Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 114, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1912 — Page 3

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“Two Old Pokes”

By CLYDE JOHNSON

(Copyright, 1912, by Associated Literary Press.) “Well, we are going to have neighbors,” observed Mr. Rathbone, the broker, as be shoved his chair back from the dinner table one evening after his return from the city. “Do you mean that some one has taken the Smith place?” asked the wife. “Yes, an insurance man named Franklin. Nice family. Leased it for five years. Going to move in next week. Glad of it.” “I don’t know whether I am or not,” said Miss Nellie, the daughter. “If they are* a couple of pokes the house might as well stand empty.” "I know they have no daughter.” “Of course not. If they had she’d be Just as disagreeable as she could. Just two old pokes, and I did hope ’’ “Well?” “That wouldn’t be pokes. I Just know how it will be. They’ll wander over here of an evening, and he and you will sit and smoke and talk politics, and she and mamma will swap recipes for dyeing old skirts, and where’ll I come in? Do you know, Dad Rathbone, there isn’t a young man worth cat meat within three) miles of this old country house?" “Oh, I see," replied the father, “You are thinking of matrimony instead of practicing your music." “I’ve banged till I’m sick of it No, I’m not thinking of jhat, but I do wish there was a young man around here I could make eyes at I was almost a-mind to flirt with one.; going by in an auto this afternoon.” “Poor girl! Well, I guess I’ll tell you the rest of the story. Those two old pokes, as you call them, have a son.”

“And he’s five years old and lisps?"’ "He’s twenty-three or thereabouts and speaks straight from the shoulder. He’s a sculptor, I believe been working on a statue for the last . three years.” "Well, he’s got tousled hair, is always looking into the clouds and can’t tell a handsome girl from a homely one. I know the kind.” "Guess you don’t,” smiled the father. “Rex Franklin is right up to date. Talks well, dresses well, and no pretty girls get away from him. I expect to have him for a son-in-law within a year. Always hoped you’d marry a sculptor so that your mother and I could be done in marble. He’s going to come and go on the train, and of course I shall meet him and speak a good word for you." "Thanks, muchly. He’ll run after I look at him twice.” The Franklins moved in. They didn’t look like pokes ’ after all, and Miss Nellie felt encouraged. She was not peeping out of the front windows morning and evening for a sight of that young man, or wondering what sort of a bait to use to trap him. She just waited to know that there was an eligible party around in case she wanted to go fishing. He might be all her father said, and yet she wouldn’t like him. Be would have disagreeable traits. Three weeks had passed and Rex Franklin hadn’t been even sighted from a distance. He was to drop in some evening with his parents in return for a call. It was so said, and Miss Nellie took care to have on her prettiest gown every evening, but nbt on his accounf —no, str! Just because she felt like dressing up a bit. She practiced the airs of two or three songs in harmony with her voice, but that'had nothing to do with his coming. She just liked to hear her own voice., And on a certain morning Miss Nellie Rathbone got up feeling out of sorts with the world. She fell out of bed instead of hopping out like a cricket Then her hair tangled as she brushed it Then she found that her powder rag had been chewed up by her Boston bulldog, and about half a dozen things had gone wrong when she tripped as she was going down to breakfast and rolled clear down to the hall flbor. Of course, she said things, and singularly enough she said most of them about the new young man next door. He was a ninny; he was no sculptor; he was homely and awkward. ~ If he ever dared call she would make him look small. If Rex Franklin had known this he would have thundered back a “no!** when his mother asked him to- use hammer and a nail to secure a shelf. The hammer was broke®, but at her suggestion be gaily trotted over to the Rathbone house. And right there was the turning point of his life. Miss Nellie had found the oatmeal underdone and the coffee muddy, and had laid both at the jtaor of th e new young man. when she started out to

There is no frigate like a book • To take us lands away„ ? j '• „ . Nor any coursers like a page Ofprancing poetry. * This traverse may the poorest take. Without oppress of toll;- / . Row frugal is the chariot That bears the human soul! —Emily Dickinson.

feed the doves. There was a large, flock of them, and the feeding took place twice a day. Poised over her head like an. aviator on his way from New York to St Louis, was a henhawk. Although a henhawk, he was not averse to dining on a dove now and then for a chance. He had been maneuvering for ten minutes for position. and it was when the feeding doves got bunched that he closed Ms wings and dropped to gobble one in each claw. The henhawk seldom gets off in his calculations, but this one made a bad error. He came on Miss Nellie Rathbone’s head? Her hair was colled up, and he got his talons entangled and couldn't release them. Scream? Why, they heard her half a mile away? Cavort? Why a colt couldn’t have beaten her gallop around the yard! The hawk clawed and pecked, and the girl yelled and danced, and, of course,. Providence seized upon that very minute to lead forward the new young , man. He had never seen a chicken hawk trying to carry off a 125-pound girl before, but he was equal to the occasion. He grabbed the bird and choked its life out and then released the tangle: with a. morning dress .on that wasn’t A bit pretty—with her chestnut hair full of kinks and knots and flowing down to her knees—with her heart beating with fright and one ear bleeding from a bite, why—why, anyone can imagine just how the maiden,felt! She made three jumps for the kitchen door and was out of sight And the son of the old pokes was nice about it. He didn’t ask the cook for a hammer, but went home and told his mother that they’d have to use a brickbat to pound with. _ Some young men would have run right back within the hour to see If a doctor was wanted, and to express the hope that the affair would not have a fatal termination, but Rex Franklin didn’t. He had trespassed and come lady with an old gown and a grouch on, and he had the sense not to offer any consolation. He had intended to call that evening, but he put it off until three evenings later, and ’then he never referred to the heroic rescue until Miss Nellie introduced the sub-' ject. She didn’t find him poky, and neither did he say too much nor stay too long. She expected to bear great things about- his work, but she had to ask questions to draw him out, and then he dodged most of them. When the young man had taken ins leave Mr. Rathbone asked of his daughter:

“Well, you’ve seen the new young man kt last?” “Yes.” "Disappointed in him?” “Kind o’ that way.? “But why?" "Mother, what an old goose daddy is! He can’t realize that a girl wants to have three or four half-fool young men around to amuse her for a time before a sensible* one comes along and asks her to be his wife. I’m looking for the half-fools just now.” “How long are you going to be at it?’’ persisted the father. The daughter made up a face at him and left the room with her book, and after a long silence the mother said:

“Joshua, you'd better leave it all to that henhawk.” “Shouldn’t wonder if I had,” he replied; and thence on he had no more to say. He might not have had at the end of the twelve months had not Miss Nellie suddenly jumped across the room one evening and kissed him and exclaimed: “Oh, I’d forgotten to tell you that Mr. Franklin and I are engaged!” “But he hasn’t asked me for your hand.” “I told him he needn’t, as he’s had ft ever since that hawk tried to abduct me!” 4

Curious Likeness.

Not long ago at the Natural History museum in London attention was invited to the remarkable resemblance between a specimen of the huge African elephant and the pigmy shrew mouse. A distinguished naturalist suggested comparison of the two, and tfie result was that practically every bone, muscle, blood vessel, and nerve of the' giant beast waß found, identically reproduced in the little animal, which is scarcely two inches in length. In the museum in question a stuffed mouse has been placed between the forefeet of its enormous mounted prototype for the/purpose of showing the curious likeness—Harper’s Weekly. .

The Ill Bread.

Five-year-old Johnnie was dining out in company with an Auntie. He quietly ate what was given him until be tasted the bread, then he. frankly announced: “Auntie, this bread isn’t good.” i “Hush! Johnnie, that is ill bred,” admonished Auntie. Johnnie subsided, but when he reached home and mother asked him what good things He had to eat he surprised them with: “Oh. we had jelly and meet and ice cream, but I didn’t like the 1U bread.” -Norman E. Mack’s National Monthry.

THE Immense stadium for the Olympic games, which are to be held In Stockholm, Sweden, this summer, .is npw practically completed. The photograph shows a portion of the grand stand built to accommodate the tremendous crowds that are expected. ,

SHIRKS ARMY DUTY

German Crown Prjnce Not Enthusiastic About War. n —■ Kaiser's Heir Is Attached by the Press—ls Colonel of Famous Regi- • ment —Nearly Always Absent from Military Service. Berlin, Germany.—The article attacking the crown prince for neglect of military duties, which is attracting great attention, being reproduced in many leading newspapers, appeared originally in Der Tuermer, a monthly review/according to a Berlin dispatch. It was written by Herr Guenther von Viebrogge, a retired officer. The article observes that up to the time when the kaiser appointed his heir to the colonelcy of the famous Death’s Head hussars at Danzig last September the crown prince had never done any military service worth mentioning. It was hoped that the command would at last fill the prince, in whose veins the blood of so many warriors flowed, with, genuine enthusiasm for the profession of arms. “Up to the present, however,” continues the article, “the hopes aroused by the transfer to Danzig have remained unfulfilled. The crown prince is absent far tob much on leave. Indeed, one might ask when he is at the head of his regiment at all. “Immediately after his appointment the august young gentleman f went traveling for four weeks, principally to hunt. Soon after his return we saw him In Berlin; sometimes in the reichstag, where he attended the Morocco debates; sometimes at the flying grounds. “At the beginning of December hei spent a week in Silesia hunting, and at the end of December and the beginning of January he was in Berlin again.

“Between the last named leaves he was prostrated by illness, which not only confined him to his room, but to bed over the Christmas holidays. The illness could not have been very

Boys Find Eighty Diamonds

Costly Gems Had Been Swept Out With the Rubbish When Jewelry Store Was Cleaned. Philadelphia.—The discovery erf diamonds in an ash barrel in front of Charles Kranich’s jewelry store, 2466 Kensington avenue, raised a disturbance that suggested the scene of a “lucky strike” in the gold fields of Alaska. Mrs. Kranich saw a number of boys struggling around the barrel, each endeavoring to dig his hands into the contents. These were joined presently by a dozen men, who also entered the' strange scramble. Alarmed, Mrs. Kranich called her daughter, Mrs. Lloyd Brooks, and her sister-in-law. Miss Bessie Kranich, who learned that the men and boys were digging for gems in the ash barrel. Mrs. Kranich went into the street, and on looking closer discovered that the boys had found diamonds that her husband had procured for his Christmas stock. Soon afterward the boys went Into the store and abked Mrs. Kranich whether the crystals were valuable. She shrewdly replied that they were only cheap stones, but if they cared to go to the trouble of looking for more she would pay them a moderate reward for each one. The ruse was effective. One by one boys went to her and returned the stones, some of them not asking anything in return. Meanwhile the Eighteenth district police heard of the unusual occurrence, and .Lieutenant Keith patched six policemen la civilian’s

STADIUM FOR OLYMPIC GAMES AT STOCKHOLM

grave, otherwise the Berlin newspapers would not so soon have been able to report that he was dedicating himself to winter sports in the Tlergarten.

“At the end of January the crown prince again came to Berlin to participate in the court festivities and those connected with the kaiser’s birthday and christening of his own son. When these were over he betook himself to Switzerland, 1 where in company with his gracious consort he threw himself into the joys of the sleigh and ski with his accustomed zeal. “That he remained in Switzerland longer than he Intended is due to the injury he received at ice hockey. “On March 6 the Danzig * Hussars saw their commander again and were at last able to give the winter ball, which they had postponed on account of the crown prince’s many prolonged absences.” .

Man Records His Robberies

Thief Arrested After School Girl Had Trailed Him—Left Odd Book in Looted Home. New York.—Marie Rohn, 14, after attending Normal school, returned to her home on the fifth floor of J4O East 156th street. She was climbing the stairs when a man dashed past her, almost knocking her down, and fled to the street The girl found that the door of her home had been jimmied and the place,robbed. She ran to the street, caught sight of the man half a block away and trailed him along Elton avenue to 150th street There she saw Policeman Frazier and told him her story. The policeman grabbed the man and took him to the Morrlsiana police station. He said he was George Burke, but refused to give his address. According to the police he admitted robbing the Rohns, after several pieces of jewelry found in his

clothes to endeavor to recover the diamonds. The result of this was that before night fifty-four of the missing stones had been found and returned to their owner; about twenty were still missing. When Mr. Kranich learned of the Incident he said that he and two young men were gathering up rubbish In the store in the morning, and it was into this that the diamonds must have accidentally dropped. Shortly before cleaning the store, he said, he had taken from his safe a leather case containing a number of diamonds, which he said, he either examined or else showed to a customer. The stones were sorted, those of each

Death Lure in Cheap Watch

Missing Boy Found Slain With Dollar Gift Gone—School Mate Suspected. North Providence, R. I. —That William Mathers, Jr, 12 years old, was enticed into the woods and murdered by another lad for a dollar watch is the belief held by the police here. A search has been begun for the suspect a 17-year-old alien. v - The Mathers boy disappeared from his home at Marrieville, Feb. 29. Later two lads came upon a child’s rubber and sweater in a forest. Search resulted in finding the boy’s body, with the skull crushed and the clothing in

TRAVELS FAR FOR HIS BRIDE

Nine Thousand Miles Somewhat of a Journey, but Not Too Long for Norton Johnson. Los Angeles.—Coming 9,000 miles' to claim his bride, Norton Johnson arrived in Los Angeles. He reached San Francisco on the steamer Tahiti from New Zealand, and. was met by his fiancee, Miss Helen Wells, and her father, Arthur G. Wells, general manager of the Santa Fe, who had journeyed north in their private car for that purpose. Mr. Johnson, who is a geological expert, is general superintendent of the Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand, and after the wedding ceremony took his bride for a wedding trip* through the east, and will sail the first of May for their future home in New Zealand. Mr. Johnson is the son of Mr. and Mrs. George Johnson of Binghamton, N. Y. Miss Wells was graduated from the Marlborough and afterward attended Wells college.

pockets were identified by Marie as belonging to her family. ....... In his hurry td leave the Rohn house the burglar left a small memorandum book behind. On the outside was written Burke’s name. It had an alphabetical index and on several pages were found names of persons whose homes have recently’ been robbed, so the police said. The book also contained a list of valuables taken from each place and the names of pawnbrokers who had bought or loaned money on the articles.

Woman Refuses Pardon.

Valley City, N. D.—Preferring jail to freedom through the payment of a fine by friends, Mrs. Laura M. Allen of this city, author of "The Lost Art," a book on suffrage, for the unlicensed sale of which on the streets she was arrested, says she will serve her sentence of a week in jail. She refused a pardon. • *. ...' i

kind being wrapped separately in tissue paper. * Thus the diamonds were probably not noticeable and dropped into the rubbish-that was being swept from the store and later dumped into the ash barrel.

Prodigy at Eight.

London —Barely eight years old, a boy named Solomon, son of a poor East end tailor, made his public debut in the Albert hall before an immense audience and proved himself a wonderful pianist. It was only a few weeks ago that the boy was discovered, and he had never played on a grand piano before. So marvelous is his talent that • few days ago he played privately before the king and queen at Buckingham palace. , / k - ’«

tatters. Near by was a large stone spattered with blood. A short time before be disappeared he was in company with the youth suspected. When be left home he carried a dollar watch which his father had given him and which excited the envy of some of the other children in the school. The watch was not in the boy’s clothing.

Epworth League Leases a Farm.

Sioux Pans, 8. D.—The members of the Epworth league in the village or Roswell, Miner county, have leased twenty-seven acres of land on a fam near Roswell and will cultivate it this season for the benefit of the league, '.; ' - *' ' ■ S'/.- ' " • 6 X 7 ’"' ' “ ."

HARD TO READ FACES

ONE NEVER CAN BE SURE OF Hltj JUDGMENTS. vSI .V**?*?’ Y . , j- "'V Facial Expression la CoMtimEM Chanqinfl and Correctly to Detß® mine Character From It la Fine and Intricate Art. §||| The living face in its relation to real character might be likened toJßjg expert Juggler manipulating the vars-J ous articles of his mystic trade. Ex- | cept in moments of revery or abstrao- ) tion the expression ie constantly cWfi glng; it scarcely remains the same for five consecutive seconds. It is a ease of 1 "Now you see me, and now ydu dontX?|:; and it is extremely difficult to dedeM mine when you may be catching ig| glimpse of the real character, ghfM when the fleeting expression may be a ; misleading token, involuntary, J*f|| haps, on the part of the individual, but ] cunningly calculated by nature to dml ceive the eye of the spectator.. JjOS j Hence the genuine ability to character” in facial expression is muollij rarer than is commonly supposed. , is not only a fine art but an intricate one. Most persons who fancy thaO they possess it in some degree are ) really proceeding upon a sort of blind j instinct, which is likely to be deceived ) entirely by superficial Indi cation*.i The accurate judges of men are «m| tremely scarce; their gift is one should invariably lead them to cess if they are blessed with half an J opportunity. The appraisal of character by pb»i| tographic evidence may be as erroneous as that which is based on the) living face, but at least the photograph gives opportunity for continu«Sl ous study and shows none of thoseg shifting moods which are sure to con«gj fuse the Judgment. The camera}’ catches its subject as he or she may'| appear at the given moment It may 1 be an inopportune moment the camera, | may be a poor one, there may be fta fault in the plate, or the photographnO may lack skill, but something of the true soul and character of the subjedt|| is bound to appear on the surface and’ to stand revealed to all who see it 3 The truth may be somewhat quaii-J fled by the fact that the average person in front of the camera is invarf»\l ably more or less self-conscious, but-1 in general effect the dominant quaflA| ties are at least partially revealed, that in almost any photographic portrait one may see strength of character, vanity, self-esteem, nobility, g meanness, fussiness, unscrupulousnesel or what not, as the case may be. When photographs are “reproduced” by half-tone process the essential facts of the physiognomy are sometimes ob- S scured, especially in the hurried proeg| esses of newspaper portraiture. in all but the most atrocious examples of such art, these essential facts show through, even if it be with but a dim glow.—Providence Journal. ~

Washington Man’s White Farm..

Eugene Jacquemln ha* acquired hto |! heart's desire, a farm on which ar » j pure white animals and , fowls, all housed in spotless shelters and permitted to roam within bound* snowy fences. This “white farm” to unique because it contains many spec- > linens of albino wild animals and | bird*. White horses do all the farm work and are the drivers and saddle animals. White ponies play with the children. White cows furnish butters and milk. There are white hogs,, sheep and goats. The pigeons, chick- ' ens, ducks, geese, turkeys and guinea | fowls were imported from Africa. A novelty is a pair of peacocks pure white. About the yard three spits dogs play and white Persian cats lounge on the porches. In the orchard. ' the eccentric farmer has an albino Wk, .J three white deer, a mountain shee>|| and a polar bear cub. These are in/; ) aviaries a pure white magpie, wMttyg blackbirds, pheasants, wild cranes and storks.—fhiyallup correspondence St. Paul Dispatch.

The Defendant’s Version.

Referring to his diary of June 1908, Mr. Studley said it was untrue . that, coming home from Lady Glenz| Coats’ ball, he violently pulled hl» | wife out of a cab and forced her onto her knees, so that she fell on the ! pavement. What occurred was this: “About ten minutes to 2, at the ball, I wentp to my wife and said' ‘Cherub, are ' you ready to go home?* She said, *Oh, let me stay a little.’. I said, ‘Very’J well; I’ll come back shortly.’ five minutes past 2 I asked’her if she were ready, and she, with very bad • grace, said, I said, ‘I can’t ffWl up in the morning if I don’t go to. bed.’ We got into a hansom, and dur- s Ing the short distance to Sloan street she turned on me in a temper and-J said, ‘You spoil all my fun, you brute.’ and she let out at me and my hat down over my face—all far nothing.”—London Dally News. JI

Force of Habit Strong.

At the informal gambol which was-J given by the Chicago member* of ftSg Tenths’ dub recently, John Drew told of an actor. who..hadmisfortune to fafl off a ferry-boat at night Of boar? The searchlight-was turned -round and round jm an effort the man. He came up for ■the third time just as the light raised himself and. fpahhwi him t’S’p