Decatur Democrat, Volume 48, Number 41, Decatur, Adams County, 15 December 1904 — Page 7

SKILL in woodcraft kOW the BUSHMAN FINDS HIS WAY BY MEANS OF LANDMARKS. Every ° r " nonte Pver Which Ur H«’ <’" ,e Passed 1h PhotOKraphe j on <* ,e Praia ot ** le Alert uud Ob-ervaut Trapper. What appears ifarvelous and posiflve ly uncanny to a town person is simple to a bushman. Years of continuous observation develop the bump of locality; every object bas a place and meaning to a trapper; his eye is ever on the alert, and what his eve sees is photographed on the bra in and remains there for future reference at any time be may require 1 This bump of locality is highly de veloped in all Indians and whites who 1wv p passed many years in the bush. Without the faculty of remembering objects a bushman could not find his w ay through the forests. provided the trapper bas once passed from one place to another he is pretty gure to find his way through the second time even if years should have elapsed between the trips. Every object from start to finish is an index finger pointing out the right path. A sloping path, a leaning tree, a moss covered rock, a slight elevation in land. a cut in the hills, the water it the creek, an odd looking stone, a blasted tree all help as guides as the observant trapper makes his way through a pathless forest. Os course this tax on the memory is not required of trappers about a settled part of the country, but I am telling of what is absolutely necessary for the safety of one’s life in the faraway wilds of the north, wnere to lose one's self might mean death. I followed an Indian guide once over a trail of 280 miles, whereon we snowsboed over mountains, through dense bush, down rivers and over lakes. To test my powers of a retentive memory the following winter, when dispatches again had to be taken to headquarters. I asked the Indian to allow me to act as guide, he following. On that long journey of ten or twelve days, always walking and continually thinking out the road. I was In doubt only once. We were standing on the Ice. A tongue of land stood out toward us, a bay on either side. The portage leaving the lake was at th" bottom of one of these bays, bat which? The Indian had halted almost on the tails of my snowshoes and en joyed my hesitation, but said nothing. To be assured of no mistake 1 bad to pass over the whole of last winter’s trip In my mind’s eye to the point on which we stood. Once the retrospect caught up with us, there was not further trouble. Our route was down the left hand bay. When the Indian saw me start In that direction he said, “A-a-ke-pu-ka-tan” ("Yes, yes. you are able"). The most difficult proposition to tackle is a black spruce swamp. The trees are mostly of a uniform size and height, the surface of thf snow is perfectly level, and at times our route lies miles through such a country, and should there be a dull leaden sky or a gentle snow falling there is nothing for the guide to depend on but his ability to walk straight. It has been written time and again that the tendency, when there are no landmarks, is to walk in a circle. Ry constant practice those who are brought up in the wilds acquire the ability to walk in a straight line. They begin by beating a trail from point to point on some long stretch of ice. and in the bush where any tree or obstruction bars the way they make up for any deviation from the straight course by a give and take process, so that the general line of march is straight. During forty years in the country 1 never knew an Indian or white bush man to carry a compass. Apart from a black spruce swamp it would be no use whatever. In going from one place to another the contour’ of the country has to 1 “ considered, and very frequently the ‘longest way round is the shortest way home.” A ridge of mountaii - might lie between the place of starting and the objective point, and by m■•king a detour round the spur one would <• - er reach his destination rather tv 11 to climb np one side and down the other. If I were to tell you as a fact that when a bushman sees the tiwl: of some wild animal in the snow he can tell yon not only the name of the animal. but if it was male or female, within an hour of the time the tracks were made if it was calm or blowing and the direction of the wind at that time and many other minor things, you Would think this wonderful. Yet. as wonderful ns this may appear and hardly to be credited, an Indian boy of ten or twelve can read this page from nature as easily as one of us can rp ad a page of print.—Forest and Stream. Trademark.. The practice of employing a mark to denote the goods of a particular trailer grew out of the use of signs, which Were of great antiquity, but it is diffi cult to assign a date to the origin of trademarks proper. They wore apparently in use in the time of Elizabeth. but the first recorded case is in 1783, when it was decided that the sale of a certain medicine under the mark of another trader was fraudulent. No satisfactory law was passed, however, until 1862. when the first British trademark registry was established. This law was repealed by the Patent designs and trademarks act of 1883. the principal dfauses of the old a ct being incorporated into this new °ne. and al] proceedings for the registration of trademarks are now regulatc*’ by the patents acts, a special branch of the patent office being devoted to tins work.

OLD CHINESE CALENDAR. | The " Wer ’ Reetilled In the old Chinese classic, the records Os Yao. we are told that "he hade Hi l and Ho reverently to regard the signs and respectfully give the times ~; men. H<, Ho and two others of their respect f ami i ies were 0) the four points of the compass to detenmne the equinoxes and solstices The bird, supposed to be our t’or Hv drae,’ was to be the star of spring, Antares (Alpha Scorpii, of summer, Beta Aquarii for autumn and the world re nowned Pleiades the sign of the win ter solstice. "Oh, you Hi and Ho,” the old document continues, "all around there are three hundred and sixty and six days! Ise the extra moon, order the seasons ami perfect the year. Faithfully regular the hundred offices, and all the works will be perfect.” Thus was formed the first Chinese calendar about 2,300 years ago. before the Christian ora. and its regulation has always been an object of care and interest to the emperors from Yao down to the present day. Practically no changes were made in it until the mission of the Jesuits to Peking in the seventeenth century. The help of Mohammedan astronomers had been sought, but they were unable to cope with the difficulties which presented themselves, ami the emperor. Kang Hi, was thankful to let the Jesuits take the lead in all astronomical researches. He built them an observatory at Peking, which Father Verbiest fitted up in 1668 in thorough up to date style. The errors of centuries had accumulated in all departments of the science, and the foreigners had a hard task to eliminate them and introduce European improvements without exciting hostility. The accuracy of their calculations soon inspired such confidence that Father Verbiest was appointed president of the mathematical tribunal. He boob turned his attention to the calendar, rectifying the errors, but not making many changes beyond introducing the twelve signs of the zodiac and dividing it into 360 degrees instead of 365>4. as was the old Chinese division. The reformed calendar went into many details, and the calculations were given down to the year 2020 A. I). It was published In thirty-two volumes and called in honor of the emperor the Kang Hi Perpetual Calendar. The solar and lunar years are both used, and a combination is effected between the two by adding seven extra moons during the period of the lunar cycle—that is, nineteen solar years. The civil year commences with the second new moon after the winter solstice and consists of twelve months or moons, called large or small, according to whether they consist of twentynine or thirty davs. When an extra moon is to be used a thirteenth month is not added, but one of the months 's doubled. The rule that the winter solstice shall be kept in the eleventh moon is never departed from. — Living

Church, An Unfinished Prayer. A southern doctor of divinity in New York on his vacation was speaking of unusual prayers he had heard. One was made by a young lawyer who, through innate piety or from a desire to advance bis political fortunes by being identified with the church, besought the preacher to call on him for prayer in the weekly prayer meeting. Suspecting that politics and not piety was at the bottom of the lawyers de sire to pray in public, the preacher did not call on him until one rainy night, when the attendance was slim. Then Brother 11.. being asked to “lead us in prayer.” began his supplication. In great detail he mentioned the various situations, personal and general, m which the divine guidance was desired. Finally, however, he hesitated as if be bad forgotten anything else to s- He showed sigrts ot confusion, and then, in a despairing tone of voice, eon lined: “In comluston. your honoi. I n isrht mention many oilier things, but these will sutlice for tonight. Amen." . • . Remark able Ur. Robert Pollok. a Scottish poet, wliile a student of theology once delivered a trial discourse before the S,' . 1 minify hall. Glasgow, the subject of w! di was “Sin." His manner of treating it was, in the opinion of his fellow Siltdents, rather bombastic, and at some passages tnere were audible symptoms of the amusement which they de. ed from Mr. I ollok's high flown phrases \t last there came one flight of fancy which was so remarkable that the professor himself was fairly obliged to give way-and smiled. It was when the young preacher had reached a cimax in his enumeration of the diemful evils which sin had brought into the world. . „ “And had it not been for sin. remarked Mr. Pollok. with great vehe* mence of manner and tone, "had it not Xn for sin. the smile of folly had ne’er been seen upon the brows of wisdom.” Xnpoleon and Ht» H»t«. It Is interesting to note that the legend of the "petit chapeau” still exists. Frenchmen always refer to the heudgear of the first Napoleon as "the little Ct” This is because the hats worn by Bonaparte at Toulon, at Lodi, in .mite’smali. When the emperor became iho hr inis nis . i th i .comhm As he became fat and more becoming f , l( , e became “potbellied a- becamc bigger and I'l-.- inst anee. the broader and broaden ()f 'VV7X ' •<’%K.se f... V rmp-S et t-ie.-New perors li.uti.s. ■ York Tribune.

THE TIPPING HABIT. Some or Mie Inconsistencies That Punctiinte the Evfr). | Ihe inconsistencies of tipping are discussed by a’notfd New York judge in an interview in the New York i World. He says: “Did you ever stop to think how queer it is that we tip a man who gives us food and yet never tip the man who gives us drink? We tip the waiter, but who has the nerve or the desire to tip a bartender except by offering him a drink or one of his own cigars? And even that sort of treat is never offered to a bartender who is not also an acquaintance. Yet why should the waiter get a tip when the bartender doesn’t? Then, too, we give the barber a ten cent tip with our fifteen cent shave (a tip, by the way, aggregating 66 2-3 per cent of the real purchase), and yet we hand over not one single penny when we buy our fifteen cent cigar. A messenger boy delivers a note some time during the same day it is given him, and he gets a quarter for his speed. But the postman who delivers our regular mail promptly to the very minute gets not a penny except at some such season as Christmas. The cabman who gets a mortgage on your house for carrying you from the Flatiron building to Herald square also expects a circular segment of silver as a reward for not killing you during the trip, but a man who would give a trolley conductor an extra nickel for remembering to stop at the right corner and helping the whole family to alight would be thought crazy. If we must tip, why not be consistent? Why not either stop feeing the waiter, the barber, the messenger boy and the cabman or else begin tipping the conductor, the bartender, the cigar man, the clerk, the newsboy, the ‘L’ train guard, the grocer, the ash man and a few' of the other worthies upon whom we are more or less dependent? If a man from some country where tipping is ' unknown (if so blissful a bourn exi ists) should come to Manhattan and ' ask us to explain our tipping system—- ■ its limitations and the reason for 1 those limitations—is there a man in all New York who could give any • sort of explanation that would not be ■ an insult to a gorilla’s intelligence?”

The Pygmies of Africa. “The pygmies of Africa.” says Dr. Geii, the traveler, “are the most dangerous savages I ever met. They are quick very warlike, and the women fight as hard as the men. They are experts in poisons, which they use to advantage against their enemies. I think there has been some confusion in the past between pygmies and dwarfs. The latter are found for the most part in the ‘little forest’ and on the outer edge of the 'great forest.' whereas the pygmies are well within the 'great forest.’ Pygmies and dwarfs are distinct in physiognomy. "Entering the ‘great forest' from the south end of the mountains of the Moon, after crossing the Semliki grass lands. I came across the pygmies in about three days’ journey, it is a curious fact that tlie pygmies pitch their camps within about half a day's journey of the big savages the giant savages. as they are called. Although I had to sleep fully armed. I was never attacked. "It has been my invariable rule to treat natives as gentlemen. I find that the greatest savage appreciates kindness and consideration. In my journey through the forest I used compasses to guide me. The pygmies can find their way by simply looking at the trees. They are a wonderful race, active and intelligent."

The Name’s the Thinff. "This madness for names." complained the buyer of foreign lingerie, "is likely to drive me out of my wits. Its a weakness of the American people, this insanity for names! They want to know What von call a thing before they will dream of it If the name attracts them, well and good. If not, they are prejudiced against it. lin in almost as much trouble as Mother hie. who had everything to name. I think and think, and after the simple, charming names have been exhausted my troubles begin. Consider the responsibility! A bit of underwear, for example. mav take like wildfire it it is e hastened the Violet. Name it something less lovolv and it may be a trost. In vain have 1 besought the French designers to name the choice bits they ]mve conceived. But, no; they will only shrug their shoulders and say. Bo'tr01101’’ If a thing be novel, beautiful or fascinating, they think that is enough. And they are right. But. alas. I cannot impress this upon their patrons, lliey suspect the merit, of a garment it it lias no name. Some enterprising person could certainly make a living by o lug a choice assortment of names m a long suffering public.” — Philadelphia Record. ______ Tradina In Swaziland. An English trader "ho invaded the wilds of Swaziland. Soiuh AfJca. t establish a store for traffic with the natives thus describes the beginning of Ms merchandising: "I set up shop under the bucksail in the long grass with a sackful of blankets, beads, jewsharps Ld tobacco, which we had carried j Within an hour or two I beard wild j shouts, and. looking up from my work I of cooking scones on a gridiron over the open fire. I saw half a dozen naked Swazi men war dancing down the slope of a kill which shut us in on the west side, brandishing assagais, long knives and knobkerries in wanton’ gavetv and light heartedness. Thev had come in curiosity from their kraals near by. I exhibited my wares', Thev whistled through their teeth with turn later with mealies, hens and sweet potatoes to offer in exchange. Such was the inauguration of our new Store." 1- , • AS!.

A USEFUL WIZARD. * The GlasHninker .Ha« a Picturesque Trade. The glassworker is the wizard of useful arts. Before his stand at the county fair the caution to look out for pickpockets.often reiterated on the way j to the annual gathering, is swallowed ■ up in the wonderment aroused by the i astonishing marvels wrought by his deft hand and a blowpipe. Here a touch and there a pat. and then sud- ! denly the tiny champagne glass seems j to till with a film of rosy wine. "Who will have this? Only 5 cents!” cries aj glassblower, holding the little stemmed ' bowl upside down to show that, like ■ the pitcher of old, hospitable Philemon j and Baucis, it can never be emptied. I A nickel is thrust up by some one in exchange for the little souvenir of the i wizard’s art, and it is next seen stand- ’ ing on a parlor mantel many miles ' away from the fair grounds serving as | a memento of the fair and a sample of 1 the wonder beheld that day. In his workshop the glassworker and his crystal liquid become more fasci-1 nating. The roomy building is full of the mystery of an ancient alchemist's ! laboratory. The glow from the mouths 1 of many furnaces dazzles the eyes. ' Here and there men with mighty i wands tipped with white hot masses | swing them deftly about or, putting them to their lips, conjure the gleaming tips until they do their bidding, expanding into great cylinders or disks or growing into delicate globes. Here is a man standing before the fiery mouth of a furnace. He has in his hand a long rod. and his face is shielded from the singeing heat and the glare by' a shield which he holds in place by a t plug grasped bet ween his teeth. He dexterously twists his blowpipe in thewhite hot gummy glass until it has collected on its end an ovoid mass weighing from twenty to forty pounds. Revolving the ball in the glowing pot for a moment until it becomes symmetrical, he lifts it forth and plunges it into a pear shaped mold.. Then the blower, the master workman of the place, takes the mass and begins to play with it. He blows a big bubble of air into the glass and then another and another until the solid sphere is

swelled into a great decanter. Now swinging the white hot bulb like a giant pendulum in the depths of a yawning pit beneath his feet, now blowing througli the tube, now thrusting it again into the furnace, at last the mass becomes a thin shelled cylinder as long as the man himself. After being cut and rolled as one would cut and roll a sheet iron cylinder Into a flat piece of metal, and annealing, this piece of glass will be cut into window panes. In another workshop a worki. an is rolling and smoothing a coll cf the sparkling fluid at the end of his blowpipe on a polished slab. Then he blows through his magic wand, and a sphere begins to blossom from the tip. It grows and flows from the point of contact over the shining surface.

A row of keen edged grindstones are turning swiftly in another room. Before each stands a workman with his shirt sleeves rolled to his armpits. A long apron protects his clothing. In his hands he holds a heavy piece of glassware. Lightly, but firmly, so that the veins stand out on the backs of his hands, he presses it upon the edge of the stone. With sureness of pressure he deftly carves the glass, facet upon facet, jewel upon jewel, until the whole piece lias become a massive setting of gleaming diamonds which some day will shimmer on the table of a fine house. And to his art the glassworker adds something of the alchemist’s art. Mixing a little gold with the glass, he turns it into the richest of rubies, violets and an amber that is solidified sunshine. He adds a little iron and draws from his glowing furnace glass furnished with ail tlie colors of the rainbow. All in all. he is one of tlie wonder workers of the twentieth eentury. —New York Tribune. Arcent ine V i tie yards. Wonderful yields of grapes are pro-du.-ed ill some Argentine vineyards. “In one vineyard, covering five or six acres, a small tram road ran up the middle.” writes a traveler "I asked wliat that was for. am! when told Hint it was to bring the • rapes to tlie wine press 1 wondered why they were not carried in baskets. When 1 learned that off these live or six acres eighty tons of grapes are gathered each year 1 ceased to think of tlie tramway, and my wonder was turned to the marvel of tl.e e n th's i>roducfiven< ss. Eighty tons were the average yield, after house servants, farm and garden servants and peons who drive treops of mules up and down the mountains with ores from the mines had eaten their fill, and the house dogs and the dogs of the servants and perns and also a vast number of the liUie silver gray foxes which crowded in yearly from all corners of the desert during the grape season and birds that came from all places. There was enough and plenty for all of these and then eighty lons besides.” A Bit of Hoar's Wit. As a wit Senator Hoar had few' superiors. though lie believed the floor of the senate not the place to display it. One of the occasions when he violated this rule was during a speech by William V. Allen of Nebraska. Who made a record of talking for ten solid hours. Toward tlie end of a long speech Senator Tillman of South Carolina interrupted Senator Allen with a correction. He said tliat Allen pronounced ad infinitum as if it were ad Infinny-tum.” Allen contended tliat that was the proper way and appealed to Mr. Hoar as an authority. The latter, of course, supported Ti'Uuuin. “But," he said. "1 suppose the senator from Nebraska gave the short sound to the ‘i’ in order to save the time of i the senate.”

. “AS BOLD AS A LION.” u Bather Say JBold a» a Partridge If ton Woul4Be Exact. *[ he only explanation of the adage, "As bold as-a lion." is that the lion’s magnificent, muscular body, his noble j head, great mane, the fact that he is a wild beast and—still more probably— | his deep throated roar that sounds so , extraordinarily bold have made him , feared for generations. But the lion I belongs to the family of cats and is | not bold. To those who know best he , is not brave even in the hour of danger. The lioness, who is smaller, less | terrible to look upon and is without a mane, is brave in defense of her young, but she, too, is not bold. She is merely fl bolder than the lion. In comparison H with any animal that can face danger land fight "fair” the lion is a coward. B To prove It let us see for a moment H how it is that the lion chooses to hunt fl his prey. The lion does not hunt. In the reeds B and grasses near some pool in the jun- a gle he lies hidden where he knows that H other animals will go to drink. Cat- H like, he leaps upon his victim, striking fl it w'itb his powerful paws. Then his H great jaws break the neck of the un- fl fortunate creature he has taken by sur- M prise, and the lion boldly carries off E the carcass to devour it where he will, fl The folk who live on the outskirts of » jungles in the lion's country sometimes 9 lose their sheep and goats when a bun- 3 gry lion can muster courage to go near a human habitation in his search for fl food. He goes at night and stealthily. 9 Who knows but that his heart goes fl pit-a-pat and his big limbs tremble at I every sudden noise? The natives of S India and of Africa know, however, fl that they can frighten away a thieving | lion by fire and torches. If cornered 1 and forced to fight he will do battle q savagely, but he doesn't seek an open 'j fight, and any traveler will tell you ~ that as a rule the "king of beasts" ! bolts on sighting a man. To be as bold as a partridge —as ' brave, unselfish, daring, heroic, as a ; partridge—is something one might be j proud to boast. No lion defends its ( young with the courage of a partridge. - The lioness at bay will turn in defense 1 of her cubs, will fight the enemy, will I spring at him furiously; the partridge will leave its little ones quite unprotected in the nest, or wherever they may be in biding, and will offer herself to spare them. It is not the unthink Ing heroism of excitement. The bird knows what she is doing and the dan ger. She schemes to attract attention to herself, but she manages to lead the dogs on, and she escapes. We at least have never heard anything in the life history of the partridge so sad as that the mother bird bas been taken at that supreme moment. Under the very nose of the dogs she will flutter and limp, with drooping wing, to deceive them into the belief that she is lamed and , cannot fly.—New York Mall.

Where Man and Dok “Pedigree in a dog makes film valuable. doesn't it?” “Certainly.” “Funny, isn’t it?” “What’s funny?” “Why. it’s my experience that pedigree makes a man pretty darn neal worthless.” —Chicago Post. Few Prayer*. Y’ern —Now, if ail men would vote as they pray this would truly be a happy world. Dern—But if th&t should ever happen you wouldn’t get the average man to the polls once in ten years.--Catholic Standard. Their Good Offices. "I see they're advertising twenty-five cent lunches. What do they give you?” “An appetite for your dinner.”—Philadelphia Ledger. Holiday Rates. ” For r the Christmas and New Years holidavs the G. R. A- I. will sell round trip tickets to all local stations at 4c per mile, one way mileage. Fort Wayne iffic, Borne 60c, Geneva 70c, Portland $1.15, etc. Selling dates Deo. 24, 25, 26. and 31, r 1904, also .Tmutirv 1 and 2, 1905. Will also sell to points on connecting linos in C. P. A. territory at rate of one and one-third fare. Same selling dates amt limit ns for local points. J. Bryson.

Special Low Excursion Rates n, CLOVER LEAF ROUTE. Season 13G4-05 Christmas and New Years Holiday f'ckets sold Dec. 24-25-21) and 31st: and Lin. I st Hn( ‘ 2d. Good to return until Jan. 4th. lUC ‘I U ' sive. at a rah* of one and one-third tare for the round trip. Students’ and Teachers’ tickets will be sold to Teach* r* and Students attending I niversiiies Colleges and Seminaries, on day preceding closing day, on the closing day. and day following But uot earlier that Ilea 15!h. on presentation of certth at< s. st one and one-third tare, good to return .lan. 11th. 1H». Homeseekers Rates to West and southwest 1" and 3rd Ti.eedtiy in each including April HO’, greatly reduced rates, (inters'Rates to Missouri. Arkansas Indian I'erritorv and the Southwest daily until lire, alst, g Kid 30 days. California. Pad Coast Tourtst tick*™ nsale via ad hires (rood H month*. Stopover prlvleges of len days. Pullman Palace Sleeping < ars, , 1 r< ’’_ rl ’, <•lmiugChi.tr and Case Carr. • Meals served a la-cartel. high back seat coaches on all tlirou 'h trains. For rates and information niarpst Ticket Agent, or address Indiana State Grander. Marion, I ml• * Dec. 13-pith. une fare pl□<’;> rents. good until Dee. 17th: Indiana stations only. Confidenttai: Ifvou ‘••'"template a tr.P to any point write cs for M’M iai. ini-or MAT ION. W. L. ROSS, General Passenger Agent. Toledo, Ohio. M. A. <’HaMBFK> m* k Frankfort. Ind. T. L. MILLER. Agent, Decatur. Inp * •

Our . Christmas Offerings We would be ‘ pleased to ( show you our j line of ‘ Plated Silver- ■ I ware, Knifes & i l forks, Tea and j ; Table Spoons,; I Berry spoons, *Cr earn and ; Gravy Ladles, Cold meat j forks and every known kind of spoons, and forks. Solid Silver spoons, Forks and ladles, cut glass at cost. Closing out the line. Nickle plated ■ coffee and teapot s, Baking dishes and i Chafing dishes Boys’ and girls skates at all I prices. Hand I sleighs & wagons, Shot guns j and Target riHfies, Carpet Sweepers. WE WILL QUOTE YOU pricesthat wil t J get your busi | ness. Schafer Hardware Company. GET A KEY ON THE MONEY BOX.