THE ALAMANCE GLEANER
VOL, 141.
THE
EVIL
SPELL
By GRACE B. WHARTON
(Copyright by W. Q. Chapman.)
VERNE TYSON roused up with
a start. He rubbed his eyes,
he shook himself. Then he
stared across the table where
bis club acquaintance, Colonel Reeves
so-called, should have been. No col
onel. Then beyond that at the spot
where last he had Seen the volatile,
never-to-be-forgotten Madame Hor
tonse Vassour. Qone. A discreet
palter, napkin on arm, approached.
His well-trained face expressed a mild
Inquiry, a strong suggestlveness of be
ing of service.
"How long have I been here?" asked
Verne abruptly.
"Three hours, sir."
"Alone?"
"Yes, sir."
"And the others?" demanded Verne,
with a sweep of his hand.
"They joked about your siesta and
seemed to think It sport to give you
the surprise of waking up alone."
"So," muttered Verne, and his face
showed that he did not like the sit
uation. He arose. The waiter helped
him to ills and gloves, bowed his
thanks for a careless liberal fee, and
Verne walked from the cafe garden
Into the street.
"It wasn't the punch—l didn't touch
It," he ruminated. "It was not ennui,
for the colonel and his lady friend
were positively brilliant this evening.
It was that woman's eyes 1"
Verne knew little of the colonel,
less of the woman. The former lived
a mysterious existence at the club.
The lady was his cousin, he had said.
From the first her eyes had repelled
Verne, because every time they spar
kled they gave him an unaccount
ably uneasy feeling. She was pret
ty, witty, winning in her ways. She
was intelligent, too. The conversa
tion had drifted towards the occult,
hypnotism and all that during the lit
tle refection. Then —then—
"l went to sleep," reflected Verne,
"and I remember my lady's glowing
eyes the last thing. Brr-rr! it is un
canny. Perhaps she tried the art
mesmeric on me. I'll go and see Leila
and forget all about It."
To Leila he was affianced. Society
saw an ideal love match In their pros
pective union. The Boyds were
wealthy and Verne was the heir of
his uncle, the richest man in the dis
trict. The wedding had been- set for
two weeks ahead.
It was fortunate that Leila had
some,other callers that evening, for
Verne felt dull and uncompanionable.
He could not shaken off a certain
apathetic, lethargic feeling that op
pressed him. Leila noticed It, and
when he left she whispered softly:
'We shall be alone tomorrow eve
ning—come early."
But something prevented. The fol
lowing morning Mr. Tresham, Verne's
uncle, sent his nephew away on a
business mission to a city, a day's
journey distant. It covered a stay of
some weeks, where attention to a lag
-Bm£ lawsuit would require constant
vigilance.
Verne wrote a hurried note to Leila
explaining the situation. Mrs. Vas
sour passed out of his mind, but she
*"as revived temporarily two days la
.f' when to his surprise Verne met
, n el Reeves on the street In Trux
ton.
Heard you were here on business,"
s Poke Reeves familiarly. "Some busi
ness of importance likely to keep me
|>ere f or a week or two. If you are
® K to make any kind of a prolonged
® y. we can And pleasant mutual
Quarters down at the Ramblers club."
Verne thought not any too much of
but time was likely to hang
enn/ ° n hands, the colonel was
WQ company and some very pleas
-11111 days passed.
ra - Vassour, is still at
v &le, announced the colonel one
By the way, she wrote me that
met your uncle at a reception,
te ® d gentleman. He was very at
®«ve and courteous toward her."
rich erne n °t known that his
relative was a confirmed bach
it » e w 'ould have felt uneasy. As
he w ken he wrote to his uncle
"t*tt° CUlar ' ye P resse d the sentiment
are of the vldders!" and gave
»as Ul ' cle a hint that Mrs. Vassour
en regie with upper crust
som!. ll e end °' two we ®ks there came
"ever 11 8 ' Bur P rise ß Verne. For
word"/ he not received any
®tran la ' uncle, too, was
atTrf*? s sent" ent - Then there appeared
Utte* li'" 1 a youn S lawyer who some
-Il business for Mr. Tresham.
«alti iii Ure to retur n home at once,"
? th 's visitor.
v'' e lawsult here?" remon
the rin-T erne ' have got it in Just
Its J,[ sha Pe- lam familiar with
re eara j us uad c »n certainly be of use
But the lawyer very gravely and
seriously reiterated the unqualified di
rection from Mr. Tresham, so Verne
returned to Mid Vale.
It was an Inexplicable and chilling
reception that awaited him. He had
never seen his uncle so distant.
"Yes, I sent for you," he said stern
ly. "I suppose I need not tell you
why," and he passed across the table
between them three checks for ten
thousand dollars each. They bore
dates a few days apart and the can
celled stamp of the bank. They had
been made out payable to self or bear
er, and they had been cashed through
a bank at Truxton. r
"Well?" questioned Verne, looking
up In a puzzled way, "what has this
got to do with me?"
"Have you the audacity to ask,"
challenged his uncle stormlly. "Lis
ten-—I know all. You forged my name
to those checks. You alone can Imi
tate my handwriting so cleverly, for
on occasions I have warranted your
using my signature. You alone had
access to the check book In my safe,
and those three checks were torn out
from the back of my check book."
Of course Verne Indignantly pro
tested. It was of no avail. His uncle
swore that unless he went away to a
distant solitude he would disown him.
Verne found the Boyd home shut
against him. Leila had been sent
away to a relative convinced of his
guilt, his uncle claimed.
A broken man, confronted by a mys
tery he could not fathom, Verne re
mained in seclusion for a week. One
evening a visitor was announced. It
was Mrs. Vassour.
She was pale, wretched looking.
She Inquired of Verne where he had
last seen Reeves. He told her at
Truxton. She said he had disap
peared from there. She broke out in
to bitter vituperation of the wretch
who had borrowed all her money and
left her penniless.
Verne felt sorry for the adventur
ess. He Inquired gently as to her
necessities and tendered her some
money. She took It, started to leave
the room, and then, some wild im
pulse stirring her, returned to his
side.
"You are a gentleman and a friend,"
she said, her voice quivering. "I con
fess all."
In amazement Verne listened to her
story. A past mistress in the art
hynotic, she had placed him under
the influence of her power that eve
ning at the cafe garden. She had
forced him to reveal all about his
uncle and the details of his business.
While he was at Truxton she had
visited .Mr. Tresham. Upon him she
had worked her spell also. Uncon
sciously he had produced the check
book and followed her directions.
Reeves had cashed the checks at
Truxton and had disappeared with the
money.
"I do not know where he is," said
Mrs. Vassour, "but I know his old
associations, and If you promise not
to prosecute me I will assist in run
ning him down."
Which was done, and nearly the
whole of the money recovered. Then,
amid the amazing manifestation that
the signature to the checks was his
own, Mr. Treshman was more than
contrite. He gave the entire amount
recovered to his nephew, and Leila be
came a happy bride.
Reduce Fat Slowly
One of the grave mistakes common
to overweight persons is to decide sud
denly that their superfluous flesh
must be removed quickly. Reduction
in weight should proceed slowly. It Is
impossible to maintain health on a
drastic reducing program. One can
not expect to take off in two months
what It has taken years to put on,
and survive the experience in perfect
health, says Eileen Bourne, In Lib
erty.
Club DiscuMsiora
In every club the simpler the or
ganization, the less work Involved
and the greater the chance for success.
Discussion and the presentation of
opposite Ideas has Its value in every
club, but If care Is not taken, con
tradfetion will prove very Injurious
to any organization. It was a club
man who said: "Well, wife, this is
club night, and I must go and con
tradict a bit"
Priest Civet Up Trouueau
When a Sydney (Australia) parish
priest at a church bazaar won a prize
he was somewhat at a loss as to what
to do with his award. It was a
bride's trousseau. After one look at
the box of frills and lace he announced
he would present it to the next bride
he married. Three candidates ap
peared at his residence the following
morning to make early dates for a
wedding.
Tack Up?
"Man was made when nature was
but' an apprentice, but woman when
she was a skillful mistress of her art"
Some Are Incurable ,
Prosperity makes phools and ad
versity cures them. —Josh Billings.
e Votc
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
"*** M *'"llTH the primaries in
Wall of the states now
over and the candi
dates selected by the
two major parties,
political interest now
centers In the Novem
ber election. For months our news
papers have been picture galleries of
would -be - statesmenllke - looking per
sonages who "upon the repeated and
urgent solicitation of their friends"
have consented to be a candidate for
this, that or the other office. If by
chance the voter has missed seeing
the would-be officeholder's benign phiz
in his newspaper, he has had the op
portunity to see it on a placard
tacked up on every telephone pole In
city streets and along country roads.
But, cheer up! You won't have to
see these picture galleries much long
er. Only a month more, a month of
activity by the politician and his
friends, culminating in the final effort
ot "get out the vote," and then it
will all be over.
Are the American people less inter
ested In politics than they formerly
were? Some observers say "Yes" and
point to the public apathy that has
been apparent in recent years. Thfc
year will not really be "a fair test,
say others, because it's the "off year"
—l. e., not the year of a Presidential
election—and no one expects a great
show of enthusiasm over politics in
an "off year." Of course, there are
several Issues up for consideration
this year, but It yet remains to be
seen whether or not they are genuine
"burning issues" which will bring
every qualified voter to the polls to
"say it with ballots." Here are some
of them, major or minor, local, sec
tional or national, clear-cut or hazy—
look them over and see If any of them
make you "burn": The Eighteenth
amendment, the World court, farm re
lief, Ku Klux klan, government econ
omy, waterways, campaign exj>endl
tures, League of Nations, water-power
development, foreign debt settlements.
One or more of these Issues may
bring out a big vote in some states 1 :
They may have something to do with
the political complexion of the next
congress and with foreshadowing the
candidates and issues of 1928, the
next Presidential campaign year. But
to the average observer the election
In November, 1926, now looks pretty
much like a matter of "nothing to get
excited about." Fact Is, the politicians
have had a pretty hard time of It this
year keeping the American people In
terested In their (the politicians') bus
iness (of course, It Is the bus
iness of Mr. Voter, too, but he is on
the Job attending to this business only
one or two days a year, whereas the
politician Is busy with it 365 days a
year). Too many distraction* —North
pole flights, Helen and Suzanne play
ing tennis, Almee McPherson doing
her disappearing act, Gertrude Ederle
swimming the English channel, Ru
dolph Valentino dying, a whipping fin
ish in the National league and a
World series, and Mr. Dempsey and
Mr. Tunney deciding the heavyweight
title In fisticuffs. Fortunately for
them the rross-word puzzle is almost
passe and Red Grange has more fleet
ness than front-page endurance. But
the voice of the radio Is still heard in
the land and here we are In the midst
of another football season, right at a
GRAHAM, IN, C., THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1926.
time when political interest should be
hottest!
It wasn't like that In the old days—
ah, no! Go back to the pioneer days
when we took our politics seriously
and a political campaign was a stren
uous affair. Talk to some of the old
timers who either knew about it
themselves or heard their fathers tell
about the days when there were real
"stump- speakers. J
Then there were the "butcher boys"
who were distinctive of one era In
the political history of the Middle
West. They dressed conspicuously In
buckskin, coonskln caps, Indian moc
casinsl and red hunting shirts, belted
at the waist with a broad leather gir
dle, from which hung big butcher
knives—wherefore the name. They
were a swaggering, boisterous, unruly
lot, these "butcher boys," profane and
rough, especially whe»i full of
liquor. "Whoop-e-e-e. I'm a bad,
bold butcher boy! I'm half man and
half alligator I" was the cry they
raised as they swept down upon some
political meeting, a yell that was half
a boast, half a challenge.
There was little chance for a. dis
passionate discussion of campaign Is
sues at meetings In those days. If
the orator was not howled down by
the "butcher boys," he launched Into
a bitter personal attack upon his op
ponent, and the stronger language he
used, the better his auditors were
pleased. When the meetings were
over, the "butcher boys" invariably
mounted their horses and rode at
breakneck speed through the settle
ment, hurrahing for their candidate
and Jeering at his opponent For
many years they held the balance of
power In elections, but In later years
the practice of carrying knives was
frowned upon. However, the same
class of voters survived under equally
pretentions names, such as the "bare
footed boys" and the "huge-pawed
boys," until the idea of physical force
dominating elections waned and the
"butcher boys" and their Ilk gradual
ly disappeared. Those were the "good
old days" about which we hear so
much, the halcyon days of the past,
the passing of which the sentimental
ists so often mourn. Those who de
plore the strong-arm methods used at
the polls In some of the big cities of
today might remember the "butcher
boys" of the "good old days."
Even In those days, when Amer
icans are supposed to have taken
their politics seriously, It often re
quired a special effort to "get otit
the vote." From the state of Missouri
comes an amusing story, printed in a
recent Issue of the Kansas City Star,
Illustrative of that point:
"The new rule* and regulations
about making life easier for the rotara
have taken all the joy out of politics,
»nd made It as tame and Innocent as
a game of croquet," grumbled the vet
eran politician. Ailing his odoriferous
corncob with natural leaf. He was
talking to some of the youngsters on
one of the county committees who had
asked him for a few pointers out of
the depths of his long and somewhat
strenuous experience an a party leader.
"Votes Is votes, and so's you gat 'em
It's nobody's business how," the cam
paigner went on. "In the days when
you had to do some real 'lectloneerlng
to get an office some giants were de
veloped. Men who knew what they
wanted and how to get it.
"Everybody In the county did all
their voting at the county seat In the
forties —the "Fabulous Forties,' as
some writer In the Saturday Evening,
Post has set It down. If you couldn't
get to the county seat you couldn't
vote. No absentee votes were counted
then. Some times the polls were 'kept
open two or three days. You learned
how New Yprk went about a week
after the election—or maybe two
weeks. Those good old days!
"Peter Marburry was standing for
the legislature from Macon county.
Peter and Tom Dickson, his right-hand
man, counted noses, and figured that
when about all who could get to
Bloomington, the county seat, had
voted, he would be about fifty-seven
shy of beating his opponent.
" 'There's about sixty votes over in
Ten Mile and Hound Grove townships,'
said Dickson.
" 'Yes,' says the chief, 'but they
might rj well be at the North pole.
'They'll never walk thirty miles and
back Just for the fun of voting."
" 'They might if they had shoes.' "
'"Eh 7* from Marburry, who began to
wake up.
" 'You buy a barrel of those red bro
gans at Rod Shackleford's store and I
believe 1 can account for moat of that
vote.'
"No sooner said than done. Dickson
put the red shoes In sacks and threw
'em across two horses. The road was
nothing but a trail then. Shoes of any
sort were a luxury. When Dickson got
out among the settlers they were as
tickled as children to see those red
shoes. When a man tried on a pair and
they fit, Dickson said:
" 'Think you could walk to Bloom
ington in those shoes?
"'Could I? Just try me!'
" 'All right. Let's go to town and
those shoes are yours.'
"Santa Claus had come out of tha
wilderness. Before long Dickson had
men following him around wanting to
take on that shoe proposition. Sixty
pair quickly found owners, and a lame
man agreed to go to the county seat
If he could ride the horse.
"As they neared town one of the set
tlers casually asked:
" 'By the way, who'd be a good man
to vote for representative?
'* 'You might try Marburry,' Dickson
suggested. 'He sent me out to glva
you those shoes.'
"It was no trouble. Every man votad
according to the dictates of his con
science and the Joy over possessing *
real pair of red shoes. Marburry wu
triumphantly elected by his brogan
brigade.
"That was good politics, and tha
people patted Dickson on the back for
being so wise In 'lectloneerlng for his
man."
The veteran paused to knock tha
ashes out of his pipe preparatory to
reloading.
"I tell you, fellers," he declared, "if
you want to win In politics you got to
think. Speeches don't make no votes—
It takes headwork."
Heavy cumpnlgn expenditures in
two states this year have brought to
the fore again the discussion of proper
and Improper use of money In pol
itics. As usual, when this or any.
other evidence of corruption in mod- 4
ern politics comes up, there are those
who shake a mournful head and mur
mur, "It wasn't like this In the good
old days." But wasn't it ? If we may
judge from the testimony of con-;
temporary authorities, poHtics was,
more corrupt a hundred years ago
than It has ever been since. Take ihe
case of Illinois, for Instance, Illinois
which had Its Senator Lorlmer and
now shares with Pennsylvania gen
eral criticism for excessive campaign
expenditures. Governor Ford is au
thority for the statement that "dur
ing the period of 12 years (1828-1840)
neither the people nor their public
servants ever dreamed that govern
ment might be made the Instrument
to accomplish a higher destiny for the
people" and that the professional
politicians enjoyed an unparalleled
reign of graft.
"Good old days"? Why not the "bad
old days"?
CThe,
DAIRY LOSSES CUT
BY MILK COOLING
A large proportion of the loss from
sour milk, high bacteria counts, and
low quality butter and cheeese, might
be avoided through prompt and thor
ough cooling of milk at the dairy barn,
asserts the dairy dep&rtfnent of the
College of Agriculture, New Bruns
wick. All milk should be cooled to
50 degrees F. or lower and should be
kept at that temperature until deliv
ered at the receiving plant.
In the matter of dairy temperatures
one should never guess. A good
thermometer will always pay for itself
iu a short time. One can of rejected
milk will cost more than four or five
good thermometers.
To cool milk to 50 Jegrees F. or
below, Ice Is nearly always necessary.
If ice' cannot possibly be had, only the
coldest water should be used. This
means water direct from the well or
spring unless a colder source Is avail
able. Running surface water or tank
stored water Is never very cold. If Ice
Is not to be had, it fa desirable to ar
range the equipment so that spring
water may run constantly through the
milk storage tank, qr so that all wa
ter pumped for farm stock passes first
through the tank. • >
The cooling of morning's milk is
the Important prbblem Just now. A
surface cooler will save time and Ice,
and will enable the fanner to cool it
at the farm. ,
. : Once the milk has been cooled to
50 degrees F. or below, If It is to be
held, -a cooling tank In the milk house
becomes a necessity for final cooling
and storage. Milk plant operators
can advise farmers as to the best
types of coolers, eoojing tanks and
milk houses to meet the requirements
of their respective companies and
boards of health.
Bloody Milk Caused by
Ruptured Blood Vessel
When a cow gives bloody milk it
I* due to the rupture of a small blooH
vessel in one or more of the quarters.
This condition usually leaves as soon
as the cause Is removed.
Immediately after freshening tills
condition is caused by the inttamma
tloivMn the udder and leaves as• soon
as the inflammation leaves the udder.
When it takes place later in the lacta
tion It Is usually caused by an Injury
of some kind to the udder. It may
be due to lying on a cement floor or
by bumps from calves or other cows
In the hwd. To effect a cure the
cause must be removed. Watch the
cow carefully to find how she injures
the affected quarter and then remove
the c. jse and you should have no fur
ther trouble with bloody milk.
Some Grain Is Essential
Wben Pasture Gets Short
To keep up the milk flow of his herd
the dairyman who has no sudan-grass
pasture- must increase the grain feed
when natural crass pasture gets short.
Due to the exertion a cow may actu
ally require more feed when on a
sparse pasture than when shut In a
dry lot. All cows giving over three
gal' >ns of milk dally should get a
pound of grain for each five pounds
of milk while on pasture. Cows nearly
dry and not due to freshen within two
mouths can economically go without
grain at present. The chore ot milk
ing cows In fly time can be avoided by
breeding In late December.
Dairying More Popular
•Whenever one half finds dnlrylng
profitable, the other half fears that It
may be overdone. Hence the warnfngs
now being broadcast that dairying
Is tip In'the clouds and due to come
down soon. Rut folks go right along
paying their bills by means of a few
good cows and hens Just «s they have
for many yeara past. Quite the op
.jsislte, there-are now many signs in
dicating that dairying will have even
more popularity before It has less. .
Dairy Facts
• »
Green alfalfa has a very pronounced
off-flavor hi the milk if-fed an hour
or two before milking, but no effect
after five hours.
• • •
There is no long waiting period
with the dairy cow—she pays as she
goes. The cream and the milk sold
are usually paid for eAch week or
each month.
e • •
Milk utensils should never be left
in the sun until after they are care
fully cleaned- und dried. The use of
cotton disk strainers will save time
and labor and Insure cleaner milk.
NO. 26.
PHffi
BALANCED RATION
NEEDED FOR HENS
Students of ben science believe that
an ordinary bird should be able to
produce a thousand eggs If we knew
how to give her a fair chance.
She is a wonderful machine, with
the embryo of more than a thousand
eggs in her make-up, but so many
things combine to prevent her from
doing ber best that she generally falls
away short of such production dur
ing her few years of life.
If you like to count eggs befor*
they are laid, you may figure the mat
ter out to suit yourself—so many
pounds of grain, meat, ltme, fat, fiber
and water to each dozen eggs— and '
there you are
All would be well, and you could
begin at once to count your eggs,4f
it were not for the fact that "some
thing always happens" to prevent the
regular machine-like production de
sired.
Certainly we must be careful to sup
ply the needful ration so that fat,
protein, nitrogen, fiber, ash or min
eral and water will be fed This W
necessary, because no eggs can be
produced if one of these elements is
lacking.
The fowls must be kept in condi
tion or they will not "shell out." This
Is one of the most difficult parts In
our whole plan of egg production.
The grains are high In nitrogen and
protein. Meat scrap, bone and meat
meal are high in fat and protetn.
When the flock is out on the range,
young and old pick up what they In
stinctively seek as needful-
Some of the prepared feeds are
mixed so that Just about the right
proportion of each needed element
Is In the ration. Sometimes' the birds
do not seem to like the ration as
mixed for them, so the plans of the
scientists do ,-ot work out
Molting Period Is Good
Index of Value of Hen
Hens that are in the midst of molt
ing do not, as a rule, lay. The time of
the year when molting takes place Is,
therefore, a reliable index of the value
of the hen to the flock for the reason
that a hen molting in wrong season,
when she should be laying, can de
prive the flock of more profit than
would be the case hat} she molted
early enough to be laying at the peak
of high prices.
The "early molter" Is not. however,
a good layer, as a rule. Molting usual
ly starts with the neck, then the body
and finally the tail and the wings. It
takes, usually, three months for the
molting process to be fully completed.
While it would seem that the early
molters would be the best winter lay
ers, actual experiments have proved
that such Is not the case.
These texts held by various experi
ment stations have brought out the
fact that egg production controls the
molt rather than the molt controlling
the egg production. So long as laying
Is continued the molting will be post
poned. And it Is quite universally
conceded that the late molter Is the
best layer. In fact. It seems to be a
standard rule on commercial farms
now and In the experiment stations to
discard the hens which have completed
the moit in late September and are in
full feather and to hold those molting
in October and November.
Soy Bean Meal for Hens
Is Most Excellent Feed
A n*l"- K iy,x* feeding tests at vari
ous. experiment stations have shown
tfie valne of soy-bean oil meal as a
! poultry fe*L From these tests It was
! concluded bean oil meal could
' replace oats In chick feeding.
PoultrymeEf tn the Pacific coast states
have usett soy-bean oil meal for sev
eral years und consider It a most ex
| eel lent feed for growth and egg pro
duction. '
Another series of experiments
showed that soy-bean oil meal when
fed with a suitable mineral mixture
Ifr m better supplement to corn meal
than scraps and is nearly as good as
condensed buttermilk when fed to
chickens for short-time Intensive feed
ing periods.
Way to Make Hens Sick
Feeding moldy corn meal Is rather a
sure way of making hens sick.
Spoiled feed will ruin either young
chicks or ducklings In a short time.
Always sort carefully any corn con
taining moldy or decayed ears and
discard all that are not fit for food.
Dogs can disgorge, material thaf
proves harmful to them but when a
hen or chick eats spoiled grain or de- j
eayed meat it must pass through the '
entire digestive system and often It
kills the bird.