Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 254, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1913 — Page 3

The Basement Philosopher

By KENNETT HARRIS

(CoeyrUht 190. by W. G. Cfewun) The blank, serious and unresponsive stare with which the janitor rdf eeived his Scandinavian assistant’s intelligence, disconcerted that usually stolid individual quite perceptibly and the chuckle that he began died gutturally in his throat. The janitor continued to stare and the grin faded from the assistant's face. “Well, and what of it?” demanded the autocrat, sternly. " 'Pooty fierce,’ is It?” he mimicked. “I-should say it was ‘pooty fierce.’ It’s a pity a person can’t have a little prtvate conversation with his own wife in his own kitchen without" a thing like you interesting yourself in his remarks. What blame business was it of yours? What was you do\ng there Tying your shoe lace, was you? Yes, you was! Tying it with one band and the other behind your ear bo’s you wouldn’t lose nothing, and then instead of keeping it to yourself like a gentleman, you come" blabbing to me. Nels, you give me a-pain. “Say, suppose they was smashing dlßhes,” continued the janitor, severely. “Haven’t they got a right to smash em’ if they felt like it? Was them dishes yours or theirs? But what gets me is that you can’t keep your mouth shut. It’s folks like you makes trouble and wrecks homes and blasts reputations wherever you go shooting, off your mouths about people and knocking ’em. How would yoq like it, yourself? What would you think of me if I done that way? Maybe you think I’ve got poor eyesight and can’t see nothing for myself. Well, I ain’t. “What kind of a skate would I be If I got to telling around some of the things that’s going on here? Where do you think Mrs. Jipper’s mother lives that she’s gone to vißit for the

THE JANITOR CONTINUED TO STARE AND THE GRIN FADED FROM THE ASSISTANT’S FACE.

summer, for instance? Clinton, Iowa? Guess again. How about Reno? You don't believe that. Well, let me tell you there was a letter in her handwriting with a Reno postmark in the mail box last Tuesday, and another one. document size and the address typewritten, same postmark, that I’ll bet the cigars come from her lawyer, and when Jlppers got 'em, he opened hers right there in the vestibule, and when he had read it, he swore and crumpled it up and shoved it in his pocket, then went right past me as if I hadn't been there, chewing on his moustache. He didn’t come home that night either. Well, it ain’t no business of mine, as I told my wife, but you can bet there’s one apartment in this building that’s going to be tablet this summer. “I don’t blame her,” declared the Janitor. “I kept pretty, close tab on that mail box of theirs when she was* over to White Lake with the kid last year, and there was some letters to him in dinky square /envelopes with sealing wax on them that I was kind of curious Shout, and after Bhe got back, and up to the time she went to visit with her mother, in Clinton, lowa —not, she had trouble with her eyes all the time. They was generally red and swelled up, but one time, one of ’em was black and swelled up. He’s a lalapaloosa, that Jlppers guy. Ferguson wanted to go over and beat his head in when I told him about it "What do you think would happen if I got to tattling? Suppose I got to buzzing over the back fence what the Gallops kept that trained* nurße for. Old Lady Gollop’s subject to heart trouble or something, ain’t she? You bet she is—something. If I had the kind of trouble she’s got, I know what kind of a nursing I’d get from my wife. SheM serve notice on every saloon in the neighborhood inside of two hours. Yes, I got hep to that before the nurse came. Them tonic prescriptions the old lady got from the druggist on the avenue about every other day, used to tone her up a plenty. She got reckless once and left about three lingers in the bottle she put out, and I wouldn’t have considered I was taking any particular risk if I’d drunk it Most generally though, there wasn’t much left in them bottles but the cork and the smell. Mrs. Anglin, in 17, said she suspected it on account of the flushed look Mrs. Gollop had all the time. She’s a wise dame, Mrs. Anglin is, but she’s kind of careless with her bottles, herself. Peroxide, they are, mostly. But that's her look out It’s her own hair, too, if yon come to that, hut It won’t be long If she don’t let up Using that dope. “Bure there’s plenty going on here.

If you're inclined to be nosey. Nels, my friend,” said the janitor. “If f wasn’t naturally dose-mouthed, I could surprise you. Them Brudnlcks, for instance. Oreat front they put up, don’t they? You’d think they had money to throw to the birds, wouldn’t you? Well, they have, and what the birds don’t get, they burn; but they’re shy when it comes to digging up what they owe Strunck’s market, and from what I’ve found out by putting two and two together out of their waste paper basket, it won’t do Strunck much good to sue. All he’s get’s his judgment, and you can’t buy a shelf full of canned goods with a court house full of judgments. That’s what I told him. It ain’t my business, of course, but Strunck treats me .pretty white and I don’t want to see him throw good money after bad. If I was as slack-jawed as you, I might make trouble for that oldest girl of Topper’s, too. Not but what the boy’s all right and she’s all right, but he ain’t the one that old man Topper has got picked out for her. I know that from what I heard when I was cleaning the windows on the,floor below. “Certainly, if a man wanted to talk, there’s enough happening here all the time to talk about,” said the janitor. “I could run a society Journal with less than I pick up every day, but I ain’t inquisitive and I ain’t gabby, and I won’t have nobody working for me what is. You understand that, don’t you, Nels, my friend? That’s all right then. “Hold on a minute, Nels’,” called the (Janitor, as his assistant turned to go. “Did I understand you to say that they was throwing dishes or just that some dishes got smashed? Who began the racket anyway. Was it him or her?”

BATTLE WAGED IN BIRDLAND

Orioles Try to Rescue Baby Bird From. Woodpecker—Robin Butts In for Amusement, A ‘ free-for-all bird fight occurred at the borne of Mayor Shank the other day, daring which a baby oriole, the cause of tbe trouble, was killed, tbe

Indianapolis News states. The mayor said it was the most exciting thing that has happened since he has been laid up with the lumbago. He believes a bird fight has a cock or dog fight backed oft the boards when y it comes to genuine excitement The trouble Btarted when the baby oriole flew from the nest of*its parents in a big maple tree across the street, to a huge elm tree in the mayyard. Here, proud of its first flight alone, the little oriole perched itself on a limb to rest A woodpecker, peeping out of its nest in the elm, saw the Intruder and made an attack on the oriole. The watchful parent orioles, just across the street saw the attack and fled to their baby’s rescue. Mrs. Woodpecker arrived on the scene, and the fight began in earnest Feathers flew, and the fighters gave vent to blrdland profanity. First the woodpeckers would seem to have the best of it, and then the orioles. When the fight was at its height a robin that had its nest in the elm tree with the woodpeckers decided to take a hand, presumably as a peacemaker. The robin would fight bne bird and then another. Qnce all five birds fell to the ground, but were on the wing again in an instant and the fight was renewed. A crowd of probably 26 people living in the neighborhood gathered. The robin did not make any great headway as a peacemaker and the mayor was of the opinion that he just butted in for a little excitement At any rate the robin did not appear to have any favorites in the melee. . The birds fought for more than half an hour until they were almost exhausted. Finally the orioles flew back to their maple tree and the woodpeckers flew to a limb in their own tree. The baby oriole, the cause of the trouble, was found hanging from a tiny limb, dead. “It was certainly a great fight,” said the mayor, "but I feel sorry for that poor little baby oriole.”

Plan to Fool St. Peter.

A group of men were discussing their probable chances of entering the Heavenly gate. Some were er tolling their virtues and religious soul, and felt sure they could not be ignored. Several were willing to take chances when the situation presented Itself. One said he had bis plan mapped out, and, when, pressed tor details, said: “Well, I intend to ifalk np the golden stairs and take hold of the door and keep opening and closing it, making as much noise as possible, tIU I get St Peter good and peeved; and then he will say: ’See here, either you come in or May out’ -Exchange,

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

HOME GROWN SEED CORN IS THE BEST

By A. T. Wlancko,

* - perlment Station. Purdue University Agricultural Extension.

The ideal way to secure good seed corn is to produce it at home and select and store it some time before the first "heavy frost. No purchased corn can be as well adapted to the home conditions as that which may bfe developed on one’s own farm, provided, of course, that one starts with a good variety. Corn is more sensitive to changed conditions than any other crop. The main who secures a good variety and then* gives it careful attention, year after year, planting only the best ears out of the best part of the crop, has a much better chance of success than the man who depends upon purchased seed, unless, perhaps, in a case where a neighbor upon whom he can always depend, is giving special attention to the production of good seed. By dividing the seed corn selected each year into two lots, putting the’ finest bushel or so of ears by themselves, and planting them in a small field by themselves, or on the side of a good field where there is protection from contamination from other varieties in neighbors’ fields, and then selecting seed from this,, one can surely and quickly further improve the variety for hie particular conditions. Many of the best corn growers of the state are doing this , and their methods are well worth copying. It may further be said that the highest yielding and finest strains of corn in the state have been developed in this way. The best way to select seed corn is soon after the crop has matured and it should be selected in the field, where the character of the plant and the conditions of growth can be seen. Rather snort, strong stalks growing under normal conditions of stand should be preferred. Almost any kind of a plant can produce a good ear if there are no others near it, but it takes a good plant to produce a good ear when there are no gaps in the Btand, and the characteristics of such a plant will be inherited by the ear it produces. Only well matured ears that are held in good position on clean, thrifty looking stalks that stand up well and have a good leaf development should be selected. There is a limit to the size of ear that can be expected to ripen in an average season in a given locality. Many farmers make the* mistake of trying to .raise com that is really too large and. too late for their conditions. By selecting

SEED CORN "JOHNNY DON’TS"

Maturity is More Important Than Blze and Most Careful Crib Selection Often Means Failure. (By J. O. RANKIN. University Farm. St Paul, Minn.) Don’t select the bare-tipped ear. Don’t ÜBe scoop-shovel selection. Don’t .pick very long or very short ears. Don’t let freezing weather catch your seed corn full of moisture. Don't think the most careful crib selection can equal careful field selection. Don’t take the ear that is large Just because it grew in a thin stand or very rich soil. Don’t forget shelling percentage in figuring which earywill yield the most shelled com per acre. Don’t think that plump, pampered seed ears are any better selectloU than pampered, over-fat, breeding stock in the hog pen or the dairy bam. Don’t select from the vicinity of barren stalks that by wihd-blown pollen may be parents of the ear you are selecting. Don’t fail to look over your score oard and make up your mind just what kind of ears will yield you the most shelled com per acre next year.

Giving Little Ones a Show.

When there are different-sized chicks in the yards care should be taken to see that the Jittle ones get their proper share of the feed. The big ones are apt to overcrowd the little fellows and push them aside. With slats not too far apart, you can arrange a place for the little obes to feed in peace, and feed the large chicks outside.

Reduces Hatchability.

Washing eggs tor hatching materialIf sadaaae haUheblUty.

Department of Bolls and Crops, Purdue University Ex-

Good and Bad Types of Seed Corn.

only solid, well matured ears there to no danger of getting the variety too large or too late. The ears selected should be rather cylindrical in shape, strong and symmetrically developed, but not too thick. An ear having three inches of circumference for every four inches of length is about right The rows of kernels should be straight and the kernels themselves uniform in size and shape. The indentation should be rather rough, but not so rough as to Incline the kernels to chafflness. The seed ears should always be a little rougher than the average of the crop, otherwise the variety will become smoother each year and the kernels shallower. The dent should run squarely across the kernels and should have no Bharp or pointed margins. In the accompanying illustration ear No. 1 is of excellent type, ear No. 2 is too tapering, ear No. 3 is too thick, ear No. 4 is too thin, while ear No. 6 is weak near the butt j selected ears as they come from the field should be at once .stored in a dry' well ventilated place in such a way that there will be a free circulation of air around each ear. The method of storing is not Important so long as air can pass freely among the ears. Much com that is intended for seed is injured by Improper methods of storing and drying. It is most liable to injury during the first month or six weeks after husking. The outside of the ear may be dry and hard, but the cob and points of kernels may still contain much excess of moisture, and it is this which so easily causes molding, fermenting or injury from freezing. The best seed com is that which matures and dries naturally. No farmer should attempt to raise a variety of corn that will not mature and dry out naturally. Cora that needs artificial help in drying in an average season is not suited to the local conditions. Fire drying should not be necessary, except under exceptionally unfavorable conditions, as in an unusually short season. However, the com fnust be guarded against frost and whepfe fire drying must be resorted to, the heat should be applied slowly and good ventilation must be provided so as to let the moisture escape and thus prevent fermentation or molding. Aft er it is perfectly dry, seed corn will stand any amount of cold weather, but it must be protected from dampness.

HOW TO MOVE WIRE FENCES

Excellent Plan Given for Taking Down Wire and Placing In Bome Other , Location on Fa^m. (By J. E. VAN METRE.) Pull the staples from the bottom wire, and proceed to move it by hitching end of wire to the hind axle of a wagon. If the wire is to be taken across the road or a comer is to be turned, get a large iron pulley and put a large bolt or crowbar through it, driving the bolt or crowbar well into the ground and leaning slightly in the opposite direction from which wire is to be taken. Tie the top of the crowbar to a stake with a chain, wire of rope. With some one to watch the wire a little, a piece a half mile long may be easily and quickly drawn behind the wagon. After drawing the wire to its new location place the bottom wire on the ground as near as possible to the line of fence, as it should be the first one to be tight ened. When there is left only one wire to be moved, begin at the further -end of the fence, and bring the posts along. Have water along to wet the ground around the posts to make them pull easier. *

Labor-Saving Machines.

Now, when farmers find it necessary to make use of so much of laborsaulng implements and machines from the scarcity of help, there should be ample room provided for its protection, which would be so much more convenient and satisfactory than having to store them wherever there is a spare place. There should be a building targe and conveniently arranged, but not on an extravagant scale. Winter will be .a good time to prepare for or build stfch a structure, one that will He as highly prized be the owner as any on the farm

FOR AFTERNOON WEAR

PRETTY GOWNS OF LIGHT WOOL* ARE THE FAVORITE. / I.*. Many Materials From Which to Make Choice and Garment Is Serviceable in a Great Number of Directions. Dresses of inexpensive lightweight cloth like cashmere, Henrietta, woolen voile, or marquisette and plain or figured challis are useful and pretty for afternoons at home. There is no end to the wear one can derive from them, for they will be found serviceable as a theater dress to be worn under a long coat through the winter and even into the following spring as street dresses. Today’s cut offers an attractive suggestion for making up a figured challis or marquisette. Bordered material is used for the tunic and old blue charmeuse or plain challis for the blouse and remainder of the skirt , There is first a half-length skirt foundation of mescaline or china silk to which the plain blue lower skirt is attached. The tunic skirt is .pouched up all around over a hip sash of blue charmeuse that describes a diagonal line from one side to the other and ties at the center back in a draped bow. The portion of the tunic that hangs below this sash is cut out in front in a deep V. Two pointed bibs of the bordered material rise above the belt in front and in back with the points tacked up on the blouse. The blouse has long sleeves open at the ends and trimmed with white chiffon raffling. A collar and small jabot

Figured Challis.

of the same fill in the V-neck that is formed by the crossing of the blouse fronts. Blue charmeuse is used for the girdle, which ties directly in front. Of course bordered or figured materials need not be used in the design. It should be very pleasing if developed in a plain col<y and might be made entirely of charmeufe. Taupe color would look well with a girdle and hip sash of cerise chiffon.

POCKETS TO BE RESTORED?

Models for Coming Beason Seem to Promise a Return to Sensible Fashion. Already a few autumn and winter models aro on view, but the fashions are tentative only, and one is loath to believe that the forecasts of an authority who says that the skirts are to bo tighter than ever this wlntor will be realized. The re-entry of the pocket, even though it be placed on the hips ns on the new costumes of velours and cloth. Is a mercy to be thankful for. Plaids and checks will be much worn, and specially aa a trimming <m the serge, ratine and velour tailor mades, some of the checks being as large aa three-quar-ters of an inch square. An early model carriea ont In dove colored ratine nas a very distinctive waistcoat of orange and gray check velvet brocbe, the sleeves being, as the majority will be, of the kimono type. A blue and white check cloth skirt has a plain long coat of blue veloura and rose colored vest, while with a black p u»h coat and skirt undyed skunk tors are to be worn.

New Use for Old Lace.

There Is a new way of using rare old lace —If It is of the right shape and alze. Fasten a tend around the bead, well down over the hair and brows In the front and somewhat above tbe qepe of the neck In the beck. At right anglee of this band fasten another, going under the chin and straight up acroaa the top of the heed. It can be fastened together over one ear with a Jeweled ornament.

Chiffon sashes aad draperies are to he mere used than silk, but they are cut wide that they may be crushed in and so not look too scant and transparent | .

FOR THE COLLAR OR JABOT

Those Fashioned From White Net Are Most Favored and Need Net Be Expensive. White net is extensively employed to fashion many of the loveliest collars and jabots worn at present and many of the most expensive designs can be copied by the clever needleworker. Purchase a quantity of white net and a pattern for a well-fitting turndown half collar, and place the latter over the net folded double. If the edge of the collar is straight lay It along the fold and cut out the material. Neatly join the outer edges, tom the collar and bind the neck with a bias strip of net. In each corner embroider a spray of small flowen or a single daisy, and border the collar with a narrow pleated frill of lace or net. To the collar join pleated frtlla of net four Inches wide, which extend down the front to the base of the V-shaped neck line. Fichus of net are deep sailor collars with rounded corners with the ends extending to the waist belt in front. These are cut from a single thickness of net shiT are bordered with pleated frills of lace or the same material. Tbs finely dotted- or embroidered nets are also used for this purpose. Dainty jabots are fashioned of pleated net arranged in two or three tiers and edged with lace or embroidered scallops. Net Is inexpensive and neckwear of this material IS a becoming addition to any frock. This should be incentive enough for any woman to fashion neckwear for her gowns.

Basket Flower Holders.

Baskets of light’ enameled wicker or dark splints are very much used as flower holders. They are employed for cut flowers, or as a “jardiniere” to cover the pot of a growing plant. An inner receptacle in tin holds the eartty for the growing plant. This must be well perforated for drainage, the tin being removed from the basks for the daily watering and draining. Kor cut flowers the basket must of course contain an improvised holder for water, and thus a basket of flowers becomes a beautiful decoration for the home dining table, for church purposes, or for the flower booth at the bazaar. A basket woven in simple flowerpot shape into which an ordinary flower pot is slipped is pretty to stand on tbe living room table through the winter, where the green of a fern, or tbe bright tint of a flowering plant lightens the room.

New Waistcoat Waists.

Reports from Paris tell of satin waistcoat waists, that is to say, satin waists, the body of which is cnt in the form of a man’s waistcoat, with two points in front below the waist and s belt behind. The sleeves are of contrasting color. Quite as attractive as these satin waists are the velvet waistcoats that are worn over white net waists. These waistcoats are made of striped velvet, and are cut exactly on the fashion of a man’s waistcoat One is made of white velvet with stripes of pale green and pale violet

Pocket Needle Case.

Teach the little maid to carry* 4 needle case of the pocketrsize sort, in her school kit. If she has always at hand the means of repairing a rip or rent in her clothes, she will gradually acquire the almost obsolete art of neat mending and It will become ln■grained with her never to wear a ragged garment.

FOR THE FIRST COOL DAYS

Coat Bu(t in Dull Green French Serge le One of Those Moet Favored. A fetching coat suit is this, made of dull green French serge, Just the

beneath the narrow roll collar of taffeta. The skirt or basque of the coat serves to produce a triple flounce effect over the tunic skirt. This style suit should be particularly becoming to slender figures.

Colonial Cushions.

For the bureau of old mahogany or the mahogany shaving case a pin cushion not too frilly la needed. Such a one la shown In a “colonial cushion,” a copy of an antique . Even these modern copies come from old Salem. It Is square In shape and of mahogany, standing on four half-inch high feet. Within the mahogany frame It , the cushion made In any color. Of course, the cushion part may be renewed aa often ee one wishes, so It makes quite a durable article

thing for the first cool days. The waist of the coat l„fl high and marked at the center front by a bow of green taffeta. This coat has the rmglaa sleeve, which la elbow length and finished with a fall of lace. There is also a Jabot of lace which comes from