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About The Alliance-independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1892-1894 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 1892)
THE ALLIANCE-INDEPENDENT. The Farmer's Mutual Insurance Company of Nebraska A Farmers' State Mutual company has been organized under the new law passed by the "farmer legislature." It ii organized on very much the same plan as the county mutual companies. The principal difference is that in this company a membership fee of one per ceit of the value of the property insur ed is charged. It is claimed in favor of this plan that it furnishes a fund for the payment of a large proportion of the losses without making assessments. The headquarters of this "company are located at Lincoln. The company seems to be on a bound basis, and its officers show flattering testimonials. This company insures all kinds 6f farm property, including livestock and grain, against loss by fire, lightning, windstorms, and tornadoes. Write to the company for further information. Seo advertisement in another column.' HS SAW THE KING. But It Took Both l'luck and Nerve, This Boy Had Them. Emerson's saying that a boy is the true democrat was illustrated by the adventure of a Maine sailor lad. He wastatr Christianla, and made up his mind that he would see the celebrated Swedish king. Oscar. Accompanied by another boy from the same ship, says the Youth's Companion, Jack Branscombe, he walked to the palace and' found it surrounded by a moat that looked impassable. But the boy, whose perseverance and courage merit commendation, however his as surance may seem to deserve rebuke, would not be balked. After some search he discovered under the moat a narrow tunnel leading into the royal gardens. The mouth ef the tunnel was choked with rubbish, but the young sailors mado their way through and into tho gardens. Here they were at once sur rounded by guards, who could not un derstand their explanation, but tried to conceal them from tlie view of an approaching party. Thn party were the king and his retinae. Seeing the disturbance, a gentleman stepped forward and asked what was tho matter. The Maine boy acting as spokesmanhis com panion by this time shaking with fear answered that they had come to see his Majesty, Oscar I. They were from Boston, and on their return , home would like to tell their friends that they had been face to face with the king. "Well" answered the gentleman in per'ect English, "you have seen him. I am the king." He gave the boys several coins as souvenirs of the v s t Th'rty years afterward that sailor lad, George C. Perkins, h-1 becoxo governor of California. Cne day ho was on a pilot boat bound for Mon t erey, and not'eed that one of the sail ors was eyeing him intently. Who is the governor? What state does he come from?" asked the sa lor f an officer. jeolv. RELENTLESS FJGHT. V i Vul o A Bitter and Unrelenting Combat litwoen t A Boa-Constrictor anl Tiger, This is the story of a duel to the death between two wild . creatures in tire remote forests of South America. The" battle was watched from begin ning to end by Manuel the tiger hun tec The duel was between a spotted tiger and a boa-constrictor. It was in the afternoon of a hot day that Manuel walked softly down the path that led to the camp, but upon this occasion he was creeping along with unusual stealthiness, for he had a pretty clear idea that a tiger was walking along the path a sbort dis tance in front of him. At the proper time he would attract the tiger's at tention and offer hi in battle. Within a few hundred yards of his hut the hunter became aware, from subtle animal instinct; that the tiger had stopped in the path. The hunter paused and listened. There was a rustling in tho leaves and a stirring in the undergrowth that he. did not quite understand Undoubtedly the tiger hnl found something that attracted his atten tion. The rustling ceased for a mo ment, but began again a trifle more vigorously. Then came a low, muf fled growl and thrashing among the leaves, as though the tiger was show ing his teeth and swinging his tail from side to side. The hunter crept forward like a shadow. At a curve in the path he stopped short. A strange thing was going on in tho narrow path a few yards .before him. A tiger was pacing back and forth, with his tail waving and his hair bristling in sudden anger. In front qf him lay a hugh boa-constrictor, coiled ready for a spring. The big snake's eyes shone like diamonds in the sun, and his tongue darted in and out like forked lightning. His great coils were quivering with rage and fury. What had stirred up those two wild creatures to a pitch of anger Manuel was unable to say. The snake hadprobably been in the path, about to seize some small animal when the tiger appeared and broke the spelL The tiger wanted the right of way, or, at loast the chance to pass on one side; but tho sna,ke had only tightened its coils and stood its ground, with unmistakable signs of an aroused fighting disposition. This annoyed the quadruped to such an extent that he showed hia teeth, growled and thrashed his tail It was at this instant that the hunter came along tho path and slopped. Neither the snake nor the tiger saw him and he stepped quickly behind a cactus bush to await his opportunity of being in at the death. It very soon became apparent that there was to be a fight Both crea tures grew more angry each moment, and watching it all with intense in terest; the hunter smiled as ono might smile who noted the condition of a favorite gladiator. While Manuel thought these thoughts these two wild things in the path moved back and forth, as though sparring for an opening. Tho snake was alert with sullen anger, his glis- ping head darting here and there e flashes of light. The tiger was so vindictively savage, but his (pd hide quivored with wave upon of rising anger. mgth the tiger, unable to re- is rage, leaped at the serpent's head like a dazzle of light nake's head was not there. r landed in the path on the de of the snake, but almost id had touched the ground a g coil had been thrown over e gave a thrilling cry and ly a dozen feet in the air. Led safe and unharmed on his e of the path, a little shaken rhaps. but sttll full of good ? blood. -." HEKMAN-:-BROS,; WHOLESALE AND BETAIL Glotbins, Hats, Cans and FiimsMitg Goods. BRANCH HOUSES: BEATRICE, GRAND ISLAND, FALLS CITY, WEEPING WATER AND AUBURN. 19t Special Attention to Mail Orders. PRICES 1-0"W. inn o STREET LINCOLN, NEB. The snake was back in an instant, coiled ready for defense. The tiger crouched in the path as if about ready to spring. The snake quivered with nervous preparations. The hunter caught his breath in quick an ticipation. This was the critical mo ment Furious beyond all control the two wild creatures sprang upon each other in the same instant For a scant half second there was poised in the air a yellow blur, wrapped about with great glistening coils like tho trunk of a small tree, and then the snake and the tiger rolled in the dust together. It was a grand battle, and right nobly was it fought The serpent's coils were tightening about the tiger with strained convulsive movements of the shining skin, but the tiger's long teeth and sharp claws were buried deep in the serpent's neck and body. In that terrible embrace there could bo no result other than death. Tighter grew the great coils; the tiger's bones wore cracking one by one. Deeper sang the long teeth; the serpent's life-blood was forming little pools in tho dust Convulsively the fighters rolled in the path, but weaker and weaker grew their struggles. The end was coming. Porfcaps foreseeing it the tiger made one frantic, desperate effort to free himself from the deadly embrace, but the blood-streaked coils only tight ened the mora Then the tiger again panic his teeth and claws into the ser pent's neck and body. He would die as ho had lived, a thing of unshaken courage. The serpent in a spasm of pain and dying rage, tried once for all to crush his enemy into a shapeless mass, but his flesh and muscles had been sadly torn away, and his neck was breaking under the tiger's teeth. The hunter caught his breath hard and stepped from the shelter of the cactus bush. The end was at hand. Death was glazing the eye3 of the tiger; the serpent's head fell helpless ly to one skle. There was a feeble struggle in the shoulders of tho tiger, a galvanic shudder in the coils of the serpent and then all was stilt It was over. Ol' Two Evils Choose the Lesser. I told you," said the teacher, apol ogetically, to Tommy, that I should whip you if you didn't tell your fath er you had run away from school, didn't I? ' That's all right" responded Thomas. "I didn't tell him. One of your lickin' s is a picnic by the side of one of dad's. Photographing tender Water. Photographing under water has ac tually beea carried out so it is said. Experiments were made in 1889 in the Mediterranean to ascertain how far daylight penetrated under water. In very clear water, n'ear Corsica and eighteen miles from land, tho limit of daylight was found by means of pho tographic plates'to be 1,580 ee RIVERS. Their Power of Cutting Through Walls of Solid Rock. We frequently see statements and estimates of the amount of sand and mud that is annually carried into the ocean by the great rivers of the world. No one who has seen a suddenly formed rain torrent cut a deep chan nel in a roadway can doubt the power of water to wear away the features of the globe. In fact it has been esti mated that in about 6, 000, 000 years, if the present rate of denudation be continued, the whole surface of the earth will be srnoothod off to one general level. But while it is easy to see how a river and its tributaries can readily cut their way through ordinary soil and sand, it is more difficult to con ceive the remarkable effects produced by water which runs over a bed of solid rock. The Colorado river, for instance, flowing between lofty walls of rock and upon a rocky bottom, is still deepening its channel The explanation of the cutting power of the water of the Colorado lies, as Rev. Dr. Hutchinson, the geologist has pointed out in the fact that it is charged with sand, brought to it in great quantities by its tribu taries. This sand, being swept down the steep gradients of the river, wears away the rocky bed as emery dust wears stone. Thus nature assists nature on all sides, says the Youth's Companion, and tho sand that frost and wind and water have formed out of the exposed rock of the mountains becomes, in turn, an instrument for channeling and wearing away the better protected rock of the valleys beneath. Old and Young. Thero is no surer antidote for the effect which time has over us all, in making our age evident than a young heart -I should like to live to be as old as you are grandmamma," said little Helen, ' but I don't want to be as old as Aunt Susan, ever!" 'Why. why," said grandmamma, looking over her spectacles, "what do you mean, my dear child? Your Aunt Susan is a great many years younger than I am!" ' 'I don't seo how that can be," s.aid Helen, much perplexed. "You al ways remember the plays you had when you were a little girl; but wnen I asked Aunt Susan ono day she said: For pity's sake, child, you don't ex pect me to remember any of the games I had as a little girl. It's so long ago I've forgotten whether I ever playol any!' " Arkansaw Traveler. "You say you are a good washer And ironer. How do you tell when the irons are hot?" How? By smelling the burning linen, mum, of course. What's my nose for?" Philadelphia Times.