CAOOfSMNG n FROG'S BIRTHDAY. "Goog-a-room," said Grandpa Frog. "What u flue day It Is, to be sure." UUUJJ-UTWUI, lO be sure, to be Btlro," said old Grandpa Fro g's grandchildren. He was giving a birthday party at his home in the swamp, and he was sitting on his favorite stump. The little frogs vuiue nopping along and said, "Many happy returns of the day, Grandpa." Grandpa Frog Was Fond of Speech Making. "Now, my dears," said their grand father, "I am very grateful to you all for hopping along and telling me that you wish me those kind wishes. But you don't wish me many happy returns of the day, do you? It's Just a silly thing to say." "Oh, Grundpa, Grandpa," gurgled the little frogs. "We do mean It. It's not silly to say. It's been 8dd for years and years." "Well," said Grandpa Frog, puffing and panting, for he had spent the morn ing In search of bugs and other deli cacies to give the grandchildren at his party. "Well," he continued after n pause, ,4maybe It has been said for years and years. I don't know. I was never told. If It has been said all these years, It has been kept from me. But It's a very silly thing to say." "Why, Grandpa?" asked the little frogs. "Because," said Grandpa Frog, stick ing out his chest and rolling his great bulging eyes, "it Is Impossible to say such a thing." "It can't be," said the little frogs. "We all said It!" "That was not Just what I meant," said Grandpa Frog In rather severe tone. The little frogs were worried. They were afraid they had said too much. They didn't want to annoy Grandpa Frog, for they were very anxious to have some of the bugs that they were quite certain he must have for them. "What did you mean?" asked the lit tle Frogs. "We are often so stupid. But we are young, dear Grandfather, we are not old and wise like you." Grandpa Frog panted for breath. He was so excited at henrlng such Bice things from the little frogs. "Goog-a-room, goog-a-room," he said. "Of course you could say It without choking, I suppose. Because of course you did say it. But at the same time, it is a senseless thing to say." "Won't you tell us why, dear Grand pa?" all the little frogs asked. Grandpa Frog was rather fond of upeechmaklng, so he got up on the stump, sat on his back legs, and be gan: "I nm so pleased you all come to my birthday party and I appreciate your good wishes. But it is impossi ble for me to have many happy returns of the day." He paused for breath, and all the little frogs said, "Google, google, gOogle, we hope this isn't going to be a sad speech and that Oarndpo won't cry. If he did he might let the bugs float away down the pond." This last ?Ley whispered to each other. "But how can this day ever come back?" 8 aid Grandpa. There will be ?ther days. Yes, other ones, They will be different. They may be rainy days, or winshlny days, or days when the sun and rain are bofh here and Delicious Supper of Bugs. there Is a rain bow. No, I cannot have many happy returns of thl9 day, because this day will never re* turn." Grandpa Frog's great eyes filled with water. One tear trickled down and he swallowed 1M And then he swallowed quite a few. **I am get ting to drink tear water," he said. "It's not very good/' "Then don't cry," said little Mr. Hop ping Toad, aa he called from the side of the pond In his queer grunting voice. *1 heard your speech and it was very sad. But dear Grandpa Frog, you have nade a mistake. That saying does not mean that you are to have many lfappy returns of this very day, but that you are to have many happy re? tforns of your blrthdayl See!" "Oh, Joy," blinked Grandpa Fro?, "Is that what It means? Oh, hurrah, goog-a-room." And so the birthday party ended Happily owing to the kind Mr. Toad; and the delicious birthday party sup per of bugs was not washed away by the tears of Grandpa Frog. Where Fleas Originate. Marjorle had Just come from Sunday gchool. She rushed to her mother. "Mother, did you know It says In the Bible that fleas come from rats?" she cried. "Why, no, dearie. That Is news to me. Who told you ?hat?" said her mother. "It's right In the lesson today," sai l the little girl, handing her mother her Sunday echool paper. And the mother smiled when she rend this line, "Flee from the wrath to come." Laugh and Sing and Hope. Laugh ? it will come all right. Sing ? it will soon be light, Hope ? it is not in cain. Trust- ? there is peace for pain. Be brave ? and the creed will prove Life is worth while to love, Toil is worth while to do, Joy, in the distance, too, Waits, and the heart that sings Wears loveliest wings. ? Baltimore Sun. TRAINING A GOOD THING. From all the angles of improved self-respect, physical development, recognition of authority, and a bet ter rounded-out young manhood, the military training has everything to commend it. There is a great differ ence between the three consecutive years required in some European countries and what is contemplated" here. Nor is there any probability that the American spirit would ever lead our officers to assume or tol erate that arrogance and personal abuse of their inferiors in rank which has existed for years in the army life of Germany. This is illustrated in a story told me a few days ago by a private in the national guard of a southern State, which had just returned from several months on the border. When they first reached Texas not a few of the members were fresh volunteers, with consider able to learn. Their commander, a regular-army man who had been many years in the service, when making an inspection at two o'clock in the morning, found one of the new men, who was on sentry duty, asleep. Next morning, the offender was called before the officer, who read him the regulations and the punish ment prescribed in such cases. He did so in a firm but not unkindly manner. Then he said to the boy: "Do you realize that when on sentry duty you occupied not only a place of utmost responsibility, but the high est position in the country?" Inasmuch as the camp was many miles from the border, with thou sands of troops between himself and Mexico, the private admitted it had not occurred to him. "But you did," continued the officer, "for as sentinel you had authority to stop and chal lenge the President of the United States." The young man accepted the light punishment imposed with a grateful heart and became one of the best soldiers in his company. The incident, however, not only illus trates the need of proper training, but of that spirit of personal inter est on the part of the officer in a well-meaning but very raw recruit, which marks the difference between Americanism and Prussianism. While the military training will do great things for the young man of good family and sterling principle, it will do vastly more for thousands of young men who have drifted into a more or less purposeless mode of life, a class from which the great army of young criminals aro enlisted. It will make men of these. A Chicago judge, who sat for years on the bench of both the city and county criminal courts, says: "If every idle young man in Chicago between 1 'I and 25 were put into a military-train ing camp today, the criminal cases would decrease 80 per cent tomor row. And when they finish their train ing, thousands would have been trans formed into real men with respect for themselves, who now respect neither themselves nor anything else." ? H. H. Windsor, in the June Popular Me chanics Magazine. WHEN CROWS GET TOGETHER. "Roosts" in Groves of Trees Have Harbored 200,000 Birds. Writing in the yearbook of the United States department of agricul ture, E. R. Kalmbach of the biological survey describes "one of the most wonderful of bird phenomena still ex isting in close proximity to large cities" in this country; viz., the "roosts" at which crows gather night ly in enormous numbers during the colder months of the year. A roost is usually a stand of trees, especially pines and other evergreens; though one of the most populous of the earlier known roosts was a low, reed covered island in the Delaware river, entirely destitute of trees, known as the Pea Patch. Crow9 have also been observed roosting in open fields and on exposed sand bars. Roost9 are often in the immediate vi cinity of cities. One at Arlington, Va., just across the Potomac river from Washington, was supposed to have contained at the height of its occupancy from 150,000 to 200,000 birds. Several other equally populous roosts have been recorded, while some observers have estimated the population of individual roosts at millions. Fortunately the birds that eather in one spot in such numbers at night feed over a wide area, as a rule, by day, so that the roost is not so serious a menace to crops in its vicinity as might be expected. ? Sci entific American. The Right Man for the Place. New York Times. There is neither politics nor favor itism in the selection of Mr. Hoover ; to take charge of the food interests I of this country. The President has approached this appointment in pre cisely the spirit suited to a war emer gency. The opposition manifiested in some quarters shows a childV per versity in refusing to profit by the experience of its elders. England tells us all the time: "Begin where we leave off. Don't commit our blunders over again. Let our experience be a lamp to your feet." And yet we want to learn for ourselves and pay the price. If there is another man in all the country as good as Mr. Hoover for this indispensable work, he would still lack Mr. Hoover's nearly three years of experience. And if a special school of experience had been estab lished solely to train such a man, it couldn't have been better than that from which he has graduated with i the highest honors. Mr. Hoover was a very successful mining engineer when the war broke out. He dropped everything to take up the Belgian re lief work. He plunged into it with such energy that he jarred the red tape traditions of the European Chancelleries a good deal. But he won his way by sound sense and Yankee push, and long ago his ac ceptance was complete. He was per haps the only man who had the con fidence of both belligerents. Not only London and Paris hold him high, but Berlin respects him, while in Belgium his and Whitlock's are names to con jure with. Mr. Hoover would make a mistake to refuse the salary that goes with the office for which he is named. It is no doubt from a generous and public-spirited motive, but others are not so placed as to maintain a like attitude, and would therefore suffer unfairly in the comparison; and the element of compensation is necessary in order to stabilize the relationship between the Government and the public servant. All Must Register. Emphasis is laid by Provost Mar shall General Crowder on the fact that no men within the prescribed age limit, except those already in the regular army or navy, the Na tional Guard, in Federal service, or the reserve divisions of the naval service, are excused from registra tion for military service. "Even convicts and alien enemies are required to register," says a statement issued. It is added, howev er, that those liable should not con fuse registration with actual draft ing for service in the army. The statement points out also that the application of the draft and call ing selected men to colors will fur nish the opportunity for those who believe they should be exempted to submit their claims. The process of selection will be carried out, it adds, "by lot, by the fairest system that can be devised." ? Statesvillo Land mark. BLACK TERN (Hydroch?lidon nigra ?urinameatlt) Length, ten Inches. In autumn o<> curs as a migrant on the east coast of the United States, and then la In white and gray plumage. During the breeding season it Is confined to the Interior, Is chiefly black, and Is the only dark tern occurring Inland. Range: Breeds from California, Colorado, Missouri, and Ohio, north to central Canada; winters from Mex ico to South America; migrant In the eastern United States. Habits and economic status: This tern, unlike most of its relatives, passes much of its life on fresh water lakes and marshes of the Interior. Its nests are placed among the tules and weeds, on floating vegetation, or on muskrat houses. It lays from two to four eggs. Its food is more varied than that of any other tern. So far aa known it preys upon no food fishes, but feeds extensively upon such ene mies of fish as dragonfly nymphs, fish-eating beetles, and crawfishes. Unlike most of its family, it devours a great variety of Insects, many of which it catches as it flies. Dragon files. May flies, grasshoppers, predace ous diving beetles, scarabaeid beetles, leaf beetles, gnats, and other flies are the principal kinds preyed upon. Fishes of little economic value, chiefly minnows and mummicnt^, were found to compose only a littl# morv. than 19 per cent of the contents of 145 stom achs. The great consum#tion of In sects by the black tern places it among the beneficial 6pecies worthy of pro tection. 4 Lit*. Love says good-night in the gleaming and dreaming of stars and of /noon, And her music is soft as the silken susurrous of rose leaves in June. Love wakes with the birds in the morning and wakes the sweet dream of the night With the voice of her happiness ca'i ing the blooms to lift up to the light! Love is April morning, Love is bloom of May; Love is dew adorning Lane and woodland way; Love is thirst and hunger, Love is sword and song: Love is life's forever. Too sweet to be too long! Love says good-night in a whisper, love says good-morning in song, And the lyric of love is the gladness that helps the old years roll along. Love says good-night, .and tho echo rings still in the heart when the gray Of the dawn brings the lips of her leaning to welcome the world with good-day! ? Folger McKinsey. National Prohibition. The man who would burn a million bushels of grain in this time of Na tional emergency would be branded as a traitor. But even more a traitor is the man who makes a million bush els of grain into beer or whiskey, for he destroys its usefulness as effec tively as if it had been burned, and at the same time lessens the efficien cy of thousands of men at a time when the Nation needs the best ef forts of every one of its citizens. Na tional prohibition is a necessity in the face of the present food shortage. It is one of the most effective war measures that Congress could take. ? Prairie Farmer. Senator Overman has secured from the War Department 3,000 steel cots and 6,000 blankets for use of the Con federate veterans at the June reun ion in Washington. There is more solid comfort in Dr. Muns' Piles and Eczema Ointment than anything you can buy for 50 Cents. ? Advt. $7.35 From Smithfield TO WASHINGTON ACCOUNT CONFEDERATE VETERANS REUNION Selling Dates From Virginia and the Carolina*, June 2nd-7th, inc From Georgia, Florida and Alabama, l ? . . . . junc iii-otn, inc Ticket* limited to reach final destination not later than midnight June 21 ?t, exten sion of final limit to July 6th, 1917, may be obtained by deposit with Terminal Agent and payment of fee of 50 ct?. LOWEST RATES EVER OFFERED TO THE NATIONAL CAPITAL For reservations or any information, address any agent of the ATLANTIC COAST LINE T. C. WHITE. C. P. A. Wilmington, N. C. Turner's North Carolina Almanac for 1917 Bigger and Better than Ever Before. The Almanac that our Fathers and Grandfathers kept by the Fireside and consulted daily. One man says the jokes alone in it are worth a Dollar. Price 10 Cents each. The Herald Office Smithfield, N. C. Let us do your Job Printing --Best work and moderate prices. BOOKS AT ONE DOLLAR EACH Roys' Life of Mark Twain. Through the Gates of Pearl. Penrod and Sam, by Booth Tarkington. Just So Stories, by Kipling. American Poets and Their Theology. HERALI) BOOKSTORE. P rinted Stationery The use of^ Printed Stationery is no longer confined to the business or prefessional man---Farmers, Con tractors, Builders and in fact men in all walks of life are beginning to realize that Printed Stationery costs but little more than the unprinted kind and that every letter they write is a silent representative. Come in and let us talk it over with you and tell you what it will cost to have your stationery artistically printed. Beaty & Lassiter Smith field, N. C.

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