Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 224, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1915 — Page 2

THE LOST BABY

By MARY P. MUNSON.

Norm Mulcmhy bent over the little bundle In the hallway. A faint cry issued from among the masses of fine linen and wool. It was an abandoned Infant. Nora’s husband John had just left for the factory. Nora glanced timidly about her. Then, with resolution, she gathered the bundle into her afms and sped up the stairs with it to the little four-room flat at the top of the tenement. A few moments later she was crooning over the little girl as she rocked'her in her arms. I The Mulcahys had been married five years and had had no chilaren. John was the kindest and most considerate of husbands, and this was the only cloud upon their married life. But often Nora wept secretly over the home of two, and in imagination felt the little fingers of the unborn pulling at her gown. That day she went about her work happier than she bad been for months. When John came home she whispered to him mysteriously, her finger upon her lips. “What!” cried her husband. “She’s a little darling,” said Nora. “Oh, John, say that we can keep her.” “Let me look at her,” said the husband, and, entering the bedroom he bent over the crib, which had been improvised out of a large* packing case. "Nora, girl,” he said, “this child isn't for the likes of us. It’s a rich woman’s child. Nora, it's” —his voice dropped—“it’s the Van Nest baby. You know, the one that was kidnaped last week and everybody's making such a hullabaloo about. Look at the letter!" He turned the corner of the linen garment, and Nora saw the letter N upon It. They went back into the living room and argued the matter pro and con, Nora in tears, pleading that the child could be kept "It isn’t possible, girl," said John, shaking his head with conviction. "The police would get wise to it, and that would mean years in the penitentiary. The kidnapers got scared and

Whispered to Him Mysteriously.

dropped it here —that’s the truth about it" “Then you’re going to take it back, John?" "I guess you’ll have to, Nora. I can’t carry a baby. But listen, girl! Do you know there’s a reward of five thousand dollars?” ‘Td rather have the babjv’ Nora sobbed. “You’re talking nonsense, Nora,” answered the husband. “Five thousand dollars is a sight better than somebody else’s kid. Do you know what we’d do with it? We'd go home to the old country, first and foremost. And don’t I see us in a neat little cottage, with a pig and a garden, and—"

Nora at last acquiesced in the plan. She was to take the baby back to the Van Nest house the following morning. John, indeed, had wanted her to do so that night, but she had pleaded so hard that she had persuaded him to let her keep it until the morrow. And, now that its loss seemed inevitable, they began to discuss the future. Five thousand dollars seemed an enormous sum to John. His own. wages were twenty-five, and they had put by a comfortable sum out of that, by frugality. Moreover, John was slated for the foreman’s position when old Richards retired, and that would mean ten more. However, $5,000 would enable them to start life as their own masters. Nora listened to John's prognostications with less ehthusiasm than she pretended. She doubted John’s abil-

ity to,carry out his farming scheme. A farm was all very well in one's* old age, but 5 In youth one needed the impetus of work. And then, there was the baby. That night she cried secretly as she held the little form against her. The little girl had seemed almost to know her, and the chubby arms were stretched out in recognition when she went near. She fell asleep at last and awakened with a splitting headache. 1 John understood what uras wrong. He did not attempt to say very much that morning, and his kiss was unusually tender as he wished her goodby. He even stopped to take the clean little hand in* his own work-stained j one. Nora knew that John had begun i

to feel an attachment foi .he child. She could hardly bea; the duty that lay before her. \ However, after she had done the morning’s work she put on her new cloak and best bonnet and took the baby out into the street. It was a wonderful sensation to sit in the car, holding the child in her arms. Everybody looked at her and beamed on the baby, which they thought was her own. At last she reached the Van Nest house and, tremblingly, she rang the bell. The butler, who answered the door, looked searchingly at her as Nora, in faltering accents, explained her riiisslon. He ushered her into the drawing-room as if she had been a person of quality, and it wasn’t a moment before a young woman entered the room and looked at Nora — sternly, Nora thought Nora had planned her speech, but now it all left her. She stood up before Mrs. Van Nest, holding the baby. "Indeed, ma’am, I didn't steal her,”

she was ! crying, and the tears streamed down her cheeks. "She was left at the door yesterday morning, ma'am, and when I showed her to John last night he said it was your baby, and people were advertising for it and it’d have to go back. And so I brought her this morning, ma’am, as soon as the work was done.” Mrs. Van Nest seemed to soften a little. “You have no children of your own?” she asked. Nora remained mute, and the tears fell faster. “I believe you are honest,” said Mrs. Van Nest, coming forward with an expression altogether new. “So many impostors have been trying .to trade on us since our—misfortune. You wouldn't believe how brazen people will be to get $5,000. But that isn’t my baby.”

* Nora, staggered, looked at Mrs. Van Nest with eyes that could hardly see through the mists that gathered before them. “My baby was recovered yesterday,’’ Mrs. Van Nest continued, “and none the worse, I am happy to say. Besides, he is a boy.” “Oh! Might I see him?” breathed Nora. And then, with their common interest, the two women proceeded side by side to the nursery, where Nora bent in wonder over the prettiest baby that she had ever seen —except the little one which still lay in her arms. John that night, arriving at the door of the flat, was amazed to hear the crowing of a child within. Angry for a moment, he mastered himself and went in sternly. Nora’s arms were about his neck in a moment and stifled his protests. “John, it isn’t hers!” she cried. "And what do you think? She’s promised to be godmother at the christening, and —and the five thousand is going to the baby for her education, and—oh, John, we’re going to keep her, and there’s a chance of a position for you as manager at their country home, and —and we’re going to keep her, John!” (Copyright, 1915. by XV. G. Chapman.)

AN OLD RUSSIAN CHURCH

Remains of a Building and a Few Relics Still Exist at Fort Ross, Cal. At Fort Ross, Cal., some fifty miles north of San Francisco, there are the very interesting remains of what was once a church of the holy orthodox religion—as the members of the eastern or Greek church call their faith, says the Youth’s Companion. It was in ISO 9 that an expedition of the Rus-sian-American F’ur company came south from Sitka, and made a settlement at Bodega bay, which they called Port Rumiantsof. Two years later they chose a position for their main post about twenty miles farther north, a little beyond the Russian river, which they called 1 the Slavianka. At this point, which they named Ros or Rus, they built a fort with watch towers and mounted 40 cannon. The settlement was ostensibly only a peaceful trading post and a center for sealing operations. There was ,po reason, however, in the character of the Indian inhabitants of the region, for a post of such strength to hold the territory as a Russian colony and, by gradual settlement farther south, to offer an effective challenge to the claims of Spain to the coast region north of San lYancisco.

The fort was built of heavy redwood timbers. It was about 100 yards square and contained the quarters of the officers and men, workshops, warehouses, granaries, a windmill, and, of course, bath houses. The population varied between 200 and 400, inclusive of some Aleuts who were employed in the sealing and sea otter industry. The fur business grew to be large and very profitable. Sir George Simpson, the governor of the Hudson Bay company, who visited Fort Ross in -1841, reported that up to that time no less than 80,000 sea otter skins alone had been taken and marketed by the Russian-American company, m 1813 the Russians built a church, ana there the gorgeous ritual of the Greek Catholic church was conducted until the close of the Russian occupation.

Serious Thought.

“If women voted —’’ said Miss Cayenne, pensively. “Well?” . “I’m wondering whether some of ’them would be willing to elect to office the same kind of a man they’re willing to take a chance on marryi&B r ’

THE EJVtENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

POSSIBILITIES OF DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY IN ALASKA

Bureau of Soils of the United States Department of Agriculture Makes Reconnolssance Survey of the Vast Area—Climate, Soils, Crops and Other Conditions Bearing Upon Agrioulture Are Described—Pioneer Conditions Prevail.

Washington, D. C.—A reconnoissance soil survey of a vast area in Alaska to investigate the agricultural possibilities of that territory has recently been made, and the results of this work will shortly be published in a report by the Bureau of Soils of the United States department of agriculture. The report comprises 202 pages and contains 38-page plates and four maps. It describes the climate, soilp, crops, and other conditions bearing upon the possibilities of agricultural development in Alaska, and in addition discusses such incidental subjects as settlement, natural resources, physiography, drainage, means of communication, and a comparison of Alaska with parts of Siberia and Finland. The report says in part: “The existence of a vast mountainous area along the southern, coast of Alaska, with numerous lofty, snow-cov-ered peaks and huge glaciers, necessarily unfit for human habitation, is apt to give one unfamiliar with the complexities of the topography and climate of the country as a whole the impression that Alaska is a region of inhospitable mountains, glaciers, and snow, without farming possibilities. In a measure this is true, for there are in the territory immense areas of rugged mountains, including the loftiest peaks upon the North American continent, and great wastes of snowclad and precipitous laud, wide stretches of bleak tundra and mountain skirting the Arctic ocean, innumerable bodies of water-soaked muskeg, and many glaciers of almost incredible magnitude. Nevertheless there are millions of acres of relatively low, smooth land and gentle slopes In various parts of the country which are topographically and climatically suited to farming. That this is true is not a matter of conjecture, for many valuable food products both for man and animal are now being successfully grown. Farming in a region so far north may seem astonishing until one is acquainted with the equable summer climate, the long hours of summer daylight, and the good quality of the soil.”

Pioneer Conditions Prevail. It is pointed out, however, that while the development of a successful agriculture throughout an enormous area in Alaska is possible, it must be remembered that “as yet strictly pioneer conditions obtain, that settlement is largely confined to communities in the vicinity of mining camps, that much of the country is inaccessible owing to the absence of roads and railroads._ “Every indication is that agricul. tural development must be gradual, must grow with the construction of highways and railways, with the development of mining industries and accompanying increase of population. If large numbers, without sufficient capital, should ‘stampede’ to these lands with the idea of immediately establishing profitable farms for themselves. it is believed that there would be only disappointment for many. A careful study of the conditions before undertaking farming operations here is therefore urgently advised. The prospects of success for farming depend, so far as sale of surplus products is concerned, upon finding a local market among a population attracted by mining resources and fisheries. In other words, these regions of Alaska will probably not for some time export agricultural products, at least not on an Important scale. Exportation of such products must await the building of a system of failways and highways and probably, also, the establishment of cheaper transportation.”

The report deals with three general areas, the Cook Inlet-Susitna region, the Yukon-Tanana region, and the Copper river regions. Cook Inlet-Susitna Region.

The most important is the Cook In-let-Susitna region, the agricultural lands of which are comprised, says the report “in the plainlike country and adjacent bench lands bordering Cook Inlet from Kachemak bay northward and extending up the Susitna and Matanuska valleys. The unfavorable climate and topography of the surrounding mountainous country restricts the farming possibilities to this low country, the approximate area of which is 6,000 square miles. At least one-third of this area, amounting to a little more than a million and a quarter acres (1,296,000 acres, the lowest estimate), consists of arable land possessing topographic and drainage characteristics and chemical and physical properties quite favorable to farming. Aboufone-half of this good land occurs In the Susitna and Matanuska valleys.”

“The climate and soil make possible the establishment of an important agriculture in the Cook Inlet-Susitna region. Development will follow along pioneer lines at first, leading eventually to the establishment of many comfortable homes, supported largely by the products of the farm. The possibilities of raising stock and dairying point to the furtherance of agriculture, eventually, to a position of importance considerably beyond a self-supporting stage. The building of a railroad

through the Susitna and Matanuska valleys will make accessible a large area of good farming land, and, unquestionably, settlement will follow, probably at a rapid rate. Already 150 homesteads have been registered along Knik Arm and others have been taken up. A number of prospectors and miners, most of whom previously had not been identified with agriculture, are now supporting themselves in the neighborhood of Knik largely with the products of their farms, assisted by the earnings of a few days’ outside work during the summer.”

Yukon-Tanana Region. “The Yukon-Tanana region comprises (1) the lowland of the lower Tanana river, from the vicinity of McCarty to the Yukon river, known as the Tanana Flats; (2) the lowlands of the Yukon river, chiefly comprised In the Yukon Flats; and (3) the area of highlands or hill country between the Tanana and Yukon lowlands, the Yukon-Tanana uplands. In discussing the area as defined above, it is not meant that this includes all of the agricultural land of interior Alaska. This is simply the area to which the investigations were specifically directed. Farming lands are reported to exist in considerable areas along the upper Tanana river, and good grazing is said to be available about the headwaters of White river, in the Mentasta pass section and in other places outside the limits of the area described.” “On tie soils of the Tanana bottoms good crops of vegetables and grain-hay are produced. Immense quantities of hay and good grazing can be derived from the native grasses which thrive on these soils. In addition, large quantities of grain, hay, and root-crop forage can be easily grown.”

“In the hills north of the Tanana bottoms is found the best soil seen in Alaska. This is a deep, mellow silt loam (Fairbanks silt loam), having good drainage and moisture-holding capacity. It occurs on the lower slopes, and is largely susceptible of easy cultivation. There are approximately a half million acres of this valuable soil. This type of soil is the same as that at the Fairbanks experiment station, where such good results have been had with grains and potatoes. On the southward-facing slopes it yields over 200 bushels of potatoes per acre, without fertilization. Early varieties of oats and barley mature in norpaal years. Wheat and rye also have matured at the Rampart and Fairbanks stations. All varieties of grain give good yields of hay on this soil, even in years of early ffost. Turnips, cabbage, beets, carrots, lettuce, celery, and several other vegetables are grown with unusual success, both as regards quality and yield. Native redtop grass springs up quickly, following the removal of timber.” “There are still larger areas of other cultivable soils on the slopes of the hill country. These are not so deep as the Fairbanks silt loam, but they produce good crops of excellent potatoes, various vegetables, grain, and grass. Probably 1,500,000 acres of such land exists in the country between the Tanana and Yukon rivers. Copper River Regions. The Copper river regions are the Copper river basin and the copper river Delta. The Copper river Delta occurs where “Copper river enters the Pacific ocean a short distance north-

NAVAL HONORS FOR TWO KILLED IN HAITI

Boston accorded naval honors to William Gompers of Brooklyn, N. Yj, a nephew of Samuel Gompers, the president of the American Federation of Labor, and Carsdh Whitehurst of Norfolk, Va., both members of the crew of the U. S. S. Washington who were killed July 29, wbeiv some Haitian rebels resisted the landing of the American sailors at Port-au-Prince. The picture shows sailors firing a volley over the flag-draped coffins on the pier at Charlestown navy yard, Boston.

DIPLOMAT LEARNING WAR

The photograph shows Nelson O’Shaughnessy, formerly United States charge d'affairs at Mexico City, in his khaki uniform at (he business men’s training camp at Plattsburg, N. Y. He is only one of many prominent men who are training to become soldiers at this place.

west of Controller bay, through a labyrinth of channels, dividing and reuniting to form an interminable network of passages, “sloughs,” with almost countless intervening islands and bars. The low, flat delta through which these numerous distributaries flow, is somewhat triangular in shape, with its apex about thirty miles inland, between the fronts of Childs and Miles glaciers. There is a large extent of country in the upper Copper river basin, northward from the vicinity of center, which has a quite favorable topography for agricultural operations. The principal soil here, however, is not so favorable, being predominantly of a clayey character, and so stiff and probably coldnatured that it would be difficult to till, and crops would likely be slow to reach maturity on it. Heavy teams and tools would be required to work such land. Furthermore, the climate of the region appears to be not so favorable as that of either the Cook In-let-Susitna or the Yukon-Tanana regions. Vegetables and grain-hay, however, are being successfully grown on the bottom-land soils, and the more loamy types of the uplands. Some cattle have been raised at various places in the region along the ValdezFairbanks road. Stock raising and dairying would likely be found the most remunerative types of farming.” “Practically the'entire delta is unsuited to agriculture, owing to the poor drainage, the liability to disastrous floods, and the inferior character of the soil. Near the glacier fronts the glacial plains, covered with freshly-dis-charged glacial debris, are mostly bare of vegetation, but farther away there is much alder and scrub willow and a variety of water-loving grasses.”

Chicken is a Suicide.

Macon, Ga. —The two-weeks-old pet chicken of W. I. Shi, assistant to the city assessor's office, committed suicide a few night’s ago by hanging herself. The only reason assigned for the act is that she grieved over the accidental death by drowning of her twin sister earlier in the day. The sister of the suicide victim fell into a tub of wash water in the morning.

TITLE MUCH MISUSED

TERM SOME ABUSE. Fact to Be Remembered Is That It la Never a Family Name But Is Al ways Applied to the Individual. At time in the middle ages the custom grew up of applying to clergymen the term “reverendus.” This word was a part of a speech known in Latin as a gerund, and meant “one Who ought to be revered.” Gerunds could be compared like adjectives, and it seemed natural to the people of those days that, if all clergymen were reverend, a bishop should be designated by the comparative degree, "reverendior,” more reverend, or right reverend, while the superlative degree, reverendissimus, most reverend, was reserved for archbishops. As these terms referred to individuals, they were never used in connection with the family name alone, but with the Christian name, which indicated the individual.

A great many people in our day are committing the unfortunate blunder of using the term “reverend” in connection with a family name. Mr. Smith is a clergyman. He is frequently spoken to as “Reverend Smith.” This is wrong. Smith is a family name, and does not refer to an individual. The only proper way of speaking of him is as Rev. Mr. Smith, or Rev. John Smith, or plain Mr. Smith, but never Rev. Smith. Never Rev. and Mrs. Smith, but? Rev. and Mrs. John Smith. Strictly speaking, the only possible way of speaking to him is “Mr. Smith,” for the old English “Your Reverence,” has died out. One does not speak of or to a judge as Honorable Jones, but one speaks or writes of him as the Hon. Henry T. : Jones, and addresses him as “Youri Honor.” As concerns the use of the word “reverend,” no one applies it to himself or signs his name with it -prefixed.

Scholars urge us to try to preserve the use of the English language, and not be attacked by the mtadern disease which impels so many people to use nearly all the nouns and many of the adjectives as if they were titles. You may find in the papers any day such expressions as Motorman Brown, Witness Green, Suspect Robinson, Optician White, Pitcher Jones. It ought to be stopped; but who will Stop it? Scholars tell us that this is one of the signs that the English language is degenerating very rapidly.

Frappe.

John Manning heard a humorous story that ran like this: “If Jack Johnson, Charlie Ghaplin and Billy Sunday were walking down the street, what would that suggest to you?" “Chocolate nut sundae, of course.” John went home, and he thought he had a regular dinner joke, waited until a favorable time and pulled it in this manner: “If Billy Johnson, De Wolf Hopper and Billy Sunday were walking down the street, what would you have?” , And John looked all around to see whether there had been anyone who had heard the Joke before, but the faces over the soup were blank. “Well,” said his father expectantly. “Frappe,” said John, and burst out into a spasm of unrestrained mirth. But he stopped suddenly, for there was not a smile around the table, and it really didn’t sound as funny as it did the first time —lndianapolis News.

Wireless Station for Antarctic.

One of the objects of Sir E- Shackleton’s present South polar expedition is to establish a wireless station in the Antarctic, the staff to be relieved once a year. The main purpose of the station would be to keep the civilized world acquainted with the meteorological conditions around the pole. Theoretically the power of such a station need not be very great for longdistance transmission, but during Captain Scott’s Antarctic investigations it was discovered that the Aurora austtralis (the South pole equivalent of the aurora borealis in high northern latitudes), by “damping” the ether waves, somewhat counterbalanced the lessened interference of sunshine.

Patriotic to the End.

A remarkable will was made by a French lady, who died recently in Marseilles. T&e will contains the following curious clause: “If I die before the end of the hostilities I ask that my body may be laid provisionally in the family vault, and that it shall eventually be interred in the field where the final decisive victory is gained. I also leave the whole of my fortune to the town which shall bear the name of this victory.”

Different Tastes.

"The attraction to me in this quaint roadside ina is its old English.” “What I prefer about it Is its hot Scotch.’ —Baltimore American.

His Feat.

“Tour friend had quite an acrobatic promotion.” “How’s that?” ■* "Went up over a lot of other people’s heads.”

His Sphere of Activity.

“X don’t know what business is the right one for my son. He is so changeable.” “Then why not get him into the weather bureau.”