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About Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909 | View Entire Issue (June 30, 1905)
' "i i' $ "J" 'J "i 'i1 "l "J 4" ' Tbe Special CHAPTER XVIII. The country is fertile and well culti vated, growing wheat, maize, rice, bar ley and flax, in its eastern districts. Ev erywhere are great masses of trees, wil lows, mulberries, poplars. As far as the ye can reach are fields under cultivation, Irrigated by numerous canals, also green fields, in which are flocks of sheep, a country half Normandy, half Provence, were it not for the mountains of Pamir on the horizon. But this portion of Kach garia was terribly ravaged by war when Its people were struggling for independ ence. The land flowed with blood, and along by the railroad the ground is dot tde with tumuli beneath which are buried the victims of their patriotism. But I. did not come to Central Asia to travel as if I were in France. Novelty! Novelty! The unforeseen! The appall ing! It was without the shadow of an ac cident, and after a particularly fine run, that we entered Yarkand Station at four o'clock in the afternoon. , A few Chinese passengers alighted at Yarkand, and gave place to others exact ly like them among others a score of coolies and we started again at 8 o'clock in the evening. During the night we ran the three hundred and fifty kilo meters which separate Yarkand from Kothan. A visit I paid to the front van showed me that the box was still in the same place. A certain snoring proved that Kinko was inside as usual, and sleeping peacefully. I did not care to wake him, end I left him to dream of his adorable Roumanian. In the morning Popof told me that the train, which was now traveling about as fast as an omnibus, had passed Khar galik, the junction for the Kilian and Tong branches. The night had been cold, for we are still at an altitude of 1,200 meters. Leaving Guma Station, the line runs due east and west, following the thirty-seventh parallel, the same which traverses it in Europe, Seville, Syracuse and Athens. We sighted only one stream of impor tance, the Karakash, on which appeared a few drifting rafts, and files of horses and asses at the fords between the pebbly banks. The railroad crosses It about a hundred kilometers from Khotan, where we arrived at 8 o'clock in the morning. Two hours to stop, and as the town may give me a foretaste of the cities of China, I resolve to take a run through it. As we were about to board the car again, I saw Popof running toward me, houting: "Monsieur Bombarnac!" "What is the matter, Popof 7" "A telegraph messenger asked me if there was any one belonging to the Twentieth Century on the train." "A telegraph messenger V "Yes, and on my replying In the af firmative,' he gave me this telegram for for you. "Give it me! give it me!" I seize the telegram, which has been waiting for me some days. Is it a reply to my wire sent from Merv, relative to the mandarin Yen Lou? I open it. I read it, and it falls from my hand. This is what it said: "Claudius Bombarnac, Correspondent Twentieth Century, Khotan, Chinese Turkestan: "It is not the corpse of a mandarin that the train is taking to" Pekin, but the imperial treasure, value fifteen mill Ions, sent from Persia to China, as an. nounced in the Paris newspapers eight flays ago; endeavor to be better informed for the future." - CHAPTER XIX. "Millions there are millions in that pretended mortuary van!" In spite of myself, this imprudent phrase had escaped me in such a way that the secret of the imperial treasure was instantly known to all, to the rail way men as well as to the passengers. And so, for the greater- security, the Persian government, in agreement with the Chinese government, has allowed it to be believed that we were carrying the corpse of a mandarin, when we were really taking to Pekin a treasure worth fifteen millions of francs. Now the secret is divulged, and we know that this treasure, composed of gold and precious stones, formerly de posited in the hands of the Shah of Per sia, is being sent to its legitimate owner, the Son of Heaven. That is why my lord Farusklar, who was aware of it in consequence of his position as general manager of the com pany, had joined the train at Douchak o as to accompany the treasure to its destination. That is why he and Ghangir and the three other Mongols had so carefully watched this precious van, and why they had shown themselves so anx ious when it had been left behind by the breakage of the coupling, and why they were so eager for its recovery. ' ' That is also why a detachment of Chi nese soldiers has taken over the van at Kachgar, in relief of the Persians. That Is why Pan Chao never heard of Yen Lou, nor of any exalted personage of that name existing in the Celestial Empire! We started to time, and, as may be supposed, our traveling companions could talk of nothing else but the mill. Ions which were enough to enrich every one in the train. -. "This pretended mortuary van has al ways been suspicious to me," said Major Noltitz. "And that was why I ques tioned Pan Chao .regarding the dead mandarin. "I remember," I said; and I could not quite understand the motive of your question. It is certain now that we have got a treasure in tow." "And I add," said the major, "that the Chinese government has done wisely in sending an escort of twenty well armed men. From Kothan to Lan Tcheou the trains will have two thousand kilometers to traverse through the desert, and the - safety of the line is not as great as it might be across the Gobi." "All the more so, major, as the re ' doubtable Ki-Tsang has been reported In the northern provinces." ' . "Quite so, and a haul of fifteen mill ions U worth having by a bandit chief. "But how could the chief be informed of the treasure being sent?" "That sort of people always know l.,tl.l.l..lMt. ..Hl,t..t..i.,i..t.l;,,i.,t,...1..tt.j,,t,li,ll .1. .1.1.1,1. .I..H..I..1, orrespoDeit what it Is their Interest to know." Yes." thought I, "although they do not read the Twentieth Century." Meanwhile, different opinions were be ing exchanged on the gangways. Some would rather travel with the millions than carry a corpse along with them, even though it was that of a first-class mandarin. Others considered the carry ing of the treasure a danger to the pas sengers. And that was the opinion of Baron Weissschnitzerdorfer, in a furious attack on Popof. "You ought to have told us about it. sir you ought to have told us about it! Those millions are known to be in the train, and they will tempt people to attack us. And an attack, even if repuls ed, will mean delay, and delay I will not submit to. No, sir, I will not!" No one will attack us," replied Popof. "No one will dream of doing it." 'And how do you know that how do you know that?" 1 Be calm, pray. "I will not be calm; and if there is a delay I will hold the company responsi ble." That is understood; -a hundred thou sand florins damages to Monsieur le Bar on Tour de Monde. Let us pass to the other passengers. Ephrinell looked at the matter, of course, from a very practical point of view. "There can be no doubt that our risks have been greatly Increased by this treas ure, and in case of accident on account of it the Life Travelers' Society, in which I am insured, will, I expect, re fuse to pay, so that the Grand Trans- asiatic Company will have all the re sponsibility. "Of course," said Miss Bluett; "and if they had not found the missing van the company would have been in a seri ous difficulty with China. Would it not, Fulk?" "Exactly, Hbratia." Horatia and Fulk nothing less! The Anglo-American couple were right, the enormous Joss would have had to be borne by the Grand Transasiatic, for the company must have known they were carrying a treasure and not a corpse, and thereby they were responsible. As to the Caternas, the millions roll ing behind did not seem to trouble them. The only reflection they inspired was. Ah! Caroline, what a splendid theater we might build with all that money! But the best thing was said by the Rev. Nathaniel Morse, who had joined the train at Kachgar. It is never comfortable to be drag ging a powder magazine after oue. Nothing could be truer, and this van, with its imperial treasure, was a pow der magazine that might blow np our train. CHAPTER XX. The first railway was opened in China about 1877, and ran from Shanghai to Fou-Tcheou. The Grand Transasiatic followed very closely the Russian road proposed in 1874 by Tashkend, Kouldja, Kami, Lan Tcheou, Singan, and Shang hai. This railway did not run through the populous central provinces, which can be compared to vast and humming hives of bees, and extraordinarily pro lific bees. . As nearly as possible it forms a straight line to Sou-Tcheou before curving off to Lan Tcheou; it reaches cities by the branches it gives out to the south and southeast. Since we left Kothan, we have covered a hundred and fifty kilometers in four hours. It is not a high rate of speed, but we cannot expect on this part of the Transasiatic the same rate of traveling we experienced on the Transcaspian, Either the Chinese engineers are not so fast, or, thanks to their natural indo lence, the engine drivers imagine that from thirty to- forty miles an hour is the maximum that can be obtained on the railways of the Celestial Empire. At - o clock in the afternoon we were at another station, Nia, where General Pevtsoff established a meteorological ob servatory. Here we stopped only twenty minutes. I had time to lay . in a few provisions at the bar. For whom they were mtended you can imagine. The passengers we picked up were only Chinese, men and women. There were only a few for the first class and these I- UU1J WtSUL BUUll JUUAlltSJ'B. We had not started a quarter of an hour, when Ephrinell, with the serious manner of a merchant intent on some business, came up to me on the gang way. Monsieur . Bombarnac." he said. "I have to ask a favor of you. Only too happy, I can assure you.' said 1. "wnat is it about?" I want you to be a witness. I am go ing to marry Miss Bluett "Marry her?" - "Yes. A treasure of a woman, well ac quainted with business matters, holding a splendid commission- My compliments, Mr. Ephrinell! You can count on me. And, probably, on Monsieur Cater- nar " - . He would like nothing better, and If there is a .wedding breakfast he will sing at your dessert " "As much as he pleases, replied the American. "Then it Is to be " "Here." -"In the train?" -"In the train." "But to be married you require " "An American minister, and we have the Rev. Nathaniel Morse." "Bravo,- Mr. Ephrinell I A wedding In a train will be delightful." It needs not be said that the commw cials were of full age, and free to dis pose of themselves to enter into mar riage before a clergyman and without any , of the fastidious preliminaries re quired In France and other formallstio countries. Is this an advantage or other wise? The American thinks It is for the best and, as Cooper says, -the best at home is the best everywhere.' It is too late for the ceremony to take place to-day. - Ephrinell understood that certain conventionalities must be com plied with. The celebration could -take place in the morning. The passengers could all be invited, and Faruskair might be prevailed on to honor the affair with his presence. During dinner we talked of nothing too. After congratulating the ; happy couple, who replied with true Anglo Saxon grace, we all promised to sign the marriago contract. "And we will do honor to your signa tures," said Ephrinell, in the tone of a tradesman accepting a bilL . The night came, and we retired, to dream of the marriage festivities of the morrow. I took my usual stroll Into the car occupied by the Chinese soldiers, and found the treasure of the Son of Heaven faithfully guarded. Half the detach ment were awake and half were asleep. About 1 o'clock In the morning I visit ed Kinko, and handed him over my pur chase at Nia. He anticipated no further obstacles; he would reach port safely, after all. I am getting quite fat -in this box," he told me. I told him about the Ephrinell-Blnett marriage, and how the union was to be celebrated next morning with great pomp. - "Ah!" said he with a sigh. "They are not obliged to wait until they reach Pekin." - . "Quite so, Kinko: but it seems to me that a marriage under such conditions is not likely to be lasting. But after all, that is the couple's lookout" At 3 o clock In the morning we stop ped forty minutes at Tchertchen, almost at the foot of the ramifications of the Kuen Lun. None of us had seen this miserable, desolate country, treeless and verd tireless, which the railway was now viubbiuh uu us ruau lu me uorxueaBU Day came; our train ran the four hun dred kilometers between Tchertchen and Tcharkalyk while the sun caressed with Its rays the immense plain glittering in its saline efflorescence. (To be continued.) . RUG MADE OF HUMAN SCALPS. Beventj -seven Uvea the Coat of One Possessed by Iowa Indian. A rug which took seventy-seven lives In the making is owned by an Iowa Indian living in Stroud, O. T says the Dallas News. It is 150 years old and - consists of seventy-seven scalps torn from the heads of as many human beings. -The rug, which is barely five feet square, is of many hues, for the scalps are red, gray, black, white, brown and auburn. They belonged to peaceful people, too, and are said to have been taken by special command of the Great Spirit from the finest specimens of men, wo men and children belonging to the white, red and negro races. As soon as the scalps-were secured they were sewn together and the rug was from that time regarded, as the remedy for all trouble. When an In dian was taken sick he was laid on this rug and if be did not recover his spirit was assured of a pleasant jour ney to the happy bunting ground. This remarkable creation can be seen only once a year. . . . At the annual wild-onion feast. which comes on April 1, the Iowa In dians make the rug play an Import ant part. The onion is freely used, the Indians saturating themselves from head to foot with the juice. This was their successful way of driving awaythe evil spirits. A prayer rug belonging to the shah of Persia is another valuable mat Though barely two feet square, its design is most elaborate. It Is work ed throughout in precious stones and the effect Is dazzling. The ground is formed of rose diamonds and in the center is a large bird, whose neck is made of amethysts and Its body of rubles. The vines, which form a net work, through which the bird may be seen as through a cage, are made of emeralds, while the bands which connect the stones are of seed pearl. The floral emblem of Persia is worked out . in blue, yellow and pink stones, this design being known as the Mina Khanl design. . It is difficult to determine even the approximate value of this small rug, but It has been estimated that if it were sold the proceeds placed at 5 per cent Interest would bring in an Income of at least $250,000 per annum. A STORY OF TWO PAINTERS, Did Van Byok and Hals Really Paint Each Other's Portrait ; There Is a . story related by Hou braken, which may or may not be true, tnat Van Dyck, passing through Haar lem, where Hals lived, sent a mes senger to seek him out and tell him that a stranger wished to see him, and on Hals putting In an appearance asked him to -paint his portrait add ing, however, that he had only two hours to spare for the sitting. Hals finished the portrait in that . time, whereupon his sitter, observing that it seemed an easy matter to paint a portrait requested that he be allowed to try to paint the artist Hals soon recognized that his vistpr was well skilled in the materials he was using. Great, however,- was his surprise when he beheld the performance. He immediately embraced the stranger, at the same time.crying: "You are Van Dyck! No one but he could do what you have Just now done!" Assuming the stjory to be true, bow Interesting It would be if the two portraits existed, that one might 'see what Frans Hals, accustomed to the heavier type of the Dutch burghers, made of the delicately denned features of Van Dyck, and how the latter, who always gave an air of aristocratic ele gance to his portraits, acquitted him self with the bluff, jovial, Hans, who was as 'much at home in a tavern as in a studio. , For no two men could be more different, both in their points of view and in their methods,sthough they were alike In this one particular that each was a most facile and skillful painter. St Nicholas. Abont the Size of It. "Say, paw," queried little Johnny Bumpernickie, vnat aoes a paper mean when It ' says that -further com ment Is unnecessary?" "It usually means," my son. that the writer doesn't know what else to ut." answered the old centlenun. CASABIANCA'S CELEBRATION. The boy stood on the burning pores Whence all had mad a scoot; A Roman caudle in his hand Was jast about to shoot. A frazzled plnwheel at his side Was all that staid to tell -How father, minus half his hide. Had flea with grievous yen. A basted bomb apon the floor. Some remnants of a hat, Sospender buttons three or four Tint was where grandpa sat. . An isle of safety on the lawn. Where still the grass was green. Harked where his sister dear had gone To ruD on vaseline. Anon the smoke rose from the yard. And then, through one small rut. We saw where mother, scorched and scarred, A smelling bottle sniffed. . Aad at the gats stood Uncle Bill In fragments of his pants. Demanding in his accents shrill: aena as an amoniancej The boy, as we remarked at first, A Koman canaie neia. He struck a match and lit the fnse; This la the last!" be yelled. The Soman candle flnled and flared The balls flew far and wide. His relatives, all badly scared. Once more essay ea to niae. Alas! Bra shelter they could find. The airerul aeea was done; He whirled the candle all about And pinked them every one. In pain they limped np to the porch Thev creDt from hash and shruo. And each Implored In husky tones: ' uet . me get at tnat cum There came a Jtrarst of thunder sound. The bor O. where was he? By turns he was sent on a round Tnat lea irom Knee to Knee. Chicago Record-Herald. M GRIDUY'S CELEBRATION M'"Mti'i i uu i it- ACK GRIDLEY crawled through a hole in the fence back of his home and cautiously tiptoed toward the house. The sun was higher than Jack had Intended it should be when he returned; when he had slipped out of the back door, just before midnight, with two big cannon crackers and his pockets full of smaller ones, and had joined Bill Ainsley? to set the church bell wildly ringing, on the stroke of 12, in joyous time-honored salutation to the glorious Fourth, he had planned to be back in his room and in bed before the sun rose. But the noisy hours had fled and now it was broad day.' A rooster crowed on a neighboring farm, and from the henhouse back of him the old Buff Cochin answered long and clear. Buff was Miss Ann's alarm clock, and beads of anxiety stood out on Jack's face as he cautiously but hur riedly lifted the latch of the back door. Why didn't it open? He had left it un locked when he stole out in the night and now he gave a reckless, desperate tug, but the door yielded not one whit Could he have carelessly left the hook so that it fell back in place with the Jar of closing? He must have. Jack glanc ed uneasily towards Miss Ann's bed room, then slipped off his shoes, climbed to the low shed at the back, ran swiftly and noiselessly across the roof, and reaching up to the window sill of his room pulled himself up, and with a sigh of relief dropped inside. Thank heaven. he had left that window wide open. He was none too soon, for even as he slipped his jacket off preparatory to jumping into bed, Miss Ann's thin, cracked voice rang up the narrow stair way: "Jack, you can get up now!" "Yes'm,"- was the meek reply. Waiting such length of time as would naturally elapse during the" process of dressing, Jack filled his pockets with the remain der of his crackers and presented himself in the kitchen. Jack Gridley was moth erless, and his father,' a commercial trav eler, had found a home for the boy with Miss Ann Hobart - "Good morning," said .Miss Ann, as Jack entered the kitchen. "Good morn ing," he replied as he hurried toward the woodshed for an armful of wood. Breakfast was ready when he returned. and there had been no opportunity to fire a cracker. " "John," said Miss Ann, helping him to a second dish of oatmeal, "if 1 were you I would save those two largest crackers for this evening, to close the day with." "Yes'm," said Jack. Now, suppose," continued Miss Ann, "that you' give them to me for safe keep ing; I am afraid the temptation to fire them will be too great otherwise." Jack grew red in the face, and hastily gulped down a glass of milk. - "Can t they re busted," he said. "You mean they are broken. But you haven't told me how you broke them. continued Miss Ann, sweetly. "I I I fired 'em!" Jack blurted the truth out manfully. "John Gridley! what do you mean? AH the sweetness - was gone from Miss Ann now. "You haven't fired a cracker since you rose this morning. Now, when did you fire those big ones? Tell me the truth instantly I" . "Last night" said Jack, feebly. "At what time last night?" "j don't know jes' what time," was the weak reply. "John Gridley, you look me In the face and. tell me what time you left this house." The jig was up and Jack knew It "Well, if you must know, It was a few minutes of 12," he 'said. "Hand me those crackers, every one you've got Now, John Gridley, don't you stir foot outside of the yard this day. Now go out to the woodpile and saw until I tell you to stop.", Poor Jack! He wouldn't give Miss Ann the satisfaction of knowing how bad he felt but when his stint of wood was finished, he fled to the barn and up in a dark corner of the hawmow he had his cry out with "only the sympathetic whinny of old Nell in the stall below, for comfort All the morning he had heard the pop, pop, pop of crackers, and later the circus band, as the procession paraded the streets; he had even caught just a glimpse of the parade as It enter ed The tent for the circus had pitched not far from "Miss Ann's, house. This was the first circus in Easthampton for years, and Jack had set his heart on going.' Miss Ann strongly disapproved of circuses, but Jack had written to his father and obtained consent -providing he was a good boy, and now Jack wept afresh. Most of all he wanted to see 1he elePhant (it was a small circus and n DUt one 01 tne nue pacnyaermsj About 8 o'clock Miss Ann relented to ITAN OP '76 REAPPEARS "Great Washington!" He said: "If we have affrighted and beaten the British!" the extent-of allowing him to have his crackers, and in the noise of these he tried to drown out the noise of the circus band that floated out from the big dingy canvas so near and yet so far. Sudden ly it flashed into his head that he might send up crackers on his kite. Why not? He had read of a camera being sent up to take photographs, and if a camera could go, crackers could. Jack set to work at once to put his idea into execu tion. A long fuse was made and attach ed to the crackers. Near the crackers a string was tied to the fuse, and this in turn was tied to a bit of wire on the kite string near the kite, which had been pulled in. The free end of the fuse was lighted, the kite set free, and Jack watch ed the tiny sputtering sparks sail up Into the air. When the fire reached the string it burned it off, setting free the crackers which exploded a second later in midair. ' Finally Jack took the bigest cracker that he had, one he had been saving for a grand climax, made an extra long fnse, attached -It in the usual way and then gave the kite all the string he had. Up, np, up she sailed until she floated fairly over the circus tents. Then Jack saw the tiny speck of a .cracker drop. and. watching it speed downward without ex ploding, he muttered to himself in dis appointment 'Why didn't I keep it and fire it on the ground where I could make it go anyhow?" But Jack had simply miscalculated and had allowed too much fuse between the cracker and string for an explosion high in air. Just after the tiny speck vanished behind one of the smaller tents, Jack heard it explode, fol lowed instantly by a scream that made Jack's hair rise. Out from behind the tent shot a huge black beast tearing across the fields with awkward, lumber ing strides, but wonderfully fast It was the elephant! With trunk thrown up and back of its head, and trumpeting shrilly,- it made straight toward Jack, smashing down the rail fences in its path as If they were straws, his keeper in full pursuit hopelessly distanced. From the big tent began to pour out a strange motley crowd of townspeople, painted clowns and scantily dressed bareback riders to see what had happened. For a moment Jack, too frightened to move, watched tie huge beast bearing down upon him, then he fled for the hayloft in the barn, and through a crack watch ed the mad race. Straight on came the elephant nor did he stop for an Instant at Miss Ann's nice picket - fence; it crashed down as had the rails before it Then the runaawy caught sight of the big, wide-open barn doors (Miss Ann had told. Jack to close them that afternoon) and Drobably seeing safety in the dark recesses of the barn, rushed in, where he stood trumpeting and trembling .with fright A few minutes later Jack heard the keeper close the doors and say to the crowd coming up, that he would shut the elephant In for awhile until he had calmed down. Then the keeper told how someone, he didn't know who, had thrown a cracker In front of the big beast just as the latter was drinking, and the runaway had resulted. Meantime Jack was In an. unhappy predicament and retreated to a far cor ner of the mow, the cold chills chasing each other down his back as he heard the heavy breathing of the elephant be low. Gradually the elephant grew quiet er and Jack's courage began to come back. . He could hear old Nell whinnying with fright and stamping uneasily in her stall. Curiosity got the better of him and he wanted to see what was going on below. Cautiously, inch by inch, he crept to the edge-of the mow." In the dim light he could see the back of the elephant not two feet below him. The animal was quiet now. - Presently he noticed the long trunk feeling along the edge of the mow and examining the new quarters, so he beat a retreat once more. The new hay was not yet in, and the small amount of old hay left was at the back of the mow. A rustling on the edge of It caught his attention and he made out the elephant s. trunk stretch ing - for the hay, which it could not reach. Cautiously he held out a wisp. It was taken and the trunk disappeared. A minute later it was back again. So Jack continued to feed the elephant and growing bolder, crawled to the edge again, having a bundle of hay In his hands. This time the elephant saw him, and before he could retreat the big trunk had caught him and-deftly, but gently, lifted him down. The hay he still held,. and timidly offering it it was promptly accepted. -, ' A few minutes later the keeper opened the doors, to find to his astonishment his big charge and a small boy on the best of terms, and when the elephant was or dered out he refused to move without Jack. "Pick him np, Mike," ordered the ON INDEPENDENCE DAY had these toys in.our time how we could keeper, so, gently, the elephant placed Jack on his back and the procession started for the circus tents once more. Jack the envy of all the boys in the village, and Miss Ann realizing her help lessness in the situation. The show management settled for the broken fences, but Miss Ann still retains her prejudice against clrcusses. As for Jack, to this day no one knows who dropped the cracker in front of Mike. Jack looks back to that Fourth, when " the circus came to him, because he could not go to it as the greatest celebration he ever had. Orange Judd Farmer. BALLAST. Uncle Sam's" Fourth of July ascension, Old Glory's Birthday. Hark I the boys arc coming! A-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat ! The drummers are bravely drumming, A-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat 1 While over their heads, go where they may. wiu ever Ola (ilory go. A-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat I A-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tatl And over their heads, go where they may. - win ever uia uiory go. Listen! the drams are nearlng, A-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat I And wilder the boys are cheering, .-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat 1 So fill your .pockets with crackers. Bring out a horn and a gun. And Join In the shouting chorus; Add to the noise and the fun! A-rat-a-tat-tat,a-tat-tt! A-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tatl Come, join In the shouting chorus, . Add to the noise and fun. I "Tig the same, sweet old, old story. A-m t-a-iui-iHL-a-iai-LULi Of the birthday of Old Glory, A-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat! , " And a hundred years In passing, - . Have made more precious the starry turn That tyranny Is dead. A-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tat! A-rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat-tatl Have made more precious the starry sign Tit tyranny, la dead. Bobby's Nightmare. Pleases All. The Fourth once more Is bringing Joy To the firecracker maker; It tickles the heart of the little boy, The doctor and undertaker. New York Sua.