Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1901 — Page 3

Does it pay, I wonder, to toil for gold Till the back is bowed and bent ? Till the heart is old and the hair is white, And life’s best days are spent: Till the eyes are blind with tne yellow dust That we strive for day by day. TiU all we hear is the coin’s dull slink, I wonder, does it pay? Does it pay, I wonder, to strive for naught But the pleasures life will give, To dance all night and to dream all day. To be merry while we live; To work and worry and fume and fret Over what we shall wear to-day, What we shall eat and what we shall drink, I wonder, does it pay?

BESIEGED IN A SCHOOLHOUSE.

71 CURIOUS, thrilling and true / \ story comes from Montana. some sparsely settled dis(i" tricts of this mountain State school teaching is, at best, a lonely calling. Last summer, in what is known as the Haystack District of the Upper White Clay Valley, Miss Emma Barglof, a young teacher of Swedish extraction, had only one pupil during hay-time and harvest For five long weeks Miss Barglof and little Nettie May had “kept school’’ together. The log school house, built in the mouth of a deep ravine, was shut in on three sides by somber pitch-pine-trees. As the teacher could not teach or her young pupil study all the time, they made a couch of pine boughs in a cool corner of the room, and relieved the tedium of existence by after-din-ner naps. At other times they wandered in search of berries or fashioned decorative wreaths of ferns, or even joined in the Boisterous play of a lively fox-terrier which was allowed to follow them to school. One morning in July, just as they had “opened school” and the Third Reader “class” was reciting, the attention of teacher and pupil was distracted by a loud barking of dogs out upon open ground toward the creek. “Bunts,” the terrier, immediately bounced out-of-doors, and ran, joining in the dog racket with his shrill yipyappings. Almost immediately there was a furious outcry directly in front of the schoolhouse. As the noise continued there, rendering attention to books impossible, teacher and pupil went to the door to satisfy their curiosity. They discovered three strange dogs barking at the foot of a thick-topped pine which stood a little way out toward the valley road. Bunts was also taking a vigorous part in the demonstration. Plainly some wild creature had taken refuge in that big pine, but the eyes of the teacher and the little girl could not penetrate its dense green foliage. While they thus stood looking and wondering, a horseman came galloping along the road and halted near the tree. He was a stranger to them, and evidently the owner of the strange dogs. “Here! Come here!” he shouted. “Here, you, Jake, Snap, come here! I’ll beat you all good, now! Here! here!”

Then, as the crazy dogs paid no heed, the man grew angry and cracked a long cattle whip warningly. This availing nothing, he rode at them furiously, slashing right and left. The dogs now ran off with tails between their legs. “Hope them dogs haven’t broke up your school, miss’” the man halted to call back to the teacher. “Since I been lookin’ for my steers, they sure have give me a heap of trouble treein’ porcupines.” Miss Barglof made a polite reply, and the horseman moved on, with difficulty getting his dogs to follow. Bunts, the pugnacious terrier, refused to be called off. While teacher and pupil resumed their tasks, he continued to yap fiercely at the hidden quarry in the pine tree. In fact, he barked himself hoarse, and only came In when quite exhausted, to lap water from a wash basin, and to lie down to a disturbed and grumbling sleep. After the noon lunch Miss Barglof and Nettie lay upon their couch, and soon were sleeping more soundly than the terrier. From this nap the two were awakened a half hour later by fierce barks and snarls just outside the schoolhouse. As they rose, a spotted, yellow and brown creature sprang, snitting and squalling, upon a window sill, and thence to a desk top, whence It again leaped to the top of a big box stove in the rear of the room. There the strange looking wildcat halted to hump its back and hiss spitefully. Outside the terrier made several Ineffectual leaps to follow his quarry through the window; then, yapping In a frantic fashion, he came bouncing In at the door. As quick as lightning, almost, the cat jumped a distance of ten or twelve feet, from the top of the stove to a chimneypiece upon 'which a pipe flue tested. There, upon a large flat stone, out of reach of the dog, the snarling creature took refuge. Bunts filled the room with courageous noise, and the teacher, gathering assurance as she realized that the cat was not truly very formiable, —It was not more than twice the size of a common house cat,—determined to drive it out of doors, or at least to assist the dog in doing so. Beneath a loose board behind her desk she kept a straight handled ax for splitting kindling wood In cold weather. She got this weapon. "Now, Nettle," she commanded.

DOES IT PAY?

Does it pay, I wonder, to give out strength, The treasures of heart and brain, The gift of the gods and the skill of hand. For that which brings no gain: To labor for that which is bread alon% And the things that pass away. Till the heart is full of an aching void, I wonder, does it pay? Does it pay, I wonder to never stop In the ceaseless rush and care, And list to the songs of bird and brook. Or wander through woodlands fair; To never think of what lies beyond The narrow sphere of to-day, Till the new life dawns on our untried souls, I wonder, does it pay? —lnez May Felt, in Somerville Journal.

By Franklin Welles Calkins.

“you go out to the road and keep watch; if you see me coming in a hurry, run with all your might for home. I’m not much afraid, but the creature might fight hard.” The little girl started to obey, but had no sooner reached the door than she turned back with a scream of fright, ran to the corner couch, and flung herself face down, half faltlng with terror. A snarling scream of rage thrilled through the room, and shook every nerve in Miss Barglof’s body. She turned from the beast inside to face one, many times its size, that had thrust its great yellow head in at the doorway. It was a mountain Hon—the dam of the spotted cat. Its big, round eyes scintillated with a greenish light, its cruel fangs were bared, and the creature snarled and hissed in most threatening fashion. The plucky terrier faced this newcomer, barking fiercely into its very teeth. The old cougar and its kit were evidently the animals that the stranger’s dogs had chased to cover from the creek bottom. The old one, on account of the house so close at hand, had lain in hiding; but the kit, when all was quiet, had descended to run about. As this little creature knew nothing of men’s habitations, it had approached the school house, and had promptly leaped in at a window when the dog attacked. And now the savage old dam had come to the rescue of her young one. The teacher felt that the beast must be kept outside at all hazards. Trembling hut courageous, she took her place, with uplifted ax, behind’ the plucky terrier.

The threats of the old cougar were fearful. She had discovered her kit, and her eyes roved from its perch to the barking dog, while she hissed and snarled and rumbled forth growls in deep chest tones. Her square jaws were opened quite wide enough to take in the terrier’s head, and yet his demonstrations alone seemed to hold her in check. Doubtless, too, she hesitated to enter, fearing a trap, and yet she had plainly no intention of abandoning her kit. The teacher found strength and courage to flourish her ax above the dog, and actually attempted to strike the threatening lion upon its head. At this demonstration the beast leaped backward, and instantly Miss Barglof closed the door. She then ran to the nearest window and let down Its lower sash. There were still three open windows, and as she turned to close another, fresh affright awaited her. The old cougar had reared herself against the wall, and had thrust head and claws in at the opening. But for the dog the beast would doubtless have entered the room. The terrier, however, leaped upon a desktop, and thrusting his fierce little muzzle almost within reach of the beast’s claws, barked savagely. The kit joined in the clamor with frightened whining. Several times the teacher had shouted to Nettie to lie perfectly still, and the little girl had not once lifted the terror-stricken face she had buried in her arms. The dreadful threatenlngs at the window continued for a full minute. Miss Barglof hesitated, wondering if she might not attack the kit and drive it out at a window. But when she attempted to approach it the dam’s demonstrations became too ominous. By this time the teacher’s nerves, stout-hearted as she was, had reached a high state of tension. Her desire to end suspense was well-night uncontrollable. With teeth set, she laid . her ax upon the stove, and while fresh threats stormed at her from the open window, she seized a heavy top griddle or lid, and stepping In behind the dog, hurled it with all her might at the lion’s head. The heavy misslfe struck the window still with a crash, and again the cougar bounded away to seek another entrance. Miss Barglof quickly let the window down with a jarring bang that shook the building, and then turned her attention to the whining cougar kit. She secured her ax and attacked it boldly, determined to get the creature outside, dead or alive. At her first stroke the young Hon leaped to the floor, and the terrier closed with it instantly. A sharp and furious struggle took place upon the floor. Snarling, spitting cat and growling dog rolled over and over in what seemed a bouncing baU of black and tan and yellow. From the first, however, the terrier had the advantage, and soon his teeth closed upon the nape of the young cougar’s neck, and the fight was ended.

But the kit gave one last shrill meow, which was a most effective appeal to its dam. Straight at one of the closed windows the frantic old cougar leaped. She struck the panes midway, and but for their double central sash she would have gone clear through. As the splintered glass fell. Miss Barglof turned to see the vicious beast clinging, her head and three legs thrust through the broken panes, and clawing frantically for support. The teacher leaped upon a desk, confronting the scrambling brute, and struck It a swinging blow upon the head. The cougar, dropping to the ground, whirled about and about, holdinlg its head sidewise, as if half-dazed by the heavy stroke. Then Miss Barglof stood guard at the broken window and watched the cougar dam until the creature had recovered its senses, lay down upon its belly, thrashing its tall about and again snarling in futile threats. The teacher now took the body of the kit, which she was compelled to tear away from Bunts, and threw It out to the dam. The old one snarled afresh at this demonstration, and then, realizing that her kit lay before her, she rose quickly and sniffed eagerly at the lifeless spotted thing. She trotted away from the dead kit, and looked back as if coaxing it to follow, and yet not expecting it to do so. This manoeuver she repeated several times, returning to sniff at the body and to lick the soft fur caressingly. Then, with an air .f great dejection, she lifted the lifeless kit in her mouth and trotted off among the pines. The teacher now aroused Nettle and soothed her with assurances of safety. Yet when the two dared to go out of doors they did not stop running until they had crossed the Mayhew irrigating ditch, and found three men peacefully harvesting alfalfa In the field.—Youth’s Companion.

EVOLUTION OF THE CENSUS.

Taken in the Middle Ages TTor the Purpose of Taxation. The term “census” had its origin in Rome, and was applied to one group of the censor’s many and varied functions, says a writer in the Paris Messenger. The Roman census was chiefly concerned with fiscal matters, and we may suppose that the enumerators were not too effectively welcomed by the inhabitants. In the middle ages the census meant neither more nor less than a tax, and the final, formal, material, and efficient cause of every numbering of a people was the desire of its castle-clad government for money or the actual sinews of war. Under the absolute monarchies which appeared in Europe after the decline and fall of the feudal system, the tendency to centralization for administrative purposes prepared the way for statistical inquiries, into the numbers of the inhabitants of particular districts. The necessity of such stock taking was first clearly pointed out by Adam Smith, but it was not till long after his death that the first census of Great Britain—it did not extend to Irland—was carried out. A census bIU, which passed the Lower House in 1753, was thrown out by the Lords at being “profane and subversive of liberty.” Accordingly, up to 1801, the number of Inhabitants of the British Islands was/as much a matter of guesswork population of China is to-day, and, as invariably happens in such cases, the result of the enumeration was a great disappointment to all the statistical prophets. The progress of the census methods since the first year of the last century may be illustrated by the development of the occupational returns. In 1801 there were but three divisions —those employed in agriculture, those engaged in trade or manufacture and those engaged in neither. In the next two censuses no material change in this respect was made, but in 1831 the overseers of parishes were required to give details respecting the occupations of males over 20. In the census of 1841, an enumeration most facilitated by the uniform system of registration of births, marriages, and deaths which came into force in 1837, the enumerators were instructed to enter each person’s description of his own occupation. An interesting feature of the census of 1851 was an attempt to supply the ecclesiastical and educational statistics of the country, but no effort was made to elaborate the occupation returns. The census of 1861 was also, to a certain degree, experimental. In 1871 the first imperial census was taken—and the census paper of that date —an interesting article, by the way, could be written on the series of elev; n —is obviously the great grandfather of the present form.

Types of Havana “Buses.”

The “buses” of Havana are oddlooking wagonettes, painted most incongruously, some of them showing admixtures of green, blue, white, brown and yellow, with now and then a striping of red. The Cubans seem partial to a pea-green and bright blue, often associating these colors and yellow. There are buses which accommodate but four passengers and others carrying six, eight and twelve. The smaller ones are drawn by a single mule, the larger by two or three ponies, some of them by four, depending upon their routes and distances. The buses are old, dingy and dilapidated. The drivers are an uncleanlooking lot, the occupants usually of the commoner classes. A lady or welldressed man Is rarely seen in one of them. In one hundred years, while the population of the world has doubled, the population of the United L.atos has Increased fourteen-fold. Ths wealth has Increased fifty-fold

THE GREAT STEEL STRIKE

ILLU STRATING THE KIND OF HARD WORK FROM WHICH THE STRIKERS HAVE BEEN EN- .- . vacat ION— THE TEMPERATURE IN A ROLLING MILL GENERALLY RANGES FROMIISTOI3O.

The New Torpedo Boat Destroyers.

The three torpedo-boat destroyers launched at the yard of the Maryland Steel Works recently are essentially typical of the whole class of sixteen authorized by Congress in 1898, just after the declaration of war with Spain. The country at large was comforted by that provision, but had it known that three years would pass ere one of them should be ready for trial it is doubtful that the appropriation would have carried with it a present sense of security. Strikes and the difficulty in getting structural steel have much to do with the delayed completion ci all of the “destroyer” class beyond the original time limit of eighteen months, but the newness of that type of work has also been a considerable handicap. The British torpedo-boat destroyer, to-day, represents a good many years of toilsome and heart-breaking experi-

A TYPE OF THE NEW TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYERS BEING CONSTRUCTED FOR THE U. S. NAVY.

menting, combined with a money outlay mounting way up in the millions, backed by a record of failure such, perhaps, as only a phlegmatic English public would countenance. From an engineering standpoint, the destroyer ls<the very exemplification of the present climax of the art; she is the racehorse of the sea, and, in performance, her fast-moving screws far outdo the record of the fleetest of locomotives. In form of hull contributive to speed and seaworthiness, within the limited compass of such a modest-sized craft, the destroyer likewise typifies the supreme cunning of the naval architect’s

A Ruined Cruiser.

After the navy department had decided to stop using the old Vermont as a receiving ship at the Brooklyn navyyard It concluded to use the cruiser Columbia for that purpose. The vessel was towed from the League Island navy yard, where it had been laid up for the last two years, to Brooklyn. After its arrival there an officer was quoted as saying that the machinery of the Columbia, which cost 11,300,000, was covered with rust, that not a steam pump would work, and that only the use of hand pumps kept the vessel afloat. The Columbia was built about ten years ago, its total cost being |5,000,000. It was designed as a commerce

work; and in the successful management of such a vessel, her whole complement—from the skipper down to the humblest stoker — must take a very active and a very skillful hand. To keep these boilers working at their topmost demands a constant, weary, wearing attention, and to hold to a given course a creation that travels with the speed of a startled deer is something demanding a firm grip, a clear head and the steadiest of eyes and nerves. The torpedo-boat destroyer is only the torpedo-boat magnified; the mosquito multiplied into the gadfly, with all that such an increase would naturally carry in the way of speea, endurance and wickedness of possible performance. When the boats just launched were conceived the official mind was still full of the recollection of those Span-

ish destroyers—the finest products of British ship yards, that had filled the whole nation and no small number of our fleet with a goodly sense of apprehension; and the Whipple and her mates may best be termed the Spanish Terror improved. These vessels have greatly outgrown the Cushing, the first of our torpedo craft, and a boat that has very recently gone through a pretty thrilling experience in a stormy run from Norfolk to New York. The Whipple and her mates are 245 feet long, with a maximum beam of only 23 feet; their long, fine, clean cut hulls bespeaking

destroyer, and was extremely swift, crossing the ocean once at an average speed of 22.8 knots per hour. It cost too much money and was too good a ship to have been allowed to degenerate into its present unserviceable condition. The New York, Texas, Detroit, and Machias, built about the same time, are still in active service.

President Castro's Statement.

President Castro of Venezuela evidently has a wholesome regard for the opinion of the Anierican people. Though not absolutely unprecedented, it Is rather unusual for the head of a government to address to the citizens of a foreign nation an explanation of his conduct. Yet President Castro in a

speed in every line. When ready for actual service they will represent a dead weight or total displacement of 420 tons, and it will be possible for them to operate in waters hot exceeding nine feet in depth. Their relatively shallow draught gives them a particularly wide range of action, and promises to make them especially effective in safeguarding the broad reaches of many of our bays and rivers and the land-locked waters of certain portions of our southern coast. Unlike the destroyers of the British service, our boats are not built with a turtle back forward, but, instead, the bows are carried straight up, the purpose being, first, to prevent the boats burying their head in a seaway, and then to provide more commodious quarters for the crew of some 60 odd persons. This may seem to be a minor matter, but it is really of prime

Importance, for the endurance of a destroyer—setting aside for the nounce the question of coal and water supply—is in direct ratio to the physical endurance of the crew. At full speed, and under the stress of warfare, the nervous tax upon the complement of a torpedo boat destroyer is something closely akin to the tension upon an engineer making record time over a roadway suspected of weakness; and anything that may contribute to rest and physical recovery Is a consequent promise of better performance in the hours of sorest trial. They may be in commission by 1902.

message from his secretary Just published has practically done this unusual thing. Secretary Cardenas, speaking for his chief, asserts that the present government of Colombia has been fomenting insurrection in Venezuela, and that Venezuela has been invaded by Colombian troops. He avers that these charges are confirmed by official Colombian publications, and not denied by the Colombian envoy at Caracas. He says Venezuela has repulsed the Invasion, and massed troops on her frontier to prevent its recurrence. “Venezuela has not,” he adds, "accepted the invasion as an international attack by the people of Colombia," but blame* only the present Colombian government.

LATEST INDIANA NEWS.

ff.iirent for Muy Cuppies. Avlrtant Prosecuting Attorney Johnsen of St. Louis, Mo., stated that ha probably would isue a warrant against May Cuppies, charging her with manslaughter. It was In her room in St. Louis that Edward Alexander was found August 9 suffering from morphin'’ poisoning, from which he died early ' Saturday morning at the St. Louis city hospital. The girl stated at first that she did not see Alexander take the drug, but later said he took the paper containing it from her hands and swallowed the poison in her presence. Then she left the room, she said, and was gone for nearly a half hour. When she returned she found him rolling In agony on the bed in her room. Witnesses stated at the inquest that they had heard her make threats against the life of both Alexander and Georgia Knight, the woman in charge of the house where she lived. Though she changed her statement before the coroner, she denies that she actually gave Alexander the poison. Her arrest was due to the emphatic statement of Alexander’s father, Moses Alexander, of North Vernon, Ind., that his son had no reason for committing suicide. He insisted that the coroner make a thorough investigation into the facts of the case, saying that he believed his son was murdered. Rob. Orphan by a Trick. Miss Jennie Reigh, a Port Wayne orphan, whose father died last fall, leaving her $2,000, discovered she haul been duped by a clairvoyant out of $1,200. Jennie is 25 years ojd. She called to have a reading with the clairvoyant eight days ago. He asked her to wear $ 1,200 in a bag about her neck. Wednesday Jennie and the clairvoyant put the package in a safety box at the White bank, each carrying a bag. . The clairvoyant put another package of his own in the vault and agreed not to open the vault in the absence of Jennie, but he disappeared Thursday and when the vault was opened Monday both packages were found to contain brown paper and a $1 bill. Boys Accused of Murder. Four Kokomo boys, Roy and Lester McVeta and Ray and Freddie Marvin, all in knickerbockers, ranging in age from 6 to 10 years’; were arrested for stoning another boy, Eddie McKee, to death. Only one of the children was old enough to write his name on the bond. The children were playing on the railroad, when the McKee boy, who was older, came along, and a tight followed. McKee, whom the boys accuse of being'the bully of the neighborhood, was pelted with stones. He died shortly afterward from his injuries, and his youthful assailants are held for murder.

To Codify Mining Laws. The commission appointed by Governor Durbin under a new law to codify the mining law of the state met at Terre Haute and organized by electing W. H. Zimmerman of Brazil president and J. C. Heenan of Linton secretary. The commission is composed of Mr. Zimmerman and Jacob Kolsem of Terre Haute, operators, and Mr. Heenan and James Cantwell, miners. The mining laws which have been added to the statutes from time to time are conflicting in a number of respects and the commission is to codify them and make recommendations to the legislature. Marshal Wins In a Chase. After a chase lasting over six weeks City Marshal W. S. McClelland of Fort Recovery, 6., captured T. D. Hutchinson, an alleged horse thief, wanted at Piqua and a number of other Ohio towns. Hutchinson was found in Hartford City with one of the stolen outfits. Hutchinson is a son of Dr. Henry Hutchinson, one of the most prominent residents of Salamonie, Ind. He returned to Ohio without requisition papers. Scotch Factor at Winona. At the Winona bible conference L. D. Gordon of Cleveland led a morning meeting, followed by Dr. Moorhead of Xenia, 0., and Dr. Chapman of New York. Rev. John McNeill of Scotland preached the sermon of the day. His text was "What Manner of Man is This?" Other speakers were J. W. Van Deventer, S. H. Hadley of New York and Rev/ George L. Robinson of Chicago.

Maxlnkuckee Assembly Officers. At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Maxlnkuckee Assembly the following officers were elected: President, Dr. W. E. Callane, Flora; vice - president, Richard Voorhees, Flora; secretary, A. M. Hootman, Logansport; treasurer, J. O. Ferrier, Culver; superintendent, T. J. Legg, Logansport. Indiana News in Brief. Connersville is threatened with a water famine. A $25,000 business block is being built at Pendleton. The Jones family will hold a reunion at Muncie August 28. Muncie should take its census that day. A factory for making annealing boxes, used in the manufacture of tin plate, will be built at Alexandria. Olie Edwards of New Albany finds he la the only heir to a 120,000 estate left by hi* nucle, who died in Canada fourteen years ago. Terre Haute —William Jacks, who was injured at the time his father was killed by a powder explosion in a mine at Clinton last week has died in the hospital here of lockjaw.