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THE puffin is the Chinaman of
the bird world. He alone
among his kind has that fold
of skin at the inner angle of
the eye that under the name of
the third eyelid makes the Mongolian
eye such a distinctive feature of his
human representative. This setting
of the eye in an oblique chink gives
the puffin that fixed, quizzical expres-
sion which has led most observers to
call It a quaint-looking bird, but which
to me irresistibly calls to mind the
Chinaman's bland-looking face that,
like a mask, gives no sign of the work-
ing of the Inner mind.
It is a disappointment, after seeing
your first puffin at close quarters at his
home in puffin-town, to turn up his
description in any bird-book and find,
after all the meticulous description of
his feathers and the order of the col-
ors on his rainbow-tinted beak, that
this distinctive feature of the screwed-
up eye is never mentioned. The illus-
trations in these books are as disap-
pointing as the text, the eye being as
much like a rabbit's as a puffin's. Be-
sides the Mongolian eye, he has the
Mongolian secretlveness as well. In-
offensive and unobtrusive, he is silent
as he stands upright, or moves about
■somewhat uncertainly on his dapper
little red legs among the noisy crowd
on the rocks. It is only from the
depths of his burrow in the spongy
red soil, or from his chink among the
lichen-covered rocks, that the sound
of his language reaches your ear. In
the privacy of his home he now and
then utters strange sounds that when
first heard resemble somewhat in their
subdued intonation the distant low-
ing of cattle or shouting of men. But
•when you know him better you will
Ifancy you can hear in his deep,
mournful "Arrh!" a weary sigh indica-
tive of his fate. For he is the patient
coolie of the shore, with worse than
Indentured labor for his fate. All the
ruling classes look to him to provide
them with an easy meal. Every time
the proud peregrine's offspring in the
eyrie whimper for food a puffin some
•where has to pay toll by giving up the
ghost; and yet, although this is almost
an hourly occurrence on a summer s
day, the other puffins continue uncom-
plaining and unheeding.
A model parent the puffin must be,
for though it lays but a single egg, it
manages to maintain its numbers year
after year, in spite of the heaviest tax-
ation. There is no colony of the
lesser black-backed gull, where puffins
breed, that Is not strewn with the
corpses of this humble little bird
Were I a puffin, this is the fate I
should most resent. The peregrine at
least wastes nothing, leaves nothing
but the beak and legs; but the cold
blooded gull simply disembowels the
poor bird and leaves the rest to rot. I
have never seen the tragedy of its
death, whether it is killed on land or
as ti swims on the sea or as it flies
through the air; but, were I a hungry
bird of prey, I think it would tempt
me most as it skims through the air.
For all the world it looks like a fat
mackerel fitted with a pair of wings
which hardly seem strong enough to
carry its plump little body to its des-
tination. In fact, as it whirrs up from
the sea to its burrow, as likely as not
it will turn head over heels as it
strikes the ground and then get up
and make a wry face as it spits the
dirt out of its mouth; or else it will
dash headlong against a rock with a
smack that you would think would
kill it, and then look round as stupid-
ly as a sheep that in its blundering
course fulfils its fate as mutton. Al-
though each colony of lesser black
backs shows the bloody tribute of the
unfortunate puffin, that of the greater
black-back shows no evidence of this
kind.
In the whole community of a hun-
dred nests of this ruler of the archi-
pelago—for not even the fierce pere-
grine disputes his sway—there was
not a single puffin corpse to be seen.
Unfortunately, for all the immaculate
whiteness of his head and neck, he
has the same tell-tale blood fleck or-
namenting his lower Jaw as has his
lesser relative; he has the same cold
eye, and even a blacker back, a real
sooty black; and if there are no traces
of blood-guiltiness between the nests,
mayhap it is because he goes one bet-
ter than they and swallows his mut-
ton whole. Indeed, fishermen say that
he stands by the puffin's burrow like
a graven image, watching patiently,
and then, when at last the victim
comes out, he is suddenly caught by
the back of the neck, has the life
shaken out of him and is then gulped
down holus-bolus.
I do not wish to malign the lesser
black-backed gull to the extent of sug-
gesting by implication that it disem-
bowels its victims while still alive. In
fact, the only evidence I have is dis-
tinctly to the contrary. Mr. J. W. Par-
sons, late of the Fames lighthouse,
and a most acute observer of bird-life,
tells me that he once saw a lesser
black-back kill a puffin. He did not
see it catch the bird, but it was killed
by being shaken as a terrier shakes a
rat, and then ducked under water until
drowned. Then the gull flew with it
on to a rock and, after disemboweling
it, tried many times to swallow it
whole, but could not get it down. On
the land the puffin's footing seems un-
certain; In the air its flight is labored;
therefore the place to see it at its
best must be as it hunts its prey un-
der water.
Much do I envy observers like Ed-
mund Selous who have watched It as
It wings its way beneath the waves
with its scarlet legs trailing behind.
As you approach in a boat a little
group of puffins sitting on the water,
you get an inkling of their water
magic. When you get too near to them
for their peace of mind hut not near
enough for you to see how it Is done,
first one and then another disappears.
You see no dive, Just a bird sitting
motionless, and then a little swirl
where was the bird. But if you want
to see one of the fairy sights of bird-
land, go to puffin-town and, resting
your back against a convenient rock,
be content to sit still for an hour. In
front of you is a shelving tract of bare
brown earth nearly an acre In extent,
riddled In all directions with burrows
that so undermine the ground that,
however carefully you walk across it,
clumsy foot is sure sooner or later
to break into some puffin habitation.
All the. puffins that your advent dis-
turbed are bobbing up and sit in hun-
dreds in the bay below. Presently,
if you are quiet, they begin to whirr
up from the sea in twos and threes
and then scores and battalions. As
New
Of
News
Yesterday
,/->k J:, or.
Old Time Enemies Reconciled
How Thurlow Weed Forgot the Bitter-
ness of the Past and Provided
for Edwin Croswell in His
Old Age.
In tho days when Thurlow Weed,
as editor of the great Whig organ, the
Albany (N. Y.) Journal, was a power in
the land, even to being a president
maker, his great editorial opponent
was Edwin Croswell, editor of the offi-
cial newspaper of the unofficial, but
nationally powerful group of Demo
crats, including Martin Van Buren.
known in the political history of the
country as the Albany regency. When
Mr. Weed became editor of the Jour-
nal he at once vigorously attacked the
regency, thereby gaining his first na-
tional fame, and at the same time
jnaklng a personal, as well as a politi-
cal enemy of Mr. Croswell.
All the years that the two men re-
mained Albany editors—and the years
...   were many, numbering 33 for Mr.
likely as not the very first that pitch ( -\vee(j_they carried their politics Into
will alight within two or three yards
of you. Others, as they circle round,
will draw up their feet, which bad
been extended as if for alighting, and
so pass out to sea once more. But
before long puffin-town will be dense-
ly populated by its staid little inhab-
itants, all bearing that fixed puzzled
expression that makes them look al-
most comical in their solemnity. Some
stand still with just an occasional
their personal lives. Finally, there
came the time when both men retired
and Mr. Weed went to New York to
live, and there, one day, occurred what
was probably the most dramatic of all
the many interesting incidents in
which the old.time enemies played the
leading parts.
Horn the same year, 1797, and in the
same region, Thurlow Weed had grown
An hour later Mr. Weed was about
his mission. Among others he called
on was Marshall O. Roberts, who,
when it seemed probable that the At-
lantic cable project was doomed to
failure, told Cyrus W. Field to rely
upon him for whatever financial sup-
port was needed.
• Mr. Weed," said Mr. Roberts, when
he had heard Mr. Weed's story, I am
the owner of a house not far from
Washington Square. It Is unoccupied,
but comfortably furnished. I will not
only subscribe to a fund for the sup
port of Mr. Croswell, but I will also
muke him a life tenant of that house,
rent free."
Thus with assistance gained here
and there among the leading men of
the day, Mr. Weed, in the course of a
few weeks, had not only a fund, but a
roof as well, provided for his old ene-
my's comfort. Then he Invited Mr.
Croswell. who knew nothing of the
movement to take care of him, to be
his guest in New York, and Mr. Cros-
well came.  
The next morning Mr. Weed took
his guest to the Roberts house and
showed him all through it. Edwin,
he said at last, "how do you like this
house?'
"It la a charming home," was the
reply.
"Edwin." answered Mr. Weed, "It is
to be your home as long as you live
or care to occupy it. Your friends
have seen to it that you are to be pro-
vided for, and this home is one of the
provisions. It isn't a gift, It isn t a
charily. It is simply a fair recom-
pense to you for your unselfish service
as a public citizen—so unselfish. Ed-
win, that you have never properly car-
ed for yourself."
For a moment Mr. Croswell looked
blankly into Mr. Weed's face, then
turned bis head to hide his emotion.
And as he did so he reached out his
hand, grasped Mr. Weed's, and burled
forever all the bitterness of the past
in these words:
"After all, there Is nothing outside
a man's family life that compares with
true friendship, and a true frleud I
have found In you."
This story, as I have told It, Mr.
Weed himself told me the last time I
chatted with him, a year or so before
his death, and the details came out
when I stated that I had heard he had
done something to put Mr. Croswell
In comfortable circumstances. "Yes,
confessed the old gentleman-he was
then over eighty—"and that Is one of
the happiest of my recollections."
(Copyright, 1910. by E. J. Edward., All
Rights Reserved.)
Lost Talk With Peter Cooper
  . I up In poverty, with his father confined
flapping of their wings as if to dry | jn & debtor-3 prison. Edwin Croswell
them, others take aimless little runs J h&(J b(?en petted antl admired as a boy,
on their dapper little red legs and j fQr he wag the child of the richest man
then stand still, looking round, as if S of lh0 comnulnjty. But when Mr.
puzzled what the next move is to be. j Weed gettled in New york city to
Others fall awkwardly as they alight | n(J h(s cios|ng years, he was the
and promptly drop down a hole in the ; wpaUhy one amj Mr. Croswell tlie ons
ground, just as the next-door neigh- 1 w)thout a fortune. Indeed, not very
bor maybe pops up from another hole | loRg after thlg a frien(1 went to Mr.
and whirrs out to sea. In a little group Weed wlth a Burprising query on his
of five two have caught hold of one ; g
another's beaks and are having a tus- ; „^r weed," he said, "do you know
sle, but whether in amity or not I can- j ^^a^ j. croswell your old-time edito-
not tell. Every now and then quite a ^ opponent is alm0Bt in want? He
quarter of the population will sudden- J has nQ tortune and no income, and he
ly bend forward and in an instant in j
a great cloud are whirring out to sea,
while those left behind look puzzled
at their sudden departure and just as
puzzled when in a few minutes all the
wanderers return, each taking up its
position again.
Many observers have been puzzled
to understand how the puffin manages
Aged Philanthropist Outlined
Views on the Greenback Move-
ment and Then Talked of
the Beautiful World.
Peter Cooper, who did the Breat®8*
life when he founded
New York, and
is greatly distressed."
"Why," said Mr. Weed, Instantly,
"that must be attended to; such a
situation must not be permitted to ex-
ist any longer. I will see some gentle
men of his party, and some, also, who
are of my own, and I have no doubt
that a fund can be raised which will
provide an income sufficient to make
to catch one fish after another and j hltn comfortable the rest of his life."
pack each methodically across its
jaws, but as Mr. King opens the beak
of a dead puffin you have the answer
from the puffin's own mouth, for ,
there on Its palate are the rows of
barbs sloping back, between which tho
fish are filed. There is much more to ,
be told about this Interesting little I
bird, especially if all were known. But j
puzzled as the puffin looks, there is
one thing known to that little mind
behind the mask, .but which puzzles
, and that is the still unsolved mys-
tery of where he spends his winter
time.
FRANCIS HEATHERLEY.
work of his
Cooper Union, in
thereby made his name well-nigh im
perishable, was eighty-nine years of
age when I had my last chat with
him. That was in 1880, thre, years
before he was gathered unto his fa
"'i'hnd called upon Mr Cooper at
his home in irving place, in New York
city, for the purpose of obtaining hli
views upon the greenback question.
Tho old gentleman was a very ear-
nest advocate of issuing irredeemable
paper money based upon the face and
credit of ehe government
He received me very cordially in
Thomas C. Piatt a Humorist
Scientific Inquiry.
"I don't know what to make of my
nephew George," remarked the elderly
professor. "He has such queer con-
tradictory tastes in music."
"Yes?"
"Yes; I came upon him a little while
ago and he was whistling in a dreamy, '
rapt sort of way the wedding march j
from 'Lohengrin.' As soon as he saw
me he looked confused and changed I
It at once to Has Anybody Here Seen
Kelly?'"
Two Stor<es About the "Easy Boss
That Demonstrate His Wit and
Capacity for Humorous
Description.
The late Thomas C. Piatt spoke of
himself at one time as the "easy boss,
i He was easy in still another sense
I than that in which he used the word,
i and that was in his sense of humor
I and his capacity for humorous de-
scription and anecdote. He was a
I shining exception to the saying tUat
| the politically ambitious see things
only through serious spectacles.
One day, some years ago, as 1 was
I passing through the porter's room ot
the old Fifth Avenue hotel, benator
Piatt's headquarters in New York city.
! I heard some one call me by name,
and looking around, saw Senator Plat
beckoning to me from his seat on a
boot-black stand.
"Take this vacant chair beside me,
i he said, "and while the good boy be-
ts a loyal follower of Tom
Rabies.
People who have been skeptical re-
garding the existence of hydrophobia
ought, to pay heed to a United States
public health service report which
says that this disease is a reality and
not a dream, incurable and not In-
fallibly preventable, and is a respec-
ter of no particular season nor spe-
cies of mammal. This promulgation
from Surgeon General Wymans bu-
reau admits that rabies may not be
uniformly fatal, though it Is almost al-
ways so. pasteurization generally
prevents development. The belief that
rabies is more easily transmitted In
summer than in the other months Is
called a fallacy. The explanation is
that more people are moving about
and become subject to attack. Nor Is
the malady localized. It is liable to
occur in the arctic or in the equa-
torial Jungles. Dogs, wolves, coyotes
and skunks seemed to be especially
susceptible. But not even within the
canine tribo is the disease of spon-
taneous origin. This fact renders lso-
latton or destruction effective; elim-
ination of the affected animals is the
only sure preventlve.-Sprlngfled Re-
publican.
Dr. Wiley's Forgetfulness
If the public does not know that Dr.
Harvey W. Wiley, the pure-food expert,
is one of the most absent-minded men
in the world, all doubt of the fact will
vanish after this story has been read
The doctor takes his lunch in the
cafe of the National Press club, and
when he lunches he misses no bets,
overlooks no food. He has a fine up
petite—a remarkable appetite, consid-
ering all the unpleasant and terrify-
ing things he knows about foodstuffs.
One afternoon he finished his meal,
walked into the cloakroom and put
on his hat. As he was going out he
was accosted by a friend, who invited
him to lunch with him.
Dr. Wiley hesitated.
"To tell you the truth," he said,
whimsically, "I don't know whether
I've just had lunch or not."
He thought deeply for several mo-
ments.
"Just to make sure," he concluded,
seriously. "I'll go in and have an-
other."
And he ate as much the second time
as he had the first.—Popular Maga-
zine.
low, who — - —. .
Heraldry and Gents." j piatt, Is putting the finishing touches
"Heraldry and the Gent" every one upon" my calfskins, 1 will tell you of
with a sense of humor must be keenly
interested in. There has been so much
nonsense written on this subject and
with such a pretense of learning that
many people believe the College of
Arms really can create a gentleman.
The college, we fear, can manage noth-
ing more than "gent," and for that
they charge quite enough. Heraldry
belongs to the antiquary. Modern „„„    
coats in ancient style (prix fixe) are j jStrations of the barber but John M.
the last remnants of days which bo [ Forbes. I recognized htm by the con-
long only to history.—Saturday R« j spteuousness with which his nose stood
view. | out above the lather. So 1 stepped up
 I to him and said: 'Good morning, Mr
A Sly Suggestion. Forbes, I am glad to see you in such
They had reached the outer portals j expertenced handB. Politics and bust-
amusing experience 1 had this
morning. „ _  ,
"Do you remember John M. Forbes.
He is a very rich merchant and a very
dignified man. distinguished for his
political sagacity, his rather pro-
nounced self-esteem and his somewhat
prominent nose. As 1 stepped into the
barber shop of the hotel this morning
who should I see yieldihg to the min-
of the front door and were there going
through the process of parting, very
lingerln&Jy.
"When I say good night to you this
evening," gurgled Mr. Youngslow, "do
you think it would be proper for me
to place one reverent kiss upon your
fair hand?"
"Well," she sighed, softly, as she
laid her head quietly on his shoulder,
"I should consider It decidedly out of
place."—Lipplncott's.
ness
ton.'
must be very satisfactory In Bos-
Instantly the man pushed the bar-
ber aside, sat up straight In the chair,
and turned to me a face so well lath-
ered that I could only Bee the nose
aD" 'Sir/" he exclaimed, indignantly, 'I
don't know who you are, but I want to
tell you that John M. Forbes has not
a monopoly of the prominent nose,
and though 1 have sometimes been ta
ken for him when persons have seen
me in profile, yet I have never before
been recognized as Mr. Forbes when
my face was all lathered and await-
ing the barber's razor!'"
Senator Piatt chuckled violently.
"Do you know," he said at last, that
is a good one on my friend John M.
Forbes; and I shall relate it with spe-
cial gratification to some of the elite
Republicans of Massachusetts who
have been much associated with him
in reforming politics."
Upon another occasion Mr. Piatt
was called upon at his hotel in Wash-
ington by a gentleman who professed
to be very anxious to see General How-
ard Carroll, who some years earlier
had been Republican candidate for
congressman at large from New York
state, and who was a very intimate
friend of President Arthur. His vis
Itor asked the senator where "Generai
Carroll" could be found.
"What General Carroll do you
mean?" asked Mr. Piatt.
"Why," was the reply, "I mean How-
ard Carroll—General Howard Car-
roll."
Ah," replied the senator, blandly,
"had you spoken In the first Instance
of Howard Carroll Instead of General
Carroll, I should have known whom
you meant."
"Why, what Is the difference?"
asked the senator's friend.
"Just this," was the reply, "I al-
ways speak and think of him as How-
ard Carroll. You see, God made the
man, while I made the general, and
out of consideration for his maker I
always refer to him as Howard Car-
roll. regarding God's work with re-
spect to him as of much higher con-
sequence than my own. Other people
are less reverential. They speak of
him as the general I made rather than
as the man whom God created."
Within a week this characteristic
piattoulan Jest had circulated through
all the public circles In Washington
and at last reached the ears of Gen-
eral Carroll himself, who to this day
delights in telling it.
(Copyright. 1910. by K. J. Edwards.)
his little library. He wore a loose
morning gown, or jacket, and e
heavy lenses of his spectacles, which
carried sldepleces, caused his eyes
to gleam with unusual brilliancy and
to appear of great size. He blew up(
an air cushion to Its full capacity.
then seated himself in a cozy chair
and began to chat in easy fashion
about the greenback movement. And
as 1 listened to him it seemed to mo
almost Incredible that 1 was seated
before the man who had designed
and built tho first American locomo-
tive, in 1830, and the method of pro-
pelling canal boats by an endless
chain, and who was among the earli-
est to promote the laying of the At-
lantic cable.
At length, and without showing the
slightest sign of fatigue, either phy-
sical or mental, the old gentleman
I outlined his views on the money ques-
tion. Then, as I prepared to leave,
he accompanied me along the pass-
age leading from the library to the
front door, which he opened before
either myself or a servant near by
could make a move to do so. Pass-
ing through it, he took his stand up-
on the broad top step and looked
with an absorbed countenance in the
direction of little Gramercy Park, one
corner of which was visible from
where he stood. He put his hand up-
on my shoulder-—not for support. It
seemed to me, but to direct my gaze
where his was. Then, at last, he
spoke, and I fancied that half regret-
fully he turned his eyes to me from
the exquisite vista before us of that
little gem of parkland in the heart
of New York.
"This is a very beautiful world," he
said, earnestly, simply. "I like to
look out upon it, and each day as I
grow older and see with my eyes—
somewhat blinded though they are
by age—the beautiful things which
God has given us, and which every
one may enjoy without any cost if
he will only look. 1 realize more and
more how exquisite is the charm of
nature, and what the world's perfec-
tion really Is. And as I have grown
older I have also come to realize that
there Is more of good than of evil in
the world—that there Is some beauty
in every human being, no matter how
low he may have fallen, Just as there
Is beauty in everything that growB.
"Yes, this Is a beautiful world—a
very beautiful world. I am now 89
years of age. Not for long now am
I to be permitted to look out upon
It. Yet I hope to make the best of
the brief opportunity that Is left to
me to behold God's beauty all abont
me. It gives me serenity and peace
of mind to see It. and yet there Is a
lingering regret that I cannot enjoy
tt much longer.
I hope you will come to see me
again. Come when the leaves have
turned. To me there Is no sadness
In the falling leaf. If It has color in
It. You have spoken of Cooper In-
stitute. Ah, I could leave no better
legacy to my felow men than the pow-
er to see dally the beauties of the
world that God has given us to live
In; for If we can do that we shall
all have riches that cannot  e lost
or In any way taken from us."
(Copyright. 1910. by E. J. Kiwards All
nights Reserved .