davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The day book., 1912-03-29

4lOuSC, Il1OuSllL LC HCdLd IllC WIN
of Angels singing "Old Folks at
Home" " By gum" he muttered,
never heard anything to hit the
spot like that"
He fingered until Deacon Cobb
and Wilkins, the banker, came
UP, when the song changed to
"Old Kentucky Home"
my favorite air." commented
the deacon, and comm right out
of the heart, too. Wonder who's
singin'."
Within 20 minutes half the
Union congregation stood with
out the abode of Toombs, the
poor timer. Some were in tears,
some were lost in tender revery-
all we're struck to the heart by the
wonderfully sympathetic notes of
the angel-voiced singer. Then
the door opened, and a dainty,
sweet-faced slip of woman
emerged.
"The play-actressp' murmured
Deacon Cobb. "Well, I'm for her
all right"
'FMe, too" seconded Wilkins,
the banker. "She can't be all bad
to sing good-heart songs like
that
: And all the Union congrega-
ton sounded sonorous. "Arnenr' p
But : from an upper window
there came the hoarse tones of
.Tommbs, the timer.
Hey, you stiff necks! There
goes an angel what is an angel.
Fall down and worship-d'ye,
hear?"
-0-O
The day book., 1912-03-29
ABOUT PEOPLE.
The very trying position of
minister of foreign affairs for the

Austrian Hungar-
ian empire is now
b e in g file d by
Count Id
Berchtold. 1t will.
fall upon his shout
.derS to preserve.
peace among the
hotheads of south
eastern E ur pc,
The day book., 1912-03-29

1t would do Chicago lots more
good if the politicians would quit
making speeches and take shovels
and broorns and clean the streets.
The day book., 1912-03-29

where little nations are constant
ly suspicious of each other. and
of Austrian interference.
The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1912-09-15
Horticulture

have been visited with more butter
flies than usual this season. Inclos-
ed please find two specimens. |
would like to know if they are the
moths. They we're in the act Of
breeding on the raspberry canes.
1t may be surprise to many of our
readers TO know that our scientists
make a distinction between butter
flies and moths. They all belong to
the same order and are called by
scientists 'lepidoptera, word that
indicates that the flies have scales
on their wings. Those that fly IN the
day time are called butterflies and
those that fly at night are called
moths; butterflies are designated as
diurnal and the moths nocturnal.
There is a third class designating
those that fly In the twilight. Friend
Cutter can see the difficulty he pre-
sents in asking If these butterflies are
the moths Perhaps he may wish to
know if they are the cooling moths.
They are not codling moths; they are
much too large for those insects. L
know the codling moth so we'll that L
have no difficulty in identifying it.
But [ am not good enough ento-
mologist to say just what class these
specimens belong. AS rule neither
butterflies nor moths do any harm;
that is, not in the stage in which they
fly about whether by day or night.
There are four stages of all these in
sects, viz, the egg stage, the larva
stage, the pupae stage and the fly
stage. 1t is In the larval stage that
the insect does any harm. 1t is only
the larva of the codling moth that
damages the apples, likewise only the
Iarva of the cutworm that hurts the
garden truck, and so on. Ii friend
Cutter can determine what the larval
stage of these butterflies or moths is,
then if be will spray with some arseni
The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1912-09-15

the best protection and encouragement
in recognition of their rank as the
chief enemies OF the pest. "
In view of what has been presented
how foolish it is to allow boys to go
about in our orchards shooting the
birds. Iwould not recommend shoot
ing the boys but it they will not de-
sist after being duly warned, | would
recommend the leather strap and the
woodshed.
The lower Yakima valley has been
confessedly bad place for the codl-
ing moth. L was one among the first
below Parker bottom to engage in
fruit growing. When we went in
there 81 years ago, the whole country
for many miles below was treeless
stretch of sage brush plains. There
was a narrow strip of timber along
the Yakima river some distance away.
AS there was no timer there were no
birds. 1t did not occur to US that
the great abundance of the codling
moth had any connection with the
absence of birds. At first we had no
codling moths but about sixteen years
The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1912-09-15

ago this insect made its first appear
ance and from year to year multipli-
ed enormously. We depended on
spraying and banding the trees in
order to curtall the ravages of this
pest. 1t never occurred to us that
we needed the help of the birds in
this fight but now we do realize this
need and are thankful that birds are
becoming more numerous. A good
many we'll meaning people are still
shooting the birds because forsooth
they eat few cherries. We must
learn better and hail the birds as our
friends.
l would like to speak of the lady
birds as our friends but can not take
space but for a few remarks. These
beautiful insects, so appropriately
named, do our trees and plant>B DO
harm for they live mostly On the
various species of the aphides. My
advice is, learn to know these beetles
and never killaany of them.
| would like to speak Of the benef-
cial forms of bacteria and fungi but
will take them up some other time.
The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1912-09-15

cal poison such as Paris green or
arsenate of lead he can kill these
worms. These butterflies he sends
me look very much like those of an
insect that works on the cabbage. If
they are it would not do to spray the
cabbage with poison for then 1t would
not be safe to use it for food. | think
it very doubtful about these butter
flies being about to breed on rasp-
berry canes. There is an insect known
as the snowy tree cricket that breeds
on, or more properly, in the raspberry
canes by puncturing the canes with
holes. | have not yet seen any of
these insects on the Pacific Coast.
We had them in Iowa and we destroy
ed them by cutting and burning tho
punctured canes. The eggs of this
insect we're deposited in the canes IN
the latter part of the summer but did
not hatch out till the next spring.
The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1912-09-15
FRIENDS AND ENEMIES.


In writing about friends and
enemies | do not mean those that be-
long to the human race, but those
that belong to the bird aud insect
races. How very common is the idea
that all birds, insects, bacteria and
fungi must be treated as enemies.
Never was greater mistake. The "boy
with a gum is often worse enemy
to the fruit grower than birds.
know that now and then a robin eats
cherry and once in great while we
find an apple that has been pecked by
bird. But we can we'll afford to
pay Mr.. Robin with few cherries for
the good he has done. If it we're not
for the help Of the birds we could
scarcely raise crop of good apples.
We know that the codling moth causes
US to pay heavy tribute evey year
on account of it's ravages, but If it
were not for birds that destroy the
larvae the damage would be very
much more, in fact it is doubtful
whether we could raise enough salable
apples to pay expenses.
iu the Yearbook of the Department
of Agriculture for 1911 Is to be found
an article entitled ''Bird Enemies of
the Cooling Moth This article
covers nearly II pages and is crowd
ed full of valuable facts showing to
what extent birds reduce the mum Der
of larvae and pupae of the codling
moth A few quotations from this
article Will show what the birds are
doing for us in this respect. On page
245 we read: "Birds are recognized
as the most effective natural enemies
of the codling moth. In some local
tiles they destroy from 66 to IS per
cent of the alternating larvae and
their work in large mesure accounts
for the small spring broods of the in
sect. This annual reduction in the
number OF the pest is very valuable
factor in it's control Thirty SIX
species of birds are known to prey
upon the codling moth in the United
States. These species belong to 13
families of which the most important,
so far as number of species is con-
cerned, are the woodpeckers, titmice
and sparrows.
The woodpeckers actually dig
through the bark under which the
larvae are making their winter homes
and devour them. During the past
winter we had our hands 60 over our
entire apple orchard and scale off the
rough bark on the bodies and dig into
the crevices in the forks of the trees.
1t was surprising to see how many
birds-many of them robins-weIe
following the scalers hunting for
worms. They would turn over the
bark scales and devour every worm
they could find.
One way that our scientific men
find out how many insects birds de-
YOUR is to kill a few of them and
examine their stomachs. The Year
book just quoted says on page 242:
"Ten stomachs of the last named
species California bush tit), examin-
ed by Prof. F. e. l.. Beal, contained
% per cent of the pupae of the codI-
ing moth. Eight of these stomachs
were of nestlings, containing pupae
as follows: Two stomachs contained
two each; two contained three each !;
one contained four; one seven; one
nine and one IL, making Al in all, or
an average of over five EACH"
This article, from which L have
been quoting, after full survey of
the field ends as follows: "The
amount of good done varies in differ
ent cases and admittedly the bird
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-04

canal, being turned in by the French at
a valuation of s7,000.000. The last
French company had bought 1t from the
De Lesseps organization for eighteen
millions, but when we figured out the
values of the isthmian property it was
put down at seven millions. and it has
been carried on the books at that sum-
Nevertheless, its assets have steadily
grown, until they are now over $25,-
900, 900, and the company today has a
surplus of almost twelve millions
Moreover. the traffic and the profits
are steadily increasing. The freight
tonnage last year showed a gain of
more than 20 per cent, and the number
of passengers was per cent more than
In 1910.
1t Has Earned Millions
The Panama railroad has always
been a pAing institution. It began to
yield dividends as soon as the first rails
were laid. and for more than a genera
tion it proved to be a gold mine to its
owners II was started by an Ameri-
can company at the time that the Cali
fornia gold excitement was at its
height, and before the forty-seven
miles which formed the first track was
completed IL had earned 100000.
Within four years after that It's earn
ings were $S2,000000, which was four
times what the road cost to construct,
ana IL mas kept on paying LOT 1tSell
again and again. 1t has always charged
well for its services. Beginning
with it's opening In 1855, its freight
rates were something like s160 per ton.
or more than SO per ton per mile, and
passengers paid. S25 for single ticket
which took them from one side of the
isthmus to the other. These rates pre-
vailed for about thirty years.
Think of paying $25 for a fifty-n1ile
inurnaUf Tba 10 than IN
cents a mile. At the same charge 1t
would cost you sf16 to go from New
York to Boston, and the fare to Chicago
would be $3.50. The cost across the
continent on the railroad would be
$1,000, and at the present rate of fast
travel it would cost something like SIS
an hour to ride on the cars. Today the
frst-class rate on Uncle Sans road is
about cents mile. and second-class
passengers pay cents, while mileage
books cost you II cent more per mile
than in the United States. sNotwith-
standing all this, the isthmus is hot
so every one rides.
Across the Isthmus By Railroad
We can buy first-class tickets from
Colon to Panama for about $3.50 and we
shall take a run over the road before We
look into its manag cement. We shall take
the new line which is now being con-
structed to go around Gatun lake, high
above the canal level The old track ran
through the bed of the lake and 1t has
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-04

again we see hills and ridges not unlike
those of the Blue Ridge.
Going on, we pass many little towns
composed of mere shacks, and at Guile
bra and Empire find the great buildings of
the canal and the homes of the employees.
little further on we see Cucuracha and
Paradise and then stop at Pedro Miguel,
where there Is q big engine yard and
round house. Here are locss connecting
the So foot level with the Mirafiores lake.
and the next stop beyond it at Mirafiores
itself, where the ships make their final
descent to the Pacific sea level. We then
go on through the one tunnel Of the line,
and leaving the canal route, cross level
ground to Panama, the capital of the re-
public. There is branch road running
on to Balboa, but here the line practically
ends. the two towns OF Panama and An
con being Joined together almost in front
of the station.
AS we stop we look at our watches.
We have been just about two hours cross
ing the isthmus, and have come through
on time, the rate of travel being about
rs miles per hour. There are three or four
passenger trains each way daily. but more
on Sunday. due to the fact that that Is a
holiday, when the canal employees ride
back and forth visiting their friends.
A Train Every Four Minutes
In trip like this one gees something of
the enormous traffic which Is going on In
the isthmus. In addition to the Panama
railway proper, are the construction
roads of the canal which are sending riv-
ers of earth and rock out to the dumps on
Lidgerwood cars. There are so many
trains that the tracks actually seem to be
moving. This is so both ON the CONNER
cial road and on the excavation lines. AL
together something like 5000, cars are In
use and the engines number more than
400. There arc 27 trains which are always
ut work carrying out coarse rock from
Culebra to Gatun and there is great
number which are moving out toward
Balboa.
Altogether the average Is $50 trains
every day, which Is equal to one train
every four minutes, day and night, all the
year through. These trains go all the
time, with the exception of Sundays and
it seems to me that the commercial road
Is almost MS busy at night as in the day
time. 1t has cold storage train at 1
o'clock In the morning and another train
at 3. 1t has a regular work train at $3.50.
starting out from Ancon. and another an
hour later, which is filled wlthtclerks, Of
ficials and tourists Every one gets up
early here. and girls wno have never seen
the sun rise are crawling out of their beds
these hot mornings even before he comes
up in order that they may have chance
to see the canal.
At present. in addition to the regular
traffic, we have what are called the rub
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-04
"ELsIE LINDTNER.'

'ELSIE IINDTNER'
BY Karin Michaelis Stangeland. Author
lied translation by Beatrice Marshall.
The John Lane Company.
THE Dangerous Age" which Karin
Michaelis Stangeland gave to the liter
airy world short time ago is now fol-
lowed up by a sequel entitled ELSIE
Lindtner," which, like the former book,
is written in a series of letters.
THE Dangerous Age" which presents
an abnormal psychological condition in
life of middle aged women, IS a wild, I'M
natural dissertation Oh this subject, deal
ing with the heroine, Elsie Lindtner di-
vorcing her husband. whom she declared
bored her with his interminable descrip-
tons and his whole middle-cass outlook"
and taking refuge on a solitary island.
where her lover Malthe had designed
and built wonderful house, not knowing
1t was for her.
ELSIE Lindtner' follows up the circum-
stances of 1.-The Dangerous Age when
the woman has been dealt a telling blow
by the young architect lover, who shows
her plainly that her age is slowly but
surely developing rapidly and is a terrible
thing against her, and after she makes
ventures to her husband (who, by the
way, has married in the meantime 4
mere chit of 1879, repulses her TO the
utmost degree, she decides to ave her
niue lslauu nome anu 30 20 = v ilca.
She lands in New York and the best
part of Elsie Lindtner'' Is the part deal
ing with the authors description of the
metropolis and the society women ana
the clubs and Elsie's part in the whole.
She adopts a little street urchin
"Kelly," whom she is told in the begin
ming is a born double-dyed criminal"
but in whom She becomes greatly inter
ested.
In the meantime her faithful companion,
the red-headed Jeanne, who was really
quite a human and interesting sort of
character IN THE Dangerous Age" has
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-04

long since been swallowed up by the
waters held back by the dam. The new
road is we'll built, being equipped with 80
pound rails and for the most part with
ties of mahogany and lignum vitae, which
are the only ties that will withstand the
wood-eating ants. There are some hard
wood ties in the present road. That wood
is SO tough that the spikes cannot be
driven without holes are first bored for
them. They are put In with special bor-
ing machines, and patent tie plates and
screw spikes are in use. The telegraph
poles are of steel to withstand the white
ants.
The cars are excellent. The first-cass,
where we ride, has rows of wicker seats
on each side of the aisle that runs through
the center, and there Is room for two pas
sengers on each seat We find the cars
filled, and that with pay passengers.
Going on to the second class. we find
them crowded with silver employees most
ly negroes. The seats here run under the
windows. like those of a street car, and
as result about double the number are
carried. The conductors are whites. "A
careful record is made of the tickets at
both ends of the journey. There are gates
through which you must go to enter the
cars and turnstiles through which you
pass out when you leave tho turminal sta
ton. The number of passengers is thus
registered, and the officials know exactly
how many people travel each day.
A Scenic Route
But the train has left Colon and crossed
over to the Mount Hope reservoir, which
supplies that city with water. II goes by
great warehouses holding supplies for the
canal and then begins the scenery which
makes 1t one of the picturesque routes of
the continent. We pass a wide. grassy
plain which was formerly infested with
tapirs and deer, and thence rise into the
hills of Gatun. where one can see the
great locks on the right The road now
turns and cuts around Gatun lake. which
is in view for a great part of the Journey.
The roadbed has been built 10 feet above
the surface of the lake, and 1t is now on
the IS foot level throughout the main part
of the way. On the right we can see the
great sheet of water with its many
islands, and in the.future one will be able
to look at the ships going through.
The vegetation on both sides of the
road Is tropical. There are palm trees
and bamboos and fern trees as tall as
one-story cottage. Some of the trees
have magnificent foliage, being covered
with blossoms of the brightest OF red,
yellow and blue. Some of them are loaded
with orchids. and others are bearded with
jungle like that of the Himalaya foot
hills above the plains of the Ganges, and
In other places the country is open, and
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-04
Textbook SHELF
BY THE BIBLIoPHILE

| left Elsie and is In Paris. She has met
Malthe. tho former lover OF her mistress.
and their relations are the subject of
much comment and talk throughout the
book.
Little is heard of Torp and the gardener,
who were both rather interesting char
acters in the former book while many
of the pages are taken up with repetitions
of Lii Rothe's love letters (Which We're
never sent and Magma Wellmann and
her performances.
Altogether Elsie Lindtner'' adds very
little glory to the writer's fame, and while
quite as readable as the "The Dangerous
Age" neither can be said to embody any
wholesome or normal thoughts-only a
| curious and abnormal view on subject
| that is quite impossible.
"a CAPTAIN UNAFRAID."
/ 1.-THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF
| DYNAMITE JOHNNY O'BRIEN, AS
| SET DOWN BY HORACE SMITH.
| Illustrated, Harper Brothers, New York.
! No story OF recent years brings with IT.
more daring and brilliancys more humor
| and shrewdness than A Captain I'm
afraid" which is "Ths Strange Adven-
lures of Dynamite Johnny O'Brien," as
set down by Horace Smith.
The whole story savors of an ancient
| classical fable. so marvellous Is 1t IN
the telling and so astonishing is It In he
reading, yet 1t is a story of very modern
history told by an eve witness-a partic-
ipant-who not only had the courage OF
his convictions and the daring to carry
| them out Dir spite of the fact that his
! own government spent many million dol
| lars in endeaVoring TO stop him, and who
also has the wit and keen sense of humor
| to tell them in most delightful ard
| charming manner--making an unusually
clever book which large class of read-
ers will no doubt appreciate
| or Captain Dynamite Johnny O'Brien' s
The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-04

OoLoN. PANAMA.--Unole Sans
l . railway.
Yes, the title is right. Uncle Sam
owns a railway and it is one of the
prettiest, busiest and best managed
lines of the world. It has more traffic
in proportion to its length than any
road owned by any other government.
and it is paying better than any other
railway system of the United States.
Tt is a beehive of industry which stores
Up honey of liquid gold. The line earned
last year more than sl,700.o00 which
according to the width of the territory
1t covers was more than $4,000 mile.
The main track of this road is less
than fifty miles long. 1t begins here
at Colon and runs across the Isthmus
of Panama, slSirting the canal. and end
ing at Balboa, our new port on the Pa
cific. A part of Ii is double tracked,
and it has switches and other construc-
ton at the terminals, which give 1t
total length of 1913 miles, but even TAX
ing them into consideration II is doing
more business, venture, than any 9TH
er railroad under the sun. 1t took in
last year. more than Sc, 900 600. and its
freight traffic amounted to more than
1.5NO.000 tons. 1t carried almost $780,
600 passengers. And all this was out
side the work done on the construction
tracks of the Panama canal.
The Panama railroad is run as
commercial proposition, and Uncle Sam
Keeps his tracks in the Culebra cut and
elsewhere on a separate account sheet.
He has hundreds of miles of other roads
on the canal zone, but the Panama rail-
way proper is government road,
which charges fares to every one who
goes over 1t and makes every ton of
freight pay Its tolls.
A Government Enterprise Which Pays
But first let me tell you how the
railroad Is managed and something
more of the enormous profits it makes.
The president is Col George w. Goe-
thals, the chief engineer of the canal,
and the first vice president is Mr.. e. A.
Drake, who has his headquarters In
New York Mr.. Drake has been con-
neeted with the institution for many
years and is one of it's most valuable
employees. In addition, we have Engi-
neer Commissioner Hodges as the sec
erintendent and the man who has his
hands on the wheels, and Mr.. j. A.
Smith. who has under him a full corps
of engineers, mechanics and transport
tation officials, and the usual machin-
cry which belongs to the management
of any great railroad.
All of the officers are appointed by
Uncle Sam, and with the exception of
one or two shares all the stock belongs
TO him. 1t came to the government
through our purchase of the Panama