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. POOR LITTLE ME.
ilere 1 sit upon the step.
No one here to play with me;
‘Boys can’t bother with a girl,
So nonz of ’em would stay with me.
Poor little me!?
Johnny, he won't run with me—
Says my legs ain’t long enough.
Freddie he won’t fight with me—
Tells me I ain’t strong enough.
Poor little me!
1
Tom won’'t even speak to me, |
‘Cause I don’t wear TOUSErS, |
What's the use 0’ coming out? ‘
Might as well-stay in the house.
Poor little me! ]
—lrma M. Ueixotto in Good House
keeping.
WHAT “HORSE POWER” IS.
What is the relative amount of
work that a man can do in compari
son with a horse or machinery? At
fis very best the strongest man
stands in pretty poor comparisqQn,
even with a horse, for hard, contin
wous labor. He might perform for &
few minu‘es one-half horse power of
work, but to keep this up for any
gr2at length of time would be impos
sible.
Thus the gain in forcing horses to
do a part of the world’s work was
enormous. One horse could exhaust
a dozen men in a single day, and still
be ready for the next day’s work.
The measurement of a fnorse’s pow
er for work was first ascertained by
Waft, the father of the modern steam
engine, and he expressed this in
terms that hold today. He experi
mented with a great number of heavy
brewery horses to satisfy himself that
his unit of measurement for work was
correct. After many trials he ascer
tained that the average brewery
horse was doing work equal to that
requirad to raise 330 pounds of weight
one hindred feet high in one minute,
or thirty-three thousand pounds one
foot in one minute. So he called this
one-horseo pPOWEer.
This werk, however, i not contin
uous, for the ‘aorze would have to
back up aftier each pull to lower the
line of the pulley, and thus he wouud
work four henrs a day in pulling 330
pounds in the air at tho rate of one
hundred feet a minute, and four
hours in slacking up .ae rope. Con
sequently no horse can actually pe
form continuously what is generally
called one-horse power. The horse
was never born that couid tug at a
rope for eight hours a day, pulling 330
pounds one hundred feet exch minute,
without a rest or change. Conse
quently, when we speak of horse
power, we refer only to the average
work a horse can do in one minute,
that is to say, the rate at which he
can work.
A strong man might pul. half that
weight one hundred feet in the air in
two minutes, but he couid not repeat
the operation many times without be
ing exhausted.
For all needful purpcses the expres
sion of one-horse power is accurate
enough, and practically shows the
measurement of an average horse’s
abilities for working. As a rule a
strong man can in eight hours work
at the rate of about one-tenth of one-
Issrse power; that is, it would require
ten men to pull 330 pounds one hun
dred feet in the air in a minute, and
then slack up and repeat the opera
tion throughout the eight hours of a
working day. The world's gain in
labor when horses were first employ
ed to help man in his work was then
tenfold.—George Ethelbert Walsh, in
Bt. Nicholas.
A BOY’'S SHREWD GUESS.
A Mcnroe County boy was discover
ed by the owner of an orchard in the
act stealing apples. The boy hap. ‘
pened to see the owner in time to
make a getaway. “Here, boy,” called |
the owner to the boy, who was hitting
the gravel down the pike, “come back 1
and you can have all the apples you i
can eat and all you can carry away.”
Instead of going back, however, the|
boy kept right on going. Meeting an--
other man in the road, who had heard
the owner of the orchard call, the man
asked him why he did not go back.
“Well,” said the boy, “I did think for
a minute I would g 0 back, and then T
looked again and saw that the fellow
had one hand behind his back, and it
sort o’ fleshed through my mind that
mebbe he wuz a liar.”—Kansas City
Journal.
A SHARP VOICE.
The distif®zuished William Pitt Fes
senden, having been urged to sing at
a party, excused himself as follows.
He said thaf. in his boyhood days he
attended a singing school, and thought
that he was making fing progress, The
school was: to+ have ‘a. public exhibi
tion, and he went into the attic of his
father’s house one Sunday to prepare
for it. The old gentleman, after
hearing him practice for a few min
utes, called out, “Pitt, stop that noise
immediately. People are going by to
meeting, and what win they think to
hear you up in the garret sawing
boards on Sunday?”
THE MOON AND THE WEATHER.
~ The moon is the most powerful
‘agent in producing the tides on the
earth: it also produces some slight
lvariaxtions in the earth’s magnetism.
So far as science has been able to in
vestigate, there is absolutely no
change in the weather which can be
attributed to the moon, although half
or more of mankind seem to believe
that the mcon does ‘have some con
trol over the weather. All such be
liefs, including the ‘eme for planting
gardens and for going fishing, are
mere superstitions—the survivals of
an age of ignorance.—St. Nicholas.
AMERICAN GOLD COINS. !
The First $lO Piece Dates From 1795
and $2O Frem 1849.
Some people entertain the notion
that the American Government began
the coinage of gold and silver cur
rency in 1776; but this is a mistake,
for at that time and for some years
after the currency «X this country
consisted entirely of scrip. The first
copper pennies wer2 coined in 1793,
the first silver in 1794, and in the
year following the first gold coins
(810 pieces) were struck by the Amer
ican Government. Today these gold
coins are exceedingly rare and worth
their face value several tlmes over.
They are of exactly the same size as
a modern silver half dollar, and on
first glance one is tempted to believe
that they contain more gold than the
mdoern $lO gold coins, but a careful
comparison of the two reveals the
fact that there is no difference as to
weight. The difference lies in the
fact that the modern $lO gold piece
is very thick, whereas the first coins
minted in 1795 are exceedingly thin.
The latter bears on its face a Dusi
of the Goddess of Liberiy, altogether
unlike the lady which one encounters
on modern American coins. She is
big and fat and snub-nosed, and her
Phrygian cap is of such size and
shape and worn in such a peculiar
manner that she looks more like a fat
Duteh frau, wearing a sunbonnet,
than she does like the presiding gen
ing of a great Nation. Over the head
of the portly divinity are the thirteen
stars representing the States of tue
infant republic.
On the back of this coin there is
what purports to be an eagle, holding
in itgs talons an olive branch and in
' its beak a wreath of laurel. That 18
| all. The eagle was so atrocious, how
tever, and looked so much more like
'a buzzard or a fly-up-the-creek than it
did like the monarch of the air, that
in 1797 a new issue of gold $lO pieces
was struek, bearing the same obese
Goddess of Liberty on the face, but a
genuine eagle on the back. The lat
ter is the familiar “spread eagle” of
our Government seals and stamps,
‘earing upon its breast the shield,
with the Stars and Stripes; in its left
claw a sheaf of arrows, and in the
right a laurel wreath.
One can readily imagine wnat an
cagle must have been pretty bad for
the people of 1795 (who wore powder
ed wigs and took snuff) to have found
fault with it, and so it was; but wanen
-our forefathers improved in this mat
ter they did very well indeed, and the
spread eagle of 1797, with outstretch
ed wings and bearing in its bill the
E Pluribus Unum scroll, which result
ed from their efforts, has endured
from that day to this.
In the 1797 $lO piece the thirteen
stars were changed from the face to
the back, where they have ever since
remained. It was not, however, until
the year 1866 that the motto of ‘ln
God We Trust” was placed above the
cagle, and beneath the thirteen stars,
upon the American gold and silver
coins. ; .
. Until 1849, when gold ‘was discover
‘ed in California, the United States
Government_eoined no gold pieces
ihigher than $10; but aleag toward
the latter part of 1849 one $2O gold
piece was struck by way of experi
ment. Only this single $2O gold piece
was at that time struck, and it is to
day the only 1849 double eagle in the
world, It reposes in the mint at Phil
adelphia,gand although collectors have
offered large sums for it, the Govern
ment has refused to part with it. In
the year following, 1850, the Govern
rent turned out a large number of
double eagles, which it has kept up
ever since. The handsomest of the
gold coins issued by the American
Government is unodoubtedly the §3
gold token issued during the period
from 1854 to 1889. This is the coin
which bears on its face the bust of
an Indian princess, which, despite the
fact that it is artistically perfect, is
ethnologically incorrect, for the rea
son that the princess wears a head
dress of ostrich plumes, a bird indig
enous to South Africa, and with which
the aborigines were not at all famil
iar.—Washington Post.
The Artificial Diamond,
The reward of the inventor who can
produce artificial diamonds is 80
tempting that the Moisson experi
ments with the electric furnace, which
were inaugurated some ‘¢ight or ten
years ago, have been continued until
the present day. They are now being
carried on in the laboratory of the
Sorbonne, in Paris, with ever-increas
ing success. The first diamonds made
by the electric furnace were of micro
scopic size and few in number. In
fact, they were so minute and uncom
mon that it tcok a great deal of re
peated experimenting to secure enough
specimens to demonstrate beyond a
doubt that the brilliant crystals were
actually diamonds. As the work con
tinued various modifications were
worked out, as the experience of the
investigators became greater, until
now success seems imminent. The
crystals are positively known to par
take of all the characteristics of the
diamond in crystalline structure, hard
ness and chemical composition, as
demonstrated by combustion experi
ments. The largest crystal yet ob
tained is only one-half a millimetre in
length, and while this is only a spark,
it indicates that the process is ca
pable of yielding diamonds of good
quality, and that some day in the not
distant future the laboratory processes
of Mother Nature, as exemplified in
The Rand, may be duplicated in
man’s laboratory and in a commercial
way
Strangely enough, a woman is sel
dom grateful to you when you try to
help her make up h2r mind, the Som
erville Journal comments,
At Schonbrunn, the Austrian Em
peror’s palace, is the finest collection
of orchids in the world, numbering
18,000 plants.
Things Japanese,
Ten years ago Japan exported $650
worth of cotton crepe to the United
States, but now ths zgure is $30,008
yearly. Japan’'s total export of crepe
is worth $235,000 yearly. - -
Japanese silk has a fine future in
Mexico, if the Japanese exporters are
more scrupulous as to the quality of
the silks they send there. L
Demand in China for Japanese can
vas shoes, fans, china and antimony
are increasing since the present Far
East war began. '
In August, 1904, Japan exported $l,-
600,000 worth -of manufactured silk
tissues, against $1,100,000 worth in
August, 1903, an increase of $500,000.
There was also an increase of $70,000
in the exportation of silk handker
chiefs. Japan’s total exports in Aug
ust, 1904, were of the value of $l4,
878,000, against $15,547,000 in August,
1903. Such a sma!l decrease, $600,000,
in time of war is surprising. The fal
ling off was in raw silk exported. Tea
figures for $1,000,000, raw silk for $4,
500,000, cotton yarns for $1,850,000,
cotton yarns for $1,850,000, copper. for
$541,000. :
Japan’s imports in August, 1:&4,
amounted to $14,221,000, against $15,-
731,000 in August, 1903, a decrease of
only $1,510,000, This is another sur
prising result for war times. The de
crease was mainly a raw cotton, §l,-
900,000, against $2,900,000, a falling off
of $1,000,000. Sugar also decreased
$850,000, while wool increased $35v,-
000, and ketosene oil $800,0.. Rice
figures for $2,350,000 total import.
Japanese Formcsa did an export
business of $BOO,OOO and an import
business of $380,000 in August, 1904,
leaving a balance of $420,000 in favor
of the island. ;
Japanese progress iy shown in the
fact that the receipts from her State
forests for timber, firewood, bamboo
and other produce rose from $129,000
in 1880 to $1,204,000 in 1903, an in
crease of $1,075,000. -
Women Compositors. !
" Women compositors have 8o in
creased in Edinburgh that in some of
the large establishments they form
from 90 per cent. of the foree em
ployed. They do not belong. to the
union, but the union allows its mem
bers to work with them. i
et e e et e it : ‘_‘
Many Leapyears. :
The greatest possible number of
leap years will occur in the twentieth
century, the year 1904 being the first
one, and every fourth year following
up to and inecluding 2000. In the same
century I'ebruary three times will
have five Sundays—in 1920, 1948 and
1976.
The Diamond Output.
Liouis Tas, one of the best known
diamond brokers, estimates the out
put of the De B:-ers mines annually
at $10,000,000, and of other mines at
$4,500,000, Add to this the cost of
labor, the profits of the syndicates,
etc.,, and he thinks that the annual
output of diamonds is worth about
$35,000,000.
Dampening Roads,
A writer in an English automobile
paper claims that roads could be kept
permanently damp by the 'appliéation
of strong solutions of calcium chlo
ride or magnesium chloride, and that
this would be cheaper than oils and
without their objectionable ordors.
Artificial Indigo.
Owing to the use of artificial indigo,
manufactured in Germany, the produc
tion of natural indigo has greatly di
minished in East India. The Ilatter
country last year exported only 65,000
fhundredweight of this article, against
170,000 hundredweight in 1897,
The Telecryptograph.
An apparatus called the telecrypto
graph, which telegraphs and records
in print messages over ordinary tele
phone lines, without interfering with
the telephone, is said to have been
invented by Signor Melcotti, an Ital
fan electrician, !
