Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1916 — Page 2

HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

Br A. NEELY HALL and DOROTHY PERKINS

A SNOWBALL MORTAR. A snowball mortar is a novelty that will add a great deal of sport to a snow battle. And the fact'that the one shown in Fig. 1 is a modified forip of the ancient war-engine known as a “ballista,” used before the invention of gun-powder and fire-arms for hurling heavy stones, makes it all the more Interesting to make and use. Our modern "war engine." or "snowball mortar," as we call tt, is mount--ed upon a pair of runners, just like a

sled is built, so it may be drawn over the ground quickly. One or two mortara may be entrenched in a snow fort for the use of the defenders, and others may be used by the attacking party to batter away the walls of the fort. With practice you can become expert in handling a snowball mortar, ' and you will declare this methodof hurling snowballs far more fun than that of throwing by hand. The runners (A, Fig. 2) are made of 2-by-4-inch material, about 4 feet in length. Their bow ends are curved like sled runners, to make them run over the ground easily Cut the uprights B (Fig. 2) out of 2-by-4-inch material, making them about 24 inches long, and nail them to the sides of the runners, 16 inches from the bow ends, as shown in Fig. 2. Nail them securely, because the connections will be placed under a considerable strain

when the mortar is “fired.” The ■board C (Fig. 2) fastens to the top edges of the runners and holds them at the proper distance apart. It should measure about 12 inches w’ide, and should extend from the rear ends of the runners close up to the upright pieces B. The top beam D—(Figs. 3 and 4) should measure about 6 feet long and 4 or 5 inches wide. A board 1 inch thick will be better than a heavier piece, because it will be springy and will thus increase the throwing power of the mortar. • Pivot top beam D between uprights B, at a point about 30 inches from one end (E. Fig. 3). To pivot it, drive a long nail through each upright B -into the edge of the board. It IS necessary to ptacethe nails at exactly the same.

height anß to drive them straight, in. order to have the beam swing perfectly. By careful work you will have no difficulty in pivoting the beam. The handle-ba< F (Figs. 3 and 4) should be a piece of 2-by-4-inch material about 30 inches long. The illustrations show of Jthls shaped yound to make them easy to grasp. The pocket for snow balls is made out of a tin can. A (omato can will do. Fasten it to the long end of the top beam with several nails driven through the tin bottom. ___ _ Figure 1 shows the position of the mortar when ready for* loading with* a snowball, and Fig. 4 shows how, by bringing the handle-bar forcibly against runbers A, the snow ball is hurled forth trow its pocket

(Copyright, by A. Neely HAIL)

HOW TO COPY PICTURES. * By means of. the glass reflecting frame shown in Fig. 1, it is possible to make an exact drawing of any picture that you may wish a copy of, and this apparatus Js easily made. All that you need for the tion are two boards (A and B), two crosspieces (C and D), and a small picture frame with the glass fastened securely in place (E, Figs. 2 and 3). Almost any smalt-sized picture frame will do, though one that has an opening about eight inches wide and ten

inches long is of the best sizer if you can get it. The boards A and B should be about one inch longer than the picture frame, and they should be square or nearly square. Place the pieces upon the pair of crosspieces C and D, with the edge of the picture frame slipped between them, as shown, and nail them to the crosspieces. To make a copy of a picture, place it upon the left-hand side of the frame, and a piece of drawing paper on the righthand side. Then, standing so that you can look into the left-hand

side of the glass of the frame, you will see the reflection of the picture to be copied, in the glass, and the piece of drawing paper on the other side of the frame, will be seen as a background to the reflection of the picture. Keeping the same position, it will be but a simple matter to draw out on the piece of drawing paper each line that you see reflected in the glass. A very simple and exact method of making a larger or smaller drawing of a picture is that known as “enlarging, and reducing by squares.” We •yill suppose that the picture of the rose in Fig. 4 is to be enlarged twice each way, as shown in Fig. 5. With a ruler and pencil, measure off a series

of points across the top of the picture. and another series- along side, spacing them exactly one-half inch apart. Then rule lines from the top to the bottom of the picture, and from side to side, starting each line from one of the points. When the picture, has been squared oft in this Way, mark nff a similar series of points along the top and down one side of a sheet of drawing paper, but, instead of one-half inch, space them one inch apart (Fig, 5), .. Then jjde. lintjs up and down and from side to side, in- the same way that you did across the original drawing, Letter the ends, of the up-and-down lines, and number the ends of the cross lines, so It will be easy to locate corresponding squares on both the small and large drawings.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, >ND.

AMERICAN AIRMEN WHO AID FRANCE

Left to right: Sergt. Elliott Cowdin. Sergt. Norman Prince of Boston and Lieut William Thaw, three American birdmen who, for daring deeds on the battlefields of France, have been decorated for bravery, and came back to the United States to spend Christmas with their folks at home. Each has received the military medal and the war medal, the latter being the French equivalent of the Iron Cross of Germany. Already they have returned to their duty at the fronL « ■ ■

HITS POLAND HARD

Land of Graves Shows War’s Greatest Desolation. More Depressing Than Belgium or £ast Prussia Is Picture of Ruin and Destruction Over Vast Area of Country. Warsaw. —Even more depressing than parts of Belgium and East Prussia, the worst parts, is Poland—a land of graves and trenches, of ruin and destruction on a scale that has been wrought nowhere else by the war. The conflict has been waged back and forth across the ancient kingdom so long that agriculture has had but little chance, and, except in those sections where the German forces have been in control for some tijne, the fields are barren and unfilled, scarred by miles upon miles of earthworks. From the East Prussian boundary to approximately the old Rawka positions there is yisible the maximum amount of order and peaceful quiet. At the Rawka, however, the interminable graves with their helmet adorned crosses, the deep slashes in the earth that once were trenches but now are the temporary “homes” of countless refugees, the maze of partly destroyed barbed wire entanglements and the succession of burned and ruined villages begin. For miles, between Alexandrovo on the boundary and Warsaw, and between Warsaw and Lodz, the old trenches line the railroad, while graves, individual and common, line the trenches. Eastward of Warsaw, however, the trenches virtually stop, for the Russians moved fast once they abandoned the capital of Poland. The trenches stop, but the devastated villages do not. Rather they increase in number, and there is scarcely a railroad station —and no bridges —left standing.

The Poles from time immemorial have been accustomed to building their thatched cottages—huts would be a better word—close together. Accordingly, it was necessary only to set fire to one structure in order to burn them all. In consequence, countless villages have been reduced to forlorn rows of chimneys, which, being of brick and stoutly built, resisted the flames. Unlike the cities of Poland, the country seems to have been stripped of young men. One sees little else than peasant women, barefoot, ill clad, who struggle under bundles of wood through the mud, and who generally avert their eyes as strangers pass. The Germans, partly for their own benefit, partly to give employment to the Poles, have done much to put the notoriously bad roads in shape. They have also altered the railroad from the Russian to the German gauge —a stupendous work, for all the main lines are now double track, and at important points huge yards have had to be built to conform to military needs. The destruction in many parts of Poland is so general that village after village has no single house standing. Both soldiers and the civil population have had to rely on their inventiveness to obtain shelter, and all along the railroad lines freight cars, Russian and German, are being used as houses. In the case of the Russian cars the wheels hjve been removed, the cars have been set flat on the ground and the Interiors fitted up with some degree of comfort.

Carried Baby 250 Miles on Back.

South Bethlehem, Pa. —Joseph Danzko has arrived here after a remarkable trip from a northern Canadian town. Danzko carried his ten-month-old baby 250 miles on his back, Indian style, and sustained its life by feeding it with crackers and water.

LIVE LIKE ADAM AND EVE

Spend Two Months inMaine Woods to Prove Man Can Survive in Wilderness. __ I Boston.—The weather sometimes gets cold in the Maine woods. In fact, it is said the mercury hibernates in the thermometer bulbs when the spfuce trees start popping. And there are wild animals there, too —deer, porcupine, rabbits and even bears. There is no steam heat and there is not a delicatessen about the place.

But all these things did not prevent Walter F. Estes and his 114-pound wife from proving to their friends that they could live in the woods for two months, kill their own food and provide their own clothing, and come out in better health than when they went in. ”’*~ The lives of Omg and his mate Ik of the paleozoic age were copied by the Estes couple. In the warmer weather when they- first entered the forest their clothing was made of leaves and vines. Then came winter’s blasts and snow and ice. They wore then the skins of deer and other smaller animals they had caught in deadfalls. Mrs. Estes, by the way, was responsible for the first deer capture. One had run afoul of their trap and, when- she discovered it, the animal was about to escape. Mrs. Estes flung her arms about its neck in true primitive style and hung on, too, until her mate arrived. The flesh of the animals they trapped, with fish, nuts and herbs, made up their menu for the two months. Mrs. Estes came back to civi-

lization —centered in Boston in this case —heavier, and insisting that woman can stand hardships today just as well as her “superior” mate;

SPELLING CAUSES HER GRIEF

Never Having Used Final “e” In Spelling “Corpse" Woman Misunderstands Message. Portland, Ore. —Never having, tne final “e” in her own spelling of the word “corpse," Mrs. Marceline Germain of Donaldson,, Mich-, was prostratedT with grief upon receipt of an official communication announcing the fact that fiSt brother, Joseph Eli Jolllcouer, had joined the United States marine corps and had named her as next of kin to be notified in case of death. , “If my brother is a corps, of what did he die?” she wrote? tp Capt. H. T. Swain in charge of the local recruiting station of the United States marine corps, who had enlisted the man and was responsible for the notification. The recruiting officer, by return mail, bade the sorrowing sister cease mourning, and assured her that the "corps” to which her brother had lately attached himself wai the “liyest" kind of an organization.

IN DARING ESCAPE

Interned British Naval Officer Flees From Denmark. Takes Back Promise Not to Try to Escape, Then Makes Get-Away While Doubly Guarded Day and Night. London. Lieutenant Commander Layton, a British naval officer who was interned at Copenhagen, has just made his escape in exciting circumstances, and arrived here. At first he was allowed by the Danes a fair amount of liberty on parole, but a few days after his internment began he went to the commandant of the barracks and told him he wished to take back the word of honor he had given not to try to escape. The commandant, interpreting this as an intimation that he would endeavor to escape, told Layton that he would have to have him very closely watched. His quarters were placed under double guard, and there always seemed to be three or four sentries watching his movements. The prospect of escape seemed small, and, to make matters worse, Dayton was seized with a violent influenza cold, which prostrated him for the time being. Two sentries stood at the door of his room, and they never seemed to relax their vigilance. They were constantly looking through the peephole in the door of Layton's room, to see that matters were all right. They did it as usual on the particular evening that he escaped. Things were apparently -quite- in order;- and their prisoner was apparently lying on the bed. As a matter of fact, he was not, and at a moment when the attention of one of the sentries was engaged and the other had been sent on an errand, Layton opened the door and slipped into another room, where he found a thick serge civilian suit. In due course he found himself at a window overlooking the street, and with a rope which he had discovered he lowered himself into a street. The barracks were on an Island, and for better security patrols had been placed everywhere. The escaping officer met two of them, but succeeded by a ruse in passing them. His next obstacle was the canaL The night was dark and bitterly cold, there being several degrees of frost, but, clothed as he was, Layton took the most direct course, and swam for it. In spite of the fact that he was still suffering from influenza he did this successfully, and having got to land, he took off his clothes and wrung them out, so as to show no obvious signs of water. On the ferry boat he turned himself into a porter, and managed to get a job of carrying a passenger’s bag to the station. There he boarded a train, and in due course reached the dockside, where he caught a train to Christiania. He used several disguises during the remainder of his voyage to Christiania, just succeeded in escaping detection, and finally sailed from Bergen to England. On the boat to England a passenger asked him if it was true that he was an American. He replied that he was, whereupon his fellowtraveler remarked: “If you were not so darned sure about it, I should say you were a British naval officer." When the travei-statnect young Englishman, without money, presented himself before a transport officer at the British port, he was not unnaturally looked upon with suspicion, but he was soon able to establish his iden-. tity.

INSISTS KAISER HAS CANCER

Matin Says Artificial Was Considered by French Specialists Before War. ’ *• Paris. —The Matfn revives the story that the kaiser is suffering from career. The paper says a telegram displayed at Zurich 7 on December 24 said that the court physicians at Berlin were of the opinion that the kaiser’s illness is due to a fresh manifestation of cancer. The Matin adds that a practitioner living in Paris was consulted by the German emperor th.ee months before the war concerning the manufacture of an artificial palate if a serjous operation on the kaiser’s throat were necessary.

SILVER DOLLARS BY MAIL

Ten, Bent One Year Apart, Have Gone Through to Destination Without a Mishap. Federalsburg, Md- —About ten years ago Henry P. Wright of Aberdeen began sending to his sister here, Mrs. Mary Fleetwood, a silver dollar through the mall as a Christmas present. Recently the annual dollar arrived with Mrs. Fleetwood’s address on one side and a two-cent stamp on the other. in the ten years that Wright has befin sending these unique remembrances to his sister not one has been lost or stolen, neither has ft failed to arrive on time. _.i

Home-Made Wireless Kills Girl.

Astoria. N. Y.—Mary Roskinsgy wa» electrocuted when she came in contact with the aerials of an amateur wireless instalment in her employer’s home. The aerials had crossed with a wire of the electric light plant, which had sagged as a result of » storm.

A Model Seeker and a Model Christian

By REV. R- M. RUSSELL, D. D.

Instructor in Doctrine, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago

TEXT—He went on his way rejoicing.— Acts 8:39. The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch presents at once an illus-

as a seeker and a Christian. a model seeker the eunuch presents four points of excellence: 1. He was an earnest seeker. Knowing that Jerusalem was a place of special divine manifestation he made the long journey from northern Africa, not by the comfortable method of modern travel, but by the slow process of chariot driving. Neither distance nor desert sand hindered his journey. What a contrast here with many unsaved men who will not make any effort to come in contact with truth, even by as much as walking around a corner to some place of worship where the word of God would be explained. 2. He was a persistent seeker. Failing to find the truth for which he sought, either in the splendor of the temple worship, or by association with other worshipers, he left Jerusalem for his home still seeking, and was giving himself to a diligent reading of the prophecy of Isaiah. Here again he stands out in. marked contrast with many of the unsaved who utterly neglect the Word of God and who do not open the Bible from one month to another even though they admit it i# the good news of salvation, the time table of God’s road of eternal life, and the description of a heavenly inheritance with the conditions of possession.

3. He was a teachable seeker. The eunuch was puzzled by the writing of the prophet. Confronted by one who seemed to claim knowledge, he at once Invited the stranger to share his chariot and asked him to explain the prophet’s message. In this regard he is a model fbr every inquirer. It Is no confession of mental weakness to seek the help of another in things spiritual. It is simply the recognition that another has preceded us in the search for truth. Many people struggle for years with doubts and fears that might be removed in a single hour of conference with pastor or spiritual friend. 4. He was an obedient seeker. Hearing Philip’s explanation of the gospel he at once expressed his faith in Christ and claimed the first opportunity for confession through baptism. A readiness to accept Christ on his own terms is the true test of a seeker’s honesty and earnestness. The ordinances of the gospel are both simple and significant. Their observance permits the believer to express his faith .toward God and to take the attitude of open testimony as a witness for Christ. II. —As a model Christian the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.” 1. He rejoiced over new-found truth. All truth is interesting. Men with eager joy push their investigations along lines of natural science, but the largest truth is God in Christ. 2. He rejoiced in a new relation to God. No longer was he an unforgiven sinner, or an orphan in the world, without joyods relation to its maker. Having accepted the gospel he rejoiced at being a child of God, a friend of Christ. 3. He rejoiced in new opportunity for service. The eunuch was financial secretary of his kingdom. Hereafter he was to have a share in the worldwide and universe-embracing kingdom of Jesus Christ. He became an evangelist and tradition reports that he baptized Queen Candace. Association with Christ’s kingdom work enlarges life and brings joy. A toiling woman explained her spiritual gladness by saying, “I work every day over the washtub. It used to be dreary work as I saw only the clothes, and the tub, and my little home comforts. Now I know of woman’s work for women in foreign lands and give each week from my wages to spread the gospel, and now while I work my thoughts go out to the ends of the world.”

4. Lastly the eunuch rejoiced at thought of his heavenly inheritance. Before this his. largest hopes concerned political promotion, increase of salary, or lengthening of vacation —all earthly things. Now he thought of the heavenly. He did not worry because his hair was growing white, or because some younger man would soon get hL place. He; was slated for promotion to service in the heavenly No one Who is not a Christian can be cheerful and happy at thought of advancing age. I have never known a man sixty years of age and over who seemed really happy Unless being a Christian. „ ■ ~ ri -ter '

tratlon of effective personal work in soul winning, and the portrait of a model seeker and a model Christian. It is safe to draw lessons from such an incident since it is so near to the fountain head of Christian history and so manifestly controlled by the spirit of God. The eunuch stands forth as a model of excellence both