Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1911 — Page 3

ALL MANKIND IS VAIN

SOOTHING BALM FOR MANY! WOUNDS IN VANITY. ■ * 1 ' ‘x > • * T '•r I. i -.1 . v Uncle Hiram Warns Hla Nephew Not to Mistake Self-Esteem for SelfBelief—Homely Men Think Themselves Handsome. “Stevey, my hoy.” said Uncle Hiram to his hopeful young nephew, “there’s a terrible difference between vanity and self-belief. “I’ve known plenty of men who were fairly saturated, soaking with vanity, but who didn’t have real courage enough to scare 1 away a cat. They thought they were the handsomest men alive; but there were plenty of homely men that they’d let walk right over them. They had no end of vanity, but no real self-belief. "As matter of fact, Stephen, I think ybu are about as homely a young chap as I know; but it doesn’t follow from that that you’re rugged. And as far as that goes I never yet knew a homely man but what thought he was handsome; and that thought does a man no harm unless he lets his vanity satisfy him so that he’s content to rest on that without further effort. ■■? “Our vanity is a soothing balm for many woundß; it helps us much to bear life’s buffetings. When somebody treats us rudely we say to ourselves we know what he is and we know what we are, and humph! and so on; and under such exasperation our vanity is very soothing to us, and that’s all right. “And there are millions and millions of people, Stevey, who never get anywhere in the world because they haven’t got it In ’em. but who still are vain; people who never get a chance, and who wouldn’t try if they did get one, because they are too timid, but who still are filled with vanity, vanity that is to them a blessing, for it is all they have or ever will have; and these may be, you understand, good, hard working people, good people; the only solace they have is their own harmless vanity. But it is a great solace; It makes life easier for them and it makes them hopeful, cheerful.

“Sometimes when I think of It I think our vanity is our greatest blessing, and I am not sure now but what it is so. Good thing to remember, Stephen, that all men, all men, are vain. Every man, whatever his lot in life, high or low, is vain and easily wounded. Never wound anybody, Stephen. » “So I have no objection to your being vain, Stephen. You may think you are handsome if you want to or you may admire your own clothes or your neckties; you may think you’re the finest fellow on earth; but don’t mistake your vanity for self-belief: Above all things you want really to believe in yourself, and this belief must be not a mere fancy. It must be a true, rugged, 100 per cent plus belief, something very different from vanity; it must be a real belief that Inspires you to do things and that sustains and fortifies you; that vigorates and constantly strengthens you in whatever you undertake. “And you must do things. You can’t be content to sit down and admire yourself. You must butt into things and buck ’em, and if you’re thrown on one side advance on the other, growing bigger and stronger all the time with the exercise of your strength grown invincible; finally in your blood, tissue and bone belief in In yourself. “That’s what you want, Stevey, whole hearted, thorough, complete, 100 per cent plus belief in yourself; with that you’ll get on in the world and have a little time left over to indulge in harmless vanity.”

From the Swiss Census.

The census of Switzerland, which was taken on December 1 last, furnishes interesting information on many subjects. Thus on the question of the languages which are spoken in the republic, German heads the list with 2,599,149 persons speaking it; French comes next with 796,220; Italian, with 301,323, and Romanche, with 39,912. All four languages are “official” and may be employed by deputies in the Swide parliament. On the western frontier French is gradually ousting German, while Italian id gaining over German in parts of the Canton of Valais, especially at Brleg. There are 565,025 strangers in the land, of whom at least 23,000, as far as can \>e fudged, live la hotels the greater part of the year. In the census of 1900 the number of strangers was 383,424. Lausanne boasts the largest single family, numbering 22 including the parents. In the village of Walcbwll, Canton of Zug, with a population of 1,044, 508 villagers possess the name of Huriimann, and as many of their Christian names are the same, comic opera situations frequently happen. Five women and two men have been requested to “reconsider” their ages.

Unnecessary Questions.

Dobbleigh had just come upon Hawkins standing in. the middle of the road with his motor car turned completely upside down and surrounded by a crowd of curious urchins. "Hello, Hawkins!" said he,< stopping his own car. “What’s the matter? Car turned turtle?” “Not at all, Dobbleigh, not at all," replied Hawkins. “These kids here wanted to see how the machinery works, so I hired a derrick and had the car turned upside down just to please the little dears.” —Harper’s Weekly.

SUNDAY IN RUSSIAN SIBERIA

No Music In Chimes of Other Land* After One Has Heard Rue •lan Bells. When one has heard the bells of Russia ring there is no longer music In the chimes of any other land —not even in Spain. The Russian-Slberian Sunday begins with Saturday’s nightfall and as it came on the bells of Tomsk's 26 bulbous domed Greek orthodox churches began their anthem. The small ones that tinkle soft and clear as silver bells are beaten with clapper hammers of* wood and the great, grand booming tones are coaxed with beams of soft pine. There is a softness and melody in it all that soothes and quiets the very soul of man. It carries with its sweetness in these populated oases of the great unoccupied land a soft, impressive spirit of its grandeur, solitude, isolation and sadness. As th& bells toll the people cross themselves and hurry to the great churches to kneel and touch heads to the floor before the great icons; to light candles before the Nikoli, and to press their lips to the hem of the Madonna’s diamond-sprinkled, gold-plait-ed or solid silver vestments and against the gold feet of the infant in her arms. The flames of hundreds of thousands of tapers are Reflected and dance on the golden robes of the saints, Madonnas and child and the great gold enamel screens before the holy of holies. Clouds of incense arise and over it all comes a swelling, grand, impressive music. No instrument made with hands contributes to it; it wells from the throats of men; deeper, richer, sweeter than heard in any other clime. Is It their northland or a pe> culiar training which has given the Russian Slav priest and these peasants, with crock-put hair and baggy trousers, this baritone that, in the simple chants and responses and sup plications for mercy of the Greek orthodox churches has a fulness an| melody that one does not ever hear at home. It is the sweet lost chord that cannot be struck again on all the remainder of the world’s keyboard of melody. The Slav indeed has a music of his own. All through Siberia the church is the impressive thing. Far out on the plain one sees here and there great white churches with bulbous blue domes; around them the poor log houses —almost shacks—of the village. Or, in the great prairie Siberia, clusters of haystacks—for except that they have windows and doors in them they look no different at a distance than the haycocks close beside them.

Conscience vs. Art.

Thomas Nelson Page in the smoking room of the Baltic contrasted the literary and the scientific temperaments. “But a letter will best bring out my point,” said the famous author. “You’ve heard, of course, of Tennyson’s poem, ‘The Vision of Sin.’ Wtell, an eminent mathematician wrote to Tennyson, oh the appearance of his poem, a letter that ran like this: “ ‘Dear Sir —I find in a recent poem of yours entitled “The Vision of Sin,” the following unwarranted statement: “Every moment dies a man, and every moment one is born.” I need hardly point out that this calculation, if correct, would tend to keep the sum total of the world’s population in estate of perpetual equipoise, whereas, it is an established fact that the said population is constantly on the increase. I would therefore suggest that ih the next edition of this poem the erroneous calculation to which I refer should ,be corrected as follows: “Every moment dies a man, and one and a sixteenth 1b born.” I may add that the exact figures are 1.167, but something must, of course, be con-, ceded to the laws of rhythm.’ ’’

On the Girl’s Day Off.

“If my pame did not sound like a page of Irish history I would be pretty sure to get that C. O. D. package tomorrow afternoon,” said the pretty girl. “But since it does Bound that way I shall very likely not get it before Friday morning. That is because tomorrow is Thursday and most storekeepers feel rather dubious about delivering C. O. D. packages to anybody with a down stairs name on Thursday afternoon. The down stairs name is pretty apt to belong to a down stairs girl. It is her day of social activity, and what her employer Will do with the C. O. D. bundle is a problem. Some receive it, others send it back to the store for next day’B delivery, but even thsaa« who pay the bill and take the package in do it with poor grace and afterward take out their revenge on the store as well as on the girl. Delivery wagons have had to make so many extra trips on account of Thursday afternoon holidays that many storekeepers now hold suspicious packages over until Friday.”

German Naval Custom.

On two or three occasions recently a time honored naval custom which had long fallen out of fashion was revived by the German navy. Time was when it was usual on the retirement of a commander from his command to be rowed ashore by a crew of officers from his ship or the fleet of which he was giving up the command. Two recent recipients of the compliment were Prince Henry and Herr von Koester, both Grand Admirals of the fleet. The same honor was shown to Capt. Louran of the Schleslan a few days ago when the crew paraded, the band played and eight of the ship’s officers in full uniform rowed their departing commander to the shore.

THE PHEASANT A FRIEND OF THE FARMER

ONE of the farmers’ bqst friends, the pheasant, has been /long neglected by American agriculturalists, but the movement for a widespread introduction of the valuable bird into the United States is rapidly gaining ground as the pre-eminent merits of the pheasant are recognized. It is matchless as a destroyer of insect pests and as a game bird it rivals the native American species. As it can easily be reared in captivity and can be kept seml-domesticlzed in the vicinity in it is reared, it will prove in many ways a valuable aid to the farmer, i » The pheasant is naturally an insectivorous bird. The variety of the insect food, of the pheasant is larger than any other bird, so far as known. Investigation’', shows that over 130 varieties of Insects, including earthworms, are ehten by' this bird, and doubtless many more will be added to the list on further investigation. The pheasant is especially fond of small rodents, such as field mice, young gophers and sipall snakes. In England a number of pheasants have been found choked to death in an attempt to swallow worms larger or longer than they could manage, and pheasants also have been found dead, choked to death on small rodents. The keepers of large pheasantries have seen pheasants catch mice that were stealing grain from the birds. This is verified by Fred Barnett, superintendent of thfe pheasantries at City Park, Denver, Col. Mr. Barnett says pheasant hen will catch and destroy a mouse as quickly as a cock pheasant or a cat, as he has frequently watched them in the act. They usually pick the head off first, then tear and eat the body or swallow the small ones whole. Among the insects destroyed by the pheasant are included ill-smelling bugs, that most birds will not touch, making these birds more valuable to the farmer than any other. Among the pests ravenously caught by the pheasant are the potato beetle, the squash bug, the cucumber beetle, the bean leaf beetle, tomato worms, cut worms and the moth which deposit the eggs for the wire worms. The pheasant also digs for and eats the wireworms. Most birds avoid the potato beetle asd other ill-smelling bugs on account of their obnoxious odors. The southern people are Importing the pheasant to fight the cotton boll weevil and its larvae, and it is ( said that one pheasant will eat as many of the destructive pests as a number of, quail. Many of the insects that are injurious to the corn crop are destroyed by the pheasant, and the bird will not attack the grain or ear of the corn until late in the season, after insect food is scarce. The professors of our agricultural colleges state that the chinch bug, which destroys SIOO,000,000 worth of wheat annually, is hunted, and eaten by the pheasant, both in summer and in winter. The difference between the pheasant and the ordinary fowl in eating insects is largely that the pheasant Is constantly hunting for the eggs and larvae of Insects, in the grain fields and meadows, where the insect eggs are usually laid on the underside of the leaves of the plants.

Pheasants like grasshopper eggs, especially those erf the locust, which deposits its eggs in the earth in dry places, and pheasants in captivity have been known to dig up light ground in the search jfor insect eggs and larvae. The “common pheasant" of the books, is, scientifically, Phaslanus colchicus, and it is him that we call the “blackneck." * That is a good and distinctive title, because the bird that has made him a rara avis in our coverts, has ousted him and absorbed him by crossing, is the bird with the white ring around his neck—the ring-necked pheasant, or Phaslanus torquatus.

The Japanese pheasant, conspicu -ous fort the dark green breast of th« male, 1b not, according to the spec! mens seen by the present writer, as, large a bird as the English natives; but it Is a curious thing with regard to all these pheasants that there is a tendency, which seems to be constant, for a cross between any two species or varieties to be vary much larger than either of the original parent stocks. This was the case with the crosses of the colchicus and torquatus in the .first 'place; and it was found again, as soon as the crossing took place between the versicolor and either of the older-established kinds, that the hybrids were bigger and stronger than either parent stock. Be this said—“either parent stock” —rather than either parent, because it is a no less constant tendency in this family of birds that the hens shall be considerably smaller as well as far less conspicuous of plumage than the cocks. Nesting as they do on the ground, it is almost an essential for the survival of their race that the par ent which does the brooding of the eggs should be of a hue likely to escape the notice of its foes. It was not until after the. Japanese pheasant had been tried and found not altogether an improvement, even in its crosses, on older kinds, for the purposes of covert-shooting, that experiment was made with that variety which certainly is the best of all, and is certainly in its crosses with* the colchicus and torquatus a better bird than of those of pure breed. This Is the Mongolian.

In it* pure state the cock is a splendid bird, with its' general look of dark green \gloss over the plumage, variegated on the sides with a rich red. Its broad white collar and the white on its wings are very conspicuous on the dark ground. The lady is a very modest companion of this magnificent lord. In all there are something like sixty species of true pheasants, to say nothing of several allied birds which are often called by that name. It is evident, therefore, that this brief notice is very far from exhausting the subject, and that a long time before that consummation was reached there would be absolute exhaustion of the patience of the reader.

For a Hoe Jade Vase —$3,600.

It was worth braving the storm to See the sale of one of the gems of the Robert Hoe collection, a carved cylindrical vase of jade which, after a lively competition among amateurs, brought $3,600 at auction, in the rooms of the American Art association. It was bought by a western capitalist interested In fine arts, who recorded his purchase under the name of Thomas Barlow. This extraordinary specimen of skilful and artistic craftsmanship is one of the most beautiful Jade objects of its class. The cylinder is seven inches in height and seven and.onehalf inches in diameter. It is carved in undercut relief in the motif known as “the orchid pavilion," which reveals a mountainous landscape with figures. The late owner had it fitted with an electric light within, which greatly enhanced its delicate green color. The object is of the Chlen lung period, in which the ruler* of China did much to encourage artists and craftsmen of the first rank.—New York Herald. ,

Cheap and Nutritious.

One of the cheapest and most nutritious foods of the tropics, and upon which the people of those regions thrive, are aroid tubers, or arolds, as they are generally called. aiA one of these tubers is already familiar to Americans as a decorative garden plant, called elephant’s ear. The agricultural department is now having these grown for food as well as garden ornament.

Good Jokes

, INSTRUMENTAL SINGING. "Do you think your daughter's singing will ever amount to anything?" "Will it? Say. she does the finest Instrumental singing you ever heard." "Wbat is instrumental singing? 1 don't believe I ever before heard of that kind of sinking." “Why, I buy a home In a high class neighborhood and move In and start my daughter to singing, and in a month's time I can buy the adjacent homes at less than half their real | value. My daughter’s singing Is Instrumental in getting the prices lowierpd."

Bad Enough, Anyhow.

Robert, aged tin, was playing with the other boys on the corner of Nineteenth and Tioga streets, when his mother, who had been listening to the .conversation, called him. "Robert,” she began, ip a grieved 'tone, “I never thought I’d hear yon I swearing." "Why, I wasn’t swearing, mother,” the boy defended himself. "I only said ‘the devil.’ That isn’t swearing.” “Well," replied the mother quickly, ‘“maybe it isn’t exactly swearing, but it is making light cf sacred things.”

Why He Rejoiced.

*T am going to ask mother to eat Iher next Sunday dinner" with us." "Bully!" “You aprove?” “Sure! It will save us at least a ! fiver.” , “Save?" “Certainly. You said you were going to have her eat her next Sunday dinner with us. Now if we were to eat our dinner with her. It would be Bhe who would save.”

Political Plums.

“Wasn’t it Newton who discovered the law of gravitation when he saw an apple fall from a tree?" queried the student. “No,” replied the wise guy. "The law of gravitation was discovered by a politician who happened to be under a plum tree."

Willing to Learn.

“Did you know that man was trying to sell you a gold brick?” said the agitated friend. “Yep,” replied Farmer Corntoasel. "Then why* did you listen to him?” “Jes’ wanted to see how the thing was done in case I want to go into the business.**

NOT PROBABLE.

Bill Bull—l understand you’ve been telling around that you could beat me i running. Tike Terrier —Do you suppose if I thought I could beat you running that I would be sitting here?

Tombstone Lies.

Oft the sorriest cuss And a son-of-a-gun t Gets a fine epitaph When his life-race is run.

The Cynic.

“I really don’t care for luncheon," said the cynic. “I would be better off ,without it. In fact, I only visit the restaurants because I am Interested ,ln a certain type of humanity.” "Then why do you wait until two o’clock, when the restaurants are deserted, and you are the only patron?" inquired the bystander. "Because," replied the cynic, "I am the certain interesting type."

A Dubious Saying.

He —They say that the face is an index of the mind. She —I don’t know. It doesn't follow because a woman's face Is made up that her mind is.

In the Fray.

“Why do women who are acquainted always kiss when they meet?” “They dob’t when they meet at the bargain counter in search of the same article."

Baffled.

"I have just been reading one ol George Meredith’s poems.” "Is tbst so? Wbat is it about?" “I couldn’t find out There were no loot notes."

Matrimonial Amenities.

Mrs. Nagleigh—l suppose you are ‘satisfied now that you made a mi«t a k ft ►when you married me? Nagleigh—l made a mistake, all right..but I’m not satisfied.

AN EARLY BIRD. /''■<"/;? ■"f— Hark, oh. harkl What’s this we bear? Tbs first spring song/ Comes, sweet sad clear. A poet trills His roundelay About the buds And blooms & Kay, Extolling fair, 4 Bucolic scene*— Rush copy for 4 The m&gaxlnes. His. notes, me thinks. Are liquid bold. Although he hss A dreadful cold. Thanks, happy bard. But don't forget. The spring you sing Is 'way off yeti

THE BEST MAN.

An Irishman, on meeting a friend all bandaged up and with his arm In • sling, cried out: "Hello. Pat, what Is wrong wid yes?" “Oh,” says Pat, "nothing at all te spake of; I’ve only been enjoying myself at a wedding. It happened this way, Mike. There was an Individual at the wedding who was very offldons and patting his nose into everythin* that was going on. So 1 says to hiss, ‘Who are you?’ And he says to mow ‘Sure, I’m the best man.’ 'Ye’re the best man,’ I replies, *be Jabbers, we'll see about the same.’ So 1 took off? my coat, and he took off, bis, and after we had a most enjoyable fight, by the powers, Mike, it turned out that he was the best man.” —Ideas.

HYPERCRITICAL.

"Why didn’t you ring—can’t yon saa{ the sign?" “Yes, but if I’m standing In the kaltj I’m not a passenger, am I?” (

Full Many.

Full many a man. By care* oppreat. Would gladly join The Sons of Rent

Asking the Impossible.

Editor —Here, how's this? I tofcfe you to make a slngle-cohmm eat eq this society woman. Staff Artist—Yes, sir, bat she's gott on a three-column hat. j

Good Scheme.

, “I see the sheriff is advertising jmmrf stock for sale.” , , “Yes; and he’s getting quite a raw for business. I wish I had tried a*>’ vertlslng myself.'*

Appropriate Times.

“I believe firmly them Is a Hm* fori all things.” “Yes. I’ve noticed that yon ha*» vigorously opposed the treating when It domes your turn to treat?”

Heading It Off.

"Got any butter like that you soM: me yesterday?" • -Jf“Plenty.” “Then take care to give me a> pound of something different.”

USELESS.

Piper—l haven’t seen nan of them are trying to % accomplish with their aeroplanes. Peep—How's that? Piper—l haven’t see one ot theasv catch a butterfly ox a bug with owe! yet

The Reckless Lover.

In mood distraught, \ He klsaed her hair; * Though ’twas store-bought. He didn't care. ,

Another Wreath.

“I think the champion chump of that Billy season was the amt Wfcn nmrrled that French actress." “Well. I’m glad the champions**)! remains In America.”