Newspaper Page Text
THE last journey.
lit fie traveler set forth
T”' cne last smile of sweet content.
„ [ ' re no footprints, south or north,
’rTVlmv to its the wily she went;
11 footnrints in the snow.
V wer ‘for token backward thrown.
*4 N .'ofl’;iVart. M we wept, “why must you
t. tine, she went her way, alone.
... Kftie traveler went her way
‘ , j left us all who loved her so.
, 'rm ve'l forth at break of day
long wav she had to go.
, vt; ,T were paling m the sky—
J kind eves must have seen her
start.
, |M not, see: we could but. .cry,
. m ,. back to us, dear heart/ dear
heart!”
traveler's tiny feet
J V; vc mud a path that we must find.
t v ,, s so little and so sweet!
‘ : \V,'cannot linger, left behind.
,c (1 tfunible, seeking, day by day.
' 0 j ittle traveler! Who will send
A ,/ lie to point us out the way
A .|' ,1 vou at the Journey's end?
' Barine, in \ outh’s Companion.
c ftV ; ft ® 'ZKKSS'© © miotat © 9 asms ® * <est> ©
\ \ SAVED BY THE FLAG. |Jj
I Hew One San Francisco House &
f i Stood With Ruins AM Aroutul It. 8
k •"
o ©
F. H. VVKGELAN, in St. Nicholas. g
c. 73 3 & castes* e cc;aa> © © exs t
\ Ic3 4 Taylor street, in the city
of San Francisco, there stands to-day
a ; which, in the greatest fire of
mod rn times, was saved from the
blames by the flag. When over four
hundred blocks of buildings lay in
smoking ruins, this house was the
only one left standing unconsumed
along the east side of the full length
of Taylor street —a distance of twen
ty-eight blocks, nearly two full
miles. * * *
At the time of the earthquake and
Are, April 18, 10 96, Mrs. Brindley, a
daughter of Mr. Sheppard, was there
awaiting the arrival of her husband
to take steamer for Japan. She had
long resided in that country, and had
had “earthquake experience,” .so to
speak. Accordingly, as soon as the
earth had ceased trembling, she pro
ceeded to fill the bathtubs and all
other receptacles in the house with
water. She feared that the dis
turbance of the earth had broken the
supply mains; and hardly had she
filled the last pitcher when her fear
was proved well grounded. The
water ceased to flow. But the first
step that made it possible for the flag
to save the house had been taken.
Mr. Sheppard and Mr. Dakin took the
second step. In order that the house
hold might have a supply of drink
ing water, they brought home from a
neighboring grocery a dozen or so
bottles charged with carbonic acid
gas—the kind of bottles where you
press a lever at the top, and the
water fizzes out in a stream under
pressure. They are commonly called
“siphons.”
At this time no one thought the
house in danger. It had sturdily
withstood the earthquake; and the
fire was many blocks away. But all
W ednesday and Wednesday night and
all of Thursday the fire raged in fury;
and at last ic came creeping up the
slope of Russian Hill. The flames
reached the block in which the house
was situated. The heat grew intense.
The sides of the house sent forth
smoke. The veranda on the east
broke into flames, and the under side
ot the oaves on the north and east
kindled to a blaze.
Mr. Sheppard and his family had
taken one last look at their home
" 1 - 1 its treasures, and hact sought
tuvige with friends across the bay.
M . Dakin had stayed to the last,
hoping against hope. But all hope
v,as gone. The house was burning
arul he was warned away. He de
termined to hoist his largest Amer
ican hag and let the house meet de
struction with the colors flying fair
a!/, ' ne it- He rushed to his room of
|*ags, selected his largest Stars and
Stripes, mounted to the roof, at
tached the great flag to the halyards,
an( l tiung it to the breeze. Then,
a feeling somewhat akin to re-
FKua for the conquering power of the
g“cat fire king, roaring forward in ir
resistible ruin, and with a spirit
somewhat akin to the unconquerable
m J k that stirred the breasts of his
emnrades in the days of the Civil
rr , andI ’ lle dipped the flag in salute.
‘ - 11 times the glorious banner rose
leli; and then, fastening the hal
‘*^r - Dakin desceneded the
uirs locked the door, and with a
if.uy heart left the house to its
•• High in the air, shining bright
' ■ ‘ light of sun and flames, above
' ■ l ouse of pines that had grown
• ‘-He shores of the Atlantic, stream
‘‘H mrth on a breeze that came fresh
i;°m the Pacific, stood “Old Glory.”
1 he white stars upon that flag were
as symbols of the States of the
nion - Dne star was there for Cali
. ' l!:ia anti one was there for Georgia;
at tiir ee blocks away, to the east
. at corner of Vallejo street
Montgomery avenue, at that mo
there chanced to be a company
, !1 w h° represented all tlie stars
. * T,ia t hag's field of blue —a com
, • () * the Twentieth United States
infantry.
' r the command of a young
‘ ua nt, the company had been on
h to San Francisco on the day
j e ear thquake, and had been de
jj on its journey twenty-four
<h ' • • ent ered the city Thurs
j U ’ -moon by the ferry from Oak-.
in^ L vvas moment march
-8 under orders to go into camp at
as.ij ngt ° n S q uare> 'gh e lieutenant
a f S men seen the flag rise
. - all in salute; and saw it now as
sp-arned forth in its beauty amidst
and flame.
an . ll 0ys >” shouted the young lieuten
is w a ilouse that hies a flag like that
a saving!” His men responded
with a cheer; and as Mm Dakin was
sadly wending his way" down the
northern slope of Russian Hill, sol
diers of the Twentieth United States
Infantry were dashing up the eastern
slope at a double-quick. No time was
lost. ihey tore away the burning
woodwork of the veranda, broke open
the doors and discovered the bath
tubs filled with water. ‘ Some of them
carried earth from the garden, others
mixed it in the bathtubs to the con
sistency of wet plaster, and then cer
tain of their number stationed them
selves at the different windows, and
as the wet mud was carried to them
they bombarded every spot that had
kindled into flame.
One by one the houses in the block
burned up and burned out, until the
old house stood alone. Every blaze
that had started upon its eaves and
sides had been extinguished save one.
There was one spot under the eaves
at the northeast corner that could not
he bombarded successfully. Unless
the fire at that point was put out all
that had been done w T ere done in
vain.
The soldiers were equal to the
emergency. A squad mounted to the
roof. One of the men lay flat upon
the edge, and while four of his com
rades held him fast by the legs, he
leaned far out over the wide old
fashioned eaves. Others passed to
him bottles of the water charged with
carbonic acid gas. And there, hang
ing far over the edge of the roof, so
that he might be able to direct the
stream of water on the fire burning
fiercely beneath the eaves, he squirted
the fizzing contents of bottle after
bottle, until the last flame and the
last ember were extinguished—and
the house was saved.
WEALTH IN ONIONS.
New Branch of Farming Adds to
Texas’ Industrial Activities.
The onion farmer is a comparative
ly new arrival upon the scene of in
dustrial activities in Texas, says the
Technical World Magazine. He is
now one of the large contributors to
the wealth of the State. In a little
more than eight years the value of
the annual production of onions in
Texas for the market has reached ap
proximately $2,000,000. When the
lact is considered that this enormous
wealth is derived from only about
2000 acres of land, some idea may be
had of the abundance of the yield
and the good prices that are obtained
for the product. Onion growing has
done another thing to help Texas. It
has been the direct means of adding
more than $2,500,000 to the intrinsic
value of her lands. Inasmuch as the
growers put a good portion of their
annual earnings from the industry
into property improvements in town
and country the increase of taxable
wealth from this source has also been
considerable.
The wonders w r hich were wrought
by the magic touch of Aladdin’s lamp
were no greater than the transfor
mation which onion growing has
brought to certain portions of Texas
during the last few years. Land
which, from the time of the early
visit of the Spaniards to the Rio
Grande borfler section, was thought
to be almost worthless, and at the
very most only fit for goat grazing,
is now bringing in an annual net re
turn of from S3OO to SSOO per acre
from the onions which it
Before the * Inauguration of
growing any of this land
been purchased at prices
$1 ta $2 per acre, low no
established value that
none of its ownm : £vse*willing to sell.
They will noiH&J* a value upon the
land. them are free to say
that has such large pro-
ought to be worth
than SIOOO per acre. Some
QjPne onion growers say they would
prot be willing to accept less than
$2 000 per acre for their lands. Even
at that price the annual net return
will average nearly twenty-five per
cent, on the investment.
Sharp Dealing.
For once the American had discov
ered something British that was bet
ter than could be produced “across the
pond.” His discovery was a fine col
lie dog, and'he at once tried to induce
its owner, an old shepherd, to sell it.
“Wad ye be takin’ him to Amer
ica?” inquired the old Scot.
“Yes, I guess so,” said the Yankee.
“I thought as muckle,” said the
shepherd. “I couldna pairt wi’ Jock.”
But while they sat and chatted an
English tourist came up, and to him
the shepherd soia the collie for much
less than the American had offered.
“You told me you wouldn’t sell
him,” said the Yankee, when the pur
chaser had departed.
“No,” replied the Scot; “I said I
couldna pairt wi’ him. Jock’ll be
back in a day or so, but he couldn’t
swim the Atlantic.”—Detroit Free
Press.
Turpentine in India.
The production of turpentine and
resin developed rapidly in Naini Tal
forest division in India during 1906-
7. The profits for the year amount
ed to $11,333. Government hav
ing put the industry on a paying ba
sis, the enterprise will be turned over
to individuals. The tapping of trees,
however, will be retained under Gov
ernment control.
. Every Letter in One Verse.
In the twenty-first verse of the
seventh chapter of Ezra can be found
every letter of the English alphabet.
It runs thus: “And I, even I, Artax
ertes the King, do make a decree to
all the treasurers which are beyond
the river, that whatsoever Ezra the
priest, the scribe of the law of the
God of heaven, shall require of you,
it be done speedily.”
GETTING A LIGHT.
Advance From Days of Rubbing to Days cf
Striking.
By J. L. HARBOUR. %
We hold many of the conveniences
of life so cheaply that we give little
thought to what it would be to go
back to the primitive customs of our
forebears in their everyday life.
When we take a match and with a.
single scratch strike a light we do
not put any particular value on any
thing so common as a match. Not
even the odorless little spitfire of a
“parlor match” commands our appre
ciation to any great extent.
Th£ fire on the hearthstones of our
forebears was guarded with as much
jealous care as the vestal virgins
guarded it on the anicient altar of
the temple of Vesta. The fire was
never allowed to die out entirely on
the hearthstones in the days before
matches were invented. The red
coals were buried under the ashes so
that they could be uncovered and
fanned into a flame when more fire
was needed.
The process of rubbing two sticks
of wood together until they produced
a flame is a very ancient one. It is
one of the most primitive ways of ob
taining fire. It is said that this pro
cess obtained in the days of ancient
Greece and Rome, when the priests
of Jupiter had to kindle a fire, and
all the American Indian tribes used
it when they wanted fire. The inven
tive mind of man began to improve
on this method long before the idea
of such a thing as a match was ever
conceived. One writer who has writ
ten exhaustively on the subject of
fire says: “Labor was saved, as well
as greater rapidity obtained, by using
a bow, with one turn of its string
twisted around the vertical stick,
which we may call the ‘drill,’ so that
by moving it back and forth the drill
revolved with great rapidity in the
lower piece of wood, which is techni
cally called the ‘hearth.’ A further
advance was made. Man has only
two hands, and he found that a third
point of resistance would be an ad
vantage. This he could get when he
had a companion, but not when he
was alone. So he began to use his
mouth to steady the drill, while one
hand imparted the motion with the
bow and the other held the hearth.
Hence we get the mouth drill, the ad
ditional part of the apparatus being a
mouthpiece of hard wood, bone or
stone, with a hole in it to receive the
head of the drill. Soon it was discov
ered that weight tells, and a weight
was therefore added to the drill, giv
ing greater impetus, greater speed
and greater friction and, consequent
ly, greater heat. In this -way the Iro
quois ‘pump drill’ was developed.”
One of the first matches was made
by cutting very thin highly
resinous or dry about six
inches long, with ray/D’rTends dipped
iii melted thus prepared,
the easily ignited
when SAjJpfit o a spark obtained by
HE FOUND BIG NUGGET.
Miner’s Success in a Long Abandoned
Placer Mine.
Johnny Ream, whcfhas spent many
years in the placer mines of the old
Highland district, was in Butte yes
terday. Mr. Kearn achieved con
siderable distinction last winter when
he discovered the largest nugget ever
found in the Highland district, it
netting him sl2 8 8 when it was sold
in the assay office in Helena.
“I will tell you how I found it,”
he said to reporter for the Standard.
“I took up some ground of my own
on the head of Poodle Dog Gulch,
where no one had a claim. I went up
close to a big slide and began work
ing where placer miners had worked
forty years ago and again twenty
years ago.
“I left the cabin pretty early and
built a fire on a place where it looked
like there used to be a side ditch.
You could trace it although it is
grass grown. I thawed the grouna
out and then 1 began digging.
Pretty soon I got down to the ground,
through the black dirt to the gravel.
I had not shovelled for more than
ten minutes before I found him. My
shovel struck something that seemed
hard and I looked close and saw it
was yellow. His nose was pointed
right toward me and you bet. I got
busy with my shovel, and in a little
while I had him in my hands. I saw
it was a nugget weighing pounds —
he weighed five of them—and I
knocked off work and came to town.
I took him to Mr. Johnston of the
Clark Bank and he put him in the
window, where people looked at him
for six weeks and then he was sold
to the assay office.
‘•Where I found the nugget men
had worked forty years ago and
twenty years ago. The last work
was done by some Chinamen and
they were within three or four feet
of the big nugget when they quit
work. If they had found him they
would have torn up the entire moun
tain side looking for more like him/’
—Anaconda Standard.
% No Keys For Barrooms.
According to a decision by the
State’s attorney and the counsel to
the Police Board of Baltimore, the
hotelkeepers of that city, under tha
liquor law passed by the last Legis
lature, will have little use for the
keys to their barrooms. They can
sell liquor at almost any time.
striking fire into tinder from a flint
and steel. These matches -were in
common use for many years. Then
some one invented the “instantaneous
light box.” This consisted of a small
tin box containing a bottle, in which
was placed some sulphuric acid, with
enough fibrous asbestos to soak it up
and prevent its spilling out of the
bottle, and a supply of properly pre
pared matches. These primitive
matches consisted of small splints of
wood about two inches long, one end
of which was coated with a chemical
mixture, prepared by mixing chlorate
of potash, six parts; powdered loaf
sugar, two parts; powdered gum ara
bic, 6ne part; the whole colored with
a little Vermillion and mixed with
water until it became a thin paste.
The splints were first dipped into
melted sulphur and then into the pre
pared paste. They were really made
to burn by dipping the prepared ends
into sulphuric acid.’ We would sure
ly regard this as a pretty bothersome
kind of a match, and one with which
it would not be easy to strike a light
if one wanted to light the gas in one’s
house in the dark. One would need a
light in order to strike a light with
matches of this kind. A common
name for matches of this kind was
“spunks.”
It was not until about the year
1833 that the friction method of ob
taining a light began to be devel
oped, and friction matches came into
use. There are many persons still
living who have a distinct recollection
of the first friction matches they ever
saw, and these matches were looked
upon with some distrust at first be
cause of the ease with which they
“v/ent off.” Some feared that they
might “go off” of their own accord
and burn people out of house and
home. In the year 1823 a peculiar
match was introduced. Phosphorus
and sulphur were carefully mixed in
a glass tube tightly corked. A splin
ter of wood was slipped into the tube,
a small portion of the mixture was
drawn out, and when this was exposed
to the air it ignited and set fire to the
wood. But this was not a very “han
dy” match, after all, and people
clamored for something still simpler
and more effective! John Walker, a
druggist in England, invented the
first really practical friction matches,
giving to them the name of “Con
greves.” They were of thin strips
of wood, or cardboard, coated and
dipped with* sulphur and tipped with
a mixture of sulphide of antimony,
chlorate of potash and mucilage. But
they were expensive and beyond the
reach of the common people, costing
twenty-five cents for seven dozen of
them. Take it “by and large” it
would be difficult to mention an in
vention of greater utility to mankind
as a genuine convenience and neces
sity than the common match that we
buy and hold so cheaply.
CHOICE OF A BRIAR PIPE.
Get One Which is Smooth Inside the
Bowl, Says Smoker.
A collegian who prides himself on
the sweetness and color of his briar
wood pipes and pretends to know a
lot more than any ordinary smoker,
spent half an hour making an addi
tion to his already large collection.
Some pipes he discarded because
of the grain of the wood; there was
too much stripe or too much birds
eye, he remarked. When he found
one which suited him he put it aside
uHtil he had gathered three or fdur
which apparently were all right, and
then came his final test to pick out
the best of them all.
Pie held each with the bowl toward
the light, then slowly rubbed his
little finger inside. Two he discard
ed, then repeated the operation with
the others until only one remained
out of the discard. That one he
bought.
“Want ’em smooth inside,” he ex
plained. “A briar pipe roughly fin
ished inside the bowl isn’t worth
bothering with. not take
one for a gift; wouldn’t take the
trouble to try to break it in, for it
will never fie any good. It won’t
cake up right and it’ll never be nice
and sweet.
“I’ve got a theory that when the
inside of the bowl is rough all the
little edges and points of the wood
char and burn the first time you
smoke it, and a burnt pipe is no good.
That’s why I always take a pipe that
has a bowl as smooth on the inside
as on the out.
“Then it doesn’t char but cakes
up evenly and gets good in a little
time. Maybe the theory is wrong,
blit it has worked out well in my own
experience, and some of my friends
who have tried it agree with me." —
New York Sun.
Russian Wins Honor.
This year’s “senior wranglership”
at the University of Cambridge, Eng
land, gave great honors to a young
Russian Jew. The result of the
“mathematical tripos” shows that Se
lig Brodetsky, whose father had
sought an asylum in England from
Russian oppression, had been brack
eted with Mr. Ibbotson, scholar of
Pembroke, for the coveted British
blue riband of mathematics. %
There is a lot of poverty on Man
hattan Island, but the assessment
rolls give $2 000 in taxable property
to each inhabitant.
THE CHAMPION OF THE AIR.
—Cartoon by Berryman, in the Washington Star.
TORTURE CHILDREN- WITH HOT IRONS.
Charity Agent Reports Harrowing Cruelty to State Wards in
Illinois —Stabbed With Forks —Hair Torn Out and Limbs
Broken Also Among Crimes Against Little Ones —
Many Sold For Money —The Rev. Mr. Virden
Relates Instances of Persecution by Foster
Parents and Public Institutions.
Chicago, 111.—How the wards of
the State have been abused and tor
tured was the subject of a sensational
recital by the Rev. Charles Virden,
agent of the State Board of Chari
ties, to the State Conference of Char
ities, held at Rock Island. His paper
was entitled “The State Visitation of
Children,” and said, in part:
“During the last two years I have
personally handled approximately 550
special cases. Most of the children
are well cared for when placed in
family homes. The bad cases are
exceptions. For example, I have
found them tortured with hot irons,
stabbed with toasting forks and scis
sors, limbs broken, hair torn out by
the roots, lashed until black and blue
from head to foot, faces cut and
scarred and eyes blinded.
“Numerous other ca.ses of crime
against children in the form of as
sault have been prosecuted, and in
the three years of my incumbency ten
of these offenders have been sent to
the penitentiary and numerous iail
commitments and fines have been im
posed.
Many Children Sold.
“There has been a wholesale traffic
in children in Illinois. I have a re
ceipt in my possession for a child
who had been sold for a stipulated
price.
“One of the most distressing cases
occurred in Quincy, 111., where a child
was taken from its mother, a young
girl, when less than an hour old,
placed in a market basket, absolutely
nude except for a covering of an old
piece of quilt, carried about the
streets and offered to any one who
would accept it. The infant finally
was given to a woman who had been
a pensioner on the county for a num
ber of years.
“The evidence showed that this
was at least the second child that
had been sold from this institution.
WORLD’S RUTHLESS WASTE.
British Scientist Shudders at Big Steamers’ Coal Consumpiioii~No Substitute Yet
London. —Henry E. Armstrong,
professor of chemistry at the City and
Guilds of London Central Institute,
addressing the annual meeting of the
Iron and Steel Institute at Middles
borough, said it was difficult to keep
calm when he reflected upon the ruth
less way the world’s stores of timber,
iron, coal and oil were being used up.
It made the scientist shudder to see
the indifference displayed in all civil
ized lands to the inevitable conse
quences of such waste in the nowise
distant future.
No comment was provoked by the
fact that the steamers Lusitania and
Mauretania devour daily a thousand
SIGNS OF A COLD WINTER.
A Close Observer of Nature Tells \
New York City.—“ There’s no use
talking, it’s going to be a hard win
ter, no matter w’hich Bill is elected,”
said the wise young man who had
just returned from his vacation in
Pike County, Pennsylvania, with a
luxuriant crop of tan and freckles.
“I forgot I ever knew so much about
the country until I got out there
again. I was born and raised in the
country, and I’m proud of it.
“How do I know it’s going to he a
hard winter? Well, here are some of
the sure signs, and 1 surprised the
farmers when I sprung my knowledge
on them:
“A heavy crop of nuts. You never
saw the like of the butternuts, hick
ory nuts and chestnuts that there are
going to be in less than a mouth now.
“A big fruit crop and an abundance
of w’ild grapes; the woods are full of
this little wild fruit of the vine, and
Wills Husband a Dollar
in Four Installments.
Chicago.—One dollar, payable in
monthly installments of twenty-five
cents, is the bequest given Andrew
Heckler by his wife, Catherine IS.
Heckler, of Portland, Ore., 'whose will
was filed in the Probate Court here.
In the will Heckler is referred to as
“the individual who married me in
19 05 in San Diego, Cal., and who got
from me thousands of dollars and
when he could get no more deserted
me.” The estate consists of personal
property.
The saddest part of it all is that there
is no law in the State of Illinois pro
hibiting the sale of a child.”
In speaking of other specific cases
the Rev. Mr. Virden said:
“A girl of thirteen years, commit
ted by the Juvenile Court, was made
a household drudge. Our State agent
found that she was being beaten with
a horsewhip. The girl was removed
and placed in a good home, where she
was given a chartce for education and
religious training.
Burned "With Hot Knife.
“A girl, having only one parent
living, seven years old, was in the
home of a family at Alton, 111. The
evidence showed that this child was
covered with bruises. Her face was
burned, her hands were hacked with
a red hot knife and the sight of one
eye was destroyed. The foster moth
er, charged with having inflicted these
wounds, was fined for assault and
battery, and will be tried under the
cruelty act.
“A girl was the victim of her step
father’s attacks for ten years, after
she was seven years old. Her step
father was sent to the penitentiary
and the girl sent to a good home.
“Two girls, aged five and ten, were
forced to beg on the streets for their
mother, who kept a disreputable re
sort. They are now in good homes.
“A girl thirteen years old did the
washing and ironing for a family of
seven. She had no school advan
tages. An investigation showed that
she wore her foster mother’s old
clothes and shoes; was overworked
and received no salary; that her life
was insured in the benefit of the
mother-in-law in the home. The
child was returned to the home on
trial upon the cancellation of the life
insurance policy, and promised that
she was to receive new clothes and
$2 a week. I protest against the in
surance of thelivesof these children.”
or more tons of coal while crossing
the ocean. This extravagance was
gloried in as an engineering achieve
ment when it ought to be anathema
tized. *
The public comforted itself with
the belief that science would dis
cover a substitute for coal, and there
fore felt no compunction in recklessly
destroying the capital won from the
sun in past ages, but science could
not at present support the illusion.
Professor Armstrong earnestly
urged serious scientific study of eco
nomical methods of fuel consumption,
outlining the direction such study
ought to take.
hat is Coming in the Way of Weather
they will be delicious when the jrost
touches them.
“Heavy husks on the corn. The
farmers say that is a sure sign.
“Wasps and hornets building their
nest nearer the ground than usual.
“The cricket and katydid orches
tras working overtime; that's a sure
enough indication of an early win
ter, too.
“Dame Nature is a good and
thoughtful provider for all the little
folk of the forest and field, you
know; that's why there is such a big
crop of nuts and wild grapes and
fruit —so that the squirrels, the mice
and the birds won’t go hungry
through the long winter. I tell you
what, there is nothing hit-or-miss
about the indications I Lave men
tioned. All you have to be is a close
observer of nature fo know what is
coming in the way of weather.”
Sending .506,00(> Return Postals
South to Get Work For Aliens.
Washington. D. C. —The distribu
tion of aliens is to he promoted
Bureau of Information of the Depart
ment of Commerce and Labor. Sec
retary Straus has issued orders to
start the wore at each immigration
station, and the bureau has begun
the enormous task of getting in touch
with farmers, manufacturers and eth
er employers in the South to learn
what help they may need. This work
will require the sending out of dOG,*
000 return postal cards.