ALL READY
Mickey Finns
Big Fire
Cracker
. _■ ■■. ■
The explosion that wound up the
Fourth of July Celebration
oa Cooney Island.
Two mammoth firecrackers stood in
, the window of Casey’s grocery. They
were 12 inches long and proportion
ately thick.
For a month before the Fourth of
July these gigantic indicators of en
thusiasm had stood in the window like
British soldiers on dress parade, while
a predatory spider hung a filmy ham
mock between them and calmly killed
his buzzing victims over two powder
mines.
The firecrackers were the ‘admira
tion and the envy of all the boys in
Cooney Island. It was seldom that a
youthful nose was not flattened against
the window pane in ardent covetous
ness.
But the price demanded by Casey
for the thunderers was prohibitive, so
far as the boys were concerned, and
there was not one of them patriotic or
courageous enough to invest 25 cents
in a single ecstatic explosion.
Said Mickey Finn timidly one even
ing when he had been sent by his
mother to get a quarter of a pound of
tea and half a pound of pork:
“Mr. Casey, I suppose now, that
whin wan o' thim big fellows wint off
it would blow the stars out of the
sky?” his rpind filled with blissful
thoughts of mighty explosions.
Casey stopped measuring out a half
pint of New Orleans molasses, raised
a monitor finger, and replied:
“Micky, my boy, I’d be afeerd to tell
you what would happen if I stood wan
o’ thim big fellows out on the side
walk and touched the stem wid the
lighted end of a five cent ciga-ar. The
noise would be terrible, tefribie, my
son. 'Twould make your head ring
like an anvil, and you would see
sparks like fireflies.
“Would it blow the house down?"
asked the boy in an awed whisper.
“No, I don’t think it would,” said
Casey. “It might shake the chimly
down and brehk all the glass in the
In Ardent Covetousness.
windys in small pieces, and there
would be paper in the streets as
would fill an impty barrel o’ flour. Oh,,
but thim bijf fellows is mighty power
ful, Micky, mighty powerful. They
use them In China to kill murderers
I and robbers. They put wan o’ thim
big firecrackers bechune the teeth of
a murderer and make him light the
fuse wid his own hand and blow his
own head off. Thifc Chinese is mighty
crool, Mickey, mighty crool.”
This vivid description inflamed Mick
ey's desire, which was Casey’s motive
in telling it, for the incident occurred
on the eve of the Fourth, and Casey
was afraid that the big firecrackers
would be carried over the national hol
iday and remain a loss on his hands.
In order to deepen the impression al
ready made upon the boy Casey per
mitted him to handle one of the twins.
The boy’s eyes had widened to
their utmost capacity when be was
outside the window, but mow that he
could feel the red jacket his hands
trembled with the eagerness of pos
session and he would have given ten
years cf his life to own it.
“Take it along wid you, Mickey,”
said Casey, cajolipgly. “Thim crack
ers were made in Chow Qhow, in
China, for the Cooney Island trade,
and I want to get rid of thim I have
on hand before I send another order
to Wan Lung, the haythin.”
“But I have no money,” said Mick
ey sorrowfully. “My father is goin’ to
give me three bunches of little fire
crackers and a pinwheel, but I know
he wouldn’t buy wan o’ thim big fire
crackers for me.”
“Well, continued Casey* “you come
down here to-morrov' mornin' and
carry in a half ton of coal for me and
I'll give you the big cracker.”
The next morning Mickey was busy
for two hours carrying chestnut coal
: 1 a nail keg and dumping it in Casey's
cellar. Just after noon, with a smile
covered with coal dust and a bosom
tall of chuckles, he received his prize.
No grass grew under his bare feet
as he ran homeward, the precious
powder mine clasped to his bosom.
Holding the big firecracker aloft as
he darted through the kitchen door,
he exclaimed:
“Mother, I have it! Ain’t it a
beauty?”
“Well, I don’t see anything about it
to be makin’ a fuss over,” said Mrs.
Finn, who, like most mothers, had
no love for fireworks. “Now, don’t be
bringin’ it nearer to me, as Mickey
ran toward her. “I don’t want to be
blown into the middle o’ next week.
'Throw the dirty thing away! I’m
afeered me life while you have it in
your hands! Now, don’t be goin’ near
the stove wid it! Arrah, ye little
spalpeen, will ye take it off the stove?
Take it off afore ye blow the roof off
the house!" and the frightened woman
ran into the bedroom and peered
through the keyhole.
With the recklessness of boyhood,
Mickey exclaimed, as he lit a match
and reduced his mother to hysterics
by pretending to light the firecracker
stem:
“You needn’t be afeered, mother. I’ll
nip it out afore it goes off.”
In this simple fashion the afternoon
of the Fourth passed away in the Finn
household varied by the boy with oc
casional visits to the neighbors, whom
he threw into a panic of fear by pre
tending to light the big explosive.
Mrs. Murphy and her three children
were gathered around the kitchen
table when Mickey placed the lighted
mammoth in the middle of the table.
Two of the boys went head first
through the window, while Mrs. Mur
phy tried to crawl under the kitchen
stove.
All this excitement afforded the boy
a good deal of delight, but he re
served for the evening the culmina
tion of his joy. He intended to blow
his father up as he sat in his chair on
the back stoop.
Mickey thought it would be an in
spiring sight to witness his father fly
ing across the back yard and plow
ing up the ground w;th his nose. In
order that he might have an audience
appropriate to so groat an occasion,
Mickey had spread the news among
all the boys of the neighborhood, and
at nine o’clock 60 hoys sat on the
fence surrounding the back yard. Mr.
Finn, tired of the excitement of the
day, had fallen asleep in his rocking
chair on the back stoop, when Mickey
lit the stem of the big cracker and
placed it carefully under his father’s
chair.
The moon shone brightly, illuminat
ing the grin on every boyish face.
Every ear was strained to catch the
faint hissing of the fuse and every eye
intent upon the sleeping man.
The fuse burned Itself out, and the
silence and suspense was deepening.
I Had Fallen Asleep.
A minute passed and another, until
Mickey could stand the strain no long
er. He reached down and lifted the
firecracker from beneath the chair.
As he held it up In the moonlight
to examine it, a mosquito lit upon his
father’s nose and the old gentleman
awoke. Grabbing the firecracker from
his son’s hand he arose and holding it
aloft, he said:
“Boys, there will be no explosion
to-night. I'm sorry to disappoint you.
I was afeered that Mickey might do
some harrum wi<J that big cracker, so
whin he wasn’t lookin’ this afternoon I
took the powder out of it and filled
it wid clay. So, you see that the show
is over, ami ye may as well go home
and go to bed. There’ll be no more
explosions only what I give Mickey,
wid a shingle afore I turn 4n. Good
night to ye all. Come'around some
other night whin there is somethin’
dofn’.’’
FOURTH OF JULY DON'TS.
Don’t allow the children to bend,
over fireworks which will not “go off.”
They sometimes do it unexpectedly
with unfortunate results to the little
meddler. •
* * *
Don’t neglect to send for a physi
cian at once in the case of a serious
burn, to prevent a possible scar or
worse still, blood poisoning, from ig
norant or improper treatment of the
wound.
• • * *
Don’t forget to have some remedies
for burns at' hand. When the skin
is not broken by a burn scrape a r*w
potato, place on a piece of soft linen
and use as a poultice. Bicarbonate of
soda—the ordinary baking soda—is ex
cellent for burns whether the skin
is broken or not. If broken apply the
drjefeoda, if unbroken dampen the soda
with water to make a paste and apply
to the spot. The pain will be instant
ly relieved.
* • . •
Don’t leave the windows of a town
house open if it is to be left for the
day. Stray rockets and sparks may
find an entrance.
Good Advice.
Keep the wound open and send for
the doctor.
FIRST MONEY IN CALIFORNIA.
Queer Early Coinage—D. O. Mills Is
sued First Paper Money. ,
Coins in California till the fall of
1856 were a queer kettle of fish. More
than 60 per cent, of the silver and at
least 25 per cent, of the gold was for
eign.
Most of the other gold coins were
private coins. Moffit & Co. got a per'
mit from the government to coin gold.
Their coinage was confined to ten and
20 centf and were stamped ^Moffit &
co.” / r' ' s
We had all kinds of doubloons and
similar South and Central Ameri
can coins. Of the smaller gold coins
the French 20-franc piece led all the
others.
The English guinea was fairly rep
resented. But it passed for only its
face value, while the other gold passed
for more. The 20-franc piece, value
$3.75, went at four dollars. :. £1,
There was a still greater discsep
* ancy in the Silver coins. A ope-frfBP
B piece went for 25 cents, and the East
India rupee, value 45 «ents. went for
50 cents; the five-franc piece one dol
lar. The French silver represented
about 60 per cent of the silver circu
lation.
German silver' thalers worth 60
cents went at one dollar. Everything
above 50 cents wan one dollar and
everything above 25 cents was 50
cents. A French bank In San Fran
cisco was said to ha** got rich ship
ping French coin in exchange for gold
dust. United States coin was scarcer
until the mint was established. In.
the fall of 1856 the tanks refused to
take any foreign coins except at a
heavy discount The result was that
in a few months all foreign coin disap
peared. It proved & bonanza for the
saloon people. They would give-a
drink for a franc, while the banks
gave only 12% cents The saloon peo
ple gathered them aid the rupees in
at old prices and sold to the banks for
bullion, and made a good thing.
But for a few "years we suffered
badly t»r silver change. Evea until
1856 gold dust circulated to consid
erably extent in mining districts. But
She scales were always used.
There was no paper money until D.
.*■ .A. - -a it rl:
O. Mills & Co. issued their gold notes
about 1858. In getting change for an
old octagon $50, gold, often as many
as four or five nationalities would be
represented in the change.
Greenbacks were never recognized
as money; only as a commodity. They
were used for buying postage and rev
enue Btamps. All mercantile bill
heads and notes had the special con
tract enforcement for gold. California
even paid thd claims of the federal
government in gold. And it came in
mighty handy to Uncle Sam in 1862
and 1863. The old-style Californian
still has an inclining for the yellow
stuff.—P. E. Magazine.
Didn't Always Refuse.
‘Tve tried to discourage Mr. Nervie
from calling on yon,” snapped the
stern parent, "hut the young scamp
refuses to he sat upon.”
“Why, father, you do him an injus
tice," indignantly replied the dear
girl.—Kansas City Times.
Whpt He Wants.
When a man seeks your advice he
generally wants your praise.—Chester
Held.
-siMi
■
WITH unfathomed seas to the east,
With the cross of St. George, to the north,
With unpenetrated forests to the west,
And the yellow banner of Spain to the south.
Such were the narrow confines of the country, the new-born na
tion of freemen, over which Old Glory was first unfurled.
When those fifty-six sires of a nation signed that imperishable
document at Philadelphia in 1776 they were dreaming of a principle,
not of territory.
Little did the comrades of Washington think that the starry banner,
then meaningless save to one people, then despised and spat upon by
many of the monarchies of Europe, was destined to encircle the world;
to spread its protecting folds from ocean to ocean; cross the broad
Pacific and cover the islands of that mighty sea, then practically an
unexplored waste of waters.
But where flies Old Glory to-day ?
Westward the star of empire took its way.
The hardy pioneer with gun and axe penetrated the forests and
blazed the trail for the flag of civilization.
He planted his banner on the top of the Alleghenies.
He guided his canoe dow’n the swirling w'aters and planted it again
in the fertile valley of the Mississippi.
Westward, ever westward, marched Old Glory.
Across the broad stream the lilies of France offered defiance
for a short time, and then gave way before the advancing power that
brooked no o’pposition.
Beneath its protecting folds he builded his rude cabin.
Beneath it he turned the virgin soil of the prairie.
It floated from the flagstaffs of the growing villages.
Under it cross-road settlements grew into cities; schools and
churches thrived; industries prospered, and a nation grew strong and
great.
Braving every peril, ever westward.
From the top of the lofty summits of the Rockies this agent of
civilization looked down upon golden California, and advanced.
From the shores of the broad Pacific waved Old Glory.
To the south the banner of Spain had given wray before it; to the
north the banner of St. George had been crowded back, and its terri
tory sharply defined; to the southwest Mexico had made way for it. It
floated unchallenged from the flagpoles that stretched from ocean to
ocean. Tq every section of a broad nation it carried its guarantee of
freedom.
But where flies Old Glory to-day?
•It has given to Hawaii a freedman’s rule.
It floats from the flagstaffs of. the Somoas.
It has displaced the rule of tyranny in the Philippines.
It represents justice and equality in Porto Rico.
From the mastheads of the ships on every sea, in ev^ry port, flies
Old Glory. It is respected in every land and by every people. To its
protecting folds flock the downtrodden and oppressed of all nations, and
to all that are worthy it offers a welcoming hand. It represents to-day
a world pow'er, greatest in the counsels of nations. A power whose
word is unquestioned; whose might has been proven.
But Old Glory has represented more than an expanding nation.
It has created a new hope in the breasts of men.
It has disputed the God-given rights of kings.
It has overthrown the absoluteism of Europe.
It has driven Spain from the new world, and founded new nations.
It has dictated equitable terms of peace to nations at war.
Old Glory!
God bless the flag. God keep it right, and strong and powerful in
Ihe right.
May its white stars be never soiled by injustice to the weak.
May their blue field be ever as expansive as the sky of heaven.
May its red stripes ever represent the strength of a just cause.
Symbol of a people’s freedom, of a nation’s power, of its great
ness, of its justice, of God-given equality, its meaning is known the
world over.
To-day the sun never—and may it never—sets on Old Glory.
WRIGHT A. PATTERSON.
The Thirst for Knowledjffe.
A man •who was preparing to be
come an itinerant vender of literature
on the Beat Side wad given this ad
vioe by an experienced pushcart ped
ler.
“Lay in a good supply of works on
etiquette,” he said. “Get them in all
languages. No people are more vora
cious studenfs of treatises on the art
of good Behavior than the young peo
ple of the Ea«t Side. They are ambi
tious in many ways, mid »s son as
> ..T- . «’ - V. v * -a. _ ,
they get interested in any phase of
higher education they begin to im
prove their manners. They want to
learn what to oat and how to eat it,
what to say and how to say it, when
do get up and when to sit down, and
all the rest of the usages of polite
society. Since most of this knowledge
is gained from books it pays the push
cart peddler to keep them in stock.”
Though we travel the world over to
find the beautiful, we must carry it
with us, or we find it not.
mmmm
S=
ccumamzit
Of all the explorers of the arctic
Commander Robert E. Peary has been
the most consistent, persistent, and
systematic, and thereby has won the
universal sympathy of the people of
the United States, as well as of other
countries, and as he announces his
plans and prepares for another ad
vance upon the elusive pole which lies
174 miles beyond the far northern
most point he has been able to reach
yet, it finds the public interest even
keener than ever. To some degree I
this may be due to the other expedi
tions which have started out or are
about to start out in quest of the
north pole, notably, of course, the
Wellman balloon venture, and the
question is being asked: “Is the
prize to be stolen right from under
the nose of the intrepid Peary, after
he has tried so bravely four times to
gain it for himself and while he is oc
cupied with his fifth expedition?” For
an answer we must wait develop
ments, one year, two years, perhaps
more.
But one discovery which Peary
made on his last expedition gives en
couragement for the belief that suc
cess will crown his last venture, and
that was the finding of the course of
drift in. the arctic basin. Peary un
questionably is the best equipped man
who ever sought the pole. He was
bitterly disappointed, indeed, in not
having success crown his efforts on
liis fourth trip. That he went further
than man ever went before; that he
had to turn back at a time when it
seemed that the great triumph was so
near, is not enough. Out of that fail
ure he believes he discovered the road
to victory.
He does not predict success. He is
not of that kind. He knows better
than perhaps any other man the tre
mendous odds that must be overcome,
but he banks on the experience he has
gained, and if good fortune attends
him there is a chance, just a chance,
that he will bring back to America
a story that will thrill the world and
put his name in letters big on his
tory’s page.
Few persons realize how minutely
Commander Peary looks after the
smallest details of the equipment for
the sledge journey that marks the
final advance across the ice of the
Polar basin. From the time he put
the Roosevelt against the ice foot on
the north coast of Grant land in Sep-,
tember, 1905, until he made the actual
start across the ice in February, 1906,
there was not a waking moment of all
the days in that interval that he was
not studying the problem and working
it out at the same time of just how
little he could tatye across the ice on
the sledges of his several parties and
sustain their lives and those of the
necessary dogs.
He knew the stern necessity of get
ting the outfit down to the smallest
compass and the lightest possible
weight. A matter of a few pounds on
the sleds would make all the differ
ence in the world at the crucial mo
ment. It might swing the balance
between success and failure, life and
death. And it was to eliminate just
such an over-burden that he worked
for so long. How vital this matter of
weight is he shows in his story of the
escape across the open lead that
stretched its Styx-like width of black
water between his party and the sblid
ice beyond on their enforced retreat
from their furthest north last spring.
One of his Eskimos discovered that
a thin coating of ice had formed
across this expanse of water that he
believed would support the party. It
was that or death, in all probability,
and so Peary resolved to try it. With
their eyes fixed on the ice before
them, ice so thin that it swayed with
their weight as they advanced across
it, they moved their snowshoes steadi
ly forward, not knowing when the
next step might be their last, as it
surely would have been if anyone had
gone through into the water beneath.
When Peary finally reached the solid
ice to the southward he echoed the
opinion of one of the Eskimos .that if
any one in the party had been just
a little heavier or had they been bur
dened with a little more weight they
never would have made the passage
which meant their salvation.
“With the experience I gained in
my last voyage,” the .explorer says, “I
am going over precisely the same
route that I followed with the Roose
velt. But when I leave the ship for
the dash across the Polar basin I am
going to strike further to the west
ward so that the drift of the ice to
the eastward, which was one of the
most important things I discovered in
my last voyage, will carry me direct
ly toward the pole. Heretofore it was
the general impression that the ice
in the Polar basin drifted to the west
ward, but we found it was just the
reverse of this. By striking off to the
west, and then veering around in a
quarter circle toward the northeast, I
think my course will carry me direct
ly to the pole.” Then, he added, as
if that dismissed the subject forever,
“Then I mean to head directly for the
north coast of Greenland, from which
it will be only a few miles across the
channel to the north shore of Grant
land, where the Roosevelt will be
in her winter quarters.”
In these few words he discussed his
plan, a plan that means leaving New
York about July 1, taking his real de
parture from North Sydney ten days
later, picking up his Eskimo men,
women and children around Melville
Bay in another ten days, taking on his
last supply of coal at Etah, sailing
from that place and dropping all
touch with the civilized world at the
same time within a month from the
time he answers the last farewell
“toot, toot,” of some grimy tugboat in
the East river. After leaving Etah
he expects it will take less than a
month before he will again berth the '
Roosevelt against the icefoot along
the northeast coast of Grant land.
And then will be before Peary and his
crew of 20 men, his Eskimo and his
dogs the seven months of constant
preparation before the final stage of
the final dash across the ice of the
Polar basin begins.
In only one respect will his “outfit”
for this journey differ from that of his
last one, but this is a detail on which
he counts not 6nly for making better ,
time, but also to make the Roosevelt
even more reliable a ship than she
has already proved herself to be. This
is the fitting of her engine room with
a full “battery” of Scotch boilers In
place of the two boilers which gave
him so much trouble on his last trip.
High Price for Necklace.
Five thousand pounds were paid at
Christie’s auction rooms, London, re
cently, for a necklace. It was com
posed of 14 emeralds, six large pearls
and 80 marquise-shaped brilliants.
HE EARNED HIS MONEY.
Extra Quarter Not Too Great Com
pensation For “Pester.”
Mr. Huckins was trying to make
over a screen door for the widow
Jennings. The day was hot and
muggy and she hung over him all day
with questions, suggestions and com
plaints.
“Aren’t you getting that too nar
row?” asked The widow, hovering over
the carpenter in a way suggestive of
some large, persistent insect.
-“No, ma’am,” said Mr. Huckins.
“You know a few minutes ago you
thought- ’twas too wide, and I meas
ured it to show ye.”
“Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Jennings.
“Well, anyway, I ..believe it’ll sag'if
you don’t change the hinge. Just hold
it up and see.”
Mr. Huckins held the door in place
and proved that the hinges were in
the right spots, and after that Mrs.
JenningB kept silence for a few mo
ments.
“O dear,” she said, grasping Mr.
Huckins’ hand after the short respite,
“I’m sure you planed it off so the flies
can get ip at the top! Please hold it
up again and I’ll just get a chair and
see of a fly could squeeze through.
You may have to add a piece.”
When it had been proved that not
even the smallest and most enterpris
ing fly .could find entrance space there
was another short respite. After that
Mrs. Jennings once more had an
alarm over the possibility that the
door might stick somewhere.
When at last it was hung and Mr.
Huckins was ready to depart, the
widow asked him for his bill.
“I don’t make out any bills,’* said
Mr. Huckins, wearily, “but I’ll i;ell ye
what this work’ll cost. If I’d done it
under the ordinary circumstances I
have to contend with ’twould have
been 50 cents, but in this case I’ll
have to charge ye an extry quarter,
ma’am, for pester.”—Youth’s Compan
ion. :
President Fallieres, of France, is ex
ceedingly thrifty. He spends an little
as possible of his liberal allowance
of $600,000 per annum.
. ..., s
