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About Lincoln County leader. (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 1900)
--v LINCOLN. COUNTY LEADER CHAS. F. Si A1),V K. SOULE, tfub TOLEDO OREGON If a house divided against ltseir will fall, what Is likely to happen to a coun try divided by others? The Sultan of Turkey is buying Krupp guns, perhaps to be used in standing off bill collectors. In view of various things Just now, the resemblance between the Ameri can eagle and the dove of peace is less than ever. Perhaps it has been decreed that China Khali pay in blood for the accu mulated misery its firecrackers have wrought upon mankind. If any other nation has any sort of a grievance against anybody, now Is the time to make known the fact. A war -or two more doesn't matter. A man the other day compelled a woman to become his wife by threat ening to chop her head off with an ax If she refused Ills offer. There is one household at east in which the "wo man's rights" question is not likely to be a subject for discussion. Maxim, the gunmaker, says that the world is on the verge of a war greater than any which has happened in the past The deep sorrow of Mr. Maxim, should Biich a struggle come, and the heartbroken sobs with which he would till large orders for his caunon, can be easily imagined. Youth and age seem to be on even terms iu politics. Mr. Morgan of Ala bama and Mr. Gear of Iowa have been re-elected to the Senate, although both of them have passed their three-score years and ten by half u decade. Mr. Beverldge of Indiana, on the other hand, is hardly more than half the age of .either of them, and yet he la not the youngest man iu the upper house. The Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives has been authorized to sit during the recess of Congress, with a view to preparing a bill to reduce the taxes which were Im posed or Increased at the outbreak of the Spanish war. This committee, ac cording to present plans, will assemble In Washington about ten days before Congress meets in December. Much of the time of Congress is saved by committee work during recess. If village Improvement societies are organized to make a Wwn more beautiful, why not public progress boards, to make It more busy? Such a society has Just been or ganized Iu Castlne, Me., aud Its pres ent purpose is to induce some ship building tlrm to locate lis plant la that pretty town, which Is a great deal more likely to get Its wish than It would be If It sat down aud wailed to be discov ered. Many a decaying phut would be prosperous to-day If It had sent lis ad vantages to market Instead of expect ing Rome capitalist to come after thcin with his own wagon. A timely warning Is sounded against any wholesale rush of fortune-seekers to South Africa. The ending of the war and the absorption of tin Boer Mates Into the British empire will doubtless stimulate migration to those regions, and will also Increase the op portunities of profitable settlement there. Hut It will not be prudent for any one to go thither without some capital, or at least siitllelent resources to maintain him for some lime In Inde pendence of anything he may or may not do there. It is an expensive coun try to live In, and the gold mines and other sources of profit can be worked only at considerable expense. It is a country In which capital will Had prof itable Investment, but not one iu which the penniless adventurer Is likely to pick up a fortune. The neuron Is a nerve cell. Neither Pythagoras nor Plato knew Hint man had neurons. These philosophers had no microscopes. When the neurons were (fiseovered they were Immediately Kindled with fervor. A, scientist of re pute put forth the theory that each neuron had an Independent life. When a man went to sleep It was because his neurons contracted and failed to touch one another. Hence, the communica tion with his brain was broken. When the neurons got rested they stretched themselves once more. They touched and formed a continuous Hue In the nerve. The brain was again placed In connection. with the outer world and Its owner woke up. The brain being also made up of neurons, this theory pictured man as a conglomeration of minute but Independent IsMugs. He was a colony of tiny creatures. They ruled him. His consciousness was slut ply the aggregate of theirs. He had no real personal existence. Hut science delights In reversing Its own (ladings, A nileroscoplst, by staining the neu rons, has made them moro visible un der the glass. It I found that they are not Independent. Their protopU or cell substance intermingles. They ara not separate eutities. Their reign is ended. The neuron theory is untena-, lile. This is a triumph for t-.e foes of materialism. It replaces man ou his! pe'estal as an individual. He is not; a mere colony of separate cells. TrObably there are many worried Americans who would find It greatly to their Interest to adopt a few of the sug gestions made by Daniel Gregory Ma son in an article whlchhe contributes to . Scribner's Magazine. Mr. Mason, commenting on the numerous maladies that modern man Is heir to, points out tliat men and women generally have fallen into a bad habit of "physical self-consciousness." On the one hand there are the hypochondriacal sufferers who canhot read a medical dictionary without having all the symptoms there in described. On the other side there are the faddists who In taking up some physical-culture scheme or rest cure or restricted diet keep their maladies perpetually In mind by the very earn estness with which they endeavor to evade or destroy them. In short, neith er the hypochondriacs nor the consci entious worriers who watch their daily symptoms under the beneficent Influ ences of some health-getting program are pursuing the right way to be healthy and happy in this world. Man ifestly Mr. Mason's advice that nieu trust to a natural "tendency to health" might be carried too far. A man who really has a broken leg or on inflamed stomach needs to devote enough "phy sical self-consciousness" to his case to telephone for a doctor. Hut In general, nnd for a vast number of the ills, imag inary and real, which humanity bears, it !s a ijui-M.ioii if the sufferer might not do much better Just to trust to "the tendency to health." not trying merely to forget his troubles whereby he would only the more keenly realize them but getting up a lively' Interest In something else. It is long since this country has had to face the shock of a disaster SO 1111- palling iu the loss of life and so de structive of property as the great tire at the Iloboken docks of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company. Hundreds of lives lost by lire or water, the hospitals crowded with other hun dreds of injured, great docks and three mg Atlantic steamers burned to the water's edge nnd many millions of dol lars' worth of property destroyed by the flames make a catalogue of horror grievous to record. In Its growsoinely spectacular quality the disaster is without a parallel. Ou the west bank of the North river, Just opposite tho most crowded part of lower New York, the great tire burned the lives out of helpless men aud women by the score In full view of thousands of spectators who were powerless to aid them. Al ways there seems a peculiar irony in the destruction of a shin and the loss of life of its crew and passengers by tire. The tlrst thought is that the very prox imity of u limitless supply of water ought to act In some way as a saving element, and yet even here, where ev ery means of protection was at hand, with all the llreboats. of New York at prompt command aud the supposedly perfect appliances for tight lug tire on the docks aud the steamers themselves. where tire drills are practiced with reg ularity, the flames had their own way virtually unchecked. With scores of ferries, tugboats and other harbor craft hovering about the burning docks, little could be done to save life. Three steamers the Main, the Saale and the Bremen-were burned. The splendid new Kaiser Wllheltn dor G rosso, sec ond of all steamers on the Atlantic, narrowly escaped destruction, suffer ing considerable damage. Great docks and warehouses, valuable cargoes aud freight in storage or ready for ship ment, went up In names. Lighters and barges by the dozen were destroyed and are hardly enumerated, so hidden Is that smaller loss In the greater. The North German Lloyd Steamship Com puny has endured a blow which might disable a weaker corporation. Yet all these things are overshadowed by the tales of suffering and death. The Main, burning at the pier and smothering int prisoned men w ho were helpless even to light for life, seventeen of then: saved after hours of torture In the low est ioiiI bunker, where they baked as In a furnace; the Saale. drifting down with the current to be benched on Coinmunipiiw Mats, where the tide rose and poured through the lower port hole, drowning the helpless men nnd women who hud their faces turned to ward the sky ami liberty, so rinse to the men wh i sought to rescue them that they could be given water to drink, yet penned in by the stubborn steel plates that formed the side of the ship; the Hrciuen, lowed up the river and left a hulk so hot (hat no one could examine It to see how many bodies it would yield, and thti host of men and women driven from the ves sels by the Haines who found a refuge and death In the stream these are hut; a part of the horrors. There Is one bright spot Iu the painful story. We are told of Instances of courage among the dying and of persistent effort to save life. Always brave men appear In such dreadful scenes to call atten tion more emphatically to the sad waste of valuable Uvea In hopelesa situation. 1 JTn jlctof's Y whole career is blighted; I shall never be given a position of trust again," Geoffrey Hurst cried despairingly. And Stephen Grant looking into the troubled face before him, thought what a boy Geoff was, in spite of his flve-and-twenty years. Geoffrey Hurst was Junior secretary to the Queen's favorite ambassador at Florence, aud a favorite with all about him. ' At the public school where they had been together Geoffrey htftd been Ste phen's Jag, aud the healthful influence that the elder had over the younger was never wholly shaken off. So that Geoffrey Hurst, the budding diploma tist, listened to Stephen's opinion with as much respect as he had done in the old days. When as a small boy he had blacked his boots aud cooked his break fast. As the two men sat together in the actor's bachelor quarters (for Stephen was au actor of some promise) they presented a striking contrast. Geof frey's frock-coat fitted his tall figure to perfection, while Stephen's well-worn velvet Jacket had a truly Bohemian air that was in keeping with the careless ease of his surroundings. After a while Stephen offered a cigar case to his friend, but Geoffrey shook his head; he had not the heart to smoke. "A t-'snr helps me to think," Stephen paid, as he carefully cut the end of a Havana and applied a light; then, be tween the puffs of smoke, he said slow ly: "When did you first know that this mission would be given you?" "The day before yesterday the chief sent for me," Geoffrey answered. "He said he had some important documents to send to the foreign office, and hud determined to Intrust them to me. He spoke very kindly of the way I had served him, aud also of the respect he entertained for my father, altogether .making me feel that choosing me as his emissary was a signal mark of dis tinction. How little I dreamed of the pitiable result that was to follow!" "When did you first encounter Ham mond V" Stephen questioned.' "When I went on board the steamer at Calais. 1 had not set eyes upon him since the time we were both staying at that house in Yorkshire nnd 1 ex posed him for his cheating at cards. I quite thought then He would owe me an eternal grudge for it." Stephen frowned. "I had forgotten the episode," he said, "aud that, added to what we both knew of him in the old days, renders- It the more incompre hensible that you should have given him your confidence." "That Is true enough," Geoffrey said, sadly. "But I should not have been so easily duped had the passage across the Chu unci been a good one You kuow what a coufoundedly bad sailor 1 am, and the sea was fearfully choppy. 1 was completely knocked over, and Hammond appeared most considerate. -advising me to lie down, nnd, when I had done so, bringing me brandy, and then I went to sleep." "Well?" Stephen said, interrogative ly. "Well, when I awoke I went on deck, and found we were close upon Dover harbor. 1 felt shattered; my head was swimming. Hammond paid little heed to me, aud, as soon ns the boat touched the pier, hurried off without waiting for me to accompany him. It was then that I realized that my letter-case was gone." "There were not many papers, then? Yon had no dispatch box?" . "No; merely a few letters Inclosed Iu a small leather case. When 1 first dis covered my Toss 1 was stunned; then It fashed upon me that I was George Hammond's victim that he had taken the papess from me while I slept. The train was still waiting when 1 reached the platform, and I caught sight of him at one of the carriage windows. I don't know what 1 said Iu my excitement as I demanded my pockeUiook. He laugh. ed, assuring m he knew nothing of It. I caught at the door of the carriage and would have toru it open, but he leaned from the window and pushed me, so that 1 staggered back, nnd 1 heard him say to the people about that 1 was drunk! Then I was roughly han dled by the porters, and the train Bt earned out of the station." "When you came to your senses you made your way here 7" Stephen said. "Yes; my first thought was to come to you. I knew you would help me If you could." "Heaveus knows 1 would, dear boy; but the question Is, what can be doneV" "Something must be done, Stephen, or I shall go mad My honor, my fu ture, and heaven help me'. my whole life's happiness are at stake!" Stephen watched him critically. "I expected that," he said. "So your ambition has led you to great heights, and you have dared to set yonr heart upon an ambassador's daughter?" For a moment a very tender expres sion filled Geoffrey's eyes, then he said bitterly: "You are right; my ambition over leaped Itself. 1 have been living In a $tr at&ojem. fool's paradise, and, heaven knows, the awakening is hard." "The best thing might be to put the matter into the hands of the police," Stephen suggested, calmly. "I cannot bring myself to it," Geof frey said. "It would be making public what I have promised should be sa cred." Stephen knocked the ash off his cigar as he said thoughtfully: "I wonder if Hammond would de stroy, the papers? They would be dan gerous things to keep." "I don't fancy he would at least, not yet; he would naturally hope to make capital out of theni." Stephen nodded assent; then he add ed: "You know Hammond has married a widow with a bit of money, who has a house somewhere in the suburbs?" "Would he go to his home?" Geoff asked doubtfully. "Very probably," Stephen answered. Then he took out his watch. "1 must be at a rehearsal in half an hour," he said. "But what can be done, Stephen? Can you think of nothing?" "A plan that would serve us is not to be thought of on the instant," Stephen said; "but I will do my best." 1 1 was midnight, and in a small house in St. John's Wood the lights were all extinguished, except those in the spe cial sanctum of the master of the estab lishment. The other inmates of the house were all wrapped iu slumber, while George Hammond sat brooding. On, the table before him lay a leather letter-ease. The question he was de buting was whether or not the papers should be destroyed. It had struck 1 o'clock when he was roused from his reverie by a loud knocking at the front door. He started up, and was about to thrust the letter case luto his pocket, but, changing his mind, placed it again on the table ba fore he hurried downstairs. Hammond was anxious that the household should not be roused. It would not mend matters to have his wife coming down inquiring wlTat was amiss. So he unlocked the door, and drew back the bolts cautiously; then, leaving the chain still up, opened the door a few inches, demanding who was there. The unmistakable gleam of a bull's eye came into the dark hall, as a voice answered: "A constable. Are you the owner of the house V" Hammond replied that he was. aud asked what the policeman wanted. "I have reason to believe that an at tempt Is being made to enter your premises," he said. "A man has been watching at the back for the last hour. Have you much plate?" ."We have some plate, certainly, but I don't think any one could get nt it. My people are all asleep, so I hope there will be no disturbance." "Let me in, and I will look at the fastenings," the constable returned. The chain wns undone, aud, saying he was glad the women folk were a-bed, as they always took alarm at the sight of a policeman, he told Hammond only to close the door, as he should be off again directly. Then, throwing the light of his lantern before him, kitchen, scullery, pautry, all were visited, places into which Hammond had never before made his way. The policeman's keen eye scanned each lock and win dow, but all were securely fastened. As they emerged once more Into the hall, the policeman asked: "Which is the room at the back of the house, where the lights are burn ing?" "My private sitting room." Hammond said impatiently. "It is impossible any one could reach it from the outside. It must be thirty or forty feet from the ground." i "Few things are impossible to a de termined mind," the constable answer ed, as he made his way noiselessly up stairs, Hammond following. The policeman entered the-brightly-lighted r tn, and gave a quick glance round.' in'U he turned out the gas. leaving the mom iu darkness, save for the occasional gleam of his bull's-eye. He asked Hammond to draw up the blind aud open the window. Then the two men peered Into the garden be neath. "As you say. It is Impossible for any one to get In this way," the constable said; "and having ascertained that, I must be off." He quitted the room, leaving Ham mond alone In the dark. He ws still fumbllug for the matches, when the front door closed with a bang.. Geoffrey Hurst woke from a dream less sleep to the remembrance of a ca lamity that had befallen him. He lay on the sofa in his friend's room, and tn an armchair, wrapped in a cloak, Ste phen sat smoking. It was some sec onds before Geoffrey became aware of the other's presence; then he started up, crying out eagerly for news. For answer, Stephen pointed to the table, and there, in the lamplight, Geoffrey saw the precious letter, case that had caused him so many hours of anguish. , For a moment he could not spoiik; then he caught his friend's hand iu his, us he whispered: "Heaven bless you, Stephen! You have saved me from dishonor!" "See that the letters are intact," was all Stephen said; but there was an un usual brightness in his eyes, which showed that lie, too, was deeply moved. Geoffrey examined the contents of the case, and found nothing missing the papers were not even soiled. "How on earth did you manage it, Stephen?" Geoffrey asked eagerly. Stephen's eyes twinkled. "Ah, dear boy," he said, with a sigh, of satisfaction, "I went in character" and, opening a bag that lay at his feet, he drew forth a policeman's helmet and ' lantern. Then, flinging aside his cloak, he showed the dark-blue coat and bright buttons of the orthodox consta ble. Stephen laughed. "It was a sudden idea that came to me," he said; and told exactly what had taken place. Geoffrey wns enthusiastic. In conclusion, Stephen said: "I must tell you the oue comic epi sode in the little drama. When 1 left the house, I was convinced Hammond would follow me, so I concealed my self among the shrubs of a neighbor ing garden. He soon came tearing Into the street, as I expected,, but 1 was not prepared for the sequel. The police man on the beat whom I had watched to a safe distance before, beginning my operations had just turned the corner of the square. Hammond niaJe for him, and a lively tussle ensued. Tho policeman evidently considered that he had ben wantonly assaulted, and gave as good as he got. So that I left the scene of action with the satisfaction that If George Hammond were not pun ished quite as he deserved, he would at least spend one night in the local lock up." Penny Pictorial Magazine. PRIDE AND POVERTY. The Woman Hud a Good Reason for Not , I'uyii.y; the Nickel. "The truth of the old proverb which tells us that 'pride and poverty aij born companions' was uever so forcibly impressed upon my mind as it was one day last week when 1 was riding in a Broadway, New York, cable car," said a commercial traveler to the writer. "A lady entered the car accompanied by a little girl. The conductor came around for the fare und the lady hand ed him .. ulckel. 'Fare for the child, if you please,' remarked the conductor. The lady was iutently observing some object out of the opisisite window and paid no attention to what the conduc tor said. After a few minutes' waiting the conductor again renewed his re quest for the child's fare. Again there was no attention paid to his talk. Fi nally In a louder and somewhat impa tient tone a peremptory demand was made for the fare. This apparently brought the lady to a realization of the situation, and with an air pf offended dignity she replied: 'I suppose I know the rules of this company, and there Is no fare required of a child of this size.' The conductor was politely ex plaining the rules that he worked un der when lie was snapped up short in his explanation by the lady, who loud ly atllrmed that she had been traveling on the cars for months with the self same child and had never paid any fare, nor had she ever been Insulted before by being asked for .It. 'More than that. I shall not pay It now,' she said, as she compressed her Hps and settled back in her seat with an air of determination which I cspoke-her iuten tion of staying there until the cable wore out. By this time a dozen or more people in the car were interested in the situation, and were anxious to see the outcome of It. "'I am sorry,' said the conductor, 'but the rules of this company must be enforced.' "With that he reached for the belt rope. " 'Wlint are you going to do?' excited ly asked the lady. '"I am going to put that child off.' came the reply. '"What, right here in this crowded street?' she shouted. " 'Well. I am not going to run tjie ear 'nto anyliody's store for your accom modation.' coolly replied the conductor - "Seeing that further struggle jvn. nsoless. the lady's tone softened, and. with tln blandest smile on her face, but all the while a tear sparkling In her eye. she ald: M would pay you In a minute, conductor, if I had the ehanee rwlrh me. But the fnct Is I spent nil toy money up town except that one nickel. "'Well, if yon had said that nt first, my dear mndam. nil this trouble would have been avoided. I would have loaned yon the ninonut nf the fare willingly.' "'The truth Is.' said the woman, In an undertone. 'I -wns too proud to nd tnlt that I didn't have a dime.'" Washington Star. It Is always easier for any woman to please a man tbnn the one who Is mar ried to him. Do net stone the baby when you rock the cradle.