1 rv’„r- : - ..loo c' ■:* old sort. of jwrate-in t --J -4-ii of ;cr.l r-.djou - of *. 1 o' s* range and *: countrse* tilled with tt* Stwr that, ha* drawn taen ■-re; tf t-e,;.nu:ug at time— _♦ n; »« away It U lew wed so* by the romance at iron and steel, the romance «•: « -* , 'otr*.. of a «i*:luaiica that i» '*•* rushing out the la*: vestige of the j-f.m-tn. and .- ag .a-1 day new chapter* to • wr» marts.su* a L.evetnents I: *eem* laae a f '-ng I*-.*. T- *»s 1: ha* been a gior ac* story — a giorton* story “ -* " " ■ th. ■ _>.i.the jteit* . f wild *’» uat«- j . ; . thu ; art in the lire* of torn Par the last ten enlanes fur in* • a _n c ,*r..K j-urt -n :. -ry It ha* * • — oa » lure ot roman , of —dventure —4 tdf It to* caaaed war*, and * •»* led * the .rn-ot. r of new land- Fur hunters ; a»e don. mure ei. ortng than any other one «—*» -.4 tarn It was th- heaver that lured m.n free, th S: Lawrence to the Mississippi. au.4 then., to the Kola* opening up a con l-ie-a* 1* w a* • n* sable that drew the tribes men of Asian Russia across to far Kam Lataju and the »a otter that led the F;>an lafr and the thpWl all around the world In crwxy rraJ' and gave u* our first know ledge U the Pacih. coast from Alaska to California. ' »*• * »ay k * h 1C a wandering and adven-arous Frenchman by the name of Grose Iki- hr. 4 Prin-e Rupert's tmagtnatu-a with t.cwtng tale* of a land filled with priceless * '* »hd _ *e company was formed with a Apita: at t * he did not dream that his * til ;tu> - mean. tfc» ojetlng up of a ooua tr.i - .o*o*t as 1st— a* the whole of Europe and ''he beginning of an adventure which was te run through cen-trv* It was thl* little (tn^art of ' rsfettie adventurer*- who f. -mod w hat is today the Hudson * Hay com J*hj the greatest landed rs>rp-oration on #urti -something w. . h will remain for all '■» ~ • istor* as a ccturtaph to the tremeu c...us [art wtu h tis furred thing* of forest and mountain and sew have played in the fortunes at men La*' f«*r the raw fur industry of the world ainmi:<-i to :»—■ million dollars. Next year Y w:h W tf*y mi! -■&. and the year after that the figures will be larger itil Fire years ago It wa» lews *.Ut twenty millions Vet in <* tbtms figures--to the face of the fact "—att the fur • r«a#vre of the world is lorn ma in* is value ewch year, and will continue to increase for perhaps another decade, the farre. It.tp of the earth are fast booming esnnrr A year ago a b"g f^ondon fur buyer, whose I nlaisss amount# to over a miUoa collars r nasal!* said to me "Within another fire ■ears only a very lew people of moderate menu# wr: be toying fur* Only the wealthy w-fB be abi* to aSorl those furs which are cheapest today and even the muskrat, whose peit sold for five and sis < rats s few years ago will be jetaed as a luxury " Tra a«'i» did &u M* 1 had Just come down from my last trip to the Barren Lands, where I bad spent eight weeks among the far northern fox fcunterw. when word was passed from jew* to post and from trapper to trailer 'hrvagnout hundreds of thousands of *daar* mile# at Canadian wilderness that a for famine bad struck London and Baris, the fur craters at the world, and that from Winni peg Ottawa. Toronto and Montreal both the •adependmts" and the. agents of the big uapame* wore making fabulous cfiers for r«dta It Will be teteras-iag to not* the conditions that this famine will bring about during the or** two or three years Million* of women are as yet unaware at via: the great fur OraW I have *oot*d above desenb* s as “the mine that Is about to explode under their •*-e» “ It cannot be said however, that they have not hod some warning The woman who ** -gb» * mink e* iff for twenty dollars five years ago pay* sixty for the same grade of ir: Is today; she will pay from seventy to e_gh»y fer it this coai '.s *e? sen—a tund»d or acre two years from cow These statements are net made at random, but only after the closest personal investtga tloc of the fur situation as it exists today, and af*er a Jong acquaintance with the great fur companies, buyers, and trappers. But a few fin *s are necessary to show at what ruth less pare the slaughter of fur animals has gone or. during the past decade. It was not lone ago that 1 skins of the sea otter were taken from the Aleutian Islands each rear Today there are less than 400 skins ta ke r. annually. Ten years ago sea otter was a ; opular fur; today It Is worn only by the royal blood of Europe Twenty years ago It was estimated that seal herds of the Pry hiloffs numbered over five millions. Today, in sp:*e of international treaties for their protec-ion. there are not more than 150.000 seal# on the island' About 10.000 skins were taken last year, and so relentless was the slaughter on account of the princely sums offered for the fur that 10.000 baby seals died during the season, chiefly of starvation be cause of the death of their mothers. The glossy little wood marten is dying out. Four years ago I met two Canadian trappers who were coming down from the upper New Ontario game regions with 300 marten, worth then from four to five dollars a skin. Today they are worth twenty-five dolars. and a half a down are a big “catch" for any one man In a single season Five years ago 1.760.000 foxes were killed to supply the world's mar ket. Three years ago the number had fallen to 1.200.000. Last year less than a million were caught. From two dollars a skin the red fox jumped to twelve; the ‘‘cross’’ fox from twenty five to as high as a hundred, sil ver and black fox to prices that made their skins ten times the value of their weight In gold; The silver and black are now so rare that they are "bid" for only by dukes and duchesses, the rulers and the heirs of king doms and empires. Seldom does one sell in the London or Paris markets for less than from JTiiA to f 1.000. A year ago one pelt sold for S4.0*v' In this same way are going the black *able and the little white ermine whose pelt has been worn In the robes of royalty for more than seven centuries. It was not long ago that 100,000 skins of the black sable found their way into the market each year. I.as* vear this number had dwindled to fifteen thousand' The "signs of the change" are now at hand in another wav. and as a consequence never in history will the women of the world be "up against" a greater assortment of substl tutes in the fur line than during the coming seasons. The world’s prosperity and its rapid in crease in population are. of course, the chief causes of the extinction of fur. As recently as ten years ago the people of the United States were not counted among the great buyers of fur. Now the majority of women among ninety million people are purchaser* of fur of one kind or another. Fire years ago London was the world's greatest fur cen ter. with Paris a close second. Today, so enormous has the demand for fur become in this country as well as across the sea. that -there are over 3.000 establishments for the treatment of fine furs and the making of fur garments in New York City alone. London and Paris hare now taken second and third places in the actual making of fur garments, though London handles more raw fur than the other two combined. Last year the value of New York’s "finished’’ output was nearly $20,000,000. and fully sixty per cent, of this was represented by the furs which a few years ago were considered almost worth less. "Three years will clean out the cheaper class of fur,” said a Montreal buyer to me, “and then the real famine will be at hand.” This passing of the old romance of fur Is marked not only by the pathos of the furred things themselves, but by that of the wild and picturesque life of those thousands of wilderness people whose centuries-old voca tion must go with the things which gave it birth. There is some comfort for the lover of the wild and what it holds in the thought that at least in a great part of the far Cana dian wilderness the picturesque fur-hunter will never, like the courier du bois. quite die out. In a country one-third as large as the whole of Europe railroads and civilization will never go. This vast wilderness region, long described as a "waste.” stretches from the coast of Labrador, through Ungava. skirts Hudson’s Bay and swings north and west to Mackenzie Land and the polar seas. It Is a land where for six months out of the year man's life is a bitter fight against deep snows and fierce blizzards—against hardships of all kinds, starvation, and a cold that reaches sixty degrees below zero and which is so “dry" that one may freeze almost to the point of death without being aware of espe cial discomfort or pain. It is. as Lord Strath cona says, “the last great trapping ground.” Out of this trapping ground there has come a constant stream of treasure for nearly two and a half ceuturies. Last year, according to j Canadian export figures, this treasure amount- i ed to $2,71$>.S£2, but no credit was given for the enormous home consumption of raw pelts. The actual catch was worth at least $.7..>00.- j 000. The coming season will see $7,000,000 worth of furs caught in Canada, in spite of the fact that the actual number of skins will be at least a quarter less than a year ago. when the lives of between thirty and forty million wild things were taken that Milady of civilization might have her furs. As recently as eight years ago. when the writer first began his journeys into the north land. one struck the great fur country as soon as he crossed Lake Superior From there it ranged to the Antic sea. Less than a decade has brought about a tremendous change, and now one travels a hundre d miles farther north before be enters the "last great trapping ground." Front this great trapping ground comes seventy per cent, of the better class of furs worn by the American woman and her Canadian sister. In a vast desolation one-third as large as the whole of Europe there is no railroad, no white man's village, and its population is less than that of the Sahara Lesert. In its cen ter is Hudson's Bay. the great "ice box" of the north- nine times as large as the state of Ohio Over this vast territory at distances ' of from one to three hundred miles apart are scattered the Hudson's Bay Company s posts and those of its French competitors, the Re veiilon Brothers In most instances a post consists of nothing more than a company "store." the factor's house, and two or three log cabins. Except during the months of the trapping season these are practically the only points of human life in a country that runs two thousand miles east and west and from two to eight hundred north and south. With the first breath of winter the fur-gath erers begin to bury themselves in the vast desolation about them, traveling one and sometimes tw-o hundred miles away from the post to their old trapping grounds. From the moment he leaves his door to go over his line three days' supply of food and a thick blanket in his pack-sack, a knife, a belt-ax and a rifle as weapons, every hour is filled with excitement for the hunter of fur. On his snowshoes he speeds swiftly from trap to trap, every mile of snowy forests and swamps revealing the mysteries of the wild things to him as plainly as a picture-book. In one trap he finds a great white owl. and cuts off the beautiful wings for the wife and children back in the cabin. In the next there is a huge snow-shoe rabbit, frozen stiff as it had died. And then, from through the thick and gloomy balsam ahead, he hears the faint clinking of a chain. His blood leaps now. for this royal sport of the wilderness never grows old to the fur-hunter. The chain clinks loud er. and he draws in quick, excited breaths as he lifts the hammer of his rifle and stares ahead. He comes suddenly upon the next house. and there is a snarling, leaping, thing in the air before him. a great silver-gray furred thing, lithe and beautiful as it crouches at bay—a lynx And a magnificent specimen, its six-inch fur. as fine as a woman's hair. j crumpled and lying richly upon the blood stained snow as it waits for the man to come within springing distance. But the hunter knows better. He aims carefully for a spot where he can sew up the bullet-hole, and fires. Only a short time from now some gently nur tured beauty of civilization will press the warmth and regal loveliness of that thing to her face, and—is it possible that a vision of this wilderness tragedy will come to her then? No more than the dark-faced hunter sees a vision of that woman's loveliness as he skins his catch and hurries on. To each is given but a part of the picture. The forest man knows only that he has caught a "Number One. Extra” lynx, and that the Company wil pay him fifteen dollars for it. His mental visions go no farther than that. He makes no effort to follow it in the great ship that will carry it to Paris or Lon don. where it will be sold at great profit; ! nor to the furrier’s shop, nor to the dainty girl or the society matron In New York who will pay $150 for that same fifteen-dollar lynx —in an “imported" muff. He goes on. keyed to higher excitement, until the end of the day comes, and in the first gray gloom of early night he stops at one of the three or four small log shelters which he has built for him self along the trap-line, gets his supper, lights his pipe, and reviews the happenings of the day until slumber closes his eyes. It will take him three days to cover a forty- ; mile trap-line, and when he returns to his cabin at the close of the third he is welcomed by the glad cries of his children and the laughter and joy of his wrife. who has a ten- ! der roast jorcupine or a venison stew waiting for him. For two days after that he rests, smokes his pipe, and tells of his adventures, while his wife scrapes the fat from his pelts and stretches them on sticks. Then, once more, he shoulders his pack, and goes again upon his round of excitement, adventure and profit. Early Marriages Are Best Te Cron At *e tn Taste* *«2 Hopes tn« Aims ts Certain in YoetnTui Pa*r. Te lay de«a kri sad fast role* oa a*y wm&Ject la sissy* ndk-aloes Vet. the fashion to b* w bole » orid to acres that deplore the bad old times when they were all too common. Yet for so called "boy-acd girl" marriages there are many things to be said. In the first place they are always love matches. No thought of worldly ad vantage brings two young creatures together—nothing save the one thing that makes marriage holy. Trials are inevitable, but early youth surmounts them infinitely more easily than ma turer years—and troubles borne to gether bind hearts In bonds that can never be broken. Besides, to give and take, to grow alike in tastes and hopes and aims, is certain in a youth ful pair. The same '•oneness" Is an absolute impossibility when both man and wife have, perhaps, left their 30th birthday behind them. It must be acknowledged, however, that fit subjects for youthful mart riages are considerably more rare than they were in the last two genera tions, and this probably has much to I do with the prejudice against such marriages. Husband and wife must be friends—congenial companions—or there can be no lasting happiness for either. Yet it is a moot point wheth er the welding together of likes and dislikes in early youth, the mutual re liance induced by long years of mu tual dependence, does not make more for an ideal companionship than all the knowledge and careful choosing of those whose first gray hair is not : far off. The children of youthful pa rents are certainly the luckier, any way. With papas and mammas who are so young that they have not for gotten their own babyhood, and so bring a gay and comprehending sym pathy to childish joys and woes, they thrive as only in the atmsophere that suits them children do thrive, and grow up with never a hint of advan cing age in their parents to sadden them. Somehow one feels quite sure that Darby and Joan, in the dear old song, married very, very young—Bos ton Traveler. IMPORTANT FEATURES OF GOOD VENTILATING SYSTEM In Order That Our Dairy Products May Rank Higher More Attention Must be Given to Health and Sanitation—One Plan. Method of Running Ventilator Flues. Fresh Air Is Admitted at the Bottom and Foul Air Taken Out at A and B. (By J. H. FRAXPSOX.) Through mistaken ideas of some writers, many of our farmers have de veloped the idea that to keep cows healthy and comfortable and to pro duce sanitary milk it is absolutely ' necessary to have expensive barns. As i a matter of fact many of the dairy barns where sanitation is the primary j object are quite inexpensive. On the other hand if it is to be conveniently arranged to embody the most accepted sanitary features, it Is very essential that some attention be given to the plans and specifications of the barn that is to house the dairy herd to the best advantage. Every detail of a new barn should be care fully worked out before actual con struction takes place. The iilustration here shown will, it is hoped, give the builder some new ideas as to how the barn can bo made more sanitary. In building a dairy barn, or any other kind of a barn for that matter, the plans must be worked out to suit different conditions and locations. Hardly any two sites would permit exactly the same rlan being used. If wholesome and sanitary milk Is to be produced the farmer should realire that the cows must be kept out of the mud as much as possible. Conditions in and around the barn can. in many cases, be greatly improved by draining and grading. Draining is not of itself sufficient, as the tramping of the cattle soon puddles the surface, j thus practically preventing the water | from reaching the tiles below. The barnyard should have good slope, such as will Insure good surface drainage, and should have a good top layer of gravel or cinders. In many places this may involve a great deal 6f work, but even If the grading can not all be done in one year arrange ments should be made by which at least part of it is done every year. 1 Too much stress cannot be laid on the fact that we have no better disin fectant than good, old-fashioned sun light. For this reason in planning our barns much more attention should be paid to the question of securing sufficient light. It Is said by authori ties on the subject that four square feet of window light should be allowed for each cow In the barn. Long win dows reaching well to the celling have been found the most satisfactory for the reason that the light coming through them can reach all parts of the barn better than if the short win dows are used. It is also of importance to remember that there is no better way of preventing the spread of tuber culosis in our herds than by admit ting plenty of sunlight and fresh air into the barn. The height to ceiling differs some what according to different ideas o! the builder, but the height should be sufficient to give ample air space iu the structure. The important features of a goo