The Leon reporter., November 29, 1900, Image 9

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

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Iowa

                
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Slllps Of
,Ta
IfMli
Wilps of War, that ride the wares,
I And strike with spurs of steel.
jTour coursers quiver neath the curb,
But heed the iron heel
Ton bear our hearts and hopes abroad,
1
Across the shoreless sea.
While, storm-defying, on your prows
Hands thund'ring Victory!
What though the eastern sky be black
With death for those that rove,
jVhouch darkness of the damned in
.'%i
Mm and palmetto grove, '*v^
jlfour fires flash along the shore.
Tour searchlights flood the bay,
'And. Liberty, can enter where
Your great guns blaze the way.
'When your trackless paths prove lone
ly*
And friends are far and few,
"Or in all the waste of waters J*
None but the Lard land you,
To Him who shields $jnd saves us all
Prayers rise from n&ld and man.
For you bear the nation's banner
You are the nation's van. $t5'i
Advance, ye steel-clad Ships of War,
Dispelling doubts and fears!
Tour bosoms hold a precious freight,
The fates of future years.
felgh o'er your conquering conning
'towers
The pennants fly unfurled
The Stars and Stripes above you are
The best hope of the world.
—James Eugene farmer in the
Bookman.
Defenses of Fail*.
Perhaps you have just returned from
Paris, enthusiastic over the sights
there. Here are some of the things
you didn't see: Seven great forts about
the city, eight miles away from its
walls. Nineteen smaller forts, four
miles out, each containing three acres
and -mounting two 96-ton guns. Great
Macks of lUO-pound melinite shells,
ready for these guns to hurl. Twen
ty-one miles of continuous fortifica
tions. about the town—earthwork walls
UQ feet thick at the base and fronted
by 46-foot moats. Three hundred em
placements along this giant wall for
as many 95-ton cannon, kept free from
rust in the Champs de Mars arsenal,
and ready to be swung Into place at
,*ny time. So clwerly are the forts
masked by lon/ghJjj^s of green turf,
*ad the walls jy trees afeA bushes, that
one can pa% in and out of PSsffir^a
dosen timjfc and see scarcely a track*
"Of ltsjQnous fortifications. The range
hiEfJte 95-ton guns is over ten miles—
some say fourteen. Beneath their, at
present, untenanted beds on the ram
part are stone casemates tor ammuni
tion. with small transfer wagons.
These casemates open upon the inner
base of the wall, and a set of rails,
standard gauge, runs from the door
iway 'to the top of the fortification.
Tou must look for these rails in the
grass, the general staff Is so modest.
Suppose war oomes and the 300 guns
must be mounted. Well, the staff has
thought of that The rails—standard
'gauge—that lie ready for the ammuni
tion wagons can be linked with the
tramway system of Paris. To work
these guns, were every man of the gar
rison drafted away, Paris has 50,000
trained artillerymen among her re
servists. She could man every gun
twice over, garrison all her forts with
Infantry reservists, and put a dozen
cavalry regiments into the field for
scouting purposes. Every reservist,
whether Parisian born or provincial
immigrant, has a book containing his
number, particulars of his service, and
a memorandum of the barrack to
which he must repair upon the calling
of the reserves. In case of war lines
carefully maintained would be switch
ed into use, and the tramway system
would be In communication with the
enormous goods depots of the Paris
termini. Not rolling stock only, but
horseflesh would be requisitioned. Ev
ery horse over four years old is regis
tered, together with his type, owner,
and probable utility. The general staff
oould choose from some 120,000 horses.
The military stores of Paris are
,boundless. In a day she could clothe
and arm 450,000 fighting men, with
i70.000.000 rounds of melinite car
tridges. At the army bakeries she
reserves large stores of grain. In case
of siege the general staff haB a censor
ship at prices ready in the Paris muni
cipality, which at all times fixes the
pries of bread and would, do so of other
staples. Paris has an invisible defense
—the submarine boats that patrol the
'8elne from Asnieres and Ivry.—Boston
Post
of War.
The dog seems oestined to play an
Important part in future warfare. The
jQerman army is ntfw provided with
large number of four-footed soldier's.
iTtte greatest pains are taken to train
'Che animal, and its usefulness was
iQOlte established at last year's man
euvers near Coblenz. It is employed
|la three ways/ Its intelligence and
AEpep scent are utilized for discovering
,Wounded men. The St. Bernard would
naturally be chosen for Samaritan
duties of this kind but the objeet is
to choose smaller dogs, which are less
likely to be shot During the man
soldiers were ordered to
Bunded in different parts of a
live hundred ambulance or
erliea Were instructed to find them.
•00.000, more than one-half the total
value of all U. S. property in Boston,
including the forts in the harbor. This
(Was exclusive of the machinery and
the buildings since erected. The naval
valuation of the yard before any of
rthe present improvements started was
nore than $12,000,000, the second hlgh
mt of any yard. The Argus was the
'iitt Chip fitted up at the yard the
JWfc work In this line was the rspalr-
Ihg of the famous Chesapeake, which
was soon after captured on Lawrence's
death. The first ship built was the
sloop-of-war Frolic, which was cap
tured in 1814 by the British, after a
successful though brief career..
The next was the'74-gun battle shipj
Independence, launched in 1814, and
sUl in service as the receiving ship at
Mare Island, California. The Cumber
lend, the Merrlmac, the Hartford, the
Minnesota, were among the more fa
mous of the old wooden ships built at
the yard, while the double turreted
monitor Monad nock, rebuilt and now
at Manila, and the single turreted
monitors Nahant, Nantucket and Can
onicus were, iron ships built there. The
last ship launched at the yard was the
Vandalia, in 1873. The commandants
of the yard have .all been famous men,
and included Hull, Balnbridge.Downee
Parket, Parrott, Strlngham, Hudson,
Rodgers. Stedman, Spice, Kimberly,
Fyffe. TTow'fot fin nrps°Tit com
mandant, William T. Sampson. In all
33 commandants have commanded at
the yard. „1
Brooke for a Army.
It is urged in the annual report of
Major General John R. Brooke, com
manding the department of the east,
at New York, which was made public
at the war department recently, that a
pressing necessity exists for the reor
ganization of the army on modern
lines. He says:
"For many years past the general
officers of the army have shown the
necessity for an increase which will
place the army on an efficient basis
and enable it to perform its duties
with credit to itself and to the satis
faction of the nation. The" events since
the commencement of the SpaniBh
war have demonstrated beyond doubt
the necessity for a reorganization
which will enable this nation to main
tain the position in which it now finds
itself placed, so that, in case of war,
the army may form the bulwark be^
hind which the volunteer army may be
created, as has always been done in
our country, by organizing the peo
ple."
A Great Navy Yard.
The oldest structure in Charlestown
navy yard is the long white brick
building at the main entrance, the lo
cation of many offices and the naval
museum and library. The next oldest
is the present commandant's resi
dence. The land and buildings at the
yard were assessed a few years ago
by the Boston assessors at nearly $7,
Twelve escaped their search, but thes
were all scented out by four dogs,
which, on a repetition of the experi
ment, saved eighteen who woalj
otherwise have had no help. The dogi
are provided with a little box full o|
refreshri^nts and a packet of band
ages. TheJX"® trained to wait till
the wounded masp has used these, and
if he is too 111 tNdo so to run back
and fetch an ambulance officer. Tha
other senrices for
trained are as sentinels and scouts,
and, more important still, as ammuni
tion-carriers between the wagons, and
the firing line. It appears that the
German troops sent out to China took
with them a number of these faithfu.
and well-trained recruits.—London
News.
The Automobile In War.
A recent application to our war de
partment for exper.ments with mili
tary automobiles was answered wLh
a prompt refusal on the ground tha.
they appear to be the conclusion
abroad, where France and Germany
are experimenting with them. The
question has been in the hands o£ a
technical commission .j France since
October, 1897, and eight automobi.es
were tested in Germany during the
grand maneuvers of 1899 and the Ger
man emperor has offered a prize of
$20,000 for the best military automo
bile. In Italy after trial, a number of
automobiles have been assigned to the
army for the transportation of bag
gage. Austria uses the Danier. Auto
mobiles are used for army transporta
tion, carrying a load of 11,000 pounds
on a slope of 1 in 10 at the rate of
from three to seven miles an hour.
Belgium is having one of its army
wagons for the transportation of sup
plies transformed into an automobi.e.
The new wagon weighs 4,400 pound3
and its maxium speech's ten miles an
hour.
Sketch of Gen. SleklM.
General Daniel E. Sickles, most
prominent of the union generals at the
recent encampment in Chicago, is 73
years old. He was educated at the
University of New York, located In his
native city, became a printer, a lawyer,
a member of the state legislature and
a congressman, secretary of the United
States legation at London, and a leader
in the councils of Tammany Hall. That
was his career before the war. When
Sumter was fired on he raised the
Sickles brigade, and after taking part
in several battles, sp.w severe service
before Richmond. After Antletam he
was made commander of the Third
army corps. At Gettysburg he lost a
leg, but remained in active service un
til 1865, when he was sent on a special
mission to South America. The fol
lowing year he was made a colonel in
the regular army, from which he re
tired in 1869 with the rank of major
general. He has since served as Unit
ed States minister to Spain, and has
been prominent as a railroad mam.
gei
'TV!
Admiral Keep* Systematic Records.
Admiral oradforu, who is at present
chief of the Bureau of Equipment and
Supplies in 'he navy department, ia
known as a man of system, in his
private office he has hanging on the
wall a bulletin showing the exact
amount of coal available for purchase
by the navy at the different ports
throughout the world.
A woman, in Easton, Pa.,
cently fined (50.25 for uttering seventy
oaths, or 67 cents for each th.
"SQUATTY" ROYALTY.
CZAR IS FIVE FEET TWO INCHES
IN HEIGHT.
Portucal'a K'n^ Is Fat—New Kins or
Italy Only Five Feet Throe Inches
ThII
1
Queen Victoria tlie Shortest
Beljalas Monarch.
Physically inany of the sovereigns
Europe would come under the gan
sral classification of "squatty." They
.re not, as the story books claim their
mcestors were, "of proud and com
manding presence," nor do they look
everjr inch a king," as some dead
aonarchs have. On the contrary, they
.re short of stature, and their gener
U8 girths give the impression that
hey linger rather longer at the festal
oard than at the exs.
clsas waicli make
Jen
wise. The new king of Italy is 5
eet 3 inches tall, but still he is not
he shortest sovereign. The czar of
ill the Russlas is only 5 feet 2 inehes,
md he has to tiptoe a little to mea3
ire that. The prince of Wales is 6
eet 4 inches, and sarry he is that he
topped growing so soon. Pictures of
lim give the impression that he is a
nuch taller man, but that is because
is royal highness knows how to pose
iefore a camera. In a group he selects
positloh in the rear line, where ho
:an stand on a box, or else he steps ti
ne end of the front line and a little
advance of the others. Perspective
loes the rest. Perhaps the princo
*ould not care so much about his lack
WINTER...
sion of storms and freezing breather.
COME HOME
TO DIE
Ever since the close of the famous
Beecher-Tllton case In the New York
courts Theodore Tilton has resided
abroad, a practical hermit among hi3
fellow men. He has now returned to
New York, bent witih age, his step
unsteady, his voice broken, and will
remain there until death comes, which
will not be long. The ordeal through
which he pased in 1873 ruined his life.
Few who recall blm only as a princi
pal in the great scandal are able to
realize that he had made a great name
for himself before that time. As a
speaker and writer his public life cov
ered the period of anti-slavery agita
tion, the civil war and the reconstruc
tion period. Born in New York city
October 2, 1835, he graduated from
New York college in 1856, the year of
Fremont's nomination for the presi
dency by the anti-slaivery party.
The anti-slavery movement shaped
•his whole public career, for he allied
himself from the first with the "aboli
tionists," becoming the intimate of
Garrison, Phillips, Sumner, Greeley,
Ben Wade. Fred Douglass, Lucretia
Mott, Whittler and others of that
eventful time, most of whom have
long since passed away. He was one
of the escort of John Brown's body,
"From the highest home to the lowest
in America this idea of caste has en
tered, destroying our old high Ideals
and making us pretentious and vul
gar,*' writes "An American Mother,"
of "How We Can Lead a Simple Life,"
in the October Ladies' Home Journal.
"Tha idle rich man covets high social
place with a hunger that is both ridic
ulous and tragic. If he has money
enough he buys a titled husband for
his daughter. He tries to establish a
precedence for himself over his neigh
bors by claims of high descent Nor is
this appreciation of rank confined to
the leisured class in the country. It
Tranaporta to
ray
of height if he diu persist ta be
coming portly. He hs 257 pounds,
in spite of all precautio. and cures"
he can take. He wears a. 18% collar,
has a chest measurement c." 15 inch?*,
a 34-inch length of arm, a 1st of 43
or 44 Inches, and a trousers Ug of 30
inches. King Oscar of Swed»i an*
Norway is the tallest monarch of
Europe, being a little over 6 feet Whsa
the crown prince of Greece ascends the
throne he will take the palm from
King Oscar, for he is slightly taller.
Prince Charles of Denmark is only a
fraction of an Inch shorter than King
Oscar, and is the tallest male member
of the English royal family. But the
fat king's prize belongs to the king of
Portugal, who is only 5 feet 6 inches
tall, and weighs 303 pounds. Queen
Victoria is the shortest monarch la
the world, being only 4 feet 11 inches
tall. She wmghs 1G8 pounds. Here are
measurements of some of the royal
women of Europe:
Eating at a Nation's Heart.
Fart Charge*
The territorial government of the
Hawaiian islands has decided that
hereafter «all United States transports
must pay all port charges required of
merchant vessels, except wharf fees,
which are specifically excepted by the
territorial act Heretofore, and espe
cially under the old Hawaiian govern
ment, these fees were remitted in the
case of transports as a compliment to
the United States. But It has been
decided now that as transports have
to pay port ehargss in all other .Amer
ican ports there la no reason why they
Height, Bust, Waist,
in. in. in.
Queen Victoria 59
44
Queen Wllhelmina of
Holland 65VS
42
Queen Marie Henrietta
of Belgium
Portugal 63 85
Queen Margherita of
Italy..'. 65
PREDICT COLD ^c^ZSaya
Weather prophets all agree that the
oming winter will be of unusual
severity, though few of them will say
.ust how cold it is going to be. An
drew Jackson Devoe, the New Jer
ey expert who foretold the Galveston
torm a year ago, however, pins him
elf down to dates and figures. Mr.
Jevoe is famous, not only for his re
markably successful predictions, but
ilso because of bis methods, which are
peculiar to himself. His deductions
ire made entirely from astronomical
data, and he claims that he can anti
cipate the formation of a storm or any
condition of the atmosphere, while by
the method which the government em
ploys one has to wait until such a con
lition has already formed before
making any prediction about it Mr.
Devoe, says the Cleveland Plain Deal
er, predicted a very cold fall and a
evere and early winter. The coldest
weather might be expected, he said,
in December, which would also be
very stormy. By cold weather, J!-.-.
Devoe said, he meant what is popu
larly known as zero weather, and he
promised it with good sleighing. Win
ter, according to Mr. Devoe, will start
in to do business about Nov. 8, when
we will have a cold wave which will
make last winter's weather seem very
tame. From that time till the end
tlVi
64
3t XI
Queen Sophia of
Sweden 64
Queen Amelia of
40 is
Queen Nathalie of
Servia 65
JS 23
Queen Regsiit of Spaln.65V&
31
Si
Empress Alls of Rus
sia 62 V4 32
Frigid Season
Will be Severe.
In December there will be heavy
storms the 5th and 8th, and sleighrld
lng during the middle of the month,
when zero weather will prevail. Christ
mas will see a slight change, but zero
weather will begin in January with
snowstorms and a taste of the weather
of years ago.
"I make these predictions," said Mr.
Devoe, "from astronomical conditions.
I receive a chart of these every day
from one of the best astronomers In
the United States. There is absolute
ly no guesswork about It I make my
forecast right on these conditions. For
instance, when I wrote over a year
ago that a great storm would occur
in the gulf in September the astro
nomical conditions were such that
I
ar­
rived at that conclusion. The chief
thing on which I base my forecast is
the position of the sun'B eclipse.
Wherever the line of totality cro.-ses
the earth's surface it will be fol'owed
by very severe storms and It will be
the great storm battle ground for six
months. This storm belt Is going to
travel north and there will be eight
great storms in progress In different
parts of the earth at the same time.
There will be a storm belt along the
Atlantic coast the greater part of the
winter. This means a stormy winter,
and as this belt will be a longitudinal
one the winter will be more seve.e
thgjj, jyjx vtp Ja'jifKM.1^,ea.v
at least"
Theodora Tilton
"Relurn-t lo Hi*
ffatixfe Land to
End Hi* Hays.
which was secretly carled by steamer
from Philadelphia to New York. John
Brown's wife tarried at his home in
Brooklyn, when her sad Journey to
take a last farewell of her husband
at Harper's Ferry was interrupted by
a message from the condemned man
telling her not to come. He was at
Fort Sumter when the American flag
was reholsted there at the end of the
war in 1865.
But during all his public career Mr.
Tilton was devoting himself to belles
lettres. With equal grace he wrote
prose and poetry. His first editorial
work was on the New York Observer.
From 1856 to 1871 he was an editor
of the Independent, being editor-in
chief during the latter part of the pe
riod. For six months In 1871 he edit
ed the Brooklyn Union, succeeding
Gen. Stewart L. Woodford in .that po
sition. Then he established the Gold
en Age, an independent political and
literary weekly, but retired at the end
of two years.
Afterward he traveled and lectured
on The Problem of Life and other sub
jects, visiting 40 states and covering
360,000 miles—as far as the moon and
half way back again—as a lyceum at
traction.
is universal. No candidats for office
finds It necessary now to pose as a self
made man or to put his respectable an
cestors out of sight The self-made
man is no longer the popular hero. On
the contrary, noble ancestors ars In
such demand that if' we do not have
them we must invent them as we do
air-brakes or motors, or anything else
necessary to our well-being and com
fort. The rich American finds it as
easy to have a coat-of-arms and a ped
igree as to have a dress-coat He sel
dom goes to Burke or the Herald's Col
lege for these thlncs. He plants and
grows his own family tree as he doer
his maple at the front door." i'K
should not pay them here, especially
as the territorial government is in
need of revenue.—Charles L. Rhodes
In Chicago Record.
Ratal's Qid Post Carda.
The Natal government has issued
set of post cards for use only in the
colony. The set Includes views of
8pion A~op, Ladysmlth Town Hall, a
4.7 In. naval gun, and the Tugela wa
terfalls.
When society throws- people
Itoard they are not la the swim.
svLr
CHEATED THE GIBBET,
FOUR LIVES JACK BRADFORD
HAS UNDER ITS SHADOW,
tla* Been Sent to a BTadhotne—An
lgnoiant Conn try Boy, He Waa Illrud
ay His Brother and a Womttu to ComW
mlt Oue off the lUackeet of Deed*.
(Special Letter.
Four times within the shadow of the
gallows in a year, Jack Bradford, per
petrator of one of the most fiendish
crimes ever recorded in Missouri, has
been snatched from the jaws of death
each time, only to be at last put in
the asylum for the insane at Ful
ton, a raving maniac. The scaffold
upon which he was to expiate his
bloody deed still stands, a gruesome
reminder of what might have been.
Jack Bradford, strange to say, had
no malice against the man he killed.
He didn't even have the excuse of
revenuge. He took a human life for
an Insignificant recompense—$25 in
cash, a pony and a bottle of whisky,
1
none of which he was ever given time
to enjoy. He was a hired assassin,
and his own brother was his em
ployer. I
Will Bradford, aged 35 years, was
employed as a farm hand by L. F.
Holt, 65 years old, who lived in the
lower Braggadocio neighborhood, 15
miles from Caruthersville, Mo. Ha
was honest and respected and quite
7?ell-to-do. His second wife, Mattie, I
was 31 years. She was rather good
looking. Jack Bradford worked in the
neighborhood. He was a simple, igno
rant country boy, 21 years old had
never gone to school and knew noth
ing of a higher life. But for the In
fluence of others, Jack might have
died of old age, just a plain. Innocent
farm hand.
Complications arose. Holt waB old
and by no means handsome. Will
Bradford was young and fairly good
looking. In the course of time there
arose between himself and Holt's wife
a feeling of mutual affection. They
found out that continued companion
ship was necessary for their happi
ness. But a seemingly impassible
barrier presented itself between them
selves and bliss in the person of old
man Holt
After considering the matter for
several days the lovers decided that
the old man should be assisted in lay
ing down the worries and vexations
of this changeful life. To Jack Brad-
TACK BRADFORD.
\ft«J U4s brother and Matti«~ttIoIt ap
pealed fbn. relief from _tbslr dfrtmmi
With much diplomacy it was suggested
that he "remove" the old man. With
the realization of the act he was asked
to commit he was horror-struck. Gen
tle persuasion followed. No on*
would know, and besides he would b«
given all of
$25
4#p.
in cash when the crop
was harvested, a Texas pony and a
bottle of good whisky. This was
enough. He agreed to commit the
deed.
On the Friday following, May 5, 18S9,
Jack decided to do the deed and have
it over with. Old man Holt had gone
up to the neighboring village, Brag
gadocio, horseback. There was a strip
of woods on the road between the
village and Holt's home. Jack told
his employer that he was too 6ick to
work that afternoon, and took his
gun and went Into the woods. He
went to a lonely place along the roid
and seated himself on a log, as calm
as if he were on a squirrel hunt
It was a bright, cheerful May day.
The old man came Into view. Jack
remained quiet till he had passed. Then
he quietly took aim and pulled the
trigger. Holt toppled from the horse.
He had been hit in the back and was
already in the throes of death, yet
The riderless horse went home. In- The angel flew straight east until
vestigation showed'the bloodstains on she found the sun, whose messenger
the saddle. A search was instituted she was, and told her story.
and Holt's body was found. Suspicion "Great king," she ended. "They are
rested on the two Bradfords and Mat- very
tie Holt, and was strengthened by the would some new gift might be granted
fact that Jack's shoes fitted the pecu- to cheer them."
liar tracks in the mud about the body.
The three suspects were taken into
custody and separated. Jack talked
freely and made several full confes
sions. The three were arrlgned foi
murder.
Mattie Holt accepted a compromise,
pleaded guilty and was given two
years in the penitentiary. Will Brad
ford compromised, pleaded guilty tfbd
is serving a 20-year sentence. Jack
stood trial. It took the jury but a,
short time to decide that he was
guilty, sane and accountable for his
actions. Judge Riley passed sentence
and set the day of execution for Jan.
15, 1900. The higher court sustained
the verdict of the lower court and de
nounced the murder as one of the
most cold-blooded crimes In the his
tory of the state. The date of the
hanging was then set for June 15 of
the present year.
It seemed that the man's last hope
was gone. The fatal day drew near
and the gallows was erected. The rope
was secured and the knot tied. Brad
ford was put under the death watcY
On Thursday before the hanging «3ov
rrnor Stephens listened to the appeals
rt the friends of the defending at
torney and postponed the execution
•mtll Aug. 14. Then another respite
nf 30 days was granted. Before this
Mme was up Jack Bradford had been
"djudged insane by a commission, and
'he* gallows now stands gaunt and
Trim where it waa erected, cheated
is vi
Atwajri Be Kind.
Always be kind to the dogs and the
cats
And the meanest sort of big gray
rats
Always have pity on the lame and the
blind.
And to those be especially kind.
Never throw stones at the dogs in the
street,
Or pull the poor pussy cat by the tail
or the feet.
These poor creatures can never harm
you,
So why should we plague them as
some people do?
Always be generous to the ones that
roam,
for perhaps they are hungry and hive
no home.
A kind word to a wanderer will do no
harm,
And to the helpless and homeless it
works as a charm.
Never be rude, but always be kind,
To the lame, the poor, the sick and
the blind
Always regard them with kindness
and love,
As God does you from heaven above.
—Harriet Barth.
Crocrmeg and 6nnw Drop*.
A very long time ago snowdrops an1
crocuses grew only in one beautiful
garden and all the crocuses and all
the snowdrops in all the world are
sprung from those first ancestors.
In the earliest days, instead of
drooping their heads, the snowdrops
igrew straight up. Indeed, they were
pert little flowers, and excessively
prouQ of the delicate green markings
that relieved their whiteness.
Crocuses, too, in those days were
not as now. They were smaller and
pure white, without a touch of color.
Even the little stamens and pistils
were all white.
One morning, in the wonderful gar
den, where would be many, many
flowers later in the year, crocuses and
snowdrops were blooming together.
"You poor things!" said a tall little
snowdrop, swaying back and forth on
'her slender stem above the crocuses.
'"How cold you look! It is you should
be named for the snow instead of I. It
really makes me shiver to look at you,
you are so white! Now I, you see,
have beautiful green embroidery on
my frock, green as the grass and trees
will be by and by. Everyone who see
me cries: "Oh, spring is coming!
Here is a snowdrop!' But you—I
don't wonder they hardly look at
you."
"I'm sure al-l have green things
growing up around tre*." ventured one
newly opered crocus, bender thar
rest
"Pool! Those are only leaves. Ev
ery one has leaves,' 6aid the snow
drop, tossing her head.
"Grass blades are leaves, too," mur
taured the crocuses. Yet they could
not forget the words of the snowdrop,
and they became very sorrowful, for
they wanted every one to love them.
[A.nd next morning, when the angel
of the flowers came, there was a fro
zen tear in each little pale cup. It was
very cold that morning, but the cro
cuses did not mind the cold.
"Why do you weep, children?" ask
ed the flower angel.
"Because snowdrop has been telling
•us we don't belong to spring, but are
only a bit of winter that's left over,
bnd people will be glad when we are
gone."
"Snowdrop is very vain of her green
markings," said the angel. "But be
patient, children, and we shall see.''
It was still ,dark, for it was very
early. Just a faint glow showed In the
east, where the morning stars shone
brightly, and below the star, as if
swung from it like a pale, golden cen
per, hung the slender cresent of the
old moon. High up Arcturus flashed,
and northward, clear among the les
fcer constellation, gleamed the dipper,
Jack walked up to where he lay, and 'while still further north, following
deliberately blew off the top of his 'the "pointers," the eye came to the
head. 'great white star that never sets.
6ad—the
poor white crocuses. I
"And because they are sad," asked
the king, "do they droop and fade,
refusing to live the life I have or
dained?"
"They lift their heads quite brave
ly," said the angel* "and await your
coming. Only the frozen tear lies at
the heart of each."
"It is well," said the king. "Go
southward now, for the peach trees
bloom and the magnolia begins to
bud. They need your care.''
The angel bowed and went
Then sunrise came to the great gar
den. In the east the sky grew bright
er. Now it was soft rose, blending te
gold toward the horizon. In the midst
of the rose glow still hung the moon
and planet, tinged with faintest gold
en green. Southward violet clouds
were turning gold and saffron at their
edges.
A* the color grew in the Bky what
was happening to the sad little, cro
cuses? They were surely growing tall
er %nd more exquisite in shape, and—
was it a reflection from the violet
clouds that tinted some of them? But
it stayed when the clouds burst into
flame.
Then the sunbeams came, and, aa
they touched each cup-shaped flower,
they dropped jewels of gold within.
Even those that had stayed white re
ceived the jewels, an those that had
:aught the tinge of violet deepened -,
while one whole family, where the
sunbeams came last and stayed the
longest, turned to gold all over.
9
A4I VVQil
4 Show they made—the (old
and the violet, and the white streakei
with violet, and the pure white with
gold at the heart of them! And hovr
they shouted and sang!
The sunbeams, the sunbeams, ara
painting us! Oh, shall we be alwaya
t."-is?"
"Yes," whispered the sunbeams, "It
is because you were humble and obe
dient."
When the pert snowdrop heard that
she hung her head ashamed to look
the great sun-father in the face. And
as she gazed at the glowing crocu3es,
she grew very meek and said: "I wad
wrong and, oh, you are more beauti
ful than I can ever hope to be."
Nay, not so!" cried the generont
crocuses. "Never before were yo'j
half so lovely as now, with
swret bended head."
your
And the little sunbeams caressel
the snowdrop gently, bidding her b»
of good cheer, for the kind run-fathei'
loved tc forgive his children. Bu»
«nowdrop never raised her pretty
head. All the other snowdrops hunj
their heads, too for had they no*
applauded their sister?
An, by the by, as the years went on
people grew to love the snowdrops fot
their meek and lowly spirit, as mucl)
as the crocuses for their gay colors
and always the two flower tribes dwell
close together, in most perfect haW
mony—From the Christian Register.
Cactus Sealed In Glais. is
One of the commonest of cactuses ia
gardens is the Echiaopsis multiplex, a
small sub-globular species, with five
or six sharp ribs, and sparsely sprin
kled with a few clusters of long black
spines on the sharp edges of the ribs.
It sends up, occasionally, a large white
tubular flower, which, like so many of
the family, opens at night and soon
withers away. In Germany a druggist,
Ludwig Rust, placed a specimen unden
a sealed glass case seven years ago.
and it is said to be yet in a "thriving
condition," to the surprise of the scien
tific men of Berlin, who are puzzled to
know where it obtains its carbonic
acid. Meehan's Monthly says that
many suggestions are advanced as to
the source of this element So far aa
the published account goes, however
there is no indication that the sped*
men was weighed before it was en.
cased, or weighed after its seven years
of entombment—no evidence, it mar
be said, that any carbonic acid waa
absorbed. It is just as likely to be a
case of dormancy. It is now well un
derstood that in the absence of excit
ing causes, dormancy in vegetation
may be retained indefinitely,
Girls Must Chew Bides,
a Smith sound
ojiiy- «w£_hS-aBParentli
must be able to do the cooking^
and to sew,_ and to chew hides. Thlr
la'St is a sil ,e qua non. Furs are the
only possible dress, and of these thej
must have an abundance, else the
will perish with cold. When the sua
is above the horizon, the womea
spread the skins of seal and reindeer
and bear, pegging them out hide upi,
and allow them to dry thoroughly.
Once dry, they are, of course, as stifl
as boards, and before they can be
made into garments the fibers must ba
broken. Accordingly, the women bend
the hide double, making a crease
through its length. Beginning, then,
at one end, they chew steadily to the
other.
An Experiment in Farlor Magle.
Soak a piece of thread in strong salt
water, dry it, and repeat two or three
times. When thoroughly dry tie ona
end to a chandelier and on the other,
or lower end, tie a ring or some small
but not too heavy article. It is now
ready for the experiment. Set fire to
the thread, and behold, the ring does
not fall to the floor nor does the thread
oreak. The explanation is: Tha
thread has in reality been burned, but
the salt with which the thread wa^
saturated forms a solid column, an|
that supports the ring. Varied ex
periments. can be made, using several
threads for one article, and, in fact,
many others which may suggest them
selves to the readers. jr
Musical Dog« of Salt Lake City.
There is a church bell on the east
side, says the Salt Lake City Tribune
that seems to have a peculiar attrac
tion for the dogs In the vicinity. Each
Sabbath morning, as soon as the bell
begins its noise, many of the canines
in the neighborhood prick up their
ears and start in single file for tha
church. Arriving there they arrayi
themselves in front and start in oa
a yowling obligato. This beautiful
vocal effort is persevered In as long
as the' bell keeps going and when it
stops the dogs feel that their duty
has been done, and, dropping their
ears and voices, start home
1
Making Prints of
The following is an easy method of
making permanent prints of leaves.
Rub olive oil with the finger evenly
over a sheet of paper, hold the papei
over a lamp until it is black with soot
place the leaf on it under side down,
lay upon it a paper and press down
hard (especially over the thin parta
the leaf, fend close up to midrib)
then plfce. the leaf on the paper- that
is ta receive the print, and press every
part
Willie's Explana'ton."
"What are the holes for?'' asked Jit-
tie Edna, looking at the porous plaa
ter that her mother was preparing
put on Wllle'a: badfc«'-|M|
"It's fiihily
L"
I*
yipu dob"|iknnw
sis,"vinterposeJ Willla. "They're
let the pain ojA of course."
What a
|al]n into«
says goes—wh«a 'sfcip
iww.« ^-9