t— '-y. ~ ~
i|^"PARENTAL. GRATITUDE J
If It warn't fur Bill, my oldest son,
1 dunno what I'd have ever done.
Savin' up cash was easy 'nuff.
What puzzled me was to spend the stuff.
When you've Hvod In a plain, old-fash
ioned way
You can't be a sport in Jes' one day.
The coin would have laid there In the till
L.lk<? lead. If It hadn't have been for Bill.
Of course. It wouldn't have done for me
To bet on bosses where folks could see,
Nor talk in slang, nor stay out at night;
An' I never could tlo rny necktie right;
But Bill, he was quick to understand.
An’ he took the enterprise right in hand.
We was Jes' plain folks. We'd have been
so still.
No doubt, if It hadn't have been for Bill.
It's a comfort to sit on the new back
stoop
An' the painted barn with the weather
vane
And the other tokens of worldly gain.
I've labored faithful to let folks gee
That money's no object at all to me.
But envious people would doubt it still,
I'm sure, if it hadn’t hav^ been for Bill.
—Washington Star.
=1 “To Wedded Life" j=j
----1
Laughter and the music of guitars
sounded through the half-open door
way of a restaurant In the Italian
quarter. It was an air from ‘'Car
men" the musicians played. Into the
middle of it broke a woman's voice,
vibrant, dramatic. Only a few bars
it sang, then stopped as suddenly as
it had begun. The players continued
as if no voice had been heard. The
laughter, which had subsided quickly,
was renewed. With it brolto out a
salvo of applause.
Schuyler Thompson halted before
tho door. He was strange to San
Francisco, and he hesitated about en
tering. Then he saw the name “San
guinettl” above the entrance. The
name seemed familiar. Had he heard
it in the Palace Hotel? Yes, that was
It. Some one had said:
"If you want a ‘Dago’ dinner, go to
Sangulnetti'e."
His Btomach told him it was din
ner time; his watch said it was long
past it. Before the applause had
ceased, he was inside.
Along the right side of the room
was a long bar. Behind It were
glasses and bottles. On the other
side were tables, most of them occu
pied and laden with dishes. It was a
plain place, almost shabby. White
sand covered the floor lightly, plowed
Into little furrows by trailing skirts.
Odors of Italian cooking and cigarette
smoko filled the air.
Tho handclapping ended and one
after another, almost simultaneously,
the diners lifted their glasses
toward one woman, held them In the
air until they caught her glance, then
drank to her. It was readily done,
gracefully, easily, spontaneously. She
smiled and turned to her escort.
Thompson seated himself at a
table near tho singer. Before lie gave
his order to the waiter he asked who
she was. She was the prima donna
of tho Italian opera company playing
in the Tivoli opera house, the waitor
told him, a woman who sung Carmen
with a force and abandon suggestive
of Calve. Then Thompson under
stood the applause and the mute
toasts.
Sitting at a table nearby, between
the singer's and his, Thompson notic
ed a woman and a man. Naturally
lie* saw tile woman first. Her appear
ance pleased Ills critical faculty. She
was well formed, well groomed, well
gowned, tailor-made. She and her
escort wire lingering over their des
sert. As he ate he watched them.
Occasionally their glasses met. Hor
hand once closed on that of her
escort above the table in a moment
ary. covert clasp. Hor smiles for
I__
Thompson seated himself at a table
rear the singer.
him were coquettish, or so they
seemed to Thumpron, for he had seen
tho linking of the fingers and the
smiles.
“Ah, a little love affair," he sakl to
himself, and lie became Interested
and slightly envious.
Tho guitars struck up a rag time
air and in a minute the sound of danc
ing, the grinding of sand between
wood and leather, and tho rustle of
silk and lace flung hither and thither
with energy, came to Thompson over
his shoulder. A girl, young, pretty
and well dressed, was lr. the midst of
a shuffle Laughter id the clapping
J-—----1
of hands rewarded her efforts. Thomp
son’s eyes and those of the tailor
made woman met. They smiled.
“Good!” He thought. “I'm pro
gressing.” He turned again to look
at the dancer, just in time to see
he fling herself into her chair,
her cheeks flushed and her eyes
sparkling from the exertion and
her black picture hat tilted far for
ward. But. it was only an instant she
was permitted to remain quiet. An
other girl from the same party seized
her by the hands and pulled her to
The tailor-made woman.
her feet and together they went the
length of the room and back, with the
postures ar.d flourishes of cake walk
ers. The applause was redoubled,
and springing to her feet, the singer
waved her glass to them and quaffed
It In their honor. Thompson tco. and
the tailor-made woman drank to them.
Then the tailor-made woman and her
escort clinked glasses, and Thompson
heard him say:
‘‘To you, sweetheart.”
Tiie woman looked toward Thomp
son and ho lifted tils glass to her. She
smiled and raised hers in return, and
together they drank to health and
happiness, or good fellowship or all
together or whatever the action sig
nifies.
“Splendid," lie 6aid mentally.
“Splendid.”
The woman’s escort turned to the
singer and said something. She
laughed and replied in kind, and
soon they were In conversation. He
filled her glas:s and his own. and they,
too, renewed the unspoken pledge
taken times innumerable.
“This seems to he my opportunity,”
thought Thompson, and he leaned to
ward the tailor-made woman.
“How pleasant it Is here.” he said.
“It is pleasant,” she replied.
“It's the first time I have been
here.”
“Is it? We come here every week
or two. It’s a change.”
“Isn't it very free and easy?”
“In come ways,” she said. So they
chatted on.
"Your escort seems quite enamored
of the actress." he ventured after a
time.
“Does he?” she asked In a non
committal way.
“Aren't you Jealous?"
“Oh, r.o. His talking to another
woman doesn’t make mo jealous.”
“Well. If he was in my place and I
was in his and I saw you talking to
him. I'd be jealous.”
“Oh. no you wouldn’t,” she said,
pleasantly. "My husband and I know
each other too well to be jealous of
each other.” She looked across the
table at the man and her face lighted
up with pride and love.
"Your husband?" Thompson said
with a start.
“Yes.” And she laughed merrily.
“Does he permit you to talk to
strangers?” he asked in wonder. ”1
mean in a place like this?”
“Why, certainly,” she replied. “And
it’s because it is Sanguinnetti's that
we can be Informal." Then she add
ed :
“It's only where there is true love
and unbounded confidence that there
is real freedom.”
Thompson pondered a moment.
Then he lifted his glass.
“Here’s to wedded life,” he said.
"To wedded life,” she repeated, anti
they drained their giasses.
As she passed out through the door
way a little later, her hand on her
husband’s arm, the tailor-made woman
turned and smiled at Thompson.
Standing, he raised his glass once
more, and she knew his toast was:
"To wedded life.”—George H.
Squire, in New York Press.
THE DISLIKE OF FRECH AIR.
Prejudice Not Because of Malaria,
But to Save Fuel.
The theory that, the necessity of ex
cluding from houses the injurious
night air is the cause the world over
of the practice of poor ventilation
will not hold. It Is at least not tha
sole nor the chief reason of the
prejudice against fresh air.
Manifestly it does not obtain for
countries in which there is no mos
quito. In cold climates, and especial
ly in the winter season, the theory
has no applicability, and another ex
planation must be found.
This is. we believe, the necessity
that exists, especially among the vast
majority of the poor, to economize
warmth. A large portion of the peas
ants of France to-day secure this
economy by keeping their domestic
animals at night in the combined
house and stable.
in Arctic climates and in winter
even in temperate zones, and especial
ly in previous centuries, the securing
of sufficient clothing and saving the
loss of warmth has doubtless been
a chief cause of the universal fear of
ventilation.
In this way to-day in some coun
tries medical college lecture rooms
get on without the expense of fuel by
utilizing the foul but warm exhala
tions of the bodies of hundreds of
students, who in anger cry out against
a door ajar or a crack in a window.
The greatest and best remedial
agent in tuberculosis and many other
devitalizing diseases is fresh air, by
night or by day, ever fresh air.—
American Medicine.
LAST OF HAMILTON TREES.
All That Is Left of Them in Upper
Manhattan.
It is safe to say that there isn't a
city in all the world where sentiment
counts for so little as it does in New
York, when it comes to the preserva
tion of historical objects. This is no
better illustrated than Convent ave
uue, between 142d and 143d streets.
At one time a fence surrounded the
little group of trees to protect them
from vandalism, and an inscription
told the stranger that they were
planted by Alexander Hamilton in
commemoration of the thirteen orig
inal states. But eight of the trees
are now standing, only three of which
show any sign of life by putting forth
their scant, foliage of fresh green.
This spring’s foliage will probably
be the last spring garb the historical
old gums will ever don. as building
has crept up close, only a few vacant
lots remain in which they are the
center. The building stones of the
Lady of Lourdes Church are scatter
ed all around, and even the trees
themselves which Hamilton set out
with such beautiful, patriotic senti
ment, are covered, high as the sign
hanger could reach, with real estate
advertisements of “For Sale." An
ignoble death for these relics of the
colonial days of the new republic!
—New York correspondent Rochester
Democrat and Chronicle.
Only One Story Told.
Two well known horsemen of Phil
adelphia were telling about some of
their old favorites and the kindly
feeling they had toward them In not
working them too hnrd, but letting
them do as they liked in their old age.
The older of the horsemen .said:
"One of my best horses was sent
out to Kansas to pass the rest of his
days quietly on a farm; the farmer
had a barn stored with eorn, which
took fire cne cold afternoon .and as
the heat was so intense it managed
to pop the corn very quickly, which,
with the strong wind blowing at the
time, (aused the corn to fly about in
all directions. The old mare stood
watching this for a few minutes,
thought it was snow, and then lay
down and fro/.e to death.”
The Sunshiny Woman.
She always seems so pleasant that
I often wonder what good fairy,
lty magic of some wand's flat.
Decreed her moods and nmnnnrs airy;
And smiles—I marvel much thereat
When cure's great cross is hers l<
carry
Yet. he dull grief or gladness present.
She hath thu art of seeming pleasant.
To beauty slight would be her claim.
Likewise to grace and lofty station
And. tlwntgh she hears an honored name
Her heart's ne'er felt that quick puls.D
tion
That conu s with picking fruits of fame
And earning critics' sweet oblation
Her placid life hath known no wimple
Yet smiles keep e'er lur cheeks a-dimpic.
I think the fates or fairies must
Have." when with graces they endowed
her.
Bethought how beauty flies ns dust
Anil fame doth crumble Into powder
While smiles live on. and. being just ’
This gi eater boon than all allowed her—
A grace most sweet In queen or peasant
The* one of always being pleasant!
—The Housekeeper.
Unusual Provocation.
“You ought to know better.” said
the oculist, "than to rub your eyes
after handling paper money. Unless
it'? perfectly new, it's full of germs.”
“But tftis was a thousand-dollar bill
a fellow handed me to look at. I
rubbed my eyes to see if I was awake.”
responded the patient.
His Experience.
Patient (who has just had hi* eye
operated upon)—“Doctor, it seeitjt to
me that $50 is a high price for tttat
job. it didn't take ten seconds."
Eminent Oculist—"My frienV, Jn
learning to perform that operatin'. In
ten seconds, I have spotted mor% UiJ>i
two bushels of eyg*t“
j UNITED STATES RAISES THREE- j
i FOURTHS OF WORLD’S CORN CROP :
t_:_ ?
The corn crops of the world, In each
'ear, are roundly 2,800.0T>0,000 bushels.
The percentages produced in tho sev
ual countries are as follows; United
states, 74.9; Canada, .9; Mexico, 3.6;
Europe, 16.4; South America, 2.7, and
Africa and Australia, 1.5. The prin
ipal producing country in Europe is
-lungary, and not much is raised out
iide of the Dtwiublan districts. The
South Am.rican crop is mainly in Ar
;eniina.
As will be seen, the United States
In relation to the total crop, these
states had 51.7 per cent of the entire
area and raised 67.4 per cent of the
total bushels. Their per capita pro
duction, with a population estimated
to be about 20,340,000 and about one
fourth of the present population of,
the United States, was 83.7 bushels;
in all other states but 13.7 bushels.
The area planted for the crop of
1903 is an unknown quantity. It is
a general estimate that three-feurths
of it had seeding by June 1. The re
large, so much in excess of any pessi
mistic view, that it calls for no enter
tainment.
The crop of 1902 was not the largest
ever produced. There was every in
centive that it should be. The coun
try was bare. Farms were in sore
need of their great essential. The
price was high and stimulating, the
season generally favorable. The crop,
however, was late in maturing and
late in availability. Its use began
with October. A scarcity of animals
u ses nearly three-fourths of the
whole. In wheat the United States
iaises but 22Vi per cent.
This is one exhibit of the impor
tance of the American corn crop. Corn
in the most valuable of our produc
tions. Our cotton crop is largely de
pendent upon it. It is the keystone of
our agricultural prosperity; the one
crop we can least afford to lose.
The crop in 1902 was not the larg
est the United States has produced.
In its measurement it was a large
crop. Officially, it was 2,523,648.312
bushels from 94,043,613 acres. To
grasp what these figures mean, the
acreage, in square miles, is 146,983,
and an area sufficiently large to make
a band nearly six miles wide around
the earth's largest circumference; an
^irea larger than is contained in the j
states of Ohio, Indiana. Illinois and I
one-fourth of Iowa, and all in corn, if
in a singlo bulk of shelled corn, the
production in 1902 would make a mass
112^ feet high, with perpendicular
sides, cn a base of a square mile. If
in car loads of 800 bushels, it means
3,154.560 cars, making a lino of freight
cars 23,900 miles long, that would
nearly girdle the earth at the equator.
Tito land area of the seven surplus
states, the states producing more corn |
than they use, is 265,817,600 acres. In j
1902 these states had 18.3 per cent 1
of this area in com, or 48,692,079 I
acres out of a total of 94,043,613 for
the entire country. In detail, the sev
eral surplus states had the following
percentage of their land surface in
corn: Ohio, 12.3; Indiana, 19.7; Illi
nois, 26.9; Iowa. 26.1; Missouri, 15.5;
Kansas. 14.2; Nebraska. 15.9. If lands
not in cultivation—lands in forest, cit
ies. railways, etc.—are excluded,
these percentages are possibly dou
bled. This is another evidence of the
crop's importance.
mainlng one-fourth—or, approximate
ly, 18,500,000 acres—Is to be treated
as most affected to mar the general
prospect. And right here we enter
the threshold of the crop Indication.
Probably 70,000,000 acres at least had
timely planting, for only In parts of
the surplus states does there appear
to have been highly unfavorable and
preventing conditions.
Should the acreage for this year’s
crop be reduced to 80,000,000, which
I do not believe will be the case, It
would be a reduction of 15 per cent
from the figures of last year. It would
mean the loss of an area equivalent
to 21,043 square miles, an area con
stituting one-haif of the land surface
of the state of Missouri. It would
mean as many acres as were In corn
in the states of Indiana and Illinois
in 1002, or as many as were in corn
in Missouri and Kansas in that year.
Except in 1901, a calamitous year,
when the yield of corn per acre was
as low as 10.7. an average yield has
been 24.52 bushels for ten years. In
but one year of the ten forming this
average was it under 20 bushels. It
was 19.38 in the calamitous year of
1894, when the official crop was de
clared 1,212,770,052 bushels. Assum
ing 80,000,000 acres only for this year,
this average production of 24.52
stands for 1,961,000,000 bushels.
There are good reasons why we will
have no such reduction as to 80,000,
000 acres. The damage districts are
not general. As already Intimated,
the area outside of the surplus states
last year was 45.413,065 acres. This
is probably not lessened in this year.
Under thf incentive of a high price it
may show' some increase. If, then, we
place so large a loss as roundly 14,
000,000 acres from last year in the
surplus states, it means nearly 30 per
cent of their corn area. This is so
to feed, as evidenced In lessened pack
ing and the high prices of meats; the
finest and most prolonged fall pastur
age in years; a mild winter, and am
ple stores of cheaper feeding stuffs,
admitted of great economies In the
use of corn. Farmers were disposed
to good holdings against contingen
cies of a following crop, and the price
prevented waste. With these several
features restricting consumption, the
declaration that but 1,050,600,000 re
mained on the farms on March 1,
1903, may he classified as among the
many errors in official statistics. We
are asked to believe in a greater con
sumption in five months, when there
was little need for it, than ever be
fore; in a disappearance of nearly 1,
500,000,000 bushels, or 10,000,000 bush
els a day. for 150 days. It is my opin
ion that the reserves on March 1 were
near 1,200,000,000.
Deliveries by farmers were re
strained by late maturity and the soft
condition of the grain, a scarcity of
cars during the winter, bad roads in
the spring and later by a tendency
to hold on an impaired crop promise.
High prices are a great check on con
sumption. At this time, with crop
advices before me from representa
tive districts, I believe a crop not un
der two billion is a conservative esti
mate. There can be conditions tc
change this either way. The situa
tion is probably more hopeful thar
promising. A few bright days and o
seasonal warming up will dispel much
of the present anxiety.—Oscar K
Lyle in New York Herald.
A Missouri Judge.
It does not always pay to appeal
too independent, especially in a court
room. They are telling the following
story on a former Missourian, who it
now a judge in Oklahoma: A gam
liter was tried before the judge recent
ly and convicted of playing poker. H*
appeared in court dressed in flash)
style and with plenty of money in hit
pockets, apparently unconcerned a.
to the outcome of his trial. Lookin*
over his spectacles, the judge in i
squeaky voice said:
"Jim, st»r.d up." The gamble)
obeyed.
• Jim, have you anything to say be
fore I pass sentence on you?”
"No, sir."
“Jim, I'm a-goin’ to fine you $50—’
"All right, judge," interrupted th«
gambler, “here it is in my hii
pocket."
"And give you sixty days in jail,*
continued the judge. “Now, look and
see if you’ve got that in your hij
pocket, too.”—Kansas City Star.
WHAT THE CORN CROP OF 1902 AMOUNTED TO.
7,r,° ta.ttH 90.417 8M00 00.189 01.0.TO I
cnciu Mcirut tigiTgt wcium imitk j»tu I
110,68® 630.394 611.110 490.010 604.176 M 10,360 *0.093 i ^3*°
-- ■■"- -- jrmrmwmiumm _ L,f , J TO.690
03.009 9X019 49,460 90.000 U4«U kSO.OOl
*“'•***’■ »*«“> ww o«iiUB goo.i, Mom V*52,032
100.406 681.078 846.476 469,113 1,490,084 1,950,010 ——W.160
i ■— i . ■ ^i. m , ,| f - ■ ^ , 104.640 OTTAWA
O.C73 09.416 62.784 *>£*> 100.906 140.CC® . V,*,'®1" 2,123,000
vuuci locii ten ie:iM uui .utioi 1,777,282 tso.roo
7,06 158.866 103,881 681.040 1,827,533 ££41,092 US.B12 HUM
U87 I 97.099 10.983 86.886 78.960 W*— ”364.*, -2|6S6’<0g
| wc«r. won iam out ,arc, -—£§■ “Ta33
—-i"-"8 7Mo8<-_ fiSfiSt
IOO 678 1.097 89.030 « » Tui«j«i «WHUpcW • -
•unite* ann I**n r— a&ttrrn cimtt 161.033 «,«/'
..070 7.7*1 .,,334 7,n. SST ^371 "U
-till »»0->«4 ToTUT ^ ^ '«»«
160 ° W 13,047 mitt ioj.mJTI ifsvncx
"sr r ®£u i*2£i jss3»
630 r CJ 977 | 7 XB a01® a.,73 M.B38 *1 .«. mc, ‘ *3.3*8
■:»io» tnnu imu w** *** eauoti uaa kiipu f*»»o
*-°°9 730 9.216 06,89® 64.8(8 47^866 403036 £735,922 0,8’0,259
Wap Showing the Combined Acreage and Yield of Winter and Spring Wheat In Kansas In 1901, by Counties.
Upper figures show acreage and lower figures the yield In bushels. The ’V.irty leading count 1*8 comprising the “Kansas
Wheat licit.” as outlined below, produced T1.1C6.U7S bushels, or ~'J per cent, of the crop ot 1001. and the ylaliU of each at a
shown In bold-faced typo.