Loading...
The Wingham Advance, 1919-12-25, Page 2XMAS CHANT. (By Colin Mackay.) Whe the barquentine left Halifax attire Wee every eige, ot a geie, and enortly after bee tout her eepertiere trout aanebre, it began, to pipe up from the ameweet. are long elle wee; reduced to topoalle, nee.nea like a frightened thing before the ming tele, planging recitlessly thraeglx the huge Sew that ewartaing after her like a pack of hungry walvea harled their dishevellecl heade obliquely over the deckload of lumber Idled high in her wait, coating everything with a Ware of cryotal ice. Behind her great blue-blaea clout mimeo; railing itle be aolunainents convolutions frOm the misty harizon sired rapidly agrees thte Gay. "Snowetorm coming. Wild Weather we'll b ave of it thie Christians Eve. I'm tainking," shouted the captain in hie high, ehrill name, as lie paced back end forth before the wheel, "1 remember," a little mate, with au ascetic aspect, and beady eye .% he was forever telling yerne—caildieh, absurd Terns in which hie weird pereonalitY puffed, up with importance, appeared ae a berie n many ridiculoue guiseo. The an was voice—a puleating„ in- exhauetible fountain of extravagant aud ludicrous volubility. He labbered all day, and he never eeemed to care whether anybody listened to him or not. Usually hie only audience Was the Man at the wheel, and the man at the Wheel never paid the alightest attention to him, But Captain Wind', ae the eallore toutetniattovely called him, never oared, He tented impetuously, he guffawed good Immoredia, and all the while he watched the stolid helms - Men with an balaironical, ball -quiz - Waal grin, as though he were perpe- trating florae amusing and sustounding joke upon all creation. Of course, a captain wao entertaine (Say deemed for late poition eeldom yarns with an officer—never with the man at the wheel. But CaPtalle Windy's immense and bizarre self- conceit made aim indifferent to the ordinary etiquette of shipboard, sai1. prevented airn from realizing that hie °Widish prattle forfeited the reepect and confidence of his crew. As he paced bach and forth, tongue wagging. arree geetieulating, the (sailors in on- e/tins grouped bY the mizzen mast, glaneed at him uneaelly, dieguetedly„ They mistrusted als seamateltip. Tile weather grew more threatening, the wind gathered weight, the billowe bellowing by, roe higher, raced faster, raging riotously. Presently a onow- equal' stiatoped down. Meek and AP - palling, out of the boiling sky as ()lit of the black bank o fwrithing clouds. -Iffoopiag menacingly over the sea, AG it buret upon the ehip, he trembled violently from the impact, and seenied to (spring forward with added speed, like a steed under the prick ef a spur. The captain stopped talking, glanced at the great ,foam-bonnettect combere, ewooing up astern ao thoug1. they would overwbelia the flying craft, and then, hie face twitching watt aIs.rni, shouted excitedly: Get the topsaile off here Mr. Mate. eat have to heave her to, or ehell leeoped." captain took the wheel, and the mate, musterixtg his men, went for- ,. wa.rd oyez: the icy deck load.Soon the upper topeail yard was on the cepa eehaadifeesail platting thunderously, as the raen hauled on the icy gear. Every time the ship plunged into the trough,' elle buried her bows under a raass ot foam, while an icy deluge piled Over the men as clew lines or bunt lines, knocking their feet from. Under them, hurling them against the Jagged ends •of the lumber, beating the breath out of them. But with shoots that even the roar. 'of the bursting waters could nct drawn they leaored. lustily. At length the belloev- ing sails were clewed up atter a fiesh. ion. and the mate, leaping into the > rigging. sang out; "Coale on, boys. We're going to get it, good and heavy, aniglaty some "Up the rigging ran the mate, fol- lowed by the drenched. men, and. laid out along the upper topsail erd. the big sail, bellied out by the wind like a vast ,cylinder, threshed up aid doeva, the stout yard quivered like A fishing rod, and every few seconds the retail of the newided sail threatened to heel them to the deck. 'Take Weld of it, bullies," thunder- ed the mate. And• the men, swinging dizzily 'through crazy circles, their feet slip- ping on the icy foot ropes, beat clown the huge round of hard caavas, and managed, after repeated efforts to muzzle it, inch by inch, ad get it on. the yard. But as they held it with their elbows, fumbling with numbed firtgers for the gaskets, a furioile Mast burst *Upon the ship, and, the gall torn hem their grasp, bellied out again with a Jerk that nearly slatted all heads off the yard. Agstin the men tackled the thresh. ing salt shouting, swearing, angrily. "Look Out. tor yourselves, boys," yelled the taate, as the sell round - lag over their heads forced all heads to their khees upon the foot rope. "One hand for the owner, and. one for yeurself." The men worked can. newly for a few minutes. Then, finding their efforts. futile, forgetting themeelvee in a frenzy af impatience, they aesault the Platting sail with both hands, and presently all have their knees ma the yard, beacing theraselees aettiast the terrific tugs af the tail. Suddenly the sail collap- gas, and. the men Alp from the yard, and Manage sornehOW to cheek their descent by the foot-ropemsoine find. Ing it instinetively with their feet, ethers bringing up tM their knees Or shins. 13ut before they could recover their balance, the sail bellied out to the blast again, and recoiled thund- erouely upon their hestds. The mate, swearing furiously, Order- ed ait hands on one yardarm; and atter a hard fight the managed. to 'get one -halt of the sail stowed. BY that time a regular blizzard was raging, but they manned the .other (yardarm. The equalle, heavy with now, bitter told, cut like a knife, reared like flame. Now and then Vie men found their fingers numbed and Utelea$, and bad to pound them on the canvass 011 the btoott buret front under the nalla In order to bring back lift !ate there. Muddenly the lower topeall split earth battg, and innteediately flogged into rage. A moment after the bunt - whet of the upper toPeail eltiTled away, and the sail began to whip t piece*. The men crawled in off the stiotkiesg yard, and deseeeded to the tep. As they paneed to get their breath, the ship gave a violent lurch, the rig- ging rattled curiously, and then the men in their reeling eyrie BaW weep- ing out of the smother of driving 8110W that enveloped the AtOrM: a foam top- ped wall of water in. a stupendous sea that coaling in over the stern, wept the whole length of tbe deck and went over the bows. A moment after he yawed wildly to port, and another heavy sea caught her by the waist, flung ber broadside on—and hove bar on her beam, ends in the tropgla And tam, as she lay heiplees, the third flea pounced upon her, breaking right over her, hurrying her ander an avalanche of few. She lay along, with the first stirrup of the foreyard in the water, toaiing madly on bee side. The anew sude denly took off, and the rum in the rtgging looked at. their ehip. The deck load was all askew, hanging over to leeward, and a great pile ot boards stood oit end againet the main, staysail. The after-bause Was a. com- plete wreelt; the boat Wan gone from th &mitts; the wheel was twisted out of shape, and the captain—where was the captain? Suddenly they caught sight of him in the lee -main rigging, Just' between wind and wave. In a moment like A monkey he scrambled towards the masthead, and as the men made their way to the deck, he came in along the weather rigging, The ship remained on her side, but Me seas weren't breaking over her very dangerously noW, and the men got on ale side of the fore -house under the bulwarks, while the melte went In- to the flooded gallea to look for an axe. Presently the captain joined them. The man was durnatounded for once in his life, and he eeeined un- injured. "You're a pretty captain, ain't you," the men yelled at him augrily, "Got us In a nice Ex, haven't you?" The captain looked at them with an 'amazed and .shocked expression, but though his lips moved, no sound lotted from them, as though the eltddeueolss of the disaster had robbed him of the power of speech. When the mate ap- peared with aa axe, however, he found his voice. "No, no," he shouted. "I'm going to hang on. to the Baal's. She'll come up if she works the deckIoad off her. Give her a chance," • "She'll turn right over •If another big sea hits her," the mate roared back. "Want to drowa all hands?" The captain, shivering in hie wet clothes, glared at him ferociously,. "None of your lip," he screamed, "I'll not cut away till we see what clue be done with the aeckloade If we can get it off her, we can seve the ship. If not—taen it will be time to think about yonr silly lives." • As Captain Windy stood up, with the water that washed over the weath- er side, falling upon aim Dice ast Is- termittent cataract, the men under the shelter of bulwarks looked at him with eudden interest—and telt relieved. The little man, fr all lais coloseal self- conceit and preposterous volubility, was all right. "All right, Cap," answered the mate. "Wiest can we do for her?" Captain Wiudy looked at his ship wallowing on her side, and his eyes filled with pain., "Give me the axe," he said ,sudsienly, "Pra going to try to cut some of the lashings of the deck load. I can't get any water," "Not alone, you ain't going, Cap," ebauted one of the men. "If there'o any overside Imeineee, we'll do our eshare." "We can't an go," said the ;skipper good humoredly. "But you and I Will try ft first." In a moment they had bowlines about them, and. giving Ile the bights to hold, started. to crawl like Mee about the elanteng deckload. After a time they managed to cut the weather lashings, which hadn't parted when the ship went over, and then down to leeward they went, and etrove to clear the raffle there, while the waves washed them about wickedly. At length we hauled them back, and. laid them exhausted on the slide of the house, SP.ARS CU'X' AWAY In a short time, the deckload began to crumale up, and, with some acelet- ance ,the moat of it went overboard. But the ship etill refused to come up, and (soon her motions became very labored, as though she were leaking. At tength the captain got to hie feet looking in hie frozen clothing like a beardleese Santa Olaue, covered with hoar frost and, beginning to cry softly, reluctantly gear, the word to cut away the spars. "Mizzen tint," he said, The men crawled aft ,and with halves( and axes hacked at the lan- • yards. Tbe wild Waco of the iship noon snapped. off the big spar, but he didn't •come up. She didn't come up until the other imam were out of her—and then she righted very elowly, as if AU life, all • buoyancy, had boa beaten out of her. Although relieved of the deadweight of the tlecaload, and the heavy (Mare, ahe was very eluggish upon the seas. The Inate eounded the pumps and • fouud ten feet of water in the well. • The pumps were manned, and though the wave e washed continuously over Dunn. they Worked for an hour. Then, sounding again, they found eleven feet. The ship was leaking all rigbt— and they stopped work. She wouldn't sink in a hurry, tbeY knew, beina loaded with lumber and fieb, hut as It Was no longer a question of saving ; her it was no use to kill themselvee at the pampa )3y that time nigla was coming on. • The wind still blow furiouely, and neW and then it snowed heavily. The dis- mantled hulk, deep in the water, wale lowed wildly, floundered fearfully, Itt the infuriated sea; and the weary, wet an. dfrozen men could find no shelter from the bitter blasts and scourging seas. The cabin was flooded and without a roof; the fore-aoucce was wrecked as though A eholl had ex- ploded inelde of it; all the Provisione were epolled; there won't a dry rag In the ship and no means of etarting a fire. A11 bands gathered in the poop and rigged up a weather eloth, which Afforded them tame elight pro- tection from the wind, and stretched life lines to keep them from beina washed away, Suddenly, as men stamped tante feet and pounded one another with their hands, trying to keen them- eelyee from freezing, the captain cried out in -unexpectedly cheerful tones; "A Merry Christmas Eve, boys!" "It'll be our laet, I'm thinking," an- awered the mate dismally. "We'll freeze to death 'fore morning, or be washed overboard." "Oh, nonsense," shouted the captain.. "We'll keep ourselvee alive. It'll be an experience—eomething to talk about by and by." "Oh, Lord, something to talk about. Yes, I suppose you'll do soztte talking about it, if you live through it," the mate growled, facetiously. "Sure,' said Captain Windy. We were mighty amused, and began to •.feel better. Presently the skipper's slarill voine rang above the howl of the wind, the tumult of the Seas washing over the old aulk, singing absurdly: "I've Just come down from tae wild- goose nation, To nae, way hey, Eh, oh, yell!" I left my wife an a big plantation, To nae, way hey, 'Eh, oh, yah!" He sang mad chanties, as though his life depended upon it—he kept up a running fire of ridiculous banter -- and by and by, as we fell under the • drowsy influence of the cold, it seem- • ed to us as though our lives depended on his volee—as though for us, exis- tence, consciousness, was a voiee, a • perpetual jabber, a torrent of words without any kind of sense, lecturing tri, umphantly into the enigimatibal up- roar of immensity: "'Wish I was in Mobile I3ay, Rolling cottoa night and day, Way hay—knock a man down." Aad we would pound one another with our numbed hands till, with the • returning life, they felt as if they were on fire. Now and then the route as- sured us with fury that he had the toothache, that it was giving him merry Christmas. And ever more the captain sang his wild chanties, or shouted at us insensate conundrums that seemed to set the distracted tini- veep reeling and reeking with mad • laughter. It was a silly joke, that night upoh that raft of a ship wallow- ing in the frenzied sea, The•raortting came at last after a • Million years or so—a grey morning, breaking dismally over the foam crest- ed billows Tooling dizzily under a flying curtain of 'frost fog, Soon the gale eased, the frost went out of the air, and as the mist cleared away we caught sight of a steamer svilaging by a few mites off. Captain Windy, still jabbering cheerfully, begen to jump up and doWn like a crazy man, and the mate went down into the flooded cabin and wading around An water to his waist, managed to find a flag. And presently we had a signal of distress flying from a pole lashed to a stump of the mizzenmast, and the skipper was singing: "I thought I heard the skipper say, Leave her, Jenny, leave her - To -morrow you will get your pay, It's time for us to leave her! • "The work was hard, the voyage. was long, Leave her, Johnny, leave her! The settes were high, the gales were erotic Ira time for us( to leave her!" But the steamer went on. PaYleS no atteutioa to our signal, thongh she watt so close we could tount the ventillatora along her tleck, and make out the effle core On the toil bridge. At lest when It became evident that she was going to leave ua we loft our corapostere and hurled eursee after her in it frenzy Of rage. But Captain Windy showed no annoyance. "Never mind, boys," he shouted, courageously. "There's plenty more ships in the eea—anti tide is Chirstruae Day, a day of good luck and good will. We'll be Picked off 'fore night—never fear." And he began to tell us tales of rescue—all the theerful stories of ehipWreek he had ever heard tile night, groped among the waite sang, all day, making merry in hie awn fashion upon Christmas Day— making us forget at. thaws our wret- ched plight. As the gale died out and the sea weet down, we got Up a barrel of tar, ana,do a fire, boiled some toffee, and managed to dry our clothes later A fashioa and. thaw out our frozen. limbs. Shortly after noon it began to breeze up again, and by dark it was blowing at times a nasty gale, with a heavy. erose sea. The waterlogged Craft wae letting the waves wask clean over h.er, and we know we wouldn't be able to live through another night on her. But Oaptain Windy refused to give up hope, and continued to jabber with indomitable clieerfulness, At 6 o'clock he ordered us to light the la,st tar. laiirrel as a signal of distress, and for an beam we watched the flames of the burning tar Date and flicker up the rising wind, and Meetly die out, without any "(Aga from the sea: Then eaddenly A beam of light shot through of could invent. He talked, he crests of the waves, and atter a while settled upon us, A eteamer had seen our signal, and presently the ranged to windward et the wreck. Ae the weather by that time was very bad we didn't, think sae would laundr a boat. But she did, though it took her two houre to do it, and finally it drop- dropiped to leeward of us. In the sea then running it dared not attempt to come alongside the wreck, but the men in it threw lines to. us, and jumping ovetboard we were hauled to Wets. The boat's crew bad a terrible time of it, getting back to the steamer, and, though bur hands were almost uSelese, we had to help at the baling. At 'last we got under the lee of the big steam- er, and wlaile the boat soared and dank in the heavy eea, lines were tbroven to as, and we were hauled up the high sides of the rolling litter like bales of cotton. And since the boat couldn't be hooked on• in ouch a sea, her crew weer hauled aboard in the same way. As Captain Windy was pulled over the rail, he muttered, hoarsely, to the ehip's company: "e/forry Carestanas, men! Mueh obliged!" and dropped exhausted, torapletely done up, to the dack, But three days afterward e he was able to talk again. An Odd Alliance +++444-4÷÷.4-41-4+++.4-0,444-41-4.4-1. 'There was some trouble outain the glare • of the eau on the bard* plain, and the dust wait rising in Motile, T. St, Maris writee in London Anewero. A single vulture hung over the none, as if expecting profit from the • in- spection, and a little • blaek-bacited jackal, prick -eared and doglike, was watching attentively from An uneuf3- peeted hole under a wait -a -bit thorn. Preeently forms began to Iowa up among the duet as the cloud iteelf began to move. Beasts, extraordinarily strange and odd beaete, with ehaggy heads and curved horns, like buffa- loes, long, hereelike taile and eturdy but. graceful, somewhat antelope -like bodies, began to loom up indistinctly. Otte heavy, massive, very shaggy beast was fighting with the rot. But always; the heavy, shaggy fellow, whoe very raatietivenese -spelt age. gave back slowly on the whole, though often muter in the eingle conteets, He eould not fight the whole herd, and that, in fact, was what he was being asked to do Dieu. In other words, •a piece of wild jus- tice was taking place, which is to say that, becaues of hie "crustineee," jealousy, lack of elavalree or for some otber, or all these reasons, that old shaggy brute was being kicked out of the herd. As they drew nearer, one saw that thea were blue gnus, Which are brin- dled gnus, which are bearded gnue, which are wildbeasts, and devilish wild beaste, too. If you did not know they were antelopes you would have eaid they were buffalos, musk ox. horse and antelope mixed in one beast. The result, anyway, was a queer cuetorner. At last the old bull gau—perhaave he had been lord of the herd till then— acknowledged defeat, and realisittg that. he could not do the impcieeible, cleared himself eamerlY from a ter- rible mix-up among three other bulls, and eet off at a, gallop alone. Then at length he remembered that it veae eundown, and time for all good • wild beaste to take the evening drink, and he walked to one of those well- worn paths -which all his kind make toward. water, and. slowly pleaded his hoevy way to the river. • It was not a. great distance, in and Out among the shattered elumpe of thorny acacitie, and he wae hot alOne. • for as he drew into the river he met Many herds; of axttelopee and of zebra, going to or coming from the water. Coming up the bank behind a herd of gaudy zebra, he was the Drat to sight, over a ridge not far ote the tWo great, tawny, heavy giant dog forme, eeen and gone in an inetant. dead ahead. They were. hone, and his ',latent, Iota warning (alerts tsaid, so. and drevt the zebras' attention to the datiger, so that they broke away, end staritpeded thunderously in the op- pasite direction. And agaia U was he, galloping Clumsily with them, who Wiled suddenly at a elithiP of aeaelee and began zigzagging and ewerving Wildly in and. out at top elected, intort- ing madly, so that the zebras scat- tered, mild the Donets that had been told off train her companions to his in wait for the stampeded herde could MO some out and growl her disap- pointment at them. That night he kept with the oboe, feeding with them wherever they went, and they did not drive hart off. Perlutpe they realized that de a Gen- • try he was an, asset And next day an old wart -hog, AA ugly as sin, tanea and struck up an acquaintence With him, and later a cock oetriele—till, perhape, old, bad-terapered =Caste. Anyway, when the dal dawned the were atilt together, and the zebra had gone, and, for all 1 know, they are together to thie day, aurely as etrange Milano ea ever fsteed the battla ef life—bird, tag and antelope- old 'Wheel% all. JOE'S LAS1 CHRISTMAS (13y H. C. B. in .McCall'es Magazine.) When I oat down to write thie elm - pie tale of tragedy the first line that 1, wrote was OW: "If be were here, it wouldn't pleese him if I to1d hie name." Aud. looktng at the line I knew it Was becauee be Wee still here that I 50 WrOte. knew, of course, that Out there where in annitner time the geese lei green and gentle Winds go Whisper - la g through trees that ehade green Mounds, and where, in winter, dePthe ot extol; enshroud the hill where these mounds are—that out there they had gone and laid away the home of clay in waich he dwelt. I knew that, for I sow them put it there. And eta I knew that whatever it was in him that Iceepe Isie Memory clear before my eyee was all there reaty was of him that made ban different. from ather men, And What- ever that Was atilt ',Ivo, for I can feel it here within my room as I write and I know that throughout the daye I ehall live it always be here, And so I'll merely eay I will not write las name. I was and am hie friend, and have no choice but that I don't offend. I met him nearly thirty years ago. I can remember even then hie hair was turning grey. For years he had been working in the eame newspaper office, and when, I came in, aetranger and a kid, he fathered. me. He ehow- ed me witere they kept the "copy paper," and told Inc bow I might avoid the many pitfalls set foe young reporters. Ele tutored me itt the vag- aries of our city editor and warned against the things be didn't like. At midnight be took me with him to •a rceteurant vvhere • all the scribes (thawed up for lutich.—and altogether, did thcee many little tillage that made it enter for me to find my way, Ana beeause hie name wasn't Joe, we'll call hire. Joe. For years I worked with him in the same local room of the same newspaper. And every "cab" that came into tbat office white I was eht-pe• :eve —fathered Jost es 1 bed been. And when anybody in the office wee about to be married it wee Joe who brought around the list and made ue sign our names, and it was Joe who bought the present and brought it back for us all to see. And when it happened that Death etepped in and stole a member of the office family it WaG Joe who brought the liet again and chose the floral Piece and wrote the card. And if there Were dependent ones it was Joe who went to .see them first. Often I recall how be wieuld come to us and tell -us in ;las un- affected way what he had fouttd, and boause of Joe it happenedmore than once that the way was Made a tittle easier for whoever it Might be Joe told us of. In those days card games were frequent in our office when the work Was donee but .Toe never played. He hurried home as soon as he was through. One morning we had played so late that the day workers were on their way downtown • when I was • going home. Ana on that morning I met Joe. He had a market basket in the crook of his arm. and being, es all young reporters are, a bright young malt, 1 accused him of staying up sat night and stealing the con- tents of an icebox. But Joe hadn't been up all night • and hadn't stolen the contents of an icebox, Instead he hadepurchased on the night • before a bottle of wine and numerous other delicacies, and was on his way to a place a little distance in the country, where there lived the invalid widow of a pollee - man whom Joe had known when he "did" police. -11 appeared that, al- though Joe had only been told about her a few days before, he bad al- ready been out to see her, and was now going beck with a little bit of the cheer that had been, given to him so abundantly and that he scat- tered about wherever he found a house ef gloom. • And it was .Toe who always made a daily call apon any member of the stet who was sick. We had an offieo boy whom no ono liked until one day he was hit by a, ear and in- jured. 'Too went to the hospital every noon on his way to work to see hint. • And one day he told. some of the rest of u$ that he was sere it woald do the boy a lot of good if we would drop In on him mittexi we were out his way. And I think all of , us did what Joe asked us to do, know I did, attil by the time the boy was well I had grown to like him very much. And when he tame beck to work again he was a different boy. A neve spirit had:been bred in hint—a little bit of the spirit of .The, think, To -clay he is well off, and every year at Christmas time I hear from him. He loved Joe, and when Joe went away to stay our old office boy wrote me a .letter that at first X couldn't read because .of the mist that rose ont of the lines. Christmas time was Joe's heal joy. So far as I know he hadn't a rela- tive in the world, but for days and days before Christmas it seemed to me that every time Joe came into the, office he brought another pack- age or another armful of paelcages and, stored them away in his desk. And one Christmas I remember he bad such an overflow that he bor- rowed a drawer cat my desk, On the day before Christmas he never worked. That seemed to have been ordained long before my arrival there. He spent the time at his desk tying up in tissue paper his wonderful array of Christmas presents, Joe could mile at it doll just as though it were a human being. But I don't think he smiled at the dolt so much as he smiled at the thought of the Joy of the tittle girl to whom the dell would go. I used to be afraid that he would talk to the dells and that some rough person in the °Mee would "kid" him about it. Dut he never 414. OnChristmas Dye Joe always hired a tacit and went his rounds. But before he left he would see to it that there came mysteriously to the table where the office -boy sat and to the desk of all his fellow re- porters numerous little packages -- one for each desit—in which there would be a necktie or a pair of sus - panders or Beale °neer Useful ar- ticle. .Axid then there would be a scurrying of many young men out into the street to buy something for Joe and have it on his desk before hi$ return tealt his circtunnaalga- tion in the two -horse hack that had its stand down on the street in front of our office. I don't Want you to gather the impression that Joe was in may de- gree effeminate. He wasn't. Men don't love effeminate men and everyone who knew Joe loved him. But itt his uuobtrusive, manly waY he was constantly finding little tillage that he could do for others. Even if you hadn't come in as a "cub" and hadn't been fathered by him, you would, in a little wane, awake to find that lie had stolen his Wa .11:tto your heart. On his daY off or when he was away -on, leis annual vacation yen would miss him; and you told ilim how glad you were to see him beck. Joe never preached. Neither did he use profanity nor tell -flaw stories. I don't think it ever oc- curred ta him to preach to Anybody, and as for profanity or vulgar • stories, It :lust seemed that they didn't belong to hie world. And there wasn't so much profanity in the office when Joe was around. He seemed to have a softening lathe- ence. I think it must have been the deep respect in which he was held that catiSed the younger men to cult their temples. For twenty years atter I had left the town in which Joe lived .I heard from him but once. He wrote to me about aa old associate who had become helpless through illness. Joe wrote that he had tried to carry the whole burden himself, but as he had reached that stage in llfe when be .111m:self was slipping back and hie earning power was on the wane, at couldn't afford it alone. It was evi- aent that the hand that Wrote the let- ter was grawing feeble. I found my- self forgetting the object of Joe's ap- peal and thinking only of Joe. In his old age, with nothing ahead but that nightmare that comes with closing years that. are unprovided for, he still went on his way, -a Christ - like man among his fellow men. Just a few years ago I stopped for a day in the old' town. The man to Whom. I spoke when j went to the office where Joe and I had worked • was a new man on the job and had never -heard of Joe. Then someone Interrupted to eay there had been a man by that name on the paper, but he had left five or six years before. tHeri eueldidn't know where he could be Later, in a little place across the street, I found someone who knew. They had crowded Joe out, he said. There had been a change in the • ownership of the paper and Joe was old end had beet moved about from pillar to • post untilhis pride wouldn't let him stay, He had told the city editor that he was going to. ,quit at the end of the week. .The city editor had been kind, conven- tionally kind, - In bis expressionof • regret, and had added something About hOw hard it had beeu to find a place anywhere in the office suit - Ole for a man of Joe's years. I met another man who had (teen .Toe cleaning oat las Oak oh the day of his departure. joa didn't .use a typewititer, and his olddesk had remained with him through frequent changes in, the °Mee. The man told me that in the big drawer of the desk, down at the bottom and in the back, Joe had found a doll that seemed at one time to have been the aPPmeidteba intitrueeetpeheetef th aperh2, but • that h Paper away. He wee a young man who told me tais, Who had gone te work only it feet -days.. before Joe leftH "He was a funny Oft pg.". he field. "He wrapped the doll all up again in a sheet of clean copy paper and tied it with a piece of ribbon he found in his deak and left it on the desk of one of the fellows, who has atylvitarrl: mid went away without s goodbye to anyone but the e Jug a few week e ago, for the amid Dine In more then twenty ',ears'. I heerd from Joe. The letter Icame in what appeared to be the hendwriting of it little girl. It 'mid that Joe was at a certain addreee in the city of New York and milted that I come and See litm. It wee a tenement—the better Rind of tone - meet, however—and the mein Jos was in was very email. But it Was clean. And. there were clean white sheets on Joe% bed. The WOraatk • who had answered the door and wa ((le alle°vIvideentralye puZ•our •gOt mtralt OU room, at least, and of what ehe was doing for Joe. So I spoke of it Ile I sat down, and elle smiled and thanked me. Joe told me something of hie etruegIee fence that Saturday night when he bad (Disappeared front leis old eurroundinge. He had tried roallY timee to break back into newspaper work; but his white hair and Ids wrinkled face could never get bit the boy at the gate. Ile had been hungry many times, and one niglat, when he was taint for lack of food, he lead met the man in whoee home I found hire, Be bad gene home with that man and had etayed there. A few days later he bad etartea out as a peddler, He had earned enough to pay Lie board, he said, and had continuea to live there. Then he became 111, and for ,a month had been in he:. They were kind to him, he said. • It took him a long time to tell me this. He was very weak, and never spoke above a whieper. Just as I was about to leave I saw him look toward the open door and Smile, and a little girl of about eight years: came in and put her band an his forehead. I Three days later •I stood beside •!abea grave—out there where In suMnIer time the grass is green and , gentle wiads go whispering through trees that ehade green mounds, and where, itt Wiuter, depths of mow enehroud the hill wbere these manacle • are. And I saleto Dayeelf that wher- ever it was that the really great and the really good. go, to it was there , that Joe had gone, and that gathe ered to meet him when be came was a host of little children and of, men and women to whom, before' they went away, Joe had been their • Chriet man here an earth. I And the next day I went back t at,he place where acie had died, be- cause that he had peon:deed the little hcaimue: ale last words that he whisper- ' girt a great big doll fee Christmas, :and would I keep his promise for ed to me as I beat my head to hear Arthur 1 Irwin • D.D.S., 10.D.S, svar et limited ehary qg the Femme Inane eallego and eentfttei or Vete. Surges" Pr Oozed avers Weetneeday Afternoon. Office in Macdonald Sleek, ARCTIC SUPERSTITIOAS Orow Gets Credit of Having Made Everything. "The crow made everything. He is anewise. When he flew, he reads ;the waters. When he sat down., he made the land. When he dropped 'his feathers, he made people." • Such is the basis of faith held by Est:lain/aux and Indians throughout Alaska which is being uprooted and changed into Christianity by raission- aries. Although the missionaries in mere than half of Alaska have conyereed the natives, there are still large dis- tricts as yet untouched by Christian- ity. This is true aniong 600 people in the delta of the Yukon and Ruse kokwin rivers, The native customs and superstitions include the fol- lowing: Holes are pierced in the lips, nose ; and ears of each girl baby, when , eight days old, so that she may later ; wear heavy strings of beads euspend- , ed from the holes. I When a, mother dies her child ;is buried with her; generally no one wishes to keep it. 1 A potIacla is held in honor of a dead chieftain or other notable, a , basting lasting for several • days at which all the guests are given pres- ents. Upon the death of any man, work must cease in the district for four days lest his Spirit be disturbed on its 3ourney. In the case of a woman, Spirit travels very slowly. Marriage is a trade between the man anq the woman's mother, in which tha bride has no choice. In fact a woman is the very last conaideration of her husband. ale cares for his gun first, his children next, a.n.d his dogs and wife last of all. Often a woman carries one child on her back, one astride her neck, while she pulls along the stream a boat ill which her husband is sitting. Pre-Eistoric Weapons. A French writer not long ago visited an ancient village in the Marne De- partment, far front railways arid undie- turbed by the war. But is any pall ot Prance free from relies of war? In thie village he found that the cure had a wonderful collection of pre -hie - tis tools and yeapons, "Some big battle probably took place between two important tribes," eaid the eolleetor, "Every tura of the plough brings Up flint eveapone." The colleetion, 113,000 specimens itt all, included Oren a razor made el flint. The curiae wane was heaped to the ceilings with these curios, which lie had devoted the leisure of a life -time to collecting." "Kicked Into Literature.' ' Son of ea •adventurous naval cap - telt, Bolt 13oldrewood, or, to give him hig reel name, Thomas Alexander Browne, the author, had one of the most romantic careera in the annals of literature. Pioneer swatter ltt ear. la Ilfe itt Itietoria, he made elicit good use of his opportunities that while still nn the twentlea his cheque was • good for n quarter of n Milton. Then, • if unfortunately for himself, luckily for novel readers, it bong drought kill- ed off his flocks, and herds and e oni- Polled hint to enter the government terviee as a stipendiary magistrate. Shortly after this he happened to be kielted by a horse. This laid to his being laid up, and to while away the tedioua hours he wrote an Australlan - eketch 'MIN. "The Hatigaroo Rash." He sent it to the Corithill, which as - opted It, and so, as be used to atiY merrily, "lie was Welted Into Writ- • ture."—London Opinion. .44 A reasonable mount of dfeelylin Is good for tis AIL :Even the heeler has to toe the mark. OR. R. L STEVIAii Faculty of )// eptia ar Onttah) ("Oleg° r. 1"114 eraduate nlverEti: of Ili Surgeons. OrVICE ENTRANCE: SECOND DOOR NORTH OP • ZURBRIGeeii PHOTO STUDIO, JOSEPHINE ST. PHONH BIRDS AND THE WAR, Gunfire Had • Little Effect On • Their Lives, al, • Bird lovers who rp tea no persOnal aequaintanco with the terrific exper- iences or the western front were con- tinually surprised at the reports of observe:rs of the email effect of the gunfire on feathered life. At great pains Mr. Hugh Gladstone has Collat- ed the evidence of numerous ey.ewit- iiesses on this and other points cott- • eel -rang "Birds arid the War," miler which title the mass of material makes an illuminating and delightful book, just published by Skeffington.. It would seem that on the whole the birds were as indifferent to the • thunder and devastation of battle as the jackdaw on the village steeple to the march of human life below, Blackbirds built their nests on the guns and were found sitting in vil- lages which had neen so •furiously bombarded that everything; 'around was smashed to atoms. Rob* nest- ed in dug -outs. Nightingales' sang in the pauses of night-time a,ombard. merles, and the brood of ohe pair was hatched on the lip of the leirsallne trench during the day of heaxeest gan, fire before Hooge. Whitethroats, blackeapee hedgesparrows,, swallows, • carried on their domestic duties Amid the roar of heavy artillera. Great - tits investigated the shattered trees or martins, and other small birds else Thlepval with huge shells ',bursting close by, while owls awl kestrels hawked just as in peace. 'Beyond ell cluestion the evidence inthis boak shows that the birds really were ip- difterent to the noise of the Snlas• There is an interesting chapter on changes in bird habits due to the war, though the incidents narrated ought to be regarded as evidence of adapt- ability rather than definite change of habit, Of Such is the fact that the demolition of buildings caused swal- lows' to make their nests in trees per- haps more freely than ever before. Changes of habitat, resulting in the appearanee of predatory birds in un- usual places, were recoiled occasion- ally, the mast notable instances being the bleeding of the bittern in ancient • haunts or the east coast of England. ace • • STAR OF THE F.AS-T. Star of the East, that long ago Brought wise men on their way Where, angels singing to and fro The Child of Bethlehem lay -- Above that Syrian bill afar, Than shinest out to -night, 0 Star! Star of the East, the night were drear, But for the tender grace That with thy glory comes :to cheer Earth's loneliest, darkest place, For by` that charity We see Where there is hope for all and inc. Star of the ItaSt, SiioW us the way In wisdom undefiled To seek that manger out and lay Our gifts before the Child— To bring our hearts and offer thena Iente Our Eng of Bethlehem: —Ieugene Plea • CHRISTMAS POEM, (133r Hehry W. Longfellow.) I heard the bells on Christreals day Their old familiar carols play, And wild and sweet the worda re4 peat Of peace on earth, good will to men! And tho't how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along the unbroken song 01 pease on earth, good will to men! Till ringing, singing on its way, The world revolv'd from night to day, A voice, it chime, a chant tubliraei 01 Poen on earth, good will to men!