Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 116, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1913 — Page 2

LAETITIA’ SPARENTS

They Thought She Sought a Career When in Reality It Was Love. By DOROTHY BLACKMORE. They, epoke in undertones, furtively watching the door. is to be done wsth her?” Mrs. Calhoun asked. Her' tone was colorless, hopeless. Her husband shook his head sadly. "That's it, my dear. Laetitia's whole life seems to be centered in that one purpose; she sees only one goal—strives for only one. Why, I can’t even make an engagement for her any more for fear of interfering with a lesson or a class or an appointment to practice with someone or other. And she's our only daughter.” Mrs. Calhoun raised her hand cautiously. "Do be careful, dear; she’s upstairs, and I wouldn't have her hear us for the world. We musn’t break her heart in trying to thwart her ambition. That would be cruel.” "The whole thing’s cruel,” Mr. Calhound said, desperately. Mrs. Calhoun nodded thoughtfully and neither father nor mother spoke for some moments. Presently the man looked up, a bright light in his eyes. ■ "Suppose—suppose, dear, we contrive to tell her I have had some reverses in business and cannot longer afford to pay for her lessons. We can curtail expenses and live consistently with the statement, can we not, dear?’’ he asked eagerly. The mother hesitated. “Y-e-s —we could, I suppose, but would that do any good? Isn’t Laetitia just the sort who would go to work—sing in a chorus, in case earn enough to study? Any girl with her energy and determination will find a way. And there is a way—if only she could see It—a way to make us all

happy." “How’s that?" “If she would only fall in love, desperately in love, and be made to feel that she was making a great sacrifice for the man she loved in giving up her career—her music, she Would be happy—we would be happy, and she would be saved all the pain of failure that is sure to be hers if she continues to believe she will be a grand opera star.” Mrs. Calhoun had studied her daughter; she knew that the girl lived for dramatic effects; that heroics appealed to her. More than Once she had prayed that her girl might fall in love with a man who would insist on her giving up her musical career. Unlike many mothers, Laetitia’s parent was not blind to the shortcomings of her child. Laetitia could not sing, and it was her one aim and object in life —to sing, to go into grand opera, to shine before the footlights. Teachers, struggling for the dollars that came to them from lessons, flattered her and led her on toward her imagined place among the stars. Friends who were kind-hearted asked her to King; and even her father and mother hadn’t the heart to tell her she could not. Why a girt who had no voice should have such a wild desire to sing was the question that often put itself to both mother and father. Laetitia had become so engrossed in her studies of music in all branches pertaining to voice culture that she had forsaken most of her friends; she had withdrawn from social life, saying that she must save her strength for her work. The home that had once been the scene of gay little parties, was now quiet after dinner, and the father and mother sat silently reading under the library lamp. Letitia was in bed gathering energy for the following day’s lessons. She was working diligently on the opera scores in the faint hope that she might have opportunity to sing before a manager. "Whom could she love?” Mr. Calhoun broke in abruptly, as if the idea conveyed to him by his wife had just appeared to his rather thick vision. Mrs. Calhoun smiled. “Better—who loves her enough to make her give up her career, my dear?” “Well, put It your way—who’s the man? I’ll ask him here, throw them together, do anything to save our little girl from the awful failure I can see coming her way," the father said, sitting up, energetically. “Do you think young Davis is hopelessly discouraged?" “He ought to be —the way she’s treated him. But if he showed half the determination about winning Laetitia that she shows about winning fame, he'd have her," Mrs. Calhoun declared. “Nice fellow —Davis," mumbled the father. “He's all of that I had quite made up my mind to him.” “How to make up Laetitia’s mind to him is the question now,” remarked Mr. Calhoun, with a hopeless Inflection in his voice. Mrs. Calhoun raised a silencing finger, remarking: "Listen, I hear footsteps—Laetitia is coming down.” Mr. Calhoun began to read, ostentatiously; Mrs. Calhoun, too, became absorbed In her magazine. “Mother,” faltered Laetitia at her elbow. Her mother looked up. Laetitia’s hair was hanging in two braids across her shoulders; they glistened in the lamp light. Her long rose-colored kimono fell to her toes and she crumpled down one her mother's footstool, burying her face la her mother’s lap. Mr*. Calhoun looked quickly across at her husband who, in turn, peered across the top of bis glasses at his daughter's bowed head; then ho

looked up quickly and held his wife’s eyes fori an instant. Had she heard? Mrs. Calhoun put her hand tenderly on the girl’s hair. "What is it, dearie?" she asked. Laetitia burst into sobs; her whole slight frame shook and she buried her face deper and deeper into her Mother’s lap. Tears came silently to the eyes of both mother and father, but no one spoke, Laetitia reached for her mother's hands and held them convulsively in her own while her body continued to shake with her sobbing. “Can—can’t you tell mother, dearie?” Mrs. Calhoun asked, letting her own tears drip down unheeded on her bosom. “I—l will. That’s what I came down for, mother," Laetitia whispered from the mother’s lap. Mr. Calhoun was preceptlbly ill at ease. He tried to remember all they had said; he would have given all he owned to have retracted his words; let her sing; let her practice; let her do into anything that she thought she wanted, but —never let him see his little girl so unhappy again. That was his only wish “L—let me have your handkerchief, mother," Laetitia said, raising her head.

“Here —take mine, daughter,” said her father, quickly offering his most cherished pocket handkerchief from his upper coat pocket. “I —I want to tell you both all about it,” the girl began, plying the ample bit of linen diligently. “Go right on, dearie,” Mrs. Calhoun staid, stroking the hand she held. “It’s about me —about me and my career—and Tom,” she confessed. “You don’t understand how it has been perhaps." Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Calhoun said a word; they still wondered if she had heard. “I have worked so hard to be a success for you two. I am your only child, your only hope. I wanted so much to do something big and wonderful for you—mother and father, dear —but, oh —I can’t give up Tom for the empty fame of an opera star. I’ve tried so hard. I’ve spent all this money of father’s and yours for music and you’ve given me every advantage, and it seems so ungrateful of me to give it all up so She hid her face, and the father and mother looked at each other again. “Tom says I must give it up—my career —or he will go away to the end Gt the world, where he can never, never even hear of me,” said she, bursting in fresh sobs. “Dearie, dearie,” protested the mother, with emotion, “don’t do that. We want you to be happy—we want you to marry Tom. We —we’ve been realalfy disappointed, daddy and I, because he did not come around any more.” ~~

Laetitia looked up, a gleam of light shining in her swollen eyes. She glanced from one to the other. Her father smiled and nodded. “Have you, really? Do —do you like him?” “We—we love him,” Mrs. Calhoun said, earnestly. “Oh, mother!” cried Laetitia climbing, like a little girl, to her mother’s lap and squeezing her around the neck. “Do you, truly? And I won’t have to work so hard to —to try to be a success in order to make you proud of me? Oh —oh!”

In spite of herself, the mother’s eyes overflowed with tears. She was too happy to speak. And Laetitia had not heard their plotting and planning against her. And it was Tom Davis, after all!

“I’ve always thought it was an awful thing to be an only child, the one hope of a pair of doting parents — it’s been such hard work! And now there will be two of us to make you happy. Daddy—ask Tom to come to dinner tomorrow night that —that you want to show him something—anything to get him here.” “I’ll ask him to breakfast, if you say so,” laughed the father, wiping his glasses carefully; they had become moist and dimmed. (Copyright, 1913, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)

An Interruption.

An Impassioned oratress had reached the climax of her denunciation of the tyrant sex, when a little man in the corner said he arose to present a question of special privilege. “Put him out!” shrieked many unfriendly voices. “State your question," said the oratress. “I want to marry you,” said the little man. “I like your talk and I like your looks. I’ve got a good house and a 20-horsepower motor car.” “Order! order!” shrieked the audience. “Let him state his question," shouted the oratress. “I’m fifty-two, a regular churchgoer, with a good business and $6,000 in the bank,” concluded the little man. “Put him out!" yelled everybody. “In deference to the popular demand,” said the gifted oratress, “I’ll have to ask you to wait on the outside.” • “I’ll wait,” chuckled the little man. Whereupon the oratress resumed.— Cleveland Plain Dealer.

For Sherlock Holmes.

Somebody wondered how long a certain woman who had just left the room had been married. “About 15 years,” said the jeweler “How do you‘know?" asked the jew eler’s wife. “You never saw her until tonight." “I can tell by the size of her wed ding rings," he replied. “The width.oi wedding rings changes about every five years. The kind she wear! Was in style 15 years ago."

ANY JOB FOR HIM

John J. McDevitt, “Millionaire for a Day/’ Applies to Wilson. Go to Ireland? Why Sure!—ls Also Willing to Step Into Ex-Weather Mab Moore’s Shoes or Sail \ for England. Wilkesbarre, Pa. —John J. McDevitt, who won the title “millionaire for a day” by an extravagant trip to New York, offered himself to President Wilson for.a foreign Post or any other job. He would prefer to be. "ambassador to Ireland.” In his letter to the president MeDevltt says: “Dear Mr. President: —I have been more or less interested in your administration and assure you that I am in hearty sympathy with all your doings. I notice, however, you are having considerable trouble in procuring the proper type of American cltizefi to represent our land abroad. "I do not know what you may think, but I would say, merely as a suggestion, that I would accept either England or Ireland, the latter preferred, because I am in closer touch with the Irish than any other race. “Now, Mr. President, I can sympathize with you as an officeholder, for I have been in the same box myself, being constable of my ward for five years. I am a young man, comparatively speaking, with an excellent education, and in all respects would compare favorably with yourself and Bryan. I know that with you and Mr. Bryan we could make this administration one to be remembered.

"I am not working at present, and will be pleased to hear from you at once. Please give me in detail the list of all vacancies, the salaries they pay and other essential information. ‘1 understand that the weathef man, Mr. Moore, has left his job. What does that position pay and what are the hours? “Would I have the privilege of con* ducting a ball in the reception room of the White House in case I accept one of the offers you will make? “The following are a few references: Charles McDevitt, father; Joseph McDevitt, brother; Hugh McGeady, uncle. "Yours truly, “JOHN J. MCDEVITT. “(Millionaire for a day.) "P. S. —I am going to a ball tonight in Scranton.” McDevitt got into the limelight when he went to New York and proceeded to “buy up the town.”

EARLY CZARS’ “HARD LIFS"

Russian Ruler at 4 A. M.—Feasting and Praying Took Up Much Time.

London. —Jean d’Auvergne contributes to The Bystander an article on the "Tercentenary of the Romanoff Dynasty," which contains a good deal of Information new to English readers. The Romanoffs hailed originally from Prussia, and first appeard in Moscow toward the end of the twelfth century. The beginning of the seventeenth century brought troubled days

LADY DECIES IRISH HOSTESS

Many of Nobility Present at Dinner Given by Former Vivian Gould. Dublin. —Lady Decles, formerly Vivian Gould, recently made her debut as an important hostess In Ireland, giving a brilliant dinner at LuttrelFstown, near Dublin, which was a conspicuous success. The hostess looked very handsome In a draped gown of white charmeuse and wore a wonderful rope of pearls and some fine diamonds. Between 500

Lady Deciea.

and 600 guests were invited, including some of the leading persons of Ireland. The viceroy and Lady Aberdeen would have been present, but they bad already promised to attend a charity function. The guests included Oen. Sir Arthur and Lady Paget, Lord and Lady Herbert, Viscount and Viscountess Cole, Viscount aad Viscountess Iveagh, Lord I. ' j

MILLIONAIRE SETS TYPE IN JAIL

This picture shows the millionaire socialist editor, Edward F. Smith, setting type for the prison paper, rather than pay a fine imposed upon him by the Warrensville, Ohio, authorities. His young wife, formerly his stenographer, visits him regularly.

to Moscow. John the Terrible, whose only rebuff in life was a refusal of marriage from the English Queen Elizabeth, had died, His son Feodor was murdered shortly afterward, ,and anarchy and clan rivalry were rife when young Michael Feodorovitch, the first Romanoff czar, was called from his home in Kostroma to preside over the destinies of the Russian people. From this advent to the throne dates the consolidation and Europeanization of the Russian empire.

A czar of the seventeenth century rose at four in the morning. He then was visited by the court priest, who blessed the monarch and brought in the image of the saint of the day. This he placed in a richly jeweled ikon, before which the czar prayed for a quarter of an houk With the sprinkling of the image and the monarch with holy water the private devotions were at an end. Before matins the ciar paid a visit to the czarina. After this he attended to his private business and heard the news of the day from his gentlemen in waiting. At nine the imperial family went to hear mass, which lasted for about two hours. Then followed more work until dinner, which was taken at two or three in the afternoon. The meal consisted of seventy or more dishes, all well salted and seasoned with garlic. After this substantial repast

and Lady Mayo, Earl and -Countess of Fingal, Lord and Lady Castelmaine. Earl and Countes of Donoghmore, Earl and Countess of Arran, Marchibness Conyngham-Marruiz and Marchioness Ormonde.

DIVER DISCOVERS FORTUNE

Finds Ship Loaded With Tin Bullion Valued at $50,000, of Which He Will Get Half. Tacoma, Wash.—The cannery schooner Sadie F. Caller, lost at sea eighteen years ago, has been called back from the port of missing ships. Walter McCary of this city, a submarine diver, stumbled upon the vessel in sixty feet of water near Chignik lagoon, Alaska, recently, and is preparing to take out ot-the wreck nearly $50,000 in tin bullion with which

TRAMPS FAR TO TEST GARB

Aged Cavalryman Completes a Hike From New York to San Francisco and Back. New York. —Former Sergeant John J. Walsh of Troop E, United States cavalry, slept late after having completed a 10,000-mile hike to San Francisco and back. The walk was for the purpose of testing out thoroughly the regular army equipment, from shoes to campaign hat,, and was under the supervision of military authorities. It took Walsh one year and three days to complete the trip. Walsh, who is sixty-three years of ,age, is considered the army’s premier pedestrian. It was necessary for him to stop at every army post en route to report progress to the officer in command.

Walsh kept a complete .diary of his adventures on the march. At every large town he had the mayor and city officials put their signatures in a book. He jotted down everything that appealed to him, and his ledger is full of interesting items. According to the diary, Walsh spent last Christmas in the desert of Art-

the czar was accustomed to take a much needed rest, arid generally he slept for about three hours. Sometimes, however, he would forego his rest and go instead to the baths. The time between vespers and supper was spent with the czarina, when the imperial couple were amused by dancing girls or jugglers. On feast days there were bear fights—strenuous encounters between a well-baited bear and a spearman, in which (he man lost his life as often as the animal. In the event of a successful issue the spearman was rewarded by being taken to the royal cellar, where he was allowed to drink himself drunk. Supper and another visit from the priest brought a strenuous day’s feasting and praying to a close. I _ ~

Bible Causes His Capture.

lola, Kan. —Because he halted in his flight to read a bible sent him by his mother, Edward Barnes, twenty-three years old, was arrested, charged with the robbery of a railroad station at Tracy, la. Barnes was captured by Marshal Frederickson of lola as he lay reading by the roadside. He admitted having served a term in the Wyoming penitentiary for robbery “I had determined to be good,” said Barnes, “and was reading the good book mother sent me for help when the law came along and nabbed me.**

she is laden. He is on his way back to Alaska to salvage the cargo of the Caller. McCary was placing a fish trap when he found the wreck. Scraping away the weeds and barnacles, he Aincovered her name board, but kept his own counsel when he returned to the surface. Investigation showed the schooner had cleared from San Francisco for the canneries eighteen years ago and foundered off the Alaska coast at a point far from her present resting place. McCary reached an agreement with the owners and consignees under which he will get 50 per cent of the salvage.

Church to Have Roof Garden.

St. Louis. —The Rev. John L. Brandt, pastor of the First Christian church, announces that his congregation soon will erect a church with a roof garden. The garden will be used for moving picture shows and other en. tertainments and possibly for Sunday evening services on hot sum me* nights.

zona. He was lost and walked nearly a hundred miles out of his way before he struck the trail again. Miss Lena Grumble, a telephone operator of Corristo, a town in New Mexico, on the outskirts of the desert, wrote in the book that she found Walsh in a bad condition, the result of not having sufficient food. She took him to the mayor, who bought him a dinner. Walsh, according to the diary, was captured by Mexican rebels while hiking along the border line of old Mexico and New Mexico. “I was sitting on a bowlder writing up my notes,** the book says, “when I was taken prisoner by several Mexican desperadoes. They took me to their chief. I thought I would never get away alive. I would not have if I had not had on my old sergeant’s uniform. That saved me. They saw who I was and decided to escort me back over the boundary lines.** ,

Coffins as Troughs.

Boyerton, Pa. —Farmers bought a new kind of watering troughs when a lot of steel coffins, too heavy for wft, were sold at 36 cents apiece.

STORIES of CAMP and WAR

GENERAL MEADE AT MINE RUN Highly Promising Plan Ruined by Blunders Of Subordinates Thereby Preventing Concentration. In response to a query asking for an account of the Mine Run campaign the National Tribune makes the following reply: The Mine Run campaign was one of the best-conceived movements of the war, but utterly failed on account of the mismanagement of the corps commanders. November, 1863, saw what was virtually the end of the Gettysburg campaign, with its sequelae of manuvers back and forth from Alexandria to Orange Court House. Gen. Meade saw that he had Lee at % great disadvantage. Lee had sent Longstreet’s Corps to East Tennessee, and had left only Ewell’s and Hill’s Corps. Ewell’s Corps was watching the Rapidan in the neighborhood of Culpeper Court House, while Hill’s Corps was a day’s march away up the river. Gen. Meade had the Army of the Potomac well in hand, only 20 miles away around Culpeper and Stevensburg. He conceived that „he could throw his army across the river and overwhelm Ewell’s Corps before Hill could go to his assistance. It was only a short day’s march to reach Ewell, and he could have been thrashed in a few hours. Meade carefully worked out his plans, and if his orders had been carried out a great victory would have resulted. The movement was to begin at dawn of Nov. 26, by the Fifth Corps, followed by the First Corps crossing the Rappahannock at Culpeper Mine Ford and marching to Parker’s Store on the Plank Road. The Second Corps was to cross at Germanna Ford and march to Robertson’s Tavern, where it was to be joined by the Third and Sixth Corps crossing at Jacob’s Mill Ford. Meade expected his whole army to be united across the Rapidan and cut the flank of Lee’s intrenchments on Mina Run, by noon of Nov. 27, and the plan had every prospect of success. The first blunder was in the movement of the Third Corps, which, having a greater distance to march, should have started earliest, but as a matter of fact was much behind its time and delayed the whole army. The next was that the engineers had not correctly measured the width of the Rapidan, and the pontoon bridges were too short. The, banks of the Rapidan were so high and precipitous that they delayed the march of the artillery and cavalry so that the whole of Nov. 27 passed with less than half of the distance having been traversed. In the meanwhile Lee’s signal officers, looking down from Clark’s Mountain, had detected the movement, and. Hill’s Corps was summoned back in haste to meet it. In the meantime the corps officers were mistaking the roads and making other blunders which prevented the concentrftion, and when the army was at last gotten together, Nov. 28, it was found that the whole rebel army was in front and fortified along the crest of a range of hills, which made a natural fortification in themselves for six or eight miles. The Confederates had their artillery so placed as to enfilade every line bf approach. The corps commanders' each examined their fronts for possible points of attack, and made strong reconnoissances, which cost a great many men’s lives. As all the trains had been left on the north side of the Rapidan in anticipation of a quick, sharp movement, the army was now out of rations, and Meade saw frustrated bls hopes of ending the Gettysburg campaign by a decisive victory. He therefore ordered the army to return ,to its camps around Culpeper. He wanted to move his army to Fredericksburg, which would havebeen an excellent manuyer, and placed Lee at a disadvantage, but he was prevented by Halleck’s orders not to make any change of base without authority from Washington.

Lee’s Slim Animal.

President Lincoln on June 14, 1863, wrote Gen. Hooker: "So far as we can make out here the enemy has Milroy surrounded at Winchester and Tyler at Martinsburg. If they could hold out a few days could you help them? If the head of Lee’s army is at Martinsburg and the tail of it on the plank road between Fredericksburg and Chancellorsvllle, the animal must be very slim somewhere. Could you not break him?”

How Could He Stop Him?

An Irish recruit In the mounted infantry got on a high-mettled horse and it ran away with him. One of his companions called to him to stop him. "Arrah, now,” cried he, "how can 1 stop him when I haven’t got me spurs along?”

A Slow Mover.

A general in the western army wgg aggravatingly slow at a time when the president wanted him to “get a move on.” "Some of my generals are brave enough,” regretfully remarked the president, "but somehow or other they get tangled up in a fence corner and can’t figure their way out”

Politics.

By placing the proper number of coins in the slot the political marhlna may be operated.