Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 266, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1912 — Page 2

A RISKY EXPERIMENT!

A Man With a Home Should Use It.

BY LOUISE OLNEY.

The Boss stepped out for an hour, and office conversation flourished. Both business and the force were languid bjfa reason of summer and impending vacations. Adkins, thirty-five and single, was wise on matters matrimonial, and ‘‘started something” by maliciously attacking the blfss of 6impson, twentyjtwo and just engaged. Miss Gertrude tried to listen and type letters at the same time. Adkins looked up from his bookkeeping. “It’s a dangerous-Experiment, my boy,” he persisted. “Look at Peters, once jovial and free, now a slave. / He talks about babies and the cost of living and blacks his own shoes. His wife was almost as pretty as Miss Gertrude, with a string of beaux instead of a string of babies. She’s thin and old-looking. I bet she wishes she was on her old job, and that she's begun to ask Simpson if he will really love her when she’s old. A mortgage hangs over them, too. It’s a risky experiment, getting married, Simpson.” Adkins added up a column of fiures very accurately, while Gertrude clicked away and Simpson got the order list unperturbed. Simpson straightened his young shoulders and answered tranquilly: > “You’re an old grouch—soured on life because you haven’t got a girl. Wait till you visit Amy and me and you’ll curl up with envy. Things don’t always go right for single folks and two people can live as cheaply as one." The whole force groaned at the platitude, and Gertrude, her blue eyes alive, turned on them. “You’ll get what’s coming to you, anyway,” she contributed. “Mr. Adkins changes boarding houses and varieties of dyspepsia every few weeks. I live at a cousin’s. It’s not a home, but it’s not so bad as a boarding house. The children impose on me, but I feel less like a stray cat than when I’m with utter strangers. But I will say that I’d rather be Mr. Simpson than you, Mr. Adkins. He and his girl are good sports, jthey aren’t afraid to take a risk and swallow some bitter stuff sor v the sake of the sweet! I’d rather be Mrs. Peters with all her troubles than Miss Stillwell upstairs here. She’s got a little bank account, but she sees only herself. She will end her days in an old lady’s home somewhere. Mrs. Peters may have to ‘live round’ with her children, but she can scold her sons-in-law and spoil her grandchildren —she’ll have something to live for!” The girl carefully licked on the stamps and gave the letters to the office, boy. “Get ’em right pff—the Boss told me to sign them.” She turned back < to her work with an air of finality, and Adkins gave an embarrassed little whistle. The girl had been there three months, but had been barely friendly to the force. She attended to business almost fiercely. The bookkeeper turned 01/ his high stool to look at her straight, flat, little back, and neatly arranged heavy fair hair. He was not used to being attacked by girls. He was good-looking, older, rather superior, with an air of indifference to women. He had a little home, but rented it to advantage, and lived drifting about, his violin his only real solace and companion. As Simpson grinned exultingly at him, he turned back to his work. • The Boss came in again, so nothing more was said that day, nor on the next. The routine work went on for a week or two, and not once did the stenographer give the bookkeeper an unnecessary word or look. Ppor Adkins felt a bit aggrieved. It was as if a fluffy kitten he was petting should suddenly scratch him viciously and then refuse to see him. But Miss Gertrude Turner had certainly created within him a respect for her. She knew her mind and spoke it. He even hoped that since she wished to marry, as evidently she did, she would find the right man. She was, he decided, a sweet, sensible girl, who knew how to mind her business, month after month, without any fooling. After that little bout with the girl about marriage, Adkins kept respectfully out of her way. The spell of his self-satisfied smugness was broken for him. He rfegarded Simpson furtively, with a wonder as to whether he and his “girl” were not, after all, what Gertrude had called them, “good sports,” willing to take life’s bitter with its sweet. Then he began to wonder if she despised him. She ignored him, but she ignored the others save as to business. He wished that she liked him.

Now it happened that Adkins and Gertrude had their vacations at the same time, and that by a strange chance neither went out of town. She slept half her time, and spent the other half playirig with her cousin’s children, sewing a little, and going to parks with a book, and she would wander oft for walks in the country-like suburbs. Thus it was that one day, passing k trim little place, she came full upon Adkins, a cigar in his mouth, his hat tilted back, his hands in his pockets. He was leisurely staring at the place. He saw her, and raised his hat. "Well,"' he said, stopping her, "what are you out here for? I am thinking of fixing my place up a bit —these folks are going in September, and the new tenants will want things done. What do you think of the house?" r • . . She stopped, leaning her white arms fffl the fence, and considering, while

he counted freckleß on her straight little nose, and hoped she did not despise him too much. He was beginning to be wistful about her opinion of him. i The fair sex had usually regarded him with favor as a rather eligible fellow in his class, and interesting because indifferent. “Well,” she replied slowly, “I think it’s pretty and comfortable looking, but you ought to keep it in Bhape. You ought to live in it yourself instead of shirking the task of keeping up a home for yourself. It’s sheer laziness.” He looked at her reproachfully and caught a gleam of saving humor in her eye. “My cousin, for instance,” she resumed, “would be wild with joy at a home of her own! You have one and don’t use it. What’s it for?” She turned away, but he followed her, walked with her into the country and finally took her home. He enjoyed that walk. She gave no sign as to whether she was glad to be rid of him ’ at the gate or sorry. He was piqued, but life seemed highly worth the living. He thought about her and a day or two later drove up with a light buggy and asked her to drive. She wenC cheerfully enough, but he felt at arm’s length somehow, and resented it. He discovered how sweet he had always considered her smile, how admirable she was in every way, how up-stand-ing, and brave. He drew out of her that, but for the cousin, she was alone in the world, that the loved gardening and children, disliked city streets, and enjoyed sewing. She did her office work well from pride, rather than liking. These trifles seemed important to him. The country was sweet and green, and they got buttermilk at a farmhouse. A sweet-faced old lady took back the glasses with this remark: “Wouldn’t your wife like some more? She don’t look overly Btrong.” Without a word they both drank more buttermilk, but when they drove on there seemed to be little to say, and she avoided his glance. The horse slowed down to a walk under an avenue of green trees, and the man, still silent, came suddenly upon his real self. He knew what he wanted —he had found the key to the closed door of his life. 1 “Gertrude —I wisjjj it was so; —you don’t know how I wish —” “Wish what was so?” she asked, though she must have divined. “What that woman said—” he put his hand over hers which was not withdrawn. “It seems as if I had wanted you from the first and did not know it! Why don’t you answer? Do you despise me so? Do you think I am afraid of the game? I’ll take care of you and love you and be glad all our lives if you will let me!” He spoke rapidly, and she brushed a hand over her eyes, and then looked full at him. Tears stood on her lashes. “Oh!” she spoke breathlessly. “At least I have kept you from seeing that I cared for you! I thought I could never stand it another minute, and still I couldn’t keep away from you— I —” she winked the tears away. “Dear!” he said. “Dearest, shall we drive past our home?” (Copyright, 1912, bv th* McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)

DIPLOMAT OF THE FUTURE

Little Willie Obeyed His Mother and at the Same Time Got Satisfaction for Himself. “Now,” said the fond mother, aker using the slipper upon little Willie, ‘‘l went you to apologize to little Freddie the first time you see him for making his nose bleed. JAttle boys should never fight. Now, promise me you will apologize the very first time you meet him.” “All right, mother, I will,” readily promised Willie. The very next day Willie met Freddie. “I want to apologize for making your nose bleed,” said Willie. Little Freddie made no reply, but started down the street with his nose in the air. Willie grew angry at his little friend, but suddenly thought of an idea. Running around the block as fast as his legs would carry him, he met Freddie coming slowly down the street. “Hey, Freddie," he called. “Whatcher want?” “Isn't this the second time I met you?” “Yes.” “Well, take this, then,” said Willie, with a well-directed punch on Freddie’s nose, which knocked the lad into the mud. 1 “O-o-o,” wailed the unfortunate Freddie, struggling to his feet, "what did you do that for?” “My mother told me to apologize to you the first time I met you,” replied little Willie, “but she didn’t say anything about the second time I saw you.”

Kissing Ladies Only.

When a female member of our roy* al family holds a levee it is customary for her to kiss the ladlps of the nobility and no others. It happened that the lady of the Lord Justice Clerk was, on one occasion, among the number of those presented to the Princess Amelia, who was very deaf. “Stand by for my Lady Justice Clerk,” said the man in waiting. Meanwhile some meddling person whispered to him that his announcement was incorrect, the lady being a commoner. By this time the kiss preliminary was about to be performed, when out bawled the man of office through a speaking trumpet:— “Don’t kiss her, madam —she’s not a lady,”—London Titbits. ' •

To Give Luster to Zinc.

Zinc will be given a fine luster if polished with one part sulphuric to twelve of waters

RUBBER REGION of AMAZON VALLEY

AS IS generally known, the principal part of the immediats supply of rubber is derived from a species of the Heyea tree, but considerable quantities are secured from the Castilloa, Cera and, Ficus elastica trees. A number of other trees and vines yield rubber and several of them are under experimental observation with promise of successful outcome of their cultivation. The production of rubber during the year 1911 was about 80,000 tons. More than half of this quantity came from South , and Central America, about one-third from Africa, and almost all the remainder from Asia. The Asiatic output now includes 6,000 or more tons of “plantation” rubber. The valley of the Amazon is by far the greatest source of rubber supply. The shipments from Brazil are equal to fully one-third of the world’s supply, and for the first quarter of 1912 Were valued at $27,500,000. The cost of producing rubber is about 25 cents a pound, and thi* applies equally to the wild and plantation product. In the case of the former, labor is very cheap, and there is no investment in land nor plantation to carry, but transportation is expensive. In the plantation regions day labor is more costly, bu£ as the trees are grouped, a man can gather a greater quantity in a given time than he could in the forest. Shipment from the plantation is easy and economical, but the process of production involves the expenditure of more time and money than are devoted to the preparation of wild rubber for the market. Forests Full of Reptiles. . In the tropical forests trees do not grow in numerous stands of one species as (hey do in the temperate zone. In Brazil the Hevea trees are found principally along river-bottom lands and scattered through dense forests, of hundreds of varieties of different plants, including vines and hanging parasites that render passage difficult. From February to June these districts are uninhabitable, and in fact inaccessible, owing to the heavy rains and extensive floods. During the other six months the land is damp, the temperature ranges around 90 degrees during the day and never falls as low as 70 degrees at night, while intense humidity is constant. The forest teems with venomous reptiles and poisonous insects. The solitary hut of the rubber gatherer stands in this repellant. environment. He is an Indian, probably transported to this distant spot from his native province of Ceara. The chances of his ever seeing home and kindred again are remote. He is virtually a slave. In a few years release will come to him through death accelerated by disease and the excessive use of alcohol. Meanwhile, escape from his present condition is practically impossible.- He will not be taken on board any of the river steamers, which are the only means of transportation to the coast. He is a stranger find an alien to the Indians of the surrounding country, who will either kill him or return him to his employers for the sake of a reward, in case he should take refuge among them. His life is literally a monotonous round, for each morning he sets out upon the pathway which his feet have formed to make the circuit of the rubber trees within the tract that has been assigned to him. The station to which he is attached is probably ten or twelve miles distant At intervals of a few days a messenger from it visits him, bringing his food.supply and carrying away his prepared rubber. Once or twice during the six months he may be permitted to take a brief holiday at the station, which will afford him an opportunity to secure medical attention and to get drunk at the same time. Occasionally a rubber gatherer of the better sort makes a permanent home with his family in a clearing and secures a fair degree of comfort.

The latex of the rubber tree is ,a. viscid liquid, composed of water and an elastic substance known as caoutchouc. This is secured by making longitudinal incisions near the base of the tree and extending upward for several feet,-what is called the herring bone system of tapping being most in favor. Small cups, attached to the tree trunk by clay plasters, catch the flohr. Each tree yields about half a pibt of latex in four days and about ten pounds In a season.

The rubber gatherer makes the round of his trees daily, in the forenoon, bringing back a supply of latex to his hut. The production of rubber from this occupies him during the balance of the day. The process of coagulation is simple and the yield is about 30 per cent, of the latex. The latter is poured as evenly as possible over the flattened end of a paddle about three feet long. This is slowly turned in the smoke of a wood fire in which oil nuts are burned. When the first layer of latex has sufficiently stiffened, another is added, and so on, until the paddle holds enough to make a certain sized ball or “biscuit.” The “biscuit,” or flattened form of ui*it, is now generally preferred because it is more ea'sily handled and more readily lends itself to the detection of impuri: ties. These are present to a greater or less degree in all wild rubber. Formerly the gatherers who were paid by weight of turnout, deliberately doctored the rubber balls by mixing sand with the material, and sometimes by placing stones in it. These practices have, however, been practically eliminated from the business in recent years. Inhabitants Semi-Savage. The rubber collected from the gatherers is assembled at the various stations in the forest and thence shipped to Para. At the port it passes into the hands of the buyers, who subject it to close examination to determine quality. Before being offered to the manufacturer as commercial rubber, the material is cut up and subjected to mechanical processes with a view to extracting all foreign substances and of reducing the moisture to a minimum. Manaos is situated on the bank of the Amazon, about 1,000 miles frdm the river’s mouth. It is distinctly a modern city, although its foundation dates from the early days of the mission fathers. Manaos contains a number of extremely handsome buildings, and many fine residences. Its streets are well-paved, electrically lighted and served by an excellent trolley system. A pleasing peculiarity of the city is its intersection in several parts by small Btreams which the natives call “igarapes,” or canoe paths, and which the Indian inhabitants commonly turn to the same account as the Venetians do their canals. Manaos is surrounded on all sides but the river front by primeval forest, inhabited by semi-savage Indians. The city is the receiving' and shipping point for large quantities of rubber, and although it exports other products its prosperity is due to and dependent upon the rubber trade. About 2,000 river steamers and Bmall vessels call at the port every day, in addition to about 200 ocean-going ships. Ten years ago the city could offer nothing better than river anchorage to shipping. It now has ample warehouses, a stone quay and floating wharves and bridges. These last are necessitated by the great fluctuations in the river level, the extreme range of which is 33 feet.

Effect of Cold on Cat’s Fur.

A remarkable transformation of a cat’s fur by temperature has been reported. A black cat was accidentally shut In the refrigerating chamber of a mail steamer in Sydney harbor, and was not discovered until about thir-ty-two days later, when the ship was off Aden. The cat was scarcely recognizable, the fur having become long and thick, changing to white on the back. Brought out into the intense heat of the Red sea, the heavy white coat rapidly fell out and the normal coat was restored.

Checkerboard Fish.

The New York aquarium lately received in one lot from its collector at Gravesend Say 16 orange filefishes, an unusually large number to be taken in a single day, while among them there were some that were notable for their size and coloring. They included one big fish whose sides are marked from head to tall with evenly spaced brown and yellow spots, forming a pattern like a checkerboard.

Modern Cookery.

„ “Is your wife a good cook?” "She isn’t very strong on theory. She can bake and brew well enough, but she can’t make & chemical asuek' ysls.”

CAMP FIRE STORIES

SECRET SERVICE IN SOUTH » One of Original “Boy Scouts” Relates How Knowledge of Telegraphy Aided the Federals. The small boy fond of Juvenile detective stories could ask for nothing better than a biography of John N. Stewart, past vice-department commander of the G. A. R. of Illinois, who lives at 435 West Sixty-first place, Chicago. Mr. Stewart was one of the original “boy scouts” of the Civil war. At thelage of fifteen he started out from Washington on the first of his many journeys as a spy In advance of the Union armies. “I became interested in telegraphy when I was a boy in Cleveland,” said Mr. Stewart, “and I soon became an expert operator. In 1862 a place was found for me in the military telegraph service at Washington, and I went east. From there I was sent out on secret service. I would go out in advance of an army, sometimes with a cavalry escort and sometimes alone, often making a telegraph station in a tree top, cutting Into a passing wire with my pocket instrument, or quietly and unobserved getting within hearing distance of some Confederate telegraph station, usually manned by an operator who read the ‘Morse code’ from paper only. Information thus secured often proved valuable in locating camps and marching bodies of the enemy. “One of the most interesting of my experiences was in connection with a conspiracy in Indiana, engineered by the Knights of the Golden Circle, the secret society of the south that had branches through the northern states. A banker in Indiana had a country place where the meetings of the conspirators were held. I got chummy with the banker’s son, let him leaYn that I knew something about telegraphy, and so got into the conspiracy. I did not learn all their secrets, but I learned enough. They were going to assassinate Gov. Morton of Indiana and blow up the capitol buildings at Indianapolis. They had gunpowder secretly scored in the building and it was to be; put in electrical connection with some remote point. They got me to show them how to make the connections, after explaining and making diagrams of about how the thing could be done. I, for my part, neglected several essential points necessary to their success. The night of execution arrived, but of course the thing failed to work. Soon thereafter the government officials jumped on the bunch, and some of them were sent to military prisons or through the lines to their southern friends. “Later in the war I and a man by the name of Catlin, who said his home was in or near Buffalo, N. Y., were started Bouth from Washington. We were to precede Sherman’s march to he sea and report what force he would encounter on the memorable campaign. We went dressed as ‘natives’ and aroused comparatively little suspicion. On the way I became separated from Catlin and went on alone in Savannah. There I went tu the telegraph office as if curious, boy fashion, to investigate the mysteries of the telegraph. The operators received the dispatches on strips of paper, and only one or two of them knew even the “signal” (used in calling their office) by the sound of the instrument. I made myself useful thereabouts for a day or so as a sort of a general ‘lackey’ and was allowed to sleep at night on the soft side of the office floor. Several times the ‘signal’ sounded and I nearly betrayed myself in my desire that the operator promptly answer so that I might catch what the ‘other felloiv’ had to say. I ‘shook the town’ as soon as I could safely do so, and made my way north to the federal finest then somewhere in the vicinity of Aiken, on the Southern railroad.” The military telegraph system, with which Mr. Stewart was at first connected as an operator, was finely organized in the first, years bf the war. Batteries were carried with the marchng armies and the currents thus supplied carried messages over wires emporarily stretched between strategic points.

Only One Like Him.

A friend who “dropped in” on President Lincoln, in speaking of a certain general, said that he was not worth the powder to blow him up. “He’s a mighty thinker,” the president returned. “He has formed an intimate acquaintance with himself, and knows what he la and it not fitted for. This war has not produced another like him.” The friend was surprised at this encomium. "Greatly to my relief and the interest of the country,” continued the president, “he has just resigned.”

Make Them Fit the General.

Wien several brigadier generals were to be selected Lincoln maintained that “something must be done for the Dutch,” and suggested Mr. Schimxnelpfennlg. “But this Schlm —what's his name — has no recommendation and can’t spaak English,” Insisted the headstrong Secretary Stanton. "That doesn’t matter,” said Lincoln; ~we will find some soldiers who can understand him, whatever language he speaks."

Ora® WILBUR D.MESBIT Ki . -p - ' QF nflast v /IT \» V *.* ■ * V*’.*.7*.’*.*•’ *'.tt r Ki* .*• XjPf He went to call on Isobel, who used 'to' bo so meek, Who’d sit In wonder when he oped his Ups to speak, Who’d marvel at his mental scope and l sigh as he’d explain The hidden plan and purpose underlying: each campaign. He went to call on Isobel—he didn’t talk, so long For now she had statistics showing fully ; he was wrong. He went to call on Mlllicent, the shy andl bashful miss Who used to listen open-eyed as he toldi That or This; A year ago she gasped with awe as bei set forth his views Of how to make the demagogues alii tremble In their shoes. But now the mouse-like Mlllicent soon: had him paralyzed By showing how she’d planned to have' the tariff act revised. He went to call on Rosamond, who’d: been a fluffy thing Whose only joys had been to eat and flirt and dance and sing; She used to gush about how fine it wa« to have man’s mind And comprehend the deeper things which in this life we find. She made the referendum plain and kept him In the hall Till twelve o’clock while she outlined her views on the recall! ‘‘l’ll cut them out!” he said. “I’ll go and see grandmother now. She’ll not have left the sphere to which God called her, anyhow. Grandmother is a Woman, and will always keep her place— I’ll go and rest my mind by simply gazing on her face.” Grandmother met him with a frown, and said: “Please call again. I’ve got to write a speech which shows The Vote Is Lost With Men,”

Effective Plan.

“I wish I knew some plan to get the audience to leave the house earlier than It does,” said the manager of the theater. “The people linger in their seats and in the' aisles for half an hour after the Show Is over, and the expense for lights counts up during the season.” “Why don’t you,” asked the experienced friend, “have a line printed on the program, reading: ‘Be sure to hold your seats until after the grand finale.’ ”

A Woman’s Way.

First South Dakota Lawyer—That New York woman who is stopping At the Separation hotel makes me tired. Second South Dakota LawyerDoes she want a bargan rate fee? “No, but she has been roasting the state all day because we haven’t any spring styles in divorces instead of regular cut”

Could Live in Luxury.

“I know that dressmaker’s charges are high,” said Mrs. Izzit,/‘but the poor woqie4 says she has four small children to support.” “She is deceiving you,” declared Mr. Izzit. “From the way she assesses you for her work she is supporting 14 grown persons in epicurean luxury.”

His Objection.

“Back again?” said the warden, “Well, we’ll put you in the new cell house this time. How do the quarters suit you?” v “These quarters are all right,” said the habitual offender, “but the terms are not satisfactory.”

Accommodating Fish.

“The shovel fish of. South Amerllea,” said Uncle Jerry, “Is the most accommodating fish there is. It has s snout In the shape of a shovel, and It will jump out on the bank and dig bait for you to catch It with.”

On Dry Land.

* “Did you hear of the wreck of all those schooners?” > "No; wherer* “They were crossing the bar when the police made a raid on the saloon."

WeLl, Well!

“What’s new In the news?" “Terrible scandal at Oldport It has leaked out that Mrs. Wallaby* Wombat, the society leader, exacts 4 percentage! of her servants’ tips."