Newspaper Page Text
THE MONROE
VOL XXXIX.
HK EMPLOYS WOMEN*
GOOD WORK DONE AT EDISON'S
BY NIMBLE FINGERS.
Plenty of Delicate Work at Which
Women Earn Very Good Wages-
Gketahc* of Girls at Work.
The t rain slowed up and entered
Grange so easily and quietly that I
sat still, never dreaming we were
there yet. I aw'aitcai the accustomed
tooting halloing and snorting of the the hnlkeruen. engine,
and \ oiling by
the pushing < f people behind to get
out before t he oho ahead, and the
sudden slop of the car. for which one
braces liis feet in expectancy,
“ This is (irangC, madam,’’ said t lie
brnkomnn mildly, and I hurried for
ward, nil in a flutter to hail a boy
who stood gazing sleepily at the
t rain.
“Say, young man, tell mo quick if
Edison’s laboratory is here.” He
looked startled, hutted his eyes and
stared at m Hnrrv, won’t you.
because 1 must take this train if it is
at tho next stat ion, ”
■
rr
nrn ~-.il—l____ r / j WL v ' A
.. r~~>
C As.
m I, \ ft
\ m
j —
--**/ //
1 1
K w r
..
WINDINO AND COVERING SPOOLS*
I 11 wait for you,’ said the con
duetor, as he swung himself care
lessly around one of the posts that
In !d up the wide veranda. “ Don't
you know, young man, whether Edi
won s headquarters are here or fur
ther on?
^ l»y, v '‘ s i sir; tho laboratory and
kiuetographic .
her departments are all
’W ilnuH a nv hnrru- n~ Nltllnrl
manner the “ <*on<Tu>Forv ftvo?
hand, end tlii' t rain silently moved
disappeared. out, the boy turned on his heel and
“Down Catching my breath a d saying,
brakes, young woman, you
are turned going too fast for this place,” I
to an old man who sleepily
gazed at me and asked the quickest
way to the laboratory.
Drowsily he pointed to an electric
car that was coming up the street a
block away, “That will take you to
the door,” bo said.
The one long main street and cross
street near were full of people, but
nobody talked. Though the sun was
beaming down with tierce heal, no
one seemed uncomfortably hot in . Or
ange. Some one was blowing a cor
Then,\? iIlArni* TT !‘T a n r °cery-store.
0a ted ° l ! !n SNV eo1 ’ ° W ’
Hear notes that, 1 , instead , of , jarring
one snenvs, set everyone to think
' 10 ° a ruv<10 l alo, '- !? ' Vlth ‘
, "j * n 1 '! Ustonicd clatter
1
; *, i ° tM( v < /* rs an<l people
* -
l X X r\ on aml ofl '
Th* v n V ! , n ;'' VS! ' ;i r r ? R,1
.\'„. S "| V'i"' i' ri a n ’"omltMvd il
.. ... k’l" l" 'lis.iirlihini . ami tell
j' n here r wanted lo get oil.
Groans of men lounged about the
' 4, mu ' ' vert * ,hou S 1 ^
IV' \"r. ° ethers whit
il A lh ' '\ cu loading the
, -V ' M> ,m in came out of
a ' ' > U 'P’ *i . n . ’, n .° a U1 ~«y a
sat , k of and, taking
meat, up the
reins, drove away without even say-
S.-& PE | l . c V B 4 —
. V/J&t
If! k 1 /P i
0 *
y ] I i(7 7 ftf 1
I /
a -iN-Ift V "
■n IVA h. )j ij r~
—-Nb
-L \ \ fjfS
1 V -
\ V/ i in! \ \ \\ s ' l_ i i
V \ •1
\/
V \
s •
.
ELLA, THE EXPERT BRUSH MAKER.
1^8 up to liis drooping horse,
A peculiar restful feeling came
over me and 1 wondered if people did
not live twice as long in Orange as
they did in the city — I felt that I
haa been going 200 miles an hour,
and was suddenly brought down to
ten What relief it was and bow
• 'Thy my ptuscles relaxed: how
dreadfully tired I was—stjrange I had
not realized it before.
The laboratory ’ culled the con
-o uctor Juke your time; don t
~: urry. Ab y«.- 1 had fov^ot ran
iigain for. Willi ; ] had left a
bundle, dropped my p-rasol and had
pencil, all of which the conductor
FORSYTH. J I I> 1 COUNTY, G TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBEI ■TV 23, 1894.
slowly picked up and handed to me. j
So still! surely I aim in the wrong
place. There cannot be hundreds of
men and women working here. Ding,
sounded tlie boll, in answer to my
pressing the electric button on the
outside of the immense gate that
separated me from the great build
ings in the inclosure.
“Here, Dob. take this lady down
to Superintendent Young; she wants
to see the girls at work,” said a
.j.b-asaiit man in laboratory.
“Nevermind putting on your list—
the sun won’t hurt you.
I The bare-headed, black-eyed boy
j bid his bands in bis trousers pockets
and sauntered smilihgly beside me.
“We have a half holiday to-day
; and you’ll see the hands goin' out
pretty soon,” was the startling in
formation he gave me.
‘‘(tome, then, let us huffry,” I mut¬
tered, hastening on, hut that boy
never changed his pace, nor ceased
•»*« sunshiny smiling. Through ne
cessity T lagged, and fell into the
Aguiar, easy swagger of my guide.
.. Yes we employ women , here,”
said Supt. Young. “\Ae like women
in all work that Is not too heavy for
them. Their lingers are so nimble
and their work always neat, Mr.
Edison favors women whenever he
has work they can do. I will take
you into the machine department,
r pj ie number of girls we employ of
course depends wholly on the amount
of work to do.” a_
,
pl.oro about £Fe
the machine shop that I had felt sur
rounded the depot. Mr. Young, in a
few quiet words, drew the attention
of all the workers to him, and in a
mysterious and masterly way gave
orders, changed orders and kept an
eye bustle, on everything. There was no
no uneasiness; no loud and
irritating words were heard and no
discontent made manifest during the
the-button’’ visit. Everything had the “press
effect. All one had to
do was to express a wish and it was
granted quietly and easily.
1 lie long, airy and sunny buildings
were filled with mysterious machin
cry, and tho girls at the benches,
without exception, met me with a
happy smile and courteous manner.
“We ought to be happy,” said a
y° un » NVO,nau the y called Ella;
“don’t we have everything to be glad
about? 1 like the work immensely
an,i ,nak c n lot of money. ‘The work
is not difficult, once learned, and one
has great satisfaction in becoming an
****** in How did I know
h<wV ' Vt >y. r hail a teacher, of
course, at first. 1 had to learn the
trade ns hoys do who go in machine
shops. 1 thought l ought to be able
to do the work. There is no heavy
hftingin my duties; everything de
pends on judgment and deftness,
1 applied and learned, and have been
in Mr. Edison’s employ for years
:uu ^ hope 1 always shall be as long as
there is work to do.
“I make brushes,” she continued,
rising to show me just what she did.
“See. I first unwind the wire from
the spools, straighten it, then cut it
with this implement into one-half
inch lengths. Next comes the sol
dering. That is done this wav.”
She heated a rod by the aid of a gas
j e t arranged for the purpose, and
wheu hot enough, the wires were all
soldered tight into place.
“This kind of brush is called a
governor; I can make two hundred
iu ope day. these iurger ones are
known as commutators, and are
twice %s large as the governors, ecu
sequently I make only half as man>
; iu a day.
.
Ella is & plump, round-faced young
woman with clear, frank eyes that
look straight at you. Her heavy
brown hair showed care and neatness,
Her quick thorough business movements de
noted understanding of her
work, and her pleasant manner and
particularly bright smile explained
why she was such a favorite in the
workroom.
At another bench, where the cool
breezes always circled, sat girls mak
:• i-\ ( heerfulness. calui gay
etv and content seemed the greatest
virtues of the hands in this room.
“It is pleasant work, very,” ex
phiined Ella, a tall, willowy girl,
whose naturally serious face lighted
wonderfully when she spoke, 1
nuike belts for the phonographs from
morning till night. Acs, I do piece
work, but don't mind stopping to
show you. First, I take the hide—
we get a whole calfskin, dressed of
course—and then I cut it into strips
just the length and width T wish. Oh,
I don’t have any trouble, for the
knives are so very sharp. Now, look.
I stretch them with the machine;
then I shave the ends, so, and place
them together like this—lapping one
shaved end over the other—then glue
it fast. Now comes t lie pretty part.
Sometimes I take blue silk thread,
and sometimes red, but the belts
must bo sewed four times around. I
can do it awfully fast, and get it
straight as a die.”
“I suppose that is to make the
belts look fancy.”
“Oh dear, no.” My stupid remark
was heard far and wide, and I had
to submit to a general ha, ha, from
all tlie pretty lips in the room.
“I scarcely think Mr. Edison
would pay us lo do embroidery work,
do you, girls ? Xo; there is a reason
for the stitching; it keeps the belts
from stretching.”
“Do you have any trouble with
your sewing machine?”
“Never. It is run by electricity,
m JLJ Han M
.
mm p m r ES
-
^'ia ^91, few?.
1 - • f Sa
is m m SI r : 'M mmm f
I al 1
^ 11 ^ T « ?
.-L-. - V::
.
■
4 ■■■
K j. 7 rWf
> 4
/. %
> en* \
MAKIXG BANDS FOR THE PHOXOC4RAPIT.
and it. doesn’t tire me. YVework ten
hours a day, but it is so very pleasant
for us here that we would much
rather work than not.”
She sat down to the machine and in
what seemed a very few minutes had
completed one of the dainty blue silk
stitched belts.
Superintendent Young suggested
going into the.lapanroom.Asweet
faced girl called Carrie handles with
great dexterity the brush in doing
the Japanning. All the machines are
Japanned, and a lot of other things
—work that only the nimble fingers
of women can execute swiftly.
“There is no use talking,“‘said the
superintendent, “woman can do
many things better than men. Mr.
Edison favors their employ purely
from a business standpoint' When
we were working on the dolls we had
over 200 girls employed. The ma¬
chines were so arranged that when
the girls spoke through them the
voice was reproduced like that of a
child. Ella over there was invalu
able, her enunciation is so distinct,
Y\ e entered the assembling room,
which was, if anything, cooler than
windows *4 machine shops. stretched Y\ ide doors parti- and
were open;
tions were cut through so the breeze
could have a full sweep along the
whole length of the building. Every
thing was made with a view to com¬
fort as well as business. “The more
comfortable we can make the work¬
men, the better work they turn out,”
said the superintendent.
At one table just below a window
through which the perfume of cut
grass came pouring in, sat two
young women making their
fiy so rapidly that it was impossible
to understand what they were doing
without stopping to explain.
A fresh, rosy face, blue eyes, large
and merry, long lashes and the cur
liest, golden-brown hair that ever
covere d a head, belonged to Maggie,
vr ' 10 ^ r ^m seven in the morning till
^ a ' n 'ShL winds armatures.
1 don't get very tired,” she
replied to my question. At first it
was bothersome, and I had to get
used to sitting and holding the wire,
but now 1 can wind five armatures a
day. There are <00 yards on each,
That makes a lot of the wire go
through your liana* during the ten
hours work. We have to be so very
careful too. to get each round just
so.”
“Is there no machinery that could
do this ? ”
“Mr. Young says it could be done
by machinery, but it would cost
more than by having it done by hand.
and I am rather glad of that, because
machinery would throw me out of
employment”
Do you week by the day or by the
piece ? ‘
“By the week iust now. but next
Monday we commence by the piece
I like piece work better, because we
can make more. Mf. Young is a re
inarkably kind and cio. siderate man.
\Ye all like him. jiff never forgets
what we are doing*-S$ never fails to
know whether we ovtht to be extra
weary or not. He i.*ver overworks
or is unkind. We w<y hi do anything
for him.”
‘ Do you make utteh money at
such employment
“Oh, yes: quit^ 4 ! enough. The
wages range from mail tip. Ella over
t Imre for a while « $18 a week on
piecework. An expert at her bench
can accomplish m \7 One has to
learn the trade be fob* being able to
do anything. It dock not seem diffi¬
cult to wind t hese opoojs, yet every
thread must be just so, or the whole
tiling is useless. OigWtt of careless¬
ness might undo a wi-Ude day’s work.”
“ What are you dn-ng? ” I inquir¬
ed of a fair, sunnv-hhired girl oppo¬
site at the same tabb*.
“Covering spools Ipr the kineto
grapli. The sp< > are brass, and
must be covered with velvet. It is
easy after yon once know how,” she
said, and raising her sead exposed to
my admiring gaze theferliesb “bang”
I had seen in weeks.
“ Of-course, I wofu like to know
all about the spools,*? I remarked,
“ but first tell me where you get such
a perfect false “bang.” It matches
your hair so beaut i/ully, and the
curls are simply bewitching.”
Such ripples of fuiigliter, such
dancing of eyes, such howls of de¬
light as filled the room again proved
I had blundered,
“Pull it,” said in girl, bending
forward her sunny head. “It is
mine, all natural aim fast tight.”
“I suppose you hnv some under¬
standing with your mysterious elec¬
tricity, then, to keep ; in such mar¬
vellous curl,” I cried dumbfounded,
as I mopped the per piration from
my own brow and face More laugh¬
ter and saucy remarks full of appre-
eiation of the subject, drove me
finally into another department.
“We live, most all of us, iri
Orange,” said Ella; • ‘some come
from Newark, a few from East
Orange, and the small villages about,
There are few girls on duty these hot
days—work is slack, and there is no
need for them. We consider our
selves very fortunate to be included
in the few retained. This time last
year there were sixty of us, and once
we numbered over 200. Mr. Edison
never gives the men what we can do.
When that kind comes in, then
women are called to do it. Oh,
please say something nice about Su¬
perintendent Young,” exclaimed
one, “lie is such a good man; we
could talk all day about how kind
the officials are to us.”—[Cynthia
M. Westover in the N. Y. Recorder.
He Paid Millet’s Bills.
M. Ziem, the Paris painter, relates
a story of the brother of the present
President of the French Republic,
and Corot, the artist. M. Casimir
perier, jr., was an intimate friend of
Carot. On a visit which he made to
the great artist in 1875, in his home
at- Yerdizon, in the forest of Fon
tainebleau, he found Corot putting
the last touches on his “Biblis”
(“Nymphs in the Forest at Sun¬
down.”) The masterpiece filled
Casimir-Perier with enthusiasm, and
he begged the artist to sell it to him.
“ I’ll give you my canvas,” replied
“on one condition—that you
pav the butcher and baker bills of
m y friend Millet.”
“Taken,” answered the wealthy
Frenchman.
j n Chailly, where Millet lived, the
and baker were asked to
make out their bills and send them
t 0 vp Casimir-Perier. The art-lover
was somewhat surprised when he
found that Millet had lived on credit
f or twelve years, and that the bills
amounted respectively to 22.000 and
oj,000 francs, over $9,000. M. Perier
paid the bills according to agreement,
and carried home the Corot. The
price at that time was considered
enormous, as the purchaser could
have bought the minting in the mar
ket for about 1.500 francs, less than
ipn) Ill The bargain however after
was a -oom as the picture to
day. it is estimated, is worth about
Ihe 000 It i«» “till in flmil' po«e«i.,r of
Ca=imir-Perier ‘ ' —'New *
York ' Tribute
Accordisg to oc oli English ballad
ho that wooe* a maid must come
seldom to her sight, but he t^t
wooe? e. widow must woo her day and
night. The suggestion is not'war
ranted but it Is given for what- it is
worth at the experimenter s risk.
—----
keji;er*s pictures , f py. -.mot life
have r.v.ver been ex- j’iea.
A
ADVERTISER.
SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
INTERESTING NOTESAND MAT
TERS OF MOMENT.
Queer Facts and Thrilling Adventures
Which Show that 7 ruth is Stranger
Than Fiction.
A Georgia grower has succeeded
in raising a seedless watermelon.
Two-thirds of the Hot sum and
jetsam carried by the Gulf Stream
sooner or later finds its way into the
Saratoga .Sea,
The Congo has twice the extent of
the navigable waters of the Missis
sippi and its tributaries, and three
times its population.
Charles McIlyaine, the American
export on fungi, claims to have eaten
full meals of over -400 species 1
toadstools without ever having been
poisoned.
Newark, X. .L, is a great place
for cork-screws, One firm in that
city made last year 160,000,000,
enough, if they were placed end to
end. to half encircle the globe.
Mr. Ed. G. Hill, of Hart county,
Kentucky, lias a pair of steelyards,
which have been in active use 125
years in Kentucky,and were possibly
in use many years previous in Vir¬
ginia, from which place they were
bought by his ancestors. They have
been used to weigh the oldest child
in five generations, and hid fair to
last many years.
A SUSPENDED city has been dis
covered off Glacier Bay, Alaska, by a
party of excursionists. This curious
phenomenon is seen regularly after
full moon in June, and in no other
time. It is said to be a beautiful
mirage of some unknown city sus
pended directly over the bay. A
photographer has taken pictures of
It four times, but no one has been
able to identify one of the ghostly
buildings outlined.
The Hindoos have a queer way of
emphasizing what they have got sacred to
say. Tn most villages is a
tree, a pi pat tree, and the gods are
supposed to delight to sit among its
leaves and listen to the music of their
rustling. The deponent takes one
of these leaves in his hands and in
Yokes the gods, who sit above him,
to crush him mid those dear to him,
as he crushes the leaf in his hand,
if he speaks anything but the truth.
He then plucks and crushes the leaf
what he liasjo say.
* '
-* w
§
» S.. U .......tlP BS ;
rJil fn such cases is so great and
sudden that the upper plate is driven
downward With such great force and
rapiditv as to catch exact impres
sions of the leaves before their deli
cate ribs have time to give way to
the force of the brow,
method of engraving is one of the
wonders of the century. s
A feculiau incident happened
while , , the Sixth , Regiment „ weM en
gaged in rifle practice at the Atta
Jersey State camp at Sea
Lieutenant It. R. Albertson was tr\ -
ing'to qualify on the 800 yard range.
On his fifth shot three blackbirds
flew across the range. The Lieuten¬
ant’s rifle cracked and one of the
birds fell. At the same moment the
signal target indicated that the ,
lieutenant had scored four points,
only one point from the center. An
examination of the dead bird showed
that- the bullet in its flight for the
target had passed through its breast.
There is danger of the extinction
of the elephant in South Africa,
I lie Biitish Central African Gazette
says that nearly 3,000 hunters leave
lete and Zumbo annually to shoot
elephants in the-territory north of
Zambesi. These men kill all t ie
elephants they see, v oung and o d.
The Gazette is of the opinion that
the African race of elephants can be
saved on iv by a decision of the | °t
ers with possessions in the Dark
ontinent forbidding the exportation
of elephant tusks from beasts undei
ten jears of age. The natives, die
paper says, would soon learn of this
decision and cease killing young
elephants.
It is a remarkable fact that the
deepest parts of the sea are in all
cases very near the land. The deep
est sounding known, 1,665 fathoms,
or 27,930 feet, was obtained 110
miles from the Kurile Islands; the
next deepest, 4,561 fathoms, was
found 70 miles north of Porto Rico,
With a few exceptions like these the
depth of the ocean as far as now
known does not reach 4,000
fathoms, or four sea miles. The
North Pacific has a mean depth of
2,500 fathoms, the South Pacific
2,400, the Indian Ocean of 2,000, and
the Atlantic, by far the best investi
gated ocean, has a mean depth of
2.200 fathoms.
Harvey Carpenter, of Grassy,
Morgan county Kentucky, „ * i raised . , a
f ourd ’ which, cleaned and dried, held
twenty-one gallons and one quart of
water. A gentleman of Mt. Sterling
came into P ossession of the gourd,
and not long afterwards he chanced
to meet his friend, Mr. Satulhe, and
asked llim what he would char ? e for
a gourd full of cider. Mr. Satullie,
being a clever man, wouldn’t of
couri > e emerge a friend anything for
aJ * maiI a favor > and toid him t0
send on his gourd, but was surprised
tj fmdtrm’ ius promise ivad obli
him to give away more than a
: !aii t>arrei “ is good cider. But ne
*s a man of his word and he sent the
beverage.
There’s a romance in Forepaugh’s
show i hat isn’t apparent t-o the
careless eye, says 141- le Lewiston .Toiu
nal. Becjvy. the eir duu>t, is deeply
j." ioT ® " ith °" e o( Uif camels who
doesn t seem to responU as ardently
as could be desired, llecky is easy
only when she is near the (Time; V l
her'affections, and although gifted
with a marvellous appet ite of her
own, she is continunly throwing hay
and provender to the camel. Next
thing the African liartbeest will get
into a love scrape with the polar
bear and they’ll elope to—well, how
will they settle that matter? It's
the pompadour camel that Becky
loves, and it must be affection in
spired by mental ambition—’tisn't
his face or figure,
A Paris correspondent describes
one of the oddest industries of that
city to be found in a little shop in
the Rue ties Ecoles, which deals ex
clusively with the second-hand boots
of the men who work in the sewers,
These boots are furnished by the
State and come half way up the
thigh, and each man is allowed a
new pair every six months. When
new they cost $9; when sold second¬
hand they realize the modest sum
of fifty cents; but as at least 6,000
pair per annum are sent to the Rue
des Ecoles, iPmakes quite a boom¬
ing industry. The leather of these
boots is, so to speak, tanned by the
alkaline and greasy water in which
the sewer-cleaners paddle, and they
are eagerly sought for by the great
Parisian bootmakers; for this leath¬
er, being at once tough and light,
serves to sustain the curve of the
Louis XV heel.
A wonderful child, who, at the
age of two years, can read with 11 u
ency any writing or printing in Ger¬
man or Latin characters, pronounc¬
ing correctly the most difficult
words, j” is described in the columns of
{ c Magdeburg Zeitung. The boy
learned to read in play. When about
a year and a half old, while walking
out with his grandmother, he showed
the liveliest interest in all the signs,
bills and placards, and was especially
delighted with the display in book¬
sellers’ shops. At home lie played
with books and newspapers, and one
day, finding his own name, “Otto,”
in print, he ran to show it with de
light to his parents. The boy is
mentally and physically perfectly
healthy and normal. lift has fair
hair and very lively,
brom. eyes,. Three •‘wall-known ami
Insh y respeetert pl.ys.cmnn have
decided that the boy possesses an
immense wealth of pictures of mem
ory, but can give no physiological
.
...
EECE*’ 7 *7OTteSss
the afternoon of a fine balmy spring
( 4;.’ a dri/zlin g 11 K '
with a brisk breeze from the south ,,
continued for some minutes It
was noticed,.while '”Ln theinto'was silver fig- ,a,i
the 1
passed and the sun came out, those
! wearing dark clothing who had been
out in the rain discovered that they
1 were covered with minute- wb ; .
j crystal. SubsequettUtyfit bindings
f ounc | that all in the town
facing south were similarly crystal
an( j on analysis these tiny
cl J^y,is - proved to be salt. The oc
curremSP has?-given rise to a good deal
of speculation sJwwer, as but to the the source only of
this saline rea
sonable exnlalNition l is that it must
haye 01 . igi nated \ m the Great Salt
Lftke in f Tteh !! 0 a >i v three hundred
miles away . A , t ronJf south wind
’ the Great
, ml proba b]v swept aoro ^s
Lake on a warm day and, patching
up the salt vapor from the -water,
bad carried it away northward}
deposit it in Pocatello.
Duvmow / in Essex Countv En rf -
land has been bringiDg itself before
the public again by a revival of its
fjitch-of-bacon ceremony. Dunmow
ougb ^ be ab i e furnish some
answers to the great question of how
to be happy though married. It is
^ be p ] ace v ,-here it was once the dis¬
J tom to reward and promote conjugal
felicit bv giving a flitch of bacon
, CQ | e wbf)i after a year of
ma t r j r nonial experience, could swear
j t ba t they had not regretted entering
j the estate commended of St. Paul to
I be honorable. It appears that even
the pious Prior of Dunmow, who
instituted The custom hundreds of
years ago, had certain modern, scep
tfical notions about the success of
marriage. Apparently he was of the
opinion that there would seldom be
many claimants for the prize. The
number of candidates who filled the
conditions have not been many in
the whole history of Dunmow, and
the presentations of the flitch of
bacon have been few and far between,
But this year Dunmow revived the
custom, and two couples received the
award due to those who marry and
do not regret it. One was a Dublin
magistrate and his wife and the
other a railroad servant and his wife,
from Hertfordshire. The jury was
composed of six young maidens and
i jix-l _ T 0 .„ *"* n „ bachelors, and after the
trial " tiy v
™the ybe
oath \\hich the wxnneis of t e flitch i c
have to take is enough to deter many
irom
piness to the world. After the trial
which takes the form of questions
and answers in the presence of the
assembled multitude, the oath is
administered to the happy pair while
the y * ne&l upoD tW0 n ’ P 01Diea
rocks. ,
_________
Xhe state with the greatest rail
mileage is Hiinois-p-10,428
cumo PermsylN’auia, witfc
. Texas, with 9.1SJ; Kansas,
: with 8,931; Ohio, with 8,558; Iowa,
8,513; and New York, with
3 ^ 10 .
NO. 41
SC1ENTIWC AND INDUSTRIAL.
A fly's e.J'g will hatch in twelve
hours.
Entomologists estimate that 10,009,
000 species of insects exist.
There is harmony and discord iu
the combination of odors, as there is
iu music.
Carriages propelled by electricity
derived from a storage battery are
common in Berlin.
Aluminum felloes iu bicycles are ex¬
pected soon as an improvement on
wood in both lightness an 1 strength.
Willie Jones, of Girardville, Penn.,
havin g lost his shin bones by blood
poisonir has been supplied by a sur¬
geon with now ones of iudia rubber.
Dr. Bigg-., of the New York Board
of Health, who has been iu Europe in¬
vestigating Dr. Koch’s new treatment,
for dphtheria, soys that it is an abso¬
lute cure if applied iu time.
The phylloxera, or tho vine pest, is
making such ravages in the sherry
wine districts of Spain that the Gov¬
ernment, for has approprW'ed or\\he $ 100,000
the extermination disease.
The utility of the mosquito is be¬
yond question lt is born in tLe
swamps, and feeds upon animal and
vegetable matter, which, if allowed to
decompose, would till tho air with
poisonous gases.
The vital principle is preserved Nu
seeds and eggs, fruits and vegetabfiv
during cold weather, because they\ v
have a heat of their own. Tho tern- \
perature of an egg or apple, down to
the freezing point, is always several
degrees above that of the surrounding
air.
The Japanese are really a very pro¬
gressive people. The School of Sci¬
ence at Yokohama is remarkably thor¬
ough. One of the naval ’officials, Ya
mana, has succeeded iu producing a.
new steel, at the Tanaka Government
factory, which is proven to bo u most
remarkable metal. The Government
has adopted it.
A living specimen of tho largest and
most deadly snake known has been
added to the Zoological Gardens ol
Loudon. It grows twelve to fourteen
feet in length, and is hooSed like the
cobra. It occurs in India, Burnu
and in the East Indian archipelago,
living in forests and jangles and read
trees,
Th „ Th. Thorod
’ , „ t 1 resmt en 6 a eii j GA ve.r
■aterestmg . . .. . of c geological , - . obser ,
ser.es
”*?>“ on h,s mtl,e “>“* ior wL, ° 1 '
r eceiv e d , genero us Government
Hf b i e c fc ol^Mi
ply A to Frenclj ati^B
by the
. Bvi.--;
of
tivity !. r, - - Sg
n siilfiH
broughj^^^ me.
ingm^ * e. M
J 0
A Peacock’s Little Game.
Sol. Stephan has made a discovery
up at the Zoo. The big- peacock has
for several weeks made a practice of
going every afternoon to the entrance
gate and parading back and forth,
across the path for half an hour. This
action occasioned no remark for a
time, but alter awhile it was noticed
that the fowl came regularly at 4.
o’clock and at no other hour, and al¬
ways remained about half an hour,
after which it would walk away and
go about the lawns as usual till the
following afternoon. For the past
week a watch has been kept on it, and
at last the secret is discovered. Near
the gate is a glass door, leading to a
cellar in the hillside, and about 4.
o’clock the light falls on the door so
that the peacock can see himself as in
a mirror when he walks past. He evi¬
dently takes great delight inGooking
at himself. The strange part of the
affair is that he should know just when
to come, as the reflection is clear and
distinct only about half an hour after
i o’clock.—Cincinnati Tirnes-Star.
A Street Car Hearse.
One of tho San Francisco railway
companies has constructed an electric
funeral car for the Ban Mateo Ceme¬
tery. The car is named Cypress Lawn.
It is thirty feet in length and is
divided info two compartments, the
forward twenty feet in length and the
rear ten feet. The former is richly
upholstered, tapestried and carpeted,
and twelve plush seats are arranged to
seat twenty-four persons. In the rear,
or funeral compartment, seats on each
side, capable of seating twenty, are ar¬
ranged for relatives and near friends,
and in the centre is the bier on which
the casket stands. As Ban Francisco
has an extensive system of electric
railways the car can be employed
throughout the city, and will, to some
extent, il is expected, supersede the
use ot hearses and carriages for fu¬
nerals. The cost of building it was
about #2999. — Philadelphia Record.
Fold Water is Best.
Ice water is said to be one of the
deadliest foes of the American people,
and its temptation is especially in
fidious in the days o! summer. Au
excellent substitute for real iced
water, or water made of icy tempera¬
ture by containing ice, is a pitcher or
caraffb of water which has stood foi
some hours m the refrigerator. The
water is then cold enough to be very
•agreeable, more so than at tire paralyz¬
ing temperature oi ice itself; one has
a pleasing consciousness of hygienic
virtue ir; drinking it and it has the
added excellence of saving both trouble
and ice iu its preparation.--Rochester
Post Exoress.