Georgia Historic Newspapers

    gun cotton.
Peculiar Characteristic of This Ter
rible Explosive.
and CHi«i are the materials en
fL - Ianv modern
'into the manufacture of
fplosives. but perhaps elements the most of destruc- inter
>itie fn of ah these
well as the simplest is gun cot
I as manufacturing in*
Ttu? gun cotton
hstrv is large, as enormous quautities
Id fe used similar in the purposes. charging of torpedoes
for is pure raw
[The base of guu cotton
Ltton or even cotton waste, This such is steep- as is
bed to clean machinery.
j ln a solution of one part of nitric
ad three parts of sulphuric acid. It is
he former ingredient that renders the
explosive, the sulphuric acid be
nass absorb ail moisture.
-ic used merely to
Ihus permitting the nitric acid to corn
line more readily with the cellulose of
|he I cotton. soaked for several hours
l After beiDg the cotton
0 the solution described
]s passed between rollers to expel
*11 nonabsorbed acid, a process carried
lo completion by washing the cotton in
blear water. This washing process is a
long one. requiring machinery which
leduces the cotton Should to a mass nonab- resem¬
bling paper pulp. any
lorbed acid be allowed to remain it
vould decompose the cotton.
If the explosive is to be used after
|he ther manner pulverized of powder and then it is thoroughly still fur¬
Iried, but if Intended for torpedoes it
L pressed into cakes of various shapes
Ind Iquares sizes—disk shaped, cylindrical. Hat
and cubes. Wheu not com¬
pressed gun cotton is very light, as
pght as ordinary batting.
A peculiar characteristic of this ter¬
rible explosive is that a brick of it
wheu wet may be placed on a bed of
Jlie Lot coals, and as the moisture dries out
If cotton will flake and burn quietly.
dry originally, however, the gun cot
ion will explode with terrible force at
[bout general 320 degrees it is of the beat. custom to ex¬
I In
plode gun cotton by detonation or an
Intense shock instead of by heat. In a
torpedo the explosive charge is wet.
this Leans wet cotton being exploded by
of dry cotton in a tube, this
having been tired by a cap of futmi
hate of mercury, the cap itself having
been [gainst fired by the impact ot the torpedo
the target.—Harper’s Weekly.
UNDER THE OCEAN.
'hings That Happen at the Bottom
of the Sea.
Naturalists dispute as to the quantity
if light at the bottom of the sea. Ani
lals from below 700 fathoms either
lave no eyes or faint Indications of
them, or else their eyes are very large
ind protruding.
Another strange thing is that if the
features in the lower depths have any
:olor It is orange or red or reddish
irange. Sea anemones, corals, shrimps
and crabs have this brilliant color.
Sometimes it is pure red or scarlet,
and in many specimens it inclines to¬
ward purple. Not a green or blue fish
Is found.
The orange red is the fish’s protec
don, for the bluish green light in the
lottom of the ocean makes the orange
>r the red fish appear of a neutral tint
and hides it from its enemies. Many
animals are black, others neutral in
color. Some fish are provided with
boring tails, so that they can burrow
Id the mud.
The surface of the submarine moun
Xjdinary is covered with shells, like au or
seabeach, showing that it is the
easting place of vast shoals of cur
ivorous animals.
A codfish takes a whole oyster into
ts mouth, cracks the shell, digests the
eat and ejects the shell. Crabs crack
he shells and suck out the meat. This
ccounts for whole rnouuds of shells
hat are often found.
Not a fishbone is ever found that
s not honeycombed by the boring
hellflsh and falls to pieces at the
ouch of the hand. This shows what
estruction is constantly going on in
hese depths.
If a ship sinks at sea with all on
oard it will be eaten by fish, with the
xception of the metal, and that will
I orrode and disappear. Not a bone ot
human body will remain after a few
ays.—Philadelphia North American.
Had to Do It.
Champ Clark was showing a constit¬
uent about the capitol one day wbeD
he Invited attention to a solemn faced
Individual just entering a committee
loom.
"See that chap?” asked Clark. "He
teads every one of the speeches deliv¬
ered in the house.”
“Whatl” gasped the constituent
“Fact,” said Clark. “Reads every
vord of ’em too!”
"Who Is be?” queried the visitor, re¬
garding the phenomenon closely.
“A proofreader at the government
printing office,” explained Champ.—
Cincinnati Commercial Tribune.
An Easy Numismatist.
Mrs. Goodart—You seem to have
I some once education. Perhaps you were
I a professional man. Howard
Hasher—Lady, Pm a numismatist by
profession. Mrs. Goodart— A numisma¬
tist? Howard Hasher—Yes. lady; a
| collector of rare coins. Any old coin is
| r »re to me.—Philadelphia Press.
Advice and a Mule.
‘‘Givin’ some men advice.” said Un
icle Eben. “reminds me of tryin’ to dis
Icipline my ol - mule wif a fence rail.
|!|^ arer, tires but out de giver and hurts de re¬
don’t make no real dif
MPunee.”— Washington Star.
B^Swtt—Half » The Other Half.
the people Id the world
don’t know what the other half are
doing. Mott—No. That is because the
i§i^ Transcript. er ^alf are doing them.—Boston
A Reluctant Candidate.
During a local election in a German
town only one man appeared at the
nomination desk.
“Whom do you nominate?” inquired
the official.
“Myself." was the answer.
“Do you accept the nomination?”
“Well, no.”
The officer laughed and said:
“Then we must try agaic. Whom
do you nominate
“Myself.”
“You accept the nomination?”
“No."
A subdued “Donnerw enter!” escaped
the lips of the perplexed official, but
he went on:
“For the third time, whom do you
nominate?”
“Myself,” came the invariable reply
“Do you accept the nomination?"
The man rose up, and a smile of sat¬
isfaction spread over his face as he
answered proudly:
“Having been three times solicited
by my fellow citizens to accept the
nomination, I can rio longer decliue to
accede to their wishes.” He then re¬
tired.
• The Opal.
In judging an opal color is of the
greatest importance. Red fire or red
in combination with yellow, biue and
green is the best. Blue by itself
Is quite valueless, and the green opal
is not of great value unless the color
is very vivid and the pattern very
good. The color must be true—that is
to say, it must not run in streaks or
patches, alternating with a colorless
or inferior quality. Pattern is an im¬
portant factor, the several varieties
being known as “pin fire” wheu the
grain is very small, "harlequin” when
the color is in small squares, the more
regular the better, and the “flash tire.”
or “flash opal,” when the color shows
as a single flash or in very large pat¬
tern. Harlequin is the most common
and is also popularly considered the
most beautiful. Wheu the squares of
color are regular aud show as dis¬
tinct minute checks of red, yellow,
blue and green it is considered mag¬
nificent. Some stones show better on
edge than on top.—Exchange.
Kept Them Dancing.
A Washington official, speaking of
blunders in the diplomatic service, told
of a mistake committed by an Amer¬
ican in Afghanistan. He said:
“This American entertained the
shahzada for three days, giving him
a very handsome suit of rooms in his
house. The morning of the sbahza
da’s arrival the American host visited
him in his apartment and was amazed
to see the royal guest and his entire
staff hopping about the floor in the
oddest way. They conversed politely
and gravely; but, instead of walking,
they hopped, taking great leaps of
eight or nine feet. The host ventured
to ask the reason of this hopping.
The shahzada politely replied:
“ ‘You see, this carpet is green, with
pink roses here and there. Green is
a sacred color with us, so we are
obliged to hop from rose to rose. It is
good exercise, but rather fatiguing, 1
confess.’ ”
A Lively Office.
In his recollections in Blackwood’s
Magazine Sir Robert Anderson tells
an amusing story of the days when he
was employed at the home office. On
his arrival one morning at the office
he found a note from Sir Jatnes Fer
gusson’s private secretary—his inti¬
mates called him “Creeper”—announc¬
ing that at 3 o’clock precisely an old
hat, lately the property of the chief
clerk, would be kicked off from the end
of the corridor and requesting the fa¬
vor of Sir Robert’s presence. When Big
Ben struck 3, Sir Robert heard Creep¬
er’s cheery voice ring out, “All on
side; play!" They all turned out and
the game began. On emerging from
an unusually hot scrimmage Sir Rob¬
ert became conscious of the presence
of a stranger at his side, a timid little
Frenchman, -who meekly inquired, “is
ziss ze office for ze naturalization?”
Sir Robert adds. “It was!”
Why He Cried.
The sympathetic neighbor asked: “Is
your little brother ill this morning.
Johnnie? I heard him crying in the
most heartrending manner.”
“No; not exactly,” Johnnie explained,
“but Willie pulled down a jug of mo¬
lasses on himself in the pantry, and
mother has been trying to comb his
hair.”—Exchange.
Livingstone.
Of Dr. Livingstone it was said by
Stanley that the missionary lived for
years among the most cruel and ig¬
norant savages in the world, but he
never fired a shot in auger, never
“clubbed or clouted or banned or blast¬
ed.” His manner was that of a “cool,
wise old man who felt offended and
looked grave.”
Circumstances Reversed.
Unkempt Smith—Mister, would youse
kindly-help a poor man as is all In.
down and out? Jocular Citizen—Why,
certainly. Just climb the fire escape
on that skyscraper across the street
and walk in on the top floor. TbeD
yon will be all out, up and in.—Judge's
Library.
It’s Good Point.
“But,” asked the long haired young
I man. "Is there nothing at all about
| poetry that you like?”
“Yes,” replied Crabbe. “Whenever I
; see a poem it makes me feel good to
j realize that there’s no law to compel
me to read It”—Catholic Standard and
Times.
No grip is so hard to shake off as
: that of early convictions.—Maurice
i Thompson.
T H G T O
VERBAL MISHAPS.
Dfokens Once Made Two Bad Break*
the Same Evening.
Charles Dickens once wrote to a
friend: “I have distinguished myself
in two respects lately. I took a young
lady, unknown, down to dinner and
talked to her about the bishop of Dur¬
ham’s nepotism in the matter of Mr.
Cheese, l found she was Mrs. Cheese.
Later I expatiated to the member for
Marylebone, thinking him to be an
Irish member, on the contemptible
character of the Marylebone constit¬
uency and the Marylebone representa¬
tive.”
Two such mishaps In one evening
were enough to reduce the most bril¬
liant talker to the condition of the
three inside passengers of a London
bound coach who beguiled the tedium
of the journey from Southampton by
discussing the demerits of William
Cobbett until one of the party went so
far as to assert that the object of their
denunciation was a domestic tyrant,
given to beating his wife.
Much to his dismay the solitary wo¬
man passenger, who had hitherto sat
a silent listener, remarked:
“Pardon me, sir. A kinder husband
aud father never breathed. And 1
ought to know', for I am William Cob
bett’s wife.”
Mr. Giles of Virginia and Judge Du¬
val of Maryland, members of eongress
during Washington’s administration,
boarded at the house of a Mrs. Gib¬
bon, whose daughters were well on in
years and remarkable for talkative¬
ness.
When Jefferson became president
Duval was comptroller of the treasury
and Giles a senator. Meeting one day
in Washington, they fell to chatting
over old times, and the senator asked
the comptroller if he knew what had
become of “that cackling old maid.
Jenny Gibbon.”
“She is Mrs. Duval, sir,” was the
unexpected reply.
Giles did not attempt to mend mat¬
ters, as a certain Mr. TubervIIIe un¬
wisely did. Happening to observe to
a fellow' guest that the lady who had
sat at his right hand at dinner was the
ugliest w'oman he had ever beheld, the
person addressed expressed his regret
that he should think his wife so 111
looking.
“I have made a mistake,” said the
horrified Tuberville. “I meant the lady
who sat on my left.”
"Well, sir, she Is my sister.”
This brought the frank avowal, “It
can’t be helped, sir, then, for if what
you say be true I confess I never saw
such an ugly family In the course of
my life.”—Youth’s Companion.
A SMALL WORD.
It Has Only Two Letters, Yet It Is
Not Easy to Define.
To define one word in the English
language one modern dictionary takes
eighteen columns of small type. And
this solitary word upon w r hich the dic¬
tionary bestows such a wealth of elu¬
cidation is one that hardly anybody
except a dictionary maker can define
at all. The ordinary educated, Eng¬
lish speaking person’s knowledge of it
could be expressed In about half a sin¬
gle line.
This fecund word is “of.” If you
were asked to define it—unless you
are a dictionary maker or of au allied
trade—probably you would have to re¬
ply: “Of? Why, of just means of.”
You might add defensively, “I always
comprehend perfectly what it means
wlien I see or hear it and can use it
correctly in speech, so what do I want
to define it for anyway?”
But if you were a child your actual
mastery of "of” would stand you In
no stead whatever. You would be set
to digging out and memorizing the
things the dictionary had to say about
it, or the driest aud least Informing
of them, as, for instance, that in some
cases it is such a kind of preposition
and in other cases some other kind
and that prepositions have such and
such properties when they don’t have
some other, every bit of which you
would absolutely and mercifully forget
at the first possible moment. Look
over a child’s grammar or “language”
lesson, with its ghastly array of use¬
less bones.—Saturday Evening Post.
Persian Prayer Rugs.
About 200 years ago small embroid
ered rugs were largely made in Per¬
sia, chiefly at Ispahan. These were
prayer rugs, and on each of them near
one end was a small embroidered
mark to show where the bit of sacred
earth from Mecca was to be placed.
In obedience to a law of the Koran,
that the head must be bowed to the
ground in prayer, this was touched
by the forehead when the prostration
was made, and so the letter of the
law was carried out. The custom still
prevails. The Persian women who
weave the finest prayer rugs seldom
weave any other kind of rug.
What Ho Wished to Know.
“Here’s an article in this magazine
entitled ‘How to Meet TYouble,’ ” said
Mrs. Wedderly. “Shall I read it to
you?”
“No, thank you,” replied his wife’s
husband. “How to dodge trouble is
the brand of information I’m looking
for.”—Chicago News.
No Consolation.
First Golfer (who is beating the cu¬
rate all hollow)—Never mind, Sanders.
You wait till you are saying the bur¬
ial service over my grave. Sanders—
But my good mau, even then It will
be your hole!—London Opinion.
Domestic Bliss.
“Does your husband ever speak
harshly to you?”
"No. Thank heaven, my husband
and I are not on speaking terms.’*—
Chicago Record-Herald.
Temples of Siam.
Once a year ail the Buddhist temples
In Slam are visited by the king or his
deputies, bearing the phra kathiu (yel
low' robes), in conformity with an an
cient custom by which the priests were
made to seek their apparel for the en¬
suing year. During the lifetime of
Buddha monks and priests were sent
out to beg for old castoff garments,
which wore afterward dyed yellow and
patched together to form the required
robes. This ancient mendicant cus¬
tom gradually gave place to the pres¬
ent one of making the garments from
ii new cloth of a bright canary yellow,
provided by joint contributions of
king, princes, nobles and commoners.
When the king goes in the royal throne
barge to present the robes in person
he does so with great pomp and cere¬
mony. The priestly garments, folded
iu bundles, are carried to the door of j
the temple to await the appearance of
his majesty and his suit. The king
on arriving takes a priestly robe aud
places it on a decorated altar. The
chief priest then lays his hands on the
garment and chants an acknowledg¬
ment.—Wide World Magazine.
Won by His Wit.
A story is told of an English clergy¬
man who owed ids appointment to a
rich living to a lucky pun. He was
tutor to the son of a nobleman and
had not long taken orders when he
attended the funeral of the rector of
the parish In which the nobleman's
seat was situated. The father of his
pupil was patron of the living and
was also present at the funeral of
the deceased rector. There was a
young clergyman present also whose
grief was so demonstrative that the
noble patron was much affected by the
sight and asked if the young man was
a son of the deceased gentleman.
“Oh, dear, no, my lord—no relation
at all,” said the tutor.
“No relation!” exclaimed the noble¬
man In a surprised tone.
“None, my lord. He is the curate,
and 1 think he is not weeping for the
dead, but for the living.”
Ills lordship, who was something of
a wit and a cynic himself, was so de¬
lighted with the boumot that he con¬
ferred the living upon the ready pun¬
ster.
A Risky Study.
“Why have you dropped your popu¬
lar astronomy?” asked the visitor.
“ ’Cause I got too many lickings,”
confided Tommy. “The other night I
told pa that Mars’ face was ever
changing, and ma heard me and
thought I meant her face. Next thing
I didn’t get any supper and got a lick¬
ing besides.”—Chicago News.
Ministers Aboard Ship.
A minister aboard ship lias always
been taken as a “Jonah sign” by sea¬
men. In recent years, however, this
superstition has been modified to a cer¬
tain extent. A young minister, the
seamen believe, will not bring as much
of a "Jonah” with him as an old one
Mi
We Have Only Four Coat Suits Left
Size Originally Now
36 $15.00 $ 8.25
34 18.00 11.83
34 15.00 8.25
32 20.00 13.75
QilL Olll i i Dom ndlll On UU oto dlo
Size Originally Now
36 SI 5.00 $11.00
34 15.00 9.90
1 LS r irlioo’ IQIgo liUdl Pnot 0 p
Size Originally Now
2-36 S15.00 $8.80
2-34-32 10.00 6.60
Watch Our Window For New Things.
THE STORE OF GOOD VALUES.
T. C. SWANN CO
Covington, Georgia
lit!
THE WRECK MASTER.
He Does Some Tall Hustling When
the Line Is Blocked.
When a wreck blocks the line the
wreck master is the biggest man on
the railroad. Even the president, if
by unhappy chance lie happens to be
there, steps aside and keeps silent aft¬
er the wreck train halts with a jerk
of grinding brakes and hissing air be¬
fore the indescribable confusion of
shattered wood and twisted steel
which clutter the tracks. The wreck
master’s feet are on the ground before
the shrieking wheels have ceased turn¬
ing. There follow at his heels a half
score of men, all experts, but of less
degree than tlielr leader.
lie shouts an order that seems as
unintelligible ns a drillmaster’s com¬
mand, then another anil another.
There Is Instant action. At one end
of the train a locomotive begins to
creep cautiously away with the coach¬
es that have stayed on the rails. An
express car up toward the forward end
of the passenger train is tilted trem¬
blingly on Its trucks. It Is loaded with
hales of silk perhaps or with other
costly merchandise. The wreckers do
not stop to Inquire. To them It Is
simply an obstruction that has to be
removed Immediately. There is a
heaving chorus, and It plunges down
the embankment. A hundred yards
away a loaded freight car In the op¬
posite train is hanging over the edge.
Fifty crowbars give it a tip that sends
It down to the foot of the hill. As it
lands there Is a crash of discordant,
tortured strings, an Inharmonious out¬
burst ns though half a hundred cats
hnd landed simultaneously on half
a hundred keyboards. “Pianos,” re¬
marks one of the panting workmen to
another standing at his shoulder. They
do not pause even to grin. An instant
later they are heaving away at some¬
thing else.—Thaddeus a. Dayton in
Ilurper’s Weekly.
Corrupted His Style.
“The late Richard Watson Glider,”
said a New York poet, “alwnys op¬
posed the reading of light literature.
A poet, he said, could not rend such
literature without corrupting ills liter
ary style.
‘‘He once told me that the poet In
this respect was like Brown’s parrot.
“Brown bought a parrot for $20
from n pet stock dealer and a week or
two later ^returned to the shop and In¬
sisted that the bird be taken back.
“‘Wlmt’s the matter with it?’ the
dealer asked.
“ ‘W-w-why,’ said Brown, 'the darn¬
ed c-c-crltter st-stutters.’ ”
Expert Opinion.
“What do you think made Hamlet
so suspicious of the ghost?” asked Mr.
Stormlngton Barnes.
“He probably thought,” answered
the psychic researcher, “that no well
regulated ghost would manifest him¬
self without ringing bells or tipping
tables.”—Wnsliington Star.
Through a Big Telescope.
The first look through a great tele¬
scope Is disap]H>inting, but the uovlce
8oons sees that the flat appearance
which the heavens present to the
naked eye is replaced by a curious con¬
cavity; Hie moon and stars seem to be
hung in space rather than spread out
on a fiat surface. For a moment one
feels at the teleacope like a child
watching the swift moving balls kept
in the air by a juggler and expecting
to see one of those great, bright bodies
fall. Then comes the thought, What
keeps them tiiere, apparently suspend¬
ed In space with absolutely nothing to
hold them firm? The explanation of
the learned astronomer causes the
brain of the layman to whirl, and he
sees himself, perhaps for the first
time, as a child gathering pebbles on
the great shores of the sea of knowl¬
edge or as “an lufant in the night, an
infant crying for the light, and with no
language but a cry.”—National Maga¬
zine.
The New Hen.
Of the late Atherton Blight, one of
the founders of fuHhlonnble Newport,
a Philadelphian said:
“Mr. Blight was amused by the an¬
tics of the militant suffragettes. At a
luncheon at the Bellevue he once sat
next to a lady with suffragette no¬
tions. Plovers’ eggs, hard boiled,
formed one course, and the lady called
Mr. Blight’s attention to the high cost
of plovers’ eggs that year.
“ ‘Even though,’ she said, ‘they have
to be shipp'd from England, 1 don’t
see why tlielr price should have nearly
doubled, do you?’
“ ‘Well—er—not exactly,’ murmured
Mr. Blight, ‘though they do say the
hen plovers have taken to acting very
oddly of late strutting around, and
growing topknots and spurs, and even
trying to learn to crow.’ ’’—Exchange.
Court Dress of Laureate.
Tennyson’s court dress when he re¬
ceived the laureateshlp did not cost
him much, for It was the same court
dress worn by Wordsworth, who In
turn hnd It from the old poet Rogers,
and It Is still In the Wordsworth fam¬
ily. It Is a wonder how Tennyson and
Wordsworth got Into It, for Rogers was
a little follow. Tennyson had no pas¬
sion for courts, aud so be went In sec¬
ond hand to save cost.— New York
Press.
Hot Air Rates.
Benham—I wish you wouldn’t use
the telephone so much for out of town
calls.
Mrs. Beuhatn—I like to talk to moth¬
er.
Benham—That’s what I object to:
I’m tired of paying gas bills.—New
York Press.
“There are ouly two points in suc¬
cess.”
“Wbat are they?”
“Work and keep other people from
working you.”