University of South Carolina Libraries
PtwJTand a : { guidebook ; V By N. MACLEAN HELLIWELL O Copyright, lfiO. liy T. U. McCluro How it did rain! Barbara pressed In woebegone face against tin' windo pane and strained lior eyes in a val endeavor to catch a glimpse of tl gleaming white of the distant inon ment. Shc^U.ul been in the beautif capital of ^ r country nearly tweni hours, and site had seen nothing*?nbs lutely nothing?of it. Nearly twen hours of the few precious days of h visit gone in impotent, heartbreakli waiting for Jupiter I'luvlus to exhau himself and retire in favor of old Sol. n i n i ui ^ inu mium- a ley of raindrops in n yet tieroor o slnuglit against tlu* glass and dnsln tlicm in scurrying streams doujp tl dripping asphalt the girl's head droopi despairingly ?'id site sighed. The young man who for some tin had l?een watching Iter sympatlietieal over his book now threw it aside at stepped to the other window. **Wtkt n day.'" he said as lite Iv cMpgi^n'dcwperntcly to the wall, w; ~ tossed hither and thither by the bol tefrouswind. The girl's faee brightened, and si turned to him impetuously. "Oh. thank goodness you have spok? at last! I was going to start the co versational hall myself. I simp eouhln't stand the silence any .longr 1H> you know I have not Tittered 01 word this morning since 1 ordered n breakfast. It's an unprecedented ro ord. but the strain has lteen awful She dimpled roguishly, and a faint lilt: rose in her elioek. lie might think h very Imld, this handsome young stra gor, but she really could not help The limit of lier silent endurance li: been reached. She must speak or?p< isll. Hut the idea of boldness never ontc frt U\? young uwn'H head. lie \V thinking how very pretty she was. lit soft and curly her hair, how piqun lier dimpled smile and how beconii the little tirge of pink in her roll cheek. lie laughed in comprehend! sympathy. "Why, I wanted to speak to you loi ngo, hut didn't like to venture. Isi It the very dickens of a day? W1 could go sightseeing in this?" as fresh fury rattled the windows. The girl's face fell again. "Who, Indeed?" she echoed diseons lately. "Think of coaxing all wint for Just three days of Washington m having the whole of one of them lil this I" "It is rather rough," said the your man. "I'm In precisely the same be mmiiK?Cta floavittn. r?<ii\.wn aging. fuTT iFonly Increases ones ag iiy to look at it. Won't you sit down lie turned a rocking chair with i hack to the window, and as Itarba dropped into it he threw himself in the sofa corner opposite. "Is this your llrst visit to Wasliiu ton:" he asked. "My very lirst. Father comes lie; on business every spring, but lie liat to be bothered, and 1 could never pe anode him to bring mo before. I poked his head into my room before Wil? 1111 tli?< nmrniiiir t n cur 1 would probably not see me again t day as lio linrf oooans of business do and an otlicial dinner tonight, at lio otijoinod in*' most emphatically n to think of going out as long as rainod. I huvo written lottors to ovoi one I can think of, and if it doosi clear after luncheon I'll go to bod!" The young man laughed and looki at his watch. "Why, it's a quarter to 2," ho sai "Suppose wo have luncheon now, you will honor mo, and perhaps tl outlook will bo brighter by the tin wo have finished." The girl rose with alacrity. "I'm ravenous," she declared, "b I simply could not face that great di Ing room again all by myself. I pos tlvely cannot swallow unless I lur some one to talk to while I'm catin My breakfast this morning was ma tyrdoin." That luncheon was the jolliest ine Barbara had ever eaten and, she mal tains, the most delicious. When it wi over and they adjourned to the state drawing room her companion left In for a minute. When he returned 1 brought with him a couple of books at: a huge bunch of violets. 'T1u.ua " lio ort%l..lnod rn lia<l arranged the flowers upon lit person to her satisfaction, "are guhl books?one to Washington in genera the other to the Congressional library] particular. As the rain god is still 1 com in and of affairs, suppose we Jui 'do' the capitol and library right hei where we are. It's really, when yc think of it, much the more satisfactot way. If we went to the actual built logs we'd have to walk our feet off a the lia id floors. We'd have to lose oi breath climbing innumerable stairs < , else have our brains addled by bein \ j jerked up niy^iown in elevators. We' dislocate Jr?>oks tilting our beat] back to .sec t/ ^pictures on the ceiling And at the en.i of the day we'd probi bly come back to the hotel cross, tire and dissatisfied, having doubtless fo gotten to look at the one tiling abov all others we particularly wanted t lee. Now, with these valuable littl books we can defy the elements an study at our ease every detail of tli buildings-exteriorly and interiorly font we can absorb priceless knowledp about tbeni that all the gazing at til originals conld never tell us. What <1 you say, shall we begin with the llbrt ryr Barbara's eyes sparkled. "It's the Ir fpiration of geiiiua," she cried ecstatl< v.. .. . >S . Ially. "Yes, lot lis begin with the library by nil means, ami you may rend its history aloud before we look at the pictures." lly dinner time I hey knew more about the cnpitol and the wonderful Congressional library than many a native Wnshlngtonlnn. and they had also learned the height of Washington's monument and all the details In connection with its construction. After they had dined they repaired to ,r the palm room, where to the accompany uiiuent of sweet mnsle each unfolded jn to the other various chapters of personlo al history, whieli. strange to say. they found even more interesting than the ?1 history of their country. Barbara's sympathetic attention and q. undisguised interest encouraged her (V eompanion tcjdiscourse at length upon ?'r liis oeenpatldn. prospects, hopes and ambitions, a compliment slie returned st in full, being inspired to confidence by th" delightful discovery tliat her new 3j. a??i>ialntanee was actually the Arthur n. Howard of whom "Cousin Tom" was always talking, who had been his 1*1l10 drs Achates at Yale and Ids comrade in 5^ arms in Cuba. The precious hours llew only too [lr, iptickly now. When at last ltnrbara jy fdt compelled to say good night she Kj tripped blithely to bed. happy in the knowledge that she had another whole v day In Washington and that, no mntter l:ow busy b"r father might be, she ig. would not have to spend it alone. Not even the undeniable fact that It 10 was still raining when ltnrbara pulled up her window blinds the next morning could dampen her buoyant spirits. n lly a strange chance Mr. Howard jy irjiniru i in* ti?nu JUJ*I ?p Barbara and her father api?enred. and, no poppa having cordially greeted "the JV Mr. Howard who nttrscd Cousin Tom through that dreadful fever in Cuba," .. the three went in to breakfast together. ^ "I'm sorry, little girl, to have your or visit turn out so dull," said Durham's _ father as they were leaving the dining room, "hut there's a meeting of dlrect1(j ors this morning, and I'll have to be ,... with Itryce up to train time this afternoon, so I'm afraid I can't show you around today any more than I did yesaa tordny." ^ . "If you ai!>? Miss Warren will permit |)t me," cried Howard eagerly, "I shall be H only too delighted to l?e her cicerone. I Mine is purely a sightseeing visit." tig "Capital," answered Mr. Warren. "I have a great respect for Tom's Judgment. and I leave my daughter In jour care with perfect confidence. Only don't I take her out if it rains hard." And, aca cepting a hast.v kiss from llarhara, the hitsj* man hurried away. "Suppose," suggested Howard as tltey wandered into the drawing room, ^ "that we read up the Smithsonian Inj stitution and the Corcoran Art gallery tliis morning. Then if it clears we can go out right after luncheon and drive round the citj\ By that means k Wt, ,, ;it least see the outside of ail ,x the places of interest, which will ho s ? i * ?> tv ?nii the inside of only one." Mr. Warren reached the door of his * hotel that evening in a heavy down1,1 pour just as a closed carriage drove ? up. from which he was amazed to see his daughter and her escort emerge. In spite of the rain and tlio thick, gloomy fog that enveloped everything 10 Barbara's cheeks were Mushed with 1' happiness, her eyes gloriouslj* bright. "Voll'vi. inirni* liiuin ulirlifamiiiiiv I,, - ' ? ' this wenther!" cried Mr. Warren as * they followed him in. "Are you both lH crazy? Where have you been?" ?* The young man stepped forward eagerly, hut Barbara forestalled ldin. u' Laying her hand on her father's arm, l)* slie said coaxingly: "No, dear, we're not crazy; just enr; gaged, and we've seen the outside of 1 * everything, and"? "And next year, sir, with your permission," broke in Howard, "we'll come hack together, Barbara and I, and see the inside of them all." "Engaged! Seen everything!" gasped ',0 the astonished old gentleman. "All 10 inside of twenty-four hours!" Barbara laughed. "Two people and a guidebook can do a good deal in two days?If they understand how to study the guidebook!" Jl" she declared. And her father was kC forced to believe that they could. '* His Only Opportunity. Coming downtown on an elevated exal press from Harlem last week the foln lowing impromptu lecture created conis siderahle amusement among the pasly sengers who heard it: it "Look here, Bob, you are an excelie lent talker, and it is always a pleasure i'l to listen to you at the proper time and place. But there are a great many a- things in this newspaper that I want *r to know, and if I listen to you I shan't e- know them until night. I haven't an il? hour or two a day to read the paper in In my oliiee. as you have. If I don't read In it now I shall have to take it home, or nt maybe not read it at all. Now, keep re ?p;iet, like a good fellow. Sorry you 'U haven't a paper, hut I'll tear you off 'y th first page of this one as soon as I I- !:aVe read it." >11 "<:o?l for you!" said a man who was ir re ling while ijinging to a strap, and ?r a ore of passengers who knew how it g was them--elves wen* heartless enough d to luugh New York Times. Is S. Ilearronorlnpr tlir llnnp, i- "Yon re charging me $7 a week for d bi rd ami lodging. Mrs. Irons," said r- 'he ; ray haired person of the name of II t -~1. ' u ii.iii.i. i i'SK NOW .VCHi wouia to it? part of it Is for |p board ?" <1 "Five dollars." replied tlie landlady. i? "And #'J for m.v rooiu?" "Yes." ;p 'Well. if you don't mind. Mrs. Irons," e he said, propped ini; to square tip for o another week, "we'll consider hereafter i- that I'm paying you $r> for lodging and JPU for l>onrd. It will seem more as if i- I were getting the worth of my mon> cy."?Chicugo Tribune. THE "WAVE MEKE," I Omrrfnl nnd Rrflnrd Ditnrc p?t? r lormrd by Fijian Muldt ni. < "The Fijian natives cull their dances a 'mokes,' and the liost of them all is the 5 'wave meke,'" says a traveler who has r witnessed these graceful evolutions, i "A lot of pretty girls, in two or three a rows, act the movements of the aea as j It rolls in upon the reefs. ' "First of all, they hend down in unl- ' son and sweep the ground slowly with their hands, waving their lingers in or- | der to represent the little wavelets ] flh-ked by the wind. Then they sway ( their bodies to niul fro to show the long | roll of the tropical wave, and presently j their figures rise and fall as do the , breakers. The action of the dance he- ^ comes more and more violent. The , wave is dashing up the barrier reef. The girls spring forward and clnp their , hands nnd then drop to the ground with a long musical cry. The wave , has surmounted the reef nnd emptied Itself into the ulassv lagoon. The dance is over. - , "Kvcrj* movement of the 'ware meke' is graceful and refined. The best , ballet girls in your American theaters are not better trained than these young Fijian maidens, who spend a good half of their happy, careless, lazy lives dancing their 'mokes' or playing in the J surf. There are no liner dancers In the j world. Nearly ail their ballets describe 1 the scenes around them or the incidents of their daily life. Other 'niekea' picture the palms swaying in the j breeze, the canoes tossing in a gale and , the clouds sailing across the sky." A PamouK >cn York Tin nit. Early last century a charter was granted a company to set up a chemical works In New York, and in consideration of the boon these works would be ' a clause was added granting banking ' privileges. The astute men at the head of the concern saw possibilities of development on banking lines not apparent in the manufacture of chemicals and decided to make the ligsincss a banking one. -To retain the privilege, however, it was necessary to manufacture chemicals, and so then, as today, an admirable pretense was made of doing tins. In the line establishment of t)io f?rt?M fMionilon 1 Vnltntinl l\nr?L- nn R roadway i\ little shop is apportioned to n manufacturing chemist, who pottors about mixing ingredients. He is not inueh troubled with business, but ' now and again a New York citizen will , 1 startle a visitor by taking him into this fine bank and asking for a dime's 1 worth of castor oil which is supplied. 1 This was the only bank which did not suspend specie payments during the civil war. ? i Military Grme. < Even the geese in Germany march < with military precision, which may be | the reason why the famous drill style ( of the German Infantry is called the "goose step." A writer in Travel thus 1 are so interesting to the heultli seekers at Rad-Xnuheiui: 1 "It is worth while to go to Ober- 1 Moerlen at ?"> o'clock in the afternoon to 1 see these g ?ese returning home from < the fields. The village is white with i them; hundreds and thousands, regl- l ments and brigades of geese, marching I along with military precision. As they near home they separate of their own 1 accord; sixteen to the right, twelve to the left, a detachment up a lane, and so on?all quacking loudly, but bearing themselves with that keen sense of order and discipline which distinguishes the vaterland." Why Corn Pnpa. Finally a scientific sharp conies to our rescue and in science explains the phenomenon of the popping of popeprn in an extremely lucid and interesting manner. The learned gentleman says: "The starch polygons are of such nature and construction as to facilitate expansion and render it explosive In character. There is a fracture of a particle along its two radii, the endosperm swelling very considerably, the peripheral portions cohering with the nun. mil mo rraciurai quarters turning back to moot below the embryo." And there you are. Dellclously sim- i pie, isn't It??Cleveland Plain Dealer. Wlirre the I.mtlcn Propone. Itetween the mountains of India and Fersla Is a powerful trilie, among i whom an extraordinary custom prevails. Woman's rights have apparently received full recognition, for the ladies of the tribe can chooss their own i husbands. All a single woman has to < do when she wishes to change her state i is to send a servant to pin a liaodkercliief to thff hat of the man on whom her fancy lights, and lie is obliged to i lunrry her, unless he can show that he l Is too poor to purchase her at the price i her father requires. < .Not a Stud? it4 of Farm. 1 Teacher?Willie, if one horse can run 1 a mile in two minutes and another horse can do it in three minutes how i far apart will they be at the end of < eight miles? i Willie?Madam, I was brought up 1 strietly. Above all tilings, my parents 1 have warned me to avoid horse racing, l Consequently I cannot answer your question.?'Toledo Blade. Thn*? KiliirnlPd SiiiiihTlrhm. 1 College Idiot (in Hie lunch r6om>? < TIhN^'s one good thing I can say about I these sandwiches. 1 Kind Friend?What's that? College Idiot That they're college bred.?Columbia Jester. t One of the most important tilings In i the education of a hoy is that lie should learn to keep hie. lips together.?Boston r Globe. 1 Lire with the wolves, and you will I learn to howl.?Spanish Proverb. *090909C#090 *0909C*090mOm r MARIA OF THE i ! MAVERICK.... g ; ^ By ROTHWELL BROWN 5 J I Ctrpuright, by T. C. McClurt * 11 IG#0#0#G*0?0#?0#0#0#0#0#0B J rpcos Rill lay on the floor curbing a jrokon arm. Downstairs hi the dance linll musicians were twanging tliolr J rulilles. Tlio sound came through the 1 Ivinrtlo In t1w? lmv I In Wild n ill. Klin 4 [irowned young follow. Ills blue shirt | t ivas stained, ami liis boots were dusty, t Oil the floor by him \\^>s his coat rolled , f up for a pillow. I 1 The door opened, and Maria came In. 1 the was a sinnll girl. Her eyes were as J i lark as her hair, and her skin was of a I rieli olive color. She lighted a candle. "I've been trying to?get up to see you nil day, Dill, but I couldn't. Where < were you shot ?" t "In the arm," growled Pecos Dill, 'and it's stiff as thunder." "It's your right one. too," said Marin. "No matter; my left's just as good. < I tut I've got to get It fixed somehow, < nnd then I've got to go away. W^hen that sheriff's convention f*ids out I'm 1 here the crowd '11 tear the town down '. to get me." . Maria bnred the boy's broken arm, disclosing a round, purple wound, cut a Immlage from her petticoat and bound It"I don't see how a little thing like that queered me so," said Dill. "It made me sick all over." "Now fix my gun," said Pecos Dill. He passed it to her. "I suppose the crowd's all here by this time," lie added while lie watched her till the chain- ] hers of the six shooter with cartridges. "Curse 'em. why couldn't they go some place else," he growled. "It wasn't my fault anyway. Graliaiu was cheating, and he'd killed me sure if I hadn't got the drop on him first." Maria clicked the gun playfully. "You'd been all right eef you hadn't got shot," shi1 said. "Guess I ain't any good any more," whined (he boy. "Confound those sheriiTs. I wish they'd hold their convention in Jericho." Maria left the candle on the floor and 1 opened the door. The crowd in the 1 dance hall below was singing. There were loud laughs and the noise of boot- 1 1-d men lining up at the bar. She crept down the stairs. The dance hall was crowded. Dark 1 skinned Mexicans and gayly dressed Mexican girls from across the river, ' uwboys and gamblers danced and < hatted or patronized the ga tnes of 1 banco.' Three grave looking tiddlers dayod on a platform. Across one side >f the long room was the bar. Bob Cownn, who ran the El Paso j Dally Maverick and was reputed to be ( ^,t?r??Rr TYT- mum ona in ?I west Texas, and who was pointed out to strangers as "El Paso's next mayor," < bought Maria a bottle of St. Ironist beer, Imported at great expense, and later ilanoed with her, to the admiration of j all. Maria, whirling over the slippery I tloor. frequently glanced at the ragged rafters cobwebbed overhead. 1 "K;:ow that fellow," asked Cowan, pointing to a tall, loose Jointed man. i "M ost prominent man in Texas today, I bar none. Sheriff, empire builder, he is. i Hill Sopes of San Antone, president of the sheriff's convention." Maria danced and sang and enjoyed herself with the others \tntll the sun i name tip. She danced often with Bill i Sopes, Iter eyes shining, her loosened black hair falling around her face, and her white teeth glistening between her i parted lips. "Who's the girl?" asked Sopes, lounging up to Cowan. i Cowan glanced down the long' room, i Maria stood binding up her hair. "Oh," said Cowan, "that's Maria; Mexican girl. She's a typenetter on our paper. Ain't she a Jim Dandy?" "She Is," said Sopes. At 7 o'clock Maria climbed upon her stool at her case in the dingy olliec of ?1... M...1- .....i i ?* * n.v .'i.nt iK i\ .urn HI M*I type busily. She could not read English, but slio knew the alphabet. At noon Cowan wrote the story of the sheriffs' convention, then In session in El Paso, and dealt the "takes" to Ma- , ria and tin: other girls. Maria clicked the type merrily until suddenly she saw the only two printed words she knew? Pecos Hill, Site found the big capital P with a haze before her eyes. Then ( she found the small letters, and the big capital P with the other small Jetters, iind sot them up mechanically, faint with fear. The two words were near the end of Hie take. She finished it, thrusting the remaining bits of type savagely into their places and clinging by the heels Df her slippers to the rung of the stool. Lunch time arrived. The girls filed out, followed by Hob Cowan, pulling at a black cigar. Tommy remained. Tommy was fore- 1 man. He set heads, read proof, helped Powan to "make up" the paper every Say. and, when the proper time came, 1 locked the forms and carried them to the proas on his shoulder. Maria remembered a report, once current, that roinmy was in love with her, but she liad never considered him seriously. He was always so drunk, or had Just ' been drunk, or was In a fair way to be- < xiiuedmnk, that she never had eared '.o go near him. It occurred to her that 1 this was an exceptional onso. I She slid from the stool with the stick < if type in her hand, dodging between lie rows of cases, until she came to the i ong, narrow shelf where were Ink and 1 oiler, and struck off a proof. i Tommy was setting the hend for the I onventlon story, when Marin touched i lis grimy sleeve anil smiled at him. 'Please read this to me, Tommy," she 1 legged. 1 Tommy took the proof. His eye* < 11 I / oiled wonderlngly. "I want to learn o road, and I?want you to teach me," he explained. Ills face brightened aider the ink. He gulped twleo und end: "The miming session was ndjourned it 12 o'clock, with twenty-six delegates resent. 1 till So pes of Han Antonio, (resident of the convention, made the mnounccinent that a reward of $."i00 led been offered for the arrest of Pe os BIU"-t "Idas inl.^" said Maria. ?"a well Jiiiown and prominent citizen of this place, for the shooting of Harvey Graham near Hherlff popes' ?ity some weeks ago. Our fellow ownsifinn is not now in El Paso, alhough there was a rumor 011 the itreets tlds morning Hint he was sceu lere early yesterdiojf morning and that le was engaged iA a slight difficulty ivith a stranger In a Utah street danco imll." "I Has niin, cried Maria. "There," said Tommy. lie looked uiriously at tlio girl, who swayed from dde to side. She grasped Ills nrm. "They must ho thrown off the track! Do you understand? Oh, Tommy, you will help me! IIolp mo before they romo hack froip lunch. You must set ret up as t toll Jfru." Tommy followed her meekly and climbed upon her stool. "Word has Just reached us." dictated the girl, laying her hand on the man's Inky sleeve. Tommy swallowed hard and picked at the type. ?"that Tocos RIU is In hiding at Plume's ranch, about twenty miles from 101 Paso. lie was seen tliere this morning and was?and was slightly wounded In the arm." "lOot'll . sound natural to say lie's wounded," she explained. Tommy wagged his head. "You're a smart one," he said. "Tommy, listen. I want you to put that in the paper right after the convention. And don't tell. Tommy." "It'll cost me my Job." said Tommy, with a husky voice; "but, Maria, I will ?if you will give me to kiss." Maria put up her lips without a word, and Tommy kissed her on the mouth. She tolled through the afternoon, tortured by a thousand fears, until at last Tommy, mallet In hand, )>oundcd down the last form and carried it to the press. The little machine rumbled, and the damp, sticky papers came out. Maria washed, wound her mantilla around her head, seized a paper and went straight to Pecos Itill. "Find the end of the convention and tell me what you see," panted Maria. Pecos Itill spread the sheet on the rough floor and, easing himself on one elbow, read down the column. The flro af knowledge flashed into his eye*. 'Why, I ain't out to Plume's," he cried. t<he knelt down by the boy and put !ior arms around his neck. "I put that in the paper," she cried, "to lead 'eiu >IT, send 'em out to the ranch, kp I can ifc crnwfelf ToTiTs feet pintiTtnty. rrrt eyes were bright, and the blood wa? in Ida cheek. "(Jot down, can't you?" snarled the girl. "Don't you know tlioy'll boc you?" She looked cautiously out of a window. Many boarded men wore lounging on llic porch of a saloon across the street. A. rider dashed tip to the group waving a newspaper over his head. The crowd listened while lie read to tlieni from the saddle. Then the men jumped for their horses. Maria went out. When she came back she l>eckoned to Bill, lie followed her down n side stair. He drank and went out. In front of the dance hall was a horse. The street was deserted. IVi-os Itlll was climbing painfully into tbo saddle when Boh Cowan, a crumpled copy of the Maverick In his hamValashed up the street 011 horseback. IlnPfacc was red with anger. Bill's gun was In his l>elt. Maria drew it out and pointed It at Cowan. "(Jet down off that horse," she said. Cowan dismounted, fuming with rage. "Somebody's sent the whole town away on a wild goose chase. If I knew who meddled with my paper I'd break his neck." "I did eet," said Maria. "Throw up your hands." Cowan stood by the horse, with both arms raised above bis head. Maria grasped the bridle and swung herself into the saddle. "Hand me your gun," Blie commanded, still covering Cowan. He gave his six shooter to the gfrl. Vntv 99 a 1 in ool/l -?t k'.iv Otnu, llilllg Ull right." "I'll got you for this, Bill," stormed Cowan, "and you, too, Maria." "Just so It ain't now," laughed Pecos Bill, "I don't cure." Before them, through the straggling town, lay the road to Mexico and matrimony. Too Itfilhtlr, "There lived In my town," said a Connecticut man, "a poor, half wltted mnn who made a kind of mania of Ida religion. He used to go cve^y afternoon to a lonely field, and, kneeling there behind a hank of earth, he would pray at the top of his lungs for thirty or forty minutes at a time. Some of us boys won Id "Vol low him now and then, ehldc on the other side of the mound and listen to him with wonderment. "One afternoon he prayed altout his tins. He vowed (that he was the wickedest man that bad ever l?een created. He dctdnrod that he deserved death, lie begged the Lord to nut an end to Mill by toppling over the embankment ju him then and there. "The ringleader of our crowd was up near the top of the mound, and at this [)olnt be shoved down on the kneeling man n great load of loose soil. Instant' ly the poor fellow sprang to his feet ind ran away home. " 'It's an awful world, this,' he sold to a friend later. 'You can't say a thing In fun but what it's taken in ;amest.'" WHAT TUB BLACK VAN NEEDS. During a recent trip south we had A fine chance to look over several of the southern cities during n trolley ride. In nil these cities there was the negro section where the colored brother lives and propagates. The homes of these ~ people were generally of a very primitive character, and one thing we specially noted?while the white men of the towns had their gardens made and all sorts of gardeu stuff up imd looking flue it was rare to Jiax' xliit the colored ikAi had intMe u. y n fenipt at gardening x|t Alt, the yard of his lot be- ' Ing. bnre vfyrfgetatkm wholly pnInvlttng. A world of good could be done by instructing these people along this line how to care for the soli and use^fc to help them to live. Wherever we came across the home of a forelgn' er?a German, Scandinavian or Engllsh1 man?he lind not only vegetables, but | all kinds of fruits and flowers In his garden, no matter how humble his ! home might be. When the colored man learns how to use the soil and the climate of the south as he may and should, the question of his place In society will be largely solved. ' HOW IIK MADE HIS WAY. We came across a young man twen ty-flvc 3'enrs of age the other day whose story Is worth telling. lie was a Swede and cnnic to this country only seven years ago with no money or friends and only a limited education such as life could get In the common schools of his native country. Upon arriving In Chicago lie secured employment with a big manufacturing concent as a common laborer. When we met him the other day be was Ailing the important position of a traveling superintendent for the company and drawing a salary of $1,500 a year and bis expenses. How did be do It? Wfcll, the presumption Is that be attended strictly to bis employers' business, did bis level best and made himself Indispensable to theiu. That's the way in which the boys climb up. We know another young fellow, who had far better advantages, who In seven years hns learned nothing but how to play pool and poker and is not worth shucks and never Vill be. You can take your choice, boys. i lUIMt S IX SOILS. When n soli becomes deficient In humus it will become sticky In a wet time and baked in lumps In a dry time and is thus bard to get in what Is termed good tilth?mellow, workable and in that condition where the plant food it contains is available for the crop. The roots of the grasses restore this humus; so will the decaying leaves of trees if the land Is planted with timber, or green crops may be plowed under or the land well fertilized with stable manure. Clover does a fine work in this line, and If a good growth of clover Is plowc^ under it will be one of the cheapest and very liest ways of remedying this lack of humus in the inn wn?T INDBPBNDE5IT, Ton years ago the west was largely dependent npon the enst for the capital needed for moving mid handling crops, for farm loans and the financing of nil mnnlcipnl enterprises?waterworks, electric light plants, school buildings and the like. Tills condition 110 longer exists. The west now lias Its own money and no small surplus besides what Is needed for the purposes mentioned, which seeks the money centers of the enst for Investment at a low rate of interest. The west lias grown Immensely wealthy during the past six years. Seven cent beef and pork enti almost do the work of an Aladdin's lamp in the creation of wealth. , COXCRRXIKG ALFALFA. The following conclusions have been arrived at as a result of a series of experiments with alfalfa at the Minnesota experiment station: First.?A variety of alfalfa lias been grown In Minnesota for forty years and has proved to be perfectly hardy wherever tried. Second.?Alfalfa produced In Minnesota contnins more protein than red clover and lins a greater feeding value * than wheat bran. Third.?Alfalfa hay contains largo amounts of the most vnluablc fertHiring materials and when fed on the farm the fertility of the soil is increased. THE PIGS IX THE BKimOOM. A friend of ours had only been mar ncu n short time and lind taken n town girl to his farm home for a bride. In the spring, Just n? the little pigs were coming, it became necessary in order to save their lives, owing to the bitter cold weather, to carry them into the house and warm them up. While so engaged some of the wife's town lady friends drove up to make a call, nnd the pigs were hustled from the kitchen into the bedroom. The callers stayed, nnd the pigs got cold nnd squealed, when there was nothing to be done but let the cat out of the bag, or, rather, the pigs out of the bedroom. TIIR EXTRA WORK PATS. It always pays to put a flttle extra work on the cornfield in preparing the sCed bed. An extra disking and dragging, the finely pulverizing nnd the leveling or the seed bed will Insure n bet?I ?v-? juu ui [ miiiiiK ana n more uniform ntund ov*-'oin? w<* are very much of tlie opinion V?t wb?r% It can be done t^b flehl should ftcvu^e let alone a single day after planting up to the time tlu) corn Is showing up, continued dragging with a light harrow at this time killing more weeds than can be lone by nny other method. ^ *55 /J*3m