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CHAPTER 0 THE EARLIEST TO Eft A People Whose Persecut the ? Were Enjoying a High Sta perity During Dark A Tori'ihl V Jit tho 1^/1 V/U. O. VX A AMAJ V?V ?MW Armenia, the land to which America now is sending food relief, and which recently suggested that it be placed under the direct protection of the United States, is discussed by Hester Donaldson Jenkins in a communication to the National Geographic society. A portion of this communication, describing the Armenians before the devastations of the world war, follows: "Armenia is a word that has widely different connotation for different peoples. To us Americans it means a vague territory somewhere in Asia Minor; to the makers of modern maps it means nothing?there is no such place: to the Turks of a few years ago it was a forbidden name, smacking of treason and likely to bring up that bugaboo 'nationalism', than which Abdul Hamid II feared nothing more, unless it were 'liberty'; but to nearly two millions of Russian, Persian, ana Turkish subjects it is a word filled with emotion, one that sends the hand to the heart and calls up both pride and sorrow. "Armenia is not easy to bound at any period of history, but, roughly, it is the tableland extending from the Caspian sea nearly to the Mediterranean sea. Its limits have become utterly fluid; the waves of conquering Persians and Byzantines, Arabs and Romans, Russians and Turks have flowed and ebbed on its shores until all lines are obliterated. Armenia now is not a state, not even a geographic unity, but merely a term for the region where the Armenians live. "At the height of its power and at * its greatest extent the ancient kingdom of Armenia consisted of 500,000 square miles of fertile tableland, extending from the Black sea and the Caucasus mountains to Persia and Syria. It rises until it reaches 8,000 feet above the sea, then it ascends abruptly to the snow-capped peak of Mount Ararat, which is 1,000 feet higher than Mount Blanc. The land is fertile, rugged and beautiful. "Into the soil of this beautiful land the Armenians have thrust deep roots. No brief civilization is theirs dating back to Mayflower or even Norman Conquest, but one that is almost coterminous with recorded history; and every Armenian feels behind him this vast antiquity, giving him personal dignity and great national pride. They begin their history with the Garden of Eden, which they claim was in Armenia , basing the claim on the native statement that the land is beautiful enough to have included Paradise, and also laughingly asserting that the apples of Armenia were worthy to tempt a most Epicurean Eve. Their first recorded ancestors they find in the book of Genesis. "Their appearance is definitely eastern; swarthy, heavy-haired, blackeyed, with aquiline features; they look more Oriental than Turk, Slav, or Greek. In general type they come closer to the Jews than to any other people, sharing with them the strongly-marked features, prominent nose, the near-set eyes, as well as some gestures we think of as characteristically Jewish. The type is so pronounced that to those who are akin to them they seem often very handsome, while to westerners they seem a little too foreign-locking. Of course, the type is not always preserved white skins, even an occasional rosy cheek may be seen, and there is a small number of fair-haired and blue-eyed Armenians. "The resemblance to the Jews does not stop with physical features, for the fate of the two peoples has been sufficiently similar to bring out common traits. Like the Jews, the Armenian has been oppressed and persecuted, and has developed a strength of nat* tonality, a love for his own people, and a persistence of type rarely seen elsewhere. Like the Jew, he has learned to bend, not break, before the oppressor, and to succeed by artifice when opposed by force. How else had he survived? Like the Jew, he has developed strong business instincts, and like him he has a talent for languages, a power of concentration, and unusual artistic gifts. Both Jews and Armenians are very clever actors. " 'Independent Armenia,' now a cherished hope, once was a reality, as shown by an interesting sketch of the land's history, from a communication to the National Geographic society by Hester Donaldson Jenkins. "Emerging from traditions, a distinct people appears about 1,000 B. C., dwelling on the tablelands near Ararat. Have no natural boundaries, the state was seldom independent, but w;as subjugated in turn by Babylonia, the Medes and Persians, Seleucidae and the Romans. The ancient Oriental idea of conquest left, however, a good chance of national development. Conquest meant little more than tribute. The Armenians boast of a proud culture during the ancient period and lines of noble kings. The Armenians were closely allied to the Parthians by religion, culture, and propinquity, and were one of the few ancient people who were never Hellenized. "It is in the early Middle Ages? ages that we of the west call 'dark' but that to the near east was a period of great culture?that Armenia attains * '?1 * onH it is through Its nignesi (jusuivu, w.?? .. ? _ Christianity that it made its contribution to the world. "In the year 310 A. D. years before the establishment of the Greek church, the Armenian church was founded by Krikor or Gregory the Illuminator, and Armenia became the bulwark of Christianity in the east. Gregory was baptized by Christian relatives in his childhood. His story is an interesting one. telling of an early marriage, the birth of two sons; then of his 'vocation* and entrance into a monastery; of his attaching himself to Tlradates, who soon became king; of Tiradates persecution of Gregory because he would not accept the old gods; of years in prison: of his release in response to a vision: his miracles; the conversion of Tiradates and the baptismof a thousand Armenians, until in eight years Armenia was fully Chris N ARMENIA IBRACE CHRISTIANITY ;ion Has Equaled That of lews. te of Civilization and Prosges of Europe?Have Suf-| Hands of Islam, tianized and the religion was adopted by the state. The mummied hand of Saint Gregory is still laid on the head of every bishop at his consecration, thus carrying on tl.e most perfect apostolic succession in the world. "The glories of independent Armenia quickly passed. With the seventh century there arose a power in the east more fatal to Armenia than any of her ancient enemies?the religion and Islam. Like wildfire, the religion of Mohammed spread from Mecca to Gibraltar; but when it reached the Armenian people it found a substance it could not consume; the Armenians could not be converted to Islam, although their kingdom could be burned to ashes and their people enslaved. Like fire and water, Islam and Christianity met and struggled, but neither could destroy the other, until they settled down in the same land, sullenly irreconcilable. "The races might long ago have been blended, for they are not temperamen*?11" ?Knt nn tha PAn _ itxuy an lagumonvi uut, vn v?*v w??trary, well fitted to be friends; but the two clashing; religious, each claiming the world for its kingdom, could never be reconciled. "First, as the followers of the prophet conquered Syria and the Armenian provinces of Byzantium, came the Arabs; later came the Seljuk, Turks and subjugated part of Armenia, and finally the Ottoman Turk conquered a vast empire and set up his mosque in Agia Sofia, "Mohammed the Conqueror had not enough Moslem subjects to fill his empire or his conquered city, so he accepted his great body of Christian subjects with tolerance of their laws, customs, and religion. He left the "Rayahs', or Christians, contemptuously alone, granting them, however, no civil or military advancement unless they accepted Islam. "The Ottoman Empire was organl- ' zed into 'millets,' a religious division, there being an orthodox millet, a Gregorian millet, a Catholic millet, and a 1 Jewish millet, and in the nineteenth century a Protestant millet Each of "i these millets has its head, who is its < representative or ambassador at the ! Porte. This is not a purely ecclesias- < tical position but is really a diplomat- I ic and political office and demands in- i tellectual rather than spiritual qual- '< locations. t 1 "The 'Armenian Question' was 1 brought about by the entrance of < Russia upon the stage. Toward the 1 end of the eighteenth century the pro- < vince of Karabag, peopled by 200,000 i Armenians and 100,000 Moslems, and ! governed by Armenian chiefs under < the suzerainty of Persia, was conquered by Russia, so that Armenia 1 was divided between Persia, Russia, ' and Turkey. The Armenians in ' Persia have been treated well and 1 are content; the Armenians in Tur- 1 key were enjoying fair treatment up 1 to 1876. 1 But the trouble had begun, for Rus- 1 sia had framed a policy for the protection of the 'Rayahs' of the Otto- : man empire ana annoyeu iumcy u.> her intervention and demands for 'reform.' At first it was her coreligionists, the orthodox Christians, Slav or Greek, whom Russia sought to protect, but later it included the Armenians. "In 1876 there came to the throne of Turkey one of the most cruel and abominable tyrants whom the world has ever known?Abdul Hamid II. Shortly after occurred the Russo-Turkish war. At the treaty of San Stefano, that closed the war the grievances of the Armenians were definitely put forward, and Russia engaged to carry out reforms 'in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians and to guarantee the security against Kurds and Circassians.' " LAKE BAIKAL. One of the Largest Fresh Water Bodies In the World. American railroad engineers who will doubtless come to Siberia in large numnnnniu>iinn with thp rporErftniza tion of the Trans-Siberian railwaywrites an Associated Press correspondent from Irkutsk, will have much to do with the region of the famous Lake Baikal which is skirted on the south and southeast by the great Russian railroad. It is possible in the winter months to cross the lake on sleds, thus varying the monotony of the long journey, and in summer by embarking on a steamer. But the builders of the railroad found it desirable to have a safe all-rail passage to Vladivostok, so the way was hewed through ranges of hills. The tunnels are nowguarded by Japanese troops. Lake Baikal, which is one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world is called 'The Holy Sea' by the Rus sians who live in us vicinity, at 10 only exceeded in size by the American lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron and by Lake Nyanza in Africa. In contour it resembles the human heart. It attains at certain joints the great depth of 3,185 feet. A number of islands may be seen as one crosses the water in the navigable season. The Buriats, descendants of the Mongolians, who are found numerously in the Baikal region, have a superstitious reverence for the island of Olkhon as being the residence of the infernal divinity, Begdozy, who is supposed to have under his care the souls of the damned. The scientist, Gheorghli who visited the island in 1772, declared that at no place in the then known world were so many sacrifices made as on this island. According to another Mongolian tradition, Olkhon was the domain and home of the ancient hero, Genghis-Khan. ' Americans who have seen the rocky human profile in the White Mountains of New Hampshire would be interested in the spectacle on the eastern shore of the lake, to the north of Cape Holy, where the summit of a perpendicular column of jagged rock resembles the colossal head c." a man, with a long nose, and with the eyes represented by profound and sombre cavities. In the crevasse which makes the mouth flocks of cormorants build their nests. The idolatrous Buriat priests and the Lama priests regard the sub- I marine rock situated near the point where the mighty Augara river finds its source in Lake Baikal as being es'pecially sacred. They hold it to be the J refuge of the "Invincible White God," and offer up many sacrifices. The water is pure and transparent. The climate is rigorous. The summer is short and the nights for the most part are cold. In winter the tern- ( perature falls to 40 degrees below zero, v Fahrenheit. Violent winds driving from the Arctic region produce short, perpendicular waves which, during c storms, reach a height of seven feet. v Fish are abundant and a welcome j3 food to the people. CONFIDENCE MEN'S HARVEST. J tamU ?m nnn nnn from the Credulous ' I VVf\ y i Vfvvwfwvw ?... Public Last Year. The American confidence men reaped ^ a harvest of more than $10,000,000 last year, according to figures compiled 1 'by Chicago authorities. This is the approximate amount actually collected r from the credulous public by professional confidence operators and does 'not include the millions gathered in * annually by various stockjobbing 1 schemes. 0 The crude devices of the old time q confidence man, with his shell game, three card monte, gold brick, green 1 goods, money changing and "lemon" ^ games, have given way to modern methods, more complex and more pro- r fitable. The successful confidence men ^ of today have summer and winter n homes, ride in limousines, and are e aided by richly gowned women, author- p ities say. They are educated and far c more clever than their brothers of old * days. Land selling schemes, selling worthless mine and oil stock, wire tapping u and "fake" sporting events are now 1 the hand .maidens of the modern con- 1 fldence man, who matches wits with v the banker, capitalist, and lawyer, in- v stead of dealing with the ignorant ruralite. Nearly all the victims of a e Chicago gang recently sent to the pen- v itentiary were bankers and business h men. The gang's loot aggregated more r than half a million dollars a year. ? mnat victims Fear or puoucuy ncci? u.v.. quiet, thus giving the high-class con- ^ fldence man' a certain degree of im- s munity. They add that Federal prose- ' cution for using the mails to defraud u has been a big factor in breaking up n gangs and recently brought about con- 11 viction of half a dozen leading con- w fldence workers. b "Tom Brown, who came from Detroit and made his headquarters in New York, was father of the present a type of confidence man," said William 81 A. Pinkerton, verteran detective, in striking a comparison between the old C) and new swindlers. "He operated forty years ago and formerly was a three- *1 card monte man. He was known as a b bunco steerer and won by fake lottery "J schemes, and other crooked gambling ? devices. Then he invented the gold b- ick with which he toured the coun- n try. The green goods game came later w and Brown had many imitators who b picked up thousands annually. Modem operators don't bother with small c' money and often clear up $100,000 in a single deal. The old timers thought b 51,000 a big job. "Victims are not really honest at heart, for they often enter into a w scheme to cheat another fellow. The ? 3mall-town banker and business man S( has proved a shining mark for swlnd- ? lers. They cannot risk their reputations by complaining. It is surprising ' how many shrewd business men fall a Into the net." a It is estimated that $3,000,000 of the $10,000,000 total was obtained in Flo- n rida, where hundreds of confidence 0 workers are said to operate, particularly among winter tourists. h , , , h Battles and Lemonade. "It was up in th* Soissons sector? round Mondidier way?that th' first battle was fought. Th' first thing that you heard much about was th' y big fight in June; but ye saw action, ^ an' plenty of it, in Cantigny on th* 28th of May. I remember it all Just J as clear?how I was takin' a couple ' ' * a *U? o' 'tin Lizzies' up to in nuni.?m mm ^ was supplies in it, th' other holdin' a ^ couple of th' girls?when I got my first d hint that there was trouble ahead. j( That first hint was a gang o' Boche Q prisoners that some doughboys was bringing back. , "I suppose when I saw those prlsoners 1 shouldn't turned those Liz- ^ zies around?an' started home. But somehow I didn't want to. an' the giris (. were game and?well' we kept on Q goln\ d "Pretty soon?almost sooner than ^ it takes to tell it?we were in th' thick of It. I can't explain to you what it ^ was like! But there was wounded men t lyin' all about?and dead men. An' j it was hot?for May. An' the wounded men were askin' fer something to ( drink. We had a lot of lemons in with th* supplies. An' when we heard th' ^ men callin* we emptied those lemons v out o' th' ground an' while 1 went back <1 to a spring for water th' girls was d squeezin' th' juice out of them an" ( puttin' sugar with it. An' they had it ' ready when I got back with th' water. ^ An' we went down th* line with it. in a buckets. We had gallons of it?more lemonade than I ever saw at once be- j fore."?Christian Herald. c 0 Model Town for Negroes.?A model a town, constructed by the government n * ?"?no fnrmnrlv _ exclusively ior wgrues, s opened with appropriate ceremonies t Sunday and Truxton, Vn., as the new 0 town is known, took its place on the s map as a suburb of Portsmouth. t Built primarily as a war measure to ^ aid the great Hampton Roads naval s base, the 224 buildings in the little n town will not be sold immediately by the government but will be rented from $16 to $18 monthly. n The town is one of the 24 housing ^ projects the United States housing j corporation is rapidly completing throughout the country for the gov- ' ernment. representing a returnable ( value of more than $25,000,000 and consisting of 6,000 houses and 64 ' apartments which by the end of June ^ will be returning $2,500,000 per year ( In rentals to the government. Final disposition of the houses rests with j congress. Truxton covers 90 acres and contains six store buildings which it is proposed to operate under a stock ' company formed by the tenants. \ Members of the negro race are taking j great interest in Truxton and a negro advisory commission under T. C. Irwin, supervisor of negro economics for Virginia, is co-operating. Industrial concerns throughout the country also are watching the experiment G with a view to similar provision for 1 housing negro workers. f THE QUALITY OF SINCERITY. It Is a Rare Tribute and High Abov Price. There is nothing in the world s are as sincerity. As self-interest 1 he motive which actuates most peopl n their relations with others, It is bet or promoted by ingenious deceptloi han by downright candor. So grea s the vanity of mankind that it 1 sasy to deceive even a man of tfr vorld by 'flattering him artfully. W< ove to delude ourselves, and, there ore, others have the opportunity o leluding us if they can only find- ou veek point. Hamlet told Rosencrant: i.nd Guildenstern that they wanted t< 'play upon him," to pluck out thi leart of his mystery" and to "soun< lim from his lowest note to the top o lis compass." He defied them to dt his, but he showed himself an entirel; Xceptional character in not allowini limself to be played upon. It was Hamlet, too, who usea im phrase, " 'Tis as easy as lying"?ant lere the philosophic prince of den nark was mistaken, for nothing ii larder than to lie successfully. But indeed, the worst form of false lood is to be one's self a living lie "here are men?I will not for the sakt T gallantry add that there are womer -who are always "acting a part.' "hey pretend to be what they are not 'hey simulate sentiments which the; lo not really entertain. Though self, sh in the extreme, they profess t positively altruistic humanitarianism 'hey are time-savers, but they try t< nake others believe that they despls< xpedlency and that they act only or irinclple. Such persons are best desribed as "shams" or "humbugs." Anc et they may be persons who hav< never told a lie." But even when we wish to be geninely sincere it is not so easy as th< houghtless may suppose to carry ou1 he wish in practice. To say what re mean and to make the person t< fhom it is said fully grasp our meanig is an art which even the literarj xpert may not have mastered. Conersation may consist of either delierate or unintentional deception. On? eason why it has become a "lost art' i that we are all in too great a hurry tc " 1 ?*? *?? few minutes Wf :ilK, UIIU liiai in .. evote to talking we reveal only the urface of our minds. Misunderstandigs under such circumstances are natral, and we often misunderstand and lisjudge those who mean to be abso. itely sincere. Thus because of the Mid haste of modern life the tongue do often betrays the heart. Sometimes is seems better to remain Inarticulate," as Carlyle would say nd not speak at all rather than say omething which misrepresents oui *ue feelings but which cannot be realled. There is much to be said for the noble silent men?" I am quoting tie sage, or, as his revilers might peraps term him, the churl of Chelseascattered here and there, each in his wn department silently thinking, si:ntly working, whom no morning ewspaper makes mention of." Today re have too many "soapbox orators,' ut we have too few capable conversaonalists. Publicity and the exigenles of business have all but destroyed ie grand old ease of intercourse ol ygone days. We have all from time to time ut? ?red impudent words?we bave said rhat we did not mean to say?and my wn errors in this respect make mt ametimes feel a desire to take a view f perpetual 9ilence like a uannusmi tonk. And yet.we must speak. Is not the im of life to express our own personlity, to unfold our being, to prove tc le world that we are individuals and ot nonentities? This at least is pari f .life's aim. if it be not the only thing rat we live for?there is also the igher plane in which life should armonize with some ideal of perfecon. We all photograph ourselves every ay by our very actions if there were nly a spiritual camera to take a true icture of each one of us. Even when re do not utter a single word, those rith whom we live read our countennces and divine our thoughts. Few len are enigmas to their wives hough to their male friends they may rear the aspect of heroes or social deligods. Close relationship is pitifully isenchanting, and the most change;ss domestic love has a background f lost illusions. The man who wishes o preserve his dignity at any cosi hould never get married. Be sure his better half' will soon discover thai e is a "mere man." There are persons who have culivated a false manner, a false fashion f speaking, a sort of conversational lplomacy which might be called fachiavellian if it were not too petty ;> be associated with the Florentine's ig scheme of monarchic disslmulaion. If diplomats must pose, they pose .1 the interests of nations. But the ian with the false manner poses enirely in his own interest. Strange as it may. seem to say so ew of us understand even those with ,hom we are most intimate. We freuently misunderstand them, and suet eplorable misunderstandings may al Imes make us almost hate those whom ire love and who love us. t$ouy ant pirit are never entirely "en rapport,' nd so it is that there may be falseess in caresses. Our earthly love has n it a histrionic element. The lovei annot help acting. How could it be therwise? The love of the sexes is lways special pleading. No young ruin is so "fine" as the girl he adores upposes him to be, and no maider hat ever lived is faultless in face r in character. The romance of courthip is a species of make-believe, anc his is realized on both sides when tne rilllant colors of romance are dlsin fho era v nrnsp of matri nony. In the end the old are more trulj ineere than the young. They art iearing the end of life's journey anc mve ceased to deceive themselves Msillusioned and yet hopeful, thej re too sadly serious to attempt to deeive others. Their gaze is concentraed on the far horizon, and in th( pirit of truth they calmly salute r vorld trom wnicn mey muni m/v,.. iart. There is no despair in these vetrans as they bid the survivors fare veil, for they know that sooner 01 [iter those they leave behind must In-vitality follow them. And perhaps th< nst words they would utter if thej tad time, to think before goinp awa; vould be these: "He true!"?"Lucian" n Rochester Post Express, Cotton Goods Strong.?Cotton goodi narkcts have continued very stronj iccording to a market survey sent ou ast Friday from New York. Price! lave advanced so rapidly that man; selling agents have withdrawn all quotations to await a more settled condition. The rise in gray cloths has been very sharp. Jobbers have been seeking to buy late into the fall while several of the manufacturing o and converting trades have offered to s buy to the end of the year. Mills conceded a wage advance of 15 per cent to become effective June 2. Prints and percales have been withit drawn from sale by the largest prot ducers after large sales were made at the last high prices. Wide sheets ings have been advanced and some e lines of pillow tubing are two cents e a yard higher than a week ago. Bleached cottons are up from one to two cents a yard. Colored cottons f have sold in a large way for home r and export shipment. The rise in some prices since the middle of March has reached 50 per 0 cent and several quotations now cure rent on gray cottons as higher than j those prevailing under .the govern. ment fixed price system. 1 Southern jobbers have been large 5 and active buyers but the great bulk y of the new business has come from the converters, the manufacturing trades, and the exporters. ? REAL DOGS OF WAR. 1 They Made a Place for Themselves in Fight Between Allies and Germans. "Add dogs to any list of the potent factors in winning the war!" counsels a bulletin from the Washington head5 quarters of the National Geographic i Society. "Heroic deeds of the Red Cross dogs have been widely celebrated, and Ju3t ly so," the bulletin continues. "But pot / only did the dog figure gloriously as a . messenger of mercy in the war, but did his bit nobly in many other ways. "It is said that there were about ten thousand dogs employed at the battle > front at the time of the signing of the , armistice. They ranged from Alaskan malamute to St. Bernard and from 1 Scotch collie to fox terrier. Many of them were placed on the regimental 1 rosters like soldiers. In the trenches , they shared all the perils and hardships of the soldiers themselves, and drew their turns in the rest camps in , the same fashion- But they were alt ways ready to go back, and it is not . recorded that a single one of them ever } failed when it came to going 'over the top.' f "Mounting guard at a listening post for hours at a stretch, ignoring dan r^f orifVi all the atnlidness of a stoic. . B" ? - -, yet alert every moment, he played an . heroic role. Pull many a time It was , the keen ear of a collie that first caught , the sound of the approaching raiding , party. And did he bark? How natural It would have been for him to do so? But not a bark or growl might ( I have told the raiders they were discov. ered, and thus have prevented the an, imal's own forces from giving the foe ; a counter-surprise. So he wagged his tail nervously?a canine adaptation of j the wig-wag system interpreted and acted upon, to the discomfiture of the , r enemy. "Often whole companies were saved because the dog could reach farther . into the distance with his senses than . could the soldiers themselves. "It was found that many dogs would . do patrol and scout duty with any de, tachment But there was another type of dog worker needed in the trenches ?the liaison dog, trained to seek his master whenever turned loose. Amid exploding shells, through veritable fields of hell, he would crawl and creep, with only one thought?to reach his master. Nor would he stop until the object, of his search was attainedMany a message of prime importance he thus bore from one part of the I field to another, and naught but death ? rr tummH rAiilif turn him r ur UVCItUIIUIIg nVM.tu vvy- - , aside. , "But the work of the dogs of war , was not limited to the front. Wlhere the motor lorry was helpless, where , the horse stood powerless to aid, where man himself found conditions which ( even the indomitable will that is born I of the fine frenzy of patriotism could . not conquer, here came the sled dog , to the rescue. , "Alaska and Labrador contributed I the motive power for the sleds that kept the men in their mountain-pinnacle trenches in the high Alps provi, sioned and munitioned in the dead of , winter. In four days, after a very , heavy snowfall, one kennel of 150 dogs ! moved more than fifty tons of food , and other supplies from the valley below to the front line on the mountain ' above. "In the Vosges mountains more than a thousand Alaskan sled dogs helped to hold the Hun during the last year , of the war." [ LIVING IN CHINA. i ' Quits Cheap It Is, But It Is None too , Secure. If rents and the cost of servants are getting too' high go live in Pekin. There you can get what is called a t "house," though it is a whole series l of houses, and a large group of servI ants for a ridiculously small sum. And , the master's house is likely to be fur , nished with ancient rurmsning ui catraordlnary charm. You employ and , pay one servant; he employs and pays, , according to a complicated arrangement of his own, all the others. These Chinese houses are charming from the outside. You wind your way j along a narrow, unpaved street or hutung?a street full of little open! air shops, cook shops, stalls of various . kinds and.then come upon a high, L blank wall, with a pair of stone lions at I the gateway and an enormous red lac. quer gate heavily harred and that's your house. The gateman opens to , your ring you see nothing of the court, yard or of the houses within the in; closure; you are confronted by the , devil screen, a high stone wall about r fifteen feet long and ten feet high. J This devil screen blocks the evil spirits , that fly in when the compound gates , are opened?the blind evil spirits that can fly only in straight paths and hence I crash against the devil screen when , they enter. As to yourself the gateman leads you around the screen and across the compound to the master's house. Along the compound wall that gives , on the street are the servants' quarI ters, the house for the rickshaws, the stables for the big mules and the Pekin . carts and the house of the gateman. Life is none to secure in these compounds. Robbers abound and scale , the walls and slip from the roof9 of ( adjacent buildings into the compounds. Every household is in a constant state of alertness of defense. Broken glass covers the tops of the walls and ini the court yards Mongolian watchdogs guard the premises?huge, fierce, long a haired creatures, line woouy maanuo. Through the day they are chained, but at night they are unloosed. Oh, , there is not only style but excitement in living in a native house in Pekin! ?Ellen N. Lit Motte in Pekin Dust. 1 ? The executive committee of the ' Thirtieth division has selected 1 Greenville as the place of the first ans nual reunion and September 25 to 30 v as the time. THE TROOPS AT ARCHANGEL. To Feed Them Wat Difficult But it Was Accomplished. Fuller details of how the Germans concentrated a large force in Finland late last summer in the hope of seizing the Murmansk railroad and occupying Kola and Murmansk are given in recent dispatches which make timely a bulletin from the National Geographic society telling the romantic story of the building of this railroad. Relatives and friends of the Amerl'can troops have an especial interest in this railway since it is the artery which supplied the Allied forces '.n north Russia with food, clothing and munitions during the long winter months when Archangel itself was 'closed to shipping by ice. "Sfurmansk is the northern term U:UU9 wi luu Hi ui iiiau launaj, a track line which connects the ice-free port with Petrograd by way of Kandalaksha, Kem, Petrozavodsk, and Zvanda, 660 of the 900 miles of the line having been constructed since 1914 in the face of the greatest obstacles ever encountered in civil engineering," the bulletin states. "War work on the Murman railway began January 1, 1915, with the appointment by the Russian government of Vladamir Goriachkovsky as the engineer. At his disposal were placed 100,000 workmen recruited from all parts of the empire. 1 "The line had to run through a ter'minus of the Murman railway, single track line which connects the ice-free port with Petrograd by way of Kandalaksha, Kem, Petrozavodsk, and Zvanda, 660 of the 990 miles of the line having been constructed since 1914 in the face of some of the greatest obstacles ever encountered in civil engineering," the bulletin states. "War work on the Murman railway began January 1, 1915, with the appointment by the Russian government of Vladamir Goriachkovsky as the engineer. At his disposal were placed 100,000 workmen recruited from all parts of the empire. "The line had to run through a terrain presenting the most disoouraging difficulties?swamps, bogs, frozen lakes, and almost impenetrable forests. In Russia's peril construction work could not wait until the advent of spring. Soundings were made through the ice by means of long iron rods to determine earth contours, in order to establish the safest roadbeds in swampy country. .Much of the surveying during the long nights of the Arctic winter had to be done by lantern light. "The German propaganda bureau spread reports of frightful mortality among the workmen, but as a matter of fact, although the laborers lived under the most primitive conditions, in tents, the death rate was extremely low. About one per cent of those taken ill succumbed to scurvy. "It is true that when the first trains Hhain 0 - ii I Mm in flvV/ Im I Ur i We know United States YORK n began to run over the party completed road there were occasions when the track suddenly subsided, due to the fact that the rails had been laid upon what were thought to be rocks, but which proved, with the thaw of spring, to be ice. Unde ihe circumstances, however, these mishaps were comparatively rare, and no serious accidents resulted. The swampy character of the right of way is Indicated by the fact' that there are 1,000 bridges on the line. "To maintain American and Allied troops operating along the Archangel'Vologda line in the winter of 1918191.9, when the harbor of Archangel was sealed, supplies were shipped by steamer to Murmask, where they were unloaded and sent by rail to Kandalakchn o /HafonAn a f 1 TA ?vi il/vn nnA uustcuivc VI XIV II1IICO, auu lirciiLC transported by sledges across the frozen White Sea to Archangel, 200 miles to the east." Lied in Attempt to Save Pet?Determined efforts by ladies of high social position to smuggle pet dogs without license into England were recently described to a representative at the diseases of animals branch of the board of agriculture, London. It takes the , combined intelligence. of Scotland Ytgd and the customs officials'to outmaneuver some dog lovers. Recently, | on board a steamer crossing to England, a foreign princess was seated on a deck stool and a wind was blowing. A shrewd observer, whose duty it was to be inquisitive with his eyes, happened to catch sight for a moment of a little dog's wagging tail. On landing the lady, in reply to the usual questions, 1 said she had nothing to declare. "No j dog, madame?" "Certainly not" "Then," said her questioner, "I must send for the female searcher to have your statements verified." "In that case," said the lady, "If you will allow me a couple of minutes by myself I'll produce my little dog." Which she did. ? Columbia, May 24: The supreme court late this afternoon refused to issue a writ of certiorari to review the records of the recent city democratic executive committee and convention In Charleston, which action has resulted in a bitter political row between the Hyde and Grace factions, j The court takes the position that * it does not lie In the power of the ' court to take action which Is the re- ( suit of certain discussions In the party t rules to make adequate provision for 1 the selection of committeemen when ] the president and vice president of . the various clubs either died or moved ' into other wards, nor does the court j think it lies within Its province to ' pass on the question of a contested ( delegate's participation In the conven- M tlon proceedings, or his right to vote 1 to establish his seat in the conven- ] tlon. The decision favors the Grace I. faction which was temporarily re- J1 strained a few days ago and ordered ' to show cause why the writ of review j should not be issued last Wednesday. 1 I what Ui represen motorist where. The ic StatesTi tires?tl ^ can be h V rapidly j Wecai United meet?ai your in( lited Sta1 ire Good Tires are good tires. Thai MOTORC ' Dakota Farmer* and th* Red*.?A Sioux Falls editor is alarmed by the report that Russian Soviets are being formed in South Dakota. Coming on top of the Information that the Nonpartisan league now numbers 30.U00 members in that state, this also frightens good men outside, and especially in 'the east. They may calm their fears. The Non-Partisan league has no kinship with Bolshevism. The farmers of the west may talk like radicals and may now and then propose visionary financial and economic schemes, but In the long run they will be found the bedrock of stable and conservative society. The western farmers believe in individual ownership of property. A genuine Russian Bolshevik wants society to own all property, and especially lands. When the Russian programme is fairly preseuted on the western plains it is laughed out sf court without much ceremony.?Nebraska State Journal. The Stamp Fan.?Some people have a wonderfully wide ou-look. I met a grown-up man the other day who welcomed the pertitioniug of Austria because it gave Lim new scope as a Btamp collector.?Lady's Pictorial. Corns, Calluses A_!i v?uii v?uiCKr Two Drops of "Gets-It" Will Do It. Ever band-carve your toe with a knife trying to get rid of a corn? Ever use scissors and snip off part of the corn too close to the quick? Ever Gets-It" Puts Your Fel^b Clover ?It Sods Coras Quickly. pack up your toe with "contraption*" ind plasters as though you were packng a glass vase for parcel post? Elver lse the greasy ointments that rub off >n your stocking? Ever use sticky ape that gets Jerked off when you pull rnur storklne off? ICind of foolish. when 2 or 3 drops of "Gets-It" on any :orn or callus gives it a quick, painess, peaceful, dead-sure funeral? Why putter and suffer? "Gets-It" stope corn pains, it lets you work, smile and lance, even with corns. It's the common-sense way, the only simple, easy way?peels corns off like a banana peel. Used by million*. It never falls. "Gets-It," the guaranteed, money- jack corn remover, the only sure way, :osts but a trifle at any drug store, d'f d by E. Lawrence & Co., Chicago, 11. 1 Tl? 17 v d lire iear iave doubtless 1 the growing trance of United ires 1 one is asking for known value and lependability. that is precisely lited States Tires t in the minds of :s here and everylea back of United ires?to build good le best tires that uilt, is appealing to growing numbers. J i provide you with States Tires to ad meet exactly? iividual needs. " 3 tes Tires Tiro? ? IV t's why we sell them. 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