Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 212, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1911 — Page 2

SCOTCH HEATHER

By MARY WESTCOTT

John Bowditch, botanical-case on shoulder, hurried along the wood path to test bis pet experiment. For years he had been filling hidden places in these Maine woods with foreign plants which, left to work out their own saltation for a time, he later revisited with almost fatherly delight Today be would see how some Scotch heather had weathered a year of New England. Suddenly with a distant rustling of leaves, a girt came through the trees, following the winding path toward him. John Bowditch, 40 years old, Ignorer of women, saw only that the gleam of her crimson dress tn the light of the September afternoon was not unpleasing. Stepping aside as if to examine a tall sumac, he was leaving the narrow path to her. when his eyes fell on a. bunch of flowers tn her hand. He scowled. His near-sighted eyes strained at her. She had not seen him. He must get a better look unobserved. He slipped behind the shelter of the sumac. Now she was only ten steps away—and he could' nee. It was his heather. She played ■ with the floweds, half-caressing the tiny, pink sprays. There was a dreamy, sentimental look on her face that roused an evil temper in the man of science. He glared at her as she passed, half-minded to protest, but, the right second thought lost, stood looking angrily after her retreating figure, soon hidden by the curve of the path. Turning, he plunged ahead through the tangle of asters and goldenrod, with frequent stumbles over twisted roots. He was too cross to watch his feet It was science vs. sentiment, and science seemed to have the worst of ft Before him in a clearing lay the heather patch. He stooped over it, smoothing the plants with loving fingers. Broken stems, empty spaces told their story. The roots would live on; for that he was thankful, but for the present this experiment must remain incomplete. Rising with a shrug he tried to turn his mind to the other plant life around; but for once even botany had lost its charm. Science and John Bowditch were out of tune, and be stamped homeward in disgust

Meanwhile Scotch Mysle Cameron rapturously arranged her plunder in a bowl. The very touch of its tiny, prickling leaves made her realize how the days of her visit to her American were flying, and awoke in her-a sudden home-hunger. But how came heather into Maine wood- to make a Scotch girl homesick? The puzzle of it haunted her. Her neighbors had no knowledge of the plant One at last suggested that she ask that old botanist Bowditch, who lived alone on the hill; and impulsively she wrote him a note of eager Inquiry. John Bowditch next day grunted over it and tossed it onto his crowded desk. But each time he glanced up from bis microscope he caught sight of its white back. Bother the thing! Impatiently he turned it over. “She writes a fair hand—but Caesar, what an ending! T, too, am a stranger from Scotland!’ Sentimental! Sickeningly sentimental! Well, she’s got my heather. How the Dickens shall I keep her from my other stuff out there, and from babbling all over town to set people bunting?" At last he wrote her briefly, asking her to show him the heather in growth. Before the time came, he thought, he might contrive somet v !ng to tell her. Meanwhile, anticipating such boredom, he felt himself truly a martyr to science. Two days later he kept his appointment with her. He felt oddly out of place in his familiar woods as he followed her swishing skirts along the path. Serenely unconscious of his embarrassed silence the girl supplied a friendly chatter, until triumphantly she stooped over the disputed patch. "Is that anything but heather. Mr. Bowditch r

xie took the spray she handed him and examined it Conscious of her scrutiny, he pulled scientifically at the leaves. Finally, with an air of congratulation and surprise, he faced her. “It is Calluna vulgaris. I vow. How unexpectedly plants do turn up! Migrating birds, a hundred different mediums carry them. I’d rather not eemmit myself to any theory here. Sappose we consider it one of nature's experiments, and watch the result” He flushed a little under her pleased, unquestioning assent He had a gailty consciousness which he hoped did not show. Yet as he stood looking awkwardly down at the heather in its glow of autumn sunlight and at the bright girl-face above It he somehow frit glad to be there. Less shyly he began to speak again of the plants. “First of all we must keep this now to ourselves,” he said decidedly. “The flowers are small and off the beaten track. Probably only your Scotch eyes could have noticed them In a dosen yean. Shall we pledge ourselves to keep the secret?” With mock solemnity Mysie stretched ent her hand to Mm and be shook it as soberly. “Of course,” she added, “I shall walk here now and then.” “Oh, naturally” John agreed. “I irikail keep an eye on it myself.” ** Walking home, Mysie talked of .Scotland and the moors. Jchn was ’tonally silent: but when he had left

her at her gate, he halted in the road tn the wonder of a swift realization. He had not been bored. A week later rambling near the clearing he caught a glimpse of crimson through the trees. He had volunteered to keep an eye on,the heather. He did at once—until the sudden autumn darkness forced him to see Mysie home. At their third meeting, for variety, he guided her by old logging roads strange to her. The charm of the odd companionship laid an unsuspected spell upon them both. Through winter snows and February thaws they found excuse for meeting—always under the open sky, oftenest in the woods, where* John Bowditch’s knowledge opened a new world for the girl. He taught her the use of snowshoes; and on them they followed together the tracks of the tiny, shy wood habitants. Before spring winds blew they were, tried friends —"chums," Mysle secretly phrased It with occasional wonder., As for John, he hardly realized Mysle's girlhood in his delight in her sympathetic company. One day when they bad been roaming the woods for grdat bunches of violets, he had found his comrade unusually quiet As they rea-hed the clearing, they.stopped a moment by the faithful patch of heather which had braved the winter storms. "It is hard to realize," Mysle said, with a catch In her voice, “that Tm not to see it blooming.” "Why not?” John demanded sharply. "They say now I must go home in June. My sister is to be married. They need me.” Mysle’s lips trembled. She hardly dared glance at the kind, studious, familiar face. She anticipated its look of pain. The look was there — and with it the amazement of a man who leaps to a sudden understanding of himself. "Mysle,” his voice rang deep, intense. "I need you more. That is— I mean —no, I mean just that! I cannot let you go!” Mysle dropped her violets in a sudden gesture m dismay—yet on the instant felt that this all was strangely right John Bowditch went on wiui an excitement new to him. ’Tvo known we were goc«* friends. I didn’t know how much more. You Scotch girl, youjve grown as deep into my life as that heather into the soil! If you are tom out it will leave a great empty place. But ” He looked at her and paused. Perhaps he really saw her fresh, girlish beauty for the first time. A shadow settled on his face; he went on in a different tone. “I’m talking foolishly. I’m twice your age. My home is here, miles enough from your dear Scotland. It was selfishness. Please forget it all.” But Mysie was reaching out both bands to him across the heather. “Oh, John, John! Can’t you see that I’m transplanted for good? If you root me up, I may wither—die! I didn’t want to go back —only I hadn’t any excuse to stay.” As they walked home through the rich May sunlight, stirred by the pulse of new life around and within them, John stopped short “Mysle," he said earnestly, “it’s no use. You mustn’t love me. I’m a fraud, a ” She faced him. suddenly white. “You didn’t suspect,” he went on doggedly. "You were too truthful to dream I could cheat I planted that heather —an experiment That’s why I told you to -keep it secret I’m ashamed, sorry. But how could I foresee all this?" Then in wonder at ‘he radiant laughter of her eyes: "Dearest bow could I> dream it would lead me to you?” She smiled with loving moekery and leaned tantkllzlngly toward him. "Is that why you’re so sorry for it John?” she asked.

Had to Have His Smoke.

A. C. Benson, son of the late Archbishop of Canterbury, tells the following story of Charles Kingsley in the Cornhill: “My father used to tell how once he was walking with Kingsley round about Eversley when Kingsley suddenly stopped and said, ‘lt is no use; I know you detest tobacco, Benson, but I must have a smoke,* and he had accordingly gone to a big furae bush and put his arm In at a hole, and after some groping about produced a big churchwarden pipe, which he filled and smoked with great satisfaction, afterward putting It Into a hollbw tree and telling my father with a chuckle that he had concealed pipes all over the parish to meet the exigencies of a sudden desire to smoke.'*

Hardly.

“Is Pippe a baseball fan?” “Sure. Why, he even proposed to his wife at a baseball game.” “Do you mean to tell me he took his mind off the game long enough to propose?” “Yes.” “Pshaw! He’s no fan.” Would Not Live Without Her Cat. Compelled to leave her flat in Vienna because her favorite cat was objected to, Frau Klemlsch flung herself from an upper window and was killed.

NEW YORK. —A score of young women who, having suffragette propensities, are the proteges of Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont and are learning to be farmers on that lady’s Long Island estate, accepted her invitation recently to pay her a visit at Newport They were entertained at Mrs. Belmont’s magnificent mansion, Marble House; lunched there; listened to a musical program, and bathed at Bailey’s Beach, where their hostess introduced them to some of the society notables. After that they had afternoon tea and then returned to the cows and the plows, the. fields and their, yield* of the farm.

RATS CAUSE PLAGUE

First Cases Appeared. Nearly Ten Months Ago. Infected Rodents Imported With Grain Held Responsible—War of Destruction Is Being Strongly Urged. London.—Three reports of the extremes! importance, dealing with the suspected cases of human plague In East Suffolk, and more especially with an epidemic of plague in rats, were Issued the other day by the local government board with a covering letter by Dr. Newsholme, the medical officer of the board. The history of the outbreak, which has been the subject of many articles in the Dally Mall, is as follows: On October 2, 1910, four cases of pneumonic plague were notified to the board at Preston in Suffolk. All four persons affected died, and it is a reasonable inference," says Dr. Newsholme. “that the cases may have been plague; and there is a further possibility that two previous limited outbreaks of illness In the same part of East Suffolk may also have been plague.”

On Investigation being made it became clear that rats were infected. Rats and hares found dead were bacterlologlcally examined and proved to have had plague. At first the Infected animals were found only in the portion of the Samford rural district between the Orwell and the Stour. But In the middle of November the Woodbridge, Cosford' and Tendring districts were also affected.

“From the first It was realized that grave significance attached to the presence of a focus of plague in rodents In East Suffolk," Dr. Newsholme says, and the local authorities were urged to show activity in meeting the danger. Other sanitary authorities in England were warned, but though rats from various parts were examined none of them were found to be Infected. In the Infected area rat destruction has been hampered by the failure of some owners of property to co-operate. It is suggested that the

FEAT OF A MODERN COWBOY

Texas Ranchman Evades Law With Automobile and Lariat—Plenty of Trophies as Witnesses.

Dallas, Texas. —Folks used to think that Buffalo Jones was quite some wild west performer. Of course, he is all right in a way, and little stunts like lassoing lions and rhinos in the African jungle land is, at least, out of ths ordinary; still, his work is crude. At least it lacks the final touch of refinement and eclat which marks the really finished performer. Down on the plains of Texas, north of Big Springs, is the Soash ranch, owned by the C. C. Slaughter company. R. L .(Bob) Slaughter, a merchant, club man and all-round good fellow of Dallas, Texas, is president and general manager of the ranch and. incidentally, is Interested in the automobile trade. His favorite sport. It seems, is hunting animals. Now, as as matter of fact it is against the law to shoot antelope in Texas. Slaughter is a law-abiding citizen, so he wouldn't shoot one for anything. He simply get* oat hl> trusty auto, loads it with gasoline and a lariat and goes out after the game. He ties one end of the lariat to the risering post of the auto. He handles the rope with one hand and the steering wheel with the other. When he rights a bunch of antelope be simply

MRS. BELMONTS “FARMERETTES” AT NEWPORT

question may arise whether the local authorities may not have to compel “the assistance of individual owners and occupiers in destroying rats on their premises and rendering their premises and food stores fairly safe against Invasion by rats." In December, 1910, a systematic examination of rats from a belt of country round the infected districts was carried out Altogether 6,071 rats were examined and none showed traces of plague. Rat fleas from the infected area were also examined, and it was found that the number per rat is small. From 568 rats only 584 fleas were obtained, and of these about half were of a kind that does not. bite man. The other kind readily bites man and was found in many cases to be Infected. The test was made In November, and it is not certain whether the comparative freedom of the English rat from fleas holds good in the summer. The probable channel by which plague was introduced was infected rats, Imported with foreign grain. But it is pointed out that no other instance, with the possible exception of Glasgow, has been known in this

LONELY WILD PIGEON

Only Survivor of Species Believed to Be in Chicago. Reward of SSOO Offered for Any Pair, and Public Is Warned: "Don’t Kill This One if You Find IV Chicago.—ls there a wild pigeon in Jackson Park? Is an individual bird of a species once numbered by the millions, but now supposed to be extinct, making Chicago Its summer home and thereby reviving hope that somewhere there are others and that the pigeons one day may come back to their own? v The story of the reappearance of the bird has much to give it the color of truth. Most scientists are con-

throws the throttle wide open, goes down among them and deftly plants bls noose ovar the best one in the herd. To prove that this isn’t a fish story, Bob has plenty of trophies and witnesses. In a recent letter to his brother, telling of a trip he made in the early part of the month, when he took Ms father out to Soash, he says: “My tires are giving wonderful satisfaction. I got two more antelope last week. This makes six we have caught without even a puncture, and you can Imagine what a hardship that turf work is on tires at the speed antelope generally force you to use.”

Board for Goose.

Youngstown, O. —Judge Brandmiller will decide whether M. J. Strawlarskl cay collect board for. a goose WMch wandered onto Ms premises and which he fattened in expectation of a feed, but which was later claimed by its owner, M. Susman.

Bicycle Balks Wild Cats.

Tacoma, Wash. —Returning on a bicycle from summoning a physician to attend bls father Jesse Chadwick was attacked in the outskirts of Tacoma by three wild cats. Chadwick interposed the machine between the beasts and himself and escaped. The bicycle was found with the tires chewed oft

country of the spread of plague from ship rats beyond the limits of a port. This Is reassuring, the more so as If there had been any such spread It would have been Indicated by excessive - mortality In rats. "The evidence appears to Indicate that rat plague has been present for several years In East Suffolk. Nevertheless, during that time only three very limited outbreaks of probable human plague have occurred, showing that under the conditions there existent human Infection Is an exceptional and, as It were, an accidental phenomenon. As Is well known, the possibilities of spread of plague from rats to man are . much smaller In this country than In India.” Bubonic plague Is spread by rat fleas. Pneumonic plague, however, can spread from human being to human being, especially where the domestic conditions are uncleanly. The precaution of regarding all cases of pneumonia in a suspected district as plague, obtaining bacteriological analysis and securing isolation is recommended. “A considerable outbreak of human plague might be anticipated,’’ Dr. Newsholme concludes, "if such failure to recognize early cases occurred in a district In which the conditions favored spread by direct infection by means of fleas."

vlnced that the wild pigeon, ectopistes migratorius they call it, has gone never to return. The other day, however, Charles E. Hayden, an old-time sportsman and bird student, told Ruthven Deane, president of the Illinois Audubon society, that he had seen a wild pigeon in Jackson Park and that “there was no mistake about it.” About three weeks, ago a high school teacher, a man who has made ornithology a study, reported that he had seen a wild pigeon in Jackson Park. The discovery was recorded in the papers, but the scientists who had run down hundreds of reports of this kind, only to find a mistake had been made, were skeptical to- the point oi disbelief. Now comes Mr. Hayden, who knew the pigeon when Its tribe numbered millions, to make positive statement that a fine male bird of a supposedly extinct race was under Close observa tion by him in Jackson Park for as hour. It was 4:30 o’clock in the morning when Mr. Hayden went “bird studying" in Jackson Park. He was ae founded when he saw the pigeon. H< knew the tribe was supposed to b< extinct, and that a reward of 1500 had been offered for authentic knowledge of the existence of a single nestlnf pair. He made allowance for decep tive lights and shadows, condition! which might exaggerate the common mourning dove to the size and semblance of its bigger relative, and thei was convinced that the stranger wa! the wild pigeon which he had knowx in youth. There was another early morning stroller tn Jackson Park, Attorney F. A. Pennington, and Mr. Hayden called him over to see the bird. Mr. Pennington pronounced the bird a wild pigeon. He is familiar with the bird only from description and picture, but he knows the mourning dove, th! only species with which the pigeon ti likely to be confused, and he knows it welt Mr. Pennington said that barring what appeared to be a.motling of the feathers on the back of the neck of the bird was a wild pigeon to a dot

“Rat" Saves Girl.

Frankfort, Ky.—Miss Nannie Dun can. a school teacher, was kicked ig the head by a horse the other day but her life was saved by her “rat?

WHERE RAILROADS CAN SAVE

New Method of Freight Handling SaM to Be Worth One Hundred Million* a Year. Railroad men who scoffed at the scientific management argument advanced by the shippers in last year’s freight rate controversy are closely watching an experiment that is being tried at St. Louis. Only a few years ago the railroads through almost hopeless congestion of freight at the crop moving periods were brought to a realization of the fact that in their haste to develop new territory too little attention had been paid to terminal facilities. Since then, tremendous sums ’ have been spent to secure easy movement of trains in and out of yards, but in the method of loading and unloading cars there has been no change in a hundred years until today. - t. ‘ In remodeling its freight station at St Louis, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, as a substitute for the hand pushed truck, installed an overhead electric device for handling freight That change, the first of its kind in the history of American railroading, was made on June 1. Recently the Alton and the Clover Leaf, two other Hawley roads, began to use the new freight station. According to Missouri, Kansas & Texas officials, the net result has been an increase of over 300 per cent in terminal facilities, and a reduction from 45 cents to 30 cents in the cost of handling each ton of freight. On the average, miscellaneous freight is moved by the railroads three times, at an average cost of 33 1-3 cents a handling. According to the last annual report of the interstate commerce commission, the railroads hauled 300,000,000 tons of miscellaneous freight. If by substituting machinery for hand pushed trucks onethird of the present cost can be saved, as in the case of the Hawley lines, the annual saving by all of the railroads should be $100,000,000. And that does not take into account the saving effected by increasing terminal facilities.

Mono-Railways.

Railways with only one rail have been amongst the dreams of science for a good many years and appear to be feasible owing to the utilization of the gyroscope, which, on the principle of a boy’s humming top, maintains its equilibrium by its speedy revolutions. A modification of the original design is just now comirfg into use, which gives a tolerably effective light railway at a very cheap rate, and may revolutionize country transportation entirely. It consists of a six inch rail of hard wood, or metal, supported on posts, five or six feet apart, with a subsidiary rail a couple of feet below it. The car sits astride, the track, its bottom just above the snowline, one wheel running vertically along the top rail, and two horizontal wheels running, one each side of the subsidiary rail. The propulsion Is by a gasoline, or if preferred, any other engine, set for convenience above the upper rail on the car. The horizontal wheels preserve the balance on which principle the system depends. Grades and curves are said to be easily negotiable. The average expense of building the track is said to be about $2,000 a mile. Two counties in Nova Scotia have voted bonuses of SI,OOO a mile to companies which are about to build lines. There are short lines already in operation at Ottawa, and at Sherbrooke, Que.

Conductor’s Good Reasoning.

The street car conductor was about to be transferred to another line. Not his to reason why, yet on that occasion he did, and with the chief of the department. “I don’t like that line,” he said. “What’s the matter with it?” asked the chief. “It’s commonplace,” said the conductor. “I will lose my good manner! if Igo down there. The line I am on now is a well dressed line and a liberal education for the railway employe. I am not the same man I was when I was moved up there two years ago from a downtown line. lam more polite, my voice is lower and I have spruced up in general appearance. It is that- way with every man in the business. Put him on a line patronized by well dressed people and he will fix up to fit his surroundings. If I go back on that other line I will lose polish.” All the chief said then was “Well, well”; but the conductor was not transferred.

The Perilous Years.

Justice Ford of New York was discussing his famous dietum: ‘ln my opinion it takes about five years for the ordinary couple to learn to overlook each other’s faults.” He said: “After 5 years of marriage a spirit of gentleness and loving kindness manifests itself. But in the first two or three years a spirit of the bitterest disillusion prevails. “This bitter spirit was well illustrated in a dialogue wherein a young wife sobbed, ’And you used to say that you could hear the rustle of angels’ wings whenever I drew near you!’ ** ‘But I’ve found out now,’ the husband sneered, ‘that the sound was only the creaking of your broken corset bones.* ” -

Granite From Norway.

Havana imports its granite paving blocks from Norway, getting them cheaper than it can from any American port. It Is said that the low Norwegian freight rates, combined with the low cost of material, prevent competition.