HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1919-12-11, Page 2The March of the White Guar
IL
By SIR GIIJ3ERT PARKER,
Hyde her letter, J•eif Hyde rubbed his
Jas•
par Hume sat down, handed the fingers before he touched the delicate
'Indian: a pipe and tobacco, and, with noel perfumed missive. Its delicacy
harm folded, watched they Etre. Fel! deemed to bewilder" him. .He said in
alf an hour the sat so, �" white man, a rough but kindly way, Hope to die
Indian and dog. Then Jasper ar Hume if I don't," and passed it on to Gaspe
P Tou ours who did not find it necessary
rose, went.to a s,upboarci, took, out a ,
sane sealingwax and matches, and in to ePeak, His comrade had answered
• moment melted wax was dropping ie for him, Late Carscallen held it in -
upon : P lg
u on the lock the box containing his quisitively for a moment, and then his
Idea. He had just finished this as Saws opened and shut as if he were
Sergeant Gosse knocked at the door, about to speak. But before he did so
and immediately after entered thethe Sub -factor said, `It is a long jour-
room. ney and a hard one. Those who go
"Gose," said the sub-factar, "find may never come back. But this man
Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, and Late was working for his country, and he
Carscallen, and bring them here," has got a wife—a good wife!" He
Sergeant immediately departed upon held up the letter. "Late Carscallen
his errand. Jaspar Hume then turned wai ts to know who will lead you.
to Cloud -in -the -'Sky, and said, "Cloud- Can't you trust me? I will give you
a leader
in -the -Secy, I want you to go a Lang ,that you will :follow to. the
journey hereaway to the Barren Barren Grounds. To -morrow you will
Grounds. Have twelve dogs ready by know who he is. Men, are you satis-
nine o'clock to -morrow morning." fled? Will you do it?"
Cloud -in -the -Sky shook his head The four rose, and Cloud -in -the -Sky
thoughtfully, and then, after a pause, nodded approvingly many times. The
said, "Strong -back go too?" ("Strong- Sub -factor held out his hand. Each
back" was his name for Jaspar Hume). i man shook it, Jeff Hyde first, and he
But the other did not or would not said, "Close up ranks for the H, B. C.!"
hear. The Indian, however, appeared • (H. B. C. meaning, of course, Hudson
satisfied, for he smoked harder after -!Bay Company.)
ward, and grunted to himself many; With a good man to lead them they
times. A few moments passed, and! would have stormed, alone, the
then Sergeant Gosse entered, followed:Heights
Heights of Balaclava.
by Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, and, Once more Jaspar Hume spoke: "Go
Late Carscallen. Late Carscallen had: to Gosse and get your outfits at nine
got his name "Late" from having been' to -morrow morning. Cloud -in- the -sky,
called "The Late Mr. Carscallen" by ; have your sleds at the store at eight
the Chief Factor because of his slow-' o'clock, to be loaded. Then all meet
mess. Slow as he was, however, the' me at 10.15 at the office of the Chief
stout Scotsman had more than once t Factor. Good -night."
proved himself sound and true ac As they passed out into the semi -
cording to Jaspar Hume's ideas. He arctic night, Late Carscallen with an
was, of course, the last to enter. i unreal obstinacy said, "'Slow march to
The men grouped themselves about; the Barren Grounds—but who leads?"
the fire, Late Carscallen getting the! Left alone the Sub -factor sat down
coldest corner. Each man drew his to- to the pine table at one end of the
bacco from his pocket, and cutting it,! room and after a short hesitation be -
waited far Sub -factor Hume to speak. gin to write. For hours he sat there
His eyes were debating as they rested rising ofil3: to put wood on the fire.
on the four. Then he took out Rose The result was three letters: the larg-
o ' 1 d ' I ht addressed to a famous s:xciety in
epage s atter an , wit t t e group es a esse
But, wile are the party?"'
" Wipers,
Jeff. Hyde, GaspeLate
{larscallen and Gloud-inthe-Sky,
"And who leads them, Hufne?" Who;
leads?"
"With your permission, sir, I do,"
"You, Hume! You! But, man, con-
sider the danger. And then there is--
there is, your ;invention!"
I have considered all, Here are
three letters. If we do not come back
in three months, you will please send
this one, with the box in rri`y room, to
the address on the envelope; this is
for a solicitor in 11tontreal, which you
will also forward as von as possible;
this last one is for yourself; but you
will not open it until the three months.
have passed. Have I your permission
to lead these men? They would not
go without me:"
"I know that, I know that, Hume. I
hate to have you. go, but I can't say
no. Go, and good luck go with you."
Here the manly old Factor turned
away his head. He knew that Jaspar
Hume had done right? Ile knew the
possible sacrifice this man was making
of all his hopes, of his very life; and
his sound Scotch heart appreciated the
act to the full. But he did not know
all. Ile did not know that Jaspar
Hume was starting to look for the
man who had robbed him of youth and
hope and genius and home,
Here is a letter that, the wife has
written to her husband in the hope
that he is alive. You will take it with
you, Hume. And the other she wrote
to me, shall I keep it?" He held out
his hand,
"No, sir, I will keep it,if you will
allow me. It is my comtnision, you
know," And the shadow of a smile
hovered about Jaspar Humes lips.
The Factor smiled kindly es he re-
plied, "Alt, yes, your conitnission--
Captain Jaspar Hume of —of what,
Hume?"
Just then the door opened and there
entered the four men whom we saw
around the Sub -factor's fire the night
oerore, lney were ares
blanket costumes from held to foot,
white woolen capotes covering the
gray fur caps they wore. Jaspar Hume
ran his eye over them and then
answered the Factor's question: "Of
the White Guard, sir."
"Good," was the reply. "Mel, you!
are going on a relief expedition --one
looking at him now, he read it aloud, ; London, one to a solicitor in Montreal, """°"
When it was finished Cloud -in -the -Sky and one to Mr. Field, the Chief Fac -
gave a guttural assent and Gaspe Tou-: tor. They were all sealed carefully.
jours, locking at Jeff Hyde, said, "It is Then Jaspar Hume rose, took out his
cold in the Barren Grounds. We shall knife and went aver to the box as if
need much tabic." These men could to break the red seal. He paused, how -
read without difficulty Jaspar Hume's ever, sighed, and put the knife back
reason for summoning them. To Gaspe again. As he did so he felt something
Toujour's remark Jeff[ Hyde nodded touch his leg. It was the dog, Jaspar
affirmatively and then all looked at Hume drew in a sharp breath and said,
Late Carsealien. Ile opened his heavy "It was all ready, Jacques; and in an-
iaws once or twice with an animal-: other three months I should have been
kke sound, and then he said, in a in London with it. But it will go
general kind of way: + whether I go or not, Jacques. The
"To the Barren Grounds. But who; dog sprang up and put his head
leads?" ! against his master's breast.
Jaspar Hume was writing on a slip i "Good dog! good dog! it's all right,
of paper, and did not reply. The faces Jacques; however it gees, •it's all
of three of them showed just a, shade right!"
of anxiety. They had their opinions, Then the dog lay down and watched
but they were not sure. Cloud -in -the-, the man until he drew the blankets
Sky, however, grunted at them, and to his chin, sleep drew oblivion over
raised the bowl of his pipe toward the a fighting but masterly soul.
Sub -factor. The anxiety then seemed At ten o'clock next morning, Jaspar
to be dispelled. Hume presented himself at the Chief
For ten minutes more they sat so, Factor's office. He bore with him the
all silent. Then Jaspar Hume rose, letters he had written the night before.
handed the slip of paper to Sergeant
Gosse, and said, "Attend to that at
once, Gosse. Examine the food and
blankets closely."
The five were left alone.
Then Jaspar Hume spoke: "Jeff
Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, Late Carscal-
len, and Cloud-in-tireeSky, this man,
alive or dead, is between here and the
The Factor said, "Well, Hume, I am
glad to see you. That, woman's letter
was on my mind all night. Have you
anything to propose? I suppose not,"
he added despairingly, as he looked
closely into the face of the other.
"Yes, Mr. Field, I propose this: that
the expedition shall start at noon to-
day."
Barren Grounds. He must be found— "Shall—start—at—noon—to-day?"
for his wife's sake." He handed Jeff "In two hours."
Eng a d Wages War on Race Suicide
England is waging a resolute war
against race suicide and infant mor -1
tality. Unless she can educate her
people in the expediency of increasing
the British population by British;
births and of conserving the lives and ;
health of children already born she
knows that Germany in twenty years
will be able to wage against her a war'
that Germany will win, then.
Medical statistics confound the aver- ,
age Englishman, who has not been
given until the present time to think-
ing seriously of the death rate and the ;
birth rate per se. A recent publica-
tion of these medical statistics has
given him food for diquieting thought.
Between 1910 and 1919 a yearly
average of 100,000 babies died at birth
or were still -born. The yearly birth
rate averaged 700,000, exclusive of !
those babies that had died within
twenty-four hours of birth.
But of the 700,000 given to the coun-
try 90,000 died each year before they
had attained their first twelvemonth's
birthday. Those who survived display
an alarming health condition. One in
every four children in the working
classes is mentally deficient, ten in
one hundred suffer from malnutrition,
thirty in each hundred have defective
eyes, twenty-five have adenoids and
eighty out of every hundred need the
dentist badly.
The poor baby, of course, suffers
more than the infant whose parents
are well to do. The death rate of
children below one month In profes-
Aional classes averages twenty -nee '~
one thousand, ' tit in the working
classes 46,3 per thousand is the rate.
Now, the large percentage of work•
ing class children who grew into
adults below par was not so appalling
a circumstance before the war came
to tngland. , I do not mean that thelr
number was less then or that the eon•
rtition was unknown. These statistics
Cover a period of nine years. But be-
fore the war England still had that
population of healthy, wholesome
young manhood now lying out in
Flanders fields, and the status of the
viorking class was such that their
l ealtb did not constitute a grave ma-
#,erial menace to the future of the Brit
tire,
Such a conte, tion applies even to
the mentally deficient. Whoever ar-
rived a traveller in England prior to
August, 1914, and remembers the tat-
tered touts who Bung about steam-
boat piers and especially London rail-
way terminals and ran panting miles
after a cab for the sole purpose of
unloading its bags and trunks for a
penny or two will find no trouble in
believing that the figures relative to
mental deficiency among slum peoples
there are not exaggerated.
But it did not matter so signally
while the working classes of England
were content. Their women scrubbed
and slaved as servants or underpaid
factory hands; their men were quite
frankly underdogs and the writer of-
ten suspected that they were proud of
being just that. An exceptional mem-
ber of a lower class family rose above
his station because he was not ham-
pered by stupidity and bad health, and
the others were never done marveling
at him.
To -day the great majority of these
men and women/have made up their
minds that they are, or must be, the
exceptional members.• of the working
class family. They would not accept
a penny now for a service! They
would not run a block after a cab for
a pound sterling! They propose to
rule in England, but If they are not
uplifted, mentally and physically,
they will wreck the British Empire.
Farseeing [Englishmen know this and
have accepted it, Became. of thaiglw>ms so fond of flowers,
knowleeee <, The conversation narrowed down to
—nee trier are urging politic the mother. Was she exactly honest?
legislation and reform anent the un- She never went by a candy counter
derdog of five years ago, without picking up one ar two pieces,
Welfare centres, the firststep in all and fruit vendors knew .her afar off
infant saving, are multiplying in -every and hastily covered their choice peach -
English town and city. It is esti- es and plums when she approached.
mated that $5 a year will save one Two or three books with telt-tale lib-
baby's life at a British welfare centre. racy tags were on her book shelves
Half this sum is furnished by the gov- and had been for months. And she
ernment and half by voluntary contra- prided herself on seeing how many
btttlan. At the present writing there times a week she could get the better
are 235 British .towns that have these of the grocer or butcher iii making
welfare houses. change. Her ergureent always was,
The largest one in London had 700 that ihcy always aharg d her too mushI
entries in the year ending June 30, and she had theeh/lit to get even,
1919. l+ifty babies and forty-two The .mother wouid not deliber;itcly
mothers came there every day or go out and put her hand in someone's
care and instruction. To its, this Is pocket iso rob then[, 13r` was she
no great innovation, but it marks the lancet? Mei she taught the boy
hor,eety? :• ? ed told hint itu isas
in which there is, danger. You need
a -food leader, You have one in Cap-
tain .laspar Ilunee,"
Jeff Hyde shook his bead atiha
others with a pleased T-told-you-so-
exxpression; Cloud -in -the -Sky :grunted
his deep approval; and Late Caeseal-
len smacked his lips in a satisfied
manner and robbed his leg with, a
schoolboy sense of enjoyment, The
Factor continued: "In the name of the
Hudson Fur Company I will say that
if you come back, having done your
eiuty faithfully, you shall be well re-
warded- And I believe you will come
back, if it is in human power to do so."
Here Jeff Hyde said, "It isn't re-
ward we're doin' it, Mr.Field, but be-
cause Captain .Hume wished it, because
we believed she'd lead us; and for the
lost fellow's wife. We wouldn't have
said we'd do it, if it wasn't for h'im
that's just called us the White puarcd."
Under the bronze of the Sub -factor's
face there spread a glow more red
than brown, and he said simply,
"Thank you, men"—for they had all
nodded assent to Jeff Hyde's words -.-
"Come with me to the store. We will
start at noon."
And at noon the White Guard stood
in front of the store on which . the
British flag was hoisted with another.
beneath it bearing the magic letters,
H. B. C.: magic, because they have
opened to the world regions that seem-
ed destined never to know the touch of
civilization. The few inhabitants of
the Fort had gathered; the dogs and
loaded sleds were at the door, The
White Guard were there too—all but
their leader. It wanted but two min-
utes to twelve when Jaspar Hume
came from his house, dressed also'in
the white blanket costumeand follow-
ed by his dog, Jacques. In a moment
more he had placed Jacques at the
head of the first team of dogs. They
were to have their leader, too; and
they testified to the fact by a bark of
approval. Punctually at noon, Jaspar
Hume shook hands with, the Factor,
said a quick good-bye to the rest, call-
ed out a. friendly -"How!" to the In-
dians standing near, and to the sound
of a hearty cheer, heartier perhaps
because none had a confident hope that
the Ave would come back, the March
of the White Guard began.
(To be continued.)
•
r52inard'0 Liniment Cures Cones, &a
"As the Twig is Bent."
A sad case came to light in school
last week. For tome time numerous
things had been missed. A book, a
half dozen pencils, a child's lunch, a
cap, a pair of rubbers, apples, and
numerous other small things. Ten
days ago someone obtained the key to
the teacher's desk, opted it and stole
two dollars out of her purse. The
teacher said nothing, but watched. A
twelve -year-old boy from one `of the
best homes, but who had never had
spending money, suddenly began
treating everyone in school. A little
judicious questioning brought out the
truth; this boy had taken not only the
teacher's money but everything else I
that had been missing.
The entire neighborhood was upset
by the incident. How could it be that
this boy, the son of parents of ab-
solute honesty, could be a thief ? He
had 'been brought up in the Sunday
School, told the difference between
right and wrong, had all sorts of ad-
vantages, and yet bad gone wrong.
Now if it had been young Peterkins
whose family hadn't much, and who
probably never was taught anything
at home, you could understand it. But
this boy's mother was so good and
the foul of honesty.
It did seem queer to the ones who
didn't go below the surface. But those
who had watched the boy grow up
rather felt that they could" explain it.
Two or three mothers got together
and exchanged confidences. There was
the time when the boy was two and
he carried home Jackie Smith's auto-
mobile, Of course, it only came from
the ten -cent store, but it was dear to
Jaokie's heart. The lad's mother ex-
plained that he was too young to know
it was naughty, and it was -such a
little thing and her son wanted it so
badly, it seemed a amine • to make a
fuss about it and have him return it,
so she kept it.
A year or go later it was a sack of
pop corn he took away from ,,Jenny
,'ones. Jennie cried and told his
mother, but it was silly to cry over a
tittle sack of pop corn. She did give
Jennie a niekle, however, to buy an-
other. Ali sorts of incidents came up.
One told of half a dozen fresh cookies
disappearing off the table while the
bay and his mother were calling; an-
other had her early roses picked by
the bay, -AO,-his mother explained',
passing of .on old order in England.
wrong to steal, but had she taught
him that? Suppose when he took the
auto, away back in ells baby days, she
had explained to him the rights of
others and made him return the toy.
Would he have- deliberately stolen
money when he was twelve years old?
It seemed hardly probable to the,
mothers who discussed the, case. No
age is too young to begin to teach the
property rights of others, they all de-
cided. If you begin.with the littlest
things and insist °on absolute honesty
regardless of what the other fellow
does, the big things will take care of
themselves,
Parents, Attention!
The astounding discovery that ape
proximately five hundred thousand
school children in Canada to -day are
under weight has naturally and pro-
perly led to concerted action to the
end that this appalling condition of
affairs may be ,rectified as 5co#i.'as.
possible. Draft statistics show that
seventy per cent, of the Hien were re-
jected for defects that could have been
prevented or .cured bycare in child-
hood, Weight and rate of gain form
one of the best tests of health in
children,
Home Decoration,
:Henry Van Dyke calls *e .piotures
on his walls the windows of his home.
Through them he gets glimpses of tete
-beauty which les beyond the section
of living space bounded by the, stone
walls of his home. Through offe such
window, he could see the ocean, and
almost feel the cold spray and the
'strength of thesalt air. Another win-
dow gave beim a view of the mountains,
with all of the uplift of a daily climb,
in thought, to their summits.
The [influence of such silent teach-
ers in the home can hardly be estimat-
ed, but in nothing else is the average
home so.. poorly furnished. Good taste
may be displayed in the choice. of
carpets and easy chairs, Wall paper
may be selected in quiet restful tints,
but the decorations may be family por-
traits framed in .objectionable ornate
mouldiriogs, cremes, representations of
Indians in gaudy war paint, or so -calls
ed oil paintings, purchased perhaps of
Some itinerant vendor and suggestive
of nothing in the heavens above or the
earth beneath.
Seasonable Recipes.
Mock Bisque Soup.—Simmer one
quart of tomatoes until they will go
through the strainer, adding one
fourth teaspoon of soda just before re-
moving from the fire, Strain, and add
to a white sauce made with one quart
of milk, two tablespoons of butter and
a half cup of flour. Season to suit
with salt and pepper, and two table-
spoons of •sugar. Pour in hat soup
dashes and place one tablespoon of
whipped cream on each service. Then
sprinkle minced parsley on the eream.
Pear and Cheese Salad.—Select
halves of large canned Bartlet pears.
Place ori lettuce leaf on serving plate,
fill hoil•o v in pear with cottage cheese,'
and cover with sweetened whipped'
cream or bailed salad dressing.
Sailor's Duff.—One egg, two table-;
spoons of sugar, two tablespoons of
butter, one-half cup of molasses, one
teaspoon of soda dissolved in •one-half
cup of hat water, one and one-half
cups flour. Mix in order named and
steam one hour in buttered - pudding
dish.
Burnt Cream Sauce:—Melt one-half ,
cup granulated sugar in 'enameled
saucepan, 'add one pint of thin cream'
and set over hot water until the 'sugar -
melts again.
Raspberry and Currant Ice.—Boil
four cups of water and one and one -1
third cups of sugar twenty m,inutee. i
Put two cups of canned raspberries
and two of canneg currants through
ricer and strain through double cheese -1
cloth to remove seeds. When the
syrup is cool, ,add -fruit juice and
freeze.
Lenton Ice Cream..—Scald one pint!
of rich milk and stir into it one level
tablespoonful of cornstarch. Add one-'
half cup of sugar and cook in double!
boiler ten minutes, stirring frequently.
Then add the yolks of two eggs, beaten
with )inif, cup 4'f sugar, stir until
well blended, aad one piut of cream.
and strain. Wkian cold add one table-
spoon of lemon attract and freeze,
Hot Maple Sauce, ---•Boil two eups of
maple syrup with a half 'eup of cream
or better until it threads. While stilt
hot, pour over the serving of ice
cream.
Creole Chit:ken,--Cut in pieces for
serving, season with salt and pepper
and brown in four tablespoons of but-
ter melted, toe which has been added
one-fourth cup of finely chopped onion.
When the chicken is browned remove
from' frying pen, thicken mixture in
pan with four tablespoons of flour, add
two cups of stock or boiling water,
tw'b eups canned tomai:o, one finely
chopped red pepper, one-half eup of
chopped celery, and salt to taste. Iter
place chicken and simmer mitil tender.
Serve en platter surrounded with
sauce, and garnL heel with parsley.
5 tnar4's Linimant Corals niphthsria.
In this world it is not what we take
up, but what we give up that makes
us rich.—Henry Ward' Beecher.
ATLANTIC FLIGHT!
Wonderful example
of the value of OXO.
Captain Sir J. ALCOC1C writes:
"You will be interested to loofa that
"OXO was a great help to us during our
"Trans -Atlantic Flight; it sustained us
"wonderfully during our 16 hours
"journey.
"We had found out what a good thing
"it is when flying in France, and so
"decided to carry it lith us on this
"occasion, and we can assure you that
"hot OXO is most acceptable under such
"cold and arduous. conditions. OXO
"was the only article of its kind w}iicht
"we carried."
J. ALCOCK, Capt., D.S.C.
All grades. Writs for pricer.
TOROpITO SALT WORKS
O. J. CLIFF - - TORONTO
•
,f -yi 'iT h''?
The Creamy Lather of
BABY'S OWN SOAP softens
and whitens, refreshes and deli-
cately aromatizes the skin.
Albert. Soaps Limited, Mfrs., Montreal
4815
ilq!moluuui
ll�D
•
G OIL
AT LE
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Imperial Royalite Coal Oil meets every test of a perfect oil, allows
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You can get Royalite everywhere when you want it. Our unlimited
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No coal oil is better than Imperial Royalite, so why pay higher
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tgi
Ote
r • ,$t>iI'ttant
• 'l 4D` aria
COAL
L OIi_
EVERYWH1RE
Tb ee Billion
of Gold.
1Three billion globes of gold the size
.
of our earth—that indeed Is a vision
Iof wealth. "beyond the dreams of aver
lee." Yet that is less than five ecu-
times would have amounted to at com-
f pound interest during the Christian
Ere[,
1 Impossible?
I It is M. Cetntile I+'aalnmarion, the
' mathematician and astronomer, who •
makes the mind^steggering proposi- ,
1
tion, Somebody in the press has
credited him with: Baying that tete five
milliards of fr<iltcs--ono billion doll
liars—extorted from France by Zeo+-
i many in 1871, was equal to the produce
' of five centimes placed at five per cent.
' compound interest at the birth -of
Christ, M. Fiammarion corrects the
quotation. What he did was to recall _
the remark of General l:"'oy on tee vot-
ing of a milliard francs in 1825. for the
relief of the French emigres, that 'tot
yet had a milliard of minutes elapsed
since the birth of Christ; which was
quite true, that number of minutes not
being attained until April 28, 1902,
But the statement about what five
centimes would have amounted to at
compound interest iemarked with er-
ror. It is a large error, says M. FIam-
merlon. it is bigger than the whole
' earth, bigger than the sun, bigger than
the whole solar system. Not one in-
got of gold the size of the earth, nor
two, nor three, nor a hundred, nor a
thousand such ingots, would equal
that product.
! The calculation is simple, though it
might prove tedious to carry it out iu
full. An amount placed at interest at
five per cent., compounded annually,
doubles hi fouiteen years and seventy-
seven days, Very well. Rive centimes
+ placed at compound interest. in the
year 1 would have become ten cen-
times in the year 14; 20 centixnes in
the year 28; 40 centimes in the year
! 42; 80 centimes in the year 56; 1
j franc 60 *centimes in. the year. 71; 3
francs 20 centimes in the year 85; '
I and so on.
j Thus far the sum has . seemed to
grow slowly. But the rate accele-
rates, or seems so to do. At the end
of the first century the sum is only 6
francs 40. But at the end of the
second century it is 819 francs 20, ae+
the end of the third it is 104,551
francs 60. and at the end of the fourth
century it is 13,421,772 francs, Al-
ready we have reached millions, There
soon follow milliards, or billions, as
they are commonly Balled in Canada;
then follow trillions, quadrillions, quin-
tillion s, sextillions, septillions octil-
lions, nonillions, decillions—numbers
which no mind can grasp.
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century, in 1503, the sum of the orig-
t incl 'five centimes is 7.610 decillions,.
and this sum, doubling- every fourteen
years, in 187e, the year, of M. Flame
merlon's first nicomputation, amounts to
more than 243 undeeillions of francs.
What means 243 undecillions? Or
243,516,800 nonillions? That is 243,-
516,800 followed by thirty ciphers.
No human mind can grasp it.
What would that sum of money
mean, in gold?
As one kilogramme of gold is worth
8,400 francs, our capital would weigh
71 decillions 622 nonillions 588 octil-
lions of kilogrammes. Now, this earth
weighs only 5,875 sextillions of, kilo-
grammes. If it were of solid gold it
would have to be multiplied by 3,430,-
100,000 to equal the tremendous quan-
tity in question.
In brief, five . centimes, or one cent,
placed at five per cent. compound in-
terest at the birth of Christ, would
now equal 3,436,000,000 globes of solidi
gold, each the size of the earth,
—i+
Her Best Age.
Women themselves probably are
under the delusion that their best age
is something under twenty-five and
something over eighteen. At any rate,.
they are supposed to resent all birth-
days after thirty, and areoccasional-
iy charged with working backwards
and growing older in rooks and young-
er in years.
But no woman who knows how to
put on her clothes, who reads and
thinks, who develops all her best.
qualities, need worry at passing into
the thirties, for at forty a woman 1S
at her very best, physically and men-.
tally. She is at the zenith of her
beauty, and if she has cultivated her
intelligence, she is at the zenith of
her mentality also.
Very few men of any note find the
same pleasure • in the society of a.
young, undeveloped girl which they
find in a mature woman of forty. At
that age such a woman is an ideal
cempanion, and her preference for the.
society of a man is a real compliment.
to his mental and. moral dualities.
No, there ie no reason why' a woman,.
unless she be merely a coquette, and
has nothing to recommend bar but a.
pretty face, should dread advancing
years.
a There is a charm' about` all ages, in.
deed, and many a woman is more
beautiful and attractive when her hair
is streaked with grey than ever she.
was before,
Rope From Bark.
An Australian , has discovered a
method for using fibre obtained from
trio bark or a large variety of eucalyp•
tus trees in the manufacture of twine,,
rope and bagging.
To keep well, onions must be Ina -4.
tare and trhorougltty dry. .[tore in
crates it possible or ventilated barrels,
as ;good ventilati'trtt is ,essential.