Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 July 1901 — Page 2

GOING BACK Farm to the

I*ve packed my traps and I’m goin’ back where the fields are green and broad, And the colts, with their legs all doubled up,, are rollin’ on the sod; They’ll smile, I s’pose, when they see me come, and they’ll, some of ’em, likely say They thought I’d forsaken the farm for good the day that I went away— But let ’em smile—l’m goin’ back—l’m sick of the noise and fuss, Where a couple of dollars count for more than the life of a common cuss; They’ll nobody notice I’ve went away—if you told ’em they wouldn’t care. But somebody’s face’ll be full of joy when she greets her boy back there. I’m goin’ back, for I’ve had my fill—l’ve saw what there is to see; The city may still be the place for you, but it’s lost its charm for me; And won’t I be lonesome there, you say, with the people so far apart? Well, mebby they’re few and far between, but each of ’em’s got a heart; There ain’t no hundreds of thousands there to push you around, I know, Not carin’ a cent where you’re cornin’ from or where you’re tryin’ to go— t For the one that’s jostled day after day with never a friend to greet, There ain’t a lonesomer place on earth than the city’s crowded street I’m goin’ back where the dog’s asleep on the step by the kitchen door, With his nose pushed ddwn between his paws—l’m sick of the smoke and roar; There's money to make where the crowds are thick and they're tryin’ to rip things loose— There’s money to get if you’ve got the grit, but, dang it all! what’s the use? They hustle for dollars all through the day and dream of dollars in bed, And forgive the gougin’ a fellow may do as long as he gets ahead— They hustle and bustle and coop themselves in dark little holes and fret, And honor a person accordin’ to the money he’s managed to get. Fm goin’ back where the poplars stand in tall rows down the lane, Where the bobsled’s settin’ beside the barn, defyin’ the sun and rain; Where the birds are singin’ away as though they were hired to fill the air With a sweetness that nobody ever can know who was never a boy out there} I’m going back where they'll not expect me to sit in the kitchen when I’m courtin’ the girl I love because I’m workin' for other men— Where the richest among 'em’ll shake my hand, instead of lettin’ me. see That they think the money they’ve got must make them a blame sight better than me. I’m goin’ back, and you’ll stay here and rush, in the same old way, Goin’ to work and then goin' home—the same thing day by day— And you'll think you’re havin’ a high old time and I’ll pity you, lookin’ back (From where 1 whistle across the fields) at you in the same old track l—l’m goin’ back, but the crowds won’t know, and they’ll still keep rushin’ on; They’ll never notice that some one’s face is missin’ when I am gone— No, they’ll never notice that some one’s gone—if they did they wouldn’t care— But every tree’ll be noddin’ to me when I turn up the lane back there.

The Band Lied.

(Copyright, 1901, by Dally Story Pub. Qo.) To sum it all up, the volunteer may be divided into three distinct classes — those who follow the drum from a sense of duty, heroes; those in search of glory, fools; together with a few rascals and unfortunates, who for Strictly personal reasons wish to hide. The first two predominate, and while many arguments may be brought forward to show they are not, judging from motives alone, heroes or fools, a hot campaign soon proves the truth of the assertion. A ho.t sun, an empty stomach and a vivd view of death is enough to convince any man. The third class has nothing to hope for, nothing to regret The favored few reap fame, all reap hardship and ill health, while the life often generously provides an unmarked grave for the majority. Jim Doyle, private, always argued in this fashion, and was rewarded with the title of “grumbler” for his pains; but after his lecture on the ridge that day I have no doubt the men of the Sixteenth thoroughly agreed with him.

One Sprawled, One Tangled.

It was his first serious lecture, a brief eue, but convincing, complete. Perhaps It will have more weight if stated it was his last. After a quick march in the hot sultry morning, when the sun made even the hat upon your head seem heavy, and the rifle weighed pounds upon pounds, we rushed through a ragged line of trees out into the open toward a small ridge, from the top of which little puffs of white flew and dull reports sounded, while the sharp crack of twtgs behind us proved bad markmanshlp. But once a man fell all sprawled out When we reached the ridge I remember looking back and he x had not moved, still sprawled out, face downward la the dirt with a second tangled heap near him. We had driven them off the rldgetop, a little feat that coat two men their Uvea. only to have them stop obstinately at another some >OO yards the other side at a narrow stream that lay Mm an Ito thick tropical vegeta-

tion, the bank at portions shaded, seemed cool and pleasing to the eye, a striking contrast to the sun reflecting rocks. It lay just a hundred yards away and to cross that hundred yards might cost your life; so it might as well have been a mirage for all the good it did the 40 thirsty men on the hilltop. We waited for troops to reinforce us, waited and waited all that day. It was a rocky place and seemed as if it had been baked and baked centuries perhaps in that fierce sunlight till the rocks became glazy hot, the shrubs withered and the ground dry and powdery. As if to make it worse for us, "Grumbler” Doyle had been hit; "Grumbler” had got it at last as often prophesied. He was shot through the chest in such a way as to make it impossible for him to live. Doyle was a big, blustery man, who would growl whether the officers’ backs were turned or not; so in a measure he was a brave man, as you will agree if you ever have soldiered.

We made him as comfortable as possible in the almost imaginary shadow of a large boulder and gave him little by little the few hot drops of water left in the canteens. The wound started tp trouble him after the water ran out. It was bad enough for us; the brain seemed dulled, the mouth grew parched and the eyes hurt from the glare. But to be in the sun hour after hour with a hole in the chest must be maddening. It is a bad thing, a hole drilled by a Mauser; it is as clean and complete as you might imagine. And there on that hot ridge We had to stay; the lifting of a hand would bring a shot. For a while he lay quiet. Nothing was to be heard but an insect's drone, while above us in the blue sky a vulture wheeled in wide circles and waited. Off there, black against a yellow ground, lay two heaps, one sprawled, and tangled, picturing our probable fate.

Suddenly the wounded man gave a whining groan and started to babble foolishly. First it was a silly flow of disjointed words and sentences, partially unintelligible, punctuated by the whining moans. Then he talked of friends and a home he once had "back East." Now he recalled old incidents and laughed a painful cackle over a boyhood trick. Then he talked of trouble, pleaded with a woman and quarreled with a man. His life had been a bad one, though some of us never believed all told of him, but now we heard it all from his own Ups and pitied him, for in his wandering talk he told of things sacred even to a scoundrel. It was a simple tale of a man’s wasted life, the fruits of which had driven him to the army, bnt there memory followed and made a bad soldier out of great strong material. Once he started to gamble—just as I had often seen him gamble, on the quiet at barracks; hand after hand he dealt and won and lost Now he was tolling a favorite story over the liquor. But hs always camo back to the bad life and cursed la a horrible strain himself and those who had helped him

to It; It made my blood run cold to listen. Then he prayed, a long, rambling, pleading prayer—a prayer for water. And just one hundred yards away was a stream; we could hear the water ripple among the reeds, and by looking cautiously could see the sunlight’s glint upon the surface —yet— in the same glance—we could see the other ridge and the wheeling vulture. "My Gawd! ha’ mercy on me—perhaps”—said a man. He raised his head above the ridgetop—there was a puff of white and a furrow in the dry ground by his hand. He was but a man of flesh and blood, so he crawled back again, and though he never went, he was a hero, that fellow. And as the shadows grew longer and the sun another tint of red, the wounded man started to sing. All out of tune it was, in a strange, unnatural shrilly voice, the words jumbled and twisted:

Oh! eighteen hundred and slx-ty-one, hurrah—hurrah! We all set out to follow—the drumhurrah —’rah! An’ we’ll all be gay whe —en — He stopped, and, gazing straight be* fore him, an ugly grin on his face, his voice sounding much the same as when on a spree, said: Why can’t they come and fight their own battles. They make speeches fast enough and stir it all up like a boiling pot—round an’ round —an’ talk of the flag—an’ of patriot-ism-while we come and gets drilled in the chest They’re all evoked — the whole set. "An’ what’s it all fer—ye go through a hot campaign with the brownies, fightin’ fer the flag while it starves yer—an’ if they don’t shoot ye dead—the flag brings ye home in a leaky tub —an’ there ye goes a-marchin’ up the avenue, with the great white roof all yeller in the sun. A hot campaign and a hole in the chest —fer a yell from the crowd, thirteen per and a wave from a lady’s white handkerchief. An’ the corporal says ‘Dress ranks!' and ye march like peacocks, while ahead the band plays: “An’ we’ll all be gay when Johnnie ■comes marching home, Oh! in eighteen hundred and six—tyone. Hurrah! ’Rah! "Vvot about us fellars wot don’t march home; wot about the woman in the crowd, who, after the last rank files by, finds the band has lied?” His head went back, a yell from the woods told us the boys were coming up. Suddenly, sitting up straight, he bawled out: "D ’em; they’ll never march me up the ave-n ” • • • It was summer and the avenue lay all yellow in the warm sunshine, while far ahead the majestic dome of the capltol loomed against the blue. "Dress ranks,” said the corporal. "An’ we marched like peacocks,” and the crowd on either side cheered and cheered, and the ladies waved their white handkerchiefs to the bronzed and wrinkled lines of men. Then a band played, and as I heard the faint tune, I thought of a man we had left on the rocky ridge, and I looked for a watching woman in the crowd, for it seemed as if I could see again the wheeling vulture and the man sprawled out in the yellow dust, and could hear above the water’s ripple

"They’ll Never March Me.”

among the reeds the strange whining song of the wounded soldier. “An’ we’ll all be gay whe —n Johnnie comes marchin’ home.’’ The man on my right must have been thinking the same, for he said, though the corporal growled at him for it: “D ’em, if they’ll march me up the avenue!”

Riding Bicycle on Railroad.

A genius has invented an attachment for a bicycle which makes it possible to wheel along a railroad track at a high speed without chance of tumbling off. This invention consists of a small wheel attached to three pieces of steel pipe. The latter can be screwed to the bicycle or detached at will. The small wheel, which has large flanges, rests on the "off” side of the track, and the bicycle glides along gently, the rider leaning slightly toward the center of the rails. This machine has been tried on all kinds of curves and found to work successfully. The rider can lift the machine from the track in a few moments, and with it he can make fifteen miles an hour with ease. Manila's population is found to be 241,732, which gives it a place next below that of Newark, N. J., or seventeenth from the top in the list of cities of the United Statea Freight rates from Manila to Hongkong, a distance of only TOO miles, are as much as from San Francisco to Hongkong, a distance of >,OOO miles * ■ • -*•—-wa

VEXED BY GOLD FIND

5* QUICKLY-GOTTEN TREASURE PLAGUE OF THEIR LIVES

Entanglements of a legal nature beset the paths of Messrs. Melville E. Wygant and John T. Redmond, two gold finders of Staten Island. The former owner of the property upon which the treasure was found has made a demand of >40,000 upon Mr. Wygant. Another member of the family has appeared to accept S2OO for his claim. Every mall brings demands for gold. Their pot of treasure has become the plague of the "discoverers’ lives. On this account they have spent anxious nights since they sprang Into fame. They say that they stood over the treasure with shotguns, reinforced by bulldogs. One of the animals, according to Mr. Wygant, while performing his duty, was poisoned. Legend of Tfeesnre. That at least a considerable quantity of the precious metal had been found there can be no doubt Mr. John T. Redmond told the legend which accounted for the presence of the treasure. The occupant of the house a century and a half ago built a tower,

THE OLD FIREPLACE.

on which were kindled beacons. These luring many a grand ship to destruction of the chill waters of the Kill von Kull. The wreckers abstracted doubloons from Spanish galleons and Louis d’Ors from French barks. These ill gotten gains are said tp have been placed in the Identical kettle which was found by Mr. Wygant and Mr. Redmond. They had engaged the services of Mr. Thomas Brown, an eminent young attorney, some days before they secured the contract for the demolition of the old house, which resulted in finding the treasure. Everybody in Port Richmond knows K Mel” Wygant and his livery stable. He is a man of large dimensions and a merry eye. He is around fifty, and is counted one of the richest men in the village. He owns many houses. The story that he had found a lot of gold under the ruins of the old Hatfield house excited the whole village to the fever point. The old house was a landmark, and was over a hundred years old. For all that time it was the home of the Hatfields. Many tales are told of the Hatfields. The original Hatfield owned over 100 acres of land in the vicinity. The last Hatfield to live in the old house was John D. He died in 1892. Then it fell into the hands of John J. Hatfield. Mr. Charles Rosenberg, a wealthy New York merchant, bought the farm, and is cutting it into lots. The house was torn down to get it out of the way. After removing the house the contractor sold the stone to Mr. Wygant for $lO. It was while digging in the masonry that he and Mr. Redmond found the pot containing, it is said, $40,000 in gold. The gold is kept carefully hidden away in a safe somewhere on the Island. Unless the claimants can Identify it they cannot sue for its recovery, and the finders do not mean to

ARE PAINTED TOO

Spiders Are Deserving of More Consideration Than They Receive. “There are many kinds of spiders besides those that annoy the housewife with their webs stuck up in the corners of the rooms and in the windows where she has been too busy with the sewing to look after the house much,” says a recent writer on scientific subjects,” but every kind is an appetite on eight legs and thoroughly convinced that no one can be strong and hearty that lives on vegetables. They all spin more or less, whence their name, which is a contraction of spinder or spinner. Also, they bite, and if you listen to all the fool stories that are told, when a spider bites you you will save time by,, sending for the lawyer to make your will and telegraph for the boys to come home at once if they want to see you alive. But I will tell you as between educated people that know a thing or two and do not get scared over every little trifle that a spider’s bite is no worse than a mosquito’s—not bo bad. in fact. A big spider can kill a small bird with its poison, but It only makes a man’s arm swell up and hurt for a day or less and not hurt very much at that. Bertkau could not feel the ordinary domestic spider on the thick skin of his hand, and only between the fingers could the spider make a puncture like that of a dull pin. The worse result was that it itched a little. Blackwall had them draw blood, but that was all. Though one spider bit another so hard that its liver ran out it lived for more than a year afterward. As tor these terrible tarantulas, either the stories told about victims having to dance till they fell down in exhaustion tn order to escape death and

let them identify it. They have hired a lawyer to take charge of the case.

Curious Christian Names.

One of the most curious names ever bestowed upon a girl is Airs and Graces. She is now about 3 years old, her name being registered at Someset House, London, in 1898, when she was baptiezd. Her sister's name is equally unusual. Nun Niver. When Airs and Graces and Nun Niver arrive at the age of maturity at least one of them should marry a youth whose Christian

MELVILLE E. WYGANT.

name compares favorably; for example: Acts of the Apostles. This is a name found in an English parish register: Acsapostle, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Pegden, was baptized Aug. 2, 1795. Again this name figures in records in 1833, when Acts of the Apostles , son of Richard and Phebe Kennett, was baptized. This name, curious as it is, Is preferable to What, or Dun Si>iro Spero, names with which children have been handicapped. It was a patriotic American who bestowed upon his young hopeful the name of Declaration of Independence. A most warlike name is Robert Alma Balaclava Inkerman Sebastopol Delhi Dugdale, who is an English innkeeper’s son. A similar name is Richard Coeur de Lion Tyler Walter Hill.

Russia's Mighty Navy.

Russia’s fleet consists of 22 firstclass battleships, yielding to none in the world in excellence and perfection, though three or four of the Japanese battleships have certain qualities of superior weight; one second-class battleship, 16 coast defense ships, and 23 cruisers of the first-class, or fully armored. Twenty-three battleships and 23 cruisers, therefore, may stand as the backbone of Russia’s naval strength, a force well seconded by full complements of coast defense ships, second and third-class cruisers, gunboats, torpedo boats, torpedo destroyers, transports, auxiliaries and all that pertains to them. The Russian heavy guns are second to none and the batteries of 6-lnch and 4.7-inch quick-fir-ing guns leave nothing to wish for. The secondary small arm batteries are likewise perfectly equipped. The Russian warships are, in fact, the most numerously armed in the world.

Hill’s Rise from a Day Laborer.

James J. Hill, president of the Great Northern railroad company, and now worth many millions, was at one time a day laborer in St. Paul, Minn. He was a stalwart, husky American and of

madness were tremendous whoppers or tarantulas don’t bite as bad as they used to. It is true that in those days the Italian violinists had to work overtime composing tarantelles to play for the bitten, but still there were sneering skeptics that said it was all a scheme got up to pass the hat for the wife and family of the suffering man whom a malignant spider had bitten while he was out looking for a job. Dufour had a tarantula that was quite tame and gentle. She took flies from his fingers like a dear thing.”

Sarah Grand’s Wit.

Mme. Sarah Grand’s lectures in Eng* land during the past winter have been attended with singular success. Clever, accomplished and charming, she talks brilliantly and lectures with easy grace and finish. People who have rushed to hear her in the hope that her lectures would savor of the problems in “The Heavenly Twins” and “Babs the Impossible," and who expected to be mildly shocked, have been disappointed. But they have been agreeably surprised in other ways by her sense of humor, which is the salt of her speaking as well as her writing. Recently she sent a London audience into screams of laughter when she responded to the cry from Australia—“ Send us 2,000 wives." “In behalf of 2,000 English benedicts, I reply, ‘Take ours! Take ours!’"

Paia Rose Cloaks.

As pale blue cloth cloaks were immensely smart last summer at the French watering places, so this year will be those in pale rose color. Sometimes the material Is flannel, sometimes cloth, sometimes taffeta, always it has a certain air of being tailored that is a bit of a pretense considering the color, and, in some cases, the ma-

great natural shrewdness. He got possession of a number of Manitoba land grants In some way or other and evolved an elaborate scheme for running a railroad out into that wilderness, dividing the land off and city lots and selling it He interested some of the richest men in his plan, talked them into putting up the money for the road Sind it, was built The lots were sold right off all right and the road was a success. Later on Hill got control of it having started with nothing but some plans on paper. That was his beginning and he has been going ahead ever since. He is a wonderful money-maker.

The Compass Plant.

The compass plant is one of the most interesting growths on the great prairies of North America, and many fine specimens may be seen in botanical gardens. It is from three to six

HATFIELD HOUSE.

feet high, bears a pretty yellow flower and lives through a number of years. The name is derived from the fact that the edges of its radical leaves always point north and south, and the faces are therefore turned east and west. Hunters, travelers and horsemen on the trackless prairies depend in great part upon this plant to get their bearings. Even on dark nights it serves as a guide. If the lost traveler can feel the edges of the leaves, he can at once locate the points of the compass. Longfellow in his beautiful poem of Evangeline refers to this plant when heroine over the western prairies in search of her exiled Acadian lover. Scientists ascribe the action of the leaves of the plant in always pointing north and south as due to the effect of light

Wellington's Appetite Easily Suited.

The Duke of Wellington’s personal tastes and habits, like those of most great men, were very simple. He cared not for show or pomp of any kind. In his diet he was very abstemious, even to the injury, it appears, of his health'. He, of course,, kept a first rate French cook for his guests. The cook, it is said, one day suddenly resigned. The duke in astonishment asked the reason. "Was his salary insufficient?” "No, my salary is very handsome. But I am not appreciated. I cook your dinner myself, a dinner fit for a king. You say nothing. I go out and leave the under-cook to cook your dinner. He gives you a dinner fit for a pig. You say nothing. I am not appreciated. I must go.”

Passing of the Big Ranch.

Charles S. Goodnight, a pioneer ranchman in the Texas Panhandle a generation ago, says that this generation has seen the passing of the 1,000,000 acre ranch, and that immense tracts in one body have seen their day in Texas. Mr. Goodnight says that ten men with 10.000 acres each can operate more successfully than one man on 1,000,000 acres.

Good Reasoning.

“Don’t you kinder hanker after respectability now an’ den?" asked Plodding Pete. “Oh, I dunno," answered Meandering Mike. “Sometimes I t'lnk dat respectability ain’ much more dan permission to work hard for what us people gits for nothin’."

terial. One of the prettiest models to come out as yet is in pale rose flannel, three-quarters length, laid from the shoulders in tiny tucks that are stitched almost to the hem. The cloak fastens with an ecru guipure scarf about the throat, knotting on one side, and then hanging in two long, broad ends to the hem of the cloak, confined at several points by straps of flannel, buttoned across with handsome gold buttons. The sleeve is wide and loose and hangs only a little below the elbow in order to show a full undersleeve of lace like the scarf. The garment is unlined.

Mission Chain Across Africa.

Rev. George Grenfell has been commissioned by Robert Arthlngton, a wealthy man of Leeds, England, to establish a chain of Christian missions across Africa. Mr* Grenfell has long been the friend and confidant of Leopold, king of the Belgians, by whom he was created a commander of the Royal Order of the Lion.. He was selected by the king of the Belgians to act as a special commissioner for the delimitation of the Congo frontier, and traveled 1,000 miles on oxback during his journeylngs, which occupied two years, and compelled him to occupy the same tent and dangerous surroundings for the whole of that time.

On Different Ground.

The term “help,” meaning household or outside assistants engaged for short periods, occurs in the Massachusetts records of 1646, where help and servants are treated as separate, the latter being Inferior. A “servant" in those days was not sui juris; “help" stood on different ground, and the distinction Is still felt, however faintly. "Help" meant a free person, “Servant" did not

The Weekly Panoraima.

The Problem of Coeducation. In all that Is said at university commencements this year nothing will merit more serious attent on than the references to coeducation wh ch occir in the annual report read by Dr. Bonbrigbt at Northwestern. The Evanston Institution is not one from which we should expect to hear any doubts a* to the advisability of the system. It has been thoroughly comml tel to it, and one of its most conspicuous exemplars. Yet Dr. Bonbright exclaims: Is the system of coeducation in Northwestern University still on trial? Perhaps! The facts here, as at Stanford, seem to show that it is a system which cannot be kept in a state of equil.brlum, because the phenomena of the high schools are repeated at the universities. Thq latter tend to become gi ls* colleges. In ten years, for e*ample, the girls’ attendance at Northwestern has increased from 36 per cent to nearly 50 per cent, and this year there are more young women than y ung men in the graduating class. The general tendency has been incr ased by the policy of encouraging gifts for dormitories for the young women in preference to the young men, and Dr. Bonbright suggests that the girls’ enrollment should be limited by the capacity of the dormitories. -

A Tit led Scientist.

Lord Dunmore, who crossed the Atlantic to attend the grand convocation in Boston of the Christian Science "Mother Church,” is the most intrepid traveler of whom the British peerage boasts, and he looks it. He is a stern,

Lord Dunmord

rugged, grizzled man of about 58, with a big bushy beard, a hard and rather fierce mouth, and a chin that makes him do anything and go everywhere. He lost an eye through an acc d?nt during a shoot at the late Lord Lovat’s place, and this adds somewhat to his washbuckling appearance. His great journey was to the Pamirs, where he shot the famous Ovispoll. His adventures in this strange land he told in a book. Lord Dunmore has one son, Lord Fincastle, who wea s the V. C. for an act of heroism during the last Indian frontier war.

To Give Novel Fete.

The Duchess of Sutherland is one member of the English nobility who proposes to throw off the shackles of mourning for the dead queen. Of course charity will be the excuse, but London society will be none the less pleased and relieved for all of that The Duchess has arranged to give a great fete at Stafford House on June 26, the proceeds of which will go to the Life-

boat Saturday fund, a charity that ha suffered considerably since the Boer war began. Tickets will cost sls each. The number of guests will be limited to 1,200. The fete will include a performance of “The Comedy of Errors” and a concert, at both of which only stars of prominence will appear.

Language in the Philippines.

It was first reported that Spanish was to be the language of the F.llpino courts for five years, but Judge Taft’s code has been amended on motion of Mr. Ide so that both and English may be used in court proceedings, and the records must be kept in both. This modification was desirable because the language of the government which controls the country should appear in all the official records, but any forcible attempt to make English the lahguage of the people would certainly end in failure and a modification under gentler influences will require years for its accomp hhment. Though the Spaniards were in possession of the Islands for three centuries and more, Spanish had not become the universal language of the natives when the Spanish rule was terminated. There were several different languages and between twenty and thirty different dialects, and many of the people knew no Spanish at all. Time had simply sufficed to make it common near the seats of government.