Page Eight
‘MAN’S DEBT TO THE' BIRDS
Matter That Is Worth 'a Great Deal
More Considenation Than It Has
Been Receiving.:
. Why should birds fear a human be
ing? They have no fear of the horse
or cow. There are birds that even
light on the back of a cow and de
‘vour the flies that are troublésome.
If mankind were kind and thaughtful
‘of the rights of birds what a pleasure
it might be. Every small boy and girl
should be taught to love all birds and
-never to disturb or frighten. Their
companionship and their songs more
than repay the little fruit or grain
that they eat. Anrd we cannot forget
that but for the aid of the birds we
could not have fruit or grain. “The
hop aphis,” the North American tells
us, “developing 13 generations in a
year, at the end of the twelfth genera
tion would have multiplied to the In-i
conceivable number of ten sextillions
of individuals.” Forbush says: “If this
‘brood were marshaled in a line ten to
{the inch, it would extend to a point so
'sunk in profundity of space that light
ifrom the head of the procession, trav
‘eling at the rate of 184,000 miles per
isecond, would require 2,500 years to
‘reach the earth.” Think once what
would be our condition if the birds
‘should fail to destroy this one kind
got insect. And other kinds are in
numerable. What love and protection
and care we owe these birds!
MUST ALWAYS GO FORWARD
Economic Progress Is So Ordered That
the Wheels Cannot Be Turned
Backward.
“We still act as if the moral iaw
were indeed the order solely of a divine
commandment which mankind, by its
anxious effort, must be schooled un
willingly to obey. We fear that ‘the
sanctity of the home’ is threatened by
divorce, by suffrage, by polygamy, by
woman in industry, or by the new
dances; and we crusade oratorically to
protect it from destruction, although
we must know that if the sanctity of
the home depended on such protection
it would long ago have gone the way
of the sanctity of the temple of Ephe
sus. We are distressed by license in
our books and our theaters, and we or
ganize extra censorships and frantic
societies for the suppression of vice,
as if vice and license had not always
fought 2 losing battle against civiliza
tion, b~' .g opposed by the economic
laws that have made our morality
what it is. We seem to know that by
helping to better the economic condi
tions we can better the moral condi
tions of life, but we forget that we
cannot greatly help by scolding. We
bope that we can assist the sanctity of
the home by not retarding the eco
nomic progress that has made possible
the sanctity of the average home, but
we forget that mankind can no more
return to its ancient immoralities than
its culture can return to its angient
barbarism.”—From “Current Com
ment” in the Century.
Typewriting While Asleep.
“When I first began typewriting and
stenography,” a stenographer was tell
ing a girl beginner, “I found myself
taking stenographic notes in my head.
I've dreamed many a time of picking
out letters and lines of letters on the
typewriter. Next a typewriter began
following me in my waking moments.
When somebody talked to me or I
neard someone talking I found myself
taking 1t down on a typewriter in my
brain as I might on a real typewriter
from dictation. And when I found
myself far behind, why, I stopped
right there and made a fresh start
on the talk from that moment. And
in the same way I would take sten
ographic notes in my brain.” “That
is just my experience, too,” said the
beginner. “Hard work, this learning
to be a typewriter and stenographer,
but there's fun in it; though I shall be
glad when it gets through following
me in my waking hours and haunting
me in my dreams.”
When Nations Decay.
' Disease, moral and physical, is main
1y the handiwork of a man’s perversity
or folly. The symptoms of national
decay are many and easily diagnosed.
A nation is on the downward grade I
when a large portion of its population
18 unwilling to defend or incapable of
defending what, not without reason,
we call the motherland against ex
ternal attack.
Another symptom is seen when it is
unable or unwilling to provide by its
own exertions for its own immediate
wants or to save from the earning ot
its industry a sufficiency to meet the
exigencies and disabilities of old age.
Another indication is seen when it
is unable or unwilling to indulge in
recreation except vicariously, and re
gards “sport” as a pastime to be un- ‘
dertaken by others paid for the pur
pose for the amusement of onlookers. '
Sumerians.
The Sumerians were members of‘
©ae of the primitive races of Baby
ionia. They are believed to have been
of non-Semitic origin and to have been
the dominant race at the earliest time
of which there are any records, it |
was to them that the Assyrians |
ascribed the origin of Chaldean civili- ‘
zatiou and writing. Another name tor
the race 1s Accadians. The Accadian
ianguage was non-Semitic and possibly
Ural-Aitaic. It was spoken previously |
10 the better known Semitic dialect !
of the cuneiform inscriptions I‘nol
Sumerian seems {o be a kindred dia- |
dect ana to have heen in use at the |
same time in Babyloma. ,
GOT THEIR MONEY’S WORTH
Landiord Was Not Equipped by Na
ture 1o Get the Best of Shrewd
P. T. Barnum.
- In the very interesting book of
reminiscence that P. T. Barnum, the
famous showman, wrote 40 vears ago,
there is an amusing anecdote that re
calls the days when the one-ring cir
cus was the chief attraction of the
long, hot summer,
The incident occurred when we
were at Hanover Courthouse, in Vir
ginia, wrote Mr. Barnum. It rained
80 heavily that we could not perform
there, and Turner (manager of the
show) decided to start for Richmond
immediately after dinner. He was in
formed ny the landlord that as our
agent had engaged three meals and
lodging for the whole company, the
entire bill must be paid, whether we
went then or the next morning No
compromise could be effected with the
stubborn landlord and so Turner pro
ceeded to get the werth of his money
as follows:
He ordered dinner at twelve o'clock,
which was duly prepared and eaten.
The table was cleared and reset for
supper at 12:30. At one o'clock we
all went to bed, every man carrying
a lighted candle to his room. There
were 36 of us, and we all undressed
and tumbled into bed as if we were
going to stay all night.
In half an hour we rose and went
down to the hot breakfast that Turner
had demanded and that we found
smoking on the table. Turner was
very grave, the landlord was exceed
ingly angry, and the rest ot us were
convulsed with laughter at ihe absurd
ity of the whole proceeding. We dis
posed of our breakfast as if we had
eaten nothing for ten hours and then
started for Richmond, satisfied that
we had fairly settled with the unrea
sonable landlord.—Youth's Companion.
LITTLE LESSON ON MANNERS
Circuit Rider Knew His Hearers and
Addressed Them in Words That
They Understood,
There lingers yet in the caverns of
memory the concinnity of a ecircuit
rlde;jvin the West Virginia mountains
whi ‘held forth one night lin an old
schoolhouse on the high peak of Big
Sewell. The building was of unhewn
logs, with press-pole roof and punch
eon floor; the men seated on one side,
the women on the other. The aged
preacher arose and addressed his con
gregation somewhat as follows:
“Now, brethren and sisters, before
I begin the services of the night, I
will offer you some advice on
elegance of manners. You all wear
store boots and the women wear bro
gans. Now, in moving your feet on
this puncheon floor it makes a loud
bumping and ugly noise if you scrape
your boots along, which perturbs
everybody. So don’t drag your feet;
lift them up straight and set them
down soft, and do not drag them
across the floor. Cough, spit, hawk
or sneeze as little as you can, and
if a man has to go ocut to see if his
horse is tied, to blow his nose or to
80 to the spring, or ftor any other
reason, step light on the floor in them
cowhide boots and brogans. We will
now sing the twenty-third hymn.”
The good old preacher when he re
ferred to persons going out for some
undesignated purpose probably knew
that ¢he backsliders present had a
jug near the spring.
Cotton Crops in China.
In China few farmers have all their
land in one plot. A farm of eighty
Chinese acres may consist of from
five to fifteen pieces iying in different
sides of the village.
“How do you manage to watch all
of these all night?”’ a traveler asked.
“We go from one to the other,” is
the answer,
When cotton is the crop few can
resist the temptation to pick their
neighbor’s fields as they g 0 by.
The watchman sees some one at the
end of the field meandering slowly
along with a basket on hig arm, pick
ing as he goes.
“Hey! Who are you?”’ vyells the
watchman. No answer. The figure
basses on a little faster, bug Keeps on
picking, 1f he 18 lucky, he manages
to slip into the cotton patch of some
body else and goes on with his suc
cessful pilfering.
How Do You Love?
Is your love for anyone tinged with
jealousy? Stop! Think' Al jealousy
is selfishness, for it proves that you
are but loving yoursélf through an
other. If your love were wholiy for
the object, the other person, nothing
that could in the least add to that
other’s happiness would cause you sor
row. His happiness would be your
happiness; his grief your grief. The
truest love welcomes an opportunity to
sacrifice, even though it be the giving
up of the adored object to another, it
it be for the loved one's highest hap
piness.—Exchange.
Safe Spot.
“So when you had two hundred feet
start to escape you ran instead di
rectly up to the bear when your gun
failed to work? 1 don‘'t know whether
You were a foolhardy hero or a rat
tled fool,” declared the doctor as he
sewed up Smith’s numerous wounds.
“l was neither,” expiained Smith.
“I used remarkable judgment at a
critical moment. You see, the bear
was between Jones and myself. |
saw Jones was about o fire. So 1
took shelter at the safest spot—with
the bear.” ;
THE MARIETTA JOURNAL AND COURIER
JOHN SAW THE LIGHT
AND THE WEDDING BELLS RANG
IN DUE COURSE. :
Fact That Mollie Had Much the Best
of the Situation May Have Had
Something to Do With His
Decision.
It is three years since the report of
the ease with which wealth could be
acquired in this country reached John
Doe’s ears in Europe and lured him
acress the broad Atlantic. To the
questions of the immigration inspec
tors at Ellis island John Doe answered
that he had been twenty-three years
in this world; that the blessedness of
the marricd state had never appealed
to him, and that he could eke out his
existence by plying his trade as a
cloakmaker.
His first year in American John Doe
devoted to earning and saving every
cent he could, ®icking up English
meanwhile. The second year found
him starting out in business for him
self and meeting with marked suc
cess. The third year a general strike
occurred among the cloakmakers and
the manufacturers had a hard time to
pull through.
The strike found John with a large
batch of unfilled orders contracted for
at the lower rate of wages. When the
workmen had won their strike for
higher pay and returned to work John
discovered himself facing bankruptey
and he cast about him for a means
to save what he could out of the
wreck.
Mollie was an exceedingly pretty
girl. Eveu John, whose thoughts were
devoted to ways and means for mak
ing money, noticed this fact, and now
as he racked his brain for a scheme to
save something from the oncoming
storm he looked reflectively at Mollie
where she sat working at a sewing
machine, and a plan suddenly occurred
to him. Why not pretend that he was
engaged to Mollie and give her valu
able presents of jewelry in honor of
the fictitious event, and when the
bankruptcy had blown over reclaim
his property and start up again with
the money thus spared?
When first she heard of it Mollie
demurred at being a party to such a
project, but upon John’s offering her
a substantial consideration she con
sented to undertake the role of tem
porary fiancee. John then presented
her with several pieces of diamond
jewelry, such as a ring or two, a
lavalliere and earrings, and to make
the engagement seem more plausible
he fitted out a flat with nice furniture.
After the bankruptcy took place
John was forced to testify to the
various presents he had made to his
fiancee, and the court thereupon or
dered that all the jewelry be turned
over to the receiver in bankruptcy.
As to the furniture, the judge held
that it was personal and household
property, and as such exempt under
the bankruptcy act.
In the course of time John’s case
was completed and he was free' to
start over again. Accordingly he de
termined to sell the furniture he had
bought for his supposed bride-to-be,
but by this time Mollie had become so
attached to the furniture and so
reconciled to the thought of getting
married that she refused to give up
the property. John was in a quan
dary.
“You promised to return it to me
when 1 bought it and put it here,”
said John, as he looked around the
cozy little flat.
“But all my friends think we are
really and truly going to be married
soon, and if I return it to you and we
don't get married I may never get
another young man. If you are going
to break off the engagement you
sheculd at least leave me the furniture
sc that I will have it for a dowry
when I do get married.” '
John looked at Mollie and she was'
really good to look upon.
“I was only fooling you,” said he
with a smile. “Come, let’s get mar
ried right away.”
In Our New World.
The immediately and directly con
sequential , effects of the European
war on the trade, industry and finance
of the Americas are more or less ap
parent to all. llts moral effect, the
quickening of national and individual
conscience, is likewise apparent to
many thoughtful observers; but we
are apt to lose sight of the fact that
ancther quickening is being felt in the
industrial world, throughout all the
western hemisphere, and that is a bet
ter realization of the verities of na
tional existence, a fuller comprehen
sion in each republic of just what its
place is in the congeries of nations
called the world, of how best to main
tain this place and to secure the fullest
fruition to which the resources and
capabilities of each country entitle
it.—New York Telegram.
Sulphur in New Zealand.
Sulphur deposits are found on White
Island, in the Bay of Plenty on the
coast of the North Island of New Zea
land, about thirty miles from the main
land. This island, which covers about
600 acres, attains a height of 900 feet
on one side and opens to the sea on
the other. Its topography indicates
an old crater, and the boiling lake on
the island, which is one of the awe
inspiring sights of New Zealand is a
further evidence of volcanism. After
the New Zealand Sulphur company
had spent $lOO,OOO in preparation ror
mining sulphur in this locaiity. a vo!
canic disturhance wrecked the camn
end killed ter men
ALWAYS ON BRINK OF DEATH
Workers in High Explosives Realize
What May Be the Result of a Mo
mcnt’s Carelessness.
Explosives are solids which, under
certain conditions, suddenly change
into heated gas occupying many times
the original space of the solids. Ordi
nary gunpowder, when fired, turns
into gas, of which the volume is 4,000
times as great as that of the powder.
No wonder the bullet in front of it
leaves the muzzle of the rifle in a
hurry.
- Today there are scores, even hun
dreds, of different sorts of explosives
known to science. Some, such as lyd
dite, require a very considerable shock
to explode them. Others, such as ni
troglycerin, are fearfully dangerous to
handle, for a few extra degrees of
warmth or a very slight jar is suf
ficient to turn them instantly into gas.
Of the latter type there is nothing
quite so unstable as iodide of nitro
gen. It has to be made in alcphol.
When allowed to dry it appears as a
brown powder, and so unstable 18 this
powder that a toucn with a teather
will set it off. The experiment has
been tried of leaving a tew graimns
upon a table mixed with a tew grains
of sugar. The first bluebottle that
flew on the table and began to crawl
among the grains caused an explosion.
The mere jarring of the air by a
loud shout or a heavy footstep is suf
ficient to detonate iodide of nitrogen,
and it need hardly be added that no
one in his senses would attempt to
make this terrible stuff. To do so in
any quantity would be equivalent to
committing suicide.
Nitroglycerin is not so dangerous as
this iodide, but at a temperature of
only 100 degrees—that is, very littie
more than the warmth of the human
body—it begins to decompose.
Tons of nitroglycerin are turned out
every day, for it is the explosive from
which guncotton is made. But all tue
mixing vats are artificially cooled by
coils of cold-water pipes.
GREATEST OF ICE PALACES
That Constructed by the Czarina Anne
of Russia Is Conceded to Have
Been the Finest.
Ice for architectural purposes is
used with wonderful results in north
ern countries. Probably the most
remarkable building constructed
wholly of ice was the palace built on
the Neva by the Czarina Anne of Rus
sia. Large blocks of ice were cut
and squared with great care and laid
on one another by skillful masons,
who cemented the joints with water,
which immediately froze. The build
ing, when completed, was 56 feet leng,
173 feet broad and 21 feet high. It
was of but one story. The facade
contained a door surmounted by an
ornamental pediment, and six win
dows, the frames and panes of which
were all of ice. An elaborate balus
trade adorned with statues ran along
the top of the facade, and another bal
ustrade surrounded the building at
the level of the ground. The ground
was further adorned with a life-size
figure of an elephant, with his mahout
on his back. A stream of water was
thrown from the elephant’s trunk by
day and a flame of naphtha by night.
A tent of ice contained a hot bath,
in which persons actually bathed.
There were also several cannons and
mortars of ice, which were loaded
with bullets of ice and iron and dis:
charged.
Meant in Kindness.
A policeman had told two old vag
abonds sitting in the park to move
ony and as I followed them along the
street one of them said:
“Jim, I think he means us kindly.”
“Yes, I think he does, too.”
« “He knows that we’d be apt to sit
there until we got a chill and then
pneumonia and death might follow.”
“That'y it
“Whereas, if he tells us to move on
we keep our blood circulating, avoid
all danger, and are spared to our
friends and-the world.”
“That’s correct.”
“Which is very kindly of him in
deed, Jim; and if it so happens that
we meet him again, we’ll impress it
on his mind that we know how to feel
grateful, even if we bean’t high-toned
nor rich!’”’—Baltimore American.
Division of Races.
The division of the earth’s popuia
tion according to race is as follows:
Indo-Germanic or Aryan race (white),
occupying Europe, America, Persia,
India and Austria, about 775,000,000;
Mongolian or Turanian (yellow and
brown), living in Asia, about 682,000,-
000, Semitic (white), living in Asia,
Arabia, etc., about 65 000,000; negro
and Bantu (black), found in Africa,
about 150,600,000; Malay and Polyne
sian (brown), inhabiting Australia,
about 35,000,000; American [ndian
(red), found in North and South
America, number, inciuding halif
breeds, about 25,000,000,
Extending Charity.
Shut not thy purse strings against
painted aistress. Act a charity some
times. When a pcor creature (out
wardly and wvisibly such) comes be
tore thee, do not stay to inquire
whether the “seven small children,”
in whose name he implores thy assist
ance, have a veritable existence. Rake
not mto the bowels of unwelcome
truth to save a nalfpenny. It is goou
o perieve nim. It he be not all he pre
tendeth, give, and under a personate
rather of a ramily think (if thou pleas
est) cnat thou hast relieved an nqi.
gent pachelor.--Char!es Lamb. dATR
MAKES DEFENSE OF RAGTIME
Writer Points Out How It May Be Ex
ceedingly Useful to Those Who
Are Mentally Depressed.
The effects of music upon the health
—well known ever since David harped
to Saul but hitherto illy understood—
are being looked into more deeply by
the physicians who formed the Nation
al Society of Musical Therapeutics.
“No matter to what extent music may
restore a person to the normal,” says
the New York Medical Journal, “there
can be no question that it may help
other influences to incline the person
from the normal. There are many
compositions, notably among those by
Chopin, which are the outcome of more
or less melancholy moods, and while
they are beautiful and harmless to the
healthy, when made a steady diet and
source of self-consolation by those suf
fering from depression from mental or
bodily causes their effect is undoubt
edly pernicious, just as a too exclusive
diet of olives or meringues would de
press the general bodily condition and
mental atmcsphere of a person so in
dulging a sickly appetite.”
On the other hand, ragtime musie,
“being in no wise serious,” is the re
verse of depressing. “The African
jingles of the present day create an
emotional atmosphere of restlessness
and excitement which is typically
American, and which is opposed to
health only so far as our national rest
lessness and lack of poise tend to make
us a people whose national disease is
nervous exhaustion.”
Roughly speaking, lively music, such
as ragtime, is likely to rouse depressed
persons from their melancholy; sad
and pathetic music will soothe the ex
citable and hypernervous.
FALLEN FROM HIGH ESTATE
Church Edifices in Britain That Have
for Many Years Been Utilized
: for Baser Purposes.
American visitors always make a
point of visiting St. Bartholomew’s
—not the hospital, but the church—
one of the very few that escaped the
great fire, remarks London Answers.
Yet probably few know that for a
long reriod it fell into such shocking
repair that the north transept was
used as a blacksmith’s shop.
A building in Skegness probably
takes the cake for transformations
akin to this notable one. It was origi
nally a Wesleyan chapel, but subse
quently was, as the poet says, “Every
thing by turns, and nothing long.”
In rapid sequence it was a concert
hall, a restaurant, a gymnasium, a
Salvation Army barracks, an auction
mart, a public hall, and a school. Last
ly, as far as our information goes,
it became a political club.
Glasgow holds the record for thase
transmogrifications. The old Wynd
church is now a leather warehouse;
West Campbell was lately a lard ware
house, but may now be housing mar
garine; Cathedral Street church re
sounds to the making of boxes and
packing cases; St. Andrew's is the re
sort of tha remnants hunter; Stock
well strcet is an emporium for sugar,
tea and other groceries; while even
the offices of ti:e North British rail
way were once a church.
“The Good News From Ghent.”
The exploit described by Browning
in his poem. “How They Brought the
Good News From Ghent to Aix,” is a
purely imaginary one. Archdeacon
Farrar tells of a conversation he once
had with Browning, in which the lat
ter related ‘the circumstances under
which Le wrote the poem. “I asked
him,” says Canon Farrar, “about the
steed which brought ‘Good News From
Ghent,” and whether the incident had
any historic basis; for I told him that
a friend of mine had taken very con
siderable trouble to search various
histories and discover whether it was
true or not. ‘No,” he said, ‘the whole
poem was purely imaginary. I had
had a lcng* voyage in a sailing vessel
(I think it was from Messina to Na
ples), and, being rather tired of the
monotony, thought of a good horse
of mine, and how much I should enjoy
a ride. As I could not ride in reality,
I thought that I would enjoy a ride in
imagination’; and he then and there
wrote that most pobular of his lyrics.”
His Elaborate Efforts.
“One should beware of beginning his
speech in too loud a voice,” said Grout
P. Smith. “If you start off with a
yell, when the time comes to roar de
nunciations or shout hosannas you
will have no wind left with which to
be emphatic. I once knew a man
whose wife exhibited more than three
hundred love letters in court, which he
had written her during a brief court
s Lip of eleven weeks. He often wrote
her six or more in one day, and his
shortest epistle contained four pages.
And yet, before they had been mar
ried two months he nad slapped ner
Jaws so far around that when she
wanted to talk into the telephone she
had tc back up to it. His excuse was
that he had exhausted his affection in
the course of the correspondence.”’—
Kansas City Star.
Military Necessities.
There are five things that a sol
dier should never be without—his
gun, his cartridges, his Knapsack, ra
tions for tour days and his pioneer
toots. I'he knapsack should be re
ducea to the smaliest possiple weight
and size, ana contain only a shirt, a
pair ur snoes a couar, a handkerchiet
and a fint ot steel. ‘['his 1s not much,
but he shoula never part from them,
tor when once iosu they cannot pe
recovered. - -Napoleon.
Frday, December, 2, 195
GROWTH OF MODERN NAVIES
Ironclads and Submarines May Be
Said to Be the Result of
Evolution, /
Ironciad 1s the name given to gz
naval vessel wholly or partly cased
with iren plates. It was given betore
the days of modern steel battleshipg,
The experience of the British ang
Frercn fdeet before Sebastopol, during
the Crimean war, demonstrated the
need of armor for battleships. The
French at once began to builg five
armor-plated vessels, and the Britigh
followed soon after. In 1859 a belt of
armor was fitted to a wooden vessel,
renamed La Gloire, and she was the
Qrst armor-clad warship. In June,
1859, the British government began
the construction of the armor-plated
alliron frigate Warrior, She was the
first iron warship, and was completed
in 1861. Converted into a floating
workshop, she was still in use in 1910,
under the name of Vernon 111. The
Nemesis, an iron vessel, not a battie
ship, had been engaged in 1842 in the
Chinese war, but great objection was
felt to iron as a material for battle
ships before the Crimean war on ac
count of the supposed danger from the
ecemy’s shot. The introduction of iron
aB a reeognized material for ships in
general is often dated 1818, when the
lighter Vulean was built near Glas
gow. The very first iron boat built
was launched on the River Foss, in
Yorkshire, in 1777.
The earliest attempts at a subma.
rine craft began early in the seven
teenth century. The earliest success
which has been chronicled was that
of 1620, when a Dutch natural phi
logopher, Cornelis van Drebbel, buiit
a boat which could be submerged.
The first undoubted success was ge
cured by the American engineer Bush
nell in 1775, with a turtle-like craft,
worked by one man. During the war
of Independence a boat of this kind
was submerged below the British war
ship Eagle, and the operator tried to
attach a magazine containing fifteen
pounds of gunpowder to her bottoimn
planking. He failed in his object, but
the magazine later exploded some dis
tance from the ship
One of the first submarines of me
chanical power was the French Plon
geur, built in 1863 from designs by
Brun. During the Civil war the Con
federates .built a number of cigar
shaped boats, some worked by hand
and some by steam, which were armed
with torpedoes. They were known as
Davids on the account of their size as
compared with battleships. In 1864 a
hand-worked one attacked the Federal
ship Housatonic and sank her by
means of a spar torpedo, though the
submarine herself was sunk in the
operation. Many other inventors, of
course, besides those mentioned have
succeeded in the construction of sub
mersibles.
The Best You Have Got.
City people are very fond of dilatng
on the greenness of people from the
country, but there is no malice in it.
Everybody knows that the city is built
up from the country, and that nine out
of every ten of our great men first
drew breath amid green fields. It is
hoped, however, that there are not
many countrymen who are quite so far
behind the times as the young man
who recently applied for a room at a
leading New York hotel. Said he, “I
expect prices to be pretty steep. Pa
was here 40 years ago, and paid one
dollar a day for nearly a week, and he
told me that I'd most likely find that
rates hadn’t dropped much. But I
want a first class room—the best
you've got. Be sure there’s a light
and a fire and everything comfortable
in it. Oh, yes, and a place to wash.
No going to the pump to wash for me’
I'm willing to pay for comfort.” The
story doesn’t say what happened when
he heard that “the best you've got”
was five dollars a day.—Exchange
Boat Has Wings.
The latest development in racing mo
torboats is a craft capable of making
from 60 to 80 miles an hour and
equipped with wings that are designed
to catch the water just as the wings
of an aeroplane catch the air. This
boat is 19 teet 9 inches long and 12
feet wide over all, each of the wings
being 3 feet wide and the hull 6 feet
wide. It is equipped with a 250 horse
power racing engine which ordinarily
runs at 1,500 revolutions a minute and
drives the propeller at 2,250 revolu
tions a minute, or one and a half times
its own speed. One of the novel fea
tures of the boat is that the rudder is
at the bow, while the helmsman sits
at the stern. With this arrangement
the boat is easily handied at any speed.
one effect of the bow rudder being
that the boat, in making a turn, has a
tendency to pivot around the rudder.
A picture of this unusual craft is pub
lished in the October Popular Mechan
ics Magazine.
Electricity in the Kitchen.
A recently published book on do
mestic engineering represents the
findings of a group of women who
formed a household experiment station
to ascertain how far it was possible
to go in eliminating servants and vet
be free from drudgery. Labor-saving
devices were installed and tested.
“The first purchase,” says the Edi
son Monthly, “was a general utility
motor. Next on the.list Mrs. Pattison
ranks a vacuum cleaner, a mangle and
an electric flatiron. Perhaps the most
interesting piece of household equip
ment that has come to my knowledge,
she writes, ‘is the electric dish-wash
ing machine. The wonder is that
women have so long been slaves to
dishpans, cloths, mops, towels and alf
other unsanitary and unhygienic
means.’”
