Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1918 — Page 3

Earning Her $37.83

By JANE OSBORN

(Copyright, 1918, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) When Stanley Ashton agreed to give thirty thousand dollars for the work of the ambulance corps by the student body of the college from which he some dozen years before had taken his degree, on the condition that the student body would raise a like amount, he little knew what a medley of unusual activities he was starting within the dormitories of that college. “I know it’s going to be hard for the students,” he told the dean of the college when he made the proposal, “but the ambulance corps needs sixty thousand dollars if their work is to be worth while. I’m not a millionaire, and I guess it is as hard for me to get that thirty thousand dollars together as it will be for each of the students to do his or her share toward raising the difference.” The dean was'figuring on the back of an envelope as Stanley Ashton was talking to him. “Yes," he said, having finished his little sum in division. “There are 793 students enrolled this year—about 400 girls and the rest men. That will mean about 137.83 a student, as I reckon it. In my announcement I shall suggest that each student try to raise that sum. It will give zest to their endeavors if each student knows Just what is expected of him.” So the announcement was made, and for the weeks that followed each student of the college went around more

bent on extracting the sum of $37.83 from his financial endowments —and most of the students of this co-educa-tlonal institution were not possessed of an overadequate allowance —than on securing passing grades in their classroom work. Dances, athletics, theatricals —all the usual side Interests of the college—were subservient to this desperate struggle on the part of the students, each to earn the allotted quota. The trouble was they were all doing it at once. Little efforts to extract the money from each other by blacking shoes, pressing clothes, darning socks, etc., were rather useless, since no student had the amount to pay for such services while each was saving his funds for the quota. Fudge was a drug on the market, for who had money to buy fudge? Margaret Benton achieved quite an honor for herself among her friends by announcing that she would give up her Christmas holiday vacation. She had received a check for S2O from home to cover the expenses of her trip and, with her parents’ sanction, she renounced this pleasure so that she might thereby save the larger part of her quota. There was $17.83 to be earned. By going without fudge supplies herself for three weeks she eeked out her. funds till she had but $16.75 to be earned. Then she earned 75 cents by selling one pair of old rubbers, two old textbooks, the gold tips from two outworn fountain pens and a last winter’s hat. Thirty cents she saved by walking downtown and back on three occasions. There then remained $15.70 to be earned, and there her fund remained. Her allowance was exhausted and there was nothing to save, and every means of earning money seemed to be In use already by some of the 793. On a certain gray day, when she had Indulged herself to the extent of using 5 cents carfare to go to collect the pittance that the old-clothes dealer was to allow her for her old hat and rubbers, she sat crowded in the surface car —so crowded, in fact, that she could not help but'hear the conversation of two well-overcoated men beside her. «*

“But what are you going to do about it?” the younger of' the two asked. “I’ve done all I could to comply with the request of the department of agriculture., I had all my fields cultivated on our summer place, and then I couldn’t get men to harvest them. I have had to pay $5 a day for a man to repair the hotbed frames, and- now I’ve had the beds planted to green vegetables in an effort to do my bit towards keeping the’docal market supplied with green goods. I can’t get anyone to transplant the seedlings. Did get a man for 30 cents an hour, but unless some one watched him every mipute he-soldiered.” Margaret heard the man sitting with him suggest that it was more satisfactory to contract the work. Then it didn’t matter if the men did soldier. “But If there aren’t any men to do the work, what ain I to do?” Margaret had only a vague Idea of what a hotbed looked like, but somehow the task sounded easy. She sat quii&tly beside the young man in the warm overcoat and allowed herself to be carried beyond the street where she would t have got oft to return to the dormitory. For several miles more she rode, until in a dreary country lane on the outskirts of the city the man signaled for the car to stop. He alighted, and Margaret alighted, too. He turned to walk up the lane, and Margaret, with face ayerted, followed him at a distance. He went into the front door of a rambling, spacious and well-kept-up country house, and after standing in the dampness in the lane for ten minutes, Margaret rang the doorbell. It wasn’t very easy but it had to be done. She asked to be permitted to do the transplanting, and named as her minimum price—she insisted on Contract work—sls.7o. The man, who

had seated her in front of a cheery wood fire and stood beside her, smiling as she made her proposition, held out against the price. He said it wasn’t worth it, and that he could ill afford to pay fancy prices. But Margaret was obdurate, and finally the bargain was struck. Margaret stipulated that she should be allowed to do the work when she chose. She realized that most of it would have to be done after lecture hours, and mayhap by the light of a lantern. By the aid of one of the men students in horticulture, Margaret gained a smattering knowledge of how the hotbed seedlings should be transplanted. She secured a lantern for her night work and, wearing under her long coat a pair of working overalls, which she borrowed from the same student, she started out for her task. It was not easy, but she persevered, even when her hands were bruised and scratched. / The second afternoon of her work Margaret determined to continue there until nine o’clock, and accordingly took with her a package of sandwiches put up by the dormitory cook, at the direction of the kind-hearted house mother. Margaret was sitting in her overalls, eating the sandwiches by the light of her lantern in the workshed for which her employer had given her the key, when the employer himself appeared at the door. At first his obvious amusement at her position and costume embarrassed her, but it was so good-humored that finally Margaret laughed herself and offered him a piece of her last sandwich. He watched her work and did not criticize. Then, obviously only to have an excuse for lingering with her, he worked with her, always under her direction, and assuming no knowledge of the work himself.

“You are a robber,” he told her, as he worke<| by her side. “It was a holdup game for you to get so much; but it was you or no one, so I had to give in. By the way,” he said, asking a question that had been perplexing him since her first offer to do the work, “it is unusual to find a young woman so in need of funds. Pardon my rudeness,” he hastened to add. “If you didn’t seem to enjoy the work so much I should be sorry that I had let you do it. There must be other more congenial, more remunerative sorts of work.” Margaret did not answer his question nor satisfy his curiosity, and although they became well acquainted, in a measure, during the fortnight that followed, never again did the man inquire more into Margaret’s identity. They did not even discover each other’s names, for acquaintance in the usual acceptance of the word has very little to do with the acquaintance that is sometimes the precursor of a deeper attachment. On the last night of Margaret’s work, when she had transplanted the last succulent head of lettuce and the last leaf of endive, it seemed the most natural thing in the world for the man to tell her that he loved her, and for Margaret, standing there in her clumsy, baggy overalls, her hands loaded with the warm, brown earth, to look quite frankly into his eyes and to tell him that she loved him, too. “And now,” he said, “tell me why and wherefore. Why did you stick me for sls.7o—just that and nothing more?” “Why did you hold out?” she rejoined. “You were dreadfully stingy.” “A man has to be, when he has pledged $30,000 and he isn’t a millionaire.” “Stanley Ashtonl” she gasped. “Why, I somehow imagined you were baldheaded and sixty, with a beard and a diamond stud, and creaky boots. That’s the sort of man I thought you were. Then we have been really working for the same thing. How little my $37.83 looks compared to your $30,000, especially when I’ve held you up for $15.70.” “You aren’t the plucky little girl who gave up her Christmas holidays for the fund? The dean told me about that. It was far finer than anything I’ve done.” And then, in spite of the muddy hands, Stanley Ashton folded the little gardener into his arms —those strong arms, that had somehow struck Margaret when she was crushed against them in the street car two weeks before, as arms it would be very nice to be folded into.

Tempting the Stork.

It is customary in China, when the number of children— daughters preponderating —begins to exceed the family income, to name the latest comer “Enough,”, relates World Outing. Acting upon this superstition, the Lees, a native Christian couple, presented their seventh child for baptism. “What is her name?” inquired the missionary pastor. “Enough!” announced both parents in fervent unison. ‘•That will never do!” the pastor frowned. “Think of a more fitting name!” But Mr. and Mrs. Lee were smitten with stage fright and could think of nothing. The Bible woman sitting near whispered “Call her Dorcas!” So Dorcas she was hastily named. But fancy the dismay of Mr. and Mrs; Lee when they discovered that Dorcas, translated into the native dialect, is Identical in sound with the Chinese words, “Many More!”

“Do It Now."

The successful man or business woman arranges his or her day so that it won’t be full of wasted minutes, half hours gone wrong, broken appointments, delayed efforts. There is no more important rule for success than this simple one: Do it now.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER. IN J.

ARMY MOTOR TRANSPORT TAKING ON GAS EN ROUTE TO ATLANTIC COAST

The photograph giver) herewith shows one of the army motortrucks, making up the motor train which carried munitions and supplies from Detroit to the Atlantic coast, replenishing its fuel supply “somewhere in Pennsylvania.” The new freight service was inaugurated by the quartermaster’s department to relieve railroad congestion. ‘ The tank car is one of the two that accompanied the train.

TERRIFIC STRAIN PLACED ON TIRES

Many People Who Buy Cars Are Ignorant of This Subject. ECONOMY TOPIC MOST VITAL Adding One Mile for Each Tire to Enormous Mileage Piled Up Each by Great Number of Cars, Would Save Big Fortune. When motor cars were rare, tire mileage costs made little difference. But now, when men are buying cars as they would a suit of clothes or a pair of shoes—when our annual car bill is more than $1,000,000,000, and for tire about s333,ooo,ooo—tire economy is a matter of great concern. About 4,000,000 cars are now registered in this country, wearing 16,000,000 tires. Addiug only one mile for each tire to the enormous mileage piled up each day by these cars would save a handsome fortune for the motorists of the country. Much Mileage Lost A. E. Hertzig, manager of a big tire and rubber concern, in commenting on the various kinds of abuse innocently Inflicted upon motor tires, preventing them from attaining their alloted three score and ten, declares that much of this mileage is lost through the fabric breaks caused by hitting stones imbedded in the road.

“So many people are now buying cars who know comparatively little about cars or tires that it is not surprising that merciless abuse is heaped upon them,” he says. “Hardly one motorist in 100 appreciates the terrific strain placed on tires when traveling at high speed over ordinary roads. Your tires may withstand a shock equal to ten tons weight while running at a speed of- 25 miles an hour over country roads, and a little later you have a blowout while running over a perfectly smooth street Cause of Blowout “This is what happened. The terrific impact of the tire and the stone Imbedded in the road did not visibly affect the exterior of the tire. Had you looked it over you could not have found a mark. But on the inside of the tire a break in the tire fabric was Started when the blow strained it beyond Its limit of stretching strength, Perhaps only one layer of fabric was injured. The other layers soon followed suit and the blowout resulted.

“It is common practice for car owners to bump front wheels against the curbstone when parking their cars, especially if the brakes do not hold properly. Many drivers make no pretense of slowing up for street car tracks or bridge approaches. There is much fraternizing with ruts- and stones in the road. All these make for fabric breaks, which rob the tire of many miles that were built into it at the factory.

TAKE ALL CORNERS SLOWLY

Autolst Should Round Turns Slowly and With Caution—Clutch Should Be Released. One reason for side slipping may be found in the fact that some drivers Jtake corners at a fast rate of speed. Allowing that the pavement is slippery, the should round turns slowly and with caution. The clutch should be released if there is a tendency for the car to slip. When this takes place, very frequently the rear tires will lose their lateral grip on the road surface; Motorists should never steer a machine sharply from a curb when the surface is wet The reason for this is simple, in that the grip ot the wheels on the road is insufficient to overcome the centrifugal effect and the result is the rear of the car is forced toward the curbing. Sometimes a sudden speeding up of the motor will overcome the tendency to skid. -

CARE FOR STORAGE BATTERY

During Winter Season It Should Ba Kept Fully Charged to Stand Low Temperature. The storage battery should be kept fully charged during the winter, according to E. V. Collins, Instructor in steam and gas engineering in the agricultural college. “The charged battery,” said Mr. Collins, “will stand very low temperatures while a discharged battery will freeze at 20 degrees above zero. Freezing will burst jars, and as a result the battery must be rebuilt ‘Tn cold weather the starting battery is especially likely to become discharged. The engine is difficult to crank because the oil is cold. It must also be cranked longer each time it is started because the gasoline does not vaporize readily in cold weather. Long trips are few and the charging periods are shorter. The lights which are needed earlier in the evening help in discharging the battery.

“The battery should be tested with a hydrometer at intervals of two weeks or less. If it is found to be discharged; it should be charged as soon as possible either by driving the car or from an outside source. “The conditions under which cars operate vary, and there are so many starting systems, that no set rules can be given for the care of the storage battery.' If the starter turns the engine with difficulty, the motor should be cranked by hand when starting on a cold morning. The engine may be made to start more easily by priming it through the priming cups or by pulling the choker when it is stopped. The lights should be turned on only when necessary and in many cases the dimmers may be used to save the current.”

HORN BUTTON IS CONVENIENT

Device Arranged So That There Is No Trouble in Sounding Alarm Whenever Necessary. When you want to blow the horn in a hurry, and you have one hand on the transmission lever and the other one on the steering wheel, you are strictly up against it without a recently patented horn button. It consists of an elongated cylinder which is clamped to the steering column, directly under the wheel. The push button that controls

Button Placed Under Finger.

the horn circuit is at the outer end of the cylinder, and the driver can reach it with one finger of his left hand without removing that hand from the wheel. The device can be used with success on most makes of cars.

RUINOUS ABUSE OF BATTERY

Most Common Fault Is In Letting It Go Dry—Good Plan to Have Generator Tested. The most common and ruinous abuse of the battery is to let it go dry. The battery loses water even under norma) conditions, partly through slow evapo. ration, but chiefly through decomposition into its constituent gases, oxygen and hydrogen, by excessive charging. If your battery demands water filling more frequently than it should, or If the battery links heat to a temperature warmer than that of the hand, have your generator inspwted and tested and the charging rate reduced.

Auto Alarm Whistle.

An automobile alarm whistle to be connected to the cylinders of a ear can be made to utilise the full force of their explosions when desired.

Controlling Devices.

Two complete sets of controlling devices feature a new automobile Resigned for instruction purposes

GOWNS SHOW AN ALGERIAN SKIRT

New York. —The persistence shown by France in the dressmaking houses tn continuing a certain trick for several years, deserves more attention than is usually accredited it, writes Aime Rittenhouse. A study of the obstinate way in which Paris designers have held on to a thing they liked might go far toward convincing a vast number of the critics of women’s apparel that are not as flighty as they seem. The weather vane turns, it is true, but it swirls back into the same quarter so frequently that at times there is a feeling that it changes little. The American shops, it is claimed, constantly convince their patrons that an old gown must be replaced by a new one by showing a revolution in silhouette. We have millions of women to dress, where France has thousands, and we have a population that is quite capable of Indulging in its desire for new clothes from the rim of the arctic circle to a line above the tropics. It is- a well-known fact that the American buyers who go to Paris to get new clothes often refuse lovely gowns if they bear a close kinship to those that were sold the year before. They wave such frocks away with the remark that American women must have novelty. This act has always depressed the designers in Paris, who care for beauty and detail rather than for startling changes, and it is the French designers who say that they rack their brains for eccentricities to give to America far more than they would if their clientele ■ were only Rome, Paris and London. It is this underlying trait in the French dressmakers that gives them the desire to persist in a certain line —which is coming back to the original discussion. Now the Zouave Skirt. This line happens to be, at the present moment, that tucked-ln effect at the hem of the skirt, which is suggestive of the trousers, of the Algerian troops. Nobody would remember, probably, the exact date of the beginning of this idea, but it was evolved long before the war. It has been brought out in various kinds of skirts. The house of Callot was probably the first to bring out the idea in a narrow skirt, but it did not take.

The sketch shows a combination of two of the most fashionable fabrics of the spring. The skirt is short and narrow with a white matelasse hem and panel at the side. The bodice is slim in outline, with long sleeves, and shows a slightly low, slender vest of the matelasse held In by two girdles of black satin. Poiret, who has a devotional attitude toward anything that comes out of the East, used the skirt throughout his years of success. Cheruit adopted it In a modified manner half a dozen years ago. Jenny took It up about two winters ago and accentuated it In her popular costumes in such a manner that America grew more weary of it through this channel than any other. Somehow, as jenny made it, it did not savor of the East. It was merely awkward and extremely , girlish. Last autumn the immense bulk of the American public looked with a shrug of the shoulders at the pink and blue taffeta skirts that were tucked up at the. hem and caught here and there with a formal little bouquet of roses. How stale and stupid Paris is! was the comment Can’t she ever get it into her head

that America does not want that loose, overfull skirt with its ungraceful line about the ankles? Debutantes and young girls continued to dance in this kind of skirt wherever the fiddles sounded, but women of more mature years dismissed it as a fashion from the start Now, here it is again, not only here, but very much accentuated and ac-

This dinner frock is of black taffeta and the sturdy black silk tulle which is embroidered In a rose design In colored silks. The skirt Is made of two flounces of this tulle, and It show* again at the girdle. There Is a knotted sash of taffeta that hangs at one side. cepted es the leading silhouette among certain houses that establish fashions. The first French gowns that come over show it; the American dressmakers who are preparing for a brisk spring trade speak of it as a powerfur factor in the shaping of the new fashions. And the interesting part of it is that it entirely changes the silhouette.

This seems to be In contrast with the stated fact that France is persistent in certain things and maintains a certain line for a longer period of time than America. The truth is that France persists with a trick, but changes the silhouette and still uses the trick, and that is what she has done in the new Algerian skirt. It is difficult to say whether the trousers of the French troops in Algiers give the clew to this new skirt or whether it was the entire array of men in baggy trousers which curve in below the knees to fit the legs. Here Is the Silhouette. The waist is normally large, the line down* the hips is either straight or slightly bulging through the fullness of the material, and the hem is exceedingly narrow and tucked under. A woman wearing the most fashionable of these skirts, with high boots added thereunto, will look at a slight distance as though she wore baggy trousers and army boots.

To the majority of women this news may not be welcome. will fancy a far more sensational garment than what actually exists. That mild revolution against the sheath and the hobble skirt may also crop up against this Algerian skirt, but both the other features of fashion were incorporated in our ordinary apparel after a while, without creating disturbance. There is so little fullness in this new skirt that it does not seem to be even a first cousin to the skirt of Jenny with its tucked-up hem. That skirt, which pervaded the continent for two years, had a tendency to flare out, to fling Itself away from the ankles; this skirt goes in so rapidly from knees to hem that it does not need to undergo the same treatment that was accorded the other skirt.

For instance, to be technical — the fullness at its hem is not caught up and gathered to a short, narrow lining. This is not considered necessary. It is merely turned under and run Into the conventional hem, allowing its fullness, slight as it is, to fall against the shoetops and accentuate the trousered effect. This extreme skirt has brought about the narrowest silhouette we have had in years. When the hem la not tucked under, it is only wide enough to provide free movement in walking. The skirts are necessarily short, for their narrowness would greatly impede progress if they werd long.

Linked Buttons Fasten Front

Kot only do cuffs but entire front fasten with linked buttons as instanced in a beige tricotine suit They are found starting in center, under the semi-cir-cular pin tuck which simulates a yoke on this model which contrarily has ba open front