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State Roads.
The new law providing for the build¬
ing of State roads will be of incalcula¬
ble benefit to Rhode Island if tlie mem¬
bers of the board appointed a few days
ago investigate the subject thoroughly
and submit a practical scheme of high¬
way improvement to the Legislature.
It should be understood that the law
was passed in the interest of the entire
State and not for the purpose of con¬
structing roads off the main routes,
and it is important to exclude politics
from the deliberations of the commis¬
sion and to guard against repetition of
the costly errors made a few years ago,
when the Legislature appropriated
money for samples of macadam. The
ralue of good roads is so generally con¬
ceded that there is no occasion for
juilding isolated stretches of macadam;
“very dollar should be expended on
main roads connecting Providence and
the important centres of population,
and if the board proves that it is capa¬
ble of resisting the clamorous politi¬
cians who are anxious to have the
State pay for local jobs of doubtful
merit the Legislature doubtless will be
Inclined to provide funds for the work
outlined in tlie law enacted just before
adjournment.
The Commissioners cannot be ex¬
pected to render the State the best ser¬
vice if they do not have the advice of a
capable engineer. Laymen cannot de¬
cide all the questions pertaining to
modem road building. It is the busi¬
ness of the engineer to examine mate¬
rials and to see that they are properly
used. Very frequently poor work has
been done when all the conditions were
favorable for good macadam work, and
with the knowledge now available there
Is no excuse for wasting money. Cities
and engineers indispensable, and tlie
State should be governed by the expe
rionce of progressive municipalities and
ibtain tlie services of an authority on
road building and maintenance. By no
means the least important part of a
general plan of State roads is the es¬
tablishment of moderate grades. I 11
Rhode Island there should be few
grades exceeding three per cent. In
mountainous localities three per cent,
roads have been laid out where a few
years ago it was thought impossible to
keep grades under eight or ten per
cent., and there is no reason why this
engineering performance cannot be du¬
plicated in this State. So much has
been written and said about road build¬
ing that the commission can offer no
adequate excuse for not proceeding on
the right lines, and the public will be
grievously disappointed if the recom¬
mendations made at the next session
sf the Legislature do not appeal to
every man of common sense who is in¬
terested in a comprehensive system of
State highways.—Providence Journal.
Praise For tlie Coin Belt Roads.
Whenever Professor Ira O. Baker
takes time to write a paper on the
subject of improved roads, that paper
is fairly certain to be interesting read¬
ing. Why it is that the idea of a good
broken stone or gravel highway so
trouses his ire, the Engineering Record
cannot state. The fact remains, how¬
ever, that “the good roads enthusiast
who writes so glibly that the condi¬
tion of the road indicates the state of
civilization and who reiterates the
praises of the stone roads of France
Ind England” is an ill informed man
In the eyes of this well known per¬
sonage. He has again drawn atten¬
tion to this bias of mind by an enter¬
taining paper on “Civilization and
Wagon Roads,” presented at the re¬
cent meeting of the Illinois Society of
Engineers and Surveyors. It is hardly
necessary to state that the contention
jf the existence of any intimate pres¬
ent relation between civilization and
good roads was vigorously combated in
the essay in question. The author
showed by statistics from an vmnen
tioned source that France spends on
highways nearly four times as much
per mile of road as Illinois, three and
sne-half as much per square mile and
about the same per capita, yet she has
only one mile of roads to each 0.0G
square miles of area, while Illinois has
s mile for every 0.53 square mile. Peo¬
ple who have but a moderate personal
acquaintance with the highways of the
two territories will feel that here is
a case where figures are trying hard
to prove the inaccuracy of the cld
adage to the effect that they can be
classed with the youthful George
Washington of cherry tree reputation.
—Engineering Record.
Their Importance to a County.
C. M. Kimbrough, of Mv.ncie, Ind., is
of the opinion that, next to school
houses. good roads are the most impor¬
tant need to a county. “Judge Taft,”
he said, “a few days ago, in giving in¬
formation before the Senate committee
as to the condition of the people in the
Philippines, said that they had no
roads; that almost their sole means of
Intercommunication was by water, and
tbeir civilization, whatever they have,
Is ciose to the water courses. Now, we
know something about the state of civ¬
ilization in the Philippines as compared
with that of other and older countries.
In Cuba one of the first tilings done by
our Government as a means toward the
civilizing of its people was to make an
appropriation which was applied to the
building of highways, so that the peo¬
ple could come together, could commu¬
nicate and exchange commodities and
ideas.”
France’s Fine Highways#
As early as 18GT, the improved ma¬
cadamized highways of France liad a
total length of 200,951 miles, while the
length of unfinished highway was then
stated at 174,007 miles, most of which
is now finished.
ONE CF NATURE’S WONDERS.
The stone Woman ot Wingen, In New
South Wales.
In New South Wales, near Wingen, a
natural curiosity is observable. This
is an object popularly known as the
Stone Woman of Wingen. The spur of
a mountain range, known as Salisbury
Crag, terminates in a bold, bluff bead
land, about 700 feet above the level of
the valley, which it commands, the pro¬
file assuming the form of a gray stone
woman of enormous dimensions sitting
with her back against tile cliff, her
head separated from the top and her
feet hidden among the trees which
grow up to the bottom of the cliff.
On her knee there is resting an open
book, which she is not reading, but in¬
stead is gazing forever with a stead¬
fast, unchanging look down the beauti¬
ful valley of the Hunter. From where
the feet of the stone woman rest among
the towering trees that grow around
the base of Salisbury Crag to the
summit of her head must be about 500
feet, so that if she were to stand up
straight some day she would be about
800 feet high. If the proper point of
view he chosen the pose of the figure
is perfect in its magnificent simplicity.
At Wingen also is to be seen the only
burning mountain to be found in Aus¬
tralia, and the only one not of volcanic
origin known. The summit is 1S20 feet
above sea level, and it is easily reached
from the township. It is supposed to
be an immense coal seam, which has
in some unaccountable way become
ignited and lias been burning ever
since. When first discovered, during
the early days of settlement, the abor¬
iginals of the district explained, in their
own rude fashion, that the mountain
had been burning in the days of tlieir
forefathers; that, as far back as they
could remember there had always been
the big smoke.
The course of the fire can be traced
a considerable distance by the trans¬
verse rents or chasms occasioned by
the falling in of the ground, from un¬
der which the coal had been consumed.
From year’s end to year’s end fumes
of smoke are continually issuing from
the sides of the mountains, the surface
of which is in many places covered
with a sulphurous deposit. In the vi¬
cinity of the openings fi'om which the
bluish rings of smoke issue the ground
is hot to the touch, the vegetation with
which it was originally covered having
disappeared, and sticks thrust into the
gannul speedily become charred, if not
ignited.—St. James’s Gazette. 1
Tlie Whistler’s Rights.
Etiquette in street cars is a very
undeterminate quantity. Whether a
man should give up his seat to all
women on all occasions, or to old
women, or to pretty women, or to tired
women, or to women with luggage or
babies, or to no women, or to old
gentlemen, has been discussed ad libi¬
tum. Despite the argument that a
tired man is as tired as a tired woman,
there are still those who rise to give
others the preference. Questions of
etiquette are not easily settled. Re¬
cently two men, unknown to each
other, were standing side by side on
the platform of a street car. One was
whistling vigorously so close to the ear
of the other that the other cast fre¬
quent glances of annoyance in the
direction from which the sound came
and shrugged liis shoulders with evi¬
dent discomfort. For a long while
the whistler exercised his whistle with¬
out restraint, appearing not to notice
the annoyed glances directed toward
him. When he had finished off “Rip
Van Winkle Was a Lucky Man,” with
shrill, exultant bravado, be turned
upon his neighbor and said:
“You don’t seem to like my whis¬
tling!”
“No,” came the frank answer of a
man well known to the world of read¬
ers, “I don’t.”
“May bo you think you are man
enough to stop it.”
“No,” was the reply, “but I hope
you are.”—The Great Round World.
Rebuilding Pekin,
Pekin is being rebuilt, says the
Hongkong Press. The whole Legation
quarter is all but unrecognizable to
those who knew the city only a year
ago. Tlie most striking street improve¬
ment is in the thoroughfare which is
flanked by tbo British, Russian, Jap¬
anese and Italian Legations.
At the north end buildings which arc
crosses between bastions and gates
have been put up, thus preventing a
possible enemy again enfilading the
whole roadway fr^rn the wall of the
Imperial City.
HHHHF
At Niagara Falls for some little time
an experimental line lias teen in op¬
eration at a voltage of 00 , 000 , and all
the various kinds of influences likely
to affect it have been created. For
instance, an artificial rainstorm was
created, over a section of the cables
in order that the influence of rain on
cables carrying such voltage might be
ascertained. The result has been that
it lias lias been determined definitely
that the commercial use of 00.000 volts
is possible, and this information com¬
ing from Niagara is important.
Articles made of quartz instead of
glass are very superior for certain
laboratory purposes, but hitherto there
has been no practical process of mak¬
ing such apparatus except in very
small sizes, as quartz is exceedingly
difficult to melt and form. Lately,
however, Professor Hutton, of Man¬
chester. continuing experiments of
Professor Moissan, of Paris, has suc¬
ceeded in making tubes and other arti¬
cles of powdered quartz in the elec¬
tric furnace. Such utensils can be
plunged into cold water when white
hot without cracking, whereas this
would shiver glass to pieces.
Professor J. C. Kapteyn, of Groeni
gen, by combining the well ascertained
proper motions of certain stars with
their classification in the “Draper Cat¬
alogue of Stellar Spectra,” concludes
that as stars having very small proper
motions show a condensation toward
the Galaxy, the stars composing the
girdle are in great part of the Sirian
type and lie at vast distances from the
solar system. Professor Kapteyn con¬
cludes also that the Galaxy itself has
no connection with our solar system,
and is composed of a vast encircling
annulus of stars, far exceeding in num¬
ber those of the solar aggregation, and
everywhere more remote than the stars
composing it, as well as differing from
them in physical type. So it is the
mere element of distance that reduces
their individual glow, and seemingly
crowds them back together into that
gauzy girdle which we call the Miiky
Way.
Dr. Rivers accompanied an English
expedition to New Guinea, and in ad¬
dition to other duties undertook inves¬
tigations 011 the special, senses of the
natives, who are pure %a ^. Their
sharpness of sight is sill' : - • that of
Europeans, a 11 h 0 ugh- ft iff™" Jferior as
often imagined. The bl Observa¬
tion and the correspowfing faculty of
memory are specially developed, natur¬
ally. They have little or no sense of
visual beauty, but remember accurate¬
ly details of dress, demeanor, etc., that
they observe. If one may judge by
their vocabulary their discrimination
of colors is not well developed. In
South Africa the natives have only
three words to distinguish different
colors. In Kiwai Island there is no
word to separate blue from black.
Red appears to be the color most read¬
ily marked ; the violet colors are the
least so. In Torres Straits blue and
green have the same name. Their
hearing is not superior and their sense
of smell is inferior to that of Euro¬
peans. Their tactile sensibility, and
their sense of weight -s, on the other
hand, superior. The latter fact is
somewhat singular, considering that
they have no abstract idea of weight,
nor any word to describe it.
Astronomers are unanimous in the
belief that the stars, even the nearest
of the stars, are enormously remote.
When, however, we come to the ques¬
tion how remote they are, the widest
differences of opinion still exist, except
in the eases of some fifty or 100 which
make up the list of the “nearest stars.”
Estimates of the distance of the re¬
motest visible stars are, in the present
state of our knowledge, pure guesses.
Professor G. Johustone Stoney has re¬
cently hazarded a guess of this sort,
in a paper on the limits of human
knowledge. He says:. The farthest
stars visible to us are probably less
than 10,000 times farther than the few
whose “parallaxis” can be directly
measured, since a star sending us 100,
000,000th part of the light of Sirius
would probably not he visible. Some
of the non-gaseous nebulae—the great
nebula in Andromeda, for example—
may be stellar universes, distinct from
ours and located somewhere within the
larger space. If so, when we looked
upon the speck of light which bright¬
ened up in the nebula of Andromeda
a few years ago we may have been
then actual spectators of an event
which really happened some hundreds
of thousands of years ago.
Luxurious Hansoms.
A compendious hansom cab has just
put in an appearance on the London
streets. In addition to the most puffy
padding, it is fitted with a velvet hat
pad, a clothes brush, an electric light
which can he switched on by the fare,
and a tube ending in an India rubber
ball, which, when squeezed, blows a
whistle in the cabman’s ear.
Theories don’t always work, and a
lot of men are a good bit like theories.
(TP £13 & on CD
- Dealer In -
liquors, Wines, Tobacco and Cigars,
DISTILLERS OF
HAMBURG CORN WHISKEY.
REG. DISTILLERY 6*2.
10 COM SOLD 01 CEEDIT.
1260 BROAD STREET, AUGUSTA, GA„
E. L. HOLLAND CD.
Successors to Holland Bros., Washington, Oa.,
8av to the peQple of Lincoln and adjoining counties that they are fitted
to build and repair
ENGINES. BOILERS. GINS. PRESSES, GRIST AND SAW MILL MACHINERY
We guarantee first-class work and reasonable prices. E. L. Holland
is manager and no one can look more closely the business after customers’ has been interests. running fo
Our success for the short time
proof that we give satisfaction. Give us a trial and you will come again.
For Ginning and Saw mlii outgta »# can’t be beak
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Pipes and pipe fittings, Injectors, Rubber and Leather Belting
Packing, Manhole Gaskets, Cylinder and Machine Oil.
Second-hand machinery for sale very attention. cheap.
Orders by mail will nave prompt
E. L. HOLLAND & CO..
Wear Depot WASHINGTON GA.
AUGUSTA DENTAL ROOMS.
.... PAINLESS DENTISTRY....
Crown and Bridge Work a Specialty.
PRICE REASONABLE NO WAITING.
ALL WORK GUARANTEED.
Drs. POORE & WOODBURY,
824 Broad Street Bell ’Phone 520.
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If any of my old friends in Lincoln want a Wagon that is “A*
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It can’t be beat for Durability, Finish and Lighf Running. I ant
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Babcock, Rock Hill, Hackney
Buggies and Carriages
These are my “Little Darlings." Now, for cheaper grades of work
I cannot be touched in piice. No monkeying about this. All trn»
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knows what I say is true. In buying yonr wagon don’t let a little
fancy paint deceive you. Paint covers a monstrous sight of defects.
The largest stock of Harness, Buggy and Wagon Material, and the
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you oome to Washington........................................
J. S. BARNWELL, Manager.
WASHINGTON, GEORGIA.
Americans In Burke's Peerage.
The names of five American naval
officers appear in the 1902 edition of
Burke’s peerage, Admiral Schley’s
daughter married a brother of the
present earl of Wharncliff, the daugh¬
ters of Commodore Price and Magru
der became respectively duchess of
Marlborough and Lady Abinger; Lieu¬
tenant H. T. Stockton married a
daughter of Sir Matthew Onslow, and
Paymaster Rodney married his cousin,
a granddaughter of Sir Hugh Owen.
Of the naval officers named only
Schley and Rodney survive.
An tll-natured person is always salL
tag on a stormy ssa.
-«d
PROF. P. M. WHITMAN,
GIVES FREE EYE TESTS f«r all defects o«
light, RANT* grinds the proper glasses and WAR*
them.
Lenses cut into your frame while you walk
FREE OF CHARGE tells if you nw4
t medician or glut**
209, 7th Street* Apgueta, G*