Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1901 — Romance of a Painting. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Romance of a Painting.

, The whole world was startled the morning of May 17, 1876, by the news that the famous Gainsborough portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire had been 6tolen from the Agnew gallery, 53 Bond street, London, England. Only a few weeks before the Messrs. Agnew, who are celebrated picture dealers, had paid 10,500 guinas for the picture. Immense rewards were offered. Celebrated detectives were engaged to sarch for the picture, but no trace of it

Impassible Country "Roads. Business in the country towns of lowa is reported to be at a standstill because of impassable roads. The mud is so deep that the hauling of a load of any kind is out of the question. Fanners can take nothing to town to sell, and if they do manage to get to the postoffice on horseback they buy little or nothing at the stores. The same state of affairs undoubtedly exists in some parts of Illinois. For a month or more every spring the country roads throughout the prairie states are almost useless, and traffic of all kind must either be suspended entirely or carried on at a ruinous cost to ve-

was found. Its disappearance seemed to be a mystery which could not be solved. Only last week the missing work of art was recovered by William A. Pinkerton of the Pinkerton Detective agency of Chicago, and returned to its owner. The discovery of the picture reveals a story as interesting and seemingly improbable as the wildest romance, yet its every detail is absolutely true.

hides and horses, it would be interesting and instructive to know the exact sum lost to the farmers and country merchants of the Western states every year for want of good roads. It would be an amazing sum, running high into the millions. The sum thus annually lost is much greater than would be the annual charge which the building of good roads over these states would call for. Yet the farmers and country dwellers generally show little interest in the good roads movement. Many of them are inclined to fight it, rather than help it. They are annually taxed enormous sums for want of good roads —In ths

shape of wasted time, lost opportunities to get their crops to market, and wear and tear on their animals—but it is an indirect tax, not easily computed in dollars and cents, and hence many prefer to cling *to the old mud roads rather than have to pay a few dollars of definite tax each year for solid highways. This is mistaken economy. There can be no complete prosperity in rural districts where the roads are impassable for weeks every year. While such a community is idly waiting for the mud to dry the rest of the nation is getting ahead of it. The modern commercial system must run steadily and smoothly at all times in order to give profitable results. To stop this great machine with a sudden wrench and leave it idle for weeks at a time means heavy loss, a loss which takes the shape, where bad roads are the cause, of smaller profits for the farmer, for the merchant, and for everybody who works in the region so afflicted.

PICTURE OF THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE, WORTH $75,000.