ft i lr I 1 i A TRUE HERO One of the Kind That Get Mtti Itccournitlon Here Below Did you ever know a liero rcul well I know at least one and quite Intimate ly Who I am afraid you would hard ly recognize his name and besides It would not be Just right to give It here lie Is only an old bachelor who works In a shop lie has been at one bench for something like well from this you may judge When he began he was fresh from school lie lives in a little frame house with an absurd little back yard hardly more than big enough for the syrlnga bush and the ash bar rel The first morning I started for the shop he once told me I cut across the back yard and climbed the fence I have been doing it ever since and it has been a long time In the tiny lawn is worn a deep footpath The top rail of the back fence Is smoothly pol ished Ills feet wore the path Ills hands polished the rail And all these years he has worked at the same bench doing the same work Not that he lacks intelligence or that he never had an ambition Intelligence he most certainly has no mean lore of books and a wide generous grasp of affairs and the drift of things Ambi tion he had too but that was before his feet had worn a path across the back yard I am quite sure that he once loved In fact I suspect that I know the one he loved and that she loved him But he never married She did though she has been widowed for a dozen years But why you ask with intelligence and ambition did he stick to his bench In an upper room of his little cottage Is a window blind which is never opened Behind that blind peer ing out through the shutters with un recognizing gaze sits one who bears the outward form of manhood yet lacks manhoods mental qualities The one behind the blind is his brother Downstairs puttering feebly about and speattiug only in high thin querulous tones is a wan and bent old woman his mother For the sake of these two he has worn the path in the lawn for them he put away ambition for them he stilled the love that once stirred within him He is past middle age now thin as to hair stooped as to shoulders Yet is there a tenderness in his voice a cheer ful sweetness in hs smile a patient resignation in his pale blue eyes that make his manner of such mild gentle ness as you might expect in a saint From him comes never a word of com plaint about him is no trace of dis appointment no hint of bitterness And so though few know his name though he wears no glittering gauus though he goes his way unhampered by pomp or circumstance and all un recognized by church or state I can not help but count him one of earths true heroes Dont you Sewell Ford in Brandur Magazine Moses and His Horns Did Moses have horns Certainly not but if you have ever had the pleasure of examining a copy of Mi chael Angelos great picture of The Lawgiver you have wondered why the great painter surmounted the pa triarchal face gray beard and becom ing priestly gown with a pair of horns much resembling those of a two-year-old animal of the bovine tribe The reason is this Jeromes Bible the Latin Vulgate tells that when Moses came down from the mountain top his face was radiant rayed with the great light shining from his pure soul In the Greek Septuagiut the transla tion said it was cornua meaning radiant Jerome used this later ver sion in making his Latin Vulgate and translated cornua as cornuta the last meaning horned Angelo made his picture accordingly Soil Is a JLiivinp Organism Formerly the soil was regarded as mineral matter simply decayed rock mixed with dead organic matter says an exchange Now we know that the soil is a living organism whose life is as important as that of the animal or the plant itself If the soil be killed it is absolutely sterile In other wons if the life of organisms which make soil fertile are destroyed the soil is incapable of producing a crop Plants as a rule eat only mineral food such as phosphoric acid potash and nitric acid but animals usually eat only or ganic foods such as fats sugars and protein matter His Case Xot So Bad After All Ah its a sad old world sighed the man who had been cheated out of 20 Yes assented his neighbor One of my horses got his head fast in the hayrack last night and broke his neck I was offered 200 for him less than a month ago Pshaw Thats too bad Looks as though it was going to brighten up doesnt it And he went on bis way Whistling cheerfully Chicago Record Herald His Revenge M Colombies a merchant of Paris had his revenge on a former sweet heart a lady of Rouen when he left her by will a legacy of 0000 for hav ing some twenty years before refused to marry him through which states the will I was enabled to live bade- pendently and happily as a bachelor Strangers Xotv You ought to see the lovely letters my husband writes said the bride of a month to one of her girl friends Oh Ive seen a few rejoined the dear girl friend In fact Ive got near ly a trunkful of them in the attic Exchange rzp t - Act In action there is wisdom andi glory and happiness Action rouses hope and hope rouses action Free dnm - 1 gam unr A MANS BLUSHES Oe Vk III Fly the Red Signal Blore lulcky Ill an a Woman if there is any one thing that makes me want jet up and talk right out In mectr i is to hear it said of a man that hf blushes like a woman said the hocuj philosopher to a repre eentative of the New York Times How women ever gained the repu tation of having run up a corner in blushes is beyond my comprehension The report does her a grave injustice for as a matter of fact she not only has no monopoly in blushes but does not make use of the share that properly belongs to her There are some wo men of course who blush if you even blink an eyelid In their direction but as a general thing men blush much more readily and more violently than women This Is not a random statement that I am making for the purpose of hear ing myself talk but a sober deduction founded on careful observation For years I have made it a point to study the sexes in moments of embarrass ment and the statistics I have jotted down prove that In nine cases out of ten the average man will fly the red signal of distress much more quickly than the average woman This holds good in all sorts of situations Crack a joke at a mans expense he blushes ply him with awkward questions he blushes subject him to some humiliation or let some ludicrous accident befall him in public and he straightway rivals the boiled lobster in hue A woman may redden slightly under the same circumstances but her blush is diluted and perfunctory com pared with the brilliant sunlit glow that suffuses the countenance of man I dont attempt to explain the phe nomenonphysiologists and moralists may do that if they can but merely give the facts for what they are worth in the hope that the next time a story writer lias a crop of blushes to dispose ofhe will ring a few changes on the old phrase that has done duty for gen erations and say of the heroine that she blushed like a man FIRE ALARM BOXES The System In New York and Ilovr It Is Operated Greater New York is thickly studded with lamppost lire alarm boxes The directions on each box which is paint ed red and is surmounted at night by a red light are Turn handle to right until door opens then pull inside hook once and shut the door The opening of the box rings a large bell in the door which alarm is intended to notify any one in the neighborhood especially the nearest policeman that the box has been opened The policeman will then make sure that this was not done out of mischief by some one who wanted to see the engines arrive or as recently happened by a raw maidservant who wanted to mail a letter When the in side lever is pulled down and let go it sets in motou a certain clockwork that ticks out the number of the box three times in succession at headquarters in Sixty seventh street Not only that but it makes a record upon a tape showing the number of the box and the exact seeond at which the lever was pulled A clerk who sits night and day be- side the headquarters instrument notes the number and selects from a drawer a certain disk which when inserted in the proper apparatus causes the alarm to be rung in the station houses of the district in which that firebox is situat ed The average time required to se lect this disk and send out the alarm is ten seconds There are always two clerks and sometimes three in this de partment Not a word is spoken An outsider would hardly know that an alarm is going out In order to prevent several alarms coming at the same time from people who see the same fire and run to different boxes no two neighboring boxes are on the same cir cuit Scribners i Who Told the Fib The bell rang and the occupier of j the apartment started to the window to see who the visitor might be To t his annoyance he saw a persistent creditor who had evidently called again for payment of his long out- standing account The impecunious l one instantly called to his youthful son and said Tommy go to the door at once I dont want to see that man Tell him Im not at home Oh papa I thought you never told fibs remarked Tommy I dont my boy Its you thats go ing to tell one Now run off New York Times Fixing the Blame Mr Snow was seen holding the week ly paper as far away as he could get it and working his head from side to side with squinted e3es Soho Your sights begun to fail ye at last said the visitor bluntly Well taint sur prising at your age Mr Snow glared My eyesights all right he roared The only trouble is my pesky arm isnt long enough Youths Companion Fame When I grow up remarked Bobby i Toughmuscles I am going to be the peoples choice Pugilist or president asked Tom my Sharpboy Cincinnati Commercial Tribune Every one should occasionally say Whoa to himself Because his friends do not say it does not indicate that he doesnt need it Atchison Globe An orange tree in full bearing has been known to produce 15000 oranges a-lemon- tree 6000 lemons BOXING THE COMPASS The Teil Between a Sailor und a Lnndlnbber Boys who live In seaport towns are sometimes asked to box the compass If they can do It quickly and accurate ly they are flne sailors and may grow tip to be the captaiu of a four master If they miss a point or can only do it slowly they are landlubbers and will never see blue water To box the com pass means to name all the points in order just as fast as you can speak This is the way an old down east skip per will rattle it off North nor by east nor noreast noreast by north northeast noreast by east east nor east east by north east east by south east soueast soueast by east soueast soueast by south sou soueast sou by i sou west uy soutu sou west sou west by west west souwest west by south west west by norm norwest by west nor west by north uor uorwest nor COOKING HINTS nor west by west north Can you do it If a needle Is drawn a few times over the ends of a horseshoe magnet it be comes magnetized Push such a mag netized needle through a small cork Place the cork In a bowl of water tak ing paius to see that the cork when It floats on the water will carry the nee dle in a horizontal position or on an even keel Another way is to cut about three inches from a hollow straw such as is used to suck lemonade and to push the needle inside the straw The straw will float and carry the nee dle Now observe what happens The floating needle will slowly swing round till it points north and south The straw will behave in the same way Push it in any other direction and the moment it is free it swings back again We do not know who first observed the fact that a floating magnetized nee die will point to the north Nor do we know precisely when or where some unknown inventor used this idea to make a compass All we know is that the Chinese made and used compasses more than 2000 years ago When men began perhaps 10000 years ago to sail upon the water they used marks upon the shore to guide them on their way Long years after they observed that a certain star kept at all times the same place in the sky and they used this pole star as a guide in steering their ships Today a steam ship starting down the Hudson river for Europe is guided by the pilot and he uses the buoys beacons and other guide marks to steer the ship down the bay Off Sandy Hook he gives up the ship to the captain who instructs the helmsman to steer northeast by east east by north or whatever course he selects and the helmsman watching the compass keeps the ship headed in that direction Dallas News Chocolate is greatly improved by adding a teaspoonful of strong coffee just before serving In adding flour to gravies always use a flour dredger and there will be no lumps in the gravy Some housekeepers vary the flavor of potato salad by boiling the potatoes for it in stock or if it is more convenient in the soup kettle In using sour milk the proportion for gingerbread biscuits cake or almost any dough or batter is one teaspoon of baking soda to two cups of sour milk If making a gela in dessert on a hot or a wet day add a little more gelatin than the recipe requires half as much again if you wish to mold fruit into the jelly Eggs a la ranigote is made by boil ing eggs three and a half minutes roil in beaten egg and fine bread crumbs fry in deep fat when brown drain on paper garnish with parsley and serve with ranigote sauce To make a small shortcake take a pint of pastry flour rubiu lard the size of an egg teaspoonful cream of tartar half teaspoonful soda salt and mix with sweet milk Bake in quick oven split and butter and add fruit Moral Suasion and a Strap She seems to have abandoned moral suasion ideas relative to her the training of children She has How did it happen Well I was largely instrumental in bringing about the change You see she has no children of her own and I grew weary of her constant preaching and theorizing so I loaned her our Wil lie Loaned her your boy Precisely She was to have him a week on her solemn promise to confine herself entirely to moral suasion Did she keep her promise She did but at the expiration of the week she came to me with tears in her eyes and pleaded for permission to whale him just once New York Mail and Express manipulation by the right hand The great philosopher Newton records that at first he confined his astronomical observations to his right eye but after ward he managed to train his left But there are persons who could not do this owing to the unequal strength of their eyes Chambers Journal Entertained Her Did Miss Gaddy entertain your pro posal asked the close friend No was the sad answer It eeemed to work just the other way Exchange The longest pendulum ever made tvas 377 feet In length and was swung from the second platform of the Eiffel hwer CHOATES ADVICE It Led U Choleric Client Into the Iathn of 1euce It seems always to have lain within the power of the distinguished lawyer and humorist Rufus Choate to lead a choleric lient from ways of anger into the piths of peace Just before the war a southern gentleman was dining with a friend in one of the best hotels of Boston lie was of French Creole extraction and his name was Delacour says a writer in Lipplncotts Magazine The waiter was a colored man and the southerner gave his or ders in a very domineering fashion finding fault freely with what was put before him and the way in which It was served Finally the waiter became incensed and told Mr Delacour to go east south sou by west sou souwest to a place warm and remote The lat- ter sprang furiously to his feet and would have shot the offender dead if west norwest ue ia1 not jeen restrained by his wiser friend who said You cant do that sort of thing here You will have to remember where you are Do you suppose that I am going to put up with such insolence and not be revenged said the enraged man Certainly not But do it by process of law The landlord was first interviewed and the waiter discharged That was not sufficient to satisfy the wounded feelings of Mr Delacour He asked who was the best lawyer in the city and was told it was Rufus Choate Making his way to his office he said Mr Choate I want to engage you in a case What will your retaining i fee be About 50 The check was made out and handed over Now said the lawyer what are the facts of the case no was told Said Mr Choate thoughtfully I know the United States law on the subject well and I know the law of the commonwealth of Massachu setts and I can assure you sir that there is no power on earth strong enough to force you to go to that place if you dont want to go And if I were you I wouldnt Well said the southerner accept ing the situation I think Ill take your advice And they parted good friends POULTRY POINTERS Supply plenty of gravel to fowls that are being fattened in confinement Chickens should never be allowed to go ou the roosts until ten or twelve weeks old Lime is a purifier and should be used as a wash on the coops perches and nest boxes If a hen lays soft shelled eggs give her plenty of gravel oyster shells and crushed bone Ducks should be allowed as much liberty as possible They are not par tial to confinement Flat eggs eggs within eggs double yolked eggs and other unnatural for mations are due to the hens being over fat Geese may be fattened on any kind of grain if fed all that they will eat for about ten days before sending them to market Corn peas and barley are best Young chicks of fancy breeding should not be permitted to roost on perches until after they are eight months old as it often causes crooked breast bones Accumulating filth is a prolific source of disease especially gapes After the poultry yard is cleaned up sprinkle it well with diluted carbolic acid and a little copperas Adding Insnlt to Injnry She had just handed him the frosty mitt but he was game to the last hur dle If you are ever in trouble he said do not hesitate to lift up your voice and you will find me Johnny on the spot Im in trouble now answered the human refrigerator with a sigh long drawn out And behold exclaimed the unsus pecting youth I am here Yes she said thats the trouble Chicago News Xo Sot You Mamma what was that fuzzy bun dle you took out of papas vest pocket and threw in the fireplace just now That was an accumulation of house hold recipes your father cut out of the papers downtown and put away for my benefit I have to clean them out of his pocket about once a month Chicago Tribune A Fcnlty Appraisement Mr Spriggins prides himself on un derstanding the value of money And thats where Mr Spriggins makes a mistake said the liberal man He expects a dollar to buy two For the Tise of the Right Hand or three times as much as it has any The buttons on coats etc are placed I rjjut to and is continually being an on the right side and the shed of the t noved and disappointed Wasbinsrton hair in boys to the left evidently to suit i stnr Fatal to His Candidacy You have just as much right and theoretically just as good a chance as anybody else to be president says the patriotic citizen to his neighbor I cannot agree with you sighs the neighbor We have no children and that fact alone would lose me the pho tographers vote Judge A Corner In Eggs That old hen just seems to be burst ing with pride remarked the farmers dog Pride Nothing of the sort Its eggs replied the Leghorn- rooster She thinks shes a financier and shes trying to stop laying until theres a riM In price Exchange FORCING A FASHION How IlntH Were Introduced to the South African Savngen AiiJfles De Vllliers a Boer was the person who first Introduced hats among the South African natives tays the Hatters Gazette and profit not phi lanthropy was his motive One morn ing many years ago he chanced in Port Elizabeth to come across a consign ment of damaged hats offered for a mere song He bought the whole lot packed them away In his wagon and started for Kaliirland When he reached Tembulaud he un loaded his stock opened his kegs of liq uor without which no trade was made in those days and began business But he found his venture likely to prove an unprofitable one The natives did not want hats They wanted blankets and beads and looking glasses and above all liquor but they looked askance at hats Then a bright idea came to An dries He wanted to introduce those hats He did introduce them His sim ple expedient was to refuse to sell any thing to a Kailir unless he bought a hat too The Kaflirs wanted his goods so they bought the hats When a Kaflir buys anything he feels bound to make use of it The na tives therefore donned their head gear and returned to their kraals Now ap peared the brilliancy of the traders Idea Fashion rules the world It Is as strong in Africa as in America and when those who had stayed at home saw the travelers return in all the glo ry of tins strange covering they felt behindhand and old fashioned Their desire to possess the latest thing in hats became intense They paid An dries a visit and his stock no longer hung heavy upon his hands The hats were soon sold This happened some time ago and now every trading store keeps a supply of hrts constantly on hand They are said to be manufactured expressly for the natives and no one who glances at the show will doubt it A JUGGLERS TRICK Clever Feat of IHiimIoh Performed Ii an Cast Indian The wonderful feats of East Indian jugglers have formed the theme of many a letter from travelers in the orient but none is more surprising than that for which an old seadog vouches While he was an officer on board a P and O steamship two natives came aboard at Madras he says They were a juggler and his assistant After they had performed a number of minor feats and gathered quite a crowd around them they called for a sack and a piece of sailcloth These having been provided the chief juggler made a small tentlike structure with the canvas and some stools He then placed his assistant in the sack and allowed a sailor to tie the knot which bound him a fast pris oner This done the chief carried the sack into an open space warning the people to stand back some distance and then carried on an animated con versation with his assistant whose re plies could be distinctly heard coming from the sack Suddenly the chief rushed forward picked up the sack and dumped it overboard where to the horror of the passengers and crew it sank out of sight Immediately the captain rushed for ward and seized the man under the full belief that he had murdered hi companion but the juggler only smiled and pointing to the canvas asked that it be raised This was done and the supposed drowned man was discovert d squatting on the deck So realistic had been the throwing overboard however that it was some time before the surprised passengers could realize a murder had not been committed Church and Workmen It would be an exaggeration to say that all working people feel antago nistic toward the church Their general attituue is rather that of indifference The thinking poor are well enough aware that there is nothing unnatural in the situation and that if the tables were so turned that world advantage shifted to their side it would proiably remain unchanged At times their feel ing especially toward the clergy is cu riously sympathetic Say remarked a labor leader of vivid mind to the writer say Im awfnllj sorry for ministers Most of them are real good men They know well enough what Christ meant and theyd like first rate to preach if they dared But Lord how can they Theyve got to draw their salaries theyve got families to support All this quite without a touch of irony Vida D Scudder in Atlantic Inlllng Ont the Pes Susie aged four had been out in the country on a visit On her return she urged her mother to let her keep a cow But Susie said the mother there is no one here to take care of the cow and milk it Oh yes Ill do that mamma Can you milk a cow How do you do It Oh I know bow Ill just pull the pegs out like the man does Lippin cotts The Responsibility Anxious Father Do the best you can for him doctor That is all I can ask If it is the will of Providence Surgeon Dont try to place the re sponsibility on Providence in this case Mr McJones You bought the toy pis fol for the boy yourself His Art Oh Mr Growelle gushed Miss Nupson how did you ever learn to paint such beautiful pictures I asked a man once replied the art ist and he told me how Indianapo lis News A HARROWING RIDE Dlcken Trip by Slniccooach Krosa Cleveland to Mnndnaky When Charles Dickens visited Amer ica In 1842 he traveled by stagecoach from Cleveland to Sandusky O De scribing his experience he wrote At one time we were all thrown to gether in a heap at the1 bottom of the coach and at another we were crush ing our heads against the roof Now the coach was lylng on the tails of the two wheelers and now It was rearing up In the air The driver who certain ly got over the ground in a manner quite miraculous so twisted and turn ed the team in forcing a passage cork screw fashion through the bogs and swamps that It was a common clrcum stance on looking out of the window to see the coachman with the ends of a pair of reins in his hands apparently driving nothing and the leaders star ing unexpectedly at one from the back of the coach as If they had some Idea of getting up behind A great portion of the way was over what Is called a corduroy road which is made by throwing trunks of trees into a marsh and leaving them to set tle there The very slightest of the jolts with which the ponderous car riage fell from log to log was enough it seemed to have dislocated all the bones in the human body It would be impossible to experience a similar set of sensations in any other circum stances unless perhaps in attempting to go up to the top of St Pauls In an omnibus This description serves to Illustrate the condition of our country roads gen erally speaking as they were half a century ago except in a few wealthy communities There has been a won derful change since then Ielcing Village Xnnicw The Street of the Roasted Corn Is one of the curious names of streets in Peking and suggests the singular and often confusing names given to fil Dese villages Here are a few viil y names taken from an area of a few miles square Horse Words Village from a tradition of a speaking animal Sun Family Bull Village Wang Family Great Melon Village Tiger Catching Village Horse Without a Hoof Village Viiluge of the Loving and Benevolent Magistrate and the Village of the Makers of Fine Tooth ed Combs Arthur II Smith In his book on Vil lage Life In China says that a market town on the highway the well of which afforded only brackish water was called Bitter Water Shop but as this name was not pleasing to the ear it was changed on the tax lists to Sweet Water Shop If any one asked how it was that the same fountain could thus send forth at the same time waters both bitter and sweet lie was answered Sweet Water Shop is the I same as Bitter Water Shop Speak Kindly Words ow In the course of our lives there must be many times when thouglitess words are spoken by us which wound the hearts of others and there are also many little occasions when the word of cheer is needed from ns and we are silent There are lives of wearisome monot ony which a word of kindness ma re lieve There is sufiering which words of sympathy can mane more endura ble and often even to the midst of wealth and luxury there are those who listen and long in vain for some of disinterested kindness Speak to those while they can hear and be helped Uy you for the day may come when all our expressions of love and appreciation may be unheard Im agine yourself standing beside then lust resting place Think of the things you could have said of them and to them while they were yet living Then go and tell them now Exchange IniiilcMs Deaths Probably the least painful death la by means of an overdose of chloroform You begin with a pleasant sensation and end in oblivion Prussic acid acta Instantaneously Presuming the agony of anticipation avoided gome violent deaths are quite painless as they gne no time for feeling pain Such are be ing blown to pieces by dynamite oi by u shell Drowning is said to be a lux ury and experts have recommended opening a vein in a hot bath Lauda num and other narcotics would run chioroiorm and ether hard for first place The Oaring Little Ilnmming Rird Courage lias little or no relation to bodil bze The humming bird is the BinalleNt of birds but also one of the most learle s and pugnacious He jt tacks kingbirds and hawks and thoe tyrannical creatures though ot monstrous- size in comparison seem not at uil ashamed to lly from his otiv ts 1 lie figiits of humming birds among tiieiiiM lves are often fierce and pro tracted Economical There is a reminiscence of Caleb Bal derstone in the utterance of an econom ical Scotch butler u uu was lately wait ing at an important dinner He had taken round a plate of beef in vain After bis last effort at persuasion had failed he set it down in front of his master with decision Ye maun tak that versel he said I cauna get nny Itber customer for It Doth Were There Miss Millyun One can be very hap py In this world with health and mon ey Deadbroke Then lets be made one I have the health and you have the money Illustrated Bits Why -They Ko Loaser Speak She romantically What would you do If we should meet In the hereafter He earnestly Id go through fir for yon PlttBburg Press