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About The Athena press. (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942 | View Entire Issue (July 9, 1909)
w 7 Walled Up Alive. A severe sentence was recently pass ed upon a sparrow by a flock of blue birds. A bird-box for martins and bluebirds is erected on a pole a short distance from Fort Lee, and every sea son a pair of bluebirds takes posses sion of It. This year they bnilt their nest in the box, and the female laid one egg. To celebrate the event she hopped out of the box, and took a turn or two around the field. When she returned a sparrow was In the box, quietly sitting upon the egg. The bluebird remonstrated at such out rageous proceedings, and tried to per suade the Intruder to leave. Then she became angry and pecked savagely at the sparrow, but the sparrow had the advantage, as the box protected It on every side, and the hole was only large enough to admit one at a time. A flock of angry bluebirds responded to the call of the distressed mother, and a council of war was apparently held. Two or three of the bluebirds stationed themselves nt the entrance to the box, and closely guarded the spar row. The others flow away to a neigh boring mud hole, but soon returned, carrying their bills full of stiff, muddy clay. One by one they deposited their load at the hole and began to plaster It up, working rapidly, and bringing straw and small twigs to work into the mud and stiffen It. The sparrow did not realize the meaning of all this fuss until the hole was nearly closed up. Then it began to flutter around and struggle vnlnly to escape from Its prison; but the senti nels pecked at it and drove it back, until the hole was completely covered up, and the sparrow's doom was sealed. Be Honest. The great explorer, David Living stone, writes in one of his books: Grandfather could give particulars of, the lives of ills ancestors for six genera tions of the family before him ; and the only part of the traditions I feel proud of is this: One of these poor, hardy Islanders was renowned in the district for great wisdom and prudence; and It Is related that when he was on his deathbed, he called all his children around him and said : "Now, in my life time I have searched most carefully through all the traditions I could find of our family, and I never could dls cover that there was a dishonest man among our forefathers. If, therefore any of you, or any of your children, should take to dishonest ways, it will not be because it runs in our blood; it does not belong to you. I leave this precept with you, 'Be honest.' " Chil dren's Friend. The Invalid. . Whcro but mother and dolly can soothe. A Lonw-Felt Want. An day wee Willie and his dog Sprawled on the nursery floor, He had a florist's catalogue And turned the pages o'er, Till all at once he gave a spring, "Hurrah!" he criod with joyj "Mamma, here's just the very thing To give your little boy! "For when we fellows go to school, We lone our things, you know ; And In that little vestibule They do got mixed up bo. "And as you often say you can't Take care of them for me, Why don't you buy a rulher plant And an umbrella tree?" f A??.-V- V I 9 nS) u&v?. A Flaureheud. A GLASS WORKS. Vrooeaa of Bottlemaklnir Freaks of the Blowpipe. The process of bottlemaking Is an Interesting one, says a writer. In the router of a circular building is a chim ney from the top of which a peculiar Intermittent light flickers. Underneath the chimney stands a conical furnace of brick containing, perhaps, no fewer Juan eight holes, which are like fierce ly glaring suns, and from which pour expanding broad rays of orange-colored light. If your eyes are strong enough to look through the holes from which the orange beams of light emerge, you see several hundredweight of molten metal shining silvery-green la as many earthen dome-shaped melt ing pots. The nature of different kinds of glass Is dependent upon the quality tf tba raw material called "batch," put Inta tn melting pots. The nuss of molten metal got from this opaque, earthy-looking "batch" has frequently to be skimmed of impurities; but It is, nevertheless, a problem whence comes that wonderful and enduring transpar ency which everybody likes to see in glass. Until the hour strikes for the wort men to commence oieratlons you may find them experimenting for amuse ment or profit with the blowpipe. Specimens are blown out to the thin ness of a tissue paper bag, .which an other puff of wind explodes with a crack. The floor all around the fur nace chamber is covered with brittle shining splinters and particles of glass, which crackle underfoot at every step, One of the men may bring you a mass of metal on a blowpipe and ask you to expend a few cheekfuls of wind upon it. The pipe takes no more blow ing than a trombone, though It lacks a mouthpiece, and you may expand the bubble until it is black and cold, so fragile that It will break into a myriad pieces If you touch it. The molten glass is so ductile that It may be spun out into a thread. At the signal to commence work the men, already partly stripped to the waist, poke their four-foot blowpipes through the hole of the crucible oppo site to which they work, twisting It round until it has taken up sufficient of the ropy and viscid glass for one bottle. The man who is clever at his work will, of course, gather up neither too much nor too little for the thick ness of bottle required; he can tell without looking through the furnace holes when he has enough by the weight added to his pipe. Thus all around the fiery furnace there are fig ures moving continually across the lu rid light, most of them dexterously wielding their blowpipes, and balanc ing at the end of each one the exact quantity of vitrified matter to make a bottle. The amateur would find it dif ficult to balance the molten mass; the chances are that it would drop on the floor, never to be picked up again. At the same moment you will see bottles In all stages of growth, some glittering gold, others cooling down to orange or red ; some in the forms of plummets or dazzling pears, others as Incandescent bosses threatening to be come fragile bladders. It is all as charming as a pyrotechnic display. You will see the black blowpipe twirl ed round, blown down, held up like a gun barrel, then, in the form of an In candescent lamp globe turned round on a beeswaxed castlron implement, call ed a marler, on whose edge the bottle neck is formed. It Is held up once more, blown Into, then shut up in a castlron mold placed at the operator's feet somewhat below the level of the ground. This mold is opened and closed by a wire spring, which the operator presses with his feet, and di rectly the red hot bottle is inclosed he blows from the pipe once more, so as to fill it completely. A man goes round from mold to mold, inserting a rod Into the neck of each bottle, and collecting a trayful to go to the annealing chamber. Here the bottles are stacked up for a grad ual cooling process which may possibly last 30 hours. This gives them the desired strength. The annealing proc ess is a cure for their natural fragili ty, and enables them to stand the test of boiling water. C(XXX)0000X)0CXXXXXXXXX006 8 SUNDAY SAUNTERINGS. g Scxxwooooooooooooooooooooo Something of the exact behavior demanded from young people by those in authority In the early days of the nineteenth century Is brought to notice In the biography of Peter Edes, a pioneer printer in Maine. Mr. Edes had an apprentice, James Orrock, who enjoyed a walk on Sunday, after a week of Indoor employment. Mr. Ed(js soon found out that this was not permitted at Bangor and wrote to a friend of the trouble caused him by his apprentice's apparently in nocent amusement. "You must know," he writes, "that the people are very strict on this day, and will not let men walk out, much UtH boys. James was strolling about and was ordered home by the tything men, but he would not obey them. A complaint was lodged against me on the next day, and I should have been obliged to pay a fine had not Judge Dutton pleaded In my behalf that I did not approve of such conduct, and so got clear." Another Interesting Incident In con nection with life in Bangor at this time is an advertisement which ap peared in Mr. Edes' paper, the Bangor Weekly Register, stating that: "E. & M. R. Edes have opened a school in the room over the Register olllce for the Instruction of young misses and small children In the use ful and ornamental branches of edu cation." The terms were: "Orthography and plain work 17 cts. per week; writing. English grammar, Geography with the use of maps. Composition, ornamental needle work 25 tents per week." This was probably one of the first schools In Maine for teaching young ladies, exclusively, in the branches of educa tion, and also Including plain work and fancy needlework. A Surprise, Little Evelyn, not yet 3 years old, had learned to spell "c-a-t, cat" In the first flush of excitement she exclaimed: "Won't the cats be sur prised !" Harper's Monthly. The hen-pecked husband has mors than a peck of trouble- & WORD FROM , THE LANDLADY, Be Careful, Glrla, She Sara, We Can Tell More than a Seeresa. "No," said the landlady, "you can't tell anything from a boarder's trunk. The time has been when a yellow leather trunk with a Planters' house label pasted on It could get my front single parlor and no questions asked, but not of late years. The faiung land lady dreads the hotel label. Some of the swellest-looking trunks that ever went up my front stairs turned out to be made of paper with the brass hinges only painted On," runs a story in the Kansas City Times. "Landladies are only human, and I am free to confess that I have been de ceived by these appearances in the past, but if I had to size up a boarder to-day by this means, other things being equal, I would pin my faith to the little bat tered tin trunk with a barn-door pad lock and an odor of mothballs. "The truth Is landladies are often to blame for their own misfortunes, and their vanity has put many a good-pay ing boarding-house on the rocks. When the new boarder comes to the door in a cab with his trunk strapped on behind and his hat box on the seat beside the driver, it is a strong-minded landlady who can keep the fact clearly before her that she runs a boarding house, and not an apartment hotel. "I don't know why it is that a land lady should allow herself to be taken in by such shallow artifices when she knows better all the time, but It Is true nevertheless that she is too often a willing victim. Her experience has taught her well enough that the boarder who puts on the most style, who makes the biggest kick about the odor of cab bage In the front hall, and who calls you down before the whole table be cause you left the wrong laundry bun dle at his door, Is sure to be the man who Is shy on his board bill Saturday night. Yet such a boarder Is almost certain to get more consideration and attention than the man who pays in advance, never kicks at anything, and always turns the gas low when he goes out. "Short of marrying a man, I believe there Is no experience to be gained in any business equal to that of landlady Ing him. No man can long conceal his true character from his landlady. He may shoot off a lot of fireworks to fool the rest of the world, but his landlady generally knows what they are worth. I have often thought that if girls who are thinking of marrying would come to us first we could exert a tremendous Influence for good in behalf of soci ety. Better come to us than go to a fortune teller. "It is a grave question in my mind whether any girl should marry a man until she has been around when he Is shaving. The tone of voice In which I have been asked by a boarder with a murderous razor in his hand if I called the water in the boiler hot would, I am sure, make any girl who heard it think twice. Young men who are known to them as creatures of the greatest good nature and affability would bear different reputations if the landlady chose to tell what she knew. "What a shock It would be to some confiding girl if she could see her hero standing in his door shaking his shirt In my face and demanding to know what the laundry had done to the neck band. These are some of the things we could tell if we were asked. We could also show that some of the money spent for theater tickets and bonbons should have gone to pay for the roast consumed the previous Sunday. Have you ever noticed that a young man at the theater with his girl always avoids the eye of his landlady If she happens to be In the house? She knows, and he knows she knows. "My hope is that some day the world will realize what it owes to the land lady. Perhaps the time will come when a grateful boarder will erect a monu ment to her, but in the meantime I will be satisfied if I can collect what is due no on Saturday night." CLASS IN MANNERS. Inatrnctton for Shy and Awkward In Old-Tlme Southern Schools. The father of Alexander II. Stephens, the vice-president of the Confederate states, was an "old field" teacher, and one of his schoolroom exercises, which the pupils called "learning manners," evidently made a deep impression on little Alexander, writes Louis Pendleton In his biography of the statesman. The plan was no less admirable than quaint. It Is related that about once a mouth on a Friday afternoon, after the spell ing classes had got through their tasks, the boys and girls were directed to take seats In rows facing each other. Then the boy at the head of his row would rise and walk toward the center of the room and the girl at the head of her row would do likewise. As they approached the boy would bow and the girl would drop a courtesy, the established feminine salutation of those days, and they would pass on. At other times they were taught to stop and exchange verbal salutations and the usual formulas of polite inquiry- These exercises were varied by meet ings In an imaginary parlor, the en trance Introduction and reception of visitors, with practice In "commonplace chat" Then came the ceremony of Introduc tions. The parties In this case would walk from opposite sides of the room In pairs, and upon meeting, after sal utations of the two agreed upon, would begin maklug known to each other the friends accompanying them, the boys saying, "Allow me, Miss Mary, to pre sent to you my friend, Mr. Smith, Mr. Smith, Miss Jones." After Miss Mary had spoken to Mr. Smith she would In turn Introduce her friend. These exercises, trivial as the de scription may seem, the vice-president of the Confederacy says, "were of great use to raw country boys and girls, re moving their awkwardness and conse quent shyness and the painful sense ol being at a disadvantage or the dread ol appearing ridiculous." Youth's Com panion. HE WAS DEAD THREE MINUTES. Physician's Experiment Reatorea Consumptive Patient to Life. For three minutes last night Oscai Culver of 202 South Tenth street Brooklyn, was dead in the eastern dis trict hospital, nays the New York Press His pulse beat ceased and there wa tiot the slightest heart action or trace oi breath on a mirror held before his lips Mrs. Culver was at the bcdsule, and convinced her husband was dead, she wept bitterly. Dr. Henry Jaffer de cided to attempt an experiment. He administered six drams of whisky and ten grains (f strychnine and resorted io artinciai respiration. Gradually the heart resumed its beat ing, the pulses fluttered and the sup posed dead man quivered back to life. He spoke to his wife and for fifteen minutes she sat with him. He was con scious at midnight. "I feel like fighting," said Culver to the physicians after he came back to life. The man was too 111 to understand he was to all appearances dead for three minutes, and his restoration tc health Is out of the question, as he Is dying of consumption and inflammatory rheumatism. The admixture that was given to him to restore the heart ac tion was sufficient to kill a healthy man, but Its effect is only temporary. Dr. Jaffer requested the supposed widow to retire for a few minutes. Staggering into another room, she flung herself, weeping, Into a chair. Then Dr. Jaffer administered the strychnine and whisky hypodermically to the seem ingly dead man and at the . same time resorted to artificial respiration. The staff physicians and surgeons gathered about the bed and watched the result of the experiment. Within fifteen minutes there was a slight resumption of heart action. It was only a tiutter. Then the mouth twitched slightly. A few minutes more and there was evidence of resumption of respiration und the heart beat quick ened. Dr. Jaffer, ihus encouraged, re doubled his efforts to restore life. The other doctors assisted, and half an hour after he had been reported dead Culver opened his eyes and sighed. He apparently became unconscious again, but at the end of an hour's work by the doctors his eyes opened again and he spoke. The heart was. beating evenly, though weekly. Sighing deeply, the resurrect ed patient said, "I feel like fighting." The doctors gave him more stimulant and permitted his wife to enter the room and talk briefly with him. The patient's voice was scarcely more than a whisper. His wife was gratified to hear even that, and she remained at the bedside as long as the doctors would permit her. That was fifteen minutes, but she was not permitted to say much to him. Weeping tears of joy, she left the hospital, with the promise of the doctors that they would keep her husband alive as long as they could; but they added she must not hope for his recovery. It was thought he would live through the night, and his wife might have another short talk with him to-day, before he passed be yond medical skill. ' . - Barn for Mixed Farming. The farmer who can so adjust his work that he may dispense with the help of one man Is lucky Indeed, but many a farmer has done so by sim ply changing his system of feeding and caring for the stock; also by so dis posing of the grain and hay that in stead of hauling many tons of it to market It Is fed on the farm, and the beef, pork, butter, cheese, etc., sold. This allows the farmer to restore to the ground at least a part of the fer tility In the shape of manure. The barn plan shown herewith In the two illustrations, the ground plan and the perspective view, Is so ar ranged that one man may feed and care for the stock in a short time. As shown on the floor plan, the barn will accommodate fourteen cows, ' twelve horses, has box stalls for both the mi-cciivt view. UHNtM MM r-M1 I sirtf -4 EEHE3 0 GOOD BARN PLAIT. GRIDLEY'S LEAVE. Touching Scene When the Brave Captain Left the Olympla. On the morning of the battle of Ma nila Bay Captain Grldley was so ill that the little commodore offered to excuse him from duty, but gallantly, as is characteristic of the man, he re plied, "Thank you, Commodore Dewey, but she is my ship and I will fight her." And he did, although, figuratively speaking, he was a dead man before he went on the bridge, and days had strung themselves Into but few weeks when he was ordered home on sick leave. He came up out of his cabin dressed In civilian clothes and was met by the rear admiral, who extended him a most cordial hand. A look of trou bled disappointment flitted across the captain's brow, but vanished when he stepped to the head of the gangway, and, looking over, saw not the launch, but a twelve oared cutter manned en tirely by officers of the Olympla. There were men in - that boat who had not pulled a stroke for a quarter of a century.- The stars and stripes were at the stern and a captain's silken coach whip at the bow, and when Captain Grldley, beloved alike by officers and men, entered the boat It was "Up oars !" and all that, just as though they were common sailors that were to row him over to the Zaflro. When he sat down upon the handsome boat cloth that was spread for him he bowed his head, and his hands hid his face at First Lieutenant Reese, acting cock swain, ordered: "Shove off! Out oars J Give away!" St Nicholas, Sufficient Ground. First Young Lawyer You seem to b. very much attached to Miss Goodcatch. Second Young Yawyer Well, she owns 300 acres of land. That's suffi cient ground for an attachment Isnt it? illustrated Bits. At last we have discovered the dif ference. The clothes of a stylish man are shaped to him, while a stylish woman is shaped to her clothes. cows and horses, also a large calf pen. The Installation of manure carriers and hay fork Is very easy, and these will soon pay for themselves in the labor saved. A feature of 'the barn not to be overlooked is the arrange ment of the feed room and silo. The four-foot chute extends the entire length of the silo, and has small win dows for light, a tight door below separating same from the feed room to keep out dust and odors. The silage is dropped down this chute, and from there shovelled to the mixing boxes one for the cows and one for the horses. There are two bins in the feed room and two more may be locat ed on the floor above and connected by small spouts for drawing off the grain. These spouts may be located di rectly over the mixing boxes. All hay is supposed to be fed from above, one hay chute being provided for each two stalls. The milk room being located as it is, the .milk may be taken to It at once. In this room should be located the separator; also plenty of clean water; If possible running water should ; be provided. The shop is a very neces sary room, and it will save many small repair bills. In It may be stored the nails, bolts, etc. In the horse barn the harness room is located in the center, which mates it handy to all parts of the same. The two box stalls provide room for both male animals as well as sick and ailing ones. The hay bay is supposed to be open clear to the roof. However, some farmers may wish to arrange this space different. The partition sepa rating the cows from the center sec tion is boarded or plastered up tight except the calf pen, to separate the cows from any odors, dust or dirt from the other animals. The box stalls, however, in both the cow and horse barn are so constructed that the in mates may have a good view of the other alnmals. They like company, and will do better if they can see their neighbors. The floors of the cow stable, the milk room, feed room and silo are of cement, the gutter being formed In the floor and having a four-Inch drain at the rear leading to the manure pit. The stalls are made to fit both long and short cows. The first stall In front Is four feet wide and five feet long. The rear stall is three feet six inches wide and four feet eight inches long. The stalls then slope from front to the rear, each stall being slightly shorter. Stalls are now con-, structed in so many different ways that it is hardly worth while to men tion them, every cow man having his own views of the matter. However, It is wise to so build them that the stall may be easily cleaned . and washed. This construction will comply with all sanitary requirements of Inspectors. The floor of the horse stable may be of cement or clay. The location, the local supply of materials, etc., will of course govern to a certain extent the material enter lng the construction of any building, and, in fact, all buildings. The barn as shown is twelve feet to the eaves and thirty-eight feet to the peak; the silo is thirty-eight or forty feet high. The barn should, of course, have a good foundation of stone, brick or cement. On many farms It has been the practice to build a small shed here and there and the stock Is scat tered all over the farm. This causes an unnecessary lot of labor to care for them ; also an unsightly appearance 'to the surroundings. In constructing a barn of this sort It will not be neces sary to do all the work before the same may be used, but a portion of It may be left until time and perhaps your purse will allow It to be finished. Wallace's Farmer. Feeding- of Egg. Hens will not refuse to lay provid ing the conditons which surround them are favorable for egg production. Of course, a hen cannot keep on laying all the time, nor will some hens lay even for a majority of the time, but the farmer who provides the correct condi tions of housing, feeding and general management will find that he will not be entirely without eggs at any time of the year. Of course, It is not the hen's nature to lay at this time of the year, but if she is comfortably housed and well fed, the farmer will find that the hen after all really has little senti ment as to just which season she shall produce her eggs. Getting eggs is not entirely a matter of feeding, yet if we feed correctly the hens will not have that as an actual obstacle to laying. Maturity and vigor are two Important things In the hens that are to be heavy winter layers. Keep the hens In a thrifty, vigorous condition, and be sure and feed a va riety. These things count for a great deal toward . success. Corn, oats and wheat are the three principal grain feeds, but there are others that may well be fed by way of variety and the meat and green stuff in some form should never be neglected. Give any kind of meat scraps or prepared meat foods, as it pays. Try to keep the hens under conditions as near like those in existence at spring time as you can, and you will not suffer severely from an egg famine. This Is nothing impos sible, and briefly, only means comfort able housing, a variety of feeds, green stuff and meat scraps, and sanitary quarters. Agricultural Epltomist Small Temporal- Smokehouse. If one butchers only once a year, says a correspondent of Farm and Home, it is not necessary to build an expen sive smokehouse, for almost as good Deatruetlon br Rats. There are those who declare that nothing is created in vain, and that rats and mice are in some way a benefit lo mankind. It Is hard to see just how. The statistician of the Agricul tural Bureau at Washington computes that they cieate $15,000,000 damage a year. That Is the real money damage. laying nothing of the annoyance. As in offset the rat catchers of the world tell about $1,000,000 worth of skins per year, and the furriers work them and tell them for five times that sum. It la estimated that a full-grown rat will lat six bushels of corn per year. SMALL BUT EFFECTIVE SMOKEHOUSE. results can be obtained from a de vice such as the one shown herewith. It Is made by taking both ends out of a barrel and mounting it upon a box or above a fireplace In the ground. The meat to be smoked is hung from the sticks laid across the top of the barrel, the fire built underneath and the lid put on. To Increase Fruit Yield. One orchardlst Is said to have In creased the yield of his orchard from fifteen to 250 bushels in the following manner: He reduced the tops of the trees one-fourth; then in the fall he plowed between the trees. After ma nuring well he planted corn, beans and pumpkins, and harvested a nice crop of each. The next spring he repeated the same form of cultivation, and that year, In addition to the good crops of corn, beans and pumpkins, harvested seventy bushels of good apples. The next spring he manured for the third time and planted potatoes, which did not do well, but he harvested 250 bush els of fine apples from the orchard. Champion Batter Cow Dead, Pedro's Estalla, champion butter cow of the world, with a record of 713 pounds In twelve months, waa killed by an accident at the Missouri Agricul tural College farm.