Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, September 13, 1902, Page 9

THE OMAHA DAILY BEE: SATURDAY, By the Hand of a Child By ANNA S, RICHARDSON. (Copyright, 191, by Anna 8. Richardson.) be stood in the doorway of the ranch- house, watching the daily uplifting of clouds from the mountains, which, like an Impenetrable barrier, encircled the valley. At the foot of the mesa the rushing Rio Grande cut its gulfward way. From a dis- tant arroya, where vivid but scentless flowers reared their heads to the perpetual kisaes of the clear Colorade sunshine, came range to find the cowboys who had pro- ceded him grouped about the door—all but the man who whistled. In their flent, awkward pose something suggested death —or worse. They stood aside while he entered the house and closed the door be- hind him. On the table lay & note which none of them had dared to touch. Then, with unseelng eyes, they looked at each other, waiting for the outburst that never the passionate pean of a meadow lark. The hand of the woman rested tremu- lously on her husband's shoulder and she drew a long, quivering breath. ‘our letters nmever did justice to it all, Charley—never. It is beautiful, beau- tiful, We shall be happy here, very happy, dearest.” And she meant it straight from her heart. understand them? in this hour of home coming, Every word came would be to her a circle of implacable jallers? Or that she would close her win- dows to the monotonous rush of the river cutting its way through the mountains to the Iife for which she hungered? The first year was not so bard. Then her husband bought the stock and with the cat- tle came the cowboys. Her untrained shoulders bent beneath this new burden. In their rough, chivalric fashion the men addred her, but they also—ate. At first she rose shudderingly each morning to the unvarying task. Then she became numb to it More and more she withdrew into herself. There was nothing else. Vaguely and not rebelliously she realized that the volatile temperament of her husband was ylelding to the more debasing influences of ‘the wild, free life. She seemed powerlesa to hold him in check. What could she do when the ranch work pressed upon her until it seemed to touch her very soul? To be sute, he praised her cooking and vowed that no woman in all Saguache county could beat her in making baking powder biscul He always kissed her, too, when, stalwart and nolsy and with clanking spurs, he came in from the range. Put there were dreary nights when he never came farther than Saguache, the county seat, and on these nights she lay breathlessly listening for the hoofbeats and heard only the eerle lamentation of the coyote. But, above it all, the mean surroundings, the Interminable drudgery, the selfish neg Ject of the man who wooed her from a lite of comparative ease and refinement, ro that passionate longing for music. This woman wko knew the score of every opera, who had heard every noted singer of her day, would have cried with joy at the sight of a street plano or a negro banioist. Once when he had made a fortunate spec- ulation in stock she suggested a plano, but he quoted freight rates across the range. And that night he rode into Saguache, and was gone three da: When he returned the cowboys winked ui each oiber turned his jaded horse into the corr but one man, He sighed. Perhaps he thought of the woman who for three long nights had been listening for the hoofbeats that did not come. The next mail brought from an eastern friend & musical journ: but the woman never cut the leaves. Again she was afraid, and she laid the paper, with a gesture of despalr, on the glowing coals. Gay snatches of light opera and piquant coll songs no Tonger fell trom her lips. Her gultar leaned n out-of-the-way corner, its strings h:. .o g rhaps this was the reason that, when the child came, his eyes were filled with a strange wistfulns At the age when other children placidly suck thelr fingers, gurg- ling and coolng, he lay with tiny fists tightly clenched, staring yearningly at the loving face bent over him whenever the mother could steal from her work. She was bending over him thus one after- noon when fror a shed near the corral eame a sound that, to the woman, was & message from Paradise. In flutelike tones someone was whistling the prison song from “Il Trovatore.” The womap straightened up, her eyes wide open in happy wonder. She covered the baby, then stole from the door. With nolseless tread she crept round the house, nearer and nearer to the rough shed. A young fellow with a careless, happy face was polishing his gaudy riding equip- ment. His hat, pulled over his eyes, pre- vented his On her face was a look, half rapture, half agony. What if one of the notes should ring false and the beautiful cadence be marred? She recalled having had the same feeling one night at the opera when she thought of the possibility of the tenor's faltering. But, no, the clear notes swept on to the triumphant end, and she breathed & doep sigh of relief. The bridle fell clattering from the man's graap to the floor. Before him stood h's amployer's wife, with both hands out- stretched. ““Thank you, oh, thank you!" He was a newcomer and knew nothing of | Al his employer or of the latter's family. college man, with a falr athletic reputation and & much wider reputation among women, ‘was just at present stopping without the pale of elvilization until his father should be in the mood to sacrifice the fatted calf. And looking into the pale, eager face up- lifted to his, he realized that this woman had come from his own world. So he clasped the outstretched hands and thanked fate for holding the rest of the men {n the distant corral. Lite seemed a trifie easler after he came. For, swapped yarns in the twilight hour, tion. But he did not understand her. did not know that this woman was ldealiz- ing his music, not himself. An unnatural light shone in her eye ‘Baby, dear, there's almost $100 now in Just & few more dol- you There are organs beyond those mountains, organs And we will stay until we hear them all—the old shell box. lars and we o and L Baby, cross the mountal do you understand? that sousd ‘like the Great Amen.' organs, the singers, the violins and ‘cello You gever heard a ‘cello, dearest, but it's wsuch womderful music and seems to go to 1t will be ever 50 much better than the boy's whistling the very foots of your soul. that you llke to And the cblld, as if it understood, nestled closer and closer to her breast. Her husband had gone to Saguache again for supplies. The two days necessary for the trip had rolled into four and then inte six. When at last he drove, with rollick- (fog song and whoop, fnte man who whistled sald unprintable things under his breath. Then with arms folded on the rough ral watched the un steady figure lurch toward the house and & smile that was Bot good to see passed over his face. That night as she washed the supper dishes her husband sprang up whistling or I'll break his—" But something In his wife's face made bim stop. He settled dully back to b dostug. Two weks later he fede M from the| How could ehe How could she know, that there would be a day when those majestic peaks ing the approaching figure. | while the other men smoked and he swung in the hammock near the kitchen door and whistled the music she loved, and the work moved the faster for the inspira- | He | And one day | she bent over the baby and whispered, while il that fellow to stop his inferpal came. The only sound fn the room was the gurgle-gurgle of the liquor as, with unsteady hand, he tilted the flask. Just across the range, on the X—V ranch, the man who whistled might have been found, had the husband sought to satisty his honor. He whistled no longer and hard-eyed surprise and disappoint- ment were stamped on his face. The wife with the child had turned to the e: But the husband never crossed the range He wae too near the end, even for that. el R A e e Davis, the musical critic, sat in the gallery of St. Agnes church, watching with cold, eynical eyes the influx of the fashion- able congregation. Millionalres, their wives and their daughters, the latter gorgeous in Easter raiment, filled the pews below him. To his right lay the great white and gold altar, guarded by clergy and servers in flowing vestments of lace. On his left rose the organ loft, where the finest singers of the metropolis sat wait- ing to chant the Easter music at exorbi- tant salaries. Davis stole an impatient look at his watch. He cared for nefther fashionable throngs nor floral decorations. He had come only to hear the mysterious con- tralto, whom Gale, the choir director, had @iscovered in some obscurc inland town. Davis was always skeptical when {t came to new stare in the musical world, par- ticularly those who rose suddenly, appar- ently from nowhere, and he was curious to learn whether this was a meteor or a alanet. When_ thou tookest upon thee to deliver With the first rich note a strange peace seemed to settle upon the congregation. Davis smiled. Tt better shan he had dared to hope. Then he leaned forward to catch a better view of the contralto. The color left his face. He gasped and his pen- ol dropped to the floor with a metallic click. The woman on his right frowned upon him. Thou didst humble thyself to be born of a virgin, A sheet of paper followed the pencil and Davis clung to the brass railing, his ears strained to catch every exquisitely shaded tone. The tenor was singing now— When thou hadst overcome the sharpnes of death. Aye, the eharpness of death! Like white irons those words struck into the soul of | Davis. “The sharpness of death.” Had he not telt ft—once? The - entire cholr umphant refrain— Thou aidst open to all believers. Higher and higher rose the mighty wave of song till it seemed to sweep through the vaulted celling, but Davis, with hands tightly clenched, saw only the contralto, who, with head uplifted, poured forth her soul in melody. Agaln the clergy intoned and the choir chanted, the people knelt in prayer and | the preacher pleaded. But Davis neither 'w nor heard. Sentences, fire laden and relentless, were forming in his mind. The art of the critic was lost in the passion of the man. And on the morrow his paper should have a story of which this self- tisfled cong: tion Iittle dreamed. Yet he was thinking not of the sensational coup in store for his chief, but only of the ter- rible journey he had once made toward the setting sun. Again he eaw the' gaunt form of his elder brother, the protector and idol of bhis boyhood, stretched upon the wretched bed. Then he looked once more at the woman in the choir left, whose gift of song was luring those around him to a sense of heavenly peace. His arms were folded across his chest, his fingers dig- £ing into the cloth of his coat. He s risen. He Is not here! Why bad such a gift been granted to a woman who, under cover of night, could steal from her husband’'s home and love? Why bad the features of a madonna and the voice of an angel been bestowed on one whose feet were of clay? A thousand devils lashed him on. He must get to his rooma and pen the flerce words. Yes, | he should cast the first stone at this Mag- | dalen with the saintly face. There would |be a new contralto In the choir of St. Agnes next Sunday. ““The eharpness of death!" Y yes, she should feel It. ‘Torn by the bitter memory of that scene in the far west, Davis did not see a small figure steal from the rdnks of the chorus, massed behind the soloist. A little child, brave in scarlet cap and jacket, crept closer and closer to the singer. Silently, breath- lessly, he slipped forward, even as on that other day his mother had crept round the rough ranch house, drawn by a clear, com- pelling melody. But the hands of the boy were not outstretched, and in his tightly clasped fingers lay an Eamer lily, crushed and broken. The child stood at the woman's side. Davis started and the color rushed into his face. The blood bounded from his head with & mighty throb. For the face uplifted to meet the glorious harmony of sound was the face of bis brother in miniature. But the soul behind the quivering lips and the molst eyes was the soul of the woman. The | last sweet, comforting note died away into intense silence, and a great sigh rose from the llstening people. And the child still gazed into his mother's face with the en- raptured faith of lnnocent childhood. This mute adoration of motherhood swept through the soul of Davis like a cleansing fire. His face softened, and when the peo | ple rose for the blessing of the alms his eyes rested tenderly on the face of the boy. The last singer had departed when Davis sought the choir loft. The director turned to look for his hat and Davis crossed quickly to the brass railing where mother and child had knelt together. He picked {up a bruised lily and gently lald it away in his card case. Then facing the musiclan he sald quietly: “Fine music you gave us this mornin Mr. Gale. By the way, your contralto is & wonder. 1 must congratulate you on your latest discovery.” And down in the street, through the flood of spring sunshine, mother and child, with bands sympathetically clasped, walked homeward. The boy was saying: “And once, mother dear, I thought It wasn't you singing, but an caught up the tri- ne Kingdom of heaven Chicago Journal: Wisdom didn't die wid Solomon, patience wid Job nor meekness wid Moses. Come ter think er it, Solo- mon wuzn't ez wise ex what he 'lowed he wus; Moses wuz fur fum meek, en Job wuz de bigges' growler in de country. 1 don't spend any time at all in growlin' at de weather. W'en it's cold I thank God ter fire—et I got any, en I ax bim fer wood, ef I bain't. Den w'en de summer is ho. enough ter make folks think er de here- after I bless God dat I'm ten miles fum freezin’ en dat palmetto fans is cheap. No matter whether de world is roun’ or fiat, de sum en total er de whole business ls—we're on de green side or It, en de ver) bes' thing we kin do is ter plant shade trees fer summer en trong shelters fer winter. THE HORSE DID IT, Got His Ap- pointment to West Polnt. One of the recent graduates of West Point tells this story In the New York Sun: “I fell In with an old army officer after the exercises. He looked me over and asked me a good many questions. Among others he asked how I came to be ap- pointed, and 1 told him that it came about in the usual way. A recommendation does not necessarily mean merit' he safd “1 assented to this. “‘l do not think that passing an ex- amination always means merit, he added as a crusher. “I satd 1 supposed not. 1 had resolved that I would not violate any of the rules by getting into an argument with an old regular, now on the retired list. “‘l knew a young man who got here’' he continued, ‘just after the civil war, be- cause he was mentioned by the command- ing officer in an engagement, for bravery, and the youngster never intended to be brave—he did it because he did not know what he was doing, or because he could not help it He is dead now, and I do not mind telling you about it “‘He was at headquarters in the Army of the Potomac, and, as he was a good sort of fellow, he got In with a general of one of the divisions who lived pretty high. He and the young man went on a bat on one occasion, Not to speak disre- spectfully of the dead, the young man got as drunk as a sallor on shore leave. ‘While he was In that condition the division got orders to go to thefront and this young fool was put in the saddle and told to go In the other direction. But the engagement came on quickly and the horse on which he sat, being like Job's charger, smelled the battle and turning, dashed into the thick of the fight. ** “The young fool who rode him had just enough sense to hang on and the horse plunged and neighed into the fray. It was a miracle that horse and rider came out of it alive. *‘The commander of the division wit- nessed what I related, and in his report to Grant he made special menton of the daring of the fellow. The result was that the fellow was appointed a cadet. He was a graduate, I believe, of the Missouri uni- versity before he went into the army, so he was able to pass here. * “But what I want to {mpress upon you, young man, is this, if this fellow had not been drunk he would have kept his horse from being so reckless. And in that case he might not have been mentioned for bravery and consequently he would not have been appointed a cadet. “‘Ho was a gd0d fellow—peace to his soul—but he owed his education by the government to his horse.’ “‘And to getting drunk,’ I added. “* ‘Well," sald the old regular, ‘you know what Lincoln sald when somebody told him Grant got drunk.’ “And with that he turned aw evidently satisfied with his lecture.” On Their Vacatio Judge: “Where did you spend the sum- mer?" asked the front row chorus girl. “I toured Switzerland in an aut ald the little girl with the saucy kick. *'I took the waters at Ax-les-Baines,” the girl with the diamond buckles on slippers. “1 summered at Newport,” sald dreamy blonde in the pink slippers. “I studied Shakespeare while fn the White mountains,” said the auburn-haired one who led the grand maiches. 1 worried with my modiste in dear Pa- ree,”” gurgled the girl who never could catch her the ‘And what did you do this swnmer?"’ they all asked of the first chorus girl ‘17" she murmured. “‘Oh, I washed dishes, Farsighted Nature. Baltimore American: “Strange,’ mused the man with the thoughtful brow, “‘strange that a fellow cannot remember a single one of those old tables of drachms and scruples and pennyweights, and how to extract the cube root, and all those things he used to get up and recite so glibly at achool.” “Yes," assented the man with the incan- descent whiskers. “Yes. It is a wise pro- vision of nature that s man always forgets what he is never going to have any need of.” Stories of “There 1s no man of my acquaintance,” sald a Washington newspaper correspond- ent discussing in the St. Louls Globe- Democrat the death of the late Senator McMillan, “by whose death I would have euffered a greater personal loss than by that of Senator McMillan. In twenty years' acqualntance with public men, I can recall no ome whose life I consider more of a pat- tern than his. Starting in life in bumble circumstances, he accumulated great wealth, amounting probably to $10,000,000, and although I knew him from boyhood, I never knew of him Injuring any man. He was large-hearted and judiciously generous. It was his habit when persons approached him for ald in various enterprises to take a day or two to consider the matter, end on their return it was ‘yes' or ‘no,' more frequently yes than no. He showed me one time a list of at least 150 young mea in Detrolt whom he had started in life by advancing from $1,000 to $10,000. Few of them ever paid him back, perbaps, but he used to say ‘What do 1 care? I have $10,- 000,000, and if only one out of ten youns men whom I started in life proves worthy I consider myself repaid.’ “Any young man who entered Semator McMillan's offices and displayed abllity was bound to succeed. I know a young man who entered there twenty-five years ago as an ordinary clerk and who is now worth $260,000. Semator McMillan appreclated his abllity, and every once in awhile when he had & mortgage or debt which it was some trouble to collect and which he thought might not be paid, he turned it over to this young man on & 50 per cent commission. “‘Senator McMillan had the finest set of offices I er was in. Everything there is comfortable almost to the pelnt of luxury. Frequently the senator would come into his office In the morning and tapping & little bell on his desk would summon half a dozen or so of his young men to bis office, ‘I am about to inform you gentlemen that I have en, jed to take a large block of stock ia such and such a company,’ he would say. “The stock is now selling at about par and I think 1t will go to 110 or 115. T don't want to specially recommend this stock to any of you young men, but if you should happen to have a few hundred dollars in bank I consider it a fairly good Investment. It is now selling about par, but if you gentlemen would ke any of it I could let you have some shares at 60 or 65." Upon this of course every young man who was present would bustle around to ecollect all the money he could lay bis hands o3 and invest it in the stock which the ator recommended. Nothing would be heard further from him about the stock, say, for a period of six months o¢ & year, when he would again tap the lttle bell and, summoning the boys, would say Some time ago | advised you young men, if you had any mouey, to fnvest | servant 'INTHE FIELD OF ELECTRICITY | Value and Work of Oable and Land Lines roads Enciroling the @lebe. | MARKED INCREASE IN TROLLEY ACCIDENT Problem of Prevention Discu Engineers—Fire Losses T to Eleetrie © Other Notes. eed rremt— A recent monthly bulletin issued by the treasury bureau of statistics furnishes de- tatled information about the submarine and land telegraph systems of the world. It shows that the submarine lines number 1,750. Their aggregate length is nearly 200,000 miles, their total cost is estimated at $276,000,000 and the number of messages annually transmitted over them f{s more than 6,000,000 All the grand divisions of the earth are now connected by their wires. Adding to the submarine lines the land telegraph systems by which they are con- nected and through which they bring inter- for points of the various continents into instantaneous communication, the total length of telegraph lines of the world 1a 1,180,000 miles, the length of their singie wires or conductors 3,500,000 miles and the total number of messages annually sent over them about 400,000,000, or an aver- age of more than 1,000,000 each day. Every body of water lying between the inhabited ports of the earth, with the singie exception of the Pacific ocean, has been crosscd and recrossed by submarine tele- graph lines. Even that vast expanse of water has been invaded along its margin, submarine wires stretching along Its west- ern borders from Siberia to Australia, whila ite castern borders are skirted with lines which stretch along the western coasts of the two Americas. Electrical Restaurant. This has been called the age of electricity, and electricity has certalnly proved the key to many a modern problem, says the Brook- Iyn Eagle. Whether or not it will eventually serve as & solution to the time-honored girl question, which has brought many an admirable housekeeper's gray hairs in sorrow to the grave, remalins to be seen. The idea of harnessing the lightning for do- mestic service seems about as incongru- ously impossible as the proverbial harness- ing cf Pegasus to a plow. But there has been at least a step taken in that direction in the opening at Nlagara Falls of a restau- rant in which electricity supplies the “ser- viee." Everything in this magical restaurant, in fact every thing in the whole bullding, 1s produced by electric currents, generated b the river's power. The bullding is occupled by a patural food company. The restaurant was Installed at the cost of about $50,000 for the benefit of its employes and of visitors to the falls. Far below through a canal water is switched in ffom the river which generates the power that runs the entire es- tablishment—the hugs Ferris wheel ovens in which the food product Is baked, the great elevators on which theéy are carried from | floor to floor and finally landed in the ship- ping department, where, they are loaded on electric motors and sent to the train. The entire restaurant is run by one young man at a switchboard. . There are 500 tables and 500 cars, and it is not at all unusual that 100 of them are in mation at once. But the young man has little to do with them once they are started. He presses the but- ton, they do the rest. There is probably no railrond in the country, that has a more elaborate system of blocks; Jf by any acci- dent a car should become~disabled or leave the rails, the next approaching car short- circults the current in that block and brings all the little vehicles within the danger line to a stop. They remain stationary until the “wreckers” can arrive to repair the dam- age. By means of a mechanical arrafge- ment on the bottom of every car each throws its own switch. As it leaves for the kitchen it throws the ralls so as to leave the track clear and returnig opens them again and thus makes Its own siding without any as- sistance from the switchboard. Trolley Cer Fatalities. Trolley car wrecks and accidents of vari- ous kinds are becoming every-day affairs. Probably only those who have kept tab, says the Chicago Tribune, are aware of the fact that these cars are now close com- petitors with steam trains in the number McMillan | in stock in the so and so company, that [ thought it was a safe investment. You got the stcek at 65. It Is now selling at 197, and it any cf you young men have any stock to sell 1 would be glad to take it at that figure. But I think very likely it'will go to 250." ‘Twenty-five years ago Senator McMillan went to his brother, Willlam McMillan, wko was then keeping a small hardware store selling principally stoves. ‘Willlam," said the senator, 'selling stoves is no business for you. You can't make anything in this trade. Now, I have decided to establish branch of my car company at St. Louls, and 1 want you to go there as my superintend- ent.’ Willlam McMillan died the early part of this year. You never beard of him, I never heard of him; yet Secretary of the In- tericr Mr. Hitchcock, who is from St. Louls, teld me that Willlam MeMillan was a highly respected citizen of the city of St. Louls “Five years before his death Mr. McMil- lan started in systematically to give away his mcney. He wanted to give it away wisely and superintend the distribution dur- ing his litetime. He provided his son, who lves in Europe, and his grandchild with all the money he thought they would ever be likely to need and continued to give away large sums up to bis death; how much, no cone knows, for he did not like to tell any- thing about it. Yet he died leaving a for- tune estimated at $9,000,000. “Senator McMillan, being chairman of the District of Columbia committes of the senate, considered it was not proper for him to invest in district resl estate, which might advance in value by reason of im- provements made by the government, and consequently the only plece of property he owned waa the house in which he lived. He picked this house out in Washington and went to the owner, Mrs. Galt, and said ‘How much is this worth? ‘Well, senato she replied, ‘I think it is worth $85,000. ‘Here is your check, madam,’ he replied. “The wealth accumulated by the late senator was made by the hardest kind of honest work, but after he started it seemed that everything he touched turned to money. ‘I have been very fortunate,’ he sald to me, just after congress adjourned. ‘I seem to instinctively know whether an Investment is going to turn out well or mot. People come to me with propositions wanting me to invest $10,000, $50,000 or $100,000. 1 look at one and say, yes, this will do. I will go into tiws. I look at another and eay, Bo, I don't want amy of that. The one I go into turos out a success and I make 50, 100 or 200 per cent on my money. BSomething is wrong with the one I don't go into and it fatls, but I don't lose amything. It is very simple.’ “Twenty-five years 4go, when Senator McMillan was my sge, be worked at his EPTEMBER 13 ed by of accldents as well as in the number of Kkillea and injured by accidents. At the outset, when little attempt was made to compete in transportation with the steam and the distances traversed were | hert, accidents were comparatively few | and it was rare that anyone was killed or injured. This, however, has completely changed. Now there is scarcely a day with- out its eevere accident and the list of killed and Injured is increasing largely Since January 1, 1902, the record shows that 217 persons have been killed and 77 severely injured by trolley car accidents or by belng run over by the trolley cars. Most of the accidents have occurred in New York and New England, where trolley lines are most numerous. In these sec- tions there js scarcely a country road without its trolley track. The cars now run long distances and make connections like the steam cars. So heavy has the bus- iness become that trolley cars are now often made as long and as heavy as the steam cars and the rails are of the same welght as those on the steam roads, though the roadbeds are not so secure or as well ballasted. Indeed, there is comparatively little difference now in the weight of roll- ing stock, though there is much difference in the strength. The two systems now are 50 nearly related in the methods of oper- ation it 1s remarkable that legislation has falled to require the eame eafeguards on trolley lines which it demands on the steam lines. The former are rapldly becoming even more meanacing to life and limb than the steam trains, as is shown by the figures, which are rather below than above the true total. The time has now come when city and state government should bring the trolley system up with a round turn and apply the same provisions for fety to it which the steam system has to adopt. It should look more rigidly not only into mattere of speed and strength, but into the qualifications of men employed. Safegunrds Agalnst Ace An electrical engineer who has had oc- casion to watch the working of trolley and elevated rallway cars, speaking concerning some of the accidents which have recently occurred, sald that some of these, espe- clally the wrecking of runaway surface cars, were entirely independent of the form of motive power. It is not quite fair to hold | electricity responsible for a broken brake chain, for instance. Many attempts have been made to perfect an electric brake. Devices of the latter character are not un- common, but they are not altogether satis- factory. Onme which is in service over in New Jersey operates only while the car s moving. The current from the overhead wire having been shut oft by the motorman, and the electric brake having been brought into play, the clectricity necessary to make 1t adhere to the wheels is developed by the mechanism under the car. For the time | being the motor is converted into a dynamo, and the dynamo is driven by the rotation ot the car wheels. The instant the car stops, of course, the supply of current from this source stops and the brake loses its grip It the car fs on a bit of level track ft will remain stationary, but on a grade the elec- tric brake will not keep it still. All orig:- nal momentum having been checked, ths | car would alternately start ahead and stop through a resumption of actlvity in the brake. This alernation continued until the foot of the hill was reached. The electric | brake is not a useful resource in emergen- ¢'es and is usually supplemented by an or- dinary hand brake. The chief reliance when a sudden etop is necessary s a reversal of the motor that drives the car. The motor- man first shuts off his power in the usual way, moves a separate lever on the “‘con- troller” box before him and then turns on his current again. He is instructed to em- ploy this plan at critical moments, but he is also familiar with the erder to be careful about applying power too suddenly, lest he thereby overheat and ruin his motors Hence he may be too cautious in reversin Again, the success of that practice is de- pendent on retaining connections with the | overhead wire. It the trolley is thrown off, reversing is without effect. If the brake tails, t0o, the car becomes a hopeless vie- tim of the law of gravitation. Electrical Fire Losses. A very suggestive report on the coun- try's electrical fire loss, issued by the ex- perts in charge of the electrical work of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, shows how imperfectly the hazard is ap- preclated at centers of population where great insurable values are stored. Most of the fires repeat the lessons of previous disasters due to imperfect wiring, and sug- gest the need of careful installation at | Characteristics of the Late Senator from Michigan. botels and dwellings where human lives office from 7 o'clock In the morning until 6 o'clock In the evening. Before he left Washington for the last time he eald to | me: ‘I am now 64 years of age. I have| settled my family in life. I have placed | all the burdens of my business cares on my son, Willlam. 1 am now worth $10,- 000,000, and I propose for the remainder of my life to be free from business cares.' Two weeks later he was dead. On that same occasion he told me that golf was his great recreation. ‘I consider that golf is the greatgst thing in the world for me,’ he said. ‘It has undoubtedly prolonged my lite,’ and yet it was golf that killed him. I asked him about the course over the links at his summer home. He said: ‘It ie a very good course and not especially hard, except that there is one long hill. Some of the players complaln that they get out of breath when they climb that hill, but 1 have never found any difficulty in that re- spect.’ Yet in less than a fortnight th: senator climbed that self-same hill and died. He did not know he had heart dis- ease, and no one expected jt, but the extra exertion of climbing the hill developed it and he went off like a shot. The same thing might have happened at any other time when he climbed the same hill, or it might have happened when I was playing golf with him. If he bad not climbed the hill he would probably be alive and hearty today. “As T said, when Senator McMillan started in Iife he worked from 7 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock in the evening. He was founding a great business. His son Willlam bas succeeded him. He is con- tinuing a great business. The changed con- ditions of the times is illustrated well by the difference between the methods of the father and the- son Young McMillan steams to the whart in his beautiful yacht and reaches bis office at 9:30 or 10 o'clock. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon his busines is out of the way, his yacht is announced and be steams off to his summer home to play golf or indulge in other recreations. He is the executive head of a great busi- ness, and only the larger matters come be« fore him. All the details are attended to by well paid and competent subordinates. It i a forcible example of the trend of concentration in business. “The governor of Michigan cullar position. He wants to be senator, but, of course, cannot appoint himself, and the conatitution prohibits him belng a can- didate for the senate while he is governor. is in a pe- {ing the business in Now | Telegraph ¢ompan; | Telegraph company e | Pennsylvania, and it is reported that the As governor, he might land the senator- ship, but he cannot take it, and If he should resign the governorship he would lose the influence which he otherwlse might exert to land the senatorship. I hope young McMillan will be appointed, for he Is his father over again. He looks just as his father did at his age, and is cast in the same mold.” are imperilled. Several distressing acel dents to workmen employed in equipment work show what elight regard is still felt for heavily charged wires whers the ex- posure Is a source of constant danger. One case is cited where a wire which had been thrown over an electric light wire carry- ing 3,000 volts had its end tied around a tree in a private yard, thus effecting con- tact with a cable used for a swing. The owner of the premises In attempting to remove the wire grasped the swing cable and was instantly killed. Another in stance is reported where from a pole as the result of shock from a 1,000-volt alternating circuit and was se- verely injured. Most of the losses were due to very common causes, the chiet cases of the grounding of circuits being (1) where fixture wires grounded on gas plpes; (2) where feeder wires grounded under sidewalks; (3) where service switches grounded on outside walls; and (4) from contact of wires with awnings and metal work on bulldings. These defects deserve careful study by property owners in any way concerned with the proper control of the electrical hazard. The destruction of one house nearly resulted from the over- heating of an electric flatiron. The ap- pliance was hung upon the wall when not in use. While in that position a child turned the switch so that the current was turned into the iron. After a time the heat became so intense that it communi- cated through the plastering to the lath and studding, which were finally Ignited. The smoke was dlscovered by a servant on the third floor in time to avert serious loss. A $35,000 loss occurred during a thunderstorm when lightning temporarily disabled service wires furnishing current to a supply store. Onme of the employes going to the second floor to show some merchandise, turned the key of a lamp at- tached to an extension cord. As It did not work he carelessly dropped the lamp on top of some clothing. When the current was turned on a fire was started in the stock with very disastrous results. Six “pole and tree” fires are reported. In one case a limb of a tree, after being burned off by contact with a primary wire, fell and croseed the primary with the secondary | eircuits, sending high potentlal current at 2,800 volts into three dwellings, in each of which fires were started. Many fires and burnouts due to crosses between telephone and high-tension wires are noted. Of these crosses, eleven were found on lighting and four on trolley wires. Seven fires are attributed to the overheating of resistance coils and heating devices; one being caused by an electric smoothing iron, another starting from & heater, a third from a droplight left on a wooden seat and four from resistance colls in rheostats. Two fires are reported due to the burmout of motors, one from an electric fan, and two from incandescent arc lamps. Current Notes. ison 1s butlding a special electric car, fitted with his new storage batteries, 16 be used in_the 500-mile rell- avility run in October under the auspices of the Automoblle Club of America. The journey will be to Boston and return. It v;'l\l be the first public test of the inven- on. The two electric light companies control- rk City have announced a reduction of 2 per cent in tes. Prices will be 15 cents per kilowatt hour a o < ot ee. (nurand of 20 cents, e now, and a somewhat smaller relative reduction i{s made in the lower rates charged where the current is used for longer perlods than two hours. The small consumers galn more from the’ reduction than the large. ‘Wood is made fireproof by the Noden and Bretonneau process, as used at Paris, by lacing It in a bath of magnesium sulphi Lead electrodes are used, the one belr separated from the other by a sailcloth di phragm. A direct current of 110 volts then sent through the wood, with the re sult that the sap fs extracted and is ¢ placed by a non-inflammable salt. The phe- nomenon is thus explained: (1) Part of the gulphate fille up the cells by electro-cal larfty. (2y There is an osmotic exchange tween the sulphate and the salts of the sap, Aseptic action. The process has been applied with success to paving blocks. The treatment lasts for forty-elght hours, the timber being turned over after twenty-four hours. The rate of energy is about half an electric horse-power at twenty to thirty volts per cubic metre. The Western Union Telegraph company has large number of men at work bulld- ing new llnes and making new connections to take the place of the lines it has along the Pennsylvania railroad, part of the serv- ice on which ts now operated by the Postal Some difficulty fs being_experlenced by the Western Unlon n_ T blishing its ltnes, especlally in Thomas A. abandoned turnpl company has not vet been able to find a place on which to ‘land its Delaware river cables on the New Jersey side that is not owned by the Pennsylvania Raliroad com- any. The company expects. however, by ecember 1 to be able to handle over new routes all the through business it now con- trols over the Pennsyvivania raliroad lines. By that date the Postal Telegraph com- pany will be in possession of all the offices and lines along the Pennsylvania raliroad. A MAGNIFICENT BRIBE. Story of How Gambetta Million Fram In General de Galliffet's continuation of his memolrs in the Journal des Debats, ports the London Telegraph, we are brought on to the year 1880, when the writer was ccmmapding the Ninth army corps at Tours. When he went to Parls on officlal busi- ness he sometimes looked Gambetta up. He found with him M. R. (probably Ranc), the stanchest of all his friends and a man of great intelligence and courage, who re- garded the general dreadtul soldler, but won his esteem, nevertheless. One dry the card of a retired staff colonel was brought to the writer at Toura. The visitor, after remarking that he had heard that General de Galliffet on fnti- mate terms with Gambetta, spoke to him of a wonderful enterprise for the rapid trans- port on a rallroad which was to be con- structed of warships from the ocean to the Mediterranean. This would mean the sup- pression of Gibraltar. He was to be one of the directors and most of the capital would be found in the United States, Al that was now wanted was to obtain the concesslon from the French government, and if General de Galliffet would only favor him with a letter' of {ntroduction to Gambetta the matter woul be practically settled. The gemeral asked him to return later in the day, and in the meantime he invited General Arnsudeau, who commanded one of his divisions, to meet him. After the seo- ond interview the two genmerals talked the question over together, Arnaudeau saying that it was impossible to judge, but that he could not condemn the scheme, 80 that even- ing the colonel started for Paris with the letter to Gambetta. Three days atterward he returned, saying that he had been very well recelved. Gam- betta had told him that he was studying the plan. for connecting the two seas by means of a canal and that he would think of his profect. Less than three weeks afterward the colonel returned to General de Galliffet in quest of another letter. “Don’t you think,” be inquired, “that I should do well to broach with Gambetta the question of his benefice?” “Take good care not to do that. M. Cambetta does not work In the pot de vin line,” General de Galliffet answered sharply, but a few days later he recelved a registered letter from M. Arnault de I'Ariege, relating that the colonel had returned to Gambetta and had left & check, which was enclosed, on his table. Gambetta's first impulse was to have him arrested, but then people would have said that he was glving himself a fine ad- vertisement. S0, would the general kindly return the check, with a hint that the colonel was never to go near Gambetts again General de Galliffet hurried to Parls with the check in his pocket and went to his lawyer and friend, M. Prevost, whom he aeked to ascertaln whether this was & genu- uraed Ten a wireman fell | ine affair the bank, Tt was, as it turned out, for A great one, replied that it was prepared to pay this check for 10,000,000 francs. The general returned to Tours and in the presence of two of his chiet officers he wrote a line to the colonel expressing | his opinion of bim in very plain language and enclosing the check in the envelop which was duly sealed and then registered at the postoffice by the two witnesses. The colonel never thanked or saw him again WORDS COME BY ACCIDENT, Origin of Many Expressive Terms in Common Use. and is the “Hurrab!" It used to be “Hurray!" the cry Is as old as England. It battle cry of the old Norse vikings as they ewept down (o burn and murder among the peaceful British, relates the Philadel- phia Inquirer. “Tur ale!" was (heir war cry, which means “Thor aid!"—an appeal for help to Thor, the god of battles. “It's all humbug!" Perhaps it Is, Hum- bug fs the Irish “ulm bog," pronounced humbug, meaning bogus money. King James 1T colned worthless money from his mint at Dublin, his twenty-shilling plece being worth (wopence. The people called it “uim bog." It was a Roman gentleman of 2,000 years ago who first aeked ‘‘where the shoe pinches.” He had just divorced his wife and his friends wanted to know what was the matter with the woman. They declared she was good and pretty. “Now," said the husband taking off his shoe, “isn't that a nice shoe? It's a good shoe, eh? A pretty shoe, eh? A new shoe, eh? And none of you can tell where it pinches me." “Before you can say Jack Robinson" arose from the behavior of one John Rob- inson. He was a fool. He was in such a hurry when he called on his friends that he would be off before he had well knocked at the door. “There they go, helter-skelter!" That phrase was cofned at the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The great fieet of the Spanish invasion was driven by storm and stress of the English attack north to the Helder river and south to the Skelder river ~the Scheldt. Do you know why & hare fe called “puss?’ This fs not a riddle, but just an example of how words get twisted. The anclent Latin word for a hare was “lepu The Norman knights who came over with Willlam the Conqueror pronounced the word “le puss.” The puss remalns today. “Go to Halifax!" That town was a place of special terror for rogues, because of the first rudé guillotine invented there by Mannaye for chopping off felone' heads. Hallfax law was that the criminal “should be condemned first and Inquired upon after.”” Coventry had a queer law in old times, by which none but freemen of the city could practice a trade there. Stran- gers were starved out. Hence the phrase for shutting a man out of human com- pany—‘sent to Coventry.” “Spick and comes from the “spikes” and “span- ners"—the hooks and stretchers for stretching cloth new from the loom To “dun” a man for debt comes from the memory of Joe Dun, bailiff of Lincoln, who wae 60 keen a collector that his namo has become a proverb. “News" I8 a queer word—the initials of north, east, west, south, which appeared on the earllest journals as a sign that in- tormation was to be had here from the fou quarters of the world." The slgn was N E W 8 and gave us our word. “news. PEACH STONES FOR FUEL. Have Been Utilized In Baltimore as a batitute for Coal. The groat strike and the increased cost of coal incident thereto has directed much at- tention to other materials for fuel, and a Baltimore man says & gooT substitute for the black diamond is dried peach stones. The only objection to their usa is the scareity, which depends entirely on the sizo of the peach crop. Frank Hall, the Baltimorean referred to, says his family had used peach stones fuel for years until about three of four year ago, since which time the supply has appeared to have decreased. ““We used to get the dried peach stones from a Mr. Noel, who got them from the different packing houses and dried them on his place,” sald Mr. Hall yesterday. *I thing we pald $2.50 a load for them, the load containing about forty-five bushels. The fuel was used in the kitchen and gave good results. The stones will make a quick, hot fire and one that will last. One and a half or two buckets of the peach stones will last as long as a bucket of coal. One has to be careful not to fill the stove too full or there will likely be an explosion slmilar to & gasoline explosion. The proper way to keep the fire going is to put in a shovel- ful at a time. “Peach stones thrown into a damp cellar,” sald Mr. Hall, “are said to have a pecullar effect on a person. After the stones in the cellar for some time gases arise, and the fumes will go to one's head and give the same effect as if the distilled product of the peach had been imbibed.” What is Necessary. 'You neyer can make that ," sald the expert. Wh ked the novice in canine “Becaus," replied the expert, “he {sn't small enouTh 10 be useless, stupld enough to be utterly worthless or ugly enough to be interesting." The man, it may be sald, had made a study of the pets of fashion. Blindfold a woman and. she loses all confi- dence in herself. Her step is slow, hesitating and uncertain, Her hands are raised to ward the im- blows which™_threaten her. When a sick woman secks the means of health she is often like a woman blindfold. She has no confidence. She cannot tell what her effort will lead to. She turns now to this side and then to the other in uncer- tainty and doubt. ‘The sick woman who uses Dr. Pierce Favorite Prescription may do so wit! absolute confidence. It invites open- eyed investigation. There need be no hesitation in following the hundreds of thousands of women who have found s fect cure for womanly ills in the use of this medicine. « Ravorite Prescription” cures irregu- larity and dries weakening drains, It heals inflammation and ulceration and cures female weakness. ude to you for send. our wosderfu! medicine I {1«* that some poor suf- . Plerce's medicines* of Greenspring Fur- Co., Maryland. *1 had sul- female weakness and had to o deal of the time. Had head- kache. 40 pain in left side when lylng vi. 1 somumenced taking Dr. Plerce's Favor iption, and had ot taken two botties whe 1 was able to be around again aud do my work with but little pain. Can fow eat auy- thing and it vever hurts me auy more. Have = ] o nd Extract o 2 rn i vhll’:; his * Pleasant Pelleta.' Feeling better every day. My bus- band ook X De. Plerce’s Pleasant Peliets lousuess and sick headache. cure &