FOOLING THE PUBLIC
TRICKS OF THE TRAVELING RE
TAIL GROCERY AGENTS.
GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
The Price May Be Small, But the
Goods Are Expensive Even at
That and Net Big
Profits.
You may know something about the
modus operandi of the traveling gro
cer, and how the house after paying
him 25 per cent, commission still
makes a princely profit. There may
be some things, inside affairs that it is
well that the people in general may
know. It will be found on close Inves
tigation that the average Mercantile
Supply company. Buyers’ association
or whatever name is used to gull the
unsuspecting farmer, consists of one
or two schemers, who have a small
office room in some large city, and a
back room in the near neighborhood
where the “stores” are stored and the
re-packing and the mixing done. The
re-packing and the mixing are two
important parts of the work of the
“company.” When the “representa
tive" sells John Jones 100 pounds of
isugar for $4.60; cases of canned
goods at $2.40 a case; three boxes of
dried fruits at ten cents a pound, a
few gallons of extract at a bargain
and ten or 15 pounds of spices at a
profit of 200 per cent., the order is
sent to the “home office.” There it is
recorded. The boy is sent down to the
wholesale grocery house which gen
erally stands in with the concern,
; brings back a lot of ordinary bulk
dried fruits, the cases of seconds or
thirds, in canned goods, and the ave
rage run of poor spices. In the pack
ing room the dried fruits are over
hauled, washed up if possible as in
the case of prunes, and packed in
. boxes, supposed to contain full 25
pounds, but only run from 18 to 22;
branded with some fictitious mark
and shipped out with the other sup
plies. The spices are dumped out,
and again run through a mill with a
lot of ground nut-shells, bark or other
matter, and perhaps some bran or
other cheap material is added. The
extracts are of the cheapest class,
synthetic, and the pure fruit flavors
are products of coal-tar, doctored up
with coloring matter to look good.
The label is the only pure thing about
it aside from the glass in the bottle
containing it.
In fact, the tricks of the box-car
outfits are legion. The teas sold are
never up to the samples shown. In
one case a schemer traveled over the
country carrying with him samples of
Ceylon teas that were worth 45 cents
a pound wholesale. He agreed to sup
ply this tea at 50 cents. He received
large orders.' Every order was filled
with teas that cost only 20 cents a
pound, and the funny thing about it
was that there was no kicking, be
cause the farmers knew nothing
about teas, and were satisfied as long
as they thought that they had a fine
Ceylon article. The same way with
coffees. If there is anything rhat even
coffee experts know little about it is
coffee. It is a wise merchant who
knows the classes of coffees he is
handling. The box-car man generally
shows up a cheap big-berr.y. tells all
about it being a great mountain Mocha
and sells -three pounds for a dollar,
and buys it at 16 or 17 cents a pound.
Should the local grocer try to sell the
same grade to his customers at such a
price, there would go up a roar that
would raise the roof of the store. Still
the farmer continues to bite at such
baits, and doesn’t squeal.
The Drinking Orchid.
One of the most remarkable plants
known to horticulturists is the drink
ing orchid, which is found in South
America. This orchid takes a drink
whenever it feels thirsty, by means of
a fube which it lets down into the
water. The tube when not in use is
coiled upon the top of the plant.
The formation of the orchid is dif
ferent from others of its species, hav
ing sharp leaves, lancehead-shaped,
growing round the root and radiating
from it. From the center of the plant
hangs the tube, about one-eighth of an
inch thick and one-fourth of an inch
wide. When touched it gradually
contracts and rolls itself up in a
spiral-like coil. As a rule these or
chids are to be found growing directly
over the water, or where water has
been, (and in the latter case it is al
most pathetic to see how the tube will
work its way over the ground to a
pool or river.
Where the Money Is.
More than 40 per cent, of the popu
lation of the United States proper lies
in less than a dozen eastern states.
These states are known as manufac
turing states. In the banks of one,
New York state, is contained nearly
40 per cent, t*; the money of the coun
try. New York city alone has in its
banks 25 per cent, of the money in cir
culation. This has been made possi
ble by the conditions that enable the
large cities to draw trade from all sec
tions of the country. In fact, great
cities must have support of a large
territory. But one of the great evils
and which injures the masses who are
residents of agricultural district is the
system of drawing support from local
towns and communities to the cities.
This system takes from the rural dis
tricts the surplus wealth that should
be retained to build them up.
No Need for Pessimism.
Plainly, Mrs. Lackwit was troubled
as she sought out her husband in his
study.
“George, I'm actually worried about
Johnny's future. He has absolutely no
head for mathematics; and to-day the
principal of the school told me that,
much .as he disliked to say It, our boy
was scarcely able to compose a line of
correct English.”
Mr. Lackwit whs less disturbed at
, < the news..
“Let’s not get discouraged, Maria,”
Said he. "Jphnny may never make
much of a bank president or a maga
zine editor, but his case might be. less
hopeful. At the worst, he can still
become a writer Of popular songs.”—
NOT A GOOD 8Y8TEM.
How the Mail Order Busina** Injure*
the Agricultural Section*.
We must admit that the mail order
system is a legitimate business if it la
carried on legitimately. It is a great
American privilege to carry on trade
in this way. Yet the principle from
an American standpoint or any other
standpoint that is consistent with
equal rights' for all is entirely wrong.
Through the mail order system the
merchants Buffer a direct loss. To
them it is an unfair competition. It
diverts trade from established chan
nels. The loss of the merchants in the
local town means u loss to the town
itself, to every resident of the town
and the surrounding community. It
is the business of the city or town
that makes it a live place or a dead
one. Dependent upon the activity of
a town is to a gres.t extent the value
of all farm lands in its trade territory.
Thus is the farmer affected by any
system that causes a deterioration in
his home town. Yet the farmers are
the main supporters of the catalogue
houses. They assist in feeding the
snake that is stealing their eggs and
they little realize it. They a»3 as vi
tally interested in the upbuilding of
their home town as the merchant. It
is for their benelit as well as for all in
the community that the town is there.
There is a more vital phase of the
question that few farmers realize.
That is the evils resulting from the
vast capital that is concentrated in
the large financial centers. It is this
surplus of money that makes it easy
to build up trusts and combinations.
These trusts affect the affaire and the
prosperity of the farmer. He does not
stop to think that when he sends hi3
money to the distant concern that he
is doing just so much to help along
the trusts.
HELPS FOR TOWN BUILDERS.
Some years ago on bill boards and
street cars and in the pages cf the
magazines were ruts a series of adver
tising cards the prominent feature of
which was “Spotless Town.” There
can be little doubt as to the whole
some lessons taught by this unique
advertisement. The town that is not
kept in good cond tion, its walks in
good repair, its streets well graded,
and all neat and clean, is a reflection
upon the residents of the place, and
is evidence- that the town is already
dead or fast dying. Should you make
a good impression upon strangers,
keep streets clean, business places at
tractive, and don't forget that the
front yards and the general conditions
of the residences indicate the charac
li. of the people who reside in them.
* * *
Residents of agricultural sections
who a few years ago looked upon the
automobile as a nuisance, are begin
ning to realize that it is a great factor
in road improvement, and has brought
about renewed interest in country
reads and their betterment, with a cor
responding benefit to the farmers.
It is as much to the interest of the
people of a town that there be good
roads leat?ing to it, as it is to the
farmers who must use them in haul
ier; their goods to market.
* * *
There is a vast difference In tie
farmers of to-day and the farmers of
a quarter of a century ago. It is won
derful how the improvements brought
into existence in a single generation
will change conditions. Every inno
vation that malffss life in the towns
more desirable, also finds a way of
conferring a benefit upon the farmers.
No longer need for the resident of the
farm district to not have all the up
to-date things that can be found in the
finest city homes. The telephone and
the rural delivery has brought him
within a “stone throw" of the city.
Living for the Children.
Proebel’s sentiment “Come, let us
live for our children” rests on a sound
philosophic basis. To live for them is
to call out the noblest impulses of
parenthood. And we cannot live for
them in the truset sense until we be
come familiar with their needs. ■ It is
in the endeavor to meet those needs
in the largest way possible that we
find our own characters richly recom- j
pensed in strong and well-developed
parenthood. We practically become j
what we are by what we have done or j
left undpne, what we are willing or !
unwilling to do for our children. The 1
principle is universal, and should find !
its extension and application among !
children at all times and in all places. |
Has not the church lost ground in
failing to recognize the primary and
fundamental place of the child in so
ciety? If so, it is obvious how that
lost grouftd may be recovered.—Homi
letic Review.
The Guile of the Greeks.
At first the more thoughtful ones
regarded the gift suspiciously. Then,
tajiii*; further thought, they said, one
to the other:
“Aw, what’s the dif? It’s only a
near-art horse, anyhow. Now, if it
was one of those chug-chug wagons
coming in here to break the speed
limit laws we wouldn’t stand for it
for a minute.”
Thus it was, the victim of over
confidence, that Troy fell.—Puck.
Anticipating Age.
Why do people allow themselves to
fret about getting old? There are
those who anticipate it and fear it as
if it were the most melancholy fate
that could befall one, and many of
them have never been really young in
spirit.
And youth is more a matter of
spirit than it is of body. Enthusiasm,
interest in everything, warmth of
heart and breadth of feeling, are the
qualities that star.d for youth. 4
Would Have Jewish Youth Go West.
Jacob H. Schitt was the principal
speaker at the annual dinner of the
Jewish benevolent society B’rith at
Tuxedo hall. New York city. Mr.
Bcblff advised the"Jewish youth to
go west, saying that greater oppor
tunities and a warmer welcome await
ed him there than would Jie his share
on the eastern asncoast.
Whom tho
The most I
fool la that he
rritatas.
thing about a
to be enjoying
two crmmTZNG Gomros
It is impossible to write a letter on
the subject of fashions without speak
ing of the popularity of gray mate
rials, for they are with us, on every
side. Some of the most effective sum
mer gowns, of a simple order, which I
have yet seen this year were made of
cool gray linen, with fine hand-em
broideries, on the skirt and bolfero,
carried out in silk-finished thread.
These frocks, when worn with gray
linen shoes and gray suede gloves,
are quite enchanting in their Quaker
like simplicity, and they invite the
collaboration of cloche hats in deli
cate ivory straw, with puffed net
forming the full crown and, at one
side, near the front, a cluster of beau
tiful roses or of waxen water lilies.
Some of the newest models in voile
de soie show perfectly shaped skirts
decorated with a number of tucks on
the hem of the skirt. Needless to say,
these tucks are always stitched by
hand, and they are arranged in grad
JL
Robe of Blue Linen, with Insertions
of White Linen Embroidery.
uated widths. At the extreme hem
they measure about five inches, and
then they are reduced each one-half
an inch as they run up towards the
knees.* For linen dresses a favorite
style of trimming is a combination of
deep tucks and hand-embroidery, three
tucks, a band of embroidery, and so
on. For afternoon gowns, voile de
soie is exceedingly fashionable, but
the material for costumes of this or
der is Indian gauze, which can be ob
tained in all the pastel shades, and
which gives lovely effects when inuet
with old yellow lace and adorned with
ribbon-work embroideries.
The walking frocks of this season
are very charming, and delightfully
unpractical! They are not long, in
the sense that they can be held tip;
and they are not short, in the sense
SKUNK8 EAT GRASSHOPPERS.
Hitherto Shunned Animal Is Declared
to Be the Farmers' Friend.
Skunks are the fanners’ friends, ac
cording to the biological survey of the
department of agriculture, and deserve
to be cultivated rather than destroyed,
says the Pittsburg Dispatch.
The experts of this bureau have
found that the skunk, shunned and
avoided as it is, is the greatest grass
hopper exterminator known. It takes
rank ahead of the red-headed wood
pecker, barnyard fowls and meadow
larks. In the past the skunk has been
an animal regarded as worthy only of
'the .price of its pelt or the latd its fat
would produce.
Now the biological survey insists
that when a field is overrun with
grasshoppers all that is necessary for
the faraier to do is to gather together
a working force of skunks and turn
them loose in the infested area. The
skunk will do the rest. ■ . s
•7 While skunks are not animals to J
handled with impunity, a herd of'i
mesUcated skunfcr might be kept
that they can be trusted not to assist
In keeping the streets clean! When
correctly cut and when worn over ex
actly the right underskirts, these new
skirts are altogether lovely, but it Is
useless to deny that they are extrava
gant. All women know that it is quite
impossible to hold up a gown which
does not possess a train, even a very
slight one, though something may be
done by a judicious twitch at the back.
But to turn from the dress to the
dressee, strange, is it not, that women
of the age of 60, with portliness to
match, insist upon wearing models de
signed for the maiden of 20, slender
ot outline? When will the matron of
60 allow us to forget that she once
had a waist? My regret that she will
not ignore it this season was made
specially piognant by an interview
with a very handsome dowager, white
of hair, and pleasantly rubicund of
face, who was wearing a Wedgwood
blue voile, made with Japanese
sleeves over a white lace blouse with
a skirt cut plain in the front, and full
at the back, encircled with a belt of
blue glace, whilst upon her gray hair
she had perched a large mushroom
hat with a big ruche of blue ribbon in
it, and round her neck she wore a
large white feather boa, and on her
stout hands white kid gloves, which
extended to the elbow. It would have
given me the greatest possible pleas
ure to have taken her as an example
on to a platform and lectured to the
assembled multitude on how she could
have improved her appearance with
out sacrificing her obvious desire to
be smart.
A black chiffon gown mounted over
white, I would have chosen for her,
hanging in long lines just above her
waist, with a broad hem of black
glace, and black glace ribbon forming
a sort of pelerine at her shoulders to
outline a vest of white which should
terminate at the bust, and a large
black hat (if she must wear a hat,
though I should have much preferred
her in a bonnet) draped with a flow
ing veil of black. I would have insist
ed on sleeves with a graceful drapery
falling from the elbow at the back,
held tightly above the wrist to dimin
ish the too broad contours. Had she
had any special objection to black
chiffon, I would have suggested black
lace or net, and velvet ribbons instead
of the taffeta, and I have the remem
brance of a small bonnet made of
black crinoline in bow form, outlined
with jet, which, with a black lace para
sol lined with white chiffon, might
have been called into service to best
complete the effect.
Some of the newest veilings are
cream-white tulle dotted all over with
pin points of black, and this veil is, as
I have frequently mentioned, the most
becoming a woman can adopt, irre
spective of age. For those whose com
plexions have lost their first bloom
this veil can be lined with palest shell
pink tulle or with the same material
in pale blue, the latter being specially
flattering to dark skins.
Putting Lava to Use.
Residents of the district round
Vesuvius have put to practical use the
lava which has flowed from the vol
cano in past and recent eruptions.
Naples and its vicinity appear to be a
world of lava. The streets are paved
with it. There are lava staircases and
statues, drinking troughs, bric-a-brac,
and even jewelry. The guides make
profit out. of it by pressing coins or
other objects on partially cooled frag
ments and selling these to visitors.
On the ashy sides of the mountain
there is enough lava to build a large
city. In appearance it resembles a
shoreless frozen sea of dull black
that shimmers strangely purple in
some lights.
hand on every farm to use in an emer
gency. If the skunk is not immediate
ly applied to the grasshopper pest the
grasshoppers will eat up the field and
pass on to the next.
Plumbago.
Plumbago, popularly black lead,
scientifically graphite, got its name,
says the Ironmonger, from the as
sumption that it contained lead; and,
indeed, certain lead ores and oxides
have at times been called plumbago;
but Enkel found in 1597 that what we
now call graphite yielded no lead, and
he called it sterile plumbago. Scheele,
in 1789, proved that it was an allo
tropic form of carbon.
An Inducement.
Rais Uli had been solicited to go
Into variety.
"It's the spice of life, you know,”
said the representative of vaudeville.,
“1 would like a change of condi
ment,” admitted the bandit chief;
"they have been peppering me so
much lately.”
Deftly dodging a volley from the
Moroccan army, be fold the press
agent he would aee him later. .
GOOD WEDDING CAKE
HOW TO MIX INGREDIENTS WITH
BEST RESULT8.
Rich Materials Need to Be Carefully
Handled If Success Is Desired
—Right Temperature of
Oven Is Important.
Old-fashioned wedding cake—Fruit
for this should be prepared in ad
vance as follows: Six cups of cur
rants, washed dried and picked
Three cups sultana raisins; three cups
of citron cut in fine strips, one-half
cup candied lemon peel, two cups
of almonds, blanched and cut in
shreds. In a warm bowl mix four
cups of sugar, granulated or confec
tioner's, beat these together until very
light. Break ten eggs into adothei
bowl, but do not beat them. Cover a
waiter with a big sheet of paper; siit
four pints flour over this, add the
fruit and the following spices; two
teaspoons each of nutmeg, mace and
cinnamon, one tablespoon each of
cloves and allspice. Mix these togeth
er and stand aside ready for use.
Have ready in a little pitcher one-half
pint best brandy. Select a deep cake
tin and grease with butter, line it in
side with white paper and on the c*it
side and bottom with four or five
thicknesses of very coarse wrapping
paper, which you must tie on. Have
your oven hot and the fire banked so
it will not burn out quickly. N»w
beat the butter and sugar once mb re,
add the eggs two at a time, beating
the mixture after each addition.
When the eggs are all used, tur^n in
tne nour ana iruit witn nranay, mix
thoroughly, pour Into the prepared
cake tin, cover with several thick
nesses of brown paper, and bake eight
hours, keeping the oven steady and
clear. Remove from the oven and al
low it to stand on tin sheet until
quite cold. Ice with a thin coat of
white icing top and sides and stand
in a cool oven to dry, then give it a
second coat of thick icing and orna
ment according to fancy. An icing
made of white of egg, a few drops of
cold water and confectioner’s sugar
is the best for the thick icing.
An excellent white cake for the
bride to cut is this: Take the whites
of eight eggs stilly beaten, one pound
of flour, one cup of sweet milk, one
half pound of butter (scant), one-half
teaspoonful of soda, two teaspoonfuls
of cream of tartar. Cream the but
ter and sugar and add slowly tlie
milk and soda, dissolving the soda
in tepid water. Sift the cream of tar
tar with the floor and add the flour
alternately with the whites of eggs.
Flavor with vanilla, and bake in a
square loaf, or a round tube tin.
Claret punch: If liquor in mild
form is to be served, the following
punch will be found most satisfac
tory: Put in the bottom of your punch
bowl six tablespoonfuls of pulverized
sugar, juice of six oranges and nine
lemons, a half pint of red curacoa. or
some similar liqueur, one pint of
brandy, six bottles of plain soda and
six quarts of claret. Sliced fruit, like
pineapple, oranges, strawberries, etc.,
add to the beauty of the punch and
also to tlie flavor.
Strawberries in Meringue ‘ Shells.
These shells are easily made, if the
cook understands that a coolish oven
is an absolute necessity in cooking
the meriugue. Beat the whites of six
eggs with a pinch of salt to a stiff
froth, using an egg whip instead of a
patent beater. Add by degrees a
pound of powdered sugar. When the
sugar is all beaten in, shape the me
ringue into a dozen oval forms about
an inch and a half high. Dredge with
sugar and drop in a baking pan lined
with paper. Set in a very cool oven
where they may rise slowly and be
come firm in about half an hour. They
must not be allowed to color in the
least. Cool for half an hour, then
dampen the bottom of the paper and
pull from the meringues. Shape the
shells by gently pressing the soft in
side up against the sugary outside.
Thi6 gives a thin shell of meringue,
leaving plenty of space for the ber
ries. Set in the sun or a drying oven
until perfectly dry. W’hen ready to
serve, fill half the shells with straw
berry ice cream and the other half
with a lemon or orange water ice. Or
fill half the shells with mashed and
sweetened berries, and the rest with
whipped cream or pistachio cream
and put the two together. Serve with
a delicate white cake.
To Clean Choice China.
Have made to order at any broom-1
maker’s a set of brooms about ten
inches in length and five inches in cir
cumference. These brooms should be
made just like a whisk broom, but
perfectly round. Hot water can be
used, as with a little care in hand
ling dishes it is not necessary to put
the hands in the water—the greatest
recommendation for the use of the
brooms. They will slip inside cups,*
glasses and pitchers; will rub oft
stains, and sticky substances easily,
and are particularly fine for greasy
paus and pots. Keep three brooms in
use; one for glasses, one for dishes
and silver, and one for battles and
frying pans, promoting them from
one class to another as they become
worn. The old brooms are excellent
for cleaning sinks, closets, and gar
bage pails. After using, pour boiling
water over them, shake, and hang up
to dry. They will keep sweet aiyl
clean longer than any dish mop.
Shanny Carpets.
To clean and brighten a shabby
carpet, cut an ounce of yellow soap
into small squares, and make into a
lather with a pint of .boiling water.
Add to this a quart of water and one
ounce of borax. Place the mixture
on the range and bring it to a boil;
then remove it, and when quite cold
add an ounce each of alcohol and
ammonia and half an ounce of gly
cerin. Wijid over a small portion of
the carpet at a time, and rub vigor
ously with a clean flannel (which
should be repeatedly turned as it gets
soiled) dipped in the mixture, until
all the spots are removed and the
color vevlved. When you have fln
Ished you will be delighted to find
how nice your once shabby carpet
■ 1
Washington Gossip
Interesting Bits of News Picked Up
Here and There at the National Capital
V -..
PRESIDENT ORDERS CUT
IN CANAL ZONE EXPENSES
WASHINGTON.—By direction of
the president there is to be an
other reorganiaztion of the isthmian
canal commission. This time the
principal branch of the commission
affected will be that in Washington,
which has been executing the orders
of Chief Engineer Goethafs with
reference to the dispatch of labor and
supplies to the canal zone. Now,
however, the president has given im
perative instructions that “the most
rigid economy consistent with the
highest degree of efficiency” shall be
the policy. As a result an order has
been issued abolishing the auditor’s
office and placing the work of auditing
the accounts of the commission under
the auditor for the war department.
The purchasing business will be in
trusted to an officer of the army.
Joseph Bucklin Bishop of New
York, who has been in charge of the
office here since the reorganization
some months ago, may proceed to the
isthmus and perform the duties of
secretary there. The advisability of
this action is now under considera
tion. The president has stated em
phatically that Mr. Bishop must be
retained at his salary of $10,000 per
annum. David R. Ross, purchasing
agent, and Ernest S. Benson, general
! auditor, who also received $10,000
each, have resigned. The former will
probably be succeeded by Maj. Hodges
of the engineering corps of the arms',
whose army pay will be increased to
$5,000.
It is said the president expects
criticisms of the canal administration
during the next session, both from
Democrats and from representatives
of that element in his own party
which is not in sympathy with his
policies generally. As rigid economy
is the surest way to avoid just criti
cism; he has instructed Secretary
Taft to cut expenses to the bone,
while at the same time seeing to it
that the dirt is kept flying.
Secretary Taft has forwarded to the
president reports showing that, ex
clusive of $50,000,000 originally paid
to the French company for all its
rights in the property, there had
actually been spent up to last March
only about $34,000,000 out of a total
appropriation of $145,000,000. The
total sum appropriated for actual con
struction is a little over $74,000,000.
Thus the commission has available
for purposes of construction about
$40,000,000 with which to operate un
til congress authorizes the expendi
tures for the next fiscal year, begin
ning July 1, 1908.
CONTROVERSY OVER THE
FAIRBANKS’ BIRTHPLACE
WAS Vice President Fairbanks born
in a log cabin? This great ques
tion, which threatens to become
an issue in the next presidential cam
paign is causing excitement among
the sons of Indiana. In “The Life and
Speeches of Charles Warren Fair
banks,” by W. H. Smith, is shown a
picture of a log cabin in which the
vice president is reported to have
been born.
The author’s son, William Wolff
Smith, in reply to a recent article in
an eastern weekly, has taken up the
assertion that the autobiography is
inaccurate and that the picture is
one of a series of fakes resorted to
for the purpose of promoting the vice
president’s political ambitions. WTil
liam Wolff Smith has issued the fol
lowing statement:
“Much was made of a picture iu
the book representing the house in
which Mr. Fairbanks was born. As
the house was burned a few years
after his birth and no picture had
been taken of it, Mr. Fairbanks at
the request of Mr. Smith imy father)
made a rough pencil sketch from
memory which was dressed up for
publication.” This, Mr. Smith says,
is all the connection Mr. Fairbanks
had with the picture.
In the autobiography Mr. Smith
says Mr. Fairbanks ^as four years 01
age when the cabin was burned, and
Indianians are pointing to the asser
tion that Mr. Fairbanks can sketch
with accuracy a building that was de
stroyed when he was four years old
as a demonstration of his wonderful
memory.
i
TRAGIC FATE BLIGHTS
LIFE OF AMBASSADOR
IT is the irony of fate that at the
height of his career, with no
blemish on his reputation, and
through no fault of his own,
Baron Speck von Sternburg, should
German ambassador, should stand
upon the brink of diplomatic and
social oblivion. B.ut such is the
tragic fact. A cancerous growth, ter
ribly disfiguring the ambassador’s
face, has apparently ruined beyond
repair a career full of promise and
the social prospects of his beautiful
American wife, and it is understood
here that Germany will send another
ambassador some time within the
next six months.
The baron caught this infection of
the face, the nature of which physi
cians do not seem to understand
clearly, during his service for the
kaiser in India, and within the last
year it has developed in the hideous
fashion peculiar to such attacks,
spreading well over one side of his
face. He has, however, made a brave
fight from the start, appealing to the
foremost medical authorities of this
country and Europe for aid, and his
plucky effort to prevent the disease
from spoiling his diplomatic career
has won the keen sympathy of Wash
ington people.
The baron hurried across the water
as soon as congress adjourned#last
spring and subjected himself to a
heroic course of treatment at health
resorts. From these places he went
to the German Spas for the help they
could give him. Reports that have
reached this country, however, are to
the effect that he has no more than
held his own. The disfigurement con
tinues. His friends here, then, felt
no little apprehension when they saw
a notice that Baron and Baroness
Speck von Sternburg had been com
manded to take breakfasr. with the
kaiser. Sure enough within a day or
two after the ambassador was the
guest of his ruler a German paper
which frequently has the right tip
on« court affairs published a report
that Sternburg would be recalled.
This was denied very mildly, indeed,
by officials of the German foreign of
fice. They stated that there was no
intention to recall Sternburg “at
present,” or words to that effect.
MEN BUSY CLEANING’AND
PAINTING WHITE HOUSE
THE White House will be spick and
span, on the outside as well as in
side, when the presidential family re
turns from Oyster Bay next fall.
Twenty painters are now at work on
the old building.
The White House is constructed of
Virginia sandstone, which is exceed
ingly porous. Mrs. Adams, the first
mistress of the president’s house, as
it was then called, complained bitter
ly to her friends of the coldness and
dampness .of the building during her
first winter there. There were no
stoves or other heating apparatus ex
cept the large grates in the executive
residence then, and the roads were so
muddy that wood in sufficient quan
tity could not be hauled to supply the
grates. This condition was overcome by
painting the sandstone with a coat of
white lead. Each year this has been
repeated, until there is a layer more
than a quarter of an inch in thick
ness on the waits.
Last year, instead of putting on an
other coat of white lead, a chemical
preparation was used to cleanse the
walls. This caused the paint to crack
and in many places peel off, making
the building unsightly.
The painters are now engaged in
scraping off the century’s accumula
tion of white lead. When this is done
the building will receive several coats
of fresh paint. The work will require
several months.
A Two Years’ Fast.
"Snakes,” said Lover, the zoo
keeper, “have been known to do
without food for two years. I know
personally a South American anaconda
that in seven years has only eaten
four times—that is to say, two meals
per annum.
“The noctule, a bat, fasts regular
ly seven months out of the 12. But
the noctule, while fasting, hibernates,
and of the snake this can’t be said.
“An antelope can live 20 days with
out food, an eagle 28 days, a badger
30 days, a horse 25 days, a dog 35
days.
“But that is nothing. A crocodile
can fast two months, a scorpion three
months, a bear six months, a chamele
on eight months and a viper ten
months.
“How do I know all this? These
facts are easy to learn. Scientists
have proved Uiem time and again in
the various zoological gardens of the
world.”
Why He 8taya Away.
Mrs. Jones—Do you feel that when
your husband is away from home he
is thinking of you?
Mrs. Smith—Yes. He thinw« 0f
me, and that’s why he stays away, i
. .Mi,: ■■
