Union gazette., April 13, 1900, Image 4

AFfiXCA.
iJHERE OF INFLUENCE
DARK CONTINENT.
a.Donx isverything that la Worth Ba
inn Belongs to Them Other Kuro
i pean Nations Are Finding Their Pos-
kwhou AnjiamjE uui xroouaie .
.' Less than forty years ago it was a
commonly received, doctrine among
.British statesmen- that Africa was
worthless. A select committee of the
House of Commons in the early '60s
reported that the settlements on the
west, coast of Africa cost move than
: :hey were worth, and recommended the
gradual abandonment of the country.
- liven in the '70s' there were eminent
men -who argued earnestly in favor of
. the abandonment of the whole of South
" Africa, with the exception of a coaling
station at the Cape of Good Hope. But
('change came o'er the spirit of the
British dream when, in the early '80s
they saw-all the nations of Europe pre
pare to take part In a passionate scram-.
ale for the dark continent That which
ihey; despised and wished to throw
way In the '60s became in the '90s the
coveted objects of Imperial ambition.
Now, when the century is closing,' the
pick of the continent is colored British
ted K " .. .- ' : -:- '' '
British. Africa can be variously de
scribed geographically, politically,
ithnoJogically and religiously. But the
simplest definition Is this: All Africa
chat is comfortably babltabUvby white
men is under the British flagor under
British protection. And again, every
thing in Africa that pays dividends lies
within the sphere pegged out for John
. Bull by his adventurous sons. Wher
ever In Africa you find land in which
white-skinned children can be bred and
reared, you will find It lies within the
British, rone. And wherever there 's in
Africa any paying property, that also
wlU be found to be within the same
tphere of influence. All of Africa tbat
is habitable and all of Africa tbat pays
' Its way, that is British Africa.
" The other nations have scrambled for
lohn Bull's leavings. France, for in
stance, has annexed the ' Sahara, in
her West African colony of Senegal ev
ery fifth European is a French official.
Germany has annexed 320,000 square
miles of desert In the southwest and
100,000 of semi-tropical land In the
east; but they have more officials than
colonists, more subsidies than divi
dends. Portugal has quite an empire of
jsaJarial maShes on both coasts. : Bel
dam has the Congo Free State, a mag-
' cent empire In the heart of tropical
U rica which needs 80,000 a year sub
tly from Belgium to keep It from
bankruptcy, and which, notwithstand
ing the subsidy, has run up a debt of
over 8,000,000. Italy, the last to Join
i the scramble, has nearly come to
?ef over her African adventure. Afrl-
stands solely on the debit side of
Nceount of every European nation
e, and even In the case of Brlt
Ventrles to the bad are neither
"fmalL :
Africa may be described In
tvay. Wherever you find a good
n Africa or a navigable river
Jat Inland lake there you may be
Jaa British flag Is not far off. The
..jiigo Is the only great African river
' which does not enter the sea under
British protection. The Congo was
opened up, boomed and made accessible
by Mr. Stanley, a British explorer, and
Its waters are as free to the flags of all
nations as If they were British. The
only harbor In southern Africa that is
worth having which Is not British Is
Delagoa Bay, and John Bull to this day
ruefully recalls the fact tbat he only
f 1ibI .IIawIik, 1 vk tiA .ant
arbitration, before a tribunal which
took more account of musty little deeds
of a remote past than the necessities
of the living present. The only harbor
on the southwest coast, the natural
port of German southwest Africa, Is
Walflsch Bay, where a British sentry
stands on guard under the shade of the
union Jack. Wherever navigable water
la. there the descendant of the old
vikings recognizes his fatherland even
in the heart of Africa. Of the great
1 -. X. 1 ..1. tn lnnw rrrvtiir. .n.
the Zambesi to the Nile, there is not
one on whose shores there is not a Brit
ish possession.--Even the smaller lakes,
such as Lake Tchad, seem to attract the
sea rovers of the Northland. W. T.
Stead, in the Independent. ,
WHAT "UNDER FIRE" MEANS.
Twelve Honrs of Agony that Seemed
- Like Years. '
The following are extracts from a let
ter from a sergeant in the Seaforth
Highlanders,1 says the London Tele
graph: . ; ; : ...;''
. . "The Black Watch in front made an
attempt to charge the position, but we
bad to retire and simply run for it the
enemy blazing at us all the way and
cropping our fellows like skittles from
their splendid positions.
- "There was nothing for It but to He
down and pretend to be dead, and this
I did about 6:30 a. m., till, I suppose,
6 p. m, the sun pouring down on me all
the time, and not a drink of water all
day, and dare not stir hand or foot
and expecting jevery minute to be my
la st4. could hear nothing but the
cnt-o, luvttuo ouu iicljcic- vl tut; w u u titl
ed all around me, but I daren't bo much
as look up to see wno tney were. Shots
and shells were going over me all day
from the enemy and our side, and
plenty of them striking within a yard
of me 1 mean bullets, not shells and
yet they never hit me.
"I believe some of the fellows lost
their heads and walked right up to the
enemy's place, singing till they dropped
them. One youngster lying close to me
said he would make a dart for It about
3 p.m. 1 tried my best to persuade him
not to, but he would go. A couple of
seconds later I could hear them pitting
at him, and then bis groans for about
minute, and then he was quiet
"About this time the sun began to get
rearruiiy not ana i Degan 10 reel it in
the legs," which were now very painful
and swollen, because I was parched
with thirst Most of the wounded
round me had ceased groaning by this
time. As It began to get dark I man
Aged to wriggle my body through the
shrub farther back, and after I had
been at it some time, on looking up
found myself right In front of another
fntrenchment of the enemy.' They sent
a few rounds at me, but they struck
just in front and ricocheted over my
bead. After a bit, It getting darker,
I got up and walked by, and there was
nothing but dead highlanders all over
the place." . ... , .
THE MAN WITH THE HpE.
c m ynii lAuennti irum ub vug in
' Mark-ham's Poem.
' He was an Intelligent-looking man,
veil dressed, clean shaven, and seemed
to be ijufte at home amid the handsome
surroundings of the hotel in which the
reporter met him. The clerk bad told
the reporter be was a prominent-1111-,
nols farmer, and might be a gooTT'Jarijr
to interview.
"Do I," be said when he had settled
for a talk, "look like 1 bad the empti
ness of ages In my face?"
The reporter did not reply, because
be thought the man was going on with
bis remarks. -
"I ask you, do I?" he repeated.
- The reporter hastened to assure him
that as far as he could see he JM not
"Do I seem to be bearing on my back
the burden of the world V"
"You carry It very lightly If you do."
smiled the reporter.
. "Would you say that I was dead to
rapture and despair, a thing tbat
grieves not and that never hopes V"
"Not unless 1 was a liar," ventured
the reporter.
"Would you think that anybody had
loosened and let down my Jaw?"
The reporter merely shook his head.
"And has anybody slanted back my
brow, that you can notice?" the man
went on.
VNot In the least"
"Or has anybody's breath blown out
the light within my brain?"
"Never a blow," said the reporter.
"Do I strike you as stolid and stun
ned, a brother to Ibe ox T'
"Anything but that" admitted the re
porter. "But why are you asking me
all these questions?" -
"I'll tell you. I raised on. my farm In
Illinois last year 10,000 .bushels of
wheat 12,000 bushels of oats. 40,000
bushels of corn and 1,000 bead of cattle,
to say nothing of other stuff and stock,
and I'm just back from a European
trip. Now, what I want to know is If
Markham knew what be was talking
about when he wrote The Man with
the Hoe.' "
The male butterflies have the proud
privilege of a pocket but the pocket
of a butterfly Is wonderfully made. ; It
is really an extension of the under
wing folded back on the upper side, but
It Is exquisitely colored and marked
like the upper side, so that It Is very
hard to detect and no one has yet dis
covered bow It Is opened, although, un
doubtedly, the butterfly can throw it
open while he Is dying.
The recent trials at Indian Head, on
the Potomac, of the armor; made for
the Russian battleship Retvlzari, build
ing In this country, seemed to show
that armorplate of the Krupp form
made In America has the advantage In
the endless contest between guns and
armor. Five-Inch projectiles with a
striking velocity of more than 2,000
feet per second failed to penetrate more
than two inches in a five-inch plate,
and the projectiles were broken In
pieces, while the plate was not cracked.
In a Brussels street traversed by an
electric tram car line. It has been no
ticed that the trees on one side of. the
way begin to lose their foliage early
in August the leaves turning brown
and dropping off. But in October the
same trees begin to bud again, and
sometimes even blossom. Meanwhile
the trees on the oposlte side of the
street are unaffected, losing their foli
age late In the autumn and budding
only in the spring. The cause of the
anomaly is supposed to be leaking elec
tric currents, which stimulate the
growth of the trees affected.
At the recent scientific conference at
Munich, Prof. Chun exhibited the re
sults of the German deep-sea expedi
tion. Some of the fish found at a depth
of about 10,000 feet resembled, he said,
the fossil species In the rocks of the
Mesozoic era, when the earth's atmos
phere was dense with carbon. , These
fish. In many cases, bad special means
of collecting light Some possessed
enormous eyes, occupying nearly the
whole side of the head, and some were
supplied with telescopic organs. Oth
ers carried their light on their heads in
a manner similar to that of the glow
worm. The National Museum In Washington
has come Into possession of a meteorite
which fell on Thomas hill. In Allegan.
Michigan, on July 10. 1899. The fall
occurred about 8 o'clock in the morn
ing. Observers noticed a slight bluish
tinge and a hazy appearance In the
track of the descending stone. Some
report that they beard a rumbling and
rushing noise. The meteorite probably
weighed originally seventy pounds,
but It was shattered - by its
fall, the largest piece ' weighing
sixty-two and a r half - pounds.
It burled Itself eighteen Inches In the
ground, and was picked up while jet
warm. It Is friable, and contains finely
disseminated metallic iron, olivine In
the form of black glass, and some un
determined sulphides.
Deadly snakes are seldom seen mov
ing about This is to be accounted for
in two ways. First, they are nocturnal
In their habits and generally In repose
when discovered. Secondly, If they
should be on the move their colors are
so much In harmony with" their sur
roundings that they see the Intruder
first and gather themselves into a coil,
so as to escape observation by remain
ing still and to be ready for defense If
necessary. They always strike from a
coll. As to the distance to which they
can strike, a great deal depends on the
manner of the coll and the position of
the object struck at From a good po
sition a snake can generally strike an
object distant one-half or even two
thirds of the creature's length. No
snake can jump. In the true sense of
the word, and so long as one remains
extended at full length It is practically
harmless. In such a position it may be
easily killed or avoided.
Fell 8Uort of Her Ideal.
When schoolgirls grow confidential
with one another they sometimes, 1 am
told, describe the sort of man who cor
responds to what they call their "beau
ideal." Did you ever happen to hear
what Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas was
credited with saying on this topic?
"When I was at school," she remarked.
"I used to vow that there were three
kinds of men I never could be Induced
to marry. First I never would marry
a man who was younger than L Sec
ond, I never would marry a man who
was shorter than I. Third, I never
would marry a politician. Well, 1 kept
my vow, except that in marrying Mr.
Douglas I married a man who was not
quite as old as I. who was not as tall
as 1. and who was one of the most
prominent politicians of his day." New
York Mail and Express.
Much Area, but Few Inhabitants.
- Russia's ' Asiatic possessions are
three times the size of Great Britain's,
but bold only 23,000,000 Inhabitants, as
compared with England's 297,000,000
subjects. ',. '
There are some women who always
use the same kind of judgment in al
lowing a poor steak to be passed off on
them that -they exercised yea; 4 ago in
selecting a husband.
feaffvention
, , r-.. SUSAJN 15. AM HUN i.
LOSSES GEO W LESS.
SOME LESSONS TAUGHT BY THE
; ANGLO-BOER WAR'
Aa Effectiveness of Weapons Increases,
Fatalities in Battle Apparently De
crease Comparison of Casualties in
" Some of theWorld's Greatest Conflicts.
The South ' African : war has demon
strated some things about up-to-date
fighting machines. One Important fact
brought out is that for creating ex
tensive cemeteries and making bloody
history, the old-fashioned fighters, with
their : old-fashioned short-range weap
ons, still hold the championship. Dy
namite bombs and lyddite shells, bullet-
aif ting machines and long-range smoke
less powder guns have not feazed the
world's record for carnage an iota.- The
civilized nations stand aghast at the
fall of a few score of officers In a single
fight as though It were an unheard of
thing and that science had rendered
warfare too frightfully gory for it to
be tolerated among human beings.
Probably the almost bloodless victories
of our navy at Manila Bay and Santiago
have led people to look for enormous
gains on a minimum of Investment
These were marvelous exceptions. War
means fighting, and fighting In a war
worthy of the name means killing on
both sides.
The effectiveness of the iong range
weapons used In the South African war
and the mortality which Is looked upon
by the laymen as something excessive
attract the notice of military men who
have had actual experience in war.
Under the regime of magazine rifles the
battle usually begins at 1,500 or 1,600
yards, and may close down to 1,100 or
1,000 yards. At the latter range the fire
is supposed to be very effective. Artil
lery is, of course, effective to break np
solid lines of Infantry, but It Is impos
sible to make artillery fire effective
against troops who are covered behind
a height for instance, or by the lay of
the land or by rock and trees.
Gen. Sickles said recently that he
never had much faith In the effective
ness of long-range weapons, for once
you teach troops that they can send a
bullet a mile, It takes away their In
trepidity. Napoleon III. demoralized
his army by causing the soldiers to
think that the long-range breechloading
chassepot and the mitrailleuse would
defeat the enemy. It took ail the elan
out of them and made them mere ma
chines. The Germans, who, by the
way, also had their breechloading, long
range rifle, the needle gun, rushed to
close quarters, and the result was dis
astrous to the French. -'
Civil War Fatalities.
Gen. Nelson A.-Miles said, apropos of
the subject of modern Improved weap
ons and projectiles in relation to battle
field casualties, "Losses diminish in
proportion as man-killing devices pro
gress." This Is a fact, as shown by fig
ures, and is well known to close stu
dents of warfare. Take, for Instance,
the Federal attack upon the Confeder
ate stone wall at Fredericksburg in
1862. The experience of the Seventh
New York (Steuben) regiment in that
charge Is typical. The Seventh went
In after other brigades had been re
pulsed in front of the stone wall so that
It did not receive the fierce outburst of
Confederate fire, but In twenty minutes,
or at the outside thirty minutes, out of
twenty-five officers in the regiment ten
were killed and eight wounded, and out
of 450 men 240 were killed and wound
ed. All of these casualties came from
bul'.ets fired from the stone wall. This
loss in officers killed was never exceed
ed Dot once In the whole civil war. and
that was In the case of the Seventh
New Hampshire at the storming of
Fort Wagner. In that affair sleven of
ficers of this regiment were killed out
right ,
In the attack upon the stone wall the
Seventh Regiment fought with Han
cock's division. This division was
brought in as a supporting column to
the initial attack. It consisted of eigh
teen regiments, and there were nineteen
regimental commanders shot down and
disabled In one hour. Others were hit,
but kept the field. In the brigade of
Col. Caldwell, to which the Seventh
Regiment belonged, there were 116 offi
cers present, sixty-two of whom were
killed or wounded. Gen. Hancock's di-.
vision lost 2,029 killed and wounded out
of 4,834 paper strength; that equals 42
per cent Caldwell's brigade numbered
1,987 on paper, and lost 952 killed and
wounded that is to say, 50 per cent
In a forlorn hope attack upon log
breastworks at Petersburg in 1864 the
First Maine heavy artillery carried 832
men in line and lost 632 killed and
wounded In a rush that kept them un
der fire not to exceed seven minutes.
At Gettysburg, during a crisis, the First
Minnesota was called upon to charge a
moving line of Confederates and cap
ers. In order to stagger the
marching upon
A. nA Ira erl
WAR, THEN AND NOW.
Federal batteries. The Confederates
held their fire until the daring Yankees
were close up, and 215 of the Minne
sotans out of 262. were struck down
upon a few square yards of earth, just
at the point of contact In the second
battle of Bull Run, 1862, Duryee's zou
aves stood Up In front of a battery
which was being mobbed by Confeder
ate troops and left 119 dead companions
stretched in regular rows around wheel
ruts and trail prints on the spot where
the guns had stood. The regiment num
bered 470 at the beginning of the fight
- The heaviest losers at the battle of
Gettysburg were two opposing regi
mentsthe Twenty-fourth Michigan
and the Twentyrsixth North Carolina.
They fought in the first day's battle al
most man for man in the dueling con
test which took place In McPherson's
woods. At the end of the day nothing
remained of either regiment except
their flags and ' two pitiful squads of
battle-grimed soldiers. The Michigans
lost 397 out of 496, and the North Caro
lina 688 out of 820.
The casualties sustained by these
troops were almost entirely from mus
ketry fire. Instances might be cited to
show that, under certain circumstances,
artillery fire was still more deadly dur
ing the civil war. It. must be taken for
granted that such was the case when
ever solid bodies of troops marched up
to the cannon's mouth. In Pickett's
charge, when the assaulting column
closed in on the Federal works, the
Federal batteries . stationed . there in
some instances used double charges of
canister at ten paces; that means that
the assailants who had the courage to
march up to the muzzles were swept
from the ground by iron hail. At the
battle of Franklin, Tenn., the slaughter
of the Confederate columns upon the
ground where the heaviest fighting took
place was frightful " in the extreme.
Much of the execution at that fight was
due to cannon fire. The Confederate
army was about 40,000 strong and be
gan the attack on the Federal fortified
position at the close of a November day,
probably as late as 4:30 p. m., so tbat
there was not two hours of daylight
for fighting. Only one corps of the
Confederates actually closed in on the
Federal works, and its strength was
probably not over 15,000 men. In the
battle there were 6,000 Confederates
killed and wounded, among them thir
teen general officers. The officers who
fell were found close to the Federal
breastworks, in some cases In the ditch,
where they bad been shot from their
horses while attempting to ride over
the works at the heads of their col
umns. The scenes witnessed at the
battle of Franklin have- seldom been
equaled during the century. -.
Since the Franco-Prussian war there
has not been a conflict between armies
equally equipped 'until the present In
the battles between Russia and Turkey
the Turks had Inferior weapons. Being
fanatical fighters, like the dervishes hi
the Sudan, they were slaughtered by
the breechloaders and dynamite shells
of the foe.
To go back still farther for examples
of the execution of weapons In war
fare. It Is interesting to look at the rec
ords of battles In the seventeenth cen
tury. In seven great battles of that
era, when the masses carried muskets
and pikes, the average of casualties waa
26 per cent, so that each man stood but
about three chances In four of es
cape. The casualties In the bloodiest
battles run as high as 35 per cent In
this class belongs the battle of Lutzen,
which proved a victory for the Swedes,
but their leader, Gustavus Adolphus,
was killed, and one of his regiments lay
upon the ground In the order in which
the men had stood while .fighting. In
the ' middle of the eighteenth century
the bayonet attached to the musket su
perseded the pike. There were twenty
three great battles fought with smooth
bore muskets and bayonets from Fon
tenoy in 1745 to Waterloo in 1815. The
average of casualties for this period of
smoothbore musket and bayonet fight
ing was about 20 per cent
Losses Decrease.
The following fifteen battles of the
muzzle-loading, bayonet period repre
sent the martial nations of the world:
1. Eilau, 1807. Loss, 26 per cent.
2. Bunker Hill, 1775. Loss, 24 per cent.
3. Stone River (Murfreesboro), ' 1862.
Loss, 23 per cent.
4. Marengo, 1800. Loss, 23 per cent
5. Chickamauga, . 1863. Loss, 21 per
cent
6. Antietam, 1862. Loss, 21 per cent
7. Leipsic, 1813. Loss, 21 per cent.
8. Gettysburg, 1863. Loss, 20 per cent
9. Shiloh, 1862. Loss, 20 per cent
10. Lundy's Lane, 1814. Loss, 19 per
cent -
11. Mars-la-Tonr, 1870. Loss, 16 per
cent.
12. Waterloo, 1815. Loss, 14 per cent
13. Woerth. 1870. Loss. 14 per cent.
14. Solferino, 1859. Loss, 12 per cent
15. Sadowa, 1866. Loss, 12 per cent.
The loss In killed and wounded at
the battle of Eilau is placed at 40,000
by conservative estimates. In the fig
ures of Gettysburg given In the table,
which are official, the total Is little
short of 30,000.
The first battle be-1
longs to the smoothbore and the second
to the rifle barrel era, and the figures
show that as weapons Improve casual
ties grow less In percentages. The aver
age was 26 per cent In the days of the
musket and pike, 20 per cent with the
smoothbore and bayonet about a simi
lar loss with the rifle barrel and bayo
net and in the Franco-Prussian war,
fought with the breechloading rifle, the
casualties fell below 16 per cent
German Emperor at Wort.
The correspondence addressed to the
emperor is enormous, but the bulk of
It chiefly petftions, is opened and dealt
with in the civil cabinet only the let
ters of princely personages and others
of which the-handwrlting is recognized
being opened by him personally, says
Good Words. - These have to be replied
to either by himself or by secretaries,
according to marginal notes made by
him, and then the cuttings from vari
ous newspapers, pasted in folios, are
laid before him.
Each of the chief ministers of state
and heads of departments of the army
and navy has one or two fixed days of
the week on which he Is received by
the enlperor and .at these interviews
all business connected with the depart
ment is transacted and his orders tak
en on ail matters requiring such. Va
rious interviews are also accorded in
the forenoon to officers and others who
have reports to make and thus the day
is filled up till luncheon, a meal the
emperor always takes with the empress
and his elder children, the younger
ones joining the circle afterward. Usu
ally there are one or two guests and
quite a small suite in attendance at
the midday meal, which Is light and
very simple. ..
The afternoon is taken up with more
work and then the emperor, frequently
accompanied by the empress, rides,
drives or plays tennis for a couple of
hours, returning in time for more work
before dinner, which Is at 7 in summer
and 8 In winter. Work again follows
dinner and precedes an . early retire
ment to bed. Such is the normal pro
gram of the emperor's day; but as
may be imagined, It is frequently
broken in upon by military duties and
Inspections, - by representations, espe
cially in winter, when numerous re
ceptions, balls, festivals, concerts and
state dinners take place, and by polit
ical business.
He Engaged the Boy.
Dr. McTavIsh of Edinburgh . was
something of a ventriloquist and It be
fell that he wanted a lad to assist In
the surgery who must necessarily be
of strong nerves. :
He received several applications, and
when telling a lad what the duties
were, In order to test his nerves, he
would say, while pointing to a grin
ning skeleton . standing upright in a
corner: ,
"Part of your work would be to feed
the skeleton there, and while you are
here you may aa well have a try to
do so."
A few lads would consent to a trial,
and received a basin of hot gruel and
a spoon. '
While they were pouring a hot mass
Into the skull the doctor would throw
his voice so as to make It appear to
proceed from the Jaws of the' bony cus
tomer, and gurgle out:
"Gr-r-r-gr-h-ub! That's hot!"
This was too much, and without ex
ception the las dropped the basin and
bolted. '
The doctor began to despair of ever
getting a suitable helpmate until a
small boy came and was given the
basin and spoon.
After the first spoonful the skeleton
appeared to say:
"Gr-r-r-uh-r-hr! That's hot!"
Shoveling in the scalding gruel as
fast as ever, the boy rapped the skull
and impatiently retorted:
"Well, jlst blow on't ye auld bony!"
The doctor sat down on his chair and
fairly roared, but when the laugh was
over he engaged the lad on the spot
London Tit-Bits.
A Very Trifling Incident.
A clergyman was called upon to per
form a marriage ceremony for a couple
In middle life.
"Have you ever been married be
fore?" asked the clergyman of the
bridegroom.
"No, sir." .
"Have you?" to the bride.
. "Well, yes, I have," replied the bride
laconically; "but it was twenty years
ago, and he was killed in an accident
when we'd been married only a week,
so it really , ain't worth mentioning."
San Francisco Wave.
The World's Railways.
The length of the world's railways is
more than seventeen times the circum
ference of the earth at the equator.
Aa soon as a man gets so old he has
no more trouble with heart affairs, his
liver begins to make him grief.
"GRAND OLD WOMAN'' OF FE
MALE SUFFRAGE,
3he Has at the Bipe Old Age of Eighty
Years Retired from the Presidency of
the National Woman's Suffrage As
sociation. '
The career of Susan B. Anthony, who
ias retired from the presidency of the
National Woman's Suffrage Assocla
Jon, and to whom, in honor of her
eightieth birthday, a grand reception
was tendered in Washington, has been
I remarkable one. She made her first
speech In public in 1849, at Canajoharie,
N. Y., where she was teaching in the
icademy. Her subject was the rela
tion of women to temperance. Two
Fears later, at Rochester, N. Y.,
whither her family bad moved, she first
became Interested In the anti-slavery
lgitatlon. Before 1851 had ended she
lad made the acquaintance of Garrison.
Phillips, Greeley, Pillsbury, Douglass.
Stephen and Abby Foster, Lucy Stone
ind Elizabeth Cady Stanton, all believ
ers in woman's right to the franchise,
ind she became enthusiastic In the
;ause. She attended her first woman's
rights convention In Syracuse In 1852.
Lucretia Mott was elected President
ind Miss Anthony waa made Secretary.
From that date to the present she has
lttended from one to a dozen conven
tions every year, and never has been
9ut of office.
For several years she-worked, might
and main. In the temperance cause, but
indignant at being "snubbed and insult
ed" by the men's conventions, and "dis
gusted with the subserviency of wom
en," she resolved to devote her life to
the emancipation of ber sex. From this
decision she never has swerved, except
during those years when, she labored
for the freedom of the negroes. She
has been mobbed again and again, and
often has held her ground when every
man on the platform fled to a place of
safety. .. ' ,
Her Great Labors.
At the present time It Is difficult to
conceive the ridicule and contempt
heaped on the pioneers in this move
ment; nor did It come from men alone.
When Susan B. Anthony tramped from
MISS SUSAN
door to door with petitions praying the
Legislature to enact laws-which would
permit a woman to own property and
control the wages she earned, and
would take from fathers the power to
will away their children, It was women
who slammed the door in her face, tell
ing her they had all the rights they
wanted. In the winter of 1855, one of
the coldest and snowiest on record, she
canvassed the whole State of New
York In the Interest of those petitions
and also one asking for the franchise,
going from village to village, from
schoolhouse to scboolhouse, most of
the distance In a sleigh, with not a
home open to her, not a dollar sub
scribed toward her expenses. It was
an unheard-of thing for a woman to do.
yet not only one but many winters did
she make this canvass, and after ten
years of effort on the part of herself
and a few associates the Legislature
began to yield. -.' .-
Undaunted by abuse, slander ana
threats of violence, and strong in their
sense of justice, Susan B. Anthony and
a few companions went ; steadily , for
ward, blazing the way which is now
so smooth and flowery for the millions
of women banded together in organi
zations and holding their great puolic
meetings. Scores and scores of conven
tions, alone and almost unaided, she
has originated and carried through to
a successful conclusion, advertised
them, hired the hall, secured the speak,
era, and made herself responsible for
the expenses. She has been always
and is to-day the financial burden bear
er of the suffrage organization, and can
raise more money than anybody else
more than all the rest
The first memorial ever sent to' Con
gress asking for the enfranchisement
of women was prepared by Miss
Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
in 1867. They, with others, organized
in 1869, in New York City, the first Na
tional Woman Suffrage Association.
The same year-the American Associa
tion was organized in Cleveland. Twen
ty years later the two consolidated.
As Head of the Association.
Miss Anthony never could be per
suaded to fill the office of President of
the association when it was possible to
persuade Mrs. Stanton to do so, but
with tbat lady's family affairs In early
days, and lecture engagements in later
years, the former was acting president
much of the time, and from 1879 Vice
President at large. In 1892 Mrs. Stan
ton, then 76 years ofd, begged that the
gavel might be transferred to Miss An
thony, and the delegates yielded to her
w ishes.
SOME OF REYNARD'S TRICKS.
He Sometimes Outwits the Hounds
When Pursued by Them.
Not long ago the Washington hunt
of Valley Forge started a young fox
in the North valley hills, and the
hounds were running it across the open
fields when the hunters were surprised
to see a much larger fox come from
the woods and run diagonally across
the track of the young fox ahead of
the bounds, and when they struck the
stronger track of the bigger fox they
took it up, young Raynard thereby be
ing saved from being run down and
killed by the hounds.
Old hunters say they have frequently
witnessed this trick when young foxes
were being closely pressed and in dan
ger of being run down and killed by
the hounds. Another and an even
sharper trick was played by an old fox
some weeks ago while being - hotly
chased by hounds. The fox had run
some twenty miles, and while crossing
an open stretch of country was in dan
ger of being run down and killed, in
a field through which the fox was run
ning with the bounds close to its heels
was the cellar of an old house, with
a portion of the walls still standing.
The fox made straight for the old cel
lar, leaped into it and made its es
cape through a narrow opening in the
walls. The hounds, supposing the fox
was trapped, dashed Into the cellar
pell mell, only to find Reynard gone
and themselves In a trap, as the hole
in the wall through which the fox had
escaped was too small to permit them
to get through.
When the hunters rode up they found
the pack in a trap, with one of the
hounds wedged fast In the bole
tnrougb which the fox had made its es
cape. By the time the bounds were
gotten out- of the cellar the fox was
safe in its hole. Philadelphia Times.
AGED MAN'S STRENGTH
Although 66 Tears Old, He Can Lift a
Weight of 1,070 Pounds.
When one Is young and strong," is
a natural expression. Youth and
strength are 8'ipposed to go together.
But what do you think of an old man,
whose years are represented by two
sixes placed side by side, lifting a
weight of 1,070 pounds? Think of it;
over half a ton. , His name is George
Collins and you can wager he comes
from the West His borne is in Detroit
All life long he has taken care of bis
health. It has not entirely been a hob
by with him, but he had a desire to live
Iong and that was the surest method he
knew of arriving at Ills object .
He moved to the city, where his repu
tation for strength was not known.
Not long ago he went to an amusement
park and stood watching ' the young
men rivaling each other at a lifting
machine.- They were doing a great deal
of loud talking and laughing, but not
much lifting. One of their number,
however, made a fairly good, record
which the others could not equal. He
was declared champion. A small crowd
B. .ANTHONY.
attracted by the noise had collected and
the alleged champion addressed them
challenging any of their number to step
forward . if they thought they had a
chance.
George Collins, remembering the days
of his youth, accepted the challenge
and stepped forward into the circle.
Naturally there were shouts of derision
at the gray hairs and the bent form,
but the two men went to work with a
will. At first the old man made a lift
or what he thought was one and the
machine registered 600 pounds. The
youth tried his hand and had difficulty
In reaching 700 pounds. Collins tried
again and made It 800 pounds, which
the young man increased to 850 pounds.
LIFTIJtO A 1 070-POUND WEIGHT.
By that time all was excitement . The
third and last trial was at hand. The
old man gave a frightful tug, every
muscle ana vein in his neck stood out
and all the force of his back went into
the work. So the machine when read
registered 1,070 pounds. The alleged
strong youth looked at it with a sickly
smile. He tried to' better It but failed
dismally. The old man was declared
the champion of the park.
Did Not Donbt Him. .
"He says he would gladly lay the
world at my feet" said the sentimental
young woman. "
"That's what he'll do," said Miss
Cayenne. "After you're married, he'll
lay the world at your feet and compel
you to walk on It because you can't af
ford a cab." Washington Star. "
London Fashion Pays High Rent.
In the fashionable thoroughfares of
Iyoudon a good bouse rents for $50,000
a year.
There are only two times when a
sane man can persuade himself that he
has a long purse: when he is drunk,
and when on his wedding tour.
It is easy enough to be economical
when you have plenty with which to
economize. ,
The individual who climbs to fame
and fortune over the shoulders of oth
ers must look down on their hatred.
True charity begins before your own
wants are supplied, . r" " '
their Significance in Accordance with
Their Relative Positions.
"Chairs are great pantomime per
ormers," said one of a group In the
iotel lobby to a New Orleans Times
Democrat writer. "I mean," be ex
plained, "that they have wonderful
powers of expression.
"Look at those two, facing each other
In the corner. The one nearest us. If
rou will notice, stands perfectly
itralght and stiff, while the other is
:wisted around a trifle to the right and
we know by that token as plainly as if
e bad witnessed it that they were
lately occupied by a bore and bis vic
tim. The bore squared himself In front
it the poor fellow and proceeded to tell
the story of bis life. The victim
writhed and squirmed, and when he
Snaily escaped the record of bis travail
was written legibly In the furniture.
Now, that pair of chairs by the desk
tell quite a' different tale, and one could
almost say tbat they were engaged in
pleasant conversation at this very boi
uient Observe the confidential angle
of the arms. I have often encountered
;hairs arranged like that only more so,
on the piazza of summer hotels early In
the morning after a moonlight night
They fairly reeked with romance! It
would be impossible, by the way, to
place chairs in such a position deliber
ately. You couldn't do it to save your
neck. The effect depends upon a very
subtle combination of lines imparted
unconsciously by the occupants.
"Did you ever go Into a room where
a poker party had been playing a stiff
game all night and notice the way the
chairs stood about the tables? In nine
cases out of ten they tell the story of
the wind-up as clearly as It could be
done by types.. Several years ago I
was at a hotel In a little town on the
Texas and Pacific, when a fellow was
shot In a. quarrel In one of the rooms
on the second floor. He Had been In
a party of three who were playing
cards, and when I went up to look at
the scene of the tragedy, very shortly
afterward, I was struck at once by the
arrangement of . the chairs. They
formed a dramatic tableau. - One
bugged the table, and bad "evidently
been occupied by the chap who looked
on. The other was thrust back several
feet at an abrupt angle, as If whoever
a.t there bad risen suddenly, and the
third was overturned in a pool of blood.
One could not have asked for a better
record of what had happened."
ACCIDENTS LESS FREQUENT.
Travel on American Railroads Is Safe
than Ever Before. '
There are 50,000 flagmen, switchmen
and line watchmen employed on the
railroads of the United States and th
duties which devolve upon them relat
primarily to the security of passing
trains. - The use by tbem of lanterns at
night and flags by day, while desirable
In a small way as a measure of protec
tion, especially at crossings, Is by aa
means so Important as the signal lights
which are displayed from towers and
which are regulated by telegraphic
communication maintained along the
line of track. Under the signal rules
adopted by the American Railroad As
sociation, the application of which la
general not only throughout the United
States, but In Mexico and Canada aa
well, a red light whenever displayed
signifies danger and calls for a stop; a
green light cautions and commands "Go
ilowly;" white indicates safety and
commands "Go ahead."- A blue flag
by day and a blue light by night dis
played at one or both ends of an en
gine, car or train signifies that work
men are engaged on or about It When
thus protected It must not be disturbed .
One effect of the more general use ol
uniform signals has been the steady
reduction of the number of fatalitlei
on American , railroads, the total num
ber of which is now considerably lest
than it was ten years ago, though in
the meantime railroad travel has In
creased enormously. The total numbei
of passengers carried on American rail
roads In a year Is not far from 600,000,
000, and the number of fatalities t
passengers average less than 250, oi
less than one two-thousandth of 1 pel
cent While the number of passenger!
carried Is increasing, the number ol
accidents Is diminishing in consequent
of the fact that while some railroad
accidents appear to be absolutely una
voidable, serious accidents entaillni
the wreckage of trains and wholesalf
disasters -are very much less frequent
than formerly. The adoption and main
tenance of a complete system of rail
toad signals entails a considerable ex
pense upon railroad companies, but it
is much more than made up by tht
advantages -. attained, which lnclud
greater security In travel, a high rat
of speed for passenger trains, a puck
diminished danger of track obstructioi
and a practical diminution In the num
ber and success of suits brought foi
damages. The work of making travel
safe on American railroads Is goini
ahead even faster than Is the work ol
railroad building, actively resume
Bince 1897. New York Sun. -
Fable by Uncle Eli. '-.''',
A woodman who was passing througl
the forest came upon a bear who wai
rolling over and over on the ground
and uttering the most dismal com
plaints. . Bruin had one eye closed, an
was covered from bead to heels wit
lumps and knobs and knots.
"What cheer?" gayly cried the wood
man, as he drew near. . '
"Bees!" moaned the bear.' -s
"But nature gave you a coat of fur t
protect you from the stings of bees."
"So she did," answered the bear,1 "bur "
she also made me fool enough to lean
honey just the same when I was shed
ding my coat and every sting woul
lift me a foot high." ,
MORAL:
None of us Is ever satisfied with i
good thing. New York Sun.
. The Rubicon.
The proverb in regard to passing tht
Rubicon originated from the clrcuni
stance of Julius Caesar's crossing tht
atream in the year 49 with his for
midable force. This act marked the be
ginning of civil war. The Rubicon h
the ancient name of a small strean
which divided Italy from Clsalpim
Gaul,, and was the boundary -of Cae
Bar's province. It separated his prov
ince from a fertile and populous coun
try, upon the conquest of which he de
termlned. At the brink of the Rublcot
be paused, conscience smitten and unj
decided. Finally, the love of conquest
led him across the stream and sent wai
and pestilence into the heart of tht
country. The proverb signifies the en
trance upon any undertaking, froq
which there can be no retreat
Thought He Was Orthodox.
The tendency of most doctrines Is tt
be very narrow, and the loyalty for i
particular church Is "bred in the bone,'
as a certain little boy bears witness
His mother was telling him of tht
childhood of Christ and in the courst
of ber story said tbat Christ was i
Jew. The little fellow looked up a
her In wide-eyed astonishment and saU
In an awed voice: "Why, mother, I al
ways thought that the Lord waa
- res wy i
n