The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-04-16

| Repairs he the basket harness
F1 Mlt m q Ia LITE lie piece OF Irvine:
win decoys OF latest type;
MINDS the matches and tobacco
And the fragrant corncob pipe.
/ But the days are long and weary
Wn en- the fever's in the blood.
For the spring time and the flood;
When the Kit Is packed and ready,
| And the patient angler dreams
VI the sunshine on the meadows
And the sport along the streams.
| New York Press.
How Lincoln Won.
| often convention does no more
| than obey the mandate of the people,
as in the nominations Of Grant Nc
kinIey, and Roosevelt, McClellen, TIL
den. and Cleveland. Quite often, how
ever the choice is not developed until
| the delegates come together This
was true of the nominations of Lincoln,
hayes. Garfield. Harrison, and Bryan.
Those names are the products Of the
convention system, although it would
De mistake to assume that they were
the spontaneous choice Of the delegates
assembled In open convention. Most Of
them represent rather compromises Il
secret conferences behind the doors of
hotel rooms.
| Even Garfield, who seemed to be
acclaimed by the cheering thousands
OF the Chicago convention of 1880 and
| to be nominated in a wild stampede,
probably owed his honors to orders
which came over the wire from Blaine's
house in Augusta.
| TIE list Of presidents who have been
proposed to the country by conven-
tons, rather than by the voice Of pub
| lie opinion, bears the names of Polk,
Pierce, Lincoln, Hayes, Garfield. and
Harrison.
The discovery and nomination Of LIN
colE entitle the convention system to a
| large credit mark. Uutil the dele
| gates got together at Chicago in 1860
he was distanced in the race by Seward
| and could not possibly have won the
honor except in convention.
| The methods which were employed
to nominate him, however, illustrate
the evils Of convention practices. If
| he himself had been on the scene and
conducting his own campaign, it is un-
| likely that he would have been chosen.
| Apparently he owed his success to the
| trades made by friends who played the
game untrammeled by the scruples
which governed him even in his most
| active and earnest contests.
| On the day before he was nominated,
he took pains to send a special messen-
| ger to his representatives at Chicago
with this written admonition, Make no
contracts that will bind me-" The
COulIdCtS were IIlduo, II,
| and Lincoln, in much distress Of spirit
kept the pledges of his agents, two Of
which were for seats in the cabinet
for Cameron of Pennsylvania and
Smith. of Indiana.-Boston Globe.
Early Legends on Coins.
The custom of engraving some refer
ence to the Deity on coins is quite an old
one. Hebrew coins before the Christian
era had Inscriptions of religious tenor,
J,nv~ r-s< ~fn%f
anity used the cross as an emblem on
coins, where formerly pagan types ap-
peared. Several hundred years ago
English Kings began to stamp their
faces and names on the CONS with the
assurance that they were kings by the
grace Of God" and that custom still pre-
honor God, however. as to Justify them
selves, and the same language has been
used in every European nation: Two
were stamped with the Latin for
Blessed be the name of the Lord,s' but
this did not become general.
James VI of Scotland 800 years ago in
| scrihed on his coins the legend, Save
thy people, o Lord showing a genuine
| religious sentiment. and in 1884 the New
coins Of the New World, had the words.
| God preserve New England" Strange
| to say, our national coinage aid not make
about forty years ago. though the Nor
| mons as long ago as 1s49 ISSUE a series
Of coins from $3.50 to go. on each Of
Lord" Beginning with 1864 the old
| bronze 2-cent piece introduced the simple
and appropriate words, In God we
our coins since.-Punxsutawn Pa.,)
| Spirit.
A Curious Musical Box.
| In the south Kensington museum in
London is 9, curious musical box. 1t was
| originally the property of Tipu Cor Tip
poo) Sahib, the Tiger of Mysore,' who
died in 1899, being killed during the Brit
the British. and to show his enmity he
| had this instrument constructed. The
| box is a Hfe-sized statuary group show
ing the symbolic tiger of India at the
| British officer. When Tipu wished to
| amuse his court, one of his attendants
turned handle. when the tiger. emitted
horrible growls and the man raised and
| lowered his arm and uttered terrifying
shrieks. Inside the tiger are four rows
of pipes and a set of ivory keys, which
| ture.-Chicago News.
| Woman Sets Pace for walkers.
! After all, Weston is not tho only cham
Accomplished a5 the feat Of walking from
| Dublin to Cork, 161 miles, in record time
| for a woman She made a wager that
she could accomplish the feat in forty
| weather had been good, she would have
done So She said. after her arrival in
| Cork, that in good weather she could do
| the distance in forty-six hours, and
would try again. The plucky walker was
less than three-quarters Of an hour be-
| hind her schedule.-New York Press.
South Sea islanders Claim.
B. Curran, formerly a member OF
| Parliament, said that South Sea is
| 1ordor xuIor1 traVo1av had hrOy1 CHR