Finds War Signs on Wheat and Oat Leaves.
The report in some papers that the letter W appears on wheat leaves this year and the letter B on oat leaves has set some of the farmers in the vicinity of Charlotte, Mich., to investigating. The result is that oat leaves have been found on which the letter B does seem to be quite visible, but the wheat leaves are too ripe and shriveled by rust to give an exhibit of the letter W.
It is claimed by some of the older residents that these letters appeared on the wheat and oat leaves in 1860, the year before the breaking out of the great Civil War, and they believe they indicate now a “bloody war,” in which the United States will be engaged.
These letters, it is averred, have never appeared preceding a small war, such as the Spanish-American War.
Another interpretation of these letters has been advanced to the effect they indicate that Wilson and Bryan will be contestants for the nomination for president in 1916.
This Dog is a Fire Fan.
Assistant Fire Chief Tom Davis, of Sharon, Pa., is the owner of an English bulldog whose sole diversion is running to fires. The faithful animal, now nine years old, has been absent from one alarm during his career, a record probably not equaled by any fireman in the country. The one absent mark credited against him was when he was out of the city.
The dog’s name is Peter. Chief Davis obtained him when a puppy. The animal began following his master to[Pg 64] fires, and when he was a year old he became such a fire fiend that he didn’t even bother to wait for his owner. In the days of the horse-drawn apparatus Pete was always first at the fires. His love of the smoke and flames keeps him in the midst of the blaze while it lasts. Pete is now afflicted with troubles incident to old age. When not answering an alarm, he excites the pity of everybody by the manner in which he painfully moves about. But let the fire bell sound, and the dog is off in a flash, distancing any dog that tries to keep after him.
And if an alarm should be sounded at night, Pete goes to the fire just the same. His owner runs a hotel, but sleep becomes impossible until Pete is released from the building. Chief Davis has on several occasions given orders that the dog is to be kept in the hotel when the bell rings. Docile as a lamb on every other occasion, Pete shows great anger when an effort is made to keep him away from a fire call. If perchance the hotel doors are closed, the visitor who allows Pete to get outside has made himself forever “solid” with the faithful animal. One time when penned in alone, Pete made his way from the building by going through a closed window.
Pete’s principal duty in the days of horse-drawn apparatus was to protect the horses from annoyance by strange dogs. And he always performed the duty faithfully. During the last few years of the horse apparatus the dog population seemed to know Pete’s duty, and it was only the puppy who wanted to bark at the horses’ heads. The older canines knew better. They had learned by experience that Pete meant business when he started for a dog that happened to be annoying the horses.