Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 118, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1911 — Page 3

TRIUMPH OF ENGINEERING

Concrete causeway two miles long connecting Galveston Island with the mainland. " Built at a cost of' 11,500,000.

DINE AT RAILROAD’S EXPENSE

Thrifty Frenchmen Have What Might Well Be Termed a “Good Thing.” On the state managed Western ralliroad of Prance there is one class of passengers from whom the line should get nothing but praise. Only they are very chary about praising too loudly. It is this way. As the advertised time of arHval can never be depended upon, passengers who have to change cars mlsg very often the connecting train, and If this happens about lunch or dinner time their meal is paid for by the railroad administration and they have only to go to the station buffet or the nearest hotel and send the bill to the chief officers of the line in Paris. This is beginning tj) get known in the country districts, and the artful and thrifty Normandy peasant, when he is not over busy, buys a cheap third class ticket for a short distance involving a change of trains and so gets an excellent lunch at the expense of the Ouest-Etat. If the delay at the intermediate station is too prolonged it is only necessary to make a little disturbance and the admlnlstra tlon will provide horses and carriages to take the place of the train. These little entertainments, it. is said, cost the Western line hundreds of dollars a week.

Color Test for Florists.

The counter of a florist’* shop was such an unusual place to find a basket of woolen threads that the curious customer was impelled to ask what business they had there. “They have just been used for training a young man’s sense of color,” Bald the florist. “He has been working in our greenhouses on Long.lsland He wants a position in the Broadway shop, but before he could be transferred he had to undergo the color test. Bvery man in a florist’s shop must have as keen a sense for the different colors as a ribbon or Bilk salesman. This man passed the examination all right, but lots of men who know a good deal about flowers fall down on the color test.”

Workmen Killed in Tunnel.

The strange run of fatal railroad accidents which have taken place recently In France still continues. The other morning another terrible tragedy took place near Paris which resulted in the loss of five lives. A gang of workmen was engaged on the line inside a tunnel, when a train entered. The men stopped work and stepped out of the way on to the other line. Judt then another train going in the other direction also entered the tunnel. The smoke from both trains at once was so dense and the noise so great that the unfortunate workmen neither heard nor saw the approaching second train and were Instantly cut to pieces.

Fast Trains in Europe.

Express speeds in Great Britain and on the continent are high. In Great Britain there are 11 daily express trains making runs from 60 to 118% miles without a stop, whose average speed is from 61 to 69.2 miles an hour, the fastest and longest no-stop run is 226% miles, from Paddington to Plymouth, made at 64.8 miles an hour. France has seven daily expresses that run from 77% to 147% miles without stop ht speeds from 61.1 to 61.8 miles an hour, and there are nine French trains that ruh from 102 to 147% miles without stop at speeds from 60.4 to 69.3 miles an hour.—Scientific American. %

The Pocahontas Delegation.

Clarence W. Watson, the new senator from West Virginia, was a delegate some time ago to a congressional convention dawn in. his district Pocahontas county was represented in the convention by only one detegate. . .^^.(.4^, The Chairman asked for a roll call on a matter that many did not understand, whereupon the lone Pocahontas delegate arose and said in all seriousness to the assembled multitude: “Walt! The Pocahontas delegation desires to hold a consultation.”Washington Herald.

Railroads in Spain.

Of the 8,943 miles of railroad In operation In Spain, 4,392 miles center In Madrid, and the construction of the direct line to Valencia on the Mediterranean, and to Bilbao on the Bay of Biscay, which are to be completed within five years, will' make It ths most important railroad center in the - \ ' ;nf '■ <* M I Ilgtlt till i '•. • ■ » v ' - t J

RUSSIA’S NEED OF RAILROADS

The Duma Considers a Bill to Allow Private Lines to Be Built ii| the Empire. The Russian government has introduced a bill in the duma permitting railways to be built by private companies. It; states that in Russia the railroad mileage is only one-tenth that of America and one-fifth that of western Europe. The supporters of the proposition claim that the increase of the Russian network of railroads is absolutely necessary for the further development of the productive forces of the country. The government on its own account cannot, it is stated, increase its railroad building program, owing to a large number of unavoidable expenditures, hence it finds it necessary to grant cdnceßßlons for private railway construction. To private railroads of importance and significance the issuance of government guarantees will be permitted, the administration accepting the capital of shareholders not exceeding 3 per cent. These private railroad companies will receive remuneration for the outlays made on preliminary railway surveys and determination of directions and locations from the capital stock. The time limit for the purchase of a private line by the im- . perial government is twenty-five years.

Brave Act Rewarded.

For averting a railroad disaster, George Lloyd, an employe of the Western Railroad company, was the other day presented with a check by the directors of the company in recognition of bravery. During a great landslide near Aberdare, the PowellDuffryn company’s colliery tip or waste dump was washed down from the side of an adjoining mountain and completely blocked the line. A train from' Swansea had just left Aberdare and on discovering, the landslide Lloyd rushed towards Aberdare, falling and stumbling amongst the wreckage, and eventually he managed to gain the clear tracks and placed detonations on the rails so that the engine stopped within 50 yards of the obstruction. —London Mall. ,

Fable on Jupiter and the Bes.

A bee from Mount Hymettus, the queen of the hive, ascended to Olympus to present to Jupiter some fresh honey from her combs. Jupiter, delighted with the offering of honey, promised to give whatever she should ask. She therefore besought him, saying, “Givet me, I pray thee, a sting that if any mortal shall approach to take my honey, I may kill him.” Jupiter was much displeased, for he loved much the race of man, but could not refuse the request on account of his promise. He thus answered the bee: “You shall have your request; but it will be at the peril of your own life. For if you use your sting, it shall remain in the ■wound you make, and then you will die from the loss of It.”

Why Ties Are Burned.

Tip, once seeing a lot of pretty fair, though used, railroad ties being burned by the orders of pie assistant superintendent, inquired why and was told that if old ties were sold or given away it 4ould cost the railroad a pretty penny, because gfafters would soon find every defect in ties and then when there were no more with defects good ties wopld be thought rotten and taken out and sold or “given away.” The railroad had to order them burned so that any ties found away from the track would be known to be stolen.

Threw Cars From Track.

The West Clare (Ireland) railroad line was the scene of a peculiar accident lately. At a crossing a large camber of cattle coming into a fair at Ennis were held up'by the closing of the gates while the morning train from Ennis was passing. One of the beasts, becoming frightened, jumped over a stile on the line. The driver of the engine at once shut off steam and the train slowed np, but not before the bullock had been killed. The engine kept the rails, but two empty cars were capsized and badly damaged.

Called for Large Amount of Wire.

Millions of feet of wire were used for railroad signals for the Pennsylvania terminal and tunnel in New York.

Has Much New York Real Estate.

The Pennsylvania railroad company is one of the largest holders of real estate in the city of New. York.

RECTOR WAS A FAN

HEARD THE SCORE AMD CALLED FOR LONG METER DOXOLOGY. EVEN BISHOP FORGAVE HIM Echo of Great Struggle Between Cubs aft* White Box—How Zwilling Dieted to Reduce Hie WeightMost Freakish Catch. By HUGH 8. FULLERTON. : This is a story which is perfectly proper to tell, because one of the bishops of the Protestant Episcopal church laughed until tears rolled down his cheeks over it and forgave the rector concerned. The rector is in charge of a prominent Chicago church, and it so happened that he is and always win be a White Sox fan. , Isl the vestry are two more White Sox fans, who shall be called Smith and Brown, because they would never forgive the use of their real names. The story concerns the time that the Chicago Cubs, representing the National league, and the White Sox, champions of the American jgague, met to decide the world’s chApionship. There was civil war in Chicago that fall. The series divided families and caused neighborhood riots. Friends of a lifetime ceased to speak and good citizens blackened each others’ eyes in the' street because, foorsooth, one thought the Cubs would win and the other picked the White Sox. _ The rector and the two vestrymen had a box at all the games during the week —but, alas! for them, the final game of the wild and exciting series fell on Sunday and, worse than that, on a Sunday fbr which the rector had announced special matin services. But for the special serylces, Smith and Brown might have compromised their consciences and seen the game, but ' knowing the rector would note any absence on their part, they dutifully attended their church duties. The special service was two-thirds over when Brown was unable to stand it any longer. With Intensely solemn face he arose, tiptoed down the aisle and made a quiet exit Once outside, he dashed madly across the street to the drug store and reached a telephone. A few moments later he reentered church. Hlb face was wreathed with a beatific smile and, as he carefully parted his coat tails and resumed his seat, his chest overhung his body like a bay window, and the absolute contentment of his smiling countenance was only to be' rivaled by a calf chewing & dish rag. Smith’s pew was directly across the aisle. He was twitching with suppressed anxiety, and seeing Brown’s face, he could contain himself no longer, but stretched his neck across the aisle and whispered: ‘‘Who won?” His whisper was audible to half the church and the rector paused in his discourse. “The Sox,” replied Brother Brown, his smile spreading, and his exultant whisper penetrating even the choir loft r „ For an instant the rector was dazed. A murmur ran through the church.

The Series Divided Families and Caused Neighborhood Riots.

Then the little rector regained his composure, and said, calmly: “And now that Brother Brown has told us who won, he might tell ns the score.” Brown did not heeitate. Swelling his chest further he proclaimed: “Eight to three.” , A titter ran over the congregation as thee rector, without raising his eyes, said: “We will now sing the long meter doxology three times.” “little Alexander” Zwiiling, cherubic looking (not acting) outfielder of the Chicago White Sox, is a native of Battle Creek, Mich. He probably could make more money traveling as an advertisement for the health foods of that place than he ever will at baseball. He looks like the picture of MeUlns* food babies, and is so plump and angelic appearing that the pitchers hate to strike him out. But Manager Hugh Duffy decided Zwiiling was too plump. One afternoon Little Alexander was thrown out at first on an infield bounder which Duffy thought he ought to have beaten to first, and he called the cherub. ! “Here, Zwiiling,” he remarked, “you’re too fat. Get some of that weight off and you'll go faster.” "Yes, I will—Tm dieting now,” remarked Zwiiling. Two weeks peased and Zwiiling looked plumper than ever.

Ton'll have to take seme of that weight off, or I'll send yon back to the minor leagues,” cautioned Duffy. ‘Tm dieting to take it off,” responded zwilling. « : -; "What are you taking?” asked Trained Buckner, who had not been consulted in the matter. Tm taking nearly a pint of olive oil every day," said Zwiiling, spiritedly, and wondered why “Buck” cot lapsed on the bench. Knowing baseball and being able to play it well does not make a man a good ball player. To be that he must know these things and at the same time know his opponents. The same thing applies to the other great American game, poker, as a stranger from a far land discovered during the world’s series. ' ' ; The stranger was a New York writer, dispatched to travel with the Cubs In those hysterical jumps to and from Philadelphia. He Am played poker from ooast to coast, but, though he knew the game and could play It, he had never played with the bunch of desperadoes that engages in the in-

The Vestry Fans.

terminable Cub game. In honor of the world’s series, Chance permitted the rules governing the limit, which jig A quarter during the season, to be broken, and they were playing that grand old suicidal game, of each ante a quarter, one dollar limit and all jacks, and raising two or three times before the draw. The New Yorker sat in to get bis part of the world’s championship spoil, and they observed him approaching. The third hand dealt he opened the pot for one bone right under the gun, and he*had three nine spots. Tom Needham calmly boosted it a dollar, and, after some study, Mordecai Brown gave it another tilt. The easterner with his threes, boosted again. Needham and Brown hoisted him. *3 The easterner, a trifle remained and pushed two hesitating and reluctant beans into the pot. Needham raised, Brown raised and Needham staid and drew two cards, while Brown held his pat and the stranger drew two without helping his nines. The stranger checked the bet, Needham bet a dollar, Brown raised him, Needham raised back and the. stranger with a sigh shoved bis three nines into the discard and swore softly at the “luck.” Brown raised, Needham raised, and Brown, after a second’s study, called. “Whatche got, Tom?” he demanded. “Pair of fives,” laughed Needham. “Just top you—pair of sevens,” Brown, taking down the pot. For a moment the stranger stared. Then he remarked: "This is no place for a poker player,” and crawled out Big Bill Lange, once the hero of Anson’s famous Colts, came east last fall for the first time in ll years, to see the first world’s championship series he ever beheld. While in Chicago he told the story of what he considered the most freakish catch ever made. “I made that catch on the old Eastr ern park grounds In Brooklyn," said Bill. “There may have been more wonderful catches, but I think that was the freakiest ever made and It saved us a ball game.” “The grounds at Eastern park were extremely long, and not very wide, and the center fielder could go a mile back without hitting a fence. If you remember, I used to have a way of coming in fast on a fly ball and sliding to It If I saw I could not reach it standing up. Well, in this game, Treadway was at bat, and when he got a good crack at a ball he would drive it a mile or so out to center or to right center, so I played way out They had a couple of runners on bases and a long hit meant that would beat us out. Instead of lifting the bah far out, as I expected to do, Treadway smashed a low, hard line hit straight in my direction. I thought I could reach the ball and went tearing in at top speed. 1 saw I could reach the ball without sliding, and kept on at as fast a gait as I could. 1 was .almost to the ball when my foot caught, some way, and I pitched forward onto my face. I lost sight of the ball entirely and threw out both arms to save myself. As I hit the ground my feet flew up behind me just as the ball went over my head. That ball hit right on my heels and popped at least 30 feet into the air. Ryan had been coming over fast to back me up if the ball got past me, and he trotted In and caught the ball before it could bit the ground and retired the side. All I ever got sore about was that 1 didn’t catch that ball between my heels." ■ , (Copyright, 1911, by Joseph B. Bowles.)

It Often Happens.

"1 thought you said you were get ting in on the ground floor?” “I was, bat the floor was rotten, an 4 I fell into the cellar.”

POET OF SIERRAS NEARING END

Although foaquin Miner, “the poet of the Sierras,” bo far recovered from a recent Illness which threatened to prove fatal that he was able to return with his wife and daughter to his home on the heights overlooking Oakland and San Francisco bay, yet his friends entertain little hope that he will ever be fully restored to health. He is now In his seventieth year. Previous to his last illness be had been separated from his wife for thirty years, but the danger of his death happily reunited them, and now the aged poet Is spending the remainder of his days amid his well beloved bills, on the spot where he has created a characteristic home, called The Heights. His massive frame has weakened, his once keen eyes are dim, his flowing hair and beard are white, and the physicians who have climbed the wooded hills to minister to him declare there is little if any hope—that it is merely a matter of a few weeks when Joaquin Miller will have been gathered to his fathers. His ashes, according to his wish, will be scattered to the winds from the pyre in the hills back of The Heights, which marks the last resting place of his daughter, Maud, who died several years ago. The reunion with his wife may prolong his days, and the care that his other daughter, Juanita, bestows upon him may build up his withered strength a little, but there is hardly more than a shell for them to nurse. Perhaps no more picturesque figure is extant in the literary history of California and the west than Joaquin Milter. He is a distinct type, seemingly inseparable from the environment In which he has lived these twenty years or more. He has fathered inspiration from the rolling, green hills, from the ruddy sunsets, from the bine Pacific waters, from the fog banks that roll In with the nightfall, from the vista of land and sea as seen from his eyrie on The Heights, from the Golden Gate and the shadowy ships that sail through it into the rim of the horizon and are lost in the vapor’s pall. He has been, perhaps, too familiar to the residents of Oakland and neighboring suburbs to create the interest that he would if he should suddenly appear in some eastern city dad In his high top hoots, buckskin clothing and wide brimmed sombrero, with his curly hair flowing from beneath its brim. Even to this day, or perhaps it should be said pp to the time of his illness, Joaquin Miller retained his grace and commanding aspect He has lived much out of doors and has been browned by suns. With his own hands he has planted the hundreds of trees that surround the little collection of houses, the chapel and the funeral pyre, which constitute The Heights. A few years ago the poet’s mother died at the age of ninety. There was a strikingly beautiful attachment between the two, and since her death the decline has set in which is the basis of his present illness. “More than twenty years ago,” Miller wrote in an article published some time ago, “I sat down here an a mountain side with mother and began to plant trees. Men and women came to work and to rest with us, men and women from colleges and universities. No one was asked to come—no one was ever asked to go. “More than twenty years ago, while feeling my way along here and trying to use what little common sense I then had, I wrote a smalt book, The Building of the City Beautiful’ — "You want to see San Francisco? Well, you must come to Oakland; and do you want to see Oakland and San Francisco and the bay of all hays on the globe, and the Golden Gate, at a glance and all together? Then you must go two miles to the northeast and then half a mile perpendicular. In short, you must come to The Heights, to the camp where Fremont tented half a century ago. and to the ■pot from which he viewed and named the now famous Golden Gate, long before gold was found.” - The real name of the poet is Ctnclnnatus Heine Miller. The pseudonym “Joaquin” was derived from his defense of the Mexican bandit, Joaquin Murletta, many years ago. Milter was born In the Wabash district of Indiana on November 10, 1841, and In 1854 was taken to Oregon by

his father. He had little schooling and early ran away from home, going to the California gold fields. He accompanied Walker on the Nicaragua' expedition, lived among the Indian*,; and Spaniards on the coast of Calif or-, nia and became familiar with thefr. customs. He studied law, being graduated from Columbia college, in Oiw-r gon, in 1858. He practiced unsuccessfully in Idaho and turned expressmessenger. In 1868 he settled In Oregon and became editor of “The Eugene City Democratic Register,” whleli was suppressed in the same year. Ini 1864 Miller returned to the law and! practiced in Canyon City, Ore. Herat he became popular, owing to his services against the warlike Snake In-; dians, and front 1866 to 1870 served as a Judge in Grant oounty. p|l His • first important attempts at writing were made here, and he tried to Bell a collection of his poems under the title of “Songs of the Sierras” in the east. They did not find a reepl market, and he finally went to E*gi| land, where they were published aodcreated a sensation. It was in London that Miller was recognized, pet ted# lionized and even overestimated perThe poet returned from England' and went to Washington, and finally. In 1877, to California and settled at The Heights, where his retreat soon became the Mecca for literary people. At times persons with literary or artistic tendencies, forswearing the world for,a time, have gone to MIN ler’s home as a haven of refuge. Here are buried the bodies of Maud Miller, the poet’s daughter, and of his mother. It has been said that the poet d*| sired to have his own body Imnipß upon the pile of rough stone* that cover his child’s grave, but the truffet of his request is that he be cremated and the ashes placed upon the pile, that the wind may scatter them far and wide over the land he loved so His life has not been spent in tlM*. ways of ease and luxury, such as one usually associates with the existence of poets. He has "roughed It” maw I has lived bard. He has fought ant! has been beaten; he has fought and; he has won. Today he sits before his home on the veranda, with its trellised vines,* and receives the care of wife and daughter. He sits by the hour gazing, out from the secluded Heights upon the cities, the bay, the ships and th* hills beyond that through twenty-five, years or more he has watched and studied and loved. Every little atteation that a woman knows so well how to bestow Is showered upon the white haired man, the patriarch of the Oakland hills, known the world over for his flowery verse, his eccentricity, hi*f love of the beautiful and of California.

A Pill In the Jelly.

In -The Banker in Literature,” a re* -#lir nuKllafiP/i \PAt*tr lb(p InKaann , cenuy puuti*iiit?a wor» uy atr. aiMxmicMnr? Brigham, state librarian, of lowa, th#p|j is a suggestion for the banker of the period, whose daily mail frequent|g| contains requests to enhance his pdti|| larity by subscribing to worthy caußeß ’ To all letters soliciting a subscrip* tlon, Samuel Rogers, the English bank* er-poet, approvingly quoted Lord Erskine as replying in this form words: ■Sir, 1 feel much honored by application to me, and I beg to subscribe”—here the reader reached the bottom of the page, and to learn thsf ! amount of the donation, had to turn over the leaf. There he found after the word subscribe, the formal conclusion—"myself your obedient ant."—Youth’B Companion.