Topics of
the Times
About nine-tenths of what people
ay doesn't amount to anything.
The world could better hare lost a
fleet of Petropavlovsks than one Yer-
stchagtn.
A scientist claims that he baa dla-
coTered that fish can talk. Good grv
cious, what 11 o they might contra
diet!
Meantime the Germans are busy
whipping the Hereros, who In their
Ignorance tried to drop - the black
man's burden.
A Tale professor la credited with
saying that the masses eat too much.
He said this, doubtless, for the ben-
At of the classes.
Mr. Morgan will not be missed so
much as formerly during his trip
abroad. Erects are not quite to Mor-
ganlied aa tbey were.
Then la something In the finger nail
diagnosis. If you hare aches all over
you, and your nails are thin and brit
tle, you have rheumatism.
It isn't quite bo bad If rheumatism
attacks a man after be has lost his
bearing; then he doesn't hare to lis
ten to everybody's cure for it
When a young man tells a girl he
lores ber for herself alone It's equtva
lent to an Injunction against interfer
ence from the rest of the family.
' t U ways, and are corrupted thereby
out of all likeness to their former
scire. Take "garble," for Instance,
It used to mean to select for a pur
pose." There was once an officer
called the garblcr of spices, whose bus-
mess It was to visit the shops and ex
amine the spices, and order the de
struction of all Impure goods. Ills
duties were similar to thoso of the
modern health department Inspector
who forbids the sale of decayed vege
tables or tainted meats. The word
cornea from a root meaning to alft
The Impurltlea sifted out hare In the
course of fenerations corrupted the
term till a "garbled report" Is no long
er a report from which all uncertainty
has been removed, but one which Is
full of misrepresentation and made
misleading with deliberate Intent The
word "yellow" is passing through a
similar transformation In our very
sight It describes the color of sun
light or of beaten gold, of the butter
cup or of the dandelion. But not many
years ago one of the sensational news
papers printed a series of colored pic
tures illustrating the adventures of a
"kid" that U what the child whs
called wearing a long yellow gar
ment The yellow pictures appeared
week after week, till men began to
use the term "yellow Journalism"
when they desired to describe the Jour
nalism that waa sensational, coarse
and vulgar. Now we hare yellow pol
Hlca and -yellow preaching, yellow
base-ball and yellow warfare, and It
bas got so that when one Is told that
a woman wore a yellow gown to a
party one does not know whether the
color of the gown is meant or its ex
treme vulgarity. Never was there a
better illustration of the truth of the
saying that a word la known by the
company It keeps.
A New Jersey man broke both bis
legs while getting out of bed. And
yet wires will go right on bemeaning
husbands for staying up late at night
A New York alienist declares that
Hetty Green is insane. Tut! Tut!
Hetty hasn't been going around vol
untarily to baTe her taxes raised, has
she?
A woman sues for separation on the
ground that her husband nerer kissed
ber. Thl is a point upon which in
telligent comment cannot be irade
without seeing the plaintiff.
The Academy of Medicine at Paris
has decided that excessive meat-eutlng
causes appendicitis. If this be true
why abuse the so-called "beef trust"
for putting meat beyond the reach of
so many people?
Young John D. recently said to his
Bible class: "A man who la proud and
puffed up la sure to fall." True. And
a man who climbs too high on a slen
der pole is likely to break it off and
run it Into himself. ,
The Emperor of Austria has been
chided by his physicians for working
too hard. Pity the case of a poor old,
tired emperor who can't put a substi
tute on the throne for even a day or
two for fear the sub won't give It back.
Walter Wellman wants to know
what has become of the writers of
great American novels? They have
probably found out that It pays better
to write the kind of novels that the
great American public seems to want.
HlMTRiMMSP
JUDICIAL DECISIONS.
OPINIONS OF GREAT PAPERS ON IMPORTANT SUBJECTS
Will those who hare been descant
ing on the injurious effects of the "poi
sonous sulphur" taken by Niedermeler,
the Chicago desperado, in his attempt
to cheat the gallows, try to recall how
their mothers shoveled It into them,
mixed, with molasses, when they were
too young to protest effectively?
Not a big-selling novel in two years,
say the publishers. The searchlight is
applied in every direction for a possible
bidden genius. The typewriters of the
land creak and get wheezy with the
rapid production of rapid literature.
Litterateurs who erstwhile scrapped
for existence In Grub street now em
ploy high-priced architects to build
them mansions In Easy street Never
was the apparatus for getting literary
productions before the public so well
developed. But the books
A Swiss Inventor has devised a new
life-preserver. That in itself, consid
ering Switzerland's expanse of sea
coast, is amusing; but the character of
the device is still funnier. It is simply
a rubber suit so weighted as to keep
the wearer upright in the water, so
inflated as to give buoyancy, and so
provided with food and water, stored
in pockets, as to make the happy wear
er quite indifferent to his situation.
With one of these suits a man would
not need to patronize the seaside ho
tels. It is hardly too much to say that
Edward VII. has done more to assure
the peace of Europe than all the other
European statesmen put together. His
action has bad a vastly greater effect
than that of the Czar with his Hague
tribunal. Not since the Crimean war
bave England and France been so close
together. The new treaty between
those powers removes from the Held
many of the vexed questions between
the two countries. In North America
nd Africa the relations between them
have been so well defined as to make
conflict impossible. Further, the in
fluence of King Edward has been
teadily exerted to promote friendly
relations with France, and it is be
cause of this preliminary work that
the treaty became a possibility.
President Roosevelt says the one and
main lacking of the American boys la
conservatism. By this be means, doubt
less, that American boys aije lacking
In solid qualities, that they do
not believe in the good old vir
tues, that they are prone to set
their own pace, disregarding ad
vice. The President is mistaken.
The average American boy Is your true
conservative. Attack his mother's re
ligion or the institutions of his coun
try and you will find out The average
American boy bas been well brought
up. And he believes In certain things
with all his heart Mischievous? Yes.
Restless? Yes. Loud sometimes? Yes.
But you are mistaken If yon conclude
that under his boyish gaiety there are
no well-settled convictions. He may
be by conduct a radical, but in princi
ple and belief he is a stayer. And
even though he may depart for a time
from the teaching of his family be will
return to it American boys are the
finest In the world. They wake up to
Intellectual power the quickest They
are capable of greater enterprises at
an earlier age; they bear heavier bur
dens on younger shoulders; they are
the largest wage earners; they are the
most independent-acting; and withal. 1
they are made of the stuff of which the
grandest and highest type of manhood
comes. Because, while the American
boy Is apparently light-hearted and
care-free he is not necessarily frivolous.
There Is a vein of true ore in him which
a little mining will disclose. Sooner or
later innate manhood will appear. At
bottom he is all right Give him good
home training and a show for his life
and be will make a man of himself.
The youths of other lands may seem
more solid and conservative. It is be
cause they are more stolid in tempera
ment They are less Jovial and prank
ish because tbey are slower in develop
ment The American boy has Initia
tive, He sees quickly. That puts him
in the race before his cousin across the
sea gets started. Bnt he has staying
qualities also and he wins In the long
run because of those qualities. If the
President's idea of conservatism in
boys is that our restive youngsters
should sit still and let moss grow on
their backs then the American boys are
not conservative.
A
American Husbands.
WRITER In the London Telegraph deplores
the fact that the American husbaud of the
"middle class" does not Interfere In domestic
iffalrs and "seldom examines the accounts of
:he grocer, the butcher or the baker and hard
ly knows the cost of staple articles, of food."
lie also regrets that the husband la extrava
gant and "does not make his wife a regular allowance, but
gles her as mucSs s he can spare, freely, but without
system."
These are simple extracts from the writer's long article
and It shows the vast difference betweeu the American
and the English husband. In England the husband thinks
that he has to "keep tab" on erery penny and dole money
out to his wife In gingerly portions and, to the American
way of thinking, look upon hla wife merely as a servsnt.
The writer In the London paper Is perfectly right In his
report The American husband Is extravagant ne doei
not bother his head with the price of meat and flour and
potatoes and other thlags for the table. Why should be
do so? He has confidence In bis wife, The culinary de
partment Is not his department He runs things In uU
office and allows his wife to run things at home. Both par
ties are well content He bas no Interest whatsoever In
the bill sent In by his grocer or butcher beyond paying it.
lie knows that his wife has done the best she could. On
the other band, the wife docs not concern herself with his
business. She knows that the bills are paid promptly and
that her husband Is satisfied. That la all she thinks about
the business.
The natural Independence of the arerage American girl
would resent a husband's constant interference In bur
household duties and expenses. She considers herself per
fectly capable of looking after that end of the family, and
she Is right This shows the difference between American
and English girls. St Louis Republic.
The obligations Imposed upon a man
by a second marriage are held, In 8tate
ex rel. Brown vs. Brown (Wash.) 02,
L. R. A. 074, not to relieve him from
the payment of alimony, according to
the provisions of a dlrorct decree.
The habitual and lutempcrate use of
morphine, unaccompanied by any con
duct reasonably Justifying an appre
hension of danger to life, limb or
health, Is said, lu Ring vs. Ring (Ga.t
02. L. R, A. 873. uot to be such cruel
treatment as the law recognises as a
ground for divorce.
If a space Inside the building line
Is permitted by the abutting owner to
remain open and to be used as part
cern that It is "not a good hand for bookkeeping." And
yet It was this objection to the old, running, long hand
that led to the Introduction of the vertical system, whose
coudeuscd. legible form was supposed to adapt it perfectly
to mercantile uses.
The question suggested by the discussion of "vertical
writing Is: How long will penmanship of any kind last? f tha sidewalk it la held lu Rachitic!
How long will we need to teach it In the schools? Isn't vs. Clark (Pa.), (12 L. It A. U."l), that
the typewriter supplanting It lu all departments of business he must exercise due care not to placo
endeavor? I there dangerous obstructions thnt may
To discuss Intelligently these questions we have first to ' result lu Injury to persous lawfully
Ret rid of the notion that there Is anything sacred about ' on the walk.
"penmanship." Following the law of evolution. If It be-1 A brBkeumn'on , r,Urolld , U0,L
comes useless, It will have to go. As a matter of fact Isn't 'ln Murrny Vi 0ton & M iuiinail
Its usefulness even now confined to social correspondence jjj j Uj fc A llot j0 IB.
and bookkeeping? How long will It take to break downfa'umt t rU( of ,cCul,,ut from the
mm social oarnori against me use or me typewriter ror 'proximity of a Jigger staud to a switch.
The Hero in Politics.
HE esse of Cantaln Rlrhmnnil PrB.-in Ilnhann
'T I shows that the war hero docs not always have
I I the open sesame to the prises of politics. Young
I II.Kann ,1..A - I. - .
i.vuavu ini,iim I1UU1 IAIC UCI 1 J PUT Or IWO
ago, and announced that he Intended to seek
an election to Congress. One of his objects In
Congress, as he recently declared, would have
been to work for the construction of a bigger navy for the
United States than England has. He would give this coun
try the same pre-eminence on the sea that Great Britain
has hsd for the past third of a century, even If this nece
sltatedthe expenditure, within the next twenty years, of
two or three billions of dollars.
But Hobson's war record' did not prove to be so pow
erful an asset as he and some others supposed It would be.
He has been beaten by John H. Bankhead, of the Sixth
Alabama District a very much less picturesque person, but
a person who has had an experience of eighteen years ln
Congress, and who served in the Legislature of his State
many years before going to Washington, while Hobson
never bas had any political service of any sort
Like his companion In arms, Dewey, the hero of the
Merrimac has bad bad luck in politics. The sailors in this
country have been less fortunate than soldiers. Moreover,
the war In which Hobson figured has given no political
prize to anybody except President Roosevelt It furnished
him the governorship of New York, and this led to the
presidency. The chances are that It has no more political
posts for anybody. Bt Louis Globe-Democrat
Words are like men. They start
jrelL bat now tad then they fall on
Life Easy on This Railroad.
There Is a small railroad ln Michigan
which doesn't figure on the map. It Is
only forty miles long and meanders
through the countryside in a casual
sort of way, touching such brisk vil
lages as Parsons Mills, Sleepy Corners
and Appledale. Trains do not run on
this road they creep. The locomotives
appear to be heirlooms of antiquity,
say of the year 1000 B. C, and the an
tediluvian rolling stock suggests the
ark. The road is operated on the good
old easy-going principle that haste
makes waste, and it Is said, doubtless
with malicious exaggeration, that a
cow once poked her head through the
car window and ate all the lunch ln a
picnic basket while the train was going
by.
.One day a woman and her little boy
took a trip on the road. By the time
Dandellondale and the Junction were
passed the pair had succumbed to en
nui and slumbered ln their seats.
"Tickets!" drawled a brass-buttoned
Charon with a punch in his hand. The
lady woke up and presented two tick
ets, her own and the boy's. The con
ductor eyed the youngster and re
marked that he guessed he was much
too old to ride on a half-fare ticket
"Of course he is," the mother re
plied. "But he wasn't when we start
ed." Chicago Record-Herald.
Not an Extensive Edition.
"I think," said the first author, "that
I shall write a two-volume novel as
my next effort" -
"Yes?" smiled his 'rival Tes, I
think that will be a large enough edi
tion." New York Daily News.
A man can make his wife believe al
most anything during their honey
moon. ... ...
WM Penmanship Become a Lost Art.
ISCUSSION of "vertical wrltlns:" ln the schools.
D which has been revived of late, naturally raises
the question as to the future status of penman-
huijj aa a uiraus vi revuruiug uie tails OI com
mercial exchange or conveying the thoughts of
men.
Is penmanship destined to become a
lost art
"Vertical handwriting" was Introduced In the schools
because it was supposed to be better adapted to the needs
of our time than the old Speneerlan, running hand. It Is
more condensed, and, if properly taught more legible than
the old style. But now comes the parental objector with
the contention that the "vertical" writing disqualifies the
child for clerical positions In mercantile or banking con-
polite correspondence May not the typewriter become as
common and as necessary In the home as the sewing inn
chine? As for bookkeeping, machines hare already been In
vented for writing In books, and It can be but a question
of time when mechanical Ingenuity will supply the perfect
and practical bookkeeping typewriter. And then what
will become of penmanship and the sticklers for a partic
ular form of writing? Chicago Record Hcruld,
T
Mixed Marriages.
HE people who have lately been agitating the
'luestlon of "mixed marriages" of various sorts
meaulng by the term, marriages between
people of different white races and different of a persoti rendered Insono by a negll
cts are, or course, looking at the qucotlou g,nt injury, who knows the purposo
from their own race or religious standpoint al-jaud physical effect of tho act Is held,
together. This Is a matter lu which all tbe'n Daniels vs. New York. N. II. & II.
where be does not know of It and la
not chargeable with such knowledge
ln the exercise of ordinary care la the
performance of bis uutles.
The mere fact that the witnesses
who attest the slgnaturo of a inort
gagcor and the notary public taking
his acknowledgement are stockholders
of, but not otherwise Interested In, the
corporation named lu such uiortgago
as grantee Is held, ln Read vs. Toledo
Loan Company (O.), (52 I It A. 71)0.
not to render the uiortgago void.
A voluntary willful act of suicide
baue, or all the good, depends on the point of view.
Broadly speaking, the Interest of the American nation
lies In a multiplicity of mixed marriages. The safety of
the republic demands that there shall be no upgrowth of
castes, no hard and fast delimitation of component ele
ments. Our public schools are the greatest mixing agency
on the earth. Our politics are themselves a mixed mar
riage of races and cults. America Is the melting pot of the
nations.
R. Co. (Mass.). (12 L. It A. 731, to be
such a new and Independent agency as
does not come within and complete a
line of causation from the accident to
the death, so as to render one guilty
of the negligence responsible for the
death.
A prima facie cose of negllirence.
rendering pit Unlit ta tm ( in.
. . ,. i . i . . i . . . . i t v
uur Ju P"P lD rro" 'cn00' Jured by the explosion of a boiler
and the busting. They mix. aud no one can stop them UU(ler the BjewalU( ,n tLft ,D(Mnce of
from mixing. Nine out of ten of the young families known 'evidence that it exercised reasonable
to every reader of these words are probably lu some sense ' ln Ul8 pmilllM.( u bed ,
ncugivus consmerauuiis aro more poieni war j Vi, 'Seattle (Wash.), CI L. R. A. 583,
fusions.
to mixture than race considerations, save wheu the race
happens to bo African. But even religious bars fall before
a fusion of elements which Is proceeding here on a grander
scale, and In more rapid movement, than bas ever beforu
been known.
Lovo laughs at canons, at rules, even at anathemas.
-! i, a - v . . ... . I
remaps wouiu oiien ao Deuer xo oDey mem man io. was to be utilised. A note to this case
scorn them. It all depends, In the last resort, upon the collates the other authorities on Habit
Individual will. And we have here a land ln which Cupid Hy of municipal corporations for In
Is as free as air, with no will or tradition or authority to juries to travelers caused by persona
VTermaBier aim. -.ew iurs aim aim express.
to be made out by showing that It
consented to the maintenance of the
boiler there Mnder conditions which
were a violation of a city ordinance
prescribing the structural work to lx
used In caso the space under the walk
Boy Bandits and Their Origin.
m
ii
using tho space under the street
Coal Is Still Supreme.
The tPtldenev (n .nnnt.m
llt'DP I. . I I.. .1. .1 ... " . "" mill-
r .k Zu7 Z . ,,. . .. V "'ibustlon ' l when stored In bulk
the three Chicago boy bandits and It shows ,n mnMM ofi B 1000 (oU op
that there Is nothing worse for boys than .bouty appt,ar to bfJ a K)InPwnnt
cigarettes. It Is the dime nove that glorifies unui)UJll poInt t0 mnko , fflrof of t
the deeds of train robbers bank robbers andiga, engine as a large sl.e power unit
other robbers. This may be the Initiation of
public sentiment building for the suppression
of publishing bouses that Issue such pernicious books.
Four legal hangings and one prospective hanging In
Illinois and Missouri and nine murders are the latest crop
or mis ninti or printing, 'ino criminal press becomes as inri. PMnFVn ,.!, .
"much a part of the care of the state as the criminal wliof0r a power station of any coiiHlderu-
penorms me nomiciues. ine criminal piay stagoa at tne.ble size to carrv. to tide over iww-n.i.v
for central station work. It was, how
ever, made as such recently by a cen
tral station engineer, whoso contention
was thnt the nearly always present
danger of spontaneous iKiiltlon In tlitt
temporary Interruptions In the supply.
from strikes or other causes, was cn-
thoater Is also part of the machinery that supplies gallows'
fruit A censorship' of publications and of plays Is likely
to suggest itself to the public mind, although Uncle Ram's ( tiroly ellminnted by the use of ga
supervision of the United States moils In some measure engines w'hlch took their gas from ten
serves the purpose, tral krs plants.
This Is a freo country In which no one Is allowed to Curlounly, however, the fact annenr
incite to crime by public speech. Is any one to be per-, hero to have been overlooked that with
mlited to incite to crlrno by public print? Hooks sold under ' the large gas englno plant will come.
tne name or "ine uoy uanaiu" or similar titles will con- as an almost Inseparable adjunct, tho-
tlnue to do their pernicious work until public authority
muHt interfere. Illustrated Home Journal.
FEED CALVES COD-LIVER OIL.
Anlmala Make Great Gain on This
Kind of Nourishment.
An attempt Is being made to substi
tute cod-liver oil for the natural fat
of milk In feeding calves, according to
the Philadelphia Record. Milk con
tains, as is generally known, all the
nutrients necessary for the full de
velopment of young animal life. If
one of these elements is removed It
has to be replaced with a substitute
of like kind in order to insure thrifty
development. Butter fat and cream,
of course, are the most highly prizpd
and valuable of dairy .products and
some resourceful individual suggested
that thesfl might be extracted by press
ing the whole milk through a separa
tor and their loss be made up to the
calf by adding an equivalent amount
of cod-llver oil, another fat nutrient.
Experiments have accordingly been
ln progress for some time at one of the
agricultural colleges ln Yorkshire and
recent reports seem to Indicate that
'they are entirely successful. There Is
but little labor Involved. The cod
llver oil and skim milk Is a cheaper
feed than the whole milk and the
calves appear to thrive on It. During
a feeding experiment embracing some
28 weeks It was found that the average
dally gain of the calves fed on whole
milk until tbey were weaned was 2
pounds; those fed on skim milk and
oil and continued on an oil ration, 2.4
pounds, while those which bad been
fed oil and milk but from which the
oil was subsequently withheld gained
only 2.1 pounds.
On slaughtering the animals no in
jurious effects on the flesh could be
discovered. The dally ration that ap
peared to be successful was made up
of five quarts of skim milk and two
ounces of cod-liver oil. Fortunately
the calves do not develop that aversion
to cod-liver oil which is natural to most
human beings, but, on the contrary,
readily become accustomed to it
Why don't they put rubber, heels on
boys' shoes?
SOLDIERS SEATED WITHOUT CHAIRS.
' JlT T ' - .il """
Soldiers ln the French army have a drill to perfect them ln the art of
sitting down comfortably without chairs.
A dozen or more men stand in a circle each facing the bock of the next
in line, at a carefully .calculated distance apart. At the word of command
tbey sit down, each resting on the knees of the man behind him. In this
way, as the accompanying picture illustrates, the weight Is distributed around
the entire circle.
Food 4or Fishes.
A recent publication of the Illinois
State Laboratory of Natural History
makes a new departure ln the litera
ture of scientific investigation ln Amer
ica. This Is a report of the results of
nu approximately continuous study of
the minute plant and animal life
(called the "plankton") of the Illinois
River and "its tributary waters, car
ried on for five successive years by the
staff of the Illinois biological station.
It appears from these studies that
the ratio of the "plankton" of the riv
er, year in and year out, was 2.7 parts
per, million of the water in the stream,
and its total average amount moving
downstream past a given point reach
es the astonishing aggregate of 75,000
tons per annum, or two and one-half
tons an hour. This annual aggregate
U about fifteen times the total weight
f
gus producer, taking the placo of tho-
steam boiler now accessory to the
steam engine installation, so that tho
largo coal pile will remain In evidence
as before, and the spontaneous Igni
tion troubles as well, even with cer
tain precautions against them, in the
way of selcctlug and storing tho coal.
Experience In some cases lins dictated
the safe height to which coal of cer
tain sulphur percentage may be bunk
ed, but this height will vary with some
other governing conditions easily
enough imagined. The gns engine,
therefore, will, after nil, havo to.de
pend for favorable consideration upon
Its several other well known good
points rather thun upon tho one men
tioned ln the opening Hues of till
paragraph.
Population of ItusMla
In population the Kusslun Empire
surpasses Japan nearly threefold. Ac
cording to the census of 1807 the em
pire had 120,502,718. Within the last
half century the lucrease in population
has been tremendous. In 1815 It was
estimated at 45,000,000. At tho pres
ent time it Is nearly 150,000,000. Ac
cording to its different divisions the
population was distributed by the cen
sus of 1807 as follows: European Rus
sia, 107,000,000 (Including 9,500,000
Poles and 2,500,000 Finns); Caucasus
governments, 0,300,000; Siberia, 5,730,
000; Central Asia, 7,720,000. In Euro-
of the fish taken from the river in i
year.
The conditions whlnh f
annual production of this mlnuti penD Ru"8la tho averae annual ,n"
aquatic life also seem to favor a larM Crease of blrth" over dcaths' accord
oatch of fish, but no direct connection ln t0 I"ternat,on"! Encyc'
of cause and effect is here made out P"" 18 'mm Bouls- The euiPr
"Plankton" Is, however, an Indlspon ha fJ?tle' Zlth a PP"la!!0? f
sable element In the food of fishes thi 0Ver 200,000, and they are: St Peters
young of nearly everj Species In ou 1,480: M8C0W' 1147'245;
water- being f" 4.14'218'
upon it at some period of their Uvea ' ' ' w,u'' ana lev
ana aamt flntma nt avA.0i ,
' v. Dviviai BycviGQ JUUK,
mg large use of It during the season 01
its greatest abundance New Yori
Evening Post
A Natural Inference,
Tommy An unmarrlod man leads a
single life, doesn't ho, pa?
Father Yes.
Tommy Well, then, does a married
. After awhile, you find out what li
best for you. Profit by your expert, man lead a double one? New York
wice. I H
wuui
It Is cruelty to Insist that an unmu- No grown person should ver lata
steal child take music lessons. a child.