bd Reran Bhandds i Skill in Difficult 'Task. When David A. Thomas came to America from Exigland in 1915 to pur- chase munitions for the -- British armies he was a commoner. He had won a high place in commercial life as La coal sales agent and as a managing director of Welsh coal mines. is success in seeuring munitions was fol- lowed by his elevation to the peerage as a baron when he returned home. He took the title of Rhondda, a great coal and iron district of Glamorgan- shire, Wales, and is now known a8 Baron Rhondda. When Lioyd Geoirge became Pre- mier he made Baron Rhondda chair- Iman of the Local Government Board, | where the new peer had charge of the jchild welfare and public health ad- ministration. He acquitted ect 'when Lord Davenport retir- toy sleigh a very hard place for Gray pa iphaveng ty Food Ministry OT kondie Squirrel to ride in had he not been was named to-succeed him. This is the clever in keeping his balance. en! man who has recently announced: that they had crossed the field and were! i+ \i1) he necessary to put the British entering the forest, Maj. Moose look-| .ivitjians on rations in order to con- ed out of the corner of his eye and saw} serve the fodll supply: that Bouncer was still close. beside The announcement has becn accept: him. He flung his head high and ed without serious protest, for the rushed on faster than before, but he! reason that the public has confidence could not leave Bouncer Rabbit be- in Baron Rhondda and in his judg- hind. | The wood folk who had not been t0 hie first 'act as Minister of Food. the haystack were astir by this time.! Boog was sellin g at from eleven | Jet Crow cawed loudly overhead, andj pence to a shilling for a four-pound j the others stood aside in amazement inet hen tie-entered "office; "Hae: 'dP as the racers rushed by. | dered the price reduced to nine pence. § Man : * o they sped onward, Maj. Moose' Bread could not be made at that figure ooft" answered Maj; Moose. "Lit-| plunging ahead with a great show of | with the prevailing prices of wheat. Come | strength, | EAU'Y In order to provide bread for the peo- to the f Roig gad jd teen soa he induced the Government to set : of the frozen lake. | i - -- ' thing good for all to eat. | that the race should end on the farther | ee aia --_ to mower: te: cet When the night came a party of the | side, and the course was up round one The people Ware thus converted at wood foik set out with Maj. Moose for enil of it. . 'a single stroke to belief in government the haystack of Farmer Goodman, The; "We are almost there!" shouted : pogq conte, Ravan ° Rhondda threp decr did not go, because they | Gray Squirrel, as he leaned forward in: further by waging a campaign against were too timid. Grandpa Fox and the litle sleigh. 'Now is the times) good profiteers, and he induced * the ie psi anand that ti walk was magistrates to levy the maximum fines on dealers who sought to make an un- fair profit. This still further strength- jae' |S eS oP ee se were finally ready to begin the race. Then Ray Coon, who sat behind Billy Bear in the pung, gave the wor. "Go!" he shonted. Maj. Moose plunged forward down is rae ¥ " the road that led from Farmer Good- This race was called "the moose man's barn toward the forest a mile race" by all the wood folk, although : " * there was only nis ttea in it. "Foe AWRY: He dra the pang wit all that matter, there was only one moose in the whole forest when the race was held, and he is there no longer, as you will see before you get to the end of the story. Maj. Moose was the biggest and strongest, of all the wood folk. He The Moose Race. This is the story of the race that. the wood folic had during the winter in = forest that lies beside the moun- tain. One day, to- ward the end of the long winter, Maj. Moose said: "I am tired of grubbing here in the woods. To-night I shall go to the haystack of Farmer Goodman, a mile - beyond the edge of the forest, and have a good feast." "Be careful, Major," said Ray Coon. ' think that Farmer Goodman has a og." will be some- " and her son, Billy Bear, Ray Coon and! Bouncer Rabbit flashed to the front.! - friend, Gray Squirrel, and several other young folk of the Rabbit and j i i i Squirrel families--all were in the| the head of the lake. j. Moose | oy," be cold co the best tat ty han purty, which set forth in high spirits. | half stopped and threw high his ant-!ing a reduction in the price of cattle ft was Inte when they started and/lers in disgust. feed. He has worked in co-operation the walk was a long one. Some of} "Look at that!" he grunted, panting with Mr. Hanna and Mr Hoover in them were pretty tired before they|/hard. 'Shall a rabbit beat a moose? | Washington and he se sent 2 commis- reached the haystack, which was just No, indeed! I'll cut across the lake, } sion to the United States to secure ne. behind Farmer Goodman's barn. There and get there first, after all." | cessary meats and fats in contention was nothing to feast on expect the} "But that will be cheating!" cried! with the American food = arte hay, which none of them, except Maj.! out Ray Coon. | tion The political judgment which he Moose, hpi a eg Roped 6 "Who cares?" answered Maj. Moose.|has shown in dealing 'ati the prob- uppeared, and when the w ° ad | + n't win in one way, I will in| rested a bit all were in the mood for a santhoel™ ° dust te et aeeurad tha eae: A |that he has secured the confidence and frolic. ee gs cat So saying, he crashed through the| support of the whole nation, and when What strange thing is.this?" call-| snow-covered bushes to the shore of (his rationing plans are put into effect ed out Billy Bear from the barny: the lake, with the pung bouncing) it is expected that he will have the co- "That?" said Ray Coon. "Wh: heavily behind. Then he stepped tis. F rG on the frozen surface. Vhy, out! operation of everyone. ge! He ee Se Ee agi Weakened the ice nes the' shore; it] LONGEST - wish 'th a Thuckled under the weight a}, a ge Us home!" sighed Dame Bear. ~ "I've! Moose and the pungload of wood folk.| T#8ent 300 Miles-in Length on New walked far enough'for one night. I!There was a sudden | crackling and Australian Railroad. am tired." : crashing, and all in an' instant Maj.| The longest tangent in the world, "What's that?" said Maj. Moose.| Moose and the others were splashing | 330 miles, without the slightest varia- "Who is tired? Just pile into that| in the cold water. Maj. Moose flung}tion from a straight line, occurs on pung, all of you! I'll haul you back himself about so desperately that hej the railway linking Western Austra- home in a jiffy. I'm stronger than! quickly broke the harness and flound- |ja to the Eastern States, which was ten horses, and I'm the fastest of all ered ashore, and the others, dripping formally opened on Nov. 12th. In the the wood folk," and shivering, followed him as best, 1,052 miles of line between Port Au- "You are the strongest, but not the ' they could. On the distant shore of | gusta and Kalgoorlie there is not fastest!" promptly cried out Gray the lake they could see Bouncer Rab-| single tunnel and very few cuts, while Squirrel. "My friend Bouncer Rab- bit loping leisurely along toward the' at only a few places on the eastern bit is the fastest of all the wood folk.' finish jjne. . {section is the ruling grade of one in Ask the deer or skaters. They know! "What a mess!" exclaimed Maj.|eighty approached. The 330-mile See! Here is a tiny toy sleigh that, Moose, cross with himself and with! straight occurs in the great limestone Farmer Goodman's little boy forgot to' everyone else. "To race with a rab-| region of the Mullarbor Plain which take in last night. I'll get into that, bit and tmve it end like that! I'll! the line traverses for over 500 miles, and Bouncer will haul me home faster have nothing more to do with a place| g region in which there are no hills, no than you can haul the others in the where such things can happen!" valleys, no rivers, no trees, and pung." So he lumbered off through the for-! water. Maj. Moose fairly snorted with est toward the other side of the big: When the line was begun in scorn at the idea that Bouncer Rabbit mountain, and the wood folk saw himjthe country along four-fifths of th: could run faster than he could. While no more. route had not a single inhabitant ex- he was fuming and scolding, Billy That is how Bouncer Rabbit, whom | cept a few wandering aboriginals, and Bear put the harness over his shoul- al] the wood folk like because he is al absolutely no permanent surface wa- ders and tied the reins to his braod modest fellow and everyone's friend, | ter. Indeed water has been the one antlers. Then Billy Bear and all the won the race. That night he and' great difficulty of the line. At a few others, except Gray Squirrel and Gray Squirrel took the little toy sleigh. points reservoirs have proved suc- Bouncer Rabbit, climbed into the pung. back to the yard of Farmer Goodman, } cessful, but for the most part the only ry ata Meantime Gray Squirrel] was har- whose little boy had wondered all day, supply available has been drawn from ed through Brussels, goose-stepping day," he announced, nessing Bouncer Rabbit into the little «hat had become of it; but the big\ wells and bores. This water contains! for Paris, the Kaiser's publicity order- | though toy sleigh, and as he did so he whis- pung was too heavy for the wood cuch a high proportion of solid mat- pered something in Bouncers ear and folk to drag out of the lake, and there; ter and acids that it is very unsuit- = |BELGIUNS. ist, then to Constantinople for a holi- He secured this confidence byfborned neutral newspapers doing a went - FLAME OF PATRIOTISM BEING KEPT ALIVE. § Utmost Efferts of the Huns Have Failed to Locate Publishers of These Loyal Sheets. I As the Barnum of Kings should, the Riser has at his Berlin business S the greatest publicity depart- , ment in existence, says a writer in a, ;Lonion newspaper. Sometimes it tells the truth, but only when there is tome rotten motive to be served. AS a staff, the Prussian advertising| agents are the most shameless liars in this puzzling world, and if any ons of them lapses into pure truth by acci- dent, they send him to a brain special- day and a polishing-up by the Turk, who lies not because he makes money out of it, but because he likes it- This is one side of the Kaiser's war keeps a thousand German and su- ideous goose-step. This is the con- structive side, with wireless, tele- phones, free photo-blocks, kinéma films, Bolos, and everything complete. A Network of Lies, There is another side--the destruc- tive one, by which the Kaiser's agents endeavor to do in conquered territory what the thick-necked Prussian com- |manders did with the poison-gas_ in- Vented by the ghastly crew of Prus- slan professors. The peison gas ate into the lungs of ,its victims. The business of the pub- litity agents is to bring about the same result to the minds of the civil- ians, so to poison their opinions that they become mentally dead. Independ- ent newspapers are instantly abolish- ed; the rest are bullied and polluted; and Berlin sends another consignment of trained liars to establish a new and Prussian-conducted Press, The British people used to laugh in disdain at German publicity manoeu- vres; and British statesmen, who ought to know better, did not know better. To-day we are wiser,.and 1 have come across the proofs of a book which will open the eyes of our Gov- ernment and our people wider as_ to 'how the Prussian behaves himself when his Army walks into your home and takes possession. Under Bissing's Nose. }. 'The book is one of the most fascin- tating narratives e war, It is - ' yr is M. Jeatt Massart, Vice- Director of the Class of Science in the 'Royal Academy of Belgium; the trans- 'lator, Mr. Bernard Miall; the publish- er, Fisher Unwin. i When the Germans had occupied} Belgium they at once let it be known 'that they were going to supply the! Belgians with ready-made opinions. | The reply of the Belgians was to get | out a clandestine Press of their cine ,and the romantic secret newspaper, ! "La Libre Belgique," came mysterious- | ly into being. Bissing, the brute who | 'was Commandant at Brussels, would] have given his ears to discover where | {the writers and printers of "La Libre | Belgique" were hidden. But he never, any of the difficulty about the! that he had about its staff, for | | had paper | by some audacious trick they contriv- 'ed to have a copy of it laid ready on 1912 his desk when he came down in aied with-an alarmingly long list, they! morning temper. ' j Smuggling Newspapers. i | M. Massart says that the secret! | Press of Belgium "is written almost; exclusively by willing helpers, not by | professional journalists, whose style} | would too readily betray them." | When the Hun battalions had pass-! lies stayed behind to break up the free! Belgian Press and invent official fic- impudent -|ness address. publicity campaign; the system that!- fooled. ; put the intelligence of our people t patted him on the back until Bouncer it stayed, close to the shore, until fairly danced with eagerness for the Farmer Goodman himself found it. homeward race to begin. And he never ceased to wonder how it It was daybreak by the time they got there. ° --_ | ling on the Somme, alwnys in the thick f the fray, In the dreadful hours of General Freyberg of the British Army Deaumont-Hamel (he was a lieuten- Is a Military Prodigy. ant-colonel then) he inspired his men - . , to such incredible deeds of daring that eps py ie h pool --. ithe astonished officers asserted that he tne entive lt He a bee eof es had taken Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre prac- old and is considered a militasy pro- tically single-handed. This unparallel- THE YOUNGEST GENERAL. _able for locomotive use, rendering spe- | tion. But the Belgian is like the ele- 'nl devices necessary, while in places phant, of whom the girl essayist said: ' is salt and condensors have had to "He has a noble nature, but when in- be erected. At'one period during con- furiaied will not do so." By nine a.m. | -truction water for all purposes had every day the secret newspapers had 'to be carried over 300 miles by train reached Brussels from Ghent and Ant- 'on the western section. werp. The first copies of "La Flandre The line gives the first communica- Liberale" from Ghent would be car- tion by land between the two halves of ried almost to a rendezvous under the Australia, and opens up an area of a, noses of the German out} 15, nine quarter 6f a million square miles now miles outside Brussels, They were unoccupied. In spite of the scanty then concealed in baskets of veget- |rainfall, averaging well under 10 ables and brought into the city. |inches a year, much of this country is! They were unpacked in a back room | well grassed and grows salt bush and 'and out went the newsvendors, osten- | t |any case you can't be too careful. digy. He compares favorably with ©¢ gallantry is coupled with astonish- any of the famous youthful heroes of the French revolution. Freyberg had enlisted Villa's army in Mexico, when the world war broke out. He had no 'money for his passage to Great Bri- tain, but earned it as a professional sportsman in the United States. Upon his arrival at the other side he was commissioned as a subaltern. With- out losing a day he went to Antwerp. afterward being sent to Gallipoli. From the very first day he rendered himself famous for his intrepid ex- ploits. Together with a comrade he landed in the Bay of Bulair one night. By lighting fires and firing rockets and imitating the sounds of an army preparing to attack he kept part of the Turks at bay, while at another point the British army approached the coast. Wher the success of his ruse was assured he jumped into the sea: and swam about for six hours before being picked up. ; Some time afterward he was fight- in General ing intelligence and activity. He learn- ed strategy and tactics as if they were mere child's play. He was seriously wounded five times and each of these other edible plants which would carry large numbers of sheep and cattle if water can be provided. It will also mishaps inspired him with fresh cour-' ig mineral depeeite oe ie age. Tall, of fine, athletic build, with |. flashing eyes and face and neck cover- | line baa: been: shout, #4040000: ed with cicatrices, General Freyberg | impresses his troops and has perfect | command over them. As Napoleon would have said, 'He is one of those generals who come out of Nature's hands perfectly molded." ma -------_--G@--____ Cereals are better served with brown sugar. An old story which is being revived of them placed over his shop the le- gend, "We sell sausages to the gentry and nobility of the country." next day, over the way, appeared the sign, "We sell sausages to the gentry rand nobility of the whole country." Not to be outdone, the rival] put up what he evidently regarded as a final statement, namely, "We sell sausages to the King." Next day there ap- peared over the door of the first sau- sage maker the simple expression of loyalty, "God save the King." Public health means your health. Look out for white grubs next spring. When the aster plants, let- tuce or other seedlings wilt, if there is no apparent reason, dig around the roots and a fat white grub will very likely be found. They are also destruc- tive to cereal and forage plants. They are excellent bait for fish and the boys should be encouraged to gather as many as possible, destroying what are not used. Chickens are fond of them. The | and again the Germans would capture _sibly selling picture postcards or pa- pers passed by the Hun censor. |_ They would quietly "La | Flandre"? from Belgian citizens, | "How much?" And the sheet would | change hands at anything from four- | pence to sevenpence halfpenny. Clever Artifices. | Other newsmen would go off to the | Suburbs "to sell grapes," and would deliver the paper behind closed doors to regular subscribers. The "Times," the "Daily Mail," and Paris papers would be smuggled into Brussels by market gardeners. Now the contraband prints, and then the scarcécopies would cost half a crown. Occasionally the smugglers were shot, and at one time a copy of the "Times" was sold for £8. But as rule the price was five francs--about four shillings. It was through a street squabble about a smuggled newspaper that the city of Brussels was fined £200,000. That was the most Pe eatag om = CAPTURING THE s Aeareee te aageaeD : 'ALLIGATOR - SLY GREAT SKILL IS REQUIRED TO TAKE ONE ALIVE. b news is copied by typewriter and ed from hand to hand. And even if an editor is caught a new one takes his place. And the Belgians even have their smuggled copies of "Tip ig As for "La Libre Belgique," it kept Bissing as py as a cat on an end- less avenue of hot bricks. i or, the writers give the German Headquarters as their busi- Exciting But Successful Struggle To Take a Live Reptile From Native Haunts. In spite of the fact that reptiles have small and dull brains, the alliga- tor appears to bave acquired a crafti- It may reach the subseriber in an ness In eluding hunters that is com- envelope; it may be dropped into his parable to the same quality in a bear. letter-box; it is sometimes adroithy The big reptile has gradually retreat. handed to him by a mystery man. jed from, the rivers where it was ex- An issue would perhaps reach ten posed to hostile cbservation, and has thousand copies. Each reader knows | taken up its abode in erempe thal are from whom he-receives his copy~ and; remote and not often disturbed. to whom he transfers it. Of the others | To cagture an alligator alive re- he knows nothing. ; | quires skill in-approaching the rep- It takes ten days for a suggestion to | aye eee The a " the -- reach the*editor by intermediaries in #8 Often a desperate and exciting the "automobile cellar" in which the | Struggle; that wus certainly the case paper is alleged to have its printing, When Dr. Raymond J.. Ditmars caught machine. Syn ae : bl -- age a And just to drive the Hun officials | © e Savanna ver. e tells the frantic and to make life cheerful, the ! story ~in the New York Times: staff will print a cartoon of "Wilhelm! The alligators were very shy. In II. in Hell," or something of that sort, making our way toward the pools we on the front page. - j had to move with the utmost care. ip The Germans have offered £3,000 order to avoid brittle twigs or rustling reward for the betrayal of the staff. leaves. One day, when we had steathi- They have ransacked homes, stopped !¥ approached a bayou, we observed lawyers and everybody carrying any | #2 alligator about eleven feet long kind of document in the search for! SPrawling on the bank with a dozen "La Libre Belgique." Sometimes the | smaller tient ranging in length Kommandatur receives anonymous in- | 'O™ wo fo four feet, -- formation as to the printing place. The! police will rush off and find themselves £3,000 Reward. An Electric Shock. As we crouched behind an enormous eypress trunk smothered in vines, one ef the perty, sinking in ooze, threw Here is a typical editorial article: out au arm to save Limself On the The Right to Think. _instant it seemed that every alligator A few readers have complained of in the bayon had received an electric the disagreeable odor possessed by | Shock. The big alligator went into the certain of our newspapers; we beg, Water with a crash, sending up a gey- them to excuse us, but they must un- ser of muddy spray. The rush of the derstand that in time of war one can- smaller reptiles was simultaneous, and not always choose one's travelling /t ¥@5 followed by the appearance of companions. Thus "La Libre Belgi- many infant alligators that had been que" has found itself compelled to tra- prowling about among the cypress vel in company with red herrings, or knees. They came from all directions, Herve cheeses, or carbide of calcium. tecti : We beg our readers to extend to "La! " < mor mn oe ; Libre Belgique" the same indulgence! Dn another day we saw an alligator shich they are forced, for the time be. | dive into a water hole that was uot by d , in of their! OTe than six feet in diameter. When sertbbors tm the ocd eee ; we sounded this hole we found it to be é 7 role *\ five feet deep, with an underwater i ve "La: Litre Beleiaqoe"| tunnel that ran off at a sharp vertical the perfume of the rose or the violet. | 2OPe to a distance of twelve feet. Our Yet the need of a _non-censore | cosine Ag, MRED ta gd agin: Press is, as the author shows, ee peal PP salt Nc oe oe a laughing matter, His revelations are (+ rope: - whet would fagpen to va if the Humal' __._teeking. An Alligator. on 1 n "gic Pov R23 es co " bed . ee would use every form of physical ter-|" ror, so they would use means to The stxT never loses its humor, It remained mo- 0. |tlonless until the hook was firmly death. There is an intellectual mar- | =: ae tyrdom which is more tragic than | caueets -- fs _ to struggle burning at the stake, and it is this|fUMously. To drag it out was a her- net 'culean task, but we finally brought it cruelty that the Huns are visiting on i . : the Belgians to-day. | to the surface and threw a noose over its jaws. Then we got the noosa round wand behind its forefeet and thence jover the jaws again and tied it to a {eypress tree. The struggles of the al- 'ligator were vigorous. We worked on a platforin of bark hastily torn from a 'decaying tree, which prevented us from sinking to our knees in the swamp. Between showers thrown by the alligator's tail we loop- ed the creature's jaws in a way to form a rope wuzzle, with about ten feet attached for pulling. After hauling our captive a full , /quarter mile out of the thicker pe rode out determinedly from the mess' gue icker part ; , "of the swamp, we brought f the 1 on their ponies. The first bungalow)... Lifting the animal, we bou:d they came to, where they intended tO him to the floor upon paddings of pay their respects, had straw laid ' Spanish moss, and then drove teu down along the road and up to the | nites over corduroy roads to the pine- door. a William pulled up, frown-' jong. where our collecting base was, ing wisely. i ewe het Getter cadi fave Housed in a Bedroom. after We had rented a house as our camp, , and, having no cage for the alligator, were in doubt what to do with him un- ttl morning, when we could build a shipping crate. Our troublesome specimen was eight feet long and -- ---- -- 4 - AN EPIDEMIC. When Ignorance of the Customs of - India Led to a Mistake. When "Lord Bill," the English nobleman whose interesting life Mrs. Stuart Menzies has told in Lord Wil-' liam Beresford, V.C., first went to In-! dia, he and a brother officer, Mr.! Charles Lascelles, started to pay calls! after the fashion of the country. Arm-, another | deep t. "Why?" asked Mr. Lascelles inno- cently. i "My dear fellow, don't you see all this straw down? Some one must be ill; having a baby or something, most likely," replied the sage. Impressed by his friend's knowiedge and insight, Mr. Lascelles ed cheerfully, and they rode on io next bungalow. Here again they found.' straw laid down. "Surely they can't all be having the same thing at once, can 'they?" said the astonished Mr. Lascelles. "You can never be sure what do out here," replied the other. Je Was threaten{ng to destroy the wagon and causing us no little auxiety when we conceived the idea of lock- , ing him tn eur best bedroom. With much prudence we nioved our furniture and baggage before the alli- gator went in. His initial struggles with his new surroundings shook the house, and a blow from his head loos- they | ened the door fastenings, But the "fy | room held him, and the next' morning gy! we built a crate in which to ship him they rode on north to the Bronx Zoological Garden. To their amazement they found straw at each bungalow; and so they returned to the mess to announce the' discrect reasons for their failure. The mess was delighted, and it was 'pounds from Asia last year. until some time afterwards that the! more experienced officers informed the = Jy, selecting varieties of strawber- two that the straw was there to pre- ries to order for the home garden next vent dust from blowing into the bun- spring, those having high quality galows. should have preference; and a group ; . : | of varieties which will give the longest Wales is the richest part of the possible ripening period should be kingdom in mineral wealth. England! selected. In deciding which to plant, produces annually about £2 to each; be sure to get some "perfect," vari- acre; Scotland a little less; but the! eties-that is, varieties which have product of Wales is over £4 per acre.! poth stamens and pistils in the' blos- isom. The "imperfect" varieties have To make cottage cheese turn thick} the pistils and not the stamens, and put sour milk into a bag and let hang | will not produce fruit unless fertilized drain. After 12 hours turn the! by pollen from agher plants having curd in a bowl, add one-half teaspoon-| both stamens and pistils. The com- ful of salt to each pint,and one-half} mon method of arranging the varieties cup sweet creanr ix thor-| where the imperfeécts aie planted, is te oughly, press into an earthen bow] and} Plant one row of the perfect variety, kee then two of the imperfect, and no on - > Argentina is the chief consumer of tea among the nations of Latin Amer- ica, importing more than 3,000,000 ee, Ceres about two hundred pounds in weighr. 7 i running like frightened chicks. for the of mud -- (Ore \