The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917, January 19, 1900, Image 6
PRISONER OF WAR. ' No rest again this month? Tii* is the third time it has happened srlthtn tha half-year. Ill go there m>sc«f and get the money or 1 11 know the reason nfcy." Matthew IVwne wx* in parti■ td.irljr fantf humor this raw December tsorc lag Everything had gone wrong fiborks had Callao when they ought to have risen — fats clerk kad tipped over the inkstand on kts special and pecul iar heap of paper- the fire obstinate ly refue* 1 to bora la the grate- in short, nothing went right, ani Mr. Deane was consequently and corre spond. ngl> cross. "Jenkins'" "Yes. sir.** Go to the ITidow Clarkson's, and teB her I shall be there in half aa hour and espect confidently- mind. Jenkins —confidently to rereive that rent money. Or I shall feel myself obliged to resort to estreoc measures. You understand. Jenkms— '’Certainly, sir" "Then don't stand there starin' like an idiot." smarted Mr. Deane In a ouddea hurst at Irritation and Jenkins disappeared Uhe a shot. Jnot half an honr afterward Mat thew !leone brushed the brown hair lost sprinkled with gray from his square yet no unkindly brow. Put ting on his far-lined overrun! he walked into the chilly winter air fully determined figuratively, to annihilate the oefaatt eg Widow Clarkson It was a dwarfish little red brick boose which appeared originally to have aspired to two-story hood lot. hot cramped by circumstance*. had settlad down into a story and a half, bet the wisdom* shone like Braxiiimc yT-tilntiifl. and the doorslej** were worn by mock acuoriag Neither of these rtmmstaarea. however, did Mr IVane remark as he pulled the glittering brans doorknob and strode into Mrs Clarkson's nrat parlor There was a small fire—very small, as if every lump of anthracite was hoarded in the stove, and at a table with writing implements before her sat a young lady srhou Mr. Deane at once recognised a* Mr* Clarkson's niece. Miss Oho Mellen. She was not dim sgzeeat.ie to look upon, to >ugh you “J HAVE CALLED TO SEE YOUK At XT." would ww Liu thought of classing her Max the ImstMi. • tth shining LI** k hair Mae. hm-liikcd eyes, and a very pretty mouth, hiding teeth like net kcrarh. oo white were they. Mlftft Meiiem rue with a polite nod. ! which wa» grimly rcdyrorilH by Mr. Donne. *T have called to see your aunt.Mias j Mcliea " *| know |t. sir but a* I am aware of her timid temperament 1 sent her away. 1 prefer to deal with you my Mr Dana* Marled - the cool audacity af tbs damsel la gray, with starlet notons la her hair, rather astonished him "I »appose the **oney is ready?" ~No. sir. It X not ~ "Then. Mias Olive pardon me. 1 must speak plainly 1 shall send an offlur her* this afternoon to put a valuation oa the forfeiture, and-" *'Yoa will do nothing of the kind. Mr." Otive's cheek had reddened aad her eyes flatbed portentously Sir. Deane tamed toward the doar. bet ere he j knew what ebe was doing Olive had walked quietly arroas the room, locked the door, and taken out the key—then ah* roamed her sent. "What doe* this mean* ' ejaculated • the astonished "priaoner of war." "It means, sir. that you will now be obliged to consider the question. * said OUrc. "Ten— yon will hardly jump out of the window, and fhetu is ao other | method of egress unless you choose to j go up the chimney Now. then. Mr. ' Deane, will yon bell me if you—« Chris tian man la the nineteenth century— I Intend to sell a poor widow a furniture because she Is not able to pay your j rent* Listen, air*" Mr Deane opened his mouth to re moastrate.bet dive enforced her words | with a very emphatic little stamp of the foot, and he wa*. as It were, ■trv-bea dumb "Ton are what the world calls a rich man Mr Deane You own rows of honoas piles of hank stock, railroad ■harm, bonds and mortgage* «ho knows what* My anal haa nothing; 1 \ ■upport her by capping Now if this cane he carried into a court of law. ay poor ailing aunt will be a sufferer— yon would •merge unscathed and prof fling Yoa are not a had man. Mr. Deane, you have a great many noble qualities, aad I like you for them" She panned an instant and looked In tently and gravely at Mr Deane The coder ram* to b;i cheek—It was not dis agreeable to he told by a pretty young girl that she liked him on may terms; yet cbe ted Indulged la pretty plain rpaafctnr "I have heard." she went an. "of your doing kind actions when yon were in the humor of It. You can do them, and ywu shall in this Instance Yoa am'crons this morning- you know you am* Hush* ao eicuar; you are Irritable and overbearing. If | were vour mother, and you a lit tle boy. I should certainly^ put you In although be was u (Mr Mat on with the -Mnt as It Ml I •ball only keep you hare a prisoner until you hare behaved, and given me year word not to annoy my aunt again for rent until she is able to pay you. Then, and not until the:\ will you receive your money. Do you promise? Yes or no?" **I certainly shall agree to no such terms." said Mr. Deane, tartly, j "Very well, air; I can wait.” Miss Mellen deposited the key in the pocket of her gray dress and sat down to her copying. Had she been a man. Mr. Deane would probably have knocked her down: as it was. she wore ' an invisible armor of power in the very fart that she was a fragile, slight woman, and she knew It. "Mias Olive.” he said, sternly, “let us terminate this mummery. Unlock that door*” • Mr. Deane. I will not!” ' I shall shout and alarm the neigh borhood. then, or call a policeman.” "Very well, Mr. Deane; do so. If you please.” She dipped her pen in the ink and began on a fresh page. Matthew sat [ down, puzzled and discomfited, and wat hed the long-lashed eyes and faintly tinged rheek of his keeper. She was very pretty—what a pity she was so obstinate! Miss Olive!” "Sir?” "The clock has just struck 12.” "I heard It.” "I should like to go out and get some lunch ” "1 am sorry that that luxury is out of your power.” "But I'm confounded hungry.” "Are you?” "And I'm not going to stand this sort of thing any longer.” Nor* How provoklngly nonchalant she ; was. Mr. Deane eyed the pocket of the gray dre** greedily, and walked up and down the room pettishly. "I have an appointment at 1.” "Indeed* What a pity you will be un able to keep it!” He took another turn across the room. Olive looked up with a smile. "Well, are you ready to promise?” Hang it. yes! What else can I do?” "You promise?** "I do, because I can’t help myself.” Olive drew the key from her pocket with softened eyes. * You have made me very happy. Mr. Deane I dare say you think me un womanly and unfeminine, but indeed you do not know to what extremities we are driven by poverty. Good-morn ing. sir.** Mr. Deane sallied forth with a curi ous < >mpli< ation of thoughts and emo tion* struggling through his brain, in whi h gray dresses, long-lashed blue ejre* and scarlet ribbons played a prominent part. ' Did you get the money, sir?" asked rhe cb-rk, when he walked into the of fice. "Mind your business, sir.” was the tart response. ' 1 pity her husband." thought Mr. IWne as he turned the papers over on hi* desk. "How she will henpeck him’ By the way. I wonder who her husband will be?” The next day he called at the Widow Clarkson s to assure Miss Mellen that he had no idea of breaking his prom ise. and the next but one after that he came to tell the young lady she need er’ertain no doubt of his integrity. Ar.4 the next week he dropped in on theta with no particular errand to serve as an excuse! When shall we be married. Olive? Next month, dearest? Do not let us put it off later.** 1 have no wishes but yours. Mat thew.” ' Keally. Miss Olive Mellen. to hear that meek tone one would suppose you Lad necer locked me up here and tyr annixed over me as a jailer.” Olive burst into a merry laugh. • You dear old Matthew; I give you warning beforehand that I mean to have my own way in everything. Do you wish to recede from your bargain? It is not too late yet.” No. Matthew Deane didn’t; he had a vague idea that it w'ould be very pleaaant to be henpecked by Olive! I Wry Definite. Mr*. Sewell. who Is the head of a classical school for girls in Indianap olis. could contribute a readable sequel to English as she is taught, for the jc ;*:ls in a girls’ classical school are not above the amusing blunders which | characterize the efforts of their young , sisters in the public schools. On one i o*ca*!on Mrs. Sewell was instructing a class in physics. Force was the sub je» t. and she made plain to the girls the difference between centrifugal and lentripeta! force. “Centrifugal.” said Mrs. Sewell. “1* a force whose direction is from the center and centripetal is a force whose direction is toward the •■enter. Do you all understand that?” The class chorused assent. “Now. will some girl give me an illustration?” continued Mrs. Sewell. “The domestic virtue* are «entripetal,” replied a small girl, ’ because they keep a man in the i center of his home, and a centrifugal force la—well, a saloon is a centri fugal force.”—Philadelphia Post. Ylrtoci* Not Ho Wealthy. It has been stated (hat Queen Vic toria has accumulated a fortune of over I100.0u0.0u0. The actual amount of the queen's savings is known to a few people. One of these is Henry i Labouchere. the radical, who came by his information officially as member of ! a special committee of the House of ' Commons about eight years since. Suiwequently Mr. laibouehere wrote: “The Impression prevails that the queen has effected large savings, hut that Is not the case. As the sum total of the queen’s investments was given to the committee under a pledge of | secrecy, I cannot violate this pledge, but 1 do not think 1 am breaking faith in saying that the amount is surpris , iagly small.” .. 11 —.*... Heavy falls I pen (ha fxar’a Purse. No sovereign is so rich as the czar, and no sovereign has such heavy calls j upon his purse. The grand dukes Michael. Vladimir, Alexis. Serge and Paul Alexandrovitcb, as the sons of emperors of Russia, receive from the bend of the bouse an annual sum of li5.000 roubles (£26.200) each, which added to private means, makes them very rich. The wives and widows of Russian grand dukes receive 40.000 roubles each; their sons 150,000 roubles. It was the Cxar Alexander 1U. who decreed that every member of the imperial family must spend a part of the year in Russia, or else lose a third of his or her allowance. GOOD NOVEL MAKING. The Four Things Which Are Funda mental—Character-Drawing. Good novel making, technically viewed, rests four-square upon inven tion (plot), construction, characteriza tion and description. These may he called the fundamentals of Action. The form of literature known as the story is often spoken of carelessly or in shallow wise as if its manner—its style of diction—w'ere the chief thing, even the only thing, says the Forum. "Have you read so and so?” queries one lady of another in the car. “The idea isn’t anything, but then, you know. Brown writes so well! His style is so good!” Again, with the great class of uncritical readers, represented in the lower grade by the blue-clothed messenger boy in the car immersed in the latest number of the Fireside Com panion. plot outweighs every other consideration. Possibly it does with the majority of all novel-readers. But, if looking to the permanent suc cesses and great names of Action, we ask ourselves what qualities constitute the essentials of Action, we shall be likely to settle on these fundamental four. Furthermore, if forced to pick out the quality ministering most to the successful result, we must, I fan cy, reply: Character-creation. This judgment may fall strange on the ear nowadays, because other traits are emphasized—construction or style, for example. Indeed, if we examine the clever work of present day novelists, we shall And that what often gives them reputation is ability in ways aside from this central, this solar, gift of characterization. Compared with it. invention and construction are sec ondary; description and style, import ant as they may be in the abstract, are as naught. A novel without salient character-drawing, whatever its mer its in other directions, can never take high rank; it is almost certainly a failure foredoomed. The truth of the proposition becomes apparent when we come to apply it and illustrate by it. The Arm. steady hold upon the public of certain Actionists, who are more or less roughly handled by critics, is easily explained, if we agree to this central post of importance held by character-lining. The cold, aloof posi tion of the late-century tictionmaker toward the people of his brain and heart may be high art. but it is pre cious poor humanity. And it Is this perhaps more than any other one thing that is likely to keep out of our Action the red blood of life. “But,” cries the novelist, “look at my skill, my ingen uity. my technical excellences in half a dozen particulars of a difficult art.” To which the public: “True, it is magnlAcent. but it is not war.” SHAKESPEARE AND PSALMS. Cipher Like That l«ed by liarou's Ad herent* Would Prove It. Though the Bacon cipher may have proved that Shakespeare did not write the plays credited to him for three centuries, another cipher proves just as conclusively that Shakespeare wrote the Psalms. Of course, this is a joke, but there is as much evidence to sup port the other theory. In Shake speare's name lies the key to this wonderful cryptogram. As Mr. Don nelly says, the spelling "Shakespeare” was the poet s nom de plume, while "Shakespcre” was his name—an evi dent change from "Shakspear.” In ea< h of the two spallings last given are 10 letters—four vowels and six conso nants. Combine these two figures and we have the number 46—the key to the mystery. Turning to the 46th Psalm in the Revised Version, it is found that the Psalm is divided into three por tions, each one ending with “selah.” Remember the number—46. Counting 46 words from the beginning of the psalm one reaches the word "shake,” in the first portion. Then, going to the last portion and counting 46 words from the end of the psalm one reaches the word “spear.” There is ‘Shake spear" as plainly as letters can make it. Now. turn to the middle portion of the psalm and apply the rule of aver ages. To get this average one goes to the middle verse, which is the sixth, as it has five verses on each side of it. Observe the significant six, the last fig ure of our key number. Now six in Roman letters is “VI," and so one looks for a word in the verse that has the letters vb and i in it. There is only one—“Voice.” What can be plainer than that it is Shakespear’s voice speaking to us from the Psalms? —New York Herald. Too Much for Him. They are telling this story in Wash ington about Congressman Clayton of Alabama, who used to be district at torney in his state: It became his duty at one time to prosecute an old man for making illicit whisky. It was not a very serious infraction of the law, but the old backwroodsman had been reckless in his open violation, and it was necessary to make an exam ple of him. He was brought into court and. after the government had stated its case, the old man. who had no law yer. asked to be allowed to go upon the stand. He was told that this would render him liable to answer any ques tions, but he insisted. “Well, Uncle John.” said Clayton, “did you really make any whisky in your still?” “Hen ry.” replied the old man. with pathetic tone. “I know’d your pa; I voted for your pa every time he ran for jedge. And. Henry, your pa would never have axed me no question like that!” The jurors laughed, the court smiled and Clayton relented. The old man drove home that night.—New Y'ork Tribune. — Ku visit Ideas. "It is strange what queer ideas we had when we were young.” said a gen tleman the other day. “My father once asked me how I supposed the French managed to spell wagon wheel, when they had no.‘w’ in their language. I never could solve the problem.” “And when I wras a boy,” replied an other, “I thought it was an easy mat ter to translate from foreign languages. I had an idea that the only difference was the alphabetical characters, and if I were to learn the Greek alphabet, for instance, I would have no trouble in turning Greek into English. 1 found out my mistake after 1 went to school, though.”—Harlem Life. Wild boars still abound in some parts of Morocco, one hunting party having lately killed over 100 in one week. I ARTILLERY SMELLS AND TMEIR USE While a great deal is written about i artillery in these warlike times, it is a subject not always fully understood. The artillery now being used by the British in South Africa consists of the twelve-pounder horse artillery gun and the fifteen pounder field artillery gun. They are practically to the same pat tern. the lighter gun being shorter in the barrel. Horse artillery invariably co-operates with cavalry and is able to keep up with the same at its fastest pace, its gunners always being mount ed. Field artillery, on the other hand, co-operates with infantry, and must be ready to be pushed into action at a moment's notice. It is only in field and horse artillery that the guns are known by the weight of fheir charge, other gun3 deriving their name from the diameter of their bore—that is. their caliber. In horse and field artillery the caliber is three inches, both for case shot and shrap nel. A shrapnel is a hollow shell filled with some 200 bullets and a small bursting charge sufficient to burst it and disperse the bullets over a conical area. This charge of an ounce and a half is at the base of the shell.with the builets packed above it and round an inner tube reaching from the tip of the shell to the exploding charge. The bul lets are placed in rosin to prevent their rolling and interfering with accuracy of aim. The powder charge projecting the shell is independent and is con tained in a silk bag to facilitate hand ling and exactly fitting the breech of the gun. The method of exploding the shrap nel is interesting. At its upper end the projectile has a funnel shaped open ing, whence a tube extends down to the tear up the surrounding stone layers. Their destructive power has been greatly increasec^by using lyddite for the bursting charge, this explosive be ing named after the town of Lydd in England, where the British govern ment factories are. The machine gun forms an independ ent section in the service. Maxims can fire 600 rounds per mnute. To pre vent the barrel getting redhot from the friction it is surrounded by a jack et holding water. This heats and passes ofT in steam, one and a half pints of water being required for every 1,000 rounds fired. HE CALLED HER “MY DEAR.” Somehow or Otli< r He Didu’C Succeed as He Kxpecteil. “I don't know anything more exas perating than an inattentive clerk,” said a miid-mannered little man on the street car the other night, "but unless you have a certain aplomb way about you, so to speak, you might as well endure the cross in silence. Now I have a friend,” he continued, “who possesses just such a gift, and, needless , to say, he is never neglected. I went into a store with him the other day. and the young woman at the counter where we stopped continued convers ing calmly with another young woman in the next department. 'My dear madam.’ said my friend, blandly. T trust you will pardon me for intruding upon that important discussion, but if you—’ ‘What do you wish?’ said the clerk, looking startled. 'Do not be an gry,’ my friend replied; *1 know, of course, that the occasional interruption of customers must be very annoying. Case Shell. w RoeR* > CREUSQp^ Field Gwm ' J>RILU V. ARTILLERY SHELLS AND THEIR l bursting charge. In this opening is screwed the fuse which causes the ex plosion in the shell itself. This is a gem of mechanical skill and works with clockwork accuracy. It can be used either as a percussion fuse or a time fuse. If the former, it will cause the shell to burst by impact, a needle in the tip igniting the explosive and scattering a shower of bullets and broken shell in all directions. Percus sion fuses are used against a solid target, such as a wall or fortiiied house, while the time fuse is employed against troops in the open with little or insignificant intrenchment. When this is so, a simple manipulation of the gunner ignites a ring of slow burning substance in the shell which, at a certain time after it has left the gun, will ignite the explosive and shower its leaden rain on the enemy. The pieces of shell and bullets thus set free and exploding in the air re tain the same velocity the shell had at bursting. It is easy to imagine the terrible way in which such a charge will tear up the ranks of an enemy. What a wonderful piece of mechanism the time fuse is will be clear from the fact that gunners are able to deter mine within a yard or two just where it will explode, notwithstanding the tremendous rate at which it whistles through the air. Case shot is less often used than shrapnel. It is looked upon as the last resort of a battery threatened by in fantry or cavalry at close quarters and is not effective beyond a range of 500 yards. It is made up of 300 shot packed in a case of sheet tin, which breaks into pieces when the gun is first fired, scattering the bullets in all di rections, and not carrying its bullets in a compact mass to the target like the shrapnel and then exploding. A third kind of projectile, used in heavy guns, such as the 5-inch how itzer, big naval guns and fortress ord nances, is the common shell, similar to the shrapnel in appearance, but con taining no bullets. It holds, however, a large bursting‘charge and is of much heavier metal. It always explodes on impact, being ignited by a percussion cap at the tip. These shells are used for the destruction of masonry, earth works and all solid targets. They will explode after imbedding themselves in masonry, and so not only pulverize the point where they strike, but also and no uoubt—' By that time the poor I girl was in a nervous flutter, and I really felt sorry for her. When we went out I expressed surprise at the ease with which her attention had been secured, and my friend laughed. ‘O, it’s no trick at all,’ he said. ‘All you have to do is to keep yourself cool.* Next day I was fool enough to try the system myself, after I had camped be side a counter for ten minutes waiting for a large and haughty lady to conclude a protracted conversation. ‘My dear mad—’ I began, trying to imi tate my friend's sang-froid. ‘Sir!’ ex claimed the saleslady, wheeling on me suddenly and freezing my blood with a ferocious glare. ‘My dear,’ I stam mered, ‘my dear—’ Really I could go no further. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth, and I could feel the sweat breaking out on my forehead. I know I must have looked the picture of helpless inbecility. ‘What do you mean by calling me your dear and things like that?’ demanded the en raged amazon. What earthly reply could I make? I did the only thing possible—I got up and sneaked out, ex pecting every minute to feel a police man grab me by the collar. So, as 1 said before, unless you have the way about you, you might as well put up with these little annoyances. The fac ulty of blandly bluffing one’s fellow be ings is something that can’t be ac quired.—New Orleans Times-Demo crat. Royalty'* Press Allowance. An enterprising fashion writer tells us that before her marriage the duchess of Fife had a very small dress allow ance—about $1,500 a year. Besides yachting and every-day dresses and all the usual costumes required by a girl of the upper classes, royal princesses have also to wear the costly and elab orate dresses which their rank de mands at the weddings of their near relations. They are, however, for tunate in having stores of beautiful laces, priceless furs and marvelous jewels, all of which can be used again and again. On the whole, it may be asserted that a frugal princess may spend as little as $5,000 a year on her dress, while her more wealthy and ex travagant sister may find her dress bills amount to ten times that sum. Age has nothing to do with the mat ter, for the queen of Italy spends far more than does her beautiful young daughter-in-law, the crown princess of Naples. The empress of Russia, who, more than any other European princess, is able to indulge her wildest fancies, dresses with the greatest simplicity. In the daytime she mostly wears tailor-made coats and skirts, and in the evening favors the purest white materials.—Chicago Chronicle. I.ncld. A famous verdict rendered many years ago by a coroner’s jury in a case of mysterious death ran thus: "We, the jury of twelve good men and true, duly impanelled and responsible on our consciences, do hereby return the following verdict on the demise of the deceased, namely: That said corpse came to its death through the abrupt ceasing of his heart to perform its natural office, for no reason whatever discernible by man, but solely an act of providence.” If this was not alto gether explicit, at least the public knew there had been no foul play; but what meaning could possibly be at tached to the verdict which a legal magazine assures us was rendered, much more recently, by a Missouri court? "We, the jury impanelled, sworn and charged to inquire into the insanguinity of Hezekiah Jones, do oc cur in the affirmative.” This leaves the matter still shrouded in mystery. Was Hezekiah, dead, an ensanguined corpse? Was he, living, accused of homicide, or merely of insanity? In sanguinity is a resonant and mysteri ous multisyllable that must leave the everyday juryman in a very uncertain frame of mind. A Literary Pollcemau. The news of the distressing death of Charles Ashton, the "literary police man.” as he was called, will be re ceived with genuine regret throughout the whole of Wales. Mr. Ashton was one of those patient plodders so nu merous in North Wales, where there is much less of the rush and stress of life than in the southern portion of that principality. A child of the Eis teddfod. he had published an historical work under its auspices. But the dream of his life was to produce a com plete and authoritative bibliography of Welsh literature. Amid the pictur esque solitudes of Dinas Mawddwy, where the policeman’s life ought to be a happy one and the most heinous crime is the absence of the owner’s name from a card. Mr. Ashton toiled year in and year out on his task, corre sponding with scholars everywhere A D J N a gun. who were uninterested in the vast body of Welsh literature and were happy to help him with notes and sug gestions.—London Mail. Smallest Religious Sect lu the World. The smallest religious sect in the world is that of the Samaritans, who are to be found in the small city of Nablous. in North Palestine. This city, which is the Neapolis of Jose phus, the Shechem of the Old Testa ment and the Sychar of the New Tes tament, is situated in the narrow val ley between the Mts. Ebal and Gerizim. The population of Nablous numbers about 12,000, all of whom are Mahom etans with the exception of this little religious community (now numbering between 100 and 150). which has defied the ravages of war.poverty and oppres sion for 3,000 years. These Samaritans have lived on through the centuries, and their unity has never been broken. They have clung to little Nablous and to their sacred Mt. Gerizim as the very cactus roots to the granite sides of the somber Ebal that confronts them across the valley. They are regarded by the Jews as heretics, as they accept only the pentateuch. They possess an ancient copy of the pentateuch. writ ten in Phoenician characters, or, ac cording to some, the ancient Hebrew characters in use before the Babylon- j ish captivity.—Stray Stories. , - j Oround Floor Bedrooms. There is danger in the porous char- i acter of plaster ceilings, which are ' aften very thin, indeed. The ordinary jelling is “only a porous diaphragm £ permeable by gases with considerable ( Freedom.” The vitiated air of sitting- £ rooms, therefore, frequently finds its i way into bedrooms. The British Medi- s jal Journal asks any skeptic to "com- t pare his bodily and mental sensations £ after sleeping in such a room and in ane situated over a similar room well 1 ventilated, and not occupied or ilium- f inated by gas during the evening.” The \ remedy, it says, is to have bedrooms ( an the ground floor, and living, work- S Ing and cooking rooms upstairs. But « how about noise?—London Chronicle. Not K v«n m Name. The Korean woman is so little es- 1 teemed that she has not even a name. r i STIFLED. Some Facts Which Indicate the Porto rlcans' Willingness to Learn. The Portorican Is mentally acute. The children learn with surprising ease and quickness. Boys and girls eight and ten years of age will do a sum In long division on the board without showing the process: doing the multi plying and subtracting mentally, and only setting down the figures of the quotient, with the remainder. I have talked with men and women in the poor quarters of several cities and towns, have seen the peasant in the field and in the market place, and did not find one with slow wits or dense ignorance of ordinary affairs. A work ingman told me of a class of laborers he had formed in Arecibo who 3tudled at night to prepare themselves for the educational test required for the fran chise. He said they made rapid prog ress in learning to read, says Hon. H. K. Carroll in the Forum. The fact of illiteracy is not due to lack of Intelli gence, but rather to lack of opportunity and the lack, also, of a stimulus. The ppasant has not been able to see how he could improve his condition by edu cation. The mercantile and the bank ing business were almost exclusively in the hands of the Peninsular Span iards. It was next to impossible for a native to get a position of any kind in one of these houses. They preferred young men from Spain, relatives of they had them. These young men would begin at the lowest round of the ladder, sleep in the store, live in the most economical fashion and trust to experience and opportunity for ad vancement. which seldom failed to come. When the heads of the house re turned to Spain with a competency, to live the rest of their days in “Gra cia.” the newer part of Barcelona, tha clerks succeed to the business. A Por torican who has a large and paying business in San Juan nays it was with the greatest difficulty that he found a chance for himself with a Spanish firm. There was apparently no chance any where for the peasant. If by the great est possible good luck he got steady work, and lived so as to save some thing, he was likely to be made the vic tim of some unprincipled, covetous neighbor, who had property and influ ence. When a poor man was compelled to part with his cow because he could not raise eight pesos to pay the alleged tax on her. and she became the prop erty of a rogue at half price, peasants would say. “What is the use? Better have no belongings: we will spend as we go.” They saw nothing to be gained by stinting and starving themselves to educate their children. The system was against them; and government and wealth seemed in league to prevent them from rising. The high rate of illiteracy in Porto Rico is not due to the unwillingness or inability of the people to learn, or to their indifference, but to conditions from which they could not extricate themselves. _ a A DISAPPOINTED REPORTER. ?he Didn't Call on Miss (irace Dodge Again. A woman newspaper reporter, who is now a well-known author, once called upon Miss Grace Dodge, the million aire organizer and head of the New York Working Girls’ Clubs, who is alpo the author of “A Bundle of Letters to Busy Girls.” says the Philadelphia Post. The servant looked sympathet ically at the reporter. Invited tier into the house, took away her wet rubbers and shoes and brought dry ones, an act which filled the visitor's heart with joy. Then she brought a cup of tea and some biscuit. After a long wait Miss Dodge came in. "Are you a reporter?” she asked the newsgatherer. "Yes? I am very sorry you should have come up here this rainy day to see me. You know I never talk about my plans for publication, but we can have just as nice a time talking about books and pictures. Won’t you have another cup of tea? Must you be going? I am very sorry. Wait a minute and have the coachman drive you to your office or your home. Come up some day when, we can have more time, and I’ll tell you all about the Working Girls’ Clubs, but of course you won't print any o£ it.” The reporter rode home, but she didn’t call again—at least, not on busi ness. Census Stories. The opportunities which the census affords to eccentric people in the way of furnishing strange answers to plain questions are seldom neglected. In foreign countries, where the standard of education is lower than in the Unit ed States, the variety of answers af fords astonishing problems to the of ficials whose duty it is to catalogue them. An Englishman high in the civil service in British Guiana gives some ludicrous specimens of native talent, selected from recent census re turns. One citizen gives his name a9 ••John.” He is the ‘‘head of the fam ily,” and by birth "a male.” Then In the column of “Profession, rank or oc cupation” he puts down: "Can’t get nothing to do for the last six months, and can’t pay house rent. Has got four children. They in Barbados now. but is coming to Demarara.” Another gentleman writes: “My wife is a fe male. She is close washer. She is not inflicted, and is got two boy chil dren and two is dead. They caan't read or write yet.” 8word-lM*tol for the French Army. France has devised for her army a new sword-pistol which can be dis charged at every thrust of the sword. It is believed that with this weapon 'avalry attacks, particularly upon cav ilry, can be made more effective. The weapon is designed to penetrate armor, md therefore will be especially useful igainst cuirassiers. It weighs, of jourse, more than the ordinary cavalry sword, and when not in use as a flre irm can be wielded as an ordinary rttord. The pistol attachment is in he hilt, with muzzle pointing in exact ilignment with the sword blade, rhrusting with the blade forces it > jackward against the hilt with force >nough to release a hidden spring, vhich acts as the trigger in disch&rg ng the pistol. Thus each thrust also Ires a shot, making the weapon doubly effective. -- j The Earmarks. “Your son Is devoted to art. Isn’t ie?” asked Reynolds. “I suppose so,*’ eplied Easel. “He's continually draw- J ng on me.” • A