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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 1908)
ODD SIGHTS WHICH WILL GREET THE AHERICAN SAILORS THERE / 'siLftide LADY Not the least interesting of all the places at which the American fleet will touch in its sail ’round the earth "'ill be the little island of Malta, in the Mediterranean sea, south of Sic ily. There the great fleet of battle ships will stop on its way home from the Pacific to the Atlantic, via the Suez canal. Outside of diplomatic, naval and military circles, little is known of this mere speck upon the map of Europe. Students of history will perhaps re call the presence there of Napoleon 1.. who pillaged the churches, stripping them of their gold and silver, and shipping the booty away, only to have his vessel founder in a gale and los ing all. To-day, in the churches are solid silver gates and vessels that were overlooked by Napoleon's men for the reason that they were painted black to deceive the eye of the van dals. On the northwestern shore or this island is St. Paul’s bay, clearly identi fied with the apostle's shipwreck and made the subject of many famous paintings, adorning the walls of the churches in Valletta, the principal city of the island. The stirring history of the Knights of Malta is forcefully present in all : its romance, and the island is rich in relics of these valiant mem To the feminine mind, Maltese lace, that ever popular fabric, is suggested, although this material is not directly connected with the island of Malta, the lacema kers living upon the adjoining island of Gozo. Most important of all—England has these islands, making Malta the base of supplies, coaling station, garrison and rendezvous of the Mediterranean squadron. From the British, the Amer ican admiral and his officers will re ceive attention. The sailors will view the island in its simple life, explore catacombs and visit the ancient Cit ta Yecchia. At San Antone the officers will be entertained by the duke of Connaught, who is at present com mander-in-chief of the military forces of the Mediterranean. On the fourth day after leaving Gib raltar. the traveler to the east finds himself in the Malta channel, a strip between Sicily and Malta. Upon bright days the snow-ciad peak of Etna makes itself visible. At the south the rocky shore of Gozo is outlined. Eastward, bright in its orange color, lies Malta. One is first impressed with its snow-white buildings, low and solid, and with the spires of the churches. In the distance the huge dome of Mus- j ta church, the third largest in the world, stands like a sentinel, guarding the people of the old city in the cen ter of the island. This church. wTith its huge dome, was built by natives j who worked only upon Sundays and holidays and without wages, the labor j covering a period of 27 years. No scaffolding was used in its construc tion. The two great harbors spread their arms invitingly and within there is ' ample anchorage for the “big 16” fleet of T’r.clo Sam. The huge breakwater, poking i;s nose into the channel, sp.eaks of the enterprise of the Eng lish in protecting this wee spot from tempests. The buildings skirt the shore of the harbor, rising abruptly to the eruin The Sultan’s Name. American and English newspapers have a way of mangling the name of the sultan of Turkey. Often he is called simply “Abdul”—nothing more. Sometimes it is “Abdul the Artful.” “Abdul the Wary.” The proper way to write the name, according to the London Chronicle, is “Abd-ul-Hamid,” or as some would transliterate it. “Abd-'l-Hamid." This means “Servant (or slave) of the praised one," i. e., God. or Allah. The “ul" or “ T’ mere ly represents the Arabic definite ar ticle, which in writing is always joined to the following word. “Abd" is the very common first name with Mohammedans, as in Abd ul-Kadir, Abd-ul-Latif, Abd-ul-Aziz. “Abdul," with or without the Hamid makes nonsense, but no one seems to notice it. On this principle George du Maurier might be called “Georgedu” for short, and T. P. O'Connor would lose his nationality under the Italian looking disguise of “Thomaso.” The number of sugar factories in operation last year in Russia was 278. INTERIOR or OTdOm's CONVENTUAL Eo ence that forms the principal thor oughfare of the city of Valletta. t'p through the narrow stone streets you are driven to the hotel, passing upon every hand men who wear the uniform of King Edward. The bare focted. or sandaled, native trudges leisurely along. Here and there one sees a group of Maltese women, their faces half-hidden beneath the faldette. This primitive race is deeply at tached to their national usages for which other nationalities sometimes show lack of consideration. The fal dette is a peculiar mantilla of black silk worn by the women. It is some times called onega. In shape it re sembles a huge poke bonnet or skirt turned over the head. It is gathered in on one side and kept in place by an arched whalebone. This is operated very skillfully hv the women, and gives them the nun-like effect re marked by the visitor. The ovens of the knights still sup ! ply the garrison. The present postof \ lice on Strada Mercani, formerly the Palazzo Parisio, was occupied by Na- ! poleon I. as his headquarters when he ! was at Valletta. A tablet marks the spot for the tourist. Strada Santa Lucia, or, as it is known by the tourists, the "street of steps," is a decided novelty. It leads from the lower town along the bay to the main street of Valletta. Strada Reale. This climb is lined with shops, and here aiso are found at the corners the saints’ shrines, before which burn the candles placed there by the de vout peonle. The governor's palace is all that one could picture as typical. Here is the room hung in rich tapestry in which the house of assembly for the local parliament meets. Here Italian is spoken, this language also being used in the courts of justice on the island. It is declared by the commercial classes that the use of English as a supplement to Maltese and Italian would he desirable. St. John's Conventual church is next in importance to the palace. Within, from floor to celling, it is one blaze of memorial antiquity. The floor is i paved With tombstones of more than i 400 chevaliers. With the heraldic em blazonment in marble mosaic, aud the 1 sculpture, bronze and paintings, a ; wealth of history is unfolded. This I wonderful church has its chapels, each devoted to the nationality of men who have figured in the stirring history of the island, each chapel having art in j oil and marble. No visitor to Malta ever leaves with- I out first visiting the Chapel of Bones, beneath the Hospital of Incurables, which adjoins the burial place of the | knights who died in hospital and who were buried in mantels a bee with their white cross. This chapel's archi tecture is rendered in every detail by the bleached bones of humanity. At the base of the altar is a tablet bear ing an inscription. The following is a translation: : D. o. M. : : TIT E W< IR LD IS A ST A G E. : Ol tl LIFE A TP.AGEDT : ALL IS ILLUSION: ALL A FIC- • : TION. : DEATH THE CLOSE OF ALL : : THINGS. . : IT UNMASKS AND SOLVES - ALL. : THOU. WHO LI VEST. PONDER : : ON THIS. : PR A Y THAT PERPETUAL : : LIGHT MAT SHINE ON • : THOSE WHO REST HEREIN. : : GO IN PEACE. REMEMBER : THAT THOU SHALT DIE. : The mortuary connected with the hospital has a singular relic. It is a place where the body is left 24 hours after death, with straps fastened to the hands and feet. The slightest mo tion would set a bell ringing and thus prevent any iikelihod of being buried alive Both the islands of Gozo and Malta are honeycombed with caves which date from the period of Phoenician occupation. These catacombs are at tractive in their gruesomeness. One enters them at Citta Vecchia, where native guides are always waiting to earn a few pennies for the privilge of escorting you through the mazelike corroidors extending in all directions. How to Avoid Cramps. ‘ ^nu often hear of people dying from cramps while in swimming,” said a physician, ‘‘but the fact is that a very small percentage of persons real ly die from cramps while bathing. Be the bather a good swimmer or other wise. he or she usually gets more or less water in the ears and when a large quantity of the fluid finds its way there it floods the ear drums and causes the nerves leading to the brain to become paralyzed. This naturally forces; other vital nerves to cease per forming their duty and the result is death. If people who go in swimming would, as I save done for the past 40 years, put a piece of cotton in each ear to prevent the flooding of that organ, The New Arithmetic. Boggs—How much is two times one, plus one? Joggs—Why, three, of course. Boggs—No; a man, wife and baby; two and one to carry.—Half-Holiday. Different Then. ‘‘First come, first served,” is true enough unless you make a practice of never tipping the waiter. Sultan to Decapitate His Court Astrologer By V/ILLARD W. GARRISON Soothsayer Gets In Bad with the Stars and Is Now in Jail Wise Sage Will Offer Up His Head as New Year’s Gift to turkey’s Highest Potentate—Recital of the Country’s Trials and tribulations— Some High Officials Flee—Others Are Jailed Before They Can Escape — How His Majesty Feels About the R^egal Distress. J X-COURT AS TROLOGER AB DUL HU DA’S New Year's of fering to the sultan of Tur key will be the former’s head. This is the latest bit of wireless news from the im perial palace at Con stantinople. and it is vouched for by Lord High Guardian of His Maj jesty's Wearing Apparel Mafid Mo hammed, who whispered the words across the plaza to a tall blonde lady who wras interested in stars before they thrust Huda into jail. It all came about in this manner: At a recent star chamber session between his majesty and the court astrologer, Huda informed the sultan that as far as he could discern by daylight the orbs of the universe were in their correct positions, thus lending security to the monarch. A few days later the Young Turks started revolution. A few days after that the sultan was compelled to proclaim that the equal rights constitution of 1S7G would again be in force. This he did with one j ABDUL HUDA. eve pinned upon the threat that the empire would be disrupted by the mal contents. Then be fired the cabinet. And appointed a new one. Finally a minor palace official at tempted to locate his majesty's vitals between the ruffies of the latter's coat cf mail. Each day as his majesty smoked his long pipe, dismissed these disturbances by a new shifting motion, the impres- j sion began to gain strength with him j that all was not serene. The use of the word serene in his ‘ thoughts immediately recalled the star j predictions of Abdul Huda, but then j no better star-gazer was to be found in the empire, for had not the imperial guardian cf the Turkish empire tested him many times and found that Ab dul's predictions were always true? He had. Then menially the sultan went over what his astrologer had told him only the Friday previous. Mars, the star which portended for war, was gradually fading away, and Huda had also said that within a few weeks there would probably be no Mars. The big dipper, suggestive of the horn of plenty, was brighter than ever, it was true, for had not Huda in al! his wise raving said it? Mercury, the swift one. whose ex istence was a memory of work, was soon to go into a perpetual total eclipse, so had Abdul said. Huda's inside reasoning had also de-; picted the eventual union between Jupiter and Venus, which, cf course, | PALACE OF THE SULTAN IN CONSTANTINOPLE. augured well tor friends of the sultan. Surely, then, there was no cause for trouble, the ruler soliloquized to him self. He paused and pondered and then lit up with a new kind of to bacco. Fifteen minutes elapsed. “Ha, I see it all,” he whispered to the royal fox terrier. “Huda's in bad with the stars.” Then in a loud voice: “Corporal of the imperial guard, front!” In came the trusty band, weapons in hand. “Hunt up Abdul Hilda, royal astrclo- j ger. and bring him hence," ordered his | majesty. Within a few minutes, Huda, his j trunk packed for his vacation, was j ushered into the regal presence, wrell J knowing that the signs had been switched under his eyes. “Off with his head!” shouted the sultan, rising from the divan. Fifteen brown forearms pulled 15 ; shining sabers and were ready to de-1 ; liver the fatal stroke with the same I regularity that governs up-to-date mel ! odrama. “Stay, slaves,” quoth his highness, ; “1 would fain give him a worse pun ; ishment beforp I am ready to deprive : him of what little gray matter there | may be beneath that bald pate. To | the dungeon with him." The day's routine over, the sultan reseated himself upon the divan and thought of whaf had best be done. Finally he decided that there could be no place just like jail as a punish ment, and so Huda remained there. However, the siory goes, the former | 1 student of the stars will offer up his ; j bead on New Year's day as his sacri-1 fice for getting into the evil graces j ■' of the stars. I Previously everything had looked splendid to the monarch. The Young Turks had not objected to his harem until Hilda got in bad with the planets and many of that party had promised to leave the country rather than be called to purgatory by decapitation. As each step in this fearful condi tion of things came to his mind his royal highness decided that it looked i darker for Abdul Hilda's head and also rather dark for Abdul Second's safety, the latter being the sultan himself. There was no one else to blame it I on except the astrologer. Had not his plea of sickness when other nations pressed him for the return of their loans, always been sufficient to quell them? It had. and he could see no other reason for the status than by re turning to his original reason. If things went wrong in this man ner Huda must have been in league with the palace camarilla. A double tap at a secret bell, an order shouted down the speaking tube and the officials of the palace camaril la were pinched. This retinue included Riza Pasha, the former minister of war, and Rag hib Pasha, one of the justly exalted and highly honored court chamber lains. Ilecause he considered the dig nity of his position Raghib barricaded himself within his cyclone cellar a few plazas from the royal mansion and prepared to sell his life as dearly as possible. He opened fire on the police, but his ammunition soon gave out and the minions of the law es corted him into the royal presence, who meted out 30 days and costs in the royal dungeon. Because the court soothsayer's re port had been doctored, the sultan set about to corral the entire body of hangers-on, who daily loafed about the ABDUL HAMID, II. Sultan of Turkey. “Power Behind the Throne” Gone and the Monarch Is Com pelled to Dictate His Own “Copy”— Cheering of the Mul titude Outside the Royal Palace Greatly Disturbs the Ruler— Granting of Constitu tion of 1876 Is Great Victory for Young Turks Party—Other Events in Revolution of Form of Government court. This done he issued notice that parliament, representing the people, would be held in the fall. He had to issue the notice himself, for the former power behind the throne—Achmed Izzet Pasha, his sec retary—smelling the trouble by a far better method than that which the astrologer possessed, skipped the coun try and a few days later was reported in the United States. Then in viewf of the new order of things within his realm, Abdul II de cided to call home his ambassadors at foreign capitals. Hence not long ago we read in press dispatches that Mehmed Ali Bey had been recalled from Washington and a successor ap pointed. The Turk recalled from the national capital is no other than the father of the missing secretary, and as a consequence it was expected that the pair would connive together as to the best mode of procedure in the present case, for both might be made a part of the consignment of corpses which the sultan had billed for the morgue on New Year's day. Thus by the foregoing will be seen that things are in a bad way in Turkey, I2ZETT PASHA. and despite the fact that they cheer the sultan outside of the palace until he has to empty the court water pitch er upon them so that he may sleep in pfeace, many of the tall Turkish minds have announced that they "are going away from here, never again to re turn.” And the cause of all this trouble, ac cording to those who sympathize with his majesty, is none other than Huda himself. Therefore he is pining away the idle hours in the jail's solitary con finement pen. playing solitaire with the covers from Turkish cigarette boxes, which the guard shoves to ward him with his manna and water twice a day. The only solace which he had on first entering the jail was that within two months he would have a full pack of cards for they furnished him a box of cigarettes with each meal. That is. his friends did. For they provide his luxuries, while the actual bodily necessities are given by the ruler himself. However, let it be said that the as trologer does not know of his fate, and he probably will not until the time comes for him to be led out to sac rifice his star-filled cranium to the art which he has studied throughout his 49 years. As Turks go he is a young man still, and being unmarried there probably will be few who mourn him. His only acquaintances were court officials, and they had little love for him for the reason that he would at every oppor tunity take their predictions from their mouths and turning them into magic Turkish words return them to the sultan as sayings from the Zodiac. TRAMPS WHO DO GOOD. The story is told of a Pennsylvania tramp who in his wanderings up and down on the earth carries his pockets full of nuts, which he plants as he goes. For three years he has followed this practice, says the Virginia Pilot, and during that time is said to have planted thousands and thousands of nuts, always seeking the out-of-the-way spots—rocky hillsides and abandoned lands at the edges of creeks and streams—so that the chances cf the trees being destroyed before they grow up and mature will be minimiz ed. This old tramp is doing something more than guaranteeing the future youth of Pennsylvania against the loss of the joy of nutting. He is set ting an example in tree planting which the farmers throughout the land may well follow with profit to themselves and to the country. This nut-planting tramp recalls another member of the wandering tribes. He was known throughout the country as Apple Tree Johnny from his habit of planting ap ple seeds in fence corners and other nooks. Many a wayside fruit tree is said to owe its existence to Apple Tree Johnny. Us? cf Adjectives. Certain adjectives are reserved for ] man and others for women. A man is never called “beautiful.” Along with “pretty” and “lovely" that adjective has become the property of women and children alone. "Handsome" and the weak “good-looking" are the only two adjectives of the kind common to either sex. Even “belle” has no real masculine correlative in English, since “beau” came to signify some thing other than personal looks. It is singular that “handsome” should have become the word for a strikingly good looking person, since its literal mean ing is handy, dexterous. But “pretty” likewise comes from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning “sly.” HOUSE WORK Thousands of American women in our homes are daily sacrificing their lives to duty. Iu order to keep the home neat and pretty, the children well dressed and tidy, women overdo. A female weakness or displacement is often brought on and they suffer in silence, drifting along from bad to worse, knowing well that they ought to have help to overcome the pains and aches which daily make life a burden. It is to these faithful women that LYDIA E.P!NKHAIM’S VEGETABLE COMPOUND comes as a boon and a blessing, as it did to Mrs. F. Ellsworth, of Mayville, N. Y., and to Mrs. W. P. Boyd, of Beaver Falls, I’a., who say: “I was not able to do my own work, owing to the female trouble from which I suffered. Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vege table Compound helped me wonderfully, and I am so wcL that I can do as big a day's work a* I ever did. I wish every sick woman vomd try it. FACTS FOR SICK WOMEN. For thirty yer.rs Lydia E. Iflnk ham’s Vegetable Compound, made from roots and herbs, has been the standard remedy for female ills, and has positively cured thousands of women who have oeen troubled with displacements, in fit mmation. ulcera tion, fibroid tumors, irregularities, periodic pains, backache, that bear mg-down feeling, flatulency, indiges tion,dizziness,or nervous prostration. Why don’t you try it ? Mrs. Pinkham invites all sick women to write her for advice. She lias guided thousands to health. Address, Lynn, Mass. ON THE MOVE. Timid Bard—D-does poetry go around here? Cruel Editor—Some of It does That last batch you submitted just went out of the window. A TEXAS CLERGYMAN Speaks Out for the Benefit of Suffering Thousands. Rev. G. M. Gray, Baptist Clergyman, of Whitesboro, Tex., says: “Four years ago i suirerea mis ery with lumbago. Every movement was one of pain. Doan’s Kidney Pills removed the whole difficulty after only ; a short time. Al though I do not like to have my name used publicly. I make an exception in this case, so that other sufferers from kidney trou ble may profit by my experience.” Sold by all dealers. 50 cents a box. Foster-Milburn Co., Buffalo. N. T. Danger in New York Roads. There is an average of seven car collisions a day on the steam, subway, elevated and surface railways of New York. vvk srci.i, gi ns and ti: ads cheap & buy Furs & Hides. Write for cntai. e 105 X. W. Hide & Fur Co., Minneapolis, Minn. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.—Jefferson. Lewis' Single Bip'er straight 5c cigar. Made of extra quality tobacco. Your dealer or Lewis’ Factory, Peoria, 111. Telling the truth accidentally Is apt to be embarrassing. ^yyruprt]igs ^Elixir tSenna acts gently yet prompt ly onthe bowels, cleanses fne system ej|ectually; assists one in overcoming habitual constipation permanently. To get its oenejieiol ejects buy the genuine. plantijactured bptne California Jig Sxrtjp Co. SOLO BY LEADING DRUGGISTS-KH ^BOTTUL