The silver messenger., February 09, 1909, Image 2

About The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912

Image provided by: Idaho State Historical Society

                
SILVER MESSENGER.
M. M SWEET, PnblUh«r.
CHALLIS,
IDAHO
Count Zeppelin probably thinks that
the aeroplane 1 b all right as a toy.
In 1,000 years, says Nansen, the end
Of the world will come. Which end,
explorer?
Male servants In the Argentine cap
ital get 66 cents to $2.20 gold a day
and female help 40 cents to $1.10.
Count Boni de Casteilane hus not
been saying much recently, but we feel
safe in assuring the public that he Is
not sawing wood.
If, as a scientist claims, trees think,
it would be Interesting to know their
opinion of the man who deliberately
starts a forest Are.
Missouri man has his life saved by
• package of cigarettes in his Inside
pocket. Don't cheer—a brier pipe
would have been Just as effective.
Cato learned Greek at the age of 80
years, owing to the fact that he was
not living In a country where every
fool was permitted to carry a gun.
William Howard Taft will be the
only president with a middle
since Chester A. Arthur. All but seven
of our 26 presidents have been blessed
with but a single baptismal name.
Counterfeit $& bills are In circula
tion. The prudent man will scrutinize
his $5 bills before he takes them In,
and the truly honest man will look
carefully at his before he pays them
out.
name
In the mountain regions of Cuba
there are many ridges and valleys of
extremely fertile land, nearly all un
touched, and existing practically
they did before the time of the Span
iards.
as
A Chicago judge has decided that a
baby carriage must have lighted lamps
If It Is pushed on public ways aftei
dark. This will reduce the terrible
mortality caused by overspeeding baby
carriages.
Prof.
Zueblln recommends inter
marriage of the races. It is a cold day
when the professor does not bring
forth a new Idea and the temperature
has been noticeably high through this
present fall.
Two-eent postage stamps of a new
design have Just been issued, and later
those of higher denominations will ap
pear.
adorned with a portrait of Washington
in profile from the Houdon statue.
The two-eent stamp will be
Zinc mining In Mexico has become
important only In the last three years.
The most Important xinc deposits are
near Monterey. At Calera there Is a
large amount of mixed suphlde ore,
while the Tiro General l San Lula
Potoal is also producing zinc ore.
As a part of the reception to the
American battleship fleet, Japan ar
ranged that each American
should be met and escorted to Its sta
tion by a Japanese vessel of similar
rank and power. Could anything bo
neater, as a cordial hand-shake with
the mailed flat?
vessel
Following the example of the Dan
ish government, the National Red
Cross association of America will Is
sue special stamps this year for use
on Christmas mall. The stamps will
not serve as postage, but will carry
only holiday greetings. The revenue
will go to the Red Cross fund for fight
ing tuberculosis.
Word came recently from Stefanson,
the arctic explorer, that he came near
having to spend winter at Point Bar
row for want of matches. The natives
would not go farther into the wilder
ness with only flints and steels. He
finally secured matches from whaling
vessels and pushed on. It is an inter
esting comment on the material prog
ress of the world that uncivilized peo
ple have com* to regard comparative
ly modern Inventions as Indispensable.
The cruisers and gunboats of the
navy keep up their target practice, as
well as the big battleships. And the
official reports forwarded from the
commander of our naval forces In
Philippine waters show excellent re
sults. The figures will not be made
known until the reports reach Wash
ington, but It is stated In connection
therewith that all records have been
broken. The Yankee tar continues to
be a sharpshooter, no matter what
craft he sails In.
The ancient Greeks had recom
mended the use of sterilized water.
Rufus of Ephesus in the first century
of this era taught that "all water from
rivers and ponds Is bad, except that
from the Nile,
which flow through unhealthy soil,
stagnant water, and that which flows
near public bathing places Is harm
ful. The best water Is that which has
been boiled In baked earthenware ves
sels, cooled and then heated a second
time before drinking."
Water from rivers
The house of Verona which the
guides In that city have pointed out to
tourists as the home of Juliet's par
ents and the place where Romeo wooed
ber was burned last month. Although
the house was marked with a tablet
eettlng forth Its relation to the famous
story which Shakespeare has Immor
talized, scholars have long doubted
the Veronese legend. About all that
could be said of It, says the Youth's
Companion, Is that the building be
longed to the right period. Now travel
ers will have to be content with look
ing at the renuted crave of JultsC
Sensitive She Suffers
Woman
' Necessary Evils
Like a Stoic
By LADY VIOLET GREVILLE.
HE sensitiveness of woman takes a different form from that of
man.
T
Woman's whole character is formed by the endurance of
necessary evils. The mother sets asicle her happiness for her
children; it is she who wheedles the paterfamilias out of the
necessary money for boots and socks, hats and ribbons, who
dresses the girls at the cost of her own toilet, and saves up
her pin money to increase the boy's allowance. If she is sen
sitive, she conceals the fact, imposes violence on her nerves,
and bears as best she can the noise and uproar that must
never
disturb fattier.
I have known brave women, worried and tortured by anxieties or ill
health, who have composed their faces to a smile, forced their parched
throats to a laugh and their voices to gay conversation, lest the
his return, should know what they suffered, and the fact depress or pain
him. He has never known, and has gone to his grave satisfied that his
wife was the happiest woman in the world. Was that woman, then, not
sensitive? Yes, but of the highest quality of sensitiveness, that which con
quers its own weakness. The sensitiveness of woman displays itself in
trifles—trifles which to the masculine mind, accustomed to more robust
and brutal doings, seem too trivial for a thought,
who have been real lovers, the men who have been great in the union of
strength with tenderness, recognize this. The perfect lover remembers
trifles even when the quality of his love lias waned. The flower, the little
present, the fond embrace, the loving letter, how the woman treasures
them, how the passion or ill nature of a moment are forgotten and swept
away in the remembrance of the many little attentions or kindnesses of the
past!
man, on
Yet the poets, the men
For the last 50 years I have heard the
same talk about the decadence of English
in American colleges. It crops up in every
generation. Yet I feel sure that, on the
whole, the standard of the English spoken
in the United States is improving. This
is due largely to the increase in the num
bers of our educated class. The improve
ment is steady, though slow.
There is one thing to be remembered
about the English language, namely, that
its spelling is absolutely arbitrary—it does
not depend upon reason, as does the spell
ing, of say, Italian and Spanish. An Italian
or Spanish boy who cannot spell correctly is an idiot. But it is otherwise
with the English-speaking boys. Excellence in spelling depends largely
on knack, like excellence in anything else.
There have been a number of eminent men of letters who throughout
their lives never learned to spell correctly—Lord Byron, for example.
Aside from the question of spelling, the excellence of a man's preparation
in English depends not so much on his immediate schooling as upon hia
ancestors. Training at home is what really counts.
That is where the English have the advantage over us. There have
been cultured families in England for many centuries.
It is exceedingly hard for the teachers at a preparatory school to over
come the influence of home training, when this training has had a bad
effect on a boy. For instance, take the case of a boy
who hears continually at home the phrase "I done it."
That boy will be obliged to make a conscious effort
every time he contributes "I did" for "I done." And
he will frequently slip back into the old way in mo
ments of «xcitement.
One curious phase of the situation in this coun
try is the fact that boys, whose parents are immi
grants, and who come to this country when very young,
have a better chance of learning good English than
the native boys brought up in homes where bad Eng
lish is spoken. This is due to the fact that such im
migrant boys have no bad English to unlearn. As
v>on as they arrive here they at-once go to school
and are carefully taught good English—hence they
should grow up speaking that.
Teaching
English
Is a
Puzzle
By FROr. TH0S. LOUNSBUBY,
Yds University.
£
1
No incident in my scientific career ia
more wide-known than the part I took
many years ago in certain psychic re
searches.
Years have passed since I published an
account of experiments tending to show
that outside our scientific knowledge there
exists a force exercised by intelligence, dif
fering from the ordinary intelligence com
mon to mortals.
To stop short in any research that bida
fair to widen the gntes of knowledge, to re
coil from fear of difficulty or adverse criti
cism ia to bring reproach on acience. Thera
ia nothing for the investigator to do but to go straight in; "to explore
up and down, inch by inch, with the taper, his reason ; to follow the light
wherever it may lead, even should it at times resemble a will-o'-the-wisp.
In every direction there is evolution as well as disintegration.
A formidable range of scientific phenomena must
be scientifically sifted before we effectually grasp a
faculty so strange, so bewildering, and lor ages
scrutable as the direct action of mind on mind.
In old Egyptian days a well known inscription
carved over the portal of the temple of Isis: "I am
whatever hath been, is, or ever will be; and my veil
no man hath yet lifted." Not thus do modern seek
after trutli confront nature, the word that stands
for the baffling mysteries of the universe.
Steadily, unflinchingly, we strive to pierce the
inmost heart of nature, from what she is to recon
struct what she has been, and to prophesy what she
yet shall be. Veil after veil we have lifted and her
face grows more beautiful, august, and wonderful
with «very barrier that is withdrawn.
Nature's
Portals
Open
Wider
By SIR WILLIAM CI00EES.
»
so tn
was
ers
=• Lights
Freights
By
* " I W. W. JACOBS I
Twin Spirits
(Copyright, Dodd, Mwd Company.)
The "Terrace," consisting of eight
gaunt houses, faced the sea, white the
back rooms commanded a view of the
ancient little town some half-mile dis
tant. The beach, a waste of shingle,
was desolate and bare except for a
ruined bathing machine and a few
pieces of linen drying In the winter
sunshine. In the offing tiny steamers
left a trail of smoke, while sailing
craft, their canvas glistening in the
sun, slowly melted from the sight.
From the front windows of the third
story of No. 1 Mrs. Cox, gazing out to
sea, sighed softly. The season had
been a bad one, and Mr. Cox had been
even more troublesome than usual ow
ing to tightness in the money market
and the avowed preference of local
publicans for cash transactions to as
sets in chalk and slate.
He had in his earlier days attempted
to do a little work.
Mrs. Cox's meditations were dis
turbed by a knock at the front door.
"Glad to see you, my dear," said
the visitor, kissing her loudly.
"I've got my Uncle Joseph from
London staying with us," continued
the visitor, following her into the hall,
"so I just got Into the train and
brought him down for a blow at the
6ea."
A question on Mrs. Cox's lips died
away as «. very small man who had
been hidden by his niece came into
sight.,
"My Uncle Joseph," said Mrs. Ber
ry; "Mr. Joseph Piper," she added.
Mr. Piper shook hands, and after a
performance on the door mat, protract
ed by reason of a festoon of hemp,
followed his hostess into the faded
drawing-room.
"And Mr. Cox?" inquired Mrs. Berry,
In a cold voice.
Mrs. Cox shook her head,
been away this last three days," she
said, flushing slightly.
"Looking for work?" suggested the
visitor.
Mrs. Cox nodded, and, placing the
tips of her fingers together, fidgeted
gently.
"Why, where's your marble clock?"
"I never pawned a clock," Piper
said, stroking his little gray head.
"I'll go on like this, my dear, till
you're ruined," said the sympathetic
Mrs. Berry, turning to her friend
again; "what'll you do then?"
"Yes, I know," said Mrs. Cox. "I've
had a bad season, too, and I'm so
anxious about him in spite of it all.
I can't sleep at nights for fearing that
he's in some trouble. I'm sure I laid
awake half last night crying."
"I might have known it was non
sense," retorted Mrs. Berry, hotly.
"Can't you get him to take the pledge,
Mary?"
"I couldn't insult him like that,"
said Mrs. Cox, with a shiver.
"What Cox wants is a shock," said
M-rs. Berry; "you've dropped some
crumbs on the carpet, uncle."
Mr. Piper apologized and said he had
got his eye on them, and would pick
'He's
£ 0 k
«
m
m.
\
"My Uncle Joseph," Said Mrs. Berry;
"Mr. Joseph Piper," She Said.
them up when he had finished and pick
up his niece's at the same time to
prevent her stooping.
"If I were you," said Mrs. Berry,
emphatically, "I'd get behind with the
rent or something and have the brok
ers in. He'd look rather astonished if
he came home and saw a broker's man
sitting in a chair—"
"He'd look more astonished If he
saw him sitting in a flower pot," sugr
gested the caustie Mr| Piper.
"I couldn't do that," said Mrs. Cox.
couldn't stand the disgrace,
though I knew I could pay him out.
As it is, Cox is always setting his fam
ily above mine."
Anxiety on Mrs. Cox's face was
aggerated on that of Mr. Piper.
"Let uncle pretend to be a broker's
man tn for the rent," continued the
excitable lady, rapidly.
"I look like a broker's man, don't
even
ex
voire more
I?" said Mr. Piper, In a
than tinged with sareaBm.
"Yes," said his niece,
put It into my head."
"It's very kind of you, dear, and
kind of Mr. Piper," said Mrs.
It, 1
"that's what
very
Cox,
really couldn't."
"but I couldn't think of
a
said
would be delighted,
"Uncle
Mrs. Berry.
Mr. Piper sniffed even as she spoke,
but not at the sea.
"And I'll come for him the day after
to-morrow," said Mrs. Berry.
It was the old story of the stronger
Mrs. Cox after a feeble stand
will;
gave way altogether.
Several days after the quiet of the
house was broken by the return of Its
master, whose annoyance, when he
found the drawing-room clock stolen
and a man in possesion, was alaiming
He lectured his
in its vehemence,
wife severely on her mismanagement,
and after some hesitation announced
his intention of going through her
Mrs. Cox gave them to him,
books.
and, armed with pen and ink and four
square inches of pink blotting-paper,
he performed feats of balancing which
made him a very Blondin of finance.
"1 can't help it," said Mrs. Cox, wip
"I'm sure I've done all
Ing her eyes.
I could to keep a home together,
can't even raise money on anything."
glancing
Mr. Cox, who had been
round the room again, looked up
sharply.
"Why not?" he Inquired.
"The broker's man," said Mrs. Cox.
nervously; "he's made an inventory of
everything, and he holds us respon
sible."
Mr. Piper, who was already very
tired of his imprisonment, looked up
curiously as he heard the door pushed
'
«
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///
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tm
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■nvL*
Sat Down to Wait as Patiently as He
Could.
open, and discovered an elderly gen
tleman with an appearance of great
stateliness staring at him.
ordinary way he was one of the meek
est of men, but the insolence of this
stare was outrageous Mr. Piper, open
ing his mild blue eyes wide, stared
back. Whereupon Mr. Cox, fumbling
in his vest pocket, found a pair of
folders, and putting them astride his
nose, gazed at the
man with crushing effect.
"Where is your warrant or order,
or whatever you call it?" demanded
Cox.
In the
pseudo-broker's
"I've complied with
showing it once," said
the law
by
Mr.
Piper,
bluffing, "and I'm not going to show it
again."
"Vulture!" Cox cried, in a terrible
voice.
"Yes, sir," said the trembling Mr.
Piper.
Mr. Cox waved his hand towards the
window.
"Fly," he said, briefly.
Mr. Piper tried to form his white
lips into a smile, and his knees trem
bled beneath him.
( ] e .
I'm not a
the other; "n«t a
What are you, then?"
in eager, trembling tones Mr. Piper
told him, and, gathering confidence as
D °t,i Pr », 0C ^ e j e ^' I elated thc conversation
Mr ^ox^istpnpH^t ,0 !i' S irnpostnre -
™ r ' „ Co * listened In a dazed fashion, I
ancf as he concluded threw himself Into
a chair, and gave way to a terrible out
burst of grief.
"The way I've worked for that wom
an, he said, brokenly, "to think it
should come to this! r "
the thing; the wickedness
heart Is broken; I shall
same man again—never!
'T might frighten my wife," muse( i
the amiable Mr.
"Did you hear what I said?"
manded Mr. Cox.
"What
are
you
If you don't fly out of
you out."
waiting for?
the window I'll throw
"Don't touch
me,'
screamed Mr.
Piper, retreating behind a table, "it's
all a mistake,
broker's man.
All a joke.
Ha! ha!"
"Eh?"
said
broker's man?
The deceit of
of it. My
never be the
Cox;
to her
"it would
not to be
by Jove,
money frohi her
I know she's
be
a lesson
deceitful
again,
get some
And.
ill
to escape with;
some, and if she hasn't she
in a day or two. There's a little pub
at Newstead. eight miles from here
where we could be as happy as flKht ;
lug cocks with a fiver or two. And
while were there enjoying ourselves
my wife 11 be half out of her
ing to account for
to Mrs. Berry."
He patted the hesitating
on the back, and letting him
through the garden, indicated the road.
TlKn he returned to the drawing
room, and carefully rumpling his hair
tore hts collar from the stud
turned a couple of chairs
table anc'
got
will have
mind try
jour disappearance
Mr. Piper
out
over
ttI >d a small
sat down to watt
as pa
tlently as he could for the return or
his wife.
He waited about 20 minutes,
then he heard a key turn In the door
below and hts wife's footsteps Blowlv
mounting the stairs. By the time «h
reached the drawing room his tableau
complete, and she fell back with
anrl
e
wan
a faint Bhrlek at the frenzied fig
which met her eyes.
lire
"Hush," said the tragedian, putting
his finger to his lips.
"Henry, what Is It?" cried Mrs, Cox
"What Is the matter?"
"The broker's man," said her hus
band, In a thrilling whisper. "We had
words—he struck me. In a fit of fury
I—I —choked him."
"Much?" Inquired the bewildered
woman.
"Much?" repealed Mr. Cox, frantieal
"l've killed him and hidden the
body. Now 1 must escape and fly the
country."
The bewilderment on Mrs. Cox'e.
face Increased; she was trying
reconcile her husband's statement
with a vision of a trim little figure
which she had seen ten minutes before
with Its head tilted backwards study
ing the sign-post, and which she was
now quite certain was Mr. Piper.
"I haven't got anything," assever
ated Mrs, Cox. "It's no good looking
like that, Henry, I can't make money."
Mr. Cox's reply was interrupted by
a loud knock at the hall door, which
he was pleased to associate with the
police. It gave hhn a fine opportunity
for melodrama, in the midst of which
Ills wife, rightly guessing that Mrs.
Berry had returned according to ar
rangement, wept to the door to admit
ly
to
her.
She followed her friend Into the
drawing-room, and having shaken
hanas with Mr. Cox, drew her hand
kerchief from her pocket and applied
It to her eyes.
"She's told me ail about it," she
said, nodding at Mrs. Cox, "and it's
worse than you think, much worse.
It isn't a broker's man—it's my poor
uncle, Joseph Piper."
"Your uncle!" repeated Mr. Cox
reeling back; "the broker's man your
uncle?"
"See what your joking has led to."
Cox said, at last. "I have got to be
a wanderer over the face of the earth,
all on account of your jokes."
"You get away," said Mrs Berry,
with a warning glance at her friend,
and nodding to emphasize her words;
"leave us some address to write to.
and we must try and scrape £20 or
£30 to send you."
"Thirty?" said Mr. Cox, hardly able
to believe his ears.
"Where are we to send the money'"'
Mr. Cox affected to consider.
"The White Horse, Newstead," he
said at length, in a whisper; "better
write It down."
For the first two days Messrs. Cox
and Piper waited with exemplary pa
tience for the remittance, the demap is
of the landlord, a man of coarse fiber,
being met in the meantime by the lat
ter gentleman from his own slender
resources. They were both reasonalde
men, and knew from experience 'he
difficulty of raising money at short
notice; but on the fourth day. their
funds being nearly exhausted an urgent
telegram was dispatched to NHs. C
"Eh?" said Mr. Piper, in amaze, as
he read the reply slow: "'No—need
—send—money—Uncle—Joseph — has
—come—back.—Berry.' What does it
mean? Is she mad?"
Finally Mr. Cox. seized with a bright
idea that the telegram had got altered
in transmission,
office and dispatched another,
went straight to the heart of things:
"Don't—understand-is — Uncle—
Joseph—alive?"
The reply was: "Yes—smoking—in
' —drawing-room."
"I'll go home and ask to see you
Cox said, hercely; "that'll bring tiling
to a head. I should think."
"And she'll say I've gone back to
London, perhaps," said Mr.
gifted with sudden clearness of vision
"You can't show her up unless you
take me with you. and that'll show
That's her artfulness; that?
Susan all over."
ox
feat off to the post
hielt
UilM-r
up.
A reply came the following evening
. from Mrs. Berry herself.
long letter, and not only long, but bad
ly written and crossed. It began with
the weather, asked after Mr. Cox' c
health, and referred to the. writer's
described with much
strange headache which had attacked
Mrs. Cox, together with a long list
the remedies prescribed and the
effects of each, and wound up in an
out-of-the-way
cherry optimism which reduced both
readers to the verge of madness.
- "Dear Uncle Joseph has quite recov
I ered, and. in spite of
i
It was
minuteness
corner, in a vein of
a little nervous
ness—he was always rather timid—at
meeting you again, has consented to
go to the White Horse to satisfy you
that he is alive. I dare say he will be
with you as soon as this letter—per
baps help you to read It."
Mr. Piper held up his hand with a
startled gesture for silence. The words
died
away on his friend's lips as a
familiar voice was heard in the pn '
sage, nnd the next moment Mrs. Berry
entered the room and stood regarding
them.
I ran down by the same train to
make sure you came, uncle," she re
"How long have you beei. A
;
marked.
hero?"
Mr. Piper moistened his lips ami
gazed wildly at Mr. Cox for guldanc
" 'Bout—'bout
stammered.
Mrs. Berry smiled again.
Ah. i ve got another little surpris 1
■ or you," she said, briskly.
"as so upset at the idea of being alone
while you
face of the
gone into
:
five
minutes,"
"Mrs. Cox
wero a wanderer over th*'
earth, that she and 1 hax<
partnership. We have had
a proper deed drawn up, so that no»
there
things. Eh?
are two of us to look
, What did you say?"
1 was just thinking" .aid Mr. Cox
after