Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 4

THE PITTSBURGH "GAZETTE THURSDAY, AUGUST 51. 1911." QUIET OBSERVER NEW CHRONICLES teachers benefit. They should realize this, and do all in their power to bring themselves to the highest possible degree of efficiency. THE GAZETTE TIMES Established July 3. JJH.

VOLUME 128 NO. SI. PUBLISHED EVERT MORNING. The Salamander Is a Unique Reptile The Civil War -Fifty Years Ago omniend moderation in going after conventions. It is apparent that the convention business may be easily overdone.

There are many which benefit only a certain class in the community while exerting a disturbing influence on business in general. There are cities, like Pittsburgh which scarcely require the kind of publicity conferred by the average convention and there are others to which it may prove highly advantageous. An TROUBLE ALONG THE POTOMAC. I IFT years ago today conditions of the Potomac river were such as to seriously disturb President Lincoln. Although the federal navy had a flotilla In the river, whose dutv it was to pre- vent confederate communication between 11 i 1 1 1 1 -1 -i.

Kr c.enni. landing men, mail matter and military stores on the Virginia shore. he entered the house of representatives While this was going on the confeder- in 1881. He had as a colleague Gen. ates were laboring earnestly to erect bat- Joseph E.

Johnston, with whom he was teries on commanding points on the Vir- on most friendly terms, and in the senate ginia side; and in spite of many obsta-j Were Generals John A. Logan and Am-cles they were making such prog! ess brose C. Burnside, and, a little later, that the time was not far distant hen Oen. William Mahone. Rosecrans was Should School Teachers Marry or Should They' Continue Teachers for Life? By ERASMUS WILSON.

CHOOL directors and superinten- dents say this marrying business is a nuisance and should be abated. because it causes lots of trouble. all uiuci 1 1 atwu i i 1 n-OTTii not to marry before the end or tne pehool term. But how can a girl know whether sne going to have a chance to marry or hot? She may be heart whole and fancy free when elected, and without a thought of marrying; yet a knight may come riding by the very next day with Dan Cupid on behind. Do you, can you, imagine for a moment Sifthia vtiiro nitnwinir Kiich an aettre- simnlv because! r.

i he has been elected a teacher in ommon school? 1 Girls with susceptible hearts, human eelings and prompted by natural im- ulses, won't stand for any such non- tense. Her human nature says to marry, if she can marry well, and become a teacher of her own. Women Are Peculiar. There are women, who have the knack of keeping men on the string until they have made money enough teaching school to set up housekeeping in style. These are not the impulsive sort, or have not struck the Insistent sort of man.

It isn't every warm-hearted, full-blooded man who will complacently wait until and poorly found, with the exception of the woman of his choice shall have com-1 the Pawnee and Pocohontas. When in pitted her school term. the latter part of August the Pawnee "What the school boards are looking was detached for the Hatteras inlet ex-for is confirmed old maids," said a teach- pedition, the flotilla was the weakest it er, who had found a Job of teaching one had been since its formation in May, con- they should be able to close the river to I federal vessels and cut off Washington from water communication with the norm. 11 ws this fact more than the in- efficiency of the naval natrol on the river which worried president With an abundance of men in the army being organized at Washington by Gen. McClellan; with unlimited money and supplies at his command; with an already large and rapidly growing navy.

It seemed to the president that at least the Potomac should be kept open. There were conditions in Washington itself, however, which for the time he was powerless to control, that contributed to the disturbing state of affairs on the Potomac. HeHUltti of Inaction. The navy flotilla on the river was working under the greatest difficulties. The vessels composing it were small, old sisting of but six vessels to police about iuo miles ot river places tour miles wide.

The irritation felt by naval officers over the lack of co-operation from the army is shown in an extremely frank letter written to Gen. McClellan in this period by William Budd, commanding the steamer Resolute. "There is not a single federal gun between Aquia creek and Fort Washington," he wrote, "nor from Aquia to the mouth of the Rappahannock." He then named several important estuaries on the Virginia shore, saying, "These inlets possess admirable facilities for concealing vessels and boats, and all are unguarded. You will see by consulting any map of the county that there is an abundance of land and water communication from these places in the Rappahannock. The enemy is evidently strengthening his position by every pos- sibie means.

We do nothing, "I suppose if anything takt suppose if anything takes place here we are all to fight on our own hook, as we have no plans of signals, organization or attack. The promised increase of force has not yet arrived and the enemy pupil, and a life job at that. Do you i imagino that I would rather go tramping around hunting a school every year, or kowtowing to school directors, when I can get a. job and be one of the directors myself? There are enough women not in the marying line to fill the schqols, and I think that all of us who can get out of their way should do so and leave the field to them." Professional Teachers. It is well to have professional teachers, and no doubt we would have more of them if the business paid better than it does.

The pay has a lot to do with the profession. Even preachers find the loudest calls where the pay is best. And why not teachers? If a teacher gets a call that good, with only one man on the board. srhnn! director miirht. Of course, being only human, teachers moii.c -ind-or.

that nut nan out well, and bave to come back, if they can come back. There are only exceptional cases, and rarely due to any fault of the teacher. It were better, however, it we thp river tn himlf ahnvA ont ho. have teachers who make their work a life i tl v. work instead of a makeshift to bridge Mf- Budd his tter sa'lnS-over to the matrimonial shore.

There Ve the are those who wouid wHJingly setUe down Lm to JEXSZT to a life work of this kind rather than to be up in the air between business and- Qn the game day that thfa eUer wag marnage. ritten the secretary of the navy issued The Xeic Code. an order to Commander Thomas T. Cra- Great things are expected of the new i vn-. commanding the Potomac flotilla.

I occasional national gathering as guest may cause a healthful stir in a city which is inclined to lapse into the doldrums, but it is well to remember that acting as host to conventions is not the chief end of the American municipality. London suffragettes have extended their campaign among the blind. It folk with good eyes can't see anything in their arguments, how do they expect the inmates of blind asylums to do so? Enforced Politeness. Those New York suffragettes who declare that they will have none of the new police rule at congested street car junctions, whereby men are made to wait some seconds in order to give the women a chance to board the cars, are hindering a good cause without helping their own pet schemes. The crowds at certain important points on the car lines in New York are very large during the morning and evening rush, and it is declared that in the daily scramble for seats the stronger men run over and trample the women and girls in their rush for the seats.

A police order stationed a sufficient number of husky officers at these points and sepa rated the men and women, holding the men in check for 25 seconds until the women had a chance at the vacant seats. The theory seemed to be that the men, who, along with most of New York's male population, bear the reputation of being the most impolite street car passengers in the world, should be taught good manners and consideration for women by force of law, seeing they did not seem to acquire it by any private means of instruction. To most people the idea appeared a good one. There is entirely too much public indifference and selfishness in regard to women in public places and a good crack of a policeman's mace is a wonderful instructor when properly used. But along come the New York suffragettes and intimate their contempt for the new order, declaring they want no favoritism in the battle of life with men.

All things considered, this attitude of the strong-minded women will be looked upon generally as a very poor play to the gallery. Women are constitutionally unable to enter a rough and tumble contest with a mob of men who have lost all sense of politeness and good breeding, if they ever had any. Not all of us can get away to join that latest Arctic expedition, but almost anybody may enjoy the same sensations by ridins; on the front seat of an open car these nights. A.v Indiana preacher denounces folk who get married in balloons. He's right-It is dreadfully old fashioned.

Up-to-date couples plight their troth, in an aeroplane. Los Anobi-es has a woman police officer who patrols the streets in order to arrest men who try to flirt with her. Tall; about taking a mean advantage of one's position Now that a judge out there has enjoined a restaurant lnm cook ins? onions, everybody will admit that the "Des Moines plan" is a ood one. To date Mrs. sclair Is about three interviews and two published pictures ahead of I'ptos'.

The race for publicity is warming up. Rockeveli.kr'8 n-w pr'vate tunnel Mh. through tis grounds will only confirm Miss Tardell's belief in his underground methods. i It must 1- an uneasy feeling to be a Gates relative and wonder every morning If a new will is going to turn up today. A Chicaoo aviator having set the ex- ample, every duuiui son wnn an aero- plane must now Klve his momer a nue.

After yesterday it's difficult to believe there was ever anything the matter with Maktt Toole's pitching arm. That picture thief, whoever he is, must be wearing a regular Mona Lisa smile by this time. Hats off to Mr. O'Toolb. Mima Unix's Smile.

Boston Tranncript. Fully one-half of the fume of the picture is due to the adjectives which have been applied to that smile. It is enigmatic, ineffable, mocking, sad, subtle, haunting, mysterious, significant and a number of other things, according to the degree of imaginative activity and inventiveness of the writer. Tales are told of the circumstances under which the picture was painted, width are well calculated to enhance the Interest of the romantic and sentimental reader. Leonardo found, for example, that he could not get that enigmatic, ineffable, mocking, sad, subtle, haunting, smile to appear unless somebody played some special air while he was at work; the only wonder is that we are not informed what that certain strain was and who produced it, or who manufactured the instrument upon which it was played.

The art of advertising was in its infancy in Leonardo's time. Looking at the picture without prejudice, one discovers that Lrft Gioconda's smile is nut so very wonderful, after all. It hits always seemed to us sly and complacent, nothing more. Walt Mason- Tlie Poet Philosopher The swatting season soon will close, and we'll enjoy well earned repose. I look around with tearful eyes upon my stock or swatted flies, and feel my toil was labor lost; the flies aren't worth half what they cost.

A while I murmur and repine, and then my eyes begin to shine, and happiness per THE TRUE vades my breast. I say "I surely did my best I did my task with willing hand, REWARD I I Civil War Leader Was the I Father of Mexican Rail-( way Development. By E. J. EDWARDS.

SOLDIER who had served with prominence it the Civil war and who was afterwards elected member of Congress ever attracted iiivn t. ictiiiuil nutu u'c I K-iil; 1 r-t, "Old Kosie," as his soidiers called him. when the personification of sincerity, of perfect democracy, and he had. as so many great soldiers have, a distinctive quali.y of innocence, almost childlike in its sim ylicity. At the time Gen.

Rosecrans became a member of Congress a great deal of discussion was prevailing as to the practicability of constructing a ship railroad across the Tehuantepec isthmus of Mexico, in order to do away with the long voyage around the Horn. The plan had been advocated by Capt. James B. Eads, who had gained an international reputation as an engineer partly through the construction of the Eads bridge over the Mississippi at St. Louis and partly-through his successful building of the jetty system near the mouth of the Mississippi river, which resulted in the long desired deepening of the river's channel.

Before Gen. Rosecrans entered Congress he had been minister to Mexico. I had heard that he was much interested in Capt. Eads' plan for a ship railway across the Tehuantepec isthmus, and at the first opportunity I asked the general if he would tell me whether he thought Eads' plan was practicable or not. Cot a Great Deal.

"I have no doubt about the practicability of the construction of a ship railway across the Tehuantepec isthmus," he said, with emphasis. "It isn't a very difficult scheme from an engineer's point of view. All that would have to be done would be" to build a railroad of six tracks that could accommodate platform cars; then the ships could be hauled from the Atlantic harbor bv an Incline to these cars, constructed on the drydock system, and then the locomotives would haul them across the isthmus to the Pacific side. And vice versa. The only trouble with Eads' plan is that it would cost a great deal of money; and I believe that the results he seeks could be obtained at a great deal less cost through the adoption of a plan I have in mind.

"When I was minister to Mexico in '68 that was just after Juarez had overthrown Maximilian and get up the republic afresh there were scarcely any railroads in the country. There was one that ran from Vera Cruz to the capital, and there were two or three little ones elsewhere, and that about tells the whole story. But I had not been in Mexico six months before I realized that with ample railway facilities the republic would become in time one of the most prosperous nations in the world, unquestionably of that part of the world lying to the south of the United States. So I suggested to President Juarez the construction of a railway across Tehuantepec isthmus, explaining how such a road would shorten by thousands of miles the transit of freight by water from the Atlantic to the Pacific side of the Americas. President Juarez agreed with me that such a line should be built.

I also told him that Mexico should have not only a central railway running to the Rio Grande river, but lines parallel to it that would skirt, on the east, the gulf coast and on the west the Pacific and the Gulf of California. He asked me if I thought a railroad could be built across central Mexico through some pass of thj Sierra mountains. I told him that I was certain of it that there never yet ex somewhere or other passes could not ba Agitated the Scheme. For some time after I ceased being minister to Mexico I stayed in the country and agitated the railway development of the republic. I believe that I was the first man to suggest to the proper government officials adequate railway development of the Mexican republic, and I have often regretted that before I could get my plans well under way business reasons called me to California.

I am glad to see, however, that this development is now under way, as regards a central railway, though I am not to reap any material benefits from. it And I venture to make the prediction to you that within the next 15 or 20 years a true transcontinental line will be built across the Tehuantepec isthmus, and, when it is. Mexico's progress as a commercial nation will be magnificently advanced." Gen. Rosecrans did not live long enough to see the completion ot the Tehuantepec railroad an event that belongs to the twentieth century but in the last years of his life he died In 189S he was greatly gratified to learn that this important Mexican transcontinental line, which will compete with the Panama canal for freight, and which 30 years before he had advocated, was at last under construction. (Copyright, 1911.

by E. J. Edwards. All rights reserved.) Tomorrow Mr. Edwards will tell of "Cherished I'lan That 'Old Rough and Ready' (iave Vp." Clean Money as an "Ad." New York Press.

One of the big, successful hotels in this big. successful town has the custom ot never returning as change to patrons paper money in anything but crisp, brand-new bills, right off the government printing press. By an arrangement with a nearby bank, it always has an ample supply of bills of all denominations in the original bands in which they come from the United States treasury also new, bright, shining coins. All the people in all the dining room of the establishment might give old, soiled notes in payment of checks, but all chanee would come back to every mother's son in glittering coin and Immaculate, crinkly bills, the old, soiled money received by the cashier being put aside for deposit. Tip noticed this the second or third time he dined in the big hotel he never realized what a neat advertisement it was till he heard it spoken of approvingly in the south and west, and even in Canada.

.4 Terrible Dream. Life. Her face is drawn, her eyes are haggard and sunken, and her expression is that of a woman on the verge of nervous prostration. "What in the world Is wrong?" asks the astonisiied friend. "I never saw anyone look so terribly." "It is all because of an awful nightmare I had last night," explains the sufferer.

"It simply shattered my nerves, and although I know it was merely a dream, still I cannot rid myself of its effects. I dreamed I was called upon unexpectedly to plan a dinner for Dr. Wliey. Dr. Woods Hutchison and Upton Sinclair." The Moral.

Lippincott's Magazine. "The persistency with which children see in a fable some other moral than the one which is intended that they, shall see is often distressing," remarks a Philadelphia instructor of the young. "I had recited to one little boy the story of the wolf and the lamb, and had followed it uj) with the remark 'And now you see, Tommy, that the lamb would not have been eaten by the wolf had he been good and sensible." 'Yes. I said Tommy. 'If the lamb had been good and sensible, we should have had him to eat Well, Largely.

Albany Journal. After all, the vetoes of President Taft will make up the record of the special session of Congress. Asks the Boston Globe: "Why should recall for judges be so unthinkable if popular election" of judges Is a desirable way of filling the bench?" Judges are elected for terms of definite length. With the recall hanging over their heads, they are virtually hired merely from day to (Jay. That is one reason why the recall as applied to the judiciary Is "unthinkable" among persons of intelligence.

The Exposition Opening. Last night's brilliant opening of the Pittsburgh Exposition presages a successful season. Weather conditions were not entirely propitious, but the attendance proved the hold this institution has on the heart of the community, demonstrating that with increasing age its popularity has suffered no diminution. The exhibits this year are to be commended particularly for their educative features. While as in preceding seasons there is no lack of entertainment, and the musical program is of the usual high order of excellence, the Exposition is especially rich in exhibits furnishing instruction.

The United States government, for instance, portrays the varied activities of the Treasury Department in a manner which will appeal to the school boy as well as the more mature. The state of Pennsylvania is similarly represented by a display showing the important work being performed by the Department of Forestry and the Fish and Game Commission. The exhibits of the Chamber of Commerce, the Pittsburgh public schools and the Playground Association, to name only a few of the more striking, also possess decided educative value, a quality which may justly be attributed as well to the showings made by the community's enterprising commercial and industrial establishments. It is scarcely necessary to urge a liberal patronage of the Exposition this year, for the people of Pittsburgh and the surrounding territory have "got the habit" and instinctively journey down to the Point every fall. And rarely is anyone content with a single visit, but must "go again." It is well to remember, however, that the big show is better worth visiting this season than ever before.

Now comes a naturalist with the assertion that the ostrich never is so foolish as to bury his head in the sand. Next thing we'll be hearing that the fox is the stupidest of creatures and that the weasel is given to chronic somnolence. And then what will become of our similes? The March of Sobriety. Gen. Frederick D.

Grant's report to the War Department that "the standard of temperance in the army for both officers and men is exceptionally high and is not exceeded in the other walks of life, unless in the church and among railroad employes," need occasion no widespread surprise. Times have changed since the old days when the fighting man was popularly supposed to spend his leisure in guzzling and carousing. He never was so bad as painted by hostile critics, but there was room for improvement in the habits of the soldier, and this has very generally taken place. There also has been a great change for the better in the case of our sailors. The famous world cruise of the American fleet opened the eyes of officers of foreign navies to the fact that Uncle Sam's warships are manned by gentle men, who know how to behave themselves when away from home.

When Gen. Grant participated in a procession of temperance advocates in Chicago not long ago he was made the target for considerable criticism, but if his influence has had anything to do with the improvement in the standard of army conduct, his activities would seem to deserve commendation rather than censure. The reference to the sobriety of railroad employes contained in Gen. Grant's report is highly significant. Americai4 railroads are far ahead of those in any other country in the efficiency of their employes, which is largely a result of insistence upon temperate habits.

Street car companies and other public utilities are adopting the same policy and as a result the new law of the industrial and business world is accomplishing more for the cause of real temperance than all the speeches and tracts of the professional agitators. The value of all this to the rising generation cannot be overestimated. That political conference at Indianapolis between Brothers Bryan and Kern must have been a cheerful affair. A duet hy these champion soreheads "'would be the mournfulest dirge on record. The Value of Conventions.

About three years ago the Rochester, N. Chamber of Commerce went into the business of securing conventions for that city. An old armory building was enlarged and remodeled into a spacious convention hall, adequate for the largest gatherings. Several new hotels had recently been constructed and their proprietors joined enthusiastically in the movement to secure conventions for Rochester. The Chamber of Commerce engaged the services of a hustler whose specialty was persuading national bodies in the matter of a meeting place.

His reputation has been sustained. Besides the state Democratic convention and the national gathering of the Shriners, Rochester has entertained a large number of organizations in their annual meetings and this week is the scene of the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic. Now the question has been raised by business men as to the financial value of such hospitality to the city. In reply to inquiries sent out by the secretary, 82 per cent of the members of the Chamber of Commerce say they believe the city at large has benefited by the numerous conventions. The remaining 18 per cent declare the conventions have been a detriment.

More than half of the members say they can trace no direct benefit to themselves from such gatherings in their city, but believe they are of value as advertising the community. Some 30 per cent rec- GENERAL OFFICES. CoBszm Wood Stbkit asd Ouv'b Atixtib. EDITOBIAX AND MECBAJiiCAI. DgFAaTUKSTS, SaiOU Ol4Y AVEXCB.

PlXlEBLEUa. PA. Entered at the Fostoffica Pittsburgh, second-class matter. THE PITTSBURGH GAZKTTE TIME 3. Owner and Publisher.

Gsorgb T. Olitib, President. Gbobcb 8. OtivBB, Vice Pres. and Mrr.

DAn B. 8mjt3, Treasurer. Acgostcs K. Olitib, Secretary. axb a Fabb.

Managing Editor. TELEPHONE CALLS. BELL Grant 370 (Six Trunk Lines). P. A.

Main 1O14-1015-1O1S. BRANCH OFFICES: New York Office Brunswlclt Building. Fifth Avenue. York Hews Bureau 200 William Street. Chicago Office Booms 611.512.

513 Boyee Buildlnr. Atlanta (Ga.) Office 150 Candler Building. Kama City Office Journal Buildlns. Eighth Street. Woshinnton (D.

Ifewi Bureau 47 pnst Building. Atlantic City (JT. J.J Office Dorland Advertising Agency. The Gazette Timet receives the full reports of the Associated Press, the International News Service and United Press Associations every day of the week, and in addition has private wires to its bureaus in Washington, New York, Philadelphia and OrnciAt Pafbr or Aixbgsbst Cousin AKD BTATB 0 PENXSTLTASIA. SUBSCRIPTION RATES.

Throughout the United States. Dally and Sunday by earrler.15 cents perweek Dally and Sunday by mail.BScents permonth Daily, by carrier 10 cents per week Dally, bv maiL 45 cents per month Dally and Sunday, by mall $7.50 per year Daily, by mail tw.OO per year Anyone unable to purchase a copy of The Gazette Times on trains or at news stands will confer a favor by reporting the same to this "Ties. Thursday, August 31, 19X1. Clark and the President. The tone of Speaker Clark's bitter attack upon the President's recent speech at Hamilton, is sufficient notice to all and sundry that that distinguished Democratic leader has lost his temper at finding himself and his party in the hole they had hoped to consign Mr.

Taft. The President not only emerged from the extra session of Congress in a better position before the country than the Democrats and insurgents, but he has been swift to seize the strategic advantage thus gained by beating them in his appeal to the people and setting the pace and defining the issue for next year's battle. Mr. Clark's declaration that his party will accept the gage is superfluous. It cannot well do anything else- The President's tariff vetoes put the Democrats on the defensive, and instead of going to the public with a work that they can point to with pride they will be forced to explain away the serious menace to American manufacturers and working-men which their attempted legislation presented.

The country is convinced that it was the President alone who saved the situation and averted widespread disturbance in the wool, cotton, chemical and iron and steel There is no getting away from that, and no amount of bluster and abuse by Speaker Clark can change it. Had the tariff bills which he bemoans become laws there would not merely have been a readjustment of prices, but all wages in the affected lines must inevitably have been revised downward. If Mr. Taft had wished to play politics he might have made his re-election a certainty by signing the Underwood bills and thus bringing about a resentment from the Atlantic to the Pacific against the Democratic party which would sweep it out of power in the House. But such a victory would cost the country a tremendous price and Mr.

Taft declined to be party to so disastrous an assault on the business and prosperity of the United States. As time passes and more light is shed upon the dangerous nature of these various tariff acts "the people will come to recognize and appreciate the great service performed by him with his veto pen. Mr. Clark is shrewd enough to understand this and it is his realization of its meaning that has so wrought upon his mind. Educating the Educators.

The work of the County Teachers' Institute was varied yesterday by an announcement which may have caused concern to some of the audience, but must have caused much satisfaction to the great majority. Henceforth the teacher that expects to remain in the profession must equip herself as thoroughly as the members of any other profession. Too many teachers heretofore have been content to drag along from year to year with a provisional certificate, Imping to graduate into the matrimonial class before their deficiencies would become too apparent. Now no teacher will be permitted to continue longer than rive years in this rudimentary state of preparation, but must fit herself for permanent work and highest efficiency. This is another beneficent outcome of the new school code adopted by the last session of the legislature.

"In the future," said Superintendent "the teachers who pass the best examination will be given the best certificates of efficiency, and merit alone will count." This is as it should be, and the sooner the teachers of the state make up their minds to do everything possible to equip themselves for their profession as for a Iifework, instead of using the school desk as a halfway station to the altar, the better it will be for them and for the schools. University courses are provided that will leave no excuse to those who should qualify themselves for the coming examinations, vet are constrained to devote themselves daily to their school work. And it is in place to add that few indeed are the professions in which people are paid for improving themselves, as in the teaching profession. Every one of the teachers attending the institute receives a day for doing so. Yet the lectures and other exercises are purely for the NEARLY everyone of the mastodon ail the other great pre knows something hd mammoth and ehlstoric animals.

but what of the smaller onei? Take the life history and traditions of that little batrachian. the salamander, described and figured by the ancient naturalists, Aristotle. Pliny, de Thauu, OTt3V Marco Polo and Browne, as well as by those of the present day. The salamander is not an especially attractive animal, simply a small amphibian resembling a lizard, but without scales, having a soft, moist skin, colored, in spots or bands of yellow, orange brown. In its early life it has an aquatic larval stage, but in later life it puts aside such childish things as gills, wj.

developing lungs, becomes alr-breathinS and behaves like an ordinary reptile. Far its habits it chooses dark and damp places, whore It leads a quiet, peaceful life, feeding on aquatic worms. Insects and very small animals. One must go back to the medieval days for the first reports of this animal. Tho ancients all agreed that the salamander was a small reptile, a lover of cold and wet, never venturing from its lair except in rainy weather.

It was believed by some that possessing a frigid and moist nature It was only necessary for a salamander to come in contact with a fire to extinguish It, just as If its body were truly made of ice. while others held that it lived and thrived in fire two very adverse beliefs, confused by nearly all early writers and yet left uninvestigated fop centuries. The fire-resisting charm was even accorded to certain gnomes and sylphs, as well as to the fair water- nymph Undine. And so In fable and mythology the salamander existed for years; considered bothvlireproof and fire-extinguishing. Couldn't Convince the World.

Eventually a scientist named Pliny, more practical than his confreres, decided to find the truth of the matter; securing a salamander, he put It Into a fire, where the early victim of scientific research was immediately consumed, while the fire continued to burn. This satisfied Pliny that both the theories were unfounded, but he was unable to convince the world at large and so the tradition obtained. When asbestos was first discovered it was thought to be salamander's wool, and was made into cloth and wearing; apparel capable of being cleansed by fire Instead of water; a rather advanced and. sanitary process for that period. But Browne loosened this theory somewhat in his exposure of vulgar errors, when declared tho salamander to be "a kind of lizard, a quadruped without woole.

furre, or haire," making such wool-gath- ering a hopeless undertaking. It was-Marco Polo, however, who finally demonstrated that the real fireproof substance was asbestos, asserting at tho same time that the salamander must bo made of this material; a mineral and not a beast. Suspected of Poisoning. At one time the salamander had another less acceptable power, that of poisoning whatever It touched, animate or inanimate. This tradition did not last long, and today It is known that this animal Is perfectly harmless.

To those Interested In the 6clentiflo study of this little reptile a paper written by Dr. Leonhard Stejneger on three ba-trachians from Panama and Costa Rica will appeal. This paper is publication of the proceedings of the United States National Museum and deals with two curious tree toads from Panama and a brand new salamander from Costa Rica," This modern animal, a little over two and a half inches in length, has a smooth brown skin, somewhat striped in lighter shade, a wide, fiat head, and a long cylindrical tall. Dr. Stejneger, th author, has named Ithe new species after the collector, -picado, who discovered it in Ia JSstreUa, southeast, of Cartago, Costa Rica.

jB.4CKr.4KX 'POULTRY YARDS. How Xew Orleans Citizens Are Defying the Meat Trust. ArW Orleans Picayune. Recently a distinguished Englishman, after paying a visit to New Orleans, in a half comic, half serious way, commented on the situation in this city of the people with regard to poultry. He said that New Orleans was the only really independent city in the United States of the meat trust.

Every back yard in the city was a poultry yard and the people, if meat was too high, lived on chicken. While this was in a measure true, yet the foreigner did not see half of the back yards in the city, for, if he had, he eould not have failed to notice that four-fifths of these poultry yards contained some of the finest breeds of chickens in the country. Mongrel chickens, once so common, are now a scarcity, and it is only in the suburbs, where tiie chickens are allowed to roam at will in the streets and pick up a living, that the mongrel chicken can be seen. In the city proper, where the back yards of which the Englishman spoke exist, hardly, any but the finest-bjred chickens can be found, and, what is still more pertinent to the subject, that nearly every owner of these back yards Is, a chicken fancier and knows a thing or two about them. In some of these eity poultry farms several fine breeds of chickens are kept, while in others only one breed is maintained, and when such Is the case the owner is usually found to be not only a chicken fancier, but an up-to-date, chicken breeder.

Buying legislators in Joblots. Success Magazine. One day a farmer member of the Ohio House displayed. Inadvertently, a large roll of bills in the Nell House lobby. A fellow member gazed In awe at the show of wealth.

"I just sold a drove of hogs," explained the farmer member rather hastily and confusedly. The observing one was thoughtful. He did not reply for the half-minute usually essential to the full-measured beat of his mental processes. And then "Yaas." he drawled, "and I'll bet I'm one o' them hawgs." Traps a liaher's Dozen of 'Possums. Shcpherdsville (Ky.) etcs.

Mrs. Amanda Bowman, who lives near Cedar Grove, has been missing some ot her chickens almost every night and she bad accused Mr. Fox, Mr. Coon and all other kinds of varmints, when she set a trap in her chicken house and to her surprise the next morning she had 13 sltck-tail opossums. THE FUSSY SIDE.

Seeded at Home. Brown That is the worst -behaved kid I ever saw. Do you Know ms parents? Jones His father Is one of those BclentlBo Management experts. Puck. Beyond Words.

"Did you try to comfort that friend who sent word that he was in great "No," replied the ehijly philosopher, "I didn't try to say anything. It wasn't a easa of mere loss of friends or fortune. This fellow had a toothache. Washington Star. The Worst of It.

"The first time Wilson stayed out with us he took his shoes off when be got to the corner, instead of waiting, as most men do, until he had reached the door." "Poor man." "Yes; and the worst of it was that It was not his corner." Buffalo Fvrrtg. According to Reckoning. "I am 30 years old." announced a woman of is at a tea last week. I am 26." said a woman of 4S. Then, turning to a girl of 17.

who stood nearby, aha asked: -'How old are you, Ethel?" "Oh," replied Ethel, "according to the present reckoning Xm not born yet." Brooklyn Ufe. lu o1-" boat within your reach, whether on Bi' e'' Jei th egard to passes given," should he find that they were to be used for transporting confederate troops across the Potomac. This order was the result of a communication from a source not divulged stating that a movement was on foot for a considerable confederate force to cross the Potomac Into Charles and St. Marys counties." Maryland. Commander Craven replied to this order at 10 p.

m. on the same day, as follows: "Unless the landings on the Maryland side are immediately occupied by our wu iiiauc fjy Electing Dat- 1 snau oe piacea Dtween two oiiu II win lidiujy possjuie 11 the small force under my command to protect flie passages across the river" i tiiat is to patrol the confederate ferries. At this time official ears in Washington were always open for the sound of cannonading down the Potomac. ltestrotjing Boats. Although the expected confederate pas- sage of the Potomac did not take place, the older to commander Craven giving him discretion to destroy boats bore immediate fruit.

The day after it was issued, the sloop Jane Wright, bound from Washington to St. Marys county, Maryland, under a pass from the secretary of the navy, was seized by one of the Potomac flotilla and destroyed. Her captain, John Lawrence, protested to the Navy Department that lie would not have undertaken this voyage without permission, that he was a poor man, engaged in carrying oysters and fruit to the Washington market for his support, and that "according to justice and equity" the government should pay him $450 for the sloop. Before 10 days had passed further orders were Issued by the secretary of the navy ttiat ail boats on the Potomac be seized. On August 15, 28 boats were taken to the Washington navy vard and on the following day more than 100 had been rounded up.

Innocent and guilty captains suffered alike, and still the traffic between north and south by the Potomac route con tinued. The character of some of the business done Is indicated in a report made 50 years ago today by Commander Craven of the seizure of the schooner Remittance, bound from Fort Tobacco for Baltimore. The schooner was loaded with tobacco and grain and carried five passengers, who represented themselves to be farmers. One of these had a verv larce trunk, which, on being searched, was found to contain only a few articles of dirty clothing. The trunk had a false lining.

One of the crew stated that when it came aboard at Baltimore it was tight ly packed with heavy articles. It was supposed the trunk had been landed on the Maryland shore, ferried across the Potomac, unpacked in Virginia and returned empty to its owner for another trip north. Another seizure, that of the sloop T. J. Evans, indicated the character of -cargoes on some of the illicit trading vessels.

In her hold were nine bales of waterproof blankets, six cases of surgical instruments, four boxes of percussion caps and friction primers, and one box of cannon primers. These incidents, irritating though, thev were, were of small importance In comparison with graver matters that troubled Commander Craven. In a few weeks he asked to be relieved from the command of the flotilla and assigned to the command of the sea-going ssteamer. The friction over the Potomac between the army and navy was to continue, and the river was to remain closed until the following spring, when the confederates voluntarily withdrew. Tomorrow tlen.

tirant in New Command. (Copyright, 1911. by Associated Literary Press.) SUMMER RAI. A gentle, rumbling souqd a swish of air; A quick, glad pattering: The knots of children, gathered everywhere. Hastily scattering.

A long, soft drizzte, quieting and cool; Wet asphalt shimmering: Grass almost green, with many a dimpled pool Lazily glimmering. A lingering small of rain; red brick washed fair; Pale sunbeams flittering; Children and sparrows through the misty air Noisily twittering. Ellen Parker in Harper Weekly. code, and they may come to pass, but hardly without liberal support from tha teachers and patrons, for great moral or social changes are not wrought by legis lation. The public gent-rally, and specially interested in particular, must show a lively interest and not merely stand by and watch others doing the woik.

Many of the faults eharged to our school codes in the past, rightfully belonged to the homes of the pupils, and to those who are forever picking flaws and never mending defects. The one thing that the new code will enable the friends of the schools to do i will be to eliminate, or at least mJni. mlze, the "political pull Thls will help pome. If the people can be made to realize that the school will give to- their Children that which the home cannot give they will take livelier interest in it. The common people, and espec'ally those who are classed as poor, should be made to realize that the rich are paying for the education of their children.

ni Old Maid Factory. The school is not an old maid factory, as some foolishly suppose, and as some 'directors would have it be. Not that a would all teachers for- swear matrimony, but that they should io their courting and marrying during vacation time. Why not put a red letter sign in every school house: "Love Making and Marrying Strictly Forbidden During School Year." That might do some good, and then it mightn't, for when the love bee beU the bonnet of a teacher she couldn't sl re letters a foo. high.

Nor could any otiier fellow. The tiling that can be dotie and done effectually, is to make the school inter esting to the pupils. When this is done you can't keep them away, not even with ft club, and they will make good progress, whether they have professional or unprofessional teachers. Fewer tasks and more talks about things which the pupil is curious to know, will lighten the labors of the teacher and further the development of the child. Somewhat Premature.

Kew York Press. It appears as if th national campai ins was about a year ahead ot time. rn- The A merican Press Wahlnfctnn Star: It is to be rccretted that President Taft not give assurance that he will dlspmx? of the so-called Wiley case before he starts on his vacation swing around the circle. Every week adds to the confusion in the department, and to the feeling on the part of the public that tho law is being Inadequately enforced. The people apprehend harmful results from this Ktate of affairs.

They are almost unanimously in favor Of tho retention nf tr. Wiley, with the hearty co-operation of his associates and his superiors. Cleveland Plain Ieler: After strenuous effort Baltimore has succeeded in getting rid of all but one of the tollgates that till recently have shut in the city from the outside world. A city so far from progress as to allow toll-Kates to be maintained at its boundaries is certainly not sufficiently energetic to hope to keep up with the march of American progress. A tollgate anywhere in America is an anachronism, but one at the entrance to a great city la a monstrosity Providence Bulletin: While the winner of the pennant race is not yet to be picked with any certainty in either of the big leagues, the cellar championship appears to be settled beyond any question.

Boston in the National League and Ht. I.oufs in the American, like Providence in the Kastern league, are perma nently anchored to the bottom. Indianapolis Jew: The New Orleans Board of Trade Is urging the school board of that city to make the study of Spanish compulsory. Within the same week like demand was made in Charleston. The Panama canal age brings the great Spanish and Kngllsh speaking worlds again into touch.

For the fuller life of both, the Knglish-speaklnK must know Spanish, the Spanish-speaking must know English. Baltimore American: It Is only the affinity crew that take the view that marriage is an imposition that should be thrown aside at will. The one great defect of the free love plan is that the history of such fast and loose relations has never disclosed a case of abiding contentment or one In which the weaker sex did not lose all that the monogamous marriage tie has conferred upon her. The Jungle chatter of the Utopians is a mass of mischievous puerilities. I i I and swatted flies to beat the band, and though my dead, when in a pile, makes more accomplished swattists smile.

I smote the Hies that I could reach, and Conscience tells me I'm a peach." To do your best there honor lies At sawing wood or swatting flies, at writing pomes or raising greens, or making coffee out of beans your soul will know the sweetest rest, if you will always do your best We feel discouraged when we view the windrow when the day is through we saw the other mowers pass; their arms were strong, they cut more grass; they greeted us with clammy stares but our reward's as great as theirg when come the evening hours of rest, if we have only done our best. WALT MAlfOSr. CopyriEht, 1311, by George Matthew Adams..