The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-08-02

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And night winds sigh
Are blended in a long refrain
a mystic wild enchantment reigns-
lis sunset on the Western plains.
Long rays of light
Dispel the night
AS slanting sunbeams span the plain;
Wild flowers fair
Perfume the air,
while westward wends the wagon train
The god of day in glory reigns-
Tis sunrise on the Western plains.
-Pittsburg Dispatch.
Five Shots: Five Grizzlies.
The famous hunter and guide of the
northwest, Mr.. w. H. Wright, tells in
the Northwest number (August) of
the Worlds Work, the story of his
greatest battle with grizzly bears.
After stalking a big bear for weeks he
came on him and another on side
hill. The rest of the story follows:
After things were arranged to my lik-
ing / waited for a side shot at the
large bear, and did not have long to
wait. The animal was looking over a
choice bunch of berries when the de-
sired shot came, and I never looked
through sights more carefully than
when drawing bead on that old bear.
Ihere was not much more than two
inches square of bear visible, SEEM
ingly, when I pulled the trigger. AS
quickly as possible I turned to the
other bear. He acted just as had ex-
pected he would, turned side on to-
ward me in order to see what bediam
had broken loose, and thus enabled me
to send slug of lead after him that
caught him squarely in the shoulder.
He wilted in his tracks as the other
had done. Not a yard did either of
them move after being shot. Getting
up to look over the situation, 1 heard
a clawing and rolling of gravel in the
next ravine. CHANGING about to see
what caused the racket, to my intense
surprise, three more bears were seen
tearing up the hill. Their retreat to
the canon had been cut off. A mother
bear and two half-grown cubs were
making for the high divide as fast as
they could. 1 dropped down with my
elbows on my knees and took flying
than seventy-five yards away and
must have been quite near when the
battle opened. The shot caught her
with a quartering rake forward that
rolled her back into the gully. This,
of course, stopped the cubs, and they
fell to the next two shots. Five bears
down in five shots and in as many
minutesi No thought now of the long
hours spent in the clump of frs or of
the scakings I experienced in making
bushes. This was all forgotten in the
surprise and completeness of the
greatest single battle with grizzlies in
which 1 was ever engaged.
Forgot What Electricity Was.
A Denver newspaper devotes large
space in an unavailing effort to answer
a correspondents question, Does any
body know what electricity is?" AS
somebody has observed. that reminds
us of story.
There is now in Prineville, Ore. a
lawyer who. some years ago. was a
college student back east. One day in
the classroom the subject of discussion
was electricity. This student had read
all he could find in his textbook about
primed for the occasion. The profess
sor opened the ball with this direct
question:, flashed peremptorily at this
particular student:
Mr.. Blank, can you tell US what
electricity is?'
Mr., Blank squirmed in his seat,
hemmed and hawed for time, and fin
ally admitted:
Il did know, professor, but I've for
gotten
The professor gazed at the student
with an expression of unspeakable sor-
row. Then he said sadly:
Mr.. Blank, you do not know what
you have done. Alas. what a sad loss
to science! You are the only man that
ever lived who has known what cleo
tricity is-and you have forgotten. -
Portland Oregonian.
Whale Cut in Two.
A froIicsome young whale was OBJ
served .skylarking in midocean on
Wednesday afternoon in the course of
the American liner Philadelphia, in
last night from Southampton and
Cherbourg. The whale apparently was
unfamiliar with the habits of liners
that travel on schedule, and he spouted
and waved his f1hkes as if the ocean
were his back yard. The outlook in
the Philadelphia's crownest and the
officers on the bridge kept an eye on
the whale, which seemed oblivious to
the Philadelphia approach. He did
not signal whether he would go to port
or starboard, and the Philadelphia
kept right on. So did the whale. He
found out too late to alter his course
that it might have been been wiser to
give the right of way to the liner. AS
he turned at right angles with the liner
her stem cut him in halves as cleanly
as a carving knife might divide firkin
of butter. The bow end of him gdsped
a bit and his fiukes were tremulous
awhile. Nobody except the officers
and the lookouts knew anything about
the tragedy, as it made no impression
whatever OH the ship. paragraph In
the wireless paper contained for most
of the passengers the first information
that a whale had been killed.-New
York Sun.
Facts About Lewis and Clark Country
The old Oregon country includes
Washington, Oregon, Idaho and a small
portion of Montana and wyoming.
The state of Washington alone is
larger than the New England states, to-
gether with the state OF Delaware an6
the District of Columbia.
Oregon is larger than New York
Pennsylvania and New Jersey together
The Oregon country is equal in ex-
tent to the Is original states of the un-
ion, which now support a population OF
more than sc, 000, 900 Inhabitants.
The New England states, together
with New York, Pennsylvania New
Jersey and Delaware, had a population
of 81, 231, $50 in 1900, while Washington
and oregon together had but 931, 500.
The combined area of England, Scot.
land, Ireland, Wales, Denmark, Hol
land and Belgium is 1000 square mile:
less than the area of Washington ani
oregon. and these countries have a pop
ulatfon of more than 50,000,000.
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