TOOK EDGE OFF THE EFFECT,
His Mistake When He Boasted of Mod
est Act of Charity.
Taylor got on the subject of mod
esty one night at the Press club.
"Practically all acts of charity,” said
he, “are performed out of vanity. Mod
est charity is very rare, yet it is the
only sort that counts, you know, with
th—er—Recording Angel, eh? I re
member once, motoring in the east, I
came to a small town that had suffered
from a flood. In the empty post office
there was a contribution box for the
flood sufferers.
"Not a soal was present. Nobody
saw me or knew me. I pushed a $20
bill into the box and slipped away un
seen. And that act, I claim, that mod
est act of charity, was worth more
than these acts involving many thou
sands, which are made on public sub
scription lists, to the loud fanfare of
trumpets.”
Taylor paused and relighted his
cigar. His companion said:
"Quite right. Yours was genuine
modest charity, Taylor. No wonder
you brag about it.”—Detroit News-TrV
bune.
EVENLY MATCHED.
Magistrate (to witness)—And where
■were you when this assault occurred?
Witness—Just across the street,
your honor.
Magistrate—Then why didn’t you go
to the plaintiff’s assistance when you
saw him attacked?
Witness—Faix, I wasn't sure then
that he wouldn’t be the defendant,
your honor.
Makes Pain Go Away
Are you one of the ones who pay in toil
For your right of way through this
life?
If so you will find Hunt’s Lightning Oil
A friend which will aid in the strife.
To those who earn their own way by
their own labor, accidents occur with
painful frequency. Burns, bruises, cuts
and sprains are not strangers to the
man who wears corns on his hands. A
better remedy for these troubles does
not exist than Hunt’s Lightning Oil.
His Absent-Minded View.
They were engaged in purchasing
shoes for the children. The husband
was a former teacher, but the wife
was a very intelligent and practical
person, relates the Chicago News.
“For school purposes I don’t want
and dull kids for they roughen up so
easily,” said the wife to the sales
woman, adding: “What do you think
of it, dear?”
“Well,” he said absent-mindedly. “1
have known a good many dull kids at
school, but I never regarded them as
any rougher than other children.”
Beware of Ointments for Catarrh
that Contain Mercury,
as mercury will surely destroy the sense of smell
and completely derange the whole system when
entering It through the mucous surfaces. Such
articles should never be used except on prescrip
tions from reputable physicians, as the damage they
will do is ten fold to the good you can possibly de
rive from them. Hall’s Catarrh Cure, manufactured
tu' F. J. Cheney A Co . Toledo. O.. contains no mer
tcury, and Is taken Internally, acting directly upon
the blood and mucous surfaces of the system. In
buj'ing Hall’s Catarrh Cure be sure you get the
genuine. It Is taken Internally anil made in Toledo.
Ohio, by F. J. Cheney & Co. Testimonials free.
Sold by Druggists. Price. 75c. per bottle.
Take Hall’s Family Pills for constipation.
The Inauguration.
Trood people all, of every sort, give
ear unto our song. Hike this way
sure on March 4 and bring your folks
along.—Washington Herald.
Thanks for your invitation, Jim;
’twould please us to be there. Dost
have the price in pocketbook to pay
our railroad fare?—Birmingham Age
Herald.
Bluffing Nature.
Over in France they are testing
some artificial clouds that are design
ed to protect the vineyards from the
too direct rays of the sun.
Think of a plant for the manufac
ture of clouds and hazes and artificial
rainbows!
ONLY ONE “BBOMO QUININE”
That is I.AXAT1VK 11KOMO OUIN1NK. l/u.k for
the signature of K. W. GKOVK. Used the World
over to Cure a Cold in One Day. 26c.
For what the mind wishes, that it
also believes.—Heliodorus.
Use Alien*® Foot-F.ase
Cu-es tired, aching, sweating feet. 25c. Tnal package
free. A. 8. Oluisted. JLe Uov. N. Y.
A singer doesn’t weigh his words on
the musical scale.
5H
m.
n
■S
9
1
1
THE WIRE CUTTERS
n
u
By GRACE MacGOWAN COOKE
n
s
J
u
La-rH
(Copyright, by Bobbs-Merrill Co.)
The dust rose in choking clouds;
they were dancing upon an earthen
floor, and the salutations at a cow
boy ball are apt to be vigorous.
Elmer Holden leaned upon a table
in the entry, then looked up with alien
eyes upon the flannel-shirted, tali-boot
ed men; he surveyed with little more
favor the few women present. The
west is a siren that grips you hard,
or sickens you; and Elmer Holden,
three months from his Ohio home, was
trying to persuade himself that he
was at the point of nausea.
Suddenly the dust was laid and
with a half-smothered exclamation
of astonishment, Holden recognized the
girl he had traveled with from Chica
go to Socorro; the girl who had been
companionable, kindly, ready to listen
to his plans and aspirations, but who
had refused to give her name, assert
ing with cheerful good humor that
they were certain to meet again. And
here she was!
It is not etiquette to seek introduc
tions at a cowboy dance; so much
Holden—tenderfoot as he was—knew.
As her partner resigned her, he made
his way to the girl and boldly claimed
her for the next dance, whatever it
might be.
“I think you promised it to me the
last time I met you,” he ventured, and
there was a laughing challenge in his
eyes.
When the dance was over, his part
ner declared herself too tired to dance
again, and they went together to the
porch of a little adobe,
"You knew you were going to see
me again; you meant it, when you said
we were to be near neighbors?” said
Holden.
“Yes, I knew I was to be your near
neighbor—-your nearest neighbor,” re
turned the girl, with a sudden rush of
color.
' Spiritually — yea. Materially—I
wish you were. I've certainly got the
toughest set on the ranch next me
that you ever heard of.”
They fell naturally into their old
relation. The girl knew the country
and the life; Holden did not; he has
tened to bring her his perplexities and
problems for consideration. He did
not know how suddenly white she had
grown when she answered:
"The Bradleys? Do you find them
such awful people?”
“Oh, I was warned—I was told that
I'd have trouble with Jeff Bradley, and
that the only chance for peace was to
make it so hot for them they'd be
glad to let me alone.”
“What have these desperate Brad
leys done to you?” the girl asked with
a touch of asperity.
Holden felt that he was accused of
having quarreled with the Bradleys
because he had expected to. “Jeff tried
to borrow money of me the first week
I was here,” he began. “He thought
I was tenderfoot enough to lend it to
him. The younger boys, Alfred and
Harry, annoy me any way they can—
drive cattle through my range, and
water them at my fenced tank.”
"Are you fencing the big tank?” in
quired the girl, in a startled tone.
“Yes, I’m having a ten-wire fence
put up across that pasture that will
shut out the Bradleys, I rather think!"
The girl rose with a little con
strained laugh. "So you don't want
any Bradleys on your ranch?” she com
mented. “I’m tired; I believe I'll go
in.”
Oh, come, he remonstrated, "come,
my kind little friend—my only one, al
most—you'rp not going to run away
and leave me like this—you haven't
even told me what your name is, nor
where I’m going to call on you—for
you know I’m coming, don't you?”
The girl glanced up at him. In the
half-light that came through the small
windows she did appear worn and
tired. “Anybody here will tell you my
name,” she said, nervelessly. “It isn’t
important about me. I”—there was a
little catch in her voice, and then she
resumed—“I think I ought to tell you,
Mr. Holden, that this thing of fencing
a smaller owner out from a tank which
has always been upon the open range
—a tank which never goes dry—is a
cruel piece of business. The Bradleys
may be as contemptible as yon think
•—I’m not defending them. The sister
does the best she can; and I know
she hopes great things for the little
fellows, Alf and Harry. Jeff Bradley
is a bad lot,” with sudden bitterness;
“but—well, 1 wouldn’t fence them out
from the tank; he's sure to make re
prisals. And a quarrel like that—”
Somebody inside called out:
“Miss Mary! Mary Armitage!” and
the girl turned, flashing a wan little
smile at her companion. “I must be
going,” she said.
Holden followed her to the door,
protesting. “But am I not to see you
again; to be let to call upon you?”
“I’ll be back in a moment,” said
Miss Armitage, and was gone. Nor
could Holden find her again.
“Mary Armitage,” returned Holden's
ranch boss, in answer to his inquiries.
“No, she doesn’t live out here any
more; she's been teachin' in Socorro
for six months. She jest come down
for the dance at De Freese's, I reckon.
Her and Billy De Freese's wife is great
friends.”
Holden’s trouble with the Bradleys
now began to usurp an entirely undue
proportion of his attention. As the
tangle grew more hateful to him, drew
tighter about him, its ugly features
rendered uglier by his own distrust of
all advice and suggestions that came
trim his men, he brooded more and
more upon the thought of Mary Ar
ms itage.
Even after his first talk with the
girl, Holden would not have had the
fence put up, but that he was ashamed
to retreat.
The first night after the big ten-wire
fence was in place, Holden’s ranch
boss, who may be supposed to have
had some personal feeling in the mat
ter, suggested that they divide their
force into watches and patrol the
fence all night.
“If they’re going to cut that there
fence,” he opined, “to-night’s the night
they’ll cut it. When it’s stood there a
week they’re more likely to let it
alone.”
Holden agreed in a half-hearted fash
ion; but all day long the thought of
the fence and the armed men riding
before it in the dark haunted him
with a sense of impending tragedy.
So much was he oppressed by it that
he left the supper-table, and with a
brief: “I’ll ride down to the big tank—
you fellows follow when you’re ready,”
came to view his own unfortunate
handiwork.
It was light when he left the ranch
house, and it was black dark when he
reached the boundary, so suddenly
does night come in that southwestern
plains country which has no twilight.
Holden dismounted and left his
pony to graze with bridle trailing.
Suddenly he stood rigid. There were
voices—lowered, whispering, but still
audible—near the fence, and about 50
feet beyond him. He stole forward
with draining eyes—surely there were
two patches of denser black moving
close to his fence, and on the other
side.
He was close enough to be actually
sure that there were two of them—he
was almost upon them—when one
form disparted itself from the other
and ran back into the engulfing dark
ness of the Bradley pasture.
Had Elmer Holden not been a ten
derfoot he would not have run reck
lessly in upon a wire cutter, in the
screening darkness of night, and with
out a gun drawn. As it was, he put out
a hand, found all ten wires cut, stepped
through the gap, and shouting: “Throw
up your hands! I've got you!” grap
pled with and held a slender form
that stood passive in his grasp.
His hand had caught a slight shoul
der; it traveled down the arm, and
found a pair of wire-clippers in the
small hand.
“Alf—Harry—whichever one you
are—I’ve got you; you needn't try
to squirm away; here are the clippers
in your hands!”
He had possessed himself of the
wire clippers, and dropped them into
his pocket; now he crossed the wrists
of his strangely unresisting captive
and started back toward the pony.
“Come along!” he ordered. “I’m going
to settle this thing here and now.”
“Elmer!” remonstrated a well-re
membered voice.
"You here, Mary—Mary Armitage!”
he faltered.
"Don't call me that,” the girl re
monstrated. “Give me the name that
every one uses, the name that you
despise—call me Mary Bradley."
Holden reeled and clung to the post
beside him for support. Had she mar
ried that abject creature—Mary—his
Mary?
“Jeff was cutting the wires,” the
girl's voice went on with gathering
composure. “I followed him from the
house and found him at it. I was
searching for the clippers when you—”
she sobbed—“caught me!”
Holden groaned and covered his
eyes with his hands. “The sneak!” he
ground out beneath his teeth. “He
ran and left you to bear the brunt of
it. My men will be here in a few
moments—I must get you away. Oh,
my Lord! what a mess—what a mud
dle!”
He went heavily toward her, put out
his hand and took hers as gently and
quietly as a mother leading a little
child. ‘‘Here are the clippers,” he
said, Ashing them from his pocket and
presenting them. “Mary, I was go
ing over to Socorro to-morrow to ask
you to be my wife—instead of that
man's—oh!”
The girl halted and laughed, a queer
little laugh that was a mixture of re
lief, embarrassment and not without
the sound of tears in it
“I thought you knew,” she said,
softly, "that I was generally called
Mary Bradley, because Jeff Bradley
is my step-brother—but Alf and Harry
are my own. They are Armitages
I've tried—nobody knows how I’ve
tried—to straighten things out here.
Jeff is no good—but I couldn't run the
ranch alone with just my little broth
ers, and I've been teaching over at
Socorro to help out.”
“Mary!” cried Holden, ardently.
“After all, 1 may ask the question )
was going over to Socorro to ask—”
A party of'mounted men swept down
upon the two—Holden's cowboys!
“Hi! hi, cap! They've cut it We rid
through the gap," called one of them.
“No," returned Holden, his arm
about the shrinking girl at his side,
secure in the sheltering darkness. “Gc
back! I cut it myself.”
And bending to whisper softly, h«
murmured in Mary's ear: “A man an<
his wife are one, you know.”
SQUIRREL ANGRY AND PROFANE*
Expressed Himself Strongly aa to
Character of His Despoiler.
When irritated a red squirrel can
come the nearest to being profane of
any animal I ever saw. One day when
still-hunting I happened to stop under
a large beech. Soon the burrs began
to drop, and, wishing to rest, I began
shelling and eating the beech nuts. I
had been doing this for some time,
when the supply ceased and the squir
rel came down to look after his nuts.
On seeing me where he expected to
find the nuts, he flew into the great
est fit of passion I ever saw any ani
mal indulge in. He was so enraged
that he lost all sense of fear and stood
head down on the tree within arm's
length of me, calling me all the vile
names the squirrel vocabulary is
capable of. It was perfectly evident
that he was using language which
■would not look well in print. I tried
to reason with him, told him that
there were nuts enough for both, that
he was the spryest and could get
more; but it was no use. I had taken
his nuts, and he abused me so that I
was obliged to leave him, still using
language strong enough to walk on.—
Manlv Hardy, in Forest and Stream.
INTOLERABLE ITCHING.
Fearful Eczema All Over Baby’s Face
—Professional Treatment Failed.
A Perfect Cure by Cuticura.
"When my little girl was six months
old I noticed small red spots on her
right cheek. They grew so large that
I sent for the doctor but, instead of
helping the eruption, his ointment
seemed to make it w'orse. Then I
went to a second doctor who said it
was eczema. He also gave me an oint
ment which did not help either. The
disease spread all over the face and
the eyes began to swell. The itching
grew intolerable and it was a terrible
sight to see. I consulted doctors for
months, but they were unable to cure
the baby. 1 paid out from $20 to $20
without relief. One evening I began
to use the Cuticura Remedies. The
aext morning the baby’s face was all
. white instead of red. I continued until
| the eczema entirely disappeared. Mrs.
I P. E. Oumbin. Sheldon, la.. July 12,’OS.”
Potter Drug & Clem. Cr.rp.. Solo Props., Boston.
REAL GRIEVANCE.
-Z3P**r»
“Boo-lioo! Johnny Jones has got
de measles, an’ can’t come out.”
‘‘Ah! And you miss your dear little
playmate?”
“Yis-m, he's de only kid in the town
dat 1 kin lick—boo-hoo-oo!”
“It Knocks the Itch”
It may not cure all your ills, but it
does cure one of the worst. It cures
any form of itch ever known—no mat
ter what it is called, where the sensa
tion is “itch,” it knocks it. Eczema,
Ringworm and all the rest are relieved
at once and cured by one box. It's
guaranteed, and its name is Hunt's
Cure._
Rug Industry Has Suffered.
Persia's rug industry has suffered
materially as a result of the closing
o fthe bazars at Tabriz and other Per
sian cities. The difficulties of trans
portation on the highways of Persia
and the lessened American demand
for luxuries have contributed in no
small measure to the depressed con
dition of the Persian rug trade. Prices
have fallen recently by one-third and
rug exports have fallen off by one
half. Labor there now commands
only between five and ten cents a
day.
Important to Mothers.
Examine carefully every bottle of
CASTORIA a safe and sure remedy for
Infants and children, and see that it
Bears the
Signature ofj
In Use For Over 30 Years.
The Kind You Have Always Bought.
Disillusion.
Little Johnnie had just learned the
heartbreaking fact that there wasn't
a “really” Santa Claus, and he felt that
the world had collapsed about his ears.
"I d-don’t believe n-nothin at all,” he
sobbed. “I d—d—don’t bu—believe
there's any George Washington neith
er!”
Don't Delay
The season of coughs and colds is
not yet past—they will be prevalent
for some months to come. Do not
neglect or experiment with them. Use
the safe and sure remedy—Simmons’
Cough Syrup. It heals the soreness and
stops the cough.
Enough Said.
“Take my word for it,” pleaded the
first man.
“No, sir, I'll be darned if I do!” de
I dared the second man.
The first man was a press agent
I The second man knew it.
Eor Headache Try Hicks’ Capudine.
Whether from Colds, Heat, Stomach or
Nervous troubles, the aches are speedily
relieved by Capudine. It’s Liquid—pleas
ant to take—Effects immediately. 10, 25
and 50e at Drug Stores.
The patient seldom knows anything
about the medicine the doctor gives
him—and neither does the doctor, one*
in awhile.
FOND OF ATHLETICS
PRESIDENT HAS SET GOOD EXAM
PLE FOR CABINET MEN.
His Fondness for Healthy and Manly
Sports Has Been Contagious
with Advisers—Wilson
Not a Sport.
Washington.—Not the le&si good
that Theodore Roosevelt, as president
of the United States, has done his
countrymen has been to quicken by
precept and example their love and
appreciation of healthy, athletic and
manly sports. As a hunter, a horse
man, a pedestrian, a tennis player, a
boxer, an exponent of jiu jitsu—in
short, a follower of every wholesome
form of exercise and manner of sport
—the president has set an example
that has been contagious and that will
hear good fruit for many a day to
come.
The eight serious , and one jocund
gentlemen who stand at all times
ready, if not anxious, to lend their
counsel to the president regarding the
piloting of the ship of state are not
unlike him in respect to their fondness
for athletic recreation.
Secretary Straus, who has had con
siderable experience in the service of
his country both at home and abroad,
and who is now at the head of the
many-sided department of commerce
and labor, is an ardent fisherman and
an enthusiastic pedestrian. He found
ample opportunity to gratify both his
fishing and walking propensities dur
ing the past summer.
The entire month of August was
spent in the Maine woods, in company
with William Loeb, Jr., secretary to
the president. There, in a little cabin
of logs, which Secretary Straus asserts
cost him the munificent sum of $f5t),
far from civilization and close to the
heart of nature, where the deer came
curiously up to investigate the in
truders and the brook trout rose
greedily to the fly, a happy party en
joyed to the full the unconventional
delights of a genuine outing. The
camp can be reached only after a con
siderable tramp through the woods, at
that time in the full glory of their
richest foliage, so that on arrival at
the unostentatious but hospitable por
tals the newcomers were in fit mood
to appreciate the dainties spread be
fore them, dainties typical of the re
gion and the environment.
The camp possesses every conveni
ence that the “simple life" requires,
and afforded ample accommodation
not only for Secretary Straus, Mrs.
(I
Camp of Secretary Straus at Big
Island Pond, Me,
Straus and their young son, but also
for Secretary Loeb and several other
guests.
The most striking feature is the
central hall, with its stone chimney,
where on a wide open hearth spruce,
pine and maple logs blazed cheerily
and gave out needed warmth, especial
ly in the mornings and evenings, while
in Washington people were seeking
the parks and housetops to get refuge
from the humid heat.
"I feel that the head of this depart
ment ought, to know something about
fishing,” said Secretary Straus, almost,
naively, "as the bureau of fisheries is
under his jurisdiction, and in order to
learn about fishes you must love the
sport cf taking them.”
One would have to go far to find a
more ardent sportsman and outdoor
athlete than the postmaster general of
the United States, George von Len
gerke Meyer of Hamilton, Mass. With
him athletic exercise is little short of
a religion, and with his 50 years sit
ting lightly on him he can outride and
outwork most younger men. What he
goes through during his vacation
would kill any man whose nerves were
not in perfect trim, whose muscles
were not like whip cords and whose
digestion was not capable of assimilat
ing the heartiest viands.
But the postmaster general does not
try to crowd into a brief vacation all
the exercise and open-air recreation of
an entire year. Every day he jumps
on his horse at seven o'clock in the
morning and takes a ride at a rattling
pace over country roads and ’cress
country in the bracing morning air.
He is, an accomplished and daring
horseman.
James Wilson, secretary of agricul
ture, is no sport. When he wants recre
ation he exchanges one kind of worl
for another, and even when at home
in the bosom of his family he is not
wont to indulge in cards or checkers
or chess or any other of the games
commonly resorted to for recreation
and amusement.
Victor Howard Metcalf, the recent
secretary of the navy, is as fond of
sport as when at Yale he led his boat
crew to victory, but he now finds
recreation in other ways. Fishing,
hunting and mountain climbing formed
bis chief amusements during his vacs
tion last summer.
Youthful Confidence.
Tb\5re is a period in every child's
life when he feels himself master of
some profession. A little boy of this
particular age—10 years old—was no
ticed making great efforts at his draw
lng.
"What are you drawing, dear?” his
mother asked him?
“A picture of God," was his ready
reply.
“But, my dear, no one knows just
what God looks like,’ said the mother
softly and with an air of reproach
“They will after they see this,” con
fidently answered this young prodigy.
Net “Just as Good”—|fs the Best
One box of Hunt’s Cure is unfailing
ly, unqualifiedly, and absolutely gua!.
anteed to cure any form of Skin Dis
ease. It Is particularly active in
promptly relieving and permanently
curing all forms of itch known.
Eczema, Tetter, Ringworm, and all
similar troubles are relieved by one
application; cured by one box.
Rain or Shine.
Small Wallace accepted an invita
tion to a party, as follows:
“Dear Louise—I will come to your
party if it don't rain” (then thinking
that he might have to stay home in
that case)—“and if it does.”—The De
lineator.
“Marriage Service" Defined.
A Boston cynic of the female per
suasion defines the “marriage service”
as “waiting on one's lord and master
In the capacity of cook, laundress
seamstress and maid-of-all-work.”
For Colds and Gripp—Capudine.
The best remedy for Gripp and Colds' is
Hu-ks Capudine. Relieves tin- a.-hing and
feverishness. Cures the ,oId-Headarhe»
also. It's Liquid—Effects Immediately—in
25 and 50c at Drug Stores. ’
More graduates of all the British
universities except Oxford are found
in the Wesleyan Methodist ministry
this year than in 1907.
PICKS CURED IN 0 TO 14 DAYS.
PAZOOINTMBNTls guaranteed to cure anv ease
uf Hulun*. Blind. Ill.ling ,,r Protruding Piles in
-3 to H days or money refunded. 5lv.
He isn’t much of a baker who eats
ill the bread he kneads.
SICK HEADACHE
CARTERS
ITTLS
SVER
PILLS.
Positively cured by
these Little Pills.
They also relieve Dis
tress from Dyspepsia, In
digestion and Too Hearty
Eatin". A perfect rem
edy for Dizziness, Nau
sea, Drowsiness, Bad
Taste in t lie M< »uth, Coat
ed Tongue, Pain in the
Side, TORPID LIVER.
They regulate the Bowels. Purely Vegetable.
SMALL PILL, SMALL DOSE. SMALL PRICE.
Genuine Must Bear
Fac-Simile Signature
REFUSE SUBSTITUTES.
Western Canada
MORE BIG CROPS IN 1908
Another 60,000 set
tlers from the United
States. New dis
tricts opened for set
tlement. 320 acres
of land to each set
t ler, —160 free
homestead and 160 at $3.00 per acre.
“A vast rich country and a contented pros
perous people.”— Extract from oorrespondenct
of a National Editor. whose visit to II tstem
Canada, in August, ppoS, was an inspiration.
Many have paid the entire cost of their
farms and had a balance of from $10.00 to
$20.00 per acre as a result of one crop.
Spring wheat, winter wheat, oats, barley,
dax and peas are the principal crops, while
the wild grasses bring to perfection the
best cattle that have ever been sold on
the Chicago market.
Splendid climate, schools and churches
in all localities. Railways touch most ol
'.he settled districts, and prices for produce
are always good. Lands may also be pur
chased from railway and land companies.
For pamphlets, maps and information re
garding low railway rates, apply to Superin
tendent of Immigration, Ottawa, Canada, or
the authorized Canadian Government Agent.
J. S. CRAWFORD.
No. 125 W. Ninth Street. Kansas City, Missoni.
WHY NOT/
Try Schaap’s Laxative
Chill Cure and do not go
through the same old siege oi
Fall sickness again. It is the
best Remedy made for Chi-ls
and Fever, Bilious Fevers,
Swamp Fever, Dumb Ague,
all Diseases due to Malana,
It is warranted to cure or
money refunded. Price 5
Open an Account With U*
and SAVE Tonr MONEY
CAPITAL $500,000
paid up Y
Commercial and Saving*
Departments
WHITE
UK. MelMuan .
NATURAL UTERINE