Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1913 — Page 3

HAD TO FIND WORK.

■Supreme Effort by Whioh Miss Sophira Became a Grape f • Picker. : Y By HAMILTON POPE GALT, f Miss Sophira was neither a grape picker npr a grape. packer, but she |had ambitions. Ambitions in Woodrbridge ran to either the one or ;the other of these'important branches of industry. Miss Sophira believed she •could learn to pack grapes. The tea-kettle was boiling and Sister Eugenia had not stirred yet/ST there was time for Miss Sophira to.enjoy the first fall morning of the year warming under the California sun. “I must find work,” said Miss Sophira. And as she said the words, Miss •Sophira, standing in her garden, immediately saw rows upon rows of grapevines, stretching on and on, loaded with red Tokays, green Malagas and black princes. Miss Sophira felt sure she could pack grapes. Boarders were out of the question. She and Eugenia were not qualified for boarders. The last boarder had swamped them completely, and they were glad Mrs. Staples was gone— Mrs. Staples, the millionaire, the invalid, the exciting the dictatorial; Mrs. Staples who had to have tea, toast and titbits at all hours of the day and night; Mrs. Staples, whose vast possessions were unfortunately tied up so that she had no ready money. Mrs. Staples had gone away without paying one cent for qix weeks’ board and lodging, and now Miss Sophira must have work in real earnest. Miss Sophira had to find work,"And decided that she would pick grapes. She confided her determination to Miss Eugenia over their breakfast “You have never packed any grapes and they want only experienced packers,” objected Miss Eugenia. v “It pays 12 a day.” ■ “You are not strong enough.” “It pays $2 a day.” “I expect you would learn to pack pretty quick,” mused Miss Eugenia. “They would only have to show me once.” , “You have to pack them points down, stems up, don’t you? That sounds rather hard,” “There are lots of people doing it 1 will put on my 1847 Rogers bonnet and my colonial silk dress and go out and get a place in one of the sheds.” “I guess you’d tetter carry that mission style pocketbook with you,” suggested Eugenia, entering into the spirit of her sister’s fun. “Yeß, I’ll turn the gold Bide outside - H “Oh, no, that won’t do! They’ll think you’re rich and don’t need work.”

“I am surprised at your ignorance of the world. If you look poor it is all the harder for you to get wjbrk.” And with these words Miss Sophlra walked briskly down the street, swinging her handsome Mg, .and enjoying the crisp, bracing air. She limped home at noon, drooping and dispirited. They would not give her work at any of the sheds she had visited. , “In spite of the gold Jligree!” cried Miss Eugenia. "All the filigree in the world would not help me!” answered Sophlra. ‘lt Is this (touching' her white hair and bent shoulders.) “I am too old —they will not have old people.” “Well, isn’t that too bad!” said Miss (Eugenia, and then like the good woman she was hurried up the tea. After some tea and some lunch Miss Sophlra was braced up consider ably. She brushed the crumbs from 'her silk dress, and announced that she was going to spend half a dollar. , “That’s a lot of money to spend,” wavered Miss Eugenia. “I know it, but I must spend it.” "What for?” “Hair dye. It is a case of goodby to my silvery locks, and welcome work. I think 50 certs’ worth will be enough for my scant locks." “I should think so if you don’t have to dye your scalp.” That afternoon Miss- Sophlra started forth again, her hair a beautiful walnut color to within a half-inch of her eca, She felt very young and sprightly as she trudged all the way out to Mason's packing shed, the packing shed farthest out and least promising, the shed of Mason, the terrible.

She carefully lifted her skirt* clear of the sandy road. In rows upon rows, precise and regular, the grapevines spread, like thq bristles of a tooth brush or clothes brush; and green, red and purple grapes hung heavy among the lagged leaves. She passed a group of pickers, happy and jocular to the verga of romping. It seemed like a picnic There were no old women among them. She climbed up the worn steps and entered the packing shed. A girl was packing grapes swiftly. It was not easy, but f thrilling feeling of confidence passed through Miss Sophlra. She knevshe could do that. She hurried lntr the office. It was occupied hy two oblivions men. The more oblivious of the two was a baldheaded man whose eyes poped like a spider’s and whose red hair fringe stood out very straight He was the dreadful Mason. There was no possibility of his ever looking up. Miss Sophlra addressed the least terrible man. "There ts nothing,” he said, without over looking up. But Miss Sophlra had walked too tar to be dismissed so easily. ”1 can pack,” she said. “Any experience r

“No, but I know I can do It." “Oh." “I know. I watched a girl do 1L t am pretty good with my hands." At this point the other man looked up, jus a flash of the spidery eyes, then another look. “There Is nothing,” repeated the lesser man. Mss Sophira moved toward the door. With her hand on tj&e knob -sh-> fired one last bold shot ' She addresser'. Mason, the terrible. “Won’t you give me a chance. Mr. Mason ?” Mr. Mason looked up again. The restless eyes surveyed her again. “Yes, I guess so. You might take her out to the shed and ask Thompson if he can Start her to work.” The clerk arose in obedience. Sophira was astonished. §o was the clerk. But Mason was again oblivious. Had dyed hair fooled him? Did he admire it? Did he not see the gray locks showing at the roots? He usually saw morf than most people. Could he not see the stooping Bhoulders? It could not be sympathy! 'le was not sympathetic. ‘ 1 No, dyed hair hod tooled him. It had enlightened him. It had disclosed to him a quality he could not resist — determination. '

QUITE EQUAL TO EMERGENCY

Diplomat, Intended Victim of King's Joke, Cleverly Extricated Himself From Embarrassment.

The passing of the court fool as an institution did not mean that kings had ceased to take pleasure in the sort of nonsense that the Jesters had been licensed to perpetrate. King Frederick William I. of Prussia was an incorrigible joker, and greatly enjoyed testing the cleverness of his ministers and advisers by planning embarrassing situations, from which they could extricate themselves only by the exercise of the quickest wit. However, the king was almost as ready to enjoy his own discomfiture as that of his intended victim:

One day, at a small dinner, the king, happening to be in the mood to play a prank, chose as his victim one of his ministers, seated at his left. After a moment’s thought, his majesty leaned toward the courtier on his right, and giving him a gentle slap on the cheek, said, “Pass it." As the tap was passed from guest to guest round the table, the king’s intentions became apparent The minister at Frederick William's left would either have to. commit lese majeste by slapping his sovereign, or admit himself beaten, and be the laughing stock of the table.

'Although the company was already in a gale of merriment at his expense, the minister was not at all ready to acknowledge defeat. Just as the blow was passed to him he let a knife fall clattering to the floor between the king and himself. Immediately a servant sprang forward, picked the knife up, and handed it to the minister; but what was the lackey’s astonishment to receive, instead of a word of thanks, a tap on the cheek. The minister, by his wit, had saved the situation without violating the rules of the game. The king was the first to join in the laughter and applause that greeted the minister's cleverness.—Youth's Companion.

Hie Rifle Returned.

While Mr. Frederic Martyn was serving in Africa with the French Foreign Liegion there came under his notice an incident that he records in “Life in the Legion.” The legion had advanced against the Dahomeyan army, and was in pursuit of the black warriors. A Dahomeyan was killed in the act of leveling his gun at Captain Battreau of the legion from behind a cotton tree. As he fell his rifle clattered down at the officer’s very feet Captain Battreau saw that it was an old Chassepot, and picked it up out of curiosity. Suddenly he became very much interested. He examined it carefully, and at last exclaimed, with a gasp of astonishment: “Well, this is a miracle! Here is the very rifle I used in 1870 during the war with Germany! See that hole in the butt? That was made by a Prussian bullet at Salnt-Prlvat I could tell the gun from among a million by, that mark alone; but here’s my number stamped on it as well, which is evidence enough for anybody. Who would have thought it possible that I should pick up in Africa, as a captain, a rifle that I used in France as a sergeant twenty-two years ago? It Is incredible.” Captain Battreau was able to prove that the rifle had Indeed been his, and he received permission to keep it— Youth’s Companion.

Bill Would Follow Lawyer’s Advice.

Mr. Lovelor was one of those people who on every possible occasion consulted his attorney. Nothing pleased him more than to go to law. The lawyer regarded him as an invaluable asset. "I have been grossly Insulted!” he exclaimed, rushing into the office ot his solicitor, for the seventh time In three days. "In what wayr asked the solicitor, somewhat wearily. ' "My next door neighbor has declared he will pull my nose next time he meets me. What shall I do about it?” "Well,” said the lawyer, as if he had given the case due deliberation. "I should soap it, then it will slip through his fingers. Good day! My bill will follow in due course.”—Tit-Bits. A man who was charged In an English police court with attacking his wife said; “By an accident, sir, we were both perfectly sober.”

In view of the known desire of Russia to annex Mongolia, the audience whicu the Czar recently granted to a Mongolian deputation has aroused' great interest in diplomatic circles. In the photograph of the delegation the seated figure in the center Is Prince Chaudo Dorschy, the Mongolian foreign minister.

HER FAD IS FOXES

Girl Goes Hunting in Order to Save Set of Furs. ; .... _ . Never Known to Miss a Fair Shot, Miss Helen Elcock of Quincy, Mass., Has 25 Kills to Her Credit. Quincy, Mass.—Quincy owns to the youngest and perhaps the most successful woman fox hunter in the country. Her name is Helen B. Elcock. and she Is still a couple of years on the near side of twenty. Last year 25 red and I'black fox fell victims to her skill with the rifle, and she has started out with the avowed intention of bettering this record. It all came about in a curious way. Miss Elcock, like any other girl, longed to be the;? owner of a set of real, sure enough furs. Her father Jokingly suggested'that the easiest and quickest way for her to get the coveted articles would be to go out and collect her own skinß. He also offered to take her along on one of his hunting trips, being an ardent fox hunter himself. Miss Elcock needed no second invitation. Dressed in regulation hunting costume and armed with a repeating rifle, she started off with her father and his pack of hounds. * • The result of her first hunt was two fine pelts, and subsequent trips, some of them made alone, brought the season’s total up to 25. Her. fox skins, which she proudly exhibits, have brought huntsmen from all over the state to view her trophies. After her exceptional success Miss Elcock decided that she would keep her fox skins for exhibition Instead of having them made into garments. Miss Elcock’s skill with rifle is considered remarkable, as she.has never been known to miss a fox when a fair target was offered. She also is a crack shot with a revolver.

She now has her own pack of 14 thoroughbred foxhounds. On one occasion Miss Elcock captured alive a baby fox, which she took home with her. It is now a sturdy little creature, and follows its owner like a dog. It never makes any attempt to escape, although allowed almost complete freedom. In speaking of her hunting trips. Miss Elcock grows enthusiastic. “The outdoor life is simply splendid,” she says. “Getting up at two or three o'clock in the morning and going out after foxes may sound like pretty bard work to some people, but to me It Is so much play. The frejph air and exercise are great health builders. I used to be considered frail, but now I never know what it is to be )lL" Miss Elcock has almost as great a record as a snake killer as a fox hunter. Last year she killed scores of tattlers, the largest being 4 feet 8 inches in length, and bearing 14 rattles.

BEAUTY IS NOW INJECTED

Such Is the Latest London Fad —Filling Out Neck Hollows—Cost Is From 1250 to SSOO. London. —Beauty by injection is the latest erase. The mode of the beautiful neck Is responsible for a boom In beauty culture. The present decollette modes are making women flock to the beauty specialists in order to have hollows at the base of the neck, sometimes known as "salt-cellars,” filled up. Evening bodices which are mere wisps of material and very decollette are now worn In the daytime. By the injection of a new and secret composition all hollows can be perfectly filled. The operation is so simple that a woman suffers no inconvenience. She can undergo it in the evening and yet go out the same evening without hearing any sign of the operation or fatigue. The composition used actually develops Into tissue of flesh. It does not remain as artificial foreign matter under the skin.

The charge is from $260 to S6OO.

MONGOLIAN DEPUTATION VISITS THE CZAR

WOULD END STORMY CAREER

In Deep Despair Mother of Dead Beauty Trie* to Take Her Life. San Francisco.—Mrs. Laura D. Snyder, mother of Lillian Lorraine Hollis, who recently died in poverty in New York, attempted to kill herself by cutting her throat at her home In Richmond. Physicians said she probably will recover. Grief over the death of her daughter had affected Mrs. Snyder’s mind. Mrs. Snyder, whose maiden name was Fair, figured more than 40 years ago in a famous criminal case. On a ferryboat en route from San Francisco to Oakland, she shot and killed Judge A. P. Crittenden, who the woman claimed was the father of her child, Lillian. Bhe was sentenced to be hanged for the murder, but a new trial was granted her and she was acquitted. Afterwards she went into mining camps and made a living for herself and child. The daughter became noted for her beauty and in 1892 won a newspaper voting contest as the most beautiful woman on the Pacific Coast She became an actress and went east The news of her deatb in destitute circumstances in New York, was the first word Mrs. Snyder had received of her daughter in many years. T ~

Students Arouse Professors.

Wellesley, Mass. —The faculty is on the warpath against the hundred seniors who dressed themselves in male attire, made up as their instructors and danced the turkey trot bunny hug and grizzly bear.

BLIND, BUT PREACHES

New York Country Minister Delivers Two Sermons. Uses a Bible With Raised Type and His Mind Is Not Diverted by the Bight of Hobble Skirts.

Clinton, N. Y— Being blind has some advantages for a minister, in the opinion of the Rev. Clarence B. Post, pastor of the Presbyterian church, Kirkland, a few miles from this place, who is so blind that be can only just distinguish light from darkness. "Blindness brings with it a stronger power of concentration.” said Mr. Post, “and 1 am not so likely as the average minister to be diverted in my line of though by seeing the amazing hats worn by some women at church, or having to work lest vision of the Unseen be obscured by seeing near by some horrible hobble skirt.” Mr. Post was blind only in one eye until two years ago, so he saw long enough to form an opinion of some of the new fashlona Asked how he managed in the pulpit, Mr. Post said: "I have the Bible in raised print, but often it quite as easy to memorise as to read the raised print in public. I have always been l?i the habit of speaking extempore, so I am used to depending entirely on my mind. Of course. In preparing my sermons I have to get some reading done by those with sight Having heard. I ponder, and I then work out my own sermons. "As a blind minister I have had to begin at the bottom. One of the hardest things I have had to contend with is that persons with sight usually think a blind man cannot do anything, and so refuse to give him a fair chance to demonstrate his powers. “I still hope at least partially to regain my tight. The American oculists do not seem able to do anything for detachment of the retina, but a doctor In Germany has done great things, and 1 hope, if ever, 1 get rich (a likely thing to happen to a blind country minister), to go over and get his treatment "Once in the pulpit I can get along

SAMUEL GOMPERS ART CRITIC

President of American Federation of Labor Assails Architecture of Public Buildings at Capital. Washington. Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, appeared in the role of art critic recently, attacking the- architecture of buildings in the national capital which have been regarded in other quarters as fine examples of the

Samuel Gompers.

artistic genius of those designing them. At the annual dinner of the Washington Architectural club, Mr. Gompers in an Impromptu speech characterized the postoffice as “a fresh one, trying to push its face in every one’s business,” and the Union station as inartistic.

all right,” said Mr. Post. “I know the hymns by number, and while 1 cannot read them I can usually say the first verse, and then the others do the singing. If I cannot read the Bible quite as rapidly as seeing ministers, I can rdad it correctly. If I have bad a chance to feel the lines over I can do it as well as if I could see.” The young minister thinks that 25 minutes is long enough for a sermon and he never goes beyond 30 minutes. Asked how be can tell when this is up without the power to take a surreptitious glance at his watch, be said: “Oh, that is easy,” and he took out a silver hunting-case watch without any crystal. Around the rim outside the figures were little elevations. He placed his hand on the dial of the watch and said that it was ten minutes of 4. He had told the time exactly. •

WAS DOMESTIC TEN YEARS

And If He Hadn't Gone to Have Hair "Marcelled" He'd fitlll Be on Job. Los Angeles. Cal. —Vanity proved the undoing of Prank Butcher, who for ten years had “worked out” as a domestic under the name of "Miss Anna” Butcher, during all of which time his disguise had never been penetrated. He is in the city jail today apparently embarrassed by , the male attire lent him by another prisoner. When a rosy cheeked, young woman entered a hair dressing establishment and ordered her hair “marcelled" the attendant discovered that she was working on a wig. Close inspection of her patron’s face irevealed a slight stubble. Then she called a policeman. "I suppose I was like other women,* explained Butcher at the Jail. *T wasn't ratlsfled with the hair I had and wanted it nice and wavy.” Butcher said he had experienced difficulty In obtaining employment as a man. “Five a week, board and room Is better than anything I could get as a man.” he said, "and besides 1 like to do housework.”

LAST FIGHT IN ARMOR

WAS NOT IN THB MIDDLE AGES* AS MIGHT BE IMAGINED. Quick-Witted French Commander, In 1799, Clothed Hie Soldiers In Steel and Sent Them to Spike Gdns Which Annoyed Him. The last fight In armor occurred during Napoleon’s time. In 1799, the main army of the French having withdrawn from the town of Aqoiia, a body of some four hundred soldiers remained in the place, whose inhabitants Here well disposed toward them! Bui the peasants of the surrounding region were bitterly hostile and, rising in revolt, penetrated the town and drove the Frenchmen into the fortress, which was small and v-eak, yet powerful enough to hold the insurgents at bay with its cannon. These Insurgents numbered ten or twelve thousand. They barricaded the street and loopholed the houses so that they were safe from attack, but this did not satisfy them. They wished to take the fort, which, without artillery, was manifestly impossible. Finally some cunning brain devised a scheme that came near to being successful, . Between the fort and the nearest bouses there lay on the glacis, without carriages and resting upon pieces of wood, twelve guns which the French had not had time to take Into; the fort with-them. The position of the guns exposed them to fire from both sides, so it was not thought they would be interfered with, though by way of precaution two of the guns of the fortification were kept trained upon them. One night the sentinel heard a noise. He fired, but the sound continued and did not Immediately cease after other shots/ though it seemed to draw farther off. When daylight came it was seen that, under cover of darkness, the Insurgents had reached the nearest gun, attached a rope to the breech, and then, fastening the rope to a capstan in the nearest house, had attempted to haul the piece away. Had it been a military man who tried the trick, he would have succeeded, but the peasants did not know enough to thrust rollers under the gun before hauling, and consequently the breech dug a furrow into the soil which soon became deep enough to stop further progress. Nevertheless, the besieged were much irritated by the occurrence and determined to prevent a relation of it. They cannonaded the house from which the rope issued, bat when the walls fell they found that the capstan was in the cellar and, consequently, uninjured, although blocked for the time by debris. This did not content them. Then it was that the commandant of the fort remembered having seen stowed away in it somewhere a dozen suits of ancient armor. He selected twelve of his coolest men, gunners and grenadiers, clothed them in this armor, and sent them out to spike the guns. Covered with Med from head to foot and carrying spikes and hammers, the men marched heavily, awkwardly, out of the fort and moved In dead silence toward the coveted guns, the white smoke curling about their mailed figures, and bullets pattering harmlessly against antique helm and corselet Many of the peasants were horrorstruck and believed the strange figures to be diabolical and Invulnerable while, after the first anxious moment was passed, their own comrades, looking from the walls, broke Into exultant roars of laughter. / The twelve latter-day knights returned safely from their raid, having spiked the guns and cat the rope. Though many times hit they had hut one wound among them, a slight one received by a soldier who had wrongly adjusted a “brassart," so that it fell off and left his arm exposed. The Insurgents were discouraged; and, though the blockade continued, there was little more fighting and tile besieged were soon relieved by their frienda —Harper's Weekly.

Netherland Monarchy.

Next year the Netherlands wfll become an independent monarchy, and the event will be commemorated hi various forma One will be a maritime and naval exposition covering 50 acres on the north side of the harbor of Amsterdam. The land Is now worthless, hut will be permanently drained and afterward used as a park, fireproof buildings will be extensively used, one to contain a large historical collection, which will be one of the twenty departments of the exposition. Other features will be a reproduction ot an East India Dutch colony; the machinery department; an exposition of the Dutch fishing industry*, a ship’s bakery, a wireless telegraph station, and amusement plans which will Include a reproduction of old Amsterdam with its quaint shops, houses and restaurants.

For Her Friends.

Printer—What do you wish on your election card besides “candidate for penitentiary warden T' Suffragette—You might put “Ah home on Tuesdays and Thursdaya."-*-Judgb.

Changed Course of Study.

"What has become of Mha Snooks? She was going in for theosophy when I saw her last” "She married & restaurant man, and