Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1912 — Page 2

Gift of the Groom

Eric Prescott stood at the window 'of his little real estate office In Ford’port. He had opened It In the fall land now it was spring. .■ ir /' He looked at the landscape complacently well pleased with himself fc* various reasons. In the first plaoe, coining from the south, he had shivered and shaken all the cold northern winter; but the warm May weather suited him. The freshness of the little yellowish green Heaves, the smell of the lilacs and the songs of the birds made Fordport more like home. Another reason for his felicity was the little office and the row of six nearly completed frame houses half a ’block down the street. He could see jthe latter from his window. The outslde work had been done before the i rough weather and the inside during the winter months. Nothing remained to be done but the trimming, paving and one extra coat of paint on each. Eric Prescott was engaged to be 'married to Rose Marshall, the belle or jFordport When he had settled In ’the village eight months before Rose 'was engaged to marry Tom Lyle. The minute be saw Rose, Eric made jup his mind to have her. The fact ’that she was engaged to Tom Lyle was nothing to him. , Few girls would have been proof ;against the siege he immediately laid to Rose’s favor. His southern accent iand excellent taste in clothes, which jset off his tall slender figure, made ihlm favorite with all women. - Eric showered gifts of candy, roses, books and music on Rose, who refused them-all at first-then accepted a few flowers reluctantly and finally, overwhelmed with many attentions, succumbed completely. Then she and Tom quarreled and that was exactly {what Eric wanted. They were soon ; engaged and Rose was seemingly happy. She was the envy of all the Fordport girls. The comer house in* the row was to jbe hers when they were married. {Eric gave her to understand that before she had accepted him. She joked much as she loved Eric. The house began to look different {from the others in the row. The ■porch was extended ground the side •and made two feet wider than the other porches. —-• v-—-i Rose,, busy with her trousseau, appeared to be very happy and the wediting was a month away. She seldom *aw Tom Lyle. He ~ was spending most of his time now at the farm a half mile from the village. She congratulated herself that she had escaped a life of monotony in the country. Town life suited her. One day she met Tom driving two strange men toward the farm. He seemed to be explaining’ something to them and merely nodded at Rose. She went home thoughtfully. He evidently was not unhappy.

The day following this meeting with Rose, Tom hitched his little black mare to the runabout and drove over to see his chief councilor and confessor, Aunt Polly Goodwin. She was taking a “nap” in her sitting room when Tom drove in at the gate “What news, Tommy? Sit right 4own here: "TJCw tdlT There much coal on the farm?" “Yes, Aunt Polly, acres of it they say. Congratulate me. I am a rich ■man.” “Bless your heart, Tommy," said the old lady, wiping her eyes with the corner of her apron. “I am so glad, so.glad for you." “Thanks, Aunt Polly, but riches do me little good now." The old lady looked at Tom keenly. “If you don't mind me mentioning It, Tom, I have been doing a little thinking lately, since you talked of finding coal. May I suggest a little plan? You used to take my advice." “Fire away, auntie, that’s what 1 came for.” “Well, it is this way. I hate to see a fine girl like Rose Marshall throw herself away on that southern dude, and ruin her life at the same time. Her heart is in the right place, but tier head has boon turned by Prescott’s attentions and his house. Now that you have some money—" “Money!” he interrupted impatiently. "if you mean that Rose will marry me now that I am rich—” "Hush, Tom!” she said softly. “Now listen to me. Rose is not to know a rword- about your good luck. Neither Ss anyone in town to know it for a little while. This is my plan." ‘ Tom left a half hour later thinking ,-what a wonder Adfat Polly was and •with a determined set to his lips bod■ing good or 111 for'someone. One day, a week or so before the wedding, Rose stopped in to see Eric at bis office. *Tve come to ask about the window .Beat in the dining-room, Eric," she explained after he had kissed her. “I do inot want It varnished. Did you tell i Simmons?” : Erie looked uncomfortable for a minute, then walked to the window aad looked over at the house. "Do you like the place so well, Rose?" f -I love ft. Wbyr • ‘ "I have last cold it" * "You whatr •*g o jd it" "That house! Our house! >Une!

By OLIVE ROBERTS BARTON

(Copyright, igii, by AstocUtad Literary Press)

Rose sank into a chair, white and Bhaking. “Please explain." He turned quickly. “I had too good an offer to refuse. A firm In the city offered me ten thousand for It and wanted an Immediate answer. You were In Foxburg yesterday and I could not wait to ask you. So I wired ‘Yes.’ You didn’t care so much as that for the house, did you? We can put up another.” She rose unsteadily, the tears starting to her eyes. “I must think It all over, Eric. I am a little upset. Goodby.” Alone In her room, Rose began to think as she had not done for months. The sale of the house, bis wedding gift to her, had given her a sudden Jolt. But after all a house is only a house, her common sense kept telling her. She must do nothing for which she would be sorry. But something was wrong with her. All her feeling for Eric seemed dead. Surely his thoughtlessness could not kill real love so easily. Rose sat and thought It all out. Then she realized for the first time that her feeling for the southerner was not love at all. thinking of Tom. “Ob, what have 1 done?” she moaned. “I have spoiled -his l.’fe and mine, but I would rather live in a cave with him than in a palace with Eric.” In the morning she awoke clearheaded and courageous. Before she dressed she wrote two notes, one to Eric breaking the engagement, and a very short one to Tom, merely asking him to come to see her as she had something to explain. Tom went to Rose’s house. He had not been surprised to get the note. Rose, trying to look matter-of-fact and dignified, met him at the door. And Tom pretended not to notice her burning cheeks and eyes which threatened to run over. “I will just keep you a minute, Tom,” she said simply, “but I wanted you to know something. It Is due you. You were entirely In the right when we quarreled and lam very sorry, i And another thing—” She stopped suddenly, then caught her breath and the color left her taue. “I have broken my engagement to Mr. Prescott I tnink you should be the first one to know It. I discovered quite accidentally that I did not love him. That Is all, Tom,” she said, rising and holding out her hand with a smile, “except that mother and I are going away tomorrow for a month or two and I will say good-by. Do say I am forgiven. I would feel better about it, you know.” Tom looked at her steadily, then took her little pink hand in his. Slowly he reached for the other and got it. “Rose!” Rose dropped her eyes and turned crimson again. “Rose, do you love me?” No answer. “Tell me. Do you love me?” —“Yes, Tom/’ ahnost inaudlbiy. He gathered her In his arms and kissed her. “Dearest,” he said a little later. “1, too, have something 1 must get off my mind. I thought I would beat "TSFfgrat~firs own gam?. ’•Airs nor nr love and war,’ he used to say, and so it is." Rose looked startled. He went on. “Did Eric tell you he had sold the house?” “Yes.” “Well—l bought It. The farm has valuable coal on it. Rose, and I sold the rights. No one knows it, but 1 am rich now. 1 bad an idea you did not love Eric Prescott and 1 determined to try him, too. I got an uncle of mine to make an offer for the house to see if he would sell It. Prescott sent the answer by wire in less than five minutes. Now am I forgiven, dear? The house is still yours, you know.” ’ ’ Rose put her arms around his neck. ( “You are a dear, but I would rather live in the country.” she said.

Relic of the Wesleys.

The Rev. J. H. Wlcksteed, vicar of Bexley, Kent, has presented to the Wesleyan Methodists of Gravesend and Dartford circuit a tree from the vicarage garden, a sapling of the old oak under whose branches John and Charles Wesley, with George Whitefield, often met in friendly conference. It Is believed that Charles Wesley composed some of bis hymns under its shadow, and John in his diary of September 22, 1740, writes: “I went to Mr. Hers (the vicar), at Bexley, where in the mornings and evenings I expounded the Sermon on the Mount and had leisure during the rest of the day for business of other kinds." Re was there again on Saturday, December 2, 1749, “and preached atxftt eleven.”—Church Family Newspaper.

Switzerland.

If flowers and sunshine wert enough to satisfy alj humanity, doubt less there would not he Iceland cold. There are those who find in the snow capped peaks of the Alps a chara which is never unfolded to them in tht tropics, and even in winter there are those who dream of mountain climbing and those who even cross the ocean to enjoy the sport with its splendid exercise and its inspiration lnihiL grandeur ever being unfolded before them, ■ • ■ » .

BEAR PAWS REACH FAR

THE most startling feature of modern history is the marvelous expansion , of Russia. Americans speak with wellbased pride of the immense extent of our contiguous territory, stretching from ocean to ocean and from the lakes to the gulf, but after all Tlncie Sam has only a little more than 3,000,000 Bquare miles in one block, while Russia has 8,647,657 square miles, or almost three times as much. The empire comprises oneseventh of the land surface of the globe, and the population which professes allegiance to the Czar is estimated at 160,000,000, or* approximately twice as many as the men and women under the Star Spangled Banner. The population of the empire has increased at a rate which puts our vaunted increase clear Into the shade. In 1722 Russia was supposed to have only 14,000,000 people, and as late as 1879 she had 130,000,000. When the men who fought in the war of the rebellion were studying geography Russia’s boundaries did not go as far south as the eastern end of the Black Sea, and thrilling were the stories of her war with the Circassians and the feats of Schamyl, the leader who defied for years the overpowering forces Of Hie great white Czar. The Caucasus haß long been a peaceable part of the Russian empire. Years later the whole Interior of Asia was occupied by wandering tribes of Tartars and Turkomans, among whom ho civilized man ventured exoept at the imminent peril of his life. The first civilized man since Marco Polo to traverse this region was Arminius Vambery, a Hungarian, who was attached to the embassy at Constantinople. This was In 1864. Since that time Russia has acquired Samarkand, Bokhara, Khiva, Turkestan and the Transcaucasian country, and extended her borders southward until the little country of Afghanistan is all that interposes between her and British India. On the southeast she reaches to the mountains which form the western boundary of China and on the extreme west she has taken off a large slioe of Armenia lying between the' "Black Sea and the Caspian until she touches the border of Persia. All this annexation has been accomplished with comparatively little trouble, and the murderous robber tribes have been reduced to comparative peace and order without any great smell of blood.

The news of the day shows a far more startling annexation than any of her previous feats in this direction. It is believed that she will soon have under her control the great country of Mongolia and a large part, if not all, of the ancient empire of Persia. It seems conceded that Mongolia, which is believed to be the home of the Mongolian race, embracing nearly one-third of humanity, is an immense stretch of country estimated at about 1,300,000 square miles, or much more than the entire United States east of the Mississippi. It stretches through Central Asia from Eastern Turkestan to Sungaria and the Altai mountains on the west to Manchuria on the east, and from the empire of China proper on the south to Russian Siberia on the north. The people are supposed to be the original Mongols, and are described as a cheerful, good-natured and hospitable people. They live in tents lined with felt, with a hole in the roof to serve as a chimney. Their ordinary food consists of preparations of milk and millet, buckwheat flour and oatmeal. Their number Is estimated all the way from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000. They are divided into bribes governed each by its own chieftain, ana in the northern part of these are gathered into four Khanates, each governed by a prince claiming descent from Genghis Kahn, the great conqueror. Women are not secluded as In China, and marriage consists in a ceremony which is based upon the old fashion of marriage by capture. A far deeper sentimental interest is connected with Russia’s acquisition of th.e ancient kingdom of Persia, which for time immemorial has played a greater part in the civilization of the world than that of Mongolia. Persia is a country 600,000 square miles in eftent, or about one-fifth of that of the United States, excluding Alaska. It joins the Russian province of Transcaucasia on that part of Asia Minor lying between the Black and the - Caspian Seas and 1 11 Russian province of Tranacaapia still farther to the east On its eastern boundary

lie the buffer states of Afghanistan and Baluchistan, which England has maintained at such trouble between British India and Russia. Therefore, the possession of Persia will bring Russia dangerously near India, the thing of all others that England has been fighting against for a half century and which has always terribly alarmed her. Furthermore, It will give Russia access to the Persian gurf and the great Indian OceaH, something of the utmost important to Russia’s naval power. At present Russia can only get out to sea by the way of Constantinople, which Is blocked by the English at Cypress and by the Baltic Sea, where her ships will have to pass through a narrow passage that can be easily closed by the Germans or the English. Her only port on the Pacific la Vladivostok, which is frozen up half of the year. By getting to the Persian Gulf Russia will have a port In a warm sea and where she can exercise a strong influence upon China, Japan and British India. Therefore, it is inexplicable why England, which has fought so many wars to keep Russia off British India, should permit her occupation of Persia.

LOOK FOR THE READY CASH

Voters in Corsica Can Never Be Aocused of Not Having Eye to the Main Chance. The island of Corsica, although a part of the republic of Prance, is quite different In its customs from the republic and never ceases to furnish reading matter out of the ordinary for the "Parisian journals. The Corsicans have, it appear?, a decided penchant for millionaire candidates for the chamber of deputies and are always on the lookout for this admirable material. Yet there is between them and the millionaire a singular mlsapnprehension. The islanders desire that millionaires be candidates because of the manna that falls upon their country during an electoral campaign, hut they do not desire to "elect them. 1 As for the millionaires, they are perfectly willing to spread the manna, but they also wish to be elected. “Recently,” says a Paris journal "one of our most successful money makers went to Corsica to visit his future department. At his USBSfia-' tion several dozens of Corsicans received him with ‘hourrahs’ and guns were fired, which, down there, is the last word of enthusiasm. He undertook a tour of the country. At each village, Corsicans, magnificent in local color, acclaimfd him and wakened the echoes with gunpowder. “At the third village, however, he had something of a sensation. He had a vigit from a farmer who- said to him: "We are four brothers, all voters, ready to vote for you. Buy for me the meadow that is on the other side of the village and you have our votes.’ “‘How much is this meadow?’ “ ‘A trifle, 12,000 francs.’ “After a tour of eight days the millionaire calculated that to pay for all the votes that had been offered to him would require five or six million francs. And- even after ture he would not be certain of election. “He withdrew from the canvass, but he had already expended some hundred thousand francs, of which his enthusiastic welcomes had their full share. They really would like to have him come again.”

Snakes Stampeded Mail Clerks.

When one of the English mall bags was.: opened at the Port Elisabeth (Cape Colony) postoffice fire lire snakes, each about two feet six Inches long, darted put. Their appearance disorganized the work In the sorting department for upwards of an hour, after which they were finally captured and delivered to a director of the Port Elizabeth museum, they had been dispatched from West Bromwich, England. It appears that the snakes, which turned out to be of a harmless variety, were packed, hi a torpid condition in a moss-lined wooden box, perforated with a number of air holes. It is surmised that the heat of the tropics roused the reptiles from their torpor and that they wriggled out of the box into the mall bag, in which they existed for the re* malnder of the voyage.

LONG AND FINE RIDES

AMERICA HOLDS ONE RECORD, BUT NOT THE OTHER. Frank Beaman and Party Had Moat, Extended Trip, Traveling Thousands of of York’s Train de Luxe. The world’s record for a continuous trip In a private car Is held by Frank

steamboat, 300 miles by stage and 150 miles on horseback. The private car climbed to an altitude of 8,000 \feet above sea level and descended to '263 feet below sea level. During all the long trip there were no mfahaps and no delays. When Thomas Nickerson, who was president of the Santa Fe before it struck oil, wanted to take a ride he carried his lunch and took a berth with the way freight. That isn’t the way of all American railway spresidents. - / ; ----- - It takes the British, at home or in Canada, to fuss things up; at any rate when the road carries royalty. When the Duke and Duchess fit York (now King George and Queen Mary) visited the Dominion In 1901 the Canadian railways built for them nine cars that eclipsed anything that ever traveled across the jNorth American continent The train was composed of a day car and a night car, one compartment sleeper, three standard sleepers, a dining car, k baggage car and a car for the railroad employes In charge of the train. The exterior of the train was finished In natural mahogany, the standard for the company’s sleeping and parlor cars. The two royal cars hore reproductions of the coats-of-arms of the distinguished guests on each side at both ends. The train was vestibuled. Each car was equipped with electric lights

The Cornwall, the royal day car, 78 feet 6% Inches long, had a reception room panelled In Circassian walnut with a celling finished in old gold with moldings and-ornaments touched with gold and blue. The handings were of dark blue velvet, the carpet was graygreen. There was a piano and chairs and a sofa. The car also has a boudoir for the Duchess with pearl gray panels painted after Watteau, with draperies of light blue moire silk. There was also a dining room In African Coromandel with ornamental cartouches displaying at one end the coat-of-arms of the king and at the other end those of the Duke and Duchess, The arms of the Dominion and the Duke graced the other walls. The panels of the walls were green and gold, the draperies green velvet, the upholstery a warm brown. There

were seats for eight. The night coach York was of the same length as the Cornwall. In the center were two royal bedrooms with bath room and servant’s room adjoining each. It was finished in pearl gray enamel with panels' of silkin' match the draperies. Each room was furnished with a brass bedstead, a dressing table, a large mirror and a wardrobe. The draperies in the duke’s room were of crimson silk; those In the duchess’ room were of pale blue moire. There were also two staterooms, one for the lady In waiting and one for the gentleman in waiting and a baggage room. One of the cars had a consulting room for the royal medical attendant. There were also two baggage cars. Part of one was used for cold storage. In this magnificent train the duke and duchess made the journey from Quebec to Vancouver and returned to Halifax, quite the longest single trlß royalty ever has made by rail.

USE THE ELECTRIC CAPSTAN

Novel Method of Moving Railroad Cars from the Vicinity of Factories. Unless an industrial plant is large enough to employ Its own switch engines (either steam at electric) it is dependent on the railroad company for the moving of any cars placed on ltd sidetracks, and much time is often' lost by not haying these moved more frequently. In teaming practice, wagons are always moved away from the platforms as fast as they are loaded or unloaded, and for economical handling the same should be done with

Seaman, according to the Railroad Man’s Magazine, lasted 101 days, and extended Into eighteefa states and the republic of Mexico. In that time Mr. Seaman and his party traveled 14,500 miles in the car, 460 miles by

Electric Capstan For Moving Cars.

FIRST RAILROAD IN AMERICA

Old Quincy Lina Really Can Claim Honor of Being the Pioneer of Present System. The Quincy .raUjroatL. or. aa .it wad known in the beginning, the “Experiment Railroad,” which was constructed to carry granite blocks for the Bunker Hill monument, at Boston, was the first railway in America. The first cars on this primitive line were drawn? by horses. A line known as the Vlazie Railroad was put in operation out of Bangor, Me., In 1836, the Quincy road antedating this several years. The Bangor road began with two locomotives of Stephenson’s make in England. They had no cabs for the driver or fireman , on their arrival In this country, but rude affairs were soon attached. Wood was used for fuel. The first cars also were made in England, a carriage much like a big stagecoach being placed on a rude platform and trucks. The capacity of each car was eight passengers. In the beginning the one train on the line made about twelve miles in forty minutes, and the people of the country round about marveled at the speed It made. The rails on these pioneer railways were made of strap Iron, spiked down to. scantlings. Thp Boston & Lowell, Boston & Providence, and Boston & Worcester railroads were all opened for traffic In 1835.

EXPERIENCE A TRYING ONE

Survivor of Railroad Wreck in Which Forty Lost Their Lives, Tells of Scene. Among the survivors of the railway disaster at Bellay-le-Thouet, in which forty persons lost their lives, is a man who, from a hospital cot, related his experiences as follows to a reporter of Le Matin of Paris: “I thought at the time of the catastrophe that I was hopelessly lpst. Looking out, I saw the parapet of the bridge' suddenly swing and give way, and then there was the horrible, sudden sensation of falling. A cold shudder came over us as we felt the water pouring round our feet. There were several passengers in the same compartment In a frantic state of mind, but Instinctively a sort of discipline was obligatory on us. I was near the door, and I saw that the window above me was over the water. I seized a strap, and how I did It I scarcely , remember, but I smashed through the window with my head, climbed out, and was safe. A hand was stretched out toward me from inside. I seized It, and pulled out a man. Next there was a lady, and we dragged her-out, and finally all that had been in the compartment were safe. But a worse time came. For hours we were perched on the roof of the car in the middle of the stream, and every moment the submerged wreck was threatened with being swept away. However, I am Base at last.”

New South African Line.

Plans are being formulated for constructing a railway from Cape Town In South Africa to the top of Table Mountain, at whose base the city lies. The mountain Is about 3,500 feet high. Suggestions are asked for by the city and valuable franchises, including!*® exclusive right to maintain a sanatorium on the mountain, as well as sole refreshment privileges, will be ceded to the man or company undertaking ■ the work, gsssfer

Ingenious German Device.

Several German villages have a pen-ny-in the-slot system of nocturnal Illumination. At Jocketa, near Plauen, in Saxony, for example, where they go to i bed early, the lights are all out at eleven o’clock. But a timid lategoer by dropping a penny In the box at the foot of one pf the electric light standards can illuminate half the village. A second penny lights up the other half. At Zarkau, In Silesia, they have a similar arrangement A penny lights up the whole roadway from the station through the village for twelve minutes. The average life of a railroad! cross tie is 15 years.

tie heavier cars on rails. Some manufacturers have gone to the of using gangs of men with steel lev. ers to move the cars, but this is a slow and costly method, v, Now comes the electric capstan and says: “If I can lpove ships, why not cars?" Why not, indeed? A strong hawser with a hook at one odd is easily attached to the head of the pap* Stan so that' a single man cau move the car at the rate of from 50 to 100; feet a minute. By mounting a pulley { alongside the track and passing the rope over it, the car can Just as eas- j ily be moved away from the capstan, thus making the car users independent of all switch engines while close to* their works.—Popular Electricity. 6 ‘ '