no rattlesnake was found. The view from High Knob is disappointing; but solely on account of the woods and underbrush that cover its top. This has one exceptionthe vista to the south. Here the scenery is beautiful and only limited by the South Branch mountains in the far distance. It is assumed that the landscape would only be bound by the power of the eye to see were this tall summit cleared of obstructing trees.

On the knob of the mountain we met a party of three who had also come up to view the landscape o'er.

Besides the pleasant sensations of congenial companionship on the walk to the mountains, we had encountered those most interesting creatures, the ants and their dwelling places. Their mounds, built of sand and small pieces of rock, line a portion of the pathway to High Knob. They vary in quantity from a half bushel to a wagon load-in size they range from a foot in diameter and a foot in height to nine feet in length and six feet in diameter and two feet, or more, in their domeshaped rise. The ants dwell in colonies in these mounds and, separated by apartments, all the lateral corridors join at one central passage. There are numerous other openings and here the ants live and lay their eggs and rear their young. Then, in order to learn more of the habits of the mound-dwellers, we had taken off the tops of several and large numbers of long white eggs were discovered. The moment the eggs were uncovered the news must have been carried abroad through the colony, for the ants, in great haste and with much excitement, came to the top of the mound and, each seizing an egg, soon had all of them out of sight and under cover to save them from the death-dealing rays of the sun. Digging deeper, the newly hatched ants were found. White and thin they were and still in a semi-embryotic state, but with no small show of activity

"OUR PARTY."

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as the light and air fell on them. These mound-builders have, undoubtedly, in the long ages of creation, done much to make the rocky beds of the mountains tillable by gathering together a deep and fruitful soil.

These mountain rambles not only discover the beautiful and scientific in these grand hills and fertile valleys, but they disclose in their measure, the life of the people. In a trip on horseback to Fair View the public road had carried me away from the mountain. I had turned groping into the fields, and, with the mountain height before me, found at last the path shut off and the fences closed in upon me. Uncertain of the way, I was surprised to find at this moment that another was present a little girl of twelve met me on the mountain side. To my surprise she added her trepidation at seeing a stranger here. She showed me the right path and explained that she had been on a visit to her uncle's and was crossing the mountain to her home! God bless a land where childhood and womanhood have such safety in the manhood and virtue of the people

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O the sportsman not acquainted with the geographical location of the counties in Maryland and West Virginia, the following suggestions may be found to his convenience.

Commencing in the extreme northeastern corner of Maryland and following the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad westward across both states, many kinds of game and fish can be found.

The Susquehanna River is famous for its shad fisheries and the Susquehanna Flats for duck shooting. The river forms the boundary between Cecil and Harford Counties, Maryland; emptying into the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, which is the most convenient town for sportsmen's headquarters for this section. In both counties special game laws prevail, made necessary for the protection of game on account of the superabundance thereof, and the possible greed of irresponsible hunters from the crowded eastern cities to bag more than a reasonable share.

Between Harford and Baltimore Counties are the marshes of the Gunpowder River, convenient hiding places for snipe, rail and

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reed bird and duck. The Gunpowder and its tributaries also abound in gudgeon" which are popular among small sportsmen in the early spring.

Baltimore County, as well as Cecil and Harford, borders on the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Anne Arundel County lies south of Baltimore City, with its entire eastern border along the Patapsco River and Chesapeake Bay.

The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from Baltimore to Washington crosses Howard and Prince George Counties, through a territory of no principal importance for any kind of game. West of Washington the line crosses Montgomery County and strikes the Potomac River at its confluence with the Monocacy River. From this point the Monocacy Valley extends northward through Frederick County, east of the Catoctin Mountains, the most beautiful agricultural section of Maryland. The surrounding country abounds in small game, such as squirrel, rabbit, pheasant and partridge or quail. "Partridge" and "quail" are synonymous in the states of Maryland,

Virginia and West Virginia, partridge being the term generally applied. West of the Ohio River the name of "quail" predomi

nates.

From Washington Junction the main line of the Baltimore & Ohio skirts the Potomac River through Frederick County and across a narrow strip of Washington County, crossing the river at Harper's Ferry, where the road enters West Virginia on its route across the Allegheny Mountains, following the border line between Maryland and West Virginia, with Washington and Allegheny Counties in Maryland on the north side of the Potomac, and Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire and Mineral Counties in West Virgina on the south side, in the order named from east to west.

Throughout this territory of the Potomac River the sportsman finds many haunts in the mountainous section for wild turkey, partridge, squirrel, raccoon and rabbit.

Among the stopping-off places in this territory most convenient to the sportsman are North Mountain, in Berkeley County, W. Va., Cherry Run and Berkeley Springs, in Morgan County, W. Va.; Hancock, in Washington County, Md.; Great Cacapon, in Morgan County, W. Va., where the Great Cacapon River empties into the Potomac; and Green Springs in Hampshire County, W. Va., on the Potomac River, from which a branch of the railroad runs down to Romney in the same county. From Romney there are many mountain trails which lead to good hunting of wild turkey in Hampshire county. The western portion of Allegheny County, Maryland, and the northern portion of Mineral County, West Virginia, is mountainous and abounds in all kinds of game peculiar to hilly regions. The choice hunting grounds are

best reached through Cumberland and Rawlins in Maryland, and Keyser and Piedmont in West Virginia.

Piedmont, W. Va., is at the foot of the great Allegheny plateau known as The Glades, which lies entirely in Garrett County, Maryland. On the plateau, which is one of the highest sections of the Alleghenies, are the summer resorts of Oakland, Mountain Lake Park and Deer Park. Here the Youghiogheny River obtains its source.

Some five or ten miles north of the railroad are the Meadow and Negro Mountains, from which many trout streams wend their way to make up Deep Creek, emptying into the Youghiogheny River, and the Castleman River emptying into the Monongahela River.

A few miles west of Oakland the railroad leaves Maryland and enters West Virginia in Preston County, descending the Alleghenies from Terra Alta along the Briery Mountains through the famous Cheat River region, passing westward to Grafton, in Taylor County, and into the Tygart's Valley River region. The usual small game abounds in this section. The Cheat and Tygart River Valleys furnish wild turkey and grouse.

The Belington branch of the Baltimore & Ohio southward from Grafton follows the Tygart's Valley River towards its source in the Cheat Mountains. Another division of the railroad runs southward from Clarksburg through Harrison, Lewis, Upshur, Braxton, Webster and Nicholas Counties, through a wild portion of the state, which affords splendid wild turkey, deer and bear hunting. Almost the entire state of West Virginia is wooded, hilly and dry and is reached exclusively by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and its branches.

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HE progressive newsboy, in accord

with everything else in this progressive age, watches his papers,

if he can read, and yells his most important headlines to accelerate his trade. If he can't read, he generally gets his tips from the circulation manager of the paper as to what to say. So on the 14th of last September, the residents of the large cities were greeted with cries of: "Loostan-ya arrived, gre-a-at excitement."

The "excitement" was not so great, but the interest was; but still it served its purpose for the news vender, who, since the war with Spain, had learned that the American people had a hankering for news, were it straight or yellow. Perhaps the average newsboy really knew the public to be interested in the maiden voyage of the great ocean steamship; if so, he wasn't so far off.

The "Lusitania," of the Cunard Line, the largest of ocean liners to date, had successfully made her voyage. She was an

total mileage covered was 2,784 nautical miles. She was the first ship to enter the new Ambrose Channel at New York, especially built for vessels of unusual draft. There were in all aboard the Lusitania 2,090 passengers, of whom 486 were first class, 483 second class and 1,121 third class.

Some idea of the greatness of this "Leviathan of the deep" may be conceived from the following authentic description of her when building:

The dimensions of this mammoth convey but vaguely her size-the figures are as follows: Length, 790 ft.; breadth, 88 ft.; depth (moulded), 60 ft.; gross tonnage, 32,500 tons; displacement tonnage, 45,000 tons; load draught, 37 ft. 6 in.; height of funnels, 155 ft.: diameter of funnels, 24 ft.; height of masts, 216 ft.

Some idea of her immense bulk can be had from the statement that if the St. Paul building, New York City, with its 308 ft. of altitude, were placed on top of the Park Row building, with its 380 ft., and the "Lusitania" placed on end alongside she would overtop their combined height by over 100 feet.

At the time of her launching into the Clyde her hull was over 16,000 tons, a figure which exceeds all previous launching weights. Completed in engine, boiler and passenger accommodation, this weight is increased almost 100 per cent, while when ready for sea with water in her boilers, her stores aboard, and her 7,000-ton bunkers filled with coal, her weight without cargo is approximately 45,000 tons.

In the modern ship the first structural work after the keel plate is laid is the double bottom. The keel plate of the "Lusitania" is 5 feet wide and 3 inches thick and is flush outside with the bottom of the ship. Associated with this flat keel is a vertical keel 5 feet high and 1 inch thick, and to this vertebra are attached directly or indirectly the frames and beams which make up the skeleton of the leviathan.

The double bottom is divided by the vertical keel and transverse frames into compartments in which water ballast may be carried. The tops of these tanks are carried well round the turn of the bilge, so that should the bilge keels be torn away and the hull pierced the entering water would be confined within the inner and outer bottoms. This is only one precaution in the direction of procuring unsink

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ability. The lower deck is made completely water-tight. Below it are the lower orlop and orlop decks, and above are the main, upper, shelter, promenade, upper promenade and boat-nine decks in all. It is necessary, of course, that there should be means of communication between one water-tight compartment and those contiguous, and on the "Lusitania, as on board the Caronia" and Carmania, these communicating doors at or below the water line are of a special type, and can be closed automatically from the navigating bridge, and that in a few seconds. In all, the Lusitania" has 175 water-tight compartments, so that it is claimed for her that she is as unsinkable as a ship can be.

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The steel plates which cover the ribs or framing of the vessel or are used for the decks, bulkheads and casings or in other ways number 26,000, the largest being about 40 feet in length and weighing from four to five tons.

To secure these plates to each other and the structural framework of the ship, over 4,000,000 rivets have been used, aggregating in weight about 500 tons. The largest rivets are used in the keel plate, and these are 8 inches in length, and weigh 2 lbs. In fact, everything about the ship is of colossal dimensions. The main frames and beams placed end to end would extend thirty miles; the rudder, which has two sets of steering gear, one of which is below the water line, weighs 65 tons, and the diameter of the rudder stock is 26 inches. The castings for the stern, stern post, shaft bracket and rudder together weigh 280 tons.

The three anchors each weigh ten tons, while the 1,800 feet of cable is composed of 22-inch links, the iron in which is 3 inches in diameter and the weight of each link about 1 cwts. Every portion of this harness has been vigorously tested, the links and shackles emerging successfully from a test strain of 370 tons.

The "Lusitania" carries eighteen lifeboats under davits in addition to a large number of life rafts and has the submarine signalling apparatus.

In order to reach the great sustained speed of twenty-five knots the "Lusitania" is propelled by turbine engines of 70,000 indicated horse-power, driving four shafts, each of which carries one three-bladed