Housekeeping at the White House by Walton Fawcett. This is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The conduct of the Domestic Affairs of the Executive Mansion is now carried on upon a basis and under conditions radically dissimilar to those which prevailed at any previous time in the history of the nation. Many influences have cooperated to bring this about. But one of the principal causes is found, of course, in the lavish entertaining on the part of the President and Mrs. Roosevelt. A new era in White House housekeeping has necessarily dawned, too, with the changes and alterations brought about by the remodeling of the Presidential Mansion. These have embraced not only a transformation in the kitchen, but also new dining room arrangements which have had their effect in inducing the formulation of new housekeeping policies. The laundry, which formerly adjoined the kitchens in the basement, has under the new arrangement been relegated to a place in one of the terraces, or one-story wings, which extend on either side of the White House. An additional room has thus been provided for the kitchens, the capacity of which has been increased by the provision of additional ranges. Likewise, a marked improvement has been made in the facilities for the delivery of provisions and other supplies to the Culinary Department, formerly a source of much inconvenience. By the rearrangement of the main floor of the mansion, the Butler's Pantry is fully three times as spacious as it was formerly. The alterations of the dining rooms should be mentioned as having an important bearing upon the housekeeping arrangements in general. The private dining room in the northwest corner of the building, used when the Presidential family is dining alone, or with only a few guests, is the least changed of any of the apartments on the main floor. A dome ceiling has, however, replaced the former flat one, and the decorations have been renewed. White is now the predominating color in the ornamentation, and the room is colonial in effect. The private dining room is now furnished throughout in mahogany, and the sideboard, buffet, serving tables, and chairs are all antiques, and calculated to arouse the enthusiasm of any collector. Adjoining the private dining room is the state dining room, an architectural masterpiece, and preeminently the most artistic apartment in the new White House. The dining room is a reproduction of a Saxon hall, and is paneled to the ceiling in oak. There is a massive mantle of free stone, richly carved, and a ponderous silver chandelier. The walls are decorated with antique Flemish tapestries, and a cordon of mounted game heads lines the four walls near the ceiling. The dining table, which ordinarily has place in this room, is only ten by six feet in size, but it is used only for the less formal dinner parties. On the occasion of a state banquet, the table is built in the shape of a crescent, or on three sides of a hollow square, in order to accommodate the greatest possible number of guests. There are, in the apartment, fifty-six chairs, upholstered in ornamental tapestry, together with two high-back chairs for the use of President and Mrs. Roosevelt. The letters of protest, which reach the White House, following the appearance in the newspapers of an account of some especially elaborate entertainment given by the President, indicate clearly that a large proportion of the public does not understand that Uncle Sam pays only a very small portion of the housekeeping expenses at the presidential home. The government pays for the maintenance of the building and its furnishings and for the heating and lighting of the residence, but the President must defray his own household expenses, such as all items for the purchase, preparation, and serving of food. And, of course, almost the entire outlay necessitated by a state banquet comes from the President's private purse. In many respects, the sharing of expense entails inconvenience. For instance, in the administration of the White House laundry, the government provides only for the cleaning of the White House linen in the strictest interpretation of the word. No official provision is made for that of the Presidential family. Thus, the expenses of the appurtenances of the State dining room are defrayed out of the public funds, but the President himself must pay for the care of the linen used in the private dining room. Separate accounts are kept of all of these items. There is a wide range of possibilities in the matter of household expenses at the White House. The established custom decrees that the President shall give certain dinners and receptions at the White House each year, just as an unwritten law decrees that he shall hold a great reception on New Year's Day. But, aside from these functions, the entertaining at the White House may be as elaborate or as modest as the Chief Magistrate and his wife may wish. Presidents Cleveland, Harrison and McKinley all lived rather simply, with only a moderate amount of entertaining, and each saved something each year from the salary of $50,000 paid to the nation's highest official. It is doubtful, however, if the present incumbent of the nation's highest office will find it directly profitable from a monetary standpoint. President and Mrs. Roosevelt have entertained more lavishly than any previous occupants of the White House, not even accepting Chester A. Arthur, and their expenditures for this style of living will probably reach at least $50,000 annually, and very possibly considerably more. How great are the demands of such a dispensation of hospitality may be imagined from the fact that during the considerable portion of the winter of 1903, President Roosevelt paid for the services of 23 servants in addition to those remunerated by the government. The government pays $1,500 per annum for a housekeeper, $1,800 for a steward, and $2,000 for a cook for the White House. The chef receives in addition a bonus of $2,500 from President Roosevelt. In case of the large state dinners, the arrangements are usually placed in the hands of an expert caterer, and the conditions insofar as expenses are concerned are not very different from those which obtain when a private citizen of beans gives a large dinner at a fashionable hotel. The bill for the entertainment is very frequently made out on the basis of so much per plate. Due allowance being made, of course, for cooking which is done at the White House and for certain provisions which the White House storerooms afford. President Roosevelt is most fastidious as to the quality of vians and wines, and the highest superiority of quality is essential. It is probable that no state dinner, at which from 70 to 90 guests have been present, held since the chief executive assumed office has cost less than $800. And in the case of some of the repass, $15 a plate would appear to be a modest estimate of the cost. The expense of a state banquet is, however, trivial, aside from the outlay in the culinary department and for the services of the waiters, whom custom has decreed shall be colored men. The public is usually furnished by the Marine Band, which is composed of enlisted men in the Marine Corps, and the White House conservatories furnish so bountiful a supply of flowers that it is seldom necessary to make purchases from commercial florists. Although, as has been explained, the government provides a housekeeper for the White House, Mrs. Roosevelt usurps most of the functions of that position. Mrs. Roosevelt is intensely domestic, and she exercises a more rigid supervision of every detail of the household arrangements than any of her predecessors, with the possible exception of Mrs. Hayes. The First Lady of the Land has an exceptionally long day for a woman who is in society. She is usually at breakfast at 7.30 o'clock in the morning, and from the time of the conclusion of this meal until 10 o'clock, she gives her whole attention to directing the servants, inspecting the kitchen, and superintending the arrangements for lunch and dinner. Lunch and dinner is served in the private dining room at 1.30 o'clock, and usually occupies about one hour. During what is known as the official social season, the interval between 4 and 6 o'clock on one or more afternoons a week is devoted to one of Mrs. Roosevelt's notable tees, at which from 500 to 600 guests are usually present. Dinner is served at 7.30 o'clock, and is a distinct daily event at the White House, under the present regime, where the President and Mrs. Roosevelt look forward to this hour or two, the length of time spent at the dinner table being determined by the engagements to follow, as the best opportunity to gather around them the friends who society they really enjoy. Full dress is demanded at dinner at the White House, but the evening meal is, under ordinary conditions, informal, insofar as frigid etiquette is concerned. The dinners, like the luncheons, are a sad trial to the White House cook, for he never knows in advance how many will sit down to overpast. The President is liable to invite any person who happens to call to remain for the next meal, and not infrequently, he extends these invitations at the 11th hour, so to speak. Word has frequently been sent down to the White House kitchens, as late as an hour before the time set for service, that there would be anywhere from two to six extra guests to luncheon or to dinner, as the case might be. These private dinners are not, of course, as elaborate as the state banquets, but they are nevertheless thoroughly creditable to the entertainer and the place of entertainment. Perhaps four to five dollars a plate would be a fair estimate of cost. Still another line of expenditure, which has not been indulged in by former mistresses of the White House, and which involves, in the aggregate, a most liberal outlay, is found in the Colation that Mrs. Roosevelt has made it a practice to serve at her afternoon receptions and music house. This refreshment has not, moreover, been limited in menu to the cup of bouillon and wafer served at most fashionable homes, but has embraced a dainty repast consisting of sandwiches, ices, tea, chocolate, coffee, and some iced drink. When it is remembered that anywhere from 500 to 1200 people have been served at each of these gatherings, it will be appreciated that considerable expense has been inevitable. Indeed, were not Mrs. Roosevelt a domestic economist, a rare ability the White House expenditures would far exceed their present high figure. End of Housekeeping at the White House by Walden Fawcett. Making a Rock Garden by H. S. Adams This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Rock Garden In Europe, particularly in England, the Rock Garden is an established institution with a distinct following. The English works on the subject alone form a considerable bibliography. On this side of the Atlantic, the Rock Garden is so little understood that it is an almost unconsidered factor in the beautifying of the home grounds. There are a few notable rock gardens in this country, all on large estates, and in more instances some excellent work has been done on a smaller and less complicated scale, either by actual creation, or by taking advantage of natural opportunities. But for the most part, America has confined its Rock Garden vision principally to the so-called Rockery. Now a Rockery, with all the good intentions lying behind it, is not a rock garden. It is no more a rock garden than a line of cedars planted in an exact circle would be a wood. A Rockery is generally a lot of stones stuck in a pile of soil, or worse yet, a circular array of stones filled in with soil. A Rock Garden above all else is not artificial, at least so far as appearance goes. It is a garden with rocks. The rocks may be few or many, they may have been disposed by nature or the hand of man, but always the effect is naturalistic, if not actually natural. The Rock Gardens one and only creed is nature. Rock Gardens are of so many legitimate, in other words natural, types that there is not the slightest excuse for a Rockery. Even that commonest of excuses, finding a use for stray stones, falls to the ground. Any close observer of nature is familiar with these types. The natural Rock Gardens range from the patches of alpine plants above the timber line in high mountains, down the lower slopes, and through defiles to fields on or near sea level. Not infrequently, they come down to the very sea while sweet waters commonly define and, what is better, are now and then incorporated in them. Here a pool, there a brook. The bog two, the heath and the desert, they take unto themselves, though perhaps only the nearer edge. And does man, by ponderous effort, raise up massive masonry in orderly fashion. One day disorder comes and nature makes things look natural by another kind of rock garden. Rome's Colosseum and the ruins of Kenilworth Castle are only two of the unnumbered examples of this. Here, in a nutshell, are not only the natural variations of the rock garden, but the inspiration. No rock garden worthy of the name has ever been created by man that did not depend upon a study of those that nature has given the world in prodigal abundance. There were the why and the how of it all, and man simply saw and made use of his observations. The advantages of a rock garden are primarily an element of picturesqueness that nothing else can provide, and the possession of a place in which can be grown some of the loveliest flowers on earth that, if they flourish at all, will never do as well in the ordinary garden, as in conditions more or less approximating their natural habitat. Also, it may be made a pleasant of extraordinary attractiveness. Occasionally, and here is one of the most important things to be learned about the rock garden, it is the veritable key to the garden situation.  The choice of a site The best site for a rock garden is where it ought to be. That is a sad truth for it eliminates some homes from the game, but useless waste of time will be saved if this is recognized at the outset. First cast your eye about and see if you have a spot where a rock garden would look as if it belonged there. That is the supreme test. If one does not seem to belong there, give up the idea philosophically and take it out in enjoying the rock gardens of other people. As a rule, a rock garden should not be near the house. It is something savoring of the wild that does not fit in with most architecture. Exceptions are when the house is on a rocky site that makes such planting desirable, if not imperative, and a slope from the rear or one side of the house that seems decided enough to permit a sharp break in the general landscape treatment. Save in these circumstances, it is better that it should not be in sight of the house. This is not so hard as it sounds. Even on a small place, the spot is easily concealed by a planting of shrubbery. Nor should the rock garden any more than the rockery be in the lawn unless it is depressed and therefore out of sight, or mainly so from the level. The depression may be a natural or an artificial one. It may be a brook with high banks or it may be a sunken pathway. The edge of a lawn is better, a corner of it is better yet, and preferable to either as a bank sloping down from it. The bank on either side of steps leading from one lawn level to another is also a possibility to be considered. Trees need not be altogether avoided. Sometimes they are essential to the pictorial effect. It is not well, however, to place a rock garden near very large trees. The drip is bad, especially for alpines, and the greedy roots not only rob the plants of nourishment, but are very apt to dislocate the stones. Somewhere just outside the real garden is the best place, then it is only a step from one little world into another that is altogether different. If the rock garden leads to a bit of wood, either directly or through a wild garden, there will be all the more to rejoice over. The more irregularity the site has or suggests the better, a rock garden not only should have no straight lines, but it is not well that all of it should be comprehended in a single view, no matter whether the area be large or small. What constitutes a good site is well illustrated by one of the existing American rock gardens. The place is large, and in the rear of the house the grounds are level for a considerable distance, and then drop with a fairly steep bank to a driveway, below which another terrace leads to a meadow. Instead of being continuous, however, the bank above the driveway is broken by a little glen, seemingly leading nowhere, but actually an entrance to both the rear lawn and the formal garden. In this glen is the rock garden, or rather the main part of it. Though bounded on the north, it runs east and west by the formal garden and on the south by the lawn, the rock garden can be seen from neither of these nor from the house. It is conveniently near all three, yet distinctly apart from all. A thin planting of evergreens screens it on the south and east sides, and there is a low hedge between it and the formal garden. The rock garden overflows the glen and runs along the bank on either side, the shady section being devoted to an extensive collection of hardy ferns. Across the driveway there is more rock garden, and then a short stretch of dry wall garden. Such a sight as this does not have to be found all made. Given any grounds with a bank and a little imagination, and a glen is a mere matter of shoveling soil, call it a gorge if you prefer. Either, in miniature, is a favored rock garden form, so are hill and crust. Thus far the assumption has been that the rocks have to be gathered up from various parts of the place or brought in from the outside. But many grounds, especially those of country places, have the rocks, often more than are wanted. Although sometimes this is the best of luck, now and then the trouble of blasting and rearranging is about as great as if all the stone had to be found. It does, nevertheless, make easier the choice of a site. Where rocks are naturally, there they ought to be. Occasionally the rocks are so disposed that there is no choice. The site settles itself, and it is up to you to make the most of it. A single boulder, a few scattered rocks, or a rocky bank can be converted into a simple rock garden without moving a stone. A little judicious planting in the transformation is complete. A rock garden with water is a rock garden glorified. Wherever possible, without injury to the main scheme, the garden should be brought to the water. Failing that, bring the water to it, if this is practicable, which can be determined when the site is picked out. The work of construction. Spring is the best time to make a rock garden. When the important matter of the proper site has been put in the past, a definite scheme must be planned. Upon the definiteness of this scheme, much of the success of the rock garden will depend. Here, desire will have to be subservient to the situation. This is not so much what you want as what is best in the circumstances. Do not attempt slavishly to copy the rock garden of someone else. All the money in the world would not create an exact duplicate for you, since nature has made no two rocks precisely alike. Study them, of course, get all the ideas you can. But study first and most nature, more particularly its ways in your own neighborhood. Anywhere there is abundant opportunity. Take a leaf or two from the book of the Japanese gardeners. They are past masters of the art of making rock gardens, with a bit of water thrown in. They make use of comparatively few blossoming plants, but their example is invaluable in the disposition of rocks with simple effectiveness, in the simulation of height and distance, in the proper employment of turf, and in the planting of such small trees and shrubs as are suitable for a rock garden scheme. Measure carefully the space at command, and then lay out the plan on cross-ruled paper. Call each of the little squares a square foot and the labor will be made easy. Next, figure out a good entrance, and if possible an equally good exit, one invisible from the other. Then outline the main path, which should be as devious as the situation allows. And if by ways cannot be added, provide for bays or more pronounced recesses. Remember that you are not merely to simulate nature, you are by a process of compressing much in little to epitomize it. Then comes the selection of the rocks. Usually the rock, close at hand, perhaps on the very grounds, will answer every purpose. If you are not fortunate enough to own any, very likely there is more than one townsman who will be glad to give you all the boulders and smaller rocks that you want, if you will only remove them from spots where they are not desired. The cost of removal, even in the case of boulders of fair size, is not great. Barring quartz rock, which does not look well, almost any kind of natural stone may be made use of to the best advantage. Artificial stone should be shunned like the plague. Limestone and sandstone are good materials, granite is better. Granite however does not stratify, and if stratified effects are desired, another stone must be selected. A good plan is to use more than one kind, but to keep them properly apart. Whether beaten granite is excellent material, and in general it is well to have the rock look anything but newly quarried. Pick out some rocks with a growth of lichen on them and be sure that this is not disturbed by the moving. Boulders may run up to several tons in weight, where none is readily attainable. One can be simulated by ingeniously combining a few small ones and concealing the joints by the planting of such things as stone crops in earth, which, save in rare cases of sheer necessity, is always used in the construction of a rock garden in place of mortar. If the site is level, the next step is to change all that, first on paper. Unless the lay of the land is all right at the outset, the configuration of the rock garden must not depend wholly upon the upbuilding. There must be some excavations, but no depression is deep enough to catch and hold water just where you will want to walk. Aside from the path levels, building begins with the rocks, not with the soil. This is a highly important point. Place the boulders first, they are the big effects. Aside from that, the heaviest work will be out of the way. Then start in with the outlining base rocks. These should be placed with the largest surface to the ground and should vary in size. It is not essential that the lowest rock should be slightly buried in the ground, but that course is preferable. When the paths and outer margins have been thus defined, scatter more rocks over the intervening surface, placing them fairly thick but not close together. Next, fill in with soil, packing it firmly and ramming it hard into every crevice. If it fits in with the day's work, it is not a bad plan to water the rock work well in order to pack the soil, and when resuming the labor on the morrow, to add more soil, well pressed down before proceeding with the second layer of rock. This second layer should have the rocks placed with the front edge slightly back from that of the lower row in order to form a slope, though an occasional overhang may be fashioned if required for a certain plant known to abhor a drip from above. The construction then proceeds as before, until the desired height is reached. The height is entirely arbitrary, but some points should be at least as high as the line of vision, as one of the greatest advantages of a rock garden is the pleasure of enjoying some of the typical rock plants without stooping. The rocks used as fillers should overlap here and there to give strength, but care must be taken to contrive plenty of long soil runs. 18 inches should be the very least. A plant like the Alpine Androsass is a tiny rosette, seemingly requiring no more than an inch or two of soil, but its roots are likely to be found following an earth filled crevice in the rocks to the depth of a yard or so. It is because of this deep penetration of roots that the soil should be packed so very firm. The roots must be in no danger of loose soil or of striking a hidden hollow. At no point between two stones should the layer of soil be less than two or three inches thick after being packed hard. If an upper stone is likely to bear down too heavily and crush the plant roots, this may be avoided by placing small stones here and there in the layer of soil. The roots will work between these stones, but there must be a continuous, though not necessarily straight, soil run from the front of the rockwork to the solid filling of earth. The run should slope downward slightly. Rocks calculated to simulate a natural stratification ought to be laid on an incline for proper drainage. Such pieces of rock may also be employed sparsely in wedging and in the making of the so-called pockets. These pockets are of prime importance in the construction of a rock garden. They hold the only considerable spaces of soil and are the chief means of colonizing plants, thus providing for pronounced color effects. They should break the slopes and be irregular in size, shape, and distribution. The large ones may be easily subdivided by small stones when the planting is done if a further separation of species is desirable. The soil must slope a little from the top so that there will be no standing water. The drainage of a rock garden is of vital importance. There must be plenty of moisture stowed away behind the rocks against the heat of summer, but all excess must be carried away. The garden should drain naturally as the hills do. If any doubt exists, make a drainage bed of 8 inches of clinkers before starting to lay the stones. The soil should be a good loam with a little peat and stones varying in size from a mustard seed to a nulmin. A little manure may be used, but it must be old. Planting the Garden There are two ways of planting a rock garden. One is to do all the crevice planting along with the building, and the other, of course, is to defer everything until the rocks are in place and the soil thoroughly settled. The former plan is a singularly appealing as well as practical one. There's something fascinating in finishing completely a part of the work as one goes along. The practical advantage lies chiefly in the fact that by this method good sized plants may be firmly established in crevices at the very outset. The soil in that case should be put part way in the crevice and packed down. Then some loose soil sprinkled on top and the plant, with the earth well shaken from the roots, unless it has a tap root, laid down horizontally with the crown just outside the edge of the soil. Next spread the roots to follow the soil run. Fill up the crevice with more soil, packed well, and follow with more plants of the same kind. Use small stones to wedge plants where it appears necessary. Plants that hang down should be placed in the higher crevices. This must be all thought out beforehand. As a matter of fact, the planting plan cannot be too thoroughly thought out in advance. At point after point it dovetails with the structural plan, which must accord with the requirements of what may be called the more difficult rock plants. The alpine, some of the ferns, and those plants that fit in well with rock work but demand more than the ordinary garden moisture. The best way is to decide what plants are most desirable in the circumstances, emitting as a rule the difficult or finicky ones. There will be plenty of time to experiment with those when you have more experience. Make a face plan of the several sections of the rock work and mark on it where the plants are to go. Use numbers, each corresponding to a species. The general idea is that all the soil shall be concealed, not necessarily at the moment of planting but at the end of one or two seasons growth. Unless you are a collector, variety is of little importance. The main thing is that there shall be beauty as a whole, a few marked seasonal effects of color with masked bloom and some green near round. The garden must never be bare at any time as nature will show you. Plants clustered here and single there is a good planting rule. Colonies, always of market irregularity, ought to merge into one another but they should not so overrun the rock work that no stones are in sight. Not infrequently some of the best effects are obtained where more rock than flowers is seen. A boulder, for example, cause for the contrast of plants, perhaps only a few low growing ones in a natural pocket rather than a semi eclipse. As a rule plant 100 of half a dozen or so suitable and easy species in preference to 50 or more kinds. Study at the same time the form of the plants that are to be used. Some quickly resolve themselves into a carpet, some never get beyond mere tufts, some always grow straight up, some prefer to hang down, and some have foliage that is evergreen or nearly so. To be more specific, one plant of Saponaria osmoides will spread out over four square feet of soil and thus fill completely a moderate sized pocket, whereas to conceal the same amount of ground three dozen auriculas might have to be used. The same is true of the white rock crests, arabus albida, so too with a crevice. A single plant of one of the trailing stone crops would fill it perhaps when a number of rosettes of the smaller kinds of house leak would be called for. Tall plants like the foxglove may sometimes be used in a small group at the end of a bay on the level of the path, but they are best placed behind the rock work as a background or as dominating features of the entrance or exit of the garden. At the entrance or exit, such bold plants make a good bridge between the rock garden and the outer grounds. Spreading and trailing plants should be placed a foot or more above the path level and most plants with tufts or rosettes of foliage. If the path is broad enough, some of the wide spreading plants may go at the base of the rocks, but the rule there is to use those of moderate spread with a few tufted plants and some that grow upright but are not tall to lend variety. When the path is of flat stones, irregular in both size and placing, this growth should fill all the soil space, even between the stones. Such a path will be found more than worthwhile and not as much of an undertaking as it may seem. Obvious considerations are that plants with a decided hankering after moisture or shade should be favored in the matter of location, though it is astonishing how adaptive many of them are. Do not plant the weak next to the strong.  Finally, do not forget that planting is not the end, it is only the beginning of planting. So long as the rock gardening exists, there will always be planting. Normal mortality will necessitate some, there will be thinning out and time will suggest additions and more or less rearrangement. And with the planting goes on the continual care, much of which can be done in the course of a daily walk in the garden, and therefore the loss of time will not be felt. Water encase every real drought but use a sprinkler and do not stop until the ground has been soaked to a depth of a few inches. Mere surface watering is bad enough in the ordinary garden, in a rock garden it is a fatal error, as the growth of roots near the top of the soil leaves the plants in no condition to stand the full force of the summer sun. Go over the garden thoroughly once a year, and all the time keep a sharp lookout for weeds. If the soil is heavy, top dress with grit in the fall. Grit is good for rock plants. Stone chips placed around a plant will prevent too much dampness lodging about the collar in winter. Watch out for weak spots after very heavy rains. Plants for a rock garden. So many plants are suitable for a rock garden that the range of choice is bewildering. In this, as in the laying out of the garden, advisability takes precedence of a pure personal desire, though very fortunate it is often not difficult to make the two go hand in hand. A little intelligent thought helps a lot. To the beginner, no better advice can be given than that which applies to the picking out of the rocks. Use the material which is close at hand. This is not, by any means, a mere suggestion to follow the lines of least resistance. It is far more. In the first place, there is always an endless amount of beautiful and suitable plant life to be had without going far afield.  Finally, you can see for yourself how things grow and as for the hardiness of plants, you have it already tested for you. This refers not alone to the natural conditions. There is a second wide field in the gardens, the hardy gardens of others, where you can at once choose from the many and learn whether certain plants are too tender or require too much care for your reuse. So far as plants native to the immediate neighborhood are concerned, their value to the rock garden of the average person with limited time, who is not obsessed with the idea of growing the rare and curious, cannot be overestimated. And they are so many, more than most realize, and often of an individual beauty not always appreciated in the bewildering profusion of the wild, but plainly apparent when an individual or a little group is open to close study in a rock garden. Do not make the rather common mistake of thinking that they are too familiar to be interesting. They are never likely to be. And honestly, can you say in your heart that they are? For a Connecticut rock garden, the Greek Valerian, pulmonium reptons must be purchased, unless a neighbor can spare you some from his collection of old fashioned flowers. There it belongs in that category.  Simply because you have only to go to the woods for it. The English enthusiast brings home primroses from the Himalayas, Gentians from the Swiss Alps, and the driest Dramondi from the Canadian Rockies for his rock garden.  From ferns alone or from only plants of shrubby growth, the most beautiful native rock garden may be made. And adding small flowering plants or excluding all else, there are limitless opportunities. It goes without saying that A's rock garden in Maine will not be like B's in Louisiana, but there is no law compelling it to be. Among the common wildflowers of the East that take on unexpected new beauty when transferred to the rock garden are the Selendine, Celadonium magus, Strawberry, Fragaria virginica, Cranesbill, Geranium macalatum, Toadflax, Lanaria vulgaris, Orange hawkweed, Hierachium aranticum, Herb Robert, Geranium robertanium, Coltsfoot, Tuzelago farfara, Solomon's seal, Polygonatum biflorum, Foam flower, Tiorrella cordifolia, Blood root, Sanguinaria canadensis, and some of the violets. These are but a few names and random ones at that. Some of them, the Coltsfoot, Cranesbill, Selendine and Toadflax spread too rapidly, but by careful watching and not allowing the seed to ripen, they may be kept within bounds. There are many such plants that will take all the room in sight if they are allowed to, and they must be watched closely or else discarded altogether. Some of them answer a good purpose by giving the rock garden a quick start, after which they may easily be reduced or thrown out altogether. There need be no compunction about discarding. Certain plants, like certain friends, you enjoy having for a visit, but do not care to see remain forever and a day. Annuals as a class are not desirable for the rock garden. For one thing, the care of renewal is too great. Biennials are almost as much care, but in each case there will always be expectations that are a matter of individual preference. Few, for example, would have the heart to reject the dainty little purple-toed flax of Switzerland, Lunaria alpina, just because it is a biennial. The main dependence, however, must be placed on perennials. The plants that, barring accidents, last indefinitely. These should be mostly species. If horticultural, do not use the bazaar. Darwin tulips, for example, or the Madame Cheraux iris. Nor, with rare exceptions, should double flowers be used. A double daffodil looks horribly out of place, while the double white rock cress arabus albida will pass. The easy rock garden plants, where the material is not taken from the wild, are to be found in most of the large, hardy gardens of the east. Some of them are natives of Europe or Asia, and more than is commonly suspected, are at home in other parts of the United States. Among the best of these, for carpets of bloom, are flocks subulata, flocks amenoa, arboretia deltoidea, maiden pink, dianthus deltoides, blue bugle, ahuga genivensis, white bugle, ahuga breptans, woolly chickweed, serestium tomentosum, creeping thyme, thymus serpillum, dwarf speedwell, veronica repens, saponaria osimoides, alpine mint, calamintia alpina, and pink, white, and yellow stone crops, seed'em. All of them fairly hug the ground. There are other plants that form a carpet of foliage, but the flower stalks rise higher. These include white rock, cress, arabus albida, the permissible double buttercup, renonculus acris, flpl, the also permissible double germant catchfly, lignis viscaria, another double flower, fair maids of France, renunculus anticapholeus, carpathian bellflower, cabanula carpathica, grass pink, dianthus plumarius, iris pumilla, crusted iris, iris crotata, Christmas rose, heliborus niger, flocks davarkatia, flocks ovata, flocks repens, foam flower, tiorella cordifolia, veronica incana, alusum saxatil, saxofraga cordifolia, and various avans, jam. Several of the premulas give a like effect if the planting is close, as it should be in a pocket. The best are the English primrose, premula vulgaris, cowslip, pi veris, oxlip, pi ilatior, bird's eye, pi farinosa, yellow auricula, pi auricula, pi denticulata, and pi cortusoides. Similarly, spring bulbs may be employed. Plant them for the most part under a ground cover so that the soil will not show when they die down. Of the tulips, single ones of the early and cottage types may be used, if in a solid color, but most to be preferred are the species, such as the sweet yellow florentine tulip of southern Europe, and the little lady tulip to lipa cruciana. Crocuses are also best in type forms, and the small single yellow trumpet kinds are the finest daffodil material. Single white or blue hyacinths may be used, but better than the stiff spikes of bloom of new bulbs will be the looser clusters of bulbs that have begun to run out in the border. Other valuable bulbs are the snowdrop, sila ciberca, gloria of the snow, chianodaxa, lucilli, guinea hen flower, fritillaria, melagris, grape hyacinth, muscari, boturides, tritilea uniflora, alium moly, and the wood in Spanish hyacinths, sila nutans, and campunulata. Toler plants that may be worked in often times best with only a single specimen or small clump are autumn aconite, aconitum atumnale, yuca filamontosa, leperd's bane, doronicum, single peonies, either herbaceous or tree, German, Japanese, and Siberian iris, as well as the yellow flag, iris sudakoras, single columbines, anemone japanica, hemerocales flava, sedum spectibuli, dilitra spectabil, dilitra formosa, Jacobs ladder, polomonium Richard sony, fraccinella, anthemis tinctoria, single campanula persicifolia, campanula rapunculodis, campanula glomatura, globe flower, trollias, snapdragon, enterhinum, platycodon, lavender, where it is proven hardy, and musk mellow, malva moscata. Of the lilies, lilium filadelficum, el elegans, el specisome, and el longiflorum are all desirable, and they thrive in partial shade, though in Japan, el elegans will be found standing out from the rocks in full sunshine. For peering over into the rock garden, rather than being placed in it, canadens, el tigrinum, and el serpubum are recommended. The pick of the low shrubs are the charming Daphne sonorum, which flourishes better for being lifted above the ordinary garden level than azalea ammonia. The ladder, however, should be so placed that its trying sulferino does not make a bad color clash. Rotodendrons and mountain laurel fringe a rock garden well, and one with trailing juniper, juniperus procombens, all provide a great deal of the refreshing winter green. Single roses, the specis, fit in well where there is room for them. Good ones are our satigra, our rubigenosa, our witcherania, all rampant, and the low r-blanda. The roses would be better at or near the entrance or exit, or far enough above the rockwork not to ramble over small plants. The plants in this list cover all seasons and vary somewhat in their soil and requirements, but the variation is nothing beyond the ordinary garden knowledge. Most will do better if their preferences are considered, but none is apt to perish with average care. Alpine as a class would better be left to the amateur with the time, money, and disposition to specialize. Most of them take kindly to being transferred from a mile or more up in the air to sea level. The Adelweiss, for one, grows here readily from seed, and the exquisitely beautiful gentiana aculis thrives in American rock gardens. But on the whole, alpines do not do as well here as in England where the summer climate is not so hard on them. When they flourish here, it is at the cost of a great amount of professional care. The Wall Garden A wall garden is a perpendicular rock garden, but whereas a rock garden is of all things irregular, a wall garden has regularity. The walled need not be a straight line. It is better that one end should describe a curve, and rocks at the base may give it further irregularity. Yet it can never quite lose the air of man's handiwork. The prime object of the gardening on it is to reduce this air to a minimum. The way to make a wall garden is to build a dry wall of rough stones, that is, a wall without mortar. Instead, use soil and pack it tightly in every crevice as well as behind the stones, which should be tilted back a little to carry water into the soil. This tilting may be accomplished with small stone wedges. Best kind is a 5 foot retaining wall, as there is then a good body of soil behind to which the roots can reach out through the crevices. But a double faced wall may be made if the situation demands it by constructing parallel lines of stone and filling in solidly with soil. Although the face of the wall in either case may be strictly perpendicular, it is better that each layer should recede a bit. Construct it after the manner of the rock garden, laying the stone so that the top will be level or approximately so. In planting, also follow the same rules. It is better to plant as the work progresses. Either plants or seed may be used. If it is seed, press carefully into the soil in the front of the crevices. Small seed may be mixed in thin mud and this plastered on the soil. For a tiny crevice, make a pill of the mixture. The range of reliable plants that do not call for special care is not great so far as the crevices are concerned. All the stone crops, the house leaks, arabus albida, red valerian, centrathus rubar, arboritia, alasum saxetil, snapdragon wallflower, cherryanthus cherry, kennelworth ivy, viola tricolor, dianthus plumarius, and dianthus deltoides are all very serviceable. Behind the wall at the top, a lot of earth should be left and there a wider variety of plants can be grown. Single margarite carnations and grass pinks will form a sort of cascade of foliage and bloom there if planted close to the wall or in the crevices of the top. In a similar effect, but much bolder can be created with a perennial pea. Lathrus letifolus If the drywall is already made, the crevices can be plugged with soil if care and patience are used. The planted wall is not hopeless. Here and there, the mortar can be chiseled out and an occasional small stone should be removed. A wall garden has these advantages over a rock garden. It is more easily constructed. It is a practical use and it is sometimes a possibility where the other is not. Water and bog gardens Neither the water nor the bog garden is dependent on rocks. Either or both, however, may just be a rock garden. They solve the wet spot problem admirably, permit the culture of native water lilies, orchids and numerous other beautiful plants and certainly contribute their share of picturesqueness. If water is lacking, it may often be introduced at little expense. In most cases, it will be found that some cement construction is necessary, but not a bit of it should show. This is easily managed by building a cement shoulder on the sides of the pool or stream a little below what will and then setting rough stones on that. A cement bottom for shallow water may be disguised by embedding pebbles and small stones in the cement before it sets. Dispose of the rocks vary irregularly, but they may be so few as to be mere notes. Avoid stagnant water and if mosquitoes are feared introduce some goldfish. They like mosquito larvae. Water lilies and Sagittaria one plant will do if the pool is small in the water and near it, but not in standing water. The Japanese iris, yellow flag, globe flower, and lythrom, roseum are good selections. Forget me not as one of the finest plants for the banks. Use the perennial kind. Myositis, palustris, semperfluorins. The bog garden simply reproduces bog conditions. As a rock garden adjunct, it may be a small spot with the perpetually moist and moss covered soil in which the native cyperpetiums and pitcher plants flourish. 18 or 20 inches of suitable soil a mixture of leaf, mold, peat, and loam in which has been stirred some sand and gravel must be provided. If an artificial bog the bottom may be made of cement or puddled clay. End of Making a Rock Garden by H.S. Adams. The Martians a chapter from The Patient Observer and His Friends by Simeon Strunsky. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. The saddest thing about the recent announcement that there are no canals on Mars is that Robert and I will now have so little to talk about. Robert is my favorite waiter and when he found out that I am what the newspapers call a literary worker he made up his mind that the ordinary topics of light conversation would not do it all for me. After prolonged resistance on my part he has succeeded in reducing our common interests to two the canals on Mars and French depopulation. Now and then I venture to bring up the weather or the higher cost of living. Once I asked him what he thought about the need of football reform. Once I tried to drag in Mademoiselle Steinheil. But Robert listens patiently and when I have concluded he calls my attention to the fact that in 1908 the number of deaths in France exceeded the number of births by 12,000. When the French population fails to stir me he wonders whether the inhabitants are really as intelligent as they are supposed to be. And yet it must have been I that first suggested Mars to him. Let me confess I do not love the Martian canals with a devouring passion they have aroused in susceptible souls like Robert. But in a quieter way the canals have been very dear to me. Their threatened loss comes like the loss of an old friend a distant friend whose face one and never hopes to see again from whom one never hopes to borrow and to whom one never expects to lend but who all the more lives in the mind a remote impersonal and gentle influence. I am not ashamed to admit that I have learned to care more for the Martian canals than for any canals much closer to us. The Panama canal will probably cut in two the distance to China and give us a monopoly of the cotton goods trade in the Pacific. But I think cotton goods are unhealthful and I don't want to go to China. The Suez canal may be the main stay of the British Empire but I have no doubt that it would make just as satisfactory a main stay for some other empire. My interest in the Erie canal is connected entirely with the fact that when it was open someone said what have God wrought or there is no more north and no more south. I have forgotten which. I have always had a softer spot in my heart for the inhabitants of Mars than for any other alien people. They have always impressed me as more unassuming than the English fonder of outdoor exercise than the Germans and less addicted to Gerulity than the French. They lead simple laborious lives digging away at their canals every morning and filling them up every night for reasons best known to themselves in certain professors at Harvard. I'm attracted by their quaint appearance. Mr. H.G. Wells for instance has depicted them with cylindrical bodies of sheet iron long legs like a tripod heads like an enormous diver's helmet and arms like the tentacles of an octopus. As out of sight in their way is the latest woman's from Paris. Others have described the Martians as pot-bowied and hairless with goggle eyes, powerful arms and curly gelatinous legs the result of millions of years of universal culture and subway congestion. A race so unattractive could not but be virtuous. One feels instinctively that there is no graph bound up with the digging of the Martian canals. No, anything but graphed. One of the principal reasons why I am so fond of the canals on Mars is that they are the most cheaply built system of public works on record. The professor of astronomy in Italy or Arizona finds a few dim lines on the plate of his camera and immediately Mars is equipped with a splendid network of artificial waterways. Am I wrong in thinking of the Martian canals as one of the greatest triumphs of the human mind? An African savage might find an elephant skeleton and from that reconstruct the animal in life. Only science can reconstruct an elephant from a half inch fragment of the bone of his hind leg.  Of such reconstructions our civilization is largely made up. We build up a statesman out of a bit of boncôme and a frock coat. A genius out of two sonnets and half a dozen cocktails. A dramatic star out of a lisp and a giggle. A two column news story out of the fragment of a fact. A multitude out of three men in a band. A crusade out of one man and a press agent. A novel out of the trimmings of earlier novels. A reputation out of an accident. A captain of industry out of an itching palm. A philanthropist out of a beneficent smile and a platitude. A critic out of a wise look and a fountain pen. In a social profit out of pretty small potatoes. I need not allude here to the process of making mountains out of molehills, beams out of moats and entire summers out of single swallows. But mine I do not mean that I was ever skeptical about the canals. Indeed I have always admired the way in which their existence was demonstrated. There have always been two ways of proving that something is true. One way is to bring forward 16 reasons why, let us say, the moon is made of green cheese. The other way is to assume that the moon is made of green cheese and to answer 16 objections brought forward against the theory. I've always preferred the second method because it throws the burden of proof on your opponents. There is no argument under the sun that cannot be refuted. Obviously then it is an advantage to let your opponent supply the argument while you supply the refutation. Neglect this precaution and you are in difficulties from the start. You contend, for instance, that the moon must be made of cheese because the moon and cheese are both round as a rule. The truth says your opponent, but so are donuts, women's arguments, and occasionally the wheels on the trolley car. The moon and cheese you go on both come after dinner. Yes, says your opponent, but so do unwelcome visitors, musical comedies, and indigestion. Then you say there is the cow who jumped over the moon. Would she have resorted to such extraordinary procedure if she had not perceived cheese from her own milk? Well, says your opponent, the cow might merely have been trying to gain a broader outlook upon life. And here you are 13 reasons from the end, in your hands hopelessly full. Now compare the advantages of the other method. You adopt a resolute bearing and declare the moon is made of green cheese. It is now for your opponent to speak. But that would make the moon's ingredients different from those of the earth and other celestial bodies. No, not at all you say. The earth is made up largely of chalk. And what is the difference between chalk and cheese, except in the price? But if it is green cheese the moon is made of, asks your opponent, why does it look yellow? Only the natural effect of atmospheric refraction, you reply calmly. Remember how a politician's badly soiled reputation will shine out a brilliant white through the favorable atmosphere that surrounds a congressional investigating committee? Recall how a lady who is green with envy at her neighbor's new hat will turn pink with delight when the two meet in the street and kiss. Recall how the same lady's complexion of roses and milk will assume its natural yellow under the candid dissection of her dearest friends. Your opponent might go on marshaling his objections forever and you would have no difficulty in knocking them on the head. So I used to believe but if the method breaks down in the case of Mars and its canals it breaks down everywhere else. If there are no canals on Mars what about the blessings of the tariff which are based on exactly the same kind of reasoning? What about the efficacy of mental healing? What about the advantages of giving up coffee? What about the impending invasion of California by the Japanese? What about the Kaiser's qualifications as an art critic? What about the restraining influence of publicity on corporations? What about the connection between easy divorce and the higher life? What about the divine right of railroad presidents? What about the theatrical manager's passion for purified stage? What about the value of all anti-fat medicines? All of these things have been shown to be true by assuming that they are true. If the canals on Mars go, all these have to go and that makes me almost as sad as the fact that I shall have nothing to talk about with my favorite waiter. End of The Martians by Simeon Strunsky. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Read by Mike Overby Midland Washington A Mormon Strategium Birmingham, Alabama November 3rd A party of Mormon elders created considerable excitement in the northern part of Fayette County last week and narrowly escaped lynching at the hands of indignant citizens. A young woman was going through the country preaching Mormonism and made a number of converts. She was accompanied by two elders who kept in the background and had little to say. A few days ago it was discovered that the eloquent preacher who was teaching Mormonism was not a woman, but a young man disguised in female attire. This discovery caused great excitement among the country people, especially those who had entertained the disguised preacher at their houses. Friday night a committee of citizens waited on the three elders. Some wanted to lynch them on the spot, others proposed a coat of tar and feathers and the three elders were badly frightened. Coolheads ruled the angry mob and the elders were allowed to depart on their promise to leave the country in 24 hours, never to return. They were warned that they would meet with the people. They visited that locality again. End of a Mormon's strategy. Footnote. From a speech at the Albert Hall London December 21st, 1905 by kind permission of Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman and the London Times. In footnote. Born 1836. Elected to Parliament in 1868. Financial Secretary to the War Office 1871, 1874, 1880, 1882. Secretary to the Admiralty 1882, 1884. Chief Secretary for Ireland 1884, 1885. Secretary of State for War, 1886, 1892, 1995. Liberal leader in the House of Commons 1899, 1905. Prime Minister, 1906. We are met tonight as liberals in a position which we have occupied for ten years. The Unionist government has gone. It has executed what we may call a moonlight flitting. It has run away. Not in the broad day of the session, not even in the twilight of October, but in the murky midnight of December. They have gone. They had long ago lost, as they well knew, the confidence of the country. They still boasted in a feeble and uncertain way of holding to the confidence of the House of Commons. But last of all and worst of all they lost confidence in themselves. And they are gone. We were told, told emphatically and abundantly that the method of their going would be a masterpiece of tactical skill. Tactics. Tactics, ladies and gentlemen, the country is tired of their tactics. It would have been better for them if they had had less of tactics and more of reality. But they have lived for some years on nothing but tactics and now they have died of tactics. Two characteristics are outstanding above all others in the late administration. First of all, their infinite cleverness, which was not always clever. And secondly, an inexhaustible fund of self-approbation. Of this last quality, they were possessed of so much that they have even now some of it left for their obituary notices. Or you will observe that each of them is going about giving himself and his colleagues the most marvelous testimony. They even carry self-esteem so far that they convinced themselves that they were the only people in this kingdom who could form a government. So many of us tried the effort any cabinet which could be got together would be at once distasteful to the country and destitute of strength and unity. You see here in what the wonderful tactics consist. That was the design that lurked in the December resignation and it has come to naught for a government has been formed amid the respect of our opponents which I gratefully acknowledge and amid the confidence and satisfaction of our friends. What lesson then are we to draw? For let us always be taught by the conduct of our enemies. What lesson are we to draw from their discomfiture? Surely it is to avoid those evil practices of boastfulness and over cleverness which have brought them to ruin. If one had had any doubt and for my part I protest I never had any, as to the wisdom of our taking office, I think it would be dispelled by certain reassuring circumstances. In the first place there has been no shutter through the chancellories of Europe such as Mr. Balfour kindly anticipated. Sir Edward Gray tells me that the foreign ambassadors come to see him just as if nothing had happened. Again, consuls instead of tumbling down as they ought to have done have actually risen. In the third place Mr. Broderick who ought to know about these matters cannot be laboring under any misapprehension as to the effectiveness of the military defense of the empire because this is what he said the other day. The army required a judicious review of past efforts rather than fresh schemes and he believed that a period of rest from doubts as to their prospects would be of great advantage to officers and men. The doubts of which he speaks let me add can only have come from the operations of himself and of his colleagues. At last of all we have the late prime minister who his stratagem having completely succeeded and the trap being full yet continues as confident after his resignation as he was before it that the general election will leave his friends in a woeful minority. What has been going on in quite recent days in India? There has been an unbroken rule, a wise rule which we assuredly shall not be the first to violate to keep questions of the internal administration of India outside the area of party politics. So far as questions of the day are concerned I expect that it will not be your friend and my friend Mr. John Morley in whom the doings of the late government will find their most eloquent and energetic and sparing critic. No, it will be one of the most distinguished and powerful members of their own party. I mean Lord Curzon. One of the problems arising from the system of military administration in India has raised an angry controversy in which a prime minister, a secretary of state, a vice-roy and a commander in chief have taken their part and which has been marked by of altercation and recrimination that would be unedifying anywhere. But it is more than unedifying where the stage of such a scene is the great dominion of India. Talk of imperialism. I know nothing, I can imagine nothing less like a sense of our imperial responsibility than the spectacle of this controversy so rashly raised so tactlessly handled so recklessly published. You may be sure that it will be our aim to restore that spirit of caution and vigorous common sense which has been the basis of British rule in India that you may also be assured that we shall make ourselves party to those steps that involve any invasion of the sacred principle for it is the principle recognized by each party throughout the realm of the king. The sacred principle of the subordination of the military now Mr. Chairman I turn to the colonies it is surely unnecessary for us to make public protestations of our affection for the colonies and our desire to bring them closer and closer to ourselves I would say this that the relations between the colonies and the mother country have never been settled on the lines of party politics but if it were that they had been so fixed and were to be so conducted surely the democratic and progressive instincts and institutions of those great communities would find more affinity among us than among our opponents but I have heard with relief and pleasure from Lord Elgin that he finds no trace of that tendency to disruption of which we were told but a few months ago there is no sign of tension or friction everything is smooth save the one ruffled spot South Africa ladies and gentlemen in South Africa the difficulties and complications are as you know great I have no general statement to make for you but we have not had time adequately to examine them but one conclusion his majesty's government has arrived at and it is this to stop forthwith as far as it is practical to do it forthwith the recruitment and embarkation of Cooley's in China and their importation into South Africa and instructions have been given to that effect a few weeks ago at Portsmouth I referred to our present relations with foreign powers and I especially hailed with approval and pleasure the agreement with the French government into which lord lands down wisely entered I expressed then the admiration and regard which my countrymen of all ranks and parties entertained for the great French mission I am glad to say that my sentiment expressed in opposition is more than confirmed in office and I wish emphatically to reaffirm my adhesion to the policy of the entente cordial even more important than any actual amicable instrument is the real friendship developed between the two peoples and one of the objects of our policy will be to maintain that spirit of friendship unimpaired on the occasion to which I referred I alluded very briefly to the great trial through which Russia is now passing all that I will say now as I said then is this that we have nothing but good feelings toward that great people in the case of Germany also I see no cause whatever of estrangement in any of the interests of either people and we welcome the unofficial demonstrations of friendship which have lately been passing between the two countries with other European powers our relations are most friendly and when we pass beyond the bounds of Europe we have on the one hand Japan our relations with which nation are sufficiently known to the world by the recent treaty and on the other hand we have the United States of America with the government and people of which country we are bound by the closest ties of race tradition and fellowship ladies and gentlemen this is a most pleasing outlook which I trust will not be marred by any events that can occur as to our general policy toward our neighbors our general foreign policy it will remain the same in government as it was in opposition it will be opposed to aggression and to adventure it will be animated by desire to be on the best terms with all nationalities and to cooperate with them in the common work of civilization I believe by the way that in the execution of this policy we have a notable ally in our present fiscal system a great guarantee of peace and preventive against the possibility of commercial and tariff wars we liberals, let us not forget it are the heirs of a great and inspiring tradition that tradition was founded in days when public opinion was opposed to any attempt to regulate differences by an appeal to the reason of conscience of mankind he defied the public opinion of his day he took his stand on higher ground and by referring the Alabama dispute to arbitration he established a precedent of priceless value to mankind how proud and how pleased we ought to be to have among us and in the circle of the cabinet a veteran statesman who took part in that great undertaking and who remains now as he was then one of the truest of patriots and the staunchest and soundest of politicians I rejoice that since that time the principle of arbitration has made great strides and that today it is no longer counted weakness for any of the great powers of the world to submit those issues which would once have been referred to the arbitration of self-assertion and a passion to a higher tribunal ah, but ladies and gentlemen it is vain it is vain to seek peace if you do not also ensue it that the growth of armaments is a great danger to the peace of the world a policy of huge armaments keeps alive and stimulates and feeds the belief that force is the best if not the only solution of international differences it is a policy that tends to inflame old sores and to create new sores and I submit to you that as the principle of peaceful arbitration gains ground it becomes one of the highest tasks of a statesman to adjust those armaments to the newer and happier condition of things what nobler role could this great country assume then at the fitting moment to place itself at the head of the league of peace through whose instrumentality this great work could be affected I now pass to the question of economy and finance a very natural transition and I think you may look with confidence to the action that will be taken by my friend and Chancellor of the Exchequer but where are we to begin we want two things we want relief from the pressure of excessive taxation and at the same time we want money to meet our own domestic needs at home which have been too long starved and neglected owing to the demands on the taxpayer for military purposes abroad how are these desirable things to be secured if in the time of peace our armaments are maintained on a war footing remember that we are spending at this moment I think twice as much on the army and navy as we spent ten years ago there may be and I believe there are fresh sources of taxation to be tapped we may derive something from the land something from licenses and some irksome inequalities of taxation may be relieved but even so with an increasing military expenditure how can we do the work of reform that remains to be done at home and at the same time bring relief to the taxpayers do not let us mind if in their folly they call us little englanders I at least am patriot enough not to desire to see the weakening of my country by such a waste of money as we have had for the last ten years what has it brought us this waste of money for ten years shall I recite some links in ugly chain dear money lower credit less enterprise in business and manufactures a reduced home demand therefore reduced output to meet it therefore reduction in wages increase of pauperism non-employment the fact is sir you cannot pile up debt and taxation as they have been piled up without feeling the strain in every fiber of society we are going to have a good deal said for the next few weeks about free trade let me add another thing did you ever hear a fiscal reformer pleading for economy are crying out for lighter taxes and fewer of them no sir if peace and retrenchment were the order of the day Othello's occupation would be gone expenditure calls for taxes and taxes are the plaything of the tariff reformer militarism extravagance protection are weeds which grow in the same field and if you want to clear the field for honest cultivation you must root them all out for my own part I do not believe that we should have been confronted by the specter of protection if it had not been for the South African war well ladies and gentlemen so much for peace so much for economy so much for principles and here is another South government and popular control we believe in that principle not only on the grounds of justice and on the grounds of effective administration but on this other ground that it exercises a wholesome influence on the character of the people who enjoy the privilege but now this is the foundation of our educational policy that the people of the district manage the schools it is the foundation of our licensing policy but if I seek for illustrations why did I not take the greatest and most conspicuous of all a crowning instance what other than this is the foundation of our Irish policy that those domestic affairs which concern the Irish people only and not ourselves should as and when opportunity offers be placed in their hands down to last spring we had reason to believe that even the late government and their party had come round to see the wisdom of such a policy they had already endowed the people of Ireland with the command of county government they had pledged 112 million pounds of British credit for their tenants of Ireland and lastly their viceroy had been authorized to declare that Ireland was since forth to be governed according to Irish ideas they have started back from that position but old ladies and gentlemen give them time they cannot escape from the logic of their own acts and they will return to that which is the path of justice and wisdom and also of safety when I come to the policy of constructive social reform I am principally conscious that I must make a reiteration of things which I have been saying up and down the country for the last three or four years I can promise you this that it will always be the same story we desire to develop our undeveloped estates in this country to colonize our own country to give the farmer greater freedom and greater security in the exercise of his business to secure a home and a career for the labourer who is now in many cases cut off from the soil we wish to make the land less of a pleasure ground for the rich and more of a treasure house for the nation now why cannot Mr Chamberlain drop his project of taxing corn and cheese and so forth and come back to his old love of three acres and a cow this question including these great problems cannot be neglected because after all the health and stamina of the nation are bound up with the maintenance of a large class of workers on the soil the town population redundant the country population decimated it is a subversion of healthy national life now in passing let me mention one thing which the government have resolved to do few things we think are more capable of benefiting both the towns and the country districts than a development if that can be given to our system of canal communication and promoting the use of waterways which will facilitate transit which will open markets which will bring town and country together we have therefore resolved to ask the king to appoint a royal commission to inquire into the whole of that question because we believe the great benefit to the nation may come from it now I know that on the great question in regard to which we are to give our verdict in the course of a few weeks your minds are made up and therefore I will not enter even for a moment on arguments connected with it I rejoice to think that since the free trade controversy was first raised there has been no sign of faltering or wavering on our side and that liberalism has been true to its historic mission in the great struggle which will shortly be upon us I do not think it too much to say that all that we liberals hold dear is at stake because if once you open the door to protection what hope is there for those great objects of reform and economy upon which our hearts are set depend on it that in fighting for our open ports and for the cheap food and material upon which the welfare of the people and the prosperity of our commerce depend we are fighting against those powers privileges, injustices and monopolies which are unalterably opposed to the triumph of democratic principles be confident therefore but I would ask you not to be overconfident against you as a strong coalition of interests and powers against you as a wealthy and a great party divided indeed as we have been amused to observe and to watch its little developments divided in the details of fiscal strategy but united in its determination to undermine and overthrow the citadel of free trade let us then be worthy of our fathers who went before us and won for us this great privilege of freedom and let us be wearless through any fault of ours of kindness or indifference or overconfidence on our part so great and vital and national interest is imperiled end of on the policy of the liberal party by Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman on uniform standard time for railways, telegraphs and civil purposes generally by Sanford Fleming this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org paper read before the convention of the American Society of Civil Engineers held at Montreal Canada June 15th, 1881 the question which I have been requested to bring under the notice of the convention, although not strictly of an engineering character from its nature cannot fail to be of interest to the members of the American Society of Civil Engineers many of whom have taken a prominent part in establishing the great lines of communication on this continent to the large number of its members connected with the administration and development of the gigantic railway system extending between the two oceans which in length are but little less than 100,000 miles the subject becomes one of vital importance the occasion strikes me as peculiarly appropriate for submitting for your consideration the subject to which with your permission I will briefly refer the society meets for the first time beyond the limits of the United States to find in the dominion of Canada a cordial welcome many of its members in attending this convention must have traveled long distances and have experienced in one way or another some of the difficulties it is proposed should be removed the definition of civil time and its scientific determination for railway, telegraph and all ordinary purposes is a problem to which a solution is imperatively demanded by the present condition of civilization the question has been examined by the American Metrological Society New York the Imperial Academy of Science New York the Royal Society London, England the Canadian Institute Toronto and other scientific bodies its importance has been fully admitted and expressions of opinion have been obtained as to the means of overcoming the difficulties which are experienced the citizens of the United States and the subjects of Her Majesty the Queen occupy together the greater portion the most friendly relations exist between us for in the main we are substantially one people living under different governments with laws and customs essentially identical on all sides we are satisfied to remain separated by our political affinities having distinct theories and beliefs with respect to systems of government but science like every noble virtue knows no national boundary in this brief note I can recognize none in alluding to matters which equally concern the United States and Canada I shall refer simply to this country or to this continent as the continent extends across 105 degrees of longitude an individual at the western limit finds himself 7 hours of recorded time behind another individual at the extreme eastern side at the same moment of absolute time much of the intervening country is but thinly settled but railways and telegraphs traverse from ocean to ocean and we have every gradation of difference of time between the extreme limit of 7 hours according to the system of notation which we have inherited from past centuries every spot of earth between the Atlantic and the Pacific is entitled to have its own local time should each locality stand on its dignity it may insist upon its railway and its other affairs being governed by the time derived from its own meridian the smaller and less important localities however, as a rule have found it convenient to adopt the time of the nearest city the railways have laid down special standards which vary as has been held expedient in each separate management in the whole country there is so far an irregular acknowledgement of more than 100 of these artificial and arbitrary standards of time the consequences of this system are unsatisfactory they are felt by every traveler and in an age and in a country when all more or less travel the aggregate inconvenience and confusion is very great and it will be enormously multiplied as time rolls on if the system already results in difficulties to trouble our daily life and to lead to embarrassments which often occupy our courts of law which indeed too often are the cause of loss of life what will be the consequences in a few years when population will be immensely increased and travel and traffic indefinitely multiplied if no effort be made to effect a change the societies I have mentioned after careful examination have united in the opinion that a satisfactory change cannot be made too soon and they have adopted resolutions pointing to a general uniformity and thorough accuracy in time reckoning they believe that the course they have recommended will greatly facilitate the daily transactions of businessmen greatly increase the safety of the traveling public and immensely benefit the whole community it is proposed that the community unite in an effort to simplify the system now in use by reducing the number of time standards to a minimum by substituting for an indefinite number of irregularly established and purely local standards a few main or as they may be termed continental standards when having a fixed and well known relation to all the others it is proposed to have these standards established and maintained by governmental authority to have them regulated with precision through a common central observatory and through these standards it is proposed to keep every town, city, railway and steamboat clock throughout the land as nearly as practicable in perfect agreement the plan of arrangements favored by the metrological society New York and the Canadian Institute Toronto is to have the standards so established that they will be exactly one hour apart that is to say while it would be 9 o'clock at one standard it would be 8 o'clock at the next to the west 7 o'clock at the following and so on by steps of exactly one hour there would be no difference in the minutes and smaller divisions of time if the time be 10 minutes or 30 minutes past the hour at any one point it would at the same instant in absolute time be 10 minutes or 30 minutes past some hour at every point the hours themselves only would differ and they would differ only in designation according as the localities were east or west at the same instant of absolute time every clock in the country would strike either one hour or another the minute and second hands would always and everywhere be in perfect agreement it may be known to gentlemen present that the officers of the United States signal service have evinced a deep interest in the question and in the efforts to establish uniformity, accuracy and simplicity of system throughout the country General Hazen, chief signal Hamilton has expressed his earnest desire to contribute toward the public dissemination of standard time he considers it eminently proper that the department over which he presides should as far as practicable assist in a work in which the whole community is interested and he offers the active cooperation of the signal service in every part of the United States in the maintenance of accurate standard time and giving it to the public by dropping time balls at all important stations Mr. Cartmail chief director of the meteorological department of Canada would similarly cooperate in every practicable way there would therefore be no difficulty in giving effect to a scheme of introducing uniformity of time reckoning throughout North America so soon as the railway and telegraph authorities and the general public express concurrence it is proposed one, that the exact time should be determined astronomically at a central observatory two, that every town of any importance should have a public time signal station three, that arrangements be made for placing each station in electrical connection with the central observatory at a certain hour every day four, that each station be furnished with automatical apparatus for making the proper signal either by dropping a time ball or by firing a gun at the proper moment five, that all the public and railway clocks in each and every locality be controlled electrically from the public time signal station I think it may fairly be claimed that no peoples are more progressive or more ready to adopt any needed change to manifest improvement than those who live in North America and as there is no country except Russia where a greater necessity is presented or a better field offered for the introduction of a comprehensive system of uniformity in time reckoning it is more than probable that in this country the change will first be made as there can be little doubt that other countries will in due time follow the example of America it is desirable that we should inaugurate a system which will readily commend itself by its appropriateness and simplicity one that will have the best prospect of being ultimately adopted throughout the world if we admit the principle that in a question of this kind it is not expedient to limit our view to any city or state or province but to embrace in our system the whole of the continent seems to follow that we should take a still broader view and endeavor to apply the principle to all countries steam and electricity are rapidly altering the conditions of life everywhere they are girdling the globe and bringing all countries nearer together we get our unit measure of time from the earth's revolutions it is therefore common property and nothing can be more cosmopolitan in its nature it is perfectly obvious to my mind that a system of uniform time which would be good for this country should be equally good for all countries on the face of the globe these views have met with the acquiescence of all who have given them careful consideration and the system recommended by the several scientific bodies for adoption on this continent commends itself as a scheme which all nations may with advantage to themselves and to general interests except the American Metrological Society and the Canadian Institute have each passed resolutions substantially as follows resolved that uniformity of time throughout the United States and Canada is demanded by the progress of events and that a central system by which time may be reckoned in a uniform and accurate manner of all nations throughout the globe is of the highest importance resolved that a great service will be rendered to the world by directing the public mind to the subject and by securing the general adoption of a well conceived system of uniformity and that the society is hereby authorized to cooperate with other bodies in recommending a comprehensive scheme based on the following propositions one 24 standard meridians one every 15 degrees of longitude to be established around the globe for reckoning sectional or local time two one of the 24 standards to be selected as time zero or initial meridian for reckoning cosmopolitan time three the time zero to coincide with the prime meridian to be common to all nations four the 24 standard meridians to be designated by names or by letters of the alphabet or by degrees of longitude numbered from the prime meridian westerly five the prime meridian or zero for time in longitude to pass near bearing straight 180 degrees from Greenwich six the division of the day into two halves of 12 hours to reach to be discouraged and a single series numbered from one to 24 substituted in the cosmopolitan day or a period of time between two successive passages of the sun over the prime meridian the single division to be made absolute I may avail myself of this opportunity of mentioning that the scheme of cosmopolitan standard time is being brought before various European societies under distinguished auspices His Excellency the Governor General of Canada has been good enough personally to evince a deep interest in the question and has been pleased to send communications to France Belgium, Prussia, Austria Russia, and Switzerland the subject will be considered by the association for the reform and codification of the law of nations at their meeting in August next at Cologne in Rhine Prussia and it will on that occasion find warm advocates in Dr. Bernard, President of Columbia College and Dr. David Dudley Field of New York the question will be brought under the consideration of the International Geographical Congress at Venice in September next supported by such men as Dr. Otto Strove Director of the Imperial Observatory St. Petersburg General Hazen of Washington and others in bringing these propositions under the notice of the American Society of Civil Engineers I do not feel justified on an occasion like the present to refer at length to the voluminous papers which have been written and the arguments which have been advanced in connection with this question necessarily I have been brief and I respectfully suggest in order further to save the time of the convention that a committee be appointed to examine and report at a future meeting I feel it proper to add that as the great object is to determine and establish a system which will secure the greatest advantages to the community it is of the first importance to have the proposition carefully digested by those whose opinions have value with the public an expression from this body of educated, scientific and practical men must carry with it weight and will exact respect in every quarter end of Uniform Standard Time for Railways, Telegraphs and Civil Purposes Generally by Sanford Fleming Opportunity from The Shadow on the Dial and Other Essays by Ambrose Bierce LibriVox Recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Dale Grossman Opportunity by Ambrose Bierce This is not a country of equal fortunes Outside a socialist dream no such country exists or can exist but as nearly as possible this is a country of equal opportunities for those who begin life with nothing but nature's endowments and of such is the kingdom of success In nine instances out of ten successful Americans that is Americans who have succeeded in any worthy ambition or legitimate field of endeavor have started with nothing but the skin they stood in it almost may be said indeed that to begin with nothing is a main condition of success in America To a young man there is no such hopeless impediment as wealth or the expectation of wealth Here a man and there a man will be born so abundantly endowed by nature as to overcome the handicap of artificial advantages but that is not the rule Usually the chap born with a golden spoon in his mouth puts in his time sucking that spoon and without other employment counting the possession of the spoon's success why should he besture himself to achieve what he already has The real curled darling of opportunity has nothing in his mouth but his teeth and his appetite He knows or is likely to know what it is to feel his belly taking to his back If he have brains of plenty he will get on for he must be up and doing The penalty of indeligence is famine If he have not he may up and do to the utmost satisfaction of his mind and heart but the end of that man is failure with possible socialism that last resort of conscious incompetence It fatigues this talk of narrowing opportunities of today the closed avenues to success and the rest of it doubtless it serves its purpose of making mischief for the tyrant trusts and the wicked rich generally but in a six months bound volume of it there is not enough truth to float a religion Man of brains never had a better chance than now to accomplish all that it is desirable that we should accomplish and men of no brains never did have much of a chance nor under any possible conditions can have in this country nor in any other They are nature's failures God's botch work Let us be sorry for them treat them justly and generously but the socialism that would level us all down to their plane of achievement and reward is a proposal of which they are the only proponents Opportunity indeed Who is holding me from composing a great opera that would make me rich and famous What oppressive laws forbade me to work my passage up the Yukon as a deckhand on a steamboat and discover the gold along Bonanza Creek What is there in our industrial system that conceals from me the secret of making diamonds and coal Why was it not I who entering a lawyer's office as a suitable person to sweep it out left it as an appointed justice of the Supreme Court The number of actual and possible sources of profit and methods of distinction is infinite Not all the trusts in the world combined in one trust of trusts could appreciably reduce it could condemn to permanent failure one man with the talent and the will to succeed They can abolish that doubtful benefactor of the small dealer who lives by charging too much and that very thickly disguised blessing the drummer whom they have to add to the price of everything they sell But for each opportunity they close they open a new one and leave untouched a thousand actual and a million possible ones As to their dishonest practices these are conspicuous and striking because lumped but no worse than the silent steady aggregate of cheating by which their constituent firms and individuals formerly consume the consumer without his special wonder The End of Opportunity by Ambrose Beers Edders of Pliny by Gaius Pliny This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Letters of Pliny by Pliny Read by Chad Horner Letter 24 to Cyrillus You advised me to read my late speech before an assemblage of my friends I shall do so as you advise it though I have strong scribbles of this sort loose I well know all their force and fire and even their very name almost by Amir Recital It is the solemnity of the tribunal the concourse of advocates the suspense of the event the fame of the several pleaders concerned the different parties formed amongst the audience Add to this the gestures the pacing I the actual running to and fro of the speaker the body working in harmony with every inward emotion that conspired to give a spirit and a grace to what he delivers This is the reason that those who plead sitting though they retain most of the advantages possessed by those who stand up to plead waken the whole force of their oratory the eyes and hands of the reader those important instruments of graceful elocution being engaged it is no wonder that the attention of the audience trips without anything extrinsic to keep it up no alarmance of gesture to attract no smart stinging impromptu to enliven to these general considerations I must add this particular disadvantage which attends the speech in question that it is of the argumentative kind and it is natural for an author to infer that what he wrote with labour will not be read with pleasure for who is there so unprejudiced as not to prefer the attractive and sonorous to the somber and unornamented in style it is very unreasonable that there should be any distinction however it is certain the judges generally expect one style of pleading and the audience another whereas an auditor ought to be affected only by those parts which would especially strike him were he in the place of the judge nevertheless it is possible the objections which lie against this space may be surmounted in consideration of the novelty it has to recommend it the novelty I mean with respect to us for the greek orators have a method of reasoning upon a different occasion not altogether unlike that which I have employed they when they would throw out a law as contrary to some former one unrepealed argue by comparing those together so I on the contrary endeavour to prove that the crime which I was insisting upon as falling within the intent and meaning of the law relating to public extortions was agreeable not only to that law but likewise to other laws of the same nature those who are ignorant of the jurisprudence of their country can have no taste for reasonings of this kind but those who are not ought to be proportionably the more favourable in the judgements they pass upon them I shall endeavour therefore if you persist in my reciting it I will collect as learned an audience as I can but before you determine this point do weigh impartially the different considerations I have laid before you and then decide as reason shall direct for it is reason that must justify you obedience to your commands will be a sufficient apology for me farewell end of letter 24 to Cyrilus by Gaius Pliny Caesilius Secundus this recording is in the public domain the regulation of time by Dr. F. A. P. Bernard this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org extracts from an address read before the association for the reform and codification of the law of nations at Cologne Prussia August 1881 by Dr. F. A. P. Bernard delegate from the United States of America the propositions which I have the honor to present to the consideration of the conference affect the personal convenience of every inhabitant of every civilized land and that not occasionally only but continually the regulation of time connects itself with every act and every incident of social religious commercial or industrial life banks open and close their doors churches arrange the order of their services transportation companies regulate the movements of their trains courts and legislatures adjust the times of their assembling and their adjournment theaters and other places of amusement announce the hours of their performances or exhibitions and finally society fixes the times of its various appointments for purposes of pleasure or business in accordance with some standard which, if not universally satisfactory is at least universally understood thus the question what shall be the standard of time is one which affects every man every hour of his life and one in which he is compelled to take an interest in the United States of America and in Canada the desirability of the adoption of a recognized system for the regulation of the divisions of the day has long been felt and a movement commenced about two years ago by two scientific organizations that is the American Metrological Society of New York and the Canadian Institute of Toronto Canada has already been successful in drawing public attention to a definite scheme of time regulation for the continent of America which is rapidly gaining ground in the favor of the people it is to be noticed in the first place that the time kept by clocks and watches of our country is not generally the exact local time of the place where the owners of such timepieces reside upon every great line of railway it is indispensable in order to secure safety and regularity in the movement of trains that should be uniform from end to end and as some of these long lines extend over from 5 to 10 degrees of longitude while the standard time kept by them is usually that of one of their termini it follows that at different points of the road the railway time differs from the local time 10, 20, 30 or more minutes yet such as the relative importance of the railway traffic and with that of interests purely local that in practice the railway time supersedes the local time and all the affairs of life are regulated in accordance with it in some large towns two kinds of time are kept as for instance at Buffalo, New York where in the same houses may be found two clocks one of them giving