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Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, January 27, 1898, Image 6

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American ingenuity and industry
are conquering the markets of th»
earth.
Boston is to have a restaurant mi
on strictly vegetarian principles.
There are said to be over a hundred
persons in the city who never eat meat
from choice.
The government agricultural experi
ment station in Florida has discovered
a fungus disear.e which destroys the
San Jose scale, that tree pest which
has spread over the entire country in
the last two or three years.
There are, according to an eminent
archaeologist, no less than from 120 to
130 absolutely distinct languages in
South America. As the growth oi
language is very slow, he thinks the
fact of the existence of so great a
variety of speech on the western con
tinents proves that the native red men
have inhabited them for mauy thou
sands of years.
Some Neenah (Wis.) men painted
the face of a sleeping man with an In
dian decoration in red and blue ani
line colors. As nothing will remove
nuiline dyes he will have to wear the
color all his life, and if he' turns In
dian and goes on the warpath for the
scalps of the men who painted him no
one will blame him greatly, observes
the Lewiston Journal.
According to the Indianapolis News
3ecided opposition is arising in inusi
:al circles to encores. It is held, and
rightly, that, as a rule, they are out
of place. So frequently do some peo
ple demand them that the compliment
they would otherwise convey is lost,
while programs are greatly lengthened,
to the detriment of their artistic
balance and the weariness of the nor
mal part of the audience. Some peo
ple seem to feel that they have a right
',o demand encores of an artist that
pleases them, whereas they have got
ell they are entitled to when the pro
gram announced is carried out. Artists ;
have a perfect right to refuse to grant
encores,and they ought not to be con
sidered ungracious if they do.
The Germans have been notoriously
indifferent to the interests of the mis
sionaries of their race in China until
i
the receut riots occurred, but tliey
<vere quick to utilize them as a pre
text to secure a foothold on Chinese
territory so as to be on even terms
with Great Britain and Russia, writes j
W. E. Curtis in the Chicago Record, i
Of course China will be compelled to i
make the usual compensation for the
missionary outrages, but she will never
concede the other demands, and will
appeal to the other European powers
for protection. That protection will
cost her as much if not more than \
Germany asks. There is no hope of i
escape. The great empire is to be the j
prey of European avarice, and will
Booner or later be divided and dis
tributed among the great powers. To
yield to the Germans now would post
pone matters for a time, but nothing
ran prevent the dissolution of the em
pire.
J. Pierpont Morgan, representing
his own interests and the interests of
English bondholders and such allied
interests in this country as the Van
derbilts, dictates the policy of the fol
lowing railroads: New York Central,
3140 miles; West Shore, 405 miles;
Chicago and Northwestern, 5030 miles;
Michigan Central, 1663 miles; Lake
Shore and Michigan Southern, 1476
miles; Nickel-Plate (N. Y. C. and St.
L.), 523 miles; Erie, 2087 miles; Le
high Valley, 1235 miles; Reading,
1265 miles; Central railroad of New-
Jersey 675 miles; Delaware, Lacka
wana and Western, 932 miles; New
York, New Haven and Hartford, 1464
miles; Southern railroad, 4823 miles;
Central of Georgia,l(so9 miles; North
ern Pacific, 4346 miles; Oregon Rail
way and Navigation company, 1059
miles; Oregon Short Line, 1421 miles;
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul,
6151 miles; Chicago, St. Paul, Minne
apolis and Omaha, 1491 milts; Cleve
land, Cincinnati, Chicago and St.
Louis (Big Four), 2345 miles; Chesa
peake and Ohio, 1444 miles. To this
list should be added the following
roads, which he will undoubtedly con
trol in the near future: Union Pacific,
3021 miles; Wisconsin Central, 857
miles; Baltimore and Ohio, 2065
miles; Baltimore and Ohio Southwest
ern, 933 miles. Total mileage,
50,550. Nearly all the great trunk
lines in this country are now prac
tically controlled by the great New
York financier, J. Pierpont Morgan.
According to the Chicago Tribune, it
is the most colossal combination of
capital on record. Within a short
time all the avenues and outlets of this
country to the sea will be directed by
one man and one mind.
The Kaffirs, it is reported, have b»
come opium eaters. The Chinese havi
taught them for the purpose of ex>
tending their market.
The use of petroleum is becoming
common in China. As a result lamps
and oil stoves are being imported
heavily. Most of them come from
Japan and Germany.
Russia is strengthening her forces
in the North Pacific,as she did during
the Chinese war. Russia means tc
control the destinies of northeast
Asia. If Germany shall stay in China
it will be because Russian policy per
mits it.
The United States is now regarded
as the leading dairy country of the
world. In 1889 the annual value of
our dairy products was estimated to
exceed $400,000,000, and the value of
the milch cows about $370,000,000.
There fare about 17,000,000 cows in
this country, or one to every four in
habitants; one cow, however, furnishes
the milk, butter and cheese for more
than four persons, as large quantities
of our dairy products are exported.
The Atchinson (Kan.) Globe says
that "up iu Hiawatha the curfew will
be rung twice—at 5 o'clock to call the
women home from card parties to get
supper and at 8 o'clock for all the chil
dren to scamper home. This is not a
bad idea, and Atchison should adopt
it. If the whistle can be used but
once a day, then let it be blown at 5
o'clock for the card-playing women.
The women need a curfew worse than
the children. They neglect no duties.
By all means, blow the curfew at 5."
Says the Louisville Courier-Journal:
"A late phase of New York journal
ism is the publication of twelve tele
graphed interviews with murderers
all over the country as to the guilt or
innocence of Martin Thorn and Mrs.
N'ack. A speicmen interview is with
Lizzie Wong,a St. Louie white woman
who married a Chinese gambler, and
killed another woman through
jealousy. This may be considered as
going to extremes, but the readers of
the New York papers must be in
structed at an j- cost."
The Chicago Times-Herald phil
osophizes as follows: It was long
since acknowledged that "care killed
n cat" and that worry slays its tens of
thousands where work kills its hun
dreds. Science comes to the defence
of his philosophy and produces actual
proof that woiry kills as certainly, if
not as suddenly, as typhoid or scarlet
or yellow fever, and that many a dis
ease that is attached to some other
vital organ originates in the brain.
Occasional anxiety or care and trouble
nt intervals may do little harm. But
incessant worry, disturbing the brain
cells from day today and week to
week, will injure the brain beyond
repair. The brain being the nutritive
centre of the body is thus unable to
nurture the other organs some of
which will give way, and the victim,
though said to die of heart disease or
lung trouble or disorder of the liver,
is, is a matter of fact, killed by worry.
So, if the brain is exposed to that re
iterated hammering of an unpleasant
fear it will finally succumb, and the
human structure which it inhabits
will tumble into ruins. The micro
scope is even able to detect this de
generation of the brain cells from
week to week. Don't worry.
The special report of the agricul
tural department, Washington, that
Austria-Hungary from being a great
grain-exporting country is becoming
an importing nation, is another as
surance that the American farmer is
going to get better prices for farm
produce during the next few years.
The empire has ranked fifth among
wheat producers, coming after the
United States, Russia, Frauce and
British India; but its tendency is to a
smaller production year after year.
Mr. Frank H. Hitchcock, chief of the
section of foreign markets in the de
partment, who has made a careful
study of the matter, says that the
acreage is steadily diminishing, while
the consumptive requirements of the
country are increasing. This applies
also to the milling industry. The
mills of Buda-Pesth are said to be the
finest and largest in the world, and
hitherto have exported a great part of
their output. The annual average
for the five years, 1886-90, was 1,775,-
827 barrels, but for 1891-95 the an
nual exports amounted to but 500,-
667 barrels. The grain which Austria
imports has heretofore been almost
entirely from Roumania, Servia and
Russia, but the cessation of exports
removes that much of competing nup
plies fron the worlds markets and the
exporting nations,of which \>« are the
greatest, must reap the benefits.
LONG ACQ.
I once knew all tbe birds that came And pining for the joys of youth,
And nested in our orchard trees ; I tread the old familiar spot,
For every flower I had a name— Only to learn this solemn truth :
My friends were woodchucks, toads and i have forgotten, am forgot.
bees. Yet, here's this youngster at my knc-4
1 a: d ."(sL"b„,„d T *,»»"» «»""«■ i »"»* >
to {j_ To think I once n as wise as he—
O, I was very learned then, But that was very long ago.
But that was very long ago. J compMn
I knew the spot upon the hill Of whatsoe'er the Fates deoree^
Where eheekerberries could be found ; Yet were not wishes all in vain,
I knew the rushes near the mill I tell you what my wish would be:
Where the pickerel lay that weighed a rd w ' igh to be boy aKalu
I knew the wood-the very tree „ B \ ck wlU \the friends I used to know ;
Where lived the poaching, saucy crow, * or I was, Oh. so happy then
And ail the woods and cjows knew me— But that was very long ago.
But that was very long ago. —Eugene Field.
; A Gat and Dog Life for Tioo. \
Aunts are often odiously eccentric
persons. The idea had ocourred to me
even while Aunt Maria Markham \vu«
alive. After her death I was convinced
of it.
So was poor,dear Julia, though cir
cumstances (thanks to Aunt Markham)
withheld her from informing me of the
fact.
By Aunt Maria's will I was to have
the brute of a bulldog and Julia the
eat. The conditions were that with
each quadruped the legatee was to re
ceive #SOO per annum. This sum to
be jjaid as long as the cat and dog re
spectively enjoyed life in this terres
trial sphere, aud afterwards also for
our respective lives (Julia's and mine)
if the said quadrupeds eventually died
natural deaths.
It was simply iniquitous—for sev
eral reasons.
To begin with, Strong, as the bull
dog was called,had frightful teeth and
a yet more frightful temper. I should
think aunt had paid hundreds of dol
lars in hush-money to folks whose
flesh and blood the brute had tasted—
to say nothing of trousers,dress skirts
and hose.
Sweet, as the cat was named, was
an enormous object, with enormous
claws. Its temper was really not bail.
But once aroused, Sweet was a demon;
nothing less. In aunt's time I had
seen this great tigerof acat stroll care
lessly into the yard where Strong was
chained and there lay itself down to
rest just three feet from the limit of
Strong's tether. The sight of the dog
when it happened was pathetic. But
it didn't trouble Sweet. The cat lay
half curled, with its green eyes oil
Strong,and I would not have put odds
on the bulldog if they could have had
a straight set-to without any favor.
Visitors loathed Sweet. She pos
sessed a lazy, cool way of clawing up
a fellow's legs aud yawning while she
hung onto the skin. And no lady
was safe from her. Be the dress ma
terial what it. might—from cambric to
satin—Sweet was bound to assault it
on the sly.
But all this was comparatively noth
ing to the g:eat hardship of all.
In jest I had more than once told
Julia that I had told Aunt Maria that
she (Julia) was the only person fit to
take charge of such a dear treasure as
Sweet in case of sad happenings.
Really, I had done no such thing, but
Julia now disbelieved my solemn as
severations.
"I will accept Aunt Markliam's
charge," she said,"but we must never
see each other again, you and I."
We were cousins, you know, and
rather better than engaged, I imagined.
I could (previous t.> aunt's demise)
have conceived th-? collapse of the
heavens, but not Julia's repudiation
of our joint future.
And so she fetched Sweet and in
stalied the slick demon in her dear
studio, and I was left to console my
self with that morethan demon, Strong,
the bulldog.
It was under stress of this treatment
by Julia that I did a thing that now
seems to me superhuman.
"Please,sir," said my aunt's house
keeper, when I contemplated the dog
that was mine, "I don't know how
you'll get him to your rooms, nor
what you'll do with him when you
get him there. Since the poor missus'
death he has been something awful."
"Oh, he has,has he?" said I,staring
like one fascinated at his awkward,
broad chest.
I walked off there and then—driven
by rage and the thought of Julia—and
came to an old curiosity shop. Here
there was a complete suit of rusty ar
mor, not too heavy for an athlete of
my build. I arranged to borrow that
armor, put it on in aunt's own parlor
and then with my rhinoceros hide stick
walked up to the lair of the dog.
Mean it may have been. I care not.
For 20 minutes I smote Strong
until there was no bite left in him.
He bestowed many tooth marks and
scratches on the armor,but that didn't
hurt me. And when the 20 minutes
were past he rolled over on liis ugly,
great back and wagged liis short tail.
Then did I slip off my armor and go
boldly up to the dog. 'lt licked my
hands. I had conquered, and I knew
that Strong would thenceforward,
if need were, die for me. But I
hated it more than ever, for never
more than at this moment did I feel
like wanting a smile from my dear
Julia.
Thus began the miserable three
months of our estrangement.
Julia was madly devoted to art. She
wore "new" garments and "new"
modes of hair; but they all became
her, though hideous on any other girl.
With aunt's SSOO a year, she had money
to scrape along on. Literature was
my rope of fortune. I had enough
to keep myself in bread and cheese
and the dog in bones.
But a fellow requires other things
than mere necessaries. I yearned for
Julia. Thrice I made an effort to see
her, and thrice I wrote. All in Tain.
I had the wretched bulldog as com"
pensation and nothing mo: e.
Now in the third or fourth week I
began to experience the joys of being
master of such a brute as Strong. He
had to be kept in my own room, if
you please,because there was no yard.
While I was in it was all right; he
would sit watching me as humble as a
dog could be. But the moment I was
free of the house he would bark and
rave and keep it up until I returned.
Of course I got served with sum
monses on behalf of the nuisance.
All this time I was without explicit
intelligence of Julia. It was madden
ing. To think of this poor, dear way
ward child alone, as it were (though
not quite) in a great city, consuming
her own pride. For I felt, you see,
that she really still loved me as I loved
her. And yet not one word could I
get from the worthy, devoted old
housekeeper who looked after her.
But one evening, when many weeks
had passed and I had bred a wrinkle
on my brow, who should come to see
me but Mrs. Green herself—this same
good housekeeper.
"'Tis no good talking, Mr. Wil
loughby," she burst forth, "and for
nobody that lives will I see my dear
Miss Julia breaking her precious heart
—least of all a cat."
"Goon, Mis. Green," I urged, and
she went on.
"The times we've had, sir, I'd never
have believed possible, and all along
of that Sweet wretch. You're ac
quainted with the animal, Mr. Wil
longhbv, but not ar, she's grown up
of late. There's an evil spirit in that
beast not tit for a decent person to
live with—and least of all a tender
young lady like Miss Julia."
"You ure extremely right, Mrs.
Green,extremely," I remarked. "Tell
me more."
"The very last thing, sir, was the
scratching of the "King of Scotland"
from head to foot and him ready to
be sent to the academy. 'Six weeks'
hard work and all for nothing!' ray
young lady sobbed and said,a-pointing
at the cat, which lay purrin' like the
evil hypocrite she is. There's nothin'
safe from the false great object. And
the milk it drinks and the dainty bits
it does steal—why, it's $5 a week
damage it does one way or another,
if you'll be'ieve me, Mr. Willoughby."
"1 believe every word you say, my
dear Mrs. Green," I replied. "Look
at that other object."
I pointed at Strong as I spoke and
made a click with my tongue. Strong
obeyed that click. He stole,growling
towards Mrs. Green, who jumped up,
screamed and lied. But I arrested her
outside and took lier by the arm and
whispered in her large red ear and
was so glad that I could have kissed
her, though she carries much hair on
her upper lip and unequivocal down
on her chin.
"We will go in a cab," said I at
length, when I had soothed her. And
on the way I convinced her that my
plan was a reasonable one and that
she (Mrs. Green) would be far more
comfortable and opulent as house
keeper to two souls than as house
keeper to one soul aud a demon cat.
And in the street, where Julia gives
consecration to the atmosphere, I first
pressed a dollar into the dear creature's
palm and then set her on the pave
ment.
Then back I drove to my rooms to
find that Strong had, in a playful fit,
reached down my collection of foreign
stamps (in a 820 album) and divided
it into an incalculable number of
partß. But for once I did not curse
the pretty creature.
"Good old dog," I said, as I patted
him on the head. Aud he wagged his
ugly tail and straightway proved his
goodness by swallowing a British
Guinea stamp of 1855 worth $5 and
scraping to morsels its fellow worth
§lO.
That night I dreamed many dreams
in which Julia, Mrs. Green, the dog
Strong and the cat Sweet were strange
ly mingled. But I awoke refreshed,
nevertheless, for I was full of hope.
Xor had I any compunctions, for I
felt that the happiness of two linmiw
to Us was better than the happiness of
a couple of demoniacal quadrupeds.
In the moruing an insurance agent
called and, speaking in a high voice
that seemed menacing (though of
course was not), got mauled at the
ankle.
"The law, my friend, will give me
my revenge," said this gentleman,
when I had escorted him in safety
downsttiirs. Yon see, I had not wanted
to insure my life.
But at half past three I uprose and,
taking Strong by the chain, led him
into the street.
Thus to the studio. Here Mrs.
Green received me with a pale face.
"Miss Julia is not in," she said;
and I, dissembling, remarked that it
was a pity.
"If I might rest awhile," I pro
ceeded.
"Oh, certainly, sir," replied the
astute creature. "Perhaps you would
i like to leave the dose in the kitchen?"
The good soul onened the door.
Then I slipped Strong's chain,pushed
liim in and shut the door.
Immediately afterwards I invaded
Julia's stndio and Mrs. Green with
me. We shut ourselves in and dis
cussed the weather, the last cure for
colds (Julia having one) and much
else. We talked without ceasing, in
deed, for many minutes.
But in spite of everything the riot
in the kitchen reached our ears. Ter
rific at times it was, with fateful lulls,
followed afresh by piercing cries, now
of a cat and now of a dog. I opened
the door an inch and peeped in.
At length, by half-past four, utter
peace reigned. Mrs. Green and I
looked at each other and started for
the kitchen.
On the landing, however, whom
should we meet but Julia.
"James!" she exclaimed, blushing
divinely.
"I—brought the dog with me," I
murmured. "I aui going now. I
only wanted to know that you were
well. He is in the kitchen."
Her eyes brightened when I men
tioned Strong. Hatred of Sweet pos
sessed her—she said so afterwards.
Then lo] c icd the door, and in a
moment I saw that we were saved.
"Oh, Miss Julia!" cried Mrs.Green,
running to the lifeless body of Sweet.
"Strong, what have you been doing?"
said I. But I expected no answer,for
side by side with the cat lay the life
less dog.
For many seconds we contemplated
the dead warriors. Then I turned to
Julia. Tears were in her eyes, Mrs.
Green considerately went away.
"Dearest," I said,"there ip nothing
now between us," and I opened my
arms to her.
She hesitated for a moment, then
came to me, and I kissed away her
tears.
The death of Strong and Sweet was,
after due legal debate, reckoned ex
ceedingly natural,
The quadrupeds slumber in one
grave.—St. Lonis Star.
QUAINT AND CURIOUS.
Infant schools begau in New Lanark,
Scotland, in 1815; in England not till
1818.
To improve her complexion, a young
lady in Worcester, Englaud, was in
the habit of eating about two wax
candles every week.
Chinese brides of high station fre
quently do not see their husbands
until the red veils are lifted at the
marriage ceremony.
The long tails of the Shah of Per
sia's horses are dyed crimson for
six inches at their tips—a jealously
guarded privilege of the ruler and his
sons.
In order to raise church funds, a
Georgia minister charged admission to
an eutertainuent where the contestants
engaged in a giuger cake eating com
petition.
Detectives detailed to look after pro
fessional shoplifters always look to
see if their suspects are wearing gloves.
A professional, it is declared, never
works with gloves on.
The ginger plant grows wild in
some parts of Mexico, and its cultiva
tion on the elevated plateaus is to be
encouraged. An estimate of the
value of the crop may be gleaned
from the fact that one acre's yield
brings in'about S3OO in gold.
Showers of blood—bona fide, genu
ine blood, or at any rate, having the
same properties—are by no means un
common on the Mediterranean coast,
and in some parts of Italy. The rain
has been analyzed, and undoubtedly
contains several of the mineral con
stituents of human blood.
Alderman Backer of Brooklyn is a
philanthropist —also a real estate
dealer. He has offered to the first
family that is blessed with twins in
his district a house, rent free, as long
as they want to occupy it. To the
first family that registers triplets he
offers to give a house and lot.
It was not until 1878 that the mann
facture of hairpins began in the United
States. Previous to 'that time those
used in this country were brought
from England or France. Now the
trade is such a large one that it takes
50,000 packages, each containing
twenty-four pins, to supply the whole
sale demand daily in New York alone.
There died the other day at Ells
worth, Ohio, a mau who remembers
with vivid distinctiveness the battle
of Waterloo, of which he was an eye
witness. James R. Green was born
at Bolton, England, in 1798. In 1815
he was doing service on the Royal
George and he got permission togo to
the front with a brother, who was in
the Forty-fifth regiment.
O. C. Schulte, a member of the
California Swimming club, was called
upon to take the place of another diver
who had been announced to jump from
the balcony of the Cliff house, San
Francisco, into the sea, but who re
fused to take the leap of eighty-five
feet. Schulte promptly undertook the
feat and made a successful dive in the
presence of ten thousand spectators.
A very economical farmer in Mars
Hill, Me., who is worth thousauds ol
dollars, had the misfortune to lose his
wife by sudden death. Her loss
grieved him very much, occurring, as
it did, in the midst of his fall Vvork.
He very reluctantly gave up his duties
on the farm long enough to dig his
wife's grave with his own hands, and
then hastily returned to his more yjn'o
fitable labor. j
Utterly Hop*le»». I
"It'B all off, darling," groaned/ the
disconsolate lover. )
"No? Did papa refuse his/ con
sent?" I
"Practically. He said that I fcnigbt
have you when X had earned and/saved
SI OOO. He's a monster, Amie. j
A TEMPERANCE COLUMN
THE DRINK EVIL MADE MANIFES"
IN MANY WAYS.
The Trauip'a Speech—When Invited t
Make an Address In the llarroom, H
Described the Cause of All His Wretch
edness—A Courageous Business Mai
It was growing late, says the Now O)
leans Picayune. The tide of humautt
that earlier in the eyening had ebbed an
Bowed through the streets of the great clt;
had swept onward, leaving the strange ac
almost appalling sense of desolation thi
comes when the noises of the town ai
hushed. In front of a saloon whose ligh
shone out bright across the pavemet
stood a tramp, unshorn, ragged, dirty, dif
gustlng. He watched with envious eyi
the men who passed in and ont throug
the swinging doors, and then he turned h
eyes toward two young fellows In ovenln
dress who were oomlng down the stre<
towards him. They had been drinkln
deeply, and they stopped before the saloo
door and looked curiously at him.
"Say," said one, "let's give the tramp
drink."
The other hilariously consented, nnd tl
tramp slouched into the saloon nt tl
heels of the two gilded youths. The ba
keeper set beforo them glasses and liquor
and with a hand that shook the tram
poured out a brimming glass and raised
to his lips.
"Stop," cried one of the young mc
jlrunkenly, "make us a speech. It is poc
IKjuor that doesn't loosen a man's tongue.
The tramp hastily swallowed down tl
drink, and as tho liquor coursed throug
his blood he straightened himself an
stood before them with a graoe and dii
city that ull his rags and dirt could n<
obscure.
"Gentlemen," ho said, "I look to-night i
you and at myself, and it seems to me
look upon the picture of my lost manhoot
This bloated face was once as young an
handsome as yours. This shambling tlgur
once walked as proudly as yours, a man i
a world of men. I, too, once had a horn
and friends and position. I had a wifef
beautiful as an artist's dream, and
dropped the priceless pearl of her hone
and respect in the wide cup, and, Clec
patra-like, saw it dissolve and quaffed
down in tho brimming draught. Iha
cliildron as sweet and lovely as the flowei
of spring, and I saw them fade and die ui
der the blighting curse of a drunkar
father. I had a home where loTe lit th
flame upon the altar and ministered befor
It.and I put out tho holy Are, and darkne!
and desolation reigned in its stead. Iha
aspirations and ambitions that soared a
high as the morning star, and I broke an
bruised their beautiful wings, and, at las
strangled them that I might be torture
with their cries no more. To-day I am
husband without n wlfo, a father without
child, a tramp with no homo to call h
own. a man in whom every good Impulse
dead. All, all swallowed up in tl
maelstrom of drink."
Tho tramp ceased speaking. The gla:
fell from his nerveless fingers and shiver?
into a thousand fragments on the floo
The swinging doors pushed open and shi
again, and when the little group about tt
bar looked up the tramp was gone.
A Courageous Business Ainu.
A New York correspondent of the Pub!
Ledger, in commenting upon the Chambi
ot Commerce annual dinner, which cos
the diners each 820, which, the writer say
is mora than is usually taxod upon th
subscribers to a public dinner, und !
instances the New England dinner, whic
costs $lO a plate, but this Is without ton!
He then adds:
"Bight here let me quote what a distil
glllshod New York business man said ton
to-day in regard to this question of wim
'I do not,' he said, 'use wine myself, an
some time ago I made up my mind that
would not serve It at any of my dinner
In my position I am obliged to give maj;
formal dinners. I make them as line i
money can provide, but no wine. It toe
courage to »!o this. It was setting one
Belt against asocial custom which has t
most the same authority as that whi<
compels the wearing of evening dres
But, strange to say, I have succeeded
arousing no criticism, and muny of n.
guests have taken occasion to thank n
for my courage. I was moved to do th
because it has been my experience the
where wine is free as water, too much
drunk. One of the foremost bualne
organizations of this country, which holt
a meeting every year, is actually In dang
of going to pieces because tho annual r
unions have become occasions for the i
tempcrnte use of wine. My rule, whenev
I have anything to do with subscripts
dinners, Is to have the subscription cov
only the meal without wine. Then, if ni
diner desires wine, lot him order and pi
for it extra. With champaign at $8 to •
a bottle it is not as likely that there w
be as intemperate a use of It as when
can be ordered without limit as being i
eluded in the subscription price.'"
A Pathetic Lecture.
"It is breaking my heart," wore the p
thetic words of a widowed mother wl
was called to the witness stand to swear
a painful oomplaintshe was forced to ma
against her son. He was her only ehil
and it should have been his delight
work for and make happy his good mothi
his best earthly friend. Instead of wor
ing and providing a good home for her,
squandered ut the saloon the little that
enrnod; she had to work hard to give h
a home. His habits grew so bad that
last she determined to have him committ
as an habitual drunkard, hoping that
would then reform.
When called to the witness stand to t<
tlfy against him, she said, "It is break!
my heart," and fell dead with the words
her lips. What a lecture for any inotl
to deliver!
Boys, don't let it ever be said of you tl
you are bringing grief to your mothe
heart. Let it be your aim to make I
happy. You can do it by little loving n
every day of your life.—Youth's Temp
nneo Banner.
A Good Plan.
Tho plan ndopted by the Prussian St:
Bailway Department is one which the mi
ugers of our American railways might w
inaugurate on their lines. The Pruss*.
State Department has issued instruct!;
tostatlon masters to urrango that in
railway restaurnnts a good cup of cod
with milk and sugar, is to be supplied
ten pfennlge (two cents) and that an ex
large supply of this beverage Is to be
hund during tho time of the departuro n
arrival of early trains, when lnrge bod
of working people are traveling. Hav
forbidden their employes visiting saloo
on or off duty, our American manag
might provide for the sule at 'the prlnoi;
depots, particularly at terminal points,
good coffee and tea at an equally mod
ate rato. They could give tho trainn
and traveling public a first-class cup
pure coffee for two cents and not 1'
money.
••The Best Men on Earth."
If saloon keepers are indeed "the b
men on earth," as the Mayor of India
polis. h'imself one of thom, asserts,
shall have to revise our ethical systems
as to represent the worst as the best t
the best as the worst. It would Boem to
nobler to make a man drunk than to h
him to keep sober; to minister to the
dulgence of his appetites than to Indue;
him to control them; to start him on
road to the almshouse or State's pri;
than to encourage him to thrift, Inilut
and uprightness. If saloons are the V
places on earth, homes nnd school hou
and churches must be the worst, they
so widely different.— Independent.

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