The Woods County News. (Augusta, Okla.), Vol. 1, No. 38, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 2, 1899 Page: 2 of 8
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WOODS COUNTY NEWS
H
I i •
AUGUSTA,
OKLAHOMA
Eleven New York aldermen have
been ordered sent to jail for contempt
of court, to say nothing of the little
matter of a $100 fine per alderman.
When those misguided city fathers
emerge from their darksome ceils they
will probably have a great deal more
respect for the law and the opinions
of the judiciary than has ever before
been the rule In any aidermanic body.
IN THK ODD CORNER.
QUEER AND CURIOUS THINGS
AND EVENTS.
The rising tide of Industrial produc-
tion and of business prosperity ought
to mean also an Improvement In the
general condition of the people. And
according to Bradstreet's. during the
first six months of 1899, "voluntary in-
crease in wages proved to be the rule
rather than the exception," Involving
hd addition of many millions to the In-
come of working men and women.
This is pleasanter reading than reports
of the strikes, some of which have been
bitterly contested.
France is watching the dispute over
the Alaska boundary with considerable
Interest, as it bears a close resemblance
to her own controversy over the New-
foundland shore. In both cases a col-
ony without power of its own to make
its will respected insists on imposing
Its will in the matter In dispute upon
the country upon which it is dependent
and upon which the burden of fighting
must fall in case of war. As the
Frenchmen say, this position is anom-
alous. It la difficult to suggest a rem-
edy, however, unless England is pre-
pared to take a firm stand and place
imperial Interests before colonial at the
possible expense of losing part of her
empire.
Germany claims that militarism is
beneficent, inasmuch as the raw re-
cruit is, in his years of service in a
standing army, educated, disciplined,
and then returned to society and to in-
dustry a far more intelligent and ef-
fective person than he was before, or
could have made himself. This, to
Bomc degree, is true, The standard of
inanhood ought to be raised and la
raised by the military system; but sup-
pose the government gave all men a
training simply for Industrial purposes
and put them into trade schools instead
of camps? A similar but far higher
end would be attained, in such a pro-
ductive potentiality as has never yet
been realized; and it seems as legiti-
mate to train men for national prosper-
ity as for national defense.
' The report of the French Millers'
association on the European wheat
harvest of 1899 indicates that the
drouth in the Odessa and Nicolaief dis-
tricts is so disastrous that the total
Russian wheat production of 1899
must show a falliug off of 33 per cent
from average years, and will be as bad
as in 1897, which was one of the worst
years on record. In Germany wheat is
satisfactory, although slightly less so
than in 1898. In Austro-Hungary the
estimate exceeds last year's produc-
tion by 60,000,000 hectolitres.. In
France reports from twenty one de-
partments show a marked increase in
the wheat area, and the harvest, al-
though injured by storms in the last
fortnight, will slightly exceed that of
1898, but should the present fine weath-
er be succeeded by rain during the
next three weeks there will be a seri-
ous diminution.
Familiarity which oversteps good
manners lately received a gentle re-
buke at an English military bazar. An
officer, attracted by a lady at a stall,
remarked that a certain article near
her was very pretty. "Yes," was her
reply, "my mother sent it." "Ah,real-
ly," pursued the officer, determined
to discover the name of the charming
saleswoman. "I think I have met your
mother. Her name is—" "The queen
of England," answered the lady. The
officer did not wait for the fancied ar-
ticle.
For nations, as for individuals,
enough is as good as a feast. Ap-
parently some Englishmen think so.
for the house of commons applauded
the assertion, repeatedly made by
members of both parties, that no one
desires to add another square mile to
British territory.
A memoranda of those obscure and
•unfrequented places which Admiral
Dewey is not scheduled to visit would
eeem to be much more practicable than
to print a list of the towns he is ex-
pected to favor.
The proposal to celebrate the 100th
anniversaryof John Marshall's appoint-
ment as chief justice of the Supreme
•court of the United States, Feb. 4,1901,
is being well received. There have
been great men on the Supreme bench,
•but if there has been a greater man
than John Marshall the fact is not gen-
erally known.
A Chicago man was fined $2 for
throwing a woman down one flight of
,stairs. We presume that if she had
been up two flights justice would have
jglTen him a long haul rate.
Irlzoiia'a Fetrllled Format- Extraordinary
Surgical Operation — How Hi|uirr«l«
Live In Wlnt«r llaltluof llcptlic- unit
Flah.
Arizona'* r«trllled Format.
One of the most intere sting and im-
pressive of natural wonders is the great
petrified forest of Arizona, which cov-
ers nearly 100 square miles. The gov-
ernment explorers have christened ;t
Chalcedony Park.
The surface of the ground for miles
and miles around is covered with gi-
gantic logs three or four feet In diam-
eter, petrified to the core. Many of
them are translucent. Some are almost
transparent. All present the most
beautiful shades of blue, yellow, pink,
purple, red and gray. Some are like
gigantic amethysts, some resembiu the
smoky topaz, and some are as pure and
white as alabaster. At places the chips
of agate for the trunks that have
crumbled, lie a foot deep upon the
ground, and it is easy to obtain cross
sections of trees showing every vein
and even bark.
A bird's-eye view of the petrified for-
est on a sunny day suggests a gigantic
kaleidoscope. The surface of the earth
resembles an infinite variety of rain-
bows. The geologists say this great
plain, now 5,000 feet above the sea, was
once covered by a forest, which was
submerged for ages in water strongly
charged with minerals, until the fibres
of the trees were thoroughly soaked
and transformed into eternal stone.
Many of the trunks are still packed in
a deposit of fine clay, which was left
by the receding waters, but the erosiom
of the wind has pulverized much of
the clay and carried it off in the air,
exposing the secrets that nature buried
under its surface. One great tree spans
a deep gulch forty feet wide. It lies
where it fell centuries, perhaps ages,
ago, and is a most beautiful specimen
of petrified wood. The rings and the
bark can be easily traced through the
translucent agate, and it is firm enough
and strong enough to last as many
centuries as it has already spent in its
peculiar position. It is undoubtedly
the only bridge of agate in the world,
and alone is worth a long journey to
see. The Indians of the southwest used
to visit the petrified forests frequently
to obtain agate for their arrow and
spear heads, and the material was scat-
tered over the entire continent by ex-
change between the different tribes
from the Isthmus of Panama to the
Behring Straits. The great deposits
here explains where all the arrow-
heads of moss agate came from, and
other weapons and implements of sim-
ilar material that are found in the In-
dian mounds and graves of the central
and western states. In the stone age
the agate of the petrified forest was the
very best material that could be ob-
tained for both the implements of war
and peace of the aborgines. A scalp-
ing knife could be made very easily
from one of the chips of agate and
could be ground to a very fine edge.
Many crystals were used for jewelry
and ornaments also.
How Squirrels Live in Winter.
If one as a hundred school chil-
dren—and grown people, as well,
for that matter—how squirrels sub-
sist in winter, nine out of ten will
reply that they eat the nuts they gath-
er in the summer and fall. This is
partly, but not wholly true. Their food
is widely varied in the course of
year, especially in the spring and sum-
mer. Indian corn ir. the milk suffers
more from squirrels than from rac-
coons or muskrats, which are prover-
bially so fond of it. In places on the
western frontier an extensive system of
Wdtehlng has had to be maintained at
times against this pest. One dainty
in late summer is the mushroom, of
several varieties of which they are
fond, and this reminds me of a bit of
unexpected sagacity in one of the west-
ern chipmunks lately spoken of in my
hearing by the artist and author, Ern-
est Seton Thompson. It appears that
this chipmunk depends for its ordin-
ary fall and winter fare upon the seeds
of the pinon pine, which it preserves
by storage in its holes in decayed-
stumps or underground. It happened
lately, however, that in a certain area
of the northwest the pinon crop was a
complete failure, and the ground squir-
rels were compelled to find something
else for their subsistence and winter
stores. In this extremity they turned
to the mushrooms, everywhere abund-
ant, and were busy during all the late
autumn in gathering them. They were
too wise, however, to store them un-
derground,where they would soon have
rotted, but instead deposited them in
notches and crotches of the lower
branches of the forest trees, where they
dried in the open air and so kept in
good condition to be eaten. Their
shriveling up and the shaking of the
branches by the winds caused many to
fail.and these the squirrels industrious-
ly picked up and tried to fasten more
securely to the branches. This meth-
od of providing themselves with winter
j food implied the necessity of their
coming forth from their underground
retreats, no matter bow cold and
snowy the weather, whenever they
wanted something to eat, instead of
having their larder indoors, as is usual
with them, and it would be interesting
to know whether they actually did so
or whether they failed to profit, after
all, by their seemingly sagacious pru-
dence.
Itattle of Kept lie and Flah.
From the New York Press: That
mooted question of whether a good
healthy water snake can cope success-
fully in mortal combat with a pickerej
has been decided by a battle in Lake
Pennesseewasse, of which William
Gary and Kenneth Gurney were wit-
nesses. The lake waters abound in
large-sized pickerel and there is no
other body of water in Maine where
the water snakes are so huge. They
are harmless, but if forced to a fight
with man or fish can put up a good
scrap. Their bite, while not poisonous,
is exertmely painful and everyone
gives them a wide berth. In hot days
they crawl to the branches of the low
bushes on the shore of the bogs and
sun themselves In contentment. Many
of the reptiles will measure over ten
feet and few of them have ever been
captured. If a person approaches them
while they are apparently sleeping on
the bushes and attempts to hit them
with a stick or stone they fall quickly
into the water and escape harm. One
day this summer, while the weather
was extremely warm, Gary and Gur-
ney were on the lake trawling for sal-
mon from a canoe. The boat had just
passed the edge of the bog where the
snakes have their headquarters, when
there was a splash in the water and a
churning that attracted the attention
of the men in the boat. They backed
water with the oars and floated up
to see what was the trouble. They
were surprised to see a huge black coil
of shining skin writhing in the water
and went closer to investigate. They
found that a water snake nearly eight
feet long had a pickerel in his grasp.
The fish must have weighed in the
vicinity of three pounds and a fight
was on. The snake slowly uncoiled his
body, when the pickerel darted out
and quickly turned, making a swift
lunge for the snake. The latter, how-
ever, grabbed the fish by the head and
held him fast. In the course of three
or four minutes the snake again un-
coiled his body, and the pickerel, with
a few faint motions, came to the top
of the water for air. The snake lay
still, but as the fish showed signs of
returning life he again grabbed him by
the head. Then the body of the fish be-
gan to disappear slowly, and at last
there was no more pickerel in sight.
The next day Gurney and Gary were
on the shore of the bog for frogs to be
used for bait, when they found the
dead body of a big snake. They cut
the reptile open and found about half
way down the throat the body of the
pickerel. The snake in swallowing the
fish had rested for a breath of air,
when the fish again came to life and,
spreading his belly fins, had choked
the snake to death. However, the men
declare that the snake won the fight,
but was too anxious to celebrate his
victory, and thereby lost his own life.
Extraordinary Surgical Operation.
•In May, 1890, one of the most re-
markable surgical operations on record
wis performed by Dr. Lavelangue in
the Children's Hospital at Paris. It
was the case of an idiot child. Its
head had stopped growing since it was
four years of age, and was only one-
third the normal size. Believing that
the idiocy was due to compression of
the brain, the doctor divided the skull
longitudinally, and kept the edges of
the bone from uniting. Fresh deposits
of bone took place, and the skull grad-
ually expanded to almost its proper
size. Then the intellectual facilities,
which had hitherto been those of an
infant, grew stronger and stronger
every day, till at last the child was
as intelligent and healthy as any other
in France. Some of the most remark-
able surgical operations have been per-
formed in connection with the brain
which is now so accurately mapped out
that a surgeon can tell exactly where
the seat of mischief in the brain lies.
Should there be a tumor on the brain,
its exact situation can. be located, and
then the skull is opened and the mor-
bid growth removed.
Natural Snowball*.
Last March there was a remarkable
exhibition at Grafton. N. H.. of the
comparatively rare phenomenon of
"snow-rollers." Freshly fallen snow
was rolled by the wind into innumer-
able cylinders, some of them as large
an a barrel, which dotted the hills and
fields. Similar rollers have been seen
in recent years in Connecticut, in
Kansas and in the state of Washing-
ton. The size varies with the strength
of the wind.
Now the lilggmt and Richest Show U
the World.
A DAY OF DAYS.
Coming of the 4-Paw-SelU Show Will
• Red-Letter Event in K nim
and Oklahoma.
This will be a red-letter day for the
votaries of sawdust and spangles here-
abouta The coming of the great
Forepaugh-Sells combination of cir-
cus, museum, zoological and hippo-
dromatic attractions, which has been
so long and pleasurably anticipated,
will then be an accomplished fact.
From newspaper reports, and other
sources, we take it that Forepaugh
and Sells Brothers have eclipscd their
own brilliant achievements of the
past, and it is pleasing to note that
their tour of the country thus far has
been one continued ovation.
rOne fact which
the press agree
upon with great
s 1 unanimity is that
the Big Dual Show
attracts the most
fashionable and
cultured audien-
ces of any tented
show that has ever
visited their re-
spective citiea
Forepaugh and
Sells Brothers have al ways been known
as the "kik-gloved" slioumen; the
splendid discipline of their employes,
the courtesy shown patrons, and the
absence of all reprehensible practices,
being distinctive features of the exhi-
bition.
The attractions are of such infinite
variety that the most diversified tastes
will be fully satiated. Acrobats, gym-
nasts, riders, contortionists, vaulters,
wire walkers, jugglers, strongmen and
jesters, will disport themselves in the
several rings and on the central stage;
the hippodrome races of ancient Rome,
as well as modern contests between
Kentucky thoroughbreds and English
flyers, will be given on an ellipse that
encircles the arenas and stage. The
zoological and nmseum departments
teem with costly and absorbingly in-
teresting novelties, and the establish-
ment throughout is unquestionably a
model one in every respect.
A grand spectacular street pageant,
exhibiting the vast and varied proces-
sional resources of the combined shows,
will start from the exhibition grounds
at 9 a. m., and traverse the principal
thoroughfares of the citiea Two per-
formances will be given in each town
at 2 and 8 p. m., the doors opening an
hour earlier, in order that spectators
may be affojded ample time in which
to view the menagerie and museum.
The management respectfully suggest
that ladies and children attend the
matinee, as a perfect crush is expected
at night. Cheap excursion rates on
all lines of travel. The following is
the route of the Big Double show:
Vinita, Thursday, Aug. 31; Chandler,
Sept 1; Oklahoma City, Saturday,
Sept. 2; Shawnee, Sept. 4; El Reno,
Sept. 5; Enid, Sept. 6; Wichita, Sept
7; VVinfield, 8; Perry, Ok., 9; Newton,
11; Emporia, 12; Topelta, 13.
Girls Will Learn by Heart.
Thus runs an ancient rhyme: Mar-
ried in white, you have chosen all
right. Married in gray, you will go
far away. Married in black, you will
wish yourself back. Married in red,
you'd better be dead. Married in green,
ashamed to be seen. Married in blue,
you'll always be true. Married in pearl,
you'll live in a whirl. Married in yel-
low, ashamed of the fellow. Married
in brown, you'll live out of town. Mar-
ried in pink, your spirits will sink.
She Was Too Young.
Charles Barneysgraff, 21, and Mary
Schemlski, 17, both of Cincinnati,
wanted to be married in Covington
yesterday, but Deputy County Clerk
Bud McQuerney refused to grant a li-
cense unless the girl could induce her
mother to cross the river and give her
consent.
To Measure Devotion.
The measure of a woman's devotion
is the extent to which she will make
herself uncomfortable for you; the
measure of a man's is the effort he will
make to have you as comfortable as he
proposes to be himself.
Fashionable.
"Is cannibalism common among
you?" inquired the stranger, apprehen-
sively. "Common?" said the Pacific
island belle, as she coyly dug her toe
Into the sand. "Not at all. We con-
sider it very recherche."—Washington
Star.
A Spire Which Took 500 Years to llnlld
It has been decided to establish a
meteorological observatory at the top
of the great cathedral spire in Ulm,
Germany. The Ulm cathedral is one
of the most extraordinary in exist-
ence. on account of the greet size and
height of its single spire, which reaches
an elevation of 628 feet. Although the
great church was begun more than 500 I
years ago, tfre spire was not completed I
until 1890.
Photographed a Mirage.
After taking a snap shot of Tenby
church recently an English pho-
tographer was puzzled to find on his
plate an image of a vessel dressed in
bunting and upside down. He read in
the newspapers next day of a launch
at Pembroke, seven miles away, and
concluded that he had photographed a
mirage;
Made to Order for a Man Who Waa
Separated from 111a Wife.
In the Kinloch club, at St. Louis,
there is a stained glass wltdow with
an odd history, says the St. Louis Re-
public. It is not an ordinary window,
with its parts joined by frames of lead,
but is of the finest kind of colored ca-
thedral glass, so perfectly joined that
the seams are not visible. It is paneled
in shape, and in the colored glass ap-
pears the face and form of a beautiful
woman. She Is in the costume of a
dancer, and her skirts fall but little be-
low the knees. The figure is perfect in
its proportions, and the face is one of
surprising beauty. When the club-
house was finished the art committee
looked aro'ind for something unique in
the way of decoration. They found it
in Chicago, where they had gone ex-
ploring. Entering the art store they
told the dealer they wanted to see the
choicest thing he had. The dealer re-
plied that he had a beautiful colored
window panel, which was left on his
'hands through a peculiar chain of
circumstances. A rich Chicagoan had,
immediately after marrying, decided1
that as a part of the decoration of his
new home he would have a window in
which the face and form of his wife
would appear. He got together the
necessary photographs in appropriate
costumes and brought them to the
glass window concern, where estimates
were made as to the probable cost. He
wanted naught but the best, and was
not content to have the picture painted
or burnt into the glass. He wanted
the work done in the actual colored
glass. The dealer was obliged to send
the photographs and an extended ex-
planation of what was wanted abroad,
and there the window was made. It
took months for its completion, and
when it was finished and returned the
dealer notified his rich patron. But
the window never found a place in the
rich man's house. They had been mar-
ried long enough to become estranged!
and divorced. The rich man had com-
pleted the house he had built for his'
bride and was living alone in it. There
were enough sad memories about the1
house without having the face of the
woman from whom he had separated
looking down on him from one of the
great windows, so the work was never
accepted. That is the reason the mem-
bers of the Kinloch club were able to
get such a truly beautiful and origi-
nal window as a decoration for their
mantel.
COLOR SCHEME.
Shonld Be Carefully Studied In Furnish*
Ing Various Rooms.
There are rooms in some houses that
produce a sense of irritation on nerve
and brain on those who are sensitive to
color, so crude and harsh and jarring
are the arrangements of the same. Go-
into another room in some other house,
where all the colors soothe and delight,
and you will find soft olives and dull
blue and blue-greens, having an inde-
scribably gentle influence. The blue-
green or olive prevails in the carpet,
the ground being deep blue and the all-
over pattern soft olive and dull blue.
The olive prevails in the long curtains,
and tP.kes on rather golden tone, while-
the sash curtains are entirely of the
softest dull blue India silk, trimmed
with tassel braid to match. The Hol-
land shades are in ecru. There is an.
absence of conspicuous figures, pattern
and ground. A bit of pale rose or
yellow, or old gold, or dull red, may be
used in such a room. An old fan, for
example, ornamented with a bow of'
pale rose satin and displayed against
a light olive wall, tells for much more
than against a wall flowered or fig-
ured conspicuously in a dozen different
colors.
Czar's Military Household.
The military household of the czar is
composed of 98 officers of various
ranks, 83 of whom belong to the army
and 15 to the navy. Nineteen mem-
bers of the roj al family ire included in
this Met.
But few men can handle a hot lamp
chimney and repeat the ten command-
iments at the same time.
Take care of your sense while young
and your dollars will take care of you
when old age gets its work in.
Faultless Starch.
Best and goes farthest, gives stiffness and
elasticity. No sticking, blistering or break-
ing. Every grocer sells it, nearly every-
body uses it. 10c a package.
Its surprising how gladly some peo-*
pie will exchange a small load of trou-
blc for a, large load of cheap liquor.
Smokeless powder may reveal the
horrors of war, but it concials th«
ravages of time.
You Never Miss the Water
Tilt the Welt Runs Dry."
We never realize the value of health
until it is gone. When old time strength
and vigor are 'wanting, purify the blood
by taking Hood's SarsapariUa; soon re-
stored appetite, perfect digestion, steady
nerves and even temper <will prove it is
bringing back the glow of perfect health.
.!
V
<Hgcrt6
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The Woods County News. (Augusta, Okla.), Vol. 1, No. 38, Ed. 1 Saturday, September 2, 1899, newspaper, September 2, 1899; Augusta, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc235283/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.