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SILK HOSE [A 3 Pairs II guaran teed ^ 3 months Soft, Stylish, Snug-fitting, i Seamless. Six Pairs Cotton Hose Guaranteed ^ to Wear Six Months or New Hose FREE Valdez Mercantile Co., Inc. * TRUE VALUES On the basis of Security and Service We solicit your account. WE DO'A BANKING BUSINESS EXCLUSIVELY. VALDEZ BANK & TRUST CO. Job Printing At The Prospector Office legal Back numbers. Queer Customs That Survive In Spite of Their Uselessness. The law has its little supersti tions notwithstanding the preva lent conception of that science as cold, unemotional and severely log ical. For instance, what useful pur pose is served by inserting in a bond, conditioned for the payment of money, a penal sum of twice the amount of the actual debt? Bonds have been thus drawn since the days of Lord Coke, and the printed forms in common use today contain the ancient penal clause. By the letter of such a bond the obligee is clearly entitled to recover the full penal sum on the obligor’s default in paying the sum specified in the condition. But has the obligee, for these two or three hun dred years, ever been allowed to recover more than the actual debt with interest and costs? By another common practice deeds are made to recite that the grant is made “in consideration of t lie sum of one dollar, good and lawful money of the United States of America, to me in hand paid, the receipt whereof I hereby acknowl edge,” or some equivalent formula. The idea that a deed must express a consideration is ineradicable, and equally fixed appears to be the su perstition that a consideration of one dollar is quite as effective as a consideration commensurate with the value of the estate granted. I Lawyers learned in the law of real property know better, of course, hut such is the popular notion. It is elementary that as between the par ties a deed is perfectly valid with out any consideration at all; other wise there could be no such thing as a conveyance by way of a gift. Why do we begin a will with an invocation to the Deity and a recital that the testator is “of sound mind and disposing memory?” Does' the former aid the testator spiritually, and does the latter furnish any evi dence of his testamentary capacity? Ami why do we so often insist on attaching a seal opposite the testa tor’s signature? Our statutes do not require a will to he sealed, wherefore the seal is wholly super fluous, as the lawbooks have long advised us. .'.lanv generations ol lawyers learned in equity pleading have fol lowed the ancient practice of con cluding a hill of complaint with the solemn assurance. "And thus vmir oral or will ever pray, etc." Apparently no modern lawyer knew what the deeuudated formula meant until recently a well known author ran tlm thing to its lair among the ancient rolls of the court of chan cery and found that (before it lost its tail) it was a praver for the health and longevity of the kin"! These are only a few of thc^su perstitions that have survived the davs when the trial by battle and the criminality of witchcraft were finally eliminated from that law which is our proud heritage and which has been so fondly praised as “the perfection of human reason/' —Bench and Bar. Mate Tea. Although most of the world's cof fee is grown in South America, there are some South American slates where it is hardly drunk at all. In no country is coffee so dear as in Argentina, for the sim ple reason that only foreigners ask for it. The natives of Argentina drink mate or Paraguay tea. as it is sometimes called. Among the working classes this is drunk as freelv and frequently as beer in England. And after dinner, in stead of eolfee, many Argentine housekeepers servo a basin of soup, which guests from abroad find some difficulty in swallowing. Attempts have boon made to popularize mate in Europe, hut these have never proved successful.—London Chron icle. - I The Flowing of Metals. It is perhaps not generally known that one of the most important properties of metals employed in striking coins and medals and stamping articles of jewelry is that | of flowing under pressure. Standard silver is remarkable for this prop erty. The flow takes place when the metal is subjected to rolling, stamping or hammering, and the particles of metal are thus carried into the sunken parts of the die without fracturing, and a perfect impression is produced. Well Cared For. Sammy’s school attendance had been perfect until one bright'June day, when he failed to appear. The next morning he was in his accus tomed place. Lippincott’s Maga zine gives his reason for being ab sent. “Sammy, you didn’t come to school yesterday.” “No, ma’am; circus was in town and pa and ma and Aunt Sadie and Uncle Tom and Cousin Bob all went to take me." EYES THAT SQUINT. Harmless In Babyhood, but a Serious Matter Later On. The eyes are meant to look both in the same direction and thus to help each other to sec, as the feet help each- other to walk or run. When they do not do so there is a squint or a “cast” in one or both eyes, or, to use the medical term, “strabismus.” Xot only disfigure ment, but also impaired vision, re sults. Little babies squint more or less during the first few months of life. That is not a serious matter, al though it often frightens a young and inexperienced mother, it is generally caused by a slight dis turbance of the digestion and pass es when that is corrected. But a squint that appears later, when the child is beginning to develop vision by the constant use of the eye muscles, must not be neglected. If it is the unfortunate condition will probably last through life. The eyes should work absolutely in unison, just as two horses har nessed to ;i cart- ought to pull to gether. When they do not focus on the same point at the same time the crooked eye soon abandons the struggle and leaves the straight eye to do all the work. That is unfair to the good eye and fatal to the other, for an eye that is not used grows gradually blind from lack of exercise. Even if the squint is so slight that the child makes an un conscious eil’ort to force the affect ed eye to its task hols sure to suffer the distressing ache of eye strain. When a young child has strabis mus take him at once to a trust worthy oculist, in order that he may have the glasses that his condition demands. And, when he has been fitted with glasses that pull the crooked eye into line with the straight eye and make it do its work properly, see that he wears them every waking minute, except when ho washes his face. If the squinting eye has already got the habit of shirking it may have to Ik> trained by exercises. The good eve must be shut at in tervals, so that the other will have to do all the work, but the oculist in charge of the ease must decide the precise character and frequency of the treatment.—Youth’s Com panion. Progressive. “Please, mum," said a tramp, “would you bo so kind as to let me have a needle and thread?" “Well, y-e-s," said the housewife at the door; "I can let you have that.'1* “Thankee, mum. Now, you'd oblige me very much if you'd let me. have a bit of cloth for a patch.” “Yes. here is some.” “Thankee very much, mum. It's a little different color from my suit, 1 see. Perhaps, mum. you could spare me some of your husband's old clothes that this patch will match.” "Well, I declare! You’re clever, my man, and I’ll give you an old suit. Here is one.” “Thankee greatly, mum. I see it’s a little large, mum, hut if you’ll kindly furnish me with a square meal mebhy I can till it out.” Hours of Sleep. According to Dr. Frederick B. Percy of the Boston university school of medicine, the least cultur ed and least developed adults ne*d the most sleep, and the higher the intellectual development the more prone one is to dreams. The healthy child of two years passes half its time in slumber. The adult re quires from seven to eight hours of sleep daily, aged persons not more tfian five or six hours. Women need, as a rule, more sleep than men. There are persons to whom nine or even ten or twelve hours of sleep are essential, while others seldom sleep more than six out of the twenty-four. Too much sleep is possible. Sleep undisturbed is what we all desire. Proved His Contention. “Mother,” complained Johnny, not so pleased as might have been with the results of unselfish mater nal tailoring, “these trousers are too tight. They’re tighter’n my own skin.” . “Now, my son,” said mother, in. quiet reproof, “don’t exaggerate. IIow can they be tighter than your skin?” “They arc, too. mother; they must be. I can sit down in my skin, but I can’t sit down in these trou sers.”—Exchange. Betty’s Gift. A Lancashire vicar was asked by the choir to call upon old Betty, who was deaf, but who insisted in join ing in the solo of the anthem, and to ask her only to sing in the hymns. He shouted into her ear, “Betty, I’ve been requested to speak to you about your singing.” At last she canght the word “singing” and re-> plied: "Not to me be the praise, sir. Ffa a gift”—Pall Mall Gaaette. I A. M. Dieringer Valdez Transfer Company General Trucking and Freight ing tq all interior points LIVERY ar t! FEED STABLE STORAGE Teaming of qll kinds Positively no coal delivered unless paid tor In advance PROFESSIONAL i Dr. H. COCKER1LLE Graduate of National University { Washington, D. C. DENTIST i Phone 92 Feurteen years in | Office in Whaling building VALDEZ | Next to cable office DR. GERMAN I I’hone .9 THE DENTIST Office rooms over Owl Druir store. Office hours Ba, tn.. tot; i. m., 1 |i, in., to a |., Sundays I by aniiomtnient All work aiiaramced C. E. BUNNELL ATTORXKY-AT-I.AW Ofl'ice'-. Will] S'.roet Phone 3i VALDKZ E. E. RITCHIE [, \ w v !•: i; PiloN’i: t;iu Vakloz Alaska L V. KAY I \ttot;xi:v at i, v\v i SEWARD, • ALASKA -- MINING ENGINEER F. BUTTERWORTH Civil Engineer and U. S. Deputy Land and Mineral Surveyor i Blue Printing nhonc> 1Kfl L. W. STORM. E. M. Valdez, alaska ] Reports on Mines . Patent Surveys Genesal Mining Engineering Phone No. ro3 Geo. f. white The Assayer Assaying and Ore Testing CORRECT RESULTS No More, No Less VALDEZ, ALASKA Valdes I,odge No 168. Free and Accepted Masons Regular Communications Urst Wednesday in each month in McKinicy H ill Visitors always welcome. James II Patterson,.W. M C. C- Reynolds. Sec F O E VALDEZ AERIE \To- 1071 Meet every Friday. 8 t>. m. Eatrlc Hal CAMP VALDEZ No. 10 Meet every Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock In Eaglet Hall. All members are requested to ttend- S. Mc’NIECE. Arctic Chief PIONEERS OF ALASKA IGLOO NO. 7. Meets every first and third Mon day ot each month. All visit ing Brothers welcome. E. O. AMES, Secretary.