Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-08-09
Ehpntng Gllat

State Capitol that the great game
bird is the greatest destroyer of po-
tato bugs known in a generation and
instances have been made known
wherein whole potato patches have
been cleared of the pests and many
dollars saved to the owners of the
plants. One Blair county farmer has
been so delighted with what happen
ed that he has written about it to the
State Department of Agriculture so
that his experience can be made
known for the benefit of every one.
For years people were told that quail,
beside affording fine hunting and fin
er eating in the Fall, were the best
friends the farmers had, but many
Game Commission began spending
some of the money paid in for hunt
ers' licenses for quail which were lib
Grated farmers have been jealously
guarding the birds and not permitting
people to hunt on their lands in many
cases. The fact then became known
that the farmers were not hunting
thems elves. The reason was that the
birds had been so useful that Bob
White" had friends who would look
after him. feed him in winter and keep
hunters away in the Fall all because of
the appetite OF the partridge for the
natural enemies Of agriculture.
State Fire Marshal G. Chal Port,
who spent a considerable part of his
early years as detective, looks over
the reports of the fires which pour
into his office with the eye of an OFF,
H..
fires. 1t happened that for some days
no reports came in from the big fire
underwriters headquarters in New
York. Some clerk forgot the Penn
sylvania State mail and an alarm was
sounded. A few mornings later when
Mr.. Port asked for the fire reports he
got about 1900 in bunch.
Two Harrisburg boys. who were in
the High school at the same
time, and who are making good live
in Youngstown, Ohio. They are Frank
Vert, head of the publicity bureau Of
the Mahoning and Shenango system S
railway and light interests, and for
merly connected with the Telegraph,
and John Reese, formerly with the
Pennsylvania Steel company, who is
superintendent of the blast furnaces
of the Republic Iron and Steel COM
pany Mr.. Reese is charter member
of the Rotary club of Youngstown.
Capitol Park squirrels do not ap-
pear to be affected by the weather no
matter how hot it grows. on days
when the air is so hot that the pig
cons sit in the shade of the trees the
squirrels are out racing about and are
as keen for donations as in nnidwin-
ter when there is a foot of snow on
the ground" remarked a lover of the
Capitol Park menagerie. This man re-
marked that the summer coats of fur
appeared to be adapted to whatever
section of the Pennsylvania climate
they happened to strike.
These are the days when the visiting
automobiles line up on the Capitol
plaza and when there are solid rows
for hours at time. Ordinarily the
| guides keep machines moving on the
plaza, but when the summer visitors
start to come around there is nothing
doing in the policing line. The State
Capitol rotunda and the legislative
halls oddly enough have about the
same drawing power as the State mu-
scum, which is becoming more popu-
lar every week.
An interesting story is told among
the older officers of the National Guard
about how General d. McM. Gregg
failed to get into the regular army at
| the close of the Civil war. He was a
West Point graduate and an officer of
the regular army when the war broke
out and his record in the struggle is
| part of the history of the State. When
| the struggle ended certain officers
were recommended for high rank in
! the regular army. There happened to
be two Greggs in the regular army at
! the time and in some way or other the
famous cavalry leader was not rec
commended, although it was fully in
| tended that he should be. His modesty
and retiring disposition led him not to
press his claims, but friends took it
up and the best that could be done
was the rank of captain. The general
preferred private life.
|
Two men connected with the State
government will go to the Plattsburg
training camp next month They are
| Lew r. Palmer, chief inspector who
will go into the camp early in Sep
tember and DIR. B. F. Roger, chief
medical inspector of the department
OF Health, who will be with the medi-
cal men.
The warm weather appeared to
bump the circulation at the Harris
| burg Public Library last month. The
circulation, however, was almost a
thousand ahead of the same month
last year. In July this year there were
$3.50 books circulated, seventy-five
per cent. being fiction, while last July
there were 1866. eighty per cent. be-
ing fiction.
The Rev. DIR. T. C. Billheimer, who
was taken i'll here a few days ago, is
one of the distinguished men of the
Lutheran church. He has been con-
nected with the Gettysburg seminary
! for many years and many prominent
clergymen have taken his lectures.