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* . . _ "" ISSUED SEMI-WEEKL^ l. k. grist's sons, puburti.rf. j % dfamilj lieurspager: Ifor the promotion of the; gotitigal, JSoqiat. Agricultural and ?ommetcial Interests of the google. |TE raoiS topVA e JS!AI<0lf' established 1855. YORKVILIiK, S. C., TUESI.)AY, NOVEMBER 5, 19Q7. NO. 89. . Brothe + BY ETTA \ CHAPTER I. Esther Speaks. ^ Beside Sister Mehitable I sat on one of the hard, backless benches of the room in which our evening meetings were held ?the room that rises before me, even as I write, square, low, with wooden beams, painted blue, erasing the ceiling; many-paned windows, shaded with spotless curtains, and a floor absolutely shining with cleanll ness. Along tne wans were rows ui broad-brimm?d hats hanging on convenient pegs, rows of faces also? some old and ugly, some fair and young?men in home-made coats of a long-ago pattern, with hair cut straight across their foreheads, like the pictures of the old Puritans; women in stifT, white caps and neutral-tinted gowns, brief of skirl, plaited thickly about the waist* and fashioned expressly to conceal all the grace and comeliness of the female figure?in short, the brothers and sisters of the Shaker community of Hadham, of which I, Esther Fox, aged sixteen, was a member. Brother Silas was speaking. I tried 0 to get behind Mehitable that I might escape his eyes; for, no matter upon what subject he spoke, he always looked at me. and those black, hollow orbs, burning with half-smothered fire, made my flesh creep. Now he was denouncing the world and raving in a fierce, disconnected way about the spiritual Joys to be found in the pure . . faith of Mother Ann Lee. I listened impatiently. He was a young man. not more than five and twenty, with the lean, fervid face of a fanatic. His cheek bones were prominent, his hair was lank, { thin and red. To tell the truth, I detested Brother Silas, and, in an inexplicable way, I also feared him. I drew nearer to Mehitable. Her wrinkled face, with its rim of irongray hair Just visible under her stiff cap, was like some placid nun's. She 1 was the only mother I had ever known. 1 and I often wished she was less saintly, for then she might have understood ' me better. Presently, in the very midst of his incoherent praise of celibacy and the life Ythich the brothers and sisters led, removed from the strife and ambi- 1 ^ tions and sins of the world, Brother Silas began to shake like a reed in the wind, and to whirl violently about. "He is receiving a new gift," whispered Mehitable. As for me. I thought he was going mad. Round and round he went, like a gigantic top, rolling his deep-set eyes and waving his arms wildly, until, dashing toward me at last without ' word or sound, he fell in a writhing, convulsed heap at my feet. 1 The brothers picked him up and J loosed his necktie; the meeting: closed abruptly. I followed Mehitable out of the room and along a stone walk to an adjoining building, where we slept. The moon was rising upon Hadham Lake. The monstrous cone of Moose 1 Mountain stood up, black as ink, against the pale, star-studded sky. Betwixt the lake and a chain of wood- 1 crowned hills lay the Shaker village? 1 houses and barns, factories, church, school and other buildings clustering in this hot, mid-summer night. "Hasten, Esther," said Mehitable. "What are you dreaming about, child?" I stooped to pick a late rose from beside the walk. It was as red as blood and full of musky sweetness. I ^ fastened it in my calico kerchief. "Mehitable, from my heart I wish I could have one glimpse of the great, wicked world," I cried. She looked shocked. "Esther. I greatly fear that your heart is not yet regenerated. We have been called to come out from among them, and, like Abraham, to leave k kindred and father's house. Don't let L your thoughts run after vanity. Remember you are a Shakeress." She said this as If it was the next thing: to being a saint. "Did you not hear what Brother Silas said tonight about the woi id ?" By this time we had reached the room where Mehitable and I slept in our small white beds side by side. "Yea," I answered, "I heard. I think Brother Silas is crazy." "Crazy! For shame! He Is a godly man?a shining light among us." "He looks at me so strangely!" I stormed. "He frightens me?he makes my blood run cold. I hate?I abhor him!" * "Nay?nay!" corrected Mehitable; "you must not say that. See that you love the brethren and sisters always. Hate is of Satan: love, of God. I can't think what you mean by Brother | Silas's looks. You have a lively imagination. Esther; turn your thougnts to spiritual things." I flung off my Shaker cap. The ripples and curls in my hair were a great cross to Mehitable, because she could never comD inein siraigni. I sat down on the edge of my small bed. A miserable. hopeless feeling rushed over me. My thoughts did not take the direction suggested by MeRitable. but turned into a channel which, of late, they had much frequented. "Mehitable," I said, under my breath, "tell me about my mother." "Eh?" "Tell me about my mother!" I repeated. striking my slim hands passionately together. "What can I tell you that you have not heard a hundred times already?" "I don't care. I am greedy to listen to it all again." "Nay, Esther, it can do you no good." I flung a pair of imperative arms about her leathery neck. "I will hear it. Mehitable. Begin. She came to this village one winter night?how long ago?" "Fifteen years and six months." "She was footsore, sick and weary. She was young and beautiful and utterly without money. Is that true?" "Yea." R Silas. V. PIERCE. "She carried me, a crying baby, in her arms. She begged the sisters to take her in and save her child from starvation. You all felt that sh^ had, leen gently reared, and that she had known great tribulation." "Yea," assented Mehitable. "She told you th^t her name was Pox, and bade you call her baby Esther. She was very weak, and you could not induce her to say more. Three days after she entered your doors she died." "Yea?yea!" "Mehitable. tell me. do I look like my mother?" "Somewhat," she answered, reluctantly. "I am sure that she was a lady. I am sure that some strange misfortune drove her to this place. Perhaps I have kindred somewhere In the world ?maybe a father? who knows? Mehitable, did she say anything about my father?" Mehitable frowned and shook my arms from her neck. "Nay, and it's best that you should not. You have nothing to do with carnal ties. You need no kindred?you want none but your brothers and sisters in the faith. Now go to bed!" Poor Mehitable! For fifteen years 1 had been her special charge. I had received a tolerable education in the Shnkor sohonl beside the church. I had been carefully trained in the faith of this peculiar people, yet she still detected in me a strong hankering after "carnal ties," and this weakness filled her with grief and dismay. I was not, I could not be, like the other sisters. The next day was the Sabbath?an oasis always in the desert of the tollsome, monotonous weeks. Then I led the singing at the Shaker church; then I wore my best gown and a white muslin kerchief in place of the calico, which did duty on other days. And, apart from these things, many strangers stopped at Hadham In summer? tourists on their way to and from the mountains. Many boarders came thither also, attracted by the lake and hills and the mineral springs; and often our church was filled with ladies in rich, rustling dresses, little children decked out like French dolls, elegant bearded men?the brothers did not wear beard#?people of that great wicked world which Mehitable hated. I used to look with wonder and secret delight on their fine clothes and high-bred faces, and, somehow, I always sang my best when they were in the meeting. Mehitable said that my voice drew many outsiders to our Sabbath service. On this particular day the house was crowded with these strangers. I sat beside Mehitable, with my big, white handkerchief hanging on my arm and my hands in my lap, like all the sisters. * Without the blue lake sparkled in the sun. and the hills lifted their green crowns to a cloudless sky. Just at the beginning of the service two persons stepped in at the church door, which stood hospitably open?a laoy anu gentleman. Finding himself on the wrong side of the house, the gentleman, with a whimsical smile, whispered something to his companion, and then crossed to the men's seats and took a place on the foremost bench. He was young, and as fair as the unfllial Absalom of Scripture. His aristocratic face looked as if cut from fine stone. His tawny hair and beard were dashed with gold, and the blueblack color of Hadham Lake filled his languid eyes. I had just time to glance once at the lady. She was marvelously attired, and she had a thin, aquiline nose and pale hair, dressed upon her forehead something after the fashion of the brothers. She put up a gold-rimmed eyeglass and stared about the church as if it had been a menagerie. Heaven only knows what came over me then and there: but I threw my very soul Into my voice?I sang as I had never sung before that pathetic appeal: Call them. Father, call the erring? Call them in, as Thou didst me! Like a silver trumpet my voice floated through the open windows into the fruited orchard trees beyond. Brother Silas eyed me askance; for once I did not see him?no, nor the thin, devout faces of the sisters, nor the stern, gray elders who watched the flock: the strange gentleman on the front bench was looking at me with eyes brimful of surprise and pleasure, and a great thrill of gratified vanity? vanity which Mehitable often said was a deadly sin?leaped through my veins. That morning, for the first time in my life, I felt ashamed of our peculiar service. Our tramp around the clean door, our swaying hands and bodies, seemed odious and unprofitable to me. How ridiculous Mehitable looked, bobbing up and down in her zeal, like a cork on the water! And Brother Silas was like an enormous jumpingjack. Verily, some spirit of evil had entered my unregenerated heart. Mehitable stood up before the company and spoke out boldly regarding the beauty of the Shaker life?testified to her happiness and deep content in the same. Other sisters followed her example. I listened in wonder. How could they think and feel like that? Then a gi ay haired elder sermonized upon the inexhaustible topic, the sins of the world?after which the meeting closed. By a rear door I left the church with Mehitable?the world's people were departing by the front entrances. The gentleman with the tawny beard looked back, paused, stood watching me curiously. The aquiline-nosed lady in the rich dress touched his arm with her fan?she seemed bored, hot, displeased?they moved out together. That was all. The next day I was at work In the dairy when Brother Silas passed the open window. He thrust In his head and called out: "Sister Esther. 'Satan goeth about like a roaring lion." seeking whom he may devour!'" I gave a great start and dropped a pan of milk that I was lifting from a shelf. The white stream ran wildly across the yellow-painted floor. "You are as welcome to my eyes as the person you speak of, Brother Silas!" I answered, angrily, whereupon Mehitable gave me a severe look and ordered me to wipe up the milk. I was down on my knees at this task when I heard approaching footsteps, and, through the open door, saw an eldress enter the adjoining kitchen, followed by a party of strangers, to whom she was showing the place. The visitors were laughing and talking among themselves, and making various comments, quite regardless of listeners. "How clean these people are!" said a girl's voice. " 'Neat as a Shaker* ought to pass into a proverb. Oh, Mr. | Kirke, do you suppose they really enIJoy this life?" She spoke to a gentleman who was looking languidly around on the splintbottomed chairs and long deal tables and general bareness of the Shaker kitchen?the very person that I had seen at church on the previous day. "If they do not," he answered, "why should they voluntarily live it?" "Think how dull it must be!?no fashions, no flirtations, no lovers, and those dreadful caps and gowns would kill me In twenty-four hours. By-theway, did you notice the girl who led the singing at the church yesterday? Oh, I know you did?I saw you looking at her. Miss Johnsbury was Jealous." "Was she?' "I am sure of it?Jealousy is her prime weakness," with a teasing little laugh. "I wonder if it will be mine when I am engaged. Oh, I wish we could catch another glimpse of her? the pretty Shakeress, I mean." "I wish we could, from my heart!" answered Mr. Kirke. By this time they had reached the rlnlrif Hnnr The low window stood wide open. Before Mehitable could suspect my intention, I was out of it?over the sill, oft and away across the yard, leaving her to show her curds and cheeses and yellow butter unassisted. I saw no more of our visitors. That was a weary day. Everything went wrong and Mehitable scolded me roundly. In the early dusk I slipped unpereeived out of the kitchen, into a great garden which lay just beyond its door. 1 loved that garden. Immense beds of onions grew there, with white, flowering tops, rising like silver balls from the green, tube-like stalks; beds of ruddy beets and delicate, blossoming carrots, the broad, drooping leaves of the tobacco plant, green, trailing cucumbers and patches of vivid red tomatoes. Down the long, orderly walks I scurried toward the lake. The foot of the garden dipped straight into its waters. Here a rude wharf was built. I sat down near It under the elder bush, rejoicing in the stolen taste of freedom. The shadows of the hills stretched long and sharp across the smooth, brown lake. Down from the bank leaned thickets of water willows and pert Scotch-cap. bright with crimson flowers and more crimson fruit. A small gray bird sailed through the dusk, and, alighting on the velvet head of a tall reed near by, gave vent to one prolonged, melancholy note. I caught it from his silver throat and tossed it into the air with variations?I knew the song of every feathered thing in Hadham woods. Then we sat there and mocked each other?that gray atom and I?he on the brown cat-tail, I on the bank?until the whole place was alive with the bubble of our melody, and a dip of oars in the lake brought me suddenly to my feet and frightened the bird from the reed. A boat was making straight for the spot where I stood. It contained a single rower. He sprang boldly ashore? yea, straight into the Shaker garden, and lifted his hat to me. "Do not let me frighten you. Miss Fox," he said; "you see that I know your name. I had the good luck to hear it at the church yesterday. Mine, permit me to say, is Hallam Kirke." I must have made an odd picture in my Shaker cap and coarse gown, as I lifted my startled young face in the shadow of the willows. He advanced to my side, looking very fair and bold and eager. "Nobody calls me Miss Fox," I faltered, as I turned to fly. "I am only Sister Esther." "I will call you anything you like," he cried, putting himself 'deftly before me, "providing you will not run away. I heard you sing yesterday?it's a thousand pities that such a voice should be wasted here." I stopped, irresolute. Did he see anything in my tell-tale face whfch encouraged him to proceed? "May I ask if you have been long with these people?" he said. "Yea?from infancy." "Are they kind to you?do they compel you to work?" I looked at my, hard, brown hands with a bitter smile. ' fnlarato nn drnnps in their hives. Everybody works?yea, late and early, from year's end to year's end." His blond face was full of keen interest. "And pray what tasks do they assign to such as you?" he queried, under his breath. "Sometimes I make butter in the dairy, sometimes I wash clothes in the laundry, sometimes I scrub in the kitchen," I answered. "Good heaven! A girl like you? This is shameful?abominable! And are you content to bury your youth and beauty and talent here?do you like the life?are you happy?honestly, sincerely happy in it?" Hard questions. My mutinous mouth began to quiver. I felt the tears gather in my eyes. All the rebellion of years rushed to my lips for utterance. "1 hate it!" I cried, flinging out my brown hands suddenly, recklessly? "yea. I hate it!" Was he startled by my vehemence? He grew preternaturally grave. "You are among these people,." he said, quietly, "but not of them. You have nothing in common with them. You are discontented, unhappy. Let me be your friend?let me help you?" ^HhHE vhF w # a/ Jr O^oSSnr V'?w 'MY' KENESAW M. LANDIt. I recoiled in vague alarm. "You! Nay, you are of the world? the wicked world; you cannot be friends with our people." "There you greatly err," he answered, smiling; "try me and see." At that moment I heard, or fancied I heard, Mehitable's voice In the garden. "I must go," I cried, breathlessly. "I cannot talk with you any longer?it is wrong?I shall be discovered and punished." He seized my hand as I scrambled up the bank. "Punished? God forbid! Tomorrow, at this hour, you will come to this spot again?" I was too scared to answer. My foot slipped on the dewy grass. He caught me on his arm. I broke free and fled up the path and through the carrot and onion beds, but no Mehltable was there. I gained the shelter of the kitchen. Nobody had noticed my brief absence. I was quite safe. (To be Continued. THE MOON. Varying Estimates of the Size of the Orb. Hugo Munsterberg, professor of psychology at Harvard yniversity, In an^ Interesting article entitled "Nothing But the Truth," In McClure's, gives the following account of an experiment with some of his students: "I asked my men to compare the size of the full moon to that of some object held in the hand at arm's length. I explained the question carefully, and said that they were to describe an object Just large enough, when seen at aim's length, to. cover the whole full moon. My list of answers begins as follows: Quarter of a dollar; fair-sized cantaloupe; at the horizon, large dinner plate; overhead, dessert plate; my watch; six inches in diameter; silver dollar; hundred times as large as my watch; man's head; fifty-cent piece; nine inches in. diameter; grapefruit; carriage wheel; butter plate; orange; ten feet; two Inches; one-cent piece; school room clock: a pea; soup plate; fountain pen; lemon pie: palm of the hand; three feet in diameter; enough to show, again, the overwhelming manifoldness of the impressions received. To the surprise of my readers, perhaps, it may be added at once that the only man who was right was the one who compared it to a pea. It is most probable that the results would not have been different if I had asked the question on a moonlight night with the full moon overhead. The substitution of the memory image for the immediate perception can hardly have impaired the correctness of the Judgments. If in any court the size of a distant object were to be given by witness, and one man declared it as large as a pea and the second as large as a lemon pie and the third ten feet in diameter, it would hardly be fair to form an objective judgment till the psychologist had found out what kind of a mind was producing that estimate." > ?! MEXICAN RUINS. Two Villages Are Found, One Being Built Over the Other. Leopold Batres, director of the archeaological works of Mexico, reports an Important discovery at the ruins of San Juan Teothican, says a writer from Mexico City to the New York Sun. By excavation he has found that there were two villages, one above the other. In the corner of one of the rooms forming the group of buildings first uncovered he found the polished stones bearing the symbolic figure of the serpent's head. He had them removed and found under them the end of a gallery with a stone staircase. The exploration was continued along the stair and the gallery, until he discovered several buildings separated by narrow corridors and forming a real village, corresponding to that of the upper floor. The work has been done very carefully in order to prevent any accident. The ceiling of the lower ruins is to be supported by a strong iron frame and wnen mis is compieieu u win ur ble for the visitor to walk among the ruins. The stair that leads to the lower ruins is barely 100 yards long. In the upper ruins there was found some fresco work wonderfully preserved. Opposite the place where the frescoes were found a temple has just been uncovered. Magnificent stairs lead to the entrance of the building, the real size of which has not been ascertained. In order to facilitate the work of exploration a railroad three miles long will be built. Senor Batres intends to have everything ready for the coming visit of Secretary Root, and hopes to have him banqueted there. iHistflUturoufi grading. MOGRHEB-AL-AKSA. Morocco a Land Afflicted of God. Blsml 'llttht 1-Rahmani' r-Rahim." Such is the Koranic blessing which still precedes all the writings of AlIslam. "In the name of Allah, the All-Compassionate!" Brave words and sonorous; but in the Sunset land of Mogrheb they sound like a hideous mockery. For what compassion has Allah shown to Morocco? There the Iron heel of oppression presses relentlessly; and the groans of those beneath It go up to the All-Compassionate, who hears i them not. Surely It Is a land afflicted of God. I stoo<l, not long ago, In the Sok (which is the market place) at Tangier ?a wide, sandy space bounded by the southern walls of the "Christian ridden" city. It was crowded with men and beasts; Berbers, Moors, Jews, negroes and men from the Rlf country. All had something to sell, and the clamor of their cries rose, with the nameless abomination of the city odors, to the white-hot sky. A mean, squalid, ragwrapped crowd It was. and the fierce, lean, swarthy faces, framed In the shroud-like folds of their "haiks," glared out at me with hatred in their eyes. One white-bearded Moor, leading a miserable, half-raw donkey, drew a large following after him. Presently he came to a vacant space between the foul, tattered tents of the fruitsellers, and commenced his performance. In his hand he held a stick with a sharp-pointed nail at Its end, and, in obedience to its gentle persuasions, the melancholy ass stood upon its hind legs and danced. The onlookers yelled with laughter, and many of them gratuitously assisted the showman by prodding the animal (with a nice Judgment as to its most recent sere places) with sharp weapons. I went away sick at heart; but presently I learned to make allowances. These people were themselves treated in Just the same manner; and anyway a beast is lower than a man? liven if some men can be lower than fny beast. ; Then I adventured afar to many cities and villages In this unfortunate country, living the extreme simple life, and traveling: for the most part on mules, which are not amiable steeds. There are no wheeled vehicles In El Mogrheb; If thei'e were, there would be no roads for them. In course of time I came to a town set In the midst of orange-gardens and surrounded by groves of olives and Junipers. Seen In the light of the rising sun, It rose fair and white against the waking sky; but once inside the gates (outside, which crowds of horrible lepers clawed at us tor "floos") the old familiar .odors and compassed us about. Hamelda (who traveled with me for a consideration, and because he spote: the villainous Mogrhebbln which I Would not master) guided me to thfc Kasbah, and thence to the prison. There the scales fell from my eyes, and I understood all about the donkey at Jangler, the camels at Mazagan (which story I have not related), and other Inhuman practices witnessed in the dark places of the earth. If man treats his fellowman like a beast, his fellowman can scarcely do less than treat his beasts as something worse. The Moorish prisons on the coasts are swept and tidied and made presentable for the casual tripper from abroad. Those inland are different. The Moorish Maghzen does not feed Its prisoners in the Kasbah, their friends outside have to do this, If they cannot sell little wicker-work baskets to the Roumis. And In the towns of the Interior there are no Roumis to buy the little baskets; consequently the captive with no friends stands but a poor chance of ever coming out?alive. I remember the prison at Mazagan?seen from the rooftops as a hole in the ground? where (Allah forgive me for a Philistine and a globe-trotter!) I threw down "floos"?about sixteen to the penny?among the rabble. They actually Jeered at me (which I thoroughly deserved) and refused to scramble as promised by Hamelda. "Ingleese shlllln'!" yelled a precocious youth. He had seen globe-trotters before. But that was In Mazagan, and on the coast?a show place for trippers. In the town of which I now speak (for my own reason I do not mention Its name) the state of affairs is very different. "That very rich man once," said Hamefda. pointing to a decrepit wretch with red, eyeless sockets, and claw-like hands. "Basha no like. Like wife. Him much money. So he come here." A novel in a nutshell, if ever there was one! And it explained the whole working of life in Morocco. "To him that hath, to him shall be given," etc. The Basha of the town had coveted this man's wife; the man had refused to trade. There was a trumped-up charge (such things are easy in a land where the iron he J rules and the sultan is far away) and the result was this eyeless wreck, leg-ironed and with hands transformed into claws by the salt-torture, slowly starving in the pestilential prison of . I looked at the hopeless, miserable faces,, the lean forms and ragged garments of the others confined in this noisome pest-house. "When will they be liberated," I asked. Hamelda laughed. "Inshallah bukra," he said. This was the equivalent of the Spanish "manana"?with a devout attachment. "Please God, tomorrow," say the Arabs. It is the epigram of laziness. After this I went away and saw heads impaled over gates, bones and other things unspeakable displayed to I he vulgar and disinterested gaze, and was properly and most righteously sick. Then the Basha gave me mint tea ?three glasses?and I looked at his portly build and wondered. Wondered until a big black slave came before him and asked him something about an execution. (So Hameida translated.) The yellow tinted whites of his eyes never changed. He waved his hand with a careless, imperial gesture, and the black disappeared swiftly. "Take his head off, and don't bother me any more!" was what I imagined him to say; and probably some poor wretch, whose deadliest sin was his inability to pay his taxes, was con .signed to Al-Hawlyat?the Seventh Hell of Mohammed?minus a head. We of Europe talk about "policing" Morocco. Let us talk It over and execute all the Kalds, Bashas, Khalifas, and people in authority. These are the evil genii; the people themselves are only driven to ciime by wrought oppression. Send no missionaries?for the Moors are strong in their own religion; but send a strong man?preferably a soldier?who shall administer justly and wrong no one; but, above all, kill or Imprison (which under existing circumstances is the same | thing) the wearers of the iron heel. So shall Morocco be saved. But how long are the oppressed to wait? When will Deliverance knock at the gates? "Inshallah bukra!"? Pall Mail Gazette. WET AhD DRY. Where to Go and Where Not to Go. With four states "dry" by statute, and local option , prevailing In many others. It Is said that more than half the nation Is under prohibition laws. Maine, North Dakota, Kansas and Georgia are the states where statutory prohibition rules. The following statement of the conditions regarding the states where license and local prohibition exist In varying degrees, compiled by temperance advocates, is as follows: Alabama?Majority of the counties dry; part of others also. A county option law has Just been passed, moving for state prohibition in the next two or three years. Arkansas?Sixty out of seventy-eight counties dry. Much dry territory in other counties. California?Four dry counties and much dry territory in other counties. Colorado?Local option law, 1907. Connecticut?Town local option; ninety-six no-license to seventy-six license towns. Delaware?Half-dozen dry towns. State no-license campaign; vote on Nov. 5, 1907. j Florida?Thirty dry counties out of forty-five. Few saloons in the state. Move for state prohibition, led by Gov. Broward. i Idaho?License. Sunday law only, passed in 1905. Illinois?Probably 200 dry towns. Local option law, recently passed. Two ( dry counties. Indiana?Three dry counties; 710 dry townships out of 1,016. Half of popu- | lation In dry territory. Iowa?Sixty-five out of ninety-nine counties; dry; eleven other counties , have only one saloon town. Move for ; state prohibition again under way. i Kentucky?Ninety-seven out of 110 counties dry; only four counties entirely wet. Saloons close on Sundays. Louisiana ? Seven-eighths of state dry. Orders may not be solicited or received in dry territory. Maryland?Ten out of twenty-three counties dry, two nearly dry and two others where liquor is sold in only one place. , Massachusetts?Local option by cl- , ties and towns, 250 being dry and 100 ( wet. Laws strict and well enforced. Michigan?County option, with a few dry counties. If county votes wet ( It reverses dry vote in small unit. Minnesota?License, with village lo- , cal option; 1,123 dry municipalities. , Sunday closing in entire state. Mississippi?Sixty-eight out of seventy-five counties dry. State prohibition campaign actively under way. , Missouri?Forty counties dry. Sunday closing rigidly enforced by Governor Folk. Montana?License. Nebraska?Village and city option; 400 dry and 600 wet towns. Nevada?License with little restrlc- < tlon. No chance to vote on question i of prohibition. New- Hampshire?Nominally prohi- : bitlon, modified by local sentiment. Trend Is toward prohibition; 62 per I cent of population in dry territory. New Jersey?Local option law. New York?Town and township option; 300 dry towns. North Carolina?Few saloons; cam- i paign for state prohibition, with the governor leading the fight. Ohio?Out of 1,376 townships, 1,140 are dry, 60 per cent of municipalities dry and 350,000 people living In dry residence districts in wet cities. County prohibition assured?probably at next session. Oregon?Twelve dry counties and i 170 dry municipalities in other counties. Oklahoma?535 saloons In the state. Part formerly in Indian Territory has | had prohibition twenty-one years and constitutional convention adopted similar provision to apply to entire state if so declared by popular vote on Sept. 17. 1907. Pennsylvania?License, with privilege of remonstrance. i Rhode Island?Sixteen dry municipalities out of thirty-eight. South Carolina?Recently passed a county local option and repealed dispensary law; move for state prohibition following Georgia's victory. South Dakota?Large section of the state dry. Tennessee?Saloons excluded from all but three municipalities In the state; state prohibition predicted in three years. Texas?two-thirds of state dry by local option; state prohibition campaign under way. Utah?License. Vermont?Dry. save twenty-four municipalities; entire state and every county in state show majority against license: state prohibition expected shortly. Virginia?Much dry territory. West Virginia?Thirty dry counties out of fifty-five; governor publicly opposes liquor traffic. Wisconsin?Local option, with 6f>0 dry communities. A rizona?License. District of olumbia?Ratio of saloons to population reduced more than half during the last fifteen years. New Mexico?License.?Barr and Buffet. The largest passenger locomotive In the world has just been completed for the Pennsylvania railroad. The new locomotive will have six 80-inch drivers and will weigh 240,000 pounds. T'he weight on the drivers will be 170,000 pounds. The locomotive will be used on the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburg for the run between that city and Crestline, Ohio! 8CHEME8 OF SMUGGLER8. Tricks Often Tried, But Almost Certain to Be Detected. I have met all kinds of smugglers, writes a customs officer in the Ladies' Home Journal, but the most picturesque, in my memory, was the bogus minister with the imitation Bible. The man, who was dressed in strict clerical garb, had one trunk; It contained nothing beyond ordinary wearing annftrel. He carried a large hand Bible which on the face of It was personal property! and so not dutiable. The trunk, man and Bible were properly passed. But there Is many a slip. As my pious clergyman went down the gangplank he stubbed his foot hard against a nallhead and fell sprawling on the dock. The Bible flew out of his hand and the corner of it struck the boards. The shock of the fall produced an unexpected result. A secret spring was touched, a little door in the cover of the Bible flew open and the floor blazed with the light of a hundred small diamonds. It was the cleverest bit of mechanism imaginable. The smuggler was arrested at once, tried and convicted, and his diamonds were confiscated, and. If I mistake not, the mechanical "Bible" Is now in the secret service offlce. While this particular device was novel, the custom of secreting gems Is as old as the government. On one occasion seizure was made of a small lot of rubles hidden In the hollow heel of a man's shoe. As for women, they conceal things about the person In such a way as to make the search both delicate and difficult. In this connection It Is interesting to know that the United States has a complete system by which contemplated frauds are detected and prevented. Experienced men are posted In London, Paris, Berlin and other large centres. They keep In touch with the great business houses and If an unusually large purchase of Jewelry or millinery or dress goods is made the fact is flashed over the wires to the collectors of the principal ports. A special watch is kept on dressmakers who go abroad to make their purchases. If the goods are all declared at their proper value on arrival in this country all goes well. If not, there Is trouble. One occasion I remember was when a dressmaker brought over twenty trunks filled with the latest Parisian creations. They were all properly declared, but the values were suspiciously low. However, she corroborated the declaration by the presentation of bills for every one of the articles. This looked like confirmation as strong as It was possible to obtain, and the matter might have ended there. But madame, growing audacious, made a fatal blunder. She said "If you don't believe me you can cable to Paris and verify the figures." It was a bluff?an Insolent as well as a superfluous bluff. It was her undoing. The customs authorities did cable?not to the merchants?but to the American customs agent In Paris. Ir. forty-eight hours the collector received a cable dispatch reading: "Suspicious; hold." In ten days there came a long letter detailing the results of the investigation. It proved that madame had forged a set of bills undervaluing the goods 40, 50 and in some cases 60 per cent. They were all confiscated, of course, and later sold. Women, I am sorry to say, are natural smugglers. Those who hold high positions In society do not hesitate to "take chances." They are not mere vulgar smugglers, but a ring or a breastpin or a wrap that should be declared Is frequently worn In order to avoid paying the duty. Then, of course, we have the professional women smugglers. They give the woman searchers no end of trouble. Once a woman was found with a set of fine pearls hidden in her thick black hair. Women, as a .rule, become hysterical when they are caught with the goods on them. The female searchers show all possible consideration: but when they have a duty to perform they usually perf< rm it with firmness, as well as discretion. In these days a woman passenger is not searched unless suspicion approaches moral certainty. When It does she Is taken to an apartment on the wharf or In the boat, where all due privacy Is assured. There have been Instances where the suspicion was not verified, but they are quite rare. The observance of a few simple general rules helps very greatly to make smooth sailing for an inspector. One of them Is that while an inspector is sworn to protect the revenues, he Is also supposed to use his brains In Interpreting the law. He soon becomes accustomed to taking the declarations of Incoming passengers. This is usually done by the boarding officers, who go down on the tug and meet the steamers at quarantine. There is a regular printed form and the passengers declare under oath to a customs officer before leaving the vessel the number of trunks and other packages they have, together with their dutiable contents. One day an angry passenger said to me: "I don't mind making the declaration, but I do mind having my trunk's contents ripped open on the pier. How is it you compel a man to take an oath that he is not a smuggler and afterward try to convict him of perjury : I remembered what Secretary Shaw had said on the subject and I quoted: "If all people were honest one or the other of these requirements might be avoided, but under existing conditions It has been found Impracticable to omit either." There .Is nothing so much misunderstood as the $100 exemption law. Under this clause In the law an American who goes abroad may purchase and bring In duty free $100 worth of foreign made goods. But the $100 must consist of wearing apparel, articles of personal adornment, toilet articles and similar personal effects necessary for the comfort and convenience of the passenger. The point Is here: A traveler may bring home a suit of clothes purchased In London; two or three pairs of gloves made In Paris; some sliver matchboxes from Switzerland, or even a diamond pin from South Africa, so long as the total value of the articles comes within the $100. But If the tourist should see a fascinating pin for $1 he could not bring home 100 of them for distribution among his friends as souvenirs of his trip' without paying the usual duty. Nor could he bring 60 or 25 or even 10 pins. lie could bring two or three or?if he met a liberal minded inspector?five or six. A woman is not permitted to bring home two or three dozen pairs of gloves as gifts for her friends without paying the duty. In brief, the articles must be personal and not for distribution or sale, even if the recipients are her sisters and her cousins and her aunts. The desire to evade the. law seems to be Inborn In most persons. Thoughtless passengers try to tip inspectors when they know that such a thing is against the spirit and the letter of the law, and may even lead to the dismis- sal of the inspector. The same persons at home will berate the man who takes a bribe and never think it condemning themselves for offering It. I shall never forget the Black Friday In the custom house when more than forty Inspectors were summarily dismissed for accepting: tips?some persons called them bribes. It came about Indirectly through the strange moral perversity of that class of tourists who think It justifiable and clever to defraud the government. I have known presidents of banks to connive at little evasions of the law, and I have Witnessed men who pass around the plate at church when they are at home trying to persuade an Inspector to mark their goods 30 to 40 per cent less than the actual value. We Inspectors became very cautious after that wholesale dismissal. Indeed I even refused to handle the money for duties, and compelled, the passengers to go directly to the appraisers on the dock. ' ? MAGNETIC VE88EL8. Experiments Carried Out During the Construction of a. Steamship. An interesting paper was recently read on the "Magnetic Character of Vessels," by Captain W. Bartllng, I. N. ' R., before the Northeast Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders. The first portion of it dealt with some experiments carried out during the construction of the steamship Thueringen at the works of the Weser Shipbuilding company, of Bremen, says the Engineer. The first observation, which was taken ten weeks after the double bottom was built and riveted, showed the polarlc power of the ship to be 25 per cent. A month later, when more material had been built In, the Induction had advanced to about 34 per cent, and so on, until when the vessel was ready for launching she was a magnet of considerable power, having about 57 per cent of the horizontal magnetic power of the earth. Then, when launched, the vessel was swung Into a position very nearly diametrically opposite to that In which It was built. The result was that the magnetic power decreased from day to day?considerably quicker, it may be mentioned, thair it had frown?until, after twenty days, it was only 15 per cent of the earth's power. As a consequence of this, the standard compass on the flying bridge went to sea without a compen-' sating magnet, and the steering compass, which was also on the flying bridge, only needed one compensating magnet. It Is interesting to compare these results with those obtained with a sister vessel. When launched the magnetic conditions of the second vessel were found to be practically the same as those of the first. The vessel, however, was not swung, and her head during completion pointed In exactly the same direction as during building. The magnetic power continually increased, and Anally reached a value of 68 per cent of the earth's power. Consequently, no less than seven compensating magnets were required In the compass, this, of course. Impairing Its efficiency. 8LANG. Often Language In the Making and Best Part of It A source of questionable words, different from unwitting corruption and false analogy, Is slang, says the London Spectator. Slang Is often indiscriminately assailed as though it were not language in the making, and often the best part of language, too?Its most nutty ldoms. Slang is commonly, Indeed, the expression of concentrated vitality. It is often metaphor, as In the case of much American slang, and the brain must work at higher pressure to produce metaphor than to produce simile. "To strike oil," "to pan out," "to side track," "to get a cinch on," all these are vivid metaphors, and emerge directly from the experiences of the nation that created them. A man Is "sidetracked" by his superiors; we see a picture of him derelict and silent on the siding, while the main stream of traffic roars successfully past him. We have the similar "shelved" and "shunted," and from the South African war that word of curious analogies, "Stellenbosched." But none of these is so descriptive as "sidetracked." "Fed up" (French soupe) is, perhaps, our best slang legacy from South Africa. A "cinch" is the girth of a horse and consequently anything that can be made metaphorically to grip hard and well beyond the possibility of slipping. To put It In one word, a "cinch" means a certainty. "To fire out," which latterly has become simply "to fire," Is indisputably more vivid than 'to sack," or even than "to boot." The American "rubberneck" is also excellent for a prying person. "Back, rubbernecks!" when ejaculated by an American policeman Is said to have an instantaneous effect on an inquisitive but sensitive crowd. 'They telescope yards," as an American once explained to the writer. Different, again, are words which are not metaphors, but have a native expressiveness, such as "shyster." A "shyster" in its first sense means only a man who hangs about police courts (generally one who was formerly an usher, clerk or policeman) and conducts cases, though unqualified as a lawyer. But who does not feel that a "shyster" is capable de tout? Greek and Latin had no slang, unless one discovers it in Aristophanes and Martial, but in mediaeval and modern languages we should get into a sad mess if we did not take account of it. &T The average hen lays eighty eggs per year.