1 rSjgssae Ifr - - KISSING the rod O heart of mine we shouldnt Worry so What weve missed of calm we couldnt Have you know What weve met of stormy pain And of sorrows driving rain j We can belter meet again - If it hlow i x - Wc have erred in that dark -hour We have known t When our tears fell with the shower All alone Were not shine and shower blent As the gracious Master meant Xct us temper our content J With His own lFor we know not every morrow Can be sad So forgetting all the sorrow We have had Let us fold away our fears And put by our foolish tears And through all the coming years Just be glad James Whitcomb Riley r THE OTHER ONE m FT1 tei r mm mm VERY marriage is hazardous but I can conceive of no greater risk than was taken by that same handsome mild mannered woai an Judge Watson was speaking of a smiling ele gantly dressed lady -whom he had just bowed out of his office and to her car- She look to doesnt me like ne who had gone through many sev ere trials in life I am thinking of the chance she took and what might have been The story is worth listening to although perhaps I will tell it badly Lets have it by all means I said Very well answered the judge Like a cigar and while we are smok ing I will try to tell you the story The lady who just left has a twin -sister who is now abroad When they were girls together it was impossible to tell them apart and when they grew to young womanhood they were literal- 4y as much alike as two peas and their uiother was the only one aside from themselves that could tell which -was which when they were abroad in the same attire They used to play lots of jokes on the young men for being so much alike this was easy to do They were pretty girls and had scores of young beaus ready and willing to have all sorts of pranks played upon them -for just the sake of their company Howard Gleason was especially at tentive to Maud and he admits that lie sometimes made the mistake of bracing the wrong sister when he hap pened to meet her suddenly in a poor light v The father old Mr Wardlow was rich and proud and only knew that Howard Gleason was courting one of bis daughters Now Howard was not blessed with this worlds goods and old man Wardlow wTas ambitious for bis daughters so he very promptly is sued an ultimatum The young man could have neither of the daughters until he had toiled Sometimes he felt tempted to break his pledged word and write to the girl imploring her to send him a few words if only enough to tell him that she was still faithful And then his pride would come to his rescue and he would say to himself No I will not write if she cant be faithful to me better I should know it now than when it is too late So be worked and toiled cheered always by the belief that a fair sweet girl was waiting to welcome him home and counting the hours just as he was do ing Luck was with the young man and in little more than a year he and his partner struck it rich and he was naif owner of a mine that promised to become one of the richest in that -try Then he determined to go back borne and tell the girl of his heart of his good fortune He would be his own messenger in carrying the glad news -so without a word he put his things together and started east Of course having had no correspon dence with any one in the town no one was aware of Howards good fortune and when he arrived at his old home be came unheralded He took only eufficicnt time to brush up a bit and then be started for Mr Wardlows Arrived at the bouse he knew so well ttnd the afternoon being warnv he found nobody about save the old gar- - deuer who was looking after his flow ers Where is your mistress Howard asked The old man hesitated Cant you understand English Howard said impatiently Where Is your young mistress Shes shes in the grove sir a readin said the old man bowing obsequiously and without more ado Howard went to seek her You can perhaps imagine the meeting He came suddenly upon a fair young crea ture swinging in her hammock under the trees and reading Coming up - quietly behind her he Sung his arms about her and caught her to his heart as be covered her face with kisses Then he held her off at arms length and said Maud my darling While she answered Howard and hid her face on his breast Howard had waited sufficiently long - for bis wife and so they were qiuetly married the next day and left at once -on their wedding tour ceased bta atocr aad Here the judge v sat silent puffing at his cigar so long that the other said Well I dont see anything so very risky in that The judge smiled and then went on Wait It was the other one that Howard had married Maud had suc cumbed to the charms of a foreigner had married and gone away with him The other one loved Howard had al ways loved him When she found too that he had not the slightest notion of the true condition of affairs she con ceived the idea of marrying him her self and explaining to him afterward After much coaxing and because she believed that her daughters happiness depended upon it Mrs Wardlow con sented to the plot When they return ed from their wedding tour Howards wife told him everything Hes a sen sible fellow and was quick to see that what had happened was all for his happiness Five years have gone by and to this day he has never quit thanking his stars that he didnt marry Maud but married the other one Twelve million silk hats are annually made in the United Kingdom worth live million pounds Russia possesses at least one luxury in a breed of dogs which are said to be naturally quite unable to bark Liszts great skill with the piano was in pant due to his immense industry For years he practiced ten hours a day The highest masts of sailing vessels are from 1G0 to ISO feet high and spread from G0000 to 100000 square feet of canvas It costs 574 per million gallons to pump water to Chestnut Hill Reser voir The engines pump S938 gallons on one pound of coal The Sudbury River aqueduct in 359 days has delivered 14857300000 gal lons to Chestnut Hill Reservoir and 35500000 to Lake Cochituate In Geneva Switzerland many build ings have been fitted with electric let ter boxes which ascend and descend automatically in a shaft and deliver the letters destined for each story There is much trouble and conflict In the South over the proposition to put cotton up in round bales Nobody is exactly clear as to the result Several round bale compresses have been built There are 124 bridges in the city of Boston The city owns and main tains sixty four of this number The railroads support thirty three Besides these there are also eighteen bridges which begin in Boston but end in some other city or town Poisoned by a Stingaree There is a fish inhabiting tropical waters and often found along the Flori da and Gulf coasts known as the stin garee Along its back and tail are sharp spines which inflict serious wounds and at the same time poison the flesh As a rule these wounds are very painful but not dangerous being much like the sting of a wasp or hornet Dr Charles Spratt a physician living in Jacksonville Fia was fishing the other day at the mouth of the St Johns River and caught one of these stin garees While removing the fish from the hook he was stung on the left hand near the little finger The pain was intense and Dr Spratt ordered his boatman to row for Fort George Is land where Dr McAuley lives Be fore the island was reached Dr Spratt was unconscious Dr McAuley was unable to restore the injured man to consciousness so he sent for the sur geon on board the United States ship Wilmington which was anchored near The doctor concluded that artificial respiration was the only way to save Dr Spratts life and a number of ne groes were employed alternately rais ing and lowering his arms This was continued for ten hours at the end of which time Dr Spratt wakened up and in a short time was out of danger This is the first instance in which the sting of the fish has threatened serious results New York World First Princess to Ride in Bloomers Princess Louise of Saxony is the firsl princess to wear bloomers The bi cycling craze early took hold of the women of European royal families just as it has of women everywhere Tthc Bang of Italy was opposed to it and Emperor William became angry when bis sisters and cousins persisted ir wheeling around the country lanes ol Germany but they were forced to per mit it Princesses cannot do as othei mortals and so they had to foregc bloomers and cling to the drop frame bicycle But now Princess Louise has thrown over the conventions and ridei in comfort The princess is the wif of George the heir to the throne and s brother of the king She herself is at archduchess of Austria Hungary She is 55 years of age and has two sons French Device Against Fire The Theatre Francais at Paris has peculiar device to insure the greatest possible safety for the audience Nof only can the scene be separated from the audience by a hermetically closing steel curtain but the roof of the seen can be uncovered at a moments notice so that a draught of air is produced which carries away the smoke and nor ious gases produced in the fire These it is said constitute the greatest dan ger to the audience often rendering es cape quite impossible It is on th scene that the fire usually breaks out Useful There Hopsmith ought to take his wiri with him to the Klondike Any special reasons Yes lve noticed she always doe their snow shoveling at home De troit Free Press rne sweetest smiie is aiwu ys uesiow ed cm somebody else A GKICULTUML NEWS THINGS PERTAINING TO THE FARM AND HOWIE After Producing Fine Fruit Xcarn How to Eell It for the Most Money Plymouth Rock Hens Have Many Points ofExcellcncc Brief Notes Fruit Growing An apple tree will nearly care for itself but the man who wants good frees in the future will thin his fruit If a tree bore one hundred apples I should remove fifty If the next year it bore two hundred I should leave one hundred to ripen and the next if ithad a thousand I should leave six hundred This will get the tree into the habit of bearing A peach tree that will set a thousand peaches needs to nave sK or seven hundred thinned off Thus you will get more bushels to the tree The more you throw away the more you will have and you will practically get 4 for 1 After producing fine fruit learn how to sell it for the most money The fruit which brings most is that which is neatest fullest and most honestly packed Pick your fruit carefully and in the cool of the day Pack in a cool place and in tight packages for the less air that reaches the fruit the better Then put the crates in a cool place In packing grade your fruit the finest first then medium etc The three or four grades should be uniform through out Ask your dealers what kind of packages sell best Next get a good dealer and tell him you have a good thing Have your commission man go and see your place The business side of fruit growing means belief in your self and then making those with whom you trade believe in you Finally do not go into the business until you have thought it out and made up your mind that you will suceed Grange Homes Profitable Hens In ray operations in the poultry line 1 have never found any breed to pos sess so many points of excellence with the ordinary treatment of the average farmer as the Plymouth Rocks They pay me I have had a flock of forty Plymouth Rock hens average me 145 per hen for the year with a country market for poultry and eggs They had the run of the farm and barn with an abundance of sour milk and such grains as the farm produced This seemed to furnish all they desired ex cept grit which was supplied in plas ter scraped from the walls of an old house Now with a larger flock I am feeding buckwheat mostly raking it deep into chaff and straw with bone and meat scraps obtained from butch ers The liens have plenty of warm water to drink and they take lots of it too My hens are kept in what was once a hay bay now fitted with win dows and devoted to poultry It is light warm and roomy joins the main barn floor by a sliding door and the hens are let out a while each day and given the run of the entire barn both for exercise and to save scattered grain It works as well as a more cost ly arrangement and keeps the fowls in splendid vigor Last spring there was scarcely an infertile egg in all my hatch Maine Bulletin Straw Stack Stables Wherever grain is largely grown the straw left after threshing will make a cheap and warm stable for stock the ensuing winter All that is needed is to set posts in the ground close enough together so that they will form a good support for a flat roof and pile the straw over it and on at least three sides The side not built up against may be used wholly as a door for stock to run in and out or it may be boarded up and one or two board doors made Sometimes this straw stable is made against the side of a stack and the ani mals are allowed to eat into it This however is a dangerous practice for late in winter stock may eat far enough so as to disturb the balance of the stack bringing it over on them and smothering them Where the stack is built over a stout shed there is no such danger It can be easily made as warm as any basement barn and without much cost except of the straw Ameri can Cultivator Sowing Grass Seed One of the questions being discussed at the farmers institutes is whether the old time custom of sowing grass seed on grain is as beneficial of good results as sowing the seed alone It is true that the grain shades the grow ing grass but the stronger root growth of the grain crop must to a certain ex tent affect the young grass Then there is the advantage when grass seed is sown without using grain land of thorough preparation of the soil for the grass crop which is not the case when grain is seeded in the fall and grass in the spring It is possible that if grass seed is sown on land that is fine and ready for the seed it will make much greater growth than when sewn on grain and thus escape the effects of he dry season which usually comes in summer On sandy soil clover and the various grasses may be seeded down in August but on clay soil the frost aiay throw the plants out during the winter It is a mistake however to suppose that a grass crop can not be grown from spring seeding without the aid of a grain crop Golden Rod This native plant deserves a place in all gardens and especially in those having a collection of American plants 1 l is so hardy so showy and so easily grown that it deserves more attention than it often gets Each little shoot broken away from the old plant in the spring and planted in almost any way or place will become quite a plant by fall A clump of It lights up the corner mrtirtrsK in which It grows like a bonfire Ono of the chief merits of the plant is its ate flowering quality By its use we prolong the season greatly With it should always be grown a variety or two of our late native asters The two plants are boon companions and one seems lonely without the other Cer tainly the yellow glory of the golden rod is greatly heightened by the purple haze of the less showy but equally beautiful flowers and between them there is a contrast that is full of most harmonious effects Sliding Barn Doors There should be no toleration of the old fashioned swinging barn doors which winds will soon break from their hinges making it impossible to operate them except by lifting the door and carrying it around The sliding doors on iron rollers are easily kept in order and are worked so easily that a little child has power enough to operate one of them They have also the advan tage that the door may be slightly open ed and kept in that position which would be difficult to do with a door swinging on hinges The sliding door came into use when basement barus were constructed In such case the doors on the lower side where they were 10 to 12 feet above the basement had to be put on rollers The conveni ence of the sliding door now makes it more lesirable on barns however they may be constructed Sowing Grass Seed Clover seed on grain is sown as early as it can be done It will be an advan tage to go over the grain field with a smoothing harrow which will not only benefit the grain but prepare the ground somewhat for the seed Do not try to seed by using the hand but sow with a seed sower a wheelbarrow seed sower being excellent If tlie wheat plants have been loosened by frost sow the clover seed and run the roller over the land The weather conditions must of course influence the matter Many farmers sow clover seed on the snow allowing the rains and melting snow to carry the seed down but there will occur a large loss of seed which will be eaten by birds some will freeze and become worthless portions will not be covered by earth and the catch will largely depend on spring conditions Potatoes After Corn It is possible to grow a good potato crop after corn if the latter has been planted on an old sod heavily manured In such case a good deal of the virtue of the sod was not secured by the corn crop and there is besides a dressing of well rotted manure to be turned up by the spring plowing It is much bet ter to plant early potatoes on such land and to plant them as early as a good seed bed can be had Without a fresh sod to decay and furnish plant food and moisture in midsummer the re sult with late potatoes would be that they dry up just at the critical tinif for making a crop Varieties of Peaches It is believed that failures wlti peaches in many sections are partially due to the proper varieties for eacr section of the country not being select ed To learn more on the subject th work of testing the varieties has bee submitted to twenty four experimen stations and it is believed that the re suits will be very beneficial One o the great difficulties in the way is tha of procuring varieties true to name 1 is seldom that a peach grower succeeds in procuring the exact varietes order ed unless he knows from whom to buj or has evidence that no mistake wili be made The Best Turkeys for Breeding It is not surprising that turkeys should soon run out and become infer ior in every way when we remembei how so many farmers choose theii breeding stock All the late birds stunted by corn feeding while youns are saved while those that are large and fine are sent to market The idea is that the small bird will be fully grown and as large as the largest by spring But it never is Saving the best birds for breeders insures earlier laying of eggs and an early crop of turkeys next year Profits in Blackberries Perhaps it is safe in asserting that in proportion to labor and capital invest ed no crop pays as large a profit as blackberries Growers who complain that blackberries do not pay should first estimate the expense There are blackberry fields that have borne crops for ten years which have never re ceived a pound of fertilizer or manure and outside of cutting away the old canes with rough cultivation in the spring have received no labor What blackberries would do for the grower if treated like strawberries Is j et to be demonstrated by some Stock that Gains in Value One of the best rules for profitable farming is to always keep as much young growing stock as possible and to discard early that which because of age is declining in value Food that makes growth is always much more productive than that given the fully grown animal which only requires to be fattened In a hog the first 100 pounds cost less than the second hun dred After a hog gets to be 300 weight most of its food goes to maintain its present condition and there is very little profit to the feeder Value of the Cow Pea Analyses made at the Colorado Ex periment Station show that pea vine hay is richer in protein than either clo ver or alfalfa The pea vines contain materially more nitrogen than alfalfa and are valuable for green manuring There is a considerable amount of pea vliie hay made in Colorado The vari ety grown for that purpose is known as itho Mexican pea The Need Is Pelt The growing sentiment in favor of good roads for Saginaw County Michi gan asserted itself at a recent session of the Board of Supervisors Supervisor Gerber a good roads enthusiast pre sented a resolution providing for the adoption of the county good roads sys tem as proposed by the State Good Roads League The measure which was finally laid upon the table evoked a great amount of discussion which showed conclusively that a majority of the supervisors are in favor of macad amizing the principal roads emanating from Saginaw as soon as the county is able to meet such an expense The good effect of stone roads is be ing unfavorably felt by Saginaw mer chants Since Bay County constructed something like twenty miles of stone road near the border of Saginaw Coun ty into Bay City farmers in the north ern townships have abandoned the Saginaw market and are hauling all their produce into Bay City The roads enable the farmers to market their goods regardless of the wet seasons Wm L Webber and Zed Rust two of the wealthiest men in the valley are earnest supporters of county road im provement and- offer to donate thou sands of tons of chip stone for the work in the county An effort will be made to adjust the present road tax so thnt instead of being worked by each farmer an equivalent in ca h can be placed in a township fund to build stone roads Why Broad Tired Wheels Pay A wagon going up hill requires more force to draw it than when it is moved on a level When a wheel sinks in soft soil there is an elevation of the ground in front of it equal to the depth of the sinking When a narrow wheel sinks three or four inches in the ground the effect is precisely the same as if the wagon was going up the same incline when the broad wheel is used but if it does not sink in the ground this obsta cle does not exist The surface of the wheel does not interfere in the least with the draft of a wagon even on solid hard ground and it must be evident that the broad wheel will not cut into a road as a narrow one will and thus on soft roads must be easier draft By the use of a broad tived wagon when a new road is being laid out it will soon be rolled hard and solid so that even a narrow tired wagon will not cut in but attempt to make a road during the average harvest winter or spring season with narrow tired wagons and the job will usually prove a failure Roy Stone Good Roads Wanted There has been introduced in the New York Senate a good roads bill which provides for the construction through each of the counties of the State a macadam highway that shall follow the leading market and travel routes The entire expense of the con struction of such roads is to bo borne by the State and the work is to be done under the direction of the State en gineer The only expense to the coun ties is the preparation of a detailed sur vey of the highways selected Bad Road a Continuous Tax Favorable results are reported from all the States that have systematically taken up the work of road improve ment The subject is one that will make its way if earnestly considered No one can say exactly what a good road is worth but all who use roads know that a bad one is a heavy continuous tax St Louis Globe Democrat Indiana Activity The commissioners of Lawrence County have awarded the contract for fourteen miles of gravel roads to Amos Musselman Co of Anderson at 32 075 When completed Lawrence Coun ty will have about one hundred miles of first class gravel roads Indianap olis Journal Farmers Agitate for Good Roads Lapeer County Michigan farmers are strongly in favor of the L A W movement for good roads They are agitating a plan for State aid to be pre sented to the next Legislature An L A W book is being mailed to each farmer SELLING HIS MEMOIRS A Tramps Brilliant Means of Raisins the Price of a Meal The audacity and wit of the Ameri can tramp are proverbial and undoubt edly they often save him from harsher treatment than his merits or demerits entitle him to A country house near Buffalo recently received a call from one of the species The man was dirty unkempt and unmistakably a tramp He also bore the signs of addiction to strong drink and general worthless ness The humorous touch that finish ed the picture as he came up with a genial smile and a good deal of man ner was a round and fresh clerical col lar which had evidently been lifted very recently from the premises of the neighboring college Madam he said I am a mission ary but lately returned from long vears of service in China and other heathen lands For the sake of health and relaxation I am renewing my ac quaintance with nature and my native laud in this unconventional manner To help pay my way I am selling for the merely nominal price of fifteen cents this record of my missionary ex periences The fellow made his speech with a look in his eyes that showed his enjoy ment of the game The volume was a pjjjHW - dirty castaway rescued from an asfc barrel but still The J ife of the Rev So-and-So Many Years Missionary in the Far East Dear dear said one of the ladies Havent you a clean copy Madam there are others but they are with my baggage And they are twenty live cents a copy he added this is the popular edition Oue of the company charmed with the style and impudence of the scala wag went in to get the change While she was gone the missionary and lover of nature leaned against the veranda lost wiped his brow with a shining coattail and cheerfully remarked Ladies the Lord is giving us delight ful weather is He not Then he took his money waved his dismantled derby affably and went on along the high way The incident was happily closed by the purchaser of the Life of the departed brother reading aloud when she could catch her breath these open lug lines of the precious narrative I was born of humble parentage in the town of Glastonbury Conn March 18 1792 Buffalo Commercial Fruit of the Grape We learn from Pliny that there was in existence a famous wine made 200 years lefore It was so thick that it had to be dug out with a spoon and dis solved in water Scarcely a nation on the face of the globe has not used alcohol in some form or other There seems to be an innate craving in mankind for intoxicating1 liquors The Greeks alone seemed able to use the beverages and keep sober The strongest drink was natural wine w containing no more alcohol than our claret yet they always added water to it The wildest diners never drank wine that was not a third water for they drank for exhilaration not cation The Macedonians however over threw Greek temperance They werei heavy drinkers and were led by the king himself Once when a suit wnsj being tried one of the contestants shouted I appeal To whom asked rhilip contemptuously I am the king I appeal said the man from Thilip drunk to rhilip sober The suit was retired the next day and decided to the mans satisfaction The later Romans cared more for their wine tlian for any other product There were 125 varieties in use eighty of fine quality Common wine was very cheap and it was a joke that it was less expensive than water It was common to mix honey and various spices withi the wine a more surprising admixture was that of salt which was supposed to improve the llavor Another and to ns barbarous habit was that of add ing resin or turpentine This is done in Greece up to the present day Among the Romans for a few dred years people were temperate winQj was scarce and poor and was reserved exclusively for the men over thirty years of age Women were forbidden to use it under pain of death for the alleged reason that it was an incentive to high living Women were obliged to greet all their male relatives with a kiss on the mouth so that it could be told if they had been to the wine cellar Pliny quotes the case of one who cudg eled his wife to death for having sam pled his wine and was pardoned by Romulus Four hundred years later a Roman dame was starved to death by her relatives for a similar offense Chicago News Sparrow Lynched by Swallows A successful lynching took place on a farm in Michigan the other day In the barn a swallows nest was seen clinging to the side of a beam from which was suspended an English spar row hung by the neck with a hair from a horses tail While two men wore sitting in the barn they noticed a sparrow go into the swallows nest from -which he began pitching the young birds Three swallows tracted by their outcry immediately pounced upon the intruder After con fining him to the nest for a few min utes they threw him out He dropped about a foot there was a jerk and Mr Sparrow was hanged as nicely as though an expert hangman had been in charge The hair was wound around his neck several times and after a few ineffectual struggles he kicked his lasfc Grand Rapids Herald Tnnnel Under the Danube The Danube like the Thames in En gland and the Hudson in New York is to have a tunnel beneath its bed The Hungarian Government has jusi completed the necessary arrangements for the construction without delay ot a subway beneath theriver at Buda Pesth on the same principle as that oi the new Blackwell tunnel under the Thames in London There is to be a footpath for passengers and an electric railroad The upper way wili be re served exclusively for vehicle traffiq and ventilation is to be provided bj electricity Had an Answer Ready By his ready wit under adverse cip cumstances a Western Senator recent ly proved himself a modern Chester field Although he rides a wheel he is not yet an expert Recently he wa wheeling in Washington through the agricultural grounds when he met a man and two women whom he knewv Quite propertly the Senator raised one hand from his wheel to lift his hat and the next minute he had tumbled intj a bed of flowers You did that very graceful Senator was the commen of the trio of bicyclers I always dis mount in the presence of ladies in stantly replied the Senator Theater Chat He In China a play is six monh3 long She Dear me What a lot of good shoe leather you save in not being therei to go out between -the acts DetrdL Free Press W JWwWit - v 81 - it l n n v - i i u fl i