Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 227, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1916 — Page 3

The Blind Man

BY H. M. EGBERT

(Copyright, 1916. by W. G. Chapman.)

The lonely blind man came slowly along the passage of his big house, thumping his cane. At the door of the parlor he stopped, hearing voices. The voices ceased. A charming woman came forward and gave the blind man her arm. “Are you coming in to tea, dear?” she asked. Charles Hawley, the blind man, gripped her arm tightly. “Who is 'with you?” he asked. “Only Lionel,” answered his wife. “I don’t think —yes. I’ll come in and Bee Lionel,”, said the blind man. Lionel Graves had been Hawley’s best man at his wedding el gift years before. Both were prosperous architects, members of the same firm. Then Hawley had suddenly gone blind. The attack came on him without any warning as he sat as his desk one day. By the time he reached home he lived in a world of darkness. There was no organic trouble that the specialists could discover. His light had simply gone out. They pronounced it to be atrophy of the optic nerves,zand incurable. Charles Hawley gave up his work and withdrew into the seclusion of his home. He had plenty of money, he had a charming wife, but the light was gone out of his life as well as out of his eyes. His little daughter, their only child* had died the year before. Life now seemed utterly purposeless. At first he thought that he would break down under the strain. He grew nervous nad despondent. He

Looked With Amazement Upon the Gaunt, Haggard Man.

hired a man to read to him and accompany him abroad, and then he blamed Letty for allowing the care of him to fall into the hands of the attendant. In his increasing suspicion believed that his wife found him a Inuisance. He suspected her of caring (for Lionel, his best friend. As the blind man’s eyes closed, his ears opened. He heard every sound in th£ house, conversations on other Hights; he fancied that Lionel was (constantly there unknown to him. Gradually his wife and he became estranged. Letty was too proud to question him and withdrew into herself also. So matters went on for several years. They hardly met now, and Letty’s rare approaches were received by Charles with coldness. n. “I believe you can be cured.” Doctor Abergavenny, the specialist, put down the flash mirror and spoke. Hawley looked at him with his blind eyes. “The, trouble is,” said Abergavenny, “the optic nerve has ceased to function. But it is intact. There is no atrophy. I thinrf the whole question resolves itself into a case of stimulating it. A few electrical treatments should restore the tone. Then, if your sight returns, it will return completely. I had such a case last month and the treatment proved a success.” “When shall I come to you for treatment?” inquired Hawley. • “I can come to your house.” “No, I prefer to come to you,” said Hawley. “Then let us begin right away,” the doctor answered. After an hour’s treatment the blind man was as hopelessly blind as before. He returned daily and the treatments had no result whatever. He grew discouraged. “When the sight returns it will come like a flash,” said the specialist. “I can see an improvement. You .may suddenly see —” “Or I may never see?” The oculist admitted that. “There Is no use continuing the applications,” he said. “If the sight does not come hack you might try another course in six months’ time. But, frankly, I don’t understand why your sight has not come batk of its own accord.” Hawley knew that the specialist

tacitly admitted failure. He paid him five hundred dollars and went home. And now he began to pray for the gift of sight. He wanted to look for one moment upon his wife’s face when she was with Lionel Graves. For that privilege he felt that he would give ten years of his life. Either he and bitterly wronged her or he was deeply wronged. Lionel continued to be their visitor. He and Letty were alone a good deal. Hawley did not know how much. Sometimes he fancied that he passed a waiting figure in the hall, or on the stairs. He read guilt into his wife’s voice, he wondered where she went when she was out of the house. He grew more and more Irritable, and at last dismissed his attendant, declining his wife’s offers of assistance. He was completely cut off from the world. He read nothing. He lived like a hermit in an upper room of his big house. ’ in. Charles Hawley saw! He awoke one morning to discover that vision had come back to him completely. He sprang out of bed and ran to the mirror. He looked with amazement upon the gaunt, haggard man, with lined face and graying hairs who stared at him out of the mirror. His first impulse of joy was to tell his wife. His second was to restrain that motive. He felt that at last his chance had come. He made his way downstairs, tapping with his cane as usual. He saw his wife for the first time in years. He noticed that she, too, seemed to have aged. “Dear, 1 1 am thinking of going out for the afternoon,” she said to him. He nodded as if he did not see her, though his eyes scanned her face. “I have some shopping that must be done,” she continued. “Is there anything I can do for you?” “Nothing,” he answered. From his window upstairs he watched her leave the house after luncheon. As soon as she was in the street he slipped on his overcoat and put on his hat. He followed her. Ashamed and yet determined to probe her acts, he dogged her footsteps on the opposite side of the street. She hired a taxicab and he took another, ordering it to drive in pursuit. As he had suspected, it stopped at Graves’ house. Letty went in. Charles Hawley waited in the door of a big apartment house opposite. He never took his eyes from the door till Letty and Graves came out. They walked for blocks, and always the man who had been blind followed them. They were approaching a suburban district and it was beginning to grow cloudy. Hawley wondered why they still walked on together. They turned into a little yard that led toward a church. On one side was the building, on the other the graveyard, It was an old parish church which had stood there for nearly a hundred years—since the days when the metropolis was only a distant blur on the skyline, and this an independent village. Hawley remembered what was familiar about this church. He had been married here. And —their child had been buried here. It was only a few years before, but the time that had passed since then seemed infinite. They were approaching the grave of the child. Hawley clenched his fists. Anywhere but there, he thought. If they had gone anywhere but there. They were so absorbed in their conversation that they did not hear him approaching; nor might they have recognized him in the shabby, muffled man who gilded into the doorwSy behind them. Hawley’s sharp ears could now hear their conversation. “She was all that united us,” Letty was saying. “It was good of you to bring me here. I appreciate your confidence and understand how much it means to you,” said Lionel. “If only Charles could understand what he means to me. I have tried so hard to regain his love, and it means nothing at all to him. While our little girl lived he cared for me; but since she died and he has become blind he cares for no one. And I would give my whole heart to comfort him.” / “Yes,” said Lionel. “I don’t know what can be done—“except to wait and hope.” “I ought not to have told you this,” went on Letty. “I should never have told anyone but you, and that only because you are his only friend.” “Was,” said the other. “I have felt that I hold that friendship no longer.” Letty turned her eyes on him; and suddenly Hawley, with bursting heart, realized that neither, of them understood the suspfclons that had been in his heart. He had been blind —blind, not only with his physical but with his moral faculties. He stepped out from the porch. They turned and stood amazed at his appearance.' Charles drew his wife to his heart.

Japs as Sugar Barons.

The sugar production of Formosa has risen since the island was taken over by the Japanese in 1895 from: 75,000 to 350,000 tons annually. Millions of dollars have been invented by Japanese in sugar mills in Formosa, and the war has further stimulated „ the trade in sugar there. According to the Manchuria Daily News, 31,000 tons of Formosa sugar are to be sent to Australia, 3,000 tons to Hongkong, 15,000 tons to Cafada. and 25,000 tons to India, China, Manchuria and Korea.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

ROMANCE OF ROSES

PRETTY LOVE STORY THAT BEGAN WITH THE FLOWERS. - It Was Sallie That Gave the Young Couple an Excuse for Calling, But ini Short Time They Needed No Excuse. Betty, the secretary of our club, has had a pretty love story, relates the Chicago Tribune. It began in a rainstorm. When the rain was pelting down its liveliest Betty came into the street from an elevated road station. the bottom of the steps stood a boy selling flowers. He had only, two roses left, glorious, half-blown pink ones. “I’ll have those roses. If you please,” said Betty. And, “I’ll have those roses, if you please,” said another voice at the same time. The other voice belonged to a man. He was a young man, and when Betty looked up and he looked dowXi, both smiled. Despite the dampness of his clothes the boy smiled too. “Well,” he said, “which of you is goin’ to have ’em?” “You,” said Betty. “You spoke first,” ..... , . “No, you. I think you did,” said the young man. The boy, being a diplomat as well as a flower seller, suggested that they “divvy up.” “Why not?” said the man. “I want my roses for a friend who is ill, and she can’t smell but one rose at a time, now’, can she?” “I suppose not,” said Betty. “I also want my roses for a friend who is ill, and she can’t smell but one rose at a time.” So they “divvied up.” They left the station together, and since their ways lay in the same direction, they walked together for three blocks. Presently both turned into the same side street and both stopped at the same house in the middle of the block and both rang the bell of the same flat. “Don’t tell me it is Sallie Miller that you are bringing that rose to,” said Betty incredulously. “Sure It Is,” said Betty. So they climbed the stairs together. “Won’t Sallie be surprised to see us coming together?” said Betty. Sallie was surprised. “I didn’t know that you two knew each other,” she said. x • “We don’t —we didn’t,” said Betty. Then they told the story of the roses. Sallie liked the roses, but, being a sympathetic soul, she liked the story better. “lam so glad,” she said. “You must both come again on Wednesday at this same time.” They w’ent awrny together. Their talk was mostly of Sallie. Eacii said how wonderful it was that the other knew Sallie. At the corner they separated. “I go this way,” said Betty. “And I that,” said he. “I hope we will meet again—at Sallle’s,” he added. “O, yes, at Sallie’s,” said Betty. Of course they met —at Sallle’s. Their engagement is now six month# old. They w ill be married soon.

Boggs and Stewart Paid.

Harry Boggs, an accountant for the public service commission, recently was checking up the records of the Anderson municipal electric plant, at Anderson. A campaign was on in Anderson to raise money for a Y. M. C. A. building. Boggs was approached by committees and asked to contribute. Finally he signed a paper promising to pay sl, and opposite he placed the name of Charley Stewart, chief clerk of the commission, in whose office at the statehouse Boggs has a desk. Boggs came home and waited developments. Soon Stewart was notified that his contribution to the Anderson Y. M. C. A. was due. He didn’t say much, but apparently did a lot of thinking. The other day he caught. Boggs in the offices as another “dun” came in. Stewart opened and read the “dun,” which was more or less insistent in its tone. Then he walked over to Boggs. “Lend me a dollar, will you, Harry?” he asked; And Boggs dived into his pocket and produced the dollar. “Now I’ll just pay this bill for you,” said Stewart. —Indianapolis News.

Fertile Acre in City Limits.

John S. Ware, secretary and treasurer of the Cumberland Trust company and until recently deputy state treasurer, is an enthusiast in truck raising, and has a most productive acre of land connected with his residence directly in Bridgeton. This year Mr. Ware has taken from this single acre over SI,OOO worth of produce, and with the fall and winter crops expects to make the yield run up to $1,500. A quarter-acre has yielded S2OO worth of onions, one-third of an acre S6OO worth of lettuce, and from another quarter-acre $l5O worth of tomatoes have already been sold. Mr. Ware will easily pick SSOO worth of fall lettuce and celery. The land is Irrigated from the city water plant.— Bridgeton Dispatch Philadelphia Record. r

His Business.

“That man’s gone through twenty fortunes or more.” “Great Scott. He doesn’t look like a spendthrift.” “He isn’t. He’s an expert accountant”—Detroit Free Press.

DEADLY SNAKES MADE STUDY

"Garden of Serpents,” In Brazil, la Maintained for the Production of Serums. Brazil’s “Garden of Serpents” is one of the most interesting, though to some, repulsive sights in the world, and is maintained purely for scientific purposes. It is located at Butanta, Brazil, and occupies in ail some 700 acres. Here are the laboratories which produce serums for the cure and prevention of the effects of snake bites. The snakes used in preparing the serums are kept in a small park, containing numerous dome-shaped shelters, which is surrounded by a wall and a ditch filled with water. Other specimens are kept in a similar park near the main building, in order to study their habits, favorite food, the very diverse venomous properties of various species, and the best 1 method of escaping their attacks. The hot and moist forests of Brazil contain many venomous serpents, but the slightest noise alarms the peaceful and timid reptiles, which attack only those persons and animals that tread on them or destroy their lairs. The principal families are the Bothrops and the Crotales, or rattlesnakes. The Bothrops’ venom decomposes the blood and produces internal hemorrhage, with intense congestion of the liver, kidneys and brain, while the venom of the Crotales paralyzes the respiration, circulation and Vision, and usually causes death within twenty-four hours. Each venom requires its special antidote. The laboratory heads prepare a serum for each, and also a polyvalent, or compound serum, which is effective against all Brazilian snake venoms, for use when the species of the attacking snake is unknown. The serums are obtained from young and sound horses and asses, w’hich receive, at Intervals of five or six days, injections of venom, increasing from one-twentieth milligram to one gram. A year’s treatment is required to produce perfect immunity and an effective serum. The polyvalent serum is obtained by injecting the venoms of Bothrops and Crotales alternately. The animals thus immunized furnish antivenom serum for a long time if they receive a fresh injection of venom after each extraction of serum. Tubes of serum, with hypodermic syringes, are sent gratuitously to hospitals, municipalities and poor patients. Others are sold at low prices or exchanged for live snakes. Serums for pest, diphtheria and tetanus also are produced by the usual methods.

Supreme Court Changes.

There is not a single member of the Supreme court of President Harrison’s day now serving on the bench. Twentysix years is not a long time for continuity of service in the lower courts. There are hundreds of judges appointed at the age of thirty-five who are still in full mental vigor at seventy, and not a few cases of this kind are to be found in the'lower federal and state courts. Even Chief Justice White, however, is able to point to a judicial record of only twenty-six years. He was appointed by Cleveland in February, 1894, and all the members with whom he was associated at that time have passed away. President Taft had the honor of appointing a full majority of the Supreme court in the course of his four years in office. He appointed Justices Hughes, Van Devanter, Laniar and Pitney. President Wilson has already made two appointments —Mcßeynolds and Brandeis — and now has another appointment to make. Despite all the changes that have taken place in recent years, more cases were disposed of by the Supreme court during its recent term than in any other term since 1890. A total of 547 cases were decided, while in 1890 there were 610 cases. There still remain on the docket 522 cases.—-Thomas F. Logan, in Leslie’s Weekly.

Georgia Fish Go on Spree.

Walter Taylor, city clerk of Atlanta, Ga., declares that the fish in South river should have the attention of the Humane society. They are being grossly mistreated by the city, since the police began dumping “blind tiger” liquor in the sewers, he states. He said after a trip to the river •with Oscar Cochran, manager of the city parks, that he. found the fish in a maudlin condition, due to excessivg use of alcohol. Most of them were in a disgraceful state of intoxication, and the ones that were not were fighting to get their share. He says the river is rapidly becoming stocked with fish from farther- down the stream, coining up to get a share of the liquid. And he adds that the inhabitants of the regiou are trying to find some way to extract the a|pOhol without having to eat the fish, recognizing that the two don’t go well together.

Amsterdam Ghetto Doomed.

The inexorable housing reformer has reached the famous Amsterdam Ghetto, and is making a first assault on the miniature Jewish state that has existed for more than three centuries in Holland’s capital on the Zuyder Zee pnd has constituted for the modern tourist one ,of the sights of the city. One of the most thickly populated quarters, the part known as the “island” of L’llenburg, has been condemned and is gradually being cleared of its several thousand inhabitants. Plans have been drawn up for the erection of 360 new dwellings in another quarter of the city, half of which number will be let at below $1.20 a, week, the commune or state adding 20 to 30 cents in some cases,. ■ ,

Labor Warfare Destroys Industry Which Gives Life to Employers and Workers

There can be no industrial peace until both sides to a labor argument want industrial-peace,and whetr hoth sides really want peace, and: not a fight, a settlement is bound to come. There must be concession on, both sides and a willingness on Ipoth sides to abide by a settlement. But, unfortunately, in America it seems that there is a large class of men, bv no means confined either to the laboring or to the capitalistic classwho prefer fighting, for its own sake, to industrial peace and all that such peace means. Back in 1886 the Stove Foundrymen and the Iron Molders’ union locked horns with the manufacturers in the stove industry. It began with the Bridge Beach strike in St. Louis, and soon involved the entire country. They fought until both sides were utterly exhausted and each had barelv a single breath left. Finally both sides used that last breath to say, “Let us forget it.” They saw that if they did not stop then and stop forever, the stove industry would go to pieces, and for the salvation of the industry tp which they all owed life they came together, settled their differences, appointed committees of arbitration from both sides, and established machinery for the settlement of all disputes that might possibly arise in the future. Each year since that time these committees have met and adjusted amicably all the differences in the stove industry. However, that is the only industry in the United States which has been at peace for thirty years; the only industry which apparently has learned that warfare is destructive, not so much to the individuals who participate in it, as it is destructive to the very industry itself. W hen that fact is once firmly grasped by all strikers and by all lockers-out, the labor disturbances will depreciate astounding!;.’.

Work of Clubs Is Chiefly Responsible for Awakening Amohg Women of Country

By MRS. GRACE JULIAN CLARKE

Clubs are largely responsible for the wonderful awakening among women all over the land. Through clubs women have come to a realization of themselves and of other women, also of the conditions of life around them. They see many ways in which they could help to bring about wholesome changes but for The “sex distinction,” which the granting of equal suffrage will go far toward wiping out. The time will doubtless come when there will be no longer any need of women’s clubs, and they will then cease to exist. But I very much doubt if the millennium is near. Women must go forward at their own gait—not just as men, or any set of men, prescribe. They have many things to learn, things that men cannot teach them, and it seems to me they must work out some problems by themselves, in clubs and federations. T heir long journey along a road beset with every conceivable difficulty and discouragement has sharpened their wits and made them peculiarly apt in some directions. Gradually they will take their places alongside of men in all departments of life, but for some time to come there will be plenty of work for clubs of women. When equal suffrage is an accomplished fact all over the country there will still be ample opportunity for usefulness on the part of clubs and federations. In clubs women learn the value of art, music and literature in community life; they study about conservation, civil service reform, city problems, all that relates to children, and the care of the sick, insane and criminal. It is very important that the citizen-mothers of the future have such training schools as clubs afford for the consideration of all questions that women must help to solve.

Great Growth of Foreign Trade Is Building Up U. S. Merchant Manne

Chief of Federal Bureau of Foreign and Domeatic Commerce

There is nothing wrong with our foreign trade. We have been going into the foreign markets and getting our share of the trade of the world. We have passed from the class of nations which are dispensers of raw materials to the class of manufacturing nations. Before the war we stood third as an exporter of commodities. Today we have three times the trade of any other nation in the world. Our merchant marine has increased more during the last two years than it had during the 50 years previous. Our shipyards are working to their capacity and are turning out an astounding number of vessels. The fact that we had a small merchant marine has handicapped our foreign, trade somewhat during the war, but we are gaining and our laws are becoming such that we can build up a great shipping industry. Up to the present'the bulk of American foreign trade has been sold abroad by indirect agencies. The most important of these are export commission houses, export merchants and manufacturers agents. Foreign trade is no mystery. It is similar to domestic trade. It requires a well-planned and organized policy or establishment of permanent prices, and an attempt to adapt the products to the needs of the customer.

Conscription a Noble Word if It Can Be Made Synonymous With Citizenship

I am wishing that everybody might be conscripted to give soiSb service to the state, under a plan of national constructive preparedness; that every selfish luxury and waste and indulgence be commandeered, every useful skill and science and art and industry be called to the colors, periodically, and ja general, mobilization for the common defense of ouri ideals be ’compelled by our vision of an America that has a mission beyond commercialized supremacy. I would make “conscript”, a noble word by making it synonymouswith “citizen” in a republic with a mission and «n ideal worth fighting for. Till that time comes, may every American man do what every Cambridge student has done, conscript himself, and each one offer to hia country the best that he has to give. And may American institution® do wh’at Cambridge has done, not await government mobilization but mobilize themselves. • .

By ETHELBERT STEWART

Chief Statistician, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistic#

By. DR. EDWARD EWING PRATT

By DR. JOHN H. FINLEY

Commissioner of Education, State of New York

of Indianapolia