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About The Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Cherry Co., Neb.) 1896-1898 | View Entire Issue (July 28, 1898)
laSffiSSSfflSHHSffiBffiffiffiSSffigS ra 07V 7 S77ZX RIVER ee svs bM 1tJ laLvapry There was considerable ill feeling be tween the two camps It all began with Billy Chetwynde declaring that he could paddle from Silver Glen dam to the railroad bridge in twenty minutes No bod j had ever thought of doing it in less than twenty five before and Hal Burgess who heard Billys boasting from the other tent stuck his head through the flap and said What you crowing about Billy Do you want to make a new record for Still River I can do a better sprint than you J anyway Mr Smartie exclaimed Bil ly shying a sauce pan at Hals head But the head was immediately with drawn and there was only Hals mock ing laugh in reply to the missile and that was all the beginning But the ending Hal took it up the next morning as soon as Billy appeared When jou going to make that wonderful record Billy he asked and before the day was over we were all squabbling over the individual paddling of both crowds Nothing would satisfy us but a chance tournament in which every member of the Chetwynde crowd was pitted against some member of the Burgess fraternity Now take my advice when ever tv o parties of school friends camp out near each other see that there is no racing or trials of dexterity At least If you want a quiet time There isnt a more peaceful spot in all the Slate than the stretch of quiet water known as Still River But from the day Billy and Hal got to wrangling over who could make the best time be tween the dam and the railroad bridge the two tents full of fellows were in a continual squabble Before we were all having a jolly good time and every fellow behaved hiinselif But after the mild eyed angel of peace folded its wings and fled well as my young brother Teddy remarked with great freedom of speech the Kilkenny cats werent in it The race came off and naturally the greatest excitement was over the trial between Billy and Hal Both had the best canoes of the lot real Indian birchbark made by Johnny Nose or Nosey Johnny as we called him a half breed Indian who was quite a character about Silver Glen All we could think or talk about were the races and fishing ball play and swim ming were forgotten while we prac ticed our strokes on the quiet waters ot the Still River Well Billy was inclined to blow on all occasions and he had done an extra amount of bragging before this race so perhaps it served him right to be beaten But I hated to see Hal do it Hal was always so awfully topping when he got the best of a fellow Billy had declared that he could mako the distance in less than twenty minutes and he was just twenty one minutes and seven seconds in getting over the course according to Freddy Maxwells stop watch while Hal got in in a little over nineteen minutes Well the Burgess crowd was of course too unbearably fresh to live with after that and when It was dis covered that Ned Chetwynde Billys cousin had invited Hals brother Dave around behind the tents and thrashed him royally we older fellows who should have frowned upon any such proceeding never took either of the youngsters to task So these were the strained relations existing between the two camps on the day the mill hands at Silver Glen struck We heard they were going to4 strike the day before for Jim Nolan Hals fathers gardener drove by on his way to Lonsdale and told us about it Mr Burgess was one of the chief owners of the mill and Nolan had been sent to telegraph him to come up from New York and settle the trouble with the men All the old hands liked Mr Burgess and they would listen to him knowing that he would give them fair treatment But the men who were stirring up all the trouble at the mill did not want Hals father as arbitrator and there fore the messsage was to be sent him from Lonsdale so that there would be less liability of the strikers learning of it I thought myself that old Nolan was a pretty leaky sort of fellow to be let into the secret for if hed tell a party of school boys like us why wouldnt he tell other people Naturally we were all excited over the prospect of a row and the day the strike came- off Hal and two or three of his crowd went over to Silver Glen to see what was going on Mr Bur gess wouldnt be able to get up till the evening train which reached the Glen at about 7 and the hands had a whole day to talk and get filled up on Sam EE Haassasffiffl Pickles whisky Theyd be In fine fighting humor by night Most of us forgot the recent race and a good many of our differences in the strike excitement But Billy Chet wynde was as gloomy as an owl and spent most of the day on the river He couldnt get over his defeat at Hals hands Heretofore Hal and him had been as thick as thieves the chum miest chums in the school and I dont know but the fact that they were no longer friends really troubled Billy more than being beaten in the canoe race Hal didnt show up at supper time and Fred who came down from the Glen early in the afternoon said he was worried The temper of some of the strikers was bad and Fred said he fear ed Hal had got into trouble Billy when he heard this got out his canoe again and paddled up stream What happened after that we only know from Billys own story and for a won der as it is hard work to get Billy to talk about it even now He paddled up to the dam to see if he could hear or see anything of Hal It was getting dusky on the river and as he went up near the west bank he swing its arms almost in front of the engine at the edge of the bridge The engine driver stopped the train in time the loose rail was discovered and after it was repaired they bore Billy to Silver Glen in a state of mild col lapse but a good deal of a hero The canoe record of the Still River course remains something like eighteen minutes and nobody has since cared to scale down Billys time But I doubt if Billy cares much about the record after all now that Hal and he are friends again Rocky Mountain News Some Long Beards Perhaps the best known beard In the United States is that of ex Senator Peffer of Kansas which was said to measure three feet long but tihere axe many which exceed that in size The museums frequently contain men five feet and over whose beards sweep the floor when they stand up but perhaps the longest of all is that of Legrand Larow of Laimar Mo which Is said to exceed any other in the world It is seven feet in length and has measured seven and one half feet Mr Larow was born in Tompkins County New York Ln 1852 and his relatives axe noted for heavy beards but not extra ordinary length He is six feet in height and weighs 175 pounds When standing with his beard down it extends two feet upon the floor He has not shaved for over twenty years In the year 1S77 Mx Larow went West and was a farmer and stock raiser for many years He wears his beard braided and wound around his body or else wrap ped and lodged inside liis vest Boston Transcript Primitive House Lighting The first and most natural way of lighting the houses of the colonists was found in the fat pitch pine which was plentiful everywhere but as soon as domestic animals increased candles were made and the manufacture of the winter supply became the special au tumnal duty of the thrifty housewife1 Great kettles were hung over the kitch en fire and filled with hot water and melted tallow At the cooler end of the kitchen two long poles were placed from chair back to chair back Across these poles like the rounds of a ladder were placed shorter sticks called candle-rods To each candle rod were tied about a dozen straight candle wicks The wicks were dipped again and again In regular order In the melted tallow the succession of dippings 11 iPWINF ALMOST IN FRONT OF THE ENGINE was entirely in the shadow Some of the men maybe half a dozen of them were talking together under the dam on the west side having evidently met there by appointment Billys canoe wasnt noticed at all and he heard what they said In about two minutes he had got the gist of the matter and if ever there was a frightened boy in a canoe that boy was Billy Chetwynde and he was in that canoe on the Still River at that identical moment He learned that these men were the ringleaders of the strike that they were determined the strike should go on and that Mr Burgess should not talk with the men until the trouble had gone far enough to make an amicable settlement impossible And to gain their end they had secured the assist ance of two rascally tramps who had agreed to draw the spikes out of a rail at the bridge below so that the evening tran with Mr Burgess aboard would be ditched Some time after Billy left camp that evening we saw something shoot by our tents like a streak of ligbt It was a boy in a canoe We all jumped up and looked after the rapidly disappear ing streak Its that chump Billy said Fred in disgust We shant be able to get him off the river all summer Any bodyd think life or death depended on Ms going over that course in better time than Hal made And it did but he didnt know it Bil ly had heard one of the conspirators declare that it was half past six As he turned his canoes head around in the shallow water he heard the mill clock strike the half hour and the evening train crossed the railroad bridge at ten minutes to seven He couldnt stop to tell us anything about it He had but twenty minutes to reach the bridge dim b the bnk and flag the train and it is an acknowledg ed fact that he made better time on the Still River that niglit than was ever madel before nor has it been equalled since for he did it The train came around the bend at the Lonsdale crossing on time and in the half darkness the engineer saw a figure wildly climb the trestle and ing each candle time to cool Each grew slowly in size till all were finished Deer suet was used as well as beef tal low and mutton tallow Wax candles were made by pressing bits of half melted wax around a wick Chautau quan The Brave at Home The maid who binds her warriors sash With smile that well her pain dissem bles The while beneath her drooping lash One starry tear drop hangs and trem bles Though heaven alone records the tear And fame shall never know her story Her heart has shed a drop as dear As eer bedewed a field of glory The wife who girds her husbands sworo Mid little ones who weep and wonder And bravely speaks the cheering word What though her heart be rent asunder Doomed nightly in her dreams to hear The bolts of death around him rattle Hath shed as sacred blood as eer Was poured upon the field of battle The mother who conceals her grief While to her breast her son she presses Then breathes a few brave words and brief Kissing the patriot brow she blesses With no one but her secret God To know the pain that weighs upon her Sheds holy blood as eer the sod Received on Freedoms field of honor Thomas Buchanan Read Still Sadder It is sad murmured the Musing Theorizer to think that every man ha his price Yes admitted the Intensely Prac tical Worker and it is a sad fact thai half the time he cant get it Cincin nati Enquirer Toothless Jellyfish The jellyfish has no teeth but uses himself as if he were a piece of paper1 when he is hungry getting his food and then wrapping himself about it Young girls complain that all the de sirable men are married so are all the women who are good cooks One of the surest ways to make a mistake is to permit an agent to use your name in his scheme A GOWN IN COLONIAL TIMES X he Homespun Cloth and How It Was Dyed The all wool goods a yard wide which we so easily purchase to daj meant to the colonial dame or daughter the work of months from the time when the freshly sheared fleeces were first given to her deft hands The fleeces had to be opened with care ant5 have all pitched or tarred locks brands dag locks and feltings cut out These were spun into coarse yarn to be used as twine The white locks were carefully tossed separated and cleaned and tied into net bags with tal lies to be dyed Another homely say ing dyed in the wool demanded a process of much skill Indigo furnished the blue shades and cochineal madder and logwood beautiful reds Domestic djes of brown and yellow from the bark of the red oak and the hickory nut were universal Copperas and sassafras also dyed yellow the flower of the goldenrod set with alum was the foundation combined with indigo of a beautiful green Pokeberry juice and violet dye from the petals of the flower deluce were other home made colorings After the wools were dyed the housewife spread them in layers i a mixed color was desired and carded them again and again The wool was slighdy greased with rape oil or melt ed swines grease to be carded a try ing process At last the wool was card ed into small light loose rolls about as large around as the little finger which were then spun into yarn The yarn was wound as it was spun upon a broach which was usually sim ply a stiff roll of paper or corn husk When the ball was as large as the broach would hold the spinner placed pegs in the spokes of the spinning wheel and tied the end of the yarn to a peg Then she held the ball of yarn in her hand and whirred the big wheel round winding the yarn on the pegs into hanks or clews If the yarn was to be woven the hank was placed on the reel or swift A quill made from a piece of reed was then placed on the spindle the wheel again set in motion and the yarn wound off on the quill cut the exact length of the loom shuttle by which the yarn was to be woven into woolen cloth When wound full the quill was placed in the shuttle and was then ready for the loom The home spun yarn was woven in hand looms Into heavy cloth which was washed dyed shrunken dressed fulled and then clothed the household Chautau quan Tracking a Thief He was a thief of the kind often spoken of as defaulters His accounts as manager of a Chicago company were short in other words he had been stealing the companys money On the day that his rascality was discovered he disappeared His bond had been furnished by a Baltimore company and they made it their business to find him How they did it is told by the Detroit Journal Pinkertons entire force was put to work on the case and the city was searched for two days without revealj ing any trace of the missing man Mri Macbeth and Billy Pinkerton went to the absent managers office to look over his books and personal effects in hopes of finding a clue They ransacked aj private desk without finding anything to which they attached any importance and Pinkerton had turned to leave the room when Macbeth spied in one cor ner of the desk a public library card issued in the name of the man for whom they were looking Observing by the entries on the card that several books had been taken from the library within a month he put the card in his pocket and left the office in company with the detective When they were in the street the detective said Why did you take that library card I have an idea Macbeth an swered and I want to go at once to the public libraiy An examination of the card showed that the missing man had procured fourteen different books and a com parison of the numbers on the card with the titles of the books at the li brary revealed the subjects he had been studying The first book taken was entitled A Trip to Nicaragua the second A History of Nicaragua and nearly all the others related to Central America He has gone to Central America said Pinkerton Thats right Macbeth answered and its not yet too late to catch him at New Orleans Telegrams were sent to the Crescent City giving full descriptions of the man and the next day he was arrested in the office of a steamship company while waiting for his turn at the ticket win dow He would have sailed a few hours later for Central America If Water Never Froze The whole economy of Nature would undergo a startling change if water never froze The worlds climates would be revolutionized The ice bound polar seas would cease to exer cise their chilling influences and con sequently the currents of the ocean might either cease or be turned aside in different directions Thus the gulf stream would seek other shores than those of Britain and the climate there might be subject to the extremes of heat and cold notice able in other countries of the same lati tude The ice bound rivers of the north notably those of Russia and Si beria would be open for navigation and Russias activity as a sea power and a commercial nation might alter the whole world of commerce Canada would become another coun try altogether An immense tract of land would be available for cultivating hardy plants and Greenland might be what its name indicates The absence of icebergs off the coast of Newfound land and Iceland would result in a much warmer climate in those islands where now the crops often fail Ice too plays an important part in tlie economy of Nature Thus if water never froze snow hail and hoar frost would cease The loosening of soils and the disintegration of rocks by the frost and many other now vital effects would be lost In short the absence of ice would be on the one hand an incalu able disaster on the other hand a great boon it pb The Hal Jung one of the three new cruisers now on order for the Chinese navy Is 321 feet long 41 feet beam 237 feet in depth has twin screw engines of 7500 horse power with run 19i knots and will carry three 59 inch eight 413 Krupp quick firing guns and six Maxims Now arises the cry that the scenery along the Maine coast is being injured by the slaughter of spruce trees for the Christmas tree trade It has been a paying though an exhausting crop An art expert declares that he knows of at least GOO counterfeits of the old masters which are now hanging in pri vate galleries in the United States all purchased at high prices One of the novel ideas of decorative effect in Japan is to catch fireflies keep them in a coge or box of wire until you have company and then release them in the garden for the guests to admire and talk about New Zealand is going into the beet sugar industry Her prime minister is enthusiastic on the subject and prom ises a law granting a bounty of 25 000 a year to each person or corporation producing 1000 tons a year The price of game in France is alleg ed to depend principally upon the state of the moon When the moon is dark and poachers cannot see to sot their snares at night game is scarce When the moon is full there is plenty of light and the poachers get lots of game Virginias gold belt twenty miles wide extends across the whole State from the Potomac river on tlie north east to the southwest border While the ore is low grade the new processes axe nearing a point where it can be worked profitably Furniture can be safely carried in a new railroad car which has padded sides and also removable sets of pad ding sliding upon the rods in the top of the car which can be hung between the piles of furniture as they are packed A shocking scene occurred in a trav eling menagerie near Calais A lion tamer named Fort was putting the lions through their performance when one of them sprang at him and threw him down The other lions then rush ed upon him and almost tore him to pieces before the attendants could reach him He died as they Avere tak ing him out of the cage One of the growing customs in New York especially among those who in habit flats is that of sending meats out to be cooked Turkeys chickens geese duck game venison and ordinary joints are cooked at food shops for rea sonable prices The charge for stuf fing and roasting a turkey is 50 cents and if desired the shopkeepers supply the meats They also make a specialty of game pies salads and baked beans- There are 200000 visitors to Maine and New Hampshire every summer says a Maine man and they leave 40 each or more We secure S000000 a year from them Taking care of these people is the largest industry in Maine at the present time It pays better than farming or lumbering or mining or fishing And yet it is in its infancy The business has grown so rapidly that we have not been able to build suitable hotels In a few years the palaces of the world will be in our State Girl Critics A supposititious conversation in the London Academy between a journal ist and his solicitor gives an amusing picture of the manner in which some people not literary regard books and bookmen The dialogue runs as fol lows Literary men said Tregarthen have a curiously exaggerated opinion of their importance Do you suppose that I dont think for myself Because I do pretty continually And why should I pay six shillings to this friend of yours what is his name to do my thinking for me But dont you feel any curiosity when you see the advertisements of a new novel with a taking title say Anthony Hope or Hall Caine or H G Wells or Certainly And if I do I take the op portunity when I am invited out to dinner of asking the girl next me to tell me about the new novel Girls can generally give you a good idea of the last new novel And when she has told me about it I am extremely glad that I havent wasted my time by read ing it I manage to get a pretty good notion of current literature that way Now and then I- read a book I admit that but that is only when I take a girl in to dinner who tells me of a plot that doesnt bore me to death Then you depend entirely on the most incompetent of critics Tregarthen ate his cold beef in si lence for a few moments Girls are not so silly as they look he said TYhy He Scorned It Conductor Say cant you read Man with the Cigar Of course I can Conductor Well dont you see tha sign that says Gents Will Nor SmoKe on This Gar Man with the Cigar indignantly I want you to understand sir that I am no gent MONKEYS AT FOOTBALL T they iaJccwisc Play Cricket but 2iot According to Rule Travelers in South Africa have noted the fact that where monkeys congre gate In large numbers they also indulgf jin games of a certain kind Two ot these games seem to resemble cricket and foot ball The cricket is of a primitive order About a dozen monkeys stand in a cir cle or whatever Is akin to the simian idea of a circle Two of them advance from different extremities of the circle and stop about fifteen yards apart facing each other The monkey at the southern end of the circle has a cocoa nut in his hand He is the bowler The monkey at the other end does not as you might suppose wield a full cane bat His business is to dodge the cocoauut which the bowler aims at his head The delivery of the ball Is tre mendously fast full pitched and fraught with dire results if it touches the spot When it does happen to touch the spot that is anj part of the monkeys body that monkey Is very much out and doesnt even stop to dis pute the question Another monkey takes his place until he too receives his dismissal It was presumed by the travelers that the game was liuiakd when a majority of monkeys lay nursing their wounds un der the friendly shade of a neighboring palm The foot ball is of a more advanced type It is also played with a cocoauut The game if anything is undoubtedly the socker game and is played with the feet Of course there is no goal nor any tactics to speak of the object of each animal being to keep the ball to himself as much as possible Still the competition to get the ball makes it resemble a real game of footer and the dexterity exhibited by these peculiar amateurs is surpris ing and wonderful In an evil moment some ambitious monkey may elect to play the Rugby game by snatching up the ball and making off but the game then develops into war in which life is sometimes the prize No mention is made of a referee but if there is one about like a wise and provident monkey he is probably up u tree Brooklyn Times Power Propeiled Lighters A new idea somewhat on the order of the trolley canal boats used la France and Germany has been sug gested to relieve the tralfic in large cities where a narrow river carrying a great amount of boat traffic enters the heart of the city This of course ne cessitates numerous drawbridges and interruption and annoyance both to the land traffic and the boat tralfic The scheme proposed contemplates the use of trolley lighters which could run up alongside the vessels for unloading at the docks on the outskirts of the own and when loaded could convey Jie goods to the warehouses and docks desired without necessitating the open ing swing bridges In loading the ves sels the system would be just as appli cable and the coal and supplies in cars could be loaded directly on the lighters carried to the boats and un loaded with a minimum of handling Broad shallow lighters with screw propellers driven by electric motors could be used and the power supplied by trolley wires running along the banks and under the bridges connec tion between the boats and the wire be ing made by means of flexible cables If this method were adopted the swing bridges could be made permanent ones md all the smoke dirt and noise of the pulling steam tugs would be obviated Output ot Cent Pieces The mint of Philadelphia is almost jonstantly engaged in turning out cents made of copper with a slight al loy of zinc and tin The State of Penn sylvania alone absorbed 11000000 last year and New York 9000000 There is s as much curiosity about the final fate 3f these cents as there is about that of pins Nobody is able to tell where the pins go to and it is impossible to even surmise what has become of the hun dreds of millions of cents issued by he mint since it began operations It s rather a profitable business for the government as it means the conversion f copper costing 10 cents a pound into t form in which it is worth 2 or more v pound San Francisco Chronicle Useful to Travelers The thread-and-needle tree of Mexi co is one of the wonders of that It is a plant somewhat resembling a giant asparagus It has large fleshy eaves along whose edges are set the tvonderful needles To secure one of hese ready for use it is only necessary o push the thorn or needle gently back wards into its fleshy sheath to loosen it Irom the tough outside covering and then pull it from the socket As it is withdrawn it will be seen to have 100 5ne flbers adhering to it If the needle is twisted in this process the fibre can ye drawn to an almost indefinite length and the thread that is thus formed will oe about three times the strength of common thread yet no tliicker Tlie Oiliest University The oldest university in the world s at Pekin It is called the School for the Sons of the Empire Its antiquity Is ery great and a granite register consisting of stone columns 320 in number contains the names of 0u0O graduates Brothers lionjc Unacquainted In Delaware two brothers lived for forty years within eight miles of each other attended the same church and frequently traded with each other without knowing they were related No loyal church woman ever hears a preacher who is quite so good as her own When you are complimented does It 1 srer occur to you that it is jlattery T Y V