Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1910 — For the Children [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

For the Children

Two Pnulei. 1. How long would it take to divide qpmpletely a two-foot block of 4ce by meqps of a piece of wire on which a weight of five pounds hangs? Solution: A block of ice would never be divided completely by a loop of wire on which hangs a five-pound weight. For as the wire works ita way through, the slit closes up by refreezing, and the weight falls to the ground with the wire, leaving the ice still in a single block. 2. Two men, standing on the bank of q broad stream, across which they could not cast their fishing lines, could not agree as to itß width. A bet on the point was offered and accepted, and the question was presently decided for them by an ingenious friend who came along, without any particular appliances for measurement. He stood on the edge of the bank, steadied his chin with one hand, and with the other tilted his cap on his head till its peak just cut the top of the opposite bank. Then, turning round, he stood exactly where the peak cut the level ground behind him, and by stepping to that spot was able to measure a distance equal to the width of the Stream. The Myatery.

Elizabeth and Mary are the most peculiar girls! Elizabeth has braided hair and Mary bobbing curls; But that's the only difference between the happy pair. And when you see ihe swinging braid you know the curls are there. They live across the roadway and they wave a fond "good-night.” And they call across ' good-morning,” . ; at th@ very earliest llght They do their work together and they study and they play. And they have, to see each other at least twenty times a day! They talk and laugh and chatter till you’d think that they had said Every single thing that could be found within a small girl’s head. But when they sleep together after talking all the day They have to wake each other up—they have so much to say! YouHl scarce believe this story, but In all the tongues we speak. Whether French or German, English, Latin, Portuguese or Greek, Sufficient words are lacking, and a language all their own Has this clever pair Invented for their use when all alone! They let me hear it one day, and my brain it simply whirled To hear them glibly saying each unutterable word! Yet they tell me Mary cannot learn a single Latin noun— And Elizabeth In German has been seven times sent down! When I aSk them If they'll kindly clear the matter up for me They simply stand and giggle, and then say, “Why, don’t you see?" I know they think me stupid, though they’re always most polite, And they sometimes come and\en me when they’ve had. a little fight. I see them walking slowly with their heads an Inch apart— I find them In the orchard cutting up an apple tart; I see them making bonfires or a very shaky swing, Apd I fear I sometimes hear them when they’re madly quarreling! But what I really want to know and never can find out Is what on earth that ’couple' has to talk so much about! —George Phillips.

Burled Treaaure. Once upon a time there was a clus ter of cottages on a mountain side, and the people who lived there were so very poor that often they had nothing at all to eat. In the summer the children stayed their hunger on the wild strawberries they found in the valleys. The land whs so fertile that blackberries grew almost as big as plums, and the little people were as busy as the squirrels when autumn came in, storing up nuts for winter use. When these were exhausted and the keen north winds blew in from the sea, they huddled together in the flreless hovels they called their homes, and cried so bitterly with the cold that the sound of their weeping reached a wise old Brownie. Now, the Brownie loved little children better than all the rest of the world, and he did his best to help them ..by whispering into their-frost-bitten ears what fun it would be to run races In the snow. When they did this they were quite warm, but the poor little things were too weak to run about for long, and soon were as cold again as ever. W T hen the frost-bound earth began to soften, the wise old Brownie made up his mind that next winter they should be better off. So he dressed himself up an a gray-haired witch, and, mounting upon a broomstick, rode off to the sunny slops where the

children’s fathers were idling away their time. “If you were to dig that land,” he told pointing down to the fertile valley, “you would come across buried treasure, and be rich men. You could wear fine clothes then, like the men in other villages, and your wives would have brave new gowns, instead of rags.” Then he flew away on his broomstick to a belt of fir-trees, and waited to see what would happen next. At first no one seemed inclined to hunt for the burled treasure; they were* accustomed, you see, to doing just nothing at all. But after a while the wife of one of them, who had overheard what the Brownie said, borrowed a spade and began to dig in the valley, and, not to be outdone, they all followed her example. They dug and dug, but still no treasure appeared; and one day the least dull of them suggested that, as the ground was now so well-prepared, it would do no harm to turn it into a garden. A neighboring farmer, who had often pitied their poverty, generously gave them potatoes and seeds, and soon there was a big market garden where there had been only wild flowers and weeds. So fine were the crops that grew there that when they were taken to market they, fetched a good, price, and though the mountain folk found no buried treasure. When winter came there was gold and silver in the old wives' stockings, and the children were warmly clad. When the Brownie paid them another visit, they greeted him with a storm of howls. “Where is the treasure you spoke of?” they demanded, showing their fists; but the Brownie only chuckled. The fruits of the earth were the treasure that he had thought of, and now that through him the idlers had learnt to be industrious, he was well content. —Chicago News. Birthdays in China. In China all the boys born during the year have their birthday celebrated on the same day, no matter what date the real birthday Is. It is a great occasion, for the Chinese ban ners are hung out and processions take place. How would you like it if all children in this country had their birthdays in the same way, and had one- great big birthday party instead of many little ones?