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About The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1894)
OUR GALLANT TARS. • CUSTOM THAT WILL ENDURE AS LONG AS "HE NAVY ENDURES. DrinkiDK the TounL to '*g«ectheart« and Wive*" Every Haturduy Night— It Make* the Men In the Navy Defter, Truer, No bler and H raver. The people of this country are very fond of their naval officers, so far as they know them. It would be a good deal better for the country if they were better known, for among them are to lie found as large a percentage of fine, brainy, lovable and well bred men as in any of the familiar professions. There is not much sentimentality in the navy, but there is a deal of senti- I ment, which i.i a vastly different thing. Certain cynical young women who liuve met officers and who have noticed how attentive they are sometimes think that this is merely a "dainty, sham devotion,” bestowed upon young women whom they meet at every port they touch. But this is not true. There is more genuine chiv alry among the officers of the United States navy than is to be found among any class of men on shore. It is one of the (conventions of the navy to place women upon a pedestal, and there is no finer convention in the world. It may be because that for so much of their time they are denied the delight of seeing women. But they nev er forget them. Every Saturday night in every United States warship afloat there takes place a ceremony so beautiful, so exquisite, that it seems to have escaped from the land of chivalry and wandered into American life. There, flattered and amazed at its welcome, it has remained ever since and made the men in the navy better, truer, nobler and braver, for it must be con fessed that the officers are, first of all, splendidly American. When a ship is under way, there is no woman a board her. She has no place there. Maybe each man carries an image of one in his thoughts during his watches on deck. Of these things he does not speak. But once each week he eome3 forth boldly with his fellows and rever ently sends greeting from across the seas to her. From the China sea, from stormy Cape Horn, from the peaceful Mediter ranean cbmes the message. “Sweethearts and wives! That was ever and always will be the sailor’s toast. And when it is given aboard Uncle Sam’s ships it is a tribute to the sweetness, the purity, the beauty of American woman hood. There are men who have drunk that toast every Saturday night for more than 40 years. It is never old to them. The officers would as soon think of pass ing unnoticed an important disciplinary regulation as passing Saturday night without this ceremony. It does not mat ter whether the ship is on the high seas, or anchored in a foreign port, or lying at the dock in the Brooklyn navy yard, so long as her men are aboard they drink the toast. It is a custom as old as the navy. It will endure as long as the navy endures. W hen the supply of wine is running short during a long cruise, the officers deny themselves during the week that they may have it for this toast on Satur day nights. The servants are well trained. They have the champagne nicely chilled and open it almost without orders. After the dinner is finished the executive offi cer arises. Very likely there is gray in his hair. His face is reddened by weath er and seamed by years, for men who reach position cannot be young. But his heart is still young. They have dined well, and the content of well filled stom achs shines on their faces. But when the lieutenant commander rises they are still. He stands straight with his hand up raised, the champagne bubbling deli ciously. ‘ ‘ Gentlemen, are your glasses charged?” There is not one which is empty. The officers rise and bow their heads in an swer. “I give you” (the lieutenant command er speaks earnestly, and there is a soft glimmer in his eyes)—“I give you sweet hearts and wives. God bless them!” “Sweethearts and wives—God bless them!” comes in chorus from the officers. Then they drink, and if there runs down their spinal cords a little thrill, and if their eyes grow moist and their hands shake a bit it is a tribute to themselves and to American womanhood to whom this toast is drunk. With something in their breasts throbbing like the great en gines, and the swish and gurgle of the waters dulling their ears, there is con jured before them, like the azure nim bus of a dream, a home with a soft voiced woman and the prattle of a child, or a slender, girlish figure bending her head to hide the love light in her eyes. On Saturday night the officer at sea feels that he is very near home. Every one knows that naval officers are famous for the attractions which they have for the fair. This may show that it isn't the uniform alone which is the magnet.—New York World. The Forger. Sir John Evans says, in Longman’s Magazine, "that not even the trained an tiquary is proof against the forger and confesses that not only has he himself purchased forgeries, but has published accounts of them as if. they had been genuine—accounts which any amount of subsequent withdrawals fails to annihi late. Counterfeits and forgeries abound in every department of archaeology. Spu rious manuscripts, inscriptions, gems, pottery, glass, enamels, ivories, coins, weapons, implements and armaments have each and all been foisted on collect ors at different times and in various countries.” A Modern Hero. •Mme. M-. a very talented pianiste, when sitting next to Colonel Ramollot at the dinner table, asked him in a winning tone of voice: "Are you fond of music, colonel?” "Madame,” replied the warrior, rolling a savage pair of eyes, "I am not afraid of itr—Paris Rappel. A SPY'S CLOSE CALL. Be War RricuoiI From Impending Death by a Clever Newspaper Ruhr. On the battlefield of Antietam Mr. Mc Clure met General William J. Palmer, then a captain, and strongly urged him not to continue his movements as a spy after Lee had crossed into Virginia, but the gallant young soldier gave no prom ise as to what he would be likely to do, and the very first night after Lee crossed the Potomac he was again in Lee’s camp and brought back important information to General McClellan. Again he returned and entered the Confederate lines, and when he did not report after a week it was assumed that he had been captured and would proba bly be executed as a spy. He had been captured, was tried and condemned as a spy and sentenced to be executed, but he was saved by a clever newspaper device determined upon after a conference in this city between President J. Edgar Thomson of the Pennsylvania railroad, Colonel Scott and Mr. McClure. Thom son took special interest in Palmer, as he had been his secretary, and was much at tached to him. It was decided that Washington dis patches should be prepared for all of the Philadelphia morning papers announc ing the arrival at the capital of Captain William J. Palmer, stating in what par ticular lines of the enemy he had oper ated, and adding that he had brought much important information that could not be given to the public at the time. These dispatches appeared next morning in all the Philadelphia papers, promi nently displayed, and of course reached the southern lines within 48 hours. The result was that Captain Palmer's identity was never established in Rich mond. and his execution was thus sus pended. In a little while, when some prisoners had been exchanged, there was a vacancy made in the list of the exchanged men by death. Palmer's friends had him take the place and name of the dead soldier, and he thus escaped and returned to the service.—Philadelphia Times. falling Smith. Miss Kate Field relates an experience which she had in trying to sleep in a hotel in a Utah mining town where the partitions between the rooms were of boards merely and quite innocent of lath and plaster. The ordinary going and coming of the early part of the night were bad enough, but toward morning, when at last she had fallen asleep, a loud voice shouted from her keyhole: “Smith! Smith!” As her name was not Smith, she made no response. “Smith!” came the shout again. “It’s time to skipr “My name is not Smith,” she then an swered. From across the hall came the call of the day clerk, who occupied the room there: “No. That ain’t Smith. Smith’s at the end of the hall.” “Well, this is the end of the hall,” came from the neighborhood of the key hole again. It was the voice of the por ter. “Aren’t there two ends to the hall? It’s the other end, you blockhead.” “Who wants Smith?’ came a sharp voice from the distance. “I’m Smith.” “What's the matter? I’m Smith,” came still another voice. “Well, whichever Smith wants to get up at 4 o’clock, him's the one,” growled the porter. Both these Smiths slammed their doors with a vehement protestation that they didn’t want to get up. “It’s Smith in No. 1!” screamed the day clerk. The right Smith had not been waked at all, so the porter found No. 1 and pounded on the door so hard that every body in the house who had not already been waked was aroused, and several people rushed out into the hall, thinking there was a fire. The porter went down complacently to the office on the floor below. “Well,” said he to the night clerk, “I waked him up anyhow.” A Curious Parasite. It is an old saying that every dog has his day. According to an English au thority, that day is neither very long nor specially comfortable in Fiji. It is im possible to keep foreign dogs alive for much more than a couple of years. Those born there may live four years. The cause of this mortality Is a species of worm that lives in the blood vessels, ar teries and heart. Adult specimens of this parasite sometimes measure as much as five inches, and the blood of seme an imals is actually swarming with them. Puppies are often troubled with them, although it seems to take about six months to develop them to a troublesome stage. When a dog is attacked, it begins with a sharp barking, which is at once recognized as the beginning of poor Fido’s last chapter. Thus far no remedy has been found or even suggested. The same parasite is found in dogs in eastern Asia, and identical symptoms are noted. The animal may live six months to two years after the first indications are observed.— New York Ledger. His Wish. A wicked story is told about two part ners who respected each other’s business ability, but who hated each cordially. To one of them came a fairy saying that he could have any boon he desired, and whatever he had his partner should have in double portion. Naturally his first wish was for a barrel of money. “All right,” said the fairy, “but your partner will get two barrels on that wish.” “Stop a little.” said the first. “Perhaps you’d better not give me a barrel of money. I’d rather you would make me totally blind in one eye.”—New Orleans Times-Democrat. A Watch on the Wall. For many years a silver watch might be seen fastened to the wall of one of the fronts of the inner quadrangle of Somerset House. Londoners used to point it out as having saved the life of its owner when he fell from a scaffold, and he placed it there as a testimony.— New York Advertiser. CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT DOGS. Eaklaoi Find the Faithful Animal a Ne WMlt jr of Their Miserable Existence. “Without dogs the larger portion of the great Eskimo family peopling the barren northern coast of America wonld find it impossible to exist in its chosen home.” So writes E. W. Nelson in his “Mammals of Northern Alaska.” They are nsed in the winter for hunting, sledge drawing and the like, lmt in sum mer are mostly left to shift for them selves. They receive much hard usage, as well as do much hard work, but are described nevertheless as a rollicking set, full of play, fond of human society and quarrelsome as schoolboys. Mr. Nelson credits them with a vein of humor and declares that their varying characteristics can be read in their faces. They are worth from $2 to f 15 apiece, ac cording to age, size and intelligence. For sledge drawing they are harnessed in teamB of either seven or nine—three or four pairs and a leader. The load is from 350 to 700 pounds, and the course is mainly through unbroken snow or over rough ice. With a team of seven doge and a load of more than 300 pounds Mr. Nelson made a journey of more than 1,200 miles in about two months. The last 60 miles were made over a bad road in a continuous pull of 21 hours. They are much affected by the moon. During fnll moon half the night is spent by them in howling in chorus. “During the entire winter at St. Mi chael’s,” says Mr. Nelson, “we were inva riably given a chorus every moonlight night, and the dogs of two neighboring villages joined in the serenade.” He speaks of its “wild, weird harmony” and seems to have found it agreeable rather than otherwise. The influence of the moon is also very apparent when the dogs are traveling. They brighten up as the moon rises, and jiricking up their ears start off as if they had forgotten their fatigue. The fur traders take ad vantage of this fact and sometimes lie over during the day and travel at night. The dogs endure an astonishing degree of cold. Mr. Nelson saw a female with two newly born puppies lying upon the snow near a hut, with no sign of shelter, when the thermometer ranged from 30 to 35 degrees below zero. Indian Coronets. American women who long for coro nets should hesitate before accepting In dian ones. The case of an English woman who sued for divorce from her Hindoo husband points a moral. She alleged cruelty as a ground for her suit, and it is claimed that the same plea might be made by pearly all the women who mar ry orientals and go home with them. As a usual thing, the oriental gentle man pursuing his studies at an English or American university is a picturesque figure. He is likely to be very clever, and it is taken for granted that he is a prince at least, when he is at home. He is popular with his fellows, and through one of them he meets and marries a pretty, freely brought up girl. Then he takes her home. She may not meet with unkindness from her husband’s family, for the ori entals have many amiable and attractive qualities, and they are not cruel. But if the husband has not cut himself adrift from the religion and ties of his child hood his wife must conform to a certain extent to the ordinary life of the native woman. And, inasmuch as she will only do this so far as her love and duty to her husband oblige her, she will cer tainly fail to satisfy her new relatives and will be looked on with coldness and suspicion by them.—New York World. The Son's Fire. How was heat originally imparted to our great luminary? Was he “bom in fire” and has he been in an active state of combustion since the day of his birth, or was he once “a darksome body, flit ting hither and thither and yet going nowhere in particular?” If once a mighty planet of somber hue, why is he now the torchlight as well as the heating apparatus of a great system of worlds, and, being both, who is equal to the task of calculating even the cycle of time wherein the great change took place? It may have been that there were no worlds in what is now the solar sys j tern prior to that time, or, if there were, | probably only two. These two black giants of this dark ; ened portion of the great universe may have collided and coalesced into a vast i nebula, from whence the whole of our system has been evolved. If light and beat were thus mechanically produced and still retained to a certain degree in our sun. the largest fragment of the two colliding worlds, is it not altogether like ly that the great solar fires will finally burn out and that as a result man and all living creatures will become extinct on all of the inhabited planets?—St. Louis Republic. Whited Financial Sepulchers. With some very few exceptions, which i it were invidious to name, but which all in the railway world know as such ex ceptions, the railway corporations of the United States literally live from hand to mouth and have no working or reserve capital whatever, although their business requires it more than any other. The railways are capitalized for much more than they are worth. Usually the bond ed indebtedness, car trust certificates, equipment and terminal securities, taken at par, represent a value in excess of the cost of the road, and upon them fixed in terest is compulsorily payable. Hence, : whatever the road earns upon actual cost must, unless it exceed, say, 6 per cent, be paid out annually in the shape of interest alone.—Simon Sterne in Fo rum. Used Visiting Cards First. The Chinese are said to be the origi I nators of visiting cards. So long ago as i the period of the Tang dynasty (619-907) visiting cards were known to have been in use in China. From ancient times to the present day the Chinese have ob served the strictest ceremony with re gard to the {laying of visits. The cards which they use for this purpose are large and of a bright red color.—Chicago Rec I WONDER WHY. I wonder why hearts change so carelessly. Forgetful of the fires they have set Aglow in other hearts. Forgetful of the trembling lips once wet With dcwB of kisses. I wonder why it eomee—forgetfulness— To steal away the loyalty and truth That once were glormed, leaving alone a loi iniess shadow—rulli For those forgotten. I wonder why we cannot earnestly Command our loves as we command our lives And prove it Bweetly tree That love remains to him who truly strives ! To grow in constancy. 1 wonder why we never know ourselves— Can never look Into ourselves and see The hidden springs that wait A magic touch to burst forth mightily And 'whelm our startled souls. I wonder why once earnest vows enshrined Within the inner temples of our love Grow faint with lapsing time. Like echoes from some whispering voice above The faro If floating clouds— I wonder why. —New Orleans Times-Democrat. Gold Separation. What is claimed to be the most advan tageous process for the separation of fine gold in placers comes from Montana. It is a dry process, designed especially for localities distant from sufficient water for other methods, the ore or gravel be ing run through a crusher or steam dri er, after which it is dumped into the hopper of the separator. Dropping from this, it strikes a powerful blast of air, which carries it between two sets of slowly revolving copper cylinders coated with one-sixteenth of an inch of mer cury. These cylinders are placed in two lines of three each, one above the other, so that the dust, driven by the air blast, passes between them in a wavelike line. The ore first strikes a cylinder similar to the others, but revolving in an oppo site direction, which catches the coarser gold and the nuggets. Then, passing between the other cylinders, all the gold is caught, however fine, and the waste is carried by the air blast to a conveyor, which bears it away. The mercury on the cylinders is constantly renewed, so that a fresh surface is always presented, and it is asserted that the process has been subjected to such various tests, and so successfully, as to demonstrate its peculiar adaptability to the class of work in question.—New York Sun. All Snakes Do Not Hiss. The popular idea that all snakes hiss is incorrect when anacondas are in ques tion, if we may believe a close observer of the serpent family. The sound they make is more like a growl than a hiss and has been well described by a travel er as a “low, roaring noise.” Their pow ers of deglutition are sufficiently won derful to make exaggeration unneces sary, credible witnesses testifying to the fact that one has been known to swal low a horse, while bullocks are not in frequently attacked also. Few nonscien tific readers, by the way, are aware that not only do the jaw hinges of the boa tribe become dislocated in the act of swallowing a large animal, subsequently resuming their proper position by means of the elastic connecting tendons, but that the skull bones separate centrally, so the whole constitutes a sort of quad rangular orifice with apparently indefi nite powers of expansion.—Detroit Free Press. A Luxury of the Rich. A modem treatment of nervous pros tration requires that the patient be put to bed in a quiet room and fed for weeks - on enormous quantities of milk. He must take exercise, however, and this he does by proxy through the device of massage. He must do absolutely noth ing for himself, and if his nose itches the nurse must scratch it. Patients under such treatment sometimes gain four or five pounds of flesh per week. It is of coarse a luxury of the rich.—Philadel phia Ledger. English Women Agitating. Mrs. Millicent Garret Fawcett lately addressed an audience of women at Bloomsbury, England, on the extension of the parliamentary franchise to wom en. The meeting closed with the carry ing of a unanimous resolution in favor of woman suffrage, proposed by Mrs. Fawcett and seconded by Mrs. Ormiston Chant. A Suggestion. The Wooer (tall and lean)—Miss Bow ser—Dorothy, I would fain speak what is in my heart, but I—I fear to—to let myself out, Dorothy (calmly)—Don’t do that! You are too long now. It would be better to take in a tuck or two.—Pittsburg Bul letin. Described. Public Library Official (tearing up card)—What chump let you have a book ! on that card? It expired a month ago. Nearsighted Party—He was a sour looking, light complexioned young squirt with curly hair and—why, it was you!— Chicago Tribune. Texans use rattlesnake skins for belts and for charms to prevent rheumatism. The negroes have become experts in kill ing the snakes by crushing the heads only, so that the skins shall not be in jured. Every well developed adult of the hu man species has lung surface equal to 1,400 square feet. The heart's power is sufficient to lift itself 13,000 feet each ! hour. Mirages may occur in any place where the denser stratum of air is shifted above the lighter stratum, thus causing a re flection of the rays of light. The advocates of cremation assert th«t burial grounds will be regarded as rell ts of an uncivilized age by the year 1994. Bells, says a writer, toll for the mak ing or breaking of engagements in some German towns. The acts of this life are the destiny of the next.—Eastern Proverb. SMITH WAS A BAD MAN. And He Had learned One Ciaine of Which He f*oulil Boant. “But speaking of train robberies,” put in th» colonel, “reminds me of a man I met when I was in command of Fort D. A. Russell at Cheyenne. He was an ex press messenger named Smith, and his run was on what they called out there the ‘high line’ of the B. and M. railroad. Smith ain’t much of a man to look at. hut he was great in action, as you’ll agree. "I’d heard of Smith before I met him. He’d killed two men down in western Kansas, and they were saying aronnd Cheyenne that he was ‘bad.’ So I was curious to get him to tell me the story, and after awhile he did. “He used to have a run on the Santa Fe down where it crossed into Colorado. All the messengers, you know, carried guns in those days—they do yet, for that matter—but Smith understood the use of a six shooter better than some of his mates. Things had been so smooth on his run for so long that he got a bit care less at last and used to leave the door of his car unlocked so that the brakemen could come in and talk with him when ever they liked without his having to go to the end of the car to unlock the door. "Smith had one game, though, which was all his own. He told me that he had practiced it a good deal so that he could shoot within a fraction of a second after hearing any one saj-, ’Put up your hands.’ All the train men on his run knew that. You know those fellows are great in skylarking, and Smith had warned them never to try to play that joke on him, because, he said, the first man who came into his car and took him unawares with that remark would be likely to die. “One day he was sitting behind his little square iron safe checking off his money packages. He had the safe in a corner of the car facing one end. He al ways sat with his back against the front end of the car. The front door was al ways barred. When he raised the lid of the little trunklike safe the messengers used then, lie always put his two big six shooters on the comers of the safe in front of the lid. Any one approaching him from the rear end of the car couldn’t see the guns, but they were ready for in stant use. “Well, on this day Tin telling you about, as he was checking off the pack ages, he heard the car door open and some one come in. He took it for grant ed that the visitor was the brakeman whom he was expecting, and without looking up -went on with his work. He checked two or three more packages and was almost finished when he heard the sharp command, ’Put up your hands!’ “He looked up on the instant and saw two men, not in the least disguised, cov ering him with six shooters. His own hands were behind the lid of his safe. ‘All right, boys,’ he said. ‘Don’t shoot. They’re up.’ “They went up, that was true, but as they came over the lid of the safe there was a six shooter in each one. Both six shooters cracked the instant their muzzles came above the safe lid, and both bullets killed. The robbers fired, but they didn’t pull until after they had been hit, and their bullets went wild. “It was all done so quickly that there was no outcry or noise, and when the brakeman went into the car a few min utes afterward he found Smith washing up the blood from the floor. The dead men were on a blanket in a comer. That was how Smith got his reputation for be ing ‘bad.’ ”—New York Sun. Painstaking Forgers. “Men try in every way possible,” said a prominent bank president, “to obtain the signatures of New York bankers. “Their object is evidently to use them in committing forgeries. At least we suspect so, and for that reason try to be as careful as possible in signing letters. “In this bank we have many letters from the west of such a trivial nature that we suspect an ulterior motive upon the part of the writers, and if we answer them at all do so by typewriter, even to the signature. “One forger or counterfeiter in Indi ana is exceedingly systematic and per sistent in his efforts to obtain the signa tures of our officers. As regularly as the year comes around he writes, inclos ing a $10 bill, and requests us to send him one of our new $10 hank notes in exchange. “He always gives the same reason for the reqnest—that he wants it for ‘his col lection.’ Of course that is nonsense. We believe that he wants a new bill so that he may discover if we have changed onr officers and get their signatures. “He never does get them though. We always return his bill with a typewrit ten letter on paper containing no names, excusing ourselves on the ground that we have no circulation outstanding."— j New York Herald. Wood peckers That Look Ahead. There is a species of the bird known as the woodpecker in the far west that has an unusual amount of reasoning fac ulty. It is much tamer than the species of that bird found farther east and fre quents the towns rather than the woods. They make holes along the eaves of the dwellings, and in these holes they place acorns, not for the purpose of eating them, as the birds do uot eat the acorns at all, but for the purpose of devouring the grubs that germinate in the acorn. This indicates a continuous train of thought, looking forward to the time of the creation of the worm and its desira bility as food.—St. Louis Globe-Demo crat. A Curious Fatality. A curic-us fatality seems to have at tached itself to the family of Captain Wilson, the African fighter. All the members of it that have died have been the victims of accident or violence, ex cept his mother, who succumbed to an attack of paralysis. The husbands of two of Captain Wilsou's sisters were drowned, as were two brothers in South Africa. There remains now the eldest son. D-. George Wilson, a pioneer of sanitary science and a lover of fox hunting.—New York Ledger. % . THE UNDERSTUDY. IUBACTORS WHO MUST BE READY TO TAKE PRINCIPALS’ PLACES. ]>r-la>'N and limwrtalntlM They Find Id lietting to 1lie Front-—They Mliy On Through an laid re Keiuun With X Chatter to Show Their Power*. After two years of patient waiting and Rt.udy a young actresH, who was an uu d;rstudy in on* of the jirincipal stock companies in town, gave up her position the other day because during all that time she fcever got an opportunity to dis play her talents before the public. She was on the salary list of the company, and as wages are paid 52 weeks in the year by that particular organization it seemed rather like quitting a good thing, but it was not a questiou of finance with her. She is an actress of recognized abil ity, and understudying was not particu larly suited to her taste. She had part after part in new plays and reproduc tions. but the principal somehow oi oLh er managed to get through without being ill, or never suffered any mishap, so it Beemed as if the actress was destined to become a permanent understudy. This instance is only one of numberless Bimi lar experiences showing the trials and tribulations of understudies. All the big stock companies are well supplied in the matter of understudies, and while they are required to keep a certain number of professionals on hand they have innumerable applications from amateur aspirants for histrionic honors, who are only too willing to serve as un derstudies on the chance that some acci dent will take them to the front. Most of these come from the different schools for the training of actors. The under studies receive their parts almost at the same time they are delivered to the prin cipals. They are rehearsed regularly with the company and are presumed to be as well prepared for the first night of a play as the principals. Manager Charles I rohuiau s company is jtrobably one of the best equipped or ganizations in the country in the way of understudies. Eight of these are em ployed as regular members of the com pany the year round, and while they are probably not seen more than once or twice during a Beason they are al ways ready for any emergency that may arise. Augustin Daly’s and A. M. Palmer’s com panies are also well supplied with under studies, and both have long lists of ama teurs ready to go on at a moment’s no tice in case of sickness or other necessity. Every big traveling organization gen erally carries two understudies while on the road. Some companies dispense with their services, however, by requiring the members of the company to make them selves proficient in two or more parts. Thus if the first comedian should sud denly he incaxiacitated the second come dian jumps in, and so on all through the cast. The understudies who travel regu larly with the comx)any are usuauj a man and a woman. The former under studies all the actors, while the latter is perfect in all the feminine roles. Their salaries and expenses are on a par with those of the principals. Although many of the stars now con spicuous in the theatrical firmament be gan their dramatic career as understud ies, it is not often nowadays that the stars themselves are understudied. It is generally assumed by the managers that the star is the attraction for the public, and to substitute somebody else is to practice a deception which is injurious to the show. In some instances, how ever, where the star has had to be re placed by an understudy, the latter has made even a better hit than the star. Billy Crane was an understudy in the beginning, and Manager Joe Brooks tells an amusing anecdote of the actor's first experience as an understudy. He served in that capacity with a company that produced “The Daughter of the Regi ' ment” in this city some years ago. Among the parts which Crane had to commit to memory was that of the no tary. It was a particularly hard part be cause the notary had to begin by de claiming a long legal notice. Crane got the part pat, bnt in order that there should be no possibility of his making a break he copied the process into a book ; which the notary was supposed to carry. ; The notary wore a robe that trailed on 1 the floor. In making his entrance Crane's foot became tangled np in the robe and he pitched headforemost on the stage. The hook with the prompt lines flew across the stage. Crane pulled himself together in a moment, and without los | ing his presence of mind began firing ' the process off. He went through with i out a break, and his original entrance ; made a hit with the audience. One of the most notable instances of understudying was that furnished while Denman Thompson was in the midst of his long run with “The Old Homestead" at the Academy of Music. Walter Gale, whose characterization of Happy Jack. 1 the tramp, was supposed to be inimi i table, was ill, and at the eleventh hour | the manager heard of the trouble. The j part was a most important one in the j cast, and nobody could he found to take it among the members of the company. ; Finally a young Irishman named James | Fitzgerald, who was acting as dresser to | Thompson, astonished that actor bv de ! daring that he would take the part. It j seems that lie was understudying Gale right along unknown to anybody. Fitz gerald went on that night and imitated Gale to a dot in everything except the , latter's soul racking cough. Young Fitzgerald made a hit and played Happy •Jack manj- times, hut his career was ‘ brought to an untimely close by an at tack of pneumonia, to which he suc ' eumbed.—New York Sun. The Word Mother. Here are 15 varieties of the word j mother, all bearing a distinct resem blance: Anglo-Saxon, modor; Persian, madr: Sanscrit, matr: Greek, meter; Italian, inadre; French, mere; Swedish, moder; Danish, the same; Dutch, moe der; German, mutter; Russian, mater; Celtic, mathair: Hebrew, em; Arabic, —Chicago Tribnne.