mmWuSm
y I v . ik. -
r . ; 3' tUl .. I , fe b fP-- "t
H Y WII.MAM Tj. P1VI.FV
i l W tlint Winter hns ps.mi1
N
ytRn- of tlr ni-nt ftnnnrinl (nnlc
r lln:iin(virhiK. thin an rp look-
tuR trlKlitt-r. Tin binl nt rttirninK
unci t M crf nn ltu'r !HiK i)rnmt1t for
Ititusrs. Thnus.tiiils of nlnwf buvo
ri tvol latr-ly, blul.irf!f rc plentiful,
ami wmmw rr Rotrftiff Ihlftoty vor thl
honif-Tiuttt inK buwin-s. Tu othnr ctny
J w f iwrtllnwn Himiinn Hhout the
los on a house in my bjti-k yard. In thf
rlty It !s a irohIMii with our iiHtivo birds
whfii sioritl hundred tlioustind Knplfsh
Kpnrrnws tiiy nil W inter and looatp all
the clMinif in mlvaiinv If p do mtt kick
ttwse Imported forfRnrrs out, dry wilt
noon mist our nnt 1 vp nnustprH, and our
lopulattin will ho rctnipood of nothin
Itnt fHthi'M'd rnfffnnjt.
1 tlii'rr !t hoy or Rirl who would nt
1m wealthy for tlir nskinc? Hi a land
lord ! t wn a houp and rnt it. Or sov
ral! Tenants aro .ihimd.anl, and
font.iKc ia tiot lo b srornpd by any
child pvi-n if tic let hi." Tinnsr f(r a
f ot'b I f one lives In t he eon n try a a I
do. he ran hav hi Rer holdings, hut no
matter if he dwells right in the midst
of t he city where projxrty ha. a valu
of hundreds of dollars a front foot, lie
can own a honso and have term tits.
linfore I moved t t fie cuntry.
owned a hndhouse that sheltered a fam
ily of bluebirds, on the roof of our home
n hove the rit y street. I got more real
t ental out of It than any hird property
J have ever owned. I was on hand most
DIGGING NATURE'S FREIGHT LINES
ntcrMis I, inking ritt.-htirg-, t'hk'Hgo, Minneapolis and Sioux City to the tilf of Mexico.
Til K movement for the Improvement
of the Mississippi, this rebirth of
at er tin nsportatmn in the valley,
bss come about through a lorus agitation,
f lowly, and men at the end suddenly,
with i rernendous rush. Twenty years
a go any one who publicly advocated the
ncvclojMTnent of a M-foot channel in the
li'wci M tVssippf was set aside as an
initKMile. Ten years ago he was con
sulered a dreamer.. Five years aco he
-ft ss an idealist. Today he must hasten
his steps to ktep abreast of the times.
Twenty years a so the most tmprtant
thing a bout the rivers and harlors bill
was the number of cotijiresplonal districts
Into which it divided the spoils. Ten
years ago tho members of Congress had
begun to question this way of doing busi
ness. Today there is a tendency to con
centrate the whoie bill, or the major part
of it. upon one desirable project each year
and to carry t he pro.iect through.
The Mississippi River commission, whiclt
lias charge of the stream below Cairo."
tried many ex pedients. some of them of
its own design, some of them copied and
enlarged from foreign works Out of
t hem all ha been developed a special
type of revt-tmi-nt. or hank protection,
consisting of mattresses of willow brush,
woven with calvjinisfd wire i.abies. and
sunk against the bank, where the current
st rikes it. by a facing of rubble stones,
"v this means the engineers are able to
hold the M'ssissippi rigidly yi its channel,
for trie current is thus prevented from
eroding the bank, which is the first step in
slutting. And by holding the ctirrent tn
a ttd channel, tlie samv revetment,
aided by narrowing dike? from tho oppo
v te shore, makes the river Si-our the
c 'is nnel deej and olmr in its fixed posi
t on. N'o simpler and yet no more en
tirely successful apparatus has ever been
lb ised.
For many years the engineers have been
"getting wiftc." Iut the prH'cs has gone
on almost unnoticed by the Westerners.
At last, however, some one discovered
what was doing. It was the fashion then.
it1 had long been, to cail these rivers at
.the same t inn "dead" and "uncontrol-
of the time to entlert rent ! soon made
an important and Interesting disrovprv.
It m v not he an entirety new one. but
T have never known of it or seen It re
corded. The father and mother bluebird
had reared one family of children and
the mot her waa on her second setting
of eggs. When the second brood hail
hatched, the older children were full
grown and were able to care for them
selves. The parents had to give all
their time to hunting food for the young
er children. The birds of the first brood,
although, only n few weeks older than
the ones in the nest and although they
had no previous experience- In caring for
babies, followed their parents about,
hunting worms and helped them feed and
raise the new family.
Hy close observat ion, any boy or girl
can make new discoveries In ornithology.
The real books on bird life have not yet
been written. We have volumes and
volumes of scientific manuals 6ti bird
class! th attou. strir t ure and variation
tn plumage. How much have we on real
ive bird character? Handbooks of bird
like city directories, are valuable and
necessary, but suppose we had otrlv
handbooks and man ha Is of the human
race. I low much real knowledge of
mankind do yon think we would pos
sess ?
In making fl bird house one should keep
In mind the siae and the location, from
the point of view of the bird tenant that
n to occupy it If one wishes to keep
out Knalish sparrows, the doorway must
be quite, small and the bird home fdiould
be placed six or eight feet from the I
ground. for Knglisher does not like a
home that can he reached from a chair. I
For a house wren or swallow, the door-
ahle." AH of a sudden aome one dis
covered that they were really very much
alive and very easily controlable. He was
a wise person, and having decided what
would be a good thing to do. he coined a
phrase to fit it. A catchy phrase la a fine
weapon. Thia one caught the ta.te of the
people and spread like ' Sweet Alice, Hen
Bolt " up and down the Mississippi and up
every remotest tributary, till the whole
valley was repeating It. It was simply
this:
"Fourteen feet through the valley!'
That was all. Hut there Is a great deal
of meaning packed Into those few words.
They mean 'an end to having a six-foot
channel here, a three-foot one there, and
a 10-foot channel farther on: to the frit
tering away of thousands on this back
water and that plough ; to letting Tom,
Ifok and Harry among the young lieu
tenants survey out the rivers and declare
what channels can be made in them. In
stead, the people themselves, merchants,
farmers, teachers, lawyers, all have arisen
together and have demanded one thing:
a 14-foot channel through the valley.
They mean these five words that this
channel Is to be built at once, and that all
other river improvements are to be sec
ondary to it. They do not ntean that we
are to reelect nor abandon the Ohio
nor the upper Mississippi nor the Mis
souri, but that we see now that none of
these will gain Us true value until there
is a biff main trunk line through the val
ley. Afterward, we will make a channel
nine feet deep and perhaps 14 up the
Ohio to Pittsburg. We will make a
six-foot channel in the upper Mississippi,
down which St. Paul and Minneapolis can
ship their millions of barrels of export
flour: up which they and the Northern
railroads can draw their coal. On the
Missouri we shall have six feet to Sioux
City, and a good channel above, so that
the deluge of Dakota wheat which now
stops all other traffic on the railways, will
flow this way, and in flowing down will
le counterbalanced by up-bound fleets of
coal sent in such quantity and so easily
that the Northwest will never again go
cold for lack of it.
In all the history of the Mississippi no
President of the Fnited States had ever
traveled on it. Abraham ljincoin crossed
TI1K SUNDAY
WILLIAM I.
F1NLEY"
OFFERS TIMEIA1
COVNS&L
TO
BOV AND
way need not be larger than the ait. i
of a half dollar, or about an Inch and a i
quarter In diameter. For a bluebird, one
should have the door a little larger, per
haps an Inch and a half or two inchea
In diameter.
A little study will show that hirdd differ
somewhat from people, and architec-
turally the same rule will not ftpply for
both. The feathered tribe, as a rule, has
little tree for bird hotels, that Is, houses
with a variety of compartments. Any-
It and rode on It many times before be
was made chief magistrate and he even
patented a scheme for walking a boat over
a sandbar. Andrew Jackson rode on the
stream many times, but never as Presi
dent. But Mr. Roosevelt, In the prime of
his career, was invited to come out and
see, as President, what the valley had to
show him. And he came.
That visit of the President to the river,
which began October 1. and endei. Oc
tober 4. when he went down to IxuUana
bear hunting, will be memorable in years
to come. It marked the real turning point
in the Government attitude toward the
Mississippi. President Roosevelt had al
ready heard about "fouten feet through
the valley." He had appointed an inland
waterways commission, which has In mind
all manner of schemes concerning water
waysirrigation, forestry, dry farming,
navigation, locks and dams, revetment
and the preservation of national rights in
waterfalls. But that was too general to
suit the 14-foot people. They wanted
a specific promise about the channel.
The President arrived at the river at
Keokuk. Ia.. where there is some day to
be a big dam across the Mississippi at a
cost of $10,000,000. The Gorvernment will
not build that, probably because It would
be a paying investment. We have given
away the privilege, satisfied wit.i chang
ing around the old saying from "dam it
they can't" to "dam ft they can."
Next day on the steamboat Mississippi
the President went down to St. Louis,
where the leaders of tne 14-foot agitation
have their headquarters; and there the
whole valley, through thousands of Ms
representative people, accorded him a wel
come. Iater a trreat fleet of the old steamboats
like the last ery of one condemned bel
lowed their hoarse salutes as he sailed
away again, and of the number a dozen
accompanied him down stream. A score
of governors went along, oh the Alton.
The Inland Waterways Commission went
too. on the Mackenzie. A score or more
of commercial and political organizations
followed on. other boats, all shouting t..e
same thing, "Fourteen feet through the
valley."
And the President ? He went stamping
up and down the deck of the Mississippi
V ;. . '.!v ".iy?" . 5-v Jti . f 4 v Vrf s7 vrf m iiiiiiiiimih' li I -'t'i't-ii-t- i -'- -" Tim -,-f- - ii i)iiiri"i
ORKflOMAN, POftTLANT),
A
thing
but a crowded a part turn t house
bird! Of all things, he dislikes a
for
big", draughty room with a lot of win
dows, or doors at both ends.
Some people, like one of my neigh
bors, prefer a showy while house built
upon a hill. Another friend ban a neat
little house built among the firs, but it
has such a variety of colored paints that
it does not fit the environment. Tn fact,
most of us have oxir thoughts turned in
such a variety of channels that we have
gone beyond the simple and more artistic.
as happy as a schoolboy fn long vacation.
He swung hia arms like a woodcutter
getting ready for work, and shouted
greeiinga to the governors whenever their
boat came within reach.
"Boys, thia is the finest trip of my life."
he shouted a dozen times. And as many
more he hailed them to affirm, "Boys,
this Is bully.
And he did more than that. At Keo
kuk he rather lavored water transporta
tion. At St. I.iOuis he thought we must
not get too enthusiastic In our plans.
Davy Crockett msed to say, "Be sure
you are right and then go ahead ," he
said to the convention at Memphis. "Well
we are sure we are right. Now let's
go ahead."
There has been no specific appropriation
bill passed as yet. No rivers and har
bors bill has come before Congress since
the October trip. But measures calling
for a bond 'issue of $SOn,000.000 tp carry
out the general scheme of all our river
improvements, and others calling for an
annual TAOfrO.ono appropriation are among
the many measures Introduced to carry
out the plans which the President has
outlined and 'out of which the final act
will be framed.
And so, before long, the valley is to
have its way. It is pot to be an ex
pensive way. It will cost altogether $2(0.
000,000, perhaps half as much more, to
put the system I have outlined all
through, from Pittsburg. Chicago. Minne
apolis and Sioux City to the gulf. That
will be about 20O miles of navigable chan
nel, which will do more work and do it
better than 4200 miles of six-track steam
railroad laid along the same route. And
if it is begun promptly it can all be
done in ten years, with some of the ad
vantage accruing to the country every
year. The plans that the Inland Water
ways Commission has worked out for
preserving the water at the stream head,
for saving out the silt, and for doing a
thousand other things that will aid the
navigator will some day, be carried out.
But for the present there is water
enough, and in the right place, for the
channels we need, and when these chan
nels are cleared and revetted, the boats,
the engines and the system must be there,
as a part of the most wonderful thing in
America the new Mississippi. John L
Mathews in Everybody's.
Walmi skin Is ud to corer small hoat?.
to which it is attached with the jn-'ini of
th tusks.
.
Jr- -2- .
APKIL 13, 1908.
... ., - i-mn-,. j,mif-
Thin the bird never doea. His borne Is al
ways a part of his surroundings.
If you want to mRkn a bird bouse,
make It out of old weathered boards, nr.
better still, sections of tree trunka wild
the natural bark on the outside. The
best bird home la one that Is drilled out
of the dead limb by the' bird Itself: It
Is always dry when the weather Is wet;
It has the advantage of being protected
fmm bird -bun ting animals. Formerly, I
made my bird houses out of old boxes,
but now. when I want a new one to rent
I take a saw and hunt among the maples
and alders until I find a mansion tnat
lias been drilled out the previous year by
a woodpecker or chickadee. The limb is
always dead and can lie cut off and car
ried home easily and erected in a new
and advantageous position.
A long, deep bird house wtth the door
way near the top is best for bluebird:,
"". 7K ..! V ' ' SI
WOMAN'S BEAUTY LESS
MRKiilitie Neglect of Natural ArlvntifnRe the Cause
M.. WENUAU, one of the greatest
authorities In Germany on aesthetics
and the laws of beauty, has written
a learned treatise to prove that nature
Iras endowed men with far more beauty
than women, and that there is not a fea
ture in a man's face or a limb In his
body that it not superior to the cor
responding feature or limb in ft woman.
The book te attracting the widest at
tention. "We are accustomed to ieak of the
beautiful sex. he says. "We are also
used to smile and speak scornfully of a
man who Is praised for his leauty. But
this does not alter the facts. When I
speak of a beautiful man I do not mean
a dude out of a tailor's journal or a
drawing-room lion In uniform. But this
sneering tone adopted whenever manly
beauty Is spoken of is a direct conse
quence of the decay of this masculine
beauty.
"Go where you will, you will see
weakly young- men with the demeanor
of old men crooked backs with other
monstrosities, with flabby faces and huge
abdomens. They are disgusting speci
mens of their kind, but it must be ad
mitted" that they are degenerates and In
no sense real human types.
"In the course of the ages women have
developed their beauty, such as it is.
while man has neglected his. He pays
little attention to his most beautiful ap
pendage, his beard; to his proud, strong
neck and shoulders. He has even come
to believe that the narrow shoulders, long
body and short legs of women are more
beautiful.
"How are men to regain what they
have lost? If a man lives an orderly
life he will regain his beauty; If he is
vicious he will speedily grow ugly. The
characteristic ugliness of most men is
simply a phenomenon which is the con
sequence of a pathological process. ' A
fac may be unsympathetic and repliant,
but if it shows perfect health it can
-A m.
- -v. I
i -
It
swallows and wren'. The floor should
he six or eight (riches, or even more,
from the entrance. The bhd tenant
would rather go down Into its nest than
through a hoi izont al hallway. This ar
rangement Is good, for It gives young
birds plenty of room for climbing and
stretching. They do not climb out and
leave home beore they are well grown
and able to fly, and so are not lia ble to
fall a prey to stray cats.
There is one great objection to the erec
tion of bird houses about the vard when
they are placed near the ground. The
ravisher of Innumerable bird homes, the
most detestable enemy of our common
songs t era. Is the domes t ic cat. Most of
our bird homes ahould have the protection
of a wire netting guard. On an average
every cat you s"e s responsible for the '
death of 60 song birds each year. Hy
never be absolutely ugly. The intelligent,
healthy boy is never ugly, even when lie,
has irregular features. It is only in
adolescence that his features assume
these ugly outlines which are afterward
developed in manhood.
"A man loses his modesty earlier
than a woman. With his innocence he
forfeits his beauty. Here the ways of
men and women part, with the results
that we see.
"What influences the body influences
the face. It is not sickness alone that
gives the features their particulHr im
press. The slightest self-indulgence, evil
habits, extremes of eating or drinking,
any excess, no matter how slight, if in
dulged In, all tell their story to any one
who has learned to read the face of a
mart.
"What has caused that thick, crooked,
half-pendent lip on so many men? To
bacco cigars, pipe;, cigarettes. Where
do the red noses and copper cheeks come
from? Wine and spirits. Why do the
features lose every vestige of spirit and
purity? Alcohol, lasciviousness. And the
hang-dog face with the furtive eyes
which more and more men are develop
ing? Impure thoughts. The lazy, big
atomached man with his besotted look
and spongy muscles? Beer.
"All over Germany, and other countries
as' well, the number of those who drink
and smoke increases, and In consequence
the number of those who spit and scratch
themselves and are itchy. They are our
contemporaries, and they hurt the feel
ings of any man or woman with even a
trace of aesthetic sense. Such men are
ugi.
"The high collars reaching up to the
ears, the stiffly-ironed shirts, the top
hats! Have men a right to point the
finger of scorn at women because they
wear corsets!
"Live cleanly, think cleanly, live in the
fresh air and your beauty will be again
as superb as it was in the days jpt an
cient Greece. Our hair will return to js.
so will our teeth, and bur straight backs,
and clean lines, and bright eyes.
One physical culture Instructor in Bos
ton, who is having great success in teach
ing round-ehuuldred girls to stand and
Tf,
T
t:
' v
1 1 . .
r. .
'I
a c Mia I count one at dest roved six bird
t rests in a single day. Wo I Icons" doga
and aim to h'M (hese anirmils Hornowhat
In check. Our 1wk fine H man for kill
ing one aong hiid. In the meantime, we
allow worthless '-a ts Jo live without re
Htralnt and destroy as many songsters
as they wish. I should sooner think of
giving my horse or cow the freedom of
my garden than allow w vagabond eat. on
my prem Ises. i if course, much can be
done In t he way of 1 1 a in log cats, to let
birds alone. Kvry owner of a cat should
In fluty hound see that it is provided with
oilier food than young robins, song spar
rows, wrens and thrushes". Many cats
are maintained about, farms to keep mice
and fit her rodents In check, but the eat
in turn doe as much or more harm than
good. Hodents -ari be dealt with rniteh
more ef feet ively by the Intelligent use
fpf poisons and t raps.
THAN MAN'S
of lretjii( Inferiority.
walk erect, says tho whofo secret is In
the way the head is held.
"Throw up your chin." is her ru! This
throws the head upward and ba'k ward,
and the shoulders will nrfturatly settle
backward and in their true position.
Those who stoop in walking generally
look downward. The proper way is to
look st raight a head upon the, same level
with your eyes, or, if you are ini-lined to
stoop, until that tendency is overcome
look rather above than belo(w the level.
Mountaineers are said to be as
"straight as an arrow," a nd the reason
Is because they are obliged to look up
ward so much. It Is simply impossible to
stoop in walking if you heed and practice
this rule. You will notice that all round
shouldered persons carry the chin near
the breast and pointed downwards.
lion Are Bit In.
E'lgar r Itlen in tli Detroit New.
f F, luMird ar a flirty in' ,
'I'hrotjffh tiit sunny hour;
Ze;hyr a,r a hrinitin.
riwet perfume of floweri.
I.'iiV'j are ail a Ktlrrin'.
Whinperin to ths hreez,
HiMn ar buildin' castle-
In thi murmur in' tr .
Bees n r all fl ki'iri'.
Honey to the comb,
Fi."h nr nil a hi tin
In I he little creK at home.
I.t'fe are a grow-in
On its th '')- eecf;
"Water is a llowl'i"
fBxt h mossy 1'lpe
On its tiny li I I"m. s.
Streaks or silver wht'e.
Pant the puy willows
Flipp! in" w i h del ich t
Th shad v rapids lighten,
With t!: snow-white foam;
Fi-h are afl a biHn'
In 1 be little crek at bom a.
T:i no time for rodncM,
I8V asfd your care;
The nor id is fu!l of gJaiinesn.
A il thn world Is fair.
Hsr the water fallln''
O'er the !trppin stir.-.
'Tis the wfld a t-aliin",
"a!lin to its own.
While I'm busy writ in'
This foolish pome,
Fih are nd a bltin'
In the little creek at noine.