Daily Greencastle Banner and Times, Greencastle, Putnam County, 5 April 1897 — Page 2

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THE DAILY BANNER TIMES, GREENCASTLE, INDIANA.

A TRAGIC WOOING.

ARSON,” I said involuntarily, stoop- * ng to knoclc tlie ash from my cigar, r . ' ; ^ ^ "perhaps I ought n°i to ask - al * r ~~ \ though I have nearly three tj Ut j 9 it usual for a wife to wear two wedding rings?” Dead silence. He had just lowered his violin, after a very soft solo for it was considerably past midnight when I ventured that curious question. There had been an evening party, and, as 1 was to stay at the house till morning, Carson's wife had said "good night and left us to finish our inevitable smoke and talk. His mouth twitched a litt'e, but it was some time before he retorted in a low tone: "Is it usual for a man under 40 to have hair as white as mine?” “Well, perhaps not—but l thought you attributed that to some shock or other. What has that to do with with the two rings?” “Everything.” He listened at the door for a moment, turned down the lights, and then came and sat down, spreading his hands over the fire. "Two rings? Exactly, one is the ring I put on her finger when I married her; the second was put there by another man—and will stay there as long as the first.” "Never mind, now,” I said. His voice had trailed oft huskily. “I had no idea there was any tragic element behind the fact.” "Tragic? Heavens! It was more than that, Arthur,” he whispered, turning up a drawn face. "I never meant to touch upon it, but when you spoke it came back with a rush as vivid as if I had been standing at the mouth of the old north shaft again. And that was six years ago. . . . ! "You’ve heard me speak, at least, of the mine itself—the Langley mine, in Derbyshire. 1 had only been assistant surveyor at the pits there for about nine months when it happened. At 9 o’clock that morning, Arthur, three of us stepped into the cage—old Jim Halliday, the foreman; his son Jim, and myself. The men had gone down an hour before. I shall never forget that young Jim's sweetheart had walked over to the pit with him, as she occasionally did They were to be married in a week or two, and she—and she had on her finger the ring that he had bought in Derby the day before—just for safety's sake, or perhaps out of womanly pride. I recollect that just as the chain clanked and the winter sunshine tvas disappearing overhead he shouted out a third ’good-by!’ to her —little dreaming that it was to be ‘good-by.’ Little enough old Halliday and I thought that days would elapse before we emerged into God’s sunlight again! "A new vein had been bored the year before and then abandoned because it ran in the direction of the river. We three had had instructions to widen it for a space of 300 yards—a piece of work that had occupied us nearly a month. Old Jim picked and young Jim wheeled the coal away to the nearest gallery, from where it was carried over rails to the bottom of the main shaft. " T think it’s as near as possible, Mr. Carson,’ old Halliday said. ‘Jim, give another count; we don’t want the water coming in.’

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STAGGERING TO AND FRO. “Jim went back. We could hear him ringing out the paces in his lighthearted fashion as he returned, his voice echoing through the long galleries. ‘Two-sixty-eight pooh! you're miles off it, dad!’ He was only a score of yards off, though. Two-slxty-nine . . . two-seventy-four. It’ll allow a full twenty yet, 1 reckon.’ "He had just finished his count when —but tbere, no man could prop, ny describe it. It was something one had to realize for himself before he could understand a bare half of the sudden terror that whitened our lips and seemed to bring our hearts to a standstill. There was a rumbling in one of the distant galleries and a sickening tremble of the ground underneath us; then—then the most paralyzing sound, 1 do believe, that is to be heard in this world. How or why it happened is something to ne placed among the host of unsolved mysteries; but there was one grinding, splintering roar as though the earth had split into pieces. "liefore we could stir hand or foot to save ourselves—before we could even take in ‘hat an explosion had occurred Wliile we were guarding against another sort of danger—down thundered a mass of coal, tons upon tons of it, that blocked up the only passage leading to the shaft. It just reached young Jim; standing where he did, he was struck down we heard his screech stifled beneath thedebris. Koraboutflve more seconds the earth seemed to be heaving and threatening universal chaos; then all became still as a tomb. "A tomb? We had our lamps; old Jim and I looked and saw that we were cut off from the rest of the world. "Wbat happened next I hardly know;

1 was stupefied with the shock, sick with a mortal fear of death. He and I stood staring mutely at each other. The one thing I recollect is that his face was gray as marble and that a line of froth stood on his lips. “He was the first to come back to sense. He gave one choking cry of ’Jim!’ and staggered forward to that black pile. The boy’s hand was sticking out from the bottom of it, clutching convulsively at nothing. I sank down and watched, in a sort of dreary fascination, as old Jim, uttering strange cries, tore at the mass in a mad frenzy. God help him! Jim was the only thing he had in the world to love. In less than five minutes he had dragged him out, and sat down to hug him in his arms. Dead? No; he could just open his poor dust-filled eyes in answer to his father's whispers, but we knew at once that he would never again make the galleries echo his piercing whistle. “For whole hours, I suppose, neither of us attempted to realize our situation. We sat on in dead silence, waiting for something to happen. Once or twice we saw young Jim's blackened lips move feebly, and each time his father would mutt-r brokenly, ‘Ay, my precious boy, we’ll look after her!' Once the old man broke out, quaveringly, into a hymn, ’Abide with Me!’ but he got no further than the third line. That, perhaps, was about 8 o'clock, but we could keep no count of the time, as my watch had stopped. Hour after hour must have gone by, and still old Jim sat, with rigid face and staring eyes, clasping his burden. In all probability it was morning above ground before at last he spoke. “ ‘How long can we hold out, Mr. Carson? I’m feared to go. I've been a godless man all my time.’ “That roused me. I examined our position carefully. The passage was about eight yards wide at this point, and measured about twenty paces from the end to where that solid wall of coal blocked our path to the outer world. As the bore ran level with the foot of the north shaft we were about forty feet below the clear surface. We had no food, and our lamps would burn, say, another five or six hours. • • • "I think I must have fainted. I do not seem to recollect any more until the momeiy. when I became conscious of my mate's hard breathing over me, and of the fact that his hand was feeling—or, so it seemed—for my throat. I dashed him away, panting under the shock of this new horror. “ ’Jim,’ I gasped, ‘for heaven's sake, keep sane! If we're to go, let us die like men!’ “No answer; I heard him crawling away, and that was all. The dead silence was only broken by a faint trickling sound. Trickling! Yes; I put my hand to the level, and found half an inch of water. . . . And hotter and more stifling grew the atmosphere. Praying hard to myself. I realized now that should no help come, only a few hours could !ie betwixt us and the end. And then—old Jim might go first, and I should be left. Nay, I was already practically alone; the fear that was slowly whitening my hair had turned old Jim's brain. “He suddenly sent up a peal of delirious laughter. ’Water! Who says water? Why. mates, I'm swimming in it! Here’s a go!’ "Presently he began creeping round to find me. I could hear him coming, by his labored respiration, and the swishing of the ooze as he moved. Round and round the space we went stealthily, until at last he made a cunning rush and caught me by the ankles. ’Got Irm!’ He yelled it with a glee that was unmistakable. "Mere words could never convey the sensation of that moment. Half suffocated, past all ordinary fear, I closed with my pom - old mate, and we went staggering to and fro across our prison, until at last I managed to throw him so that his bead struck heavily against the wall. After that he lay quite still. I believed at the time that I had killed him, but we knew afterwards that it was that blow which preserved his reason. “The rest can be told in a few words. After that 1 lay there like one In a dream, while the pestilential air slowly did its work. Sometimes I fancied I could feel cool breezes blowing down on me, and at others heard some one telling me to wake up, for that the whistle had sounded at the pits. How long I lay so I can only conjecture. I really knew nothing more until I was roused by the sound of that coal barrier crashing down before the picks and spades of a dozen rescuers, and the hubbub from a dozen throats as they broke into our tomb. "Only just in time. Old Jim’s face was only just out of the water, and they said that no human being could have lived in that atmosphere for another two hours. And young Jim?— well, there was just enough life left in him to last three days. * « * ’’Till the end of that third day I kept to my lied, and then they sent to say that he was going, but that he wished to see me first. I reached the house just in time to 'atch his last whisper. “ ‘You—you’ll take her, mate! Marry her—no one else! Only—only you’ll 1 let my ring stay there. Promise—me I —that.’ “What could I do but promise? I | had not thought then of marrying his sweetheart—but it was his dying wish, and for years Jim and I had been like brothers. • * * “Just a yoa r later I asked her if there was room in >'er heart for me, and— and—well, that’s enough. Now you know why my wife wears two wedding rings.”—London Tit-Bits. Of Connie. Mrs. Henry Peck—I wonder who first used the expression, "And only man is vile.” Mr. Henry Peck—Oh, some woman suffragist, I suppose!— Twinkles.

THE ANCIENT KITES.

A RETREAT BEING BUILT BY THE T H EOSOPH ISTSi Stmlents of the Occalt I';it Little— Thowe Whose Minds Are Filled with Esoteric* Knowledge Will We»r East Indian Dress.

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HE running time by rail to the mysteries of Elusis will be five days. On Point Loma, near the city of San Diego, Cal., the theosophists wil 1 establish a university lor the study of ancient rites, says the New York Herald.

The institution Is to be called “The School of the Revival of the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity.” If the carpenter, the painter and the plumber do their duty the school will open for the study of the occult early next April. The founding of this school has been a pet project among theosophists for more than a year. It was exploited last year at the convention of the theosophists held in Madison Square garden. Donations were received from all part# of the country, and an English woman has given £4,800 to found a professorship. The objects which the school hopes to attain, as given in the articles of incorporation, which are duly filed in Albany, are: “The mutual improvement in religious knowledge by the comparative study of religions; investigation of the secret mysteries of antiquity; the performance of charitable and benevolent services.” The officers of the institution are; Dr. J. D. Buck of Cincinnati, president; F. M. Pierce of New York, vice-president; E. Augustus Neresheimer of New York, treasurer, and Clement A. Griscom, Jr.,

secretary.

The only member of the faculty who has been selected is Charles Johnson, who will give the pupils a key to the locked up mysteries by instructing tiiem in Sanscrit and Parsee. The others are coming from India, Egypt and other lands of the far east. If you see intellectual looking persons in flowing garments and turbans arriving here by steamer next April you will know that the honorable faculty is coming to

town.

The school will be on high ground, overlooking the sea and the city of San

Diego.

The school has purchased 130 acres. The theosophists are building a high fence around it and a temporary wooden arch is being placed over the entrance. The fence will in time be replaced by a wall of granite and the arch will be of stone. The corner-stone for the first temporary wooden building will be laid some time next mouth, and it is expected that the temporary buildings will be done in the early part of April. Theosophists reek not of contractors, carpenters and such other human agencies. The buildings which they purpose to erect will be mere astral shells of the stone structures of massive Egyptian architecture which will succeed them. The permanent buildings will be built slowly, while the work of unveiling the ancient mysteries goes on behind walls of pine and poplar. The plans for tho permanent buildings have not been officially decided upon. Those who have attained great proficiency in the study of the occult will form a community apart. There they will commune with the mysteries which were lost and have been found. They will have nothing in common with the neophytes who take the train for the city and dinner. The sordid ideas of earthly wealth will not bother them as long as somebody regularly clips the coupons of the bonds which will be invested for their support. The students who come in contact with the outside world will wear the ordinary American garb. Those who live the inner life of the colony snd whose minds are filled with esoteric knowledge will not be circumicrlbed in their choice o? attire by any fashion plate. Mr. Neresheimer said lhat the more advanced will wear East Indian dress. That means pajamas and turbans. Several hundred persons have already applied for admission to the school. It is likely that when tho matriculation cards are given out only three or four of these students will be selected. The conditions of admission are very strict indeed. The student must, first of all. be thoroughly in earnest. He must know about theosophy and his inner gifts must be of a high standard of excellence. It is expected lhat most of the students will devote their lives to the study of ancient mysteries. A man must be much in earnest to conform his habits of life to the severe regimen and the earnest, intellectual life which is expected' of those who intend to enroll themselves as students. Schools will also be established in Ireland and Egypt when this American institution is well under way. As there is no prescribed course and the?c will probably be no graduation day the progress of a student will be noted by his transfer to the greater schools abroad. Ireland has been selected as a place for the school because the theosophists think that it is the second oldest country in the world and Egypt has been chosen because it is supposed to be the most ancient land of all. “The institution,” said Mr. Neresheimer, in outlining the work of the school, “will be unsectarian. Teachers will be appointed at a meeting to be held in New York on the fourth Tuesday in April. .It will be the duty of these teachers to devote their entire time to the study of the following mysteries that have hitherto been closed or partly closed books to the nineteenth century knowledge of* the world;

“First, the spiritual powers latent in man. We start with the fundamental belief that man possesses a soul. In that soul we believe there are hidden powers that have lain dormant for thousands of years. The average man or w'oman has only a glimmering of the powers latent in the spiritual part of man. We propose to probe the secrets of the soul as the men of science have probed the secrets of the body. “Next, we shall study the mysteries of symbolism. Other subjects for research will be occult algebra, mathematics and geometry in their relation to the universal laws; the study of comparative religious doctrines, the furtherance and dissemination of religious knowledge and the unraveling of the ancient Greek and Chaldean mysteries. “The resources of the world will be called in to aid us in this work. Some of the wealthiest men in America are behind the movement, although every member is pledged not to divulge the names of these seekers after light. "The sexes wdll be equal in the new school. Knowledge knows no sex. Women will be welcomed to the councils of the elect, and no office will bo barred to them provided they show their fitness for the great honor.”

OPERA-BOUFFE SKETCHES. Some Amusing Occurrences of a Long Stage Life. Miss Emily Soldene’s “My Theatrical and Musical Recollections” is an amusing volume. The lady made her debut some thirty-seven years ago as Miss Fitz-Henry, in a music hall. In 1865 she rose above music halls and became the Azucena in “II Trovatore.” Then Miss Soldene found her chance in opera bouffe. Her prime hit was in "Genevieve.” Then came successes in “La Fille de Madame Angot,” “La Perichole” and "Carmen.” In Dublin in 1870, when “Carmen” was sung, the ear drivers took the name of the piece as complimentary to themselves, says the New- York Times. They said: “See that now” see what Soldene is bringing us—an opera of our own, the opera of ’The Carmen.’ ” Here is another bit of theatrical anecdote she records: 'During the rehearsals of ‘La Perichole,’ when Mr. Campbell and 1 made our first entrance, the carpenter's dog, a fox terrier, always accompanied us, and, wagging his tail, sat down with much gravity in the center of the stage, with his back to tho footlights, and, at one particular part of my opening song, lifted up his voice and gave a grewsome and most dismal howl. This went on for several mornings, the dog always howling at the same place, always paying the same tribute to my vocalization. It was very funny, and I thought we might dtilize it. So for the performance we had a ‘Toby’ frill made for my apprecialor. We went on as the street singers, spread our carpet, tuned our mandolins, and commenced to sing. Directly I began doggy took up his cue beautifully, howling long and loudly. It was greatterrific applause and encore. Everybody said: ‘How clever! Who trained the dog?’ ’’ Of dress rehearsals she says: “A dress rehearsal 25 years ago was a nearly unheard-of thing in England. As a rule, the costumer brought the costumes into the theater on the night of the first performance at 7:55, and considered you ought to be awfully obliged at their arriving at all. Everybody's dress would be too tight in the bust or too loose in the waist, or vice versa; general confusion and disgust prevailed and productions suffered.”

CALIFORNIA SNOWS.

REGIONS WHERE WHOLE TOWNS HAVE BEEN BURIED.

The Winter of IttOO In ritirau. County —Hone. Had to Wear gnow.hoe. a. Well um the Men—A Kemarkahlo State. HE popular impression of California is a region of perennial summer, where the orange, fig, lemon and pomegranate flourish- and flowers bloom the year around; but this is true only of the lowland counties, says the New York Post. California is a remarkable state. Some of its counties are as large as many states and as barren as some very poor ones. While California is famous as being the land of flowers and for its mild winters, it is also the land of extraordinary snowstorms, which may be seen under many and varying conditions. Perhaps the most attractive exhibitions are seen in southern California, where from the San Gabriel valley one can watch the snow falling in the mountains while standing in the orange groves, surrounded by flowers and all the conditions of summer. The mountains are then covered with snow down to the 2,500-foot level, and the dwellers in the valleys go up the trails and the mountain railroad and, bringing down huge snowballs and snow men, deposit them in the fields of wild flowers, effecting the change in flfteen or twenty minutes, to the wonder of the tourists. The winter of 1890 was one that will long be remembered in Plumas county. In the town of Quincy the snow was nine feet deep on the level without drifting, and where it drifted it was heaped up in literal snow mountains. It so happened that a man from the east was obliged to go to a town named Eureka Mills on some business of importance and after some difficulty obtained a guide who would take him over the mountains. Their horses wore snowshoes as well as the men, and some of the snow they passed over, judging from the trees, must have been forty or more feet deep. The supposed locality of the Mills was finally

reached. The range of hills near which the town stood was there, but the town was. to all Intents and purposes, wiped out. Finally smoke was seen rising from the snow, which, when approached, was found to come from a spliced chimney, far below which was a house; as the snow had fallen the occupants had spliced tho chimney, keeping pace with the deposit. Moving around the chimney, the strangers found a chute leading down at an angle of 45 degrees and entering slid down to what proved to be the attic window of the house, thence making their way down the stairs into the buried residence. The entire settlement was buried under this terrible bed of snow and families were living from ten to twenty feet below the surface, using lamps by clay as well as by night. The men were all miners, and as the mines were under ground certain work was continued. But there was much suffering, as on coming out of the mines some of the men were often unable to find their homes. Finally every one planted in the snow over his house a flagstaff with a flag, but even these were sometimes buried by the constant storms of this long-to-be-remembered year. The snow in the deep canyons became so deep that the miners who lived in them had to leave, fearing the avalanches which came rushing down the mountain side after every fresh storm. Finally the more open canyons became unsafe and one day, with an appalling roar, huge masses of snow went rushing down, crushing a large part of the town of Sierra City. Possibly the most famous town for its experiences with snow is Gibbonsville, in Sierra county. Photographs show the tops of tall houses projecting from snow on the level. Snow fifteen feet on the level is common there in February and March, while snow thirty feet deep is uncommon. Then the houses are almost covered, many small ones being entirely concealed, the owners having to climb up and clear away the snow so that it will not crush in ] the roofs. All communication with the j outside world is often stopped for days, and for weeks the mail is carried by specially selected men, who traverse the mountain on snowshoes, often accomplishing remarkable feats on the long, slender skis which they use.

AN ORDER FOR RATS.

THE QUEER DEMAND FOR LIVE STOCK SENT BY MAIL.

The number of public lamps lighted in England and Wales is somewhere about 300,000.

GIANT REDWOODS OF CALIFORNIA.

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Theatrical AhocIk. A French theater, finding businest rather bad about 100 years ago, announced the following effects as for sale: A sea, consisting of twelve waves, the twelfth of which is larger than the others, and a little damaged; a dozen and a half clouds, edged with black, and in good repair; a rainbow, somewhat faded; a beautiful snowstorm of flakes of auvergne paper; three bottles of lightning; a setting sun, worth little, and a moon, rather old; Othello a handkerchief and a pasha's mustache; a complete repast, consisting of four cardboard entrees, a cardboard pie and a fowl of the same material, several oak bo.ties and a wax desert, etc. Explained. Mrs. Tippin—Yes, sir, John; you proposed to me that afternoon on the ice. John—I thought I must have had a skate.—Philadelphia North Ameri*

WOMEN OF NOTE. Mrs. M. S. Wade of Chicago manufactures the peculiar yellow paper use 1 by the telegraph companies and press associations, and she has grown wealthy from it. The process of manufacture Is a secret which she will not disclose. A woman in Milpitas, Cal., is said tc have invented a novel and effective cure for despondency and kindred evils. She made it a rule to laugh three time? a day, with occasion or without, and is now enjoying excellent health and spirits. Mrs. McKinley’s favorite color is blue, as is shown by the number of blue gowns in her wardrobe, and it is a color which she has worn from girlhood. A green cloth costume was one suggested by Mr. McKinley, and one which, next to the Inauguration gown, he took a special interest In. Anna Katharine Green has just completed an arrangement for the serial publication of her new story entitled “The Bronze Hand.’’ Her recent story entitled “That Affair Next Door” haa met with a decided success, the fourth edition having been called for within a month. G. P. Putnam’s Sons are the publishers.

im On this page we illustrate a Wash- ; ingtonian or Giant Redwood of California. These were first called WellIngtonians, in honor of the Duke of j Wellington. Naturalists named them | "Wellingtonia gigantea,” and by that ; name they are still known in European 1 books. The reason for this name being given is that they were reputed to have been discovered by an English traveler and naturalist named Lobb. An agitation arose in the United States to have the trees called after the name of Washington. The true botanical name Is sequoia gigantea. It is difficult to give an idea of the height and size of these trees. Some conception may be obtained by noticing in the picture the comparative sizes of the people at its base. The tree in the picture is between 300 and 400 feet in height, and the age is probably greater than 3,000 years. When Alexander the Great was , leading his victorious army over tho plains of Asia this tree was 900 years old. When Caesar was fighting the barbarians in Britain, this tree had already felt the breezes of a thousand summers. In fact, when it reared its first tender shoot from the earth, blind Homer was begging from city to city and David was singing among his sheep on the hills of Judea. Since its

beginning a hundred nations have risen, attained their highest glory anc decayed. The dynasty of David wilt its fourteen kings has come and gone Babylon, the golden kingdom, has seer its day and has disappeared: Media Persia and Greece have extended theii rule through slow-moving centuries and lastly the Roman power, existing for a thousand years, has prevailed anc fallen. Yet this tree lives on, greet as ever, and bids fair to be a living monument of vegetable nature centuries after all existing nations havt passed away. Thee are many of these large trees grouped sometimes by two and three sometimes scattered among other varieties of forest growth. Some ol them range from 20 to 30 feet in diameter, and have bark from 12 inches tc 43 inches in thickness. In one locality there are, or were, 86 of these large trees within a circumference of a mile but for the most part they are scattered. They grow on rich black and well-watered soil. Probably those trees are the relic of a past age, an age of gigantic vegetables and of gigantic animals. They should be protected from the vandal and he carefully preserved for future generations.—Froa the Farmers’ Review.

Roilentu I'ned lu Mine* to E»t Refnic--Thexe Animal* Held Up a Whole Town lu Franco—The Citizen* Fled. ATS, as a rule, are undesirable tenants and In large cities there are men who, J as a means of livelihood, follow the ancient and honorable profession of rat-catching, says the New York Journal. Bull-terriers, black-an-tans and wiry-haired Scotch and Skye dogs are prized in the world for their efficiency as exterminators of the rodents. Large sums are spent annually to the end that the population of the long-tailed vermin be kept within bounds and rarely is the thought entertained that the rat^has, like all of God's creatures, Us useful mission in the great ee uomy of nature. What was the surprise, therefore, of the head of a great San Francisco hardware firm recently to find in the mail a letter from the superintendent of the famous Utica mine the following request: "Send me without delay fifty rats for use in the Utica mines.” The recipient thought at first that there was some mistake in the order, that the word rats meant something else, possibly rattail flies. He puzzled his brain for an hour and came no nearer a solution. He called in his partners and the clerks and the porters and invited them to take a hand in an impromptu missing word contest. The consensus of opinion was that r-a-t-s spelled rats, and with a sigh that breathed a hope for the best, he muttered: "Obey orders if you break owners,” and intrusted the fulfilling of the strange order to the head porter. Late that night the porter, accompanied by two professional rat catchers armed with the dark lantersn and the long tongs of their craft, softly tiptoed into the dark cellar of the hardware warehouse. The porter held a large leather bag. They had not long to wait in the dark silence, for within a few minutes the patriarch of the rodent community, as was his custom poked his head gingerly through the opening of his sanctum, sent a searchlight in all directions from his black, intelligent eyes, and then with a satisfied squeak returned to the bosom ol his family to inform them all was well, Slowly, stealthily, cautiously they emerged from th’eir seclusion—the patriarch, his wife, children, grandchildren and many times great-grandchil-dren, and when the cool cellar ail reached their lungs, with exclamations bumping occasionally against an uncle aunt or cousin who, with profuse apologies, joined in the fun. The younger ones, more venturesome, enticed by the savory smells ol bacon and old cheese, which catahle.were liberally distributed in the adjoining room, rushed back excitedly and informed their elders of the unexpected discovery. With hysteric joy and increasing appetites the rats went from every hole and corner, little realizing the deception that was being practiced upon them. Suddenly, when the revel was at its height, the doors to the room in whick tlie decoy feast was spread were closed. The rat catchers flashed their lanierns. As is the habit of rats when thus overtaken suddenly by the circles of light, they stood still in their tracks as it paralyzed. With lightning-like motion the rat catchers, with their tongs, seized the hypnotized rats and tossed them into the bag. In less than live minutes a rqucaling, struggling mass of fifty full-grown rodents were in the bag. They were taken upstairs nnd turned into a tin-lined packing case prepared beforehand. Tlie next day they were shipped to the mine and turned loose to act as scavengers. Rats are needed in the mines to eat up refuse food or other matter that would decompose, and tho gre.,: Ft lea mine's previous colony was suffocated at the recent fire. That is why the San Francisco firm received its queer order and promptly filled it. Yet it was only the other day that a story came from France telling ho* rats had held up a whole town. They j overran the cellars and the alleyways i of buildings and scampered nonchalantly through the streets. Some one set a dog on the rodents, and. in the | melee, the dog went mad. The result a few hours later was an army of mad | rats. The citizens took fright, and many of them lied the town. Tho Saloon. The saloon is a natural incubator ol evil. Its twin eggs are human ignoe ance and Satanic cunning, whence spring the horrid brood of social n 3 ' 1 political monstrosities which, lorustlike, spread themselves through land, devouring everything before them or, dying under the hot breath of P 1 ' 1 ^ lie opinion, smell rank to heaven. N' ot only are crimes of all sorts plotted is saloons, but frequent outbreak* many social theories in irtrlke# other combinations against social onare planned there.—Rev. J. C. AlienItlotou* IlrsillHiii. "I painted a winter scene the » ^ day that was so true to nature that !-■ tIn-rmoiiK ter in my studio fell | grees.” "Humph! That’s nothing ' painted a portrait of old Brown j year that was so lifelike that 1 ' I shave It regularly.”—Harpers Dazn-