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About The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1895)
VOLUME XXVI. NUMBER 29. COLUMBUS, NEBRASKA. WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 30, 1895. WHOLE NUMBER 1329. ! i tr K 1 2 W - l.v r ! t- . THE IJTTIE SCHOOL. HE school bouse over which Mis3 Mattie Smith had reigned for quite a number .of years was situated on a hill just beyond the diminutive village of Wale3. It was . 3 upon tne. outskirts ."""t of a wood and said to be in "a " snaky place.' Hies Mattie, however,. had nev er seen any snakes and didn't believe there were any. She had no objections 'whatever to the situation, but the house itself was old. Whenever Miss Mattie met a school trustee she was bound to tell liim right decidedly that she must have a new school house, cne with a .cellar for the coal and room for her desk away from the draught. But in the spring time the draught from the door was very welcome, and. Miss Mattie was grateful for" all the air she could .get as she sat at her desk, hearing Hie spelling lesson. - ""Hero, hero," drawled Miss Mattie's pcj. Xah Foster. Then Nan came to a pause -and fiddled nervously with the jipckels cf her apron. "Well," queried the teacher. .. "I know what it means," declared the little girl; "I know ?o well that I didn't 'have to look in the dictionary, but I can't tay it th save my life." "ilt means a boy," volunteered a very .small girl, glancing dreamily out of the school room window. "Oh. yes, of course, I know it means a hoy."-said Nan, hastily, "a boy who oh. dc.1r, I can't say it."' Miss Mattie put a sudden end to the difficulty by furnishing the dictionary ' t.W'.r - - m - swf. -2 V r- .. -tTNM S-?3Lr' "IT SKEERED HER. meauicg, whereupon the pupil at the toot of the class murmured grumbling !y that that was just what he would have said if he had been given his turn. After the spelling class had retired the arithmetic class came and estab lished itself in a very long row before Miss Mattie. Down at the end of the " arithmetic class was a little Dutch boy with blue eyes and flaxen hair. He was a very new scholar, and he didn't look as if he would remain foot all the time. The blue eyes were fastened earnest ly upon Miss Mattie's face as she put the question: "If an apple is divided ' into two parts, what are the parts called, Johnny Smeltzer?" .-" ."Halves," answered the little Dutch "If the halves are divided into two part what are the parts then called?" "Quarters." answered the little Dutch boy. "And if the quarters are divided into two parts- what arc the parts called?" nquj?d Miss Mattie, determined to discover what prodigious amount of ar ithmetic this small boy knew. "Snits." answered the little Dutch boy without a moment's hesitation. All morning the school children had. been calling Johnny Smeltzer "Tow Head," but when the next recess ar rived he was christened "Snits." It was astonishing, considering the limited dimensions of the viliage of Wales, that its youthful population should have been of such a critical turn of mind. The children at the lit ' t.'e.old schoolhouse on the hill laughed openly at tongue tied Ben-Windsor, not withstanding that his father was a " school trustee and a person of much Im portance. They made derogatory re1 marks in regard to Sarah Wyand's new .bonnet and Danny. Rider's big shoes ?nd Tommy Gill's poor little hat that his mother had cut out of a piece of blue velvet. They even smiled at Miss Mattie's bronze slippers, and declared "in audible whispers that they "must pinch awful." But when Johnny Smelt zer appeared one morning in Ben Wind sor's trousers, the uproar was tremen " clous. The silence bell sounded, but the whole room continued in convulsive giggle., for Ben Windsor's trousers lagged about the little Dutch boy's legs in a. manner never intended by any civ ilized tailor, and for "short pants".thcy were extraordinarily long and for "long pants" they were, without doubt, "high water." "Snits must be terrible poor," whis pered Jessie Brown, "to have pant3 give to him." "He ith.pore," returned Ben Windsor, "hith motha ith our wathwoman." It was upon the following day at noon that the little Dutch boy diffident ly approached Miss Mattie's desk. "What is it?" asked Miss Mattie. .keeping on with her writing. - For a silent minute. Snits pulled. wkwardly at the voluminous trousers, then he blurted out. "My mother can't help it about Ben Windsor's pants. She with ah? could." "Your mother is a very goad woman, I am sure," returned Miss Mattie care lessly. "You mustn't mind what the school children say." Snit's face flushed to the very roots of his white hair. "Oh, I don't mind," he said, with. his eyes upon the plat form. '"'tain't that," and still he lin gered. Now, perhaps, it came to Miss Mat tie Smith that this little white-haired Dutch boy considered it her duty to stop the school children's chattering about Ben Windsor's discarded apparel. If so, it was very foolish of him. He hadn't lived long in the village of Wales or he would know better than to expect such a thing of her. Why, she hadn't even attempted to hush that audible whisper directed' towards her own high heeled slippers. 'A faint red came into her cheeks, too, and she in quired a trifle sharply, "Is there any thing else you hare to say, Johnny Smeltzer?" The little Dutch boy's head wa3 bowed very low, as:he murmured: "Can I run for the prize if I wear Ben Wind sor's pants?" Miss. Mattie burst into a ringing laugh; she couldn't help it. it was so exquisitely funny. But even as she laughed, she felt her conscience .prick her, for poor little Snits, fumbling and pulling at the baggy trousers, laughed Yes, he minded very, very much, wear ing that other boy's trousers. "I know one thing," remarked the teacher's pet, throwing her proud little head in the air, "If I was Snits I wouldn't come to school if I had to wear people's old pants. His mother ought to go to the store and buy him a pair with her wash money." "I "won't play with him while he wears Ben Windsor's pants," said Char ley Stills, virtuously. rT-1 v $k, )?v'!SL,' va rr. stffZWl""". "Neither will I," cried George Wajts. "Neither will I," echoed Sammy Lin 8er. 4 3 " Tbappearadce of Ben Windsor's lit tle Jtster, hapfl. in hand with" a smiling niarse maMlnut" an end tothe unchari table colversation. Eariny Windsor had criol to come f(p to thjf school houseafnd as she hadn't Jaicn very well JKtely, she wrfnot allowed to cry in van. Ben wis orderofto take'good catwof bis litre sister And the? nurse departed, lapwing herharge fn the midst of a admiring group, ' Fanny Windsor was fat am dhnplsjB. and did not shoany signof her recent illness except Jn a' ceram impejiousness 'of mannethat wanxtremev amusing. Alytue earljnart of thA afternoon in the school m the witor behaved. perfectly. Spe was onlwthree years old, but she repeated rs with her eyes off -tne prime: she counted up to twenty with creditable rapidity. -It was during the fifteen minutes' recess that she grew determined and venture some. She insisted upon seesawing with one of the large boys, she slapped three of the girls, and in the end wa3 seen marching off alone, crying vehe mently that she dared anybody to come with her. When the bell rang Fanny Windsor had disappeared. If there had been a cellar to the little old school house there would have been a probability, at least, that the trus tee's small daughter had wandered into it, or fallen into it, for "very likely the cellar would have had no steps. Miss Mattie and all the pupils, even the three girls who had "been slapped, were in a great flutter looking for the missing child. Ben said that she couldn't have gone ."home"," because she was afraid to cross the stream. It was a faint, far away sounding cry that told them, cellar or no cellar, Fan ny Windsor was under the school house. She had crept through a small opening, which, by all means, should have led Into the cellar. It was such a very small opening that only a very small boy, who no longer lived in the village, had ever investigated the region from which sounded the forlorn cry. The small boy had seen wonderful things under the school house, lighted very well, he declared, by sunshine shooting through the chinks. He had seen four snakes and a nest of spiders as big-as butterflies, and a whole lot of bats. Ben Windsor's little sister must have been seeing the wonders, too, for she began to scream loudly. ""Can't anybody get her out?"-cried Miss Mattie, wringing her hands. Ben put his scared face to the opening and called, "Fanny. Fanny!" The screams under the house grew louder. "We'll have to tear up the school house floor to get her," exclaimed Willie Day, excitedly. "She'll be smothered by that time." said Sammy Linger. "Fanny, come along this way' plead ed Sen. "Hereth brotka." "I reckon she's caught," said George Watts. "Mebbe a snake's got her," suggested a little girl. Then Ben screamed, "I thee a wat!" Many and many a time the school chil dren, had laughed at Ben for calling a rat a "wat," but none of them laughed now. In all that anxious crowd only one mortal realized that something mu3t be done. The little Dutch boy picked up a stick and t? next instant Ben Windsor's trousers went wriggling through the opening. ' "Oh, dear," cried Miss Mattie, wring ing her hands harder than ever, and Miss Mattie's pet hid her face and wept aloud. There was a terrible scuffle under' the old school house. It seemed to last a long time; then there was a strange quiet. Ben Windsor, pale and trembling, had drawn back from the opening. "Mebbe they's both dead," said Sam my Linger, huskily. At a safe distance from the opening a boy was stooping, with his hands' upon his knees. "Some'n's a-coming," he an nounced in a fearful whisper. The something that first showed up at the opening was a round, dimpled tear-stained face, and Ben Windsor caught his little sister in his arms and kissed her wildly. Following after Fanny came Snits. Watching Snits drawing himself through the hole, one understood how very small the hole was. The little Dutch boy's fair face was whiter than usual, almost as white as his hair, and his blue eyes looked quite dark as he got upon his feet and stood bashfully, whirling by the tail that third something, wbich, had it ap peared first, would have caused a scat tcration in-the crowd. "It skeered her, but it hadn't hurt her yet," he an nounced, soberly. The third some thing was a dead rat. Then Miss Mat tie's pet, who had unveiled her -eyes, cast an eloquent glance into the teach er's face. "Snits is a hero, ain't he, Miss Mattie," she asked? . Miss Mattie nodded her head. '"And I reckon he's paid for them pants a hundred times over!" cried Willie Day, enthusiastically, and again Miss Mattie nodded her head. Later on it was declared that Snits built the new school house, for if Ben Windsor's father hadn't seen the dead rat with his own eyes, he might never have roared out threateningly: "Tho old rat hole shan't stand another sum mer; we'll get a new school house, or we'll have none!" Louise R. Baker, in the New York Observer. PARADISE AND NORTH POLE. GrolosUts Contend -That Garlea ol Kilen Was In Arctic Regions. In an interesting and highly instruc ive article, Edward S. Martin reviews the numerous theories advanced by sci entists in the endeavor to solve the perplexing problem as to exact location of the site of the Garden of Eden. After sifting the theories the writer concludes that the. question is no nearer answered than it was 2,000 years ago, and that there are no present indica tions that the matter will ever be def initely settled by any man. To one cf the latest and most ingenious theories Mr. Martin thus refers: The north pole will seem at first thought to the aver age investigator the most unlikely site on the earth for Paradise to have occu pied. Nevertheless several sober and thoughtful books and pamphlets have been written in suppsrt of the north pole's pretensions. The north pole nowadays is bitter cold, but it has r$t always been so. Geologists tell us that the earth was excessively hot when it first began its course much too hot to admit of the presence of any living creatures, except, -perhaps, a salaman der. As it grew cooler vegetation be gun on it, and then it began to be peo pled, first with fishes, and then with birds and beasts; finally with man. The first spot on earth to get cool enough to use was the north pole. In the process of time it got too cold, but there must have been a long period when the polar region was the most comfortable part of the world. During this period, many eminent geologists believe, there existed around the north pole a continent now submerged, and that en that continent our progenitors were comfortable in their first home.. It is known with entire certainty that the polar region was once warm enough for tropical vegetation to grow there. There was light enough, also, for such vegetation abundant light, indeed, for all uses, and plenty for primeval man. Geology tells us that man might have lived at the north pole. To 1'iirify the Atmotpnere. New York Sun:" Noxious gases aris ing from imperfect sewage may be de stroyed by the free use of copperas water poured down the pipes. Saucers of chloride of the lime put about the bathrooms and under the traps purify the atmosphere of a house. HOUSEHOLD HINTS. Wear a clean apron while ironing or j bed-making. To clean bamboo furnituro use a brush dipped in salt "water, The eyes should be bathed every night in cold water just, before retiring, and they will do better work the following day.. When very tired lie on the back, al lowing every muscle to relax, letting the hands go any way they wilL and keep the eyes closed. Oil stains may be removed from wall paper by applying for four hours pipe clay, powdered-and mixed with water to the thickness' of cream. If you have to sew all day, change your seat occasionally, and so obtain rest Bathing the face and hands will also stimulate and refresh. For stains in matting from grease, wet the spot with alcohol, then rub on white castile soap. Let this dry in a cake and then wash off with warm salt xvater. Where it is desirable to see the ' tongue of a very small child the object may be accomplished by touching the upper lip with a bit of sweet oil. which will cause the child to protrude its tongue. j Sore or inflamed eyes are relieved by bathing In tepid' or. warm . water .in which a little salt has been dissolved. An Individual towel should be used in all such cases never one' which 19 used In common by ttenbers o. the I femiiy. . - HUMOROUS. Mistress "Have yon a stranger down there, Bridget?" Bridget "N mum: It's Con Calahan; sure. 01 knew him in th ould counthray!" Puck. "The farmer said one of the little pigs was sick, so I brought it some su gar." "Sugar!" "Yes, sugar. Haven't yon ever heard of sugar-cured hams?" Truth. . The Prince's tutor "What can your highness tell me about gold?' The Prince is silent. Tutor "Quite right your highness. Silence is golden I" Fliegende Blaetter. - - "Do you think," said Chappie, "that a gentleman ought to speak to his bar ber when he meets him on the street?" "Certainly," said Brlggs. "It's about the only chance he has to get a word In." Indianapolis Journal. "The highest elevation attained by man," said the professor, "is about 20, 000 feet." "H'ra," whispered Under grad, "I got so high on bard elder one day down on the farm that I didn't get back to earth for four days." Cincin nati Enquirer. "I'm perfectly convinced," said the ambitious young man, "that-1 can write the greatest novel of the period." "Why don't you go ahead and do It then?" "Oh, I would not think of such ft thing. I am happy in my belief on the subject -Where's the good of my risking dlsapointment?" Washing ton Star. Student "I learn that there are casej in which people have had from child hood an uncontrollable desire to eat soap. What is the cause of that?" Learned professor "They are victims of sappessomania."- Student "Urn what -does sappessomania mean?" Learned professor "A desire to. eaf soap." New York Weekly. INDUSTRIAL. A cotton compress to press a' bale minute is to be built at Natchez, A ship canal in England, sixty mile? long, from Newcastle to the Scotch coast is proposed. This year's corn crop will be worth fl.100,000,000. Our cotton, crop." includ ing the seed, is worth 1350,000,000. A ?50,000 bushel elevator is being erected at New Orleans to cover thirty two acres. Locomotives using com pressed air will be used. Locomotives are now turned out which weigh 96 tons. The electrical shops and factories all over the Uuited States are overrun with orders. The 25,000 coal miners of Alabama Kentucky and Tennessee have formed a union. One-third of the coal mined in Ohio is mined by machinery. Birds in flocking north and south sometimes reach a height of seven miles, where the decreased resistance of. the atmosphere allows them to fly very fast. " Labor organizations are not extend ing -in point of membership fast just now, but -there is a determination among wage workers to have the full value of their labor. Tho granite belt in North Carolina t fifteen to twenty miles wide and inex- haustable; quarries are being opened and orders for street and curbing pur; poses arc rushing in. EXCHANGE. t find that nonsense at limes i? singularly refreshing. Talleyrand. Hardin must think that Kentucky platform is a merry-go-round. Toledo Bee. Love makes the world so round.but it' will not make the eligible young men go round. Puck. As a last resort in her desire for no toriety Zeila Nicolaus might pose as a Holmes victim. Washington Post. It might be as well to remark paren thetically that beer and the bicycle do not mix! Philadelphia Press. Don't criticise a woman unless- yon are sure that "you will never want to marry her. New York Evening Sun. The wife of a Massachusetts minister wears a blue dress on Monday to match her husband's mood. There wouldn't have been any milk in a cocoanut if some dairymen had toad the construction of it. A Pittsburg girl whose lover is a whitewasher named Kelsey, always calls him "Kelsey-mine." Brigbt's disease seems to have a pref erence for great statesmen, and others of the same kidney. Insuring Consumptives. Cincinnati, Oct. 21. Special. Re ports say that a leading life insurance company is accepting risks to the amount of $200,000 on lives of consump tives taking the Amick Chemical Treat ment for lung disease. The Amick Chemical Co. of Cinciunati is actually paying the premiums on this insurance and presenting policies to their pa tients. This company claims to have the most complete statistics on con sumption in the world, and that these risks are good, providing the patients take a course of the. Amick treatment - RELIGION AND. REFORM. John G. Wcolley is prominently men tioned as the probable candidate of the prohibition party for president in 1896. General Booth held a Salvation Army service in the King's Gardens, Copen hagen, at which there was' an attend ance of 6,000 people. . An 86-year-old missionary in Texas, making his report of a recent month's . worK. laments tnat owing to bad weath er he was 'able to preach only 31 times. Last year 242 different young women and girls found help and situations through, the Anchorage Mission of Chicago, where 2,000 lodgings were given. Jewesses of St. Louis have formed the Sisterhood of Personal Service, a charit able organization which will care- for .the poor of their own denomination and educate their children. The government of Belgium, alarmed by the ravages of the liannr traffic has ordered that in all school-rooms a printed placard shall be displayed de tailing the injurious effects of alcohol. A missionary preacher records the fact that a young woman school teacher, with a salary of $1,000 a year, is living on half of it and giving the other half for the support of a missionary in China. In" 1812 all Christian teaching wan prohibited in India. Now the govern-' ment, in appreciation of missions, aives large sums and valuable lands for the erection of hospitals and the forward lag of education and 'ftwa. CULTIVATE AIPAIPA. THE PANACEA FOR FARM MORT . GAGES. ft Has BMBDciaeMtratod that If Alfalfa Kesaalaa tha Mart rag Mast Go There la aa laeoaipatlhUltr of Tcsaaar Haw SatM Mesaar Get Rich la the Stock BfestaCM. Alfalfa vs. the Martgare A correspondent of the Lincoln Journal .writing from Danbury,' Ne braska, says: This Is the place where alfalfa first started in Nebraska twelve years ago. It is worth coming all the way from the Missouri river to sec this one green spot Before I describe these alfalfa farms at Danbury, let me go back into the country half way between Danbury and Lebanon, where I left Sam Mes ner on his farm. I met him first at Lebanon, where he was loading a car of fat cows for shipment to Omaha. I saw these cows as I got off the train at Lebanon, that they "were unusually fine looking, and Mr. Meaner informed me that they had not tasted grain, either winter or summer, but had been raised and fattened on alfalfa alone. . Twenty-three years ajro, a young man then, he lived at Fairbury. Every body had the blues there then. There tvas a very light crop, almost a total failure in 1873 and 1874. Nearly every body was discouraged. All the people were poor tbcre then, and the farmers placed but little value on that land (now' worth 35 to 40 an. acre), just as some people here place but little value on this land now. Some of the farm ers there who had borrowed 300 each on the'r farms, abandoned them, and said to Sam as they went away; "You can have that land just as it is for noth ing if you want it It is no use tons." llut Sum was young then, unmarried, and he didn't want land, lie had heard of the buffalo that were then plenty in Red Willow county, and he longed to get on a strong horse, under a big white hat, and ride free and bold among the buffalo on the plain. He came with home other yonhg men aud took up his temporary abode in a small cabin among the trees on the Heatcrr. near Where bis present comfortable farm dwelling now stands. For several years he lived much in the saddle, sleeping at night wherever night found him. on the soft, brown buffalo grass, giving no thought to land, or home, or settled conditions of life. Some of the boys took up land, and they wanted Sam to take some, but land here . had no value then, and so far as he could see, never would have. Some of the boys took up land, built themselves little homes and married wives. One by one these bold riders settled down into quiet and civ. ilized life,. and Sam, finding the long rides across the plain to the mountains and back lonesome without his old companions, married and settled down too. Up to 1890 the seasons were favora ble and the crop conditions good. But .1890 was a dry year. There was a scarcity of hay and roughness and many farmers on the uplands sold their stock for whatever they could get Mesner. who had made some progress in alfalfa, had plenty of hay and could buy and feed all the stock that came his way. Here is where alfalfa hay gave him a big boost. lie had a supply of old hay on hand. It will fatten hos and cattle as well when it is one or two .years old as when it is new. The al falfa farmer always keeps a supply on hand, so that when his neighbors arc short of feed and offer their young stock for sale he can. take them. . He made enough money that year to pay off 3,000 of debt that he had incurred by the purchase of additional land. Al falfa had served him so well during the dry year of 1890 that he enlarged his fields in '01, '92 and 93. From Sep tember, 1393, to September, 1894, he sold .from the farm $2,700 worth oi hogs that had been brought to matur ity and fattened largely on alfalfa. He sold that same year $l,f00 Worth of fat steers that had subsisted chiefly on al falfa. He used this money to buy more land. He now has COO acres in this farm. He showed me a carload of fat bogs nearly ready for the market that are now being fed a little corn to hard en them up and give them weight He showed me 100 head of fine shoats in the clover field, growing rapidly and thriving without grain. He showed me twentyrfive fat steers that will be ready to ship in thirty days. He showed me 100 tons of alfalfa hay in the stack, besides 100 acres' that will yield another cutting yet this year. Last year he cut twelve acres for seed, from which he threshed 103 bushels, which sold at $." a bushcL He has a good bank account and does not owe a dollar. Mesoer believes that alfalfa will rev olutionize the stock-industry all over western Nebraska. He believes it will inaugurate a new system of farm man agement that will run more to hogs and cattle, less to wheat and oats, and stop the sale of 15-cent corn. He thinks the corn and wheat raisers work too hard with their hands and not enough with their brains. It is not hard work, but- good management, that makes a farmer rich. He says that alfalfa will not stay on a farm year after year and work side by side in harmony with a mortgage. Whenever alfalfa begins to get in its work, begins to put fat on cattle and hogs, the mortgage folds its tent like an Arab and silently steals away. Now I have proven satisfac torily, to myself at least, in my ob servations here in the' last ten 'days, that this is literally true. In all my inquiry I have not yet heard of a single alfalfa farmer who is not well-to-do and out of debt How could it be otherwise with the phenomenal profits that have been realized from this clover in the last two years? It may be true that these enormous profits will never again be realized. 1 find men every day who have no alfalfa of their own, men wno are always ready to prophesy evil to every new enterprise, repeating this suggestion, that alfalfa will sooa.be overdone, that the seed will comedown in price to ?2 a bushel and that the hay, when it becomes plent, will not sell for more than 83 cr 54 a ton, and some of these men. when they speak of this, act as if they really wished that it misrut come true. But I say,, let it come true, and still it will be worth more by the acre than any other crop, and will go right on makin? beef and pork just the same. . What the hay and the seed will be worth is a shallow view to take of the alfalfa question. It is its meat producing power that gives it its value. Meat will always be val uable and whatever crop will produce the most meat per acre will be the most valued occupant of the ground. Sam Mesner last winter turned a drove of hogs into a stack yard where they ate the stacks down little bv lit tle, every straw, all through the win ter and kept in good condition without ' a mouthful of grain. Now, it may bo said, if all these things are true about this new clover, why is there not a green spot on every Nebraska fans? I can't answer that I cannot tx plain why Nebraska farmers and ait other farmers and all other people will spend their time and money and aaiad force in reaching ont for reforms that can come only by cvolutioB, that are beyond the reach of the individual, while those practical reforms which are within the reach .of the individual are overlooked and neglected frost year to year and from generation to genera tion. 1 1 has always been true, not only among farmers, but among all classes of men, that they are too slow to adopt a new system that changes radically the detail' of their business affairs, or the every-day routine of their lives. If you ask me to prophesy as to when all the farmers of western Nebraska Will be imitating these alfalfa farmers Of the Republican and Beaver valleys; when they will shake off the environ ment of 15-cent corn and 50-cent wheat and inaugurate in their stead a system of meat production that will lift every mortgage and put every farmer on bis feet financially, thenl say, knowing as I do the iadefatigable grit and the pro gressive spirit of Nebraska people; knowing that the record of this farm ing state in the last twenty years for progressive development, is not equaled by more than one state in the union, and is not excelled by any cominnnity of farmers in the world, in ten years from now our valleys will ail bo 'green, our uplands will all be subsoiled, and our 250,000,000 bushels of annual corn yield will be consumed and converted into meat on the -farms where it is pro duced. The campaign against the grain speculator is already begun, not by the blathering politician, not in the brawls of political jealousy, but at the homes of industrious, peace-loving men, where cows give rich milk, and where white honey from the alfalfa meadows is on the farmer's table. Now I can't talk alfalfa. I don't know the points. 1 am only a student I am trying to learn about it and in my investigations I am simply recording results as I find them where the indus try has been inaugurated. - I am not a farmer and I do not presume to lecture farmers or give them advice. But I love Nebraska and I believe in its fu ture. I believe that every man who hus a farm home in this state and who holds onto it will see the day not far in the future when there will be plenty of buyers and few sellers of Nebraska land and when the farmers here will be surrounded with such conditions of comfort that they will feel amply re paid for all the anxiety of these bard times. lu my next letter from this point I will relate the results of alfalfa according to the experience of the Dalf brothers and the Ashton brothers here, and I will try to give as I have received from them, some of the practical de tails necessary to success in the raising of alfalfa and in making money on western Nebraska land. MISSING LINKS. 'The maximum age assigned to the pine is 700 years. A cannon ball fired from one of the great Krupp or Armstrong guns travels, at the speed of 2,887 feet per second. According to figures and statistics prepared by. the provost marshal the wars of the past" thirty years have blotted out 2,500,000 lives. Observations recently made on a criminal beheaded In France proved that the heart beats continued for six minutes after the ax fell. The number of volleys fired over a soldier's grave depends upon the num ber of companies in the regiment, each company -fifing one volley. " Among every 1,000 inhabitants in the United States there is an average of 381 who arc under 16; In France there are only 270 such to the 1,000. At the present time some 200 work men are engaged in overhauling Low ther castle, in preparation for the visit of the German emperor in August. L'Abeille (the Bee),the French newsr paper of New Orleans, has just entered upon the seventieth year of its pub lication. - It is buzzing at a lively rate still. . If the Atlantic ocean could have a layer of water 6,000 feet deep removed from its surface is would only reduce the width of that great body of water one-half. A business firm on the third floor of a Market street building in Philadel phia in which there is no elevator' re joices in the name of "Walkup Broth- -era." . PERSONAL AND OTHERWISE. A new national labor body has been organized in St Louis. It is called the Federated Metal Trades of America. Americans are the only women in the world who do not by their dress indi cate whether they are married or single. It is now estimated that this year's cotton crop will, be about 8,000.000 bales, and prices are expected to take a tumble. The woodworkers' unions of Chicago are steadily increasng In numbers and memberships, and embrace the best mechanics of the various trades. -The very driest place in the world Is that part of Egypt between the two lower falls of the Nile. Rain has never been known to fall in that region. . The Fall River Club, the one from OrlllkTt DltnflAf. fAijA. friiln' tori .A frlin I TVM.VX. M. bl..4t .;ilV lIlll .U IW fcMt. . big league, has a good lead in the race ' for the New England League pennant.' James O'Connor, president of the United Mine Workers of America," is in Pittsburg urging the members of that district to strike if the increase is not granted. The value of all property used for educational purposes in the United States' is placed at $600,000,000; the public school property alone is valued at 1400.000,000. The total acreage of all 'the farms in the United States i3 623,218,619, of which 357,616,755 are" improved or un der cultivation, "and 265,601,864 acres remain uncultivated. MINES AND MINING. Our total copper production in 1890 was 115,669 tons. The hyacinth is found in Maine and the lake "regions. a The moonstone exists in North Caro lina and Georgia. Tin is known to' exist' in half a dozen different localities. - Jn 1891 the country produced 8,279,870 tons of pig iron. . Mica is found in North Carolina, Georgia and elsewhere. Obsidian exists in large quantities in New Mexico and Arizona. The turquois has been found in New Mexico and Arizona. Grains of platinum have been fbucd in Colorado and California. - Jasper Is found abundantly hi the lake regions and elsewhere. Labradorite has been found lu North Carolina asd Michigan. FORGOTTEN TREASURE. CMCtelana Dcaostta fa Calif. aavlaa Interesting discoveries of lost heirs have jnst been made, la the unclaimed bank depealt cases. The jmelic. admin istrator, Attortey Oscar D. Shack, and the legal representatives ef the v'ari oas Saa Francisco savings hanks. ware 1500,009 are unclaimed, have lately set tled with a number of the heirs ef de positors, hat there are several hundred unclaimed deaasJu still in the banks. One of the most remarkable ef the long list of abandoned deposits is that of Jeremiah Pendergast. to whose credit there are 112.000 at the Ulbernia bank. His heirs are ia Ireland. Very little Is known of Pendergast. save that he was nevar a .resident of 8aa Francisco, though he was here for a short time about 186S. and probably as late aa 1876. These facts are known, because the Empire hotel, which he gave as his residence, was opened in 1S6S and closed in 1876. For many years there has been a sesrch for Pendergast or his beirs,and AttcrneyShuck has just locat ed the heirs in Ireland, and has learned that the. depositor was burned to death in his mining cabin more than twenty years ago. Pendergast was unmarried and lived in an Isolated cabin, where he was burned to death in a fire which enveloped his home while he -was asleep. In the remarkable case of Henry C. Benn, who left 2,40 In the Hibernia bank many years ago. there is-no clew whatever. It Is known that he once lived at the corner of Kearney and Jackson streets, but 'further than' this there have been no tidings. ' The money awaits the coming of the owner. At the same bank there Is a deposit of. 11.600 In the name or Williani E. Cros ten, who was a sal I maker in San Fran cisco in 1863. Shortly thereafter he quietly left the city and has never been, heard from, though there are several persons here who knew him well and worked with him at Crawford's sail loft. If the depositor, who was born in Norway, is still living, be is 72 years' of age. A Ecarch for his heirs has been In progress for years. A similar case is that 'of Charles N. -Miles, supposed to have been a seaman. There are $2,500 to his credit a: the Hibernia bank. He lived at the old Uuited States hotel. -Oscar McEarman left $1,250 at the' bank In 1872, refusing to give his address, and has never been head from since, and about the same time P. D. Malloyleft $1,200 at the same bank in the same manner, refusing to give any particulars about his residence. Thomas Btandon, of 424 Powell street, but whose name .does not appear in any of the old directories, left $1,000 at the Hibernia and has never been heard from since. John B. Casey, who was a carpenter for the Southern Pacific, also left $1,000 at the same bank and disappeared in an equally mysterious manner. BEES AT ASC.OT. riiejr .llaile Tiling Exceeding!? Lively at the Itarr track for. Awhile. A curious incident occurred at Ascot. While a large number of pleasant luncheqn parties were enjoying the de lights of an open-air repast in the gar dens behind the grandstand a great swarm of bees settled down on the guests around a table in a corner.. They buzzed and buzzed everywhere. Ladies had bees in' their bonnets'and gcntle. men found their hats turned into strik ing Iikelinesses" of "Catcb-'em-alive-oh's." Some of the swarm settled on the cold salmon. andother members of it tumbled into the champagne cup. In fact, the bees created the greatest con sternation among the ladies and gentle men in that quarter of the grounds. Tbe' were gradually, drawn off .the luncheon party by a gentleman, to whom occurred the happy idea of treat ing them to a little music on a metal tray. under a tree. After the tapping or tinkling on the article had continued for two or three moments tho queen bee settled on the branches above to lis ten to il. and was at once followed by all the swarm. It was an extraordinary Bight to see hundreds of the insects hanging like a great black and gold cluster on the tree while the. tinkling continued: It ceased with the luncheon, and the bees did no more harm. In the early part of the performance a 'ady was pretty severely stung. What Jap-in eH. An educated . Japanese who is' a Christian recently wrote the' following as being what Japan needs: "We Jap anese want Christianity, " but no de nominational differences such as would build a barrier against the ultimate union of all who believe in Christ. The ologians might differ in their vews. but our principal and spirit, as followers of the cross, shall be one and the same for" all time to come. Tho::. O Christ, in spire us' with thy Spirit- of univsrsal kinship and love of humanity; help us to direct our effort? to hasten the time when a.l tae people of the world shall unanimously rejoice in thy universal salvation." ORIGIN OF SONGS. "Cheer. Boy3, Cheer" was the work of Charles Mackay. the music being by Henry Russell. It was the outcome of an evening of conviviality in 1843. "Drink ip Me Only With Thine Eyes" is from a poem entitled "The Forest," by Ben Jonson. The air is an adapta tion frexn one of Mozart's opera melo dies. "What Are the Wild Waves Saying?" ?. duet that was once immensely popu lar, was suggested to Dr.-Joseph Ed wards Carpenter by the conversation In "Dombey and Son." "Rule, Britannia" is usually credited to James Thompson. It first -appeared in a play entitled "Alfred." by Thomp son and Mallet in 1740. The air was by Dr. Thomas Arne. - "The Wearing cf" the Green" exists in several forms and versions." The best known one' was written by Dion Bouclcault. the dramatist. It is sung by Shaun the Pest in "Arrah-na-Pogue." "Scots Wha Hae" was by Burns. It was written on a. dark day while the author was on a journey. The tone-is "Hey Tuttie Tattle." an'old march that Is said by tradition to have animated Brace's men at Bannockburn. "A Life on the Ocean Wave" was the work of Epes Sargent, an American pott, the Idea being suggested to him during a walk on the battery in New York one day when a high wind waa blowing In front the' sea. It was set t music by Heary RusseU. (tfibu-avtasti-Baiilh. u f 1 IPIM ttBlaaalcaU BUYS GOOD NOTES ovncxaa AHD DIhXCTOaf X Lsaroxm Gxbjubd, Prea't, B.H.HaintT.VicePrast, If . Bauoaca, Cashier. Johx Staufjtk. Wm. Buchkk. COLUMBUS, NEB... HASAN AitlMKiztw Capital if - $500,000 PaMki Capital. - 90,000 omcKU. a .SUKLDON. Pres't. H. P. II. OEHLRICII. Vice Pre. CLARK GItAV. Cashier. DANIEL SCIIUAU.Aaa'i Cash - DIRECTORS. "si.M. Wikslow. II. P. n. Oeauucii. c II. Snuoii. w. a. SIcAixunaa. Joaas Wsu, CablKkskb. . aTOCKUOLUKKS. .CGKAT. Oexhakb Losbkb, clabx guat, DAinu.8cnRjtit. J. llBXRV WWBBCUsjr, llESRY LOSrKE. Geo. W.Gaujev. A. F. 11. Osnuuca. J. P. BECKS Eat ATB. VMAMM. HOaXK. Bxsscc Beckeh. -Baakef deposit; Interest allowed. on tlma deposits; bay and sell exchange on United. States and Kurope. and buy and sell avail able securities. We shall be-pleased to re ceive your business. W solicit your pat ronage. s A weekly newspaper de voted tho bestinterestsof COLUMBUS . TIECOMTYOFPUnE, TUg State of Nebraska THE UNITED STATES AHB THE REST OF MANKIND i with aaia $1.50 A YEAR, ar paid nr abyavcx. Bat awr Will a tana aadeaaita. seat free to HENKY GASS, CwSbj : bb4 : MtUllk : Cases ! 'Sspmirimgof etflMtaVa Uphol Ut Goiumbus journal TO aoeiuBOS'A PRINTING OFFICE. fcwimniii COMMERCIAL BANK Columbu Journal ! UNDERTAKER ! OOUMTRY. 1 4 '31 3 -1 I M - - i ?? -.J5hVX- 1 .w: -- 3T .-j 3- X V -V'-iK t ? - -'X; - . .