Conservative *
great man. ' Then he turned Freddie's
pockets inside out and transferred the
85 cents to his own. After that Freddie
was placed with a wise merchant who
taught him that two and two make five.
Freddie was wiser than he , and learned
how to make two and two equal to nine.
Then his boss made him a partner. And
Freddie was worthy of the trust. He
managed to get hold of all the shares
and to give his old boss the bounce. And
all the people were loud in their praises
of Freddie.
"Then Freddie bought sugar and sold
it at a quarter of its value until he had
ruined all competition , when he made
good his losses tenfold by raising the
price enormously. And all the people
praised Freddie.
"Freddie built a railroad to ruin the
road which ran through his city , and he
succeeded , and made the public pay.
He oiled the machinery of congress .and
worked it so that tariffs excluded every
thing he wished to sell dear , and there
was no competition. And the people
still more praised Freddie. All the
papers published vile portraits of him ;
he was called the man of the hour and
the Napoleon of Finance. Freddie had
become a great American.
"But Freddie was not proud. He re
mained the same , humble , pious , God
fearing Freddie. He went diligently to
church , and when the pastor spoke of
the divine blessing which is certain to
be showered upon honest work , he
would be moved to tears and nod his
head in approval.
"Freddie still lives. He is busy
making his fiftieth million. He makes
it honestly out of the profits of sales of
grain to the starving millions of India.
Freddie is the pride of his fellow citi
zens , and the most shining example of
an American self-made man in the most
idealistic sense of the word. "
DATE PALMS IN ARIZONA.
A traveler has returned to Washing
ton , D. 0. , from the Sahara Desert ,
with five hundred young date palms ,
which will be planted in Arizona , many
parts of which have a climate and soil
similar to North Africa and Arabia.
This is a very commendable enterprise
but a little observation will show that il
can be done quicker , easier , and at
much less expense , with a greater cer
tainty of growth , in another way ; and
that is , by just simply planting the date
seeds , which can be obtained from the
packed dates , that can be found at nearly
any wholesale or retail grocery store in
most any city or village. I know that
they will grow , for I have tried them
several times , just for the pleasure of
seeing them grow during the summer
.and a considerable number of them came
up in my dooryard lost summer , where
they were accidentally thrown after
eating the dates. I have also seen them
growing in the Northwestern railway
srr
rack , near my house , where they were
probably thrown by passengersand , they
? rew where there was not much more
ihan coal ashes and clinkers for them to
grow in. I have tried transplanting
ihem , and found that they have a very
eng tap root , which makes them hard
o dig up , and very difficult to gt B
the root , and for this reason they will
grow better if planted where they are to
remain. They grow well till late in the
fall , but will not stand hard freezing
weather. There are two kinds of dates ;
one kind having red seeds and the other
white seeds , and the red seed kind is
the best. They look very pretty when
growing , having a thick , straight , dark-
green leaf that is stiff and rigid , but
change the form of leaf when they get
older. My observation shows that the
date seeds could be planted in Arizona ,
each seed being planted where the tree
should remain , with much better suc
cess than to plant the trees.
0. W. OASE.
Council Bluffs , Iowa.
WHEN WAS OLD FT. ATKINSON FT.
CALHOUN ?
"Mr. Woods , please tell us all yon
know about the true date of Ft. Gal-
aoun. " There is nothing does us more
good than to have a school boy or girl
ask a question like this. Just how
much of our twenty-five years labor we
Lost in the fire or have in the vaults at
the State University , we cannot now
remember , but Father DeSmet says
1819.
The government records , according tea
a transcript furnished us by the secre
tary of war , says 1820-26. W. H. Eller ,
when in Washington Oity tracing up
the record , found that the troops came
up the river in 1819. The date they are
accredited with at Shingle Point ( now
in DeSoto ) and when run out by sick
ness and high water they camped on
Moore's creek on the farm now owned
by Harry Rohwer. Captain Contal told
Mr. Shellenbarger and "wenns" that he
helped bring the cows home at that
camp and records show that in January
Camp Missouri was begun and after
wards named after General Atkinson ,
and Captain Contal told us that a
Lieutenant Calhouu died here and fol
lowing an army custom the name was
again changed to Ft. Calhoun.
N. P. Dodge of Council Bluffs , in a
paper in 1895 , says 1820. A military
party from Ft. Omaha , in 1875 , says
1820. D. O. Bloomer of Council Bluffs
a few years ago , when appealed to by
the "Nonpariel , " said 1820 , and a few
yearsjBgp William Frahm plowed up a
piece of tombstone at the duel grounc
with 1820 deeply cut on it with a chisel
and that is all we can just now remem
ber , but we have neighbors who have
looked over their left shoulder at the
moon and seen it wobble , and can tell a
a heap more than our best students can
W. H. Woods , in Blair Pilot.
EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCES.
We speak of on "educational almos-
iherc , " which a foreigner might trans-
ate literally , "an air which educates. " m
And this would hardly exaggerate the
condition that exists in some of our
great universities of today , where a
mase of education begins even with the
first walk on the campus or with the
survey of the tialls of learning , for a
certain higher aspiration enters the
leart of the young , and the old recog
nize the greater opportunities which the
new generation may enjoy.
Considering education in its broadest
sense the culture of all the faculties ,
the many-sided development of men and
women what are some of the ednca-
ional influences other than those which
are the direct result of class-room in
struction ?
A great university presents oppor
tunities to the student for character
development the first day he enters its
domain and long before he has entered
his class'room. A large institution with
its necessary complications , teaches its
students business principles. Prompt
ness and accuracy are called for. The
student is only one of many , a small
part in a great machine ; and yet a
failure to do his part does not escape
notice. He arrives at the office to
present his application for a room. He
is ten minutes late and finds himself
near the end of a long line of students.
When he has held his place patiently
for an hour the student just preceding
him engages the only remaining room.
Our friend has learned a lesson in
promptness without any further moral
izing. And during this hour of wait
ing , he has also had an opportunity to
notice and compare his fellow students
as they have made their wants known ,
and through thoughtful observation he
has learned brevity , tact and persistence.
Notice the processions of young people
passing , meeting or intersecting in the
halls or across the campus. On all those
faces is written purpose. That accounts
for the elastic step and definite self-
direction. An on-looker must soon
catch this contagious business spirit or
feel utterly out of place. Conditions
are such that the student measures him
self with his fellows , feels the inter
dependence of mankind , and places a
more nearly true estimate upon himself
than he did in the small home-school
where prestige and past efforts may
have smoothed the road of learning.
Every one on his own merits !
The purpose then of these paragraphs
might be stated thus : Young man or
woman , in selecting your college , choose
the grandest within your reach. Fear
lessly meet and master new conditions.
Seize every opportunity for development
found in a broad educational atmos
phere. LOUISE W. MEAUS.
University of Chicago , Deo. 10 , 1900.
