The Leon reporter., March 29, 1900, Image 5

About The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Iowa

                
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CHAPTER VI.—(Continued).
Thti gang he was with had returned
for another load. Rob heard them
Inuttering among themselves, and he
looked up to see the cause. He was
Amazed, and felt a thrill of terror rush
over him, for there, standing with Cap
tain Elvin and Torrevo, engaged in
earnest conversation, was Lemuel
Starne.
Now Rob thought surely he would be
Wiled. He thought he now understood
some of the hatred he had Incurred.
Starne, Elvin and the captain of the
"Black Cat" were all in one gang.
Therefore, if Starne had any reason
to wish his death, the others must
have the same reason.
There was no way to escape them
now. He could not turn back.
When they were taking up their
loads Torrevo rushed out and beat Rob
•with his rape's end
in. The last blask fellow had gone.
The caverns were as still as death, ex
"cept for the trickling water on the
rocky walls. Rob cruched in his
to him almost an entire day.
His limbs ached. His face was sore
from Torrevo's blows. His hands had
swollen from the excessive labor he
had performed. The weariness at last
overcame him. First he fought against
the drowsiness, then welcomed it, for
it brought with it forgetfulness of his
troubles. He found some bales of
cloth, took them into his hiding place,
and lay down upon them. Soon he was
fast asleep.
How long the boy slept he did not
know. But he awoke at last with a
start, and wondered how long he had
been there. He left his nook and went
toward the entrance to the caverns.
Then he made a discovery that made
'Ms heart almost stand still.
The entrance had been closed with
a .great stone.
He was locked in.
CHAPTER VII.
For several minutes Rob stood there
In the dark cavern looking at the thin
streak of light that came in through
a chink by the side of the blockad
ing rock, with a terrible sense of ter
ror. He was literally buried alive.
He did not know how often the
smugglers, or pirates, or whatever the
gang might be, came to this place.
If their visits were limited to such
times as the "Black Cat" brought car
goes of smuggled goods, then it was
certain that he would be confined there
for weeks, and perhaps months, and
that meant that he would die there.
When the full sense of the disaster
broke upon him, his boyish heart
'throbbed with fear. As a young and
healthy American, he loved life. He
loved his mother, and he had looked
'forward to the day when, having by
skill and attention to his uncle's busi
ness, won wealth and position, he
Could make a comfortable home for
that dear mother, for which she would
not be beholden to any one for char
ity. To die with this brilliant pros
pect before him would be hard. But
to die in that dark hole, a lingering,
painful death by starvation. Oh! it
•was terrible.
But-Rob was a true American boy.
After' the first few minutes of stupe
faction his spirits- returned, and he
began to'think of finding a way out.
He groped about the opening, now
so well blocked by the heavy rock, but
the largest aperature he could find
was simply large enough for him to put
his hand through. He could not move
the rock an inch.
While thus engaged in his futile ef
forts the thought came to him that
perhaps thls wag not an accident. Per-
Rop Gieverflaie's flflventure. §1
Copyrtehted, I8W, by fttfbert Sonner's Bon*.
By Baward W. Hopkins, i''v igfc
•••••••••••••{••••••••••••a
BO
that poor Rob
kept his face bent down almost to the
ground till he got clear of his tor
mentor, which was not until he was
part way up the ridge.
The boy's heart was broken with
.grief and terror. What should he do?
To continue in this way was simply to
be killed. Was there no hope of es
cape. He went into the caverns again,
and this time the black interior seemed
to the tortured fellow like a haven of
rest And, when the gang turned to
leave a sudden inspiration came to
|Rob. He knew that the last of the
cargo was not on its way to the cave.
'Jt. was possible that he would not be
missed if he did not return. With no
definite purpose, except to escape the
blows and curses of Torrevo, he darted
away from the gang and hid in a black
recess behind a pile of bales of to
bacco.
The men came in with their bur
dens, and then went out. Those who
went out now did not return again.
The last of the contraband cargo was
haps, after all, Lemuel Starne had
recognized him—had told Captain El
vin who he was—and he had been
missed, traced to the caverns and lock
ed in to await a terrible death by star
vation, or to be kept until they saw
fit to release him and kill him some
other way. Any way he looked at it,
death seemed certain.
With a dull heart Rob left the open
ing, now, alas! opening no longer, and
groped his way in the darkness
through the caverns. It was dark as
night, and darker. There were no
moon and stars in this damp and
grewsome place to shed a little light
and cheeriness. All was dark and
damp and dismal.
In his aimless wanderings, Rob's feet
struck against something, and he at
once thought of the torches the men
had used when they brought in the
goods. The thing he had kicked
sounded like one of these. He stooped
and picked it up. It was just what
he thought it was—a torch made of
some kind of soft stuff like cotton
waste, wrapped on a bar of iron and
soaked in oil. The odor from it show
ed that it had been recently used—
probably by the men who had been
with him.
But a smothered torch gives no light,
and Rob could not feel that he was
any better off than before. He had
never learned to smoke, and therefore
carried no matches. If he only had
a match!
Suddenly it occurred to liim that he
did not have on his own clothes, but
the. fantastic garments given him by
Captain Torreyo, of the "Black Cat."
Instinctively he felt in the pockets of
his velvet jacket.
First he brought out a package of
Spanish cigarettes, which he threw
away, not having any use for them.
In another pocket—oh, joy! he dis-
LIT UP THE GLOOMY CAVERN
covered a box of matches. It was
something to wear the jacket of a
smoker, after all.
With feverishly trembling fingers,
Rob lighted a match and applied it to
the torch. In an instant it burst into
flame and lit up the gloomy cavern
around him. The smoky flame, while
it gave light enough for him to see,
made the shadows even more terrible.
And with the light held above his head
Rob gazed with strained eyes into the
Inky blackness of recesses opening out
on three sides.
But Rob had been through the cav
erns when a dozen such torches had
been blazing, and he knew there was
nothing there that would harm him.
There were no wild beasts. So, bolster
ing up his courage with this one con
soling thought, he. began a thorough
exploration of the place. From one
cave to another he went, closely ex
amining the sides, always on the alert
to catch a glimpse of what might be
another opening. But he saw none.
There were the great stores of contra
band goods—enough to make a dozen
men rich if sold at fair prices, but
nothing that Rob wanted.
To all the rest of his discomfort now
came the pangs of hunger. He did not
know how long he had slept therefore
he could not judge how long he had
been in the caves. But he knew he
was very hungry.
He now applied himself to searching
for something to eat.
There was plenty of tobacco, easily
distinguished by the odor.
But Rob could not eat this. There
were casks of liquor, but Rob had
never touched a drop of it, and even
the bottles of which there were many,
did not seem to point to a way to
spare him any pain.
He found plenty of bales of stuff,
silks, cassimeres and everything in
that line that was dutiable. But not
a thing to eat.
After traversing room after room
and vault after vault, Rob entered a
large rock chamber, dry and cool, and
there he stood, more amazed than
ever.
It was an arsenal. Here were stored
hundreds of rifles, pistols, swords,
knives—in fact every kind of weapon.
And around the sides of the chamber
were kegs—probably containing pow
der—and cases—probably containing
cartridges.
Even to Rob's young mind It was
evident that this was more than a
mere smuggler's resort All those
arms were there for a purpose—he
knew not what. ,f,'
But he cpuld not eat them.
Weary, hungry and disheartened,
Rob went back and examined his bed.
Finding it clean and dry, he dragged
it tot the opening, and extinguished
his light. Rob's object in jetting neat
the opening was twofold. In the fit si
place, there was a little light there,
and it was less grew&omo than back
in the black recess he had slept in be
fore. In the second place, he would
be in the way of any person entering'
the cave, and could not be overlooked
as he might be if he went to sleep In
a hidden spot. And Rob had now be
come so terror-stricken at the gravity
of his situation, and the awful pros
pect of starving to death in that place
that he would have welcomed any one
even Lemuel Starne himself, if that
worthy had appeared to let him out.
Rob sat on his bale of cloth for a
long time, blinking at the little streak
of light, and listening to the trickling
and dropping of the water in the cav
erns around him. To his excited imag
ination It seemed as if this noise was
growing louder, and he thought per
haps the roof was breaking, and would
let in the water from the river. This
meant a speedy death by drowning.
All the events of his past life came
lip before him. He thought of his
mother, and the tears ran down his
checks. He wondered if his uncle had
missed him, and if a search would be
made. But he dismissed this hope, for
it would surely have been reported
that he was lost overboard from the
Itoyal Mail.
The weariness was too much for him
at last, and with great sobs shaking
him he fell asleep.
Even this time he did not know how
long he slept. But he was awakened
by hearing some one outside the cave.
He sat up and listened intently. There
wa3 no mistake about it. Some one
was certainly outside.
Rob's heart now beat violently. Was
this some wandering native, who
would release him from his prison, and
enable him to go to Buenos Aires and
find his uncle? Or was it Lemuel
Starne returned to finish his fiendi3h
work
The eagerness to get out was great
er than fear of Starne, and Rob plac
ed his mouth near the crack and gave
a loud "Halloo!"
"Ho!" came in the well-known
voice of Captain Torreyo, of "El Gato
Negro. "Are you there, after all?"
"Oh, yes! Let me out! Let me out!
Please, Captain Torreyo, let me out!"
"You are a jewel!" exclaimed Tor
reyo in a tone that Rob did not un
derstand. "Be easy."
Rob was now flushed with hope, and
looked, expecting to see the great
stone roll away, leaving him free. But
the noise suddenly ceased. Bob waited
a moment longer, and then called
again.
"Captain Torreyo! Dear Captain!
Let me out, won't you?"
(To be continued.)
HONEYBEE'S WINGS.
A Microscopic View of One of Nature's
Wonderful Schemes.
At a meeting of the New York
Microsopical Society the president of
the organization exhibited, besides
other thir^T honeybee's wing,
^lets by means of
'to' the upper wing
making them prac
tically a single wing. The upper of
the two wings is about half an inch
in length, the lower a little shorter.
The wings come together where they
are joined to the body they are other
wise separate. When the bee goes into
its hive, it folds its wings together,
one leaf over the other, so that they
will take up less room. When it goes
abroad, it spreads Its wings and
couples them together with the hooks.
When looked at under the microscope,
the upper edge of the lower wing is
seen to be re-enforced as though it
had an extra plate or rib stretched
along there, and to this rib, spaced
apart at regular intervals, though they
are all contained within a total space
of little more than a quarter of an
inch, there are attached nineteen or
twenty tiny, bony hooks. There is
a little thickening at the base of each
hook, where nature has strengthened
it, and one is inclined to regard the
hooks as inset separately and to look
for the rivets wherewith they were
secured to the plate or rib from which
they spring. The lower edge of the
upper wing, as looked at under the
microscope, is seen to be curled up into
a flange or trough. When the bee
comes out of the hive, It hooks the
hooks on the upper edge of the lower
wing into the flange or trough at the
lower edge of the upper wing and
so makes the two wings practically
one.—New York Sun.
showin
the bee Js join
•Hi tiylng thus
Senaes of Smell.
The horse will leave musty hay un
touched in his bin, however hungry.
He will not drink wsiter objectionable
to his questioning uniff, or from a
bucket which some odor makes of
fensive, however thirsty. His intelli
gent nose will widen, quiver and query
over the daintiest bit offered by the
fairest hands, with coaxing that would
make a mortal shut his eyes and swal
low a nauseous mouthful at a gulp. A
mare is never satisfied either by sight
or whinny that her colt is really her
own until she has a certified nasal
certificate to the fact. A blind horse
will not allow the approach of any
stranger without showing signs of an
ger not safely to be disregarded. The
distinction is evidently made by his
sense of smell at a considerable dis
tance. Blind, horses as a rule will gal
lop wildly about a pasture without
striking the surrounding fence. The
sense of smell Informs him of it3
proximity. Others will, when loosened
from the stable, go direct to the gate
or bars opened to their accustomed
feeding grounds, and when desiring to
re'.urn, after hours of careless wander
ing, will distinguish one outlet and
patiently await its opening. The odor
of that particular part of the fence is
their pilot to it. The horse in brows
ing or while gathering herbage with its
lips Is guided In its choice of proper
food entirely by its nostrils. Blind
horses do not make mistakes in their
diet.—Horse and Stable.
_s.
Reversible Discomforts.1
"Why do men stay away5 'from
church?" "Well, sometimes I don't go
because I haven't got new shoes, and
then agiain I don't go because I have
new shoes.''—Indianapolis Journal.
HE IS A MAN WITHOUT
CONVICTIONS.
1
A» Changeable an the Winds—Congratu
late* Himself After Doing Just What
He Condemned Ills Predecessor for
lolnjf—Au Acrobatic Marvel*
The intricate windings of crooked
politics never discovered a more ac
:omplished hypocrite than William
McKinley. He was born for the char
acter that he so perfectly fits. His
physical and mental capacities are cal
culated to deceive the very elect. He
has the face of a Methodist bishop and
the flow of piously deceptive but mean
ngless phrases that the combined tal
ents of the immortal Pecksniff and the
unctuous Chadband could not equal.
He talks like an angel, but acts like
the prime minister of a place that an
gels do not visit. He is an incarnated
personification of Dr. Jekyl and Mr.
Hyde. You never know where to find
him. He sets his sails toward all
points of the compass, hoping to catch
every breeze of popular favor. He is
a devout church member, and a tippler
of red wine. A few years ago he abused
Grover Cleveland for destroying the
value of one of the precious metals of
the nation and favoring the rich at
the expense of the poor, and the oth
er day at the Ohio banquet he congrat
ulated his hearers on the fact that "we
will soon have legislative assurance of
the continuance of the gold standard."
And in the same breath he pretends
to be an "international bimetallist."
In his latest annual message he de
clared that the extension of free trade
to the people of the islands was a
"plain duty," but no sooner was a bill
introduced in congress to carry out his
own suggestion than he frantically im
portuned his friends in that body to
disregard his advice and defeat the
very measure he had so earnestly in
sisted upon. He declares that there is
no alliance or secret understanding
with England, but is using all the pow
er at his command to force the ratifi
cation of a treaty that requires us to
buile*, the Nicaragua canal at our own
expense for the benefit of Great Brit
ain—a treaty that Lord Salisbury
wrote, and at whose command John
Hay was made secretary of state be
cause it was known that he was at
heart a British subject and that he
would faithfully guard England's inter
ests. And when the American consul
at Pretoria remonstrated because his
official mail was opened and "ap
proved" by British agents, he was re
called, dishonorably dismissed, and his
place filled with a young pro-British
upstart who received his last instruc
tions in London and sailed to South'
Africa in an English troop ship. Mc
Kinley's voice is the voice of Jacob, but
his face is the face of Esau. He is the
"smoothest" character that ever cut a
crooked figure in American politics.
ABOUT CHEAP MONEY.
An Ohio paper utters the following
platitude:
"Cheap money is always the costliest
paper money was so caevip cuat 'a, toou
$2.40 in greenbacks to buy ?1 in gold,
the man who wanted to borrow money
had to pay from 8 to 12 per cent for it.
Now, when every dollar of our paper
and silver is held at par with gold,
the borrower can obtain all the money
he can give good security for at from
3 to 6 per cent. Sound currency and
stable credits always produce low rates
of interest."
Upon this the Mississippi Valley
Democrat jumps with both pedal ex
tremities
"All of which is a lie in ambush to
fool the unwary. In the first place,
every farmer knows that he cannot
borrow money at 3 per cent. He may
possibly get it at 6 "and commissions,"
if he has gilt-edged security but which
is the cheaper rate, 6 per cent with
wheat at 50 cents a bushel (and all
kinds of produce at the same rate), or
12 per cent with wheat at ?2.40 per
bushel? We should think that any man
with brains in his head would take the
latter. Besides, money never brought
12 per cent in this country, not even in
the flush times immediately after the
war, when money hung on the bushes
and everybody was out of debt—when,
as the then secretary of the treasury
said, the people were so well off that
they were putting carpets in their
houses and learning extravagant hab
its, and it was therefore the duty of the
government to reduce the volume of
currency and teach them better. Some
people seem to think the farmers don't
know anything—and we must confess
that some of them do not know a great
deal—or they would never vote the Re
publican ticket."
The Brew*ry Trust.
It is a nice little Republican scheme
to amend the war revenue act by pro
viding that the secretary of the treas
ury shall not issue stamps for any bar
reled beer in a less quantity than a
quarter barrel. "The effect of this, of
course," says the Chicago Chronicle,
"is to prevent the sale of eighth and
sixth barrel packages, and the inten
tion is to kill off the small breweries
in the interest of the beer trust. A
nice little Republican coterie in the
house, known as the beer committee,
succeeded in persuading the ways and
means committee that this amendment
would be a good thing, and so it was
slipped through the house as quietly
as possible."
Senator Nelson of Minnesota object
ed to this sort of thing, and plainly
told the finance committee that the
breweries in the beer trust made 85
per cent of the beer made in the coun
try: that the remaining 15 per cent
is made by small breweries in the mi
nor cities and little towns, and is put
up mostly in these small kegs. "They
cannot use a larger package," said Mr.
Nelson, "because in small towns beer
served in larger packages would spoil."
This beer trust wants to destroy the
business of the little breweries in order
to secure for itself the business of sup
plying all the little places with beer in
bottles.
Gold for the Rich.
Gold, the money of the rich, the
money of the banks and the usurers—
the kind of money that the people nev
er see fhe color of—1^ made the only
money that legally -pays a debt, and
then by law is plat
T"
-••.'. -(,.*•''
PICTURE OP JTKINLEY.1
ANY
L-J"
reach of the people while silver,
which is utterly worthless under this
adverse legislation, is "decorated" and
scattered broadcast among the people,
to deceive them with fancied prosperi
ty. until it suits the purpose of the
banks to precipitate a panic and fore
close on the people's property. And
this threat of panic will be used for
coercive purposes in the coming cam
paign, just as it was in 1896, only with
a thousand-fold more effectiveness, for
under this new legislation a panic
would ruin not only the business man
who depends on the banks for his capi
tal and the gambler who bets on future
prices, but the farmer who has a mort
gage on his home and every man who
owes a debt. Among all the infamies
that were ever enacted into law in the
whole history of civilization, nothing
has ever equaled the infamy of this
bank trust bill. Why the people with
one united voice do not cry out against
it is more than human mind can com
prehend.—Mississippi Valley Demo
irat.
A SPECIMEN CAMPAIGN LIE.
In the effort to preserve the individ
ual lister of prosperity the g. o. p. or
gans are beginning to cross the broad
line of truth into fable. The Chicago
Inter Ocean finds so much prosperity
in the state of Kansas that the people
are actually suffering from too much
money. It says:
"The
banks are unit­
ing to find out whether there is any
law to prevent them receiving money,"
it appearing that they have so much
money on hanil and it is pouring in in
such enormous quantities that they do
not know what to do with it. "In fact,"
says the veracious chronicler of
finances, "the times are getting worse
and worse out in Kansas for those who
are trying to lend money or to find
banks that will accept it on deposit."
Perhaps this is the reason why farm
mortgages are increasing, according to
the views of the offices of the various
county recorders. Some one has got to
be prosperous, even if it is the money
lenders.
A lturlal Trust.
During the funeral services of a Mil
waukee man a livery association with
drew its hearse and left the corpse
without means of transportation to its
last resting place. The family of the
deceased sued the association for dam
ages »nd recovered, the Supreme court
of Wisconsin affirming the judgment
for ptaintiff in the contention.
The court declared the test to be that
"only such combinations are lawful as
are not prejudicial to the rights of the
comn-unity, and that applying the test
to the Milwaukee Liverymen's union,
that -orporation is an unlawful com
bination.
"A combination that will resort to
such means as the ruthless breaking
in upon the solemnities of a funeral
ceremony or that aims to entirely mo
nopolize such an essential to the burial
of the dead according to the custom of
the country, as is usually furnished in
cities by liverymen, and to stifle com
petition and hamper individual inde
pendent industry in regard to such
business as to paralyze individual ef
fort and compel every person in order
to submit to the dictates "of the com
bine, will not stand the test above in
dicated."
Don't Forget.
We are not trying to array one class
against another we are trying to teach
each class its relation to every other.
The person who warms by the fire
must not forget the hand that brings
the coal from the mine. The person
who eats at the table must not forget
the man whose toil loads the table
with bounties. The person who can
clothe himself with the best that the
looms produce must not forget those
whose muscle and brain created cloths.
Shall the bud, blooming in beauty and
shedding its fragrance upon the air,
despise the roots of the rosebush be
cause they come into actual contact
with the soil? You may pluck the bud
and other buds as beautiful will grow,
but destroy the roots and all the buds
will die.—W. J. Bryan.
Ilovr it Helps Labor.
As a sample of the benefits which
may be expected from the reciprocity
arrangement of the Dingley tariff act,
it is stated that the government has
entered into an agreement with Italy
whereby reductions of duty granted
the shippers of that country are limited
to still and sparkling wines, brandies,
vermouth, argols, paintings and statu
ary, engravings and other works of
art. Great aid to the laboring man.
Beneficent reciprocity that gives us our
wines, our paintings and "argols" at a
reduced duty, and taxes our woolens
and cottons—necessities—out of dan
ger of competition.—Kalamazoo Ga
zette.
Civilization Mint Give Hope.
The civilization which does not em
brace within its benefits every worthy
member of society is a fraudulent civ
ilization. We must have a civilization
which gives hope and inspiration to
those who work in the kitchen as well
as to those who eat in the dining room
and to those who sit in the parlor—a
civilization which will care for the
man who drives the carriage as well as
for the man who rides within it.—W. J.
Bryan.
No Special Claa* Heaven.
Men have expressed many ideas of
heaven, but no one has yet pictured a
heaven for the rich and another for the
poor. If the rich and the poor must
mingle together forever in the world
to come, I want to help them to get
acquainted here so that they will not
have to be introduced when they cross
the river.—W. J. Bryan.
It is to be remarked that the organ
ism known as the gold bug that
claimed to belong to the genus Demo
crat is no more. Possible it is gone
where the whang doodle howleth, or,
more likely, it has joined the ranks of
extinct animals like the dodo or the
apteryx. No one at the present day
will admit that a gold Democrat ever
existed It's Democracy true blue or
an imitation Democracy the same yes
terday, today and forever.—Richmond
(Mo.) Democrat
Whltefleld, was the son of" an inn
keeper at Gloucester.
THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA.
When Mark Hanna took charge of
the Republican campaign in 1896, after
having purchased the candidate for
president—Mr. McKinley—he also se
cured a mortgage on every Republican
candidate for congress. After the elec
tion he foreclosed this mortgage and
took possession. The Republican par
ty gloried in him for awhile on ac
count of the great victory he had ob
tained over the Democrats. They
praised him, they wer* proud of him,
they said that no one was his equal in
greatness. This feeling continued un
til Mr. Hanna proceeded to realize on
his investment. Then the Republicans
came to understand that he had only
defeated the Democrats because he
could not control them when in office,
and had only elected the Republicans
in order to make them his obedient
servants. It soon became evident that
the president did not dare to disobey
him. The president's policy was Han
na's policy. Later it became evident
that no Republican congressman who
expected to remain in office dared to
cross the will of the autocratic Hanna.
He held the purse strings of the party,
controlled its patronage and was the
boss of its organization. Any Repub
lican member who kicked found oppo
sition in his own district at once,
which was easily traced to the in
fluence of Manna. He found his pet
measures pigeonholed, he found his
friends dismissed from office, and he
found himself very coolly received at
the white house. In short, he received
a plain intimation that he must sub
mit to Hanna or retire to private life.
No man was big enough to resist, and
even the great Tom Reed had to re
sign his seat In congress in order to
retain his self-respect.
And so it is when a Republican con
gressional caucus meets, and Hanna,
through his mouthpiece, the president,
says, "Do this," or "Do that," only a
faint show of resistance is made, and
Hanna's will Is accomplished.—Illinois
State Committee Bulletin.
FOR POLITICAL FARMERS.
A friend in Ohio sends us a clipping
from a "political farmers'" paper,
which says:
"The treasury of the United Statea
stands ready to exchange an Americau
silver dollar for a gold dollar, or vice
versa. It is the maintenance of th«
gold standard that makes every Amer
ican dollar, whether metal or paper,
ES
good as gold the world over."
If the editor of this political farmers'
paper will write to Senator Allison he
will learn that after the passage of ths
bank trust bill the treasury of the
United States will not stand ready to
exchange a silver dollar for a gold
dollar, or vice versa. The treasury of
the United States will do nothing of
the kind. But gold will then be the
only money that will pay debts, and it
this political farmer owes a debt and
hasn't the gold to pay it with, the sher
iff will sell him out so quick that it
will make his wooden head dizzy.—
Mississippi Valley Democrat.
The Poucho of the South Americans.
One of the most common articles of
is the poncho, whlcn is a blanker ftofS
over the body, with a hole cut in the
middle to put the head through. Our
soldiers frequently wear them, but
they are made of rubber instead of cot
ton or wool, which are the materials
in favor in the southern Americas. In
deed, there is so little call in our coun
try for cotton or woolen ponchos that
we have given no attention to their
manufacture, though a good export
trade could be built up in this line of
goods with our Southern neighbors.
Germany supplies these goods now, but
we could fill the bill better if we cared
to do so and set. ourselves about it. The
poncho which the South Americans
wear is about the length of an ordinary
blanket, but not as wide. Sometimes it
has two-inch stripes, running length
wise, of white and brownish colors, al
ternating. Other ponchos are of solid
color, a dark russet being a favorite.
At each end of the poncho is knotted
work and fringe. In the eyes of the
South Americans this is an important
feature of the article. The price of the
woolen ponchos runs from ?4.40 to
about $5.90, and of the cotton from 62
cents to $1.50.
A Four-Year Ilnlldar.
Objection is made by a Republican
organ to holding the Democratic na
tional convention on July 4, because it
will deprive various telegraph opera
tors and editors of a holiday. But it
should be recalled, per contra, that the
purpose of the convention is to give
Republicanism a permanent holiday.—
Albany (N. Y.) Argus.
A Very llad Eg?,
The Republican party is not what it
was in the days of Lincoln. The shell
is the same, but the contents of the
egg have undergone a change.—W. J.
Bryan.
Cement for All Ware*.
Take of isinglass two drachms, wet
it with water, and allow it to stand
until softened then add as much proof
spirit as will rather more than cover
it and dissolve with a moderate heat.
Take of gum mastic one drachm, dis
solve it In two or three drachms tt rec
tified spirit. Mix the two solutions and
stir in one drachm of gum ammonia
cum in a fine powder,and rubbed down
with a little water. Keep the cement
in a bottle. When required for use
place the bottle in warm water, and
apply the cement with a stock og small
hard brush to the china, previously
warmed. Compress the pieces 'firmly
together until cold,taking care to make
the contact perfect, and using a very
thin layer of cement. The white of
eggs, thickened with powdered quick
iime, is also used as a cement for
broken china, marble and glass.
The Loggerhead'* Name.
"The loggerhead turtle," says an old
fisherman, "gets its name from the re
semblance of its head and neck,'under
some circumstances, to the end of a
log. You take a big turtle, one weigh
ing, say. 600, or 800, or 1,000 pounds, at
sea, with Its body submerged and head
and neck out of the water, and they
look at a little distance just like tile
end.,of a log sticking up. Hence _the
ifhead.—NewYork 8i
ffgi IT IS QUITE A TRICK.
Pleklnc Up a String of Barges Require*
More Than a Little Generalship.
"It is all very well to talk about tlio
captains and pilots of the large sound
steamers having hard times," said an
old-time sailor at the custom house,
"hut for real good seamanship you
must go to the captain of a tug. Ho
has to be able to handle his boat as
if It were about six inches long, and
that is no easy matter." "Look at
that," he continued, calling the atten
tion of the assembled listeners, and
pointing to a tug slowly steaming out
into the harbor. "Just watch him and
see ttie way he has to maneuver if you
think handling a tug is an easy job."
Then all watched, and truly it did take
more than a little skill to handle the
tug. First, she steamed to the nearest
pair of barges, and taking a position
at the side, was made fast. A minute
afterward the two barges and the tug
began to move slowly toward another
barge. Then there was considerable
tacking and moving about. The people
watching, with the exception of the old
salt, could not understand what it was
all about, but that very soon became
evident, even to the uninitiated. Tim
checker board moves completed, it waa
feen that the tug with the barges were
in such a position that throwing a. tow
line from the stern of one barge to
the bow of the other was easy. Tlio
hawser was paid out until the barges
were far enough apart to be safe and
the crab-like evolutions were repeatea.
These were gone through with several
times and each time another barge cr
pair of them was added to the tow, and
scarcely an hour after the first bar$e
was picked up, the tug with six barges
in tow was steaming slowly out of the
harbor, taking an easterly direction.
"There, now," said the sailor, "what
do you think of that bit of piloting?"
and all who had watched the operation
of picking up the tow were obliged to
acknowledge that easy as it had looked
it would require more than a little sea
knowledge to do the trick without in
juring one or more of the barges and
in anything like the time.—New Lon
don Telegraph.
TEACHING PERSISTENCE.
Even Mere Babes Can Be Encouraged In
the Ilnblt of Trying Again*
Few little children, of course, volun
tarily set themselves to overcome dif
ficulties, yet more would do so if par
ents and nurses were not in the habit
of catering to that fiightiness charac
teristic of all young things, which
leads them to follow up whatever mo
mentarily attracts their attention. The
capacity to dwell for a long time on
one thought involves both intensity
of desire and innate ambition to reach
right results. I have seen this strug
gle for perfection in an incipient form
show itself in a little child but 18
months old. And how sincerely I
respected that little one. He was sit
ting in his mother's lap beside the li
brary table one evening, when in an
idle mood she took up a penny and set
it on the head of a small gilt image
three or four inches high and with a
head scarcely larger than the head of
the coin. Seeing that the baby watch
ed hei^she said playfully: "Baby can't
sparkled with a"t6ok"Tflat seamed "tc?
Bay,
"Oh, can't I?" And taking the
penny in his lingers he essayed to bal
ance it as she had done. It fell. 'Oh,"
said the baby, quietly, and picking it
up tried again, with the same result,
without the least sign of discourage
ment of impatience the little thing
tried over and over again for a score of
times, until at last he succeeded in
balancing the coin on the head of the
image. The brave baby! We gave him
a round of applause, and he looked
from one to the other of us with a curi
ous little glance of satisfaction. The
next day he could not be prevailed
upon to undertake the same feat again.
Once having demonstrated that he
could do it the act lost its interest
Here was a tiny hero in want of dif
ficulties to conquer an infant Newton,
excelling in the ability to concentrate
his whole mind upon a single object
so long as it was necessary for that
object to engross his attention.—Wom
an's Home Companion.
To Preserve Fish.
Everything that appertains to the
preservation of food products in a
pure and uncontaminated state is
of very great advantage to the world
at large. Within the past few years
there has been no little complaint
about the unwholesomeness of fish.
To be a suitable article of food, fish
should be used within a few hours
after they have been caught, as they
deteriorate and decompose with very
great rapidity, producing ptomaines of
a most dangerous character. The new
idea is the preservation of fish in a
tank of sea water, which is continually
agitated and kept in circulation by a
pump. So strong is the current made
by the pumping engine that the fish
must swim almost constantly to keep
from being drawn upward by it. Some
of these tanks hold 2,000 pounds of
fish, and the water is furnished in
such quantity that it entirely changes
five times an hour, and is, in the
course of the change, re-oxygenized
and made wholesome. Sixteen hun
dred pounds of fish were kept for eight
days in one of these tanks in perfect
condition. It is claimed that the cost
of preserving them in this way is less
than half a cent a pound per day.
1
I
if
And This a Man's Throw!
At the Meadville opera house th«
other night a spectator In the gallery
became so enthusiastic over the dan
cing of a couple of soubrettes that he
wildly drew a sliver dollar from his
pocket and attempted to throw it to
the stage. In his excitement, however,
his aim was poor, and the dollar,
which was hurled through the air with
terrific' force, struck the head of a lady
who occupied a seat in the balcony,
cutting a gash which required treat
ment at a neighboring drug store.—Oil
City Blizzard.
HI* Boos' Suggestion.
Grinder—What! asleep at your desk,
sir, and work so pressing! Meekly—
Excuse me, sir
baby
•. lots of
England con
women than menl
gal.
kept me awake
all night. Grinder—Theg^you should
have brought it Afritfc-ffim Jar the office.