SILK
HOSE [A
3 Pairs II
guaran
teed ^
3 months
Soft, Stylish,
Snug-fitting,
i Seamless.
Six Pairs
Cotton Hose
Guaranteed
^ to Wear
Six Months
or New
Hose FREE
Valdez Mercantile Co., Inc.
* TRUE VALUES
On the basis of Security and Service
We solicit your account.
WE DO'A BANKING BUSINESS EXCLUSIVELY.
VALDEZ BANK & TRUST CO.
Job Printing
At The Prospector Office
legal Back numbers.
Queer Customs That Survive In Spite
of Their Uselessness.
The law has its little supersti
tions notwithstanding the preva
lent conception of that science as
cold, unemotional and severely log
ical.
For instance, what useful pur
pose is served by inserting in a
bond, conditioned for the payment
of money, a penal sum of twice
the amount of the actual debt?
Bonds have been thus drawn since
the days of Lord Coke, and the
printed forms in common use today
contain the ancient penal clause.
By the letter of such a bond the
obligee is clearly entitled to recover
the full penal sum on the obligor’s
default in paying the sum specified
in the condition. But has the
obligee, for these two or three hun
dred years, ever been allowed to
recover more than the actual debt
with interest and costs?
By another common practice
deeds are made to recite that the
grant is made “in consideration of
t lie sum of one dollar, good and
lawful money of the United States
of America, to me in hand paid, the
receipt whereof I hereby acknowl
edge,” or some equivalent formula.
The idea that a deed must express
a consideration is ineradicable, and
equally fixed appears to be the su
perstition that a consideration of
one dollar is quite as effective as a
consideration commensurate with
the value of the estate granted.
I Lawyers learned in the law of real
property know better, of course, hut
such is the popular notion. It is
elementary that as between the par
ties a deed is perfectly valid with
out any consideration at all; other
wise there could be no such thing
as a conveyance by way of a gift.
Why do we begin a will with an
invocation to the Deity and a recital
that the testator is “of sound mind
and disposing memory?” Does' the
former aid the testator spiritually,
and does the latter furnish any evi
dence of his testamentary capacity?
Ami why do we so often insist on
attaching a seal opposite the testa
tor’s signature? Our statutes do
not require a will to he sealed,
wherefore the seal is wholly super
fluous, as the lawbooks have long
advised us.
.'.lanv generations ol lawyers
learned in equity pleading have fol
lowed the ancient practice of con
cluding a hill of complaint with
the solemn assurance. "And thus
vmir oral or will ever pray, etc."
Apparently no modern lawyer knew
what the deeuudated formula meant
until recently a well known author
ran tlm thing to its lair among the
ancient rolls of the court of chan
cery and found that (before it lost
its tail) it was a praver for the
health and longevity of the kin"!
These are only a few of thc^su
perstitions that have survived the
davs when the trial by battle and
the criminality of witchcraft were
finally eliminated from that law
which is our proud heritage and
which has been so fondly praised as
“the perfection of human reason/'
—Bench and Bar.
Mate Tea.
Although most of the world's cof
fee is grown in South America,
there are some South American
slates where it is hardly drunk at
all. In no country is coffee so
dear as in Argentina, for the sim
ple reason that only foreigners ask
for it. The natives of Argentina
drink mate or Paraguay tea. as it
is sometimes called. Among the
working classes this is drunk as
freelv and frequently as beer in
England. And after dinner, in
stead of eolfee, many Argentine
housekeepers servo a basin of soup,
which guests from abroad find some
difficulty in swallowing. Attempts
have boon made to popularize mate
in Europe, hut these have never
proved successful.—London Chron
icle.
- I
The Flowing of Metals.
It is perhaps not generally known
that one of the most important
properties of metals employed in
striking coins and medals and
stamping articles of jewelry is that |
of flowing under pressure. Standard
silver is remarkable for this prop
erty. The flow takes place when
the metal is subjected to rolling,
stamping or hammering, and the
particles of metal are thus carried
into the sunken parts of the die
without fracturing, and a perfect
impression is produced.
Well Cared For.
Sammy’s school attendance had
been perfect until one bright'June
day, when he failed to appear. The
next morning he was in his accus
tomed place. Lippincott’s Maga
zine gives his reason for being ab
sent.
“Sammy, you didn’t come to
school yesterday.”
“No, ma’am; circus was in town
and pa and ma and Aunt Sadie and
Uncle Tom and Cousin Bob all went
to take me."
EYES THAT SQUINT.
Harmless In Babyhood, but a Serious
Matter Later On.
The eyes are meant to look both
in the same direction and thus to
help each other to sec, as the feet
help each- other to walk or run.
When they do not do so there is a
squint or a “cast” in one or both
eyes, or, to use the medical term,
“strabismus.” Xot only disfigure
ment, but also impaired vision, re
sults.
Little babies squint more or less
during the first few months of life.
That is not a serious matter, al
though it often frightens a young
and inexperienced mother, it is
generally caused by a slight dis
turbance of the digestion and pass
es when that is corrected. But a
squint that appears later, when the
child is beginning to develop vision
by the constant use of the eye
muscles, must not be neglected. If
it is the unfortunate condition will
probably last through life.
The eyes should work absolutely
in unison, just as two horses har
nessed to ;i cart- ought to pull to
gether. When they do not focus
on the same point at the same time
the crooked eye soon abandons the
struggle and leaves the straight eye
to do all the work. That is unfair
to the good eye and fatal to the
other, for an eye that is not used
grows gradually blind from lack of
exercise. Even if the squint is so
slight that the child makes an un
conscious eil’ort to force the affect
ed eye to its task hols sure to suffer
the distressing ache of eye strain.
When a young child has strabis
mus take him at once to a trust
worthy oculist, in order that he may
have the glasses that his condition
demands. And, when he has been
fitted with glasses that pull the
crooked eye into line with the
straight eye and make it do its work
properly, see that he wears them
every waking minute, except when
ho washes his face.
If the squinting eye has already
got the habit of shirking it may
have to Ik> trained by exercises.
The good eve must be shut at in
tervals, so that the other will have
to do all the work, but the oculist
in charge of the ease must decide
the precise character and frequency
of the treatment.—Youth’s Com
panion.
Progressive.
“Please, mum," said a tramp,
“would you bo so kind as to let me
have a needle and thread?"
“Well, y-e-s," said the housewife
at the door; "I can let you have
that.'1*
“Thankee, mum. Now, you'd
oblige me very much if you'd let me.
have a bit of cloth for a patch.”
“Yes. here is some.”
“Thankee very much, mum. It's
a little different color from my suit,
1 see. Perhaps, mum. you could
spare me some of your husband's
old clothes that this patch will
match.”
"Well, I declare! You’re clever,
my man, and I’ll give you an old
suit. Here is one.”
“Thankee greatly, mum. I see
it’s a little large, mum, hut if you’ll
kindly furnish me with a square
meal mebhy I can till it out.”
Hours of Sleep.
According to Dr. Frederick B.
Percy of the Boston university
school of medicine, the least cultur
ed and least developed adults ne*d
the most sleep, and the higher the
intellectual development the more
prone one is to dreams. The healthy
child of two years passes half its
time in slumber. The adult re
quires from seven to eight hours of
sleep daily, aged persons not more
tfian five or six hours. Women
need, as a rule, more sleep than
men. There are persons to whom
nine or even ten or twelve hours
of sleep are essential, while others
seldom sleep more than six out of
the twenty-four. Too much sleep
is possible. Sleep undisturbed is
what we all desire.
Proved His Contention.
“Mother,” complained Johnny,
not so pleased as might have been
with the results of unselfish mater
nal tailoring, “these trousers are
too tight. They’re tighter’n my
own skin.” .
“Now, my son,” said mother, in.
quiet reproof, “don’t exaggerate.
IIow can they be tighter than your
skin?”
“They arc, too. mother; they
must be. I can sit down in my skin,
but I can’t sit down in these trou
sers.”—Exchange.
Betty’s Gift.
A Lancashire vicar was asked by
the choir to call upon old Betty, who
was deaf, but who insisted in join
ing in the solo of the anthem, and
to ask her only to sing in the hymns.
He shouted into her ear, “Betty,
I’ve been requested to speak to you
about your singing.” At last she
canght the word “singing” and re->
plied: "Not to me be the praise, sir.
Ffa a gift”—Pall Mall Gaaette.
I A. M. Dieringer
Valdez Transfer
Company
General Trucking and Freight
ing tq all interior points
LIVERY ar t! FEED STABLE
STORAGE
Teaming of qll kinds
Positively no coal delivered
unless paid tor In advance
PROFESSIONAL
i
Dr. H. COCKER1LLE
Graduate of National University
{ Washington, D. C.
DENTIST
i Phone 92 Feurteen years in
| Office in Whaling building VALDEZ
| Next to cable office
DR. GERMAN
I
I’hone .9 THE DENTIST
Office rooms over Owl Druir store. Office hours
Ba, tn.. tot; i. m., 1 |i, in., to a |., Sundays
I by aniiomtnient All work aiiaramced
C. E. BUNNELL
ATTORXKY-AT-I.AW
Ofl'ice'-. Will] S'.roet
Phone 3i VALDKZ
E. E. RITCHIE
[, \ w v !•: i;
PiloN’i: t;iu Vakloz Alaska
L V. KAY
I
\ttot;xi:v at i, v\v
i
SEWARD, • ALASKA
--
MINING ENGINEER
F. BUTTERWORTH
Civil Engineer and
U. S. Deputy Land and
Mineral Surveyor
i Blue Printing nhonc> 1Kfl
L. W. STORM. E. M.
Valdez, alaska ]
Reports on Mines
. Patent Surveys
Genesal Mining Engineering
Phone No. ro3
Geo. f. white
The Assayer
Assaying and Ore Testing
CORRECT RESULTS
No More, No Less
VALDEZ, ALASKA
Valdes I,odge
No 168.
Free and Accepted Masons
Regular Communications Urst Wednesday in
each month in McKinicy H ill Visitors always
welcome.
James II Patterson,.W. M
C. C- Reynolds. Sec
F O E
VALDEZ AERIE \To- 1071
Meet every Friday. 8 t>. m. Eatrlc Hal
CAMP VALDEZ No. 10
Meet every Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock In
Eaglet Hall. All members are requested to
ttend- S. Mc’NIECE. Arctic Chief
PIONEERS OF ALASKA
IGLOO NO. 7.
Meets every first and third Mon
day ot each month. All visit
ing Brothers welcome.
E. O. AMES, Secretary.