed in the ice. in jXt,>
the men of the Payer expedition sent by
Austria, who discovered Fraijz Josef
land, were obliged to leave their ship,
the Tegethoff. shattered in the ice. In
ixj-.l the ill-fated Jeanette began her voy
age with Lieutenant DeLong in command,
but tiie ice pack’s pitiii'ss grip caught and
crushed her too. bringing death upon many
brave mon. These are but a few of the
ships which have started out gallantly on
noiar expeditions, only to bo broken into
splinters in the gr'at. ice tloes. As for
the ordinary whaling or fishing vessels
which have met with similar fate, the
list would be endless, ami all from
man’s stubborn refusal to recognize a
principle which seems as simple as that
two and two make four. An egg pounded
by a hammer gets broken!
Take the famous expedition which left
in ISIS under the command of Sir John
Franklin, tiie English exp!*n K- Eleven
x s elapsed before the bones ami relics
oL*dr John ami his party were discovered,
am! during that time no less than forty re
lief expeditions were sent out after them.
Not one of the expeditions did anything
whatever to reach the north pole or to help
the cause of science.
Agiin when Lieutenant Greely started out
in ISSI, lie had no intention of steering
tiie Proteus toward the pole. His in
structions were to make observations of
a scientific nature and establish a me
teorological station. During the three
years following, a dozen ships wore sent
to rescue Lieutenant Greely ami although
this was their only object, they did it
very badly with the result that canni
balism was talked of. In the same way
when the Jeannette sailed in 1X79 under
Lieutenant DeLong, a series of rescuing
parties wen started in her train and the
scientific world has not yet got tired of
arguing as to the spot where the Joan
nett.• would have been found if anybody
had been skillful enough to find her before
she sank.
Bm suppose the laud stops? Thon what?
Lieutenant Peary in his recent expedition.
toe.nl that Greenland was cut in two by
a strip of water at latitude S 2 degrees 34
minutes. How is it possible to know how
much farther the land on the other side of
that strip of water will extend? Os course,
there is no way of answering this question
except that judging by the usual formation
of peninsulas and island groups, there is
g o,| reason to think that land extends far
toward the north pole ami that the Arc
tic circle is dott<*4 with islands of greater
or h-ss extent. These islands, it is believed,
h ive much to do with holding the ice floes
firmly together in the northermost arctic
regions: indeed, it is thought bv the best
amorities th.ll the Arctic sea' is a soli I
mass of ice above the ,85th parellel of lati
tude. The once entertained theory of an
open polar sea and an “ice barrier” which
comd be penetrated has been generally,
1 ,Tn'\ s:, . v i'lmost universally, abandoned. -
Wluie it is Ums believed that the Arctic
sea above the Noth parallel is a solid
mass of iee, it is not. believed that this ice
is stationary. On the contrary a steady
m e.em -nt to the southward is known to
exist, only this movement is doubtless slower
a’»• the Both parallel than it is
below it and the moving mass there is prob
ably absolutely compact and free from
open water spaces. The consequence of this
condition, if such exists, must be that ex
pl >ers will be able to advance over this
solid surface, taking sledges for supplies,
wi:a rnm-h less difficulty than has been ex,
perienced heretofore in lower latitudes.
The ice will be more even and compact,
its movement will bo very much less ab
rupt ami there will be no danger of those
dangerous and treacherous breaking up pe
riods which have caused such disaster.
Few people nowadays belive in the pale
oerystic sea onee so much discussed.
Lieutenant. Peary proposes to put this
theory to test in the expedition which will
set out under his command in a few weeks.
Hi 1 will push along the inland ice cap
which rises to the height of (>,OOO or S.OOO
feel through the whole interior of Green
land. Having reached the open water
which separates Greenland, as now desig
nated from the land above, he wid cross
over this, climb again to the heights of
inland iee and advance onee mure as far
as possible to the northward, possibly as
far as the land stretches. Having found
that limit the party will either return con
tent with such a discovery or will push om
over the solid ice in a dash for the po.e
itself. Provisions will be left at intervals
along the land and sm-h arrangements made
with the relieving ship as to prevent any
misunderstanding. In this present expedi
lion Lieutenant Peary will sadlv miss gal
lant ( aptain Pike, who eomnian led the
Kite last year, and whose recent death will
be riuch regret .ed. ...
q*m- nnme theory as this in its main
points lias been advanced by Lieutenant
Melville, also of the United Stab's army,
who, however, disagrees with Lieutenant
Peary as to the advisability of advanc
ing to the north along the ice-cap of Green
land. Lieutenant Melville argues that the
proper land for an advance to the pole is
the Franz Josef land, whose northern
boundary has never been determined, tind
which as far as known is uninhabited In
human beings. Franz Josef land, as the
map shows, lies to the north of Nova
Zembla, its southern limits being cut by the
80th parallel of latitude. Lieutenant Mel
ville proposes to advance with dogs and
sledges in a similar way Io that adopted
bv Lieutenant Peary, ami he has planned
two lines of retreat, one by Xpitzbergen
island and the other by Nova Zembla.
Meanwhile, Nansen, the intrepid Nor
wegian explorer, is on his way to the Beh
ring sea. through which he will pass into
the terrible ice floes which lie to the north
of Siberia. He calculates that tin' west
ward drift of the iee floes at the rate of a
mile or two a day will in the course of
two or three years take his ship within a
few- miles of the north polo. He has
studied the polar currents at the surface
very carefully, but may have overlooked
the" deeper currents w-hieh carry tin' ice-
/ I ?\
’ yjtT '".y ■ --y//:/ / ll \
Sict’on —< ' W'j
|»>H• p- - /
A—T\-- A
' _ —”——
■ "gyt
THREE VIEWS OF THE “FRAM.”
bergs. The fact that he will be obliged to
remain a prisoner in the iee during all
these years, even should his theory prove
correct, doe® not disturb him in tho least.
A s to tho danger from the crushing power
of the iee tloes, Nansen declares that his
ship has been built on a new plan with
shelving sides on such a model ami with
such powerful bracing that it will be ab
solutory impossible for her to be crushed.
The worst that can happen will be to lift
her bodily out. of the water and squeeze
it as it were up to the surface ol the iee.
Tic that it is a matter of indifference
to him, ami > s 3 us t as ' pl cas, ‘’l 1,1 let
tho ship wait in one position as another.
"What do you think of Nansens plan?
I asked General Greely recently in Wash
ington. , , e
"I regard it as an illogical scheme of
self-destruction,’ wai the emphatic answer.
"And what about Peary’s expedition?"
“Oh, Peary may make the farthest north
this time; possibly hi' may reach the 80th
parallel. For the present, the record of
my otlieers. Lockwood and Brainard, must
stand first.”
It is interesting to note that a British ex
pedition will soon set sail and endeavor to
reach the pole byway of Franz Josef
ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY. JUNE 20, 1893.
land. The leader holds views similar to I
those of Lieutenant Melville. This expo
dilion is not a national effort, it is prt- j
vato, planned and equipped by private en- j
terprises and private money in order to |
follow up the line in which private oxer- •
tions have already done more for polar |
explorations than many government.
ditions have achieved. Its le.i l.r, r red- ;
erick G. Jackson, is a business man pos
sessed of leisure ami sutli.ieat m-' ms mil
experienced in travel in all parts ot ttie
world. Os the same age as Dr. Nansen,
and, like him, married, he is as typ. 'il an
Englishman as the latter is a Norseman.
Pluck and “go” are his in very large meas
ure. Experience in serious ice work tie
cannot lav claim to, but he knows mote
about the’arctic regions than many ,
explorers did on their first setting out. Mt.
Jacks m has made a summer cruise to tne
far north and under the tuition of a cannj
Poterhead whaler, lie has picked up many ;
wrinkles which will help him in time of need.
He is a keen .sportsman rather loan a
man of science, but his ten companions |
will be chosen for their ability to make (
all neeessarv scientilic observations and
collections. If his plans fall out as he
hopes, Jackson will be the most eager m
the race to the pole ami it will not be ms
fault if the 1 nion Jack is not toe nisi I k
planted on that much coveted sire, in ,
intends to leave England aom. .10 • 1
die of July or perhaps as late as tm m-- ,
ginning of August .
Whatever els.- may be ace unphshe 1
these arctic expeditious, this iumm is j’i-r-|
tain, that they have given a commoii-p.m e, ,
sordid world a flower of heroism tor which
(he world is better. Whatever teacocs
men patience and fortitu 1 ' is th-se things.
Whatever makes men grit their tee.li in ;
th c face of pain ami danger and endure
what comes, that is a good thing. What-j
ever innkos men loyal to their cumr:nlts
oven t.» death -oo.L Whatever mak;H
men feel that there arc things m the won.
besides mon.'V which are worth while, that |
,s very good. And polar expeditions right- ;
iy comlucti'd do all this.
In conclusion, a w-ord as to t.ic nt.l.t.. o>. 1
the expedi! : ons. ev<m if they should arrive .
;ll th.i'mu'th pole. What good will that do ;
after all?-many people ass. Ihe smip.est ,
answer is: What good doos anything m> r j
Surelv there is as much sense in struggling ,
over ice Hoes through tile arctic mg.it as >
there is iii struggling over barren deserts,
with fevers to kill ami simoons to wreck.
Cl.l. v 1- 1. and Mor FHI T.
A’ ro HT OX Til IC YE HI KT> .4.
Here In the deep. .Time dark.
Laden with odors of the rose ox co.-, iv ■.
Where not a star-ray strikes the o iks to mark
Their glooms impressive,
I tilt my rustic chair—
The smoke from my Havana upward wreath
ing.
And o'er the rolling of the world I hear
The great Night breathing!
The Night that lias no art
To hide her grief; with dim-draped arms
extended.
She waits to welcome to her widowed heart
'1 'll 1 moonr.se splendid.
And vet so still is all
That if a !>lf>l's nest slipped its airy tolii r
Thori' would bo sound and feeling in (be f ill
Os one light fi'ather!
The rills that brawled all day.
Now witli the tumbled pebbles make no
wrangle;
The wind seems weary, and has lost its way
In vines a-tangle.
Night! and the South! and Juno!
Silence—and yet. the sound of many voices!
And now. dashed down the darkness, tune on
tune,
Ami Melody rejoices!
Clear through the awakened Night
The music rushes—all the joy bells ringing;
Ami every leaf is trembling with delight
Born of that singing!
Night! ami the South! and June!
The wind awakes: the river gleams and
splashes.
Up from the black hills climbs the brimming
moon,
And—my cigar’s in ashes!
-FRANK L STANTON.
Punishment for Poverty,
From Tiie Now York World.
Valentine Muller was sent to Ludlow street
jail on a judge's order seven months ago for
contempt of court. The contempt was tn
not obeying an order of the court to pay
ssoo in a suit, wlien he had not SOO cents in
his possession to pay it with.
For this offense Muller was a [irisoner for
life in Dunlap castle. There was no limit to
his term of imprisonment. There was no
chance for him to earn the money while he
was in jail.
> The Evening World called attention to the
ease to show how much of a fraud and a
sham had been the pretended abolishment of
imprisonment for debt by the state legisla
ture, in response to The World’s demands
some years ago. The legal sharks, who fat
ten 011 men’s misfortunes, had so befogged
and muddled tin.* law as to render it still pos
sible to punish an honest debtor more severe
ly a than a burglar, a highwayman or a
forger.
The ease was thus brought to the notice of
Judge Joseph F Daly, of the court of common
pleas, _ who yesler.iny made an order for
Muller’s release. Tile prisoner was not set
free from what might have been a life im
prisonment by any operation of tile cruel law
of imprisonment for the crime of debt, but
becatis,. of tile justice, humanity and courage
of Judge Daly.
Let us see if the next legislature will refuse
to sweep from existence the fast vestige of
this abominable law, which makes poverty a
penal offense.
fl DREAJHF 1993.
15y Robert L. Adamson.
If a rushing, progressive, up-to-date
American, of this, the brightest, age of the
world's progress, should awake from i
Rip Van Winkle sleep about .July 4, BD3,
he would be c.tricatmet! and laughed at as
old-fashioned and old-fogyish. Changes at
present inconeeivable would confront him
on every side. lie would find this boasted
age of enlightenment superseded by one
grandly-superior in everything that signiiies
advancement ami progress.
Htinmn ken fails to grasp the possibilities
of the next hundred years With the cur
tain of the liiture drawn aside, a picture
so amazing, so full of new and surprising
things.is revealed, that the American of
today gazes stupidly at the far-off era, and
utterly fails to comprehend tiie magnitude
and extent of the evolutions that a inin
dred years will bring in every department
of human progress and achievement. ?>o
living man can tell what the coming cen
tury will untold. The future can only be
judged by the past, and thus viewed it is
safe to predict remarkable advaneemebt in
every branch of human endeavor. The im
mediate past, has developed wonders in the
world of science. Tiie development of the
■subtle, but powerful, force of electricity
has scarcely yet begun. A hundred years
will see it moving factories, trains ami ships,
furnishing heat ami being applied to do
nr'siic uses, as well r.s performing many
of the most delieat" offices which havo
baffl 'd the deepest thinker.-. >f the present.
Tiie tendency us the world is toward light.
It began in darkness, and through mueh
travel has omorgi >1 into eomparati,-■ light.
The moral as well as tit.' material virld
has felt 'he enlightening effect of t.ie ages.
We yet'smnd in the twilight: another
century will find tts nearer the dawn.
in forecasting the future, electricity sug
gests to the mind the greatest possibilities.
Its present uses will be taim ami crude, in
coniparis >n with the advanced u<>'< to which
it will bo pur om 1 humli-i'd years ftom now-
If not entirely, it will in i la:-ge measure
have supplanted steam. It will move the
< ,ir~: will be :he agent, by T h m-'i: of
all i mntries will be enabled ‘ > speak an 1
be heard in every civilized land; it will
propel the ships, drive the factory wheel,
and be used in a thousand ways to loss'll
domestic labor- 1 believe that one hundred
y-'.-irs from now th ' mitch-talked-of problem
of aerial navigation will be solved, an I air
ships will be among the realized dreams
When this comes to pass, electricity will
b > drawn upon I > fitrntsh the motive force.
Tie' problem is truly in tin' air now, but
Who knows how soon some mister tnim!
will see the way, and it will be done, ami
th" world will marvel and say: “How sim
ple! How strange some one didn't think
of that before.”
The tens of thousands uses in which elec
tricity can b>' put have not yet begun to
daWn on the human mind- Th>' telephone,
the phonograph, the telautograph and the
many other wonderful inventions were hut
lii- 1, 'ginning; but they discovered the
pt' "'ip.c, and miracles are to follow. See
ing by electricity is among the possibilities
of the future. Winn this is perfected, it
will be a daily practice of inquisitive Ameri
cans to call tip ohl Mr. Gladstone or Queen
Victoria to see the look of disgust as they
drop the telephone.
As an instance of the suprising things
that are expected of oloi-tiieity. Professor
A. G. Bell, the eminent student of el
tricity, said not long ago that he believed
thought transference by electricity quite
practicable. Hi* has oven gone so far as
to make several experiments on the line of
ids startling theory. He is at work ots the
theory that thought is a movement of elec
tricity in the brain, ami if ho can get th*
current on a wire which he runs from one
head to another he believes the sensations
in the two connected heads will corresj >nd.
IL* is at work, also, on an invention by
which he hopes to enable the blind to see,
and which, if perfected, may lead to the
invention of a somewhat similar instrument
by which the blind may see.
Aluminum will figure largely in
the progress of the world with
in the next. century. It will
to a groat extent supersede iron. Ils
lightness and durability commends it tor
many purposes for which it is well fitted
for use. It will be used in building cars
and houses. A white city ot aiu-idnum
houses will not be an uncommon sight in
the davs of 19!»3. The cost of producing
it will'be materially lessened, and its pro
duction will be as general as its use.
Politically, the condition of America will
be better in a hundred years than now.
The people will have learned mor.* about
the science of # :iml will be
better able to avoid the breakers that are
now, and have b .'"U, giving trouble to
th ■ people. But them as now, there will
Still be a class of visionaries who cry out
against the existing order of things, am.
alvoeate the adoption of ideal theories.
There will be fewer laws, and the whole
system of government will be simpler.
Bv that time, kings and thrones will have
disappeared. The dominant ideas then, m
all law and government, will be to secure
the greatest good of the people. Hiere
will be fewer deinogogical politicians-
Wealth will be more equally distribute**.
There will still be men of large fortunes,
but the vast fortunes now held by a tew
men will lie diffused to the great boneut
of the toiling classes. '1 here will still bo
differences between capital and labor- 1
believe with Bill Nye on this point that
'the laboring classes will always be more
or less oppressed, and that the more their
wages are increased the more fatigued tney
wil? feel.” Ideal conditions will never pre
vail iu reference to capital and labor.
Then, as now. those who produce wealth
will not control it.
Great improvement will be wrought in
educational methods and the fruits of it
will be seen iu higher types ot men and
women They will be healthier among eth
er thim's Education that will tit men and
women for the practical concerns of life wi .
be sought in preference to that w,m-a po.-
ishes The twentieth century will be above
•ill things practical, ami .tho spirit ot the
times will be shown in the methods of edm
eating young people for the struggle ot
a hundred years the world will know
vastly more about those hidden ami mys
terious forces in men that are displayed in
hypnotism, mesmerism, etc. I eople are
beginning to learn more about these occult
powers and as the years advance piugiess
in that direction willl eontmue.
The newspapers of 1993 will ne abreast
of tho times. Newspapers are the mir
rors of the times, and are never behind tne
period in which they are printed. Facts
accurately written, xviinhout coloring or
distortion - , will be Ihc guiding aim of the
newspapers of the future. Facilities for
gathering and printing the news will be
far superior to those of our day. The
typography xvill be neat and tasty. Tn the
mechanical departments the paper will be
up to date. The fast, presses of tol iy will
be as far behind as the hand press is now.
I fancy improved inventions will enable
tho reporters of the future to set the type
for their articles as they write with less
trouble than they now hammer out copy
on typewriters.
The tide of immigration .vhieh is at pres
ent sweeping westward wil! continue to go
that way, sending a healthy current sui'li
ward. The west and sontli h >'■! out, in
finite possibilities in the way of devemp
ment. The coming century will witness
wonderful strides in the peopling ami boil I
ing up of those two sections. The great
city of the future will be in tho west.
Chieigo may be that city. A century hence
nt:ty not witness its aecompiislim"nt. but
same fitne in the future the eapitol of the
nation will go from Washington to s*me
western city.
The matter of dress will bf as subject to
surprising changes as now. Tito search for
something new in dress will never cease
as long as there are women enough to per
petuate it.
The literature and drama of the future
will portray phases of Ameri'.in iife with
a faithfulness and l'.Te-likeness beimig.ng only
to true art. The people of till! time may
be seen in the books and on the slag".
Provision for crime will be
made with more regard tor httmanity th in
now. The dark, unhealthy prisons of today
will be superceded by strong, seetire struc
tures well lighted and ventilated, (.'.rime
may not bo less, but it will be committed
with less brutality. Science, as in so many
other things, will improve the methods ot
crime.
The postal service will be quicker and
more efficient. Tiie transmission of maiis
by means of pneumatic tubes is one ot
th" proposed improvements that may be
realized tn the edg" of th" near fttl'tre. It
may not be impossible to write to a friend
ii. New York and receive a reply the same
day.
The United States will be a republic and
the methods of choosing the president, con
gressmen and making laws will be very
nearly the same as now.
Metical science will have mastered many
difficult probbms that now distress tile e::t
im'nt. physicians of th" pres":it day. Ine
consumptive and tin- man with cancer need
no longer lespair. There will be a balm,
lit the field of medical inquiry mu -a will
be realized. An in'ellig.-nt people will no
long •;- be impose 1 upon by me.ie-al qmieks
and fakirs. The abumiam -oi compe
tent me.iieal talent will leave the noisy and
boastful quack without a prof.'e.sioti.
The marvelous improvements that will
be made in all kinds of machinery is be
yond conception. The machinery ot. the
future will he simple, labor saving ami
amazing in the almost human manner in
which it takes the raw material ami turns
out a finished article.
Above all the world will be better then
than now. The temicticy of the times is
toward praetiepl religion -a religion that
has as its high, purpose the uplitting and
relieving - of humanity. The long-winded
discussions over soma nice point, of belief
wil! be lost sight of in the general aim ami
purpose to do good. Every day the world
is coming to a better understanding of the
problems that have been open for discussion
and investigation since the world began.
Mau is coming to a dearer kiiowh-lge of
tiie forces of nature and their applicalim to
burn-in affairs. As nature unfolds her mys
teries and m to learns more ab *ut the world,
sei’s th<' universal order observe.! Hi
things in nature, he bm-omes more atid
more convince.! that behind it all there is
supreme intelligeiice.
When ‘the that now confuse,
perplex and nuzzle men ar" as an open book,
revealed ami understood,'.the men wh > once
groped in the dark will w-dk in the light of
an intelligence revealing a system so fault
less and perfect that they needs must ac
knowledge if the handiwork of one who
made nothing without a purpose.
THE STORY OF BILL
From The Chicago Record.
The change in Bill was noticed the very
day that Bill got back from the cast. It
surprised and shocked us all liefore be
went away Bill Was the liveliest ami gen
ttim'st thoroughbred in the camp; I l ire
say that in all the Red Hoss mountain dis
trict there wasn't a gentleman who could
lay his tongue to stronger oaths and more
of 'em than could Bill —that's why he was
known far and wide as Damnation Bill,
for the name that a fellow was known by
out in that God’s own country in them days
was not the name given to him by his
sponsors in baptism, but by the other fel
lows who, having pardnered with him and
studied his idiosyncrasies, were qualified
to give him a name that, clearly ami di
rectly, conveyed a succinct, idea, as tho say
ing goes, of' the most salient features of
his character. Damnation Bill Was a name
that fitted Bill to a T.
Curiously enough, when Bill got back
from tho east ho didn't do no more swear
ing. and it was that eircumstaneo which cre
ated the scandal—the first scandal Bill had
ever been identified with. Talking it over
among or.rsebes, the rest, oi us fell >ws
figured it that Bill must have got religion
while he was down east, and this seemed
all tin* more likely when we found out, just
by chance one evening, that Bill had b.' m
dowli east to see his mother.
• Well," says Barber Jim, "if he has got
religion and has broke away from the old
traditions, supposin’ we call him I’.irson
Bill." . „ , ,
Just then Bill come m on us. He had
overheard what Barber Jim said, although
Barber Jim hadn’t any idea that Bill y ts
within gunshot of Casey s, where we was
all confabulating.
"Boys,” says Bill, as calm like as you
please, "you can call me the old name ii you
want to, or you can call me any other name
ami I Won’t kick. I guess the worst name
you could give me wouldn’t be too good lor
inc. Bui I want you to know that 1 hain’t
got religion, and, there bein' nonobjection.
I’ll tell yon semepin’ that, bein' pardners
of mine, you ought to know.
“1 wasn't more than a kid, says Bill,
"when the war broke out. I lived with t.ie
old folks down east—wtis tho ccuntryest l
boy you ever seen. Readin.’ The Spring
field Republican from day to lay as how
the flag had been insulted, how forts had
been fired on and how the union was in
danger, I—why. of course, my boy blooH
was up ami I was just everlastin ly bilin’
over to jine the war and g-> to the front
and save tho country. So I run away from
homo. It was hard on the old folks, for 1
was their only child, and I can understand
now- that their hearts was just sot oit me.
Well, I walked all the way to Chatham
Corners and joined the cavalry they was
musterin’ in there. I was only sixteen
then, but I was big enough for twenty;
tiioy needed recruits ami they didn't ask
too* many questions. At Washington I
wrote back homo, an 1 after that 1 got loi
ters from mother or.father twice a week,
and it w asn’t long before father sent me the
colt, he had raised and broke and great
liopes of for tho next comity fair trotting
match, if 1 hadn't gone .1 joined the
cavalry. They never scolded me for run
ning away; it was always ‘God b!.*ss you’
and ‘do your duty’ and things of that kind
they wrote, and mother always put in a
p. s., saying. ‘Willie, don’t forget to say
your prayers.'
“Some of you,” says Bill, “were in that
war, and you know what arm.v life whs.
‘Say my prayers?’ Why, who thought of
PRICE 5 CENTS
prayin’ in the midst of that wild, hard, ex
citing life? Le.ist. of all the boy who had
known only the q’liet ami humdrum of
t I’ardners. it does m ■ good to
Ittt the weight off my min] ami tell you
fa it 1 grew to be Hie toughest of tile 'lot.
And swear? Why. they used to sit. -around
and laugh at me. I "■>! s> aeeoniplish.-'l at
i»-n‘'r > they railed me D.imnatioti
‘ ‘•■'•cnetl that title, sure.
ul’, 11 ' ’J I*’ 1 *’ "at’ found me in Ken-
tucky. Some of tile beys were going t®
the mountatiw for they had no homes t®
can them back; they tm'ant to get rich
quick and the gold mining fever caught
eill. Ttliy shouldn't 1 g, with 'em? I
hid no hankerimr for the old lif. in New
England wtth its quiet folks ,-md Imm Irtmu
go-to-meetin ways—not I. The war hid
gi’.' tn.o a taste of :u|venture; I wasn’t long
makin up my fool boy mind to take my
chances with my soldier comrade*: so
across the plains I <'onie and with the rest
at I ikes Peak 1 busted. There was harder
tunes after that. I fended l>.ir two years
in Denyer, then I drove h iek a s? ;f. ;ltl j
after that I dealt in (’h.-uhv S.-itinvm’n
-inK . last, tiling of all. gettm' - <b operate, [
bought an outfit ami come tip to It - I H tsu
mountain, havin’ hcanl ( asev ttml Three
l ingered Hoover tell of the - p;o,peets in
this country. Aon sei- I was too fir >u i f®
go back homo, bein' broke. A good many
times I >1 have given my skin Io be there
eatin mother's pies and snoozin' in h>r
loiithpr Lin 1 to»» proud f » gro
back broke, so I stayed right here :l n I lon®
my b"st with tho rest of you f..];,. ■ <
" I he horn.' fo!ks k.-pt writin' the s ima
old kind ot letters, cheerful ami patient
like. sondin' lot s of love and fellin' ma
over ami over again about things I h i I on
tiroly forgotten. They never -<•>!.l.-1 mo
•''"”9 , «•'> wayutird: it was .11 wavs
God bless you’ and ‘do your duty,’ and
just as sin? had done when I was a bay in
HV' iT ai- ' always put a p. s._ sayin’
A lino, don't forget to .->y your prayers,“
I used to laugh when I road that- tin' i I"1
of Damnation Bill sayin' his pra-.ers was
comical.
'I struck it rich last fall as vott ill
know. From bein' .1 grubstak.-r on - ,* week
1 uas tn a fairway to be .1 .bonanza king
the next. And I was startin' to Denver
om- morning to see about fixing U p sum®
arrangement with Dave Moffatt's bulk
w.ien along e.-.me a telegraph telling tin
’'Ver. -1- " :!s ’I”' 1 ' a,l| l would I come at. oncet.
I nngs have shrunk up down east sine®
1 was a boy. j foumi that out when f
wi-nt home for the first time in twenty
j ears, lite wood lots and home ri.istures
am t as big as they used to bo; th? bines
are only about half as wile ami they turn
oltonor; th- houses are smaller ami th®
trout stoops and front doors are so low
that a fi llow like mo. ami that’s G feet 2.
doji t have much sat is fa <*t ion doin’ bnsinos,®
with 'em. Only mother hadn't chatim*d—
she was white-haired ami she was tatter
than she. used to be. and sometimes (though
she didn't oouipl.-iint. I noticed that if hurt
her to walk much—but she was the same
mother I Lad run away from twenty years
ago. Seemmi funny to be called' WilH®
after havin been called tin- other name—■
you know —so long. But. bless our inothers’
hearts! us follows is always Willi,, to them.
1 wear to bed .'it 9 o'clock that night
went to be I ;u Hie sain ■ room th it was
mine when 1 was a little kid The pictures
on (he wall came back to me. Little Sam
uel. ( neb' William Fosdick, that I was
named alter, the first Sunday school card
I got and I l ira Temple ami George N
Patehen in their great trot. (I got that on®
myself 1. The bed was high ail ,| feathery,
and the comfortable smelt good and (>ld
fashiiined. It made me sleepy an’ dreamy
like just to be there. Hadn’t more than
got into b»si before in come mother, carry
in a candle. \\ illie, says she, ’may b®
you’ll laugh at me. bed I'm get tin' ohl art’
childish like, maj- be. ami now that yoti’v®
come back to me 1 want to take up witlj
you just where I left off when you—when
you—went away at your country’s call.’
You see she put it— my running away—•
she put it tenderly to 'me. 'Willie,' says
she, ‘I want to tuck you up in bed. just as
I us,*d to do. Used to worry when yott
firsts went away, because I was afraid you'd
catch cold nights—-you always was such ®
hand at kicking off th*' clothes in your
sleep.' hy. mother.' ays I 4 don't need
tuckin' up. I'm as snug and is warm as
a meadow-mouse under a haystek ' But
mother wouldn’t take no for an answer;
she just puttered around that bed an’ kept
tuckin' in tho clothes, toilin’ mo all the
time what a comfort it had always been
to her ami father (before he died), to feel
that I had been a good boy ami said my
prayers and lived by their teachin' .tn I
never done a dishonest thing, or letrneii
to lie an' swear an' gamble an' race horse®
its other boys of the neighbors’ had. Yes,
mother said ail this, and there f lay lik®
a great big baby an' let her believe it and
her hands sorter lingered around in®
an' seemed to caress the very l.'aukefs
tll.lt covered Ute.
"When s!ic went t > go out she stopped
sudden like ami turned as if she had just
thought of somethin'. 'Willi.'.’ says she,
‘have you said your prayers?'
"'No. mother. I hain't,’ s.iys I.
“'Yon wailed till yon got into bed,’ s-iys
mother; 'that’s what you used to do when
you was a boy, because it -was "so cold,”
you said. Mavbe it’s foolish of me, Willi®,
but just to please me, who hain’t had tny
boy with me for twenty years just to kind
of humor mo, let me hoar you say your
prayers tonight, as you used to.’
‘Say my prayer*? After twenty years of
baek-slidin' an’ neglect, say my prayers? [
just lay there and shivered. How could I
tell mother I had forgotten ’em?
“ ‘Say ’em after me, Willie, as .von used
to,' said mother.
-.So iiiomor began: ‘Now I lay me,’ sayssh®
" 'Now I lay me,’ says 1.
“ ’Down to sleep,’ says mother.
“ 'Down to sleep,’ says 1. and so through
it ttfTjo the end, mother lined it out to m®
and 1 repeated it. Damnation Bill vfasn’t
there at all; there wasn't any such man as
Damnation Bill any more; it was just me—
Willie. Damnation Bill was done lorever!
"I was there a fortnight, and every
night mother came in and tm ked me up and
said my prayers with me. It don.? her good,
and so it did me. Sue itk’ -m'l. a feared wh"u
1 told her that I must come back west an*
settle up business before 1 went to live with
her in the old homestead the rest of hoc
days. She bad always had faith in ma
b'cause she an’ father had been so car -ful
about bringin’ me up iu the way 1 should
go, an’ she allowed that with him an' her
a prayin' for me fan' with me it prayin’, too,
as she believed)— why, it would have been
impossible for me to learn to lie an’ gamble
an' swear. That’s what hurl me most,
boys—what she said about the swearin’!
It's all right for you Io call tne tho old
name. —that’s my jninishmentj and' I’ve
brought it on myself. I'm not kickin’. J
hain't got religion; I hain't no batter than
anybody els". But may God forever para
lyze mV tongue if over in heedlessness, or
jest or anger, I lay that tongue of tnina
to a'nv word that, if site ever hoard of it,
would - open mother's eyes to the truth of
my old life ami give pain to her confidm*
We follows never called hith Damnation
Bill after tint; no. from that time on. it
was just plain Bill—out of respect to hinj
and his