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ARCTIC EXPLORATION.
Of the Expeditions that nave At
* . p,w Find Open -Polar Sea.
tempted to an
It is but eight years less than three
centuries since the first Arctic expedi¬
tion reached the region of polar ice and
spent a dreary -winter locked in by the
icebergs and shut up in their huts by
wolves, srow storms and white bears.
Two lives wore sacrificed in this expedi¬
tion, which reached a latitude of 80 de¬
grees and 11 minutes.
Three hundred years have passed and
the latest, the Greely expedition, touched
83 degrees 24 minutes, the highest lati¬
tude reached since the Dutch navigators
spent ten months in the ice oil the island
of Nova Zembla. In all these three
centuries only three degrees of the jour¬
ney to the pole have been overcome—a
distance something less than the dis
lance between New York and Boston, a
little more than between New York and
Albany. significant
This fact alone is a com¬
ment upon the valae of these expedi¬
tions which have cost a prince’s revenue
and as many lives as have been lost in
some noted battles.
The Dutch were the great navigators
ot the sixteenth century, and soon after
achieving their nation’s independence
began to speculate upon a passage to
China and India by way of the North
Pole. Their ideas of that region were
fanciful indeed, Some believed, that
these seas inclosed a polar continent of
perpetual summer and unbroken day¬
light, whose inhabitants had attained
perfection in virtue and intelligence.
Others thought it peopled with monsters
having horses’ hoofs, dogs’ heads and
ears so long that they coiled them
around their bodies in lieu of clothing.
Other tribes were headless with eyes in
their breasts, living in incessant fogs
and tempests during the summer, but
dying every winter and, like plants, re¬
vived to life by the advent of a brief
spring. It was believed that the voya¬
gers would have to encounter mountains
of ice and volcanoes of fire, together
with monsters on land and sea more fe¬
rocious than the eye of man ever saw.
But in spite of these terrors, on the
5th of June, 1594, the first expedition
to navigate these frozen seas set out
from Amsterdam. Their ships and ap¬
pliances were of the rudest description.
In place of the stanch modern steam¬
boats built for the purpose they sailed
in small, unwieldy vessels built like a
tower at stern and stem, scooped in the
middle and scarcely able to plow their
way through the water, to say nothing
of the ice. Instead of the delicate and
ingenious scientific instruments consti¬
tuting an exploring outfit of the present
day they had a clumsy astronomical
ring three feet in circumference on
which they depended for ascertaining
the latitude. They had no food, no rifles,
no compact ammunition, no heavy
clothing of fur, no rubber garments, no
logarithm, log or nautical almanacs, no
tea, coffee, or the hundreds of luxuries,
stimulants, medicines, and other stores
which now abound in such profusion.
The first expedition was turned back
by the ice and polar bears, but the
problem of a northeast passage to China
was considered solved, and the next year
a second ship was sent with a cargo of
broadcloth, lines and tapestries for the
Chinese market which the explorers
were expected to reach. Again the iee
and the bears frightened them back.
But an offer of 25,000 florins to the
discoverer of a northeast passage to the
east led to a third expedition, the first
that outlived a polar winter amidst
perils and sufferings, whose story reads
as much like the narratives of Kane and
DeLong, of Hayes and Greely, as the
stories of shipwreck and resene in the
days of Robinson Crusoe read like those
of the days of Enoch Arden.
and Notwithstanding appliances all the discoveries
of the year 1884, the
Greely and DeLong parties suffered
quite as much as the Dutch explorers of
lo94; which any one may see who cares
to read the account in the third volume
of Motley’s “United Netherlands.”
He Had it Badly.
I see by the papers, father, that all
he candidates on the other side have
got a Nemesis,” said a South End
schoolboy to his pa. ‘ ‘What is a Neme¬
sis, father ? J s it anything J 6 like a bi¬
cycle?”
No, my son, a Nemesis is not like a
bicycle. A man rides a bicycle, when
e knows how, and a Nemesis reverses
the operation and rides the man, the
Way a bicycle does, occasionally.”
“What is it, then?”
‘H m ! what is.it ? Let me see; it is
a sort of a moral ghost, as it were, an eth
!cal independent, a kicking conscience,
a ~~ a —well, a sort of Nemesis, as near as
anything.”
‘But what is it like, father ? want
-
to see one.”
‘If you want to see one real bad, you
just drink four cups of strong coffee, eat
“ a R a dozen links of store sau
and top off with a cold mince pie.
0 this at 9 o’clock p. m., and then go
0 <ed at 9.15 and youli see Nemesises
enough before morning to last a life¬
time, Now run away and don’t bother
me while I am reading the paper.”—
Boston Globe. .
Sledges D I I
best are generally considered the i
vehicles for use in Arctic explora
hon, but the rescuers of the Greely j
party Be«ch were greatly assisted in their j S
by a Schley.
.
The Conyers Weekly.
VOL. VII.
THE WAY IT IS SAID.
The Sultan awoke with a stifled scream ;
His nerves were shocked by a fearful dream ;]
An omen of terrible import and doubt •
His teeth in one moment all fell out.
His wisemen assembled at break of day,
And stood by the throne in solemn array.
And when the terrible dream was told,
Each felt a shudder, his blood ran cold ;
And all stood silent in fear and dread,
And wondering what was best to be said.
At length an old sootnsayer, wrinkled and gray,
Cried, “Pardon, my lord, what I have to say :
“ ’Tis "n omen of sorrow sent from on high—
Thou shalt see all thy kindred die.”
Wroth was the Sultan ; he gnashed his teeth,
And lifs very words seemed to hiss and seethe,
As he ordered the wiseman bound with chains,
And gave him a.hundred stripes for his pains.
The wisemen shook as the Sultan’s eye
Swept round to see who next would try ;
But one of them stepping before the throne^
Exclaimed in a loud and joyous tone:
“Exult, Oil head of a happy State !
Rejoice, Oh heir of a glorious fate !
“Eor this is the favor thou shalt win,
Oh, Sultan—to outlive alt thy kin P’
Plaesed was the Sultan, and called a slave,
And a hundred crowns to the wiseman gave.
But the courtiers, they nod with grave, sly
winks,
And each one whispers what each one thinks,
“Well can the Sultau reward and blame ;
Didn’t both the wisemen foretelL the same V”
Quoth the crafty old Vizier, shaking his head,
“So much may depend on the way a thing’s
said!”
A COMER. IN NICKELS.
A TRUE STORE.
Not long ago the Government of the
United States began to coin nickel five
cent pieces of a new pattern. But after
a few thousand had been struck off it
was decided that they were unsuitable,
and the coinage was stopped.
The fact that so few were sent out
made these five-cent pieces very valu¬
able to persons forming collections of
coins, because they were so scarce that
by and bye none could be picked up
among the change handed about in
trading. of
Many a wide-awake boy got a hint
this and profited by it. How it caused
one of the schools in a certain Connec¬
ticut town to become a sort of Bourse or
Wall street, and two youngsters in par¬
ticular to resemble speculators, is the
little story I have to tell.
One of the boys we will call Wyx and
the other Jordan. The former was a
“bull,” the latter a “bear,” in the
money market which sprang up in this
emergency as quickly as, during the
late war, a trade in gold was organized
in New York, where profits were gained
or lost according as the value of the
gold dollar in greenbacks rose or fell.
Wyx’s father was a banker, and,
therefore, he became “posted” on the
value the coins would probably take a
little ahead of others, and, in addition
to a supply procured at his father’s
bank, he went about for several days
buying up nickels of his school-fellows
and everybody else he could meet, pay¬
ing six and seven cents apiece for them,
until he thought he had secured all
there were in that neighborhood.
He also felt pretty sure that none of
his schoolmates could get many, if any
more, while he had a chance to do so,
on account of his father’s position. As
the men who deal in money and railway
stocks in the city would say, he tried to
make a “coiner” in these coins. If he
succeeded, of- course he could ask what
he pleased for them (for he would have
no opposition), provided anybody
wanted to buy badly enough to pay a
high price.
There is a meat risk in making a cor'
ner in somo article which is not neces
sary. If more than a moderate figure
is asked people will refuse to purchase,
and the wrong-doing of a man who
seeks to charge too much will thus cor
rect itself, even where he has a monopo¬
ly. It therefore happens that men who
attempt to make corners usually choose
something which people must have at
any price—such as wheat, or lard, or
pig-iron; yet they rarely succeed, be¬
cause when a man takes that position
he arrays the whole country against
him, and no matter how rich and power¬
ful he may be, it is all but impossible would to
gather into one comer, as you
p«?t> « {j-u-’iof sheep, all there is of one
, in a great region like the
uruaR United States.
But I have been lead into a long di¬
gression. Let ns go back to the attempt
at a comer in new nickels which oc¬
curred in that Connecticut school dis
j. "Thinking bought’ ,
that he had in all
there were afloat in the neighborhood,
an a that now was the time to sell at a
pro fit or to “realize,” as the brokers
call it, Wyx announced one day that he
wae COB11I ^ to school next morning with
CONYERS, ROCKDALE CO., GA„ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19,1884.
neaps of nickels, which he would sell al
ten cents apiece.
The boys began to be sorry that they
had been so hasty during the previous
ten days in letting Wyx have their half
dozen or so each, at odIv a cent or two
advance, and having grown excited over
the way the value had risen, were now
quite willing to buy their coins all back
at the advanced rate, and a lot more be¬
sides, believing they would go still
higher. It therefore looked sure that
Master Wyx was to make a great deal of
money. Certainly that is the way he*
regarded it, and he strutted about with
his hat tipped on the back of his head in
the most approved Stock Exchange
swagger.
In these operations, let me say, both
the seller and the buyers were taking
the right course. Acting on his belief
that the coins would become worth
more a few days hence than they then
were, Wyx had shown good sense in se¬
curing all he could honestly get and pay
for. Now, as a matter of fact, and as
Wyx foresaw would happen, they had
risen, and were really saleable to collec¬
tors down town at ten cents, and some¬
times for more. The other boys were
quite right, therefore, in buying them
back at that higher rate, and might
charge the difference which they had
lost to the account of acquiring knowl¬
edge—which is only bought by experi¬
ence, and that is usually paid for in
cash!
Now, among the boys at that sohool
was Jordan. Morning and evening he
peddled newspapers, and had growD
sharp. He learned when he went home
that afternoon that his father was just
going to a bank to receive some money.
Seeing his opportunity, the lad begged
his father to take five dollars of the pay¬
ment in the new nickels. These he could
get by asking for them (provided the
bank had so many) at their “face value”
—that is, five cents.
This fact was what Wyx had depended
upon nobody’s knowing; but it happened
that Jordan did know it, and sometimes
a very simple bit of knowledge, speedily
acted upon , is worth a great deal, as it
proved in this case, for Mr. Jordan suc¬
ceeded in obtaining the five dollars
worth which he lent to his enterprising
son.
Well, Wyx appeared at sohool next
morning, his pockets just bulging with
nickels. He had no less than two hun¬
dred and seventy-five of them for sale at
a dime apiece. Before he had disposed
of a dozen, however, Jordan came on the
play-ground, and, showing a handful of
the coveted coins, immediately offered
them at nine cents.
The nickel market up to this time had
been a one-sided affair; hut now it was
divided between the “bulls” and the
“bears.”
You know it is the habit of a bull to
toss everything into the air which he
attacks—to raise it; while, on tho other
hand, a bear pulls things down and gets
under foot whatever he wishes to obtain
or destroy. From this has arisen the
habit among dealers in money, and what
ar< called “securities” (documents sup¬
posed to secure a certain amount of
wealth to their possessors), of calling a
man who would like to have the price
of an article increase, in order that he
may sell to better advantage, a bull ;
and of calling him a “bear” who tries
to lower prices, in order that he may
buy more cheap ly.
Now, Wyx. of course, was a “bull”
on the nickels in this school market, for
naturally he wanted to keep the price
as high as possible. Jordan, on the
contrary, was a "bear,” pulling the
price down with all his might to favor a
scheme of his own, as we shall see.
Thus he offered bis coins at nine cents,
and Wyx found his comer “busted.”
“I can’t stand this,” he exclaimed, in
dismay, “I’ll sell at eight.”
“Seven !” shouted Jordan, dropping
his price another notch as quick as a
flash.
“Six !” cried the bull.
Wyx was out of all patience, that a
fellow should turn up iu this way to ruin
his business, To be really like the
great railway and telegraph managers,
what the rival speculators should have
done at this point was to go off into a
comer and agree between themselves
that both would stick to the ten-cent
price. Then, if not enough buyers ap¬ by
peared to take all the nickels held
both, they would, at the end of the
sale, divide what they had made.
This would be a “combination,” and
“pooling the profits.” But they didn’t
do it.
Jordan thought he knew a trick worth
two of that, and showed himself a true
financier.
When we left them, you will remem
her, in order to undersell the pestiferous
Jordan, Wyx had offered his coins atsix
cents each. Quick as a wink Jordan
spun round and shouted: "I'll take all
you’ve got!” and disgust
Imagine the astonishment
of the outwitted Wyx, who as city men
would say, had been caught out in a
shower without an umbrella 1
But there was no way out of it. He
had made a public offer and it had been
taken up. He had to stand by it and
sell out, however much he disliked the
bargain.
By borrowing and scraping Jordan got
together the $16.50 needed to pay for
his 275 nickels, which he then proceed¬
ed to sell in small lots at ten cents, clear¬
ing four cents on each one by his quick
wit, while the first speculator got little
or no profit out of his supposed “comer.”
The boys bought, but it was with wry
faces, for they remembered they had
not been sharp enough to take Wyx’s
offer of six before Jordan captured the
whole lot. They aptly represented the
outsiders who speculate in Wall street,
and whom the brokers laughingly call
“lambs,” because it is their fate to be
“fleeced .”—New York Hour.
In Summer, Remember
1. That infectious diseases general#
are due to filth in some form—most of
them directly to diver kinds of micro¬
scopic plants (bacteria) which gain en¬
trance into the system through the lungs
of the stomach. Invading the wonder¬
ful laboratories of life—the infinitesimal
cells—they disorganize these just as the
yeast-plants, multiplying to countless
millions, disorganize every particle of
the dough—or would do so, if not them¬
selves killed by the heat of the oven,
2. Remember that the best preserva¬
tive against them is high health, which
either digests them in the stomach, or
repels them from gaining a foothold,
and eliminates them from the system.
3. Remember that the next best pre¬
servative against infections diseases is a
free and strong circulation of pure air
through the house from cellar to attic.
The danger is when large numbers oi
bacteria gain admittance. There is slight
probability that a foothold will be gained
by these invaders when their number is
comparatively few.
4. Remember that in our cities and
large towns the sewers, constantly re¬
ceiving the excreta of the sick, are never
free from infectious bacteria; that these
readily pass up into dwellings through
every open connecting pipe; that these
pipes should be kept closed when not in
use; and that they should, in no case,
enter a sleeping-room, but only into a
well-ventilated water-closet.
5. Remember that, in the country,
wells are dangerous when they are with¬
in one hundred feet of a privy or cess¬
pool.
7. Remember that while boiling may
purity infected water, mere filtering
never renders it safe.
7. That all water-closets, cesspools,
etc., should be frequently disinfected,
copperas (sulphate of iron) being a good
and cheap disinfectant for the purpose.
8. Th at a deodorizer is not necessarily
a disinfectant. We may kill a bad smell,
and not kill the bacteria.
Result of a Practical Joke.
A paragraph in a Cleveland paper not
long since told the sad story of a hoax
practiced by three women upon a friend.
It seemed harmless to them. It proved
almost fatal to the friend, and illustrates
a fact that should not be forgotteD, that
frights may kill, or may craze the brain
permanently. Such jokes are criminal,
and deserve a serious penalty. The vic¬
tim of this hoax—Mrs. Bums—had
gone away for a short time, leaving her
husband and little ones at home.
The husband went to work, and the
three women thought it would bo ex¬
tremely funny to scare Mrs. Bums. The
chairs and tables were upset, and every¬
thing was put “topsey-turvey.” A figure
was made and clothed in a suit of Burns’s
clothes, and was laid on the floor, its
head, tied with a white bandage, rest¬
ing against the sewing-machine.
Then the women secreted themselves.
Mrs. Burns, who is of a nervous tem¬
perament, came home and was struck
speechless with horror at the scene.
The poor woman, seeing the inanimate
form, immediately supposed that her
husband had committed suicide. Tot¬
tering to the house of a neighbor, she
gasped out that her husband was dead,
and fainted away.
A physician was called, but she went
from one spasm into another. When
she finally revived sufficiently to talk, it
was found that her reason had left her.
For days she hovered between life and
death. Although she is now considered
out of danger, the shock has left its im¬
pression upon her mind, and she may
never folly recover.
Hereditary.—A West Somerset, Eng
land, jury issaid to have returned the
verdict: “Died by the hereditary visita
tion of God,” in the case of a man who
had broken his neck when drunk, and
whose grandfather had met with a like
mishap.
NO. 28.
THE HUMOROUS PAPERS.
WHAT WE FIND IN THEM TO NltllLK
OVElt THIS WEEK.
HE HAD BEEN TO SOHOOIi.
“Where have you been, you young
rascal ?” angrily demanded Fitzgoober,
as Pinder came sneaking in at the back
door, late in the afternoon.
“Been to sohool,” slowly answered
Pinder, dropping his books and anx¬
iously eyeing the strap his father dan¬
gled so tantalizingly.
“Been to Bohool ? Oh, yon little liar,
do you think I’m to be fooled that easy ?
I went over to the academy and yon
hadn’t been there to-day; one of the
boys said you had gone fishing. Now,
what have yon to say to that ?”
Gradually edging toward the door and
keeping a chair between him and his
father, Pinder raised his soulful eyes
and innocently asked:
“Well, pa, don’t fishes have schools ?”
—Atlanta Constitution.
BATHEK SEVERE ON A BASE BALL MUFFE1I.
One of the muffers of the Cincinnati
Club was attracting great attention in
the hotel dining-room by ordering
around the servants. Just as the head
waiter walked up he suddenly rapped on
his glass with a vigor and a four-tined
fork.
“Waiter,” he cried, “there is a fly in
my cabbage."
“That’s all right,” said the head
waiter, “don’t mind it. There is no
danger of your catching it.”
The remainder of the meal was fin¬
ished in silence.
A CONTAGIOUS FEVER.
“An* where are ye bound for, Mrs.
O’Raherty, in such a great hurry ?”
“Sure, Mrs. O’Elaherty, an’ I’m on
me way down to the widdy O’Cairn’s to
console wid her. She an’ the ohildren
are most starvin’, they are, for Jemmy,
their only support, has the fever an’
can’t work any more.”
“An’ phwat koind of faver is it he
has?”
“It’s the base ball' faver, I belave, it
is they calls it .”—Kentucky Journal.
BESSONS OF EXPERIENCE.
Mrs. Slimdiet—“Yes, I know he looks
like a nice young mam, but I told him I
had no vacancies.”
Miss S.—“But you have, ma, and he
said he would pay his board in advance.
Why didn’t you take him ?”
“Beoause he is a market clerk."
“But what of that ?”
‘ ‘Everything. He will always be talk
ing at table about the early vegetables
and other high-priced things just arrived
in market .”—Phila Call.
EXPECTING TOO MUCH.
Little Billy Simpton is aged about 10.
Not long since the Simpton family was
increased by still another little boy, and
a friend of the family, meeting Billy,
said to him:
“So you have got another baby at
at your house. He is a right smart little
fellow, ain’t he?”
“Humph!” sneered Billy, turning up
his nose: “how many smart boys do you
expect ns to have in our family?”—
Texas Siftings.
THE DUTIES OF A SERVANT.
"Mamma,” complained a little girl,
running into the house, “me and Willie
wanted nurse to sit down and let ns
pour sand in her back, and she
wouldn’t.”
“Certainly not. She did quite right.”
“Well, that’s what you told her she
was to do when she first came.”
“I told her that she was to let you
and Willie pour sand down her back ?”
“Not exactly that, mamma, but you
told her she was to mind the children. ”
SHE GOT HER SEAT.
“Is this seat engaged ?” asked a small,
thin woman of a fat man in the New
Haven train the other day.
No reply.
“Will you please take your feet down
and let me sit on this seat ?” she re¬
peated in a louder tone of voice.
Again no reply.
“I read to-day,” she continued still
louder, “that a Chicago man has cor¬
nered all the pork in the world. How
did you manage to escape ?”
At the next station she had the whole
seat to herself.— Graphic.
CAUSE AND EFFECT.
Mrs. Blank—“There it is again. This
paper says that Mr. Oldboy has made a
million on real estate transactions with¬
in a year.” .
Mr. Blank—“What of it ?”
“You forget that Mr. Oldboy was one
of my early admirers, and I might have
married him if I had wished. I did
not, and he has remained a bachelor.
He is now rich, while the man I mar¬
ried is still poor.”
“Well, I might have been rich, too,
if-”
“If what ?”
“If I hadn't married .”—The Call,
WAGES AND LIVING.
Report of the Massachusetts I.abor Barone
—Comparison Between Massachusetts
and Gieat Britain.
Part IV of the Report of the Massa¬
chusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor
contains the comparative prices and cost
of living here and in Great Britain for
the period 1860 to 1883. The details
furnished are very elaborate. The cost
of living is acknowledged to be higher
in Massachusetts than in Great Britain,
and the report aims to show in what re¬
spect. In Great Britain in 1883 grocer¬
ies were .83 per cent, higher than in
1872; provisions 10.32 per cent, lowet
and fuel 41.26 per cent, lower. In 1872
groceries were 23.03 per cent, higher
here than there; provisions 25.74 per
cent higher there, and fuel 60.19 per
cent, higher here. In 1883 groceries
were 16.18 per cent higher here; pro¬
visions 23.08 higher there, and fuel
104.96 higher here. In 1883 for al
grades of dry goods prices were 13,26
per cent, higher here, but for medium
and lower grades used by workingmen
Great Britain had an advantage of only
.9 of 1 per cent. All grades of shoes and
slippers show an average of 62.59 per
cent, higher here than there, but con¬
sidering only medium and low grade, the
price is only 42.75 percent, higher here.
In 1883 in all grades of clothing the av¬
erage price was 45.06 per cent, higher
here, but medium and low grades aver¬
aged only 27.36 per cent, higher, while
the better grades averaged 66.57 per
cent, higher. Bents in 1883 averaged
89.62 per cent, higher in Massachusetts
than in Great Britain. Here the average
rent of one room was 66 cents a week,
$2.86 a month and $34.38 a year, while
there it was 36 cents a week, $1.51 a
month and $18.02 a year. Returns for
board and lodging are very complete,
and show an average of 89.01 per cent,
higher here than there. In 1883 board
and lodging here for men averaged $4.79
a week, and for women $3.19. Board
alone averaged $3.84 a week for men and
$2.56 for women. Lodging alone aver¬
aged $2.20 a week for men and $1.46 for
women. The Massachusetts family av¬
erages to earn 65.27 per cent, more than
the family in Great Britain. The head
of the family averages 80.31 per
jent. more here and the total family
expenses here are 48.41 per cent, higher
than there. Here a family averages to
spend 93.89 per cent, of its income and
to save 6.11 per cent, surplus. There it
spends 98.24 per cent., and has only
1.76 per cent, for savings.
The report corroborates the eoonomio
laws of Dr. Engel, of Prussia: “The
greater the income the smaller the rela¬
tive outlay for subsistence; the percent¬
age of outlay for clothing is approxi¬
mately the same, whatever the income;
the percentage of outlay for lodging,
or rent, and for fuel and light is invari¬
ably the jjame, whatever the income;
as the income increases in amount the
percentage of outlay for sundries be¬
comes greater.” The average annual
family expenditure in Massachusetts for
1883 was $754.42, and in Great Britain
was $508 35. Items of expense here
were as follows: Subsistence, 51.76 per
cent.; clothing, 16.32; rent, 16.25; fuel,
g. 10; sundries, 10.67. In Great Britain
they were: subsistence, 56.45; clothing,
15.54; rent, 13.66; fuel, 4.83; sundries,
9.52. Conclusions of the comparison are:
“that, on any basis of yearly expendi¬
ture, the prices of articles entering into
the cost of living were, on the average,
17.29 per cent, higher in Massachusetts
in 1883 than in Great Britain; that of this
figure 11.49 per cent, was due to higher
rents in Massachusetts, leaving 5.80 per
cent, as indicative of the higher cost of
living in Massachusetts as compared
with Great Britain as regards the re¬
maining elements of expense.” The
“grand result” of the comparison is
“that the higher prices in Massachusetts
are represented by 5.80 per cent.; that
the increased accommodations in hous¬
ing and the general higher standard of
living maintained by Massachusetts
workingmen as compared with the stand¬
ard of living of workingmen in Great
Britain is represented by 42.61 per cent,
out of the total greater cost of 48.41 per
cent, or stated as a direct ratio, the stand¬
ard of living of Massachusetts working¬
men is to that of the workingmen of
Great Britain as 1.42 is to 1.”
Stone Catting.
As an illustration of possible improve¬
ment and discovery, the working of stone
may be instanced. This is one of the
earliest forms of industry. The first
tools were made of stone, and it is among
the earliest materials which men began
to work upon. Yet the methods an£
tools are substantially the same as they
were 4000 years ago, when the monoliths
of Egypt were hewn from the real
granite, when the vast blocks of the
pyramids were quarried, and the mighty
ruins of vast antiquity were new. There
have beeD certain improvements in
machinery, such as channeling machines,
steam drills, etc., but these are only the
handles of the tools; the bulk of the
granite working is still done with mallet
and chisel, as it was thousands of years
ago. The time will come when some
fortunate inventor will discover methods
and tools by which granite shall be
wrought -with as much facility as iron.
“No; they do not live very pleasant¬
ly. In fact, they lead a perfect tennis
existence.” “A tennis existence? I
don’t see the connection." “Why, they
are in the courts most of the time,”
