Decatur Democrat, Volume 50, Number 44, Decatur, Adams County, 3 January 1907 — Page 3

o- ■a ■ Tht ISeacher And the m I [Original.] We was very much pleased at the j settlement when a rattletrap buggy drove up with a man and a girl. The man said he was lookin’ for a convenient place for his daughter to open a school and wished to know if' ( Scratchgravel wanted one. He added 1 that the settlement need not be at any , expense, since his daughter would ask j for tuition only what the parents felt ( able to give. We wanted a school , mighty bad, not that the children ‘ needed I’arnln’, for there wasn’t no , >use for it at Scratchgravel, but their ' mothers liked to talk across lots with one another, and the children bothered ’em while they was doin’ it So the schoolmann was engaged, her father . drove away, and the children was kept . cooped up for five hours a day while ■ their mothers was a-gossipin’. ’ It was about this time that the hoes stealin’ commenced. Not that we hadn’t had boss stealin*. We had. But somehow the rascals had found a way o’ giftin' Inside our corrals and stampedin’ the stock. We organized 1 a watch, but as soon as we did the , hoss stealin’ stopped. We dropped the . watch, and it begun again. Then, the watch bein’ too hard on the men o’ the settlement, we took In the wimmen. Nobody saw nothin’ till it come the teacher’s turn, when the hull gang o’ hoss thieves come down on us to oncet, and she lit after ’em, firin’ at ’em, and saved a dozen bosses they had loosed ready to run off. • This made the schoolteacher mighty popular, and, since she was a good looking gal with pink eheeks, several o’ the bachelors o’ the settlement wanted to marry her. But she wouldn’t have none of ’em, sayin’ her heart was with the dear little Innocents she was teachin*. Another thing that lifted the schoolmarm in our affections was that she put us on to somep’n that we didn’t think of before. She said that some one was loosenin’ the bosses and the thieves would swoop down and drive ’em off. This some one must be one of us. We all looked at each other suspicious-like, every feller wonderin’ ,if he wasn’t suspicioned. It wouldn’t do to put any of us on watch for fear o’ puttin’ oh the man that was doin’ the business. At last two or three of us got together and after talkin’ the matter over allowed we’d ask the teacher to do a little detective work to find out who the traitor was. This was natcheral, seein’ she’d got on to the fact that there was a traitor. She said she’d keep her eye skinned for him, but unless she could ketch him in the act we wouldn’t believe in his guilt We swore we would and waited for her to work up the case. While this was a-goin* on the rustlers had got away with most o’ the bosses. 4 Fqct is there wasn’t but half a dozen on ’em left in the hull settlement One stormy night we heered a clatterin’ o’ hoofs and went out to try and save the stock. The hoss thieves had started the hull lot of ’em, but two bad got away and turned back. Ben. Hathaway and me got saddles on to ’em and lit out to try and save the other four. We chased ’em purty lively and was a-ketchin’ up with ’em when the hoss one of ’em was ridln’ struck a deep mudhole and fell. We was tight on, but be stood in the middle o’ the road pumpin’ lead at us, and vre drew up. It was so dark we couldSWl see him, and he couldn’t see us; thenr fore he couldn’t hit us nor we him. Suddently there was a big flash o’ hghtnin’. and there in the middle o’ the road stood a woman. But, though the flash was only instantan’ous, both IX us saw for the millionth part of a second, plain as at noonday, the schoolmarm. . \ Before we had a chance to say any--thing to each other there come another /3teh, and three shots rung out after it and before the'thunder. One o* ’em was from theschoeiteaeher, and t’other two was from me and Ben. We heered a yell, and I, dismountin’, give my boss to Ben and walked’ to the mudbole. I held, my shootin* iron cocked before me, for there was plenty of Hghtnin’, and I didn’t want to git tanked while lighted up by a flash. Jut-the first real bright one that come bowed the woman layln’ in a heap cross the mudhole. My onscience troubled me for hootin’ a woman, even if she was In eague with hoss thieves, and I went >n, callin’ to Ben at the* same time to ome on. too, hopin’ the gal might net >e dead and we could save her life. Vhen we got to where she was she roaned, and we knowed she was live. We couldn’t do nothin’ for her ut there in the dark, so we put her n one o’ the horses, holdin’ her on, nd walked back to the settlement {Then we got there everybody was ptside, some o’ ’em with lanterns, ’hat do you suppose the gal had the all to do? She pointed to Ben and le and gasped: VThese two done It They loosened le stock for the rustlers.’’ IWell. there we was convicted o’ hoes lealin’ and had shot the gal that had sen watchin’ us. * T.h£ next mornin’ airly we was both ken under a big tree and a noose rowed around our necks. They was st about to swing us off when a eri.T come dashln’ into town lookin’ tK: I Regan, the boy boss thief. As >n a < he hearn the schoolteacher asked to see her, and the minute he t eyes on to her recognised her for igan. But the kid defeated justice dyin' the same day. That’s how n and me was saved from a boas alin* death. * __ AMY B, KENNEDY.

DISHONEST DOLLARS COUNTERFEITERS USE RARE SKILL AND MANY DEVICES. It Take* Experts to Detect Some et the Illecal Coin In Circulation. How Uncle Sam’s Ofllclals Deteet Fraudulent Currency. “Although gold coins are not in circulation in the east in comparison with the total amount of paper money which leaves the gray walls of this old building,’* said an official of the treasury department to a reporter, “there are nevertheless a great many of these coins current, and they are counterfeited, together with our silver coins, more than the average person would suppose. "I will give you a few suggestions on the manufacture of good and counterfeit coins of various denominations which will be of interest and value to the public. The three principal treasury tests of coins are, first, the weight; second, the diameter, and third, the thickness. The counterfeiter who succeeds in making his dies and the spurious metal alloy which will meet all of these tests is indeed a smart one. With some alloys he may be able to work out the weight, but the diameter of the coin would reveal that it was a counterfeit product, for even a very slight increase in the thickness of the illicitly made article would show at once its counterfeit origin. “The superior grade of coin counterfeits are made with a die. Some of the more perfect ones are almost replicas of our own mixed products and have a sharp, true ring, smooth, well finished surfaces, with the lettering and milling finely delineated. The reeding—the little raised and indented marks on the edges of tbe coin—is not as sharp and clear as the reeding on the genuine coins. While many of the fined counterfeits are of full weight, they are usually a little short, of weight Some of these gold coin counterfeits are so well made and are of such a fine appearance that they pass current until they reach the hands of the coin experts in this building. “The standard gold used by the mint is 900 fine, or 21.19 carats. The most deceptive gold counterfeits are jnade of a grade of gold, or from 600 to 800 fine and as low as 400 fine in the more inferior grades of counterfeits. The most deceptive gold counterfeits are those which are manufactured from an alloy of gold, copper and silver. Platinum is a metal which is used by the expert counterfeiter to gain the necessary weight to his output, and when these platinum counterfeits are struck off in good dies and then very heavily gold plated they prove to be very dangerous counterfeits when first ’shoved* by the accomplices of the man who generally does the spurious minting, he usually keeping out of sight, for he is too valuable a man in the trade to be nabbed in the passing stunt The gold plating wears off In due time, and the base metal Is revealed. ’ • “A comparison of the piece with the genuine of the same coinage and date, together with a critical inspection of the minting, general appearance, die impress, Ying, size and weight, will be found an accurate test when in doubt as to whether a coin is genuine or spurious. The familiar acid test may also be applied. “Counterfeit coins made in molds are the more common and the more MMy detected. The mold counterfeit Hmily applies to silver coins. A number of years ago there were many counterfeits of silver coins made of lead and type metal, but these have largely passed because of their easy detection both as to sight and feeling, as they are slippery to the touch as compared with the real silver coin. The molding process is a cheap one to set up and is largely indulged in by foreigners, who pass their bad products upon their own countrymen when the latter are green as to the genuine coin. “The sharp, clear cut appearance of the genuine coin is absent, the milling and lettering are dim, while the reading is usually very faint and poorly delineated. Nevertheless some pretty fair silver counterfeit coins are turned out of molds, but the weight is generally;when an attempt is made to bring them within the specified thickness aad diameter. “That there Is considerable counterfeiting tn coins still attempted is shown by the fact that our secret service officers captured (6,000 tn spurious gold coins and (12,000 in silver coins during the past year. The more expert silver eoln counterfeiters use for their product of the larger silver coins an alloy of about two-thirds antimony and one-third lead, and when they, heavily plate these productions they got out deceptive coin which has a pretty fair ring. The good old standby test of the required weight gives these coins away In the hands of one used to handling money, though In some sections of the country they get into circulation easily. The dollar piece makes the most dangerous of this clhss of counterfeits. “Some of the molds are mado of metal, but most of them are made of plaster of parts. The five dollar and the ten dollar gold pieces are the most favored by the counterfeiter, the twenty dollar gold piece being very hard to reproduce so as to baffle detection, as the die of this coin is the most beautiful and the hardest to imitate of our gold coins. The predominating silver pieces of counterfeit production are the fifty and twenty-five cent pieces and the standard silver dollar. The first two pieces of subsidiary poin are the most easily ‘shoved.’ “Nickel pieces have been gold plated and nassed on immigrants and far- - —J—Stmt— er— I

eigners at New York as genuine United States gold pieces of the five dollar denomination, but they would not deceive an American. Sometimes a counterfeit of the subsidiary coins is raked in stamped out of brass or copper and plated; but these coins are all of light weight and should not be deceptive. Coins of the commoner metals, as of pewter, are too light to be deceptive except on greenhorns of the far over the sea variety. These coins are thickened to give them a weight approaching the real article and ought to be readily detected. “Some counterfeiters employ their time in ‘doctoring’ genuine coins of gold, as it would not pay them to fool with the silver product Plugging is the favorite method employed, and the larger denominations of the gold coins, especially the twenty dollar gold piece, are selected. They bore out the interior of these large coins with delicate Instruments and can get out several dollars’ worth of the pure gold from each coin thus ‘doctored.’ The hole is drilled in the edges, and so expertly is it done and so neatly and skillfully is the interior plugged with bad but weighty metal that these coins often defy detection until they reach the hands of an expert. The puncture in the reading is so minute and so cleverly annealed with pure gold and then rereeded with a fine file that the puncture escapes detection except upon careful examination with sharp eyes. “Some counterfeiters give the gold coins an acid bath or ‘sweat’ them out of a dollar or two of the good metal and then pass them along. The coins are genuine, of course, but the ‘sweating’ deprives them of the required weight These ‘sweated’ coins pass circulation from hand to hand until they reach the banks or the subtreasuries, when they are at once caught up by the coin counters, and their careers come to a sudden and abrupt close as coins of the realm.”—Washington Star. TALES OF A WARRIOR. How Sir Evelyn Wood Felt When Wounded In Battle. Sir Evelyn Wood served in the Crimean war. He tells this grim incident of the contest: “I was greatly impressed by the courage of a young sergeant who was trying to collect men to accompany him through or over an abatis. After calling in vain on those Immediately to follow him he lost his temper and shouted, Til tell my right hand man to follow me, and if he fails I’ll shoot him.’ He brought his rifle down to the ‘ready’ and said, ‘Private —, will you follow me?’ I was almost touching them and, seeing by the sergeant’s eye that he was in earnest, stood for a few second Studying the determined look on the man’s face. The private looked deliberately on the hundreds of Russians above us and then ran his eye right and left of where we were standing, as if estimating the number of his comrades, who certainly did not exceed 100, and with as mueh determination as the sergeant said, ‘No, I won’t’ The noncommissioned officer threw his rifle to his shoulder with the Intention of carrying out his threat but in doing so, struck by a grapeshot he fell dead.” How does it feel to be wounded? Sir Evelyn Wood tells this of the Zulu war in the seventies: “I was parting the thick bush with my hands when Arthur Eyre, pulling me by the skirt of my Norfolk jacket, protested, ‘lt is really not your place,’ and pushed in before me. Two or three volleys cleared that part of the bush, but between 9 and 10 o’clock, as I turned round to speak to a staff officer who was bringing me an order from the general, an Ashantee lying close to me shot the head of a nail into my chert immediately over the region of the heart. Sticks were flying freely all the morning, and when 1 recovered from the stunning effect of the blow I asked Arthur Eyre, who was bending over me, ‘Who hit me on the head?’ ‘No one hit you, sir.’ ’Yes, somebody did, and knocked me down.’ ‘No, I’m afraid you are wounded.’ ‘Nonsense; ‘ It is only my. head is buzzing; I think, J from a blow.* He pointed to my shirt, through which trickled some blood, and said, ‘No, you have been wounded there.’ ” Colonel Wood was very badly wounded, but recovered.—Chicago News. Powder Habit Amons Men. “In my young days,” said an old gentleman from Washington square, “it was considered effeminate for a man to use face powder. The only kind of powder we used was what we put in our pistols. But nowadays it’s nothing to see a young fellow emerging from a barber shop as pink and white as a rose. In fact, some young ■ men, who haven’t wives from whom to Steal it, keep a box of it on their dressing cases —soft, white, flowery, sweet smelling stuff—to use after shav- j Ing. When I was young a scrape in soap and cold water, with a stinging j application of bay rum afterward, was ( considered luxurious and dandified J enough, but now an average barber Insists on giving you a massage with your shave and makes you as velvety and lovely as a slxteen-year-old schoolgirl. And that isn’t all. I see In the departme: t stores that they are selling huge Fre' eh powder puffs the size of a plate w‘h which‘to fluff your body all over with dainty talcum after a bath. I would have thought these were for the ladies and would have turned | my face discreetly the other way if I hadn’t seen tv.<o husky chaps Investing , in them.”—New York Press. How People Don’t Get Rich. i Husband—What do you think, dear. ■ I’ve had my salary raised (5 a month. His Wife—Oh. isn’t that nice! Now we can have that second girl, a telephone and a piano, and I can take lessons in china painting, can’t I?—Chicago News.

»LD PUZZLE ABOUT CHECKS AVben They Could Not Be Drawn In Favor of Any One Person. Discussing, at the London King’s college Gilbart lectures on banking, the rise of the bank check system. Sir John Paget, K. C., had the following to say: “The origin of crossing checks is well known. It began in the clearing house for the convenience of those employed there, and then it began to be adopted by the general public. There was no statutory interpretation, no statutory sanction; still, when done by the drawer of a check, it had some effect If a man drew a check on his banker and wrote across it the name of another banker he obviously meant his banker to understand something by it. He meant to convey something to his banker. Following the analogy of the clearing house and looking at the natural meaning of writing another banker’s name across the check, one might be inclined to say that the reasonable interpretation was that the customer forbade his banker to pay the check except to or through the medium of that banker. “But in those days and indeed later judges and lawyers could not reconcile this interpretation with the continued negotiability of the check. All checks were up to 1853 made payable to bearey, and the objection was: ‘How can a check be at the same time payable to bearer and only payable to a specified banker? If it be payable to a banker, why cannot the bearer demand payment of It himself over the counter?* We know better now. We know that no crossing, except the ‘Not negotiable’ one, in any way affected the full negotiability of the check, but in those days the problem was a terrible stumbling block. Consequently, as pointed out by Lord Cairns in Smith and the Union bank, the cressing prior to statutory enactment amounted only to a caution or warning to the paying banker to exercise special care If he paid the check otherwise than to a banker, for they drew no distinction in the days prior to 1858 between a special and a general crossing. “That was so even after the first act In 1856. All that the crossing, whether special or general, amounted to was, as I say, to warn the banker to be careful if he paid the check direct to the bearer. If he took no precautions he might be liable to his customer on the ground of negligence if the payment were to a person with no title and the customer suffered loss thereThe Bedouin’* House. The Bedouin’s house is round and surrounded by a round wall in which the flocks are penned at night It is flat roofed and covered with soil, and inside it is as destitute of interest as it is possible to conceive—a tew mats on which the family sleep, a few jars io which they store their butter and a skin churn in which they make t¥ same. In one house into which I penetrated a bundle was hanging from the celling, which I found to he a baby by the exposure of one of its little feet. Everything is poor and pastoral. He hardly has any clothes to cover himself with, nothing to keep him warm when the weather is damp saves his homespun sheet, and he has not a soul above his flocks. The closest Intimacy exists between the Bedouin and bls goats and his cows. The animals understand and obey certain calls with absolute accuracy, and you generally see a Socotran shepherdess walking before her flock and not after it, and they stroke and caress their little cows until they are as tame as doge. Uncon*cion* Humorist*. That the average schoolboy is an unconscious humorist of the highest order is amply proved by the examples which, supplied by schoolmasters, appear from time to time In print, says Chums. “Rivers flow because no one can stop them.” declared one youthful essayist recently, while another, when i asked to give the seven great powers * of the world, wrote in all good faith, “Gravity, electricity, steam power, gas power, horsepower,..armies and navies.” In describing the difference between a physician and a surgeon yet another budding writer declared: “A physician is a man who deals with medicines. He goes out to see people. A surgeon is a man who mixes medicines in the surgery for the physician and who takes legs off when any one requires it or arms.” Wanted the Credit. Anything in regard to Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, is Interesting, but some of the anecdotes told of him : make plain the fact that he was not ’ wholly free from human weaknesses. One story, whether true or not, is often told of Allen and is recorded in Mr. i Morrill’s “Self Consciousness of Noted 1 Persons.” i Ethan Allen was not wont to bridle his tongue, especially when flushed 1 with success. His bravery was not to . jbe disputed, but sometimes bls words were even bigger than bis deeds. “Had I but orders I could go to Albany and • be monarch In three weeks, and I’ve half a mind to do it,” be once boasted. On the Sunday after the capture of Ticonderoga Parson Dewey thanked God in bls long prayer for the great dellv- i erance. The hero of the occasion was one of the congregation. j I “Parson Dewey! Parson Dewey I" I was beard In a whisper by those sitting near Ethan Allen. i The clergyman was absorbed In bls I own thoughts and continued to thank the Lord. I j “Parson Dewey!” This time the exclamation was heard all over the church by every one but the preacher. Alien could stand It no longer and shouted in a stentorian voice. “Parson Dewey, thank the Lord, but just mention that I was there!” I• . I

Hippoeratle Era In Medicin*. Richard Cole Newton declares that even in the early days of the Hippocratic era the art of surgery eschewed all forms of superstition and philosophical conjecture, attaining practical results by direct methods. At a very early age the profession of medicine was fully recognized in Greece and in many cases was generously rewarded. We read of swindlers and charlatans in those days too. Patent medicines were also sold. The Hippocratic oath, which for over twenty centuries has remained practically unchanged, is an evidence of the sagacity, the sense of professional honor and responsibility and the clear thinking of the Greeks. Hippocrates was born on the) island of Cos in 460 B. C. A large collection of writings, evidently the work of many physicians, whose identity is unknown, has been ascribed to the pen of this leader. The Greeks were wonderfully brilliant in medical attainments, for they studied nature and her methods and shook themselves free from a monumental load of ignorance and superstition. The synchronous development of mind and body was the fundamental rule, both of health and education.—Medical Record. The Discipline of Failure. The best skating is always on thin ice-we like to feel it crack and yield under our feet. There is a deadly fascination in the thought of twenty or thirty feet of cold water beneath. Last year’s mortality list cuts no ice with us. We must make our own experiments, while Dr. Experience screams himself hoarse from his bonfire on the bank. He has held many an Inquest on this darkling shore of the river of time, and he will undoubtedly live to hold many another, but thus far we have not been the subjects, and when it comes to the mistakes of others we are all delighted to serve on the coroner’s jury. It isn’t well for us to be saved from too many blunders. We need the discipline of failure. It is better to fail than never to try, and the man who can contemplate the graveyard of his own hopes without bitterness wlli not always be ignored by the gods of success.—Meredith Nicholson in Reader. Tree That Gives Light. Among freaks of nature in trees there stands conspicuous one knowu as the Asiatic star tree. It is enormously tall, growing to a height of from sixty -feet to eighty feet, while from the ground up to a distance of about forty feet the trunk is perfectly bare. From that point there spring a number of tangled limbs, which shoot out clusters of long, pointed leaves, and it is these, grouped together, that emit at night a clear, phosphorescent light This gives the tree a spectral appearance and is very deceiving to travelers, who frequently mistake the glow for an illuminated window of a house. The lighl is not brilliant, but is of sufficient strength to allow of a newspaper being read by it It does not flicker, but glows steadily from sunset to daybreak. Men Who Walked on AH Fours. In the kingdom of Poland there was formerly a law according to which any person found guilty of slander was compelled to walk on all fours through the streets of the town where he lived accompanied by the beadle, as a sign that he was disgraced and unworthy of the name of man. At the next public festival the delinquent was forced to appear crawling upon hands and knees underneath the banqueting table and barking like a dog. Every guest was at liberty to give him as many kicks as be chose, and he who bad been slandered must toward the end of the banquet throw a picked bone at the culprit, who, picking it up with his mouth, would leave the room on all fours. A Charity Dane*. Awkward Spouse—l see our set is to have a grand charity bait Did you ever dance for charity? Pretty WifeOs course. Don’t you remember how I used to take pity on you and dance with you when we first met?—London Telegraph. Hi* Wish. They had just moved into a new bouse, and they stood surveying the situation. “I wish,” she said, “that this carpet was velvet” “I don’t,” responded the husband unfeelingly. “I Wish it was down.” Easy. Malsle—Aren’t you coming to my party? Daisy—How can I when I’m in half mourning? Malsie—Oh, welt come and stay half the evening — Cleveland Leader. I Don’t Kill the Hawk. Man has sinned more than any other animal In trifling with nature’s balance. Clover crops and the killing of j hawks are apparently unrelated, yet; the hawks eat the field mice, the fielc mice prey on the immature bees, and the bees fertilize the clover blossoms. The death of a hawk means an overIncrease of field mice and a consequent i destruction of the bees.—Country Life ’ In America. No reace For Discoverer*. It is remarkable bow few of the dis- [ coverers and conquerors of the new World died in peace. Columbus died of a broken heart, Balboa was disgracefully beheaded, Cortes was dishonored, Sir Walter Raleigh was be-' needed, Pizarro was murdered, Ojeda died in poverty and Henry Hudson was left to the mercy of the Indians along the bay which he discovered.— Detroit Free Press. — i Tbe Signal. Tommy—Does your ma hit your foot under the table when you’ve had enough? Tommy—No; that’s when I haven’t had enough. When I have she ■ends for the doctor.—Harper’s Bazar. j

What Fishing Develops. To those who are satisfied with a superficial view of the subject it may seem impossible that the diligence and attention necessary to a fisherman’s ■ success can leave him any opportunity while fishing to thoughtfully contem1 plate any matter not related to his puri suit. Such a conception of the situation cannot be indorsed for a moment by 1 those of ut who are conversant with i the mysterious and unaccountable men- > tai phenomena which fishing develops, i We know th.’.t the true fisherman finds i no better time for profitable contempla- ■ tion and mental exercise than when ac- ’ tually engaged with his angling outfit. • It will probably never be possible for ’ us to gather statistics showing the movt ing sermons, the enchanting poems, the ' learned arguments and eloquent ora- . tions that have been composed or con- > structed between the bites, strikes or rises of fish. But there can be no doubt r that of the many intellectual triumphs s won in eyery walk of life a larger proi portion has been actually hooked and ■ landed with a rod and reel by those of ■ the fishing fraternity than have been - secured in any one given condition of - the nonfishing world. — “Fishing and Shooting Sketches,” by Grover Cleveland. 1 Calling; th* Chicken*. 1 In England the calls chuck, chuck, - or coop, coop, prevail; in Virginia, r coo-che, coo-che; in Pennsylvania, pee, t pee. This latter call is widely eml ployed, being reported from Germany, i, Spain (as pi, pi), Bulgaria, Hungary, f Bavaria and tbe Tyrol. In the Austri- . an province the term is used in coms bination—thus: Pulla, pi, pi. The call 1 pullele, pul, pul, also occurs there. F In some parts of Germany the poula try are called with tick, tick; in Pruse sla, put, put, and young chickens with 1 tuk, tuk (Grimm), and schlp, schip, the t latter being an imitation of their own F cry. In eastern Prussia hens are f called with kluckschen, kluck, kluck; r also tippeben, tlpp, tipp. Grimm rei- cords also pi, pi, and tiet, tiet Welns hold reports from Bavaria blbi, bibell,, e bldll; pl, pi, and pul, pul. In Denmark s the call is pootle; in Holland, kip, klpi In Bohemia, tyoo; in Bulgaria, tirl, tiri. Mother Goo*e. 6 The most popular children’s book; e ever written was “Mother Goose’s Melf odies.” Mrs. Goose, op 7 Mother Goose, ? as she was familiarly called, was the e mother-in-law of Thomas Fleet, a Boston printer early in the century. When “ his first child was born his motber-in- ' law devoted all her attention to the--8 baby and, it is said, greatly annoyed ’’ Fleet by her persistent and not par--1 ticularly musical chanting of the old 8 English ditties she had heard in her8 childhood. The idea occurred to Fleet of writing down these songs and publishing them in book form. The oldest extant copy bears the date of 1719. t The price marked on the title pagewas coppers.” This account oF * the origin of Mother Goose is discredited by some critics, who declare that in 1697 Perrault published “Contes dema Mere I’Oye,” or “Stories of Mother Goose.” The name Mother Goose was 9 familiar in French folklore, being used r by writers of this literature over a cen--9 tury before the time of Perrault. i Th* fltatu* of a Meteorite. 1 A meteorite fell on a Vermont farm 7 in 1896. It was a valuable meteorite, ’ and the landlord at once stepped up. . and claimed it. “All minerals and metals on the land belong to me,” hesaid. “That’s in the lease.” But the tenant demurred. “This me--1 teorite,” he said, “wasn’t on the farm, ’ you must remember, when the lease- ■ was drawn up.” The landlord perceived the justice- ’ of tfiat claim. He thought a moment. 1 Then he said decisively, “I claim heras flying game.” But the tenant was ready for him. t “She’s got neither wings nor feathers,”' ! he said. “Therefore, as ground game,. . she’s mine.” , They continued their argument, and. , la the heat of it a revenue officer, ari riving with a truck, proceeded to put the meteorite aboard. “I claim herfor the government,” he said, “as an article introduced into the country- ■ without payment of duty.” ■■■■ ' — • Illi A Hotel Experience. One fashionable hotel on Fifth avenue refuses to give any receipt for jewelry deposited in its safe or holdL itself responsible for a greater amount than (250. Its explanation of this ruleis based on an experience which seems excuse enough. Two guests of the hotel kept their valuables and money in the safe. They left them there when they went abroad, sometimes to stay for six months. Once"' the wife’ came back alone and drew out all the money and valuables. As she had'Often done so before the clerks gave the i box to her as a matter of course. It j was not until her husband had returned and wanted the same valuables that the hotel knew of their divorce. The husband brought suit and recovered all he claimed. Since that result of its confidence in Its guests the hotel has ' limited its responsibility to (250.—New l York Sui€ (The Two Lady Motorist*. The two great motors were pulled np in front of one of the big dry goods stores. One lady was entering -her machine; the other was getting out. ; “Hello, Gladys! Out for a spin?” j l ' “Yes; glad to see you.” “Just ran across your husband a block above.” . - “You did? How can I ever thank yon enough?”—New York Press. i .j i — Not So Ea*y. “Dibble, don’t you think a man ought to save at least half the money h* makes?” , “Yes, but how can he, with his «•» I Itors howling for It all the time?”