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About The Athena press. (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1910)
. BUT WE PRAY. As tired children go at candle-light The glow in their young eyes quenched with the sun, Almost too languid, now that play Is done, f To seek their father's knee, and say "Good night" So, to our greater Father out of sight. When the brief gamut of the day Is run, Defeats endured and petty triumphs won, We kneel and listlessly His care Invite. Then with no sense of gain no tender ' thrill, 'f ,. : As when we leave the presence of a friend, No lingering content our souls to steep Jut reckoning our gains and losses still, We turn the leaf upon the dull day's end, . And, oarless, drift out to the sea of , sleep. -May Riley Smith. THE DUCHESS OF FIFE AND HER TWO DAUGHTE A Question . . of Grit. "No, Jim, I can't marry a man that ho done nothing but go to school. My future husband," she said, with pride, "must be a man who has proven his bravery; for there is nothing I hate worse than a coward." "Mary Jackson, what do you mean by bravery? I believe I am counted pretty nervy by the boys." "Yes, that's It. You and the boys think because a man plays football and does a few athletic stunts he's brave. I don't count that to your credit, for all' you had to do was to go to school and train while your father paid the bills." Looking gloomily across the sunlit, sparkling river, he seemed "out of tune" with the gayety of the excursion party; while her eyes watched him with the sternness that seventeen gives to decisions of the heart "Of course I love you, Jim, but a woman must be sure she'll never re gret her choice in after life; and un til you do some brave act to prove your courage I'll have to say no.". "You're too hard on a fellow. There's nothing I can do to prove It unless the old boat would blow up, or I'd go to the Philippines; and then the chances are I'd be detailed to some clerical Job." "The chance will come when you're least expecting It," she replied. "Well, there's one thing I want you to remember, I'm going to be your hus- "MART, PLCABK IOIIGIVX ME." band. You say you love me, but all I lack la proof of my courage. The first chance I have, I'll risk It even If It's sure death." "I couldn't possibly marry a dead hero, Jim," she said with a little smile. "Come, let's go where the rest of the crowd are and see If you can't lose that solemn look." "All right," he answered as he rose from his chair, and taking her arm started toward the others, "but I don't want you talking to Jack Brown too much. He thinks he's a greater sol dier than Napoleon since his company shot those miners." "Why, Jim! I believe you're jealous because he treats me like a gentle man." "Huh! Like a gentleman?" he snort ed. ' 'A gentleman doesn't look at girls like he could eat them up." "Didn't you say I was good enough to et, and you couldn't keep your yes away?" "Yes, but that's different because we've promised to marry." "Since when?" she asked as she topped and looked at htm with a spar kle In her eyes. "Since you said you love me. You know that." "But I said I wouldn't marry until you proved your courage. And the way you're acting now, I dont think I would then." "Miss Jackson." he answered with an accent on the miss, "If you'd rather talk to Jack Brown than me, you can do so. I guess there are other girls besides you." Looking him calmly up and down, she started forward while he silently followed. After a few words and exclamations with the others, she want to the op posite side of the deck looking almost as gloomy as he had a few moments before. " Seeing her alone he went over and aid: "Mary, please forgive me. I love you so much I hardly know what I say until It's said." "I'll forgive you. Jim. but we had better just be friends until you learn to control your temper better." "All right. Just as you say; i but I can't stay close to you, for It'd bo im possible for us to "just be friend.'" i wu'ikm JkzmA J - hil ; 'V f 71 4 to.'. 1 1 m "xr.t I law ::-,-,-,. :' . MAUD ALEXANDBA. THE DUCHESS. ALEXANDBA VICTORIA. It seems that the wife-hunting expedition of the minister of King Manuel of Portugal has come to an end and that the boy King, without being asked whether he likes It, will be made to marry Princess Alexandra of Fife. It Is a neat political arrangement, but what about the feelings of the young couple? Manuel Is 18 years old; Alexandra Is the same age. Alexandra is a simple girl, who has been raised on the country estates of hei parents. She was presented at court only a few months ago. She is j quick and even brilliant mentally, while Manuel is sluggish In brain and body. If ever romance enters into tfhe lives of this royal pair it will be after marriage. Poor Cupid! He may operate in the common, workaday world at will, but courts and thrones are forbidden him. The Princess Alexandra of Fife is a granddaughter of King Edward. Her mother, the Princess Louise Victoria, is his majesty's eldest daughter, and she married the Duke of Fife in 1889. In ,our illustration the prospect ive bride of King Manuel Is at the right Her younger sister also bears the name Alexandra, but is generally called by her first name. Saying this he walked to the rear deck without another word. As the boat slowly drifted toward the lock, rocking in her own waves, there was a rush to the side nearest the dam. , This caused It to list to that side, and in the excitement a wo man fell overboard dragging a man after her, " Jim Halllday, in his abstraction, didn't at first notice the uproar, but finally cries of 'Man overboard! Wo man overboard!" caused him to look up with a start. Rushing to the side as he threw off his coat, he saw two dark objects appear and then go under as the water bubbled and foamed around them. Jumping over the rail, he dived head-first,, cutting the water as clean as a kingfisher. A second or two later he came up near where the two had gone down, and treading water, waited for them to reappear. At last a hand was thrust out, and Just beneath, the surface were the two, struggling in each other's arms. Hesitating no longer, with two ,or three over-hand strokes to put him in reach, he grasped the back of the wo man's collar and tried to pull her from the other's hold. The collar came loose and they slowly sank lower until he caught her by the arm and brought the two, now quiet, to the surface. Hearing a' shout of warning, he looked around and saw they had drift ed within short distance of the dam, toward which they were going faster and faster. The crew of the steamer were fran tically getting a skiff In the water, but he knew they couldn't reach him, loaded as ho was, before he went over. And to go over the dam meant almost sure death; for if he didn't get any bones broken he was liable to be knocked unconscious on the rocks and drown without a struggle. He could drop his burden and swim back against the current, but,, the nerve" that Mary had derided would not allow that. "I guess Mary'U have .to marry a dead hero,' if she marries me." he grimly thought Then a bright Idea flashed through his mind. With a few kicks, and his free' arm. he swung the two in front. Then, holding hts feet well under him, and his legs at an angle of forty-five degrees with the surface of the water, he struck the dara with a jolt that shook him all over. As the water was about two feet deep on the crest, the pressure kept hira standing on a reclining position on its upper face, and all he had to do was to keep their mouths clear of water and hold on until rescued. When the crowd saw what had been done they raised a greater cheer than any he had ever heard at a football ganw. Tying rope to the end of the skiff, so the suction of the dam wouldn't draw It over, the captain and two men drifted down and took all three aboard; when many-willing hands, grasping the rope, soon pulled them out of danger. After putting on some of the cap tain's dry clothing Jim left the reviv ing couple and started for the upper deck amid the admiring glances and remarks of his fellow passenger. At the head of the stairs, wherethe mate had kept the majority of the crowd, he met Mary, who, with shin ing eyes, slipped her hand under his arm and whispered: "I've reconsid ered, Jim, for your 'nerve' is all right,", and before all she pulled his face down and kissed him. Pennsyl. vania Grit. ' '- " ETHEL WHARTON, HEROINE. Pretty Welh Norse Won Medal and Fame Soring Baby's Life. Miss Ethel Wharton is the nurse heroine of Wales, and the first British woman to receive the Carnegie medal for heroism, the London News says. All Great Britain knows of the valor of her deed, but in Wales she is en shrined in the heart of every mother for she risked her life and became a cripple to save a baby. Nurjf3 Wharton was staying not long ago at the Jersey Beach Hotel at Aberavon when a great fire broke out. The hotel was full of visitors, but In the panic of the moment the rule was "every one for himself" and the baby was left behind In an upper room. Into that caldron of smoke and flame sped Nurse Wharton, her face envel oped in a wet cloth, her head close to the floor. She gained the staircase and groped her way through the fire, how she cannot tell, but at last she reached the baby and, wrapping it 'n a blanket threw It down to the ex cited onlookers in the Btreet below, who held a sheet to receive it That saved the baby, but the plight of the rescuer upstairs was desperate. Firemen tried to reach her, but all their escape ladders were too short, and every moment brought the flames nearer and nearer to the nurse, while the crowds outside trembled with the horror. At 'last the firemen decided to hold out the same sheet that had received the baby it was the only one avail able and the nurse stepped out to the window sill and jumped toward It. Unfortunately, the sheet was not strong enough to withstand the force of her leap from such a height She fell through it, and struck the pave ment with sickening violence. Strong .men wept as they carried her to the hospital, where she lay for weeks hov ering 'twlxt life and death, with all classes making pilgrimages of inquiry day by day to learn the latest tidings of her condition. Skilled surgeons from all around attended her, and at last, almost by a miracle, her life was saved. But she will , be a cripple for life, and her working days are over. A Clever Writer. Patrice You say she Is a cleve. writer? Patlenc Very. Why, I've known hr to use fountain pen without get ting ink all over her fingers! Yonket Statesman. Not Altrthr. "So that Jilted young fellow's life U all dark. Is it?" "Not altogether. He's Just got a job on a lightship." Baltimore American. AU men are foolish, but some man age to conceal the fact RAM'S HORN BLASTS. - Warning- Note Calling- the Wleked to Repentance. There are a good many very . poor people who have plenty of money. If a hair shirt could make a saint the . devil would wear mourning all the time. , . The purpose ( of all education is to enable us to see that the world la moving, and show us what it Is moving for. The trials that just about break us are the ones that make us. In most cases we look in the wrong direction for our happiness. The man who fears the light is al ways running from a shadow. Whatever God's providence gives us to do is something He wants done. , The money that does us the most good is the money with which we do good. Some folks will do anything for the Lord except behave themselves at home. When we know that God Is the giver of all good, we shall find good in all He gives. . Anybody can talk religion, but it takes a true follower of Christ to show what it is. ' God provided for the worst that could happen to man before He breathed into him the breatk of life. . God believes in good cheer or He would not have made hearty laughter about the wholesomest and healthiest thing in the world. THE MIGRATORY SENSE. K.4....r....,..l.l...HMHM, The migration of birds, unlike the migration of human beings, Is a very mysterious thing. Flying, as most of the song-birds do, by night, coming and going In great flocks, and chang ing their locality for no one reason, but for many, the problem of these "tidal waves" in bird life is wholly fascinating. D. Lange, in the Atlan tic Monthly in discussing some phases of it speaks as . follows concerning the birds' sense of direction: How do birds find their way? There is no doubt that they are often guid ed by sight along coasts, lakes, riv ers and valleys, which are plainly vis ible for a great distance from the height at which birds travel. In other cases, old birds which have been over the route lead the way, and the young birds follow their calls and their leadership. What wonderful stories these wing ed travelers could tell if they could talk to us! What fascinating teachers of geography they would make for our children! It has, however, been shown lately beyond all reasonable doubt that in adidtlon to keen sight, acute hearing, Individual experience and race instinct, birds possess what must seem to us a kind of sixth sense, the sense of orientation. , The " Harrlman Alaska Expedition found flocks of murres, which are sea-birda, flying straight for their home on a lonely rock island thirty miles away, through a fog so thick that everything a hundred yards off was absolutely hidden from view. What human brain could guide a ship thirty miles through, a dense fog with out a compass? Still more conclusive demonstration of this sense of direction in birds has recently been furnished by Prof. John B. Watson. He caught and marked fifteen sooty terns and noddles on the Dry Tortugas, in the Gulf of Mexico, and took them out to sea. Some of the birds were carried as far as Cape Hatteras, eight hundred and fifty miles north of the Tortugas, before they were set free. ; The sooty terns and the noddles are southern birds, which seldom range farther north than the southern coast of Florida, and it is not likely that any of those experimented on had ever been farther north; but none the less, thirteen out of fifteen found their way back to the Tortugas Islands. Didn't Kmw. "Well, Mr. Henpeck, what do you think of this Peary-Cook controver sy?" ' ' V-.':- "I really don't know what to think about it" ' "Difficult to know what to think. Isn't It?" "Yes, especially when one's wife Is out of town." Houston Post Excamakle Resentment. "It's really provoking," said the fond mother, "baby always cries when we have company." "Well." answered Mr. Groucher, "you can't blame chil dren for disliking company. If U weren't for visitors they wouldn't have- to recite or play pieces on the piano." Tfca Arltaatattual Spirit. .. "As a rule," said the cynic, "one may reckon the number of his true friends on the fingers of one hand." "Well," answered the good-natured person, "anybody who counts up his friendships the same as ha does Ms money doesn't desenra an more." ' When a woman buys a newspaper he thinks . she isnt getting her money's worth unless she finds the nam of somebody aha .knows among tha de.th. notice. Stable Ventilation. Some years ago Prof. F. H. King, at Wisconsin, made an experimental study of the effect of ample and de ficient ventilation upon twenty mlloh sows.' The experiment was made in a half-basement stable, represented in accompanying figure, having three out side doors, thirteen large windows and a door leading by a stairway to the floor above. The ceiling was nine feet above the floor and the stable con tained 960 cubic feet of space per cow. Leading upward from the ceiling were two hay chutes two by three feet in cross sections, twenty feet high, which could be opened or closed at will, and a ventilating shaft terminating near the ridge of the roof inside. During the trial the cows (were kept continuously In the stable with the hay chutes closed during two days and then with them open two days, the trials being repeated four times. Fol lowing these four trials the hay chutes were left closed during three , consecu tive days for poor ventilation and left open the following three, making four teen days in all. It was found that measurably the same amount of feed was eaten under both conditions , of ventilation. But during the days of insufficient Ven tilation the cows drank, on the aver age, 11.4 pounds more water eaoh day and yet lost in weight an aver age of 10.7 pounds at the end of each Rural Delivery - and Roads. ' The Postofflce Department at Wash ington has again sent out orders that rural, mall delivery is to be discontin ued on routes not properly maintained by mall patrons, who are supposed to keep the roads ii, good condition." In many parts of the country the roads are maintained and kept In fairly good condition, but thousands of miles of roadways traversed every day' by the carriers are wretched, and later In the year will become next to Impassable. Were it a matter of great expense or effort to keep country roads in good condition it might be something of a hardship to farmers, but the intelli gent use of the split-log drag has prac tically solved the problem of country road making and road maintenance, and people need to get busy in em ploying them on the highways. In , many parts of the country, especially In Iowa and Missouri, hundreds of miles of roads are kept in passable , condition the year around by means of . this cheap and inexpensive implement. When once a highway Is placed in good condition any farmer can keep up one mile of road the year around by dragging It a few times a month after S rain has fallen, a work that will take,v the time of a man and team less than a half a day all told. Denver Field and Farm. ," Experience with Alfalfa. In the first place, I made two mis takes In sowing with grain and of course made two failures in getting a stand that suited me. For my third endeavor I selected a piece of ground which had been in hoed crops for a number of years and heavily manured each year, plowing It in April and keeping It cultivated till July, when I seeded it at the rate of 20 pounds per acre. ' On the night following my sowing we got a very heavy Bhower, and I ""l 1 1 ' - " iw'i a j 1 i- 'v ' i 11 ' i i i i i i .' . i" 'vi "r in iv. period, regaining this again when good ventilation was restored, and this, too, when they were drinking less water. During the good ventilation days, too, for each and every period, the cows gave more milk, the average being .65 pounds per head per day. At the end of the fourteen days the cows. were turned into the yard and exhibited an intense desire to lick their sides and limbs, doing so in many cases till the hair was stained with blood. Examination showed that during the Interval a rash had developed which jould be' felt by the hand, In the form Df hard raised points, and the rasping if these off caused the bleeding. Sell Less Wheat Abroad. The calendar year 1909 will show a imaller exportation of wheat than any year In the last decade, and an In creased home consumption, both in amount and per capita average, says a report of the Bureau of Statistics on wheat production, exportation and con sumption of the United States. Tho continued decline in exports of breadstuff lends interest to the state ment The exportation of wheat for the nine months ending with Septem ber amounted to only 27,768,901 bush-, els, against 68,178,935 bushels in the same month of 1908; flour exports were 5,288.283 barrels, against 9,428,347. This reduction in exports of wheat seems to be due to increased consump tion at home rather than at any de cline in production. The average an nual production for the last five years has exceeded any earlier five-year period. ,i Skim Milk lor Hens. , In some tests by the Virginia experi ment station skim milk has been proved a valuable food for laying hens. In a test of 122 days 22 hens were fed skim milk, laying 1,244 eggs, as against 996 laid by 22 hens fed a wet mash with water. In a test covering 37 days 60 hens laid 862 eggs on a skim milk diet while a like number fed no skim milk laid 632 eggs. Other experiments conducted recorded simi lar results. The station, from these tests, estimates that when eggs are worth 20 to 25 cents per dozen skim milk has a feeding value of 1 to S rents a quart got a magnificent stand. On part of the field I had sown wheat and red clover the fall before. So that In the fall after sowing my alfalfa the red clover was knee high and In full bloom, and as I did not wish it to go to seed I turned my cattle and sheep into it thinking they would not trou ble the alfalfa, but I found that I had made a great mistake, as they fell upon the alfalfa and eat it nearly Into the ground. I gave It up, thinking It was entirely ruined, but the next spring It came up as green as a bed of lettuce, and since then," now -five years ago, I have mown from two to three crops each year, of the very finest of hay, and the stand of alfalfa Is now a9 good as ever, and all with-, out being manured or fertilized In any way. A.. C. Gowdy, In Michigan Farmer. ' ' . .-- " , Aftrrlealtaral Statistics. At . the approaching census special attention will be given to the gather ing of agricultural statistics. Farmers will be asked for information which might be regarded as of a very per sonal nature concerning their opera tions, but they will be assured that the ; tacts will be held sacred. Class Walls for Fruit Trees. .An Interesting experiment, in fruit growing has been recently carried out by the Count de Cholseul and de scribed In Cosmos. When a south wall Is used for fruit trees the north side of the wall Is practically wasted as far as fruit Is concerned. Count de Choiseul has used a glass wall, and grown fruit trees on both Bides. The produce on the north side is little in ferlor to that on the south. A photo graph shows heavily fruited pear trees on both sides of the wall. The wall, -60 feet long and 6 feet high, had fif teen pear trees planted on each side. In 1907 184 pears, weighing 91 pounds, were gathered on the south side of the wall, and 109, weighing 77 pounds, on the north side. The variety grown was the Doyenne L'Hiver. Fruit Stones for Spring; Planting;, Peach, cherry and plum stones should be spread thin on high, dry ground in narrow rows, and then cov ered with about 6 inches of fine earth, with a little trench on each side of the row to draw oft the surface water. After the ground freezes a little fins horse manure may be spread over tho frozen ground. Just enough to cover tha ground. - If too much Is used it will make , a harbor for mice and rata. Apple seed may be sown in the same way, but will, need a heavier covering. These seed will sprout and take root as soon as the weather turns mild, when they should be taken up and planted out in rows. A Skilled Estimate. Richard Pybus. of the Old Lodg Derby, Pa, at the local agricultural show in 1906. guessed the exact weight of a liTe bullock 854 pounds. In 1907 his estimate was only 1 pound out and this year he was within 14 pounds c the correct weight.