Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 306, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 December 1914 — Page 2

WHISPERING THROUGH the AIR of the ENEMY

HE war correspondents of 1898 I wrote columns of matter about the S heroes of Santiago who climbed on / ■ y the embankments in front of the k ) fighting men and wigwagged sig- | i nals to the fleet on the other side \ of the enemy. Wigwag went the flags by day spelling out orders and informaC/S \ tion, and wigwag went the lanterns by night spelling out more information and orders. In fact, wigwagging was about the only method of communication with the friends on the other side of the enemy. Homing pigeons have been used from time immemorial, and they also were used at Santiago. Today a different condition exists. As the Germans were sweeping down on Paris the operator In Eiffel tower whispered through the very air the Germans were breathing to convey information to St Petersburg or Petrograd. The swish of the wireless was unstoppable. The Spaniards shot down the American signal men on the embankments in front of Santiago, but the rifle bullets from the Germans could not interfere with the wireless message as it went on its way. One of the most wonderful developments of the ■wireless telegraphy came at the opening of the Euiropean war when it became possible to talk all jthe way from Berlin to Long island. Germany talked across the British fleet to her own ships •wfling the Atlantic and warned them of the sudden tremor. The only way to stop the wireless was to destroy the operator and he was thousands of miles away. In our last war wires were stretched all over the fields back of the fighting men. Dispatchers carried word from colonel to general where there had not been time to string the wires. * In this war wires, too, have been stretched on the fields, pigeons still have carried messages, dispatchers have galloped back and forth, but in addition to all these messengers of war the fighters all depended more on the invention of Marconi, the great wireless telegraph. The wireless telegraph has proved its value .Tight on the field of battle. The man in the front ranks, or the outpost miles from the headquarters, could place himself in instant communication with his Chief. The wireless telegraph made it possible for a German soldier fighting his way through Belgium to talk to a German soldier defending Alsace It made it possible for a soldier at Brussels to shout news of victory back to Berlin without an instant’s delay. It made it possible for the French and British to keep in communication with each other and map out a new line of defense when the Germans were hurling their mighty hosts against them. Marconi had already made himself famous before the war broke out His invention was one of the greatest boons to humanity because it saved lives aboard ship in time of sea horror. It brought rescue to the distressed and expedited shipping. From an instrument of humanity and peace it sprang to an instrument of war and terror. Jjfce the pigeon or dove, the personification of peace, it became an instrument of war. Perhaps next to the wireless stations, the most efficient messengers of war are the homing pigeons. These birds, the wisest of their kind, are employed to great advantage In English, French, German, Austrian, Italian, Russian and Japanese armies. Military authorities hold there is no betiter means for small detachments to communicate with their headquarters nor could they want better. '' On the fields of Europe the flights of the birds are* in most instances so short that they do not have to stop for a rest, thud preventing the messages from falling into the hands of the enemy. A pigeon in its flight soars so high it is almost Invisible to the naked eye, thus it necessitates the use of high power guns to bring it to the ground. And any man who ever makes such a shot can well call it a miracle. The king of England and the emperor of Germany, as well as other rulers of European nations, jtmve their own flying kits, and in time of peace (they enter their birds in races with birds belonging to their subjects. The crowned heads deem this royal sport A bird equipped for flying with a message is encased in a bottlelike tube, the shape of its MrA spy puts his message in his pocket, proceeds bn hie mission, quickly writes his discoveries on pmali bits of paper and places them in a tube-

bound tight to the bird’s legs. Releasing the bird, his message is started to its destination with a speed that only wireless or telegraph can rival. Messages can be fastened to birds in various ways, around the tail feathers, under a wing, about the leg or secretly marked by plucking a certain feather, the painting of certain feathers and manv

other equally ingenious contrivances. Messages are often reproduced by photography upon films reduced to the smallest possible size which the birds carry and which weigh the mere fraction of an ounce. ” . • ' Recently there appeared an account of the capture of a German spy. He was riding on a train in Belgium. The spy noticed that he was under surveillance and hurriedly wrote the information he had in his possession and released his winged messenger from -the window of the train. The spy was captured, but the message could not be stopped. These messengers of war sometimes are called carrier pigeohs. They are not Carrier pigeons lack the instinct that enables the homers to return to their cote. Carrier pigeons are only, for the purpose of display at pet stock shows. Many nations have established pigeon posts, where birds are trained to fly from one city to another, or from one island to another. They are much faster than train or steamboats and a message is much safer in their care. They are numbered today as one of the fnost: deadly messengers of war. . The first news of the siege of Ladysmith, during the Boer war, was carried by homing pigeons. The pigeons used at Ladysmith were taken from

SEIZED A GERMAN MEAL

Incidents of soldier life in the fighting zone are read eagerly in London. How a small party of British cavalry cheated some Germans of their supper is told in the following words: "A small party were out on reconnoissance work, scouring woods and searching the countryside. Just about dusk a hail of bullets came upon our party from a small spinney of fir trees on the side of a hill. We instantly Wheeled off as if we were retreating, but, in fact, we merely pretended to retire and galloped around across plowed land to the other side of the spinney, fired on the men and they mounted their horses and flew like lightning out of their 'supper room,’ leaving a finely cooked repast of beefsteak, onions and fried potar toes all jready and done to a ; turn with about fifty bottles of lager beer, which was an acceptable relish to our meat Ten of our men gave chase and returned for an excellent feed.” The same writer gives an account of a speech

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

the lofts at Durban »nd Pietermaritzburg and In view of the great service which they performed it is of more than passing notice. The dumb mes- . sengers were used in the signal service of this country during the war with Spain. In the French army are more than three hundred thousand trained pigeons and more than six hundred thousand in the postal service which can be utilized in time of war. Germany has more than two hundred and fifty thousand well trained fliers and it, too, has its pigeon posts that can be utilized by the government. During the Russo-Japanqse war an automatic camera was fastened about the breast of a pigeon and accurately timed to make photographs in the air. When a homer is released, it rises rapidly into the air, flying in large circles, apparently getting its bearings. After rising several hundred feet it will circle to a point directly above the, place whence it was released, then dart in a straight line toward its home, bearing the important documents to its government A pigeon cannot be

he could not dare to try wireless, with little risk to the bird. The messengers are truly birds of war, not peace.

of an old French squire, a retired general, who entertained the troops at his house. He says: “The old gentleman’s two daughters helped to wait on the men, and after the meal was over the general said: “ ‘My dear comrades, let me so call you. It is an old soldier who fought against Prussia fortyfour years ago. I was then a captain of cuirassiers—who welcomes you to his house with a heart full of emotion and in a voice trembling with sympathy and thick with tears. You honor me by this visit. In the midst of all your trials and privations you have a soldier s heart and Courage and cheerfulness. By your wounds I know your sufferings. You see me old, but I am active and glad to be honored by your sharing such as I can offer you. France can never repay the debt she owes to England for giving tcrus her best and bravest sons. My father was killed in the war of 1870 at the battle of Sedan.* “It was a* picture to see the grand old veteran, with faltering voice, strike the men’s hearts by the first phrase, ‘My dear comrades,* but when he raised his glass and gave ‘The king and queen of England* the men stood up and tears chased each other down their cheeks. Then the parish priest said a few kind words of welcome and invited the party to attend benediction in the little church which adjoins the park of the general. This was a happy thought, for Protestants, Episcopalians and Presbyterians joined with Catholics ip a solemn service of devotion undei* circumstances which show how easily, under stress of trial and adversity, the barriers of class and creed fall down.”

A PARADOX.

'‘Childhood presents many paradoxes,” asserted the bachelor. “What instance have you in mind?” asked the friend. . “A spoiled child may be extremely fresh.”

A GREAT DIFFERENCE.

"You always advised against speculation?** ‘•Yes,” returned Mr. Dustin Stax. “You never-played the market yottrself?" “No, sir. I never played it I worked it’

trained to fly to any point hut it can be trained to be taken hundreds of miles from Its home, released on battlefields and return to its original home with great haste. •The pigeons were almost displaced by the invention of wireless telegraphy, but a bird can be carried easily where a wireless outfit would prove too bulky and could never be taken. A spy can release a pigeon in the face of the enemy when

Back to the Bible

Application o! the Scriptures to the World Twtay m Sm byEarisent Men in Vartan Valka el Life

(Copyriadn. 191 A by Joseph aBowM STOOPING TO CONQUER, WE ARK CONQUERED. (By WARREN A. CANDLER, D. D„ LL. D., Bishop of'the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.) “The Bible still remains the great sublime, enduring work of the Eternal who loves righteousness and hates iniquity.’’—Dr. Newman Smyth. The temptation to do evil that good may come of It Is one which easily

• I ■■ "“I besets a man who Z* wishes to do good. (k But Kis a delu * f ’ ...... MB sion and a snare. If' jWI We can not ho P6 . W| to rea P a harvest V, of Sood from sowf Ing B ee dß of evilV This was the essence of the temptation of Jeßus 1D the wilderness. “The r * devil taketh him U P tnto an exceeding high mountain, and s— showeth him all the kingdoms of

this world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” It was a proposal that the King of kings and Lord of lords should “stoop to conquer.” The final triumph of holiness in the earth will be when “the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of the Lord” (Revelation 12:15); but Jesus could not consent to make a short cut to that result by way of a compromise. He chose rather to reach it by the longer and harder, but surer way of the cross. It is a deadly form of infidelity to believe that the right is so weak that it can not win without an alliance with the wrong. There is no darker atheism than to believe that God can not or will not care for his own cause. Jesus did not consider for a moment the proposal that he become a vassal of Satan by an -act of homage. He aimed at a kingdom and a crown, but not under Satan’s suzerainty. To the diabolical suggestion came his sharp response, “Get thee hence Satan: for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shaft thou serve.” It is of the same substance as devilworship to attempt to do goodly doing evil. It never can be right to do wrong. The man or the church which stoops to conquer is always conquered by stooping. THE TWO WILLS IN MAN. (Ry His Eminence JAMES, CARDINAL GIBBONS.) “Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties.”—U. S. Grant There are, so to speak, two wills In man, the superior and the inferior.

with life itself. The superior will strives to elevate the soul to God and to act in obedience to the divine will. It inspires sentiments of charity, joy, peace, patience, meekness, modesty, .continency, chastity.' It struggles to obtain the mastery over the flesh. The lower will endeavors to subject the superior will to its control. It is attended in its train by hatred, malice, envy, lust, Intemperance, gluttony, and such like. “The flesh lusteth against-the spirit and the spirit .against the flesh, for these are contrary one to another.” But although the struggle between our spiritual and animal nature is fierce and incessant, the result depends on ourselves. By the grace of God the superior will can always conquer, if we are only determined that it shall. The flesh may strive to captivate and allure us, but It cannot capture and enslave us against our will. Thq. most violent and ferocious passions may assail us like hungry wolves eager to devour us; yet we can escape as unharmed as Daniel In the lions* den/ Our free will, dwelling in the citadel of the soul and fortified by the grace of God, is impregnable. Many try to soothe a guilty conscience by ascribing to mental or bodily maladies what, by right, is attributable to a perverted will. The man that makes his passions responsible for his crimes is less excusable than the astrologer whom Shakespeare

They maintain an Irreconcilable warfare with each Other, each contending for the mastery. No human being that has arrived at the age of reason la exempt from this warfare. It is waged in the breast of the saint as well as in that of the slhner, though ordinarily with different results. The struggle begins with the dawn of reason and ends only

holds up to ridicule: "We make gulk ty-r) our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars and adulterers by enforced obedience of planetary influence.” THE LOST VIRTUE—HOSPITALITY. (By RT. REV. JOHN N. M’CORMICK, D. D., Bishop of th® trrotestant Episcope! Church.) “According to the testimony of Christ himself, itls a sign of reprobation to have a distaste or aversion fotr the word of God.”—His Eminence James, Cardinal Gibbons. It Is a common saying that hospitality of the old-fashioned sort is al-

guest, and who cannot return our favors in kind. Our family life Is too selfish and too calculating. We need to return to this primitive virtue, which Is recommended in almost every book of the Bible. The people of the Bible were a hospitable folk. Villages and private houses had their guest chambers.'The guest had the right of asylum. His entertainment and his protection had the sanction of religion. The stranger within the gates had recognized position and reciprocal obllgatlons. “The stranger that sojoumeth with yo.u shall be unto you as the home-born among you and thou shalt love him as thyself.” This was the Old Testament law, and in the New Testament we read: “Forget not to show love unto strangers, for thereby some have entertained ’ angels unawares.” And at the Last Judgment the righteous, said Jesus, are to be commended thus: "I was a stranger and ye took me In. —Inasmuch as ye did It unto one of these, my brethren, even these least, ye did it' unto me.” The Prophet’s chamber which the Shunnamite woman and her husband prepared for Elisha brought untold blessings to their house.

DIFFERENCE IN THE FEASTS

Dinner Recently Given to Greely Survivors Must Have Recalled Sad Memories; Three men sat at meat at the New York club in memory of a “feast” which they had 30 years ago on the circumpolar pack. This is what they had then: Broiled sealskin, boiled rock lichens, one boot, two shrimps, snow water, Russian tea, starvation ice, frozen pudding. What they had these survivors, three of the Greely expedition, would not tell, but the chef at the New York club may be quoted as saying that it was one of the beet dinners ever served from a renowned kitchen. The host was Cot David L. Brainard, U. S. A., and the other two were Henry Biederbeck of Jersey City and Francis Long of the United States weather bureau, New York station. With them was Frederick F. Taylor, now a prominent insurance official, who was on board the Thetis, one of tiie relief vessels, which found the survivors on that memorable June 22, 1884, an anniversary of which was last celebrated for the first time. Capt. A. W. Greely, leader of the ill-fated arctic expedition, was unable to get away from his summer home in New Hampshire, and the other of the quintette of survivors, Maurice Connell, who is in the service of the weather bureau at San Jose, Cal., could not get leave of absence. It will be remembered that the United States joined with other nations in establishing a chain of stations in the Arctic for the purpose of collecting scientific data. General Greely’s party of 25 went up on the Proteus. The men were left at their station on Lady Franklin bay with three years’ supplies. ' It was the understanding that If no relief expedition came in two years, they were to retreat Two vessels failed to reach them and finally the expedition went to Cape Sabine, where 18 of the men starved. When Capt Winfield S. Schley arrived with the Thetis and the Bear, the seven survivors, who had been eating thongs, boots, sealskin socks, rock lichens and shrimp, were almost too weak to eat Had help been delayed 24 hours the survivors believe all would have died.

Looking Ahead.

First Debutante —Father insists that I “come out” now instead of next winter. Second Debutante---Why? 9 First Debutante —He is afraid to take a chance on the fashions in gowns six months hence. —Puck.

Heard on the Piazza.

“Don’t you miss your husband?” asked one woman. . “Miss him!” replied the other; “I want you to understand that 1 never throw things at him!"

most a lost virtue. Thp v smre,/ room and the open house are not such popular institutions as they once were, and the latchstring does not always hang ready for the wayfarer’s touch. There is a great deal of week-end-ing and. of social entertaining, but not enough of ungrudging hospital-ity-to those who have no other claim than that of