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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 1909)
SUNDAY OREGOXIAN", PORTLAND, JANUARY 1909. t .... wrui au rrrtK n' ran nf n nW n'7TPn7 H'A nKITPri m cfri tPM? IMPP- 1 A ' t - . v i i v uA n I II 1111 mi I rt i I 1 I I sasrt . AT II I -ft. l I I a- SI I I 1 J - saa 1m v - I iii 1 4 f PETE prosperity has been restored," I said the Hotel Clerk of the St. Reckless. "You must have the rood eyesight," aid the House Detective, t ain't noticed It." "Oh. but It ha," said the Hotel Clerk. "Surest thing you know. Didn't you read about the dinner that young Mr. F. Au gustus Helnte gave and about the dinners that other members of the smart setot to mention the smarty set, are giving; from tlmo to time. Yes. sir, prosperity has certainly been restored. True she suffered a few Injuries and got dented tip some during her absence and she's com-? back to us looking like the Venus d9 Milo. who was a Grecian lady that passed through a sawmill disaster, Larry, but Just j ou leave F. Augustus and the rest of them alone a Uttle while and they'll have her not only restored but walking the high wire In the main tent and doubling In a song and danoe turn f-r the concert performance on the elevated stage: persons remaining to be allowed to sit tn the reserved seat section and the animals fed after wards. Keep your eye on F. Augustus.' "Wot wuz it you said he doner said the Houm Detective. "Sbems like to rno the last time I read about Heinre a Federal grand Jury wus only about a lap and a half behind him." "That was some time back," said the Hotel Clerk. "You see, it was like this, A year or so ago young Mr. Heinxs rame out of the West, In a private car with his feet up on the cushions, smoking a yellow cigar that looked like a paste board mailing tube, his purpose being to Introduce a few desirable innovations Into our financial system. There was .nothing revolutionary or spectacular about his way of Introducing himself to Wall Htreet He merely appeared there very quietly one morning about the time the boys In the Stock Exchange were mix ing: the mint sauce for the Spring Iambi that woul.. be along In a little while. He came riding on a steam calliope, with his pants tucked Into a pair of hip boots like the villain wears at the beginning of the second act. waving a elf-cocklng copper combine In one liand and an automatic rapid-fire Na tional bank In the other, and followed by a full brass band of 40 pieces, main ly tubas and bass drums. In a low, soft, purring tone that sounded a good deal like Wallace the Untamable, when they rub the raw meat across the bars of his cage, he stated his name and Intentions, and then opened up for business. "Well, for a while all went well. But there were a lot of gentlemen of seri ous demeanor and settled habits down there that didn't seem to care deeply for Mr. Heinze's boisterous Butte ways. They thought he was too much to the kfary McLane. and they'd always leaned rather toward Henry James. They were I Loss by Drought in New England States Second Crop of Hay a Failure Fanners Becklessly Sell Cattle Stoppage of Paper-Mill Machinery Along Con necticut River Valley Deforestation Object-Lessons. tTftt3 Is the worst drought I ever see I in all my life." The above remark was overhead by the writer the other day as he was walking along a country road In northern Vermont. The speaker was a man of about 45 years of age, who was addressing a white-haired citl aen, bent and very aged, who leaned v.pon a garden gate In the sunshine. "In all your life!" sneered the old man. "Why, you hain't be'n ft llvin' very long. If you'd be'n around here about 10 yars afore you wus born you'd ft seen a cry spell that 'ud make this here one look like a flood. Why. they wafn't no hay crop 't all to speak of, and folks as wus lucky enough to own any timber rut down trees bo's the cattle could browse on the leaves. Cattle wus mighty cheap thm days some folks couldn't give 'em away. I bought ft horse for a dollar a good horse. We had ft little old hay laid by and managed to keep him. I sold him next Spring for a hun dred and twenty-five." With due respect to the old gentleman, and the "dry spell." which harassed New England ebout the middle of last cen tury. It Is submitted that this present drought Is extraordinary and severe. It has not been a local matter, this scarcity of water; It has been felt not only throughout New England, but in the middle and central states as well, and It Is not unlikely that later on the great er part of the country will be Indirectly affected by It. In the meantime most of our springs and wells have dried up. streams and ponds have become so shallow that fish l ave perished In great numbers, pastures have been literally burned up. crops have keen destroyed, manufacture has been de layed, and man and beast generally have been put to vast inconvenience In ft great variety of ways. Fortunate) Boston. Boaton has been peculiarly fortunate In that she suffered comparatively little tliat Is, directly from the effects of the recent drought. Although the rainfall has been the lightest since the United ftatee Weather Bureau was established here thlrty-soven years ago. there has been an abundant supply of water for all purposes, and it Is estimated that In the reservoirs of the metropolitan water ystem there Is enough to last for at least a year, even If we don't get an other drop of rain during that time. Not so with other parts of New Eng land. The writer had been In the West til Summer and Autumn, end. although lie had ;ieard many reports of the drought, he. like many another, failed to appreciate the gravity of the situation until he returned to his home in Merl Atn. N. H.. about the 1st of November. Hoth the wells, whlcn usually supplied tae house, neither of which had ever been known to fall, had gone dry months before, and water for drinking and bath ing had to be brought a few pints at Jme from a shallow spring a quarter of ft mile from the house. The devolop ruiit of seven or eight hundred photo graphic plates brought back from the "West v as a cheer Impossibility under the r'rcumsiances, and after vainly n waiting the needed rain until the lust possible mo imrt the first person singular fled to this city. As Seen in ft Series of Trips. Since then on ft recent lecture trip I have visited other parts of New England, where the conditions were as bad or worse. In journeying from point to point there would be seen every now and then a stream, or, rather, the bed of a stream, with ft thin trickle of water sneaking in and out among the stones, as If afraid mt being detected. At another point would accustomed to wear goioshes during business hours, and they'd been dodg ing the Department of Justice so long that sidestepping was their natural gait. It was only to be expected that they'd feel a natural distrust for a young man who opened up for business of a morning with a noise like some body shooting an oil well, even though ho had dark curling hair and winning wavs. But In accordance with the kindly customs of their kind, they man aged to conceal their true feeling from him all the time tnat they were under mining his subcellar and slipping the ground-up lamp chimney Into his flour barrel and disconnecting the burglar system on his pantry window. Then one sunny afternoon, when everything was ready, they backed him up against the palings and took all; bis marbles away from him, and along about the same time the Federal grand Jury clubbed In and made him a present of quite a. batch of indictments. "I won't deny that Mr. Hclnzo was depressed for a while. This wasn't like the vaunted Eastern hospitality of which he'd heard out In his primitive Montana cot, or when he was down deep In his i.-.tne sinking his sturdy pick Into the virgin copper and Senator Clark. Nobody ever exactly caught him in the act of hating himself, but even so, he was quite put out for a while. But here the other day he no ticed that the clouds of depression were lifting. Prosperity was peering over the horizon, with a golden smile on her face, as If she'd been eating a custard pie and forgot to wipe her mouth. So says F. Augustus to himself, Wot Tell, Bill. Wot Tell," or words to that effect; after all. he reflected, the only thing they can do with an Indictment Is to try you on It; an Indictment Is not like one of those combination Jack-knives that pulls a cork and opens a can of cove oysters and trims a corn all at once; its uses are limited to Just the one tnlng. So let us be heart-free and gay and blithesome, says Helnze; let us sing with a fol-de-rol-day r a hey-nlddy-noddy or whatever Is proper to sing with under these circumstances. Let us act as If we'd gone to Harlem River bridge with 175.000 plurality. And then. Just to show he meant It, he up and took and went and gave a little dinner party that made the best efforts of the lato Lucullus look like a hobo sitting on a brakebeam of a furniture car eating Springfield, Mo., soda biscuit and cold boiled rice out of a copy of the War Cry. Anyway, that's what the papers said about It the next day. "And since then others of our young er set have been following suit until there's hardly an evening that doesn't have a unique and attractive dinner party the next morning. Owing to the j habit which the sun has of coming up J be dam, the stained boards dry and warped, and nearby a eilent mill. Or sometime It was a lake, the water of which had shrunk and crept far down from the shore, leaving ft wide stretch of baked mud in Its wake. Sometimes for many miles at a time the air would be hasy with the smoke of distant forest fires fires made possible, even probable, by the dry condition of the country. Ex cept for the unusual precautions taken by Intelligent people everywhere the for est fires in New England last Autumn would have been Incalculably disastrous. As an example of such precaution might be mentioned the action of the Governor of Vermont, who right In the hunting season put the law on all game for two weeks, thus keeping the gunners out of the woods and greatly reducing too dan ger from foreet firey. Paper Mills Especially Suffer. Mcny manufacturing businesses depend ing on water for any purpose nave been seriously crippled. Ferhaps the paper business has suffered as much as any since In the manufacture of pap?r, par ticularly the finer grades, large Quantl' ties of water ore used. The low water In the Connecticut River has worked considerable Injury to the paper corapa nica whose factories are established on Its banks. At Holyoko recently the mills have been running only two-thirds time. and the manufacturers at Windsor Locks have been having similar trouble. In the Agawam, on which is located the mills of the W oronoco. Mitllneague, boutn- worth. Crane and American Writing Pa per Companies, the mud banks are visime M. Bimri. NEW TORK. Jan. . Spe- A savage attack on the French Ambassador to Italy. M. Barrere, is made by Maximilian Harden In the Corrlere d'ltalla, an Italian newspaper of the highest respon sibility. Harden flatly accuses Barrere with using his Am bassadorial privileges to carry on an extensive trade in smuggling antiquities out of Italy. Harden even suggests that Barrere re ceives no salary from France In consideration of being allowed to trade in antiquities. I 'fKF.SCH AMOASSADOn TO ITALT I ACCVSKD OF SMUGGLING. J If' - . . ' "M ' i i ' v - " f v'" - A I ? : i If ' ' if f i t - : I . W; . ;! tna I., mm j iSiissshsLes nil in sill' ! and the stream may be crossed by wading. During the early daye of the drought, the scarcity of water was hardly felt, for orders were coming in slowly. But now that business is normal me or ders are coming In fast, and the scarcity of water la becoming serious. Where It Is simply ft matter of getting power, the mills can be run by steam, but in the paper business large quantities of water are needed for tne niters, inousanas oi paper mill hands are losing at least two to three days each week owing to lack of water to work with. Prices, particu larly of fine quality papers, are high, and are rolng higher. At Lewlston, Me., while comparatively Uttle time has been lost so far, the water In tiie Androscoggin River Is so low the owners fear that they will soon have to shut down. It Is now so late that there Is little hope for rain, and any precipita tion In the form of snow will hardly bring relief before Bpring. Vermont Farmers Carrying Water In the vicinity of Newport, Vt., the writer heard many complaints. The water of I,ake Champlain waa lower than It had ever been recorded before; the streams were either dried up altogether or greatly reduced In volume, and most of the wells and springs for many miles around had long since failed. Fully half the farmers of Newport, Coventry and Irasburg wero drawing water for their stock. In somo cases haul lng a much as 160 palls a day for long distances and often up heart-breaking hills. Sometimes they hauled it In bar rels, but as a rule In the metal tanks which they uso for collecting maple sap in the Spring. And they had been doing this for two months. E. B. Watson, superintendent of schools t Newport, told, me that there had been much difficulty in obtaining water for or dinary use in the schools, and that In some cases special men had been engaged to do nothing else but carry water to the sahoolhousc. Some farmers were driving their ani mals many miles each day to water, but In many cases this could not be done, as the springs were used to supply the fam ily drinking water, and the owners would not permit them to be muddled by the feet of cattle. In the surrounding towns and villages conditions were much the same. At Der by Line, a farmer who owned one of fae only living springs for mik around, sold the water at a few cents a pall, not be cause he wanted to make money out of his less fortunate neighbors, but In an effort to check any tendency to waste fulness and to limit the amount used by each family. Lindonvllla Is fortunate enough to have a water system, but I heard that tho supply had for some time been so limited that the water was turned on for 'only 20 minutes each day. St. Albans, too, has found the drought expensive. For a time it looked as If sev eral of tne factories would have to shut down, but the city came to the rescue by installing ft pumping apparatus and thus saved the loss to business. The Central Vermont Kali road is obliged to draw waller from Alburg, where It la pumped out of Lake Champlain. Professor Joseph L Hills, director of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Bur lington, Vt., proved a cheerful aource of information concerning the effects of the drought upon agriculture in New Epg- land. In the iorth and In many other parts there was absolutely no second crop of hay. The com crop varied greatly with the character of the soli. In heavy soils It grew admirably and matured well. At the station Itself. Where there was a heavy clay loam, there was a splendid crop of corn the best fqr years. In the lighter soils, however, the corn suffered seri ously. - The melon crop was literally the best ever known, the unusual amount of dry i TOE sunshine being just what was needed to bring melons to perfection. Grapes and other fruits did well, too, If in reason ably heavy soil. Fungi of most kinds were comparatively scarce, and people fond of mushrooms and the other edible sorts had to hunt much farther than usual If they found them at all. Fortun ately, the drought was Just as hard on the harmful and pestiferous kinds, and among other the late pota'j blight was entirely missing this year. For some years there has been carried on it the station an extensive investigation of this blight, and its absence I waa assured had been a source of great annoyance to the scientist having the work In charge. Of course there was a marked effeot upon the milk supply throughout the re gion which suffered from the drought. The early burning out of the unwatered pastures caused a shortage of grass. which In turn caused a shortage of milk. I Bnd that h9 had ,atisfled himself on this The August supply of milk was the I polnt by investigation and experiment, smallest In ten years at least, and mat- It un1e about in this way. The pro ters were correspondingly bad during the IegBOr na1 as usual, been spending his Autumn months. In many places the price I gumrner vacation on a hiltop in New or milk and cream nas aireaay aavancea, and Professor Hills says that It seems to him that the whole situation must In- evltably mean higher prices Jot all dairy products. The failure of the second hay crop means something more than a temporary shrinkage of milk; It means that the farmers will not have enough food on which to Winter their cattlo and that they will be forced to sell if they have not already done so. Rushing Cattle Off to Market. Already In northern New England and elsewhere there have been large sales of cattle at lower prices than for 20 years or more. In fact, there are so many cat tle thrown upon the market that the busy drovers are almost everywhere able to buy at their own figures. Professor Hills, commenting on this matter, pointed out to me one grimly humorous aspect of it. "A rather odd outcome of the situ ation," said be, "is seen In the present tremendous call upon the state for the testing of animals for tuberculosis. We have on our statute books a law which, accords a very liberal valuation for tuberculous stock. At the present Juncture of short food supply and high cost of all grains and by-products It Is positively a money-making opera tion for a man to have a tuberculous herd and sell It to the state. I know of cases where men have been seri ously disappointed on finding their herds free from disease, because a sale to the state would be likely to be a more satisfactory one than a sale to the drover. I. know of one man who, on being congratulated by the veterinarian on the fact that his herd was free from tuberculosis, threw up his hands and said: "Heaven help me: I must take the drovers' prices.' " It la obvious to the reader that If a study of the weather conditions should give a reasonably early warning of a coming drought, any unscrupulous farmer might Inoculate his herd with tuberculosis and thus Insure himself a good price for his cattle. On Inquiry It was learned tnat tnis iaea naa oc curred to others and that It was prob able that before long there would be a new law covering the point. But whether they are sold to the drovers or killed and paid for by the state, the fact remains that the farmers In many parts of New England are getting rid of a part or the whole of their cattle. This can mean but one thing a marked decrease in dairy products. It Is estimated that In Vermont, this de crease will be between one third and one -half. Even tho Artists Are Hard Hit. A visit to the "imous artist colony at Cornish, N. H-, proved that even artists, sculptors and literary folk must have water at times, and I found one great planter Journeying bravely over the hills with a little tin can looking eagerly for something to wet It in. Another, an author, was cheer fully hauling his water three miles from the well of a neighbor. When asked what he would do if that well gave out, he answered with a smile: Well, water is simply one or tne material comforts, and when neces- ; IHPtoL (gLLf along about 7 o'clock. even in mid Winter, It's often necessary to start these truly delightful functions as early as 1:30 A. M., but as they always con tinue through to a more seasonable hour there's usually no complaint on sary artists and writers are able to get along very nicely with the spir itual." Perhaps it is not to be wondered at that the difficulty in obtaining drink ing water resulted in a revival of the old faith In water wizards and others who are said to have the gift of being able to locate underground springs nd streams by means of a forked stick. The Forked Stick to Delect Water. The writer, who Is a hopeless skep tlo concerning Interesting phenomena vouched for only by Inaccurate people, had long scouted all "evidence" on this subject. He was, then, greatly interest ed when a well-known man of science connected with one of the universities assured him that this belief was not founded upon superstition, but upon fact. ; Hampshire, when the failure of his well made nim decide to dig for water. The : i.m . . . -t k hill was a most unpromising one. and he was discussing that point, when some one suggested that be engage old Silas Penniman to come and locate the water for hlui. He laughed, as he had always done at this old belief, but as a Joke he asked old Silas, a reputed water wizard, how much he would charge for the Job. The fee was $2, and when the professor told some of his friends that night, they said: "Let's get him up here; It'll be worth two dollars Just to see the fun So Silas came with a forked apple branch, and after xlg-zagging over the hill for a little while, the stick was seen to turn over, and the old man calmly announced that If the professor would dig there, he would find water at such and such a depth. And he added that two streams, flowing In such and such dlrectlon8 would b6 found crossing one another at that point. Workmen were engaged, and behold It was exactly as old ellas had predicted. The professor then tried it himself, but the stick re malned passive In his hands. The next to try was his brother, a minister. The stick remained quiet until he came over one of' the streams, when it began to turn over. He grasped it more tightly, but it continued to turn. He is a power ful man, and the professor says that he could see the muscles of his arms swell as lie strove to prevent the 6tick from going over. But over It went In spite of him, but so tight had been his grasp that he had actually twisted the bar- from the stem. Still skeptical, the pro fessor continued his experiments, finally taking as his subject an old blind woman who knew nothing of the country about his home With a forked apple branch In her hand, she was started out in the dlrco tlon of the stream, and as she crossed It much to her own astonishment, the stick whirled around in her hand. And this was told me by careful man with a reputation to sustain a man whose opinion Is en titled to great respect. My own opinion I would reserve yet a Uttle space. Contrary, to reports from New Hamp shire there was no suffering among the big game In the Blue Mountain forest known locally as Corbln Park. In some cases the animals had to travel some what farther than usual In order to slake their thirst, but they could always find water, either In the pools, of the larger trout brooks or in one of the three ponds, none of which . went dry. There was eome loss of trout, of course, but less than In other places owing to the fact that most of the brooks run for the greater part of their length-through deep woodland and evaporation Is compara tively slow. The birds, squirrels and other small creatures were Inconveni enced about as much as their brethren outside. The only possible trouble may be found In watering the buffaloes after they are yarded for the Winter; only one of the several springs In the buffalo corrals was active last week. It was boped that the others would start up before the animals were driven into per manent Winter quarters, but In any case they can be watered at Red Leaf Pond, which Is close at hand. Of all the wild creatures that suffered I mviN 5. BY this score. The beauty and chivalry of our fair city Is being drawn upon heavily to. furnish recruits for theHe prosperity housewarmlngs. "I was reading about one of the classiest here only yesterday, Larry. One of the family Newspapers having a large home and fireside circulation carried a half page about it copiously illustrated with photographs, charts and drawings by a specialist on the spot only ten hours after It ended. It must have been a delightful little affair by all accounts. The table dec orations were hundred-dollar bills smothered In orchids, and the favors were shares of Standard Oil stock with deckel edges, hand-tooled by Mr. Arch bold personally. The gentlemen wore nighties trimmed with baby blue rib bons and the ladies wore hand-painted pajamas. Every recognizable Co respondence School of Dramatic Art In town was represented by one or more of Its fair alumnusses. Stage favorites who have been prominent In all the. large musical comedies -and divorces of the last two seasons might have been seen upon every side. An admitted favorite was a young lady who'd Just been promoted from the second row to the front row, and given the place on the end nearest the college boys' box on account of having been horse whipped In the lobby by another lady In the presence of the press agent, who was thereby enabled to get not less than half a column, with pictures on every front page In town the next morniDg. The fair young debutante of the chorus, who only six months ago was, having her mall, mostly seed cir culars, sent via R. F. D. Route No. 4, out of Lone Oak, Ark., sat right along side of her sister beauty who within a year was living at No. 11 S3 East Dirtyflst street, sixth floor back, ling Finnigan'8 bell, but to have seen them there, both dressed up like drugstore windows, you'd never have been able to tell them from the patrician beauties of Fifth avenue except they were bet ter looking and wore their clothes with more style, for such Is the rapid growth of culture In our great me tropolis. The lady that does the snake dance, which has created such ft furore in vaudeville this sea son, while wearing nothing at all ex cept some snakes and a bangle brace let on .her left ankle, was also there, fully dressed, except for one of the snakes, named Rolo, that she had to leave at home because he had a touch of laryngitis in his rattles. So, to avoid catching cold, she had bracelets on both ankles. "It was truly a feast of reason and a flow of soul, costing ilio a plate,' ex clusive of the bottled stuff which was opened by a special force of 75 pain less dentists working in relays. Along about a quarter of 6. when Jocund dawn stood tip-toe on the gas house, tho ' from the drouth. It Is safe to say that the fish, especially tne trout, suu.vit.-u most; literally millions of them per ished owing to the scarcity of water. First of all, the gradual drylng up of the streams crowded them Into a more restricted range, where food became carca and where they became easy prey to unsportsmanlike fishermen, j Thousands of pounds of trout were de stroyed In this way. Then in many cases the very pools to which the trout ' had fled for shelter dried up, and the ! fish were found dead by hundreds on ; the stony bottoms of the brooks. Nor did the trouble end hero. The drying up of the head waters of the streams not only drove the small fry down into deep er water, where they became the prey of larger fish, but destroyed much of the spawn, so that it may be a long time before the trout brooks recover from this serious setback. That other wild creatures suffered more or less seems more than likely, though I have no actual proof of this. It seems almost certain that many young birds would find difficulty In reaching the comparatively few places where they ,m,m Hrinir A.t our own home there were as usual pans of water set out for the feathered folk, and during day light they were almost continually sur rounded by robins, thrushes, catbirds and Juncos, Joined later by purple finches, white-throated sparrows and chickadees. Another pan, the personal property of Romulus, a tame wolf, was also a center of attraction for the birds, and the owner, lying in the shade of an applo tree, watched them with calm In difference. Bitter Lesson of Deforestation. Whatever other causes there may have been for tho drouth, it seems to be gen erally admitted that the deforestation of enormous tracts of country was large ly responsible. Perhaps1, then. In spite of her present serious discomfiture. New Dr. Harvey E. Wiley. WESHINGTOX. Jan. 9. (Spe cial.) Dr. Harvey E. Wiley, chief chemist of the Agriculture De nartmpnt In airaln on the srrld- lron for his activity in condemn ing food products which he avers are deleterious to health. His removal is demanded by the sugar manufacturers In Louisiana on account of his decision regarding the unwholesomeness oi suipnur. benzoate of soda and saccharine in foods. They claim that It Is nothing less than "pernicious ac tivity" on bis part. mm t i 81'GAK MANUFACTURERS AT- t TACK UNITED STATES J ! CHEMIST. J ' f I . if V I , t it I ' - ' " pfj f - - t j i .- j i 1 ' 1 J ! COBB. enjoyment reached its height. Waiters were running around the table res cuing gentlemen from the finger-bowls and solid gold cuspidors. Others pres ent had either gone to sleep as tar back as the third course, and were still peacefully at rest with their faces in the entree, or else they were singing Good NIs-ht, Ladles. or crying because John L. Sullivan got licked by Jim Cor bet at New Orleans, depending on their different dispositions and the way they were brought up. It had indeed been an evening fraught with Incident and replete with haprnings, as tho society writers 6ay. So this wm deemed an opportune hour for everybody to get Into taxis and ride up' to Westchester for breakfast, some being almost con scious, while others remained in stato of complete coma throughout. Coming back, nearly everybody had th African disease known as the sleeping sickness. "D'ye think anybody really enjoys giv ing them sort of blowouts?'' asked the House Detective. "Probably not." said tho Hotel Clark, "but then. you've got to remember. Larry, that having fun is nearly always very painful to a rich man. A corn-fed philosopher can travel on a day coach all day eating Ills lunch out if a sho box and afterwards smoking one of tho Margio Morgan cigars at six for Zo. that looks like a shredded wheat biscuit ns soon as the wrappings Ignite and begin to unravel, and he'll have a perfectly grand timo. But the fellow who scuds through on a privato car is apt to become peevish because somebody else's land scape doesn't match his upholstering?, and It may spoil hi whole day for him. Any proletariat can extract a certain amount of beneficial excrclso and excite ment out of dodging automobiles, but. thei-e aro some millionaires' sons that can hardly get a thrill any more unless they happen to bu lucky enough to strlU a good day's hunting, such as running down a baby carriage containing twiiiF. When a fellow gets everything In the world ho usually finds ho hasn't got any thing." "I'll bet there's only one town In tills country that could pull off one of them dinners like Helnze gave." said the House Detective, with a touch of true home pride. "You can also hot there's only one town In the country that would brag about It afterwards." said the Hotel Clerk. SweurlUK Off. Housekocper Magazine. Good Deacon lioM'S had u righteous mind, Religious and austere. Another aue.h you might not find Id many a passing y.-ar. When Nftw Year's came he was put out By a most peculiar plipht: Hfl u-restlml with a horrid doubt. Whlcti would not take to lllg-hr. He'd aworn off everything that man Could think of stopping short. In other years he'd put the bann On things of every sort. But suddenly his face srev brlffht. He laughed a smothered couirh. He saw a path as clear an light He swore off swearing off. England Is to be congratulated: she Is at last receiving a long-postponed and very valuable lesson in practical for estry. The lesson is as costly as it is disagreeable, but If it is well learned It Is cheap at the price. If the people will now believe what every student of forestry knows, that deforestation means something far more serious than the disfigurement of beautiful land scapesthat as a law of nature it is followed by floods and drouth, the money paid out for tuition may yet come back. Otherwise, many other lesjotis will be necessary harder lessons at a higher fee. Let us profit by the lesson; let. us fight for the preservation of our forests. What Is Electricity? Who Knows? THIS Is a favorite query with people who desire to "get a rise" out of a scientific man. And when he fail ; to answer It In the same simple fash I Ion that he might treat the question "What is a biscuit'.'" the questioner j cries out, "Aha! You profess to know j all about electricity; why, you can't I even tell what it is!" I Now. to "tell what a thing is" that Is, to define It Is to state Its relations I with . something more familiar. The ' particular familiar thing that the ques tioner is thinking of In this caso is ordinary matter. Heat has been ex plained to him as a vibration of ma terial particles; light, he has been told, is a wave motion in the ether, and he understands the ether to be a kind of matter, or a substance resembling mat ter In some particulars. It is not to bo denied that no such simple general relationship can bo stated between electricity and matter. Hue this being so, it would bo Just as correct to say that we do not know what matter Is as that we do not know what electricity Is. As a mater of fact, we do not know what mater Is; and the latest plausible theory of It builds it up on an electric basis, so that on this theory the Idea of electri city Is more fundamental than that of matter. Unfortunately our senses have been evolved by contact with matter and are trained to detect only matter: electricity they know only secondar ily, through Its action upon matter the light or heat that It causes matter to give out, the attraction that it causes certain substances to exert, and so on. To the man in the street, therefore, matter la familiar, and electricity is unfamiliar; and he demands a state ment of the latter in terms of the former, illogical though this may be. After the scientist has stated all this the reply comes back: "Yes, I under stand all that, and It is most clear. I am sure; but tell me, then, what Is electricity, anyway?" Another source of confusion to the lay mind Is that scientific men do not always use the word "eleotriclty" to mean the same thing. The engineer often employs it to express tho thing that the theoretical electrician calls "electric energy." To find the energy of electricity, that Is. its ability to do work, the electrician multiplies the quantity of electricity by the potential or tension under which It exists. But to the engineer this pro duct itself measures the thing that he calls "electricity." The work that a pound of water may do by falling a foot is one foot-pound; the water Is the eamo after falling ai before, though its energy Is less. So to the electrician a quantity or eiecin city at 100 volts is precisely the same as at one volt, though the former is able to do a hundred times as much work. , This difference In meaning causes thousands of disputes among students. "Electricity Is a form of energy,' says one, "Just like light or heat." One disputant Is talking about the electri city of the physicist and. the. other about that of tho engineer; h'Jiice. their dispute is merely a matter of definition, though they do not know it. O t