ERE is a new IT is a comparatively HER easy matter to rig graph or telephone THE CENT HOUR the pole to the of guys run from the top of front of the wagon, another from the mid- the rear axle that electric meter for use in display rooms where various sorts of electric apparatus are kept for sale. One of the first questions that the prospective customer naturally asks about any article is: "How much does it cost to operate?" The buying public is becoming skeptical of the dealer's off-hand statement. It believes too often, though usually without reason that he is not accurate or that he is merely guessing. With TO RIG TRUCK FOR an instrument of this sort, however, he has absolute proof. The customer does not think, of course, to question the accuracy of the instrument. Such a device as this is about as necessary to the dealer in electrical supplies as a pair of scales is to the butcher. The dial on the apparatus is made to show the cost per hour of current at the rate the dealer pays. It is a SIGNS LIKE THIS ARE GOING UP IN LONDON. It is a very effective device to stop the tooting-or "hoot- convincing little instrument. Moreover, it is worth the price, many times over, to the dealer, merely because of its power as an advertiser. There is a certain fascination in turning on the current, using the electric device. -flat-iron or what not-and then observing how little effect the consumption of current has on the meter. Such a showing is better than any argument. MRS. ELIZA SHEPHERD, JACK LONDON'S SISTER, WHO IS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE NOVELIST'S RANCH. WOMAN OVERSEER ON BIG WHEN Jack London bought his beau- pay. She oversees everything and sometimes has as many as forty-five men Every working under her direction. morning she starts out in her two wheeled gig on her tour of the ranch. She sees that fences are repaired, that the figs and grapes are ripening properly, oversees the prune drying and the care of the live stock and lastly and most important, that the thousands of eucalyptus trees are flourishing. She is endowed with the power of attorney and attends to all the buying and She selling, transfer of property, etc. has been an attorney and was formerly state president of the Woman's Relief Corps. At the time of the San Francisco earthquake she was made chairman of the relief fund. ΑΝ "REWARD OF MERIT" N effective device to keep the men who work, with shovel and lawn mower, in the city parks up to the highest standard of efficiency is used by the Los Angeles Park Commission, and might be compared to the Reward of Merit issued to good children in the schools. In this case, however, instead of being an individual card, it is in the form of a massive tablet of bronze which states that the park which displays it has been kept up to the highest standard of any in the city during the preceding three months. It is an attractively engraved bronze with ornamental stand to support it, in some conspicuous place, and the distinction which it gives to the crew in the park prompts a keen rivalry to obtain it. Each workman does his best and the foreman, of course, stimulates all to exert themselves, for in addition to this public recognition, there is a substantial bonus tacked on to the pay of an paratively small outlay is said to be repaid many times in the increased efficiency of the men. GIANT AMONG APPLE AN apple tree, three stories high with its branches extending outward over a radius of twenty-five feet-probably the biggest apple tree in the worldstands in the city of Washington. Landscape gardeners and horticulturists throughout the country have viewed the tree and have pronounced it the most giant specimen of the species. No one knows its age: it has been full grown since years before the Civil War. At a height of three feet from the ground, the trunk is more than eight feet in circumference. The tree still bears fruit. To save its life, horticulturists have been compelled to pour cement in the hollows BRINGING HOME A LIVE OPOSSUM. It is a cruel method of transporting the little creature. Her tail is wedged in through a crack in the wood. HUGE APPLE TREE THAT BORE FRUIT BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR-AND STILL GIVES BIG CROPS. of the body of the tree, a part of the heart of which had decayed. This has not affected its fruit bearing qualities, however. RAISING OPOSSUMS FOR THE latest in the way of game raising is opossum farming. Within the city limits of Montgomery, Alabama, an ex-police officer is pushing this industry with a good deal of success. He employs as superintendent a negro who knows the 'possum from beginning to end. In the spring time, the negro superintendent goes into the woods and captures the mother opossum with the young. As is well known, this animal belongs to the marsupial family, which carry the young in a pocket. Thus laden, the mothers are easy to catch, as they usually carry from six to a dozen in this manner. This holds even when the young ones are beyond the pocket bearing stage; for then they wrap their tails about the tail of the mother, hop on her back and ride wherever she goes. The opossum farmer thus captures these families and keeps the mother until the young are ready to be separated from her, when she is either eaten or allowed to go. The young are then caged and fed until they are large enough for the market. The opossum is not overcarniverous, though he has been known to raid a hen coop. He prefers grain, fruit and vegetables. Above all, his palate is most tickled with the persimmon. For marketing purposes, the opossum is not unlike the turkey in that it takes about a year to get him ready for market and, when in good shape, he sells for about the same price. The method of carrying the little cap- THIS photograph shows the prow of tive is a rather cruel one. MAKING A TURKISH PIPE THE purpose of a turkish pipe is to filter the smoke through water, thereby removing the "bite" and, it is claimed also, the nicotine. To construct such a pipe, procure a shallow and wide mouthed bottle, also a cork to fit, about onehalf foot of brass tubing-having an in the U. S. S. Maine-which was recovered in the Bay of Havana, Cuba, only a short time ago-being placed upside down on a barge. It had not previously been brought up because, it being completely severed from the rest of the Maine at the time of the explosion in 1898, it was not thought best to raise it until all of the cofferdam had been removed. It was estimated to weigh about seventy tons, and after the shield and scrolls, which can be plainly seen in the photograph, were removed to be sent to the United States, the balance was towed out to sea and sunk near the old Maine itself. In the lower foreground side diameter of one-eighth inchsome ordinary gas or nursery tubing, and a pipe, or cigar holder. File a piece of brass HAND-MADE "TURKISH" OR WATER PIPE. tubing to a length of two inches; another to a length of four inches; also sharpen a piece of the same tubing, to make a are seen the two 10-inch guns from the port turret of the Maine, which were donated by the United States government to the Cuban government, and will be incorporated in a monument to be erected in Havana in memory of the vessel. And this, it is to be hoped, will be the last of the sad aftermath resulting from the blowing up of the Maine fifteen UTO-POLO, which originated at Wichita, Kansas, last summer, combines all the dangers and excitement of a bullfight, a football game and a ride in an aeroplane. The initial game was played in a big alfalfa field near Wichita, and was witnessed by five thousand people. or Four stripped cars were used, each carrying a driver and a mallet man. On the forward cars, which did most of the playing, the seats were removed, leaving one small seat for the driver. A taped post served for the mallet man "jockey" to swing on while he wielded his heavy mallet from the running board of the car. The goal-tending autos simply maneuvered near their points of defense, taking no part in the battling in the middle of the field. An air-filled ball, about the size of an ordinary basketball, was used, and practically the same rules that govern ordinary polo obtained. Special mallets were made, about the shape of an ordinary croquet mallet, but with a much heavier head. The ordinary croquet mallets were first tried, but the "backfire" from striking the ball from a fast moving car was so powerful that the substitution was necessary. The heads of the mallets weigh about three pounds each. The game at Wichita was played in four ten-minute periods-with an intermission of five minutes between periodsthat being about as long as an engine will keep cool under the fierce driving the game requires. The field was 1,100 feet long and 800 feet wide, with goal posts at each end set 60 feet apart. The object of the game is to drive the ball between the goal posts defended by the opposing team. To distinguish the teams, the players on one side wore red sweaters, and were called the "Red Devils," while those on the other side wore gray sweaters, and were known as the "Gray Ghosts.' In addition to the players, there was a referee and a timekeeper. The former followed the players in his own car, took charge of the ball when it went out of boundaries, and decided all fouls and other infringements of the rules. There was also an official surgeon on hand in case of accident. At the beginning of the game, the referee placed the ball in the middle of the field, while the players lined up behind their respective goal lines, with the |