Various

“ The glorious work will never be accomplished until the good ship Temperance shall sail from one end of the land to the other, and with a cry of 'Victory!' at each step she takes, shall plant her banner in every city, town, and village of the United States. ”

“ The chief reliance of the observers, however, is on a general acquaintance with the laws of storms. Years of observation and recording have proved that storms have ways of their own, and when you know where a storm has come from you can come very close to telling just where it is going. At any rate, it cannot get lost so long as it is in the United States, for the weather men are always on its track. The greatest originating place for storms is the equator, and, in our hemisphere, that part of it which is near the West Indies. ”

“ Just think of a solid stone wall as high as a house and more than half as thick at its base! It narrows down to two or three feet in thickness at its top, like a pyramid of masonry, and above this will be a railing to prevent people from falling off, for there is to be a sidewalk along the outer edge of the driveway here. ”

“ Jack Leverett thought the happiest moment of his life had come when they cast anchor amid the thunder of cheers from the people assembled along the shores.
But there was a happier moment yet in store for him. A week afterward Jack and Jerry O'Brien entered Squire Leverett's study, where sat the Squire and Madam Leverett. The mother uttered a cry of joy and clasped her boy in her arms. Then Jerry O'Brien, taking him by the hand, led him to the Squire.
"Sir," he said, "here is your brave boy. You have reason to be proud of him. ”

“ It is true that the first half-mile is always run at a greater speed than the second; but a well-trained athlete, who knows exactly how fast he can do his event, should not allow any opponent to make him go faster than he is in training for. A number of athletes, knowing the average weakness of mile-runners, train themselves to go a very fast half-mile at first, in the hope that they may run their opponents, who have trained in a different way, off their feet. ”

“ Far down below the hordes of men looked like little black ants crawling about at their work. All day long the little steam-drills that bored holes to blast away the rocks puffed out their little clouds of white smoke; the big pile-drivers thumped on regularly upon the tops of great piles as they sunk deeper and deeper into the soft mud, and clumsy steam-derricks and mud-dredges groaned under their work, while the scores of little carts, with their tiny horses and tiny workmen looked like swarms of bugs and ants quarreling together. ”

“ In the first place, the storm-wind blows in a circle, like a gigantic whirlwind; and in the second place this whole thing advances over the land and sea, very much as a top, while spinning on its own centre, will move slowly along the floor. A cyclone starting down near the equator will begin by moving westward ”

“ The direction of the wind, as every one knows, is shown by a weather vane. Those which are used by the observing stations, however, have an attachment which automatically records on a sheet of paper every variation of the vane, so that the office has an account of the smallest changes of the wind during the twenty-four hours. The speed of the wind is measured by the anemometer. This consists of four half-spheres at the end of four horizontal arms, which centre on an upright axle. The force of the wind causes the arms to revolve, and it has been found that 500 revolutions equal one mile. ”

“ A few years ago the people of New York decided that they must have a new boulevard, where fast horses could be driven without running over people or upsetting the carriages of those who didn't want to drive so fast. They puzzled their heads for some time to find a suitable spot for their new driveway, and it was many months before they finally agreed upon the bank of the Harlem River which runs along the east side of the city. ”

“ A perfectly clean room, although quite bare of ornament, is inviting, and when its owner puts in her little individual touches, her books on a hanging shelf, which her brother can make for her, or which she can buy for forty or fifty cents, her favorite engravings, cut from illustrated papers if she chooses and simply tacked on the wall, her pot of primroses on the window-sill, her toilet table draped with white net over pink silesia, her plain scrim curtains at the window tied back with bits of ribbon, the room will be dainty and pretty enough to please the most fastidious. ”

“ He was an admirable sailor, like most of the hardy youngsters on the coast, and had more than once taken the Priscilla on short trips. But his mother and the Squire meant him to be something else than a merchant Captain, and kept him under a tutor when he would much rather have been sailing blue water. For hours Jack and Jerry sat in the cabin talking over their scheme. Jerry knew that the people of Machias were heart and soul with the cause of freedom, and could be depended upon in any desperate adventure. The Margaretta carried four brass guns and a number of swivels ”

“ In order to avoid the appearance of fear, Captain Moore determined, with his officers, to go to church as usual. As the Captain's gig landed the officers, Jerry O'Brien and Jack Leverett, with the six men who composed the Priscilla's crew, were all on deck, keeping a sharp eye on the Margaretta and her boat.
"What say you, men," suddenly asked Jerry, "to bagging those officers in church?"
"We say yes," answered every man at once. In a few minutes, with Jerry and Jack in the lead, and all well armed, they took the road toward the church. ”

“ The weight of the atmosphere is measured not by a column of mercury in a tube, but by the expansion and compression of a small metal box from which the air has been exhausted.
The thermometer, as the reader knows, measures the temperature of the air; and in all readings of the barometer the changes in temperature have to be taken into account. The weather observers use two kinds of thermometers, the dry and the wet bulb. The dry bulb is the ordinary form, which every one knows, and is used to measure heat and cold. ”

“ The instruments used in observing the weather are the aneroid and cistern barometers, wet and dry bulb thermometers, wind vane and compass, anemometer and anemograph, and the rainfall. Of all these the barometer is probably the most important. The standard form of the instrument is a tube thirty-four inches long, closed at the top, exhausted of air, and immersed at the bottom in a cup of mercury. The purpose of the barometer is to measure the pressure of the atmosphere. In general, the mercury will stand high in the tube when the weather is fair, and low when it is foul. ”

“ When the weather has become warm enough to go on the track in light running costume, the following scheme will be found a good one for steady training: On the first day do a mile and a half at an easy jog; on the second day, run a half-mile at a good pace, trying to do it in 2 min. 45 sec. (as the weeks pass by the athlete should try to reduce this time for the half-mile down to 2 min. 30 sec. or below) ; on the third day run a quarter of a mile at speed; on the fourth day cover three-quarters of a mile at an easy jog; on the fifth day do a mile and a half again very leisurely ”

“ One's own room is so dear to every girl that I do not wonder she prizes it. One must have hours when it is a pleasure to be alone. One likes to be by herself at times, to think and read and plan. After a little space of solitude we go back to others rested and cheered. ”

“ The costume and footwear for long-distance running are the same as for other distances, except, perhaps, that the shoes may be made a trifle heavier if the athlete prefers.
Training for the low hurdles is, in general, the same as that for the high hurdles, which was described in this Department last week. The jump over the obstacle itself, however, is radically different, and it is for this reason that many hurdlers who are invincible over the shorter distance are frequently defeated in the longer. ”

“ They clinched and fell to the deck fighting. The struggle was sharp but short, and in fifteen minutes from the time the Americans had lashed the ships together the Captain was overpowered, nearly every officer had been cut down, and the cruiser was in the hands of the Americans. There had been much cheering on the Priscilla that day, but when the British ensign was hauled down, and Jerry, in default of a national flag, hoisted his own jacket at the mast-head, there were three cheers given that could almost be heard at Machias. ”

“ As I have said, it is from the local observations that the general predictions are made. In the city of New York the weather is studied away up on top of the tall building of the Manhattan Life-insurance Company. The Local Forecast Observer—that's his official title—is E.. B. Dunn, who, when this was an army service, was Sergeant Dunn. Now the irreverent newspapers call him "Farmer" Dunn. What he does in his office is what all the other observers throughout the country do in theirs. ”

“ In running the high hurdles the athlete may use either foot he chooses at the take-off, although it is better to become accustomed to jump from the right foot. It is better, because in the low hurdles the successful man must jump from the right foot. ”

“ They have no significance whatever. The rising or falling of the mercury in the tube is caused by the beginning of those atmospheric changes which precede a storm but are not discernible by our senses. The barometer discerns them for us, and gives warning of weather changes. Of course there are many different conditions which affect the instrument, and the weather observers are instructed in these matters. The aneroid barometer is round, like one of the cheap nickel-plated clocks that are so numerous, and the changes are indicated by a hand moving across a scale on the dial. ”

“ There are few 220 straightaway courses; most low hurdle contests being conducted on a curved track, and it is practically impossible to make any speed at all on such a path when jumping from the left foot. Jim Lee used to jump from the left foot, and for that reason he almost never entered a contest on a curved track. He knew he could not win.
The low hurdles being placed twenty yards apart, it is of course necessary to take a greater number of steps between obstacles. Seven strides is the number to be aimed at, although a runner with a short stride has to be content with nine. ”

“ This recalled William to his senses, and then he noticed that he was not alone. Ralston stood beside him.
"Hasten!" he said. "They have surrendered; but so great is their rage that I am afraid if we do not interfere our people will take no prisoners. Their blood is hot, they seek revenge!"
Holding his lame arm closely to his side, William ran down the hill, and was soon at the house. Captain Littel, who had led the first attack, had been wounded.
"Is any one in command here?" shouted a voice from the window.
Looking up, a British officer was seen standing there. ”

“ The accompanying pictures show the stride of Conneff—the American and International champion—and Lutyens, the English Inter-University champion, who was defeated by Conneff in the International games last fall. It [Pg 486] is plain to see that the Englishman's stride is much longer than Conneff's; but stride does not seem to be such an important factor in long-distance running as it is in the shorter distances. In fact, it will be noticed that most mile-runners are short, stocky men, although, as a rule, their legs are much longer in proportion to their bodies than is the case with other men. ”