REFORMED BY A DREAM
By MRS. F. M. HOWARD
(Copyright, by Joseph B. Sowles.)
“Grandma, come tie my shoes.”
“G'mma, please button my dress.”
The old lady hurried to comply with
the latter request to the disregard of
the first command.
“Tie up your own shoes, dearie,
that's a good boy,” she said, coc.xing
ly, to the heavy-eyed, fretful looking
boy in the nursery.
“I shan't,” he retorted sullenly. “I’ll
tell ma on you if you don't mind me.”
“But my bones ache so, sonny,”
she remonstrated. “It hurts me to
get down. Come now, be good to
Grandma.”
“I don't care. What you here for
if ’tain t to work," he said with incip
ient brutality.
“The Lord knowrs, sonny, what I’m
here for. Seems like there ain't no
room in the world for my poor old
bones.”
“You notty bad boy to make Gam
ma ky,” cried little Rose, striking at
him with her little, fat hand. “Rosie
loves Gamma, Rosie does,” pursued
the little comforter, hugging her small
arm around the wrinkled neck, “w’en
Rosie dets big she’ll have a big,
splendid house, an' Gamma shall live
in it. an' we'll play al-1-1 day, won't
we. Gamma?”
“I hope so, darlin'.” The old lady I
brushed away a hot tear, for she was
not so hardened to abuse that she
had gotten beyond the sting of it, and j
a kind word touched her even more
keenly than the harsh ones.
Mrs. Pringle was a second wife, j
The gentle mother of these children :
lay sleeping in her grave. She had
died when Rosie was born, and the
grandmother had brought the babe j
through the perils of infancy in addi
tion to her other cares. Martin Prin
gle had married again, after a decent j
interval, a much more showy and styl
ish woman than his first wife had
been. . In strict justice to her, it must
be confessed that she was a tolerably
kind mother to the children; but the
-NX \ \
old lady had dropped from her posi
tion of house-mother to that of house
hold drudge under her rule, so natur
ally that the transition was hardly
noticed in the family.
"Fred Pringle, how often have I
told you not to come to the table until
your shoes were properly laced!"
The son and heir had come in, his
shoe laces dragging behind him.
"Grandma wouldn't tie ’em for me.
Mean old thing!"
"Your mother is getting crosser ev
ery day of her life.” Mrs. Pringle
turned to her husband with a re
proachful air, as if he was very much
to blame for being the son of such a
reprehensible mother.
“Gramma's back hurted so she
couldn't 'toop down,” said little Rosie,
on defensive.
“First we know she ll be laid up on
our hands with inflammatory rheuma
tism." Mrs. Pringle took a new tack
of alarm. “I tell you, Martin Pringle,
there's going to be a change in this
family and before long too. I am not
going to be tied down to nursing a
sick old woman, I can tell you that.”
"Well, well, lm in a hurry and
haven’t time to talk about it now.”
Mr. Pringle bolted his food and mum
bled his reply crossly.
Six weeks from that day there was
a poor, decrepit bundle of humanity ;
sitting dejected, in a corner of one |
of the great depots of Chicago.
Her eyes were heavy and bleared
with many tears, and she seemed half
dazed, and stunned by the noisy bus
tle about her. A faded old valise
stood at her feet, and she w.earily
drew a seed cake from a small bag
cn her arm, and tried to bite it off
with her toothless gums.
“Here, grandmother, have some of
my lunch,” said a pleasant-faced lady
coming from another seat and sitting
down beside her. “My daughter has
put up so much for me I never can
eat it alone, I'm sure.” She had been
watching the poor old body for a half
hour past, with a heart overflowing
with pity for her evident loneliness.
Thank ye kindly, ma'am,” replied
the old lady, taking a tender sand
wich and a soft toothsome piece of
cake from the friendly hand.
“Are you going far, grandmother?’’
asked the stranger.
“Yes, ma'am, away off to Boston.”
“To Boston. Surely you a»» not
going there alone at your age?”
“Yes, all alone.” The aged lip quiv
ered like a child's.
Going to visit your friends, I sup
pose,” with friendly curiosity.
“No!” the old lady shook her head
mournfully. “I don't expect to find
anybody there that I know, but—but
—my son reckoned that as I came
from there, I had a claim to be took
care of by that county, an’ so I’m
agoin’ to—to—the poor—h—o—” She
broke down there, and with muffled
sobs hid her poor old face in the cor
ner of her shawl.
The lady laid her hand gently on
the bowed head, her heart swelling
with pity and indignation. “There,
there, mother, don’t cry,” she said
tenderly, “and this son of yours, is he
so very poor he cannot take care of
you himself?”
“Oh, no!” the bowed head lifted a
little; "he’s right well to do, but you
see he’s married a new wife, that ain’t
been so long acquainted with me, an’
then, too, I’m too old to work, an’ I
ain’t stylish an’ nice like Mis’ Pringle
would like me to be. She expects
company for over Christmas, a dread
ful stylish lady from New York, an’
they sorter felt ashamed o’ me, I
reckon, an’ besides, Sary wanted my
room for her comp’ny, so here I am.”
She tried to smile through her
tears. “It putty nigh broke my heart,
ma’am, a leavin’ ’em all, for though
they was putty ha’sh some times, they
was all I had.”
If she had looked into the face of
her companion, she would have seen
flashing eyes and lips compressed
with inward emotion; ljut she was too
much absorbed in her grief to notice.”
“There now, don’t think any more
about it.” The kind hands were un
tying her faded bonnet. “I’ll go and
get you a cup of tea, and that will
rest you.”
In the meantime there had been a
revolution of feeling in the Pringle
family. Martin had gone back to his
office after seeing his poor old mother
on board the train, and as it was a
cold day. he sat down before the glow
ing fire to warm his feet. The walk
from the station had been a long one,
he seldom employed streetcars, the
warm fire made him drowsy and it
is probable that his day’s experience
was answerable for the strange dream
that he had. The consciousness of
having done a supremely mean act is
not a restful pillow for a sleeping
imagination, and Mr. Pringle's played
him a queer trick. He thought he
was at home by his warm, anthracite
fire when a stranger opened the door
and came in, tall, impressive and
stern. Mr. Pringle had no familiar
word of greeting for Him, although
he knew Him at once and instinctive
ly. It was the Savior of mankind,
and He stretched out a long, majestic
arm. with an accusing; forefinger
pointed toward the unfilial son’s
heart. “Man, where is thy mother,
and the praying one of this house;
she who has been your passover for
years? Come find her.”
A cold sweat broke out on the
dreamer's brow as he stammered in
shame and contrition, “I have sent
her away.”
“Even so shall you be sent away.”
The words fell with crushing force
upon the guilty heart, and with a look
of condemning reproach He passed
out, and Mr. Pringle was alone, and
awake, the cold sweat-drops upon his
brow as they had been in his dream,
and his limbs trembling with fright.
He hurriedly arose when he could
command his trembling limbs, and
buttoning up his warm overcoat, he
thought with a shiver that the moth
er's shawl was both old and thin; he
started for home.
Sarah was in the hall to meet him.
“Sarah, we’ve done an awful thing.”
said Martin, his knees beginning to
tremble again. "We haven’t thought
enough about God, and the future,
and I'm afraid His smiting hand will
be upon us if this wrong isn't made
right.”
“How can it be made right? She's
gone, and what's done can't be un
done.”
“Yes it can. and I'm going after her.
I can go on the limited and catch her
before she goes any farther;” and
then he told her his dream.
Sarah's head drooped. It was fear
fully hard for her to give up her will.
“Well, perhaps you had better,” she
said.
They were coming out of the room
where they had breakfasted, the old
lady’s feeble steps supported by the
younger one’s strong arm, when Mr.
Pringle met them, and her eyes rest
ed upon him in terrified surprise.
“Oh, Martin, what is it?" she cried,
laying her trembling hand upon his
arm, “Is anybody sick or dead at
home—ia it Rosie?”
“No, no, mother, there is nobody
sick or dying," he answered, with a
shame-faced look, “but I have come
after you, mother. We cannot let
you go after all.”
The good effects of Martin Pringle’s
singular dream lasted all through the
aged mother’s life, and when at last
they laid her away for her last long
rest, it was with real regret and tear*
of unfeigned sorrow.”
Typical Salmon Canning Plant
Scores of these places may be seen along the Columbia river In Washing
ton where thousands of persons are employed in the work of catching and pre
paring the salmon for market.
THE CIGARETTE HABIT.
IS BECOMING MORE POPULAR
AMONG CHICAGO WOMEN.
Smoking Outfits for Ladies in Depart
ment Stores an Indication of
Practice—Some Shops
Cater to Sex.
Chicago.—The cigarette habit is
growing in popularity among Chicago
women. This is vouched for by the to
bacco dealers, the beauty doctors, the
hairdressers and by certain physi
cians. The tobacco dealers, who ought
to know, say they did not realize, un
til a few weeks ago, the extent to
which the cigarette craze had spread
among women. How they did learn it
was through the scare that was caused
by the announcement that after a cer
tain date cigarettes could not be sold
legally in Illinois.
Shortly after the newspapers print
ed accounts of the cigarette's obituary
the tobacco dealers say they were
Hooded with telephone calls from
women, all of whom wanted to know
how much truth there was in the re
port that the new law was to become
effective. Of course none of the wom
en who called up would give their
names or addresses, but the fact that
they called convinced the dealers that
some of the cigarettes that had gone
out over their counters had not been
smoked by the men who took them
away. The dealers say that compara
tively few women purchase their own
cigarettes.
The beauty doctors learn of the ci
garette habit as it applies to women
by the presence of the odor on their
customers’ breaths when they visit
the beauty shops. Most of the women
smokers indulge the habit at night,
the beauty doctors say, so that all
traces of the weed may lie removed
from their breath before the following
evening. Some of the beauty shops
have operators whose duty it is to re
move cigarette stains from the fingers
of their patrons.
That women smoke cigarettes to no
small extent is proven by the presence
on the counters of the department
stores of complete cigarette smoking
outfits. There are dainty little hand
painted ash trays and match boxes;
silver scissors and holders, the latter
designed to prevent the fingers of the
smokers from becoming stained. Also
there are cigarette boxes made espe
cially to hold the small, tightly rolled
Mexican cigarettes, which are the
kind used largely by women. In one
of the State street stores the young
woman behind the counter in which
these things were displayed said that
business seldom was dull in her de
partment.
The physicians of Chicago rapidly
are learning that women smoke cigar
ettes to to an extent that is none too
good for their health. Some of those
women who have called in a physician
to treat them for certain nervous mal
adies have been indignant when the
same physician ordered them to give
up cigarettes. Always they deny that
they have used tobacco in any form,
but the doctors say that excessive
cigarette smoking never fails to leave
its peculiar effect on the heart action,
and that they seldom are deceived by
those who try to make them believe
they never smoke.
Over on the west side are several
small cigarette shops which cater
especially to women. The brand of
"coffin nails” made by them differs
materially from those smoked by men.
They are longer and not so thick. On
one end is a mouthpiece of hardened
paper to prevent the tobacco from
coming in actual contact with the lips.
None of the downtown dealers could
estimate, in figures, the extent of the
habit. They all agreed that most of
the feminine smokers were women of
the fashionable world and that the
passion for cigarettes is on the in
crease. Because the cigarettes con
sumed by the women seldom are
bought directly by them there is no
way of telling, the dealers say, just
how many women are taken with tho
habit.
BUGS OVERRUN TOWN
Lock Haven Has Snakes, Toads and
Worms to Burn.
Lock Haven, Pa.—The plagues seem
to have struck the city. Some days
ago a blacksnake was discovered in
the cellar of the Cupper & Nitscha
tobacco house, on Bellefonte avenue,
but it continually eluded its would-be
slayers.
Later a blacksnake, supposedly the
same one, entered the rear door of the
Louis Claster grocery, causing a hasty
retreat on the part of the clerk, Miss
Miriam Sykes, who, as might be
imagined was greatly frightened and
fled to the street. His snakeship was
left in full possession for a few min
utes and was then shot.
A large blacksnake got away in the
St. Charles hotel, and was found in
the rolled curtain above the transom
over the door, from which it was dis
lodged and killed.
After the recent rain thousands of
tiny hoptoads appeared on the streets
and sidewalks of the city. They were
especially numerous on Water street,
about the mayor's office and attorney’s
row.
But a pest far more destructive is
the cutworm, which devours vegeta
tion. It is something over an inch in
length and as thick as a lead pencil.
The worm remains under the ground
during the daytime, working on the
roots of the plants, and at night
comes forth and devours the leaves of
the red beets, beans, cabbage, to
matoes, potatoes, and even eats holes
into small green tomatoes on the
stalks. It is also doing bad work in
many of the tobacco fields.
TRAMP PROVES A HERO.
Loses Sandwich, Rescues Boys, Gets
$10 and a Suit of Clothes.
Centerville, N. J.—Certainly hero
ism is measured by the sacrifice the
hero willingly makes. So what greater
hero than a tramp who dropped a
sandwich he was eating and took a
bath to save two boys from drowning.
John Phelps, a farmer near here, the
boys’ grateful father, offered the
tramp a good home and good wages
as a farm hand.
“Anything,” said the tramp, shud
dering, “anything but work.”
William Phelps, 13 years, and
Charles, 11, went swimming in a basin
of the Morris canal near their home.
Charles dived, struck his head on a
sunken canal boat, and floated, nearly
senseless. William jumped to his res
cue. Charles seized the brother and.
struggle as he might, William could
not free himself. The brothers were
sinking the second time when around
a bend of the road jumped the hero
hobo. He was devouring a sandwich
a farmer's wife had just given him,
and wondering, probably, where his
next meal was coming from.
“Dusty Roads" saw the brothers
writhing and choking in the water.
The sandwich fell in the dust, and,
without as much as throwing off his
ragged coat, the tramp ran to the
canal, jumped in, and dragged the
boys ashore. Mr. Phelps gave “Weary
Willie” ten dollars, a suit of clothes, a
hat. and a pair of shoes.
“Where are you going?” asked Mrs.
Phelps, pityingly, as the tramp took
up his journey.
“Nowhere," said he, dreamily.
U. S. S. Tennessee
A CO-ED RURAL MAIL CARRIER
Miss Mary Matthews, of Baker, Kan.,
Ran a Rural Route.
Sabetha, Kan.—Miss Mary Mat
thews, an attractive young girl of Sa
betha, is a rural mail route carrier
now. Miss Matthews is a daughter of
J. P. Matthews, a rural mail carrier.
Mr. Matthews has one of the best ru
ral mail carrier records for prompt
ness in the United States. For two
years he has not had a vacation. This
year he took a month off and his
daughter is delivering the mail.
Miss Matthews has hardly failed in
an instance to keep up her father’s
record for promptness. Mr. Mat
thews’ mail wagon is at the appointed
house on the appointed moment, with
probably greater regularity than the
average railway train. And Miss Mat
thews has kept this record up. All
along Mr. Matthews' route people go
to their boxes at certain hours and
they invariably find their mail.
The fact that Mr. Matthews changes
horses half way on his route, it was
feared, would cause Miss Matthews to
lose time. Fiut it did not. She made
the change in four minutes, which is
all her father devotes to the work.
Of course, the man at the house where
horses are changed has the animal
harnessed and all ready for hitching
to the cart. Miss Matthews was paid
$05 for the month's work, as any sub
stitute would have been paid. Hei
father also drew his salary.
Miss Matthews is a student at
Baker university, in Baldwin. She is
taking a five-year course. She is as
sisting in her college expenses by act
ing as librarian in the English library
a few hours each day. Miss Matthews
is fitting herself tot a librarian. She
will leave soon for Baldwin to take
up some special summer work in that
line. She is just 20 years old.
Old War Sloop to Be Sold.
Washington.—The old sloop of war.
Saratoga, a relic of the navy of the
United States, has been stricken from
the official list of naval vessels and
offered to be sold. It was built at the
navy yard at Kittery, Me., in 1842, was
ship-rigged and carried 20 guns. It
had a length of 147 feet six inches and
a beam measure of 36 feet one inch.
Its mean draught was 16 feet, and It
had a displacement of 1,025 tons.
A Row in Anti-Whiskers Club.
Some Members cf New Cult to Be Pun
ished for Not Shaving.
Newport, Ky.—Mayor Helmbold,
president of the Anti-Mustache and
Whiskers club, which was recently or
ganized in Newport, wTill call a meet
ing to Investigate the charges that
have been made against some of the
members for violating the rules of
the organization.
Over a month ago the club was or
ganized in the city building with a
membership of 15. Rules and by-laws
w*ere adopted, whereby each member
was compelled to dispense with his
mustache or whiskers until October 1,
when the sweltering hot weather will
have passed.
It wras but a day or two until the
hirsute adornments were missing, but
since then one or two of the members
have been unable to stand the “jolly”
from their friends and have allowed
the whiskers to grow again.
The president of the organization
will have the club demand that these
members abide by the laws as adopt
ed. City Clerk Pete Krebs and Deputy
Arthur Llewellyn are the members
who have failed to continue to wear
a smoothly shaven face, and they will
be dealt with according to the rules
of the club.
Halcyon Days.
In the course of an artic le on "Tha
Commercial Value of Women,” a
writer in the Dietic and Hygienic Mag
azine illustrates a point with the fol
lowing story:
"Papa," said a small boy, “what are
halcyon days?”
“S-h-h,” answered the father, first
assuring himself that no one was with
in hearing. "Halcyon days, my son,
are the glorious summer days when
your dear mamma is far, far away
from the wicked, noisy city, enjoying
freedom from household cares and
breathing the sweet, pure air she so
much needs.”
PRISON THICK FARM
ONE OF FEATURES OF MISSOURI
PENITENTIARY.
(s Started Because Warden of Instjtu.
tion Likes to See Things Grow—
Welcome Change in Con
vict Fare.
Jefferson City, Mo.—Truck garden,
ing on a large scale has become one
of the features of the management of
the Missouri penitentiary, under Matt
W. Hall, who is a farmer when not in
the public service, and has the inborn
desire of all farmers to see things
growing around him. On what js
known as the “state farm” he has this
year produced a tremendous amount
of garden stuff of all kinds, all of
which is utilized on the prison table
affording a very welcome and health
ful change of menu for the convicts
The “state farm” consists of 47
acres of land. Part of it has been cut
away in supplying clay for the prison
brickyard, part is utilized as a pas
ture, and about 14 acres are tilled for
the prison garden.
Some idea of the magnitude of the
output of the prison garden can be
gained by the statement that 470 bush
els of "snap” beans have already been
fed to the convicts this season. It
takes 70 bushels to go around at one
meal in the prison dining room.
On three-quarters of an acre of
ground 26,500 pounds of cabbage have
been cut this season. This is not all
of the cabbage crop, but this was an
early and unusually prolific “patch.”
There are several acres more of the
garden in cabbage.
Onions to the amount of several
hundred bushels, besides several
meals of young onions, served early
in the spring, radishes, rhubarb and
other stuff were grown in the greatest
abundance.
The pride of the warden and his su
perintendent, John Brumer, centers,
however, in the tomato crop. Eleven
thousand seven hundred vines, cover
ing something over three acres of
ground, are in full fruit, and yield now
something like 40 bushels per day. A
more welcome addition to the prison
fare than sliced tomatoes could not
be supplied. The crop is exceedingly
prolific and fine this season, and the
vines will keep on bearing until frost.
Col. Hall figures on having enough
green tomatoes to pick late in Sep
tember to make several hogsheads of
“chow chow” and other pickles to add
to the prison larder.
The garden lies on top of some of
the high bluffs overlooking the Mis
souri river. The land originally was
not the best, but has been brought to
a high state of productiveness by fer
tilization. Six or eight crippled and
superannuated convicts are employed
in the garden under the supervision of
Mr. Brumer.
It is the intention of Warden Hall
to put in next spring a small herd of
cows for the purpose of supplying
milk and butter for the prison hos-^
pital. They will be kept in connection'
with the garden and will work a con
siderable saving to the state, as th*
milk and butter supply for the hos
pital now costs something like six dol
lars per day.
RUNS AWAY WITH AN INDIAN.
Mother, However. Spoils Boy's Dream
of Wild and Woolly West.
Hammonton, N. J.—White Tiger,
who claims he is a full-blooded Apache
Indian and has been giving wild west
exhibitions here, was arrested charged
with attempting to kidnap John D.
Lauglilin, aged 13 years.
The boy left his home in the morn
ing to work in Skinner's glass factory.
Instead of going to work he met
White Tiger and went to Winslows
Junction with him. There they were
arrested by Officer William Keyser on
a warrant sworn out by the boy s mo
ther, just as they were going to leate
on a freight train for Jersey City.
At the hearing before Justice J. H.
Gaston the boy said the Indian had
told him that if he would go with him
they would make lots of money giving
shows, and would go to White Tigers
Indian home in Oklahoma.
The Indian showed that he was a
United States prisoner out on parole
from the Lawton (Okia.I penitentiary.
He was discharged by Magistrate Gas
ton, who decided that the boy was
too old to be kidnaped and went with
the Indian voluntarily.
BOOM IN BROOM CORN.
Mattoon Man Gets $130 Per Ton, High
est Price of Season.
Mattoon, 111.—There has not been
a time in ten years when the clean
up of old stock in the central broom
corn district has been as complete
as it is at present.
A few scattering lots of choice
brush remain, and this is being eager
ly sought for by the manufacturers,
whose stock, In nearly all cases, is a
low ebb. There has just been made
a sale of 20 tons at $130 a ton. 1 ls
being the high figure for the se‘j*°ne
though several sales at $lto
been reported during the past
So far as known there are on'.'
blocks of choice Illinois stock ot a .
considerable size remaining in
central district. .
The high price commanded.w
brush has been encouraging t0 ^ .
present year. I nese ngiye» . 000
plant of $1,000 acres, as ^gainst - .
acres last year. j