Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1911 — Page 3

AROUND THE AMP FIRE

NEWSPAPERS OF CIVIL WAR Publication of Regimental Journal* Wae Prolific Source of Interest— Some of Papers Recalled. Some of the “soldier boy" newspapers of Civil war times are recalled in an article by Martha Pickens Halsey in the Chicago Daily News.' Subjected as he was to the monotonous routine of army life, recreation was indispensable to the well-being of the soldier. Concerts, were given with great Buccess, many of the men having musical instrument* with them. These Were guarded jealously through the exigencies of the campaign. To those who were of a literary turn of mind the publication of the regimental newspaper was a prolific source of interest. It was eagerly read and. its daily Issue was awaited with keen pleasure, its appearance being second only in importance to the arrival of the mail from home. Some of these old army papers are now in the possession of the Chicago Historical society. It is interesting to note the variety of, topics treated. Poems, grave and gay, advertisements, some of them very amusing, incidents, jokes, ardent appeals to the public sentiment, notices of entertainments to be given, racy descriptions of encounters with pretty rebels, gibes at the quality of the food supplied by Uncle Bam, are all to be found in these old-time publications. i As an offset to the “poetry side” of war is quoted a "hard prose” side from the pen of one of the boys in blue of the Nineteenth Illinois volunteers written for the Zouvave Gazette. "Those who think it a romantic life to go a-soldierlng would do well to take a blanket into the back yard to sleep upon one of these cold nights and they would soon discover the reality by trying to keep warm under such circumstances. Uncle Sam furnishes us with an allowance of clothing and blankets, but for the vicissitudes of camp life it is insufficient We would suggest to the friends of our soldiery to supply Us with warm underclothing and warm woolen socks and we would then give the enemy a ' warm, reception.” The editors of the Zouave Gazette were W. B. Redfleld, formerly of the Chicago Evening Journal, and Lieut

Regimental Paper Was a Prolific Source of Interest.

Lyman Bridges. While the Nineteenth Illinois was stationed at Elizabeth* town, Ky., the paper was published for several months in the office of the Democrat of that place, then oat of business on account of the advent of the federal troops. Another paper had the sounding title"?* the War Eagle and Camp Journal of the the West It contained the touching little poem, “The Countersign,” that became so popular. On,e of thetonakeßhlfts during the war was the- utilising of wall paper taken from the houses for printing purposes. It will be recalled that Confederate money was printed on this same material. A facsimile of a page of the "Unconditional S. Grant.” one of the old campaign publications, shows on the other side a specimen of mural decoration. It is divided into squares, perhaps to represent a kind of trellis, and upon it Immense roses are blooming in profusion.

Woman Was Soldier.

Mrs. L. E. Bliss of Augusta county, Vermont, has made application for a passion on the ground that, dressed as a man, she served four years in the federal army as a member of Company G, Sixty-third Illinois volunteer infantry. „ , The applicant is an old, decrepit woman, wrinkled by dfee, and her brow farrowed by care and brooding over her efforts to keep the wolf from her door. On one cheek she bears an ugly scar which she says was made by a Confederate saber at the siege of Vicksburg. The old woman appears to have no trouble to substantiate every detail of her claim of the four years’service.

UMPIRE CHASES HALF TEAM

- •'Old Hickory" Steve Kane, Formerly With American Association, Get* Into Deep Trouble. - “Old Hickory” Steve Kane, formerly American association umpire, poked his official head into a fine young trouble noose out at Tacoma the Other day. Stevedore, it will be remembered, took to the quiet woods of the Northwest league after President Tom Lynch, of Hie National league, had tied a can on the unfortunate arbitrator because he was a trifle undersized. Since : taking up his duties In the west Kane has been swinging his official ax with precision whenever a player turns a trick, and the other day the stubby arbitrator broke up a game, largely to show his authority. ■ The Thcoma and Victoria clubs opened a game, and everything was going nicely until the second inning, when some one on the Victoria bench pushed forth an uncomplimentary remark to the stylißh Mr. Kane. Whirling suddenly on his heel, Steve pointed to the bench and howled: “Clear out of the field, every *one of you." Manager Householder, of the Victoria club, protested, and then came Steve’s really authoritative act. He pulled out his watch (solid gold) and informed Householder that he would give him exactly three minutes’ time in which to can every man off the bench and out of the enclosure. Householder continued to argue and the fans continued to howl, but just at the end of the third minute Kane shouted, “Game forfeited to Tacoma, score 9 to 0,” and with these words he ducked for a street car. The Victoria players are still howling, but Steve is golhg right along umpiring every day."

PITCHERS IN NOVEL COMBINE

Twirlers of Minneapolis American Afr soeiation Team Practice Together to Improve Batting. The secret of improved hitting among the pitchers of the Minneapolis American Association team is out Every morning and afternoon, after the -game, the slabmen of the team can he seen swatting the ball at practice batting. This is why the pitchers are making themselves felt with the Btick these days, students of the game Some,of the inflelders, it is said, took the pitchers to task in a friendly clubhouse chat not long ago, and it was not long before the argument waxed interesting. As a result the wielders of the sphere took to practice with the bat. And they formed a close corporation at that. When the Infielders saw what was going on, they sought, too, to get into the practice batting column. Not so. The pitchers refused to throw to anybody* but a pitcher and nobody was permitted to bat but a pitcher. So the pitchers are beginning to hit Patterson has three hits to his credit

Rube Waddell.

in a recent game. Peters is finding the and then. Rube Waddell drove out a triple Bunday, but could get no farther than second on it, Rivalry is keen among the pinchers at the plate. Just now Patterson’s colleagues are trying to break his record of two singles and a double in three times up.

O'Toole Once With Reds.

Marty OToOje was a member of the Cincinnati Reds about two years ago. He was allowed to don a suit and grab a ham sandwich and a cup of coffee for a day or so. That is nothing against Marty, though. He is not the only good bail player that Garry Herrmann had overlooked. ‘mere are enough good players, formerly Reds, making good on other teams to win a pennant in alsot any league.

Tigers Hit Left Handere.

One of the reasons the Tigers have been able to win so many games this year Is they have been successful in hitting left-handed pitchers. Every manager In the league has been sending southpaw pitchers against the Detroit men for they wore weak against them last year. ' *

PITCHER SMASHES STRIKE OUT RECORD

Martin O'Toole, Sensatlonal St. Paul Twirler.

Says the sporting editor of the St. Paul Dispatch: "We are in receipt of a letter from John B. Foster, editor of the Spalding baseball publications, in which he shows us where we were wrong when we announced that Marty O’Toole had tied up Rube Waddell’s strikeout record of seventeen. Mr. Foster points out that Waddell’s mark was sixteen, and that in modem baseball no pitcher in Class A or big league baseball has ever gone higher than seventeen. Mr. Foster is a recognised authority on the national pas-

YOUNG FLETCHER IS A COMER

Clever Infielder Whom Manager McQraw Is Developing Promises to Be a Brilliant Player.

When it comes to developing young players no one in the country has anything on Manager John McGraw of the New York" Giants. Manager McGraw has several youngsters under his wing whom he expects to turn Into stars one of these days. If the little corporal has an idea there are the makings of a good player in a

Arthur Fletcher.

man he will "hold on to him for several years if necessary, no matter hOw much criticism is heaped on his bead. In the long run his Judgment usually proves better than that of his critics. Arthur Fletcher is one of the young players whom McGraw has been bringing along and whom he is confidant will make a name for himself oil the diamond some day in the near future. Fletcher Is a shortstop and has supplanted A 1 Brldwell at that station. Fletcher has been played in

time, and when he Bays that O’Toole holds the record with his seventeen "whiffs’’ we are ready to believe him. Mr. Foster first informed F. H. Macauley, manager of the St. Paul Spalding store, that in Quoting the record as given in the Moreland book we were wrong, and then he followed up with a letter to us, informing us that the official scores pf that game in which Waddell established his mark gave Rube credit for sixteen strikeouts. That settles it—O’Toole is king.’’

a number of games this season and has done some first-class work. He is a fine batsman and has an average well above the .300 mark for the games in which he has participated.

BALL AND BAT NOTES

Accidents to the ball players this season are common. Suspensions do not seem popular in the American league this season. Pitcher Cole’s success lies In the wjndup. So does an eight day clock’s. Infielder Arthur Griggs of Cleveland has been released to the Toronto club of the Eastern league. Baseball is a great game, but lots of good citizens confine their Interest to the percentage columns. Take it from the Cubs that if the Philadelphia team Is crippled any more seriously It may win the pennant “Runt” Walsh, who is taking Sherwood Magee’s place In left, is a better player than the fans give him credit for being. Purtell has played in only twentytwo games for the Red Sox of Boston. He started well this year, but his Job was taken by Gardner. Honus Lobert, the gentlemanly third baseman of the Phillies, is still wearing his SIOO Panama that a friend in India sent him, but it needs a cleaning. When a ball player is suspended foi a year for taking a poke at an umpire. we are forced to draw the con elusion that baseball is becoming a mollycsddllsh game. Barney Dreyfuss, owner of the Pitts burg Pirates, has gained severs.' ounces in weight since he purchased Martin O’Toole for the record price of $22,500. The good luck of the PI rates seems to date from the mtnutt the big check was written.

FREAKISH BANK BILLS

DENOMINATION 18 DIFFERENT ON THE TWO SIDES. —■■■ f About a Dozen Such Are in Existence, Due to Mistake Made In Print- : ing—How Error le Passed. If one had a bill with Hie print of the ten-dollar denomination on the faqe and the five-dollar on the back, should he average the two' and consider the bill to be worth $7.50? This is not an impossible problem, for, says a treasury official, there are several such "freak" bills scattered through the country. One of them came to the sub-treasury at New York not so long ago. It had the imprint of the twenty-dollar note on one side and of the ten on the other. But, a* the face showed the figure twenty, S2O was the legal value of the bill. Occasionally these freak bills slip through the bureau of engraving and printing, despite a careful scrutiny by three or four sets of inspectors. In most cases they have been national bank notes, which, like regular treasury notes, are printed at the bureau in Washington. The face value’ is always recognised when the “freaks" come to be cashed at any branch of the treasury. The Imprint on the back has no lawful status whatever. The notes are printed in sheets at the bureau. Usually there will be one twenty and two tens on a sheet. They are printed on one side at a time, so it can be seen that the printer, fsi turning over the sheet, might get it upside down, end thus put a ten-dollar back on a twenty-dollar note, or a twenty on the back of one of the tens. In the bureau are employees who are supposed to examine all the bills carefully, but occasionally they neglect to scrutinize both sides as carefully as they should, and so the money goes out into circulation. When errors are discovered, the misprinted sheet is laid aside to be destroyed. It cannot be torn up at once, for every sheet has to be accounted for. After a good deal of red tape it Is ground into pulp. Most of the freak hills which have been issued in the past have found their way back to the treasury, there to be destroyed. It is thought that less than a dozen are now scattered about, most of them in the hands of c.urio hunters. No effort to collect them has been- made by the government, for the treasury department does not consider the circulation of the few notes a matter of any consequence, inasmuch as there is no doubt about the values, as Indicated on the face.

Embryonic Ones.

They had been at school together, recounts Answers. They had fought both shoulder to shoulder and face to face. Now, after the passing of years, they met again. "How’s the world treated you?" asked the long, thin one. "Like a lord,’’ said the short, fat one. "Got my own business, wife and three youngsters, two thousand a year. And how afe you?” “How?” replied the thin man. "Oh, anyhow!" “Dear me! Sorry to hear it Let me think. You went on the stage, didn’t you?” “Yes. But I had to give it up." “Why was that?" asked the city man. "Oh, I thought it best,” said the other. "I had a few hints that I wasn’t quite suited to the profession.” “Oh, I see!” nodded his friend, knowingly. “The ‘little birds’ told you, eh?" ‘•Well, not exactly,” answered the ex-actor, with a painful smile. “But they would have been birds—if they had been allowed to batch." '

Success of Y. M. C. A.

This year Young Men’s Christian associations are likely, it is said, to break all records in amount of money raised for new buildings. The success at Philadelphia, when $1,030,000 was secured in If days, has given stimulus both to young men’s and young women’s associations. Added to It was the $2,000,000 campaign for buildings in foreign capitals. Brooklyn women, with the aid of a few men, have Just secured $415,000; Atlanta men. $800,000; Reading, $217,000; Elyria, 0., $127,000, where the committee asked for but $100,000; Charleston, S. C., $150,000; Ralelgb, N. C., $75,000; Walla Walla, Wash., $48,000, and lapheming, Mich,, $22,500.

Spelling Bee of 17 Hours.

Mis Margaret Patterson hesitated for an instant, then spelled “S-e-p-p-u-l----c-h-r-e.” The two "p’s” ended the longest spelling bee ever held in Missouri, for Miss Patterson sat down, leaving Miss Ruth Crenshaw, the winner, still standing. The Pike county court house was filled with friends and relatives of the contestants, who for 17 hours, with only an occasional intermission, had withstood the bombardment of words until 10,000 had been given out The contest was held under the supervision of ths county school commissioner. It is estimated of the 10,000 words assigned to the contestants the winner spelled 2,600.—New York World.

Recognized the Advice.

Physician—l shall have to forbid you smoking, drinking, playing billiards and keeping late hours. Patient—Ah! I see my wife has been consulting you.

IT PAYS TO READ THE BIBLE

Dav, Leahy Tall, How l< Enable* - Him to leeue Hl* Paper One * - Week ' “I contend H pay* to read the BSble," said Dave Leahy, secretary to Governor Stubbs Of Kansas. ’lt in good for the moral* of every man and woman—and it is a great literal ore. Also, It pays In other way*. ~ "A good many year* ago I was running a paper in a small town in the southern part of the state. My partner was a young fellow who knew about the business and mechanical ends of! the plant I was the editor. It was tough going. One day we got to a places where we had to have ten dollars to get some paper out of the express office or we could riot issue our palladium of the liberties of the people thereabout I had no ten. My partner had no ten. There wasn’t a dime between ns. However, that was hie lookout I was writing a powerful editorial article and I wanted to use * quotation from the Bible. 1 looked around the office for one. There wa* none. So I yelled out to my partner to go and buy a Bible at the bookstore near by. He told me he couldn’t buy a sandwich—much less a Bible. “‘Well,’ I said, Tve got to have a Bible so I can round out this gem of English prose 1 am composing. Go out and rustle for one.’ "He started out; and while browning around, trying # to borrow one. bo remembered his mother had given bfna a nice new Bible when he left bomeu He galloped up to his boarding place,, found the Bible and brought' it back to the office. “As I was running through tbo leaves to find the verse I ” wanted, what do you think I found? A tencollar bill his mother had grat therewhen he left home!. That; was justenough to take our white paper out of the express office; and the people were thus providentially not deprived of their weekly message of cheer, instruction, admonition and advice—which would have been disan- . trous, for that was a whale of an editorial!”—Saturday Evening Post

Voiced His Sentiments.

The large proportion of voluntary American exiles belongs to the fair sex, but many of them insist on theirhusbands accompanying them, and these matrimonial martyrs, who come under the heading of the genus ."henpecked," would greatly prefer to live in America. In this connection am American consul told a story which* gives a picture of the hen-pecked hueband. It was a Fourth of July gathering in a large hotel and the champagne had passed around when the consul, adressing Mr. A., who had been nine years in Switzerland with his wife without returning to America, said: “You must be delighted with your stay abroad, as you have remained so long." “Delighted be damned,” replied Mr. A., looking defiantly at his wife across the table. "I would rather live Im hell.” The words were uttered in a loud' voice and with feeling, and the general silence was broken by the speak* er’s wife, who, smiling sweetly, said:: “My husband is slightly exaggerating the warmth of the place, but yon>_ must know we come from Pittsburg,*” Laughter saved the situation-

A Tragic Incident.

A druggist and his assistant were sadly worried recently. A little girt probably six years old, wandered in, sobbing bitterly. Sbe was lost. As long aB she cried nothing coaid be' done, for sbe was the only one competent to give the name and address of tfte lost home. Working under thistbeory the druggist fed her chocolates to quiet her. It was of no avail, however, for at each question the ‘ sobbing was resumed/ ' The tears mads light streaks down the little chocolate coated countenance. Finally the mother found her baby:. She took the child from the store, and as she stooped to wipe away thevisible signs of grief, she asked why the druggist had not been told tbs .name and number. Here Is what the listening clerk heard: *1 w-w-w-was af-f-f-fraid he'd 1-1-1-laugh!” The druggist realised he had witnessed a tragic episode in the life of a little stutterer,—lndianapolis Newa,

Life Rings on a Mountain.

An extraordinary example of the way in which a mountain majr affords on a small scale an image of the earth’s climates, arranged in successively higher circles, has been found In the San Franciaco peaks These ancient volcanoes rise out of a plateau having a mean elevation of 7,000 feet above sea level. The peaks are encircled with zones of vegetation, which ran - almost like contour lines around them. Between 6,500 and 8,500 feet the yellow pine is the dominant tree. From 8,600 to 10,300 feet the Douglas fir, the silver fir, the cork fir, and the aspen share the available ground. Between 10,300 and 11,500 feet tbe Bln gelmann spruce and th- fox-tail- pine take possession, and ascent to the tree limit.—Scientific American. ■ S

All Wasted on Him.

She (walking home from church)— Did you notice that lovely Parisian bat Mrs. Styler was wearing? I ccnlff think of nothing slse the whole tiaraHe—No, my dear, can't say I did. -j To tell you the truth. I was halfasleep most of the time. She Then you ought to lra ashamed to own It A nice lot *f ; ■ good the service must have done y«A. I must say!—Stray Stories