Image provided by: Yamhill County Historical Society; McMinnville, OR
About The Yamhill County reporter. (McMinnville, Or.) 1886-1904 | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1898)
conflicts. The work was to have been completed by the flrst of last year, but there were delays which set It back. In this delightful retreat over 2,000 men In blue, many without arms, oth ers without legs, are huddled together to let the sands of Mfe run out. The Fifty-first Congress passed the bill of Congressman George W. Steel appropriating $209,000 for a national soldiers' home to be built at Marlon. Ind. This was approved Jan. 23, 1888. A 235-acre tract of land belonging to a farmer named Vntlilnk was selected and the work of construction begun. Previous to this act of Congress there were six national homes of soldiers ami sailors and over twenty State homes. These Institutions, however, were crowded, and there was urgent necessity to either enlarge them ma terially or erect a new national home. The same condition exists to-day, and the Government, while finishing the Marion home, was laying the founda tion for an eighth at Danville, Ill., wlilcli In the course of seven or eight years will also lie completed. The death rate of participants In the late rebellion may by the time the Dan ville home is completed have reached such a point that the present homes will afford all of the facilities needed by the Government to care for those who nurtured her in the years of T2, '48, ’61-65. Barring probabilities that another war will again till hospitals and wreck lives, ns well as wrest them, the time is | the band stand, In which last year over I 200 concerts were given. Walks and I flower gardens make this open space very artistic and give good effect to the buildings which surround It. On the east is the hospital—undoubtedly the flnest In Indiana and one of the finest In the country. The building cost $75,000. At the further end of the open court, facing the governor’s residence, is the new building, where the Inner man Is looked after In a manner most artistle and satisfactory. Tills Is one of the newest ami one of the prettiest build ings In the list of thirty-five. It Is of pressed brick, with clock tower and ar tistic. sloping eave«, which come over the verandas. On the first floor is the dining hall, one of the most interesting points In the city. It Is a pleasant re treat, one great room In which 1,080 can dine at once with the ease ami style of the millionaire who sticks his feet under the board at the Waldorf- ! Astoria. On the second floor is the Grand Army chapel ami a library of 5,000 volumes. Ou the shelves are twenty-four dally newspapers and many weekly publications and the leading magazines. The number of books is rapidly increasing. In the rear of this building Is the most complete and probably the most thoroughly scientific ami up-to-date big kitchen in the Central or Western Spates. It Is by long odds the pride of the home. The kitchen cost something like $i;0.i)00. It Is two stories ami a half, artistically built ami perfectly equipped. Natural gas Is utilized for the cooking, but if It ever gives out pro visions have been made whereby elec tricity can be brought Into use. Back of this couplet of buildings, which together cost almost $100,000. ami across a prettily laid out lawn, Is the new theater building. In rear of this, across another stretch of lawn. Iles the club, provided with billiard ami pool tables and other contrivances for pleasure. There are several pool and billiard “sharks” among the "old I'JTl trtfSUtE. no chance of passing Congress If ths protests of the soldiers are heeded. At present the* management rests with the President, the Chief Justice, the Secre tary of War and a Isiard of ten promi nent veterans. Congressman Steel is manager of the Marion home. General J. C. Black the local manager, and J. II. Chapman governor. HUSTLES FOR HERSELF. An Ohio Young Woman Who Carries Mail for a Living. Not many girls would enter Into a contract and furnish a good bond for the faithful ami prompt iierforuiance for four years of a duty to cover thirty- two miles a day, rain, snow or shine, in delivering Unde Sam’s mail. Yet this is what Miss Sadie Webb, the 20-year- old daughter of Aaron Webb, a wealthy ami prominent farmer of Porter town ship, Ohio, has done. Miss Webb lives with her parents on their 200-acre farm, and while the two sisters stay at home ami help their mother and her father till the soil she discharges her duty as contractor on mail route No. 31,277 ami probably does more driving than any other girl in Ohio. She covers 102 miles ¡>er week, 0,984 miles per month and 39,73d miles in the four years of her contract, a distance equal to that around the entire globe. Early In the day Miss Webb leaves her home, one and a half miles north of East Lllierty, and, passing through three more towns, she gathers up the mall and leaves what Is to be left at that place. Besides carrying malls for four postoffices she buys all of the goods for four general stores located in th<> villages along the route that she has to travel every day of her life. She has bought articles for her customers ranging in size from a needle to a cook ing range. She makes a specialty of the necessities of life and the residents along her route contribute liberally to making purchases through her com mission. Last winter when the tnermometer registered 22 degrees below zero she was prompt in all of her appointments along the route. That day she wore a heavy coat and felt boots reaching to the knee. Her hands were covered with a pair of ell>ow gloves while she drove through the distance, none the worse for the cold. Her work, although arduous, is enjoyable to her and very remunerative as well. She has made as high as $5.35 In a single day from sources extra from her stipulated con tract with the government. Not only is Miss Webb a success in commercial circles, but she Is well liked in social circles as well. Iler home is an ever-welcome place for I those who desire to visit it. She is a handsome young woman and took the i contract when she was just IS years of age. She is an entertaining conversa tionalist, has a pretty round face and j under two dark eyebrows are set two hazel eyes “that know their keepers.” EXERCISES FOR THE SHEARING THE SHEEP. Machine Does It at the Kate of One Every Two Minutes. When Dick Marquies takes a sheep by the hind leg. tosses the struggling animal into position and reaches for the steam power clippers, which hang near at hand, it takes just two minutes for that sheep to emerge from his pro fessional care cleau ami white and minus about six pounds of first quality wool. That is the way they shear sheep nowadays In the big plant of the Chicago. Burlington ami Quincy Rail road, near Aurora. Ill. About three weeks ago the steam power plant ivas started and twenty men have been steadily bending over the lambs and sheep ever since, sending the buzzing clippers scurrying through the matted wool and making 1,500 sheep every day look as if they had been shaved by a barber. Until now this work was done by hand, ami the process, while exceptionally rapid, did not yield such results in many ways as does the steam shearing. Although steam shearing plants have been in operation In Australia for many years, this country has been strangely backward about adopting the system, and sheep raisers have largely clung to the old hand shearing, although power plants are lu operation at Casper, Wyo., and in certain parts of Montana. The system is simple. The clippers work on the familiar prin ciple of the hand clippers used on small boys’ heads in barber shops, a comb with very sharp triangular teeth and a moving set of teeth passing back and forth under it. Shafting Is put In and each clipper is attached to a flexible standard, which allows the cutter to be moved in any direction by the operator. Behind each operator Is a small pen Into which about a dozen sheep at a time are driven from the runway. The men wear overalls and caps and work very steadily. When the operator is ready to liegin be opens the door of the pen. which causes a great scurrrying among the heavily fleeced lambs and sheep. Selecting an animal at random, the man seizes it by one of its hind legs, and with a quick jerk throws it to the floor. Then it is dragged out of the pen and the door is closed. With a deft move the sheep Is made to flit up on its haunches, as though sitting In a chair, and when its head and forequarters are pressed be tween the knees of the operator It is helpless. After a few ineffectual strug gles the animal becomes resigned to I man. and into this the wool Is tossed and thus transported to the end of the room, where it is sacked. The sacks are about tivenlve feet long and are rigged up in a framework. The pack ages of wool are tossed Into the sack from the car until the sack is nearly’ full, and then a heavy man jumps Into the sack and tramps down the wool into a compact mass. More is thrown In and tramped upon until the sack Is packed full, when It is tied and piled In a corner, awaiting the orders of the owner of the sheep from which It was taken. SOAP BUBBLES. Mysterious Dancing Figures Inside of the Glistening: Spheres A most interesting trick is the soap bubble one. To perform this two cork figures must be made. They can be colored with bright paint. Fasten them with wire to a small cork stand. The soap bubble mixture is important to prepare. For it you must have a A SOAP-BUBBLE QUADRILLE. quantity of castile soap, perhaps half a teacup, and add to it a fourth of the quantity of glycerine. Melt tlie soap in warm water before adding the glycer ine. This should make perhaps a pint of heavy, soapy water. Test the bub bles. and if you cannot blow them as large as the moon the mixture is not properly mixed. Soap bubble exhibi tors often blow bubbles as large as three and four feet lu diameter by the use of this mixture. Take a short strip of wood (a foot rule will do) and driven small nail into each end. Then stretch a thin string, or, better still, a piece of wire, from one nail to the other, and place a bridge under it so as to form a primitive mu sical Instrument. Next nail to one end of the strip of wood the lid of a tin in such a manner that it touches the string or wire, and place the figure in- FINGERS. Some Feats in Finger Gymnastics that Are Difficult to Perform. fast approaching when the great army, which now numbers about 150.000, will have passed away; when tin» great cities which have ami are now being erected for the comfort of her unfor tunates will be empty. Still. Ill her building to meet their present require ments ami their comforts, the Govern ment Is not erecting structures to stand a day, a year, n decade or a century, but many centuries. The permanence of construction, the completeness of the work ami the beauty and art work ed Into these homes strike one as prob ably elaborate coiMlderlng tin» fact that in a few year : they will not I m » needed for what they are now used. The Marlon home, the seventh and most modern, is nothing short of an architectural dream. It Iles near the little town of Jonesboro, though Mari on is but three miles away, l’lcturetsque Measisslna wl lllver girts one end, and neatly trimmed slirulw form the fence which Incloses the picturesque retreat. Viewed from the great entrance to the west, the city of brick buildings is seen a quarter of a mile off across the drill grounds. On the drill grounds the stars ned stripes wave In all of their glory, and there is not a place where they seem so thoroughly appropriate ami so well appreciated. Under the flagstaff Is a row of brass cannon. In the space between the buildings and the outer guardhouse lies a little grove, and under the spreading lioughs of the trews are modest little white stones. They seemingly form great circles—circles within circles. Here lie the men who have entered across tlie gay drill ground, have livid In the vil lage of pretty residences, walks and flower gardens, and at last joined the great procession to enlist lu the higher army. Here the stars and stripes float over graves. The little white stones are used at Gettysburg to mark the last resting-places of those who died “In line,” and they are none the less Impressive when viewed under the trees at Marlon, where, after years of joys, of sorrows and of pains, those who missed tlie bullets nt Gettysburg have found their allotted six feet of earth and their little white stone on which Is but a simple Inscription— “John Smith. Company A. Seventh In diana Volunteers. Died Jan. 22, 1808.” ltulldiiiKw of the Home, Broad macadamized drives ami pret ty little walks, properly and artistical ly curlwd ami guttered with brick, lead to the city within. Over the knoll to the north Is the home of the governor, a modern houa>> of frame built In co lonial style, neither gorgeous nor com mon. Beyond tlie governor’s residence Is the treasurer’s house, equally artis tic and comfortable. There art» pretty flower Is-ds and walks ami drives Lead ing up to the residences. Down the slope and across the broad main drive afrctchee the great central court, prob ably 1,000 feet square. In the ecu ter la boys.” Everything Is tree. Back of the club lies the woods. To the right Is the commissary department, to the left the waterworks and the tire engine house. The water used Is taken from wells drilled 300 feet. There is a tire company and ample tire protection. There are administration buildings, headquarters, s|>eelal hospitals, green houses, a postoffice, a home store, and fourteen barracks, making a total of thirty-live buildings In all. These barrracks are the homes of the soldiers -tlie sleeping aiairtments. Big verandas encircle them and afford am ide lounging place. There Is a captain In charge of each, and he has a neat office and a sergeant as an attendant. Each barracks is flttisl for four com panion of fifty men each, and each com pany has a seiKirate room. In these re treats the old soldiers of the wars of '48 and '60-’(>5 pass the winter at cards, and In the summer stroll among the flower gardens, on the drill grounds by along the Black road, one of the most delightful evenues In the State, which runs through the center of a sixty-acre forest. To maintaln thls Instltutlon thè Gov ernment makes an annua! approprla- tlon of $85,000 for fissi, a generai ap propriatici! of $100,000 for generai fumi, and at preseti! $51,000 in pen siona is»r annum. No man recelvtng more tluin $!<’> per monili cali be admlt- teil to thè homo. The enrollment at Marion ami otber na t-lonal homes on Jan. 1 was: Central home, Dayton, O................ 5,033 Southern Home. Hampton, Va.... 4,638 National home, Leavenworth, Kan 3,205 Northern home, Milwaukee. IVI». . 2.71*8 Eastern home. Togas, Me............... 2,518 Marion home, Marion. Ind............... 2.272 Pacific home, Los Angeles, Cal.. .. 2.083 Totnl .............................................. 22,540 Many State Home«. In addition to these national homes, there are now twenty-four State horn»»», to which the Government piys $100 per annum for each Inmate. It is thought that these twenty-four homes have a population of about 22,000 also, which makes 45,000 soldiers now being cared for by tlie Government. Few realise what a home the nation pro vide« for her worthy soldiery. Then* Is nn overwhelming oj>po«ltlon among the Itunatee of soldiers' homes against the proposition urges 1 by the ri«gular army to place the control of the homes under the regular army management. Such a proposition has | | For example, place both hands to- gather in such a manner as to have the backs of the two middle fingers joined. Now try to spread out the thumbs and the other fingers from the tips. This will be found easy enough with the thumbs, the index and the little fingers, but try it with the ring fingers, and this kind of gymnastics becomes decidedly interesting. Exercise No. 2 is not so difficult, and some can do It after the flrst trial, but there are others who can neverperform the apparently easy feat. This may also be said of the third exer cise. Here the condition is not to i>er- mlt the least bend in the two lower parts of the index tìnger. In exercise No. 4 it is Imperative that the fingers remain stretched out straight. Try CAN VOf . ' 1 I-HIIFOKM THESE FEATS? some of these experiments when you have an Idle ten minutes, and you will be surprised to find them not half so easy as they appear in the picture. Bidden to the Feast. Fortune smiles upon the man who is master of the homely art of cooking. There is in London a celebrated cook who Is said to have an Income of over ten thousand dollars a year. He is at tached to no house, but in his own brougham sets out toward evening for the home of some rich man who Is go- Ing to have a dinner, at which every dish must be als>re criticism Here he alights and, making for the kitchen, goes through the process of tasting all thi> soups, sauces, and made dishes— advising when his palate suggests a little more salt here, a pinch of herbs there, a dash of sugar or a suspicion of onion. This done, he pockets his fee of twenty-five dollars and drives on to the next dinner-giving patron, who has bid den him to his feasrt In this strunge fashion. His nightly list comprises many houses all through the London season. ! • J j ( f The man who boots a dog and the . woman who shoes a hen are not al ways cobblers. side the lid after moistening it well with soap and water. Now take a straw and blow a bubble in the lid and then touch the string gently. The vi bration of the latter wil lthen be com municated to the lid. and the figures will dance Inside the bubble. A beau tiful optical effect is thus obtained, | and the tielight of the audience is such that the bubble performer is kept busy all the evening with fresh creations. clipping THE WOOL. There are many variations of the soap the situation, and with the left arm of bubble trick possible. and which will the operator encircling its neck and his readily suggest themselves. hand clutching its horn or face it has The Emperor's Playing Cards. no chance to escape. The Emperor William's faithful sub The clipper swings on Its flexible jects are Interested just now in an ac elipport close to the operator. and when count of his playing cards. It appears he has the sheep in the correct position that the royal table does not admit the he reaches for the machine and passes usual French designs. Ills Majesty's It through the wool on the breast be packs are printed in an Altenberg man tween the forelegs. A broad streak of ufactory, and exhibit old German pat white shows as the clipper rapidly terns. The backs are devoted to a mows a swath through the fleece and symbolical exposition of the triph» al the wool falls off in a great curl to the liance. The Prussian eagle, the double floor. All over the belly of the surprised eagle of Austria and the silver cross of sheep the buzzing little machine is the house of Savoy appear on a red passed, revenling the pink flush of the Add. surrounded with Ivy and sur skin under the wool. The sheep's posi mounted by the imperial crown. Simi tion Is shlfttsl slightly, and the ma lar designs are introduced at the cor chine with a few sweeps whisks the ners, and the "four colors” are strewn wool from Its legs and then the heavy over the card. The picture cards are fleece on Its liaek goes to swell the pile executed In corresponding style. Tlie ou the floor. When every part of the king of diamonds is said to have a fam body has been touched by the buzzer ily likeness with the great Kurfurst. the door of the pen Is pushed open by The queen of hearts appears as a sim the operator and the sheep, white and ple gretchen and the knave of diamonds dazzled. is released and pushed back as a knight of St. John. History does Into the pen. while another Is dragged not relate whether the Emperor is a out to be clipped. whist player or confines himself to the Two minutes is record time for the national game of skat.—London Post. completion of tills process, although, of Too Much for Him. course, all of the operators are not so "I like modesty,” sahl the old doctor, expert as to make tills mark. Some work slowly and carefully, removing "but there's such a thing as overdoing every vestige of wool in a neat, system it” “How's that?” his assistant asked. atical way and leaving the lambs as “I was called, this morning, to see a clean ns a freshly shaved cheek. If nn operator shears 100 sheep a day he Boston girl, who Is visiting friends Is making a good average, ami some here, and when I asked her to let me fall below this number. When the see her tongue she flared up and in sheep Is returned to the pen the oper sisted that I had Insulted her.” ator gathers the wool in a little pile The. needle always has an eye ont and bi ml« It up with a cord hangiivt beside him. Down the center of the for business and seldom fails to carry narrow shed between the two rows of Its point. machines runs a little track on which There Is usually more talk than a big car is pushed by a stout young mouey In a politician's "barreL” as a resident the only American survivor of the 600, whose charge at Bala klava Tennyson Immortalized in verse. The name of this survivor of the Light Brigade Is Jeremiah Ryan. He enlisted at Lim erick, Ireland, in the Fourth Light Dra goons and went with his regiment to the Crimea, where England and France were supporting Turkey against Russia. In speaking of the battle of Bala klava, fought Oct. 25, 1854, Mr. Ryan says: "The battle of Balaklava was brought on by the Russians on Oct. 25, when they tried to drive us from the heights we occupied. It was a good, hot tight, and the cavalry did most of the fighting on our side, and as I was in the cavalry I got my share. I re member the charges of the Light Bri gade best, although It did not seem much at the time. The Light Brigade eonsistedof 607 men. They were picked from the various regiments, all young and energetic men and good lighters. "In his poem Tennyson, with the li cense of a poet, makes it appear that we all knew we were going to certain death. As a matter of fact, we knew nothing of the kind. We did not have the slightest idea wliat we were going to do. We merely obeyed orders and had no thought that we were about to charge the whole of the Russian army. There had been a heavy fall of dense, damp snow, ami the ground was hard. Under Ca.pt. Nolan we charged in two lines at quick pace. We did not know where we were going, and the enemy, being behind a bluff, were not In sight. We had not gone more than 1,200 yards before the whole line of the Russians opened a flood of smoke and flame upon us from the months of thirty cannon. Then we could not have fallen back if we wanted to. Men and horses fell un der the fire. One-third of us fell to the front, dead or dying. Another third of the men were wounded. The horses, well trained, huddled together and car ried us onward toward the Russians. Another battery opened fire upon us, and to the oblique fire of the cannon was joined a volley of musketry from the Russian Infantry. “With sabers drawn we kept on to ward the Russian guns. We could not fight much, for we were huddled close together in a solid mass for our protec tion. The men in the middle of the ranks dared not draw their sabers, for they could not tell friend from foe. Those on the outside fought and cut down the Russians in our way. Then the order was given to return, and we retreated as best we could. Some of the horses bryke with their riders and carried them back to our lines. Slowly we fought our way back surrounded by Russian infantry and soldiers. “But while we were fighting to re gain our own lines the Russian gunners returned to their guns, and, angry that we had only just ridden over them, and thinking of nothing but revenge, they tired at the mass of fighting soldiers, and this time they killed more Rus sians than Englishmen In front of the guns. Meanwhile the Eighth Hussars and the heavy brigade came to our res cue and helped us cover our retreat. “A wretched lot we were when we returned. They made heroes of the survivors, but the dead and dying were left where they fell. There were 607 of us when we followed Capt. Nolan in the charge. Of these 198 came back, and some of these received wounds from which they died shortly after ward. I myself received two cuts in the hand and another just above the JEREMIAH BYAX. end of my sock. But these were light woumls. ami I escaped much better than most of the men. There were not more than a dozen men who came through that charge unscathed. Ryan fought until the armistice of September, 1859. when he returned to England. He then came to this coun try, ami after eighteen years' residence tn New York went to Chicago. She Had Been There. Maude—Tom and I were out sleigh« riding last night and he got angry at something I said and we had a falling out. Clare—Well, It served you right. I fl you would make him drive with both1 hands or do the driving yourself there would be no excuse for falling out of a sleigh. A fat man doesn't care to be told that he is smart, or good-looking; he wants to be told that he is growing thinner.