Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 244, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1911 — Page 2

CUTS A SMALL FIGURE

BRIDEGROOM AMOUNTS TO BUT fef- LITTLE AT THE WEDDING. He Must Assume Neutral Demeanor H and Dress for Ceremony, and Then Is Made to Feel Like a Brigand. To realise the small figure cut by a bridegroom at bis own wedding, one need only peruse the pages of a book of etiquette having to do with the marriage ceremony. There are reams at instructions for the bride, from i»W to carry her veil to how she j shall greet the business acquaintances of her father. But how about the poor, neglected bridegroom* There are no pages written, for his enlightenment HO does well to get a paragraph or so tucked down near the end of the stpry. No one tells Mm how to carry his hat or cares whether he has a hat at ail. He is supposed to efface himself —to enter into the scheme of things only when the ceremony cannot go along without him. , There is only one occasion upon which the bridegroom is absolutely necessary, and that is when the minister must have * someone to pronounce the husband of the fair bride. Even then the poor harassed man has a propensity for slipping the ring Into the wrong pocket, so that he is compelled to fumble for it. In the end he drops it, whereupon it promptly >©llß out of sight, and is rescued only after much contusion and considerable embarrassment. Men without number have been known to forget the golden circlet of sweet bondage altogether. Not only must the man in the case assume a neutral demeanor during the festivities, but he must dress the part. His clothes are black and solemn to behold; he is allowed to display absolutely no partiality in the choosing of his wedding garments. He looks very much the same as he has dozens of times when attending formal affairs. The bride may be a veritable Flora, wreathed with garments, veiled in mist of tulle and fihny lace. The only festal note allowed the bridegroom is a single blossom or boutonniere of white against the somber blackness or bis neat Another thing—he has always been led to believe the woman of his choice loved him devotedly, that her parents approved of him as a son and that he was generally persona grata. Yet when the day of happy consummation arrives every one weeps over the bride, who thereby endangers her •wn loveliness by wiping the teardrops from her shining eyes with a wisp of lace masquerading as a handkerchief. Every tear is like a stab to the man standing by wondering what It is all about and feeling very much like a brigand caught in the act of stealing away a beautiful young maiden. AD this sentimentalism and panoply of love is yery dear to the heart of a girl, dreaming, as she has, over the most wonderful, the most eventful day of her life. Yet when the loneltness of the bridegroom, despite the fact that this is his wedding day and one quite as momentous to him as to the bride, is taken mto consideration, small wonder then that so many pairs of lovers wing their way secretly'to some quiet nook and take the vow of eternal constancy away from the sifht and sound of ceremony.—Pittsburgh Sun.

And Still Missing.

The Harlem woman who goes in for the higher art has a miniature Venus de Milo standing on the piano, just to show the casual caller that she's vise to what’s what. This woman has the Venus and she also has a new hired girl, who comes from furrin shores. In dusting the piano the other morning, while her mistress was out doing the marketing, the girl bowled •ver the Venus. She picked it up, picked up also a chip or two and then began to weep. When the mistress arrived home an hour or so later she found the girl on her knees peering under and be hind the piano and looking in various other directions, all of which suggested that she might be searching for something. “What is the ma tetr?" asked the mistress of the home tn surprise. “Oh, I knocked over that statchoo,” lamented the girl, pointing to Venus. “But it doesn’t seem to have damaged it any.” “Tes, it did,” Insisted the girl, al most tearfully. “It broke off both arms, ma’am, and I haven’t been able to find them."

The "Sure Nail” of Palestine.

William H. Thompson’s book about the Holy Land, called “The Land and the Book," has had the curious fate at outlasting many books of Biblical tore. Its popularity through the yean Is due, in part, to the fact that it explains so many obscure matters In such a natural way. For instance, there is the passage in Isaiah: "1 wIH him with & nail In a sure place, ana again: Tnis nail, fastened to a sure place, shall be removed, and cut down and fall.” The “nail,” says Dr. Thompson, was a wooden peg or tout pin, sometimes driven into the wall through the plaster and he add?

HER FATAL MAD DOG SCARE

Woman Obtains the Assistance of a Policeman to Rescue Her Little Toodles. Everybody along the street conid see that the woman was in the throes of some great emotion. She ran up to the corner drug store and Into the telephone booth, but the ‘phone happened to be of the variety that is now giving extremely alow service, and she was in too much of a nervous state to wait for the girl to answer. She Continued up the street until she came to a policeman. Then, as soon as she had caught her breath, she told him the story that she had deelrdd to telephone to the precinct lieutenant. As near as he could make out there was a mad dog in her back yard forthlng at the mouth and carrying on something awful. In the same yard was her little dog Toodles, and she dared not go out to rescue the dear little pet for fear of being bitten by the rabies victim. Oh, and if the mad dog wasn’t shot pretty quickly It would be too late to eave Toodles, and—dear, oh, dear, but she was in a fearful state. The cop accompanied her back to her home at top speed. She pointed to the back yard and told him to let her know when he bad exterminated the mad dog, for she was too unstrung to« witness the shooting. The patrolman saw a small, brownish dog trotting about the yard, as if trying to get out. Over in a far corner, apparently limp with fear, sat even smaller dog—a white one. This, undoubtedly, was Toodles. There was nothing to indicate that the latter dog had been bitten yet, for the brownish one was paying no attention to him, his sole effort; being to find a place to get out. < - He didn’t look like a mad dog, the brownish one didn’t; but the woman had seen him frothing at the mouth, and it was only a poor, unpedlgreed cur dog, .anyway, so the officer decided to shoot him and be on the safe side. * After the alleged mad dog was quite dead, the cop put away his revolver and went over to loo* at the cringing canine figure in the fence corner. “Guess he ain’t been bit,’’ .the cop muttered, “just scared to death. Wonder if he knew he’d catch the rabies if the other fellow bit him?” He gave him a pat on the head, went over and picked up the late mad dog by the tail and carried him around to the front door. "Well, this fellow won’t scare your' little dog any more,” said the cop with a smile, after the woman had come to the front steps. The woman looked at him with a wild stare. She gasped, stood speechless, gasped'again, clutched her bosom and stammered huskily: "You’ve—you’ve shot my little Toodles!”

Make Clothing From Seaweed.

“May we show you some of our latest patterns in seaweed?” The day may not be far distant when our tailor will make this jemark in the same commonplace tohe that he uses when showing us some choice tweed or serge for seaside wear. Seaweed is really a most useful commodity. It forms a cheap barometer and holiday memento for our children; it provides the farmer with a somewhat odoriferous manure; certain varieties of the weed have been turned to account tn the manufacture of photographic materials and now it promises to supply us with summer garments. The weed used for this purpose comes from Australia and is more a fiber than a seaweed proper. It is dredged up from the bottom of the tea. During the past few months several mills in Yorkshire have been experimenting, in the hope that cloth could be made from it At first it was thought too coarse for the manufacture of suitings, but the results are said to have been very 'satisfactory and beyond all expectation. It is light brown in color, as soft as wool and will readily take wool dyes.

The Gipsy’s Right to Steal.

The Basque gipsies' variant of the Egyptian legend Is worth quoting: "During the flight into Egypt, Joseph, exhausted by the rapidity of the march as well as by the weight of the Child Jesus, entrusted him to a traveler who was following the same route. / The obliging traveler, however, to satisfy his rapacious instinct, stripped the child and returned him almost naked to Joseph. Jesus rebuked the thief gently, but in consideration of the service he bad just received granted to him and his descendants the right to take five sous at a time for an object of equivalent value. The simultaneously obliging and thievish traveler was an ancestor of whom, it appears, the modern gipsies boast— Gipsy Lore.

Beyond Words.

"Did you try to comfort that friend who sent word that he was in great distress?'' “No,” replied the chilly philosopher. “I didn’t try to say anything. It wasn’t a case of mere loss of friends or fortune. This fellow had a toothache.”

A Reproof.

"When I was a young mam.” said Mr. Cumrox, “I thought nothing of working 12 or 14 hours a day” “Father," replied the young man with sporty clothes, “I wish you wouldn't mention It Those non-union sentiments are Hable to make you unpopular.” *

HAUNTING DREAD OF SEA CAPTAINS

I? needed no such mishap as befell the« Anchor liner Columbia awhile ago to emphasize the danger that lurks in the huge masses of polar ice which, enveloped in fog banks, drift in summer across the northern transatlantic lanes. In the open season fur icebergs as every steamship approaches the Newfoundland banks the vigilance of the watch on deck is redoubled. When the fog blanket is laid across the sea, speed is reduced and whistle blasts awaken the wastes; when a sudden lowering of temperature presages ice in close proximity, the throb of the engines ceases at intervals and you may hear the calls of lookouts and the answers from the bridge. These are trying moments of anxiety, for no one has yet devised an instrument that will penetrate a billowing cloud of sea mist. Navigators must keep control of their vessels and trust to their own good judgment. The veterans of the north Atlantic lanes are thoroughly familiar with the signs that Indicate ice. Long before the berg is seen from deck, its "blink,” or reflection, may be noted in the sky and the navigator can easily fix its direction by watching the changing color of the horizon, which Is" Usually much paler in the vicinity of ice. On a clear day bergs can be seen a long distance away; at night their effulgence proclaims them. In the fog, if a berg is visible at all, it will look black in comparison with the mist around it, but usually It is completely hidden. One of the dramatic features of the Columbia’s accident was the echo of her whistle against the berg she struck. When the first blast sounded and an answer came back, the men on the bridge inclined to think they were near another fog bound steamship; but when ’the second whistle was answered promptly they realised that it was the mockery of the ice wall ahead. Seamen have long known that it is posslible to detect bergs by the echo of the whistle or foghorn and that by noting the time between whistle blast and echo, the distance of the object may be found approximately by multiplying by 550. Seals Tell a Tale, Too. Another indication of icebergs is the crack and thunder of falling bowlders, while the absence of swell or wave motion carries its meaning, too. Still another is the appearance of seals or flocks of birds far from land. The temperature of the ocean sometimes is lowered when ice is near by, and there is, of course, the chilly breath that strikes the face when ice is almost aboard. Peculiar conditions near Newfoundland are responsible for the fog banks that sweep over the transatlantic lanes. Here are two currents, the Labrador, cold and moving south from the arctic, and the gulf stream, warm and flowing northward from tropical seas. When south winds pass •ver the gulf stream and encounter the Labrador current they are chilled and reduced to the dew point, thus producing fog. Among the dolling banks drift cragky bergs, field Ice and “growlers,” or little lumps that accompany the greater masses. The bergs usually originate in western Greenland. Everywhere, according to a bulletin of the hydrographic office, Greenland’s mountainous belt “is penetrated by deep fiords, which reach to the inland Ice, and are terminated by the perpendicular fronts of huge glaciers, while in some places the ice comes down in broad projections close to the margin of the sea. All of these glaciers are making their way toward the sea, and, as their ends are forced out into the water, they are broken off and set adrift as bergs. This process is called calving. The size of the pieces set adrift varies greatly, but a berg from sixty to 100 feet to the top of its walls, whose spires or pinnacles may reach from 200 to 250 feet in height and whose length may be from 300 to 500 yards, is considered to be of ordinary size in the arctic. “These measurements apply to the part above water, which is about oneeighth or one-ninth of the whole mass. Many authorities give the depth under water as being from eight to nine times the height above; this is incorrect, as measurements above and below water should be referred to mane

and not to height. It is even possible to have a berg as high out of waiter as it is deep below the surface, for if we Imagine a large, solid lumpof any regular shape, which has a small sharp high pinnacle in the center, the height above water can easily be equal to the depth below. Thousands Set Adrift “Bergs are made all the year round, but in greater numbers during the summer season; and thousands are set adrift each year. Once adrift in the arctic, they find their way into the Labrador current and begin their journey to the southward. It is not an unobstructed drift, but one attended with many stoppages and mishaps. Many ground in the arctic basin and break up there; others reach the shores of Labrador, where from one end to the other they continually ground and float; some break up and disappear entirely, while others get safely past and reach the Grand bank. The whole coast of Labrador is cut up by numerous Islands, bays and headlands, shoals and reefs, which makes the journey of all drift a long one, and adds greatly to the destruction of the bergs by stoppages and by causing them to break up. “It is the greatly Increased surface which the fragments expose to the melting action of the oceanic waters that accounts for the rapid disappearance of the ice after it has reached the northern edge of the warm circulatory drift currents of the north Atlantic ocean. If these processes of disintegration did not go on and large bergs should remain Intact several years might elapse before they would melt and they would ever be present in the trans-oceanic routes. In fact, instances are on record in which masses of ice, escaping the influences of swift destruction or possessing a capability for resisting them, have, by phenomenal drifts, passed into European water and been encountered from time to time throughout that portion of the ocean which stretches from the British isles to the Azores. "They assume the greatest variety of shapes, from those approximating to some regular geometric figure to others crowned with spires, domes, minarets and peaks, while others still are pierced by deep indentations or caves. Small cataracts precipitate themselves from the large bergs, while from many icicles hang in clusters from every projecting edge. They frequently have outlying spurs under water, which are as dangerous as any other sunken reefs. For this reason it is advisable for vessels tc give them a wide berth, for there are a number of cases on record where vessels were seriously damaged by striking when apparently clear of the berg. It is generally best for vessels to go to windward of them, because the disintegrated fragments will have a tendency to drift to leeward, while open water will be found to windward. Serious injury has occurred to vessels through the breaking up or capsizing of icebergs.” Collisions Have Decreased. A few years ago collisions ofsteamshlps with Icebergs were reported frequently. That such accidents have diminished is due not to a decrease in the number of bergs—they are plentiful as ever—but to the remarkable development of the science of hydrography. The wireless also plays an Important role in relaying from ship to ship information regarding obstructions of all types, whether they be fugitive buoys, derelicts, floating spars or dangerous bergs. Hanging on the wall of the hydrographic office in New York is a pilot chart, with red symbols marking the positions of bergs and other obstructions as last reported. Nearly every day the office is visited by shipmasters and junior officers, who either bring reports of drifting objects they have seen or seek the latest news from the transatlantic lanes. They examine the charts, copy the dally memorandum of obstructions Issued by the Washington office, as well as the dally log of the Maritime Exchange, and receive the weekly hydrographic bulletin, which tells all about drifting objects and gives other facts of interest to seamen. All of this information Is given without charge and the office has no secrets. Its object is to aid the men who are responsible for the safety of valuable ships Sind of passengers.

SAYS THE OWL

It’s a poor rule that won't work both ways In our favor. It’s the unexpected that never happens if you are expecting it A family tree doesn’t always bear the fruits of a man’s industry. ' ’ Don't bo a small potato if you want to get to the top of the heap. It is easier to take things as they come than to give them up aS they go. The man who invents an excuse is Invariably Infringing on an old pat'nL Even the devil never puts off till tomorrow the things he can do today. The man who is forced to swallow his pride should see that it is predigested. Clocks are wiser than some men. They stop to rest when they feel run down. Charity begins at home, and that’s the reason is is so seldom appreciated. The great trouble with our running expenses is that they are such sprinters. The only man who can afford to be a sluggard is the one who has a rich aunt to go to. We should ail be impervious to gossip. Even a good book is talked of behind its back. About the biggest liar in the world is the man who sends his “regrets” to a five o’clock tea. PROVERBS FROM SPURGEON. To be loved, be lovable. Be hardy, but be not hard. Maybes are no honey bees. Pegging away will win the day. Play not with fire nor ill desire. Father’s fraud drives sons abroad. Buy not silk while you owe for milk. A maid’s best dress is bashfulness. Better be one-sided than two-faced. If you can’t be clever, you can be clean. Better a good groat than abank note. The good wife’s face lights up the place. It’s risky riding when the devil is driving. - - To avoid a second quarrel, avoid the first. Lessons learned In the cradle last to the grave. Don’t get a helpmeet till you’ve got meat to help. And pence to pence, for wealth comes thence.'

REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR

A small family can absorb all a man’s money just as easily as a big one. * The oply time a secret engagement is secret is when one of the two hasn’t heard of it yet The most interesting thing to a man about a glri is how she can pretend he is interesting to her. A man can come mighty near to being the ideal husband if he will just get home regularly to meals. The reason a woman with children would rather lose all her teeth, than believe in heredity is their father. The longer you watch a girl to see how she manages men, the longer you esn keep on watching without finding out When anything goes wrong in his business a man cah wait till he gets home with the family to be cross about it A woman can save ten cents of car fare on buying her house supplies by ordering from half a dozen shops over the telephone at ten cents for each. Even when she is sure she couldn’t be more so, a woman would rather read about how to be beautiful than anything else. —New York Press.

VACATION TIPS.

Tell your funny stories to the girl with pretty teeth. - Don’t drink on your vacation for when there’s a swill there’s a sway. Try a fashionable vacation. The longer it is the shorter you’ll be at the end of IL «mpEved though you neither go mountaineering nor aeroplaning, avoid a drop too much. •

STORIES OF CAMP AND WAR

FIRST SHOT IN CIVIL WAR Consensus of Opinion Gives Credit to Edmund Ruffin—Ardent Secessionist Committed Suicide. There is always a fascination about the first, whether it’s a baby, a pair of trousers, a high hat or the discoverer of the north pole. And so it is that, with the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil war, there is a particular interest attaching to the man who fired the first shot. There has been some dispute about it, but the consensus of opinion has settled Upon Edmund Ruffin as the one who “fired the shot that freed the slaves." A book that the passing of years has made interesting is in the possession of Capt Noble D. Preston of Philadelphia. It is a history of tbs

Ruffin Fired First Shot.

American revolution, and was the property of Edmund Ruffiin. Preston, with his comrades of the Tenth New York cavalry, was near the James river in May, 1864, when one night woke his master up by throwing the heavy blankets on him. Aaron had been out with a party on a foraging -trip. But. he never told where he got the articles. As Captain Preston never allowed his men to enter a house except to get eatables, he took the negro boy ‘sharply to task. But when the captain looked at the blankets he noticed the initials “U. 8.” “Well, whoever had these blankets stole them, so you’re all right, Aaron," he remarked. The history has since been in the relic chest at Captain Preston’s home, didn't take it out until a few days ago, when General Pryor announced that he had been first delegated to fire that first shot. The captain pasted this recent newspaper clipping in the back of the book beside an old, yellow clipping, which chronicled the suicide of Ruffin. The first clipping on the back cover reads as follows: “Old Edmund Ruffin, who fired the first gun on Fort Sumter, committed suicide on Saturday last near Danville, Va., by blowing his brains out with a masket He had become very low spirited since the capture of Richmond, and did not wish to live under Yankee rule. He left a note saying: 'I cannot survive the loss of the liberties of my country.*” Then, after 46 years, another clipping throws a different light on the firing of the first shot It is this statement of General Roger Atkinson Pryor, the soldier, editor and lawyer, it reads as follows: “The first shot on Fort Sumter freed the slaves, but that was not my intention when I viewed the cannon’s fuse, prepared to touch it off. “I was then a lawyer ot 33 from Virginia, and had made a speech in Charleston just a few days before the 12th of April, 1861. in which I said: Strike one blow and Virginia will secede in an hour by the Shrewsbury clock.’ It was In compliment for this speech that General Beauregard bestowed upon me the honor of firing the first shot. Ruffin had a paper, of which he had been editor for many years. He was the first advocate of secession as distinct from Calhoun’s doctrine of nullification. Virginia did not favor Ruffin's notion strongly. That la why Ruffin went to South Carolina to propound his doctrine. He west to Charleston in April. Charleston was beleaguered with 3,000 to 4,000 young southern gentlemen, all in fighting trim. ' With these boys Ruffin enlisted. He was present when General Beauregard asked me to fire the first shot I Introduced him to the general and told the general what Ruffin had done to further the cause of the south, and persuaded him to allow Ruffin to fire it The general was persuaded. Ruffin fired the first shot Virginia thereupon seceded. uniting the entire south." The taking of the old book from his chest has brought back old memories to Captain Preston, and once again heAronders what became at Ns faithful boy Aaron.