Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 306, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1912 — Page 3

THAT BLESSED KITTEN

Stray Black Cat Innocent Means of Reuniting Lovers Who Had Quarreled. By WHEELER M’MILLEN. "Me-a-ow!" The despairing cry of a shivering, homeless kitten penetrated to Bently’s room. Bently hated cats; and he was out of a job. * “But,” he declared to himself, “this Is too cold a night for even a worthless cat to ba out.” The kittei?’s miserable “me-a-ow!” again rose above the shrieks of the zero wind. It sounded as if the victim of the frosty blast was giving its last howl before lying down to freeze In the snow. The tenderness of Bently’s heart overcame his long-fostered aversion for anything feline. As he held the door the keen wind drove fine particles of snow over the rug. • The cat’s cry sounded across the street. “I could never find it there.” Bently slammed the door, and crawled up on top of the radiator, which seemed to have given up all effort to warm the room. Fuller than before of the agony of the cold, the cry again reached Bently’s ears. He opened the door. As the snow sifted over his slippers, he heard soft feet patter across the porch, and a black kitten slipped into the room. Bently picked the cat up in one hand. As its four feet dangled in the air, he examined his guest. Ice and snow still hung in its bedraggled black fur. The kitten,' grateful for warmth and attention, began to purr. Bently drew a chair close to the radiator, and put on it, warm side up, the cushion that had been on top of the heater. On this he carefully deposited the cat. He settled himself in the one rocker that scarcely could be said to adorn the room. A whimsical mood stole over him, as he gazed at the kitten, which was comfortably pushing its claws into the cushion as it purred loudly. “So you’re out of a job and up against it, too, are you, Puss?” Puss seemed more inclined to absorb the heat that the radiator had begun in honor of the occasion, than to engage in conversation. Bently continued his interrogations and observations, himself beginning to enjoy the situatibn as much as the cat appreciated- it. / “I don’t generally like cats, but I believe that you and I will be fine’ friends. That reminds me that we haven’t been introduced —but geniuses hate formalities, too.” Bently halted in his soliloquy. “I said I didn’t like cats; but I know of some one who does. I’ll bet she’d like to have one like you for a pet. She would call you a beauty, though I don’t quite agree. Would you like to hear of this person who likes cats?” For answer, Puss ceased the ablutions that were engrossing her attention, yawned comfortably, jumped from the cushion to Bently’s knee and sat down sociably in his lap. “Well, by the shades of old maids, I do believe you are really interested! I must tell you all about her. “Once upon a time —no, not ‘once upon a time,’ because she is still very much alive. But it is ‘once upon a time’ so far as I am concerned, so we’ll let it go that way. Once upon a time, there was a sweet and independent young woman, who lived in a room something like this, only more homelike for having a woman in it, in this very city. Her name was Margaret. Margaret made her living by writing things for newspapers and magazines. One day, while she was working at space rates for the paper on which I was a reporter, I met her. Puss, are you listening? Well, we became good friends. We became such good friends, indeed, that I went very often to see her, and we planned how we would furnish the flat we were going to have together when both of us were a little more successful — when she had gpld her serial and I got’ a raise in salary. “But she insisted on liking cats, and would always, have two or three around to care for. I told you a while ago that I hated cats. At least I had always pretended to hate them, so I had come to believe that I really did. “We quarreled the other day about that. Then, some other things went wrong, and we quarreled worse than ever. That was terrible, Pussy. You must never quarrel with any one you love. “By the way, wouldn’t you like to see Margaret’s picture?” When Bently’s voice paused, the kitten looked up and began to purr again,, ' “I guess you kiean you do.” Bently reached for the picture that Was lying on the table. As he held it up where both could get a good look at it, the kitten stood up and lightly touched with its qwn cold nose the nose of the image on the card, saluting in cat fashion. “Then when I went to work,” Bently continued, “I was so cut up about It, and so out of fix with for having quarreled with her, that I flunked on an important interview. When the city editor called me for it, I cussed him and he fired me. Don’t blame him much, do you, Puss? “I went back to see the girl. I wanted to ask her forgiveness, and wanted her kisses and sympathy for having lost my job. Her landlady informed me that she had moved, cats and all, and hadn’t left any address. That’s about all there is to tell. Puss.” Bently put the Bleeping cat back

on the cushion andV?ent to. bed. A soft touch on the cheek awakened him early. Puss was just starting to walk across his face. As soon as he was dressed he went, out to purchase some milk fo# kitten and a morning paper for himself. While scanning the “wanteds” for a position he might be atfle to fill, hq ran across this: 1 “STRAYED—SmaII black kitten with a slight scar under left foreleg. Finder will receive reward at Room 8, No. 2042 West Twenty-fourth street” # Taking the kitten away from the milk it was lapping, he found the scar. “Well, honored Puss,” he exclaimed, “it appeareth that thou hast friends as well as misfortunes. When I have partaken of my repast, we’ll sally forth to seek whom these friends may be.” With the kitten in his arms, Bently strayed out after breakfast for Room 8, No. 2042 West Twenty-fourth street. On the steps he met the postman, who handed him a letter. The kitten, for some reason fathomable only by the minds of felines, gave a leap for liberty. Bently shoved the letter into his pocket and pursued the cat. He shouted to a policeman ahead. Puss was unafraid of the man with the copper buttons, and suffered herself to be coaxed into his big hands. The woiidering patrolman handed the kitten to Bently, who hurried on, after a laughing word of thanks. A sudden idea seized hold of Bently’s brain. “Rooifi 8” indicated that No. 2042 West TWenty-fourth street was a house where furnished rooms were rented. Margaret had moved. Who on earth but Margaret would ever advertise for a fool black kitten? He started to hail a taxicab to get there quicker, but restrained himself on reflecting that he was out of a job. The surmise that No. 2042 was a rooming house proved true. Bently stood almost trembling as he knocked at Room 8. It most assuredly would bfe Margaret who would answer, he thought. What woifld she say? The door opened. The fair sweet Margaret did not greet the young man with the kitten in his arms. Instead, he was unable to state his errand; but the old man relieved him of the necessity on spying the kitten. “Oh, you found the black kitten, did you? Come right in. You think it queer that I should advertise for this cat? Not at all. You see, I have been studying cats- all my life, and am writing a great book about the feline tribes. The work has made me very poor, though I shall be rich when it Is For a long time I have been hunting a black cat without a single white hair. They ar<j exceedingly rare. I needed such a specimen to complete my book. When I bought this—” That this was the place where Margaret had said she could sell the perfectly black cat, was the thought that came to she that sold it. "Pardon me,” he interrupted, “but from whom did you buy this remarkable feline?” “From whom did I buy the cat? I bought it only yesterday from a young woman.” “Was dhe tall?” Bently almost snapped in his eagerness. “Was she tall? I don’t see why this young lady should interest you so much. The cat was the important thing. No, she was short and stout, and spoke as though she were German or Hungarian.’* That ended it, for Margaret was tall, and her pure English would have shamed the sentences of a college professor. With the fifty cents the old man had made him take for returning the cat, Bently walked slowly down street. He was in no hurry, for there was no work to go to. The letter was still in his pocket, where he had pushed it when the black kitten had escaped from his arms. He bethought himself of it, and drew it out. Had he been after he read the letter Bently would have thrown his hat into the air and shout"ed in orthodox story-book fashion. The letter was from the editor who had discharged him. “I have just learned something of the unfortunate circumstances under which you were working the last day you were on our staff. Also, I was unduly hasty. You are too good a man to lose. Report for work tomorrow as usual, at $5 more a week salary.” Bently was reading the letter a second time, when a familiar voice spoke behind him- He turned to see Margaret smiling at him. “Sweetheart,” he blurted out. “I’ve been wild with trying to find you! Where are you?”’ “I am right here, now, dear,” she laughed. “But my room, is No. 14, 2042 West Twenty-fourth street I saw you leaving there a bit ago.” The interchange of affectionate termß told each that there was no quarrel any more. Bently briefly told her what had happened to 4him. “I was just going to mail a note to you,*’ she began. “I sold my serial for S6O0 —think of it, $600! And the magazine wants another one. I just couldn’t go without telling you, even if we did quarrel. I was wrong, anyway. Why, Harold, we don’t want to go back that way now!” Bently had wheeled around, and was leading her toward Twenty-fourth street » .\ *, "Yes, we do,” he smiled. “We are going right back after that black kitten. We will want it in,bur flat”

French Elections Not Like Ours'

MARKED is the contrast between the turmoil that precedes the election of a president in the United States and the calm that accompanies the choice of a president in France. The difference may be studied now, for on January 17, 1913, a new head of the French Republic will be chosen. The election of a president of the French Republic causes no commotion that can be compared with the excitement of a presidential election in the United States. The event arouses interest, of course, but the normal life of the nation is in no way modified. Up to the present time a stranger visiting France would not suspect from the newspapers or from public talk that the election was to be held within a few weeks. If he stayed here long enough and visited certain centers he would hear whispers of plots—rumors for instance of a great Bonapartist demonstration to be made on election day. But beyond such things he would observe few signs that a presidential campaign was in progress: The excitement of the choice of a president is mostly centered on the day of the election itself. Thus on the morning of January 17 next crowded trains will carry to Versailles, a town that teems with souvenirs of kingly pomp, the officials of the senate and chamber, members of the cabinet, numbers of deputies and senators, a regiment of newspaper men and crowds of spectators which will be large or small according to the weather. Some forty Baudot transmitters, thirty Hughes instruments and about fifty telephones have been installed In the old home of royalty for the occasion. Stately rooms once the' salons of kings and queens resound with a thousand imperative clickings and tappings, and the whole palace, usually deserted and melancholy, is full of confusion. No doubt Versailles was chosen as the place for electing the republic’s presidents to emphasize the lesson that the new order has taken the place of the old and that the ceremony should be held In a solemn and fitting setting, far from popular uproar. At any rate a law passed in 1879 decrees that the national assembly shall meet in Versailles in a hall of the palace specially reserved as the congress hall. “Vote In Common.” The Rational assembly is, according to the French constitution, “a meeting of the chamber of deputies and the senate to deliberate and vote in common A’ This national assembly can only meet for two objects, to elect a president and to revise the constitution. When the presidency of the republic becomes vacant by death or resignation or any other cause the two houses meet immediately and form an assembly to elect a new president. When there iB no vacancy but the seven years of the incumbent are to expire, as in the present case with President Falliereß, the national assembly must meet at least one month before the expiration of his term, and if the assembly is not duly convoked the two houses must meet, in their own right, on the fifteenth day before the president’s mandate expires. If the chamber of deputies should happen to be dissolved at the moment of the death or resignation of the .president the senate must meet, in its own right, and the cabinet, which exercises the executive power in the interim, must convoke the electoral colleges to proceed to the election of a new chamber of deputies. As there are 300 senators and almost 600 deputies, the national assembly numbers 897 members. The president of the senate (now Antonin Du boat, a possible candidate) presides. When M. Fallieres was elected on January 17, 1906, he received 439 votes, against 371 given to Paul Doumer, with a total of 850 voters, so that he only obtained thirteen votes more than the absolute majority requisite for election. Luxurious Restaurant. The life of the assembly on the day of a presidential election only begins after lunch. The president of the senate, the president of the chamber and the ministers have many guests, and

as they are lodged for the day in the palace the ancient home of kings becomes a luxurious restaurant, wherein many a vote is changed by a judicious presentation of arguments over a meal of the highest excellence. Some days before the election all the resources of the national warehouse, where all the nation’s treasures in furniture are stored, are drawn upon to fit up apartments for these high officials who will ÜBe them for but a few hours. To the president of the assembly is allotted entire second story, with bedroom, aB if he was going to stay days instead of hours. He has sumptuous reception rooms at his disposal and a staff of servants of every kind. The assembly generally opens at one o’clock. The public galleries are then crowded. The president of the assembly takes his seat in an armchair amid cheers from his admirers, although the presence of an opposition can always be detected. The secretaries of the senate take their places and the president declares the session * open. He reads the article of the constitution by which the assembly is created and the article which says that the president of the republic shall be elected by an absolute majority of the national assembly for seven years and that he is eligible for re-election. He then says: “‘I declare the national assembly duly constituted. The vote will take place at the tribune by calling the names.” Letters of excuse from members unable to attend are read and the names of thirty-eight 'members to count the votes are drawn by lot. These prer liminaries being concluded a letter is drawn by lot to designate the Initial at which the order of voting shall commence.

NEVER WHOLLY GROWN UP

True Man or Woman Always Retains Something of Divine Childhood In the Heart. A recent magazine article, in discussing the bringing up of children, said: “Finally each of us is in some sense a child, and he who best understands the child within him will most truly appreciate the boy and the girl in the home. It Is a truism that the household is incomplete without children, yet how often we regard children as. if we were no longer children ourselves! He is not genuinely human who deems himself wholly grown up. It is pride, a false estimate put upon knowledge, dignity, position, or something of the sort, not actual maturity or character, that puts a barrier in the. way. When I am most a man then an I also a boy.” The most agreeable, the nicest old people, are not those who are childish, but those who are childlike. There are any number of men who are childish when they are 45, and seem very old. There are a few men who are childlike at 45 and seem delightfully young. The grip of age is only fatal to a man of the fifties when he has entirely lost the buoyancy of his own life, and a delight in it. as seen in all the young life about him. Whfcn the play spirit of the world, its immortal youth, is no part or lot of his, then is he old, centuries old. If he has a certified place or position he is all right, but there are no further successes for him. Youth is abundant. It has an excess of energy which will out. While a man retains some of his youth he may conquer more worlds, and he can associate, on equal terms, with those who have abounding life, those who know exuberant happiness, and are ever hopeful and joyful.

Fast Work a Necessity.

The fastest shorthand writing ever done, so it is said, was accomplished by'Nathan Behrin, a New York court reporter, at a recent contest held by the National Shorthand Reporters’ association. He wrote 278 words a minute for five minutes. This is fast er than most people can talk; bur then the court stenographer must be prepared to meet and “take down” the exceptional witness with aix-cylindei verbal capacity.

LEGEND OF NATURAL BRIDGE

It Saved the Mohegane and Waa Thenceforth Called by Them the Bridge of God. At a height of 215 feet above Clear creek in Virginia stands the famous natural bridge known all over the world. Bui|t of solid rock forty feet thick, it spans the creek. It is a great natural wonder. Our great and beloved national hero, George Washington, once climbed it and carved his name upon its side. The Mohegan tribe of Indians called it the Bridge of God and ascribed to it this supernatural origin. Once upon a time It happened that the Mohegans were at war with a hostile tribe of,lndians. The fight was hot, and a valiant stand they made against their foe. But at last the Mohegans were forced to give way and to retreat. On and on they went, the whole tribe with their women and children, and the enemy behind them. Finally they came to a precipice. Be,low yawned a cavern, wide and deep, and no way to cross or means to escape was anywhere to be seen. Perilous and helpless indeed was the plight of the Mohegans. They were ready to give up and submit to the cruel fate that was pursuing them. Then a wise man of the tribe spoke. “My children,” he said, “go down upon your knees and pray to the Great Spirit above, who alone can save us from our misfortunes.” All in a body they obeyed the words of the old medicine man. Long and hard they prayed. ' When they finally lifted up their heads, 10, there stood a mighty bridge. Across it they now led the women and children, and then turned upon their foes, who were close at hand. They gave the enemy a hard battle and finally repulsed and defeated them. In gratefulness to Manitou, the Great Spirit of the world, they named this bridge the Bridge of God.

Smoke Abatement in Scotland.

The gas and electrical departments of a corporation in Glasgow, Scotland, are competing keenly in the exhibition of appliances for the reduction of smoke from furnaces and kitchen ranges. The electricity department has a complete electrically fitted restaurant, , where all the cooking, the kitchen work, the cleaning, the heating and the lighting are-effected by electric current. The gas department has a “gas equipped house,” in which all the cooking and heating is done by gas fires, as well asvmany of the other operations in connection with housekeeping, and in which all the lighting is obtained from incandescent gas burners of different types. The corporation is encouraging the reduction of smoke, not only by holding these periodical exhibitions, but also by lending gas cookers free to all the citizens. It has loaned 37,000 of these cookers since March 1. It Is also supplying gas fires, and the demand for these has been so great that It cannot be met without considerable delay.

Down the Scale.

A certain bride is very much in love with her husband and very willing to admit 1L She likes to sound his praises to her mother and to her girl friends. She has a number of original expressions. When her husband is good she says he is “chocolate cake, three layers deep.” When he Is very good he “chocolate cake, four layers deep,” and so on up the scale. Occasionally, however, things take a turn. The bride's mother dropped in the other day. The bride was a trifle peevish, but her mother pretended not to notice this.. “And how is John today?" was her inquiry. "Chocolate, four layers deep?” “No.” “Three layers deep?” “No.” “Two layers deep?" "No.” This with a pout. “Then what ia^he?” “Dog biscuit?” —National Monthly.

Virtue in the “But”

"Justice is blind;” but she sees more than she takes official notice of. “Put something by for a rainy day;” but don’t let that lead you to forget the pleasant weather of the moment. "The world owes you a living;’’ but it’s just as well to go out and collect the debL “Old friends are best;" but every once In a while a new one turns up fit to make into an old one. “Make friends;" but don’t expect friends to make you. “Man proposes;" but, often enough, the baby disposes. "The way of the transgressor is hard;” but his wife’s is harder. "Opportunity knocks once at every door;” but if you’re knocking at the same instant you’re not likely to hear the lady.—Lippincott’s.

Explanation of “O. K.”

Here is the origin of the expression "O. K,” according to Ado Hunnius of Leavenworth, Kan., a veteran of the Civil war: "Among the supplies that the war department used to buy," hfr. Hunnius says, “were crackers made by the old Orrins-Kendall Cracker company in Chicago. The boxes in which these crackers came were marked O. K. We were always eager to get hold ol these ‘O. K.’ crackers, because they were always sure to be good, while many other brands were likely to be spoiled or wormy. And gradually O. K. came to be a synonym among the soldiers for something that was above par.” , -

WAR REMINISCHCES

OLD SOLDIER TELLS A STORY ReminiscenSUr of Winter Fifty Year* Ago Are Related by Veteran Attacked by Woodtlcka. “Fifty years ago at this time," said the old soldier, "we were_where it was warmer, on an island well down on the southern Atlantic coast. “As far as the temperature went, It was very comfortable. And it was also picturesque as to scenery. There were palmetto trees around and big oaks with long brown moss hanging from them, and of various sorts. Also there was now and then a centipede crawling around and there were woodticks nad fleas, and occasionally an alligator. "At first the woodticks bothered us considerably till we learned how to handle them. This particular brand of woodtick has a spiral bead not unlike the point of a gimlet and it bores Into the nesh. At first when we found woodticks attacking us we used to pull them out or we thought we did, but by pulling on them we left the head In the flesh. Later, when we had learned to unscrew them, we got along better with the woodticks, but the fleas always bothered us. “For other diversions there we had more or less drilling, though I think I may truly say that we had by that time come to be a pretty fine regiment, and then we had guard and picket duty to do, and we had also a good deal of fatigue duty, this including at that particular time the building of roads with stretches here and there of corduroy laid through swamps to make the roads secure enough to bear hauling over them heavy guns and mortars. “A good deal of this labor was night work, done in- the dark in order as far as possible to keep knowledge of it from the enemy, the purpose of it all being to lay siege to a fort really the property of Uncle Sam but just then in possession of our Confederate bretbera. e “So what with one thing and another we were abundantly and constantly occupied and it was all very novel and interesting. True ft was a life that had its drawbacks, but as I Took out at that thermometer her now and see it marking 5 aboveszero and * then reflect back, why, it had also its advantages, and one of these most certainly was that there at least was a place where one coaid keep warm.”

Whistler’s Horse Trade.

Boggs, a cadet officer at West Point, was an assistant in the riding hall. On one occasion he overheard Whistler (the famous artist, then a cadet), who thoroughly disliked to ride, objecting strenuously to the horse brought for his use. The horse, he argued, was too heavily built and mueh too large for a man of his size. Whistler, with much vehemence, urged the man next to him to "swap.” The man with whom he wished to exchange horses was of muscular build, and of a “pretty generous size,” and his horse was a light-weight animal, which seemed to Whistler to make it a mostfltting exchange. “Oh, don’t swap, don’t swap, Mr. Whistler,” cried the dragoon, "yours is, a war horse.*’ “A war horse,” exclaimed Whistler. “That settles it; I certainly don’t want him.” "Yes, you do,” reiterated the man. “He’s a war horse, I tell you, and he’d rather died than run.”

Under Arrest.

While we were flanking Bee back to Petersburg there were strict order* against foraging, says a writer in the National Tribune. In disregard of the order a New York boy came walking into camp one day with a big roosterunder his arm. Pis Captain put him. under arrest and tbok him before the colonel. "You knew the orders?’ asked the colonel. “Yes," said the culprit, "but the booster was sitting on the fence, and I ordered him to crow for the Union, and he refused, so I ups and puts him under arrest.”

Too Literal.

During the campaign around Manassas. Bull Run and Fairfax, General Phil Kearny, inspecting his command one morning, found a man who had polished the front of his shoes, but not the heels. The general looked him sharply in the eye for a moment "What do you mean,” he said, "by coming to inspection with the toes of your shoes polished, but the heels muddy?" “General,” the soldier said, persuasively, “you told us a good soldier never looks behind him.” General Keany passed on down tb» line. —New York Sun.

What He Would Be Doing.

During a quarrel between two Irishmen in camp the following dialogue was overheard: ' ‘Sh i > re, an’ If it weren’t for yer pair mlther I’d knock ye into next week." "Oh, ye would,” replied tim, other; ‘‘and phwat ’ud I be thinking of to let yes do it?” “Well,” replied the aforeMd aggressor, “there would be Bthars and stripes nying abosv|bai|J ye’ud think ye were In the battle «t Missouri Ridge and wondhering where the nixt ball was going to hit yes.”