v.. V $1.00 a Year, In Advance. "FOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY AND FOR TRUTH." Single Copy 5 Ceat TOL. XVI. PLYMOUTH, N, 0.. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1905. NO. 28. 1 VJT Jnk. .MnKflSMnAtfflH - ISilil F!Ks AND By NAKCY WHITTAKER. vnil fnrn rti- lia Att' 4 -wy J and put tlio geese in the 7v- 5 I B O sta v sty $ wi TOW as stable, Isaac.' said the ridow Havens to iicr son, fOW as they sat down to the breakfast table one fine summer morn ing. "Yes, mother," was the reply, "and I guess I can master that old gander this time. I'm getting so big. You know he knocked me down with his wings the last time we picked 'em." "Yes, I remember; and Squire Hoff man came right in the middle of it, -about that calf, and I, in my old rag ged gown, mortified to death, was hin dered a whole- hour, showing bim the poultry and the garden. And now, Hannah," turning to her daughter, a pretty girl of slxteeu, "if anybody comes- to-day, before we get through, tell them I can't see them; for I wouldn't be bothered with company when I am in such a plight. This old gown is all in slits, but I can't afford to spoil a better one. You may wash tip the dishes, Hannah," she continued, when breakfast was over, "and set the rooms to rights; and by and by put on the pot, and get the dinner a-going; 'and by that time I hope Ave shall bo through. Come, Isaac, we will go." Now, everybody lias seen feathers, but there are some who do not know where they como from, and softly re pose upon their downy beds without one thought about Ihe cruel way in which the best ones are obtained. They want live geese feathers when they buy, without knowing what it means. We W'ish such a one could have seen Mrs. Havens and Ike marching to the 'barn, with a big basket, a cloth to tie oyer it, an old chair, and one of Ike's outgrown stockings to put over a goose's head, to keep her from biting :while she is picked. , To see.Ike run the whole flock up into "a .corner; of the stable, catch one by the neck an,d wings, and then with his black eyes sparkling with delight, and las freckled face and suspiciously red head, all aglow, with the triumph of -capture, as he marched across the floor to lay it gently, but squawking terribly, In bis mother's lap, was rather amus ing. Boys are cruel! there's no denying it; when they so love to catch geese and pigs,, and fish and game,- just for the fun of it, sometimes letting them go, and putting the fish back in the water, because they do not want them, after the triumph of capture is over. Ike, Who was a smart, mischievous boy of twelve, loved to do all these things, though be was not particularly ugly, and had really a very soft place in his big, generous heart. But while Hannah in the neat white cottage is cooking the dinner, and Mrs. Havens in the stable is tearing the feathers in big bandfuls from the poor geese side, back and front, and Isaac ; is climbing haymows hunting eggs, and cutting up all sorts of pranks between whiles, another actor is on his way to the busy scene. This Was Squire Hoffman, a rich farmer, who lived two or three miles away, whose road to town took him very often past the Widow Haven's cottage. Being an observing man, be bad noticed the neatness, and look of care and thrift that always surround ed it; and more than this, that the widow had handsome black eyes and a trim figure, as she sat.up stiffly in her pew of a Sundaj', giving Ike an occa sional nudge, or pinch, to keep bim in -order, yet all the time looking at the minister, and no doubt hearing all be said. As the squire had been a widower : several years, this must be "excused, especially when we consider that his only daughter, Grace Hoffman, was about to be married, and go to a home of her own. As he was a good-looking, large-framed, big-hearted, benevolent- - looking man, with three large farms and money in the bank, we must con clude that he was considered a pretty good catch among the widows and maidens, if he once made up his mind to marry again. And it was of this very thing he was thinking as, seated on Selim, his hand some black horse, be rode toward town upon this particular July morning. "I really don't know what I had better do," he soliloquized. "There is Grace going to leave me, and I can't ' say a word against it, she has gotsuch - a noble fellow in the one she loves, and the very one I would have chosen for her. But there's nobody left but Aunt Dinah in the kitchen, good old soul, but just no company at all for me. And here I am, not fifty years old, and I may live twenty or thirty years yet, healthy as I am, and must I live all that time alone, with nobody to care for, and nobody to care for me? It's all nonsense. I declare I won't do it, if I can find anyone' to marry me. "But who shall it be? There's the .Widow Sprlggins, good-looking, no children to bother one, smart, tidy and with a nice farm of her own; but such n temper, sharp as steel, and keen as a razor, I guess a little too keen for me. 'A man wants a little peace in th e tie FPATHFBS PIPP cline of his life, if ever; and he'd have none with the Widow Spriggins. Then there is Miss Molly Hopkins a nice, likely, pious woman as ever was, but very homely, and I don't fancy her one bit. And theres that young Widow Drake, pretty and languishing, and squinting all the time over at my pew, I do believe. But she isn't the kind for me. Dolly Weaver is a nice woman, but a little too old, and Tolly Pepper corn is too young. "But there is the Widow Havens, handsome as a picture, and neat and smart, and thrifty enough to pay her way twice over. There are those two young ones, to be sure, but they need not be in the way at all. Hannah is just such a girl as one likes to see around, busy as a bee, rosy as the morning, and cheery as a little canary, and, indeed, sings about as sweetly. I can see that Sam is casing sheep's eyes at her already, every time he comes home for a vacation, and I don't blame .him a bit. They're not as rich as some, but we have enough, and who cares. I always did like that boy Ike. If his face is freckled, and his head red, he will make a smart man yet. He is chock full of fun and smartness, with steam enough to burst a common boiler. . I want just such a boy on the farm all the time, to run of errands, get up the cows, feed the poultry, go to mill, drive horse to plow, and a hundred other things I don't think of just now. And that reminds me that I need justsuch a boy dread fully, just now, to rake hay and do chores, while we are mowing. I won der if the widow couldn't spare him a few days." -' ' By this time the squire had got just opposite Mrs. Havens's barn, and upon the spur of the moment he rode right into the shed beside it, that faced the highway, intending to hitch Selim, and to go into the house to ask the widow for her boy. But just as be bad dismounted, and' was hanging bis bridle over the hook, he heard a shout of laughter and the ring of voices close at hand. There was a window-hole close by, cut for ventilation of the stables, and looking through it he saw a sight that made him want to join in the chorus'. For there sat the widow in her torn gown, with a goose in her lap, busily ripping off the feathers in great hand fuls, and with a handkerchief over her head to keep them out of her hair, looking smart, energetic and rosy, and read3' to explode with laughter, while upon a hen-coop, near at hand, stood Ike, in the very act of delivering an oration. The fact was, the last time he went to town with his mother he went into the court-house, and listened to a lawyer's plea in a case in which he had been interested, and since then he had been full of it. And now he had just been and marked out a great image on the stable wall to represent the judge, and a dozen others, close by, of smaller dimensions, for the jury, while his clients, the flock of geese, were the plaintiff, and his mother, their tormentor, the defendant; and just then he was putting in the closing plea: "Now, your honor knows that these poor clients of mine are all the more to be pitied, and have all the more need to have justice done them for being weak and simple folks, so gentle and lamb-like that they would never harm anything bigger than a fly, or a pollywog, while that wicked woman, the defendant" and he pointed fiercely at his mother "is strong and cruel as the grave. You have just listened, your honor, and you gentlemen of the jury" and he gave his hand a lofty yet graceful wave toward them "to the evidence just brought into court, and can you doubt that it is abundant ly proved that she feloniously, and by force of arms, and with full intent, seized and overpowered them, every one of them, and ruthlessly tore the hair and skin from their backs the feathers, you know and deliberately and cruelly shut out the light of heaven from their, eyes with an old blinder made of wool, and abused them in the most shocking and shamefnl way, for which wicked treatment she has made herself amenable to that statute en acted for the prevention of cruelty to animals. I leave the case in your hands, gentlemen of the jury, knowing that you will be sure to do justice to the cause of the oppressed, and see the laws of your country faithfully executed;" and, with a sweeping bow to judge and jury, the young orator jumped from his rostrum, or, in reality, turned a somersault from it, over to the stable floor, landing on his feet, amid cheers and bravos of one at least of his audience, and the squawks of two at least of his clients. He rebounded like a shot at the sound of the applause, and looking up sud denly, there stood the squire in the doorway, laughing loudly at the amus ing performance. "Well done, my boy!" he exclaimed, heartily; "you acted it to perfection, and I'm sure you'll be equal to the best of them one of these days." Ashamed ami crestfallen to be caught, Ifce slunk away, with fcls cheeks blazing and the freckles brighter than ever, while his mother's face flushed hotly, and straightened in an instant, for about the same reasons; and in her agitation and surprise she jumped up, and came near letting go the half-picked client. She sat down again, however, with a bow to the squire, that might bo considered a very stiff and awkward one. "I hope you don't think we pick geese here every day, squire," she said, "though I think you caught us at it once before." "Yes, but it's work that must be done, Mrs. Havens. I hope, however, that my presence here will not be con sidered an intrusion. I had no idea of playing the eavesdropper when I rode into the shed just now, but, really, your young lawyer was so amusing that I couldn't help it That boy wiil make a smart and talented- man one of these days, Mrs. Havens, you see if he doesn't; and that reminds mo that I called to see if you could spare him a few days. Wo want such a boy just now very much, and I will give him good wages." "Well, that is just as you and he can agree. Our little hoeing and mowing is done, thank fortune, and he can go if he likes. He is a smart boy, if I do say it; but he has the queerest no tions in his head. He and Hannah both take after their father, and love their books a little too well. They both read every spare minute, and Ike has a notion that he wants to go to college, like your Samuel. Now, with our pov erty, the- idea is preposterous; and yet here I have been like a fool all the morning trying to encourage and help him contrive how to do it, just to please him." "And how was that?" said the squire, smiling, as he helped himself withotit asking to a seat on the niilkinsr-s'iool, in the most familiar and neighborly way. - . ' ' -fA "Well, in the first place, foathevs'afe a dollar a pound, and Ike had a notion that there might Be great profit in stocking the little farm with geese. Then when I raised some objections, lie concluded that picking and selling berries, and catching birds and game, would do a great deal, and that by keeping school and raising strawberries we could do the rest, and school Han nah into the bargain. So we are going to set the strawberries right away, a plan I was AviJling to encourage, as I knew it might be very profitable. "There, that goose is done, but where is Isaac, I'd like to know?" And going to the door, she let out the goose and called loudly for the boy to catch another, as she explained to the squire. "Pray, let him go, Mrs. Havens," said the squire, good-humoredly. "You are almost through, and I would just as lief catch you one as not." and suiting the action to the word, he walked over, and caught the smallest one, and laid it in Mrs. Havens' lap. Then he walked back, and, catching the old gander, the father of the flock, in spite of his loud and animated re monstrances, he went back, and sitting down upon the stool, laid him across his knee, and in spite of his naked head, and wrathful demonstrations, proceeded very leisurely and scientifi cally, to strip off his coat. "You see, Mrs. Havens," he said, "that I am an old hand at the busi ness, as my wife never did it, and so it always fell to me, or Dinah, or both. But the house became full of beds, and I soon tired of it, and sold off my flock." "As I would mine if we didn't need the profits for clothes, and schooling for the children especially if Ike has to go to col logo. I guess it will take a good many pounds of feathers to send him there." said she;- "Supposing I should te'l you of a better way," said the squire, earnestly, and with a slight blush. "Here you have a snug little place that might bring a thousand dollars or so; and off there, I have more land than I well know what to do with. Now, my daughter Grace is about to leave me; and my home will be without a mis tress, and myself without any con genial society. Now, I liko you better than any other woman I know of, and if you would become my wife, and the mistress of my establishment, I think we could arrange matters nicely. Then you could sell this little place, and put the money in the bank, against the time Isaac would want to go to college, and Hannah, who is one of the sweetest girls I know, could live with ns, go to school to the village academy, and be well provided for by us when she marries. Now, what do you say to my plan?" "That I will consider it seriously," said the widow, with flaming cheeks, eyes cast down, and a very nervous pull at the feathers. And Ike just at this juncture crawled out slyly from behind an old barrel, in the manger, crept cautiously out at the door, without being perceived by the blushing pair of lovers, and ran to the bouse, to tell the news to the astonished Hannah, with a good many eloquent additions and explanations. The squire finally came in to dinner, and afterward pursued his journey to town; and the widow did think of it to such purpose that she soon after be came his wife. Her place was sold, as tha squire proposed; Ike went to college, rubbed q the freckles! and eventually be- came ne of the smartest lawyers in the State; while pretty Hannah mar ried Samuel the only son and lived with the old folks at the homestead. New York Weekly. L. W. Dallas, an English statistician, has proved that the birth rate in India depends directly on the rainfall. A drouth makes bad crops, fewer mar riages and fewer children; the se quence is logical. Two English inventors have devised a relay for talking machines whereby the sounds produced are strongly rein forced by compressed air. With this instrument ordinary conversation will carry a quarter of a mile, and some sounds can be heard as far as two or three miles. The only metals commonly known as magnetic are iron, cobalt and, nickel. Dr. Heusler, a German, now proves that the faculty of being magnetic does not apply to these particular metals as such, but can be developed in special alloys containing no traces of the nat ural magnetic metals. Reports from Spain say that Senor Balsora, an employe in the Govern ment telegraph department, has been making some highly successful experi ments with torpedoes whose course is directed by means of the wireless tele graph. The pulsations are made to act on delicate controlling apparatus with in the tornedo, no physical connection beig needed. In a recent communication to the Paris Academy of Sciences Professor Chareau announced that he found ra dium rays will counteract the poison of serpent venom. Viper or cobra poi son, he said, loses its virulence after fifty or sixty hours of exposure. Vic tims of cobra bites, however, usually die in a few minutes; hence radium can hardly be considered an antidote. The price of radium has increased owing to the difficulty of obtaining fur ther supplies. The consequence is that research work has almost ceased. Sir William Ramsay states that $100 a milligramme or at the rate of $3,000, 000 an ounce, is now demanded. "An expert is of the opinion that not more than a half ounce of radium has been manufactured since Professor and Mme. Curie discovered it. The l'lea of "Nolo." The straight and simple lines marked out for her family by Mrs. Lane were a source of great satisfaction to her and of considerable amusement to her neighbors. "Tli ere is nothing more tiresome and ill-bred than fruitless argument," an nounced that determined woman to one of her friends, whom she counted an agreeable person, but lacking in spirit, "and wo have made a rule never to have it in our family." "I don't see how one can always avoid it," said the meek-spirited neigh bor, "when all the members of a family have tlifferent opinions." "It's no harm to have opinions if you keep them to yourself," said Mrs. Lane, indulgently, "but I'll tell you how we manage. For instance, at the table; of course if one of the children makes a statement which I cannot indorse, I simply say, 'That is pure foolishness. Let us hear no more of it.' But if one of the other children attempts to start an argument, why, then I have to be more firm, and send him or her from tlte table. Of course my older son and (laughter have come to years of discre tion, and never think of transgressing the rule." "But do you and Mr. Lane always think alike?" ventured her friend. "Not always," said Mrs. Lane, frank ly, "but we pursue the same system with each other. If I express an opin ion from which Mr. Lane differs, I say pleasantly, 'Y'ou remember our little rule, my dear. ami naturally he stops at once. And if he expresses one from which I differ, I just smile across the table at him and say, 'As I cannot sub scribe to that, and Ave must bear in mind our rule, will you kindly say no more, my dear.' You see. it's a simple matter, if each one Avill do his or her part, and it does so greatly add to the peace of a household!" Youth's Com panion. No Loophole. A New Hampshire lawyer, for some years judge of the police court hi Con cord, was a natural peacemaker, and always endeavored, says the Green Bag, to smooth over any slight differ ences between persons brought before him. On one occasion, when the charge was for technical assault, it came out in the course of evidence that the par ties were neighbors, and had formerly been on the best of terms. "It is a pity," tfr judge said, persuas ively, "that old friends, as you seem to have been, should appear before ma in such a way. Surely this is a case which might be settled out of court." "It can't be dene, judge," answered the plaintiff, seriously. "f ' thought of that myself, but tbe., coward, won't tight," i.CIENS The Paramount Question. J&OJZ T is taken for granted that jr every citizen is interested O I O in the eliscussion of the it good roads question and ttX&tr and the proposition that the Government of the United States shall co-operate with the States In highway construction and improve ment. There are always political ques tions of importance, of course; but the question of good common roads is paramount to them all as an economic proposition, because it reaches all classes and callings in town and coun try. It is pregnant with interest to the consuming population of towns and cities, and to railroads, manufacturers and tradesmen as well. But the weightier consideration is, that church, school and farm interests must in evitably be retarded while road con ditions remain as they are to-day. If the American home is to be pre served, the American farm must be fostered. The logic of this deduction will readily present itself. If ignor ance is the parent of superstition and superstition shuts out the light from the soul that should be free, then the progress of civilization and the whole some growth of the religion of the Lord depends upon the universal spread of education in the land. The higher schools and colleges are doing a grand work, but the free common schools are the more important, be cause they are the schools of , the masses in which are laid the deep and lasting foundations for coming lives of usefulness and for the better ment of mankind. The common schools are the schools of the rural population. Whatever tends to better these schools, to make them stronger and of higher curriculum, to gi.v.e great er efficiency and better discipline, and to make them easily accessible all the time, should be the concern of every patriotic citizen. Nothing can possibly conduce so much to these results as improved highways. Neither rural church or school, nor j'et the farm, can flourish where impassable roads abound, and if these cannot flourish our free institutions will soon or late topple and fall. The question of na tional aiel to good roads is one the Government cannot afford to ignore much longer. The necessity for it is so apparent that it is without the do main of controversy. Statesmen and philosophers know that good roads develop good people. Improvement of highways means not only advance ment of commercial interests, but also moral welfare. The highways are the paths along which civilization and de velopment move. Wide Tirei. One of the means of improving the condition of the highways which is of importance, but generally disregarded, is the use of wide tires on drays and wagons carrying heavy loads. Such tires are of great value in rolling the surface of the road and avoiding the formation of ruts. The belief that in creasing the width of the tire increases the draft probably arises from the fact that as a rule the increase in width of tire is accompanied by a elecrease in the diameter of the wheel. Of course, diminishing the diameter of the wheel increases the draft, and increasing the diameter of the wheel diminishes the draft. The radius of the wheel consti tutes the lever arm through which the power of the team acts to move the load. The shorter the lever the greater a power required to move the load. Experiments invariably show the ad vantages of wide tires on good roads, both in the less power required than with narrow tires and in the beneficial effect upon tho road. As to the effect of the width of the tire, where the ilia meter of the wheel remains the same, a trial was made where forty per cent, more power was required to draw a loael on a wagon having one and one-half-inch tires than on a wagon having three-inch tires. Many European countries have laws regulating the width of tires. In Ger many four-inch tires are required for heavy loads. In France the tires must be from three to ten inches, according to the load, and the front axie must be shorter than the rear axle to prevent "tracking." In Austria wagons carry ing two and a quarter tons must have tires at least four and one-third incites wide, and every load over four and a half tons must be carried on tires, six and one-fourth inches in width. Switz erland has similar regulations, tti some sections of the United States laws have been enacted regulating the width of tires ou wagons, carrying heavy . loads, but in many instances they are ignored. There seems to be a general awaken ing upon the -subject of improved roads throughout the country, and more lib eral appropriations for this purpose; should be made in Vwz future than have been made in past. On the contrary, however, at present, reails once good are not being kept up as they should, be, It yvinnot improve the financial condition if roads are not kept good t , facilitate the marketing of produce. It Is poor economy to let made road fall into bad order, for it is an expen sive matter taking them up again. However, this year is an exceptional time for tightness of 'ash, and a littl , patience must be exercised in the mat ter of roads. Along with a general im provement in road matters there should be developed a better appreciation of the importance and value of wid.r tires ' in road improvement, that law.? may be made on the subject and gradually brought Into force. The subject needs , frequent and earnest discussion in or der to secure tli is. Journal Jamaica Agricultural Society. Batter Is Awfully Yellow In Springfield" Consumers of butter in this city may have noticed of late an unwonted golden hue in the color of that delect able article. It has the true yellow praised by the pastoral poet from the earliest ages. A dealer accounts for this by stating that this year all over western Massachusetts and Vermont the dandelions have been more plenti ful than for many years. The cows in their hereling consume a quantity of these, to the end that their milk is affected, and consequently the butter. As the dandelion crop passes the butter will regain a less brilliant color. A less poetic dealer says that the richi appearance is probably due in a greater use of coloring matter by thfr dairy men. Springfield Republican. , flock to Run 30,000 Tears. The Hon. II. G. Strutt, of England, has invented what is the closest ap proach to perpetual motion yet devised. It is a clock that will run for 30,000 years, unless the wear of some of its parts destroys it before that time. One-twelfth of a grain of radium is Lung over a small electroscope, made of two thin strips of silver. These, charged with electricity emanating from the radium, move, apart,, touchx the sides of the vacuum tube in which: they are fixed, transfer their charge to an aluminum wire (thus ringing a1 bell) are discharged, fall together again, and then apart again, and so on for the 30,000 years or so already men tioned. New York World. The Oldest Indian. - Switchley Lowery, a full blooded Cherokee, perhaps the eldest Indian in the five nations, died recently at his home, on Lowery Prairie, fifteen miles north of Tahlequah. He was one of the original emigrants from the southeastern States, but his full sojourn in the West is not exactly known. He has probably been hero 100 years. Several generations have sprung front him, who lived in different parts of the nation, and are and have been good citizens. Mr. Lowery had a good name among his neighbors and every where he was known, having the re spect and confidence of all. Tahlequah. Leader. Duration of Digestion. The times of digestion of different foods are about as follows on an aver se: Milk, rice, about an hour or less; whipped eggs, barley soup, salmon, trout, about 1 hours; peas and flesh. about 2 hours or more: sago, 1 hours; barley, boiled milk, raw eggs, cabbage with vinegar, soup with fat and bread, about 2 hours; raw milk (Richer), baked eggs, ox liver, 2 hours; lamb, beans, potatoes, cabbage, hash, 2V3 hours; boiled eggs, beefsteak, wnite bread, ham, beef, fish, mutton, J hours: pork, poultry, veal, brown bread, 4 hours; salt pork, hard-boiled eggs, 5 hours. Russell s Strength and Diet A New Social Experiment. A new social experiment was tried in New York the other day and ap parently met with success. The bride of a large wedding did not live in that city. Her very conservative family, which has lived for years in a home on the Hudson, shuddered at the idea of a wetlding reception in a restaurant. It happened that a house on Fifth ave nue owned by a friend of the family was for rent. It was completely fur nished. So it Avas rented for the day and there the -wedding reception was held in the ese-lusiveness of a hand some home which might have belonged to the family.. Philadelphia Record. . Woman Slew Two IVlaeksiiakes. Mrs. Michael Lookabaugh, living at the foot of the mountain below Ben Mar, bad a desperate encounter with, a pair of black-snakes in the cellar or her home. She sueWenly cante upon the snakes crawling on the fler. Going into tha yard she procured a hoe and returning to the ee-llar attacked the reptiles. Af-. ter a sharp fight Mrs. Lookabaugh de-. spateSted both of the " snakes. They Avere unusually large, one measuring seven feet and the other one six and aj , half feet in length. Ilagerstown orre-w spoudenee. Baltimore Herald. . " Dride's Stranje Appeal. The fo'Jowing advertisement- np- peared in tho London Morninj Tost; "Will a wealthy and kind-hearted lady assist a poor lady who is. engaged to be married in ';h-j middle- of this mont! Her father, a professional; man. old, br.t of very ISaute-d means, Ielr is required toward a plain weeU uirg trousseau. Partienb.rs if t'eslred. -Address B. M.. OCr.O'J, Morning Post Office, Strand, V, C " '