Newspaper Page Text
NEWS IN OLDEN DAYS.
CUSTOMS IN VOGUE BEFORE THE ERA
OF NEWSPAPERS.
of newspapers is found in
nncieut Rome. The government some
tu > centuries previous to the Christian
( . nl is known to have promulgated its
edicts by means of written papers affix
ed to pillars. Nor was there much dif
ference between the style of these acta
diurnia, as they were termed, and that
which now prevails farther than that
the former were more brief and simple
and deficient in introductory phrases
and the editorial “we.” They generally
gave the news or occurrence in simply
itive s< ntences without .yiti
tion or comment of any kind.
Most of these acta which have Been
preserved are found to mention but one
or two events. They are headed with
the date in Roman fashion and the
name of the then consul and para
graphs such as the following formed
the staple: “It thundered, imd an oak
was struck with lightning on that part
of Mount Palatine called Summa Vevia,
early in the afternoon.” “Murena, the
consul, sacrificed early in the morning
in the Temple of Castor and Pollux,
and afterward assembled the senate in
Pompey’s senate house. ” “C. Ciesar set
out for his government in farther
Spain, having long been detained by
his creditors. ”
It is hardly possible for us now, with
all the lights of science around and the
shoals of newspapers with which we
are supplied, to form a proper notion of
th. darkness which, for want of these,
involved the masses of the people for
many centuries after the fall of the Ro
man empire. We are told that the cru
saders were so ignorant of geography
that at every town they approached in
central Europe they inquired if it was
Jerusalem. When they at length reached
their destination, their exploits would
have remained unknown for years to
their relatives and friends at home had
not at times some few straggling pil
grims found their way back to the
west. Even bad news in those days
could not, contrary to tho proverb,
travel fast. Every little community
must then have lived much within it
self.
It was not until the sixteenth century
that anything at all approaching even
to the scanty Roman acta diurnia can
be found to have revived in the modern
world. The war which the Venetian re
public waged against the Turks gave
rise in 1583 to the custom of communi
cating the military and commercial in
formation in Venice by written sheets,
notizic scritee, to be read in a particu
lar place to those desirous of hearing
the news, who paid for this privilege
with a coin no longer in use, called gaz
zetta, a name which came in time to
be applied to the news sheet itself both
in Italy and France and subsequently
in England, when this mode of impart
ing news came into use.
The Venetian government eventually
gave these announcements in a regular
manner once a month, but they were
too jealous to allow them to be printed.
Only a few written copies were trans
mitted to such as subscribed and paid
for them. Thirty volumes of these valu
able manuscript newspapers exist in
the Maglia Bechian library at Florence.
About the same time advertising wants
commenced, the father of Montaigne,
the celebrated essayist, being credited
with the suggestion for making the
wants of individuals known to the pub
lic in France. These were received at
offices established for the purpose and
were first posted on the walls of public
places, receiving the names of afliches.
In time this led to a systematic and
periodic publication in sheets. These
were termed affiches in consequence of
their contents being originally fixed up
as placards, though the word itself is
French for advertisement.
It is to England as represented by
Queen Elizabeth that the honor of com
mencing printed sheets of public intel
ligence is to bo ascribed. When the
Spanish armada threatened an invasion
of this country, that sage queen, re
marking the disadvantage of the vague
and alarming rumors ■which circulated
everywhere, resolved to inform her peo
ple truly of the impending dangers.
She began to publish from time to time
a sheet bearing the following title:
“The English Mercuire, published by
authorise, for the contradiction of false
reports. ” Os this publication three cop
ies are preserved in the British museum,
the earliest, No. 50, bearing date July
23, 1588. The first article, dated from
Whitehall, contains advices from Sir
Francis Walsinghain that the armada
was seen in the channel, making for the
entrance, with a favorable gale. An ac
count is then given of her majesty’s
fleet, which consisted of 80 sail, divided
into four squadrons, commanded by
the lord high admiral, in the Ark Royal,
Sir Francis Drake and Admirals Haw
kins and Frobisher. Under the head,
“London,” there is an account of an
interview which the mayor and cor
poration had on the previous day with
her majesty, for the purpose of assuring
her of the resolution to stand by her
with their lives and fortunes to the last.
Under the same head appears the fol
lowing paragraph: “Yesterday the
Scotch ambassador had a private audi
ence of her majestic, and delivered a let
ter containing the most cordial assur
ances of adhering to her majestie’s in
terests, and to those of the Protestant
religion, and the younge king, James
Ith, said to her majestie’s minister at
his court that all the favour he expected
■f the Spaniards was the courtesie of
Polyphemus to Ulysses, that he should be
devoured to the last. ” We wonder what
would be thought of embassadors in
tbesp days if tin y interlarded their oral
communications with such classical ref
erences '.
TONS AND TONS OF GOLD.
Twelve llnndrml Mile* (if Enoruieua
ly Rich Territory.
If a pin be placed at Denver on the
map, and another at Stockton, Cal.,
and a string be drawn from one to the
other, an air line will he marked pass
ing through the heart of a wonderful
gold territory. Slightly to the north of
Denver in Central City, and southwest
of that city is Cripple Creek. About 30
miles to the north of the string Lead
ville will bo found. In the southwest
corner of Colorado will appear Tellu
ride, Rico and other points where gold
is mined. Marysvale, in Utah, almost
due south of .Salt Lake City, will ap
pear to the south of tho string. Fifty
miles to the north of it, near tho line
between Utah and Nevada, will appear
Osceola. Deep Creek lies north of Osce
ola and on the southern edge of the
great desert west of Salt lake. Detroit
and several other rich gold camps are
almost due east of Osceola. Pioche lies
100 miles south of the string, and the
wonderfully rich gold territory of the
Monkey Wrench district lies southwest
of Pioche.
Now, north and south of the string
will appear dotted on the map of Neva
da tho gold camps of Grant, Freiburg,
Reveille, Kawich Valley, San Antonio,
Gold Peak, Hot Springs, Belleville,
Candelara and numerous others. Al
most under the string, in Oaliforna, we
find Bodie, and to the north of it Mar
kleville and other points—all on the
eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada
mountains. On the western slope of the
great sierras the string wjll bo almost
on the Utica mine, which is located be
tween San Andreas and Sonora. North
and south of the Utica mine are hun
dreds of rich gold mines in profitable
operation.
The distance from Denver to Stock
ton is about 1,200 miles. On no portion
of the habitable globe is there a region
so continuously and enormously rich in
gold as the territory described, and yet,
notwithstanding this fact, the progress
ive Yankee has scarcely made a start in
opening and developing these riches,
which have been entombed for millions
of years, and which will remain so
eepulchered until we awaken to an ap
preciation of the fact that the states of
Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California
bear within their bosoms more wealth
than ever was dreamed of by Croesus.—
Forum.
DECAPITATION.
Life Said to lleninin Lonjx After the
Head Im Severed.
“The executions in Paris during re
cent years have revived the old question
whether death instantaneously follows
upon the severance of the head from
the body,” says the Massachusetts Med
ical Journal. “Dr. Cinel asserts that
decapitation dees not immediately affect
the brain. He says that the blood which
flows after decapitation comes from the
large vessels of the neck, and there is
hardly any call upon the circulation of
the cranium. The brain remains intact,
nourishing itself with the blood retained
by the pressure of the air.
“When the blood remaining in the
head at the moment of separation is ex
hausted, there commences a state, not
of death, but of inertia, which lasts up
to the moment when the organ, no
longer fed, ceases to exist. Dr. Cinel
estimates that the brain finds nourish
ment in the residuary blood for about
an hour after decapitation. The period
of inertia would last for about two
hours, he thinks, and absolute death
would not ensue till after the space of
throe hours altogether.
“If, he adds, a bodiless head indicates
by no movement the horrors of its situ
ation, it is because it is physically im
possible that it should do so, all the
nerves —which serve for the transmis
sion of orders from the brain to the trunk
being severed; but there remains the
nerves of hearing, of smell and sight,
and he concludes that the guillotine does
not cause instant death. If this be true,
could any other form of death be more
merciless?”
An Kliznhethnn Letter.
I have sent the a letle provision agen
this time, but I cold wish it were much
beter. Thcr is a goose pye, a netes
tounge pye, and a mutton pastie for
standers for thy table this Crismas, for
a node, I knowo they will last tell
twelftide, for they are now newe baked.
I have sent the a goose and ij capens
alive for feare they wold not last tell
ye holy daies if they had bin killed,
but I wish tho to kill them on Saterday
at ye furdest lest they growe worse.
* ♦ * I pretho doe so much as bestoe
for mo vjd or viijd in same cringes or
lemons or ij pouns siterns and sende
them downe nowe by Hale * * * and
so with my best wishes to the and Kitt
1 rest, Tnv Mother, S. D.
—“Antiquities and Curiosities of the
Exchequer. ’’
Aluminium n« Paper.
Experiments with aluminium as a
substitute for paper are now under way
in France. It is well known that the
paper used today in the manufacture of
books is not durable.
It is now possible to roll aluminium
into sheets four-thousandths of an inch
in thickness, in which form it weighs
less than paper. By the adoption of
suitable machinery these sheets can be
made even thinner still and can be used
for book and writing paper. The metal
will not oxidize, is practically fire and
water proof, and is indestructible by
Vie jaws of worms.
Bamboo grows very thriftily in Cali
fornia bottom lands, and is found to be
a very useful plant. The seed of many
species resembles rice, and is almost as
valuable for feed. The stock may be
used in the building of bridges, fences
and Lains and in the manufacture of
water pipes, furniture and boxes.
Christopher Columbus, who was an
admiral iu the Spanish navy at the
time be discover d America, was paid
at the rale of 8383 a year.
SURPRISED HER HUSBAND.
IVby the Young Wife Spent an After*
noon tn lliw Office.
Young Mrs. Smith, who lives down
on Prairie avenue, is very fond of her
husband and also very jealous of him.
Mr. Smith knows this and enjoys it im
mensely, Before the Smiths were mar
ried he used to know a Minneapolis girl
who visited his sister in Chicago Mrs.
Smith knew her very well too. The Min
neapolis girl camo down not long ago,
and Mrs. Smith called on her. A few
days before the Minneapolis girl went
back she called on Mrs. Smith, and
they had an enjoyable quarter of an
hour thinking things about one another
and talking about Mansfield.
When the Minneapolis girl rose to
go, she said sweetly, “Oh. by the way,
I want to see Charlie before I go back,
and I think 1 may just drop into his
office this afternoon. ”
“Oh, do; Charlie will be delighted,’
returned Mrs. Smith. The door had
hardly closed on the guest before Mrs.
Smith executed a sort of war dance.
She dressed as fast as she could, put on
her bonnet and announced her intention
of going down to Mr. Smith’s office.
Her grandmother remonstrated in vain.
Mrs. Smith is only’ 18. and she is jeal
ous.
“I thought I'd spend the afternoon
with yon, ” she announced to the aston
ished Charlie as she swept into the
office.
“But, my dear"— he began, when
Mrs. Smith ensconced herself at the
side of bis desk and intimated that the
most violent arguments would not
move her. She sat there all the after
noon. Tho Minneapolis girl enjoyed
herself shopping, and forgot to call in
to tell Charlie goodby. Mrs. Smith broke
down and confessed as soon as she got
home, and her foolish young husband
told her to go dow r n next day and buy
herself the prettiest hat she could find.
—Chicago Inter Ocean
JOHN HAY’S BIG APRON.
One of the Caoesi Where Dioliwanh*
intf Produced a Poet.
Colonel Hay was when a boy a regu
lar attendant of the Presbyterian Sun
day school at Warsaw, Ills.
The Sunday school lessons partly con
sisted of committing to memory Bible
verses, and to attain supremacy in thia
created quite a rivalry among the schol
ars. John Hay was sure to come out
ahead from two to five answers, some
times more, causing those of his com
rades who were always behind him to
regard him with enyy.
Consequently when some of those boys
heard that John had to wash dishes and
do the churning for his mother and,
more than all, that he wore an apron
while at these duties his jealous com
rades fairly crowed
One morning it was agreed by his
comrades to get him out of doors while
he had his apron on and humiliate him
by having two or three girls whom he
rather liked ask him questions in re
gard to his housework.
Young Hay came out to where the
boys were and answered the questions
by saying that he washed dishes as his
mother taught him, and then, with
twinkling eyes, he gave the dishpan
which he had with him a tremendous
fling, contents and all, drenching who
ever happened to be near enough, and,
laughing loudly, ran into the kitchen.
Hay and his big apron w’ere never mo
lested after that.—Christian Endeavor
World. -
A Klu.lng Nation.
In no other part of the world is kiss
ing so much in vogue as in Russia.
From time immemorial it has been the
national salute. Indeed it is more of a
greeting than a caress.
In public affairs, as in private, the
kiss is an established custom. Fathers
and sons kiss, old generals with rusty
mustaches kiss, whole regiments kiss.
The emperor kisses his officers. On a
reviewing day there are almost as many
kisses as shots exchanged. If a lillipu
tlan corps of cadets have earned the im
perial approval, the imperial salute is
bestowed upon the head boy, who passes
it on with a hearty report to his neigh
bor, he in his turn to the next, and so
on, through the whole juvenile body.
On a holiday or fete day the young
and delicate mistress of a house will
not only kiss all her maidservants, but
all her menservants, too, and if the
gentleman does not venture above her
hand she will stoop and kiss his cheek. ■,
To judge also from the number of
salutes the matrimonial bond in those
high circles must be one of uninterrupt
ed felicity. A gentleman scarcely enters
or leaves the room without kissing his
wife either on her forehead, cheek or
hand.
Heroes of the Pen.
The intensity of application with
which the mind follows whatever it
lays hold of in literary pursuits is ex
emplified in the case of Robert Ains
worth, a celebrated writer and anti
quarian of the seventeenth century. He
had been for years engaged in a volumi
nous Latin dictionary, and while fas
cinated with this heroic work gave so
little time and attention to his wife
that he incurred her bitterest jealousy,
and before the work was quite complete
she committed the whole to the flames.
Instead of abandoning himself to de
spair, Ainsworth set to work and re
wrote it, accomplishing the entire work
in time. The same bitter disappoint
ment was endured with similar heroism
by Carlyle when the nfanuscript of his
“Frederick the Great” was destroyed
by fire.
t netpeered.
The tramp had been very impertinent
and dictatorial until the hired man un
expectedly made his appearance and in
quired, “Are you lookin fur a scrap ’
His manner changed entirely, and at
once he answered, “Yes, sir, that s
what I’m lookin fur—a scrap o’cold
turkey er cold ham er anything that
happens to be handy. ’ —Washington
Star.
b, • ‘ sS- M
OLD hi ELING KI LES.
“MUCH USEFUL ADVICE’' FROM AN
ANCIENT BOOK.
If the Combe Innl Die* n* n llcinlt of
the Encounter, lie Im Told to Go Off
With im (hm>«l Grace uh Possible.
Irhlimen Not Good Seconds.
T<> Englishmen dueling is happily a
lost art. but thr<- • quarters of a century
»!'.» dueling was sufficiently in to
induce an anonymous writer to publish
a book “containing much useful infor
mation, " irm:. ally dedicated to Daniel
O’Connell. Esq . M I’. and Janies Silk
Buckingham. Esq.. M P., as “enter
taining the opinion first promulgated
by the immortal F.ilstaff of happy
memory that discretion is tho better
part of valor. "
The author advises “all my country
men who go abroad to use the pistol in
stead of the sword when they have the
choice of the weapon, as tho balance of
killed and wounded is now much in fa
vor of the Fri i wh >. upon the ter
ruination of t'e I;* w.r. unused them
selves by occasionally spitting some half
dozen of our traveling young fashion
ables before breakfast.” Ho recom
mends “Purdey, iu Oxford street, as
the maker of the best dueling pistol
locks,” care in the selection of a stock
which fits the hand comfortably and to
eschew “saw handles. ” Barrels should
be ten inches long and half rifled,
which, considering that throughout hie
volume ho poses as a man of the strict
est honor, is puzzling, for he admits
that a wholly rifled pistol is considered
an unfair weapon, therefore one not ap
pearing to be rifled should be substi
tuted.
On “the chances” he writes “Many
a poor, long armed, straggling fellow
has received the coup di (sic) coenr (or
fatal stroke) who might still have been
in existence had he known how to pro
tect his person in the field,” the neces
sary protection consisting in standing
sideways and drawing in the stomach.
“Should the party be hit” —presumably
because he could not draw in his stom
ach —“he must not feel alarmed. " Thia
seems difficult, as a man with a bullet
in his stomach can hardly be expected
not to display some little natural anxie
ty, for, as is admitted later, “a shot in
the digestive organs must bo particu
larly annoying to a bon vivant ” To
aidermen his advice is “tho old method
of fighting—the back to the adversary
and discharging over the shoulder. ’’
“The chances of a man’s being killed
are about 14 to 1, and of his being
hit about 6 to 1.” He arrives at
this conclusion by dividing a man’s
body, when opposed to his adversary,
into nine parts. Therefore he says, “As
in only’ three of these a wound would
prove mortal, the chances are 3 to
1 against his being killed, and 5 to
1 against his being hit —that is, how
ever,” he hastens to add, “provided his
antagonist has never read my work. If
he has, the case may be different!”
The combatant is told “not to allow
the idea of becoming a target to make
him uneasy, but to treat the matter
jocosely. ” He is to laugh away the
evening over a bottle of port, and play
a rubber of whist, but he must avoid
drinking to excess, or taking “any food
that tends to create bile, ” because “bil
ious objects are not seen either distinct
ly or correctly. ” This would rather be
a valid reason for getting as bilious as
possible. A man -with an attack of
jaundice should be invisible, and able
to blaze at his antagonist in perfect
safety. If he cannot sleep on retiring
to rest, he is to read Byron's “Childe
Harold. ” His servant is to call him at 5
and give Lira a strong cup of coffee.
Then he is to smoke a cigar, and “on
his way to the scene of action” he is to
take a brandy and soda, as a most
“grateful stimulant and corrective.”
No wonder our author recommends
him at this point to draw in his stom
ach. “If he dies, he is to go off with as
good grace as possible I” On the other
hand, if he hits his antagonist, he is to
take off his hat to him and express re
gret.
A challenge is not to lie in rhyme,
such as “a certain poetical, brandy lov
ing major general of marines” wrote
to a brother officer who ran off with his
wife.
Wound s on the fl cub » surgeon's wkill may
heal,
But wounded honor’s only cured with steeL
An Irishman is not to be chosen as
second, for nine out of ten have such an
innate love of fighting they cannot
bring an affair to an amicable adjust
ment, and the first duty of a second is
to prevent the affair coming to a seri
ous issue. Other advice is for the sec
ond to take care his principal is not in
convenienced by the sun, and to get his
antagonist with something dark behind
him, when it will be much more easy
to hit him.
As may be inferred, the author holds
by dueling, for “the man who falls
in a duel and the individual who is
killed by the overturn of a stagecoach
are both unfortunate victims to a prac
tice from which we derive great advan
tages It would lie absurd to prohibit
stage traveling because occasionally a
few lives are lost by an overturn, and
unless men endeavored to destroy each
other they might live to a patriarchal
age and multiply so rapidly that the
soil would soon be insufficient to sup
ply them with nourishment," with
which reductio ad absurdnm the vol
ume may well be put back on the shelf
—Navy and Army Illustrated.
A Double llrnded Bull.
On the occasion of a public reception
at Napier, Australia, the school chil
dren of the town, after being duly com
plimented by his excellency from Coun
ty Tyrone on the hearty manner in
which they had rendered the national
anthem, were solemnly assured that if
they put their shoulders to the wheel
they would be sure to reach the top of
the tree! Upon which a compatriot
turned to me and said, “Sure, it was
an axletree he r leant, bedad. ” —Spec
tator.
_ IMSTORM
—— I For Infants and Children.
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NEW YOHK. H ‘HI ‘J Swl.l W
LXACT copy OF WRAPPER. W • 0 (fill
■" • -- - THF rtNTS'IH < ", -f ’ ..TV.
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