Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 303, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 December 1910 — Page 2

HOW TO MEET A LION

BRITISH SURGEON ETIQUETTE FOR OCCASION. If King of Beasts Fails to Realize He Is de Trop Tourist Should Walk Away With Becoming . Dignity. The etiquette to be observed when • peacefully inclined tourist or explorer meets a lion in the jungle is described by Sir Frederick Treves, the distinguished British surgeon, in his tKrok7 _ Hottday;“ just published in England. "The tourist coming to British East Africa,” he says, “is sure to inquire as to the line of conduct that should - i*® observed—when a Uoil is encountered by the way. In answer to such inquiry I was told that the etiquette suitable for the occasion was the following: If the lion when met with is walking in the opposite direction to the tourist the animal should be allowed to continue his walk without comment. If, however, the lion stops and stares at the tourist it is proper that the tourist should ‘Shish’ the animal away, as he would an obtrusive goose on a village green. Should the lion be unmoved by this expression of annoyance the tourist is advised to throw lumps of earth at the obtuse creature. If, after this, the lion still fails to realize that he is de trop, the tourist is recommended to walk away from the spot with such dignityas the strained position demands.” Sir Frederick Treves has several other things to say about the animals of the wild. ”The rhinoceros is the embodiment of blind conservatism," he writes. “Its hide is impenetrable, its vision is weak, while its intellect is weaker. It has, however, two marked qualities—combativeness and a sense of smell. It is aroused to its maximum energy by the presence of anything that is new. This object need not be a thing that is aggressive or'inconvenient. Its offensiveness depends upon the fact that it is unfamiliar, and the more unfamiliar the object is the worse the rhinoceros “When a rhinoceros smells a man he will charge him with maniacal violence, although the man may be merely sitting on a stool reading Milton. The massive beast will dash at him like a torpedo or a runaway locomotive simply because the smell of him is novel. Actuated by this insane hate of whatever savors of an innovation, the rhinoceros has charged an iron water tank on the outskirts of a camp and has crumpled it up as a blacksmith would an empty meat tin. "A conservative rhinoceros with a senile dislike of anything new once charged a train on the Uganda railway, but with no more serious results than the tearing away of the footboard of a carriage. As regards the rhinoceros in this case, it appeared surprised that a thing composed, as it had imagined, of flesh and blood, could be so hard. It went off with an additional grievance and an increased swelling of the head.”

Tournament on Sea Horses.

Rumor has often told us of sea horses, but with amused Incredulity we have always waved the tales aside. Faith is, however, no inn gar upon, for in the water of Huntington hay, on the north shore of Long island, actual sea horses are daily capering in highly spectacular water sports, even in a quaint revival of the ancient tournament The strange beasts have been brought to us from France and are ingeniously composed of a barrel, weighted on one side which is under water, and decorated with an expressive head and an aggressive tail. As soon as one mounts upon the rotund back of one of these beasts it shows its temper, for, although tame and mild enough when grazing among the waves by themselves, they are fiends incarnate as soon as one attempts to throw a leg over them. They kick and buck in a manner which would appall a Buffalo Bill himself. One of the daily features of the beach at Huntington is a tournament in which armed knights, each astride of a prancing sea horse, face each other for battle royal. The riders are equipped with long lances, well wadded at the end with “stuffing." With there the knights paddle their course to each other, and then with lances poised the battle begins.

Qualification for Office.

The little trial I have had of public employment has been so much disgust to me; I feel at times temptations toward ambition rising in my soul; but 1 obstinately opposfe them. “But thou, Catullus, be thou firm to the last.” - *• I am seldom called to it, and as seldom offer myself uncalled: liberty and laziness, the qualities most predominant in me, are qualities diametrically contrary to that-.trade. We cannot well distinguish the faculties of men; to conclude from the discreet conduct of a private life, a capacity for the management of public affairs, is to conclude ill; a man may govern himself well, who cannot govern others so; and compose essays, who could not work effects; men there may ba who can order a siege well, or would ill marshal a battle; who can speak well in private, who would ill harangue a people or a prince; nay, 'Us peradventure rather a testimony in him, who can do the one, that he cannot do the other, than otherwise.— From Montaigne.

pUGENE ELY, one of the leading American aviators, has accomplished something new in the history of flying. L In 8 Curtiss biplane he started from the deck of the United States cruiser Birmingham in Hampton Roads and flew to Willoughby Beach, seven miles distant. Despite a dense fog he kept his course and landed safely. Officers of the navy who watched the experiment predicted that before lohg every warship would be equipped with an aeroplane.

ROB LAKE OF FISH

Largest of Inland Seas Fast Losing Its Supply. What Has Become of Trout and Whltefiah In Lake Superior 16 Question That Has Been Agitating Many Fishermen. Marquette, Mich.—What has become of the trout and whiteflsh in Lake Superior? This is a question that Marquette fishermen, in common with others on the south shore of the lake, are asking. Catches have never been so light. The result of an all-day trip with one of the fish tugs is often not more than 300 pounds of fish, which is not enough to pay the operating expenses. A half ton is considered an average catch on a single day. That Lake Superior, known as the abode of the finest whiteflsh in the world, is fast becoming a fishless sea. Is a startling statement, but that is what the fishermen assert. The fishermen have been doing less and less business each year for some time. The tugs have been going farther and farther out each succeeding season, and now the nets are set as much as five hours’ run out of Marquette, and even in those unfrequented waters there arc very few fish. The scarcity of fish in Lake Superior is even more remarkable when it is considered that there are not more than half a dozen fish tugs on the south shore, while no fewer than 126 tugs started out to fish on the south shore of Lake Brie this season. Of course there are many gasoline fishing boats in addition to these, but their numerical proportion on the two lakes is probably about the same as in the case of the steam tugs. There are fewer steam tugs on Lake Superior now than in the past. No tugs are. now operated out of Ontonagon, while last year there were two. In commenting on this condition of affairs, August .Anderson, operator of the tug Columbia, stated that the reason fishing was so much poorer In Lake Superior than in the other great lakes was that the government was not replanting fast enough to take the place of those fished out each year. Lake Superior is now declared to be the poorest of the Great Lakes, as far as fishing is concerned, and this in the face of the fact that it is

FRIGHTENED BY SMALL CHECK

Shopkeepers in Long Island City Scared by Document Calling for Insignificant Sum. New York. —A check for one cent caused amusement in Long Island City. It had beeh drawn by John W. Penchon of the Title Guarantee and Trust company In favor of Ludvig Sikora, in payment of a balance due. Sikora. anxious to invest the proceeds in real estate, lost a day’s work trying to get the check cashed. Desperate at last, he offered it in exchange for an evening paper. The newsboy made a derisive gesture, the Long Island City equivalent of "No checks cashed here.” After an outlay on hospitality, Sikora persuaded a friend to run any risk there might fce in converting the paper into specie.

Peddler Pays Tax With 670 Pennies.

Terre Haute, Ind.—Clarence Weelks, a peddler, dumped 670 pennies on the counter at the county treasurer’s office when he paid his $6.70 taxes. “Just saved them out of odd change from customers for aht months, purposely for tax money,” he said.

NEW ACHIEVEMENT IN AERONAUTICS

fished the least. Until the states and the federal government began planting by the millions and billionß, however, there was the same scarcity of fish in the lower lakes. By liberal propagation Lake Erie add Lake Ontario have become restocked until the fishing interests there report that this has been a very good season. This year the government has planted in the vicinity of Marquette about seven million fish, which is a somewhat larger number than has been planted In past years. The total number of fry planted this year on the south shore of Lake Superior is probably not far from 25,000,000. At first thought it would seem that this was a pretty liberal allowance, but as a matter of fact it is only a drop in the bucket. In comparison, the fish hatchery of the state of Pennsylvania produces an annual output of over one billion, • a large proportion of which are planted in Lake Erie in the vicinity of the city of Erie, while the government hatcheries add considerably to this quota. When it is considered that Pennsylvania is not a fishing state, these figures are quite remarkable and go to show that the mar quette fishermen are not far from right when they say that Lake Superior has been fished out.

RATS AND GUINEA PIGS STIR

Girls Employed in New Jersey Capitol Object to Health Board’sExhlblt Trenton, N. J. —Within a few days the New Jersey capitol will house a dozen guinea pigs, 25 rabbits and a number of rats, cats, dogs and other animals that the -state board of health may find necessary to carry out its new program of vivisection. In spite of the dissatisfaction manifested by some of the pretty stenographers at the state house the capitol commission granted permission to the health board to build a home on the roof of the building to shelter animals to be used for scientific purposes. The board has been fighting for this privilege for a long time, it being understood that such quarters were to be arranged when the new wing was started three years ago. The capitol commission did not like the idea of having animals in the building, realizing that if any of them, particularly the rats, escaped, havoc would follow. The state health board has insisted that sheltering of animals about the dome of the capitol, where they could get plenty of fresh air, was absolutely necessary, and the capitol commission, with many misgivings, instructed State Architect George E. Poole, to prepare plans for a “pig pen” within five feet of the gilded dome. The news relating to the concession spread rapidly about the statehouse and there was much excitement among the employes. “Will you have rats' in the animal house?” This question was asked the officials of the health department by girl stenographers more than a hundred times. The employes were much incensed by the answer. “We intend to, keep all animals necessary for our use in scientific investigations.” The officials in the health board promised to see that none of the rats escaped, but even this did not satisfy the female employes of the building, who immediately made a protest to the commission, saying they did not want to work in the same building with a lot of animals. Their was unheeded and a strike may result in case any of the inmates of the animal house succeed in getting liberty enough to walk about the corridors, which are a popular promenade for Jersey statesmen. Another feature objectionable to

HOBBLE SKIRT HALTS SHIP

Impedes Progress of Wearers, One Disembarking and Other Going Aboard Liner. New York. —Two hobble skirts delayed for twenty minutes the sailing, of the Venezia of the Fabre line from South Brooklyn for Marseilles. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Hoth, a newly wedded couple from Harrison, N. J., gave a reception on board for friends. At 3 o’clock, the time to cast off the lines, a Hoth guest who wore a black velvet skirt of the contracted variety, tried to descend the gangplank. She slipped and fell and her skirt became caught'. It took several minutes to liberate her. Mr. and Mrs. George Linger of Chicago, also newlyweds, were to sail. The pier is nearly a quarter of a mile long and Mrs. Linger could not walk Bwiftly. When the two reached the ship lines had been cast off and the plank drawn up. The crew lowered a ladder. a

Monkey Hangs Himself in Cage.

Allentown, j»a. —“Jacho” Mack, a monkey sent last year as a mascot to Mack Bros.’ Motor Car Co. from a friend in Chicago, hanged himself in his cage. He had found a stout piece of wrapping twine and made a noose just as a man would do.

the girls is that the “cute little things" are to be tortured and killed in the capitol. It is probable the legislature in the coming winter will grant the health board an appropriation sufficient to provide other quarters for its menagerie.

BUILDS LAKE FOR DAUGHTER

Massachusetts Millionaire Constructs $30,000 Pond So Girl May Skate at Will. Leominster, Ma?s. —That one little girl devoted to skating might have her heart's dearest wish, a real pond in her own yard, a Massachusetts millionaire, former Representative Harry L. Pierce, has Just started on his vast estate here what promises to be the largest artificial lake in Massachusetts. This toy lake when finished will be large enough to float a large section of the United States navy. Added to the incentive of his small daughter’s love of skating, the millionaire's decision to gratify her whim has been strengthened by his own boyhood love of building dams. The lake Is to be built by damming a brook. It is to cost $30,000 and will involve the labor of a large body of workmen. It will easily outrival anything of its kind in Massachusetts.

King Dislikes Snapshots.

London.; —One reason why King George does not relish the return of the court to London is because his majesty has an emphatic objection to the casual snapshot photographs which may be published. It annoys the king to see pictures in which the poses are far from dignified, and he was angry when a photographer snapped him with his helmet off. When the king or queen gives permission for photographs to be taken they always stipulate that only such prints as they approve shall be published. Their majesties also keep a sharp eye on the newspapers and cuttings in reference to the royal family, which are supplied every week.

Bigger War Vessel.

London.—The admiralty has invited tenders? from Clyde shipbuilders for the construction of a large armored cruiser with speed and gun power surpassing any vessel in the British navy.

HOW TO MEET A LION

BRITISH SURGEON EXPLAINS ETIQUETTE FOR OCCASION. If King of Beasts Fall* to Realize H* Is de Trop Tourist Should Walk Away With Becoming Dignity. The etiquette to be observed when a peacefully inclined tourist or explorer meets a lion in the jungle is described by Sir Frederick Treves, the distinguished British surgeon, in his book, “Uganda for a Holiday,” just published in England. “The to ( urist coming to British East Africa,” he says, “is sure to inquire as to the line of conduct that Should be observed when a lion is encountered by the way. In answer to such inquiry I was told that the etiquette suitable for the occasion was the following: If the lion when met with is walking in the opposite direction to tife tourist the animal should be . allowed to continue his walk without comment. If, however, the lion stops and stares at the tourist it is proper that the tourist should ‘Shish’ the animal away, as he would an obtrusive goose on a village green. Should the lion be unmoved by this expression of annoyance the tourist is advised to throw lumps of earth at the obtuse creature. If, after this, the lion still fails to realize that he is de trop, the tourist is recommended to walk away from the spot with such dignity as the strained position demands.” Sir Frederick Treves has several other things to say about the animals of the wild. “The rhinoceros is the embodiment of blind conservatism,” he writes. “Its hide Is impenetrable, its vision is weak, while its intellect is weaker. It has, however, two marked qualities—combativeness and a sense of smell. It is aroused to its maximum energy by the presence of anything that is new. This object need not be a thing that is aggressive or inconvenient. Its offensiveness depends upon the fact that it is unfamiliar, and the more unfamiliar the object is the worse the rhinoceros acts. “When a rhinoceros smells a man he will charge him. with maniacal violence, although the man may be merely sitting on a stool reading Milton. The massive beast will dash at him like a torpedo or a runaway locomotive simply because the smell of him is novel. Actuated by this insane hate of whatever savors of an innovation, the rhinoceros has charged an iron water tank on the outskirts of a camp and has crumpled it up as a blacksmith would an empty meat tin. “A conservative rhinoceros with a senile dislike of anything new once charged a train on the Uganda railway, but with no more serious results than the tearing away of the fomboard of a carriage. Ab regards the rhinoceros in this case, it appeared surprised that a thing composed, as it had imagined, of flesh and blood, could be so hard. It went oft with an additional grievance and an increased swelling of the head.”

Tournament on Sea Horse.

Rumor has often told us of sea horses, but with amused incredulity weJiave always waved the tales aside. Faith is, however, no longer called upon, for in the water of Huntington bay, on the north shore of Long island, actual sea horses are daily capering in highly spectacular water sports, even in a quaint revival of the ancient tournament. The strange beasts have been brought to us from France and are ingeniously composed ' of a barrel; weighted on one side ! which is under water, and decorated j with an expressive head and an ag- , gressive tail. As soon as one mounts upon the rotund back of one of these beasts it shows its temper, for, although tame and mild enough when grazing among the waves by'themselves, they are fiends incarnate as soon as one attempts to throw a leg j over them. They kick and buck in a j manner which would appall a Buffalo ! Bill himself. One of the daily features of the 1 beach at Huntihgton is a tournament i in which armed knights, each astride i of a prancing sea horse, face each ; other for battle royal. The riders are : equipped with long lances, well wadded { at the end with “stuffing.” With there the knights paddle their course to each other, and then with lances poised the battle begins.

Qualification for Office.

The little trial I have had of public employment has been so much disgust to me; I feel at times temptations toward ambition rising in my soul; but I obstinately oppose them. “But thou, Catullus, be thou firm to the last.” I am seldom called to it, and as seldom offer myself uncalled; liberty and laziness, .the qualities most predominant in me, are qualities diametrically contrary to that trade. We cannot well distinguish the faculties of men; to conclude from the discreet conduct of a private life, a capacity for the management of public affairs, is to conclude ill; a man may govern himself well, who cannot govern others so; and compose'essays, who could not work effects; men tlmremay ba who can order a siege well, or would ill marshal a battle; who can speak well in private, who would ill harangue a people or a prince; nay, 'tis peradventure rather a testimony in him, who can do the one, that he cannot do the other, than otherwise.— From Montaigne.

CAMP FIRE STORIES

HE SAVED LINCOLN’S LIFE Timothy Webster Had Much to Do With Spiriting President-Elect From Harrisburg. In 18C1 the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore road was the only direct line connecting New York city and the New England States with Washington; that the railroad should be kept unbroken at this critical time was of the utmost importance, writes W. B. Beymer in Harper’s Magazine. It was readily discovered that a plot existed aifiong the Maryland secessionists to cut the line by burning the bridges, but the first hint of the real purpose of the conspirators came to Pinkerton in a letter from the master machinist of the railroad, My. William Stearqs. He wrote: “I am informed that a son of a distinguished citizen of Maryland said that he had taken an oath with pthers to assassinate Mr. Lincoln before he gets to Washington.” This letter was received on February 10 —the day before Mr. Lincoln

Was Interrupted by Three Strangers.

left his home in Springfield, 111., and started on his eastern tour en route for Washington. Pinkerton sent for more of his men, and redoubled his efforts to learn something tangible of this or any other plot. Time passed rapidly. Siic% a conspiracy, well organized, did Ist—he learned enough in Baltimore to convince him of that; also—through Stearns —that a branch of the organization was at Perrymansville in the guise of a cavalry company. Webster, who had been withdrawn from there, was hurried back, and within 24 hours had been enrolled as a member of the company. Then, handicapped by the shortness of time, he made a supreme effort to gain the confidence of the in ner circle of conspirators; who alone were in the principal plot. Few men could have succeeded as Webster did, few have such a personality as his. Naturally he was of a quiet, reserved disposition, seldom speaking unless spoken to, and never betraying emotion or excitement. “Webster’s talent for sustaining a role of this kind amounted to positive genius; In a lifetime of detective ex perience I have never met one who could more readily adapt himself to circumstances,’’ Allan Pinkerton has written. It was with such a weapon that Webster was making his great fight. The tour of the president-elect was rapidly drawing to its end. Webster, consummate actor, was making haste* slowly; grave, fiery, serious, bolster ous—each at the golden time, he played with a masterful hand upon the excited, high-strung conspirators. From the first his efforts had been covertly direct against the cavalry company’s officers; they were in the secret or no one was. At last, one morning after drill, the captain with much secrecy asked him to call that night at his house, “and say nothing about it.” How the time must have dragged till the appointed hour! But with the first step he made into a room whose windows were hung with heavy quilts and blankets he knew that success had come at last. Webster was introduced to three strangers in the group, members of the league from Baltimore; then took his place at the table with the rest and listened —joining in now and then with a word or two—as they discussed the plans for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln at the Calvert street depot in Baltimore, on February 23. The plans were fully matured except for the selection of the person to fire the shot. The story of bow Allan Pinkerton placed his proofs of the conspiracy before Lincoln in the Continental hotel in Philadelphia on the night of Febru ary 21 ; of the spiriting of Mr. Lincoln out of Harrisburg next evening back to Philadelphia in a private trainwhile Harrisburg, wit® telegraph wires secretly grounded, lay cut off from all communication with the outside world; of the passage through Baltimore in the dead of night, and the safe arrival of the president-elect, accompanied by Allan Pinkerton and Colonel Lamon, in Washington at six o'clock in the morning of the day he was expected in Baltimore, has been told again and again, but Timothy Webster'# part is known to but f*»