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THE LIFE STORY OF BENJAMIN BULLOCK, WHO ROSE FROM A POOR COLLIER LAD TO MANUFACTURER, CONFECTIONER, INVENTOR, COUNCILOR AND PHILANTHROPIST

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There is nothing more thrilling and dramatic than the life records of men who, born in humble circumstances, have struggled heroically upward to success and recognition.

The life story of Benjamin Bullock, of Dewsbury, Yorkshire, furnishes one of those noble illustrations of determination triumphing over circumstance, and forcing its way to fame and immortality from the lowly ranks of an obscure laborer.

Benjamin Bullock first saw the light on Dec. 4, 1842, in the little unimportant village of Burnoldswick, near Burnley, Lancashire. His infancy was spent in wretched poverty, his parents, burdened with a large family, fighting strenuously, day by day, to keep the roof over their heads.

Education for him or for any of the children was a thing undreamed of; it was a question of how soon would he be able to contribute toward the meager weekly income. So at a very early age he was sent to earn his living at a neighboring pit.

The hours were long, work excessively hard, wages exceedingly poor. Undeterred, however, he struggled on for a time at his laborious task, comforted with the thought that every hour of toil meant a few more pence for his parents.

He had now reached man's estate, and his character was assuming that mold which it ever afterward retained.

Why continue a collier forever?

Surely the world has something better and nobler for me to do? These thoughts flashed through the youth's mind one day. Acting promptly, he threw down his pick, went home and

astonished his parents with his intentions. The next day found him bidding adieu to home and friends-leaving his native hearth in search of greater scope for self-improvement and advance

ment.

Stout of heart and limb, with his bundle on his arm, he tramped, day after day, sleeping where he could and picking up food on the way.

From Burnley he crossed the hills into Yorkshire, alone, with no companion but his staff, and all his worldly wealth in his pocket. After days of weary traveling, and covering something like twenty-five miles, he eventually reached Dewsbury.

Here should be the starting point in his new sphere. Here the banner of hope and promise should be unfurled. "Excelsior" was to be his life's motto henceforth.

With this before him, and with a determination to succeed, however great the cost, he set to work in grim earnest.

The ladder must be mounted somehow.

Transplanted to new soil, and henceforth dependent wholly on himself, he acquired that selfreliance and prudence which, with good principles and the blessings of God, constitute the main elements of success in life.

A small, dark cellar-but a few feet squarewas rented for a modest sum. Little did the brave lad think then that out of this humble beginning would spring one of the largest confectionery manufactories in Great Britain.

A pan, a few pounds of sugar, and he started to boil his first lot of sweets or candies.

Always a strong advocate of hard work, he

labored from early morn to late at night. Making up his few ingredients into "Bullock's famous taffy humbugs," he constantly left his workshop to dispose of his wares. Gradually the demand grew until it was necessary to hire an assistant and increase the supply of sugar to 112 pounds.

His success encouraged him to persevere. Ever on the alert, he thought the busy town of Doncaster would make a good market for his specialties. To Doncaster he tramped, only to find fortune's smile desert him there. Rain descended in torrents, his goods were unsold, and to save himself from starvation his old silver watch had to be pawned for food. A few weeks later, when sufficient money had been collected together, the watch was redeemed.

A stall was now secured in one of the busiest thoroughfares of Dewsbury. Here on market days Benjamin Bullock, genial and good-natured, sang and whistled while he plied his business. His gaiety and humor attracted passers-by and he was constantly making new friends. His aim from the very commencement was to produce the best article possible. The confectionery that he advertised as "pure — wholesome reliable" caught on.

It took a time, though, to secure the confidence of the public, but once obtained, he never lost it, and new customers flocked to his stand daily.

The little cellar dwelling had now become too small for his requirements. A larger place was rented, and with an increased staff of one boy he devoted every spare minute to business.

Nothing came amiss. Difficulties, troubles, disappointments were brushed away like cobwebs. His eyes were fixed on the goal-it must be reached.

Throwing himself heart and soul into his task, working with singular energy and perseverance, he pegged away. Again additional room was demanded, and this time he must build a place for himself. A suitable spot was secured, and the first wing of the present handsome pile of buildings was erected.

The growth of the concern was really phenomenal. New machinery was added, up-to-date appliances were introduced.

With greater facilities at his disposal, Bullock spared no effort to keep his name and goods before the public.

It was about this time that he invented his renowned "Colored Rock Confectionery." This, by some mysterious process, has the name of a popular person, place or occurrence printed in readable type inside, and runs entirely through the stick of rock from end to end.

Bullock's rock is now known in every city, town and hamlet in England, and can be found in nearly every quarter of the globe.

Hardly a year passed by but extra wings were added to his factory. Mushroom-like it grew, till today there stands a magnificent block of buildings covering nearly 8,000 square yards, with sawing, box-making, tin-making, boiling, packing and other departments complete. He employs hundreds of work people and the enormous output is eighty tons of sweets or candies per week.

Mr. Bullock acquired considerable popularity in the town of his choice, becoming a member of the corporation and doing very useful work there. Numerous were the honors showered upon him. He was elected president of the West Reding Confectioners' Association (a powerful body of manufacturers), made president of the Paxton. Society, and also president of the Tradesmen's Association. He modestly declined the town's greatest distinction of becoming chief magistrate and mayor of the borough.

Of a liberal disposition, he dispensed his gifts in a quiet way. Having tasted the bitterness of poverty himself, he was never so happy as when helping the poor people around him. A great deal of the success of the Old Folk's Annual Treat was attributed to Mr. Bullock's unbounded generosity in its behalf.

Such is the career of one who from the humblest position in life reached the greatest measure of financial success.

One of his many admirers says of him: "He was one of that great world-wide confraternity on whose banners were emblazoned the lofty ideals, benevolence, brotherhood, charity and comradeship. A captain of industry, who by untiring energy initiated industry that has made Old England what she is at the present time."

What an example of perseverance, self-denial, grit, persistent will and application this poor collier lad has shown to the whole world! How can any man say he has "no chance" in the face of such courage and achievement!

(Mr. Bullock's photograph appears on the cover page.).

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THE LAST GREAT PEACE-DANCE THE ARAPAHOES

By A. S. MONROE

The last peace-dance held in Wyoming by the Arapahoe and Shoshone tribes of Indians was so important an event in the history of the two nations, that although against the ruling of the department, no attempt was made to stop it. This attitude arose, undoubtedly, from the fact that the Indian dance of today is free from the barbarities that made it a thing of horror a decade or so ago. It has become little more than a fair or festival among the red men, with just enough superstition lingering about the performance to hold a weird, poetic interest for the observer, and to carry the old warriors and squaws back to the days of real Indian dances, the memory of which still thrills them as they tell the stories to the younger generation.

The Indian nature craves rhythmical expression, as found in dancing and music. The dance. with them is the one outlet for every emotion that possesses them. They dance for favor from the good god or relief from the bad god; for good crops; for the relief of their sick; for joy; for sorrow; every prayer of the Indian heart finds expression in a dance. The women dance slowly, sorrowfully in mourning, or in former times frantically, grotesquely, for strength and prowess to their men in war or on the hunt.

The dance was always an expression of satisfaction or desire, and as the dancing, once begun, continued until the desire was fulfilled (as in the dance for rain, or for game), they were nothing short of prayers answered, and so held great significance in the Indian mind.

Many of them, as the sun-dance, were full of brutal cruelties, and for that reason the government attempted to stop them; but it proved a difficult task, so firmly rooted were they in the Indian life and customs.

The last peace-dance held among the Arapahoes and Shoshones had none of the barbarous features of earlier days, but yet served to display much of the natural grace and beauty and weird suggestiveness of the dance of former times.

For days the Indians had been gathering from miles away, coming in long trains astride cayuses, with pack ponies following, carrying their feathers and paint and beaded gowns.

The dance was to take place on Sunday, and early Sunday morning the Indians began arraying themselves for the festivities. Gaudy blankets, shell and porcupine-trimmed shirts, befeathered head dresses, and beaded moccasins were brought from the packs. The Indian.

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maidens, coy as their white sisters, brushed and braided their long black locks, looking meanwhile out of the corners of their eyes at the handsome young bucks, whom they would soon lead as merry a chase as any fair coquette. The non-use of corsets and shoes has resulted in the Indian girls having the trimmest figures and the most shapely feet to be found in all the world, among any people, white or black. This is an object lesson to our standards of civilization.

When all was ready the dance began. The musicians, gaily painted, and decorated with war bonnets and feathers, began their weird incantations. The blowing of whistles, beating of tomtoms and dried skins, together with the chanting, produced a sound both mournful and monotonous. The dancers, arrayed in fantastic garb, filed into the circle set apart for them and began their slow movements to the music, chanting all the while. Only the men danced, the women looking on from without, chanting and beating time. As the dancing progressed they became more and more excited, throwing their heads backward, their eyes cast upward, their fine athletic bodies swaying and moving in perfect time, while the musicians played faster and faster, and the chanting and singing without became more fervent and excited.

The spectators soon tired of this performance and turned with keener interest to the Indians all about, here and there, in groups. Old squaws, telling stories in their queer jargon of earlier days and tribal glory; young bucks stolidly watching the pretty girls, waiting for the witching hour of twilight, that they might begin their love-making; old menchiefs of other days-in all the glory of chieftain paint and feathers, reciting their own or their fathers' feats; young children happy and free, playing with the camp dogs; young mothers-brides of last year-sitting on the floors of decorated tepees beading moccasins for their infants, lusty and healthful, beside them; musicians blowing weird notes from reed-like pipes; young couples just married, in all the gorgeousness of wedding finery;—it was a scene the like of which, for picturesqueness, could not be surpassed; and each year, unfortunately, is taking us farther away from the possibility of its repetition.

The Shoshones and Arapahoes are not among the highest class of Indians, but many of their guests, notably the Crows, or Absorukas, are.

It was invariably the Crow who caught the attention and admiration of the "kodak" man. The Crow is straight of limb and regular of feature, the women plump as young partridges. They are recognized as the finest specimen of Indians, being an offshoot of the Sioux, the most superior tribe in the United States. When they quarreled with their "mother country," the Sioux of the Dakotas, and took up their belongings and traveled westward to find a home among the Blackfeet and the Flatheads of the Rocky Mountain foothills, they carried with them many of the Sioux customs, and, though hating the Sioux above all tribes, they sought to modify these habits and customs and establish ways of their own. In continual strife with their neighbors, from whom they had wrested their lands, the Crows developed great fighting power and the keenest sagacity in meeting the enemy. They became the most. feared nation in the shadow of the Rockies. They were very proud and endeavored to surpass all other tribes in every achievement. Being far to the west and shut off in the mountains, they were the last of the Indians to come in contact with the white man and learn the white man's vices. Thus their physical development is the most perfect. Their especial pride was, and is today, their hair. They used means known only to themselves (and which would be a fortune to a hair doctor) to develop the growth of the hair, which often swept the ground. Today the long black glossy hair of the Crow is the last touch of his savage state with which he can be induced to part.

Another thing in which the Crows have always excelled all other nations is the tanning of pelties. The trade belongs exclusively to their women, and they do the work so perfectly, producing such soft, pliable, pure white skins, from which the hair never falls, that they are the wonder of all who see them. They use the brains of the animal in the tanning process, and this, strange as it may seem, gives the skin a pleasant odor. If there is a tendency to vermin, the skin is spread out. near an ant hill and the great black ants soon swarm over it, cleansing it perfectly. Then they are packed away to be used as gifts or to decorate during the long winter months for their men. Often, too, they are bartered for

beads and blankets.

Strangers are continually surprised at these comely, straight-limbed, finely-formed Indians, in such striking contrast to the meaner looking Indians of the other nations. The Indians of the West are not the degraded dogs of humanity many of the people of the East are prone to consider them, nor yet only a relic of bygone grandeur. They are a factor, and a strong one, in the yet young West, possessing many fine

traits of body and mind, many superstitions, so-called, from which our scientists may learn truths undreamed of in their philosophy.

President Roosevelt is to be commended in his effort to secure a return to their beautiful Indian names, and a dropping of the ugly translations, which designate their most prominent men as "Rain-in-the-face," "Old-manafraid-of-his-horses," "Old Smoke," "Lone Dog," "Dull Knife," "Ribs," and so on.

After a day of feasting and dancing and lovemaking, and a night of revelry, in the gray dawn of morning the ponies were lassoed, the tents were packed, and soon long lines of ponies, bearing visitors and their belongings, were trotting slowly homeward. The peace-dance was over, and the Indians once more relaxed into their customary stolid indifference; but we had had a glimpse into their real natures, when stirred to expression, and the revelation will not be forgotten.

BENEFITS OF DIFFICULTIES

EDWARD SHAKELEY

To live one's career easily, openly, and straight is pleasant-that is all!

Of far more value to the community is the man who, surrounded by trying circumstances, tough obstacles, overpowers, through sheer determination and potency, these antagonistic elementswins right out!

That man knows Life-and lives it!

Experience, hard schoolmaster though he be, spares not the rod, but lessons taught in bitterness (learnt with sting) are never forgotten.

To that person, whose path is laid amongst roses, whose pillow is a scented cushion, there is lacking Life's premier joy-well deserved rest after arduous toil.

Nature's highest wage for work diligently done.

When the fight is hard, the struggle fierce, Hope, our ready nurse, heals wounds of disappointment, bandages with fortitude, and there, unshaken, doggedly, we face the "unyielding" till it yields the "rigid" till it snaps!

Who dare describe the ecstasy of a hardgained victory?

Courage, determination, persistency-three mighty leaders-when united can force the strongest barrier, can scale the highest walls, and shell the deadliest battery, till the fort is ablaze, lit by the fire of enthusiasm!

Life is an earnest battle-ground!

Can you sit still, an arm-chair-critic of men whose lives are landmarks of honor, perseverance, and success, without a flush upon your brow, a twitching muscle, or word of admiration?

Give life's heroes their laurels, praise and glory-but go also and fight as they have fought!

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