Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 296, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1915 — Page 2

BROUGHT TO TIME

By ALV|NAH JORDAN GARTH.

Hiram —“Roly-Poly”— Benson, well desigwted as a nickname, admirably filled the “Information” desk in the offiees of Bacon A Co., brokers. He was nnderafsed, rotund, big-eyed, pink as a posy, always neat and clean of person. He exhaled healthfulness. He seemed built for the very chair he occupied and harmonised well with the six pretty—and also pink—stenographers, filling in the office picture just behind him. Hiram was the office pet, but that had not spoiled him. He had come Mo the employ of Bacon & Co. under peculiar circumstances, and the co-operation that had enabled the connection was appreciated and cherished by young Hiram. If only for the sake of plain, honest, hard-work-ing John Marrin, his sponsor, he was determined to “make good.” R was both curious and portentous the manner in which these two met. Hiram was at that time experiencing tiie sorrows and hardships of his first employment —messenger boy for the Security National bank. One morning Hiram was sent with two packages of securities to deliver to two different financial Institutions. He placed each in a separate inside coat pocket It made him puff jo walk fast and he appeared as a strenuous junior business devotee as he swung down the crowded thoroughfare. Abruptly he checked himself to a staggering halt as he chanced to put his hands to his pockets. One of the precious packets was missing! He lot out a frantic yell with the full power of his lungs. “Lost —ruined! 11l be hung!" he wailed next and sank to the curb and • crowd gathered. An officer came up

He Exhaled Healthfulness.

seeking an explanation. Hiram, in his profound excitement and desperation, had swollen the loss in securities up to a fabulous amount. A man pushed his way through the crowd. It was John Marrin. "What was the address in the lost packet, lad?" he inquired. "Blackstone, Wharton Winkleman," replied Hiram in a breath. “There it is," announced Marrin, extending a package. “You must have dropped it on the street a ways back where I picked it up." “Hunkeydory!" shouted Hiram, and he grabbed the packet eagerly and his face fairly bloomed again, and he clung to Marvin's sleeve till he was piloted clear of the crowd. "Mister, please give me your card." “Why, what's that for?" queried Marvin. “So’s I can reward you—not now, when I’m rich. Another thing: I don’t want to forget what you’ve done for me. Tell you, it’s a narrow escape! ft’s me to deliver these securities and back to the bank and resign my position."

“Why do you do that?" asked Marrin, somewhat interested in this oddly original character he had run up against. "I’m through!" pronounced Hiram definitely. “No outside work for me. And the responsibility! Nix, not, also never! I’m too heavy for exercise. I*ll strike for an inside position." “Why, come to think of it, our house needs a new hand at the information desk," said Marvin. “Say, mister, work me in, will you?” pressed Hiram eagerly. “I don’t care what the salary is, so long as I don’t have to get down before nine, and have an hour noontimes for the eats." So Marvin gave his card and Hiram was duly installed in his new position. He made himself useful, he was polite, pleasant, accommodating. It was ideal to him to rest in a cushioned chair all day long. He got fatter and more in love with life each succeeding day. As to Marvin, the new employee doted on him. He got to walking home with him, after the day’s work was done. Marvin even took him with him to visit his fiancee, Mary Roberts, who had heard considerable of Hiram, and wanted to see him. Hiram felt grateful and honored. For a week after that he noticed that Mr. Marvin was gloomy and reserved. He talked to him one evening during their homeward walk. The interest and gratitude of the lad made Marvin glad to talk about his troubles, even if it was to a boy. for Hinun h&d sbMz&

•Tm your friend, Mr. Marvin, and just you believe IL I'll never forget what you’ve done for me. You’re worrying about something, and if it's money—for I hear you’re arranging to get married to that sweet Miss Roberts —why, Tve got over a hundred in the savings, and it’s yours for the asking.” ' "Thank you, Hiram,” returned Marvin, considerably moved at the generous offer, "but it wouldn't help me. I had saved up SSOO to get married on, and it's gone, 1 fear. I loaned it to a friend—a false friend—who got me to accept a friend of his as indorser, and left tile city. Last week the indorser, a man named Drollard, paid the note with a SSOO check. Unfortunately I gave up the note, for when I went to cash the check they stamped it ‘Not sufficient funds.’ Fve been to the bank every day for a week, and it has been no use. I have learned that this Drollard, who is a sleek, clever schemer, keeps an account at the bank, but never allows it to reach the SSOO mark.” “What bank is it drawn on, Mr. Marvin,” inquired Hiram. "The Security National.” Hiram let out one of his characteristic yells. "Say, I’m solid there,” he added. “You give me that check. I know the ways and all the fellows at the Security, you see. I was a banker once, you know,” reminded Hiram Importantly, "and —I’ll collect that check for you if it can be collected by anyone.” Hiram had not been a banker, as he boasted, but he did know banking ways. Forthwith he placed himself In close touch with the “boys he had known at the bank.” “Aw! give me the tip —it’s all in the family,” was his typical appeal in turn to two of his former fellow workers In the bank, and the next day Hiram was placed in possession of some very Important and guiding facts concerning the man who had given Mr. Marvin the check that could not be collected. The evasive depositor, Hiram discovered, had made it a point to always keep from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars on deposit under the face of the check he had given to Marvin His final “tip” late one afternoon was that Drollard had $423 to his credit when the bank closed, and Hiram proceeded to draw $77 of hip savings. The next morning he appeared at the Security National and deposited that amount to the credit of Drollard, presented the check and received five crisp SIOO bills on the check, which Mr. Marvin had endorsed over to him. “There’s your SSOO, Mr. Marvin,” announced Hiram airily, who tried hard to evade the $77 deficit, had to own the truth, and had one of the SIOO bills forced upon him by the delighted Marvin. At the wedding Hiram was a happy "roly-poly,” Indeed a rotund semblance of some beaming, intensely satisfied Cupid! (Copyright. 1915. by W. O. Chapman.)

THRILLS OF A WOMAN’S DAY

Many and Varied Experiences Are Likely to Be Her Lot During Twenty-Four Hours.

A woman turns from binding up the broken head of a dare-devil boy to cheering a husband whose affairs are going to smash. She turns from entertaining her daughter’s friends to meeting the crisis of her son s first cigar, or drink, or questionable companions. She does it regularly, steadily, naturally; and under the necessity she develops until she is ready for anything. If the house burns, five times out of ten she saves the baby and the family records, while nine times out of ten the husband saves the coal pail and the looking glass! If there’s a crash and lacerated bodies and bleeding wounds, she knows what to do, and she does it. That s her business. If she falters, it is only to pull herself together for a fresh effort. "You dare not faint; there is nobody knows but you,” a quivering man told his wife when she staggered after an hour and a half of relief work over a horribly burned man with the scanty improvised remedies of a pioneer home. She did not faint; she knew, too, that she dared not. It was her business to stick. It was what life had fitted her for, what her mother and grandmotners had done before her. It was in her blood. —Woman’s Home Companion.

Smoke Signals.

A French paper gives the story of smoke from a chimney being employed to give information to the enemy. The members of a battalion of French infantry that had moved into a wellcovered country and thought themselves concealed were inundated with, shells The officers were astonished at the accuracy with which these shells were delivered and sought to find who was giving signals to the enemy. In a farmhouse at no great distance from the battalion a German, disguised as a peasant, was found seated before a chimney in which was a great wood fire. The pseudo-peasant was alternately raising and lowering a chimney cover or screen which caused the smoke to come from the chimney in long or short puffs as he desired. While doing this he looked through a window upon the field where the French battalion was performing its evolutions. These signals which had been agreed upon between the spy and the enemy, readily informed the Germans of the movements of the little troop. On discovery of this stratagem the false peasant was arrested and immediately shot

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

JELLICOE MOST POPULAR OF ALL BRITISH CHIEFS

Frederick Palmer Writes of Fighting Commander of Britain’s Great Fleet. MASTER OF HIS PROFESSION No Matter What Difficulties Arise He Is Always Smiling—The One Man Who Cannot Risk Being Absent From the Fleet — Loved by Officers. By FREDERICK PALMER. London. —Of all the great leaders of the war Sir John Jellicoe, commanding the British grand fleet, is least known to the world, and his is the portrait which receives the most cheers wben it is thrown onto a screen at a London theater. But the British public knows nothing of him except that he is the fighting commander of the "invisible” power of the British navy. When war was threatening it is related that a meeting of admiralty lords and others who would have the say was held to decide who, in case of hostilities, should command tho British fleet. The opinions ran something like this, it is said: “Jellicoe! He has the brains!” “Jellicoe! He is young. He has the health to endure the strain. He has the nerve.” "Jellicoe! His fellow-officers believe in him.” “Jellicoe! He has been tried in every branch- of the service.” That sort of recommendation helps when a man has to undertake such an Immense responsibility. He was given supreme command and the rest left to him. A Marked Man. "From the time he was a midshipman, Jellicoe has been a marked man In the service,” said one of his admirals. "He is one of those men who seem to be born with tireless energy.

Sir Jahn Jellicoe.

No matter what difficulties arise, he is always smiling. Both he and Beatty were on the first attempt to relieve the Peking legations at the time of the Boxer rebellion. Captain Jellicoe was then Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Seymour’s chief of staff. When he was wounded and the little band of seamen were surrounded by Boxers and it looked as if every minute might be their last, he was smiling as cheerily as if he had been on the quarterdeck. Nothing ever ; seems to ruffle his equanimity. His personal charm would win him his way anywhere; but when you have served with him, then you realise what a master of his profession he is.” Only the commander in chiefs flag which she flies distinguishes the flagship, which is in the center of the fleet, from the rest of the gray fighters in their precise lines at anchor in harbor. Sir John takes his exercise and his holidays pacing the quar-ter-deck. He never leaves the fleet even for a few hours. The commander in chief is the one man who must take no risk of being absent if the German fleet should come out Not tall, spare, his face tanned by the breezes, he walks upland down the deck, with his aides or with his chief of staff, again with one of his offirials. Everyone in the fleet is familiar, with the quick, light step of that slight figure with a telescope always under his arm. If a ship should come to anchor with a bow out of line, he knows it - All his fighting ships are under his eye and every human being on the fleet feels his personal presence. Makes It Look Easy. Descend a ladder under the shadow of two great 13.&-inch guns and the visitor is in a large cabin extending

from side to side of the ship, which in a house wpuld be called the dining room. Here when he was in port In time of peace the commander in chief would give his official dinners. In time of war the cabin is partly screened off, as there is more room than Str John and his staff need for meals. Aft of this is what would be called in a house the sitting room. The furnishings are of the simplest Everything inflammable could be removed promptly in case of action. The few names in the visitors’ book on a table were suggestive of the fleet’s isolation from intercourse with the rest of the world. One name was the king’s and another the prince of Wales, and a few others were those of high officials.

The visitor looked about in vain for signs of the immense amount of official detail which would seem necessary for the focal point of a vast campaign. Some staff officers and a few records were all. The flagship is kept cleared for action in this as in all other respects. The actual directing of the three thousand ships and auxiliaries of the British navy is carried on in a space occupied in a New York office by a lawyer and two or three clerks. An orderly went and came with mess&ges from the wireless room, which aside from the installation, had space enough for the wireless operators to stand and no more.

Officers said that it was difficult to contemplate how such a naval campaign as the British in this war could have ever been conducted without the wireless. Sir John could talk with the admiralty in London or with any ship, whether off Helgoland or Iceland. He knew what each one was doing. Let a German cruiser chow her nose in the North sea and he had the news in a minute or two after she was sighted. His Fighting Admirals.

Beatty, who sank the Bluecher, is the youngest of Sir John’s young admirals, forty-four years of age, boyish and quick. Sturdee, victor of the Falkland islands battle, smooth shaven, as smiling as Sir John, is quiet-spoken and rather studious in appearance, he is an expert in naval strategy.

In the British navy promotion is by selection up to the grade of captain. A man with a single flaw in his record as lieutenant must wait on others before he can become lieutenant commander. Those with perfect records in each grade are canvassed by boards and those who have shown industry and Initiative are chosen to go over the heads of less active men. The aim is to apply the

IN BELGIUM TODAY

People Confident Day of Deliverance Will Come. Young and Old Are Learning to Speak English—No Personal Relations Between Belgians and Germans—Boys Are Deficient. London. —The following account of conditions in Belgium is from the pen of an American who has arrived in London after a year’s stay in the Belgian capital: “Belgium today is learning to speak English. Everywhere you go, you can see the old and young usually carrying notebooks, studying in the streets and trams, in the cases, restaurants and in the homes, all talking English, using English expressions and words on all possible occasions. “Belgium is confident. You have only to look at their faces to see it, and if you talk with them, they say, ‘Just wait. The day of deliverance is coming, it may be this summer or next summer, but never? Vous etes fou!’ “From the German military standpoint, Belgium is organized into three districts, the first, the Gperationsgebiet or the zone of operations, which extends some fifteen to twenty miles behind the actual line of fighting; the second, the Etappen, which is an intermediary zone where all the supplies for the front are collected and distributed; and the third, the Occupationsgebiet or the occupied territory organized with both military and civil governments. No person can go from one to the other except on special permission, and then only by train, which includes as one of its comforts a thorough searching. “No person can leave the town in which he lives, except by train or on foot. Those who wish to ride in automobiles must pay twenty marks a week or more. In the fortified cities of. Liege. -Namur and Antwerp, you must be in your houses at nine o’clock in the evening. “Naturally no Belgian can go to Holland except by stealth, and I have good reason to believe that some sixty thousand have passed the frontier since the first of the year. Sometimes this necessitates the killing of one or two sentinels. “Above all it is strictly forbidden to sing or play the Brabanooh, the Marseillaise, and Tipperary, as a result of which nearly every Belgian can sing Tipperary and does so very often. On the Boulevard Anspach in Brussels -one- day four Httle boys were marching towards the bourse singing at the top of their lungs the Brabanoon. It was not long before some German soldiers chased them, catching one, who. as he marched away to the kommandatur, cried out to his friends: ‘Run

system of clvfl life, wbsr* ability rises and mediocrity must be content with the lower rungs of the ladder. Jellicoe, Sturdee and Beatty entered the nary a* boys of fourteen. None had any particular Influence; they made their way by industry. Sir John has served In every branch. He is regarded as possibly the ablest ordnance expert in the navy, which means that he knows the guns which he will Are in section.

Despite his amiability, all agree that he has only one criterion —success. If an officer falls he is superseded. Most of these young admirals sleep on the bridge even in harbor. For the last ten years the average British naval officer has worked harder than a man of any profession In civil life. They have kept up the grinding drill, which continues since the war began. “We can take no risks,'* one of them said. “Our responsibility to the nation requires that we neglect nothing that devotion to duty will accomplish. Most of these crews you see have been at their posts, whether gunpointing or passing ammunition, for five or six years. We want each maa to be letter perfect in his part.” Prompt In His Decisions. In all actions thus far the firing has begun at extreme range—eighteen thousand yards. At that distance a dreadnaught painted the color of the sea Is a vague speck. But one fortunate hit may be vital, and either side wants to get that fortunate hit first. The accuracy of fire both at the Falkland islands and In the battle of the Dogger Bank, officers said, had been as good as at battle practice.

Seen among his admirals. Sir John Jellicoe seems the head of a family. In frequent consultation, they know one another in the fellowship of their confined existence. If he had anything to say to one of them or they to him, the definiteness of their remarks and the promptness of his ro* plies were Impressive. Decision seemed automatic with him. He showed the visitors over the flagship himself, calling attention to things which he thought would Interest them, as he led the way along the cramped passages behind the armor or pointed the way to enter one of the turrets where the gun crews were going on with their drill, which they went through like so many machines. Most of them were in the late twenties or early thirties, mature, experienced and confident. “All they ask is that the Germans will come out,” said an officer. “They could not work any harder than they did before the war. But the war has given them renewed eagerness.”

and tell mamma that I am a prisoner of war.’ The young Belgians all wear caps modeled on the soldiers’ rest caps and are very independent. “The German government of Belgium has expressed its desire that all Belgians should return to their work, but if it be work that can profit the Germans, they find something else to do. Then, besides, every piece of ma, chinery that can be used in Germany has been stolen long since. “It is easy to say, 'Go to work,’ but it is another thing to have work to do which is not of direct benefit to the German military authorities. In Charleroi there were about fifty locomotives which had been damaged more or less. The Germans offered the work of repair with fair pay to the Belgian workmen, but they absolutely refused, as the locomotives could be used in sending supplies and troops to the front. It was nearly a month later when after failing to persuade the Belgians to work the Germans were compelled to bring workmen from their shops in Germany. “I have given you some idea of the general relations between the Ger mans and the Belgians. As for per sonal relations, there is none. “During the week before I left Brussels. I was a spectator of an incident which perhaps shows the distance between the two better than I can ex plain. I was standing on the platform of a tram coming up from town. It was crowded with both Germans and Belgians. A German subofilcer took a cigarette from his case, and, having no match, asked the man standing beside him for a light The Belgian had nothing to do but offer the German his lighted cigarette. .When the Geri man went to return the cigarette, the Belgian very politely informed the German that he did not care to smoke any more. The German could do nothing, although he felt the insinuation. He left the tram Immediately. ’ “For our real news we have had to depend - upon the. Dutch papers and above all the London and Paris journals which were smuggled in from time to time. The German authorities have done all they could to stop these papers coming in, even making it extremely punishable, but as fast as they would stop up one channel of the supply another would be found. We were never without an English paper for more than two weeks since the first of September of last year. “The ’ commission for relief of Belgium has, no doubt, saved a nation from starvation, and under- the difficult circumstances, have done a wonderful work. The Belgians know and really appreciate the help, even if ths Germans have tried to claim the credit by publishing pictures of the commls sion’s work and labeling them as som« of the fine work Germany has done it Belgium.”

HOME TOWN HELPS

PLANNING THE NEW HOUSE Interior Arrangements Should Have as Much Care as the Outside of the Home. Things one should not do in planning a home have been enumerated from week to week on the Home Builders' page of the Sunday Herald during the past few months. But in addition to the things that should not be done there are many little things that should be done, some of which, seemingly unimportant, are In reality very Important. Following are a few of the “Do’s," combined with "Don’ts:” Don’t treat the piazza as an architectifral excrescence; make It a real out-of-door living room. It should command a good view, have a western exposure and be so located as to afford privacy and rest to those occupying it. Don’t plan for other than wide openings between the hall, living room and dining room. These wide openings give an air of spaciousness and gracious hospitality. Don’t buy a building site without first having the architect visit the site with you. You may in this way avail yourself of many valuable and helpful hints. Don’t plan your house until you have selected' your building site. Tq do so is about as difficult and will result more disastrously than buying a hat without first trying it on. Don’t forget that a cheery entrance hall affords to the casual visitor agreeable anticipations that a further acquaintance with the house will be equally cheery. Don’t fail to locate the kitchen range out of reach of cross drafts. Much time and fuel are wasted, often with disastrous results to the cooking, by not obtaining this condition. Don’t omit the shower from the bathroom. You will be more than repaid in health and comfort for the extra outlay. Don’t fail to conceal, if possible, the hot-water boiler in some convenient closet in the kitchen. The boiler is not a decorative feature, even with much time expended in polishing IL This time can be spent to better advantage in numerous other ways. The water keeps hot longer if the tank is concealed, which is an advantage economically.—Boston Herald.

TELLS OF APPROACHING CARS

Electric Signal Warns Motorists and Pedestrians to Watch Out for Possible Danger. In order to warn motorists and others of the approach of traction cars at an intersection of two narrow streets where the view is obstructed by buildings, fences, and trees, an electric sig-

nal of rather novel appearance has been put in use. At the an iron post, which also carries the street signs, is mounted a propeller-shaped member which oscillates whenever a car nears the crossing. At night a sign beneath this., signal asm bearing the word “Danger'’ is illuminated in red. —Popular Mechanics. • i 1 . 1 ?.. ■

Beauty Spot.

A gentleman from Michigan once visiting in California, says that in one town he visited there was a deep ravine running through the town, into which, seemingly, all the rubbish of the town was thrown. A young schoolteacher devised a plan by which this might be remedied. Her pupils were all requested to bring all the nasturtium seeds they could get, and when the rainy season commenced they went down’ into the ravine and all up and down its sides they planted their nasturtium seeds. The gentleman said they were in blossom when he was there and that it was the prettiest sight hs saw in aU California.