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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1906)
SiMERICANi i HOME Bradford - EDITOR it is often said that we have no American style of architecture, but that need not worry us because we are a nation of inventors. This probably is the very reason why we have no one distinctive style or manner of building. Our inventive architects are continual ly working for improvement and they are succeeding wonderfully well. in my experience I have learned that comfortable, attractive houses cost no more to build than the ordinary struc tures usually seen in towns and vil lages, the only requisite is to know how to do it. The average American citizen wants a house that is pleasing in appearance, but the exterior must not in any way interfere with the com fortable arrangement of the rooms. While a man takes pride in the out - side appearance, his first thought usually is for the wife and her life is spent inside. The good wife lias the housework to do. and American hus bands are thoughtful, and they are good providers. The most popular houses I ever saw were the most con venient. Dwellings *n older countries are heavier, usually in design, more ex pensive to build, not so pleasing in appearance, for the same amouat of rooms they usually cost more than the ordinary American home. Of course we have many incongruities. Some of the residence streets certainly look very odd. There is room for improve in the appearance of the houses. Some are very neat and tasty, but others are very- poorly designed. It is cot neces sary to cut up a house into odd shapes to make it look good. Very often a plain square house built in proper pro portions, with a porch across the frout and without further ornamentation. Second Floor Flan. makes a more pleasing home both in side and out than a more expensive house of some fancy design. Such a house except that the porch is built in under the main roof is shown in the illustration on this page. This house is exactly square, being :16 feet wide and .'16 feet long, and it will cost from $1,600 to 52,000. ment in every section of the country. In some of our older villages the struggle for better houses may be read in the houses themselves. Improve ments are attempted here and there by adding bay windows, porches or ex tensions and generally the attempt is a failure because the new construction Ground Floor Plan. does not correspond with the old. It is a patched garment, and it shows it. The interior usually is damaged in stead of improved. In most cases It would be better to sell the old house for a barn, and build new from the bottom of the cellar up. Repairing an old house always is unsatisfactory. Even in the newer streets in our best towns there is a wide difference The greater amount of cubic space inclosed by a given length of wall is in c ircular form: next to this comes the square. For economy in construction, when the amount of room is taken into consideration, no other plan will equal the square house and there are other economies beside that of first cost. A square house means square rooms bunched as closely together as possi ble, which means that: the rooms in such a house are easily heated in win ter and that each room may be made easy of access which is another way of stating that there is less work in tak : ing care of the different rooms in a j square, compactly built house. This design admits of a center hall | with rooms on both sides. Such houses may be heated by turning ail the fur | nave heat into the lower hall, but I j am not saying that this is the best and j most satisfactory way to do. If a furnace is put in the cellar of any house, separate pipes should lead the heat to the different rooms. This is another one-story house with bedrooms finished off in the roof i gabies, which is a great economy It rightly managed. Never in the history I of building has this been done to so much advantage as at the present time The scarcity and high prices of build ing material as well as the increasing price of coal combine to make such economies necessary and they are not only necessary but they are desirable. True economy is a virtue that should he cultivated. Gkeateat Nfpb of Ueligiona By DR, EMIL G. HIRSCH. The greatest need of religions to-day is that they shall make men recognize that they are accountable for their might, their wealth, their intelligence. We need a new science of economics not vitalized by prohts. W e should quit calling men saints who have amassed great fortunes by robbing. Paul and then giving a portion of their riches to charity. Thev are doing no more than they ought to do. They are just giving back a part of the wealth which many men have produced by their labors. Results never justify the means. It is written, “thou shalt not steal.” and that is for the rich as wejl as the poor. If the hungry man steals a loaf of bread he is more justified than the rich who steal. Of course, he has broken the law, but when conditions exist that men must steal bread, society is to blame. Animals do not kill and eat each other, but when the passion for power and wealth overtakes men they devour one another. No one has a right to rise on the ruins of humanity. “Thy kingdom come” of the Lord's Prayer does not refer to a place above the skies, but to a new social condition founded upon righteousness here on earth. No religion is a preparation for Heaven that does not make men better on earth . No man is self made. We all contribute, and every man should understand he is responsible for his brother. The great trouble with religionists is that they have not lived up to their teaching. The liberalists in religion have not emphasized it. That truth should be reiterated to every man until he acts accordingly. Man should teach by word and deed that every man is his brother's keeper in the fullest sense. HERO OF PHILADELPHIA KIDNAPING. Charles Frederlch Muth, the seven-year-old son of n Philadelphia jeweler, who was stolen by a man who lured him out of school, was found in a house on the outskirts of Philadelphia, the prisoner of .1. J. Kean, a crook, who had kidnaped the hoy in an attempt to get $320 with which to repuy a man from whom he had embezzled (hat amount. The hoy hud not been harmed by his abductor. Kean was sentenced, the day after his arrest, to 20 years in the penitentiary. SPIDER EATS BIRDS. South American Tropic Forests the Home of Insect with He markable Appetite. There has just been deposited in the insect house at the London zoo a specimen of the bird-eating spider, which earns its name by occasionally including in its menu some of the brilliantly lined humming-birds ami varicolored finches of the South Amer ican tropics. It is doubtful whether the silken threads which he spins in profusion constitute his most effective tackle for securing his prey: indeed, it is more probable that the little birds get caught through alighting upon the banana and other leaves, in the twist ed folds of which the spider makes his home. The similarity of his color ing to the bark of trees, to which he attaches himself, is also a powerful factor in enabling him to approach his prey. The silken threads which help to ensnare so many beautiful birds are a serious annoyance to the traveler when riding or driving through the less frequented forests. As they con tinually strike the face, one is re minded of some fiendish motor trap. The bird-eating spider is much smaller, although not less ferocious in appearance, than the famous taran tula. The body of a full-grown ta-. rantula is as big as a hen's egg. and on an average it gives from 2ft to 40 yards of silk, the weaving of which was expected at one time to prove a very considerable industry in some of SCIENCE AND THE OCCULT Possibility That Twentieth Century Knowledge Will Admit Progress from the Unknown. Will twentieth century knowledge remove the prejudice against the oc cult.’ Astronomy and geology and chemistry are permitted to he in the hands of the man of science, but life and mind phenomena are declared to be outside the province of physical science, yet the same was said about astronomy and geology and chemistry not many generations ago. Was not war made upon those who undertook to show that the earth was not more than ti.000 years old. and were not the chemists who showed how or ganic compounds could he formed he lieved to he enemies of the truth and bent on misleading mankind? Is it not curious to contemplate that those who know least about a given science should be the ones to set its limits, who know what cannot he done oi hoped for so much better than those who devote their lives and their best endeavors to discover what is true ami what seems probable? All the progress of science is a progress from the unknown, that is the hidden or the occult, to the known which is not hidden but patent. Perhaps the present century will be able effectu ally to warn everybody or the dan ger of setting any limits to knowl edge. Sure of His Job. A Philadelphia lawyer recently bad cause to make frequent complaints NAVY LOSES GREAT SAILOR. I Rear Admiral B. H. McC'alla, who had charge of the navy yard at Mare Island, retired on account of age on June 19. McCalla's career in the navy has been one of distinguished service and high honor. _ the Australian colonies. The silken output of the bird-eating spider is greater in proportion. Why Some Unhappy Marriages. The late Susan B. Anthony once attended a wedding in Rochester, and at the reception she said to the bride groom: “If you want this marriage to be a happy one. you must be as kind and tender always as you are now. Never relax for a moment your atti tude of loving solicitude. Never re lax it, though you find a hundred ex cuses for doing so. "Such excuses, believe me, are easy to find. I once knew a young couple whose marriage had not turned out as happily as it should have done. j The wife said to the husband one ! evening: ‘Before ive were married, 1 dear, you were always giving me pres- j ents. Why do you never give me any | uow?’ * “ ‘My love,’ the husband replied, 'did you ever hear of a fisherman giv ing bait to a fish he had caught?’'" WhyP At the Hampton (Va.) Indian school, a teacher, in endeavoring to overthrow the Indian belief that the earth is flat, stands still, and that the sun passes over and under it every 24 hours, said, In conclusion: "So you see that it is the earth that goes around, while the sun stands still.” A tall boy asked: “Then what for you tell us one Story shout man In the Bible—I for get his name—strong warrior—fight all day, hut get dark so can’t fight, and he say: ’Sun, stand still!’ What for, he say that if sun all time stand still?” of the destructiveness of his office boy, an Irish lad of twelve. The straw that broke the camel's back was the smashing of a unique ink stand presented to the attorney by a friend in Japan. As the stand was quite valuable, the lawyer decided to teach the boy a lesson. So, summon ing him, he said: "Look here, Tom, this sort of thing must cease! That inkstand was worth $20. I shall re tain $2 of your salary each week till it has been paid for.” With a grin the boy replied: "Well, sir, it looks like I'm sure of a steady job for some time to come.” Ever Triumphant Faith. A good old English mother had two sons on the sea. captains of vessels She used to pray mornings, noon and night, for their safety. But thert came a time when one son was leav ing England for Gibraltar and the other was leaving Gibraltar for Eng land. Now, if the dear old lady prayed that the wind would blow witt the son leaving home, it would be a contrary wind to the son coming home. The perplexed woman was at a standstill before the throne of grace: but at last it occurred to het that instead of praying for fair wind she had better pray for a side wind and the side wind was favorable tc both captains. This illustrates how faith comes to our relief.—Rev. Dr. Madison C Peters. Chip OS the Old Block. . DeLong—I met your son this morn ing. Shortleigh—Don't you think he re sembles me a good deal? DeLong—That's what. He tried t« borrow a dollar from me. a FENWAY UNIVERSITY, BOSTON. Extensive Group of Buildings Which Have Been Built on the Site • ! of an Old Salt }i i Maish. What a few years ago was an un sightly salt marsh on the borders of Boston has been transformed under the touch or man into a part of the city's park system and a most charm ing cite for a great group of education al buildings, -of which the elaborate and extensive medical school buildings of Marvurd university are a part. The cite is known as the Kenway, and the group of buildings which have grown up mound (he spot have been dubbed Kenway university. Students coming next fall to any one of the schools already In this district ONE OK THE NEW Ki ll.DINGS OK THE HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL. (There Are Seven in All Connected by Esplanades, and Cosl li.tWO.UCJO.j will be joined for the first time by the prospective physicians who will at tend lectures and demonstrations in the new buildings of the Harvard med ical si hool— an impressive collection of marble structures and a noteworthy neighbor to Mrs. John L. Gardner's Italian palace, the New England con servatory of music, Simmons college. Tufts Medical college and dental school, and several others. To this educational community of the Fer.way will soon he added the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, housing, besides its immense collections, one of the best known of American art sc hools, the Boston normal college, giv ing training to hundreds of teachers; the girls’ Latin school, one of the lead ing preparatory sc hools lor college, to gether with a number of minor institu tions. The Harvard medical school build ings. themselves the most costly plant for the study of medicine in the world, are seven in number, and are situated on a 2t>-acre lot on the Brookline side of the Fenway. The medical school buildings arq placed on three sides of a longitudinal court. Of the main structures, four are for laboratory purposes, and one, that at the head of the court, for ad ministration. An engine house stands some 500 feet to the northwest. An animal house, where animals for ex perimental purposes will be kept, Is situated a little to tbe southeast. The main buildings are constructed of white marble, and an esplanade of the same material with an ornamental balustrade connects them all. The vestibule of the buildings are also of marble. Tbe apparatus for the med ical school is to be moved in the sum mer vacation so that the pathological and bacteriological laboratories will be in readiness for the incoming of stu dents late in September. A turther immense addition to the south side o: the Kenway may be ex pected a little later, when several hos pitals will be located or relocated in the neighborhood of the Harvard medical school. Among these are the children’s hospital, of Boston; tbe Thomas Morgan Rotch infants' hos pital, the Samaritan hospital, the free hospital for women, and, most impor tant of all, the Brigham hospital, for which a fund probably aggregating about $5,000,000 was ieft by the late Peter Brigham. Affiliated in various ways with Harvard these institutions will be an essential part of the "Uni versity of the Kenway.” Harvard already has another inter est .n the Kenway group besides the medical school. On the north side is the Conservatory of Music, which, by an arrangement effected in 1905, has been allied with the great university in Cambridge, offering an opportunity to Harvard students to share certain of the music school’s facilities. The whole collection of educational buildings is to a large extent the re sult ot offerings of New York and Bos ton millionaires. J. Pierpont Morgan, for example, gave three buildings of the Harvard medical school group, and two are due to the munificence of Mrs. Collis P. Huntington and David Sears. John IJ. Rockefeller gave $1,000,000, which has purchased the most com plete equipment of any medical insti tution in the world, and from Henry L. Pieice, the Boston chocolate man, some $400,000 was received. PURPOSE KEATS MEMORIAL. Plan Is to Make Place Where English Man of Letters Lived and Died a Literary Shrine—Shelley to Share Honors. A prophet is not without honor save in his own country, and sometimes it is so with a poet, tor it has remained for a group of American writers to start a movement for a fitting and per manent memorial to the English poets, Keats and Shelley, and a perpetual guardianship of their graves in the Protestant cemetery in Rome. An op tion has just been secured on the house at the Piazza di Spagna, Rome, where Keats lived and died, and half the purchase price, $21,000, has already been subscribed. The house will be converted into a literary shrine in memory of the two poets. The location of the Keats house is one of the most beautiful in Rome. It is at the foot of the Spanish steps, the lower portion of which is brilliant with the varicolored flowers which are sold there. Just below the steps is an old fountain in the shape of a boat, made to commemorate the tints when the swollen Tiber rose so high that i boat was floated up to the steps, a good mile front the usual river bank. The Spanish steps were built by a F'.enc-hman, and the title of them at the present day, together with that of the' Villa de Medici, to which they lead, rests in the government of France. At the top of the steps is the beautiful twin towered church of Santa Trinita del Monti, where at vespers the Spanish nuns of this day sing the music written for them by Mendels sohn. The Piazza di Spagna is in one of the business parts of the Eternal City. At one time it was the center of the “strangers' quarters," and it is still often called so. Scarcely half a mile away Thackeray lived for a time, and there is a tradition that Shelley lived in the house opposite which is of sim ilar architecture to the Keats'. When the flrst suggestion was made that the house be made a perpetual lit erary shrine the Americans thought it so obviously appropriate that it seemed strange to them that it had not been done long before. The letters of Jo seph Severn, the painter and friend of Keats, afford the pathetic details of the Inst illness of the poet in this house, where he was devotedly nursed In the last stages of tuberculosis by Severn. The house is marked by a tablet which was placed at the time when William Waldorf Astor was United States minister to Italy. This tablet simply records the date of the poet's death and his age. Unfortunate ly, neither is given correctly. He did not die on February 24, but shortly be fore midnight on the 23d, and he was 25 years and 4 months old, not 26. At first it was contemplated to con fine the movement entirely to Amer ican authors, but it was decided to in clude their English cousins. ^^ THE KEATS Bl'Il.DIXG AT ROME. Edmund Clarence Stedman. whose efforts to accomplish the object of the movement have been earnest and con stant, is the chairman of the American committee, and Robert Cnderwooc. Johnson, the secretary and treasurer Among those on the American commit tee arc Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, Thomas. Bailey Aldrich, Mrs. James T. Fields Aliss Sarah Orne Jewett. Mrs. Louise Chandler Moulton. Richard Watsor Gilder, William Dean Howells. Hamit ton W. Mabie, Dr. Henry van Dyke and Booth Tarkington, in addition to the originators of the movement. Amer icans have subscribed liberally, An drew Carnegie contributing $2,000. Harduppe's Mistake. Caller—I have here several bills which are long overdue. Harduppe (desperately)—I am sorry to say that our cashier is out to-day. Caller—Oh, well, it doesn't make much difference. I'll call and pa> them at some future date. Good day sir.—Tit-Bits. His Notion of It. This was how the geography put it: “Where the pine forests of the south have teen cleared away are now to be round flourishing truck farms." This was the teacher’s question: “What do we now And where the pine forests of the south have been cleared away?” Ani this was the answer: “Stumps.” —Judge. The Pot and the Kettle. “Really.” said the little missus, “it’s something dreadful with that woman next door. She does nothing but talk the whole day long. She can't get any work done, I'm sure.” “Oh!” said Browne. “Who does she talk to?” “Why, to me, dear, of course,” re plied the charming creature. “Over the fence.” When She Breaks. “Aren’t the running expenses of an muto rather burdensome?” “No; but the stopping expenses are.”—Houston Post. Those Pigeonholed Manuscripts. Magazine Editor—This is a grand article: noble, glorious! By some re nowned writer, isn't it? Assistant—No. sir; by one Tom Hayseed, of Hayseedville. Shall 1 send it back? Editor—No, it's too good to lose. Put it away until he becomes famous —N. Y. Weekly. His Picture. Dib'os (facetiously)—This Is a pic ture of ray wife’s firet husband. Dobbs—Great snakes! What » brainless looking idiot! But I didn’t know your wife was married befor» she met you. Dlbbs—She wasn't. That is a pic ture of myself at the .age or 20.—Tit Bits. There Be Such Things. “Do you believe there really Is any such thing as a painless dentist?” "Yes. I attended the funeral of one a few days ago."—Chicago Record Herald. PLACING THE FURNITURE. Arrange in Reference to Use for Which Pieces Are Designed— Points About a Bedroom. The most comfortable chairs should' be placed where there will be a good light for reading, by artificial light, if he room is to be used mostly in the evening, and If it is to be used as jl Horning room, center the attraction-i lear the windows. A table where nagazir.es or needlework can be laid town should be placed near a chair, rot away off in a corner where they lave no value. Again, tables should be selected that wili not topple over f anyone passes quickly through the room. • A large room is much easier to ar ange than a small one, as suitable fur riture can be arranged in such a nanner that several groups of people •an be entertained without the conver tation being overheard by those near '.hem. How many old-fashioned houses have :be chairs set in stiff array around the vails, with long sofas on either side, to that a chair has to be drawn up for .he occupant to converse with the vic :im on the sofa. It is not necessary to bave to drag chairs around to make the •oom inviting, and these points should borne in mind when it is furnished, in furnishing a bedroom we have 'ewer to consider. The bureau must be where the light is good in the daytime »s well as by artificial light. The bed should be placed in such a way that he light will not strike the eyea in the early morning. This is not always easy :o arrange, as frequently bedrooms nave windows on two or more sides 'n such cases it is well to have an ex tra shade of dark green on the window •hat throws light on the bed. Nowadays nobody that knows any thing about furnishing fastens their eurtains with loops. They should hang n soft, straight folds, and the up-to iate woman shortens her curtains if they have been made in the days when half a yard extra was allowed for loop ing.—Chicago Inter Ocean. j HOW TO KEEP A HAT NICE | It Must Be as Religiously Brushed as One’s Clothes—How to Fresh en Trimming. _______ A good hat should be well cared for. ' to keep it looking fresh. Not only must the hat itself be brushed care fully. but the trimming must be gone over; bows pulled up into shape, loose petals glued into flowers, and loose threads tightened. Flowers and leaves should be carefully wiped with a soft cloth: when colored flowers fade they can often be touched up with water-color paints and a camel's hair brush. Most hats now have trim ming arranged under the brim, and they should always be raised up on a block or stand when put away, to avoid crushing. It is especially neces sary to observe this care with a hat having a maline ruche under the brim at the back, says the Rural New Yorker. This material is quite per ishable, and is likely to become very •‘mussy” after a short period of wear, unless handled carefully. We clean soiled white straw hats with oxalic acid, scrubbing with a toothbrush, and sopping up the moisture with a soft cloth, to avoid staining the straw. The acid burns colored straw, turn ing it in ugly red. so care must be exercised if cleaning a hat in which white and colored straw are com bined. Copper Waste Basket. The newest waste basket is a most artistic thing It is of copper, bur nished and polished to a high degree of luster, and showing in the front an inset of jade in large irregular form. The combination of the green tone of the ornament and the ruddy hue of the copper is most effective. One par ticular waste paper receptacle on this order was originally intended as a glorified coal hod. but a woman whose sense of fitness protested against the introduction of a willow basket in a richly furnished apartment where copper found the proper background, turned the coal hod to new use, and her example has been imitated by other women, who declare that there is an informal aspect about a willow .basket that is not in keeping with the furnishings of certain rooms. In these copper receptacles there is an inner box of sheet iron, which is lifted out when the papers are to be disposed of. LONG MOURNED AS DEAD. Frenchman Thought Lost on Martin* ique Visits Surprised and Happy Relatives. The French papers relate a curious romance. Jean Marie Le Floidec was mourned as a victim of Mont Pelee, for he was visiting Martinque at the time of the eruption. His brother and sister live at Maisons-Lafltte. and the other evening the latter was seated at the piano in her sitting room, when she suddenly found herself clasped in the arms of an unknown intruder, who burst into the room covered with dust and having all the appearance of long travel. Her shrieks brought her broth er rushing into the room, and he com pleted her amazement by falling into the embrace of the stranger. Then the explanations came. The intruder was uo other than the brother who for years had been mourned as dead. He had succeeded in getting on board a ship bound for Australia. Thence he made his way to Japan, and during the war with Russia practiced blockade cunning with such succes that he made i million. This crown of his labors had left him time for thoughts of home and kindred. Furniture Polish. From Scotland comes this recipe for furniture polish, which might well be pasted In the scrapbook of every American housewife. All that |>olish can do to restore old. weatherbeaten household goods this will d0, and much more than most put-up prepara tions can. Here Is the formula- One cake beeswax, a ?up of turpentine Put beeswax In turpentine, let melt 3l°wly. Remember that turpentine is highly Inflammable, making it better to melt the mixture over a teakettle spout. If a flame is used this mu£ be very low. When cold rub hard on the piece you wish to restore. Theu rub with a piece of soft rag to polish.