Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 107, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1915 — Page 2

MILIE’S MOTORCAR

By WALTER JOSEPH DELANEY.

(Copyright. 1315. by XV. O Chapman.) “Extravagance!” groaned Caleb I Stone, "and that means ruin. I'm gotag to get out before the crash comes." “Old and old-fashioned," described the speaker with his neighbor, but a hard sensible head was his. When be came to live with his brother William. he had bought him the little farm. It was understood that this was to entitle him to board and keep for the rest of his natural life. Old Caleb made a clean-cut sweep of all his earthly possessions except old BUl—old Bill, the family horse. The others were welcome to his use, but Caleb owned him, attended to him and cherished him as a faithful, valued link to the past His niece, Millie, had come to full maidenhood with some grand ideas. This had troubled her uncle for some time. All but engaged to a great fa vorite of Uncle Caleb, one Reuben Ashley, she got in with the fashion able set tn the village, where she did not belong, for they all had to work at the farm and William Stone had little money to spare on luxury and fine feathers. However. Nellie coaxed and wheedled him into supplying the money for some stylish clothes, and, poor, foolish child! fluttered and in a new whirl of excitement, began to look down on her more - humble friends, including plodding faithful Reuben. Then came the One day a spry spruce chauffeur whirled up to the farmhouse in a stylish' touring car. He held a long confab with William and his daughter and was fully an hour showing them the mechanical details of the machine. Old Caleb, seated in his favorite arm ehatr on the porch, marveled when he saw the chauffeur go away

Caleb Traveled All That Night.

leaving the car behind him. Caleb fancied he detected a certain unusual sneakiness in the manner of his brother, who got out of the way as Caleb approached the auto, which had been driven into the yard. •I say, Millie," he observed, “what ia your father keeping out of my way for?" “Oh. he’s planning to see where we will build the garage,” explained the young lady pertly. “The garage! Surely, he hasn’t been foolish enough to buy that expensive toy?” “Yes, he has,” pouted Millie. “All the best families in town have a car. You aren’t living these times unless you follow the procession.’’ “You’ll follow it to a great deep ruination rut!” groaned Caleb and turned sadly away. He did not upbraid William, but Caleb felt sad when he learned that a mortgage had been put on the farm to pay half down on the new machine. Millie cut a great figure with her new acquisition. William worked harder. his wife began to scrimp, the table Millie boasted of her rich and fashionable friends. Poor Reuben ceased coming to the house and was silently heartbroken. Then one day Caleb noticed that the old heavy gold watch that his brother wore, a family heirloom, was missing. The annual taxes went unpaid. Millie intimated that they ought to sell old Bill. Then Caleb rebelled. “I’m going to dig out,” he determined, and straightway Caleb proceeded to place his plans in execution. “I’m going to run away from home,” he resolved. “It’s got to come.” So, one still moonlight night after the household had gone to rest Caleb stole out of the house, a bundle of clothes under his arm. He had got the light wagon out of the stable and behind the barn with straw and blankets in its box, and old Bill neighed and rubbed his frienuiy nose against him, and seemed to understand that a change was on the books, and was glad of it “Good-by!” murmured Caleb softly, as he drove out into the road. “I don’t know exactly where I’m headed for, but I’m not too old to work, nor too blind to grab an opportunity if- it comes along ” Caleb traveled all that night At daybreak he drove into a stretch of timber, turned Bill loose, gave him some oats and proceeded to search in ' ■ ■

the straw under tn* *at for lOIM tanch ba had placed there. Hto hand met an unfamiliar and then a squirming object'* “Let go!” cried a lively juvenile voice, and up rose a boy in the hay. “Well! What in the world are you doing there T’ challenged Caleb. The boy was reticent. All be would say was that he was tramping it and had crawled into the wagon the previous evening and was hungry, and so Caleb fed him. Then in the kindness of his heart he “adopted” him —for the lad stayed with him. Now there came dark days on the family at home. Mrs. Stone got sick from worry. Her husband was fairly discouraged. Some of Millie’s fair weather friends snubbed her. An attractive lover neglected her. One day the automobile was wrecked in a collision. The company who had sold it to William took it back because of nonpayment of installments. They had to face practical issues. Millie, disenchanted of her fickle society friends, showed the true mettle that was in her. She nursed her mother, she helped her father, she went back to Reuben, and* so, at the end of a year, with harmony and economy restored, poor old William saw bright skies and possible clear sailing ahead. One day a big circus came to town. There was a procession. Catching sight of a gilded chariot in which sat a white-whispered clown and an undersited harlequin, Millie uttered a little scream and clutched Reuben’s arm hysterically. “Oh,” she cried, “there is old Bill!” Old Bill it was, gayly caparisoned. Uncle Caleb it was, an august sort of Santa Claus clown, and his agile harlequin companion was the boy tramp. Uncaparisoned, and man and boy in civilised costume, old Bill sniffed the air of the old home stable delightedly as he arrived at the farm that evening. “Cured, eh?” smiled Uncle Caleb, as he kissed Millie, pretty and sensiblelooking in her neat dimity gown. “And Reuben back? Say, this is some home coming!” Then he told his wandering brother of “a job with the circus and good pay.” He had earned enough to clear off the balance of the mortgage. “▲nd there’ll be- a wedding!" chuckled old Caleb, .tremendously glad to rest once more under the home •roof. There was an afterglow, rare and radiant, to the supreme satisfaction of Caleb Stone. The boy, Wilfred, whom he had taught to work, had come to delight in the company of the quaint old man. One day he wrote a letter. A week later a well-dressed man appeared—his father. The lad had run away from home. But for good honest old Caleb he might have drifted into bad company. His wealthy father left such a big money reward for Caleb that it fairly dazzled him. Every year Wilfred makes a long visit to the farm. Every hour of her life Millie Ashley la thankful for the experience that made of her a true, sensible woman.

Loafing In City and Country.

Loafing in New York is the most fascinating business in the world. Why, It seems as if you New York men actually struggle to get spare time. I’ve sat in your office and watched you on Saturday morning working yourself into a blue haze in your efforts to get done early enough to cord up a fine big mess of leisure on Saturday afternoon. That’s the difference between New York and Homeburg. In Homeburg you would have been stretching out your job to last until supper time— unless you were one of our 19 golfers, or the roads were good enough to let you drive over to. the baseball game at Paynesville. Leisure in New York means pleasure. excitement and seven dozen kinds of interest. But for many and many a long year in hundreds of Horneburg homes leisure has meant waiting for mealtime —and not much of anything else. City people laugh at country people for beating the chickens to roost. But what are you going to do when going to bed is the most fascinating diversion available after supper?—George Fitch in the American Magazine.

Frankly Answered.

The teacher in a public school was instructing a youthful class in physiology, and when the interval of questioning came she turned to a brightfaced girl at the head of the class. “Now, then, Mildred,” said she, “can you tell me what cuticle is?” Mildred couldn’t First she stood on one foot then on the other, interspersing the act with many facial contortions, but the answer was not forthcoming. “Let me put it to you another way, Mildred,” continued the teacher, encouragingly. “What are my face and hands covered with?” “Oh, I know, Miss Mary,’* exclaimed Mildred, with a brightening expression, “Freckles!" 1

Interesting Diary.

“Troubles that Never Happened" is the title of one of the most interesting little manuscript diaries imaginable. It was kept for one year by a woman who discovered that she was rapidly becoming a chronic worrier. In ft was promptly listed each expected trial— everything she was “afraid” would happen. In course of time she duly chronicled the outcome, and it made inspiring reading, for the most part As she said, the few that df ! happen “proved the rule.”

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

Seven-Passenger Touring Car Equipped With Steel Tires for Running on Railroad Track. These Tires Are Easily Put On or Removed, So That the Car Can Be Used Either for Railway or Highway Service.

AUTO RUNS ON TRACK

CAN BE EASILY CONVERTED INTO RAILROAD CAR. Ono Is In Use for inspection Purposes on a Loading Line—Steel Tire Made to Fit Over the Pneumatic. The latest feature in railroad Inspection cars is a flanged steel tire that can be fitted securely over a pneumatic tire, thus making an ordinary automobile suitable for running on a railroad track, and a seven-pas-senger touring car equipped in this way is already in use on one of the leading American railroads. The steel tire has the tread and flange- of a standard railroad tire, but is provided with a deep groove on the inner surface into which the pneumatic tire fits. The pneumatic tire'is first partly deflated and the steel tire is slipped over it, after which the pneumatic tire is inflated until it comes to a firm bearing in the groove of the steel tire. With this arrangement, the pneumatic tire serves its original purpose of absorbing the shock and vibration. When operating on the railroad track the steering gear is locked by clamping the steering knuckle, with the wheels lined up for going straight ahead. —Popular Mechanics.

LARGE ORDER FOR AMERICA

Greek Government Has Contracted for Twenty of the Largest Type of Locomotives. Consul General Alexander W. Weddell, Athens, writes that a contract has recently been closed between the Greek government and an American company for the construction of 20 locomotives and tenders for the lines of La Societe des Chemins de Fer Helleniques. The locomotives are expected to be in use by the end of 1915. The locomotives and tenders are to cost >IB,OOO each f. o. b. steamer, New York. They are to be of the type known as Mikado. Delivery of the locomotives is .to be made within three months from the arrival at the factory of the representatives of the Greek government who are to overlook the construction and the deposit of the negotiable notes at a New York or London bank covering the cost. These negotiable notes, deposit of which is to be made at once, will be delivered to the company on receipt from it of the bills of lading covering the shipment of the locomotives; they are payable six months after date, and bear Interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum. Provision is made In the contract of sale for the settlement of any questions arising through the appointment of arbitrators; the third member of the arbitration board, in the event of disagreement between the parties, is to be the president of the Society of Civil Engineers of London. The contract has been ratified by royal decree.

Use Railroads as Sleeping Places.

In some of the uncivilized parts of the world which are penetrated by common carriers, railroad tracks are said to be favorite slumbering places for many of the natives. In India women and children who are employed in unloading freight cars are not infrequently seen sleeping on a right of way with their heads resting on the rails, often making it necessary for someone te walk ahead of a train and awaken them in order that it may pass, in certain sections of China a similar condition exists and is responsible for a large percentage of the fatalities caused by railroads there. Upon first seeing a locomotive the natives are usually filled with dread, which later gives way to supreme confidence. —Popular Mechanics.

Fans Should be Kept True.

A cause of fan breaking that is rather common is the running of the fan when it is considered out of balance, which results in setting up stresses that the sheet metal often win not withstand. If a fan does not turn true it should be made to do so by bending back into position or bringing the circumferential wire or band into shape if it has been distorted. Often a fast-running fan, if much out of balance, will set up a noticeable vibration of its own, which ia hard on the fan bearings, as well as the fish itself. . , \

AUTO THAT RUNS ON THE RAILS

"ENGINEMEN DIE FOR DUTY”

Worthy Epitaph Suggested by the Grand Secretary of Brotherhood. “They died in performance of their duty,” Is the epitaph which could be placed over the gravfiifof half of the locomotive firemen on western railroads, according to A. W. Hawley, grand secretary and treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen. Hawley was testifying at the western wage arbitration hearing. “The actual percentage of firemen who die in service,” testified Hawley, “is 47 per cent. Fifty-seven per cent of the benefits paid by the brotherhood since 1904 were for blindness and amputation. In 1913 there were 30 amputations, of which 24 were due to smashups. In the same year there were 20 cases of blindness. Ten were the result of smashups. There were 6,250 killed and disabled in 1913.” In cross-examination of W. Jett Lauck, expert accountant, by Grand Chief Engineer Stone on the matter of productive efficiency and increased wages, the witness said: “After all has been said and done, these western railroads have accumulated a credit of from 700 million dollars to one billion dollars, which has been made possible by productive efficiency of the men—not taking into account watered stock, bonuses to shareholders or other high finance."

WORKING FOR "SAFETY FIRST”

Official of Western Railroad Employs Phonograph to Impress the Mexican Employees.

In furtherance of the “safety first” principle, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad company has equipped its safety commissioner, Isaiah Hale, with a seven-passenger automobile so fitted with removable tires as to permit of the machine being run on the standard-gage track of the system. With him in the automobile Mr. Hals carries a phonograph and he operates the car over those stretches of the road in the far Southwest where great numbers of the Mexican section hands, track laborers and other employees are regaled with a program of phonographic selections. In this the Spanish tango and Mexican song records predominate. Thus the swarthy men from across the frontier are prepared for the nine-minute "safety talk” in Spanish—the Spanish of the border —which closes the impromptu “concert.” This consists of a graphic recital of the disaster which must attend the taking of chances on and about the company’s lines and property. Whenever he finds that the Mexican “boys” have a phonograph in their bunk cars, Mr. Hale leaves a set of “tango" and song records, which is sure to include one of the “safetytalks.” —Scientific American.

Twelve-Cylinder Cars Coming.

Although no definite announcements have been made as yet, and probably will not be made for a few weeks, it is well known that several makers contemplate bringing out a 12-cylin-der model next year. The significant hint was given at an automobile dealers’ dinner recently, in which it was stated that “if the public demanded a 12-cyllnder car” this company was prepared to furnish ft. The flexibility obtained with a mtay-cylindered motor is an inducement to many motorists to put up with many of its drawbacks and complexities. At the present time there is but a single 12cylinder car made, the racing model of the “Sunbeam,” a British make, which took part in The last Decoration day races at Indianapolis.—Scientific American.

Franco-Swiss Railroad Connection.

A piece of engineering work which has an important bearing on interna tional railroad traffic Is the completion of the tunnel This will afford a long-desired connec tion from the East French railroads to the Swiss lines centering at BerneFrom here, transit is made by way of the Loetschberg line to the Simplon tunnel and to Italy. The length of the Moutier-Granges tunnel is somewhat over five miles. Work was commenced on November 6, 1911, being retarded by strikes in 1913 and by the recent mobilization, after which it was taken up again on September 30, 1914. Drilling work is now completed.— Scientific American.

FOR AGES TO CONE

Future Generations Were Their Sole Concern Until They Met One Another. (Copyright. 1915. by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) There were those who said that the reason Joseph Blanchard had reached the age of thirty without ever having been in love, to say nothing of having taken a wife, was because he had a fad. Every man has a fad, even to the fad of picking up stray pins on the sidewalk, but what all men are ready to deny is that they have one. Some other fellow is Invariably the guilty party. Thus, while a score of persons iwid that John Blanchard had a fad, he said to himself that be* was the only man in a thousand who steered dear of them. As a youth, Master Blanchard was Inclined to serious thought; one of the most serious was the reservation of the present for the future. He realised that all things, even to nations, must decay and leave no more behind them than the cave dwellers. There must come a time, maybe a hundred thousand years hence, when a new nation would long • to know how the American lived in this day and date. . They would go hunting around for relics and souvenirs, and they would And remains' of skyscrapers, subways, elevated roads. Here and there they would uncover a poem written by a Yankee schoolma’am —now and then a speech delivered by a senator; but from those things could any future historian make out the real life of the people? And John Blanchard wept to making a collection. It was such a collection as would enable the future historians to make out our everyday life, even down to the brand of cigars the men smoked, and the name of the bars of soaps the women bought for the laundries. John Blanchard’s name was to be saved to posterity. The first move he made was to write out his history from birth to date, and then begin a diary, which should only close with his death. He bought books to be inclosed in Iron boxes; he filed away daily papers; he preserved magazines; he gathered postage stampsand coins. John Blanchard was the son of wealthy parents. When he attained his majority he had more wealth awaiting him. He could and he did erect a building and stuff it from basement to garret with his collections. He was still at it when he made a new acquaintance that was bound to bring about changes in his life. John Blanchard might have been the only male faddist in his town that carried the idea to an extreme, and It never occurred to him that a female might enter the lists against him. One (lid, however. It was Miss Myra Ray, a young woman who had dwelt In this vale of tears almost as long as he had, although her fad wasn't born so early.

Miss Myra realized that the day must come when the last trust, the last grafter and the last American must go hence, and leave the ruins Of his cities to be pawed over by relic hunters of a later race and to be the hooting place of big-eyed owls, and that she had a duty to do. Those people who were to come after would be curious about our bird life. They would wonder if our robins had teeth Ilka a grizzly bear, If our blue-' birds carried off and devoured babies, if the woodpecker emerged from his oave at midnight to revel in human gore. It was her mission to leave a leaf of history behind for their benefit. She, as well as Mr. Blanchard, had wealth and could indulge herself. She began collecting the eggs of birds and acquiring stuffed ' specltnens. In this she spent thousands of dollars. She was thorough in her work, too. She cotfid speak and write three different languages, and she never packed up and laid away an egg or a stuffed specimen without writing on three different cards: > "This Is the egg of a quail,” or “This is the quail himself* or whatever egg or bird it was. When Miss Myra had accumulated enough specimens to load several trucks she turned to insects. The race that was to come would ask what kind of horseflies, hornets and fleas the fest Americans did business with The collection of the young woman woul3 answer any question. She could imtatee the Investigator of 100,000 years heiSee Inquiring of himself: “Now, then, I wofSWT' the bftaaed old hornet is a neW tW with tfSor if they had him in fc*g ago?” And then her collecfittff wsuld be discovered. “I'll be halghd If the pesky varmint isn’t right fiwr*. as big as Mfe, and the hossfly fe the next stall to him,” the invtafeator would exclaim. Miss Myra bought insects of small boys, and she went afield for ttam personally- The farmer didn’t pay much attention to the boy roaming over the fields tn search of the grasshopper, but when it eame to a woman racing up and down with a net" in her hand and her eyes bulging out he would stop his plow to stare. “Good lands, tat ’'span I had married that thing instead es Mirandy!” Mr. John Blanchard heard of a farmer who had a vataaKe collection of manuscripts that wuuM give history a fail insight tata ear ways of

doing business in the nineteenth and twentieth century. It was a farmer who never paid a debt unless he was about to be burned at the stake, and the valuable manuscripts were the dunning letters he had received. You may call it a coincidence. •> You may call ft luck. You may say it was the hand of Providence. Whatever it was it brought the two collectors face to face on that farm. It introduced them. It was a bond between them. It made Mirs Myra agree that the dunning letters were the cap-sheaf of the collection, and it made Mr. Blanchard volunteer to go with her and help capture a few crickets. The farmer refused a very liberal offer for his manuscripts, on the grounds that if he had money his creditors would pursue him afresh; and when he came to half understand the business of the collectors, he was filled with contempt ’That feller orter be splittin’ wood and that woman orter be slicin’ apples to dry!” was the way he looked at It, and when they came to ask where the largest and choicest crickets could be found he pointed to a bush In the pasture and replied: “You’ll find some lively ones down there.” The farmer’s wife came out to him at the plow and asked: “Josiah, what does that woman want?” "Why, she’s one of ’em." “Does she want to buy them dunning letters, or the old letters you wrote me afore we were married?” “No. She’s after bugs.” “Good lands!” “I couldn’t make out exactly what, she wanted of them, but when they asked about crickets I sent ’em over in tha pasture.’*

“Are they goln’ to fry the grease out of ’em for rheumatism?” "Dunno. I couldn’t understand) half their big talk." And as the two collectors walked slowly across the field they warmed toward each other, as was natural. Of the millions of people in the United States they, it was very likely, were the only ones working for those who were to be cavorting around when the Falls of Niagara were worn out like an old washboard. Two lawyers would have been in a wrangle in five minutes as to who should have the crickets after they had been captured. ■ Two editors would have dragged politics Into it and called each other liars.

Two poets would have wrangled about the moonlight and dubbed each other jlnglers. But two collectors! Their souls recognized each other at once and clasped hands, as It were. Mr. Blanchard and Miss Day were so long on their way to the cricket roost that the farmer growled to himselff “If I was after an insect I’d hurry up and get him by a hind leg and then sit. on the fence and do my talking!” But the collectors reached the spot at last. It was a space of matted grass, with brush growing in the midst of it.

There were no crickets to be seen, but it was the hour of the day when such insects sleep and dream, and get ready for the business of the evening. It was right and proper that Mr J. Blanchard should get down on his knees and paw around In the grass, and he pawed with energy and determination. He found Insects after a minute, but they were not crickets. The farmer saw Mr. Blanchard leap to his feet fa surprise. He heard Miss Day uttef a shriek and saw her running away. ■ Then he saw Mr. Blanchard rttkning away and beating the air with his hat. Then it was Miss Day who bounded around and fought something with her field net Then the farmer said to himself: “They’ve struck that bufiiMe bed* nest that I was saving sos a wire fence Man, and perhaps theyU need help. Queer that these bug folks can’t tell * cricket from a bee!" There Wta need of his help. Both collectors W«re tearing around in the field both enffhtftic and woeful. Armed with a brokta bust!, the . rescuer fought the bed* io a standstill, but they had done ttair work. The wife came from the house' to lead Miss Day to it, and the husband brought up the rear of the procession with Mr. Blanchard. “It -will be three or four days before you can go,” said the doctor who was called. It turned tat to be five, fait after the second day time passed joyfully. With their heads and hands bafir daged, and one dye' opened enOtigb to M# their way, the collectors sat 6n the veranda and talked of birds aiid eggg and manuscripts tad Insects add—save. YeW they talked tove to leave a record <Sf how it was done in IoM America in the twentieth centurf- And when they departed tor their' homes the farmer said to hfa wife: “They dfter make them bumblebees a pftaitat of 1100 for sttagfag the fads outer*

Where to look for Information.

A Third paper reports thlW gratifying diaA®se by telephone: “Hello! Is this <l»Hews office? Say, what prices did fltey get for hogs at Farmer Blank’s safe?" The editor pondered a moment and replied: “The Blank sale was advertised by posters tacked on trees and frtßes Probably the results of the sale wfll be made paMßc bi the same mamma. Keep your eyes open for some free* information along the hedges.’*—Kansas City