Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 250, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1915 — Page 3

HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

By A. NEELY HALL and DOROTHY PERKINS

FOR CITY LOT BASEBALL. There would be leas objection to vacant tot ball games If adjoining property owners could be relieved of their fear of broken windows. Show an owner this article, and call hla attention to Fig. 1, that he may see exactly what you propose to do, and It Is not likely that you will have difficulty with him. Make each frame to fit the window opening, in the manner shown in Fig-

2, using Ix 2 inch “furring strips,” lapping the ends, and re-enforcing the connections with strips of tin (Figs. 2 and 3). Then buy enough chicken wire netting at the hardware store to cover the frame. For hanging the screens in place, purchase a pair of hooks and a pair of screw-eyes, for each, and screw the eyes Into the top edge of the frame, and the hooks Into the top of the window frame. A wire covered backstop will not only save you boys lots of chasing after “passed balls” and “fouls,” but also give protection to adjoining property. Fig. 4 shows the completed framework. The first portion to build Is the front frame, which consists of the two 2x4 uprights A, and three horizontal

pieces B. Eight feet square is a good size for this frame, but make it wider If you can. Cut a notch in each end of uprights A, also one in the center of the length, of the right .Width and depth for the horizontal members B to fit in. Then place the uprights A upon the ground, and spike pieces B in their notches. Before raising the frame, buy wire netting and staples, and cover it.

Have several boys raise and support the framework on the spot it Is to occupy, then quickly drive stakes C into the ground, and connect them and uprights A with diagonals D, ahd the ends of D and A with pieces E. Base sacks almost as good as the best to be bought, can be made of eight or ten ounce cotton duck, stuffed with excelsior (Fig. 6). Fig. 8 shows a diagram for cutting the cloth. Use a doubled coarse linen thread. Sew up all but one end, lapping the edges

about one-half inch, and sewing with a double row of stitching. Then turn the sack inside out, stuff with excelsior moistened to make it pack solidly. Get a strap long enough to buckle around the sack, and fasten this to the sack with straps of canvas sewed across it (Fig 6). Prepare a stake with a staple in its atop (Fig. 7), and drive one of these into the ground in the proper place for each base. Usually almost anything at all serves the purpose of home plate, in prairie haO games, but if you want one of regulation form, make it as shown in Fig. 10. Taking a square piece of plank (Fig. 11), cut off corners A, and notch ■corners B; / then cut a tapered stake to lit each botch, and nail in place as shown in Fig. 10.

(Copyright, by A. Neely Hall.)

FOR A GIRL’S f?OOM. What girl would not like to own the set of shelves shown in Fig. 1. to hang upon the wall In her room? The shelf boards should be about threefourths inch thick and ten inches wide, by whatever length you wish to have them. Buy eight half-inch screw-eyes and screw one into each corner of each shelf; and get some heavy wrapping-twine on which to string the corner spools. The Illustrations show how the spools are strung, with a spool below the screw-eyes of the bottom shelf, and another above those or the top shelf, with a knot tied upon the lower end of the cords, and a loop upon the upper end, to hold the spools together. The cords must be pulled tight, and the loops tied close to the top spools, to make the corner stiff. Every girl needs a work box like that shown in Fig. 3. The only car-

penter work necessary is the fastening together of the cover boards with a couple of strips nailed across them as shown in Fig. 5. The box must be covered to conceal the roughness of the boards. A pretty figured cretonne looks well for the outside, and a plain colored lining is best for the inside. Fig. 4 shows how a cloth pocket and elastic tkpes should be tacked to the inside of the cover; also how to make a spool rack by driving nails into the cover and, slipping rubber bands over the nail heads (Fig. 6) to keep the spools from dropping off. A bolster roll to encase the pillow is quite the proper thing for a girl’s

bed, and a roll like that shown in Fig. 7 is not difficult to construct. Get two barrel hoops for the ends, and three wooden strips one-half inch thick and one and one-half inches wide with which to connect them (Fig. 10). The length of the strips should equal the width of the bed the roll is made for.

The diameter of the hoops must be made 11 inches from outside to outside. Remove the hoop fastenings, turn in the ends until the right diameter is obtained, and renail (Figs. 8 and 9). Connect the hoops with the strips, spacing these equidistantly around the inside. Two-thirds of the framework must be covered with cardboard, the other third is left open. Cardboard boxes may be used for covering material. Bend this around the framework, be-

ing careful to curve each piece the same, and tack to each strip. Also cover the barrel hoop ends with cardboard (Fig. 11). Then re-enforce the cardboard with paper pasted lengthwise, both inside and out, to conceal the joints between the pieces of cardboard; also tack padding over the edges of the barrel-hoops. Then covet the entire roll with camtalg lining

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RBNSBELAER, INP.

PATRIOTISM IS FIRST DUTY OF STURDY SWISS

Many of Them Sympathize With the Allies, but Demand Fair Treatment. STANDS BETWEEN TWO FIRES •4 European Republic Declines to Be Overawed by Powerful Neighbors —Refuses to Btarve or Be Driven Bankrupt—Would Fight for Rlghta. By EDGAR ANSEL MOWRER, (Correspondent of the Chicago News.) Lausanne, Switzerland. —Seignobos, in his “Hlstolre Politique de l’Europe Contemporaine,” begins his chapter on Switzerland as follows: “The interest of Swiss history must not be measured by the size of the country. This little country- holds a very important place in the history of contemporary European Institutions. To whoever desires to understand the evolution of our modern democratic society, this history may be recommended as the most instructive selection of examples of the application of the principle of popular sovereignty.” Foreigners who know Switzerland, with or without having visited it, as a country of tourists, hotels, mountains, picturesque chalets, mountain railroads, glaciers, milk chocolate, SL Gall embroideries, cheese and refuges for revolutionists, may be pleased to know that of £.ll the people of Europe the Swiss have, historically, been the most belligerently tenacious of their independence and that the? are today the people who have gone farthest in the realm of popular government. The "initiative” haß been general since 1848, and the “referendum," considered a most radical, modernist measure, came in about the same time. Proportional representation was adopted by the Italian canton of Ticino as far back as 1891. German Element Is Strong. The Swiss confederation counts today approximately 3,450,000 inhabitants, of whom about 200,000 are Italian by race and language, 750,000 consider themselves French and the remaining 2,500,000 speak German. Thus the German element is by far the strongest numerically and the most important. It can control in federative political matters. The French cantons, with the important centers of Geneva and Lausanne and their excellent newspapers, play intellectually a role somewhat beyond that presumed by their numerical inferiority. The Italian element is relatively insignificant, although one of the most brilliant of the government ministers, Sig. Mofta, comes from the Ticino. So much by the way of prelude to a presentation of Switzerland’s position during the present great war. At the beginning of hostilities the French and Italian cantons manifested a sturdy but inoffensive sympathy for the allies. The German cantons, to the contrary, gave vent to a single strong burst of Germanophilia. I have not taken account ofvthe individuals whose sympathies are always with the Aide uppermost. Today, though by stages so imperceptible that they cannot be traced, the situation has become different. Here in Romansh Switzerland the population is still overwhelmingly proallies. There is little German in the streets or in the stores. As soon as Italy entered the war the Ticinese pronounced for Italy. It is not an exaggeration to say that, notwithstanding the German speaking majority, there are now in the country as many open adherents of the allies as of the Austro-Germans. This means that a large number of persons who speak German favor thef nations of the quadruple alliance, particularly France. Swiss Industry Badly Hurt.

But a new economic problem has appeared and is forcing people to face it squarely. Switzerland, accustomed in time of peace to derive considerable profit from Its fine scenery and its central position, now pays heavily for the latter. A large proportion of the national army has been mobilized at considerable expense and kept under arms since August, 1914. Industry is suffering. The foreigner comes but rarely to the countless hotels, which stand bleak and deserted like.so many gigantic mausoleums. Only a few homeless individuals from foreign parts loiter in the streets—few by comparison with former years. Even

the exiled revolutionary has quit the little country where he for so many years found sanctuary. A few frontier towns are centers of espionage and intrigue. That is all. The sun rises alone over the glaciers’ fair desolation. There are no tourists shivering with cold and delight to welcome his upcoming or to turn away to hurry down the last slope homeward as he sets behind the purple mountains.

The country suffers from the loss of tourists. But most of all It suffers from the bonds and restrictions with which the warring nations, and chiefly those which command the sea, are endeavoring to correct it. During a year the strings have been drawn ever tighter and tighter. Because she lacks a seaport Switzerland can

breathe lam easily even than Holland. Constant disputes are arising relative to contraband, conditional contraband, imports and their final consumer. Is Between Two Fires. The situation finds adequate expression In the words of a contributor to the Gaiette de Lausanne: “Germany and Austria have said to Switzerland: ’We are perfectly willing to deliver you such raw materials as you lack. But you must give us in exchange not money but certain products of which the allies' blockade deprives us and which we need.' The allies object to this, saying to Switzerland: ’From the beginning of the war we have placed our ships and our trains at your service, and, unlike our enemies, we have never thought of imposing compensations in goods upon you. In the future, as in the past, we are quite willing to furnish you with raw materials as well as with foodstuffs. Only, desiring that our blockade be effective, we ask you to give your word not to pass on in any form whatever to our enemies that which we procure for you.’ “Switzerland replies to the allies: ‘I am grateful to you for supplying me with foodstuffs and raw materials without demanding compensation. Masters of the ocean, you have been able to do me thiß service, like good neighbors. Germany and Austria, although blockaded by your fleets, have also done what they could for me. Driven, by need, they asked me to pay them in goods, while continuing to pay you in specie; and 1 have not refused, being myself hard pressed and neutral —that Is, equally friendly to all and unwillingly to Increase difficulties. In the meantime your fears are groundless, for I have taken care formally to forbid the exportation from my territories of a whole series of goods of urgent necessity. And I am always on the watch for smugglers. Needs of Bwiss Industry.

** ‘On the other hand, my industries must live in spite of your war, on account of which I, though perfectlyinnocent, suffer more than you, perhaps, believe. And in order that my industries be not ruined they must be permitted to re-export to all countries the articles manufactured from raw materials furnished by no matter what belligerent. lam neutral of my own free will, but with your approbation. That is why, although I have obligations toward you (and I do not deny them), that you also have a few toward me, of which the first and essential is to let me live.’ ” Here is the situation In a nutshell. The result of pressure from both sidest "but principally from the side of the allies, has been to make the Swiss conscious of their nationality and to start a wave of patriotism. Negotiations are going on to regulate the matters of difference between the little mountain country and its powerful neighbors by establishing a Swiss control of all foreign trade with a view to doing away with chances for cheating. For the people will not listen to propositions from either side offering “compensation” after the war. They want the difficulty done away with now, Immediately. Would Fight for Rights.

The Swiss are aware of their spree. The effect of 35 , ' 1 000 sturdy, wellequipped and trained soldiers thrown into the balance today on either side would be considerable —might be decisive. “We have been much too humble,” men tell me here. “From now on we shall cease to supplicate and begin to demand, courteously but firmly.” “Would you fight?”

“Certainly, if forced to it. We refuse to starve or be driven bankrupt. England and France and Italy must be brought to realize this fact or face the consequences.” “But your personal sympathies, as you have just told me, are with the countries you mention.” “That is true. But you must realize that before we are German, French or Italian we are Swiss. We have our own country to look after. In any but an extreme case an attempt by the German-speaking majority to force the nation into war against the

NARROW ESCAPE OF AN AVIATOR

in ibis pbotograpH, with bis back turned to the camera, an officer ot the Royal Plying squadron Is being removed from his aeroplane in a serious condition. While making a reconnoissance flight behind the German lines in Belgium. be was struck by shrapnel and his leg was almost severed. He lest consciousness, but after the machine bad made a wild drop he revived sufficiently to check it, and landed safely.

CHARGED WITH NEGLECT

The lack of ammunition, which tha Russians say was the cause of their repeated defeats, has been put up to General Boukhomlinoff, who, until his removal, was the Russian war minister. For his alleged neglect of dutj In permitting the Russian forces to run short of ammunition, he is to be tried by a superior court appointed by the czar hlmseu. General Nicola* Petroff has been appointed president of the court.

allies would mean an immediate rupture between us and them and so bring about the ruin of Switzerland., But if the present restrictions, already bad, grow heavier instead of lighter, if the allies cannot be persuaded by our diplomats that although we ask only to live we put our entire strength behind this demand, then, German, French or Italian-speaking though we be, we shall fight side by side like a single man, as we would do tomorrow at the slightest infraction of our territorial rights. And I —well, I should fight too, even against nearly everything in the world I hold dear.”

MUST KILL PRAIRIE DOGS

Texas Land Owners Are Compelled by Law to Destroy the Pests. Austin, Tex. —Prairie dogs are declared to be a public nuisance, according to an act passed at the special session of the Thirty-fourth legislature and which act is now effective. The act also provides for their extermination, but no bounty is given by the state for eliminating the - so-called pests; owners of land on which prairie dogs exist are required under the law to kill them and an allowance of two years is given to such owners to rid their lands of the nuisance. It is also made the duty of the county commissioners of any county in which prairie dogs exist to Investigate and determine whether owners of lands in their respective commissioners’ precincts have complied with the provisions of the law. In the event the owner of land on which prairie dogs exist falls to destroy 4 such pests the act empowers the sheriff of the county involved to proceed and destroy the nuisance.

For his service the sheriff is allowed* five dollars a day for actual service, and this sum is to be paid by the county commissioners, but the amount so paid shall be assessed against the owner of land and the account or claim entered as a lien against the land in case of failure to pay the amount due the county.

Snakes Galore.

Clarkesville, Ga. The killing of those thirteen rattlesnakes and pilots Rufus Harris killed some time ago was thinning snakes out some, but It is reported that there was the unreasonable number of 450 snakes killed on the farm of Willie Mullinax near here in one season.

Instruction for the Sinner

By REV. B. B. SUTCLIFFE

TEXT—We have trespassed against our Qod ... yet now there is hope . . • concerning this thing. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God.—Kara 10:2, X. This text Is full of instruction for the sinner who would find peace for

and “all have sinned and corns short of the glory of God." Our history and our conscience bear witness to the truth of it The present writer and reader must make the same humiliating confession: . *T have trespassed against my God.” The evil thing is already done and the record is already made. The temptation to think that we can do enough good to blot out the evil is a subtle one. We cannot go back over the road and live It over in such a manner as to hide the record we have left. We sometimes say, "I wish I could go back and do it differently,” but time refuses to turn back for us. The record is there and all we can say of It is, In the word* of Pontius Pilate, “What I have written I have written.” The words spoken that should have remained unuttered may be forgotten but they are all record'ed. The deeds of evil we cannot undo. The sins are already committed and the sinner should not be so much exercised about what will happen in the future as about what has happened in the past.

There may be a difference in the number and character of sins committed, but trespass there is against each one. To trespass means to get "over the fence" or “out of bounds." 1 God has set bounds for man to walk in and as far as the fatal results are concerned one might as well be a mile out of those bounds as merely a foot. God says that "he that keepeth the whole law and yet offendeth in one point is guilty of all.” If a man’s life depended on the strength of a chain, nine strong links would not avert the catastrophe resulting from a weak link that breaks. One sin is enough to put one “out of bounds." Therefore this is a proper confession for everyone to make, "I have trespassed against my God.” 11. The gracious comfort for the sinner —“yet now there is hope concerning this thing." In spite of the trespass whether large or small, every sinner has this hope. God says to all, "Come now and let us reason together: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as show." The natural thing for a sinner to do is to hide from the One who has been offended. This Adam did when God came into Eden after the fall. But not in Judgment, but in grace does God come. Not to condemn but to save. In the future he will come to judge and to condemn, but today, there is hope for all. The message from God’s Word is, “Now is the accepted time, behold today is the day of salvation.” Many say, "I will think about the matter," but the Lord says “today" at once, now, not tomorrow. Many have gone to a hopeless eternity just because they persisted in thinking about Instead of accepting God’s gracious offer of a present salvation. And this text proclaims a universal hope, including all} who have trespassed. It if extended to everyone. Over and over God’s Word declares that “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” “Whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely.’’ “Whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” 111. The wise conduct for the sinner. “Therefore let us make a cove nant with our God.” This is not merely a covenant to turn over a new leaf or to mend our ways or any of the many expedients resorted to to give peace and rest to the troubled conscience, but It is turning to God, coming out from behind the tree to him who alone can blot out the recprd of the trespasses and give us a clean record. The words of the prophet are as true today as they were when uttered, “Let thp wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he win have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon.” There is abundant pardon with the Lord for every trespass and for every sin and the blood of Jesus Christ God’« Sea can blot out every mark and stain from the sinner's record. ~ ■--■y • *“ •^TBSKwBhIBI Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have limits.— Burke. '.A .. -

the conscience. It tells of the proper confession, the gracious comfort and the wise conduct for every sinner. I. The proper confession for ever sinner—“we have trespassed against our God.” The Bible proclaims the fact that “aH we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way,”