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Show (T Proteilinf Ships Alonf tie Koticy (oast of & When the HgbtsMpe that are scattered alone the Massachusetts coast and are anchored away ont on Nantucket shoals break adrift, tt ic the men in the lighthouse tender A rales who are sent ont to search for the wandering ships, and they must find them if possible and bring them back and place them on the identical spot from which they have been torn away. The crew of the Axalea never know There are certain days when they are where night will overtake them. There are certain days whenthey are supposed to go out end take a peep at the different lightships along the coast, and other times when they are expected to run alongside the lightships and put supplies aboard, but this work is governed by the weather conditions, and it cannot be carried out with any degree of regularity. The breaking adrift of the lightships Is not likely to occur however, except during very etormy weather, and folthe Azalea lowing these storms, makes a cruise of the sound, looking for their. Often the ships are found to he still riding at anchor, but at some considerable distance from the place where they ought to be stationed, having unawares to those on board, dragged their mudhooks during the gale. The Azalea In a case like this marks for the crew was capsized and lost, together with all its content, in the attempt to board the lightship. Reaching the lightship along the sound and on the shoals la a difficult end hazardous undertaking even In good weather, owing to the myriads of shoals and sunken ships that stretch far out under the sea along the coast line of the Cape. The puriious task which the crw of the Azalea are often 'alied upon to perform In replacing buoy in position brings forcibly to notice the vital importance of buoys along the coast. These are to the navigators by day what the beacons scattered along the coast are at night, and the fog signals are when neither lights nor buoys can be discerned. These buoys tell the sailormen, by their size, form, color, and number, how to escape rocks and hidden shoals, and are as a guide to the skipper who la working his vessel In or out of a uarbor or through the most tortuous channels the bioy service has shorn a most remarkable growth during the last decade, there being about 6,000 buoys in the several districts under control of the lighthouse board. The Buoys " used in the irgMtiGUse service are of wood, or Iron. T19 wooden buoys are sticks of from about tit LEARNING TO SKATE. East Elderly Gentlemen Found the P&stime Not Bint ns It Looked. sre found to be of untold value Moving lee fields re the worst ene- agl field ice marking sunken wrecks along the When the lg my of the buoys. starts before a strong wind it usually carries every buoy within It grasp dhes buoys, from the peculiar rayi with it, releasing them when the open (light which thev gne at night, can sea ty reached and the tee begin to SAdlly be distinguished from anyothai d of light on the break up. water, and It Is The Azalea, when a buoy la sighted fffely that they are mistaken for any in the ice, plows her way through the pher kind When exhausted they are field If it ii possible to do bo sad, mak- pken up by the Azalea and sent to be ing fast the buoy, placed U on bir deck Jtfllled another being placed In posi-lkand Is again off In search of other wanto do duty hot engaged in dering guides to navigation that have f cruising for mlss-b- g been swept adrift buoys or looking for a wandering These drifting buoys have 6ften been Khtxhlp or carrying supplies to the passed hi midocean and one buoy which tghthouzes along the coast the Azalea waa torn from it moorings 'in New ,1 steaming along the sound or workYork harbor found its way to the coart ing her way among the ue fields along of Ireland after a voyage of about six file tape, exer ready to glxe assistance week. The buoy was swept adrift by fix vessels In distress a large field of ice, and Was carried a Their work Is nexer done and upon out Into the bay so quickly that all at- file f of these pithful performance tempts to recover It were unavailing. the goxernmeut depends In a The iron ice buoy are made of boiler large measure the safety of all the iron, and the fim-elabuoyp of this XoaztwlBg shipping around the danger-.Ullhorclass cost about 300. They are SO feet of Cape Cod In length and stand 22 feet out of water. . English Obtossnsss. ( The whistling buoy consists of an , To Englishmen were discussing Iron bulb about 3 feet with Mark Twain the old topic of across af the widest part end floating humor as not appreciated by about 12 feet out of th$ water. Inside the bulb is a tube 33 Inches across, ex- - "But are the English really ao obtending from the top through the bot- tuse!" asked one of them. 'Obtuse t You cant gat an idea into tom to a depth of 32 feet into water ct u EM serv-yn&o- ss e n pear-shap- It was Thursday evening and Mr. was calling on Miss Harmer. That had been Mr Doddlebys Invariable custom for at least four months and Miss Harmer had begun to look upon Mr Ikxltlleby lu tbe light of a serious proposition. Mr. Doddleby was no longer in youth's springtime, and, therefore, Miss Harmer, who certainly could be counted in that class, had made careful Inquiries about hla bank account, ascertaining that his rating was AA1 and had resigned herself to a pleasant fate, says the Chicago Chronicle. On this particular Thursday evening Mr Doddleby had made a remark about the monotony of the winter season when there were no forms of diversion open to loving hearts and willing minds except the theater, and this he voted decidedly dull. 'Oh, Mr. Doddleby,'' gurgled Miss Harmer, don't you enjoy skating? I just love to skate. Doddleby Mr. on earth could move him to don a pair of skates and make a public exhibition of mmself It was the one that Miss Harmer had just offered, and the end of it was that Mr. Doddleby, fond, trusting old man, promised to lead bla lnamorita to the Ice In Lincoln Park on tna next evening and there take hls first lesson In skating. It was not without many doubts and misgivings thr.t Mr, Doddleby sallied forth the next evening with Klsa Harmer hanging on hls arm and regaling him flth many tales of her fancy skating done in days of yore not so very yore,4 of course, for no young woman will talk jot anything further, back than three years unless It is connected with the infant class Jit tbe park In tbe flundar school. . Mr.T Doddieny.-Yought out the man who rents Skate to and comers all timorously asked tor . a couple el pair.' They were lammed down on thecounter before him, be . paid hls ' deposit and looked at the helplessly shining skates. "How do I put these things ont he naked Miss Harmer. "Thervkeemi to be as much machinery about them as though they were submarine torpedoes." "Oh, that's easy, said Miss Harmer. "Just adjust the lamps, set the screws,throw the lever, and there you are. Mr. Doddleby began on ber pair, and after considerable ground and lofty tumbling - got them, adjusted. Then he slowly went at hls own, and It was apparent that hi own heart tailed him whenever he looked over tbe smooth sheet of Ice on which thousands of young people were enjoying themselves. I dont know how this Is going to go, be said he nervously, a essayed to aland up. the true position with a small buoy a dozen to sixty feet long of cedar, and then tows the lightship back to pine or spruce, preferably cedar. Spar and ber station. buoys are classified by length In searching for lightships that have thickness, and then acquired color, broken adrift the Azalea follows in the but are interchangeable within these wake of the storm that swept them condition All Iron buoys are made hollow, away and if the missing ships have not obtained too great a start the with compartments and are Azalea usually overtakes them. mads of three shapes, called the nun, Putting supplies aboard the light- can and ice buoy. The nun buoy Is ships Is perhaps the most hazardous almost conical in form, while the can of all work that the crew of the light- buoy is in tbe shape of the frnstumof a cone nearly approaching a cylinder. house tender are called upon to do. Tt is only a few years ago that a The Ice buoy closely resembles the boat's crew from the Azalea, while en- wooden spar buoy, of great length, gaged In unloading coal from their alight thickness, and of the largest boat to the Nantucket shoals lightship diameter near the middle. had their boat Sink under them, bareBuoys are exposed to the danger of ly giving them time to scramble being ruh down, which frequently aboard the lightship. happens along the coast, where there This is only one of a number of in- are a countless number of them anstances when the lives of the crew of chored. (Having compartthe Azalea have been endangered and ments the, buoy are rarely zonk by that, too, within a comparatively short being run down, but often they are time. On the occasion of the recent so seriously damaged by being ripped trip of the Axalea to the Kantucket open'by steamer and' sailing vessels 'ahOala ship, when Capt. Gibbs made striking them that their usefulness is aa effort to take Capt Jorgensen lost. Spar buoys are often rendered useashore to attend hi (Capt Jorgensen's! daughters funeral, the boat less by' being cut down by the procontaining all the Christmas presents peller blades of passing steamers. alr-tlg- ht alr-tlg- ht , 1 4. free from wave motion. The tube Is open at Its lower end bat projecting airtight through the top of the bulb, and is closed with a plate having In it three holes, two for letting the air Into the tube and one between these for letting the air out to work the locomotive whistle with which the buoy Is surmounted. The great bulb which buoys up the whole mass rises and falls with the motion of the waves carrying the tube up and down with It and establishing a piston and cylinder movement, the water In the tube acting as an immovable piston, while the tube itself acts as a moving cylinder. The air admitted through the valves as the buoy rises on the waves Into .that part of the bulb which is above water is compressed and as the buoy falls with tbe wave It Is further compressed and forced through a pipe which at its apex connects with the whistle. In the harbors, rivers and lakes the bell buoys are found, while the big whistling buoys are locate in tbe open sea and roadsteads. The gas buoys are one of the most valuable aids to navigation. They are coming into mere general nse each year 10-ln- cb Englishmans head with a surgical eperatlon, declared Mark Twain. The questioner remained In solemn bought for a moment. Then he broke Into a hearty laugh. Quite a delicious Joke! be "Though, of course, If you sere to open the Englishman's skull, you would kill him, would ywi not? Mark Twain turned to the second Eusllshman. "What did I tell you? to know whether It wouldn kill him! The countenance of the second Eng hihman was like a blank wall Wouldn't It? he queried. New York ' Time. certain that this sort of thing MlU not last very long, Hs did not know Just how it would wind np, but that finish there was Doddleby a little, gasped swallowed hard and managed to aay that skating was one of the accomplishments of boyhood he had failed to acquire. Inasmuch as he had spent hls early years In a region where there waa no body of water larger than a cistern. "Oh, but you could learn so easily," insisted Mis Harmer. "Why, I think I could show you how myself. Mr. Doddleby gallantly declared that If any Inducement m PlfUK ahead of him seemed certain. Us looked down nerv- at hit ously mov- ing feat and notlosj that one of them was winning fbo race. It waa alx inches farther from where it should have been than tbs other one was. He made a desperate effort to haul It in and the move wag fatal. The off foot, which he was net paying any attention to, continued Its trip along the shore, greatly accelerated as to speed, and he went with It just as he was scrambling up tbe bank and shaking the cold, wet now out of hie hand Miss Harmer came np with a rush, executed a wide aweep on both skates and stopped before him. flushed and panting. Tta "Come on she said gayly, glorious " "Yes, it must be, said Mr. Doddleby weakly, as be brushed the snow from hi overcoats -- Mis Harmer truck off and MrJ Doddleby did the best hs could. Aa the young woman Is and strong husky, shs carried him ' forty feet across the 1c before be managed to get . hls feet easb other, and wrapped around when he ,was on his way down bel heroically grasped two or three skater near by and brought them with him. Luckily tbe ice was firm and the shock did no material damage to the ice. The indignant skaters who had Joined Mr. Doddleto by scrambled their feet, banded him n few opinions of their own and akated on. Mias Harmer was sweetly waiting when be arose. "Dont you think ah you could try it alone now? Mr. Doddleby had decided! ' asked. to Indignantly retire from tbe ic and! t, bid Miss Harmer a cutting but when she looked at him that way-b- e t weakened. , "I dont know but I could. he tat- lered.' J&ls Harmer him; . ' wltn a bright smile. (U Til wait here ff you," she aald,j and Mr. Doddleby struck out for elf, - The first four or live strokes! were not af bad, hut when be let himself go across the Ic he discovered to, hls alarm that he was like a ran aay automobile. He could neither stop' himself nor steer. Dead ahead, of him' a fancy skater waa cutting Hbves and' bleeding heartf.oo The Ice before an admlrlpg ctfole of spectator and Mr. Doddleby discovered that be wae going to become on of the party. He plunged lntif the ring of onlookers like . n wild engine and crashed heal on' against the fancy! good-nigh- d -- -- xkater. ( That gen- tleman was just putting ths finishing touches oa a humming bird, and shat be said to Mr.j Doddleby need not' xe set down here. Two kind strangers picked up th 1 i 1 n MrJ pi dated Doddleby and started him. toward the spot whence he bad come, but again hls feet proved treacherous, and Mr. Doddleby went careening into thw arms of Miss Harmer. They both sat down and when they had rested a little while they slowly arose. "Perhaps we had better not skate any more, said Miss Harmer. withi some difficulty. . "Perhaps?" echoed Mr.' Doddleby. Huh! The grunt was so very expressive that Mist Harmer. thinking - "Oh. It will go all right, said Mis Harmer reassuringly, and at that moment it did. Mr. Doddlebys feet went with It and he clutched the young woman desperately and saved himself "Come out on tbe Ice, said .Miss Harmer. Keep hold of my arm and you wlQ be all right Now, then. Just strike off like this. She dropped Mr. Doddleby's arm and struck off. Before she had gone ten fet Mr. Doddleby became aware I AN v xnte zm iww yew that hla feet were slowly but surely OvtJ skate m vwesuf viuw parting company. One of them seemed bent upon Joining the gay throng and of the bank account and tbe AA1 ratthe other evinced a desire to slide ing, led tbe way in silence to the along tbe shore. Mr. Doddleby felt shore. "No. but I bsve been a cloee student of the law for many years. After Baring Xtlnlf TaranS a "I am afraid that I cannot excuse you If you are not a lawyer, said the Laagh oa (ha Jadga. A young man whose feature! and court, smiling. "But, continued the young man with flashing eyes betokened great earnestness was summoned before Judge Mc- great earnestness, the color mounting Carthy of the city court tbe other day to bis temples. I am aure, if your for jury duty. He immediately asked honor knew as much law as I do, your to be excused. When the judge asked conscience would not ' allow you to serve on a Jury. him what excuse he had for not servB Km Hia DmIomi After the bench and bar bad recovHave you had time to read that ing, be replied;; popular novel that you're going to "I believe It is a rule of the court ered from this naive outburst the dramatize? if'hy in the world should that the jury Is the sole judge of the judge told the young man that If it I it? demanded the dramatist facts and ths court of tbs law; that wae a matter which affected bis conscience so deeply be would excuse him, All that's needed to make It go Is tb( the juror should only weigh the facts and a very much abashed youth left title and the names of the principal ag presented by the evidence, not takcharacters,- - and If I read It I might ing into consideration any of the rules the courtroom, New York Times. ii j t inadvertently get in some of the In- of law governing the case; wherefore are exeunt from cident and thus all of a beSpeaking lawyers jury a htp. receivership good play. tpoll long to tbe submarine class because of duty "But are you a lawyer? asked 11 relation to something that has gone Gd credit has ruined many s well 1 under. Mentioned man, ' Judge McCarthy. EXCUSED FROM THE JURY. -- ld X A |