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“Hill was- a particularly quiet spoken man,” continued Mr. Rogers. "But his words always carried weight. iHe was well read, one of the best read :men in America, I suppose. He was well up on such subjects as the modern science of agriculture, botany, flowers, chemistry of soil, and so forth. He was strong in geology. There were (few subjects he was not thoroughly familiar with, but he had no fads. Among other things he was a con- lnoisseur on precious sbones and jewel- ry, and had a cultivated taste in mat- ters of art. But he was self-educatâ€" ed, the schooling he had received at Rockwood being chiefly valuable for teaching him how to learn. He had a prodigious memory. Fond of Old Memories. “He was fond of indulging in reminiscences. He used to talk to me for an hour at a time of the old days when he was a barefoot boy in Canada. There was one house where, ‘ “He started West on a ten dollar bill next day. Mr. Rogers knew J. J. Hill in the early days, having met him first in St. Paul in 1882. Hill formed a strong affection for Mr. Rogers, large- ly because he had gone to a school in Rockwood presided over by Rev. William Wetherald, a member of the Society of Friends, of whom Mr. Rogers is also a member. “J. J. Hill was the biggest railroad ‘man in the United States or in the world,” said Mr. Rogers. “There was not his equal. Van Home was a friend of his and there were many points of similarity, but Hill made :Van Horne. He brought him to the C. P. R. Strathcona and Stephens wanted Hill to manage the C.P.R., and Hill took hold for a while, but he picked Van Horne to take his place on the C.P.R. and went back to the Great Northern. Was a Dock Laborer. “J. J. Hill was a big looking man, although he was not so tall as I. He‘ was square-shouldered with a leoninei1 head. He was blessed with a very‘ strong physique. He had worked as a. boy on the farm, and when he came to St. Paul first he worked as a stevedore on the docks. They say the stump is still to be seen of the last tree he chopped at Rockwood. A ' man named Harris was working Withl him that day. Harris since came to; work for me, and he told me the inci- i dent. Hill, who had conceived the? idea of going West, laid his axe‘ against a tree. “‘That’s the last tree I’m going to achop,’ said he. ‘A Glimpse of Some of the Character- istics of the Great Railway Magnate. ROMANCE 015* MS. J. HILL’S LIFE One of the intimate friends of the late J. J. Hill, the greatest of Ameriâ€" can railroaders and the man who opened up the North-Western States of the American Union to setblement a generation ago, is Mr. Elias Rogers, of Toronto, says the Toronto Star. HE WAS ONCE A DOCK LABORER ' IN ST. PAUL. ‘ 1 “Hill wanted to fight for the North yin the Civil War in the States, and‘ {organized a company. They would ,not let him go, however, because he iwas blind in one eye. It was not an 1apparent infirmity, in fact no one would ever have known it. His other eye was strong and did all the work. :He told me himself a couple of years [ago that one eye was blind or I would never have known it. He did not wear I iglasses except in later years to read; 1‘ by. “He owned most of the First Na- tional Bank at St. Paul, and the con- trolling interest in the Northern Pa- cific and the Great Northern. The three institutions occupy one building, newly completed, which takes up a whole block and constitute the finest building in St. Paul. The bank is in the centre, with a glass roof, one or two stories high. This allows the Great Northern and the Northern Pa- cific office buildings to tower up each side, and have plenty of light all around them. Kind to Animals. “Hill was very kind to animals, and it vms because he saw the stranger’s horse was tired, that time at) Rock- wood, that he carried a pail of water to it. The stranger, in appreciation, gave him a copy of an American newspaper, where he read that men were wanted in Minnesota, and where- from he derived his determination to go Wesb. “Hill had a model farm at St. Paul land a laboratory where he kept ‘chemists employed. He had model ‘farms dotted throughout the terri- tory of his railroads to the coast. Here he experimented with crops, and :had samples of difl’erent soils sent for lanalysis to St. Paul. Then he would { determine what crops were best adapt- {ed for each particular region, and 'what fertilizer was the local requireâ€" } ment. This information he would pub- llish for the benefit of the people, to- j'gether with the comparisons of the fcrops in the different districts under the different treatments. His farms could generally produce twice what was produced on the farms of their neighbors. In this way he improved the agricultural standing of the terri- tory through which his lines ran. His methods were always practical rather than mere academical or theoretical. He used to sell improved seed at a‘ nominal figure. He also introduced‘ the best stock. When he became im-: pressed with a farmer as a progres-} sive, commonâ€"sense man, he would? often present such a man with a fine! breeder, and thus improve the stock of his district. Helped Strathcona. of him. “J. J. Hill helped to make Strath- I idle long‘ “Hill always had a remarkable capacity for details, but he maintain- ed his breadth of vision. He was opposed to extravagance and display, but was never penurious. He lived in a very nice house in St. Paul, with beautiful grounds around it, but it was not a showy place. He had an- other house in New York. Mrs. Hill is one of the finest ladies I have ever met. She is not a society woman, al- though she is accepted everywhere, of course. She is a motherly woman. She is a Roman Catholic, but of the broadest type. he used to call, and the woman there always used to give him a piece of bread and buter, although he never asked for it. He confessed to me that he was always very glad to get it, just the same. “Hill used to plan vacation trips of two months’ duration down the Lab- rador shore and elsewhere. He was very fond of fishing. But he never stayed out the period he had planned. His business instincts gob the better of him. He could never stand being “ ‘If you look around or let up your ’stride until out of sight you’re a dead man,‘ said Hill. The Indian Went straight ahead and stayed not. Hill then started for Fort Garry alone, traveling all day and all night, to get away from any possible pursuit. He was familiar with the Indians around Fort Garry, and was able to work into the barracks during the darkness and deliver his message. He stayed there a short time, and when he started back the river had broken up. He was waylaid by a party of Riel’s Indians and forced to cross the river. This he did by swimming among the ice floes while the Indians were shooting. He got his dogs around ‘him and crossed all right, but one of ‘his dogs was shot while in the water. He made for a light and was taken in by a settler and put to bed. He was i unable to travel for two or three days, but came out none the worse in the end. i “At the time of the first Riel rebel- jlion at Fort Garry, when the people lwere housed up in the fort, it looked ias if they would be starved out. f'Strathcona sent word to Hill asking :if he would get word through to Fort §Garry that there would be food there by the time spring opened up. Hill could not trust anybody, so he went himself, traveling by dog-sled a dis- tance of over 400 miles, and taking an Indian with him to cook and help with the dogs. The Indian proved a traitor, however, and when about half way there, he refused to do as he was told, Hill got suspicious. The Indian had been told to cook breakfast, and not obeying, words followed, when the In; dian attempted to seize the rifle. Hill was too quick for him, and grabbed it first. He told the Indian to run. “Hill and Strathcona met the first time on the Red Riventrail between St. Paul and Winnipeg. Each was traveling with a dog sleigh. “ ‘He can easily stand it,’ said Hill. ‘I’ve made more than that for him in oneilgal that? he knew nothing about.’ cona's fortune. I remember talking to Hill during the South African war and remarkng on the big expense the Strathcona Horse must be to Sir Donald." WEEKS Couldn’t Be Idle. u Caniaah, auu “UL owed, when the In? seize the rifle. Hill iim, and grabbed it [ndian to run. >und or let up your sight you’re a dead The Indian Went , stayed not. Hill ort Garry alone, and all night, to y possible pursuit. with the , and was able to acks during the :r his message. He rt time, and when » river had broken id by a party of :‘orced to cross the d by swimming while the Indians ot his dogs around right, but one of vhile in the water. ; and was taken in t to bed. He was two or three days, the worse in the Be Idle. I vacation trips of )n down the Lab- ewhere. He was . But he never d he had planned. :ts got the better never stand being Indians - This brings us to the second opin- ion, namely, that the first great gen- eral attack upon the German lines will result in a clean break through and on a wide front. Then the German armies will be caught like rats in a trap and will suffer the greatest mili- tary disaster in the history of the world. They will not retreat to Ber- lin; they will not be able to; they will have to stay and fight against super- ior forces or surrender. Those who hold this View insist that the great Allied offensive ought to be under- taken at whatever cost, since it is sure to succeed, and though the casualties will be enormous, it will end the war. Opposing this view is one to the effect that a great offensive now might imperil everything, that the Allies ought to continue their present tactics, that time is on their side, and that patience alone is ne- cessary to bring about the downfall of the German armies in the West. A Question of Luck. Finally there are those who con- tend that luck plays an abnormal part in modern warfare; and that it was‘ simply bad luck that robbed the Allies of tremendous victories at Loos and‘ in Champagne. They argue that the , only thing to do it to imitate the tactics of the Germans to attack again and again first at this point and then at that, suffering defeats occasionally and learning from them, but never relaxing the efforts. They 1 are opposed to ahuge offensive along the whole line, because if it failed it i would so exhaust the Allies that they would have to give up the hope of de- ‘ cisively beating the German armies in ‘ the field. The generals, according to[ those exports, ought not to put all ' their eggs in one basket. It is pro- per to mention that the pessimists who believe that the Germans cannot i be driven out of their positions in,i France, look to the Russians advanc. l ing through Germany, and thus bring- ing about her defeat; while others, think that from Salonica will be ' launched the great offensive that will , crush in turn the military strength of ‘ Bulgaria, Austria and Germany. ; When anyone writes of skiing in Norway, it is the purely Norwegian aspect of the sport that is of the most interest, says a correspondent of the London Times. Mountain skiing is, ,with the minor variations, due to local conditions, the same the world over; forest skiing is essentially the pas- time of Norway. Those who are ac- customed to the long runs over per- fect snow common in' Switzerland find little pleasure in following narrow and tortuous tracks through forest, and are, of course, incapable of marking out such a track for themselves; for forest skiing requires skill of a wholly difl'erent order from that necessary in the open. The paths are often hard and very bumpy, speed is quickly gathered, and great command over the ski is necessary to keep the balance and take the sharp turns between the; trees. Few more exhilarating sightsi can be imagined than a troop of Nor- An Exhilarating Sight to See a Troop of Soldiers on Skis. According to John Balderson a well informed American newspaper corres- pondent in London, there are four opinions and only four among civilians and military men concerning the situ- tion on the western front. One of these is to the effect that the Germans cannot be driven out of their present positions by ageneral offensive, and oddly enough this pessimistic view has been strengthened by the fight- ing at Verdun. There, say the doubt- ers, the Germans after months of .preparation have been unable to make any material headway. How,, then, can the Allies in their turn expect to crumple up the Germans», drive them out of their trenches and start on the triumphal march to Berlin through France and Flanders? Mr. Balder- son explains that those who hold to this belief are almost all civilians. Among the military men he spoke to he did not find any who believed that nerve disorders are promptly cured, and the whole system benefited and strengthened. Mrs. M. Gleason, R.R. No.1, Uxbridge, Ont., who was a great sufferer from neuralgia, says: “I suffered intensely from neuralgia for four years." My blood was thin and I was completely run down. I suffered inbense pain all the time. At different times I consulted three doc- tors, but their treatment did no more than give me temporary relief. Then I tried different medicines, but the result was the sameâ€"they seemed no good in my case. I was growing steadily worse, and finally could not do a bit of work. The last doctor I consulted could do nothing for me but give me morphine tablets to ease the pain, and by this time I had about resigned myself to a life of pain. Then one of Dr. Williams’ almanacs came to our house and I read of similar cases cured through the use of Pink Pills. I The German Armies OPINIONS OF CIVILIANS .AND MILITARY MEN. “I saw James J. Hill in New York only five weeks ago, and he looked to me as well as ever he did, full of life and energy. He always moved as if on steel springs. I cannot understand how it was that the operation killed him. I thought he was likely to live for ten years or more." VARYENG VIEWS (PF WESTERN FRGNT SKIING IN NORWAY. Like Rats in a Trap. Will be Caught Last year I spent a night in a hut in the forest and went out in the morning to see the runners pass. They had been going about six miles when they passed me, and I chose a nice, Ethick place on a good slope to see them go by. As they must go in sin- gle file they are started at two- minute intervals, and a competitor who is caught up with must give his pursuer room to pass him. There were thirty or forty starters, all very young men, and they went through the thicket at full speed. I had the ill- natured satisfaction of seeing two fall who failed to clear a particularly malicious bush with the tips of their skis; they pitched on their heads, but they were up again in a tricc. Several of them avoided that particular bush with a side jump taken at the last mo- ment, which served further to increase their pace. They were all going with an easy swing, which carried them with hardly an efi'ort over the mound. The course of the fifty-kilometre race, which bakes place annually be- fore the great jumping competition at Holmenkollen, is laid right through the great forest of Nordmarken, and is covered by many of the competitors in about four hours and a quarterâ€" not bad going for thirty-one miles up hill, down dale, and cross lakes, with the finish no lower than the start. The track to be followed is marked by lit- tle red streamers hung to the trees at intervals. It is laid by oificiais of the skl club, who delight in choosing the most difficult way they can find, and the actual tracks of whose skis con- stitute the course. wegian soldiers flitbing through the forest in Indian file, hard on each other’s heels, all going full speed, prodding with their sticks to increase the pace even down the hills, never faltering at the bumps, and swinging round the bends without a check. A Lesson in “Business.” “No, sir," said a wealthy merchant to his confidential clerk, who had asked for the hand of his daughter; “no, sir; if you were a rich man it would be difl’erent; but as it is ” He spread his hand out palm upwards to signify that the young man’s chances Were hopeless. But they were not altogether without hope. Some monthse later the wealthy merchant was astonished to find that his con- fidential clerk had bolted with practi- cally the whole of his fortune. He was still more astonished to receive a telegram from the absconder,\ who was somewhere in South America, with the following message:â€"“Am richâ€"very rich, but regret to say am not in position to marry a poor man’s daughter." a You can get these Pills from any medicine dealer or by mail at 50 cents a box or six boxes for $2.50 from The Dr. Williams’ Medicine 00., Brockville, Ont. fierce, stabbing pain, that almost drives the sufferer frantic. The one céuse is poor blood; the only cure is to enrich the blood. Heat applied to the inflamed nerves will give relief, but does not cure. Drh Williams' Pink Pills furnish the blood all the needed elements, and the blood conveys them to the nerves. The only way of get- ting food or medicine to the nerves is through the blood, and the only Way to enrich the blood is through c. fair use of Dr. Williams’ Pink Pills. In this way neuralgia, sciatica and other nerve disorders are promptly cured, and the whole system benefited and strengthened. Mrs. M. Gleason, R.R. No. 1, Uxbridge, Ont., who was a great sufferer from neuralgia, says: “I suffered intensely from neuralgia for four years.‘ My blood was thin and I was completely run down. I An eminent medical writh has said that “neuralgia is the cry of starved nerves for better blood.” The one great) symptom of this trouble is pain, SYINEHNG NEURALQIA The Trouble Due to Nerves Starved for Lack of Good Béood.