Of the Masterpiece
Records Show an Average of Fifty Years for , J
Performance of the Masterwork.
f? j. Newman Borland.
HE "summura bonum" of a man's life who shall say when or
what it Is in any given case? It becomes almost a work
of supererogation to attempt to designate any single act or
performance as the one most valuable in any man's career.
Reduced to the ultimate, it becomes, after all, only the ex
pression of an individual opinion, save in those striking in
stances in which by general consent a certain achieve
ment is recognized as the man's grea-est work. No one
'-
fin
would deny that in "Paradise Lost" Milton attained iu
highest expression of his mentality, that Wellington achieved his greatest
fame when he won the field of Waterloo, that Bacon's "Novum Organum Is
his greatest accomplishment, and that "Don Quixote" exceeded anything else
that Cervantes ever did. In other life-records one act may appear equal to
another at different stages in the man's development; or to one observer the
influence of one deed may far outweigh that of another, and contrariwise.
This difficulty has been exceedingly hard to overcome, and without any at
tempt at dogmatism, but with the earnest desire to ascertain the truth as far
as may be possible, has the decision been made in the disputable records.
Having be-en arranged in this manner, the records give an average age
of fifty for the performance of the masterwork. For the workers the average
age is forty-seven, and for the thinkers fifty-two. Chemists and physicists
averago the youngest at forty-one; dramatists and playwrights, poets and
Inventors, follow at forty-four; novelists give an average of forty-six; ex
plorers and warriors, forty-seven; musical composers and actors, forty-eight;
artists and divines occupy the position of equilibrium at fifty; essayists and
reformers stand at fifty-one; physicians and surgeons line up with the states
men at fifty-two; philosophers give an average of fifty-four; astronomers and
mathematicians, satirists and humorists, reach fifty-six; historians, fifty -seven,
and naturalists and jurists, fifty-eight. As may be noted, there is a re-arrangement
of the order at this time, but the thinkers, as before, and as would
naturally be expected, attain their full maturity at a later period than the
workers.
The corollary Is evident. Provided health and optimism remain, the man
of fifty can command success as readily as the man of thirty. Health plus
optimism read the secret of success; the one God-given, the other inborn, also
but capable of cultivation to the point of enthusiasm The Century.
? The Man and His Job
Ey Herbert J.
man cannot serve two
. .
j r two joos at me same
your whole time, it is
f
comes to you should be entertained and developed so as to
benefit your present employers.
I once knew a man who attempted to carry on a small
mail order business while filling a responsible position with
SI
a large corporation. He spent his evenings devising new
schemes and perfecting his follow-up system. The side line required more
attention, perhaps, than he had originally proposed giving to it, and at last
he found himself sitting up late into the night mastering the details of his
new business.
A man cannot work all the time, and it only naturally followed that his
regular office duty showed the effects of his overworked brain, resulting from
insufficient rest and recreation. What Js more, before many weeks he found
that his ma'd order business was encroaching on his regular office hours, and
he gave much time to it that practically belonged to the company which was
paying him a salary.
Aside from the idea of justice in the matter, it is unwise for the best in
terests of both parties concerned for an employe to try to keep two fires go
ing at one time. Most men get pretty busy getting wood for one fire, but
when they try to furnish the fuel for two fires, their energy and originalitj
is taxed beyond the bounds of human capabilities. New York Commercial.
IT'S
Significance of Mind
By Benjamin ICidd
-;:4m;:- T has been my experience to be able to study animal in-
stincts and animal intelligence, both in the lower and high
er animals, in many conditions, ror a periou nuw exicuuius
over more than twenty years. Deep and lasting, on the
whole, has been the impression left as to the results of
animal instinct. Nevertheless, it yields place to a deeper
feeling as to the character of the enormous interval which
separates the highest example of animal instinct from even
a simple act of intelligence. The most permanent result of
;:.-
my own studies in animal capacities has been a gradually increasing convic
tion as to the as yet unirnagined significance cf mind in the further evolution
of the universe. But I think that a first step toward a truer appreciation of
the almost Inconceivable potentialities of mind in the future is a clearer per
ception of the difference which marks off its higher manifestations from eves
the most remarkable examples of animal instinct. The Century.
The Definition
Ey George
ELL, what is a railway? A railway, as we understand it in
the states, is a railroad, which for the purpose of the issue
of a lot of new securities 'must find a way, so we call it
road. Wre build railways because the people who !lve in
territory where they are rot, pray for them, clamor for
them, and say that the railway would be the greatest bless
ing that could come their way, but when the railways are
built, and they have derived all the blessings that come with
I w
them, they are the
principal uses of the railway is to furnish office seekers with something to
howl about; agitators with a topic for unlimited conversation, and everybody
with something to try to beat. The motto of politicians in dealing with rail
ways is. "Soak it to him "
Hapgpod.
masters, neither can he hold down
j..' ?v u fym ? T-kavinf fov
tiuit. ucu uic ui o
not fair to divide your attention be-
ri line. Every idea which
Of a Railway
H. Post.
worst things that ever happened. The
GOOD-NIGHT TO DAY.
The Ions gray beach with Its spur of
rock a
Sprinkled with pearly spray.
With a tare upturned to jjreet the sky
Is wooing the last of day.
And the stormy waves toss up their hands
And eoi'io their moaning cry.
And scream ot the gulla is harshly heard
As home to their nests they rty.
"Leave us not," cries the sand, the waves,
the birds,
"Leave us not. O Golden day.
But "Hush my children," replies the sun.
"For now 1 must speed away."
The lonely traveller bows his head.
And Is bathed in the day's last liffht.
And the sun bends down to kiss the earth,
'Good-night," she murmurs. good
night." And her streaming locks of red and gold
linse the sky with a Rlory bright,
And she pulls night's veil across ner face.
"Good-night," she says, "good-night.
And the lighthouse keeper folds his hands.
"Iear God," he murmurs low, ,
"Save thy children throughout the night
Whom the wavus toss to and fro. '
And lo! as the earnest keeper prays,
There gleams a radiant light,
And God's lamp to guide his children saie
Is shining througli the night.
One by one the stars peep out.
And the ocean reileets their light.
And the sands and the sea and the birds
and men
Cry, "Good-night, O world, good-night.
All night long from the lighthouse tower
Flashes a steady light,
And God's own lamp, t-he moon, and stars
Are watching on earth to-night.
So fear not ocean, nor birds, nor man,
For God will make all things right;
And with perfect trust in him and all.
Murmur, "Good-night, good-night.
OEXOl
Eoaoi
r.
A unique
EXPERIENCE.
; Part of the Story of the toy Who
Rods on tks First Train
O
D
Mary K. Maule in St. Nicholas. D
on20inDi
tnr-t. i
There is a boy in New York, who
but wait a minute, he isn't a boy any
more, come to think of it, he is ninety
four years old, and that is hardly a
boy, is it?
But he was a boy once, and a lively,
healthy, hustling boy he was, too, away
back in the early '30's, and he did
something that no boy had ever done
beioie. and that no hoy will ever do
aga.:i for he was the first boy that
rude oa the first tiain in America.
II. s name was Stephen Smith Dubois,
and ha was just as fond of fun and ex
citement, and of going to places and
seeing things, as boys are today. In
the autumn of 1S31, after the crops
were harvested, and he had in his
jacket the money he had earned as a
farm hand, he thought he would give
himself a great treat. So he put his
little bundle on a stick over his snoui
der, and started to walk all the way
from Providence, Saratoga County, up
to Albany, to visit his uncle. He was
fifteen years old then, and a forty mile
walk was nothing to his active young
limbs.
He had been living on a farm, and
the sishts of Albany kept him at a fev
er heat of interest for a week, at which
time hs felt that he would have to start
on his return jou.-ey. He did not in
the least mind the prospect of the long
iyalk. but when he mentioned the mat
ter to his uncle, he was told. that if he
would remain a little longer his uncle
would take him on the trial trip of the
new railroad then oelng built, and
which was the greatest experiment that
had ever been undertaken in that
pa:t cf the country.
What boy could possibly resist the
opportunity to ride in a brand-new in
vention that was the talk of the whole
country, and which, moreover, it was
predicted, would run away or blow up,
or go over into a ditch at the first
trial!
"The name of the engine was the
'De Witt Clinton,' but somebody called
it the 'Brother Jonathan,' and it was
afterward known as the 'Yankee,' I
suppose on account of the English en
gine being called the 'John Bull.'
"It was a pretty funny looking little
contraption compared to what locomo
tives are now. It stood high and spind
ling, had a straight, small smokestack
and the boiler was about as big as a
kerosene barrel. Behind the engine
there was a tender, just a sort of a
platform on a truck, and on this were
two barrels of water, a couple of bas
kets of fagots, and an armful of wood.
Behind the tender were the coaches,
hooked together by three links. Did
you ever see an old fashioned stage
coach? Well, these coaches were made
just like them. Regular stage coach
bodies, placed on trucks and supported
by thorough braces with a "boot" at
each end for baggage and four seats
inside, each holding three people, two
seats in the middle, and one on each
end. There were five coaches that day,
and all of them were packed full when
the train finally got started, so there
must have been something like seven-
tv-five people aboard
"All the "big bugs, and dignitaries
of the whole state were there. I reck
on no boy ever rode in more distin
guished company. Most of them were
directors of the road, senators, govern
ors, mayors, high-constables, editors,
and all sorts of celebrities. Many of
them were old men, even than, and
most of them were middle aged or ovei
while I was the only boy on the ex
cursion and I was only fifteen. That's
why I say that I know that I am the
only person now living that vas on the
Mchawk and Hudson on its first trip
with passengers over the road
"Well, as I said, we had a terrible
time getting started, but at last we got
off, and then it did seem to me as if
we fairly flew. I had never felt any
thing like it. Theio were big white
stono mile-pests all along the road,
and it seemed to me that I no sooner
would get through dodging one than
another would come by. Oh,, it was
grand riding, I tell you!
wn by the nam of Jervis Jeha
is. J. is, I think it was wa3 chief en
gineer, John Hampson was the fire
man, and John Clark, the fellow they
called 'resident engineer,' acted as con
ductor. They didn't have a regular
conductor. I remember that they filled
up the boiler when we started, but at
what they called the 'half-way house'
we had to stop at a tank and take on
water to carry us through.
'By the time we'd left the half way
house she was getting right down to
her work, and it did look to me as if
we were going at a terrible speed al
though I guess about eighteen miles an
hour was the best time we made.
"I saw some of the passengers turn
pale and clutch their seats like grim
death when we rounded the curves;
and others of them, solemn old fel
lows, looked at each other and shook
their heads, as if they knew that going
at such a rate as that was almost wick
etd, and that they surely were tempt
ing' fate. But I wasn't a bit scared.
The faster we went the better I liked
it. The engine couldn't go too fast to
suit me.
"People all along the way ran out to
look after the train as dumbfounded
as if it had been an airship or a comet,
and the horses and cows and pigs and
chickens took to the hills, bawling
and quawking as if they thought the
very fiends were after them."
ENGLAND'S BAYONET.
It Is New and Superior to its Prede
cessor as a Weapon.
The ordr for the manufacture of
53,000 new bayonets recently placed
by the war office is one of the most
important given for some time. As is
well known there has long been dis
satisfaction with the type of army
bayonet now in use, which, it is said,
is lacking in thrusting power and is
generally inefficient as a weapon of
war. A glance at the new and the
present pattern will show at once the
great gain in thrusting power which
is obtained by the new style. Apart
from an additional five inches in
lenerth it is a more formidable and
useful instrument from almost every
point of view than the present knife
bayonet.
One consideration which no military
expert can leave out of his calcula
tions is what may be called the fa
tigue of a bayonet. In addition to the
grim purpose for which it is mainly
devised a bayonet should combine,
with a minimum of weight and cum-
bersomeness, a maximum of useful
ness for cutting away brushwood and
other rough hacking work. Here again
it will be seen that the swordlike
shape of the new weapon is infinitely
more practical than the daggerlike
form of its predecessor. To some ex
tent the latest bayonet is a reversal
of the old triangular bayonet pattern
and resembles the bayonet used by
the Japanese and French infantry.
"Undoubtedly it is the best bayonet
of any European pattern," said a
manager of the firm before referred
to, when seen by a representative of
the Globe yesterday. "It is a longer
pattern blade and the design i3 an ex
ceedingly good one. Its manufacture,
moreover, involves the most highly
skilled workmanship, as the harden
ing, tempering and grinding of the
steel is a very careful performance.
No,. I have not the slightest doubt that
it is a far superior article to that
which is about to be discarded.
"We shall get to work on the order
in the next two months, and I should
say it will keep us employed until the
new year. It will mean the regular
employment of 200 or 300 men at our
razor and bayonet department at our
works at Acton.
"Yes, the bayonets are of English
manufacture throughout. It is not
true that orders for weapons for the
British army go abroad. The steel for
these bayonets comes up from Shef
field in lengths of about 24 feet, and
it leaves our factory in a finished
condition. Before the final stage is
reached each blade goes through no
fewer than 200 operations." London
Globe.
A Mistaken Applicant.
An Episcopal clergyman had adver
tised for a butler, and the next morn
ing a well-dressed clean shaven young
man in black was ushered into the
study. "Name, please?" asked the
clergyman. "Hilary Arbuthnot, sir."
"Age?" "Twenty-eight." "What work
have you been accustomed to"; "I
am a lawyer, sir." The clergyman
started. This was odd. However,
as he knew, many were called in the
law, few chosen. "But," he said, "do
you understand the conduct of a
household?" "In a general way, yes,"
murmured the applicant. "Can you
carve?" "Yes." "Wash glass and sil
ver?" "I er think so." The young
man seemed embarrassed. He
frowned and blushed. Just then the
clergyman's wife entered. "Are you
married?" was her first question.
"That," said the young man, "was
what I called to see your husband
about, raadarae. I desire to know if he
can make it convenient to officiate at
my wedding at noon next Thursday
week." Bellman.
A Wail from the West.
Every woman greedily reads the
hints for economical housekeeping in
current publications, but I have yet to
see any such articles addressed to
men. We women are told how to feed
hungry families with mock-duck, use
milk when we are accustomed tc
cream and dye last year's fineries.
Why not a cheaper brand of cigars
less clubs, or perhaps more whiskrr
and a smaller barber's bill? Asi,
ton. why not raint tbe ""to nnothf"
color and 3kim the gasoline? Har
rier's Bazar
Modem Farm Methods
As Applied in the South.
Notes of Iittereat to Planter,
Fruit Grower anil Stockman
Improving a Mountain Farm. J
J. J. D., Etrtckhouse, N. u., writes:
"I have purchased a small farm in
the mountains of Western North Car
olina, which has been neglected and
needs improvement. The soil is
sandy. I will appreciate any sugges
tions." Answer: One of the chief needs of
a sandy soil that has been abused is
undoubtedly vegetable matter. The
soil is also likely to be deficient in
available supplies of phosphoric acid
Bnd potash. You can add the needed
vegetable matter to the soil cheaply
and to advantage through the use of
leguminous crops. Among the crops
that are grown to advantage in your
locality will be any of the clovers, the
cowpea, the vetch, soy bean and vel
vet bean. The velvet bearr will hard
ly mature seed, but it grows well on
thin land and makes an immense
mass of green material which can
first be pastured off, thus making the
land produce something of value and
tl e refuse plowed under to add veget
able matter to the soil. Animals pas
ture on the velvet bean to advantage
when they become accustomed to it,
though, of course, one should look
Dut for bloat, which is liable to hap
pen when animals are pasturing on
any green crop that is wet with dew
or soaked by heavy rains.
Under your conditions it Is Impor
tant that you adopt a rotation as
nearly as possible. One of the best
you could use would be to sow the
land in cowpeas this spring, using
200 pounds of sixteen per cent, acid
phosphate and seventy-five pounds of
muriate of potash per acre. If the
land has not grown peas for several
years get two or three wagon loads
Df earth from an old pea field and
icatter thinly over the surface and
work in with a harrow before seed
ing. Use either the Whipporwill,
New Era or Black pea. Cut the first
irop for hay and let the second crop
Srow as long as possible before turn
ing it under. Turn under and seed
io wheat, using a complete fertilizer
it the rate of 100 pounds of cotton
teed meal, 100 pounds of sixteen per
jent. acid phosphate and twenty-five
pounds of muriate of potash. Apply
Ihe fertilizer well away from the
leed, as cottonseed meal sometimes
has an Injurious effect on germina
tion. In the spring seed the wheat
lown to clover and timothy, or if you
prefer, a pasture seeded to clover and
orchard grass. Allow to stand two
years in grass, cutting for hay one
year and grazing the second year.
Then turn in the spring and put in
:orn, seeding to crimson clover in
the fall to plow under, and then back
to cowpeas and wheat and grass.
You will need to use plentiful sup
plies of phosphates and potash and
If your land is acid, give a good coat
ing of lime, using one ton per acre.
This may be purchased in the un
Blacked form and distributed in heaps
find scattered over the soil when
properly slacked, or it may be slacked
In quantity, and distributed with a
machine especially made for the ap
plication of lime. Keap all the stock
you can on the farm, feed as much
of the roughness produced as possi
ble, and utilize carefully all avail
able supplies of farm yard manure,
and you should certainly be able to
Improve your land considerably in a
very short time. Knosville Tribune.
Destroying Field Mice and Moles.
J. P. T., Jonesboro, Tenn., writes:
I would like to know how to poison
or otherwise kill field mice and moles.
They are very destructive in my corn
fields and potato patches.
Answer: Moles and mice may
sometimes be killed to advantage by
iha iiso nf carbon bisulph'de. Take
small wads of lint cotton and thor
oughly saturate with the carbon bi
sulphide and put in the holes and
runways if underground. The fresh
runways of the mole are easily dis
covered and if the bisulphide i3 put
in the ground and the place where it
is inserted covered with earth and
pressed down slightly the fumes will
penetrate the channels and often
cause the destruction of moles and
mice. There is a difficulty in this
remedy, however, for the runways
are often so near the surface of the
ground that part of the carbon bi
sulphide escapes and becomes mixed
with the air and is not effective.
Another good way to rid yourself
of these pests is to prepare a mash
of bran in which you might mix a lit
tle cheese, corn meal or any other
food that is likely to prove attractive
to mice, and saturate the mixture
thoroughly with paris green or some
other deadly poison. Put small spoon
fuls here and there about the places
the mice frequent. In this way you
might be able to kill a great many of
them. The principal objection to us
ing pari3 green in the mash as indi
cated is tha dnnser that something
Words of Wisdom.
Fortune favors the man with a
strong arm and a hard fist if he has
a disposition to use them.
It is not a crime to be an egotist,
but it is exceed!. j;ly bad taste to let
others discover it.
Some people are so proud of their
humility that they are constantly
eomrnittins indiscretions in order that
they may gracefully apologize for
them.
else may eat It. If the field Is some
what remote from the house and the
poultry not allowed to run on itr
there is not mucto -danger except In
the case of dogs.
No other means of ridding field
of mice and moles are known to the
writer, though they may exist, but I
trust you will find these remediesr '
satisfactory. Prof. Soule.
Raising Calves AVithont Milk.
E. T., Quicksburg, Va., writes: I
would like to know if I can raise a
calf only two weeks old without milk.
If so, what is the best food, also for
older calves?
Answer: Calves have been raised
with fair success with the use of very;
little skim milk. It would be a diffi
cult undertaking to attempt to raise
a calf only two weeks old without the
use of milk. At the end of thirty days,
a fair substitute may be made for
milk from hay tea. This is best pre
pared by taking hay that has been
cut quite young, covering it well with
water, and covering it so as to ex
tract the soluble food elements. The
tea should be boiled until it is iff
quite a concentrated form,, and then
some flaxseed and wheat middlings
should be added to the tea to Increase
the fattening and muscle forming ele
ments in which hay tea is deficient.
Flaxseed jelly may be used to advan
tage for this purpose. It is made, byj
adding boiling water to oil mealj
For a calf thirty days old not more
than one-quarter pound should be
fed per day with an equal amount of
wheat middlings thoroughly stirred
into the tea. This hay tea is often
used by dairymen who sell milk.'
It is quite a eimple matter to raise
a calf on skim milk when taken away
from the dam two or three days aftec
it is dropped by adding a smalt
amount of flaxseed jelly to the skim1
milk. Not more than one tablespoon
ful should be used at, first, and the
amount increased daily as the needs?
of the calf seem to require. A calf!
when first taken away from the dam!
should not receive more than tens
pounds of skim milk to be' increased!
gradually up to fifteen pounds, buc
under no circumstances should it go
over eighteen pounds before, the calf,
is five or six weeks old. After thai;
time as much as twenty-four pounds
may be fed. Should you attempt to
raise a calf on skim milk or hay tea.11
remember that a small amount fed!
three times a day 1b likely to give you
muni Viattov roKiilte than a larffw
' ' ' ,'WUww LI
amount fed twice a day. Where skim
milk is used it is Important that it
be fed at blood temperature and in &
sweet condition.: A. M. Soule.
Set Oat Asparagtwfn October.
Asparagus may 4e -gown from
seed, or set from roots) whlH imtyba'
V, r. nf fmni K in n-v 1 llflfl .j net
will require about 6000 plants to the
acre. The soil should be moist, rich,
sandy loam." The lighter the soil the
better the result. Sets should be put
out In October, in deep furrows, eigh
teen inches apart and covered with,
an inch or two of soil. Well-rotted
stable manure in the furrow is the
best fertilizer. The ground must be
kept soft and free from weeds and
grass. In the early spring mulch
with a coat of fine straw or pine
needles. It will produce from 200 to
300 pounds of shoots to the acre per
season and will sell from five to twenty-five
cents per pound, although the
first shoots may bring as high as
fifty cents per pound. But aside from
the sale of the vegetable, every farm
er should have a bed of it for his own
use.
What is more delicious than the
first dainty dish of asparagus in the
early springtime? Sincere, in Pro
gressive Farmer.
Shrnb the Pastures.
Briars, bushes and trees are the
greatest drawbacks to pastures irj
this section. These are very anxious
to grow and they hold back the srjff
from growing. No farmer can grow
them and do much growing grass at
the same time.
There is enough bottom land for
pastures on almost every farm if
the briars, trees and bushes were out
of the way of the grass. It helps
very much to remove the briars and
bushes if the trees are allowed to re
main. Pastures should be shrubbed at
least every two years, and once a year
is better. Now is the best time to do
this work. Bush axes, gras3 knives
and" briar knives are the tools mainly
used.
Remember that it takes a little
work in the pasture as well as in the
field. Without pastures.you can not
do much with livestock, and without
livestock it is impossible to get th
biggest crops from the flelrs. J. M,
featy. in Smithfield Herald.
Odds and Enda.
People who are always trying to
look the part sometimes get so busy
about' it that they forget it.
If you have not seen a girl for a
year or more, you don't know
whether to describe her to an ;nter
ested friend as blond or bdunftte.
Beauty gushes out of poetry, in
great gobs when you the author,
lacking a shave, Ftowiiu away corned
beef and eabcufge, -A,