HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1919-12-04, Page 2}Tile March of the White ward
By SIR GILBERT PARKER,
II.
Jaspar me..sa_t deer 1-h'ailded the
Indian a pipe and tobacco, and, with
3rtne folded, watched the fire. For:
half an 'hour they sat so white man,
Indian, and dog, Then Jaspar Hume
rose, went to a cupboard, took out
ome sealingwax and matches and in
a ,
a moment melted wax was dropping
upon the lock of the box containing lois
:idea. He had just finished this as
Sergeant Gone knocked at the door,
and immediately after entered the
room.
"Gosse" said the sub -factor, "find
Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, and Late
Carscallen, and, bring them . here,"
Sergeant immediately. departed upon
his errand. jasper Hume then turned
to Cloud -in -the -S' , and said, "Cloud
th- ny you'goa
e Sk I wantlong
to
matey hiereaway to the :Barren. rounds. Have twelve dogs ready by
bine o'dlocic to -morrow morning."
Ctcud-in-thc-Sky shook his head
thoughtfully, and then, after a pause,
said, "Strong -back go too?" ("Strong -
hack" was his name for Jaspar Hume).
But the other did not or would not
hear. The Indian, however, appeared
satisfied, for he smoked harder after-
ward, and grunted to himself man
times. A few moments passed, and
then Sergeant Gosse entered, followed
by Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, and
Late Carscallen. Late Carscallen had
got his' name "Late" from having been
called "The Late Mr. Carscallen" by
the Chief Factor because of his slow-
ness. Slow as he was, however, the
stout Scotsman had more than once
proved himself sound and true ac-
cording 'to Jasper Hume's ideas. He
was, of course, the last to enter.
The men grouped themselves about
the fire, Late Carscallen getting the
coldest corner. Each man drew his to-
bacco from, his pocket, and cutting it,
waited for Sub -factor Hume to speak.
Hlis eyes were debating as they rested
on the four, Then he took out Rose
Lepage's letter and, with the group
looking at him now, he read it aloud.'
When it was finished Cloud -in -the -Sky
gave a guttural assent and Gaspe Tou-
jours, looking at Jeff Hyde, said, "It is
cold in the. Barren Grounds. We shall
need much tabac." These men could
read without difficulty Jasper House's
reason for summoning them. To Gaspe
Toujour's remark Jeff Hyde nbdded
affirmatively and then all looked at
Late Carscallen, He opened his heavy
jaws once or twice with ad animal -
tele sound, and then he said, in a
general kind of way:
"To the Barren Grounds. But who
leads?"
Jasper Hume was writing on a slip
of paper, and did not reply. The faces
of three of them showed just a shade
of anxiety. They had their opinions,
but they were not sure. Cloud -in -the -
Sky, however, grunted at them, and
raised the bowl of his pipe toward the
Sub -factor. The anxiety then seemed
to be dispelled.
For ten minutes more they sat so,
all silent. Then Jasper Hume rose,
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 -the -Sky, this man,
alive or dead, is between here and the
Barren Grounds. He must be found—
f h' 'f ' ] '
Hyde her letter. Jeff Hyde rubbed his
Angell ,befPre he 9,41,ehed, tt�,'he delicate'
and perfumed missive. Its delicacy
seemed to bewilder him. He said in
a rough but kindly way! "Hope to die
if I don't,: and passed it on to Gaspe
Toujours, who did net find• it necessary
to speak. Hie comrade had answered
for him. .Late Carscallen held it in-
jquisitively a moment, and then his
aws opened and shut as if he were
about to speak. But before he did so'
the Sub -factor said, "It is a long jour-
ney and a hard one. dpliose who go
may never come back. But this man
was working for his country, and he:
has gotta wife—a good wife! He
held up the letter. "Late" Carscallen
wants to know who will lead you.
Can't you trust one? I•will give you
a`ieader that you will follow to the
Barren Grounds. To -morrow you will
know who he is. Men, are you satis-
fied? Will you do it?"
The four rose, and Cloud -in -the -Sky
nodded approvingly many times. The
Sub -factor held out his hand. Each
man shook it, Jeff `Hyde first, and he
said, "Close up ranks for the H. B. C.!"
(H. B. C. meaning, of course, Hudson
Bay Company.)
With a good man to lead them they
would have stormed, alone, the
Heights of Balaklava.
Once more Jaspar Hume spoke: "Go
to Gosse and get your outfits at nine
to -morrow morning, Cloud -in- the -sky,
have your sleds at the store at eight
o'clock, to be loaded. Then all meet
me at 10.15 at the office of the Chief
Factor. Good night" e
As they passed out into the semi -
arctic night, Late Carscallen with an
unreal obstinacy said, "Slow march to
the Barren Grounds—but who leads?"
Left alone the Sub -factor sat down
to the pine table at one end of the
room and after a short hesitation be-
gan to write. For hours he sat there,
rising only to put wood on the fire.
The result was three letters: the larg-
est addressed to a famous society in
London, one to a solicitor in Montreal,
and one to Mr. Field, the Chief Fac-
tor. They were all scaled carefully.
Then Jaspar Hume rose, took out his
knife and went over to the box as if
to break the red seal. He paraded, how-
ever, sighed, and put the knife back
again. As he did so he felt something
touch his leg. It was the dog. Jaspar
Hume drew in a sharp breath and said
"It was all ready, Jacques; and in an-
other three months I should have been
in London with it. But it will go
whether I go or not, Jacques,, The
dog sprang up and put his head
against his master's breast.
"Good dog! good dog! it's all right,
Jacques; however it goes, it's all
right!"
Then the dog lay down and watched
the man until he drew the blankets
to his chin sleep drew oblivion over
a fighting chin,
masterly soul. e
At ten o'clock next morning, Jaspar
Hume presented himself at the Chief
Factor's office. He bore with him the
letters he had written the night before,.
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."
"Shall—start—at—noon—to-day?"
or is wr es sa ce." He bended Jeff In two hours.
,t ,,
England Wages 'War on Race Suicide
England is waging a resolute war
against race suicide' and infant mor-
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 he 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-
sional classes averages twenty-one in
etre thousand, but in the working
Classes 46.3 per thousand is the rate.
Now, •the large percentage of'work-
ing class children who grew ;Into
lidults below par was not so appalling
a circunetande before the war came
to England. I do not mean thatlltheir
number, was lees then or that the con-
dition 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
working class was such that their
health did not constitute a grave ma-
terial menace to the future of the Em-
- Dire.
Such a oontention applies even to
the mentally deficient. Whoever ar-
rived a traveller in England prior to
August, 1014, and remembers the tat-
tered touts who hung 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 becausehe was not ham-
pered by stupidity and bad health, and
the others were never done marveling
at bins.
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. Because of their
knowledge, they are urging politic
i'egielation and reform anent the un-
derdog of five years ago.
Welfare centres, the first step in all
infant saving, are multiplying in every
English town and city, It is esti-
mated that $g a year wilt save one
baby's life at a Erltish welfare centre.
Half thin slim to furnished by the gov-
ernment and half by voluntary contri-
bution. At the present writing there
are 236,Britieh towne that have these
welfare houses.
The largest one in London had 700
entries in the year ending June 30,
1919. Fifty babies and forty-two
mothers came there every day ' for
care and instruction. To us, this is
no great innovation, but it mane the
paesing of an old order in England.
"Burt, who are the party?"
"Jeff Hyde, Gaspe Toujours, Late
Caatseallen and Cloud -in -the -Sky."
"And who leads them, Hume?" Who
leads,?".
"Wirth 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 menthe, you will please send
this one, with the box in my room, to
the address on thee..,,�envelope; this is
for a solicitor in Montreal, whichlou
will •also forward as soon as possible;
this last one is for yourself; hut 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 Jasper
Hume had done right. ht. He 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. He did not know that Jasper
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 cornmision, you
knew." And the shadow of a smile
hovered about Jasper Hume's lips.
The Factor smiled kindly as he re-
plied, "Alli, yes, your commission --
Captain Jasper 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
before. They were dressed in white
blanket costumes from head to foot,
white woolen capotes covering the
gray fur caps they +yore. Jasper Hume
ran his eye over \thein and then
answered the Factor's question: "Of
the White Guard, sir."
"Good," was the reply. "Men, you
are going on a relief expedition—end
in which there is danger. You need
as geed leader You have one in Cap-
thin Jaspar Hume"
Jeff, Hyde shook his head at, the
other, with 'a' pleased. I -told -you -so
expression; Cloud -in -the -Sky grunted
his deep approval; and Late Ganscal-
len smacked.. his,. lips in a. satisfied
manner and rubbed his leg with a
schoolboy sense of enjoyment. The
Factor continued: In the name of the
Hudson Fur:: Company .1 will :say that
if ydu come back, having done your
dully,'faith'fully,'you shallbe. wellre-
warded. And Irbelieve.you,will come
back, if it is in human power to do so."
Here Jeff Hyde said, ."It ion.'t re-
ward we're dein' it, Mr. Field, but be-
cause Captain Home wished it because
we believed. he'd lead us; and for the
lost fellow's wife. We wouldn't have
said we'd do itif it wasn't for bins
that's just called' us the White Guard."
Under the bronze of the,Sub-factor's
facethere spread a glow more red
than' -brown, .and he said simply,
"Thank you, men"—for. they had al�
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. G.: magic because they have
opened. to the woad regions that seem-
ed destined never to know the touch of
civilization. The few inhabitants of
the Fort had gathered; the dogs and
leaded sleds were at the door, The
White Guardwere there too—all 'but
their leader. It wanted but two min-
utes to twelve when Jasper Hume
came from his 'house, dressed also in
the white blanket costume, and 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, tee; 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 .Howl to the In-
dians standing near, and to the sound
of a hearty cheer, heartier perhaps
because none had a confident hope that
the five would come back, the March
of the White Guard began.
(To be continued.)
Minen 's Liniment Cures Colas, &a
"As the Twig is Bent."
A sad case came to light in school
last week. For some 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, opened 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
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
Scheel, told the difference 'between
right and wrong, had all sorts of ad-
vantages, and yet had gone wrong.
Now if it had been young Peterkins
whose family hadn't much, and who
probably nevem was taught anything
at home, you could understand it. But
this boy's mother was so good and
the soul 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
Jackie'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 shame to make a
fuss about it and have him return it,
so she kept it.
A year or so later it was a sack of
pop corn he took away from Jenny
Tones. Jennie cried and told his
mother, 'but it was silly to cry over a
little sack of pop corn. She did give
Jennie a fickle, however, to buy an-
other. All sorts of incidents came up.
One told of half a dozen fresh cookies
disappearing off the table while the
boy and his mother were calling; an-
other had her early roses picked by
the boy, who, his mother explained,
was so fond of flowers.
The conversation narrowed down to
the mother. Was she exactly 'honest'?
She never went by a candy counter
without picking up one at two pieces,
and fruit vendors knew her afar off
and hastily covered their choice peach-
es and plums when she approached.
Two or three books with tell-Vrale,lib-
rery tags were on her book shelves
and had been for months. And she
prided herself on seeing how many
times a week she could get the better
of the grnccr or butcher in making
change. liar arcrument always was
that they ah ways cha"god her too much
and she i•nd the light to get even.
The tooth r rind not deliberately
go out and ' i ••r h ul n someone's
pocket to -:i+. 13 •r. was she
honest? ' aha .aught the boy,
honesty? . '-::,1 t.+ld him it was
•
wrong to steal, but had she taught
him that? Suppose when he took the
auto, away 'back in his 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'lyears old?
It seemed hardly probable to the
mothers who discussed the case. No
age is too young to begin to teach the
property rights ofothers, they all de-
gilded. 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 ap-
proximately five hundred thousand
school 'children in' Canada to -day'c'are
1ll'1i III Illiii! i
under weight has naturally and •pro-
perly led to concerted action tothe
end; that this appalling condition of
alfalra may be rectified as soon as
pttytilile. Araft .statistics show that
seventy per cent, of the men were re-
jected fordefects that could' have' been
prevented or cured by care in 'child-
hood. Weight and rate of gain form
one of they best tests of health in
children.
Kome Decoration.
Henry Van Dyke calls the pictures
on his walls the windows of his home.
Through them he gets glimpses of the
beauty which lies beyond the section
of, living space 'bounded by the stone
walls of his home. Through one such
window, he could see the ocean, and
almost feel the cold spray and the
strength, of the eat air. Another win-
dow gave him a view of the mountains,
with all of bite uplift of a daily climb,
in thought, to their s,iolonaits.
The influence of .sued `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 per -
traits framed in objectionable ornate ly
mouldings, cremes, representations of
Indians in gaudy war paint„or so-call-
ed cal paintings, purchased perhaps of
some itinerant vendor and suggestive
of nothing in the heavens above or th'e
earth beneath.
Seasonable Recipes.
Mock Bisque Soup.—Simmer one
quart of tomatoes until they will go
through the ett+ain�er, adding one-
fourth teaspoon of 's'oda.'just before re-
moving from the fire. Strain, acrd -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 hot soup
dishes and place one tablespoon of
whipped cream on each service. Then
sprinkle minced' parsley on the cream.
Pear and Cheese Salad.—Select
halves of large canned Bartlet pears.
Place on lettuce leaf on serving plate,
fill hollow in pear with cottage cheese,
and cover with, sweetened whipped,
cream or boiled salad dressing.
with a half cup of sugar, stir untill
well blended, 'add one pint of cream
and attain.,, When cold add one table-
spoon of leipon•extract; and freeze.
Het Maple Sauce, --Boil two cups of
maple syrup with a half cup of cream
or butter until it threads. While still
hot, pour over the serving of ice
cream.
Creole Chicken, --Cat in pieces furl
serving, season with salt and pepper
and bream in four tablespoons of buts.
ter melted, to which has been added
ene'fourtls cup of finely chopped onion.
When the chicken is browned remove
from frying pan, thicken mixture in
pan with four tablespoons of flour, add
two cups of stock or boiling water,
two, cups canned tomato, one finely
chopped red pepper, one-half cup of
chopped celery, and salt to taste. 'Re-
place chicken and simmer until tender.
Serve on platter surrounded with
sauce, and garnished with parsley.
r^
: Minerd'a Liniment Cures Diphtheria.
In this world it is not what we teke
up, but 'what we give up that makes
us rich.—Henry Ward Beecher,
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 hot water, one and one-half
cups -flour. Mix in order named and
'Steam one hour in buttered pudding
dish.
Burnt Cream Sauces—Melt one half
cup granulated sugar lin, 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 avatar and one and one-
third cups of sugar twenty minutes,'
Put two cups of calmed raspberries;
and two of earned currants throu'glt!
ricer and strain through double cheese -1
cloth to remove seeds. When the!
syrup is cool, add fruit juice and
freeze.
Lemon Ice Cream.—Scald one pint'
of rich milk and stir into it ane level;
tablespoonful of cornstarch. Add one-!
half cup of sugar and cook in doublet
boiler ten minutes, stirring frequently.
Then add the yolks of two eggs,,'beaten
ATLANTIC FLIGHT!
Wonderful example
of the value of OXO.
Captaie Sir J. ALCOCK writes:—
"You will ho interested to learn that
"OXO was a great help tons during our
"Trans -Atlanta: Flight; it sustained ns
"wonderfully during our 16 hours
"journey. •„w;, - -'
"e had found out what a good thing
"it is when flying in France, and so
"decided to carry it with us on this
"occasion, and we can assure ou that
"hot OXO is most acceptable unersucli
"cold and arduous conditions. OXO
"was the only article of its ]find which
"we carried.”
3. ALCOCK, Capt., D.S.C.
All grades. Write for prices.
TORONTO SALT WORKS
G. 4. CLIFF TORONTO
a
The Creamy Lather of
BABY'S OWN SOAP softens
and whitens, refreshes and deli-
cately arometizcs the skin.
Albert Soaps Llmtted, Mut, Montreal
41318
Your heat, light and power steeds are best served with Imperial
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Imperial Royalite Coal Oil meets every test of a perfect oil, allows
you full power from tractor or stationary engine. Used in oil
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EVEIYFIEi2E
kat
Three Billion Globes
of Gold.
Three billion globes of gold the size
of our earth—that indeed is a vision
or wealth ".beyond the dreams of aver.
ice,” Yet that is leis than five cen-
times would have amounted to at corn,
Pound interest clnring• the Christian
Era,
Impossible?
It is IVf, Cnnllle' Fianmiarion, . the
mathematician and astronomer, who
makes the mind -staggering propos!.
Um). Somebody in the press has
credited him 'with saying that the, five
milliards of francs -one billion dol-
lars --extorted from France by -Ger-
many in 1871, was equal to the ilroduct
of five centimes placed at five per cent.
compound interest at the birth of
Christ. M. Fla amarion corrects the
quotation. What he dui. woe 'to recall
the remark of General Foy on the vot-
ing of a -milliard francs in 182th for the
relief of the French emigres, that not
yet had a milliard of minutes elapsed
since the birth of Christ; which was
quite true, that number of niintttfs not
being attained until April 28,1002,
But the statement about vrhat five
centimes would have amounted to at
compound interest is marked with er'
ror. It is a large error, says M. Plam-
merion. It bigger than the whole
earth, bigger than the sun, bigger than
the whole solar system. Not one in-
got ofgold the size of the earth, nor
two, nor three, nor a hunaltd, nor a
thousand suclr ingots, would equal
that uct,
Theprodcalculation is simple, though it
might prove tedious to carry it out in
full. An amount placed at interest at
five per cent., compounded annually,
doubles in fourteen years and seventy-
seven days. Very well. File centimes
placed at compound interest in the
year 1 would have become ten cen-
times in the year 14; 20 centimes in
the year 28; 40 centimes in the year
42; 80 centimes in the year 56; 1
franc 60 centimes 'in the year 71; 3
fiance 20 centimes in the year 85;
and so on.
Thus far the suns 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, at
tete end of the third it is 104,857
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 called in Canada;
then follow trillions, quadrillions, quin-
tillions, sextillions, septillions, octil-
lions, nonillions, decillions---numbers
which no mind can grasp.
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century, in 1803, the sum of the orig-
inal five centhnes is 7,610 decillions,
and this suns, doubling every fourteen
years, in 1873, the year of II. Flans -
merlon's first computation, amounts to
more than 243 undecillions of francs.
What means 243 undecillions? Or
243,516,500 nonillions? That is 243,-
516,300 followed' by thirty ciphers.
No human mind can grasp it.
What would that sum of money
1mein `
Asan, one kilogrammegold? of gold is worth
3,400 francs, our capital would weigh
7a decillions 622 nonillions IRS octil-
lions of hcilogreninmes. Now, this earth
weighs only 5,875 sextillions of kilo-
grammes. If it were of solid gold it
would have to he multiplied by 3,486,-
1.Q0,000 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 solid
gold, each the size of the earth,
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 are occasional-
ly charged with working backwards
and growing older in rooks and young-
er in years,
But no woman who knows hoar 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 is
at her very best, physically and men-
tally. She is at the zenith of her
beauty, and if elle has cultivated her
intelligence, she is at the zenith of
her mentality also,
Very few men of any note find the
seine pleasure in the .society of a
young, undeveloped girl which they
find in a mature woman of forty, At
that age snob a woman is 'an ideal
companion, 'and her preference for the
society of a mania a real compliment
to his mental and moral qualities,
No, there is no reason why a woman,
uniese she be merely a coquette, and
has nothing to recommend her but a
pretty face, should dread advancing
years.
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
the bark of a large variety of eucalyp-
tus trees in the manufacture' of twine,
repo and bagging.
To keep well, 'onions must be ma.
time end thoroughly dry. Store it
crates if r.ossiiile or ventilated barrel's,
°'e goal ,e:itiltntjan is essential.