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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1909)
'I '1 i r ' ?wtl 1 i I i - H V .11 ll N" EI.KItKTH WATK1NS. CONGUKSS voting National medals in Bold t,. Orville anil Wilbur Wright "for their ability, courage and suc cess in riaviKatins the air," is a signal Iiunor conferred on but a dozen previous occasions as a reward for meritorious acts of a peaceful nature. Our National medalists belong in the innermost sanctuary of the National teni rle of fame, where they can bo placed only by .Joint resolution of Congress, ap proved by the President. The first of their number was Washington himself, whom the Continental Congress in 1776 voted a gold medal and the Nations thanks for his causing the British evacu ation of Boston. Since then upward of 40 joint resolutions of Congress have con ferred this great honor upon the con spicuous heroes of our various wars 'n??hft0i,eS We alreaJy K"Ow by heart'. .Rut this is now an era of peace, and That Interests us more is to recall the eleeds of civilian glory which Congress old rewardcd with National medals in How l-'ranois W'ou . His. . II1. ,riShts are the first civilians to receive this reward In more thac 20 years Of previous recipients of this category the last -was Joseph Francis, of Boston, inventor of the lifecar. Congress In March 187. passed a Joint ration thanking him for his "life-long services to humanity and to his country." and bv X IpI.? medal to be Presented by the President. Cleveland withheld ils signature from the resolution until too late after adjournment, but In 1888 " w Peed again, and the medal was plnnea upon the Inventor's breast by the president in the east room of the White whV , medal was the Ingest which th mint has ever stamped for any .uttujy larger xnan a but- ter plate-and is said to have cost V Muum.W a exhlbltion the National wIvDCW"S., rHmrkabl6 in many "ke many eniuses. he was kiw?. yUth- en ""'y he ea- ilblted a fancy boat at a fair, and when MeehM.re"1TVeVrora the Massachulet Mechanics' Institute the tlrst prize for MR. DOOLEY QN THE RETURN t Copyright. 1000, by H. II. McClure & Co. """ saia Air. Dooley, vhat's th1 American -Vo,.., w conili comln' to flnnvliflwr' "Have ye been readin what th' naval . experts have to say? ' asked Mr. Hen nesffy. "It isn't that." said Mr. Dooley "Iv coorse, ivrybody knows that th' ships are In tur-rblo condition. Th' ammynl tlon hists won t hist annythlng but th' crew, th' guns are as llble to go off fr m wan end as th' other an' 'tis a well-known fact discovered be a book keeper iv a shoestore who's a naval ex pert whin business is slack an' he has uawthln' important to think about that befure thoy sailed a school iv mackerel was found lirnily Imbedded in th' six-inch armor plate. 'Twas with a sad heart that mo an" me frind, th' naval expert, Keen th' fleet e.oajln' up an' loadin' with vmokcless powdher an' 12-inch shells an" ailiu' away on their errand iv Peace. We cxpli ted to read iv thiin bein' towed into Bonlcs Airs be a lumber hooker or pulled off th' rocks at Houkgong be a Oilneso Junk or slammed against th' coast iv terrible Terry del Fooyga an' th' orttoers an' crows biled in an iron pot be th' simple natives iv that inhospital l.ind. But, Hinnisey, sthrange as it mav seom to thlm that know th' dhreadful facia, nawihin' happened to th" doomed armada, as naval experts calls it amongst ourallwa. on'y rollickln" on th' blue wa thers iv th' Passyfick or shakin' th' light fantastic leg ashore or shootin" holes in t-invas tarsets that had been named in honor iv a friendly nation afther th' tups Iv th' Jap'neso navy. An' here is th' fleet home again an' safe in harbor n tir jolly tars settin' with a lass on their knee an' a glass Iv knock-out dhrops In their hand, telliu' th' story iv th' rroose while havln' their pockets picked. TIs a good thing th' Japs didn't know that anny good baseball pitcher cud put an in-.hoot through th' thickest part Iv th' biggest iv th' boats. That th' ships have eonic home at all is due to tit" pathritism iv th' naval experts who re fused to publish to th' wurruld their se cret knowledse iv th' helpless condition iv our navy an on'y confided it to th' mag azines. "But it wasn't about that I was goln" 1o talk to ye. Hinnlssy. No. sir. It s a far more seeryous matther thin that. Ye know what sherry wine is? Te've heerd iv It annyhow. 'Tis a dhrink that is given to women that don't know anny betther. Mind ye. 1 don't say annything against it. Far be it fr'm me in my business to speak 111 lv anny form. No doubt it has Its qualities, an' if taken be th' tub might have good en'eetx. If th' doctor said to ye: "Ye must lave off dhrink in anny form except perhaps a little sherry vino btfur meals," y wud tell ye'or little boy a fast rowboat. This was back In 1R19. Then the Secretary of the Navy sent him to the Portsmouth Xavy-Yard to build lifeboats for our men-of-war. and he fell to inventing lifetaving apparatus of sur prising design. Some of these are said to have been the world's iron floating vessels. His lifecar was given to the world as far back aa 18.18, and one of these was placed on the Now Jersey coast, near Long Branch, in ,1849. The following- year, when the British immigrant ship Ayre shire. was wrecked off the beach, Fran cis' lifecar was given Its first trial and saved 200 of those on board all save one. who insisted upon rWing outside the car while hie family were inside. The Gov ernment, which 37 years later was to vote the Xation's thanks to the then ob scure inventor, had taken small stock in the "crank Invention" and had allowed Francis to install it only at his own ex pense. Today this same car is on exhi bition in the National Museum as one of the Nation's sacred relics. The first four years that Francis had this and other lifeboats in use they saved 2150 lives. He was 78 years old when the Nation gave him his long-merited reward. Thirty-two years before Napoleon III had presented him with a diamond sudded snuffbox of gold valued at J2S00 and 27 years before the Czar had given him the Knighthood of St. Stanislaus, with a medal and diploma. He had also received medals and awards from various foreign, American and international in stitutes. Melville's Heroism Rewarded.. Two years after this award to Francis, Congress had,' however, voted a gold medal to a national hero -who although not a civilian, had rendered these rewarded services upon a mis sion of peace. This was George Wal lace Melville, who until recently was engineer-in-cbief United States Navy. He was a veteran of the Civil War when he sailed for the polar regions with De Long in the Jeannette in 1879. They had been gone from San Fran cisco two years when their vessel was sunk in the ice. When Melville and De Long succeeded in reaching land with a portion of the crew they were 150 mile3 apart, and De Long and all but two of his men had perished. Mel ville never gave up until he had found BY F. P. DUN-NT. to take th' coal scuttle an' have it filled with sherry at th' Dutchman's on th" corner. But 'tis far fh'm bein an' in vitoratin' booze. Afther th' beautiful ladies iv France have taken off their shoes an' srtockin's an' danced out iv a grape the varyous kinds iv durink that projooc love, pothry, oratory, path ritism. courage, audacity, wife-beating an' all th' other manly vices, somebody takes what's left, sqeezes it in a press, adds three thousand parts iv wather an' some brown sugar an' calls it sherry. It is what Dock O'Leary calls 'alcohol in its least dangerous form. I advise all me patients to take it," says he 'Ye niver read in th' pa-aper about a man inflamed be long potations iv sherry wine shootin' a polisman. It is too bad that our people cannot accustom thimsilves to light wines like th continental nations. 'Give me a thimbleful Iv rye, I have a chill,' says he. That's sherry over there on th' third Shelf to th' rieht If. v,' r started with whin I moved Into this place in tn winter iv- fcrhtn j j I i.,?, , ,now 'wnin' An" 1 exP'ct to keep it tut i rurnish a day's conganial enjve ment to Gavin th' undertaker. Wan day about twinty years ago I thought I had a customer fr it. but before I cud get. th cork out he switched -i"NT !!at I ve told y wht sherry Th,?, J that U' so harmless wW t n? " ?? annybdy anny good, what will ye think whin I tell ve that there are men In our Navy that are ad dicted to th use lv this effyminate per- ;L'retn not on y that- bt It gives thlm th same gloryous effects that are projooced among voters be rale dhrink. T1'? 1 "a" " T't" sorrow, but 'tis so. Jenn I X1 Plcked up a Pa-aper an' read th headlines: 'Cruise nearly ended. Gallant fleet manned be spllndid officers an crews on its way home. Counthry waitin feverishly to honor thim. Captain coort martialed for dhrunkenness." " A-l-.a." says I, 'now I 11 read somethint worth readin' an' I plunged into th' story with th" eagerness that ivery honest man feels at th' prospect iv seein' a hero hauled off his perch. I looked fr a grand story iv dhrink. 'Th' sailora are th" boys to do it up fine." says I. Me idee iv a sailor was a man that cud engulf th' state Iv Kentucky without winkhV an eye, a man that niver ate excipt be tween dhrinks. a man friver arid, a Sahara iv a man that wud on' -r bloom toe constant irrigation. What quantity wud cheer such a man? Or was there in far-off Africa some suttle native ben in that wud make our own Caucasian uds seem thin indeed. "Well, there was th' story all spread befure th' const and reader in th" most kindly fashion. Th' captain was a good an hon'rable man. His crew liked him. lie C&ilfXl Vllm Chin 11 IT. . bs nis fellow officers. He wore bis GtSVILLE AND WILBUR WRIGHT TH LATEST winners.;. OF NATIONAL HONORS AT THD-, RAMDS OF COMGK&SS - te the bodies of De Long and his com panions, four months later, returning them to the United States, where they were buried with honors in 1884. When Congress voted him his gold medal for this great exnibition of bravery it also advanced him 15 numbers. Saved-a Hundred laves. The next civilian, before Francis to receive such an honor was John Horn Jr.. of Detroit, whom in 1874 Congress voted a gold medal in recognition "of his heroic and humane exploits in rescuing men. women and children i"11 drowning in the Detroit River." This man had saved more than 100 peo ple at odd times and often had had to pay for his heroism by remaining bed fast for weeks following exposure to the water filled with ice. During the great conflagration of the Detroit rail road depot in 1866 he rescued nine per sons, one after the other, continuing to swim until he collapsed from exhaus tion. At another time after a long struggle in the ice to save a woman he had been carried home by four men who had to work over him four hours to restore his blood to circulation. The safcie day that this medal was awarded to Horn Congress voted its first gener al appropriation for life-saving medals which have since been awarded by the executive without the need of specific Congressional action. The vear previ ously Congress had voted special med als to Captain Jared S. Crandall, lighthouse-keeper of Westerly, R. I., and his volunteer crew of nine men who pushed out a couple of small boats and saved 32 persons from the wreck of the steamer Metis, in Long Island Sound August 31, 1S72. The Man AVbo Saved Seward. A gold medal and 500 was voted in OF THE FLEET unyform with honor an' pride. All this made n 3 downfall th' betther readin' Th cajrtain wint ashore to a dinner give he th ripnsintative iv America's mighty JmZ, c Tanslers' ur "rave consul Abijah Gummers, an' th' watchful eye lv alm,rV ,STn that our her as far too cheerful fr such a company. He showed all th' signs iv exhilaration- his eyes were sleepy, his gait onsteady an' his face wore a pleasing expression iv onreasoning anger mingled with despair. An what d ye think brought him to this tw lajerS ,v th' hl"ia ammonya th? Th ? slhronS men weep. . None iv th valiant nitro-glycerine that ye an' L Hinnessy, use to drive dull care awav with. No, sir. Th' captain confissed it all. Befure lavin" th' ship he had taken w1 gl3SS lT Sherry Wine! No wondher he was coort martlalled fr con duct onbecomin' to an officer an' a gin tleman. B "Sure, I think in thim days an" that kind iv flghtin' a man had to be craw or in dhrink to go on at all. It was olOSt,WUrrUk' a kind lv roueh an- tumble on th- sea. If Hogan's frind, Nelson wasn't dhrunk he was crazy. Why in wan battle. Hlnnlwy. th' admiral that was Ins boss flags him not to fire. Nelson had on'y wan eye, th' other glim havin' been knocked out in a row. an' he put his spy glass to th' extinct lamp an' lllhV ,What ta,k 13 tnis ye have about signals. I don't see none. Go on an fire,' says he. He looked on th' fK.anr.' r th' '"c11 or th' Eyetallans or 1. Dane8vr annybody he was sint to hgnt, as his personal inimies, just th' same as wan iv me longshoreman custo mers does a frind that gets into an argy ment with him about pollyticks. ln" there was that fellow John Paul Jones. Did ye iver hear about him? WTell sir he was in a flght with an Englishman an1 his own boat was sinkin'. "Boys." says he. It wud be onsafe to stay here anny longer an" be drownded," savs he. 'But where .will we go? Ah. an idee sthrikes me. W e 11 step aboord th' inimy's boat ' f-y?k . .An', they done 50 w'lth soords in their teeth au' their pig-tails flyin' in th air. 'D'ye ralire that this is my boat?" says th" English captain. 'Where else wud ye have us go afther th' batin" ye give us?" says John Paul Jones, tappin' him abaft th' ear with a belayln' pin. An to make th' ship more homelike, he histed th American flag an' sailed to STJ0 tal1 over with Binjamin Franklin, an' he lived in Paris fr a good mannjr years an' was a great man with vJ 1 "lv in th" Rooshyan navy an' was threated badly be his grate ful counthry an' died an' was buried no wan knew where onti! th- American Ambassadure discovered his remains which manny people don't think was him at ail but a Frineh corpse, an' brought it back to America to be buried again. An' If - ? .'f If i ;-TV"i , S - J ill V WV 5 1S71 to Geoigo F. llobiuson, the man who so heroically saved the 'life of Secretary Seward from the assassin Payne. Robinson, then 33 years old, had fought in the war with a Maine regiment until severely wounded, in the leg by canister shot at Bermuda Hun dred. After having lain in the hospital nearly a year, and -before his wound had entirely healed, he was detailed from the hospital to act as sick nurse to Secretary Seward, who was then confined to his bed with a broken arm and jaw. caused by his having been thrown from his carriage. At 10 o'clock on the night of Lincoln's assassination and while he was at the bedside of Mr. Seward. Robinson was startled by a disturbance in the hall outside the sickroom. lte opened it and on the threshold found an athletic man brandishing in one hand a pistol and in the other a bowie knife. Catching the gleam from the knife now. aimed at his own throat, Robinson struck at the assassin and warded off the weapon, although receiving a blow on the head which knocked him to the floor. The assassin then rushed to Se ward's, bed and striking with the knife at the Secretary's throat already had gashed one cheek to the bone when Rob inson, unarmed and despite his wound and long suffering, seized Payne just as the knife was about to bury itself in Jlr. Seward's throat. He dragged Payne oft the bed, but while doing so received two stab wounds In his own back, from which he afterward became partially paralyzed. He. however, held onto Payne and saved Seward's life. Then, disregarding the blood which was filling his shoes, he kept his finger pressed upon the severed artery of the unconscious Secretary of State until the arrival of the Surgeon-General. Then, having saved Seward's life, he was himself carried oft to the hospital, where his own wounds nearly proved fatal. The House report recommending the joint resolution for his medal praised Robinson for displaying "a bravery never surpassed in the annals of any country." Following his recovery he was given ' a clerkship, first in the Treasury, and afterward In the Quartermaster-General's oflice. Two distinguished civilians were voted medals in gold and the thanks of Con gress in 1867. These were Cvrus W. Field and George Peabody. Field was thus honored "for his foresight, courage and determination in establishing tele graphic communication by means of the Atlantic cable, traversing midocean and connecting the Old World with the New." The award to Peabody was made "for his great and peculiar beneficence in giv- " oiuii oi money, amounting to a lot iv diffrence it makes to John Paul wuires. "Yes, sir, thim were th' days an' thim were th' boys. It's a diffrent matther now whin th' battles cr th' bluffs iv th' wurruld are bein' fought out between navies that look like collections iv cook stoves. There can't be anny rale feelin' about it. Ye can't get mad about an inimy that ye can't see excipt through a pow'rful tillscope. There's no such thing as a broadside or grappling with th' Inimy or sthreamin over th' side with a cutlass in ye'er mouth an' a pistol in ye'er hand. Th' captain, who's a, mim ber iv th' Young Men's Christyan Timp' rance Union whin he's ashore takes a peek through his glass an' figures out that th' inimy is about six miles away. He whistles down a chute to a lift'nant in a steel safe to begin flrin'. Lie lift'nant says to th' cap'n iv th' gun crew: 'What is th' thrajeetory?' 'Two be four, pro fissor," says th' mariner. 'Th' cosine iv eight plus th' cubic root iv th' ballistic power minus atmospheric resistance eight times six is forty-eight, all right. If ye firs four miles ahead lv where ye nachrally think th" inimy is an" a mile an' a half above him ye may an" thin again ye may not, him him," says th' liftnant. And th' chances are he won't know whether he's landed a punch or not till he gets home an' reads th' pa aper. War is more iv a tusiness thin It used to be. Wanst it was pothry; now its mathymatics. Th" most important men in a modhren army are a corn doc tor an' a vehtrinary surgeon. Th' gin'ral niver looks to see whether a sojer has a fearless eye but is mighty particular to find out whether he has good feet. An' ye d as soon thrust an expert accountant who dhrank as- a naval officer. Maybe tis a good thing, Hinnissy. Th' less war Is like a picnic iv th' Longshoreman's Lmon th less wars there'll be. I wnd den t mind goin' to war with John Paul ?3n.vS: 1'7e ften SF n msilf sthripped tir th waist an' in me bare feet, with a cutlass firmly grasped in me jaws an' a couple iv pistols in me hands, hoppin' over th' side iv a British man iv war chasin" some Sassinach up a mast an1 havin John Paul Jones say to me: "Me brave fellow, a glass iv grog with ye.' But I can t pitcher mesilf enjyln' shoot in a gun at an inimy I can t see undher a commander who figures out his ordhers with a lead pencil an' a piece iv paper out iv a thrigamomethry an' whin th' battle is over givin' me a bottle iv Ivoomyss to cllibrate th' victhry with " "D ye think th' cruise iv th' fleet was a good thing fr th" peace !v th' wur ruld? asked Mr. Hennessy. ,30" Sva.id Mj- E,ooley. "but it was a good thing fr th' politeness iv th' wurruld. Didn't ye iver notice how respictful ivrybody Is to ivrybody else n a town where ivry man carries a gun . (Copyright, 1909. by H. H. McClure & Co.) A combined Danish and French aelentifli eipedmoa will visit the Uanish We"t Indies in an endeavor rto H.i.rain. . th vlxyT l,y l'l"ol-utkinK Insect la 1 2.000.000. for the promotion Of education in the more destitute of the Southern and Southwestern states." Peabody. born in l9o. was the Carnegie of his time. He began clerking in a store in Danvers, Mass when only 11 and grew to build up the largest dry goods business of his generation. Although settling in London as a broker In 1S37, he from there sent money to found the Peabody institutes and museums scattered over this country. The large donation for the promotion of education in the South was increased in 1869 to J3.600.000. He spent millions on Phlanthropies here and contributed $2,o00000 for the building of model lodg JoS buses for the. poor of London. In 1867 Queen Victoria offered to make him a peer,, but he declined. But she pre sented him with a portrait of herself, winch now hangs in the institute at Pea body, Mess. He died a bachelor in 1809 and was the first private citizen of a foreign country to be honored by burial In Westminster Abbey, but to carry out his wishes his relatives had his remains removsd to Massachusetts, to lie beside those of his mother. The Monarch, the first frigate of the British navy, carried his body across the Atlantic, where It was received by an American squadron commanded by Farragut. Gladstone's tribute to. him was that he taught the world how a man might be the master of his fortune and not Its slave: Three civilians who received the award immediately prior to these were Ship Captains Creighton, Low and Stauffer of the merchant vessels Three Bells, Kilby and Antarctic, voted "valu able gold medals" as a reward for "gal lant conduct" in rescuing about 500 Americans from the wreck of the steamship San Francisco. In 1853. This ship, carrying the Third Artillery, had set out from Fort Wood. N. Y., for California, and had not gone far when w iccneu on tnnstmas eve by a heavy k W Z WHY NOT CREATE DISTRICT NORMAL SCHOOLS If Power of Taxation Were Conferred, Oregon Could Be Well Provided With Xormals. BY W. C. EDWARDS. AVING been a careful observer of our school system and its workings, of our normal schools and their troubles. I desire to offer a few remarks from the standpoint of the rural portion of the state, as I see it. The two features that enter into our public schools, essential to their sta bility and success, are territorial bound aries and the taxing power. Without well defined boundaries conflicting interests would produce and maintain perpetual controversy that would destroy progress. Without the taxing power there would be no assured permanency of support, which would be a constant source of struggle that would be fatal. To illustrate, in Coos County we have the twin cities of Marshfleld. and North Bend, situated about three miles apart. Within a year each of these towns, being a district or unit of our school system, has erected a .school building that is a credit to it, costing from J40.000 to J50.000. This has been accomplished without con flict or tfcuble between them, being com plete units within themselves. Each took stock of its resources and requirements and proceeded to supply itself according ly. This having been done each district will maintain just such a school as it feels willing and able to pay for. Neither of these schools has been a dis turbing element or corrupting influence at the Legislature this Winter. Why not? Simply because they are each com plete units within themselves and are working under general laws. This plan holds good throughout the grammar and high, schools of the state. Without ter ritorial boundary and local taxing power it would be impossible to carry this work forward, and since the teacher is just as much a part of our schools as are the pupils and the schoolhouse, so are our normal schools as much a part of our public school system as are the grammar and high schools. The only way that we shall be able to supply ourselves with good teachers and keep the normal schools away from the Legislature and out of politics, and poli tics out of the schools, is to apply the same principles that have kept our grammar and high schools from these corrupt and corrupting influences, that is: district the state and confer on each district, boundaries and local taxing power. The Senate plan this winter has been to establish and maintain one large cen tral school, at or near Portland, in order that we may have a high standard of I.- 'iiv? .-. .;i- sea, which swept overboard four offi cers and 120 men. She then sprang a leak and was disembarking the re mainder of her passengers when over taken by a gale in which the plucky sea captains named came to her rescue. Besides their goid medals, these skip pers were also voted 7500. while each mate was given $500 and each man and boy aboard $100. These awards were not made until the sixties. Commodore Vanderbilt's Generosity. Commodore Vanderbilt received the thanks of Congress and a gold National medal in 1862 for presenting his steam ship VanderblU to the Government. He had just built his handsome steam ship of 5000 tons to. as he said, demon strates 'that individual enterprise could without the aid of Government encour agement place upon the ocean steam ships equal, at least in magnitude power and speed, to any which had been constructed under Government patronage and protection in any part of the world." He spent about J 1,000, 000 on her, and she broke the trans atlantic record. . In March, 1862, Commodore "Vander bilt received a letter from Stanton asking him if he would undertake to prevent the Confederate steamer Merri mac from escaping out of Norfolk har bor. The . commodore answered by telegram that he would come to Wash ington next day, and arriving here, he had his first meeting with Stanton, who took him over to the White Honse to see Lincoln. He offered Lincoln the Vanderbilt, which, he said, if prop erly manned, would either keep the Merrimac bottled up in Hampton Roads or sink her, if she ventured out. Lin coln asked the commodore to name the sum for which he would undertake the service. "Nothing will induce me, sir, to be come a speculator upon the necessities of my country," said the commodore. "I make a gift of her to the Government for the services proposed." And the ship was off Fortress Monroe, on time, in three or four days. 'TUsked Yellow Fever. For risking his life to attend yellow fever patients on our man-of-war Sus quehanna, Dr. Frederick Henry Rose, of the British navy, was voted a gold medal and the thanks or CnnT-nc ; .. io;d i April of that year the fever had broken efficiency. Let us . look at this proposi tion calmly for a little while. We have in the Willamette Valley about all of the institutions of learning above the ordi nary high school that are in the state; two or three universities and some half dozen colleges, besides most of the bet ter city schools, yet with all these ad vantages probably one-half of all the schools in the part of Oregon bounded on the north by the Columbia River, on the east by the Cascades, on the south by the Calapooia Range and on the west by the Pacific Ocean, are being taught by teachers from the grammar and high schools, without special training for their work. As for the other six-sevenths of the state, perhaps 75 per cent of the teachers have no special training except that acquired by experimenting and very many of them are very young and only from grammar schools. We need from 600 to 800 new teachers in Oregon yearly. How can we give any considerable portion of this number the advantages of actual teaching work under proper critic teachers, at one school? They should have charge of a room full of real live children for one-half day at a time, not less than two or three days out of each week for at least six months of the last year of their course. Few young men and women from the rural parts of Oregon would complete their course at such a school and of those that did, not 10 per cejit would return to us and teach our county schools. This would compel the brightest and best of our young people to o away rrom home to get any good schooling and would tend to take them permanently away from the country. If we are to Improve the educational conditions in the rural parts of the state we must bring centers of education and culture just as close to them as possible. If we are to have normal schools, why not allow three or four counties in the interior of the state to form a district, tax themselves and build a school as would meet their wants and such as they are able and willing to support. For ex ample, the people of Drain long years since saw the necessity for such a school and built one, but not having the tax ing power, could not take care of it. so they asked the state for help, and have had about J5000 a year for support, and a perpetual row ever since. If they were allowed a district of say Curry, Coos, Douglas and Lane counties, a territory larger than any one of ten of our states containing 50,000 population and having a' property valuation of $60,000,000, a tax of one-tenth of one mill would furnish them $6000 a year. Suppose the school was lo cated at Drain, the center of the district. Drairf has JSOOO a year of local funds, a good building and a good school for train ing department. This, with the perma nency they would have behind them out on tlio Susquehanna." while site lay at Jamaica, and Dr. Rose, at great per sonal risk, not only volunteered his serv ices on board while she was there, but sailed in her to New York, devoting him self to the care of the sick en route Six other foreigners were voted medals in 1847 for "so gallantly and at imminent peril of their lives" rescuing the officers and crew of tho United Stales brig Som ers In the harbor of Vera Cruz. These were the commanders of three ISnglish, two French and one Spanish vessel, which went to the Somers' assistance af ter her capsize, and who both., clothed and entertained her officers and crew after thus saving their lives. Kane, the Arctic Kxplorcr. -- The year previously gold medals were voted also to Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the Arctic explorer, and his brother officers, as a testimonial for their bravery during ttie Lady Franklin relief expedition for the rescue of Sir John Franklin. Dr. Kane, a surgeon in our Navy, had barely escaped with his life from a crater in the Philippines, had practiced medicine in China, had had a thrilling encounter with Bedouin robbers in Egypt, had visited the King of Dahomey and had been in the Arctic regions with the Grinnell ex pedition, all prior to this final triumph. He sailed in search of Franklin in 1853. enlisted Eskimo recruits, made a "far thest north" record, discovered Humboldt glacier, and, after being deserted by a part of his company and having to aban don his ship, moved his boats and sick 60 miles over the ice and managed to reach Cape York after a thrilling expe rience of two years. He and his men were received with great enthusiasm on their return, and besides being voted a special Arctic medal by Congress, were given the Queen's medal by the British government. Each of these national .medals has been designed especially for the honored re cipient and they have been works of art in themselves. Thev . hnvp v. n Lstamped from any die already on hand l ni v rciiresentea a nigli degree of the sculptor's art. The joint resolution just passed instructs the Sec retary of War to have the Wright brothers' gold medals adorned "with suitable emblems, devices and inscrip tions." Washington, March 15. would make it a much better school than it has ever been. B! suPpo"s6 they taxed themselves two tenths of a mill, which would jive Sl'ono a year, which, added to the local fund ? ?rodu7f an aggregate resource of 17.000 annually. . . This would be sufficient to employ- a splendid faculty and should turn olt 10 or 50 trained teachers each year. If the fchoelWfhe Renerally applied with such ,1 the output of each would lanrelv remain within its own district and grad ually supply the demand. '- ' Are they needed? There- are in these MOUrofCwH,tiKSvabOUt 700 teachers, about 000 of which have no special training. Do these counties need such a school? If the state could only see its : way to 1 scTT to build and maintain such a school In order to meet the local de mands they would have no business at tb Legislature, ' nothing to trade and nothing to trade for, and. would it burdensome locally? Let us see "It S v?Sthe taxpayer 20 cents on every $1000 valuation, on. $10,000 the sum of $2 f yPar". 0311 a man worth $10,000 afford to pay $2 a year for the purpose of having much better schools? ! And what is applicable to these four counties is equally applicable and neces sary to six-sevenths of this state. And to the advocates of one large school let me say, make one district out of all that part or the Willamette Vallev north of Lane County and at a two-tenths of one mill tax you would have about 173.- J? Z.Car for maintenance of a normal. Adopt some such plan throughout the state and the normal question will be forever settled in Oregon. Drain. Or.. March 10.. - :. February. Baltimore Sun. Mmd the warm furs of her, wound and wound, ' - . The snowy-white wisp of hr. over th ground; . TrippinB ana whirling, with frost on bt head And cheeks like the cherries of faraaise rea-' Eyes like the starlight but jcive . '' The year s at the turn and the day' growBI long! Whoo! how she shivers; at night on the hill She sits by the rivers at morn they are tu;; Far fly the echoes, the skaters are out With ripple of laughter and ringing of rtiout Dread not her rigor tar down !n her evoi " skies' dream ot an APrll of opal'tn Whirring and swirring, with feet like a feather. She dances the' daae of the sipping weather: Fury of Winter time, shudder of gloom -But under her dancing the dream of th bloom, . And there m the valleys like violets they swing. " Those feet of her juani at the gates of th Spring
