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GLEANINGS from A WORLD-WIDE HELD
CHEROKEE INDIANS ON RAMPAGE.
Charles Long, a full-blooded Cherokee Indian, ar
rived in Spartanburg, S. C., with his wife and six
little papooses a few days ago. They had been
forced to flee from the Jackson County reservation.
When asked about the disorder, he bluntly replied:
“Whiskey caused it all. A large quantity of whis
key was received at the reservation and the In
dians began a carousal. Inflamed by the whiskey
the Indians dropped their thin veneer of civilization,
he said, and relapsed into savagery, indulging in
wild orgies. Quarrels arose and one of the Indians,
Tom Woodpecker, was shot, and afterwards disem
boweled, while another, George Slowly, was shot.
“FINISHED GOODS.”
A telegraph operator was receiving market quota
tions from a distillery for “finished goods.” As he
sat wondering what the phrase meant, a long “spe
cial” came over the wire from another city, telling
how a man, crazed with drink, had killed four people,
and another, in drink, nad committed suicide, while
another had gone home and smashed everything in
his house and maimed his wife and children. He
got his definition of “finished goods.”—Selected.
THE FIRST MOVING PICTURES.
Moving pictures originated in an experiment to
show both sides of a shilling at once. In 1826, ac
cording to the Chicago Tribune, Sir John Herschel
asked his friend, Charles Babbage, how he would
show both sides of a shilling at once. Babbage re
plied by taking a shilling from his pocket and hold
ing it before a mirror. This did not satisfy Sir John,
who set the shilling spinning on a large table, at the
same time pointing out that if the eye is placed on a
level with a rotating coin, both sides can. be seen at
once.
Babbage was so impressed with the experiment
that the next day he described it to a friend, Dr.
Fitton, who immediately made a working model.
On one side of the disk was drawn a bird, on the
other side an empty bird cage. When the card was
i evolved on a silk thread, the bird appeared to be in
the cage. This model, called the thaumatrope,
showed the persistence of vision upon which all
moving pictures depend for their effect.
The eye retains the image of the object seen for a
fraction of a second after the object has been re
moved.
Next came the zoetrope, or “wheel of life.” A
cylinder w r as perforated with a series of slots, and
within the cylinder was placed a band or drawing of
dancing men. On rotating the apparatus, the figures
seen through the slots appeared to be in motion.
The first systematic photographs of men and ani
mals taken at regular intervals were made by Ed
ward Maybridge, in 1877.—0ur Young Folks.
ACCOUNTING FOR THE TALENTS.
It is stated that Jay Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt,
E. H. Harriman and J. S. Kennedy left about the
same amount behind them when they died. A con
s’derable part of Jay Gould's money has been wasted
by European aristocratic spendthrifts, while Helen
Gound has made good use of her part. The most
of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s money is of no use to the
world. Mr. Harriman’s fortune went to his family,
and we have yet to see what will become of it. But
Mr. Kennedy’s money by his own act and will was
left for philanthropic purposes, and will do the world
more good than the combined fortunes of the other
three. Which made the best use of his money? To
which one would the Master more likely say, “Well
done, good and faithful servant. Thou has been
faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler
over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord?” —Baptist and Reflector.
HAPPY OLD MEN.
Dr. A. J. Gordon, meeting an old man one day
going to the place of prayer, said to him: “Aged
friend, why should an old man be so merry and
cheerful?” “All are not,” he said. “Well, then, why
should you be merry?” “Because I belong to the
Lord.” “Are none others happy at your time of
life?” “No, not one,, my friendly questioner,” said
The Golden Age for October 6, 1910.
he, and his form straightened into the stature of his
younger days, and something of inspiration glowed
upon his countenance as he said: “Listen, please, to
the truth from one who knows; then wing it round
the world, and no man of three-score and ten shall be
found to gainsay it. The devil has no happy old
men.” —Selected.
AN ABSURD CONTENTION.
United States Senator Carmack, of Tennessee, put
the argument in these pointed words, viz.: “The ab
surd contention is often made that the abolition of
the saloon would injuriously affect the prosperity of
a community. There are some arguments so repug
nant to reason that they do not need the refutation
of experience. Wealth is produced by the hand and
brain of man, and whatever impairs the effectiveness
of both mind and body and a destroyer of wealth. The
tattered vagabonds wailowing in the gutter add notip
ing to the prosperity of a community, and neither
does the man who puts them there.”
I?
BATTLESHIP MAINE TO BE RAISED.
After slumbering on the botton of the Havana
Harbor for eleven years, the battleship “Maine” is
being brought to the surface, and very soon this
giant vessel will again serve Uncle Sam.
It is a mooted question, however, as to the eco
nomical value of this step on the part of the govern
ment. The danger of infection from yellow fever, it
is feared, will cost loss of lives that are of more
value than the battered hull of the sunken battle
ship, now covered by twenty-seven feet of slime and
filth.
Since the city of Havana assumed the proportions
of a city, several centuries ago, its sewage has emp
tied into the harbor. As there is practically no tide,
the slime and filth settle to the bottom of the bay.
Until American occupation of the island, Cuba was
annually visited with the deadly scourge of yellow
fever, and rigorous quarantine was observed by all
cities of the United States against the “Queen of the
Antilles.” Particularly was this true of the southern
gulf ports, where traffic with the island was heavy.
Notwithstanding this, yellow fever was brought into
the United States and epidemics of the disease was
prevalent throughout the Southern States. Follow
ing the American occupation, sanitary conditions on
the island were much improved, although by no
means made perfect. Havana harbor is still the
reservoir for the disposition of the city’s sewage.
Two plans which strike officials as practical have
been submitted for the raising of the Maine.
One calls for the building of a cofferdam around
the vessel, and the other for constructing two
wharves, one on either side of the battleship, and
raising it by means of cables. In the former case,
should that plan be more acceptable, more than
2,500,000 cubic feet of offensive mud and slime will
have to be pumped from the bottom of the harbor.
What amount of disease may sp»ead over the city of
Havana, or even cities in the United States, as a re
sult, no one connected with the army will say. In
the latter plan hundreds of United States sailors or
soldiers are to be used, and while the bed of the
harbor will not be nearly as much disturbed, the
men who will be called upon to work there, run
the chance of imminent death from exposure to the
disease-breeding mud.
“NOT IF IT WAS MY BOY.”
Some years ago the late Horace Mann, the emi
nent educator, delivered an address at the opening
of some reformatory institution for boys, during
which he remarked that if only one boy was saved
from ruin, it would pay for all the cost, and care
and labor of establishing such an institution as that.
After the exercises Mr. Mann was asked:
“Did you not color that a little, when you said that
all that expense and labor would be repaid if it only
saved one boy?”
“Not if it was my boy,” was the solemn and con
vincing reply.
Ah! there is a wonderful value about “My boy.”
Other boys may be rude and rough; other boys may
be reckless and wild; other boys may seem to require
more pains and labor than they ever will repay;
other boys may be left to drift uncared for to the
ruin which is so near at hand; but “My boy,”—it
were worth the toil of a lifetime and the lavish
wealth of a world to save him from temporal and
eternal ruin. We would go the world around to save
him from peril, and would bless every hand that was
stretched out to give him help or welcome. And
yet every poor, wandering, outcast, homeless man is
one whom some fond mother called “My boy.” Every
lost woman, sunken in the depths of sin, was some
body’s daughter in her days of childish innocence.
Today somebody’s son is a hungry outcast, pressed
to the very verge of crime and sin. Today some
body’s daughter is a weary, helpless wanderer,
driven by necessity in the paths that lead to death.
Shall we shrink from labor, shall we hesitate at
cost when the work before us is the salvation of a
soul? Not if it is “My boy”; not if I have the love
of Him who gave His life to save the lost. —Common
People.
*
A FAITHFUL TESTIMONY DESPITE PREJUDICE.
Not long ago a man spoke slurringly of missions,
whereupon a Jew arose and said: “Some years ago
I was sent by my bank to look at some land in
Porto Rico. The village I visited was the nastiest,
vilest little hell I ever saw. Two years ago I was
sent to the same town. It was a beautiful little
place, with neat houses and yards, clean streets, a
pretty school for children, no vice or drunkenness
in evidence, good gardens and a church. What did
it? A missionary had come there from the United
States. I sought him out and gave him my check,
because I had never seen so much civilization ac
complished in so short a time.” —Pacific Christian
Advocate.
•?
GOOD ENOUGH FOR A WHITE MAN.
A young Indian convert once brought Bishop Whip
pie a two dollar bill which he requested him to
change, that he might give half to the Lord’s work,
and his wife gave the other half. “Is this all the
money you have?” asked the bishop. The man re
plied that it was. The bishop was about to remon
strate and advise him to give a part of it, when an
other saved Indian whispered in his ear: “It might
be too much for a white man to give, but not too
much for a poor Indian, who has, this year for the
first time, heard of his Savior.” What a rebuke this
is to the lukewarm Christians who live on the fat
ness of the good land God has given them, and seem
to feel no responsibility to give of their abundance
to the work of carrying the gospel to others. —Se-
lected.
IS
SIGBEE’S STEAMER.
Captain Sigbee, who was on the “Maine” when it
was blown up, was at one time Captain of the lake
steamer “Blake.” He once found himself in a storm
drifting toward the breakers. In order to save his
vessel from utter destruction, he opened a hole in
the bottom and let it sink into the deep water. Af
ter the storm had abated, divers were sent down,
and it was found that the vessel was resting upon
the sand. It was then raised and repaired. The
brave captain had to sink his ship in order to save it.
A RECORD WITHOUT LIQUOR.
Iceland, about half the size of Missouri, has no
jail, no penitentiary; there is no court, and only
one policeman. Not a drop of alcoholic liquor is
made on the island, and its 78,000 people are total
abstainers, since they will not permit any liquor to
be imported. There is not an illiterate person on
the island, not a child ten years old unable to read,
the system of public schools being practically per
fect. —S. C. Tharp, Pretty Prairie, Kansas.
*
“HELLO” FOR THE “UNSPEAKABLE TURKS.”
Subject to the approval by the Turkish parliament
the city of Constantinople will have a first-class tele
phone system. The concession is to the Western
Electric Company, New York, the French Thomson-
Houston Company, the directors of the National Tele
phone Company, London, and the British Insulated
and Helsby Cables Company (Limited), London, and
is exclusive for thirty years, witn power to the gov
ernment to buy the plant at the end of ten years on
appraisal.
