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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1915)
1C Convict Labor Is Free Labor And Should Be Compensated i Temporarily Depriving a Man of His Freedom Should Not i Make Him a Serf — Payment of Prison Labor Has I Splendid Effect on Convicts. By Peter Cotton. Ft. Madison, Iowa. j Payment of prisoners for labor per formed is coming to be accepted ns prop er by most states. Iowa has not adopted the plan as It relates to all prisoners In penal Institutions, but It has for many years. In one way or another, provided some of its penal Inmates with oppor tunities for making money. The ques tion of payment to all prisoners has at various times been discussed by criminolo gists and prison wardens. The principles Involve^ are clear, but so many difficul ties were encountered, and so many for midable dejections raised to the plan, few have ventured to hope for Its rapid progress. The officials of the Iowa penitentiary are, however, strongly In favor of It, and with reBpect to a great deal of the out side state work which has been done. Warden Sanders has paid large sums of money as proportionate earnings of In mate latior. In the generality of cases this •'pay" has been of diversified and un mistakable benefit to others than the In mate. In addition to It, a short time ago a number of men on contract work were earning from $10 to $30 a month for ''over time." At present the only remaining contract pays 10 cents a day and "over time," and all of the outside prison labor for which the prison receives pay Is di vided wllh the men. The result has been more than satisfactory. With this experience as a guide, the "pay principle” seems to be a good one. Payment to prisoners means less pauper ism and much relief to both public and private charity. Moreover, It Is an Incen tive to'good habits, to reclamation, and to a return by many erring men to paths of rectitude und Industry. Under puritanical systems, families and friends are often punished more severely than offenders, and such systems havo led In Innumer able lniftances to poverty, despair, and crime oil the part of Innocent sufferers who might otherwise have retained hon esty and respect. Here are two eases: A young husband was sent to prison for a crime which clearly demanded pun ishment. He left behind him a young wlfo and a baby. Neither knew of Ills crime until exposure came. The wife was not able to cope with the world, her child demanded the care of a mother, and both had to live. The light, contemptuous scorn the public generally gives to con victed men, reflected Its Influence upon her. Men were not as respectful ns they would otherwise have been. Poverty came In at the door. It wus followed by despair. Then came the deadening sense of Isolation In a world teeming with pros perity and ringing Its well worn call of humanity. And she was a thing put apart because of another's sin. Prostrated with grief, sunken In shame, torn by the pinched face and the pleading eyes of nn Innocent babe, every part of her being yielded to the will of others—to proffers of assistance thinly veiling a terrible pic ture. Shortly afterwnrd the husband was sued for divorce upon statutory grounds. The wife drifted with the Magdalenes. The baby died. A family was disrupted. A death ensued. A woman's soul was sunken In abyssmal shame and a man, clouded with an unforgivable past, was told to go and sin no more. lie had worked years for the state without earn ing a dollar. Nor did the other case receive pay from Ihe state. But, fortunately, he was given opportunities. And ho improved them. Berving a sentence of life for the crime of murder, he carno Into prison a young man with two small boys dependent upon him for support and guidance. The eldest was large enough to earn a pittance, and the father worked In prison for both of them. Every spare moment of his time was giv en to the manufacture of commodities for sale. He slaved long Into the night houri against the rules of the prison, and In tho mornings he was up long before oth ers, working for Ills boys. Officials say that he slept not more than five hours a night for many years, and during a period of seven years he spent exactly five cents for himself. Every dol lar that he earned went to the support of his children. Every thought and pulse of his being was theirs. His letters—not the most literate—were couched in terms of tenderness and guidance. One of his boys died. The other lived to follow his advice. He kept at work when he could, and he used the money his father sent him to pay for his schooling, and never was he at any time an object of publio or private charity. He grew Into a sub stantial young man, sturdy and honest. He progressed In ability, he advanced In prosperity, he married, and now he has a baby girl—the Idolized tot of its prison grandfuther. The money which this In mate earned enabled him to conserve the Independence and self-respect of his boys. It kept them from sin, and It paved the way to durable manhood for one of them. Then Isn't pay for the prisoner Just? rsn’t It after all the wisest and best phil anthropy a state could adopt? It Is true that some Inmates “squander’' their earn ings, but a system of education could In stil thrift and a twofold benefit would re sult. The prisons In Iowa at this time are facing the need for new avenues of In dustry which must, according to public trend, lead largely out of doors. The per centage, however, of population fitted for such labor does not exceed SO. Three fourths of the remaining 70 per cent will be cash producers. The balance are neces sary to the maintenance of the prison, and are. Indirectly, the support of the money getters. So every man In prison In a sense Is contributing something to the revenues of the state. Some years ago New Jersey set the example—and a bold one It was—of paying all her penal Inmates. Other prisons fell In lino In a modified way, and lately tho finance committee of the city council of Chicago appropriated a small sum of money to test the Idea with respect to Its Iirldowell Inmates. The scheme Insofar as It has been put Into practice In Iowa has been successful. The concensus of opinion of leading penal reformers favors It, so tho thought Is advanced that an experiment on such lines for a period of live years, with yearly statistics covering charities extended by reason of Imprison ment, would prove a great lessening of money spent for such purposes by chari table institutions, both public and private. The moral and sociological benefit would be (incalculable, and a fair per cent of men would undoubtedly be given a better chance of starting life anew when they are released— which cannot be done on a $0 bill. The Idea of putting prisoners to work is rational. So Is the thought of making them productive and useful, and of pay ing them or their families for their labor. And we find the puritanical Idea of harsh repression Is fast disappearing for tho more advanced thought looking to the public good, that to treat social delin quents, and their family victims with reason Is Just and fair and profitable, and wise for all concerned. Punish crime with ono hand If you will, but reward good labor with tho other. If you please. CHASING AUTO THIEVES REQUIRES MUCH SKILL Crooks Change Numbers on Cars, Remove Name Plates and Defy Owner to Identify. Since the morning when Fagan j taught Qliver Twist to pick pockets and the nights when the James boys terrorized Missouri, the crooks have found note field for their activities, a field, vyhfcre the "graft is rich" and the chahoos for a “clean getaway" better than good. There has developed ; a new class of criminals. Their “kit" j Is simple, consisting of a license tab several switch keys, a pair of nippers and it set of metal stamps. The vic tims are the motor car owners. Tiie a&baling of motor cars lias de veloped into almost a science. The po- I lice have reported gangs working sys- j tematlcally in every large city. Scores j of cars have disappeared in various cities during the last year, most of which have been recovered, but many of which have left nothing but a scent too indistinct to trace. Clever crooks they are, too. One young man who has a long police rec ord and might be termed "highly suc cessful" by his business associates, de cided this last summer to cast aside the old time methods of relieving persons * «f their'valuables and take to stealing aiotor effra. There w-as only one draw back. He didn’t know how to drive a ear. Tne automobile columns of a newspaper solved his problem. He found a'German who had advertised a Ford for sale and he asked the man for a demonstration. During the ride the crook confessed that he didn't know how to drive a ear and asked to be taught. Ha Returned For Car. The demonstration over, the crook | •aid he Brought he would take the car and would return for it in the morning, i He did rgEurn, but earlier than the Qer- j man expflcted, shortly after midnight in j tact; picked the padlock on the garage, •ranked, the car and rode away. "Red" j iames became a very "successful" mo- j tor car thief until caught in Chicago three months after his lesson on driv- ! tug a cir. An experienced motor oar thief would never have made Jame's mistake. A “talented:* crook would have worked 15 miuuteaxJn the car with file and stnmps to cover np his work. He would have changed the number of the engine by filing off the old one and substituting a new one. He would have removed the factory plate and mutilated the body number. He'd even cut off the num bers on the tires. Because there are so many thousand ears of the same make •n the street today the identity of the atoien machine is practically lost by the changing of the brands. Cheap Cars Stolen. Four out of every five machines stolen are the cheaper moo- Is. They arc more difficult to recover than any other make* because they all look alike and ar* hard to identify. The ehang- ; ing of the factory numbers on the car makes It sometimes Impossible for a man to Identify his own car, and cases have been known where four persons claimed the same car. The cheaper cars are more easily dis posed of. Since tho purchaser of a stolen car is not as suspicious of a crook that offers a cheap car at $100 or $200 as of the thief who asks the same price for a Packard or Marraon. According to the police, recovering stolen cheap machines that have been tampered with is hard enough, but discovering the rightful owner is harder. It is not difficult to soil a stolen car. A smooth thief can invent a hard luck story feasible enough to fool the most scruplous second hand dealer or garage keeper. And proving that such a buy er is a receiver of stolen property is oft en impossible. There are also "fences” where stolen cars are disposed of. There Is said to be one dealer in an eastern city who keeps on hand a stock of delivery bodies which he puts on chassis purchased from thieves, .Linking the passenger bodies. Many of these reports of "fences" prove to be myths upon investigation, however. Movios and Eyo Strain. Letter to New York Times. Tile enormous increase in the numbe, of glasses being worn and in the number of optometrists now practicing can prob ably be attributed more directly to the moving picture shows than to any other cause. Tho constant flicker taxes the focusing muscles (ciliary): the marvelous photo graphic plate (retina) in the back of the eye has to telegraph messages to the brain far more frequently than usual: and last, hut by no means least. Is the effect of the white glare of the screen. As tho opto metrist well knows, this light Is especial ly rich in the short ultra-violet rays, which are the most active and Intense and consequently most Irritating, livery person who frequents tho movies should visit an optometrist and purchase a pair of large amber lenses, preferably in spectacles. I prefer an amber tint, as It Liters the light belter than smoked or blue. As this suggestion will not be fol lowed by every one. I hereby suggest that tile movies be shown In yellow only where the white was used before. A law to this effect should be enacted. A Deserved Tribute. From the Brooklyn Eagle. I The tribute paid to H. W. Thornton at the annual meeting of the shareholders of the Great Eastern railway In London was not only a compliment to Mr. Thornton, hut to the American school of railroad management in which he was trained and to (he Isrng Island road upon which he secured a good deal of Ida experience. There was the usual outery about the importation of an American, when Mr. Thornton was made manager of the Great Eastern, but In a few short months he has overcome this prejudice. Com petence knows no nations! lines, but in railroading there is no Held for its devel opment equal to the United States, be cause railroad problems here are larger and more varied than elsewhere. Mr. Thnrntoh is one of the most striking proofs of that fact and all Americans will rejoice In his success. Put On the Waiting List. From the Kansas City Star. Congressman—Want a job, eh? What can you do? Constituent—Nothing. Congressman—Sorry, but those high salaried jobs are all taken long ago. You must wt it for a vacancy. MOTOR GAR GREATEST WEAPON IN RIG WAh Without It, There Is No Telling How Problems Would Be Handled. (From Scribner’s). "This Is not a war of men. It Is a »ar of machines.” Such was the dic tum of a distinguished officer when the great European war had been eight tveeks in progress and it had become evident that the quick firer and the machine gun were the most potent weapons of offense on either side. But the war is also one of "machines” In a totally different sense; and where as quick firers and Maxims, though more liberally employed than in any previous campaign, are no new things of themselves—the feature which is new and paramount alike is the use of the "petrol” motor in its every shape and form. In England, as soon as the British expeditionary force, with an im mense motoring equipment, had been safely transported across the channel, the war office placed orders with 14 different firms for the whole of their motor lorry output for the next 15 weeks! In other words, new vehicles of this type have been Issuing from the factories and shipped to the front at the rate of 100 a week. Food Supply Carried by Motor. The supplying of ammunition and food supply, without which no army can live, is the vital question. Imag ination reels at the prospect of what would have happened to the opposing armies, operating in millions over such extended fronts, if they had not been able to count upon mechanical locomo tion from the very opening of the cam paign. it was this factor which en abled the Germans to make so rapid an onslaught through Belgium and France until they received their historic check almost at the gates of Paris; it was this factor which enabled the allied forces to sustain the rigors of the initial re treat from Mons. The British equip ment was magnificent. In addition to its own normal supply of four-ton lor ries, of a special war office type, it had commandeered large numbers of five-ton and three-ton vehicles. A Utility Car is ths Motor Bus. Most conspicuous of all, however, has been the part played by the motor bus. Several thousand employes of the Eon don General Omnibus company alone are serving at the front, and great is the variety of ways in which the buss es themselves have been employed, whether in their original form or con verted into motor wagons. They have carried now troops, now ammunition, now food and even wounded men, while In the bombardment of Antwerp they were instrumental in aiding the retreat. As for the French army, it has used large numbers of single deckers re cruited from the Paris streets. Bravery of Drivers. No less striking than the inestim able services rendered by these essen tially unwarlke vehicles is the way in which it has been proved that civilian drivers, with no military training, can adapt themselvevs to the sternest ex igencies of battle. They do not re ceive mention in the dispatches, but private letters from the front afford Innumerable evidences of the highest bravery. One British soldier, for ex ample, testifies to the fact that food Ms regularly driven right into the firing line and served out under a hail of shells. Another, describing a violent artillery engagement, states that the drivers of the motor lorries worked untiringly, and undoubtedly saved many a wounded man who otherwise would never have got away. Nor have opportunities for valor been confined to the actual firing line; even on the high road there have been numerous displays of heroism. A lieutenant of the British army motor transport, in charge of 20 motor wagons, suddenly found himself confronted by a large party of Germans, whose chief officer stepped forward and demanded tho surrender of the group. "Certainly not!” was the lieuten ant's reply. The German officer retired and the British officer stood up, faced the long line of vans and called on the drivers to make a dash for it. Every one of them, only a short time before, had been driving a motor bus on the Lon don streets, but without a moment’s hesitation they answered to the call and went straight through the Ger mans, who were scattered right and left, and only succeeded in capturing the last wagon in the line. A type of machine of which the use is confined to the German army is tho motor plow, designed for trench cut ting purposes. These mechanical plows are fitted with engines of no less than 200 horse power. They are capable of cut ting a trench four feet wide by four feet deep and can even be used for the grewsome purpose of burying the dead! The German military motor cars are also specially equipped with wire cutters, consisting of a frame work of light steel which protects tho lamps and extends over the heads of the occupants themselves. If wires are stretched across the road at night, at a height which would otherwise de capitate the driver, they are caught up by the apparatus in question and sev ered by a cutting edge. What with automobiles of every shape on terra flrma, and aeroplanes hovering constantly in the empyrean, warfare has been revolutionized at every point. Even this great European conflict may seem to be resolving it self all too slowly; but, without the motor, no one. in the face of these teeming millions, could have dared to antedate the finish. Court Without Lawyers. From the Kansas City Star. As to that Chicago ’‘court without law yers.” the lawyers will tell you that, it violates, severally and collectively, the following things: Magna Charter, the Bill of Rights, the Federal Constitution, the Illinois Constitution, the Chicago city charter, the 14th Amendment, the 5th Amendment, the law higher than the Con stitution. the ”12 tablets,” the Decalogue and “the law of Nature and of Nature's God.** Mizpah. Go thou thy way and I go mine. Apart, yet not afar. Only a thin veil hangs between The pathways where we are. And God keep watch ’tween thee and me. This Is rny prayer; He looketh thy way. He looketh mine. And keeps us near. 1 know' not where thy road may lie. Or which wfay home will be; If mine will lead through parching Bands And thine beside the sea. Yet God keeps watch ’tween thee and me, So never fear: lie holds thy hand. He claspetfi mine. And keeps us near. I sigh sometimes to see thy face, But since this may not be. I’ll leave thee to the care of Him, Who cares for thee and me. "I’ll keep you both beneath ray wlnga;" This comforts, dear. One wing o’er thee, and one o’er me. So su e w* near. LIFE MEANS NAUGHT TO JESSE POMEROY Mother of Charlestown’s Fa mous Prisoner Dies After Sorrowful Life. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Recently there died at North Wsy triouth. Mass., a broken old woman. She was Mrs. Ruth A. Pomeroy, mother of Jesse Pomeroy, the famous prisoner of Charlestown. She was 74 years old. The last 40 years of her life had been devoted almost exclusively to endeavoring to obtain either a pardon or a mitigation of sentence for her son. It was in 1874 that Jesse Pomeroy, then 14 years old, was sentenced to solitary confinement for life. Until last year the sentence was literally and rigorously carried out. For 40 years Pomeroy has lived in solitude. Per haps his brain was not just right from the start. Whether it was or not, one can only wonder that the perpetual prisoner has not long ago become a ma niac. Last year, the last year of her life, Mrs. Pomeroy prevailed upon Gov. ernor Walsh to modify Jesse's punish ment very slightly. The solitary pris oner was given the privilege of at tending the prison religious services on Sundays. This was the sole fruit of the mother's 40 years of patient, cease less endeavor. Mrs. Pomeroy was 20 years old when Jesse whs born. She was 34 when he was sent to prison. From that time on her life was one oppressive sorrow. Year after year she strove, till even hope must at last have vanished. Nowadays Boston would not impose such a sentence on a d4-year-old boy, no matter what his crime; and the wonder is that Massachusetts has not long ago mitigated the cruelty of the punishment of both son and mother. Now it is too latje to heal the broken heart of the mother. As for Pomeroy, he might as well remain in prison. A man of S4 who has not known the meaning of liberty since he was a child would be lost and useless in the outer world. If life imprisonment always meant what it has meant in the case of Jesse Pomeroy there would be few to claim it an easy means of escape from the hangman. $ GASOUNE ^ (By J. C. Burton, in Motor Age.) Pteing a paraphrase of Rudyard Kip ling’s “Gunga Din” and Inspired by the opening sentence of a dispatch from Lon don, which read: “Tommy Atkins, should ering a musket instead of swinging a swagger stick, has formed an alliance with the motor car and in impending bat tles to be fought by British troopers there will be frantic calls for Gunga Dins that carry gasoline tanks instead of water bags.’’ In the conflicts past and gone War lords placed dependence on The steel from which t’.e bayonets were forged. And in trenches flowing red Dum-dum bullets run of lead Made a slck’ning feast on which the war beast gorged; But in Europe’s bloody hour There’s a new and mighty power. In Napoleonic times quite unforeseen, Now a factor in the field Where Death claims its blighting yield. Ally of the blood-mad hordes is gasoline: It is gas-o-Hne. Made from rotting dinosauri gasoline; Used by women to go shopping. Also where carbines are popping. High test, sixteen-cent a gallon gasoline. When the dust-gray foe is massed And the frontier line is passed, You must get your chatter’d troops there double-quick: You can shout till hell is cool At the horse and patient mule. But no animal on earth can turn the trick. There’s a call for men *rom Liege To withstand the racking siege, Mothers kneel and pray to God to inter vene; But the minions of grim Mars Mobilize the motor cars And the spirit that they praise is gas oline; It is gas-o-line. Blood of motors, hope of monarchs. gaso line; Little prized when used for pleasure, But when armies clash a treasure. Taking men to fight and perish, gasoline. For one hundred miles or more Gaul and German splash through gore, Madly coveting the crimson mark of Cain; Uhlans charge with frenzied shout And the French are put to rout— Panic sweeps along the banks of river Alsne; There’s a call for supreme speed, For a cool man there is need. One to curse Pierre and rally fleeing Jean, And though thirty miles away, He can ride and save the day If he quits his horse and takes to gas oline: It is gas-o-linc. Though your odor’s far from perfume, gasoline. When the front rank starts stampeding. Neither oaths nor orders heeding, You a-re called to stop the riot, gasoline. 'Mid the din of clanging steel Scores of German heroes reel, By tomorrow widows’ tears will flood the Rhine; And where bits of shrapnel rain By the silent heaps of slain You can trace the course of Europe’s murder line, There a wounded trooper falls. Curses—rises—stumbles—crawls. Racked by pain and crazed by horrors he has seen. But with agonizing breath He shakes off the clutch of Death— Quick! The stretcher, ambulance and gasoline: It is gas-o-Hne. English petrol or French essence, gaso line; In the fighting you're a wonder, But you’re greater yet, by thunder! Saving kids from being orphans, gasoline. Baseball and Alcohol. From the Springfield Republican. Connie Mack, whose Athletics have won five American league pennants and three world's championships. Is quoted by a magazine writer as saying that 'alcohol inevitably slows a man down.” And slow ing down, be continues. Is the reason for the shelving of by far the majority of baseball players. "Who puts the player out of the game?” he goes on. “You should naturally suppose the umpire; well, all the umpires together haven't put as many ball players out of the game as Old Man Booze." He explains further, that it Is not only excessive drinking that does harm, but that even the moderate use of alcohol won't do for the pro'esslonal player. It will take off from three to five years of his baseball life. The Athletics have no rules concerning their personal habits, hut out of 25 players In the 1913 world's contest 15 had never taken a drink In their lives When they were playing the Chicago Cuba, Mack said to them: "It would be bad enough to lose the cham pionship without having a bundle of re grets to pester you. It's hard enough to lose to a better club, but to heat your selves—say. that's the way to throw away a game after you have won It. Clean liv ing and quick thinking, that 8 the stuff champions are made of.” HAREMS UNROMANTIC SAYS MISSOURI WOMAN A Descriptions of Lovely •Houri Lolling In Luxury, Waited Upon By Sinuous Maids and Fanned By Dark Skinned Eunuchs Are Overdra wn By Romanticists. lira. Margaret I.lr.ipich, In the National Geographic Magazine. In Bagdad I went to an Arab harem and visited with the "hareem,” as the women are called. It was not an or dinary, lllkept harem of a common tra der or desert sheik that I saw. It was the ornate domestic establishment of a rich and influential person—a former government official and a man of prominence In the days of Abdul Hamid. I went one Sunday morning in spring. The pasha’s imposing home—a Moor ish house or high walls, few windovys, and a flat roof and parapets—stands near the Bab-ul-Moazzam in Bagdad. Scores of tali date palms grace the garden about the “Kasr”—palace. In a compound beside the palace pure Arab horses stood hobbled, and a pack of desert hounds, called slugeys, used for coursing gazelle, leaped up at my approach. The dignified old pasha himself es corted me through his domain. Clad in thining silk, turban, flowing abba, and red shoes with turned up toes, he looked as if he might have just emerged from the dressing room of some lead ing man in a modern musical comedy. In the Harem of Fancy. As we walked toward the doorway of the walled, windowless structure, wherein the women were imprisoned, my fancy rioted w-ith visions of lan guorous eastern beauties in baggy bloomers and gilt slippers. I thought of all the insipid, maudlin rot slung from the false pens of space writers whose paths never led to this mal treated east. I thought of marble baths, wherein olive skinned beauties lolled, as in the toilet soat> advertisements. I thought of precious perfumes and bev eled mjrrors 30 feet high, of priceless Jewels blazing on beautiful breasts and of bronze eunuchs waving peacock fans, while sinuous serving maids gently j brushed the soft tresses of some harem favorite; but these dreams did not last long. Arimost before I knew It we had pajfeed the great bolt studded gate, stepped from behind a tall screen of hideous Persian tapestry, and were within the sacred precincts of the har em itself. Down to Matter of Fact. The interior was a great square court, surrounded on three sides by small rooms—the individual rooms of the pasha’s wives and women folk. On the tiled floor of the court was strewn a variegated lot of cheap Oriental rugs and passats. A few red plush covered chairs and divans completed the mea ger furnishings. Scarcely were we within when my host called out. and women began pour ing from the tiny rooms. Fourteen fe males, of various size, shape, hue ana dress emerged—each from her own lit tle room. I looked at their faces—and their clothes—and I knew suddenly that all my life I had been deceived. It came over me that an amazing amount of rubbish has been written around the hidden life of harem wom en. And before I left that strange in stitution I felt that even Pierre Loti juggled lightly with the truth in his harem romance, “Disenchanted.” No Beauty to Western Eyes. The women before me were not beau tiful—at least they were not to be com pared with any type of feminine face and figure commonly thought attract ive by men in our western world. Two or three were exceptions: light of com plexion, large eyed and not too fat, they resembled very much the Circas sian maids—and possibly they were. Any one familiar with Turkey knows to what extent these girls—often very beautiful—have figured in the harem life, especially about the Bosporus. Most of the women who stood before me in that Bagdad harem, however, were absolutely commonplace; some of them even stupid looking. A few wore bright colored scarfs about their necks, with more or less jewelry on their ankles and wrists. The popular item of dress seemed a shape less sort of baggy “Mother Hubbard” like garment, worn over yellow trous ers. Gilt or beaded slippers adorned the feet of the younger and better look ing women. The older ones were bare footed. None of them seemed to have made much of an effort at hairdress ing. Two or three wore their hair loose, hanging in tangled wisps about their faces. However, the old pasha beamed with pride as he looked them over; and af ter all, if he was pleased, nothing else mattered. He introduced me all around and bowed himself out, leaving me alone with the 14. Two girlish young- j' sters—in their early 'teens—he had told me tvere his daughters; but to this day I do not know whicli of the sev eral wives shared their ownership with him. A Mutual Surprise. Hardly had the old pasha withdrawn when the women were up and about ntt'- And such chattering, giggling, ex claiming, pulling and pushing as fol lowed! It was a great day—a day long to be remembered—in that Bagdad har em. So far as I could learn, I was the first woman from the western world who had ever visited there; I was the first white woman that some of the in mates had ever seen. ^ Think what a sensation would on- ^ sue in any American sitting room if an Arab woman, her nails, lips and eye lashes dyed, her limbs tattooed, rings in her nose and anklets jangling, might suddenly appear—silk bloomers and all —in the midst of a crowd of Yankee women! Our own composure and self restraint might not be any greater than that showed by these Arab women at Bagdad when I, an American girl in street clothes, appeared among them. They crowded about, feeling my hands and face, getting down on their knees to admire my high heeled shoes, strok ing the skirt of my blue tailored suit, > behaving like excited children with a * , new toy. My hatpins were a source of '■ great wonder. T TELLS OF INCIDENT IN BERLIN THEATER ' Germans Quickly Squelched Man Who Criticised Gerard—Food Aplenty, Says Pyne. —— New York, (Special)—Details of the incident in a Berlin tneater, when the American ambassador, Mr. Gerard, and a party of Americans were criticised because they were conversing in Eng lish, wore described today by H. Riv ington Pyne, private secretary to Am bassador Gerard, who reached here on the Lusitania. The theater party, Mr. Pyne said, was composed of the ambassador, Grant Smith, secretary of the American legation at Vienna; Mr. Pyne and another American. “We were sitting in a box,” Mr. Pyne said, talking in a low tone. An occu pant of an adjoining box in a loud voice said, that inasmuch as Germany was at war with England, the English language was out of place In a Ger man theater. Ho war expressing his objections loudly when a German sit ting nearby rose to his feet and stopped him, saying; ‘Sit down; don’t you see those gentlemen are Americans?’ “At tlie same time several men from other parts of the audience approached and the disturber was escorted from the theater. Immediate apologies were offered by the theater attendants and German residents in the audience; and afterwards an official apology came from the Berlin city authorities.” Asked about the reported shortage of food supplies in Germany, Mr. Pyne said: “So far as I could see, when I left Berlin, no serious shortage was ap parent Prices for foodstuffs had not materially advanced, although there was little white bread to be had. The aters were running, restaurants were well patronized and Germans were con fident that their armies will be suc cessful.” Mr. Pyne expects to return to Berlin in a few weeks. History—or Romance? From the Kansas City Star. People who wish to discourage war should begin wilh the history writers. If half the historical untruths that have been written about that trade could be expurgated from the hooks half the tra ditions that tend to glorify it would dis appear with them. The number of persons who could give any intelligent reason for calling Freder ick ’ll, of Prussia "the Great" probably is very small, but history has put him down by that description and he will be known by it as long as history is read: and just so long, too, will the name and uU It implies tend to keep alive the Il lusion that war offers exceptional oppor tunities for a bright, pushing young man, who happens to be born a king, to come to the top. If history were a little less prodigal In the matter- of clapping these descriptions to uujust kingB of a roving disposition and unconventional views respecting prop erty, it might be less difficult to convince the’ world that war doesn't pay. Hut history will have its little touches. It will have the Charles the Greats, Its Fredericks and its Alfreds. It will have Its epigrams, its anecdotes, its attitudes and its pictures, all going to make a shame of the email virtues of peace and exalting the great ones of war. Napoleon makes his watchful round of the sentries at night (ail great generals do that, leaving the small detail of plan ning the morrow's battle to subordinates), finds one of them asleep, shoulders his musket for him and performs the neg lected duty. Sleepy head wakes up, sees his general and gives himself up for lost. Not if the historian knows himself and his business. Sleepy head gels a good Napoleonic epigram, a slap on the back and lives to meet deatn elsewhere, prob ably without an epigram to sweeten it. Hut where ts the historian who lias made U his business iu tell the world of that other act of magnanimity—the act of sleepy head’s wife, who permitted him to go to war to become a figure in his torical painting while she hood the cab bages at home? Somebody ought to have gone and told iicr what fine figures of men her husband and Napoleon were on that dramatic canvas and recorded her remarks. Frederick lias a deserter brought before him (historian hid behind his chair with pencil out). ‘‘Why did you desert?” demands the king. “Alas, your majesty,” replied the trem bling wretch, “we are so few and Lhe Austrians are so many that defeat is sure.” "Well, my son.” says the king kindly. ' try it one day more, and if things don't mend we’ll both desert.” (Aiiplau.se from behind the chair.) Mighty fine and one would like to sob if it w-asn’t for a thing or two. Chiefly, j that while this affecting scene is enact ing Frederick's press gangs are snatch- I ing l--year-cefl boys from the plow wlmis they are trying to feed the small mouths their fathers left behind them when tiiev went campaigning with this historical painter’s model. But the historian wasn’t there to record these lesser heroisms. He knew where th? good copy was and stuck close to the royal tent. Did 'Wellington say, “Up guards, and at them,” at Waterloo? Probably not but somebody ought to issue that'order to the guardians of peace and direct them straight at the ranks of the history w rit ers who have made it part of tlicir trad.— an unwarranted part to label their lay fig ures with tags of their own contriving it is all right for the world to have war if it wants it. but it ought to understand it is war and not a copy book exercise. This Takes “Some” Love. From the Christian Herald I know a man not far from Sam son’s country who loved a maiden out side his own people and district. When, he went to see her he had to take other horsemen with him lest the young men of the maiden’s town should re sent his visits, according to the rude customs of the countryside, and play their tricks upon him and his father. When the day came to claim his bride the father and bridegroom were obliged, according to the customs, to surfeit the whole town with feasts of food, and camel loads of rice and native but ter were consumed in the process, '^ii.-n followed feats of physical strength in which the bridegroom and his friends were forced to prove their superiority before they could secure the bride am’ carry her outside her native town An Enormous Log. There is to be seen at Palmer park. Detroit, Mich., an enormous log the in side of which is hollowed out and con tains a chair and table, which were themselves carved from the log it is large enough for a man to walk through, and tho cage end of It was at one time used as a menagerie and con tained a lion and tiger. One end of the log measures 8 feet 6 inches the other end 8 feet 3 inches, while the i length is 35 feet. f Fate. Two shall be born the whole wide world apart And speak In different tongues and have no thought Kaoh of the other’s being, and no heed And these oer unknown seas to unknown lands *«a11„°.1i08s’ escaPlnS wreck, defying death X And all unconsciously shape every act I And bend each wandering step to this one * end, That, one daj', out of darkness they shall meet * And read life’s meaning In each jther s eyes. And two shall walk some narrow way of life So nearly side by side that should one turn Ever so little space to left or right They needs must stand acknowledged face to face wA\yet w.Ith ey*s that never meet J \\ ith groping hands that never clasp and 9 lips ' " Calling in vain to ears that never hear. I hey seek each other all their weary days And die unsatisfied—and this is F*ater —Susan Alarr Spalding.