The betrothal of Miss Gladys Van
derbilt, daughter of Mrs. Cornelius
. VenderWlt, Sr., and the voting Count
Laszio Szechcnyi of Budapest, Hun
CtUo marriage to take place on
December 4), had the dash of an An
thony Hope romance about it. What’s
more, the young people, knowing all
the facts cf the case, must be laugh
ing in their sleeves at the sensation
caused by the vague rumors from
Newport that found their way into
print.
From what Austrian officials in this
country say, the so-called sensation
wan quite a cut-and-dried affair. One
of the richest of American girls had
imen formally betrothed in a Hun
garian castle weeks before, and on
that occasion the details of the
•American betrothal in October” had
been arranged. Then a young Hun
garian nobleman had dropped quietly
into Newport to play his part in the
formalities.
, first surprise over, every one
\ asked:
jj'ho is Count Laszio Ssechenyi?”
Therein lies the romance of the
story. Only the last chapter properly
belongs to the Anthony Hope school.
Che- first of it might lie a short story
by William Dean Howells. On the
other hand, the real romance is wor
thy of Gibbon or Sienkiewicz. In it
are the raids of a savage Asiatic peo
Ate upon the nomads of the Russian
steppes, the primeval forests of the
Danube and the wild defiles of the
Alps. There is also the pageantry of
primitive warr the* strains* of wild
music of Slavonic harmonies em
broidered in a web of national trag
edy—music hardly suggested by the
Hungarian orchastras of the cafes, but
mirrored by Liszt and Paderewski,
:ind visualized a few years ago in
tb#. latter’s opera, “Manru.”
Then there are the green fez, the
flowing white robes of the Turk, the
brown habit of the Christian mission
ary, the splendor of a Hapsburg
court, and tyrannies that led a proud
people a rebellion that echoed
around the world. And all finally
cads in a basket phaeton on the Cliff
Itrive at Newport, with a young Hun
garian and an American heiresss ac
knowledging to their friends that they
are about to marry.
« An Object of Interest.
• New Yorkers have been watching
Mies Vanderbilt with more than cus
tomary interest in the last three
years. She is the youngest daughter
of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, anu the
only one of her children unmarried.
Her sister is Mrs. Harry Payne Whit
ney: her brothers, Cornelius, Jr.; Al
fred Gwynne and Reginald Vander
bilt. She Is, too, one of the richest
girls of her age in America, having
come into a fortune of 112,500,000 on
her twenty-first birthday last August.
Miss Vanderbilt was introduced to
society three years ago at a dance
given by her mother in the great Van
derbilt house at Fifth avenue and
Fifty-seventh street. It was one of
the events of the season. The house
had not been opened for five years.
The chat of the drawing rooms con
* uectcd Miss Vanderbilt's name again
and( again with those of young men
who might be considered her suitors.
Sometimes these reached the news
papers. sometimes not. One of the
young men was Robert Walton Goelet.
Another mentioned more recently was
one of the younger generation in the
Gerard family. When any of tuese re
ports crept into print they were posi
tively denied.
Then there were rumors that Miss
Vanderbilt’s trip abroad last summer
had back of it a desire to put as many
miles as possible of sea and railroad
between herself and one of the more
persistent 3U'.tcrs. Be that as it may,
Mrs. Vanderbilt and Miss Gladys went
to California early last spring with
Mrs. Elliott F. Shepard, then came
east and sailed for Europe in April.
From time to time reports drifted to
‘—erica of their summer pilgrimage.
They were entertained iu Loudon by
Ambassador and Mrs. White-law Rcfi,
then visited the ambassador at his
country place, Wrest Park. Later they
were said to be at Carlsbad for the
seas-.n. Then the messages had them,
cruising r.n European waters.
This wont an until nearly the end of:
August. Miss Gladys was 21 on the
24th of that month. Mrs. Vanderbilt
cabled an order to open The Break
ers, her Newport home, and she and
her daughter started f& New York, ar
riving on Sept. 25.
When Mrs. Vanderbilt and Miss
Gladys reappeared at Newport, their
presence 3eemed to crystalize vague
rumors that had been coming from
Europe. The gist of these was that
Miss Vanderbilt had fallen in love, in
the goad old way, with a foreign noble
man, and that, Vanderbi!t-Iike, she
would brook no opposition when she
had decided to have her own way.
Nothing was to be learned of the
nobleman’s identity. There was not
an inkling of what had actually hap
•ptned to Miss Vanderbilt during her
trip to Europe. Certain Austrian of
ficials in thfs country are authority
for the story. They say Miss yander
bllt met Count Laszlo Szechenyi—they
called it Sa-she-nye—in Salsburg, a
contincntial watering place, and that
they had fallen In love with each other
in short order. The count’s relatives
were told of it and Miss Vanderbilt
was Invited to come in the mid-sum
mer to the home of the Szechenyi fam
ily, in the district of Horpreck’s, Hun
gary.
At a family gathering there, so the
story runs, the young American heir
ess was formally bethrothed under
the laws of Austro-Hungary. Then
Miss Vanderbilt resumed her journey.
Count Szechcnyi’s appearance in
Newport sta.rted the rumors of Miss
Vanderbilt’s romance again with fev
erish persistency.
In the ycung nobleman who was
Mrs. Vanderbilt’s guest at The Break
ers, Miss Gladys Vanderbilt’s friends
saw a quiet, affable young man of 28,
whose dark complexion suggested a
Magyar origin. Many even thought he
looked like young Robert Walton Goe
let, with whom Miss Vanderbilt’s
name had already been associated.
The chief difference was that the
count wore a small black mustache
with the ends turned up like the Em
peror William’s.
The engagement announced, everj
one is repeating:
“Who is Count Szechenyi?”
His full name is Ladisiaus Szeche
nyi von Sarvar und Felso-Videk. His
family is one of the oldest in Austria-1
Hungary. Although a count by right. |
| the title does not mean more than an
honor conferred on all men of his
class, just as all tUb sons of. the Sze
j chenyi family are chamberlains in the
imperial court of Austria-Hungary by
birth, and the senior member holds a
seat III the upper branch of the Hun
garian parliament.
So far as lineage goes, probably
none of the titled foreigners who have
married American women can boast
of a longer line of ancestors than
count Szechenyi. Besides hi9 family
tree, that of the duke of Marlborough,
who married Miss Consuelo Vander
‘ bilt, is the veriest sapling. Count
de Castellane, former husband of Miss
Anna Gould, might compare with the
czechenyis In piide of birth, for bis
family is one of the oldest In Prance
and their castle of Castellane has
been In the family for many centuries.
Tbe Szechenyi name, however, goes
back fully 1,000 years. The story of
the young man who is to marry Miss
Vanderbifc began not later than 955.
He comes of the Magyars—wild ad
venturers decendants of the ancient
Scythians, who invaded Europe from
Central Asia in the ninth century and
overran Hungary and Transylvania.
The men of the Szechenyi family
have borne the title of count for more
than 300 years. Among the most cele
brated of them was Count Nicholas
Szechenyi, companion in arms of the
famous Hungarian general, Zrlnyl,
who in the sixteenth century stood
like a battlement between the en
croachments of the Turks on the
south and east and the kingdoms of
western Europe.
Few episodes of mediaeval history
are more romantic than the story of
Zrinyi's defense of Sziget, a fortress
on the Danube, withstanding for a
month, and with 2,500 men, the on
slaughts of the Sultan Solyman and
65,000 Turks, ifrinyi’s fate has been
made the theme of one of Theodore
Koerner’s most famous tragedies.
Another of the Szechenyis, holding
the rank of archbishop, was the me
diator in bringing about the peace be
tween Emperor Ferdinand and Roko
czy, by which the latter was recog
nized as legitimate prince of Transyl
vania.
Like their ancestors the wealth of
the family lies in the ownership of
land. The young count’s father owned
thousands of acres divided into scores
of farms and forest preserves. As
did their forefathers, the Szechenyis
drew from these domains tribute of
wheat, Turkish pepper, tobacco, hemp
and grapes, and next to Frahce, Hun
gary is the greatest wine-producing
country in the world. According to
Hungarian standards the Szechenyis
are very rich and powerful.
When Miss Vanderbilt goes as a
bride to Au3tro-Hungary she may well
believe herself in that Ruritania which
Anthony Hope has made the scene of
so many adventured. Her new do
mains, now broken by the Carpathian
mountains a$d the Alps, now reaching
out toward the rivers in great grain
fields or vineyards, will be a land of
quaint customs, of traditional romance
and of old world aristocracy in pres
ent-day surroundings. The great
houses of Vienna and the Imperial
court will be open to her, and Vienna
is one of the gayest of European cities.
Budapest will offer her a social pres
tige little less alluring.
A LOST LUNCH.
Alderman, Station Agent, Merchant
and Poor Family Made Happy.
Mr. and Mrs. George S. Jenkins, old
tv-residents of Bloomfield, enjoyed the
U best dinner recently they have had
ia many months—since Thanksgiving,
in fact—while Thomas C. Dancer, the
Glen wood avenue newsdealer, and his
clerk, for whom the dinner was in
tended, had to be satisfied with free
lunch. It all happened because of a
.Sunday school excursion, too.
The Methodist Episcopal church, the
Watsessing Methodist church, and the
first Baptist church, all of Bloom
' field, held a union outing recently at
Cranberry lake.
Among the excursionists was Mrs.
Dancer. Believing that her first duty
. lay in preparing for her husband's
*wints, she cooked a fine luncheon.
| There was roast chicken, bread and
’ tatter, stewed corn, potatoes au gra
’ tin. dill pickles, olives, coffee and a
'generous amount of blackberry pie,
•i tor "Tom," she thought, “just loves
- s
blackberry pie. Far be it from me to
go to gallivantin’ about on church pic
nics."
She took the basket down to the
station, where Mr. Dancer met heV.
He put the basket on a bench in the
station waiting room while he assisted
his wife up the high steps. He then
returned to his place of business and
never thought or the basket again un
til lunch time.
“Abe” Doremus, the station agent,
saw the basket, and decided that some
one of the excursionists had forgotten
her lunch. Alderman Frank N.
Unangst came along. Doremus told
the alderman of his find and asked
what he had better do with it.
“Give it to Eiome poor family,” said
the alderman, “and they can, return
the dishes to you. The contents might
spoil before night.”
Calling a porter. Doremus said:
“Take this over to Mr. and Mrs. Jenk
ins. Tell them to eat the contents and
return the dishes.”
Two hours after Mrs. Jenkins re
turned the dishes, cleanly washed, and
thanked the station agent for his
kindness.
it . ' " ■
“How did you enjoy It?” asked the
latter.
“It was fine,” answered Mrs. Jenk
ins, “and we used the silver knives
and forks to eat it with, too. My, but
that chicken was good!”
Just one hour after the return of
the dishes Mr/ Dancer ran into the
station looking for his basket. The
station agent explained matters.
“Wasn’t very hungry, anyway, to
day,” he said. “Anyhow, I’m glad I
didn’t get it, ’cause I know it must
er tasted mighty good to the
Jenkinses. Oh, my wife’s a good cook
Abe!”
“Bet the Jenkinses think so,” he
called back.
“That's what made the station
agent, newajealer and alderman so
happy to-day,” said Mrs. Dancer when
she came home.—Washington Post
Making a Monkey of Him.
Reggy Sapp—Yeas, the young lady
from Boston said I reminded her of •
beautiful flower. We&Uy, don't you
think I resemble a pansy? V -
Miss Tabasco—Yes, a chimpanzee.
^-Chicago News. -
WEALTH BY BILLIONS
VALUE OF FARM PRODUCTS FOR
THE YEAR 1907.
-- — y.—
WHAT THE EARTH PRODUCES
Agriculturalists Have It in Their
Power to Curtail the Operation of
Trusts and Prevent Unequal
Distribution of Money.
•
Farms of the United States in 1907
will produce more wealth than all the
gold mines of the world have produc
ed in 20 years. Conservative estimates
place the value of all farm products at
approximately $7,000,000,000, or about 1
$200,000,000 more than their value in
1906. The farmer is the magician, the
alchemist, that makes use ,of nature to
enrich the world. The farmers’ corn
crops alone average a billion dollars
a year, and ^11 the other cereals an
other billion, with cotton, tcbacc^ feay
and flax worth another biiiion, &Efl the
fruits, garden truck and animals a few
billions more. Thus it can be seen that
the fanner, produces wealth greater
than taken from it by the miners for
its precious gems and minerals. There
is no other foundation for the wealth
and business of the world other than
the land. Men cannot eat gold; the
coal is only useful to him as a means
of utilising what the earth grows;
there is nothing In the mineral world
that will sustain life, or anything that
is necessary unless mortals eat, drink
and wear clothes. When there is
abundance of agricultural productions,
there are prosperous times, and a fam
ine when the opposite occmrs. The
whole financial fabric, the entire com
mercial system, is dependent upon the
farmer, and his work.
<pne pillion aonars is an amount <j*;
yond the comprehension of the aver
age man. The life of an individual is
not sufficiently long to count it cent
by cent should he work ten hours a
day, from his tenth year until death.
This is the average value of the corn
crop alone that the farmers of the
United States produce yearly.
One Would believe that if only a
small portion of the vast wealth,
which the farmers produce could be
only retained in the agricultural com
munities, there would be a class of
rich men greater than in any commer
cial community. Yet statistics show
that for the amount of wealth yearly
produced, the farmers are retainers of
Only a small portion of it. The tend
ency is toward concentration 'of
wealth In great financial centers. It Is
in these places, and by the control of
this great wealth, that trusts are built
up, aud the machinery put in opera
tion that systematically draws from
the agricultural sections the great
wealth produced. Farmers can, if they
will, bring about a change by a sim
ple adhereiye to the home trade prin
ciple; by patronage of local business
institutions instead of the concerns in
the large cities. D. M. CARR.
FOR THi HOME TOWN.
Be a “booster” for your home town.
By patronizing other than local insti
tutions you are using a boomerang
that is likely to fly back and do you
injury when you least expect It. No
one can be an Ideal citizen and talk
and work against the interests of his
home town. So long as you are a resi
dent of a community, do your part
towards assisting It to greater
progress.
Those who are opposed to the evils
of capital concentration, the building
up of trusts that work against the in
terests of the masses, should consider
the fact that any and every system
of business that depletes a section of
the country of the wealth it produces
strengthens the system of business
and financial concentration. One of
the most baneful systems that at the
present is working against the inter
ests of the smaller cities and towns,
and is the greatest medium of drain
ing wealth from agricultural communi
ties, is the mail-order plan of doing
business. From some rural towns
from 40 to 50 per cent, of the trade
goes to foreign concerns. If this trade
were confined to the home town, its
business would be doubled, employ
ment given to twice as many people;
the profits accruing from mercantile
business would seek local investment,
and within a few years the population
of the town would be more than dou
bled, and all living within the dlstri^J
would be benefited.
Every kind and class of goods have
a real value, and this value 13 based
upon the cost of the raw material, the
price of the labor In producing it, and
the cost of distribution. Whenever
there are big bargains offered in any
line, and goods offered “below value,”
be careful and see that you are not
getting an inferior article.
While the farmer may receive a
dozen papers from the large cities, he
invariably reads his local paper. It
Is to the interest of the farmer as well
as the merchant that the latter use
its columns freely to tell of the latest
prices, goods freshly received, etc.
The farmer wants to buy, and the
merchants want to sell, and the farm
er will buy when and where he can
save money. The m«v*chant who lets
business go away from his town
through lack of advertising rightly is
not a very enterprising business man.
It is well to be on guard when deal
ing with Itinerant agents, sellers of
groceries, carriages, machinery, pat
ent rights, etc. It is a pretty good idea
to never take grab-bag chance when
you wish to buy an article. See what
you are purchasing before paying for
it
—— ■ ..
POOR GOODS, CHEAP PREMIUM8.
How Money Is Sometimes Squandered
In Patronizing Prize-Package
Concerns.
The economical housewife is a
blessing. She who will watch the
pennies and dimes can greatly assist
her husband in accumulating money
for use during Says of adversity.
Quite often women through their anx
iety to assist in saving, and not having
a training along business lines, make
foolish expenditures. How often do
we find women in the country towns
and districts engaged in buying soaps,
spices, teas and coffees from some
club-order concern with a view of get
ting cheap premiums that are offer
ed vmh each lot of goods'? There is
no economy in this method. Women
as well as men should remember that
there is never anything of value given
without an equitable compensation,
and when purchased on the club plan
the profits paid are generally enor
mous, You car.net get loniftbing for
nothing. I* }ou desire to purchase
$10 or $20 worth of groceries, the best
place to buy them is at some re
sponsible grocery establishment in
your -own town. You can see what
you are getting, and you know that the
goods must be good or you can re
turn them. When you get a premium
with a lot of Boaps or spices or ex
tracts, you will find that while the
goods may appear all right, there Is a
great chance of fraud that you little
look for. The bars of soap will he
of light weight, poorly dried, made of
cheaper materials, and would be dear
at your home store at half the price
that you are compelled to pay for
them. The spices will be half ground
bark, and the extracts synthetic, never
made from fruit flavors, but out of the
dlrty-looking coal-tar, a by-product p{.
gas-manufacturing, and even the teas
and coffees will bq of the poorest kind
and doctored up to look well. Then
how about the premiums? You will
find that they, too, are of the cheapest
class, and could be purchased at the
local store for half what they are
represented to be worth. Women are
only doing their duty in trying to as
sist their husbands, but top oftejt they
waste money by patronizing premium
and club concerns that operate from
distant cities in small towns and ru
ral communities.
CRIES OF THE SIREN,
Alluring Promise Made In Exaggerat-,
ed Advertisements to Gain Trade. '
_“Don’t be robbed ” .“Save the profits'
that yoilf storekeeper makes,” and
many like catch phrases is the princi
pal advertising stock of the concerns
who claim to sell at “wholesale”
prices direct to consumers. Their ar
guments appeal to women and men
who have Jlttle knowledge of commer
cial methods. It is the appeal of self
ishness that wins fer the concerns
who seek business among the resi
dents of farming districts rather thau
any merit that the arguments present
I ed may have.
' There can be little doubt as to tL»
mail-order way of doing business be- ^
‘ log a permanent fixture in the mercan- !
tile world. The fact cannot be dis
puted that in certain lines of goods
which are offered as “leaders” lower
prices are quoted than like goods are
generally sold at in local Btores. But
the average price on all lines cannot
be lower, character and quality con
sidered, than the same goods could be
sold at by the local merchant.
The business of the big mail-order
concerns has been gained by extensive
advertising and continuous aggressive
work. It has been the apathy of the
merchants in the country towns that
has allowed these concerns to take
trade from “under their very noses.”
Conditions that allow the steady drain
of money from the agricultural dis
tricts and small towns to the Mg cities
are to be deplored. There cannot be
doubt as to the evils of the mail-order
systems as a factor in the concentra
tion of wealth in the great financial
centers, and the resultant building up
of trusts. For the past quarter of a
century the trust evil has been con
stantly developing and keeping pace
with it, is the mail-order system.
Much like the leprosy, Its progress Is
such that the evil has a firm foothold
ere serious attention is paid to It. The
cry of “Save the dealers’ profits” is
synonymous with “Kill the industries
of your own town; help us bind the
trust ties firmer about your own
hands.” Don’t be a traitor to your
home town, even though there is a
promise of a small saving In cents and
dollars. Do your part to head off the
business concentration evil. •
FREE TREATMENT.
A Method That Should Cure People of
the Habit of Patronizing Quack
Doctors.
It matters little how widespread
through the press is the information
as to frauds being operated in the
country, there is always a field for the
people who live by petty graft. One of
the latest plans to defraud has re
cently been worked in a number of
western states. Strangers, purporting
to be agents of a free hospital, would :
approach a farmer, inquire as to bis
health, and promise him free treat
ment should he be ailing, claiming
that the state medical department
would furnish the medicine free. A
lengthy statement of his complaint
would be written and. His signature
secured. I few weeks later a note
duly signed by the farmer would be
presented to him by his home bank.
This appears to be a filmy scheme,'
but nevertheless more than a score of
farmers in one Minnesota county were
caught for from $50 to $200 each.
Don’t sign any contract or statement
unless you are positive of its character.
The Child’s Skin.
'
The chief peculiarity about the
treatment of skin disease in children
is that the reaction to the remedies
applied is more prompt than in adults,
says a writer in the London Hospital.
Moreover, since the risk of absorption
is by no means inconsiderable, oint
ments and lotions containing power
ful poisons, suca as carbolic add or
mercury, should not be employed, un
less well diluted, orer large surfaces
of the body.
Certain cutaneous lesions also are
transient, so that one is left with
their results, notably the scratch
mark and the scab. The history of
the mode of onset of an eruption, as
given By an intelligent mother or
nurse, is, therefore, of greater value -
than the statement of the patient him
self, who might even be unaware of
the existence of anything wrong with
his skin.
Blonde ladies am always under sus
picion natll they have proved their
innocence.
CAPTAIN C. DE P CHANOL-ETR AND c/.C /ff CQV* 1
/yV 77//T BASKET JUJT BEFORE. THE M&*olON
The big European nations have set
the pace and the United States is fol
lowing. Aeronautics are occupying'a
large place in military operations - in
Germany, France and England, and
regular balloon corps have been added
to the armies of those countries and
hundreds of thousands of dollars ex
pended in securing dirigible balloons
Si the most approved type.
With such advances being made in
that direction it behoved Uncle Sam
uel to stir himself and provide equally
effective means of protecting his land
and his people, and so it ha3 come to
pass that a balloon corps has been
added to our nl?Utary equipment, and
although we are somewhat behind
European nations in tackling -the prC**
lem of military aeronautics, our army
is now working overtime in the
effort to excel in this, the most mod
ern branch of warfare. At the time
the navy department is letting con
tracts for submarines, the war depart
ment is deep in the problem of select
ing the best types of balloons. While
the special army and navy board is
discussing behind closed doors the use
of balloons as a part of our coast de
fense system, actual ascensions are
being made daily from various points
in and around'Washington by Capt.
Charles De F. Chandler of the bal
loon division of the signal corps. His
first ascension several days ago was
witnessed by gaping thousands; sub
sequent ascensions were seen by un
diminished crowds, but their gapes are
fast disappearing. The novelty Is
wearing off. Military aeronautics is
gradually taking its place In this coun
try as a recognized and necessary
branch of military science.
Congress will be called upon at the
coming session to increase the appro
priations for the purchase of balloons,
and the chief signal office of the army
is now considering plans for a dirigi
ble balloon, to cost in the neighbor
hood of $100,000, with a capacity of
50,000 cubic feet, equipped with two
120-horse power engines of foreign de
sign, and a contract speed of 35 miles
an hour under favorable atmospheric
conditions. The hope is expressed,
however, that this announcement will
not move the unknown number of bal
loon cranks in this country to swamp
the war department with descriptions
of their contrivances. If it were left
to the army to decide, the statistics
would show that the number of bal
loon crauks in this country far ex
ceeds any other class of cranks.
There are about a half-dozen bal
loons, all captive, now In the posses
sion of the signal corps. The largest
of these, which was recently purch
ased, is what is known as a “complete
military captive balloon,” with all ap
purtenances. It has a capacity of 300
cubic meters. An ordinary spherical
balloon, with a capacity of 2,200 cubic
meters, has also been bought recently,
it will be filled with coal gas and used
for preliminary instruction of officers
and enlisted men of the signal corps
in the elementary principles of aero
nautics. On its trial trip this balloon
made a successful journey from Wash
ington to Harrisburg, a distance of 104
miles, in four and one-half hours.
Balloon headquarters for the army
will be at Fort Omaha, but Instruction
in military aeronautics will also be
jiven at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the
course here being adapted to the
respective needs of the three service
schools. For the protection of the
Paclflo coast balloon headquarters are
% be established on Angel island, and
the selection of an advantageous site
on the Atlantic coast is now under
consideration. In case the dirigible
balloon of the trype which the authori
ties are now considering is contracted
for, it will, when completed, be ,sent
to East Omaha and there tested. The
oiticers of the signal corps are unwill
ing to give detai’s regarding its main
characteristics until it is completed;
they are guarding them with all the
care that the navy attempts to guard
its battleship designs. Put it Is not,
unlikely that, before congress apprO
priates very much money for balloons
its members will call for "persons and
papers,” and then the cat will tie out
of the bag.
Then? is no disposition to go to6
rapidly in the purchase of a dirigible
balloon, for the reason that Capt..
Chandler, who is to become one of the
chief instructors in military aero
nautics, is just now taking his first
lessons in actual "ballooning.”
Army officers who ftre interested In
the development of the balloon as an
agent of warfare have encountered an
obstacle in the disposition of the pub
lic to question the practicability of
military aeronautics. This is prob-'
ably because the American really
knows very little about balloons.
When it is remembered that as long
ago as the siege of Paris the inhabi
tants of the French capital were en
abled by means of balloons to com
municate with the forces outside the
walls, doubts about the utility of the
balloon in time of war should vanish.
More than 70 balloons during that
memorable siege carried dozens of
passengers, tons of mail and hundreds
of carrier pigeons from the city to
the troops outside, and in due time
were returned to the besieged people
with valuable Information about the
movements of the enemy.
In a recent communication to the
war department from Europe, where
he has been gathering valuable infor
mation on the subject of military aero
nautics as practiced in continental
armies, Lieut. Lahm sounds a note of
warning: "W’e should not fail to ap
preciate the necessity of preparedness
for war above the earth as well as on
the earth, and when our next war
comes we should not be found want
ing in this particular branch of mili
tary science.”
Germany Is at the present time
conducting very elaborate expert
ments in the use of balloons for mili
tary purposes, and this branch of mili
tary science has received attention in
the annual manoeuvers of the French
army for the last six years.
In the course to be given at Fort
Omaha it is proposed to instruct the
balloon division not only in the art
of making ascensions, but in the
quickest methods of inflating, of un
packing the balloon from the wagon,
and of towing it, once it is inflated,
until the opportune time for making
the ascension arrives. In short, it will
be the effort of Capt. Chandler, of
Lieut. Lahm, and our other military
aeronauts, to develop a regular form
of balloon drills, .and in time a drill
book giving the various manoeuvers
of i’ Jation, how to prepare for ascen
sions, how to handle the delicate ap
purtenances that make up the com
plete balloon outfit.
No great deeds are done without
the doing of many little details.
Didn’t Roost with the Chickens.
The homely forms of speech used
by the country people with whom lit
tle Edith and her mother boarded this
summer were frequently very puzsling
to the child.
One evening the farmer’s wife, in
talking for a few minutes with Edith’s
mother, remarked that, as she was
rery tired that night, she behoved
she would “go to roost with the chick
ms.”
When Edith’s bedtime arrived a lit
tle later the youngster was nowhere
.o be found. After considerable search
she was discovered sitting on - large
stone near the chicken house lietly
watching the fowl as they came in one
>y one.
“Edith!” called her mother; “what
ire you doing there! I’ve been look
ing for you everywhere; it’s time to
50 to bed.”
“I know, mother," was the reply;
but they're nearly all in now, so
she’ll he. here soon, I guess.”
“Who are in and who will be
there? What on earth are you talk
ing about, child?" asked the mystified
mother.
“Why.” explained Edith, rather Im
patiently. “you know Mrs. - said
she was going to roost with the chick
ens to-night and I’m waiting to see
how she does it.”
Living Up to Regulations.
A number of small North Delaware
street girls had opened a lemonade
stand at the edge of the curb. The
drink was in a large glass pitcher,
with Bliced lemons floating appetizing
ly at the top. One small girl, with a
red crayon, had lettered the word
“artificial” and leaned it against the
pitcher.
“What’s that for?” inquired a pass
es by.
“Pure food law,” said the girls in
chorus.
“But why should you label it? Are
not the water, the lemons, and the
sugar pure?”
“Yes.” .’ -
“Well, what’s artificial about it?"
“The Ice.”—Indianapolis News.
City and Country Air.
City air contains 14 times as many
microbes as that of the country.