Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1915 — Page 2

THE SALESGIRL TALKS

By CLARENCE CULLEN.

It was one of those loathly “matching” missions, undertaken, with direful threats in case of nonfulfillment, at the breakfast table that morning, that brought me alongside the ribbon counter of the great department store. Pour women were ahead of me at the counter. “ None of them appeared to know whether she wanted cerfte or aliee-blue ribbon. But they all seemed to be perfectly certain that the salesgirl, who had a great many puffs, an uptilted nose, and a certain self-pro-tecting manner of independence, was trying to put something over on them. Therefore they one and all spatted with her. The spats were unequal, because the salesgirl needed her Job. After going over the entire stock all four of theAwomen deeided that they wouldn’t buy any ribbon “I seen you lampin' them four pills,’’ said the salesgirl as she took my “matching" sample and studied it with tired eyes. “How would yuh like to stand behind here and let about * thousand of them pills a day heave Irish confetti at yuh?” “Irish confetti?" I Inquired, mystified. “Half-bricks—yuh’re on’y pretendin’ that yuh don’t get me, ain’t yuh? Well, there ain’t anythin’ in thiß thing o’ satin’ on the mourners’ bench; but along about this time o’ the afternoon I feel so clawed up by them pillin’ cats that breeze in here to take a' “ Inventory o’ stock that I get to thinkln* I’m flghtin’ the inmates of i~"Bide-ar Wee home. “Them four dolls didn’t skate in here t’ buy. They Just ambled along t. scratch. They’ve been V-wedgin’ through bargain-counter crushes all day, and they’ve picked up a peeve, doin’ that, that they’re afraid to tote home t’ their men-folks because they are hep that the men, when they hit the hall and hang their kellys up on the rack, are goin’ t’ be there with grouches themselves. ‘They’re not keen fr the kind o’ all-hand a medicine that the hubbydove’ll pull in case anythin’ is started. So, Just t’ get the rough edges o’ their peeves sand-papered down, they skid along here a little while before closin’ up time and begin t’ toss chunkß o’ loose asphalt at ua sunny-natured-look-ln’ dolls behind the counters. A lot of ’em pick me out because I’m there most o’ the time with one o’ them grins that got froze on my map by mistake when I first fell intuh this business and before I Jerried up t’ it that the grlnner is pie for them wimmen that wants somebody t’ pick on. ' “There ain’t no use chirpin’ about it, I’m crazy over my own sex. They make it Just about as peaceful for me as if 1 was on a battle field ten hours a aav. Sometimes I feel like I’m developin’ intuh a white hope. It used t‘ bp that I d let ’em hand me the harpoon oue after the other.- just as fast as they could nudge up t’ the counter “But four years of It has funneled the vinegar Intuh my nachully winsome disposition, so that now I take a slant at their wicks as they elbow along; and If they’re there with that I’m - goin’ - t’-push -vuh-one-in-the-chops glitter in their lamps, I feel myself stiffenin’ like somebody that’s waitin’ for & trolley car t’ hit him on the nigh end o’ the wishbone, and it’s all’ I can do t’ keep from tricklin’ back as good as they shoot in.

"On’y I need the eight-a-week, ■whereas that eight thing isn't gum change for them, so that they’ve got me sewed up before the gong rings, and they know it. So the best I get for mine is a ’casional little uppercut that I’ve gotta eat as like as not before the ambulance in the shape of the floorwalker comes up, whereas they can paste me ontuh the ropes and swing on me with both mitts. . "And they're hard t’ dope by just lookin’ ’em over, if yuh’re inquirin’ o’ .me. I get ’em right, as they sail down the aisle, about four times outa five. Then I head-on intuh one that don’t run t’ her looks, and I’m in Heinie. "D’ye think you can chart ’em right because they're there with one o’ them Dolly Varden smiles? I’m askin’ yuh that, because most men do. I ain’t . never cut the trail yet of a man that wasn’t a fall-guy for a smilin’ cat But I needn’t talk. I’m a mark for that stuff myself ev’ry once in a while, ‘TU wise yuh t’ one of the smilin’ kind that waltzed up to my counter day before yestiddy afternoon. She ■was a nifty-dressed, peachy-skinned dumplin’ of about thirty or so, that was togged like she had a man workin’ the day and night shifts both ends from the middle f keep her diked out in all the scenery fit f wear. “I wicked her smile when she was 20 feet away. It looked like the sun cornin’ out from under a cloud and shl|niaerin’ -on the water on the day youh're oound for Coney. Some dolls pull that kind of a grin all the time that they’re not sleepin’ just t’ give all. a chance t* pipe their pearly teeth. But this one’s smile looked t’ be on the level. .. "Tm goin’ t’ get alohg with this connin' fatty,’ says I to myself, as she swung for my counter. ‘She’S, a chatty little thing that'll be prattlin’ to me all about the newd of the day and askin’ me if I don't find the life of a salesgirl hard, and if I’m engaged, and if not why not, an’ all the like o' that Hi-bum! It’d nice t’ wait on a cheerful skirt just before closin’-up time.’ “That's a. bug with jnost of us, yuh know—f top ofl the day by waitin’ on

one that don’t bark at ua We hate t* break outa the. plant and steer for the ballroom with the coyote music in our ears, and that’s what it sounds like at the end of a long day when wc snag a piller to be waited on just before the big doors kre closed and we’re due to vamp. - - • ....

“Well, this one with the dimples and the fine double row o’ mother-o’* pearl tnolars and the sunny smirk that looked like the twenty-four carat thing plumped on a stool In front of rpe, and looked me right In the lamps with a widenin’ of her cutey grin; and I wiped the froze grin from my chart and smiled right hack at her, and It looked like a sure thing that we’re goin’ t’ be little playmates for the time, and get along like as if both of us had been, rollin’ the same hoop and playin' puss-in-the-corner together ever sines we begun f wear our hair In braids. “Does she run to form? Does she? Say, honest, I ain’t through yet pickin’ chiggers and burs that that sunnymapped doll tossed at me from her side o’ the counter.

“As soon as she opened her face I had a sudden, chilly feelin’ that I’d got her wrong, and that she was goin’ t* add her monniker t’ my list o’, mistakes in pickin’ ’em from their looks. “She had a voice that sounded like a creaky dumb-waiter cornin’ up when the Janitor is sore after one o’ them reg’lar nights. Her voice was no morn like her smile than a rubber plant la like a early lilac, and she was out for battle, murder, arson, and collectin’ the insurance before she’d been squatted on the stool nine seconds. “And all the time, get me, ihe wicked me just like the eye of a camera, and kept that smile workin’ her dimples.as if she was pullin’ down eight dollars a minute for that stuff.

“She wanted t’ match some mauve baby-ribbon, and I had the thing that answered t’ her sample uqder a microscope and a searchlight. Would she see It? Not bo’s you could observe it with the undraped optic. She told me, gazin’ at me with her homemade, mo-lasses-candy smile all the time, that my goods had a greenish tint, and was no more mauve than diluted watermelon Is Chinese yellow. “Then she added that if I tried f get a Job as a brakeman In a freightyard I’d get the toss for color blindness before I’d got more- than one foot into the examination room. “Smirkin’ merrily all the time, with the dimples ripplin’ across her chart like little wavelets on a still pond, she asked me how I had ever bunked a reg’lar store Intuh stakin’ me t’ a Job that called for color-matchin’." (Copyright.)

WHY POPES NEVER PREACH

Tradition of the Church, That Hit Seldom Been Broken, Forbids Presence in Pulpit.

The preparation and delivery of sermons which impose such a heavy burden of toil upon other ministers of God have no terrors for the pope, for the good and sufficient reason that the traditions of the church forbid his preaching. Of all the many strange restrictions which hedge about a pope, one of the strangest is that he should not be allowed to preach. Only once in 300 years has a pope delivered a sermon, and that was under most exceptional circumstances in 1846. On the Octave of the Epiphany a celebrated preacher, Padre Ventura, was to have occupied the pulpit in St. Peter’s, but was suddenly taken ill. To prevent disappointment to the vast crowd which had assembled Plus IX broke through the custom of ages, and ascending the pulpit delivered a simple, homely sermon that perhaps impressed its hearers more than the finest eloquence might have done, because of its uniqueness.

A Russian Sentinel,

The sternest ideal of military duty is fulfilled by the Rushan soldier. An Illustration is given by an English officer who has seen service in the East. On leaving an Armenian village, he • passed a beautiful green valley, watered by a river that flowed between strong embankments. His Armenian servant told him that, after a great storm, the river had risen in such a flood that the persons living near the bank fled for their lives. There was a powder magazine near the river. The sentinel who was guarding it prepared to retreat, but the officers who were watching the scene from a mountain forbade him to leave his post. For an hour the sentinel struggled against the rising waters, clinging desperately to the lock of the magazine door.

The yfcater rose to his chin, and then the flood ceased. He was decorated by the government with the ribbon of some honorary order in recognition of his heroic obedience.

Irresistible.

Some nations (of a remote world) were very intent upon living at peace one with another — so latent that they spent enormous sums in making themselves prepared for war. For in that world, curiously -enough, the conditions were such that there was no way to keep from fighting except to he ready to do so at the drop of a hat But incidentally to these martial preparations it was impossible to prevent war acquiring, potentially, new horrors, and when these numbered several the nations suddenly flew at one another’s throat They laid it to a hatural curiosity. “We “himply had to try those new honors out!” they explained to the astonished onlookers, who had been saylag tbat tbwc aW .would be : other great war.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

('randilia, a suburb of Constantinople on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus,, occupied as a residential quarter by the British and open to attack by the Turkish warships. i_; -

TAKE WAR LIGHTLY

Hindus Cheerfully Patient Under All Circumstances. One Complains That Prussian Soldier’s Neck Is Too Fat for Strangling— Meet Old Comrades in Arms. , London. —A correspondent of the Times, who signs himself “An AngloIndian,” contributes the following: “One woilld not have recognized the tired, war-worn crew who cAme In yesterday in a hail of pelting sleet. Most of them were sitting up in their beds chatting and laughing; pears, apples, cigarettes, chocolate and war pictures were strewn on the tables by "their sides, a hot scruhdewirsiia thff oiling and massago of the head, which the Indian loves, had altered the color of life to them. A Mussulman from the Khyber whom I had seen lifted in the day before on the shoulders of two orderlies, his face pitted with the debris thrown up by a shell, was lying back peacefully smoking a cigarette. . “I found the Dogras and Gurkhas together. They had come from the game part of the field. “‘How were you hit?’ I asked one. “ ‘By a pataka, sahib.’ “‘A cracker!’ At first I did not understand. A pataka is the cracker which is thrown about the streets when the religious processions pass in the bazaar. “ ‘A bomb,’ he explained. “It Blowly dawned on me that the man thus lightly dismissed a ‘Jack Johnson’ or a ‘Black Maria.’ ‘The war is not like the war in old times,’ he added regretfully. "Some of the wounded had not seen the Germans. Those who had did not

speak; respectfully of them. One man who had come to grips with a fat Prussian complained that he could not get the fingers of both hands round his opponent’s throat. ‘They are not bony men,’ he added. But this would mean less resistance to the kukri. While he was struggling and rolling on the ground he was shot point-blank through the lung and the bullet had come out through his shoulder.

“Another man told me how his comi pany and another were enfiladed by machine gun fire in the trenches and lost all their British officers. A havildar got the men together and led I them back in the dark to the line behind' They had been badly'pounded and felt a little lost rnd uncertain where. they would find themselves. By a piece of good fortune they hit on the trenches of the Sesforths. The | Highlanders and Gurkhas are old comrades in arms. “There was a story in the ward of a wounded havildar who fell into the hands of a Good Samaritan. The German officer spoke to him in "Hindustani, asking him the number of his regiment and where he came from. He bound up his wounds, gave him a drink and brought him a bundle of . straw to support his head. “The Gurkha as a rule is direct and matter of fact, more interested in ; physical than abstract affairs, as when he complains of the thickness of the German’s neck. But one meets a more Dumasesque type sometimes among the Sikhs and Mohammedans. 1 asked a Pathan how many of the enj einy he had killed. “‘A great many,’ he said; ‘one cani not count.’ | .‘IBe Souza, a delicate, cultured • youth, who was laid up with a slight j attack of pneumonia, gave me a vivid ! picture-,hf life in the trenches. The German trenches were not two hundred yards from his own, and he lay awake at -night listening to their accordions and concertina?. He seemed rather to like the music. One morning they hoisted up a huge placard on a pole with the inscription in large ( letters: , r . , “ Indians Fight on Our Side. “ ‘Woe to the British.’ ! It at once became a target. | “If it ever entered one’s head that the Indians had drifted-into this war j lightly and were -now depressed “br 1 their hardships and losses, half an

HOMES OF BRITISH AT CONSTANTINOPLE

hour among these sepoys would dispel the idea at once. Where there Is discouragement or discontent It must find expression, directly or indirectly, especially among tlje sick. But there is the same story of cheerful patience and endurance everywhere. The English cause Is theirs, they are proud to be fighting with Tommy Atkins, and they do not count the cost. I have had It as first hand from of all castes and creeds, and I have not met an Indian medical service man or a regimental officer who does not tell me the same thing.”

FEAR SHORTAGE OF HORSES

American Army Officers May Suggest That Sale to Belligerents Be Checked. London. —American army officers who are watching the military situation in Europe are concerned over the prospect of America’s supply of horses being depleted by the enormous exportations to the belligerents, this creating a dangerous condition regarding American army requirements. The wholesale and indiscriminate shipments of mares is regarded particularly as dangerous. It is probable that some suggestion will be made for the nonexportation of mares, possibly encouraging the owners to keep them by the payment of some government bounty, as In England and France. France recently ordered 150,000 horses from America. New contracts will be made the first of the year, and England also Is making large purchases in America and Canada. The situation threatens to be far worse than after the Poor war, when America’s horse industry was paralyzed. *.-

The telephone operator, stationed at the bottom of a hayrick, is relaying information securpd by a scout stationed at the top of the rick.

BRUTAL SOLDIER IS SHOT

French Shoot Man Who Cuts Off the Ears of German Sentry. Berlin.—The newspapers print the story of the killing and mutilation of a German sentry who had been watching wire entanglements and comment appreciatively on what is termed the quick justice meted out by the French to the man who mutilated him. The soldier was found dead December 4. His ears had been cut off. The following day an officer of the French infantry appeared' before the German position under a flag of trace and expressed to the German commanding officer the abhorrence of his regiment at the action of the culprit, lte haid. Bfih been coademned and shot

TELEPHONE IN WAR

IS HERO OF HEROES

Corporal Rewarded for Repeated Acts of Gallantry. with 25 Men He Occupies New German Trench and Defends It Against Whole Company—Rescues Officer Under Fire. By R. FRANKLIN TAT^. (International News Service.) Paris—Corporal Phillip of the Twen-ty-fourth Colonial Infantry is a brave of braves. He had been awarded the military medal for repeated acts of gallantry in this war. When his lieutenant fell wounded and the Germans were running up to capture him the corporal rushed in under their heavy fire and rescued his officer under their very noses. He is the kind of man who comes at once to the front when the situation is desperate. The other day the colonel sent for him and said: “Phillip, I know you are a gallant fellow, and that is my reason for intrusting you with an extremely perilous mission. At nightfall you will take 25 men and go to the crest yonder, where German soldiers are seen digging a trench. You are to endeavor to remain there in concealment till the morning, when you will return and report what you have seen.” At nightfall away went the little party. On reaching the crest the corporal saw German engineers digging a trench, whileca sentry kept guard. Hiding 24 of his men in a little wood, he took the twenty-fifth man with him, saying: “When we*get near the German sentry and he cries, ‘Wer da!’ you must keep apart from me, to the left, and make a noise with your bayonet, so as to make him turn your way. Then, no matter what he does or what I do, lie down and await my orders.” Stealthily the two approached so near the sentry that they could hear him softly humming a tune. Then Phillip moved to the right and intentionally made a slight noise. “Wer da!”- challenged the sentry. Instantly the soldier keeping to the left rattled his bayonet, and the German turned toward him. At the same moment Phillip was on him, running him through the body twice with his bayonet. His aim had been so true that the sentry dropped dead without a cry. The men working vigorously in the trench twenty or thirty yards away had heard nothing. Quicker than a quick-change artist the corporal donned the dead man’s helmet and cloak and seizing his rifle began pacing up and down in his stead. Every now and then as he passed he rolled the body a little farther away. At last the trench was ready, and the Germans retired to the main body, calling a friendly good-by to the sentry. who, without a word continued on his beat. But they had no sooner disappeared than helmet and cloak were flung to the ground and the corporal was running toward the wood. A few minutes later the 26 French infantrymen were installed in the German trench.

At daybreak a Bavarian company marched up to occupy the trench. The men, all unsuspecting, were chatting and-joking. A few yards away from the trench a murderous fire greeted them- They attempted to rush it, but 26 rifles kept mowing them down, and finally the survivors broke and fled —all except 18, who threw 1 up their hands. A few days later the corporal was shoti.in the right arm and shoulder, but refused to go to the ambulance. He fought on for the next 24 hours. In the thick of the fighting he shot a German officer, who fall. The corporal ran forward to bring him in, but the officer, drawing his revolver, fired the last shot, the bullet shattering the corporal’s shoulder. The Frenchman had strength. enough to heat out hi* enemy’s brains with the butt end of his rifle, but then he collapsed with pain and lefts of blood.

A New Pitcher. "Henry, the baby shouldn’t have been given that hard rubber ball. He ju*t thrown it at his slater and made her cry.” “I saw It happen. Wonderful, wasn’t it?” - "What was wafideffarr mr iitsir cub threw It with a curve 1’

HOME TOWN HELPS

SHRUB SHOULD PROVE BOON

Possibility That Plant Long Sought For Has Been Discovered In Western Texas.

Most flowering shrubs have their short season of bloom, and though at that time they are of great beauty, the flowers last only a short time. Then we must be content to look at the green foliage, and attractive! though that is, we wish for a longer!

season of bloom. The wish is met in the discovery in the mountains of western Texas, in the semi-arid regions, of a shrub which bears the name Salvia Gregii. We all know the alluring beauty of

the annual salvia splendens. At a- sear son when flowers are scarce it clothes Itself in a splendor and keeps up the proce|Bion of beauty until arrested by the frosts. Now if we could clothe a shapely shrub with this radiant profusion and have i,t in bloom a long time, we would have just what we have been looking for for years. The Salvia Gregii is a shapely shrub three or four feet tall, well branched and often of a globular form. It commences blooming early. It clothes itself with a splendor of glowing red for about two months. Then it slacks up a little, but as autumn approaches, and most other flowers have gone, it puts on its scarlet robes again, almost

overwhelming the plant with the splendid flowers. Probably no shrub ever discovered is more attractive. The question comes up as to whether it will stand the northern climate. Florists have not been in haste to disseminate it. They have sent it to several of the northern states, where it has proved hardy. During the awful drought of last year in Kansas it stood the test bravely and kept right on blooming. In Massachusetts and Pennsylvania it came through the winter all right. Because its habitat is the high, dry portions of the West, it will doubtless prove well adapted to the heat and drought of Kansas and Nebraska. It certainly has the power to resist heat and drought and will withstand the winter. *

EXAMPLE IN CITY PLANNING

New York'* Preparation for the Future Is Worthy of Emulation by Any Community.

New York city has a committee on city planning. This committee Is composed of the five borough presidents and the president of the board of aldermen of the greater city. Its particular purpose, or hope, at this time is to make the city a capable dwelling place fbr 12,000,000 persons before this generation Is succeeded. That is a stimulating lesson for little big cities. It proves that “it is never too late to mend.” . It proves, indeed, that the more a city grows the more It must amend and pay for the shortsightedness of its youth. If New York (with 6,000,000 people already and all pretty well crowded together, with real estate values up beyond the dreams of avarice) can take up the neglected work of widening streets, creating open air spots and all the rest of It, what is there to daunt any city? Should selfishness of property owners be permitted now to Interfere with a city’s making itself capable and efficient for all the needs of all the people that are soon to make it a greater city?

Work of Men of Highest Ability.

Before the niqeteenth century not only the men who executed, but especially the men who directed the work of laying out hities, tvere possessed of much broader and more general culture than today can be found in those men who hold most influential positions. The most convincing examples were the princes of the old regime, who in so many cases were the pushing force that brought about the great artistic achievements in city planning that we admire today. These men, as a rule, made it their business to keep in constant touch with the leading exponents of the best and newest ideals. All over Italy, Germany and France courts could be found that were the continuous meeting places of the best artists, painters, architects, engineers and thinkers on every subject atmosphere of perpetually enlightened discussion and congenial criticism could the fine conceptions in artistic city planning grow, the realizations of which have stood the test century after century.

Artistic Lamp Posts.

Designed to embody beauty as well as service, lamp posts erected cm one of tbe streets of Los Angeles aril fitted with large flower boxes which circle the poles- Just beneath the cluster of lights which they support. .These are filled the year around with ferns and other plants which droop gracefully over the sides of the baskets, always fresh and' green. The effect is striking, giving the street Just enough of the artistic to take away from it much of that severely characteristic of most business thoroughfares In American cities.—Popular Mechanics.