The Richmond Virginian., February 04, 1910, Page 8, Image 8

About The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920

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^Virginian Page for Each Member of tn
TECHNICALITIES OF THE LAW
By FREDERIC J. HA SKIN.
r,, jfgperial t-> Th« Richmond Virginian.)
:e convention which I’resident
hopes to call for the purpose of
finding ways and means of simpiify
I trig legal procedure will have, work a
“rtrfeoty. Besides the proverbial slow
ness with which modern justice uses
her balances to determine the right,
there are hundreds of technicalities
which more often defeat the ends of
“Justice than aub&ervt them. That apo
cryphal verdict, •guilty, but not
proven." finds many more or less ex
act counterparts in legal procedure. A
legislator once was indicted for brib
ery. He was tried and acquitted.
Asked about the out', cine he replied.
“Vindicated, sir, vindicated." "A ver
dict of not guilty, then, 1 suppose?"
pressed the questioner. "Well, not
exactly,” answered the statesman, in
a Hush of honest) The Indictment
read that X was a member of the As
sembly, whereas 1 was a member of
the Legislature. It further sot forth
““that I had accepted ;i bribe, where
as It was proved only that 1 took the
money.”
——In anotherTnsrTnr trW re;-red man "
appeared before a police Judge for
Stealing chickens As he came before
the bar the Judge asked him if he
were the defendant. He replied: "No,
Sab. that genfmum ober dar is de
one what does d« defendin'. I'se
de gent what slob- de chic-kens.” Vet
he was permitted to plead not guilty,
snd “de genfmum ober dar' put up
such a defense for him that he went
soot free.
Ckl«l Way to Collect Rill.
Some years ago a man by the name
©f John Smith owed a St. Louis mer
chant a sum of money. This mer
chant discovered that an Illinois llrm
was indebted to a John Smith, so he
garnisheed the money in the hands
of the firm and collected it. Iuiter
the John Smith who was the creditor
of the Illinois firm came to collect
his hill. He waa told that hts money
had been garnisheed for the satisfac
tion of the debt due the St. Louts
merchant. Rut he had never owed
anything to the St. Louis merchant!
It was a clear case of mistaken iden
tity. His money had been taken to
•atlsfy the debt of another John
Smith. He brought suit ngainst the
XSt. I^ouls merchant to recover his
money. He had never owed this mer
chant a cent in his life, and waa pre
pared to prove it. hut the court held
u>*t tt could not right the wrong It
had done him.
Chicago offers a well-kiV>wn ln
•tanc* of the ends of justice being
defeated by a technicality, A noto
" iioiis character was arrested while
dressed in the garb of a woman. He
was tried and sentenced as a woman.
Afterward he took advantage of his
knowledge of-the technicalities of the
law and declared that he was a man.
The courts held that a man could
—Hot be kept in prison after having
been tried and eonvleted us a woman,
menage Missouri < nss.
In Missouri a woman and her child
Were murdered by a man who wanted
the victim to leave her husband and
elope with him. He was arrested, j
pleaded insanity, but was sentenced to
be hanged. By forgery he secured
money to carry an appeal to the Su
preme Court. All the lower courts
upheld the verdict of the trial court,
and yet the Supreme Court reversed
It and the prisoner died a free man.
^The affirmation of thirteen judges
was outweighed by the dissension of
five. In another ease the record in a
murder case failed to say that the
prisoner was arraigned and pleaded
not guilty, although the context abun
dantly showed it. Yet on this tech
nicality the prisoner escaped by the
reversal of the \ erdiet of the lower
: court.
President Taft hlmst If has had
- aome experience with the delays of
the law Years ago the people of
- -Ms home city Ivecame tired of these
delays and injustices, and burned
_ the court-house as an evidence of
• their Impatience. Sir Taft visited
Columbus, and was heard by a Judi
ciary committee of the Legislature.
He appealed for reduction in the
number of preetnptory challenges in
criminal trials from twenty-three to
v twelve. The chairman of the onnt
~ taittee settled back and observed:
**Why, I have secn the time when !
Would have given my entire fee in
«t case to have had the twenty-fourth
preetnptory challenge'” Mr. Taft
declares that the lawyers are penny
wise and pound foolish—that through
deiaya. technicalities and expensive
roceduro they are forcing men to
prove
I Good-Night Stories For Fired Little Folks.
r Sunny.
•'Daddy." said Ethel
“tell me about the Hub
one niKht. j
boy who i
lives at Miss Lucy>, near where the
Lady Hug had her bungalow.”
“Bonny lived on a large Southern
plantation with hts I’nclu John and
Mis# Lucy, his undo and aunt. They
Wore the only relatives he had in the
World. Uncle John was Misc Lucy's]
brother.
“Dinah was the took, and she took
esarr of Sonny, and u.-ed to tell him
Stories. It uni she wh<> hut him to
bed. and sht tailed him 'Honey'
instead of .Sonny.
“In the morning Dinah would t ome !
in anti wake Sonny up. ‘Honey, de
sun i« coming over t lie window sill j
aad you bos' get up before tie get# ;
higher then <11# pane <■' glows,' she
Would say. Then Sonny would get
tap to See which pane oi glass it was,
and he never suspected that #ht- was
only trying to get him out of bed.
"Every morning she used to make
pop-oters lot him, and they always
popped so high there was a great
pig hollow place in the middle.
T'.'.'Now. Hotn;.' she would sav
•very morning, (loan you eat de wind
. What is In <3t m pop-overs. 'Cause
lltf you xlu ;i it tore make acme ;
trouble In your stomach.' Then Sonny
. Jrould laugh and go tart fully around;
hole in the pojt-overa —.
"Home mornings she made him
tkea. 'Dese is what you call
liejacka,' she would say.
"bus of her favorite pleasures .was
men out of pancakes and
Ing them In i<> Sonny. 'Here!
man ft*' you to eat. Honey, an’ j
■ho* vou begin* wld d<- top o' his1
an' eats dean down to hi*
* “Whenever Dinah made doughnuts
*t« ulwe't told Sonny to save the
»le*. ’ Wf t « n you gets a hundred
hee'S on a string l makes
a chocolate cake,'
. “ 'Mow. chile, 1 wants you to take
an’ keep all deni hole* good
om— from dam doughnuts, Xo'
f I sees any toof marks In arm
Holes I doan give you no cake.’
"8<i Sonny had to be careful not
o make any holes In the round
[daces In the doughnuts, and some
times he gfit a cake when ho had
saved up one hundred holes and—’’
But Ethel was fast asleep.
rROLLEY COMPANIES
SERVE FREE LUNCH
Innovation in Oregwn Lines Should
Bit Immensely
Popular.
An Innovation In electric railway
transportation that Is said to he
unique In A'merlca Is about to he trieil
■n an lnterurban road running out of
Portland, Oregon, to Salem, the State
apital, and other Willamette valley
points, says the Brooklyn Eagle. This
is the serving of free lun. h on the
lnterurban trains at meal time. The
Iffiguration of a regular dining car
service would be cumbersome and
mean handling an additional heavy
el. hut by putting on a buffet obser
vation car lunch can be served with
little Inconvenience.
Porters on the cars will serve the
lunch Without charge, and It Is be
lieved the new service will prove very
Popular Regular charges "wltl he
made for observation car seats, but
this toll will include the luncheon, so
that the passengers will have the
unique experience of getting some
thing for nothing from a railroad
company.
The trolley road has recently been
completed by New York and Phlla
lUdfvhia- oapliat, . c.nd is »! reedy -
if . the best equipped lnterurban lines
In the West. Cars untform with the
beat Tullman equipment will be used,
»lth smoking compartments, butTet.
and nlwervatlon platforms, affording
ill the comforts of modern travel even
for the comparatively abort distance
arbitration who would otherwise ap
peal to the court*.
Sonic Unusual Methods.
The law provides certain protec
tion to accused parsons, and often
these safeguards produce anomolous
conditions. For instance, a highway
robber attempts to hold up a man.
He is stabbed by the intended vic
tim, who escapes. An ofHcer, in
arresting tho highwayman, discovers
the stal> wound. It Is tho beat link
in the chain of evidence, and would
make the conviction of the would
be robber certain, yef under legal
procedure it is not admlssable as
evidence. If the highwayman had
been successful in his attempted
holdup, he would have been search
ed from head to foot and this evi
dence brought out against him.
A Jury may resort to any sort of
tactics to decide a case, even to the
flipping of a coin or by drawing
straws, and the court is powerless
to invade the Jury room with its
ciuestlonB. but if a peeping bailiff
or an eavesdropping clerk chances
to see or hear something his tale
is competent evidence against the
Jury.
if a man owes another $10,000 and
finally is able to prevail upon his
creditor to scale down the obliga
tion to 49.000. the creditor, or his
heirs, after having accepted the
49.000, can reconsider the matter
and enter suit for the remainder of !
the debt, on the ground lhat there j
whs no “consideration’' for the re- j
mission of the balance unpaid But
if the debtor bethinks himself to
add a rusty nail, a red rose, a fish
hook or some other minute thing,
he complies with the law of "con
sideration'' and the debt is satisfied
in full without recourse.
Jn some States if one man owes
another, pays the debt and then loses
his receipt, he can be forced to pay
the money again: and if he should
afterward find hts lost receipt he can
not compel the creditor to return the
money erroneously collected the sec
ond time. The ground upon wttlch
the courts hold that he cannot re
cover his money, though he holds
two receipts, Is thfct there must be
an end to litigation. Thus the credi
tor may, with the full knowledge of
the court! retain money that he un
justly collected through the machin
ery <>f that same court,
Haw* Often Contradictory.
Haws are often so contradictory in
their terms that it ts impossible to ob
serve them all. Sometimes one sec
tion of a statute prohibits by indirec
tion the very thing another section
specifically requires A school law n,
one State provides that no school
shall be kept open less than a given
number of days in each year. Yet
in the next paragraph a limit of tax
ation is given which Is too low to per
mit the schools to be ket>t open that
long.
Even the greatest lawyers hare
sometimes been unable to compiy
with the very laws they assisted in
making. Samuel J. Tllden, candidate
for President of the United States,
and one of the foremost lawyers of
his time, wrote his will in such a
way that It failed to paas muster when
brought into court. A mere techni- i
callty stood in the way of the fulfill
ment of his dying desire. Many other
instances of lawyers who made a dis
mal failure of writing their own wills
could t>o cited.
The delays of the taw are no less
proverbial than the defeats which Jus
tice sustains through technicalities.
An Indiana calf case is an Instance
of how litigation may survive even
the cause at issue. Two farmers be
came Involved in a dispute over the
ownership of a calf. They could not
settle their differences between them
selves, so they took their troubles to
court. The case went from one stage
to another. Meanwhile the calf grew
to maturity and died. But still the
esse went on, and the costs became
the issue instead of the calf Itself.
Years afterward, when the court of
last resort was reached, it was found
that one of the parties to the suit
had died of old age before seeing
the end of the litigation.
Nearly every court In the land Ts
clogged with business. Especially is
this true of the courts of appeal. It
is lielieved that over one-third of the
cases that are carried from trial
courts to those of appeal are reversed.,
and in nearly every ense the reversal
is on technicalities. This reversal of
trial courts has become so serious, In
many cases manifestly thwarting the
ends of simple Justice, that many of
the higher courts have decided that
hereafter, unless It can he shown that
substantial Injustice has tieen done ny
tho verdict of the trial court. Its
findings will not be. set aside
2 ?
T-r—r
'DOLftYS GETTING
OLD LOOKING * HE
NEEDS A LITTLE
EXCITEMENT
I'LL SEE SOME OF
the kids and fix
things up- he’ll,
pass ©Y HERE
ON HIS V/KKY To
HIS OFFICE IN
AgOUT FIFTEEN
minuted
^__
BOV5 TM GOING TO &IVDVOO ALL 1
ACHANCt TO-EAPN S»OME'.PENNlE% •
i’ll be passing* aGain -shortly- 5
Htt- U1VE.
US OUR
NICKLLO
COHEb DOL.BV
THE KIDS '“iR.E LOOKING
FOR THEIR NICKLU5
-* V/ «■
pardon me- mister doeby- but
OBSERVE: A MOST REMARKABUE
coincidence -the ROGUISH uttue
CHAPS HAVE
GIVEN US
EACH A BLACK
EVE'
COPYRIGHT. 1910. BY THE NEW YORK EVENING TELEGRAM (NEW YORK HERALD COL All Riobts Reserved.
Mystery Veils Are Now a Fad
Among Women of Fashion
Spiders’ Web with Spiders and Other Insects Decorate,
These New Veilings—Russian Nets with Round
and Square Dots Are Also Worn.
The freak veil is again popular,
though women who are conservative
in their dress refuse to wear these
bizarre, and, in some patterns, grot
esque accessories
The latest of these (finishing
touches) is the mystery veil, a weave
displaying a spider web.
The plain mesh is certainly suffi
ciently freakish, but this odd effect
Is added to—not improved—by the
addition of spiders, bugs, etc., scat
tered all over the weblike surface. For
those who have a repugnance to the
idea of Insects generally, the mystery
veil can be secured with the spider
web us a foundation for medallions in
a different rnesli enclosing a spray of
fern or other small leaves.
This is a more modified form, of
course, but in cither case it will need
a professional beauty to carry such
a face covering successfully.
Quite as ugly but less striking is
the heavy octagon mesh in black and
colors. Some of the weaves are so
coarse they suggest a fine wire net
ting, especially those nets in metallic
effects. Women who wear the large
mesh should adjust the veil carefully,
for the point of the nose protruding
from a good sized hole is not a pret
ty sight, while the beauty of the eyes
can be easily detracted from by the
way the veil covers them.
These mystery veils hang loose from
the brim of a large hat and may float
In the wind, so less care is necessary
in arranging them than when the oc
tagon mesh is worn, because the lat
ter is taken to the back close to the
face.
Women who are loyal to the Rus
sian net will he glad to know it is still
worn. In this style the round dot is
newer than the square. Roth are
equally effective. \
The round dot comes in one size—
rather small—while the square can
be secured in a variety of sizes.
These Russian nets with large
square dots arc • now considered
mourning.
They are more becoming than the
conventional plain black lirussels net,
1 was glad to hear there were to
be no bordered veils this year, except
for autoing, and these are of chif- i
fon, of course, and are larger and j
handsomer than those worn a year ;
ago. They measure three and four'
yards in length and are of ample j
width. They are hemmed and bor- I
dared in stripes with silk woven in,
and are in all enlors.
To choose a brown veil that win be
a suroess over a brown tur hat re
quires thought an<1 cure.
Jn my opinion a fur hat is pret
tier and more jaunty-looking without
a veil, but should one be actually nec
essary, then the color and the kind of [
mesh must be considered when buy
ing. The yellow nnd the golden i
browns do not combine effectively I
with the shade of brown seen In fur !
So it will be better to select a really
dark brown or a deep seal—some
tone that will blend with the fur.
Again, the weave must not be t«o I
heavy or it will crush the fluffy fur 1
an<l the effect will la? of a close-fitting |
cap covering.
In this style a beautiful, serviceable
veil can bo bought for $5. Prices
are both above arid below this figure, j
Colored veils have returned to fa
vor, but only for wear on hats that !
..match . Thr. Russian wt -and t ha •slut-=
ted colored veils are rivals for favor,
und are alike preferred.
Brown Is sold to hundreds of wo
men. owing to the vogue for mink
and other furs.
1 should teay the Russian net woven j
with a small round silk dot will be ;
the best possible choice for a mink j
hat. The kind I have in mind Is a
dark seal brown and marked at nine
ty-five cents in the usual width.
One yard Is sufficient in the usual
width for a turban.
For a black lynx hat the black
weave of this net may he selected.
The square «Jot U not effective
placed over fur hats, because It 1*
too heavy. When the fur hat is large
then the mystery veil may he worn
If preferred, because the background
ts realty as light and open as the
spider wpb-It represent*.
Black and white In magpie effects
are selling well, though the comple
tion veil Is slowly taking Its place.
This latter has a pale pink back
ground Instead of white, while the
dots are black, Pretty veils of this
description are ninety-five cents and
$1.50 a yard.
The mystery veils run from $1 to $2
a yard and Russian nets from fifty
cents upward. These prices are for
excellent qualities.
ELIZABETH LEE.
DETAILS FOR MAKING PRETTY
HANDKERCHIEF SACHET BAG
I am describing a handkerchief
I sachet which may be easily made by
; any average worker, and will give
; great pleasure to its recipient, for it
| lacks all the bulk of a padded sachet,
[ and yet will take any amount of
! handkerchiefs. »
| The materials required are two
I and a quarter yards of live or six inch
! width ribbon, in any pretty coloring
(a chenc for the outside makes a
pretty contrast to a cheap lining; two
and a quarter yards of lining ribbon
the same width, or only three-quar
ters of a yard of lining ribbon If one
wishes only to line the lids and base
of the sachet; three-quarters of a
yard of one-inch ribbon for ties; one
sheet of finest and softest cardboard
(necessary because of the sewing);
one pot of photo moupter; one reei
of strong sewing silk.
Cut the four lids* and base twice
in cardboard (maklngy^en pieces). See
diagram 2. Cut the ribbon, allowing
half-inch turnings, and smear the
edge of the cardboard with paste.
; Turn the ribbon over, . pressing it
i down with the fingers, and turn in
| the corners, as shown in diagram 2.
| Then take the ribbon for the sur
! round, and join it either by sewing
or with paste. Divide it (by pinning
I it) into four equal lengths, and run
lit with the lining (if any) to the ne
cessary length of the lids and base,
I as diagram 2 will show, although the
; corners A and U must in reality near
j ly meet, but for the convenience of
; the worker Is drawn as flat. Paste
; the ribbon ties on the rounded lid
j ias shown in diagram), and paste in
| the lining lids and base. Stand the
whole sachet quite Mat under some
books, and it is then flnlshed.
A glove case to match makes a
more complete pres Tit. the only dif
ference in the making being the
measurements, the glove sachet beiqg"
about the same width, only longer. .
W. M. A., in The Queen.
ODD ITEMS FROM
VARIOUS SOURCES
!>V’ing a service at the cathedral
"f the Immaculate Conception at Port
j land Sunday a sparrow Hew Into the
, l-ig auditorium and flitted about
; among the worshippers.
l.ast fall when the cold weather
came. Nelson Norwood, of Blddeford,
covered hlg pansy bed with sailcloth
to protect the blossoms as long as
possible. Monday Mr. Norwood shov
eled the snow from the bed, lifted
the cloth and picked a tine bouquet
of pansies.
A'ugifijf Pafithtlhs, '„f fcahtVjifonli-a,
i Cal., is probably the youngest sea ratp
tain in the United .States. He is 21
; yea is Old.
At pretent the highest salaried wo.
mm doing department work in Wash
ington is Miss A. H. Shortrldge, of
New York city. She has just been
[promoted to a salary of *..«**»
the highest pay ever given by the gov
ernment to any woman. Miss Short
ridge began with a position of $900
it year, and has gradually worked her
way up by efficient service.
If an aeroplane tiles faster than the
prevailing w'lnd it van make landings
or headway as necessary, but if it is
slower than tile wind it is a very
hard thing to handle, it is thought
that as soon sis motors can he made
which can be relied upon to make
twenty-five miles an hour that the
problem of flying will be almost
solved.
John Wells, of rutnatn. Conn., has
a sweet scented geranium which Is
three feet nine inches tall and has
thirty-tarn crowns. The circumfer
ence of the stem at the base is three
and one-fourth inches.
An enterprising American under
took to establish a trade in barglar
proof safes in the southern part of
Spain, but he wits unsuccessful. Bur
glars aro unknown , in that part of
Spain.
..One of the pungs owned by Elmer
Holbrook, of Holbrook, has a cowbell
httached t<> it that has been handed
down in the Holbrook family for 200
years.
Jason Grant, of Orono, Me., has a
large silk handkerchief which he
brought home from the battle of
Spotsylvania. On the handkerchief
are the photographs of Jefferson Da
vis. Generals Stonewall Jackson, Dee,
Johnson, Slidell, Morgan, Scmmes,
Beauregard and Mason.
William . Redmond, eldest resident
of Oakhurst, N. J.. had a party In
honor of his 100th birthday and
danced a jig to show how young he
Is.
A new paving mixture Is now l>elng
made of metal shavings mixed with
concrete.
ST. LOUIS MINISTRY
OBOES PLAY CENSOR
Members of the St. bonis ministry,
who met two weeks ago anil condemn
ed the stage in unmeasured terniN,
"JtsfVe ifulmiitted to the public their
censorship plan.
I The1 ordinance was approved by all
the pastors In St. liouis. It -wHI at
once be Introduced In the council. A
theatrical censor Is provided for
among city officials. He Is to be
appointed by the hoard of education,
and holds office at the pieasurs of
the board. He Is to get $3,000 per
year. The fees of office go to the
city, but he can spend $2,400 for clerk
hire. Every first-class theater must
ptsy, $1-0 for. a .licence, to. be
Issued certifying to the morality of
the show each week. Other theaters
pay less, hut the score of every play
is to l>o passed on before it Is per
mitted.
Keeling here against the theatrtoai
trust evidenced in attacks from ths
twelve leading pulpits of St. Bo«W
two weeks ago may result -In th* im
toedlMc adoption ef.tbs wrtUnaaoa,
■*—r
i ■ ■«
' OBEYING THE HIGHER LAW
By WILLIAM H. HAWLEY.
(Copyright, 1S10, by Associated
Uterary Press.)
Miss Ingle ceased clicking the
typewriter for a moment and straight
ened In her chair to rest the muscles
or her shoulders. The work of the
Midland Coal and Mineral I-and Com- i
pany was very heavy for ono stenog
rapher. The grind grew more weari
some Rnd nerve-wracking every day.
But she was alone In the city, and
this was the only employment she
»*» fitted for. And she must have
bread and lire.
“What did Jackson say about that
land in Glade county?” asked the
junior partner, looking up from a let
ter. Jackson was the company's coal
expert.
' Said it was one of the finest out
looks he ever saw," replied Biker, the
senior partner. “Worth at least a
hundred and fifty an acre.”
”What Is it worth for farming pur
poses?"
“Oh. not much. It is poor, very
poor; say twenty or twenty-live an
acre."
“About what shall wc offer the
young hayseed?"
"Start him at thirty," replied Biker,
and turned to other worn.
The Junior brought the letter to the
stenographer and to-gan to dictate:
"Mr. Willard Kerris. Gladeville, Mo.,
R. J\ 1). No. 1:
"Hoar Kir: our expert reports your
land absolutely worthless as a min
ing proposition. There Is some coal,
hut owing to the formation, location,
etc., it will be impossible ever to mine
It at a profit. We can, perhaps, han
dle your farm on our exchange list
us agricultural land, and as such
could pay you ISO per acre for It.
"Very truly.
All the morning Mina Ingle kept
thinking of the young farmer. W i
lard Kerris. He was still In her mine
when she started to luncheon. "The
rascals." she said Indignantly, under
her breath. And over and over. "I do
hope he won't tRke It.”
No one In the office had ever seen
Kerris, but she had been Interested
In him from hls very first letter about
the land. All the correspondence
passed through her hands. She open
ed all letters addressed to the com
pany.
The first letter from Ferris had
been a jubilant announcement of the
discovery of coal on hls land. In
that frank way which people unused
to the ways of the world have ot
mixing personal affairs and business
he told how long he had been hoping
to find something under hls farm, as
he never could get It to grow much
on top.
There had been some correspond
ence, and In each letter young Ferris
I naively revealed something of hls
s home, hls family, himself. Biker and
i the junior made much sport over
i these personal things In hls letter, but
they were not funny to Miss Ingle.
She saw Instead a frank, generous
i young man struggling against odds to
j make a living on the poor soil for hls
! orphaned younger brothers and *ts
i ters. She could even see the weather
j beaten, unpainted farm house and the
! bleak, unproductive fields. She taw
the great tumult of excitement In the
! little family when coal waa found;
saw the tlame of hope leap up In the
young man’s face—and now he was
i to be cheated out of It.
The reply came on Friday. The
1 stenographer * hands trembled as she
opened It. She was glad no one else
was In the office. That letter said In
pa rt:
"I was powerfully disappointed by j
your letter, 1 had hoped—but 1 guess
a fellow Is always hoping things that
won’t happen. I don't care much for
myself, but I was real anxious to send
all the kids—there are four besides
me—away to school. I guess If that
1 Is the best you can do, I'll have to
take It. I owe twenty dollar* an acre
on It. and can't never make It farm
ing It. Yours respt.,
"Willard Ferris."
Miss Ingle gulped down a lump In
her throat and reached for her hand
kerchief just as Biker came In.
"Mr. Biker.” she said. “I want to
resign this morning."
Stenographers were easy to get, and
STRANGE BELIEFS THAT MEN HOLD;
SOME WEIRD MYTHS EXPLODED
Most children brought up in the
country believe that the trees make
the wind. A leading cttlsen declares
that when he was a boy he thought
the engineer hud to steer the train
to keep It on the track. A young
writer, In his early childhood, be
lieved that everything that went on
in t^ie world around him was a
great theatrical performance, staged
for .his special benefit, says the Phil
adelphia Press.
These are what we call fallacies—
from the L>atin verb fallere. to de
ceive. As the psychologists tell us,
they come either by reasoning false
ly from correct premises, or reason
ing correctly from false premises.
Most of them, especially children's,
are by reasoning falsely from cor
rect premises. Children are likely to
have Imagination. The imaginative
person wants to explain the natural
phenomena about him In the most
entertaining and attractive way. The
matter of fact person, the hard
headed business man, seldom has
any fallacies. What he has are all
deduced by reasoning correctly from
wrong premlsou
World Full of Fallacies.
The world Is full of fallacies, en
tirely apart from the great mass of
superstitions, which In themselves
form a class. A little knowledge
Is a dangerous thing, and a super
ficial knowledge of the sciences will
cause people to believe that the earth
Is cookie-shaped (this fallacy Is
fairly out of date now), or that
orchids live on air, or that sala
manders can really live In fire.
Other weird beliefs run a parallel
course with the materia medloa; for
iustunce, that whooping cough can
bo cured by letting a piebald horse
breathe on the child, or that measles
can )>e cured, by taking the child
through three parishes in a day.
Weathe^ la the subject of quan
tities of absurd theories, among which
some people rank first the- Idea that
the govemmsnt forecasters can pre
dict It. There Is a belief that mild
winters follow a mild December—an
unpleasa/it augury. If true, for the
fuysenj ,£**r. . Thoro, were those-fir
ings of cannon and exploding aerial
l ombs some years ago to make rain
fall on the thirsty farm lands. We
are even told now that our old pets,
the cqutnoctlal storms, ars but
creations of the imagination. ft—
Myths of History Exploded.
■Aid: “Up guards, and at them!'*
at the battle of Waterloo. Dick
Whittington never came to London
with a domestic ahtmal called a cat.
William Tell never shot the apple off
his son's head.
Cinderella is said to have worn
Class* slippers to the famous hall, at
which she made her reputation. In
the old Eastern version, she wore fur
slippers. The French translated it
“pantoufle en valr." and the English
translators mistook it for “pan*
toufle en verre.”- which is pro*
nounced the same.
It Is harder to unlearn a thing than
to learn it. People who have always
slept with their windows shut and
who sew their children up in clothes
for the winter are almost beyond
hope. A Russian-born landlord of
an apartment house in a good neigh*
borhood uptown, when his tenants
complained to him that the apart*
menu were cold, and he learned
that they had their windows open
to sleep by, said: “In Russia wa
seal the windows up on Oo£ 1 and
don't open them again till May.'*
Tenemsnt mothers think green 4
bananas and strong tea are good
for three-months-old babies, and yon
positively cannot convtnoe moat of
them that thts is not so. (Well,
fashions in baby culture change
from year to year. At least soma
of us protend to think so—and them
you have a pseudo-faltfceyl How
can yoiiaxpect the tenement mother
to stop feeding her baby beer, when
the seventh edition of “Bringing up
Little Ones” reverses half the feed*
Ing rules of the sixth edition.)
WOMAN DRAFTED
FOR JURY SERVICE
Chicago-suffragettes are asking their
friends to “sit up and take notice" be
cause of the fact that a woman has
been drafted for Jury service for the
first time in that city.
.The Cook, county jury commission
ers, through an error, sent a Jury
notice to Huldah L. Loomis and
caught a tartr*f. The moat strenuous
advocate of feminine rights would
blush at her own misconception of.
whf t a woman should do if she heard
Mias Loomis, who declares that noth.
tn« but death or ap inujnnottoa vHI
he let her fo without question. She
took her coat—far too thin for the
raw February day—and hurried out
“Poor fellow, poor dear fellow!" she
Mid. "What a good brother he la
If only I had had such a brother to
look out for me. I hope I won't be
too late.” She went to the nearest
telegraph office and sent this mes
sage:
"Willard Ferris. Gladevllle. Mo.—
Pon't accept offer for land. It is
worth five times that figure.
"N. I." *
Then she went to her room and ' ^
cried. She had no scruples over
thwarting the rascals in their deal.
She knew it was against the law of
business to use the secrets of one's «tm- f
ployer; but she was obeying a higher
taw. And while she was willing to
expose the rascally deal, she was not
willing at the same time to continue
to draw salary from them. She was
out of work, and employment at that
time was hard to get.
Miss Ingle had returned to her
dingy, poorly heated room. To-day,
as for many days, she had searched
for work—and found none.
There was a knock on her door.
She shrank back and hesitated to
open it. She owed for three weeks'
room and hoard, and expected every
day that her landlady would tell
her to leave.
"Muss Ingle.” the landlady called,
"there is a man downstairs to see
you.”
She went down, wondering. As
she entered the parlor a strong, |
dean-looking young man arose and
came toward her with outstretched
hand. He wore a very new auit of
clothes; had large, frank brown
eyes, and a lurking smile at the
corners of his mouth.
"1 am Ferris." he said—she knew
It before he spoke—"and you axe
Miss Ingle?" They shook hands cor
dially.
••I've tried for weeks." he explain
ed. "to find who sent me that tele
gram; and 1 only found out when
l overheard that Biker hog cursing
his stenographer after 1 wouldn't
sell to him. Then I found out who
It was. and. at laat. where you live.*
She smiled and a little color came
to her face.
“1 hope you got the telegram in
time?"
"Yes." he said, shaking his head,
"hut only In the nick of time. Six
hours later and I would have been
sold out.”
"And have you sold the land?” she
asked Interestedly.
"Yes.” he nodded. “Sold It two
weeks ago for thirty thousand dol
lars.” Then he added very seriously,
"Half of It belongs to you.”
"Oh. no. no Indeed." she said,
blushing
He studied Tier for a minute as If
trying to think how fo make her
take It. She was an attractive girl,
with a sweet, honest face—a girl
whose heart was always sick for a
home.
"Then." he said slowly. "If you
won't take it. I reckon you will 1*1
me take you to the theatre?"
"Yes,*’ she laughed. "You may
do that. That won't be robbing the
Vida."
He laughed, a little disconcerted.
"Wasn't I green and easy?" Then hlg
face lighted. "The kids are already
in the academy—the whole bunch
of them all together."
"X have had a most delightful
time." she said when they returned
from the play. She held nut her
hand, and. as he took it. "How soon
are you going back—home?”
“I—X haven't any home." he said,
still holding her hand. "And I am
not going back at all for a while.
I am going to stay around here and
see If I can’t persuade somebody
to go In partnership with me and
start a real home."
And from the way he held her
hand, arid from the way her heart
pounded Joyfully, she felt pretty sure
he would succeed.