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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1915)
* * The Mystery of a Silent Love ^Chevalier WILLIAM LE QIJEUX U AUTHOR <»/ “THf CLOSED DOOK," ETC- x ILLUSTRATIONS fy C DTiTIODES & QOPrXtGHT BY THC SMART S£T PUBLUHffff CO CHAPTER XVI—Continued. —16— “Well, (he only Russian who ap-1 peared to have any connection with them was Baron Oberg. the governor general of Finland, whose habit it was to spend part of the winter in the Mediterranean. From Eima Heath's conversation at dinner that evening at Nice I gathered that she and her uncle had been guests on thp j Iris on several occasions, although l must say that Muriel was extremely reticent regarding all that concerned ; the yacht.” "Of course." she said quickly. “Now that I have told you the truth. Jack, don't you think it was onlv natural?” "Most certainly, dear." he answered, still holding her hand. ‘Yours was not a secret that you could very well tell to me until you could thoroughly trust me, especially as vour father had been implicated in the theft of those documents from Malta. The truth is.” he said, turning to me, ! “Philip Leithcourt has all along been the catspaw of Baron Oberg. A few ! years ago he was a well-known money j tender in the city, and in that capaeitv met tlie baron, who, being in disgrace, required a loan. He was also in the habit of having certain shady trans- j actions with that daring gang of con- j tiriental thieves of whom Dick Archer and Hylton Chater were leaders. For j this reason he purchased a yacht for j their use, so that they might not only use it for the purpose of storing the stolen goods, but for the purpose of sailing from place to place under the guise of wealthy Englishmen travel ing for pleasure. Upon that vessel, indeed, was stored thousands and thousands of pounds’ worth of jewels and objects of value, the proceeds of I aiany great robberies in England, France and Belgium. Sometimes they traveled for the purpose of disposing f»f the jewels in various inland towns j where the gems, having been recut. were not recognized, while at other times, Chater and Archer, assisted ! by Mackintosh, the captain, and Oiinto Santini, the steward, sailed for a port, landed. committed a robbery, and then j sailed away again, quite unsuspected, i •s rich Englishmen.” “And the crew?" I asked, after a pause. "They were, of course, well paid, and were kept in ignorance of what the supposed owner and his friends <fd ashore." "But Oberg's connection with it?” j I asked, surprised at those revela- ' dons. "Ah!" exclaimed Muriel. “The in genuity of that crafty villain is fiend ish. Before he got into the czar s favor he owed my father a large sum, and then sought how to evade repay ment. By means of his spies he dis covered the real purpose of the cruises of the Iris—for 1 was often taken on board with a maid in order to allay any suspicion that might •rise if only men were cruising. Then I he not only compelled my father to cancel the debt, but he impressed the vessel and those who owned and navi- j gated it Into the secret service of Russia. A dozen times did we make attempts to obtain secret papers from Italian. French and English dock-j yards, but only once in the case of j Malta and once at Toulon did we sue-1 ceod. Ah! Mr. Gregg," she added, "you do not know all the anxiety I suffered, how at every hour we were I in danger of betrayal or capture, and j of the hundred narrow escapes we j have had of customhouse officers 1 rummaging the yacht for contraband. You will no doubt recollect the sen sation caused by the theft of the Jewels of the Princess Wilhelmine of Schaumbourg-Lippe from the lady’s maid in the rapide between Cannes and lies Arcs, the robbery from the Marseilles branch of the Credit Lyon nais. and the great haul of plate from the chateau of Bardon, the Paris mil lionaire. close to Arcachon." "Yes,” I said, for they were all rob beries of which I had read in the newspapers a couple of years before. “Well," she said, “they were all ! committed by Archer or Woodroffe i •nd his gang — with accomplices j •shore, of course—and never once did it seem that any suspicion fell upon as. While tte police were frantically searching hither and thither, we used to weigh anchor and calmly steam •way with our booty on board. We had with us an old Dutch lapidary, : and one of the cabins was fitted as a workshop, where he altered the ap pearnnee of the stones, and prepared them ready for sale while the gold was melted in a crucible and put ashore to be sent to agents in Ham burg." "Hut that night in Leghorn?" 1 said. “What happened to poor Elma?" "I do not know,” was Muriel’s reply. "We were both on board together, and standing at the crack of the door watched you sitting at dinner that evening. The instant, however, you went ashore, Chater, Woodroffe— whom you called Hornby—and Mack intosh, the captain—who, by the way, was an old ticket-of-leave man—went ashore, and, of course, broke into the consulate. Then, as soon as they re turned, Elma came to my cabin, awoke me, and said that the baron was taking her ashore, and that they were to travel overland back to Lon don. She was ready dressed to go. I kissed her, and promising to meet her soon, we parted. That was the last 1 saw of her. What happened to her afterwards only she alone can tell us.” “But she is not the baron s niece?” I said. "No. There is some mystery,” de clared Muriel. "She holds some se cret which he fears she may divulge. But of what nature, I am in ignor ance.” "You say that your father has never taken any active part in the rob beries? Where is he now?" I asked. “Ah!” she exclaimed sadly, her face pale and haggard. "1 have heard that the vessel was scuttled somewhere in the Baltic." "That is true. Oberg’s purpose having been served, he demanded half the property on board or he would give notice to the Russian naval au thorities that the pirate yacht was afloat. He attempted to blackmail my father, as he had already done so many times but his scheme was frus trated. My father, because of his in human treatment of poor Elma, defied him, when it appears that Oberg, who w-as in Helsingfors, telegraphed to the admiral of the Russian fleet in the Bal tic. The crew from the Iris were at once landed at Riga, and only Mackin tosh and my father put to sea again. Ah! my father was desperate, for he knew the merciless character of that man whose victim he had been for so long. They watched a Russian cruiser bearing down upon them. when, just as it drew near, they got off in a boat and blew up the yacht, which sank in three minutes with its ill-ob tained wealth on board." “And your father?” She was silent, and I saw tears standing in her eyes. "There was a tragedy," Jack ex plained in a low, hoarse voice. "He and the captain did not. unfortunate- i ly. get sufficiently far from the yacht when they blew her up. and they went down with her." And I looked in silence at Muriel, who stood with her head bent and her white face covered with her hands Almost at the same moment there was a low tap at the door, and the servant maid announced: "Mr. Santini, miss.” “Ah!" exclaimed Jack quickly, as Olinto entered the room. "Then you had my note! We have asked you here to reveal to us this dastardly plot which seemed to have been formed against Mr. Gregg and myself. As you know. I've had a narrow es cape.” “I know, signore. And the signor commendatore is also threatened.” “By whom?” "By those who killed my poor wife, and who intended also to silence me,” was his answer. "The same who compelled you to take me to that house where the fatal chair was prepared, eh?" "It was Archer, who, fearing that you came to London in search of them, devised that devilish contrivance," he said in his broken English. Then continuing, he went on fiercely: “Now that I have discovered why my poor Armida was killed, I will tell the truth, and not spare them. Since you left Scotland, signore, I have bee'u up in Dumfries, and have discovered several facts which prote that for some reason known only to himself, Leithcourt. while at Rannoch, w rote to both Armida and myself separately, making an appointment to see us at the same time at that spot on the edge of the wood, as he had some secret commission to entrust to us. The letter addressed to me apparent ly fell into someone else's hands_ probably one of the secret agents of Baron Oberg, who were always watch ing Leithcourt s doings, and he. anx ious to learn what was intended, made himself up to look like me, and kept the appointment in my place. Armida, having received the letter unknown to me. went up to Scotland, and was abo there at the appointed time. What actually transpired can only be surmised, yet it seems that Leithcourt was in the habit of going up to that spot and loitering there in the eve ning in order to meet Chater in secret, as the latter was in hiding in a small hotel in Dumfries. Therefore those who formed the plot must have en deavored to throw suspicion upon Leithcourt. It is plain, however, as both myself and Armida knew the gang, it was to their interest to get rid of us, because the suspicions of the police had at last become aroused. Poor Armida was therefore delib erately enticed there to her death, while the inquisitive man whom the assassin took to be myself was also struck dowm." “By whom?” “Not by Chater, for he was in Ix>n don on that night.” “Then by Woodroffe?" Durnford said. “Without a doubt. It was all most cleverly thought out. It was to his advantage alone to close our lips, because in that same fatal chair in Lambeth old Jacob Moser, the Jew j bullion broker of Hatton Garden, met his death—a most dastardly crime, with which none of his friends were associated, and of which we alone held knowledge. He therefore wrote to us as though from Leithcourt, bailing us up to Rannoch, in order to strike the blows in the darkness,” he added in his peculiar Italia.i man ner. "Besides, he feared we would tell the signore the truth.” “You have not told the police?” “I dare not, signore. Surely the less the police know about this matter the better, otherwise the Signorina Leith- | court must suffer for her father's j avarice and evil-doing." "Yes," cried Jack anxiously. "That's j right, -Olinto. The police must know nothing. The reprisals we must make ourselves. But who was it who shot me in Suffolk street?" "The same man, Martin Woodroffe.” "Then the assassin is back from Russia?" “He followed closely behind the Signor Commendatore. Markoff, a clever secret agent of Baron Oberg's, came with him.” Then for the first time I recollected j that the man I had recognized in the : Strand was a fellow I had seen loung- j ing in the anteroom of the palace of j the governor-general of Finland. The pair, fearing that I should reveal what j I knew, were undoubtedly in London j to take my life in secret. Now that I I^eithcourt was dead, Woodroffe had united forces with Oberg, and intend ed to silence me because they feared that Elmd. besides escaping them, had also revealed her secret. "I trust that the Signorina Leith court has explained the story of the yacht and its crew,” Olinto remarked. "And has also shown you how I was implicated. You will therefore discern the reason why I have hitherto feared to give you any explanation." “Yes," I said. “Miss Leitlicourt has told me a great deal, but not every thing. I cannot yet gather for what reason she and her father fled from Rannoch." "Then 1 will tell you,” said Muriel quickly. “My father suspected Wood roffe of being the assassin in Ran noch wood, l'or he knew that he had broken away from the original com pact, and had now allied himself with Oberg. Yet it was also my father’s object to appear in fear of them, be- : cause he was only awaiting an oppor- j tunity to lay plans for poor Elma’s | rescue from Finland. Therefore one ] evening Woodroffe called, and my fa ther encountered him in the avenue, and admitted him with his own latch key by one of the side doors of the castle, afterwards taking him up to the study. He knew that he had come to try and make terms for Oberg, therefore he saw that he must fly at once to Newcastle, where the Iris was lying, get on board, and sail j away. “With some excuse he left him in I the study, and then warned my mother and myself to prepare to leave. But while we were packing, it appeared that Chater, who had followed, was shown into the study by the butler, or rather he entered there himself, be ing well acquainted with the house. Thus the two men. now bitter ene mies met. A fierce quarrel must have ensued, and ('hater was poisoned and concealed, Woodroffe, of course, be lieving he had killed him. My father entered the study again, and seeing only Woodroffe there, did not know what had occurred. Some words prob ably arose, when my father again turned and left. Then we fled to Carlisle and on to Newcastle, and next morning were on board the yacht out in the North sea. afterwards land ing at Rotterdam. Those,” she added, "are briefly the facts, as my poor fa ther related them to me.” “And what of poor Elma—and of her secret? When, I wonder, shall I see her?” I cried In despair. "You will see her now, signore," an swered Olinto. “A servant of the Princess Zurloff brought her to Lon don this afternoon, and I have just conveyed her from the station. She is in the next room, in ignorance, how ever, that you are here.” And without another word I fled for ward joyfully, and threw open the folding doors which separated me from my silent love. Silent, yes! But she could, never theless, tell her story—surely the strangest that any woman has ever lived to tell. CHAPTER XVII. Contains Elma's Story. Before me stood my love, a slim, tragic, rather wau figure in a heavy dark traveling coat and felt toque, her sweet lips parted and a look of be wildered amazement upon her coun tenance as I burst in so suddenly upon her. In silence I grasped her tiny black gloved hand, and then, also in silence, raised it passionately to my eager lips. Her soft, dark eyes—those eyes that spoke although she was mute— friet mine, and in them was a look that I had never seen there before—a look which as plainly as any words told me that ray wild fevered passion was reciprocated. She gazed beyond into the room where the others had assembled, and then looked at me inquiringly, where upon I led her forward to where they were, and Muriel fell upon her and kissed her with tears streaming from her eyes. “I prepared this surprise for you. -Mr. Gregg." Muriel said, laughing through her tears of joy. "Olinto learned that she was on Lor way to London, and I sent him to meet her. The princess has managed magnifi cently, has she not?” "Yes. Thank God she is free!” I exclaimed. "But we must induce her to tell us everything.” Muriel was already helping my lovp out of her heavy Russian coat, a cost ly garment lined with sable, and when, after greeting Jack and Oiinto, she was comfortably seated, 1 took some notepaper from the little writing table by the window and scribbled in pencil the words: "I need not write how delighted I am that you are safe—that the Al mighty has heard my prayers for you. Jack and Muriel have told nte al! And Threw Open the Folding Door Which Separated Me From My Si lent Love. about l>eithcourt anti his scoundrelly associates. I know, too, dear—for I may call you that, may I not?—how terribly you must have suffered in si lence through it all. Leithcourt !s dead. He sank the yacht with all the stolen property on board, but by acci dent was himself engulfed." Bending and watching intently as I wrote, she drew back in horror and surprise at the words. Then I added: "We are all four determined that the guilty shall not go unpunished, and that the affliction placed upon you shall be adequately avenged. You are my own love—1 am bold enough to i call you so. Some strong but mysteri- ! ous bond of affinity between us caused me to seek you out, and your pictured face seemed to call me to your side although I was unaware of your peril. I was sent to you by the un seen power to extricate you from the I hands of your enemies. Therefore ! tell us everything—all that you know i —without fear, for now that we are united no harm can assail us." • She took the pencil, and holding it ; in her white fingers sat staring first at j us, and then looking hesitatingly at the white paper before her. Her posi tion, amid a hundred conflicting emo tions, was tine of extreme difficulty. It seemed as though even now she was loath to reveal to us the absolute truth. Muriel, standing behind her chair, tenderly stroked back the wealth of chestnut hair from her white brow. Her complexion was , perfect, even though her face was pale and jaded, and her eyes heavy, consequent upon her long, weary journey from the now frozen North Presently, when by signs both Jack and Olinto had urged her to write, she bent suddenly, and her pencil be gan to run swiftly over .lie paper. All of us stood exchanging glances in silence, neither looking over lier, but each determined to wait in pa tience until the end. Once started, however, she did not pause. Sheet - fter sheet she covered. The silence for a long time was complete, broken only by the rapid running of the pen cil over the rough surface of the pa per. She had apparently become seized by a sudden determination to explain everything, now that she saw we were in real, dead earhest. I watched her sweet face bent so intently, auu as the firelight fell across it found it incomparable. Yes; she was afflicted by loss of speech, ii was true, yet she wm Purely inex pressibly sweet and ffofhanly, peer less above all others. With a deep-drawn sigh she at last finished, and, her head still bowed In an attitude of humiliation, it seemed, she handed what she had written to me. In breathless eagerness I read as follows: “Is it true, dear love — for 1 call you so in return—that you were im pelled towards me by the mysterious hand that directs all things? You came in search of me. and you risked your life for mine at Kajana, there fore you have a right to know the truth. You. as my champion, and the princess as my friend, have contrived to effect my freedom. Were it not foi you, 1 should ere this have been on my way to Saghalien, to the tomb to which Oberg had so ingeniously con trived to consign me. Ah! you do not know—you never can know—all that I have suffered ever since I was a girl. Here the statement broke off. and recommenced as follows: "In order that you should under stand the truth, I had better begin at the beginning. My father was an Eng lish merchant in Petersburg, and my mother, Vera Bessanoff, who, before her marriage with my father, was celebrated at court for her beauty, and was one of the maids of honor tc the czarina. She was the only daugh ter of Count Paul Bessanoff. ex-gov ernor of Kharkoff. and before marry ing my father she had. with her moth er, been a well-known figure in so ciety Immediately after her mar riage her father died, leaving her in possession of an ample fortune, which with my father's own wealth, placed them among the richest and most in fluential in Petersburg. "Among my father's most intimate friends was Baron Xavier Oberg—( who, at that time, held a very sub ordinate position in the ministry of the interior—and from my earlies; recollections I can remember him coming frequently to our house and being invited to the brilliant enter tainments which my mother gave When I was thirteen, however, my fa ther died of a chill contracted while boar-hunting on his estate in Kiev and within a few months a further His aster happened to us. One night while I was sitting alone reading aloud to niv mother, two strangers were announced, and on being shown in they arrested my dear mother on a charge of complicity in a revolution ary plot against the czar which had been discovered at Peterhof. I stood defiant and indignant, for my mothei was certaintiy no nihilist, yet they said that the bomb had been intro duced into the palace by the Countess Anna ShiprolT, one of the ladies-in waiting, who was an intimate friend of my mother’s and often used tc visit her. They alleged dint the con spiracy Imd been hatched in out house, color leing lent to that theory by the fact that a year before a well known Russian with whom my fathet had had many business dealings had been proved to be the author of the plot by which the czars train was blown up near Livadia. They tore tin mother away from me and placed bet in the gray prison-van, the sight ol which in the streets of Petersburg strikes terror into the heart of even Russian, for a person once in that rumbling vehicle is, as you know, lost forever to the world. I watched hei from the window being placed in tlial fatal conveyance, and then I think 1 must have fainted, for I recollect noth ing more until I found myself upon tiie floor, with the gray dawn spread ing. and till the horrible truth came back to me My mother was gone front me forever! (TO RK PONTINCED.) Didn't Break Her Word. "Maud married! Why only last June she told me she wouldn't marry the best man that walks the earth." "That’s all right: the man she mar ried rides, in an automobile." CITY PROVIDES BIRD HOUSES Inducement for Feathered Songsters to Make a Season's Home in Cleveland. The city of Cleveland proposes to encourage friendliness toward birds, and no one will believe it misdirected effort. There is growing aprreciation everywhere of the desirability, econo mic and sentimental, of bringing back aur native song birds in as large num bers as possible. East Technical high school is mak ing for the city forestry department 200 model bird houses, which will be placed in various parks. Some of them already have been delivered. It is a fine piece of co-operation between two branches of municipal activitly. Forester Boddy has prepared a list if fruit-bearing trees, shrubs and vines that furnish food for birds, which will be a help for those who wish to put out bird houses about their own premises. The time is at hand when the native birds return frcm the warmer climate and will be seeking nesting rpctt. It is all an excellent bit of city government usefulness of which the public will approve. It should result in a widespread revival of interest in the whole subject of bird conserva tion. It may be considered to repre sent the same sentiment which de mands of the present legislature that quail be further protected from hunt ers. Nature of Genius. Men may. he says, with Cincinnatus. prefer plowing to war and statecraft, but they are not able to follow their bent. They are possessed of an in satiable desire to be at work in what ever their line may be. Those who conquer nations and found empires are not moved by ambition. They are moved by the enormous force of vitality which struggles within them and must find way out. Cicero was more intellectually nimble than Caesar. Ben Jonson had more learning than Shakespeare. Babeuf's intentions were better than Bonaparte's (he lost his head for them). Sir Harry Vane was a far more logical revolutionary than Oliver Cromwell. What was there in ; the four great men I have named which brought them to the front? Had they any gift in common, setting them apart from other men? Yes, one. and one only. Not deep insight, not high moral purpose, not desire for fame. They did not become super men by studying for the position, not by taking thought and laying careful plans. They came to the front with out appearing to make any effort to get there—because they were more alive than other men.—T, P.’s Weekly. A Rubber Armor Plate. Andrew Setzinger, a Pittsburgh po liceman, has invented a shock absorb er for battleships and other armored vessels. By his method the armor plate is lined with a rubberlike sub stance, thickly studded, and made by a process which he has invented. According to Mr. Setzinger, when a projectile penetrates the armor plate, even should it pass through into the ship, the hole cut out will close up through the action of the rubberlike substance, which vulcan izes from the heat caused by the friction from the projectile. This will keep the water out. This process, it was said, has been tested on a small scale and found efficient. It was stated that a foreign government is now arranging for a test of it with large-caliber *.'uns. Horse Stands Over His Dead Rider. J. Stulton, English lance corporal, tells this story: "One man of the -th lancers I found lying on his back with his eyes staring at the skies. He was dead without doubt. Standing over him was his horse, without a wound. It was looking into his face every few minutes, and then neighing in a piti ful way that sounded just like a hu mah being in an excess of grief. To hear that poor animal was enough to bring tears to the eyes of the most hardened of men.*’ Here is another incident related by an English soldier: ‘‘Colonel - and I rode over the awful Vailly bridge at the rear of bis regiment. The noise of shell fire was so great that we could not hear each other. He stopped, pulled out his re volver, got off, and shot a horse. Then remounted. At other moments fout shells at a time struck that bridge Yet while his act of mercy was being done not one came near it: ten sec onds later it was white with shell bursts.” Queer Orchid Freaks. An extraordinary collection ot plants, many of them hitherto mi known, is to be exhibited in New York city by Harry J. Black, an Amer ican. who has spent years on Bolivia Peru and Brazil, hunting orchids anc other strange flora. The collection cJ orchids which he is bringing with hint to the show is valued at $75,000 Among his other flowers, one spec! men is so sensitive that it closes Its petals in fright at a sharp noise. Oth ers wilt into unconsciousness if anes thetics are applied to their leaves. A species of jatropha, from Colombia secretes a poison, which it shoots through two fangs like a serpent’s when touched, ar.d the sting is dead ly. Another stinging plant is covered with coarse hairs, and when one ol them is snapped enough poison is di» charged to kill a man. , mu—M~m-n r m i i a wr~t Muirn 1 SHEEP GROWING MADE QUITE PROFITABLE Southdown Ram, Two Years Old—First Prize Winner and Champion. (By H. H. SHEPARD. Missouri.) We live on a hilly, brushy farm in the Ozark region of Missouri. For several years we have been clearing up and fencing our farm, but we have had a terrible time fighting brush and sprouts on the newly cleared land. Some cattle, hogs and horses have been an aid in eating and killing the sprouts in the permanent pastures, which have been fenced with high and tight-woven wire. One of our neighbors has been keep ing sheep for several years, and has had splendid success with them. La;t year he had some ewe lambs for sale and we purchased eight of them, and a buck from another farnfT'r to mate Choice Lot of Lambs. with thorn. For the eight lambs we paid $3C and $10 for the ram, making a total cost of $46 for the little flock. Since we had the pastures already fenced with woven wire for hogs, cat tle and horses, there was no extra ex pense in providing pasture for the sheep. In our brushy and sprouty pastures the small flock of sheep ate and grew spendidly, refusing feed in the lot or barn till the middle of January this year. They made practically all their living on the waste of the farm and pastures, and the actual cost of feed ing them outside of what they secured outside was not more than five dollars. Except when snow was on the ground they preferred being out in the hills and brush foraging in the winter tc housing and feed in the barn. This spring we had six Iambs from the eight ewes. All the sheep and lambs are fat and in fine condition and excellent health. We sheared and shipped the wool last week, securing 28 cents a pound for it from a S; Louis commission firm. The clip from the nine sheep gave a net return, aft er expressage and commission wot deducted, of $21.85, or a little ov $2.12 each sheep, for wool only. This was about 50 per cent of what the sheep cost us last August when they were purchased. Counting the lambs worth $5 each by August, the total Income from the flock will amount to $51.85. Deducting $r.,sr. for feed, the flock will have netted us $16 in one year, or even 100 per cent net on the original investment, which is from two to ten times as much net profit as we make with any other of our farm animals. Besides being highly profitable sheep are the easiest of all domestic animals to handle. Our children like them immensely, and can handle them with ease and safety. They clean the land of weeds and sprouts, and they fertilize richly as they roam and for age. They are so good in so many ways that we are preparing to in crease our flock to 50 ewes on the 100 acre farm. Of course, sheep and wool are extra high in price right now, but indica tions point to continued high prices. Those having hilly and rocky land can turn it into rich income property by fencing it and pasturing with sheep. Money from the animals comes in at least twice each year—whenrwool and lambs are sold. Old sheep are high priced, and lambs are the highest they have been in many years, and prices for both old and young sheep have continued high without material change for many months. Where ths farmer has any spare land not suited to cultivation, sheep raising offers golden opportunities at present, and perhaps will be equally or more profit able for years to come. HANDY BAG HOLDER SAVES MUCH TIME Light Materials May Be Used in Construction of Device for Granary or Barn. Every farmer should have some kind of a bag holder, so that grain, chop or bran can be sacked without requiring the services of a second person. A square or round hopper, stationary in some corner of the granary or a mov able one supported by three spreading legs is easy to make and handy to use. Light material may be employed in making such a holder. The height of the hopper from the floor is regulated by the length of the bags used, as the bottom of the bag should not rest on the ground while being filled. Dull hooks or nails of such length and position as judgment dictates will hold the bag while it is being filled. Such conveniences as these are simple, but they save not only time but much needed energy. ALWAYS KEEP MILK COLD AS POSSIBLE Bacteria Increase Very Slowly at Low Temperatures—Put Li quid Against the Ice. (By WALTER 3. LEUTZ.) The colder milk is kept, the longer It v.’ill remain sweet. Bacteria are responsible for the changes which take place, and bacteria increase in num bers very slowly at low temperatures. Therefore, do not leave milk where it will get warm. If possible, put it directly against the ice. If this cannot be done, put it in the compartment of the ice box directly beneath the ice, for the air circulating through the ice chest is coldest direct ly after it passes over the ice. If no ice box is used, keep the milk as cool as possible by putting it in the cellar, or by wrapping the bottle in a damp cloth and setting it out of the direct sunlight in a current of air. Feed for Farrowing Sow. It is Just as important to use care in feeding the sow following farrow ing time in the fall as it is in the spring. Pigs are sometimes scoured by allowing the sows free access to the alfalfa after they have been shut up a week or ten days. Specialized Farming. Specialized farming is the kind of farming that puts fertility into the soil and profits into the pockets. That’s the difference in many cases between specialized and general fanning. FEEDING CHICKENS GRASS FROM LAWN In Case Fowls Are Not Accus tomed to Green Food They Will Engorge Themselves. (By H. S. KAK I.VS, Colorado Agricul tural College.) In cities where chickens are kept in back yards, it is sometimes a com mon practice, after mowing the lawn, to throw the cut grass into the chick en lot to supply green food for the fowls. In case the chickens ar^uot accustomed to green food they will engorge themselves and frequently be come crop bound. The grass will be come impacted in a large mass in the crop which becomes distended. The bird straightens its neck and yawns, show's signs of distress, and if not properly attended to, may die. Prevention of course should be prac ticed, and it may be stated that fewer cases of impaction occur, if instead of , feeding the cut grass, the chickens are allowed the freedom of the grass plot. Treatment should be sought in con suiting the local veterinarian. MANURE PILES ARE DANGEROUS PLACES Favorite Breeding Spot for Sta ble Fly—Animal Refuse Should Be Spread at Once. Although Btraw is the principal breeding place for the stable fly in the grain belt, thousands of them de-1 velop in manure piles. The house fly and horn fly also breed extensively here and therefore the greatest care I should be used in dealing with thisj animal refuse. Manure should be hauled out and] scattered at regular intervals and any] accumulations of straw or hay, espe-t cially adjacent to stables, should bel disposed of. Stable manure beingl usually in close proximity to human! habitations, the flies from it havr freer access to man to disseminate human diseases. Best Corn for Silo. , A considerable amount of corn will go into the silos this fall. Don't gcil in too big a hurry and cut this cornl too green. Best results will follov.l if the corn is allowed to be well dent! ed before cutting. Let Sheep Eat Weeds. Turn your weeds into profit by lefj ting some sheep eat them. Lambs Relish Mangles. ; Mangles, when finely sliced, greatly relished by lambs.