Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 134, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1910 — A STORY OF BLUCHER. [ARTICLE]

A STORY OF BLUCHER.

•raft la a nonpartisan game. Train robbers are never lucky In tha long run and the short run Is not jrorth while. A Los Angeles man claims to have two spare ribs. Mighty handy while pork Is so high. An old Civil War veteran of Watert>ury, Conn., claims to have a pain in bis wooden leg. No wonder he's kicking. A disease of the appendix has been discovered. This ought to reconcile those who have already sacrificed theirs on the altar of surgery. Philadelphia scientists say that the pnissing link has been discovered in the cultured chimpanzee. As an alternative we suggest the giver of monkey dinners. “In Cromwell’s time,” says Dr. mills, “everybody was drunk once a week.” Everybody isn't now, but there are still a few people who beat the old average. The best preparation for a woman who contemplates marrying a man to reform him is to take in washing for a year. If she likes that sort of thing she can then 6et the day. Andrew Carnegie confesses that he has made forty-two men millionaires. The forty-two millionaires are probably convinced that they succeeded not because of Andrew but in spite of him. Dr. Cook keeps right on not saying a word in his own defense. Perhaps he has adopted Alfred Austin’s method of positively refusing to read or listen to a word that his critics have to say about him. Just as people were learning to live on fruit and vegetables along came the frost, killing the fruit and destroying the vegetables. There’s no hope for the consumer. He is sure to get caught either coning or going. A punishment to fit the crime was that Inflicted on a grocer in a Pennsylvania town who was compelled to •at eggs alleged by a customer to be bad. It Is safe to say that in future •ggs in that town will be sold only in s state of pristine and unimpeachable purity. Secretary Ballinger has withdrawn from entry 13,500,000 acres of coal lands in Montana, pending an examination as to their value. This will be much more satisfactory to the public than an investigation aftej- the lands had been given away would have been.

Any land Is the land of opportunity for the boy who has the real stufT In him. In the new Parliament elected by conservative Great Britain there are more than forty members who had their start in humble homes where the question of daily bread was an ever-present problem. A Baltimore man wants a divorce because his wife loves him so much that her caresses and words of endearment bore him. It is hoped that women will not generally regard this as a solemn warning. Our opinion of the man Is that he doesn’t bulk very large as a lord of creation. Not only improper picture cards, but also those which are simply silly, or which may be offensive to any person •r race, are extremely unlikely to reach their destination when sent through the mall. The postal authorities are justified in seizing them. It Is announced that hundreds of thousands were destroyed by postmasters last year. Hazing at West Point dies slowly. Tha Secretary of War has lately issued some new regulations for the punishment of offenders. Under the old rules the hazera had to be dismissed. Under the new rules a lighter form of punishment is provided for the mild forms of hazing in which there is no Intention to Injure or to humiliate the cadet. A wholesome provision in the new regulations is that the cadet officers who neglect to report hazing incidents shall be punished as if they arere the principals. Humanitarianism has discovered a new field for its activities, and a society is likely to be formed for the prevention of cruelty to sponges. Most men who know the sponge only as an unsightly mass of damp substance which abounds in barber shops are unaware that the sponge is, or was, an animal that once disported itself In Ore slimy ooze of the sea bottom. The word ‘‘disport” must be used in a re■trlctedysense, for the sponge is robt•d like a plant and has no record as a base runner. That is where the grnelty comes in. Horrified observers aaaure us that the sponge gatherers literally tear up the sponges by the roots and leave them in the sun to die. Untold agonies, they declare, are ■offered by the poor sponges as they lie under the torrid sun before they are mercifully released by death and give up the ghost—assuming that a sponge has a ghost to give up. Nqw It Is proposed to Btep in and stop this barbarous practice. Just what measures are to be taken has not Mth rewealed, but very likely it la Intended to chloroform the sponges before tsar-

ing them up by the roots. Some mail go even further and demand that the suffering spongee be not squeezed too hard at any later period of their existence, nor plunged into water that Is likely to scald them br to freeze their toes. Be sure of it, there will be no letting up in the agitation until man’s inhumanity to sponges has been completely curbed. ,

Mark Twain found the light sweet and*he was a bearer of light to others. He brought a gospel of sunshine to the world, a message of good cheer, but it would be a grave error to assume that he was merely the careless Jester, says the Chicago Record-Her-ald. Though he lived many years and rejoiced in them all, he had his full share of the days of darkness, and his autobiography shows how deeply he felt them. Ft gives us glimpses of his heart and soul, of the strength of his affections. The world tried him as it tries others, and yet to the world he always turned a radiant face while he kept his hours of deep dejfction to himself, away from even his most intimate friends. So it was that he became the personal friend and helper of millions who responded to him in his own spirit and welcomed him with Joy and laughter. While he was thus performing his mission as a writer through the long term of half a century there were books of woe in plenty, books to intensify sorrow and discontent and sickness of heart, outpourings of feebleness and pessimism. The literature of Joy and hope was opposed by the literature of despondency. But though this literature of darkness is sometimes supposed to be much more profound, than it is, the healing and strengthening work of Mark Twain had not only a quicker reception but a more enduring Influence with readers of all classes. Turning from the thought of books to the thought of personal intercourse, this man who gave so freely of his sunshine teaches us a most useful and inspiring lesson, a lesson that may be brought home to the humblest of human beings. The luxury of woe is the costliest of all luxuries, and one who 1b continually,prating of his troubles and pouring forth his sour opinions of the world simply does all that is in him to- make the burdens of others harder to bear. But the giver of sunshine bestows blessings wherever he goes. He is always the welcome guest, and we feel the stronger, the braver, the more hopeful for his coming. He may be poor in purse, In position, in fame and still a true benefactor.

The Old Geaeral Gave HU Son a Lesson In Gaming. Speaking of military men who were gamblers, Ralph Nevill in “Light Come, Light Go,” after noting that Napoleon only played in an amateur way and never seriously and that the Duke of Wellington, while a member of Crockford’s famous gambling club, was not particularly fond of play, goes on to relate the following about Blucher: Another great soldier, on the other hand, repeatedly lost large sums at play. This was Blucher, who was Inordinately fond of gambling. ’ Much to his disgust, this passion was inherited by his son, who had often to be rebuked by his father for his visits to the gaming table and was given many a wholesome lecture upon his youth and Inexperience and the consequent certainty of loss by coming in contact with older and more practiced gamblers. One morning, however, young Blucher presented himself before his father and exclaimed, with an air of Joy, “Sir, you said I knew nothing of play, but here is proof that you have undervalued my talents," pulling out at the same time a bag of rubles which he had won the preceding night. “And I said the truth,” was the reply. “Sit down here and I’ll convince you.” The dice were called for, and In a few minutes old Blucher won all his son’s money, whereupon, after pocketing the cash, he rose from the table, observing, “Now you see that I was right when I told you that you would never win.”