Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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4^ fly FISHER -??-M W~w>-m-m "I'd give fifty dollars down for a hundred and ?eveuty-five pounder, in good condition !" declared the host of the Anglers' Anchorage. "Poof! I'd give five hundred!" laughed the New Yorker, who owned several electric roads and was a di rector in one or two banks. "On your own hook and line, sir," amended the host, suavely. "Of course. On my o wu hook." The Bostonian dropped a bead of oil on the axle of a dismembered reel, and delicately smeared it over the steel with his finger-tip. "I had a good one on yesterday, but-" . The New Yorker and the mau who favored an eight-ounce red exchanged the 'glance of cynical brotherhood. "We. know that one," they said, wearily. -The ene that might have been!" .'But my reel was gummy and the line parted," continued the Bostonian, with characteristic deafness. "I think he weighed at least one hundred and thirty. One of the Salem Kents caught a hundred and ninety pounder last, season. But that happened at Tampico." -There's no doubt that Mexican fish run heavier," said the man who al ways felt a desire to apologize for the Bostonian. "But these are big and gamy enough for me-when I get one. Three days wichout a bite!" -Ifs a little early," reassured the host. "The m2in body hasn't struck ia yet. When they do there'll be j fishing." The EosLonian, tenderly assembling j the oiled bits of steel, smiled coldly. "Yet you offered fifty dollars for a hundred and seventy-five pounder a minute ago." "Sure. . And I expect to pay the ( money," said the host. "If I had time, I'd go out and vin the reward myself. I vant a nice fish for the hall mantelpiece, that's all." As he bustled indoors, the New Yorker and the man with the eight ounce rod exchanged another glance ot understanding. "His fifty i3 safe," said the New Yorker. "Wish I could feel as sure about my little pile." said the other. "This i place is too far up. ' Only the light j1 scouts will ever get her?. Wish J hadn't exchanged old camps for new." On the lowest step of the veranda, Bert Christiansen and Sidney James listened reverently. The new An glers' Anchorage had dropped like au Aladdin's palace into their surround ings, and every day they came to bask in its atmosphere of elegant leisure. Here were grown men ?rom the North, stout and florid with good liv ing, who talked of fishing as if it were the business of the land, lt was up setting yet fascinating, this new light on the unfamiliar waters of the blue lagooD. ' .They were fishermen themselves, ilthcugh in the surreptitious fashion jf boyhood. Seining, which is hard tvork, bad the family approbation, tmt, bait-fis&vng vas :'rowhed ' upon.. rhvs? maa. o f.; the North would "as soon .dynamite the lagoon as sweep it with a net, and "here was Host Simpson offering half a hundred dol lars for a mere herring! Bert and Sidney exchanged looks that recorded i common vow. "But wjere are we going to get the cackle!" mourned Bert-. "I've noth ing that will hold one as big as that." ? Neither had Sidney. As he was ?onslder?^g the problem, the host re appeared and called to him, "Here pou, Sid! Take Mr. Worthington out, will you? It's no^use waiting for that lazy darky,-" he added, to the Bos tonian. "Like as not he won't come round, and the boy knows where the fish are all right." The man from Boston studied the boy through his glasses. The eyes behind them were sharp but kindly. "Perhaps you'd like to try for that fish of S?TTPSOU'S," he suggested. ?I've several extra rods, and you may ase one." Poor Bert! He could not help feeling envious as he watched the Joyous Sidney tuck the rod under his arm and sally forth. One by one the other gentlemen, accompanied by their negro boatmen, went down to the landing. No one noticed him sit ting there on the step. The clear blue of the sky and the flashing water mocked at him. "I s'pose they think I'm too j young," he said to himself. "Sid's two years older. That's why." lt was not much of a consolation. lt vas none, in fact. He sat there trying hard to be manly, but seeing the little scattered flotilla of boats through a mist. Again thi host came to the door, and his eye rested on the rather for lorn figure. "Hello, young.man!" he; said. "How are you-pretty quick on your pins?" "What, sir?" asked Bert. "Good with your legs? Can you. use 'em? Make 'em move faster than a darky's? I want an errand .done at tho village, and I want it done quick." "I reckon I'm quick, sir." said Eert, aa a plan darted into his mind. Lean and wiry from outdoor work, he made the trip to the village and back in less than half an hour, sur- j prising Mr. Simpson exceedingly. "What, hack ' so quick!" he ex-, ?lalmed. "You're al! right. I'll have j to use you a pain." He held ov? a brlgbt '..nrl'v. but Bert, ft r.s.p^i h'.ti hu?u? b<i'?i?? his back. "I'd be mighty glad to run errands for you, sir," he said, breathlessly, "any time, sir. But I don't want money. If you'd let me have-if you'd-" "If I'd what?" "If you'd lend me an old rod, I'd try to catch that tarpon for you." Mr. Simpson slowly pocketed the quarter. "You think fifty dollars In the lagoon are better than a quarter in the hand, eh! Wall, I don't know." AMES, JR.. ? i ? He eyed the boy meditatively:r~f"Ever used a rod?" "Lots -of times. I've caught sea trout and cavally and kingfish and tarpon, too. . But they were small ones," Eert added, truthfully. "I don't know," mused Simpson. "Well, all right. I'll let you have a rod and fixings it you'll promise to do more errands. A rod costs good money." "I'll promise," said Bert. After a man is tired of trout, and has come to be a match for the skilfnl salmon, he is likely, if he is a con sistent angler, to turn to Southern waters for new conquests. There be will "::d among the hordes of strange fish eager to take his bait a giant herring, that for weight, agility and cunning is the king of all game-fishes, with the possible exception of the huge leaping tuna. Men who have found salmon-fishing an easy sport havj had their pride lowered when they came to cast a tarpon lins in some placid lagoon. Here there are no running waters or eddy-encircled rocks to complicate the battle; noth ing but the big fish himself to fight, but the chances are.that he will beat you. Bert had his own logy bateau and his particular friend and admirer, Wash Lee, who stood ready to do menial labor for him at any moment. It never entered the youthful auto crat's head to ask a favor of Lee. If he planned a fishing expedition, he merely mentioned the fact within Lee's hearing, and it was then under stood that the darky was io do the rowing. The idea of fishing for tarpon like "de gen'msn from de No'th" inflated Lee with an unusual sense of lim portance. At the appointed Vme he appeared at the landing with a brand new rag round his perennially sor? toe, and the left hind foot of a rabbit in his trousers pocket. "She'll shore bring us luck, too," he confided. "She's de same what Yaller Jack bruck de las' dry spell with." Eert sniffed. He had not much faith in such charms, at least, when it came to fishing. He put a pop eyed, slippery, one-poun?l mullet on the hook and swung it overboard. The velvet cluck of the big reel was inspiriting music. Kt had never held such a perfect rod in his hands be fore, and his pulse stirred bravely. There was not a ripple on the sur Tace of the dead blue lagoon. The ?cattered boats from the hotel lay off :o the north, as motionless as if glued :here. Bert had chosen new ground near the narrow inlet, where the tide runs in from the sea in long, pulsat ing jets, like blood in an artery. He had dropped anchor there at ?lack water, hut the iridescent film :hat gathers on the surface at euch :imes was now beginning to break up into lines and darkening feathers :hat glided slowly toward the head of :he lagoon. Soon it was all gone. Then the first clean gush of sea water came, lifting the boat a little, ind lett\n2,:it sink" gently as. it rolled With this^gre'en wa??r came preda-' rory.'fish. Few of them were, visible, jut now and thin a porpoise showed i slice of fat, muddy back, or a pir itically slanted fin ripped the surface, in the lagoon there was plenty of ;entle prey. When the tarpon came, it was a lescent of Norsemen. Boring their way up the inlet, their bright hacks rising and falling, they came in rush ing fleets-eager to be the ?rs? on the ?eeding grounds. They stretched from shore to shore like the metal plates of a steel corslet, racing so close to the boat that they cast spray into it, but not one noticed the hooked mullet. He was too insignifi cant all by himself. They wanted a school to charge and devour, worry aud scatter. In a few minutes they were gone with the inflow that had brought them. "Wes too far down!" wailed Lee, In despair. "Dey's gone up to de boats, and Sid'll catch our fish, nure. Pall up de anchor, Mister Bert. Pull him up!" . "Pull up nothing," said Bert, sturdily, although he was somewhat pale. He had never seen so many of the great fish before. "I've watched this place, and if you can't catch one here, you can't anywhere." He drew in his iine and put on a vigorous mullet from the bucket. The "bait" scooted here and there, feeling the danger. In every way it did its best to draw that danger down upon its defenseless head; but the sun passed the zenith and sank slowly toward the west, and the reel hung silent on the rod. The fish "were not biting," as the anglers say. They were there and at work. Patches of shadow and patches of foam mottling the blue of the lagoon showed that the mullet and small fry were being harried, but no siik line tautened. Anglers are pa tient folk, but they have their super stitions, and-one of-them is that when fish show a disinclination to bite, they cannot be made to. One after an other, as the sun sunk, they quietly took their rods apart and stole back to the landing; all but Ber and the Bostonian, who had made it a princi ple to combat ail conventional con clusions. It was high flood. Six hours had I passed. The drowsy Lee came out of -ls ca.-nap suddenly, and with an in articulate expression. Something had surged ia the water close by. The drooping line took life and straight ened mysteriously. But before Bert could strike, the water boiled and broke noisily, and a wide dorsal fin cut it like a knife. On the hook were the staring head and bleeding shoulders.of a tarpon, the rest of whose body lay in the maw of a thievish shark. "I reckon we-all better go on home," said Lee, shudderingly. "I doan' like fishing fo' sharks. " ? JJoit put on another mullet and ! cast it clear of the cloudy spot on the water. "This is where we get action," he said. "Some of 'em are going out hungry. " The bait had scarcely sunk below the surface before the same uncanny upheaval occurred. Again the line crept out and out, stealing away from the boat. Then Bert struck, and with a shower Of drops the line straight ened like a steel wire, and the rod creaked under the dead weight. It was a dead weight only for an in stant. After that it was so much alive that the reel shrieked high to the fierceness ot its rush. One hundred feet from the boat the tarpon shot out of the water. Up he went, his cheeks flaring from the red gills till he seemed all enormous head. Still he rose, foot on foot of blinding silver, and at the great length of him Lee gasped and pulled the rabbit's foot from his pocket. "Conjure him! Conjure him!" he yelled, and shook, the little hairy pad at the fish as it curved in a high arc and fell back, driving foam to the boat. * Now he rushed steadily and straight for the head of the lagoon. The raised tip of the rod put its strain upon him, but a tarpon six feet long is not to be turned or tired by such tricks. Foot after foot of the line spun from the reel. Bert had no finger-stalls, and the thin silk ate hot into the flesh of the thumb with which he "tried to brake the line. Two hundred and fifty feet ran out, and the fatness of the reel was gone before^the tarpon swung. He came straight for the boat. Bert reeled frantically. It would not do to give the fish too much slack. There was a dreadful droop to the line when the second leap came and the tarpon rose, higher than before, and slatted his great head vigorously. When he turned in mid-air he bent like a steel bow, and snapped out straight again with a jerk that tossed the line high. But in the heart of the suds and broken water the line stiffened, and Bert knew he had the fish well hooked. Well-hooked is' far from be ing safely landed. A tarpon can per form more acrobatic feats than almost any other game-fish in the sea; and a straight rush, if not stopped in time, will inevitably end in a broken line. Not once did the tarpon sulk, lt was straight fighting every minute. With rod and reel and bloody fingers . Bert fought back, and the hour that passed seemed a dozen. He was bathed in sweat, and every muscle ached. Even his teeth ached under the dogged pressure of his jaws. Lee chewed on his precious rabbit's foot with savage disregard of its value. He might have ground it up if the tarpon had not intervened. During the first hali of the second hour the fish seemed as fresh as ever, but a series of huge leaps and their smacking falls tired him. For the first time Bert was able to gather in a hundred feet of line, the tarpon yield ing sullenly to the strain. He lay now within a few yards of the boat, dorsal fin out, his &ix feet of silver gleaming through the water. "Coax him, Mister Bert! " pleaded Lee, gaff in hand. "Lemme jet jus' one jab at him with dis yere pike." Bert touched the reel with numbed fingers, but gentle as the pull, was, it roused the tarpon to a last fury. Out of the suddenly swirling water he rose, open-mouthed, and J. fore the boys could, move he was upon them wita, an impact that sent Lee .md the oars tying, and thrust; the ', of the boat'beneath the. surface. - : Bejrt'^?n?Hh? tarpon and;tlie "broken halves" of 'the centre , seat:1 thrashed about on the flooded bottom. The boy's length was less than that of the great fish, but he thrust his hands into the wide gills and wound his legs round the slippery body, and fought with shut eyes. He was fighting in his own element and the tarpon was not. %The muscular body ceased to heave under him; and when the streaming Lee cautiously appeared at the gunwale, the rabbit's foot pro truding from his lips, the real strug gle was over. The tarpon, stuffed and varnished, hangs over the hall fireplace of the fashionable Anglers' Anchorage, and under it is this inscription: "The Silver King. Caught by Herbert Christianson, June 3, 1907. Weight 204 pounds." And when the new guest stands open-mouthed before it, the host adds something like this:' "Yes, sir, that's a record fish for this coast. If I'd known you were coming, I'd have tried to arrange a day with Bert for you. He's our best guide, and his time is booked way ahead."-Youth's Companion. A Promise Given. Representative Longworth, at a dinner party during the Republican convention in Chicago, talked about honest politics. "Honest politics alone pay in the end," said he. "Your dishonest poli tician comes out like Lurgan of Cin cinnati. ''Lurgan, of Cincinnati, was can vassing for votes. He dropped in at a grocer's. " 'Good morning,' he said. 'I may count on your support, I hope?' " 'Why, no, Mr. Lurgan,' said the grocer. 'I've promised my support to your rival.' "Lurgan laughed easily. I " 'Ah! but in politics,' said he, 'promising and performing are two different marers.' " 'In that case,' said the grocer heartily, 'I shall be most happy to give you my promise, Mr. Lurgan.' " -Washington Star. Rural Police Desirable. Change "will come slowly under our American system of dividing States, cities and towns and having no gen eral police, but it is idle to suppose that a country with no rural police, and only a common courtesy uniting its .city police, can keep human life as safe or track murderers as surely as the enveloping dragnet an English or European police can spread over an entire country. Our States need an efficient rural police, in constant service, patrolling thc roads. Closer relations between the police and our cities must come If crime is to be successfully suppressed.-Philadel paia Press. X Roads Doomed by Autos. Logan Waller Page, director- of tba Office of Public Roads of the Depart ment of Agriculture, commissioned jy President Roosevelt, is on his way .0 France tovell the highway engi neers of the world what, in his opin ion, the automobile is doing to mac idam thoroughfares and what should 3e done to counteract its destructive ?ffects. President Roosevelt summoned Di rector Page to the White House and jonferred with him about this high way problem. He learned that an al most incalculable amount of damage ?vas being done daily, and then he Informed the director that it was his wish that the United States be strong ly represented at the coming interna cional road congress in Paris, and asked for the names of two other ex perts. Mr. Page named Colonel Charles S. Eromwell, superintendent of buildings and grounds of the Dis trict, and Clifford Richardson, an authority on bituminous road ma terial. They were appointed, and Mr. Page was made chairman of the dele gation. Although this congress will not as semble at Paris until October ll, Di rector Page decided to sail somev/hat sarly to inspect some of the roads of England, Germany and France b*efore the congress is called to order. **He wished to see if the speeding automo biles worked the same damage there as they do here and study the rem edial work that is being done. Here he has learned that by the tractive force of thc rubber tires of the speed ing motor cars the surface binding dust of rock roads is drawn from its resting place and is sent swirling .to the adjacent fields. Inasmuch as the integrity of the macadam road rests absolutely in this rock dust, which acts as a bind ing and surfacing crust, a dissipating of the surface leaves the road nothing but a mass of loose, round stones. The tests on the Conduit road, near Washington, D. C., prove this conten tion absolutely, and he carries with him a collection*of pho tographs taken during the progress of those tests. These pictures will be submitted to the congress. The greater question that will arise will be how to overcome the effect of automobile traffic on hard roads with out restricting the automobile or pre venting its development. Two solutions there are lo that question: One, to find a material of which roads may be made which cre ates no dici, or, secondly, to so treat the roads already constructed that the dust will be retained upon them. That, of course, is now being done in many parts of the country by spraying with calcium chloride and by the use of various bituminous preparation^. Director Page and his associates will have much interesting informa tion to contribute along those lines, for within .the past few months many miles of ^America's roads have been treated with these various prepara tions, many of the tests under the di rection of some expert from the Fed eral Office of Public Roads.-Wash ington Star, The Split Log Road Drag. There are thousands of highways in the rural districts, which while only -tt?ing excuses for roads, may be put into shapo by the .use of the road drag, ?*nd it is .important to know that'farmers' bulletin/just issued by the Bepartment^'f Agriculture, gives a description of the split log road drag for use on earth roads. The split log road drag is by no means a new institution, but this fifteen-page pamphlet tells why it is sometimes a failure. For one thing, it is often made too heavy; it should be light enough for one man to lift easily. A dry cedar, elm or walnut log is the best material for a drag-far better than oak or hickory. Another mis take is in the use of squared timbers instead of those with sharp edges, whereby the cutting effect of sharp edges is lost and .the drcr0 gliaes over instead of equalizing the irregular ities in the surface of the road. By the ordinary process of ditch cleaning, scraping, etc., it is estimated that road improvement costs from $20 to $50 per mile, while by the use of the split log drag and plank ditch cleaner, ranges from $1.50 to $5 per mile, and a far better road is the result. The advantages to be gained from the use of a road drag are emphasized in the bulletin thus: First, the main tenance of a smooth, serviceable earth road, free from ruts and mudholes. Second, obtaining such road surface with? the expenditure of little money and labor in comparison with the money and labor required for other methods. Third, 'the reduction of mud in wet weather and of dust in dry -weather. This publication (Farmers' Eull?tin 321) can be had free upon application to the Secretary of Agriculture or to your member of Congress.-Indiana Farmer. Right Way For Roads to Run. It has now been discovered that if tve want to be happy and healthy we must live on roads that run from north to south. Furthermore, it is affirmed that those who live on roads which run from east to west are in variably found to be depressed and drooping, like flowers which are not doing well. This is a fact which we can each put to the test by noticing whether those of our friends who live between these two points of the compass are less cheery than those who live be tween north and south. Without doubt there is something in the the ory, which amounts to this, that the roads running north to south get all the morning sunshine and best light, and in the morning human beings, like plants, require these or their tempers, health and spirits are de pressed.-Ladies' Pictorial. An Old Story. "She tells mc that theirs is a pla tonic- love. What docs that mean, hubby?" "Means that we'll bavo to dig up for a wedding-present in about two months."-Louisville Courler JournaL Clean the Chimney. Where wood is much used as a f uei, according to Suburban Life, consid erable soot collects in the chimneys, and it is a source of many fires. The chimney should be burnt out once a year, at least, and the work done on a damp day-or it may be swept out. ? chimney is burnt out by placing a bundle of straw or similar material in the bottom of the Hue and firing it. To sweep out a chimney, a small met al ball, about four inches in diame ter, ia hung on a thin rope aud pulled up and down in the chimney until it Is clean. When it too high, the chimney can be cleaned by a bru?b on a jointed pole. Pretty Finger Xails. To have pretty finger nails it ls necessary to keep them properly man icured. The nails should be filed in a curve which follows the shape of the end of the finger. After the nails have been filed the finger tips should be held in hot, soapy water until the cuticle is soft, when it maybe easily pushed back from the nail by means of an orangewood stick. To give the nails a delicate rose tint they should be polished by applying some good ointment or powder. In the interest of pretty nails it is a good habit to rub cold cream into the cuticle every nigat, always rubbing the cuticle away from the nails. Another little habit is to always, when drying the hands, rub the cuticle back with the towel. These little habits help ma terially to keep the nails in order and greatly lighten the weekly manicur? ing proeefe. .-^Indianapolis News. Varnished Floors. When varnished floors have be come blackened in spots and there aro numerous heel marks, they need a standing finish, and must be treated with extreme measures. The old fin ish must be first removed, and when the floor is revarnished see that the liquid is of good quality, and that several coats are given. A waxed floor ?leeds only another coat of wax and a horough polishing. Grease spots can often be removed with turpentine. It is best, to remove spots from rugs or carpets as soon as they are made. Spots made by sticky substances may be removed* by sponging them with alcohol and salt, a pint of alcohol to a teaspoonful of salt. Grease or oil spots should be. covered with wet ful ler's earth, and allowed to stand for two days and then brushed off. French chalk will remove fresh grease spots. Cover the spots well, then spread a brown paper over them and I apply a moderately hot iron.-New j York Evening Post. Mahogany Furniture. When mahogany furniture is in a very bad condition the only metaod of restoring it is thac of first remov ing the old finish, and the old meth od of scraping and sandpapering is the best one. After this is done, eith er wax, varnish, or oil may be ap plied. Dents in hard wood may be filled in with colored wax. White enamelled furniture may be cleaned with a cloth dampened in warm wat er and a little, whiting if necessary. At the end it should be thorough'/ rubbed dry with a soft cloth. G'lt furniture and gilt frames, may be cleaned with a paste made of'whiting and alcohol. This should be rubbed off before it hardens. Natural-col ored wicker furniture can be scrubbed with a brush and^yarm soap suds. Painted and enamelled wicker should be treated like white enamelled fur niture. This sort of wave, however, is quite unsatisfactory because the enamel chips and the paint wears off, -New York Evening Post. Steamed Steak.-Take about two pounds of round steak and cover with a dressing as for a chicken, then roll the steak up and tie it with a good string. Put it in a lard pail and cov er tightly. Set this pail in a kettle of water and steam for about three hours. Take from pail and thicken very little the gravy in bottom of pail. Japanese Sandwich.-This is made of any kind of left-over fish, baked or boiled. Pick out every bit of skin or bone and flake in small pieces. Put into a saucepan with a little milk or cream to moisten, add a little butter and'dusting of .pepper. Work to a paste while it is heating, then cool and spread on thiu slices of buttered bread. Salad Dressing.-One egg, one tea spoonful of mustard, one teaspoonful of salt, two teaspoonfuls of pastry flour or cornstarch, one-half cup of sugar, piece of butter the size of a walnut. Add these to a cup of boil ing milk, then add one cup of scalded vinegar. When stirring in vinegar stir In gradually. If lumpy, beat with egg beater. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper. Stuffed Peaches.-Wash and stone medium sized peaches, cover with salt and water, let stand over night; fill each centre with grated horse radish, celery seed and ginger root. Tie two halves together with a string, pack in jars. Turn over them a syr up made of one quart vinegar, one pound sugar and two teaspoons each of whole cloves, cinnamon and all spice (in cheese cloth bags). Caked Apple Tapioca;.-One-half cup (granulated or farina) tapioca, one quart boiling water cooked in a double boiler about fifteen minutes. Add one cup sugar, one tablespoon butter, little grated nutmeg; butter an earthen pudding dish; pare, core and quarter six or eight tart apples, put in dish; pour the cooked tapioca over them and bake in oven until the apples can be pierced with a straw; when cool, eat with sugar or crsam. President Roosevelt Says li is His Own Private Concern PEOFLE SHOULD NOT INTERFERE The President-Elect's Religions Be lief, Declares the Presiden;, Is Purely His Own Private Concern; a Matter For "Which He Is Re sponsible Solely to His Maker, and Not a Subject for General Dis cussion or PoHtical Disciinination. Washington, Speen !.-"Secretary Taft's religious faith is purely his own private concern and not a matter for general discussion and political discrimination," says President Roosevelt in a letter he made public in which he answers numerous cor respondents. The President says he deferred the publication of the letter until now to avoid any agitation likely to influence the election. The letter follows: November C, 190S. My Dear Sir: 1 have received your letter running in part as follows: "While it. is claimed almost uni versally that religion should not enter into politics, yet there is no denying that it does, and thc mass of the voters that are not Catholics will not support -a man for any office, es pecially for President of the United States, who is a Roman Catholic. "Since Taft has been nominated for President by thc Repubiean par ty, it is being circulated anti is con stantly urged as a reason for not vot ing for Taft that he is an inlidel (Un itarian) and wife and'brother Roman Catholics. . * . if his feelings are in sympathy with the Roman Catholic Church on account of his wife and brothel- being Catholics, that would bc objectionable to a suffi cient number of voters to defeat him. On thc other hand, if he is an infidel, that would be sure to mean defeat. * . * I am writing this letter for the sole purpose of giving Mr. Taft all opportunity to let thc world knov what his religious belief is.'' I received many such letters as yours during the campaign, express ing dissatisfaction with Mr. Taft on religious grounds;; some of them thc ground that he was a Unit: jan, and others on the ground that he was suspected to be in sympathy with Catholics. 1 did not answer any of these letters during the campaign because I regarded it as an outrage ??ven. to agitate such a question as a man's religious convictions, with the purpese of influencing a political election. But now that the campaign is over, when there is opportunity for men calmly to consider whither such propositions as those you make in your letter would lead, I wish to in vite them to consider them, and I hive selected your letter to answer tecause you advance both the ob jections commonly urged against Mr. Taft, namely: that he is a Unitarian and also that he is suspected of sym pathy with the Catholics. You ask that Mr. Taft shall "let the world know what his religious belief is." This is purely his own private concern, and it is a matter be tween him and his Maker, a matter for Iiis own conscience; and to re quire it to be made public under pen alty of political discrimination is to negative the first principles of our government, which guarantee com plete religous liberty, and the right to each man to act in religious affairs as his own conscience dictates. Mr. Taft never asked ray advice in the matter, but if he had asked it. I should have emphatically advised him against thus stating publiclv his religious belief. Thc demand for a statement of a candidate'.' religious belief can have no meani.ig except, that there may be discrimination for or against him because of that be lief. Discrimination against the holder of one faith means retaliatory discrimintion against men of other faiths. The inevitable result of cn ternm1 upon such a practice would be an abandonment of our real freedom of conscience and a reversion to the dreadful conditions of religious dis sensions which in so many lands have proved fatal, to true liberty, to true religion and to all advanced in civili ation. To discriminate against a thorough ly upright citizen because he belongs lo some particular Church, or be cause, like Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed his allegiance to any Church, is an outrage asainst that liberty of conscience which is one of the foundations of American life. You are entitled to know whether a man seeking your suffrage is a man of clean and upright life, honorable in all his dealings with his fellows, and fit by qualification and milpose to do well in the irreal office for which he is a candidate; but you are not entitled to know matters which lie purely between himself and his Maker. If it is pjPbpjr or legitimate to oppose a man 'for being a Uni tarian, as was John Quincy Adams, for instance, as is the Reverend Ed ward Everett. Hale, at the present moment chaplain of the Senate, and an American of whose life all good Americans arc proud-then it would bc equally proper to support or op pose a man because of his views on justification by faith, or the method of administering the sacrament of the gospel of salvation hy works. Tf you once enter on such a career there is absolutely no limit at which you can legitimately step. So much for your objections to Mr. Taft because he is a Unitarian. Now, for your objections to him because you think his wife and brother to be Roman Catholics. As it happened, they are not; hut if they were, or if he were a Roman Catholic himself, it ought not to affect, in the slightest degree any man's supporting him for thc position of President. I believe that this republic will en lure for many centuries. If so there I viii doubtless be anions its Pr?si dents Protest ant s and Catholics and very probably at come time, Jews. I have constantly tried while Presi dent, to act in relation to my fellow Americans of Catholic faith as I hope. that any future President who hap pens to be a Catholic will act to wards his fellow Americans of$ Protestant faith. Had I followed any other course I should have felt that I was unfit to represent ?.he Ameri can people. In my cabinet at the present mo ment there sit side by side Catholic and Protestant, Christian and Jew,/ each man chosen because in my be bef he is peculiarly fit to exercise on behalf of all our people the duties of the office to which I have appointed him. In no case does the man's re ligious belief in any way influence his discharge of his duties, save as it makes him more .eager to act justly and uprightly in his relations to all men. The same principles that have obtained in appointing the members of my Cabinet, the highest officials under me, the officials to whom is entrusted the work of carrying out all the important policies of my ad ministration, are the principles upon which all good Americans should act in choosing, whether by election or appointment, the men to fill any of fice from the highest to the lowest in the land. Yours trulv, THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Mr. J. C. Martin. Dayton. Ohio. PROMINENT PEOPLE. Mrs. William Astor died at her home in New York City. Manufacturers and business men united at Richmond, Va., to honor 1 Mr. Li Sum Ling, the Chinese publi cist. Andrew D. White has returned from his first visit to Berlin since he was stationed there as American Min ister. Miss Elkins and the Duke of the Abruzzi will be married before Janu ary 1, said reports from the bride's, " home. A dispatch from Newmarket said that there was no truth in the rumor that King Edward had been injured in an automobile accident. Signor Guglielma Ferrero, an Ital- , ian historian, author of "The Great ness and Decline of Rome," is pre-, paring for a visit to the United States. Dr. Sven Hedin scatc-J, according to special cable advices to the New York Herald from Hong Kong, that Chinese influence in Tibet will have gO' " -onrltS. Emperor Nicholas informally re ceived Crown Prince George of Ser via, and urg2d the necessity of the abandonment of a hostile attitude to ward Austria. Princess Henry of Battenberg ls the latest recruit to the list of royal authors. She has just finished a his- , tory of the Isle of Wight, of which she is the captain and governor. The book is to be sold for the benefit of the island. Mrs. William Howard Taft is said to be a very expert needlewoman, and she does not confine her work to darning and mending, as was shown by the fact that she has made a beau tiful lace handkerchief and sent it to an Indiana town to be sold for char ity. FOREIGN NEWS NOTES. . British railways in 1907 killed 1117 persons and injured 8811. A British blue book says that on January 1 last England and Wales had 928,671 paupers-nearly a mill ion. China by imperial decree orders that the punishment for manufactur ing morphine needles shall be banish ment to a pestilential frontier. Statistics published by the munici pal poor relief fund show that the cost of living in Paris, France, has increased eighteen per cent, since 1905. Greece has a beet sugar factory turning out twenty tons a day. Sugar j-etails in Greece at eleven cents'a pound. The import duty is five cents a pound. Pauperism in London. England, continues to increase. The number of paupers on September 6 last was 118,954, against 114,577 on the same day in 1907. Jamaica, West Indies, now has a monthly steamship service with Gal veston by the United States Shipping Company. The sailings will increase as business develops. By reason of the falling off in its , American trade the last ten months . the Austrian Shipping Company, known as the A-.istro-American Line, will not. pay any dividend this year. Scotland's fish catch in 1907 was 9,078,059 hundredweight,worth $15, 425,525. The industry employed 94,773 men on 10,365 vessels of 141, 385 aggregate tonnage, worth $23, 640,561. Denmark's beet sugar production this season is only 110,250,000 pounds, a decline of 34,177,500 pounds from that of the season 1906- . 07. Two companies with seven fac tories do all the business. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway has completed 675 miles of track trom Winnipeg westward. CHAMOIS GLOVES. Chamois gloves are not near so warm as their appearance would war rant one in supposing. . They absorb perspiration so that persons who perspire freely will find them much more comfortable than silk or lisle thread. Again, they are much smarter looking than the fabric, gloves and if properly washed are very desirable. It is careless washing that makes them shrink or crack. The correct method is to make a thick suds of white soap and wann water, and, putting the gloves on the hands, wash in the same way as ono would the hands. When clean, rinse through wann soapy water, then wipe dry as possi ble with a towel, and if convenient, dry on the hands in the ooen air. Another process is to make the suds as described ami then wash the gloves as one would a handkerchief or other small article rinsing in warm soapy water. The gloves are then put into a -clean cloth and wrung dry. Afterward they aro put on glove trers or pined up where the air wlil blow freely around them.-Washing ton Star. Europe should not complain of graft, admonishes the Atlanta Consti tution, since she extended a warm welcome to so mar .bsconding graf, ters. 4