ATHENA PRESS Tuesdays and Fridays P. B. BOYD ...... Publisher There's no denying that as a conver sational topic the trial marriage Is a ure success. People who need the advertising now merely have to offer Count Bonl a job at a liberal salary. That dentist who hu been robbed four time in three years should here after go armed to the teeth. George Bernard Shaw doesn't think much of the Ten Commandments, but it la too late now to change them. If Kipling's critics don't soon stop tie will be Justified In once more writ lag something that Is worth reading. Fortunately for Eve, she Is spared the pain of knowing that her diary has been excluded from the shelves of the .Worcester 'public library. A German singer committed suicide because a married American woman wouldn't marry him. Probably her husband wouldn't let her. Mexico's richest man is going to give his money to people who need it, thus running the risk of being regarded as eccentric by other rich men. These long evenings are being bright ened and made profitable by the game of guessing what Mrs. Sage Is really going to do with her money. The Cuban army is reported to be getting restless again. Why not quiet that army for all time by setting up a free soup kitchen for it somewhere? Let us have politics without preju dice, without selfishness, without graft. tc.f pleadB an exchange. And while we are at it, let us have the millen nium. There are times when It becomes a matter of wonder how this country has been able to grow so big and prosper ous without taking the advice of the college professors. Kind-hearted housewives should be warned that It is too. early to feed every tramp that calls at the back door with the plea that he Is a poor Standard Oil magnate out of a job. There can be no further doubt that Mr. Harrlman Is of the opinion that much greater ability is required to run the railroads of this country than Is needed to successfully run the country Itself. A negro was arrested, tried, convict ed' and executed, all within a space of two hours, In Texas a few days ago. Surely they can't bring up the law's delays as an excuse for lynching after this. Persons who, may have felt like ask ing Mrs. Russell Sage for enough mon ey to, get a start in life will do much better by saving the price of the post age stamp and making it the nucleus of a bank account The one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Henry Wadsworth Long fellow is to be celebrated by the Cam bridge Historical Society. A special bronze medal will be Issued in honor of the event, copies of which it is hoped will be preserved in libraries and museums. Longfellow wrote many lines which will be preserved In the popular heart longer than the bronze will last. This Is one of the reasons for celebrating the anniversary of his birth. , , , Most people have their weak spots. Few are roundly normal. .Some slap their friends on the back, some whistle la public places, some keep barking dogs, some speak monologues and think they are "conversing" and so on, but there is some hope for a tendency or a habit that Is not deliberately designed to be mischievous, such as the playing of pranks on newly married people. These Jocular outbreaks have under gone various "refinements" and they have now reached the point where a honeymoon voyage has been anticipated by a "bill of particulars" printed In circular form and distributed among the passengers of the ocean liner. The discouraging thing is that the propen sity does not "refine" itself out of ex istence. It Is, generally speaking, as perverse In Its latter day manifesta tions as it was when the uncouth but equally well-meaning country folks sur rounded the house of the bashful bride and groom on their wedding night and made the time hideous with the beating of pans and old, copper boilers with what was called a "belling." "It would therefore seem well, from this point of view, to encourage early trial marriage, the relation to be eu tered Into with a view to permanency, but with the privilege of breaking it if proved unsuccessful, and, in the absence of offspring, without suffering any great degree of public condemnation," Mrs. Elsie Clews Parsons, a doctor of philosophy, for six years' a lecturer on ociology in Barnard College, daughter of a rich banker and wife of a Con fressinan, proposes this "startling re form" in a book, "The Family," Just I lued. "Trial marriage" certainly sounds lensational. But as prosaic matter o,f fact, the commonness, cheapness and respectability of divorce has rendered 111 marriage "trial marriage." "It la difficult to Imagine greater facintj la the annulment of marriage than now obtains in most of the States. No "reform" is necessary to bring about j precisely the condition. In effect, which Mrs. Parsons proposes. The reform is needed in the other direction. We need to get rid of the feeling that mar riage is a mere experiment Of course, all couples at the time of marriage expect to live happily ever after. Trial marriage could mean nothing to them at that time. People who do not feel, for the time at least, that they can take each other for life need no "trial" to prove they are not fitted. The ab sence of offspring during "trial" would be a powerful cause of failure In many marriages that might otherwise have been successful. But that would be nothing new. It is the case now and always has been. Until there are chil dren to tie the heartstrings together there is no real trial of marriage. We are too apt to forget that most of the laws which operate toward successful marriage are provided by Nature. Human statutes provide for failure and, alas! there are too many of them already. The coroner who investigated the wreck on the Baltimore and Ohio rail road near Woodville, Ind., In which sixty-one Uvea were lost made a report in which he fixes the blame in the most positive manner. He finds that the engineer of the first section of the passenger train did not properly give the required signals and note the re sponses to them. Consequently he Is to be held to the grand Jury for man slaughter. But beyond that the system by which the road was operated provid ed no check for any such individual neglect as that of which the engineer was guilty, and consequently part of the blame was placed by the coroner upon the road Itself. There was ""a time when it would have been unrea sonable to ask railroads to Install elab orate systems for the safeguarding of their trains, because the traffic was too light to Justify the financial burden, and so light Indeed that the evil was not great In those days when a wreck of this character occurred all the blame was properly to be attributed to the guilty employe. Now, on many of the roads which do the heaviest business, the burden has shifted so that It is a question whether the employe immedi ately at fault is more to blame or whether the greatest responsibility falls upon his superiors who left the door open to his carelessness. Before long a time will come when the great weight of the burden will be trans ferred to the shoulders of the railway administration, if Indeed that time has not come Already. It Is purely a ques tion of danger versus cash. The meth ods of making such accidents as that at Woodville impossible are well known. Some form of the block sys tem, especially the form which uses the "staff" as an entrance key to each block, would reduce the ordinary em ploye's fallibility to a minimum. The Woodville accident Is simply one more reason-or, better said, It is sixty-one more reasons why the railroad com panies should be required to spend the dollars which will save the lives. " GOTHAM CITY OF BLONDES. Traveling Man Alwnya Know When He I Hearing New York. "I can always tell when I am get ting Into New York by the way the blondes begin to thicken," said the traveling man. "When I am away out In the country districts visiting the small towns the sight of a real blonde is rare. The hair of the ma jority of the country maids is dark, though I pass an occasional light-colored or red head on the streets. Their hair Is often arranged becomingly, but never with a Marcel wave. Their com plexion never have the steamed ap pearance of the city belle, but are fresh and wholesome. "But day after day as I get nearer New York the lemond rind blonde begins to crop up. She boards the train bound for New York from the little town where ahe has probably been visiting relatives and her" thoughts probably turn once more to the quick lunch and chewing gum and dignity, or to' her place third from the right in the second row of the chorus. "The dark haired sisters begin to melt away the closer the train gets to the city, so that by the time the out skirts of New York are sighted the dark crop has given away entirely to the peroxide fairy with the rippling Marcel wave and the adjustable waist line. I had heard about blonde being the proper thing In hair, but I thought It was a comic paper joke UK I took to the road. One thing certain New York is the city of blondes," New York Press. Noaee Indicate Temper. Women who have the long, straight thin nose, extreme in all Its outlines, are usually wqmen of very timid, sweet dispositions. Women who have little, short, fat noses, are generous, easy tempered and pleasant to live with, but not as a rule handsome. The sweetest of American types ' Is the nose that is Just long enough but the least trifle broad for Its length. '. It la not squat by any means. It suggests good health and good temper. It Is the Ideal Judged from the American man's standpoint Statistics show that the nice, full, sensible nose gets the hus bands. : If the no,se is thin and the nostrils fine and narrow It means that the wom an has a poor air supply and that she Is liable to suffer from lung troubles and all things that have their origin In the heart Pittsburg Press. . GRANDFATHER. How broad and deep was the fireplace old And the great hearthstone how wide ! There was always room for the old man's chair By the cozy chimney side, ind all the children that cared to crowd At his knee in the evening tide. Room for ail of the homeless ones Who had nowhere else to go; rbey might bask at ease in the grateful warmth And sun in the cheerful glow, For grandfather's heart was as wide and warm As the old fireplace, I know. And he always found at bis well-spread board Just room for another chair; rhere was always rest for another bead On the pillow of hig care ; There was always place for another name In his trustful morning prayer. . Oh, crowded world with your Jostling tnrongs! How narrow von trow and sml) : How cold, like a shadow across the heart, lour selfishness aeema to fail. When I think of that fireplace warm and wide, And the welcome awaiting all. Chicago Inter Ocean. In Upset Land S believe that none of you have pa rents so troublesome as mine. I am sure that It Is not my fault, for I do everything In my power to make life easy and comfortable for them. But I don't ask you to take my opinion of them. I'll simply tell you my story, and you may Judge for your selves whether or not I am unjust I don't intend to exaggerate, only to re late to you the events of an average day, so that you may understand what I have to go through with, about 305 times a year. Take last Wednesday, for Instance. Of course you know that our debatlng- club meets Tuesday nights, and when a fellow has the affirmative of such a question as, "Resolved, That Circuses Ought to Be Furnished Free of Charge MOTHER WAS CRYING BITT to the Citizens and Paid for by the Government," it is something of a strain on the mind to make a good ar gument Consequently I was late to breakfast next morning. Now, I don't say It is right to be late to breakfast as a regular thing, trat I do say that there should be such a thing as Justlj flable tardiness, and that my case came under that head. Well, what was the result? First there was mother. She was crying bitterly when I came down. "I do think," she said, between her sobs, "that you might have some con sideration for your parents, Alphonso. Here it is half-past 10 o'clock and the parlor has to be dusted, the dishes to be washed, the baking to be done, and I don't know what!" Then my father began. "And here I've been waiting an, hour for you to say good-bye to me," he complained. "You know perfectly well that I ought to be at the office earlier than this 1" . "I know It father, dear," I replied soothingly. "But you needn't have waited for me." "But I can't find any of my papers," he said In a most Irritating whine. "Where did you leave them?" I asked calmly. "I'm sure I don't remember,' he said despairingly. "If you would only be system atic " I suggested as delicately as I could, but he. Interrupted me. 'There you go again!" he said, any thing but politely, I must confess. "You are always telling me to be 'sys tematic and orderly,' until I Just hate the sound of those horrid words!" , "Come, papa," I said, a little more severely than I had yet spoken. "You ought not to be so snappish.' I spoke only for your own goodf What Is that bundle I see under the sofa pillow?" "I don't know," he answered, sul lenly, and not even looking towards the place. . "I suspect that It Is the missing pa pers," I said. "Don't you think you might go aud see?" He went on, unwillingly enough. Of course, It proved to be the very' thing he wanted. I don't see how they came there," he mumbled. . ' ' "Probably they went and hid there by themselves," I remarked with a lit tle sarcasm. . " . "Maybe your mother put them there," laid my father. "I didn't!" she replied, sharply. "You did, tool" he Insisted. ..' ul never!" she said, firmly. . " "I kuow you must have!" he went n. "I did not I And you know I didn't 4nd you're telling a horrid " Here I felt that I must Interfere. S "Parents !'I said, firmly, "no more o this disgraceful talk 1 Father, I'm ashamed of you ! " The idea of speaking so v to your own wife. 'Mother, you should know better than to answer him when he says such things !" I finally bade him good-bye, called him back to get his papers, which he was leaving at home, and .at last saw him off. , ' "Now," said my mother. "I hope we shall have a little rest! Men are so fussy about the' house!" "I think that is hardly a proper way to speak," I objected. "Don't say things that you might be sorry for. Suppose anything should happen to papa, how you would regret your care less, heartless words !" ; "I didn't mean any harm," said my mother, beginning to whimper again. 'There, don't cry," I said, hastily. "You are so sensitive; the least thing sets you to fretting. Dry your eyes, and set about the housework I" She took up the duster and went to work reluctantly enough. But as she went on she became Interested and soon I beard her bumming a little tune to herself as she went about the parlor polishing the what-nots and making all the little bric-a-brac as neat as pins. "Now, I'll Just get away to school before there's another trouble," I re marked, and I left the house compar atively cheerful, though a little vexed at the thoughtlessness of my parents. When I came home to luncheon, I found that the table was not even set ' "How is this, mother?" I asked. I was disturbed, but I resolved not to blame her unless she were really at fault - "The cook has gone away," she re plied, sitting 'with her apron to her eyes. I had found my mother In the kitchen. ' "Indeed!" I remarked. "Why was that?" , "It's her day out" said my mother disconsolately. "Oh, is that all?" I exclaimed, much relieved; "I was afraid it was some thing serious." "Is that all?" repeated my mother. "Yes; that's all. And It's enough, too!" "It isn't polite to repeat my words over In that way," I reminded her, "but as I see you are not in a very KRLY WHEN I CAME DOWN. good temper i' won't say anything more about that now. Can't you let me have some luncheon?" "There Isn't a thing in the house," she replied helplessly. "Not a thing in the house !" I repeat ed in surprise. "There !" my mother retorted, "who's repeating things now? You just said It wasn't polite!" This rather nettled me, 1 admit ' "No matter," I said sternly, "why Isn't there anything in the house?" "I forgot" she said, slowly. "You forgot!" said I, reproachfully. "Do I forget to go to school and to get an education to do honor -to my parents? What would you do If I for got?" -V ..; '; i .;, "I don't know," said my mother, In a very low tone. , . "No, of course you don't know," I said, not unkindly, for I saw she re pented of her fault "Never ' mind. Let it go. I dare say you will remem ber next time." t When I returned home in the even ing I found that her good temper was entirely restored, so I said nothing about the little misbehavior of the morning.' Until after dinner nothing occurred to disturb the serenity of our home. I was busy over some difficult problems In compound Interest a most Interesting and delightful subject so I was very willing to give my father permission to pass the evening at a friend's house. - At about 9 o'clock he returned In a peevish mood. "I don't see why we can't have things as nice as the Quinns do!" he said, discontentedly, as he came in and threw his overcoat upon the sofa and put his high hat upon the table just where It chst a heavy shadow upon my papers; ; . . v . ' . "Probably," I rejoined, "It Is because Mr. Qulnn when he comes home at night hangs his overcoat neatly upon the rack and puts his hat where it belongs!" "Hang it ! I'm tired," exclaimed my father. - "No," I replied firmly, "I shall not 'hang If but you can take your hat and your great coat and bang them where they belong." V :. ? "But I- he began. "Go at once!" I said In a tone that admitted of no delay, "or you shall go to bed,' sir!" ; v ;; Then he went As he came back, somewhat subdued, I Inquired: Now, father; I should like to know in whas respect you think the Quinns' home so superior to our own?" - "Well," he' answered, rather unwill ingly, "Johnny Qulna lets his father sit up until 11 o'clock." "Indeed!" I said. "And would you like to look like Mr. Qulnn?" "What's the . matter with Mr. Qulnn?" asked my father, sulkily. "Come, you must not use slang," I said. "You know very well that Mr. Qulnn Is thin and pale and anything but strong, while you are rosy and bright and ready for your work." "But it's all work, and 'all work and no recreation makes Jack's father a dull man' you know the proverb," said my father in a whining tone. "Nonsense!" I answered, laughing. "Remember the other proverb : 'Early to. bed now like a good business man father win the prize.' Come, father, go to bed now like a good business man and let me hear no more of these fool ish Quinns. I do the best I can for mother and for you, and you must try to do me credit" They seemed sorry for their ill-humor during the day and kissed me good-night affectionately. After I bad .finished my -problems I made up my mind to write out this account of my day's experience, so that other parents may see how much trouble they may thoughtlessly cause their children. I could not help think ing as' I shut up the house and went to bed myself what a queer world it would be if children should act toward their parents with as little considera tion as my parents show toward me. Chicago Dally News. , RIGHT KIND OF EXERCISE. Some Practical Advice" that Everyone p Should Have. The kind of exercise that lilts the mark is the kind a man likes for Its own Bake; and the kind a man likes for its oyn sake has something of the play spirit In It the life and go of a good game. The good a man gets out of a good horseback ride in the park is something more than what comes sim ply from the activity of bis muscular system or from the effect of the con stant jolting upon the digestive organs. There is the stimulus to the whole sys tem which comes from his filling his iungs with fresh, out-of-door air. There Is the exhilaration of sunshine and blue sky and of the wind on the skin. There Is the excitement of controlling a rest ive animal. All this makes the phe nomenon a complex ' one something much larger than the mere term exer cise would Imply. A man could sit on a. mechanical horse In a gymnasium and be jolted all day without getting any of these larger effects. The best forms of exercise will call the big muscles of the body Into play the muscles that do the work. This gives bulk effects. It reaches the whole system. Playing scales on the piano, though exhausting to oneself and oth ers, does not belong to this class. Exercise should not be too severe. Many ambitious people injure them selves through trying to accomplish too much along this line. Where the mind la already tired the body can only lose by a few moments of vlofent exertion. Exercise breaks down tissue, exhausts nerve energy. If any good Is to be gained from It this body waste must be repaired. But when the system Is already exhausted, it cannot afford an additional -expenditure. A city man with a conscience is in danger of mak ing too hard work of his exercise when ho takes it at all. World's Work. Seven Billion in Cropa. For years the agricultural production of the United States has beeii steadily Increasing and during the last three or four years this Increase has been by leaps and bounds. Last year it was announced that our farms had yielded the almost unthinkable value of $4, 915,000,000 as compared with $4,900,- 000,000 for 1904 and $4,480,000,000 for This enormous production has called forth many pessimistic statements. We have been repeatedly told that such a pace could not long be maintained ; that diminished yields and agricultural de pression must soon come. But the end is not yet ..: , Farm production was thought to have reached its highest point in 1905, but this year has far eclipsed all others and rolled up a total which now prom ises to reach the stupendous sum of $7,000,000,000. Farming. Hlaanderatood. He was in his first week at college, and when he went to the stationer's to buy a fountain pen, he felt desirous that the young woman who waited on him should know that In spite of his youth he was no high-school boy. When she handed him a sheet of pa per he wrote on it with many flourishes, in a large, bold hand, "Alma Mater, Alma Mater," eight or nine times.' --:- The clerk watched him with a simper, and at last she spoke. , "Why don't you let her try It her self," she suggested, "and then If It doesn't suit of course we'll change it" The Sultan'e Heir. Mebmed Rechad Effehdl, the' heir presumptive to the Turkish throne, awaits as a prisoner his turn to reign. The death of Adhul Hamld would draw Mm from a Jail to assume supreme power. For many years he has been shut up in bis harem; he has seen no one but his wives, his slaves and his jailers. He haa had no conversation; he has read nothing, books and com pany being interdicted. One of these days he may be Sultan; now he is in the depths of a tomb. Figaro. Football players ought to be able to traYel on their cheek la after years. . Marry a soubrette, if you are partial to good kicking and poor cooking. OUR CLOTHES ARE MERCIFUL. Tber Hide Our trail aese and Phy il eal Shortcoming. . Now. what's the consequence of the present universal lack of exercise? Mind you, I am not suggesting that somebody get up an actual Un-beauty show, but surely Mr. Comstock will not object if In our mind's eye we Imagine all the men we know standing on pedestals and posing as the Apollo Belvldere, and all the women we kno.w as the Venus de Medici. I think It would be right fun ny. Such wizenea sKinninessi uuen shapeless bagglness ! "Oh. but" you protest "we can't all be Apollos, and Venuses." We aren't If that's what you mean. but I'm not so sure that we couldn't be If we had been treated right Why aren't we all handsome, then? The main reason Is that not one moth er In a thousand knows her trade. An old Irishwoman, who raised five fine, big, strapping, honest sons, said to me one day : , '.-'"''"" "The Lord forgive me for speakm' disrespectful of Him, but I declare to you I donno what He's thinkln' of whin he gives some women chlldher." And , that's about so. The doctors tell us that 00 per cent of our troubles we may blame our mothers for. And pet they're not so much to blame, either. The only way they had of getting a living was catching a husband. Once caught they' had him lor life. The catching was the main thing. Ienorant they may be of tneir traae as mothers, and some nay they are ig norant of their trade as wives, but no body will accuse the women of being Ignorant of the art and craft of catch ing husbands. The start a wise mother can give l a lot, but it isn't everything. We are rno husv to be good looking. It Just about takes our time scuffling around for food and clothing and shelter.- Woman's Home Companion. It is hard to make a nomadic Arab believe that a white man can by any possibility know anything about the desert especially so to persuade him that the lines and letters pn the trav eler's map convey any accurate inform matlon' which will guide . him on hla way. Interpretation of these mystic symbols, says the biographer of Henry Clay Trumbull, gained " that famous mission worker something of the repu tation of a magician when he went' to find Kadesh-Barnea, the "place where the people of Israel, rebelled against Moses.- ' " ,.,...t :v 'Ayn Qadees was the. modern name of the place he sought'' When he asked his Arabs If they could lead him thith er) they Steadfastly maintained that they had never heard of it "Oh, well," said Mr. Trumbull, know ing, what pride the Bedouin, has in his knowledge of the desert, "the trouble la you don't know your own country as well as J know It We ought to change places. You give me bakshish and I will show you the country. "To-morrow morning we will go to 'Ayn Muwayleh. We will go past that Then we will turn off from the track to the right ;, We will go down that way about one hour. There we will "find one, two, three wells. Beyond them will be flags and rushes growing. Then a little farther on we shall, find more wells. That Is Qadees. You don't know it but I do. Give me bakshish and I'll show it to you." There was consternation among the Arabs. They discussed the matter ex citedly. Then their spokesman cama ; "Mr. Trombool, he said, "It tell you now' the true, honor bright They tell me true now on' the Koran.' They know that, place you tell them, bulj.they no call.it that name. They no call that Qadees. They call It Qasaymeh." ; 1 It flashed across Mr. Trumbull's i mind that Bartlett, who had preceded , him and whose map he was following, had been deceived-by the Arabs. "Very well," he said. "But do they know where Qadees'is if this Is not It?" The spokesman knew yes, Indeed. What is more, he knew there was no use wasting time trying to fool a man who could describe the desert paths as this one could; so forthwith they turn ed from the main road, and over a most difficult trail made their way to a place which, It was evident at a glance, was what Mr. Trumbull sought, the place of the Fountain of Judgment . . Dick Wins. . 1 Two brothers, aged 9 antlO, respec tively, pupils In a public school, of Washington, were' recently absent for a period of two weeks. When the elder of the boys returned to his class he brought a note from hi father stating that the cause of the.' absence of hla children was Illness. "Where's your brother, Dick?" asked the teacher. "Is he still sick?" .' ' ' ' "Yes, ma'am," replied the pupil, "he's still in bed with a broken arm." "I'm sorry to hear it. How did it happen?" "Well, it was this way. ma'am. Yon; see. Dick and I were trvlntr to m which could lean out of the second story window the furthest and Dick won." Evening Wisconsin. I ' .- Mean Fellow. v - ' J Of course, John," said . his . wife, "I'm obliged to you for this money, but It isn't enough to buy a real fur coat that "; li m( lUKiiutcu iuc ui U til 4 liUJfr band, "you'll have to make it go as fur ni.Tfin "run" Tho fTuthnUn '. BfS rtAA J - - v wyuv..v . .MM,UUalw and Times. An authr8 brightness isn't always 'due to the burning of midnight oil.