Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 250, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1917 — Page 2

QUEER STORIES OF NEW RUSSIA

Elementary Mentality of the Masses Demonstrated by Amusing Examples. FISH MADE FREE BY TROOPS Haw Pretty Woman, With Dogs and Red Ribbon, Turned Hostility to Enthusiasm —Man With Red Umbrella Becomes Personage. Paris. —Political happenings have succeeded one another so rapidly in Russia that French correspondents ■there have had little time to do more than occupy themselves with them, and descriptive articles from those journalists have been few regtirdlng the effect of the revolution on the mass of the people and its results in ’the provinces and among the peasants. One or two articles, however, have apipeared which throw some light on the mentality of the Russians, regarded as so different from that of other Europeans. Robert de Flers, associate editor of the Figaro and now attached to the headquarters staff of the Roumanian army, has had months of study of the Russian troops serving in conjunction with those of Roumanla. Here are some anecdotes from his latest article: There is a fine lake somewhere in the south of Russia which is connected iby a channel with a smaller lake, where huge carp are raised. The channel was barred by nets to prevent the carp from passing into the larger lake, and, as food does not reach the troops In the district too plentifully nor in great variety, the officers were glad to vary their mess with the fish.

One day some hundreds of soldiers were gathered in a meeting—one of those meetings which have become a regular Institution in the Russian army this year—plunged in deep discussion. Suddenly—there was a rush toward the lakes and, with cries of "Sloboda!” “Sloboda!” (“Liberty!” “Liberty !”), the men began to pull out the barriers and nets and destroy them. The officers wished to prevent tiie destruction, but the soldiers took little notice of their reprimands beyond crying “Sloboda! Sloboda for the fish!” A noncommissioned officer explained the matter. “Fish are God’s creatures as men are. Like them, they have the right to liberty. But men can talk and ao have made the revolution, while fish are dumb and can never make theirs. It is, therefore, our duty to aid them because it is contrary to nature to pen them up In order to capture them and easily kill them.” A Personage and Didn’t Know It. A middle class functionary, a man who occupied a modest position in one of the tax-collecting offices and who was Imbued with the narrow, bureaucratic, reactionary spirit generally found in that class, chanced to go out one day with a red umbrella under his arm. A group of manifestants going to a meeting begged him to open his umbrella. He willingly complied, and at

MRS. WM. ASTOR CHANLER

One of “the American women who have kept green the memory of the Marquis of Lafayette and the great service he rendered this country In Its earl# struggle for life is Mrs. William Astor Chanler, who has devoted much of her time and energy since the f war began to aiding the French in their great struggle, , Mrs. Chanler has been Interested in hospital and relief Work in Paris, but her especial charities have been the Lafayette fund, which comtort kits to French soldiers, andthe French heroes* fund. It was the latter, fund; of which Mrs. Chanler was president, that purchased the birthplace of Lafayette in France to be preserved as a museum. . ' ' I ’ C'

once found that his bright umbrella — red beihg the revolution’s color —made him a personage. Women threw him flowers, children were lifted up for him to kiss, and he was at once.made president of the meeting. When that was over he was conducted in triumph to a banquet, and there, too, he made an eloquent speech, having discovered himself an orator without having ever suspected it. Finally he was conducted to his home at a late hour by several thousands of his free if not enlightened fellow-citizens. Fronr that day, after inscribing his namewn the revolutionary committee, he has never gone out without his red umbrella, always

For months every material, from silk to the commonest cloth, colored red, has been sought for and made into cockades, flags, streamers, etc. The smallest fragment of redserv'es as an excuse for a manifestation. Here is a story of a squad of Russian soldiers, a pretty woman, a pet dog, and a bowknot of red ribbon. The pretty woman was walking up and down the platform of a little station crowded with soldiers. The men, whose opportunities of seeing a pretty woman had been limited for many a month, gazed in admiration and were prepared to make a manifestation in her honor. But suddenly their feelings showed a change and cries of discontent began to be heard. A group of soldiers went up. to the woman and severely upbraided her because a bow of red ribbon was fastened over the ear of her Pomeranlah dog. Such a use of the symbol of revolution was shocking, they said, as it showed a wish to ridicule the great movement. The soldiers shouted, shrieked, and jumped about excitedly, to the utter astonishment of the pretty woman and of the Pom. But the woman extricated herself from an embarrassing position with the gnile rOf daughter of E ve - She took the ribbon from her dog’s head and placed It in her own hair. Once more the crowd changed its tone, and it was amid enthusiastic cheering that she, and the dog, took the train a little later.

A certain general was suspected by his men of being only lukewarm toward the new movement, so a delegation of soldiers waited on him to ask him his real opinions. “I’ll tell you just what I am,” he said to them, “and you can tell it to every one. I look upon my men as my children and so have no reason not to tell them the whole truth. I am a Maximalist anarchist. After that I am sure you won’t want any further details.” The men went away delighted. They declared to the regiment that had sent them: “The general is absolutely all right. He is so tremendously revolutionary that we couldn’t even remember the name that he said.”

Logic of Freedom. Two soldiers had happened to speak to a general and one had used the term, “your excellency,’’ as was the custom before the revolution. The other soldier afterward rebuked his companion for such a lapse from new principles. “You said ‘excellency’l” “Well, of course I said ‘excellency.’” “But don’t you know that now you musn’t say ‘excellency?’ ” “And why musn’t we say ‘excellency’ and more?” “What? Why? Because we have made the revolution, and now we are all free.” The first soldier was silent for a minutes, and then remarked: “But since we are all free, we are free to say ‘excellency’ if we like to.” The other soldier, in turn, reflected for a minute, and then declared: “That’s true, after all. The moment we are free we can do what we like. It’s that, you see that’s so difficult to understand. But as that’s really so, I am going to say ‘excellency’ myself.” Then he added: “But, all the same, it won’t be the same thing as before.” Ludovic Nadeau has found time to send to the Temps some anecdotes about events in Petrograd after the great revolution: In the early days of the revolution a strange-looking street-sell made his appearance on the Nevsky Prospect. As he wore a scarlet cap, a crowd soon gathered.t He was offering pamphlets at 50 kopecks apiece, and could hardly hand them out quick enough. The natural inference would be that the work treated of the revolution, but, as a matter of fact, it was a “History of Buddhism,” bought, doubtless, for a nominal sum aS a publisher’s remainder. One soldlef, as he carried away his bargain, was heard to say: “I can’tread, but lots of comrades in the barracks can.” \

Before the revolution, people bathed naked in the Neva, but outside the town. Now they are bathing, entirely stripped, within the town, and walk about on the bridges and quays between the French and Britisli embassies. -The men of 1793 were christened “sans culotte,” (without trousers), the men of 1917 are “sans calecon,” (without drawers).

The Petrograd soldiers, anxious to Instruct themselves and occupy the leisure that the revolution has given them, are great visitors to the museums. Their anxiety to Investigate everything leads them to pass their hands over the pictures and caress the statuary, (often marking it with their nails). Notices have been put up beg-

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER. IND. ,

glug comrades to touch nothing. The founder and curator of the “12thnographlc” Museum recounts that his staff, (caretakers, cleaners, etc.); has petitioned the government for the suppression of his office, on the ground that a curator is useless in a museum, that he does nothing, costs money, and is of no service, as they who carry the keys, wield the feather brooms, and clean the floors are the real curators.

How to Be a Civil Engineer. In a manufactory the workmen in a body waited on the civil engineers to tell them that, “the old order having passed away, there must be no more slavery. Everyone must work in turm So you will kindly some of you go down into the mines, and others fire the engines.” . . -■ “And who will do bur work?” asked the engineers. “Some of us will take turns in your offices.” ..“But what will you do there?” “The same as you—sit around, sharpen pencils, and smoke cigarettes?’ On Sunday, July 8, M. Nandeau saw a crowd moving along the Nevsky Prospect, carrying banners, half blue, half “That’s all right,” said a middle-class f citizen to him. “Revolutionary red seems to be going out of date.” When the column had approached, it proved to be composed almost entirely of soldiers, enough to form two or three regiments. Their banners 1 for the inscription “Long Live the Government!” which seemed to show that it was a patriotic manifestation, but others had “Long Live the Ukraine!” “Long Live Independent Little Russia!” “Long Live the Independent Ukraine!” The soldiers belonged to the Petrograd garrison and were natives of Little Russia, manifesting their desire to be enrolled as soon as possible in the purely Ukrainian army that is being formed in the south. No one interfered with their separatist demonstration.

Some soldiers whose bearing was anything but martial, were taking uptoo much room in a tramway to pletiso the female conductor, who rated them vigorously with all the extraordinary authoritativeness which women tn Russia always display toward men. “You, soldiers! Go on! You only have solTHefs’ clbthes, That’s all “It’s a shame toTreat a poor wounded man like this,” murmured one of them. “You wounded?” retorted the conductor. “If you are wounded it must be in the left nostril and by a cork from a bottle!” These Illustrations of Russian temperament are declared to indicate the difficult task Kerensky confronts, to direct such a people and to keep them steadily in the path that he would have them follow.

COW GETS ARMY RECOGNITION

Soldiers Permitted to Own, Animal, Paying Upkeep From Ration Savings. Washington. —Soldiers in the army not only may keep a cow, but they can feed it at government expense, provided they consume the milk, says a ruling of the judge advocate general. The decision was rendered on the question of whether feed for a cow kept by a detachment of soldiers for the production of milk for the detachment mess could legally be purchased from the ration savings, in view of the regulation that “such savings shall be used solely for the purchases of articles of food.”

ACTIVE RED CROSS WORKER

„.Mrs. Funston, widow of the late General Frederick Funston, is one of the leading workers in Red Cross work. The widow of one of the country’s greatest soldiers is doing more than her share in urging practical aid for the soldiers and sailors.

THE MEN BEHIND THE GUNS

This is a reproduction of a drawing by Howard Chandler Christy, which the author contributed to the food administration for use in Its campaign for food conservation.

Wise and Otherwise.

Love makes the world go round and men go broke. Some people are proud of ; their past—because it is past. What women say causes more ; trouble than what inen think. To the woman who carrles_J her age well life isn’t much of ; a burden. It doesn’t pay to, advertise unless you are able to deliver the ; goods. One way to make people be- ; lieve in you is to pretend that you believe in them. Gossips have no use for people who refuse to supply them with raw material.

Military Organization of Romans 2,000 Years Ago Was Model of Efficiency

When Rome invaded the Germanic countries —about 11 B. C., or Julius Caesar’s time —the Roman general staff was obliged to send back to the rear along the Rhine and the Lippe —large amounts of grain and other rations, says the People’s Home Journal. The vessels - in which these .were transported nearly 2,000 years ago have been found in mounds of earth and refuse recently excavated. These great earthen vessels are marked with many inscriptions regarding their contents, showing how carefully the Roman general staff did its work. As an example of efficiency the Roman military organization has been the wonder of the world. From the inscriptions on these vessels one discovers how the Roman soldier was fed. His rations evidently consisted of bread, the staff of life, for the preparation of which the grain was ground in small hand mills. Fish, snails, mussels and oysters, as well as many 'kinds of fruit, especially peaches, were included in the bill of fare. Of metal vessels the common man of that day knew very little; he ate from earthen unglazed dishes and cooked his food in pots of the same ware. A curious document has been found in the caves of the 1,000 Buddhas in India, written about 900 A. D., and in a good state of preservation. The author, a military officer by the name of Bagatur Chigsli, pronounces in angry terms his dissatisfaction with the food supplied by the commissary department, viz: One sheep and two butts of water for the commanding officer and 30 adjutants, all of whose names are recorded. “Bagul, the commissary, is a wretched, good-for-nothing slave, Bagatur. This complaint recorded over 1,000 years ago, is the “touch of nature wbic£, makes the whole world kin.”

All in the Sign.

A dear old lady who was shopping at a great bargain sale had the misfortune to be struck on the head by a piece of plaster falling from the ceiling. She was just beginning to talk about damages for the injury she had received, when, with admirable presence of mind, the manager led her outside, and. pointing to a large notice, said : “Excuse me, madam, but if you will read that you will see we distinctly warned our customers of what to expect.” Looking up, the old lady read: NOTJCE. j / THESE PREMISES ARE COMING • DOWN!" and took her departure, perfectly satisfled that she had no legal remedy.— Passing Show. «

Mud Hornet Is More Than A Match for the Spider; Captures Victim by Trick

I once saw, on the porch of ray residence on Lake Hopatcong, a mud hornet deliberately -fall into and entangle herself in a spider web, Hudson Maxim writes in the North American Reviews Tha spider, perching upon an outer corner of the web, instantly sprang at the hornet, then stopped, and decided that it did not want to tackle the hornet, and.returned to its perch. After waiting a while for the spider to come to the attack, the hornet freed herself very easily from the web; and I watched her fly several times in circles and then deliberately alight in another nearby web and entangle herself in it. Instantly the alert spider, evidently either more hungry or less cautious than the other, sprang upon the hornet, when, with an alacrity that would shame the lightning, and with a precision developed beyond the contingency of error, that hornet seized the spider, jabbed her sting into it and paralyzed it.Then she did it up nicely and carried it away. I learned afterward, in the study of insects, that this is the regular habit of the mud hornet —that she catches spiders in this manner, paralyzing them with her sting. She places them one after another in a mud pocket that she has constructed for the purpose, until she has enough canned spiders to feed her young when they hatch out in the spring. The spiders do not die, but remain alive in their prison until attacked by the larvae of the hornet and eaten at the proper time. Rather hard on the spiders — but the habits of the spiders themselves are not such as to elicit much sympathy.

Guard Little Expenses and Big Ones Give No Trouble

It is not “mean” to keep an account of little expenses, observes an exchange. The United States government requires all postmasters to collect and sell waste paper and string, and render an account of the money realized from the sale; army officers are required to account for every lurmmer, every bit of harness, yard of cloth or gilt button; and the weather bureau requires its observers to report the disposition of every postage stamp. So it is in every great mercantile or ’manufacturing establishment, the tie expenses are rigidly looked after, because experience has shown that in the aggregate they amount to large sums. Take care of the pennies .by noting where they go, and you will be surprised to find how the practice will act as a check on useless expenditure. Keep a guard on the little expenses and you will have no trouble with the big ones.

Speed Up.

You never can tell the limit of your capacity until you have been compelled to speed up. Many a fellow goes through life with average rating who has in him the fitness of the topnotcher. The trouble is he has never been brought, to his limit. His daily tasks have made no great demands on him and he has learned to take life easy. Such fellows need the challenge of a great speeding up. They need a call to their reserve forces that will compel a response from every fibre of their being. “ They need to have the consciousness of their own ability roused to action.— Pennsylvania Grit

“Fifty-Fifty” Biscuits

Have you tried “flfty-flfty biscuits ’ — Uncle Sam’s latest idea for saving wheat flour in hot bread? You use two ' cupfuls of cornmeal, soy beans which can be home ground, finely crushed peanuts, or rice flour to two cupfuls of' white flour. Or you can use one cupful of cornmeal and one cupful of ground soy beans or crushed peanuts with the wheat product. You can make “fifty-fifty” muffinswith one and one-half cupfuls of cooked and mashed sweet or Irish potato, or cooked cereal, or ground soy beans, to an equal amount of flour. Then-, there are “fifty-fifty” recipes for wafers and for cornmeal cook les. How to make all these “fifty-fifties” as well as home methods for entirecornmeal gems and yeast breads and' rolls made in part of finely crushed': peanuts, sweet or Irish potato, soy bean meal which can be made at home by grinding soy beans in a handmill, rice, cornmeal, or cooked cereals, aredescribed in detail in United States department of agriculture circular No. A 91, “Partial Substitutes for Wheat inBread Making.” Here is a sample recipe—the one for “fifty-fifty” biscuitsas worked out by Hannah L. Wessling, specialist in home demonstration* work: Two cupfuls com meal, ground soy beans or finely ground peanuts, riceflour, or other substitute. Two cupfuls white flour. Four teaspoonfuls baking powder. teaspoonfuls salt. Four tablespoonfuls shortening. Liquid sufficient to mix to proper consistency (1 to 1% cupuls). Sift together the flour, meal, salt, and baking powder twice. Have the shortening as cold as possible and cut it into the mixture with a knife, finally rqbbing it in with the hands. Mix quickly with the cold liquid (milk, skim milk, or watery, forming a fatrljr soft dough which can be rolled on theboard. Turn onto a floured board; roll into a sheet not over one-half inch thick; cut into rounds; place these 1m lightly floured biscuit tins (or shallow pans), and make 10 to 12 minutes in a rather hot oven. If peanuts are used, the roasted and shelled nuts should be"finely crushed with a rolling pin. In making the flour and peanut biscuits the flour and other dry ingredients should be sifted together twiceand then mixed thoroughly with the crushed peanuts.

EPIGRHYMES:

I’m settln’ out a row of POSTS to fence some pasture land. Now, my idee OF HONOR is to set ’em so they’ll stand agin’ the storms of winter and the crowdin’ of the stock; for my ol’ boss leaves things to me: “My boy, you ARE a rock,” he tol’ me once, “for EVERMORE them POSTS will stand, if I show you my sense OF confidence —no DANGER that you’ll try to make work easy for yourself AND free yourself OF CARE if you just feel it’s up to you, and thdt your boss ain’t there.” Now this may sound like blowin’ my own horn, but, ’seems to me, that this is what Tim Titcomb meant, and I think, honestly, that this here war’s another proof that what he said was right to hold Our Country's honored post both you and me must Fight I Robert \Russell. "Posts of honor are evermore posts of danger and of care.” (Copyright, 1917. by.lnt’l Press Bureau.)

POULTRY POINTERS

Crate fattening is practiced with good results by some farmers and when a large number of old hens are to be fattened the crate will be more satisfactory than the brood coop method. If there is no other shade near the coops occupied by growing chicks, set the coops up from the ground on blocks so that the chicks can get under them and find protection from the sun. Never give spoiled food to young or old poultry, for it is likely to poison them or at least to cause digestive troubles. Be sure to clean the dishes in which you give milk to fowls or chicks at ieast once .a day and disinfect them by scalding. Otherwise, disease germs find in these dishes a very good place to multiply. It is very essential to have the quarters in which you keep the chickens sanitary, and also to feed sweet, clean food. An ounce of creolin in one quart of kerosene makes an effective remedy for mites and fleas. Applied to roosrs, dropping boards and nests, it will destroy and keep away vermin. In making a change in rations for little chicks it is better to be on the safe side and feed small grain instead of grains that are too large. There Is nothing better for the growing chick than plenty of green feed. The large bo<ly lice on fowls are best destroyed by the use of lice ointment which is Applied to a certain part of the hen, or by filling the plumage full of llce-killing powder which can be obtained from poultry supply dealers.