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About The Sioux County journal. (Harrison, Nebraska) 1888-1899 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1896)
e . v V L'R steamer bad just cleared Singa pore. My duty lu the engine room was done, and I wii sitting with the mate on the bridge watching the downward weep of the tropic dusk, ""It pun me In mind of a thea ter sunset," he wu saying; "they al ways go by on the run. And that was a pretty theatrical bit you had In the engine-room,' he said to my chief, who had joined us. We bad found ill the nuts but one off the connecting-rod head; had another half-turn been made our engines would have been a scrup heap. Only once has It happened before,' said my chief, "and there was a grand tableau, as you call It, but not in the engine-room. Our stem and three wall eyed junks were the actors. It was up there," Jerking his head northwards. "There was nothing but a thousand odd miles of water and a dusting of Islands between us and llougkong." The mate held a lighted match to the chiefs pipe, and set him drifting on with the current of his yarn. "You see It was years and years ago, and I was second ft a local boat Hongkong to Yokohama. We were the first to employ China firemen. We had been repairing and put on a fresh crowd, all except one, LI Chin. It was near monsoon time, and the sec ond day out we were sitting, aB we might le here; but there was no sun set on view. It had been hazy all day, and we were watching the moon ris ing; just past full, It looked as if some one had bashed one side off the true. It got tip a haze, big and blood-red, like a fire balloon at old Cremorne. A mean, staggering swell hud set lu, so oily that it had no more go to It than the slush in a greaser's bucket. We were all pretty well hipped and morose, being company for no one except the sea. and that well, that looked as if it wanted to le sick and couldn't. I1 Chin, who was decent for a heathen. vas in charge below. "Mr chief was sitting on the rails, and somehow he went over the side. You know pretty well how things like that galvanize everybody. Lose him? No. The oily swell saved him, for the old nihil ran the lmat straight back In her own wake, which was marked out like a dusty road at night through a hilly country. Well, we came to where he was yelling, and got him out. By -all law, the old man ought to have got Into a splutter, but instead of that he said: " 'Look here. Mr. Gum well' that was my chief's name knew something had to happen in this cock-eyed no-side-up looking weather, but I don't lielieve this is the only thing to-night.' "And we nil said together, "That's just what I was thinking, sir,' as they do at church when the parson pipes out. " Then send her ahead again and let's get it done with,' he said. " 'Give her steam, LI Chin,' I shonted down the skylight. LI Chin looked up a I'd chittered: " 'Hi! no taikee talkee; come chop chop.' So I went down to him. "I was pretty green In those days, and whatever came within a halrs breadtb of happening made me feel as squeamish as if it had come off. Of course, you grow out of that, but then I felt my hair creep. Our high pres sure connecting rod was on the down throw with only a single nut on! She had the old style of engines remem ber, and when they went on a burst "SHOOVASTTHttO THAT COMES OtTT. Ibey went handsomely, no tinkering up; Dew engines, perhaps new shlj. ; may.be even new hands. Howevtf", we began to serf up, at least the cbl it did: be'd only trust himself, Presetitty be shoved a nut under my note. " That jroui trade mark 7 be asted. The ntt was chipped and scribed vrlth fmfl efBer marks whfeb I rep 'di aled. "la what ft flowed I ran never quite settle Li Chlta share In the proginm. XkSa waa now wt ware after we ld fixed all tight again: U Chin was lean lng through the eccentric rods with 'he lamp; I was half In, half out the crank pit, and the chief was at my back. He had the spanner. All In a breath be dragged me backwards, flat, my head cracking on the plates, and I baw l tie spanner go'splt' through the standards. It didn't hit any metal but something soft Then he clapped his hand on v.y face and held me stone tight, and some thing came down and rubbed by my chest, scratching me no more and through bis fingers I could see the crank moving, but It bad passed me. If anr one believes that engines haven't souls. Just you stick him in the crank pit, and let her go, only dead slow and Just to clear him. That converted me. "He dragged me right out, hissing In my ear: 'Whip up on deck; tell 'em to shoot on sight any who leave the stoke-hole.' He slammed the Iron door 'tween the boilers and us and turned on LI Chin, who was still holding the lamp, and had him by the throat before he could finish : ' 'No boblx-ry, all sanice white man.' As I Jumped past the starting plat form I saw one of the new stokers ly ing on his back, his face a thing of hor ror. That was the soft thing the span- ner hit, and you know what size a ,-on-ne-ting rod takes. "Both mates and the old man were on the bridge watching something ahead. All In a sweat I sang out my message, and the old man never asked why or wherefore, but popped In the chart-room and slipped a revolver In the second mate's hand, saying: "It's come to us then.' The mate didn't move, so the old man yelped at him: "'Why d'ye stand there, Mac? Are you white Ilvered?' "Now Mac was a Greenock man, and be said: " Y' ken, I want orders frae you, and I'll shoot your aln brother.' Just In a quiet and matter-of-fact way. And, Scott, he would. I know them. " 'Shoot anything that comes out of the stoke-hole,' said the old man, and Mac slid along whistling soft and quiet to his station. Yea, that was It, 'An nie Laurie;' but it wasn't for her that he laid down and died. Poor Mac; he got sand bagged at New Orleans over a chit of a Yankee girl not fit to Mack bis bootB. "The old man grabbed me by tint arm. "'Look here,' he said, pointing out three sails wallowing along between us and the moon. That's the little game your friends below are after. Their friends are coming to Join lu. And by thunder, so is our stem!' He turned ou the chief mate like a flash: " 'You Jump down with Mac Into the stoke-hole, and make every pig-tall heathen stoke her up to the blow-off. ' Wipe 'era out If they've any lip. Scoot'' "He was tramping up and down like a terror. I never dreamt that a man with a wife and family looked like a demon. , " 'You,' he cried to me, 'Jump lielow and don't let the engines move a hand's breadth Ml I ring her. Then let her rip.' "I only went belpw the skylight and told the chief from there; I didn't cine to pass that thing on the platform again. And besides I wanted to w-e what waa going to happen, I waa all on (he Jump, like a white-faced girl; so I staid looking out. The steamer was wallowing In 'he trough like a lame duck. All the crew ha J turned out forward after fixing tip the turned-ln China firemen. "The three junks came on In a line abreast down the wind. "There was a heathenish feeling about everything that red, lop-sided moon making a big crawly snake on the oily water; the three Junks sliding along, and us laid silent. There were three things I remember: The slap of the water under our stern, the rattle of the Junks' sails flapping against their musts and our old man's list; be was pounding time on the rail. "The she lx-gan to blow off. "All at once he roared out: "Port, hard a-)Krtr and rang her full speed, and we began to move. Lord! In three minutes we had got our pace. "The Junks had turned after us at first, but theysocmed to guess some thing was wrong, for one sheered off. Presently we'd done the half circle ami headed stem on to the other two. Then I reckon they realized. 'The first broke out Into lights and shouts; she was right under our towg, and you could hear her split like dry firewood. Her big battened mainsail rattled on our foc'sle head like a shower of canes. The sea Itself seemed to yell all round us as we steamed through the cargo of drowning pirates. "I looked over the rail; we'd hit the other and smashed one side off, and, o s ' SHE WAS LKillT UXDER OCR HOWS. we pranced by, I saw her men sliding off her deck like a spilt cart-load of turnips as she heeled over. Her masts caught our after-lioat ami tore It away. Then she beam-ended and slumped. "After bitting the first Junk the old man had Ix-eu ramping up and down the deck like a mad fellow. "The third junk had got some dis tance away, butxrft was of no use; after her we went, our old man roaring and shaking his fist at her; then all at once he quieted, and conned us like a Thames steamboat skipper. "And we hit that Junk clean In the stern, and rode over her from end to end. It was sickening to see the strug gle In our wake; I ran and asked hlui if we weren't going to save some of them. "He knocked me clean off my feet. I was silly for more than ten minutes, and when I pulled together we were still running ahead. "My chief was binding up my hee l, and the old man was staring astern. All at once he screamed: " 'Dbrd, what have I doner and chucked up his anus and fell back. He never oke more, but went out next "WHAT HAVC I WINK!"""' morning. We made the heathens stoke us back to Hongkong-and jail. I went to the boepltal completely knocked ovr. "You know Aberdeen? Yes, we'L you know that old bouse against the town hall-an eating-house; bis widow keeps that now, and If ever you're stuck up say as you know one who sailed with blw. And If you're flush " Black and White, Japanese Swords. The Japanese, whose civilization was old liefore ours began, have produced beautiful examples of the sword-maker's art. The Japanese nobleman car ried his swords as the inslguia of bis rank. He wore one on each side, thrust Into the folds of his sash. These swords have been handed down as heirlooms from father to son; and It was not unusual for families of an cient lineage to have as many as fif teen hundred of tbem marvels of cost ly and artistic workmanship lu their possession. The scabbards are richly lacquered, and Isjund n)out with a silk en cord in a curious pattern. Tbi blade Is curved, and the round guard Is pierced to carry a small dagger. This guard, called a tsuba. is decorated with curious designs; and so great Is the Ingenuity of the Japanese metal-workers that among the thousands of swords they have produced it Is Inqiosslble to find two guards exactly alike. They are prized so highly by collectors that large sums of money have been paid fre quently for an antique sword, only that It might le ruthlessly torn apart to se cure the guard. St. Nicholas. Irrigation by Windmill.. It was found that in the Arkansas valley water could be obtained by shallow wells ranging In depth from eight to twenty feet. This Is raised by hundreds of windmills into hundreds of small reservoirs constructed at the highest point of each farm. The uni form eastward slope of the plains Is seven feet to the mile. The indefatig able Kansas keeps the mills in active operation, and the reservoirs are al ways full of water, which is drawn off as It Is required for purposes of Irrigation. Those small individual pumpiu-pluuts have certain advan tages over the canal systems which prevail elsewhere. The Irrigator has no entangling alliances with compa nies or eo-oMTatlve associations, aud Is able to mauage the water-supply without deferring to the convenience of others or yielding obedience to rules aud regulations essential to the orderly administration of systems which sup ply large numbers of consumers. The original cost of such a plant, exclusive of the farmer's own bilsir In construct ing hls'reservolrs and ditches. Is I2U0, and the plant suffices for ten acres. The farmer thus pays $'M per acre for a jierix'tnal guaranty of sufficient "rain" to produce bouutlful crops; but to this cost must be added f2 per acre as the annual price of malntaing the system. Century. "Grandma Htowe." At Hartford. Conn., where the aged Harriet Bw-obcr Stowe lives, they tell a good story, which the Boston Commonwealth reports, of her preco clous grandson. A neighbor found him swinging rath er too vigorously an another nelghlsir's front gate, and warned him that Mr. Smith might not like It. Whereupon the Independent young gentleman re marked that "I don't care for Mr. Smith, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that Is his." "Io you know who wrote those words?" asked the friend, deeply shocked. "Oh." was the nonchalant reply, "I d'no Grandma Stowe, I sup pom'!" Times Have Changed. A Maine paper notes as evidence of the change that has come over methods and men that whereas In old times the paymaster on the Kennebec Ice fields never used anything but cash aud brotherly love In making payment, he now keeps a loaded revolver on his table as a precaution against the possi bility of bold thieves trying to snatch his pile of greenbacks. Women of falriiesa are very rare; they have been so spoilt by flattery. TOPICS OF THE TIMES. A CHOICE SELECTION OF INTER ESTING ITEMS. Cmbmhj aad CrittcUate Baaed Cm the Bapaealna of Ike ! alto tort cat aad Nawa Notes. Dr. Jameson has put a lien on Immor tality. He has beeu "done In wax" for a museum. While New York Is debating whether or not Ben Franklin was a geutleman Chicago Is preparing to erect a statue of him to cost (25.IKM). We sre sorry to learn that Aubrey Beardslcy is dying of consumption, but even In this sad hour nature preserves her balance; Johanna, Bamum's chim panzee, has drawn a picture of herself. Has It come to you how good a thing It Is to do good things for your own sake? If you say something bright to a dense man you are doubly entertain edby your witticism and by his den sity. New Y'ork City Is doing everything IMissible to encourwgt- the one and a half .iKiund liaby born there the ether day to remain on the island aud g.-ow. Iu the Greater New York movement every little helps. Mr. Gladstone may have some spe cial reason for proioslng to return to Parliament, but It cannot be to obtain a hearing. The old statesman has only to take the floor anywhere aud tha world conies to order. ' When spring oioub all of New York's asphalt streets are to be patrolled by policemen mounted on bicycles. It will behoove crooks iu that city to have their pocket full of carpet tacks with a view to covering forced retreats. The Niagara Commission In New York has decided to oppose all further attempts to harness the great cataract. As eight franchises have la-en granted on the American side and one on the Canadian, It Is evidently time to draw the line. The average student Is alxHit the same sort of hoodlum wherever you find blm, whether tit Barcelona or Co lumbia, Valencia or Princeton. Clime and latitude seem to exert very little influence on the complexion ami const I tuion of the college ruffian. A Louisville paior Insists that If tliat French scientist Is right' who claims that "the Garden of Eden was located lu America," he must have had In mind the Blue Grass country. The lo cation of the Garden of Eden In Ken tucky would also account for that case 5f the "snakes" which Eve experienc ed. Mr. Gladstone remarks that his pleas ure In intellectual work Is as keen as when he was a young man, but admits hat, physically, he cannot quite bear the same burdens. One of the bless- tigs the grand old man has conferred on his race Is to add to the years of youth and postpone old age. The Financial Forecast of New York says that t lie Standard Oil Company will distribute profits this year to the amazing total of ?-.OfKi,0(iU." This l a gigantic sum to be made in profits by stock is owned by only a few men only four, we believe. This corpora tion started Into business a little more than twenty years ago with $1,000,0(10 capital, aud now distributes $25,000,000 as the profits of one year. Can such Immense profits 1h made without put ting a burdensome tax on the people? The law respecting folding-beds, as recently handed down by a Maine court, is caveat dormltor let the sleeper bt! on his guard, in the case lu question, the folding lied folded aud caught a man. The seller of the bed was sued for twenty-five thousand dollars dam age's, but the decision was In every particular favorable to the defendant. If the folding-lied has come to stay there Is demand for an anti-folder that can be applied to any folding-bed lu the Interest of longevity. When Mrs. Ballington Booth, then the young daughter of an English cler gyman, first saw a squad of the Salva tion Army, she was almost shocked by Its grotosqucness. A similar effect was produced upon the religious part of the public when the Salvation Army first made Its appearance in the I'nlted States. A remarkable testlmonal of the change In public sentiment regard ing this organization was afforded by the mass-meeting recently held In New York City to express regret over the recall of Mr. aud Mrs. Booth from this country aud to ask that it be reconsid ered. ..- m'ZISi VCSJi.. tl Is said that modern steamships never race with one another, but every voyage Is a continuous race against time; that purely business considera tions, aud not a spirit of rivalry In speed, are the Incentive for putting each ship to her swiftest pace throughout every voyage; and that the fastest mod ern steamships meet with fewer acci dents than occurred to the slower ships of a few years ago. This Is In sub stance the steamship companies' state ment. But would not the great and swift "liners" be safer still If not push ed quite so hard, and should not the safety of human life be the determin ing consideration? It Is not remarkable that the Ger man Emperor Is constantly In a tower ing rage over the great number of anonymous letters which he receives, but It Is remarkable that he does not employ a private secretary with sense enough to chuck such letters Into the waste basket, Instead of allowing them to worry his royal master. But the most remarkable thing of all In this connection was the Euqror's order that no anonymous letters were to be opened. Were Sir Boyle Hoach himself Kaiser he could not have done baiter. It Is fortunate that the Irish herj of blundering is no longer living, ami that he cannot know how much superior ti the Teutonic Bock to the Milesian Bull. , , Senator' Perkins of Culifornia pro poses to bunt for whales with "ko daks." He has collected some prosaic people out West Into a new couipanj tliat Intends to take the romance out 01 the sea. They are to dot the Arctic re glons with affidavit sklpiers and snap shot sailors. Harpoons are merely minor dHails Intended to prod the recat cltrant whale If he refuses to look pleasant. This direction Is given: Whenever a whale Is sighted 01 struck a picture must be made of th same and the negative preserved fot the Inspection of the officers of the company. One can fancy the scene: 'There she blows!" "Where away?" "Three points to the lee bow! "Man the main kodak press the star board button-lower away!" There must follow a revised edition of the tales of the sea to fit the environ, ment of this end-of-the-century whaler. The jolly tar must ben-after have at least a tintype education, and the crowning slang of the fo'c's'le will be "Shiver my films." When the "old salt" returns from h rrV'f ? I" merely say", mildly" "Yes, we took a flni whale; but It was not a good picture, I fear the harpoons tickled him." . An Interesting and novel question came up In the San Francisco Superior Court before Judge Slack. A washer woman, one Kllzals'th C'avanagh, won a lottery prize of fifteen thousand dol lars, which she Immediately Invested In real estate, recording It In her own name. At this her husband, Maurice Coronagh, took umbrage, fearing tliat ho and their four children might bo left unprovided for. He has brought suit to have Mrs. Cavanngb's real es tate declared community property, ru der the civil code of California, "all property owned by the husband (or, wife) ls-fore marriage and that acquir ed afterward by gift, lwquest, devise, or descent, with the rents, Issues, and profits thereof. Is bis (or her) separate property." The rude further says: "All other property acquired after marriage by either the husband or the wife, or both. Is community property." From tills It is evident tliat the ilnt will to a difficult one to decide. Mrs. Cav nungh's attorneys will take the ground that the lottery prize was "a gift," hence not community property. But lotteries are illegal under the law of the State, Was not the acquisition of the fifteen thousand dollars by Mrs. Cavamtgh contra Ixmos mores? Gnu the court lake cognizance of the meth od of its acquisition when It Is with out the law? Here lie fine jKiiuts for the lawyers. But whatever may be the result of lh!s carti. It has brought to light another eorroiionitloti of tin) gamblers' belief iu washerwoman's luck." The mystic figures "i 11-11," which have Ix-eu used ill Jokes without nuintx-r, and whose origin so few un derstand, were once played by a wash erwoman In a New York "jsdlcy shop," winning her a fabulous sum for a washerwoman. In "policy-shop" cir cles they were thereafter known ns "the washerwoman's gig." and were played persistently for years, but they never won again. The quarrel In the Cavauagh family shows tliat there are lucky washerwomen In San Francisco or well as In New York. Co-Operatlve Idea Among Farmers. A still more striking evidence of the dominance of the associative Idea among the sHtlers of Irrigated land li seen in the plan of a colony which set tled In Southern Idaho as recently ai These colonists had oliserved that the mlnlng-camps of that region were littered ith tin cans, the lalwlj of which bore evidence of the prosper ity of distant industries. They also learned that tlie condensed milk used In that locality came from New Jer sey, the creamery butter from Minne sota, the starch from Maine, and the bacon principally from Chicago. As the raw materials of these products are all easily grown In Idaho, the col onists determined to provide the sim ple Industrial plants required to man ufacture the raw material Into market able form. They added to the price of their laud ten dollars per acre, and thereby raised a capital of ?.V),000, which was somewhat increased by the sale of business property iu tdie Vil lage. This capital provided a cream ery, cannery, fruit-evaporator, starch factory, pork-packing establishment, and, cold 1-storage plant. Taken In con nection with their diversified farms, these little Industries constituted. In an Industrial sense, a symmetrical com munity, Century, .i . Ills Hard Luck. ' v "Talk about there being no such thing as lurk," said Bllklns, deprccat Ingly; "why, everything's luck life, riches, health nod even the cholcij of parents depends on the merest chance. And I have lieen the unlucklest dog In Christendom." "I'nluckyr said Wllklns, sympathet ically. "Why, I don't know. Now. you've health, a wlft " 'There's an example, my wife. You remember the day we walkel down town together? You. picked up oM Hocklelgh's pocketlwok- Your ne qualntance In this way with him wai wholly an accident. Now you are bis partner In a money coin log b-islnes. I picked up a girl's handkerchief. Now I am her husband. I tall you, old man, I'm a Jonah." People dislike to roach tncage when they are old enough to know better.