ETI CTT AUN AAAI RAN RT. ~ that a decisive battle musttake place. | > STRIKE A TELLING BLOW AT GERMANY'S ARMIES, The Grand Duke's Strategic Scheme Is Complete --German War Lords Have Likely Read Their Fate Cor- rectly. ~ Pétrograd, Dee, pears 10° be some wisapprehension about the Czenstochowa-Cracow front. It'covers about 70 miles To 17<Thera ap- "and is thoroughly well Gerved with -oo Presumably. after stragetic railways - in various direc- tions. At the very opening of the war, the first thing the Germans did was to seize Czenstochowa, turn it into a German township, and erect] The work, with the' fortifications. - of pressed labor of local peasants, as been in progress ever since. The ortifications rum along the line some miles east of Czenstochowa and Cracow, and take every advantage of the naturally adapted country. Lines of hills, isolated heights and broken country, generally provide an ideal foundation for defensive works in many parallel lines and tiers, Noth- ing has been omitted which science could suggest to perfect the new | German stronghold. | four months' work everything is ready now, and the Germans have secured for them-! selves a useful place d'armés on 'Rug-| sian territory. Such a stronghold can easily be held with third rate troops if attack-| ed, but the Russian commander-in- cheif, in leaving the Germans quite unmolested to complete their ar- rangements, knew perfectly well! what he was going to do with it.' There is not at present any intention, of attacking this German strong-!| hold. Germany has reached the, stage where she cannot afford toy lock up first line. troops in this place d'arnmies in order to make an| attack thence at a favorable oppor-| tunity, as they are too badly needed| elsewhere; and inferior troops will! not effect anything against the Rus-| sian armiés if they quit the strong- hold. Therefore the greater part! of the so-called Czenstochowa-Cra- | cow 'front remains a dead letter so) long as the.initiative is with the Rus- sians, We come now to the main area of operations of the whole ians, namely, what is now of esignated®as south of Cracow. | i8 here that both sides have settled | front from the Baltic to the F | » | t Grand Duke Nicholas, indeed, has! aimed for this since the war began, | as I have mapy times 'hinted. The | Germans hoped to compel his with-| drawal from the main object of his | strategic scheme by_.invading Poland | a first time, then a second time and | now, finally, by throwing enormous | reinforcements into action in Poland. | The Russians bore all these at-| tacks, and inflicted serious defeats! on the German armies, without los- . ing their grip upon the main strate-| gle scheme. At last Germany sent large forces down are now, in the picttiresque language of the official bulletin, "spotted | about the Austrian forces," an an-| nouncement which, from all we hear, i is the reverse of likely to improve | the-fighting value of either, Ger- many, of course, is in command. > Within the next week, the great battle 'which is now heralded hy manoeuvreing of large forces on both sides will open the decisive period of | the campaign and clear the way for| the jovasion of Germany along the line which the grand duke's strate-| gy has schemed for during the long months, What has happened in those months is the guarantee for) what will happen now and there are many little signs that the German | war lords already have read their fate correctly. Length of Exposure Depends on Prox- imity of Dark Objects. Outing Magazine. In taking photographs of snow] scenes or water, in which trees and| darker objects are near, the expos-| ure should be determined for the darker objects, and should not be cut down to the quarter of the time on! aceount of the snow or water, Hi detail is to be preserved in them, | hold out the strong blue and violet | rays with a ray-screen. { The exposure should be cut down only when snow, sea or sky make up, the balk line of the picture and oth- er objects are absent or their detail is unimportant. It should be remem-! bered that the purpose of the ray-| screed is that of an equalizer, to kill | the preponderant effect of the blue and violent rays while you are expos- ing for the less active ones from oth-| er parts of the picture. Lighting Christmas Candles. Rochester Express.' . The. suggestion is made that a light- ed candle be placed in our windows on Christmas. eve, symbol of the | Star of Bethlehem, to keep alight in | our hearts the deep significance of the event that yuletide brings to mfm- | ory. is a good suggestion. In these days when the world is tending - to become commercialized and we live #0 much upon the surface of life, we are all too 1 to lose sight of much that the istmastide ancient- lv commemorated and have only the empty outer husk of the festival leit. | We our bells, hang up our gar- lands, ifts, our tapers twinkle fair," as one has | sung, "and feast and frolic; then | we back to the same old lives , ined) the i His prime minister, however, M. 4e little boy, st 08 QUENCHING BURNING OIL. ) mn i i New Apparatus Is Invented To Put { Ouse Flames, Pupular Mechanics Magazine, when any considerable quantity 'of oil, particulardy gasoline, catches thing Gerald Mannersley was craving fire, the result is usualy the worst for --a sense of home. kind of fire there is and the hardest! A few lines read accidentally in an to put ouf. Combinations of eliemi-| put-of-date newspaper had made him cals have béeu invented that can be, restless with longing for the old made to form' a foam over the sur-|sédnes. And 80 he had traveled face of the oil and smother the flame, two days and nights in a sleeper, va- hat the greatest difficulty has been! guely connecting his journey's end in applying these chemicals quickly, with all the love and friendship: his and effectively. An apparatus recent-, starved nature was demanding. ly favented apparently solves this! , When he arrived at his old club on problem and provides means foria chill, grey Chriftmas morning, it extinguishing such fire automatically was only to find that fifteen years' and withif"a few seconds after the!silent absence had been too sevese a fire starts, | test for friendship. © The place was The chemicals are placed in stand-enipty of all but servants, and -they pipes arranged around the side of wore strange unwelcoming faces. A Yule Tide The club looked jyst the very str ucting the jhe We bid! ® 3 the tank and having their outlets projecting over the surface of the oil. Wires with fusible links at the centers are stretched across the tank and the whole installation is simply left in place as a guard against possible fire. As long as the wires are taut the apparatus "is inoperative. In case of fire the links are fused, the wires drop and the apparatus that mixes the chemi- cals and discharges them through the outlets of the standpipe is set in operation. AN ABLE GENERAL. King Albert Never Posed As Mii- 55 tary Genius ALBERT, KING OF BELGIANS King Albert never posed as a mili- tary genius or expert befere the be- ginning of the present conflict, and { was far more occupied in the econo- mic and social development of his population than with army matters. Put although his eapital, Brusseis, apd his chief stronghold, Antw:p arc in the hands of the Germans he shown himself a far seneral than the Kaiser, 'For with his small army, in '! fac overwhelming odds, both in numbers and armament, he, oy passage of the Ger nan invasion of France through Belgium, fri strated Emperor William g ,lans of ol outh, and they|of securing possession of Paris by the | middle of August, and indeed is re sponsible for the complete failure of the entire German campaign in iance France, Great Britain and Russia, th three great powers who are , are very deeply indebted the successful and resourceful eraiship which he has ¢inte the Germans tory, all to gen- displayed ever invaded his ter and under the circumstances 5 particularly appropriate that | he should be George with E der of the rte in France, within the sound of German heavy artillery. it is the first 6ceasion in all the Jove history of the order, dating back some 600 years, of a knight of ywrder having received its insig- n n the actual scene of war. invested King Or- by yland's ancient the WARE IS AN ART, tathier Than a Says Gen. Jofire, Science tH ¥ IAL JOFFE a Ad ording France's able com- marder-iu-chief, Generalissimo Jof- fre, who has won for himself world wide fame since the beginning of ! esent war, he who decides in matters should belong to no He declares that war is an _ art rather a science, and that if a civi- Y happens to possess this art, he ddan Mav prove a far more successful ¢oaimander than the man who has lrarred his knowledge of war as « sci-nee, General Joffre is, 1 believe, the first professional soldier who bas ever admitted this fact, and he admission during the 'utioe ofa discussion on the clever- ness shown by King Albert in the leadership of his gallant little army. 1 seems that when the war broka oat, King Albert hesitated about qu. - ramng Yhe effective leadership his troops, modestly declaring that he vas not a strategist, and expres- give his fears of making a mistake Broqueville, reassured him, and id- vie 4 him to always hear what luis i" and then to mak Lis vi his | » on the battlefields | He stood at the club window, look- ing out on the desolate, deserted (street which he had always remem- 'bered as being thronged, and a great +gadness swept over him. |* This was not what he { From his pocket he drew out scrap of paper ,which had really brought him so many miles, and looked at it bitterly. It was only a death announcement cut from a pa- per of a year ago, and ran in the us- ual way ---"Michael Townley, at his residence." ete, In fancy he saw a sweet-faced mai- den, who sought her happiness only in the eyes of the youth by her side. There. were joy-bells there, too, as they left the church with the frag- rance of mutual love about them. The bells pealed on outside, and willing fancy led him still further into the realm of "might Bave been." In an instant he made up his mind to visit oncé more the ola-tasnioned cottage not many miles away, to which he had hoped fifteen years be- fore to take a bride. He would go and see it, even if its neglected con- dition only added to his loneliness and pain. ' Two hours later he was striding through the crisp country air along a winding path which led to a ram- bling ivy-covered cottage. As the last turn brought him in sight of the house he stopped in sur- prise. He had expected to see dirt, ruin, and decay, but instead he look- ed upon a trim, well-kept cottage, and a soft, crooning song, in a voice which reawakened the tender memo- ries of long ago, came floating thro' the unlatched door. Half believing that it must be fancy leading him still, he entered the house softly, and, following the voice, went into the inner room, and stood in the glow of thé warm fire- | light. I'he sweet, tired-faced, middle ag- jed singer turned as his shadow fell across thelight, and then stood white and trembling, "Gerald!" she whispered. "Gerald, have you come to reproach me? Not to-day! Not to-day!" wanted, the | he held out his arms. 'Nance!" he cried joyfully. i In a moment she was crushed' sob- bing, to his breast. "Oh, Gerald, is it really you? God {is very good. I thought you niust he | dead For several moments they stood | thus, the strong man's tears falling on her greytinged hair. Then he gently put her into a chair. "You are not alone?" he asked as his eyes caught sight of a little table i laid. for two, daintly spread with { Christmas fare. "Yes," she answered. alone 1 have often here.' "But you are expecting somebody? he said, calling attention to the table. She flushed prettily, looking al- most as young as she had in his dreams of the morning, as she re- plied: "1 was expecting yeu, Gerald." He smiled happily at her; then | the smile faded, and he sighed as he sank into a chair. "This is all foolishness, Nance,' 'he said sadly. 'You could not live here in the old days, you could do | #0 less now, and I could not live {here on another man's thousands'. | A smile hovered over the woman's | as she flitted here and there; i | "I am quite come down busily preparing things for a meal. Then she slipped behind a chair and {leaning over whispered with burning j Cheeks: "Perhaps. you do not know, Ger- ald, that---that Mr. Trowley"s money goes back to his family if--if I marry again." The man sprang to his feet and toek her into his strong arms again. "It is not too late," he cried. "We are still young. Will you let me try to make you happy?" , Her answer was drowned in the burst of Christmas bells that pealed from the village church close by. But-he did not need her words: he could see her eyes. COMPOSING ROOM RITES, No Hurry to Go to Press in Newspa- - per Office. Boston Transcript The céremony of propitiating the gods which are supposed to reside in ithe printing machinery is annually performed by the Hindoo members of The Times of Malaya printing staff, The usual prosaic machine and composing rooms are turned in- (to weird caversis of mystery, dimly {lit by candles: and oil lamps, and | odorous with the heavy scent of in- cense and perfumes | « Every machine garlanded, and has placed before it an offering of i "makan." Rice and bananas and cakes are the portion of each ma- ; chine, according to its size and im- i portance, even the "stone" comes in for a share of the gifts. | At the appointed time. baziers con- taining smoking camphor and coaco- anut oil are carried around. Wad held before each machine; whilst the pow- j= 'cugine, whose god presumably is regarded as a particularly aggressive ! persanage, is "smoked" for a special- ad long period. is "Don't believe it!" said the first looking at the contents bill, which said: . A KAISER IN A TRENCH, . "Dunng," said the secomd,™*F 4 7 { The strong man's voice broke as rors ESS AT TELEPHONE INDICATES REAL CHARACTER hee Women Apt to Show Ii-Bred Man- "ners in Wire Conversation With Members of Own Sex. New, York Sun. "f don't understand why anybody is inipolite over the phone," remaurk- el # woman visiting in New York, "unless he is cowardly or unless the like wine, brings out the real of peopl nd I espec- ould be and dear friend of mine whom I had not seen in years had married and come to New York to live. Her mar- ried name was Blankleigh, let us say, but 1 did not know her husband's 4initiais and I had no idea where she lived. It was my first visit to New {York and I wanted to see wer. "My only hope was that she was in the telephone book, and to "it 1 went, I found =ix Benkleighs, any one of whom might be she, bu: which one? it was for me to find out and I began with the first one. "1. asked for Mrs. Blankieigh and je receiver. 1 aoplogiz-. why I had called' sn't and rang off was something awiul "Tha following three were vari ants of the first, not much better and not any worse. Only one of them was a man and he just laughed and said there wasn't any.Mrs. Blankleigh in his hevee at present, but if I----and then I rang off. 3 "The fifth was the one I sought and 1 don't have to seek any further. Now I am thinking whether or not to call up the sixth and see if she is any more polite and considerate than the others And 4 oxida hmve hots just ag easy to have been po! Aan nite about tried to help me, Inherited. "What I can't understand about Billy Wiggles is why, with such a splendid, manly man for a father, Billy should be so effeminate," said Dubbleigh. dia ¥ "Why, it's simple enough," aid Slathers. "His mother was a wo- man." --Judge, : 3 _ The Martyr. He died that another might live! . Shall we s¢ieve for him? No, nota. For the eagle-eyed 'd scorer will give = The batter tos Listen 3 3