Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1910 — Page 3

MY VALENTINE. A valentine for father, «Snd one, I think, will do For mother and for grandpa, And for Brother Willie, too. I know that dear old grandma Would ask for three or four, And Sister Nell and Cousin Ned Would say they wanted more. And then there’s someone else I know Would prize it quite as well, Now can’t you guess my valentine, Or must I really tell? No envelope contains it; It bears no tell-tale line. Although two lips have sealed it No postal clerk may fine. It has no gleaming golden hearts, Sly Cupid’s tempting bait; Nor has it got the feathered shaft With which he shoots so straight. And yet it brings, this valentine, A thousand times the bliss. Now can’t you guess? Of course you My valentine’s a kiss.

“LINCOLN THE MERCIFUL.”

A characteristic story of Lincoln’s kindly interference in of young men who had rendered themselves amenable to the law, but in whose case there was reason to hope for reformation, is told in the Portland Oregonian by Mr. J. B. Montgomery, who was a witness to the circumstances. One Michael Lehman of Williamsport, Pa., had a contract for carrying the mail from the railroad station. He was the personification of integrity, but his son, Michael, Jr., 16 years old, who drove the mail wagon, was induced by evil associates to tike a letter from the mail bag, and was detected in the act of removing a check from it. He was sentenced to imprisonment. Great sympathy was felt with the father, and a delegation of citisens, headed by Judge Hale, a member of Congress, including Mr. Montgomery, and accompanied by the elder Lehman, went to Washington to see the President. Mr. Montgomery tells what followed : "As We entered the executive Chamber, President Lincoln came sauntering in. He had on a faded and much-worn dressing gown. His slippers were run down at the heel. The President, as soon as we were seated, said: , ' » “ ‘Well, gentlemen, what is it you ~ rJudge Hale handed him the petition. He scanned it carefully, names

ST. VALENTINE

and all, and possessed himself of all t'W circumstances. He then said to Judge Hale:" ‘“Judge, can I do so and so?* stating a legal proposition as to his power to do a certain thing. Judge Hale, after a moment's reflection, replied: “ ‘Mr. President, I don’t think you can.’ “Lincoln then said, ‘I know I cannot, but I .wanted to if you knew. But,’ he went on, ‘I can do something else.’ “He was sitting by his desk, and every one except this madj who ‘swallowed all formulas,’ would have written on it, but he twisted his two long legs together like a whiplash, placed the petition on his knee and wrote these words, as near as I can recollect: “ ‘To the United States District Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania: You gre'hereby directed to enter a nolle prosequi in the case of the United States vs. Michael Lehman, Jr., in consideration that the said Michael Lehman, Jr., enlist in the army of\ the United States and serve three years, unless sooner honorably discharged. ‘A. LINCOLN.” “-‘What do you think of that?’ he said, handing it to Judge Hale. It was all that was wanted. “Lincoln got up out of his chair, shqpk hands with us all, telling us, ‘A dozen Senators are waiting outside to see-me, but this gives me more pleasure than talking to them about offices.’ Then, holding Lehman by the hand, he said.' “ ‘Ten your son never to be tempted again, to be a good soldier, and how happy it has made me to get him out of his scrape.’ ” The old Dutchman, who was short and fat, made a pathetic figure. He was beyond the ability to express himself, or even to weep. He stood silent, his eyes almost bulging out of his head. His boy was saved.

President Lincoln one day remarked to a number of personal friends who had called upon him at the White House: “General SlcClellan’s tardiness and unwillingness to fight the enemy or follow up advantages gained remind me of a man back in Illinois who knew a few law phrases, but whose lawyer lacked aggressiveness. During the trial ot the case, the man finally lost all patience and springing to his feet, vociferated: “‘Why don’t you go at him with'a fl. fa., a demurrer, A capias, a surrebutter, or a ne exeat, or a nundam pactum, or a non est, or any old fool

McClellan’s Talent.

“I wish," said Mr. Lincoln, “McClellan would go at the enemy with something; I don’t care what. General McClellan is a pleasant and scholarly gentleman. He is an admirable engineer; but he seems to have a special talent for a stationary engine."

His First Sight of Lincoln.

An Interesting sheaf of reminiscences could be collected under the general heading, “First Glimpses of Lincoln.” The first sight of a great man is likely to be recalled as more vivid and more significant than any other, except possibly the last. A gentleman whose friendship •with Lincoln dated from 1852, and lasted till the very day of his death, describes as fol-

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lows ths beginning of their acquaintance: I had been Invited to make a speech in the old State House in Springfield. 111. Five minbtes before I stepped on the platform the committee asked me to change my subject.—the Maine temperance law, —as they wished for some reason to defer it to another occasion. Under the spur of the moment, therefore, I made a patriotic address. Alfter I had finished, the audience called vociferously for “Lincoln! Lincoln!" He rose to respond, and I shall never _ forget his appearance. Before the meeting he had been consulting some law books in the basement of the building, and the janitor, whom he had requested to call hkn, forgot his duty, and at the last moment rushed in and cried out to Mr. Lincoln that the speaking was going on. * Lincoln ■ turned out the light and grabbed the first coat he touched, which proved to be that of the janitor himself, who was -a short man. Lincoln, on the contrary, was a very tall man. On this occasion he wore, as usual, a faded red woolen shirt,- buttoned neither at the neck nor at the wristbands. There was a space of eight or ten inches between the top of his trousers and the lower edge of the coat, and his trousers were rolled up at the bottom, so that there was a space of nearly a foot of bare leg between them and the tops of his stockings. He had one suspender, and the sleeves of the coat reached little more than to his elbows. His hair looked as if it had never been brushed or combed since he came from the woods of Kentucky. He began to speak. His subject was law, its design, its essence, its mission, its power. He spoke in a low, thin voice. I had heard Beecher, Gough, Phillips, Chapin, Starr King and Webster, but I had never before heard anything like this speech of Lincoln’s. Nor dlfi I ever see an audience so sicorched and kindled—so held breathless! His. speech lasted twenty minutes, and for fine logic and the most touching pathos, I have never heard Its equal. When he got through he touched me on the shoulder and said, “Come home with me.” We talked all night, so oblivious of time that when light came I looked out of the window and asked if there was a fire. Mr. Lincoln replied, “It !»■ sunrise.”

How Lincoln Played Watchman.

James Etter, a doorkeeper in the War Department, frequently occupies a chair from which he could not be induced to part, because it was once occupied by Abraham Lincoln when he was President of the United States, although at the tnre he acted as watchman with a badge pinned on the lapel of his coat. Mr. Etter explains the incident by saying: “One day during the war I was sitting here, when a tall, angular gentleman entered the main door and asked if the secretary was in. I told him that it was too early for the - secretary to be in his office. “ ‘At what hour can I depend on finding him here?’ he aske’d. I told him, and with a pleasant ‘Thank you’ he walked away. “Promptly on the hour the tall gentleman ascended the steps, walked in the door, and I was almost struck dumb when he asked me if I would not go into the secretary’s room and ttell him to step out in the hall. I could not leave my post of duty, and even if I could I did not think the secretary would come out to see him. “He replied: *O, I guess he,will, and as for leaving your post, I Will be personally responsible for that. I am Mr. Lincoln, and I will simply take your badge and keep door while you step in for me.’ “Well, I couldn’t doubt him, and he pulled off my badge, pinned it on his coat, and took my chair, just like an old-time watchman. ” 1 , “A smile played over his face as I left him, Sind you can rest assured it was not long before he and the secretary were holding a quiet talk in an out-of-the-way corner in the hall.”—Washington Special.

WATCHING FOOD SUPPLY.

Hotel* Are Not So Wasteful as Many Persona Think. While many of the large hotels of the country distribute considerable quantities of leftover food to the deserving poor, this kind of charity is not so extensive as Is generally supposed, says the New York Press. The fact is that very little food is left In a well-managed hotel after its own help Is fed. The steward gauges the probable needs of guests with a skill born of long experience. He can calculate almost to a plate how many will call for roast beef, lamb or turkey, how many prefer oxtail soup to consomme, how many orders for fowl, entrees, etc., will serve, and how many apple, peach, cocoanut pies, etc., will be required for dessert purposes. The cook and the steward confer as to the dally bills of fare, and both prldb themselves on being able to meet all the demands of all the guests and yet have little left oyer when the diningroom is closed. One leading New York hotel proprietor, in discussing this phase of his business, said: “If I could/run the whole business myself I would guarantee to fill the order of every guest and yet not have enough surplus to feed five persons at the end of the dinner. To be able to do this is one of the great secrets of successful hotel management; not to possess this knowledge and skill is a drawback which often leads to ruin. There must, of course, be enough of every dish to go around, but there should be little or none left when the meal is finished. As a result of such close figuring, after feeding our help and setting aside the (craps for rendering purposes, we practically use up everything ourselves, and have very little Indeed to give away to the needy people who ask for our broken victuals.”

QUEER STORIES

Prime Minister Zable, of Denmark, violates all court traditions by going to a royal reception In a black slouch hat In the fashionable west end of London the fair haired and pink skinned hostesses have discovered that black wall paper offers an excellent background for their charms. At 29 Scipio gained the battle of Zama, Watts revolutionized the Industries of the earth by making steam the-most powerful agency in the progress of mankind, Josiah, Wedgewood discovered the secret for making the china which bears his name, and Shelley died after enriching the world of literature with his unrivaled poetry. Truancy is on the increase in New York City, and the boqrd of education complains of the Indifference of parents. About 120 parents are taken before the city magistrate each month for violating the law. The largest number are from among the Italians, where there are the most children, and the next highest number comes from native born parents. After 272 years of growing ferry facilities in New York City the decline has ptarted, owing to the increasing number of bridges and subaqueous railways. The great system of ferries grew from the solitary skiff that Cornelius Dircksen had in 1637, where Peck slip now is, and ferried passengers, who called him by blowing u horn that hung on a tree nearby. It is reported from Pekin that TuanFang, viceroy of Chihill, has been severely censured for causing photographs to be taken of the funeral at the late dowager empress and for other offenses against Feng-shui (the spirits of the dead). With the exception of the viceroy, all the officials of Chihihi provlnce~“who were connected with the late empress* funeral have been promoted. Frau Julia Vargha is said to be the first woman minister to preach In Hungary. She is the daughter of the Reformed Evangelical Bishop Carl Sascz, who is also well known in Hungary as a poet and teacher. Frau Vargha preached her first sermon in Klausenburg to a large congregation and the Buda-Pesth papers speak of her as a gifted woman and an eloquent speaker.

By Candle Time.

“It did me good,” observed a young girl who had just returned from England, "to see, in real ise, one of the old customs my grandfather used to tell me about—the burning of the time eandle at an auction. In Berkshire the old custom still prevails, and when an auction is in progress

and an article is put up for bidding a short length of candle is lighted as the bidding begins. The shouting continues until the candle burns out, and the last bid before it flickers its last is the one that takes the cake. I don’t know but it has an advantage over the *golng, going gone* variety, but it is fearfully slow and un-Ameri-can."

Immigration Into Canada.

During the last eight years Canadlan immigration has been 1,336,650. Of this number 540,821 came from the United States and 400,617 from other countries. The total population -of Canada is now estimated to be about 7,000,000. , ■ —l. The Jungle fowls of Australia construct their nests in great mounds fifteen feet high and 150 feet it diameter,composed of leaves and twigs. f

FACTS IN TABLOID FORM.

Early historic times in Norway are to be illustrated at an exposition to be held at Bergen next summer. Iceboats have long been in use, and now a German inventor has patented a simple sail vehicle, which makes fair progress over good roads. The board of trustees of the Univeristy of Pennsylvania has authorized the establishment of a bureau or institution of German-American research. In the nlneetenth century twenty feet a minute was regarded as a good standard rate of cutting for a planing machine. To-day forty feet a minute may be considered the standard. Uoal is obtained in many parts of New Zealand, but the chief mines are in the Westport district, in South Nelson; the Grey district, in Westland; in Otago and Auckland. The best coals occur in the two former, the Westport mines producing a quality scarcely equaled throughout the world. Accessions of almost priceless value form a part of the 167,677 volumes which were added during the year to the library of Congress, making the total number of volumes- in that great library 1,702,635. The valuable additions Include a set of the great Chinese encyclopedia given by the Chinese government. The Brazilian government has placed an order with an English shipbuilding firm for a floating dock to be used in connection with the two big Dreadnoughts now being built for her in that country. The dock is to be one of the largest, if not the largest, of its kind in the world, and will have a lifting capacity of 22,000 tons. It is to be constructed in eleven months, at a cost of $913,500. —Popular Mechanics. At the museum at Innsbruck, in Austria, there has been for a number of years a piece of pottery in the form of a basin, which experts were unable to locate as to age. It has now been determined that it was made in the twelfth century, and the great bowl is remarkable more for the design which it bears on the inner side than for its age. It shows Alexander the Great riding in an airship, which* is propelled by griffins. Alexander stands holding with a great rod food oyer the heads of the griffins. x German inventors have at last produced a product which should minimize the casualties so frequently caused by the exploding of spirit lamps. This is no other than denatured alcohol in the form of solid cubes, which can be burnt in a special lamp by simply igniting them with a match. The cubes, which are about the size of a lump of sugar, look like gelatin and burn slowly with a hot, blue flame. They will not evaporate and are said to be cheaper, for the heat developed, than is liquid alcohol.—Van Norden Magazine.

William O’Brien, the Irish political leader, is reported. to have taken up his permanent abode in Jerusalem, Half a century ago another Irish leader, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, got disgusted with the situation in the Emerald isle, threw up his seat in the House of Commons and went into voluntary exile. But he preferred Australia, where he entered on a new career, became a minister to the crown, premier, speaker and the recipient of a political pension of >5,000 per annum, which he enjoyed for forty years. Odd evidence against an inattentive schoolboy was delivered to the parents of an urchin the other day by his teacher. It seems that while the history class was in session the youth, instead of paying attention to his teacher, was looking up toward the celling with his mouth wide open dreanflfcg. The teacher did not disturb him until after he had drawn a sketch ot him in that position. After the class was dismissed the teacher mailed the sketch to the parents, adding a caption which explained all. Next day the boy was unusually alert —New York Sun. A feature of the winter season In Quebec is a competition for the bee. snow statue to be made in Dufferin terrace, directly opposite the Chateau Frontenac. Snow lends Itself admirably to modeling, as several successful statues made in past winter carnivals in Canada testify, it is probable that one ot the three Judges, will be M. Paul Cbevre, of Paris, who is the sculptor of the Champlain status on Dufferin terrace. M. Chevre is spending several weeks in Quebec at the chateau. The Chateau Frontenac offers a purse of >SO In gold to the sculptor of the best snow statue and. two other prises, each of >25 in gold, are offered by business firms. Mr. Knight’s proposed expedition to the Interior of the Sahara will concern Itself chiefly with that still unsolved mystery, Lake Chad. Recent explorers have signally failed to agree as to the shape and size of this extraordinarily situated sheet of water. Apparently the lake Is divided into two by a belt of Islands and reedy swamp land, but whereas the maps of the French explorers show an open channel across this belt a late expedition has declared it impassable. And that is not the only question to bo solved, for there are very varying accounts of the size of the lake, tt la" said to be shrinking, There is even a theory that it contracts and irnpanW within a certain cycle of years.—Lour, Am Standard.' r -