Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1915 — Page 2

HIS FRIVOLOUS FAD

By ESTHER BAYARD CHURCHILL

(Copyright, 1916, by W. G. Chapman.) **l have fully decided. I shall not alter my mind. You will give up your position here, and go back to college for a post-graduate course of two years.” Thus spoke stern, iron-willed Cyrus Merrill, owner of the oldest and biggest bank in Ridgeton. His nephew, Alton Merrill, looked glum and dared. "Unde, you can’t mean it!” he faltered. "Surely you cannot be so unjust as to allow an innocent frolic to alter all the cherished plans of my life?” "An innocent frolic!” repeated the implacable old tyrant. "A mere boyish freak, sir,” insisted Alton, “Listen, if you please. Yesterday was my birthday. Some of the old crowd wanted to celebrate, and we went down to the beach for an oldtime clambake.” “Well supplied with good strong drink, too, I doubt not!" chirped the banker. “Not a drop!” declared Alton. “We are not that sort. We had a good time, and on the way home played a foolish trick or two, just as a reminder of our youthful days.” “H’m! You call burning down Farmer Rollins' haystack an innocent trick, I suppose?" snorted the uncle, "No, sir, that was an accident One of the crowd dropped his cigar and the stuff went ablaze. We’ve fixed that uncle. Each man chipped in, and Mr. Rollins will be indemnified for the loss we caused him before night.” “H’m! Well, this lark of yours, as you so lightly term it, convinces me

“No, Sir, That Was an Accident."

that you lack the mature balance necessary with a young man of business. You are frivolous, unsettled. Why! that photograph fad of yours has cost you a small fortune. Your mind should be on the bank —first, last, and all the time. At the ehd of a month you will prepare to go back to college. That is my last word. Why, sir,” and the old financier swelled up with a sense of his own vast importance, “I should think my success, and, I may say, my infallibility as an expert banker, would set a model for you. It is only by strict attention to business that I have earned the reputation of making this institution a veritable stronghold. No borrower ever gets the best of me. No sleek swindler pulls the wool over my eyes.” Meekly, but at soul wretched and unhappy, Alton accepted the dictum of his self-centered relative and passed from the room. Two months previous he had graduated from college with full honors. His uncle had offered /him a position at a good salary in the bank. Forthwith Alton had considered himself a made man. The first thing he did was to fall in love with pretty Winifred Price, the belle of the village, his second was to become engaged to her and plan a speedy marriage. Perhaps his uncle had learned of ’this, Alton reflected, and that was the real secret of his drastic action. At -all events the ultimatum nad been presented. It was open rebellion or submission. If the former, Alton well knew that his uncle would disown him, which meant the loss of the substantial backing of a helpful, influential friend. Alton talked over the situation that evening with Winifred. She was sensible about it. Better to wait two years than to rush madly into matrimony with no fixed business establishment, she advised. At least, she decided, Alton had better keep in his uncle’s good graces until he was sure he could shift for himself. So, Alton mournfully accepted the situation. Winifred consoled him sweetly and his photographic fad helped him pass the time when it was unemployed and irksome. He photographed the bank building, outside and interior, in all its phases. He took secret snap shots of his uncle in various poses. Whenever a stranger came into the bank, he made a picture of him“My rogues’ gallery!” he told the cashier whimsically. "Some day somebody will put it over us and I will be able to establish his identity." One day, indeed, the banker’s hoard-

ed gold was tn peril, and Cyrus Merrill knew it not. A well-dressed, dignified stranger came Into the bank, and after looking over some papers at the depositors' table approached the president of the institution. t “Mr. Merrill," he said courteously, "I am having some important dealings with the valley manufacturers. I have just come from your rival bank here. They wish to charge me five’per cent for a trusteeship and some easy negotiations. Can I do business for you on a cheaper basis?" “Yes, sir," answered the banker, eager to snap up an easy opportunity, “if the business is entirely local —”

“It will be.” ' “Our charge will be two and a half per cent.” “Thanks. You will hear from me in a day or two," said the stranger, who called himself Richard Wolfe, and he left the bank. A few minutes later a neatly dressed young lady entered the bank. She approached Mr. Merrill. “I came in to direct a letter,” she explained, “and I found this on the desk where I was writing.” She handed a long pocketbook to the banker. In vast surprise he examined its contents. It contained 14,000 in bank notes of large denominations. On its flap were the Initials "R. W.,” and Mr. Merrill at once decided that it belonged to his recent visitor. “I am pleased at your honesty, young lady,” he said heartily—for him. “I think you had better leave your name and address, for I am sure that the owner of the money will wish to recognize your helpfulness.” Within ten minutes the man who called himself Richard Wolfe came hurrying back into the bank. Ah! his money had been found. Thanks, and the finder? At once send her this — and he liberally handed the banker two hundred-dollar bills. Then he stated that he had decided to do business with the bank. He counted out five thousand dollars. It was to be held in trust to purchase some bonds, which he named. He would at once write to the owner of the same and have him come from another town, where he lived. He authorized Mr. Merrill to pay as high as ninety. If he got them for less, they would divide on the bargain. The liberality of the stranger, the sight of the ready cash, the chance to make “an honest dollar” —all appealed to the banker in a strange way. What followed cvne quickly. Another stranger appeared at the bank within two days with the bonds in question and received the money for them, and next Richard Wolfe again appeared. In an excited, confidential way he informed the banker that he had learned that the bonds would go up twenty points the following week. He knew where he could buy another block of them. They would divide on the profits, as before. Result: He borrowed four thousand dollars on the securities, and in a week Cyrus Merrill knew that he was a swindled man. Only Alton knew of the transaction. He realized his uncle’s humiliation and chagrin, when the latter recklessly announced that he would give half the four thousand dollars to get the money back from “the first man who had ever put it over on him.” For two days Alton was absent. He returned to place in the hands of his astonished uncle two thousand dollars. “The balance you promised as a reward, you know,” he submitted. “But how —” “I took a picture of that Wolfe fellow the first day he came into the bank,” explained Alton. “I found its duplicate in the rogues’ gallery in the city. They rounded up your man—a notorious criminal." - “Yes,” said Mr. Merrill, “you can keep that money, and you can stay in the bank. But if you ever hint publicly at the noodle I’ve been, I’ll disown you on the spot.” “I shall tell only Winifred!” whispered the happy young man raptly to himself.

Learn to Help Yourself.

I fear that a great majority of people, at least in a great majority of cases, nimbly sit down when they run up against a blind wall, writes Arthur M. Judy in the Atlantic. If they can call the plumber, or the butcher, or the gardener, or the laundress, or the shoemaker, or the blacksmith, or the dairyman, or the horse-tamer —then a way out will be made for them. And that is what your city life tends to do for your boys and girls—set them to calling upon an endless variety of specialists to help them surmount life’s prpblems. On the other hand, farmer boys and girls must learn to be all these specialists. The consequence is, they grow up with the feeling that they can and must do it, no matter what befalls; and that feeling, or I greatly miss my count, is the secret of the power Of Initiative.

Sporting Proposition.

A teacher in one of Philadelphia’s public schools made arrangements last summer to take a couple of her boy pupils each week to the large farm of a relative in Chester county. The boys were required to get up at an early hour and help with the lighter duties about the farm. On the first Sunday in September Danny Mullen, age eleven, arrived at the farm. On Monday morning before daybreak he was awakened by one of the farmhands. "What’s the idea of gettln’ up in the middle of the night?” said Danny. “Hurry up! 7 said the other. “lU show you how to milk cows.” Danny sat up with a puzzled expression on his face, gazed thoughtfully put Into the darkness, then asked, "Do you have to sneak up on gjQnir

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. IND.

The United States auxiliary and supply ship, launched recently at Mare Island navy yard, California, photographed as sne slid down the ways. K . -

WOMEN WORK OUT THE WAR PROBLEM

“Mobilize the Kitchen,” Slogan of Crown Princess, Is Now Their Watchword. WAR BRINGS ITS SACRIFICES Women, Guided by an Efficient Government, Are Doing Men’s Work and Doing It Most Satisfactorily—Trades Unions Have No Quarrel.

Berlin.—“ Mobilize the kitchen,” the slogan of the Crown Princess Cecilie of Germany, has become the watchword of the women of the fatherland, laying upon patriotism's altar the aspirations which have moved thousands among them, in days of peace, to seek distinction in the professions, moved thousands of others to seek relief from household drudgery in the factories and stores.

“Mobilize the kitchen,” has become a policy of state in the government, prompting it to establish free classes during the past ten months for instruction in cooking, nursing and sewing, prompting it also to restrict the women to domesticity or its allied vocations by other plans which close to them the work usually done by men. “Mobilize the kitchen” has straightened out many of the kinks in the life of the German people which during an extended war might produce weakness in their greatest fortress of strength—their national unity. It has produced instead a smoothly running existence along boldly marked, simple lines. The kaiserin’s famous message to her countrywomen, “Kueche, Kinder, Kirche” (kitchen, children, church), had long become old-fashioned and well-nigh unheeded when the galvanizing shock of war struck the nation, dealing its hardest blow upon the women. The fashionable, the frivolous and intellectually egoistic, the, rich and the poor, the good and the bad, became as in the twinkling of an eye—just women. The government s policy in those early days was evidently to draft the feminine contingent into the work of men, soldiers being then the only consideration. Women with university degrees who knew as much as the college professors, others with long records In office, thought that their day had dawned.

The crown princess, with that extraordinary foresight which in a crisis involving the welfare of human beings is pre-eminently the woman’s gift, shot out the word of command: “Mobilize the kitchen.” Women Doing Women’s Work. The women who in the early days of last summer were thronging the streets of Berlin, getting ready to run the street cars, manage the telegraph offices, fill the chairs in the universities, edit the newspapers, manage the stores —they are today, many of them, attending lectures by professors of chemistry which teach them the food values of every article of diet and how they can economize in their household bills; they are learning the rudiments of nursing. The in other days unfashionable “Hausfrau” has become the pride of the government and the envy of her sisters, formerly superciliously condescending.

The'authorities are in constant consultation with the Hausfrau, asking for her advice and assistance in running free kitchens for the poor, opening refreshment booths at the stations along which trains pass to convey the soldiers to and fro, inviting her to direct sewing classes which mend the army uniforms, or to get together little clubs among her friends to care for needy musicians and artists. The meetings take place in the large hall donated by the reichstag for these clubs, but the musicales and exhibitions are given in the homes. The sacrifices of war eliminate the “kaffeeklatsch,” that substitute for afternoon tea, so dear to the heart of German womankind when gathered together. At the musicales and enter-

RECENT ADDITION TO THE AMERICAN NAVY

tainments refreshments are served only to the performers. From an hour after lunch until an hour before dinner the ladies sit and sew or knit, having paid the small sum for entrance to the club which coyers the fee of the musician who sings or plays for them. In the evening these same women will be found with their families gathered around them, all hands engaged in packing the of friendship), which are sent to the soldiers at the front. Small packages the government transmits free of charge, those weighing a pound for two cents. The soldiers get them regularly on Saturday night, these “Liebesgaben.” It is as if Christmas came every week, with the German passion for giving presents scorning the small confines of personal acquaintance. Trainloads of “Liebesgaben” pass every few days through the country to the seat of war. No man is overlooked. If he has no relatives or friends, their place is taken by kindly strangers, the women who have yielded to the primitive rules of life and who stand guard in the homes of the fatherland while the men fight upon the battlefield.

Trades Unions Have No Quarrel. The trades unions of Germany do not have to adopt the angry resolutions of those in Great Britain, that the war which their soldier members are fighting is becoming the greatest menace to their work at home, with the women usurping their places, employed at reduced rates. The German soldiers have no such grievance, thanks to Crown Princess Cecelie’s advice, “Mobilize the kitchen.”

OBJECT TO PET LIONESS

Objecting to a year old lioness as a pet, neighbors of Max Gould of Paterson, N. J., have appealed to the board of health to have it shut up. “Why ‘Queenie' romps in the yard with the children like a kitten,” said Mr. Gould. As a result of the war Mr. Gould estimates the value of his pet at >1,200. Rhoda Gould is shown with the lioness in the picture.

RICH ORE FROM OLD MINE

Copper Shipped From an Old Spanish Mine Recently Discovered in Texas. Allamore, Tex—M. F. Jarrell has just shipped a carload of rich copper ore from the old mine which he discovered near here last Christmas day. The fact that the skeletons of twenty men .were found in the long-aban-doned shaft; of tfae mine and that near by was found a collection of knives and other leads to the belief that the property was worked by the Spaniards in the early days and that trace of the mine was lost through the r -• —---■• ——- - X" ' "

The crown princess, as Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, received the offer of the heart and hand of the crown prince while the two were taking tea together. In entering Berlin in royal procession to meet her future husband, she was escorted from thd station through the Brandenburg gate by the Berlin guild of butchers, exercising an ancient privilege but one in keeping with the little bride’s reputed domesticity. She was eighteen, tall and slender, with fair brown hair and soft, dark eyes as gentle as a gazelle’s.* She had been born in the sleepy old town of Schwerin, but has lived most of the years of her girlhood upon the Riviera with her mother, a member of the Russian Imperial family, Grand Duchess Anastasia, whose escapades have furnished food for gossip at the courts of Europe during two decades. The bride was, outwardly, modest, charming, unaffected.. She acknowledged a very recent interest in dolls.

The marriage was acceptable to the council of state because it brought the Hohenzollerns into new bonds with the royal houses of Russia, and also with Denmark. The crown princess’ sister is now the queen of Denmark. Her brother having married the duke of Cumberland’s daughter, Duchess Cecilie was also a tie between the Hohenzollerns and the exiled Cumberlands of Hanover, beginning to heal the wound which the young duchess of Brunswick has completely cured. The crown princess, gay, vivacious, fond of pretty clothes and a good time, has overcome the prejudices created by her mother’s conduct. Today, with four sturdy little boys providing direct succession to the throne, and a tiny baby girl to appeal to the people’s hearts, she is the most popular member of the imperial family.

sudden death by massacre by Indians or otherwise of the men connected with the enterprise. The ore which Jarrell shipped to the smelter at El Paso was all collected from the surface, where it had lain for an untold length of time. As soon as the shaft can be cleaned of debris extensive operations will be started. The discovery of this ancient mine caused great, excitement. Prospectors began rushing in here as soon as the news of the find was made public and claims have been staked for several miles around the mine. Many good outcroppings of copper have already been discovered. Some of the ore samples assay about >3O copper to the ton and considerable gold and silver.

WHITE SCHOOL FOR INDIANS

Agency System to Be Ended at White Earth as Result of Progressive Spirit. White Earth, Minn. —School district No. 112, in Becker county, has been created. It embraces the whole of the village of White Earth and vicinity, and will serve to abolish the present government /lay school in the village. The government officials have signified their willingness to transfer the buildings, now occupied as day schools, including seats, desks, schoolbooks and other equipment, to the use and purposes of the new district, provided Indian children are not discriminated against. It is not at all improbable that within a very few years every Indian school on the reservation will be merged under district school management The progressive classes generally are heartily in favor of the district school system. This will be a step toward the of the pres ent agency management of Indian affairs in the state.

Woke In Tub of Water.

Alexandria, Ind. —Miss Ruth Retherford, who lives near here, fell into a tub' of rain water and broke her arm when walking in her sleep. The young somnambulist arose from her bed, walked downstairs to the back porch of her home and did not come out of her sleep-trance till she fell off the porch into the tub and the bone in her right arm snapped. '

WORDS OF COMFORT

“Fear Not Them Which Kill the Body but Are Not Able to Kill the SouL” Jesus had long been describing to his disciples the perils which awaited them as the ministers of his gospeL “Behold,** he said, "I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wqlves. . . - Men will deliver yon dp to the councils and they will scourge you in the synagogues. . . And ye shall be bated of all men for my name’s sake.” But “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul,” was his last word of mingled comfort and Inspiration; "rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and

body in hell.” Here is an admonition not merely for the disciples who knew Jesus, but for all men who are faced by the vicissitudes of everyday existence. Of what are we commonly so much afraid as of the things “which kill the body ?” Storms that sweep from heaven, pestilences that “walk in darkness,” conflagrations that devour cities, financial crises that ruin fortunes, the burglar, the footpad, the assassin—are not these the chief terrors of our lives? And do we not make it a prime object of our existence to provide ways and means of escaping these direful contingencies. To safeguard our property, to shelter ourselves from exposure and exhaustion, to avoid disease and accident, to secure protection against violence, to live out our allotted span of years—this is what we want! And we are inclined to justify device or law or weapon of ai\y kind which will achieve for us this end. Soul the Central Part of Life.

That such a viewpoint, however human, is essentially unworthy of true manhood must be evident to anyone who gives the matter a moment’s consideration. Why should we bother to any extent about this body of ours, which is at the best but a tool to use or a tenement in which to live for a brief period? And especially why should we make the preservation and protection of this body an object of existence, and, as a result, fear everyone of the kindred chances which may injure or destroy it? Of course it is foolish to mortify the flesh or weaken the body uselessly. Prudence, resulting in good health and material security, is wise. But our question concerns primary purposes and especially the crises when choice must be made. Then should we know with clearness that not*the body but the soul is the central fact of life, and the things, therefore, which may kill not the body but the soul, the things to be noted and. feared.

Real Things to Fear. Temptation, vice, cowardice, Idleness, sloth, ease, selfishness, sin—these are the things of which to be afraid. And these the things, let it be added, which must be conquered and overthrown even though the body be blasted In the process! Not to be healthy, but to be holy; not to be rich in goods, but abundant In good; not to live long, but serve well —this Is the task which Is set each man by the hand of Almighty God. Hence the testimony of all the prophets of the ages gone! The true man, said Socrates, will not “calculate the chance of living or dying, but will consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong, acting the part of a good man or a bad.” “To die sooner or later is not the business,’* said Seneca, “but to die well or ill.’* “He that findeth his life shall lose it,’* said Jesus in his greatest word, “but he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it”

Three Dollars a Man.

Jesus emphasized the value of a soul. At one time he declared: “Of how much more value is a man than a sheep.” Some thoroughbred stock raisers will get as high as one thousand dollars for a sheep. In Madagascar and other heathen, countries, before the missionaries went, you could buy a full-grown man for three dollars. I do not know where you can buy a man for three dollars now, unless it is in some of these cities where they are voting on the question of licensing dives; then you can buy some fellows for a glass of beer —and then pay more than they are worth. Why has the proportion changed in our civilization and the value of a man constantly risen? It has been due to the workings of Christ’s Gospel in hufnan souls. At another time Jesus exclaimed, as he saw the sparrows flitting from branch to branch: “No sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s notice.” If God will attend the funeral of a sparrow, will he not care for you and me? —Evangelist M. H. Lyon in Christian Herald.

Thankfulness With Prayer.

Cherish thankfulness with prayer. St. Paul gives us in two words .this secret of peace. “In everything,” (he nothing, so do not you) “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” He does not say it as a benediction only; he tells us, it “shall keep your hearts and minds.’* Do the one and God will do the other. Ask what you win, be thankful; and not peace only, but peace which passeth all which our poor minds can think, shall keep these poor, breaking, restless hearts —these ever wearying, worrying minds of ours—in Christ Jesus.—Pvsey.