Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1903)
"BILL." He wasn't party nary bit; the wrinklin hand o' Time Had written strange devices in the tan and pqjivder grime; But prospectiu his character, there" d crop out everywhere Ilich streaks o' golden placer that yov'd never dreamed was there. And, spite of all his homeliness, some how his rugged face Jest seemed to brace a feller up and give 'im savin' grace. When times was hard and grub was high an' the colors far between, And into the starving miner's life there widened the streak o' lean! There widened the streak o' poverty when all o' the world was blue; When shovel an' pan were red with rust, with nothing at all to do; I don't jest savey the why of it and I reckon I never will That I somehow failed to appreciate the worth of my pardner. Bill. It's shorely hard to understand the ways o' the human mind. For we grow indifferent-like to gold, the more o the stuff we find. 'Tjvas so with me; I'd lived so long with old Bill at my side That I never jest knew the worth of him till my pardner up an' died. "Good-by, old man!" he snys, says he, a-lookin' toward the skies The light o' new discovery a-shi".n' in his eyes . 'I see across the great divide, an like a golden flame, I catch 'the gleam ah' glitter of my ever lasting claim!" An then he died my pardner Bill! There warn't no better Bills! An' I know he washes gravel on the everlastin' hills The golden sand in the Stream o' Life a hundred to the pan! For the Lord won't play him low down, 'cause my pardner was a man! For fifty year o' storm an' sun Bill's blanket has been mine; And his friendship never broke a strand. though it stretched from '49. He loved me! which the same is mighty comfortin' to me, For I know my pardner's grub-staked for a long eternity! San Francisco Bulletin. I ASK ID IT SILL BE GIVEN THEL, -dear," said Bessie Brown, with proud eyes, "my ' . brother, Philip Estes Brown, from South Africa." Lieut. Phil bent over the dainty hand of his sister's chum, mentally contrasting her radiant fairness with the sun-burnt faces of the Boer ladies, his principal feminine society for two long years. "I am pleased to meet you," he said, simply. "Bessie has often written of you. I can't express how glad I am to be shaking hands with a genuine English girl again after so many months of desolation." "And I," said Miss Mackay, with charming seriousness, 'am glad to meet one who has given up home and business to uphold his country's flag. My father fought for it in the Crimea. Bessie told me," she continued, when the three had adjourned to the ver anda, "that you received your wound in saving one of your men. Would would you mind telling me about It?" There Isn't much to tell," said Phil, with an embarrassed laugh. "Bessie" with a fond glance at his sister "has constructed quite a romance out of it, with me for the principal character;- but it was the other fellow who was the hero." "We ran into an ambush about a dozen miles from canip twenty of us; myself, the only officer,' in command and only by the greatest good fortune escaped annihilation. But we man aged to reach cover with only half a dozen wounded. " " ' ' "It was a sort of natural pocket In the rocks, a regular little citadel; but while the enemy couldn't rush out of it, we couldn't get out, either, for we were completely surrounded, and they numbered ten to our one. "For two days we lay on those broil ing rocks, hoping for the help which didn't come, till the heat and the want of water1 for that had given out: the first day began to make the men go off their heads, and the suffering of the wounded made my heart ache. "Things looked so black that I had about made up my mind to give up in the morning of the third day when one of the men Rogers his name was, a splendid fellow came up to me and saluted. i ' " 'Lieutenant,' he said, there's water out there about 200 yards to the left of us. I saw it as we were driven in. I can take half a dozen canteens, and when the moon goes down behind that cloud make a rush. If I get back we can last another day; if I don't well, it's a man's death, that's all.' yi wrung his hand Impulsively. 'Spoken like a gentleman and a sol dier,' I said, for I had long known he was a gentleman, though only a com mon Tommy Atkins. "He reached the water safely, but half sway back the Boers saw him as be crossed a patch of moonlight and fired; then he fell and lay still, and and," continued the lieutenant lamely, "I went out and brought him in." "He brought him in on his back," broke in-Bessie, "with two bullets in his own shoulder. And what do you think, Ethel the man's name wasn't Rogers at all. but Mackay." Ethel had risen with staring eyes. "What was he like, this man?" she whispered. "Was he tall and fair, and did he have a scar across his temple so?" "Why, yes," said Phil, wondering at her agitation. "He was just like that -how did you " "He was my brother," she cried. "He left . home angry with father. I can't tell you why now; but father was in the wrong. He isn't dead he will get well?" "Oh, yes," said Phil; "he's all right, . and there is a commission waiting ror Jhm when he gets out of the hospital." must go at once and tell father," said Ethel, hurriedly. ''Won't he be glad and proud! But you," turning suddenly; "what can I say to you, -who saved my brother's life?" "Perhaps," he said, audaciously, I L"-U I t I r I tM-o- --v I ST Dark-Room Window. A correspondent asks for a coating for the glass with which he is to glaze his dark-room window. I do not approve of the use of daylight as an illuminant In developing It is too variable. Besides, almost any coloring matter will lose its value to some extent If exposed to strong daylight for months. With this protest made, I would suggest that my correspondent coat each side of his glass with a solution of gelatine, coloring one solution with erythrosin and the other with orange G, anallne colors. The first will absort the green and the latter the, blue and violet rays. The gelatine films should be protected with a good coat of varnish. Old negatives may be utilized by removing the image with a reducer and then staining the film with a solution of the dye. Western Camera Notes. Importance of Margins. One often notices In portrait work, even among the specimens of those photographers who ought to know better, a defect which is either the result of carelessness or of ignorance. What I refer to is the arrangement of the genera position of the head on the finished print. In the case of vignettes, for instance, a person, on looking at the portrait, instinctively determines to himself whether the portrait is that of a tall or a short person. But, to show how foolish it is to guess the height of any one from a vignette, it would be safe to say that if a cabinet vignette were printed of the biggest giant in the kingdom, and a couple of inches margin were allowed above the head, a stranger would almost certainly judge him to be a short, squat dwarf; and the reverse hole's good, in that a short per son, whose head in a portrait was printed close to the upper margin, would convey an idea of tallness. But there is something else in portrait margins apart from this. We know there is nothing of special Interest above the head or, perhaps, to allow for feminine interest in millinery, I bad better say above the hat! But we know that below the shoulders there must be the rest of the body, although it is vignetted away; and it only seems in the fitness of things, as strengthening suggestiveness, that there should be more space below the portrait than above. The Importance of correct and intelli gent spacing in portraiture, once grasped, means a good step forward. Photo-American. "when I come back for always I may ask you for something. May I hope that " A sudden flood of red dyed the girl's pure face. "Ask, and it shall be given thee," she quoted, softly. New York Daily News. FORDHAM COLLEGE FARM. Sixty Acres on Which Are Grown Vegetables for Establishment. St. John college at Fordham, N. Y., is one of the largest farmers of the Bronx. The glebe lands of the col lege, closely bordering Bronx park, are about sixty acres in extent. Here the farmer of the college grows hay and corn for nearly a score of cows and keeps a walled garden In which are grown fresh vegetables for the table. The whole arrangement smacks of the mediaeval monastery, says . the New York Times, only the clergy do not work the glebe. Nevertheless St. John's is the only college in New York city that in part supplies its own table from its own land. The score of cows do not give enough milk for the needs of the college and the products of the garden must be supplemented from the markets, but the whole situation Berves to recall a time when St. John's was really in the country, when the great, ugly town had not penetrated the grounds and the . smiling glebe lands actually produced enough to feed both teachers and pupils. The long row of farm buildings and especially the old-fashioned barn with its dependent cowsheds bespeak the earlier conditions. A long, narrow farm lane lined with giant elms leads east ward to the rear fields of the glebe and still looks as it must have looked when all the region round was yet unspoiled country. The farmer lives in one of the row of farm buildings, and- the strange impertinence of a child's cart in the college garden Indicates the presence of the lay element. ; Oddly mixed with farming imple ments are old desks and chairs from the school-room, and ola furniture of various kinds from the lodgings of the teachers and students,,, while priests in long robe and biretta occa sionally take their constitutional along the farm lane in the wake of the farm er and his laborers. How long St. John's can maintain its old farming traditions nobody can tell, but the time must come when it will no longer be profitable to keep the glebe under cultivation. The yearly growing beauty of Bronx park is con stantly adding to the value of the glebe, and the development of the whole region round about It is contrib uting to the same thing. Already the extension of the elevated railroad to the entrance of the park has taken a considerable slice off the fine old col lege campus, and some years ago the college authorities leveled a bit of the ground to the north of the campus ABOLISHING It looks as If he was cutting It maifur tjvaphi) proper, as If in anticipation of a time when the campus might be extended in that direction. The time will surely come when the glebe will be further narrowed by the sale of portions not needed for ordinary college purposes, and the farm will be merely a tra dition. FARM LAD TOOK HONORS AT YALE. Professors call Frederick Erastus Pierce, of South Britain, Conn., the most remarkable student Yale Univer sity ever had. He entered three years ago from his father's farm, where he had been toiling in the fields. His FREDERICK E. FIERCE. every aspect betokened the plowboy. But in a short time he began to- at tract attention. In the first year he won three prizes and the Woolsey scholarship, and has kept up his rec ord. Pierce is working his way through college. Signs of Hydrophobia. ' As to hydrophobia: Beware of the dog when it becomes 'dull and hides away; appears restless; always on the move and prowling; whose counte nance is somber and sullen; walks with head down, like a bear. Beware of one that scratches incessantly and tears up things. Look out for the dog that has become too fond of you and is continually trying to lick your hand and face. Beware, above all, of the dog which has difficulty in swallow ing, which appears to have a bone in its throat, and one that has wandered from home and returns covered with dirt, exhausted and miserable. Poultry and Egg. The last census gave the value of poultry raised in the United States dur ing the year 1899 as $136,891,877; of eggs produced in the same year, $144, 286,158. DmnkeDneas Among Women., Out of every 100 cases' of drunken ness brought before magistrates in England, thirty are women. The flower of the family isn't always college bred. a THE QUEUE. pretty short Minneapolis Journal. science Exhaustive testa for years have con vinced Joseph L. Ferrell that sulphate of aluminum Is the best ftreproofing for wood. Unlike sulphate or phosphate of ammonia, which check flames by emit ting ammonia gas, the aluminum com pound forms an infusible and non-conducting coating. The late discovery In strawberries of salicylic acid, a specific in acute rheu matism, has seemed to confirm the Idea that these berries are a desirable arti cle of food for rheumatics. The effect of the fruit cannot be due to the sali cylic acid," however, as less than the hundredth of a grain per pound is found. Important tests of the fatal propor tion of carbonic oxide in-the air lrave been made by Prof-. BIosso at the Turin Physiological Institute. A heroic sub ject was confined three times in a her metically sealed Iron chamber, the air of which was mixed first with 1-333 of carbonic oiide, then with 1-2S5, and lastly with 1-233. On the last experi ment the man ceased to breathe, being restored oly by oxygen. While urging that the proposed bio logical survey of the North Sea should seek means of favoring fishes and their food supply, Prof. W. C. Mcintosh de clares that no important species, is in danger of becoming extinct. The fishes were not exterminated by the swarms of gigantic destroyers of reptilian times, when 'the destruction must at least have equaled that of to-day by man, and future extinction need not be feared. Alcohol is coming into considerable use for illumination in France. The flame is made luminous by the addi tion of sufficient coal-oil or crude ben zine, or the ordinary non-luminous flame is used to give incandescence to a Welsbach mantle. The latter Is the more Important method. Some lamps have from sixty to eight hundred candle-power, and these large portable lamps, carrying their own illuminant, seem to have advantages over gas cr electricity for many purposes. The best of the burners yield about thirty candle-power hours per ounce of alco hol. Tests have recently been made on the Boston and Maine and the Florida East Coast Railroads to determine the value of oil as fuel for locomotive en gines. On the Florida Railroad it was found, after a month's experimenting with a locomotive hauling its regular load, that 132.3 gallons of oil did the work of one ton of coal. Another test showed 131.8 gallons of oil to be equiv alent to a ton "of coal. "In the Boston and Maine experiments the ratio was 140.26 gallons of oil to one ton Of coaL It was found that the engine could be urged to a greater capacity with oil than with coal, and this with a smoke less fire. By ' a singular change of circum stances, the gold miners of Hastings County, Ontario, Canada, who for years were baffled in trying to extract the precious metal from its matrix by the presence of arsenic In the ore, have lately found the arsenic to be more profitable than the gold. This, Is due at once to the great purity of the Cana dian arsenic, and to the rapid exhaus tion of the arsenic deposits of England and Germany. At the same time, the introduction of a successful method of separating the gold increases the profit of working the Canadian depos its, because every ton of the arsenical ore carries from $4 to $60 worth f gold. - ' ' ' HOLDING HIM TO HIS WORD. It Does Not Pay to Make Too Sweep ins Statements. "My dear," said Mr. Puffer, with some dismay, as a smoking cherry pudding was placed on the table be fore him, "don't you think' you are sort of running to cherries lately? Of course I hope that I shall always be cherished by you, but when it comes to cherries in some form every meal, Just cherries or stewed cherries or cherry pie r cherry pudding, I be lieve I could cheerfully donate some of our : cherries to our less fortunate neighbors." "Well. John," said his wife, calmly, "I suppose you remember what you said when you insisted on picking the cherries yourself?" "Ahr Martha," said Mr. Puffer, com placently, "there was a clean-cut, neat, workmanlike job for you, In spite of all your fears and opposition. In stead of the grass under the tree be ing piled a foot deep with a litter of leaves, , twigs and branches broken from the tree, as it invariably Is when you send a boy rampaging after the fruit, I cleaned that tree without any damage to.it, and consequently with hardly a single leaf to be raked up off the grass. And I got all the cherries without breaking any of my arms or legs or necks, as you so cheer fully predicted, too. Still, while I admit I am proud of the job, I dp not think it absolutely necessary to live in definitely upon those cherries I gath ered." .', "You haven't eaten a single one out of the few quarts you gathered, John," said Mrs. Puffer, positively. "I canned all of them." "WelL where does this satiety of cherries I've had inflicted upon me for the past two days come from, then?" demanded Mr. Puffer. "Do you . remember what you said when I asked you if the few you picked were all it was possible to get from the tree, John?" asked Mrs. Puf fer, with a twinkle in her eye. '. "Why, ye-es," acknowledged Mr. Puffer, thoughtfully and suspiciously. "What was, it?" persisted his wife, the twinkle widening.- "We-eli, I . believe I said that If any body could get any more off that tree I'd eat them, stones, stems and every thing," admitted Mr. Puffer reluct-' antly. - . ' . ... V: "I havn't insisted upon the stones and stems," said his wife, demurely. "Bhr exclaimed Mr. Puffer. . ."But little Jimmy Ballou got enough to last about three weeks longer at the rate you are eating them," continued Mrs. Puffer, quietly. Mr. Puffer solemnly helped himself to a large, thick slab of the pudding, and began slowly stowing it away. "Martha," he said, gravely, after a few minutes of this labor, "if, I own up that I am a little just a trifle too old and stout to pick cherries as well as I did when I was a boy, don't you think the hospital would appreciate a donation of some nice, luscious cher ries?" Youth's Companion. BOLD ROBIN HOOD'S DAY. May 1 the Anniversary of the Death of the Noted Woodsman. An Immense lot of leases still date from May 1, says the New York Com mercial Advertiser, but not many of the lessors or lessees know that this, is simply an adjournment of a few days from St. George's day, from which the leases of their ancestors used to run. This again dates from the more remote period when the date was fixed at the time of one moon after the spring equinox. May day as a day for strikes of workmen is not a thing of recent years. It has the sanction of centuries, if of nothing else. May 1 is the day on which bold Robin Hood was bled to death by his treacherous relative, and sped his last arrow, which marked where his grave should be. The date is at least as cer tain as that on "which Remus made his unlucky jump over the rising walls of Rome. Robin Hood was the hero and saint of the common people of England, and for centuries the May day festivities were joined to celebra tions of his deeds, and to exultant pro phecies of the day when conditions should be equalized after the ideal of this fcnight of their own. It has happened ever since that when the sun enters the sign of Taurus and Robin Hood's day approaches, the sturdy descendant of his woodsmen, working at the mechanic's bench, feels a strange fever burning in his blood. He feels that he would like to have a reckoning with certain "rich earles" whom he wots of. He grows Impa tient toward the "fat bysshoppes and the archbysshopes," and works him self into such a fighting mood that if interfered with he would not hesi tate to take a fall out of even the "hye sheryffe of Nottinghame." So he throws down his tools and hies him off to the "green forest," where shaws be sheen and shards full fair," to gether with a brass band and plenty of refreshments. Perhaps he will bring to terms the proud Norman who owns the shop; perhaps not; anyway, he has his fun. The floral festivities of the day, in these times and in this country usually adjourned to the first Saturday in May are a survival of the old Roman festi vities in honor of the goddess Flora The May queen is Flora herself Im personated. The rigging up of a boy consort Is an impertinent and ridicu lous innovation, which should, if pos sible, be abolished. MISSED HIS ENGAGEMENT. Wily John Chinaman Con Id Not Ks cape From Police Clutches. Some time ago a squad of Manhat tan police raided a fan tan game in Chinatown. Eleven Chinamen were captured and kept in a third story front room In charge of Detective Drennan until the patrol wagon came for them. While they were waiting for the 'wagon one of the prisoners said to Drennan. . "Me got to go. Me ot velly import ant engagement." "I suppose so," said the detective, "but you've got a more important en gagement at the police station. The Chinaman begged like a good fellow,, but Drennan was obdurate. "Me give you five dollals if you let me go," the prisoner finally whispered. "No use, John. Even if I let you out of the room," said the detective, "the police would catch you at the lower door. They are guarding that." As quick as a flash the Chinaman answered: "That's alle light. You let me out, me go upstairs, get out on roof, and go down other building. Police no catchee me." " "Can't do it, John," Drennan per sisted. "They've got you prisoners all counted. If I turn over only ten I'll have troubles of my own." "Me fix that," the Chinaman ans wered, without a moment's hesitation. "Me go to window, call a Chinaman friend up from street. When he come to this door you pull him in and I run out. See? You have eleven plisoners alle same, and police can't tell one Chinaman from other." - But notwithstanding his cunning, John had to go to the station, and his "velly important engagement" was broken. Brooklyn Eagle. Horses Scare and High. "I have not known a period when horses were so scarce and high," said T. E. Gilbert of Cincinnati at the Hotel Barton. "I am in the business and have, of late been scouring Kentucky and Ohio with a view of purchasing a good-sized, bunch, but had very poor success. More people want to buy than sell, aud prices are at a point where it is impossible for dealers to make any profits. The country was drained of horse flesh during our war with Spain, and further depletion was caused by the Boer war. It will take severalyearstomake up the deficiency, and high prices will continue. The au tomobile craze has had no perceptible effect on the demand for high-class animals, and I do not believe that it will ever get so violent as to make people Indifferent to the delight of sit ting behind a pair of high steppers." Washington Post. When Talk Conies High. "Oh, well, talk is cheap," sneered the angry lawyer. "Not that kind," replied the Judge promptly. "Ten dollars," please." Syracuse, N. Y., Herald. A Definition. "Pa, what Is a fray?" . "Why, my son, that is what a per son who has never been in a fight calls it" Puck. r : Theaters In New York. ; Thirteen new theaters, to cost $8, 000,000, are being , built In New York City, y r,-: ' --- - -- - : - " " Once more the umpire Is doing hi annual stunt as a martyr. . OUH BUDGET OF FUN. I HUMOROUS SAYINGS AND DO INGS HERE AND THERE. Jokes and Jokelete that Are Supposed to Have Been Recently Born Bayinga and Doings that Are Old, Curione and Laughable The Week's Humor. "'I can't see what you find in me to admire," said the lovelorn youth who had recently blown himself for a $37.50 engagement ring. "Why," gurgled the fluffy-haired an gel of his domestic dreams, "that's just what everybody else says." And immediately the silence became oppressive. ' Aa Corrected. Mrs. O'Hooiihan Pfwhat kolnd av a job is yez ould man. afther hoviu' now? Mrs. McGarlgle Job, is it? Shure an' it be an illigant sittuashun as tiHe- grapb operather' he's afther hovln. It's trav'lln about dlggln phost holes fer th' coompany he is, d'y moind." Enre of Hie Ground. Wife of New Minister Now, Davie, you'll have to look after the church better than this or we will have to think about getting a new beadle. Davie (beadle of long standing, se vere" y) Mistress Nichollson, we whiles change oor minister, but we ' never change oor beadle. He Never Worried. A lady waited tor hours at a wayside station of the Midland Great Western Railway. The train came along and she got in. The hours dragged by, and at each stoppage she asked if it was Sligo. Finally the guard became Irri tated. "Don't worry, madam; I'll let you know' when we reach Sligo." "But I've, been nearly all day on my jour ney." "Well, madam, I've been on this railway three years, and I'm not wor rying." "Poor man!" she retorted, "you must have started the next sta tion bteyond mine." His Plea.' "My plea," said the young lawyer, who had just won his first case, "seem ed to strongly affect the jury." "Yes," replied the judge, "I was afraid at one time that you would suc ceed in getting your client convicted In spite of his innocence." Not So Reckless. "Do you take this internally?" asked the customer as he put the bottle in his pocket and took his change. "Me?" said the druggist's new assist ant. "Great Scott, no! I sell it" Stray Stories. An Accommodating Stork. The following order was received a few days ago by a Chicago grocery firm: ' . "Please ship at once by freight, one bag salt, fourteen lb shuger. The stork brought us a baby last night and box crackers, also one barrel soap. It weighed nine lb. The Vagaries of Fashion. Mrs. Commonheh -Don't mind her, my dear. Long skirts are doomed. It will soon be our turn.. .. ' Circumstantial Evidence. Tommy Was that your; mother I saw with you yesterday? ; Willie I guess so; 't any rate she's the one who carries the key to the jam. closet at our house. Boston . Tran script . , , , Force of Habit. . 1 The boss plumber had become a multi-millionaire and was going - abroad for his health. On .the voyage over a school of whales were sighted: and the boss plumber - was Been to - rub his hands In ecstasies. . . "Why is he so nappy?" asked a curi ous tourist.' "He can't help it" ; whispered the captain. 1 "He Imagines each spout Is a bursted water pipe, to be repaired by him at his old rates." . . ,- Vain. '" ' ' "Did you find the Chinese a ' rain people?" ' v. - " "Very. To hear a Chinese brag you could almost believe an American was talking." . . :' , Enough Said. Nell So Jack asked permission to kiss you, eh? ' ,:. ,k V"; Bess Yes. -: . . .. : Nell You refused it, of course? V '; Bess Certainly. : Nell What did he say then? Bess Nothing. Actions speak loud er than words and Jack la all right as an actor Not Reassuring- Do you know what precautions the- J proprietor of this hotel has taken : against fire?" asked the nervous old lady as the bellboy escorted her to a room on the fifth floor. "Sure I do," replied the knowing youth. "De boss has got de joint ln ehoor'd fer two times de worth uv .it. See?" Hia Preference. Magistrates-It will be either $10 or thirty days. Uncle Rastus. You can have your choice. Uncle Rastus Ah's much erbllge, yo' honnah, an' Ah reckon yo' all had bet tah gib me de money, sah. Hia Specialty.' Stranger You have a fine farm here. Farmer Right yew air, stranger. I 'low as it be one o' the finest In these parts. Stranger What Is your best paying crop? Farmer Summer boarders. Chicago News. Professional Adviee. . "Doctor," said the .timid patient. "I'm fond of the water, but I don't want to risk taking cold. What shall I do?" "Take it hot." replied the wise pill compiler. "Two dollars, please." In the Puppy Class. He But I am willing to wait if you will give me some hope. She Well, suppose you wait nine days; perhaps your, eyes will be open then. Twa Kver Thus. "The world Is backward about com ing forward with its appreciation," mused the Irish philosopher. "We never think of strewing flowers on a man's grave until after he is dead." Hacked to Win. She (after the engagement) Why were you so nervous when you pro posed? He Oh, I was merely acting a part I didn't want you to know how sure I was of your answer. Afflnence. "Rich? . Why, she never has to think of the matter of cost at all." "No?" "Not for a moment. She can afford to wear what she likes, even though it is something cheap." Antomobility. "Steam, eh? Isn't It rather noisy?" "Oh, no. Except for a slight puffing when it is climbing a very steep hlti or running over an extraordinarily large person, quite noiseless." ' Reduced Rate. "Mamma, give me a penny, please, for a glass of lemonade." "But dear, If it's only a penny, it can't be good." "Yes, it is, but they're selling it cheap 'cause a dog fell in it" No Reciprocity. Fairy in the pink shirt waist Reg gie boasts that you're his best girl! Sweet young thing in blue Maybe I am, but he ain't my best feller by a long shot Recosrnized at Last. . He But what reason have you for refusing to marry me? . She Papa objects. He says you are an actor. ' : He Give my regards to the old boy and tell him I'm sorry he isn't a news paper critic. Self-Approval. ' "Well," said the detective, "there Is one thing upon which we :may con gratulate ourselves in this case." "Why, you haven't even found an Important clew." ; "That's just it We can rest as sured that no innocent person is go ing to suffer." Washington Star. Front Experience. "Rudolph, dear, the people next door wish to borrow our lanterns for a lawn fete." "Don't lend them." "But they can't hurt the lanterns." "Oh, you don't know. If you loan them the lanterns they'll want to bor row tables, cloths," knives and dishes. Then as our lawn Is larger than theirs they'll want to borrow that Afterward they'll ask our children to help out as waiters." ' Womanlike. Mrs. Popley What " do you think? Baby spoke her first word to-day! Mr. Popley Well, well! And It won't be many years before she'll be hav lng the last word. Philadelphia Press. ' A Synonym. David Warfleld, the actor, was a very promising scholar as a lad when he attended the public schools of San Francisco. "I remember an examination," said he, "which was .the hardest thing I ever had to get through. The teacher, I understand, has kept some of my an swers, which she says are much more humorous than edifying. 'Among a bunch that she sent me recently waa my answer to the query What is a synonym?' It ran: ... ; ",'A synonym Is a word, we use In place of one we don't- know, how ta spell' '" ' ' "t : ' rClevef; wasn't it? ' Yet a lot of fel lows appropriated that as their own, and, Belasco says other fellows were just as bright as I was, years before I , was born. Isn't that discouraging to a budding genius ?' St Louis Globe. Democrat , , .'. It is - estimated that half the vln crop of France was destroyed by th frosts of April.