The Brussels Post, 1917-9-6, Page 6'Between Cousins;
OR, A DECLARATION OF WAR.
CHAPTER V.-(Cont'd.)
"Won't all this be rather danger-
ous?" asked Fenella, a little alarmed
by the look of the wrathful black eyes
and with her brother warning st:l�
fresh in her mind. "Will it not be mean—and hundreds of other dark
bad for you to make an enemy of Mr. things. Since we got here on Wed-
Bereell? He has so many ways of— nesdny I've been chiefly occupied in
veiling my ignorance, Yesterday my
dignity had a narrow shave; for when
I asked the headkeeper where the
deer -forest was, and he pointed to a
bare hill -side opposite, I only just stop-
ped myself from asking what had be -
IThe house itself, standing .between find out these things, where such
mountain and water, seemed when examination and guarantee cannot be
t i f distance, t be hard-
! specs was pretty desolate• the bare; States has been to place the road in
pressed
roma s tviiee, o -I had, the usual course in the United
pressed by both.That distant pro -
tures demand audience at all hours of
the day, and lay before me problems
which I'm expected to settle off -hand:
about repairs, and renewals of leases,
and eheep drives—whatever that may
of making himself unpleasant'
"Then it's just got to be bad for me!
It can't be worse than bending for
ever under another's man's will—
crawling to his feet for fear of being
kicked. I'm too big to crawl, and too
clumsy, What! Isn't our lot hard come of the trees. Luckily, I remeni-
enough, as it is? Is the skin we bered in time that a Scotch forest isn't
wear off our hands, winter and sum- a forest at all. But this is only one
mer, too little yet? Don't we have among the pitfalls that gape around
to take our lives in our hands often en- me, and from which I expect your
ough at the end of those ropes, and superior experience to preserve me.
upon those"pegs that would barely Mamma is no good at all, though she
seat a cat ? The ordinary risks of the does all that a Queen -Mother can be
quarry are too little yet, it seems, expected to do. In spite of twenty -
since we're to be bullied into taking three years' experience, she's remain -
the by -ordinary ones too, The minis- ed far too governessy to rule a house;
ter preaches patience, and of course and for all her majestic presence, she's
it's his business to do so; but he a mere toy in the hands of either under
shouldn't preach it beside father's bed or upper bailiffs. How do you think
—or not to me, anyway• for the band- she's been spending her evenings since
ages on father's face have a louder we came her? In rubbing up her
tongue, to my mind. Do you think I knowledge of Scotch history! As if it
can look on that and stay quiet?" did not shine already with a perfect -
He stared down at her with wrath -'1y blinding brightness! It's in vain I
ful inquiry, but Fenella found no an -keep repeating to her that it's any-
swer, being most genuinely taken, thing but good form to be so dread -
aback. In growing astonishment she fully well-informed; old habits are too
had listened to the vehement words' strong for her. She's got all the de -
which detached themselves so strange- ) tails of a certain Massacre—with a
ly from the peaceful rush of the un -,big M—which it appears took place
seen river, down at the back of the here once upon a time, and all the
cottage. Her own indignation of a dates pat, andsshows a strong incline-
s fide like tion to treat it as an examination a-
a straw by this unlooked-for burst of per—efforts which, needless to say, I
something so very like rage. Really steadily ignore.
she had had no idea that this unknown "By this time I take it that your
cousin of theirs was so fiercely rebel- I duty is clear to you. Your con-
she
a character, science will insist upon your coming
* * * * + I to the rescue of two forlorn women,'
Within the darkened cottage -room dumped down upon a brand-new soil,
John still sat by Adam's bed, listen- • and not knowing the difference be-
ing to the broken whispers, which,' tweet a factor and a gillie. I've
with pauses of exhaustion, came from. never maintained that you're a genius.
under the bandage. but brought up to the business, as
The joy of a great relief still pre- you've been, I can't see how you can
dominated over the merely physical help having some crumb; of wisdom
pain. over upon which I may feed. I say,
"I don't so much mind now whether Ronnie, did you ever expect to see me
or not I've got to go. Bessie's doing reigning as a Highland chieftainess?
all right now, and it's quite in order I guess not, else you'd have treated me
that I should make the trip to the is- with more respect in the days of your
land ahead of her. There's just one visits to'Nettleton, when you actually
other thing I should like to have seen expected me to carry your worm -bag
before they put me in the ground." for you, and sometimes even your rod.
"Mind, you're not to worry," said Pm awfully sorry of course, for poor
John softly, as he paused. "These Henry Gordon, into whose shoes I
things are better in the hands they -re have stepped; but my recollection of
in than they could be in ours." him is really too faint to make a
"I know—I know," whispered Adam, plausible pretext for heart -break.
with the eagerness of latent fever; And now I've a bird to pluck with you,
"but it will ease me to say it. It's my cousin! What on earth do you
about Duncan. If he had chosen a mean, sir, by being so badly supplied
wife, I could die easy." with imagination? Whenever I've
"He'll choose one yet; and, please asked you for a description of your na-
God, you'll be there to see it." tive land, you've never found any -
"No, he'll no choose one, I tell you. thing more satisfactory to say than
It's these five years that I've been at that there's a lot of heather and stones
him for it, but Duncan's got a head and water, and that the cottages are
like a stone. He's taken up some idea smaller and dirtier than in England!
against marrying; but it's contrary to It this male blindness, or male per -
nature for a man to be single at versity? One or the other it must be.
twenty-eight." I'm just drunk with it all: the peaks,
"Duncan is such a hard worker that the glens, the rocks, the gulls, the
he can't take the time to go court- tumbling waters, the long, serious
faces, the red-haired children—every-
'He needn't go courting. There's thing, everything! Mamma evidently
Elsie Robson ready to take him, if he fears for my head, for she watches me
would but lift his little finger. A with a slightly scandalised anxiety.
bonny, stout lass, just the sort we I keep telling her that a perfectly de -
should need about the house. Andjcorous behaviour, such • suits the
with a croft of her own, and two cows stately lawns of Nettleton, would he
utterly out of keeping with these hill-
sides—artistically incompatible—but
she doesn't seem to see it, poor dear!
I'm so busy swallowing local color that
I'm sometimes in danger of choking
upon it. That's another reason why
you presence is needed; you've got to
rub it down for mea bit, and then ad -
minute ago had been swept s pa -
upon it. You won't believe it, but I
can't get Duncan to look at her. I'm
just wondering, John—"
The weak voice wavered, and for a
few moments the man with the invis-
ible face lay still, gathering strength.
"I'm just wondering whether a word
from you might not bring him to his
senses. Maybe if you could put the minister it in spoonfuls. See? I'm
thing before jim as a sort of duty — taking my position very serious, you
now that I'm at likely as not to go, perceive, and doing my best to live up
and he to become the head of the to the chieftainess. I mean to have
family."
"Yes, I'll speak to him if you like, t e piperito work windows and (by,wn before
the dining -room (by -the -by,
but only if you promise not to worry' perhaps you can procure me one?
any further. Let us put that aside Must be at least six feet, mind, and
now. Maybe you'd like to have an
sl hair de ri neer and I'm tryjng
other word with Fenella before she to screw up my courage to buy a tar -
goes, for she's got to be getting home, i tan frock, only that, entre nous, I
Shall I call her in?" t haven't done makin u m mind
"Aye, to be sure—call her in," ..said which of the patterns is the least ugly.
Adam eagerly. It's as grand as' I read nothing but Scott and Burns
hearing an angel, that soft voice of I now -a -days, and—this is the crown—
hers. 011, but it was good of you to, I've taken to eat porridge for break -
bring her, John." I fast! So far, my impression it that
Presently Fenella stood gain be- it belongs to the so-called acquired
side the 'cavernous bed, with, more, tastes. No matter! I just mean to
composure this time, already better"
able to bear the sight of those terribly
suggestive bandages.
"You'll come again Miss Fenella,
won't you ?" pleaded the injured man,
"I don't know whether it'll be given to kilt rf mamma would ]et me, even
me to look on you: bonny face again,' though I haven't seen one since I came
but it's something to hear your voice. here rho one blot of disappointment
acquire it. Whenever' the idea insinu-
ates itself that stick -fast paste can't
be much different in flavor, I crush
down the euggestion and nobly go on
ladling in the spoonfuls. I'd wear a
Ah, but it's no so unfortunate an ac- I upon the picture. pp the real extent of its obligations are.
cadent after all if it brings mg it of this country, desire t 11 the
„ es; m goin o sit down ere. r
o cotct blood m m veins
g e near- Y I' g t t h Y i ry, esrrc o ca
er to i ohn s children. The drop f S 1 til d ' y me railway has bonds
hill -side, with scanty patches of fit' the heads of a receiver, whose staff
and no visible paths, and the big, grey; can ascertain them and place them
house, set down at the water's edge,
and with barely a thin belt of wind- before those interested in an accurate
blown plantation to shield its nakc.1- and clear statement. Systems quite
Hess mere was nothing in its aspect 1 no t til theU i n Pahl
fires, well -set -out tea -tables, and the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe and
punctual dinner -gongs, in which the Rock Island, have in the United
which suggested cosy rooms, roaring aslarge a y no a,
things, nevertheless, 'Balladrochit States been through this process and
abounded, each item gaining in in-
tensity by contrast to the bleak sur- have emerged from it with 'capital
roundings. written down to correspond to the
Round such a tea -table as has been actual values, in a solvent condition
referred to, the three persons just
entering on the scene of this story and able to perform their duties as
were assembled. public servants.
Of the trio one was an elderly and
dignified -looking person with luxuri- The only examination so far had
ant grey hair, wonderfully and fearful-
ly waved, and with considerable re-
mains of good looks. There was rath-
er too much of her by this time; but
the growing stoutness, if not conceal-
ed, had at any rate been successfully
dealth with by Lady Atterton's dress-
maker. If the mother of the Bal-
ladrochit heiress looked like a gover-
ness at all, it could only be the most
superior sort on the market—that type
which is never mentioned without the
added epithet of "finishing." To watch
Lady Atterton's movements was to en-
joy a lesson in deportment, gratis; to
listen to her speech, to feel rebuked
for slipahod• language.
The heiress herself, big, well -grown,
with a large supply of somewhat
coarse but very effective brown hair,
and the bloom of perfect health on
cheeks and lips, came within measur-
able distance of being likewise a
beauty. It was impossible to deny her
claims on admiration,while,at the same
time, it was equally impossible for
several classes of people to admire
her; sensitive or nervous people, for
instance, who objected to a rather loud
voice slightly inclined to "rattle," or
to a too ringing and frequent, though
bell -clear laugh; or limp and indolent
people, who were apt to find her ag-
gressive robustness, both of mind and;
body, a triflle overpowering; precise;
and pedantic people too, who took ex-!
ception to her somewhat random'
modes of expression. How so precise
a person as Lacly Atterton came to
have so casual a daughter as Mabel
was a mystery which only the laws of i
natural reaction could explain.
Just now as, tea-pot in hand, she
held forth to Donald upon his future'
duties, her mother could not help keep- I
ing an apprehensive eye upon the;
heavily -wrought silver article, with
which Mabel found it convenient to
emphasise her points. One small
splash had already alighted upon the,
embroidered tea -cloth, closely shaving,
the pale -brown gown over whose im-'
maculacy Lady Atterton, from the un
dying force of habit, watched as tend-
erly as in the days when she had pos-
sessed only one "best."
(To be continued.)
RAILWAY POLICY
I5 CRITICISED
Acquisition of Canadian Nor-
thern Imposes Burden of
Unknown Magnitude.
The following criticism of the policy,
of the Government in respect of the
Canadian Northern Railway is made:
The Government bill to authorize -
the purchase by it of the capital stock
of the Canadian Northern Railway is
half -way through the House of Com-
mons and will shortly be in the Sen-
ate. If it becomes law, it will impose
on Canada, at a time when the coun- i
try is under an unprecedented strain,;
a burden of unknown magnitude. One
certainly greater than any ever be
into the affairs of the Canadian
Northern has resulted in the opinion
of two out of three railway experts
that the stock proposed to be pur-
chased wet worth nothing. This
means that whatever its nominal
value may be, the unsecured debts are
more than enough to prevent its be-
ing sold to any reasonably prudent
purchaser. In view of the fact that
no money was paid to the company
for the stock and that the company
has never been able to earn anything
upon it, there was and is no reason
to expect any other result from ex-
amination.
No agreement or obligation to pur-
chase is produced. In fact, nothing
has transpired except verbally and
then between members of the Govern-
ment not named and persons whose
names are not disclosed In fact
what is to be paid, who is to get
paid for it, what the cost and the at-
tendant obligations are, no one knows.
The smallest transaction in common
life could not be concluded L. such e
way, and any attempt to do it by
trustees responsible to a court would
unquestionably be a breach of trust,
and this is the largest and most on-
erous undertaking ever contemplated
by any Canadian Government, and
the most risky It is safe to say
that no road capitalized above its
earning power can ever be a useful
public servant, nor can any road
bought by a Government for more
than its worth ever be anything but
a continuous drain on the tai: payer.
The Canadian Northers_ Railway
was built as a private speculation.
Its bonds were sold to financiers at
a discount. No money was received
into its treasury for its stock. Noth-
ing has been made public which
would justify the taxing of other
citizens of this country for the pur-
pose of giving fictitious value to these
bonds and stocks. The interest and
other charges on Canada due to the
war increase every day and even now
are so great that it is difficult to say
from what source they can be paid
without an economic strain never
hitherto undergone and a cutting
down of expenses not yet even be-
gun.
The credit of the country abroad is
less than it has ever been. The last
loan -of $100,000,000 at 6 per cent. for
two years netted only $96,111,111. In
other words, the country is borrowing
money at a charge of more than 8
per cent. per annum. Note.—Accord-
ing to the Monetary Times of August
with rrin, air '.,'nomas write states the
fore imposed upon this country, net proceeds to be a9f,250 000 not
the exception of the war debt,
The purchase of a
railway property is
buying of stock in a
unascertained assets
liabilities is another.
ernment becomes the
defined piece of
one thing. The
company with
and unknown
Once the Gov -
principal owner
of the common stock, it must provide
out of loans or taxes for all the debts money will not be sent after bad, and
of *the railway due or to become due' that speculative enterprises will be
$96,111,111, and that the commissions
and charges were i3$ per cent. He
was speaking of a two-year 5 per cent.
loan. The cost would be 8 per cent.
if the 1°.i per cent, comes out of the
590,250,000, but not otherwise. Its
future credit may depend entirely on
the belief of foreign bankers that good
and for all future losses in operating. ; allowed to find the financial
The estimates of expenditure still' called for by their intrinsic me
necessary to be made run into
mous figures. No one knows
level
tits,
anon i The undersigned, all of whom as in -
what' pastors have a stake in the p�iosper
I1 come again, said Fenella,, demands it too loudly to be refused. and debts unpaid; so have its sub- to the grave risk they all aro run -
without hesitation,
ha oatrvhileh though
martinlly under Nettleton must take care of itself, My sidiaries. There are guarantees given ning of having their own earnings di-
solicitorset
Duncan'e veiled reproaches, she had Arid now, ]etvthille nextll. sign from by it to other companies, unpaid bal- ,vented fur the purpose of securing
inwardly resolved that her first visitshould oint , you be a wire. There's a delightful encs on contracts enol upon ac -
'refits to bondholders and stockhold-
entreatbe nethe r svoice t. ofithepsufferer Burial Island visible from theg win- counts, but to what extent is unknown., profits
of a concern, the equity
down, which I'm dying to visit; but 111 q ity in whose
was quite beyond her strength, put it off till you're here to row me What its assets are is equally un-' enterprise has been declared by the
As alone she walked back i o known. operates es an s
glen she was thinking more deeply f T ' it b ' 1' h only people at all in a position to
outstanding attention of their fellow countrymen
down the over, as I'm sure the exe •icse is good k w It p t d i interested
than she had ever done before, She stones, and sthere ss something grthat in railway companies, land companies, form an opinion to be of no value. It
had caught her first intimate glimpse looks �ike a ruined chapel in the mid- telegraph companies, tunnel conpan- I is also urged that the strongest pos-
into lives Which yet la
her own, and among the new ;mares- "That's all for to -day; and please
signs surging confusedlyWithin her hurry up unless you want mamma and
the only thing she was quite sure of me to sink entirely under the burdens
Was that she had got nearer to her laid upon us,—Your affectionate cou-
father. At any rate, the secret of that sin
zeal which devouted him no longer ' "Mable Atterton.
appeared so insoluble an enigma.
y so close to die.
"P.S.—I mean to ask lots of gees-
CHAPTER VI. tains about your place; it's an easy
"Balladrochit' way of assimilating instruction. What
"12th April;1005, fun it will be comparing the sizes of
"My Dear Ronald,—If you've got a our deer -forests, and counting the
' heart in your body you'll board the number of our crofts!"
next boat that comes our way! Two days after the above letter, ad -
"Being 0 Highland landowner is dressed it "Ronald Macgilvray, Esq.,
quite too delightful for words, but not Rockehiel Bares," had boon taken
to simple a matte;' as in the innocence over in the boat to the Antioch poet
of my heart I had imagined. The office, three people sat together in the
wamount of, knowledge eticpected of Hie
le appalling. , Keepers and factors
and chrofters and Other etranp areas
airy Balladrochit drawing -room, whose be delivered and that no undisclosed ;i[ot'
windows almost directly overlookedftan,
the loch. • debts or obligations would appear. To The Gazette, Montreal, of August
ies, lumber companies and hotel con -1 Bible protests be made before it is too
panics, but no one knows how far it late to all senators and members of
owns them, what their assets or ria- i Parliament.
bilities are, nor to what extent the Montreal., Augast 20, 1017.
railway company is responsible for P. W. Molson, James Law, IT, R.
Drummond, Geo. G. Drummond, Ar -
their liabilities. Chaput, I'ercl. Prudhonime, bill now before Parliament. What as-
mindNo other railwaycon an nor en Zeph. Hebert, A. J. Brown, C. S, sets aro acquired? What obligations
other roup of bsiness men would Garland, H. A, likens, Chas, Chaput, Nem•red? If there be a margin on
g r A. can Ross, Joseph Ainey C. Mere the debit side of the nccaunt, if CA�-
consider such an acquisition except dish C, S, Campbell, W. R, Miller
after elaborate examination and re- ((conga Caverhill, Wmi, McMaster, Il. r,...a. .�.en<•:..,, ..�..m.I,. 1. .4^1
ports from accountants and apprais- W. Blackwell, Andrew 1. Dawes, ')
ens on the assets and liabilities, and Robert Ilampaion, George R. Hooper,
then only subject to a solvent gear- Gear e W. Sather, IV. W. este,Huticon,
antee that all supposed assets would lien (.. Finley, V li, Wil -,n, G. I+.
p liensmi, A. ('rack, cls Silnp:-r,n, Jame+
DOMESTIC SCIENCE AT HOME
Eighth Lesson (Continued).—Proteins.
Methods of cooking milk, fish, baking, sauteing or frying, A steady,
cereals, peas, beans and lentils are oven heat is required and an allowance
given this week. The protrin of milk of twenty minutes to the pound after
is in the form of casein, which pre- cooking start..1 may be considered a
cipitates when acid is added to the fair time allowance. Owing to the de -
milk, as in the combination of toma- Beate texture of fish, always wrap the
toes and milk.
When milk becomes- sour the sibs
content of the milk changes to acid.
This acid will also cau,.w� the milk to
precipitate. Casein is'aiso clotted by
ferments or digestive juices which are
present in the stomach.
Milk may be heated to the scalding
point, using a double boiler. Slow
cooking at a temperature just below
the bailing point will give better re-
sults when coolcing foods that con-
tain milk. When combining milk
with acid fruits or vegetables, if a
quarter teaspoonful of baking soda is
added to the fruit or vegetable to
neutralize the acid, the milk will not
separate. -.This amount is for one
pint of mills, or you may blend one
tablespoonful butter, one tablespoon-
ful flour, two cupfuls milk. Cook
until boiling is reached. Now slowly Fresh peas and beans are cooked
add the fruit or vegetable. Bring in boiling water, boiling gently, so
to the scalding point and use. When that the vegetable will not break or
cooking puddings and custards al- become mussy. . Use barely enough
ways stand the dish or pan containing water to cover.
the mixture in a larger pan contain- Dried peas, beans and lentils should
ing hot water, then bake in a moder- be soaked first in plenty of cold wa-
ate oven. ter for twelve hours. They should
Fish then be steamed until tender. They
The protein of fish is similar in may also be boiled gently.
character to that of meat. It differs Lentils are very nutritious, easy to
in structure and composition. Fish digest and are considered a valuable
may be cooked by boiling, broiling, article of diet in Europe.
fish in a piece of cheese cloth to broil,
Use a double -fold wire broiler when
broiling; also lay the fish on a fine
wire rack when baking. This permits
easy removal from the pot, fire or pan
and makes the appearance of the fish
much better when served.
Cereal'
The length of time required for
cooking cereals depends entirely upon
the amount of cellulose the cereals
contain. Steel -cut oatmeal will re-
quire much longer time than the flak-
ed ontg, which are first crushed and
then steamed.
Hominy will require longer to cook
than cornmeal. Long, slow and con-
tinuous cooking is the -proper method
for cooking all cereals.
'Legumes
• Rice a Valuable Food.
Food experts are urging a wider
use of cereals, and suggest that they
may appear in some form at every
meal. With a high food value and no
waste, the housewife should learn how
to cook them properly and serve them
so that their use does not become
monotonous.
Rice should be more appreciated
than it is, for it can be served in so
many ways. Polished rice is of less
value as a food than that which is un-
polished, because in the polishing the
vitamines, which are an essential Life
principle, are ground off. The latter
also has the advantage of being less
expensive. Rice cooked thus should
look like a mound of snow.
Wash the rice well through one or
two cold waters, then sprinkle it into
a kettle; of slightly salted boiling we-
-ter which should not stop boiling at
all for twenty minutes. No two
grains should adhere together, and
each ought to be swollen to twice its
natural size. When it is soft turn out
into a colander, shake it up lightly
and set in the oven a moment to dry.
Stewed tomatoes added to the water
in which the rice•was boiled will, if
properly seasoned, make a delicious
soup. Cold boiled rice added to scram-
bled eggs will piece c.:t that dish so
that two eggs will serve several peo-
ple. The housewife will find that rice
may be added to many dishes, in-
creasing their bulk and reducing their
cost.
Trench Cake.
One-half cupful of shortening, one
cupful of sugar, one cupful of water,
one-half cupful of raisins, chopped
fine. Place in a saucepan and bring
to a boil. Cook for two minutes and
then add: Three-quarters teaspoonful
of baking soda, one-half teaspoonful
of cinnamon, one-quarter teaspoonful
of cloves, one-quarter teaspoonful of
mace, two tablespoonfuls of cocoa,
two cupfuls of flour. Beat well un-
til cool and then add two teaspoonfuls
of baking powder. Pour into a greas-
ed and floured pen. Smooth the top of
the cake with a knife dipped in water.
Cover the top of the cake with the
following mixture: Four tablespoon-
fuls of sugar, eight tablespoonfuls of
flour, four tablespoonfuls of shorten-
ing, one teaspoonful of cinnamon.
Work the mixture between the hands
until it is fine and crumbly. Spread
smoothly over the cake and then bake
for forty minutes in a moderate oven.
This delicious cake is just the thing to
send to the men in the trenches as it
keeps indefinitely.
23rd, comments on the above as fol-
lows:
THE RAILWAY POLICY.
We print in another column a pro-
test against the purchase of the Can-
adian Northern Railway signed by
many of the leading capitalists of
Montreal, and this protest is not
lightly to be disregarded. The point
at issue is this, is the country to take
over a burden that other shoulders
should. bear? Will the ownership of
the Canadian Northern impose upon
the people a financial obligation
avoidable without danger to national
interests? If the Government was di-
vorced from the enterprise, the an-
swer is easy. Like any other busi-
ness undertaking the property should
stew in its own juice, and undergo
the course of liquidation through re-
ceivership, emerging therefrom in
stronger condition in respect of lia-
bilities both of current and of capi-
tal account. That appears to be the
view of the financiers whose state -
Ment we print, and there is force in
the view.
The Canadian Northern must be
carried 5n as an operating road. It
serves a great territory and a large
community of people whose welfare
is dependent upon the operation of
this railway, but having exhausted its
financial resources the alternative of
Government ownership by acquisition
of the common stock, or through the
medium of a receivership, is the only
one presented.
To Government ownership we are
opposed. A reorganization of the cap-
ital liabilities, through the medium
of receivership,'is the other recourse.
The liability of Canada in either
event remains, the Government and
the provinces having guaranteed the
great sum of $211,000,000 of bonds of
the company, It is, however, neces-
sary to learn the extent of the lia-
bility taken over by Canada in the
oda is assuming a debt over and
above existing guarantees, the public
may not unreasonably ask why. The
railway is a fine property with ex-
cellent prospects, but alter all is
said, it is a business venture which
should be allowed to face the con-
sequences of all business ventures.
One thing is .certain; the country
should not be saddled with any avoid-
able liability. The debt created by the
war is already large, and constantly
increasing. New sources of taxation
have to be tapped. The outlook is by
no means bright in respect of the
Dominion finances and before the
additional obligation of taking over
the Canadian Northern Railway is in-
curred, it is necessary at the least
that we should know precisely what
is being purchased in the way of as-
set, and what is being incurred in the
way of liability,
r,.
If you can't be a fighter, don'e be a
waster.
Roses will be benefited by a good
showering with the hose after a hot
day,
A fraternal end tnaurhneo conicity that
!protects Its menthes In accordance with lite
ntario Gnvernmcnt Standard. Stair and
fuaornl beanti ea oiidonpl.
Authorized to obtain members and charter
lodges in every Province to Canada.
Purely Canadian., ado, sound and aeon*.
mietl.
IEtherein nolocal Inds* of Chosen Friends
In year district, apply direct to nay of this
following oaicoral
Dr.J. W.tldworde,M.P. W. F. Montague,
Gtcnd Counotllor. Grand Rcaezder�
W. F. Campbell, J. Fl, Holl, M.D.,
Grand brgmtt:or. Grand Medical I;o.
HAMILTON • ONTARIO
wk. uczonsagemel
Mari . Veterinary C, oHHege
110 University Avenue, Toronto, Canada
Tinder the control el rho T)eparlment of Agricuflrn'e of Ontario,
Affiliated with the Tlnivc.rsity of Toronto.
College Reopens Monday, Oct. 1, 1017, Calendar Sant on AppfEtaticn,
E. A. A. GRANGE, V.S„ M,$e., lsrinoipaI
ONE VAST FIELD
OF DEATH
VERDUN THE ABODE OF 1I0R-
ROR, SAYS WRITER.
Language Fails to Give Any Adequate
Description of This Tragic
Desert of France,
It seems that no description can do
justice to the horrors of devastation
around Verdun and its scarred fort-
ress. In a recent number of The
World's Work there is a vivid account
of a visit to the fort of Douaunont.
Every metaphor has been essayed to
express this vision of horror. It has
been compared to the dreary and rug-
ged volcanic surface of the moon; to
the sea or the desert, but a desert of
fetid, viscous mud, a dark sea whose
waves, lashed by the tempest, were
suddenly solidified, and retain their
violent contours, silent and petrified.
As far as the eye can reach, it en-
counters nothing that is not shape-
less and hideous. A flower, a bush,
even a ruin would be a relief. But
there is nothing, nothing, not even
one of those charred stumps which
elsewhere mark the site of destroyed
forests.
Several timcs I passed over the
sites of the annihilated villages of
Douanmont and Fleury all uncon-
sciously; not a fragment of wall has
been left standing. Not a single regu-
lar geometric line stands out, sug-
gesting from a distance some kind of
fortification amidst the ravaged
curves of this chaotic -immensity. It
is on a higher wave of the soil that
one divines the presence of the Fort
of Douanmont, and far beyond, on the
horizon, that of Vaux.
Over this vast field of death "no
bird sings.' The traditional visitants
of places of slaughter, the crows
themselves, refuse to feast in this
abode of horror, broken by enormous
ditches and stagnant :pools encroach-
ing one upon the other and gorged
with corpses. Yet the atmosphere is
strangely vital, vibrating incessantly
to the beat of whistling, sibilant
wings, the mysterious flight of dark
angels, the fiercely modulated howls
of a whole diabolical fauna.
Horrors Beyond Description.
One thinks that the fire from Heav-
en was merciful to Sodom and Gomor-
rah, as one gazes at this pitiable spot,
which knows not silence, either by day
or night, whose sky is always over-
cast by the dense network of fatal
trajectories, and whose depths the
thunderbolts lay open twenty times a
minute with cataclysmic uproar and
disintegration.
It is impassible to follow the tracks,
which are constantly modified by ex-
plosions, without one skilful guide by
day, and two by night; to loss one's
way is to court death in the morass;
bet'ore last December, it was also to
run the risk of falling unwittingly
into the enemy's lines, which were
quite close and not very clearly de-
fined. One skirts crevasses, one
stumbles against corpses buried waist -
deep in the mud, struck by some shell
at the moment when their mouths,
still gaping wide, were calling desper-
ately for help; other corpses, longer
dead, have been so often buried and
disinterred by successive explosions,
that they look like the empty casings
of dolls from which all the bran has
run out. The mud is full of these.
However resolutely the mind is set
on passing swiftly along the difficult
way, the imagination is filled with
terror at all this; throughout the
journey one has despair and the savor
of death on one's lips, the wildness of
the madman in one's eye. Yet one
presses along in close order, not dar-
ing to look about, trying not to listen.
And if a shell makes a red gap in the
column . . . one strides across it. For
the regiment must arrive at all costs.
SIMPLE MONTENEGRINS.
Peasants Live in Dread of "Evil Eye"
—Vivid Belief in Witches.
Tho Montenegrin peasant is a
singularly superstitious mortal who
lives in awe of the "Evil Eye," which
is considered accountable for disease
and death. It is the belief of the
inhabitants of the Black Mountain
that for each malady God has given a
remedy. He believes that for each
pain there is a healing herb, and that
one only dies when the wrath of the
"Evil Eye" has been incurred. Ho
also believes in witches and beautiful
young maidens who come forth from
the dew and are nourished in a mys-
torious mountain, They inset in the
branches of trees, and aro most dang-
erous at supper time,
Isis daily life is full of supersti-
tion. He is superstitious about the
manner in whieh ire rises in the morn-
ing, about what first meets his sight,
how he dresses and washes and whom
he meets, of what food he eats, and
the time and manner of serving
throughout the ehtire day. Attention
is paid to whether the cocks crow in
time, whether dogs bark much, if
,
fangs croak, or the wind blows,
Again, special notice is taken of the
exact time tit which rain fails, the
duration of thunder, how stars shine,
t if the noon has a halo, if it shines
through tr cloud, and many such
obeervr.tions,
•
W r r flowering begonias should
l:,_vr• .hei,' shift into the final pots for
the winter,