Iowa City Press-Citizen from Iowa City, Iowa • Page 2

fy IOWA STATE PKESS. saddest tears are those that never fall, But are held smarting In the aching eyes. The truest prayers can and no words at all. Bat flatter wearily to God, in sighs. --Pall Mall Magazine.

oooaoooooooooocooe fcATE MR. KNAPP. i OOOOOOO90C OH see, she was such a queer little thing that we couldn't help takiug her to our hearts at once. Bnt there! that's just the way with me! It always seems to me as if everybody ought to know the people I kno-r, without any particular explanation. Well, it was jast this way.

That euinnier that mother and I wanted to paper the sitting-room, though father would have given mother his head it she had asked for it, heads didn't count, it was money we needed, and of that he had none. Then, after much hard thinking I devised a plan, and though it was a great shock to father and mother at first, I carried the day, and the upshot of it was that we advertised for a summer boarder for our spare room. Unless you have done the same thing at some awful crisis in your life you can never for a moment imagine, oh, reader, the awful mixture of hope and fear that held place in our hearts, until we received a neatly written, briefly worded note, signed "Phcebe Knapp." Mother was taken with it at once, and aa she delights in all things miserable because she can make them feel better, she was especially captivated by the closing sentence, which ran: "Having recently met with a bereavement, the rest and quiet you trill be a great boon to me." "Widow, likely," said father, as we read the note aloud in his presence (for the fifth time). "Miss or Katie?" asked mother, although we both knew the signature by heart. "Yours sincerely, Phrebe Knapp." 'Tin sure I don't know.

I can't read between the lines," I answered, rather flippantly, I fear, This unknown was beginning to take a sort of weird possession of me. It seemed uncanny that everything should turn upon the movements of a -stranger whom we had never seen, and wherever I turned I could not help seeing a silent figure in a long veil lifting its hand and commanding me to do this or that, upon which I was already engaged. However, we were all ready for her at last, and when father came from the station and deposited upon the front piazza a tiny little woman of about fifty years "of age, with big, frightened gray-eyes, and delicate, sensitive features, a creature that would have looked small beside a robust child of ten--tha. contrast between this httle object and the commanding figure of my imagination was so great that I almost had a fit of hysterics on the spot. I took refuge in night, while mother cooed and coddled the "poor dear" and took her up to her room.

You see, mother just in her element, while I had all my notions to readjust to existing circumstances. My flights of fancy be the death of me some day, father says. I caught mother oa the stair a moment as they were coming down and breathed softly into her ear, "Miss or Mrs. "I don't kuosr. I couldn't find out," answered mother in that awful stage whisper of hers that sends me nearly into fits whenever she tries it.

But our boarder did not seem to notice. I made a venture on a bold stroke. "I shall call her Mrs. Knapp, and then she can correct me if she doesn't like Jt. I've always heard that it gives a middle-aged married woman much greater offense to be called 'Miss' than it does to address a single eister as so here "I hope you had a pleasant trip down, I said pleasantly, allowing my voice to die away on the last syllables as I found my courage oozing out at the tip of my tongue.

I couldn't say 3Irp. Knapp aftei all, to eave me. I noticed witb much amusement that father and mother avoided the pitfall as successfully as I did, during that first meal, and we all went out on the piazza alter pupper to enjoy the sunset. Hero om gue4 set our minds at rest. James -RonM Lave enjoyed exclaimed she.

softly, as if half to herself. Moiiiei nodded so vigor- ously and tiiuniphantly behind her back that I she would notice it, and so hastened nod in reply. We knew as a widow. "He loved to sit 1e me and watch the setting suii. in the slie went on "It seems terribly lonely i him.

Oh, if I conld only him out into such a peaceful place as this, he might be alive now 1 That spell was so hard on him. I thought perhaps he had a sunstroke, but I could not Mother's eyes filled -with sympathetic tears, and as she laid her hand gently over that of Mrs. Knapp she inquired tenderly, "How long is it "since he died, dear?" "Six weeks," answered the widow. "He was all that I had in the world, and I have been so lonely ever since. But, please, Mrs.

Curtis, I cannot talk nboiit it quite yet." Nevertheless, she did "talk about it" quite a gojd deal in the days that followed, with the effect that who WAS a wide-awake girl at that time, peculiarly susceptible to first impressions, imbibed au impression of the late Mr. Knapp 1 eccentricities that WM Mi Altogether complimentary to tht gentleman. "Poor dear'" said she', one day. "He tried so hard to speak. It' he only could have told his We just let her talk on, feeling that this was kindest and best.

I inferred from this last remark that her husband had been affected by paralysis, particularly as she had said on another occasion, "I used to sit at my window and James sat at his, I sewing, he looking out of the windows at what was going on in the street. He seemed perfectly happy as long as I was there. But them we can never tell. I often wish now that I had done more for him, or could have learned better what he "What did the physicians say or do?" I asked. "They said it was the breaking up of the system by old age.

I never felt that they quite understood the case." Poor little thing! Married to an paralytic and yet regretting his death as the breaking up of the one tie on earth! What desolation, what utter desolation her case seemed to mel I was moved to take her in my arms and weep with her, which was a great deal for me. Not only was the late Mr. Knapp old and ioibecile siiid paralytic, but he had other traits which must have rendered him highly objectionable as a daily companion. "Just about this time every afternoon I always gave James a bowl of cream with fresh sponge cake in it. He would not touch it unless it was in a certain bowl nor unless it was fresh from the baker's.

And yet they tried to persuade me that he didn't know anything!" From which I inferred that, added to his other peculiarities, the late Mr. Knapp possessed an extremely unpleasant temper. "And, oh, Miss Curtis!" she wailed, "after the poor dear was dead and gone, they wouldn't lefc me bury him in the family lot." From which I inferred that the dear departed come of a family of unpleasant tern-, pers. Such heathenish doings I never heard tell of. Surely, however they felt toward him during his life, nothing but a fiend would deny him the family resting place after he was dead! But I forgot my interest in Kuapp and her affairs by reason of, some of my own.

I had a delightful letter from Tom Dixon, saying he would be with us for a week. Now Tom was a favorite cousin of mine, and I spent a good deal of time fnrn-' ishing up my little belongings so that, I might look my very best when he came. And then, I was putting fin- isning touches to Tom's room, until the minute he arrived, so that I really had no time to talk to Mrs. Knapp or to listen to her if she wished to talk to me. Dear old Tom! How good it -was to see him that day with his blithe ways and "bonny brown hair!" We talked and talked till sapper was called, and then we still talked all the way to the dining-room door, and yet we found time to say nothing about anyone but ourselves.

As we seated ourselves at the table I saw Mrs. Kuapp's vacant place (for she was a little late) and realized that I had not mentioned her presence in our household. "Why, we have a boarder, Tom," I began, in answer to his look of inquiry at tlae empty place. Just as I spoke she glided in. "Why, who on.

eaith would have thought of finding you here!" and he shook her hand in a grasp so hearty that I could see it was painful to her. She colored faintly, and said a little unsteadily, "This is, indeed, a surprise, Mr. Dixon," and I read between the lines that the surprise was not an altogether agreeable one. But Tom didn't seem to notice anything (most men are dumb about such things, yon know), so I kept my oyes and ears open, and waited for deve'op- ments. At last they came and in the most startling manner.

"So I hear poor Jim is gone at last?" said Tom, turning'' to Mrs. Knapp as he buttered his seventh bis- cnifc. (Tom always was rather a greedy youth, and enjoyed most heartily the good things of this life, mother's cookiug among them). "Oh, Mr. Dixon, how can you speak of him in that way!" exclaimed the widow, hurrying from the room, in fit of sobbing.

Tom stared. Well, I'll be blamed! What under the sun is the matter with the woman, lie exclaimed. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself," replied severely. "No wonder the poor woman is shocked to hear WAS mm TO mm DEATH you speak of her husband in that way after he's dead and gone Tom started again. And then he broke into such spasms of laughter that I thought ho had suddenly lost 1m mind.

I had heard of such but I had fortunately been spared the sight of them so far. "Her husband' 'he exclaimed, when he could catch his breath, as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "Her husband! She hadn't any husband. She never was maviied. Jim was her old black cat!" and then he went off again into spasms.

No wonder the hard-hearted relatives had objected to having all that was mortal of "the late Mr, Knapp" laid in the family lot! Mother and I looked at each other and aaid nothing. What was there to say? But we thought things. I don't know whether they were the same things or not, but we certainly thought things. Old General "Joe" Wheeler, while at tending the Omaha Greater American Exposition the other day, met in the ranks of the Third Nebraska Regiment a man who acted hia orderly daring the Oiril War. They bad apt George Peters enured Sy Native Filipinos Wfiile at Work and Thrown Into a Dungeon.

With a score of savages dancing around him, prcddmg him with the points of their spsars, swinging their nachetes dangei ously near his head and their battleaxes within a foot of thrust of spear or machete seeming- to bring the long-expected messenger of death to him. Matters remained thus until a Captain Salceda of the Filipino cavalry happened into the town. He his nec-k TJO tire? Iicaicl of the American pifooner and details of the death v.hich they would inflict upon him in a few short minutes, Artist George W. Peters suffered indescribable tortures in the Philippines. He was sent there from this country to furnish sketches of the Spanish-Ameiican war in the islands before the lebellion broke out among the natives against the Americans, ignorant of the character of the Filipinos, he trusted himself reach of their camp.

He was captured and" thrown into an impromptu Jail, where, in addition to suffering the physical tortures of hunger and bodily pain, he was made to undergo the most exquisite mental agony. He was only rescued from his precarious position by the intervention of a Filipino whose friendship he had earned at Manila by some important sei vices. Artist Peters is not delicate man. On the contrary, he is hardy and strong. His physical strength is equal to almost any ordinary test and the dangers and hardships of the American campaign against the Spaniards ire the archipelago did not daunt him in the least.

He took as good care of himself as the conditions permitted and was not materially affected by the discomforts he experienced. went to see him. and was astoaished to find' that it was the American: artist who had befriended him when in trouble in Manila. He inquired 1 ss to the charges against him, and, learning them, successfully refuted' 'rhem, explaining the man. the true position Peters was ttren of released, but was not allowed to go back to the American lines for some time.

Eventually he was sent back ro execute a commission for the Filipinos. Describing the tortures he experienced, Aitist Peters said of the Irgorrotes, into whose hands fie fell: "A score of these fully armed, and with their naked bodies painted in -various colors, forced their way into my cell in the Caloocan prison, and there for several hours practiced on me the preliminary motions of their favorite methods of putting- enemies to death. This was, of course, in the nature of rehearsal, but therer seemed at the time no sufficient reason for believing that the performance would be long delayed. The twenty howling savages danced 1 about for several touching me the points of thefr spears, threatening to cut me down with their machetes, and swinging their battleaxes' just so as to graze my neck. They followed this with an inimitable represen- But mental tortures are too much for tation of thrusting ttte long point of any one to undergo without showing the effects of the strain.

His face 2 is aged ten years since his experience. There is a tinge of gray in the blond hair that formerly marked him. Has eyes are restless, that nis nerves have not yet recovered from the chock. Physically, he has fallen away greatly, though he says he HP the ax into my neck and carrying off my head. I thought'ifwas all up with me, but a captain came in and subdued the savages, promising that each should have as many American heads as he wanted just as-soon as the war between the Filipinos and Americans declared.

This continued every day or two during the entire time I was in WORK OP FISH COMMISSION. Te last year was the most successful in whole history of the fish commission. A great part of the work has been in the collection and distribution of the eggs and fry of commercial food fish, say3 the Scientific American. Taking shad for instance, by the systematic collection of eggs, tne distribution of shad fry, Cue last antttral catch was 13,000,000, or an increase of since 1885. At- tlie same time the cost of shad has been decreased to the consumer more ttian 30 per cent.

The value of the catch this year is estimated at more than $800,0000. This result has been obtained' by the efforts of the fish commission at an expenditure of only $42,000. The work of the California stations this year has been chiefly confined to the propagation of the commercial salmon and to two varieties of the trout. Over 40,000,000 eggs have been distributed from these stations. From itte five Oregon stations on the Columbia river, 20.000,000 fry have been planted fp.

the Pacific coast streams. In the Rocky mountain region various varieties of the trout were fry being distributed. In the middle section of" Che- United States trout, black bass and" crappie were distributed in large numbers. From the stations on the great lakes- where the white fish, lake trout, perch, are collected, no less than TaO.ODO,- 000 eggs of all kinds were taken, and 1 500,000,000 fry propagated. At'the sfiad stations on the eastern coast 300,000,000 shad" eggs were collected anff 230,000 fry planted.

lir Massachusetts there are-two'of tire largest American fish culture stations in tire- world; here over cod 1 eggs: were collected and from 150.0W,- 000 ta 200,000,000 fry distributed; orer lOOQOUO.OOO lobster eggs have been 'taken, and it is expected that 500,000,000 will be- taken before of tnv season. If tfce Earth Should Ttte stopping of a projectile always results in the generation of heat. The recovering his old self and that his present condition is no circumstance to lie was when rescued from his captivity. The Spanish-American war had ended and the Americans in possession of the city of Manila when Peters was sent out into the fields in the vicinity of the -waterworks to sketch. The American occupation of the town without the co-operation of the Filipino forces had given rise to hard feelings in the rank and file of the natives against our men, but as yet there was no open suggestion of trouble between them.

Accordingly there seemed to be no danger in the undertaking on which Peters had embarked, and he took no precaations to guard himself. He was idly sitting near the waterworks, sketching it from the north, when he was approached by a party of Filipinos. They made no hostile demonstration and he thought nothing of them until they approached directly to where he sat. He then glanced up inquiiingly, to find them evidently interested in him Even then no suspicion entered his mind until he found himself seized and hurried off to the Filipino camp. His vigorous protests received no other notice than to earn him a sound ci'ff He was soon silenced and watched the consultation as to should be done with him Alter' a while the question was decided.

He v.as ordered to mount a horse Guarded by a dozen natives, he rode off In the direction of San Juan del Monti, where he wag taken before General Montenegro. He was charged with being a spy in the interests of the American government. A story was trumped up as to how he had been caught within the Filipino lines trying to sneak away with important papers and documents which he had stolen. He was ordered to be killed, and was hurried away to prison nearby. The next day, however, he was taken away to Caloocan.

Here he remained in jail for more than four weeks. Every day he expected orders to march out to his death. Almost daily he was visited by a savage horde and told how he should die. They thrust him with the points of spears and sM-uck at him with machetes and battleaxes. Evidently, though at the time he did not know it, some euspicion of the truth had come to the general in command, and he waa unwilling to kill the man without more warrant.

Day by the ntatftl ooutlawd, FILIPINO SAVAGES REHEARSING THE DEATH TORTURES OF ARTIST PETERS. captivity, it was not until I was found by Captain Salceda that I learned that there would be a chance of escape for me Soon after that I was released. I had reached the American lines when the first struggle between the Americans and the Filipinos oc- cuned. I thanked my lucky stars that I was not a prisoner then, for I believed uo amount of intervention would saved my life. I would have been tortured as I had been for weeks, tiH some vicious fellow thrust his spear to good purpose and dispatched me.

But I am here alive and I ought not to complain. I would rather be killed a thousand times than go through that terrible ordeal of anticipation that I reg- expeiienced e-very day for a month. I had enough cf Filipino captivity." Peters' pluck was demonstrated when he returned to Manila. After his experience and in his weakened condition one would have thought he would have sought to keep as far away from hostile Filipinos as possible. Instead he kept right on the firing line to continue his sketching.

There he remained through all the fighting that followed until the California volunteers started for home. He embarked with them and arrived in San Francisco during the past week. He was one of the earliest artists on the scene. He sailed with General Merritt on the Newport last June and was familiar with all the details of the Manila campaign from the time of his arrival until his departure. He personally met Admiral Dewey all the officers of the fleet, Admiral Montejo and many of the Spanish army officials.

His acquaintance with the Filipino leaders he does not care to renew. His sketches, therefore, been realistic tali terrible experience, velocity and weight of a projectile being known, the amount of heat deveK oped by its stoppage can be calculated. In the case of large bodies moving rapidly the result qf the calculation is something astounding. For example: The earth weighs 6,000 milhon-milljon- million tons. It travels in its orbits at the rate of over eighteen miles a second Should it strike a target strong enough to stop its motion, the heat developed by the shock would tie sufficient not merely to fuse the earth, but also to reduce a large portion of it to vapor.

It has been calculated that tha amount of heat generated, by a collision so colossal would equal that obtained from the burning of fourteen globes of coal, each equal to the earta in size. And should the earth after this stoppage fall into the sun. as it certainly would do, the amount of heat developed by its impact on the sun would be equal to 'that generated by the combustion of 5,000 earths of solid carbon. Regardinc Human Hair. According to an authority on the subject, something like five tons of hair are required annually by London merchants, and, although samples arrive from various parts of the world, the bulk is chiefly French or Italian grown.

Naturally the tresses of novices who take the veil figure largely in the hair harvest. Some little time ago a convent is said to have sold over a ton of hair for while a single convent near Tours recently dispatched as much as eighty pounds of hair to a Parisian hairdresser, which would be worth alrnoit as many sovereigns. A merchant revealed the fact recently that wai an average for Brltiib Irl't head of hair. PRAIRIE fn of extermination. The rapid increase in tlae number cf prairie dogs in Western Nebraska has eansed the experiment- station connected with the State University to experiment with view to ing means for their extermination.

Few persons realize the amount of damage done by the prairie dogs, and hence-no organized foree has been exerted against them. These pests have become-ench a Sheridan County and other parts of Nebraska, especially in the northwestern part, that the people we actually becoming alarmed. Ten years ago there were bnt few prairie dogs in the vicinity of ville, and these, it is claimed; were ra the same "town," Little attention, has been paid 1 to- the damage-done by them until within the last or onr years. Bnt since then they increased with alarming rapidity, migrating to new places and starting new towns. As an example of how fast they multiply mention may be made- of a "dog town" located jnst north of Eushvilie.

Three years ago this town covered less than 100 acres, and at the present time it extends over nearly fonr sections of land. Within a radius of four miles of Bnshville there are no less than nine "towns," covering as much as 3500 acres of pasture, which is rendered almost useless. The damage done by these little pests consists in killing ont the grass an their "'town." And as that part of the country in which they exist is almost entirely used for grazing purposes, it is necessary tltat the land be- saved against their ravages. For the purpose of exterminating the prairie dogs various- methods have been tried, some with complete sue-cess, whole towns having been entirely killed ont. But what has been successful in one case has not been, in another and the "dogs" continue to thrive.

The most important and practical methods of extermination consist in the use of poisonous gases, and different diseases and poisons. the poisonous gases tisedj carbon bisulphide is the most efficient; in fact, it is the surest method so- fax- discovered. But on account of the price of material and the labor required to apply it this method hanot "been generally adopted. In obtaining a virus to spread contagious disease among the prairie dogs the great difficulty is to find one-that will not affect domestic animals or human beings. Another difficulty met with is in feeding the virus to the animals, as it is liable to be exposed on tha bait long enough to become weakened, before being eaten.

Thus far no success has been attained along this line. Great difficulty is met with in the application of poisons, as it is often almost impossible to get the little animals to eat it. In this experiment much time has been spent in the endeavor to discover how best to prepare the bait, so as to get. them. to take the poison.

Some valuable results along this line have been found. One Tlniugr There ark moments in some men's lives that may never be duplicated-moments of wild exhilaration, of that serene and glowing triumph over obstacles that hitherto have seemed insurmountable. To Hillber a moment like this had come, as, rising from the breakfast table, he approached his wife, and putting his hand in -his waistcoat pocket, pulled out ten new crisp one-hundred-dollar billa which he placed before her. said, the tone of his voice indicating a depth of emotion that, since he had come home the night before, had succeeded in suppressing, "by one of those chance lucky turns in the market I have just made one thousand dollars, and I want you to go out and satisfy your craving for shopping. I want you to revel in department stores, dry-goods emporiums, dressmakers and milliners.

Go out and have a good time. All your married life you have complained that yon have never really enjoyed a single day's shopping, as you have always been cramped and fettered. Let this day be yours alone. If yott see anything you want, but don't boy it. If there is anything you know you can get along without, buy it.

Go out and revel for one Here, take the money. It yourg to blow in." Mrs. Hillber took the bills from his bands and, counting them carefully, put them in a purse, while a slight look of anxiety crept into her eyes. "Tou dear thing," she said, smiling, "it is ever so good of you, but do yon know you haven't gi-ven me a cent for care Bazar. Great Fashion Followers.

Of all the races peopling this mundane sphere not one has such an extraordinary spirit of imitation as that which inhabits the Philippine Islands. No sooner does a new fashion arrive from Paris, Vienna or Berlin in shoes, trousers, hats, shirts or neckwear, no matter how extravagant, than the Indian and the half-breed immediately adopt them. The American troops had been in Manila only a few days with their brown suits before the stores on the Escolta were besieged by natives and half-breeds buying all the brown cloth obtainable, wool, cotton or silk, and in a few days they were all arrayed in suits of the same color aa those worn by the army of occupation. They noticed the hats oT straw or felt with a bine polka dot band, and in a few days all the Indians and breeds were wearing the same kind of hats as the Freedom. English locomotive ta't year amounted to 17,400,000.

19,000.009.