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About Lincoln County leader. (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987 | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1900)
wind ALWAYS BLOWS TERRIBLE AND UNCANNY CAVITY ON A TEXAS RANCH. There the Wind Sucks and Whirls with Fatal Insistence In All Kinds of Weather Cattle, Horses and Trees Engulfed in the Mysterious Hole. In the Peach Creek neighborhood Is n place know 11 as the Hole In the O round, which is the only place lu Texas, as far as known, where the "wind blows up and down, a regular jrale. The hole Is on the cattle ranch belonging to Claus Baunigartner, and close to the creek between high, wood ed bluffs. Teach creek Is really a bayou, Its waters level with the sea and running only during freshets caused by excessive rains. High south or north winds are the only ones to ruffle Its usually placid surface. But It does not matter how placid the waters of Peach creek may be, how straight and unbending the trees on the bluffs may stand or how lazily the clouds drift through the air, there Is always a gale at the Hole in the Orouud. It blows and roars and whis tles and shrieks as only a raging hurri cane can do In its mad career. The bole is a costly affair to the man who owns It. The low ground on which it is situated is the only place where his cattle can get water at the creek. It would be all right If a fence could le Urn in iaineu minimi (he hole, but tiiat cannot be done. Every time the wind veers to the east everything above ground between the bluffs Is sucked into it, snapping the stoutest fence posts like pipe stems, and snatching coils of barbed wire as if they were llimsy gossamers. At such times liorses. cattle and sheep that happen to be on the flat are doomed. Strong liorses, caught in the eddy of the mys terious wind, are as helpless as flies In a gale. They plunge and leap and struggle for a minute, then they are pressed down, whirled around a few times and go down never to be seen again The hole itself Is about 300 feet across the top, with slanting sides. No one liiis ever dared to go close enough to be (4ible to look down into It and see what ,'the bottom Is like. The sounds of the wind vary from a hoarse roar to a keen whistling noise. The prevailing winds, except an east wind, do not seem to affect it in any way, for in calm and storm, rain and shlue, night and day, winter and summer, It puffs and sucks and whirls and eddies to suit itself. Twice In the memory of man Peach creek has overflowed its banks high enough to run into the hole. The last time was during the general overflow last summer. The water then rose to depth of four feet on the flat where the hole Is situated. For a minute or so the water would pour down with a gurgling noise, then the earth around seemed to hump itself for a moment and the next there would be an explo sive sound, when It would come up again In a solid column 100 feet high. When this column broke the waves rushed against the adjacent bluffs and were whipped into foam. This was re peated every minute or two until the water In the creek went back again within its banks. After the water had receded and the hole had resumed its usual labor of sucking and putting wind once more, the ground around -was literally coveted with the bones of dead animals ori ivhlch it had gorged itself for many years before. St. Louis iilobe-Denioerat. FAITHFUL SHEEP. HERDING DOGS Instances of Their Wonderful Intelli gence Are Numerous. "The most celebrated breed of shep lierd dogs ever known In the West," jjaid Jud Bristol, the old-time sheepman of Fort Collins, Col., "were those bred from a pair of New Zealand dogs brought to Colorado in 1875. I had several of their pups on my ranges and could fill a volume with Instances of their rare intelligence and faithfulness. "I remember cne pup In particu ar. He was only six months old when he was sent out one day to work on the jange. At night, when the herd was brought up to the corrals, we saw at once that a part of the herd was miss ing. There were 1,000 head lu the bunch when they weut out lu the morning, but. when we put them through the chute we found that 200 were missing. The pup was also miss ing. Well, all bauds turned out for the search. We hunted all that night and all of the next day and did not find the lost sheep until along toward night. But they were all herded In a little lraw, about five miles from home, and there was the faithful dog standing guard. The wolves were very plentiful in those days and the dog had actually bidden the sheep from the animals, In the draw. The poor fellow was nearly famished, as he had been for thirty-six liours without food or water. From that day he became a hero, but was so badly affected by hunger, exposure and thirst subsequent overfeeding and pet ting that he died not long afterward. "This same pup's mother was an especially fine animal. One night the herder brought in his flocks and hur ried to his cabin to cook himself Borne cupper, for he was more thou usually hungry. But be missed the dog, which 1 usually followed him to the cabin of! an evening to have her supper. The herder thought it rather strange, but mnde no search for the dog that u!g!it. But next morning he found the gate open and the faithful dog standing guard over the flocks. This herder, in his haste the night before, had forgot ten to close the gate, and the dog, more faithful than her master, had remained at her post all night, though suffering from hunger and thirst. "On another occasion this same dog was left to watch a flock of sheep near the herder's cabin while the herder got his supper. After he had eaten his supper he went out to where the sheep were and told the dog to put the sheep in the corral. This she refused to do, and, although she had had no supper, she started off over the prairie as fast as she could go. The herder put tho sheep in the corral and went to bed. About midnight he was awakened by the barking of a dog down by the cor rals. He got up, dressed himself, and found the dog with a band of about fifty sheep, which had strayed off dur ing the previous day without the herd er's knowledge, but the poor dog knew It, and also knew that they ought to be corraled, and she did it." Denver Post STATUE OF KRUGER. One that Has Been Designed for Church Square in Pretoria. A correspondent recently returned from South Africa furnishes the Lon don Momisg Leader with this print cf the photograph hitherto unpublished of the projected Kruger statue, famous for two reasons: first because the art- THE KRL'OER STATUE. 1st is daring enough to perpetuate the tall hat; and second, because the top of the hat Is hollow, and "is to be kept filled with water, so that little birds may have drink." This is the thought ful Idea of Mrs. Kruger. Work on the statue, by the way, is just now sus pended. The Man Who Works. "The man that is so far advanced that he likes the work he Is doing," said Mr. Stoggleton, "has reason to feel hopeful of himself. I suppose that the very great majority of us go through the work we have In hand the easiest way we can and get through It, skipping the hard places when possi ble, and thinking we'll be glad when it's finished; but the next Job will be Just the same; there will be Just about so many hard places In It, and then we'll be wishing Just the same that we could get through that Job. "The fact appears to be that we are always trying to shirk the present Job. We mean well, in a feeble sort of way, and the next thing we tackle we are going to do right up to the handle; but when we strike that, when that be comes the present work, don't we try to shirk that, too? We do, Indeed. And that's what we do all through life; dally putting off our best endeavors till to-morrow. Kind of a miserable thing to do. Isn't It? "But occasionally you. meet a man who puts In his best licks every day, and rejoices In the labor; he doesn't care a continental what the next day Is going to bring to him, he can handle it whatever It Is; just now he's en gaged with to-day's labor; and he does that up thoroughly and completely and searches out the last nook and cranny; he Isn't trying to see what he can pass by, but what he can root out; and he goes home satisfied with his work, and he's the one man in a thousand that leads all the rest and his pay corre sponds with his labors." New York Sun. The Oldest Church. The oldest building In the world that has been, uninterruptedly used for church purposes Is St. Martin's Cathe dral, at Canterbury, England. The building was originally erected for a church, and has been regularly used as a place for religious gatherings for more than 1,500 years. If It weren't for the fool a wise man would never know how dangerous It Is to blow Into an empty gun. MONTH OF CENTUARY. PROPOSED TO INTRODUCE IT IN THE YEAR. Indiana Editor's Idea to Have a Year of Thirteen Months, All of Which Will Be of Kqual Length-Advan-taues Claimed for the Plan. At the Paris Exposition an attempt will be made to have the entire world adopt the new calendar of thirteen months devised and copyrighted by C. II. Buudy, editor of the Marlon (lud.) Morning News. It Is to be urged be fore the commission already appolut ed to consider this ingenious new sys tem, that It is the only uniformly prac tical method of measuring the flight of the years. No calendar in present use ,is satisfactory. The one used by Rus sia Is twelve days out That In use 'In China was four days wrong, but l.as Just been corrected by an Imperial edict Our own is forced to drop a Jeap year In 1900 to be with the sun. !Mr. Buudy's solution of the vexed problem is the introduction of a new month, which begins the year and is called Ceutuary, In commemoration .of Its adoption between two centuries. The name is urged as being particu larly well chosen lu that It Is not local to America, but would be acceptable rto every country. ;. Every month will then have Just 'twenty-eight days. Every month and every year will begin upon Monday, iwhich will also become the first day of every week, Sunday being the last. Every month will consist of Just four iweeks, thereby simplifying commercial transactions, and it will no longer be Inecessary to hunt up dusty calendars jpr almanacs to find upon what day of tthe week a certain date fell In previ ous years. Every day of the month will fall upon the same day of the week, year lu and year out. Holidays, too, will always fall upon 'the same days of the week. The plan only provides for 304 days, leaving approximately one and one fourth days over on each year. As soon as enough of this time has accumu lated to form several days an addition al week will De added to the month of Centuary, making that year longer by seven days without, disturbing the fix ity of birthdays and holidays, which even under the present system are by no means 3054 days apart, although we have come to regard them so. There Is some question as to whether the new month should come at the first or the last of the year. Mr. Bundy favors placing It at the first of the year, in order not to disturb Christmas, the people's favorite holiday. Should the new month be placed at the first of the year some radical chauges lu holidays will be made. Our present New Year's Day would disappear. Washington's birthday would fall on the 25th of January, "un less," as the author suggests, "respect should be paid to his memory on the new Feb. 22 the seventy-eighth day of the year Jnstead of the fifty-third, as at present." There being no month with thirty days, Decoration Day would disappear. It Is suggested that it be set for May 28. The Fourth of July would become June 17, If It con tinued to remain ns now the one hun dred and eighty-fifth day of the year. Thanksgiving Day would fall on tlx last Thursday In November, as at pr is ent and Christmas on the last Thurs day In December. These changes are not deemed ob jectionable once the "shock" Is over come, and It Is pointed out that their recurrence is already, under the pres ent system, advanced one day each year. The Inventor of the proposed new calendar Is confident that It will be adopted. It Is claimed Commissioner Teck, the American Representative to the Paris Exposition, has promised his support when the commission meets. Mr. Bundy says the plan Is growing rapidly In favor as It Is becoming known and understood, and he has re ceived many letters from prominent people approving the proposed change. Cincinnati Inquirer. HOW COLOR AFFECTS INDUSTRY One Reason Why American Machinery Is Not More Popular. A gentleman who has traveled much and has a very large Interest In Amer ican export trade said, In conversation the other day, that the principal draw back to a wider extension of American commerce In certain parts of the world Is that manufacturers In the United States do not sufficiently study the wants, the customs and the tastes of their prospective customers. "For ex ample," he said, "a certain American firm sent some electrical goods, which were decorated In green, to Jnpau. They did not sell any. No Japanese would bring such things Into his house; It would mean an Invitation to the evil deities. Green Is an evil color In Japan. What a Japanese wants Is red things. Upon this simple matter of color rested the failure of that mnuufactuier to succeed in export trade. A German employer of labor said; "I like American machines so far as their performance of their work Is concerned, but they demoralize my men. They J. ( come here In sober colors of paint and with no bright parts. The men who tend the machines do not have any brass to keep clean or any surfaces to rub and they get lazy. The German workman needs to be kept busy with things of this sort." Here, now, are some practical In stances of what the American manu facturer must learn before he can at tain the widest success iu the new field of foreign trade. Do not send to Germany catalogues lu the Eugllsh language or to Japan things decorated lu green, or to the Isthmus of Panama anything with blue spots on it It looks as If we need in this country a com mercial kindergarten In which such In formation ns the above may be taught to those of a curious and Inquiring mind for their everlasting benefit and profit Ice will reach a lower temperature than 32 degrees If the temperature of the air is less than that. It will take practically the temperature of the at mosphere. Liquid hydrogen Is transparent and the lightest as well as the coldest liquid known, a cork siuking in it like lend. A whitish substance seen at the bottom of tho vessel on Prof. Dower's Sr?t ex hibition was really solid air or air lee. The multiplication of new compounds In organic chemistry is something ap palling. In 1883 the total number of carbon compounds recorded was 10,000, but a newly revised list by Dr. M. M. RIchter enumerates not less than 07,000, and the end seems yet far off! A Canadian engineer has Invented a foghorn iu which the noise Is produced by half a dozen clappers striking a gong and actuated by electro-magnets. A dynamo, supplied with power by a naphtha engine, furnishes the current About 1500 strokes per second fall upon the gong, thus producing a practically continuous sound, and this Is magnified and governed In direction by a mega phone. A small model of the horn Is said to have made Itself audible at a distance of two miles. Recent investigation of the old prob lem of the diffusion of tin over eastern Europe and Asia Minor In prehistoric times, leads to the conclusion that about a thousand years before Christ the tin of the British Isles was carried overland to the Aegean Sea. The In vention of the anchor led about 2.700 years ago to the opening of a marine route between England and the eastern end of the Mediterranean, and then the Phrygians controlled the tin trade with their ships. The short summer nights of North Britain were among the won ders that Greeks talked of In the days of Homer.. According to the recent studies of Signor De Sanctlc, of Turin, children begin to dream before their fourth year, but are unable to recall dreams before the age of 4 or 5. This age, he con cludes, Is that at which a child first be comes distinctly conscious of self. Aged people dream less frequently and less vividly than the young. Women's dreams are more frequent, more vivid and better remembered than those of men. Criminals and delinquents dream much less frequently and much less vividly than other people. Two-thirds of the most depraved criminals exam ined, by Signor De Sanctis were never conscious of dreaming. This Is ascribed to lack of mental activity. Studies of the planet Jupiter during the opposition of 1801) have afforded some new figures concerning Its rate, or rather rates, of rotation. These fig ures do not affect the round numbers In which the equatorial velocity of Ju piter's rotation Is usually stated, viz., about 28,000 miles per houh. But they furnish additional proof that the mo tions visible on the great planet's sur face are not uniform from year to year. Since the spring of 1807 the equatorial region appears to have experienced an acceleration of velocity. Relatively to the surface some 30 degrees north or south, Jupiter's equator rushes ahead with hurricane speed, befween 200 and 300 miles an hour lu Itself a sufficient Indication that what telescopes show of Jupiter Is not a solid crust but layers and masses of restless vapors. Women in Rrnzil and Japan. The legislative bodies of Brazil and Japan present a rather striking con trast In their policies toward the move ment for the freedom of women. The senate of Brazil has under considera tion a bill to authorize women to prac tlce the learned professions, and the Japanese parliament has just passed a new press law which prohibits women from becoming publishers or editors on the ground that "the discharge of such work by females Is neither be coming nor desirable." Mormon Marriages In Mexico. The laws of Mexico provide that a Mormou who wishes to take a second wife must present a certificate signed by his first helpmeet to the effect that she Is willing; and he must also have the express consent of the second wife and her parents. A woman play lug a clurlouet should be very funny. - ELEVATORS IN THE CAPITOL. Persons to Whom Is Due the Credit of Their Introduction. "I came here," said the veteran ex member of Congress, "when elevators were unknown. Not long afterward they made their appearance In several of the large cities. They were consid ered an expensive luxury, and nobody dreamed of placing them in the eap itol. Singular as It may seem, the first man to propose and advocate their In troduction was a member from Texas. He was the heaviest man lu the House, and represented the Sau Antonio dis trict. His name was Gustave Seklel ger, and he was born in Germany. At the time of his Introduction of'a reso lution providing for au elevator In the south wing Watchdog Ilolmau was chairman of the committee ou appro priations. He fought the resolution, tooth and nail, on the score of economy, lie regarded it as the acme of extrava gance. Schlelger, however, was per sistent, lie fought Holman to a stand still, and was finally beaten by the strategy so characteristic of the Hoo sler statesman. Even the city mem bers voted against the resolution. The big German,' however, had attracted tie atteutiou of the whole country. This pleased his constituents, and he was re-elected. He came back to the Forty-fifth Congress and continued the agitation for au elevator. He died near the close of the third session, much re gretted. "Iu the Forty-sixth Congress Robert Klotz of Mauch Chunk, a Pennsylvania Dutchman, championed Schlelger's hobby. He was so persistent lu advo cating it that one of his colleagues said to him one day: 'You want to be hoist ed to your seat, do you? Well, the peo ple will hoist you next fall. You will get all the hoisting you want then. The prediction failed. Mr. Klotz was returned to Congress, after he had suc ceeded In securing an appropriation for au elevator. It was made lu the Forty sixth Congress in the sundry civil bill. Ilolmau was no longer chairman of the committee on appropriations. His suc cessor was the Hon. John De Witt Clin ton Atkins of Tennessee. The fact re mains, however, that the Introduction of the elevators In the capltol was due. to the efforts of two statesmen of Ger man extraction." Washington corn spoudent Philadelphia Record. TRIAL BY FARCE In Dreyfus Case Found a Purallcl In "Alice in Wonderland." There Is a delicious bit of court non sense lu "Alice In Wouderland" that bears a striking similarity to the seri ous but almost as peculiar trial of Dreyfus. A recent writer luis made the clever parallel: "There's more evidence to come yet please your majesty," said the White Rabbit, Jumping up in a great hurry. "This paper has Just been picked up." "What Is It?" said the Queen. "I haven't opened It yet," said the White Rabbit, "but It seems to be a letter written by the prisoner to to somebody." "Who Is It directed to?" said one of the Jurymen "It Isn't directed at all," said the White Rabbit. "In fact, there's noth ing written on the outside." He on folded the paper as he spoke, and add ed "It Isn't a letter, after all; It's a set of verses." "Are they In the prisoner's handwrit ing?" asked unother of the Jurymen. "No, they're not," said the White Rab bit, "and that's the queerest thing about it" (The Jury all looked puzzled.) "He must have Imitated somebody else's hand," said the King. (The Jury all brightened up again.) "Please, your majesty," said the Knave, "I didn't write It, and they can't prove I did; there's uo name signed at the end." "If you didn't sign It," said tho King, "that only makes the matter worse. You must have meant some mischief, or else you'd have Blgned your name like an honest man." "Let the Jury consider their verdict" the King said, for about the twentieth time that day. "No, no," said the Queen; "sentence first verdict afterwnrd." Turkey Dressing. A Cap of Water. A cup of hot or cold water taken on rising In the morning Is of much value with some people, for the mucous eoat of the stomach Is washed away, and Its Juices ore more quickly brought Joto uuutact with the food. -