Newspaper Page Text
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES.
Adventure with a Porcupine.
We passed the night on the Witten-
Worklns ror starvation Watos-stamy ! bur S> sleeping on the moss, between two
shir stage Life. decayed logs, with balsam boughs thrust
Under the supervision of Albert Ellery i - nto ®*° 8Tound and meeting and form-
Berg, the dmuado critic, a series of in- I * n S a canopy over us. In coming off the
teresting investigations have been made ’ mounta in in the morning wo ran upon a
this summer of the condition of the mem-' bu S° porcupine, and I learned for the
bers of the tlieatrical profession. The re- 1 " ret tbo tail of a porcupine
suits of the work are extremely disap- w,t “ a spring like a trap. It seems
pointing to ail lovers of the stage. It i to ., ® set lock, and you no sooner touch
appeal s that during at least three months i WI “} the weight of a - hair one of the
of eacl i year three-fourths of tbeprofes i quilfathan tho tail leaps up in the most
sion aro either idle or gaining a bare sub- j Bur P ns ' n S nianner, and the laugh fa not
sistenco in other industries, and that the ' ° n 3 rour ®’de. The beast cantered along
other fourth find employment in such I tho path inmy front, and-1 threw my-
liuge spectacles as “Nero’ ’ in Staten Island
and “The Fall of Babylon” in Cincinnati;
in “summer snaps” and in tho numer
ous low concert hails, dime museums and
music gardens of tho larger cities.
All of these classes were carefully in-
vestigatdll by Mr. Berg and his col
leagues. Nearly every case presented
the most pitiable features. A majority
of the profession lived with, or rather
upon, parents, relatives and friends.
But few were content with’ tho enforced
idleness, and tried to make n livelihood
during the dull season. Among the vo
cations temporarily pursued were wait
ing in restaurants and saloons, bartend
ing, horse car driving and conductoring,
“running privileges” at excursions, pic
nic groves, baseball grounds and country
fairs, button covering, making ladies’
underwear, “sweat tailoring,” barber
- business, nows stands, canvassing, em
broidering, laundering, dressmaking and
housekeeping. Hardly ono of these paid
more than enough to keep body and soul
together. In ono caso three actresses
rooming together in a single largo apart
ment supported themselves by making
pett icoats and chemises. Working twelve
hours a day, the three combined mado
only §11 a week. Their room r>*>- • was
$5 per week, and tho remainder. had '
to supply food, needles, thread, car . res
and medicine.
A number who support themselves by
“sweat tailoring” during the summer
made a slightly better report, earning on
an average $3 a week. Waiter girls in
both restaurants and saloons d<> I jotter,
receiving from $3 to $5 as wages ne
at least us much moro in tho form
tills.
Those who obtain employment ir
dramatic work make a very bad showing,
Of those employed in “Nero” nt Staten
. Island and "The Fall of Babylon” in Cin
cinnati, four-fifths liqvo lmd more or less
experience upon the boards. A few have
held prominent places; these includo
women who have been unsuccessful stars,
leading ladies in very bard luck,and young
actresses who have neglected or failed to
save any moniy during tho season, and
who aro too proud to beg or borrow and
too moral to use other means to obtain
an income. Tho great majority are chorus
girls, members of tho ballet and women
of ono year’s dramatic experience. Tho
general salary paid is $3 a week. Tho
average, $3.75.
Of thoso who go out on what they term
a “summer snap,” but fow do well
enough to pay for board and transporta
tion, mucli less have a clear profit. To
this class “walking railroad ties” fa no
figure of speech, but a horriblo reality.
Of thirty companies which left New York
in July twenty-eight, numbering over
400 souls, were stranded on tho road
penniless, and begged or borrowed their
faro homo or were sent thoro by the
generosity of kindly strangers. Tho
fow concerns that succeed (if success
•can bo applied to their efforts) aro those
which play “commonwealth" (i. e., aro
co-operative in character) and mako
some town their headquarters where
country board is cheap and where no
legitimate companies over come. By
playing n night in this village and that,
by “assisting - 'churches, lodges and other
societies in benefits, they manage to pay
their board and washing bills and get
home in time for thu regular season.
Perhaps tho liardest lot of all is of
those who play during tho summer in
concert halls and dime museums. Hardly
a watering place exists upon tho conti
nent but what has its “freo and oasies,”
e “open air theatres” nnd freo variety
shows. Here tho romance and- pictur
esqueness of stage life disappear nnd ull
the brutalizing features arc multiplied
and magnified. The performer is an
adjunct to the bar; his or her art a spir
itual freo lunch to tho drinker. In nearly
every ease they aro expected to drink
with patrons, to lie introduced to nny one
who knows the proprietor or bartender,
and to listen in silenco to tho reeking
vulgarity wbicli alcohol pours from
human lips. The jiny in these places
ranges from #5 to $13 per week, mid (ho
performance runs from noon to mid
night. Tho placo being "open nir,” tho
strain upon the voice fa far greater
than in closod buildings, and finally
produces that huskiness or painful fal
setto so familiar to patrons of the circus.
If tho dime museums are better than tlio
open air concerns so faV as the behavior
of the audience and tho work of tho vocal
organs aro concerned, they uro more de
structive to tho health of the performer.
Tho performances aro usually given each
hour from 11 a. m. to 11 p. m. Tho
halls aro close, poorly ventilated, hot und
dirty; tho dressing rooms vile, and the
■ Conveniences for tho actors nil. Tho
wages paid aro tho samo as thoso in tho
open air temples'of amusement.
Mr. Berg shows that tho mutual help
fulness and generosity which so charac
terize tho dramatic profession fa an or
ganic necessity, and that without it,
under tho circumstances above detailed,
hundreds, if no: more, of actors and ac
tresses would be starved every summer
or forced into the almshouse. Even ns
it fa, their condition during never less
than one quarter of tho year verges upon
pauperism. Mr. Berg's investigations
will destroy the last vestige cf the uace
. popular belief tlJlt mi actor’s life is a
happy one.—New York Cor. Globe-Dem
ocrat.
self upon him, shielded by my roll of
blankets. Ho submitted quietly to tho
indignity, and lay very still under my
blankets, with his broad tail pressed close
to the ground. This I proceeded to in
vestigate, but had not fairly made a be
ginning when it went off likoa trap, and
my hand and wrist wero full of quills.
This caused mo to let up on tho creature,
when it lumbered away till it tumbled
down a precipice.
Tho quills wero quickly removed from
my hand, and we gavo chase. When
wo camo up to him he had wedged him
self in between tho rocks so that lio pre
sented only a back bristling with quills,
with the tail lying in ambush below. He
had chosen his position well, and seemed
to defy us. After amusing ourselves by
repeatedly springing his tail and receiv
ing tho quilfa in a rotten stick, wo made
a slip noose out of a spruce root, and
after much maneuvering got it over his
head and led him forth. In what a
peevish, injured tone the creature did
complain of our unfair tactical Ho pro
tested and protested, nnd whimpered and
scolded liko somo infirm old man tor
mented by boys. His gamo after we led
him forth was to keep himself as much
as possible in tho shape of a ball, but
with two sticks and tho cord wo finally
threw him over on his back and exposed
his quilless and vulnerable under side,
when lie fairly surrendered and st-emed
to say, "Now you may do with mo ns
you like.” His great chisel like teeth,
whicli aro quite as formidable as those of
* ho woodchuck, ho does not appear to use
at all in his defense, but relies entirely
upon iiis quills, and when thoso fail
him lie is done for.—John Burroughs in
Tho Century.
ltow Thread Is Numbered.
Everybody knows tho sizes of thread.
Every seamstress knows whether she
wants No. 30 or 00 or 120, nnd knows,
when she hears the number, about what
fa the size of tho strand referred to; ia t
how tho numbers happen to lie what they
nre, nnd just what they mean, not one
person in a thousand knows. And yet it
is a simple matter to explain, was the in
formation accorded to a reporter by an
employoof ono of tho largest spool cotton
manufactories in the United States.
When 840 yards of yarn weigh 7,000
grains, a pound of cotton, the yarn is
No. 1. If 1,080 yards weigh a pound, it
will bo No. 2 yarn. For No. 30 yarn it
would tako 50 multiplied by 840 yards to
weigli a pound. This is the whole of tho
yarn measurement. The early manu
factured thread *'ns three cord, and tho
thread too!; its number from tho number
of tbo yarn from whicli it was made.
No. 00 yarn mado No. 00 thread, though
in ]joint of fact tho actual caliber of No.
00 thread would equal No. 20 yarn, lining
threo 00 strands.
When the sewing machine camo into
tho market as tho great consumer, un
reasoning in its work and inexorable in
its demands for mechanical accuracy,
six cord cotton had to bo mado as a
smoother product. As thread numbers
wero already established, they were not
altered for tho new article, and No. 00
six cord nnd No. 00 tlireo cord aro iden
tical in size ns well as in number. To
affect this tho six cord lias to lie mado of
yam twice ns firm as that demanded by
the three coni. The No. 00 six cord
would lie six strands of No. 120 yarn.
Three cord pjxiol cotton fa the same num
ber ns the yarn it is made of. Six cord
spool cotton is mnde of yarn that is
double its number. As simple a thing
as thread is there aro 2,000 different
kinds made.—New York Mail.
.Coal la Ancient Times.
Pliny, in liis natural history, describes
anthracites found in Africn as a black
schistose useful in medicine, hut no men
tion is made of its inflammability. Jet
was called black amber—succinium
nigrum. When Roman traders told of
thu burning of amber for fuel by tho
natives on tho shores of tho Black sea, it
is supposed the material was a variety of
lignite, and not amber as reported.
Coal was probably used in China as
fuel long before it was known in tho
western world. About tho middlo of tho
Thirteenth century a Venetian traveler
and writer, Marcus Paulus Venetus, gives
tho following account:
‘Through tho whole province of
Cathay, black stones aro dug out of tlio
mountains, which being put in tlio llro
bum liko wood, and when kindled con
tinue to bum for a long time. * * *
If lighted in tbo evening they keep alive
the wiiolo night.”
Tbo ancibift Britons mado use of coal
a certain extent Stone hammers
have been found ins coal croppings, and
tho name—formerly “colo”—is of British
origin. After tlio conquest tlic Romans
began to uso it, for coal cinders lrnvo
been found in Roman walls, and Roman
coins in beds of cinders. But coal was
not brought into general use until the
reign of Charles I. in 1035. * • "
ropular Froverhi and Sayings Concerning
the Oeesn—Maritime Expressions.
Improvements Jn the vehicles, instru
ments and modes of navigation have
robbed the sea of much of its terrible
character, but we shall, nevertheless, find
existing among the peoples of both con
tinents, as shown by their popular pro
verbs and sayings, a wholesome fear of
the sea, a recognition, of its terrible power,
as well as many curious notions about
the watery element, its inhabitants and
its characteristics.
Tho saying of Dr. Johnson, “No
man will bo a sailor who has
contrivance enough to get him
self into a jail,” is more tbita par
alleled by proverbs current among
European nations. An old French maxim
was: ' “He who trusts himself on tho sea
fa either a fool, or he fa poor, or ho wants
to die.” Oneof the alternatives seryes as
a poor excuse to tho Spaniard, tvho says:
“Better walk poor than to sail rich.” In
the same spirit fa conceived tlio Italian
proverb, “Praiso thp sea, but stay on
shore.” “He who would learn to’pray
should go to sea," says a well known
proverb, and “He who does not venture
upon the sea, knows not wlmt God is,"
replies that most hardy and adventure
some of maritime nations, tlio Dutch.
Tho Russians say, “When you walk, pray
once; when you go to sea, pray twice;
when you go to bo married, pray three
times.”
Theso sayings outline in a general way
tho dangerous character of the sea, and
its treacherous nature, its insatiability
and its immensity, are pointed out by
other proverbs and aphorisms.
“Tho sea makes somo rich, others
poor,” fa a general proposition enunci
ated in a Provencal adage, but the Amer-
can proverb, “Work with mo nnd I will
nourish you; look out for mo or I will
drown you,”teacliesthtuncortoin nature
of tho sea life, and wo may bo disposed
to heed the warning embodied in tho
Turkish maxim, “Trust not tho discourse
of tlio great, the duration of a calm at
sea, tho lucidity of tlio fleeting day, tlio
vigor of thy horse, or the speech of
woman." The gentlo sex fa classed with
tho treacherous element in other proverbs,
current among many nations. Woman,
however, is often tho greater sufferer
from tlio dangerous nature of tho sailor’s
calling, and a Tamil proverb says, “Tho
wife of the shipmaster is in a lucky situa
tion so long as tlio ship is safe; if it is
lost, she must i>eg. “Tho sea has no
launches (to cling to), therefore it is bet
ter to stay on shore." said tlio German
woodsman, and tlio French rustic agrees
with him: “Admire tho sea ns much as
you will, I Jilt don't stir from tho cow
sheds.” The Arab fears tlio sea today
much as lie did in the Fifteenth century,
when lie declared that the l^nncl of Satan
rose from thu bosom of tlio “sea of dark
ness" to .seize his frail bark. "It is bet
ter," says lie, “to hear the belchings of
tlio camel than tho prayers of tlio fish,”
and lie declares the obstinate and danger
ous character of tlio stormy sea in tho
adage, “Tlio sea lias a tender stomach,
but a head hard as wood.” “In travel
ing,” says an old French proverb, “tako
the sea, liut creep to tho shore,” and an
older saying from a facetious work a
century old concludes thus: “Tho ship
is a fool, for it moves continually; tho
sailor is a fool, for lie changes his mind
with every breeze; tho water fa a fool,
for it is never still; tho wind fa a fool,
for it blows without ceasing. Lot us
make an end at onco of navigation.”
Concerning tlio tides, waves and salt
water, there liavo been many curious
sayings as well ns strange supersti
tions. “That which goes with tlio
ebb comes back with tho flood, ” is an
other way of expressing a well known
sailor adage that “What cornea by star
board goes by larboard. ” Another French
proverb is expressive of extreme defianco
of difficulties: • ‘To brave dangers ns tho
leeward tido docs tlio wind." Wiiat a
beautiful idea is that convoyed by tlio
Sanscrit sentence: “It is thu poets and
not tlie ordinary men who rejoico in
beautiful metical expressions; the influ
ence of the rays of tlio moon swells tho
sea, but not the brook."
The use of maritime expressions fa
much more common even among lands
men far f rom tlio sound of tho sea thail
it is usually supposed to bo. Tho Dutch
are proverbially addicted to tlio uso of
sea language, their inheritance from tlio
sea robbers of tlio Sixteenth century, and
Mr. Clark Russell has shown that tho
English language borrows many of its
most expressive phrases from tlio sailors.
Wo say a couple are “spliced,” a young
man is tlio “main stay" of the family,
an interloper "puts his oar in,” tlio
member from Podunk “steers through,"
a man is "hard up,” wo aro frequently
“taken aback,” a toper is “slewed," a
loafer “spins a yarn," you must "try tho
other tack,” etc., etc., all sea expres
sions beyond a doubt. “Under fnfao
colors” would bo said of a ship, as well
as of a traitor.—F. S. Bassett in Globe-
Democrat.
SERVANT GIRLS FROM INDIA
Queen Victoria Delighted with Them.
Factory Versus Kitchen.
Queen Victoria, according to Truth of
London, has become perfectly delighted
with the female domestics that one of the
ladies of the royal household brought to
hbr from Bombay several years ago. She
has recently sent orders for servants
enough to perform tbo work in Osborne,
Balmoral and Windsor castles. It is
said that these girls from “India’s coral
strand” represent all the virtues and non©
of the vices common to the average city
domestic. They entertain no beaus in
the kitchen, eat none of the choice meats
left over from a meal, have no impe
cunious relatives to supply with sugar
and spices, do not $vant to go to a plcnio
every week, and never give notice that
they aro going to leave just before house
cleaning time. They are-represented
ns quick to learn, while they .con
sider obedience as a virtue. They
soon acquire enough of the English lan
guage to enable thorn to understand all
that is said to them about their work, but
never learn tlio words necessary to uso
“in jawing back." They aro scrupu
lously neat and orderly in doing their
work. When it fa completed thoy go to
their own apartments and nothing fa
heard from them.
It is thought that the fashion of em
ploying Indian servants will extend from
palaco to mansion and from there to
smaller houses. Witli all the complaints
about tho difficulty of obtaining employ
ment in Great Britain, most housekeepers
liavo trouble in securing domestics. As
a rule no girl will accept domestic ser
vice if sho can obtain employment in a
store, shop or factory. There has been
so much said and written about higher
occupations for women that few aro
willing to work on tho ground floor of a
house.
Femalo human nature is tho samo in
America as in England. Tho disposition
in both countries is to leave tho occupa
tions that arc fairly remunerative and
which offer constant employment for
thoso where the pay is small and the
tenure uncertain. Housework is con
sidered ns menial, whilo doing piece
work in a factory is regarded as elevat
ing. It is claimed that there fa a
certain independence about work in
a factory that docs not pertain to
employment in a private house.
The sort of independence that girls
have in establishments where cloth fa
mado into garments that ore to be sold
to a great clothing houso lias been shown
in tho various articles now being printed
in tho newspapers. An exhibit has also
been mado of tlio pay they receive. A
better state of things exists in factories
where wool and cotton nre converted
into cloth, nnd even in places Where
cloth is mado into garments by tho firms
that sell them directly to customers, but
in neither case is there as largo pay, ns
good treatment, or ns much loisuro as
can be found in a private houso presided
over by an intelligent woman.
In a factory a girl learns scarcely any
thing that will bo of benefit to her if she
over lias a houso to keep of tier own. In
tlio house of another, managed as tho
homo of a refined family, sho will have
an opportunity of learning almost every
thing that will bo of advantage to lier in
after life. She can acquire tho art of
cooking, if sho is deficient in it, learn
how to tako care of furniture ami how
to receive and entertain company. A
man and a woman who have a fow do
mestics take an interest in them and nro
ordinarily good friends to them. It is
hardly to lie expiated that the overseer
of fifty persons will take nil interest in
any of them.—Chicago Times.
ORIGIN OF ASTRONOMY.
Older Than the First Records of any Na
tion—Interesting Data.
When did astronomy have its begin
nings on the earth? There have been
many learned attempts to answer this
question. They nil have led to the con
clusion that long before tho historic
period there was a large common stock
of knowledge; so large, in fact, that one
distinguished writer finds it simplest to
ascribe the origin of'astronomy to the
teaching of nu extinct race: “Co people
ancien qtii nous a tout appris—excepte
son noni et son existence,” his commen
tator adds.
Astronomy Is older than tho first re
cords of nny nation. J[p order that the
records might exist, it was first necessary
to divide tlio years and lime^ by astro
nomical observations. On the other
hand. I believe the travelers of today
have found no tribe so degraded as to he
without some knowledge of the sort.
It fa extremely doubtful if animals no-
tico special celestial bodies. Birds seem
to be inspired by the approach of day and
not by the actual presence of tlio sun. It
fa n question whether dogs “hay the
moon” or only the moon’s light. A
friend maintains that her King Charles
spaniel watched the progress of an oc
culta tion of Venus by the crescent moon
with tbo most vivid interest. This fa tho
only case which I have, been able to col-
loct in which the attention of animals
has been even supposed to have b?en held
by a celestial phenomenon. The actions
of tho most ignorant savages during a to
tal solar eclipse, compared with those of
animals, throw much light on the ques
tion of whereabouts in the scalo of intel
ligence tho attention begins to be directed
to extra terrestrial occurrences. Tliesav-
nges are appalled by tho disappearance
of the sun itself, while animals seem to
be foncerried with tlio advent of dark
ness simply, v
I am told that the Eskimos of Smith’s
sound have names for a score or more of
stars, and that their long sledgo jour
neys aro safely mado by tho guidance of
these stan alone. I have myself seen a
Polynesian islander embark on a canoe,
without compass or chart, bound for nn
island three days’ sail distant His
course would need to be so accurately
laid that at tbo end of his three days lie
should find himself within four or five
miles of liis haven; if ho passed tlio low
coral island at a greater distance, it could
not ho soon from his frail craft There
can bo little doubt but that ho used tho
sun (by day and tho stars by night to
hold liis courso direct.
There must have been centuries during
which such knowledge was passed from
man to mail by word of mouth, woven
into tales und learned os a ]Kirt of the
loro of tho sailor, tlio hunter or the tiller
of tho soil. No ono can say how early
this knowledge of tho sky was put into
tho formal Bhape of maps, globes or cata
logues. Eudoxus fa said to liavo con
structed a celestial globo B. C. 8G6.
Globes would naturally precede maps,
and maps mere lists or catalogues.
Tho prototype of all sidereal catalogues
fa tho Almagest of Ptolemy (A. D. 100),
which includes not only tho observations
of Ptolemy, but thoso of tho great Hip
parchus (B. C. 127). It contains the
description of 1,023 stare, their positions,
and their brightness. Hero wo meet for
the first timo tho namo magnitudo of a
star. Ptolemy divides all tbo stars into
magnitudes—degrees of brightness.
Sirius, Capelia, aro of tho 'first magni
tude; tho faintest stare vfaiblo to tho eye
aro of tho sixth. But Ptolemy has gone
further, and divides each magnitudo into
three parts. Tho moderns divide oaoh
class into ten parts, that fa, decimally.—
Edward S. Holden in The Century.
The English put-
machinra have got so
give a chow of totaci
drops in a penny.
Securite, tho now flameless explosive,
fa tho invention of Herr Schoemveg, and
has boon used in Germany for two years
past. It fa composed of a nitrated hydro
carbon in combination with certain oxi
dizing agents, which fa rendered flameless
by tho addition of a certain proportion of
an-organic salt. It emits a spark in ex
ploding, but this spark fa harmless, not
•possessing sufficient energy to explode
inflammable gases or coal dust. By tho
action of tlio organic salt tho spark fa
almost instantly extinguished. In tho
lests mentioned, tho flameless “securito”
was exploded in vessels containing the
most highly explosive mixture of gas mid
s-nickel-in-thc-slot 1 air. and, in some cases, this combined
far tliat they muv with coal dust, but while gunpowder In
i' to any one who , variably causes their explosion, tho flam's
less “securito” did not ignite tho gas or
the coal dust, and it was demonstrated
Memphis is the j rwitest inland cotton j to be safe, even under more severe
market ia tin 1 world, utuvi:.; mini 7uo. j and conditions than_a^^vi‘r_preset
000 t>> l.uOO.OOO bales >.-arli ‘ mining operations'.
Optimistic View of'Llfe.
Putting aside the question of revealed
religion, pow.s nnd piiilosophers liavo be
gun to see a dignity in human nature, n
wisdom and beamy in life as wo know
it, and to abandon those dark and dan
gerous simulations which most com
monly lead thought into gloom and de
spondency. Things exist according to
fixed laws, some of which wo haVo dis
covered and know to be just. Woroason,
therefore, that those laws whicli wo
have not yet |jenetruted, and limy never
penetrate, wlnwe manifestations seem
cruel and unjust, would, if projierly un
derstood, be found equally beneficent.
Let us, therefore, obey those laws which
wo comprehend, boar with patience that
which we control, hold fast to tho liappi
Gotham's Chinese Restaurant.
Unlike Americans, tlio Chlncso do not
generally pay by tho dishes ordered, but
by tlio tables or spreads, called by tho
Chineso “Gzuh.” A first class spread
includes about forty courses, and it takes
two days to finish the feast. It costs $50.
A second class spread, with twenty-
eight courses, costs $40. A third class
j pread, with eighteen courses, costs $25.
Tho chea|>est spread contains eight
courses for $8. Tills fa tlio lowest prico
for whicli n man can order a formal din
ner in a first class Chineso restaurant.
But then tlio spread fa mado for any
number of {jeoplo within twelve.
If n man simply wants to cat n short
meal for himself and a friend or two, ho
. . , , - - can get ready mado dishes of fish, chick-
ness which coines in our way, and not , , .. . „ .
troubio ourselves too much about tbo . ^ ^ fn any other ^taurant, b^
“Especially H«“zo ouree.ve, as j
a part of h’umnnity. Ut us bo cl.arita- ; I*f^ n £*Z n . ? ZZZfZ
bl° nnd syiiqiatlietic, so that others will SSlu piStSStitartoT Wwf3forta
unnecessary. Tlio Chinese tablo imple-
grant us similar favors und tho sum of
happiness bo increased. Lot us not curso
men for faults for whicli from tlio na
ture of humanity they aro not responsi
ble. Let us rather study tho causes of
thosoafaults and try if there bo remedies
for them. Let ns consider that nations
are only aggregations of single men,
each of whom is bound by tlio samo
ments are chopsticks, of ebony or ivory,
a tiny little tea cup, and n porcelain
spoon.—Wong Chin Foo in Tlio
politan.
Manufacture of India
India pajier, whicli thG
lehi, is made from hemp, mull
limitations ns ourselves.—Charles Lotin co tton. bamboo, rico straw, barley
nildrcth in American Magazine. i n „j f r0 m tho interior membrane of
worm cocoons.. Sometimes tlio whole
Tlio boiler bursting record fa a large i* 10 ®tolks of a year’s growth are used,
and growing one. Over 200, all un- Tho pulp fa mixed, after it hnsbeetfpre-
doubtnlly supposed safe, exploded dur- with a jjlvcn proportion of vege-
ing tho past year. Tho invention of tho table gum called botong hi China. The
safety scam steam boiler, which o|ien8 at l a P“' s molded in molds mado of fine
the joints, and puts out The lire before bamboo filamentqF Thoso sheets, sixty
the pressure reaches the bursting point, fret in length, which the Chiney are raid
must save ninny lives in a year’s time, j ’ uiate. are supposed to ho fabricated
Moro than 700 persons were stricken l, artfully joining several small sheets‘at
* ..... . ♦' ,» I'uiin. ’it lofinff rim nniw'i’. India
ilown, without warning, by Ixiilcr explo
sions within our country during the past
year. More Ilian half, these persona wero
liiiled outright, and many of tho re
mainder wero maimed for life.—Boston
tho egap
ti e moment of laying tlio paper,
paper, b.;;;;; too thin to boar handling or
any strain, fa mounted oti vellum, which
serves as a l: ing to it, am! the wiiito
borders of which set it off as o frame
would do. The sheets are kept in a dry
place, far away from the lire, nnd may
' bo preserved fcf years.—Sail Fra ..cisco •
Chronicle.