OCR Text |
Show The Two Captains By W. CLARK RUSSELL Cs?runl, t l:vT. CHAPTER P Ccll-.fr- IV. "Northeu." ""Sloop in Fight?" ?ad, sir, "Right tail." "Is Caplain Crystal self?" He Continued, alnin-- t .showing ing ship her wild and savaee aspect Tie most formidable of them for ugliness and bull; was Ma'Uiew Gricd&ll the boatswain, who had likewise agreed to sen e as second mate. Though an Englishman, hi had been a pirate aboard a Frenchman, had also served as able seaman in a scoundrel Spar ton piccaroon, and scarce a memory of this man's for e;.r after year but was red and dread-in!- . w'tin him- u:a::ds, so t j t all in a sect nd it v. as t i late. The six oats sparkled as they rose in traeif arrest tinder the Lows of the r .e"p:i's shin On bear.! the OuJi t:. flw a nnnilx r of then ri!:i:ins on the i'tva'e's foreoastie. Tlireii!;''! t::c alas Pope spit 4 her pto pie struggling for life ill the frigate's ftake. 'That." he cried, pointing with the !teiesii,;ie to the white water aster; of the friffan "was her reason for brii i;itig up iu Margate Roads last night." "Ay," said Crystal, "hang iae tf for there isn't even a Providence pit ales," and he and Pope laughed with al their might. The Dutchman measured a score of her own lengths before she backed her topsail and lowered boats. Five men only w ere picked up, and they were too exhausted to explain the errand they had been upon. In fact, it was doubtful if the Dutchman would have understood them. The frigate remained hove-to- , while one of the boats put the English seamen ashore at Broadstairs; by which time the Oak, unnoticed by the seventy-four- , had fetched the southern limb of the Goodwin Sands, when, easing off her sheets, she went away for the French coast. "I see him in the Low s of the sloop waiting for us." lifted his Pope head, and a minute later the little fabric was alongside, the hull of the sloop putting her out of sight of land. The bundles were handed up; the mtn sprang aboard after them. "Lively my hearts!" shouted Pope, "and make sail." He sprang to the tiller, and Crystal put his weight with the others, upon throat, peak and other halyards. The great sloping sail fluttered languidly then rounded silent as the big jib bore the little vessel's head off. They were under way and the ripple from the stem glanced like a needle into the wake. The Downs now lay plain, but very distant. But one large blue shadow loomed formidably the Ramiliies and as Pope looked a puff of white f smoke, tiny in the sheen, broke from her starboard broadside; which set Crystal swearing horribly. "It is her signal," he shouted. "The news has reached her; we are susCHAPTER V. pected and shall be chased." "The breeze means to freshen," exThe Crew of the Gypsy. claimed Pope coolly; "see the dark At Hamburg the three hired men line of it yonder; let me get behind were discharged with their handkerthe Sands and I shall be happy. I chiefs liberally tasseled; and they left never designed to go Margate way. consenting to meet Captain Pope in We'll hug the South Sand He ad clear London on such and such a date at the of the Ramiliies, and go straight for sign of the Camperdown. the French coast, and then for a shift When Pope had settled his affairs in of helm for Hamburg.", Hamburg, he manned the Oak with "The Captain's right," said Bobbin. four Dutch seamen and sailed to the The whole line of coast was now Thames. I am not able to give furvisible from Sandwich to the South ther particulars of the Hamburg exForeland. The ripples flashed, white pedition than these, because I never water fled in feathers from the weath- could get to hear who had taken the er bow and Pope looked astern at the plate off Popes hands; how it had land well pleased. been got ashore without detection; "I'll tell you the whole story in a the sum of money it had fetched, and minute, Crystal," said he, and he was the like. But this part, though it was proceeding when Crystal interrupted doubtless full of excitement, is rot hini. material to the interest of tho story. far-of- was 41. BASE otrsiHii "ui g some work a were upon in the waist, at.d Captain Tope watched him. Assuredly the ("ampwrdown had been shelled to s.ette par; as Those of the crew who were at odd jobs about t'.e dt ok. or who were gathered into irouT'-- : a;oH th- - galley and long.hoat, v."je as completely piratic in face and garb, in the sound of tiieir desperate it; their c( as!:iug! oaths, in their !'ttires. and motions charged with :'! si and spirit of tiU sr.ess, as the heart of man or hoy t ::iH yearn to read about, and thirst to attend to tho gallows. "Crossman has done our purinise justice," said Pope with a smile, with his eyes fixed on Crlndal. "I expect tnat most of these men have seen their turn as pirates." "They're here as privateersuien," exclaimed Crystal. "They shall be undeceived." Raid Pope, turning suddenly and beginning to wall; the short deck. Crystal beside him. "And what's the difference?" "The hangman knows," answered Crystal. never a "Was prlvateersman hanged?" cried Pope. "A letter of marque is as good as a pennon," said Crystal. Then seeing irritation in the commander's face, he said, "Has Mr. Staunton any suspicion, d'ye think, of the nature of this voyage?" "None. Four hundred pounds in cash, and the remainder in bills; that sufficiently appeased the curiosity of a man who had a ship which was rotting her bottom out in the Thames. Crossman acted well; he held as mute as a skull!" "Crossman is a man you may depend on," exclaimed Crystal. "When do you reckon upon taking the crew into your confidence?" "This afternoon, Jonathan," said Pope sternly. Crystal looked away to sea. There was now too much wind for the royals; they were clewed up to the shrill measures of the bo'sun's pipe; the flying jib was hauled down, and tho taut weather shrouds shook as some seamen ran aloft. "Sail bo!" shouted one of them out . of the "Where away?" roared Pope. (To be continued. jut f si at leu iit-t- American League Notes. George Davis is reported to he ;u! as good as e t r. Tom Loft us owns nearly $10 -t worth of Washington club stock. a Hub Fnglaub has already home with ("lark Gritlith. He is lout- ed as a great player. l. Tatii.ehii! of the Chicago, ham- mered out the first home run ot the spuing crop at Mailin Springs-MattMelitt.we. the Buffalo recruit, is making a big hit by his work with the Detroit Tigers at Shreveport. In his first day of practice Carr, of the Detroits. split bis thumb sibadly as to put him out for several weeks. Manager Barrow says that the Detroit newcomers are all there with the goods, which are being delivered sat0- vn k-- s 'ii't-aie- j atrieal and bill posting prhihges in New Britain, t'or.n.. at'eation whenever ssary. ii.-- i , l'.te liowiiiie, u! ,, won the pennant for suite. .Moi.t last year, ami who jellied the St. Louis National at Houston, has been seal Louie at Bismarck, Mo., half out of h s mind. His condition is sen ms am! his physician has aihiseil a cop; pie to n .st. 1 American Association News. Infiolder Arthur Mareaii has finally come to terms with St. Paul. The ('..luinim-- ciit!) l as purchased P. ti l er Malaiky from the Boston National chili. The Louisville club has just signed a Kushville. lnd., pitcher named Charles Truitt. Eddie Wheeler, the St. Paul third i isfactorily, baseman is touted as the Beau Brum-me- l Pitcher Bill Wolfe of the Highlandof baseball. ers, is again in good form. He snapToledo critics consider the voting ped a leader in his arm last season, but it has healed. utility intltlder, Walter Russell, late Pitcher Jacobsen, one of Tom of the Homestead (dub, a player of Loftus' finds, has returned his Wash- lunch promise. Billy Nance lias signed his contract ington contract unsigned, the salary with Kansas City. He accepted a big offered being too small. Catcher Hollo Wolfe, the Texas re- cut. He will be the team's captain In cruit, has joined the Bostons at Ma- all probability. President G. K. tannon of St. Paul, con. He is a big, burly fellow, and is having a silk has made a good impression. pennant made in Dick Padden will captain the St. which a group picture of last year's Ixmis Browns this year. Gene Demont pennant winning team is to be woven is doing so well in the practice that he in colors. The latest addition to the Minnehas succeeded Hill at third. Two New York Americans were apolis club are Pitcher J. J. Craven, early victims at CharlotteN. ('. Billy Pitcher George Ream, Outfielder Mike Keeler twisted his ankle and Conroy Lynch and Second Baseman Leon was plinked in the thumb by a liner. Demontreville. Good reports continue to flow in reReports from Hot Springs are to the garding the practice work of Short- effect that Herman Long, Toledo's He is new manager, is getting himself into stop O'I.eary at Shrevhort. said to be a second Elberfeld in the splendid physical condition. He still matter of fielding, with none of that hopes to land Lefty Davis. Pitcher Stricklett, who is playing player's disagreeable traits of characwith Comiskey's Chicago White Sox, ter. Magnate Conilskey is taking persou- - has been claimed by Milwaukee, and v- -. fore-top- Si Stern fW'$K e In his "Look!" said he, "Look!" said he, In his hoarse note, pointing. "The Dutch frigate of last night," iclalmed Pope, after turning his bead. She was coming down Channel on and made a fine figure a taut as she drew clear of the Foreland. "What's that?" suddenly exclaimed oow-lin- Crystal, and Maddison, who had come on deck, cried out, "They're of us!" Both he and Crystal looked toward Broadstairs, and thither Pope directed Lis eyes, where, without 'aid of a glass lie might see what should prove a galley sweeping from the . Her oars sparkled little d pier-end- swiftly. "The glass!" he roared. Maddison grasped the tiller while the Captain looked. There were others In that boat than those who pulled her. She seemed full of men. Pope caught sight of the glint of bayonets. :Sho was coming along as steadily ewift as the rapid determined pulse of the long and bending Hues of flash-'lnash could drive her. The brine etood like frost at her bows, and the foam rushed aft as though she had been driven by a propeller. "A revenue boat," says Pope, with one of his oaths, handing the glass to Crystal, "and she's after us." Clouds, white and swift with the light of the sun and the life of the wind, were overspreading the western seaboard, and they mingled with many leaning shafts of canvass heading out f the Downs. There was a spirit In tho freshening of the wind, and the Oak snored as she drove through It. AH along the horizon to port were the Goodwin Sands. They were brilliant tow with creaming lines of yeast, and the yellow shoal showed a firm surface upon which you could have g played football. "They're bound to give up; that pace'll break their hearts," exclaimed Crystal, after a few minutes of silence during which he had been watching the chasing boat astern. "If they don't mind," Bald Steve, Dutch-Kan.- " "they'll be foul of that there "By heavens! Steve's right," cried Tope, flushing up with sudden excitement and wresting the glass out of Crystal's hand. "What does the idiot mean by holding on?" He applied the glass to his eye. The Dutch frigate, under a full press was sweeping through It grandly. Could It be Imagined that the pursuing boat would attempt to pass under those thunderous bows! The naval officer Insteering the boat might have been sane witn resolution not to deviate from the path of pursuit. The rowers tad their backs upon th danger; the ethars were not there to deliver com- - hoarse notes. which may be said to begin with this: September the 30th, some time before 1S20 It was blowing a fresh breeze of wind in the English channel; dark clouds, spitting rain as they sped, gave a look of flying wildness to the few dim spaces of dusty blue; they produced the effect of flying scud, and all on high seemed to revolve as the weeping shadows poured away into the horizon on the breath of the shouting wind. In the midst of this scene a little brig was sailing. She was the Gypsy. The captain was Richard Pope, her chief mate was Jonathan Crystal, her second mate and boatswain was Matthew Grindal, and in her forecastle and about her decks were thirty seamen, counting several idlers, such as the gunner, the carpenter, cook, cabin servant, and the like. She was bound to the nay of to load with logwood, and to trade with the West Indies. To the Bay of Campeaehy! So it So her papers showed. was said. She had sailed down the river armed with four carronades of a side, a long gun on her forecastle, and a stern chaser, a twelve pounder. She was therefore a little formidable with artillery. But the pirate men continued as fixed a condition of the ocean life as the gilded and gallerled West she plundered. There were other risks, moreover, which made the cannon a necessary feature of a ship's dock. They had dined in the cabin. Captain Pope bad come on deck. It was Crystal's watch, and the two men stumped the planks together. Pope came to a slnnd at the little skylight to survey the scene of his ship, and Crystal, on wide legs, rocked beside him. "She lifts with Fplrndld buoyancy," said the commander, "I never could have believed that she possessed these heels. Iook how she throws the seas That fine Dutch away to leeward! frigate which saved our lives would not leap In loftier graces. Certainly the litlte craft Just then was a heroic picture for a commander who was also her owner, to contemplate. Her four black dogs of war at a side crouched In the scuppers; and her tarpaulined forera.tle gun looked like a dead giant stitched up awaiting aft was The burial. brass; a sullen glint broke In It when the sun shone. It made a formidable show on that little quarter deck clear of the wheel, then grasped by two seamen, one a colored man. the other as black as a gypsy with hair like snakes crawling out of his hat down his bark. They lookeu a pair of beauties, but were Indeed In perfect keeping with the rest of the crew now visible. It was they who gave the little fly Cam-peach- twelve-pounde- r of Character, Yet Human Enough to Enjoy a Joke. The eighty-thirbirthday of Mr. Herbert Spencer has brought out, among other things, extracts from the anonymous diary of a friend of his early days, when he was on the engineering siaff of the London & apBirmingham railway. Spencer, parently, was neither companionable nor particularly popular. His stern and somewhat harsh character stood forth in all its nakedness, as at his then early age he had neither tact nor knowledge of men sufficient wherewith to clothe his imperious temperament. Ho lived in an atmosphere of antagonism a Radical among Tories, a democrat among aristocrats, an advanced free thinker among sturdy supporters of the mother church. But young, thoughtless and careless as we were, we soon realized that a young fellow of keen, penetrating intellect had come among us, before whom we could not hold our own in argument either in metaphysics or in engineering, when we presumed to differ. Still he was human enough to en. joy, and even to perpetrate, a practical joke upon a comrade, Ilensman by name. He inserted a piece of tracing paper daily inside the leather lining of Hensmau's hat. In a few days the hat was a tight fit; remarks were made to the victim on the palpable enlargement of his cranium, which he verified by stating that his bat gave evidence of the truth of the observation by the gradual tightening of the fit. Great sympathy was expressed on the alarming symptom, and great fun was caused by Hens-man- v I v- - v- That, at Least, ON Is Old of r. i'l IT e Are of Scotch Descent I Tha prevalence of Scotch names with the Creek and Cherokee Indians has at various times been the source of some comment. Although other nations and in fact, nearly every nation is represented by the names borne by these people, the Scotch names are far more numerous and have suffered less change than those acquired from any other nation. The names of some of these Scotch Indians are closely allied with the history of these two nations for tho last 100 years, and for several generations such names as Mcintosh. McKellup, I" 'A .in. Shortstop of the New York American al supervision of the Whito Stockings this season, though Manager tjaiianan is also paying considerable attention to the spring training of his team at Marlin, Texas. National League News. New York has dropped Pitcher Jer- ry his glass and wiped bis mouth with the back of his hard. "I'm aspeakin'," he said, "of the South seas. You know them islands over there?" "Sure," said the clerk. "Well, that's where I mean that shirts grow on trees. There's a kind of a willow tree on them islands with, a soft, flexible bark. A native selects a tree with a trunk that's just a little bigger round than he is. He makes a ring with his knife around the trunk through the bark, and he makes another ring four foot below. Then, with a slit of the knife, he draws the bark off, the same as a boy does In makln a willow whistle, and he's got a flna, durable snlrt. All he needs to do la to dry It out, make two holeg for the arms, and put a lai In' in the back to draw It together. "In the spring of tho year the shirts are gathered. Men and women both go out at that time to hxk for trees that fit them. These bark shirts ar treated so as to be soft and flexible. They don't look bad. Oosh hanged If they look bad at all, for shirts that grow on trees." Philadelphia Record. Nops. League Club. will in all probability be turned over to the Brewers at the opening of the season. Another gentleman has undergone a spring change of mind. Jack Hendricks has reconsidered and will refrain from practicing law until he gi'ls through with playing with Indianapolis. Manager Dale Gear gives out his Kansas City list as follows: Catchers, Butler and Orrendorf; pitchers, Durham, Gigson, Alloway, Murphy, Williams, Isboll, Kile, L. Jones, D. Martin; infb iders, Frantz, Nance, Ryan, Leewe, Abbott, Owens, Nolan, Lyons; outfielders, Itothfuss, H. Hill, Knoll, Gear, K. Smith, Archiquette, Ix'wls and Nickell. The Boston Club lias sold Pitcher Malarky to Columbus. conPitcher John G. Thompson's tract with Pittsburg haB been promulgated. Ed Abbaticchlo's future has been settled for the prcstnt, the Boston club him. having Great things are expected of tho new Red outfielder. His long suit Is on quick rettrn of ground balls. Western Winnowings. President rulliat has promulgated Mr. Iligbee, secretary of last year's the transfer of Poole and Bergen to Milwaukee club, has been appointed Brooklyn, and of Ki Gleason to Philasecretary of the Omaha club. delphia. CatchThe St. Joseph club that Barney Dreyfuss announces the Pirates will p liy no exhibition er O'Connell and now has but three games next season "until after the men unsigned Chlnn, Diehl and Garvin. pennant is cinched.' The Sioux City club has signed Jake Berkley hart signed with St. Louis. Mr. Herrml tin having given Pitcher Cadwalader who pitched a t game for Sioux City him a year to repa; $1,0" borrowed from Cincinnati on ids 1D"4 contract. against Sioux Falls last season. Manager Andrews of Sioux City, to is getting tired. Even Tim Murnar date has signed First Baseman should the e he: "Some tip Says Bert Dunn, Second Baseman Henry Killllea that war talk is out of sea n. The players Outfielders Hurltiurt and Lohr, Pitchand ers McBurney and Cavanaugh now have the stain" " and Fremmcr. short of Kelly tl.eV stops rew shortstop Danny Shay, Manager Webster of the St. Joseph the St. Ixmis National League Club. Is a crack blliiardJaj layer, and Mound club, to date has signed eighteen playr.ew ones are third City fans hope tl.fejt his skill in sport ers. Among the Rudwlck of Chlra-go- ; Charles Baseman cue. not with does end jj'ie K. Dunn of Howard Pitcher to have b Is said Tho Cincinnati O.; Inflelder B. C. Cole ol first call on Pitch? Hedges, the Kenoutfielder named tucky youngster. V in made such a hit Rlnghamton. and an with Milwaukee l f season. He will George Hillman. be with the Brewas again this year. Iowa League Ideas. McCormlck of llolyoko team, President Norton has appointed who lias signed fj"'-- . Brooklyn, Is ex secempt from ftirmrXtr, His contract Miss May mo Norton as assistant hall not be sent retary. stipulates that he ils to make good Harry Miller, manager of the Keoto Baltimore if he kuk Club, died of pneumonia at Keowith Brooklyn, ritcher Mike L r.rh has turned kuk. Manager Hobert Warner of Marshal-town- , down another offer ff om Barm y Drey- has signed Catcher Frank my fuss. "Until I completed of Sioux City. will "I Fa Briggeman course." college Lynch, club has signed The Burlington or even decide not sign a contractl Indian from whether I will play ,rofcfilonal base- - Bowman, a Oklahoma; said to be a fine player. ball." Frank Quigg of Hot Springs, Ark, Tho famous Tom ynch ha accept-.i- i late of the Missouri Valley League, ed an appointment President Ilam'i umpire staff the proviso has been appointed an umpire by that be be pcrmltt I to give lis the- - President Norton. no-bi- ? Mes-serl- good-nature- McCombs, Adir, McQueen and are registered on nearly all the treaties and official papers of moment Men bearing these In either nation. are among the foremost names of the progressive Indians. The News of Okmulgee gives this account of tho origin of these Scotch y names: "As was stated, the origin of these Scotch names dales back over 100 years. At that time the Creek and Cherokee Indians, more especially, bent their efforts toward building up a ration of physically perfect men. The women were encouraged to mate f Only Way to Learn In your travels through Been life many men you have Who seemed to bo upright and Just; Whose lives on the surliice looked and cleHii. Whom nnymie, almost, would trust; Who In dealliiK with others act right on the pquiire, Treatinn everyone fnlrly and well. when But they go home, do they act that way there You've got to live with them to tell. one whn'a flood tempered and Jovlul and gay 1'eujile say to themselves "he's Just liKht." ire ai'tf like a gentleman all through the day. I a prince of poml fellows at nlplit. tv You would rail lilin traimpiirenl and plneere. ore Lie. you'd h slow And th" cliam-e- i To aek "How's his heart 'nealh the coat of veneer?" You've K"t to live with him to know. There's pear only wfith Uie Etrong, robust men ot the tribe, and t a weak man withstood the taunts and jibes ot his tallows and remained there was little chance of his securing a wife. Ia that way the life of these people wae almost Spartan. "While this sentiment was at Its height and the tribes were living la Georgia, some time before the revolution, a regiment of Scotch highland-er- s was quartered in the vicinity of one of the principal villages of the nations. The Indian maidens looked with favor on the burly men of the north of Scotland and a number of marriages was the result. When the regiment was ordered back to England or to some other quarter of the globe there were some of these Scotchmen who stayed behind and their names have thus been fixed ia the annais of the Creek nation. It Is through the Creeks that the Chero-kee- s their Scotch names. acquired of these hfghlandera Descendants have been enrolled in the armies of the United States since that time and President Roosevelt had several of them in his Rough Riders." Kansas City Journal. plrls. w hen to courting a man turns hi mind. What a change will come over his life! Ho is and courteous and tender and kind While wooing a maid for his wife. You would cull him an angel come down from above. With patience and wisdom to burn, You think you can fathom the man who's in love. But you've got to live with him t learn. There are lota of this pattern abroad la the Innd, And they tradu, more or less, on the fuel That they've (tot of their fellows the uppermost hend, rty having- none shrewilne and tact. But how sh.ill we iearn what Is really their worth. If they're Jimt what we think them t - be? There's only one way we can prove It oa earlh. We've got to live with them to see. Ilrooklyn Northern Open Air Cure f 1 , Pul-wit- h ser- ever-read- "The most wonderful instance of hatchet from a piece of fiat rock. It memory," said Bernard U Houghton, seemed a wonderful thing to me, and a commercial traveler, who has been after ho had thrown it aside and the going down through New England for boys bad dono playing with it I raa and picked it up, intending to carry it fifteen years, and who was approached home. Bosa for at writer this paper the by " 'But not having any pocket In my ton Tavern last week, "occurred a few pantaloons I was eight years old I years ago at Squantum, Mass., across hid the hatchet In a crack in the the harbor from Boston. rocks down by the shore there. That "A society of commercial drummers was sixty-threyears ago. I rememcalled the Shutter club had given a ber that the cleft in the rock, or ledge, banquet at Young's Hotel and had In- was shaped like a cross of the vited George Francis Train as a guest. church.' " 'Do you suppose that you could In the afternoon we all went down to find the place now?' someone jokingly Squantum. "Train and a party of us sat on the asked Mr. Train. "At that we all laughed, and Train piazza of the Squantum inn and tho old man was telling stories about his got up and said, 'Come with me, and youth in Boston anil Waltham after we will see if it is there.' his family bad been w iped out by yel"We went down over the bank by low fever In New Orleans. the Boston City Sewerage Department " 'I came down here on a Sunday buildings, and Train walked along the school picnic on the Fourth of July, shore to a crack In the 1S37,' said Train. 'During the afterledge and dug away the accumulated noon the superintendent of the Sunrubbish of years of tides and winds. day school gave a talk upon old In- Then be stopped and lifted out a little hatchet shaped stone that had been, dian days, and showed us youngsters how the savages made their toma- carefully broken out in the shape of With a heavy stone he an Indian tomahawk." Boston Jourhawks. knocked out a rough Indian stone nal. McGil-livar- asked. Tho sailor emptied Lighthouse Service. Tho 1'rlted States lighthouse vice costs $I.IM),(Q0 a year. case; the stem bends under the weight of the fruit, and this brings it into directly the opposite pool t Ion, with the large ends of the stall; up and the fringes pointing toward the sun. A word of explanation concerning some banana terms. Each banana is called a "linger." and each of these little clusters of fingers surrounding a stalk is called a "hand"; the quality and value of each btir.ch depend on the number of hands it has. Some tuny wonder how the fruit is cut from th(! top of a plant fifteen feet above the ground. The native laborers cut the stall; part way up its height, the weight of tin' fruit causes the stalk to slowly heiid over until the bunch of bananas first nicely reaches the ground, then the bunch is cut off with the machete and carried to the river or railroad for shipment. The plant at the same time la cut close to the ground. The banana is a very prolific reproducer of itself, and at every cleaning of the lanl It is necessary to cut down many of the young plants or "suckers," as they are termed, in order that they may not become overcrow ded up to a certain limit; the less suckers on a given area the larger the fruit they will produce. Train Had Fine Memory 3 v.-i- .WVtS . A an facture. - 4 Sailor. "Shirts grow on trees where I came from," said the old sailor. "How so, Ehipmul?" a pale cleric Making Macaroni. Macaroni is made In fortr d!ffprnt shapes and sizes. A special kind of very nara wnrat is unea in mis manu- . Bv- i y w TREES THERE. the Statement V M fj. v-- A Vie-liS"- 's GROW iv ft r consternation. The idea of Herbert Spencer playing practical jokes will probably be new and startling to most people. SHIRTS Tiuro is a vast amount of ignorance prevailing among intelligent people of the North concerning the I'.row.h, production and marketing of banana!. Many people imagine that the natives iu tropica! climes step out of their hats in the early morning and phicti and eat bananas fresh from the plant, the same as they would oranges and other fruits. Bananas ripened on the plant are rot suitable for food, and would be much the same as the pith which is found in the northern cornstalk or elder. Bananas sold in the United Slates, even after traveling 3,000 niiU s in a green state, are every bit as good as hamulus ripened under a tropical sun. This is probably true of no other export fruit. The plant of which bananas are the fruit is not a tree, nor is it a bush or vine. It is simply a gigantic plant, growing to a height of from fifteen to twenty feet. About eighteen feet from the ground the leaves, ofttimcs eight feet long, come out in a sort of cluster, from the center of which springs a bunch of bananas. These do not grow with the bananas pointing upward, naturally, and if the stem grew straight they would hung exactly as seen in the fruit stores and grocers' windows. This, however, is not the cross-shape- HEREERT SPENCER IN YOUTH. W The Growth of Bananas The most surprising open air cure In the world has just been established In Lapland by the Swedish government. It (s patterned ujKin the Massachusetts open air cure hospitals and Is close tip under the Arctic heavens where the days stretch Into weeks and the nights seem endless. Wassijauvo Is a Utile Iaplnnd village on the shores of l.uko Tome, which Is for the greater part of the year a frozen pond of glassy Ice. It Is expected that this will become tho most Important village In Lapland, because It la the terminal of the military railroad that Sweden and Norway have built up across that desolate country straight Into the land of the midnight su.i. them-selve- s Kagle. J The Ofote railway Is In many respects the most remarkable road la tho world. It stretches for one hunSwedish miles, dred and twEty-onwith but one little lonely station, made necessary by the custom lawe between Sweden and Norway. A Swedish mile Is longer than an EDc'.lsh mile. Some day thl3 great Northland of Sweden will be developed Into & stronghold from which It will be to drive the sons of the north should any power like Russia or Qer-ma-y attempt It. The Swedes and Into It and Norwegians could there establish a bare that would defy tho worl- d- for they are the only people who are hardy enough to fifht it-tlr- there. |