Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 181, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1911 — Page 3

THROUGH THE FIRE

Mill? Hope had not slept well, as Her dull, puffy eyes indicated. Even the coil of auburn hair, usually arranged with tantalising grace, betrayed the disorder of her mind in its careless disarray. . ; =. , Seated before the- switchboard, answering calls, taking down messages, ringing up different offices in the yard, she attended to the necessary part of her work only. For once her voice, in repeating a call, was sharp and even impatient In all of her five years as chief night operator in the Chicago freight house this bad never before occurred. As the men passed through the office that evening, a few minutes before 10, to register on the big clock, each called out some salutation to •Milly, who was a great favorite. Instead of responding, she shrugged or frowned dr bit her lips in pretended absorption. “Don’t sulk, MiUybawled out the superintendent, as he paused on the threshold. “Carl won't come back any the quicker for your scowls, when little Margaret has smiles to spare.’’ She returned no answer, but applied herself more closely to her duties. Despite her self-control, a tear splashed on the message she was recording.

“Snags, my child-?’’ The gruff voice of Bankß, “father” of the machine shops—the oldest man at the works, was kind and did not" wound. Milly raised her wet eyes mutely. He shook his head.

“Men are funny brutes, Milly. Carl is fond of you; but he’s like the rest of us. He won’t stand for nagging nor being hectored. I once was young and now that I am old, I haveti’t forgot the girl I loved first and best. We had a little difference just like you and Carl. We never made it up. We were both too spunky.” He sighed and slowly quitted the room.

Thank heaven, she was at last alone! How her head ached! She closed her eyes. The salty tears stung the lids. Only two more of the night shift must register. They were late already. Why didn’t they come? —Carl Meurer and Margaret Donnelly. There was a time when Carl had alwaya come first and lingered as long as possible. That was before — before Margaret Donnelly came to act as typewriter in the superintendent’s ofilee.

The essence of bitterness lay in the fact that it was through her efforts that Margaret had come. She had been soryy for the girl—one of a big, shiftless family. Till her advent, Milly had been queen of the freight house. She was willingly worshipped. Little wonder that she became domineering even to Carl Meurer. Margaret, on the contrary, was bright and obliging, with a seductive. Irish tongue, and when Milly sent'him to the right about for Some trifling matter be promptly availed himself of the other girl’s ready smiles and good-humored comradeship.

The other men in the yard where he was foreman had widened the breach by teasing him about being "bossed." This was gall to the highepirlted German. He would have, been willing to die for a woman, yet he' would not submit to leading strings.

As Milly brooded over her troubles, which /had kept her awake all that day, a pretty laugh rang through the office, and Margaret pushed open the swinging doors and entered, followed by Meurer. They made a simultaneous rush forfthe clock to register on time. Margaret did not speak to the operator, but with another laugh passed through the door of exit, followed by Meurer, who had taken no notice of Milly either. As the night wore on Milly’s distraction increased. She imagined that she heard sounds that had no basis— Carl’s footstep, his voice in her very ear—but when she started and gazed around there was only the vacant office and the incessant murmur from the great city, which could not even sleep quietly. ' The bodiless whispering had ceased at last, but at about 3 o’clock In morning a dull, persistent roar began to hammer her ear drums. Her halfdazed brain became gripped by a spasm of terror. Was she going mad? She abandoned the switchboard and moved across to one of the windows glaring palely with the reflection of the street lamps. She looked .flown on the sidewalk far below—noted the stagnation, saw a solitary pedestrian . and heard the tramp of his feet on the pavement Still the roar surged against her ears. It was sinister. ■She swung away from the front window and turned her attention to those commanding the freight yard. Down somewhere in that intricate mass of men and machinery was the yard foreman, Carl Meurer. There he was king. Her heart swelled with pride, but as abruptly contracted with Jealous palg. She suppresesd the outcry of agony that pressed. against her clinched teeth and forced herself to sit once more at the switchboard. For a full half-hour she settled down to routine work, but at last the pear-ending roar that seemed to permeate every corner of the room became intolerable With a desperate gesture she sprang erect and began to pace the floor. This could be no mere halloclna-

By BRYANT C. ROGERS

Hon. She halted in the center of the office, then suddenly shrieked aloud as the reason for this dreadful turmoil swept across her faculties, clearing them instantly. The freight* house was on fire.

A panther-like spring across the floor and one glance through the doors revealed sinuous coils of writhing smoke ascending the air currents. How long had the fire been at work? Had she time to escape by the stairs? Her foot was on the landing when it occurred to Milly that all of the workers in the yard were in the greatest jeopardy—trapped literally by the towerihg walls of the freight house. And Carl was there — Carl! ■ , - She dashed across to the switchboard and began notifying the men in the yard of the fire. She called up Meurer as calmly as the others — heard his slow, deep voice merging into a shout of excitement. Suddenly her blanched face went whiter than ever.

“Call up Miss Donnelly; you can get her before any of the rest of us. Hur——”

But Milly flung the receiver from her with a maniacal laugh and leaped toward the door once again.

So the little senseless chit was in peril—extreme peril, perhaps. So be it! The ground floor might be a mass of flames before she had an inkling. No one could reach her, either, at this hour except over the switchboard in the main office, and Milly controlled that. She hung for a moment above the well-like stairs, then skimmed down the broad steps. One flight was accomplished—another was begun—now she was at the third landing. Here the smokff was more dense. She could hear the rending snarl of tho flames; catch a sickening whiff from the cellars where the stored merchandise was burning. A burst of fresh, outside air dispersed the smoke-clouds an instant. Milly gulped greedily, was refreshed and, with returning vigor, a full appreciation of her own detestable * mduct, passed through her heart like the thrust Of a sword.

Had she time left In which to warn the girl? She wheeled and took the stairs with frantic speed. The ascending flights seemed endless. To breathe mearft acute pain—her muscles refused to obey, her limbs to bear her up. Midway on the last flight she sank to her knees. A hot gust swept up from the inferno beneath but it Stirred her heavy limbs so that she could crawl the remainder of the distance.

Somehow she reached the switchboard and stirrdO, schooling herself to be rational, laying fast hold of her reeling brain, she called up the superintendent’s office. Would the operator never answer—perhaps she — Margaret—was already past human aid—

Finally Margaret’s voice, barely recognizable, so hoarse and terrified, reached Milly. “That isn’t you, surely! Yes! Yes! We are safe here, but don’t you know —you are cut off by fire, they say. Poor, poor Milly—*—’’ The receiver fell from Milly’s nerveless fingers. She had finished her work. She had fought the good fight She

Red fire danced before her receding vision, something snapped In her overtaxed brain and she lurched forward insensible, as a volume of smoke poured into the room. 4 * • * * - • • ■

The fire was a thing of the past when Milly, In the gray dawn, struggled back to consciousness. She was on the lounge in the superintendent’s office, where she had been borne by Carl after be had made a desperate dash through the blinding smoke to rescue her. His usually full, rosy face was blanched and ghastly as he knelt beside her. “Was every one saved?” she whispered. “Dearest!”

“Why are you crying, Call?” She made an effort to rise; her eyes were pathetic In their terror. "Was Margaret not saved after all?” “Every one was saved, every one. But, Milly, how near 1 came to losing you!” “It was worth while.” Delicate color wavered across her white face. “Worth while! Oh, Milly!” “Yes, Carl; because I found you.”

Poor Consolation.

“Uncle Joe" Gannon, at a Republican banquet In Danville, Bald of a reverse:

“There are consolations, to be sure; but these consolations remind me of a Washington waiter. “A friend of mine entered a famous Washington fish house and ordered soft-shell crabs one hot June afternoon. But when the crabs came they didn’t please him. “‘Waiter,’ he said, These soft crabs are very small.’ "‘Yes, Bah,’ said the waiter. "They don’t seem very fresh, either.* ' “Then, sab. It’s lucky that they’s small, sah. ain’t It?’*’ - -

■ “What Is a pessimist, pa?” “A pessimist, my son, is a man who thinks life is a game of Tag,’ and ha —is always IL*'

BEVERLY, MASS.—President Taft’s family already is settled In “Parrametta,’’ which is the summer seat of government for this season, and Mr. Taft himself will be here as soon as national affairs permit him to abdndon Washington. He came with the family, but could stay only two days. Mrs. Taft’s health alrsady is benefiting by the change, and the children are enjoying themselves Immensely.

DONS WIFE’S SKIRT

Young Soldier Tires at Being Removed From Bride.

Disguises Himself In Female Garments and Successfully Makes His Escape From United States Army Transport.

San Francisco. —Here’s- a romance of the army transport service in which there are neither swords nor shoulder straps. It Is a strictly proper story in spite of the fact that at the critical point the hero takes refuge in the heroine’s skirts, during the absence, of course, of the heroine.

On the records of the transport Sheridan, which arrived here the other day from Manila, the hero is described as "C. R. Talerifo, discharged soldier.” After each name is this note. “Left ship at Nagasaki." The Talerifos were married in Manila Just before the man received his discharge from the army. They applied for transportation home on the Sheridan, and the best that an unromantic Uncle Sam could da for them was to provide Mrs. Talerito with cabin accommodation and her husband with a bunk in the steerage. Although out of the army, he was still an enlisted man for the purpose of transportation, and as such was barred from accommodation anywhere but on the troop dack. Now, a honeymoon cruise is not much fun where the billing and cooing have to be done in accents loud enough to reach from the troop deck to the promenade deck, and in full view of an observing regiment of cavalry. By the time the Sheridan reached Nagasaki the Talerifos came to the conclusion that honeymooning under sdch conditions were what Sherman said war was and they decided to leave the ship and go home by liner.

They were confronted, however, by another military bar to happiness. Although Mrs. Talerifo, as a cabin passenger, was at liberty to go ashore, this privilege was denied the enlisted men, with whom her husband was classed, and armed sentries were posted at strategic points to see that the soldiers stayed on board.

Now comes the skirt act In the confusion of arrivals at the Japanese

Girl Walks in Her Sleep

Young Woman Anxious Over Result of Brother's Examination Wakes Up at Home of Teacher.

Pittsburg, Pa.—lmbued with the spirit of the eyenlng when the probable results of the school examinations were the burden of expectant anxiety throughout Pittsburg, Miss Fronla Jennings, aged nineteen, daughter of E- C.. Jennings of 320 Sycamore street, business manager of the South Hills News, carried her impressions through dreamland and woke up the other morning in a neighbor’s house after a perilous sleep walk.

Miss Jennings had taken much interest in the fortunes of her brother Paul, aged thirteen, a pupil at the Mount Washington school, who betrayed much unrest the other evening because of the uncertainty of passing his “exam” for high school promotion. The family had discussed the subject freely during the evening and retired to await the newq of the morning. Bat their slumbers were disturbed shortly after midnight by a message from the horns of Miss Grace Hawk of 48 Natchez street, who is teacher in the Mount Washington school, saying Miss Jennings had reached there and had been carefully put to bed. ~ Miss Jennings had arrived at the Hawk home about 1 a. m., still traveling in Slumberland, clad only in her night robes. Her first inquiry at the Hawk horns waai “Did Paul pass?"

THIS YEAR’S “SUMMER WHITE HOUSE”

port Talerifo managed to make his way unnoticed to his wife’s stateroom. When he came out his legs were draped in his wife’s best skirt, his wife’s cloak was around his shoulders and on his head a big picture hat formed a screen from which fell the heavy veil that hid his face. Out on deck he tripped and down the gangway to a waiting sampan. One of the sentries assisted him into the sampan and when Mrs. Talerifo went down the ladder behind her disguised husband she heard the sentry remark, as he pointed to the figure in. the picture hat: “She has a hand like a ham.” The Talerlfos went to the best hotel in Nagasaki and engaged the bridal suite on the Japanese liner Nippon Maru. .7-

CAPTURE TWO VICIOUS BIRDS

Two Immense Beafowl Caught After Struggle by California Fisherman —Made Fierce Fight.

Los Angeles, Cal. —Two vicious sea birds of immense size, entirely unknown to naturalists of this section, were caught off the pier at Long Beach, and will be carefully kept until possible identification can be made.

Chicagoans Commend Greeley, Colo., Form to Raise Pest Destroyers— * Idea Is Good One.

Chicago—Chicago is Interested in a new fly ridding device. The new scheme Which has for its basis the utilization of the insatiate appetite of frogs and toads for the swarming summer pests originated In Greeley, Colo. It is there, according .to a dispatch, that a man has a toad farm which is absolutely “flyless.” “Hundreds of toads and frogs on this unique farm," says the dispatch, "keep the place free from flies." “Frogs and toads, I have found,” Keeper Cy De Vry of the Lincoln park zoo said, “are the great fly eaters In the world. If Chicago had enough of them the flies would soon disappear. We have one big frog out here called

Miss Jennings' journey was not altogether roseate. She traveled about eight squares in her bare feet over a rugged path, twice crossing the tracks of the Mount Washington Tunnel car line, but says she feels no 111 effects and was happy in the knowledge that “Paul passed.”

Berlin. —The new Zoological Garden restaurant, the world’s greatest eating house, has been opened in Berlin in the presence of representatives of the government, the municipality, and a distinguished assembly of leading Berliners.

Ten thousand persons can sit down simultaneously beneath a roof. Openair terraces for use in summer will accommodate 10,000 diners. Twenty thousand will be able to take a meal at the same time. There are 1,000 waiters, ahd the kitchen staff exceeds 500. The restaurant has its own laundry and own bakery.

Berlin.—A dangerous but successful balloon landing is reported from Altoona, where the aeronaut, Wilson, fearing that his balloon would be driven by an adverse wind into, til* River Elbe, which Is very broad at Altoona, elected to come down In the middle of the city. He pulled the ripcord when the balloon was above the city flshmarket, coming down successfully and safely amid the fish dealers In the uncovered square.

Frogs and Toads Eat Flies

Cafe Seats 20,000 Diners.

Balloon Drops Amid Fish.

Their wing measurement is 7 1-2 feet from tip to tip, the bodies are brown and the heads white, with sharp, powerful hooked bills seven inches long. No seafaring man or fisherman here ever saw anything like them before. 1 The birds were taken by R. H. Floyd while angling for yellow tail. He used large live minnows for bait, and one of the birds seeing it trailing through the water/swooped down and seized the fish. It became hooked anq made a violent struggle to free itself, but did not succeed. Its mate dropped out of the sky and flew to its aid, becoming itself entangled, and both! were hauled up. They made fierce attacks on bystanders, who had to clear away, and were cleared from thd line and caged after a hard struggle.

42 Inches Tall, Weighs 58.

Knoxville, Tenn. —Joseph A. Carter; smallest adult in Tennessee, is dead at his home in -Jefferson county. He was 73 years old, 43 Inches tall and weighed 58 pounds. He served as register of Jefferson county eighteen con-j secutive years. He was a college gra&i uate, bachelor and school teacher.

Man 8 Feet, 1 Inch Tall.

Bridgeport, Conn.—The tallest citizen ever naturalized in New England has obtained his final papers. He id Capt. George Auger, 8 feet 1 inch tall, a native of Cardiff, Wales, and formerly London policeman. He has a farm near Fairfield, Conn.

Jumbo. He is from Florida and we feed, him nothing but flies. We can’t give him enough, and I am thinking ol turning him out and maybe he’ll rid the park of flies attracted by the other animals.”

F. J. Burns, 340 West South Water street, who handles hundreds of frogs for live fishing bait, felt sure the idea would be a good one here. "We have few teads here, but hun-i dreds of frogs,” he said, “and toj wotch them devour flies is a marvel My little boy started to count how many disappeared in the mouths off a healthy collection of the animals! one day and at last became ben wildered in his mathematics. They’ will eat all they can get near. We! have very few files bothering nsi here."

THIS COUNTRY IS SUPERIOR

Cincinnati Capitalist Declares We Excel in Every Essential Respect— Make* Comparison.

Baltimore, Md.—“lf any man doubts that this country is not superior in] every essential respect to all othef lands, let him go abroad and make comparisons,” said Mr. Frank Lj Perln, a well-known Cincinnati capitalist, while in the city the other day. “Such an experience will prove of benefit, for It will open the eyes of the most confirmed American pessimist to the advantages of Yankee- 1 land.’ If nothing else will do it, the experience on French and Italian railroads, where they charge you five cents a mile for inferior transportation facilities, will make one think of the infinitely swifter, cheaper and more comfortable trains of the United States.

“While I do not sympathize with| some of the tendencies of the present day, I still maintain that we are tar in advance of the nations of Europe and that to be bora in Uncle country and to remain under his flag is the happiest human destiny.”

Tree Cuts House In Two.

Bridgeport, Conn. —While the farailj of William Crates were about to r» tire the other night they were start led by a sudden, deafening crash aa a massive tree fell from an adjoining yard and smashed through the roof) The tree cut the house In two, mak* lng a clean path through the and two bedrooms. The huge trunk can not be removed without praotW ally tearing th. house dowm.

HE BOUGHT CHICKENS

CITY MAN ON RANCH WAS SENT FOR KIND THAT LAYS. | mook oacK Itn nanMom# piyvnouvn Rooks, Only to Find Out That They Were All Rooster*. “Back to the Country!” Is a good war cry and motto, and countless voices have joined in shouting it. It Is nevertheless true that a real city; man is likely to underrate the difficulties of Wresting a living from the soil. He fails from ignorance as often as the countryman who moves to the city. Ernest F. Harte describes his life with another city friend on a South Dakota claim. The chicken episode is memorable. Kibbey concluded that we needed some chickens about this time, our garden having grown beyond the stage when chickens disarrange such things. It being my tarn to make the usual commissary purchases, I took the mules and set off over the’ execrable roads to town. I bore a commission to buy chickens with a portion of our diminishing capital. "Plymouth rocks r* I asked, atfer “Any breed, just so they are plymouth rocks. Eggs are what we want —eggs. They’re the chickens that lay the eggs. I’ll have the henhouse built by the time you get back. Don’t pay over 40 cents apiece for-’em,” was his parting injunction. “And get a dozen or so to start on.” The storekeeper I did my trading with, was a taciturn old fellow whose conversation was limited to monosyllabic answers to direct questions only. When I inquired if he had any chickens for sale, he pointed to a coop. “Plymouth rocks?" advised Kibbey. looking them over. He granted an affirmative. “How much?” “Ten cents.” I made a lightning calculation. Ten oents, instead of 40; four dozen instead of one dozen. It was a bargain, indeed.

“I’U take 40." I said. ...... The third assistant, a boy with a stone-bruised foot, caught tile chickens, tied their legs and weighed them. “Sixteen dollars and 10 cents,” announced the storekeeper. "Guess again,”, I Bald, shrewdly. "Forty times 10 ,is f 4, according to the Arabic system of notation." "Ten cents a pound," said-the storekeeper, briefly. “Four pounds apiece. Sixteen dollars and 10 cents.” , I told the boy to pht 30 back in the coop after I had selected 10 of the prettiest ones. f ' Klbbey had the-'Chicken barracks completed when I hove in sight of the homestead. It was a sod house of smaller dimensions than t]te manor itself, but the architectural scheme was tiie same. I waved a trio of chickens as I came near. Klbbey shouted and tossed his chapeau. When he made an inspection at close range, however, I caught the psychological waves ol something amiss even before he spoke. I thought his voice sounded choked with emotioh. ; : :m ; “Did the man say these were layers?” he asked. “He didn’t say,” I returned. “I didn’t ask him. I picked these chickens myself." ; ; .'"fjjSj Klbbey turned black in the face. “Every last one of them is a rooster!” he yelled, when be had partly recovered. —Outing Magazine.

Slight, But Terrible.

Gen. F. D. Grant, at a dinner at West Point, once analyzed the military genius of Washington. "Washington,” he said, “gave ns our independence by campaigning faultlessly. He never made mistakes. There have been more brilliant soldiers than Washington, -but there has never been so sure a one. “In warfare, you must know, the smallest mistake may lose a whole battle, a whole campaign, a whole cause. And that reminds me of poor Tom White. "Tom White failed in business owing to the mistake of one single letter made by his stenographer. Tom’s patron in business was a deaf millionaire who was very touchy about his deafness. This millionaire turned from a good friend to a bitter enemy —he foreclosed on Tom —because the unhappy fellow’s stenographer accidentally began a letter to him: " Deaf Sir.’ ”

Aroused the Sleepers.

A clergyman in an Irving Park church seemed to bring his se«pn to somewhat of an abrupt anAgUp&lcal stop. Then he said: tlon will rise and sing the third and fourth stanzas of the Psalm.” The general deduction was that the minister realized the Irksomeness of the heat and was cutting the service short Everybody looked for the benediction at the conclusion of the singing, but when it was ended ha said: -‘jr ; “The congregation will be seated. When I waa expatiating upon my text I noticed that ten or flften persons were asleep and 1 thought it beat to arouse them." Then he resumed his Sermon. —Chicago Evening Post

Airship's Predecessor.

“Stephenson broke another record today. His Rocket mode a flight of five miles, carrying four passengers, and left the rails only twice." “Very remarkable achievement, very—but you cant tall me that the steam engine wilPever be of any reel practical value.’'—The Tatkjr. * ■* Vv ,¥i v 3i jSH