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4 ALICE FINN A MERMAID. Upon a morning jocular, . The half of one binocular Might have observed two sailormen a-strolling by the sea, And by their actions dignified, It very easy signified That one of 'era was Henry Smith, and one of 'em was me. The day was rather tropical, Our talk was rather topical, When suddenly upon a rock we saw just what we seen: A mermaid quite attractive like A-settin' there, inactive like. And sort of Join' up 'er hair, whioh same was long and green. I made as if to speak to her, But what I said was Greek to her; For she remained ob-liv-i-ous, a-powderln' "cr nose, And with a "pair of eirlev-eews. jhe done her hair in curley-kews, ' 1 And kind o' smiled, as if to say, "I'm pretty, I I yelled, "Ahoy there!" breezily. She turned around quite easily. And snapped 'er lingers in the air as perky as could be. (The way you talk to fareigners) At two lone, lornsome mariners, And one of 'em was Henry Smith and one of 'em was me. .Though Henry's face was laffable, I dolled my bonnet affable, And said; "Though me and Henry Smith has sailed for years a score. In schooner, junk and tub marine, A charming maiden submarine, A set tin' plain before our eyes, we never seen before." She looked at first suspiciously, And then she spoke deficiously, "I've often wished a sarlorman me hand and heart to win." Says Hepry, "Thankee, marm," says 'e, Says she, "I meant no harm," says she. "For I'm a niece o' Neptune, and me name is Alice Finn." I speaks without a falter: "Ma'am, I've tackled around Gibraltar, ma'am, , I've navigated rocks and shoals on many ocean tours; I've sailed through Spain and Venice, too, . J3ut never seen a menace to The art o' navigation like them handsome eyes o' yours. - Says Hank (his mind's so sordid-like!): "I've got some money hoarded-like. Full fifteen hundred dollars in the bank o' Greenwich town, (Intention matrimonial) And in yon housecolonial. A mermaid and a mariner might wed and settle down." Says she, "My fear of losing you Makes matters hard in choosing you" Just then above the waves appeared her mother, Mrs. Finn, Who said: "Who's them there men. my dear? What! ftirtinj; there again, my dear? Your father's home for luncheon, now come in, my child, come in " So Alice, lookin' sweetly up. Just tied her back hair neatly up. Then dove ker-plunk into the sea and never spoke at all; Just cave a sort o' hop-and-skip, And iiit the water fiop-and-flip. Without so much as askin'" if we'd drop in for a call! Says Hank. "She tried to divvil us!" Says 1, "Her nntur's frivolous!" Siys Hank, "Her mind is shallow, but 'er home is deep," says 'e. And so, as meek as tailor-men, Back walked two lonesome sailormen. Ana one ot em was Henry Smith On the Side of By ALBERT The following narrative recounts a etirring experience of Joseph Bel mont, a young Englishman of science. The story is given practically in his own words: In the latter part of 1SS9 I was employed in Ecuador by one of the JEnglish universities to estimate altl-Tuttejttf-rir measure distances among the' higher peaks of the Andes, and to collect information about the coun try and its people. During December I camped for some time with a single guide on the slopes of Chimborazo, about 1000 feet below the snow line. My companion was called Manuel; he had no surname that I could dis cover. Ke was a full-blooded Indian who bad been recommended to me by a Spanish official. I found him silent and stolid, but thoroughly trustwor thy. Much of our time was spent In making our way along the summit of sharp ridges that fell off abruptly on either side, in creeping cautiously up steep slopes of rolling stones, and in scaling sheer precipices, exposed to the cruel winds that haunt those high altitudes. One morning we left our camp at early dawn, and did not turn back until late in the evening. Our labors that day were more than usually ar duous, and the thinness of the air caused us much suffering. With panting breaths we had crept along knife-like edges until late in the af ternoon. The sun was setting, and ,we were two miles from camp. For some time we proceeded very the west, the stars came out and the moon bathed the mountainside in a pale bluish radiance. Manuel, who was going ahead, came to a sudden stop. Right across our path lay a slope of rocks about 300 feet wide. It was a declivity innocent enough to look upon, a smooth slant at an angle of about forty degrees, but at the lower edge it stopped as clean and square as if it had been cut off with a knife. We were about three-quarters of the way down. Five hundred feet above us the slope started at the foot of an unscalable cliff; 200 feet below it stopped. I give these figures as approximate merely, for in the moonlight it was difficult to judge ac curately of distance. Beyond the slope lay our camp, and in some way we must get across, but we knew that if once those rocks were started rolling, we should be swept ovej- the precipice in the ava lanche. The passage would have been a very easy matter had there been any ice upon the incline to cement the pieces together. But so far as We could see there was not a particle, nor was it difficult to understand why this was so. The slope faced the northeast, and all day long the hot equatorial sun lay upon it, prevent ing any moisture irom garnering. One way or the 6ther we must go. . . . . i : Wa nnnlrt not Stand ions luatuvc without becominsr so chilledhat we could not go eitheVforwan i- back. Which course should we xai, j The answer was pi I retrace ur way va"v i'lie jour-1 suppose. and one of 'em was me. The Century. Chimborazo. W. TOLMAN. ney had been hard by day. Now, when the thin, shifting moonlight rendered it difficult to calculate dis tance, and black chasms of shadow flung themselves athwart the path, V tAn i j. , . i , , - I me iuca waa nut io ue enteriamea ior an instant. Food, warmth, shelter . lo.r U0 a . . ia.y uauiB us, iu retreat meant to perish of cold and hunger and fa tigue For several minutes we stood in si lence, gazing out upon the slope. "Shall we try it?" said I at last to my guide. It was the first time in our ac quaintance of two months that I had ever seen him show hesitation; gen erally he was prompt in his decisions. But this time he realized the danger better than I did, and before replying he stooped, picked up a bit of rock, and flung it out into the middle of the declivity. It started a miniature avalanche, which swept rapidly down and disappeared over the edge of the precipice. The most terrifying thing about it was that after the rocks fell we could hear no sound for several seconds, and then only a faint rumble thous ands of feet below. It was a warn ing of the fate that a mis-step might bring upon us. But nothing was to be gained by delay, and at last we decided to at tempt the passage. The one thing that gave us hope of getting over in safety was the appearance here and there of a boulder, apparently pro jecting from the solid ledge beneath, rearing its head above the surround ing debris like a little island. Manuel went first, putting his feet down very carefully, one after the other. I followed, stepping exactly in his tracks. Once started, there was no turning back. I did not fully re alize the treacherous nature of that rocky slope until we were upon it. We were, fifteen minutes traversing a space of fifty feet. The farther we got out the sorrier I grew that we had come. The whole slide was bound together as a single mass. The displacement of one bit of rock imparted an impulse to the HE ART OF PAPER-MAK-ing ought to be regarded as one of the most useful which has ever been invented in any age or country ; for it is manifest that every other discovery must have con 3 v t V . VlV tinued useless to society if it could not have' been disseminated by manu scripts or by printing. MATTHIAS KOOPS La From next below, and took away its sup port from the next above. A single false step, a slip on the part of either, would involve both in a fearful ca tastrophe. We did not say a word to each oth er. All our energies .were needed for crossing the slope. The fatiguing na ture of that cautious tread I cannot tell you. Every muscle was tense to rigidity, every nerve keyed high; our eyes were strained to detect the smallest motion, and our ears were alert to catch the slightest sound. Seventy-five feet out we reached a boulder that rose above the shingle. It barely afforded footing for us both. We did not dare to remain long upon it, for the temperature was far below the freezing point, and we were stiff with cold. After a few minutes Man uel made a sign and once more we took up our perilous journey. v We had gone about fifteen feet, when my guide, who was two yards in advance, gave a sharp'exclamation. There was a harsh rattling sound. "Run, senor, run!" Manuel shout ed, and his great leaps set me the example. He must have stepped on what was the keystone of the entire mass, so set that its slightest movement would affect the whole. As I ran I cast one hasty glance upward. I verily be lieve that every piece of rock from top to bottom was in motion at once. The whole mountainside seemed to be crawling toward us. First there came the faint rolling and clinking of scattered pebbles, then a loud rattle, swelling into the roar of an avalanche, as rock after rock added itself to the sliding masr,. One instant the declivity lay silent and motionless in the moonlight; the next it was all alive, slipping, grind ing, roaring, with the sound of a stone crusher in full action. It was useless to think of gaining the ledge at which we had aimed. Twenty-five feet below it was anoth er, not quite so high, but longer and narrower, and toward this we bent our course in flying leaps. There was no chance to pick the best spot for holding on. We threw ourselves down upon the ledge on our faces, fortunately clutching a shoulder. Had we gained the boul der above, at which we had aimed, we should have been swept away by the flood that poured over it. As it was it broke the force of the slide and kept the great mass of rock away from us. Our situation was still perilous In the extreme. The ledge which af forded us refuge rose only a few inches abovti the surrounding debris Had the stones confined themselves to rolling it would have been bad enoueh. But the smaller ones, de fleeted and shot high into the air by passing over the ledge above, rained down upon us like the spray of a rocky waterfall. It was fortunate that our eyes and teeth escaped, for, as we lay, we were obliged to face the avalanche. Of course we could not shelter our faces with our hands, for we needed every finger to hold on with. So we ducked our heads as low as possible, and the missiles beat a tattoo upon our skulls until our hair was matted with blood. Had the stones been any larger we should .have been battered into insen sibility and quickly hurled over the precipice. Once I was in deadly peril. A rock, larger than the rest, struck my fingers, numbing them and causing me to relax my hold. My grasp was torn away, and for the fraction of a terrible second I was at the mercy of the torrent. Then my guide, at the risk of his own life, let go the ledge with one hand and clutched my shoul der. Again I regained my place and clung with redoubled strength. The force of the slide abated. The dust cleared. Lastly a few scattered rocks dashed down over the denuded surface. At one instant a stony Nia gara seemed to be roaring around us; then we heard the distant rumble of its fall die away in the depths of the ravine. The next moment there was utter stillness, as sudden as if a great door, padded and muffled, had shut out the sound. Only the snow crowned peak, high above us, gave back the pale light of the moon. Then we saw the reason why the mass had slid so smoothly and rap idly. Tne slope was practically a plane inclined at a sharp angle, bro ken, to be sure, by a few projecting .ledges, but in the main free from ob structions. How long it had been collecting its load we could only con jecture. As the cliff above disinte grated under the action of frost and rain and ice, small pieces fell from it one by one, until the whole slant be came charged with fragments ready to be set in motion by the least im pulse. Possibly the next falling rock of any considerable size might have the Printing Art Sample Book. had the same effect that our steps had had. There was every reason for thinking that the thing had happened many times, although I very much doubt if human feet had ever before been the agency to set the mass in motion. Manuel had suffered worse than I, for he had occupied a more exposed position. WThen I looked at his face iri the moonlight I could not repress an exclamation of horror. He was fearfully cut and bruised, having a ragged gash on his right cheek and another above his eye. I was appar ently in little better plight, but later, after the dirt and blood had been washed off, my Injuries turned out to be not severe. Our clothing hung in tatters about the upper portion of our bodies, which were black and blue from the bombardment we had re ceived. Now that the rocks were gone the remainder of the slope gave us no more trouble. An hour later we were warming ourselves by the spirit lamp in our tent, and the aroma or boiling coffee was very grateful to our nostrils. We spent the next day In resting and attending to our Injur ies "and repairing the damage to our clothing. It was a full week before we wholly recovered from the results of our adventure. Youth's Companion. CJEN 5c INDV5TRI It has been recommended that new courses for the study of electricity be established at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. It has been found that electrical currents will soften concrete. This is of importance in the wrecking of old foundations. At the bottom of the sea there are In all 250,000 miles of cable, repre senting $250,000,000. The average life of the cable is forty years. A new process for hardening steel has been discovered. The temper is increased by electricity and the new process is said to be superior to any other. Ancient philosophers suspected, and modern scientists have practical ly proved that the ocean is the great original storehouse of organic life, and that the ancestors of all' that lives and moves upon the landj and in the air at one time dwelt in-ajid drew their nourishmentfrom the wat ers of the deep. A great development In the use and manufacture of alumnium in England is being looked for, and the company which has a monopoly of the business is planning for a great enlargement in 19 09. The price of the metal was reduced last October to $500 a ton, and thia has led to a demand for it in new fields, notably by telegraph and telephone compa nies. Aluminum, it may be noted, is used in the new explosive "ammon al," of which much is expected be cause it does not, like lyddite, deton atp on contact, but will penetrate ar mor or earthworks before exploding, f In a study, which purports to be entirely scientific, of the alleged con nection between the physical and mental character of an Individual and his handwriting, Mons. Solange Pel lat, an expert attached to the Tribu nal of the Seine, Paris, maintains that distinct relations exist between the handwriting and the voice. An ex pert, he declares, can determine from the handwriting whether the writer's voice is high or low in pitch, sonorous or veiled, harsh or soft and agreea ble. But he remarks that in all cases where it is sought to determine char acter from handwriting; great pains should be taken to choose for exam ination only writing that has been done under normal conditions. Among the industries that have been profoundly modified by the ad vent of electricity into daily use is that of making porcelain. Formerly artistic considerations alone governed the various operations of the work men in porcelain, but now, since this substance is employed for insulators in all electric installations, scientific processes have been introduced in its manufacture which demand a great deal of special attention. The exact amount of contraction that the clay undergoes, the exact temperature to which it Is submitted in the process of baking, the constant employment of instruments for measuring the temperature and for determining the size of certain pieces such are among the essentials in the modern art of porcelain making for electric purposes. Satisfactory Anyway. In a rural district a Scottish min ister was out taking an evening walk when he came upon one of his parish ioners lying in a ditch. "Where have you been the nicht, Andrew?" "Weel. I dinna richtly ken," answered the prostrate sinner, "whether it was a wedding or a funeral, but whatever it was, it has been a most extraordinary success. " Bellman. Boon For Writers. "I think," said the struggling writer, "that the publishers might well take a hint from the politicians." "In what respect?"' "Publicity for all contributions. How thr- would help!" Louisville Courier-JournaL CHILDREN'S. IMPOLITENESS. A 'normous dog came in one day, And he and I commenced to play; And we had fun, and nice fun, too. Long as he 'haved as a dog should do, But when he got so awful rough, I hollered that I'd had enouen, But 'stead of stopping as he should, As anybody'd think he would, He knocked me down and tried to see If he could sit on all of me. -From "Our Baby Book," by Fanny Y. Cory. TRUSTING THE BOY. A business man sat in his office talking with a friend, when a mes senger boy appeared in the doorway. He was so small that his chin hardly came above the edge of the desk, but he had a fine air of self-reliance and an honest-looking pair of blue eyes. The business man smiled and nodded, and the boy smiled and nodded back at him. Without many words there seemed to be a good un derstanding between them. "Remember where the First Na tional Bank is?" asked the man, care fully placing a roll of banknotes be tween the leaves of a bank book and snapping a rubber band round the cover. "Yes, sir," said the boy. "Still in the same place, sir." "Well, take this over and deposit It for me," and the man handed the boy the bank book and its contents. The boy vanished, and the visitor drew a breath of surprise mingled With consternation. "Do you think that's safe?" he asked. "Perfectly," answered the other. "But do you think it's good for the boy?" "How so?" "To put temptation in his way like that. Why, you must have trusted him with fully a hundred dollars! That's a pretty big temptation for a small youngster. It would be worse for him to steal it than for you to lose it." "I have thought of that," said the business man, more soberly, "and some youngsters I wouldn't risk with it. But the way I look at it is this: The earlier a boy gets used to temp tation in this world the better he is able to resist it when he grows older. "Now, this is the kind of a boy who likes to be trusted; appreciates it; hugs it to his bosom; considers him self, in fact, as an essential part of my business. "The first time I let' him deposit money for me it was a case of neces sity. My clerks were all out, I couldn't go myself, and yet the money had to be in the bank before closing time. So I rang up the messenger company, and " "You'd never even seen the boy be fore?" interrupted the other. "If I had I'd never noticed him particularly. Well, in came our friend Johnny just a plain, honest appearing youngster in uniform. He looked scared when he saw the roll of bills, and that gave me confidence in him. But he was back in ten minutes, and when he came in it was almost funny to look at him. "Responsibility had made him grow up, so to speak, in those ten minutes. You see, I had trusted him, and he knew it, and he had proved himself worthy. Won his spurs, as it were. "Now I have an arrangement with the messenger company to send Johnny whenever he's in when I ask for a messenger. And Johnny, un known to himself, is right on the way to a better job in this office when he gets big enough." As he spoke the door opened, and Johnny, grinning a dignified grin, ap peared with the bank book. Youth's Companion. GAMES FOR NIGHTS AT HOME. Almost every one is ready and will ing to join in a jolly game; and these evenings many of us are compelled to stay at home, for one reason or an other. So it will be nice to have some good games suggested for our enter tainment. "I Apprenticed My Son" is a jolly game. The first player thinks of artichoke (a word beginning with A) and com mences thus: "I apprenticed my son to a green grocer, and the first thing he sold was an A" Second player: "Was it apples?" "No." Third player: "Was it almonds?" "No." Fourth player: "Was it aspara gus?" "No." And so on until some player asks: "Was it artichokes?" "Yes." The correct guesser may now ap prentice his son, and so the game goes on, "no player, by the bye, being al lowed more than one guess in "his turn, and not more than two turns. Another jolly game is "Cross Ques tions and Crooked Answers." To play it, It is best for you all to 6it in a circle, and until the end of the game none should speak above a whisper. The first player whispers to his neighbor, asking some such question as, "Do you like roses?" The second player must remember this question It belongs to him. He answers, "Yes, they smell so sweetly," and the first player must remember this answer-1 it belongs to him. The second player now asks his DEPARTMENT neighbor a question, and he listen closely to the third player's answer for it belongs to him. Suppose his question were: "Are you fond of po tatoes?" and the answer, "Yes, when they are fried." In this way each player will have one question and one answer belong ing to himself which he must re member. The game continues until each one has both answered a ques tion and asked one. Each one must bear in mind that the question ho was asked and the answer his neigh bor returned are the ones belonging to him. At the end of the game, each one la required to announce aloud his ques tion and answer. For example, play er No. 2 says: "My question was: 'Do you like roses?' and my answer was: 'Yes, when they are fried.' " No. S's announcement would prob ably be in this wise: "My question was: 'Are you fond of potatoes?' and my answer was:! 'Yes, when they are very pretty, but . they don't wear very well. " Hilarious laughter will greet these crooked answers to the cross-ques tions. Good Literature. HONEST LITTLE DICK. In all my life I never saw so honest a little cat as our Dick, says one who writes in Little Folks. He not only never was guilty of theft, but ho wvtld not allow any other cat to steal If he could help it. The dear little fellow, however, was strongly tempt ed once, and came very near losing his good name. One day the cook carried out a pall of nice little frost-fish, and set It down in the yard. Dick was there. Dick always was near by when there were good things to eat. The cook went back into the house, and Dick sat down to wait for her return; and) twp of his especial friends wrere at the window upstairs looking down to see what "honest Dick" would do. The cook was a long time coming back to dress the fish; and all the while Dick kept watch now on th pail, now on the kitchen door. At last he went somewhat nearer to the pail, then nearer, then nearer. Ah! frost-fish smell so good. Dick's little nose almost touched them. And then he sat down and cried at the top oi his voice for cook to return quicklj and save him from being a thief. But she did not come. At last Dick put his forepaws on the edge of the pail. Then he looked at the kitchen door and cried again. But the dooi iid not open. So, slowly, slowly, a paw reached down in the pail. But it came back with a jerk, empty, and its owner ran around the corner ot the house where he could not see oi smell those nice frost-fish any more. He did not want to be a thief, and we believe the little fellow never came sa near it again. TOLD OF INDIA. An Indian merchant wished to dis. pose of an old elephant and took it to a fair. As soon as he arrived he noticed a man who, without saying a word, began to walk around the animal, examining it attentively oo all sides. The merchant became very anxious, for he feared that the man had found out that his elephant was not worth much. He took him aside and whispered in his ear: "I see a customer coming. Do not say a word until I have sold the beast, and I will give you fifty rupees." The man looked at the merchant and wonder Ingly complied with his request. It hapened that the customer had more money than sense, so that ha waa easily taken in. When the bargain was completed and the elephant led away by its new owner, the merchant handed the fifty rupees to the silent man, saying: "Now, I want you to tell me how you discovered the de fect in his left leg. I thought I had concealed it so skillfully." "I have discovered nothing," replied the stranger. "It is the first elephant I have ever seen, and I wanted to know which was the head and which waf the tail." From the Newark Call. SUGGESTED POEMS. In each phrase below a well-known poem is suggested. How many of them can you guess? 1. The toil of affection's wasted. 2. The attempt of Pius X. on a mala person. 3. A temporary home by the sea. 4. Imprisoned by wintry ele ments. 5. The burglary of a door fastening. 6. The suspension of , a waterfowl. 7. One engaged in com merce in an Italian city. 8. A mu sician in motley of a town in Prussia. 9. The trip. 10. We form a fac tor of 21. 11. The abandoned ham let. 12. A wedding token, and a volume. 13. The stint of work, 14. A past day, a present one, and all future time. 15. Camping on the same spot that we did before. 16. Pastoral poems of royalty. 17. The king's daughter. IS. A legend for faultfinders. 19. The song of the only remaining singer. 20. An Ital ian girl goes by. 21. The old salt. 22. Foem on a Hellenic vase. 23. Poem of the blues. 2 4. The country seat of laziness.' 25. Earthly bliss forfeited. Belgium officially frowns on cremation V
The Roanoke Beacon and Washington County News (Plymouth, N.C.)
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Oct. 9, 1908, edition 1
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