"I .
' ma vrv
PS
IS
A NIGHT WITH THE WOLVES.
From the wilds of Carp Lake,
Michigan, comes an account of peri
lous adventure with wolves, not un
like those of our forefathers in pio
neer days. On the afternoon of
March 17 Mr. George Bigge, who
lives at the Nonesuch Mine, twenty
miles out of Ontonagon, was on his
way home from that place with a
load of supplies in a long pack. Night
overtook him before he had covered
more than half the distance. He con
tinued his journey, but between nine
and ten o'clock was startled by the
howling of wolves close at hand.
He had no weapons, and urged
his horse to a faster gait, but as the
road is up a heavy grade, progress
was . slow at best. He had gone
only a short distance farther when
he noticed twenty-five or thirty
wolves emerge from the brush into
the roadway just behind him. On
the front of his conveyance was a
lantern with a reflector. Mr. Bigge
seized this, and turned the strong
light upon the wolves. It frightened
them so that they slunk back Into
the shadows of the woods, but soon
became bolder, and began closing
in again.
He now realized that he was in
a desperate plight. In the pung was
a tin pail and a quantity of hay.
Filling the pail with hay and setting
it in the rear of the pung, he applied
a match. The blaze cowed the ani
mals. The fire was kept burning
brightly, and the team urged for
ward. For a time the wolves held back.
But they gradually came closer
again, advancing along the sides of
the road. The supply of hay gave
out. In desperation Mr. Bigge tore
open a box of canned goods, and
commenced hurling cans at them
with some effect, checking their pro
gress for the third time. .
The stock of cans was soon ex
hausted, however, and once more
the howling pack closed up behind.
The man was now in despair; but
immediately an opening in the for
est showed ahead, and as the pant
ing horses drew into it, the wolves
dropped back.
The place was an abandoned mine
property where several of the build
ings were still standing. Lashing
the "horses on, Mr. Bigge reached
one of., these old structures and se
cured his team inside it, but was
obliged to leave the pung and robes
to the pursuing pack.
In this old shed, which luckily
had a door that could be barricaded,
he passed the night with his horses.
Toward morning the wolves left
the place, but not until they had
torn the robes to shreds and trod
den the snow down hard all round
the old shed. Youth's Companion.
FEARLESS SWIMMERS.
Vm me water nit? raawaiians arc
bsolutely fearless. As soon as they
can walk, little babies are taken to
bathe in the sea, and in a very short
time they are able to swim like por
poises. The author of "Hawaiian
Yesterdays" gives a reminiscence of
the courage of the natives:
. Our party had arrived In Hilo
Bay, and we were all seated upon
the platform of a big double canoe,
paddling ashore from the schooner
which lay out in the harbor. A
throng of natives lined the beach,
waiting to welcome their returning
teachers.
Just as we were entering the surf
that rolled upon the sandy shore,
through some accident the canoes
suddenly filled and sank, leaving us
all sitting half submerged in the
shallow water. With a loud roar
of "Auwe!" (oh and alas!) the as
sembled crowd rushed as one man
into the waves and bore us safely
to land.
On one occasion, about the same
date, a coasting vessel was upset in
a violent squall between the islands
of Hawaii and Maui. Although the
nearest land was twenty miles dis
tant, the native crew and passengers
boldly struck out to swim ashore,
and several of them did come safe
to land after a night and day in the
deep.
Among the survivors of the wreck
was a poor woman who for several
hours swam with her husband upon
her back; but the poor man died of
cold and fatigue, and had to be aban
doned at last before the coast was
reached.
AN ALPINE MISADVENTURE.
The story of the first serious acci
dent to a climber in the New Zealand
Alps, told in the Times to-day, is one
of the most thrilling and astonishing
that the records of Alpine misadven
ture can show. It begins with a
bumping fall of the solitary climber,
Mr. R. S. Low. down an icy couloir,
which recalls Mr. Whymper's famous
solitary tumble on the Matterhorn
with in this case, the additional cir
cumstance of an abysmal bergschrund
waiting to engulf the climber at the
bottom of the slide, unless he manages
to pull himself up somehow. He does,
and lies for hours half-conscious with
a badly dislocated ankle, a lacerated
knee and minor wounds. Then he
drags himself, in this condition, and
without an ice-axe, down this fearful
couloir, hat wosld hare' bee no child's"
play, probably, to a properly equipped
party. . He then crawls on .hands
and'knees, dragging hR knapsack after
him at the end of a rope, for two clays
to the Bivouac Rock, six miles away,
crossing, hideout moraine and badly
crevassed glacier all the way, and has
to wait at 1 lie rock six days for rescue,
with only day's supply of food to last
out 1 lie whole ten days. It is marvel
lous that a man should have survived
all this, and non-cliuibers will have
more vivid ideas than ever as to the
joys ef mountaineering. But moun
tains are much the same in Switzer
land and at the Antipodes, and the old,
old moral as to the folly of climbing
alone is almost too obvious to be men
tioned. l'a 11 Mall Gazette.
FIGHTING FOR LIFE.
The professional "faster" who goes
without food for four or five weeks.
who is carefully watched and tended,
and whose progress is chronicled by
the daily papers, is but a trifler in
the experience of starvation com
pared with the castaway fisherman
of the Grand Banks. The New York
Sun prints an account which includes
several adventures that make the
performances of Dr. Tanner read like
child's play. It seems almost incred
ible that a scantily clad man could
live for twenty-nine days on a barren
rock without food or drink, blistered
by the hot sun in the daytime and
benumbed by the night's cold. Yet
a Newfoundland fisherman went
through such an ordeal, and lives to
tell the tale. In 1904 two trawlers
remained adrift for eleven days, with
only a small jug of water to afford
them subsistence. When found they
were lying insensible on the bottom
of the dory.
Terrible as the sufferings of these
fishermen are in summer they are far
outclassed by the miseries of those
who go astray in winter. Two dory
mates were caught in a midwinter
snowstorm 100 miles off Newfound
land a few years ago. They lost sight
of their vessel in the blizzard, and
tried to row to land, one toiling at
the oars while the other bailed out
the boat.
When night came they made a
drag or sea anchor of trawl kegs.
While thus engaged Blackburn's mit
tens were washed overboard, and
with naked hands his plight was des
perate. But he gallantly held on.
The next day his comrade collapsed,
and the third morning froze to death.
Blackburn, taking the mitts and
socks from the dead man, tried to
cover his own hands, which were now
positively frozen into the shape of
the grip on the oars so that he could
not straighten them.
Days passed and he toiled on with
out food or drink. On the evening
of the fifth day he reached the coast
and moored his boat at a deserted
fishing wharf.
His work was not over, for he had
promised to give his companion a
burial on' shore.
Satisfying his thirst by eating
fresh snow, Blackburn lay on a heap
of nets all night, the agony of his
hands preventing sleep. The next
morning he found that the dory had
sunk with the body still in it. With
great difficulty he hauled the boat on
the rocks and got the body upon the
wharf above. Then getting into the
dory once more he rowed all day,
seeking signs of human beings. At
nightfall he came upon a little settle
ment, but would, not accept the prof
fered hospitality until some of the
men had set out to bury his dead
companion.
As for himself he lost all his fing
ers and toes. Yet this man has since
won fame as a daring mariner, hav
ing twice crossed the Atlantic alone
in a dory, besides making a cruise of
the seaboard from Boston to New
Orleans without any companion.
ESCAPED DEATH BY MIRACLE.
Patrick Stewart, of West Philadel
phia, lives to tell the story of how he
miraculously escaped death despite
the fact that he was buried beneath
twenty tons of dirt and stone from
9.30 a. m. until 11 o'clock, when he
was rescued by a group of laborers.
Stewart says that a man named
Michael Kennedy was preparing a
blast in a quarry near Second street
and Wyoming avenue, and as he ig
nited the dynamite fuse he warned
Stewart of his danger, but before he
could leave the place the explosion
took place. He was standing under
a high embankment and the concus
sion loosened the mountain of dirt
and stone.
Fortunately Stewart fell into a
hole in the ground, and was first cov
ered with a large stone which gave
him the opportunity to breathe, the
embankment of dirt covering him
fully three or four feet. The labor
ers who removed the dirt in double
quick time were surprised at not
finding a dead man, and hurried
Stewart to the hospital. Philadel
phia Record.
GIRL KILLS CINNAMON BEAR.
Miss, Bertha Jones, a recent arrival
in the Entiat Valley, is said to have
celebrated her coming by shooting
and killing a 1000 pound "cinnamon
bear, one of the largest ever seen in
that section.
Miss Jones, who lives in 'Walla
Walla, w.ent to Entiat to join her
brother, who is prospecting Muddy
Creek. Last Friday morning, her
brother being absent, Miss Jones left
camp for a few minutes for water.
On her return she found a bear in
side thetent investigating and bolt
ing everything eatable in sight. A
.3030 rifle was close at hand. Miss
Jones killed the intruder at the first
J shot. Spokane Chronicle.
THE ELEPHANT AND HIS SCHOOL.
The great white elephant left the show,
r lie said be was too letined;
The ways of a circus did not suit
His most superior mind.
"A creature as big ant! wise as T
Should be teaching school," said he;
"And nil the animal little folk
My scholars they shall be."
So into an er.ipty school-house near
He marshaled them all one day;
("Twas in vacation time and so
The children were all away).
The kittens and puppies, the pigs and
geese,
Were put to work with a will;
But the squirrel and fox to the platform
went
Because they would not keep still.
And then he began to teach his school
llie various things he knew;
"There's much not down in tl
said he.
the books,"
"That you ought to know how to do."
At first he showed how to flap the ears,
But their ears were far too small;
And then he showed how to wave the
trunk,
But they had no trunk at all.
The only thing that he taught his school
That the scholars accomplished well.
Was when he called in the peanut man,
And taught them the nuts to shell.
The elephant soon dismissed his school,
And packed up his trunk to go;
"For, after all, my talents," said he,
"Are best displayed in a show."
Ellen V. Talbot, in St. Nicholas.
SPIDER LIFTED SNAKE.
In his ijecent book, "The Seven
Follies of Science," Doctor Phin de
scribes, among other strange things,
how a spider contrived to lift from
the ground a snake that was, of
course, many times heavier than it
self. The story is of interest chiefly
for the scientific explanation which
is given of the way in which the
thing was done.
Some years ago, in a small village
in New York State, a spider entan
gled a milk-snake in her threads and
actually raised it some distance from
the ground, in spite of the struggles
of the reptile, which was alive.
By what process of engineering did
the comparatively small and feeble
insect succeed in lifting the snake by
mechanical means? The solution is
easy enough if one only gives the
question a little thought.
The spider is furnished with one of
the most efficient mechanical imple
ments known to engineers, namely,
a strong elastic thread. There are
few substances that will support a
greater strain than the silk of the
spider. Careful, experiment has
shown that for equal sizes the
strength of these fibers exceeds that
of common iron. But notwithstand
ing its strength, the spider's thread
would be useless as a mechanical
power if it were not for its elasticity.
The spider has no blocks or pul
leys, and therefore cannot cause the
thread to divide up and run in dif
ferent directions, but the elasticity of
the thread more than makes up for
this, and renders possible the lifting
of an animal much heavier than a
snake.
Let us suppose that a child can
lif ; a six-pound weight one foot high,
and can do it twenty times a minute.
Furnish him with three hundred and
fifty rubber bands, each capable of
pulling six pounds through one foot
when stretched. Let these bands be
attached to a wooden platform on
which stand a pair of horses weigh
ing two thousand one hundred
pounds, or rather more than a ton.
If, now, the child will go to work
and stretch these rubber bands singly,
hooking each one up as it is stretched,
in less than twenty minutes he will
have raised the pair of horses one
foot.
The elasticity of the rubber bands
enables the child to divide the weight
of the horses into three hundred and
fifty pieces of six pounds .each, and
at the rate of a little less than one
every three seconds, he lifts all these
several pieces one foot, so that the
child easily lifts this enormous
weight.
Each spider's thread acts like one
of the elastic rubber "bands. The
spider would have to connect the
snake with the point from which it
was to be suspended by a sufficient
number of threads. By pulling suc
cessively on each thread and shorten
ing it a little, the snake might be
raised to any height within the ca
pacity of the building in which the
work was done.
SOME CANDLE EXPERIMENTS.
Touch-paper is made by, dipping
ordinary unglazed paper into a solu
tion of saltpeter. When it is dry,
after this treatment, it will burn with
smoke, but without flame. You will
need it in performing expenitnents, a
few of which follow.
In the top of a shallow pasteboard
box that is well made and close, cut
two holes about an inch in diameter
each, and place over each hole an ar
gand lamp chimney, as shown In
Figure 1.
In one of the holes, under the
chimney, place a piece of candle of
such a length that it will project
above the hole about half an inch.
Light the candle, and it will brightly.
Now ignite some touch-paper, and
the smoke will rise from It. but hold
it over the chimney that has no can
dle in it. and the smoke, instead of
rising, Avill go down into the chimney
and fill the box, and then rise out of
the chimney in which the candle i3
burning.
The reason is a simple one. The
burning candle makes a draft up its
chimney, using the air in the box.
If the box be perfectly tight, with no
crevices through which the air can
enter, then the air comes down the
other chimney to fill the box, be
cause no space can remain empty of
air. This draft, going down the one
chimney, carries the smoke from the
touch-paper with it, and you can
readily see why it rises in the other.
'.
: ?
':; '
Figure 1.
Of course, you know that the can
dle could not burn without air, but
you can prove it by holding your hand
over the chimney down which the
current has been going into the box.
The candle will soon begin to burn
feebly, and will finally smoke and go
out. No air can come down its own
chimney because the upward draft
in it is too strong.
Another way to make both of these
experiments is to use an ordinary
lamp chimney and a piece of tin cut
in the shape of a T, as shown in Fig
ure 2. Hang the piece of tin inside
Figure 2;
the chimney and place the candle a
little to one side of it. Now, when
you light the candle, the draft will
go up that side and down the other;
so, it you hold the touch-paper to
the empty side the smoke will de
scend and ascend on the candle side;
and In the same way, by holding
your hand over the empty side of the
chimne.- you can put the candle ojjt
Good Literature. . . ....
' ' TOMMY'S AGE.
Tommy's father brought a busi
ness friend home for dinner. While
they were waiting for the meal to
be announced, the visitor took Tom
my upon his knee, patted his head,
tweaked his ear, and tickled his ribs.
Tommy smiled and rather liked
the visitor with his round, fat jolly
face.
"Now tell me, Tommy," said the
visitor, "how old would you be if you
were right fat?"
Tommy had never thought about
this question before. He was ten
years old, but he couldn't see how
being fat would make him any older.
He sat still and thought deeply.
At last he looked up and said:
"How old are you?"
"Well," said the visitor, "we'all
say that I am forty-seven years old."
"Well, you are right fat, aren't
you?" asked Tommy.
"I suppose I am," answered the
visitor. "People seem to think so."
"Well, then," said Tommy, solemn
ly, "if I were right fat, I s'pose I'd
be forty-seven years old."
The visitor laughed loudly and
said that Tommy was a very bright
boy.
STRENGTH OF MUSSELS.
You must, some time, try to open
the shell of a fresh water mussel or
a sea clam. You will find one the
size of your hand has great strength,
although both his muscles may not
be larger than those of one of your
fingers. I have often seen a boy
pick up a mussel and insert hia fin
gers before the shell was quite
closed, thinking he would open It
again. Few boys can succeed. They
usually have hard pulling to get
their fingers free. A big mussel
can bite hard. Were it not that the
Pde of the shell. In bis specimens,
is smooth and thick, ft boy might
get his fingers cut to the bone.
From Nature and Science la St.
Nicholas.
"''IT-
ill
iff
Curiae.
Against sense and analogy
Our tongue is always sinning:
For when his outing takes a man,
He says it is his inning.
Baltimore American.
Sometimes Different.
Mr. Wise "You can't judge a
man until you hear him talk.''
Mrs. Wise "At home, or out in
company? Detroit Free Press.
He Knew What It Was.
Medium "I see a large dark ob
stacle rising suddenly in your way."
Railroad Magnate "I guess that's
my coal stock." Baltimore Ameri
can. That Tired Feeling.
"I can always tell when the weath
er begins to feel springy."
"Yes?"
"Yea, because I don't." Philadel
phia Press.
Why You Laugh.
"Why does a human being laugh?"
Inquired the naturalist.
"Usually," answered the man with
the weary air, "to avoid offending a
friend." Washington Star.
Fortunatus.
Knicker "Has Jones got any
luck?"
Bocker "Yes, he is the kind of
fellow who can sow the wind and
reap a cyclone cellar." New York
Sun.
Loving Her Neighbors. " '
"I thought you had decided not to
call on Mrs. Sniffleigh."
"I did think I wouldn't at first,
but I see they have an automobile
that holds six persons," Chicago
Record-Herald.
Weather Forecast.
Squalls. London Scraps.
Driven From Home.
"Jinx had to put up at the hotel
last night; he had quarreled with his
cook."
"Why, the idea! What was Mrs.
Jinx doing, to stand for such a thing
like that?"
"Mrs. Jinx is his cook." Fort
Worth Record.
Facts in the Case.
"Love is blind, you
know,"
quoted she with the curls.
"It is color blind, at least," re
joined the fussy bachelor. "A mar
ried friend of mine tells me he used
to think his wife's complexion was
genuine." Chicago News.
The American Youth.
"My boy is beginning to take an
interest in the inalienable rights of
the American youth. I told him to
day that he might be President some
day."
"Yes? What did he say?"
"Wanted to know what salary the
job paid." Philadelphia Press.
Natural.
"So you're going fishing with Bob
next summer. Well, he's a great
story teller."
"Yes, and his stories get bigger
every summer."
"How's that?"
"Why the fish he's caught grow
during the winter, I suppose." De
troit Free Press.
A True Patriot.
"Hair tut, sir?" asked the barber.
"Nope."
"You ain't the kind of man to go
around with shaggy hair."
"Neither am I the kind to yell for
a hair cut on Saturday afternoon
with seventeen business men behind
me waiting for shaves."
And the seventeen applauded him
inwardly, at least.
Trouble Centre.
The small boy had just smoked
his first cigar.
"Boss," he gasped, with a troubled
look, "w-where was dat cigar made?"
"That cigar, my boy," replied the
man who had given him the weed,
"was made in San Domingo."
"Gee! I thought so."
"Why did you think so?"
"It it started a half dozen revo
lutions in me stomach." Columbus
Dispatch.
...........
i GOOD - ;
ROADS.
i V m m. -
Congressional Interest in Roads.
The closing hours of Congress
were enlivened by..a number 'of good
roads speeches, in the course of
which the necessity for government
aid in improving the public high
ways was brought out in no uncer
tain raannjr, writes the Washington
correspondent of Automobile. Rep
resentative Bankhead, of Alabama,
in a very able address, declared that
to his mind the condition, of the
wagon roads, over which ninety per
cr-nt. of all the commerce of the
country is transported, presented a
problem for legislation by Congress
far more serious and Important In
its results than that of railroad reg
ulation. There is no necessity, he
said, for making an argument to
prove the value of good roads. They
save worry, waste and energy. They
economize time, and labor and mon
ey, and enhance the value of prop
erty. He pointed out that it has
been estimated that every time the
sun sets the American farmers have
lost $1,500,000 because of the condi
tion of the roads. Representative
Bankhead produced a set of figures,
showing the cost of hauling per ton,
horse power, over dirt roads five
miles, was $1.25, and that sum will
pay the freight for 250 miles on a
railroad or 500 miles on a river and
1000 miles on the lakes. These fig
ures prove conclusively the enormous
tax levied by the bad roads on the
farmers, and how much of their leg
itimate profit" is consumed in hauling
from their farms to railroad stations
and river landings.
The speaker declared that the
question of governmental road con
struction had been successfully tried
for many years in other countries.
Representative Lloyd began his
speech by saying that he indorsed the
statement of a prominent citizen who
caid that he could tell the intelli
gence and progress of the people by
the condition of their roads. The
wag on the streets said in reply:!
"Then judge our people when the
weather is dry." He then went on to
call attention to what the Federal
Government has done, is doing, and
what it may do to encourage road
improvement. In his judgment the.
Bureau of Public Roads in the De
partment of Agriculture is one of the
most important branches of. public
service, and from it incalculable ben
efit may come. This great service
thus far has been somewhat over
looked, and its work has not been
fully known or properly appreciated.
One step in the onward movement to
give the country better roads is to
encourage the development of the
road department of the Department
of Agriculture by enlarging the scope
of its labors, increasing its force of
expert engineers and specialists and
bringing it more in touch with peo
ple, so that they can receive" more
of Its benefits by practical demon
stration of its real value.
Interesting Road Figures.
Belleving that improved highways
are necessary for the continued pros
perity of automobiling, the American
Motor Car Manufacturers' Associa
tion will provide for a department
having road matters in charge. In
formation received at the headquar
ters this week from Logan Waller
Page, director of the United States
Department of Agriculture, givee
some interesting figures of the
amount of new roads which have
been recently built, together with the
total number of miles. The major
portion of the States have less than
ten per cent, of their roads improved,
a wretched showing for a civilized
country.
Tennessee has 48.9S9 miles of pub
lic roads, or one mile for every forty
one inhabitants, of Avhich only about
nine per cent, has been improved.
Virginia has 51,812 miles, of which
1600 miles are Improved, giving but
one mile of improved roads to every
115 8 inhabitants; North Carolina
has 49,763 miles; Oregon, 34,258
miles; Iowa, 102, 4S8 miles; Arkan
sas, 36,445 miles; , Arizona, 5987.
miles; Alabama, 50,089 miles; Wash
ington, 31,998 miles; New Hamp
shire, 15,116 miles. In most of these
States there is one mile of ordinary
road for every twenty-five to thirty
five inhabitants, but of improved
roads, only one mile for anywhere
from 471 to 1255 inhabitants, a dls
couragingly small proportion.
A Crying Need.
One of the greatest needs of thisi
country is good road3. The coun
tries of Europe have better roads
than we have. Thousand? of wealthy
Americans go to Europe every year
to run automobiles over the good,
roads there. This is not a pressing
reason why we should have theni,
DUl It 15 liumici iu wu -v,i..w.
We need good roads most especially,
for the sake of the farming communi
ty. They would enable the farmer
to' get to market better. Ha could
save money and time by drawing,
much larger loads. The saving ia
thi3 respect, the country over, would
amount to millions of dollars every
year. Good roads would bring us
practically closer to our neighbors.
They would add t" our convenience
and comfort in many ways, besides
increasing the value of ouf lands.
Some sections now have f airly .good
roads. Others are wretchedly pro
vided. All could make deci led im
provement. Nothing tells, more for
an agricultural community than good,
roads. "